Mr STONE - 1999-08-10
During the parliamentary recess, the matter involving Mr Hansen and the Northern Land Council was brought up. If I remember the interjection from the Leader of the Opposition on 1 December, she said: ‘You can’t table those transcripts. You have to let Mick Dodson have his day in court’. Well, Mick Dodson has had his day in court. The member for Arnhem should be paying attention to this because he is implicated. I would like to hear the view of the Chief Minister, who is responsible for electoral matters, on the failure of the Labor Party to disclose donations and help in kind over successive elections where they have lied to and cheated the Australian public.
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, the transcript of the court case and the decision makes very interesting reading. As the member for Port Darwin says, it gives an interesting insight into how the Labor Party, through the NLC, diverts resources that should be going to the Aboriginal people for their own use.
Essentially, the court found that Mr Mick Dodson was not always truthful in the way he answered questions. And when he was not being less than truthful, he was very forgetful, particularly when he sought to cloud the extremely close and very questionable links between himself and Mr Warren Snowdon MHR, which was all about using land council resources to benefit Labor. It’s all in the court transcript.
In the judgment handed down by Mr Justice Angel on 12 July, he found that Labor’s former Social Justice Commissioner, Mr Mick Dodson, unlawfully terminated Mr Hansen’s employment and the Northern Land Council was liable for damages. The judgment stated:
The plaintiff, Mr Peter Hansen, was an honest, conscientious witness, able to remember events. In summary, he was a believable witness. Mr Dodson was not as conscientious as he might have been, and I regret to say on occasions did not give honest answers. I do not accept the distance he sought to put between the defendant and Mr Snowdon, the Northern Territory federal member of parliament.
Mr Haritos was also a witness. This is a former employee of the Northern Land Council who we should not forget is currently the main adviser to Mr Snowdon. The judge described him as:
… a biased and untrustworthy witness who was quite unreliable. I do not accept the truth of Mr Haritos’s evidence, save where it is consistent with the evidence of Mr Hansen.
As I said, the case gives an insight into the real attitude of Labor luminaries to a number of issues - industrial relations, workers’ rights and the welfare of Aboriginal people. Also, it gives us a documented insight into how Labor believes it can just help itself to Northern Land Council resources, Northern Land Council support staff and other Aboriginal resources at election time.
There are some great little quotes in the transcript of the proceedings. Who can forget the infamous passage about the meeting with Warren Snowdon in Mick Dodson’s office in January 1993, on the eve of the announcement of the federal election? This is from the transcript:
Warren Snowdon started off by saying that the election was imminent. He thought it would only be a matter of weeks away. He said to Mick: ‘As in past practice, what can you do to help me get re-elected?’ Mr Dodson responded this way: ‘We’ll do the usual stuff. We’ll help as much as possible with vehicles and staff. We’ll also help with mobile polling’. Then he turned to Mr Hansen and said: ‘And Peter will give you whatever help he can in promoting your election through the Land Rights News’. And Peter Hansen on being looked at said: ‘Yeah, I’ll certainly do that’.
I understand that Mr Snowdon has not been too forthcoming in disclosing these valuable gifts of vehicles, staff and publicity from Aboriginal people on his electoral returns. I understand the Australian Electoral Commission is currently looking over that issue. I understand also that the NLC’s bureaucracy intends appealing against the decision at the close of business today. That, I understand, is the last moment an appeal can be lodged.
I say to the Leader of the Opposition that if she were at all fair dinkum she would give an undertaking to urge the ALP, through the NLC, not to spend any more Aboriginal money that should be going to the right place, instead of trying to bankrupt Mr Hansen. He has pursued his case over many years in great personal distress, and he has won his case. The second thing I would ask ...
Mr Stirling interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! The member for Nhulunbuy will withdraw for one hour under standing order 240(a).
Mr AH KIT: A point of order, Mr Speaker! The Chief Minister referred to Mick Dodson as an adviser to Warren Snowdon.
Mr Burke: No, I didn’t.
Mr SPEAKER: There is no point of order.
Members interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! Let’s have a little quiet.
Mr BURKE: The second question I ask the Leader of the Opposition is this: Since you became leader, have you stopped Labor’s practice of taking Toyotas, manpower and communication vehicles off Aboriginal people for political purposes? If not, as a result of that decision will you undertake to ensure that this does not happen again in the future?
I referred earlier to the confidential Labor report on the party’s efforts in the last general election in the Northern Territory. It urges among other things that they develop, in conjunction with bush members and candidates, an approach to detach Aboriginal people’s votes from the CLP. That is a determined strategy of the Labor Party, coming out of their own confidential report. I have here also an open letter to Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory. This letter is riddled with lies, to say the very least. It claims that the Country Liberal Party ordered John Reeves to begin the review of Aboriginal land rights. That is a reference to the Reeves report on the Aboriginal Land Rights Act. This is the first lie in the letter. The Reeves report was a federal government report and no one - certainly not the CLP - ‘ordered’ John Reeves to do it.
Lie No 2 in the open letter to Aborigines is a claim that the CLP wants to weaken traditional Aboriginal rights. Lie No 3 is a claim that the CLP wants to break up the land councils to make the Aboriginal voice weaker. Lie No 4 is a claim that the CLP wants to appoint its so-called cronies to the Northern Territory Aboriginal Council. Lie No 5 is a claim that the CLP wants to abolish the permit system and open up Aboriginal towns and lands.
Mr TOYNE: A point of order, Mr Speaker! We have had this hand-wringing performance for 10 minutes. This is Question Time. We want to get some questions answered.
Mr SPEAKER: There is no point of order. The Chief Minister’s comments were relevant to the question asked. But I ask him to wind up as quickly as possible.
