Ms MARTIN - 2001-06-05
I ask the Chief Minister, because he is the head of this government, to answer this question and not flick pass it as he did with the last. Your government’s mean and tricky stunt of counting the Conditions of Service Trust as income and not your liabilities as expenses has produced a paper surplus in the budget of $1m. If a private company did the same thing as you in presenting a financial prospectus then the directors would be hauled before the courts for contravening Australian Corporations Law, section 728, which deals with misleading and deceptive information.
Why doesn’t the CLP ...
Members interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Ms MARTIN: Thank you, Mr Speaker. Why doesn’t the CLP government in presenting its budget play by the same rules as required by corporations law on the private sector?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, the answer is we do. The question is garbage. If the Treasurer wants to expand on that he is entitled to.
Mr REED (Treasurer): Yes, that is useful and I take the offer extended by the Chief Minister because it is important that we do refute these nonsensical assertions that are made by the Leader of the Opposition. I do not know who writes the questions for her. She clearly doesn’t ...
Mr Stirling: I think you do.
Mr REED: … understand them. Well, whoever writes them should get the sack.
In terms of former suggestions by the Labor Party, they have oft said, ‘What is in the Conditions of Service Trust and why isn’t it on budget?’ Does the Leader of the Opposition think for a moment that we did not seek advice in relation to this matter? Does the Leader of the Opposition think for a moment that legal advice was not sought in relation to this matter, in relation to its appropriateness? Does she think that everyone is as incompetent as she is in terms of financial management, financial reporting and the processes that Treasury and government follow in regard to these matters?
She would be well advised to stop trying to read what she thinks is in the budget into the budget. Just read the budget books and do it an appropriate way. Compare like with like. I would suggest, for example, that when she is talking about what a particular agency has in their budget this year, to compare that with what they were budgeted to receive last year so that she can come up with a factual answer. People do grow a bit tired of the fact that she continually tries to represent things in the way that will suit her and her whingeing political arguments to try to win her a few political points.
We will now ensure that this budget is applied to the benefit of Territorians, that it creates jobs. I would remind honourable members and those people listening to this broadcast, that this time last year, vis a week after the budget, we were getting the very same stories. ‘All is doom, all is doom’, from the Leader of the Opposition. You will recall ...
Ms Martin interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr REED: I shouldn’t have to shout, Mr Speaker, to alert Territorians ...
Mr SPEAKER: You don’t have to shout. However, I did provide some protection to the Leader of the Opposition when she was asking this question. I would ask the Leader of the Opposition and members of the opposition benches to keep the interjections to a minimum. There is far too much ongoing interjection. It is not just sharp interjection, it is ongoing. So let’s have a little bit of silence. The Deputy Chief Minister.
Mr REED: Thank you Mr Speaker. In closing, I will just say that we heard all of this last year and we heard it the year before. Last year we heard dreadful tales of woe from the Leader of the Opposition that ...
Mr Henderson: Zero per cent growth, that wasn’t in your budget paper.
Mr REED: They can’t stay quiet for long, can they?
We heard last year from the Leader of the Opposition suggestions that some agencies had lost $20m, others had lost $5m, $10m and what have you, and that we were all headed for ruin. That was in terms of the establishment of the Department of Corporate and Information Services and the transfer of funding to a central agency to provide like services that extended across government, and the world was going to come to an end. It hasn’t and it won’t this year.
What will happen this year is that the CLP government will continue to strive for the best for Territorians. We will further enhance their lifestyle. We will create jobs for them. We will help them get into new homes through the QuickStart program. We will ensure that they maximise the opportunities that are coming before them with the railway and people in Tennant Creek and Katherine who now have jobs that didn’t have them a month ago.
We will ensure that the gas industry with the gas coming onshore from the Timor Sea does become a reality rather than hearing the whingeing from the Leader of the Opposition this morning who, notwithstanding that she has known for years that the gas is coming onshore and that there is going to be development, is now starting to raise concerns about particular developments. Absolutely outrageous. This government is positive; the Labor party are whingers. They will put anything down to try to put impediments in the way of progress. This government will not tolerate it. We are for Territorians; we are for a good lifestyle and we are for their jobs and advancement.
