Page 5220 - Week 14 - Wednesday, 18 November 2009
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reapplying.” Andrew Barr replied, “No, that is not correct.” Ross Solly said, “Minister, we have spoken to Brian Acworth this morning. He didn’t want to come on the show but he said that you told him it would not be necessary to seek reappointment.” Andrew Barr, after a pause, said, “Well, I wrote to Mr Acworth and other members of the board along those lines, yes.”
He got caught out on radio, telling porkies, because he was embarrassed at the way he had handled it. He was embarrassed by his performance. He was caught out on live radio saying something that simply was not true. It was only because the interviewer had the background information that the minister was caught out. That interview with Ross Solly is indicative of the way this minister has handled this. He forced Brian Acworth out, he forced the chair out, and then he denied it. But he got caught.
Mr Barr: I called for expressions of interest before I said, “Don’t apply, Brian.”
MR SESELJA: He got caught.
Mr Barr: And he was not going to be reappointed.
MR SESELJA: We hear him interject now, churlishly. But he was caught. We can see the embarrassment from Mr Barr. He was caught out on the day and he has been caught out again here today. He is embarrassed and it is perhaps because of that embarrassment that we saw the different approaches from the Treasurer and Mr Barr here today, where Mr Barr still could not tell us whether he actually supports the legislation.
Mr Barr: No, I don’t—not unless it is amended. I have made that very clear.
MR SESELJA: Ms Gallagher seemed to be suggesting they were supporting it in principle. So will you be supporting it in principle?
Mr Barr: No.
MR SESELJA: So the Labor Party now will not be supporting it in principle. Ms Gallagher seemed to indicate they would be supporting it in principle. They have no problem with it. They have no problem with this kind of legislation. It will simply put into legislation something that they do anyway, apparently, in most cases. Ms Gallagher said it has not been deemed necessary up until now to actually put this in legislative form but there is no problem with it. But we hear a different story from Andrew Barr and we see the divisions on this issue. We know why the Treasurer would not want to go into bat for the minister on this. We know, because he has handled it so poorly. He has handled it embarrassingly poorly and we saw it. And it goes on.
This is a minister who says he should be able to control it, he should be trusted to control it, despite the will of the Assembly, and he will find a way to do it. Of course, in doing that, he did not comply with the law. Not only did he try and go around the spirit of the law; he did not actually comply with the letter of the law. We read about it in the Canberra Times of 19 October under the heading “EPIC blunder dumps director”:
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