Ms LAWRIE - 2014-08-20
We see by your actions of appointing mates to plum roles – Peter Maley as magistrate, Denis Burke as Chair of the Development Consent Authority – that you have failed the basic test of good governance. You are so out of touch …
Mr ELFERINK: A point of order, Madam Speaker! We have been fairly patient in this space …
Madam SPEAKER: What is your standing order?
Mr ELFERINK: Standing Order 62 refers to disparaging remarks against the judiciary. Up until now, they have avoided it, but this is now a direct attack on a member of the judiciary. I point out Standing Order 62(1).
Madam SPEAKER: It is not a point of order, Attorney-General.
Ms LAWRIE: You are so out of touch that later today Territorians will be rallying outside parliament to protest your treatment of them. Families are hurting under the skyrocketing cost of living pressures, while you are cutting their pay in real terms by offering inadequate EBAs. You also attack conditions of work within the enterprise bargaining agreements you are offering. At the same time, you see fit to put $33m into your own Department of the Chief Minister. Will you address the rally and explain why you are attacking the wages and conditions of Territory workers while under your watch the cost of living skyrockets?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I am not aware of any rally occurring today. I am aware the government has been working in good faith, negotiating EBAs with a range of sectors across government. The best person to provide an update of where the EBA status is up to is the Minister for Public Employment …
Ms FYLES: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Standing Order 113: relevance. It was a very direct question: will he address Territory workers outside this parliament today?
Madam SPEAKER: It is not a point of order. The Chief Minister has three minutes to answer the question.
Mr GILES: We have been conducting good-faith negotiations with a range of industry sectors about the EBA process. Fundamentally, we have been offering a 3% pay rise across all sectors. Most of those sectors have signed off and we believe those good-faith negotiations are going well.
In regard to the cost of living, we know it is higher in the Northern Territory than other parts of the country. We are doing our best to reduce some of those costs. One of the things which must be remembered in the debate about the cost of living is that we are exercising our program of reform in the Northern Territory to take down some of the challenges left to us by you – least of all, high levels of government debt.
The roll-out of $130m-plus towards the release of 6500 blocks of land starts to drive some of that change.
The question of petrol prices has been raised a number of times in the Northern Territory. No doubt we all suffer the high cost of petrol prices put onto us by petrol companies in the Northern Territory. We are disappointed the ACCC has not taken action in regard to those fuel companies reducing the price of petrol in the Northern Territory. We are fighting as hard as possible to see action taken to bring down the price of petrol in the Northern Territory.
In regard to the EBA process, I ask the Minister for Public Employment to further update about outstanding EBAs.
Mr ELFERINK (Public Employment): Madam Speaker, the general public service signed up to the 3% EBA – the police, the waterfront workers and the sparkies at the Power and Water Corporation have. As far as I know there are only four outstanding EBAs to be negotiated. There are the chalkies, which we all know about, and the nurses, which we hope to bring to a successful resolution. We also hope to bring the prison officers to a successful resolution whilst negotiations continue. Finally, the firies, who are …
Ms Lawrie: Ignore the paramedics!
Mr ELFERINK: I pick up on ‘ignore the paramedics’. We will offer 3% to every paramedic we employ, which is none. We do not employ paramedics. These people drive the ambulances and we contract the St John Ambulance service of the Northern Territory.
This demonstrates how disconnected these people are …
Madam SPEAKER: Minister, your time has expired.
Mr ELFERINK: A point of order, Madam Speaker! We have been fairly patient in this space …
Madam SPEAKER: What is your standing order?
Mr ELFERINK: Standing Order 62 refers to disparaging remarks against the judiciary. Up until now, they have avoided it, but this is now a direct attack on a member of the judiciary. I point out Standing Order 62(1).
Madam SPEAKER: It is not a point of order, Attorney-General.
Ms LAWRIE: You are so out of touch that later today Territorians will be rallying outside parliament to protest your treatment of them. Families are hurting under the skyrocketing cost of living pressures, while you are cutting their pay in real terms by offering inadequate EBAs. You also attack conditions of work within the enterprise bargaining agreements you are offering. At the same time, you see fit to put $33m into your own Department of the Chief Minister. Will you address the rally and explain why you are attacking the wages and conditions of Territory workers while under your watch the cost of living skyrockets?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I am not aware of any rally occurring today. I am aware the government has been working in good faith, negotiating EBAs with a range of sectors across government. The best person to provide an update of where the EBA status is up to is the Minister for Public Employment …
Ms FYLES: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Standing Order 113: relevance. It was a very direct question: will he address Territory workers outside this parliament today?
Madam SPEAKER: It is not a point of order. The Chief Minister has three minutes to answer the question.
Mr GILES: We have been conducting good-faith negotiations with a range of industry sectors about the EBA process. Fundamentally, we have been offering a 3% pay rise across all sectors. Most of those sectors have signed off and we believe those good-faith negotiations are going well.
In regard to the cost of living, we know it is higher in the Northern Territory than other parts of the country. We are doing our best to reduce some of those costs. One of the things which must be remembered in the debate about the cost of living is that we are exercising our program of reform in the Northern Territory to take down some of the challenges left to us by you – least of all, high levels of government debt.
The roll-out of $130m-plus towards the release of 6500 blocks of land starts to drive some of that change.
The question of petrol prices has been raised a number of times in the Northern Territory. No doubt we all suffer the high cost of petrol prices put onto us by petrol companies in the Northern Territory. We are disappointed the ACCC has not taken action in regard to those fuel companies reducing the price of petrol in the Northern Territory. We are fighting as hard as possible to see action taken to bring down the price of petrol in the Northern Territory.
In regard to the EBA process, I ask the Minister for Public Employment to further update about outstanding EBAs.
Mr ELFERINK (Public Employment): Madam Speaker, the general public service signed up to the 3% EBA – the police, the waterfront workers and the sparkies at the Power and Water Corporation have. As far as I know there are only four outstanding EBAs to be negotiated. There are the chalkies, which we all know about, and the nurses, which we hope to bring to a successful resolution. We also hope to bring the prison officers to a successful resolution whilst negotiations continue. Finally, the firies, who are …
Ms Lawrie: Ignore the paramedics!
Mr ELFERINK: I pick up on ‘ignore the paramedics’. We will offer 3% to every paramedic we employ, which is none. We do not employ paramedics. These people drive the ambulances and we contract the St John Ambulance service of the Northern Territory.
This demonstrates how disconnected these people are …
Madam SPEAKER: Minister, your time has expired.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016