Mrs HICKEY - 1995-08-16
Early in 1991, the former Chief Minister attempted to place further pressure on the Chief Electoral Officer by setting up an inquiry into the costs and operation of the 1990 election. Following the inquiry, which provided a clean bill of health on the Chief Electoral Officer, we find that Coopers & Lybrand was hired also to carry out an investigation into and report on the Electoral Office. Will the Chief Minister release this report and table it in the Assembly to allow all members to see what recommendations and comments were made about the Electoral Office, in particular remarks by the consultant, Peter Wright, on the lack of independence of the Electoral Office?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, probably Territorians sitting at home are confused as to what this is all about, therefore I will paint a picture for them. It all started on 21 December 1990, when the member for Jingili wrote a letter to the Chief Minister in which he raised a number of issues concerning the way that the October election had been conducted ...
Mr Stirling: It started a bit before that.
Mr STONE: ... as was his right, and as would be the right of any member of the Legislative Assembly.
Mr Ede: It started in October 1990.
Mr Stirling: It started before the election.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! The honourable Chief Minister.
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Mr STONE: It is the right of any member of the Legislative Assembly, whether they be an independent member, a member of the ALP or a member of the CLP, to write to the Chief Minister, raise any concerns they have and ask that the Chief Minister do something about them.
Mr Speaker, I table the member for Jingili's letter and it is there for all to see. What did the Chief Minister do? He did not write back, congratulate the member for Jingili and undertake to action immediately all of the matters raised. Instead, he did what the Westminster system demands. He prepared a reference to the Public Accounts Committee. What, in fact, had prompted much of the member for Jingili's concern?
Mr Ede interjecting.
Mr STONE: The problem with the Leader of the Opposition is that he is trying to give the public part only of the story.
Members interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr STONE: He would be aware of the report which was prepared by Dean Jaensch on the 1990 Territory election. I assume that he has read it. It appears that he has not read it. He is shaking his head. I am amazed, because that is where it all started and where the revelations were made. Those revelations were that, in the 1990 Legislative Assembly elections, 206 mobile polling booths were set up and no one turned up at 13 of them and fewer than 5 voters turned up at 26 of them. People need to understand the scenario. Three planes fly into a remote area: one plane has the ALP team on board, a second has the CLP team on board, and the third has personnel from the Electoral Office on board. All of this activity, particularly the Electoral Office's, is paid for by the taxpayer. That is why the member for Jingili said that that process could not be the right way to go and that there had to be greater efficiencies in the system.
The member for Jingili did not invent the report. The report was written by Dean Jaensch. I am sure that members opposite would agree that Dean Jaensch is a fairly impartial observer and commentator. To underscore the concern, I am told that the Commonwealth reduced the number of its mobile polling booths to 190 in 1993. Later, for the 1994 Territory elections, we went to 189.
Thus, when the member for Jingili wrote his letter, there was obviously a genuine concern that mobile polling booths were being operated at places where people did not attend them. The question then is why the taxpayer should pay for that, and that was why the member for Jingili wrote his letter, which I have tabled, asking the Chief Minister to examine the matter. What did the Chief Minister do? He decided that the right course of action was to refer the matter to the Public Accounts Committee for investigation.
Mr Bailey interjecting.
Page 706
Mr STONE: Are you on the Public Accounts Committee? Yes, you are. Have you been dealing with this? Yes, you have. Therefore, do not come into this Chamber ...
Members interjecting.
Mr STONE: This is absolutely extraordinary. Here you are, 3 to 4 years later, saying that the opposition has some serious allegations to make. This matter has been before the Public Accounts Committee for 2, 3 or perhaps 4 years.
A member interjecting.
Mr STONE: It is supposed to be dealing with it.
Members interjecting.
Mr STONE: I will table this correspondence ...
Mr Bailey interjecting.
Members interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! The member for Wanguri will hold his tongue. The Chief Minister has been asked a question and he should be able to answer it in reasonable silence.
Mr STONE: Mr Speaker, I table the Chief Minister's correspondence to the member for Jingili and to the then chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, Hon Michael Palmer, for the sake of the completeness of the story. Members opposite should not come in here trying to demonstrate a conspiracy in which somehow someone has been beaten around the ears when in fact all the proper processes have been followed and the matter is before the Public Accounts Committee. There could not be a more bipartisan approach to the issue.
Mr Bailey: Wrong! We were never made aware of the interference by the departmental officers.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! I will warn the member for Wanguri.
Mr STONE: I can only assume that the former Chief Electoral Officer, the very same man who now makes allegations to the newspaper, appeared to give evidence before this committee. I can only assume that you had every opportunity to ask every question imaginable about the way in which he operated the office and whether he had any concerns. I make all of those assumptions. In fact, a report was published by the committee of which you are a member, was it not?
Mr Bailey: It stated its support for an independent electoral commission. Read it.
Mr STONE: You were a party to this report?
Mr Bailey: Yes.
