Mrs HICKEY - 1998-10-08
The Chief Minister claims he has seen the light and wants to move to statehood on the basis of cooperation in a bipartisan way. I plan to meet with the federal Leader of the Opposition, Kim Beazley, soon and I extend an invitation to the Chief Minister to join us in discussions on the topic of statehood. The Chief Minister has told Territorians he will meet with the Prime Minister in November to discuss statehood. As a concrete illustration of the Chief Minister’s claim to a new approach, will he agree that I, as Leader of the Opposition, will accompany him to this meeting?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, Territorians in fact saw yesterday a bipartisan and commonsense approach to the continuing pursuit of statehood for the Northern Territory. The passage, unanimously, of the motion which sees the Constitutional and Legal Affairs Committee charged with the responsibility of going out into the community to canvass the community’s views in the widest possible ways on the process to be followed is a very concrete and constructive step forward.
While I recognise it is also important that we have an equally bipartisan approach at the federal level, I would have thought that, as a first step, the Leader of the Opposition should be meeting with Mr Beazley in her own right to ascertain, in a concrete fashion, the real position of the federal ALP in terms of Territory statehood. While we have had a measure of support during the course of the election campaign, that sadly does fly in the face of the position of both Prime Ministers Hawke and Keating - over 13 years there was no support. So as a first step I would suggest that it is important that the Leader of the Opposition does seek a meeting with Mr Beazley. Whether the Leader of the Opposition meets with the Prime Minister in company with myself, would entirely be a matter for the Prime Minister. I can’t foist you on the Prime Minister.
Mrs Hickey: Would you be willing to?
Mr STONE: Let me say this. As a sign of my bonafides in all of this, I offered to go with the Leader of the Opposition to Canberra during the Andrews’ bill debates, and she declined. So, I’m happy to revisit all that. I am happy to make some inquiries as to whether that can be facilitated and, fundamentally, I don’t object to it. I just want to see the process go forward. I would hope as a first step that the Leader of the Opposition is making her own arrangements to meet with the federal Leader, whoever that might be, following on from their caucus elections. Well, you can laugh, but it’s not looking real bright. You have just had a number of your members spit the dummy and walk away. So we will just have to wait and see who is the Leader of the Opposition.
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, Territorians in fact saw yesterday a bipartisan and commonsense approach to the continuing pursuit of statehood for the Northern Territory. The passage, unanimously, of the motion which sees the Constitutional and Legal Affairs Committee charged with the responsibility of going out into the community to canvass the community’s views in the widest possible ways on the process to be followed is a very concrete and constructive step forward.
While I recognise it is also important that we have an equally bipartisan approach at the federal level, I would have thought that, as a first step, the Leader of the Opposition should be meeting with Mr Beazley in her own right to ascertain, in a concrete fashion, the real position of the federal ALP in terms of Territory statehood. While we have had a measure of support during the course of the election campaign, that sadly does fly in the face of the position of both Prime Ministers Hawke and Keating - over 13 years there was no support. So as a first step I would suggest that it is important that the Leader of the Opposition does seek a meeting with Mr Beazley. Whether the Leader of the Opposition meets with the Prime Minister in company with myself, would entirely be a matter for the Prime Minister. I can’t foist you on the Prime Minister.
Mrs Hickey: Would you be willing to?
Mr STONE: Let me say this. As a sign of my bonafides in all of this, I offered to go with the Leader of the Opposition to Canberra during the Andrews’ bill debates, and she declined. So, I’m happy to revisit all that. I am happy to make some inquiries as to whether that can be facilitated and, fundamentally, I don’t object to it. I just want to see the process go forward. I would hope as a first step that the Leader of the Opposition is making her own arrangements to meet with the federal Leader, whoever that might be, following on from their caucus elections. Well, you can laugh, but it’s not looking real bright. You have just had a number of your members spit the dummy and walk away. So we will just have to wait and see who is the Leader of the Opposition.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016