Page 4014 - Week 09 - Thursday, 26 August 2010
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“Please clarify.” There has been plenty of notice. This was last Thursday. Today is Thursday. Then I got a letter on the 24th:
I would like to confirm that the homes in Macquarie and Curtin will be tenanted from October this year.
It is envisaged that construction will be completed by the end of September …
She knew about this when I asked a supplementary question. She knew about it when I sent the email. And then she confirmed that knowledge when she sent me a letter on Tuesday. She had 48 hours or thereabouts to correct the record. All she had to do was come down—and she has been in the chamber for many hours, I might add, in the last couple of days—seek leave and say, “In response to a question that I was asked by Ms Porter on Thursday, I said that homes were already completed. In actual fact, they are going to be completed in September.” That is all she had to do. The record would be corrected and all would be well.
Instead, the culture of arrogance and her desperation to come across as a confident minister have led to the Assembly being misled. That is what it comes down to, Ms Burch’s desperation to come across as a leader and a confident minister. She tries to demonstrate confidence, to get away from the fact that she is not doing a good job in her ministry. As I said earlier, she got the job by a process of elimination, not because she is a good minister. It is very disappointing that the evidence we have seen since she became a minister has confirmed what we thought beforehand. It is extremely disappointing.
It is of course extremely disappointing that the Greens, who seemed to acknowledge that she misled, are trying to hide behind some technicality that apparently she received it at only a quarter to 10. I asked a supplementary question last Thursday. I sent her the email last Thursday. She sent me a letter on Tuesday. I sent her a letter yesterday afternoon, which was hand-delivered by my office. She has had plenty of time. And even if she did not know about this until quarter to 10, why did she not drop down? She already had the prepared statement which she sent me earlier in the week.
It could not have been any easier, this whole process. We have done the right thing. We have gone through every hoop we needed to, yet Ms Burch tried to hedge her bets by saying she had a prepared statement, hoping we would not move a censure motion. That is what it comes down to. She was sitting up in her office. She had some words if push came to shove, but she just thought, “I will ride this out. I will ride it out. I will try my luck.”
The bluff has been called and it is very disappointing. The bluff has been called on this incident and, indeed, on her ministry. It is extremely disappointing, and I urge all those present to vote in favour of the censure.
Question put:
That Mr Coe’s motion be agreed to.
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