2013-03-28
Alcohol and Crime Policies
Ms LAWRIE to CHIEF MINISTER
Your alcohol and crime policies are a disaster. The biggest talking point in this town, and from Alice Springs to Darwin, is the dramatic increase in public drunkenness, violence and vandalism. Whether it is the town camps in Alice Springs, the CBD of Darwin or the suburbs of our town, there is a steep rise in public drunkenness. People are despairing. You promised new alcohol laws would be brought in immediately, laws that experts agree will fail. But seven months later, they are nowhere to be seen. Why do Territorians have to face such a horrible increase in public drunkenness - more drunks on the streets - while you do nothing?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the Leader of the Opposition for her question. We came into government in August last year and our role in addressing the law and order concerns is cleaning up Labor’s mess, yet again. We are not bringing in alcohol reform policies and rehabilitation because there is nothing wrong; we are bringing them in because, after eleven-and-a-half years of your governance, things were not working. Our Alcohol Rehabilitation minister is working tirelessly on trying to put a rehabilitation model in place. You will see an announcement on that very soon. We have expedited what we can do. We are putting in place a legislative framework and you will see that coming forward very soon.
I find it interesting that people are criticising our legislative agenda and what we are putting in place when it has not been put in place yet. I also find it very funny that you come here with your glass jaw, leading with your chin saying ‘Why are you doing this and what is happening?’
We have to try to clean up your failures over the last eleven-and-a-half years. The Banned Drinker Register - who did it ban? You talk about 2500 people. It did not ban people from drinking; it banned people from buying takeaway alcohol. You could still go to the pub and buy grog. You could drink at home, in a town camp, in the street; you could sit in a restaurant and have a glass of wine. It did not ban people from drinking, all it did was penalise the good people who do the right thing and are responsible. Our framework will try to rehabilitate people. We recognise that some people have a substance abuse problem. We want to deal with the problem, and that is what the rehabilitation component is for.
In relation to whether things got better or worse, in the current financial year, alcohol-related antisocial incidents in Darwin and Palmerston have decreased by 15.2%.
Leading with the chin - it is15.2%. Not only are you on all these fairy dust things trying to stir up trouble in the community saying this is bad and that is bad, the statistics show a 15.2% reduction based on your previous work.
We know there is a problem. We are not walking away from the problem, but we know things are getting better. We are bringing in an alcohol rehabilitation framework. One of our biggest challenges is how we fund it because we were left with a $5.5bn debt.
SUPPLEMENTARY QUESTION
Alcohol and Crime Policies
Alcohol and Crime Policies
Ms LAWRIE to CHIEF MINISTER
Do you truly believe that in the last seven months there has not been a stark increase in alcohol-related violence, antisocial behaviour, and vandalism in the Northern Territory, whether it is in Alice Springs or Darwin? Are you seriously telling Territorians there has not been an increase?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for her question. I know the Leader of the Opposition and Labor is telling everyone things are getting worse. Police statistics show that alcohol-related antisocial incidents have decreased by 15.2% in Darwin and Palmerston.
We know there is a problem and we are not walking away from it. We are trying to deal with people with substance misuse and abuse issues. Those people are victims and we want to put solutions in place to help them. Emotionally, that is what we want to do. That is the framework we are moving towards.
You want to stir up trouble and get people’s emotions beating when incidents are decreasing. What is happening is not good enough, but things are improving and the framework we will announce very soon will make many changes to getting drunks off the streets and making the lives of those people who have chronic alcohol abuse problems much better.
Power and Water Corporation
Board Restructure
Board Restructure
Mr HIGGINS to TREASURER
Can you advise the House why it was necessary to restructure the board of Power and Water Corporation, including replacing the managing director? How does the government’s approach to the Power and Water Corporation differ from Labor’s?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Daly for his very important question. He is aware, like all Territorians, of the importance of the Power and Water Corporation to our lives.
When we came to government it was obvious the Power and Water Corporation, the Northern Territory’s largest wholly-owned business, had been suffering some serious and conscious neglect of key aspects of its operations by the former Labor government.
Things such the Power and Water Corporation selling its product cheaper than it was producing it. This, of course, fed into its problems with debt because it was not raising enough money from tariffs to fund its debt. If serious action was not taken very quickly, there would be some serious questions about the Power and Water Corporation’s solvency and the future of power in the Northern Territory. The government had to act. One of the first things this government did was look at tariffs so we could put it on a commercially sustainable footing.
The problem is, the previous government neglected the organisation to such an extent that it needs to look at itself and work out efficiencies within the organisation. We are reforming the Power and Water Corporation. We are putting it on a stable financial footing to ensure it continues to generate power and deliver water and sewerage services into the future.
We had to look at the regulatory environment that Power and Water operates in and at the operation itself. It became pretty obvious that we needed to do something in relation to how the Power and Water Corporation was governed. The previous board was very good at operational management. I have absolutely no problems with the job they were doing. They were hamstrung by the previous government in running that organisation, but now we are entering a period of change management. This is the salient point, the two skills of operational management and change management are very different and, for that reason, we had to refresh the board …
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Are you seriously saying that Michael Hannon and Steve Margetic are not capable of change management? That is incredibly insulting to malign Territory businessmen …
Madam SPEAKER: Please be seated, Opposition Leader. Treasurer, you have the call.
Mr TOLLNER: We put in place a refreshed board. There will be changes announced as to how Power and Water will operate into the future.
The opposition sits in judgment of us, after eleven-and-a-half years of doing nothing to fix Power and Water ...
