Page 499 - Week 02 - Tuesday, 10 February 2009
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Mr Hargreaves: How so?
MR HANSON: I will tell you, minister.
Mr Hargreaves: I am waiting.
MR HANSON: The litany of failures in the corrections portfolio—
Mr Hargreaves: I would like to see it.
MR HANSON: It goes to the heart of this matter. Firstly, there are the inhumane conditions at the Belconnen Remand Centre, the ongoing mismanagement and delays—
MR SPEAKER: Order, Mr Hanson! Mr Hargreaves.
Mr Hargreaves: Point of order, Mr Speaker. Mr Speaker, you have ruled on relevance quite significantly so far today—ad nauseam, no doubt. If you have a look at the motion—I draw your attention to the motion—nowhere does it refer to conditions at the Belconnen Remand Centre. Mr Hanson just said that he was about to give us a litany of X, Y and Z. Nowhere in this motion does it discuss or even draw anybody’s attention to that. It is all about two statements made by the Attorney-General. I ask you to get the member to come to order.
Mr Seselja: On the point of order, Mr Speaker, these debates have always been broad ranging. What Mrs Dunne is alleging in this motion is that the minister has behaved inappropriately. Mr Hanson is simply going to the motive for that inappropriate behaviour, which is part of the reason that this has been brought. Whether it is a motion of no confidence or censure or whether it is another motion calling ministers to account, these are broad-ranging debates. Mr Hanson should not be restricted.
MR SPEAKER: There is no point of order. Minister Hargreaves, I gave you a fair bit of latitude on the point you were making. Mr Hanson, I now invite you to focus on the motion at hand.
MR HANSON: Thank you, Mr Speaker. As I said, this goes to the motive—why the Attorney-General made the comments that he did. It was through the pressure that he was experiencing as the acting corrections minister at the time. The failures include the conditions at the Belconnen Remand Centre, which are widely documented; the ongoing mismanagement and delays in the opening of the Alexander Maconochie Centre; the election stunt that has been widely reported in the media, the opening of the Alexander Maconochie Centre; the public perception of incompetence of the two corrections ministers that we have seen here; the violence that occurred in the BRC and the tunnelling escape; the acts of misleading at the Assembly, which caused the apology from the Chief Minister both in writing and also to the Assembly today; the significant financial cost that is being borne by the community because of delays in the AMC; and then, of course, the most recent incident—
Mr Hargreaves: The bureaucrats have got no control of this.
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