Page 1075 - Week 04 - Tuesday, 6 May 2014
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MR SMYTH (Brindabella) (2.53): Mr Corbell opens his defence by just saying that everything is garbage and what absurd trivia this is. But it is not absurd trivia when you are part of the process of undermining the committee system in this place. You undermine the committee system in this place when either something is leaked to you or given to you that you use in debate. Mr Corbell is damned by his own words. For instance, he got up and said: “I was just reading from the link on Mr Gentleman’s document.” If he apparently read the document as he claimed, it says:
Submissions and transcripts of proceedings from the two public hearings held are available on the website.
It does not mention the minutes at all. So again, we have lie upon lie upon lie instead of telling the truth, that he had inside knowledge, that the government has corrupted the committee system of this place, and he is the chief perpetrator of that corruption. Let us hear what he said:
It is disappointing that, once again, we see some members on the other side of this chamber seeking to disrupt the business of the committees by deliberately obstructing the passage of an Assembly inquiry into an important piece of legislation. I understand from a review of the minutes that it would appear that the opposition members of this committee have supported each and every one of the paragraphs …
“I understand from a review”. Minister Corbell claims he did not do the review. So if you did not do the review, where did you get that information from? And if you have got that information and you know, paragraph by paragraph, what happened, because the minutes will normally only show, Madam Speaker, that the vote was put and was passed or not—unless there is a running commentary, and that is not normally the case in the minutes, and I bet you it is not the case in these minutes as well. So he knew. So if he had not done it by reading the minutes himself, somebody told him. Therefore somebody on the committee leaked it, and that needs to be investigated. I then said:
How did you get the minutes?
Mr Corbell panicked. Remember that the case made in the Assembly was for deliberate and reckless misleading of the Assembly. He could have said, “Mr Gentleman just said it in his speech.” But he did not. That would have been the logical thing to say: “It was just aired in this place.” But did Mr Corbell say that? No, he did not. What he said was a deliberate and reckless misleading of this Assembly. And remember, this minister has got form on deliberate and reckless misleading of this Assembly. He said:
The minutes are online and they are available …
Mr Corbell is the longest-serving member in this place. He knows the forms of this place. He knows how it works. He knows that they do not go online or are not available until the debate is tabled. How could you actually read all the minutes and know that, paragraph by paragraph? That is an awful lot of minutes to read in the
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