2009-02-12
Redirection of Questions
Dr BURNS (Leader of Government Business): Madam Speaker, I wish to advise that, in the absence of the Minister for Health; Primary Industry, Fisheries and Resources; Racing, Gaming and Licensing; and Alcohol Policy, that all questions relating to those portfolios should be directed to the Treasurer and Deputy Chief Minister.
Darwin Correctional Centre, Berrimah - Relocation
Mr MILLS to CHIEF MINISTER
Your government is currently spending tens of millions of dollars upgrading the existing prison at Berrimah. Today, you have confirmed that you will bulldoze those tens of millions of dollars at Berrimah and build a more comfortable prison at Weddell. Given you have just delivered Territorians a $200m black hole, why are you wasting another $300m on building a prison to replace the perfectly adequate Berrimah facility? Further, how much interest will Territorians pay per annum in financing the building of a more comfortable prison at Weddell?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the Leader of the Opposition for his question. It was good to be able to invite the member for Fong Lim to the media conference. He heard firsthand the exciting reforms that we are bringing to Correctional Services. We will begin a new era in Correctional Services in the Northern Territory. This is about continuing to crack down on crime in the Northern Territory, with a much stronger focus on turning around the cycle of reoffending. This is what we are talking about today: a new era in Correctional Services in the Northern Territory.
The old Berrimah gaol is well past its use-by date. It is packed to the rafters with prisoners as I speak. This government is tough on crime. We have recruited an additional 329 police officers to our police force. We have strengthened laws across the Northern Territory, particularly in regard to sexual offences and violent offences. A tragic consequence of this is that we have more prisoners than ever before. However, a significant number of those prisoners continue to re-offend. The announcement today is for a new purpose-built corrections facility designed not only as a corrections facility as a place of confinement and a custodial facility, but also with education and training facilities so that when prisoners are sentenced to gaol they will be assigned an education and training plan.
If they cannot read and write when they go to gaol, they will certainly be reading and writing much better when they leave gaol.
I visited Berrimah gaol with the then Correctional Services minister some six weeks ago to see for myself how totally inadequate and badly designed that gaol is. As I said, it is packed to the rafters; there are more prisoners there than it was designed to hold. There is no space within the existing facility to provide any significant education and training facilities at all.
Members interjecting.
Mr HENDERSON: All of the expert advice - and this is what the rabble opposite do not listen to - is that it would be impossible to redesign, rebuild, reconstruct a purpose-built facility within the fence of the existing compound, and it would be more expensive.
Mr Mills: Well, build something in the region.
Mr HENDERSON: It would be more expensive.
Mr Mills: You want the land.
Madam SPEAKER: Order, order!
Mr HENDERSON: It would be more expensive to do that. That is the advice we have. This government is tough on crime. If you do the wrong thing you have a greater chance of being caught in the Northern Territory and going to gaol in the Northern Territory than anywhere else in Australia.
We have to get better rehabilitation outcomes and that is what this announcement is designed to do. The facility will have 1000 beds for prisoners, and a separate mental health and behavioural management unit. We do not have any mental health custodial facilities in the Northern Territory. For prisoners with very challenging behaviours, there will be an appropriate facility constructed. This will be no soft option. Going to gaol will be tough. It will continue to be tough, but we have to get better rehabilitation outcomes.
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr HENDERSON: It makes no sense for low security prisoners to continually re-offend. It comes at a huge ongoing cost. This is about a new era in Corrections, about doing much better in turning around that cycle of reoffending.
Today, I also announced a new regional approach to corrective services across the Territory. Work camps will be delivered in our regions across the Territory. I have spoken with our new Correctional Services minister and said that this is a priority for the minister because if you do the wrong thing, if you break the law, and if you are served a custodial sentence, you will go to gaol. But you will be given an opportunity to improve your education. You will be given the opportunity to gain qualifications at the Certificate I or Certificate II level so you have a better opportunity to gain meaningful employment and not reoffend in the future.
This is our plan. It is a good plan and it will serve the Territory well into the future.
Members interjecting.
Mr HENDERSON: Those people opposite have no new ideas. They have no plans for the Territory. They continue to talk the Territory down and this is about a new era in Corrections in the Northern Territory.
Correctional Services – Work Camps
Ms SCRYMGOUR to MINISTER for CORRECTIONAL SERVICES
Today’s announcement about a new era in Corrections includes some exciting new proposals for the regions. Can the minister provide details of these significant new initiatives of the Northern Territory government?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Arafura for her question. It was great to be part of such a significant announcement this afternoon. The Doug Owston Correctional Facility will bring in a new era in Corrections in the Northern Territory.
As Minister for Correctional Services, my focus will be on stopping the cycle of reoffending. I will be focused on developing education, training, and rehabilitation programs with Correctional Services. The new $300m Doug Owston Correctional Facility will be purpose-built to provide the best possible chance of rehabilitation. In addition to this, I am excited about developing a Correctional Services plan for our regions.
The first stage in the Correctional Services plan for the regions will be a trial program of work camps. I am pleased to say the first work camp in the Northern Territory will be trialled in the Barkly region. I know the people of the Barkly region and I know that they will be excited about this work camp.
