❓ Opposition questions the Premier regarding a police raid on the Sunday Times over a leaked story about misuse of public funds, alleging inappropriate use of resources and potential political interference. The Premier denies any direction or prior knowledge of the raid, defending the separation of powers.
AnsweredQoN 197Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
SUNDAY TIMES POLICE RAID
Before I ask my question, I join with the Minister for Health in welcoming to the house today the children, parents and supporters of the Kids in the House initiative by the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and I thank those young people for sharing their stories with us and giving us an insight into the impact that type 1 diabetes has on their families and lives. I refer to the recent raid by officers of the major fraud squad on the offices of the Sunday Times in relation to a story about the misuse of $16 million of public funds for Labor election advertising. (1) How can the Premier, at a time when one in 20 homes in certain parts of Perth are subject to burglary, defend sending 16 officers to investigate a minor leak from government as an appropriate use of police time? (2) Does the Premier seriously expect anyone to believe that neither himself, his director of communications, Kieran Murphy, nor the Treasurer were consulted and did not approve of the raid? (3) Will the Premier apologise to the staff of the Sunday Times for this blatant attempt to intimidate them, and to the people throughout Western Australia, for this abject waste of scarce police resources? Mr A.J. CARPENTER
Before I ask my question, I join with the Minister for Health in welcoming to the house today the children, parents and supporters of the Kids in the House initiative by the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and I thank those young people for sharing their stories with us and giving us an insight into the impact that type 1 diabetes has on their families and lives. I refer to the recent raid by officers of the major fraud squad on the offices of the Sunday Times in relation to a story about the misuse of $16 million of public funds for Labor election advertising. (1) How can the Premier, at a time when one in 20 homes in certain parts of Perth are subject to burglary, defend sending 16 officers to investigate a minor leak from government as an appropriate use of police time? (2) Does the Premier seriously expect anyone to believe that neither himself, his director of communications, Kieran Murphy, nor the Treasurer were consulted and did not approve of the raid? (3) Will the Premier apologise to the staff of the Sunday Times for this blatant attempt to intimidate them, and to the people throughout Western Australia, for this abject waste of scarce police resources? Mr A.J. CARPENTER
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for the question and, like him, acknowledge the presence of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation group and congratulate them on their brilliant presentation to Parliament. (1)-(3) In relation to question (1), there was no direction whatsoever. There was no reference upward, as Kerry O’Brien described it last night, from the police to any minister or ministerial office seeking permission for an action. The concept that such upward reference should be part of our system is quite alien to our form of government. I am actually surprised—not that some journalists would write or assert that—that some people in senior positions would assert it and seem not to understand how the basic Westminster system works, that is, there is this separation of powers. If we had a system — Several members interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It is extremely easy to sit here and make a grossly defamatory assertion, which I have just heard across the chamber, without any expectation whatsoever that that grossly defamatory assertion is ever going to be backed up by fact. It is not true; it is ridiculous. It is a ridiculous assertion. The police should not, could not and would not be directed by ministers’ officers or ministerial staff to do that. Of course they would not. That is the end of the matter. As I said last night when I was asked about this matter, when I was working as a journalist at the ABC, the offices were raided by the police. My documents were taken away by the police over a matter that the 7:30 Report was pursuing at the time and I was pursuing as a journalist. It never occurred to me—and hence I would never have asserted it—that the Premier of the day, Richard Court, had directed the police to raid my office. It is a ridiculous assertion. Mr C.J. Barnett : No-one has asserted that. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Members opposite are asserting it about this government. Mr C.J. Barnett interjected. The SPEAKER : Member for Cottesloe! Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I thought that the story was of a modest level of interest. As it turned out, the decision made by the expenditure review committee, or the communications committee and the government, was not the recommendation that the story was based on. I actually congratulate the journalist. Part of journalistic life is to get in behind government and get information out. Good on him. As I understand it—I have this understanding only from reports—the journalist was not the target of the raid. Of course he was not. The journalist was doing his job. The target of the raid was the person who was ultimately responsible for the leak. That is how it works. I will finish on this point, Mr Speaker: it is quite frightening to sit in Parliament in the position that I am in now and to hear people who held senior ministerial posts in the previous government say that that is the way government operates; that is, ministers ring up the Commissioner of Police and tell the police to raid newspaper offices. Mr C.J. Barnett : Who said that? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Members opposite are asserting it. Mr C.J. Barnett interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It is quite frightening and demonstrates just how deficient is the opposition’s grasp of how government should work and how deficient opposition members—including previously senior ministers in the opposition government—are.
I refer to the recent raid by officers of the major fraud squad on the offices of the Sunday Times in relation to a story about the misuse of $16 million of public funds for Labor election advertising. (1) How can the Premier, at a time when one in 20 homes in certain parts of Perth are subject to burglary, defend sending 16 officers to investigate a minor leak from government as an appropriate use of police time? (2) Does the Premier seriously expect anyone to believe that neither himself, his director of communications, Kieran Murphy, nor the Treasurer were consulted and did not approve of the raid? (3) Will the Premier apologise to the staff of the Sunday Times for this blatant attempt to intimidate them, and to the people throughout Western Australia, for this abject waste of scarce police resources? Mr A.J. CARPENTER replied: I thank the member for the question and, like him, acknowledge the presence of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation group and congratulate them on their brilliant presentation to Parliament. (1)-(3) In relation to question (1), there was no direction whatsoever. There was no reference upward, as Kerry O’Brien described it last night, from the police to any minister or ministerial office seeking permission for an action. The concept that such upward reference should be part of our system is quite alien to our form of government. I am actually surprised—not that some journalists would write or assert that—that some people in senior positions would assert it and seem not to understand how the basic Westminster system works, that is, there is this separation of powers. If we had a system — Several members interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It is extremely easy to sit here and make a grossly defamatory assertion, which I have just heard across the chamber, without any expectation whatsoever that that grossly defamatory assertion is ever going to be backed up by fact. It is not true; it is ridiculous. It is a ridiculous assertion. The police should not, could not and would not be directed by ministers’ officers or ministerial staff to do that. Of course they would not. That is the end of the matter. As I said last night when I was asked about this matter, when I was working as a journalist at the ABC, the offices were raided by the police. My documents were taken away by the police over a matter that the 7:30 Report was pursuing at the time and I was pursuing as a journalist. It never occurred to me—and hence I would never have asserted it—that the Premier of the day, Richard Court, had directed the police to raid my office. It is a ridiculous assertion. Mr C.J. Barnett : No-one has asserted that. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Members opposite are asserting it about this government. Mr C.J. Barnett interjected. The SPEAKER : Member for Cottesloe! Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I thought that the story was of a modest level of interest. As it turned out, the decision made by the expenditure review committee, or the communications committee and the government, was not the recommendation that the story was based on. I actually congratulate the journalist. Part of journalistic life is to get in behind government and get information out. Good on him. As I understand it—I have this understanding only from reports—the journalist was not the target of the raid. Of course he was not. The journalist was doing his job. The target of the raid was the person who was ultimately responsible for the leak. That is how it works. I will finish on this point, Mr Speaker: it is quite frightening to sit in Parliament in the position that I am in now and to hear people who held senior ministerial posts in the previous government say that that is the way government operates; that is, ministers ring up the Commissioner of Police and tell the police to raid newspaper offices. Mr C.J. Barnett : Who said that? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Members opposite are asserting it. Mr C.J. Barnett interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It is quite frightening and demonstrates just how deficient is the opposition’s grasp of how government should work and how deficient opposition members—including previously senior ministers in the opposition government—are.
