Leader of Government Business Natasha Fyles has been “offended” in Parliament again, this time after Opposition Leader Lia Finocchiaro suggested the Gunner Government does not have the “capacity” to make decisions itself, has “fobbed off questions” and were “smug”.

That was before Ms Finocchiaro moved a censure motion against the Chief Minister for his failed handling of the $12 million grandstand grant that was shut down by Labor before debate could occur.

Parliament was debating the government’s Territory Economic Reconstruction Commission bill this morning, which it says will remove red tape and streamline investment into the Territory, but the debate quickly went off the rails and descended into farce when Ms Fyles started objecting to every critical comment Ms Finocchiaro made about the government on the grounds that the comments were “offensive”.

Ms Finocchiaro was critical of the government’s economic management and said Labor was handing out consulting jobs and establishing highly paid public servant roles such as the “Investment Commissioner” and “Major Projects Commissioner” because it was unable to find the “capacity in Cabinet” to make decisions themselves.

That sparked Ms Fyles to jump to her feet to declare the comment “offensive” and demanded Ms Finocchiaro withdraw it, as well as another line about government MLAs only working for a paycheque.

“I find that offensive Madam Speaker, Ms Fyles said. “We’ve got a very hard-working team here and we’re in this for Territorians.

“We’ve guided them through COVID and we’re guiding them through an economic rebound.”

Ms Finocchiaro complained that Ms Fyles was interrupting her speech to make “vexatious” complaints about “irrelevant matters”.

“This is a place of debate, it is a Parliament, and I am well within my right to stand here for the next 25 minutes and make my case about why this piece of legislation is a missed opportunity, and why the government has hopelessly led our economy into the toilet,” Ms Finocchiaro said.

“Now she might not like what I have to say, but that does not make it offensive, and that is not her right to interrupt me, every one minute of my speech.”

The speech took over an hour to deliver after all the objections.

Ms Fyles has a long history of objecting to criticism of the government during parliamentary debate and claiming to be offended.

In May, Ms Fyles successfully lobbied Speaker Ngaree Ah Kit to ban the word “incompetent” from being used to describe the Gunner Government on the grounds the word was “offensive”.

Censure motion shut down, debate gagged by Labor as CLP face criticism about COVID vaccine supplies comments

Ms Finocchiaro later attempted to move a censure motion against Chief Minister Michael Gunner during Question Time for his handling of the grandstand scandal but it was immediately killed by Labor before any debate could occur, which Ms Finocchiaro said was gagging democratic debate.

Meanwhile, the government used every opportunity to speak about COVID-19, including needling Ms Finocchiaro about previous comments she made about sending the NT’s “surplus supplies” of the COVID-19 vaccine to NSW to assist in their outbreak, which Mr Gunner said would put vulnerable Indigenous Territorians at risk.

Ms Finocchiaro was asked about the comments at a press conference, where she did not address the issue, telling reporters it was a “distraction” by the government to avoid speaking about other issues.

Following Question Time, Ms Finocchiaro was forced to plead with Ms Ah Kit to make a ruling to allow her to speak without Ms Fyles claiming to be offended.

“I have to have latitude to be able to say what I need to say on behalf of Territorians who want the government held to account,” she said.

Ms Ah Kit then ruled that Ms Finocchiaro could speak without Ms Fyles objecting for 10 minutes.

At the end of that, Labor Member for Johnston Joel Bowden said he was offended that Ms Finocchiaro suggested that he might vote against his party and support the censure motion if it had been debated and voted on.

Ms Fyles said Ms Finocchairo had “lost the plot, she’s unhinged”.

Speaker Ah Kit became frustrated as well, threatening to eject Ms Fyles and Ms Finocchiaro from the chamber.

“I won’t tolerate this rubbish going forward,” she said.

Ms Fyles continued to claim later in the afternoon that she was offended by comments independent MLA Robyn Lambley made about the government’s economic and education track record.