Page 1670 - Week 05 - Tuesday, 1 May 2012
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Every indication comes to that. The position from Meredith Hunter seems to be one of “I’ll do whatever Katy tells me”. There is a question to be asked, because my understanding, as Mr Smyth outlined, is that Meredith Hunter was saying that she could not make committee meetings because she had a short-notice briefing that came up. Then we saw Katy Gallagher and Meredith Hunter zipping off to lunch together the day before this became public in what could only be described as intimate conversation. The question is: when did Meredith Hunter find out about this? Did she find out about this before the rest of the community? She needs to answer that, and Katy Gallagher needs to answer that. If Meredith Hunter and Katy Gallagher went off to lunch to talk about this issue and have a briefing so that could all be stitched up before it became public, I think we need to know. That is what it appears to be.
I see Katy Gallagher has got her head down, furiously ignoring this, and Meredith Hunter is the same—refusing to look me in the eye. The question is: when did the Greens find out? Was it something that occurred before the rest of the community found out? If so, why? What was the intent of those secret briefings, if they occurred, between Katy Gallagher and Meredith Hunter? There are no denials here. It appears there was a secret briefing from Katy to Meredith to lock up the position in the Assembly. We can see the consequence now, can we not, of that secret briefing, between Katy and Meredith? Who has been writing the script?
MADAM DEPUTY SPEAKER: Mr Hanson, address them by their proper names.
MR HANSON: Certainly. The health minister and the leader of the Greens appear to have had a secret meeting. What we seem to have now is a secret meeting that occurred between the Chief Minister and the leader of the Greens, and then we have a unity of position from the Greens and Labor in this place to essentially attempt to cover up the full extent of what has gone wrong here. There is no question.
We certainly would grant leave for the Chief Minister or Ms Hunter—she does not need it because she has not spoken yet—to get up and clarify that issue. Maybe they would like to get up and clarify if there was a secret briefing given between the Greens and Labor and what the outcome of that was. It would appear the outcome of that briefing was to stitch up a result that covers up what has happened in the community. It is a political cover-up that we are seeing from the Greens and Labor to hide the truth from the Canberra community.
We need a thorough investigation. My preference and the preference of the Canberra Liberals is for a board of inquiry to be appointed to do this. But what is important is that the terms of reference that have been laid out in this motion are what is addressed. It is quite clear that Ms Gallagher and Ms Hunter want it restricted. They do not want this coming to light. There is a desire for a political cover-up from those two individuals and their parties.
So whether it is the fully independent Auditor-General or the independent Ombudsman or an independent board of inquiry, in my view, that is not the issue—it is the terms of reference. Each of those, I acknowledge, is an independent entity, and each of them has the trust of the opposition. We prefer a board of inquiry, but what we are seeing from the government is not just a refusal to have a board of inquiry but a
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