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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Second Session (51-2)
2008-03-05 Daily Xml
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TRAM DERAILMENT

Dr McFETRIDGE (Morphett) (15:11): My question is to the Minister for Transport. What disciplinary action, if any, has been taken, or is planned to be taken, against the tram driver involved in the Melbourne Cup Day derailment?

The Hon. P.F. CONLON (Elder—Minister for Transport, Minister for Infrastructure, Minister for Energy) (15:11): Of course, the member for Morphett is on the record as having said that it should have been the general manager or me who got sacked and that the driver did nothing wrong.

Dr McFetridge interjecting:

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: One's gone and he is proud of the fact that he drove a decent bloke to distraction. He is proud of it. He could not get the other public servant because he was proved to be wrong, but he is proud of it because he is a little man who sets his sights so low. You big, brave fellow: the public servant who cannot come into this place and answer you. You are so proud, aren't you? You are a disgrace! I understand that the driver was stood down for a period of time while the investigation was ongoing—I think, from memory, it was something like nine days for the part involving him—and a warning was put on his record.

I say at the outset that this was not about a witch-hunt for a driver. People do make mistakes. The member for Morphett makes only mistakes. If the member for Morphett was suspended every time he made a mistake, this house would be blessedly free of him. We would not see him for months. He would have a backlog. I understand that the driver was stood down—I will check whether it was with or without pay—and he had a warning put on his record.

But I say that the only people who have dragged this driver through the mill are members opposite who have made incredibly wrong allegations time after time; so we have to tell them the truth. The member for Morphett wrote a letter wanting to sack everyone. He wrote a letter to the union that stated that it should take industrial action. Do members know what the union said? It said that it had complete in faith in me and Bill Watson and no faith in the opposition spokesperson.

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