00:00it's quite the gathering thanks for coming everybody thanks for coming just
00:07got to work out an eye line from somewhere
00:12yeah yeah if we're all ready I'll rock and roll with a short statement and
00:23then we can take some questions so I just want to start by saying I was
00:30contacted by the standards commissioner last night who wrote to me to advise that
00:37he had received an anonymous complaint about me but he had made the call not to
00:43investigate further and he's obliged to do that and I would point out that the
00:49standards commissioners guidelines as pertaining to the assembly are that the
00:54three reasons that he can choose to not investigate a complaint a that there is
01:01insufficient evidence be that it is a frivolous or vexatious complaint or see
01:08that it's politically motivated now the commissioner didn't give me advice as to
01:13which one of those three but you know I think you can decide which one or all of
01:18the above and so I think what we need to understand is that we are talking about
01:24an anonymous complaint that has been made that's been gone it's gone through a
01:29process and there is no investigation there is no investigation and as such I
01:35don't know I'm not really sure why there's so much concern and so much
01:42interest in that or in this matter when you know we've had in recent days one of
01:48the most damning reports in the in the history of self-government that's been
01:53handed down involving serious corruption findings that went to the deputy chief
02:00minister's office that led to her resignation that cost taxpayers nearly a
02:06million dollars more than the the original tender and yeah it it I guess it's not a
02:14great surprise when we are landing some attacks on the government it's not a great
02:20surprise that when I walk across the road here on London circuit that you know I
02:25see graffiti attacks on me and I see some some other attacks that are being made on
02:30me and you know I guess I can understand that that's that's the case I'm happy to
02:37take questions there's a lot of you the complaint may be frivolous but is it true
02:41look the complaint has been dismissed he's not being investigated by the
02:48standards commissioner but is it true it's not being invested by the standards
02:52commissioner and so is it true so I don't know if you're gonna let me answer or
02:57not it's the complaints not being investigated by the standards
03:01commissioner and as such I just don't regard it to be in the public interest
03:08yeah did you send a text message that said my job is boring yes I did yes I
03:18did yes I did yes I did do you think that's a text message you should be
03:23sending as an opposition leader during an SMS hearing look again I there's a
03:29hell of a lot of private messages that are sent from a hell of a lot of people in
03:34the context of sitting days and hearings and to be honest I'm not sure that
03:40they're really anybody's business other than the the sender and the
03:43receiver
03:57we did a tally of work hours for me a couple of weeks ago and it was a pretty
04:03solid two weeks it was during the estimates period and I think we worked
04:07out in the the week just prior I'd done 79 hours and the week prior to that I'd
04:12done 80 I don't think anyone can question how much time and effort that I'm
04:18putting into this job and I'm happy to be judged on the outcomes that I'm getting
04:25the fact that I am genuinely holding this government to account in an extremely
04:29robust way and that I am doing the best that I can do every single day
04:35outside outside the text messages are you also denied that you've never engaged with sex workers
04:42either here in the ACT or anywhere else?
04:45I don't think that that question's ever been asked and I don't believe that that
04:49question is in the public interest we are talking about an anonymous complaint
04:53which is not being investigated and I as a consequence I just refuse to entertain
05:00questions in the weeds about about things that are clearly not in the public
05:05interest
05:06Why did you refer this matter to the police?
05:12Look, I...
05:16That's a good question. Stopped me in my tracks didn't it?
05:22Because on occasions when there are some actors who are trying to cause damage to you
05:29I think it's warranted to make the call to have some matters investigated
05:36and that's what we'll be seeking to do again with this
05:38Who do you think those actors are?
05:40I don't know. I really don't know.
05:42Are you planning to be in the police?
05:44Yes, yes I am. Absolutely.
05:45And what I would say in the months that particularly since we've established the
05:53men's and men's health shadow portfolio and of course we're going down the path of
06:00getting ready to present a suicide prevention bill to the Assembly
06:05One of the things that's really struck me more than ever in the last six months
06:09is that so many individuals face some extreme crises in their lives that put enormous pressure on them
06:18and people handle that pressure in different ways and some people crack under that pressure
06:24and I want to thank everybody who's reached out to me because I've had so many people contact me
06:33in the last 12 hours or so
06:35and some of them are close friends, some of them are political colleagues and some of them are political rivals
06:40but I thank them from the bottom of my heart for doing what you would expect Australians to do
06:47and that's to reach out and say, hey, are you okay?
06:51So I thank them and their interventions were very much needed and I think it's important to make that point
06:58You must know who you texted and you won't say who it is for good reason
07:03but what kind of person was it? Was it a colleague? Was it a member of the public? Was it
07:10a man? Was it a woman?
07:11Tell me more about the person you texted. You must know who it is.
07:16Yeah, I'm sorry. Again, I know that in the context of Operation Kingfisher
07:22we were reported to some, you know, we were treated to some expletive laden text messages
07:28but please understand that that was in the context of an integrity commissioner's investigation into corruption
07:34There is no investigation into anything and I'm not going to go into details of private conversations
07:39But you've chosen to give a press conference. Just tell us a bit more about who you texted
07:43I've given a press conference and I've given you some information
07:46I'm not going to get into the weeds of matters which are not in the public interest
07:50How is concerned? So, have you ever engaged with statements?
07:54Again, I'm sorry. There is, there is, there was an anonymous complaint that's made
08:00that has been dismissed by the standards commissioner
08:04I'm not, I'm not going to entertain questions that are completely removed from that
08:10and that are not in the public interest. I'm just not going there
08:13You've admitted this morning that you sent a text message saying that my job is boring
08:18That hearing was discussing non-world engagement with the future of Tersfield Tower
08:22You hold the shadow portfolio of the third average in the Torres Strait Islander Affairs
08:27Do you think it's appropriate to send that message when that was what was being discussed in estimates last Friday?
08:32I think it's appropriate to send private messages to people that are not designed for the public realm
08:41And, you know, I think those of you who've known me for long enough would know that, you know, I've
08:49got an off-the-cuff larrikin communication style
08:55And that, you know, I understand that most people's perception of budget estimates hearings is that they're pretty boring
09:02Now, you know, again, I'm of the belief that we're able to prosecute some pretty solid things in those hearings
09:08And that's what we'll continue to do
09:11But we're also humans, you know, we're also humans
09:14And I, again, people have the ability to send messages to people on their private devices
09:24That have got nothing to do with the public realm
09:26And neither should they
09:28Like, I mean, I'm going door-knocking after this this afternoon
09:32And I can tell you when I knock on doors down in the Tuggeranong Valley
09:35They won't be talking about this
09:37They just won't be
09:37They'll be talking about corruption
09:39They'll be talking about their rates
09:41They'll be talking about the services
09:42They'll be talking about healthcare
09:43And that's what we should be talking about
09:45Do you really think they won't be talking about this?
09:48No, they won't be
09:49Look, the conversations that I've had with people not in my party room
09:54Have been those sort of welfare conversations
09:58You know, have been conversations, human conversations
10:01About, you know, this is shit
10:05And it weighs heavily on you
10:07And I think people worry about outcomes for individuals as they should
10:11And so, you know, those conversations I've had with a number of people
10:16Including the Chief Minister
10:20Team, I think we're done
10:25Thank you
10:26Thank you
10:30Ah
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