Ms MARTIN - 1999-02-25
In 1988, Northbrick went into receivership. At that time the Country Liberal Party government had guarantees to protect its loan. Why did the government wait more than 6 years to begin proceedings to recover that debt?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, the Leader of the Opposition sees a conspiracy theory behind every door. As I said earlier, she still thinks she is behind a microphone at the ABC studio. I gave her a letter yesterday ...
Mr Stirling: It says nothing.
Mr REED: The member for Nhulunbuy says that it says nothing. In fact, it said a lot more than the question asked by the Leader of the Opposition. I would have thought they would have been happy with the extent of information that I provided, which was a history of events from when the loan was provided to the company in 1982, and what occurred in relation to it.
Ms Martin: It took 24 hours to write it out.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! You have asked the question, please listen to the answer in reasonable silence.
Mr REED: The Leader of the Opposition has made certain accusations in her Question of the Day before yesterday, where she stated that there had been misuse of government funds and that the Country Liberal Party government had acted improperly. Perhaps it was a little bit too subtle for the Leader of the Opposition to understand, but what my letter demonstrated was that government took every opportunity to recover the funds from the company.
Ms Martin: You waited 6 years.
Mr REED: You say we waited 6 years.
Ms Bailey: That’s what it says in your letter.
Mr POOLE: A point of order, Mr Speaker! Standing Order number 69 relates to interruptions to members’ speaking. I have received over the last 2 or 3 days a number of complaints from my constituents in Alice Springs that they cannot hear this radio broadcast because of the constant interjections from the opposition. We spend many thousands of dollars in this Legislative Assembly every year on transmitting the broadcast to far-flung places in the Territory.
Ms Martin: And the point is?
Mr POOLE: What is the point? We should give up, or the opposition should quieten down.
Mr SPEAKER: While there is no point of order, I agree with the sentiments of the member for Araluen. As he says, the people of central Australia find it very difficult to hear the answers to questions because of constant interjection. As I have said many times, short sharp interjections are acceptable but the long drawn-out and continuing interjections, with the same words constantly repeated, do make it very difficult to get an answer out. There is a balance and we should try to adhere to that balance as much as possible. I always like to hear the answers in reasonable silence, because otherwise it really is a waste of time recording it at all.
Mr REED: Thank you Mr Speaker. I would like to explain to Territorians that when this loan was provided in 1982, the only bricks that could be purchased in Darwin were concrete bricks. This company was of the view that they could produce clay bricks here in the Northern Territory, which otherwise would have to be imported from Adelaide or Perth or wherever. This company, I understand, operated effectively for a number of years manufacturing clay bricks ...
Mr Bailey interjecting.
Mr REED: You did not listen to the Speaker.
There was a significant contribution to the building industry in the Northern Territory from those early years of operation of the company.
I want to make another point clear. The very reason - as I indicated in the House yesterday - that I gave the Leader of the Opposition my reply in writing, was so that she would not misrepresent the facts. But that did not stop her, and it did not help, because she is out there saying that this is a loss of $950 000. It is not.
As I indicated yesterday, the actual write-off amount was $640 268. That was the balance of the outstanding loan. The remaining $309 075 was the interest that had accrued on that loan. It was not actually money lost, it was money for ...
Mr STIRLING: A point of order, Mr Speaker! The question is fairly specific in that it asks why the Treasurer and why the Country Liberal Party government waited 6 years before they tried to secure this money. He has not made any attempt to answer that, and I draw that to your attention and to his.
Mr SPEAKER: I do not believe that there is a point of order. The minister has some leeway, as I have said before, in answering such questions, although I would ask him to wind it up as quickly as possible.
Mr REED: This is a classic example. Yesterday I was alleged not to have given sufficient information, notwithstanding that I gave more than was asked. Today, I am now providing factual detail about the background to this particular matter and the honourable member for Nhulunbuy objects. People listening to this broadcast would have to be scratching their head as to where the Labor Party is coming from on this issue.
Mr Stirling: No, we want you to answer the question.
Mr REED: That’s right - but he also wants to obscure the facts. The fact is there was a process to be gone through. The fact is that the Territory pursued this matter to the end. It could have been written off, it could have been ...
Ms Martin interjecting.
Mr REED: ... written off many years ago.
Mr Bailey interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr REED: Again, in seeking another conspiracy, in seeking some ill-doing and trying to portray publicly that that was the case when it wasn’t, the Leader of the Opposition now raises the spectre and also takes the opportunity to misrepresent the actual amount of the loan by a factor of 50%.
Ms Martin: You wrote off 92%.
Mr REED: The honourable the Leader of the Opposition clearly doesn’t understand. After a little bit more time as shadow treasurer she might – I doubt it. The fact is there was a matter of process to be followed, and it was followed. The legal avenues were pursued right to the end. It was found that the ...
Ms Martin: After considerable delay.
