Ms LAWRIE - 2012-11-01
In your previous answer, you said temporary contracts ceasing were Commonwealth government-funded contracts and that is not a sacking even though people no longer have a job. I have been advised that the Anti-Discrimination Commission has 12 staff. Of those 12 staff, two are in permanent positions, 10 are on contract. I have been advised the 10 contract staff have been told they no longer have jobs. How will we have a functioning Anti-Discrimination Commission with only two staff? You have taken the axe to the organisation which is there to defend and protect Territorians who have been discriminated against. You have taken the axe to the commission which was put in place under previous CLP governments and maintained and strengthened under Labor.
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, there is so much I would like to say on this. You seem to miss the essential point. For the specifics of the question regarding the office, I will refer to the Attorney-General.
It would only be the member for Wanguri who recalls this, but I am sure you have all been indoctrinated since 2001. In 2001, you employed Percy Allan. I sat in this Chamber and we were confronted with a shock-horror $80m black hole.
We have discovered since you, as Treasurer, told us what our shortfall was just before the election it had grown by $100m in three months. There is a real problem. We have seen a modest population growth and the structures grow out of control and do not make sense. To make sense of the allegation you have made across the Chamber, I refer to the Attorney-General.
Mr ELFERINK (Attorney-General and Justice): Madam Speaker, the Leader of the Opposition has been lied to. The budget for the Anti-Discrimination Commission is in the order of $970 000. It will continue to operate at ...
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Is the Attorney-General saying that 10 contract staff have their jobs? They have not been told they do not have their jobs?
Madam SPEAKER: Leader of the Opposition, there is no point of order.
Mr ELFERINK: The budget, I understand, for the Anti-Discrimination Commission is in the order of $970 000. Yes, we require it to live within that budget and have signalled that. In recent years, it has overextended its budgetary expenditure, but there will be no cut to that budget. Therefore, what you are pedalling is dishonest. You will have to tell the person who told you that they are incorrect or call them a liar because it is not true.
We will leave it to the Anti-Discrimination Commissioner - when a new one is appointed - to manage the budget in accordance with its management principles.
The budget will remain unchanged and the lies being pedalled in relation to this, particularly by people who are informing your side of politics and what I have read in the newspaper about this, are simply not true. It is a lie; it is misinformation designed to cause political damage and you are feeding off the side of that.
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, there is so much I would like to say on this. You seem to miss the essential point. For the specifics of the question regarding the office, I will refer to the Attorney-General.
It would only be the member for Wanguri who recalls this, but I am sure you have all been indoctrinated since 2001. In 2001, you employed Percy Allan. I sat in this Chamber and we were confronted with a shock-horror $80m black hole.
We have discovered since you, as Treasurer, told us what our shortfall was just before the election it had grown by $100m in three months. There is a real problem. We have seen a modest population growth and the structures grow out of control and do not make sense. To make sense of the allegation you have made across the Chamber, I refer to the Attorney-General.
Mr ELFERINK (Attorney-General and Justice): Madam Speaker, the Leader of the Opposition has been lied to. The budget for the Anti-Discrimination Commission is in the order of $970 000. It will continue to operate at ...
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Is the Attorney-General saying that 10 contract staff have their jobs? They have not been told they do not have their jobs?
Madam SPEAKER: Leader of the Opposition, there is no point of order.
Mr ELFERINK: The budget, I understand, for the Anti-Discrimination Commission is in the order of $970 000. Yes, we require it to live within that budget and have signalled that. In recent years, it has overextended its budgetary expenditure, but there will be no cut to that budget. Therefore, what you are pedalling is dishonest. You will have to tell the person who told you that they are incorrect or call them a liar because it is not true.
We will leave it to the Anti-Discrimination Commissioner - when a new one is appointed - to manage the budget in accordance with its management principles.
The budget will remain unchanged and the lies being pedalled in relation to this, particularly by people who are informing your side of politics and what I have read in the newspaper about this, are simply not true. It is a lie; it is misinformation designed to cause political damage and you are feeding off the side of that.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016