2007-02-21
NT Police Force – 200 Extra Officers
Ms CARNEY to MINISTER for POLICE, FIRE and EMERGENCY SERVICES
Your predecessor tabled this document in this place, which states on page 24, that the government would deliver 200 extra police on the beat by the end of 2006. Last Tuesday, you quoted the Police Commissioner saying that, ‘… we have met the 200 target’, in reference to your government’s promise to deliver 200 police on the beat. Have you delivered on your promise to provide an extra 200 police on the beat - yes or no?
ANSWER
Unequivocally, yes, Madam Speaker.
Sunrise Gas Field – Ratification of Australia and Timor-Leste Agreement
Mr BONSON to CHIEF MINISTER
Gas is an important part of the Territory’s economy and that importance looks set to grow in the coming years. Could the Chief Minister tell the House what last night’s actions by the Timor-Leste parliament means for the Sunrise gas fields?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, it is an important question for the Territory. Yesterday was an important step forward in the development of the Sunrise gas field in the Timor Sea. Yesterday, the Timor-Leste parliament ratified the Treaty Concerning Maritime Arrangements in the Timor Sea, CMATS, which shares revenue from the Sunrise field between Timor-Leste and Australia. While this ratification is a major step forward in the project, there is a number of regulatory and fiscal matters that need to be finalised for that project to go ahead at Sunrise.
A significant exercise that needs to be completed is the independent study to provide advice on the technical and economic merit of the option to site any LNG processing facility in Timor-Leste. The Territory understands and respects Timor-Leste’s desire in this respect, however, we hold our own hopes that the gas will come to Darwin, possibly for a second or third train of LNG at Wickham Point and maybe some of that gas to be for downstream manufacturing. As Territorians would realise, this option adds to the LNG development opportunities, based on the Caldita and Abadi gas fields, as well as the recent discovery at Barossa, which is being evaluated.
The development of Sunrise will provide both Timor-Leste and Australia with billions of dollars of tax revenue for both countries, which of course will be of tremendous benefit for Timor-Leste. During my recent mission to Japan and meetings with major LNG companies, it was impressed upon me the almost immediate need by Japan and other LNG importing nations for further LNG development to supply what is a very tight but very lucrative market.
We congratulate the Timor-Leste government on this important step and look forward to working with the government of Timor-Leste, the Australian government and the Sunrise joint venture partners, which are Woodside, ConocoPhillips, Shell and Osaka Gas to bring this project to fruition.
We hope that the ratification will provide the basis and the confidence for Woodside, which are the operators of the Sunrise field, to reactivate their project, put it back into mobilisation - they wound it down a couple of years ago - and reopen their office in Darwin for that purpose. We would certainly love to welcome Woodside back to town.
I know every one here joins me in congratulating Timor-Leste Prime Minister, Jos Ramos-Horta, and our Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer, on the considerable effort on both sides to bring Sunrise development to this stage. This is a great step forward and one that I expect soon will be reciprocated by the Australian parliament when they pass that CMATS treaty as well. There is much more work to be done, but the ratification of the agreement opens up for development the biggest known gas field in the Timor Sea and this is something to celebrate.
Members: Hear, hear!
NT Police Force – 200 Extra Officers
Ms CARNEY to MINISTER for POLICE, FIRE and EMERGENCY SERVICES
In leaflets like this distributed to Territorians, and there were many of them issued when your predecessor, the bloke who was demoted, was the Police minister, it makes it clear that the government would deliver 200 extra police on the beat by the end of 2006. In the memo you tabled last Tuesday setting out how you have met the 200 police on the beat target, you counted 21 police auxiliaries and 29 ACPOs in your figure of 215 – and I see you nodding. Is a police auxiliary counted in your number of police on the beat?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I welcome this question because it comes right back to the heart of the matter of why government commissioned the O’Sullivan Report. We commissioned the O’Sullivan Report because police resources were run down when we came to power in 2001. And why? Because the CLP had had a recruitment freeze for some three to four years during the 1990s. Now, if the Opposition Leader had taken the time to read the O’Sullivan Report, she could see that O’Sullivan himself recommended those numbers, and we have fulfilled those numbers.
Ms Carney: Is a police auxiliary counted in your numbers of police on the beat? That is the question. All you have to do is answer it.
Madam SPEAKER: Order, order!
