Page 2751 - Week 08 - Tuesday, 23 June 2009
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That is a slight on him and it is something that I think he should be quite ashamed of. I hope he takes the opportunity to stand up and speak in this debate because we are still waiting for his correction as outlined in recommendations 34 and 35. It is interesting, when you go to 34 and 35, oddly enough, they are not agreed by the Chief Minister. Goodness me, the Chief Minister did not misrepresent the letter. It is the committee’s letter and they felt that it was misrepresented. The response states:
The Chief Minister did not misrepresent the Committee in his letter dated 20 May to the Own Place builders.
Indeed he did. It is the recommendation, the determination of the committee, that he did. He should have the courage to apologise; he should have the courage to correct the record; and he should have the courage to write to those groups that he wrote to and correct the mistruth.
The other thing he should do is stand in this place before we go home tonight and tell people the terms and conditions of the loans that will be available. It is well and good to have a funder but, as we always know when dealing with financial institutions, the devil is in the detail. If we do not know what the thresholds are, if we do not know what the conditions are, if we do not know what the prerequisites are, if we do not know what compliance is required, it may well be good to have a funder but it may well be that most people will not be able to access the funds provided. Unless you know how much you have to have in the bank to get the loan, unless you know what the interest rate is, unless you know what the repayment details are, unless you know what the charge for mortgage insurance will be, unless you know the full picture, then no-one can make a judgement on this.
None of the ministers have been able to stand and tell us—indeed two dorothy dixers during question time did not give anyone in this place any more knowledge—about the terms and conditions of a loan that one would get.
Mr Coe: There were two dorothy dixers and two supps.
MR SMYTH: There were two dorothy dixers and two supps, four questions, potentially 20 minutes. We all know that the Chief Minister is not shy at taking his time and we all know that the Chief Minister can fill his 20 minutes should he so wish.
He was even asked, in one of the dorothy dixers, for more detail: “Give us the details to the question.” He wrote his own question. It was a good question. “I want the details,” said the member. But the Chief Minister could not oblige. As Mr Seselja has pointed out, there are only two reasons for this. Either you do not know the details or you do not want to tell people the details. If this is a scheme you were proud of and if this was something that people would be interested in and avail themselves of and see themselves into a new home, then you would be crowing here long and hard telling everybody the details.
The Chief Minister can have up to 20 minutes. Indeed, as the minister responsible for the line item, he can have unlimited time to respond. So go and get the contract; go
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