Mrs HICKEY - 1997-02-25
Last week, the Chief Minister told the parliament that there are 41 staff in the communications section at the Berrimah Police Headquarters. He told the parliament, on 20 February: `There is an argument that this is an area that could be civilianised so that those 41 police positions could be used on the streets or in other areas of "shopfront" policing'. Will he admit now that three-quarters of those positions are police auxiliaries who cannot be used on the streets? In fact, the police have already civilianised this area. Will he admit to the House that he does not have a clue what is happening in the police force?
Mr Bailey: He has no knowledge of ...
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, if the member for Wanguri would be quiet, Territorians listening to this broadcast might have an opportunity to hear the answer.
I welcome the question from the Leader of the Opposition. Once again, she is caught coming into this Chamber and concocting a story about the way that police resources are used in the Territory. The inescapable fact is ...
Mr Bailey: You got it wrong last week.
Mr STONE: The member for Wanguri interjects again.
The inescapable facts are that the Territory has more police per head of population than any other territory or state in Australia, that we spend more per head of population on police than any other jurisdiction in Australia and that our funding for police in the last budget was $94m. That is 3% of our total budget. The resources can be utilised by police management in the way that it determines.
The Leader of the Opposition claims that police auxiliaries cannot be used on the street. She is wrong. Had she bothered to attend Neighbourhood Watch meetings, she would have found that police auxiliaries are very much involved. That is up-front policing. Thus, the Leader of the Opposition is trying yet again to create an image in the Territory community that the police are under-resourced and understaffed. She has gone about it with great style and she appears to have written to constituents far and wide throughout the Territory. I understand she has sent out about 50 000 letters. I will table one of these, which is on the Leader of the Opposition's letterhead. It is all about an election even though no election has been called. It carries messages, saying that the Country Liberal Party will do nothing about crime unless it is given a big shake-up, and the only way to give someone a shake-up is by way of an election. She has sent out 50 000 letters, at taxpayers' expense, which amounts to about $20 000 in postage.
Members interjecting.
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Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr STONE: I shall tell members of the Labor Party why their rorting of the system, their misuse of taxpayers' money, stands differently from what is done by the CLP government. Territorians will not find me using Chief Minister's letterhead and the taxpayers' purse to send out election material.
Mr Bell: Unlike Marshall Perron?
Mr STONE: The member for MacDonnell cannot demonstrate that. I have looked at the election material. It went out on CLP letterhead paid for by the CLP. Is it true that the Leader of the Opposition has sent out over 50 000 letters at the expense of the taxpayer? Is it true that the Leader of the Opposition has used her postage account for party-political campaign purposes? If she has, it stands in stark contrast to the way the CLP government operates. If these are the standards that we would see used by Labor in the unhappy event that it were elected to government, they would be all very reminiscent of the way that the Keating government operated.
I will not be found using the taxpayers' dollar to solicit votes. That is the bottom line in all of this. Do you know why I am receiving these letters, Mr Speaker? People are sending them in to me and they are writing across the top: `Who is paying for this?' The answer is that Territorians are paying. They are paying for the ALP to campaign. This is a sign of the way members opposite operate. This how Warren Snowdon ran his campaigns on the taxpayers' purse. The Leader of the Opposition is trying to do the same thing. I call on the Leader of the Opposition to reimburse the Territory taxpayer for what she has spent on this campaign to date. I call upon her to give her undertaking that she will not abuse the allowances of her office to maintain this campaign. The problem is that the Labor Party is broke. It cannot raise the money to run a campaign and therefore it is using taxpayers' money to do it.
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Mr Bailey: He has no knowledge of ...
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, if the member for Wanguri would be quiet, Territorians listening to this broadcast might have an opportunity to hear the answer.
I welcome the question from the Leader of the Opposition. Once again, she is caught coming into this Chamber and concocting a story about the way that police resources are used in the Territory. The inescapable fact is ...
Mr Bailey: You got it wrong last week.
Mr STONE: The member for Wanguri interjects again.
The inescapable facts are that the Territory has more police per head of population than any other territory or state in Australia, that we spend more per head of population on police than any other jurisdiction in Australia and that our funding for police in the last budget was $94m. That is 3% of our total budget. The resources can be utilised by police management in the way that it determines.
The Leader of the Opposition claims that police auxiliaries cannot be used on the street. She is wrong. Had she bothered to attend Neighbourhood Watch meetings, she would have found that police auxiliaries are very much involved. That is up-front policing. Thus, the Leader of the Opposition is trying yet again to create an image in the Territory community that the police are under-resourced and understaffed. She has gone about it with great style and she appears to have written to constituents far and wide throughout the Territory. I understand she has sent out about 50 000 letters. I will table one of these, which is on the Leader of the Opposition's letterhead. It is all about an election even though no election has been called. It carries messages, saying that the Country Liberal Party will do nothing about crime unless it is given a big shake-up, and the only way to give someone a shake-up is by way of an election. She has sent out 50 000 letters, at taxpayers' expense, which amounts to about $20 000 in postage.
Members interjecting.
Page 1939
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr STONE: I shall tell members of the Labor Party why their rorting of the system, their misuse of taxpayers' money, stands differently from what is done by the CLP government. Territorians will not find me using Chief Minister's letterhead and the taxpayers' purse to send out election material.
Mr Bell: Unlike Marshall Perron?
Mr STONE: The member for MacDonnell cannot demonstrate that. I have looked at the election material. It went out on CLP letterhead paid for by the CLP. Is it true that the Leader of the Opposition has sent out over 50 000 letters at the expense of the taxpayer? Is it true that the Leader of the Opposition has used her postage account for party-political campaign purposes? If she has, it stands in stark contrast to the way the CLP government operates. If these are the standards that we would see used by Labor in the unhappy event that it were elected to government, they would be all very reminiscent of the way that the Keating government operated.
I will not be found using the taxpayers' dollar to solicit votes. That is the bottom line in all of this. Do you know why I am receiving these letters, Mr Speaker? People are sending them in to me and they are writing across the top: `Who is paying for this?' The answer is that Territorians are paying. They are paying for the ALP to campaign. This is a sign of the way members opposite operate. This how Warren Snowdon ran his campaigns on the taxpayers' purse. The Leader of the Opposition is trying to do the same thing. I call on the Leader of the Opposition to reimburse the Territory taxpayer for what she has spent on this campaign to date. I call upon her to give her undertaking that she will not abuse the allowances of her office to maintain this campaign. The problem is that the Labor Party is broke. It cannot raise the money to run a campaign and therefore it is using taxpayers' money to do it.
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Last updated: 09 Aug 2016