Page 4345 - Week 10 - Thursday, 22 September 2011
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then said: “Well, the Speaker has said it warrants precedence. We now have a decision to make. Is this a serious enough matter to send off to a privileges committee?” And the Assembly concluded, yes, it is a serious enough matter to send off to a privileges committee.
What is actually the problem here, Mr Speaker? Is it the words of Mr Smyth which Mr Barr could not even quote in his case, or is it that this government does not like the fact that the Assembly is now examining, through a privileges committee, the conduct of the Chief Minister? Is it the fact that a committee of this Assembly concluded that they had been interfered with by the actions of the Chief Minister? Is it the fact that the Assembly then flicked it off to a committee? Of course it is. That is what this is about. It has nothing to do with the words in Mr Smyth’s press release. Mr Smyth pointed to the fact that the committee had made these judgments and that the Assembly had warranted them serious enough to take off to a committee.
Mr Speaker, this motion should be treated as the joke that it is. We have got a Deputy Chief Minister who comes in here and cannot make the case. He claims that Mr Smyth is misleading, but he cannot point to one word he says. Mr Hargreaves declares the Chief Minister guilty in his defence, and it is all designed to try and obscure the fact that not only has the government had a bad week but that that bad week started with a committee of this Assembly claiming interference in its work by the Chief Minister. This Assembly then concluded that that allegation was serious enough to send off to a privileges committee, something which is very rarely done in this place.
I ask members to consider the complete lack of a case. I ask members to consider the facts. I ask members to consider that what has occurred is serious. Mr Smyth’s comments are completely appropriate and reflect simply what the Assembly had decided to do. The fact that the Chief Minister is sensitive about it and the Labor Party is sensitive about it does not warrant a censure of Mr Smyth. This has absolutely no foundation and it should be rejected out of hand.
MS HUNTER (Ginninderra—Parliamentary Leader, ACT Greens) (3.24): The Greens will be supporting the motion this afternoon. We had a motion in this place that determined that a matter should be considered by a committee of the Assembly. No finding has been made by this Assembly. The importance of due process in this place cannot be underestimated. We cannot on the one hand argue for the importance of due process and the importance of the resolutions of the place to ensure that the community can have confidence in what happens in here and on the other allow a member to disregard that. To raise allegations—
Mr Hanson interjecting—
MR SPEAKER: Mr Hanson, I have made my views absolutely clear. You are very close.
MS HUNTER: To raise allegations is one thing. To then assert that the Assembly has found that they are correct is not appropriate and is not the standard of conduct that we expect in this place. It is not appropriate to put out a media release making
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