Mr SETTER - 1996-09-17
Yesterday, the Labor candidate for the seat of Stuart criticised the provision of sports funding in the seat of Stuart. He claimed that communities would not be able to look after the facilities. Is this true?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, I could not believe that a would-be representative of the people in the electorate of Stuart would have the audacity to stand up and criticise the government for building sporting facilities in that electorate. Even worse, he went the extra step and said effectively that, in his opinion, the community government councils and other councils in the electorate are incompetent to maintain toilets and changing rooms at a town oval. If that is his opinion of the people in that electorate, he ought to give up now. He will certainly not be able to represent them.
This person claims that he has been living and working in the area for some years now, and I believe he has. He has been working in the Yuendumu area. Currently, I believe he is helping the unemployed on a contract from DEET. I hope he saves the taxpayers some money by ensuring that he is not being paid for that job while he is fighting the by-election. We do not want any re-elections. I hope that the Leader of the Opposition will ensure that she gets that right at least because that might well save the taxpayers some money. We do not want to go through that exercise again.
The candidate said:
I am very suspicious, I guess, of grants for major facilities out in bush communities without any
provisions for people to run the activities that are associated with them. I do not see any provision for
recreation, sport, physical education to be in place at Ti Tree or in that district.
I can tell honourable members that Anmatjere Community Government Council receives recurrent sponsorship money for a regional recreational officer. Part of that sponsorship money is to enable a recreation officer to travel between the various communities in the Anmatjere Community Government Council area. This Ti Tree-based council is unique. In effect, it is an Aboriginal community government council in what is essentially a white community. It decided that it wanted to join with the Ti Tree Progress Association to form a very successful community government council. Ti Tree is the regional centre for sport, in particular Australian Rules football. I am sure the member for Arafura would be very supportive of the development of Australian Rules football in central Australia. To show how bright this person is, last Saturday the Anmatjere team won the Ngurratjuta Cup ...
Mr SPEAKER: Order! I ask the minister to resume his seat. The member for Wanguri is fully aware of the rules of this House. If I ever hear him cast that sort of aspersion again against the Speaker, he will be gone from the House. I am warning him again. It was not an interjection, but I am warning him that, if he starts that sort of thing in this House, he will go.
Page 1592
Mr HATTON: As I was saying, Mr Speaker, the Anmatjere team won the cup in the community football competition last Saturday night. It is interesting to note that the commentators on the ABC sports program, in their review of sport around the Territory last Saturday night, said that the team was good enough to compete in the CAFL competition. They thought the CAFL should think about inviting the team to move into that higher-level competition. However, this person, who wants to represent these people, says that they cannot have a toilet or a changing room on their major ground. He said that another community in the area should not have grass for its oval. He does not know that we have a recreation officer, even though he used to live at Yuendumu. I should tell him there is also a recreation officer at Yuendumu. Is he saying that the councils in those areas, which applied for the grants, do not have the competence to maintain the facilities they are assisting to build and fund? Is he that much of a paternalist? That is what he is saying.
Labor members often rave about self-determination. Here is an example of self-determination and support for councils to develop facilities that will have a major impact on improving the health and physical condition of Aboriginal people. It may assist them in keeping young people out of trouble. What does the candidate do? He criticises the building of those facilities. He ought to hang his head in shame and get out of this by-election while he still has a chance to show some degree of sensibility.
Page 1593
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, I could not believe that a would-be representative of the people in the electorate of Stuart would have the audacity to stand up and criticise the government for building sporting facilities in that electorate. Even worse, he went the extra step and said effectively that, in his opinion, the community government councils and other councils in the electorate are incompetent to maintain toilets and changing rooms at a town oval. If that is his opinion of the people in that electorate, he ought to give up now. He will certainly not be able to represent them.
This person claims that he has been living and working in the area for some years now, and I believe he has. He has been working in the Yuendumu area. Currently, I believe he is helping the unemployed on a contract from DEET. I hope he saves the taxpayers some money by ensuring that he is not being paid for that job while he is fighting the by-election. We do not want any re-elections. I hope that the Leader of the Opposition will ensure that she gets that right at least because that might well save the taxpayers some money. We do not want to go through that exercise again.
The candidate said:
I am very suspicious, I guess, of grants for major facilities out in bush communities without any
provisions for people to run the activities that are associated with them. I do not see any provision for
recreation, sport, physical education to be in place at Ti Tree or in that district.
I can tell honourable members that Anmatjere Community Government Council receives recurrent sponsorship money for a regional recreational officer. Part of that sponsorship money is to enable a recreation officer to travel between the various communities in the Anmatjere Community Government Council area. This Ti Tree-based council is unique. In effect, it is an Aboriginal community government council in what is essentially a white community. It decided that it wanted to join with the Ti Tree Progress Association to form a very successful community government council. Ti Tree is the regional centre for sport, in particular Australian Rules football. I am sure the member for Arafura would be very supportive of the development of Australian Rules football in central Australia. To show how bright this person is, last Saturday the Anmatjere team won the Ngurratjuta Cup ...
Mr SPEAKER: Order! I ask the minister to resume his seat. The member for Wanguri is fully aware of the rules of this House. If I ever hear him cast that sort of aspersion again against the Speaker, he will be gone from the House. I am warning him again. It was not an interjection, but I am warning him that, if he starts that sort of thing in this House, he will go.
Page 1592
Mr HATTON: As I was saying, Mr Speaker, the Anmatjere team won the cup in the community football competition last Saturday night. It is interesting to note that the commentators on the ABC sports program, in their review of sport around the Territory last Saturday night, said that the team was good enough to compete in the CAFL competition. They thought the CAFL should think about inviting the team to move into that higher-level competition. However, this person, who wants to represent these people, says that they cannot have a toilet or a changing room on their major ground. He said that another community in the area should not have grass for its oval. He does not know that we have a recreation officer, even though he used to live at Yuendumu. I should tell him there is also a recreation officer at Yuendumu. Is he saying that the councils in those areas, which applied for the grants, do not have the competence to maintain the facilities they are assisting to build and fund? Is he that much of a paternalist? That is what he is saying.
Labor members often rave about self-determination. Here is an example of self-determination and support for councils to develop facilities that will have a major impact on improving the health and physical condition of Aboriginal people. It may assist them in keeping young people out of trouble. What does the candidate do? He criticises the building of those facilities. He ought to hang his head in shame and get out of this by-election while he still has a chance to show some degree of sensibility.
Page 1593
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016