Page 3396 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 17 August 2011
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contained manner, at the end of the public interest disclosure matter. Mr Hanson knows full well that the situation did change as a result of that inquiry. Some may say changes were made for the better. I think there is also an argument that people could say that changes were made that have been negative in terms of some of the staff changes that have happened at the Canberra Hospital since that time.
The government will not be supporting what you could only say is an extraordinary amendment by Mr Hanson, who suddenly believes that the Assembly should be the investigator and decision maker in matters that really rest with responsibilities of the employer. The Assembly is not the employer. The Assembly does not necessarily have the skills or the expertise to investigate HR matters of complaint. Yet Mr Hanson would have us believe that by tabling all the documents relating to an individual and her alleged mistreatment by the ACT government, or indeed the issues surrounding Mr Buchanan’s employment with the territory, that information should come to this place.
To ask the Assembly to approve a process which is contrary to legislation that governs these matters is really extraordinary. Mr Hanson is asking us to ignore the requirements of several pieces of legislation around privacy and confidentiality and also in relation to public interest disclosure. So the laws that this place passes are only good until there is some political opportunity for the Liberals. Then we should just ignore them all and provide the Liberals with information regardless of the laws that this place has established. It is extraordinary and the government will not be supporting it.
MRS DUNNE (Ginninderra) (3.56): I am very pleased to stand in support of Mr Seselja’s motion and Mr Hanson’s amendment to the motion. The debate here today highlights yet again that it is only the Canberra Liberals in this place who actually care about people.
Ms Gallagher: Get over yourself.
MRS DUNNE: Get over it? What about the people who have been bullied out of their jobs? What about all the people who have been bullied out of their jobs under your watch, minister, people who have been bullied out of their jobs in the health department? You suddenly say that now you are the Chief Minister everything is going to be fine and dandy. What about Ms Scattergood? Somebody has to spend tens of thousands of dollars of their own money to get access to their own documentation under an open and accountable government that this Labor government has always claimed it would be. People lose their jobs and have their reputations sullied in the public media because they disagree with the policy positions of this government. So much for free and frank advice. People do lose their jobs. Little people and big people lose their jobs, they are shunted sideways and they are pilloried. It is made impossible for them to continue to do their work.
Turning to some of the examples, as Mr Seselja did, I will look at the cases that arose in the context of the inquiry into Bimberi. It was interesting that Ms Burch came down after question time and tried to create some impression that somehow the Canberra Liberals had come late to looking after the people in Bimberi. She said,
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