Page 3330 - Week 09 - Wednesday, 19 August 2009
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
amend this motion, and they clearly do, perhaps they could change paragraph (2) and make it paragraph (6), because paragraphs (2), (3), (4) and (5) are valid. Deleting them would be unfortunate, and then we could debate the substance of what it is that the Greens wish to do. But the bottom line of this is that replacing one conflict of interest with another conflict of interest will not solve the problem here and will not give confidence to the community that we are addressing this in an open and honest way.
MR CORBELL (Molonglo—Attorney-General, Minister for the Environment, Climate Change and Water, Minister for Energy and Minister for Police and Emergency Services) (12.08): In speaking to the amendment that has been moved by Ms Hunter, the government will be supporting that amendment, but I think it is appropriate that we draw the attention of the Assembly to the way the Gambling and Racing Commission works. We have heard the assertion from the Liberal Party, and from Mr Seselja in particular over the last half an hour or so, that there is a fundamental problem with the Gambling and Racing Commission looking at this matter because Ms Gallagher, as the minister responsible, is, Mr Seselja asserts, able to sack the Chief Executive Officer of the Gambling and Racing Commission and therefore this is all a flawed process. That has been Mr Seselja’s argument.
Mr Smyth urges the government to read the Gambling and Racing Control Act. I would urge Mr Seselja to read the Gambling and Racing Control Act because his argument falls down on one fundamental point—that is, it is not the chief executive officer that constitutes the Gambling and Racing Commission, it is the board of the Gambling and Racing Commission. The Gambling and Racing Commission board is the body that constitutes the commission. And who has the power to exercise the powers of the commission? The board does.
Mrs Dunne: Including the CEO.
Mr Seselja: Including public servants on the board.
MR CORBELL: And the chief executive officer obviously acts at the direction of the board. That is why you have a board. And the board, of course, is appointed—
Mrs Dunne: Yes, he is a member of the board.
Mr Seselja: Is the CEO on the board, Simon?
MR CORBELL: And are the members of the board, are the five members of the board, public servants? The answer to that is no, they are not. The five members of the board are not public servants. So here we have Mr Seselja asserting that the chief executive officer of the commission is unable to do his job in investigating these matters because he is a public servant and can be sacked by the minister, but he fails to mention that there is a board, and it is the five members of the board who are responsible for the decisions of the commission and for investigations of the commission.
It is important to note that, when it comes to investigations under part 4 of the act, the members of the governing board are authorised officers for the purposes of
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .