2006-05-04
Middle Schools Implementation
Mr MILLS to MINISTER for EMPLOYMENT, EDUCATION and TRAINING
Yesterday, in this House, you said: ‘… we will proceed with the implementation where we can. This is what I said in March not “across the board”’. Let me remind you of what you told Daryl Manzie on 15 March 2006: ‘The full picture will not be known but that should not stop implementation across the board’ …
Ms Martin: Of what, Terry? Sorry, you have not said of what. Picture of what?
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr MILLS: Middle schooling, Chief Minister. You are perhaps unaware that this is happening.
Again, on 22 March 2006, you said: ‘There is still ample time to make most of the changes that would impact across a middle school approach by the start of the school year next year’. Do you accept that your credibility is damaged and your ability to manage this important reform has been compromised?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Blain for his question. He is talking at cross purposes here in relation to some of the language used. I guess there are two issues here. There is the middle schooling approach, which is a manner of teaching and learning in relation to Years 7, 8 and 9, that group at risk of disengagement and getting bored through their school years - the wasteland years, as referred to by Professor Gregor Ramsey in his original report. Gregor Ramsey did not make that term up. That was a term that came to him consistently throughout that very first consultative process when the first report was put together.
You have the approach, on the one hand, of how you work with Years 7, 8 and 9 - the 11- to 14-year-olds - how you teach them, and how they learn compared to what we do today. On the other side, you have the middle schools approach which would see restructures and physically relocating Years 7, 8 and 9 together in a pure middle schools approach, and Years 10, 11 and 12 ipso facto becoming the senior years of the school.
Infrastructure barriers for a complete change to a middle schooling approach, notwithstanding if the decision is made by Cabinet you could still have a middle schools approach in place by 2007, albeit the Years 7, 8 and 9 might not be all co-located across the system. I believe that is where the member for Blain is trying to suggest that I have said different things.
Compulsory School Uniforms
Ms SACILOTTO to CHIEF MINISTER
Can you please advise the House whether the government will be writing to school councils about making school uniforms compulsory?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, yes, we will. I am a very strong supporter of school uniforms for primary school, and would love to see it introduced for middle school students when our middle school approach takes form. However, not senior school. We will look at primary, where many schools do already, and certainly middle school. When you think about why we have uniforms, they are very practical. For parents, and everyone here who has had a child in high school, they are very cost effective. I also believe they engender a sense of pride in schools when everyone is wearing a uniform, and a sense of belonging and, therefore, a sense of ownership of that school.
The minister will be writing to school councils getting feedback from them about this proposal, but I certainly ….
Mr Mills: You will have to get Sheila back to do some more consultation.
Mr Stirling: Probably.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Ms MARTIN: I know what the schools in my electorate feel. Darwin High School has done a lot of work about school uniforms. Parap is very strong on school uniforms and so is Stuart Park. It is important that we write to school councils and get them to survey their school community.
As a parent, I know the difference between having a child in a uniform and being able to wear what they choose. On a personal level, it would take enormous angst away from the mornings. Anyone who has experienced a child in those Years 8 and 9 getting dressed for school knows there are many changes of clothes that go on in the morning, the deadline gets closer and closer and it is often a meltdown. Therefore, to have a school uniform would save a lot of money and that angst that many parents are still going through in the morning.
Almost more important is that sense of pride in the school that we want to engender. We want to have students really feeling part of the school community, taking pride in being part of that school community. We have already put $50, at the start of this year, towards helping parents pay for school uniforms. That step has been taken along the way, which was an initiative greatly embraced with delight from parents right across the Territory.
What I, the Education minister and government is saying is, let us start this debate. However, from the minister and me, it is a very strong statement about adoption of school uniforms. They will make a difference. I do not mind putting on the record that I am a very strong advocate.
Middle Schools Implementation
Mr MILLS to MINISTER for EMPLOYMENT, EDUCATION and TRAINING
The muddle that surrounds your plans to implement middle schools has been a painful, unnecessary process that has pained teachers, parents and students - and now your own Caucus and even colleagues in your Cabinet ...
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Blain, please pause. Member for Greatorex, I ask you to leave the Chamber and take off the shirt you have on, please. Leave the Chamber, withdraw from the Chamber.
Dr Lim: This is a very serious issue.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Greatorex, I have asked you to withdraw from the Chamber. Member for Greatorex, you will withdraw from the Chamber for one hour.
Members interjecting.
Dr LIM: I can withdraw. All right, I will withdraw.
Ms Carney: I have a T-shirt for you, Sydney, all the way from Alice Springs.
Madam SPEAKER: Leader of the Opposition! Member for Blain, you may continue with your question.
Mr MILLS: Thank you, Madam Speaker. The muddle that surrounds your plans to implement middle schools has been an unnecessarily painful process for teachers, parents and students, for your own Caucus and now for your own Cabinet colleagues. You have announced that a decision will be made in a month’s time. Will that final announcement be describing a model and time lines so that your position, once and for all, can be precisely clear?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I can answer absolutely, categorically, yes. I look forward to that day, and I will tell you why I look forward to be able to put out the final model, because then all of the anxieties and concerns that are out there …
Mr KIELY: A point or order, Madam Speaker! Isn’t he out for an hour?
