Ms MARTIN - 1999-04-28
I ask the Chief Minister to try and accept his responsibilities today and to answer this question himself. Yesterday, the Minister for Essential Services claimed in this Assembly that Territory households do not pay the highest prices for power. Less than 1 hour later the Treasurer tabled the ‘no energy, no leadership, no vision budget’ which in Budget Paper No. 3, page 133, contains a graph which clearly shows the Territory has the highest domestic power prices in Australia. Chief Minister, who is misleading Territorians, your minister or your Treasurer?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, the only person misleading Territorians is the Labor Leader opposite, and the Labor Leader opposite might be under some misapprehension that we on this side of the House operate singly as a one-person government, or in her case, a would-be government …
Members interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr BURKE: It is certainly a would-be government that’s in exile and will remain in exile for many, many years whilst this government delivers to Territorians and continues to gain the support of Territorians. On the other side of the House, we have a bunch of lemmings. In fact, I should get you a lemmings game that you can go and play because you’ll see how your lead lemming is leading you inexorably over the cliff.
I have on this side of the house a team, and the Burke government is a team …
Members interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr BURKE: On this side of the House, unlike the one person opposition in the form of Ms Clare Majella Martin, we have a team ...
Ms MARTIN: A point of order, Mr Speaker! The Chief Minister should refer to me by my electorate name. If he’s going to refer to me by my other name he should pronounce it properly.
Mr SPEAKER: The Chief Minister did, in fact, refer to you as the Leader of the Opposition, which is your correct title. He then went on to pronounce your name. If it was wrongly pronounced, then I am sure he regrets it.
Mr BURKE: And I gave her full name out of courtesy - Clare Majella Martin, a good Catholic name.
Members interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Members interjecting.
A MEMBER: A point of order, Mr Speaker! I ask for that interjection to be withdrawn.
Mr SPEAKER: Well, I’m sorry, there was so much interjection, I didn’t hear the comment. But if there was something unparliamentary said, I would ask it be withdrawn.
Mr BAILEY: Mr Speaker, I referred to the Chief Minister as a berk, and that he is a very big one, and I withdraw that.
Mr BURKE: I am interested why the member for Wanguri is sporting a beard again. Is that because Barry Jones has told you you need a makeover, and it’s time for the beard to come back.
Members interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr BURKE: Mr Speaker, on this side of the House, we have a very capable team, of which I am extremely proud to be the Chief Minister, and I will refer that question to the very capable Minister for Essential Services.
Mr COULTER: Mr Speaker, let me state that my figures ...
Mr Bailey: Not the Treasurer’s.
Mr COULTER: My figures - this is very important, and I will table the complete package for you so that you can understand it. But they come from no less a person than a Mr John Tobin and they’ve been endorsed by no other than Mr Dennis Bree. I didn’t have time to run them past Bob Collins to see what he thought about it.
Members interjecting.
Mr COULTER: So let me tell you …
Members interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr COULTER: Used to be your man, you know. I never heard you refer to him as setting anybody up on that side over there. In Mr Tobin’s summary it says that domestic charges are lower than Tasmania and lower than Victoria. Now, you have to read a little bit into them. The graph that I gave you showed Darwin as being a little bit higher at 14.12% compared to Melbourne at 13.94%, so we’re dealing at the margins here, we’re not talking even 1. In terms of this, we’re talking ...
Mr Stirling interjecting.
Mr COULTER: ...point ...
Ms Martin interjecting.
Mr COULTER: What is it?
Ms Martin: The state average ...
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr COULTER: ... 8.18 of a cent, that’s what we’re talking. I will table Mr Tobin’s figures for you so that you can read them and you will understand what it is that he is talking about. I do table the complete package for the benefit of the Leader of the Opposition, but I don’t expect her to be able to read it or to understand it anymore than she has overnight ...
Members interjecting.
Ms MARTIN: Supplementary, Mr Speaker.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! What is your supplementary?
