To be a Minister of the Crown is a great honour and enormous responsibility that requires integrity and honesty. It requires truth telling, in the public interest, every time.
Roger Jaensch did not tell the truth when we first asked about the original decision to remove the ‘genuine or just’ requirement for tenancy evictions under the Residential Tenancy Act. A decision most certainly was made, and then reversed by Cabinet on 24 August this year – we have the Cabinet decision.
While the Liberals and Ms Ogilvie are apparently content to accept dishonesty in Parliament, we’re not.
Roger Jaensch was not honest with the Parliament, and therefore the people of Tasmania.
Tasmanians should be able to trust Roger Jaensch when he’s talking about any portfolio he administers. Not only the 13,000 people in social housing whose tenancies would have been rendered precarious by the government’s decision, but at-risk children in out of home care, Aboriginal Tasmanians, and those who care about the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area, threatened species or the planning system.
If Tasmanians can’t trust a Minister of the Crown to tell the truth on their feet in Parliament, who can they trust?
Unfortunately, the Liberal Government has, since its earliest days, demonstrated a culture of secrecy and evasion. There’s minimal accountability, and we’re seeing it once again today – as Premier Gutwein backed in Roger Jaensch.
The only way to restore trust in politics is for truth, honour, and transparency to be upheld by those elected to public office.