Ms LAWRIE - 2012-10-24
Government’s Five-Point Plan –
Law and Order
Law and Order
Ms LAWRIE to CHIEF MINISTER
Chief Minister, in the five-point action plan you campaigned on, your second point was to strengthen law and order yet you have dismantled the Banned Drinker Register and let 2500 drunks back on the street ignoring the experts and the public calls flooding the airwaves to bring it back. We can see the drunks out there even though you bury your head in the sand about the issue. How does putting 2500 drunks back on the street strengthen law and order?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, based on the assumption they were not there before, now they are all magically there. This is from the Opposition Leader who was on ABC radio claiming she had never seen drunks out the front of Parliament House. Never seen them there before! ‘I’ve never seen them there before, Julia.’
Ms Lawrie: Not true.
Mr MILLS: True. I will give you the transcript.
Mr LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! He is misleading the House. I did not say I had never seen them.
Mr Mills: That is what you said.
Mr Henderson: No it is not.
Ms Lawrie: No, it is not.
Mr ELFERINK: Speaking to the point of order Madam Speaker, the Leader of the Opposition is fully aware she cannot accuse a member of misleading the House other than by way of substantive motion. She either withdraws that assertion or brings on a substantive motion.
Madam SPEAKER: Thank you, member for Port Darwin.
Leader of the Opposition, if you feel you have been misrepresented you can make a personal statement later on.
Ms LAWRIE: He is making it up as he goes along. It is fine.
Mr TOLLNER: A point of order, Madam Speaker! That was an unparliamentary comment and I ask you to ask the Leader of the Opposition to withdraw that.
Madam SPEAKER: Sit down, member for Fong Lim. Are there any other questions?
Mr MILLS: There was a point of order and I am still answering the question. I was asked to sit down while the honourable member raised a point of order.
Madam SPEAKER: Okay. Chief Minister.
Mr MILLS: The assertion is the Banned Drinker Register was working and now, magically, we have two thousand plus people wandering around who were not there before.
You obviously have not looked at the facts and figures. It did not work; it was a failure. There were no crime statistics to verify whether it was working or not; they removed those from view. Now you are running an argument where all of a sudden you can see people everywhere. Violent assaults are up 5%. They increased 44% under the Opposition Leader’s time as Deputy Chief Minister. Yes, of course, alcohol is a concern - in fact 59% of all assaults. However, the fact you would like to ignore is that alcohol-related assaults were up 2% under your scheme. It did not work. It cost ...
Ms Lawrie: They were down in Darwin, down in Palmerston and down in Alice Springs.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Order!
Mr MILLS: How can you say that - you removed the crime statistics ...
Ms Lawrie: No.
Mr MILLS: You believe in the crime statistics you have mysteriously now produced. You are now running some kind of argument and are seeing people everywhere. It did not work. We have immediately moved to strengthen the frontline service with 120 extra police. We have legislation coming into the Chamber to deal with the problem full on. Stick with us! It will take us a while to turn this ship around, but we will turn it in the right direction. Your scheme did not work.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016