Mr VATSKALIS - 2012-11-29
For a Territory family that likes to spend the weekend getting away fishing and then having a family meal at the Palmerston Tavern, which one do you think they should cancel to pay for your power price hikes, the fishing trip or the meal at the tavern in Palmerston?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I ask if you could rule on this because it is getting a bit silly. This is asking me for an opinion. I can provide you with an opinion but you are obviously blind to the context in which any difficult decisions are taken. The difficult decisions being made are courtesy of the very poor legacy you have left us to deal with ...
Ms Walker: With your broken promises Territorians are having to make difficult decisions.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Nhulunbuy! Opposition Leader, put that down.
Mr MILLS: You could still table that, you know.
Ms Lawrie: Yes, when we get a copy we will bring it down.
Mr MILLS: That is why I am concerned about you; why you will not table that particular one.
I will not provide commentary or my opinion on a hypothetical such as that. It is a silly question. The situation is that despite the discomfort and that no one wants to pay more and that it will be extremely difficult, people understand the greatest impact they have to deal with on a daily basis is rents and mortgages. You do not talk about that, and for good reason, because they are the colossal weights that bears down due to your failure to get on top of land release. You could talk about all the great things that were going to happen in the Northern Territory, draw attention to yourselves, but pay no attention to the needs to grow, to plan, to be structured, to provide some leadership and get ahead of the game. You comprehensively failed and, on top of that, to add insult to injury you put a burden of debt on the top of Territorians. That is a very difficult situation.
Rather than describe this as a scenario that provides blame, it is an explanation of the context, a context we respond to responsibly and with courage.
We accept people will have some difficult consequences as a result of the difficult decisions we make, but we make those difficult decisions in the context of dealing with the appalling mess which has been left for us. We will not back away from making the necessary decisions in the long-term interests of the Northern Territory because we believe in the future of the Northern Territory. We are doing this for the right reason; that is, to strengthen and secure our Northern Territory and make it a far better and stronger place in the future, and increase the capacity for local families to enjoy revenue that flows into their community rather than interest rates that flow out and into the pockets of the banks and on credit cards. We will deal with that so we get more bang for buck and start to be a strong functioning community once again.
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I ask if you could rule on this because it is getting a bit silly. This is asking me for an opinion. I can provide you with an opinion but you are obviously blind to the context in which any difficult decisions are taken. The difficult decisions being made are courtesy of the very poor legacy you have left us to deal with ...
Ms Walker: With your broken promises Territorians are having to make difficult decisions.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Nhulunbuy! Opposition Leader, put that down.
Mr MILLS: You could still table that, you know.
Ms Lawrie: Yes, when we get a copy we will bring it down.
Mr MILLS: That is why I am concerned about you; why you will not table that particular one.
I will not provide commentary or my opinion on a hypothetical such as that. It is a silly question. The situation is that despite the discomfort and that no one wants to pay more and that it will be extremely difficult, people understand the greatest impact they have to deal with on a daily basis is rents and mortgages. You do not talk about that, and for good reason, because they are the colossal weights that bears down due to your failure to get on top of land release. You could talk about all the great things that were going to happen in the Northern Territory, draw attention to yourselves, but pay no attention to the needs to grow, to plan, to be structured, to provide some leadership and get ahead of the game. You comprehensively failed and, on top of that, to add insult to injury you put a burden of debt on the top of Territorians. That is a very difficult situation.
Rather than describe this as a scenario that provides blame, it is an explanation of the context, a context we respond to responsibly and with courage.
We accept people will have some difficult consequences as a result of the difficult decisions we make, but we make those difficult decisions in the context of dealing with the appalling mess which has been left for us. We will not back away from making the necessary decisions in the long-term interests of the Northern Territory because we believe in the future of the Northern Territory. We are doing this for the right reason; that is, to strengthen and secure our Northern Territory and make it a far better and stronger place in the future, and increase the capacity for local families to enjoy revenue that flows into their community rather than interest rates that flow out and into the pockets of the banks and on credit cards. We will deal with that so we get more bang for buck and start to be a strong functioning community once again.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016