Dr BURNS: I am answering it, Leader of the Opposition …
Ms Carney: No you are not.
Dr BURNS: … so give me the grace to answer it, please. Give me the courtesy.
Why did O’Sullivan not only recommend a number of police, but also police auxiliaries and Aboriginal Community Police Officers? The reason was that there were a lot of commissioned police officers who were actually doing administrative tasks that could be done by police auxiliaries. By recruiting police auxiliaries, it is actually freeing up police officers to do the work of a commissioned police officer.
In relation to Aboriginal Community Police Officers, I noticed that the Leader of the Opposition did sort of acknowledge it last week …
Ms Carney: The question is actually about police auxiliaries. You do not know the difference.
Dr BURNS: ... she said something that was not true in the media last week, that Aboriginal Community Police Officers, or ACPOs, do not have the power of arrest. She said that in the media and I heard her say it. To my knowledge, she has not really retracted because, Madam Speaker, they do have some powers of arrest. Moreover, Aboriginal Community Police Officers are an integral part of our proud Northern Territory Police Force. They do a fantastic job. They are the interface of many important policing duties within this Territory. They have been for many years before, when they were police trackers, now coming into modern policing. I suggest to the Leader of the Opposition that she stops denigrating our police force, our police officers …
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Dr BURNS: … she stops denigrating auxiliary police and she stops denigrating ACPOs.
Apprentices and Trainees - Numbers
Mr BURKE to MINISTER for EMPLOYMENT, EDUCATION and TRAINING
During the 2005 election campaign, the Martin Labor government set the ambitious target of 10 000 new apprentices and trainees. Can the minister advise on progress in meeting this ambitious target?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Brennan for his question. He, like all of us here, has constituents whose sons and daughters will be apprentices or trainees who are bound up in these numbers I am about to advise the House of today.
Yes, 10 000 new apprentices and trainees was a very ambitious commitment that we made at the time of the last election. There were many people, particularly from the opposition, who were saying we would not meet that target, that it was totally unachievable.
Ms Carney: Have you met one? Good for you.
Mr HENDERSON: We know the Leader of the Opposition never likes to hear good news. Never let good news spoil a good conspiracy theory, Leader of the Opposition, or ignorance.
Two years on, I am pleased to advise the Assembly that, for 2005 and 2006, at the latest count, we have started 5243 new apprentices and trainees across the Northern Territory. That is a great achievement. We talk a lot about numbers in this House. There are a lot of numbers bandied around here, but let us think about this: this is 5243 young Territorians who are getting their first start in life as an apprentice or trainee out in the workforce. That is something that should be celebrated by our community because that is very significant.
It has not happened by accident. We were the first government in the Northern Territory to formerly commit, in a policy sense, to building trainees and apprenticeships and upskilling young people in the Northern Territory through Jobs Plan 1 and Jobs Plan 2.
We have committed significant funding to assist employers to take on apprentices and trainees. We recognise, as a government, that there is a cost to training people and, in a very competitive business environment, those costs borne by the employer mean that other employers who may not contribute to the trainee effort are at a competitive advantage over those employers who do the right thing in training young people. To support employers, we have had 895 employer incentive packages across the Northern Territory; 324 Skill Shortage Trade Employer Incentives - that is $7000 to each employer who employs what used to be called ‘a blue collar apprentice’; 541 Small Business Employer Incentives of $3000 each, which is a significant support; and 30 Community Council Employer Incentives at $4400 each.
We are also supporting those young people. We all know that, in the first year of an apprenticeship or traineeship, the wages are not that great. I know, as a first year apprentice many years ago – and the member for Drysdale shares the same trade background - that first year on the tools, life is pretty tough. Therefore, this year we committed 830 $1000 Workwear/Workgear Bonuses – that is cash in the hand for those young people to help them out in the first year of the apprenticeship; 830 of those across the Northern Territory.
When we talk about the 5243 new apprentices and trainees, people talk about the traditional trades. That is the biggest skills gap that we have at the moment. Talk to anybody in the construction industry or in any of the engineering disciplines, they just cannot get tradespeople. Well, out of the 5000, we have 1423 trade apprenticeships. If you compare that to the last year of the CLP government, there were only 795, so we have doubled that by a focused policy effort.
Madam Speaker, we are on track. We will work hard to continue to roll out these opportunities for young Territorians. We are on our way to the 10 000 and we will get there.
