Ms LAWRIE - 2012-12-05
Yesterday in Question Time you proudly claimed you had stuck to your five-point plan. One of these points is to reduce the cost of living. Your mini-budget is a major disaster for Territory families. When your own mini-budget shows inflation will rise from 2.1% to 4.35% because of your price hikes, how can you possibly claim that you are delivering on your cost of living commitment?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the Opposition Leader, who is also a former Treasurer who presided over the pre-election fiscal outlook. That pre-election fiscal outlook also indicated the cost of living increase. The CPI increase was cited in that document you handed down in the Northern Territory parliament just before the election ...
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr MILLS: I was silent when you asked the question. Could you just listen to the answer, please?
Ms Lawrie: No, you are misleading Territorians again.
Mr MILLS: So very rude. Of course, you would understand how the CPI is worked out. It is a basket of expenses that a household has to pay in order to live in this community and includes a whole range of things. Yes, it is groceries, the cost of utilities and so on. It is also the cost of rents and mortgages.
You handed down the pre-election fiscal outlook. Judging that against the question you have just asked and the churlish and childish scaremongering you are now conducting in the Territory community, you are providing zero leadership and discrediting and devaluing your position as a former Treasurer and as an Opposition Leader. You are not a leader because the fact is, in your pre-election fiscal outlook, you …
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Relevance. The question was how can he claim he has reduced the cost of living ...
Madam SPEAKER: There is no point of order. Please be seated. Chief Minister.
Mr MILLS: Coming back at you, we are getting to the pre-election fiscal outlook which was your document. In that document, which weighs up a range of expenses, you predicted the cost of living would …
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker!
Mr Mills: I am answering the question, Madam Speaker.
Ms LAWRIE: Misleading - the PEFO is the Treasurer’s document, not my document so …
Madam SPEAKER: There is no point of order Opposition Leader. Chief Minister, you have the call.
Mr MILLS: The PEFO looked at the fiscal settings under the responsibility of the then Treasurer and foretold the CPI increase would be 1.2%. The calculation under the mini-budget that was handed down yesterday is 0.9%
The calculation - the 1.2% to the so-called alleged doubling - the greater part of it is your own financial settings which were outlined in the pre-election fiscal outlook. You are the one who has contributed the greater degree to the cost of living in the Northern Territory ...
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Then why does the mini-budget paper say it is due to the utility price increases ...
Madam SPEAKER: There is no point of order, please be seated.
Mr MILLS: That point of order illustrates you are losing the argument ...
Madam SPEAKER: Chief Minister, your time has expired.
Mr ELFERINK: A point of order, Madam Speaker! We are continually pleading these frivolous and deliberately interruptive points of order, which have nothing to do with standing orders and are being used to diminish ministers’ opportunities to answer. I will not say it again in this House, we will change the orders around Question Time so ministers can complete their answers if this continues. It will happen the next time this happens.
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the Opposition Leader, who is also a former Treasurer who presided over the pre-election fiscal outlook. That pre-election fiscal outlook also indicated the cost of living increase. The CPI increase was cited in that document you handed down in the Northern Territory parliament just before the election ...
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr MILLS: I was silent when you asked the question. Could you just listen to the answer, please?
Ms Lawrie: No, you are misleading Territorians again.
Mr MILLS: So very rude. Of course, you would understand how the CPI is worked out. It is a basket of expenses that a household has to pay in order to live in this community and includes a whole range of things. Yes, it is groceries, the cost of utilities and so on. It is also the cost of rents and mortgages.
You handed down the pre-election fiscal outlook. Judging that against the question you have just asked and the churlish and childish scaremongering you are now conducting in the Territory community, you are providing zero leadership and discrediting and devaluing your position as a former Treasurer and as an Opposition Leader. You are not a leader because the fact is, in your pre-election fiscal outlook, you …
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Relevance. The question was how can he claim he has reduced the cost of living ...
Madam SPEAKER: There is no point of order. Please be seated. Chief Minister.
Mr MILLS: Coming back at you, we are getting to the pre-election fiscal outlook which was your document. In that document, which weighs up a range of expenses, you predicted the cost of living would …
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker!
Mr Mills: I am answering the question, Madam Speaker.
Ms LAWRIE: Misleading - the PEFO is the Treasurer’s document, not my document so …
Madam SPEAKER: There is no point of order Opposition Leader. Chief Minister, you have the call.
Mr MILLS: The PEFO looked at the fiscal settings under the responsibility of the then Treasurer and foretold the CPI increase would be 1.2%. The calculation under the mini-budget that was handed down yesterday is 0.9%
The calculation - the 1.2% to the so-called alleged doubling - the greater part of it is your own financial settings which were outlined in the pre-election fiscal outlook. You are the one who has contributed the greater degree to the cost of living in the Northern Territory ...
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Then why does the mini-budget paper say it is due to the utility price increases ...
Madam SPEAKER: There is no point of order, please be seated.
Mr MILLS: That point of order illustrates you are losing the argument ...
Madam SPEAKER: Chief Minister, your time has expired.
Mr ELFERINK: A point of order, Madam Speaker! We are continually pleading these frivolous and deliberately interruptive points of order, which have nothing to do with standing orders and are being used to diminish ministers’ opportunities to answer. I will not say it again in this House, we will change the orders around Question Time so ministers can complete their answers if this continues. It will happen the next time this happens.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016