DEPARTMENT OF FIRE AND
EMERGENCY SERVICES — ABC REPORTING
670. Mr D.T. REDMAN to the Minister for Emergency Services:
I refer to ABC reporting of
Department of Fire and Emergency Services activities, including the McGowan
government support for gagging DFES volunteers from talking to members of
Parliament. Has the minister's office lodged any official complaints to
the ABC for its reporting of such activities; and, if so, how many complaints
have been lodged and what has been the basis for lodging such complaints?
Mr F.M.
LOGAN replied:
Here we go again with the member
for Warren–Blackwood. It goes in one ear and out the other. Let us just
go back to basics because the member for Warren–Blackwood and some of
his cohorts in the Nationals WA did everything they possibly could not to take
any notice of the Public Sector Management Act 1994 when they were in
government. Let me take them to clause 9 of the Public Sector Management Act.
It refers to the principles of conduct by public sector bodies, stating —
The
principles of conduct that are to be observed by all public sector bodies and
employees are that they —
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(b) are to act
with integrity in the performance of official duties and are to be scrupulous
in the use of official information, equipment and facilities;
That is translated by each director general in the Western Australian
government into a code of conduct for their various departments. The code of
conduct for the Department of Fire and Emergency Services, which I am sure the
member has read —
Point of Order
Mr D.T.
REDMAN: Mr Speaker, the question related to whether or not the
minister's office has made any formal complaints to the ABC. I ask you
to bring the minister back to the question.
The SPEAKER: I am sure the
minister will.
Questions without Notice
Resumed
Mr F.M. LOGAN: I am getting
there, but first of all I want to make sure that the member for Warren–Blackwood
is clear about what he is complaining about. I am referring to the Public
Sector Management Act, which is then interpreted by every director general in
the government. I will go to those dot points in the DFES code of conduct that
refer to what the member is complaining about. It says that employees must —
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adhere to policies regarding communication and protocols with
ministers, ministerial staff and lobbyists
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not contact or communicate with any Federal or State Members
of Parliament regarding Departmental business; or invite or allow them onto any
DFES premises unless authorised
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not respond to any media enquiries unless authorised
The member for Warren–Blackwood
has been out there in the media complaining endlessly about that code of
conduct, which has been set down by the Commissioner for Fire and Emergency
Services, as he is required to do under the Public Sector Management Act. When
the opposition was in government, the Nationals WA in particular did not take
any notice of that at all.
Point of Order
Mr D.T.
REDMAN: Mr Speaker, my question simply asked whether the minister's
office has made any official complaints to the ABC on these matters. I ask you
to bring the minister to the question.
The SPEAKER: Minister, could
you answer that, please.
Mr F.M.
LOGAN: I will. That is exactly where I am going to.
The SPEAKER: Do it now,
please.
Questions without Notice
Resumed
Mr F.M. LOGAN: I will go to
that very point. With that reference to me, the member for Warren–Blackwood
has been in the media complaining about —
The SPEAKER: Minister, I want
an answer to the question, please.
Mr F.M. LOGAN: I am actually
getting to it.
The SPEAKER: We are not going
to be here all day.
Mr F.M. LOGAN: Mr Speaker, I am
talking about the media itself, which is at the heart of this question. In that
case, with the ABC down in Albany, the
member is using one of the councillors to make a complaint about the code
of conduct. His name is Mr Ian Osborne. I think the member for Rockingham and
maybe the member for Midland would remember Mr Osborne.
Mrs M.H. Roberts: We
certainly do.
Mr F.M. LOGAN: They certainly
do. He was sitting in this house. He is also a councillor down in Denmark and a
former colleague at the school that the member for Warren–Blackwood
taught at.
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER: Has everyone had
their fun? He lives in Denmark, not Albany, so do not taint Albany, please. He
is a councillor in Denmark, not Albany.
Mr F.M. LOGAN: He trotted Mr
Osborne out to the media, I am sure as a friend of the member for Warren–Blackwood,
to complain about the code of conduct. The ABC did not pick up on the
background and history of Mr Osborne, nor did it pick up on the fact that Mr Osborne
was a member of the bush fire brigade—nothing to do with the Department
of Fire and Emergency Services, but the bush fire brigade. We brought that to
the attention of the ABC.
One final thing: if the member for
Warren–Blackwood and Mr Osborne were to look at the code of conduct for
Denmark shire council, of which he is a member—he is a bush fire
brigade member as well—he would notice that it is not too different
from the Department of Fire and Emergency Services' one.