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr McCARTHY: Madam Speaker, work camps will complement the extensive education and training programs that will operate in the Doug Owston Correctional Facility. The work camps will be focused on training and rehabilitation to provide real opportunities for offenders to re-enter the community.
Mr ELFERINK: A point of order, Madam Speaker! The minister is clearly reading out this document word for word. I ask him …
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order, order! I cannot hear the member for Port Darwin.
Mr ELFERINK: Under standing orders, I ask him to table the document that he is reading from, please.
Dr BURNS: Speaking to the point of order. This is the oldest trick in the book by the opposition. He well knows the minister has the opportunity to make notes and read from that if he wants to and he does not have to table it at all.
Mr ELFERINK: Speaking to the point of order, Madam Speaker. I would defer to your discretion, not the Leader of Government Business, on this issue.
Madam SPEAKER: Minister, are you willing to table the document? In relation to the standing orders, if the document has private notes on it, it is your private business, or if it is a document that you wish to table, you may do so.
Mr McCARTHY: Madam Speaker, I am working off notes that I have prepared.
Madam SPEAKER: There is no point of order. Please continue, minister, and there is no need to table it.
Mr McCARTHY: Thank you, Madam Speaker. Members who are interested in a new era, and who are interested in the initiatives that will address a new era in Corrections, let me tell you about the work camps …
Members interjecting.
Dr BURNS: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Standing Order 51: it is obvious that the opposition are designing interruptions to the minister. I ask you to castigate them …
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order, order! Honourable members, the Leader of Government Business is, of course, correct. Standing Order 51: No Interruption:
- 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.
I also refer you to Standing Order 69 Interruption of Member:
- No Member may interrupt another Member speaking unless -
(a) to call attention to a question of order or privilege suddenly arising;
(b) to call attention to the want of a quorum
(c) to call attention to the presence of strangers;
(d) to move a closure motion; or
(e) to move ‘that the business of the day be called on’.
Minister, you have the call.
Mr McCARTHY: Thank you, Madam Speaker. For the people of the Northern Territory, let me outline the significant announcement today in relation to work camps. Work camps will provide education, training and rehabilitation. Work camps will provide a connection with low level offenders with the community. Work camps will also provide a link where people will be able to engage in real employment when they come through a positive cycle where we are going to reduce the reoffending rates.
In terms of Tennant Creek and the first trial, I am very excited to announce to the Barkly electorate that there will be community consultation in designing the work programs that the offenders will participate in. Now, if that is not a good community connection, I do not know what is. I am excited about this. This government is determined to make a difference in reducing reoffending rates.
Madam Speaker, if you commit a crime you go to prison. We are not mucking around with that - pardon my colloquial terms. However, this government, in a new era of corrections, is offering a choice. That choice represents life-changing experiences …
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Member for Port Darwin, cease interjecting.
Correctional Facility
Mr MILLS to CHIEF MINISTER
Pentridge Prison operated from 1851 to 1997; Long Bay was opened in 1898 and still serves the people of New South Wales; the same with Goulburn, which opened in 1884. Yatala in Adelaide has been South Australia’s main prison since 1854. Today, you announced a closure of a prison that is just 30 years old; a prison that is just one year older than the increasingly shabby Royal Darwin Hospital.
Why should Territorians be spending $300m to build a more comfortable prison for repeat offenders just to make them better criminals when the people of Palmerston desperately need medical facilities?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the Leader of the Opposition for his question. I challenge the Leader of the Opposition: have you been to Berrimah prison?
Mr Mills: Yes, I have.
Mr HENDERSON: You have been to Berrimah prison. Well, if he has been out there, and if he has seen the significant overflow, if he has seen the absolute absence of any significant education and training facilities and structures there, he will know that his proposition that somehow we could integrate, not only state-of-the-art education and training facilities, but also accommodate more prisoners within that space at less cost than building a new purpose-built facility on a greenfield site, he is not telling the truth.
All of the advice that we have had is that it would be more expensive to expand the existing facility to cater for the projected rise in prisoner numbers in the Northern Territory. Tragically, we are seeing a significant increase in the prison population. That is a direct result of the investment we are making …
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order, order!
Mr HENDERSON: A direct result of the investment …
Mr Mills interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order, order!
Mr HENDERSON: Madam Speaker, the Leader of the Opposition asked a question; I would expect him to listen to the answer.
Madam SPEAKER: Leader of the Opposition, if you could cease interjecting while the Chief Minister is answering your question.
Mr Mills: Yes, Madam Speaker.
Madam SPEAKER: Very quiet interjections may well be parliamentary, but others are not.
Mr HENDERSON: Thank you, Madam Speaker. The issue here is that we have an ever-increasing prison population. We have an existing prison at Berrimah that is bursting at the seams, and we have a corrections system that is not tackling repeat offending and is not getting the rehabilitation outcomes we need from a correctional system in the Northern Territory. That is further feeding into increasing and escalating prisoner numbers.