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Greatorex, I asked you to withdraw for one hour.
Dr LIM: You did not say for one hour.
Madam SPEAKER: I asked you to leave for one hour.
Mrs Braham: You are picking on the member for Greatorex the last couple of days.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Braitling, are you reflecting on the Speaker?
Mrs BRAHAM: No, Madam Speaker, never.
Madam SPEAKER: Thank you. Minister.
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Blain for his question. I give him a categorical assurance that when those decisions are made they will be the decisions that will impact on 2007. I look forward to that date from the point of view of certainty for everyone, because the government, the department and I can then engage in all of those concerns, coming from a basis of fact rather than conjecture and uncertainty as we have now. Of course it is an uncertain time, but Cabinet is being very diligent in its approach to what is a critical decision, affecting not just the structure of our schools, but the future education pathways for all of our students in primary and secondary schools.
Far from being dismayed with the fact that Cabinet ministers asked for more information, it is their responsibility to do so, and it is my responsibility and the responsibility of the department to gather that information so that ministers are as fully informed as they possibly can be of all of the implications of their decisions when they are finally made. I would have it no other way.
Government Telecommunications Contract
Mr WOOD to MINISTER for CORPORATE and INFORMATION SERVICES
It was announced some time ago that Optus is suing the government after it lost the government’s telecommunications contract to Telstra. Could you please give details of this case, including how much the government is being sued for and the reasons why it is being sued?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, it is true that Optus has taken the Northern Territory government to court. The information I have is that Optus has supplied no further information in relation to that case. There was a deadline that was passed. I am not sure of the legal significance of that deadline. In answer to the member’s question, basically, there has been no further development in terms of Optus’ case against the government.
HomeNorth Extra –
Increasing Home Ownership
Increasing Home Ownership
Ms ANDERSON to MINISTER for HOUSING
Can the minister provide an update on the number of Territorians assisted into home ownership through the HomeNorth Extra loans scheme?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Macdonnell for her question. As you know, it is never easy for those on low to middle incomes to enter the housing market. Fortunately, the new home loans, which commenced on 1 July 2004, have gone a long way towards increasing home ownership in the Northern Territory. Along with the stamp duty exemptions announced by the Treasurer, HomeNorth Extra continues to contribute to the Northern Territory, being by far the most affordable place in the country to buy one’s own home.
Mr Wood: Not for an indigenous house …
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr Wood: … hundred thousand dollars.
Mr McADAM: You can ask me a question if you wish …
Madam SPEAKER: Order, member for Nelson!
Mr McADAM: The extensive interest in the scheme increased with the changes introduced under HomeNorth Extra on 1 July 2005. These changes reflected movement in market conditions and included an increase in eligibility requirements to allow the purchase or construction of property up to $260 000 for households on up to $1160 gross per week. It also allows clients to purchase government shared equity in 5% increments.
Since the commencement of the new scheme in July 2004, 951 clients have been approved to purchase their own home in the Northern Territory to the value of $172m. In the coming financial year, we anticipate Territorians accessing a further $88m in loans. All up, it brings us up to $250m over the last three years. You would agree, this is a very good result.
In the 10 months since the introduction of HomeNorth Extra, 364 Territorians have been assisted to purchase their own home, using $69m of government funds in home loans and shared equity purchases. The vast majority of HomeNorth clients, 88%, purchase in share with government, making owning a home even more affordable to low income earners. The trend for young single Territorians to take HomeNorth Extra loans is strengthening, with 47.5% of loans going to single women and 32.6% to single men. Nearly two-thirds of HomeNorth Extra loans provided have gone to those under the age of 35 years.
HomeNorth Extra is also open to those people who have owned a home before. That has previously been mentioned as part of the regional tour that was undertaken. We know that many people were not aware of that, so to all those people out there, I will remind them that it is available for those people who have owned homes previously. Of those people, 145 have been able to purchase homes through this scheme.
In all, the success of HomeNorth is very encouraging for our future. Territorians who have demonstrated a strong commitment to staying, living and working in the Territory play an important part in building our population and our economy.
Middle School Models
Mr MILLS to MINISTER for EMPLOYMENT, EDUCATION and TRAINING
If Cabinet is going to make a decision in the near future, then you must have eliminated some models from your projections. The fact that you have put some money away in the budget suggests that you have at least some idea of what the models are going to look like. Can you now discount some options and give comfort to people like the parents who send their children to Ludmilla School?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Blain for his question. What he is doing, quite frankly, is asking me to pre-empt a Cabinet decision. No decisions have been made by Cabinet at this stage. I cannot rule anything in or out until those final decisions are made. It would be simply foolhardy for me to explore what options may be in or may be out in advance of my Cabinet colleagues. I would be furious if a fellow ministerial colleague did that, and they would, rightly, be furious with me.
