ADJOURNMENT

Mr EDGINGTON (Leader of Government Business): Madam Speaker, I move that the Assembly do now adjourn.

Mr GUYULA (Mulka): Madam Speaker, quite an interesting one, hey? It does not mean anything. I just stand firm in the middle trying to work with everyone.

Tonight I read an open letter from 170 NT healthcare workers to the Northern Territory Government. Before I start, I thank these workers for speaking up for our children and having the courage to speak out. I hope the government will engage with these health experts and consult and listen to their wisdom. I will begin reading the letter, and the Member for Johnston will continue on so it can be read in full within the time permitted.

The letter reads:

To the Chief Minister, Lia Finocchiaro, Health Minister Steven Edgington, and new CLP MLAs.

We are healthcare workers and healthcare students from across the Northern Territory, providing care to Territorians across primary and hospital care, from urban centres to remote communities across nursing, medicine, dental and allied health.

As healthcare workers, we are writing to express our deep alarm about the reforms to the criminal legal system recently passed by your government, which will jeopardise the health of our patients, and make the NT less safe for everyone. As clinicians, it is our professional obligation to raise these concerns with your new government.

We ask that your government urgently undertake reform of the criminal legal system, including raising the age of criminal responsibility to at least 14 years, legislating a total ban on spit hoods, and implementing the recommendations of the Human Rights Commission’s 2024 report.

1. The age of criminal responsibility

The younger a child is when they first are sentenced to prison, the greater the likelihood of re- offending. A large body of evidence suggests that children in the criminal legal system have unmet basic needs for housing, food, healthcare, and education. Imprisoning children who are too young to have the emotional, mental, and neurological maturity to understand the consequences of their actions will have both devastating social and fiscal costs for the NT. Imprisoning children is estimated to cost the NT government over $1 million per child per year.

In 2019, the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child recommended that the minimum age of criminal responsibility be increased by all countries to at least 14 years of age. This recommendation was made specifically to Australia in the CRC’s fifth and sixth periodic reports, and has seen rising support nationally through the Raise the Age Campaign, which is supported by National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services, the Australian Indigenous Doctors Association, the Australian Medical Association, and the Law Council of Australia. It is worth noting that the vast majority of children in prison in the NT are Indigenous, and at times make up 100% of all children jailed in the NT.

The majority of children aged 10 to 13 are not charged with a serious violent offences. In the rare instances where these problematic behaviours do arise, they must be met with therapeutic and developmentally appropriate services rather than jail time.

2. Spit hoods

We are concerned that children will die from the spit hood use in NT jails, and we recommend a ban on spit hoods be reinstated. Spit hoods are banned in custodial settings in New South Wales and South Australia and Victoria has forbidden the use of spit hoods on anyone in detention under the age of 18. Spit hoods have been implicated in multiple deaths in custody. In addition to being physically dangerous through posing a risk to a person’s airway and breathing, especially in combination with prone positioning, they are contrary to human rights and have been reported in violation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Convention Against Torture. The Royal Commission into the Protection and Detention of Children in the NT states that ‘there is no place for a spit hoods or restraint chairs which should continue to be prohibited.’

Additionally, the justification for the use of spit hoods to protect against the transmission of disease is untrue, with the risk of communicable disease transmission estimated to be virtually nil.

Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Member for Mulka, I am sorry; your time has expired. There are no extensions allowed.

J DAVIS (Johnston): Mr Deputy Speaker, I continue the open letter:

The NT Ombudsman has also stressed there are many viable alternatives and protective equipment available to adequately protect staff. As health workers, it is evident to us that the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) such as safety glasses can protect staff in the rare instances when a person is at risk of being spat on. This is an inexpensive, readily available, and humane alternative to dangerous restraint.

