2005-10-13
Fatal Traffic Accident – Louisa May Turner
Ms CARNEY to MINISTER for POLICE, FIRE and EMERGENCY SERVICES
I note that the Treasurer is taking questions on behalf of the Police minister, although the Treasurer may wish to refer this to the Attorney-General. I appreciate the difficulties that the minister may have.
Yesterday, the Police minister said, in answer to a question I asked regarding the death of Louisa May Turner, that I had it wrong. He said: ‘The police did conclude their investigation prior to charges being laid’. The driver of the vehicle in which Louisa died has still not been interviewed, and his wife, Louisa’s grandmother, was only interviewed by the police after the German national returned to Germany. How can it possibly be the case that the investigation had been completed? How could it have been completed when two key witnesses were not interviewed, and when the investigation into this motor vehicle accident in which death was involved usually takes significantly more time than six days?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the Leader of the Opposition for her question. From memory, yesterday, when the minister for Police was answering questions of a similar ilk, he did explain that there was an investigation under way, and where the police investigation has reached and the process in and around that investigation, along with the DDP. I imagine that the type of question that the Leader of the Opposition is putting to me across the floor today would be a part of that investigation. If there is any more information in and around that issue that I should be responding to in answer to those questions, I would be expecting staff from minister Henderson’s office to be getting that information to me, and I will relate it directly to the Leader of the Opposition.
Radioactive Waste Facility – Federal Government’s Response
Ms ANDERSON to CHIEF MINISTER
Last Friday, hundreds of people in Alice Springs marched and attended a no nuclear dump rally. Everyone who was there - the town folk, traditional owners, young people and old people - voiced their total opposition to Canberra’s plans to dump the nuclear waste in our backyard. Can you provide an update to the Chamber on Canberra’s response to this clear message that we do not want their toxic nuclear waste?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Macdonnell for that question. I stand with a great sense of sadness, and also anger, on behalf of Territorians, because today the federal government has steamrolled the Northern Territory and Territorians on the issue of nuclear waste and a nuclear waste dump for the Northern Territory. What they have done in the federal parliament is an outrageous attack on Territorians – it really is. I do not say those words lightly: it is an outrageous attack on Territorians.
This morning, in federal parliament, the Howard government introduced two pieces of legislation that ride roughshod over the rights of Territorians. The legislation will force Territorians to have the highest level of nuclear waste in the country stored in our backyard. This legislation introduced in the federal parliament this morning flies in the face of the overwhelming objections of Territorians to having the federal nuclear waste dump in our Territory - just listen to the people of Alice Springs and the intensity of their objection last Friday.
There is no doubt about it, Canberra has sent a very clear message to the people of the Territory with this act - which I call an act of political thuggery - that they do not care what we want or about the Territory’s rights. The Prime Minister is on the public record saying that he would not take advantage of the fact that we were a Territory. Our Prime Minister said:
- In the context of this debate about nuclear waste, the rights of Territorians will be no less respected than the rights of Australians in other parts of the country.
We are not going to treat the Territory in a disrespectful fashion.
Well, with respect, Prime Minister, you are! The Prime Minister is treating Territorians with great disrespect. He is not respecting the rights of Territorians in relation to those rights in other parts of Australia. Today’s actions show just how hollow those words were.
There are claims today that this action of the legislation in federal parliament will, somehow, save lives as it is about nuclear medicine. That should be absolutely rejected; it is rubbish. This is about spent fuel rods from France being dumped in the Northern Territory. Have no doubt about it, this is what it is about: spent fuel rods from France being dumped in the Territory. The actions of the federal government today show that there was never going to be a proper scientific process. There was a claim: ‘We are going to have a proper scientific process now. We are going to assess the three sites that we have declared, one of which will be a nuclear waste dump site’. The federal government, all along, always knew that they were going to do this; they were going to force this nuclear waste dump on the Territory. We are being steamrolled, but we will continue to fight. Territorians are tough and we will continue to fight because the legislation from the federal government means that they can do anything, to anyone, at any time. That is the strength of this legislation. I advise people to take a look at it. It is draconian legislation.
Part of that legislation is that there is no capacity for anyone to appeal, challenge or review that legislation. It is very substantial legislation. It gives the federal government absolute power and it really smacks of a federal government which says: ‘We are untouchable. You are a Territory, we are going to do this’. Well, I say from this parliament: this fight is a long way from being over. We will not have the Commonwealth stripping away our rights. We might be a Territory, we are a proud Territory. We should be considered the same as any state. What we have seen from the federal government today is simply steamrolling us, treating us as second-class citizens. Madam Speaker, I say we will not put up with it, we are going to fight it.
Members: Hear, hear!
Prison Officers’ Grievances
Ms CARNEY to MINISTER for JUSTICE and ATTORNEY-GENERAL
On 10 September, the Prison Officers Association of the Northern Territory placed this full-sized advertisement in the NT News explaining to Territorians why they took a vote of no confidence in ‘the Department of Justice and Senior Corrections management’. The association wrote in this advertisement that prison officers ‘… no longer have any confidence in those making uneducated and arbitrary decisions, ignoring the views and expertise of those who work in prisons’. You are their minister. When will you start to listen to the prison officers, who you obviously ignore? What are you doing to address their grievances?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, the first thing I will say is that I regularly meet with the prisoner officers, both in formal meetings and going out to prisons. You might note, to be fair about all this, that those motions did not include me; they have always expressed confidence in my support for them.
Let us go through a couple of the issues that are going through the prisons at the moment so we can sort out the things that need to be resolved. The first issue that was mentioned in that meeting was the question of staffing of the sexual offender programs in Alice Springs. That issue has been resolved to the satisfaction of the prison officers and those programs will commence shortly.
The second issue is the question of staffing of the new low-security area in the Berrimah gaol. That, like any expansion of a service, is now part of a negotiation between the Senior Prison Officers Association, the Office of the Public Service Commissioner and also, of course, the Department of Justice. I am sure that will be resolved like any other discussion between a work force and an agency regarding the resource requirements for a new area of a facility. I look forward to seeing that resolved and I do not think the two sides are that far apart. I believe it can be dealt with with frank talking and some goodwill.
Radioactive Waste Facility – Action by Northern Territory Government
Mr KNIGHT to CHIEF MINISTER
Now that the Commonwealth government has introduced this outrageous steamrolling legislation intended to extinguish the democratic rights of Territorians and impose a nuclear waste dump in the Northern Territory, what action can this House now take?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Daly for the question. This is probably the most fundamental issue our Northern Territory and this parliament will face in a long time. It truly is a very dark day. We are proud of being Territorians. We know we are not a state and that the federal government can override our legislation. However, to do it in this way, in the most arrogant and substantial way, overriding every piece of legislation - overriding even their own legislation - in their determination to push their own nuclear waste dump on the Territory is really a very dark day for the Territory and Australia. It really tramples our democratic rights.
The Prime Minister said, ‘I will respect the Territory, I will respect you the same way as I respect other Australians’. This legislation is diametrically opposed to those statements. This legislation presented to federal parliament this morning is a real steamroller, steamrolling of Territorians rights. We are going to fight it. We know it is tough, but we are going to fight this legislation. I believe the strength of Territorians and our ability to argue will really support this fight.
It is not like the past, when a conscience vote on a private member’s bill happened and turned our legislation over. We saw what happened during the times of the euthanasia debate. This is the federal government itself saying: ‘We are going to squash Territorians. We are going to squash the legislation you put into the parliament, the very strong wishes of Territorians. We do not care. We do not care about your legislation; or about what you want. We have the right. We have got the legislation and we are going to do it’. It is arrogant and it is outrageous.
As a parliament, we need to send a very clear and urgent message to Canberra that this House rejects the attempts by Canberra to steamroll Territorians.
Due to the seriousness of the federal government’s actions this morning, and the hypocrisy, I intend to seek permission later this afternoon to suspend standing orders and move an extraordinary motion condemning the Howard government for introducing these bills and calling on the Commonwealth parliament to reject the legislation.
I can also promise Territorians and this House that the fight, as I said before, is a long way from being over. Every member of the Commonwealth parliament should reject this extraordinary attempt by the Howard government to trample our rights - to trample the rights, whether of Territorians or anyone and reject it for political expediency.
I give members of the Senate fair notice. I - and I hope it will be shared by everyone in this House - will be knocking on their doors in Canberra to ask them to reject the legislation. I hope I will not be alone. We need to be active, loud and to be knocking on doors.
Senator Scullion has promised that he will cross the floor and vote against this legislation. He is on the record. We will be calling on him to do so on behalf of the Territorians he represents in federal parliament. We can stop this legislation from passing in the Senate if Senator Nigel Scullion crosses the floor. That is a fair challenge to Senator Scullion and we will be working with all Senators to support him in doing so. I look forward to unanimous support in this House for the motion when I do bring it forward.
