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
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DEBATES AND QUESTIONS Friday 24 April 2020 8346 convince the government, which has the numbers in this Chamber, to support the people of Alice Springs the people I stand in this parliament to represent every day we sit. Give the people of Alice Springs the respect they deserve and allow this petition to be tabled today. People want solutions to the problem of crime in my town of Alice Springs. More broadly, Territorians want to see where this goes. I hear very strong messages from people in Palmerston who are facing the same levels of crime. They want to see solutions. They would be watching this very carefully. A petition calling for a youth curfew in the Northern Territory is a significant occasion and event. I do not know if it has ever been done before. I do not think a petition for a curfew has ever been tabled in the NT Parliament before. Please, respect me and the people of Alice Springs and allow this petition to be tabled today. Mr McCONNELL (Stuart): Madam Speaker, I support the Member for Araluen. I do not necessarily support the petition and the idea of a youth curfew in Alice Springs, but this would have been an opportunity to have the petition presented to parliament then referred to a scrutiny committee. A lot of good discussion could have taken place. Territorians are doing it hard. People are doing it very hard when they do not have the hours in the restaurant they used to work in as a casual. They are doing it very hard when they are trying to provide food in the shops in remote communities. They are doing it hard when they cannot shop in the town of Alice Springs because they live in a biosecurity controlled zone. All these people are doing it very hard. They are also doing their jobs as citizens and to feed their families. They are jobs that we all have. We have jobs here today and we are losing opportunities to do our jobs like present petitions because of some sort of hubris and frankly, bullying, tactics. It is not necessary. A fair-minded, independent person would think that there has been a fair bit of bullying going on in this parliament today. I let others make that judgement. I have already made my judgement. We need to think about these things. People are looking to us for leadership. They want to hear these things. People do not sign petitions to be whimsical or flippant. They sign petitions because they care about their community and their place. That is what we are here for and are attempting to do. I support the Member for Araluen as I supported the Leader of the Opposition. These petitions should be tabled. It would have taken a couple of minutes. You do not have to show your leadership by a foot-on-thethroat mentality. That does not work; it is bullying behaviour. There is no need to operate like that; we can operate in a more collegial manner. We need to show that we have the ability to work together. We are asking Territorians to work together and then demonstrating that we will not do that, led by our Leader of Government Business. That is not acceptable. People are watching us and judging us. Frankly, I do not care about the political consequences. I care about the consequences on my community. Can we please think about the fact our actions in here are not about politics? Politics is one of our tool. We are supposed to be delivering for our community. We are in here for our community and there is no reason the Member for Araluen should not be able to table her petition. Ms FYLES (Attorney-General and Justice): Madam Speaker, we provide absolute respect to this issue but we will not be supporting the suspension of standing orders. We all have things that are important to our communities and electorates and would bring them to parliament but this is an extraordinary day of sittings. We were very clear about that. We have three bills directly relating to Coronavirus, which is why we are here today. It is a very hard decision. The Member for Braitling has spoken to me about the incident the Member for Araluen referred to. It is a hard decision. I agree with you that this is an important issue but we need to get on with passing the legislation before us so that we can continue our response to Coronavirus. Mrs Lambley: You are a disgrace. Who do you stand for? Nobody. You certainly do not stand for Alice Springs. It is all about winning Nightcliff. Ms FYLES: In regard to Coronavirus we had a strong response and this is a special sitting of parliament to focus on the legislation needed to support those on the front line and our community. Regarding the Member for Araluens interjections, we care about the community. Over the last three-and-a-half years we have been focused on making sure there are investments into youth justice, which was scrapped when she was the minister.