DEBATES – Thursday 16 February 2017 CONTENTS VISITORS ................................................................................................................................................... 905 Rosebery Primary School ........................................................................................................................ 905 SUSPENSION OF STANDING ORDERS ................................................................................................... 905 Refer Termination of Pregnancy Law Reform Bill 2017 (Serial 15) to a Select Committee .................... 905 CLASSIFICATION OF PUBLICATIONS, FILMS AND COMPUTER GAMES AMENDMENT BILL ............ 909 (Serial 2) .................................................................................................................................................. 909 DOMESTIC AND FAMILY VIOLENCE (RECOGNITION OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE ORDERS) (NATIONAL UNIFORM LAW) AMENDMENT BILL ..................................................................................... 912 (Serial 3) .................................................................................................................................................. 912 RESPONSES TO PETITION ...................................................................................................................... 925 Petition Nos 1 and 2 ................................................................................................................................ 925 DOMESTIC AND FAMILY VIOLENCE (RECOGNITION OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE ORDERS) (NATIONAL UNIFORM LAW) AMENDMENT BILL ..................................................................................... 926 (Serial 3) .................................................................................................................................................. 926 MINISTERIAL STATEMENT ....................................................................................................................... 928 Economic and Social Agenda for 2017 ....................................................... 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DISTINGUISHED VISITOR ......................................................................................................................... 928 Fay Miller ................................................................................................................................................. 928 PAPER TABLED ......................................................................................................................................... 973 Travel Report – Member for Goyder ........................................................................................................ 973 MOTION ...................................................................................................................................................... 973 Note Paper – Auditor-General of the Northern Territory’s Report to the Legislative Assembly November 2016 ......................................................................................................................................................... 973 ADJOURNMENT ......................................................................................................................................... 975 STATEMENT BY SPEAKER ....................................................................................................................... 993 Names of Children in Care Expunged from Parliamentary Record ......................................................... 993 DEBATES – Thursday 16 February 2017 Madam Speaker Purick took the Chair at 10 am. VISITORS Rosebery Primary School Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, I advise of the presence in the gallery of two year three/four classes from Rosebery Primary School, accompanied by their teacher, Lindsay Clarke. Welcome to Parliament House. I hope you enjoy your time here. Members: Hear, hear! SUSPENSION OF STANDING ORDERS Refer Termination of Pregnancy Law Reform Bill 2017 (Serial 15) to a Select Committee Mr WOOD (Nelson): Madam Speaker, I move that so much of standing orders be suspended as would prevent me from moving a motion to refer the Termination of Pregnancy Law Reform Bill 2017 (Serial 15) to a select committee comprising three government members, two Independents and one opposition member and that the committee report back by the next three meeting periods. Ms FYLES: A point of order, Madam Speaker! The government is not aware of what the Member for Nelson is doing. Can you advise us on the process? Madam SPEAKER: The member has the call. He is moving to suspend standing orders. He moves that then sits down; it is circulated and then other members have the opportunity to speak. Other members can speak and then it goes to a vote to suspend standing orders. Mr WOOD: Madam Speaker, I have introduced this motion to suspend standing orders on urgency because I believe we simply will not have time to debate the issue of whether the Termination of Pregnancy Law Reform Bill (Serial 15) should go to a select committee. The only discussion we have had is through Question Time, through letters I have written to the Chief Minister and the Minister for Health, and from personal contact with the Chief Minister. It has been very difficult to move from a position of ‘no’ to a position of reasoning from a process point of view, which is why this bill should go to a select committee. I am asking for a suspension of standing orders to allow that debate to occur because there simply will not be any other time in these sittings for that to occur. The government has said it is an open and transparent government. The government has brought forward its policy on opening up parliament to the people, and part of that was to set up a select committee, which has already brought out some preliminary recommendations in regard to bills being sent to a parliamentary committee. Recommendation 3.7 says that the referral of bills to a committee should be the norm. We need to have that debate now because after these sittings there are only 30 days in which we have time to look at the implications of this very important bill. This bill has ethical, legal, medical and social implications that need to be discussed. I understand that we are arguing, in this case, for the right to suspend standing orders to enable that debate to occur. I am asking for that suspension of standing orders because we need this debate; this debate affects us all. It also concerns me that we have not consulted everybody. I sat in the cafe yesterday with Marion Scrymgour, the ex-deputy leader of the Labor Party, and she told me the Tiwi people do not know anything about this law. That concerns me greatly. That is why I am arguing, if I am allowed to suspend standing orders, that a select committee, similar to what happens in Queensland, would go to the communities and not only consult, but listen. Sister Anne, the Senior Australian of the Year said, ‘You have to listen to Aboriginal people’. How come the Tiwis do not know anything about this? Do the people at Wadeye know anything about this? I am asking this parliament to give us some time to look at the very strong reasons that this needs to go to a parliamentary committee. The government promised it would open up parliament to the people. It is no good saying we have debated it previously; this is a brand-new bill. The old bill did not repeal the Medical Services Act side of abortion 905 DEBATES – Thursday 16 February 2017 laws. This bill is new and it needs to be discussed in the community, through a parliamentary committee, which is the government policy. The government said it would take the parliament to the people. A discussion paper is not the same as what was presented yesterday in this parliament. The bill is what we need to debate. The discussion paper was a view of the Department of Health. It received submissions and I am very concerned those submissions are not available as they should be. The discussion is now about a new bill that has serious implications which need to be looked at and debated. This is the only chance I have to debate how this bill will be dealt with before it comes up in the March sittings, on 21 or 22 March. In that time you will not have carried out your promise to take this to the people. Under the Queensland system, which we are looking at, the bill would automatically go to a select committee. It would go out to the communities. They have recently had a debate on abortion. That select committee took hold of that bill, discussed it and allowed three meeting days for that select committee to find out what people thought. All I am asking today, Chief Minister, is that you approve the suspension of standing orders on the basis of an open and transparent government, and that we have a proper debate on the process for what is probably the most important piece of legislation I have seen in this parliament as long as I have been here. It relates to some very important issues that people have passionate and differing ideas about. It should not be steamrolled through in 30 days. It needs a Chief Minister who will get up and say, ‘I understand this bill needs to be taken to the people’. If the Tiwi people do not know anything about this bill, what about other communities? Could I ask the Member for Nhulunbuy? Do his people know anything about this? Ms Fyles: That is your responsibility as a local member. Mr WOOD: No, it is not. It is partly my responsibility, but it is also your responsibility