Mr POOLE - 2000-02-24
The opposition leader recently claimed the Territory’s workforce had decreased by a staggering 11%. The member for Fannie Bay also said the government should implement a job taskforce to respond to a dramatic decline in employment. Does the Treasurer agree with the opposition leader’s economic analysis?
ANSWER
I don’t think I’ve agreed with much that the Leader of the Opposition has ever said, let alone in this case, because she is the master of deceit in terms of using information to her advantage ...
Mr STIRLING: A point of order, Mr Speaker!
Mr SPEAKER: If I were to rule there was a point of order on that comment, we would be interrupted in every speech, I believe.
Mr STIRLING: It was an inference.
Mr SPEAKER: I said before that if you were personally offended at that comment, then you could seek to have it withdrawn. Now, if you’re going to start this, just remember that it’s going to cut both ways and those sorts of comments are flowing across this Chamber. There’s room for very robust debate. You are just as offensive in your words from time to time as members on the government side. Just remember that if it happens for one, it’s going to happen for all. If you want to restrict debate to that level, so be it.
Mr REED: In pursuing the point, can I say that the masterful misrepresentation of facts and information that comes before the Leader of the Opposition ...
Ms Martin: You don’t believe the ABS?
Mr REED: ... that she then twists ...
Ms Martin: So, you don’t believe the ABS?
Mr REED: ... that she then twists ...
Ms Martin: ... the figures the other day ...
Mr SPEAKER: Order! Order!
Mr REED: You’re making a bigger goose of yourself. You are entrenching your position as an irrelevant.
On 14 February 2000, the Opposition Leader issued a press release claiming 11 000 jobs had disappeared since September 1999 ...
Ms Martin: They’re the year’s statistics, you great git!
Mr REED: No, they weren’t. No they weren’t, because had you read on you would have found - she claimed there was an 11% decline. But the average annual employment growth during 1999 compared with 1998 increased by 2800 or 3.1%.
Now, where do you get this nonsense from? How do you interpret facts so misleadingly? How can you be so deceitful to Territorians? The most reliable data, when compared to the national growth of 2.2% - over the same period that was - demonstrates that the Northern Territory economy is very strong, it continues to grow. I don’t have to use my words or those of Treasury or any of the other members on the government benches to reinforce this. I quote from the Australian Financial Review:
The Northern Territory is set to lead the country in economic growth over the next 5 years, expanding by 50%, according to a new study by BIS Shrapnel.
Not even remotely connected with government. Totally independent.
Ms Martin: We’re talking about jobs, jobs!
Mr REED: Totally independent. You’re talking about jobs. Thanks for raising the point. I knew I’d be able to haul out a big girlie. I knew I’d get you to take the bait. That’s how gullible you are.
Ms Martin interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr Palmer: Fishing for barramundi and you get mullets.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! Order on both sides.
Mr REED: I now turn to jobs. And what is it that generates jobs? The Leader of the Opposition would have you go down the Kim Beazley trail, her boss’s trail. You would have seen the release of Labor’s employment strategy last night. They could not tell you how much it was going to cost, mind. Carefully avoided that point. She is a signatory to these matters. She asked a question about jobs and then enters into a long discussion with the Deputy Leader because she is not really interested in the answer. And from the point of view of jobs, I quote from today’s NT News:
At least 30 new jobs will be created in Darwin with the opening of a new department store next to Casuarina Village in July. The construction of the $2.6m store connected to Casuarina Village was expected to be finished in July.
So there are 30 new jobs for people working in that new store, a $2.6m construction program that is currently underway employing people in the construction centre. The honourable Leader of the Opposition would fairly say that they are not government jobs. Well they are not, but it is the private sector that drives the economy; it is not government. Government facilitates the private sector having the confidence to invest, and that is what our job is. And by providing a strong economy, an economy that continues to grow and that has BIS Shrapnel saying that over the next 5 years it will grow 50%, it is that circumstance that generates the confidence in the business sector to invest - to spend $2.6m on a new store, to employ 30 people for years into the future. Of course there are other examples. The large new Harvey Norman store on the Stuart Highway, which employs 50 people, opened recently.
The circumstances here in the Territory are excellent. We have a strong economy underpinned by the government’s good strong policies. We have the lowest unemployment in the country. We have population growth. I cannot, however, guarantee that that will continue if Kim Beazley becomes the Prime Minister. ‘I will roll back’ – more appropriately, I think he will fall back on his performance of the last couple of days because he will not guarantee that he will not get into business with higher taxes. He will not guarantee that he won’t get into the personal income tax savings that 80% of people across Australia will experience from 1 July. The Leader of the Opposition – again pulling funny faces, yes, you should look up there to see if they are watching you pulling the funny faces – again is a party to Kim Beazley’s plans to fall back the GST and to fall back the tax program, because you signed up with him last week in Tasmania. It is you who will be responsible for undermining confidence in the economy and increasing business taxes and other imposts on the business across the Northern Territory in Australia – that is, if we are unfortunate enough for Kim Beazley to be in a position to be able to apply those policies.
