Mrs LAMBLEY - 2016-03-16
Yesterday in parliament I asked you a question pertaining to your remote contracting policy and Aboriginal employment strategy. The intent of these policies is very good. Getting Aboriginal people into employment is good. However, most people, especially in the construction industry, think your strategy is too much, too soon.
You have been trading insults with your CLP candidate for Araluen on this issue. You called him a xenophobe and he called you a racist. The whole thing has become rather embarrassing. You have now been pressured into reviewing your policies. Are you ready to concede you may have the detail of this policy very wrong?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, no. This policy is producing outcomes for Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory. We came to government saying we would help develop economies in the bush. Labor never did that. Let us understand what happened before we came to government. You shut communities down and started the shires. You took all the housing off communities and centralised in Darwin ...
Members interjecting.
Ms Fyles interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Nightcliff!
Mr ELFERINK: A point of order, Madam Speaker! This is out of control.
Madam SPEAKER: Sit down, member for Port Darwin. You are on a warning!
Mr GILES: You shut communities down …
Mr Elferink: How could I get a warning for that?
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Port Darwin, for reflecting on the Chair please leave the Chamber for one hour pursuant to Standing Order 49.
Mr GILES: You took housing off communities …
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Standing Order 110: relevance. That is completely irrelevant. No one removed housing or shut down communities ...
Madam SPEAKER: It is not a point …
Ms LAWRIE: Can you define …
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Karama! It is not a point of order! Sit down!
Mr GILES: You do not like the honesty in this. You set up the $1.8bn strategic Indigenous housing program and ran it. Out of that program, established under the intervention, designed to increase housing numbers and bedrooms, what has been Labor’s outcome out of $1.8bn into Aboriginal housing …
Ms Lawrie: Stop telling lies.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Karama, withdraw.
Ms LAWRIE: I withdraw.
Mr GILES: There is not one new bedroom. As part of the agreement ...
Mr Wood: That is ridiculous!
Mr GILES: That is true!
Mr Wood: No, you said one new bedroom …
Mrs LAMBLEY: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Standing Order 110: relevance. My question is about the remote contracting policy and the Aboriginal employment strategy, not SIHIP or your housing strategy.
Madam SPEAKER: Thank you.
Mr GILES: Thank you, member for Araluen. It is hard to get to the point when there is screaming and interjections across the Chamber. But it is very important to set the scene of where we started. It is very important because your employment targets under your senior leadership team of SIHIP was not delivery employment outcomes for Aboriginal people. Our challenge …
Ms Lawrie interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Member for Karama, cease interjecting.
Mr GILES: Our challenge has been how we employ and give control back to people, develop economies and start businesses. Unashamedly, we said we want to give control back to the bush, develop economies, start businesses and have people getting into jobs.
I hear the racial undertones from everyone on that side of the Chamber …
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Standing Order 20: offensive.
Madam SPEAKER: Chief Minister …
Mr GILES: I do not see how that is offensive. There was a question …
Madam SPEAKER: Chief Minister, please pause! If the members opposite feel it is offensive, then it is offensive, so please withdraw that reference.
Mr GILES: I withdraw.
Madam SPEAKER: Thank you.
Mr GILES: It is interesting to reflect on an earlier question when you said, ‘I saw somebody from Katherine in Darwin’. Were they black? I bet they were!
You have been trading insults with your CLP candidate for Araluen on this issue. You called him a xenophobe and he called you a racist. The whole thing has become rather embarrassing. You have now been pressured into reviewing your policies. Are you ready to concede you may have the detail of this policy very wrong?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, no. This policy is producing outcomes for Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory. We came to government saying we would help develop economies in the bush. Labor never did that. Let us understand what happened before we came to government. You shut communities down and started the shires. You took all the housing off communities and centralised in Darwin ...
Members interjecting.
Ms Fyles interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Nightcliff!
Mr ELFERINK: A point of order, Madam Speaker! This is out of control.
Madam SPEAKER: Sit down, member for Port Darwin. You are on a warning!
Mr GILES: You shut communities down …
Mr Elferink: How could I get a warning for that?
________________________
Suspension Of Member
Member for Port Darwin
Member for Port Darwin
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Port Darwin, for reflecting on the Chair please leave the Chamber for one hour pursuant to Standing Order 49.
________________________
Mr GILES: You took housing off communities …
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Standing Order 110: relevance. That is completely irrelevant. No one removed housing or shut down communities ...
Madam SPEAKER: It is not a point …
Ms LAWRIE: Can you define …
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Karama! It is not a point of order! Sit down!
Mr GILES: You do not like the honesty in this. You set up the $1.8bn strategic Indigenous housing program and ran it. Out of that program, established under the intervention, designed to increase housing numbers and bedrooms, what has been Labor’s outcome out of $1.8bn into Aboriginal housing …
Ms Lawrie: Stop telling lies.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Karama, withdraw.
Ms LAWRIE: I withdraw.
Mr GILES: There is not one new bedroom. As part of the agreement ...
Mr Wood: That is ridiculous!
Mr GILES: That is true!
Mr Wood: No, you said one new bedroom …
Mrs LAMBLEY: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Standing Order 110: relevance. My question is about the remote contracting policy and the Aboriginal employment strategy, not SIHIP or your housing strategy.
Madam SPEAKER: Thank you.
Mr GILES: Thank you, member for Araluen. It is hard to get to the point when there is screaming and interjections across the Chamber. But it is very important to set the scene of where we started. It is very important because your employment targets under your senior leadership team of SIHIP was not delivery employment outcomes for Aboriginal people. Our challenge …
Ms Lawrie interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Member for Karama, cease interjecting.
Mr GILES: Our challenge has been how we employ and give control back to people, develop economies and start businesses. Unashamedly, we said we want to give control back to the bush, develop economies, start businesses and have people getting into jobs.
I hear the racial undertones from everyone on that side of the Chamber …
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Standing Order 20: offensive.
Madam SPEAKER: Chief Minister …
Mr GILES: I do not see how that is offensive. There was a question …
Madam SPEAKER: Chief Minister, please pause! If the members opposite feel it is offensive, then it is offensive, so please withdraw that reference.
Mr GILES: I withdraw.
Madam SPEAKER: Thank you.
Mr GILES: It is interesting to reflect on an earlier question when you said, ‘I saw somebody from Katherine in Darwin’. Were they black? I bet they were!
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016