Education Minister withdraws ‘rubbish’ remarks against Mitch

Education Minister Dr Natalio Wheatley has expressed regret for making statements about another legislator recently that he termed as ‘unflattering’.

“Last year I referred to a contribution of a member in an unflattering way. And upon reflection, I decided to come here and acknowledge that, that was not the correct thing to do,” Dr Wheatley said in the House of Assembly (HOA) recently.

Late last year, Dr Wheatley termed Second District Representative, Melvin ‘Mitch’ Turnbull‘s, contribution to a debate in the House as ‘incoherent’ and ‘incomprehensible rubbish’ and said it was difficult for him to sit through.

Legislators were at the time debating the Integrity in Public Life Act and Turnbull accused the government of hiding the bill from the public and rushing the bill through the HOA.

While the Education Minister’s remarks back then were met with support from Premier Andrew Fahie, Dr Wheatley was roundly rebuked by Opposition Leader Marlon Penn as the government’s new ‘attack dog-in-chief’ for his criticism and accused of bullyism.

Meanwhile, Dr Wheatley noted that his ministry had a very ambitious agenda for the upcoming year and referred to plans to continue rehabilitation works at the Elmore Stoutt High School as part of this.

The Education Minister said he pledged to work respectfully with his colleagues going forward and to ensure that no matter the content of their contributions, that debate would be done on the merits of those contributions.

Dr Wheatley further said he would continue to work hard on delivering the people’s agenda and to ensure that there is a healthy democracy in place.