Page 3109 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 22 August 2012
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Wednesday, 22 August 2012
MR SPEAKER (Mr Rattenbury) took the chair at 10 am and asked members to stand in silence and pray or reflect on their responsibilities to the people of the Australian Capital Territory.
Chief Minister
Motion of no confidence
MR SESELJA (Molonglo—Leader of the Opposition) (10.01): I move:
That this Assembly no longer has confidence in the Chief Minister, Ms Katy Gallagher MLA, due to:
(1) being the minister responsible for taking the ACT health system from one of the best performing in the country and turning it into one of the worst;
(2) being the minister responsible when the systematic deception of the community about the declining state of the health system occurred, including the altering of at least 11 700 health records over a number of years to make the system appear to be performing better than it was; and
(3) personally failing to disclose conflicts of interest and personal connections to the executive responsible for the alteration of many of the health records.
Mr Speaker, I rise to address this most serious motion—the most serious it is possible to move in this Assembly. Since I have been Leader of the Opposition, it has only been used in the most serious of circumstances.
This is without doubt one of the most serious scandals in territory history. It involves not just poor performance, but fraud, cover-ups, conceit and deceit at the highest levels of the management of our most crucial services.
Mr Speaker, in my motion I outline three grounds for moving this motion. The motion says that the Assembly should express no confidence in the Chief Minister for three main reasons:
(1) being the minister responsible for taking the ACT health system from one of the best performing in the country and turning it into one of the worst;
(2) being the minister responsible when the systematic deception of the community about the declining state of the health system occurred, including the altering of at least 11 700 health records over a number of years to make the system appear to be performing better than it was; and
(3) personally failing to disclose conflicts of interest and personal connections to the executive responsible for the alteration of many of the health records.
Each one of these grounds is enough for serious censure. Taken together, they can only be seen as grounds for no confidence. Together, they tell a tale of incompetence outmatched only by the arrogance of those responsible.
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