Mr ELFERINK - 1999-10-14
I listened with interest to what the Chief Minister had to say in his opening comments. I share the concerns the Deputy Chief Minister voiced last night in the adjournment debate, about the ALP’s failure to sustain its General Business Day. Does he agree with the Labor member for Nhulunbuy’s comments on radio this morning that it was the government’s fault that the opposition’s General Business Day fell in a heap?
Mrs HICKEY: A point of order, Mr Speaker! I seek your guidance on this matter. I don’t know that this is a proper matter for Question Time. The member for MacDonnell is asking the Deputy Chief Minister for an opinion on the opposition. I would like your ruling on that one.
Mr SPEAKER: There is some merit in what the member for Barkly has indicated. There is no room for opinion in this regard. The question would be more appropriately asked of the Leader of Government Business. I’m prepared to hear an answer at this stage, but I suggest that the Deputy Chief Minister confine his answer to issues relevant to what occurred in the House yesterday.
ANSWER
That is precisely what I will do, Mr Speaker. The question relates particularly to comments that I made last night. In doing so, I did put the opposition on notice that if they were to waste the General Business Day, this parliament’s time, as they did yesterday ...
Mr STIRLING: A point of order, Mr Speaker! It’s only the Deputy Chief Minister’s view that it was a waste of time. It is his opinion, no one else’s. He is therefore ...
Members interjecting.
Mr PALMER: Speaking to the point of order, Mr Speaker, I believe the Deputy Chief Minister was expressing matters of fact in relation to the poor performance of the opposition yesterday.
Mr SPEAKER: Providing the Deputy Chief Minister confines himself to matters of fact in this regard, I’m prepared to hear the answer. But you have to be very wary about opinion in this case.
Mr REED: Mr Speaker, to get straight to the fact, the Deputy Leader of the Opposition said on radio this morning that it was government’s fault that they couldn’t get enough business on the notice paper. There were only 2 items yesterday. They only worked for 4 hours. They could rummage up 2 matters to put on the Notice Paper.
I draw your attention to a comment that the Deputy Leader of the Opposition made this morning, that General Business Day is for the parliament.
Ms Martin interjecting.
Mr REED: And you agree with that, obviously. You just said it.
Let’s look at the record of this parliament in relation to that very matter. We can go back in history here to May 1996, when the then Leader of the Opposition took great exception to a ministerial statement being delivered on General Business Day. He was aggrieved that we should allow the disruption of General Business Day by putting government business on the Notice Paper - making the point, of course, that General Business Day is for the opposition. On Wednesday 24 August 1996, Mr Bailey, the former Deputy Leader of the Opposition, said that General Business Day was ‘the opposition’s general business day’. This is what you claimed in the past, or what your party claimed in the past.
Mr Bell, on 20 November 1996 when Mr Mitchell as chairman of the Sessional Committee on the Environment was wanting to put forward a paper, took great exception to it as a member of the Labor Party, saying: ‘What is this? Why is he delivering a paper on General Business Day?’. He objected to government business being put forward.
Members interjecting.
Mr REED: Mr Speaker, I had to shout over members opposite yesterday. I think it’s most rude of them. It’s improper if they can’t show some manners in regard to the conduct of the House.
Mr Bailey on Wednesday 7 October said: ‘It needs to be remembered that the opposition with its General Business Days does not have that many opportunities to come into this Chamber. The minister has had a much greater time than we have to respond to this issue’. He was objecting to a minister putting business on the Notice Paper for that day.
The point is that yesterday, as Her Majesty’s opposition, representing Territorians, the best you could do since the last sittings in August was put 2 matters on the Notice Paper for discussion. You did not have the capacity to get prepared for your work.
Ms Martin interjecting.
Mr REED: Well, you went on holidays. You were snorkelling on the Great Barrier Reef. You couldn’t even support the Territory tourism industry by having a holiday in the Northern Territory. You had to go interstate.
Mr Stirling: Where did you blokes go?
