Mr GUNNER - 2016-02-10
Your Deputy Chief Minister has breached your own Ministerial Code of Conduct and has potentially breached the corruption and abuse of office provisions of the Northern Territory Criminal Code Act. Do you retain total confidence in your Deputy Chief Minister?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I do. I retain confidence in every person in the Chamber, as a matter of fact, but particularly this side of the Chamber.
One thing about being a team is that you always back your people. We have backed Willem ever since he took over the Primary Industry portfolio. This is the man who had to overturn a Labor moratorium. We have been talking about moratoriums on the gas industry which will bring 6000 jobs to the Northern Territory. Who could forget when former Prime Minister Julia Gillard and former Chief Minister Paul Henderson found the live cattle industry too hard, like the gas industry, and called for a moratorium on the live cattle trade, killing an industry in the Northern Territory …
Mr GUNNER: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Standing Order 110: relevance. The question went to the Deputy Chief Minister’s breach of the CLP’s ministerial code and the potential breach of the Northern Territory Criminal Code Act. We asked him if he maintains confidence in the Deputy Chief Minister on those grounds. There was nothing about Paul Henderson and the cattle trade.
Madam SPEAKER: Thank you, Opposition Leader. Chief Minister, you have the call.
Mr GILES: I have heard the allegations by the Leader of the Opposition, but I go back to the point of it being too hard and Labor calling for and putting in place a moratorium on live cattle.
Willem has had the job of having to rebuild an industry, forming and renewing a relationship with Indonesia, setting up a multimillion dollar trading regime between Indonesia, then setting it up in Vietnam and Cambodia, working with the ministers in Western Australia and Queensland. Does he have my support? Absolutely! Many Territorians’ livelihoods have been restored as a result of the hard work of Willem. He has my full support, as does every person on this side of the Chamber, and when I am outside of parliament, every person who is in this Chamber. That is the responsibility of all of us.
As for these relentless calls for people to resign, the Deputy Chief Minister summed it up well, listing how many times you called for individual people to resign ...
Mr Gunner: What is the point of your code of conduct?
Mr GILES: Leader of the Opposition, when there are hundreds of people who live in Darwin, Alice Springs and remote parts of the Territory …
Mr GUNNER: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Standing Order 110: relevance. The Chief Minister does not want to touch upon the breach of the code of conduct. That was the question and he should go there. Your Deputy Chief Minister has breached your own code of conduct. What will you do about it?
Madam SPEAKER: Thank you, member for Fannie Bay. Chief Minister, you have the call.
Mr GILES: There are hundreds of currently filled jobs around the Northern Territory at risk right now and thousands of potential jobs in the gas industry, whether or not it is with the gas pipeline or onshore gas. There will be up to 6000 in the industry between 2020 and 2040, and $1bn in royalties to the Northern Territory which will go to higher education to make it easier for students to get access to better education.
Of course I have confidence in the Deputy Chief Minister. I do not have confidence in your policies as Leader of the Opposition. Again I ask you: how long does the Labor gas moratorium go for? How long …
Madam SPEAKER: Chief Minister, your time has expired.
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I do. I retain confidence in every person in the Chamber, as a matter of fact, but particularly this side of the Chamber.
One thing about being a team is that you always back your people. We have backed Willem ever since he took over the Primary Industry portfolio. This is the man who had to overturn a Labor moratorium. We have been talking about moratoriums on the gas industry which will bring 6000 jobs to the Northern Territory. Who could forget when former Prime Minister Julia Gillard and former Chief Minister Paul Henderson found the live cattle industry too hard, like the gas industry, and called for a moratorium on the live cattle trade, killing an industry in the Northern Territory …
Mr GUNNER: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Standing Order 110: relevance. The question went to the Deputy Chief Minister’s breach of the CLP’s ministerial code and the potential breach of the Northern Territory Criminal Code Act. We asked him if he maintains confidence in the Deputy Chief Minister on those grounds. There was nothing about Paul Henderson and the cattle trade.
Madam SPEAKER: Thank you, Opposition Leader. Chief Minister, you have the call.
Mr GILES: I have heard the allegations by the Leader of the Opposition, but I go back to the point of it being too hard and Labor calling for and putting in place a moratorium on live cattle.
Willem has had the job of having to rebuild an industry, forming and renewing a relationship with Indonesia, setting up a multimillion dollar trading regime between Indonesia, then setting it up in Vietnam and Cambodia, working with the ministers in Western Australia and Queensland. Does he have my support? Absolutely! Many Territorians’ livelihoods have been restored as a result of the hard work of Willem. He has my full support, as does every person on this side of the Chamber, and when I am outside of parliament, every person who is in this Chamber. That is the responsibility of all of us.
As for these relentless calls for people to resign, the Deputy Chief Minister summed it up well, listing how many times you called for individual people to resign ...
Mr Gunner: What is the point of your code of conduct?
Mr GILES: Leader of the Opposition, when there are hundreds of people who live in Darwin, Alice Springs and remote parts of the Territory …
Mr GUNNER: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Standing Order 110: relevance. The Chief Minister does not want to touch upon the breach of the code of conduct. That was the question and he should go there. Your Deputy Chief Minister has breached your own code of conduct. What will you do about it?
Madam SPEAKER: Thank you, member for Fannie Bay. Chief Minister, you have the call.
Mr GILES: There are hundreds of currently filled jobs around the Northern Territory at risk right now and thousands of potential jobs in the gas industry, whether or not it is with the gas pipeline or onshore gas. There will be up to 6000 in the industry between 2020 and 2040, and $1bn in royalties to the Northern Territory which will go to higher education to make it easier for students to get access to better education.
Of course I have confidence in the Deputy Chief Minister. I do not have confidence in your policies as Leader of the Opposition. Again I ask you: how long does the Labor gas moratorium go for? How long …
Madam SPEAKER: Chief Minister, your time has expired.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016