Page 1478 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 6 April 2011
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
very day that we resolved that we should have a statement on open government your leader let you down. It is a great shame that you have been let down by your leader.
MR BARR (Molonglo—Minister for Education and Training, Minister for Planning, Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation and Minister for Gaming and Racing) (5.09): As my colleague Ms Burch outlined, the government will be supporting Ms Hunter’s amendment. When we reflect on what we have learnt in the last half an hour, perhaps there is no end to the Liberal Party’s campaign to politicise this issue. For all the pontificating of Mrs Dunne, Mr Seselja’s speech was where the Liberal Party is really at in relation to this. It was just a series of slanderous rehashing of salacious gossip, innuendo and a complete—
Mrs Dunne: Prove us wrong.
MR BARR: I prove you wrong by tabling Mr Harwood’s statement in relation to a key element of Mr Seselja’s contribution. I table the following paper:
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Services—Team meeting 2 March 2011 minutes—Copy of letter to the Chief Executive, Department of Disability, Housing and Community Services, from the Director, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Services, dated 28 March 2011.
In spite of all of Mrs Dunne’s pontifications about wanting to get a better outcome for people at Bimberi, Mr Seselja’s contribution was a 10-minute diatribe about trying to get a better political outcome for the Liberal Party. Ms Hunter is spot-on in her assessment of what this is about. Yet again it is the Liberal Party seeking to squeeze every last drop of a perceived political advantage out of some of the most disadvantaged people in our community and the people who work with those young people to try and make a difference in their lives. That is what this is all about—again.
Were Mr Smyth here we might get the benefit of a speech about the will of the Assembly. He is not, so I might indulge myself for 20 seconds to advise those opposite about the will of the Assembly on this matter and the number of times that this has been addressed in this place. Ms Hunter is correct. The will of this Assembly is for an inquiry by the Human Rights Commission. That process is underway and it should be allowed to run its course. There are these constant attempts by the Liberal Party to drag themselves back into some sort of political relevance in this place. Mrs Dunne has set herself up as the alternative inquirer and is demanding that she be proved wrong—as if it is all about her. We have heard a lot about the rights of members in this place and we have heard a lot about Mrs Dunne’s rights throughout this debate, but we have not heard that much about what is really important here, and that is, ensuring that the Bimberi juvenile justice centre and the Murrumbidgee education centre operate to the best of their capacity and that they make a big difference in the lives of those—
Mr Seselja: And that’s a roaring success?
MR BARR: Not for any want of your contribution, Mr Seselja. You have contributed absolutely nothing to ensuring better outcomes. Your involvement has been to rehash
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video