WA and Qld - leaked reports - a tale of two states ...
Leak a confidential report in WA and face possible jail time:
Disgraced Western Australian lobbyist Julian Grill has been stripped of his special access to State Parliament indefinitely and will have to apologise or face possible jail time over the leaking of a confidential report.
See - WA consequences.
Leak a confidential report in Qld and who cares - certainly not the person who leaked it:
Queensland Premier Peter Beattie today admitted leaking a confidential report recommending Senior Sergeant Chris Hurley be charged over a Palm Island death in custody.
Mr Beattie said he had released the report by former NSW chief justice Sir Laurence Street to The Courier-Mail in February - the day before Sen-Sgt Hurley was charged with the manslaughter and assault of Mulrunji Doomadgee.
At the time, Sen-Sgt Hurley's lawyer, the Queensland Police Union and Opposition Leader Jeff Seeney criticised the leak and Mr Beattie refused to confirm or deny he had been its source.
But today Mr Beattie confirmed he had released the report in its entirety to the newspaper.
"At that time I believed strongly that it was entitled to be released ... and I make no apology for it," he said.
See - Qld consequences - Beattie - I'll leak confidential reports and you can all get stuffed.
posted by Concerned Ratepayer at 6:49 PM
4 Comments:
Comment by the Police Union:
"Our lawyers were only given a copy of the [Sir Laurence] Street report days before the trial began and only when we threatened to subpoena Peter Beattie for the trial."
So Premier Beattie releases the report to the Courier Mail so the 'public' can have the full facts.
But only releases the report to the Police Union's lawyers under threat of a subpoena.
Sounds like the Premier is not being all that truthful about his reasons for releasing the report - why not give the report to the Police Union's lawyers if you released it to the Courier Mail so that the public could be fully informed?
8:12 PM, June 22, 2007
Just to correct Premier Beattie's comment:
"At that time I believed strongly that it was entitled to be [leaked] ... and I make no apology for it," he said.
8:23 PM, June 22, 2007
Should Premier Beattie also be expelled from the Labor Party?
Excerpt from ABC News:
ALP moves to expel lobbyist Grill
The WA Labor Party has moved to expel the former minister turned lobbyist Julian Grill after he was found to be in contempt of Parliament.
Labor state secretary Bill Johnston has refused to comment but it is understood an official complaint about Mr Grill was lodged with the party yesterday.
Premier Alan Carpenter has told ABC TV's Stateline program that he expects Mr Grill to apologise.
"He's been told that he needs to apologise to the Parliament - now it's up to him in a way and then it's up to the Parliament, not me the Premier," he said.
"[It's up to] the Parliament and the Speaker as far as I understand, to deal with the matter if Mr Grill refuses to comply but I think he will."
Mr Carpenter says he will not be getting personally involved in any expulsion proceedings even though he was the first person to demand Mr Grill go.
"Do the people of Western Australia want me, Premier elected to do the job as Premier, to spend half my time running around trying to get people in and out of the Labor Party?" he said.
"I've made my position clear to the Labor Party and it's up to the Labor Party to do the right thing in relation to Julian Grill," he said.
"But I'm not going to get tied up in party political matters at the expense of my proper job, which is being the Premier of the state."
This week, the Legislative Assembly found Mr Grill in contempt for accepting a leaked confidential report from former Labor minister John Bowler.
Mr Grill will be issued with a summons requiring him to apologise in person to the Parliament in August.
He is seeking legal advice on whether he must apologise.
1:22 PM, June 23, 2007
It's really what he thinks about Queenslanders - idiots all. When it comes to an election he will go for a swim with the sharks and throw a footie around Suncorp - and he will be a shoe in for the next election - he must laugh all the way to the bank
9:00 PM, June 23, 2007
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