Ms MARTIN - 2001-07-03
Do Territorians deserve a Senator who betrays his party, betrays the Chief Minister, goes missing in action, and fails to stick up for the Territory? Do Territorians deserve a Chief Minister who commands such little respect that his words go unheeded and is reduced to ineffective media bleatings which the Senator simply ignores? Chief Minister, you said on radio this morning that you do not run the CLP. Isn’t it a fact that the CLP runs you?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, I can only imagine that the Leader of the Opposition directs that question at herself with regard to the way that she has handled the Trish Crossin affair, amongst a number of other affairs. When it comes to leadership amongst the general public and displaying herself as a leader to Territorians, one of the first things I would have thought a leader would do from a sense of integrity was not deliberately mislead a Commissioner of Police, which is what the Leader of the Opposition did, quite deliberately. It has been enunciated well in this House.
She has never had the integrity to stand up and give any personal explanation for her actions - actions that resulted in a staffer at the ABC, a single mum, being sacked because someone had to cop the fall, and the Leader of the Opposition who deliberately misled the question of police wouldn’t cop the fall herself.
Members interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr BURKE: The member for Nhulunbuy interjects, a man who has a high sense of morality who happily, on the wage of $140 000 a year, would live in a public service Housing Commission home in Nhulunbuy whilst people who are at very low income levels go without.
What you have over there amongst the opposition is a litany of untruths, a litany of deception. The Leader of the Opposition cannot help herself. This is a member who today on ABC Radio said - and I might remind members she is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Superannuation Fund so she should have some idea as to what the entitlements are - said on ABC Radio this morning: ‘I am not entitled to any superannuation benefit yet, but the Chief Minister is’. No, wrong. You are supposed to have some knowledge of these things. I do not become entitled to my superannuation benefits until after this election and you do not become entitled to yours until after this election either. But it is a demonstration that she is either dumb as dog poop or she deliberately misleads, continually misleads. This is the sort of person who puts themselves ...
Mrs Hickey interjecting.
Mr BURKE: You are! You are a member of the Board of Trustees of the Superannuation Fund and you do not even know - or claim not to know - your own entitlement, and claim also that somehow you have no knowledge of what a Chief Minister’s entitlement is. So if you had any knowledge you would be able to do it.
With regard to the question about Senator Tambling, it is the old adage: people in glass houses should not throw stones. When you learn to control your own Senator, Senator Crossin, who voted in the federal parliament against the Anti-Social and Disorderly Conduct Bill, who voted against the subordinate legislation on native title, who on every occasion takes the opportunity to criticise Territorians and set outs, with her Labor colleagues, to overturn legislation that has been duly enacted in the Northern Territory, then you might have some reason to criticise. With regard to Senator Tambling, that is an issue for the CLP as a party and I am sure in due course his actions will be dealt with.
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, I can only imagine that the Leader of the Opposition directs that question at herself with regard to the way that she has handled the Trish Crossin affair, amongst a number of other affairs. When it comes to leadership amongst the general public and displaying herself as a leader to Territorians, one of the first things I would have thought a leader would do from a sense of integrity was not deliberately mislead a Commissioner of Police, which is what the Leader of the Opposition did, quite deliberately. It has been enunciated well in this House.
She has never had the integrity to stand up and give any personal explanation for her actions - actions that resulted in a staffer at the ABC, a single mum, being sacked because someone had to cop the fall, and the Leader of the Opposition who deliberately misled the question of police wouldn’t cop the fall herself.
Members interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr BURKE: The member for Nhulunbuy interjects, a man who has a high sense of morality who happily, on the wage of $140 000 a year, would live in a public service Housing Commission home in Nhulunbuy whilst people who are at very low income levels go without.
What you have over there amongst the opposition is a litany of untruths, a litany of deception. The Leader of the Opposition cannot help herself. This is a member who today on ABC Radio said - and I might remind members she is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Superannuation Fund so she should have some idea as to what the entitlements are - said on ABC Radio this morning: ‘I am not entitled to any superannuation benefit yet, but the Chief Minister is’. No, wrong. You are supposed to have some knowledge of these things. I do not become entitled to my superannuation benefits until after this election and you do not become entitled to yours until after this election either. But it is a demonstration that she is either dumb as dog poop or she deliberately misleads, continually misleads. This is the sort of person who puts themselves ...
Mrs Hickey interjecting.
Mr BURKE: You are! You are a member of the Board of Trustees of the Superannuation Fund and you do not even know - or claim not to know - your own entitlement, and claim also that somehow you have no knowledge of what a Chief Minister’s entitlement is. So if you had any knowledge you would be able to do it.
With regard to the question about Senator Tambling, it is the old adage: people in glass houses should not throw stones. When you learn to control your own Senator, Senator Crossin, who voted in the federal parliament against the Anti-Social and Disorderly Conduct Bill, who voted against the subordinate legislation on native title, who on every occasion takes the opportunity to criticise Territorians and set outs, with her Labor colleagues, to overturn legislation that has been duly enacted in the Northern Territory, then you might have some reason to criticise. With regard to Senator Tambling, that is an issue for the CLP as a party and I am sure in due course his actions will be dealt with.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016