Page 25 - Week 01 - Tuesday, 14 February 2012
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Mrs Dunne: Point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker.
MADAM DEPUTY SPEAKER: Mr Hargreaves, resume your seat. Stop the clock, please. Point of order, Mrs Dunne.
Mrs Dunne: I raised a point of order about Ms Gallagher speaking about rumours. Now Mr Hargreaves is “suspecting”. I draw members’ attention to the code of practice, which says that you deal with the truth. Madam Deputy Speaker, can you ask Mr Hargreaves to deal with the facts and not with his suspicions?
MADAM DEPUTY SPEAKER: Mr Hargreaves, will you stick to the facts, please?
MR HARGREAVES: Thank you very much, Madam Deputy Speaker. This whole issue is about the truth. This is the place where we can bring our fears, our suspicions and so on and then come up with a vehicle to have those fears dashed or satisfied. That is what this motion is all about. We reject Mr Smyth’s amendments. He is trying to cast a net and see what he gets. Well, Madam Deputy Speaker, the FOI documents themselves say that 16 out of 17 offices are squeaky clean, that eight out of 10 people in the Leader of the Opposition’s office had to be pulled up because they were in breach, and in fact only one office had repeated pleas from the Clerk. This is just flapping around to put smoke around the issue to hide the fact that we have a very serious public perception of this office.
MR HANSON (Molonglo) (11.24): I think the public perception is indeed the point here. These are allegations that have been thrown around. There have been things said that I think were out of order by Ms Gallagher in terms of people’s ethics and their morals. Slurs have been made about individuals who work in this Assembly and now there is going to be a witch-hunt perpetrated against one of the people that lead the party. It seems that there is rank hypocrisy. A member of staff who holds a political office in a political party, who works for one political party, is to be investigated—and that is the root of all evil—whilst the same thing occurs on the other side and is without consequence. Essentially, Mr Hargreaves and those opposite are saying: “No, we’re all squeaky clean. You’re a pack of mongrels.” It is just inappropriate, Madam Deputy Speaker.
Mr Hargreaves: On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker, this is a very serious debate. Mr Hanson has just said that we on this side have called those opposite a pack of mongrels. Never in this debate thus far has that accusation been made or that appellation been used—never, and neither should it. If Mr Hanson feels that way, that is his problem, but he should not use that language in this place.
MR HANSON: On the point of order, I consider that a debating point. I said that essentially what Mr Hargreaves has said is that we are a pack of mongrels. When you consider the language that has been used, the hyperbole around the comments made and the press statements from Ms Gallagher, which include absolutely defamatory accusations that Mr Seselja lacks a moral and ethical compass—it is absolutely disgraceful language—I think my interpretation of it is quite appropriate. I do not think it is a point of order.
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