2008-10-23
Ms LAWRIE (Leader of Government Business): Madam Speaker, I advise the Assembly of the late arrival to Question Time of the Minister for Statehood and Children and Families due to a funeral. Until her arrival, I will take her questions.
Ministers Misleading Parliament
Mr MILLS to CHIEF MINISTER
The Westminster Parliamentary system sets very high standards of ministerial behaviour and accountability. One of those standards is, when a minister of the Crown deliberately misleads the parliament, that minister must be sacked. Will you guarantee any minister in your government who deliberately misleads this parliament will be sacked?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the Leader of the Opposition for his question. It is an absolute paramount responsibility that all of us who speak in this parliament tell the truth; it does not just go to ministers. The standing orders and conventions of the Westminster system of parliament is that every member who speaks in this Chamber has a responsibility to tell the truth. It is certainly something that this Chamber, over many years, has sought to uphold. I do believe, in each and every one of the 25 members of this parliament, that we all bear that responsibility very seriously, and that all of us endeavour at all times to speak the truth in this Chamber.
In the event that any member, or any minister, somehow, inadvertently, for whatever reason, says something that is not accurate, it is beholden on that member that, as soon as it comes to their attention, they come into the House and correct the record. That has happened on many occasions during the history of this parliament. Certainly, the parliament can deal with issues of alleged misleading the House by way of conventions that are established in the standing orders. If the parliament does determine, through those conventions, that a member has misled the parliament, then there are steps and sanctions through the Privileges Committee to deal with those issues.
I expect each and every member of this House to uphold the long-stated Westminster convention of not misleading this House, Madam Speaker ...
Mr MILLS: A point of order, Madam Speaker! I acknowledge the discussion yesterday regarding relevance, but the nub of this question was: would this Chief Minister guarantee that any minister in his government be sacked if they deliberately misled the parliament? It was a very broad general question, but he did not answer the core of the question.
Madam SPEAKER: Leader of the Opposition, I believe the Chief Minister has resumed his seat. Did you wish to add anything else, Chief Minister? He has resumed his seat.
Mr GUNNER to CHIEF MINISTER
Palmerston is a vibrant growing city and is now the second-largest city in the Territory. Can you please advise the House what the government is doing to ensure that Palmerston will remain a fantastic place to live, work and raise a family?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Fannie Bay for his question. Palmerston is a wonderful, vibrant growing city. It is an exciting place. It has an identity in the Northern Territory all of its own. Every time you go to Palmerston, for those of us who do not live there, there is always something new to see, there is always something new happening. The place is rapidly expanding and it is a very popular place for people to buy a house and raise a family.
In fact, with population growth, Palmerston is nearly topping the table in Australia every year. That is why this government started, in the last term of parliament in consultation with the people of Palmerston, through the work of the former members for Brennan and Drysdale, to come up with a plan for the future growth of Palmerston. We augmented those consultations with specific demographic advice of town planners to look at the needs of Palmerston into the future.
That growth is now going to be supported even further with the advent of the INPEX project. The Mayor of Palmerston, Robert Macleod, has been one of the most vocal supporters of the INPEX project, given what he understands will be the real benefit for the Palmerston region. There are any number of areas where work is progressing to further develop the social, recreational, and economic face of Palmerston. The Tiger Brennan Drive extension, cutting the commuting time between Palmerston and Darwin - every time we go there, more work has been done. It is very exciting.
It just goes to show that, when the Territory government is working in cooperation with the federal government, taking the politics out of it that existed before, the money starts to flow and Palmerston residents benefit, as opposed to the politics that hindered everything before. Palmerston residents are benefiting with the Territory government working in partnership with the Australian government.
We can see that as well in health, with the super clinic out to tender to operate Stage 1 - again, a sign of Palmerston residents benefiting with the Territory government working in partnership with the Australian government, taking the politics out of it that existed with the previous federal government. The people of Palmerston benefit.
In education, we are building two new schools in the suburb of Rosebery, a primary school and a middle school, with 850 places - very exciting for the families that are moving to Palmerston.
We are fast-tracking the release 3700 new blocks of land. That means more houses, more homes for the new residents of Palmerston for the future.
Recognising that Territorians love their sport, we are building a new sporting complex for $22m for the round ball game, for the oval game, and a new international standard tennis facility. Also a water park. The Leanyer Recreation Park has been very successful; we are constructing a similar park in Alice Springs, and we will be doing the same in Palmerston. I know the families of Palmerston are very excited about that. In addition, there will be a $4m dollar upgrade to the Palmerston boat ramp; allocated land for Palmerston’s first hotel; and Police Beat in the Palmerston Shopping Centre. This is all the work that is either under way or initiatives that will come through the term of this government.
Regarding the new schools, the water park, the sports complex, and, the boat ramp, those were all promised by the Labor government. They were not promised by the CLP. There were no promises to that effect from the CLP in the last election. In fact, I am struggling to remember any specific promises for Palmerston, apart from a hospital in 2020-something for the people of Palmerston.
We do have a plan for Palmerston. It is a wonderful, exciting part of the Northern Territory. We are planning for the future and I look forward to seeing all of these developments come to fruition during the term of this government ...
Mr TOLLNER: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Can you ask the Chief Minister to table the document he was reading from?
Mr HENDERSON: There is no document, Madam Speaker.
Madam SPEAKER: Is it a personal document? No, he does not need to table it.
Mr Tollner interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Fong Lim, you will come to order.
Mr MILLS to MINISTER for EDUCATION and TRAINING
Yesterday, you told this House it was your daughter, and not you, who had an appointment at Anita’s Beauty Salon. I refer you, minister, to today’s article in The Australian newspaper, where the beauty salon confirmed a double appointment on that day – one for your daughter and one for you. Will you now correct the record and resign for misleading this House?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I know one thing for sure: the next time I go to my beauty salon, I intend to invite the Leader of the Opposition ...
Mr Mills: I was with the teachers at the time, unfortunately.
Ms SCRYMGOUR: This is quite a serious issue. You have asked me a question, now give me the courtesy of allowing me to answer. If he is so strangely interested in my personal life, I will invite him to come along and sit through the next treatment, he might even like to have a wax himself. Perhaps he will tell us today if he will accept my invitation. After all, he is a fairly new age sort of guy.
Madam Speaker, I have not misled anyone over this issue. As I said yesterday, I took my daughter to the doctor, and then to a personal appointment at the beauty salon. I did not have any treatment that day. It is unclear to me why my personal appointments, my family, and what is left of my private life, are of such interest to members opposite and the media.
As I said yesterday, my greatest challenge as the minister for Education is to make sure our kids are educated – that is our greatest challenge ...
Mr Mills: You could start by telling the truth.
Ms SCRYMGOUR: … it is not whether I went to a beauty salon and had a wax …
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! The Leader of the Opposition well knows the rules of this Chamber, even though he likes to pretend otherwise. He knows he accused a member of something he has no right to do, unless by way of substantive motion. Withdraw it.
Mr Mills: No, I will wait for the Speaker’s direction, thank you, madam.
Madam SPEAKER: Leader of the Opposition, I ask you to withdraw the comments under Standing Order 62(1).
Mr MILLS: Thank you, Madam Speaker, I withdraw.
Ms SCRYMGOUR: As I said yesterday, my challenge - the greatest challenge, and the challenge of this side of government - is to get our kids educated. As Education minister, that is what I am responsible for.
Ms WALKER to MINISTER for EDUCATION and TRAINING
Can you please update the House on the preschool, primary and middle years schools to be built in Rosebery as part of the government’s Palmerston Plan?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Nhulunbuy for her question. The member actually started her teaching career in Palmerston so, for her, it brings back memories.
We heard from the Chief Minister how the Henderson government announced the construction of a middle school for 850 students, and a preschool and primary school for 600 students at Rosebery, to be operational from 2011 at a cost of $48.8m. This will be an outstanding facility for Palmerston families. The headworks and site works, at a cost of $9.5m, have been included in the Department of Planning and Infrastructure’s Capital Works program. The design work on the Rosebery school project is proceeding well.
The next target date, 3 November 2008, will be for documentation that will be lodged with the Development Consent Authority for planning approval. Once approved, construct tenders will be advertised. A project development group is overseeing the project, and includes representatives from the Construction Division; Department of Education and Training; and Palmerston City Council.
A joint communications strategy between the Department of Planning and Infrastructure and the department of Education is being prepared for the delivery of the project. Communications will include public information sessions, media announcements, flyers, fact sheets and online information aimed at informing all stakeholders and, in particular, local residents, of the proposed works.
A public information evening will be held in the next few weeks to coincide with that lodgement, and to ensure that the Palmerston community receives accurate information about the facility. A website will also be launched on this date to provide regular updates on the project.
The Henderson government is committed to education infrastructure, not just in Palmerston, but right across the Territory. Our election commitment, as I announced previously and at the last sittings, is $246m over the next four years to the school infrastructure upgrade program. As I said also at the last sittings, this is the single largest infrastructure program anywhere by any Territory government, that includes 74 government primary schools. Large group schools - that is schools over 95 students - will get $300 000 over the next four years.
I look forward to delivering progress reports on the Rosebery preschool, primary and middle school to this House.
Mr TOLLNER: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Could I ask you to direct the minister to table the document that she was reading from?
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Minister for Education and Training, are you willing to table the document, or is it a personal document with notes?
Ms SCRYMGOUR: Notes, they have scribbles all over them. I do not know why they would want it.
