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Parliamentary Questions


Question Without Notice No. 795 asked in the Legislative Assembly on 14 October 2020 by Mr W.R. Marmion

Parliament: 40 Session: 1

TOWN OF CAMBRIDGE — MINISTER FOR LOCAL GOVERNMENT — SHOW-CAUSE NOTICE

795. Mr W.R. MARMION to the Minister for Local Government:

I have a supplementary question. I thank the minister for his response. In his response, he mentioned that he got advice from his department. Will the minister table the advice that he relied upon before he delivered a show-cause notice to the Town of Cambridge?

Mr D.A. TEMPLEMAN replied:

Once again, let me remind members that advice is sought, as is appropriate, from the department. The department, as we know, has been undertaking an inquiry. The reason that the department initiates an authorised inquiry—it is an authorised inquiry—is that it authorises the departmental officers to access information to assist them in assessing the complaints and concerns that might be raised by the public or elected members. I have to tell members that in the case of the Town of Cambridge, and other councils, some of those complaints come from the elected councillors themselves. I highlight to members in this place that one of the councillors concerned is now a former councillor of the Town of Cambridge; he resigned a month or so ago. I urge the member to perhaps look at the letter and the comments that the councillor made with regard to some of the reasons behind that. The member might be interested to read some of the comments that he made. He talks in his letter about the adversarial nature of the decision-making and actions by the people who he, as an elected member then, worked with. All these matters are to be assessed. The member knows as well as others that —

Point of Order

Mr W.R. MARMION: I am very happy with a yes or no answer. Will the minister table the advice?

Mr D.A. TEMPLEMAN: Table the?

Mr W.R. Marmion: The advice.

Mr D.A. TEMPLEMAN: There is currently an inquiry and there will be a report.

Mr W.R. MARMION: I just asked for a yes or no answer and whether the minister would table the advice that he received from the department.

The SPEAKER: Can you give a yes or no?

Mr D.A. TEMPLEMAN: The advice forms part of an authorised inquiry, which is yet —

Mr S.K. L'ESTRANGE: This question specifically relates —

Mr D.A. TEMPLEMAN: And I am answering it.

The SPEAKER: Hold on, minister. Member, he is answering that. He said that it is part of a report. He is just answering the question.

Mr S.K. L'ESTRANGE: My point of order is that this question actually has nothing to do with the authorised inquiry; it is to do with the suspension of the Town of Cambridge and the advice the minister received for why he had to issue a show-cause notice to suspend it.

The SPEAKER: Thank you, member, but if you had listened, you would have heard him say, from what I can gather, that it is part of the actual —

Mr D.A. TEMPLEMAN: I will explain.

The SPEAKER: Yes or no, minister.

Questions without Notice Resumed

Mr D.A. TEMPLEMAN: First of all, the council was not suspended.

Mr S.K. L'Estrange: It's a show-cause notice.

Mr D.A. TEMPLEMAN: Read the letter, member. This is the problem; he does not read. I do not know on whose behalf he is acting. I have heard a few things about one of the reasons why this matter is particularly interesting, but I will not go into details.

The SPEAKER: Minister, this is dragging on a bit. Can I have a yes or no?

Mr D.A. TEMPLEMAN: What I can say is that in terms of transparency, there will be an authorised inquiry report that will in fact be tabled in this Parliament. When that report is tabled, a whole range of issues will be addressed, including findings and recommendations, and that is when we will see all the information. It will be tabled here, transparently, as is required under the act.