NT Police Force – 200 Extra Officers
Ms CARNEY to MINISTER for POLICE, FIRE and EMERGENCY SERVICES
Is it not the case that police auxiliaries’ primary responsibility is that of administration and communication support, and that they are neither trained nor paid to undertake the work of police officers out and about and on the beat? How is it possible that police auxiliaries can be counted as part of your 200 extra police on the beat that you and the Police Commissioner both say that you have met regarding the target and promise of government?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I have already answered this question; that there were police sitting in positions, carrying out the functions of auxiliary police officers. They are now freed up through that recruitment process to be doing policing duties. It is as simple as that. The Leader of the Opposition just needs to understand that. It is very simple. I am sure that everyone in this House understands it, as they understand the unequivocal word of the Northern Territory Police Commissioner, Mr Paul White, in his memo, when he said …
Dr Lim: You are playing games, a minister who just fudges the figures, you fudged the figures on nurses, fudged the figures on police.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr Henderson: So you are accusing the Police Commissioner, are you? That is outrageous!
Dr BURNS: Well, I am coming to that, Leader of Government Business:
- The Northern Territory Police Force has undertaken significant recruitment in recent years and, since 1 July 2003, 165 positions at Constable and above were filled, 29 ACPOS and 21 Police Auxiliaries. The total number of additional police …
These are the words of the Police Commissioner:
Ms Carney: You are counting the police on the beat, you fool!
Mr HENDERSON: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Calling my honourable colleague a fool is unparliamentary, and I ask the Leader of the Opposition to withdraw her shrill comment.
Madam SPEAKER: Leader of the Opposition, thank you.
Ms CARNEY: I withdraw the word ‘fool’, Madam Speaker.
Dr BURNS: Madam Speaker, I will continue with the paragraph that the Leader of the Opposition does not want to hear. I will say it again:
- The total number of additional police since 1 July 2003 (up until 12 February 2007) stands at 215.
Members interjecting
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Dr BURNS: Not 200, but 215. I will add that the increase on 18 December has taken into account the graduation of Squad 86 on 9 November and Squad 87 on 8 February, minus attrition. If the Leader of the Opposition was interested enough to come to the latest police graduation, she would have seen two other squads behind. Two hundred and fifteen police, not according to the government but according to the Police Commissioner.
GBS Gold – Regional Economic Impact
Mr KNIGHT to MINISTER for MINES and ENERGY
I am aware that GBS Gold began commercial processing of gold at the start of this year at the Union Reef plant in Pine Creek. Can you please update the House on the GBS Gold project and describe how it will impact on regional development and jobs in the Katherine and Pine Creek area?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Daly his question. GBS Gold, as I have mentioned before in the House, is a real success story of the strong emergence of mining in the Northern Territory. GBS Gold is a Canadian-based company registered on the Canadian stock exchange. It has now based its operations in Pine Creek. The company, with the money that it has raised through its investors - and that money totals $1.8bn over the next eight years – has gone ahead and bought companies and assets in and around that region: Terra Gold, Northern Gold, Union Reef Mine and the processing plants within the Union Reef Mine, the Burnside joint venture project, including several mines and ore bodies in the Hayes Creek area, and Maud Creek gold mine at Katherine. It has also gone ahead and bought mining camps at Pine Creek and Cosmo Howley.
It just shows there is a significant input of money and confidence in that area. At the moment, they are a dominant explorer in and around that area, and they really do maintain it. They want to be a dominant gold miner in the Northern Territory.
At the moment, the two mines they are working on are the Zapopan underground and the Rising Tide open at Brocks Creek. Their base resource is around 3.5 million ounces of gold. In the first quarter of this year, they expect to take about 20 000 to 25 000 ounces through the factory. They hope to build up to an annual output of around 250 000 ounces. It is a significant gold mine. I was pleased to attend the official opening in November last year with the Chief Minister and other members. The atmosphere within the place was quite electric. To see their first core of their first ingot was fantastic. Everyone was very pleased and I could see the future was going to be bright in that area.
It is pleasing that their major management team has now been based in Katherine, and the work they are doing in and around that area to keep everyone on top of what they are doing is fantastic. They have opened up a shopfront and take out regular advertisements in the paper to inform people within the area of their mining activities. Most of their supplies are sourced locally and there has also been a very strong commitment to local employment. When the mine is up and fully running there will be about 170 direct jobs. At present, there are around 100 already happening and 170 contractors are also employed. It is a significant flow-on to the economy in that area.
