Labor and the Greens ramp up pressure on Minister Roger Jaensch over accusations of misleading parliament

Opposition parties have doubled down on calls for Government Minister Roger Jaensch to resign over accusations he misled parliament, with the Greens revealing their next course of action.

LABOR and the Greens have renewed calls for Government Minister Roger Jaensch to resign or be sacked over accusations he deliberately misled parliament, but the government has again backed the besieged MP.

The Opposition parties on Friday suggested Mr Jaensch’s position was untenable, after an eventful day in parliament on Thursday started when Greens leader Cassy O’Connor sprung a trap for the minister during question time.

Mr Jaensch said he was not aware of plans to amend eviction laws, but Ms O’Connor then produced a misdirected email containing a confidential cabinet minute that showed cabinet had decided to amend laws to make evictions easier and had then changed its mind in August.

After question time, Ms O’Connor sought leave to move a motion of no confidence, but it was defeated after independent Madeleine Ogilvie voted with the government.

Greens leader Cassy O'Connor during question time in State Parliament. Picture: Zak Simmonds

But Ms O’Connor said on Friday the Greens would not let the matter go and would refer Mr Jaensch’s to the parliament’s Privileges Committee.

“Minister Jaensch’s position is untenable. He absolutely misled parliament and he should resign or the premier should sack him,’’ she said.

“It was really disappointing to see a premier who’s chartered this state through the coronavirus pandemic and helped to keep us safe, make such a statement in defence of a minister who blatantly misled parliament.

“What the premier tried to tell us is when government makes a decision it’s not really a decision until parliament sees the legislation.

“It really does strain credibility when you have a premier basically telling us black is white, day is night and a government decision is not really a government decision.”

Labor leader Rebecca White during question time in State Parliament. Picture: Zak Simmonds

Labor leader Rebecca White said Mr Jaensch had now “lost that window of time” to correct the record.

“He’s dug a big hole for himself and the premier’s there cheering him along,’’ she said.

“This is a very bad day for the government. They need to act swiftly to restore confidence that this government can do its job.

“This is rotten, it stinks, this is not the way ministers should behave and they should be held accountable for it, not supported in that bad behaviour by the premier and by other ministers of cabinet.”

But Liberal Minister Guy Barnett said the government stood behind Mr Jaensch and was “backing him to the hilt”.

Mr Barnett repeated the line from Premier Peter Gutwein that the Greens’ motion was a “stunt”.

“We call on Cassy O’Connor to review her position, in terms of being a former cabinet minister she understands the importance of cabinet and understands the confidentiality of cabinet,’’ Mr Barnett said.

“I’ve been around a long time and cabinet confidentiality is something that is sacrosanct and should never be broken.”

Mr Barnett labelled as “absurd” a question about whether Mr Jaensch should resign.

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