Page 3115 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 22 August 2012
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
On 28 April, seven days after announcing the scandal, Katy Gallagher told the Canberra Times she had to stand aside from the investigation because:
I knew the officer, I knew her in a professional capacity, but she also has a personal connection with a family member of mine.
After the connection was revealed, Katy Gallagher was again asked to clarify the relationship in response to Ross Solly’s questioning in July 2012. Ross Solly said: “Let’s just clarify this other issue once and for all. What is the family relationship? What is the relationship between yourself and the woman who has been identified as the main culprit here?” Gallagher said: “She is a close personal friend of a relative of mine. So I know her in that capacity and I knew her in her professional capacity at work.” Again, it was not the whole truth, or anything like the whole truth.
Leaving aside the deliberately misleading performance of the Chief Minister during estimates, it was what was revealed later that really proves the case for deception against the Chief Minister. I remind the Assembly that Katy Gallagher sat in the estimates committee on 5 July and made this statement:
I have never hidden—I have never ever hidden the nature of the relationship.
Except that she had hidden the nature of the relationship. She constantly claimed there was only a personal relationship with a family member.
Then it was revealed that, in fact, the executive that admitted altering this data was such a close friend of Ms Gallagher that they had spent weeks together holidaying in the south of France. Even later, we discovered that this person was also a guest at Katy Gallagher’s birthday party. Quite simply, these are not the actions of a distant friend of a relative. It beggars belief that Katy Gallagher should expect anyone to believe this was a coincidence.
The media certainly aren’t buying it. Ross Solly said: “I interviewed Katy Gallagher on this issue. She told me her government had been ‘open and transparent’. ‘… we have nothing to hide here,’ she said. ‘We’ve had a staff member come forward and say they’ve done something wrong … I found out on Saturday about this and we’ve come out and told the community everything we know on Monday evening.’”
The real problem for Katy Gallagher, though, is not that she had a holiday with this person, or had her over for her birthday party, or had any other sort of connection; it is the fact that she did not say so up front. This is a fact confirmed by her own member on the estimates committee:
MR HARGREAVES: Therefore, it would be the responsible thing, minister, would it not, where something that is a bit unusual—like a friendship, a relationship—to be declared up-front and early, and that did, in fact, happen, did it not?
Ms Gallagher: Yes.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video