The gold milling operations will also be significant. There are some small mines within that area which will call upon the Union Reef plant to do some milling, and Mt Porter and Spring Hill, which are small operations, will be using the Union Reef plant, we hope, for their milling operations.
The mine workers are housed in specialised camps within the Pine Creek and Cosmo Howley area. With them staying in those camps, it is a significant financial injection into the local economy. As a company, it continues to open mines and ore deposits within the area. That is going to have a ripple effect right throughout the Territory, especially in the Pine Creek area. Really, it is a golden era for the economic development and employment in the Katherine and Pine Creek regions.
Members: Hear, hear!
Bradshaw Primary School – Former Irrkerlantye Learning Centre Students
Mrs BRAHAM to MINISTER for EMPLOYMENT, EDUCATION and TRAINING
Last year, your predecessor closed the Irrkerlantye Learning Centre and forced the children to attend Bradshaw Primary School. Do you support apartheid in your schools? If not, why are these children being forced to have their recess and lunch at a different time to the rest of the school? Why have you allowed this policy to be introduced that marginalises these students even further? How will they be accepted in the mainstream if you continue to allow this separatist policy to continue? Is this your idea of integration? Do you agree with this policy and, if not, what are you going to do about it?
Mr Stirling: How were they being accepted stuck out at Irrkerlantye on their own? How is that mainstream?
Mrs Braham: That was completely isolating them!
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I welcome the question from the member for Braitling. I am saddened by the way she asked it. I believe that the member for Braitling does have a genuine regard for these kids. The question could have been rephrased, because this is a difficult situation. First, I give my thanks to my predecessor in this role, because it was a courageous decision. The former minister took a whole heap of significant heat on this issue from ill-informed comment, whatever the motivation for them was, from Alice Springs. As minister, I have very quickly made it my business to visit the Irrkerlantye students, both at Bradshaw and at Alice Springs High School.
Before I answer the question, I place on the record my total admiration and thanks to the fantastic teachers at both of those schools, and the principals, who have worked their butts off. Their commitment, dedication, and professionalism in bringing those children into a mainstream education environment was inspiring. I spent time in the classroom and it was absolutely inspiring.
These kids should not be a political football. These are some of the most disadvantaged children in the Northern Territory who deserve an opportunity in life, who deserve an education, who deserve a mainstream education. That is what they are getting at Bradshaw and at Alice Springs High. They were not getting that on the town camps.
What is in their best interest in how their day is structured, and their formal involvement within the school, I will leave to the professionals. I will leave that to the dedicated, professional people who are making decisions in the best interests of those children. They are not segregating those kids. There is no apartheid regime. I am saddened that the member for Braitling would use that term because they are in a mainstream school with mainstream facilities, being taught with the same academic rigour and focus that other mainstream kids are being taught. They will, when they …
Mrs Braham interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr HENDERSON: Madam Speaker, the member for Braitling used to be a teacher, and I am sure she would not let her kids talk in class when she was talking.
Mrs Braham interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Member for Braitling, cease interjecting. Member for Braitling!
Mr HENDERSON: This is a serious issue and it should not be treated as a political football. Those students will be absorbed into the mainstream of that school and of Alice Springs High when the professionals make a decision that they are ready. We do not want to lose those kids back to the squalor of the town camps and deny them the opportunity of an education that every Territory child deserves.
They are doing a great job. I was absolutely inspired by those teachers. It is a pretty difficult job teaching those kids. They are delightful kids. I sat in the classroom; accelerated literacy in the classroom; they were reading. They are getting a chance in life, thanks to my predecessor, the former minister, and this government. We should not be using them as a political football.
NT Police Force – 200 Extra Officers
Ms CARNEY to MINISTER for POLICE, FIRE and EMERGENCY SERVICES
When Territorians hear the term ‘on the beat’, they believe that it means police officers in cars and on the streets protecting them. And you know that, too, minister, which is why you used it in all of your advertising and why it has been a mantra of your government for some time. Is it not the case that, in the memo you tabled last week, that the total numbers have been increased by including auxiliaries and Aboriginal Community Police Officers in those numbers, and that those two, that is auxiliaries and Aboriginal Community Police Officers, are not police on the beat?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I believe I have answered this question before. However, I come back to the O’Sullivan Report, and I will say it again. The O’Sullivan Report recommended an increased number of police officers, constables and above, of Aboriginal Community Police Officers and police auxiliaries. I really wonder whether the Opposition Leader has actually read the O’Sullivan Report, I very much doubt it.
