Mr ADAMSON - 1996-02-29
Last year, the Darwin Music Development Centre, known as the DMDC, was requested to vacate premises in the inner-city area. Is alternative accommodation being pursued to assist the development of contemporary music in the Top End?
Ms Martin interjecting.
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, the member Fannie Bay interjects, and so she should. I have sat here for 2 weeks thinking that it was only a matter of time before I would be asked a question by the opposition on this matter.
Ms Martin: I wrote you letters and ...
Mr STONE: Let us talk about your press releases - 3 of them in fact. The first was dated 12 December. Apart from the usual palaver that you include in your press releases, it states `especially as there have been NO complaints'. That is yours, isn't it? That is what you
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said - `especially as there have been NO complaints'. The member for Fannie Bay did not ask for a briefing or to talk to people who know something about it. She raced out and issued a press release that is obviously ...
Mr Ede: Checked with the police.
Mr STONE: We will come to the police. The second press release is dated 15 December. Inter alia, it states: `However, since April this year, there has not been one complaint'. That claim is repeated. She still has not bothered to apprise herself of the facts. Territory taxpayers pay her to do her job. They pay her to find out the truth of matters rather than simply punch out bits of paper that are obviously wrong. This is her third press release: `Noise arguments, as spurious as they are, won the day'.
Mr Speaker, I table an appendix of complaints. It sets out complaints, beginning on 28 August and continuing through to 17 December. I table also the 3 press releases.
Mr Bailey: Complaints made to whom?
Mr STONE: To the Northern Territory police. Had the member for Fannie Bay bothered to make the inquiry, she would have learnt that, since 28 August 1994, police attended the premises on 22 occasions and, since 1 May last year, they attended on 15 occasions. They would have been ...
Ms Martin: What for?
Mr STONE: Which complaint would you like to hear? What about this one from 16 September 1995, approximately 40 minutes after midnight? `Nature of complaint: loud music coming from Darwin Music Development Centre, ongoing complaint. Results: Police attended at 0059 hours. Mr Williams spoken to, and he informed police the band would be wound up'. Do you want some other examples? You peddled the information that there had been no complaints when the reality was that complaints had been made on 22 occasions. You did not take the time to find out the facts. We have seen the letters to the editor that continued to recite the lie, not from you but from others, that there had been no complaints. I will be tabling this.
For the chairman of the DMDC ...
Ms Martin interjecting.
Mr STONE: I know that you are stunned and I know that you are embarrassed. You ought to be because it is an example of your laziness and your incompetence.
Members interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr Bailey interjecting.
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Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr STONE: For the chairman of the Darwin Music Development Centre, Mr Kel Williams, to write to me and claim, for example, that he was `unaware of the numerous complaints of recent months', simply defies credibility. Those complaints are all documented unless, of course, you are saying that the police are telling lies. Are you saying that the police are telling lies? The facts are that you based your whole support for this group around the proposition that there had been no complaints.
Ms Martin interjecting.
Mr STONE: It is all documented here. Mr Speaker, I table the document. It is all there for people to see.
Ms Martin interjecting.
Mr STONE: I realise that you are reeling at this stage, as well you might be for issuing 3 media releases that carry a blatant untruth.
Ms Martin: You are a bully.
Mr STONE: I am sorry, Clare!
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr STONE: No, it is all right. I do not need your help. Calamity Clare strikes again. You lent your support to a group that caused some $24 600-worth of damage to the premises as they were going out the door. Did you say a word against that? Did you say that, even though you supported the group, even you dissociate yourself from that type of activity. We heard not a word. Where were the press releases? You were happy to punch them out and say that there had been no noise, but there was not a word from you about the damage.
Ms Martin interjecting.
Mr STONE: Mr Speaker, I will table the photographs. This is what they did to the place, and you have to see it.
Ms Martin: What proof do you have?
Mr STONE: What proof do I have? You subscribe to Vaughan Williams' theory that it was itinerants or long-grassers with texta colours. That was what he said, and you believed him! This is the same fellow who has been unceremoniously banned for life from 8TOP-FM radio. He has been banned from the NTU Social Club because of an incident of violence, and you ask what proof I have that he did it. I might speak about itinerants from time to time, but I have never accused them of running around with texta colours defacing government buildings.
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If you really want to see the kind of things they wrote - I shall not repeat some of the things that they had to say about the Greek community, and you ought to be mortally embarrassed that you lent your name to these types of people - I will table these for the record. You can see the type of people with whom you have aligned yourself. It is absolutely appalling and will not be tolerated by the government.
On a more positive note, another group has been formed to promote the development of contemporary music in the Top End. It will have the full support of my government for the development of a rehearsal and performance base.
Mr Bailey: It is the Young CLP.
Mr STONE: The member for Wanguri interjects that it is the Young CLP. Some of the people involved are probably more aligned with his side of politics than mine. They will be delighted to hear that that is how he described them. Nevertheless, I will give them full credit because they have as their priority the development of contemporary music in the Northern Territory. I applaud them for that. They will have the strong support of my government as they go forward with their new group, but it will not include the vandals who were part of the previous group.
Mr Bailey: Ah!
Mr STONE: You can say that but, when you have examined those photographs, even you will be revolted. As for the member for Fannie Bay, I shall never understand why, at no time, did she ever ask us what this was all about and whether there was any basis to any of it.