Madam SPEAKER: Minister, your time has expired.
Alcohol Courts and Tribunal
Ms WALKER to CHIEF MINISTER
You scrapped the alcohol courts and tribunal and have replaced them with nothing. As a result, you are now unable to prevent a repeat drunk from spending all their welfare on alcohol. Why do you believe drunks should be able to spend all their welfare money on alcohol? This is the policy you have implemented. Will you immediately agree to allow the alcohol courts to continue so they can stop repeat drunks from spending all their welfare on grog, until such time as you have put a replacement in place?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Nhulunbuy for her question. I do not accept the premise of the question. The alcohol courts have not been discontinued. I said in my last answer that the Minister for Alcohol Rehabilitation will be making an announcement quite soon.
The Banned Drinker Register - being a member who lives in Alice Springs which is where the heart of this broader issue is - you want to talk about banning people from buying takeaway alcohol, not banning people from drinking. Do you know what happened in Alice Springs? Property crime went up. The biggest seller was chains to put on your bar fridge in your back yard because people …
Mr Conlan: It happened three times to me.
Mr GILES: The member for Greatorex was broken into three times. You might have stopped the purchase of takeaway alcohol for some people, but you did not stop the supply through criminal measures or access to alcohol through other legal measures. People were still drinking. With the tricks of someone else buying alcohol for you, it did not address the problem.
When people have a substance abuse problem, the problem is the demand side of the equation. We have to help those people who have a substance abuse problem. For people who live in Alice Springs - I know this is a Territory-wide issue, but my colleagues, the members for Greatorex, Araluen, Namatjira, and Stuart, and I know that property crime went through the roof, because everyone’s house was being broken into to access alcohol.
The Gillen Club or the Town and Country Tavern, which has closed now, were being broken into three, four, and five times a night and the alcohol raided from their shops and bars. This is what was happening with your banning of alcohol. Then we filled the gaols up because people were breaking in to get grog. It was not dealing with the issue or the problem.
People on this side of the Chamber care about people who have substance abuse issues, and we want to treat those people.
I move to another point, Leader of the Opposition. If you really want an answer, a number of years ago the then minister for Health federally, Tony Abbott, brought about Opal fuel to address chronic petrol sniffing issues. It was a fantastic measure and it really addressed the issue. The people who were sniffing petrol had a substance abuse problem. There has been no study done to date about where those people who had that substance abuse problem went. Did they replace petrol with alcohol, marijuana, or anything else?
People have a problem with substance abuse. It is a demand issue. We are trying to address the demand issue. We want to rehabilitate people and give them an opportunity for the rest of their lives, and to reconnect with their families.
We will be making an announcement very soon. We want to help people, and that is what it is all about.
Health Reforms
Ms LEE to DEPUTY CHIEF MINISTER
Can you please update the House on the reforms to the Territory health system being undertaken by the government? Are you aware of any other policy development or plans in this area?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Arnhem and acknowledge her real commitment to seeing health reform in the Northern Territory. When we came to government we found a health system that was the most centralised bureaucratic system in Australia. Top heavy.
Morale across the health system was low, and decision-making was seen to be remote from people who lived in the regions. We have ageing and inadequate infrastructure right across the board; no one is working out of big flash offices. The entire Health department is deficit funded. They had no certainty at all into the future as to what they would do and there were an enormous number of unfunded liabilities.
All of these things fed into staff morale. It affected our health system, and that feeds into how patients are treated. We knew we had to do something quickly.
We listened to what health professionals, patients, and people working in remote areas had to say, and to what NGOs and people who work in the private sector had to say. We have announced that we are restructuring our health system to devolve decision-making into the regions, to empower those people who work in the regions and at the coalface. We are doing this by putting in place two separate boards which will be responsible for health services delivery across the Northern Territory
We bedded those plans down. We took a road show up, down and across the entire Northern Territory, talking to health professionals. People in the health sector are very happy that there are some changes.
The member for Arnhem also asked me whether I was aware of any other policy development or plans in this area. It is an interesting part of the question, member for Arnhem, because when you look it and say, ‘Well, where are the alternate plans coming from?’ You would expect them to be coming from the alternate government. But we hear absolutely nothing about them. I cannot remember a single question they have asked on health. Possibly there has been one in the last seven months, but they show no regard for what is going on. This is the biggest health reform in the history of the Northern Territory, yet the opposition did not have an idea.
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Standing Order 113: relevance. We will not scrap Palmerston hospital, we will keep Royal Darwin Hospital in place.
Madam SPEAKER: That is not a point of order. Please be seated it is not relevant. Deputy Chief Minister.
Mr TOLLNER: Madam Speaker, this is the best the opposition can do. They come in here with rumour, innuendo and gossip. That is the way they operate. They want to drag members’ names through the mud, denigrate them, anything they can do, but they do not come in here with one single policy idea.
How pathetic a mob are you? You absolutely are pathetic. Come in here and talk about issues that matter to Territorians, not slurs on members of parliament.
Madam SPEAKER: Your time has expired minister.
Mr McCarthy: Don’t throw the books Dave!
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Barkly, you are on a warning.
