The first day of our States Meeting today was a frustrating affair, nothing constructive has come out of it, just lots of angst, building distrust and with no straight answers. With what is increasingly looking like a very messy Governance review process sponsored by the P & R Committee and some clumsy sidestepping of my Rule 11 Questions by the Education Sport & Culture (ESC) Committee, ending with robust questioning and words between the Presidents of Economic Development & the States Trading & Supervisory Board, today felt similar to gladiatorial combat at times.

I record here above for public view what I can of the Rule 11 Questions and prepared responses from ESC. I will add as soon as the transcript is available a copy of the Hansard record, so that readers can review the actual exchange – it really beggars belief.

The lack of transparency and accountability of this Committee hiding behind the shield of “legal advice” is truly cowardly and irresponsible. If there is nothing to hide, they need to come out and say it. I believe that they have much to hide. I have been told the truth of the situation and therefore the actions of the Committee around this recruitment process, calls into question the integrity and credibility of the content of their Policy letter.

If they are unable to carry out simple recruitment of key staff in a well governed, open and accountable way, I believe that they will have applied similar principles of bad governance, short cuts and political dominance to their policy aspirations for the one school on 2 sites. I have no confidence in this Committee.

Please see the Q&A above – transcript to follow soon.