I appreciate it is difficult for members, and understanding the proper process of Cabinet is something we struggled with in all of those years in opposition. The members for Braitling and Greatorex notwithstanding, no one else on that side of the Chamber has had ministerial responsibility. They do not know how the collective responsibility and decision-making of Cabinet works in practice. As I said, a former minister would not ask a question like that. Daryl Manzie, for example, would not ask a question like that because he understands Cabinet processes and how they work.
It is instructive that we remind ourselves constantly - and this is always at the back of my mind - why we are doing this. Why did we embark on this project at all? That is because our students were missing out on a fair crack, a decent opportunity, at a quality education in comparison with the rest of Australia. We know that, for 26 years, the former government was happy to let that ride. We are not. The reason they were happy to let it ride is they did not ever dare have a look. They did nothing for middle years education. They did nothing about looking at how our secondary results stood up in comparison to the rest of Australia and, when we did, we found that our best performing schools failed to meet the all states South Australian average. South Australia, by their own admission, say that they are, sadly, towards the bottom of the pile in educational outcomes in Australia. Even more sadly, Madam Speaker, that puts the Northern Territory somewhat closer to the bottom.
Budget 2006-07 – Power and Water Corporation Infrastructure
Mr BURKE to MINISTER for ESSENTIAL SERVICES
I was pleased to see that $5m has been allocated in the budget for the new Archer zone substation in the Palmerston area to improve reliability of power supply for residents. Can you advise on other vital infrastructure to be built by Power and Water as a result of Budget 2006?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Brennan for his question. Not only is Palmerston and surrounding areas growing very strongly, but the Territory as a whole and the economy is growing strongly. It is important that Power and Water keep up with the infrastructure demands of a growing economy and population. Power and Water is going to be investing heavily in 2006-07. It will invest $87.1m in capital works, and $39.8m in repairs and maintenance. That is a record spend for Power and Water in any one given year.
Some of the highlights of the Power and Water spend are that work is going to commence immediately on the supply and installation of a new generating unit for Darwin. Increased generating capacity is needed to meet demand growth. The 2006-07 estimated expenditure for the project is $25m, with completion in 2007-08.
Work will also commence on the supply and installation of a new generating unit in Alice Springs. Again, increased capacity was required to meet demand growth in Alice Springs. The 2006-07 estimated expenditure project is $7.5m.
I have just returned from a media conference with the member for Port Darwin at Frances Bay, regarding spending $16m on a new substation expected to be completed in 2006-07. Very importantly, we have the CBD, which has grown. There are more and more people living in the Central Business District. The Stuart Park tank farm is being pulled down for later development in that area. We have the waterfront project coming on stream, which is a very important project for the people and businesses of the Central Business District in increased capacity and improved reliability. Very importantly, local Territory company, Sitzler Bros, has won the contract to build the substation.
Construction will commence on the $5m Archer zone substation in Palmerston …
Ms Carney: C of E we heard. $9m. They did not win anything. They were given it.
Mr HENDERSON: If the Leader of the Opposition does not like Territory businesses winning these contracts ….
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr HENDERSON: Madam Speaker, I will certainly let the good people at Sitzler Bros know that she does not approve of them winning that contract …
Ms Carney: It is something you used to hate in opposition. I will be seeing them Friday night, do not worry about that.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr HENDERSON: … but then again she would not know who those people are, Madam Speaker.
The Alice Springs Water Reuse project commenced in 2003-04,. It is a very important project for Alice Springs, on which $3.4m will be expended this year.
Madam Speaker, I am sure you will be pleased to hear that, to date, contracts to the value of over $9m have been awarded to local Territory businesses for the Nightcliff Undergrounding Power Project. Capital grants have been consolidated and brought forward - and I know the opposition oppose this project, but the people of Nightcliff certainly support it - to further accelerate progress on the project. Total allocation from the government in 2005-06 is $9m, with Power and Water contributing an extra $3.6m.
Infrastructure spend by Power and Water across the Northern Territory will ensure that the increasing population and activity in our economy is going to be served well by Power and Water.
Braitling Primary School –
Town Camp Students
Town Camp Students
Mrs BRAHAM to MINISTER for CENTRAL AUSTRALIA
As you know, we have been negotiating with Braitling Primary School to get students from three town camps to that school. The system has broken down because Tangentyere is funded for the buses and, at the moment, does not have a driver. Could you direct the funding your government gives to Tangentyere to the school so that they can pick up the students themselves?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Braitling for her question. The decision about the redirection or otherwise of that funding is not under my portfolio. However, as Minister for Central Australia, I am delighted to see Braitling Primary School take an interest in the particular town camps they are looking at, which I understand are the ones to the north of the Stuart Highway - Warlpiri camp, Hoppy’s and so on. Those camps have a great need to re-engage kids. As we heard in recent debate, quite a number of at risk kids are in those camps. A school taking a particular interest in the camps is a great development, similar to Gillen Primary and the Larapinta Valley development that we have seen earlier.
All the town schools have a role to play in re-engaging kids and interceding with their education and general wellbeing. I am sure the minister responsible would be – I am not sure. Let us see - Tangentyere Council, that would be the member for Barkly. No? Anyway, we will sort it out. The question has gone into play. We will sort it out. I am sure we will do anything we can to help with that relationship.
