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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Second Session (51-2)
2007-11-14 Daily Xml
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TRAM DERAILMENT

Mr HAMILTON-SMITH (Waite—Leader of the Opposition) (14:37): He has not answered the question, but will the minister table in parliament the completed investigation into that tram derailment on Melbourne Cup Day?

The Hon. P.F. CONLON (Elder—Minister for Transport, Minister for Infrastructure, Minister for Energy) (14:37): I will talk to Bill Watson about that, but I want to come back to—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: No, no; I might actually—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: I might actually table a whole report of all that happened on Melbourne Cup Day. You might not like that, Leader of the Opposition. You might not like that, because you went down there that night. And you might not like some of the things that it would say about you. So, you know, just be careful what you ask for. But I will come back to it again—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: I will come back to this again—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The minister will be heard uninterrupted.

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: Thank you, sir. It is rather pathetic that they will not—they tell lies, they tell misinformation, but they will not—

Dr McFETRIDGE: Point of order, Mr Speaker—

The SPEAKER: Order! The minister will withdraw the remark 'they tell lies'.

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: I withdraw 'they tell lies'. They have engaged in hyperactive dishonesty about this throughout.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: I have asked them to wait for the report.

Dr McFETRIDGE: Point of order, Mr Speaker—

Members interjecting:

Dr McFETRIDGE: It is 127: 'Digression; personal reflections'.

The SPEAKER: Order! I do not uphold the point of order. The Minister for Transport.

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: It is hard for me to get more than three or four words out. The underlying issue is that they weren't there at the big debate with the big guys today, and they are very angry about that, very angry. But it is not my fault, I didn't pick the fight, the other bloke did. Not my fault. But I will say this: I will give you as much information as I can. I will tell you this—I have told you the truth throughout—I am not the one who has said that it was the rail that was faulty, or it was a switch that was faulty, or someone told the driver to do it—all of these untrue things. I have told you everything that I have been told by TransAdelaide.

Everything I have been told confirms this—and I don't like, again, because I am dragged into this by the opposition because they will make up stories and not wait for an investigation—the driver ran a red light. Okay? I know that the member for Morphett has said that it is all right for drivers to run red lights. We do not agree with that. There is no doubt that there is no fault in the infrastructure. There is absolutely no doubt that the derailment was caused by human error.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: Just come back to the point. What will happen here is that I will continue to tell the parliament and the public the truth. I have no doubt that the opposition will continue to make up stories. However, the bottom line is this: what I ask them to do is simply wait for the completion of the investigation.

Ms Chapman: That is what we are asking; have you tabled the report—

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: I have just told the Ryobi power tool on the other side that I will table whatever I can table. I have absolutely nothing at all to hide. What will happen is that, if I get caught out getting one tiny little thing wrong, they will be all over me. We will not get an apology for the absolute farrago of dishonesty that we have had from them on this issue. You will not get an apology from the member—because remember what his approach is: I do not care how many I get wrong; one day I will get one right. I will keep telling you the truth, I will keep telling the public the truth, and this fellow (soon to be replaced by Alexander Downer) will keep making up stories.

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