Mr EDE - 1995-08-16
The Chief Minister has just had the gall to table in this House a paper which was presented to the government 3 months before the events, as alleged, occurred. This paper is dated July 1990 ...
Mr Stone: I said that.
Mr EDE: ... and the election was held 3 months later, in October 1990. I point out to the Chief Minister that these are serious allegations which were made by a person who held a position that the Chief Minister says, and said, was independent. Will the Chief Minister act responsibly and investigate all the implications of these allegations, including possible abuse of power by senior public servants, such as that covered by section 82 of the Criminal Code?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, I made clear to the Leader of the Opposition the nature of the paper I tabled previously. He failed conveniently to mention the second memorandum, which is dated 12 March 1992 - some months after the October election. If Mr Phillips was so concerned and felt that he had been monstered, why did he not refer to that circumstance in that second memo and, indeed, in a series of memos and other communications during the time that he was in the office, saying that he found it unacceptable and that something should be done about it? Instead, he enclosed a copy of his original paper. In other words, in 1992, he was giving it currency notwithstanding ...
Members interjecting.
Mr STONE: ... 1990, and he was standing by his original statement ...
Mr Ede: Rubbish! He was asked to give them another copy.
Mr STONE: ... that the integrity of the electoral process, which is at the heart of the democratic system, has been scrupulously protected by the government.
Mr Ede: What garbage!
Mr STONE: That is his statement. It is not mine. It is the statement made by Charlie Phillips, and he endorsed it again in March 1992.
Page 702
Mr Stone: I said that.
Mr EDE: ... and the election was held 3 months later, in October 1990. I point out to the Chief Minister that these are serious allegations which were made by a person who held a position that the Chief Minister says, and said, was independent. Will the Chief Minister act responsibly and investigate all the implications of these allegations, including possible abuse of power by senior public servants, such as that covered by section 82 of the Criminal Code?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, I made clear to the Leader of the Opposition the nature of the paper I tabled previously. He failed conveniently to mention the second memorandum, which is dated 12 March 1992 - some months after the October election. If Mr Phillips was so concerned and felt that he had been monstered, why did he not refer to that circumstance in that second memo and, indeed, in a series of memos and other communications during the time that he was in the office, saying that he found it unacceptable and that something should be done about it? Instead, he enclosed a copy of his original paper. In other words, in 1992, he was giving it currency notwithstanding ...
Members interjecting.
Mr STONE: ... 1990, and he was standing by his original statement ...
Mr Ede: Rubbish! He was asked to give them another copy.
Mr STONE: ... that the integrity of the electoral process, which is at the heart of the democratic system, has been scrupulously protected by the government.
Mr Ede: What garbage!
Mr STONE: That is his statement. It is not mine. It is the statement made by Charlie Phillips, and he endorsed it again in March 1992.
Page 702
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016