Ms MARTIN - 1996-08-20
I challenge the minister to give the Assembly a categorical assurance that the following items did not account for substantial spending during the 5 years to 1995 at the Alice Springs jail. The items are: furnishings, carpets, building materials, food and tobacco for the prisoners, and spare parts for the prison workshop.
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, for the last 3 weeks, the member for Fannie Bay has been on some sort of witch-hunt, trying to create the impression that some scandal has been associated with, I think, the Alice Springs Correctional Centre. Supposedly, a variety of allegations are floating through the system. She actually alleged that an internal audit report had been undertaken into all these alleged practices. As a consequence, Correctional Services staff have been following up her allegations and running around for 3 weeks, trying to find out what the hell she is talking about. For 3 weeks now, I have been saying that the only person I have heard making these vague and unsubstantiated allegations is the member for Fannie Bay. I repeat publicly that, if there is anything in what the member is saying, if she has anything of substance, I urge her to do me and the public a favour by providing that information to me. I will give a categorical undertaking to investigate it thoroughly.
Mr Bailey: You are supposed to be in charge.
Mr HATTON: I am saying ...
Mr Bailey: Nothing has been ...
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr HATTON: The member for Fannie Bay asked if I would table a copy of an internal audit report. There is only one problem: there has been no internal audit to report on. The whole thing has been bubbling along for 3 weeks. Following this statement ...
Members interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr HATTON: I have spoken to the departmental head and his deputy. I have spoken to the Correctional Services internal audit people, the Chief Minister's internal audit people and the Auditor-General's office. Nobody knows what she is talking about. It is understandable that we become a little sceptical when the member for Fannie Bay makes these statements.
I refer members to this Sunday Territorian report of 13 February 1994 by Dave Nason. The heading is: `Martin Starts in Old-fashioned Way - by Lying'. She has a few priors for this. I am telling her very clearly that, if there is any substance to what she is saying publicly,
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she should give it to me and I will investigate it. However, I will not continue to burn up hundreds and hundreds of staff hours in the Department of Correctional Services, chasing some vague and unsubstantiated allegations that the member is floating through the media. If she wants to be a responsible shadow spokesperson, she will come forward with the information and allow me to investigate.
Mr Bailey: In other words, you will not answer the question.
Members interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr HATTON: She is saying that she will not. I can tell her that she is earning no brownie points with the staff of Correctional Services. They are going crazy after 3 weeks of allegations about everything from too much meat being purchased at Christmas through to all sorts of things. They have been checking everything and they cannot find anything. I will not spend any further time on it until she provides something for us to check.
In any organisation, there are always things that go wrong. Systems break down ...
Ms Martin: For 5 years?
Mr HATTON: No. There has been a series of individual instances. Some were reported in the Auditor-General's reports, if the member bothered to read them. They have been reported from 1990 to 1995, and they have been dealt with. In other instances, where we have identified problems, they have been followed through internally. In any area of government or in any private enterprise organisation, such things will occur from time to time. There are controls in the system to identify problems and rectify them.
Mr Bailey: So you can cover them up.
Mr HATTON: No. They are fixed so that they work properly. The member for Wanguri must find it horrible to live with himself. He is paranoid about everything in this world. If you have something, give it to me so that I can look at it.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! I believe the minister has answered the question.
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ANSWER
Mr Speaker, for the last 3 weeks, the member for Fannie Bay has been on some sort of witch-hunt, trying to create the impression that some scandal has been associated with, I think, the Alice Springs Correctional Centre. Supposedly, a variety of allegations are floating through the system. She actually alleged that an internal audit report had been undertaken into all these alleged practices. As a consequence, Correctional Services staff have been following up her allegations and running around for 3 weeks, trying to find out what the hell she is talking about. For 3 weeks now, I have been saying that the only person I have heard making these vague and unsubstantiated allegations is the member for Fannie Bay. I repeat publicly that, if there is anything in what the member is saying, if she has anything of substance, I urge her to do me and the public a favour by providing that information to me. I will give a categorical undertaking to investigate it thoroughly.
Mr Bailey: You are supposed to be in charge.
Mr HATTON: I am saying ...
Mr Bailey: Nothing has been ...
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr HATTON: The member for Fannie Bay asked if I would table a copy of an internal audit report. There is only one problem: there has been no internal audit to report on. The whole thing has been bubbling along for 3 weeks. Following this statement ...
Members interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr HATTON: I have spoken to the departmental head and his deputy. I have spoken to the Correctional Services internal audit people, the Chief Minister's internal audit people and the Auditor-General's office. Nobody knows what she is talking about. It is understandable that we become a little sceptical when the member for Fannie Bay makes these statements.
I refer members to this Sunday Territorian report of 13 February 1994 by Dave Nason. The heading is: `Martin Starts in Old-fashioned Way - by Lying'. She has a few priors for this. I am telling her very clearly that, if there is any substance to what she is saying publicly,
Page 1513
she should give it to me and I will investigate it. However, I will not continue to burn up hundreds and hundreds of staff hours in the Department of Correctional Services, chasing some vague and unsubstantiated allegations that the member is floating through the media. If she wants to be a responsible shadow spokesperson, she will come forward with the information and allow me to investigate.
Mr Bailey: In other words, you will not answer the question.
Members interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr HATTON: She is saying that she will not. I can tell her that she is earning no brownie points with the staff of Correctional Services. They are going crazy after 3 weeks of allegations about everything from too much meat being purchased at Christmas through to all sorts of things. They have been checking everything and they cannot find anything. I will not spend any further time on it until she provides something for us to check.
In any organisation, there are always things that go wrong. Systems break down ...
Ms Martin: For 5 years?
Mr HATTON: No. There has been a series of individual instances. Some were reported in the Auditor-General's reports, if the member bothered to read them. They have been reported from 1990 to 1995, and they have been dealt with. In other instances, where we have identified problems, they have been followed through internally. In any area of government or in any private enterprise organisation, such things will occur from time to time. There are controls in the system to identify problems and rectify them.
Mr Bailey: So you can cover them up.
Mr HATTON: No. They are fixed so that they work properly. The member for Wanguri must find it horrible to live with himself. He is paranoid about everything in this world. If you have something, give it to me so that I can look at it.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! I believe the minister has answered the question.
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Last updated: 09 Aug 2016