Ms MARTIN - 2000-02-22
Yesterday morning on ABC Radio the Chief Minister and Attorney-General said, and I quote: ‘The justice system per se is totally corrupt’. The Country Liberal Party have been responsible for the justice system in the Northern Territory for over 25 years. As the Territory’s first law officer, can the Attorney-General explain to Territorians, firstly, what he means by the Territory having a totally corrupt justice system, and secondly, if it is so, why doesn’t he resign in disgrace immediately and take his government with him?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, they are very emotive words and I stand by them entirely. If you listen to the interview, I said it is corrupt in this regard. What I said was that the justice system is corrupt. It is perceived by Australians as being corrupt. It is perceived by the average law abiding Australian citizen as corrupt. It is perceived as not serving their interest in one way, shape or form. It is perceived as having its whole focus on the criminal, and as soon as the criminal hits the justice system all of a sudden he says: ‘I’m the victim. I want the whole system to come and protect me’. What does the system do? What do the lawyers do? What do all the do-gooders do? The whole system focuses on this guy who all of a sudden is a criminal one day and the minute he hits the system he is the victim. That’s what has been happening in the justice system in Australia.
That is why Australians and Territorians are speaking out louder and louder to their politicians and they are saying, ‘We’ve had enough. What about me? How about someone fighting back on our behalf”. That’s what’s happening. If you don’t like those words, if the lawyers don’t like those words, if the judges don’t like those words, too bad, because that is what the Australian people are saying and that’s what Territorians have said consistently to this government, ‘We have had enough of the criminals becoming victims. We want the government to underpin our laws with some minimum sentences’.
We did that in the 1994 election when we said: ‘If you elect us, that’s exactly what we’ll do’. In the 1997 election we confirmed and asked for their support to continue with that policy and they overwhelmingly supported us.
The Leader of the Opposition can’t criticise this Chief Minister and can’t criticise a politician for implementing the policies that we went to election on, because that’s what the democratic process is all about. And if we are doing, if we are, in a small way, putting some equality into the system, getting the fulcrum back where punishment is a definite part of the justice process, that’s something we’re proud of.
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, they are very emotive words and I stand by them entirely. If you listen to the interview, I said it is corrupt in this regard. What I said was that the justice system is corrupt. It is perceived by Australians as being corrupt. It is perceived by the average law abiding Australian citizen as corrupt. It is perceived as not serving their interest in one way, shape or form. It is perceived as having its whole focus on the criminal, and as soon as the criminal hits the justice system all of a sudden he says: ‘I’m the victim. I want the whole system to come and protect me’. What does the system do? What do the lawyers do? What do all the do-gooders do? The whole system focuses on this guy who all of a sudden is a criminal one day and the minute he hits the system he is the victim. That’s what has been happening in the justice system in Australia.
That is why Australians and Territorians are speaking out louder and louder to their politicians and they are saying, ‘We’ve had enough. What about me? How about someone fighting back on our behalf”. That’s what’s happening. If you don’t like those words, if the lawyers don’t like those words, if the judges don’t like those words, too bad, because that is what the Australian people are saying and that’s what Territorians have said consistently to this government, ‘We have had enough of the criminals becoming victims. We want the government to underpin our laws with some minimum sentences’.
We did that in the 1994 election when we said: ‘If you elect us, that’s exactly what we’ll do’. In the 1997 election we confirmed and asked for their support to continue with that policy and they overwhelmingly supported us.
The Leader of the Opposition can’t criticise this Chief Minister and can’t criticise a politician for implementing the policies that we went to election on, because that’s what the democratic process is all about. And if we are doing, if we are, in a small way, putting some equality into the system, getting the fulcrum back where punishment is a definite part of the justice process, that’s something we’re proud of.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016