The challenge the government has is to reduce re-offending. To reduce re-offending, there needs to be facilities to cater for education, and vocational education and training, to ensure that people, when they leave prison, are better equipped to reintegrate with society and to get a job. We also have to cater for an expanding prison population.
All of the advice that has been presented to government in regard to this - and it is advice that has been in and out of Cabinet for quite some time, and we have looked at every option for this – is, to do this within the existing fence at Berrimah would be more expensive.
The Leader of the Opposition has a plan that would be more expensive than our plan, unless he has a plan to wind back police numbers in the Territory. They have a history of that. They have a history of starving the police force of funds, and winding back legislation in the Northern Territory that does have the toughest penalties in the country for a whole range of offences. Unless he is going to do that, he cannot sustain a position that there is anything else to do other than build a new facility. It is the most cost-effective option. It will provide state-of-the-art facilities, and it will still be a very tough place to go if you have broken the law of the Northern Territory.
We do not have secure correctional mental health facilities. This has been an issue facing the Territory for some time now. We have a responsibility as a government to provide for those. We have numbers of prisoners with significant behavioural management issues who cannot be adequately catered for within our existing facilities. Therefore, there is no option for the Northern Territory. This is about getting better rehabilitation outcomes, increasing prisoner capacity in the Northern Territory for people who commit offences.
The CLP have no plan - they absolutely have no plan. If they did have a plan, and it was around expanding Berrimah where it is, it would come in at significantly more expense than the $300m that we are going to have spend. This is about a new era in corrections in the Northern Territory, and it will certainly be delivered by this government.
Appointment of Administrator –
Remarks by Member for Fong Lim
Mr GUNNER to LEADER of GOVERNMENT BUSINESS
Last night in this House, the member for Fong Lim, Mr Tollner, made remarks about the appointment of the Administrator, His Honour, Tom Pauling. What is the fact of the matter?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I was present last night, and I did see and witness firsthand the comments made by the member for Fong Lim. This is a very serious issue. We repeatedly have the opposition talking about the importance of parliament as an institution and about our system of government. However, what we witnessed here last night was a denigration of our system, and our Administrator in particular.
I will read what was said last night from the Hansard record. It was in relation to the Matter of Public Importance and the McArthur River Mine. The member for Fong Lim said:
- Another little aside about this was that the person who drafted the legislation at the time was the then Solicitor-General, Tom Pauling, who did a great job in drafting that legislation and having it available for the parliament. He was, I believe, justly rewarded and I support his appointment as the Administrator.
Those were the words used by the …
Mr Giles interjecting.
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! The member for Braitling is constantly mumbling at an audible level so we cannot hear the Leader of Government Business.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Braitling, if you can contain yourself, please. Standing Order 51. Thank you.
Dr BURNS: Thank you, Madam Speaker. At the time, you intervened and asked the member for Fong Lim to withdraw and apologise to this House, which he did.
Madam Speaker, I believe that it takes more than that. I believe that the member for Fong Lim should publicly apologise for the disgraceful assertion that the appointment of the Administrator, Mr Tom Pauling, was corrupt, because that is essentially what he was saying.
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order, order! Member for Fong Lim, order!
Mr TOLLNER: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Nowhere in any speech did I suggest that the Administrator was corrupt. I ask that the minister withdraw that allegation.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Fong Lim, if you wish to, you may approach me to make a personal explanation.
Mr ELFERINK: A point of order, Madam Speaker! The member for Fong Lim has every right to be upset. Standing Order 62 states that:
- No Member shall use offensive or unbecoming words against the Assembly or any Member of the Assembly …
The member for Fong Lim was quoted as saying one thing, and then reinterpreted as saying something entirely other than what he said by the Leader of Government Business. I believe that those words are offensive and unbecoming, and the minister should be asked to withdraw those offensive and unbecoming words.
Madam SPEAKER: I will seek some advice. In relation to the point of order, minister, I would like you to reword your …
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Before we continue, please resume your seat. … reword, bearing in mind Standing Order 62, but also bearing in mind that the member for Fong Lim has already withdrawn the comments and apologised to the House. Minister, if you would reword, that would be fine, thank you.
Mr TOLLNER: A point of order, Madam Speaker! The minister made a derogatory comment towards me. I would ask you to ask him to withdraw that comment, not just reword, and apologise.
Dr BURNS: Madam Speaker, speaking to the point of order, I did not say that the member for Fong Lim said that the Administrator was corrupt. What I have said was that he was asserting that the appointment of the Administrator was corrupt.
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr ELFERINK: Speaking to the point of order, Madam Speaker. He gave us an interpretation which is designed to satisfy the people in the Press Gallery. He gave an interpretation. He had no right to make that interpretation for this is an outrageous interpretation. This is a political stunt designed to do nothing more than obfuscate from the problems of that government.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Port Darwin, resume your seat. Minister, I would like you to reword and to withdraw the specific comments you have made regarding the member for Fong Lim, as I have explained to you, bearing in mind that the member for Fong Lim has actually apologised to the House and withdrawn the comments. If you can, continue, but if you are unable to continue in that way, then I will ask you to resume your seat.
Dr BURNS: Madam Speaker, I have acknowledged that the member for Fong Lim has withdrawn and apologised to this House.
