Opposition claims about Government secrecy hypocritical

19/7/93

Attorney General Cheryl Edwardes says the Opposition's claims of so-called Government secrecy are laughable and hypocritical given the track record of the Lawrence administration. 

Mrs Edwardes said the previous administration had turned the evasion of questions and requests for information into an 'art form'. 

"I find it unbelievable that the Opposition can accuse this Government of being secretive when successive Labor administrations tried to hush-up and conceal what we now know as 'WA Inc'," Mrs Edwardes said. 

"Dr Lawrence herself had to be forced by the weight of public pressure to call a Royal Commission into the whole affair." 

Mrs Edwardes said that in her time as an Opposition MP she had been continually frustrated by the then Lawrence Government's failure to answer questions in Parliament. 

"When Dr Lawrence had Parliament prorogued late last year I alone had some 25 questions on notice, some dating from September, still unanswered."

"Interestingly enough these questions related to issues such as the Notre Dame land deal, Western Women, the redevelopment of the Old Swan Brewery and the WA Inc Royal Commission. 

"All matters which the Labor Party are quite rightly keen to avoid."

Mrs Edwardes said that to this day many questions remained unanswered, such as: 

·         was Carmen Lawrence a member of the taskforce of the Department of Cabinet formed to work with the Catholic Education Commission to examine the feasibility of the University of Notre Dame project and to identify the nature of Government support, if appropriate?;

·         how was a 'Ministerial Breakfast Account' operated in the office of the then Minister for Productivity and Labor Relations, Yvonne Henderson?;

·         did the Western Australian Department of Employment and Training through its HUB Project Newsletter in 1989 advertise Western Women workshops?;

·         did Carmen Lawrence, as Premier, attend a lunch and launch the Women's Investment Handbook by Robyn Greenburg on October 1, 1988?;

·         what were the terms of the appointment of Gary Sturgess to provide the Lawrence Government with advice on implementing the WA Inc Royal Commission findings?

"There are many more questions that are still to be answered," Mrs Edwardes said.

"If the Lawrence Opposition is trying to criticise the Government on the availability of information, then they either have very bad memories or think the people of Western Australia are very gullible." 

Media contact: Casey Cahill 222 9595