Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2018-12-05 Daily Xml

Contents

Strathmont Pool

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (14:52): The minister has advised the council that she has before her in her written notes information that would answer the question about where these alternative sites are but they are in a confidential section. Minister, you can make the decision to release that information, which will be very helpful to members of the community who rely on that pool. Why won't you?

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK (Minister for Human Services) (14:52): As I have said before in this place, the Labor Party are bullies. They go to individuals, they go to organisations and they say things that aren't true. I have seen that countless times, particularly since they have become the opposition, that they will bully organisations and say things on the record about them which are not true.

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: The interests for whom we need to be most cognisant of are the users of the pool, not members of the Australian Labor Party. My department has worked with each of the user groups, they have come up with alternatives, and I'm satisfied that that therefore best suits the users of the particular pool. I don't think it serves anybody to provide the Labor Party with further opportunities to undermine the work of the department in finding alternatives. If the media is interested in where these are located, then we will consider that, but it is not in the interests of the users of the pool—the families—to have the Labor Party undermine providing alternatives for these people to go to and, therefore, I will not be releasing this information.

The PRESIDENT: The Hon. Mr Wortley, I think this is going to be the final supplementary on this topic.

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY: This is a very important issue, Mr President. I think we should take it on the merits of the question.

The PRESIDENT: Just ask the question.