Page 4804 - Week 13 - Thursday, 28 November 2019
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Mr Parton: No, I was here.
MS CHEYNE: Okay, you were here for this?
Mr Parton: Yes, I was. I was definitely here.
MS CHEYNE: Okay, that is great; even better.
MADAM SPEAKER: I think it is best to ignore the interjections and go through the chair.
MS CHEYNE: I am making a point, though, that Mr Parton could have been working within his own party room on what would have been an appropriate reporting date for the committee to report by. We were assured that a short, sharp inquiry would be enough. If that was not Mr Parton’s view, the place to prosecute that was with his own party, who were crafting the motion with which we then all agreed.
He also has a party member who is the chair of that committee. Again, if there were issues, prosecute it that way. Do not attack Mr Ramsay, who is undertaking important business. Anyone who attends these ministerial councils knows that a great deal of business is done and achieved at the dinner. It is well known that it is all done, almost, at the dinner, and often the meetings are formalised.
Mrs Dunne: Why do you have the meeting the day after, then?
MS CHEYNE: I note the interjections from Mrs Dunne; she would appreciate this from the many meetings that she has been to and councils that she has attended, including overseas. We all know this.
Mrs Dunne interjecting—
MADAM SPEAKER: Mrs Dunne, that is enough.
MS CHEYNE: We all know that the dinners are important. I think it was a bit of a stretch to attack Mr Ramsay when he and his directorate have responded quite quickly to a committee report. I do appreciate that this has all been very abbreviated, but that was provided quite early this morning—the earliest that it could be, within the program—noting again what all parties had agreed to regarding the order of business today. Again that pair had been granted.
I appreciate that Mr Parton has some issues about process here but this is not about whether something dodgy has happened. It has not. This was all done according to the letter of process. Correct process has been followed, and it was utter hyperbole for Mr Parton to make some of those remarks. On behalf of the minister, I do not appreciate them.
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