Ms Carney: Don’t you patronise me. You did not even read your ministerial brief yesterday, which is why you were so wrong on health.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Leader of the Opposition!
Dr BURNS: Well, it does not sound like she has read it, Madam Speaker, because it is very clear in the O’Sullivan Report exactly what I have said. I am not going to continue to engage in this sort of discussion with the opposition when she is putting down our Police Commissioner, who has written this memo, reflecting on him, when she is putting down police, auxiliary police and Aboriginal Community Police Officers.
Ms CARNEY: A point of order, Madam Speaker! I would let it go, however, the minister, clearly, is telling whoppers by suggesting I am impugning the integrity of the Police Commissioner and members of police. You know, Madam Speaker, that that is not the case. I ask that you direct the minister, for a change, to tell the truth.
Madam SPEAKER: Leader of the Opposition, there is no point of order. However, if you would like to make a personal explanation, you may approach me at the end of Question Time.
Dr BURNS: Madam Speaker, on this question that the Leader of the Opposition keeps on raising ‘on the beat’, if she had read the O’Sullivan Report, she would know that O’Sullivan recommended structures within our police force to bring our police force into a contemporary, modern police force, which includes a whole range of units within police to deal with domestic violence, and intelligence-led policing, particularly against property crime. If she attended the last police graduation, she would have heard the Police Commissioner talk on this very issue and say that these police in these units are actually police on the beat.
One only has to look at the results. Since 2001 – a 50% reduction in property crime. We are reaping the results from the investment in our police force, and as much as the opposition does not want to accept that and play around with numbers, and call this one a policeman and that one not a policeman, they can do that. However, the Police Commissioner has put it in black and white – we have met our target. We trust our Police Commissioner in the way that he has organised the police force to carry out the functions of modern policing within this Northern Territory.
Madam Speaker, if I could just add a personal anecdote here. I mentioned that I was in Brisbane and toured the Radiation Oncology Unit at Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, I also took the opportunity to meet Jim O’Sullivan, the author of the report. Jim O’Sullivan was most disturbed about the freeze in recruitment which occurred under the previous government, and was very concerned that police were taking jobs and they did not have the resources to follow it up. They now have the resources. We have a modern police force. We are about reducing crime and putting police into our Northern Territory to fit our Northern Territory circumstances.
Threatened Species List
Mr WARREN to MINISTER for PARKS and WILDLIFE
I understand that your department was recently working on a new Threatened Species List. Can you tell the House what this means to the Territory’s endangered species?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Goyder for his question. It is a very important question, despite some of the murmurings I hear from the other side. Today, I was pleased to announce the Territory’s new Threatened Species List. I table that list, which follows a recent review …
Mr Henderson: Is the Leader of the Opposition on that list?
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order, order!
Dr LIM: A point of order, Madam Speaker! The remark by the Leader of Government Business is uncalled for, and I seek that he withdraw that.
Madam SPEAKER: Leader of Government Business, I ask you to withdraw that comment.
Mr HENDERSON: Madam Speaker, I withdraw that the Leader of the Opposition may be on the Threatened Species List.
Members interjecting..
Madam SPEAKER: Order, order! Minister, please continue.
Ms SCRYMGOUR: … which follows a recent review, including an extensive public comment period that ended in October last year.
The list categorises plants and animals with regard to their risk status. The purpose of the list is to provide classification for the Northern Territory plant and animal species which will allow appropriate funding, but also research and conservation programs to be focused on the areas that are needed the most. Over time, species do change their abundance and population health for a variety of reasons, and an overall review of the status of all our plant and animal species was appropriate.
During that month-long period of public consultation last year, comments were received from a number of organisations on around 50 of the 665 different plant and animal species listed. This review has resulted in four species having their status elevated; that is, their situation has gotten worse. Five have improved and gone down the list, while 15 changed to data deficient.
