❓ Opposition asks Premier to table correspondence regarding Huawei contract security advice. Premier deflects, attacks opposition's internal issues, and defends the contract decision based on Commonwealth advice.
AnsweredQoN 523Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
GOVERNMENT CONTRACTS — HUAWEI
523. Dr M.D. NAHAN to the Premier:
I have a supplementary question.
Given the Premier's Department of the Premier and Cabinet's
advice—his own department's advice—to the commonwealth
Department of Home Affairs, will he table the correspondence and associated
advice in Parliament for the public interest?
523. Dr M.D. NAHAN to the Premier:
I have a supplementary question.
Given the Premier's Department of the Premier and Cabinet's
advice—his own department's advice—to the commonwealth
Department of Home Affairs, will he table the correspondence and associated
advice in Parliament for the public interest?
AnswerView source ↗
The Leader of the Opposition does
not listen. That might be why he is being white-anted everywhere. That might be
why all these white ants are sitting around him—the white ants without
ticker sitting around the Leader of the Opposition. I will give him credit for
one thing. He had the capacity and the courage to take on the opposition leader's
job, unlike the three sitting around him. He had that courage, unlike the one
next to him who wanted to be the Premier before the election. Remember that?
Mrs L.M. Harvey interjected.
The SPEAKER : Member for
Scarborough, I do not want to hear you shout.
Mr M. McGOWAN : She wanted to
be the Premier before the election, but as soon as the Liberal Party lost the
election, she did not want to be the opposition leader.
Mrs L.M. Harvey interjected.
The SPEAKER : Member for
Scarborough, I just said do not shout. I call you to order for the first time.
Mr M. McGOWAN : The one on the
other side white-anted before the election and after the election. Remember the
challenge to Colin Barnett. There he was challenging before the election; after
the election, no, he does not want to be the opposition leader, no.
Mrs L.M. Harvey interjected.
The SPEAKER : Member for
Scarborough, I call you to order for the second time.
Mr M. McGOWAN : The other
pretender next to him, the white ant to the left, did not challenge either way,
but we all know he is beavering away, burrowing through the soil, waiting for
his chance to knock over the opposition leader. The Leader of the Opposition
can table whatever correspondence he has because I have indicated to him that I
am unaware of what he is referring to. I am aware that we received
correspondence from the commonwealth that confirmed that —
Dr M.D. Nahan interjected.
The SPEAKER : Leader of the
Opposition, I have warned you twice. I call you to order for the first time.
Mr M. McGOWAN : I am aware that
we received correspondence from the commonwealth Department of Home Affairs to
the effect that it did not have security concerns about this contract. I reiterate
what it is. It is the digitising, I think is the word, of radio communications
between headquarters and train drivers in trains. We have to do that because
the analogue system is closing down. We had five tenderers, all of which were
foreign. I know of at least two that had Australian partners. I think both
Chinese bidders had Australian partners.
Dr M.D. Nahan : Optus.
Mr M. McGOWAN : I will give
the Leader of the Opposition the tip: Optus is a Singaporean company. I know
that he does not read the newspapers, I know that he does not listen to the
radio, and I know that he does not watch the telly, but even someone who does
not do those things might know that Optus is a Singaporean company. I think
Ericsson is Swedish or something. Two Chinese tenderers had Australian
partners, which we selected because the Public Transport Authority tender
process recommended Huawei Australia. We got security advice from the
commonwealth government. It said that there were no concerns. As I said
yesterday, we got verbal advice from ASIO. ASIO said that there were no
concerns. If we had knocked them back after all that advice, the Leader of the
Opposition would be in here arguing that we had interfered with due process.
not listen. That might be why he is being white-anted everywhere. That might be
why all these white ants are sitting around him—the white ants without
ticker sitting around the Leader of the Opposition. I will give him credit for
one thing. He had the capacity and the courage to take on the opposition leader's
job, unlike the three sitting around him. He had that courage, unlike the one
next to him who wanted to be the Premier before the election. Remember that?
Mrs L.M. Harvey interjected.
The SPEAKER : Member for
Scarborough, I do not want to hear you shout.
Mr M. McGOWAN : She wanted to
be the Premier before the election, but as soon as the Liberal Party lost the
election, she did not want to be the opposition leader.
Mrs L.M. Harvey interjected.
The SPEAKER : Member for
Scarborough, I just said do not shout. I call you to order for the first time.
Mr M. McGOWAN : The one on the
other side white-anted before the election and after the election. Remember the
challenge to Colin Barnett. There he was challenging before the election; after
the election, no, he does not want to be the opposition leader, no.
Mrs L.M. Harvey interjected.
The SPEAKER : Member for
Scarborough, I call you to order for the second time.
Mr M. McGOWAN : The other
pretender next to him, the white ant to the left, did not challenge either way,
but we all know he is beavering away, burrowing through the soil, waiting for
his chance to knock over the opposition leader. The Leader of the Opposition
can table whatever correspondence he has because I have indicated to him that I
am unaware of what he is referring to. I am aware that we received
correspondence from the commonwealth that confirmed that —
Dr M.D. Nahan interjected.
The SPEAKER : Leader of the
Opposition, I have warned you twice. I call you to order for the first time.
Mr M. McGOWAN : I am aware that
we received correspondence from the commonwealth Department of Home Affairs to
the effect that it did not have security concerns about this contract. I reiterate
what it is. It is the digitising, I think is the word, of radio communications
between headquarters and train drivers in trains. We have to do that because
the analogue system is closing down. We had five tenderers, all of which were
foreign. I know of at least two that had Australian partners. I think both
Chinese bidders had Australian partners.
Dr M.D. Nahan : Optus.
Mr M. McGOWAN : I will give
the Leader of the Opposition the tip: Optus is a Singaporean company. I know
that he does not read the newspapers, I know that he does not listen to the
radio, and I know that he does not watch the telly, but even someone who does
not do those things might know that Optus is a Singaporean company. I think
Ericsson is Swedish or something. Two Chinese tenderers had Australian
partners, which we selected because the Public Transport Authority tender
process recommended Huawei Australia. We got security advice from the
commonwealth government. It said that there were no concerns. As I said
yesterday, we got verbal advice from ASIO. ASIO said that there were no
concerns. If we had knocked them back after all that advice, the Leader of the
Opposition would be in here arguing that we had interfered with due process.
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.