Madam SPEAKER: She does not have to table, that is the rule.
Mr MILLS to MINISTER for EDUCATION and TRAINING
To go to what I believe is an unnecessary step to explain the importance of this, you offered, as an excuse for your neglect to attend to teachers who were calling for you to attend to their concerns …
Ms Lawrie: Not neglect.
Mr MILLS: You offered a defence that you were looking after your daughter, and you exempted yourself from the suggestion that you were receiving beauty treatment. However, I refer you again to today’s The Australian report, which said an employee at Anita’s Salon specifically remembered performing an eyebrow, lip and chin wax on your daughter and you, at the same time as protesting teachers marched on Parliament House. Will you now correct the record and resign for misleading this House?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I have already answered this question, and I believe I answered it quite thoroughly. I pick up on one thing that the Leader of the Opposition said; that I neglect, in my responsibility as Education minister, the plight of our education system, or the discussions that I may have with many teachers throughout the Northern Territory, and with the Australian Education Union. I meet my responsibility in the right way.
In relation to the article that the Leader of the Opposition keeps referring to, I believe I have answered it.
Mr McCARTHY to MINISTER for HEALTH
The government’s plan for Palmerston includes a 24-hour super clinic at Palmerston. Can you please update the House on the progress of Stage 1 of this clinic?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, it is a very important because, during the federal election campaign, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd came to Palmerston and made a commitment for a 24-hour medical service at Palmerston. This is an example of the Territory government working with the federal government to deliver to Palmerston people ...
Mr Giles: Are you working with Damien Hale? Where is he?
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Member for Braitling!
Dr BURNS: Madam Speaker, I can stand here a long time, and I am prepared to stand here as long as it takes for this mob over here to afford me the courtesy to answer this question in some sort of peace. There is an old saying that I have learnt, and it is ‘empty vessels make the most sound’. Surely, it is true of this crowd on the other side. That has been part of the problem in this new Assembly; they do not show respect, they do not show courtesy, and they are not listening. There is more substance to this Assembly than getting up here and proposing a whole range of committees to run around this Territory. This is about delivering for Territorians, and delivering for people at Palmerston.
We are cooperating with the federal government …
Members interjecting.
Dr BURNS: I am just waiting for the member for Fong Lim, who knows that I am.
This is a very important event for Palmerston. It is an after-hours medical service, as proposed and promised by Kevin Rudd. The service will operate between 6 pm through to 8 am every day, and will be free for patients who are assessed as requiring urgent care.
Advertising of the tender began on 2 October 2008, and I note that it is featured in today’s NT News. The tender closes on 29th of this month, and government has set a target date for service commencement by the end of this calendar year.
There has been keen interest in the tender from the health sector, and there was an industry briefing for the health sector on 16 October. I am also advised that local GPs have indicated an interest in supporting the after-hours service in the area.
Mr Tollner: Come on, Burnsy, get around to the good stuff.
Dr BURNS: I am just waiting for you, member for Fong Lim, and I am glad you are being quiet. There are some very nice things here which I would be very pleased to table.
A member: He is on very thin ice.
Dr BURNS: Very thin ice.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Minister, please direct your comments through the Chair.
Dr BURNS: I will, Madam Speaker, but he is being provocative.
There is real cash against this; $10m from the federal government. The Territory government, as is on the record, will be providing a further $2m a year to support the operation of the clinic. This is just Stage 1. The Palmerston super clinic will be more than a GP service. There will be a Stage 2, which will involve integrated multidisciplinary team approaches, efficient and effective use of technology, and outreach from the hospital.
A master plan for the new Palmerston Health Precinct site with a footprint of potential services over the next five to 10 years is being developed and is due for completion by the end of the year. It will also include services from Danila Dilba. Discussions are being held with the City of Palmerston; Litchfield Council; General Practice Network of the NT; and Danila Dilba.
This is a fantastic development for Palmerston. As I said at the beginning of my answer, this shows the cooperative nature between this government and the new federal government. Kevin Rudd promised this in November of last year, and I believe we have made great progress, unlike under the previous Howard government.
Here we go. John Howard had a program called round-the-clock Medicare, which he announced on 26 September 2004, with $393m over four years. He did not really specify the hours that the after-hour services would be operating. It took just until the last federal election, nearly November, for the then member for Solomon to come out in the Sun newspaper on 23 October 2007: ‘Palmy gets its after hours medical clinic with a start-up grant of $200 000 from the federal government’.
But then, surprisingly, in November 2007, around the election, the then member for Solomon, on Daryl Manzie’s show, pulled back a bit and said they had not really got it; the Prime Minister was actually considering it. Tollner said: ‘Well, what we said is, we have committed to 50 family emergency medical centres around Australia. The Prime Minister says we that we will very thoroughly investigate putting one of these centres in Palmerston’. That was the extent of it.
We have real progress here. We are going to have real doctors; they are in Palmerston. We are on track, and it just shows you the failure to deliver by the then member for Solomon, the current member for Fong Lim.
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order, order! Minister, resume your seat. There are far too many interjections.
Mr MILLS to MINISTER for EDUCATION and TRAINING
Your refusal to come clean about the differences between your account and the account of a journalist …
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! When the Leader of the Opposition first asked her the question, the minister clearly answered. She has not been refusing to come clean at all.
Madam SPEAKER: Leader of Government Business, there is no point of order! Leader of the Opposition, you have the call.
Mr MILLS: Thank you, Madam Speaker. Minister, your refusal to come clean about the differences between your account and the account of the journalist but, more importantly, your denial of any grasp of the significance of the defence that you offered yesterday as a reason for your non-attendance at a very important meeting of disgruntled teachers is of concern. Your denials of the details published in the The Australian regarding your visit to Anita’s Beauty Salon pits your word against that of journalist, Natasha Robinson. Why should the public believe you instead of a highly qualified, widely respected Australian journalist?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I find that question absolutely amazing, and it flabbergasts me. I have answered that question quite adequately.
Mr GUNNER to MINISTER for PLANNING and LANDS
Palmerston is one of the fastest growing cities in Australia. Can the minister please explain to the House how the government is planning for this growth?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Fannie Bay for his question. This government is developing four new suburbs for that beautiful city of Palmerston. These suburbs will see the population of Palmerston double; another 15 000 residents will go and enjoy Palmerston as the good families of Palmerston get to enjoy it now. We will be adding the water park and the sports playground. This is a significant commitment, $50m in investment, brought forward to build the infrastructure to create the new suburbs.
As we know, Bellamack went out to a public expression of interest process. Bellamack will be turning off next year. Local business, Wolpers Grahl, have been awarded the headworks for the construction tender for Bellamack. The consortium of Urban Pacific Brierty, in conjunction with Larrakia Development Corporation and other local businesses, will develop that suburb of Bellamack.
By investing the $50m, fast-tracking that in infrastructure, to release Johnston, Zuccoli and Mitchell - Johnston will deliver 850 lots; Zuccoli, the largest in the middle, will deliver about 1750 lots; and, Mitchell will provide another 400 lots. With Johnston, around Lambrick Avenue, we have identified there is some existing infrastructure, so we will be bringing forward the opportunity to have around 200 homes and land in and around the new suburb of Johnston, again, in 2009. We are bringing forward and fast-tracking; we have the most aggressive, fast-tracking release of land of any government.
Those developments are critical to the growth of Palmerston. As you also heard the Chief Minister say, we are going out to auction of CBD land in Palmerston for a $30m, 200-plus bed hotel. This is a fantastic signature development for the beautiful city of Palmerston.
Mr MILLS to MINISTER for EDUCATION and TRAINING
Yesterday, in the censure motion, you stated: ‘I created the wrong impression when I mistakenly used the word “retire” rather than “resign” in relation to Ms Banks’. Margaret Banks was sacked. You also admitted that fact in Question Time. You said this was not the first CEO that has been sacked – sacked, minister. So, one moment Margaret Banks was retired; the next she resigned; then she has been sacked; and then, she has resigned again. Why do you continue to cling to the absurd fiction that Margaret Banks resigned when you sacked her? Why do you not tender your own resignation for misleading this parliament?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I believe that I quite adequately …
A member: It is quite serious.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Ms SCRYMGOUR: Quite serious! Of course, it is quite serious. I am sure there are other allegations that the Leader of the Opposition aimed yesterday that are just as serious. We went through that debate.
In terms of Margaret Banks, I went through, in detail, my explanation for mistakenly using the word ‘retired’ instead of ‘resigned’. I also said that if I created the wrong impression with that, I apologise ...
A member: Mistakenly get a wax?
Ms SCRYMGOUR: I said that here - well, you might like some hot wax, too, if you want to come. If you want to have the feel of hot wax on your body, you are welcome as well. I am sure all you new age men would love it. It would be great business for Anita’s Beauty Salon. If you all want to come, do it.
In relation to what the Leader of the Opposition was saying yesterday, I apologised if I created the wrong impression when I mistakenly said ‘retired’ instead of ‘resigned’. I also said in that debate that I had intended, by saying that, to remain completely neutral regarding Ms Banks’ departure; as to whether it was voluntary. It was never my intention and I never misled anyone. The Leader of the Opposition insists on continuing this line. I was on the record yesterday saying that very clearly ...
Mr GILES: A point of order, Madam Speaker! The question was: why will the minister not tender her own resignation for misleading the parliament? She did not answer the question.
Madam SPEAKER: Minister, are you still answering the question, or have you completed your answer?
