Debates and Questions - Day 1 - 24 April 2020
Parliamentary Record 27
Debates and Questions for 13th Assembly 2019 - 2020; ParliamentNT; Parliamentary Record; 13th Assembly 2016 - 2020
2020-04-24
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Debates and Questions
Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory
Darwin
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DEBATES AND QUESTIONS Friday 24 April 2020 8341 Mr ACTING DEPUTY SPEAKER: That must be done by substantive motion, Opposition Leader. Ms FYLES: She does not have a point of order. It is my opportunity to speak in response to her suspension of standing orders. Mr ACTING DEPUTY SPEAKER: Can we have you speak, please. Mrs Finocchiaro: Why are we wasting time? Ms FYLES: Absolutely! I will speak on why we do not support Members interjecting. Mr ACTING DEPUTY SPEAKER: Can I have some order in the House? If not, I will boot you out. I hope the Deputy Speaker realises that I have as much empathy to this situation as he does. Ms FYLES: I will talk about what the Territory and the world is facing with the Coronavirus pandemic. Close to three million people have been diagnosed. Those are just the results that we know of. In the Territory we acted strongly and quickly. We closed our borders to protect Territorians, particularly the vulnerable people with underlying illnesses, who are susceptible to Coronavirus. To date we have seen 28 cases; many of those have recovered. We have a long way to go with this pandemic. We have important legislation before the House and we are about to debate that. It is about support, through the Chief Health Officer and the Public and Environmental Health Actthe directions for quarantining and keeping people out of our community. Public servants have been working around the clock to prepare legislation for this extraordinary day. The first chance those opposite get, they want to present a petition about pets. That is unreal when we see what is happening around the world. There are field hospitals set up in New York City, in Central Park, which we never thought we would see. Field hospitals are usually deployed in the wake of a natural disaster. Members interjecting. Ms FYLES: As soon as I start to talk about these important points, they fire up on the other side. They want to interject. This health emergency knows no boundaries or borders; you would know that. Territorians want to know that we are doing everything possible, and we are. We are putting measures in place to protect their health. We have given health professionals valuable time to prepare for what might happen with the Coronavirus. It is like those opposite think that somehow we only had 28 casesGreat! We just need to move on. The reality is that we are now seeing other areas which previously had massive outbreaks, such as Italy and China, have a reoccurrence of Coronavirus. People need to be aware Mr McConnell: So arrogant! You should listen to Territorians. Mr ACTING DEPUTY SPEAKER: I will not give any more warnings. Mr McConnell: I will just go, then! Ms FYLES: And they simply walk out of the Chamber because they do not like what they are hearing. The Opposition Leader moved a suspension of standing orders and I am saying why the government does not support Mrs LAMBLEY: A point of orderstanding order something-or-other, you cannot refer to people leaving the Chamber. Ms FYLES: A point of orderwhat is your standing order? You cannot just stand up and interject.