Mr HENDERSON - 2000-02-24
This Chief Minister has a reputation for weak and dithering leadership. A meeting of the CLP Party on the weekend obviously gave him the rev up, but it has backfired with Denis the Menace being unleashed on Territorians.
Mr DUNHAM: A point of order, Mr Speaker! The insinuation that the Chief Minister is a menace is just going too far, Mr Speaker.
Members interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! I remind honourable members that to speak over me when I am speaking is highly disorderly and I will name people in future rather than sending them out for an hour if they continue. I could a name a number of members, particularly on the opposition benches, who stand in very great danger of that threat.
Now, it was not, I believe, ‘Denis the Menace’, but it was the word ‘fraud’. It is being used a lot and the members of the opposition have been quite vocal this morning about these sorts of comments being made against them. I remind you that if you wish to use those words you will not be so pedantic on your points of order in future. I am prepared to wear it at this particular time, but if we hear too much of this I am going to make some fairly direct rulings on it..
Mr HENDERSON: Former life member and senior Vice-President of the CLP, John Hare, is so disenchanted with your leadership that he is considering running as an independent candidate in the Port Darwin by-election. Yesterday he said: ‘I think there’s an abrogation of leadership, both at the organisational wing and at the parliamentary level. Its not about being hairy-chested and standing with your hands on your hips’, and he goes on: ‘I believe as far as the CLP is concerned, the party has fundamentally lost its way. It is no longer the strong grass roots party that it used to be’. And he went on: ‘There seems to be a perception; that is, if you stand against this government on anything then you have got no future. This is not a healthy environment’.
Mr HATTON: A point of order, Mr Speaker. He is supposed to be giving a question, not a speech.
Members interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! There have been 3 questions this morning that have gone on for too long. The lead up to a question should be short and sharp. I would ask you to get to the nub of the question as quickly as possible.
Mr HENDERSON: The business community knows it, the public service know it and Territorians know it. You are an amateur. How does it feel to be the Clayton’s Chief Minister ...
Mr PALMER: A point of order, Mr Speaker. You have already pointed out to the member opposite that it is Question Time, that he is here to ask questions and not to launch a diatribe in a preamble to the question.
Members interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! I believe the member is getting to the nub of the question now. Resume the question, but I want to hear the question.
Mr PALMER: It is a fairly large and long nub, Mr Speaker.
Mr SPEAKER: Yes, I agree.
Mr HENDERSON: How does it feel to be the Clayton’s Chief Minister, the one you have when there is nowhere else to go?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, I will treat that question with the contempt that it deserves, but what I would say about Mr John Hare is that he has been a member of the CLP, which is a pluralistic party, it is a broad church. It contains people of many different points of view, who come together, express their point of view fully and liberally in debate at branch meetings and central council meetings, and if they wish, in the public arena. One of the good things about the CLP is that we do not harness people like that mob over there.
With regards to the comments of John Hare, I simply say that he, like any other Territorian, has the right to hold a point of view and he has the right to express it publicly and that is his right as an ordinary citizen. Let him go ahead and express that particular right.
With regards to the member for Wanguri’s question, if you want to stand up and abuse the Chief Minister, at the very least, do it in your own words not those that have been written for you.
Mr DUNHAM: A point of order, Mr Speaker! The insinuation that the Chief Minister is a menace is just going too far, Mr Speaker.
Members interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! I remind honourable members that to speak over me when I am speaking is highly disorderly and I will name people in future rather than sending them out for an hour if they continue. I could a name a number of members, particularly on the opposition benches, who stand in very great danger of that threat.
Now, it was not, I believe, ‘Denis the Menace’, but it was the word ‘fraud’. It is being used a lot and the members of the opposition have been quite vocal this morning about these sorts of comments being made against them. I remind you that if you wish to use those words you will not be so pedantic on your points of order in future. I am prepared to wear it at this particular time, but if we hear too much of this I am going to make some fairly direct rulings on it..
Mr HENDERSON: Former life member and senior Vice-President of the CLP, John Hare, is so disenchanted with your leadership that he is considering running as an independent candidate in the Port Darwin by-election. Yesterday he said: ‘I think there’s an abrogation of leadership, both at the organisational wing and at the parliamentary level. Its not about being hairy-chested and standing with your hands on your hips’, and he goes on: ‘I believe as far as the CLP is concerned, the party has fundamentally lost its way. It is no longer the strong grass roots party that it used to be’. And he went on: ‘There seems to be a perception; that is, if you stand against this government on anything then you have got no future. This is not a healthy environment’.
Mr HATTON: A point of order, Mr Speaker. He is supposed to be giving a question, not a speech.
Members interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! There have been 3 questions this morning that have gone on for too long. The lead up to a question should be short and sharp. I would ask you to get to the nub of the question as quickly as possible.
Mr HENDERSON: The business community knows it, the public service know it and Territorians know it. You are an amateur. How does it feel to be the Clayton’s Chief Minister ...
Mr PALMER: A point of order, Mr Speaker. You have already pointed out to the member opposite that it is Question Time, that he is here to ask questions and not to launch a diatribe in a preamble to the question.
Members interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! I believe the member is getting to the nub of the question now. Resume the question, but I want to hear the question.
Mr PALMER: It is a fairly large and long nub, Mr Speaker.
Mr SPEAKER: Yes, I agree.
Mr HENDERSON: How does it feel to be the Clayton’s Chief Minister, the one you have when there is nowhere else to go?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, I will treat that question with the contempt that it deserves, but what I would say about Mr John Hare is that he has been a member of the CLP, which is a pluralistic party, it is a broad church. It contains people of many different points of view, who come together, express their point of view fully and liberally in debate at branch meetings and central council meetings, and if they wish, in the public arena. One of the good things about the CLP is that we do not harness people like that mob over there.
With regards to the comments of John Hare, I simply say that he, like any other Territorian, has the right to hold a point of view and he has the right to express it publicly and that is his right as an ordinary citizen. Let him go ahead and express that particular right.
With regards to the member for Wanguri’s question, if you want to stand up and abuse the Chief Minister, at the very least, do it in your own words not those that have been written for you.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016