Mr MILLS - 1999-08-12
In the last week of the recent by-election campaign, the Opposition Leader attempted to scare voters with a shock-horror allegation about TIO third-party insurance rises. The Labor leader claimed that the government was concealing this commercial decision by TIO. Was this the case, or was it another example of the Labor leader deliberately misleading the electorate?
ANSWER
Certainly, Mr Speaker, it was the latter - that is, the Labor leader misleading the electorate.
People listening to this broadcast right across the Northern Territory should be aware of the little tte--tte that’s going on at the moment on the opposition benches. The Leader of the Opposition is trying to adopt a position of indifference to the parliament. The questions don’t matter, the parliament doesn’t matter. She can treat the parliament with contempt. People listening to this broadcast should be aware that the little chuckles they hear and the discussions going on are between the Leader of the Opposition and other members opposite. She is not prepared to listen to the information that’s provided in the parliament. She’s not prepared to learn from the information that is available to her.
As a consequence of that, I have to advise her that she was wrong on two counts - that registration fees were being increased - they weren’t - and that it was being done by stealth. She was either wrong on both counts or, again, she was being deceitful with Territorians.
The Leader of the Opposition can conduct a conversation with her colleagues and treat the people of the Northern Territory who are listening to this Question Time broadcast with contempt, or she can come clean with Territorians and show that she is sincere about her job. Let her demonstrate that she wasn’t being deceitful when she said the government was ‘attempting to sneak through the latest rise ahead of today’s Blain and Wanguri by-elections’. That was a report in the NT News of Saturday 31 July - very conveniently timed.
To demonstrate to those people who are listening to this broadcast, and those people who are in the Chamber today, that the honourable Leader of the Opposition was, I suspect, being deceitful, let me say that TIO, which is an independent organisation and has to operate on a commercial basis, determined that that to keep the MACA scheme viable they had to increase the premiums.
There were very good reasons for that. Increases in the cost of the program and the benefits that have been provided to people who claim dictate that there has to be a commerciality to it. Otherwise the MACA scheme goes broke. What would the honourable Leader of the Opposition - now having a discussion with her deputy - think about such a prospect?
The very same issue was recently raised in Queensland. And what do they have? They have a Labor government! But they were faced with the same harsh reality, I suspect. If the insurance scheme is to be viable, the insurer has to increase the rates to meet the needs.
In the election campaign there was an attempt to deceive Territorians, firstly in relation to registration fees going up. They haven’t. I recall that the last time registration fees were increased for motor vehicles, apart from heavy vehicles, in the Northern Territory was 1995. The Leader of the Opposition tries to tell us that she’s across her job - she knows what’s going on and she knows what the facts are. She doesn’t. One of the reasons is that she’s always talking to someone else while the facts are being provided to her. If she knew what was going on, she’d know that 1995 was the last time that rego prices went up, apart from for heavy vehicles.
And if she wasn’t deceitful, she wouldn’t tell Territorians that the government was sneaking it through. The announcement was made by TIO in late June. It appeared in the print media at that time. If the honourable Leader of the Opposition isn’t prepared to admit to Territorians either that she messed it up or that she was being deceitful, then let that be on her head. But don’t think that we on this side of the House will sit here and let her get away with being deceitful. She has demonstrated that she doesn’t know her job. If she did, she’d know that rego charges haven’t gone up since 1995. She or her staff would have the capacity to look at the Treasury documents - which I hope from time to time she reads - and determine the facts before she goes and deceives Territorians in the despicable way that she did on the day of an election.
They are the sorts of things that she has to answer for - just as she has to answer for incorrectly suggesting to Territorians that we have the highest electricity charges in the Territory. We haven’t. There are two jurisdictions, at least, ahead of us. She’s been pursuing other deceitful things in recent times. We’ve had another good example of it here today with the document that she incorrectly purported to portray a health situation that doesn’t exist. The fact that she selectively used quotes and excerpts from a document, again in an election campaign, shows just how deceitful she is.
It shows simply that she’s still a journalist in the way she handles her job. She gets up and she thinks she’s still reading the news. What she forgets is that we’re reading the news transcripts of what she said months ago. When she trips up, like she did yesterday over competition for the Power and Water Authority, we will remind her. When she trips up like she did with the health document and is deceitful in presenting a situation to Territorians, we’ll remind her. When she trips up and says that rego charges have gone up …
Mr STIRLING: A point of order, Mr Speaker! The minister has had considerable time to answer this question. He has gone well past the speech of the Leader of the Opposition. There have been no interjections from this side as an excuse for him to carry on for an interminable time.
Mr PALMER: Mr Speaker, speaking to the point of order, I point out to you that there is some considerable nuisance created in this House by the opposition constantly during Question Time holding conversations among themselves, obviously paying no attention to Question Time. If they do not wish to participate or pay attention in Question Time, it may well be that we can close it down.
Mr SPEAKER: Thank you, there is no point of order.
Mr REED: Mr Speaker, I can understand the member for Nhulunbuy’s embarrassment and why he gets to his feet and interrupts. Bringing these facts home to Territorians and allowing Territorians across the Territory listening to this broadcast to be made aware of the deceitfulness of the Leader of the Opposition is something he wouldn’t be proud of. But we are going to bring her to account. We are going to make sure she starts to be honest with Territorians. We are going to ensure that Territorians are aware of the little fables that she tries to put across as facts.