Timor-Leste Health Services –
Assistance provided by Northern Territory
Assistance provided by Northern Territory
Mr BONSON to MINISTER for HEALTH
The Northern Territory has close ties with our near neighbours to the north. Can you please update the Assembly on how we are assisting the government and people of Timor-Leste to develop better health services in their clinics and hospitals?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, it is probably very timely to be talking about this, given the present troubles in East Timor. I sympathise with the representative of the Timor-Leste government, whom I met with at lunchtime today, about the current challenges there.
Earlier this year, I met with the Timor-Leste delegation of health officials from their fledgling Health department. Amongst other things, we asked if there was anything we could do at a practical level to help with the establishment of the health system and, in particular, the hospitals they are establishing, almost from the ground up. One area indicated was the supply of surplus to requirement equipment from hospitals - anything that we have upgraded. One of those areas is the upgrading of the bed equipment. You always have to be careful talking about beds in a health context, because beds can mean lots of different things, depending on whether you are talking about staffing arrangements, the level of care and equipment around a bed - it is seldom referring to the actual four posts and mattress of a bed. However, in the case of East Timor, that is exactly what they wanted. They wanted places to put patients who are under care.
We have now provided 42 surplus beds, via Perkins Shipping; I would like to thank them very much for their support. These are the old brown, manually operated beds that have now been replaced with electrically operated beds in Royal Darwin Hospital. We have retained 30 of those type of beds in storage at Royal Darwin Hospital against any possibility of another unexpected disaster or, for example, having to evacuate elderly people from Katherine, if that proved necessary - to have a fallback position with additional actual beds to put people in. They are off to East Timor today. We received personal thanks from the Health Minister of Timor-Leste for this practical support.
We are currently working with the federal government, through AusAID, to establish some disease control programs in East Timor, attacking the problems of malaria and dengue fever, using the expertise of our Centre for Disease Control people in the Northern Territory. We are very close to a finalisation of that arrangement, at which point I will be delighted to talk to the Timor-Leste Health Minister to make practical arrangements for that association to continue.
We need to help this emerging nation in any way that we can. They are our neighbours and it is this sort of practical aid which will make a big difference.
Middle Schools Implementation
Mr MILLS to MINISTER for EMPLOYMENT, EDUCATION and TRAINING
On 22 March 2006, you said on the radio that you were pleased to see how strongly the teachers union supports the approach - and they have moved to black ban you. Last sittings in this House, you claimed to have widespread community support, and then admitted that you did not go to any of the meetings because you would be a target. You said on radio this morning that infrastructure was just one of the reasons that delays in implementation may occur. On 15 February 2006, you said in this House that, ‘we would want to implement the system across the board from 2007’. Apart from misrepresenting everybody, including yourself, what on earth are you doing in respect to middle schools?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Blain for his question. It is, in a sense, a regurgitation of question No 1, where I talked about middle schooling and middle schools. We could well have middle schooling in place on day 1 2007 without necessarily middle schools in the structural sense, and a restructure and relocation of students across the board. That is the situation at the moment. We knew very early that there were such infrastructure blockages, if you like, of a nature that could not be resolved by 2007; that there would be those impediments to a physical move. In itself, it does not stop the adoption of the teaching and learning of a middle schooling approach that the community, I have to say, has resoundingly backed time and time again. The AEU has resoundingly backed the middle schooling approach, as has every part of the education community.
There was a rather interesting notion, I thought, from the Eduction Union, when I was at the budget lock-up on Tuesday morning with elements of the business world. The first question came from the president of the Education Union. I was taken aback …
Mr MILLS: A point of order, Madam Speaker! This issue has been raised a couple of times. I am very curious to know what the question was that was asked by the Education Union.
Madam SPEAKER: There is no point of order. The minister is answering the question as you asked.
Mr Mills: I wanted to know what it was. You never know what I might find.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Continue, minister.
Mr STIRLING: So taken aback was I, Madam Speaker, I could not help myself. I said: ‘What are you doing here?’ That embarrassed Nadine, and I apologise for embarrassing her. However, less than 24 hours after being advised that representatives of the Education Union would not even enter the same room as me, I was asked a question, in a budget lock-up, by the president of the union. I made sure I apologised and I thanked her for coming. I do not know quite what that says about the education motion. However, the President of the AEU is to be commended for her presence there because she, like me, has a professional interest in the best educational interests of her students. That is why she was there.
Budget 2006-07 – Protection of Environment
Mr WARREN to MINISTER for NATURAL RESOURCES, ENVIRONMENT and HERITAGE
The Territory’s great future and unique lifestyle is dependent upon our unspoiled environment and cultural heritage, as well as development. Can the minister update the House on how Budget 2006-07 protects the Territory’s environment and enhances our lifestyle?
ANSWER
Mrs Braham interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Ms SCRYMGOUR: Madam Speaker, I know the member for Braitling just loves the environment. She shares my enthusiasm and excitement. We know how important it is to look after our unique, pristine environment and heritage for future generations, and Budget 2006-07 invests in that.
