Government’s scorn for answering simple questions shows contempt for its constituents, writes Matt Cunningham

THE Gunner Government’s continuing scorn for answering the simplest of questions shows nothing more than contempt for its constituents, writes MATT CUNNINGHAM

When our politicians avoid straightforward questions and instead spew out spin, they treat their constituents with contempt, writes MATT CUNNINGHAM

JUST before lunchtime on the 27th of February I sent the Northern Territory Government what I thought was a pretty simple question.

Is the NTG paying/subsidising airfares of international athletes coming here for the Arafura Games?

If so, why? Is this a new thing?

The Government had promised to bring back the Arafura Games after they were scrapped by the Mills Government, and had budgeted $4 million to do so. They’d also assured us that no athlete would be getting a free ride here to compete.

But we’d been hearing whispers that the Games budget had blown out, and that the Government was now stumping up the cost to get some athletes here to ensure there were enough competitors in some events.

The Gunner Government’s continuing scorn for answering the simplest of questions shows nothing more than contempt for its constituents, writes MATT CUNNINGHAM

I thought the question was pretty simple. The answer was either yes or no.

So I guessed I’d get a response, if not immediately, then within an hour or two. Two days later, despite several follow-up calls I was still waiting.

The response was still waiting final sign-off, I was told, perhaps giving an insight into the inner workings of our public service, which swallows up such a huge chunk of the Territory’s budget.

I mean how many boffins does it take to give a simply yes or no answer, and how many people are involved in the process if someone is required to give such an answer a “final sign-off”?

Finally, on a Friday afternoon, I received the following answer.

“The Territory Labor Government is bringing back the Arafura Games as a significant tourist attraction, to promote trade and business opportunities, and create jobs.

“Bringing back the Games after they were scrapped by the former government in 2013 has been like starting from scratch. We have been working hard to re-engage countries who had removed the Arafura Games from their sporting calendar, and liaising with countries to ensure athletes who want to take part are able to do so.

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“To achieve this, through a sponsorship deal with Jetstar Asia, and the generosity of a Gold Arafura Games sponsor, some athletes have received complementary flights.”

I’m not sure if you can detect a yes or a no in those three paragraphs.

My best guess was a yes, that some were getting freebies from Jetstar, and that the Government was going to argue that the rest were being paid for by a mysterious “Gold Sponsor” — not by taxpayers. At least I now knew why it had taken more than two days to get an answer. But the answer seemed only to raise more questions.

Who was this mysterious gold sponsor? How many athletes were coming here for free? Given sacked former minister Ken Vowles had been adamant all athletes would be paying their way here, when was the decision made to offer free flights?

I asked these questions, then, after what I presume was another chain of emails, strategy meetings, and, of course, final sign-off, I received this reply.

“The Territory Labor Government is bringing back the Arafura Games as a significant tourist attraction, to promote trade and business opportunities, and create jobs. (Thanks for the reminder.)

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“Bringing back the Games after they were scrapped by the former government in 2013 has been like starting from scratch. (Wow, I wasn’t aware the former government had scrapped the Games, thanks for the reminder.)

“We have been working hard to re-engage countries who had removed the Arafura Games from their sporting calendar, and liaising with countries to ensure athletes who want to take part are able to do so where it will deliver a quality competition program for athletes — for example, to censure an equal number of teams in a pool.

“To keep costs to a minimum we are achieving this through sponsorship deals, and it is fantastic Jetstar Asia has come on board to offer flights to athletes within the Jetstar Asia route. There are discussions around using other sponsorship opportunities to support some athletes who fall outside the scope of that arrangement, but no bookings have been confirmed or paid for yet.”

To translate that into English, Jetstar was giving free flights to some athletes and others would have their airfares paid through “sponsorship opportunities”.

We later discovered the mysterious “gold sponsor” was Landbridge — the first sponsor in the history of professional sport to not want their name mentioned — and that its sponsorship deal wasn’t specifically to fly athletes here. That money could have been used to bring down the total cost of the Games, which eventually blew out to $7.2 million.

Put simply, the answer to my original question was yes. The Government — ie you, the taxpayer — paid to fly athletes here for the Arafura Games. I asked several times after the Games how many athletes had their flights paid for and how much it cost. I was stonewalled every time. Eventually it was revealed through Senate Estimates that $75,000 had been spent on these flights.

This one example is symbolic of a Government that has become increasingly addicted to spin. During the past two weeks of parliamentary sittings it failed to answer several straightforward questions, instead responding with the kind of waffle similar to that contained in the answers to these questions about the Arafura Games.

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I’ll spare you that waffle here, but straightforward questions about the number of public servants who have signed the executive pay freeze, the cost of finding a new site for the Don Dale Detention Centre, and the real cost of the Arafura Games, were simply ignored in favour of the tired old spin Territorians stopped listening to long ago.

In perhaps the worst example, the Government ignored a question about $7 million being given to Charles Darwin University to pay for redundancies on Wednesday, only to announce on Friday it was giving $7 million to that very organisation.

It might pay to remind our politicians that their job is to represent the people who elected them.

When they avoid straightforward questions and instead spew out spin, they treat their constituents with contempt.