Ms SCRYMGOUR: I might just finish with that, Madam Speaker, but I remind the Leader of the Opposition that education is a very important issue in the Northern Territory. I invite him to ask me questions that are fundamental to education.
Ms WALKER to MINISTER for SPORT and RECREATION
How is the government’s plan for Palmerston helping to give people access to state-of-the-art sporting facilities?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Nhulunbuy for her question. This is a government that is investing in the future of Palmerston, making it an even better place to live, work and raise families. This is why we are investing $22m to build an international sporting complex, which is part of our 2008 election commitment to the people of Palmerston. This new and exciting government initiative will provide this rapidly expanding city with state-of-the-art sporting facilities.
Initial planning is well under way. An appropriate site has been identified, and negotiations regarding the purchase have started. However, crucial to this is the consultation that will occur with all stakeholders, and this will be part of the process. We want the people of Palmerston to be involved. This development will act as a stimulus for the sporting and business community by attracting new fixtures and increasing existing competition.
Outdoor facilities will include lights at the AFL Magpies oval, Rugby and soccer fields with lights, a grandstand, change rooms, toilets, a bar, and a kiosk. International standard tennis courts will also be constructed. Indoor facilities will be constructed, which will allow sports such as judo; gymnastics; wrestling; boxing; and, table tennis to have regular training and competition in a brand new sporting environment.
These facilities will allow Palmerston and their sporting bodies and associations to train and have competition at international standard sporting facilities. It shows that we are a government that is investing in the future of Palmerston ...
Mr CONLAN: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Could you ask the member for Stuart to table that document he was reading from? He stumbled over a few words, so could he please table the document?
Madam SPEAKER: Minister, are you willing to table the document?
Mr HAMPTON: No, they are my personal notes.
Mr MILLS to MINISTER for EDUCATION and TRAINING referred to CHIEF MINISTER
Yesterday in the House, you said award winning educationist, Margaret Banks, was working and serving out her separation in the Department of the Chief Minister. Exactly how many days has Ms Banks fronted for work since being sacked as departmental CEO?
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! This question is a matter of Public Employment, it does not go to the Education minister.
Madam SPEAKER: He has not finished asking the question yet.
Ms LAWRIE: He has asked about days of employment.
Ms Purick: She was her CEO. It was the Education minister’s responsibility.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Leader of the Opposition, I am sorry, I have lost track of the question. Could you please start the question again?
Mr MILLS: To alleviate what is clearly a potential problem over there, as I am asking the Education minister about the Education CEO, if further information is required, as you have done in the past, you could refer it. If you want to be open, honest and transparent, for example, there is an opportunity for you.
My question is: yesterday, in the House, you said award winning educationist, Margaret Banks, was working and serving out her separation in the Department of the Chief Minister. Exactly how many days has Ms Banks fronted for work since being sacked as departmental CEO? If, as I expect, the answer is zero, is this not another example of misleading the House?
Madam SPEAKER: Minister for Education and Training, you may ask the Minister for Public Employment to answer.
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, no, I thank the Leader of the opposition for his question. I will transfer that question to the appropriate minister, the Chief Minister.
Mr HENDERSON (Chief Minister): Madam Speaker, you would have thought that the Leader of the Opposition would have some understanding about the structure of the public service and who is responsible for answering questions in this House when they acknowledge that Margaret Banks would be serving out the terms of her contract in the Department of the Chief Minister. Why he did not ask me the question just goes to show how little he knows about the Administrative Arrangements in the public service.
The opposition has a track record and a history of dragging public servants through this parliament. The issues in regard to Ms Banks’ contractual arrangements with the public service are personal, private and confidential matters. They are not to be bandied around here in the Territory parliament. The Leader of the Opposition should respect the fact we are talking about …
Mr MILLS: A point of order, Madam Speaker! I cannot abide by this. The question contains reference to words that were used yesterday that said, ‘working and serving out her separation’. If you can make that statement, you can clarify it today. You cannot say something yesterday and not be held accountable for it today. We are not private today and public yesterday.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! The Chief Minister has the call and is still answering the question.
Mr HENDERSON: Thank you, Madam Speaker. This is the advice that I have been given. In regard to the day-to-day whereabouts of individual public servants, that is not an issue for this House to debate.
The advice that I have is absolutely the same as the advice that my colleague, the minister for Education said yesterday; that those were the terms and conditions of the agreement in and around the separation of service. That is the advice I have. In regard to the day-to-day whereabouts of individual public servants, I say again, it is nothing to do with the deliberations of this parliament.
Mr McCARTHY to MINISTER for HOUSING
As the Territory’s fastest growing region, can you please advise the House how the government’s Palmerston Plan will boost services and provide affordable housing options in Palmerston?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Barkly for his question. Palmerston is going ahead in great strides, with more and more Territorians moving to Palmerston to buy their own homes. My colleague, the Minister for Planning and Lands, has touched on the land release projects at Palmerston, with some 3000 blocks to be released over the coming period. This is new homes on to the market. As the Housing Minister, I am pleased that 15% of those 3000 blocks is to be for affordable and public housing ...
Ms Purick: The average sale price will be $280 000.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Member for Goyder, cease interjecting.
Mr KNIGHT: This is giving new opportunities to build new and appropriate public housing, such as dedicated senior accommodation.
Last week, I was pleased to announce another element of the government’s ongoing plan to support Territorians into affordable housing: the sale of the former Territory Housing block at 26 Emery Avenue. This 16 two-bedroom, two-storey complex has had a very poor history in relation to antisocial behaviour, and it really is no longer suitable as a public housing complex. The government is responding. It is upgrading the complex and putting it back on to the market for low- and middle-income earners, and first homebuyers. Over the next six months, the government will invest $1.2m to upgrade the existing units, including security fencing, tiling, and painting. After that period, we will be selling those units by ballot, so people who are eligible will enter into a ballot, and that will be developed. All those units will come within the HomeNorth Xtra cap.
The government provides 1262 public housing dwellings in Palmerston, and we will continue to work to improve that stock. Indeed, all of the funds raised from the sale of the Emery Avenue units will go towards supporting future Territory Housing stock in Palmerston. This is a government responding to the needs of affordable housing.
Our initiatives are broad-ranging. Last month, I had the pleasure of handing over the keys of a house at Driver to a non-government organisation, Frontier Services. This was under the Industry Housing Assistance Scheme. The scheme provides community organisations with access to facilities at a subsidised rental rate, saving organisations around $2.5m per year in rent, so they can provide more effective services to Territorians in need.
In the case of …
A member: Is that the first house in eight years?
Mr KNIGHT: It is a very good scheme, if you would just let me explain.
Frontier Services operate respite options to the Senior Territorians program. This allows frail seniors to enjoy a social setting such as this house that was handed over, and allows the carers a much needed break. The seniors come to the house, they watch television, they have events there, and it gives our great carers in the Territory a bit of a break. It is a good initiative which our government is supporting.
We will continue to investigate future options to give Territorians better access to affordable and appropriate housing in Palmerston and throughout the Territory.
Mr WOOD to CHIEF MINISTER
Yesterday in parliament, you said that, in September 2008, the Department of Planning and Infrastructure attended the South African Expo and collected a large number of resumes for engineering and other technical positions which have experienced recruitment difficulties. I presume this is the reason the CEO of the department just visited India.
Is it not the case that one reason you are having difficulty recruiting Australians is that you are advertising - and I refer you to the NT News, 28 June this year - for senior mechanical engineers at low salary - for example, $84 000 to $89 000 - which is more than $50 000 less than the average salary for that job in Western Australia? Is this recruitment process part of a sneaky way of employing overseas engineers and other technical positions on low wages, using 457 Visas and, thereby, avoiding the need to pay realistic salaries that would attract Australians to these jobs?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Nelson for his fairly convoluted question.
I acknowledge that the Territory government, like all businesses in the Northern Territory at the moment, is finding it very hard to recruit skilled, professional people to positions in the Northern Territory. That is why we have significantly ramped up our recruitment effort, not only in the Northern Territory, but interstate and overseas.
What I did not like - and I find it really quite surprising for the member for Nelson, because I know he is a decent and honourable fellow - was the xenophobic implications in that particular question ...
Mr WOOD: A point of order, Madam Speaker! There was actually no intention to be xenophobic. The Engineers Institute have complained about the low wages being offered, and that is what I was trying to exemplify.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Nelson, resume your seat. If you feel you have been misrepresented, you may approach me after Question Time to make a personal explanation.
Mr TOLLNER: A point of order, Madam Speaker! I find that comment a slur and offensive, and I ask the Chief Minister to withdraw it.
Madam SPEAKER: I think you are referring to implications. Chief Minister.
Mr HENDERSON: I will withdraw, because I do genuinely have respect for the member for Nelson. It is Question Time and there is a lot of noise. I will go back and read the Hansard in regard to the question. I stand here very proudly as the Chief Minister, and say we will open up our arms in the Northern Territory to people from around the world, from wherever they come. I do not want to hear any debate in this Chamber that would say that someone recruited from some other part of the world is not as good as a Territorian or an Australian. I am also the minister for multiculturalism, and very proud of it. We …
Mr WOOD: A point of order, Madam Speaker! That comment is saying that this question had some racial overtones. It did not. It related to the low wages the government is offering its own engineers. I am questioning why they are going overseas instead of trying to attract people locally.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Nelson, resume your seat. It was quite a long and complex question; the Chief Minister is still on his feet.
