Page 3248 - Week 08 - Tuesday, 16 August 2011
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Mr Hargreaves: On a point of order, Mr Speaker, Mr Hanson just described the minister as “grubby”, and I would ask you to ask him to withdraw.
MR SPEAKER: Mr Hanson?
Mr Hanson: I withdraw, Mr Speaker.
MR SPEAKER: Mrs Dunne, you have the floor for a supplementary.
MRS DUNNE: Thank you, Mr Speaker. Minister, have you read the report and have you learnt from the report that it is no longer appropriate to turn your back on staff and say “la, la, la, la, la” when they have concerns about communication with their superiors?
MS BURCH: Absolutely, I have read the report, and I continue to visit Bimberi, as opposed to those over there. In shamed desperation, the week before this was supposed to be tabled, in July this year, Mrs Dunne and the Leader of the Opposition actually went to Bimberi—in desperation, the first time they have been there. Mrs Dunne has not ever sought a briefing on the operations at Bimberi. Rather—
Mrs Dunne: On a point of order, Mr Speaker, the question was about communication between the staff and senior management, and the minister needs to be very careful that she does not mislead the Assembly about when members of this place have been to Bimberi.
MR SPEAKER: Focus on the question, thank you, minister.
MS BURCH: Thank you. I am not intentionally misleading, but certainly it is my understanding that under my watch, the first time Mrs Dunne went to Bimberi was the week before the report was to be tabled.
MR SPEAKER: Relevance, minister.
MS BURCH: I am just replying to that comment from Mrs Dunne, if I may, Mr Speaker. Have I read the report? Absolutely. And if Mrs Dunne wants to share with the Assembly her travel report, I would be interested in reading that as well.
Mr Hanson: Mr Speaker, I take a point of order on relevance. Also, referring to Ms Burch’s comments before when she was speaking, Mrs Dunne’s travel reports are not relevant to this debate. Also, she made the allegation that Mrs Dunne was meeting with associates of Nazi regimes. I think that is an extraordinary allegation that she made and that she should withdraw. To clarify, as to the previous question, that was why I called her grubby, after she made the comment.
MR SPEAKER: Minister Burch, would you like to withdraw those comments?
MS BURCH: I will come back to it. I was making reference to an article in the Canberra Times.
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