2013-05-15
Budget 2013-14 – Teacher Numbers
Ms LAWRIE to CHIEF MINISTER
Your budget has been slammed by groups as diverse as mining executives, teachers, seniors and young mums. Your debt and GST blame game is just shallow rhetoric, with your decision to increase debt by $1.1bn while GST increases from $2.5bn last year to $2.8bn next year: GST up $300m, debt up $1.1bn. You are cutting pay to teachers and support staff by $34m, but staff in your department get an extra $8m. Why are you sacking 130 teachers whilst paying your mates more?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the Opposition Leader for her question. I will not accept the premise of the end of it because we are not sacking teachers. We are recalibrating the way we provide teaching in the Northern Territory. We are putting greater focus on kindergarten to Year 2. We are going from a ratio of 22 students per teacher to 20 students per teacher, because we know early education is the best form of education. It is the best way to give a start in life to those kids. Getting kids to school and getting them a start is what we need to do and that is why we are putting an extra 61 teachers into early childhood education: to ensure kids get the best start in life.
At the start of the question you talked about debt and deficit, trying to make us own your problem. The deficit is so big because we had to put in the $500m-plus for your new gaol, which will be full from day one, and which under your new era of corrections had gaol capacity at 131%. You were housing people in gaol more than you were housing them in the community, while pushing up the cost of land. The increase in the land cost for people who wanted to buy in the Northern Territory was $1000 per week. They could not afford to buy land so you were housing people in gaol, congratulations - adding to our deficit, adding to our debt. The income of the Northern Territory is less than $5bn. Your estimate when you were in government was to have debt of …
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Relevance, 113. We are talking about your budget. It is the Territory budget handed down by your Treasurer. I know you want to hide from it because it is a shocker, but at least answer the question.
Madam SPEAKER: There is no point of order. Chief Minister, continue.
Mr GILES: We inherited your books and your $500m-plus commitment for the gaol. That is why the deficit is so high. It is not as high as you predicted. We have managed to rein in an extra $600m over the forward estimates.
We have pulled things back. We are carrying your legacy. Yesterday we put out a responsible budget - responsible action for the Northern Territory - without putting the knife through the Territory by making all the cuts to pay your debt in one go. We have scaled it back, supporting private industry and investment to create jobs in the private sector to ensure we continue to move forward on a level playing field, the Territory continues to operate, and we support private sector investment and jobs.
Your debt …
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Relevance, 113. Taking $34m out of education and $8m …
Mr ELFERINK: A point of order, Madam Speaker! There cannot be a point of order here.
Madam SPEAKER: It is not a point of order. Please be seated, Opposition Leader.
Mr GILES: I will return to education - 61 new teachers in kindergarten to Year 2.
Opposition Leader, look at the NAPLAN results and show us the performance of your former government in education. It was absolutely shameful! We want kids to go to school and we want them to get a good start in life. That is why we are employing 61 extra early childhood teachers.
Budget 2013-14 –
Federal Labor Budget Comparison
Federal Labor Budget Comparison
Mr KURRUPUWU to TREASURER
Yesterday you delivered a responsible budget. How does this compare with the federal Labor budget delivered in Canberra last night?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Arafura for his very good question.
The budget delivered by the federal Labor Treasurer last night, fundamentally - I do not believe there is any other way to describe it - is a dog of a budget. It adds more pressure to the Northern Territory. The population forecast of 1.1% flies in the face of our Treasury’s forecast of 2% to 2.5% growth for 2015-16. That is a straight hit to our budget’s bottom line and, as I was told by Treasury, it represents $105m we need to make up.
Not only has Wayne Swan stripped $120m from the Territory budget this financial year, but he is now moving to strip another $100m out of future budgets. There has been a $20.5bn turnaround from Wayne Swan’s predicted budget deficit to what it currently is. Last night he announced a $19.4bn budget deficit. How did he get it so wrong?
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Relevance, 113. Why are you knocking back $100m of federal funding coming directly into the Territory for our hospitals …
Madam SPEAKER: It is not a point of order. The Treasurer is answering the question.
Mr TOLLNER: As I said, the federal Treasurer has announced a $19.4bn budget deficit this financial year, a $20.5bn turnaround - you wonder how he got it so wrong.
Unlike the Northern Territory budget announced yesterday, Labor governments do not match cuts in income with cuts in unnecessary expenditure. They borrow money for consumption. That is the hallmark of what happened over the last few years with the former, fiscally irresponsible Labor government. They were borrowing money to pay operational costs - to pay wages. That was completely irresponsible. They projected a debt in 2015-16 of $5.5bn - $1.1m a day in interest repayments ...
Ms Lawrie: $5.1bn.
Mr TOLLNER: Now she is saying it is $5.1bn. Read your own budget book from the pre-election fiscal outlook. You were prepared to put $5.5bn on the credit card of the Northern Territory. What a shame!
Today the Opposition Leader has been trying to scare everybody by suggesting there will be mass sackings and privatised government departments. What a joke!
Madam SPEAKER: Minister, your time has expired.
Budget 2013-14 - Land Tax
Ms LAWRIE to CHIEF MINISTER
It is unbelievable that they cannot answer a question on their budget; they have to focus on Canberra.
