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
00:19if we're all ready I'll rock and roll with a short statement and then we can take
00:25some questions so I just want to start by saying I was contacted by the standards
00:32commissioner last night who wrote to me to advise that he had received an
00:39anonymous complaint about me but he had made the call not to investigate further
00:44and he's obliged to do that and I would point out that the standards
00:49commissioner's guidelines as pertaining to the assembly are that the three
00:55reasons 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 did
03:18yes I did yes I did do you think that's a text message you should be should be
03:23sending as an opposition leader during an SMS hearing look again I there's a hell of a lot
03:30of private messages that are sent from a hell of a lot of people in the context of
03:35sitting days and hearings and to be honest I'm not sure that they're really
03:40anybody's business other than the the sender and the receiver
03:44there's a difference between maybe sending messages if you send them to
03:49because it's what we're not going to do is the problem to do the first messages
03:54anything like that when you're meant to be there
03:57we did a tally of work hours for me a couple of weeks ago and it was a pretty solid
04:03two weeks
04:04it was during the estimates period and I think we worked out in the the week just prior I'd done
04:0970
04:10nine hours and the week prior to that I'd done 80 I don't think anyone can question how much time
04:17and
04:17effort that I'm putting into this job and I'm happy to be judged on the outcomes that I'm getting the
04:25fact that I am genuinely holding this government to account in an extremely robust way and that I am
04:31doing the best that I can do every single day
04:35Outside the text messages
04:38are you also denied that you've never engaged in sex workers either here in the ATT or anywhere?
04:45I don't think that that question's ever been asked and I don't believe that that question is in the public
04:50interest
04:50we are talking about an anonymous complaint which is not being investigated and I as a consequence
04:58I just refuse to entertain questions in the weeds about about things that are clearly not in the public interest
05:06Why did you refer this matter to the police?
05:11Look I
05:16That's a good question
05:18Stopped me in my tracks didn't it?
05:21Because 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 and that's what we'll be
05:37seeking 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 the police?
05:44Yes yes I am absolutely and what I would say in the months that particularly since we've established the
05:53men's and men's health port shadow portfolio and of course we're going down the path of
06:01getting ready to present a suicide prevention bill to the assembly one of the things that's
06:06really struck me more than ever in the last six months is that so many individuals face some extreme
06:13crises in their lives that put enormous pressure on and people handle that pressure in different ways
06:21and some people crack under that pressure and I want to thank everybody who's reached out to me
06:30because I've had so many people contact me in the last 12 hours or so and some of them are
06:36close
06:36friends some of them are political colleagues and some of them are political rivals but I thank them
06:43from the bottom of my heart for doing what you would expect Australians to do and that's to reach out
06:49and say hey are you okay so I thank them and their their interventions were very much needed
06:55and and I think it's important to make that point you must know who you texted
07:00and you won't say who it is for good reason but what uh kind of person was it was it
07:06a colleague
07:07was it a member of the public was it a man was it a woman tell me more about the
07:12person
07:13you you texted you must know who it is yeah I'm sorry again I'm in I know that in the
07:20context of
07:21operation kingfisher we were reported to some you know we were we were treated to some expletive
07:26laden laden text messages but please understand that that was in the context of an integrity
07:32commissioner's investigation into corruption there is no investigation into anything and I'm not going to
07:37go into details but you've chosen to give a press conference just tell us a bit more about who you
07:42texted I've I've given a press conference and I've given you some information I'm not going to get into
07:47the weeds of matters which are not in the public interest
07:55again I'm sorry there is there is there was an anonymous complaint that's made that has been
08:01dismissed by the standards commissioner I'm I'm not I'm not going to entertain questions that are
08:08completely removed from that and that I'm not in the public interest I'm just not going there
08:13you admitted this morning that you sent a text message saying that my job is for it
08:18that hearing was discussing uh world engagement with the future of Teresville Tower you hold the shadow
08:23portfolio for Aboriginal Torres Strait Islander Affairs do you think it's appropriate to send that message
08:36to people um that are not designed for the public realm and you know I think uh those of you
08:45who've
08:45known me for long enough would know that you know I've got a uh an off-the-cuff larrikin communication
08:54style and that you know I understand that most people's perception of uh budget estimates hearings
09:00is that they're pretty boring uh now you know again I'm of the belief that we're able to prosecute some
09:07pretty solid things in those hearings and and and that's what we'll continue to do but we're also humans
09:13you know we're also humans and um I again um people have the ability to send messages to people on
09:22their
09:23private devices that have got nothing to do with the public realm and neither should they like I
09:28mean I'm going door knocking um after this this afternoon and I can tell you when I knock on doors
09:33down in the Tuggeranong Valley they won't be talking about this they just won't be they'll be talking
09:38about uh corruption they'll be talking about their rates they'll be talking about the services they'll
09:42be talking about health care and that's what we should be talking about do you really think they
09:46won't be talking about this no they won't look the conversations that I've had with um um
09:52people not in my party room have been those sort of welfare conversations you know have been uh
09:59conversations human conversations about you know this is um and it weighs heavily on you and I think
10:08people people worry about outcomes for individuals as they should and so they're they're you know those
10:13conversations I've had with a number of people including the chief minister
10:20team I think we're done
10:25thank you
10:30ah
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