Mr REED: If you want to get into that, ask the member for Arafura where he was yesterday afternoon. That might lead to a bit of an awareness in the Leader of the Opposition, who is supposed to be the boss of the 7 Dwarfs. She doesn’t even know where her members are. And if you are going to start making accusations, be a bit careful. Last time you made accusations you lost your house. So don’t get into that argument here, because you’re not very good at it. I could go on but I will not.
The point is that, through their own inability to get their work done, to get organised for parliament - and they had 6 weeks to do it - all they could do was put 2 items on the Notice Paper yesterday. That showed gross incompetence on their part. They are supposed to be offering themselves and projecting themselves as an alternative government. They are incapable of doing it. They cannot be trusted. They are deceitful - so deceitful that the Deputy Leader of the Opposition gets on radio this morning and tries to cover up their incompetence and lack of work by saying it’s the government’s fault that they didn’t do any work.
We’d like you to work. Territorians would like you to work. When did the member for Arafura last ask a question? I think he’s asked one question in 12 months. His would be the highest-priced questions in history. They cost about 80 grand each, because he only asks one question a year.
Do you earn your salaries? No, you don’t. You should be ashamed of yourselves. I again put you on a warning that on the next General Business Day, if you cannot act on behalf of Territorians, if you cannot bring matters in here for debate, the government will have no alternative but to use the time of the House effectively and put business on the paper.
The Leader of the Opposition sits here this morning and says: ‘It’s the parliament’s day’. You cannot be trusted. You cannot be trusted because you don’t know about convention, you don’t know about rules. You want to make them up for yourself. What I want to ask you is …
Ms MARTIN: A point of order, Mr Speaker! The minister has been going on for the best part of 8 or 9 minutes, way past what is a reasonable time to answer the question.
Mr SPEAKER: In fact it’s been about 7 minutes.
Mr REED: The government will have no alternative but to use the parliament’s time effectively. If you can’t get yourselves organised, if you can’t do a bit of work and get some things on the notice paper - you’ve only got to do it every 12 sitting days, it’s only 3 or 4 times a year – then, as the former deputy leader said, you’ve got to explain to Territorians why you are so incompetent and why your boss, the Leader of the Opposition, can’t be trusted.
Mrs HICKEY: A point of order, Mr Speaker! I seek your guidance on this matter. I don’t know that this is a proper matter for Question Time. The member for MacDonnell is asking the Deputy Chief Minister for an opinion on the opposition. I would like your ruling on that one.
Mr SPEAKER: There is some merit in what the member for Barkly has indicated. There is no room for opinion in this regard. The question would be more appropriately asked of the Leader of Government Business. I’m prepared to hear an answer at this stage, but I suggest that the Deputy Chief Minister confine his answer to issues relevant to what occurred in the House yesterday.
ANSWER
That is precisely what I will do, Mr Speaker. The question relates particularly to comments that I made last night. In doing so, I did put the opposition on notice that if they were to waste the General Business Day, this parliament’s time, as they did yesterday ...
Mr STIRLING: A point of order, Mr Speaker! It’s only the Deputy Chief Minister’s view that it was a waste of time. It is his opinion, no one else’s. He is therefore ...
Members interjecting.
Mr PALMER: Speaking to the point of order, Mr Speaker, I believe the Deputy Chief Minister was expressing matters of fact in relation to the poor performance of the opposition yesterday.
Mr SPEAKER: Providing the Deputy Chief Minister confines himself to matters of fact in this regard, I’m prepared to hear the answer. But you have to be very wary about opinion in this case.
Mr REED: Mr Speaker, to get straight to the fact, the Deputy Leader of the Opposition said on radio this morning that it was government’s fault that they couldn’t get enough business on the notice paper. There were only 2 items yesterday. They only worked for 4 hours. They could rummage up 2 matters to put on the Notice Paper.
I draw your attention to a comment that the Deputy Leader of the Opposition made this morning, that General Business Day is for the parliament.
Ms Martin interjecting.
Mr REED: And you agree with that, obviously. You just said it.
