Mrs BRAHAM - 1996-09-17
Is it true that the member for Barkly, the Leader of the Opposition, has admitted that the Territory branch of the Australian Labor Party actually indulges in so-called `dirty tricks' activities during Northern Territory elections?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, what a remarkable admission this was! This was on 8DDD on 6 September. The Leader of the Opposition shakes her head. This was the lead-in: `Territory Labor leader Maggie Hickey says she doubts Labor would need to use any dirty tricks in the Stuart by-election'.
Mrs Hickey: That is right.
Mr STONE: She says that it is right. She then went on to say: `I do not think we need them in this case'.
Members interjecting.
Mr STONE: Here we have it - a confirmation from the Labor Party, pure as the driven snow. `We will not do those things. We do not go around telling the people that Tony Bohning is no longer the endorsed candidate'. Isn't that a beauty? I encountered that in
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3 communities: `Those Labor people have been here and told us that Bohning is not the candidate any longer'.
Mrs Hickey: Wrong!
Mr STONE: This was you. You are the same people who tell Aboriginal Territorians that the Country Liberal Party government will take their land rights from them, will compromise their sacred sites and will take their CDEP programs from them. These are the dirty tricks used by Labor in Aboriginal communities, and you have been caught out. You have made an admission. Unless it was the same impersonator ringing again, your words were: `I don't think we need them in this case'. That is the admission we have been waiting for. You stand condemned by the tactics you use.
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ANSWER
Mr Speaker, what a remarkable admission this was! This was on 8DDD on 6 September. The Leader of the Opposition shakes her head. This was the lead-in: `Territory Labor leader Maggie Hickey says she doubts Labor would need to use any dirty tricks in the Stuart by-election'.
Mrs Hickey: That is right.
Mr STONE: She says that it is right. She then went on to say: `I do not think we need them in this case'.
Members interjecting.
Mr STONE: Here we have it - a confirmation from the Labor Party, pure as the driven snow. `We will not do those things. We do not go around telling the people that Tony Bohning is no longer the endorsed candidate'. Isn't that a beauty? I encountered that in
Page 1581
3 communities: `Those Labor people have been here and told us that Bohning is not the candidate any longer'.
Mrs Hickey: Wrong!
Mr STONE: This was you. You are the same people who tell Aboriginal Territorians that the Country Liberal Party government will take their land rights from them, will compromise their sacred sites and will take their CDEP programs from them. These are the dirty tricks used by Labor in Aboriginal communities, and you have been caught out. You have made an admission. Unless it was the same impersonator ringing again, your words were: `I don't think we need them in this case'. That is the admission we have been waiting for. You stand condemned by the tactics you use.
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Last updated: 09 Aug 2016