I will mention a couple of things which I talked about in my budget reply: $1m will be spent on the Daly River protection as part of $3.5m committed over four years to develop the Living Rivers initiative; ongoing water monitoring in Darwin Harbour and the catchment will receive $50 000, and that came out of the Darwin Harbour Regional Plan of Management; $500 000 for desalination work on the Mary River, which will enhance the sustainable use of this popular waterway; $580 000 for the control and eradication of Cabomba, a potential environmental threat to our water supplies and waterways; $3.1m – and I am sure members opposite will applaud this - for the continued development of an Environment Protection Agency in the Northern Territory; $4.5m ensuring the creation of this best practice agency and environmental protection, with both industry and community support; $566 000 will be offered to environment groups for projects which contribute to the enjoyment of our great environment; and $120 000 will go to set up the hub in Rapid Creek, where groups will be offered free office space for the green office fit-out, which will showcase ways to reduce waste and save energy and water in that work space. We are looking at moving towards advertising for expressions of interest in locating at the hub as soon as property negotiations are complete.
In Alice Springs and Tennant Creek - and you will like this one, member for Braitling - a subsidy of $50 will be provided to all residents for the purchase of water saving devices, and $50 000 will be spent on Cool Community projects in Alice Springs which will help promote climatically responsive housing designs and energy efficient living.
We cannot forget our parks and reserves estate, because that is really important and, again, we invest in that. There is $27m for the Territory’s 90 world-class parks, with funding for 145 rangers and 37 support staff. A new initiative is $90 000 for the Ntaria Rangers near Hermannsburg, which is welcomed by the Minister for Central Australia and the local member, the member for Macdonnell.
Madam Speaker, these are all fantastic initiatives, and Budget 2006-07 has certainly put that investment to ensure that our environment and unique heritage is preserved for future generations.
Katherine Town Council –
Outstanding Government Loan
Outstanding Government Loan
Ms CARNEY to CHIEF MINISTER
Madam Speaker, my question is asked on behalf of the member for Katherine, who I am very pleased to say, and I am sure members will be delighted to hear, will be returning to Katherine on the weekend.
Members: Hear, hear!
Ms CARNEY: She has e-mailed us this question.
The Katherine Town Council has an outstanding government loan dating back to the Katherine floods. The outstanding amount is $388 170. The Katherine Town Council’s budget in these difficult times is repaying you, the government, $42 016 per year. The government’s income for this financial year is projected to be $217m more than budgeted for. Can you find the $388 170 to provide the council with some much-needed relief, particularly in light of additional expenses they have incurred in the most recent floods?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I heard about this request from the Katherine Town Council this morning. I was aware of that outstanding debt. I am not sure how much of it reflects the difficulty there was between the previous local member and the Mayor at the time regarding some of the relationships that were developed at that time. I know it was difficult. Certainly …
Members interjecting.
Ms MARTIN: No, it is a fact of life. There was not a good relationship between government and the Katherine Town Council previously. That request has been made. The government is currently considering that request.
Budget 2006-07 – Sporting Events
Mr NATT to MINISTER for SPORT and RECREATION
Can the minister update the House on how Budget 2006-07 supports and enhances the great lifestyle we have in the Territory?
Ms Carney: Authorised by the Australian Labor Party, Darwin.
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Drysdale for his question. I know the Opposition Leader is not keen on sport but many Territorians are. A few years ago, the Territory did not have regular season AFL games. Nor did we have NRL, National League Basketball or netball, and certainly not international cricket. Under the Martin Labor government, we have all of those.
As part of enhancing our great lifestyle, Budget 2006-07 includes these national level sports events, along with other great sports events such as the V8s, Masters Games and Arafura Games. There is more than $6m for our grassroots sports and clubs, and nearly $7m for the racing industry across the Territory. The Dry is an exciting time of year, with the V8s, football, netball, Darwin Cup and the Finke Desert Race all coming up in the next few months.
Of course, we will also have international cricket. After Question Time today, I will be joining Australian fast bowler, Shaun Tait, to announce the Australia A team which will play against Pakistan, India and the New Zealand A teams in Darwin in July.
In March, I met the Cricket Australia CEO, James Sutherland, and asked him to ensure that the Australian A team would be a strong one with plenty of well-known players. I can say he has certainly delivered. They have a very good team, which we are announcing this afternoon, with at least 10 players with experience in the Australian first team. It is going to be a fantastic series: four-day games, one-day games and, of course, the new exciting style of cricket, Twenty20; something that I am assured is a very exciting game to watch. I encourage Territorians to get behind international cricket. I know we have a lot of cricket fanatics in the Territory. Mums, dads, kids should all get down to see fantastic games played at TIO Stadium and Gardens Oval. I thank Cricket Australia for working with the Territory government to bring international cricket to the Territory.
Budget 2006-07 – Aquatic Centre
in Alice Springs
Ms CARNEY to CHIEF MINISTER
During the 2005 election campaign, you announced that you would build an aquatic centre in Alice Springs at a cost of $8.1m. An allocation for $8.1m is not in this week’s budget. I have checked the election commitment budget predictions and found a skate park for Nightcliff and an $820 000 allocation for netball in Darwin, and I have even found your commitment to proudly embrace a space-age toilet worth $100 000. Why is there no mention of the strongly promised Alice Springs aquatic centre? Do you propose to keep your promise and when?
