Ms CARNEY - 2007-10-16
Do you agree that by calling the Police Commissioner about charges relating to your friend and mentor Bob Collins in January 2005, and failing to correct Paul Toohey’s public contention that you were briefed two days before the car accident on 19 June 2004, and refusing to release your appointment diary for the week preceding 19 June 2004, these are just some of the reasons there have been calls, for instance, for an inquiry into issues relating to charges against Bob Collins, and that there is, according to the Northern Territory News, ‘a bad smell about the whole affair’?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, the question includes suppositions from the opposition that they know not to be correct, and tries to bring them together to demonstrate a point. On the question …
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Ms Carney interjecting.
Ms MARTIN: I said very clearly …
Ms Carney: You failed to correct the record and you refused to release your diary. Correct?
Madam SPEAKER: Order, Leader of the Opposition!
Ms MARTIN: Madam Speaker, if we are going to take the issue of refusing to release my diary, the opposition was given direct quotes from the Police Commissioner that he did not brief me. To ask again two years later, trying to create some kind of impropriety, no, it did not. The Police Commissioner is on the record in this House, and members of the opposition were told that, and it is in writing. How much clearer can we make that?
The Opposition Leader is being disingenuous. It is a slight on this parliament that the Opposition Leader should make up questions, make up things that …
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order, order!
Ms MARTIN: Is the Opposition Leader saying the Police Commissioner is lying to her? That is the bottom line here. The Opposition Leader is saying that the courts are not dealing with this issue transparently. Implicit in your question is this …
Ms CARNEY: A point of order, Madam Speaker! That is an offensive suggestion, one that I did not make and I ask that the Chief Minister withdraw it.
Madam SPEAKER: There is no point of order, Leader of the Opposition. If you feel that you have been misrepresented, you may approach me to make a Personal Explanation. Chief Minister, continue.
Ms MARTIN: Implicit in the line of questioning from the Opposition Leader is that somehow there was not a proper and independent process carried on in relation to charges against Bob Collins carried out by police, the work done by the DPP or the work done in the courts. I reject that absolutely, as does everyone on this side of the House.
The Opposition Leader can sit there mumbling and making up questions that go nowhere and imply impropriety, but it did not happen. Can I make this very clear? We have judicial and police processes that dealt with a very difficult matter in the case of charges against Bob Collins. They deal with other very difficult matters every day. They do so independently and transparently, and we have confidence in them.
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, the question includes suppositions from the opposition that they know not to be correct, and tries to bring them together to demonstrate a point. On the question …
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Ms Carney interjecting.
Ms MARTIN: I said very clearly …
Ms Carney: You failed to correct the record and you refused to release your diary. Correct?
Madam SPEAKER: Order, Leader of the Opposition!
Ms MARTIN: Madam Speaker, if we are going to take the issue of refusing to release my diary, the opposition was given direct quotes from the Police Commissioner that he did not brief me. To ask again two years later, trying to create some kind of impropriety, no, it did not. The Police Commissioner is on the record in this House, and members of the opposition were told that, and it is in writing. How much clearer can we make that?
The Opposition Leader is being disingenuous. It is a slight on this parliament that the Opposition Leader should make up questions, make up things that …
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order, order!
Ms MARTIN: Is the Opposition Leader saying the Police Commissioner is lying to her? That is the bottom line here. The Opposition Leader is saying that the courts are not dealing with this issue transparently. Implicit in your question is this …
Ms CARNEY: A point of order, Madam Speaker! That is an offensive suggestion, one that I did not make and I ask that the Chief Minister withdraw it.
Madam SPEAKER: There is no point of order, Leader of the Opposition. If you feel that you have been misrepresented, you may approach me to make a Personal Explanation. Chief Minister, continue.
Ms MARTIN: Implicit in the line of questioning from the Opposition Leader is that somehow there was not a proper and independent process carried on in relation to charges against Bob Collins carried out by police, the work done by the DPP or the work done in the courts. I reject that absolutely, as does everyone on this side of the House.
The Opposition Leader can sit there mumbling and making up questions that go nowhere and imply impropriety, but it did not happen. Can I make this very clear? We have judicial and police processes that dealt with a very difficult matter in the case of charges against Bob Collins. They deal with other very difficult matters every day. They do so independently and transparently, and we have confidence in them.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016