(1) How can the Premier, at a time when one in 20 homes in certain parts of Perth are subject to burglary, defend sending 16 officers to investigate a minor leak from government as an appropriate use of police time? (2) Does the Premier seriously expect anyone to believe that neither himself, his director of communications, Kieran Murphy, nor the Treasurer were consulted and did not approve of the raid? (3) Will the Premier apologise to the staff of the Sunday Times for this blatant attempt to intimidate them, and to the people throughout Western Australia, for this abject waste of scarce police resources? Mr A.J. CARPENTER replied: I thank the member for the question and, like him, acknowledge the presence of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation group and congratulate them on their brilliant presentation to Parliament. (1)-(3) In relation to question (1), there was no direction whatsoever. There was no reference upward, as Kerry O’Brien described it last night, from the police to any minister or ministerial office seeking permission for an action. The concept that such upward reference should be part of our system is quite alien to our form of government. I am actually surprised—not that some journalists would write or assert that—that some people in senior positions would assert it and seem not to understand how the basic Westminster system works, that is, there is this separation of powers. If we had a system — Several members interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It is extremely easy to sit here and make a grossly defamatory assertion, which I have just heard across the chamber, without any expectation whatsoever that that grossly defamatory assertion is ever going to be backed up by fact. It is not true; it is ridiculous. It is a ridiculous assertion. The police should not, could not and would not be directed by ministers’ officers or ministerial staff to do that. Of course they would not. That is the end of the matter. As I said last night when I was asked about this matter, when I was working as a journalist at the ABC, the offices were raided by the police. My documents were taken away by the police over a matter that the 7:30 Report was pursuing at the time and I was pursuing as a journalist. It never occurred to me—and hence I would never have asserted it—that the Premier of the day, Richard Court, had directed the police to raid my office. It is a ridiculous assertion. Mr C.J. Barnett : No-one has asserted that. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Members opposite are asserting it about this government. Mr C.J. Barnett interjected. The SPEAKER : Member for Cottesloe! Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I thought that the story was of a modest level of interest. As it turned out, the decision made by the expenditure review committee, or the communications committee and the government, was not the recommendation that the story was based on. I actually congratulate the journalist. Part of journalistic life is to get in behind government and get information out. Good on him. As I understand it—I have this understanding only from reports—the journalist was not the target of the raid. Of course he was not. The journalist was doing his job. The target of the raid was the person who was ultimately responsible for the leak. That is how it works. I will finish on this point, Mr Speaker: it is quite frightening to sit in Parliament in the position that I am in now and to hear people who held senior ministerial posts in the previous government say that that is the way government operates; that is, ministers ring up the Commissioner of Police and tell the police to raid newspaper offices. Mr C.J. Barnett : Who said that? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Members opposite are asserting it. Mr C.J. Barnett interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It is quite frightening and demonstrates just how deficient is the opposition’s grasp of how government should work and how deficient opposition members—including previously senior ministers in the opposition government—are.
(2) Does the Premier seriously expect anyone to believe that neither himself, his director of communications, Kieran Murphy, nor the Treasurer were consulted and did not approve of the raid? (3) Will the Premier apologise to the staff of the Sunday Times for this blatant attempt to intimidate them, and to the people throughout Western Australia, for this abject waste of scarce police resources? Mr A.J. CARPENTER replied: I thank the member for the question and, like him, acknowledge the presence of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation group and congratulate them on their brilliant presentation to Parliament. (1)-(3) In relation to question (1), there was no direction whatsoever. There was no reference upward, as Kerry O’Brien described it last night, from the police to any minister or ministerial office seeking permission for an action. The concept that such upward reference should be part of our system is quite alien to our form of government. I am actually surprised—not that some journalists would write or assert that—that some people in senior positions would assert it and seem not to understand how the basic Westminster system works, that is, there is this separation of powers. If we had a system — Several members interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It is extremely easy to sit here and make a grossly defamatory assertion, which I have just heard across the chamber, without any expectation whatsoever that that grossly defamatory assertion is ever going to be backed up by fact. It is not true; it is ridiculous. It is a ridiculous assertion. The police should not, could not and would not be directed by ministers’ officers or ministerial staff to do that. Of course they would not. That is the end of the matter. As I said last night when I was asked about this matter, when I was working as a journalist at the ABC, the offices were raided by the police. My documents were taken away by the police over a matter that the 7:30 Report was pursuing at the time and I was pursuing as a journalist. It never occurred to me—and hence I would never have asserted it—that the Premier of the day, Richard Court, had directed the police to raid my office. It is a ridiculous assertion. Mr C.J. Barnett : No-one has asserted that. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Members opposite are asserting it about this government. Mr C.J. Barnett interjected. The SPEAKER : Member for Cottesloe! Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I thought that the story was of a modest level of interest. As it turned out, the decision made by the expenditure review committee, or the communications committee and the government, was not the recommendation that the story was based on. I actually congratulate the journalist. Part of journalistic life is to get in behind government and get information out. Good on him. As I understand it—I have this understanding only from reports—the journalist was not the target of the raid. Of course he was not. The journalist was doing his job. The target of the raid was the person who was ultimately responsible for the leak. That is how it works. I will finish on this point, Mr Speaker: it is quite frightening to sit in Parliament in the position that I am in now and to hear people who held senior ministerial posts in the previous government say that that is the way government operates; that is, ministers ring up the Commissioner of Police and tell the police to raid newspaper offices. Mr C.J. Barnett : Who said that? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Members opposite are asserting it. Mr C.J. Barnett interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It is quite frightening and demonstrates just how deficient is the opposition’s grasp of how government should work and how deficient opposition members—including previously senior ministers in the opposition government—are.
(3) Will the Premier apologise to the staff of the Sunday Times for this blatant attempt to intimidate them, and to the people throughout Western Australia, for this abject waste of scarce police resources? Mr A.J. CARPENTER replied: I thank the member for the question and, like him, acknowledge the presence of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation group and congratulate them on their brilliant presentation to Parliament. (1)-(3) In relation to question (1), there was no direction whatsoever. There was no reference upward, as Kerry O’Brien described it last night, from the police to any minister or ministerial office seeking permission for an action. The concept that such upward reference should be part of our system is quite alien to our form of government. I am actually surprised—not that some journalists would write or assert that—that some people in senior positions would assert it and seem not to understand how the basic Westminster system works, that is, there is this separation of powers. If we had a system — Several members interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It is extremely easy to sit here and make a grossly defamatory assertion, which I have just heard across the chamber, without any expectation whatsoever that that grossly defamatory assertion is ever going to be backed up by fact. It is not true; it is ridiculous. It is a ridiculous assertion. The police should not, could not and would not be directed by ministers’ officers or ministerial staff to do that. Of course they would not. That is the end of the matter. As I said last night when I was asked about this matter, when I was working as a journalist at the ABC, the offices were raided by the police. My documents were taken away by the police over a matter that the 7:30 Report was pursuing at the time and I was pursuing as a journalist. It never occurred to me—and hence I would never have asserted it—that the Premier of the day, Richard Court, had directed the police to raid my office. It is a ridiculous assertion. Mr C.J. Barnett : No-one has asserted that. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Members opposite are asserting it about this government. Mr C.J. Barnett interjected. The SPEAKER : Member for Cottesloe! Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I thought that the story was of a modest level of interest. As it turned out, the decision made by the expenditure review committee, or the communications committee and the government, was not the recommendation that the story was based on. I actually congratulate the journalist. Part of journalistic life is to get in behind government and get information out. Good on him. As I understand it—I have this understanding only from reports—the journalist was not the target of the raid. Of course he was not. The journalist was doing his job. The target of the raid was the person who was ultimately responsible for the leak. That is how it works. I will finish on this point, Mr Speaker: it is quite frightening to sit in Parliament in the position that I am in now and to hear people who held senior ministerial posts in the previous government say that that is the way government operates; that is, ministers ring up the Commissioner of Police and tell the police to raid newspaper offices. Mr C.J. Barnett : Who said that? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Members opposite are asserting it. Mr C.J. Barnett interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It is quite frightening and demonstrates just how deficient is the opposition’s grasp of how government should work and how deficient opposition members—including previously senior ministers in the opposition government—are.
