Mr MILLS - 2011-03-29
Three hundred people stood out the front of the convention centre today to protest against your failure to adequately deal with the Alice Springs crime and antisocial behaviour crisis. Ignorance must be bliss for you because you shamefully failed to address the assembled crowd. Even Clare Martin had the guts to do so. These were hard-working and very concerned Territorians, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous. They were not radical lefties with extreme agendas. These are people who just want to feel safe in the town they love. Would you not agree that your failure to front is a clear demonstration of a leader and a government that does not care and who is out of touch?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, the Leader of the Opposition is not only out of touch, he does not care. It is absolutely unprecedented to have a censure motion in this House of the Chief Minister and the government on issues affecting Alice Springs - and he could not be bothered to speak in the censure motion.
As I said earlier in debate, it is all very well to highlight the problems but, as a potential leader, you have an absolute responsibility to promote your own agenda. What would the opposition do in regard to antisocial behaviour and crime issues in Alice Springs? All we had from the Leader of the Opposition was absolute silence. He could not even be bothered to contribute to debate.
We all know that alcohol causes 66% of all violent crime in Alice Springs. That is why we will be introducing the toughest alcohol reform measures in this nation’s history in parliament tomorrow. Just last week, urged on by the CLP, we had a bit of a tub thumping from Tony Abbott saying that we have to deal with issues in Alice Springs. The federal Leader of the Opposition wrote to the Prime Minister and stated that unrestricted access to alcohol is a significant problem. Even the federal Leader of the Opposition recognises that alcohol is the cause of so much of the dysfunction here. Yet, the opposition in the Northern Territory wants to sell alcohol for four more hours every day in Alice Springs. This alcohol policy is a direct contradiction to what the federal Leader of the Opposition is saying has to occur in the Northern Territory.
These are the bills we will be introducing tomorrow. The challenge for the opposition, if it and this Leader of the Opposition is serious about dealing with the issues that those people outside were concerned about this morning, is he and the opposition will back our alcohol reforms when we table them in the parliament tomorrow.
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, the Leader of the Opposition is not only out of touch, he does not care. It is absolutely unprecedented to have a censure motion in this House of the Chief Minister and the government on issues affecting Alice Springs - and he could not be bothered to speak in the censure motion.
As I said earlier in debate, it is all very well to highlight the problems but, as a potential leader, you have an absolute responsibility to promote your own agenda. What would the opposition do in regard to antisocial behaviour and crime issues in Alice Springs? All we had from the Leader of the Opposition was absolute silence. He could not even be bothered to contribute to debate.
We all know that alcohol causes 66% of all violent crime in Alice Springs. That is why we will be introducing the toughest alcohol reform measures in this nation’s history in parliament tomorrow. Just last week, urged on by the CLP, we had a bit of a tub thumping from Tony Abbott saying that we have to deal with issues in Alice Springs. The federal Leader of the Opposition wrote to the Prime Minister and stated that unrestricted access to alcohol is a significant problem. Even the federal Leader of the Opposition recognises that alcohol is the cause of so much of the dysfunction here. Yet, the opposition in the Northern Territory wants to sell alcohol for four more hours every day in Alice Springs. This alcohol policy is a direct contradiction to what the federal Leader of the Opposition is saying has to occur in the Northern Territory.
These are the bills we will be introducing tomorrow. The challenge for the opposition, if it and this Leader of the Opposition is serious about dealing with the issues that those people outside were concerned about this morning, is he and the opposition will back our alcohol reforms when we table them in the parliament tomorrow.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016