CRIMINON

Mr HANNA (Mitchell) (15:21): Will the Premier support, in principle, proceedings for criminal defamation against the person who produced the dodgy documents?

The Hon. M.D. RANN (Ramsay—Premier, Minister for Economic Development, Minister for Social Inclusion, Minister for the Arts, Minister for Sustainability and Climate Change) (15:21): I believe that whoever it was who produced these forgeries should be brought to justice. I believe that not only should they be brought to justice, not only should they be dealt with by the prosecuting authorities and the police, but also they should be frogmarched down there, because no one should tolerate those who forge.

Whoever did that was stupid. Whoever believed those documents were real was stupid. That is the whole point about this, because being in this job means that you have people coming in to see you who want to try to convince you to hand them money for a whole range of projects. You have to be certain about what you are being told. You cannot just simply agree with everyone that comes in.

Ms Chapman: Why didn't you table them?

The Hon. K.O. Foley: We didn't have them!

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. M.D. RANN: I found it extraordinary to learn that the Leader of the Opposition took until this week, considering that this did not happen last week but the week before, to actually take these criminally forged documents to the authorities. Ultimately, you have to do the right thing. You have to do the right thing, and we have two groups involved here: the people who forged and their idiocy and the people who believed them.