Safe Streets Audit
Ms MANISON to CHIEF MINISTER
Your government promised to undertake a safe street audit so that areas in most need of police force resources get the resources they need. You promised to have completed and acted upon this within your first 100 days. You have not even started it and it is being outsourced. Is it not true that under the CLP pretty much every street is suffering from the escalation in drunkenness? Is this why you have not even started something you promised would be finished months ago?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Wanguri, the next Opposition Leader, for her question. The Safe Streets Audit remains subject to the current government procurement process with a response to the select tender due by yesterday, 27 March. The response will be assessed and, if sufficient to meet the requirements of the audit, Charles Darwin University will be appointed to undertake the audit commencing immediately. There is the response to your question.
Going back to the point of the question, why we need to conduct this Safe Streets Audit? Is it because crime is at such a point because of the previous Labor government that we have to act? It is; that is why we committed 120 extra police. We have already opened the Alice Springs police station 24 hours a day. The former government shut police stations, can you believe? They lead with their chin with the next Opposition Leader talking about why we are doing a Safe Streets Audit; it is because crime was out of control when you were in charge. It is because the Banned Drinker Register was not working, people’s houses were getting broken into and grog was being stolen all the time. People were getting drunk on the streets and fighting.
We have seen a 15.2% reduction in crime in the Darwin and Palmerston area. Things are improving. We are putting the investment in through the Safe Streets Audit. We already have 63 of those 120 police on deck now, on the front line. Things are changing, things are improving. People in the Northern Territory will continue to see things get better. We cannot click our fingers to fix your failures that quickly. You had eleven-and-a-half years to run things into the ground.
Mr Conlan interjecting.
Mr GILES: I hear the interjections of the Tourism minister. I know he sits back and looks into his crystal ball thinking, how are we going to fix the Labor mess in Tourism?
For 10 years in a row, the number of international tourists declined. As crime escalated, the number of tourists declined. Can we put two and two together? I do not know. That is why we are doing the Safe Streets Audit. It is under way. We will make sure that we get the police resources in the right area. We already have 63 out of the 120 on deck, and we have seen a 15.2% reduction in alcohol-related antisocial behaviour in the Darwin and Palmerston area.
We are on track to achieve our 10% reduction in crime. It is not about getting back on track, the Territory got on track on 25 August 2012. We are putting the frameworks and policies in place. I go back to the point …
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Relevance - 113. If you say the Territory was on track on 25 August why did you knife Terry Mills?
Madam SPEAKER: There is no point of order. Sit down.
Mr GILES: Thank you very much, Madam Speaker, I was just getting to the point of there being a policy deficient opposition which only throws mud around, drags members through the gutter, wants to attack people personally, but is not prepared to have a policy fight, a policy debate …
Madam SPEAKER: Chief Minister, your time has expired.
Real Housing for Growth
Project to Benefit Territorians
Project to Benefit Territorians
Ms FINOCCHIARO to MINISTER for HOUSING
How will the government’s Real Housing for Growth plans benefit Territorians, and are there any alternative proposals?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Drysdale, who knows only too well, being a recent addition to the housing market, how expensive it is to live anywhere in the Northern Territory because of the failures of the previous government.
Real Housing for Growth is the biggest and most ambitious project to address the issue of affordable housing ever embarked on by any Northern Territory government. This project will deliver 2000 new affordable homes in the Northern Territory which will have a direct impact on the cost of housing for Territorians. Unlike the previous Labor government, which ws asleep at the wheel while ordinary Territorians were subjected to rocketing costs of living pressures, this government recognises that the greatest contributor to the cost of living for Territorians is the price of housing.
Many Territorians are struggling to keep a roof over their heads and the impact of this does not stop there. Every extra dollar spent on rent is one less dollar being spent elsewhere in the economy. A dollar more on a mortgage is a dollar less spent at your local cinema or restaurant. Reducing the cost of housing will have widespread benefits to all Territorians. It will mean less pressure on families and a better environment for small businesses. That is why this government is taking direct action to increase the supply of affordable housing in the Northern Territory by building 2000 new affordable homes through our Real Housing for Growth project. That is why this government is streamlining the planning process for developers. That is why this government is reviewing every piece of government owned land to increase the supply of new sites for residential development.
This government is serious about reducing the cost of living for Territorians, and it begins with tackling the high cost of housing. Unlike Labor, I will be damned if I am going to sit on my hands and do nothing while Territorians are struggling.
____________________
Distinguished Visitors
Madam SPEAKER: Mr Clerk, can you stop the clock. I want to welcome a few people to the Chamber. I acknowledge the former member for Solomon, Damian Hale, in the gallery. Welcome.
I also welcome to the Speaker’s Gallery the family of Keith Thompson and Derek Thompson, who we referenced in a previous statement: Umar Ngamathu; Mark Radcliffe, Sarah Radcliffe; Eleanor Graves, the daughter of Keith Thompson; Kim Graves, and Kumi Thompson; great nieces of Derek and Keith Thompson. Welcome to the Speaker’s Gallery and I hope you enjoy your time here and in Darwin.
Members: Hear, hear!
____________________
Increase in Public Drunkenness
Mr VOWLES to CHIEF MINISTER
The CLP party office has been at its current site in Jingili for five years. In that time you have never had a fence around it. You have now been forced to place a fence around your own office. Your own party is admitting drunkenness has escalated since you came to government. Will you finally admit that scrapping the alcohol laws and replacing them with nothing has increased drunkenness?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for his question. Is this where we are going? Is this the best the member for Johnston has? He has not said much since being in the Chamber.