Mr A.J. CARPENTER replied: I thank the member for the question and, like him, acknowledge the presence of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation group and congratulate them on their brilliant presentation to Parliament. (1)-(3) In relation to question (1), there was no direction whatsoever. There was no reference upward, as Kerry O’Brien described it last night, from the police to any minister or ministerial office seeking permission for an action. The concept that such upward reference should be part of our system is quite alien to our form of government. I am actually surprised—not that some journalists would write or assert that—that some people in senior positions would assert it and seem not to understand how the basic Westminster system works, that is, there is this separation of powers. If we had a system — Several members interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It is extremely easy to sit here and make a grossly defamatory assertion, which I have just heard across the chamber, without any expectation whatsoever that that grossly defamatory assertion is ever going to be backed up by fact. It is not true; it is ridiculous. It is a ridiculous assertion. The police should not, could not and would not be directed by ministers’ officers or ministerial staff to do that. Of course they would not. That is the end of the matter. As I said last night when I was asked about this matter, when I was working as a journalist at the ABC, the offices were raided by the police. My documents were taken away by the police over a matter that the 7:30 Report was pursuing at the time and I was pursuing as a journalist. It never occurred to me—and hence I would never have asserted it—that the Premier of the day, Richard Court, had directed the police to raid my office. It is a ridiculous assertion. Mr C.J. Barnett : No-one has asserted that. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Members opposite are asserting it about this government. Mr C.J. Barnett interjected. The SPEAKER : Member for Cottesloe! Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I thought that the story was of a modest level of interest. As it turned out, the decision made by the expenditure review committee, or the communications committee and the government, was not the recommendation that the story was based on. I actually congratulate the journalist. Part of journalistic life is to get in behind government and get information out. Good on him. As I understand it—I have this understanding only from reports—the journalist was not the target of the raid. Of course he was not. The journalist was doing his job. The target of the raid was the person who was ultimately responsible for the leak. That is how it works. I will finish on this point, Mr Speaker: it is quite frightening to sit in Parliament in the position that I am in now and to hear people who held senior ministerial posts in the previous government say that that is the way government operates; that is, ministers ring up the Commissioner of Police and tell the police to raid newspaper offices. Mr C.J. Barnett : Who said that? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Members opposite are asserting it. Mr C.J. Barnett interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It is quite frightening and demonstrates just how deficient is the opposition’s grasp of how government should work and how deficient opposition members—including previously senior ministers in the opposition government—are.
I thank the member for the question and, like him, acknowledge the presence of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation group and congratulate them on their brilliant presentation to Parliament. (1)-(3) In relation to question (1), there was no direction whatsoever. There was no reference upward, as Kerry O’Brien described it last night, from the police to any minister or ministerial office seeking permission for an action. The concept that such upward reference should be part of our system is quite alien to our form of government. I am actually surprised—not that some journalists would write or assert that—that some people in senior positions would assert it and seem not to understand how the basic Westminster system works, that is, there is this separation of powers. If we had a system — Several members interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It is extremely easy to sit here and make a grossly defamatory assertion, which I have just heard across the chamber, without any expectation whatsoever that that grossly defamatory assertion is ever going to be backed up by fact. It is not true; it is ridiculous. It is a ridiculous assertion. The police should not, could not and would not be directed by ministers’ officers or ministerial staff to do that. Of course they would not. That is the end of the matter. As I said last night when I was asked about this matter, when I was working as a journalist at the ABC, the offices were raided by the police. My documents were taken away by the police over a matter that the 7:30 Report was pursuing at the time and I was pursuing as a journalist. It never occurred to me—and hence I would never have asserted it—that the Premier of the day, Richard Court, had directed the police to raid my office. It is a ridiculous assertion. Mr C.J. Barnett : No-one has asserted that. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Members opposite are asserting it about this government. Mr C.J. Barnett interjected. The SPEAKER : Member for Cottesloe! Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I thought that the story was of a modest level of interest. As it turned out, the decision made by the expenditure review committee, or the communications committee and the government, was not the recommendation that the story was based on. I actually congratulate the journalist. Part of journalistic life is to get in behind government and get information out. Good on him. As I understand it—I have this understanding only from reports—the journalist was not the target of the raid. Of course he was not. The journalist was doing his job. The target of the raid was the person who was ultimately responsible for the leak. That is how it works. I will finish on this point, Mr Speaker: it is quite frightening to sit in Parliament in the position that I am in now and to hear people who held senior ministerial posts in the previous government say that that is the way government operates; that is, ministers ring up the Commissioner of Police and tell the police to raid newspaper offices. Mr C.J. Barnett : Who said that? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Members opposite are asserting it. Mr C.J. Barnett interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It is quite frightening and demonstrates just how deficient is the opposition’s grasp of how government should work and how deficient opposition members—including previously senior ministers in the opposition government—are.
(1)-(3) In relation to question (1), there was no direction whatsoever. There was no reference upward, as Kerry O’Brien described it last night, from the police to any minister or ministerial office seeking permission for an action. The concept that such upward reference should be part of our system is quite alien to our form of government. I am actually surprised—not that some journalists would write or assert that—that some people in senior positions would assert it and seem not to understand how the basic Westminster system works, that is, there is this separation of powers. If we had a system — Several members interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It is extremely easy to sit here and make a grossly defamatory assertion, which I have just heard across the chamber, without any expectation whatsoever that that grossly defamatory assertion is ever going to be backed up by fact. It is not true; it is ridiculous. It is a ridiculous assertion. The police should not, could not and would not be directed by ministers’ officers or ministerial staff to do that. Of course they would not. That is the end of the matter. As I said last night when I was asked about this matter, when I was working as a journalist at the ABC, the offices were raided by the police. My documents were taken away by the police over a matter that the 7:30 Report was pursuing at the time and I was pursuing as a journalist. It never occurred to me—and hence I would never have asserted it—that the Premier of the day, Richard Court, had directed the police to raid my office. It is a ridiculous assertion. Mr C.J. Barnett : No-one has asserted that. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Members opposite are asserting it about this government. Mr C.J. Barnett interjected. The SPEAKER : Member for Cottesloe! Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I thought that the story was of a modest level of interest. As it turned out, the decision made by the expenditure review committee, or the communications committee and the government, was not the recommendation that the story was based on. I actually congratulate the journalist. Part of journalistic life is to get in behind government and get information out. Good on him. As I understand it—I have this understanding only from reports—the journalist was not the target of the raid. Of course he was not. The journalist was doing his job. The target of the raid was the person who was ultimately responsible for the leak. That is how it works. I will finish on this point, Mr Speaker: it is quite frightening to sit in Parliament in the position that I am in now and to hear people who held senior ministerial posts in the previous government say that that is the way government operates; that is, ministers ring up the Commissioner of Police and tell the police to raid newspaper offices. Mr C.J. Barnett : Who said that? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Members opposite are asserting it. Mr C.J. Barnett interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It is quite frightening and demonstrates just how deficient is the opposition’s grasp of how government should work and how deficient opposition members—including previously senior ministers in the opposition government—are.
Several members interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It is extremely easy to sit here and make a grossly defamatory assertion, which I have just heard across the chamber, without any expectation whatsoever that that grossly defamatory assertion is ever going to be backed up by fact. It is not true; it is ridiculous. It is a ridiculous assertion. The police should not, could not and would not be directed by ministers’ officers or ministerial staff to do that. Of course they would not. That is the end of the matter. As I said last night when I was asked about this matter, when I was working as a journalist at the ABC, the offices were raided by the police. My documents were taken away by the police over a matter that the 7:30 Report was pursuing at the time and I was pursuing as a journalist. It never occurred to me—and hence I would never have asserted it—that the Premier of the day, Richard Court, had directed the police to raid my office. It is a ridiculous assertion. Mr C.J. Barnett : No-one has asserted that. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Members opposite are asserting it about this government. Mr C.J. Barnett interjected. The SPEAKER : Member for Cottesloe! Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I thought that the story was of a modest level of interest. As it turned out, the decision made by the expenditure review committee, or the communications committee and the government, was not the recommendation that the story was based on. I actually congratulate the journalist. Part of journalistic life is to get in behind government and get information out. Good on him. As I understand it—I have this understanding only from reports—the journalist was not the target of the raid. Of course he was not. The journalist was doing his job. The target of the raid was the person who was ultimately responsible for the leak. That is how it works. I will finish on this point, Mr Speaker: it is quite frightening to sit in Parliament in the position that I am in now and to hear people who held senior ministerial posts in the previous government say that that is the way government operates; that is, ministers ring up the Commissioner of Police and tell the police to raid newspaper offices. Mr C.J. Barnett : Who said that? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Members opposite are asserting it. Mr C.J. Barnett interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It is quite frightening and demonstrates just how deficient is the opposition’s grasp of how government should work and how deficient opposition members—including previously senior ministers in the opposition government—are.
Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It is extremely easy to sit here and make a grossly defamatory assertion, which I have just heard across the chamber, without any expectation whatsoever that that grossly defamatory assertion is ever going to be backed up by fact. It is not true; it is ridiculous. It is a ridiculous assertion. The police should not, could not and would not be directed by ministers’ officers or ministerial staff to do that. Of course they would not. That is the end of the matter. As I said last night when I was asked about this matter, when I was working as a journalist at the ABC, the offices were raided by the police. My documents were taken away by the police over a matter that the 7:30 Report was pursuing at the time and I was pursuing as a journalist. It never occurred to me—and hence I would never have asserted it—that the Premier of the day, Richard Court, had directed the police to raid my office. It is a ridiculous assertion. Mr C.J. Barnett : No-one has asserted that. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Members opposite are asserting it about this government. Mr C.J. Barnett interjected. The SPEAKER : Member for Cottesloe! Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I thought that the story was of a modest level of interest. As it turned out, the decision made by the expenditure review committee, or the communications committee and the government, was not the recommendation that the story was based on. I actually congratulate the journalist. Part of journalistic life is to get in behind government and get information out. Good on him. As I understand it—I have this understanding only from reports—the journalist was not the target of the raid. Of course he was not. The journalist was doing his job. The target of the raid was the person who was ultimately responsible for the leak. That is how it works. I will finish on this point, Mr Speaker: it is quite frightening to sit in Parliament in the position that I am in now and to hear people who held senior ministerial posts in the previous government say that that is the way government operates; that is, ministers ring up the Commissioner of Police and tell the police to raid newspaper offices. Mr C.J. Barnett : Who said that? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Members opposite are asserting it. Mr C.J. Barnett interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It is quite frightening and demonstrates just how deficient is the opposition’s grasp of how government should work and how deficient opposition members—including previously senior ministers in the opposition government—are.
Mr C.J. Barnett : No-one has asserted that. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Members opposite are asserting it about this government. Mr C.J. Barnett interjected. The SPEAKER : Member for Cottesloe! Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I thought that the story was of a modest level of interest. As it turned out, the decision made by the expenditure review committee, or the communications committee and the government, was not the recommendation that the story was based on. I actually congratulate the journalist. Part of journalistic life is to get in behind government and get information out. Good on him. As I understand it—I have this understanding only from reports—the journalist was not the target of the raid. Of course he was not. The journalist was doing his job. The target of the raid was the person who was ultimately responsible for the leak. That is how it works. I will finish on this point, Mr Speaker: it is quite frightening to sit in Parliament in the position that I am in now and to hear people who held senior ministerial posts in the previous government say that that is the way government operates; that is, ministers ring up the Commissioner of Police and tell the police to raid newspaper offices. Mr C.J. Barnett : Who said that? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Members opposite are asserting it. Mr C.J. Barnett interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It is quite frightening and demonstrates just how deficient is the opposition’s grasp of how government should work and how deficient opposition members—including previously senior ministers in the opposition government—are.
Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Members opposite are asserting it about this government. Mr C.J. Barnett interjected. The SPEAKER : Member for Cottesloe! Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I thought that the story was of a modest level of interest. As it turned out, the decision made by the expenditure review committee, or the communications committee and the government, was not the recommendation that the story was based on. I actually congratulate the journalist. Part of journalistic life is to get in behind government and get information out. Good on him. As I understand it—I have this understanding only from reports—the journalist was not the target of the raid. Of course he was not. The journalist was doing his job. The target of the raid was the person who was ultimately responsible for the leak. That is how it works. I will finish on this point, Mr Speaker: it is quite frightening to sit in Parliament in the position that I am in now and to hear people who held senior ministerial posts in the previous government say that that is the way government operates; that is, ministers ring up the Commissioner of Police and tell the police to raid newspaper offices. Mr C.J. Barnett : Who said that? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Members opposite are asserting it. Mr C.J. Barnett interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It is quite frightening and demonstrates just how deficient is the opposition’s grasp of how government should work and how deficient opposition members—including previously senior ministers in the opposition government—are.
Mr C.J. Barnett interjected. The SPEAKER : Member for Cottesloe! Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I thought that the story was of a modest level of interest. As it turned out, the decision made by the expenditure review committee, or the communications committee and the government, was not the recommendation that the story was based on. I actually congratulate the journalist. Part of journalistic life is to get in behind government and get information out. Good on him. As I understand it—I have this understanding only from reports—the journalist was not the target of the raid. Of course he was not. The journalist was doing his job. The target of the raid was the person who was ultimately responsible for the leak. That is how it works. I will finish on this point, Mr Speaker: it is quite frightening to sit in Parliament in the position that I am in now and to hear people who held senior ministerial posts in the previous government say that that is the way government operates; that is, ministers ring up the Commissioner of Police and tell the police to raid newspaper offices. Mr C.J. Barnett : Who said that? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Members opposite are asserting it. Mr C.J. Barnett interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It is quite frightening and demonstrates just how deficient is the opposition’s grasp of how government should work and how deficient opposition members—including previously senior ministers in the opposition government—are.
The SPEAKER : Member for Cottesloe! Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I thought that the story was of a modest level of interest. As it turned out, the decision made by the expenditure review committee, or the communications committee and the government, was not the recommendation that the story was based on. I actually congratulate the journalist. Part of journalistic life is to get in behind government and get information out. Good on him. As I understand it—I have this understanding only from reports—the journalist was not the target of the raid. Of course he was not. The journalist was doing his job. The target of the raid was the person who was ultimately responsible for the leak. That is how it works. I will finish on this point, Mr Speaker: it is quite frightening to sit in Parliament in the position that I am in now and to hear people who held senior ministerial posts in the previous government say that that is the way government operates; that is, ministers ring up the Commissioner of Police and tell the police to raid newspaper offices. Mr C.J. Barnett : Who said that? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Members opposite are asserting it. Mr C.J. Barnett interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It is quite frightening and demonstrates just how deficient is the opposition’s grasp of how government should work and how deficient opposition members—including previously senior ministers in the opposition government—are.
Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I thought that the story was of a modest level of interest. As it turned out, the decision made by the expenditure review committee, or the communications committee and the government, was not the recommendation that the story was based on. I actually congratulate the journalist. Part of journalistic life is to get in behind government and get information out. Good on him. As I understand it—I have this understanding only from reports—the journalist was not the target of the raid. Of course he was not. The journalist was doing his job. The target of the raid was the person who was ultimately responsible for the leak. That is how it works. I will finish on this point, Mr Speaker: it is quite frightening to sit in Parliament in the position that I am in now and to hear people who held senior ministerial posts in the previous government say that that is the way government operates; that is, ministers ring up the Commissioner of Police and tell the police to raid newspaper offices. Mr C.J. Barnett : Who said that? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Members opposite are asserting it. Mr C.J. Barnett interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It is quite frightening and demonstrates just how deficient is the opposition’s grasp of how government should work and how deficient opposition members—including previously senior ministers in the opposition government—are.
I will finish on this point, Mr Speaker: it is quite frightening to sit in Parliament in the position that I am in now and to hear people who held senior ministerial posts in the previous government say that that is the way government operates; that is, ministers ring up the Commissioner of Police and tell the police to raid newspaper offices. Mr C.J. Barnett : Who said that? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Members opposite are asserting it. Mr C.J. Barnett interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It is quite frightening and demonstrates just how deficient is the opposition’s grasp of how government should work and how deficient opposition members—including previously senior ministers in the opposition government—are.
Mr C.J. Barnett : Who said that? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Members opposite are asserting it. Mr C.J. Barnett interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It is quite frightening and demonstrates just how deficient is the opposition’s grasp of how government should work and how deficient opposition members—including previously senior ministers in the opposition government—are.
Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Members opposite are asserting it. Mr C.J. Barnett interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It is quite frightening and demonstrates just how deficient is the opposition’s grasp of how government should work and how deficient opposition members—including previously senior ministers in the opposition government—are.
Mr C.J. Barnett interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It is quite frightening and demonstrates just how deficient is the opposition’s grasp of how government should work and how deficient opposition members—including previously senior ministers in the opposition government—are.
Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It is quite frightening and demonstrates just how deficient is the opposition’s grasp of how government should work and how deficient opposition members—including previously senior ministers in the opposition government—are.
I refer to the recent raid by officers of the major fraud squad on the offices of the Sunday Times in relation to a story about the misuse of $16 million of public funds for Labor election advertising. (1) How can the Premier, at a time when one in 20 homes in certain parts of Perth are subject to burglary, defend sending 16 officers to investigate a minor leak from government as an appropriate use of police time? (2) Does the Premier seriously expect anyone to believe that neither himself, his director of communications, Kieran Murphy, nor the Treasurer were consulted and did not approve of the raid? (3) Will the Premier apologise to the staff of the Sunday Times for this blatant attempt to intimidate them, and to the people throughout Western Australia, for this abject waste of scarce police resources? Mr A.J. CARPENTER replied: I thank the member for the question and, like him, acknowledge the presence of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation group and congratulate them on their brilliant presentation to Parliament. (1)-(3) In relation to question (1), there was no direction whatsoever. There was no reference upward, as Kerry O’Brien described it last night, from the police to any minister or ministerial office seeking permission for an action. The concept that such upward reference should be part of our system is quite alien to our form of government. I am actually surprised—not that some journalists would write or assert that—that some people in senior positions would assert it and seem not to understand how the basic Westminster system works, that is, there is this separation of powers. If we had a system — Several members interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It is extremely easy to sit here and make a grossly defamatory assertion, which I have just heard across the chamber, without any expectation whatsoever that that grossly defamatory assertion is ever going to be backed up by fact. It is not true; it is ridiculous. It is a ridiculous assertion. The police should not, could not and would not be directed by ministers’ officers or ministerial staff to do that. Of course they would not. That is the end of the matter. As I said last night when I was asked about this matter, when I was working as a journalist at the ABC, the offices were raided by the police. My documents were taken away by the police over a matter that the 7:30 Report was pursuing at the time and I was pursuing as a journalist. It never occurred to me—and hence I would never have asserted it—that the Premier of the day, Richard Court, had directed the police to raid my office. It is a ridiculous assertion. Mr C.J. Barnett : No-one has asserted that. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Members opposite are asserting it about this government. Mr C.J. Barnett interjected. The SPEAKER : Member for Cottesloe! Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I thought that the story was of a modest level of interest. As it turned out, the decision made by the expenditure review committee, or the communications committee and the government, was not the recommendation that the story was based on. I actually congratulate the journalist. Part of journalistic life is to get in behind government and get information out. Good on him. As I understand it—I have this understanding only from reports—the journalist was not the target of the raid. Of course he was not. The journalist was doing his job. The target of the raid was the person who was ultimately responsible for the leak. That is how it works. I will finish on this point, Mr Speaker: it is quite frightening to sit in Parliament in the position that I am in now and to hear people who held senior ministerial posts in the previous government say that that is the way government operates; that is, ministers ring up the Commissioner of Police and tell the police to raid newspaper offices. Mr C.J. Barnett : Who said that? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Members opposite are asserting it. Mr C.J. Barnett interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It is quite frightening and demonstrates just how deficient is the opposition’s grasp of how government should work and how deficient opposition members—including previously senior ministers in the opposition government—are.
(1) How can the Premier, at a time when one in 20 homes in certain parts of Perth are subject to burglary, defend sending 16 officers to investigate a minor leak from government as an appropriate use of police time? (2) Does the Premier seriously expect anyone to believe that neither himself, his director of communications, Kieran Murphy, nor the Treasurer were consulted and did not approve of the raid? (3) Will the Premier apologise to the staff of the Sunday Times for this blatant attempt to intimidate them, and to the people throughout Western Australia, for this abject waste of scarce police resources? Mr A.J. CARPENTER replied: I thank the member for the question and, like him, acknowledge the presence of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation group and congratulate them on their brilliant presentation to Parliament. (1)-(3) In relation to question (1), there was no direction whatsoever. There was no reference upward, as Kerry O’Brien described it last night, from the police to any minister or ministerial office seeking permission for an action. The concept that such upward reference should be part of our system is quite alien to our form of government. I am actually surprised—not that some journalists would write or assert that—that some people in senior positions would assert it and seem not to understand how the basic Westminster system works, that is, there is this separation of powers. If we had a system — Several members interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It is extremely easy to sit here and make a grossly defamatory assertion, which I have just heard across the chamber, without any expectation whatsoever that that grossly defamatory assertion is ever going to be backed up by fact. It is not true; it is ridiculous. It is a ridiculous assertion. The police should not, could not and would not be directed by ministers’ officers or ministerial staff to do that. Of course they would not. That is the end of the matter. As I said last night when I was asked about this matter, when I was working as a journalist at the ABC, the offices were raided by the police. My documents were taken away by the police over a matter that the 7:30 Report was pursuing at the time and I was pursuing as a journalist. It never occurred to me—and hence I would never have asserted it—that the Premier of the day, Richard Court, had directed the police to raid my office. It is a ridiculous assertion. Mr C.J. Barnett : No-one has asserted that. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Members opposite are asserting it about this government. Mr C.J. Barnett interjected. The SPEAKER : Member for Cottesloe! Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I thought that the story was of a modest level of interest. As it turned out, the decision made by the expenditure review committee, or the communications committee and the government, was not the recommendation that the story was based on. I actually congratulate the journalist. Part of journalistic life is to get in behind government and get information out. Good on him. As I understand it—I have this understanding only from reports—the journalist was not the target of the raid. Of course he was not. The journalist was doing his job. The target of the raid was the person who was ultimately responsible for the leak. That is how it works. I will finish on this point, Mr Speaker: it is quite frightening to sit in Parliament in the position that I am in now and to hear people who held senior ministerial posts in the previous government say that that is the way government operates; that is, ministers ring up the Commissioner of Police and tell the police to raid newspaper offices. Mr C.J. Barnett : Who said that? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Members opposite are asserting it. Mr C.J. Barnett interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It is quite frightening and demonstrates just how deficient is the opposition’s grasp of how government should work and how deficient opposition members—including previously senior ministers in the opposition government—are.