ANSWER
Mr Stirling: Absolutely!
Ms MARTIN: I have been pre-empted by the Treasurer - absolutely, Madam Speaker! I thank the member for the question, because it is a great commitment to Alice Springs. A new aquatic centre with heated pool, a hydrotherapy pool and a water park is something we have to ensure we get right. In agreement with the Alice Springs Council, we are releasing $100 000 of that $8.1m this year to go through the necessary appropriate planning and consultation processes. This is a very specific facility. There needs to be a fair bit of work done, and the money will be available in the coming financial year. Hang on, Alice Springs, it is coming.
Budget 2006-07 – Establishment of
Free Hearing Screenings
Free Hearing Screenings
Mr WARREN to MINISTER for HEALTH
In May last year, this government made an election commitment to establish free hearing screening for all babies born in the Territory. Can you please tell the Assembly how Budget 2006-07 delivers on this promise as part of this government’s ongoing commitment to child and maternal health?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Goyder for his question. It is a very important area, and one which I have a long history of involvement with, particularly work with otitis media in my time as a school principal and adult educator out bush. More and more evidence is emerging of the impact of significant hearing loss on a person - everything from their education outcomes, employment prospects, even their involvement with the criminal justice system - all of those things can be related to hearing deficiency in cases where that has not been detected and dealt with. Normal language development depends on the early detection of significant hearing loss and appropriate intervention.
The numbers of babies born with significant hearing loss in the Northern Territory is at a prevalence of about one to two per 1000 newborns; approximately three to eight children each year. The cost of detecting a child with profound deafness in the neonatal period is significantly lower than the cost of managing a child diagnosed later, who has special education and other needs.
Funding for the universal neonatal hearing service includes a project manager, plus hearing testing equipment at five hospitals, along with consumables and training. In participating hospitals, every newborn baby’s parent will be offered the screening test for their baby. It involves a one to five minute test while the baby is asleep. It measures the physiological response in the audiological pathway – gee, I love this sort of language, it is great - with clicking sounds and provides a pass or fail result.
That work will start next week at the Royal Darwin Hospital,Hospital and other hospitals as soon as the equipment and people can be put in place. We will pick up hearing deficiencies as soon as possible after birth and deal with them where we see deficiencies present.
Water Smart Program
Mr WOOD to MINISTER for NATURAL RESOURCES, ENVIRONMENT and HERITAGE
On 7 April this year, Malcolm Turnbull, the federal Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister, announced that the federal government would be providing funding of $877 000, matched by $1.09m from the Territory government as part of the Australian government’s Water Smart program. Under the program, money will be used to manage water resources in the Darwin rural area, which will consist of a review of water meters with guidelines to be established for a new consistent metering system for rural watering use. Where is the Territory government’s contribution highlighted in the budget? What exactly is meant by ‘a new consistent metering system’ for the rural area?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Nelson for his question. In what you have asked for and where it is in the budget, the $1m that we announced in the budget has been used as leverage for the National Water Initiative for monitoring water use, availability and quality in the Daly region. As I said in the answer to the previous question, in addition to that we are expending $3.5m on the Daly investigation. The project that you are talking about for the National Water Initiative involves metering of bores to get data about water use, and extractions from groundwater, which was part of our push to better understand the science on the Daly. That commitment is there.
Originally, the project was going to include bores in the Litchfield Shire, but is now only confined to the Daly. It is not going to include the Litchfield Shire. There has never been any suggestion of charging for water as a result of this monitoring. What we will be doing at the Daly is to better understand the science of that whole area.
Budget 2006-07 – Darwin Port Infrastructure
Mr NATT to MINISTER for INFRASTRUCTURE and TRANSPORT
Can the minister advise the House how Budget 2006-07 will deliver jobs and economic growth to the Territory through expenditure and infrastructure at Darwin’s port?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Drysdale for his question. The port is a crucial element in the Territory’s push for trade into Asia and our development as an economic centre. As most here today would be aware, the development of bulk materials handling at the port is of crucial importance to build trade through our port. This year will see a continuation of the government’s $20m investment in bulk handling infrastructure at East Arm Port. This investment, along with the railway, has encouraged development at Bootu Creek. Members would be aware that the projected output of Bootu Creek is approximately 600 000 tonnes per year, and there have been a couple of trial shipments from Bootu Creek through the rail. We are getting very close now to the first shipment of ore from Bootu Creek by ship, which is very exciting. The Bootu Creek project is projected to have a life of over 10 years.
Also on the horizon is the Frances Creek iron deposits. That will probably run at between one million and 1.5 million tonnes per year. That is getting very close also. The port is coming to agreement with Territory Iron about the rate that will be applied to export that particular commodity, mainly into the Chinese market.
Some of our infrastructure is getting a bit old. The portainer crane has been there some 20 years and, whilst the crane itself is very solid, the electronic componentry of that crane is nearly beyond its use-by date, so $1m will be invested in updating that..
