No Confidence

Friday, 14 August 2009

Ms CARNEY (Araluen): Madam Speaker, it is a pity that the member for Nelson is not in the Chamber at the moment to hear what else would be said during this debate. Madam SPEAKER: Member for Araluen, you are aware that you are not supposed to refer to the presence or absence of a member. Ms CARNEY: I am sorry, Madam Speaker. The member for Nelson has made the wrong decision. He has decided to support an unstable and dysfunctional government. It is the wrong decision. He will vote for a government knee-capped by itself. He will vote for a bandaid solution to a political problem entirely of the government’s own making. I note with interest, earlier the Deputy Chief Minister referred to the situation in which the government found itself, as if it had nothing to do with the government at all. It has everything to do with the government - its dysfunction and its instability. The member for Nelson will vote for a government that is unwilling to tackle the issues, because its members are consumed by entrenched internal conflicts. He will vote for a government that is focussed on clinging on to power rather than delivering results for Territorians. He will vote for a Chief Minister who, in political terms, is a dead man walking. The Chief Minister has seemingly been saved from a challenge, or from being challenged by his unpopular and divisive leader, so in turn, Labor is, it seems, saved from the utterly desperate option of turning to the Deputy Chief Minister to move the member for Wanguri, the present Chief Minister, out of the way. The member for Nelson will vote for a government that on a good day, when it is momentarily able to move beyond its own internal problems, can only extend itself at best to re-announcing previous announcements, producing glossy brochures, opening political offices with taxpayer money, and engaging in political stunts. On a good day this is the government of the Northern Territory at its best. Territorians now more than ever need certainty and competence. They have neither, and that is the worst part of what seems to be a cobbled together deal. The government is crippled by division and defections, and it is incapable, completely incapable, of looking beyond, clinging on to its own power. Only one year after the last election the government is tired and falling apart and, as I said, only months after the last election the government’s get up and go has got up and went. The member for Nelson somehow believes, it seems to me - and certainly based on discussions he has had with others, and based on what he said this morning - that he is not supporting Labor, he is just supporting the Chief Minister. He is supporting, apparently, stable government. It is, I would suggest, incredibly peculiar logic. The Chief Minister has been a senior minister since the first days of this administration. He has been involved in everything. His hands are all over the failures of the last eight years. He is the man who, in the last 20 months since he has been the leader - having knifed his predecessor, Clare Martin - has shown appalling political judgment. This man took the Territory to an election almost a year early, a tactical error which should have cost him his leadership. He lost control of a parliament with 19 Labor seats and four Country Liberal seats. How does a bloke do that? If that is not incompetence, I do not know what is. During the Chief Minister’s inauspicious 20 months, it is unquestionably the case that he has been incapable of controlling his own Cabinet. I note with interest that he said, I might say, in his very mediocre speech earlier, that he will deliver for Territorians stable government, and he will deliver results with a minority government. He could not even do it when he had a majority, when he was part of the government for eight years, even with 19:4, the now Chief Minister could not deliver stable government and could not deliver results for the people we serve. The Chief Minister cannot possibly be taken seriously except, of course, by his colleagues on the other side of this Chamber and the member for Nelson. All I heard from the Chief Minister is more of the same; the same that I have heard since 2001. ‘We have a plan’ seems to be the mantra of the Territory government. Believe me, it is the mantra because I have been here for eight years and that is what I have heard every single sittings, ‘We have a plan’. Territorians do not want plans, they want action. They want action and the member for Nelson wants to support this mob. It is somewhat extraordinary. I note with interest that at the end of the Chief Minister’s speech he said he will try to make government more accountable and transparent. We were all here; we heard it. Is it not extraordinary for a Chief Minister at any time, but in particular during a no confidence motion, to say he will ‘try’ to make government more accountable and transparent. He did not say he ‘would’ make government more accountable and transparent. That is what the people of the Northern Territory were looking for, and once again the Chief Minister has failed them. It illustrates, furthermore, how crippled the government is, with a Chief Minister with his hands tied behind his back. He has lost control of government and his Cabinet, and he is not a Chief Minister who can get things done - yet the member for Nelson wants to support him. The member for Nelson has made the wrong decision. I would like to speak now on the people in my electorate of Araluen in Alice Springs, and can I make this point abundantly clear: the member for Nelson does not speak for the people in my electorate - they have given me that privilege. They tell me they are sick of being thrown beads and trinkets from the appalling government. I am compelled to ask, Madam Speaker, what is it exactly my constituents get from the government saved by the member for Nelson? How exactly are things going to change and be better in the electorate of Araluen or in the town of Alice Springs? What changes can they expect to see in the high crime rate in our town? What changes to the structure or number of police will they see? Can they ever be assured of getting through in a timely manner when they ring the local police station? When will the so-called dry town be taken seriously and become a reality? And when will there be real and effective treatment programs for those addicted to alcohol? What can I tell them, I ask, Madam Speaker and, in particular, the member for Nelson, what can I tell the people of my electorate and Alice Springs when I go home tomorrow? How exactly has their lot been improved by this deal? I listened closely to what was said and I (inaudible) and I am here representing the people in my electorate - that is what I am paid to do - and the member for Nelson does not speak for them. Madam Speaker, the people in my electorate will get more of the same from this government; from a Chief Minister who is a senior member of a team that for eight years has repeatedly failed Alice Springs. The member for Nelson has voted for a Chief Minister who will go through the motions of dropping in occasionally, doing some stunts, and then leaving on the 5 o’clock plane. For them, the people whom I proudly represent in this Assembly, the member for