Ms LAWRIE - 2014-08-26
Your government has descended from chaos into crisis. Just as you lacked leadership when you stood for days defending the indefensible actions of the disgraced member for Fong Lim, you now lack the confidence to appoint a Deputy Chief Minister. This lack of confidence has the public service asking who the minister across seven portfolios, including Treasury, will be. It sends a message of uncertainty to investors. Such is the level of dysfunction in the CLP, Territorians are now placing bets on who the deputy will be. Here is a taste of the odds board ...
Madam SPEAKER: Put it down, member for Barkly.
Ms LAWRIE: Why could you not put the Territory above your rank incompetence and ensure the important role of Deputy Chief Minister was filled?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, an old trick brought out again; it is good to see old tricks recycled. It is interesting when you hear some of the commentary from Labor about changes in portfolios and ministries. We have looked through some history and identified what took place last week, compared to what has happened in the past.
It is interesting when you look at the comments made by the member for Fong Lim and the actions he took in resigning and compare that to some of the actions from the former Labor government. The former member for Johnston, Chris Burns, made some disparaging remarks against the …
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Standing Order 113: relevance. Why can you not fill the rank of Deputy Chief Minister?
Madam SPEAKER: There is no point of order. Sit down.
Mr GILES: The former member for Johnston made some disparaging remarks against the now Attorney-General and what did Labor do? It continued to promote him and use him as a minister. Look at the former member for Sanderson, Mr Len Kiely, who made that outrageous slur against a woman at a sports event. What did Labor do? It promoted him as minister. We stand by what we do; we hold our morals in high regard.
We also looked at Labor’s performance in its first four years of government, between 2001 and 2005 …
Mr GUNNER: A point of order, Madam Speaker! You made a direction that we cannot use …
Madam SPEAKER: Chief Minister, please do not use props.
Mr GILES: I am just reading off it, Madam Speaker.
Madam SPEAKER: If you could just place it on the table please.
Mr GILES: Between 2001 and 2005 there were 12 portfolio changes, eight new ministries, 28 ministry changes and eight ministries cut. Crime was going up as were house prices, house blocks were stalled, business confidence was down 22% and we saw turmoil in the public service - very interesting ...
Mr GUNNER: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Standing Order 113: relevance. Who will be your Deputy Chief Minister?
Madam SPEAKER: Chief Minister, get to the point.
Mr GILES: Let us look at some of the reshuffles that happened under Labor’s time in government. In its first term …
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Standing Order 113: relevance. The Chief Minister is not going anywhere near answering the question of why will he not appoint a Deputy Chief Minister. Does he have such a great lack of confidence in everyone in his team?
Madam SPEAKER: Thank you, Opposition Leader. Chief Minister, get to the point.
Mr GILES: On the contrary, we have the ability to continue to do our job. Let us look at the Labor report card when we came to government: $1.8bn in debt from the prison; Asset Management System failing of $70m; $3bn worth of Power and Water debt; the cost of living going up; no land release; crime increases to the highest level in 14 years …
Ms FYLES: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Standing Order 113: relevance. Territorians want to know who their Deputy Chief Minister is. Why can you not appoint one? Answer the question.
Madam SPEAKER: Chief Minister, get to the point, please.
Mr GILES: Territorians want to know that crime and debt are going down, the economy is going up and there are jobs there for their kids in the future. That is what they care about. Territorians do not want to hear politicians talking about their jobs; they want to see us talking about their kids’ jobs, so kids like the ones in the gallery today from Sanderson Middle School have an opportunity in life ...
Mr GUNNER: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Standing Order 113: relevance. The Chief Minister no longer has the numbers within his party room. If you do not decide who is Deputy Chief Minister, who does?
Mr ELFERINK: Speaking to the point of order, Madam Speaker.
Madam SPEAKER: It is not a point of order, Leader of Government Business.
Mr GILES: As I said, people do not care when we talk about our jobs, they want us focusing on their jobs and future jobs for their kids, which is what we will continue to do.