Under Labor, the Territory was the lowest taxing jurisdiction for small business, and proudly so. We created a competitive and enticing small business environment. Your budget ends that. The budget outlines the CLP’s intention to increase taxation levels to the national average by 2016-17. This morning at the Property Council breakfast, when the Treasurer was asked whether this meant a land tax, he did not rule it out. Will you overrule him and rule out a land tax in the Northern Territory?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the Leader of the Opposition for her question. There is no land tax in the Northern Territory. While I am talking about taxes, I will talk about the $1.1m interest repayment the Northern Territory has to make every day. That is a tax on the citizens of the Northern Territory. The $5.5bn debt the former Labor government projected is a tax on future generations.
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Relevance, 113. Will you rule out a land tax in the Northern Territory? The question is for the Chief Minister, not the Treasurer.
Mr TOLLNER: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Further to the point of order, the Opposition Leader …
Madam SPEAKER: Treasurer, what is your standing order?
Mr TOLLNER: I am responding to the point of order raised by the Opposition Leader.
Madam SPEAKER: No, Treasurer, when you call a point of order you need to quote a standing order.
Mr TOLLNER: Relevance 113, Madam Speaker …
Madam SPEAKER: Which is?
Mr TOLLNER: The Chief Minister is being relevant. It was a misleading question because I did not tell the Property Council that at all. I said we have no intention, currently, of introducing a land tax.
Madam SPEAKER: Deputy Chief Minister, it is not a point of order.
Mr GILES: I will reaffirm what the Treasurer has said. We have no intention of introducing a land tax. The tax we had in the Northern Territory was the $5.5bn debt on our future generations.
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Relevance, 113. The question is very specific. Will you rule out a land tax for the Northern Territory? It is not whether we have one or not; we know we do not have one. Will you rule it out?
Mr ELFERINK: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Speaking to the point of order, he has answered the question.
Madam SPEAKER: Chief Minister, do you wish to continue?
Mr GILES: The question has been answered.
Budget 2013-14 – Community Safety
Ms FINOCCHIARO to CHIEF MINISTER
Territorians want to live in safe communities. Can you inform the House about how Budget 2013-14 will help create safe communities across the Northern Territory?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Drysdale for her question. I know she is very interested in safe communities in the Northern Territory, particularly in Palmerston and her electorate of Drysdale.
Under the former Labor government it was always a tough environment with community safety, but I can advise there has been a substantial increase in law and order, community safety and policing in the Northern Territory as part of this responsible budget, a budget of responsible action.
There is $22.5m for the extra 120 police …
Mr GUNNER: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Relevance, 113. All the money for extra police is coming from the Commonwealth.
Madam SPEAKER: That is not a point of order. Sit down!
Mr GILES: Madam Speaker, there was a misleading statement in that interjection. It is not true. There is $22.5m for the extra 120 police; an extra $2.1m for additional call centre support; $1.5m for the expansion of the Joint Emergency Services Communications Centre; $10.9m for a new police station in Alice Springs; $9.4m – I know the member for Namatjira is happy with this - for the construction of a multipurpose police station at Alpara; $21.6m for remote policing under the community safety and justice initiatives through the Stronger Futures package; and an extra $14.15m for police housing, overtime and key ITC systems to support effective service delivery.
We are putting money into mandatory rehabilitation to support, with a health response, people who have chronic alcohol abuse issues. In the past 11 years you have run out with BDRs and all these little things, but nothing worked. All that happened was the prison population increased and people were not treated.
We are the only government with the ticker to bring in a mandatory rehabilitation component to try to help people who have alcohol problems. We are helping people who have alcohol problems.
You would think the lefties on the other side, the socialist left, would be supportive of helping people who have chronic alcohol or substance abuse issues. The people we are helping …
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Relevance, 113. Get back to law and order because you are talking about a flawed process.
Madam SPEAKER: Sit down. It is not a point of order.
Mr GILES: This is a repetitive approach from someone who has nothing more to say and who is becoming highly irrelevant, not just in the Chamber, but in the Northern Territory. We look forward to the day when the member for Wanguri or the member for Fannie Bay finally gets the ticker to take the job off you. Then we might have a proper debate in this Chamber.
We are the only people who have the ticker to help those people, and the socialist left attacks us for trying to help. You can get congress in Alice Springs, together with all your Labor Party people there, to protest. We will stand committed and resolute in wanting to help people who have chronic alcohol abuse problems.
I challenge the Labor party to get a real leader: someone who supports helping people who have alcohol problems.
Cost of Living
Ms LAWRIE to CHIEF MINISTER
Your budget breaks your promise to cut the cost of living. In the March quarter, the cost of living in the Territory grew at four times the National average, and more pain is to come. In your budget you have put inflation up to nearly 4%, twice what you inherited. You are hitting the hip pockets and are taking from Territory families - $84m in taxes and revenue, up from $55m. You are completely insensitive to the pain you are causing. Why have you decided to further increase the cost of living to Territory families and triple the amount you are taking from them in revenue?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, for a technical answer it is very important for the Northern Territory to be able to achieve a revenue basis that is cost comparative with the rest of the nation to ensure we are able to pay our costs. The Treasurer, the shareholding minister for Power and Water, has spoken about how important it is to work towards a cost recovery basis, as did the former Treasurer, so the price of power is the same as the cost of producing it. These are some of the revenue measures we must put in place.
