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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2020-07-23 Daily Xml
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Disability Services

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN (15:16): Supplementary question: minister, were the staff also reminded of their protections under the Whistleblowers Act, or is it only your gag order that they have been told about?

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK (Minister for Human Services) (15:16): My department briefed me that it was their intention to—obviously, this sorry episode has caused some challenges for the staff at the site. The other thing I think that is worth advising the chamber about is that one of the television stations was parked outside that particular home for two nights in a row. If you were one of the staff—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: —members working in those accommodation services, if you were a family member of a loved one visiting them, you would have said to yourself, 'What is wrong? Why is there a TV station camped out here?' The implication being clearly that there is something untoward going on. This has been a disruptive and sad episode. I think the Labor Party has a lot of questions to answer in terms of how it has behaved. It is beyond opportunistic. The member for Hurtle Vale has behaved in a reprehensible way, as a zealot, in her attempt to get media which—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: —people report to me.

The Hon. C.M. Scriven interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! The Hon. Ms Scriven, order!

The Hon. I.K. Hunter interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! And the Hon. Mr Hunter!

An honourable member: Chuck him out.

The PRESIDENT: I'm not going to reward him by throwing him out.

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: People report to me that they have not been particularly impressed by some of the behaviour of the Labor Party. When they raise these matters with Labor shadow ministers the answer is, 'Well, I've got these KPIs. The Leader of the Opposition expects me to do this.' It's as if they're implying that it's not their fault. 'Oh, gosh, I had to throw that family under the bus because the Leader of the Opposition makes me have KPIs.' There are a lot of questions—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: —to be answered and the Labor Party needs to answer them.

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