Ms MARTIN - 2000-05-16
Your Minister for Police and Emergency Services has just told this House that he will ‘look into’ the outcomes of his review into Darwin’s cyclone readiness. Basically, the bottom line is that he doesn’t want to tell us, and this report will remain hidden.
At the same time, you are trying to sell ...
Mr Reed interjecting.
Ms MARTIN: You have had chances to show this report and you have said ‘no’ so far, and this is yet another ‘no’.
At the same time, the Chief Minister is trying to sell to Territorians ...
Members interjecting.
Ms MARTIN: It is very hard for the Chief Minister to hear the question if he has the babble from his backbenchers.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! Would the Leader of the Opposition please get on with the question as quickly as possible.
Ms MARTIN: At the same time the Chief Minister is trying to sell to Territorians the concept of best practice freedom of information legislation. Minister Reed’s still-hidden report is precisely the sort of information that should be publicly available, and if not willingly provided, then it should be available under this so-called best practice FOI.
Chief Minister, will you guarantee Territorians that your best practice FOI means that this report would be made public?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, members of the Labor Party in the Northern Territory have a major problem on their hands. It is called mandatory sentencing; how they deal with mandatory sentencing; and how they try and change the opinion of the Northern Territory electorate that somehow they have the solution for mandatory sentencing. ‘How do we somehow tell the Northern Territory electorate that the CLP government, whilst we know in our own minds has a very comprehensive policy with regards to law and order, while we know in our own minds Territorians support mandatory sentencing, how do we somehow change their point of view’.
The same issue prevails with the legislation that is coming forwards with regards to access to information held by the private sector and the government sector - freedom of information in some respects - how electronic commerce will be conducted in the Northern Territory, and what sort of regulatory regime will revolve around that particular legislation.
What the Labor Party of the Northern Territory is trying to do now, by the nature of that question, is suggest that this government is telling lies, this government does not intend bringing forward this sort of legislation, and this government intends hiding from the Northern Territory public information which should rightly be held in their hands.
I heard the Minister for Police, Fire and Emergency Services answer. It was a very constructive answer to the Deputy Leader of the Opposition - he said he will refer back to that report.
The honourable minister deals with a myriad of reports and information every day of the week, unlike the opposition who have nothing to do except sit around pondering over stupid questions. He has given you an undertaking that he will refer back to that report and give you the information you so wish, if it is appropriate. I put that proviso in this context. It is a simple fact that all reports that come to government do not reflect government’s eventual decisions. We in the Northern Territory CLP government are not guided solely by experts. We take into consideration their particular points of view. We take from those points of view and recommendations that which we wish to accept, and in due course we implement those recommendations that we wish to accept. No doubt that’s the same with the report that the minister has on his desk. He has given an assurance to Territorians that, with regards to our preparations for cyclones in the Northern Territory, they should feel secure.
Notwithstanding the vast experience the former ABC journalist has with regards to cyclones, I happen to have been in charge of readiness Army groups that dealt with Territory cyclones if they should come along. I know in detail the preparation that is conducted by the Police, Fire and Emergency Services and other organisations in the Northern Territory that deal with cyclones. I know that Territorians can be very secure in the preparations that are provided by those organisations. If there is one area in the Northern Territory where Territorians can feel very insecure, it is rubbish lying around yards. There is a limit to what government can do with regard to urging the general public to clean up missiles in their yards, both industrial premises and domestic premises, which, to my mind, are the greatest dangers that are posed to the general public.
That aside, the report the Leader of the Opposition refers to, I am sure in due course, will be considered by the minister and provided.
At the same time, you are trying to sell ...
Mr Reed interjecting.
Ms MARTIN: You have had chances to show this report and you have said ‘no’ so far, and this is yet another ‘no’.
At the same time, the Chief Minister is trying to sell to Territorians ...
Members interjecting.
Ms MARTIN: It is very hard for the Chief Minister to hear the question if he has the babble from his backbenchers.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! Would the Leader of the Opposition please get on with the question as quickly as possible.
Ms MARTIN: At the same time the Chief Minister is trying to sell to Territorians the concept of best practice freedom of information legislation. Minister Reed’s still-hidden report is precisely the sort of information that should be publicly available, and if not willingly provided, then it should be available under this so-called best practice FOI.
Chief Minister, will you guarantee Territorians that your best practice FOI means that this report would be made public?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, members of the Labor Party in the Northern Territory have a major problem on their hands. It is called mandatory sentencing; how they deal with mandatory sentencing; and how they try and change the opinion of the Northern Territory electorate that somehow they have the solution for mandatory sentencing. ‘How do we somehow tell the Northern Territory electorate that the CLP government, whilst we know in our own minds has a very comprehensive policy with regards to law and order, while we know in our own minds Territorians support mandatory sentencing, how do we somehow change their point of view’.
The same issue prevails with the legislation that is coming forwards with regards to access to information held by the private sector and the government sector - freedom of information in some respects - how electronic commerce will be conducted in the Northern Territory, and what sort of regulatory regime will revolve around that particular legislation.
What the Labor Party of the Northern Territory is trying to do now, by the nature of that question, is suggest that this government is telling lies, this government does not intend bringing forward this sort of legislation, and this government intends hiding from the Northern Territory public information which should rightly be held in their hands.
I heard the Minister for Police, Fire and Emergency Services answer. It was a very constructive answer to the Deputy Leader of the Opposition - he said he will refer back to that report.
The honourable minister deals with a myriad of reports and information every day of the week, unlike the opposition who have nothing to do except sit around pondering over stupid questions. He has given you an undertaking that he will refer back to that report and give you the information you so wish, if it is appropriate. I put that proviso in this context. It is a simple fact that all reports that come to government do not reflect government’s eventual decisions. We in the Northern Territory CLP government are not guided solely by experts. We take into consideration their particular points of view. We take from those points of view and recommendations that which we wish to accept, and in due course we implement those recommendations that we wish to accept. No doubt that’s the same with the report that the minister has on his desk. He has given an assurance to Territorians that, with regards to our preparations for cyclones in the Northern Territory, they should feel secure.
Notwithstanding the vast experience the former ABC journalist has with regards to cyclones, I happen to have been in charge of readiness Army groups that dealt with Territory cyclones if they should come along. I know in detail the preparation that is conducted by the Police, Fire and Emergency Services and other organisations in the Northern Territory that deal with cyclones. I know that Territorians can be very secure in the preparations that are provided by those organisations. If there is one area in the Northern Territory where Territorians can feel very insecure, it is rubbish lying around yards. There is a limit to what government can do with regard to urging the general public to clean up missiles in their yards, both industrial premises and domestic premises, which, to my mind, are the greatest dangers that are posed to the general public.
That aside, the report the Leader of the Opposition refers to, I am sure in due course, will be considered by the minister and provided.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016