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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2008-10-16 Daily Xml
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GOVERNMENT BUILDINGS, ACCESS

Mrs GERAGHTY (Torrens) (14:13): Can the Minister for Infrastructure advise whether the opposition was refused entry by him to a government building today?

The Hon. P.F. CONLON (Elder—Minister for Transport, Minister for Infrastructure, Minister for Energy) (14:13): It is a good question.

Mr Hamilton-Smith: Who's Andrew from your staff?

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: You've got a track record of picking on public servants. I would just leave them alone if I were you, because—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Mr Williams interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, member for MacKillop!

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: The opposition has been out in the public today agitating the story that they were first given entry to a public building and then I, personally, intervened to make sure that was refused. This is a good story but, unfortunately, it is not slightly true; but it has not stopped their tricky dirty tricks department running around trying to sell it to people. Can I explain to members of the opposition something that I would have thought they all knew? The protocol of going to a minister's office to gain access to a government site is not one established by this government but is the one that you operated, that we adopted. It is for a very good reason: because we do not put public servants on the spot politically. It is not their judgment.

Mr Williams: There are no public servants there; it is an empty building.

The SPEAKER: Order!

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: Of course, what we are—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: What we are seeing in this chamber is bad behaviour trying to cover their tricky behaviour. Let me make it clear—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: Let me make this clear: the protocol of going through there is to protect public servants—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: Of course, their claim that they were given entry is not true because the public servant there was put on the spot, did not have authority to allow them in and so, contacted a public servant in my office—because they knew, if they wanted to go I was sitting right here, 10 feet away yesterday. They had the foresight to tell all the media to come but, no, 10 feet away they did not ask me. When did they seek to go? When they knew I was paired at an infrastructure conference; when they knew they would be refused entry; when they knew their dirty little stunt would work. Then, what has he done in this place? He has come in and, further, he has named the public servant—not a staffer, a public servant. He has come in and named the public servant in my office who was put on the spot by him for his cheap stunt.

In a week where governments around the country are grappling with some of the most difficult economic situations this nation and the world has ever faced, what do we have from the opposition? Cheap, dirty stunts. Cheap stunts; they are nothing but stuntsters. In a week when Malcolm Turnbull confined the qualities of leadership to operate in a bipartisan way with the commonwealth in a rescue package, what do we get from this opposition? A cheap, sneaky stunt. Make no mistake, not only is it a stunt, but they did it when they knew I was somewhere else.

What have they told the media? That they were going to be allowed in by a public servant but, apparently, I was sitting in my office watching the closed-circuit television to make sure I could ring up and stop them. Nothing speaks more volumes about the quality of this opposition than the fact that, at a time when the nation and the state faces these challenges, what is their proposal? What is their solution? A cheap stunt putting public servants on the spot, and then a lie to the media afterwards.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P.F. CONLON: I am sure the very small little men over there in the dirty tricks department are very proud. Look, he is grinning again. He is very proud of his dirty trick. However, make sure the media understand what I am saying to them: that you have been lied to by the opposition. They are sneaky liars and nothing ever changes.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The Leader of the Opposition.

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