Page 3470 - Week 09 - Thursday, 20 August 2009
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
your means to get your own way, even if it is a complete and utter lie, are the criteria for leadership, honesty and accountability, then it would appear that Minister Barr is eminently qualified.
His farcical stunt now brings me back to the code of conduct:
… Ministers will ensure that their official powers or position are not used improperly for personal advantage, and that any conflict between personal interests and public duty which may arise is resolved in favour of the public interest.
Clear as daylight, the minister for government education, who has publicly declared his true feeling towards the non-government sector by labelling them “blazer schools”, is getting down in the gutter to try to discredit the opposition and curry favour with a sector of the community that he has publicly spoken of in a derogatory fashion. He has used his position improperly and misrepresented my intentions for his own personal and political advantage. This sets a dangerous and unsavoury precedent that must be challenged.
Minister Barr is an out and out liar. I call on him to make a written and public apology to me by the close of business today. Further, I call on him to write a retraction letter to the Non-Government Schools Education Council stating that he grossly misled them in his letter dated 28 July. This is the very least this minister can and should do to redeem any credibility within the non-government and government school sectors and retain any semblance of adherence to the ministerial code of conduct.
I am not seeking one of Mr Barr’s half-hearted apologies either. There seems to be a continual double standard with this minister here. Mr Barr has a particularly deep-seated insecurity, and it is becoming quite apparent to all in this Assembly. When things get tough, when he is under pressure or perhaps underprepared—and this applies to giving apologies—he plays the personal attack card. Mr Seselja and I were the recipients of his particularly nasty tirade regarding our ethnic backgrounds, showing his discrimination about our backgrounds. I think even he realised then that he had gone too far.
When the Speaker asked Mr Barr to apologise, he rather reluctantly did so but initially only to Mr Seselja. I had to seek through the Speaker an apology as well. Again, rather reluctantly, he did apologise, but the apology actually highlighted his disrespect, not only to us but to the Assembly. As soon as Mr Barr was out of the chamber there was a press release issued on 1 April 2009 headlined “Discrimination—the penny finally drops for Doszpot”. He was back on the same racially charged theme about my ethnic origins. So the apology he made was obviously not made with any serious intent. In fact, he misled the Assembly with his apology.
The importance of the ministerial code of conduct could not be better illustrated by what we have witnessed in this Assembly through the actions of Minister Barr. I remind Minister Barr and the Chief Minister that the position of a government minister is one of trust. A minister has a great deal of discretionary power, being responsible for decisions which can markedly affect individuals, organisations, companies and local communities. Being a minister demands the highest standards of
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .