❓ Opposition Leader Omodei questions the Premier about alleged dealings between Labor members and Brian Burke/Julian Grill, demanding expulsions and the Premier's resignation. The Premier deflects, accusing the opposition of defending corrupt members.
AnsweredQoN 709Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
MEMBERS OF
THE LABOR PARTY - DEALINGS WITH BRIAN BURKE AND JULIAN GRILL
709. Mr P.D. OMODEI to the Premier:
I refer to the fact that the Premier is personally
responsible for allowing Brian Burke and Julian Grill into the Western
Australian Parliament and the state government by promoting Norm Marlborough
and the member for Riverton into the cabinet.
(1) Will the Premier be moving to have the member for Murchison-Eyre expelled from the Parliament for leaking a document to Julian Grill?
(2) Will the
Premier be expelling the member for Riverton for his
dodgy dealings with Brian Burke and Julian Grill?
Withdrawal of Remark
Mr
R.C. KUCERA : The wording in
that question, particularly about the member for
Riverton, is inappropriate and should be withdrawn.
The
SPEAKER : The wording of
questions does not provide a capacity for unparliamentary language to be used
about a member, unless the wording is in a substantive motion alleging some
sort of misbehaviour on behalf of the member. The wording of the question is, in my view, against the rules. Perhaps the Leader of the Opposition will
reword the particular line and remove that wording.
Questions without Notice Resumed
Mr P.D. OMODEI : Thank you, Mr Speaker.
(2) Will the
Premier be expelling the member for Riverton for his
questionable dealings with Brian Burke and Julian Grill?
(3) Will the Premier also be expelling the police
minister, who, according to his own words, owes a special debt of thanks to
Brian Burke?
(4) Will the
Premier be expelling the education minister, who, according to his own maiden
speech, has had substantial dealings with Julian Grill and Kevin Reynolds?
(5) Will the
Premier be resigning for being the architect of the process that allowed Brian
Burke and Julian Grill back into Western Australian public life?
THE LABOR PARTY - DEALINGS WITH BRIAN BURKE AND JULIAN GRILL
709. Mr P.D. OMODEI to the Premier:
I refer to the fact that the Premier is personally
responsible for allowing Brian Burke and Julian Grill into the Western
Australian Parliament and the state government by promoting Norm Marlborough
and the member for Riverton into the cabinet.
(1) Will the Premier be moving to have the member for Murchison-Eyre expelled from the Parliament for leaking a document to Julian Grill?
(2) Will the
Premier be expelling the member for Riverton for his
dodgy dealings with Brian Burke and Julian Grill?
Withdrawal of Remark
Mr
R.C. KUCERA : The wording in
that question, particularly about the member for
Riverton, is inappropriate and should be withdrawn.
The
SPEAKER : The wording of
questions does not provide a capacity for unparliamentary language to be used
about a member, unless the wording is in a substantive motion alleging some
sort of misbehaviour on behalf of the member. The wording of the question is, in my view, against the rules. Perhaps the Leader of the Opposition will
reword the particular line and remove that wording.
Questions without Notice Resumed
Mr P.D. OMODEI : Thank you, Mr Speaker.
(2) Will the
Premier be expelling the member for Riverton for his
questionable dealings with Brian Burke and Julian Grill?
(3) Will the Premier also be expelling the police
minister, who, according to his own words, owes a special debt of thanks to
Brian Burke?
(4) Will the
Premier be expelling the education minister, who, according to his own maiden
speech, has had substantial dealings with Julian Grill and Kevin Reynolds?
(5) Will the
Premier be resigning for being the architect of the process that allowed Brian
Burke and Julian Grill back into Western Australian public life?
AnswerView source ↗
(1)-(5) It is
almost as though a member from the government side had written the question and
given it to opposition members to allow us to pound them for their lack of a
moral compass, which they have demonstrated in this chamber today. We have on our hands in the Parliament of
Western Australia a most remarkable situation. The state Parliamentary Liberal Party and those who support it in the
Parliament are seeking to protect the interests of Brian Burke and Noel Crichton-Browne,
as manifested in the Parliament of Western Australia by Hon Shelley Archer and
Hon Anthony Fels, when it is quite clear, thanks to the work of the Select Committee of Privilege on a Matter Arising in the
Standing Committee on Estimates and Financial Operations and the
Corruption and Crime Commission, that both those members mentioned have
demonstrated that they should not be in the Parliament and should be expelled
from the Parliament.
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER : Order, members! I ask the Premier to take his seat. I call the member
for Murdoch to order for the first time.
Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Who would have thought last Tuesday, when
that report was tabled in the upper house of the state Parliament, that one week
later -
Mr P.D. Omodei interjected .
The
SPEAKER : Order, members!
Mr
A.J. CARPENTER : - we would have -
Mr P.D. Omodei interjected .
The
SPEAKER : Order, Leader of the Opposition!
Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Who would have thought last Tuesday, when
that report was tabled in the upper house of the state Parliament, that one
week later there would be the astounding and I might say undignified and
unfortunate sight of the state Parliamentary Liberal Party defending the
position of Shelley Archer and Anthony Fels in the Parliament, and knowing -
Mr C.J. Barnett interjected .
The SPEAKER : I ask the Premier to take his seat. I call the member
for Cottesloe to order for the first time.
Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Outside of the belly of political
opportunism, every person in Western Australia who has taken an interest in
this matter understands what has happened here. They understand that there has been exposed a massive conspiracy to
further the private and personal financial interests of people outside the
Parliament, using as an instrument or instruments members of the upper house of
the state Parliament. It is troubling at
many levels that the capacity of the state Liberal Party to respond to these
circumstances is so limited and so perverse -
Mr C.J. Barnett : Don't you realise that it is all
about Labor, just like in the 1980s; all about Labor; your side, not this side.
Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Members of the state Parliamentary Liberal
Party have been pounding away for months with the line that I and government
members of this place are controlled by Brian Burke and Kevin Reynolds. We have had months of it. Then, when our actions effectively see Brian
Burke, Kevin Reynolds and Julian Grill exit the Labor Party, the analysis of
the Liberal Party is that it is an act of self-preservation by the Premier and
he is being forced to get rid of these people who for the past whatever months
or years, according to the Liberal Party, have been controlling us. It is a grave, dire situation, and the
incapacity of members of the state Parliamentary Liberal Party to grasp the
gravity of what is happening and to know how to act accordingly is very
troubling. I suppose that it puts in a
completely new light the activities of the member
for Vasse in clandestinely meeting Noel Crichton-Browne in the car park
of the Parliament.
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER : Order!
Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It boils down to this: there is a test laid
before us as men and women of the Parliament of Western Australia and before us
as leaders, and that test is whether we have the integrity, the ethical
strength and the moral compass to know how to act appropriately. On this side of the Parliament we have; on
that side of the Parliament they clearly have not. No wonder their own supporters are at their
wits' end with frustration about the shocking ineptitude of the members
of the Parliamentary Liberal Party, because they have got themselves into this
convoluted situation in which they are attacking their own motion.
Mr P.D. Omodei : We managed to get you to sack five ministers,
which is unprecedented in the history of the Parliaments of Australia.
Mr A.J. CARPENTER : If I were the Leader of the Opposition, I
would revisit John Howard's record before making that statement. History and clarity are clearly not strong
points of the Leader of the Opposition. I am beginning to wonder what is his strong point. Right down in the kernel of the soul of a
human being there must be a knowledge of how to behave properly. How sophisticated a level of knowledge of the
world is can sometimes be a matter of circumstance, but right down inside the
core of every individual being there must be the knowledge of the difference
between right and wrong. The Leader of
the Opposition does not have it.
almost as though a member from the government side had written the question and
given it to opposition members to allow us to pound them for their lack of a
moral compass, which they have demonstrated in this chamber today. We have on our hands in the Parliament of
Western Australia a most remarkable situation. The state Parliamentary Liberal Party and those who support it in the
Parliament are seeking to protect the interests of Brian Burke and Noel Crichton-Browne,
as manifested in the Parliament of Western Australia by Hon Shelley Archer and
Hon Anthony Fels, when it is quite clear, thanks to the work of the Select Committee of Privilege on a Matter Arising in the
Standing Committee on Estimates and Financial Operations and the
Corruption and Crime Commission, that both those members mentioned have
demonstrated that they should not be in the Parliament and should be expelled
from the Parliament.
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER : Order, members! I ask the Premier to take his seat. I call the member
for Murdoch to order for the first time.
Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Who would have thought last Tuesday, when
that report was tabled in the upper house of the state Parliament, that one week
later -
Mr P.D. Omodei interjected .
The
SPEAKER : Order, members!
Mr
A.J. CARPENTER : - we would have -
Mr P.D. Omodei interjected .
The
SPEAKER : Order, Leader of the Opposition!
Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Who would have thought last Tuesday, when
that report was tabled in the upper house of the state Parliament, that one
week later there would be the astounding and I might say undignified and
unfortunate sight of the state Parliamentary Liberal Party defending the
position of Shelley Archer and Anthony Fels in the Parliament, and knowing -
Mr C.J. Barnett interjected .
The SPEAKER : I ask the Premier to take his seat. I call the member
for Cottesloe to order for the first time.
Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Outside of the belly of political
opportunism, every person in Western Australia who has taken an interest in
this matter understands what has happened here. They understand that there has been exposed a massive conspiracy to
further the private and personal financial interests of people outside the
Parliament, using as an instrument or instruments members of the upper house of
the state Parliament. It is troubling at
many levels that the capacity of the state Liberal Party to respond to these
circumstances is so limited and so perverse -
Mr C.J. Barnett : Don't you realise that it is all
about Labor, just like in the 1980s; all about Labor; your side, not this side.
Mr A.J. CARPENTER : Members of the state Parliamentary Liberal
Party have been pounding away for months with the line that I and government
members of this place are controlled by Brian Burke and Kevin Reynolds. We have had months of it. Then, when our actions effectively see Brian
Burke, Kevin Reynolds and Julian Grill exit the Labor Party, the analysis of
the Liberal Party is that it is an act of self-preservation by the Premier and
he is being forced to get rid of these people who for the past whatever months
or years, according to the Liberal Party, have been controlling us. It is a grave, dire situation, and the
incapacity of members of the state Parliamentary Liberal Party to grasp the
gravity of what is happening and to know how to act accordingly is very
troubling. I suppose that it puts in a
completely new light the activities of the member
for Vasse in clandestinely meeting Noel Crichton-Browne in the car park
of the Parliament.
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER : Order!
Mr A.J. CARPENTER : It boils down to this: there is a test laid
before us as men and women of the Parliament of Western Australia and before us
as leaders, and that test is whether we have the integrity, the ethical
strength and the moral compass to know how to act appropriately. On this side of the Parliament we have; on
that side of the Parliament they clearly have not. No wonder their own supporters are at their
wits' end with frustration about the shocking ineptitude of the members
of the Parliamentary Liberal Party, because they have got themselves into this
convoluted situation in which they are attacking their own motion.
Mr P.D. Omodei : We managed to get you to sack five ministers,
which is unprecedented in the history of the Parliaments of Australia.
Mr A.J. CARPENTER : If I were the Leader of the Opposition, I
would revisit John Howard's record before making that statement. History and clarity are clearly not strong
points of the Leader of the Opposition. I am beginning to wonder what is his strong point. Right down in the kernel of the soul of a
human being there must be a knowledge of how to behave properly. How sophisticated a level of knowledge of the
world is can sometimes be a matter of circumstance, but right down inside the
core of every individual being there must be the knowledge of the difference
between right and wrong. The Leader of
the Opposition does not have it.
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