Look at the cost of living pressures. The price of land was going up $1000 a week, $50 000 a year, under the previous government. That is a challenge we have inherited from them.
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Go to Palmerston! It has gone from $260 000 to $340 000 under your government.
Madam SPEAKER: Opposition Leader, please be seated. It is not a point of order.
Mr GILES: Thank you, Madam Speaker. I am sure the Opposition Leader knows you do not just turn up at a block of land, put a fence on it and say it is a serviced block. It takes a long lead-up time. The Minister for Housing is working overtime to identify sites we can redevelop - working out land releases.
We have put $20m towards the development of headworks at Bellamack to ensure we have an increased level of supply. The cost of living pressures are not about Power and Water or MVR fees, it is about the price of housing in the Northern Territory. The cost of living has increased because you failed to release sufficient land in time to reduce the pressure on Northern Territory families.
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Standing Order 113: relevance! The question was about the cost of living. The budget books point to rising utility prices.
Madam SPEAKER: Please be seated. Chief Minister, you have the call.
Mr GILES: Madam Speaker, I am happy to take a relevant point of order, but when the interjection is not relevant I ask that a determination be made early in the piece, and if the repeated offences keep being committed, I ask that the member be removed from the Chamber.
Madam SPEAKER: Chief Minister, please pause. It is not your job to give direction to the Speaker about how decisions should be made. Please continue, just take that on board.
Mr GILES: Let us take it on board, Madam Speaker.
Prior to the irrelevant point of order just made we were talking about land release. There is a long lead-up time to releasing land. The affordability of housing is the biggest increment in the cost of living in the Northern Territory.
We are pushing heaven and earth to release land as quickly as we can and find properties that can be redeveloped. We are putting in place the NRAS incentives and doing everything we can to provide housing in the Northern Territory. You left us to inherit a cycle of economic misery in the Northern Territory with a $1.2bn deficit.
The $5.5bn deficit, which was a tax on our future generations - we have taken responsible action to cut back the spending to try to bring it more in line, which allows us to operate more within our means, but not completely because you had set the parameters and the framework for a massive deficit and debt. We have tried to scale that back. Do not make us own your problem. You set us up with this and we are trying to reduce the problem.
Budget 2013-14 – Health Investment
Mrs PRICE to MINISTER for HEALTH
Minister, Budget 2013-14 contains a record responsible investment in the Territory’s health system. Can the minister outline some of the highlights in the budget? How does the Giles government approach to the health system differ from Labor’s?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Stuart for her question. She is very concerned about the delivery of health services in her electorate and in regional and remote parts of the Northern Territory.
The budget handed down yesterday by our Treasurer contains a record responsible investment in the Territory’s health system. The Territory government has budgeted $1.36bn for health in 2013-14; of this, $975m is Northern Territory output appropriation. This represents an increase of $152m, or 18%, compared to Labor’s budget in May of last year.
Under the government’s new service framework reforms, $575m will be allocated to the Top End Health and Hospital Service and $229m to the Central Australian Health and Hospital Service. It also provides $48.16m to meet increased demand and cost pressures for health and hospital services.
A further $5m has been allocated for a hospital scoping study to look into the needs of the greater Darwin and Palmerston region health needs for the next 30 years, something the former Labor government did not do. Their very poor planning around the Palmerston hospital has become a great concern to us. Because of poor planning, this scoping study needs to be done to ensure the Palmerston hospital is exactly what we need it to be into the future. Other measures include additional money for cancer patients, cardiac funding, an additional 400 elective surgeries per annum, and extra funding for patient travel and the Pensioner and Carer Concession Scheme.
The Opposition Leader has been banging on over the last 24 hours, putting down this budget, spreading incorrect lines about exactly how we are spending on health. The Leader of the Opposition is wrong. We have increased spending on hospitals throughout the Northern Territory; $1.36bn is a record amount spent in the area of health in the Northern Territory.
Either the Leader of the Opposition is getting it very wrong through lack of an ability to understand her budget papers - as a former Treasurer, she should take the time to study them and get them right, rather than peddle the mistruths or the inaccurate information that she has been doing.
We have before us a record spend on health. We are very proud of it. We are a responsible government and we look forward to the next three years of improving health in the Northern Territory.
Madam SPEAKER: Your time has expired. Opposition Leader.
Budget 2013-2014 - Business Effect
Ms LAWRIE to CHIEF MINISTER
No wonder she was sacked. You are killing the Territory’s …
Mr ELFERINK: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Standing Order 112.
Madam SPEAKER: Opposition Leader, can you please withdraw that comment.
Ms LAWRIE: I withdraw.
Mr ELFERINK: A point of order, Madam Speaker! The Opposition Leader, by habit, always throws in an epithet or some sort of comment that contravenes Standing Order 112 prior to asking her question. I ask that she be restrained to asking her question and not breaching Standing Order 112.
