Page 3265 - Week 09 - Wednesday, 23 August 2017

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MR HANSON: I am very happy to give the credit. I was just making a point. Mr Rattenbury, you left briefly during this important debate. I am not having a go at you, Mr Rattenbury. I do want you to hear this point; it is a good one. You said that this is Mr Hanson’s approach and therefore you will not be supporting it. I make the point that the recommendations in my motion are not mine; the approach is the recommendations from the committee report from Ms Le Couteur, amongst others, from estimates. You might not like these recommendations and you might not like the approach, but it is no wonder Ms Le Couteur is not here in the chamber. You characterised her good work as mine. Let us be very clear what is happening here.

We reach a bit of an impasse here. I am very disappointed. I thought when I saw those recommendations in the estimates report that this was good. I thought that finally the Greens and the Labor Party recognised the problem and that their members on the committee had seen some sense and were going to act on this. We thought we were going to get some results for the DPP. But it would seem that there is a very long way from what happens in that committee room—going up to Mr Rattenbury, and making sure that Ms Le Couteur’s recommendations do not get carried, and that is what has happened here—and other members of the Labor Party stopping the recommendations put forward by their members. That is disappointing.

We will not support the amendment because all it is is wishy-washy weasel words.

Mr Barr: Excellent alliteration.

MR HANSON: Mr Barr is interjecting. Do you want to say it louder?

Mr Barr: Very good iteration there—and alliteration too.

MR HANSON: He likes my alliteration: wishy-washy weasel words.

Mr Barr: Indeed, yes. How much time did you spend working on that?

MR HANSON: I came up with it just then.

Mr Barr: Just then?

MR HANSON: Just then. I should not respond to interjections, should I, Madam Assistant Speaker? I will make sure I do not. Nor shall I refer to him under standing order 42. It should be through you, I think, so I will make sure I do not do that, Madam Assistant Speaker.

Regardless of my alliteration, the point is, and it is an important one, that there is not enough money for the DPP to do its job properly. Justice in this town is suffering as a result. I call on this government to heed the recommendations of the estimates committee and, when they do have this review of funding, look at the support that they will receive in this place. If you do come back here, Attorney-General, with the funding that is appropriate, we will recognise that and I will give you due


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