Correctional Services – Sex Offender Programs
Ms CARNEY to MINISTER for JUSTICE and ATTORNEY-GENERAL
Sexual assaults in the Northern Territory have risen under the Labor government. Recently, you announced that there would be sex offenders programs operating in both prisons by the middle of July. There are no sex offender programs operating due to a number of serious concerns prison officers have. You said in your earlier answer that their concerns had been addressed. Can you outline how those concerns have been addressed? When will the program start and will they be the same ones as originally planned in terms of content and duration?
ANSWER
The plan is to commence the sex offender program in the Alice Springs gaol within days. The hold-up for that was an ongoing disagreement regarding the number of prison officers that would be required to provide security around that activity. That has now been resolved. The staff who will deliver the program have been appointed, and the program will start as a psychology-based, professionally-based rehabilitation program. That will start within days. Once the program in the Alice Springs gaol is established, we will look to Berrimah gaol.
Radioactive Waste Facility – Provision of Nuclear Medicine
Mr KIELY to MINISTER for HEALTH
What do you say to claims that without a nuclear dump we will not be able to offer nuclear medicine to cancer sufferers?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I share the absolute anger and indignation of the Chief Minister regarding the actions of the federal government today. One of the most appalling things that I have heard of in politics is the shameful use of cancer patients as a pawn in a grubby political game directed at the Northern Territory. David Tollner issued a media release today claiming that without a dump we will have to stop treating people with the radiopharmaceuticals. He says that the Northern Territory refusing to accept other people’s waste means all Australians will be denied nuclear medicine.
I do not know what doctors he speaks to, but I can tell you that this is absolutely untrue. The claims that he is making are just purely steps in this ugly campaign that the federal government is waging against the Northern Territory, Northern Territorians and the rights of Northern Territorians. I understand that the Lucas Heights reactor, which was mentioned in Dave Tollner’s statement, far from stopping production in April next year, can function for at least another decade and, probably, for another 20 to 30 years. There is simply no imperative on this issue unless the Australian government has other plans.
Mr Mills: That is not right. Check that out.
Dr TOYNE: Well, maybe the CLP can tell us about that. This dump is about storing the Commonwealth’s waste; it is not about the waste from hospitals in the country.
The Northern Territory has been offered a chance to store its hospital waste at the Commonwealth dump. We have indicated all along that we are happy to store our own waste, because they are low level, they are a very small volume, and most of the nucleotides that we use in treatment in our hospitals decay to background levels of radiation in a matter of days. It is not a problem for us and I doubt that it is a problem for any hospital around the country.
For these politicians from the CLP to be out there trying to scare the community by saying that we are exposing cancer patients to lack of treatment is absolutely disgraceful. I say it is shame on them. We certainly are going to get out and tell Territorians the truth about this matter.
Members: Hear, hear!
Alice Springs – Provision of a Mobile Police Station
Mrs BRAHAM to CHIEF MINISTER
Madam Speaker, it is going to be a little difficult if Question Time is going to be dominated by this issue from the government when members on this side of the House cannot get a chance to respond until the motion is put. We have to continue with Question Time …
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Braitling, what is your question?
Mrs BRAHAM: In light of the escalating violent deaths in Alice Springs, accompanied by the increase in rate of assaults, and this terrible article in The Bulletin, ‘A Town called Malice’, when will you honour your election commitment to provide Alice Springs with an adapted, fully-equipped cargo van that will be used as a patrol base around Alice Springs? This mobile police station will have self-generating power, radio communications, office facilities, and it was to be purchased and fitted out for police needs early in the new financial year. It is now October. Can you tell me when will you honour that promise?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, the first mobile van will be deployed in the first quarter of next year. We have increased police numbers over the last year in Alice Springs quite significantly, and one of the …
Mrs Braham: So you have not fulfilled that promise?
Ms MARTIN: Madam Speaker, the issue of community safety in Alice Springs is a very important one.
Mrs Braham: It is of concern to all of us.
Ms MARTIN: I am not dismissing it at all. We have significantly increased police resources. I am trying to think of the number - I believe it is about 37 additional police, something of that magnitude in Alice Springs. We are keeping our commitment to increase our police force across the Northern Territory by 200 by the end of 2007.
