Ms LAWRIE - 2013-05-15
No wonder she was sacked. You are killing the Territory’s …
Mr ELFERINK: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Standing Order 112.
Madam SPEAKER: Opposition Leader, can you please withdraw that comment.
Ms LAWRIE: I withdraw.
Mr ELFERINK: A point of order, Madam Speaker! The Opposition Leader, by habit, always throws in an epithet or some sort of comment that contravenes Standing Order 112 prior to asking her question. I ask that she be restrained to asking her question and not breaching Standing Order 112.
Madam SPEAKER: Sit down, Leader of Government Business. The statement has been withdrawn. Opposition Leader.
Ms LAWRIE: You are killing the Territory’s domestic economy. The state final demand figure, which is the domestic economy, under Labor was a record 26%. In your budget books, under the CLP, it will drop to minus-15% and will stay negative. In the nine months of your government, 3600 full-time jobs have already been lost. How many more businesses will close because of this negative state final demand? You are strangling the domestic economy. Businesses are hurting. You have created the haves and the have nots: the haves, who have the Ichthys contracts, the have nots, the Territory businesses which rely on the public spend.
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, this is coming from the captain of the one-trick pony. The question is how many businesses …
Mr McCARTHY: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Relevance, 112. We just heard from the Leader of Government Business about epithets before answering questions. I ask the Chief Minister to answer the question.
Madam SPEAKER: Chief Minister, you have the call.
Mr ELFERINK: Madam Speaker, in response to Standing Order 112, that is referring to the questioner. The person answering the question is at liberty to answer as they see fit.
Madam SPEAKER: Sit down, Leader of Government Business. Chief Minister, you have the call.
Mr GILES: Madam Speaker, the real question is: if the former government was still in power what businesses would not have been able to get up? There was debate in this Chamber last …
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Relevance, 113. Under Labor, state final demand - the domestic economy - was 26%. Answer at least one question!
Madam SPEAKER: Opposition Leader, please be seated. The Chief Minister is answering the question.
Mr GILES: Madam Speaker, it is more about what sort of businesses would not have been able to get up and running. I had a good conversation with the minister for Primary Industries in relation to the last parliamentary sittings and water extraction licences. I asked how many water extraction licences have been applied for and how many were not approved. He told me more than 50 were sitting on the desk of the former minister without anything being done. That is more than 50 business opportunities that support horticultural development in the Northern Territory. In the last two months, we have seen Australian Ilmenite and Sherwin Iron establish mines. We have prospects with TNG out of Barrow Creek ...
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Standing Order 113, relevance. It goes to state final demand. It is quite a specific question – minus-15% ...
Madam SPEAKER: Please be seated. The Chief Minister has some latitude. Chief Minister, continue.
Mr GILES: We are talking about business. We are talking about growing the Northern Territory. This is how it is relevant; we are talking about the things not done under Labor, what we have already done and what we are actioning. We are setting in place a business environment to support jobs and growth in the private sector, bringing investment to the Northern Territory.
How can it be that the former minister had more than 50 applications for water extraction licences on his desk which would have supported business development and horticultural development? We are actioning them. They have not asked a question about any of the other 49. They have only asked about one of them. But that is beside the point; they are playing politics.
There are business opportunities in the Northern Territory. There is the reform of the pastoral lands body to be able to increase the time frames for alternate development on pastoral lands - the transferability from the lessee to the lease to make it a transferable asset to ensure we can have business development in the regions of the Northern Territory. This is what it is about.
We are working on a range of areas. We are working on our tourism sector with our Tourism Commission. Some of the investments we have made in tourism with our responsible action budget ...
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Relevance, 113. If any of that is working why do you get minus-15% in the domestic economy? You are strangling it.
Madam SPEAKER: It is no point of order, please be seated. The Chief Minister is answering the question.
Mr GILES: It is times like these you think we might need another standing order with ‘irrelevant’ written in there specifically for the Opposition Leader, because if anybody in this Chamber is more irrelevant, more out of touch than anyone else, it is the Opposition Leader. She is the former Treasurer who got us into this bad fiscal position we are trying to fight our way out of.
Madam Speaker, the Opposition Leader can continue to try to pull the Northern Territory apart, but we will fix it for you; we will continue to fix it.
