Minister for Investment and Trade

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS (15:41): I want to talk about a minister who has been caught out not telling the truth, a minister who has engaged in a deliberate strategy by him and his officers to conceal the total cost of his many overseas trips over the last two years, and a minister, in minister Hamilton-Smith, who is clearly embarrassed that, should the total costs (which potentially run into some hundreds of thousands of dollars) be publicised prior to the next election, it will be a source of much embarrassment to him.

The member for Schubert has highlighted that in 2016 the minister has had 114 days of gazetted leave and in 2015 he had 110 days of gazetted leave, some of which of course was personal leave and much of which was gazetted leave for travel overseas. The minister is required, as all ministers are, to proactively disclose travel and travel costs. On the state development department website, a consolidated travel report for the minister and his staffers for July to November 2015 lists only one trip for July, at a cost of $4,699. However, the member for Schubert has established under FOI that there have been a further seven overseas trips which have not been revealed, and no costs have been revealed for the cost of those trips in that six-month period. It also omitted the details of the trip to China in July 2015.

Similarly, in 2016 there has been significant non-disclosure of overseas travel on the minister's website. When one looks at some of these trips—in August of 2015 there was travel to Turkey, India, South-East Asia, the United States of America and Europe over a period of more than a month—there is no disclosure at all of that particular trip, yet there are press releases and other information from freedom of information that clearly indicate that the minister was overseas during that period, yet refused to declare the details of that trip and the cost.

Similarly, there was a trip in November to Indonesia and India. Again, there is no disclosure of that trip, even though there is information available to indicate that the minister had taken that trip. There are a number of trips during that period where clearly the minister, through his own website, has released information from overseas but has refused to disclose the details of that trip and that particular travel. This is clearly a grotesque abuse by the minister of the rules, which require public accountability for the spending of taxpayers' money.

Sadly, it appears to be typical of the arrogance of a man who is full of his own self-importance and obviously believes that the rules that apply to everyone else do not apply to him. He has obviously embarked on a conscious policy of refusing to disclose. I understand that, when quizzed by either journalists or members of parliament, he embarks on an aggressive or intimidatory response, trying to close down any genuine questions about the particular issues, refusing to answer questions when clearly he issues press releases from overseas, indicating he is travelling overseas, he is on gazetted leave, yet he lodges disclosure documents which indicate that he has not travelled at all during that period.

A wise person once told me, 'If you're not going to tell the truth, you had better have a good memory because you need to remember all the untruths you have been telling over a long period of time.' Clearly, the minister has been caught out in relation to this. He issues press releases, but then, when it comes to disclose, refuses to disclose. When pressed by the media, his office, on his authorisation, points the finger at the department and says, 'Well, we're not really sure why it hasn't gone up. That's the department's fault.'

It is his responsibility, as minister, to be publicly accountable for the expenditure of his money. He obviously hopes that with bluff, bluster, intimidation and aggressive behaviour he will drive away anyone who might want to ask questions about these issues. It is the typical attitude of the schoolyard bully, someone who thinks that he can get away with it and that the rules do not apply to him.

Mr President, I assure you that in the interests of public accountability the member for Schubert will continue to pursue the minister through freedom of information requests. We will do our part, through the Budget and Finance Committee, to tally the total costs of all the trips the minister has been taking and refusing to be held accountable for. We will make sure that the public is aware of the total cost of the minister's travels over the two-year period leading up to the election in March 2018.