Mr EDE - 1995-10-10
The Chief Minister will be aware that the member for Millner and the member for Victoria River followed his lead and campaigned throughout the Arnhem electorate stating that people should no longer accept what they referred to as `yellafellas' as their spokespersons. Is he aware that the statements of these members combined with alcohol over the weekend prior to the election to form an explosive cocktail that resulted in outbreaks of violence between relations of one of the CLP candidates and people of mixed racial heritage at various locations in the Roper River area? Does he accept that he is responsible for this violence? What does he intend to do to undo the damage that he has caused?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, I guess the essence of the question from the Leader of the Opposition is whether I detected, saw or heard any racism used in the Arnhem by-election. I would have to say that I did.
Mr Ede: Answer the question.
Mr STONE: Where did I see it, Mr Speaker? I saw it from the modern missionaries of racism who sit opposite.
Members interjecting.
Mr STONE: The very same people who are laughing now - and I include the manic laughter from the member for MacDonnell. The very same people who come into this Chamber and make allegations against government members are the very same people whom I saw walking around Aboriginal communities ...
Mr Bailey: You started it.
Mr STONE: ... and telling traditional Aboriginal people that, if they voted for the CLP mob, they would lose their unemployment benefits and their social ...
Mr Bell: Garbage!
Members interjecting.
Mr STONE: Those are the types of lies that they peddled.
Mr EDE: A point of order, Mr Speaker! I object to the Chief Minister referring to members on this side as liars. He should be asked to withdraw that remark and to answer the question.
Mr SPEAKER: I did not hear the Chief Minister call opposition members liars but ...
Page 825
Mr BELL: A point of order, Mr Speaker! The Chief Minister well knows that exactly the representation that he alleges of Labor members ...
Mr Coulter: What is your point of order?
Mr BELL: If you hang on, you will hear it.
He knows that that is the subject of a letter of demand from the member for Arnhem to the Deputy Chief Minister for acting way beyond his ministerial capacity. I suggest ...
Mr Coulter: What is the point of order?
Mr BELL: Mr Speaker, that is ...
Mr COULTER: A point of order, Mr Speaker!
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr Bell: You cannot call a point of order over a point of order.
Mr COULTER: The member has not said what his point of order is!
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr BELL: I suggest, Mr Speaker, that you direct the Chief Minister to be very careful about alleging those comments of opposition members, and particularly of the member for Arnhem.
Mr SPEAKER: I do not think that the Chief Minister needs advice from me on what he should or should not say in the Assembly. There is no point of order.
Mr EDE: You did not rule on my point of order, Mr Speaker.
Mr SPEAKER: I have ruled on your point of order. There is no point of order because ...
Members interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! I did not hear the Chief Minister call opposition members liars. I have heard a denial from the Chief Minister that he did so. On that basis, I rule that there is no point of order.
Mr STONE: Mr Speaker, they do not want to hear about this.
Mr Ede: No, we want an answer to the question.
Page 826
Mr STONE: They do not want served up to them what they did in that electorate because the fact is that we rattled them for the first time. For the first time, we really rattled the Labor Party in the bush.
Mr Ede: Who?
Members interjecting.
Mr Ede: Where and when?
Mr Stirling: How much did you pour into it?
Mr SPEAKER: Order! A question has been asked of the Chief Minister and I would appreciate it if he were heard in reasonable silence.
Mr Ede: He is not answering it.
Mr STONE: For the first time, we were able to put on the ground teams of Aboriginal people who supported an anti-Labor platform.
Mr EDE: A point of order, Mr Speaker! You asked us to be silent and listen to the answer to the question that I have asked. The Chief Minister has not moved within cooee of answering that question, which was about the violence that occurred after his members went around making those statements in the Roper River area. I demand, Mr Speaker, that you request him to answer the question.
Mr SPEAKER: There is no point of order. However, I ask the Chief Minister to be as brief as possible in coming to the point of his answer.
Mr STONE: Members opposite are very precious, Mr Speaker. They are absolute phonies. The Leader of the Opposition delights in running around and telling the southern media his story that the Territory is basically full of rednecks and racists. Territorians listening to this broadcast should know that this is the message that he promotes to the southern parts of Australia.
Mr Stirling interjecting.
Mr Ede interjecting.
Mr STONE: What about Ngukurr where your campaign workers went round whispering behind their hands, telling people that they could not send a traditional Aboriginal person to the parliament because it is too complicated for them ...
Members interjecting.
Mr STONE: ... telling people that they do not understand the white man's ways and that is why they have to vote for the Labor candidate.
Page 827
Mr Stirling: What did they think Wes was doing for the last 12 years?
Mr STONE: In the days leading up to these sittings, I said that, if the Labor Party felt so aggrieved, so upset and so outraged by what it would claim ...
Mr EDE: A point of order, Mr Speaker! My point of order remains the same. I ask you to direct the Chief Minister to answer the question. He has the benefit of a backbench to ask him dorothy dixers in this regard and, when answering my question, he should address himself to it.
Mr Stone: You do not like the answer, do you?
Mr Bailey: You have had every opportunity. Answer the question.
Mr SPEAKER: I ask the Chief Minister to be as brief as possible in coming to the point of the answer, but I rule again that there is no point of order.
