❓ Question regarding false claims about dangerous sexual offenders made by the Leader of the Opposition, leading to a heated debate and withdrawals of remarks in parliament.
AnsweredQoN 872Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
DECLARED DANGEROUS SEX
OFFENDERS
872. Mr R.R. WHITBY to the Attorney General:
I refer to the Dangerous Sexual
Offenders Act, which was introduced by a Labor government and subsequently
strengthened by this Labor government. Can the Attorney General advise the
house whether he is aware of any false or misleading claims that have been made
recently with regard to dangerous sexual offenders; and, if so, can he advise
the house as to whom has been making these wrong and inaccurate claims?
OFFENDERS
872. Mr R.R. WHITBY to the Attorney General:
I refer to the Dangerous Sexual
Offenders Act, which was introduced by a Labor government and subsequently
strengthened by this Labor government. Can the Attorney General advise the
house whether he is aware of any false or misleading claims that have been made
recently with regard to dangerous sexual offenders; and, if so, can he advise
the house as to whom has been making these wrong and inaccurate claims?
AnswerView source ↗
It is the Leader of the Opposition,
and in case it is unclear to anyone, she did so most recently on 6 October at a
press conference. In response to news that a dangerous sex offender had been
housed in accommodation provided by the state, she said that under a Liberal
government there would be no public housing for dangerous sex offenders who are
released in the community on supervision. She said —
Well, they definitely won't
be in public housing, �
That is what the untruthful Leader
of the Opposition said. But the reporter, knowing how patently untruthful the
Leader of the Opposition is, and how wont she is to mislead and try to scare
the public, asked —
This dangerous sex offender
legislation, sorry, accommodation program was introduced in 2013 when you were
police minister and again it didn't get scrapped in 2016 when you were
deputy. You know, why� why is it an issue now?
Since the member for Scarborough
introduced it. The answer by the utterly dishonest and untruthful Leader of the
Opposition was —
It's an issue now because
double the number of sex offenders have been released since the Labor Government
came into office.
How dishonest is that? In March
2017 there were 25 dangerous sex offenders on community supervision under the
Liberal government of which the now Leader of the Opposition was Deputy
Premier. That was in March 2017. There were 25, and as of last week there were
23; that is two fewer. It is true that there are 27 orders, which means that
there are two more orders, but thanks to the McGowan Labor government's
tough, tough, tough attitude towards dangerous sex offenders, four of those
have been cancelled. They are inside, so there are only 23 on the outside in
supervised circumstances, whilst there were 25 when we came into government.
The Leader of the Opposition has
revealed her election tactic and program: she is going to be totally untruthful
with the public of Western Australia on all matters law and order, and will try
to scare the public into voting for her by bandying untruthfulness around. Let
us just look at the history of this. In 2006, Labor introduced laws to contain
dangerous sex offenders. Since 2006 —
Mr R.S. Love interjected.
Mr J.R. QUIGLEY : That is 13
years, bigmouth. In the 13 years since 2006 —
The SPEAKER : Attorney General,
you will refer to the member by his proper title.
Mr J.R. QUIGLEY : The member
who interjected: in the 13 years since 2006, one sex offender has recommitted a
sex offence whilst on release. That was Mark Bradley Wimbridge, who offended in
June 2016 when the now Leader of the Opposition was both Minister for Police
and Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party. That is the only failure in the system
that Labor introduced; the only failure is in the lap of the untruthful and
dishonest Leader of the Opposition. She is trying to frighten and scare the
population by trying to hide the truth. As the reporter said —
The SPEAKER : Attorney General!
You cannot call someone dishonest.
Mrs M.H. Roberts : None of
them complained, Mr Speaker. No-one stood up for her!
The SPEAKER : Minister for
Police, I am complaining about you interjecting. I call you to order for the
first time.
Mr J.R. QUIGLEY : I will
stick to ''blatant untruthfulness'' then.
Withdrawal of Remark
Dr D.J.
HONEY : On a point of order —
Several members interjected.
Dr D.J. HONEY : I do not
believe that the Attorney General withdrew his comment.
The SPEAKER : You withdraw,
and also —
Ms S. Winton interjected.
The SPEAKER : Member for Wanneroo,
I call you to order for the first time. ''Blatant untruthfulness''—you
will withdraw that and the other one, please.
Mr J.R.
