Mr STIRLING - 1999-08-17
I reiterate that it’s absolutely critical to the outcome of next year’s vote on statehood that everyone understands precisely where the Chief Minister and the government are heading. So I ask the Chief Minister, in relation to his proposal for a statehood vote next year, what voting result will be needed to proceed along the path to statehood. Will the vote be a referendum under the existing legislation which makes voting compulsory? Who will be appointed as independent observers to validate that the education campaign planned is not political propaganda and does provide balanced, educative information?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, in answer to the last question first, the best way to ensure the education campaign is not political propaganda is to get the politicians out of the process right from the outset. I understood that to be the recommendation of the standing committee, the recommendation that was accepted in this parliament. The standing committee has an ongoing reference to develop terms of reference to independent consultants who would be engaged to conduct the education campaign. As for the management of those consultants, I would take the advice of the chairman of the standing committee.
I have to say in this House that the suggestion that the standing committee is a somehow bipartisan, warm-feeling, comfy group worries me. It worries me. It just seems to me that it will develop into a little political exercise where we’ll have at the end of the day a minority report such as I understand could be coming out of the food prices inquiry. The thing ends up being played out as a political campaign.
To my mind, the best option is for the standing committee to develop the terms of reference for independent consultants and engage those independent consultants. The consultants are then managed outside of the political process. I’ll take the advice of the committee on that, but that’s my preference. The program could be managed by eminent Territorians.
Certainly my office, the Department of the Chief Minister, has to be involved whether I like it or not. I will remove myself as far as possible, but it has to be involved simply in terms of managing consultants in some small way. That’s the way I would see that proceeding.
As for how the referendum would be conducted, again I will take advice on the detail. But I certainly wouldn’t see it being conducted in any different way in terms of the engagement of the Northern Territory Electoral Office to supervise the referendum.
I wish to make a further point in clarification of my answer to the previous question, with regard to conventions. Whether or not I am going to hand over or wish to hand over the process to the Commonwealth government, one can go no farther than read what I said in this parliament. I said in my speech we are on the horns of dilemma in dealing with this exercise.
If on the one hand we presume Territorians want statehood and work on that presumption without a vote of yes or no to develop a constitution, with all of the myths that will be peddled around that process, and then try and put a threshold question as to whether people want to proceed, I think that’s doomed to failure. But the other course, the other horn of the dilemma, is to submit willingly to Canberra without input from Territorians. These are the words I used in my speech:
I’m not sure I would submit willingly to Canberra. I’m not sure that I have the faith and trust in them to do the right thing by the Territory. How then do we solve our problem? I would suggest [it is a suggestion only, Mr Speaker] that one way is to go to the federal parliament, after of course Territorians have voted ‘yes’ to proceeding with statehood, and suggest that the Self-Government Act be used as the basis for our constitutional development.
That’s one option. The Self-Government Act is a de facto constitution that the Northern Territory has operated under successfully for more than 20 years. That could form the basis of the constitution. It could be refined in some way. I don’t know. But once the terms and conditions are decided, once the Commonwealth parliament has, as I’ve said before, put in its input through Senate committees etc, then it is imperative for everyone that Territorians be consulted. As I said in my speech, they must be consulted. The final decision on whether we become a state, on whatever terms and conditions, must be ratified for Territorians by Territorians.
The task for me is to ensure we have a guarantee that this happens and that we can find a mechanism that allows Territorians to have a say on the final passage. That is my suggestion for progressing the issue. The initial reference is in the hands of the committee. Frankly, the sooner the Leader of the Opposition and I remove ourselves directly from the process, the more success Territorians will have in gaining statehood.
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, in answer to the last question first, the best way to ensure the education campaign is not political propaganda is to get the politicians out of the process right from the outset. I understood that to be the recommendation of the standing committee, the recommendation that was accepted in this parliament. The standing committee has an ongoing reference to develop terms of reference to independent consultants who would be engaged to conduct the education campaign. As for the management of those consultants, I would take the advice of the chairman of the standing committee.
I have to say in this House that the suggestion that the standing committee is a somehow bipartisan, warm-feeling, comfy group worries me. It worries me. It just seems to me that it will develop into a little political exercise where we’ll have at the end of the day a minority report such as I understand could be coming out of the food prices inquiry. The thing ends up being played out as a political campaign.
To my mind, the best option is for the standing committee to develop the terms of reference for independent consultants and engage those independent consultants. The consultants are then managed outside of the political process. I’ll take the advice of the committee on that, but that’s my preference. The program could be managed by eminent Territorians.
Certainly my office, the Department of the Chief Minister, has to be involved whether I like it or not. I will remove myself as far as possible, but it has to be involved simply in terms of managing consultants in some small way. That’s the way I would see that proceeding.
As for how the referendum would be conducted, again I will take advice on the detail. But I certainly wouldn’t see it being conducted in any different way in terms of the engagement of the Northern Territory Electoral Office to supervise the referendum.
I wish to make a further point in clarification of my answer to the previous question, with regard to conventions. Whether or not I am going to hand over or wish to hand over the process to the Commonwealth government, one can go no farther than read what I said in this parliament. I said in my speech we are on the horns of dilemma in dealing with this exercise.
If on the one hand we presume Territorians want statehood and work on that presumption without a vote of yes or no to develop a constitution, with all of the myths that will be peddled around that process, and then try and put a threshold question as to whether people want to proceed, I think that’s doomed to failure. But the other course, the other horn of the dilemma, is to submit willingly to Canberra without input from Territorians. These are the words I used in my speech:
I’m not sure I would submit willingly to Canberra. I’m not sure that I have the faith and trust in them to do the right thing by the Territory. How then do we solve our problem? I would suggest [it is a suggestion only, Mr Speaker] that one way is to go to the federal parliament, after of course Territorians have voted ‘yes’ to proceeding with statehood, and suggest that the Self-Government Act be used as the basis for our constitutional development.
That’s one option. The Self-Government Act is a de facto constitution that the Northern Territory has operated under successfully for more than 20 years. That could form the basis of the constitution. It could be refined in some way. I don’t know. But once the terms and conditions are decided, once the Commonwealth parliament has, as I’ve said before, put in its input through Senate committees etc, then it is imperative for everyone that Territorians be consulted. As I said in my speech, they must be consulted. The final decision on whether we become a state, on whatever terms and conditions, must be ratified for Territorians by Territorians.
The task for me is to ensure we have a guarantee that this happens and that we can find a mechanism that allows Territorians to have a say on the final passage. That is my suggestion for progressing the issue. The initial reference is in the hands of the committee. Frankly, the sooner the Leader of the Opposition and I remove ourselves directly from the process, the more success Territorians will have in gaining statehood.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016