3. Effective strategies to reduce youth crime

Crime is a concern for the NT community. However, punitive measures to jail developmentally and socially vulnerable children do not reduce crime. The 2024 Help Way Earlier report from the Human Rights Commission clearly shows that adequate resourcing of crime prevention is a better use of human and budgetary resources. Measures to provide safe and affordable housing across the Northern Territory, improved education and culturally safe health care and social services are needed to address the drivers of crime.

We also support the commission’s recommendation to adequately resource evidence-based culturally safe diversionary programs for children, led by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community controlled organisations.

As health workers, we implore you to consider the facts and repeal these harmful and dangerous laws. We request a meeting to further discuss these concerns and we look forward to a timely response.

I will now read the names of the people onto the Hansard:

Sophie Collins, Ngarla Kunoth-Monks, Lydia Birch, Violet Avena, Hilary Tyler, Lara Grady, Francesca Garnett, Rhianon Hutcheson, Fiona Darling, Sarah Bornstein, Bec Stewart, Tracy Clarke, Jermaine Charles, Natalia Filoni, Hamish Rahn, Annie Girdwood, Jessica Piggott, Iris Evers, Peniche Reu, Jack Martin, Isabella Kaiser, Tami Haddad, Louie Constable, Camilla Liebson, Cameron Scott, Lisa Bachmayer, Eremaya Albrecht, Stefanie Pender, Jesse Noon, Catrina Sturmberg, Grace Dwyer, Julianna Wan, Adelaide Dennis, Carleigh Duke, Raymun Ghumman, Emma Tucker, Dana Fitzsimmons, Ricky Delaney-Bindhneem, Jessica Brotchie, Jessie Lu, Lucy Owen, Natalia Canon-Duenas, Jemima Haxen, Meredith Hansen-Knarhoi, Adrienne Deans, Ruby Veale, Tia Hardie, Stephanie Naidu, Eamon O’Bryan, Laura Grace, Andi Wyayy, Caitlin McGuire, Rupert Langford, Dina Vassiledo, Jenny Jobst, Amelia Patersom, Jonathan Dow, Fraser Tankel, Sarah Inglis, Juliet Zaer, Raelene Martins, Jane Karmouche, Sibella Hare Breidahi, Charlotte Thomas. Chloe Wright. Kimberlee Fenner. Ella Moyses. Leah Heritage, Lisa Wong, Jack Boylan-Ascione. Alexandra Kay. Sarah Lynar, Ben Bambery, Oliver Fahy, Te-Yu Hung, Jennifer Yan, Thomas Atkinson, Tanya Manolios, Chloe McCarthy, Fiona McNaughton, Sage Bowman-Kean, Lyndall Heather, Ed Nicholson, Mikaela Sloan, Lara Clegg, Gina Majid, Sarah Dorrington, Olivia Conan-Davies, Chris Lowbridge, Teddy McDiarmid, Mick Heelan, Sharryn Koppens, Kat Byron, Jodie Clarkson, Caitlin McGuire, James Ingram, Yolande Turnbull, Vy Ha Tran, Lewis Gould-Fensom, Leah Ginnivan, Harry Dixon, Sophie Dunn, Emma Kelly, Whitney Comte, Indi Moran, Jules Willcocks, Paul Helliwell, Warren Adie, Abigail Creamer, Ronit Cukierman, Robert Duguid, Ronja Sen, Mary Frost, Ashlee Jewson, Cherisse Buzzacott, Kerry Mack, Joshua Bowles, Anna Holwell, Michelle Withers, Natalia Gracia, Alison Mapleson, Sally Steiner, Kylie MacFarlane, Madeline Simioni, Karolien Janssens, Larissa Ellis Shearne Wilkie Andrew Rankin Jenny Sze Stephen Gourley Hannah Fyfe Lauren Bostock , Victor Moriau, Catherine Marshall, Sarah Henderson, Tomas Crossland, Gem Walsh, Karen Greenlees Daniel Adams, Stephanie Naidu, Clare Horsfall, Amelia Knox, Lena Rennick, Barbara Molanus, Michelle Doyle, Pat Bradley, Myra Ariyatnam, Anna Smith, William Cook, Ace Leeson, Mae Fraser, Christine Sanderson, Emily Tierney, Louise Woodward, Anna Fairbairn, Sonya Schmidt, Thomas Young, Andi Wyatt, and Charlee Horni.

