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
Made available by the Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory
English
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/10070/278500
https://hdl.handle.net/10070/420998
DEBATES - Thursday 1 May 2003 Dr LIM: The level of crime is intolerable and this is why many of the ... Members inteijecting. Madam SPEAKER: I am sorry, did someone say No? A member: No. Madam SPEAKER: Leave is denied. M r BURKE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Madam SPEAKER: There is no point of order if leave is denied. M r BURKE: May I speak? Madam SPEAKER: What is your point of order? Mr BURKE: Madam Speaker, you have ruled. You cannot rule and then, when someone stands up and says: Oh, no, we want a different ruling, give a different ruling. You have ruled that leave is granted and the members time be extended. I made the call, you made the ruling, and the members time should be extended. Madam SPEAKER: I did not hear the no that came from the governments side. Dr LIM: I have one paragraph, Madam Speaker. Madam SPEAKER: All right, member for Greatorex, we will give you that. Dr LEM: As one of the local members from Alice Springs, it was important I had the opportunity to express, on behalf of Greatorex, that the law and order problems we face are getting worse. It was a disgraceful act of the Chief Minister and the government to gag a debate - any debate - but gag you did, and prevent me from saying what I wanted to say two days ago: good government, good democracy comes from good debate. Her style of government in these last almost two years ... Mr KIELY: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Madam SPEAKER: No, there is no point of order. Sit down. Resume your seat. Dr LEM: . ..h as been nothing short of disgraceful. They profess support for Alice Springs; I have seen very little of it. Madam SPEAKER: Just for members interest, when points of order are raised, the Deputy Clerk here has been holding time, so that is not going into your time, as the member for Port Darwin suggested. People in the gallery are probably becoming a little tired of these frequent frivolous points of order. I suggest you refrain. Mrs AAGAARD (Health and Community Services): First, Madam Speaker, might I say that it is an absolute pleasure to be here in Alice Springs. I congratulate you, Madam Speaker, and members of the Department of the Legislative Assembly for putting together an excellent sittings here in Alice Springs. It has shown that the parliament can be in places other than in Darwin, and can do a proper job. So congratulations to you personally, Madam Speaker. I feel very much at home in Alice Springs. When I became a minister on 27 August 2001 ,1 made sure that I was in Alice Springs in the following week. Since that time, I have made a real effort to be down here at least once a month. So this is about my 20th visit to Alice Springs since I have been a minister. I have come to know so many people in Alice Springs; it is a very friendly place and one I enjoy coming to visit. Although I was not bom in the Northern Territory, my great-grandmother was the first cousin of the Reverend John Flynn. This would not normally be considered to be a very close relationship with me but, as you probably know, Madam Speaker, the Reverend Flynn did not have any children. He did not have any siblings and, as a first cousin, my great-grandmother - whose name was Susan Savage, and later became Susan Newman - was a major benefactor to the Australian Inland Mission. Therefore, I felt for a long time a very close contact with the Centre. In fact, I travelled here with my family, my grandmother and great-grandmother when I was quite a young girl, so I do feel quite a connection with the Centre. When I am here in Alice Springs on a Sunday, I go to the Flynn Church where I feel very much at home as a member of the Uniting Church, and have continuation with that very interesting past of the Centre with the Royal Flying Doctor Service and the Reverend John Flynn. So, thank you very much for the warm welcome that I always receive here in Alice Springs. I look forward to getting to know more people while I am here. Before I start on the formal part o f my speech, I would like to make a few comments on the speech of the member for Greatorex. It is a bit sad that, having had a failed censure motion last night, the member for Greatorex wanted to bring up the same furphies today. Let me, once again, say elective surgery has not been cancelled at the Alice Springs Hospital. And, yes, there is a category urgent elective 3962