Mr HENDERSON: The Territory government, like any number of businesses in the Territory at the moment, is seeking to address the skills shortage by attracting workers from overseas. Just the other day, I was at a major car dealership, on one of my regular business visits around the Northern Territory, where I met half a dozen or so mechanics from the Philippines who were absolutely delighted to be in the Northern Territory. Four of them had reached four years on their visas, and had applied and become permanent residents of Australia and were in the process of becoming Australian citizens. It was absolutely magnificent to talk to those guys, their colleagues and the apprentices - the Territory apprentices who these mechanics from the Philippines were training. It is a fantastic win-win outcome.
Is the member for Nelson going to say that Territory businesses that are going overseas to recruit people to businesses in the Northern Territory are going out to get cheap labour? I would like him to go outside and say that ...
Mr TOLLNER: A point of order, Madam Speaker! The Chief Minister should be aware his own minister for Business last year marched with the trade unions in the Northern Territory to oppose the 457 Visa scheme. At the time, he said his government was opposed to it.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Fong Long, resume your seat. There is no point of order.
Mr HENDERSON: I will correct the record for the member for Fong Lim and his infatuation and newfound love of the union movement of the Northern Territory. He did not have much time for them when he was a member of the Howard government. That particular May Day - and I am happy to put it on the record - I was not happy with the stance that some sections of the union movement in Australia took to the 457 Visa debate, and the way they campaigned against it.
Personally, I found parts of that campaign offensive. That was the first May Day, since around 1985, that I did not participate, so strong were my personal feelings on that particular issue.
I will stand here and refute the allegations, because Australia has been a wonderful country. It has opened its arms up to people from around the world. The Territory is a wonderful multicultural community.
My concerns in regard to the member for Nelson relates to a transcript that was from today with - I am not sure which reporter it was - where he was talking about Mr Hancock being in India. I quote from the reporter first:
Mr WOOD: A point of order, Madam Speaker! If the minister wants to be truthful, read the whole transcript.
Members interjecting.
Dr BURNS: A point of order, Madam Speaker! I am two seats away from the Chief Minister and I cannot hear one word he is saying, such is the noise from the members opposite.
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, I remind you of Standing Order 51:
Mr HENDERSON: Thank you, Madam Speaker. I find it astounding that the member for Araluen is laughing hilariously at what I think is a very serious issue.
Ms CARNEY: A point of order, Madam Speaker! If I heard him correctly, the Chief Minister was saying that I was laughing hysterically.
Mr HENDERSON: I am sorry, I apologise, member for Araluen. It was the member for Greatorex.
Mr CONLAN: A point of order, Madam Speaker! I was not laughing. I do not know what he was talking about.
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order, order! Please resume your seat. Members will be going on warnings very shortly.
Chief Minister, you have the call.
Mr HENDERSON: I firmly support Territory government agencies going overseas if they cannot recruit and are finding it very difficult to recruit within the Northern Territory or within Australia. So much of the Northern Territory has been built by people who have come from overseas and made an enormous contribution.
We are not seeking to underpay and undercut people. I have had discussions with my colleague, the minister for Planning and Infrastructure, in regard to, if there are specific areas of recruitment difficulty in the Northern Territory at technical or engineering levels, there is the capacity, through the Office of the Commissioner for Public Employment, for specific jobs to be provided with higher salaries and a different range of conditions than the job is officially gazetted at. There is that flexibility there. Also, to bring in people from overseas brings a range of experience. We live in a globalised economy; getting some skills and expertise from overseas would be a good thing for the Northern Territory …
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Member for Fong Lim.
Mr HENDERSON: … as it is a good thing for many Territory businesses who are recruiting overseas. The most important thing we should be doing is training our own, and we are proudly doing that. We have another commitment for an additional 10 000 trainees and apprentices across the Northern Territory. Every time I go into a business or a workshop, the first thing I ask is: ‘Where the apprentices and the trainees? I must go and talk to them’.
I support government agencies seeking to recruit from overseas. Recruiting locally first, obviously, is the utmost priority. However, we have always been a Territory that embraces people from overseas. While I am Chief Minister, that is certainly something we will continue to do.
Mr GUNNER to MINISTER for INFRASTRUCTURE and TRANSPORT
Can you please advise the House about proposed improvements to transport infrastructure for residents in Palmerston under the Palmerston Plan?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague, the member for Fannie Bay, for his question, because there is no greater example of federal/Territory cooperation paying dividends for the people of Palmerston than Tiger Brennan Drive. You can see the activity there. It took a Labor government in Canberra and the Henderson Labor government in the Territory to deliver a $110m road project – the Tiger Brennan Drive extension, which is going full steam ahead, with the Stage 1 $6.5m duplication at Berrimah Road on track for completion early next year. Tenders …
A member interjecting.
Ms LAWRIE: The member for Fong Lim, the former member for Solomon …
Mr TOLLNER: A point of order, Madam Speaker! I have not said a word during the minister’s tirade.
Madam SPEAKER: Please resume your seat.
Ms LAWRIE: The member for Fong Lim, the former member for Solomon, kicked this around as a political football and could not land it, deliver it, or get the funding from the Howard government - could not get the commitment. Every time the Territory government increased its commitment in funding and challenged the Howard government to match it, the member for Solomon could not deliver it. He was either inept, or just treated with derision and dismissed by the Howard government. Which one is it?
Madam Speaker, tenders have been called for a 7.5 km extension of Tiger Brennan Drive and the overpass at the Stuart Highway intersection - a 7.5 km extension going through that Berrimah paddock. Contracts for this $89m component of the project will be awarded soon. The project will deliver a dual lane extension – dual lane, music to my ears; not single lane, dual lane extension - of Tiger Brennan Drive from Berrimah Road through to Roystonea Avenue – even more music to my ears – with an overpass at the intersection of the Stuart Highway and Roystonea Avenue. We will have traffic flowing through from the rural area, from Palmerston down into the CBD where people work. This will mean the families of Palmerston and the rural area have more time to spend with their kids, because they will have less time stuck in traffic. This is part of the government’s record $271m roads budget this year.
Apart from building our roads, this government is also committed to building our public transport system. We will create a safe, reliable and efficient public transport system for the people of Palmerston. There will be more buses, more routes, more services, and more security. This government outlined a comprehensive plan for public transport in the election, and it is a commitment which we will deliver. Starting 1 January, we will be rolling out new routes - commitments being delivered. There will be a new orbital bus service running between Palmerston, Darwin and Casuarina interchanges. There will be park and ride facilities at Humpty Doo, Coolalinga, and Noonamah. There will be an expansion of the rural bus services and free bus trips for seniors and students ...
Mr Elferink: If Australia Post delivered at your rate, we would still be getting letters from last century.
Ms LAWRIE: I pick up on the interjection of the member for Port Darwin. He was on the radio during the election campaign saying that the CLP was going to announce a whole package of public transport. Well, he can come in here and apologise …
Mr GILES: A point of order, Madam Speaker! This is the Northern Territory government and I have not heard the government of the day talk about anything other than Palmerston. I would like to hear them talk about Alice Springs for once.
Madam SPEAKER: There is no point of order.
Ms LAWRIE: The member for Port Darwin was on the radio saying: ‘Wait for it; there will be a whole exciting public transport announcement coming soon’. Nothing - no commitment from the CLP on public transport. Nothing - not a single announcement. In stark contrast, there will be a $13.5m investment in public transport, significantly benefiting the people of Palmerston and the rural area. We have boosted public safety - $750 000 to put Transport Safety Officers on the bus network. I was at a barbecue on Sunday with bus drivers, and I was saying just how effective those TSOs are. At the barbecue …
Mr Elferink interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Member for Port Darwin, cease interjecting.
Ms LAWRIE: Madam Speaker, all the bus drivers are saying the Transport Safety Officers are fantastic. They have been an enormous boost to safety across our public transport system. They are doing a fantastic job, and I thank them and our bus drivers of both Buslink and Darwin Bus Service, for the great service they are providing to public transport. We have 245 CCTV cameras across our public bus network ...
Mr MILLS: A point of order, Madam Speaker! The Leader of Government Business, even in this session of asking questions, cut me off halfway through a sentence because she was a bit worried about it getting a bit long. I believe this answer is incredibly long and serves only the purpose of filibustering so the opposition does not have the opportunity to ask questions. Short answers, short questions, I think should fit.
Madam SPEAKER: Minister, I hope you are coming to the point soon.
Ms LAWRIE: Madam Speaker, I am coming to the conclusion. They do not want to hear about the 245 CCTV cameras across the system, but I will tell you, they are improving safety for people on the public transport network. They are a vitally important aspect of delivering safe public transport.
It is a $13.5m investment, and nothing from the CLP, despite them saying they would announce something. I challenge them to say what they failed to do.
Madam Speaker, I ask that further questions be placed on the Written Question Paper.
Ministers Misleading Parliament
Mr MILLS to CHIEF MINISTER
The Westminster Parliamentary system sets very high standards of ministerial behaviour and accountability. One of those standards is, when a minister of the Crown deliberately misleads the parliament, that minister must be sacked. Will you guarantee any minister in your government who deliberately misleads this parliament will be sacked?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the Leader of the Opposition for his question. It is an absolute paramount responsibility that all of us who speak in this parliament tell the truth; it does not just go to ministers. The standing orders and conventions of the Westminster system of parliament is that every member who speaks in this Chamber has a responsibility to tell the truth. It is certainly something that this Chamber, over many years, has sought to uphold. I do believe, in each and every one of the 25 members of this parliament, that we all bear that responsibility very seriously, and that all of us endeavour at all times to speak the truth in this Chamber.
In the event that any member, or any minister, somehow, inadvertently, for whatever reason, says something that is not accurate, it is beholden on that member that, as soon as it comes to their attention, they come into the House and correct the record. That has happened on many occasions during the history of this parliament. Certainly, the parliament can deal with issues of alleged misleading the House by way of conventions that are established in the standing orders. If the parliament does determine, through those conventions, that a member has misled the parliament, then there are steps and sanctions through the Privileges Committee to deal with those issues.
I expect each and every member of this House to uphold the long-stated Westminster convention of not misleading this House, Madam Speaker ...
Mr MILLS: A point of order, Madam Speaker! I acknowledge the discussion yesterday regarding relevance, but the nub of this question was: would this Chief Minister guarantee that any minister in his government be sacked if they deliberately misled the parliament? It was a very broad general question, but he did not answer the core of the question.
Madam SPEAKER: Leader of the Opposition, I believe the Chief Minister has resumed his seat. Did you wish to add anything else, Chief Minister? He has resumed his seat.
Palmerston – Planning for Growth
Mr GUNNER to CHIEF MINISTER
Palmerston is a vibrant growing city and is now the second-largest city in the Territory. Can you please advise the House what the government is doing to ensure that Palmerston will remain a fantastic place to live, work and raise a family?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Fannie Bay for his question. Palmerston is a wonderful, vibrant growing city. It is an exciting place. It has an identity in the Northern Territory all of its own. Every time you go to Palmerston, for those of us who do not live there, there is always something new to see, there is always something new happening. The place is rapidly expanding and it is a very popular place for people to buy a house and raise a family.
In fact, with population growth, Palmerston is nearly topping the table in Australia every year. That is why this government started, in the last term of parliament in consultation with the people of Palmerston, through the work of the former members for Brennan and Drysdale, to come up with a plan for the future growth of Palmerston. We augmented those consultations with specific demographic advice of town planners to look at the needs of Palmerston into the future.
That growth is now going to be supported even further with the advent of the INPEX project. The Mayor of Palmerston, Robert Macleod, has been one of the most vocal supporters of the INPEX project, given what he understands will be the real benefit for the Palmerston region. There are any number of areas where work is progressing to further develop the social, recreational, and economic face of Palmerston. The Tiger Brennan Drive extension, cutting the commuting time between Palmerston and Darwin - every time we go there, more work has been done. It is very exciting.
It just goes to show that, when the Territory government is working in cooperation with the federal government, taking the politics out of it that existed before, the money starts to flow and Palmerston residents benefit, as opposed to the politics that hindered everything before. Palmerston residents are benefiting with the Territory government working in partnership with the Australian government.
We can see that as well in health, with the super clinic out to tender to operate Stage 1 - again, a sign of Palmerston residents benefiting with the Territory government working in partnership with the Australian government, taking the politics out of it that existed with the previous federal government. The people of Palmerston benefit.
In education, we are building two new schools in the suburb of Rosebery, a primary school and a middle school, with 850 places - very exciting for the families that are moving to Palmerston.
We are fast-tracking the release 3700 new blocks of land. That means more houses, more homes for the new residents of Palmerston for the future.
Recognising that Territorians love their sport, we are building a new sporting complex for $22m for the round ball game, for the oval game, and a new international standard tennis facility. Also a water park. The Leanyer Recreation Park has been very successful; we are constructing a similar park in Alice Springs, and we will be doing the same in Palmerston. I know the families of Palmerston are very excited about that. In addition, there will be a $4m dollar upgrade to the Palmerston boat ramp; allocated land for Palmerston’s first hotel; and Police Beat in the Palmerston Shopping Centre. This is all the work that is either under way or initiatives that will come through the term of this government.
Regarding the new schools, the water park, the sports complex, and, the boat ramp, those were all promised by the Labor government. They were not promised by the CLP. There were no promises to that effect from the CLP in the last election. In fact, I am struggling to remember any specific promises for Palmerston, apart from a hospital in 2020-something for the people of Palmerston.
We do have a plan for Palmerston. It is a wonderful, exciting part of the Northern Territory. We are planning for the future and I look forward to seeing all of these developments come to fruition during the term of this government ...
Mr TOLLNER: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Can you ask the Chief Minister to table the document he was reading from?
Mr HENDERSON: There is no document, Madam Speaker.
Madam SPEAKER: Is it a personal document? No, he does not need to table it.
Mr Tollner interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Fong Lim, you will come to order.
Minister for Education and Training - Report in The Australian – Differing Accounts
Mr MILLS to MINISTER for EDUCATION and TRAINING
Yesterday, you told this House it was your daughter, and not you, who had an appointment at Anita’s Beauty Salon. I refer you, minister, to today’s article in The Australian newspaper, where the beauty salon confirmed a double appointment on that day – one for your daughter and one for you. Will you now correct the record and resign for misleading this House?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I know one thing for sure: the next time I go to my beauty salon, I intend to invite the Leader of the Opposition ...
Mr Mills: I was with the teachers at the time, unfortunately.
Ms SCRYMGOUR: This is quite a serious issue. You have asked me a question, now give me the courtesy of allowing me to answer. If he is so strangely interested in my personal life, I will invite him to come along and sit through the next treatment, he might even like to have a wax himself. Perhaps he will tell us today if he will accept my invitation. After all, he is a fairly new age sort of guy.
Madam Speaker, I have not misled anyone over this issue. As I said yesterday, I took my daughter to the doctor, and then to a personal appointment at the beauty salon. I did not have any treatment that day. It is unclear to me why my personal appointments, my family, and what is left of my private life, are of such interest to members opposite and the media.
As I said yesterday, my greatest challenge as the minister for Education is to make sure our kids are educated – that is our greatest challenge ...
Mr Mills: You could start by telling the truth.
Ms SCRYMGOUR: … it is not whether I went to a beauty salon and had a wax …
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! The Leader of the Opposition well knows the rules of this Chamber, even though he likes to pretend otherwise. He knows he accused a member of something he has no right to do, unless by way of substantive motion. Withdraw it.
Mr Mills: No, I will wait for the Speaker’s direction, thank you, madam.
Madam SPEAKER: Leader of the Opposition, I ask you to withdraw the comments under Standing Order 62(1).
Mr MILLS: Thank you, Madam Speaker, I withdraw.
Ms SCRYMGOUR: As I said yesterday, my challenge - the greatest challenge, and the challenge of this side of government - is to get our kids educated. As Education minister, that is what I am responsible for.
Palmerston Plan - Building of Schools
Ms WALKER to MINISTER for EDUCATION and TRAINING
Can you please update the House on the preschool, primary and middle years schools to be built in Rosebery as part of the government’s Palmerston Plan?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Nhulunbuy for her question. The member actually started her teaching career in Palmerston so, for her, it brings back memories.
We heard from the Chief Minister how the Henderson government announced the construction of a middle school for 850 students, and a preschool and primary school for 600 students at Rosebery, to be operational from 2011 at a cost of $48.8m. This will be an outstanding facility for Palmerston families. The headworks and site works, at a cost of $9.5m, have been included in the Department of Planning and Infrastructure’s Capital Works program. The design work on the Rosebery school project is proceeding well.
The next target date, 3 November 2008, will be for documentation that will be lodged with the Development Consent Authority for planning approval. Once approved, construct tenders will be advertised. A project development group is overseeing the project, and includes representatives from the Construction Division; Department of Education and Training; and Palmerston City Council.
A joint communications strategy between the Department of Planning and Infrastructure and the department of Education is being prepared for the delivery of the project. Communications will include public information sessions, media announcements, flyers, fact sheets and online information aimed at informing all stakeholders and, in particular, local residents, of the proposed works.
A public information evening will be held in the next few weeks to coincide with that lodgement, and to ensure that the Palmerston community receives accurate information about the facility. A website will also be launched on this date to provide regular updates on the project.
The Henderson government is committed to education infrastructure, not just in Palmerston, but right across the Territory. Our election commitment, as I announced previously and at the last sittings, is $246m over the next four years to the school infrastructure upgrade program. As I said also at the last sittings, this is the single largest infrastructure program anywhere by any Territory government, that includes 74 government primary schools. Large group schools - that is schools over 95 students - will get $300 000 over the next four years.
I look forward to delivering progress reports on the Rosebery preschool, primary and middle school to this House.
Mr TOLLNER: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Could I ask you to direct the minister to table the document that she was reading from?
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Minister for Education and Training, are you willing to table the document, or is it a personal document with notes?
Ms SCRYMGOUR: Notes, they have scribbles all over them. I do not know why they would want it.
Madam SPEAKER: She does not have to table, that is the rule.
Minister for Education and Training – Report
in The Australian – Differing Accounts
in The Australian – Differing Accounts
Mr MILLS to MINISTER for EDUCATION and TRAINING
To go to what I believe is an unnecessary step to explain the importance of this, you offered, as an excuse for your neglect to attend to teachers who were calling for you to attend to their concerns …
Ms Lawrie: Not neglect.