Nelson’s decision, was the wrong decision. Moving to my responsibilities in my shadow portfolios I ask whether the member for Nelson made the right decision. Quickly I come to the answer: he made the wrong decision. For instance, at Estimates only two months ago it was revealed that three years after the Territory attracted national and international attention on the issue of child abuse, the government continues to fail children at risk. The child abuse taskforce in Alice Springs has not had an increase in the number of child protection workers in the last 12 months; despite an increasing rate of notifications it still only has three. The Mobile Child Protection Unit which works in remote parts of the Territory has seen a reduction in the number of child protection workers from 10 to six. Response times for investigations of child abuse are nowhere near the government’s own benchmarks. Children who are abused or neglected are highly reliant upon a well functioning child protection system; they have a right to expect that governments deliver on their promises. This government has failed on both counts, to its enduring shame. That is why the member for Nelson has made the wrong decision. There is a culture of ducking and weaving in this government. The energy and the idealism they had in 2001, and I was here, and for those Labor supporters in the gallery, they had it and it was great, they were at their best, newly elected 26, 27 years in the wilderness, they came here full of enthusiasm and a desire to make the Territory a better place. Their first term was their best; it was a long time ago. The idealism they had in 2001 has gone and, it is obvious for all to see, even from its own members. There is no determination to address these problems, only a steadfast determination to cling on to power. That is why the member for Nelson’s decision was the wrong decision. Even to use a very recent example with the unintended consequence created by the Care and Protection of Children Act where the sexual health of young people under 16 has been at risk for many months, the government dragged its feet - until Monday this week. Government did not even know if it was going to make changes on urgency in the parliament. Government has had months to fix this problem and, yet, it just could not get it done - a simple change to legislation to correct an intended consequence of earlier legislation. This government could not even act appropriately on that issue. It begs the question: how on earth can this possibly be a government that can run the Territory? The member for Nelson has made the wrong call. In the Corrections portfolio at estimates only a couple of months ago, it was revealed that, in the 2008-09 year, of more than the 1000 prisoners in our two Territory gaols, only 111 of them participated in alcohol rehabilitation programs. One hundred and eleven? You are kidding me! No, that was their answer. The results for sex offender treatment programs where even worse. In 2007-08, only 24 prisoners completed a sex offender treatment program; in 2008-09 there were only six. This is not a government that has delivered and, yet, every time we come to this parliament, I hear this drivel about ‘We have a plan, we will deliver, we have done a bit but there is so much more to do’ I have been hearing that one, in particular, for the last five years. I asked how the numbers and results of alcohol rehabilitation and sex offender treatment programs in our gaol is going to improve. It will, in the absent of anything to the contrary, go on to have very low and disappointing results. Then, as if by magic, things are going to change in 2012 or 2014 when, apparently, the new gaol is going to be built - as if by magic. My point is, this government is not delivering, has not delivered, will continue to not deliver. Yet, the member for Nelson supports this administration. There can be no doubt, regardless of Labor’s attempts to cover it up and spin out of it, that this government is divided. In political terms, this government is a basket case headed by a dead man walking - a basket case headed by a dead man walking. What a sham and what a national embarrassment! The crisis in the Labor Party and the government will now, presumably, not be on the pages of the newspaper. However, I suggest it will not last for long. Sooner or later, more cracks will emerge. Certainly, in recent times the Chief Minister in particular has demonstrated how desperate he his to cling on to power, and Labor members will do everything necessary, I suggest, to ensure that it continues. But, at what cost? A government - any government - consumed by itself, focused on stunts and spin, is not a good government, and it is not a government the Territory needs. The Chief Minister has had his go, he has failed, and he must go. The Territory must move forward, and our challenges must be addressed by meaningful action, not more announcements about more plans. The government is hamstrung by itself; its dysfunction and internal divisions will not repair itself. However, this is the government that the member for Nelson has thrown a lifeline. The member for Nelson has chosen to support a rotten and rancid government, which is led by a man who was there from day one, and who has demonstrated appalling judgment time and time again. And the member for Nelson supports such a government rather than supporting a new and fresh alternative; a party that is a party of action and that will deliver outcomes for Territorians and take the Territory forward. It is an outcome that is in Labor’s best interests, not in the best interests of Territorians. In conclusion, the deal that the member for Nelson managed to, I guess he would use the word negotiate, with government does rather give the impression that there are now two Chief Ministers in the Northern Territory. You have got B1 and B2. So you have the Chief Minister over there, who was actually voted for by his colleagues back in the days, presumably, when they used to like him, and you have another one over there who will call himself the Independent which, I guess, that is the matter for other people to make a judgement on. I just note the irony that the member for Nelson and the members of government are all talking about stability in government. One wonders how that is going to work when you have B1 and B2 as the Northern Territory Chief Ministers. I wonder whether they are going to travel to ministerial council meetings together. I wonder whether I will receive an invitation in the mail, sometimes from one Chief Minister of the Northern Territory, perhaps both of their names will be on the government invitation, I do not know? My hunch is that many people in the Territory will be somewhat confused by this. I feel confident that people in my electorate will be, I have l already received some e-mails from them, some of them contain language that is less than parliamentary, so I dare not read them out. The point is, the member for Nelson has made the wrong decision by supporting a government that is rotten to the core. It is a very disappointing result, not for those opposite, who love being in government rather than delivering outcomes, but it is a disappointing result for the people of the Territory, and in particular the people who I serve.