I seek leave to table this open letter.

Leave granted.

J DAVIS: I will use the rest of my time to talk briefly about Mother’s Day. It is still May, so we can still talk about Mother’s Day.

You have seen my beautiful mum here in the Chamber tonight. As the Speaker said, she is my number one fan. She is a wonderful, amazing, inspirational woman in her late eighties who still keeps going every day. She is writing her third novel and is an inspiration to me, most definitely.

On Mother’s Day, as I do every Sunday, I spent the day at Rapid Creek Markets. It is my favourite day of the week; it is wonderful, and I can speak to and meet many people in the community, including stallholders. One of the things about Mother’s Day that is important for us to remember is that it is not an easy day for everyone. For many people it is a complicated day because they may want to be mothers but are not able to be, have a complicated relationship with their own mother or may carry longing, loss or grief; it is not simple.

It was interesting that day at the market, I had many conversations with stallholders who I have known for the 30 years I have gone to that market—the people running the stores were little kids when I first went and now they serve me and know exactly what I want and ask about my kids—and many spoke to me about their loss and pain around Mother’s Day.

I honour all mothers and the people who care for children and recognise it is not a simple day for everyone. My heart and thanks go to everyone who cares for children, our most important job in our life and in this Chamber. I have said to many members who have little kids that anyone can be a politician, but only you can be the parent to your children. Sometimes when making difficult decisions about what we do with our time, whether we take days off during the school holidays—I am looking at you, Member for Drysdale—we need to think about that and how we can do that important job of bringing up good people in the world.

Happy Mother’s Day to all the mums and the Friday before Mother’s Day I had a fantastic morning going to four schools in my electorate, who all had a Mother’s Day breakfast and events. It was a whip around but fantastic. I got to fry bacon and eggs, have my nails painted, try on funny hats, meet people and see tired kids after a sleepover in the school library; it was a great morning.

I have great schools in my electorate, we all do, and everyone talks about the best part their job being to hang out at the local schools. My children attended two of the schools in my electorate, and it is fun to go back and see they are doing the same events they did 15 or 20 years ago with some of the same teachers, which is lovely. It was a lovey way to lead into Mother’s Day celebrations.

Mrs LAMBLEY (Araluen): Mr Deputy Speaker, like several of my colleagues I acknowledge National Volunteer Week from 19 to 25 May.

Alice Springs would not function without voluntary workers; they perform a critical role in just about every aspect of life—the Beanie Festival, the Finke Desert Race, the Old Timers Fete, the West Macs Monster race that was held on the weekend, most of our sports events and the Alice Springs Show.

Yesterday it was announced that an Alice Springs woman, Christine Ponter or ‘Chrispy’, has been named Cricket Australia’s Volunteer of the Year 2025. Chrispy is a legend, and I will talk about how magnificent she is. Selfless, kind, gentle, caring, heaps of fun, understated, humble, down to Earth—that is just a few words I would use to describe her.

I first met Chrispy years ago. She has been working at the Alice Springs Hospital in the library for 27 years. I think I must have met her in the first couple of weeks she came to the hospital, because I was working there at the time. To think that she is still there, providing a seamless, effortless, pleasant, useful service to the thousands of health professionals who have come through the Alice Springs Hospital, needing assistance with their research and general library assistance, is amazing.

That is not why she received the award. Chrispy is a volunteer right across the community. She has been involved in lots of different organisations, but cricket is her thing. I will read a little bit of what the NT News said about her:

Federal Cricket Club’s vice-president and club legend Chris Ponter has officially been recognised as Cricket Australia’s Volunteer of the Year.

