Anika Wells (Lilley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

This Prime Minister can run but he cannot hide from the thousands of mums and dads and active citizens out there who volunteer hours and hours each year for their sports clubs and who have been betrayed by the actions of this government in the sports rorts saga. Labor will continue to pursue this scandal. We will pursue it in the parliament, we'll pursue it in the Senate inquiry and I reckon we're going to have to look at pursuing it through the courts as well.

Some outraged lawyers in my electorate of Lilley have written to me to make the very good point that there is a common law offence of misconduct in public office. I think it applies right now. This is an ancient offence—it's 800 years old—but it has been ratified in the Criminal Code and it was used in Greiner v Independent Commission Against Corruption, where Justice Mahoney said:

If a Minister or officer exercises a public power merely to, for example, comply with the wishes of a political party, an employer or a trade union official, that exercise of power, though apparently within the terms of the legislation or office, is wrong and may constitute a crime. If he joins with others to do so, he may be guilty of a criminal conspiracy.

Or, as in this circumstance, she may be guilty of criminal conspiracy.

We Queenslanders know a thing or two about frontier justice. Whether it's through the courts or through the next ballot, we will be throwing the book at you for what you have done: betraying our clubs and volunteers. We're not going to let it rest.

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