Mr Tollner: You were asked to withdraw.
Mr ELFERINK: A point of order, Madam Speaker!
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Minister, can you please withdraw the comments?
Dr BURNS: I withdraw whatever comments relate to the member for Fong Lim, apologising to this House and withdrawing his comments to this House.
Madam SPEAKER: Thank you very much. He has withdrawn the comments. Resume your seat, member for Port Darwin.
Dr BURNS: My point is beyond that, Madam Speaker. It relates to the need for the member for Fong Lim to publicly apologise, not just to this House, but to publicly apologise for his comments last night because they cut to our very system of democracy and government. They cast a shadow over the office of the Administrator. I am calling on the Leader of the Opposition …
Mr Tollner: Rubbish, absolute rubbish. Sit down.
Madam SPEAKER: Order, order!
Dr BURNS: … if he has any leadership in him, to compel the member for Fong Lim to apologise.
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order, order!
Government Priorities
Mr MILLS to CHIEF MINISTER
Why is it that you want to build a new prison at Weddell in preference to building a new hospital for the people of Palmerston, the rural area, and the new city of Weddell? Why does prisoner comfort rank higher than the health services of the law abiding majority? Why are your priorities upside down?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I acknowledge the question from the Leader of the Opposition. He is so bereft of ideas, he is even repeating questions because he cannot think up new ones. The Leader of the Opposition is a one trick pony. This is not a case of either/or; this is a case of what responsible governments have to do in providing for correction facilities in the Northern Territory.
As a government, we have significantly expanded our health facilities right across the Northern Territory, a 90% increase in the Health budget, and we will continue to expand health services across the Northern Territory, including Palmerston and the new city of Weddell when it is built. We have runs on the board. We are doing that. The Palmerston Super Clinic is now up and running. It will be expanded with other services, over time. The new Health Minister is looking at plans for additional hospital and health facilities in the Palmerston area to cater for, not only a growing Palmerston region, but also the new city of Weddell and the growing rural area.
You can do more than one thing at a time in government. Certainly the crisis we have today is one of significantly increasing prisoner numbers, as a result of this government being tough on crime.
A member: Prisoner comfort over waiting times.
Mr HENDERSON: If you want to talk about who was soft on crime, it was the CLP for 27 years. When we came into government, we had a police force that was in tatters, we had a recruitment freeze that had gone on for about four years. If you do not have any police out there, you are not going to catch any crims. If you do not have any police out there you are not going to catch any people who are offending. That is what we inherited when we came into government.
What we have seen since we came to government is a 57% drop in property crime. That is a result of having more police out there. That is about being tough on crime. And what does that do? It drives your prisoner numbers up. We have a 68% drop in motor vehicle theft across the Northern Territory. What does that do? It puts more people in prison because you are catching more people.
Since 2001, total property offences, commercial and residential, have dropped 29%. Every year, that is 9104 fewer property offences. That is 9104 fewer victims every year of property offences in the Northern Territory under a Labor government than under a CLP government. CLP governments: more crime, fewer police, lower prisoner numbers. Labor government: reductions in crime, more police, higher prisoner numbers. That is why we have to build a new gaol. We will and we will bring in …
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr HENDERSON: … a new era in Correctional Services.
Economic Stimulus Package –
Northern Territory Summit
Northern Territory Summit
Ms WALKER to CHIEF MINISTER
The Territory government has acted swiftly to prepare for the implementation of the Prime Minister’s economic stimulus package. You have also announced that you will be hosting a summit this weekend of business and community leaders on this issue. Can you advise the House in detail on the proposed summit?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Nhulunbuy for her question. Yes, the Prime Minister’s announcement last week was very significant for the nation, very significant for the Northern Territory. I have …
Mr Giles: Sold out the Territory.
Ms Purick: You have sold out the Territory.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr HENDERSON: Perhaps the member for Braitling may not want to protect jobs in his electorate, but I want to protect jobs in the Northern Territory. He may not care about jobs in his electorate, and I challenge ...
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Opposition members! Member for Fong Lim, member for Braitling, cease interjecting. Chief Minister, you have the call.
Mr HENDERSON: I challenge the member for Braitling: write to your constituents and say you oppose the package; you oppose the $950 to your constituents - I bet you will not. That is the challenge. You write to them and say: ‘I am not going to stand here and protect jobs in the Northern Territory’…
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order, member for Braitling!
Ms Lawrie: Improve the schools.
Mr HENDERSON: Yes, absolutely. The schools in his electorate: ‘No, I do not support expenditure in primary schools in the electorate; I do not support my constituents who are earning $80 000 or less’ …
Mr TOLLNER: A point of order Madam Speaker! The Chief Minister knows that the member for Braitling has never made any such assertions that he did not support jobs or schools or anything like that.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Fong Lim, there is no point of order. Resume your seat.
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: This is Question Time and the Chief Minister has the call.
Mr HENDERSON: Thank you, Madam Speaker. This side of the House does support jobs and …
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr HENDERSON: … that is why I have moved quickly to establish mechanisms across government that, when the bill does pass the Senate this evening, and I hope this does, that money will quickly flow to small business in the Northern Territory, and that is what I am establishing across government.
The plan includes the Development Consent Authority to meet every two weeks instead of every month. This will actually speed up the flow of projects to the market, give greater certainty to developers, and it is something that has been very well received by the development community.
There will be a summit of construction industry leaders held this week to brief industry and to get all ideas on the table about how we can get this money out right across the Northern Territory, across our regions and into our communities as quickly as possible, and get real value for money for the dollars that are going to flow through from Canberra.
We have dedicated stimulus action squads set up throughout government departments to get these projects up and running as quickly as we possibly can. We will be looking at new panel arrangements for getting contracts out as quickly as we possibly can. We are having a short, sharp review of procurement to cut red tape. We are looking at the various thresholds where you are required to go to tender. There will be checks and balances all the way through this but, again, very well received by the business community.
In regard to the summit this weekend, around 100 business people and groups representing the community, such as school principals, NT Council of Social Services, as well as business and unions will be invited to attend. They will receive a briefing from me on the package. They will be briefed by senior public servants, including the Coordinator-General, on the intended approach, and we will be seeking immediate feedback and comment. It is our intention to get the maximum amount of money we will be allocated from Canberra out into the business community to support jobs right across the Northern Territory. There is much work to do and there is a significant amount of funding on the table for the Northern Territory.
Let us not forget that the Senate vote is due tonight. The advice that I had before Question Time is that the Greens are now backing the package. The positions of Senator Xenophon and Senator Fielding are unknown at this point which makes Senator Nigel Scullion pretty important for the Northern Territory. The Greens are there, they are standing up for jobs. The Labor Party is standing up for jobs. If Senator Nigel Scullion was to truly represent the interests of Territorians in the Senate, he will support this package tonight, and I call on him to do that.
Mr Mills: Standing up for scrutiny.
Mr HENDERSON: I pick up on the comment from the Leader of the Opposition: ‘standing up for scrutiny’. He has had a week to scrutinise the package, so he has had plenty of time to scrutinise it and ask questions, if he has asked questions. He has had plenty of time, as the Country Liberal member - as opposed to the National member or the Liberal member, or whatever he is sitting as these days in the Senate - to seek a briefing from the Treasurer’s office. He has had plenty of time to scrutinise this package, he has had a week.
Having scrutinised the package, I call on him to support it, because his vote could be critical tonight - critical to every single primary school in the Northern Territory receiving a significant upgrade; critical to 12 795 small businesses in the Northern Territory getting a tax break to keep Territorians employed in a job. His vote will be critical regarding our share of 20 000 new homes to be built right across the Northern Territory. His vote will be critical for 185 extra Defence Housing properties to be built across the Northern Territory. His vote will be critical to some 80 000 Territorians who could benefit with an extra $900 to spend in the community supporting jobs. Therefore, his vote is going to be critical tonight.
If the Leader of the Opposition had any leadership in him at all, he would be instructing Senator Scullion to vote for this bill.
Darwin Correctional Centre, Berrimah – Reason for Removal
Mr MILLS to CHIEF MINISTER
Your new Minister for Correctional Services’ first public statement was in support of a low-security detention facility in which to rehabilitate low-risk prisoners. To me, that is plainly interpreted as support for a prison farm. Why do you insist on wasting $300m on a prison at Weddell when $50m would allow you to establish a prison farm at Katherine or Tennant Creek and show real support for the regions? Will you finally come clean and admit that the real reason for bulldozing Berrimah is because you want the land?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I acknowledge the question from the Leader of the Opposition. This is not an either/or option; we have to do both. We have to do both because the trajectory that shows the increase in prisoner numbers means that we have to have a community correctional service as well as a new prison. It is not either/or. Wherever he plucked that number of $50m from, $50m is not going to buy you additional capacity to cater for the increased prisoner population projected for the Northern Territory - not unless they are going to slash the police numbers again like they did last time when they were in office. It is not a case of either/or.
The difference between the work camps that our new Corrections minister will work policy up on and the prison farm option that the Leader of the Opposition is putting on the table - which would not cater for the increased prisoner numbers in the Northern Territory - is that we will be looking at real education, training and job outcomes. It will not be about growing vegetables - that is a 1950s idea. It will be about education, training and jobs.
We are talking about seeing our low-level security prisoners in the Northern Territory having a tough experience in going to gaol, but also getting an education outcome that will benefit them, hopefully, to reintegrate into society and get a job; by getting a training outcome that will deliver them a formal training Certificate I or II, or possibly even Certificate III level, that will assist them to reintegrate and get a job. It will not be about growing vegetables.
That is the difference between the Territory government’s plan and the Leader of the Opposition’s plan. There is no way that building a prison farm anywhere in the Northern Territory is going to cater for the ever-increasing demand on our custodial and correctional facilities in the Northern Territory.
ABS Labour Force Statistics –
Effect on Economy
Effect on Economy
Mr GUNNER to TREASURER
This morning, the Australian Bureau of Statistics released Labour Force Statistics for January, including unemployment figures. What do these figures mean for the Australian and Northern Territory economies?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Fannie Bay for his question. The figures released today showed an increase. The national unemployment rate is now at 4.8%. For the Northern Territory, our trend unemployment has risen to 4.2%, up from 3.8%. While the unemployment rate is increasing, the number of jobs, that is, labour force participation, is also increasing, both nationally and in the Territory. Nationally, the number of jobs increased by 1200. That is in stark contrast to market expectations that thought the number of jobs would drop nationally by 18 000. However, it does bode for tough times ahead.
In the Territory, the number of jobs has increased by 440 in January. The better than expected figures have been attributed to the Rudd government’s previous $10.4bn stimulus package from October of last year. ANZ senior economist, Katie Dean, said today that the recent interest rate cuts and the stimulus package helped buoy the market. ‘The policy stimulus measures are having an impact’, she said. There is no doubt that without another stimulus package jobs will be lost.
That is why the Territory government is calling on the CLP Senator Nigel Scullion to vote tonight for Territorians before his Liberal mates in Canberra, to vote for the economic stimulus package, to vote for jobs for Territorians.
Police Communications System –
Incident at Palmerston
Incident at Palmerston
Mr CHANDLER to CHIEF MINISTER
At about 4.15 pm on Thursday, 29 January this year, a call was made to the Palmerston police on 8999 3422 in relation to the assault of a young school girl by a violent mob in front of my electorate office. Yet, this morning on ABC radio Darwin Police Commander Rob Kendrick said police had no details of the call. Minister, I was there. I can assure you the call was made. This indicates a serious breakdown in the police communications system and highlights a force under incredible strain. What do you intend to do about failings within the police communications system, and why should Territorians have any confidence that their emergency calls will be responded to in a timely manner?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Brennan for his question. I agree with the member for Brennan: any assault is one assault too many, and an assault by a mob of people on a 12-year-old girl is absolutely outrageous. Certainly, I do expect police to respond, and to respond quickly. I have every single expectation for them to do that.
Madam Speaker, this issue about whether there is a problem with the call centre at Berrimah is one that will be worked through. Superintendent Kendrick said today on the radio that they had done a lot of work in trying to track that particular call. Specifically, his words were:
- ‘And whilst I will not give 100% assurance, I can say we have spent quite a bit of time going through all our records, phone calls from our com centre staff because, you know, that certainly indicated to us that there was a problem if there was a serious assault occurring within a shopping centre and we did not attend. But the reality is I think a lot of assumptions may have been made and no call was actually put through to the police.
That is what Superintendent Kendrick said today.
Of course, as Police minister, I have been to the call centre at Berrimah on a number of occasions. It is highly sophisticated. It has top line equipment, not only in terms of receiving calls, but dispatching …
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr HENDERSON: The four commissioners in exile, Madam Speaker. Geez, they did not go very far in the police force, did they?
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr HENDERSON: Four commissioners in exile, Madam Speaker, never to be promoted. That is why they became politicians, Madam Speaker.
The call centre is technically efficient. Every single call is recorded, and there is the capacity for officers to actually go back through calls and track exactly what time the call was made, the recording of what the report was about, and the operator’s advice to the person calling in is also recorded. Superintendent Kendrick is saying that they have not been able to track that particular call. From that, I do not leap to the conclusion that there is a systemic problem with the call system, because that is not the advice that I have.
I do accept the member for Brennan saying that a call may have been made. The advice I have is that police have been unable to track that particular call, and every single call is recorded.
The bottom line - one assault is one assault too many. If a 12-year-old girl or anyone is being assaulted in the Northern Territory and a call is made to the police, I know their triaging system, I know that officers would be despatched immediately as it would be a priority call. What happened in this particular circumstance, I do not know if we will ever know, but it certainly is the exception rather than the rule. One assault is one assault too many.
Charles Darwin – 200th Anniversary of Birth
Mr GUNNER to CHIEF MINISTER
Today marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin, the namesake of our capital city. Can you please outline how the Territory government will be marking this important commemoration?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, it is a significant day today for our capital city and the person it was named after – his 200th birthday – and it is a birthday being celebrated not just here but by the scientific community across the world. Although Charles Darwin was not on the voyage of the Beagle when it came to our shores, his name does live on in our wonderful capital city of Darwin.
There are towns called Darwin in Clark County, Illinois and similar places in Ohio, Minnesota and California, but no other place in the world named after him is a capital city. Darwin was gazetted as a city 50 years ago, coinciding with the centenary of the publication of his seminal work On the Origin of Species.
To mark the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s birth, I am pleased that my government is supporting the following events. I know the Environment minister attended this one the other day at the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, and that is an exhibition that demonstrates Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution through crocodiles: Super Crocodilians – Darwin’s Ultimate Survival Story. When the minister talked to me about these 12 metre monstrous animals that would have been on this earth all of those millions of years ago, it was truly a scary spectacle.
$90 000 is being provided to the Charles Darwin Symposium, an initiative of our university and the symposium will be Charles Darwin’s Contribution to Science and Society. It will be held in the Convention Centre from 22 to 24 September 2009. We already have many international speakers who will attend the event, along with international and national delegates.