The Central Australian cricketer was chosen for the award through her transformative presence in women’s cricket in Alice Springs, through her leadership in developing competition, boosting participation and her work behind the scenes fundraising and advocating for better facilities to make cricket more accessible for women and multicultural groups.

A humble character, Ponter said she is still in shock that she has been named the winner of such a prestigious award.

She was one of a group of women who started the cricket competition in Alice Springs more than 15 years ago. I remember it well. They had a magnificent group of women who participated. She said that once the local indoor cricket centre closed in Alice Springs there was no real avenue for women and young girls to play the game.

She has gone on to be a leader in cricket in Alice Springs. She also runs the Masters Games cricket competition, or she did at least. She was an ambassador forever. I think she might have even grown up in Alice Springs; she knows a lot of people and has deep and significant connections.

She was recently nominated for the NT News Woman of the Year. I thought the section would be something like ‘All-round Top Chick’, but it did not have a section called that. She was nominated for the Angels Among Us section. She did not win that; I do not know why. I cannot understand it.

Chrispy is a hero within our community. She is involved with a subtle behind-the-scenes organisation called Alice As One, just helping people behind the scenes.

To top it off, Chrispy goes to Thailand every couple of years. She hits me up for a donation. She donates things to an orphanage called Asia Hope. She just goes over there and hangs out with kids and loves them up.

On her Facebook page she says, ‘Lub my family and friends and fur babies, enjoy cricket and making sure everyone is happy’. We love you, Chrispy, and we are so proud of you.

Ms UIBO (Arnhem): Mr Deputy Speaker, I speak on an issue of growing concern about public allegations in relation to the misuse of public funds and mismanagement of conflicts of interest at the Darwin Waterfront Corporation (DWC). I formally announce that I will be referring this matter to the Public Accounts Committee.

Territorians continue to raise their concerns in relation to this matter with me and other members of the Labor Caucus. Since the CLP government continues to refuse calls for an independent investigation, I am compelled to act.

For a government that claims 2025 is its year of action and certainty, turning a blind eye to serious allegations and sweeping them under the rug is the exact opposite of action and the opposite of certainty. These allegations are serious. They involve significant sums of public money and they cannot be allowed to quietly fade into the background.

Among the claims are the alleged creation of a made-up part-time job for Mr Sam Burke, reportedly unadvertised and resulting in a $60,000 salary increase via a temporary higher duties allowance. The higher duties allowance allegedly continued for up to six years, long after the temporary role ended. There are reports of public service rules being repeatedly breached, with roles not advertised, promotions bypassing merits-based reviews and job evaluation processes ignored for the benefit of certain individuals.

There have also been claims of funds being moved between the Darwin Waterfront Corporation and the AustralAsia Railway Corporation—both taxpayer-funded entities—to support Mr Burke's salary. It has been further alleged that a memo outlines how the DWC would ‘recoup’ salary costs from AARC, raising concerns of potential fraud and gross conflicts of interest.

It has also been claimed that Mr Burke signed a new four-year executive contract in November 2023 promoting him from ECO1 to ECO2, with a salary of $259,824 plus benefits. The role was not advertised. it was not subject to the required job evaluation system review, and the contract was signed six months before his previous one even expired, without clear justification.

Now, I acknowledge that much of this allegedly occurred under the former Labor government, but that does not, and it will not, deter me from demanding accountability because this is not about party lines; it is about public trust. It is about integrity and ensuring that taxpayer dollars are not misused behind closed doors for the benefit of a select few.

These allegations suggest abuse of public resources, nepotism, favoritism, mismanaged conflicts of interest and possible financial misconduct, and more importantly these questions demand answers. I will not accept vague assurances from the Attorney-General, the Member for Brennan, a minister with a poor track record on matters of judgment as a substitute for proper scrutiny.

That is why I am referring the Darwin Waterfront Corporation to the Public Accounts Committee and have this evening written to the Member for Drysdale as Chair of the Public Accounts Committee. I seek leave to table my letter and the accompanying documents that I have sent to the Member for Drysdale.

Leave granted.

Ms UIBO: I urge the government to support the referral, not for my sake, but for the sake of restoring public confidence.

Dr RAHMAN (Fong Lim): Madam Speaker, I recognise and celebrate community choirs, as well as some community musical groups. I do so for some very pointed reasons. I have gotten up and recognized art for its economic value in our society several times. I have done it for its cultural value. Today I am getting up to talk about its social impact. It is kind of fitting on a day when we have been talking about all sorts of things in relation to social cohesion. Music is a binding and harmonising force, and it does wonders in our society and our polity.

I use the break between the last sittings and this one to get involved in some of our great community musical groups to show support and because, quite frankly, I needed a sanity check. I started off my tour of ensembles anniversary very with the Darwin Chorale which has been around for 40 years. It is going to celebrate its 40 soon which is a big deal. For those of you who are looking less interested hearing about the Darwin Chorale now, you all looked super excited on Anzac Day morning when they were the ones singing the national anthems for us and volunteering as it were, to provide us a platform to attend that event.

I started off my musical tour there and I note that the foundational choir of the Darwin Chorale, Nora Lewis AM, was this week awarded an honorary doctorate at the Charles Darwin University. Nora, I am terribly sorry, I did try to get leave to come and help award your doctorate, but I was not able to get out of the parliament. It is just recognition for her community service over a great many years.

I moved on from there to spend a bit of time with the Vocalective Singers who are an offshoot group from the Darwin Chorale who do fantastic high-end super art music. They did a concert celebrating the music of women composers. It is not the kind of thing we get every day, and it is phenomenal stuff. I want to take a moment to read a tiny snippet or two from their program.

In 2017 on the list of 50 best conductors of all time none were women. On the same list in 2023 eight of the top 50 were women. It is a similar state of affairs with composers. The top 20 most frequently performed contemporary works in 2019 were all written by men. In 2022 only nine women made the list. In the world of pop music, the situation is different; women are at the forefront. It carries on.

The first song we sang out of here, and it was wonderful, we could have all rejoiced in voice in doing it, was by the British composer Ethel Smyth, who was the person who led the suffragette movement in 1910 in support of women’s rights. It was wonderful to be involved with something like this and to sing the anthemic music that underpinned it.

I shout out to (inaudible) for letting me sing along with them in what was truly a beautiful celebration of music and a moment of great social cohesion.

I went along from there to another great setup, the Arafura Music Collective who did phenomenally exciting music for a concert in the Anglican Cathedral, featuring Lilly Valentine, Lilly Coates and Sam Valentine singing jazz a cappella music; a flute and guitar duet, featuring Claire Kilgariff of Kilgariff fame, along with Brian Callan, as well as (inaudible); also the early music mob, including Bill Gross the Principal of the NT Music School and Rosemary Antonini. We culminated by celebrating music for the kids by playing the Bluey theme, which was fantastic. It was enjoyed by everyone.

I then got the flu, as some of you may have noticed over the last couple of weeks, and for the first time in a decade was unable to fulfill my musical obligations. At short notice I had to bail out of two concerts, one of which, Member for Johnston, was on Mother’s Day. I let down a whole lot of mothers and the Arafura Wind Ensemble by not being able to go to Café De La Plage. The Arafura Wind Ensemble is the original Palmerston Concert Band, Member for Blain, you may recall. I note the Member for Blain and his family were at the event and asked me where I was afterwards.

My thanks to Stephen Pevely the magnificent clarinettist and conductor of that ensemble, as well to Natalie Chin who runs the music program at Stuart Park Primary School, for inviting me to be part of that, and especially to (inaudible) who covered all the songs that I bailed on at the last minute for everyone.

