Mr AH KIT - 1996-11-28
On 8 November, the federal Privacy Commissioner told a Darwin radio station: `It is terribly important that there be no suggestion of political involvement or political interference in the ballot itself, or the information handling processes about electors that surround the ballot. It is absolutely critical that that kind of data be held strictly by an independent agency'. Will the Chief Minister concede that an independent agency must be established to administer the Territory's electoral process and that, until that independent agency is established, the Territory's electoral process will be subjected to political interference by the Country Liberal Party?
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ANSWER
Mr Speaker, that is not a bad effort from the member for Arnhem who claimed that all those files and the database on electors in his own electorate had been stolen from his electorate office. He precipitated a police investigation only to find that his campaign workers had been down at the pub on the grog all the afternoon and had left all the papers lying around in the hotel. It is not bad that he should get to his feet and make the allegations that he has made this morning.
Let me refute the suggestion very clearly, so that he understands. There has been no interference with the Northern Territory Electoral Office which is run at arm's-length from my office. The member should understand that, in a small jurisdiction where there is a sharing of resources, including computer mainframes, that position will continue. We will not go down the path of window-dressing to dispel his crazy conspiracy theories that somehow the CLP is placed in a more advantageous position than the Labor Party. Members opposite should remember that the Electoral Office provides exactly the same information, from electoral rolls, to the ALP as it does to the CLP or indeed to any other political party. The ALP is treated no differently from the CLP in the information it can obtain from the Electoral Office.
Mr Ah Kit interjecting.
Mr STONE: The member for Arnhem may shake his head. He knows that, as a member of this Legislative Assembly, he has direct access to that information ...
Ms Martin: I don't receive it.
Mr STONE: The member for Fannie Bay says that she does not receive it. I suggest she go back and look in her electorate office because she does. She also has a shell document in which she is able to type all the relevant information she wants to hold, including date of birth, if that is what she wants to include on her database.
Ms Martin interjecting.
Mr Bailey interjecting.
Mr STONE: It is there. I know it is there because I sought clarification from officers of the Department of Legislative Assembly to ascertain whether that standard shell, which makes provision for date of birth and other information, is extended to all members of the Legislative Assembly. It is.
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Page 1860
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, that is not a bad effort from the member for Arnhem who claimed that all those files and the database on electors in his own electorate had been stolen from his electorate office. He precipitated a police investigation only to find that his campaign workers had been down at the pub on the grog all the afternoon and had left all the papers lying around in the hotel. It is not bad that he should get to his feet and make the allegations that he has made this morning.
Let me refute the suggestion very clearly, so that he understands. There has been no interference with the Northern Territory Electoral Office which is run at arm's-length from my office. The member should understand that, in a small jurisdiction where there is a sharing of resources, including computer mainframes, that position will continue. We will not go down the path of window-dressing to dispel his crazy conspiracy theories that somehow the CLP is placed in a more advantageous position than the Labor Party. Members opposite should remember that the Electoral Office provides exactly the same information, from electoral rolls, to the ALP as it does to the CLP or indeed to any other political party. The ALP is treated no differently from the CLP in the information it can obtain from the Electoral Office.
Mr Ah Kit interjecting.
Mr STONE: The member for Arnhem may shake his head. He knows that, as a member of this Legislative Assembly, he has direct access to that information ...
Ms Martin: I don't receive it.
Mr STONE: The member for Fannie Bay says that she does not receive it. I suggest she go back and look in her electorate office because she does. She also has a shell document in which she is able to type all the relevant information she wants to hold, including date of birth, if that is what she wants to include on her database.
Ms Martin interjecting.
Mr Bailey interjecting.
Mr STONE: It is there. I know it is there because I sought clarification from officers of the Department of Legislative Assembly to ascertain whether that standard shell, which makes provision for date of birth and other information, is extended to all members of the Legislative Assembly. It is.
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Last updated: 09 Aug 2016