Page 1378 - Week 05 - Tuesday, 9 May 2006
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effectively employed, and what value is the territory receiving from his quarter of a million dollars salary?
MR STANHOPE: I would need to take that question on notice. I think that the details of the answer go to some matters in relation to Mr Gilbert around which there are some issues of privacy in relation to his personal circumstances. I would need to be briefed on his exact position or status in any event. I will take the question on notice, but most certainly will seek to respond in the next day or so, Mrs Dunne.
MRS DUNNE: Mr Speaker, I have a supplementary question for the Chief Minister. Are you really the Chief Minister and do you exercise any authority at all over the Chief Minister’s Department? Has Mr Costello, in his review, suggested reviving the Office of the Special Adviser for Mr Gilbert?
MR STANHOPE: Yes, I continue as Chief Minister.
Mr Smyth: You had to think about that, though.
MR STANHOPE: Yes. I was just trying to think of how much longer I anticipate continuing as Chief Minister. I was just wondering. I had thought that 2012 might see me out but no, 2016. I will be around John Howard’s age by then. I must say, as I have said previously, that I do admire the Prime Minister’s energy and his capacity. Yes, I continue as Chief Minister and I think that I have probably got another 10 years in me. Crikey, in 10 years I will be younger than the Prime Minister is today; so, 2020, how about that?
Yes, Mrs Dunne, I will continue as Chief Minister, in light of the extent to which the contenders now line up over there. We did hear of the grand tour. It is the message that came back from London that intrigued us: “Bill, I give in. I am never going to get the numbers. I will back you, mate, but, for God’s sake, somebody has got to do something.” It is interesting that it has now been reduced to that. Mr Mulcahy, with an eye to the main chance, just could not crack the numbers.
I must say that there is a believability about it. I have know Mr Stefaniak since 1970 and I can read his body language like a book. When I put it to Mr Stefaniak that Mr Mulcahy had delivered the numbers, that Mr Mulcahy had fallen on his sword and had decided to put his own ambition on hold but put the interests of the Liberal Party first and felt that the interests of the Liberal Party required that he, Mr Stefaniak, stump up, that he actually stick his head in that scrum for the first time in his life and take on the issue, I could read him. Mrs Dunne is no great shakes at hiding her feeling or thinking on that, either.
I must say, standing on this side and delivering the suggestion that Mr Mulcahy, by carrier pigeon, had sent back the message, “Bill, I have fallen, I concede. It is up to you. The party needs you. The territory needs you,” that Bill, with that little blush he gave, gave it away. We were expecting it this week. Bill, you can only stand at the back of the scrum for so long, mate, before you reach a position where you have just got to get over and fit your head in there.
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