❓ Opposition Leader Mark McGowan questions Premier Colin Barnett about conflicting accounts regarding a meeting with the former Minister for Transport, specifically whether the Premier offered the minister options to be sacked, resign, or be suspended. The Premier avoids a direct answer, criticising the question and detailing the meeting's context.
AnsweredQoN 706Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
MINISTER FOR TRANSPORT — MEETINGS WITH
PREMIER
706. Mr M. McGOWAN to the Premier:
I refer to the member for Alfred
Cove's claim that the Premier offered him —
Mr
M.H. Taylor interjected.
The
SPEAKER : Member for Bateman, I call you to order for the first time.
Mr
M. McGOWAN : I refer to the —
Mr
P.T. Miles interjected.
The
SPEAKER : Member for Wanneroo, I call you to order for the second time.
Mr
M. McGOWAN : I refer to the member for Alfred Cove's claim that the
Premier offered him three options in a meeting on 26 August—that he be
sacked; resign; or be suspended, pending an investigation—and the
Premier's comments on ABC radio yesterday morning that, and I quote,
according to my notes, ''At no stage did I indicate to Dean that I would
sack him''. Who was telling the truth?
PREMIER
706. Mr M. McGOWAN to the Premier:
I refer to the member for Alfred
Cove's claim that the Premier offered him —
Mr
M.H. Taylor interjected.
The
SPEAKER : Member for Bateman, I call you to order for the first time.
Mr
M. McGOWAN : I refer to the —
Mr
P.T. Miles interjected.
The
SPEAKER : Member for Wanneroo, I call you to order for the second time.
Mr
M. McGOWAN : I refer to the member for Alfred Cove's claim that the
Premier offered him three options in a meeting on 26 August—that he be
sacked; resign; or be suspended, pending an investigation—and the
Premier's comments on ABC radio yesterday morning that, and I quote,
according to my notes, ''At no stage did I indicate to Dean that I would
sack him''. Who was telling the truth?
AnswerView source ↗
For goodness sake! Another searching
question by the Leader of the Opposition. I fail to see why the opposition
wants to go through all this stuff. However, if that is —
Several members interjected.
The
SPEAKER : Thank you!
Mr
C.J. BARNETT : However —
Mr
W.J. Johnston interjected.
The
SPEAKER : Member for Cannington!
Mr
W.J. Johnston interjected.
The
SPEAKER : Member for Cannington, I call you to order for the third time.
Several members interjected.
The
SPEAKER : Member for Kwinana, I call you to order for the second time.
Several members interjected.
The
SPEAKER : Member for Kwinana, for the second time! Thank you.
Mr
F.M. Logan interjected.
The
SPEAKER : Member for Cockburn, I call you for the first time.
Mr
C.J. BARNETT : I had a long conversation with the former Minister for
Transport—about 90 minutes, I think—and it was good; we talked
about a whole lot of issues.
Several members interjected.
The
SPEAKER : Members!
Mr
C.J. BARNETT : I think it is a silly question, but if you want an answer, if
you keep interjecting —
Mr
M. McGowan : It's about your honesty.
Mr
C.J. BARNETT : All your questions today have been about this stuff. It is
pathetic. Do you want an answer? Okay, listen; concentrate.
We had a meeting for 90 minutes, we
talked about a range of issues, and obviously that was in the wake of the poll
that had been commissioned by a group of businesspeople—something I think
was quite improper; however, that is an issue that has gone. All sorts of
accusations had been made and I said to the then minister—to the best
of my memory, and probably not verbatim—that there had been these
accusations made. I asked him whether he had had any involvement in that poll
and he reassured me he did not, and I accepted that answer; I accepted it then
and I accept it now. I then went on to say —
Mr
M. McGowan interjected.
The
SPEAKER : That is enough, Leader of the Opposition!
Mr
C.J. BARNETT : Do you want to listen to the answer?
