2006-06-15
Nightcliff High School - Future
Mr MILLS to MINISTER for EMPLOYMENT, EDUCATION and TRAINING
Big, centralist government is the way of Labor administrations. Your education reform has created mega-schools and threatened the future of smaller high schools. You may well call this Building Better Schools but, in 2007, Nightcliff and Dripstone High Schools will each have enrolments of less than 100, while Sanderson’s enrolments may be around 200. Yesterday, we heard about the Chief Minister’s long-term plans. Will Nightcliff High School be accepting enrolments as a DEET school in five or three years from now?
ANSWER
Mr Acting Speaker, I thank the member for Blain for his question. I want to go right back to the basics of why we started the review into secondary education …
Mr Mills: No, you have been over all that. It is a simple question.
Mr STIRLING: … way back with Professor Gregor Ramsey, because we had concerns that the quality of educational outcomes in our senior …
Mrs Braham: Not true!
Mr ACTING SPEAKER: Please allow the minister the courtesy of finishing his question.
Mrs Braham: His question?
Mr ACTING SPEAKER: His answer.
Mr STIRLING: It is your Question Time. I have all day.
Mr Mills: Answer the question then.
Mr ACTING SPEAKER: Please continue, minister.
Mr STIRLING: Mr Acting Speaker, I want to go back because I want to premise everything that is said in this debate, as to why we went into this. It was because we had concerns about the quality of the educational outcomes - particularly the senior levels - of our high schools. Guess what? Guess what Professor Gregor Ramsey found? That we were not performing, even up to South Australia, which is generally acknowledged as being towards the bottom of educational outcomes in Australia which, of course, places the Northern Territory somewhere off the graph.
That is not a comfortable position; for a minister for Education, in any jurisdiction, to understand that your students have been disadvantaged in that sense that they are performing, in educational outcomes, the worst in Australia. That is why we went for the review. That is why we have been through three years of exhaustive community consultation in and around getting the middle schools approach in the Northern Territory.
In relation to the question and particular schools with thin numbers during 2007. We make no excuse for that. We have to make a sustained change around the creation of middle schools. However, at the same time, it was necessary to balance the needs, particularly of the Year 7 students and their move to high school, and the ability of high schools to take those students in, in the first instance. There were infrastructure impediments such that we could not make that change at the start of school year 2007; and necessary to carry the move of Year 7s over into 2008. The same impediments do not exist in relation to the move of Year 10 across to a senior school structure, and that change will occur from 2007. Nonetheless, whilst those schools will have less than optimum numbers, it is for one year, and it is a necessary situation in the transition of creating the middle years by 2008 and, in the case of Darwin middle school, fully by 2009.
We have heard different views from the opposition at different times. On one hand, we took too long, enough talk, get on with it and, then when we made decisions, we were rushing it. Now, of course, we are creating a situation where, presumably …
Mrs Braham: Will you give a guarantee you will not close any schools …
Ms Carney: Mums and Dads were amongst those at meetings you could not be bothered turning up to.
Dr Lim: Which schools will be closing?
Mr ACTING SPEAKER: Order, members!
Mr STIRLING: … presumably we are setting up schools for closure. Let me make this absolutely clear. If any of these schools were to be closed, the time to do it was now, and the decision to close those schools would have been taken by Cabinet some weeks ago when it made the final decision around middle schools. That was the time - and ANZAC Hill was under consideration for a merger with Alice Springs High - to do it. We have made that commitment to keep both schools open. We expect that both schools will grow. We are aware of numbers of students in the Alice Springs and, indeed, the general central region that do not attend school. Some of those, of course, are short-term and long-term visits to Alice Springs, and then they go back to their home community. However, we ought be attracting them into the school system, into the education system, for the time that they are in town. Some effort will have to be made by the department and those schools to see that that occurs.
In relation to Nightcliff, given its location and the quality of the infrastructure around that school, I would expect that that would become a middle school of excellence, in the same way that, many years ago, it was a comprehensive high school of excellence in the system. This mob - the CLP - took their eye off that and let that school diminish in the eyes of the school community and parents, and that is why it finished up with fewer numbers than it ought have had, had it retained its reputation as a school of excellence, which it did have. Sadly, it had long diminished before we came to government in 2001. It will become …
Members interjecting.
Mr STIRLING: You had such mugs as ministers for education, they never bothered about it, or turned an eye to the quality. We have. We are concerned about the quality of the education of our students. That is why we have made these changes and I will stand on this statement: Nightcliff will become a middle school of outstanding excellence.
Skills Shortages – Training Initiatives
Mr NATT to MINISTER for BUSINESS and ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Skills shortages continue to be one of the biggest issues facing local business. Can the minister inform the House of any outcomes from efforts being made to build our skills base in the Territory?
ANSWER
Mr Acting Speaker, I thank the member for Drysdale for his question. Undoubtedly, the biggest single issue facing our business community across the Northern Territory is the skills shortage. That was identified again very specifically in the latest Sensis Business Survey. This government has adopted a three-point strategy to address the skills shortage - a massive investment and commitment to train 10 000 apprentices and trainees over the course of this government. My colleague, the Minister for Employment, Education and Training, said yesterday that we are on target for those numbers.
The second part was our skilled migration strategy, which was launched almost two years ago. I am very proud to say here today that, in the first 10 months of this financial year, we have nearly doubled the number of skilled migrants who came to the Northern Territory two years ago. In 2003-04, 445 skilled migrants came to the Northern Territory. In the first 10 months of this year, 813 permanent and temporary skilled migrants have come to the Territory to take up jobs. That is a big effort in an international market where skills are in short supply.
The Territory’s economy is the fastest growing in Australia. Our small to medium businesses lead business confidence over the national average by about 10%. As I said yesterday, 27% of our small businesses are looking to put extra staff on this year, and migrants are playing an increasing part in that.
