Page 73 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 28 February 2007
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
I believe that the motion that Mr Stefaniak has brought forward today is appropriate—the minister sadly stands condemned for his poor performance in these matters—and I have much pleasure in supporting it.
MR BARR (Molonglo—Minister for Education and Training, Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation and Minister for Industrial Relations) (3.45): I was not a member of the Assembly on 18 January 2003 but, like all Canberrans, I know of the extraordinary journey of healing and recovery that has taken place across the city over the past four years. I have had the opportunity to witness first hand some of our school settings—Duffy primary and Stromlo high, for example—on that journey of recovery.
Many wounds have healed over those four years—wounds, it would appear from today, that the opposition would prefer stay open and raw. Much has been done to secure the city against the possibility of a future disaster—again, work that the opposition talks down at every opportunity. Canberra has moved on over the course of the past four years. The opposition has not and seemingly cannot.
I have, like most Canberrans, followed with interest the various reports and inquiries into the fires and witnessed the complete revolution that has taken place in bushfire and disaster preparedness in this city over the past four years. I have also followed with interest the progress of the coronial inquiry. I have seen the coroner’s remarks concerning the Chief Minister and I have read his response to the section 55 notice. I believe, objectively and on the evidence, that the coroner’s conclusions in relation to the Chief Minister are marred by inaccuracies and that some of her comments are unsustained—and are unsustainable on the evidence.
We all deserve natural justice, even politicians—even the Chief Minister. And we all, even leaders of the opposition, should insist on natural justice on behalf of others, even if they are our political opponents. The Leader of the Opposition, a former lawyer and a former prosecutor, of all people, ought to understand the importance of natural justice. Yet here today he is trying to make political mileage out of comments by the coroner that were never even put to the Chief Minister in the course of the inquest. Here today he is taking advantage of the fact that the Chief Minister was never given the opportunity to challenge those comments through cross-examination or through the calling of contrary evidence.
As numerous speakers have highlighted, there are a number of factual errors contained in the coroner’s comments. The coroner asserts that on Thursday, 16 January 2003 cabinet generally, and the Chief Minister in particular, “knew a potential disaster was on Canberra’s doorstep and did nothing to ensure that the Canberra community was warned promptly and effectively”. This comment is entirely unsupported by the facts or any reasonable analysis of the evidence. It is a conclusion that is quite at odds with the recollections of not just the Chief Minister but, as we have heard, every other cabinet minister present at that meeting. It is also at odds with the evidence of this territory’s most senior public servants.
Let us take to its logical conclusion the comment to which the opposition give such credence. Essentially, they choose to believe that, having been warned of impending disaster, the city’s most senior politicians and most senior bureaucrats simply walked
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .