Ms LAWRIE - 2013-10-08
Under your leadership the Territory is struggling from the bush to our towns. Unemployment has never been higher. Our schools are in crisis and families and businesses are struggling under the cost of living with our power price hikes hitting hard. Public servants are facing job losses with your attempt to remove permanency. Contracts your party signed in the bush are being ignored while you undertake endless reshuffles, sackings, chaotic administration and blatant jobs for CLP mates.
This is all done because the priority you have is to protect your back. How is it, Chief Minister, despite all this you maintain and continue to assert quote, ‘That it’s all going pretty well?’
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the current Leader of the Opposition for her question. I look forward to a change soon. Talk about leading with your chin. We say everything is working well in the Northern Territory and things are improving across the board.
I can look at every minister and every portfolio they are working in and see some proud reforms we are implementing: the prisoners moving into work, the Treasurer who is seeking to pay the $5.5bn Labor debt, and the Minister for Alcohol Rehabilitation, who is helping people to be rehabilitated for alcohol problems. These are fantastic outcomes. The Tourism minister has more airlines coming to the Territory and has plans for more hotel beds and more visitation nights; the Mines minister is getting more mines up and running; the Transport and Infrastructure minister has 36% of his capital infrastructure budget going to remote areas; and the Education minister is putting out his Indigenous education reform. There are major things happening in the Northern Territory and substantial reforms.
We also have the housing supply strategy occurring with affordable housing: 2000 new units being built in the next few years. There is land release in Alice Springs, Tennant Creek, Katherine, Darwin and Palmerston. What is occurring is substantial, and you talk about what is happening in the bush. People in the bush were completely disenfranchised under your government. You put out a shire reform process which took away people’s voices. You ran a centralisation process that took away all decision-making and all investment and choice by local people in the bush.
That is why we are removing the shires. By 1 January next year we will have regional councils in place and no more shires. That is the focus we are moving towards. We are working to decentralise a range of services to give capacity back to the bush and give people back the voice they lost under your government and ensure there are more jobs in the bush than ever before. The fact is …
Mr McCarthy: They exercised their voice in Lingiari, mate.
Mr GILES: You want to talk about Lingiari?
Ms Walker: Yes, let us talk about Lingiari.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr GILES: They also exercised it in Solomon.
Your leader of opposition business would have lost his seat. No wonder he is trying to put the moves on the Leader of the Opposition because he knows he is in trouble and you know you are in trouble.
Madam Speaker, things are going substantially well in the Northern Territory. They cannot point to any key indicators that are going backwards. Let us look at house break-ins in Darwin and Palmerston: down 40% in Darwin and 58% in Palmerston. That is reflected across the Territory. Our law and order strategy is working, as is our economic strategy. We are retiring Labor debt. We are a successful government, and you are a failure of an opposition.
This is all done because the priority you have is to protect your back. How is it, Chief Minister, despite all this you maintain and continue to assert quote, ‘That it’s all going pretty well?’
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the current Leader of the Opposition for her question. I look forward to a change soon. Talk about leading with your chin. We say everything is working well in the Northern Territory and things are improving across the board.
I can look at every minister and every portfolio they are working in and see some proud reforms we are implementing: the prisoners moving into work, the Treasurer who is seeking to pay the $5.5bn Labor debt, and the Minister for Alcohol Rehabilitation, who is helping people to be rehabilitated for alcohol problems. These are fantastic outcomes. The Tourism minister has more airlines coming to the Territory and has plans for more hotel beds and more visitation nights; the Mines minister is getting more mines up and running; the Transport and Infrastructure minister has 36% of his capital infrastructure budget going to remote areas; and the Education minister is putting out his Indigenous education reform. There are major things happening in the Northern Territory and substantial reforms.
We also have the housing supply strategy occurring with affordable housing: 2000 new units being built in the next few years. There is land release in Alice Springs, Tennant Creek, Katherine, Darwin and Palmerston. What is occurring is substantial, and you talk about what is happening in the bush. People in the bush were completely disenfranchised under your government. You put out a shire reform process which took away people’s voices. You ran a centralisation process that took away all decision-making and all investment and choice by local people in the bush.
That is why we are removing the shires. By 1 January next year we will have regional councils in place and no more shires. That is the focus we are moving towards. We are working to decentralise a range of services to give capacity back to the bush and give people back the voice they lost under your government and ensure there are more jobs in the bush than ever before. The fact is …
Mr McCarthy: They exercised their voice in Lingiari, mate.
Mr GILES: You want to talk about Lingiari?
Ms Walker: Yes, let us talk about Lingiari.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr GILES: They also exercised it in Solomon.
Your leader of opposition business would have lost his seat. No wonder he is trying to put the moves on the Leader of the Opposition because he knows he is in trouble and you know you are in trouble.
Madam Speaker, things are going substantially well in the Northern Territory. They cannot point to any key indicators that are going backwards. Let us look at house break-ins in Darwin and Palmerston: down 40% in Darwin and 58% in Palmerston. That is reflected across the Territory. Our law and order strategy is working, as is our economic strategy. We are retiring Labor debt. We are a successful government, and you are a failure of an opposition.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016