Mr BURKE - 2002-10-08
Chief Minister, I have listened to a tape recording of the meeting involving yourself and representatives of the Arafura Sports and Community Club on 29 September. You will recall that meeting and the coverage it received in next day’s NT News with a seven-column photograph of yourself. Your closing comments to that meeting were:
I am very sad as local member that you have been through such tough times, but I think together we can work for the
future of bowls, and maybe one day I’ll even get down here.
Chief Minister, do you believe that members of the Arafura Sports and Community Club were left with the impression that it was all over for them after 41 years, that you had closed the club and taken away their greens, or do you think they saw you as bailing them out and that they would continue to exist and continue to be able to use their greens?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, my whole presentation to the club was one of explaining what had happened and I made it very clear, as I made very clear in my last answer, that my concern is about the future of bowls. The government, as I have said, through the Department of Community Development, Sport and Recreation, quite appropriately, is working with the Lawn Bowls Association about the future of the sport. That is very important; that is the fundamental.
It is a pity that the previous government had no such concern and walked away, and really contributed, quite significantly, to the problems now facing them. There is no doubt …
Mr Burke: We did not walk away, we lost an election.
Mr Stirling: You made them a promise you did not keep, that is what broke them.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Ms MARTIN: Madam Speaker, it saddens me enormously to hear the hypocrisy from those on the other side of this parliament. The pretence that you hear from a then government who ignored a club in difficulties, who made promises that caused the difficulties not to disappear, but to grow and eventuated in a club being wound up, a club of 41 years.
Government has made no decisions about the future of that club or that land. It has been wound up through the proper processes under the Incorporations Act. It has been wound up because the club’s position was unsustainable.
Mr Baldwin: Are they going to be able to bowl at Ross Smith Avenue? That is what they want to know.
Ms MARTIN: Madam Speaker, would you please tell the member for Daly to stop being so repulsive.
Mr Baldwin: She is not answering the question, Madam Speaker!
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Allow the member to continue with her answer so the people in the gallery can hear.
Ms MARTIN: Madam Speaker, I appreciated your direction to this sitting of parliament that you expected a high level of behaviour. I think that is something that we should all aspire to.
My commitment, I say again, is to the future of lawn bowls, to a financially sustainable future of lawn bowls, and that is what I made very clear.
Can I make mention, while the Opposition Leader is talking about recordings that have been made, he mentioned this morning in this House that recordings are made of meetings between my staff and other people. I would like the member for Brennan to tell me where those meetings were and why they were recorded because, as I understand it, if he is not referring - I do not mind a public meeting that I am at being recorded, but if there are people recording meetings between my staff and themselves, that is simply breaking the law. I make that point: it is breaking the law.
Members interjecting.
Ms MARTIN: You are not allowed, under federal communications laws, to record conversations without telling people you are doing it. So I put the Opposition Leader on notice. You tell me who has broken those laws …
Mr Burke: Charlie Phillips. No one broke the law; he was told it was being recorded. That is one of them.
Ms MARTIN: You tell me how and who recorded those. The point I make very clearly is that, despite the hypocrisy of the other side of the House, our concern is with the future of lawn bowls, of doing what is due diligence and doing it properly. The costs of Ernst and Young, in both their accounting and judicial management role, have been picked up by this government. That is not a cost to the club. We have been scrupulous in our due diligence. I am very sorry that a club of 41 years that is in my electorate has been wound up, but we will now move forward with lawn bowls to assure its future.
Mr STIRLING (Leader of Government Business): I ask that further questions be placed on the question paper, Madam Speaker.
I am very sad as local member that you have been through such tough times, but I think together we can work for the
future of bowls, and maybe one day I’ll even get down here.
Chief Minister, do you believe that members of the Arafura Sports and Community Club were left with the impression that it was all over for them after 41 years, that you had closed the club and taken away their greens, or do you think they saw you as bailing them out and that they would continue to exist and continue to be able to use their greens?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, my whole presentation to the club was one of explaining what had happened and I made it very clear, as I made very clear in my last answer, that my concern is about the future of bowls. The government, as I have said, through the Department of Community Development, Sport and Recreation, quite appropriately, is working with the Lawn Bowls Association about the future of the sport. That is very important; that is the fundamental.
It is a pity that the previous government had no such concern and walked away, and really contributed, quite significantly, to the problems now facing them. There is no doubt …
Mr Burke: We did not walk away, we lost an election.
Mr Stirling: You made them a promise you did not keep, that is what broke them.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Ms MARTIN: Madam Speaker, it saddens me enormously to hear the hypocrisy from those on the other side of this parliament. The pretence that you hear from a then government who ignored a club in difficulties, who made promises that caused the difficulties not to disappear, but to grow and eventuated in a club being wound up, a club of 41 years.
Government has made no decisions about the future of that club or that land. It has been wound up through the proper processes under the Incorporations Act. It has been wound up because the club’s position was unsustainable.
Mr Baldwin: Are they going to be able to bowl at Ross Smith Avenue? That is what they want to know.
Ms MARTIN: Madam Speaker, would you please tell the member for Daly to stop being so repulsive.
Mr Baldwin: She is not answering the question, Madam Speaker!
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Allow the member to continue with her answer so the people in the gallery can hear.
Ms MARTIN: Madam Speaker, I appreciated your direction to this sitting of parliament that you expected a high level of behaviour. I think that is something that we should all aspire to.
My commitment, I say again, is to the future of lawn bowls, to a financially sustainable future of lawn bowls, and that is what I made very clear.
Can I make mention, while the Opposition Leader is talking about recordings that have been made, he mentioned this morning in this House that recordings are made of meetings between my staff and other people. I would like the member for Brennan to tell me where those meetings were and why they were recorded because, as I understand it, if he is not referring - I do not mind a public meeting that I am at being recorded, but if there are people recording meetings between my staff and themselves, that is simply breaking the law. I make that point: it is breaking the law.
Members interjecting.
Ms MARTIN: You are not allowed, under federal communications laws, to record conversations without telling people you are doing it. So I put the Opposition Leader on notice. You tell me who has broken those laws …
Mr Burke: Charlie Phillips. No one broke the law; he was told it was being recorded. That is one of them.
Ms MARTIN: You tell me how and who recorded those. The point I make very clearly is that, despite the hypocrisy of the other side of the House, our concern is with the future of lawn bowls, of doing what is due diligence and doing it properly. The costs of Ernst and Young, in both their accounting and judicial management role, have been picked up by this government. That is not a cost to the club. We have been scrupulous in our due diligence. I am very sorry that a club of 41 years that is in my electorate has been wound up, but we will now move forward with lawn bowls to assure its future.
Mr STIRLING (Leader of Government Business): I ask that further questions be placed on the question paper, Madam Speaker.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016