Mr ELFERINK - 1998-12-03
I understand the Territory has been the subject of a campaign by Amnesty International in relation to the alleged imprisonment of a 13-year-old Aboriginal girl for stealing food for herself and other hungry and neglected children. Has the Chief Minister investigated these claims and what has been the extent of the Amnesty International campaign?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I have received numerous correspondence. I indicate to those present in the Chamber just a sample of the extent of the correspondence that is coming from around the world. When you start to get a level of correspondence like this you have to ask the question, why am I getting these letters?
Mrs Hickey: You were told this morning ...
Mr STONE: I’ll pick up the interjection from the member for Barkly. I did indicate it in an earlier speech, but I thought that Territorians listening to this broadcast who hadn’t had the benefit of that explanation would be interested to know.
Mr Bailey interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order.
Mr STONE: I know the member for Wanguri has no interest in this matter. He is happy for the Territory to be bagged all around the world. He never stands up for the Territory.
This is a disgraceful misrepresentation by Amnesty International - an organisation that I’ve had a bit of time for in the past. When you go to their Internet site and you see headings like ‘Jailed For Being Hungry’ and then you see it being set out in all of these letters written to the Northern Territory government, you take the time to find out a little about this case. The way it was presented by Amnesty International, a 13-year-old Aboriginal girl in Alice Springs had been arrested for stealing food for herself and other hungry and neglected children she was caring for, including a baby, and subsequently imprisoned. This was patently false.
When you explore the case, you find that the Department of Health in central Australia has worked tirelessly with this young Territorian. It is a tragic case involving somebody whom, quite clearly, her community don’t care about, and her family have given up on. To put it in a nutshell, she is a one-person crime wave. She has had numerous opportunities before the courts. By the time she was 12 she had committed 22 serious to very serious offences.
Mr Toyne interjecting.
Mr STONE: I will pick up the interjection from the member for Stuart. He quite obviously takes the view that, right or wrong, the offender comes first. Don’t worry about people whose cars are stolen, whose homes are broken into, who are on the receiving end of all of this.
It is reprehensible that Amnesty International would maintain a campaign of this nature against the Northern Territory on an international scale when the information is false. I table a letter - I did read this in an earlier debate, so I do not propose to read it today – that sets out the sorry tale of this young offender and the numerous chances that she has had.
Mr Toyne: What chance did she ever have?
Mr STONE: ‘What chance did she ever have?’, interjects the member for Stuart. I do not doubt for one moment the tragedy of the case, but you do reach a point where you say this person cannot be left at large in the community. Even when she was dispatched out to a remote community to try and get some additional support, she allegedly stole an ambulance to get back into Alice Springs. At that stage she was 13. Now where does it end? What sort of responsible government would not be prepared finally to say: ‘I’m sorry, but it ends here and it ends now’?
I expected some support from the Labor Party here this morning in condemning Amnesty International and the campaign they have run. I expected some understanding from the opposition of the victims of crime rather than the perpetrators. But again they fail miserably, because they are soft on crime.
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Let us not have so many interjections at once.
Mr Bailey: Parental responsibility should put the man sitting next to you in jail.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Wanguri, did you hear me? I repeat – let us not have so many interjections today.
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I have received numerous correspondence. I indicate to those present in the Chamber just a sample of the extent of the correspondence that is coming from around the world. When you start to get a level of correspondence like this you have to ask the question, why am I getting these letters?
Mrs Hickey: You were told this morning ...
Mr STONE: I’ll pick up the interjection from the member for Barkly. I did indicate it in an earlier speech, but I thought that Territorians listening to this broadcast who hadn’t had the benefit of that explanation would be interested to know.
Mr Bailey interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order.
Mr STONE: I know the member for Wanguri has no interest in this matter. He is happy for the Territory to be bagged all around the world. He never stands up for the Territory.
This is a disgraceful misrepresentation by Amnesty International - an organisation that I’ve had a bit of time for in the past. When you go to their Internet site and you see headings like ‘Jailed For Being Hungry’ and then you see it being set out in all of these letters written to the Northern Territory government, you take the time to find out a little about this case. The way it was presented by Amnesty International, a 13-year-old Aboriginal girl in Alice Springs had been arrested for stealing food for herself and other hungry and neglected children she was caring for, including a baby, and subsequently imprisoned. This was patently false.
When you explore the case, you find that the Department of Health in central Australia has worked tirelessly with this young Territorian. It is a tragic case involving somebody whom, quite clearly, her community don’t care about, and her family have given up on. To put it in a nutshell, she is a one-person crime wave. She has had numerous opportunities before the courts. By the time she was 12 she had committed 22 serious to very serious offences.
Mr Toyne interjecting.
Mr STONE: I will pick up the interjection from the member for Stuart. He quite obviously takes the view that, right or wrong, the offender comes first. Don’t worry about people whose cars are stolen, whose homes are broken into, who are on the receiving end of all of this.
It is reprehensible that Amnesty International would maintain a campaign of this nature against the Northern Territory on an international scale when the information is false. I table a letter - I did read this in an earlier debate, so I do not propose to read it today – that sets out the sorry tale of this young offender and the numerous chances that she has had.
Mr Toyne: What chance did she ever have?
Mr STONE: ‘What chance did she ever have?’, interjects the member for Stuart. I do not doubt for one moment the tragedy of the case, but you do reach a point where you say this person cannot be left at large in the community. Even when she was dispatched out to a remote community to try and get some additional support, she allegedly stole an ambulance to get back into Alice Springs. At that stage she was 13. Now where does it end? What sort of responsible government would not be prepared finally to say: ‘I’m sorry, but it ends here and it ends now’?
I expected some support from the Labor Party here this morning in condemning Amnesty International and the campaign they have run. I expected some understanding from the opposition of the victims of crime rather than the perpetrators. But again they fail miserably, because they are soft on crime.
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Let us not have so many interjections at once.
Mr Bailey: Parental responsibility should put the man sitting next to you in jail.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Wanguri, did you hear me? I repeat – let us not have so many interjections today.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016