Legislative Council - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2017-03-01 Daily Xml

Contents

Correctional Services Department

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS (14:49): A supplementary question. That was not my question. It wasn't every spurious claim. It is where a massive claim in excess of $2 million, as the minister has acknowledged, against the government or the department is made that he didn't establish procedures where he was advised by his department of that particular claim in progress in dealing with the claim.

The Hon. P. MALINAUSKAS (Minister for Police, Minister for Correctional Services, Minister for Emergency Services, Minister for Road Safety) (14:49): I think the test or the threshold question that Mr Lucas is asking is the dollar figure he is using. The $2 million figure—

The Hon. R.I. Lucas: You used the figure.

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. P. MALINAUSKAS: The $2 million figure represents the initial claim made by Mr Tassone. Mr Lucas is using the $2 million figure claimed by Mr Tassone as some kind of evidence of the veracity of the claims—quite the opposite. I think the $2 million figure speaks to the spurious nature of the claim, and again I would say that I don't intend to set up a reporting line so that every single time a prisoner makes a spurious claim I get a brief on it.