On the other end of the spectrum, I also then had to bail on the Seabreeze Festival, which broke my heart because it is a wonderful event, as the Member for Nightcliff has pointed out. The thing that I wanted to see me part of was the Darwin Beach Choir. Those of you who have not seen the Darwin Beach Choir …

K McNamara: Yes, I was in it.

Dr RAHMAN: I saw in the video, Member for Nightcliff; I take the interjection.

It is a choir for the musical and tone deaf alike—what a wonderful ensemble. If any of you have not seen it before look up Darwin Beach Choir and look online to watch them singing You’re the Voice or any of the things they do. It is a bunch of people who come together led by somebody marvellous called Thalia Hewitt, who I do not know, and I have not met and I would like to get involved with that ensemble, and she brings together people to sing songs in community spaces and it is lovely, heartwarming, healing, fantastic stuff that we should encourage.

I also had to bail on the Hot and Cold Big Band who were playing on the Legends Stage at the Seabreeze Festival. Fortunately, I was able to join them on 30 April instead at UNESCO International Jazz Day for a Jazz emergency with the Railway Club when they were one saxophone player short to accompany their swing dancers who do great music and great community building work every week.

I wrapped up my tour of musical things as it were on 7 May by joining up with the new Navy band who are stationed in Larrakeyah and starting to create a new ensemble to create new options for our Defence force so there is a strategic alignment with me supporting music—chicken wings at Dinah Beach and the Defence agenda. It was fantastic fun to play music with the boys from the Navy.

Nightcliff has the Seabreeze Festival, and it is incomparable, and at this time of the year all of the other festivals that we have been talking about, all the other events, how could I compare with Finke or Barunga, the list is long, but in earnest what we are going to try in Fong Lim is not to compete with the Nightcliff Seabreeze but in the month of July to initiate the Fong Lim Fanfare Festival. We are going to have three days of music for the community which …

A member: Really?

Dr RAHMAN: Yes, we are; watch this space. I am proud to announce tonight, albeit to a small but loyal crowd, that we will be starting a small fledgling festival. I will not give it all away tonight, I will simply say this: I represent an electorate with a lot of cool places to make music that people do not know about—lots of airport hangars, industrial warehouses, microbreweries and gin distilleries, seaside venues and some pretty great schools as well.

We will be focusing, over a three-day period, on doing some dinner dances, a few concerts, and we will also be doing an educational component and some masterclasses for schoolchildren. I am indebted to the many people who are helping me work on this in the background, particularly those coming from further afield to contribute to Darwin’s artistic scene over the Dry Season period, which is the only time I can lure musicians from interstate here. It is too hot to play any other time.

It will be great fun. I will not say much more about it now. It is a fledgeling first, but I want to demonstrate that on the smell of an oily rag and with a little bit of electorate allowance help and the community behind us, we will be able to do something to bring life and vitality to my electorate, which is otherwise not just sheet metal fabricators but actually filled with a lot of people who also want to see signs of life and culture and activity.

I would love it if all of any of you are able to make it. I appreciate everybody will have extremely busy calendars at that time of the year, but—touch wood—it will be something for the future and for the ages.

On a serious note, all of these groups are volunteers who contribute to social cohesion. All of these groups are part of the Territory lifestyle.

I will be honest; I am a terrible fisherman. I am allowed to be in charge of sandwiches and music on the boat and never touch any of the tackle or the gear. I grew up here, and the Territory lifestyle was very much about the unbelievable artistic opportunities I had here as a kid. I want to make sure the kids in the future growing also have access to those same opportunities, particularly the ones who are working in the public school system, working with the excellent NT Music School. They require our love and support as well. It is great that we have so many fantastic independent and private schools now as well, but I want to share the love

across the entire spectrum. I am pleased to say, without giving too much away, the schools in my electorate will all be joining in my fledgeling enterprise which, touch wood, will go off seamlessly, as all festivals do.

It has been a delight to share this bit of positive news. I look forward to seeing you all at some of the Fong Lim fanfare festival.

