Mr BURKE - 2002-02-28
To borrow a favourite phrase of the member for Arnhem: ‘If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen’. You have said it enough in this Chamber. Notwithstanding that, given your previous answer, I ask: would you table the briefing or statement that you have received from Rod Williams? I also ask you, minister, from your response to the last question: do both you and Rod Williams believe that the prison officers who have made these allegations, both to the media and to the opposition, are liars?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, once again, it appears that the Leader of the Opposition finds it hard to address me by my appropriate title.
Mr Burke: Answer the question.
Mr AH KIT: I will answer the question. There are people, no doubt, at the Correctional Services centre listening to the broadcast. The Leader of the Opposition is asking me to table matters that I raised in a briefing from the minister for Justice’s staff, and I do not wish to table that. I spoke from notes and I was not quoting ...
Members interjecting.
Mr AH KIT: What we have to try to get through to the opposition is that the story in today’s newspaper, like the rest of the garbage peddled out by the opposition this week, is anonymous and false. The prison superintendent had made it quite clear that no phone call from his staff occurred. We had the CEO coming out the other day saying nobody got in touch with them: ‘The minister didn’t ring my office, nor did any of his staff’. We now have the superintendent coming out saying: ‘No, not right’.
Members interjecting.
Mr AH KIT: Okay, let’s go to the source who rang the NT News. That’s all right, his identity can be protected, and we understand that. Let’s go to the last paragraph in that.
Mr Burke: We don’t want to know you are a good bloke. Are they liars or not?
Mr AH KIT: Well, you don’t want to know whether I am a good bloke. This is what you are trolling for. You are trolling for something that did not happen, and now you are still grasping at the last few little straws.
Mr Burke: You are supposed to know what is going on in your office.
Madam SPEAKER: Leader of the Opposition, calm down.
Mr AH KIT: Let’s go to the former senior prison officer, and the article on page three by Nigel Adlam says:
‘Former prisons minister, John Ah Kit, did not personally try to stop Aboriginal inmates being transferred from Darwin to
Alice Springs’, a senior prison officer said last night.
I would like to meet up with this bloke and have a beer with him and if he has some problem, I will offer my assistance and sit down with the minister for Justice and work through some of the issues. But let’s go to the last paragraph:
The prison officer, who said he would be sacked if he was caught talking to the press, told the Northern Territory News:
‘John Ah Kit is a decent man who is liked by prison staff’.
For goodness sake, that is from the senior prison officer, who is providing you with this ...
Mr REED: A point of order, Madam Speaker. It seems that the minister thinks the whole of the article in the NT News is a lie except the last paragraph. He was asked specifically whether he thought that prison officers who are behind this story and who have contacted the media are liars. He has not addressed that question at all.
Madam SPEAKER: There is no point of order, and we all know the minister has the licence to answer the question.
Mr AH KIT: Thank you, Madam Speaker. What we now have is a situation where the members opposite had worked out - in fact, it was spoken about in Kitty O’Shea’s last Friday over a couple of beers, where the member for Goyder was skiting about the minister for Justice and the minister for Community Development, ‘They’re going to get rolled; we’re going to put the big king hit on them.’ You would want to be careful having a beer around the place and talking with your big mouth, because there are people listening. But anyway, that is something for the new member to learn.
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Government members, I cannot hear the minister.
Mr AH KIT: They came in here, they had their targets, they missed their targets, they are now still trolling further. It is like the members opposite are in quicksand trying to grab for the limb, but the more they reach out, the further they are sinking. They should get on with asking questions about business and the economy which Territorians are interested in.
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, once again, it appears that the Leader of the Opposition finds it hard to address me by my appropriate title.
Mr Burke: Answer the question.
Mr AH KIT: I will answer the question. There are people, no doubt, at the Correctional Services centre listening to the broadcast. The Leader of the Opposition is asking me to table matters that I raised in a briefing from the minister for Justice’s staff, and I do not wish to table that. I spoke from notes and I was not quoting ...
Members interjecting.
Mr AH KIT: What we have to try to get through to the opposition is that the story in today’s newspaper, like the rest of the garbage peddled out by the opposition this week, is anonymous and false. The prison superintendent had made it quite clear that no phone call from his staff occurred. We had the CEO coming out the other day saying nobody got in touch with them: ‘The minister didn’t ring my office, nor did any of his staff’. We now have the superintendent coming out saying: ‘No, not right’.
Members interjecting.
Mr AH KIT: Okay, let’s go to the source who rang the NT News. That’s all right, his identity can be protected, and we understand that. Let’s go to the last paragraph in that.
Mr Burke: We don’t want to know you are a good bloke. Are they liars or not?
Mr AH KIT: Well, you don’t want to know whether I am a good bloke. This is what you are trolling for. You are trolling for something that did not happen, and now you are still grasping at the last few little straws.
Mr Burke: You are supposed to know what is going on in your office.
Madam SPEAKER: Leader of the Opposition, calm down.
Mr AH KIT: Let’s go to the former senior prison officer, and the article on page three by Nigel Adlam says:
‘Former prisons minister, John Ah Kit, did not personally try to stop Aboriginal inmates being transferred from Darwin to
Alice Springs’, a senior prison officer said last night.
I would like to meet up with this bloke and have a beer with him and if he has some problem, I will offer my assistance and sit down with the minister for Justice and work through some of the issues. But let’s go to the last paragraph:
The prison officer, who said he would be sacked if he was caught talking to the press, told the Northern Territory News:
‘John Ah Kit is a decent man who is liked by prison staff’.
For goodness sake, that is from the senior prison officer, who is providing you with this ...
Mr REED: A point of order, Madam Speaker. It seems that the minister thinks the whole of the article in the NT News is a lie except the last paragraph. He was asked specifically whether he thought that prison officers who are behind this story and who have contacted the media are liars. He has not addressed that question at all.
Madam SPEAKER: There is no point of order, and we all know the minister has the licence to answer the question.
Mr AH KIT: Thank you, Madam Speaker. What we now have is a situation where the members opposite had worked out - in fact, it was spoken about in Kitty O’Shea’s last Friday over a couple of beers, where the member for Goyder was skiting about the minister for Justice and the minister for Community Development, ‘They’re going to get rolled; we’re going to put the big king hit on them.’ You would want to be careful having a beer around the place and talking with your big mouth, because there are people listening. But anyway, that is something for the new member to learn.
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Government members, I cannot hear the minister.
Mr AH KIT: They came in here, they had their targets, they missed their targets, they are now still trolling further. It is like the members opposite are in quicksand trying to grab for the limb, but the more they reach out, the further they are sinking. They should get on with asking questions about business and the economy which Territorians are interested in.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016