Page 1488 - Week 05 - Wednesday, 10 April 2013
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response to the bullying at the Canberra Hospital, they said, “Let’s try to limit that review as tightly as we can, because we don’t want anything leaking out that might cause us further problems.”
So it is not surprising that the government would not want any light shone on this matter beyond what has already been shone, because they have got some skin in the game, the shareholders. They have not been doing their job and they do not want that exposed.
But I think that the real loser in this in many ways is Shane Rattenbury, because Shane Rattenbury has been out in the community peddling this line that the salary is obscene: “I’m really angry at the board. They’re not doing their job.” This is the confected outrage that he has been going on with, but then what happens? He meekly comes in here and supports the government. There is this difference between Shane Rattenbury, the radical—Rattenbury the radical who is out there in the community thumping on the desk, “It’s obscene”—and the meek little Rattenbury that comes into this place and does the government’s bidding.
Where is the integrity in Shane Rattenbury? Where is his integrity? It is remarkably absent. He has got very little credibility left, members, because if you go out in the community, if you go out in the media saying one thing, and then you come into this place and you are just a patsy of the government and you are just doing their bidding, then you start to burn your credibility. I think the next time that Shane Rattenbury is on 666 or talking on the news or wherever he is in the community talking about how this is obscene and he has got all these concerns, people should reflect on his actions. And his actions are to go behind closed doors with Andrew Barr, have a cup of tea, stitch up a deal, come in here and just follow what the government is doing. And that is the reality of what has happened.
So there is no doubt Shane Rattenbury has got a significant credibility problem that is coming out of this. He had a decision today—whether he was actually going to stand up for the community, whether he was going to stick by his comments, whether he was going to provide that third-party insurance that he talked about before or whether he was just going to be a patsy for the government. I think we can see conclusively—without too much surprise, I would have to add—which decision he has made.
I remember Jon Stanhope used to call the Greens the Lite Greens. I think yellow is a more apt colour for Shane Rattenbury—yellow, the colour of cowardice, the failure to stand up for what you believe, the failure to stand up for what you say, the failure to come into this place and say: “No, I am going to make sure that we do what is right. We’re going to make sure that we actually have open, accountable government. We’re going to make sure that where there are issues to be addressed, we will address them.” But he has come into this place today, despite his rhetoric, and meekly tried to basically sweep it under the carpet.
I would have to say I am a bit disappointed. I thought, to be honest, that there might be some opportunity that Mr Rattenbury would support this, based on his public comments. And I am—
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