Premier misleads parliament over dodgy grants scandal, fails to correct record

Tasmanian Labor

The Premier has faced a censure motion in Parliament after misleading the Parliament over the dodgy grants scandal and failing to correct the record.

On 14 June this year the Premier said, in response to a question from the Greens Leader Cassie O'Connor, that the provision of funding depended, one, on being elected by the Tasmanian public, and two, "the election promise being funded, included in the budget and the budget being agreed to by the Parliament."

On Friday last week Mr Rockliff was asked at a media conference if he had misled the parliament in relation to what he said.

He stated on ABC TV news in response to the question, "I've got a good understanding of what I said in Parliament and what I said was factual."

Clearly that's not true.

The funding was not in the budget and agreed to by parliament but was paid for by the Liberals plundering a contingency fund, the Treasurer's reserve.

Minister Street today acknowledged he misled Parliament over the dodgy grants scandal and corrected the record.

But the Premier did not and failed to uphold the same standard that he sets for his Ministers.

Misleading the parliament is a very serious offence and under the Westminster conventions members who do so face censure or no confidence motions.

Not only that, but misleading the Parliament has also resulted in the resignations of countless ministers.

Mr Rockliff pretends to lead a government with integrity but in fact, the Liberal Party is rotten to the core, using blatant pork-barrelling to win elections, then trying to hide it from Tasmanians.

Rebecca White MP

Labor Leader

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