Mr BAILEY - 1995-05-24
The minister issued a press statement which claims that Territory Labor members are out of touch because we rightly rejected the government's crazy proposal to police public drunkenness and its attendant problems throughout the Territory by telling town and city councils to employ 7 council inspectors and give them police-like powers. Since then, this harebrained scheme has been rejected as unworkable by the Darwin Business Association, the Northern Territory Police Association, Aboriginal Legal Aid services, the Julalikari Council and night patrol, various aldermen from town and city councils, and the Mayor of Alice Springs who is a former senior police officer. In the face of this overwhelming rejection, will the minister concede that the scheme is impracticable and unworkable, and will he fight for more police resources to allow the police to get on with their job?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, I will treat the question in 2 parts. With regard to police resources, I remind the member of what was said yesterday. Obviously, it takes time for issues to penetrate his head and for him to understand them. As I said yesterday, the Northern Territory government ...
Mr Ede: You have only one answer.
Mr MANZIE: The Leader of the Opposition may want to interrupt me to prevent my reinforcing the message to the community because it is contrary to the misinformation that he has been spreading. However, I ask that he be quiet because it is important that the community receives the correct message and not the misinformation that the Labor Party has been promoting continually.
The government accepted the McAulay/Bowe recommendation regarding ...
Mr Bailey: The minister was so incompetent that he wanted to hand it over to city councils because you could not handle it.
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Mr MANZIE: The member for Wanguri makes a great deal of noise. We are aware of the old saying that empty vessels make the most noise, and he is a good example.
I will continue. We accepted the McAulay/Bowe recommendation regarding the size of the establishment of the police force. Contrary to the opposition's comments, we undertook to increase the police force establishment by 40. We approved that. Funded by the government, the police force has engaged in an extremely rapid recruiting program. As I pointed out yesterday, more than 100 people had been recruited in the 12 months to last January. In the next budget period, I am advised that 56 recruits in 2 schools will start training in July, 26 auxiliaries will commence training on 24 July; and a further 2 schools of 56 will commence on 15 January. A recruit school of 30 is in training at the moment. In that 12-month period, an extra 138 personnel will be recruited.
The lie that we hear continually is that, somehow or other, the government is not doing anything about increasing the establishment of personnel in the police force. In fact, this is the most intensive recruiting program that we have seen in the Northern Territory. At the end of June 1996, more police will be operating in the Northern Territory than ever before, contrary to the opposition's promises. Members opposite said that they would direct the Commissioner of Police to rearrange his operation in order to place 40 more people in the street. They said they would interfere with the management processes of the police force, which would have created quite an interesting scenario. That was what they promised the community. By contrast, we are increasing the police establishment by 30, as well as undertaking to allow recruitment to reach a full 100 by ...
Mr Stirling: When will Nhulunbuy get one of those 40, one of those 100, one of those 150? When will we get one, just one! You have not answered that question in 3 days.
Mr MANZIE: We know that the member for Nhulunbuy drinks water that is adulterated with bauxite and, obviously ...
A member: It is not!
Mr MANZIE: There is something about the behaviour of the present member for Nhulunbuy that is very similar to the behaviour of the previous member for Nhulunbuy, who had a propensity to scream wildly and loudly, and behave in a most irrational manner.
Mr Stirling interjecting.
Mr MANZIE: He is either drinking or eating something which is interfering with the normal behaviour processes, but I digress.
Mr Stirling: No answer? You will not answer.
Mr MANZIE: I come to the second part of the question. Firstly, the misinformation promulgated by the ALP is that the solution the government has put forward provides for 2 men and a Toyota to tackle the problem. That is not correct. It is not what the minister said. It is not what I have said. It is not what any member of the government has said that the moneys raised by the bladder tax will go to. They will be used to provide additional resources
Page 590
to fight the problem of social misbehaviour in our community, a situation that no Territorian is satisfied with, except perhaps members opposite. I say that because they seek continually to stop, by any means, any action to try to clean up the social misbehaviour experienced in our society. This process deals with additional resources, to go to councils, to help with the problem. It is to reinforce the action that can be taken against antisocial behaviour.
I for one will not support the concept of police being required to police council by-laws in regard to illegal camping. Members opposite may want to do that, but that is not the role of the police. I will not support the concept of police being required to pick up litter. That is not the role of the police. It is the role of the councils. There are a number of other areas where police have no responsibility, but the problem is there. To tackle this problem, we need an approach which engages the cooperation of a number of agencies. For example, in Alice Springs, the Arrernte group, the Tangentyere Council, the police, the Alice Springs Town Council, the Four Corners Council ...
Mr Ede: They have rejected it.
Mr MANZIE: They have rejected a concept that the opposition proposed. I know that because I have been to Alice Springs over the last few months, meeting with the Arrernte group, the Tangentyere Council, the town council and the police, to discuss a joint approach. This includes the provision of funds to provide vehicles and personnel to assist in trying to address the problem in Alice Springs. These are the facts, not the untruth put out by the opposition that somehow or other the government will drop the concept of an approach to this problem by all agencies but address it with only 2 men and a Toyota. That is not true. The community will realise that that is not true and will realise that it has been let down again by misinformation from members opposite.
