Mr BAILEY - 1998-02-18
The Minister for Essential Services ...
Mr Stone: You are a joke, you lot - you really are.
Mr BAILEY: Madam Speaker, I will simply place on the record that the Chief Minister is suggesting that questions about the high incidence of power blackouts over the past 6 weeks in Darwin are a joke. That is what the Chief Minister believes. He does not care that his minister is totally incompetent.
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: The member for Wanguri will resume his seat.
Mr BAILEY: I will call a point of order.
Madam SPEAKER: I do not think that you will be asking a question at all.
Mr HATTON: A point of order, Madam Speaker! I understood that the member for Wanguri was to ask a question of the Minister for Essential Services, not abuse the Chief Minister.
Madam SPEAKER: You are quite right. We were waiting for his question, but the way he began, it is likely that he will not have the opportunity to ask it. Member for Wanguri, you are on a warning. The next time that happens, you will be out. Ask your question.
Mr BAILEY: Madam Speaker, I was responding to an interjection.
Madam SPEAKER: You were not responding in a very civilised or parliamentary manner.
Mr Stone: When did you have your last psychiatric pill?
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr BAILEY: When did you have your last fertility test?
Members interjecting.
Mr BAILEY: You should practise safe sex, Shane.
I ask the Minister for Essential Services whether it is true that new Port Darwin project electrical cabling has been delayed by 6 months past its scheduled completion date ...
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Wanguri, just cease. I think your remarks were becoming very personal and I do not consider that parliamentary.
Mr BAILEY: I am sorry, but I had been asked when I took my last psychiatric pill. The Chief Minister considers that a joke. If he can give it out, he should be able to take it. Madam Speaker, I withdraw that the honourable member may be ...
Madam SPEAKER: Be careful!
Mr BAILEY: Madam Speaker, I withdraw unreservedly comments about the Chief Minister’s fertility.
I will continue my question to the Minister for Essential Services. Will he confirm that the electrical cabling work has been delayed for 6 months past its scheduled completion date of October 1997? Will he confirm that a private contractor laid conduit pipe that was crushed by subsequent work? Will he confirm that, when PAWA employees tried to complete the cabling, they found they had to re-lay most of the conduit? What has this cost the authority and what effect has this delay had on the new port project?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I think the questions would be directed more appropriately to the minister responsible for the port.
Mr Stirling: Because you cannot answer it.
Mr POOLE: No, because I have no responsibility for that work. It is a Transport and Works contract.
Mr Stirling: No, it is PAWA.
Mr POOLE: Transport and Works is the client - not my department.
Mr BAILEY: Madam Speaker, I seek leave for the Minister for Transport and Infrastructure Development to answer the question.
Mr COULTER (Transport and Infrastructure): Madam Speaker, I will take the question on notice.
Mr Stone: You are a joke, you lot - you really are.
Mr BAILEY: Madam Speaker, I will simply place on the record that the Chief Minister is suggesting that questions about the high incidence of power blackouts over the past 6 weeks in Darwin are a joke. That is what the Chief Minister believes. He does not care that his minister is totally incompetent.
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: The member for Wanguri will resume his seat.
Mr BAILEY: I will call a point of order.
Madam SPEAKER: I do not think that you will be asking a question at all.
Mr HATTON: A point of order, Madam Speaker! I understood that the member for Wanguri was to ask a question of the Minister for Essential Services, not abuse the Chief Minister.
Madam SPEAKER: You are quite right. We were waiting for his question, but the way he began, it is likely that he will not have the opportunity to ask it. Member for Wanguri, you are on a warning. The next time that happens, you will be out. Ask your question.
Mr BAILEY: Madam Speaker, I was responding to an interjection.
Madam SPEAKER: You were not responding in a very civilised or parliamentary manner.
Mr Stone: When did you have your last psychiatric pill?
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr BAILEY: When did you have your last fertility test?
Members interjecting.
Mr BAILEY: You should practise safe sex, Shane.
I ask the Minister for Essential Services whether it is true that new Port Darwin project electrical cabling has been delayed by 6 months past its scheduled completion date ...
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Wanguri, just cease. I think your remarks were becoming very personal and I do not consider that parliamentary.
Mr BAILEY: I am sorry, but I had been asked when I took my last psychiatric pill. The Chief Minister considers that a joke. If he can give it out, he should be able to take it. Madam Speaker, I withdraw that the honourable member may be ...
Madam SPEAKER: Be careful!
Mr BAILEY: Madam Speaker, I withdraw unreservedly comments about the Chief Minister’s fertility.
I will continue my question to the Minister for Essential Services. Will he confirm that the electrical cabling work has been delayed for 6 months past its scheduled completion date of October 1997? Will he confirm that a private contractor laid conduit pipe that was crushed by subsequent work? Will he confirm that, when PAWA employees tried to complete the cabling, they found they had to re-lay most of the conduit? What has this cost the authority and what effect has this delay had on the new port project?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I think the questions would be directed more appropriately to the minister responsible for the port.
Mr Stirling: Because you cannot answer it.
Mr POOLE: No, because I have no responsibility for that work. It is a Transport and Works contract.
Mr Stirling: No, it is PAWA.
Mr POOLE: Transport and Works is the client - not my department.
Mr BAILEY: Madam Speaker, I seek leave for the Minister for Transport and Infrastructure Development to answer the question.
Mr COULTER (Transport and Infrastructure): Madam Speaker, I will take the question on notice.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016