QUIGLEY : I withdraw and just say ''untruthful''
because it is —
The SPEAKER : Do not press
me; just get on with it, please.
Questions without Notice Resumed
Mr J.R. QUIGLEY : It was
untruthful. The reporter got on to that and jumped all over it, and said that
the dangerous sex offender accommodation had been introduced in 2016 by the now
Leader of the Opposition—that was after the Leader of the Opposition
said that there would be no state accommodation for sex offenders. She provided
it; she and her government provided it. We and the community are not going to
tolerate this blatant misleading of the community and this bandying about of
false figures.
and in case it is unclear to anyone, she did so most recently on 6 October at a
press conference. In response to news that a dangerous sex offender had been
housed in accommodation provided by the state, she said that under a Liberal
government there would be no public housing for dangerous sex offenders who are
released in the community on supervision. She said —
Well, they definitely won't
be in public housing, �
That is what the untruthful Leader
of the Opposition said. But the reporter, knowing how patently untruthful the
Leader of the Opposition is, and how wont she is to mislead and try to scare
the public, asked —
This dangerous sex offender
legislation, sorry, accommodation program was introduced in 2013 when you were
police minister and again it didn't get scrapped in 2016 when you were
deputy. You know, why� why is it an issue now?
Since the member for Scarborough
introduced it. The answer by the utterly dishonest and untruthful Leader of the
Opposition was —
It's an issue now because
double the number of sex offenders have been released since the Labor Government
came into office.
How dishonest is that? In March
2017 there were 25 dangerous sex offenders on community supervision under the
Liberal government of which the now Leader of the Opposition was Deputy
Premier. That was in March 2017. There were 25, and as of last week there were
23; that is two fewer. It is true that there are 27 orders, which means that
there are two more orders, but thanks to the McGowan Labor government's
tough, tough, tough attitude towards dangerous sex offenders, four of those
have been cancelled. They are inside, so there are only 23 on the outside in
supervised circumstances, whilst there were 25 when we came into government.
The Leader of the Opposition has
revealed her election tactic and program: she is going to be totally untruthful
with the public of Western Australia on all matters law and order, and will try
to scare the public into voting for her by bandying untruthfulness around. Let
us just look at the history of this. In 2006, Labor introduced laws to contain
dangerous sex offenders. Since 2006 —
Mr R.S. Love interjected.
Mr J.R. QUIGLEY : That is 13
years, bigmouth. In the 13 years since 2006 —
The SPEAKER : Attorney General,
you will refer to the member by his proper title.
Mr J.R. QUIGLEY : The member
who interjected: in the 13 years since 2006, one sex offender has recommitted a
sex offence whilst on release. That was Mark Bradley Wimbridge, who offended in
June 2016 when the now Leader of the Opposition was both Minister for Police
and Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party. That is the only failure in the system
that Labor introduced; the only failure is in the lap of the untruthful and
dishonest Leader of the Opposition. She is trying to frighten and scare the
population by trying to hide the truth. As the reporter said —
The SPEAKER : Attorney General!
You cannot call someone dishonest.
Mrs M.H. Roberts : None of
them complained, Mr Speaker. No-one stood up for her!
The SPEAKER : Minister for
Police, I am complaining about you interjecting. I call you to order for the
first time.
Mr J.R. QUIGLEY : I will
stick to ''blatant untruthfulness'' then.
Withdrawal of Remark
Dr D.J.
HONEY : On a point of order —
Several members interjected.
Dr D.J. HONEY : I do not
believe that the Attorney General withdrew his comment.
The SPEAKER : You withdraw,
and also —
Ms S. Winton interjected.
The SPEAKER : Member for Wanneroo,
I call you to order for the first time. ''Blatant untruthfulness''—you
will withdraw that and the other one, please.
Mr J.R.
QUIGLEY : I withdraw and just say ''untruthful''
because it is —
The SPEAKER : Do not press
me; just get on with it, please.
Questions without Notice Resumed
Mr J.R. QUIGLEY : It was
untruthful. The reporter got on to that and jumped all over it, and said that
the dangerous sex offender accommodation had been introduced in 2016 by the now
Leader of the Opposition—that was after the Leader of the Opposition
said that there would be no state accommodation for sex offenders. She provided
it; she and her government provided it. We and the community are not going to
tolerate this blatant misleading of the community and this bandying about of
false figures.
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