Mr STONE: Absolutely none, Mr Speaker. They do not like the answer. If they feel that aggrieved about it ...
Mr Ede: You do not have an answer.
Mr Bailey: You have no answer.
Mr STONE: We will trot out every dirty, grubby, little tactic that you lot used to denigrate traditional Aboriginal people there.
Page 828
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, I guess the essence of the question from the Leader of the Opposition is whether I detected, saw or heard any racism used in the Arnhem by-election. I would have to say that I did.
Mr Ede: Answer the question.
Mr STONE: Where did I see it, Mr Speaker? I saw it from the modern missionaries of racism who sit opposite.
Members interjecting.
Mr STONE: The very same people who are laughing now - and I include the manic laughter from the member for MacDonnell. The very same people who come into this Chamber and make allegations against government members are the very same people whom I saw walking around Aboriginal communities ...
Mr Bailey: You started it.
Mr STONE: ... and telling traditional Aboriginal people that, if they voted for the CLP mob, they would lose their unemployment benefits and their social ...
Mr Bell: Garbage!
Members interjecting.
Mr STONE: Those are the types of lies that they peddled.
Mr EDE: A point of order, Mr Speaker! I object to the Chief Minister referring to members on this side as liars. He should be asked to withdraw that remark and to answer the question.
Mr SPEAKER: I did not hear the Chief Minister call opposition members liars but ...
Page 825
Mr BELL: A point of order, Mr Speaker! The Chief Minister well knows that exactly the representation that he alleges of Labor members ...
Mr Coulter: What is your point of order?
Mr BELL: If you hang on, you will hear it.
He knows that that is the subject of a letter of demand from the member for Arnhem to the Deputy Chief Minister for acting way beyond his ministerial capacity. I suggest ...
Mr Coulter: What is the point of order?
Mr BELL: Mr Speaker, that is ...
Mr COULTER: A point of order, Mr Speaker!
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr Bell: You cannot call a point of order over a point of order.
Mr COULTER: The member has not said what his point of order is!
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr BELL: I suggest, Mr Speaker, that you direct the Chief Minister to be very careful about alleging those comments of opposition members, and particularly of the member for Arnhem.
Mr SPEAKER: I do not think that the Chief Minister needs advice from me on what he should or should not say in the Assembly. There is no point of order.
Mr EDE: You did not rule on my point of order, Mr Speaker.
Mr SPEAKER: I have ruled on your point of order. There is no point of order because ...
Members interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! I did not hear the Chief Minister call opposition members liars. I have heard a denial from the Chief Minister that he did so. On that basis, I rule that there is no point of order.
Mr STONE: Mr Speaker, they do not want to hear about this.
Mr Ede: No, we want an answer to the question.
Page 826
Mr STONE: They do not want served up to them what they did in that electorate because the fact is that we rattled them for the first time. For the first time, we really rattled the Labor Party in the bush.
Mr Ede: Who?
Members interjecting.
Mr Ede: Where and when?
Mr Stirling: How much did you pour into it?
Mr SPEAKER: Order! A question has been asked of the Chief Minister and I would appreciate it if he were heard in reasonable silence.
Mr Ede: He is not answering it.
Mr STONE: For the first time, we were able to put on the ground teams of Aboriginal people who supported an anti-Labor platform.
Mr EDE: A point of order, Mr Speaker! You asked us to be silent and listen to the answer to the question that I have asked. The Chief Minister has not moved within cooee of answering that question, which was about the violence that occurred after his members went around making those statements in the Roper River area. I demand, Mr Speaker, that you request him to answer the question.
Mr SPEAKER: There is no point of order. However, I ask the Chief Minister to be as brief as possible in coming to the point of his answer.
Mr STONE: Members opposite are very precious, Mr Speaker. They are absolute phonies. The Leader of the Opposition delights in running around and telling the southern media his story that the Territory is basically full of rednecks and racists. Territorians listening to this broadcast should know that this is the message that he promotes to the southern parts of Australia.
Mr Stirling interjecting.
Mr Ede interjecting.
Mr STONE: What about Ngukurr where your campaign workers went round whispering behind their hands, telling people that they could not send a traditional Aboriginal person to the parliament because it is too complicated for them ...
Members interjecting.
Mr STONE: ... telling people that they do not understand the white man's ways and that is why they have to vote for the Labor candidate.
Page 827
Mr Stirling: What did they think Wes was doing for the last 12 years?
Mr STONE: In the days leading up to these sittings, I said that, if the Labor Party felt so aggrieved, so upset and so outraged by what it would claim ...
Mr EDE: A point of order, Mr Speaker! My point of order remains the same. I ask you to direct the Chief Minister to answer the question. He has the benefit of a backbench to ask him dorothy dixers in this regard and, when answering my question, he should address himself to it.
Mr Stone: You do not like the answer, do you?
Mr Bailey: You have had every opportunity. Answer the question.
Mr SPEAKER: I ask the Chief Minister to be as brief as possible in coming to the point of the answer, but I rule again that there is no point of order.
Mr STONE: Absolutely none, Mr Speaker. They do not like the answer. If they feel that aggrieved about it ...
Mr Ede: You do not have an answer.
Mr Bailey: You have no answer.
Mr STONE: We will trot out every dirty, grubby, little tactic that you lot used to denigrate traditional Aboriginal people there.
Page 828
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016