Ministerial Travel

Mr KNOLL (Schubert) (14:30): As it was reported that the reason for the trip was to discuss with Chris the trip on the flight, why couldn't the assistant minister and his assistant have had that discussion before they left for the trip, as opposed to having to upgrade to a business class flight on the trip?

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier) (14:30): I expect a very similar reason to the reason that the Leader of the Opposition and his Chief of Staff wanted to travel business class to Finland—a very similar reason—when there were no quibbles about the use of public money for business class travel for the Leader of the Opposition and his Chief of Staff when they were flying to Finland. But maybe there should be a bit of communication between the right wing and the moderate wing of the Liberal Party when they start constructing these questions. The—

The Hon. J.J. Snelling: Stephan, you've got to be more subtle, mate.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: That's right. Not only—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Newland and the Minister for Health are called to order.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: We are prepared to be accountable for the expenditure of public money, but we will not tolerate hypocrisy. We will not tolerate hypocrisy, and those opposite seeking to advance this—one should read through the Visa accounts of those who were actually—when they were last in office. It was the last days of the Raj. They were spending up like there was no tomorrow. It was extraordinary: hats flying next to people on overseas trips. We were seeing the most extraordinary opulence.

That's what people have to look forward to: not the prudent use of government resources but the profligate use of public resources by those opposite. For every one of your quibbles, we have an extraordinary tale of profligacy and misuse of public money that we will ram down your throat every day of the week.