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, before the next question, I welcome and acknowledge in the gallery the wife of the member for Daly, Rhonda Higgins, and her family. Welcome to parliament.
Members: Hear, hear!
Madam SPEAKER: Put it down, member for Barkly.
Ms LAWRIE: Why could you not put the Territory above your rank incompetence and ensure the important role of Deputy Chief Minister was filled?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, an old trick brought out again; it is good to see old tricks recycled. It is interesting when you hear some of the commentary from Labor about changes in portfolios and ministries. We have looked through some history and identified what took place last week, compared to what has happened in the past.
It is interesting when you look at the comments made by the member for Fong Lim and the actions he took in resigning and compare that to some of the actions from the former Labor government. The former member for Johnston, Chris Burns, made some disparaging remarks against the …
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Standing Order 113: relevance. Why can you not fill the rank of Deputy Chief Minister?
Madam SPEAKER: There is no point of order. Sit down.
Mr GILES: The former member for Johnston made some disparaging remarks against the now Attorney-General and what did Labor do? It continued to promote him and use him as a minister. Look at the former member for Sanderson, Mr Len Kiely, who made that outrageous slur against a woman at a sports event. What did Labor do? It promoted him as minister. We stand by what we do; we hold our morals in high regard.
We also looked at Labor’s performance in its first four years of government, between 2001 and 2005 …
Mr GUNNER: A point of order, Madam Speaker! You made a direction that we cannot use …
Madam SPEAKER: Chief Minister, please do not use props.
Mr GILES: I am just reading off it, Madam Speaker.
Madam SPEAKER: If you could just place it on the table please.
Mr GILES: Between 2001 and 2005 there were 12 portfolio changes, eight new ministries, 28 ministry changes and eight ministries cut. Crime was going up as were house prices, house blocks were stalled, business confidence was down 22% and we saw turmoil in the public service - very interesting ...
Mr GUNNER: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Standing Order 113: relevance. Who will be your Deputy Chief Minister?
Madam SPEAKER: Chief Minister, get to the point.
Mr GILES: Let us look at some of the reshuffles that happened under Labor’s time in government. In its first term …
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Standing Order 113: relevance. The Chief Minister is not going anywhere near answering the question of why will he not appoint a Deputy Chief Minister. Does he have such a great lack of confidence in everyone in his team?
Madam SPEAKER: Thank you, Opposition Leader. Chief Minister, get to the point.
Mr GILES: On the contrary, we have the ability to continue to do our job. Let us look at the Labor report card when we came to government: $1.8bn in debt from the prison; Asset Management System failing of $70m; $3bn worth of Power and Water debt; the cost of living going up; no land release; crime increases to the highest level in 14 years …
Ms FYLES: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Standing Order 113: relevance. Territorians want to know who their Deputy Chief Minister is. Why can you not appoint one? Answer the question.
Madam SPEAKER: Chief Minister, get to the point, please.
Mr GILES: Territorians want to know that crime and debt are going down, the economy is going up and there are jobs there for their kids in the future. That is what they care about. Territorians do not want to hear politicians talking about their jobs; they want to see us talking about their kids’ jobs, so kids like the ones in the gallery today from Sanderson Middle School have an opportunity in life ...
Mr GUNNER: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Standing Order 113: relevance. The Chief Minister no longer has the numbers within his party room. If you do not decide who is Deputy Chief Minister, who does?
Mr ELFERINK: Speaking to the point of order, Madam Speaker.
Madam SPEAKER: It is not a point of order, Leader of Government Business.
Mr GILES: As I said, people do not care when we talk about our jobs, they want us focusing on their jobs and future jobs for their kids, which is what we will continue to do.
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Visitors
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, before the next question, I welcome and acknowledge in the gallery the wife of the member for Daly, Rhonda Higgins, and her family. Welcome to parliament.
Members: Hear, hear!
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Last updated: 09 Aug 2016