(2) Does the Premier seriously expect anyone to believe that neither himself, his director of communications, Kieran Murphy, nor the Treasurer were consulted and did not approve of the raid? (3) Will the Premier apologise to the staff of the Sunday Times for this blatant attempt to intimidate them, and to the people throughout Western Australia, for this abject waste of scarce police resources? Mr A.J. CARPENTER replied: I thank the member for the question and, like him, acknowledge the presence of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation group and congratulate them on their brilliant presentation to Parliament. (1)-(3) In relation to question (1), there was no direction whatsoever. There was no reference upward, as Kerry O’Brien described it last night, from the police to any minister or ministerial office seeking permission for an action. The concept that such upward reference should be part of our system is quite alien to our form of government. I am actually surprised—not that some journalists would write or assert that—that some people in senior positions would assert it and seem not to understand how the basic Westminster system works, that is, there is this separation of powers. If we had a system — Several members interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It is extremely easy to sit here and make a grossly defamatory assertion, which I have just heard across the chamber, without any expectation whatsoever that that grossly defamatory assertion is ever going to be backed up by fact. It is not true; it is ridiculous. It is a ridiculous assertion. The police should not, could not and would not be directed by ministers’ officers or ministerial staff to do that. Of course they would not. That is the end of the matter. As I said last night when I was asked about this matter, when I was working as a journalist at the ABC, the offices were raided by the police. My documents were taken away by the police over a matter that the 7:30 Report was pursuing at the time and I was pursuing as a journalist. It never occurred to me—and hence I would never have asserted it—that the Premier of the day, Richard Court, had directed the police to raid my office. It is a ridiculous assertion. Mr C.J. Barnett : No-one has asserted that. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Members opposite are asserting it about this government. Mr C.J. Barnett interjected. The SPEAKER : Member for Cottesloe! Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I thought that the story was of a modest level of interest. As it turned out, the decision made by the expenditure review committee, or the communications committee and the government, was not the recommendation that the story was based on. I actually congratulate the journalist. Part of journalistic life is to get in behind government and get information out. Good on him. As I understand it—I have this understanding only from reports—the journalist was not the target of the raid. Of course he was not. The journalist was doing his job. The target of the raid was the person who was ultimately responsible for the leak. That is how it works. I will finish on this point, Mr Speaker: it is quite frightening to sit in Parliament in the position that I am in now and to hear people who held senior ministerial posts in the previous government say that that is the way government operates; that is, ministers ring up the Commissioner of Police and tell the police to raid newspaper offices. Mr C.J. Barnett : Who said that? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Members opposite are asserting it. Mr C.J. Barnett interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It is quite frightening and demonstrates just how deficient is the opposition’s grasp of how government should work and how deficient opposition members—including previously senior ministers in the opposition government—are.
(3) Will the Premier apologise to the staff of the Sunday Times for this blatant attempt to intimidate them, and to the people throughout Western Australia, for this abject waste of scarce police resources? Mr A.J. CARPENTER replied: I thank the member for the question and, like him, acknowledge the presence of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation group and congratulate them on their brilliant presentation to Parliament. (1)-(3) In relation to question (1), there was no direction whatsoever. There was no reference upward, as Kerry O’Brien described it last night, from the police to any minister or ministerial office seeking permission for an action. The concept that such upward reference should be part of our system is quite alien to our form of government. I am actually surprised—not that some journalists would write or assert that—that some people in senior positions would assert it and seem not to understand how the basic Westminster system works, that is, there is this separation of powers. If we had a system — Several members interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It is extremely easy to sit here and make a grossly defamatory assertion, which I have just heard across the chamber, without any expectation whatsoever that that grossly defamatory assertion is ever going to be backed up by fact. It is not true; it is ridiculous. It is a ridiculous assertion. The police should not, could not and would not be directed by ministers’ officers or ministerial staff to do that. Of course they would not. That is the end of the matter. As I said last night when I was asked about this matter, when I was working as a journalist at the ABC, the offices were raided by the police. My documents were taken away by the police over a matter that the 7:30 Report was pursuing at the time and I was pursuing as a journalist. It never occurred to me—and hence I would never have asserted it—that the Premier of the day, Richard Court, had directed the police to raid my office. It is a ridiculous assertion. Mr C.J. Barnett : No-one has asserted that. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Members opposite are asserting it about this government. Mr C.J. Barnett interjected. The SPEAKER : Member for Cottesloe! Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I thought that the story was of a modest level of interest. As it turned out, the decision made by the expenditure review committee, or the communications committee and the government, was not the recommendation that the story was based on. I actually congratulate the journalist. Part of journalistic life is to get in behind government and get information out. Good on him. As I understand it—I have this understanding only from reports—the journalist was not the target of the raid. Of course he was not. The journalist was doing his job. The target of the raid was the person who was ultimately responsible for the leak. That is how it works. I will finish on this point, Mr Speaker: it is quite frightening to sit in Parliament in the position that I am in now and to hear people who held senior ministerial posts in the previous government say that that is the way government operates; that is, ministers ring up the Commissioner of Police and tell the police to raid newspaper offices. Mr C.J. Barnett : Who said that? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Members opposite are asserting it. Mr C.J. Barnett interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It is quite frightening and demonstrates just how deficient is the opposition’s grasp of how government should work and how deficient opposition members—including previously senior ministers in the opposition government—are.
Mr A.J. CARPENTER replied: I thank the member for the question and, like him, acknowledge the presence of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation group and congratulate them on their brilliant presentation to Parliament. (1)-(3) In relation to question (1), there was no direction whatsoever. There was no reference upward, as Kerry O’Brien described it last night, from the police to any minister or ministerial office seeking permission for an action. The concept that such upward reference should be part of our system is quite alien to our form of government. I am actually surprised—not that some journalists would write or assert that—that some people in senior positions would assert it and seem not to understand how the basic Westminster system works, that is, there is this separation of powers. If we had a system — Several members interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It is extremely easy to sit here and make a grossly defamatory assertion, which I have just heard across the chamber, without any expectation whatsoever that that grossly defamatory assertion is ever going to be backed up by fact. It is not true; it is ridiculous. It is a ridiculous assertion. The police should not, could not and would not be directed by ministers’ officers or ministerial staff to do that. Of course they would not. That is the end of the matter. As I said last night when I was asked about this matter, when I was working as a journalist at the ABC, the offices were raided by the police. My documents were taken away by the police over a matter that the 7:30 Report was pursuing at the time and I was pursuing as a journalist. It never occurred to me—and hence I would never have asserted it—that the Premier of the day, Richard Court, had directed the police to raid my office. It is a ridiculous assertion. Mr C.J. Barnett : No-one has asserted that. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Members opposite are asserting it about this government. Mr C.J. Barnett interjected. The SPEAKER : Member for Cottesloe! Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I thought that the story was of a modest level of interest. As it turned out, the decision made by the expenditure review committee, or the communications committee and the government, was not the recommendation that the story was based on. I actually congratulate the journalist. Part of journalistic life is to get in behind government and get information out. Good on him. As I understand it—I have this understanding only from reports—the journalist was not the target of the raid. Of course he was not. The journalist was doing his job. The target of the raid was the person who was ultimately responsible for the leak. That is how it works. I will finish on this point, Mr Speaker: it is quite frightening to sit in Parliament in the position that I am in now and to hear people who held senior ministerial posts in the previous government say that that is the way government operates; that is, ministers ring up the Commissioner of Police and tell the police to raid newspaper offices. Mr C.J. Barnett : Who said that? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Members opposite are asserting it. Mr C.J. Barnett interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It is quite frightening and demonstrates just how deficient is the opposition’s grasp of how government should work and how deficient opposition members—including previously senior ministers in the opposition government—are.
