Page 652 - Week 03 - Tuesday, 12 April 1994
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MR BERRY: I am not sure that she was the first one to make a public statement. Let us go back to ACTTAB. We know how sincere you are about ACTTAB. I have made it clear that there are connections that go back that far. It is a political game; I accept that. I think all of the information is on the table for people to make their decisions on the matter, and I think that in all fairness the motion should not succeed.
MS FOLLETT (Chief Minister and Treasurer) (11.02): I seek leave to speak briefly on the matter a second time.
Leave granted.
MS FOLLETT: I wish to make it clear, Madam Speaker, that Mr Berry, as a Minister, has my total confidence and also that he has, I think, performed extremely well in some of the most difficult portfolio areas for this Government. Madam Speaker, in listening to the debate that we have had over many hours now, the thing that struck me the most was that we had traversed just about every issue that will be traversed in the course of the inquiry by Professor Pearce. Madam Speaker, it seems to me that in moving this motion the Liberals have attempted, as I suspected they would, to pre-empt the inquiry in many respects.
I have said also that the Assembly, of course, has the power to determine whether it has been misled, and that is a power which is open to this Assembly on any occasion and in relation to any member. Madam Speaker, I think it is strange, therefore, that there has been such confusion of the issue of misleading the Assembly with the issue of the inquiry itself, and Ms Szuty has pointed out that there are those two processes at work. I think it is quite disappointing that so many members have apparently confused the two processes. It seems to me that the inquiry which has been appointed has the power to thoroughly examine every issue which has been raised this evening, bar the issue of whether the Minister has misled the Assembly. Madam Speaker, I said earlier, and I will repeat it, that I do not believe that it is appropriate for the Assembly to proceed to make a judgment on all of the facts when, quite clearly, there is an inquiry under way to better establish what those facts are.
We have had conflicting comments this evening from the Liberals and from Mr Berry on any number of matters. I will not traverse them again, because members have been over and over them. But on the one matter that I believe is central and that I addressed in my opening remarks I think we have made significant progress tonight, and that is the issue of the notice of severance of the ACTTAB and VicTAB link, the superpool link. I believe that the Minister has added substantially to the information on that issue. He has, for instance, pointed out the commercially sensitive nature of the correspondence on that matter. He has pointed out that those people whose job it is to know about these matters were genuinely of the opinion that there was still hope for that link to be resurrected. Madam Speaker, I believe that in honouring the confidentiality and the sensitivity of that matter the Minister cannot be seen to have misled the Assembly. He never gave you an inaccurate answer on it. You did not ask a question. How he can be said to have misled by omission defeats me utterly, but that is what is being said by the Liberals opposite.
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