ANSWER
Certainly, Mr Speaker, it was the latter - that is, the Labor leader misleading the electorate.
People listening to this broadcast right across the Northern Territory should be aware of the little tte--tte that’s going on at the moment on the opposition benches. The Leader of the Opposition is trying to adopt a position of indifference to the parliament. The questions don’t matter, the parliament doesn’t matter. She can treat the parliament with contempt. People listening to this broadcast should be aware that the little chuckles they hear and the discussions going on are between the Leader of the Opposition and other members opposite. She is not prepared to listen to the information that’s provided in the parliament. She’s not prepared to learn from the information that is available to her.
As a consequence of that, I have to advise her that she was wrong on two counts - that registration fees were being increased - they weren’t - and that it was being done by stealth. She was either wrong on both counts or, again, she was being deceitful with Territorians.
The Leader of the Opposition can conduct a conversation with her colleagues and treat the people of the Northern Territory who are listening to this Question Time broadcast with contempt, or she can come clean with Territorians and show that she is sincere about her job. Let her demonstrate that she wasn’t being deceitful when she said the government was ‘attempting to sneak through the latest rise ahead of today’s Blain and Wanguri by-elections’. That was a report in the NT News of Saturday 31 July - very conveniently timed.
To demonstrate to those people who are listening to this broadcast, and those people who are in the Chamber today, that the honourable Leader of the Opposition was, I suspect, being deceitful, let me say that TIO, which is an independent organisation and has to operate on a commercial basis, determined that that to keep the MACA scheme viable they had to increase the premiums.
There were very good reasons for that. Increases in the cost of the program and the benefits that have been provided to people who claim dictate that there has to be a commerciality to it. Otherwise the MACA scheme goes broke. What would the honourable Leader of the Opposition - now having a discussion with her deputy - think about such a prospect?
The very same issue was recently raised in Queensland. And what do they have? They have a Labor government! But they were faced with the same harsh reality, I suspect. If the insurance scheme is to be viable, the insurer has to increase the rates to meet the needs.
In the election campaign there was an attempt to deceive Territorians, firstly in relation to registration fees going up. They haven’t. I recall that the last time registration fees were increased for motor vehicles, apart from heavy vehicles, in the Northern Territory was 1995. The Leader of the Opposition tries to tell us that she’s across her job - she knows what’s going on and she knows what the facts are. She doesn’t. One of the reasons is that she’s always talking to someone else while the facts are being provided to her. If she knew what was going on, she’d know that 1995 was the last time that rego prices went up, apart from for heavy vehicles.
And if she wasn’t deceitful, she wouldn’t tell Territorians that the government was sneaking it through. The announcement was made by TIO in late June. It appeared in the print media at that time. If the honourable Leader of the Opposition isn’t prepared to admit to Territorians either that she messed it up or that she was being deceitful, then let that be on her head. But don’t think that we on this side of the House will sit here and let her get away with being deceitful. She has demonstrated that she doesn’t know her job. If she did, she’d know that rego charges haven’t gone up since 1995. She or her staff would have the capacity to look at the Treasury documents - which I hope from time to time she reads - and determine the facts before she goes and deceives Territorians in the despicable way that she did on the day of an election.
They are the sorts of things that she has to answer for - just as she has to answer for incorrectly suggesting to Territorians that we have the highest electricity charges in the Territory. We haven’t. There are two jurisdictions, at least, ahead of us. She’s been pursuing other deceitful things in recent times. We’ve had another good example of it here today with the document that she incorrectly purported to portray a health situation that doesn’t exist. The fact that she selectively used quotes and excerpts from a document, again in an election campaign, shows just how deceitful she is.
It shows simply that she’s still a journalist in the way she handles her job. She gets up and she thinks she’s still reading the news. What she forgets is that we’re reading the news transcripts of what she said months ago. When she trips up, like she did yesterday over competition for the Power and Water Authority, we will remind her. When she trips up like she did with the health document and is deceitful in presenting a situation to Territorians, we’ll remind her. When she trips up and says that rego charges have gone up …
Mr STIRLING: A point of order, Mr Speaker! The minister has had considerable time to answer this question. He has gone well past the speech of the Leader of the Opposition. There have been no interjections from this side as an excuse for him to carry on for an interminable time.
Mr PALMER: Mr Speaker, speaking to the point of order, I point out to you that there is some considerable nuisance created in this House by the opposition constantly during Question Time holding conversations among themselves, obviously paying no attention to Question Time. If they do not wish to participate or pay attention in Question Time, it may well be that we can close it down.
Mr SPEAKER: Thank you, there is no point of order.
Mr REED: Mr Speaker, I can understand the member for Nhulunbuy’s embarrassment and why he gets to his feet and interrupts. Bringing these facts home to Territorians and allowing Territorians across the Territory listening to this broadcast to be made aware of the deceitfulness of the Leader of the Opposition is something he wouldn’t be proud of. But we are going to bring her to account. We are going to make sure she starts to be honest with Territorians. We are going to ensure that Territorians are aware of the little fables that she tries to put across as facts.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016