Mr BURKE: Lie No 6 is a claim that the CLP wants to control Aboriginal land rights. This letter is riddled with lies. The author is a downright liar. I won’t claim who the author is in this Chamber. I’ll ask the media to ask the Opposition Leader who the author might be.
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, the transcript of the court case and the decision makes very interesting reading. As the member for Port Darwin says, it gives an interesting insight into how the Labor Party, through the NLC, diverts resources that should be going to the Aboriginal people for their own use.
Essentially, the court found that Mr Mick Dodson was not always truthful in the way he answered questions. And when he was not being less than truthful, he was very forgetful, particularly when he sought to cloud the extremely close and very questionable links between himself and Mr Warren Snowdon MHR, which was all about using land council resources to benefit Labor. It’s all in the court transcript.
In the judgment handed down by Mr Justice Angel on 12 July, he found that Labor’s former Social Justice Commissioner, Mr Mick Dodson, unlawfully terminated Mr Hansen’s employment and the Northern Land Council was liable for damages. The judgment stated:
The plaintiff, Mr Peter Hansen, was an honest, conscientious witness, able to remember events. In summary, he was a believable witness. Mr Dodson was not as conscientious as he might have been, and I regret to say on occasions did not give honest answers. I do not accept the distance he sought to put between the defendant and Mr Snowdon, the Northern Territory federal member of parliament.
Mr Haritos was also a witness. This is a former employee of the Northern Land Council who we should not forget is currently the main adviser to Mr Snowdon. The judge described him as:
… a biased and untrustworthy witness who was quite unreliable. I do not accept the truth of Mr Haritos’s evidence, save where it is consistent with the evidence of Mr Hansen.
As I said, the case gives an insight into the real attitude of Labor luminaries to a number of issues - industrial relations, workers’ rights and the welfare of Aboriginal people. Also, it gives us a documented insight into how Labor believes it can just help itself to Northern Land Council resources, Northern Land Council support staff and other Aboriginal resources at election time.
There are some great little quotes in the transcript of the proceedings. Who can forget the infamous passage about the meeting with Warren Snowdon in Mick Dodson’s office in January 1993, on the eve of the announcement of the federal election? This is from the transcript:
Warren Snowdon started off by saying that the election was imminent. He thought it would only be a matter of weeks away. He said to Mick: ‘As in past practice, what can you do to help me get re-elected?’ Mr Dodson responded this way: ‘We’ll do the usual stuff. We’ll help as much as possible with vehicles and staff. We’ll also help with mobile polling’. Then he turned to Mr Hansen and said: ‘And Peter will give you whatever help he can in promoting your election through the Land Rights News’. And Peter Hansen on being looked at said: ‘Yeah, I’ll certainly do that’.
I understand that Mr Snowdon has not been too forthcoming in disclosing these valuable gifts of vehicles, staff and publicity from Aboriginal people on his electoral returns. I understand the Australian Electoral Commission is currently looking over that issue. I understand also that the NLC’s bureaucracy intends appealing against the decision at the close of business today. That, I understand, is the last moment an appeal can be lodged.
I say to the Leader of the Opposition that if she were at all fair dinkum she would give an undertaking to urge the ALP, through the NLC, not to spend any more Aboriginal money that should be going to the right place, instead of trying to bankrupt Mr Hansen. He has pursued his case over many years in great personal distress, and he has won his case. The second thing I would ask ...
Mr Stirling interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! The member for Nhulunbuy will withdraw for one hour under standing order 240(a).
Mr AH KIT: A point of order, Mr Speaker! The Chief Minister referred to Mick Dodson as an adviser to Warren Snowdon.
Mr Burke: No, I didn’t.
Mr SPEAKER: There is no point of order.
Members interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! Let’s have a little quiet.
Mr BURKE: The second question I ask the Leader of the Opposition is this: Since you became leader, have you stopped Labor’s practice of taking Toyotas, manpower and communication vehicles off Aboriginal people for political purposes? If not, as a result of that decision will you undertake to ensure that this does not happen again in the future?
I referred earlier to the confidential Labor report on the party’s efforts in the last general election in the Northern Territory. It urges among other things that they develop, in conjunction with bush members and candidates, an approach to detach Aboriginal people’s votes from the CLP. That is a determined strategy of the Labor Party, coming out of their own confidential report. I have here also an open letter to Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory. This letter is riddled with lies, to say the very least. It claims that the Country Liberal Party ordered John Reeves to begin the review of Aboriginal land rights. That is a reference to the Reeves report on the Aboriginal Land Rights Act. This is the first lie in the letter. The Reeves report was a federal government report and no one - certainly not the CLP - ‘ordered’ John Reeves to do it.
Lie No 2 in the open letter to Aborigines is a claim that the CLP wants to weaken traditional Aboriginal rights. Lie No 3 is a claim that the CLP wants to break up the land councils to make the Aboriginal voice weaker. Lie No 4 is a claim that the CLP wants to appoint its so-called cronies to the Northern Territory Aboriginal Council. Lie No 5 is a claim that the CLP wants to abolish the permit system and open up Aboriginal towns and lands.
Mr TOYNE: A point of order, Mr Speaker! We have had this hand-wringing performance for 10 minutes. This is Question Time. We want to get some questions answered.
Mr SPEAKER: There is no point of order. The Chief Minister’s comments were relevant to the question asked. But I ask him to wind up as quickly as possible.
Mr BURKE: Lie No 6 is a claim that the CLP wants to control Aboriginal land rights. This letter is riddled with lies. The author is a downright liar. I won’t claim who the author is in this Chamber. I’ll ask the media to ask the Opposition Leader who the author might be.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016