❓ Ms Mettam questions the Premier on ensuring merit-based appointments, free from union influence. The Premier deflects, criticising the opposition's internal politics and past decisions.
AnsweredQoN 610Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY,
MINING AND ENERGY UNION (WA) — ADMINISTRATION
610. Ms L. METTAM to the Premier:
I
have a supplementary question. Will the Premier ensure that any future
appointments to senior government roles, including the Attorney General,
are based purely on merit and public interest rather than political deals with
union bodies?
Several members interjected.
Mr J.R. Quigley : She's
conceding the election!
The DEPUTY SPEAKER : Sorry;
were you going to take that interjection, Premier?
MINING AND ENERGY UNION (WA) — ADMINISTRATION
610. Ms L. METTAM to the Premier:
I
have a supplementary question. Will the Premier ensure that any future
appointments to senior government roles, including the Attorney General,
are based purely on merit and public interest rather than political deals with
union bodies?
Several members interjected.
Mr J.R. Quigley : She's
conceding the election!
The DEPUTY SPEAKER : Sorry;
were you going to take that interjection, Premier?
AnswerView source ↗
Yes. I was going to say that the
Attorney General's interjection is, of course, quite right: the only
people who can decide who is going to decide who is going to be in what
portfolios are the people of Western Australia. They are the people who we will
seek guidance from on these matters when we go to the election. We will
obviously always choose people on their merit, unlike those opposite who always
insist upon the Nationals (WA) being appointed the Minister for Agriculture and
Food, the Minister for Regional Development and the Minister for Transport
regardless of what person they put in that place.
Of course, the Leader of the Liberal
Party—perish the thought that they should form government—will
be seeking absolute guidance from Hon Nick Goiran who actually runs the party
and from someone else who is essentially hunting and undermining her in terms of
his own ambitions for the job and will seek to undermine that process as well. Regardless of the merits of anyone putting
their name forward to be a minister in a hypothetical Liberal–National government, we know that they will kowtow to the Nationals and kowtow to the
factional leaders and they will put whoever they can in whatever position just
to make sure that Hon Nick Goiran does not muster up the numbers to deselect
them, as they did to the member for Cottesloe.
Perish
the thought that we should ever have this divided, chaotic and dysfunctional
mob sitting opposite to us today in
government. We know that Labor always provides capable governments that serve
the people of Western Australia and are always elected on their merit.
Quite frankly, Deputy Speaker, I think with that demonstration of not only
values, scruples and competence, the time that members opposite will form
government is a very long way away.
Attorney General's interjection is, of course, quite right: the only
people who can decide who is going to decide who is going to be in what
portfolios are the people of Western Australia. They are the people who we will
seek guidance from on these matters when we go to the election. We will
obviously always choose people on their merit, unlike those opposite who always
insist upon the Nationals (WA) being appointed the Minister for Agriculture and
Food, the Minister for Regional Development and the Minister for Transport
regardless of what person they put in that place.
Of course, the Leader of the Liberal
Party—perish the thought that they should form government—will
be seeking absolute guidance from Hon Nick Goiran who actually runs the party
and from someone else who is essentially hunting and undermining her in terms of
his own ambitions for the job and will seek to undermine that process as well. Regardless of the merits of anyone putting
their name forward to be a minister in a hypothetical Liberal–National government, we know that they will kowtow to the Nationals and kowtow to the
factional leaders and they will put whoever they can in whatever position just
to make sure that Hon Nick Goiran does not muster up the numbers to deselect
them, as they did to the member for Cottesloe.
Perish
the thought that we should ever have this divided, chaotic and dysfunctional
mob sitting opposite to us today in
government. We know that Labor always provides capable governments that serve
the people of Western Australia and are always elected on their merit.
Quite frankly, Deputy Speaker, I think with that demonstration of not only
values, scruples and competence, the time that members opposite will form
government is a very long way away.
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