Mr REED - 2001-11-28
In light of the fact that the mythical black hole is said to be $107m, that the budget improvement measures will amount to $120m and new taxes and charges will amount to $42m - a total of $162m which Territorians will be paying, far in excess, of course, of the mythical black hole - could the leader of government please explain to public servants listening to this broadcast - and many of them will be through their speakers - why in all former budget papers, every agency had listed the number of staff per operational area in their departments? That has been excluded by this open, honest and accountable government in yesterday’s papers for no other reason, I suspect, than to publish those figures of the staff arrangements or the new agencies …
Mr HENDERSON: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Questions are supposed to be short and succinct, and I would urge the honourable member to get to the point. This is like a statement.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Katherine, please get to your question.
Mr REED: Thank you, Madam Speaker. For no other reason than the fact that if the new staffing arrangements were published in the budget papers released yesterday by the Treasurer, then it would expose what the real cuts are, as she said on ABC radio yesterday, 10%, and that equals 1500 jobs across the public service. If that figure is wrong, how many cuts will be put in place by your government? Territory public servants are listening to you and they want to know what the truth is, not what your burblings are.
ANSWER
I do not think the member for Katherine has quite got the point of asking questions yet. He still thinks he is on this side of the House, and can lecture to this government. Let us look at a couple of points here. This is a new budget format and I think that the former Treasurer has not quite got the hang of it yet. These are Treasury figures presented by Treasury …
Mr Reed: Oh, they are not yours?
Ms MARTIN: Oh, quite! ‘Oh, they are not yours’, says the former Treasurer. We know what you did in budgets. We know that you sat in your office up there, and said: ‘Oops, don’t like this deficit figure for this year, Under Treasurer, let us just change it’. Did not like the fact that it was well over a $100m - thought he would just change it. ‘I think $12m seems like a good figure for this year’, said the former Treasurer ...
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Just cease for a moment! I had a little discussion at lunch time and I knew you were going to be like this. I would like short questions and short answers.
Mr Dunham: What about different answers? Answers that answer the questions.
Madam SPEAKER: The member for Drysdale, if you continue to interrupt you may be having an early Christmas. Chief Minister, would you get on with the answer.
Ms MARTIN: I say to the member for Katherine, who really does not deserve to even have the entitlement to ask any questions about budgetary matters, that this is a responsible budget. There are no job losses, there are no forced redundancies, and I think the member should sit down.
Mr REED: A point of order, Madam Speaker! The question is nothing to do with responsible budgets. For the second time, the Chief Minister is being asked what the staffing circumstances will be for her revised public servants. Public servants are listening and they want to know the answer. It has nothing to do with the rabbiting on that she has been continuing with.
Madam SPEAKER: There is no point of order. We know that the Chief Minister and ministers are entitled to answer the question the best way they can, but it would be best if we could get the answers to the questions, and have short answers and short questions. Let us get on with the job.
Ms MARTIN: I gave the answer to the previous question from the Leader of the Opposition, Madam Speaker.
Mr HENDERSON: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Questions are supposed to be short and succinct, and I would urge the honourable member to get to the point. This is like a statement.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Katherine, please get to your question.
Mr REED: Thank you, Madam Speaker. For no other reason than the fact that if the new staffing arrangements were published in the budget papers released yesterday by the Treasurer, then it would expose what the real cuts are, as she said on ABC radio yesterday, 10%, and that equals 1500 jobs across the public service. If that figure is wrong, how many cuts will be put in place by your government? Territory public servants are listening to you and they want to know what the truth is, not what your burblings are.
ANSWER
I do not think the member for Katherine has quite got the point of asking questions yet. He still thinks he is on this side of the House, and can lecture to this government. Let us look at a couple of points here. This is a new budget format and I think that the former Treasurer has not quite got the hang of it yet. These are Treasury figures presented by Treasury …
Mr Reed: Oh, they are not yours?
Ms MARTIN: Oh, quite! ‘Oh, they are not yours’, says the former Treasurer. We know what you did in budgets. We know that you sat in your office up there, and said: ‘Oops, don’t like this deficit figure for this year, Under Treasurer, let us just change it’. Did not like the fact that it was well over a $100m - thought he would just change it. ‘I think $12m seems like a good figure for this year’, said the former Treasurer ...
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Just cease for a moment! I had a little discussion at lunch time and I knew you were going to be like this. I would like short questions and short answers.
Mr Dunham: What about different answers? Answers that answer the questions.
Madam SPEAKER: The member for Drysdale, if you continue to interrupt you may be having an early Christmas. Chief Minister, would you get on with the answer.
Ms MARTIN: I say to the member for Katherine, who really does not deserve to even have the entitlement to ask any questions about budgetary matters, that this is a responsible budget. There are no job losses, there are no forced redundancies, and I think the member should sit down.
Mr REED: A point of order, Madam Speaker! The question is nothing to do with responsible budgets. For the second time, the Chief Minister is being asked what the staffing circumstances will be for her revised public servants. Public servants are listening and they want to know the answer. It has nothing to do with the rabbiting on that she has been continuing with.
Madam SPEAKER: There is no point of order. We know that the Chief Minister and ministers are entitled to answer the question the best way they can, but it would be best if we could get the answers to the questions, and have short answers and short questions. Let us get on with the job.
Ms MARTIN: I gave the answer to the previous question from the Leader of the Opposition, Madam Speaker.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016