Madam SPEAKER: Sit down, Leader of Government Business. The statement has been withdrawn. Opposition Leader.
Ms LAWRIE: You are killing the Territory’s domestic economy. The state final demand figure, which is the domestic economy, under Labor was a record 26%. In your budget books, under the CLP, it will drop to minus-15% and will stay negative. In the nine months of your government, 3600 full-time jobs have already been lost. How many more businesses will close because of this negative state final demand? You are strangling the domestic economy. Businesses are hurting. You have created the haves and the have nots: the haves, who have the Ichthys contracts, the have nots, the Territory businesses which rely on the public spend.
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, this is coming from the captain of the one-trick pony. The question is how many businesses …
Mr McCARTHY: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Relevance, 112. We just heard from the Leader of Government Business about epithets before answering questions. I ask the Chief Minister to answer the question.
Madam SPEAKER: Chief Minister, you have the call.
Mr ELFERINK: Madam Speaker, in response to Standing Order 112, that is referring to the questioner. The person answering the question is at liberty to answer as they see fit.
Madam SPEAKER: Sit down, Leader of Government Business. Chief Minister, you have the call.
Mr GILES: Madam Speaker, the real question is: if the former government was still in power what businesses would not have been able to get up? There was debate in this Chamber last …
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Relevance, 113. Under Labor, state final demand - the domestic economy - was 26%. Answer at least one question!
Madam SPEAKER: Opposition Leader, please be seated. The Chief Minister is answering the question.
Mr GILES: Madam Speaker, it is more about what sort of businesses would not have been able to get up and running. I had a good conversation with the minister for Primary Industries in relation to the last parliamentary sittings and water extraction licences. I asked how many water extraction licences have been applied for and how many were not approved. He told me more than 50 were sitting on the desk of the former minister without anything being done. That is more than 50 business opportunities that support horticultural development in the Northern Territory. In the last two months, we have seen Australian Ilmenite and Sherwin Iron establish mines. We have prospects with TNG out of Barrow Creek ...
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Standing Order 113, relevance. It goes to state final demand. It is quite a specific question – minus-15% ...
Madam SPEAKER: Please be seated. The Chief Minister has some latitude. Chief Minister, continue.
Mr GILES: We are talking about business. We are talking about growing the Northern Territory. This is how it is relevant; we are talking about the things not done under Labor, what we have already done and what we are actioning. We are setting in place a business environment to support jobs and growth in the private sector, bringing investment to the Northern Territory.
How can it be that the former minister had more than 50 applications for water extraction licences on his desk which would have supported business development and horticultural development? We are actioning them. They have not asked a question about any of the other 49. They have only asked about one of them. But that is beside the point; they are playing politics.
There are business opportunities in the Northern Territory. There is the reform of the pastoral lands body to be able to increase the time frames for alternate development on pastoral lands - the transferability from the lessee to the lease to make it a transferable asset to ensure we can have business development in the regions of the Northern Territory. This is what it is about.
We are working on a range of areas. We are working on our tourism sector with our Tourism Commission. Some of the investments we have made in tourism with our responsible action budget ...
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Relevance, 113. If any of that is working why do you get minus-15% in the domestic economy? You are strangling it.
Madam SPEAKER: It is no point of order, please be seated. The Chief Minister is answering the question.
Mr GILES: It is times like these you think we might need another standing order with ‘irrelevant’ written in there specifically for the Opposition Leader, because if anybody in this Chamber is more irrelevant, more out of touch than anyone else, it is the Opposition Leader. She is the former Treasurer who got us into this bad fiscal position we are trying to fight our way out of.
Madam Speaker, the Opposition Leader can continue to try to pull the Northern Territory apart, but we will fix it for you; we will continue to fix it.
Budget 2013-14 –
Litchfield and Rural Area Funding
Litchfield and Rural Area Funding
Mr WOOD to CHIEF MINISTER
The Litchfield and rural area is the fastest growing area in the Northern Territory with the biggest projects happening, such as the INPEX gas plant, INPEX village, the AACo Abattoir, expansion of Robertson Barracks, the new prison, the Coolalinga residential/commercial development, and an approved 80-lot subdivision.
It has two of the biggest high schools and eight primary schools. It is an important centre for the horticultural and extractive mining industry. It has 20 000 people, making it the fourth largest municipality in the Northern Territory. It also has three members of parliament, two of whom are members of your government. I understand you needed to reduce the deficit, but why have you given the growing rural area crumbs out of the budget and disregarded the needs of rural constituents, many of whom are represented by your own CLP members?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for his question. I was not sure if you spoke about the new gaol and the INPEX workers camp in the list you read out, member for Nelson. I did not hear that in the list.
There is a range of things in the budget that meets the needs of people in the rural area, in Palmerston, in Darwin, in Alice Springs, Katherine, Tennant Creek, and right across the Northern Territory.
The Minister for Health just spoke about a $5m scoping and feasibility study - a master plan - for the Palmerston and regional rural hospital for the next 30 years. We are putting in a greater amount of investment.
Kids who go to school in the primary years - 61 new teachers in the kindergarten to Year 2 area.