Two goanna species, the yellow-spotted monitor and the Merten’s water monitor, have had their proposed listing of ‘near threatened’ increased to ‘vulnerable’.
Dr Lim: Oh, another ministerial statement.
Ms SCRYMGOUR: Both of these lizards occur in the Top End - and I know that you do not care very much about it, but maybe you should take some interest in this, because this is important; it is about our lifestyle and caring about our environment, which we take quite seriously on this side, unlike the member for Greatorex.
This list and the work that has gone into this by my department has shown their numbers have declined by more than 80% immediately after the arrival of the cane toads. Even more alarming is the northern river shark found in the Adelaide and East and South Alligator Rivers, which has had its listing increased from ‘vulnerable’ to ‘endangered’.
I take this opportunity to applaud, despite the bleating from the opposition, the efforts of all those people who have made the updated list possible, including the dedicated staff of the Department of Natural Resources, Environment and the Arts, who work incredibly hard to compile such lists, and to all those people and organisations who took the time to provide that comment.
NT Police Force – 200 Extra Officers
Ms CARNEY to MINISTER for POLICE, FIRE and EMERGENCY SERVICES
How many of the 215 extra personnel identified in the memo from the Police Commissioner that you tabled last week are police on the beat? Secondly, do you agree that, when answering questions on health or police, you remind many Territorians of that character from Little Britain; namely, the one who goes ‘Yeah but no, but yeah, but no, but yeah, but no’?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, if there is one thing that has underlined this Question Time from the opposition, it is the quibbling and carping of the opposition, trying to discredit what the government has done in resourcing our police force. Obviously, not having read the O’Sullivan Report and the actual recommendations of the O’Sullivan Report …
Ms CARNEY: A point of order, Madam Speaker! I refer you to Standing Order 62. The minister continues to make comments that I regard as offensive; that is, asserting that I have not read an important document - I have. It is offensive, it is wrong, and I ask that you direct him pursuant to that standing order.
Madam SPEAKER: Leader of the Opposition, there is no point of order. If you wish to, I ask you to talk to me later about making a personal explanation.
Dr BURNS: I will say, in closing, that at least the opposition has moved along since the last sittings of last year when they were trying to assert that there had only been 13 extra police officers recruited into our police force since we started implementing O’Sullivan. They have moved along from there. Now they are just trying to gnaw away at the edges. However, they can never get away from the fact that this is a government that has invested $75m in building our police force and putting 200 extra police within our police force to address the issues of law and order in the Northern Territory.
Teachers – Recognition of Outstanding Service
Mr HAMPTON to MINISTER for EMPLOYMENT, EDUCATION and TRAINING
We all know teachers make the world of difference in a child’s life of education. Could you please inform the House of new measures to recognise outstanding service by Northern Territory teachers?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for the question. Yesterday, I announced a formal policy through the department to recognise the dedication and commitment of our teachers who serve in the Territory for long periods of time teaching our kids. In itself this is not a huge issue, however, it is something that we must do because teachers make a very real difference to the lives of our young people across the Northern Territory.
I became aware that there was no formalised process, there were certainly processes to recognise meritorious service within the department, but it was not a formalised process. Some teachers could finish their teaching career in the Northern Territory, having worked for 20, 25 or 30 years, slip through the cracks, and off into retirement without that formal recognition that I believe every member of this House and Territorians would believe that they are due. We have a large percentage of our teaching population in the Northern Territory who are here for the long haul.
We certainly have a significant turnover of teachers, particularly through our remote communities. That is a very significant concern and policy issue that the government is grappling with. We also have another very large group of teachers, whom we all know, who serve in our schools for many years. I want to recognise that commitment. At 10, 20, 25 and 30 years, there will be a formal recognition provided for all those years of service. At 25 years, there will be an engraved plaque and a letter from myself, and I want to, as much as possible, get into those staff rooms and school assemblies and present them personally on behalf of the government and the Territory to thank them. At 30 years, there will be an engraved glass plaque and a letter of recognition from the Chief Minister. In itself it is a small gesture.
Yesterday, when I announced this policy at Leanyer Primary School in my electorate, I congratulated Janelle Northcott, Craig Nieminski, Sally Bruyn and Henry Gray, the fantastic principal there. Each of them has served over 30 years. They were chuffed, Madam Speaker. You can see the comments in the paper today, the special assembly we had at the school. The cheers from the kids were probably worth more than the formal recognition to say thank you for those 30 years worth of service.
