Page 183 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 15 February 2012
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This staff member has been named. This staff member is Mr Garrett Purtill, the president of the Labor Party. So all that Dr Bourke needs to do today is stand up and say, “It wasn’t Garrett Purtill. ” If he refuses to do that, it raises serious questions.
I have asked for some information from the minister. What I want to know is who that staff member was. No doubt it is a member of the Labor Party who was responsible for inciting this. If it was not, let us make sure we clear them. Why did they refer that call? What was their purpose for referring this call and in what capacity? Did they make it as the president of the Labor Party? Did they make it as a member of the Labor Party? Or did they do it as the representative of Dr Bourke? If so, maybe Dr Bourke has to answer to the members of the Indigenous tent embassy why he helped facilitate what happened on Australia Day.
Dr Bourke has an opportunity here. He can clarify this issue right here and now. But if he refuses to then this Assembly needs to know. What we hear from Katy Gallagher is “open and accountable government”. I have heard that ad nauseam. And the only reason they are refusing to provide us this information—the one, slim thread that they use—is “we are not going to name staff members”. But we have seen over the last few days that that is hogwash, because this is a party, this is a minister, this is a Labor Party that will name names at will. They are trying to hide behind that pretence, and let us acknowledge that that is what it is.
Members, I implore you: let us find out what has gone on here. If you do not and if the Greens refuse to allow this to occur then what we would be seeing, again, would be rank hypocrisy. What we would be seeing is allowing this government to go unscrutinised, and we would be saying, “It’s okay to attack the Liberal Party but not the Labor Party.” It would be saying: “We don’t care what happens in Dr Bourke’s office. We don’t care if a member of his staff or a member of the Labor Party incited those protests or helped facilitate the incitement of those protests at the tent embassy. We don’t care. All we want to do is protect our Labor mates.”
DR BOURKE (Ginninderra—Minister for Education and Training, Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs, Minister for Industrial Relations and Minister for Corrections) (2.38): As I have said previously, my office was contacted on the day. It was about a media contact. They were referred to Ms Sattler. It is not my policy to name my people in my office in here, but I will tell you that it was my chief of staff.
MR SESELJA (Molonglo—Leader of the Opposition) (2.38): It is interesting that Dr Bourke has said that his policy is not to name names, but he has now come out and named Margaret Watt. The question remains: what was the purpose of that call? These are the facts as we know them. We know that the Prime Minister’s office contacted Dr Bourke’s office. We know that Kim Sattler was then contacted by Dr Bourke’s office, or through Dr Bourke’s office Kim Sattler was then notified, and we saw the footage last night on 7.30 of Kim Sattler then going and spreading false information directly before there was a near riot at the tent embassy.
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