Mr TOYNE - 1998-11-25
I refer the Treasurer to the 5451 signatures on the petition I tabled earlier this morning which expressed alarm at what the Country Liberal Party is doing and called for the present level of services to be retained. You have stated today that nurses will be retained in schools ...
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr TOYNE: I ask the Treasurer, is he intending to stretch the present number of nurses to include primary schools, or are nurse numbers to be increased to allow for present strong outcomes in each school to be protected?
ANSWER
I find it amazing, Madam Speaker, that this man was once a teacher and had to get a message across to his students in the classroom. How he did it I do not know, because he can’t receive a message ...
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr REED: That is how important they consider their member’s question to be. They do not even want to hear the answer ...
Members interjecting.
Mr REED: The Leader of the Opposition laughs.
Mr Toyne: It’s a serious question.
Mr REED: It is a serious question. Tell your boss ...
Member interjecting.
Mr REED: ... because she doesn’t understand how serious it is ...
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Allow the minister to answer the question.
Mr REED: Nurses will stay in schools. Further, additional resources will be provided ...
Mrs Hickey: For nurses?
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Just listen.
Mr Toyne: The same number of nurses?
Mr REED: Madam Speaker, this is the difficulty in trying to ...
Mr Bailey: Come on, it is...
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Wanguri!.
Mr REED: He pretended to get a PhD.
Madam SPEAKER: Members of the opposition, will you stop interjecting and the minister can perhaps give you your answer.
Mr REED: This is of course, Madam Speaker, the man who on the Internet said he had a PhD when he did not have a PhD. That is the integrity of the person we are dealing with here. He tries to tell people that he has a PhD and he does not have one, and when you want to give him some information that is factual, he will not listen.
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mrs Hickey interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr REED: The honourable Leader of the Opposition laughs again, Madam Speaker. She thinks this is a funny matter. She thinks her spokesman is not worthy of asking the question and hearing an answer. That is what is wrong with the Labor Party, because even their leader cannot show leadership. That is the level of performance that Gary Gray has to try to turn around. Their imported man from down south. They cannot fix themselves. Their own party cannot fix themselves, Madam Speaker.
Mrs HICKEY: A point of order, Madam Speaker! The minister has not answered the question. He is now filibustering.
Madam SPEAKER: Well, the minister was trying to answer the question.
Mrs HICKEY: He was not, Madam Speaker, he had no intention.
Madam SPEAKER: The more you interject, you know the more he gets off the track. Just sit there and listen to his reply.
Ms Martin: Well, he should direct these things through the Chair.
Mr REED: It is just that motor mouth here has got going ...
Ms Martin interjecting.
Mr REED: There is another interjection, Madam Speaker. How can you get the message across? I will again attempt to answer the question. Nurses will not be taken out of schools. Are you hearing this? Is it soaking into the little brain cells? They are not being removed from schools. Okay, he has that. That is a step forward, we are making some progress. In addition to that, additional resources will be provided by government ...
Mr Bailey: What resources?
Mr REED: If there are going to be additional resources, resources obviously ...
Ms Martin: More band aids.
Mr REED: There is motor mouth again, Madam Speaker. She cannot help herself. Put a band aid across her mouth. Shut up so you can hear the answer.
Mr Stone: There isn’t one big enough!
Mrs HICKEY: A point of order, Madam Speaker!
Madam SPEAKER: This is ridiculous! This is absolutely ridiculous! You should be all ashamed of yourselves. The interjections have been far too frequent. Resume your seats. I am very close to saying to the Leader of Government Business, that it is time we finished Question Time. It is 11 o’clock. Minister, one more try.
Mr REED: Additional resources equals dollars. Additional dollars will be provided for nurses in schools. Further to that, service level agreements are going to be put in place so that the Department of Education can determine - and that equals individual schools, their principals and school councils - the type of services that they want in their schools, within the resources that are allocated, which I again emphasise, are going to be increased.
So, you are going to have a situation in our schools where not only will the nurses be staying there and providing an ongoing service, they will be expanded and, in addition to that, schools will be able to have input into the service agreement so that they can seek the type of service that suits both them and their students. From that point of view, I would have thought that nurses would welcome it because they’re going to have linkages with Territory Health Services and their profession, and obtain support in the event that they need it.
Mr Bailey interjecting.
Mr REED: The schools are going to benefit because they are going to get more resources. Members opposite do not understand what resources are - resources equals dollars. So, there is more money going into it and, furthermore, individual schools and their school councils will have input into the services that are provided by nurses in schools. It is a vastly improved system which will benefit students, benefit schools and will benefit the provision of those services.
Mr Bailey: Do you have that for school-based constables?
Mr REED: The member for Wanguri now asks if we have that with school-based constables? That is the model that is being followed. School-based constables are policemen equals the police force to which they belong. Nurses are nurses who provide health services equals Territory Health Services. Motor mouth opposite wants to perpetrate Labor lies but I think now we are able to demonstrate to the people listening to this program, and those in the gallery, that the nursing services in schools are going to be enhanced; that individual schools and their school councils will have a say in what they want in their schools, a vast improvement on the previous arrangements.
Mr DUNHAM: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Is the word ‘crap’ unparliamentary, Madam Speaker?
