Page 1096 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 20 March 2013
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overseas reflects a lot on a person’s character. But former Country Liberals leader Jodeen Carney, talking enthusiastically about the new Chief Minister, said, “Adam Giles is, in my view, a natural leader, a progressive, thoughtful, sensible, smart, energetic communicator.” She said, “He is a progressive.”
MADAM ACTING SPEAKER: Mr Rattenbury, could you resume your seat? Stop the clock, please. Mr Hanson?
Mr Hanson: I have a point of order on relevance to the debate. I know that it is a wide-ranging debate, Madam Acting Speaker, but I think that a dissertation on the current leadership changes in the Northern Territory is drawing a pretty long bow.
MR RATTENBURY: On the point of order, Madam Acting Speaker, Mr Hanson brought the issue of “progressive” into the debate. I am talking about what a progressive means and the way it is being used in the Australian political context.
MADAM ACTING SPEAKER: Yes, Mr Rattenbury—
MR RATTENBURY: I do not intend to continue on the Northern Territory.
Mr Hanson interjecting—
MADAM ACTING SPEAKER: Mr Hanson, I do not need your commentary. Mr Rattenbury, thank you very much; could you return to the matter of the motion?
MR RATTENBURY: I do not intend to speak for long about the Northern Territory. In fact, I have more or less finished the point. It is simply that the new Northern Territory leader has been described as a progressive, so I wonder what sort of greeting he will get from Mr Hanson when they next meet up at some Liberal Party function.
In terms of the specifics of Dr Bourke’s motion, obviously, as a Greens MLA, I would certainly consider that there are other items that we might want to include in such a broad list of examples that Dr Bourke has given. For example, it does not touch on policies to protect our natural environment at all.
Ms Burch: Move an amendment, Mr Rattenbury.
MR RATTENBURY: Move an amendment? I am getting to that, Minister Burch. But it does not touch on issues of the natural environment at all, which is a shame, as I suspect there will be some considerable work on that agenda over the next four years, including the culmination of a long process to rewrite the Nature Conservation Act. Clearly we will need to do a lot of work to protect our nature parks and also there is the agenda to clean up our lakes for better community use.
That said, there is also one clause in there that does not sit so comfortably with me, and that is the one that identifies the new Majura Parkway as a critical piece of major infrastructure. As everyone in this place knows, and I may as well be up-front about it, the Greens were not supportive of the gold-plated version of the Majura Parkway
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