As part of the strategy, staff from my department recently attended skills expos across Europe and Asia, promoting the Territory as an ideal place to live and work. We also provide migration-related services to assist businesses to recruit people from overseas, and to retain skilled internationals who are currently in Australia on working holiday visas. There is, I suppose, a little concern about the people who come in on the two-year temporary visa. However, experience is showing the vast majority of those workers who come in on those temporary visas for two years end up applying for permanent residency and being part of our population on a permanent basis.
Today I met with Kevin and Fiona Cruickshank, who have come from South Africa and made Darwin their home. Kevin is a qualified vet, and he and his family have come to the Territory under the Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme which my department assisted. Kevin is a vet at the Rapid Creek veterinary clinic. I met him and his wife, Fiona, and their 18-month-old child. Fiona has brought her parents out from South Africa - five new Territorians. I wish Kevin and Fiona and their whole family all the best in the Territory.
As we all know, many of us here came from overseas or interstate. In fact, around this Chamber, a minority were actually born here. The Territory has always embraced people from overseas. It is great to see us doubling those numbers. We will continue to work hard, and I am sure all honourable members wish each and every one of those 813 migrants who have arrived in the last 10 months our very best wishes and hope that they make a great life for themselves here in the Northern Territory.
Middle Schools Policy
Mr MILLS to MINISTER for EMPLOYMENT, EDUCATION and TRAINING
You sold your plan to create middle schools by telling us that it was to improve the transition from primary school to secondary school for our teenagers. Just how is creating a 1500 enrolment mega-school on a small site in Palmerston building a better school for middle year students? Do you admit that building a mega-school serves the organisational needs of bureaucrats rather than the educational needs of teenagers?
ANSWER
Mr Acting Speaker, I thank the member for Blain for his question. There are two important transition steps – well, they are all transition steps as you go through the system of education - that stand out. One is that transition from the current primary school to the secondary school system. There is another step, not generally recognised, but it is recognised by students; that is, that step from Year 10 into Years 11 and 12. I have heard, and seen and read letters, and have had letters to that effect myself, that there is a shock to the students in both of those steps. One is coming out of a primary school system where they are generally used to one classroom teacher all day, the same class. They might break up …
Mr Mills: In a school of about 300.
Mr STIRLING: … for a few subjects during the day. Then they go day one high school in Year 8 ...
Mr Mills: To 1500.
Mr STIRLING: … and they may …
Mr Mills: That is sensitive.
Members interjecting.
Mr STIRLING: Mr Acting Speaker, I am prepared to go on, but I am not going to stand here and shout ...
Members interjecting.
Mr STIRLING: Either he wants the answer or he does not.
Mr ACTING SPEAKER: Opposition, please! Minister, it is your call. If you feel you have answered the question, please be seated.
Mr STIRLING: They should show some manners.
Mr ACTING SPEAKER: They should have learnt their lesson by …
Mr Mills: Who is ‘they’?
Mr ACTING SPEAKER: You, member for Blain. The minister is trying to answer the question. You asked it. If you are really genuine about wanting the answer, please listen to his reply.
Mr Mills: I am genuine about getting an answer.
Mr ACTING SPEAKER: Up out of your seat if you are talking to me.
Mr Mills: I am genuine about getting an answer.
Mr ACTING SPEAKER: Then do not interrupt. Please continue, minister.
Mr STIRLING: These are the two difficulties in the system of education that has been articulated to me by parents, teachers and students themselves; that is, the difference in the education system between primary and secondary. They are generally used to one teacher in the primary school, with strong pastoral care and the teacher knowing a lot about the student, the family, the background, the circumstances, and the difficulties that the particular student might go through in their daily school life. That is compared to going straight into a high school situation at present where they may be confronted with up to 10 teachers. They will have a home room teacher but they will have not as much to do with that home room teacher as they had with their primary school teacher. They will go from maths, to English, to history, right across a whole broad range of subject specialist areas where the subjects are taught, not the students. That is a critical difference: the subjects are taught, not the students.
For some students, that is a bewildering experience and one that takes them some time …
Mr Mills: Especially when they have lost their basketball court at Palmerston High School.
Mr ACTING SPEAKER: Member for Blain!
Mr STIRLING: … for some …
Ms CARNEY: A point of order, Mr Acting Speaker! Is it your ruling …
Mr ACTING SPEAKER: Is this a point of order?
Ms CARNEY: Yes. You interrupted the minister’s answer by drawing attention to my colleague, the member for Blain.
Mr ACTING SPEAKER: There is no point of order.
Ms CARNEY: My point of order, Mr Acting Speaker is: is it your ruling that members of the opposition are not to interject while you are Acting Speaker of this House?
Mr ACTING SPEAKER: My ruling is to interpret the relevant standing order, which I believe is Standing Order 51, about interruptions. If it is a genuine interjection seeking information then, by all means, ask the question.
Ms CARNEY: Thank you, Mr Acting Speaker.
Mr ACTING SPEAKER: Ask the question, but do not interject.
Ms CARNEY: Thank you, Mr Acting Speaker.
Mr Mills: No interjection at all?
Mr ACTING SPEAKER: Please continue, minister.
Mr STIRLING: I will try to wrap this up, Mr Acting Speaker.
Under the middle schools, we break that approach right down so that the students coming out of primary school into the high school will be exposed to probably no more then three or four teachers across those Years 7, 8, and 9. That allows greater knowledge of the student by the teachers and vice versa, so you get stronger pastoral care.