I do a lot of preparation for Question Time. I research what is going on in different portfolios, I look at how well the police are doing at reducing crime across the Territory, I look at the substantial efforts the Housing minister is making to increase housing, what is happening in Local Government, what is happening in Health, how well the Treasurer is doing in reducing debt, and how well the Minister for Corrections is doing in ensuring people are sentenced to a job rather than spending their life in gaol meaninglessly. I do not, and have never thought about going around the Territory to count the number of fences that have gone up in the last eleven-and-a-half years. Perhaps I missed something but I have never counted a fence.
Ms WALKER: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Standing Order 113: relevance. Whilst members opposite find this highly amusing, I ask that you direct the Chief Minister to answer the question he has been asked about drunkenness.
Mr ELFERINK: Speaking to the point of order, Madam Speaker! The Chief Minister is talking about a fence. The question was about a fence. The Chief Minister should be allowed to continue fencing with the opposition.
Mr VOWLES: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Standing Order 113: relevance. I am asking, will you finally admit that scrapping the alcohol laws and replacing them with nothing has increased drunkenness?
Madam SPEAKER: There is no point of order.
Mr GILES: Madam Speaker, it will be hard to start again on this. It is good to see the member for Johnston talking in this Chamber. I encourage you to do more of it. I also encourage you to not just get a photo and blow it up to A3. Make it bigger, because I found it very hard to see if that was pool fencing, paling fencing or lap and cap fencing. I appreciate you know a little about it. You have driven down McMillans Road and seen a fence. You have a photo and it is the basis of a question in Question Time.
Mr VOWLES: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Standing Order 113: relevance. It is in my electorate, I am there all the time and it is CLP headquarters.
Madam SPEAKER: There is no point of order, please be seated. Chief Minister, you have the call.
Mr GILES: Madam Speaker, I have three minutes to answer a question but it is very hard to answer that in three minutes. I ask the member for Johnston what his policy is on fences as they have no policies on anything else?
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Standing Order 113: relevance. You find it to be a joke, but there are businesses there that have had to fence themselves in because of public drunkenness. You are laughing about a matter that is affecting businesses and honest hard-working Territorians ...
Madam SPEAKER: There is no point of order. Please be seated. Chief Minister, you have the call.
Mr GILES: Thanks very much, Madam Speaker. I find this question highly irrelevant. The member for Johnston drives down McMillans Road, sees a building with CLP on it where a new fence has been put up and apparently that is a question for Question Time. There are much more important issues in the Northern Territory that should be receiving policy questions in parliament. I wonder why you have no policies in this Chamber ...
Mr VOWLES: A point of order, Madam Speaker! The point is 113, relevance. He still has not answered the question.
Madam SPEAKER: The Chief Minister has the call.
Mr GILES: The answer to the question is that people built a fence because they wanted to build a fence. People all over the Territory build fences all the time. The real point is that you are asking about a fence on one property that is owned by the CLP. Ask policy questions! Debate with us on policy …
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Standing Order 113: relevance. You missed the point. Why do they need to? The massive increase in public drunkenness is why they needed to fence themselves in at your CLP headquarters.
Madam SPEAKER: Please be seated.
Mr GILES: Thanks, Madam Speaker. I go back to the point that there is a policy vacuum over there. All you want to do is drag people’s names through the mud, make personal slurs and attacks. Now you are talking about a building which we do not own. Someone else has built the fence. Get your head around some really important issues, member for Johnston …
Madam SPEAKER: Chief Minister, your time has expired.
Women’s Policy –
Alternative Approach
Alternative Approach
Ms FINOCCHIARO to MINISTER for WOMEN’S POLICY
It was pleasing to see that this government takes Women’s Policy …
Mr Vowles interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Ms FINOCCHIARO: … seriously, unlike the member for Johnston. Could the minister outline to the House how her approach is better than what has gone before, and if an alternative approach has been announced in the Territory?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Drysdale …
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Minister, please pause. Member for Johnston, member for Greatorex, if you want to have a conversation, go outside the Chamber, otherwise if you could please desist under Standing Order 51.
Ms ANDERSON: Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Drysdale and this government for having the foresight to look at Women’s Policy seriously and develop a stand-alone agency, unlike the opposition, which hid Women’s Policy in other agencies, did not give it credit, and did not see the importance of Women’s Policy in the Northern Territory.
I quote Hilary Clinton:
- Women’s rights are not a moral issue, but a security issue. No democracy can exist without women’s full participation. No economy can be truly a free market without women involved. While inequality continues, society is the loser.
With that great quote, the Office of Women’s Advancement is up and running in the safe hands of Jo Sangster. I congratulate this side of the House for taking Women’s Policy seriously. This is a government that will drive Women’s Policy and have women involved in all the issues to do with looking after women. This government is serious, unlike you on the other side who have no women’s policy.
You have gone down to the gutters to drag members on this side through this Chamber on personal issues because you do not have a policy. You have not had a policy in 11 years ...
Ms FYLES: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Relevance: 113. Why has the CLP government cut Women’s Policy funding?
Madam SPEAKER: There is no point of order.
Ms ANDERSON: Madam Speaker, on the opposite side they did not have anything. I will not take that interjection because it denigrates women. This side of the House is a serious government that will drive …
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Misleading the parliament. We did have policy. You might not have agreed with it, but we had policy.
Madam SPEAKER: Sit down, Opposition Leader. Minister, you have the call.
Ms ANDERSON: Madam Speaker, this government is serious about leading Women’s Policy in the Northern Territory. We will look at leadership with Indigenous people, the inequality of women, we will talk to women from different cultures in the Northern Territory. Unlike sticking Women’s Policy in other little agencies, not giving it the seriousness it requires, we have set up a stand-alone agency, the first in the country, something you did not think about.
