Mr BAILEY - 1996-10-16
Prime Minister Howard has accepted the resignation of Jim Short and Brian Gibson in exactly the same circumstances as we have heard today concerning the Deputy Chief Minister. Will the Chief Minister follow John Howard's precedent or will he allow a lower standard of conduct to apply to ministers in the Northern Territory?
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ANSWER
Mr Speaker, I make it very clear that the Deputy Chief Minister has not offered his resignation, nor do I expect him to do so. For the benefit of people listening to this broadcast, let us be very clear about the circumstances that apply here because they are quite different.
Members interjecting.
Mr STONE: We hear the feigned outrage of the member for MacDonnell who sits there with a look of great concern on his face.
Mr Bell: Tell us what the difference is.
Mr STONE: There is a big difference between ministers who took decisions that had a direct impact on the shareholdings of the companies concerned ...
Members interjecting.
Mr STONE: You have not made that allegation here. You have come into this Chamber and made a sweeping allegation that some shares, which have been listed on his pecuniary interest return for up to 9 years, are suddenly the source of a major scandal and have become a major problem. Let me explain to you the accepted definition of a conflict of interest. It is where a person actually enriches themselves by virtue of their office. That is clearly not the case in relation to the Deputy Chief Minister.
You really are followers. You do not have an original idea in your heads. I told you that yesterday. You seem to lack totally the capacity to come into this parliament with anything that you have thought about. You seem to lack any capacity at all to come up with an idea to make the Territory an even better place than it is today. I can picture you all in your caucus room, turning on the television to see what has happened in Canberra, to see what they are doing and deciding to do the same. That is exactly what your strategy might be.
I watched `Black Hole' Beazley, the man who left Australia with a deficit of $8300m after he misled the electorate before the election. He was running up and down the frontbench, referring to the `millionaire row' of the Liberal Party and the National Party. As an interesting comparison, I thought about my colleagues. We are pretty ordinary people. We all live in pretty ordinary places. In fact, I do not think any one of us actually owns his or her own home. Has anyone paid off their mortgage?
Mr Finch interjecting.
Mr STONE: Fred has paid off his mortgage. I continue to have mortgages. There are no millionaires on this side. We are all very ordinary people. None of us has enriched himself by virtue of his office. That is what a conflict of interest is all about. It is where you enrich yourself and derive a benefit by using your office improperly. That was why those parliamentary secretaries went.
Mrs Hickey interjecting.
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Mr STONE: Do not come in here and try to make this comparison. The Leader of the Opposition interjects. This is the lady who says that Shane Stone is a wealthy man and that he has 2 houses. Of course, she does not tell Territorians that she has 2 houses. That must make her rich too. Let me tell her that I have 3 mortgages. I do not know how many she has.
There is a clear distinction between ministers who enrich themselves by virtue of the decisions they take as opposed to the Deputy Chief Minister who has been on the record for 9 years as holding shares in companies that became defunct. You cannot draw the threads. You must be joking.
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Page 1703
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, I make it very clear that the Deputy Chief Minister has not offered his resignation, nor do I expect him to do so. For the benefit of people listening to this broadcast, let us be very clear about the circumstances that apply here because they are quite different.
Members interjecting.
Mr STONE: We hear the feigned outrage of the member for MacDonnell who sits there with a look of great concern on his face.
Mr Bell: Tell us what the difference is.
Mr STONE: There is a big difference between ministers who took decisions that had a direct impact on the shareholdings of the companies concerned ...
Members interjecting.
Mr STONE: You have not made that allegation here. You have come into this Chamber and made a sweeping allegation that some shares, which have been listed on his pecuniary interest return for up to 9 years, are suddenly the source of a major scandal and have become a major problem. Let me explain to you the accepted definition of a conflict of interest. It is where a person actually enriches themselves by virtue of their office. That is clearly not the case in relation to the Deputy Chief Minister.
You really are followers. You do not have an original idea in your heads. I told you that yesterday. You seem to lack totally the capacity to come into this parliament with anything that you have thought about. You seem to lack any capacity at all to come up with an idea to make the Territory an even better place than it is today. I can picture you all in your caucus room, turning on the television to see what has happened in Canberra, to see what they are doing and deciding to do the same. That is exactly what your strategy might be.
I watched `Black Hole' Beazley, the man who left Australia with a deficit of $8300m after he misled the electorate before the election. He was running up and down the frontbench, referring to the `millionaire row' of the Liberal Party and the National Party. As an interesting comparison, I thought about my colleagues. We are pretty ordinary people. We all live in pretty ordinary places. In fact, I do not think any one of us actually owns his or her own home. Has anyone paid off their mortgage?
Mr Finch interjecting.
Mr STONE: Fred has paid off his mortgage. I continue to have mortgages. There are no millionaires on this side. We are all very ordinary people. None of us has enriched himself by virtue of his office. That is what a conflict of interest is all about. It is where you enrich yourself and derive a benefit by using your office improperly. That was why those parliamentary secretaries went.
Mrs Hickey interjecting.
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Mr STONE: Do not come in here and try to make this comparison. The Leader of the Opposition interjects. This is the lady who says that Shane Stone is a wealthy man and that he has 2 houses. Of course, she does not tell Territorians that she has 2 houses. That must make her rich too. Let me tell her that I have 3 mortgages. I do not know how many she has.
There is a clear distinction between ministers who enrich themselves by virtue of the decisions they take as opposed to the Deputy Chief Minister who has been on the record for 9 years as holding shares in companies that became defunct. You cannot draw the threads. You must be joking.
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Last updated: 09 Aug 2016