Mr HATTON - 2001-06-07
Labor has criticised the government’s Community Benefit Grants Scheme which is designed to give community groups the ability to pursue projects they are not normally able to do. Labor claims that the Community Benefit Grants are somehow a slush fund for the CLP. Can the Treasurer give Territorians the facts on these grant schemes?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, I would be delighted to.
Mr Stirling: Tell us about the committee the minister for racing was supposed to ...
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr REED: I might tell them a bit about your duplicity and how you have been a bit off the mark with this if you keep interjecting. Don’t listen to what they say, watch what they do.
Mr Stirling: We watch what you do. You knocked it off.
Mr REED: I will give you an example now that you have interjected. In terms of the community benefit fund one wonders why the Deputy Leader of the Opposition is being so vociferous in opposing them. He has called them slush funds; he has called them means by which the Territory government can shore up marginal seats. What is it that you have against Aboriginal ...
Mr Stirling: You have starved community organisations for two years. You froze it.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr REED: What is it that you have against Aboriginal communities who have applied for funds under the grants scheme for a whole range of activities?
Mr Stirling: How did you get your grubby hands on it?
Mr SPEAKER: Order! The member for Nhulunbuy.
Mr REED: One which comes to mind was a fairly small amount of money, about $800 I think, one community has applied for so that they can run a basic program to teach teenage kids some mechanical skills. There were others that support a range of activities in Aboriginal communities which I thought the Leader of the Opposition and the deputy leader might have supported in terms of facilities for kids, for young children, for play areas, for shade cloth. There have been religious organisations who have sought funding for community-based programs which on the first sight of it looked to be very useful and worthy of funding. What is it that the Deputy Leader of the Opposition finds so offensive about such a program? It is making funding that was collected for community benefit available to the community and it will be right across the Northern Territory.
Mr Stirling: You froze it for two years. You never give anyone a look in. You stole it.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr REED: He acts in a very duplicitous way and in response to his interjection I will advise Territorians precisely what that action is. When he is here in the big town, in Darwin away from Nhulunbuy where no people are watching him on television news, on Channel 8 News on 14 May he described the grants as a slush fund and claimed they, the government, want ...
Mr Stirling: Absolutely.
Mr REED: Absolutely - take note of that, Mr Speaker.
Mr Stirling: Yes.
Mr REED: Thank you for the interjection. You are digging the hole deeper.
Mr Stirling: I know what you are going to say.
Mr SPEAKER: Order, order!
Mr REED: They, the government, ought to be able to use this funds to shore up those key marginals that they consider necessary to get across the line. So while he is in town here - no people in Nhulunbuy are watching Channel 8 - this is the worst program you can ever come across; the government is being devious in making the money available to the community and using for the government’s purposes completely the ignoring the fact that it applies to the whole of the Northern Territory. However, when we get back home to Nhulunbuy, Syd writes his column.
Mr Stirling: Of course I tell my constituents about it to make sure they get a bit of the action, you goose.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr REED: You are a fool. You are a fool. When he is in town, got one song; when he gets back home, cannot blame the newspaper for writing this. Sydney wrote it. Syd’s column. I quote for the benefit of people listening. This is about this dreadful grant scheme that the government is making available to communities:
The Community Benefit Fund holds money taxed from gaming machines in hotels. Applications for small, one-off grants are available from my office and open until the end of May.
He is running this thing out of his office. It is so dreadful that he has adopted it himself. He is a fraud.
Members interjecting.
Mr REED: I read on:
If your organisation, club or association can demonstrate community benefit it may well be worth your time and effort to submit an application before the end of May.
You are a fraud. You cannot come into Darwin and sing one song and present your Labor party policies in one way and go back home and present them in a completely different way where you do not think your fraudulent approach will be uncovered. You are an absolute fraud. Your boss should pull you into line. In terms of her inability to control any of you…
Ms MARTIN: Point of order, Mr Speaker! We have had a lot of interjection here but it is because the minister is directing his question directly across the Chamber and I think that is the problem. I would ask that he direct his questions through the Chair.
Mr SPEAKER: The minister should always direct his comments through the Chair.
Mr REED: Precisely, Mr Speaker. I can understand that the Leader of the Opposition is feeling uncomfortable on this particular matter, having the duplicitous nature on the operations of the member for Nhulunbuy made known to the public. I am pleased that he does, in all honesty, deep down, at least in his own patch, recognise honestly that the program is of value to Territorians. It is a great shame that he did not have the integrity to speak about the program with such glowing support and welcome it in the way that he did in his own column when he was here in Darwin. It is a great lesson to Territorians about what they say and what they do. Two completely different things. They cannot be trusted. They are duplicitous and a fraud.
