Page 3203 - Week 09 - Wednesday, 23 August 2017
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he said that the union movement is an intrinsic part of the Labor Party. Therefore, what the MOU is is actually a deal with the Labor Party. We actually have an even dodgier deal than it originally appeared. By Mr Pettersson saying that the union movement is in fact part of the Labor Party, we now have a situation whereby veto power is being given to the party with regard to tenders and contracts.
To date the government has always said that the issuing of tenders and contracts has always been separate to the role of politics and also separate to the role of politicians. But by in effect handing over power to the Labor Party itself for the issuing of contracts, this is an extraordinary development—
Mr Barr: I think you are overreaching a little, Alistair.
MR COE: It is all very well for Mr Barr to say that I am overreaching, but it was Mr Pettersson who said that the union movement is an intrinsic part of the Labor Party. He did not say the Labor cause; he said the Labor Party. And if they are a part of the Labor Party, then we have a situation whereby the Labor Party is actually the determinant of where the contracts are awarded in the ACT. The Labor Party is the one that ticks and flicks which company gets public money in the ACT.
It is all very well for Mr Pettersson to try to draw a long bow with regard to a few circumstances, but you do not need to draw a very long bow to get to the Labor Club, do you? Are you going to say that the Labor Club is somehow separate to the Labor Party or is that an intrinsic part of the Labor Party as well? The truth is in the name, is it not, Mr Barr? The truth is in the name. What we have is a situation in Braddon whereby a 35-unit apartment complex by a developer—no less, the Labor Club—did not pay lease variation charge.
Mrs Jones interjecting—
MR COE: Meanwhile, you do a dual occupancy—
Mr Barr: Point of order, Madam Speaker. Mrs Jones, having previously been asked to withdraw an unparliamentary slur, has repeated it again just then.
MADAM ASSISTANT SPEAKER: I must say I did not hear it.
Mrs Jones: On the point of order, is it unparliamentary to say that corrupt behaviour is corrupt?
MADAM ASSISTANT SPEAKER: Mrs Jones, I ask you to withdraw.
Mrs Jones: Pardon?
MADAM ASSISTANT SPEAKER: I ask you to withdraw.
Mrs Jones: I withdraw.
MADAM ASSISTANT SPEAKER: Thank you. Mr Coe.
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