House of Assembly - Fifty-Third Parliament, First Session (53-1)
2014-05-22 Daily Xml

Contents

Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption

Mr MARSHALL (Dunstan—Leader of the Opposition) (14:21): Does the Premier require of officers of his government that they stand aside in the case that they are under investigation for corruption by a royal commission?

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier) (14:22): If those opposite have allegations they wish to advance before a—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: If they have allegations they wish to advance, then they should take those allegations to the relevant authority. We are cooperating with a royal commission into these matters. You have heard today that we are giving all of the necessary legal backing for that royal commission to carry out its work. If you have got something to say to them, trot along and say it, but I understand that somebody at least has walked outside of here and made allegations of a similar nature and they have found themselves with a defamation writ and they have had to pay some money to the Hon. Russell Wortley. All I would suggest is take some care to find some substratum of fact before you actually do advance an allegation, because it could end up being very expensive for you. Beyond that, if you have something cogent to put forward, put it forward.