The secondary transition in this - and I have seen this by way of letters to me and correspondence in newspapers and the like - is that there is a shock for many students who have drifted and cruised through Years 7, 8, 9 and 10, then are confronted with the massive workloads when they get to Stage 1 and Stage 2 - the serious end of high school, Year 11 and 12 - and they are unprepared. By putting Year 10s up there with Years 11 and 12 in the senior school structure, allowing them to undertake their Stage 1 Year 11 subjects in Year 10 and get their foot right in the door across a range of VET subjects if they want to go that way into a traineeship or apprenticeship, we are greatly strengthening the readiness and the preparation of those Year 10 students for those slogging, solid years of Years 11 and 12. You want to pick up on some of that feedback from students because that is what we have been told.
Mr MILLS: What about Palmerston? A point of order, Mr Acting Speaker! The question was specifically directed at the issue in Palmerston. There was no reference whatsoever to the question that I asked. I want answers.
Mr ACTING SPEAKER: There is no point of order.
Government Strategies to Tackle Alcohol Abuse
Ms ANDERSON to MINISTER for RACING, GAMING and LICENSING
Last week, the minister announced restrictions on the issuing of takeaway licences as part of a broad government strategy to tackle alcohol abuse in the community. Can the minister advise the House on further steps being taken to tackle this problem?
ANSWER
Mr Acting Speaker, I thank the member for Macdonnell for her question. We have introduced, and will continue to introduce, a quite powerful array of tools to help the government tackle the problem of alcohol abuse and the antisocial behaviour associated with it across the Territory. We introduced, of course, the new Alcohol Framework. We are investing considerable effort in local area alcohol management plans, facilitated under that Alcohol Framework. We are investing in additional alcohol rehabilitation places right across the Territory. We are introducing alcohol courts, to take effect from 1 July 2006. We have in place quite severe restrictions on the operations of liquor licences, and have placed a permanent ban on future takeaway licences being provided other than to hotels and clubs. We have introduced new antisocial behaviour laws, legislation that gives individuals the option of declaring their own private homes dry areas.
Today, I advise Territorians of the next step in these policies. We will issue a discussion paper and a draft bill over the next couple of weeks – I hope that it will be out there before the public for a period of four or five weeks – on the introduction of dry areas legislation right throughout the Territory.
Dry areas currently exist throughout many remote indigenous communities of the Territory, but this legislation will enable parts of urban areas, like neighbourhood parks, to also be declared dry. A local government council, the Director of Licensing, or the Police Commissioner would be able to make an application for a public area to be dry. Generally, we expect that they would be responding to community wishes. The Licensing Commission would invariably conduct an inquiry to determine if the area would be restricted from alcohol consumption. The community would be invited, of course, to comment on each application.
For dry areas that apply, the subsequent breaches would attract a proposed $500 fine and the alcohol taken away. However, we do not envisage the seizure of vehicles for breaches under these restricted areas, unlike the remote areas legislation which, of course, can confiscate vessel, aircraft or vehicle. We believe it is a further option that ought to be available to the community in this battle with alcohol abuse and antisocial behaviour. However, most importantly, the legislation probably sits somewhere between what occurs in dry area legislation now and the current 2 km law. We do not propose to repeal either of those pieces of legislation because they continue to serve their purpose.
What this will do, unlike the 2 km law, is enable the triggering of a process into courts where repeat offenders would be liable for direction under the alcohol court for prohibition orders in the first instance and/or direction, mandatory treatment, rehabilitation - those sorts of measures. That is why we are investing so much in that area.
I want to pick up on something the Leader of the Opposition was quoting yesterday from a report. She said that although alcohol and violence are commonly portrayed as interdependent in indigenous communities, it must be emphasised that alcohol itself does not cause violence, evident in the fact there are examples of alcohol-free indigenous communities where violence occurred and indigenous people who drink alcohol but are not violent. ‘Read the research’, she made the challenge to the Chief Minister. It is, in fact, the Leader of the Opposition who should read the research, Mr Acting Speaker, because what she neglected to mention was what the report went on to say. This is what the report says:
- What must be recognised and addressed is the strong behavioural parallels between people involved in alcohol abuse and those who are violent toward their families and their relationship with their community and the outside world. … ‘excessive alcohol consumption and violence together in some areas of Aboriginal Australia are becoming intrinsic dimensions of an emergent, if problematic, contemporary culture’.
If you put those two quotes together and, as it says, this statement recognises the problem of epidemic proportion. You wonder why we are continuing our approach to alcohol, ignored by the people opposite for the last years that they were in government?
Mrs BRAHAM: A supplementary question, Mr Acting Speaker.
Mr ACTING SPEAKER: No supplementary question.
Larrakeyah Sewage Outfall – Referral to EPA
Mrs MILLER to MINISTER for NATURAL RESOURCES, ENVIRONMENT and HERITAGE
You have repeatedly said that your so-called independent EPA will truly be independent. Here is an acid test for you. When this EPA is rolled out, will you make one of the first references to the EPA the Larrakeyah sewage outfall that has received so much negative publicity for your government? Will you guarantee that any recommendations coming out of the EPA Larrakeyah poo-shooter investigation will be made public? Will you ensure the Minister for Essential Services fixes the problems that the EPA identifies? What sanctions will you bring to bear if Power and Water fails to comply with EPA findings and recommendations?
ANSWER
Mr Acting Speaker, if the shadow member for the Environment had been listening yesterday, the member for Nelson asked quite a detailed question on this. I am not responsible for the poo-shooter; the macerator is actually the responsibility of the Minister for Essential Services.
However, I did say yesterday, regarding the existing licence that Power and Water has, which we regulate, that it is up for review when it expires on 31 July. As part of any renewal, we will look at what additional conditions will be put on that licence. There is a penalty now - and I said that quite clearly yesterday - that, if there are any breaches or failure to provide notification, and the department assessed it …
Mr Wood: What about the plastic bags?