Why doesn’t the CLP ...
Members interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Ms MARTIN: Thank you, Mr Speaker. Why doesn’t the CLP government in presenting its budget play by the same rules as required by corporations law on the private sector?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, the answer is we do. The question is garbage. If the Treasurer wants to expand on that he is entitled to.
Mr REED (Treasurer): Yes, that is useful and I take the offer extended by the Chief Minister because it is important that we do refute these nonsensical assertions that are made by the Leader of the Opposition. I do not know who writes the questions for her. She clearly doesn’t ...
Mr Stirling: I think you do.
Mr REED: … understand them. Well, whoever writes them should get the sack.
In terms of former suggestions by the Labor Party, they have oft said, ‘What is in the Conditions of Service Trust and why isn’t it on budget?’ Does the Leader of the Opposition think for a moment that we did not seek advice in relation to this matter? Does the Leader of the Opposition think for a moment that legal advice was not sought in relation to this matter, in relation to its appropriateness? Does she think that everyone is as incompetent as she is in terms of financial management, financial reporting and the processes that Treasury and government follow in regard to these matters?
She would be well advised to stop trying to read what she thinks is in the budget into the budget. Just read the budget books and do it an appropriate way. Compare like with like. I would suggest, for example, that when she is talking about what a particular agency has in their budget this year, to compare that with what they were budgeted to receive last year so that she can come up with a factual answer. People do grow a bit tired of the fact that she continually tries to represent things in the way that will suit her and her whingeing political arguments to try to win her a few political points.
We will now ensure that this budget is applied to the benefit of Territorians, that it creates jobs. I would remind honourable members and those people listening to this broadcast, that this time last year, vis a week after the budget, we were getting the very same stories. ‘All is doom, all is doom’, from the Leader of the Opposition. You will recall ...
Ms Martin interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr REED: I shouldn’t have to shout, Mr Speaker, to alert Territorians ...
Mr SPEAKER: You don’t have to shout. However, I did provide some protection to the Leader of the Opposition when she was asking this question. I would ask the Leader of the Opposition and members of the opposition benches to keep the interjections to a minimum. There is far too much ongoing interjection. It is not just sharp interjection, it is ongoing. So let’s have a little bit of silence. The Deputy Chief Minister.
Mr REED: Thank you Mr Speaker. In closing, I will just say that we heard all of this last year and we heard it the year before. Last year we heard dreadful tales of woe from the Leader of the Opposition that ...
Mr Henderson: Zero per cent growth, that wasn’t in your budget paper.
Mr REED: They can’t stay quiet for long, can they?
We heard last year from the Leader of the Opposition suggestions that some agencies had lost $20m, others had lost $5m, $10m and what have you, and that we were all headed for ruin. That was in terms of the establishment of the Department of Corporate and Information Services and the transfer of funding to a central agency to provide like services that extended across government, and the world was going to come to an end. It hasn’t and it won’t this year.
What will happen this year is that the CLP government will continue to strive for the best for Territorians. We will further enhance their lifestyle. We will create jobs for them. We will help them get into new homes through the QuickStart program. We will ensure that they maximise the opportunities that are coming before them with the railway and people in Tennant Creek and Katherine who now have jobs that didn’t have them a month ago.
We will ensure that the gas industry with the gas coming onshore from the Timor Sea does become a reality rather than hearing the whingeing from the Leader of the Opposition this morning who, notwithstanding that she has known for years that the gas is coming onshore and that there is going to be development, is now starting to raise concerns about particular developments. Absolutely outrageous. This government is positive; the Labor party are whingers. They will put anything down to try to put impediments in the way of progress. This government will not tolerate it. We are for Territorians; we are for a good lifestyle and we are for their jobs and advancement.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016