Page 89 - Week 01 - Tuesday, 9 February 2010
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The committee made 25 findings; the government is challenging 19 of these. The committee made findings in the absence of supporting evidence. It made findings that appear to be politically motivated and that were incorrect and critical of the government.
The committee made 11 recommendations. When it came to recommending improvements in government operation, the committee had little to offer. The recommendations relate primarily to contract management improvements and to briefing the Assembly in regard to outstanding contractual matters. These 11 recommendations are far from inspiring and far from contentious. They offer little in the way of improvement; they claim, nonetheless, to target improvement.
The government has agreed to or noted nine of these and rejected just two of the 11 recommendations. The two rejected recommendations, Nos 5 and 7, relate to the briefing of this Assembly in regard to unresolved contract matters. The government has rejected these, because to comply with them at this time will potentially undermine the territory’s capacity to finally resolve this contract. However, I add that, when these matters are resolved, the government stands ready to advise members of this place on the outcome.
The government has prepared a detailed response to the committee report. The response addresses every finding and every recommendation. It documents the government’s considerable concerns in regard to the findings of the committee, and it addresses the recommendations and notes the government’s responses. I commend the responses to the Assembly.
MR HANSON (Molonglo) (4.12): The first point I would like to make is that the committee report was delivered by a tripartisan committee of this Assembly. It was chaired by Mrs Dunne but had two other members: Mary Porter from the Labor Party and Meredith Hunter from the ACT Greens. It is important to note that the attacks that have been made by Mr Corbell are being aimed at a committee of this Assembly, are being aimed equally at Mrs Dunne, Ms Hunter and Mary Porter.
The story here today—I know that Mr Corbell has called on the media for his dramatic response, but I hope they are not too let down by it—
Mr Coe: Anticlimactic.
MR HANSON: It certainly was, Mr Coe—very anticlimactic. The story out of today is that Mr Corbell has turned on his own ACT Labor member. This report says that it appears to be politically motivated. So the report is politically motivated. Simon Corbell is essentially alleging that his own ACT Labor member has assisted in drafting, has agreed to and has signed off on a politically motivated report.
There are two options here: either that is simply not true and Simon Corbell is trying to deny, spin and get himself out of what is a troubling situation, a damning report, or—the alternative—Mary Porter has deliberately signed off on a politically motivated report. Either of the two are somewhat damning of Simon Corbell.
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