Page 707
Mr STONE: Based on evidence given to that committee, did you discern any malfeasance or wrongdoing? The answer is no. Why is the ALP hanging now on the coat-tails of an NT News story 3 to 4 years after the event and screaming that there is something rotten in the state of Denmark? It is an invention that is being run by a former employee who has joined the Labor Party and is seeking political office.
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ANSWER
Mr Speaker, probably Territorians sitting at home are confused as to what this is all about, therefore I will paint a picture for them. It all started on 21 December 1990, when the member for Jingili wrote a letter to the Chief Minister in which he raised a number of issues concerning the way that the October election had been conducted ...
Mr Stirling: It started a bit before that.
Mr STONE: ... as was his right, and as would be the right of any member of the Legislative Assembly.
Mr Ede: It started in October 1990.
Mr Stirling: It started before the election.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! The honourable Chief Minister.
Page 705
Mr STONE: It is the right of any member of the Legislative Assembly, whether they be an independent member, a member of the ALP or a member of the CLP, to write to the Chief Minister, raise any concerns they have and ask that the Chief Minister do something about them.
Mr Speaker, I table the member for Jingili's letter and it is there for all to see. What did the Chief Minister do? He did not write back, congratulate the member for Jingili and undertake to action immediately all of the matters raised. Instead, he did what the Westminster system demands. He prepared a reference to the Public Accounts Committee. What, in fact, had prompted much of the member for Jingili's concern?
Mr Ede interjecting.
Mr STONE: The problem with the Leader of the Opposition is that he is trying to give the public part only of the story.
Members interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr STONE: He would be aware of the report which was prepared by Dean Jaensch on the 1990 Territory election. I assume that he has read it. It appears that he has not read it. He is shaking his head. I am amazed, because that is where it all started and where the revelations were made. Those revelations were that, in the 1990 Legislative Assembly elections, 206 mobile polling booths were set up and no one turned up at 13 of them and fewer than 5 voters turned up at 26 of them. People need to understand the scenario. Three planes fly into a remote area: one plane has the ALP team on board, a second has the CLP team on board, and the third has personnel from the Electoral Office on board. All of this activity, particularly the Electoral Office's, is paid for by the taxpayer. That is why the member for Jingili said that that process could not be the right way to go and that there had to be greater efficiencies in the system.
The member for Jingili did not invent the report. The report was written by Dean Jaensch. I am sure that members opposite would agree that Dean Jaensch is a fairly impartial observer and commentator. To underscore the concern, I am told that the Commonwealth reduced the number of its mobile polling booths to 190 in 1993. Later, for the 1994 Territory elections, we went to 189.
Thus, when the member for Jingili wrote his letter, there was obviously a genuine concern that mobile polling booths were being operated at places where people did not attend them. The question then is why the taxpayer should pay for that, and that was why the member for Jingili wrote his letter, which I have tabled, asking the Chief Minister to examine the matter. What did the Chief Minister do? He decided that the right course of action was to refer the matter to the Public Accounts Committee for investigation.
Mr Bailey interjecting.
Page 706
Mr STONE: Are you on the Public Accounts Committee? Yes, you are. Have you been dealing with this? Yes, you have. Therefore, do not come into this Chamber ...
Members interjecting.
Mr STONE: This is absolutely extraordinary. Here you are, 3 to 4 years later, saying that the opposition has some serious allegations to make. This matter has been before the Public Accounts Committee for 2, 3 or perhaps 4 years.
A member interjecting.
Mr STONE: It is supposed to be dealing with it.
Members interjecting.
Mr STONE: I will table this correspondence ...
Mr Bailey interjecting.
Members interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! The member for Wanguri will hold his tongue. The Chief Minister has been asked a question and he should be able to answer it in reasonable silence.
Mr STONE: Mr Speaker, I table the Chief Minister's correspondence to the member for Jingili and to the then chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, Hon Michael Palmer, for the sake of the completeness of the story. Members opposite should not come in here trying to demonstrate a conspiracy in which somehow someone has been beaten around the ears when in fact all the proper processes have been followed and the matter is before the Public Accounts Committee. There could not be a more bipartisan approach to the issue.
Mr Bailey: Wrong! We were never made aware of the interference by the departmental officers.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! I will warn the member for Wanguri.
Mr STONE: I can only assume that the former Chief Electoral Officer, the very same man who now makes allegations to the newspaper, appeared to give evidence before this committee. I can only assume that you had every opportunity to ask every question imaginable about the way in which he operated the office and whether he had any concerns. I make all of those assumptions. In fact, a report was published by the committee of which you are a member, was it not?
Mr Bailey: It stated its support for an independent electoral commission. Read it.
Mr STONE: You were a party to this report?
Mr Bailey: Yes.
Page 707
Mr STONE: Based on evidence given to that committee, did you discern any malfeasance or wrongdoing? The answer is no. Why is the ALP hanging now on the coat-tails of an NT News story 3 to 4 years after the event and screaming that there is something rotten in the state of Denmark? It is an invention that is being run by a former employee who has joined the Labor Party and is seeking political office.
Page 708
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016