Ms MARTIN: My supplementary is that since the Chief Minister can’t answer the question and we are producing the budget paper of yesterday, perhaps the Treasurer can answer it.
Mr SPEAKER: No, I don’t believe that I can accept that as a supplementary question. You will have an opportunity to ask the question further.
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, the only person misleading Territorians is the Labor Leader opposite, and the Labor Leader opposite might be under some misapprehension that we on this side of the House operate singly as a one-person government, or in her case, a would-be government …
Members interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr BURKE: It is certainly a would-be government that’s in exile and will remain in exile for many, many years whilst this government delivers to Territorians and continues to gain the support of Territorians. On the other side of the House, we have a bunch of lemmings. In fact, I should get you a lemmings game that you can go and play because you’ll see how your lead lemming is leading you inexorably over the cliff.
I have on this side of the house a team, and the Burke government is a team …
Members interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr BURKE: On this side of the House, unlike the one person opposition in the form of Ms Clare Majella Martin, we have a team ...
Ms MARTIN: A point of order, Mr Speaker! The Chief Minister should refer to me by my electorate name. If he’s going to refer to me by my other name he should pronounce it properly.
Mr SPEAKER: The Chief Minister did, in fact, refer to you as the Leader of the Opposition, which is your correct title. He then went on to pronounce your name. If it was wrongly pronounced, then I am sure he regrets it.
Mr BURKE: And I gave her full name out of courtesy - Clare Majella Martin, a good Catholic name.
Members interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Members interjecting.
A MEMBER: A point of order, Mr Speaker! I ask for that interjection to be withdrawn.
Mr SPEAKER: Well, I’m sorry, there was so much interjection, I didn’t hear the comment. But if there was something unparliamentary said, I would ask it be withdrawn.
Mr BAILEY: Mr Speaker, I referred to the Chief Minister as a berk, and that he is a very big one, and I withdraw that.
Mr BURKE: I am interested why the member for Wanguri is sporting a beard again. Is that because Barry Jones has told you you need a makeover, and it’s time for the beard to come back.
Members interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr BURKE: Mr Speaker, on this side of the House, we have a very capable team, of which I am extremely proud to be the Chief Minister, and I will refer that question to the very capable Minister for Essential Services.
Mr COULTER: Mr Speaker, let me state that my figures ...
Mr Bailey: Not the Treasurer’s.
Mr COULTER: My figures - this is very important, and I will table the complete package for you so that you can understand it. But they come from no less a person than a Mr John Tobin and they’ve been endorsed by no other than Mr Dennis Bree. I didn’t have time to run them past Bob Collins to see what he thought about it.
Members interjecting.
Mr COULTER: So let me tell you …
Members interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr COULTER: Used to be your man, you know. I never heard you refer to him as setting anybody up on that side over there. In Mr Tobin’s summary it says that domestic charges are lower than Tasmania and lower than Victoria. Now, you have to read a little bit into them. The graph that I gave you showed Darwin as being a little bit higher at 14.12% compared to Melbourne at 13.94%, so we’re dealing at the margins here, we’re not talking even 1. In terms of this, we’re talking ...
Mr Stirling interjecting.
Mr COULTER: ...point ...
Ms Martin interjecting.
Mr COULTER: What is it?
Ms Martin: The state average ...
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr COULTER: ... 8.18 of a cent, that’s what we’re talking. I will table Mr Tobin’s figures for you so that you can read them and you will understand what it is that he is talking about. I do table the complete package for the benefit of the Leader of the Opposition, but I don’t expect her to be able to read it or to understand it anymore than she has overnight ...
Members interjecting.
Ms MARTIN: Supplementary, Mr Speaker.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! What is your supplementary?
Ms MARTIN: My supplementary is that since the Chief Minister can’t answer the question and we are producing the budget paper of yesterday, perhaps the Treasurer can answer it.
Mr SPEAKER: No, I don’t believe that I can accept that as a supplementary question. You will have an opportunity to ask the question further.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016