Mr ELFERINK - 1997-12-01
Has he information that confirms that the Labor Party is putting plans in place to detach Aboriginal voters from the ALP?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, the Leader of the Opposition may laugh but, if an internal CLP document, which detailed at great length the outcomes of an election, were posted to her by CLP members, I would be horrified. She just laughs it off, which is consistent with what their polling told them: ‘We are seen as being weakly led and not trusted to govern’. Let me provide another little gem from this document:
We cannot go on losing elections. We have to get our act together. We will not get our act together until we want to win
and the urge to win is strong enough so that we can focus on winning and campaigning for the whole period between elections.
More is needed than just words. Anyone can say, ‘Yes, we have to change’, and ‘Yes, we have to improve our attitude’ ...
However, what is really interesting in this document is this statement: ‘If we believe that the main
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reason we lose elections is because we are perceived as supporting unpopular causes - for example, Aboriginal issues ...’ Thus, the story started to unfold, after the election, about the establishment of a separate Aboriginal party, and we were supposed to believe ...
Mrs Hickey interjecting.
Mr STONE: I am happy to table the document. Don’t you have a copy? We all have copies. They have no faith in you!
We were supposed to believe that this establishment of an Aboriginal party was something that was coming from the Aboriginal leadership, but it was not. If you read further into this document, you start to see the framework. The Labor Party saw this Aboriginal business as being pretty unpopular in the community - something that should be hived off somehow, something that should be gently pushed to one side. Therefore, its conference resolved ‘to direct the administrative committee to establish a Territory Aboriginal Labor committee’. It then started to set out the framework of how to push the Aboriginal people off to one side. All of this was in light of the concession that they were soft in the bush. ‘Bush’ - let Territorians listening to this broadcast understand this - is the euphemism the Labor Party uses for ‘Aboriginal voters’.
Mr Stirling interjecting.
Mr STONE: This morning, the member for Nhulunbuy is demonstrating that he is a clown. The member for MacDonnell has good reason to ask this question because he is the jewel in the crown when it comes to demonstrating that Aboriginal Territorians have woken up to that lot opposite - and woken up in large numbers. The member for Stuart said that, if I could demonstrate that the Aboriginal vote was up for the CLP and down for the ALP, he would drop his pants in the Alice Springs Mall. I am still waiting because the reality is that he scraped home by 80 votes. The member for Arnhem barely retained his seat, and the seat of MacDonnell was lost by the ALP. All the reasons that they have trotted out in their so-called confidential internal document sound like desperate excuses. No wonder the federal secretariat only gave them $56 000 this time whereas it gave them over $200 000 in 1994. It has come to the same conclusion: they are simply a bunch of losers who are not worth supporting. As their own research determined, they are poorly led and they are not fit to govern. They are a bunch of wimps.
The member for Arnhem had to lose the leadership contest. The member for Arnhem got 3 votes, the member for Barkly got 3 votes and the little gnome sitting in between got 1 vote. The member for Wanguri traded his vote with the member for Barkly so that he could remain deputy leader. How do you feel, Jack? You were sold out by the member for Wanguri. Did you get 3 votes, Jack?
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ANSWER
Madam Speaker, the Leader of the Opposition may laugh but, if an internal CLP document, which detailed at great length the outcomes of an election, were posted to her by CLP members, I would be horrified. She just laughs it off, which is consistent with what their polling told them: ‘We are seen as being weakly led and not trusted to govern’. Let me provide another little gem from this document:
We cannot go on losing elections. We have to get our act together. We will not get our act together until we want to win
and the urge to win is strong enough so that we can focus on winning and campaigning for the whole period between elections.
More is needed than just words. Anyone can say, ‘Yes, we have to change’, and ‘Yes, we have to improve our attitude’ ...
However, what is really interesting in this document is this statement: ‘If we believe that the main
Page 40
reason we lose elections is because we are perceived as supporting unpopular causes - for example, Aboriginal issues ...’ Thus, the story started to unfold, after the election, about the establishment of a separate Aboriginal party, and we were supposed to believe ...
Mrs Hickey interjecting.
Mr STONE: I am happy to table the document. Don’t you have a copy? We all have copies. They have no faith in you!
We were supposed to believe that this establishment of an Aboriginal party was something that was coming from the Aboriginal leadership, but it was not. If you read further into this document, you start to see the framework. The Labor Party saw this Aboriginal business as being pretty unpopular in the community - something that should be hived off somehow, something that should be gently pushed to one side. Therefore, its conference resolved ‘to direct the administrative committee to establish a Territory Aboriginal Labor committee’. It then started to set out the framework of how to push the Aboriginal people off to one side. All of this was in light of the concession that they were soft in the bush. ‘Bush’ - let Territorians listening to this broadcast understand this - is the euphemism the Labor Party uses for ‘Aboriginal voters’.
Mr Stirling interjecting.
Mr STONE: This morning, the member for Nhulunbuy is demonstrating that he is a clown. The member for MacDonnell has good reason to ask this question because he is the jewel in the crown when it comes to demonstrating that Aboriginal Territorians have woken up to that lot opposite - and woken up in large numbers. The member for Stuart said that, if I could demonstrate that the Aboriginal vote was up for the CLP and down for the ALP, he would drop his pants in the Alice Springs Mall. I am still waiting because the reality is that he scraped home by 80 votes. The member for Arnhem barely retained his seat, and the seat of MacDonnell was lost by the ALP. All the reasons that they have trotted out in their so-called confidential internal document sound like desperate excuses. No wonder the federal secretariat only gave them $56 000 this time whereas it gave them over $200 000 in 1994. It has come to the same conclusion: they are simply a bunch of losers who are not worth supporting. As their own research determined, they are poorly led and they are not fit to govern. They are a bunch of wimps.
The member for Arnhem had to lose the leadership contest. The member for Arnhem got 3 votes, the member for Barkly got 3 votes and the little gnome sitting in between got 1 vote. The member for Wanguri traded his vote with the member for Barkly so that he could remain deputy leader. How do you feel, Jack? You were sold out by the member for Wanguri. Did you get 3 votes, Jack?
Page 41
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016