Yesterday Labor successfully moved to establish a parliamentary inquiry to look at the less-than- transparent evidence provided to a Commission of Inquiry parliamentary hearing by the Premier Jeremy Rockliff and his Department Secretary Jenny Gale on Tuesday 5 December.
When asked by the hearing on that day if they had been provided with a list of the 22 public servants that had received Section 18 notifications by the Commission of Inquiry they both stated they had not.
Yet the following day at the hearing involving Justice Secretary Ginna Webster and Attorney General Guy Barnett it was revealed that the Department of Justice had sent the list to all Department Secretaries in April.
The reason for my question to the premier and Ms Gale on December 5 was to find out if people who had section 18 notifications against them were still working with children, or in positions where they could influence policy or implement recommendations from the Commission of Inquiry.
Sadly, what we saw from the Premier and his Secretary was more of the same from a government whose default position is secrecy and lack of transparency, it was disrespectful to victim survivors and not in keeping with the spirit and expectations of those hearings.
The Inquiry will recall the Premier and Ms Gale and re-examine their evidence, interrogate whether they withheld information or mislead the committee with their answers and also seek to understand why so many people have not been made accountable for their actions.
Rebecca White MP
Tasmanian Labor Leader