Let’s look at the record of this parliament in relation to that very matter. We can go back in history here to May 1996, when the then Leader of the Opposition took great exception to a ministerial statement being delivered on General Business Day. He was aggrieved that we should allow the disruption of General Business Day by putting government business on the Notice Paper - making the point, of course, that General Business Day is for the opposition. On Wednesday 24 August 1996, Mr Bailey, the former Deputy Leader of the Opposition, said that General Business Day was ‘the opposition’s general business day’. This is what you claimed in the past, or what your party claimed in the past.
Mr Bell, on 20 November 1996 when Mr Mitchell as chairman of the Sessional Committee on the Environment was wanting to put forward a paper, took great exception to it as a member of the Labor Party, saying: ‘What is this? Why is he delivering a paper on General Business Day?’. He objected to government business being put forward.
Members interjecting.
Mr REED: Mr Speaker, I had to shout over members opposite yesterday. I think it’s most rude of them. It’s improper if they can’t show some manners in regard to the conduct of the House.
Mr Bailey on Wednesday 7 October said: ‘It needs to be remembered that the opposition with its General Business Days does not have that many opportunities to come into this Chamber. The minister has had a much greater time than we have to respond to this issue’. He was objecting to a minister putting business on the Notice Paper for that day.
The point is that yesterday, as Her Majesty’s opposition, representing Territorians, the best you could do since the last sittings in August was put 2 matters on the Notice Paper for discussion. You did not have the capacity to get prepared for your work.
Ms Martin interjecting.
Mr REED: Well, you went on holidays. You were snorkelling on the Great Barrier Reef. You couldn’t even support the Territory tourism industry by having a holiday in the Northern Territory. You had to go interstate.
Mr Stirling: Where did you blokes go?
Mr REED: If you want to get into that, ask the member for Arafura where he was yesterday afternoon. That might lead to a bit of an awareness in the Leader of the Opposition, who is supposed to be the boss of the 7 Dwarfs. She doesn’t even know where her members are. And if you are going to start making accusations, be a bit careful. Last time you made accusations you lost your house. So don’t get into that argument here, because you’re not very good at it. I could go on but I will not.
The point is that, through their own inability to get their work done, to get organised for parliament - and they had 6 weeks to do it - all they could do was put 2 items on the Notice Paper yesterday. That showed gross incompetence on their part. They are supposed to be offering themselves and projecting themselves as an alternative government. They are incapable of doing it. They cannot be trusted. They are deceitful - so deceitful that the Deputy Leader of the Opposition gets on radio this morning and tries to cover up their incompetence and lack of work by saying it’s the government’s fault that they didn’t do any work.
We’d like you to work. Territorians would like you to work. When did the member for Arafura last ask a question? I think he’s asked one question in 12 months. His would be the highest-priced questions in history. They cost about 80 grand each, because he only asks one question a year.
Do you earn your salaries? No, you don’t. You should be ashamed of yourselves. I again put you on a warning that on the next General Business Day, if you cannot act on behalf of Territorians, if you cannot bring matters in here for debate, the government will have no alternative but to use the time of the House effectively and put business on the paper.
The Leader of the Opposition sits here this morning and says: ‘It’s the parliament’s day’. You cannot be trusted. You cannot be trusted because you don’t know about convention, you don’t know about rules. You want to make them up for yourself. What I want to ask you is …
Ms MARTIN: A point of order, Mr Speaker! The minister has been going on for the best part of 8 or 9 minutes, way past what is a reasonable time to answer the question.
Mr SPEAKER: In fact it’s been about 7 minutes.
Mr REED: The government will have no alternative but to use the parliament’s time effectively. If you can’t get yourselves organised, if you can’t do a bit of work and get some things on the notice paper - you’ve only got to do it every 12 sitting days, it’s only 3 or 4 times a year – then, as the former deputy leader said, you’ve got to explain to Territorians why you are so incompetent and why your boss, the Leader of the Opposition, can’t be trusted.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016