It took this government to think about women in the Northern Territory. I thank the Chief Minister for his commitment and this government for their commitment to Women’s Policy, unlike you.
Mataranka Water Allocation Plan
Mr WOOD to MINISTER for LAND RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
I must admit, I wonder why we have a women’s policy if we do not have an Indigenous policy.
The Strategic Indigenous Reserve, which represented 25% of the consumptive pool included in the draft Mataranka Water Allocation Plan, has been scrapped. With a lot of discussion yesterday about who controls water licensing decisions, I am interested in who made that decision, the Water Controller, you, or the Chief Minister? Did whoever made the decision discuss it with local traditional owners, the Mataranka Water Advisory Committee and the North Australian Indigenous Land and Sea Management Alliance before making the decision? Did whoever made the decision consider that those traditional owners may have been able to use that water reserve to attract farmers to develop farms on their land, or supply water to mines downstream and so give Aboriginal people a future income not reliant on welfare, as your government has often proclaimed?
Members interjecting.
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I will be able to get a word in edgewise over the fishwives on the other side in a minute when they zip their lips.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Katherine, withdraw that comment please.
Mr WESTRA van HOLTHE: They are fishwives. I withdraw, Madam Speaker.
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Offensive. Calling women fishwives, really!
Madam SPEAKER: Opposition Leader, he has withdrawn the comment.
Mr WESTRA van HOLTHE: I have withdrawn, but it was a reference to all the members on the other side not just the women, Leader of the Opposition.
Madam SPEAKER: Minister, please withdraw the comment generally.
Mr WESTRA van HOLTHE: I withdraw fishwives generally for both males and females on the other side of the House.
Thank you to the member for Nelson for his question. It is a very important question because we are unashamedly committed to the development of agricultural pursuits in the Northern Territory.
This really highlights, member for Nelson, that the former Labor government was a policy vacuum. It had no policy on this area whatsoever. So much so, that the Strategic Indigenous Reserve was simply an arbitrary number that was obtained through the Water Advisory Committee process and through the water management plans, and it varied. It varied from, I think Katherine might have a 1 or 2% SIR in it, yet some groups were wanting up to 50% of a water allocation consumptive pool allocated to future use for Indigenous people.
Your assertion that this policy stymies growth for Aboriginal people is completely false. There is nothing stopping Aboriginal people today, 28 March, putting in an application for a water licence to the Water Controller to develop their land. You are going to hear this quite often from this government: they are all on a level playing field.
This decision was made by Cabinet. It was a very long and considered process. Funnily enough, it was made before the Chief Minister announced he was doing away with the office of Indigenous Advancement. He has done that because we want all Territorians to be on a level playing field. It is as simple as that. In considering this, I have to give credit to the members for Arnhem, Arafura, Stuart and Daly who had input into this issue and suggested that we have a review in three years’ time. Full credit to them for sticking up for their people.
This is a government that has policy, unlike the opposition which never had a policy.
Madam SPEAKER: Minister your time has expired.
Alcohol Policy
Ms FYLES to CHIEF MINISTER
Before you knifed him, the former Chief Minister, Terry Mills, blamed Dave Tollner for the delay in implementing your promised alcohol laws, including mandatory treatment. Do you agree with Terry Mills that Dave Tollner failed? If not, why have you not introduced new alcohol laws?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I do not accept the premise of the question. I thank the member for asking one, though. As I have said in the Chamber today, the Minister for Alcohol Rehabilitation will be making an announcement very soon.
I will go back to the point, which I laboured heavily on Tuesday, that one of the challenges about alcohol rehabilitation, where we want to help the people who have the problem, is that it costs a great deal of money and we are trying to find the resources, in light of the $5.5bn debt, to be able to do this.
We are looking at the options, we are building the legislative framework; we are setting aside the cost options and working out how we can do this with limited resources, because you left us in such a dire fiscal position. That is where we are.
The announcement about the process that will be occurring will be made very soon. We are finalising some things and then we will bring about the legislative framework and get that in place. I know the Attorney-General is working very hard with the Minister for Alcohol Rehabilitation to ensure the frameworks we put in are right and will help people.
I go back to an earlier answer I gave: we want to help people who have a problem. This is not about demonising people who consume too much grog, this is about helping people who have a substance abuse problem. The rehabilitation side of things is about helping people. You have to be very careful in this framework about getting the clinical responsibilities of a health …
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Have you scrapped your habitual drunk’s policy? You said you would lock them up …
Madam SPEAKER: Opposition Leader, there is no point of order.
Mr GILES: Thank you very much, Madam Speaker. I am trying to give a reasoned response to this. There are people in our community who have problems with substance abuse. We want to help them; we have to get the model right. That is all we are doing. We are struggling with funding because you left us in such debt.
Madam SPEAKER: Chief Minister, your time has expired.
Youth Boot Camps
in the Northern Territory
in the Northern Territory
Mr HIGGINS to MINISTER for CORRECTIONAL SERVICES
Can you please provide the House with an update on the progress being made with the youth boot camps and your view of a model for the Northern Territory following your recent trips to Victoria and South Australia?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I am impressed by what I have seen in other jurisdictions because it far surpasses and eclipses anything the Northern Territory Labor Party did in this space. They did almost nothing in this space other than announce spending for young people who are flirting with or are involved in the criminal justice system.
I recognise that the policy idea for this came from the member for Blain, and I thank him for his insight in this area because it is a farsighted policy insight. Whilst I was not really a doubter, I am an absolute convert to what can be done.
