Page 1663 - Week 05 - Tuesday, 1 May 2012
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attention she has addressed them. We heard the assertive argument from Mr Hanson this morning that because the Chief Minister had reported data that has subsequently been identified as potentially incorrect she has in some way misled the Assembly. It is an absurd standard and, as the Chief Minister has indicated, she will be in a position to correct the record once we know the extent of and what the actual discrepancies are. But we do not know that at this point in time. That is why there is a forensic audit. That is why the Chief Minister has asked the Auditor-General to become involved.
So the claim that there is some misleading of this place is so weak, so pathetic, that it completely undermines the credibility of this move in the Assembly this morning. It is so pathetic that it really does this place no credit whatsoever.
The Chief Minister has acted with the utmost level of probity, with the utmost level of consideration of her obligations as a minister and as Chief Minister, and this place should be recognising that fact, should be commending her for the way in which she has sought to address a difficult and complex matter, a matter not of her making but which she is taking responsibility for and ensuring that the government, as a whole, has the processes and the mechanisms in place to find out why this occurred, what steps should now be taken and to make sure that those steps will be able to be taken.
The government obviously does not support this motion this morning. And in relation to the amendment moved by Ms Bresnan, Ms Bresnan simply seeks to insert what is effectively a new clause 2 dealing with a request to the Auditor-General. This reiterates the position the Chief Minister has already placed on the record in relation to this matter, and the government will be supporting the amendment.
MR SMYTH (Brindabella) (11.10): The Liberal Party are entitled to have their view that a full, independent board of inquiry be conducted into this matter. And what brings us to this view? What brings us to this view is the litany of disasters that have befallen Health under this minister, aided, abetted and protected by the Greens, particularly in this term, who will not stand up for the community.
It is about time that the Greens determined who they were here for—whether their third-party insurance policy was written solely for the benefit of Katy Gallagher or whether or not they are actually here to represent the community, because that is not what they are doing. Until we hold this government to account, nothing will change. Until the Greens stand up for the community, nothing will change. And until there is a full board of inquiry, nothing will change.
How do we know that it will not change? Because on every occasion the Greens stumble when it comes to holding particularly Katy Gallagher to account, and they do it all the time. You only have to look at this term, Madam Deputy Speaker, where we have had the elective surgery saga, the obstetrics bullying saga and now the emergency department waiting times scandal. But the Greens will not hold their Labor colleagues to account. I get held to account. I get censured for the tone of a press release. I did not alter anything. I did not do any modifying of data. I did not falsify records, yet I get censured. But the Chief Minister, who is responsible for all of these fiascos, who has allowed this stench to build up over all the decent, honest, hardworking members of the department of health, gets let off every single time, and you have to question why.
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