Page 5935 - Week 14 - Thursday, 8 December 2011
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We have seen the personal animosity time and time again from Mr Hargreaves against Mrs Dunne. We saw the most disgraceful language used by Mr Hargreaves in relation to Mrs Dunne. Now, not being satisfied with that behaviour, he says: “I’m also going to throw her off the committee. Today I’m going to get the Greens to help me throw her off the committee.” It is a continuation of the bullying behaviour, the disgraceful behaviour, that we see from Mr Hargreaves so often in this place.
The Canberra Liberals will not support this. We will not stand for this. We see it for what it is. It is part of a continuing pattern of persecution by John Hargreaves against Mrs Dunne. The Chief Minister might endorse that behaviour, other members of the Labor Party might endorse that behaviour and the Greens might turn around and endorse that behaviour. We do not. We see it for what it is. It is disgraceful behaviour and this motion is simply a continuation of that.
We should be allowed to choose who our nominee is on this committee. You do not have to like our nominee. You should simply deal with the opposition’s nominee. We do not care who the Greens want to put on the committee or who the Labor Party want to put on the committee. They should be free to do that. But to direct the opposition now because you do not like Mrs Dunne is disgraceful. It is unprecedented. It should not be allowed. This deal has been done between the Labor Party and the Greens where they are going to endorse Mr Hargreaves. They are going to endorse his ongoing persecution of Mrs Dunne, which we have seen in the most disgraceful ways in this Assembly. I think it is shameful. We will certainly not be supporting this motion today.
MR HANSON (Molonglo) (11.48): I add to that litany that Mr Seselja has just listed that my understanding is that Mr Hargreaves also wrote to you, Mr Speaker, in an attempt to have Mrs Dunne removed as an Assistant Speaker. If that is the case then that really does add weight to the argument that Mr Seselja has made. You may wish to confirm that, or Mr Hargreaves may wish to confirm that, but it does appear that this is a personal vendetta aimed at Mrs Dunne, who—I agree with Mr Seselja—does an outstanding job.
I would have thought that it was the role of the leader of the party to determine which member sits on which committee, other than those that are appointed as chairs. If it is simply the membership of a committee, that should be a matter for the leader. Obviously Mr Seselja has determined that the person with the appropriate skills to complete the job of manager of opposition business is Mrs Dunne, with me as whip, and that has worked entirely satisfactorily for the opposition. The government might not like it and the Greens might not like it, but this has worked extremely well for the opposition. Maybe what we are seeing here is that, because we are so effective in our performance in the Assembly, this is an attempt to alter our mechanisms in terms of who sits on which committee.
It comes down what is the practice of this place. There is nothing in the standing orders on this. You look to how this occurs and you turn to the House of Representatives practice. Standing order 275 says:
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