Parliamentary record : Part I debates (02 October 1990)
Debates for 5th Assembly 1987 - 1990; ParliamentNT; Parliamentary Record; 5th Assembly 1987 - 1990
1990-10-02
Made available by the Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory
English
Debates
Northern Territory Legislative Assembly
Darwin
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Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory
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https://hdl.handle.net/10070/220324
https://hdl.handle.net/10070/699493
DEBATES - Tuesday 2 October 1990 member for Stuart would be content to sit idly by - as he did last night when he watched tel evi si on rather than read thi s report - and allow thi s to happen. I am genuinely concerned about where we are heading, not only in education for Aboriginal people but in training generally for Aboriginal people. It is something over which I have left no stone unturnedin my time as minister responsible for employment. I have sought to get some rationality and some balance into what we provide by way of training to Aboriginal people, and to ensure that that training is most effective. I would hope to have the opportunity to continue that into the future. I will not sit idly by and have the member for Stuart denigrate .our Minister for Education who is unequalled in his concern for Aboriginal people and their education in the Northern Territory. He has .put himself out. The member opposite tried to suggest that this round of community consultation was a farewell holiday trip. Mr Speaker, I can assure ,you that, as much as I appreciate my Aboriginal constituents, it is no holiday to travel the way the minister travelled over a long period, which was his responsibil ity, to ensure that he consulted the people who were using his education system throughout the Northern Territory. The member for Stuart has indicated that he would not do that. If he were the minister respons i b 1 e, he would not spend taxpayers'. money on consu 1 tat i on wi th peop 1 e. It is not the way of the Labor Party to talk to people on the ground. That is because Labor has its own agenda. It is not prepared to look at change if it does not suit its agenda. That is how it operates. We a 11 know that. I do not know why we pussyfoot around when we know that the ALP does not listen. It does not want to see any changes in the system because that would not suit its own agenda. I am confident that the Northern Territory government will treat this report with the seriousness that it deserves and that we will implement many of its proposals. I believe it to be one of the most balanced and comprehens i ve documents on Abori gi na 1 educat i on that I have seen in the Territory. Debate adjourned. SUMMARY OFFENCES AMENDMENT BILL (Serial 291) Continued from 23 August 1990. Mr BELL (Mac Donne 11) : Mr Speaker, at the outset, I want to i nd i cate the opposition's reservations about an approach to this issue which is characterised by a concentration on the policing of the 2 km law. I have no intent i on of bei ng other than quite frank in respect of the 2 km 1 aw. I continue to have reservations about the value of that law which, I believe, does not impact particularly strongly, either positively or negatively, on the problems of alcohol abuse in the Northern Territory. In numerous debates in this Assembly, many of them during the last 12 months, I have spoken about alcohol abuse and the difficulties we have with it in the Northern Territory. I have congratul ated the government for having the courage to establish the Sessional Committee on the Use and Abuse of Alcohol by the Commun i ty I have put a great deal of effort into the work of that committee and I believe that it is the appropriate forum for the consideration of a proposal such as this. 10 679