Organisations like the Jesuit Brothers in Melbourne who took a great deal of their time to tell me what they were doing; Whitelion in Melbourne who were very kind to spare a whole day with me; Toll Holdings, which is also working in this field - a private transport company, believe it or not - is having a good impact in employing people with difficulties. I also thank Operation Flinders in the Flinders Ranges which is running a form of boot camp which is highly successful and represents a very attractive model.
Almost 100 different organisations attended the sessions describing the tender process. Those organisations, many of which know they will not be successful in the tenders, nevertheless want input because they genuinely believe and are passionately committed to what can be done with youth boot camps. Those organisations have put in and then put in some more. I am confident that, as a result of this government’s policies in this area, we will have youth boot camps running in the Northern Territory which will physically, emotionally, spiritually and mentally challenge these kids and, in some respects, deconstruct them, but in many respects, put them back together in a much better condition than they were when they went into the boot camp.
Ms Walker: Only if they agree to volunteer to be part of it and their families agree to be part of it. How is that going to work?
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr ELFERINK: I am excited by this, and I am so sad to hear they cannot even listen to a good news story without screeching across the Chamber, because they are a policy vacuum. They have nothing to offer the people of the Northern Territory other than libel and slander.
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Misleading. The juvenile justice review was being fully implemented by the Labor government.
Madam SPEAKER: There is no point of order. Please be seated. Minister for Corrections, you have the call.
Mr ELFERINK: This is a former government bereft of ideas. We are going to do something for them and care for the kids of the Northern Territory.
Madam SPEAKER: Minister, your time has expired.
Increased Hospital Admission of Drunks
Mr VATSKALIS to CHIEF MINISTER
Dave Tollner has admitted that police are taking more and more drunks straight to Royal Darwin Hospital. Figures provided to us by hospital staff in Alice Springs last week show the number of weekly alcohol-related admissions has nearly doubled since the election last year. Why are you clogging our medical departments with drunks? Is it not true that taking drunks to the hospital instead of to the police helps reduce you crime statistics?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for his question. No, it does not and you will find what we are doing, as mentioned in previous answers, is cleaning up you mess. We did not walk in on 26 August and everything was hunky-dory. We are still cleaning up your mess. I have given an explanation of alcohol rehabilitation and where we are moving in that frame. I have spoken about how we have had a 15.2% reduction in alcohol-related antisocial behaviour incidents …
Mr Vatskalis: Yes, because you took them to the emergency department.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr GILES: You are trying to mislead the question, member for Casuarina. We are trying to clean up your mess and will be doing it for years. It is not something we can click our fingers and fix overnight. It is a long-term plan of how to fix your failures. You are the previous government that saw gaols ...
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Standing Order 113: relevance. I refer you to the question again: figures provided to us by hospital staff show the number of …
Mr GILES: A point of order, Madam Speaker! I do not need to hear the question again, I have been relevant.
Madam SPEAKER: Opposition Leader, there is no point of order. The Chief Minister has three minutes to answer the question.
Mr GILES: Madam Speaker, I will go back to the point that we are still cleaning up your mess. It will not be done in seven months, it will not be done in 12. It will take years to fix your problem. There are chronic alcoholics who need help and we have to get that model right and help those people. Crime was completely out of control under your government. The member for Karama, when in government, described her electorate as a war zone.
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Misleading the House, I did not. You are wrong and you are misleading ...
Madam SPEAKER: That is no point of order. Please be seated.
Mr ELFERINK: Speaking to the point of order, Madam Speaker! They are continually using the sham of veiling a statement under a standing order number. This is contrary to the policy you have and I urge you to urge them to discontinue the practice.
Madam SPEAKER: Chief Minister, you have the call.
Mr GILES: I have answered the question.
Live Cattle Exports to Indonesia
Ms LEE to MINISTER for PRIMARY INDUSTRY and FISHERIES
What it the government doing to support pastoralists impacted by the reduced import quotas imposed by the Indonesian government? Are you aware of any alternative policies?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Arnhem for that very important question. I am proud of the strident support the Country Liberal government shows the pastoral sector in the Northern Territory. That is, of course, in stark contrast to the former Labor government and poles apart from their federal colleagues who, in a disgraceful act, suspended live cattle exports in 2011. There is no doubt that the pastoralists have been severely impacted by that live cattle ban. The export quotas issued by the Indonesian government were slashed, pastoral estates, as a result, now have been devalued, and cash flows are severely impacted. NT pastoralists are doing it hard and have suffered under Labor’s lack of policy for 11 years. They had no commitment and no real direction when it came to primary industries. Thank God we had a decent department doing the work for them.
Since coming to government, we have spent considerable time and effort enhancing and building our relationship with Indonesia and addressing issues with the live export trade. I have visited Indonesia twice during this time as a result of my Department of Primary Industry and Fisheries working hard to strengthen its links with Indonesia, particularly in the eastern provinces. In fact, my Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries’ CEO is currently in Indonesia paving the way for yet another high-level delegation to Indonesia in May this year.
The Country Liberals government has provided an additional $300 000 to the Department of Primary Industry and Fisheries for the establishment of a Live Export Market Development Unit to increase our efforts in this area and develop new emerging markets, something the Labor government did not do.
The Pastoral Land Board is in the process of reinvigorating with $400 000 being allocated to recruit three new Rangeland Monitoring Officers, and $100 000 to support Pastoral Land Board operations.