K McNAMARA (Nightcliff): Madam Speaker, I am looking forward to the Fong Lim fanfare.

My adjournment is on a few different topics and typing up some loose ends, but first, as others have done, I recognise that it is National Volunteer Week and thank every volunteer in our community, without which so many of our treasured clubs, events and programs would not exist. I feel incredibly privileged to meet and work with so many of these volunteers in my role now.

I shout out to the volunteer parents on the Nightcliff Primary School Council. They are so dedicated to the school and to everyone’s children and constantly trying to find ways to bring enjoyable events and important fundraisers and making improvements at the school. Thanks to Sarah, Sam, Katie, Anne-Marie, Jodie and Joe.

At Seabreeze last week, run by many volunteers, I wanted to share some good news that was happening in my electorate. One of the stories I shared was that of the incredible hard work and success of the Rapid Creek Landcare Group. I only recently found out that almost all of the mangroves along Rapid Creek— Gurambai as it is known in Larrakia—were bulldozed in 1974 to create a housing development. It was going to be called Brinkin Lakes Estate. If you have seen the aerial photographs, it looks nothing like it looks today; it was just razed to the ground.

Obviously, 1974 was Cyclone Tracy so in the aftermath of that, the plans were cancelled and it did not go ahead. It was an entirely destroyed habitat, and the mangroves started slowly naturally regenerating, but to go from nothing it needs a lot of work. Rapid Creek Landcare was started in the 1990s, and volunteers began revegetating and rehabilitating intensively. You can see the results today. It looks like nothing has changed; it is incredible.

The health of our beautiful Rapid Creek (Gurambai) is a testament to the hard work of Landcare volunteers over the decades. They still do planting and weeding all the time if anyone wants to come and join.

I also see the pins some members are wearing today for Northern Territory Emergency Services, which I previously volunteered for. I am pretty handy with a chainsaw if the need ever arises. I thank all the NTES volunteers, who give up a significant amount of time to train and learn new skills, not only in emergency, but they also spend time training to become first responders in times of emergency and disaster. Emergency and disaster management is something I have not spoken about yet but is something I am passionate about, thank you to NTES volunteers and I love the badges.

To keep myself accountable, I put on the record that I am soon to become a volunteer phone counsellor for the Australian Breastfeeding Association, which is something I have wanted to do for a long time. It is to help women struggling at any stage of their breastfeeding journey, members in the Chamber may have called that number. I will be a peer support counsellor, and I put this on the record to hold myself accountable and finally submit my form to apply.

I have received feedback from member of the community across the NT, not just in my electorate, about their displeasure, surprise and shock at some of the behaviour seen and things said in the Chamber, particularly the heckling and insults. People have said they could not believe that a grown man yelled across the Chamber at me ‘no-one cares about you’ during my motion on gambling. I have had a member say to me as we have crossed paths during a division, ‘You’re a disgrace’ but quietly enough so no one could hear it.

I say this, as in no other workplace is it acceptable to yell out personal jibes, insults or general hostile language. The public do see it and comment on it as they are not impressed. I never mentioned it, but the awful responses from some members in the February MPI on the apology to the Stolen Generations was distressing, which led to an Aboriginal member not feeling comfortable sharing their story. I was ashamed to be a part of this Chamber for things that went down that day, I do not want to see that repeated and I hope it will not, particularly after the eradicating racism motion discussed.

Of course there is a degree of argy-bargy, I get that it is normal in this setting, but I do not think there is a need for it to become personal, aggressive or insulting. As I have been getting used to this new role, after

the first Sittings I decided, I would not refer to members individually, except when responding to specific members in contribution to bills put forward or minister when covering certain topics.

I genuinely now try to only offer criticism or respond and refer to the other side or the party. I only point this out because it is a good strategy to try to depersonalise some of the hostility in this Chamber. I do not want to play a part in making this a hostile or unworkable space, which it is at the moment for some people.