Ms Martin interjecting.
Mr STONE: You are not doing your job. You are incompetent.
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Ms Martin interjecting.
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, the member Fannie Bay interjects, and so she should. I have sat here for 2 weeks thinking that it was only a matter of time before I would be asked a question by the opposition on this matter.
Ms Martin: I wrote you letters and ...
Mr STONE: Let us talk about your press releases - 3 of them in fact. The first was dated 12 December. Apart from the usual palaver that you include in your press releases, it states `especially as there have been NO complaints'. That is yours, isn't it? That is what you
Page 1261
said - `especially as there have been NO complaints'. The member for Fannie Bay did not ask for a briefing or to talk to people who know something about it. She raced out and issued a press release that is obviously ...
Mr Ede: Checked with the police.
Mr STONE: We will come to the police. The second press release is dated 15 December. Inter alia, it states: `However, since April this year, there has not been one complaint'. That claim is repeated. She still has not bothered to apprise herself of the facts. Territory taxpayers pay her to do her job. They pay her to find out the truth of matters rather than simply punch out bits of paper that are obviously wrong. This is her third press release: `Noise arguments, as spurious as they are, won the day'.
Mr Speaker, I table an appendix of complaints. It sets out complaints, beginning on 28 August and continuing through to 17 December. I table also the 3 press releases.
Mr Bailey: Complaints made to whom?
Mr STONE: To the Northern Territory police. Had the member for Fannie Bay bothered to make the inquiry, she would have learnt that, since 28 August 1994, police attended the premises on 22 occasions and, since 1 May last year, they attended on 15 occasions. They would have been ...
Ms Martin: What for?
Mr STONE: Which complaint would you like to hear? What about this one from 16 September 1995, approximately 40 minutes after midnight? `Nature of complaint: loud music coming from Darwin Music Development Centre, ongoing complaint. Results: Police attended at 0059 hours. Mr Williams spoken to, and he informed police the band would be wound up'. Do you want some other examples? You peddled the information that there had been no complaints when the reality was that complaints had been made on 22 occasions. You did not take the time to find out the facts. We have seen the letters to the editor that continued to recite the lie, not from you but from others, that there had been no complaints. I will be tabling this.
For the chairman of the DMDC ...
Ms Martin interjecting.
Mr STONE: I know that you are stunned and I know that you are embarrassed. You ought to be because it is an example of your laziness and your incompetence.
Members interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr Bailey interjecting.
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Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr STONE: For the chairman of the Darwin Music Development Centre, Mr Kel Williams, to write to me and claim, for example, that he was `unaware of the numerous complaints of recent months', simply defies credibility. Those complaints are all documented unless, of course, you are saying that the police are telling lies. Are you saying that the police are telling lies? The facts are that you based your whole support for this group around the proposition that there had been no complaints.
Ms Martin interjecting.
Mr STONE: It is all documented here. Mr Speaker, I table the document. It is all there for people to see.
Ms Martin interjecting.
Mr STONE: I realise that you are reeling at this stage, as well you might be for issuing 3 media releases that carry a blatant untruth.
Ms Martin: You are a bully.
Mr STONE: I am sorry, Clare!
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr STONE: No, it is all right. I do not need your help. Calamity Clare strikes again. You lent your support to a group that caused some $24 600-worth of damage to the premises as they were going out the door. Did you say a word against that? Did you say that, even though you supported the group, even you dissociate yourself from that type of activity. We heard not a word. Where were the press releases? You were happy to punch them out and say that there had been no noise, but there was not a word from you about the damage.
Ms Martin interjecting.
Mr STONE: Mr Speaker, I will table the photographs. This is what they did to the place, and you have to see it.
Ms Martin: What proof do you have?
Mr STONE: What proof do I have? You subscribe to Vaughan Williams' theory that it was itinerants or long-grassers with texta colours. That was what he said, and you believed him! This is the same fellow who has been unceremoniously banned for life from 8TOP-FM radio. He has been banned from the NTU Social Club because of an incident of violence, and you ask what proof I have that he did it. I might speak about itinerants from time to time, but I have never accused them of running around with texta colours defacing government buildings.
Page 1263
If you really want to see the kind of things they wrote - I shall not repeat some of the things that they had to say about the Greek community, and you ought to be mortally embarrassed that you lent your name to these types of people - I will table these for the record. You can see the type of people with whom you have aligned yourself. It is absolutely appalling and will not be tolerated by the government.
On a more positive note, another group has been formed to promote the development of contemporary music in the Top End. It will have the full support of my government for the development of a rehearsal and performance base.
Mr Bailey: It is the Young CLP.
Mr STONE: The member for Wanguri interjects that it is the Young CLP. Some of the people involved are probably more aligned with his side of politics than mine. They will be delighted to hear that that is how he described them. Nevertheless, I will give them full credit because they have as their priority the development of contemporary music in the Northern Territory. I applaud them for that. They will have the strong support of my government as they go forward with their new group, but it will not include the vandals who were part of the previous group.
Mr Bailey: Ah!
Mr STONE: You can say that but, when you have examined those photographs, even you will be revolted. As for the member for Fannie Bay, I shall never understand why, at no time, did she ever ask us what this was all about and whether there was any basis to any of it.
Ms Martin interjecting.
Mr STONE: You are not doing your job. You are incompetent.
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Last updated: 09 Aug 2016