Mrs HICKEY - 1996-05-23
I take him back to debates in this House during these sittings, engaged in between the member for MacDonnell and the member for Sanderson. Again, will the Chief Minister name a government that funds it ministers as plaintiffs in defamation actions?
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ANSWER
Mr Speaker, this issue has been canvassed back and forth over the duration of these sittings. It has been debated ad nauseam ...
Mr Bell interjecting.
Mr STONE: You are very selective when you get to your feet.
Mr Finch: It is all to do with the fact that Neil Bell has had to go broke.
Mr STONE: I just cannot believe that the Leader of the Opposition allows the member for MacDonnell to hijack Question Time in order to run a grudge match in this parliament. That is what this is. I said to the Leader of the Opposition that I will do my part to try to settle these fellows down, if she will do her part and settle the member for MacDonnell down. Quite frankly ...
Mr Bell: Good try.
Mr STONE: Quite frankly ...
Mrs Hickey: It is important for ...
Mr Bell: Shush, shush.
Mr STONE: Now he is telling you all to shush. He is running the show now.
Mr Bell: Answer the question.
Mr STONE: The Leader of the Opposition would have to acknowledge that she is becoming pretty well sick and tired of this tit-for-tat across the Chamber between individuals. She keeps asking whether the government meets the legal costs of ministers. I do not know how many times I have to get to my feet and say that it is not just ministers who have been able to have their legal costs indemnified, from time to time, having satisfied very stringent tests. It is also NT public servants.
Mr Bailey: The answer is zero. No other government.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! The question has been asked of the Chief Minister, and the member for Wanguri will refrain from trying to put an answer across.
Mr STONE: The Leader of the Opposition or her predecessor did not complain when a senior opposition adviser was the beneficiary of having his legal costs indemnified in an action against the then CLP president ...
Mr Stirling: That is wrong. He was not a senior adviser.
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Mr STONE: He was a public servant who subsequently became a senior adviser to the opposition. I made that point. He became an ALP candidate and continues to campaign actively in the community.
A member: For whom?
Mr STONE: Are you trying to tell me that the nature of his politics was not known? Of course it was, but so what? He had been cruelly and maliciously maligned, and he was entitled to be protected by his government because he had been attacked in the capacity in which he worked at the time.
Similarly, from time to time when a minister has been the subject of cruel defamations, which are maliciously and deliberately made, that minister of the Crown has been able to seek indemnity for his legal costs. It does not happen very often. I can assure members opposite ...
Mrs Hickey: It does not happen anywhere else, does it?
Members interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr STONE: ... that very stringent tests are applied. It is very hard to satisfy the requirements. In the time I have been Chief Minister, I do not believe anyone has. I have set particularly high standards in relation to the matter, and will continue to do so. I suggest that the Leader of the Opposition should not rise to her feet and feign concern about this when it is all about a grudge match between the member for MacDonnell and the Minister for Health Services.
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Page 1418
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, this issue has been canvassed back and forth over the duration of these sittings. It has been debated ad nauseam ...
Mr Bell interjecting.
Mr STONE: You are very selective when you get to your feet.
Mr Finch: It is all to do with the fact that Neil Bell has had to go broke.
Mr STONE: I just cannot believe that the Leader of the Opposition allows the member for MacDonnell to hijack Question Time in order to run a grudge match in this parliament. That is what this is. I said to the Leader of the Opposition that I will do my part to try to settle these fellows down, if she will do her part and settle the member for MacDonnell down. Quite frankly ...
Mr Bell: Good try.
Mr STONE: Quite frankly ...
Mrs Hickey: It is important for ...
Mr Bell: Shush, shush.
Mr STONE: Now he is telling you all to shush. He is running the show now.
Mr Bell: Answer the question.
Mr STONE: The Leader of the Opposition would have to acknowledge that she is becoming pretty well sick and tired of this tit-for-tat across the Chamber between individuals. She keeps asking whether the government meets the legal costs of ministers. I do not know how many times I have to get to my feet and say that it is not just ministers who have been able to have their legal costs indemnified, from time to time, having satisfied very stringent tests. It is also NT public servants.
Mr Bailey: The answer is zero. No other government.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! The question has been asked of the Chief Minister, and the member for Wanguri will refrain from trying to put an answer across.
Mr STONE: The Leader of the Opposition or her predecessor did not complain when a senior opposition adviser was the beneficiary of having his legal costs indemnified in an action against the then CLP president ...
Mr Stirling: That is wrong. He was not a senior adviser.
Page 1419
Mr STONE: He was a public servant who subsequently became a senior adviser to the opposition. I made that point. He became an ALP candidate and continues to campaign actively in the community.
A member: For whom?
Mr STONE: Are you trying to tell me that the nature of his politics was not known? Of course it was, but so what? He had been cruelly and maliciously maligned, and he was entitled to be protected by his government because he had been attacked in the capacity in which he worked at the time.
Similarly, from time to time when a minister has been the subject of cruel defamations, which are maliciously and deliberately made, that minister of the Crown has been able to seek indemnity for his legal costs. It does not happen very often. I can assure members opposite ...
Mrs Hickey: It does not happen anywhere else, does it?
Members interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr STONE: ... that very stringent tests are applied. It is very hard to satisfy the requirements. In the time I have been Chief Minister, I do not believe anyone has. I have set particularly high standards in relation to the matter, and will continue to do so. I suggest that the Leader of the Opposition should not rise to her feet and feign concern about this when it is all about a grudge match between the member for MacDonnell and the Minister for Health Services.
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Last updated: 09 Aug 2016