Page 1159 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 6 April 2016
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criminality was found. ACT Policing have completed an evaluation of the matter, which is now finalised, and they have referred matters of professional indiscretion by staff members of executive MLAs to me as Chief Minister.
Madam Assistant Speaker, I am not going to disclose sensitive police information to the Assembly; it is simply not appropriate. The irony of the alternative Chief Minister asking me about the disclosure of sensitive police information and then in the same breath demanding I disclose that information should not be lost on all who are listening to this debate.
All ministerial staff are employed by me as Chief Minister. What I can say is that both staff members who were employed by the former Minister for Police and Emergency Services are no longer employed by me. It is not appropriate to make any further comment. I repeat: it is not appropriate to make any further comment about any individuals who were the subject of this evaluation. To do so would be inappropriate and unfair.
Whilst the evaluation was being conducted, as was appropriate, the then Minister for Police and Emergency Services stood down from that role. Her former chief of staff, having regard to the public controversy, also chose to resign. For the information of the Assembly, an evaluation is conducted as a prelude to a criminal investigation. The police evaluation determines whether or not there is any criminality worthy of an investigation and, in this case, the evaluation was completed and no criminality was found, so the matter did not pass to investigation.
For the benefit of the Assembly, the Chief Police Officer raised his concerns with me on 15 December 2015 and said that he would be conducting an evaluation. He advised me of the outcome of that evaluation on 17 March 2016. The Chief Police Officer has suggested a number of security measures, which I am currently considering in relation to this matter.
In relation to the issues raised around the handling of sensitive information, the government has developed several initiatives and will develop several others as required. Members would be aware of existing initiatives the government has in place to prevent inappropriate behaviour. This is the key to this matter: how staff behave while undertaking their jobs. It is entirely appropriate for ministers’ staff to be involved in sensitive discussions between stakeholders and a minister and it is entirely appropriate for staff to handle sensitive information as part of their everyday roles. It is, however, expected that staff act in a certain way when undertaking their roles.
The community has high expectations of us as their elected representatives, and as members of the Assembly we are rightly held to high standards of accountability and integrity. Accordingly, this should be a behaviour exhibited by staff of MLAs, and I demand the highest standards of professionalism from all ministerial staff and that they abide by the code of conduct. Clearly, all the people in the service of the public have an obligation to maintain confidentiality in relation to sensitive information.
Members would be aware of these requirements as outlined in the code of conduct for members of the Legislative Assembly, which provides a statement of the values that
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