Mr KURRUPUWU - 2013-02-19
Could you advise the House on the progress of government’s habitual drunk strategy?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Arafura for his question and acknowledge his deep interest in this area. It might come as somewhat of a surprise - certainly not to us on this side – that the member for Arafura is working very diligently on putting together a proposal to send to government about restarting alcohol rehabilitation on the Tiwi Islands. Good on you, member for Arafura. That is exactly the way we want members in this House to operate.
It is odd now, six months into the job as Alcohol Policy minister, I have not received one question from members on the other side. All their bluff and bluster …
Mr GUNNER: A point of order, Madam Speaker! I have asked for a ministerial briefing from the office. I am still waiting for the minister to provide me a briefing. It is several months now, Dave, I asked last year …
Madam SPEAKER: Please be seated, member for Fannie Bay, it is not a point of order.
Mr TOLLNER: There has not been one question in Question Time from any member on the other side. They are out there with bluff and bluster, full of hot air and wind with their concern about drunks on the street. When those guys were in government, aside from the fact they wasted some $20m on alcohol programs, not one drunk was taken off the streets. Aside from all the other nonsense they have come up with, not one drunk was taken off the street and put into rehabilitation. What a failure they were.
Upon coming to government, this government honoured its election commitment. We did away with the useless, failed Banned Drinker Register as we said we would. We committed to that and on Day 1 of coming to government we removed that incredible waste of money known as the Banned Drinker Register.
Furthermore, we are honouring our election commitments, something I will speak about later on this afternoon in a statement to the House in relation to mandatory treatment of alcoholics. This is an area we, as a government, are very keen to get involved in because, until you deal with the people on the streets and take them off the streets, nothing will change. This is not the panacea to all ills, but drying someone out for three months cannot be bad. With any luck, we can rehabilitate some people and get them into meaningful jobs and make a real impact on the number of drunks on our streets ...
Madam SPEAKER: Minister, your time has expired.
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Arafura for his question and acknowledge his deep interest in this area. It might come as somewhat of a surprise - certainly not to us on this side – that the member for Arafura is working very diligently on putting together a proposal to send to government about restarting alcohol rehabilitation on the Tiwi Islands. Good on you, member for Arafura. That is exactly the way we want members in this House to operate.
It is odd now, six months into the job as Alcohol Policy minister, I have not received one question from members on the other side. All their bluff and bluster …
Mr GUNNER: A point of order, Madam Speaker! I have asked for a ministerial briefing from the office. I am still waiting for the minister to provide me a briefing. It is several months now, Dave, I asked last year …
Madam SPEAKER: Please be seated, member for Fannie Bay, it is not a point of order.
Mr TOLLNER: There has not been one question in Question Time from any member on the other side. They are out there with bluff and bluster, full of hot air and wind with their concern about drunks on the street. When those guys were in government, aside from the fact they wasted some $20m on alcohol programs, not one drunk was taken off the streets. Aside from all the other nonsense they have come up with, not one drunk was taken off the street and put into rehabilitation. What a failure they were.
Upon coming to government, this government honoured its election commitment. We did away with the useless, failed Banned Drinker Register as we said we would. We committed to that and on Day 1 of coming to government we removed that incredible waste of money known as the Banned Drinker Register.
Furthermore, we are honouring our election commitments, something I will speak about later on this afternoon in a statement to the House in relation to mandatory treatment of alcoholics. This is an area we, as a government, are very keen to get involved in because, until you deal with the people on the streets and take them off the streets, nothing will change. This is not the panacea to all ills, but drying someone out for three months cannot be bad. With any luck, we can rehabilitate some people and get them into meaningful jobs and make a real impact on the number of drunks on our streets ...
Madam SPEAKER: Minister, your time has expired.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016