There will also be $1.1m for works at Fisherman’s Wharf. A number of people would have noticed that that wharf has been out of commission for some months now. The sheet piling on that wharf will be replaced and it will be available again for use by our fishing industry.
Madam Speaker, the port is of crucial importance to us. Every day we see more and more ships, including the LNG tankers, using the harbour and the port. We are investing more money into our port and we believe it is a sound investment for the future of the Territory.
Fuel Prices
Ms CARNEY to CHIEF MINISTER
On 11 October 2000, when you attacked the previous CLP government about fuel prices, you complained bitterly that the GST would add 3.1 per litre for fuel. As you would know., the GST is linked directly to the value of consumer items, which means that, when fuel prices go up, our income goes up. This explains part of the extra $63m of unexpected GST revenue which you and your Treasurer love so much. You are now in a position to do something about the estimated extra $30 a week fuel impost to Territorians. What are you going to do?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, the price of fuel is high in the Territory, as it is all over the country. It is a significant impost on ordinary Australians, ordinary Territorians, getting about their lives, and also in getting goods to and from the Territory. It is an impost. Do you know who the single person is in this country who could do something about it? He is going to bring down his budget next Tuesday; that is, the federal Treasurer, Peter Costello. He rakes in $13.1bn in fuel excise every year. Who is the person? Which government can realistically do something about fuel prices? It is the federal government. I await Peter Costello’s budget next week to hear whether he is going to address one of the fundamental issues for Australians; that is, the high cost of fuel.
Mineral Exploration
Ms ANDERSON to MINISTER for MINES and ENERGY
The Northern Territory government has committed to more than $1.7m to provide high quality geoscience information to encourage mineral exploration in the Territory. Can you advise how these programs assist explorers?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for her question. It is a very significant question, because the mining sector is one of the most important sectors in the Northern Territory, employing more than 4000 people and contributing 23% of the gross state product. We have a resources pool, where we have seen a number of new players entering the game and competing with Australia and the Territory. As a result, we have seen Australia slipping back with regards to exploration.
Another thing that has changed is who is doing the explorations. BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto are no longer conducting exploration. They prefer to provide profits for their shareholders than spend money on mine exploration. The people who are carrying out exploration are the small explorers, and many of the new mines they have opened are open because the small explorers found something but sold to the big companies.
The small explorers cannot afford to provide the capital to gather adequate information and data to find mines and minerals. That is why our government is committed to assisting explorers. We are providing $400 000 to helicopter support gravity survey over 14 000 km2 in the Jervois region east and north-east of Alice Springs for May to July 2006 to explore and help find copper, gold, zinc, lead and nickel mineralisation in this unexplored region. In addition to that, the NT Geological Survey is developing an integrated corporate database management system so it can provide this information very quickly to the people who need it. We will provide $350 000 to the NT Geological Survey to develop this project.
A total of $105 000 has been committed over a two-year period for the development of a three-dimensional geological model of the McArthur Basin, in collaboration with the Predictive Mineral Discovery CRC. This model will assist explorers to target favourable areas for base metal mineralisation similar to the McArthur River and Century deposits. Also, two deep stratigraphic drill holes with a combined depth of 1.8 km were drilled in 2005 into the south-western Amadeus Basin west of Yulara at a cost of $605 000. We are also continuing major prospectivity enhancement studies in western Pine Creek and eastern Arrernte geological regions at a cost of $200 000 in 2005-06, and an extra $200 000 in 2006-07.
Our government is supporting mines. We want to see more mineral exploration and mines developed in the Territory. In the past few months, we have seen a resurgence in interest in the Territory. We have had a 250% increase in the take-up rate of geoscience data. We have seen a significant number of applications being granted for exploration, and we have seen significant expenditure - $68.6m in 2005, around 38% over 2004.
I am very pleased to say that I was advised this morning by my colleague, the minister for the Environment, that the Brown’s Oxide project by Compass Resources has now been approved by the EPA. That advice will be provided to me to assist in my consideration of the application for the mine to go ahead.
Members interjecting.
Mr VATSKALIS: Despite the cries from the other side, I have said before that the EPA is to facilitate the government, but also to ensure the protection of the environment.
My advice is that the previous government said: ‘Yes, no worries this will be okay. What is the name of the mine again? Mt Todd? Yes, it will be all right, go for it’. This is not going to be repeated. As I said before, we are here to provide jobs and development for the Territory, not a multimillion sad legacy of mines that have gone wrong.
Darwin City Waterfront – Cost
Ms CARNEY to CHIEF MINISTER
You have maintained that your commitment to the waterfront project will not exceed $144m in today’s terms. You have also admitted that the cost for the waterfront includes $12m per year for 25 years indexed. A bit of arithmetic says that that would equal $300m. Then, if you factor in a CPI rate of 3% over that period, the compounding effect makes it slightly more than $450m. Without adding the ‘in today’s dollar terms’ qualification, how many dollars will be paid for the project?
ANSWER
Mr Stirling: How can you not do it in today’s dollars?
