Dr LIM - 1998-12-03
Over the last 2 weeks, members opposite have been throwing around unsubstantiated allegations on all sorts of issues. On Tuesday, the Labor spokesman on education told Territorians that as a result of the education review, $20m had been cut from education. Is this another example of the member for Stuart misleading Territorians?
Mr Stirling: It’s in the statement. Can’t you read?
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, as the honourable member noted, on Tuesday the Treasurer and I announced some significant changes to education in the Northern Territory. The philosophy behind that, as we said at the time, was to make an already first-class education system even better. We went through and identified in a very clear way where we were creating $20m that we could free up in certain areas and put back into the frontline of education. We made the comment, quite clearly and specifically, that that money would stay in education.
The problem with that is, of course, that the member for Stuart, Mr Toyne, has started to peddle once again ...
Ms MARTIN: A pint of order, Madam Speaker! You have made it very clear that members must only be referred to by their electorate.
Mr Stone: We wouldn’t want them identified, would we? The public might work out what gooses they are if they heard their names.
Madam SPEAKER: You will refer to ministers only by their electorate. That applies to everyone.
Mr ADAMSON: Madam Speaker, I withdraw unreservedly. I can see how he would be offended.
The member for Stuart in his press release claims that the eduction budget has been cut by $20m. This is quite clearly a bare-faced misrepresentation of the facts. There are no 2 ways about it. This is the man who stood up in here during the appropriation debate and claimed that he was quite willing and quite prepared to have a full and frank debate in a bipartisan manner on education issues. Well, we have a case now. We have some very significant, positive changes in education. A healthy and robust debate would be very constructive. But what we are having to put up with again is the member for Stuart peddling untruths, as he has been doing since I have been a minister in this government.
It went further. He claimed in the next line of his statement that NTETA’s budget was going to be cut in half. That is plainly untrue. The budget of NTETA is not being cut in half. Yet that is exactly ...
Mr Toyne: Staffing?
Mr ADAMSON: Well, your press release doesn’t say that. The press release says: ‘Tell NTETA that the loss of half their jobs and half their budget …’ There is a word to describe the accuracy of that but, of course, I am not allowed to do that without moving a substantive motion.
I will say it again: the member for Stuart is claiming that the budget is going to be slashed by half. That is a bare-faced misrepresentation of the facts. It goes on and on and on. The member for Stuart has priors in this area. And, of course, we noted his total lack of input into the education inquiry. He stands condemned for that. It goes back to when I was first a minister. I have been pulling out the records in my files of some of the outstanding issues for this year that the member for Stuart has put up. I remind him, for instance, of the education teenage task force that Mr Toyne was going to bring into this House:
Teenage Task Force Idea Needs Government Support.
The Territory Labor shadow minister for education says he will be pursuing his proposed teenage task force into parliament in February …
He didn’t. He never did it. He blasted it across the headlines in newspapers time and time again, Dr Doolittle is all talk and no action, as the Chief Minister says. I simply say to the member for Stuart, stick to the facts, stick to the truth. $20m is not being taken out of education. NTETA’s budget is not being cut by half. Can he please try in 1999 to make a new year’s resolution - something that involves the word ‘truth’?
Mr Stirling: It’s in the statement. Can’t you read?
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, as the honourable member noted, on Tuesday the Treasurer and I announced some significant changes to education in the Northern Territory. The philosophy behind that, as we said at the time, was to make an already first-class education system even better. We went through and identified in a very clear way where we were creating $20m that we could free up in certain areas and put back into the frontline of education. We made the comment, quite clearly and specifically, that that money would stay in education.
The problem with that is, of course, that the member for Stuart, Mr Toyne, has started to peddle once again ...
Ms MARTIN: A pint of order, Madam Speaker! You have made it very clear that members must only be referred to by their electorate.
Mr Stone: We wouldn’t want them identified, would we? The public might work out what gooses they are if they heard their names.
Madam SPEAKER: You will refer to ministers only by their electorate. That applies to everyone.
Mr ADAMSON: Madam Speaker, I withdraw unreservedly. I can see how he would be offended.
The member for Stuart in his press release claims that the eduction budget has been cut by $20m. This is quite clearly a bare-faced misrepresentation of the facts. There are no 2 ways about it. This is the man who stood up in here during the appropriation debate and claimed that he was quite willing and quite prepared to have a full and frank debate in a bipartisan manner on education issues. Well, we have a case now. We have some very significant, positive changes in education. A healthy and robust debate would be very constructive. But what we are having to put up with again is the member for Stuart peddling untruths, as he has been doing since I have been a minister in this government.
It went further. He claimed in the next line of his statement that NTETA’s budget was going to be cut in half. That is plainly untrue. The budget of NTETA is not being cut in half. Yet that is exactly ...
Mr Toyne: Staffing?
Mr ADAMSON: Well, your press release doesn’t say that. The press release says: ‘Tell NTETA that the loss of half their jobs and half their budget …’ There is a word to describe the accuracy of that but, of course, I am not allowed to do that without moving a substantive motion.
I will say it again: the member for Stuart is claiming that the budget is going to be slashed by half. That is a bare-faced misrepresentation of the facts. It goes on and on and on. The member for Stuart has priors in this area. And, of course, we noted his total lack of input into the education inquiry. He stands condemned for that. It goes back to when I was first a minister. I have been pulling out the records in my files of some of the outstanding issues for this year that the member for Stuart has put up. I remind him, for instance, of the education teenage task force that Mr Toyne was going to bring into this House:
Teenage Task Force Idea Needs Government Support.
The Territory Labor shadow minister for education says he will be pursuing his proposed teenage task force into parliament in February …
He didn’t. He never did it. He blasted it across the headlines in newspapers time and time again, Dr Doolittle is all talk and no action, as the Chief Minister says. I simply say to the member for Stuart, stick to the facts, stick to the truth. $20m is not being taken out of education. NTETA’s budget is not being cut by half. Can he please try in 1999 to make a new year’s resolution - something that involves the word ‘truth’?
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016