Page 2666 - Week 08 - Friday, 1 July 2005
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
Indonesian business council in Canberra. So there is clearly quite a lot of activity in the area on their behalf.
The group’s main coordinator is Ms Ami Sudjiman-Spinks. The group’s secretariat consists of Inez Nimpuno and Yulia Immajati. They organised a tremendous night. There was some fundraising, including an auction. I think it is worth recognising the sponsors in this case. The Indo Cafe, Hays Construction & Property, and Java Style from Fyshwick made donations of time and effort and the goods that were auctioned.
The highlight of the night for everyone was the performance of the saman dance from Aceh by, I believe, seven local girls of Indonesian extraction. These girls, between the ages of 10 and 16, had been practising the dance for some time, and their vocal support pulled out about an hour before the dinner. So an hour before the dinner the girls learned the song that had to be sung to accompany the dance.
I think people were mesmerised, so the opportunity for the girls to do a second dance at the end of the evening was auctioned for several hundred dollars. The money was raised, so we got the performers back for another round of dancing. It was great to see a dance from Aceh, the area that was so badly devastated by the tsunami on Boxing Day. Those girls really added to the occasion. I think there will be more activities, as we all know that this is not over. There will be a need for ongoing fundraising.
Ms Siobhan Leyne
Northern Territory government
MS MacDONALD (Brindabella) (10.33): I want to raise two matters this morning. The first one is to say farewell to Siobhan Leyne, who is leaving the Assembly after working in this place for a few years. Most recently, I worked with Siobhan as secretary for the estimates committee but, in the previous Assembly, Siobhan was secretary to the health committee. I was deputy chair of that committee at that point. I wish Siobhan the best for the future and thank her for her efforts in this place.
Turning to the other matter, I am aware that on Wednesday of this week the new parliament in the Northern Territory was sworn in. I want to congratulate Clare Martin, the Chief Minister of the Northern Territory, and her team for their sterling effort in the most recent Northern Territory election. The results were declared last Friday and we had the swearing in this Wednesday.
We have seven new members in the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly. They are Chris Nat, Ted Warren, Kerry Sacilotto, James Burke, Robert Knight and Alison Anderson—and also Barbara McCarthy, who replaced Labor Party member Mr John Ah Kit. That was an increase of six seats in the 25-seat parliament for the Labor Party. I understand there was a swing of around 12 per cent to the Labor Party in this most recent election and a 10 per cent swing against the Country Liberal Party. That seems to indicate that the people of the Northern Territory have lost total faith in the Country Liberal Party. It seems to indicate to me—of course I am biased, being a member of the Labor Party—that the Country Liberal Party is a political party bereft of ideas. One wonders how they will continue.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .