Mr WILL HODGMAN (Franklin - Leader of the Opposition - Motion) - Mr Speaker, I move –

 

That the House take note of the following matter: the need for responsible and accountable governance in Tasmania.

 

We live in hope that members on the other side of the House will hear our plea and start to conduct themselves and the operations of their Government to the very high standards that Tasmanian people can rightly expect. Accountability is clearly a critical and fundamental cornerstone of good governance. It is essential for good governance and also for public confidence in our democratic processes and systems and it is a responsibility for which the Government of the day should apply the highest of standards. It is not negotiable and should not be treated with disregard or disdain, but we have seen the standards of accountability, integrity and ministerial responsibility plummet under the Lennon Labor Government.

 

We went to an election with a slogan pointing to this Government's tendency for special deals for special mates and, yes, I readily concede we lost the election, but since then I suspect many Tasmanians would be saying to themselves, 'I guess they were right. There was a ring of truth about that'. In fact, there is more than a ring of truth now, because since the election of course we have seen many scandals come to light. We have learned of information that was kept from the Tasmanian people when they went to the ballot boxes to cast their votes.

 

We have seen Spirit III, for example, used cynically for popular purposes by one member, a former minister, for self-promotion during an election campaign scuttled just weeks later, now sunk forever, and in what we see as perhaps a quintessential case of 'special deals for special mates' we have extracted in a most painful and embarrassing way, despite every effort by this Government at a cover-up, horrifying details of a dodgy multimillion-dollar deal signed between a then-Labor minister with a former Tasmanian Labor minister and a former Queensland Labor minister. That deal was signing Tasmania up to a liability that would guarantee an exclusive arrangement to a company run by Labor mates and which would arguably deliver very little benefit, if any at all, to the people who really mattered - the builders, the architects, the engineers of Tasmania - and it was a deal struck just prior to the State election, but apparently without the knowledge of ministers and indeed the Premier. It was a deal signed without proper process, proper consideration and without taking advice.

 

Then, when the matter did come to light, rather than just fess up we had the Deputy Premier and the Premier, rather than be accountable, using everything in their means to cover up this matter to avoid scrutiny, to deflect the truth, and all of that has resulted in serious damage in the public's mind about the sort of accountability, transparency and integrity that we can expect from the Lennon Government. We now have four separate inquiries necessary - further investigation, at further cost to the Tasmanian public - all or a lot of which could have been avoided if the minister responsible, and indeed the Premier, had come clean when this matter first came to light and could have applied a degree of accountability, transparency and integrity.

 

Today we hear in this House of another scandal involving the same minister and we see, with a sense of déjà vu - it is like Groundhog Day - the Premier doing exactly the same thing, trying to wipe his hands of the matter, claiming to have now referred it to the Auditor-General, as if that absolves him of his responsibility as the Leader of this State and this Government to ensure that his ministers abide by these high standards. The Premier says he has referred it now to the Attorney-General and he has nothing to say on what has happened, whether it is appropriate or whether he expects these high standards from his remaining ministers.

 

We have heard today that the then Minister for Infrastructure, Bryan Green, now sitting on the back bench, instructed Workplace Standards to withdraw from the Tasmanian Industrial Commission a hearing looking into grievances by workers, who this party are supposed to support but seem to only do so when it suits them. He did that in contravention of Workplace Standards policy, after being contacted by a former Labor premier - there is a theme there; the involvement of another former Labor government member who had, apparently, some connection with the employer in question - and after strong departmental advice that it was not the thing to be done, that it was inappropriate and that it could lead to a political furore. Then, when he was asked about it in a parliamentary hearing, he again employed the practice of trying to mislead or divert attention or do anything but answer the questions and come clean on the matter when he said he did not use his influence to have the department adjourn the case. We have heard today from e-mails from senior departmental officers that that is exactly what he did.

It is repeated on several occasions that the minister issued a direction that this matter should not proceed to hearing. Yet when asked about it, when given an opportunity in what is supposed to be a forum for frank, honest, accountable governance, where government members and indeed all members are supposed to have due regard for democratic process, we have another example of the very same minister not abiding by the high sorts of standards that we should expect. Worse still, we understand all this occurred again in a period when the Government was in caretaker mode during the State election environment. It is a classic case of déjà vu - we have been through this before.

 

I urge members on the other side of the House, these government members who have had some dealing in this matter - I am sure again that it is more than just the minister responsible. We want to know when this matter first came to the attention of the Premier, what more does he know about this matter, what else has he asked the Auditor-General to inquire into, why is it that he needs the Auditor-General to point out to him that this is another case of poor performance by a minister by a failure to properly adhere to ministerial responsibility, the sorts of standards that we have come to expect? Come clean, Premier, do not let us have a repeat of the last scandal where it took weeks and weeks for us to elicit answers.

 

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