Dr TOYNE - 2001-07-03
Teachers and parents of the LATIS Computer In Schools Program are receiving numerous briefings and newsletters from your department. This minister has just spent $95 000 of taxpayers’ money to produce and screen a TV advertisement. This money could have been used to provide an additional 40 computers or a school IT facilitator to the LATIS program. Minister, why divert funds away from schools into a media promotion which is clearly self-promotional and political? Just what public interest test did this advertising pass?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, and I am glad the member asked that question because Territory students, their teachers and parents have had a problem with a lot of misinformation about what is a world-leading program – and this comes from the RMIT. The RMIT have told us that this program actually leads the world in terms of linking our schools via satellite. One of the problems comes with people like you, the gainsayer, the dead hand, the wet blanket…
Dr Toyne interjecting.
Mr LUGG: You put out a press release saying it was just a pilot program, you goose! Mr Speaker, I wrote to the member for Stuart and offered him a briefing because he put out three press releases. He clearly did not understand. I guess I should have learnt something from his time at Yuendumu as principal. This is the man who managed to turn attendance into a downward spiral, who turned enrolment into a downward spiral when he was a practitioner. Now he has all the answers.
Dr Toyne: Tell all your lies, go on.
Mr LUGG: This is the same fellow who launched a truancy program policy in Alice Springs and did not even turn up. The member for Stuart is a joke.
Dr TOYNE: Tell all your lies!
Mr ELFERINK: A point of order, Mr Speaker! The member for Stuart has twice interjected using the terms lies and liar. He knows the rules.
Dr Toyne: They are lies.
Mr SPEAKER: Then you will withdraw that remark.
Dr TOYNE: I withdraw it, Mr Speaker.
Mr LUGG: The LATIS program that the NT government has pioneered is a world leader in linking our schools via satellite. It involves expenditure in excess of $30m; it brings our kids into the 21st century and equips them with tools; it is all about ...
Dr Toyne: Where have they been for the last 20 years?
Mr LUGG: No wonder you do not know anything, you never listen. The parents and the teachers of our community love it. They think you are an idiot.
This program runs seamlessly across all schools in the Northern Territory and will give people at Yuendumu, Docker River, Alpurrurulam, Katherine, and Nhulunbuy the same access to the Internet that students in urban areas have.
I am about to sign ...
Dr Toyne: We are not talking about that, we are talking about your TV ads.
Mr LUGG: You will never learn if you do not shut up, mate.
Dr Toyne: Get to the point of the question.
Mr LUGG: You have to learn to stop thinking for yourself, because you will get off the track. We saw that in Alice Springs when Bruce Tilmouth told you to sit down and shut up and not think for yourself. We know you are a tool of the Central Land Council. Just take some good advice when you hear it.
The nub of this question should be put in the context of a $30m program. It is appropriate to advise parents and students to counter some of the stupid misleading information put out by the member for Stuart, and to let parents know just what a great program is. They love it. It is appropriate in the context of a $30m budget to promote this, to give our students and their parents the best access to the best education in the country.
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, and I am glad the member asked that question because Territory students, their teachers and parents have had a problem with a lot of misinformation about what is a world-leading program – and this comes from the RMIT. The RMIT have told us that this program actually leads the world in terms of linking our schools via satellite. One of the problems comes with people like you, the gainsayer, the dead hand, the wet blanket…
Dr Toyne interjecting.
Mr LUGG: You put out a press release saying it was just a pilot program, you goose! Mr Speaker, I wrote to the member for Stuart and offered him a briefing because he put out three press releases. He clearly did not understand. I guess I should have learnt something from his time at Yuendumu as principal. This is the man who managed to turn attendance into a downward spiral, who turned enrolment into a downward spiral when he was a practitioner. Now he has all the answers.
Dr Toyne: Tell all your lies, go on.
Mr LUGG: This is the same fellow who launched a truancy program policy in Alice Springs and did not even turn up. The member for Stuart is a joke.
Dr TOYNE: Tell all your lies!
Mr ELFERINK: A point of order, Mr Speaker! The member for Stuart has twice interjected using the terms lies and liar. He knows the rules.
Dr Toyne: They are lies.
Mr SPEAKER: Then you will withdraw that remark.
Dr TOYNE: I withdraw it, Mr Speaker.
Mr LUGG: The LATIS program that the NT government has pioneered is a world leader in linking our schools via satellite. It involves expenditure in excess of $30m; it brings our kids into the 21st century and equips them with tools; it is all about ...
Dr Toyne: Where have they been for the last 20 years?
Mr LUGG: No wonder you do not know anything, you never listen. The parents and the teachers of our community love it. They think you are an idiot.
This program runs seamlessly across all schools in the Northern Territory and will give people at Yuendumu, Docker River, Alpurrurulam, Katherine, and Nhulunbuy the same access to the Internet that students in urban areas have.
I am about to sign ...
Dr Toyne: We are not talking about that, we are talking about your TV ads.
Mr LUGG: You will never learn if you do not shut up, mate.
Dr Toyne: Get to the point of the question.
Mr LUGG: You have to learn to stop thinking for yourself, because you will get off the track. We saw that in Alice Springs when Bruce Tilmouth told you to sit down and shut up and not think for yourself. We know you are a tool of the Central Land Council. Just take some good advice when you hear it.
The nub of this question should be put in the context of a $30m program. It is appropriate to advise parents and students to counter some of the stupid misleading information put out by the member for Stuart, and to let parents know just what a great program is. They love it. It is appropriate in the context of a $30m budget to promote this, to give our students and their parents the best access to the best education in the country.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016