Page 777 - Week 02 - Thursday, 12 February 2009

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Mrs Dunne: If the attorney can point out to me that the men in question were not charged when he spoke on the radio, or have not been charged, I will correct the record in the Assembly. However, the transcript of the attorney’s statement, the statement that the attorney made on radio, was that charges had been laid. When he made the statement that he thought that these people were guilty of a particular offence, he thought it was a live matter before the committee.

MR CORBELL: There is no point of order.

MADAM ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Ms Burch): Mrs Dunne, I am trying to clarify what—

Mrs Dunne: I probably should seek leave to make a statement.

MR CORBELL: You should.

Mrs Dunne: First of all, I make the point of order that, in the construction of what the attorney said, he is reflecting on a vote of the Assembly. Could I seek leave to respond to the minister’s invitation to make a statement?

Leave granted.

MRS DUNNE (Ginninderra): It transpired in the debate the other day that the attorney asserted that these men had not in fact been charged. I understood from some words that Ms Bresnan said that that may have been the case. However, I was relying on the advice that the attorney gave on Triple 6 radio on 3 February. I do not have the transcript with me but I recall the words quite distinctly. I am sure that my colleagues can recall the words quite distinctly: “Investigations have been underway and charges have been laid.” He went on to say, “Let me make it perfectly clear,” and then made the statements that we objected to.

If the attorney was wrong when he made that statement he should apologise to the community because he made the statement. And in making the statement about the guilt or innocence of those people, he implied that this was a live matter before the courts.

The question that the attorney now has to answer is: what is the truth about the date when these men were charged? You told the community that these men had been charged and, in the next breath, went on to say: “Let me make it perfectly clear. This is what I think, what the government thinks and Corrective Services thinks, about the guilt of these people.” This is why I brought forward the motion the other day and this is why Ms Bresnan went on the record saying, “People in this country are entitled to a fair trial and the Attorney-General has undermined this.” She said it on national television. The attorney, at the time of making his statement about the guilt of these people, did it in the context of implying to the community that this was a live issue before the court.

However, without reflecting on the vote the other day, if it is now the case, if it now comes to light that what I said in my speech was erroneous, I do apologise to the


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