Madam SPEAKER: I did not hear it. I suggest that whoever is using that word refrain from using it.
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Leader of Government Business, I do not think I can tolerate Question Time any longer.
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr TOYNE: I ask the Treasurer, is he intending to stretch the present number of nurses to include primary schools, or are nurse numbers to be increased to allow for present strong outcomes in each school to be protected?
ANSWER
I find it amazing, Madam Speaker, that this man was once a teacher and had to get a message across to his students in the classroom. How he did it I do not know, because he can’t receive a message ...
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr REED: That is how important they consider their member’s question to be. They do not even want to hear the answer ...
Members interjecting.
Mr REED: The Leader of the Opposition laughs.
Mr Toyne: It’s a serious question.
Mr REED: It is a serious question. Tell your boss ...
Member interjecting.
Mr REED: ... because she doesn’t understand how serious it is ...
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Allow the minister to answer the question.
Mr REED: Nurses will stay in schools. Further, additional resources will be provided ...
Mrs Hickey: For nurses?
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Just listen.
Mr Toyne: The same number of nurses?
Mr REED: Madam Speaker, this is the difficulty in trying to ...
Mr Bailey: Come on, it is...
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Wanguri!.
Mr REED: He pretended to get a PhD.
Madam SPEAKER: Members of the opposition, will you stop interjecting and the minister can perhaps give you your answer.
Mr REED: This is of course, Madam Speaker, the man who on the Internet said he had a PhD when he did not have a PhD. That is the integrity of the person we are dealing with here. He tries to tell people that he has a PhD and he does not have one, and when you want to give him some information that is factual, he will not listen.
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mrs Hickey interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr REED: The honourable Leader of the Opposition laughs again, Madam Speaker. She thinks this is a funny matter. She thinks her spokesman is not worthy of asking the question and hearing an answer. That is what is wrong with the Labor Party, because even their leader cannot show leadership. That is the level of performance that Gary Gray has to try to turn around. Their imported man from down south. They cannot fix themselves. Their own party cannot fix themselves, Madam Speaker.
Mrs HICKEY: A point of order, Madam Speaker! The minister has not answered the question. He is now filibustering.
Madam SPEAKER: Well, the minister was trying to answer the question.
Mrs HICKEY: He was not, Madam Speaker, he had no intention.
Madam SPEAKER: The more you interject, you know the more he gets off the track. Just sit there and listen to his reply.
Ms Martin: Well, he should direct these things through the Chair.
Mr REED: It is just that motor mouth here has got going ...
Ms Martin interjecting.
Mr REED: There is another interjection, Madam Speaker. How can you get the message across? I will again attempt to answer the question. Nurses will not be taken out of schools. Are you hearing this? Is it soaking into the little brain cells? They are not being removed from schools. Okay, he has that. That is a step forward, we are making some progress. In addition to that, additional resources will be provided by government ...
Mr Bailey: What resources?
Mr REED: If there are going to be additional resources, resources obviously ...
Ms Martin: More band aids.
Mr REED: There is motor mouth again, Madam Speaker. She cannot help herself. Put a band aid across her mouth. Shut up so you can hear the answer.
Mr Stone: There isn’t one big enough!
Mrs HICKEY: A point of order, Madam Speaker!
Madam SPEAKER: This is ridiculous! This is absolutely ridiculous! You should be all ashamed of yourselves. The interjections have been far too frequent. Resume your seats. I am very close to saying to the Leader of Government Business, that it is time we finished Question Time. It is 11 o’clock. Minister, one more try.
Mr REED: Additional resources equals dollars. Additional dollars will be provided for nurses in schools. Further to that, service level agreements are going to be put in place so that the Department of Education can determine - and that equals individual schools, their principals and school councils - the type of services that they want in their schools, within the resources that are allocated, which I again emphasise, are going to be increased.
So, you are going to have a situation in our schools where not only will the nurses be staying there and providing an ongoing service, they will be expanded and, in addition to that, schools will be able to have input into the service agreement so that they can seek the type of service that suits both them and their students. From that point of view, I would have thought that nurses would welcome it because they’re going to have linkages with Territory Health Services and their profession, and obtain support in the event that they need it.
Mr Bailey interjecting.
Mr REED: The schools are going to benefit because they are going to get more resources. Members opposite do not understand what resources are - resources equals dollars. So, there is more money going into it and, furthermore, individual schools and their school councils will have input into the services that are provided by nurses in schools. It is a vastly improved system which will benefit students, benefit schools and will benefit the provision of those services.
Mr Bailey: Do you have that for school-based constables?
Mr REED: The member for Wanguri now asks if we have that with school-based constables? That is the model that is being followed. School-based constables are policemen equals the police force to which they belong. Nurses are nurses who provide health services equals Territory Health Services. Motor mouth opposite wants to perpetrate Labor lies but I think now we are able to demonstrate to the people listening to this program, and those in the gallery, that the nursing services in schools are going to be enhanced; that individual schools and their school councils will have a say in what they want in their schools, a vast improvement on the previous arrangements.
Mr DUNHAM: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Is the word ‘crap’ unparliamentary, Madam Speaker?
Madam SPEAKER: I did not hear it. I suggest that whoever is using that word refrain from using it.
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Leader of Government Business, I do not think I can tolerate Question Time any longer.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016