Page 5916 - Week 14 - Wednesday, 8 December 2010
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People that had been at the hospital earlier wanted to make complaints but could not. But the point is it would have compelled those people who were alleged to have been doing the bullying to make their submissions and to appear. We would be in a position now to know the truth and to deal with these cultural issues.
However, Katy Gallagher decided that secrecy and cover-up was the more important aspect to this. That is why she set this up under the Public Interest Disclosure Act. She is trying to pretend that she has got nothing to do with it now, that it is all at arm’s length: “I can’t be briefed on it. I can’t be told what’s in the report.” Well, she set it up so that she could not. It really begs the question: why? What is it that is in that report that she knew would be in that report that the minister wants to hide? I think that it is a very important question to ask. I assure you that we will continue to ask that and we will continue to fight to get to the truth of what it is that is in that report that the minister is so fearful of getting out. What is it that she is trying to hide?
When we made these concerns back in February we said, “Look, this is clearly going to be buried. This is a cover-up. The minister is going to bury this as far as she can.” She was pretending that was not the case. At the time she said—and this is in the Hansard:
… at the end of it, there will be an outcome. It is at that point that further information will be made public.
Where is it? I can provide you with that quote if you would like it, minister. That is what you said in Hansard: “At the end of it that further information will be made public.” Where is that information? It has not been made public, has it, Madam Deputy Speaker? So that was not true. When the minister said in the Hansard that further information would be made public, was that true? No, it was not. It was not true at all, and she knew that. She deliberately set this up to hide the truth because she does have something to hide. She clearly has something to hide.
Madam Deputy Speaker, let us see what some of the people are saying in the community about what has occurred. Is it just Jeremy Hanson saying this? I think that if you listen to Ross Solly’s interview with the minister, the scepticism in his voice was pretty clear. If you listen to some of the commentary, it is pretty clear that most people in the community smell a rat. As Andrew Foote said, it creates the perception of a cover-up, and it certainly does.
The minister is trying to pretend that she does not have any responsibility here, that it is a public servant that is doing this, but the minister is accountable. This is a
Westminster system of government. I think what people are having real problems getting their head around is why it is that the minister is saying, “I’m not even allowed to know.” When there are so many serious allegations that bullying occurred and the minister says she is not allowed to know, it is quite unbelievable.
Let me say also that there are health professionals, union members and numerous others raising concerns. Let me talk about what the Health Services Union have said. They have said that there is a broader problem with the way bullying claims are handled. I quote:
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