Mr ADAMSON - 1996-02-29
Following yesterday's attempts to pass off fake documents and the earlier revelation that Territory funding was to be cut by $27m, what else can Territorians expect from the federal Treasurer, Mr Willis, if Labor is given another chance after Saturday's poll?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, the member for Casuarina is aware of the implications for Territorians of the $27m cut that we would face under a re-elected Labor federal government.
Mr Bailey: The conservatives are the ones who will cut funds to the Territory, and Nick Dondas supports them.
Mr REED: He knows when the implementation will be. He is not an apologist, as the member for Wanguri or the Leader of the Opposition or other members opposite are for Hon Warren Snowdon. It was Warren Snowdon who sold Territorians a $16m increase ...
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Mr EDE: A point of order, Mr Speaker! The honourable minister must refer to the federal member by his correct title.
Mr REED: Hon Warren Snowdon MHR, member for the Northern Territory, Labor Party, representing Canberra in the Northern Territory.
Members interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr REED: Mr Speaker, Warren Snowdon MHR, Canberra representative, is telling Territorians they will receive a $16m increase when in actual fact they will suffer a $27m cut. They can be apologists for Warren Snowdon, they can be apologists for the Canberra Labor Party, but the fact is that we are in for a cut. I can see where the Leader of the Opposition was coming from last week. It has all become transparent following yesterday's revelations that the federal Treasurer was using a fraudulent document ...
A member: A forgery.
Mr REED: Indeed, he was using a forgery to present his case?
Mr Bailey: Where did it come from? Your mates who do your push-polling for you.
Mr REED: Members will recall that a couple of weeks ago ...
Mr Bailey: Dirty tactics ...
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr Stone: You didn't take your medicine this morning, did you?
Mr Bailey: At least we do not lie on our side.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! I ask the member for Wanguri to withdraw that remark.
Mr BAILEY: Mr Speaker, I withdraw.
Mr REED: Mr Speaker, I think listeners to this broadcast would understand even if the member for Wanguri does not. Early in this federal election campaign, we heard the federal Treasurer refuse to rule out more tax increases if the Labor government were re-elected. Since then, he has been on the witness protection program. He has been stuck in a cupboard somewhere until yesterday because they did not want him to make any more gaffes. This is the federal Treasurer, supported strongly by the Leader of the Opposition and his colleagues opposite.
Paul Keating told Australians that there was a hole - `a Grand Canyon of fiscal holes'. The Prime Minister referred to between $6000m and $8000m in the Coalition's promises and the policies that it will implement as of Monday next week, once it is in government. He was
Page 1248
proved wrong yesterday - by his own finance and treasury people. What did the federal Treasurer say? He contradicted his boss. The Treasurer said it would only be a $3000m hole. When the documentation was released yesterday, provided by federal Treasury and the Department of Finance, even Laurie Oakes, the great supporter of the Australian Labor Party, referred to it on television as a piddling amount. That is what they are saying is a hole in the Coalition's policies.
Mr Bailey: $1600m.
Mr REED: $1200m actually - get your facts right. The member for Wanguri always has a problem with getting his numbers right.
Those figures were determined in complete isolation from the Coalition. It was precluded by the federal government from having any involvement with the Department of Finance and Treasury in the assessment of its commitments. That is where Labor is coming from. Members will remember, but in case they do not, we will put it on the record for them. If the Leader of the Opposition and the member for Wanguri do not accept it as fact, that is fraud. And that is what they are depending on to argue to Territorians ...
Mr Ede: You said you could do a deal with him.
Mr REED: We know how you can do a deal with Willis as the federal Treasurer. You will recall the commitment you made last Tuesday.
Members interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr REED: The Leader of the Opposition: `I give a guarantee that I will go down to Canberra after the election and have a yarn to Ralph Willis, presumably the Labor federal Treasurer ...' - he was a bit doubtful even last Tuesday - `... and I will secure an increase of over $15m for the Northern Territory'. I do not think you will be seeing Ralph Willis next week. Even if the government is re-elected, he will not be Treasurer after yesterday.
Look at the newspaper headlines today: The Age, `Willis: `I was wrong'; the West Australian, `Labor Rocked by Forgery Bungle' ...
Members interjecting.
Mr REED: I can see how the Leader of the Opposition would relate to working with this man so closely, given his performance in relation to blue cows and the gas leak in Alice Springs. What about his letters to convicted murderers on how to run the prison system? I can see how he could relate to fraud and forgery.
The Daily Telegraph has the same story ...
Members interjecting.
Page 1249
Mr Bailey: This is the person who lied ...
Mr SPEAKER: Order! I ask the member to withdraw that remark and the implication.
Mr BAILEY: Mr Speaker, I withdraw. I also place ...
Mr SPEAKER: Order! You will do so without comment. The member for Wanguri will sit down. I am warning the member for Wanguri. Next time, he will be named.
Mr REED: Here are some other headlines: The Financial Review, `Labor's Costly Bungle'; The Australian, `Forgery Row: Labor Attack Backfires'; the Courier Mail, `Willis Under Fire Over Forged Letters'. The point of all of this is the relationship that the Leader of the Opposition purports to have with the federal government and this man, the user of forged letters. He was to be our saviour. He was going to negotiate with Willis to obtain more than $15m for us. The point is that this federal Labor government has promised Territorians a $27m cut. That is what we face if it is re-elected on Saturday. Opposition members blindly support the Canberra man in the Northern Territory, Hon Warren Snowdon. They are apologists for his support for a $27m cut for Territorians - $156 for every man, woman and child in the Northern Territory. That is what federal Labor is offering us on Saturday.
