Mr BAILEY (Wanguri): - 1997-04-23
Mr BAILEY (Wanguri): Mr Speaker, considering that the Chief Minister spent about half-an-hour maligning me today ...
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Mr SPEAKER: You have 3 minutes.
Mr BAILEY: Mr Speaker, I seek leave to suspend so much of standing orders as would prevent me from moving a censure motion against the Chief Minister, if you want a debate on it.
Mr Stone: On what?
Mr BAILEY: On my personal explanation. If the Speaker is not prepared ...
Members interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr BAILEY: After being maligned on 4 different occasions ...
Mr SPEAKER: Order! The member for Wanguri will resume his seat. There are clear guidelines for personal explanations. They are at the discretion of the Chair. You understand the guidelines and you have not complied with them. I am extending to you the courtesy of making a personal explanation. You may make it. You have 2 minutes.
Mr BAILEY: Mr Speaker, the first issue raised is the only one I will have an opportunity to deal with in my personal explanation. It is in relation to correspondence that I received from the Commissioner of Police. I wrote to the commissioner on Thursday 13 March. I seek leave to table that letter in which I wrote:
I specifically ask you to investigate possible breaches of:
(1) section 5 of the Financial Administration and Audit Act which governs the manner in which trust
accounts are utilised; and
(2) Treasurer's Direction 18.12 which governs the retention of government records.
Leave granted.
Mr BAILEY: Mr Speaker, on 3 April, I received the first letter from the Commissioner of Police in answer to mine. It said:
The matters you raise have been considered and the Public Accounts Committee report has been examined.
If that is all the police did, I have concerns.
It is my view that correct procedures have been followed - that is, the Auditor-General has
investigated the matters you are concerned about and has reported on them. ... Both reports identified
administrative shortcomings.
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The morning I received that letter, I rang the Auditor-General and I wrote to him. He stated categorically:
I confirm that no representative of the Northern Territory Auditor-General's Office has investigated the
grants to the North Australian Film Corporation, nor reported on them.
The letter ...
Mr Stone interjecting.
Mr BAILEY: Give me my 3 minutes, you little worm.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! The member will withdraw.
Mr BAILEY: I withdraw that, Mr Speaker.
The letter from the Commissioner of Police was false. The interesting point about the letter from the Commissioner of Police was that the exact same falsehood has been stated by the member for Braitling, on television and in the Public Accounts Committee. The exact same falsehood has been stated by the Minister for Asian Relations, Trade and Industry, and the exact same falsehood has been repeated by the Chief Minister. That falsehood is that the Auditor-General has ...
Mr PALMER: A point of order, Mr Speaker! This is in no way a personal explanation. The member is now debating issues about the Auditor-General. He does not seem to be aggrieved at all. The point of a personal explanation is to explain some point of personal grievance that the member may have suffered.
Mr SPEAKER: There is a point of order: The member should not be introducing any material at all in a personal explanation speech ...
Mr Bailey: Mr Speaker ...
Mr SPEAKER: Order! The honourable member's time has expired.
Mr BAILEY: Mr Speaker, I dissent from your ruling.
Mr SPEAKER: I have not made a ruling.
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Page 2050
Mr SPEAKER: You have 3 minutes.
Mr BAILEY: Mr Speaker, I seek leave to suspend so much of standing orders as would prevent me from moving a censure motion against the Chief Minister, if you want a debate on it.
Mr Stone: On what?
Mr BAILEY: On my personal explanation. If the Speaker is not prepared ...
Members interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr BAILEY: After being maligned on 4 different occasions ...
Mr SPEAKER: Order! The member for Wanguri will resume his seat. There are clear guidelines for personal explanations. They are at the discretion of the Chair. You understand the guidelines and you have not complied with them. I am extending to you the courtesy of making a personal explanation. You may make it. You have 2 minutes.
Mr BAILEY: Mr Speaker, the first issue raised is the only one I will have an opportunity to deal with in my personal explanation. It is in relation to correspondence that I received from the Commissioner of Police. I wrote to the commissioner on Thursday 13 March. I seek leave to table that letter in which I wrote:
I specifically ask you to investigate possible breaches of:
(1) section 5 of the Financial Administration and Audit Act which governs the manner in which trust
accounts are utilised; and
(2) Treasurer's Direction 18.12 which governs the retention of government records.
Leave granted.
Mr BAILEY: Mr Speaker, on 3 April, I received the first letter from the Commissioner of Police in answer to mine. It said:
The matters you raise have been considered and the Public Accounts Committee report has been examined.
If that is all the police did, I have concerns.
It is my view that correct procedures have been followed - that is, the Auditor-General has
investigated the matters you are concerned about and has reported on them. ... Both reports identified
administrative shortcomings.
Page 2051
The morning I received that letter, I rang the Auditor-General and I wrote to him. He stated categorically:
I confirm that no representative of the Northern Territory Auditor-General's Office has investigated the
grants to the North Australian Film Corporation, nor reported on them.
The letter ...
Mr Stone interjecting.
Mr BAILEY: Give me my 3 minutes, you little worm.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! The member will withdraw.
Mr BAILEY: I withdraw that, Mr Speaker.
The letter from the Commissioner of Police was false. The interesting point about the letter from the Commissioner of Police was that the exact same falsehood has been stated by the member for Braitling, on television and in the Public Accounts Committee. The exact same falsehood has been stated by the Minister for Asian Relations, Trade and Industry, and the exact same falsehood has been repeated by the Chief Minister. That falsehood is that the Auditor-General has ...
Mr PALMER: A point of order, Mr Speaker! This is in no way a personal explanation. The member is now debating issues about the Auditor-General. He does not seem to be aggrieved at all. The point of a personal explanation is to explain some point of personal grievance that the member may have suffered.
Mr SPEAKER: There is a point of order: The member should not be introducing any material at all in a personal explanation speech ...
Mr Bailey: Mr Speaker ...
Mr SPEAKER: Order! The honourable member's time has expired.
Mr BAILEY: Mr Speaker, I dissent from your ruling.
Mr SPEAKER: I have not made a ruling.
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Last updated: 09 Aug 2016