Mr SETTER - 1996-11-19
Last week, the member for Stuart suggested that the government make informed decisions on further implementation of the Parents as Teachers program in remote areas via the Internet. In light of this statement, could the minister make informed decisions from data on the Internet rather than by personally meeting leaders of American Indian reservations where the Parents as Teachers program has operated successfully for a number of years?
Mr Bailey: Did you get the advice from Mike Tyson?
ANSWER
I can give you a very succinct briefing on that later if you like.
Mr Speaker, the member for Stuart is making his mark already. First impressions are best impressions, I always say. When I first came across the member for Stuart on the campaign trail, I thought he might be a member for MacDonnell clone. Never was there a truer perception. The honourable member sees himself as some sort of intellectual boffin. He may lock himself away in a little dark room and be fed Vegemite sandwiches through the slot in the door while he carries out his parliamentary responsibilities by using his little computer program ...
Mr Bailey interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! I expect greater quietness during Question Time. The minister is attempting to answer the question.
Mr Bailey interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! I ask the member for Wanguri to remember that he is on a warning. He will not answer back at the Speaker.
Mr FINCH: The member for Stuart has wasted an hour of his time - and I accept that it is his time to waste - on searching through the Internet to see what he could find about Parents as Teachers.
Mr Stirling: He probably knows more than you do.
Mr FINCH: He has not displayed that he knows anything. What he found was 80 000-odd references.
Mr Toyne interjecting.
Mr FINCH: You can tell us what you know later. To date, you have told us nothing. You have displayed the same type of ignorance as your colleagues on that side. The member for MacDonnell has the greatest vocabulary in the world, but he cannot put 2 words together.
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That is the kind of intellectual snobbery that we are exposed to from that side of the House. From those 80 000 references, what did he find out? Nothing!
Members interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! There is far too much chatter on both sides of the House.
Mr FINCH: Mr Speaker, what was the relevance of the 80 000 references that he found on the Internet? That was as relevant as the 1.1 million references to the Northern Territory ALP. It tells us nothing. When you actually look at what is there, there is nothing. Did he find one reference to Parents as Teachers in any indigenous community in the world? No, he did not - and why would he?
Obviously, the member for MacDonnell sees the value in getting out and learning about things at first-hand. His trip to Canada and Alaska and wherever to study indigenous peoples and various aspects of their ...
Mr Bell: Tell the truth, Fred.
Mr FINCH: ... was obviously of benefit to his electorate. He was so enthused about it that he could not help himself. He had to telephone from Alaska to tell us how it was all going.
As far as travel is concerned, of the 7 visits that I have now made in almost 10 years as a minister, I cannot think of one that has not returned direct value and direct benefit to the taxpayer. There will be ...
Mr Toyne: I will be very anxious to see the value of what you brought back from this one.
Mr FINCH: I had not even left the country before the honourable member was saying that the minister should have used the Internet. I invite him to tell me here how he would find out, by accessing the Internet, about the holistic approach that is run at Colorado Springs? Certainly, I found via the Internet that Colorado Springs had an innovative program. Equally certainly, I found that the Southern Ute native Indian community had an innovative program. The reference said nothing about it, but it indicated at least that they had one. That was how I knew where to go to see what was being done.
Other than by visiting, how would one become aware of the value of the interaction among some of the Indian mothers involved in that program, along with their kids, their mentors and the counsellors, in terms of their real potential - and not only for very young kids? They are learning, obviously. No one needs to be an educationist or technocrat to understand that the earlier children are taught, the better. However, many other dimensions, such as health and welfare, come into the equation. We saw examples of severe socioeconomic deprivation in some parts of Colorado. We saw children struggling in circumstances of cultural deprivation, with only their grandparents having retained the language. We saw all sorts of pressures from alcohol abuse. It sounds similar, I suppose, to some of our Aboriginal communities, does it not?
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Mr Toyne: Yes. You could have ...
Mr FINCH: I accept the interjection. You will not find one word about those matters on the Internet. It was a 2-way exchange. I had the opportunity ...
Mr Bailey: Have you ever used the Internet? It can be a 2-way exchange.
Mr FINCH: The member for Wanguri interjects. Why did he not use the Internet instead of making his trip to ...
Mr Bailey: To where?
Mr FINCH: What about the Cook Islands or his trip in 1993 to Indonesia? What would he have gained via the Internet instead? What about the Isle of Man? His own party hit him on the back of the head for making that trip.
Mr Bailey: On which I gave a paper.
Mr FINCH: You gave a report. I am not saying that you should not have gone. It was your colleagues who said you should not have gone.
Turning to racing and gaming, we talked to officers of the Nevada Racing Commission for an hour-and-a-half. We talked of opportunities for the Northern Territory taxpayer, opportunities for Northern Territory punters and for Northern Territory businesses. These were important meetings. Try and do them by mail - never mind the Internet - and you will get nowhere. If the member for Stuart wants to take a bleaker view of life, if he wants to lock himself in his little dark room, that is fine! However, he ought to tell his constituents that that is where he is hiding. As far as I am concerned, the only way for any of the members opposite to make any progress is by getting out and seeing the real world. They should look, listen and digest, and then come back here and put their knowledge to good use on behalf of their constituents.
