Ms O'CONNOR question to PREMIER, Mr HODGMAN
Do you accept the bar you have set for ministerial conduct is extremely low? Not only have you flagged the possible reinstatement of a former minister who lied to the parliament, you, the people of Braddon and the Crown Solicitor, but another of your ministers, Ms Courtney, concealed a conflict of interest from you for a month and was rewarded for her bad behaviour with another ministry. What standard of poor ministerial behaviour is low enough for you to take action and act decisively?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for the question, with the most spurious of assertions contained within it. The standard that I have set, in this instance, is very different to that which the Labor Party set for former Labor leader Bryan Green. Whilst it is very appropriate that they be called into question on their judgment of that matter, so should the Leader of the Greens who was quite happy to sit in Cabinet with Bryan Green during the Labor-Greens government.
Ms O'Connor - Sure.
Mr HODGMAN - Sure, she says. She was quite happy to get the ministerial loading, have all the power of office, after she had spent a lot of her time with her colleagues pursuing Bryan Green, declaring him to be corrupt.
Ms O'CONNOR - Point of order, Madam Speaker, 45 - relevance. The Premier has now entered ancient history and it is not relevant.
Members laughing.
Ms O'CONNOR - Cue faux laughter from the Government benches.
Premier, what standard of poor ministerial behaviour is low enough for you to act decisively?
Madam SPEAKER - As the member is aware, Standing Order 45 gives me no power whatsoever, regardless of the point you have made. I ask the Premier to resume his contribution.
Mr HODGMAN - Thank you Madam Speaker. The answer to that question is a damm lot higher than you set yourself. I have acted responsibly and appropriately according to the Integrity Commission. Mr Brooks has not escaped punishment as you assert.
I would ask rhetorically of the member who asked the question, how could she have sat in a Cabinet with somebody that the Greens declared corrupt and who had gone to the Criminal Court on two separate occasions? How could that be so? How could you set yourself such a high standard?
The member claims my response is irrelevant because it happened some years ago. That again shows the level of standard that she abides by in that it will change, from one day to the next.