Mr BURKE - 2002-02-26
I refer to the response the minister gave about his opinion of Territory police. I ask the minister, is he aware that his Chief Minister recently on national television publicly criticised the Territory police by failing to refute allegations that police had missed vital evidence in the first few days of the investigation into the disappearance of British tourist, Peter Falconio? Instead, she told Australians: ‘You can be caught by hindsight on issues like this. Maybe police have learnt from things that might have been missed’.
I ask the minister: does he share the belief of the Chief Minister that our Territory police missed vital evidence in the Falconio investigation, and will he tell Territorians what things were missed by Territory police?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, everyone is an expert after the event. Everyone is an expert after the event and this man here wants to be in the front row, undermining the work of our police force again. This has been an extraordinarily long investigation requiring and tying up the resources of many of our officers, and running up quite a bill in overseeing this investigation. If the opposition leader wants to get on the bandwagon of the NT News he is welcome to it, because that is all they are out there doing. If they think there is a headline in bagging our police they are on to it. This bloke ought to hang his head in shame for getting on their bandwagon.
Everybody wants to tell the police how they should have done it. They called it as they saw it on the day. I would not see - and where the Leader of the Opposition has made a real blue here is he should have kept the member for Katherine as shadow minister for police. I will tell you why: this bloke had an understanding of the difficulties of police and the job they do. He had respect for the police and the job they do and, as Minister for Police, Fire and Emergency Services, he had a very close and good, positive working relationship with them, unlike this bloke. Unlike the Leader of the Opposition, who simply wants to climb on the back of the NT News and everybody else who wants to climb into the police.
Madam Speaker, everyone knows, don’t they - everyone knows the answers and the facts after the event and he is just showing how shallow he is in getting into the criticism of the police force, number one. Undermining - he talks about morale! It is the attitude of the Leader of the Opposition getting in here with the carping little criticisms like that, that are deliberately working to undermine the morale that he says is plummeting right now.
We have a class act in our new Commissioner, Commissioner White. He is doing a fine job, as is the force. I am just sorry that it is not the member for Katherine who is the shadow minister for police because we would not have tripe like this now and we would not have rubbish put forward in this House like this motion that we are going to deal with tomorrow.
Madam Speaker, I would ask that further questions be placed on the Question Paper.
Mr REED: A point of order, Madam Speaker! It has been a long established practice in this House for the 15 years that I have been in it, that Question Time lasts an hour. Question Time did not start until almost 2.15 pm because we had Notices, as you will recall. I would ask, as Speaker, as an independent and fair Speaker, that you give that matter consideration because the democratic processes of this House depend on a fair and appropriate timed Question Time.
Madam SPEAKER: I have been informed by the Deputy Clerk that Question Time did, in fact, start at 2.07 pm, so the hour is up.
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Question Time is complete.
I ask the minister: does he share the belief of the Chief Minister that our Territory police missed vital evidence in the Falconio investigation, and will he tell Territorians what things were missed by Territory police?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, everyone is an expert after the event. Everyone is an expert after the event and this man here wants to be in the front row, undermining the work of our police force again. This has been an extraordinarily long investigation requiring and tying up the resources of many of our officers, and running up quite a bill in overseeing this investigation. If the opposition leader wants to get on the bandwagon of the NT News he is welcome to it, because that is all they are out there doing. If they think there is a headline in bagging our police they are on to it. This bloke ought to hang his head in shame for getting on their bandwagon.
Everybody wants to tell the police how they should have done it. They called it as they saw it on the day. I would not see - and where the Leader of the Opposition has made a real blue here is he should have kept the member for Katherine as shadow minister for police. I will tell you why: this bloke had an understanding of the difficulties of police and the job they do. He had respect for the police and the job they do and, as Minister for Police, Fire and Emergency Services, he had a very close and good, positive working relationship with them, unlike this bloke. Unlike the Leader of the Opposition, who simply wants to climb on the back of the NT News and everybody else who wants to climb into the police.
Madam Speaker, everyone knows, don’t they - everyone knows the answers and the facts after the event and he is just showing how shallow he is in getting into the criticism of the police force, number one. Undermining - he talks about morale! It is the attitude of the Leader of the Opposition getting in here with the carping little criticisms like that, that are deliberately working to undermine the morale that he says is plummeting right now.
We have a class act in our new Commissioner, Commissioner White. He is doing a fine job, as is the force. I am just sorry that it is not the member for Katherine who is the shadow minister for police because we would not have tripe like this now and we would not have rubbish put forward in this House like this motion that we are going to deal with tomorrow.
Madam Speaker, I would ask that further questions be placed on the Question Paper.
Mr REED: A point of order, Madam Speaker! It has been a long established practice in this House for the 15 years that I have been in it, that Question Time lasts an hour. Question Time did not start until almost 2.15 pm because we had Notices, as you will recall. I would ask, as Speaker, as an independent and fair Speaker, that you give that matter consideration because the democratic processes of this House depend on a fair and appropriate timed Question Time.
Madam SPEAKER: I have been informed by the Deputy Clerk that Question Time did, in fact, start at 2.07 pm, so the hour is up.
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Question Time is complete.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016