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Mr Bailey: Did you get the advice from Mike Tyson?
ANSWER
I can give you a very succinct briefing on that later if you like.
Mr Speaker, the member for Stuart is making his mark already. First impressions are best impressions, I always say. When I first came across the member for Stuart on the campaign trail, I thought he might be a member for MacDonnell clone. Never was there a truer perception. The honourable member sees himself as some sort of intellectual boffin. He may lock himself away in a little dark room and be fed Vegemite sandwiches through the slot in the door while he carries out his parliamentary responsibilities by using his little computer program ...
Mr Bailey interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! I expect greater quietness during Question Time. The minister is attempting to answer the question.
Mr Bailey interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! I ask the member for Wanguri to remember that he is on a warning. He will not answer back at the Speaker.
Mr FINCH: The member for Stuart has wasted an hour of his time - and I accept that it is his time to waste - on searching through the Internet to see what he could find about Parents as Teachers.
Mr Stirling: He probably knows more than you do.
Mr FINCH: He has not displayed that he knows anything. What he found was 80 000-odd references.
Mr Toyne interjecting.
Mr FINCH: You can tell us what you know later. To date, you have told us nothing. You have displayed the same type of ignorance as your colleagues on that side. The member for MacDonnell has the greatest vocabulary in the world, but he cannot put 2 words together.
Page 1760
That is the kind of intellectual snobbery that we are exposed to from that side of the House. From those 80 000 references, what did he find out? Nothing!
Members interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! There is far too much chatter on both sides of the House.
Mr FINCH: Mr Speaker, what was the relevance of the 80 000 references that he found on the Internet? That was as relevant as the 1.1 million references to the Northern Territory ALP. It tells us nothing. When you actually look at what is there, there is nothing. Did he find one reference to Parents as Teachers in any indigenous community in the world? No, he did not - and why would he?
Obviously, the member for MacDonnell sees the value in getting out and learning about things at first-hand. His trip to Canada and Alaska and wherever to study indigenous peoples and various aspects of their ...
Mr Bell: Tell the truth, Fred.
Mr FINCH: ... was obviously of benefit to his electorate. He was so enthused about it that he could not help himself. He had to telephone from Alaska to tell us how it was all going.
As far as travel is concerned, of the 7 visits that I have now made in almost 10 years as a minister, I cannot think of one that has not returned direct value and direct benefit to the taxpayer. There will be ...
Mr Toyne: I will be very anxious to see the value of what you brought back from this one.
Mr FINCH: I had not even left the country before the honourable member was saying that the minister should have used the Internet. I invite him to tell me here how he would find out, by accessing the Internet, about the holistic approach that is run at Colorado Springs? Certainly, I found via the Internet that Colorado Springs had an innovative program. Equally certainly, I found that the Southern Ute native Indian community had an innovative program. The reference said nothing about it, but it indicated at least that they had one. That was how I knew where to go to see what was being done.
Other than by visiting, how would one become aware of the value of the interaction among some of the Indian mothers involved in that program, along with their kids, their mentors and the counsellors, in terms of their real potential - and not only for very young kids? They are learning, obviously. No one needs to be an educationist or technocrat to understand that the earlier children are taught, the better. However, many other dimensions, such as health and welfare, come into the equation. We saw examples of severe socioeconomic deprivation in some parts of Colorado. We saw children struggling in circumstances of cultural deprivation, with only their grandparents having retained the language. We saw all sorts of pressures from alcohol abuse. It sounds similar, I suppose, to some of our Aboriginal communities, does it not?
Page 1761
Mr Toyne: Yes. You could have ...
Mr FINCH: I accept the interjection. You will not find one word about those matters on the Internet. It was a 2-way exchange. I had the opportunity ...
Mr Bailey: Have you ever used the Internet? It can be a 2-way exchange.
Mr FINCH: The member for Wanguri interjects. Why did he not use the Internet instead of making his trip to ...
Mr Bailey: To where?
Mr FINCH: What about the Cook Islands or his trip in 1993 to Indonesia? What would he have gained via the Internet instead? What about the Isle of Man? His own party hit him on the back of the head for making that trip.
Mr Bailey: On which I gave a paper.
Mr FINCH: You gave a report. I am not saying that you should not have gone. It was your colleagues who said you should not have gone.
Turning to racing and gaming, we talked to officers of the Nevada Racing Commission for an hour-and-a-half. We talked of opportunities for the Northern Territory taxpayer, opportunities for Northern Territory punters and for Northern Territory businesses. These were important meetings. Try and do them by mail - never mind the Internet - and you will get nowhere. If the member for Stuart wants to take a bleaker view of life, if he wants to lock himself in his little dark room, that is fine! However, he ought to tell his constituents that that is where he is hiding. As far as I am concerned, the only way for any of the members opposite to make any progress is by getting out and seeing the real world. They should look, listen and digest, and then come back here and put their knowledge to good use on behalf of their constituents.
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Last updated: 09 Aug 2016