I thank the member for the question and, like him, acknowledge the presence of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation group and congratulate them on their brilliant presentation to Parliament. (1)-(3) In relation to question (1), there was no direction whatsoever. There was no reference upward, as Kerry O’Brien described it last night, from the police to any minister or ministerial office seeking permission for an action. The concept that such upward reference should be part of our system is quite alien to our form of government. I am actually surprised—not that some journalists would write or assert that—that some people in senior positions would assert it and seem not to understand how the basic Westminster system works, that is, there is this separation of powers. If we had a system — Several members interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It is extremely easy to sit here and make a grossly defamatory assertion, which I have just heard across the chamber, without any expectation whatsoever that that grossly defamatory assertion is ever going to be backed up by fact. It is not true; it is ridiculous. It is a ridiculous assertion. The police should not, could not and would not be directed by ministers’ officers or ministerial staff to do that. Of course they would not. That is the end of the matter. As I said last night when I was asked about this matter, when I was working as a journalist at the ABC, the offices were raided by the police. My documents were taken away by the police over a matter that the 7:30 Report was pursuing at the time and I was pursuing as a journalist. It never occurred to me—and hence I would never have asserted it—that the Premier of the day, Richard Court, had directed the police to raid my office. It is a ridiculous assertion. Mr C.J. Barnett : No-one has asserted that. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Members opposite are asserting it about this government. Mr C.J. Barnett interjected. The SPEAKER : Member for Cottesloe! Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I thought that the story was of a modest level of interest. As it turned out, the decision made by the expenditure review committee, or the communications committee and the government, was not the recommendation that the story was based on. I actually congratulate the journalist. Part of journalistic life is to get in behind government and get information out. Good on him. As I understand it—I have this understanding only from reports—the journalist was not the target of the raid. Of course he was not. The journalist was doing his job. The target of the raid was the person who was ultimately responsible for the leak. That is how it works. I will finish on this point, Mr Speaker: it is quite frightening to sit in Parliament in the position that I am in now and to hear people who held senior ministerial posts in the previous government say that that is the way government operates; that is, ministers ring up the Commissioner of Police and tell the police to raid newspaper offices. Mr C.J. Barnett : Who said that? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Members opposite are asserting it. Mr C.J. Barnett interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It is quite frightening and demonstrates just how deficient is the opposition’s grasp of how government should work and how deficient opposition members—including previously senior ministers in the opposition government—are.
(1)-(3) In relation to question (1), there was no direction whatsoever. There was no reference upward, as Kerry O’Brien described it last night, from the police to any minister or ministerial office seeking permission for an action. The concept that such upward reference should be part of our system is quite alien to our form of government. I am actually surprised—not that some journalists would write or assert that—that some people in senior positions would assert it and seem not to understand how the basic Westminster system works, that is, there is this separation of powers. If we had a system — Several members interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It is extremely easy to sit here and make a grossly defamatory assertion, which I have just heard across the chamber, without any expectation whatsoever that that grossly defamatory assertion is ever going to be backed up by fact. It is not true; it is ridiculous. It is a ridiculous assertion. The police should not, could not and would not be directed by ministers’ officers or ministerial staff to do that. Of course they would not. That is the end of the matter. As I said last night when I was asked about this matter, when I was working as a journalist at the ABC, the offices were raided by the police. My documents were taken away by the police over a matter that the 7:30 Report was pursuing at the time and I was pursuing as a journalist. It never occurred to me—and hence I would never have asserted it—that the Premier of the day, Richard Court, had directed the police to raid my office. It is a ridiculous assertion. Mr C.J. Barnett : No-one has asserted that. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Members opposite are asserting it about this government. Mr C.J. Barnett interjected. The SPEAKER : Member for Cottesloe! Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I thought that the story was of a modest level of interest. As it turned out, the decision made by the expenditure review committee, or the communications committee and the government, was not the recommendation that the story was based on. I actually congratulate the journalist. Part of journalistic life is to get in behind government and get information out. Good on him. As I understand it—I have this understanding only from reports—the journalist was not the target of the raid. Of course he was not. The journalist was doing his job. The target of the raid was the person who was ultimately responsible for the leak. That is how it works. I will finish on this point, Mr Speaker: it is quite frightening to sit in Parliament in the position that I am in now and to hear people who held senior ministerial posts in the previous government say that that is the way government operates; that is, ministers ring up the Commissioner of Police and tell the police to raid newspaper offices. Mr C.J. Barnett : Who said that? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Members opposite are asserting it. Mr C.J. Barnett interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It is quite frightening and demonstrates just how deficient is the opposition’s grasp of how government should work and how deficient opposition members—including previously senior ministers in the opposition government—are.
Several members interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It is extremely easy to sit here and make a grossly defamatory assertion, which I have just heard across the chamber, without any expectation whatsoever that that grossly defamatory assertion is ever going to be backed up by fact. It is not true; it is ridiculous. It is a ridiculous assertion. The police should not, could not and would not be directed by ministers’ officers or ministerial staff to do that. Of course they would not. That is the end of the matter. As I said last night when I was asked about this matter, when I was working as a journalist at the ABC, the offices were raided by the police. My documents were taken away by the police over a matter that the 7:30 Report was pursuing at the time and I was pursuing as a journalist. It never occurred to me—and hence I would never have asserted it—that the Premier of the day, Richard Court, had directed the police to raid my office. It is a ridiculous assertion. Mr C.J. Barnett : No-one has asserted that. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Members opposite are asserting it about this government. Mr C.J. Barnett interjected. The SPEAKER : Member for Cottesloe! Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I thought that the story was of a modest level of interest. As it turned out, the decision made by the expenditure review committee, or the communications committee and the government, was not the recommendation that the story was based on. I actually congratulate the journalist. Part of journalistic life is to get in behind government and get information out. Good on him. As I understand it—I have this understanding only from reports—the journalist was not the target of the raid. Of course he was not. The journalist was doing his job. The target of the raid was the person who was ultimately responsible for the leak. That is how it works. I will finish on this point, Mr Speaker: it is quite frightening to sit in Parliament in the position that I am in now and to hear people who held senior ministerial posts in the previous government say that that is the way government operates; that is, ministers ring up the Commissioner of Police and tell the police to raid newspaper offices. Mr C.J. Barnett : Who said that? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Members opposite are asserting it. Mr C.J. Barnett interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It is quite frightening and demonstrates just how deficient is the opposition’s grasp of how government should work and how deficient opposition members—including previously senior ministers in the opposition government—are.
Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It is extremely easy to sit here and make a grossly defamatory assertion, which I have just heard across the chamber, without any expectation whatsoever that that grossly defamatory assertion is ever going to be backed up by fact. It is not true; it is ridiculous. It is a ridiculous assertion. The police should not, could not and would not be directed by ministers’ officers or ministerial staff to do that. Of course they would not. That is the end of the matter. As I said last night when I was asked about this matter, when I was working as a journalist at the ABC, the offices were raided by the police. My documents were taken away by the police over a matter that the 7:30 Report was pursuing at the time and I was pursuing as a journalist. It never occurred to me—and hence I would never have asserted it—that the Premier of the day, Richard Court, had directed the police to raid my office. It is a ridiculous assertion. Mr C.J. Barnett : No-one has asserted that. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Members opposite are asserting it about this government. Mr C.J. Barnett interjected. The SPEAKER : Member for Cottesloe! Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I thought that the story was of a modest level of interest. As it turned out, the decision made by the expenditure review committee, or the communications committee and the government, was not the recommendation that the story was based on. I actually congratulate the journalist. Part of journalistic life is to get in behind government and get information out. Good on him. As I understand it—I have this understanding only from reports—the journalist was not the target of the raid. Of course he was not. The journalist was doing his job. The target of the raid was the person who was ultimately responsible for the leak. That is how it works. I will finish on this point, Mr Speaker: it is quite frightening to sit in Parliament in the position that I am in now and to hear people who held senior ministerial posts in the previous government say that that is the way government operates; that is, ministers ring up the Commissioner of Police and tell the police to raid newspaper offices. Mr C.J. Barnett : Who said that? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Members opposite are asserting it. Mr C.J. Barnett interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It is quite frightening and demonstrates just how deficient is the opposition’s grasp of how government should work and how deficient opposition members—including previously senior ministers in the opposition government—are.
Mr C.J. Barnett : No-one has asserted that. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Members opposite are asserting it about this government. Mr C.J. Barnett interjected. The SPEAKER : Member for Cottesloe! Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I thought that the story was of a modest level of interest. As it turned out, the decision made by the expenditure review committee, or the communications committee and the government, was not the recommendation that the story was based on. I actually congratulate the journalist. Part of journalistic life is to get in behind government and get information out. Good on him. As I understand it—I have this understanding only from reports—the journalist was not the target of the raid. Of course he was not. The journalist was doing his job. The target of the raid was the person who was ultimately responsible for the leak. That is how it works. I will finish on this point, Mr Speaker: it is quite frightening to sit in Parliament in the position that I am in now and to hear people who held senior ministerial posts in the previous government say that that is the way government operates; that is, ministers ring up the Commissioner of Police and tell the police to raid newspaper offices. Mr C.J. Barnett : Who said that? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Members opposite are asserting it. Mr C.J. Barnett interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It is quite frightening and demonstrates just how deficient is the opposition’s grasp of how government should work and how deficient opposition members—including previously senior ministers in the opposition government—are.
Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Members opposite are asserting it about this government. Mr C.J. Barnett interjected. The SPEAKER : Member for Cottesloe! Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I thought that the story was of a modest level of interest. As it turned out, the decision made by the expenditure review committee, or the communications committee and the government, was not the recommendation that the story was based on. I actually congratulate the journalist. Part of journalistic life is to get in behind government and get information out. Good on him. As I understand it—I have this understanding only from reports—the journalist was not the target of the raid. Of course he was not. The journalist was doing his job. The target of the raid was the person who was ultimately responsible for the leak. That is how it works. I will finish on this point, Mr Speaker: it is quite frightening to sit in Parliament in the position that I am in now and to hear people who held senior ministerial posts in the previous government say that that is the way government operates; that is, ministers ring up the Commissioner of Police and tell the police to raid newspaper offices. Mr C.J. Barnett : Who said that? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Members opposite are asserting it. Mr C.J. Barnett interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It is quite frightening and demonstrates just how deficient is the opposition’s grasp of how government should work and how deficient opposition members—including previously senior ministers in the opposition government—are.
Mr C.J. Barnett interjected. The SPEAKER : Member for Cottesloe! Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I thought that the story was of a modest level of interest. As it turned out, the decision made by the expenditure review committee, or the communications committee and the government, was not the recommendation that the story was based on. I actually congratulate the journalist. Part of journalistic life is to get in behind government and get information out. Good on him. As I understand it—I have this understanding only from reports—the journalist was not the target of the raid. Of course he was not. The journalist was doing his job. The target of the raid was the person who was ultimately responsible for the leak. That is how it works. I will finish on this point, Mr Speaker: it is quite frightening to sit in Parliament in the position that I am in now and to hear people who held senior ministerial posts in the previous government say that that is the way government operates; that is, ministers ring up the Commissioner of Police and tell the police to raid newspaper offices. Mr C.J. Barnett : Who said that? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Members opposite are asserting it. Mr C.J. Barnett interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It is quite frightening and demonstrates just how deficient is the opposition’s grasp of how government should work and how deficient opposition members—including previously senior ministers in the opposition government—are.
The SPEAKER : Member for Cottesloe! Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I thought that the story was of a modest level of interest. As it turned out, the decision made by the expenditure review committee, or the communications committee and the government, was not the recommendation that the story was based on. I actually congratulate the journalist. Part of journalistic life is to get in behind government and get information out. Good on him. As I understand it—I have this understanding only from reports—the journalist was not the target of the raid. Of course he was not. The journalist was doing his job. The target of the raid was the person who was ultimately responsible for the leak. That is how it works. I will finish on this point, Mr Speaker: it is quite frightening to sit in Parliament in the position that I am in now and to hear people who held senior ministerial posts in the previous government say that that is the way government operates; that is, ministers ring up the Commissioner of Police and tell the police to raid newspaper offices. Mr C.J. Barnett : Who said that? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Members opposite are asserting it. Mr C.J. Barnett interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It is quite frightening and demonstrates just how deficient is the opposition’s grasp of how government should work and how deficient opposition members—including previously senior ministers in the opposition government—are.
Mr A.J. CARPENTER : I thought that the story was of a modest level of interest. As it turned out, the decision made by the expenditure review committee, or the communications committee and the government, was not the recommendation that the story was based on. I actually congratulate the journalist. Part of journalistic life is to get in behind government and get information out. Good on him. As I understand it—I have this understanding only from reports—the journalist was not the target of the raid. Of course he was not. The journalist was doing his job. The target of the raid was the person who was ultimately responsible for the leak. That is how it works. I will finish on this point, Mr Speaker: it is quite frightening to sit in Parliament in the position that I am in now and to hear people who held senior ministerial posts in the previous government say that that is the way government operates; that is, ministers ring up the Commissioner of Police and tell the police to raid newspaper offices. Mr C.J. Barnett : Who said that? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Members opposite are asserting it. Mr C.J. Barnett interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It is quite frightening and demonstrates just how deficient is the opposition’s grasp of how government should work and how deficient opposition members—including previously senior ministers in the opposition government—are.
I will finish on this point, Mr Speaker: it is quite frightening to sit in Parliament in the position that I am in now and to hear people who held senior ministerial posts in the previous government say that that is the way government operates; that is, ministers ring up the Commissioner of Police and tell the police to raid newspaper offices. Mr C.J. Barnett : Who said that? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Members opposite are asserting it. Mr C.J. Barnett interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It is quite frightening and demonstrates just how deficient is the opposition’s grasp of how government should work and how deficient opposition members—including previously senior ministers in the opposition government—are.
Mr C.J. Barnett : Who said that? Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Members opposite are asserting it. Mr C.J. Barnett interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It is quite frightening and demonstrates just how deficient is the opposition’s grasp of how government should work and how deficient opposition members—including previously senior ministers in the opposition government—are.
Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Members opposite are asserting it. Mr C.J. Barnett interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It is quite frightening and demonstrates just how deficient is the opposition’s grasp of how government should work and how deficient opposition members—including previously senior ministers in the opposition government—are.
Mr C.J. Barnett interjected. Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It is quite frightening and demonstrates just how deficient is the opposition’s grasp of how government should work and how deficient opposition members—including previously senior ministers in the opposition government—are.
Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It is quite frightening and demonstrates just how deficient is the opposition’s grasp of how government should work and how deficient opposition members—including previously senior ministers in the opposition government—are.
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