Debates Day 2 - Wednesday 17 May 1995
Parliamentary Record 10
Debates for 7th Assembly 1994 - 1997; ParliamentNT; Parliamentary Record; 7th Assembly 1994 - 1997
1995-05-17
Made available by the Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory
English
Debates
Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory
Darwin
application/pdf
Attribution International 4.0 (CC BY 4.0)
Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
https://hdl.handle.net/10070/281696
https://hdl.handle.net/10070/413973
DEBATES - Wednesday 17 May 1995 themselves. We must involve the communities. As I said, some community leaders were saying that it should be given a go. These are the sorts of things that we are feeling our way with. That is why I said that we are a little out-front with this. We are exploring measures to address the antisocial behaviour in society and to help those people who need help. If we find that some programs are not working, we must be strong enough to recognise that and to try something else. The government is determined to address the problems of antisocial behaviour and to begin to turn around the horrifying levels of trauma suffered by individuals who are caught up in the cycle of binge drinking and the cost of providing services to these people on an all too regular basis. This initiative will go some way towards overcoming the problem. As some members opposite have said, the resources are meagre. However, we must make a start somewhere. We are starting with the cooperation of Aboriginal organisations, the town councils and the Darwin City Council, and with the commitment at least of members on this side and, I am pleased to say, the member for Amhem. I believe we have the commitment of most Territorians who want to see the situation improved. I thank honourable members for their contributions. Motion agreed to. PERSONAL EXPLANATION Mr EDE (Opposition Leader)(by leave): Mr Deputy Speaker, during the previous debate, the member for Casuarina stated that he had information that a number of business people in his electorate, who were concerned about issues of law and order, had on a number of occasions contacted my office but their calls had not been returned. I have conducted an investigation in my office. I can assure the member that there have been no unanswered calls that could by any stretch of the imagination be construed as having come from business people in his or any other electorate. The members allegation is recorded in Hansard, and no doubt he obtained his information from people whom he trusted. If he wishes to retain his credibility, I ask him to check with those people who told him this story. If they remain adamant that they rang my office, he could give me their names. Obviously, there is something very wrong in this situation. I trust that he was being honest in the statement that he made to the House. I trust that he will contact the people concerned and ask them to advise me of the times at which they made those calls to my office. Alternatively, he could provide with their names. TABLED PAPER Pastoral Land Board Annual Report 1993-94 Mr HATTON (Lands, Housing and Local Government): Mr Speaker, I take pleasure in tabling the Annual Report of the Pastoral Land Board 1993-94 which records the activities, achievements and plans of the second year of the board as constituted under the Pastoral Land Act. There is no legislative requirement that this report be tabled. However, I am of the opinion that the full report should be available for public information. 3278