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ANSWER
Mr Speaker, the member for Casuarina is aware of the implications for Territorians of the $27m cut that we would face under a re-elected Labor federal government.
Mr Bailey: The conservatives are the ones who will cut funds to the Territory, and Nick Dondas supports them.
Mr REED: He knows when the implementation will be. He is not an apologist, as the member for Wanguri or the Leader of the Opposition or other members opposite are for Hon Warren Snowdon. It was Warren Snowdon who sold Territorians a $16m increase ...
Page 1247
Mr EDE: A point of order, Mr Speaker! The honourable minister must refer to the federal member by his correct title.
Mr REED: Hon Warren Snowdon MHR, member for the Northern Territory, Labor Party, representing Canberra in the Northern Territory.
Members interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr REED: Mr Speaker, Warren Snowdon MHR, Canberra representative, is telling Territorians they will receive a $16m increase when in actual fact they will suffer a $27m cut. They can be apologists for Warren Snowdon, they can be apologists for the Canberra Labor Party, but the fact is that we are in for a cut. I can see where the Leader of the Opposition was coming from last week. It has all become transparent following yesterday's revelations that the federal Treasurer was using a fraudulent document ...
A member: A forgery.
Mr REED: Indeed, he was using a forgery to present his case?
Mr Bailey: Where did it come from? Your mates who do your push-polling for you.
Mr REED: Members will recall that a couple of weeks ago ...
Mr Bailey: Dirty tactics ...
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr Stone: You didn't take your medicine this morning, did you?
Mr Bailey: At least we do not lie on our side.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! I ask the member for Wanguri to withdraw that remark.
Mr BAILEY: Mr Speaker, I withdraw.
Mr REED: Mr Speaker, I think listeners to this broadcast would understand even if the member for Wanguri does not. Early in this federal election campaign, we heard the federal Treasurer refuse to rule out more tax increases if the Labor government were re-elected. Since then, he has been on the witness protection program. He has been stuck in a cupboard somewhere until yesterday because they did not want him to make any more gaffes. This is the federal Treasurer, supported strongly by the Leader of the Opposition and his colleagues opposite.
Paul Keating told Australians that there was a hole - `a Grand Canyon of fiscal holes'. The Prime Minister referred to between $6000m and $8000m in the Coalition's promises and the policies that it will implement as of Monday next week, once it is in government. He was
Page 1248
proved wrong yesterday - by his own finance and treasury people. What did the federal Treasurer say? He contradicted his boss. The Treasurer said it would only be a $3000m hole. When the documentation was released yesterday, provided by federal Treasury and the Department of Finance, even Laurie Oakes, the great supporter of the Australian Labor Party, referred to it on television as a piddling amount. That is what they are saying is a hole in the Coalition's policies.
Mr Bailey: $1600m.
Mr REED: $1200m actually - get your facts right. The member for Wanguri always has a problem with getting his numbers right.
Those figures were determined in complete isolation from the Coalition. It was precluded by the federal government from having any involvement with the Department of Finance and Treasury in the assessment of its commitments. That is where Labor is coming from. Members will remember, but in case they do not, we will put it on the record for them. If the Leader of the Opposition and the member for Wanguri do not accept it as fact, that is fraud. And that is what they are depending on to argue to Territorians ...
Mr Ede: You said you could do a deal with him.
Mr REED: We know how you can do a deal with Willis as the federal Treasurer. You will recall the commitment you made last Tuesday.
Members interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr REED: The Leader of the Opposition: `I give a guarantee that I will go down to Canberra after the election and have a yarn to Ralph Willis, presumably the Labor federal Treasurer ...' - he was a bit doubtful even last Tuesday - `... and I will secure an increase of over $15m for the Northern Territory'. I do not think you will be seeing Ralph Willis next week. Even if the government is re-elected, he will not be Treasurer after yesterday.
Look at the newspaper headlines today: The Age, `Willis: `I was wrong'; the West Australian, `Labor Rocked by Forgery Bungle' ...
Members interjecting.
Mr REED: I can see how the Leader of the Opposition would relate to working with this man so closely, given his performance in relation to blue cows and the gas leak in Alice Springs. What about his letters to convicted murderers on how to run the prison system? I can see how he could relate to fraud and forgery.
The Daily Telegraph has the same story ...
Members interjecting.
Page 1249
Mr Bailey: This is the person who lied ...
Mr SPEAKER: Order! I ask the member to withdraw that remark and the implication.
Mr BAILEY: Mr Speaker, I withdraw. I also place ...
Mr SPEAKER: Order! You will do so without comment. The member for Wanguri will sit down. I am warning the member for Wanguri. Next time, he will be named.
Mr REED: Here are some other headlines: The Financial Review, `Labor's Costly Bungle'; The Australian, `Forgery Row: Labor Attack Backfires'; the Courier Mail, `Willis Under Fire Over Forged Letters'. The point of all of this is the relationship that the Leader of the Opposition purports to have with the federal government and this man, the user of forged letters. He was to be our saviour. He was going to negotiate with Willis to obtain more than $15m for us. The point is that this federal Labor government has promised Territorians a $27m cut. That is what we face if it is re-elected on Saturday. Opposition members blindly support the Canberra man in the Northern Territory, Hon Warren Snowdon. They are apologists for his support for a $27m cut for Territorians - $156 for every man, woman and child in the Northern Territory. That is what federal Labor is offering us on Saturday.
Page 1250
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016