Mr ELFERINK: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Standing Order 112.
Madam SPEAKER: Opposition Leader, can you please withdraw that comment.
Ms LAWRIE: I withdraw.
Mr ELFERINK: A point of order, Madam Speaker! The Opposition Leader, by habit, always throws in an epithet or some sort of comment that contravenes Standing Order 112 prior to asking her question. I ask that she be restrained to asking her question and not breaching Standing Order 112.
Madam SPEAKER: Sit down, Leader of Government Business. The statement has been withdrawn. Opposition Leader.
Ms LAWRIE: You are killing the Territory’s domestic economy. The state final demand figure, which is the domestic economy, under Labor was a record 26%. In your budget books, under the CLP, it will drop to minus-15% and will stay negative. In the nine months of your government, 3600 full-time jobs have already been lost. How many more businesses will close because of this negative state final demand? You are strangling the domestic economy. Businesses are hurting. You have created the haves and the have nots: the haves, who have the Ichthys contracts, the have nots, the Territory businesses which rely on the public spend.
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, this is coming from the captain of the one-trick pony. The question is how many businesses …
Mr McCARTHY: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Relevance, 112. We just heard from the Leader of Government Business about epithets before answering questions. I ask the Chief Minister to answer the question.
Madam SPEAKER: Chief Minister, you have the call.
Mr ELFERINK: Madam Speaker, in response to Standing Order 112, that is referring to the questioner. The person answering the question is at liberty to answer as they see fit.
Madam SPEAKER: Sit down, Leader of Government Business. Chief Minister, you have the call.
Mr GILES: Madam Speaker, the real question is: if the former government was still in power what businesses would not have been able to get up? There was debate in this Chamber last …
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Relevance, 113. Under Labor, state final demand - the domestic economy - was 26%. Answer at least one question!
Madam SPEAKER: Opposition Leader, please be seated. The Chief Minister is answering the question.
Mr GILES: Madam Speaker, it is more about what sort of businesses would not have been able to get up and running. I had a good conversation with the minister for Primary Industries in relation to the last parliamentary sittings and water extraction licences. I asked how many water extraction licences have been applied for and how many were not approved. He told me more than 50 were sitting on the desk of the former minister without anything being done. That is more than 50 business opportunities that support horticultural development in the Northern Territory. In the last two months, we have seen Australian Ilmenite and Sherwin Iron establish mines. We have prospects with TNG out of Barrow Creek ...
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Standing Order 113, relevance. It goes to state final demand. It is quite a specific question – minus-15% ...
Madam SPEAKER: Please be seated. The Chief Minister has some latitude. Chief Minister, continue.
Mr GILES: We are talking about business. We are talking about growing the Northern Territory. This is how it is relevant; we are talking about the things not done under Labor, what we have already done and what we are actioning. We are setting in place a business environment to support jobs and growth in the private sector, bringing investment to the Northern Territory.
How can it be that the former minister had more than 50 applications for water extraction licences on his desk which would have supported business development and horticultural development? We are actioning them. They have not asked a question about any of the other 49. They have only asked about one of them. But that is beside the point; they are playing politics.
There are business opportunities in the Northern Territory. There is the reform of the pastoral lands body to be able to increase the time frames for alternate development on pastoral lands - the transferability from the lessee to the lease to make it a transferable asset to ensure we can have business development in the regions of the Northern Territory. This is what it is about.
We are working on a range of areas. We are working on our tourism sector with our Tourism Commission. Some of the investments we have made in tourism with our responsible action budget ...
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Relevance, 113. If any of that is working why do you get minus-15% in the domestic economy? You are strangling it.
Madam SPEAKER: It is no point of order, please be seated. The Chief Minister is answering the question.
Mr GILES: It is times like these you think we might need another standing order with ‘irrelevant’ written in there specifically for the Opposition Leader, because if anybody in this Chamber is more irrelevant, more out of touch than anyone else, it is the Opposition Leader. She is the former Treasurer who got us into this bad fiscal position we are trying to fight our way out of.
Madam Speaker, the Opposition Leader can continue to try to pull the Northern Territory apart, but we will fix it for you; we will continue to fix it.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016