❓ Mr. Love questions the Premier's commitment to 'gold-standard transparency,' citing instances where it isn't applied. The Premier defends confidentiality in government processes, referencing cabinet deliberations and political party meetings.
AnsweredQoN 116Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
PREMIER'S COMMENTS — GOLD-STANDARD
TRANSPARENCY
116. Mr R.S. LOVE to the Premier:
I have a supplementary question.
There is some level of confidentiality with cabinet and for other reasons, but
does the Premier think that his gold standard is not a gold standard at all,
given his comments that he does not always apply it?
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER : Order, please,
members! Premier, just wait a moment; I am waiting for order.
TRANSPARENCY
116. Mr R.S. LOVE to the Premier:
I have a supplementary question.
There is some level of confidentiality with cabinet and for other reasons, but
does the Premier think that his gold standard is not a gold standard at all,
given his comments that he does not always apply it?
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER : Order, please,
members! Premier, just wait a moment; I am waiting for order.
AnswerView source ↗
I do not think that is a correct
assessment of the way the government acts. The Nationals WA have meetings and
the cameras are not invited in. People do not hear what members of the
Nationals say in those meetings. The same thing
occurs when the Liberal Party has party room meetings, meetings of shadow
cabinet or whatever other meetings it might have. There are occasions
when it is just commonsense that meetings are held without there being public
scrutiny of them. When the National Party holds its meetings before question
time—I assume it does—to discuss what questions members might
ask and to strategise, it does not advise me, invite my team or invite the
cameras in to hear about it, so obviously that process is confidential. The
idea that every single thing one does in public life should be open to public
scrutiny, particularly when preparing for parliamentary debates or something of
that nature or engaging in cabinet deliberation processes, is frankly
ludicrous.
In
terms of the broader issue, as I said before, in 2020 we had to deal with the
$30 billion claim against Western Australia by Mr Clive Palmer. That was
a potentially devastating event for Western Australia. The government put in
place the measures it had to in order to protect the state. If I had my way
again, I would do exactly the same thing.
assessment of the way the government acts. The Nationals WA have meetings and
the cameras are not invited in. People do not hear what members of the
Nationals say in those meetings. The same thing
occurs when the Liberal Party has party room meetings, meetings of shadow
cabinet or whatever other meetings it might have. There are occasions
when it is just commonsense that meetings are held without there being public
scrutiny of them. When the National Party holds its meetings before question
time—I assume it does—to discuss what questions members might
ask and to strategise, it does not advise me, invite my team or invite the
cameras in to hear about it, so obviously that process is confidential. The
idea that every single thing one does in public life should be open to public
scrutiny, particularly when preparing for parliamentary debates or something of
that nature or engaging in cabinet deliberation processes, is frankly
ludicrous.
In
terms of the broader issue, as I said before, in 2020 we had to deal with the
$30 billion claim against Western Australia by Mr Clive Palmer. That was
a potentially devastating event for Western Australia. The government put in
place the measures it had to in order to protect the state. If I had my way
again, I would do exactly the same thing.
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