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Film and Television Industry Free Trade Agreement
Mr BOB CARR (Maroubra—Premier, Minister for the Arts, and Minister for Citizenship) [3.41 p.m.]: My motion is urgent because Australian and United States of America negotiators are rushing to complete the free trade agreement by the end of January and there is little time left to protect Australian culture.
Former Macarthur Health Service Chief Executive Officer Ms Jennifer Collins
Mr JOHN BROGDEN (Pittwater—Leader of the Opposition) [3.42 p.m.]: My motion is urgent. The Government continues to make it clear, through its estimates committee hearings and through the ramblings of its former Minister, its current Minister, the director-general, and Jennifer Collins, who came out of hiding and fronted a parliamentary committee yesterday, that this is a sordid and dirty little affair. Clearly the Premier, the Hon. Bob Carr, is happy to spend $204,000 on his chief of staff; $178,000 on Walt Secord; $158,000 or more on Amanda Lampe; $3.2 million of taxpayers' funds on Rehame Australia media monitoring, a service that is performed on a regular basis; and $800,000 worth of funds for 9.5 staff to perform media monitoring in his office—yet whistleblower nurses in Camden and Campbelltown hospitals have not been paid for months.
The Premier is happy to look after his Labor mates like Jennifer Collins and to transfer her from Camden and Campbelltown hospitals into the Central Area Health Service on a $165,000-a-year non-senior executive service [SES] job—a look-alike SES job, as Dr Horvath told the estimates committee last week. The Premier is happy to look after Jennifer Collins, Walt Secord, and Rehame, and he is prepared to pay millions of dollars to look after the Labor organisation—
Mr Alan Ashton: Point of order: The Leader of the Opposition has rattled off a lot of names but he has not once mentioned the word "urgency". He should be directed to state why his motion is more urgent than the motion of the Premier.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! I have not heard sufficient from the Leader of the Opposition to rule on the point of order. The honourable member for East Hills will resume his seat.
Mr JOHN BROGDEN: My motion it is urgent because only yesterday the Parliament heard from Jennifer Collins, a former Australian Labor Party member who for a long time has been cleaning up the mess that was left by the former health Minister, the Hon. Craig Knowles, on the Campbelltown and Camden hospitals issue. Only yesterday did Jennifer Collins front up at the estimates committee hearing and only then did we establish the full level of fraud and deceit in relation to this matter. In May 2003 NSW Health appointed Vern Dalton as mediator for whistleblower nurses, yet it took until 20 November 2003 to advise them—
Mr Alan Ashton: Point of order: I repeat my earlier point of order. The Leader of the Opposition is not establishing why his motion is urgent. He is debating the issue.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! I remind the Leader of the Opposition that he must establish why his motion should have priority over the motion of the Premier.
Mr JOHN BROGDEN: This motion is urgent. This is the first opportunity that we have had in a week to discuss this matter, which is urgent because of further ongoing revelations. Whistleblower nurses in the Macarthur Area Health Service are not being paid, but Jennifer Collins is being paid $165,000. Whistleblower nurses are not being paid but Walt Secord, the Premier's spin doctor, is getting $180,000 a year. Whistleblower nurses are not being paid, but the Premier's chief of staff is getting $204,000. What is the view of Government backbench members about the fact that the Premier's chief of staff is being paid twice as much as they are being paid?
Mr Alan Ashton: Point of order: The Leader of the Opposition has rattled off what he alleges are the salaries being paid to staff of the Premier. That has nothing to do with this motion. The figures to which he referred cannot be substantiated. He should be asked to state why he believes his motion is more urgent than the motion of the Premier.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! I again remind the Leader of the Opposition that he must establish why his motion should have priority. He should not debate the substance of the motion.
Mr JOHN BROGDEN: This motion is urgent because this is the first opportunity we have had to discuss and debate this matter since further and serious revelations last week. We need to discuss the clear relationship between Jennifer Collins, the Labor mate who is being looked after, and Amanda Adrian, the Health Care Complaints Commissioner. We established last week that they are work colleagues who worked together in the Department of Health, and that they socialised together—yet under the Labor Party the Health Care Complaints Commissioner is to investigate Jennifer Collins. It appears as though former Australian Labor Party members are looked after. We must urgently debate this grubby and corrupt matter. Time and again the Premier has refused to answer questions about this issue. He is standing by an incompetent and corrupt Health Care Complaints Commission—the body that should be properly investigating this matter. [Time expired.]
Question—That the motion for urgent consideration of the honourable member for Maroubra be agreed to—put.
The House divided.
Ayes, 52
Ms Allan
Mr Amery
Ms Andrews
Mr Bartlett
Ms Beamer
Mr Black
Mr Brown
Miss Burton
Mr Campbell
Mr Carr
Mr Collier
Mr Corrigan
Mr Crittenden
Ms D'Amore
Mr Debus
Mr Gaudry
Mr Gibson
Mr Greene | Ms Hay
Mr Hickey
Mr Hunter
Mr Iemma
Ms Judge
Ms Keneally
Mr Knowles
Mr Lynch
Mr McBride
Mr McLeay
Ms Meagher
Ms Megarrity
Mr Mills
Mr Morris
Mr Newell
Ms Nori
Mr Orkopoulos
Mrs Paluzzano | Mr Pearce
Mrs Perry
Mr Price
Dr Refshauge
Ms Saliba
Mr Sartor
Mr Scully
Mr Shearan
Mr Stewart
Mr Tripodi
Mr Watkins
Mr West
Mr Whan
Mr Yeadon
Tellers,
Mr Ashton
Mr Martin |
Noes, 36
Mr Aplin
Mr Armstrong
Mr Barr
Ms Berejiklian
Mr Brogden
Mr Cansdell
Mr Constance
Mr Debnam
Mr Draper
Mr Fraser
Mrs Hancock
Mr Hazzard
Mr Kerr | Ms Hodgkinson
Mrs Hopwood
Mr Humpherson
Mr Kerr
Mr McGrane
Mr Merton
Ms Moore
Mr Oakeshott
Mr Page
Mr Piccoli
Mr Pringle
Mr Richardson
Mr Roberts | Ms Seaton
Mrs Skinner
Mr Slack-Smith
Mr Souris
Mr Stoner
Mr Tink
Mr Torbay
Mr J. H. Turner
Mr R. W. Turner
Tellers,
Mr George
Mr Maguire |
Pair
Question resolved in the affirmative.