Mr MILLS: You offered a defence that you were looking after your daughter, and you exempted yourself from the suggestion that you were receiving beauty treatment. However, I refer you again to today’s The Australian report, which said an employee at Anita’s Salon specifically remembered performing an eyebrow, lip and chin wax on your daughter and you, at the same time as protesting teachers marched on Parliament House. Will you now correct the record and resign for misleading this House?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I have already answered this question, and I believe I answered it quite thoroughly. I pick up on one thing that the Leader of the Opposition said; that I neglect, in my responsibility as Education minister, the plight of our education system, or the discussions that I may have with many teachers throughout the Northern Territory, and with the Australian Education Union. I meet my responsibility in the right way.
In relation to the article that the Leader of the Opposition keeps referring to, I believe I have answered it.
Palmerston Super Clinic - Progress
Mr McCARTHY to MINISTER for HEALTH
The government’s plan for Palmerston includes a 24-hour super clinic at Palmerston. Can you please update the House on the progress of Stage 1 of this clinic?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, it is a very important because, during the federal election campaign, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd came to Palmerston and made a commitment for a 24-hour medical service at Palmerston. This is an example of the Territory government working with the federal government to deliver to Palmerston people ...
Mr Giles: Are you working with Damien Hale? Where is he?
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Member for Braitling!
Dr BURNS: Madam Speaker, I can stand here a long time, and I am prepared to stand here as long as it takes for this mob over here to afford me the courtesy to answer this question in some sort of peace. There is an old saying that I have learnt, and it is ‘empty vessels make the most sound’. Surely, it is true of this crowd on the other side. That has been part of the problem in this new Assembly; they do not show respect, they do not show courtesy, and they are not listening. There is more substance to this Assembly than getting up here and proposing a whole range of committees to run around this Territory. This is about delivering for Territorians, and delivering for people at Palmerston.
We are cooperating with the federal government …
Members interjecting.
Dr BURNS: I am just waiting for the member for Fong Lim, who knows that I am.
This is a very important event for Palmerston. It is an after-hours medical service, as proposed and promised by Kevin Rudd. The service will operate between 6 pm through to 8 am every day, and will be free for patients who are assessed as requiring urgent care.
Advertising of the tender began on 2 October 2008, and I note that it is featured in today’s NT News. The tender closes on 29th of this month, and government has set a target date for service commencement by the end of this calendar year.
There has been keen interest in the tender from the health sector, and there was an industry briefing for the health sector on 16 October. I am also advised that local GPs have indicated an interest in supporting the after-hours service in the area.
Mr Tollner: Come on, Burnsy, get around to the good stuff.
Dr BURNS: I am just waiting for you, member for Fong Lim, and I am glad you are being quiet. There are some very nice things here which I would be very pleased to table.
A member: He is on very thin ice.
Dr BURNS: Very thin ice.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Minister, please direct your comments through the Chair.
Dr BURNS: I will, Madam Speaker, but he is being provocative.
There is real cash against this; $10m from the federal government. The Territory government, as is on the record, will be providing a further $2m a year to support the operation of the clinic. This is just Stage 1. The Palmerston super clinic will be more than a GP service. There will be a Stage 2, which will involve integrated multidisciplinary team approaches, efficient and effective use of technology, and outreach from the hospital.
A master plan for the new Palmerston Health Precinct site with a footprint of potential services over the next five to 10 years is being developed and is due for completion by the end of the year. It will also include services from Danila Dilba. Discussions are being held with the City of Palmerston; Litchfield Council; General Practice Network of the NT; and Danila Dilba.
This is a fantastic development for Palmerston. As I said at the beginning of my answer, this shows the cooperative nature between this government and the new federal government. Kevin Rudd promised this in November of last year, and I believe we have made great progress, unlike under the previous Howard government.
Here we go. John Howard had a program called round-the-clock Medicare, which he announced on 26 September 2004, with $393m over four years. He did not really specify the hours that the after-hour services would be operating. It took just until the last federal election, nearly November, for the then member for Solomon to come out in the Sun newspaper on 23 October 2007: ‘Palmy gets its after hours medical clinic with a start-up grant of $200 000 from the federal government’.
But then, surprisingly, in November 2007, around the election, the then member for Solomon, on Daryl Manzie’s show, pulled back a bit and said they had not really got it; the Prime Minister was actually considering it. Tollner said: ‘Well, what we said is, we have committed to 50 family emergency medical centres around Australia. The Prime Minister says we that we will very thoroughly investigate putting one of these centres in Palmerston’. That was the extent of it.
We have real progress here. We are going to have real doctors; they are in Palmerston. We are on track, and it just shows you the failure to deliver by the then member for Solomon, the current member for Fong Lim.
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order, order! Minister, resume your seat. There are far too many interjections.
Minister for Education and Training - Report in The Australian – Differing Accounts
Mr MILLS to MINISTER for EDUCATION and TRAINING
Your refusal to come clean about the differences between your account and the account of a journalist …
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! When the Leader of the Opposition first asked her the question, the minister clearly answered. She has not been refusing to come clean at all.
Madam SPEAKER: Leader of Government Business, there is no point of order! Leader of the Opposition, you have the call.
Mr MILLS: Thank you, Madam Speaker. Minister, your refusal to come clean about the differences between your account and the account of the journalist but, more importantly, your denial of any grasp of the significance of the defence that you offered yesterday as a reason for your non-attendance at a very important meeting of disgruntled teachers is of concern. Your denials of the details published in the The Australian regarding your visit to Anita’s Beauty Salon pits your word against that of journalist, Natasha Robinson. Why should the public believe you instead of a highly qualified, widely respected Australian journalist?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I find that question absolutely amazing, and it flabbergasts me. I have answered that question quite adequately.
Palmerston – Planning for Growth
Mr GUNNER to MINISTER for PLANNING and LANDS
Palmerston is one of the fastest growing cities in Australia. Can the minister please explain to the House how the government is planning for this growth?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Fannie Bay for his question. This government is developing four new suburbs for that beautiful city of Palmerston. These suburbs will see the population of Palmerston double; another 15 000 residents will go and enjoy Palmerston as the good families of Palmerston get to enjoy it now. We will be adding the water park and the sports playground. This is a significant commitment, $50m in investment, brought forward to build the infrastructure to create the new suburbs.
As we know, Bellamack went out to a public expression of interest process. Bellamack will be turning off next year. Local business, Wolpers Grahl, have been awarded the headworks for the construction tender for Bellamack. The consortium of Urban Pacific Brierty, in conjunction with Larrakia Development Corporation and other local businesses, will develop that suburb of Bellamack.
By investing the $50m, fast-tracking that in infrastructure, to release Johnston, Zuccoli and Mitchell - Johnston will deliver 850 lots; Zuccoli, the largest in the middle, will deliver about 1750 lots; and, Mitchell will provide another 400 lots. With Johnston, around Lambrick Avenue, we have identified there is some existing infrastructure, so we will be bringing forward the opportunity to have around 200 homes and land in and around the new suburb of Johnston, again, in 2009. We are bringing forward and fast-tracking; we have the most aggressive, fast-tracking release of land of any government.
Those developments are critical to the growth of Palmerston. As you also heard the Chief Minister say, we are going out to auction of CBD land in Palmerston for a $30m, 200-plus bed hotel. This is a fantastic signature development for the beautiful city of Palmerston.
Department of Education and Training
CEO – Actions of Minister
CEO – Actions of Minister
Mr MILLS to MINISTER for EDUCATION and TRAINING
Yesterday, in the censure motion, you stated: ‘I created the wrong impression when I mistakenly used the word “retire” rather than “resign” in relation to Ms Banks’. Margaret Banks was sacked. You also admitted that fact in Question Time. You said this was not the first CEO that has been sacked – sacked, minister. So, one moment Margaret Banks was retired; the next she resigned; then she has been sacked; and then, she has resigned again. Why do you continue to cling to the absurd fiction that Margaret Banks resigned when you sacked her? Why do you not tender your own resignation for misleading this parliament?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I believe that I quite adequately …
A member: It is quite serious.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Ms SCRYMGOUR: Quite serious! Of course, it is quite serious. I am sure there are other allegations that the Leader of the Opposition aimed yesterday that are just as serious. We went through that debate.
In terms of Margaret Banks, I went through, in detail, my explanation for mistakenly using the word ‘retired’ instead of ‘resigned’. I also said that if I created the wrong impression with that, I apologise ...
A member: Mistakenly get a wax?
Ms SCRYMGOUR: I said that here - well, you might like some hot wax, too, if you want to come. If you want to have the feel of hot wax on your body, you are welcome as well. I am sure all you new age men would love it. It would be great business for Anita’s Beauty Salon. If you all want to come, do it.
In relation to what the Leader of the Opposition was saying yesterday, I apologised if I created the wrong impression when I mistakenly said ‘retired’ instead of ‘resigned’. I also said in that debate that I had intended, by saying that, to remain completely neutral regarding Ms Banks’ departure; as to whether it was voluntary. It was never my intention and I never misled anyone. The Leader of the Opposition insists on continuing this line. I was on the record yesterday saying that very clearly ...
Mr GILES: A point of order, Madam Speaker! The question was: why will the minister not tender her own resignation for misleading the parliament? She did not answer the question.
Madam SPEAKER: Minister, are you still answering the question, or have you completed your answer?
Ms SCRYMGOUR: I might just finish with that, Madam Speaker, but I remind the Leader of the Opposition that education is a very important issue in the Northern Territory. I invite him to ask me questions that are fundamental to education.
