Page 3642 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 26 August 2009
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I have made abundantly clear in the Legislative Assembly that the government opposes suggestions by the Liberal Party spokesman that I should use the Human Rights Act 2004 as a way of the government taking over non-government teaching and curriculum …
The public statements made by the minister, Mr Barr, in this place, and which I corrected for the record last week, show a complete disregard by this minister for his obligations. Last Tuesday, when Mr Barr flouted convention by seeking leave to make that statement, he made those same statements that he has made to the Non-Government Schools Education Council, and repeated them here in the Assembly once again.
I feel personally affronted, as I have said before, that the minister has chosen to extrapolate an argument that I put forward to him in such a dishonest and unfair way. The statement in question was my argument that the human rights principles of students with a disability in the non-government sector were being compromised by the government for not including them in the special education review, commonly known as the Shaddock review.
The minister has chosen to spin a tale from this, and he has chosen to take any words that I have used so out of context that there is absolutely no resemblance to my original premise. Mr Barr has chosen to perpetuate this falsehood to stakeholders and to this Assembly with further statements that he made during question time and also, obviously, in the form of the letter that he tabled in the Assembly last week.
Mr Speaker, I do not take any pleasure from moving this censure motion. I find that it is quite a reversal of roles. Here am I, the shadow minister for education, trying to make my colleague the minister for education act responsibly within his portfolio.
Mr Barr has embarked on a course of action that is not peculiar to this instance. He has followed similar patterns of behaviour, and it is in the interest of this Assembly for all of us—the crossbenchers, the opposition and, indeed, the government—to take note of these actions. The code of conduct is there to apply to ministers, and the very person it is meant to apply to in this instance has totally ignored it time and again during the course of this debate that we have been having for over a week.
I have been made to apologise and to retract a statement when falsehoods have been made. This Assembly seems to place a lot of emphasis on the terminology applied, and yet the very act that was carried out by the individual has, to this date, been allowed to stand.
As I said at the outset, this minister has left me no choice but to move this censure motion today. Minister Barr has abused his position as a minister of this place, and has also treated the community with contempt. Not only the community; he has treated this Assembly with total contempt.
MR BARR (Molonglo—Minister for Education and Training, Minister for Children and Young People, Minister for Planning and Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation) (10.14): It goes without saying that the government will not be supporting
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