We are contributing $10 000 towards the Origin of the Species exhibition, which gives the Territory Library the opportunity to borrow a rare and valuable first edition copy of On the Origin of Species from the State Library of New South Wales. I urge all honourable members to see that wonderful book when it is presented here.
We are also contributing $7000 towards a public lecture: ‘Historical Views of the North Australian Environments’ organised by the Northern Territory Historical Society. The public lecture will be followed by a guided boat tour in the harbour tracing the Beagle’s journey.
I also offer my congratulations to the Darwin City Council for their $300 000 contribution to commemorating the voyage of the Beagle and the legacy of Charles Darwin through the Public Art project of The HMS Beagle Ship Bell Chime. It will be a great attraction to locals and visitors alike. I know my colleague, the Deputy Chief Minister, was at the presentation of this project the other day.
Few cities in the world – well, we are the only city named after such a wonderful pre-eminent scientist. It is his 200th birthday today and we will celebrate that birthday through the rest of the year. I urge all Territorians, if you have an opportunity to take part in any of the activities, to join in.
Police Communications System –
Incident at Palmerston
Incident at Palmerston
Mr CHANDLER to CHIEF MINISTER
In regard to the incident involving the assault of a young girl, the main mob had dispersed well before the police finally arrived some two hours later. My question is: why did the police turn up if there was no call?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, maybe the member for Port Darwin, as one of the commissioners-in-exile, would remember and recall, I suppose, that if an assault is taking place, has taken place, and it is in a significant public area such as a shopping centre, you would probably assume, with mobile phone calls these days, that maybe more than one call was made to police …
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order, order!
Mr HENDERSON: Madam Speaker, crimes and offences are quite often reported after they have occurred, for whatever reason. I do not have the operational details right here, right now, as to when the call was dispatched and the officers dispatched, and the nature of the call-in that led to that dispatch.
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order, opposition members, cease interjecting.
Mr HENDERSON: People opposite ask questions and they do not listen to the answers.
I quoted from Superintendent Rob Kendrick, who today said that they went back through all of the recorded calls around the time the call - I will not use ‘alleged to have been made’ - but, said to have been made, and there was no call able to be traced at that particular point in time.
I do not know what led to the subsequent dispatch of the officers. The call centre at Berrimah is state-of-the-art, the technology is state-of-the-art, the CAD systems that assist officers to deploy police resources is state-of-the-art, and one assault is one assault too many.
Economic Stimulus Package –
Effect on Housing in the Territory
Effect on Housing in the Territory
Ms WALKER to MINISTER for HOUSING
Can you please outline to the House the potential benefits of the Prime Minister’s stimulus package for housing in the Northern Territory?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for her question. Through very responsible management of the Northern Territory, this government has built a very strong economy, and that has led to significant population growth. People are coming to the Territory because there are jobs here. That puts huge pressures on our housing system and, as the Chief Minister highlighted over the last week, we need an extra 1700 new dwellings every year in the Territory to keep pace with these people coming to the Northern Territory and taking up jobs that have been created because of the strong economy we have.
Since coming to office in 2001, this government has boosted spending and investment in public housing by 60%. Over the next five years, we will spend approximately $1bn in public and social housing, including the bush. This is not only improving the numbers, but improving the quality and the quantity, and through that work, we will create jobs and we can create jobs in the housing and construction area as well.
I have listened over the last couple of days in relation to the stimulus package, and I know the CLP has lost touch with the business community, lost face in the business community here in the Northern Territory, but they just do not make the link. When you have this stimulus package, money equals work equals jobs - and that is what we are saying. We are creating jobs through this stimulus package to meet a slowdown, meet potential job risks. Without the money, the jobs do not exist, so if you do not support the money, you do not support the jobs. I am astounded by their lack of support. They do not make the link, and they have lost touch with the business community.
Madam Speaker, there certainly will be ongoing development of the whole-of-government housing strategy. That housing strategy will drive public housing reforms, boost the availability of affordable housing, and support the non-government sector - a critical sector in this economy.
The housing stimulus package is worth $6.4bn to Australia, and we expect to get our fair share of that pie. As the Prime Minister did allude to, he wants action on the ground. That is certainly what we are aiming for. I urge the CLP to support this. It means jobs and services for our community.
Container Deposit Scheme
Mr WOOD to MINISTER for NATURAL RESOURCES, ENVIRONMENT and HERITAGE
Recently, an article in the magazine our place highlighted a trial of container deposits at Lajamanu funded by your department. James Newman, from the Centre of Appropriate Technology, wrote in the magazine that the container deposit scheme has been hailed a success by all those who have participated. If it is a success in Lajamanu, then surely we could make it a success in the rest of the Territory. When will your government tell the anti-Container Deposit Legislation lobby group, the beverage industry and environmental council to nick off? Will you stand up for the Territory by introducing a simple means of recycling, reducing landfill, and cleaning up our litter by introducing a Territory-wide container deposit scheme in the Northern Territory?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Nelson for his question. The scheme at Lajamanu has been a positive step towards cleaning litter in one small community. However, using your words, member for Nelson, one size does not fit all. You are really disappointed that we have not taken a national approach to it, but I am working with my counterparts around the country, and the minister for Environment at the federal level, Peter Garrett. We are looking at that at our ministerial councils. We will get back to this parliament and give you the advice when we have decided a national approach to it.
