Ms MARTIN - 2001-07-03
Last week the Chief Minister advised the annual cost of the Government Communications Office was over $2m over the last year. Twenty six years in power has resulted in an extravagant expenditure on glossy self-promotion. The budget of your PR office would have funded additional grants to non-government organisations or 33 extra teachers, nurses or police each year. Isn’t it the fact that Territorians would have been better off with 33 extra teachers, rather than more self-promotion from your central bureau of self-promotion?
ANSWER
The Government Communications Office fills a very important task in government in pulling together information and ensuring it is promulgated to Territorians in a way that is consistent. In my opinion, it also overcomes a lot of not only inconsistencies, but also in some respects, overspending, in certain departments promoting their own particular efforts. The Government Communications Office was set up primarily for that purpose. It also has had the task of developing the Foundations for Our Future information campaign. Members of this House will report on initiatives of that particular campaign in the coming days in these particular sittings.
I find it ironic that the Opposition Leader should even mention the word glossy publication. She is a master of glossy publications. The member for Wanguri was her assistant in her office, organising glossy campaigns on behalf of the Leader of the Opposition, and I understood, on the information that I have, they were about $4000 a run. She has never ever taken any responsibility whatsoever for the fact that she runs a purely political campaign - partisan political campaign using taxpayers’ funds - out of her office. Most of the candidates of the Labor Party are either current employees of the Leader of the Opposition or previous employees of the Leader of the Opposition. The CLP government will face this election against Clare Martin and her staff who have become experts, absolute experts, at ripping off the taxpayers of the Northern Territory, where the whole of the Leader of the Opposition and the ALP campaign are run out of her office at our taxpayers’ expense. She has the hypocrisy to come into this Chamber and talk about government waste.
ANSWER
The Government Communications Office fills a very important task in government in pulling together information and ensuring it is promulgated to Territorians in a way that is consistent. In my opinion, it also overcomes a lot of not only inconsistencies, but also in some respects, overspending, in certain departments promoting their own particular efforts. The Government Communications Office was set up primarily for that purpose. It also has had the task of developing the Foundations for Our Future information campaign. Members of this House will report on initiatives of that particular campaign in the coming days in these particular sittings.
I find it ironic that the Opposition Leader should even mention the word glossy publication. She is a master of glossy publications. The member for Wanguri was her assistant in her office, organising glossy campaigns on behalf of the Leader of the Opposition, and I understood, on the information that I have, they were about $4000 a run. She has never ever taken any responsibility whatsoever for the fact that she runs a purely political campaign - partisan political campaign using taxpayers’ funds - out of her office. Most of the candidates of the Labor Party are either current employees of the Leader of the Opposition or previous employees of the Leader of the Opposition. The CLP government will face this election against Clare Martin and her staff who have become experts, absolute experts, at ripping off the taxpayers of the Northern Territory, where the whole of the Leader of the Opposition and the ALP campaign are run out of her office at our taxpayers’ expense. She has the hypocrisy to come into this Chamber and talk about government waste.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016