Page 2376 - Week 06 - Thursday, 23 June 2011
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dysfunctional prison around and improve outcomes at that prison, has felt the need to go public and say that his treatment has been shabby. That is what we do know.
He has put that on the public record, and just because the government do not want to answer those questions it does not mean that we should not ask them. Just because the government are sensitive on this issue and want to sweep it under the carpet it does not mean that we should support them in sweeping it under the carpet. That is why Mr Hanson’s motion should be supported, because what we know of this process does not look good. And the facts that are on the table are not ordinary facts. This is a very rare event indeed—that we see a public servant speaking out publicly about their treatment by the ACT government.
What the Labor Party and the Greens are saying today is: “We’re going to sweep that under the carpet. We don’t want to know. We’re going to block our ears because he doesn’t know what’s good for him. What’s actually good for him is to do it quietly and do it under the public interest disclosure.” Mr Corbell’s answer to him as to what he should be doing is that he should maybe be going to the people who sacked him and seeking a review. Both of those paths are unacceptable, but they have one common theme. The common theme is that the Labor Party and the Greens want to sweep this under the carpet. They want to cover it up. They want to cover it up like they did with the bullying inquiry, and they continue to cover up the bullying inquiry. They continue to cover that up; now they want to cover this up. I think that is disgraceful. I think that is low. I think that is shocking politics.
Of course, there are a number of other ways Mr Corbell may choose to describe that kind of politics. It is disgraceful. That is why this motion should be supported. That is why we will not be supporting the “sweep it under the carpet” amendment that has been put forward by Ms Bresnan.
MR ASSISTANT SPEAKER: I remind members that the time for Assembly business today will totally conclude at 12.04. That is for the consideration of the number of speakers who may wish to continue to speak on the motion. The question now before the House is that Ms Bresnan’s amendment to Mr Hanson’s motion be agreed to. Mr Smyth, do you wish to speak to the amendment?
MR SMYTH (Brindabella) (11.53): Yes, Mr Speaker. I am quite concerned that in this place in particular, when an individual of long standing and with a great deal of support from his community actually asks for something to occur—not inside a particular process, the public interest disclosure process which we all know, after the bullying inquiry, is a closed process where there is no light of day—members here, in light of what the Chief Minister said earlier this week about being more open and more accountable, would simply say that they are not going to agree with it. We have heard Mr Corbell’s defence, which is simply, “You are all a bunch of grubs.” Nice words! But they do not mean anything. And that is the defence. You know Mr Corbell is stretched when he repeats the same thing over and over again during his allotted time.
But what is it that Mr Buchanan is asking for? He is simply asking for a public airing of his dilemmas with the system that he feels has betrayed him. And what is
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