The biggest health budget we have ever had. We are working on addressing issues for people who have alcohol and substance abuse issues. You cannot tell me that in the three electorates you are talking about there is nobody who will not benefit from having rehabilitation for alcohol issues and concerns.
There is $9.66m for the Darwin Correctional Precinct; headworks for the correctional facility are in the budget. That is part of the budget that is in your electorate. Member for Nelson, come up with a specific question about what you would like. You were the king maker for a number of years. I do not want to go over old ground but you committed to putting a swimming pool in the rural area. Did you deliver it? No, you did not. I remember the days when Ted Warren was promising a swimming pool. He did not even have a shovel or a hole. You are closing down all the water parks out there ...
Mr Wood: You took Freds Pass funding away.
Mr GILES: We did not take Freds Pass funding. I will take the interjection; I was the Minister for Local Government at the time and I rang, when the Freds Pass issue was raised, and offered to provide funding to keep Freds Pass Show going. That is a fact. I do not need to announce it to the public, member for Nelson, but we tried to provide that service. If you had come to me and said, ‘Minister for Local Government, can you help us with the Freds Pass Show?’ The money was there; it was ready and was waiting to go. Do not cry and belly ache.
I know you are a big on local government reform, member for Nelson. There is a $30m regional roads funding package, an extra $5m of operational funding for local government, and $10m into the forward estimates and another $10m. The money is flowing into the Northern Territory. We do not have a magic pudding where you can keep grabbing money, like the Leader of the Opposition did when she was Treasurer with a credit card, sprinkling dollar notes around like confetti coming off the money tree next to the magic pudding. We have a responsible budget with responsible action.
Madam SPEAKER: Chief Minister, your time has expired.
Budget 2013-14 -
Infrastructure Investment
Ms LEE to MINISTER for INFRASTRUCTURE
Budget 2013-14 contains a significant responsible infrastructure investment. Can the minister outline some of those major infrastructure investments and how they will benefit the Territory?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Arnhem for her question. We have many major infrastructure investments vital to the growth of the Northern Territory. We had to release a responsible budget due to the legacy of debt: a $5.5bn legacy left to us by the member for Karama’s former government. However, we will continue to cater for all Territorians and I have made responsible decisions for our major infrastructure investments.
We have committed to a $1.2bn infrastructure program, including $560m of capital works. We will continue to strengthen communities through regional development by putting aside $139.6m for remote Indigenous housing capital works and $44.6m for government employee housing for more nurses, teachers and police in remote communities. This is vital spending because without these essential services the communities would struggle.
We are doing everything we can to stop Indigenous disadvantage. The Territory government will also continue to focus on the health of remote communities with nearly $45m for the upgrade and construction of health clinics in remote communities. This includes $25m towards health clinics in Ntaria, Papunya, Elliott, Ngukurr, and Galiwinku, and about $16m towards health clinics at Canteen Creek, Nhulunbuy and Maningrida.
The Territory government will continue to support local tradespeople by increasing the repair and maintenance budget by $40m. Both small- and medium-sized enterprises will benefit. Figures taken from the last Labor Treasurer’s budget reveal that repairs and maintenance was underfunded by $92m in 2012-13. In the 2013-14 budget, a total of $257m has been set aside for repairs and maintenance, which will continue on from the Territory government’s commitment to increase repairs and maintenance expenditure by $100m over the next four years. This is a boost for our local tradies, our small business and our communities. Our assets have to be maintained by increasing the repairs and maintenance spend, something Labor did not do. We are providing support for painters, carpenters, plumbers and their families, while Labor left us with a huge debt …
Mr McCarthy: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Standing Order 113: relevance - an old Liberal chestnut. How much is the revote minister?
Madam SPEAKER: It is not a point of order. The minister has the call. Minister you are answering the question.
Mr STYLES: Thank you, Madam Speaker. It is our question and I know I am answering it because I looked at these things. When Labor left us with this huge debt we had to tighten the belt and make responsible decisions. All Territorians deserve to feel safe so the government will continue …
Madam SPEAKER: Minister your time has expired.
Budget 2013-14 - Education Spending
Mr GUNNER to MINISTER FOR EDUCATION
Your budget savages our schools. In real terms, you have cut education spending by $51m. You are cutting 130 teachers and you are reducing teacher and support staff pay by $34m. With fewer teachers you have larger classes and fewer subjects. You are cutting the number of Indigenous students in senior schools by 215, and when teachers raised concerns, you called them lazy. You said they had too much down time. Why have you decided to reduce the quality of education our students receive?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I welcome the member for Fannie Bay’s question.
Firstly, I understand why the budget was in so much trouble under you guys because you cannot count. Look at page 101 of the last budget. This is the budget you brought down last year, and I will read out the figure. In 2012-13, you budgeted $685m for education. In the budget we brought down, the education spend is $685m. You talk about cuts, and whilst we will acknowledge there are some cuts to funding from the federal government, we have allocated exactly the same amount of money: $685m.
These are your figures. This is the budget, and in the last year we have spent over $700m on education. This government, a Country Liberals government, has spent more money in the last 12 months on education than any previous government. So if you want to talk about smoke and mirrors, let us talk about your facts. They are your figures; page 101 was it? Your budget was $685m and our budget is $685m. It is the same money. Yes, I have a focus on the early years of education because, and I will say it again and again, everything I have read about building a solid foundation will provide …
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Why are you stripping 130 teachers out of our senior and our middle schools?
