Ms MARTIN - 1995-10-17
Is the Chief Minister aware that, on the very day that he launched the domestic violence advertising campaign last week, at least 3 women had to be turned away from Dawn House refuge because of a lack of space? Is he aware also that, despite the fact that a new centre is being built, it will not be able to accommodate any more than does the current building and it will have no facilities for counselling of clients by the single domestic violence counsellor available in the Territory? Is the Chief Minister prepared to address the desperate needs of domestic violence victims whose numbers are shamefully 6 times higher in the Territory than in the remainder of Australia? Alternatively, is he prepared to allow the women who take action to leave situations of domestic violence - as the advertising campaign urges them to do - to find that once they do so, the services to back them are insufficient?
Mr Ede: Shame!
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, the Leader of the Opposition interjects `shame', but he should be ashamed of the question that the member for Fannie Bay asked at the conclusion of last week's sittings. However, I will return to that in a moment. Obviously, the member for Fannie Bay, is trying to
Page 887
recover some ground because, if she has received half the representations that I have had from women's groups, she would realise that she has really put her foot in it.
Ms Martin: Which women's groups?
Mr STONE: She has put her foot right in it.
Ms Martin: Come on, name them!
Mr STONE: May I say to the member for Fannie Bay that I am aware of the difficulties facing Dawn House. This matter was raised with me on the day on which I launched the campaign, `It's Got to Stop ...'. It is a shame that the member for Fannie Bay will not give even a little credit to the government for everything that it has done in this area, not only in recent times but also over the last 2 to 3 years, starting with the Living With Alcohol program and including the program put in place in relation to domestic violence on Aboriginal communities.
I return to the point that I raised at the outset of my answer. This was a quote that I wrote down from one of the meetings that I had. It refers to the member for Fannie Bay:
Let's be clear what she did. She trivialised, undermined, refocused and confused the issue of
domestic violence and, instead, promoted a particular brand of iced coffee in a debate about how women are
portrayed in advertising.
That came from someone who I think would be generally on her own side of politics. However, what they saw that she had done ...
Mr Ede: Who is this?
Mr STONE: What she did was unforgivable. She tried to be half-smart and trivialised ...
Mrs HICKEY: A point of order, Mr Speaker! The question that the Chief Minister is answering now was asked last week.
Mr Stone: Oh, we do not want to hear about it?
Mrs HICKEY: Admittedly, it was the subject of public debate, but it is not the subject of the question that the member for Fannie Bay has asked now. This is a very serious question. Mr Speaker, I ask that you direct the Chief Minister to answer the question that has been asked this morning, not last week.
Mr SPEAKER: I ask the Chief Minister to come to the point of his answer to the question that he has been asked.
Mr STONE: The point of my answer is that, on this side of the Chamber, we are deadly serious about domestic violence. As I said at the campaign launch, domestic violence is crime. It will be prosecuted with the full force of the law, and the last thing ...
Page 888
Mrs Hickey interjecting.
Members interjecting.
Mr Ede: You have knocked off our motions on this time and again.
Mr STONE: Do not interrupt. You do not want to hear the answer.
The last thing that is needed is for the member for Fannie Bay to trivialise domestic violence in the way that she tried to do last week.
Ms Martin: Shame!
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Page 889
Mr Ede: Shame!
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, the Leader of the Opposition interjects `shame', but he should be ashamed of the question that the member for Fannie Bay asked at the conclusion of last week's sittings. However, I will return to that in a moment. Obviously, the member for Fannie Bay, is trying to
Page 887
recover some ground because, if she has received half the representations that I have had from women's groups, she would realise that she has really put her foot in it.
Ms Martin: Which women's groups?
Mr STONE: She has put her foot right in it.
Ms Martin: Come on, name them!
Mr STONE: May I say to the member for Fannie Bay that I am aware of the difficulties facing Dawn House. This matter was raised with me on the day on which I launched the campaign, `It's Got to Stop ...'. It is a shame that the member for Fannie Bay will not give even a little credit to the government for everything that it has done in this area, not only in recent times but also over the last 2 to 3 years, starting with the Living With Alcohol program and including the program put in place in relation to domestic violence on Aboriginal communities.
I return to the point that I raised at the outset of my answer. This was a quote that I wrote down from one of the meetings that I had. It refers to the member for Fannie Bay:
Let's be clear what she did. She trivialised, undermined, refocused and confused the issue of
domestic violence and, instead, promoted a particular brand of iced coffee in a debate about how women are
portrayed in advertising.
That came from someone who I think would be generally on her own side of politics. However, what they saw that she had done ...
Mr Ede: Who is this?
Mr STONE: What she did was unforgivable. She tried to be half-smart and trivialised ...
Mrs HICKEY: A point of order, Mr Speaker! The question that the Chief Minister is answering now was asked last week.
Mr Stone: Oh, we do not want to hear about it?
Mrs HICKEY: Admittedly, it was the subject of public debate, but it is not the subject of the question that the member for Fannie Bay has asked now. This is a very serious question. Mr Speaker, I ask that you direct the Chief Minister to answer the question that has been asked this morning, not last week.
Mr SPEAKER: I ask the Chief Minister to come to the point of his answer to the question that he has been asked.
Mr STONE: The point of my answer is that, on this side of the Chamber, we are deadly serious about domestic violence. As I said at the campaign launch, domestic violence is crime. It will be prosecuted with the full force of the law, and the last thing ...
Page 888
Mrs Hickey interjecting.
Members interjecting.
Mr Ede: You have knocked off our motions on this time and again.
Mr STONE: Do not interrupt. You do not want to hear the answer.
The last thing that is needed is for the member for Fannie Bay to trivialise domestic violence in the way that she tried to do last week.
Ms Martin: Shame!
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Page 889
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016