Ms MARTIN - 1996-11-27
Does the minister concede that he wrote no letters to pensioners following his receipt of the confidential database requested on 17 May 1994? Is it not true that the only letter written
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to pensioners during the election period was from Marshall Perron on Country Liberal Party letterhead?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, I will do it again. I will concede that I did not use the list that my office sought, on my behalf, from the department.
Mr Toyne interjecting.
Mr REED: I pick up the interjection from the member for Stuart. I ask him to go back to the Hansard for 26 November so that he is fully aware of what I said yesterday. I said that the Labor Party was wrong in suggesting that I called only for one list. I called for at least 2 - maybe more - lists in relation to senior citizens. In April or March 1993, I called for a list and I used that to write to senior citizens. I wrote again using a list. It might have been the same list that I received in March 1993 or it might have been an updated one that I called for in May 1993 in order to advise senior citizens of circumstances that were of interest to them. I did that, and I freely admit it. It is an appropriate operation for a minister to conduct. Indeed, the response that I received from senior citizens across the Northern Territory was very favourable because they appreciated being advised by the minister on the services that the government provides. I had proposed ...
Mr Ah Kit: CLP letterhead.
Mr Manzie: Why ask the question if you do not want us to hear the answer?
Mr Bailey: He is not answering.
Mr SPEAKER: Order on both sides of the House! The Deputy Chief Minister is on his feet and I expect to hear his answer in reasonable silence.
Mr REED: I had proposed, Mr Speaker, to undertake a similar exercise in mid-1994. Consequently, I asked ...
Mr Ah Kit interjecting.
Mr REED: Mr Speaker, I am not going to continue to speak over members opposite. If they do not have the integrity and the good manners to be silent and hear an answer to a question from their own member, they are clearly not interested in hearing the advice in the first instance.
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to pensioners during the election period was from Marshall Perron on Country Liberal Party letterhead?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, I will do it again. I will concede that I did not use the list that my office sought, on my behalf, from the department.
Mr Toyne interjecting.
Mr REED: I pick up the interjection from the member for Stuart. I ask him to go back to the Hansard for 26 November so that he is fully aware of what I said yesterday. I said that the Labor Party was wrong in suggesting that I called only for one list. I called for at least 2 - maybe more - lists in relation to senior citizens. In April or March 1993, I called for a list and I used that to write to senior citizens. I wrote again using a list. It might have been the same list that I received in March 1993 or it might have been an updated one that I called for in May 1993 in order to advise senior citizens of circumstances that were of interest to them. I did that, and I freely admit it. It is an appropriate operation for a minister to conduct. Indeed, the response that I received from senior citizens across the Northern Territory was very favourable because they appreciated being advised by the minister on the services that the government provides. I had proposed ...
Mr Ah Kit: CLP letterhead.
Mr Manzie: Why ask the question if you do not want us to hear the answer?
Mr Bailey: He is not answering.
Mr SPEAKER: Order on both sides of the House! The Deputy Chief Minister is on his feet and I expect to hear his answer in reasonable silence.
Mr REED: I had proposed, Mr Speaker, to undertake a similar exercise in mid-1994. Consequently, I asked ...
Mr Ah Kit interjecting.
Mr REED: Mr Speaker, I am not going to continue to speak over members opposite. If they do not have the integrity and the good manners to be silent and hear an answer to a question from their own member, they are clearly not interested in hearing the advice in the first instance.
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Last updated: 09 Aug 2016