Page 1269 - Week 04 - Tuesday, 23 March 2010
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So, Mr Speaker, they cannot have it both ways. They cannot say that a minister is not responsible for Liberal Party policy and then turn around and say that a minister is responsible for such an—
Opposition members interjecting—
MR HARGREAVES: I am sorry, Mr Speaker, but it does not work for me.
Let us just go to the question of something Mr Seselja raised, and that was the transparency of the whole place—
Opposition members interjecting—
Mr Barr interjecting—
MR SPEAKER: Order, members! Let us hear Mr Hargreaves.
MR HARGREAVES: Colleagues, when you have finished having your conversations, you can stand up in your turn. I am talking to all of you.
The point that Mr Seselja was making was that it has to be transparent and it has to be available for scrutiny. Can I suggest to you, Mr Speaker, that the appearance of the Labor-Greens agreement on the internet is putting it out there for anybody to see. Where do you think those opposite got the agreement from, Mr Speaker? Did they discover it in a telephone box, next to a funny phone number? I do not think so.
Mr Hanson: No. I heard about it in Kiribati.
MR HARGREAVES: You heard about it in Kiribati! I might suggest to you that, if you have in fact put an article in the Parliamentarian magazine, that is a little bit like telling everybody, isn’t it? Am I correct, Mr Speaker, in suggesting that there has been nothing, can I say in my time anywhere, that has been more transparent than the views being put forward? The Greens and Labor agreement is sitting up on the internet.
Mr Hanson: Why are you trying to hide from it then? Why don’t you let us ask questions?
MR HARGREAVES: Mr Speaker, I am accused, and we are accused, of hiding something—and we are hiding something by putting it on the internet.
Mr Hanson: You are—hiding scrutiny, of the decisions that arise—
MR SPEAKER: Mr Hanson!
MR HARGREAVES: That is a clever way of doing it. And the scrutiny, Mr Speaker, of what? This is not a decision-making document. This is an agreement to move forward. The decision to spend money is contained within the budget documents. That is where the scrutiny occurs.
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