My department continues to work with the Cattlemen’s Association, the Northern Territory Livestock Exporters’ Association, and the Department of Business to maintain existing markets and develop new ones. That is a stark contrast to Labor.
Much has been said today about the lack of policy. Well, Labor does have a policy on Primary Industry and live cattle to act as nodding dogs for the Prime Minister when she banned live exports. They stood by …
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! ‘Nodding dogs’ is offensive. The Chief Minister said he wanted to raise the tone and get rid of personal insults and abuse, and his minister is referring to members of parliament as ‘nodding dogs’ ...
Madam SPEAKER: Thank you. Minister, please withdraw that comment.
Mr WESTRA van HOLTHE: Madam Speaker, I guess I withdraw ‘nodding dogs’ …
Madam SPEAKER: Withdraw it!
Mr WESTRA van HOLTHE: They stood with the Prime Minister and held the head of the pastoral sector why Julia Gillard slit its throat. That is what they did and that is their policy …
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Referring to members of parliament slitting someone’s throat is offensive.
Mr ELFERINK: Speaking to the point of order, Madam Speaker! This Chamber uses both simile and metaphor on a regular basis. To start asking the House to rule on metaphors is to try to gag what happens in this House.
Madam SPEAKER: Minister, if you could finish your sentence without reference to use of knives and slitting of throats, please, and get to the point.
Mr WESTRA van HOLTHE: Madam Speaker, thank you. I have satisfactorily answered the question. The point has been made.
Independent Review of Police Resourcing – Report Release
Ms LAWRIE to CHIEF MINISTER
Former Queensland Police Commissioner, Jim O’Sullivan, and former Australian Federal Police Commissioner, Mick Keelty have completed their independent review of police resourcing in the Northern Territory. We are advised the government has had this review since last year. Why are you sitting on it and why will you not release this report immediately?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank her for her question. Have you asked for it to be released?
Ms Lawrie: Are you going to release it?
Mr GILES: Have you ever asked?
Ms Lawrie: Okay, release it today.
Mr GILES: I do not think you called a point of order, Leader of the Opposition.
Ms Lawrie: Release it today.
Madam SPEAKER: Opposition Leader, please be seated. You have asked your question. Chief Minister.
Mr GILES: Madam Speaker, yes, a review has been undertaken. It came about at some point late in the previous government’s last term when the Country Liberals had been calling for a review into police resourcing for a long period of time - for years and years. Finally, in the death throes of the previous Labor government, they decided to review it.
We have received a copy of the review. We are reviewing it, and will look at what we will do about it. The point is, why did we need to have that review? Why did we call for it all those years ago? Because crime was getting worse and worse under the previous government ...
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Standing Order 113: relevance. If you have the report will you release it immediately? Will you release it today?
Madam SPEAKER: Please be seated. He is answering the question, Opposition Leader.
Mr GILES: Madam Speaker, there is only one person in this Chamber who is irrelevant and that is the Leader of the Opposition. This was done because crime was getting out of control. We are working out ways to fix crime and will continue to do that. I said earlier that it will take us a long time to fix your failures. I challenge the Leader of the Opposition, what is your policy around policing? What is your law and order policy? You do not even have a policy. This is a policy vacuum.
There is no more to say on this question.
Ilmenite Mine Security Bond
Mr WOOD to MINISTER for MINES and ENERGY
At the recent AFANT meeting you mentioned the new ilmenite mine on the Roper River and I believe you mentioned a security bond that had been lodged to make sure that when the mine ceased operating there were sufficient monies to rehabilitate the mine. Knowing the history of the Mt Todd mine where a CLP government only asked for $900 000 as the security bond to cover rehabilitation, which has now cost more than $10m after the mine’s sudden closure in 2001, could you please tell Territorians how much money has been set aside for the ilmenite mine so the repeat of Mt Todd does not eventuate?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I will answer this question very quickly. The security is assessed by a board. The details of the security that is lodged are commercial-in-confidence, therefore, I cannot provide that information for you.
Road Safety
Ms LAWRIE to CHIEF MINISTER
It is not commercial-in-confidence, but we will follow that one up.
As we know, Easter is a time when the road safety message is critical. When will you deliver on your election promise to scrap the speed limits and return unlimited speed limits? What are the details of the company you have reportedly hired, HIG Australia, to report to you on lifting speed limits? Will you be standing next to the Police Commissioner, like you were yesterday, when you make your announcement to remove speed limits?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the Leader of the Opposition for her question. It is a very opportune time to remind Territorians of Operation Crossroads which was launched yesterday. Operation Crossroads is a police operation to send a clear message to Territorians over the Easter break to drive safely, please do not drink and drive, wear a seatbelt, do not be distracted while you are driving, do not speed, and manage fatigue.
Last Easter, three people tragically lost their lives on Territory roads. We want to make sure that come the end of Easter Monday, like every day, when Territorians return home from their Easter break, wherever that may be, there is not an empty seat at the table at dinner time. It is really important that I stress that message, particularly around drink-driving and seatbelts. They are substantially the two biggest killers on our roads, and I want to make sure every Territorian gets the message.
I am very supportive of the Police Commissioner and the Police Force which will be out in force this weekend with Operation Crossroads doing breath tests as much as they can, making sure people are not drink-driving and that they are wearing their seatbelts. Operation Quantum will also be in operation this weekend. There will be a high police presence around Darwin, Katherine and Alice Springs trying to reduce the impacts of antisocial behaviour, particularly alcohol induced antisocial behaviour, and they will be targeting special hot spots such as Mitchell Street over the weekend.
