Natasha Griggs (Solomon, Country Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is a lot of money. It goes without saying that this $83 million could even have gone a long way towards replacing infrastructure damaged in the floods and the cyclones of the past summer.

Further, I have received an email which is typical of concerns that I am hearing from constituents in my electorate, and I would like to share it:

Dear Mrs Griggs,

I just want to express my disgust about the government building yet another detention centre, especially in Darwin. I am so annoyed that we can find the money to support overseas illegal immigrants yet we cannot find the money to build a second hospital for Darwin. These people are costing the country a hell of a lot of money and it gets up my nose.

Building this facility in Darwin will put a drain on our resources. Yes, it may create some jobs. However, try and organise a plumber or an electrician in Darwin. Some of these guys won’t even go near normal households because they’re too busy working on large-scale government projects.

Every time an illegal immigrant gets sick they will be putting a drain on our health system. We as Territorians wait a long time at A&E. Now we’ll be pushed even further down the queue because of these people.

My daughter attends Durack School, and she quite often comes home with raffle tickets so that the school can fundraise to purchase the most basic of items for the school. Government schools should get this funding automatically. If we can afford to spend the money on decent accommodation for the illegal immigrants, along with all the other privileges that they receive, why can’t we afford to look after our schools?

Natasha, please turn back the boats. Spend the money on Australians. There are a lot of them out there that need our money. Please have a look at this article I watched on A Current Affair, ‘Saving Vicky’. This lady needs our money and, as a taxpayer, I am more than happy to support this lady. I am not happy paying for illegal immigrants.

There are also a number of reader messages from the Northern Territory News that I would like share. The first says:

Why riot + protest? If they aren’t happy, i would happily pay a one-off tax to send them home.

Another one says:

So … More beds for detainees & prisoners?? Why not more beds at the hospital?

Yet another says:

Tell these rioting asylum seekers they just failed the test and deport them. In Aust, non compliance has consequences.

Territorians are not racist. We just want border protection policies that work. The Territory does not want to be the Commonwealth’s social experiment, and we do not want our constitutional weakness used so that Labor can dump their problems and the outcomes of their bad policies on us. We want genuine economic opportunities, not those that come from bad Labor policy.

The Territory has a strong multicultural background, and Territorians welcome people from all cultural backgrounds—but Labor are taking advantage of Territorians’ goodwill. Accepting refugees does not mean we accept Labor policy. We have a housing crisis and, increasingly, our own economic refugees because of the cost of living rises under this terrible, terrible Labor government. We know that, if there is a carbon tax introduced, Territorians will pay more because the carbon tax is going to be a tax on remote and rural Australia, and it is going to impact on the cost of living in the Territory when we are already experiencing very high pressures. Territorians want a guarantee from this secretive and deceptive government that Labor’s failed border protection policies will not impact on the safety, the security and the economic welfare of Territorians. It is an interesting fact that this Labor government have built more detention beds in the Northern Territory than they have hospital beds. Palmerston people are waiting for a new hospital. What will they get? A new detention centre. Maybe the minister will turn the detention centre into a hospital when he fixes his border protection policy. My beef is not with the businessmen who are building the detention centre at Wickham Point. My beef is with this deceitful Labor government whose failed border protection policies have made it necessary and who clearly cannot be trusted.

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