Northern Territory Shadow Attorney General John Elferink

HENDERSON BY-PASSED ON DETENTION FACILITY

Victor P Taffa

The Commonwealth holds the Henderson Government in such contempt that it was bypassed in negotiations over plans for a new 1,500 bed detention facility.

Shadow Attorney General, John Elferink, said the Henderson Government has zero relevance with the Commonwealth after years of administrative failure, non delivery and incompetence.

“No wonder the Chief Minister avoided media today. How was he going to explain this monumental snub?” Mr. Elferink asked.

“In a desperate effort to gain some credibility, the Government’s now claiming it was opposed to the Federal Government’s plans to put a detention centre at the 11-Mile.” Mr. Elferink said.

“Territorians would be excused for asking why the Government never went public with that position before.” Mr. Elferink said.

Greens Leader Senator Bob Brown who ironically sits on the Red Leather Benches of the Senate seems to have lost sight of the Constitutional arrangements in Australia.

Senator Brown is a nice man however any idea that Territories such as The Australian Capital Territory or The Northern Territory be given equal powers to that of a State Government would be thrown out of the High Court of Australia at the first challenge. This notion would be unconstitutional.

S.109 relates to a law that is inconsistent with that of the Commonwealth and allows the Commonwealth to override the States.

S.122 allows the Commonwealth Parliament to make laws of any territory surrendered by any State.

In 1911 The Northern Territory was established after the annexation from South Australia.

S.125 allows for the Seat of Government to be determined by the Parliament and that Seat was in Melbourne until 1927.

The irony of all of this is that all Senators after each Federal Election must have their Election ratified by each State or Territory Parliament and one of the last Commonwealth Referenda to succeed was in 1977 with the replacement of Casual vacancies for Senators.

Everyone in Australia seems to want to engage in their own form of social engineering and yet when it comes to Railway and Tramway Expansion that is something a person is accused of being ‘Crazy.’