Palmerston – Sporting Facilities
Ms WALKER to MINISTER for SPORT and RECREATION
How is the government’s plan for Palmerston helping to give people access to state-of-the-art sporting facilities?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Nhulunbuy for her question. This is a government that is investing in the future of Palmerston, making it an even better place to live, work and raise families. This is why we are investing $22m to build an international sporting complex, which is part of our 2008 election commitment to the people of Palmerston. This new and exciting government initiative will provide this rapidly expanding city with state-of-the-art sporting facilities.
Initial planning is well under way. An appropriate site has been identified, and negotiations regarding the purchase have started. However, crucial to this is the consultation that will occur with all stakeholders, and this will be part of the process. We want the people of Palmerston to be involved. This development will act as a stimulus for the sporting and business community by attracting new fixtures and increasing existing competition.
Outdoor facilities will include lights at the AFL Magpies oval, Rugby and soccer fields with lights, a grandstand, change rooms, toilets, a bar, and a kiosk. International standard tennis courts will also be constructed. Indoor facilities will be constructed, which will allow sports such as judo; gymnastics; wrestling; boxing; and, table tennis to have regular training and competition in a brand new sporting environment.
These facilities will allow Palmerston and their sporting bodies and associations to train and have competition at international standard sporting facilities. It shows that we are a government that is investing in the future of Palmerston ...
Mr CONLAN: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Could you ask the member for Stuart to table that document he was reading from? He stumbled over a few words, so could he please table the document?
Madam SPEAKER: Minister, are you willing to table the document?
Mr HAMPTON: No, they are my personal notes.
Department of the Chief Minister –
Ms Margaret Banks
Ms Margaret Banks
Mr MILLS to MINISTER for EDUCATION and TRAINING referred to CHIEF MINISTER
Yesterday in the House, you said award winning educationist, Margaret Banks, was working and serving out her separation in the Department of the Chief Minister. Exactly how many days has Ms Banks fronted for work since being sacked as departmental CEO?
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! This question is a matter of Public Employment, it does not go to the Education minister.
Madam SPEAKER: He has not finished asking the question yet.
Ms LAWRIE: He has asked about days of employment.
Ms Purick: She was her CEO. It was the Education minister’s responsibility.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Leader of the Opposition, I am sorry, I have lost track of the question. Could you please start the question again?
Mr MILLS: To alleviate what is clearly a potential problem over there, as I am asking the Education minister about the Education CEO, if further information is required, as you have done in the past, you could refer it. If you want to be open, honest and transparent, for example, there is an opportunity for you.
My question is: yesterday, in the House, you said award winning educationist, Margaret Banks, was working and serving out her separation in the Department of the Chief Minister. Exactly how many days has Ms Banks fronted for work since being sacked as departmental CEO? If, as I expect, the answer is zero, is this not another example of misleading the House?
Madam SPEAKER: Minister for Education and Training, you may ask the Minister for Public Employment to answer.
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, no, I thank the Leader of the opposition for his question. I will transfer that question to the appropriate minister, the Chief Minister.
Mr HENDERSON (Chief Minister): Madam Speaker, you would have thought that the Leader of the Opposition would have some understanding about the structure of the public service and who is responsible for answering questions in this House when they acknowledge that Margaret Banks would be serving out the terms of her contract in the Department of the Chief Minister. Why he did not ask me the question just goes to show how little he knows about the Administrative Arrangements in the public service.
The opposition has a track record and a history of dragging public servants through this parliament. The issues in regard to Ms Banks’ contractual arrangements with the public service are personal, private and confidential matters. They are not to be bandied around here in the Territory parliament. The Leader of the Opposition should respect the fact we are talking about …
Mr MILLS: A point of order, Madam Speaker! I cannot abide by this. The question contains reference to words that were used yesterday that said, ‘working and serving out her separation’. If you can make that statement, you can clarify it today. You cannot say something yesterday and not be held accountable for it today. We are not private today and public yesterday.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! The Chief Minister has the call and is still answering the question.
Mr HENDERSON: Thank you, Madam Speaker. This is the advice that I have been given. In regard to the day-to-day whereabouts of individual public servants, that is not an issue for this House to debate.
The advice that I have is absolutely the same as the advice that my colleague, the minister for Education said yesterday; that those were the terms and conditions of the agreement in and around the separation of service. That is the advice I have. In regard to the day-to-day whereabouts of individual public servants, I say again, it is nothing to do with the deliberations of this parliament.
Palmerston – Housing Options
Mr McCARTHY to MINISTER for HOUSING
As the Territory’s fastest growing region, can you please advise the House how the government’s Palmerston Plan will boost services and provide affordable housing options in Palmerston?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Barkly for his question. Palmerston is going ahead in great strides, with more and more Territorians moving to Palmerston to buy their own homes. My colleague, the Minister for Planning and Lands, has touched on the land release projects at Palmerston, with some 3000 blocks to be released over the coming period. This is new homes on to the market. As the Housing Minister, I am pleased that 15% of those 3000 blocks is to be for affordable and public housing ...
Ms Purick: The average sale price will be $280 000.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Member for Goyder, cease interjecting.
Mr KNIGHT: This is giving new opportunities to build new and appropriate public housing, such as dedicated senior accommodation.
Last week, I was pleased to announce another element of the government’s ongoing plan to support Territorians into affordable housing: the sale of the former Territory Housing block at 26 Emery Avenue. This 16 two-bedroom, two-storey complex has had a very poor history in relation to antisocial behaviour, and it really is no longer suitable as a public housing complex. The government is responding. It is upgrading the complex and putting it back on to the market for low- and middle-income earners, and first homebuyers. Over the next six months, the government will invest $1.2m to upgrade the existing units, including security fencing, tiling, and painting. After that period, we will be selling those units by ballot, so people who are eligible will enter into a ballot, and that will be developed. All those units will come within the HomeNorth Xtra cap.
The government provides 1262 public housing dwellings in Palmerston, and we will continue to work to improve that stock. Indeed, all of the funds raised from the sale of the Emery Avenue units will go towards supporting future Territory Housing stock in Palmerston. This is a government responding to the needs of affordable housing.
Our initiatives are broad-ranging. Last month, I had the pleasure of handing over the keys of a house at Driver to a non-government organisation, Frontier Services. This was under the Industry Housing Assistance Scheme. The scheme provides community organisations with access to facilities at a subsidised rental rate, saving organisations around $2.5m per year in rent, so they can provide more effective services to Territorians in need.
In the case of …
A member: Is that the first house in eight years?
Mr KNIGHT: It is a very good scheme, if you would just let me explain.
Frontier Services operate respite options to the Senior Territorians program. This allows frail seniors to enjoy a social setting such as this house that was handed over, and allows the carers a much needed break. The seniors come to the house, they watch television, they have events there, and it gives our great carers in the Territory a bit of a break. It is a good initiative which our government is supporting.
We will continue to investigate future options to give Territorians better access to affordable and appropriate housing in Palmerston and throughout the Territory.
Overseas Recruitment
Mr WOOD to CHIEF MINISTER
Yesterday in parliament, you said that, in September 2008, the Department of Planning and Infrastructure attended the South African Expo and collected a large number of resumes for engineering and other technical positions which have experienced recruitment difficulties. I presume this is the reason the CEO of the department just visited India.
Is it not the case that one reason you are having difficulty recruiting Australians is that you are advertising - and I refer you to the NT News, 28 June this year - for senior mechanical engineers at low salary - for example, $84 000 to $89 000 - which is more than $50 000 less than the average salary for that job in Western Australia? Is this recruitment process part of a sneaky way of employing overseas engineers and other technical positions on low wages, using 457 Visas and, thereby, avoiding the need to pay realistic salaries that would attract Australians to these jobs?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Nelson for his fairly convoluted question.
I acknowledge that the Territory government, like all businesses in the Northern Territory at the moment, is finding it very hard to recruit skilled, professional people to positions in the Northern Territory. That is why we have significantly ramped up our recruitment effort, not only in the Northern Territory, but interstate and overseas.
What I did not like - and I find it really quite surprising for the member for Nelson, because I know he is a decent and honourable fellow - was the xenophobic implications in that particular question ...
Mr WOOD: A point of order, Madam Speaker! There was actually no intention to be xenophobic. The Engineers Institute have complained about the low wages being offered, and that is what I was trying to exemplify.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Nelson, resume your seat. If you feel you have been misrepresented, you may approach me after Question Time to make a personal explanation.
Mr TOLLNER: A point of order, Madam Speaker! I find that comment a slur and offensive, and I ask the Chief Minister to withdraw it.
Madam SPEAKER: I think you are referring to implications. Chief Minister.
Mr HENDERSON: I will withdraw, because I do genuinely have respect for the member for Nelson. It is Question Time and there is a lot of noise. I will go back and read the Hansard in regard to the question. I stand here very proudly as the Chief Minister, and say we will open up our arms in the Northern Territory to people from around the world, from wherever they come. I do not want to hear any debate in this Chamber that would say that someone recruited from some other part of the world is not as good as a Territorian or an Australian. I am also the minister for multiculturalism, and very proud of it. We …
Mr WOOD: A point of order, Madam Speaker! That comment is saying that this question had some racial overtones. It did not. It related to the low wages the government is offering its own engineers. I am questioning why they are going overseas instead of trying to attract people locally.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Nelson, resume your seat. It was quite a long and complex question; the Chief Minister is still on his feet.