In relation to open speed limits, yes, we said that within the first 100 days in government we would commission a review of the four main highways in the Northern Territory, being the Arnhem, Victoria, Barkly and Stuart highways. That review was conducted by ARRB, Australian Roads Research Board. Information came back. We then asked for a condition report on roads and other things which looked at the vertical and horizontal curve, the road width, the rutting surface, and those sorts of things. We also looked at the crash statistics about where fatalities have been, where major accidents were, and what the main causal factors were in those areas. The main causal factors were alcohol and seatbelts.
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker!
Mr GILES: Well, I am still answering the question, Leader of the Opposition. If you want me to answer the question …
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! HIG Australia, the company …
Madam SPEAKER: What is your standing order?
Ms LAWRIE: 113, relevance. HIG Australia, the company you said is doing the report.
Madam SPEAKER: Please be seated. The Chief Minister is answering the question.
Mr GILES: I continue to say that this is an opposition in a policy vacuum with an Opposition Leader who is completely irrelevant. I was specifically answering your question.
Then we received a report from a company called HIG. I asked them to do some …
Ms Lawrie: Who are they?
Mr GILES: Go and have a look for yourself. I asked them to do some modelling about the cost impacts on rectifying road surfaces, road widening, and shoulders, because we know that in the last eleven-and-a-half years the condition of roads in the Territory went backwards. They are unsafe in many circumstances. I will read the final HIG report, I will get a briefing, and we will make a decision about whether we go ahead. Keep in mind that driver responsibility is a key part of the equation.
Madam SPEAKER: Chief Minister, your time has expired.
Leading an Active and
Engaged Government
Engaged Government
Ms FINOCCHIARO to CHIEF MINISTER
The Assembly has been advised of just some of the government initiatives and programs today, and there appears to be no contrary ideas or policies proposed in these, or other areas, by the opposition. What importance do you place on leading an active and engaged government, and achieving outcomes for Territorians?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Drysdale for her question. It is fantastic to get a question like that. She understands the work we are doing on this side of the Chamber to improve the lives of Territorians. I can look all around the Chamber on this side at ministers and members of parliament who are actively involved in setting the framework for the future of the Northern Territory, whether it is the Attorney-General, who is sentencing prisoners to a job; the Minister for Business who is trying to remove regulation and red tape to allow business to do their job; the Minister for Tourism, with the tourism commission; the Minister for Health, with the new health services framework; the Minister for Mines and Energy and Land Resource Management and pastoral – to see the new ilmenite mine up and running, to see what is happening at Mataranka. We are about developing jobs. The Minister for Local Government with shire reform and Women’s Policy; the Minister for Infrastructure who is trying to fix AMS and get the Territory back on track; and behind me the Minister for Housing, Lands, Planning and the Environment, and Education …
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! What is the member for Blain doing?
Madam SPEAKER: That is not a point of order. Sit down.
Mr GILES: I was just talking about my colleague behind me, the Minister for Housing, and the hard work he is doing to ensure we have housing for Territorians to support the accommodation requirements now and into the future as we build the Northern Territory and do what is right for the Territory.
Throughout Question Time today we deliberately thought we would put the proposition out to see whether the opposition had any policies in any of these areas. I look around the Chamber and I see an Opposition Leader who is completely irrelevant. I look at the shadows and I see there is no one there, apart for, maybe, the member for Wanguri. There is no one else there to lead your team. There is no one there to develop your policies. There is a policy vacuum. I look at the member for Nhulunbuy and I think, what is the policy for Local Government? What is the policy for Tourism? What is the policy for Children and Families? What is the policy for paying back your debt? What is the policy for police? There is a complete policy vacuum on your side of the Chamber.
You only have personal attacks on the people on this side of the Chamber.
Ms FYLES: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Relevance: 113. You are the Chief Minister, lead!
Madam SPEAKER: That is not a point of order.
Mr GILES: Even your points of order, as irrelevant as they are, are getting worse. That was appalling, you have to agree, member for Nightcliff. You have to do better than that. You come in here and personally attack people. You try to run them through the gutter and you want to try to slur us.
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr GILES: … and I challenge you …
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Seriously, Madam Speaker, he the one who is offensive. He says we are personally denigrating people …
Madam SPEAKER: Opposition Leader, sit down. Chief Minister, sit down, please. You are on a warning, member for Johnston and so are you member for Greatorex. I warned you before, if you want to have a conversation leave the Chamber.
Mr Vowles: He will not do it.
_______________________
Suspension of Member -
Member for Johnston
Suspension of Member -
Member for Johnston
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Johnston, I would like you to leave the Chamber, thank you, for disorderly behaviour. Leave the Chamber for one hour pursuant to Standing Order 240A.
_______________________
Mr GILES: Thank you, Madam Speaker. I asked you the other day, Leader of the Opposition, and the opposition, to come on a journey, raise the standards of debate in this Chamber, start talking about the emotions of Territorians and have a policy debate. Instead, all you want to do …
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! This is rank hypocrisy …
Madam SPEAKER: Standing Order number? Sit down. You are on a warning for frivolous points of order. Chief Minister.
Mr GILES: I asked the opposition to start playing the ball not the man. Now is an opportune time to raise the standards, come on a journey with us, and let us play ball for the Northern Territory.
Madam SPEAKER: Chief Minister, your time has expired.
Mr ELFERINK (Leader of Government Business): Madam Speaker, I ask that further questions be placed on the Written Question Paper.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016