Let us together—me included—operate to a higher standard. The public expects and deserves it. So do we.

The last thing I want to address is something I believe was said at some point in the Chamber this sittings, ‘Oh no, and my fingers died’. I heard this week perhaps an idea that there were certain constituents or people who did not feel welcome coming to my office to speak to me because of a supposed way of thinking. I want to put it out there that if that is true those people have never come to speak to me because I speak to people— I pride myself on this—across the political spectrum.

I have said before in this Chamber that I was a rigger. I do not know if you know much about the industry, but there ain’t that many Greens working as riggers. I have spent my entire life living with, working with, making friends with, having relationships with people from all different belief systems. I pride myself on this new role of being accessible to everyone. In fact, the last constituent meeting I held before this sittings was with a bunch of CLP voters. They came in, relatives and neighbours, and we had a productive conversation about their concerns about crime and safety. They are booked in again in a couple of weeks to come back to review some stuff we are working on.

If there is that idea it is totally unfounded, and to send them my way because I enjoy that part of my role. I value being able to have difficult conversations or come together because I have never lived in that kind of bubble. I do not think it is healthy.

Recently at the local shops someone came up to me—a stranger I did not know—and said, ‘Hey, Kat, just so you know, I do not actually agree with all your politics, but I voted for you and I really like what you are doing. Keep going.’ That to me was, ‘All right, thank you.’

I get that a lot in my electorate, and it is a level that I want to work towards—being accessible and open to people from across the political divide, because that is important. I am the member for everyone. I wanted to put that on the record.

Madam SPEAKER: Member for Nightcliff, while you are standing, there was an allegation made yesterday in the parliament that you used the words ‘racist’ and ‘budget’ together.

K McNAMARA: Yes.

Madam SPEAKER: That has been checked, and the Hansard reports that you clearly did not say that; you said ‘recent budget’.

K McNAMARA: Yes, I did not; I said ‘recent budget’.

Madam SPEAKER: We will put that to bed.

K McNAMARA: Thank you. I do not know if this is the right time, but the evening before someone else in this Chamber called me racist, but that seemed to fly. I guess there was some confusion about your finding. We had this motion today, and we have all been speaking about it enormously.

Madam SPEAKER: I was not aware of that, so maybe we can talk about that.

K McNAMARA: I am not bothered by it because it is not true.

Mr YAN (Namatjira): Madam Speaker, I was not planning to speak tonight, but I was upstairs listening in to what took place this evening.

This parliament has descended to a new low. I listened to the Leader of the Opposition speak about family members. It is something we do not do—not even in federal politics does this happen.

There is a general unwritten rule within parliaments that partners and spouses stay out of politics. We do not talk about them. What happened her tonight was disgusting. I feel compelled to speak about it because this parliament has descended to a new low.

I could talk about the Leader of the Opposition’s husband who works in a government department. He is a public servant who was investigated in that department. His work area was investigated by the ICAC over impropriety in that area.

Did we raise that? No, we did not because we have a little more pride and scruples on this side of the House.

To go after the Chief Minister’s spouse and specifically name her spouse and speak about how much he is paid is a low.

The Chief Minister’s husband has been a long-term public servant, serving both sides of government, not just the CLP but also Labor. He is a well-respected and accomplished public servant. The way that the Leader of the Opposition went after the Chief Minster’s husband is disgraceful. It is like just because he is good at his job he should not have his job, and he should not be paid well.

That is abhorrent, and I will not tolerate it. That is why I am speaking about it tonight. It is disgusting. We do not talk about our spouses or our partners or go after each other’s spouses or partners in this parliament because that is not what we do. We are above that.

The Leader of the Opposition has dragged her party to a new low in politics in the Northern Territory. She should be ashamed of herself. She should come back into this parliament and apologise to this parliament and the Chief Minister.

Motion agreed to; the Assembly adjourned.