Mr HENDERSON: The Territory government, like any number of businesses in the Territory at the moment, is seeking to address the skills shortage by attracting workers from overseas. Just the other day, I was at a major car dealership, on one of my regular business visits around the Northern Territory, where I met half a dozen or so mechanics from the Philippines who were absolutely delighted to be in the Northern Territory. Four of them had reached four years on their visas, and had applied and become permanent residents of Australia and were in the process of becoming Australian citizens. It was absolutely magnificent to talk to those guys, their colleagues and the apprentices - the Territory apprentices who these mechanics from the Philippines were training. It is a fantastic win-win outcome.
Is the member for Nelson going to say that Territory businesses that are going overseas to recruit people to businesses in the Northern Territory are going out to get cheap labour? I would like him to go outside and say that ...
Mr TOLLNER: A point of order, Madam Speaker! The Chief Minister should be aware his own minister for Business last year marched with the trade unions in the Northern Territory to oppose the 457 Visa scheme. At the time, he said his government was opposed to it.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Fong Long, resume your seat. There is no point of order.
Mr HENDERSON: I will correct the record for the member for Fong Lim and his infatuation and newfound love of the union movement of the Northern Territory. He did not have much time for them when he was a member of the Howard government. That particular May Day - and I am happy to put it on the record - I was not happy with the stance that some sections of the union movement in Australia took to the 457 Visa debate, and the way they campaigned against it.
Personally, I found parts of that campaign offensive. That was the first May Day, since around 1985, that I did not participate, so strong were my personal feelings on that particular issue.
I will stand here and refute the allegations, because Australia has been a wonderful country. It has opened its arms up to people from around the world. The Territory is a wonderful multicultural community.
My concerns in regard to the member for Nelson relates to a transcript that was from today with - I am not sure which reporter it was - where he was talking about Mr Hancock being in India. I quote from the reporter first:
- Reporter: You would think so, but I guess at the moment it is alleged that Mr Hancock and his general manger. who is the man that is also alleged to be inappropriately appointed in Ballarat are both in India, on a trip..
Member for Nelson: That is also a concern to me, and I will probably raise some questions in parliament about that. I mean, the word I have heard is that they are possibly looking at employing engineers from India, and, in many ways, I would be concerned about that as well because we need homegrown engineers …
- I do not deny that, Madam Speaker:
… I think when you are dealing with the Territory. The Territory has got its own cultural uniqueness, which I am not sure someone employed from India is going to understand …
Mr WOOD: A point of order, Madam Speaker! If the minister wants to be truthful, read the whole transcript.
Members interjecting.
Dr BURNS: A point of order, Madam Speaker! I am two seats away from the Chief Minister and I cannot hear one word he is saying, such is the noise from the members opposite.
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, I remind you of Standing Order 51:
- 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.
Chief Minister, you have the call.
Mr HENDERSON: Thank you, Madam Speaker. I find it astounding that the member for Araluen is laughing hilariously at what I think is a very serious issue.
Ms CARNEY: A point of order, Madam Speaker! If I heard him correctly, the Chief Minister was saying that I was laughing hysterically.
Mr HENDERSON: I am sorry, I apologise, member for Araluen. It was the member for Greatorex.
Mr CONLAN: A point of order, Madam Speaker! I was not laughing. I do not know what he was talking about.
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order, order! Please resume your seat. Members will be going on warnings very shortly.
Chief Minister, you have the call.
Mr HENDERSON: I firmly support Territory government agencies going overseas if they cannot recruit and are finding it very difficult to recruit within the Northern Territory or within Australia. So much of the Northern Territory has been built by people who have come from overseas and made an enormous contribution.
We are not seeking to underpay and undercut people. I have had discussions with my colleague, the minister for Planning and Infrastructure, in regard to, if there are specific areas of recruitment difficulty in the Northern Territory at technical or engineering levels, there is the capacity, through the Office of the Commissioner for Public Employment, for specific jobs to be provided with higher salaries and a different range of conditions than the job is officially gazetted at. There is that flexibility there. Also, to bring in people from overseas brings a range of experience. We live in a globalised economy; getting some skills and expertise from overseas would be a good thing for the Northern Territory …
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Member for Fong Lim.
Mr HENDERSON: … as it is a good thing for many Territory businesses who are recruiting overseas. The most important thing we should be doing is training our own, and we are proudly doing that. We have another commitment for an additional 10 000 trainees and apprentices across the Northern Territory. Every time I go into a business or a workshop, the first thing I ask is: ‘Where the apprentices and the trainees? I must go and talk to them’.
I support government agencies seeking to recruit from overseas. Recruiting locally first, obviously, is the utmost priority. However, we have always been a Territory that embraces people from overseas. While I am Chief Minister, that is certainly something we will continue to do.
Palmerston – Transport Infrastructure
Mr GUNNER to MINISTER for INFRASTRUCTURE and TRANSPORT
Can you please advise the House about proposed improvements to transport infrastructure for residents in Palmerston under the Palmerston Plan?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague, the member for Fannie Bay, for his question, because there is no greater example of federal/Territory cooperation paying dividends for the people of Palmerston than Tiger Brennan Drive. You can see the activity there. It took a Labor government in Canberra and the Henderson Labor government in the Territory to deliver a $110m road project – the Tiger Brennan Drive extension, which is going full steam ahead, with the Stage 1 $6.5m duplication at Berrimah Road on track for completion early next year. Tenders …
A member interjecting.
Ms LAWRIE: The member for Fong Lim, the former member for Solomon …
Mr TOLLNER: A point of order, Madam Speaker! I have not said a word during the minister’s tirade.
Madam SPEAKER: Please resume your seat.
Ms LAWRIE: The member for Fong Lim, the former member for Solomon, kicked this around as a political football and could not land it, deliver it, or get the funding from the Howard government - could not get the commitment. Every time the Territory government increased its commitment in funding and challenged the Howard government to match it, the member for Solomon could not deliver it. He was either inept, or just treated with derision and dismissed by the Howard government. Which one is it?
Madam Speaker, tenders have been called for a 7.5 km extension of Tiger Brennan Drive and the overpass at the Stuart Highway intersection - a 7.5 km extension going through that Berrimah paddock. Contracts for this $89m component of the project will be awarded soon. The project will deliver a dual lane extension – dual lane, music to my ears; not single lane, dual lane extension - of Tiger Brennan Drive from Berrimah Road through to Roystonea Avenue – even more music to my ears – with an overpass at the intersection of the Stuart Highway and Roystonea Avenue. We will have traffic flowing through from the rural area, from Palmerston down into the CBD where people work. This will mean the families of Palmerston and the rural area have more time to spend with their kids, because they will have less time stuck in traffic. This is part of the government’s record $271m roads budget this year.
Apart from building our roads, this government is also committed to building our public transport system. We will create a safe, reliable and efficient public transport system for the people of Palmerston. There will be more buses, more routes, more services, and more security. This government outlined a comprehensive plan for public transport in the election, and it is a commitment which we will deliver. Starting 1 January, we will be rolling out new routes - commitments being delivered. There will be a new orbital bus service running between Palmerston, Darwin and Casuarina interchanges. There will be park and ride facilities at Humpty Doo, Coolalinga, and Noonamah. There will be an expansion of the rural bus services and free bus trips for seniors and students ...
Mr Elferink: If Australia Post delivered at your rate, we would still be getting letters from last century.
Ms LAWRIE: I pick up on the interjection of the member for Port Darwin. He was on the radio during the election campaign saying that the CLP was going to announce a whole package of public transport. Well, he can come in here and apologise …
Mr GILES: A point of order, Madam Speaker! This is the Northern Territory government and I have not heard the government of the day talk about anything other than Palmerston. I would like to hear them talk about Alice Springs for once.
Madam SPEAKER: There is no point of order.
Ms LAWRIE: The member for Port Darwin was on the radio saying: ‘Wait for it; there will be a whole exciting public transport announcement coming soon’. Nothing - no commitment from the CLP on public transport. Nothing - not a single announcement. In stark contrast, there will be a $13.5m investment in public transport, significantly benefiting the people of Palmerston and the rural area. We have boosted public safety - $750 000 to put Transport Safety Officers on the bus network. I was at a barbecue on Sunday with bus drivers, and I was saying just how effective those TSOs are. At the barbecue …
Mr Elferink interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Member for Port Darwin, cease interjecting.
Ms LAWRIE: Madam Speaker, all the bus drivers are saying the Transport Safety Officers are fantastic. They have been an enormous boost to safety across our public transport system. They are doing a fantastic job, and I thank them and our bus drivers of both Buslink and Darwin Bus Service, for the great service they are providing to public transport. We have 245 CCTV cameras across our public bus network ...
Mr MILLS: A point of order, Madam Speaker! The Leader of Government Business, even in this session of asking questions, cut me off halfway through a sentence because she was a bit worried about it getting a bit long. I believe this answer is incredibly long and serves only the purpose of filibustering so the opposition does not have the opportunity to ask questions. Short answers, short questions, I think should fit.
Madam SPEAKER: Minister, I hope you are coming to the point soon.
Ms LAWRIE: Madam Speaker, I am coming to the conclusion. They do not want to hear about the 245 CCTV cameras across the system, but I will tell you, they are improving safety for people on the public transport network. They are a vitally important aspect of delivering safe public transport.
It is a $13.5m investment, and nothing from the CLP, despite them saying they would announce something. I challenge them to say what they failed to do.
Madam Speaker, I ask that further questions be placed on the Written Question Paper.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016