Madam SPEAKER: Opposition Leader, that is a frivolous comment. By my reckoning you have made seven. You are on a warning.
Mr CHANDLER: How did they get the budget so wrong? How well did they manage in the last 11 years in government? A testament again to a figure like that - how you would come up with a figure of 131 teachers; it is absolutely wrong. It is less than half of that, and 61 will be put back into the early years of education where the foundation needs to be built. The number is less than half what you are saying.
In regard to comments you guys have made, and perhaps the media has stated, tell me where I have ever said anything about down time or lazy teachers! It has been reported in the media, reported by you guys, but it has not been said once. Teachers spend countless hours of their own time supporting education in the Northern Territory. mI have the utmost respect for teachers and the work they do, both in and out of the classroom.
It is hypocritical of a government, such as you, to try to score cheap political points. Spend countless hours of your own time supporting education in the Northern Territory, then come into this Chamber and say I do not have a passion for education.
Budget 2013-14 - Affordable Housing
Ms FINOCCHIARO to MINISTER FOR HOUSING
Providing affordable housing is a priority for the Giles government. Can you advise the House what initiatives in Budget 2013-14 target this important area, and how does this government’s responsible action differ from that of the former Treasurer?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Drysdale for her question. Budget 2013-14 invests $20m to accelerate land release in Palmerston East for residential development, and a further $4.3m for services to the Kilgariff subdivision in Alice Springs. This is greatly needed and is a significant investment. As I said yesterday in this Chamber, under the previous government the tap had been turned off in regard to land release.
The Country Liberal’s went to the last election with the commitment to deliver 2000 new, affordable homes across the Northern Territory during our first term: an ambitious and courageous target. This responsible budget invests $3.8m towards the delivery of Real Housing for Growth. It is an exciting and innovative project which will have a direct impact on the cost of living for ordinary Territorians.
Expressions of interest for this project were advertised on 27 February this year. Following that we held industry briefings across the Northern Territory where we received a very positive response from developers and investors. Expressions of interest closed on 17 April 2013, with a total of 30 proposals, containing a possible 1927 dwellings. This response rate far exceeded our expectations. Since then, the department has been working through all the proposals, and I am pleased to say that of over 30 received, only one did not conform.
We wanted 500 new dwellings in the first tranche of the project, and it appears we will end up with closer to 800. Budgets are all about numbers, and these are great numbers, not like the ones the former Treasurer left the new government to deal with. She dropped the ball on affordable housing and it has fallen to us to deliver where they failed. We are delivering in a big way.
In the last four years under Labor, around 1250 dwellings were constructed each year in the Northern Territory. Treasury and all the experts told us we needed at least 1700. Therefore, coming into government we were 1800 behind before we started. Just to keep up with rising demand, we not only have to get on top of this land release, we have to speed up the processes within government. That is exactly what we are working on. Labor was extremely reckless and irresponsible on this front, and ordinary Territorians are suffering because of the lack of action by Labor in land release and working with government departments. They were telling you what was needed. The developers were telling you what was needed. The general public was screaming out for land release, and Labor turned the tap off.
Madam Speaker, we have turned the tap back on and there will be more affordable houses available for Territorians in the near future as a result of the hard work being done now.
Health Funding
Mr VATSKALIS to MINISTER FOR HEALTH
You have scrapped the Palmerston hospital and the children’s wing at Royal Darwin Hospital using delay tactics by asking for another scoping study. I can give two - Ernst and Young and Aurora - and save you $5m. You have cut funding to our hospitals: Fewer nurses and doctors. Your Health budget blew out by $40m in the last six months as doctors complained that the number of drunks in our emergency departments had doubled. Why are you scrapping hospitals and filling up our emergency departments with drunks?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Casuarina for his question. It is asolute nonsense you are peddling there, member for Casuarina.
I will firstly address the issue of the Palmerston hospital. Coming into government, we had time to look at the plans the former government had undertaken to develop their concept of what the Palmerston hospital should look like. We found a very short-sighted and small opportunistic plan for a hospital in Palmerston.
What we are undertaking now, as a new Country Liberal government, is a $5m scoping study to look at a big plan. We know the greater Darwin area has great health needs into the future, but we do not know exactly what that looks like. The former government decided to go ahead with plans based on no evidence or facts. What we are doing is spending some money to get right …
Mr McCARTHY: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Standing Order 113: relevance. Will you direct your finger pointing through the Chair?
Madam SPEAKER: That is a different standing order, member for Barkly.
Mrs LAMBLEY: More nonsense from the opposition.
Through this scoping study we will get it right. We can guarantee the people of the Northern Territory that our hospital will be bigger and better than what Labor planned.
We are waiting for the Commonwealth government to come through with the money for the paediatric unit in the Royal Darwin Hospital. It is all rhetoric. It is all nonsense from the Commonwealth Labor government, and the opposition. They are talking about it, but where is the money? They have promised the money, but it is not forthcoming. We are negotiating $11.8m to start redeveloping the existing paediatric unit, because all their rhetoric and talk about this great new paediatric wing, funded by the federal government, is nonsense. There is nothing coming through when it comes to money. Actions speak louder than words.