Ms MARTIN: Madam Speaker, again, pre-empted by the Treasurer. When you look at projects like this, you have to make a calculation that is going to make sense in today’s dollars. We have gone through this with the opposition and had our best experts explain - it is complex, there is no doubt about that - how you actually work a sensible calculation for what something like the waterfront development will cost, in today’s dollars.
The Opposition Leader was right: $144m in today’s dollars is the cost of the waterfront project. You can look at other calculations about what it might mean over that time, but you always have to bring it back to effective numbers that you can work with and, when you look at these projects, they are done in nett present value. Yes, the Opposition Leader is correct about the $144m. Is that value for money? Yes, Madam Speaker.
Middle Schools – Aboriginal Opinions
Mrs BRAHAM to MINISTER for EMPLOYMENT, EDUCATION, and TRAINING
Never before have I seen so many Aboriginal parents speak up during a debate, and I refer to the ones you saw at Ludmilla school and at Alice Springs. You would have received this letter from the Chairman and the Vice Chairman of the Lhere Artepe Corporation in Alice Springs. I will quote a couple of sentences:
- There has been a great deal of feuding between Alice Springs High School and ANZAC Hill High School that will be compounded if the groups are situated together. The model proposed is based on a predominately non-indigenous school population from south. This is not necessarily the right model for Central Australia.
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Braitling for her question. This was a question that was put, initially, in the community consultation by Sheila O’Sullivan. I give the House the assurance that, when decisions are made, Sheila’s report will be released and you will be able to read for yourself the comment she makes on the community consultation. I know it is accurate because I met with ANZAC Hill High School Council, with Alice Springs High School Council, and with individuals of my own seeking out, right across the Alice Springs community. With a couple of exceptions, what she was saying was very consistent around this adamant opposition.
When I met with the councils, I was told: ‘You have to have this choice, you have to have these two schools because, if this Aboriginal family goes to this school then this Aboriginal family will not attend because of historic feuding or traditional disputes that are of an ongoing nature and are likely to flare up from time to time and create difficulties’. I asked what happens at Year 10 when nearly all of those students, from either school, attend Centralian College on a two and three day a week basis? Are these not the same students from the same families that are separated at ANZAC Hill and at Alice Springs? It was the Aboriginal Islander Education Worker from Alice Springs High School who said to me, straight-faced: ‘Absolutely. But they are Year 10, they are mature, and they are beyond that fighting’.
I also asked the question: if this sort of feuding and fighting is to occur - Alice Springs is not that big a place that, even if they are going to different schools - what is to stop them finding that group or that individual they have a grievance with, tracking them down and having a blue? They said undoubtedly that occurs but that is not within school.
Whilst I have listened and tried to dig up a little myself in these sorts of arguments - I absolutely know that they are believed by the people who were telling me, make no mistake about that - is it actually the consequence of bringing these students together, or could it be that you might so strongly surround that school with wellbeing and enrichment programs if a decision was made to go that way - and I am speculating - that you might overcome a lot of those differences?
I also had it put to me by a quite senior indigenous person from the Centre, who has been involved in areas of education probably all of her life: ‘You need to be careful that sometimes questions and situations around Aboriginality are put up by others as a smokescreen’. As a requirement of my job, that is a person whose advice I had to take heed of from time to time. It is a voice I have a lot of respect for.
I have listened, I have heard all of those arguments that the member for Braitling has put. It is well placed throughout Sheila O’Sullivan’s consultative report. Every time she mentions the adamant opposition to any merger of these schools in Alice Springs, she adds this critical line: ‘In the end, government has to make a decision, and is bound to make a decision, in the best educational interests of the children’.
Budget 2006-07 – Assistance to Home Carers
Ms McCARTHY to MINISTER for FAMILY and COMMUNITY SERVICES
People who care for those with a disability are the unsung heroes of our community. Can you advise the House of any new initiatives in Budget 2006-07 that will help these carers?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Arnhem for her question, because she truly understands the important role of carers in our community.
We have approximately 1600 Territorians who currently care for those who, through disability, age, frailty or terminal illness, simply cannot care for themselves without that vital support. Budget 2006-07 is really a landmark budget for the carers of the Territory, because it implements a strong social development program, introducing a carer’s card in the Northern Territory.
The carer’s card will be available to all Territorians who currently receive the Commonwealth Carer’s Allowance. It will provide a range of concessions, including electricity, water, urban bus travel, motor vehicle registration, driver’s licences, home owner rates and spectacles. We have also had an agreement from two cinemas, Birch, Carroll and Coyle and Cmax, who will provide movie discounts to holders of the carer’s card, and we wholeheartedly thank them for that support. We have also been talking to the AFL about providing discounts to AFL games for our carers.
Due to the time-consuming demands of caring for others, many carers are really quite cash poor. They do not have spare change; often they cannot undertake full-time employment and, at best, they have part-time employment. Therefore, anything that can be done to support carers to be able to move about the community and ease that financial burden is most welcome.
Budget 2006-07 commits $1m to the new carer’s card initiative, which will commence on 1 July this year. This is a government that is very proud to deliver on what is an important election promise.
Mr HENDERSON: Madam Speaker, I ask that further questions be placed on the Written Question Paper.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016