I am also made aware by the member for Brennan, of a teacher at Driver school, Mr Art Libien, who has completed 34 years of service and has the distinction of teaching the member for Brennan as a young gun as well as the son of the member for Nhulunbuy. So, the pupil is now in the parliament. To Art, for 34 years of your dedication to teaching in the Territory, I thank you and I am sure all honourable members will support this initiative.
NT Police Force – 200 Extra Officers
Ms CARNEY to MINISTER for POLICE, FIRE and EMERGENCY SERVICES
In November, when you told the Assembly that your government was on track to deliver 200 extra police on the beat, you must have known then that you would fail to deliver on your promise. You must have known. My question is, did you knowingly mislead the parliament, or is it the case that you were simply not across your portfolio, like Health?
Mr HENDERSON: A point of order, Madam Speaker! The Leader of the Opposition well knows she cannot accuse any member of this House of misleading the parliament unless she does so by way of substantive motion. I urge her to withdraw.
Madam SPEAKER: I ask you to reword the question, Leader of the Opposition.
Ms CARNEY: Madam Speaker, the reworded question is this: minister, did you know then that you were not going to deliver 200 extra police on the beat or, was it the case that you were then, like you are now, not across your portfolio and similarly, you are not across your Health portfolio? Did you not know or are you not across it?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, we have some very circular questioning here. I have already tabled the memo from the Police Commissioner explaining that we have met our O’Sullivan target and, in fact, we have exceeded it, which is very important. I have explained about a modern police force. I have related the anecdote of Jim O’Sullivan, the author of the O’Sullivan Report, who told me that one thing that really concerned him when he undertook his review was that there were not enough police and resources to follow up on public complaints. When I was doorknocking prior to the 2001 election, property crime was the number one issue and, second, people would say to me, and it was a common complaint: ‘The police came, but there was never any follow up. Nothing happened’. That was confirmed by Jim O’Sullivan.
If the Leader of the Opposition is interested in crime and crime reduction, I have a few statistics relating to Alice Springs. She said the other day, or in adjournment last night, that crime statistics in Alice Springs tell their own story. Let us look at the crime statistics in Alice Springs.
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Dr BURNS: This is comparing the statistics of the September quarter 2001 with the last reporting when the CLP were in office. In Alice Springs, we see assault down 11%; sexual assault down 33%; offences against the person down 12%; unlawful entry with intent down 37%; motor vehicle theft down 7%; other theft down 22% ...
Mr MILLS: A point of order, Madam Speaker! I go to the issue of relevance. There was a question asked, and that does not bear any relation to the answer.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Blain, you would be aware that during Question Time there is a lot of latitude in the answering of questions and in the asking of questions. There is no point of order. Minister, please continue.
Dr BURNS: Madam Speaker, I know the opposition does not want to hear this, but it is relevant. What has been demonstrated through this Question Time is, first, that government has delivered on its promise to implement the O’Sullivan Report …
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Dr BURNS: … and, in terms of police officers or auxiliary police and Aboriginal Community Police Officers, we are not going to back away from that, and there are reasons why O’Sullivan recommended that. Second, we have a modern police force, organised along the lines of a modern police force, compliments of our Police Commissioner Paul White, to whom I pay tribute. Third, our $75m investment in our police force is bearing results in reduction in crime across the Territory, in the member for Araluen’s own area, yet she does not want to hear it.
The opposition should stop knocking our police, knocking the government for investing in our police, and get on with it.
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, cease interjecting!
ANSTI Facility – Future of Site
Mr WOOD to MINISTER for FAMILY and COMMUNITY SERVICES
As you know, the alcohol and drug rehabilitation centre at Bees Creek, called ANSTI, has closed down for various reasons. As there is no caretaker there, could you advise what the government is doing to protect the assets of the site? What are the government’s plans for the site? Does the government intend to sell it, reopen it as a rehabilitation centre, or is it going to be given to another government department such as Correctional Services?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Nelson for his question. I know he is a previous board member of ANSTI, and I thank him for his cooperation during the winding-up of ANSTI. The member would be well aware that ANSTI as an incorporated body ceased to exist as of 31 January. I acknowledge the outgoing board of ANSTI. They were very professional in their winding-up of the organisation, particularly the outgoing chair, Mr Alone, with whom my office worked very closely. He was extremely cooperative, working with us, the agency of Family and Community Services, as well as the Department of Justice. There were obviously some significant legal processes to follow. Those legal processes are still nearing completion; they are not quite complete.