Mr Bailey: After 6 years there was nothing left.
Mr REED: Mr Speaker, I think there is little point in pursuing this.
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, the Leader of the Opposition sees a conspiracy theory behind every door. As I said earlier, she still thinks she is behind a microphone at the ABC studio. I gave her a letter yesterday ...
Mr Stirling: It says nothing.
Mr REED: The member for Nhulunbuy says that it says nothing. In fact, it said a lot more than the question asked by the Leader of the Opposition. I would have thought they would have been happy with the extent of information that I provided, which was a history of events from when the loan was provided to the company in 1982, and what occurred in relation to it.
Ms Martin: It took 24 hours to write it out.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! You have asked the question, please listen to the answer in reasonable silence.
Mr REED: The Leader of the Opposition has made certain accusations in her Question of the Day before yesterday, where she stated that there had been misuse of government funds and that the Country Liberal Party government had acted improperly. Perhaps it was a little bit too subtle for the Leader of the Opposition to understand, but what my letter demonstrated was that government took every opportunity to recover the funds from the company.
Ms Martin: You waited 6 years.
Mr REED: You say we waited 6 years.
Ms Bailey: That’s what it says in your letter.
Mr POOLE: A point of order, Mr Speaker! Standing Order number 69 relates to interruptions to members’ speaking. I have received over the last 2 or 3 days a number of complaints from my constituents in Alice Springs that they cannot hear this radio broadcast because of the constant interjections from the opposition. We spend many thousands of dollars in this Legislative Assembly every year on transmitting the broadcast to far-flung places in the Territory.
Ms Martin: And the point is?
Mr POOLE: What is the point? We should give up, or the opposition should quieten down.
Mr SPEAKER: While there is no point of order, I agree with the sentiments of the member for Araluen. As he says, the people of central Australia find it very difficult to hear the answers to questions because of constant interjection. As I have said many times, short sharp interjections are acceptable but the long drawn-out and continuing interjections, with the same words constantly repeated, do make it very difficult to get an answer out. There is a balance and we should try to adhere to that balance as much as possible. I always like to hear the answers in reasonable silence, because otherwise it really is a waste of time recording it at all.
Mr REED: Thank you Mr Speaker. I would like to explain to Territorians that when this loan was provided in 1982, the only bricks that could be purchased in Darwin were concrete bricks. This company was of the view that they could produce clay bricks here in the Northern Territory, which otherwise would have to be imported from Adelaide or Perth or wherever. This company, I understand, operated effectively for a number of years manufacturing clay bricks ...
Mr Bailey interjecting.
Mr REED: You did not listen to the Speaker.
There was a significant contribution to the building industry in the Northern Territory from those early years of operation of the company.
I want to make another point clear. The very reason - as I indicated in the House yesterday - that I gave the Leader of the Opposition my reply in writing, was so that she would not misrepresent the facts. But that did not stop her, and it did not help, because she is out there saying that this is a loss of $950 000. It is not.
As I indicated yesterday, the actual write-off amount was $640 268. That was the balance of the outstanding loan. The remaining $309 075 was the interest that had accrued on that loan. It was not actually money lost, it was money for ...
Mr STIRLING: A point of order, Mr Speaker! The question is fairly specific in that it asks why the Treasurer and why the Country Liberal Party government waited 6 years before they tried to secure this money. He has not made any attempt to answer that, and I draw that to your attention and to his.
Mr SPEAKER: I do not believe that there is a point of order. The minister has some leeway, as I have said before, in answering such questions, although I would ask him to wind it up as quickly as possible.
Mr REED: This is a classic example. Yesterday I was alleged not to have given sufficient information, notwithstanding that I gave more than was asked. Today, I am now providing factual detail about the background to this particular matter and the honourable member for Nhulunbuy objects. People listening to this broadcast would have to be scratching their head as to where the Labor Party is coming from on this issue.
Mr Stirling: No, we want you to answer the question.
Mr REED: That’s right - but he also wants to obscure the facts. The fact is there was a process to be gone through. The fact is that the Territory pursued this matter to the end. It could have been written off, it could have been ...
Ms Martin interjecting.
Mr REED: ... written off many years ago.
Mr Bailey interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr REED: Again, in seeking another conspiracy, in seeking some ill-doing and trying to portray publicly that that was the case when it wasn’t, the Leader of the Opposition now raises the spectre and also takes the opportunity to misrepresent the actual amount of the loan by a factor of 50%.
Ms Martin: You wrote off 92%.
Mr REED: The honourable the Leader of the Opposition clearly doesn’t understand. After a little bit more time as shadow treasurer she might – I doubt it. The fact is there was a matter of process to be followed, and it was followed. The legal avenues were pursued right to the end. It was found that the ...
Ms Martin: After considerable delay.
Mr Bailey: After 6 years there was nothing left.
Mr REED: Mr Speaker, I think there is little point in pursuing this.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016