Ms SCRYMGOUR: You did not ask the question, member for Nelson, and I am attempting to answer.
Mr Wood: I did, and you did not answer it yesterday.
Ms SCRYMGOUR: Well …
Mr Wood: Are you littering the harbour?
Mr ACTING SPEAKER: Minister, please direct your response through me.
Ms SCRYMGOUR: It is a bit hard because they are really provocative, especially the member for Nelson. He …
Mr Wood: You are avoiding the question.
Mr ACTING SPEAKER: Minister.
Ms SCRYMGOUR: Thank you, Mr Acting Speaker, I will attempt to answer the shadow minister’s …
Dr Toyne: Turn sideways.
Ms SCRYMGOUR: I am trying to turn sideways.
There are heavy penalties, member for Katherine. We are looking at that. My department is working with the minister for Fisheries. DPIFM and my department today agreed to look at further testing throughout the harbour. We have given a commitment to look at different areas around the harbour to test the water quality.
I know there is a lot of scaremongering and hype with this. I can assure everyone that the water quality in the harbour is the best that it has ever been in 15 years. Testing has proven that ...
Ms Carney: Hendo said he would not go diving there.
Mr Wood: He might get sick.
Ms SCRYMGOUR: Well, even in your time. We will do that testing in the next couple of days in different parts of the harbour to ensure that our great harbour is not polluted.
Action on 20-Year Generational Plan
Mr KNIGHT to MINISTER for INDIGENOUS AFFAIRS
Yesterday, you outlined the need for a national initiative for a generational 20-year plan to make significant gains in closing the gap in Aboriginal disadvantage. What is our government doing to deliver action on the key foundation areas for the priority communities such as Wadeye and the Alice Springs town camps?
ANSWER
Mr Acting Speaker, I thank one of those proud members of our government for asking the question - thanks, member for Daly. We had quite a discussion in here yesterday about the 20-year generational plan that I am proposing to other state governments and the federal government. It was interesting, there was a lot of negativity from that side of the House ...
Mr WOOD: A point of order, Mr Acting Speaker! Why the generalisation? Yesterday, I asked …
Mr ACTING SPEAKER: There is no point of order. Please continue, Chief Minister.
Ms MARTIN: What was interesting this morning, I did an interview with TopFM’s Daryl Manzie, who served in this House from 1983 to 2001. He said: ‘This is what we have been waiting for’, and he was so enthusiastic and so positive. He said: ‘I tried to get up, for example, a national housing strategy and I could not get that up’. He also said: ‘This plan is what it takes’. Thank you, Daryl Manzie. Your support and your knowledge of why we need this is a real fillip to what we are doing.
Members interjecting.
Ms MARTIN: As I outlined yesterday, I have talked to the Prime Minister, I have discussed with the Prime Minister the …
Members interjecting.
Ms Carney interjecting.
Mr ACTING SPEAKER: Leader of the Opposition! I remind members of Standing Order 51, which says: ‘… make any noise or disturbance which, in the opinion of the Speaker, is designed to interrupt or has the effect of interrupting the member speaking’. An interjection here and there is acceptable but, please, you are clearly interrupting to stop the Chief Minister speaking. Please continue, Chief Minister.
Ms MARTIN: Thank you, Mr Acting Speaker. It is an important for Australia that we grasp this opportunity for a national plan for generational change in our Aboriginal communities. I will be talking to governments over the next weeks, taking the plan to COAG and, hopefully, if I get agreement - and that is going to depend on the Prime Minister - then do that detailed work over the next four to six months and go back to COAG at the beginning of next year.
The member for Braitling asked yesterday, ‘What are we doing immediately?’ A lot of things were outlined about what we are doing immediately. I refer the member to the debate yesterday, ranging from education, regional development, police, justice and health. A lot of initiatives are taking place. We, of course, would like to do more, and that is why I am talking to the federal government. I refer you to the Agenda for Action. It is a very substantial document. It is not just a document, it is about actions. More recently, we have had the initiatives such as the joint police/FACS task force into child abuse, and then legislative actions to address gang violence. A lot of action is happening as, over the last five years, that which has been taken immediately.
However, in what we can do while we look at a longer term plan, a few weeks ago I put to the Indigenous Affairs minister, Mal Brough, that we should have action right now on key foundation areas. They are the important areas for the Territory of law and order, government, alcohol abuse, overcrowded housing and welfare reform. We have split those into what the Territory will do and what the Commonwealth needs to do. We are having detailed discussions about those.
This is not just about an ask for more dollars, particularly if you talk about welfare reform, it is how those dollars go. We have been quite specific about what we will do and what we need the federal government to do. I know the Opposition Leader said yesterday in debate that there is no need for more money ...
Ms Carney: I did not say that. Get it right.
Ms MARTIN: We dispute that. No need for more money from the federal government, no need. Anyone who says that simply has their head in the sand ...
Ms CARNEY: A point of order, Mr Acting Speaker! Enough is enough! I did not say yesterday that there is no need for more money, and the Chief Minister needs to do much better than mislead the House and Territorians.
Mr ACTING SPEAKER: Leader of the Opposition, there is no point of order.
Mr HENDERSON: A point of order, Mr Acting Speaker! The Leader of the Opposition just accused or alleged that the Chief Minister has misled the House. She should withdraw that. She knows she can only do that by way of substantive motion.
Mr ACTING SPEAKER: Leader of the Opposition, I ask you to withdraw that comment.
Ms CARNEY: I withdraw it, Mr Acting Speaker, and ask that the Chief Minister tell the truth.
Mr ACTING SPEAKER: Leader of the Opposition, do you withdraw the statement unreservedly?
Ms CARNEY: I withdraw it, yes, Mr Acting Speaker.
Mr ACTING SPEAKER: Leader of the Opposition, do you withdraw it unreservedly?
