Debates Day 3 - Thursday 19 November 2015
Parliamentary Record 24
Debates for 12th Assembly 2012 - 2016; ParliamentNT; Parliamentary Record; 12th Assembly 2012 - 2016
2015-11-19
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Debates
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DEBATES Thursday 19 November 2015 7435 and the rural area. No doubt Liam would have learnt something different as he would never have been to a meeting of that sort before. I am sure he gained a greater understanding of how a local member can contribute in those types of forums. He also had the opportunity to spend time with my colleague, minister Chandler. I thank him very much for taking Liam under his wing on that day. Minister Chandler took Liam to Riding for the Disabled, which is a wonderful organisation in Marlow Lagoon, providing support and education to disabled riders. It has a beautiful paddock and horses, and all sorts of different activities. I am sure Liam would have enjoyed that immensely. Minister Chandler also took Liam to the Palmerston 50+ Club, which is a wonderful casual social club for people over the age of 50 at Gray Community Hall. It would have been enjoyable, and no doubt he would have had the privilege and opportunity to enjoy some of Caths morning tea. Liam was also able to attend the Youth Advisory Meeting with minister Elferink. I thank minister Elferink for spending time with Liam. Liam also attended a dementia-friendly communities meeting. All the Palmerston MLA offices are dementia-friendly spaces and I am part of the dementia-friendly communities committee, making Palmerston a dementia-friendly place. Liam had the opportunity to engage with the information session that occurred. My colleague, the member for Blain, Nathan Barrett, also spent time with Liam and I thank him for that. I also thank the Chief Minister, who spent about half a day with Liam. They took part in various activities, including attending Palmerston Senior College and the Special Education Centre. They paid a visit to Ausdesigns in Yarrawonga, which is run by Helping People Achieve. They visited the Palmerston Mens Shed, attended Durack Primary School and a Palmerston Combined Probus Club meeting, as well as attending the concrete pour at the Palmerston hospital, which I made a great deal of effort to get to. I am sure that part of Liams week will be immortalised in history as one of those interesting activities he attended. It was probably a little insight into the life of a politician and the things we go to, and what happens afterwards. Liam is very intelligent, efficient, punctual and well-dressed and he took on every task he was given. I have known Liam since he was a little boy because his mother was my Year 6 and Year 7 teacher at Sacred Heart Primary School. Now she is the Principal at Sacred Heart Primary School, and Liams dad is Kevin Mulvahil from AACo. Liam, you did very well. I wish I could have spent more time with you. I have spent time with you over the years. You are growing into a wonderful young man, someone your parents are very proud of, and rightly so. If there is anything I can do for you in the future, my door is always open. I hope you got good marks for your work experience. In my and Angies eyes you got 10 out of 10. Well done, mate, and I will see you at MacKillop College sometime soon. Mrs PRICE (Stuart): Madam Speaker, as we are near the end of 2015 I reflect on some good news stories in my electorate of Stuart. As a traditional owner of a beautiful part of my electorate it is always satisfying to contribute to the function and the future of it. When I came into this position I took great pride in being able to represent all people who elected me, not only blackfellas and Yapa, but Kurraya and Balanda who gave me this opportunity. Recently I visited Camfield Station in the northwestern region of my electorate to catch up with constituents. There I met people from working cattle stations across the Top End. It was so lovely to take the time to sit around and listen to the challenges and successes they experienced. People such as John and Susan Stafford form Camfield Station and Carley Bidstrup from Montejinni Station are some of the most hard-working and friendly people you could meet anywhere they care. My parents worked on stations with people like them. Life was hard for everyone then but I never heard them complain. Now I am starting to see more of our young people working as proudly as our old people used to. In late October I attended the Indigenous Business Forum in Alice Springs, which gave me confidence for the future. I met young Aboriginal entrepreneurs with ideas and motivation, like Daniel Johns from Timber Creek who has set up a private enterprise, Bradshaw & Timber Creek Contracting and Resource Company Pty Ltd. That is a successful business and he is doing great things. Dan has been mentored by Greg Kimpton and John Janson and their families, who have worked with Aboriginal people all their lives. Dan has become a leader in his community and a mentor to other Aboriginal people who want to get involved with business. The Bradshaw company employs a team of Aboriginal people from the local area on large contracts, which are increasing in time. This is one example of Ngariman people working alongside Balanda or Kurraya to get the work done. These are not training jobs anymore; they are real jobs with real futures. Working together we are getting the job done. Policies are instrumental in raising the bar. Through the Office of Aboriginal Affairs the remote contracting policy is instrumental in achieving this.