Economic Stimulus Package –
Update from Senate
Update from Senate
Mr GUNNER to CHIEF MINISTER
Could you please advise of the latest from the Senate in respect of the stimulus package?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Fannie Bay for his question. I am very angry to hear that the Senate has just rejected the $42bn stimulus package …
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order, order! The Chief Minister has the call.
Mr HENDERSON: Madam Speaker, this is an absolute disgrace. The Australian Greens and Family First’s Steve Fielding voted with the government, tying the vote at 35:35. Senator Xenophon voted with the Coalition. That meant that the CLP Senator Nigel Scullion could have made the difference here – he could have, and should have, delivered this for Territorians. I am not going to call them Country Liberals in here anymore. They are the Liberal Party. The Liberals over there, the spivs in suits who sit over there, take their orders from Malcolm Turnbull in Canberra …
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr HENDERSON: They take their orders. They look like a bunch of North Shore Sydney bankers sitting over there, taking their orders from Canberra. They have failed Territorians. The Leader of the Opposition has failed Territorians. What the Liberals who sit opposite have done is voted for higher unemployment in the Territory. What they have voted for is to throw Territorians out of a job. I am very angry about this ...
A member: Scrutiny.
Mr HENDERSON: It is not scrutiny. They had an opportunity to scrutinise it, and they voted it down. They voted it down. The spivs in suits, the …
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order, order!
Mr HENDERSON: I cannot believe that the first leader of the Country Liberal Party, Paul Everingham, would have walked away from jobs in the Northern Territory. I cannot believe that every other CLP Chief Minister would have walked away from Canberra without the money that was on the table, and walked away from jobs in the Northern Territory. Just for cheap political point scoring, Senator Scullion and the Liberal Party that sits opposite us have abandoned the Northern Territory ...
Mr CHANDLER: A point of order, Madam Speaker! I am proud of the Country Liberals, the party I represent …
Dr Burns: Oh, that is not a point of order. Sit down, you clown!
Mr CHANDLER: … as you would be of the Labor Party. Could you please refer to us as the Country Liberals, thank you.
Mr ELFERINK: A point of order, Madam Speaker!
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Member for Brennan, there is no point of order. Member for Port Darwin, what is your point of order?
Mr ELFERINK: Madam Speaker, whilst you often counsel members on this side of the House on their conduct, I would ask correspondingly that the Leader of Government Business withdraw the word ‘clown’ that he just used in reference to the member for Brennan.
Madam SPEAKER: Leader of Government Business, would you withdraw, please?
Dr BURNS: I withdraw, Madam Speaker.
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Any further interjections and members are on warnings. Chief Minister.
Mr HENDERSON: This is a sad day for the Northern Territory, because it does mean that Territorians who otherwise would have been employed are going to be out of a job. This is a sad day, and I genuinely cannot believe - I personally think the Leader of the Opposition is a decent sort of a fellow - and I cannot believe that he would sit there and see Territorians being thrown out of work - which is what is going to happen as a result of this. What is going to happen - $200m in capital works for schools, roads, and houses, $200m …
Mr Styles interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order, member for Sanderson!
Mr HENDERSON: How many jobs does that buy? That buys hundreds and hundreds of jobs across the Territory – in our urban centres, in our regions, in Alice Springs, it buys hundreds and hundreds of jobs. $900 to about 80 000 Territorians will support hundreds, possibly thousands, of jobs in the Northern Territory through consumption expenditure.
Mr TOLLNER: A point of order, Madam Speaker! The Chief Minister knows quite well that had he done his job and gone to Canberra and got a decent whack of money for the Northern Territory, he might well have …
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Member for Fong Lim, resume your seat.
Mr HENDERSON: Madam Speaker, the only thing the member for Fong Lim delivered for Territorians was flagpoles in schools. That was the only thing he ever delivered: flagpoles in schools. $200m in capital works for our schools, for houses and roads across the Northern Territory; and tax cuts for 12 795 small businesses. They have walked away from the business community in the Northern Territory.
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr HENDERSON: Senator Scullion could have made a difference. Today, very tragically, this is a seminal moment in the Territory’s political history. This is the day that the Country Liberals have really just become the Liberal Party in the Northern Territory. This is about a Liberal Party takeover in the Northern Territory. The spivs in suits over there doing the bidding of the merchant banker from the north shore of Sydney in this parliament in the Northern Territory and abandoning Territorians and jobs in the Territory. It is an absolute outrage.
Madam Speaker, the Leader of the Opposition stands condemned. Senator Nigel Scullion stands condemned. This is a sad day for the Territory.
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order, order!
Dr BURNS (Leader of Government Business): Madam Speaker, I ask that further questions be placed on the Written Question Paper.
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order, order! Deputy Chief Minister, I ask you to withdraw those comments, please.
Ms LAWRIE: I withdraw, Madam Speaker.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016