Ms CARNEY: Yes, Mr Acting Speaker.
Ms MARTIN: It is good to hear from the Leader of the Opposition that she has changed her mind and she will support us in asking the federal government for more assistance for indigenous issues across the Territory.
In addition to these foundation areas I have been discussing both with the Prime Minister and the Indigenous Affairs minister, we have also proposed actions for priority communities, such as Wadeye and Alice Springs. We have received a proposal from the Australian government for what is called an ‘intensive intervention’ in Galiwinku. I have given a commitment to the federal government we will work with them on that, that is fine. However, while I endorse that initiative, I believe that the priority for such intensive intervention is the community of Wadeye. It is our largest Aboriginal community and, for the last three years, it has been the subject of the COAG trial.
We need to work with the federal government on the chronic housing shortage there. We need to work on community safety initiatives. We need to look at meaningful activities for the young people, both activities and work. We would like to link this to the government’s welfare agenda, but also to the CDEP programs. We have asked for the remote area exemption to be lifted in Wadeye and for the federal government to fund another 100 jobs into that community.
While we welcome Galiwinku – that is terrific - we do not want the federal government’s attention taken away from Wadeye. It has been a COAG trial. We cannot say, because the outcomes we wanted in three years had not achieved: ‘Okay, Wadeye, let us look somewhere else’. What I am saying to the Indigenous Affairs minister is: welcome, Galiwinku, welcome the work we are doing together on Alice Springs, particularly on the town camps, but important to this Territory and our future is Wadeye.
Dry Areas Legislation- Implications
Mrs BRAHAM to MINISTER for RACING, GAMING and LICENSING
Last week, in a two-bedroom unit in a public housing complex, 17 visitors created a riot with their drinking. You have introduced the dry areas legislation for towns today – or are going to. My problem is that you are pushing the itinerant drinkers into public housing or into housing on town camps. Do you understand fully the implications of what you are doing? How do you think people in the public housing and the town camps are going to cope with the drinkers now that they are not out in the public?
ANSWER
Mr Acting Speaker, I thank the member for Braitling for her question which, I can tell from the way she asked, she delivers with some conviction and concern about where the legislative measures we are bringing to bear might eventually lead.
I just correct her - I announced today that we will put out …
Mrs Braham: Yes, I am sorry, announced today.
Mr STIRLING: … a discussion draft bill on the dry areas legislation. We have, of course, already in place the antisocial behaviour legislation. We have in place, as from 1 July 2006, the ability to declare a particular premises – your own – dry.
In the case of the 17 people packed into a two-bedroom unit - and I imagine it was not all that tidy, because that is what tends to happen in those sorts of situations - I would be talking to the tenant and encouraging the tenant to put up their hand and nominate that particular residence in which they live as a dry area. Then, she has the full force of the law on her side should 14, 15, 16 or 17 people come through the door, loaded with green cans, because they are then breaching that particular legislation.
Mrs Braham: That is really hard, as you know. There are cultural obligations.
Mr STIRLING: Yes, that is hard, but this is a tough area of quite complex social challenges before us. For example, on the one hand, we have the normal freedoms of life, we have a particular lifestyle in the Northern Territory. We do not want to affect that. We do not want to affect a person having fun on a Friday night, and having a few. We do not want to affect those people who go out to Nightcliff wharf, or to the Telegraph Station in Alice Springs and knock over a bottle of Chardonnay, or whatever, on a particular afternoon or evening. Therefore, it is a fine line and we have to draw that line between not disadvantaging those who drink alcohol sensibly - and, by far and away, the majority do. However, there is this hard core minority that are hell-bent on knocking themselves around with grog, and they are either subject to violence as victims, or they perpetrate violence on others. That is the hard core that we want to get to.
The longer term implications of where this legislation goes, and what happens - because this raises the question of what we saw in Port Augusta very clearly in terms of dry area legislation. I can say, when the legislation in Port Augusta, as it operates, was explained to the people from Alice Springs Town Council and the Alice Springs community who were at Port Augusta with me and the Mayor of Tennant Creek, frankly, their responses were pretty cold. They were a bit shamed that here was a measure designed to take it off the streets, out of sight, out of mind.
What that meant that was that 2 km out of town over the red sand dune, that is where the binge drinking was taking place at the same levels that it had been occurring before that legislation came into place. However, more dangerous and more concerning from that, was that they were out of sight and mind of the police and health professionals. If there was someone raped or there was someone bashed half to death, no one knew. No one knew and no one cared. To their credit - and I felt very proud to be a Territorian in this room during this presentation - one after the other Territory speakers said: ‘Not too keen on that’. They asked what happens to the people. At the local government level in the Territory, there was a concern for the victims of alcohol and what happens to them, which is not picked up in the Port Augusta experience.
I am saying that we are aware of the implications and where this might head. There is a long way to go on this, let me assure you - a long way to go. We are rewriting the entire Liquor Act as I speak. That is a process of work that will take 18 months ...
Mrs Braham: Do not create another problem by doing it, though.
Mr STIRLING: No. We need to have measures in place that we know will work today, but we have to be proactive in responses to where that might lead us. For example, if I was to jump up today and say: ‘That is it! No more, four or five litres casks, off the shelf, none in the Territory to be sold. Get rid of those casks!’ I do not have the power. The government have given me enormous powers under these bills …
Ms Carney: The Speaker has given you a lot of latitude to answer a very short question.
Mr STIRLING: … that have come through. If I said no more four and five litre casks, what happens if there is a substitution immediately to bottled port? Instead of taking the cardboard four and five litre Riesling or Moselle casks out the door, they take two or three glass bottles of port? You then have potential for dangerous litter if the bottle gets broken. You have potential for dangerous weapons in people’s hands.