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, I would be delighted to.
Mr Stirling: Tell us about the committee the minister for racing was supposed to ...
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr REED: I might tell them a bit about your duplicity and how you have been a bit off the mark with this if you keep interjecting. Don’t listen to what they say, watch what they do.
Mr Stirling: We watch what you do. You knocked it off.
Mr REED: I will give you an example now that you have interjected. In terms of the community benefit fund one wonders why the Deputy Leader of the Opposition is being so vociferous in opposing them. He has called them slush funds; he has called them means by which the Territory government can shore up marginal seats. What is it that you have against Aboriginal ...
Mr Stirling: You have starved community organisations for two years. You froze it.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr REED: What is it that you have against Aboriginal communities who have applied for funds under the grants scheme for a whole range of activities?
Mr Stirling: How did you get your grubby hands on it?
Mr SPEAKER: Order! The member for Nhulunbuy.
Mr REED: One which comes to mind was a fairly small amount of money, about $800 I think, one community has applied for so that they can run a basic program to teach teenage kids some mechanical skills. There were others that support a range of activities in Aboriginal communities which I thought the Leader of the Opposition and the deputy leader might have supported in terms of facilities for kids, for young children, for play areas, for shade cloth. There have been religious organisations who have sought funding for community-based programs which on the first sight of it looked to be very useful and worthy of funding. What is it that the Deputy Leader of the Opposition finds so offensive about such a program? It is making funding that was collected for community benefit available to the community and it will be right across the Northern Territory.
Mr Stirling: You froze it for two years. You never give anyone a look in. You stole it.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr REED: He acts in a very duplicitous way and in response to his interjection I will advise Territorians precisely what that action is. When he is here in the big town, in Darwin away from Nhulunbuy where no people are watching him on television news, on Channel 8 News on 14 May he described the grants as a slush fund and claimed they, the government, want ...
Mr Stirling: Absolutely.
Mr REED: Absolutely - take note of that, Mr Speaker.
Mr Stirling: Yes.
Mr REED: Thank you for the interjection. You are digging the hole deeper.
Mr Stirling: I know what you are going to say.
Mr SPEAKER: Order, order!
Mr REED: They, the government, ought to be able to use this funds to shore up those key marginals that they consider necessary to get across the line. So while he is in town here - no people in Nhulunbuy are watching Channel 8 - this is the worst program you can ever come across; the government is being devious in making the money available to the community and using for the government’s purposes completely the ignoring the fact that it applies to the whole of the Northern Territory. However, when we get back home to Nhulunbuy, Syd writes his column.
Mr Stirling: Of course I tell my constituents about it to make sure they get a bit of the action, you goose.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr REED: You are a fool. You are a fool. When he is in town, got one song; when he gets back home, cannot blame the newspaper for writing this. Sydney wrote it. Syd’s column. I quote for the benefit of people listening. This is about this dreadful grant scheme that the government is making available to communities:
The Community Benefit Fund holds money taxed from gaming machines in hotels. Applications for small, one-off grants are available from my office and open until the end of May.
He is running this thing out of his office. It is so dreadful that he has adopted it himself. He is a fraud.
Members interjecting.
Mr REED: I read on:
If your organisation, club or association can demonstrate community benefit it may well be worth your time and effort to submit an application before the end of May.
You are a fraud. You cannot come into Darwin and sing one song and present your Labor party policies in one way and go back home and present them in a completely different way where you do not think your fraudulent approach will be uncovered. You are an absolute fraud. Your boss should pull you into line. In terms of her inability to control any of you…
Ms MARTIN: Point of order, Mr Speaker! We have had a lot of interjection here but it is because the minister is directing his question directly across the Chamber and I think that is the problem. I would ask that he direct his questions through the Chair.
Mr SPEAKER: The minister should always direct his comments through the Chair.
Mr REED: Precisely, Mr Speaker. I can understand that the Leader of the Opposition is feeling uncomfortable on this particular matter, having the duplicitous nature on the operations of the member for Nhulunbuy made known to the public. I am pleased that he does, in all honesty, deep down, at least in his own patch, recognise honestly that the program is of value to Territorians. It is a great shame that he did not have the integrity to speak about the program with such glowing support and welcome it in the way that he did in his own column when he was here in Darwin. It is a great lesson to Territorians about what they say and what they do. Two completely different things. They cannot be trusted. They are duplicitous and a fraud.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016