MINISTERIAL CODE OF CONDUCT

Mrs REDMOND (Heysen—Leader of the Opposition) (14:35): My question is to the Premier. Will the Premier sack the Minister for Health and Ageing for using public servants to prepare material for the minister's use in the election during the caretaker period?

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier, Minister for State Development) (14:35): Unsurprisingly, no, I won't. I have reviewed the—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: —the emails—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! You will listen to the Premier's answer.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: I have reviewed the emails which are the subject of these matters and, indeed, the caretaker provisions and the code of conduct, and they do not disclose a breach of either of those propositions.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: I must say I am mystified that three days could be spent on this, but to take those through the chain of reasoning so that it is clear, the caretaker provisions and the codes of conduct are all based on a pretty basic principle, and that is the distinction between a request for the provision of factual information, which is permitted, and the request for the provision of policy advice or opinion, which is not. If you follow each of the codes of practice and conventions in all of the parliaments, including the federal parliament, you will see that that distinction is made clear. The relevant provisions mean that the mere request for the provision of factual information does not implicate the public servant in any matters of a political nature.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: This is consistent across the whole of the nation. A number of arrangements across the nation make express provision that it is for the relevant minister to determine the use to which that information may be put. So, it actually presupposes that this—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: —information can be requested and provided. The Ministerial Code of Conduct needs to be understood with this distinction in mind. It precludes ministers from asking public servants to specifically prepare material for ministers to use in the election after it has been called but it doesn't preclude ministers or their officers from requesting factual information that the minister will then determine to use in an election context.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. I.F. Evans interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, the member for Davenport!

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: The caretaker provisions issued by the Cabinet Office in February 2010 don't preclude requests for the provision of factual material—they just don't do that. If this isn't abundantly clear—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The Premier will sit down for a moment.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! There is no point asking a question if you are not prepared to listen to the answer, and I am not going to sit here and listen to all that chatter. Premier.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: If this is not abundantly clear by just looking at the express terms of the code and the conventions, you only need to consider for a moment the practice of submitting costings to Treasury during an election campaign. If the contentions of those opposite are accurate, then that would be a breach of the code of practice and the code of conduct and the caretaker conventions. It is a complete nonsense, their contention.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Member for Taylor.

Mrs VLAHOS: Thank you, Madam Speaker.

The Hon. I.F. Evans interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Member for Taylor, you will sit down. The member for Davenport will leave the chamber for ten minutes.

The honourable member for Davenport having withdrawn from the chamber: