APARTMENTS
— FLAMMABLE CLADDING
346. Mr R.S. LOVE to the Minister for Commerce:
I was going to ask this of the
Minister for Commerce; Deputy Premier, who will not be here until after the
winter break, so I seek guidance.
Several members interjected.
The
SPEAKER: Order! Members, I think
you have had your little bit of fun, but I would like to get on with question
time. Member, I ask you to ask the question to the Minister for Commerce and
the government will respond.
Ms S. Winton interjected.
The SPEAKER: Order, member
for Wanneroo!
Mr R.S. LOVE: I refer to
reports that the safety of residents of nine Perth apartment buildings remain
at risk due to the presence of dangerously flammable cladding material similar
to that which contributed to the Grenfell Tower disaster in the United Kingdom.
(1) Has the
minister's department, or the government, briefed the minister on how
the government might assist the owners of these apartments to ensure their
properties are made safe?
(2) Where the
companies that carry the liability no longer exist, will the government step in
to make sure that Western Australian families are safe in their own apartment
homes?
Ms R. SAFFIOTI replied:
(1)–(2) The
government has a program for government-owned buildings in relation to the
cladding system, and that program is being rolled out. If the member really
wanted to take this issue seriously, he would have known that the minister was not here and is out there promoting Western Australia,
attracting workers to WA, because that is what they called for!
Mr R.S. Love interjected.
Ms R. SAFFIOTI: No, listen!
The opposition called for us to promote WA around the world, so the Minister for
State Development, Jobs and Trade; Tourism is doing that. The member comes in
here trying to play politics with the Deputy Premier up there promoting Western
Australia. When you have an acting minister, look it up! That is what we used
to do. We used to get the Government Gazette and see who the acting
minister was. It was called research. If you wanted detailed answers, you would
give some notice. That is parliamentary practice. That is what we did when we
were in opposition. There will be ministers who will be away. There will be
acting ministers. We give notice, so do not come in here and play the victim.
Where has your leader gone? She could not even last here for one question,
members. Do not come in here and play politics with the fact that we have a Premier
and minister undertaking significant projects on behalf of WA. It is pathetic!
You have a couple of questions—use your parliamentary time wisely.
Several members interjected.
Ms R. SAFFIOTI: As I said,
ministers are sometimes absent from the Parliament on ministerial business, and
there are acting ministers. When I sat over there for eight and a half years
and the Minister for Culture and the Arts was the opposition Whip, we had a process.
We knew that if the relevant minister was not there, there would be an acting
minister, and if the question required detail, we would provide notice. That is
simple. I have been around politics for 25 years and I have never seen such a stupid
stunt being played because the Premier and a minister are out there undertaking
essential business on behalf of the state.