ANSWER
I don’t think I’ve agreed with much that the Leader of the Opposition has ever said, let alone in this case, because she is the master of deceit in terms of using information to her advantage ...
Mr STIRLING: A point of order, Mr Speaker!
Mr SPEAKER: If I were to rule there was a point of order on that comment, we would be interrupted in every speech, I believe.
Mr STIRLING: It was an inference.
Mr SPEAKER: I said before that if you were personally offended at that comment, then you could seek to have it withdrawn. Now, if you’re going to start this, just remember that it’s going to cut both ways and those sorts of comments are flowing across this Chamber. There’s room for very robust debate. You are just as offensive in your words from time to time as members on the government side. Just remember that if it happens for one, it’s going to happen for all. If you want to restrict debate to that level, so be it.
Mr REED: In pursuing the point, can I say that the masterful misrepresentation of facts and information that comes before the Leader of the Opposition ...
Ms Martin: You don’t believe the ABS?
Mr REED: ... that she then twists ...
Ms Martin: So, you don’t believe the ABS?
Mr REED: ... that she then twists ...
Ms Martin: ... the figures the other day ...
Mr SPEAKER: Order! Order!
Mr REED: You’re making a bigger goose of yourself. You are entrenching your position as an irrelevant.
On 14 February 2000, the Opposition Leader issued a press release claiming 11 000 jobs had disappeared since September 1999 ...
Ms Martin: They’re the year’s statistics, you great git!
Mr REED: No, they weren’t. No they weren’t, because had you read on you would have found - she claimed there was an 11% decline. But the average annual employment growth during 1999 compared with 1998 increased by 2800 or 3.1%.
Now, where do you get this nonsense from? How do you interpret facts so misleadingly? How can you be so deceitful to Territorians? The most reliable data, when compared to the national growth of 2.2% - over the same period that was - demonstrates that the Northern Territory economy is very strong, it continues to grow. I don’t have to use my words or those of Treasury or any of the other members on the government benches to reinforce this. I quote from the Australian Financial Review:
The Northern Territory is set to lead the country in economic growth over the next 5 years, expanding by 50%, according to a new study by BIS Shrapnel.
Not even remotely connected with government. Totally independent.
Ms Martin: We’re talking about jobs, jobs!
Mr REED: Totally independent. You’re talking about jobs. Thanks for raising the point. I knew I’d be able to haul out a big girlie. I knew I’d get you to take the bait. That’s how gullible you are.
Ms Martin interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr Palmer: Fishing for barramundi and you get mullets.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! Order on both sides.
Mr REED: I now turn to jobs. And what is it that generates jobs? The Leader of the Opposition would have you go down the Kim Beazley trail, her boss’s trail. You would have seen the release of Labor’s employment strategy last night. They could not tell you how much it was going to cost, mind. Carefully avoided that point. She is a signatory to these matters. She asked a question about jobs and then enters into a long discussion with the Deputy Leader because she is not really interested in the answer. And from the point of view of jobs, I quote from today’s NT News:
At least 30 new jobs will be created in Darwin with the opening of a new department store next to Casuarina Village in July. The construction of the $2.6m store connected to Casuarina Village was expected to be finished in July.
So there are 30 new jobs for people working in that new store, a $2.6m construction program that is currently underway employing people in the construction centre. The honourable Leader of the Opposition would fairly say that they are not government jobs. Well they are not, but it is the private sector that drives the economy; it is not government. Government facilitates the private sector having the confidence to invest, and that is what our job is. And by providing a strong economy, an economy that continues to grow and that has BIS Shrapnel saying that over the next 5 years it will grow 50%, it is that circumstance that generates the confidence in the business sector to invest - to spend $2.6m on a new store, to employ 30 people for years into the future. Of course there are other examples. The large new Harvey Norman store on the Stuart Highway, which employs 50 people, opened recently.
The circumstances here in the Territory are excellent. We have a strong economy underpinned by the government’s good strong policies. We have the lowest unemployment in the country. We have population growth. I cannot, however, guarantee that that will continue if Kim Beazley becomes the Prime Minister. ‘I will roll back’ – more appropriately, I think he will fall back on his performance of the last couple of days because he will not guarantee that he will not get into business with higher taxes. He will not guarantee that he won’t get into the personal income tax savings that 80% of people across Australia will experience from 1 July. The Leader of the Opposition – again pulling funny faces, yes, you should look up there to see if they are watching you pulling the funny faces – again is a party to Kim Beazley’s plans to fall back the GST and to fall back the tax program, because you signed up with him last week in Tasmania. It is you who will be responsible for undermining confidence in the economy and increasing business taxes and other imposts on the business across the Northern Territory in Australia – that is, if we are unfortunate enough for Kim Beazley to be in a position to be able to apply those policies.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016