Page 3969 - Week 09 - Wednesday, 25 August 2010

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Question so resolved in the affirmative.

MR HANSON (Molonglo) (8:49): I would like to thank members for their contributions to the debate. Some were quite exceptional contributions. I particularly refer to that of Mr Stanhope. It was quite a remarkable contribution. I am not quite sure what provoked it but I can only imagine that he did not like being made a fool of. That is certainly what occurred. When you compare the statements—these pious, lecturing, sanctimonious statements that he has made—with his actions, he should be embarrassed. His response was quite bizarre. It was to ignore the substance, which was about Calvary and about the production of documents, the tabling of documents in the chamber—which, although he did not like my quotes, were all directly relevant to that issue. He came up with this bizarre attack on me as being homophobic and misogynistic. To be honest, I think that he was under a bit of pressure; he was not liking what he heard. Just to make sure that he can strengthen his glass jaw, I will give him an opportunity to hear some of it again.

Before I do that, though, I will turn fleetingly to the Greens. It seems, sadly, that once again in this place we are seeing exactly the same thing: the Greens will do the bidding of Katy Gallagher. It is just a compelling argument, and I have said it before, that they continue to be unable to hold this government to account, to demand scrutiny. It does not matter where things go wrong, whether it is obstetrics, the bush healing farm, Calvary or sending things to the Auditor-General, the Greens are just happy to let Katy Gallagher have her way.

I turn to Mr Stanhope. Remember that this is a central argument about the release of documents. Let us not get too precious about what these documents are; this is about some accounting advice that has been provided. Let us remember what Jon Stanhope said:

Labor understands that good government does not bully. It leads.

Good government accepts criticism.

Good government has the courage to allow itself to be closely scrutinised. It conducts its operations in an open, honest and accountable manner, not in secret.

He said further, “Because integrity is one of our core values, we do not accept that the only way to govern is by deals done behind closed doors.” We are all aware of how this deal has been done, and it would have continued to be done for a significant period of time if the matter had not been leaked to the Canberra Times. Mr Stanhope said further, “We also understand that it is impossible to rebuild and maintain the

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