Also, member for Casuarina, you said we are not funding hospitals to any significant or adequate level. That is nonsense also. Hospitals in the Northern Territory are getting more than ever. We have given the figures; we do not need to give them again. Read your budget papers!
Budget 2013-14 - Business Investment
Mr HIGGINS to TREASURER
The Northern Territory business community, which I am part of, wants a government that makes responsible decisions. Can you inform the House why the 2013-14 budget is good for business and how it will help to grow a diverse economic base that will attract investment?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Daly for the question. It is now 10.50 am on Wednesday, the second day after the budget, yet we have not had one single question from the opposition to the Treasurer. We have had two lots of Question Time, and not one question to the Treasurer.
Goodness me! That is how they ran government; there was no fiscal responsibility …
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! It is because of the way he behaves.
Mr ELFERINK: Madam Speaker, I respectfully remind you of your earlier warning …
Madam SPEAKER: Thank you, Leader of Government Business. Please be seated.
Mr TOLLNER: The member for Daly asked me a question about what is in this budget for business. I am proud to say that the Giles government is sticking with our election commitment to grow a three-hub economy. There is plenty in this for business, agriculture, mining and tourism.
We are not a one-trick pony government, like the former government. Everything was focused on the Ichthys project and nothing else seemed to matter. As the Chief Minister just said, 50 applications for water licences sitting on the minister’s desk were never actioned. We are getting on with making business easier in the Northern Territory.
As far as agriculture goes, there is money in the budget to support the Ord River development. As the Chief Minister said, we are freeing up water resources. We will not be implementing a native vegetation act where you need a full-blown EIS to prune a tree. That will not be happening under this government. We want the agricultural sector to grow; we want jobs on the land. We know there will never be broadacre farming in the Northern Territory, but there is plenty of opportunity to grow food on a mosaic of good land, right across the Northern Territory. We are a government that will support that.
We support tourism. We have put an additional $8m into international marketing, which means a total of $15m has been allocated to let people around the world know about this wonderful place called the Northern Territory.
We are supporting the mining industry. We are doing everything we can. We are putting another $9.1m into the department of Mines, a department the previous government just let wallow. We are committed to driving economic growth in the Northern Territory. We are committed to diversifying our economic base. We are not a one-trick government like the former government. We are doing everything in our power to grow the private sector.
Power and Water Corporation - Debt
Mr WOOD to CHIEF MINISTER
In an undated letter you and the Minister for Essential Services wrote to Territorians about four weeks ago, you proclaimed how kind and generous you were by reducing the cost of electricity, which you had just increased by 30%. You wrote that the Power and Water Corporation has a $1.9bn debt, but in the pamphlet that accompanied the letter you said that without action the Power and Water Corporation debt would have grown to $1.9bn. The public who have come to see me are a little cynical about the real facts. Could you correct the amount? Is it $1.9bn, or should it read ‘it would have grown to $1.9bn?’
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Nelson for his question. The letter advised people that power, water and sewerage increases had beem reduced and the power increases, in particular, had gone from 30% to 20%, with a 5% increase from 1 January next year and 5% the following January.
In relation to your question, I do not have the paperwork in front of me. You might want to interject and remind me of the back end of the question. I did not hear it.
Mr WOOD: Madam Speaker, the question is: was the debt $1.9bn as stated in the letter? In the pamphlet it said without action the debt would have grown to $1.9bn. Is it possibly going to get to $1.9bn or is it actually $1.9bn?
Mr GILES: It is $1.8bn, member for Nelson.
Budget 2013-14 – Mining Tax
Ms LAWRIE to TREASURER
The mining industry has slammed your budget. They said you are not open for business. Yesterday, Drew Wagner, Executive Director of the NT division of the Minerals Council of Australia, said:
- The NT government has campaigned that mining is one of the Territory’s three economic hubs. It seems this was just spin.
What analysis have you undertaken to assess the potential of your new mining taxes to cost jobs? Will you release this analysis? If you have not conducted any such analysis, how could you be so incompetent? Will you commit to undertaking one before imposing these new taxes on this industry which is critically important to regional economic development? Will you back down and agree to consult with the mining industry and undertake analysis of the potential impact on jobs on the exploration side, which is obviously critical, and the production side?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, how pleasant a change it is to get a question from the opposition. It has taken until 10.55 am today to finally get a question from the opposition on the budget.
Ms Lawrie: Will you answer it?
Mr TOLLNER: The Opposition Leader’s question relates to the new revenue measures we have proposed for the mining sector. These revenue measures simplify the process; they cut red tape and reduce accounting cost. We need $10.6m to assist us in repaying some of Labor’s debt and to work towards fiscal balance in 2016-17.
I quote from the oil and gas industry, which has written in the NT News.
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker!
Madam SPEAKER: What is your Standing Order?
Ms LAWRIE: Standing Order 113: relevance. Have they undertaken any analysis of the potential impact this new levy and tax will have on the mining sector? If so, will they provide that analysis?
