Mr ELFERINK - 1999-08-10
I was intrigued by what the Chief Minister just had to say about native title issues. Can he remind me of the position of the Leader of the Opposition, the member for Fannie Bay, in a vote in this Chamber last year concerning the native title legislation? Would he also be so kind as to explain if there has been any change in her position in relation to that?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker,the Labor leader’s position with regard to the Northern Territory native title bill is interesting. I simply ask her to be very clear to Territorians as to exactly where she stands. She stood in this House with her party and they gave unanimous support for the Northern Territory government’s legislation to pass through the Senate as the final stage of approval to bring in a whole new era of native title legislation, allowing for development - particularly mining exploration - on pastoral lease land in the Northern Territory. Support was unanimous for that legislation, which had already been approved for passage by the Commonwealth Attorney-General.
Just days before that legislation was due to pass through the Senate, federal Labor’s Senator Bolkus moved a disallowance motion to block it. Within hours, our Labor leader got up and said she supported Senator Bolkus’ move. The article in the Weekend Australian said – these are not my words but the reporter’s words - when describing the Top End Pretender, the Labor leader Clare Martin, simply this:
The CLP’s public letter spells out Martin’s own contradictory position. Why had she broadly endorsed the CLP’s complementary native title legislation, required under John Howard’s 10-point plan, in parliament yet promptly backed South Australian Labor MP Nick Bolkus’s move to overturn it in the federal Senate? Where precisely does she stand?
It’s a simple question. Where precisely does the Labor leader stand on this legislation? It comes up for debate again in the Senate within weeks. The clock on this legislation is ticking. If the Labor leader supports the Northern Territory legislation’s passage through the Senate, I ask what she has done to encourage her Labor colleagues federally to assist the passage of that legislation? Has she done anything? Or is she the fraud and pretender that the paper says she is? She stands in this House and supports the legislation. She tells Territorians she supports the legislation when in fact she agrees with the treacherous actions of her colleagues in Canberra in ensuring that that legislation is overturned, and ensuring that we move into a new era of racial disharmony in the Northern Territory. I would like to know where the Labor leader stands.
ANSWER
Mr Speaker,the Labor leader’s position with regard to the Northern Territory native title bill is interesting. I simply ask her to be very clear to Territorians as to exactly where she stands. She stood in this House with her party and they gave unanimous support for the Northern Territory government’s legislation to pass through the Senate as the final stage of approval to bring in a whole new era of native title legislation, allowing for development - particularly mining exploration - on pastoral lease land in the Northern Territory. Support was unanimous for that legislation, which had already been approved for passage by the Commonwealth Attorney-General.
Just days before that legislation was due to pass through the Senate, federal Labor’s Senator Bolkus moved a disallowance motion to block it. Within hours, our Labor leader got up and said she supported Senator Bolkus’ move. The article in the Weekend Australian said – these are not my words but the reporter’s words - when describing the Top End Pretender, the Labor leader Clare Martin, simply this:
The CLP’s public letter spells out Martin’s own contradictory position. Why had she broadly endorsed the CLP’s complementary native title legislation, required under John Howard’s 10-point plan, in parliament yet promptly backed South Australian Labor MP Nick Bolkus’s move to overturn it in the federal Senate? Where precisely does she stand?
It’s a simple question. Where precisely does the Labor leader stand on this legislation? It comes up for debate again in the Senate within weeks. The clock on this legislation is ticking. If the Labor leader supports the Northern Territory legislation’s passage through the Senate, I ask what she has done to encourage her Labor colleagues federally to assist the passage of that legislation? Has she done anything? Or is she the fraud and pretender that the paper says she is? She stands in this House and supports the legislation. She tells Territorians she supports the legislation when in fact she agrees with the treacherous actions of her colleagues in Canberra in ensuring that that legislation is overturned, and ensuring that we move into a new era of racial disharmony in the Northern Territory. I would like to know where the Labor leader stands.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016