Page 5409 - Week 13 - Wednesday, 16 November 2011
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On three separate occasions he has made what is in effect a very serious allegation. He has said that the government gave $570,000 to the RSPCA, to a charity, but the charity spent only $420,000. What is he actually saying? What dots is he wanting us to join? It seems to me that not only has he given incorrect information, but he has not sought to find the correct information. It is one thing to not tell the truth; it is another to not want to find out the truth. He is guilty of both.
We know that Minister Corbell has form when it comes to misleading this place. We know that Minister Corbell has form when it comes to mismanagement as the minister. Whether you are looking at the busway, the ESA headquarters or the last time he was dumped as the planning minister, this minister has form. Look at the jail. There was the farce of the “opening” in 2008 when it did not open until months later. He said that the jail had a capacity of 300 and actually it was only 225. He said that it was going to last for 25 years before we got to capacity—but, sure enough, here we are a couple of years in and we are at capacity. This minister has form.
It is up to us as legislators, as elected members of the Canberra community, to say that we expect better from our ministers. If this person is going to be entrusted to handle hundreds of millions of dollars within his portfolios, it is reasonable to expect that he will exercise due diligence in administering those funds. It is reasonable to expect that he would ask the questions, that he would not hide behind a department and say, “No, that is just the advice I got; that is that.” It is up to him. It is up to the minister to find out the information.
Before he goes and blames anyone else, as I am sure he will, I ask all in this place to ask the question: is this behaviour befitting of a minister? Is it good enough to slur the name of a charity on three separate occasions—the RSPCA, no less—to slur the name of the Chief Executive Officer of the RSPCA, to mislead members of this Assembly at a committee, to mislead the community in the Canberra Times and to mislead this place again in question time yesterday?
How is Minister Corbell going to correct the record? Is he just going to stand up here with some level of anonymity and say, “There was a mistake; I was given bad advice”? Or is he going to publicly correct the record after he publicly shamed an organisation? That is the challenge for Minister Corbell. The challenge for us is to have the courage to stand up and say, “This is not befitting of a minister.”
I urge all in this place to think long and hard about whether this behaviour is acceptable. Anything less than a censure, after misleading the Assembly on three separate occasions, with several weeks to clarify the record, would be an absolute cop-out for this place and a cop-out for the 350,000 Canberrans who expect more. I urge those in this place to support the censure of Simon Corbell.
MR CORBELL (Molonglo—Attorney-General, Minister for the Environment and Sustainable Development, Minister for Territory and Municipal Services and Minister for Police and Emergency Services) (3.29): At all times I have acted appropriately and consistently with my obligations as a minister, both to this place and in relation to this matter.
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