Doorstop - Parliament House

SUBJECTS: Craig Thomson saga

E&OE…………

Christopher Pyne: Mr Oakeshott has placed his motion of censure of the Member for Dobell on the notice paper last night.  The Coalition’s view is that motion should be debated and the Opposition support it.  It’s up to Mr Oakeshott when he wants that to happen and we would hope the Government also facilitate the motion being debated in the House either today or this week, whenever Mr Oakeshott wants to bring that debate on. 

Secondly the Government has agreed to a motion from the Opposition that the statement from the Member for Dobell be referred to the privileges committee.  We did that last night.  I’m glad that the Government saw the necessity having the statement by the Member for Dobell tested for its veracity as we believe it was misleading and I hope the Privileges Committee will do a thorough job.  I’m sure they will.  They have the power of course to call witnesses including the Member for Dobell himself and Terry Nassios if they chose to do so; Kathy Jackson, Marco Balano and any other persons of interest in the Fair Work Australia Report that they might choose to call to test the statement of the Member for Dobell and I assume they will do that thoroughly and I have great faith the privileges committee will treat the matter seriously. 

Journalist: (inaudible)

Pyne: Look, I don’t think Members of Parliament need a code of conduct to know that embezzlement is a bad idea or that fraud is wrong.  So therefore – I’ve been in parliament 19 years – it is very rare for these kinds of scandals to occur.  When they do, they are dealt with.  But I don’t think a code of conduct is necessary for MPs to know that breaking the law is not a particularly good thing for a Member of Parliament. 

Journalist: (inaudible)

Pyne: Well, I don’t agree with him and I think it suggests MPs believe that they don’t know how to behave properly.  I think most of my colleagues having a lot of experience in this place with them behave entirely appropriately and I think a code of conduct is unnecessary and suggests that Members of Parliament don’t know embezzlement is the wrong thing to do if you’re going to be a Member of Parliament. 

ENDS