Debates Day 3 - Thursday 1 May 2003
Parliamentary Record 11
Debates for 9th Assembly 2001 - 2005; ParliamentNT; Parliamentary Record; 9th Assembly 2001 - 2005
2003-05-01
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Debates
Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory
Darwin
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DEBATES - Thursday 1 May 2003 moment. Members of the government, you are being very disorderly. Your inteijections are disrupting the members speech. Ms CARNEY: Again, the references to what the government calls crime prevention in the Chief Ministers statement are lamentable. As I said in the censure motion on Tuesday - we censured the government for its failure to get on to the issue of law and order and increasing crime - we are concerned that the government is just trying to bombard people with absurd statistics that fly in the face of what people in this town are experiencing daily. Members of my parliamentary team went doorknocking in your very electorate, Madam Speaker. I noted with interest yesterday that Madam Speaker was holding a sign that said she is safe and happy in Alice Springs. When we next doorknock parts of Madam Speakers electorate, we must remember to tell them that their local member has a slightly different view. Let me tell members present what my constituents tell me about law and order. Unlike Draco Malfoy, they do not twist figures, they call it as they see it. They know the truth; they know that things are at a crisis level. They also know, by coincidence maybe, but it just so happens that things have become much worse ... M r AH KIT: A point o f order, Madam Speaker! The member knows fully that she needs to address her remarks through the Chair. She is being very provocative, and members on our side of the House are normally well behaved unless we are provoked. Madam SPEAKER: There is no point of order. Ms CARNEY: Thank you, Madam Speaker. Mr Kiely inteijecting. Madam SPEAKER: Member for Sanderson, we will hear the rest of the member for Araluens speech in silence. Ms CARNEY: Throughout the week, not surprisingly - because members on this side of the House at least are very good at representing the concerns of their constituents - we raised matters on behalf of our constituents: law and order and crimes increasing. In addition, we have eyes and ears. We live here; we do know what it is like. So some politicians from Darwin coming to our town and telling us that we are just making it up really borders on the absurd and the obscene. I can assure members opposite that I have much better things to do with my time than lie in bed at night and make things up. Having said that, in this Chamber we talk about what we think and what we are told are very serious issues. A member inteijecting. Ms CARNEY: Well, I saw the human face of it last night, Madam Speaker, when I met Brendan McGrath, the young fellow who had a rock thrown at him. He has a scar across his head. He is a young man with two kids - six month old baby twins - and his wife. It was very distressing. I cried when I met him. That is the human face o f crime in this town. So it is not just words, we are not just making it up, it does affect all of us. When we drive around at night in this town, we have an expectation as Territorians that our government, regardless of what side of the political fence they are, will ensure that we live in a safe and happy protected community. My constituents are telling me that they do not get that sense from this government, and that is why they are leaving. The people who are being assaulted and tripped up by the drunks in this town, they have friends and they all talk to each other, and they say: Arent things terrible? We have lived here for 30-odd years and we have never thought about going; but now we are thinking about leaving. Or young families with young kids are saying: We do not want our kids to grow up here, because they are sick of this government, sick of the drunks and sick o f the violence. Yet you pack o f Draco Malfoys sit here in denial. You are a slippery and not to be trusted bunch. I defy you ... Mr KIELY: A point o f order, Madam Speaker! Standing Order 63, Speaker to Intervene: When any offensive or disorderly words are used, whether by the member who is addressing the Chair or by the member who is present... I would suggest that those words you used are very offensive. Madam SPEAKER: Withdraw them, member for Araluen. Ms CARNEY: Madam Speaker, what words? Madam SPEAKER: The ones where you were referring to members o f the government as a group. Ms CARNEY: Slippery? Madam SPEAKER: Pack. Ms CARNEY: I will withdraw slippery and not to be trusted, Madam Speaker, but thankfully ... Members inteijecting. 3956