I said, ''Given the
accusations and given the severity of the situation and public comment, I''—not
the minister—''am faced with three alternatives.'' One
would be to sack the minister, and that was not something I was going to do,
because had the minister broken the Ministerial Code of Conduct? No, he had
not. The second alternative was that he should resign. I did not call on him to
resign, because I did not think he needed to. Had the ministerial code been
broken, that would be a different matter, so I did not call on him to resign,
but I did say that given the amount of public focus on the issue and given that
there was clearly some anger within members of Parliament and cabinet
ministers, I thought it would be a good idea for a cooling-down period, and I suggested
he take a break. He considered that, and he decided to take a week's
leave. I think that was the right decision; it allowed everyone to calm down.
Leader of the Opposition, get back
to a serious issue.
question by the Leader of the Opposition. I fail to see why the opposition
wants to go through all this stuff. However, if that is —
Several members interjected.
The
SPEAKER : Thank you!
Mr
C.J. BARNETT : However —
Mr
W.J. Johnston interjected.
The
SPEAKER : Member for Cannington!
Mr
W.J. Johnston interjected.
The
SPEAKER : Member for Cannington, I call you to order for the third time.
Several members interjected.
The
SPEAKER : Member for Kwinana, I call you to order for the second time.
Several members interjected.
The
SPEAKER : Member for Kwinana, for the second time! Thank you.
Mr
F.M. Logan interjected.
The
SPEAKER : Member for Cockburn, I call you for the first time.
Mr
C.J. BARNETT : I had a long conversation with the former Minister for
Transport—about 90 minutes, I think—and it was good; we talked
about a whole lot of issues.
Several members interjected.
The
SPEAKER : Members!
Mr
C.J. BARNETT : I think it is a silly question, but if you want an answer, if
you keep interjecting —
Mr
M. McGowan : It's about your honesty.
Mr
C.J. BARNETT : All your questions today have been about this stuff. It is
pathetic. Do you want an answer? Okay, listen; concentrate.
We had a meeting for 90 minutes, we
talked about a range of issues, and obviously that was in the wake of the poll
that had been commissioned by a group of businesspeople—something I think
was quite improper; however, that is an issue that has gone. All sorts of
accusations had been made and I said to the then minister—to the best
of my memory, and probably not verbatim—that there had been these
accusations made. I asked him whether he had had any involvement in that poll
and he reassured me he did not, and I accepted that answer; I accepted it then
and I accept it now. I then went on to say —
Mr
M. McGowan interjected.
The
SPEAKER : That is enough, Leader of the Opposition!
Mr
C.J. BARNETT : Do you want to listen to the answer?
I said, ''Given the
accusations and given the severity of the situation and public comment, I''—not
the minister—''am faced with three alternatives.'' One
would be to sack the minister, and that was not something I was going to do,
because had the minister broken the Ministerial Code of Conduct? No, he had
not. The second alternative was that he should resign. I did not call on him to
resign, because I did not think he needed to. Had the ministerial code been
broken, that would be a different matter, so I did not call on him to resign,
but I did say that given the amount of public focus on the issue and given that
there was clearly some anger within members of Parliament and cabinet
ministers, I thought it would be a good idea for a cooling-down period, and I suggested
he take a break. He considered that, and he decided to take a week's
leave. I think that was the right decision; it allowed everyone to calm down.
Leader of the Opposition, get back
to a serious issue.
Explore WA Government Data
Search the full archive in the free dashboard, or query programmatically via API.
Explore more
Government Gazette
Appointments, regulatory notices, planning changes.
Hansard
Debates, questions, speeches and sentiment.
Tabled Papers
Reports and documents tabled in Parliament.
Committees
Committee profiles and recent reports.
Regulations
Subsidiary legislation with filters and summaries.
Bills
Proposed laws and parliamentary progress.
Acts
Current WA legislation and summaries.
Explanatory Memoranda
Bills with EMs (text/PDF) available.
Members
MP profiles, party breakdown and rankings.
Pollie Rankings
Data-driven rankings across 19 categories.
Amendment Chains
Track how schemes and regulations evolve over time.