Page 4002 - Week 10 - Tuesday, 20 September 2011
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Mr Speaker, the first question being put to this Assembly is whether substantial interference occurred. I would argue that interference did not occur at all. In fact, there were two issues on which Mr Smyth bases his case. The first one is the presentation to the community of the media release from the Chief Minister and the second one was a series of approaches made to the chair.
Let me deal with the second one first because I know that Ms Le Couteur is listening, although she does not appear to be. I want to have the record show, in fact, that when the approaches were made to the chair, Ms Le Couteur did absolutely the correct thing and said, “I do not wish to engage in the conversation; it is inappropriate.” That will happen, Mr Speaker, forever. People will always try, if they feel as though they need to, to put a case before you. But, of course, these approaches were inappropriate. They were dealt with and they will be dealt with exactly the same going forward. Was there any interference in that? No.
Mr Seselja: You are making the case.
MR HARGREAVES: Mr Speaker, would you please ask Mr Seselja to be a little more courteous to the gravity of this particular subject.
MR SPEAKER: Mr Hargreaves, you have the floor.
MR HARGREAVES: It is not acceptable. Mr Speaker, as a member, I did not feel that I was interfered with by people’s approaches to Ms Le Couteur. Quite the opposite, Mr Speaker. When Ms Le Couteur quite properly advised me that approaches were being made I felt comforted by her response—that, in fact, there was no, if you like, introduction into the committee deliberations. That was because Ms Le Couteur had dealt with it properly at the time. Was there substantial interference by that matter, therefore? No. Any reasonable person would assume no, there was not. Was there any interference at all? No, there was not because Ms Le Couteur dealt with it as the chair and she dealt with it very well.
I come to the issue of the press release. Mr Speaker, one of the hallmarks of the transition of Chief Minister to Katy Gallagher has been, some would say, her obsession with being transparent and making sure that the community out there in the ACT knows exactly what is going on, what is in the mind of the government. I would put it this way, Mr Speaker: this government under Katy Gallagher’s leadership is engaging with the community in the contemplative stage before a decision is taken. Indeed, it was acknowledged in this press release that it is, of course, with the public accounts committee for advice.
What we need to understand is the impact of a press release on the deliberations of members. Mr Smyth has been in this place for as long as I have—quite a long time. I cannot imagine him being interfered with by the production of one press release and, indeed, that applies to Ms Le Couteur as well. I can imagine that if there were a series of press releases put out actually putting forward a given position hoping to garner community support for a particular position. But that was not the case. What we had was one single media release. What flowed from that, Mr Speaker, was an expression
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