Madam SPEAKER: The Treasurer is answering the question.
Mr TOLLNER: Of course the Treasury has provided an analysis. We would not have put it forward otherwise …
Ms Lawrie: Table it.
Mr TOLLNER: That is something that Labor governments did. As I was saying, the oil and gas industry welcomed the budget in the NT News. It is pleased with the additional $9.1m in funding for the Department of Mines and Energy.
I understand the reaction of the Minerals Council; it was probably a kneejerk reaction. When you look at the budget as a whole, it is clear we are putting significant resources into the mining sector. Of course, that is one-hub of our three-hub economy, and we are committed to growing the mining sector. As the Chief Minister said, we have granted major project status to Sherwin Iron Ore and Vista Gold and we have the Australian Ilmenite mine already producing. This is not a sector on its knees in the Northern Territory. This is a sector we are promoting and trying to grow.
I will also mention there has been an enormous amount of support from different associations across the Territory. The Master Builders Association said the budget was responsible and the $270m upgrade …
Ms WALKER: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Relevance, 113. This is not about the wider community; this is specifically about the mining sector. I ask that the Treasurer answers the question.
Madam SPEAKER: The Treasurer is answering the question.
Mr TOLLNER: This is about the mining industry and this is about the support we are giving business across the board. As I started to say, the Master Builders Association said this was a responsible budget and the $270m upgrade for new housing across the Territory would help a lot. Mr Kemp said he was particularly pleased to see the $28.6m boost for land release at Palmerston east and the $27m focus on affordable housing over the next four years.
If you want to grow industries, including the mining industry, you need to house them somewhere. This is where the previous government failed.
Madam SPEAKER: Minister you time has expired.
Budget 2013-14 –
Corrections and Courts Investment
Ms LEE to MINISTER for CORRECTIONAL SERVICES
Can you outline to the House how the 2013-14 budget invests in the corrections system and the courts, and how the government’s responsible action will benefit all Territorians?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the honourable member for her question because she takes a vital interest in how the corrections system works in the Northern Territory. Never in the history of this parliament has there ever been a more arrogated possession of a ministry than by the former minister upon becoming the minister for corrections. The new era was clearly nothing other than a bunch of ministerial statements and a climbing prisoner rate in our corrections institutions. So much so that I cannot guarantee we can close down the Berrimah prison because of the incompetence of the former government, particularly the former minister. This is a disgrace.
I have taken a more jussive approach to corrections than the former minister. Only a fool would design a prison, which would be full on day one of operation. This is the $1.8bn gift, dare I say legacy, from a minister who has taken as much imagination to his former portfolio as a garden slug.
Here is a number that should excite members in this House …
Mr McCarthy: Sticks and stones will break my bones, but names will never hurt me, John.
Madam SPEAKER: Order.
Mr ELFERINK: Fifty-three people left prison this morning to go to work. They have full-time jobs and they are coming back to prison at night. They are paying rent and paying money to the Victims Assistance Levy.
Mr McCarthy: That was happening under us.
Mr ELFERINK: Through this budget we will not only deal with matters inside prison, but we will start reforming the parole system so it can function effectively to keep people in employment; and I am not ashamed to go down that path.
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Order!
Ms Anderson: Quiet over this side.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Namatjira. Be seated, Leader of Government Business. Honourable members, no member may converse aloud or make any noise or disturbance which, in the opinion of the Speaker, is designed to interrupt or has the effect of interrupting a member speaking, which has clearly been going on in the last five minutes. I direct honourable members not to point at each other across the floor whether they are seated or standing. Leader of Government Business, you have the call.
Mr ELFERINK: Thank you, Madam Speaker. I listened to the shrill interjections from the member for Nhulunbuy and heard her complaining about everything I have said, yet, yesterday I walked across this Chamber and said, ‘I am working in your electorate to see if we can get better results there’. What did I hear behind the scenes? ‘Oh, that would be good; that would be excellent.’
Why do we have these two standards across the Chamber and what happens in quiet? She actually supports what we do in this space, and we should be proud of what we are doing in this space. I am enormously proud of it.
We will pursue employment programs for both serving and post-release prisoners with a view to preventing them coming back into custody. That is something only we, as a uniform voice in this House, could support. This is a win-win for the whole community, and I am proud of it.
Ms Walker: You are the garden slug in here.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Member for Nhulunbuy, withdraw that comment.
Ms WALKER: A point of order, Madam Speaker!
Madam SPEAKER: No, withdraw the comment!
Ms WALKER: I withdraw the comment but note that the minister was not asked to withdraw it when he used it.
Madam SPEAKER: He did not direct it to a person, member for Nhulunbuy.
Mr ELFERINK: Madam Speaker, speaking to the point of order, I simply used it in the form of a simile.
Mr McCARTHY: A point of order, Madam Speaker!
Madam SPEAKER: Leader of Government Business, withdraw the comment.
Mr ELFERINK: I withdraw it if she is that sensitive.
Mr ELFERINK: Madam Speaker, I ask that further questions be placed on the Written Question Paper.
Mr McCARTHY: Madam Speaker, can I speak to the point of order?
Madam SPEAKER: No. Sit down.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016