Member for Bankstown, the Honourable Tony Stewart

Mr TONY STEWART (Bankstown) [1.31 p.m.]: Recently many of my constituents and the wider community have been asking about the status of my Supreme Court proceedings. I advise the House that I am back in the Supreme Court on 14 May for a referral hearing to set dates for a hearing and to determine the evidence that will be brought and the witnesses that will be called. My legal counsel is looking very carefully at those issues. But because of the public perception, it is important that I advise the House and my constituents of other issues pertaining to this matter that relate to a revelation in an article in a recent weekend newspaper, which I will explain in a moment.

Today I call on the Premier to order a proper reinvestigation into allegations made by my former staffer Tina Sanger that led to my dismissal as the New South Wales Minister for Small Business and Assistant Minister for Health in November last year. An article in a weekend newspaper revealed that in April 1999 Ms Sanger made allegations against a British academic similar to those she made against me. That article, together with anomalies in my case, demonstrate the need for the Premier to order a new investigation into the untrue allegations made against me by that former staffer. As my constituents are aware, the investigation into the allegations took only four days and no witnesses were formally interviewed. Therefore, there are many reasons to look at this issue again. Further, in relation to Ms Sanger's credibility, these revelations demonstrate some very significant anomalies in her case.

It is no surprise to me that Ms Sanger has made similar allegations against someone else. I am advised that in 1999 Ms Sanger made allegations against Professor Mik Heyslop, who was then a senior lecturer at Salford University, in Manchester, England. She claimed that he had inappropriately touched her and intimidated her while she was an undergraduate student. As a result, Professor Heyslop was demoted from his position as a senior lecturer, eventually leaving his university position because of the problems and trauma that Ms Sanger's allegations had caused him. Importantly, Professor Heyslop has maintained continually that Ms Sanger's allegations against him are completely untrue.

Clearly, there are strong similarities between Professor Heyslop's case and mine. I have maintained continually that the allegations made about me by Tina Sanger are totally false: they are without foundation or substance. It seems that Ms Sanger's pattern of behaviour towards Professor Heyslop and me is remarkably similar. I have done nothing wrong. It is time for the allegations against me to be reinvestigated properly by way of a judicial inquiry, perhaps conducted by a retired judge, for example, who has the power to formally test the evidence and determine the truth in this matter. The previous four-day inquiry—two days of which covered a weekend—did not formally interview witnesses who were at the event. The inquiry did not require or call for the giving of formal evidence or sworn statements. In my view it did not properly test the evidence. There is now time to investigate this matter properly and constructively. I am not asking for the world; I am asking simply for my name and credibility back.