If they want further details about this particular initiative, members opposite should address their questions to the Minister for Health and Community Services, who has carriage of this matter. For the last time, I will say that any inference by members opposite, that somehow or other this process is to replace the police, is a lie. Any inference by members opposite that this process will be the only means by which the government will tackle this problem is a lie. I tell the community not to believe them.
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ANSWER
Mr Speaker, I will treat the question in 2 parts. With regard to police resources, I remind the member of what was said yesterday. Obviously, it takes time for issues to penetrate his head and for him to understand them. As I said yesterday, the Northern Territory government ...
Mr Ede: You have only one answer.
Mr MANZIE: The Leader of the Opposition may want to interrupt me to prevent my reinforcing the message to the community because it is contrary to the misinformation that he has been spreading. However, I ask that he be quiet because it is important that the community receives the correct message and not the misinformation that the Labor Party has been promoting continually.
The government accepted the McAulay/Bowe recommendation regarding ...
Mr Bailey: The minister was so incompetent that he wanted to hand it over to city councils because you could not handle it.
Page 589
Mr MANZIE: The member for Wanguri makes a great deal of noise. We are aware of the old saying that empty vessels make the most noise, and he is a good example.
I will continue. We accepted the McAulay/Bowe recommendation regarding the size of the establishment of the police force. Contrary to the opposition's comments, we undertook to increase the police force establishment by 40. We approved that. Funded by the government, the police force has engaged in an extremely rapid recruiting program. As I pointed out yesterday, more than 100 people had been recruited in the 12 months to last January. In the next budget period, I am advised that 56 recruits in 2 schools will start training in July, 26 auxiliaries will commence training on 24 July; and a further 2 schools of 56 will commence on 15 January. A recruit school of 30 is in training at the moment. In that 12-month period, an extra 138 personnel will be recruited.
The lie that we hear continually is that, somehow or other, the government is not doing anything about increasing the establishment of personnel in the police force. In fact, this is the most intensive recruiting program that we have seen in the Northern Territory. At the end of June 1996, more police will be operating in the Northern Territory than ever before, contrary to the opposition's promises. Members opposite said that they would direct the Commissioner of Police to rearrange his operation in order to place 40 more people in the street. They said they would interfere with the management processes of the police force, which would have created quite an interesting scenario. That was what they promised the community. By contrast, we are increasing the police establishment by 30, as well as undertaking to allow recruitment to reach a full 100 by ...
Mr Stirling: When will Nhulunbuy get one of those 40, one of those 100, one of those 150? When will we get one, just one! You have not answered that question in 3 days.
Mr MANZIE: We know that the member for Nhulunbuy drinks water that is adulterated with bauxite and, obviously ...
A member: It is not!
Mr MANZIE: There is something about the behaviour of the present member for Nhulunbuy that is very similar to the behaviour of the previous member for Nhulunbuy, who had a propensity to scream wildly and loudly, and behave in a most irrational manner.
Mr Stirling interjecting.
Mr MANZIE: He is either drinking or eating something which is interfering with the normal behaviour processes, but I digress.
Mr Stirling: No answer? You will not answer.
Mr MANZIE: I come to the second part of the question. Firstly, the misinformation promulgated by the ALP is that the solution the government has put forward provides for 2 men and a Toyota to tackle the problem. That is not correct. It is not what the minister said. It is not what I have said. It is not what any member of the government has said that the moneys raised by the bladder tax will go to. They will be used to provide additional resources
Page 590
to fight the problem of social misbehaviour in our community, a situation that no Territorian is satisfied with, except perhaps members opposite. I say that because they seek continually to stop, by any means, any action to try to clean up the social misbehaviour experienced in our society. This process deals with additional resources, to go to councils, to help with the problem. It is to reinforce the action that can be taken against antisocial behaviour.
I for one will not support the concept of police being required to police council by-laws in regard to illegal camping. Members opposite may want to do that, but that is not the role of the police. I will not support the concept of police being required to pick up litter. That is not the role of the police. It is the role of the councils. There are a number of other areas where police have no responsibility, but the problem is there. To tackle this problem, we need an approach which engages the cooperation of a number of agencies. For example, in Alice Springs, the Arrernte group, the Tangentyere Council, the police, the Alice Springs Town Council, the Four Corners Council ...
Mr Ede: They have rejected it.
Mr MANZIE: They have rejected a concept that the opposition proposed. I know that because I have been to Alice Springs over the last few months, meeting with the Arrernte group, the Tangentyere Council, the town council and the police, to discuss a joint approach. This includes the provision of funds to provide vehicles and personnel to assist in trying to address the problem in Alice Springs. These are the facts, not the untruth put out by the opposition that somehow or other the government will drop the concept of an approach to this problem by all agencies but address it with only 2 men and a Toyota. That is not true. The community will realise that that is not true and will realise that it has been let down again by misinformation from members opposite.
If they want further details about this particular initiative, members opposite should address their questions to the Minister for Health and Community Services, who has carriage of this matter. For the last time, I will say that any inference by members opposite, that somehow or other this process is to replace the police, is a lie. Any inference by members opposite that this process will be the only means by which the government will tackle this problem is a lie. I tell the community not to believe them.
Page 591
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016