Debates Day 2 - Wednesday 23 November 1994
Parliamentary Record 6
Debates for 7th Assembly 1994 - 1997; ParliamentNT; Parliamentary Record; 7th Assembly 1994 - 1997
1994-11-23
Made available by the Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory
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Debates
Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory
Darwin
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Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory
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https://hdl.handle.net/10070/281606
https://hdl.handle.net/10070/414128
DEBATES - Wednesday 23 November 1994 What was the basis o f the $ 1.75m? In the ministers press statement o f 31 October 1988, he said quite clearly that there were 2 documents. He said: The 2-part document contains agreements for both project management for State Square and the past 14 months o f development work carried out by Tipperary on the project. Unless I am wrong, and without trying to read through the 30 pages or more o f the actual agreement here, this appears to be only the project management agreement and has nothing to do with the $ 1.75m. That is the first point that comes out o f the answer to that question. The other point is probably just as fascinating. On 31 October, the minister stated that the project management agreement had been signed. In his answer to the question on 23 November 1988, he stated categorically that the project agreement had been signed on 28 October. Members are all aware that this document has been tabled and, if anyone has actually read it, they may have noted that there is a cover sheet followed by an index and that the first page o f the document states: This agreement made on the 23rd day of November 1988 between the Northern Territory o f A ustralia... and Tipperary Developments Pty Ltd ... Thus, unless he can come up with some other explanation, it appears that the minister signed an agreement with Tipperary Developments on 28 October which he referred to in the Assembly on 23 November and the contents o f which he announced on 31 October. It would appear that, after he had made all those announcements, he signed this document on 23 November. The question that has to be asked is whether all the statements about what was in the agreement referred to the document that he said was signed on 28 October or the documents that have been tabled which were signed on 23 November. He may have some explanation as to how that occurred ... Mr Stone: You are obsessed by this, arent you? There is no one here listening to you. Mr Bell: You are. M r Stone: Yes, I am. You blokes ran an election based on this and you were thrashed. Havent you got the message? M r SPEA K ER: Order! Mr BATLEY: Mr Speaker, we have a situation in which members opposite seem to be quite happy to justify the way in which they spent $170m-worth of taxpayers money. Members on this side believe we have a responsibility to ensure ... Mr Stone interjecting. Mr BAILEY: At any time he is on his feet, I am quite happy to remind the minister o f the number o f people who are actually in the Chamber listening to him if he believes that that is the basis on which we should operate. In other words, when the galleries are not full, we should not be participating ... Mr Stone interjecting. 1853