Mr BAILEY - 1998-04-28
In a letter sent by the Attorney-General's office, a voter was incorrectly told that the Attorney-General had no responsibility for the Legal Aid Commission, and that the Attorney-General and his staff were too busy to meet with the man about his concern. The letter recommended that the man speak to me as his local member if he wanted some action. Madam Speaker, I seek leave to table a copy of that letter. I have deleted the man's name for reasons of privacy.
Leave granted.
Mr Stone: Is it the man who wrote the letter to the editor in the NT News?
Mr BAILEY: This is the man to whom your staffer wrote, telling him that you were too busy to see him and that he should see his local member. I have met with the gentleman, as have staff in my office. I am appalled that the Attorney-General and his office are too arrogant and too lazy to meet with him. The fact is that the Attorney-General is responsible for the Legal Aid Commission and that he and his staff are paid to talk to ordinary Territorians. Is he too arrogant to do his job?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I am not quite sure what the question is. If this is, in fact, the gentleman who wrote to the NT News, it is the same gentleman who has been warned off the premises of the Legal Aid Commission. The member for Wanguri does a disservice by coming in here, standing on his pedestal and not telling Territorians the truth about this man.
Mr Bailey: Why did you send him to my office?
Mr STONE: Because it became evident to us that you were driving him.
Sadly, there are people in the community who will pursue every agency and every opening they can, to the point ...
Mr Bailey interjecting.
Mr STONE: Be quiet and let me answer the question.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Member for Wanguri.
Mr STONE: One cannot spend every waking minute preoccupied with one person who will not accept the answers that he is given, to the point where every agency that would normally provide assistance has washed its hands of him. Sadly for this man, he has a problem. The member for Wanguri has used this man ...
Mr Bailey: So you sent him to me.
Mr STONE: You have a problem too. I thought you might have met on some common ground. You are his local member. You have come into this Chamber this morning and used this poor, helpless individual. Now that I have seen the letter, I know to whom you are referring. You have used him. This man has serious problems, and you have used him to try to score a cheap political point.
Why did the member for Wanguri not go to the Director of Legal Aid, Mr Richard Coates, and ask him why the commission has asked this man not to go there any more? Why did he not obtain the information that would have assisted him to understand that this person has serious problems, rather than trying to use Question Time to score a political point?
Mr Bailey: So you sent him to his local member.
Mr STONE: Am I to understand that we are not to refer any of your constituents to you because
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you do not want to see them or to have anything to do with them?
Mr Bailey: You lied to him in the letter.
Mr STONE: I did not even write the letter, so do not say that I lied in the letter.
Ms Martin: You did.
Mr STONE: I did not write the letter.
Ms Martin: You accept responsibility ...
Mr STONE: I am happy to accept responsibility, but I will not have my time wasted. We were very patient and diligent, as was the Legal Aid Commission and every other agency that has endeavoured to help this person. However, it would not matter what was done; he could not be helped. The member for Wanguri knows that because he knows the person we are talking about. If this is his way of trying to make a point in Question Time, he really is an abysmal failure.
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Leave granted.
Mr Stone: Is it the man who wrote the letter to the editor in the NT News?
Mr BAILEY: This is the man to whom your staffer wrote, telling him that you were too busy to see him and that he should see his local member. I have met with the gentleman, as have staff in my office. I am appalled that the Attorney-General and his office are too arrogant and too lazy to meet with him. The fact is that the Attorney-General is responsible for the Legal Aid Commission and that he and his staff are paid to talk to ordinary Territorians. Is he too arrogant to do his job?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I am not quite sure what the question is. If this is, in fact, the gentleman who wrote to the NT News, it is the same gentleman who has been warned off the premises of the Legal Aid Commission. The member for Wanguri does a disservice by coming in here, standing on his pedestal and not telling Territorians the truth about this man.
Mr Bailey: Why did you send him to my office?
Mr STONE: Because it became evident to us that you were driving him.
Sadly, there are people in the community who will pursue every agency and every opening they can, to the point ...
Mr Bailey interjecting.
Mr STONE: Be quiet and let me answer the question.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Member for Wanguri.
Mr STONE: One cannot spend every waking minute preoccupied with one person who will not accept the answers that he is given, to the point where every agency that would normally provide assistance has washed its hands of him. Sadly for this man, he has a problem. The member for Wanguri has used this man ...
Mr Bailey: So you sent him to me.
Mr STONE: You have a problem too. I thought you might have met on some common ground. You are his local member. You have come into this Chamber this morning and used this poor, helpless individual. Now that I have seen the letter, I know to whom you are referring. You have used him. This man has serious problems, and you have used him to try to score a cheap political point.
Why did the member for Wanguri not go to the Director of Legal Aid, Mr Richard Coates, and ask him why the commission has asked this man not to go there any more? Why did he not obtain the information that would have assisted him to understand that this person has serious problems, rather than trying to use Question Time to score a political point?
Mr Bailey: So you sent him to his local member.
Mr STONE: Am I to understand that we are not to refer any of your constituents to you because
Page 209
you do not want to see them or to have anything to do with them?
Mr Bailey: You lied to him in the letter.
Mr STONE: I did not even write the letter, so do not say that I lied in the letter.
Ms Martin: You did.
Mr STONE: I did not write the letter.
Ms Martin: You accept responsibility ...
Mr STONE: I am happy to accept responsibility, but I will not have my time wasted. We were very patient and diligent, as was the Legal Aid Commission and every other agency that has endeavoured to help this person. However, it would not matter what was done; he could not be helped. The member for Wanguri knows that because he knows the person we are talking about. If this is his way of trying to make a point in Question Time, he really is an abysmal failure.
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Last updated: 09 Aug 2016