Questions Day 3 - Thursday 18 February 2010
Parliamentary Record 11
Questions for 11th Assembly 2008 - 2012; ParliamentNT; Parliamentary Record; 11th Assembly 2008 - 2012
2010-02-18
Made available by the Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory
English
Questions
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/10070/277961
https://hdl.handle.net/10070/423274
QUESTIONS - Thursday 18 February 2010 621 child protection. Surely you do not expect anyone to believe the passing of this information up the chain stopped before it reached the minister? Is not your deputys implausible denial of knowledge and responsibility just another example of the culture of cover-up that characterises this Labor government? ANSWER Madam Speaker, there has not been a government in the Northern Territorys history that has been more open and transparent on this issue. We have introduced legislation Members interjecting. Madam SPEAKER: Order! Order! Mr HENDERSON: We have increased the number of workers. We have introduced new legislation that has raised the threshold in terms of mandatory reporting of children at risk. We introduced that legislation. We are the government that established an independent Childrens Commissioner. We are the government that expanded the out-of-home care system in the Northern Territory. We are the government that established the Child Abuse Task Force. We are the government that has increased the budget from a paltry $7m a year, with no out of hours contact service at all, 9 am to 5 pm - you could report if it was 9 am to 5 pm, if it was after that, no staff there to take those reports - to a 24 hour service. We are the government that has increased the budget to over $90m Mr MILLS: A point of order, Madam Speaker! I raise the issue of relevance. The implausibility of the assertions made by the Chief Minister - this is implausible. Madam SPEAKER: I believe the Chief Minister is answering the question. Mr HENDERSON: I am the Chief Minister that initiated, on request from the minister at the time, the most wide-ranging public inquiry into child protection in the Territorys history. Legislation we introduced requires us to make reports like the minister tabled yesterday, and the legislation requires us to table those reports. This is legislation we introduced to improve and increase transparency in this area. This is legislation that Mr TOLLNER: A point of order, Madam Speaker! The question to the Chief Minister was quite clear. It was: how can people be expected to believe the minister was not aware of all of these allegations that went right up to the Madam SPEAKER: Member for Fong Lim, what is the point of order? Mr TOLLNER: Relevance, Madam Speaker. He was asked a very direct question Madam SPEAKER: Member for Fong Lim, resume your seat. There are only 40 seconds left for the minister Mr Tollner: And so he will not answer it? Madam SPEAKER: Answer as close as possible to the question, which was quite long. Mr HENDERSON: The question was long, and this is a complex area. The Leader of the Opposition Members interjecting. Madam SPEAKER: Order! Mr HENDERSON: If the Leader of the Opposition thinks there are simple solutions Members interjecting. Madam SPEAKER: Order! Order! Mr Mills: Madam Speaker, this is about the truth and not covering up and excusing your colleagues. Madam SPEAKER: Order! Leader of the Opposition! Mr Mills: It is disgraceful. Madam SPEAKER: Order! Chief Minister, you have 10 seconds. Members interjecting. Madam SPEAKER: Order! Order! Chief Minister, your time has expired. Mr HENDERSON: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Madam SPEAKER: Can you resume your seats. I am quite concerned about the level of points of order during that question which made it impossible for the Chief Minister to have adequate time to respond. I will allow the Chief Minister to have an extra 30 seconds, if he wishes, to respond in that time. When the Leader of the Opposition wished to recast his question - I gave you extra time there, Leader of the Opposition - I will allow the Chief Minister to answer the question in the next 30 seconds if he wishes to.