We are mindful of trying to second guess where these things go. Your question is a legitimate one, and it is one that we will continue to give our consideration to.
Mr ACTING SPEAKER: Members, I heard the Leader of the Opposition interject that it was a long answer and I am inclined to agree with her.
Mr Stirling: Well, it was a complex issue.
Mr ACTING SPEAKER: It was a complex issue, but I ask ministers when responding to try to be a little shorter in their answers.
Australian Workplace Agreements – Spotlight Company
Mr BURKE to MINISTER for PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT
There has recently been much media attention focused on Australian Workplace Agreements, particularly the agreement that Spotlight has proposed for its employees. Can the minister advise the House of the impact this particular AWA has on Spotlight’s employees?
ANSWER
Mr Acting Speaker, I thank the member for Brennan. I know he takes a very active interest in this issue. I will try to be brief. This is a very important issue. This whole Spotlight AWA sends a very clear signal to Australian workers - and, hopefully, not Territory workers - of what is in the wind with John Howard’s industrial relations changes. The Australian Workplace Agreement that has come into force in New South Wales through Spotlight, which does have branches here in the Territory, has not spread to the Territory yet. However, we need to find out about what is in that AWA.
In New South Wales, Spotlight has offered their employees an AWA that completely removes penalty rates, overtime rates, rest breaks, incentive-based payments and bonuses. They have removed annual leave loading and also public holiday rates. Do you know what Spotlight have offered the employees to do this? Two cents an hour increase to go on to this AWA. It is absolutely outrageous! Not only that, there is no guarantee of a wage increase for its five-year term, so people are expected to sign up, put away all these things that they have fought hard for, for an extra 2 an hour, and they will have to put up with it for five years. In anyone’s term, that is a pay cut.
There is a comparison here that I have made, which I will table for the information of members. The members opposite might want to see it. They will see - no overtime, no paid rest break, all hours worked for ordinary hours, no leave loading, no RDOs. There is a whole string of things there …
Ms Carney: Do you have the ABS figures? No, you do not have the ABS figures.
Mr Stirling: You support this.
Members interjecting.
Dr BURNS: You might want to hear about …
Mr Stirling: The opposition support it.
Dr BURNS: They do support it, and one wonders whether they would introduce AWAs into the public service in the Northern Territory if they ever got into power here.
Let us see what Spotlight’s New South Wales General Manager said:
- We are doing what we are told by the legislators … We are not the ones writing the laws. … Like any other legislation we fall under, we follow it.
Then, the Chief Executive of the National Retailers Association said:
- Far from being defensive about it, the National Retailers Association applauds it because we think a lot of other retailers will follow Spotlight’s lead.
Well, I hope there are a lot that do not, because this is robbing workers of wages and conditions. This is something we all need to stand up for; there is no real choice in it. I do not want to see AWAs like that spread here in the Territory. That is why we have the Northern Territory Workplace Advocate, so people can ring up and find a comparison of what they are losing through these changes - unlike Dave Tollner’s outfit, which tells them what is legal. What is legal is not always right. I completely oppose John Howard’s industrial relations changes. I know that, my colleagues know that, and the opposition does not.
Larrakeyah Sewage Outfall - Upgrade
Dr LIM to MINISTER for ESSENTIAL SERVICES
Yesterday, you told this House that you would have to rip up the CBD to take the Larrakeyah poo-shooter offline and that it would take five years. Why then, in response to my question in August of last year, did you tell this House: ‘All sewerage network upgrades from Dinah Beach to allow closure of the Larrakeyah outfall have been completed’? Why does a 1998 report from Lands and Planning, page 13, say that the pipe only has to go along Gilruth Avenue and Conacher Street to reach Ludmilla - it does not mention the CBD at all? In fact, the infrastructure is in place to the end of Mitchell Street. Why does PAWA’s 2003 environment report, page 8, say ‘It is planned to complete the model enhancement in December 2003?’ Isn’t it just the case that this work, which you have been promising for years, has been put on the backburner because you are totally strapped for cash paying for fat cat executives?
ANSWER
Mr Acting Speaker, I thought the member for Greatorex was going okay until, as is the want of the opposition, he had a sledge against hard-working public servants. I do not know where they think attacking our hard-working public servants is taking them …
Members interjecting.
Mr HENDERSON: I really do not know where they think that type of abuse takes them.
I was very clear in the House yesterday, and I had it confirmed in a meeting that I had yesterday afternoon with the CEO of the Power and Water Corporation, that the work to see the Larrakeyah sewage outlet close down would be completed within five years. Yesterday, I outlined the work that needed to be done. That was reconfirmed to me yesterday by the CEO of the Power and Water Corporation - $40m has been, and will be, set aside through future budgets. There is complex engineering work that needs to be done. The advice that I have from the CEO of Power and Water is that additional tunnelling work does need to be done underneath the CBD of Darwin.
The reality is that the Darwin Sewerage Strategy has been in place for a number of years now. Recent expenditure over the last few years has been in the order of $13m. This infrastructure is dated; it has been in place since the 1960s. There is no quick fix to it. As I advised the House again yesterday, I have asked Power and Water for advice as to any work that can be done in the interim, prior to the outlet being closed down, to improve the quality of the effluent that is being discharged from that outlet. Power and Water is bringing that advice back to me.
In regard to the discharge licence that Power and Water operate under, which is issued through the Department of NRETA, it is to be renewed again in July this year. Power and Water will comply with any conditions that are placed on this licence. I can also say to Territorians that …
Dr Lim: Except for getting it fixed.
Mr HENDERSON: The member for Greatorex has asked a question. If he wants the answer, he should listen to it. Recent environmental reports and studies conducted on the water quality in Darwin Harbour show that it is in the same pristine condition as it was 15 years ago. We have a massive harbour, with huge tidal flows. Massive dilution does take place. There is a funded, programmed plan in place to see this outlet closed, at a cost of $40m to Power and Water over the next five years.