At this stage, my advice has been that the physical assets - the buildings and the land - will revert to the Crown. At that stage, my agency of Family and Community Services, will apply to my other agency, Planning and Infrastructure, for the assets so that they can continue to be reused as rehabilitation, which is the commitment the government has given.
So, in short, no, there are no intentions to use ANSTI as a correctional facility. The intention, very clearly, as enunciated all along in this process, is to continue to use that facility as a rehabilitation facility.
NT Public Sector – Training
Mr KIELY to MINISTER for CORPORATE and INFORMATION SERVICES
Can the minister advise the House of recent events in his portfolio which demonstrate the government’s commitment to employment creation and career development?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Sanderson for his question, which builds on the response by the Minister for Employment, Education and Training in relation to 5240 apprentices into the workplace under the Jobs Plan. That is a great effort within itself.
On 2 February this year, I attended the graduation of Northern Territory Public Service apprentices. The ceremony was held at SKYCITY Casino. I was accompanied by the Acting Chief Minister, together with my ministerial colleagues, the members for Johnston and Drysdale, and the members for Sanderson and Port Darwin. Forty-two apprentices graduated on that occasion. It was a great occasion, and very special for the mums and dads, and the graduates and, more importantly, for those people who put in the hard yards in mentoring these people. It was a great occasion.
I also had the opportunity to attend graduation ceremonies in Alice Springs and Tennant Creek. There were 10 graduates in Alice Springs and five in Tennant Creek. I thank the member for Daly for attending the graduation ceremony in Katherine. I understand there were three graduates there.
In total, there have been 360 apprentices who have gone through the NT Public Service apprenticeship scheme, as part of the NT Jobs Plan since 2004. The retention rate is absolutely extraordinary; it is around 85%, far in excess of national standards. It is a tribute to those people who have been involved in it. The most important thing here is that 360 people, 60-odd on this occasion, have been given the opportunity to participate in the workplace and, more importantly, the opportunity to develop skills in the context of our economy in the Northern Territory, getting jobs and growing our skills base.
Congratulations on behalf of everyone in this House to all those graduates. It was a great effort and a privilege to be involved. I would like to thank three people from DCIS who played a very important role in providing support to these apprentices. I refer to Dale Howard, Kylie O’Loughlin and to Chelsey Johnston.
One other point, I had the opportunity to attend Glenys Billing’s farewell earlier this year. Glenys has been a true inspiration to this particular program for a very long time, something like 32 years in the public service, both at a Commonwealth and Territory level. Glenys has now retired and is on a trip around Australia. I pay tribute to her on behalf of everyone in this House. She was a true inspiration to the 360-odd people who have gone through. Thank you very much, Glenys.
Members: Hear, hear!
NT Police Force – 200 Extra Officers
Ms CARNEY to MINISTER for POLICE, FIRE and EMERGENCY SERVICES
You have not delivered on your election promise, and your denials do you and your colleagues a great disservice. The Police Association President, Vince Kelly, called your campaign to deceive Territorians nothing but Labor propaganda. I call it a lie. It is a big, fat lie, and you know it ...
Mr HENDERSON: A point of order; Madam Speaker! The Leader of the Opposition well knows - and I believe she is really pushing the boundaries here - that she cannot call my colleague a liar unless she does so by way of substantive motion. Bring it on if you are going to bring it on, or withdraw.
Madam SPEAKER: Leader of the Opposition, I ask you to withdraw those comments.
SUSPENSION OF STANDING ORDERS
Proposed Censure of Chief Minister, the Leader of Government Business and the Minister for Police, Fire and Emergency Services
Ms CARNEY (Opposition Leader): Madam Speaker, I move that so much of standing orders be suspended as would prevent this House from censuring the Chief Minister, the Leader of Government Business and the current minister for Police for lying to Territorians about police numbers and resources dedicated to keeping their streets safe.
Mr HENDERSON (Leader of Government Business): Madam Speaker, we accept this motion and will enjoy participating in proving the member wrong.
Madam Speaker, I ask that further questions be placed on the Written Question Paper.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016