Assistance for Young Consumers
Mr WARREN to MINISTER for JUSTICE and ATTORNEY-GENERAL
There have been numerous reports, particularly in the national media, of young people finding themselves in financial difficulty because they have signed up to contracts for mobile phones and the like without understanding the financial implications in the fine print. Can you detail the work the Northern Territory government is doing to assist young people as they enter the consumer market?
ANSWER
Mr Acting Speaker, I thank the member for Goyder for his question. I had great pleasure today to go to Dripstone High School to have a look at a class of junior high school students working on Money Stuff, which is a set of curriculum units that have been developed by Consumer Affairs adapting a New South Wales system. It is incredibly important to see this in the curriculum of our high schools. It is teaching those students to budget their future households. It is looking at how to understand and work within contracts and plans for mobile phones, for example; how to protect their rights within tenancy agreements; and how to understand and knowledgably use interest arrangements around loans. These are just absolutely basic tools for a citizen in our community these days.
It is almost strange that it has taken this long to get a substantial curriculum unit in place for our high school students going through. They are the young adults of, almost literally, tomorrow. They will be out in the community, probably within only a few years, establishing themselves in their first accommodation, getting their first possessions and dealing with their first contractual arrangements with various bodies around the community.
This is essential living skills. It was fantastic to see the enthusiasm of the students in using this system, which is all computer-based and very interactive and user friendly for the students. They can literally go shopping. One of the most impressive things is that, as part of that curriculum unit, one of the students has applied online for a real job in Woolworths. That was part of the skills set that they are being taught. I hope he gets the job, Mr Acting Speaker, that would be an immediate outcome from what is an excellent program.
Silkwood Ventures Development
Mr WOOD to MINISTER for PLANNING and LANDS
Recently, Silkwood Ventures applied to subdivide large parcels of land south of Adelaide River, what was formerly part of Mt Bundy. Considering that the first stage of this subdivision was approved before your government came to power, in dubious circumstances and with very little community input, will you give a guarantee not to approve this new stage of the subdivision until there is a thorough investigation of all the cultural, historical, environmental and landscape values to the region? Will you also consider, perhaps in conjunction with Parks and Wildlife, the possibility of some of these subdivisions, especially the mesas, the flat top hills, being part of a national park? Will you consider holding a public meeting in the region so that the community can have genuine input into this important development?
ANSWER
Mr Acting Speaker, I thank the member for Nelson for his question. It is a very good question. As members may or may not be aware, there is a development application over a portion of Silkwood. That will go through the consent process. As minister, I am the consent authority. However, I will be directing the Development Consent Authority to hold public hearings into this issue and people can make submissions, including the member for Nelson. Various government departments, including NRETA, Power and Water Corporation, and other departments, can make submissions to that. The DCA will hold hearings, they will make recommendations to me and I will make a decision.
It will be an open and transparent process, member for Nelson. I do not know about the aspect of declaring a national park there, but I will be interested in the conservation values of the area. I believe the process is in train. It is a fair process. I await the report of the Development Consent Authority into this issue.
Humpty Doo Primary School – Middle Years Project
Mr WARREN to MINISTER for EMPLOYMENT, EDUCATION and TRAINING
Can you describe to the House the impressions you were left with after visiting Humpty Doo Primary School recently in relation to its very innovative middle years project?
ANSWER
Mr Acting Speaker, I thank the member for his question. Last week, I visited Humpty Doo school after an invitation from the school community to open their new chicken yard project. It is a school I have visited a number of times in my time as minister for Education. It is good that the member for Nelson was there as well. It is a school I have always been impressed with, and I was pleased in the budget this year to announce the new special education annexe there to the tune of $800 000. The school has been highly recognised for its special needs unit, to the extent that people come from many other parts, quite distant, to access that annexe. I am very pleased to see that that work will go ahead as early as we can in the next financial year. I congratulate the local member for his consistent lobbying for this, as opposed to his polo-playing predecessor who could never get anything in print to me along these lines.
The real reason I was there was to open the new chicken run project. It is a little project like this from which the outcomes should never be underestimated. It is one thing to talk about the thrill and the pride on the faces of the students, and the special needs students who are involved, but it is a great example of how Humpty Doo is embracing middle years approaches.
Middle years at Humpty Doo has the following features: interdisciplinary teaching teams working together; integrated curriculum relevant to the students’ life experience as rural kids; self-directed problem-based learning, very much involved in the building of the chicken coop; focus on higher order thinking; strong focus on literacy and numeracy; flexible timetables; smaller groups of students arranged in learning communities or sub-schools within the school; and core studies based around the chicken coop and yard, including, of course, measurement, maths, science, technology, engineering, art and collaborative learning.
In addition to the three Rs, Humpty Doo middle years philosophy has an additional four: relevant, rich, rigorous and real life. For an Education minister, to be presented with examples of excellence to that level in one of our rural schools is enormously encouraging, rewarding and reassuring. I extend my congratulations to the principal, Felicity Hancock, and the staff and students of what is a very impressive school.
Community Welfare Act - Overhaul
Dr LIM to MINISTER for FAMILY and COMMUNITY SERVICES
On 24 August 2004, nearly two years ago, your predecessor said the government would introduce a bill in November 2004 to overhaul the Community Welfare Act so that children would be better protected. The bill was going to enable child protection officers to take decisive action when required for the purpose of protecting children. She said at that time that, essentially, the Community Welfare Act was not up to the job and had not been reviewed for 20 years. I have checked the schedule of amendments in the back of the act and, other than a consequential amendment in 2005, it has not been touched since 2004. There is no evidence of any bill having been introduced for debate. It is nearly two years since the announcement was made. If your former minister said child protection is such a high priority, and the current act so inadequate, how do you explain your inaction?
ANSWER
Mr Acting Speaker, I thank the member for Greatorex for his question. I have had a range of exchanges of correspondence with the Leader of the Opposition. She has shown an interest in this legislation, which I welcome.
As the Leader of the Opposition has been informed, that legislation has gone through the community consultation phases and went into a Parliamentary Counsel drafting phase. It then went into another consultation phase with specific stakeholders, such as the Law Society Northern Territory. As minister, I then took it upon myself to take it to another step. I asked …
Dr Lim: A long time ago.
Ms LAWRIE: No, actually, the information I am talking about is this year, it is quite current. I then took another step and sent the legislation to Professor Scott, a renowned specialist in child protection legislation who is based in South Australia, asking for her critical comment on the proposed draft legislation. She sent back some advice which, broadly, was that she thought that the legislation, in drafting stage, looked sound. There were some specific areas where she suggested there could be amendments to improve the legislation. I have taken on board every single one of her recommendations. I have had discussions with the agency. The particular expertise within the agency has been working for two years on this legislation. They have incorporated the recommendations of Professor Scott into the work they have done. That has gone back to Parliamentary Counsel for further drafting. The drafting phase is nearly final.
Once it is finally drafted, I will be taking that legislation to Cabinet for consideration. I am aiming to have that legislation in the parliament in the latter part of this year. I have been pushing towards August. However, realistically it is not going to be an August introduction. Therefore, I am hoping for the sittings after that, depending on its process through Cabinet. It is an enormous amount of reform contained in the legislation ...
Dr Lim: It has been two years.
Ms LAWRIE: It sets up significant changes in how we operate welfare legislation in the Territory. It is a very weighty piece of legislation. I hear you complaining, member for Greatorex, but even your own Leader of the Opposition has kept herself better informed than you as shadow spokesperson.
Ms Carney: Rubbish!
Members interjecting.
Ms LAWRIE: We are reforming legislation that has not been reformed in 20 years. It is critically important, to undertake such dramatic and radical reform to legislation because, as we all know, child protection systems have changed significantly in those 20 years. It is critically important that you actually get it right, which is why we went through an extensive public consultation phase, drafting with Parliamentary Counsel, and took the extra step or safeguard, if you like, of seeking expert advice from Professor Scott in the detail of the legislation. We have had further discussions with the Law Society Northern Territory and with the stakeholders in the legislation at hand, which is why I am not rushing at it at this stage. We are very close to final draft legislation, and I will steer that through the Cabinet process.
I thank my predecessor for the great work that she did as minister in bringing forward these reforms. Importantly, I would like to thank Parliamentary Counsel staff who have laboured over drafting this legislation, and also staff within my agency who have applied their expertise significantly to this legislation. I also thank Professor Scott for her very astute recommendations that we have taken on board.
GBS Gold International Inc – Re-opening of Union Reef Mill
Mr KNIGHT to MINISTER for MINES and ENERGY
I am aware that GBS Gold International Inc has submitted a notice of intent to re-open the gold processing plant at the Union Reef mill at Pine Creek. Could the minister provide further information about the developments proposed by GBS, and what will be the significance of these developments for the Pine Creek and Katherine regions?
ANSWER
Mr Acting Speaker, I thank the member for Daly for his question. I know he is very interested, and I am pretty sure the member for Katherine will be interested and very pleased with my answer.
The Pine Creek region has been exploring for gold since the discovery of commercial gold in the 1870s. GBS Gold International Inc is a Canadian company based in Vancouver. They have raised a significant amount of money to continue exploration and mining in the Pine Creek and Katherine region. Over the last six months, GBS Gold has consolidated various tenements that were held by Northern Gold, Harmony Gold and Terra Gold under one umbrella, and today they hold approximately 250 000 km2 in the Pine Creek and Katherine regions. GBS Gold now has tenements including Zapopan, Union Reef and Maud Creek. The estimated total resource of gold is four million ounces of gold which, at today’s value in Australian dollars, is $3.2bn.
Central to the GBS plan is the Union Reef gold processing plant. GBS has lodged a notice of intent to recommission and open the plant to treat 1.8 million tonnes per annum of gold-bearing ore from the surrounding deposits. I understand GBS is currently preparing a notice of intent for mining for gold from different tenements in the region. However, some of these proposals, such as Maud Creek, have to undergo an environmental assessment process in order to commence operation.
I was fortunate to meet Mr Gil Playford, the Chairman and CEO of GBS Gold, in Toronto when I was there earlier this year. The meeting was critical in reinforcing the interest of GBS Gold in the Territory, and ensuring that Mr Playford and the company had a clear understanding of the different processes they have to undertake before they commence operation.
GBS Gold is now planning to recommission the Union Reef plant and commence mining of three million tonnes of gold in November of this year. However, what is important also is that other companies that have small mines in the area but cannot afford to have a treatment plant, will have a contractual agreement with GBS to put their ore through the Union Reef plant and process it.
GBS plans to process approximately 250 000 ounces a year by 2009. Currently, the project life is 10 years; however, with drilling and exploration, will most likely be extended. The project will create hundreds of direct jobs and many more indirectly. GBS has also shown they are prepared to be in the Territory. I believe a management team is now based in Katherine.
Mr Acting Speaker, if you will allow me, as the Minister for Mines and Energy, I always say that fishing is the lure of the Territory, but let me tell you now that gold seems to be the lust of the Territory.
Mr HENDERSON (Leader of Government Business): Oh, he is a very good minister for resources and energy, Mr Acting Speaker. He should keep the jokes, I think.
Mr Acting Speaker, I ask that further questions be placed on the Written Question Paper.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016