Mrs Braham: But you made a promise.
Ms MARTIN: We have made a commitment to two new mobile police vans, which will happen in the first quarter of next year. In the interim, it is not as though the police are not there and active. That will be an additional resource for the police. It will enable them to have the mobile police presence where they can interview people on the spot and they do not have to remove people to the central police station to do that. It is not going to change the number of the police presence, or the energy they are putting into tackling the issues in Alice Springs. It will be another component in their armoury. We are committed to doing it and it will be deployed in Alice Springs in the first quarter of 2006.
Radioactive Waste Facility – Impact on Environmental Protection
Ms McCARTHY to MINISTER for NATURAL RESOURCES, ENVIRONMENT and HERITAGE
The Commonwealth nuclear waste dump legislation shows there is one law for the Commonwealth and another for every one else when it comes to protecting our environment. What impact will this legislation have on important environmental protection processes?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Arnhem who, unlike members of the opposition, is a great environmentalist and cares about the environment. In the words of the Chief Minister, this is a dark day for Territorians. The Commonwealth’s nuclear dump legislation is a kick in the guts for self-government. It is extreme legislation that is unprecedented in its attack on community rights and proper processes to protect our environment and heritage.
We took the strongest possible action on behalf of Territorians by introducing legislation to prohibit the nuclear dump. The Commonwealth government has quite clearly and explicitly acted to overturn the express wishes of this Assembly. However, it has done more than that, this is sledgehammer legislation …
Mr Wood: Clause 5.1 says they can. Read your own clause. It is in your legislation. Clause 5.1. Read it.
Ms SCRYMGOUR: The member for Nelson, I said the other day, does not know where he stands. One minute he is saying yes to cotton, he is saying yes to the nuclear waste dump, he says, yes we have to find a solution. Then he stands up with the other hand pretending to be all clean and green and caring for the environment.
Members interjecting.
Ms SCRYMGOUR: Well, you are there to represent the views of Territorians, member for Nelson.
Mr Wood: What has that got to do with it?
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Nelson, cease interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order, Order!
Members interjecting.
Dr Toyne: How many people in Nelson want a dump?
Mr Wood: Well, I am being …
Madam SPEAKER: Order, member for Nelson!
Ms SCRYMGOUR: The member for Nelson is on the record, both in the media and in this parliament, with his views on those issues.
The federal government is power hungry and they will stop at nothing. I am most concerned that this extreme legislation single-handedly wipes out all Territory environmental, heritage and public safety laws …
Mr Mills: Repetition.
Ms SCRYMGOUR: Well, it is not repetitious, member for Blain.
Mr Mills: It is. How many questions are you going to …
Ms SCRYMGOUR: Well, you do not care. You do not care about something that is going to …
Mr Mills: We are going to debate it later.
Ms SCRYMGOUR: impact on this Territory.
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Ms SCRYMGOUR: That could apply to the facility …
Mrs Braham: We cannot put our point of view across.
Mr Mills: It is a stunt.
Madam SPEAKER: Order, member for Braitling.
Ms SCRYMGOUR: If the Commonwealth government gets its way and establishes the dump - and we will fight to make sure they do not – but if they do, then we will have no way to ensure it is operating properly. It will be a law unto itself. We will have no way to review procedures or monitor environmental impacts, and that should be something that the opposition should be worried about in talking to their mates in Canberra.
This legislation would not only override our environmental laws, it also overrides the Commonwealth’s environment and heritage laws. It is unclear whether an environmental impact statement under the Commonwealth’s Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act will be prepared. The proposed legislation also significantly restricts avenues for others to appeal. The Commonwealth will not be subjecting the nuclear dump to the same environmental controls, checks and balances that they will be imposing on any other industry. It is one rule for them and another rule for others.
They are not the actions of a government that is confident of its own arguments; they are the actions of a government that has something to hide. A government that is confident of the validity of its arguments and the safety of its proposed facility would be more than happy to subject itself to the same processes that it expects others to conform to. It would be happy to argue its case and present the information in an open and transparent way with all the usual checks and balances. This new legislation wipes all that away in one fell swoop, putting our environment, heritage, indigenous sacred sites, tourism, and agricultural industries at risk.
Emergency Quarantine Units
Mr MILLS to MINISTER for HEALTH
And now for something completely different! The federal Health minister, Tony Abbott, recently told the ABC that six 500-bed emergency quarantine units were being readied around Australia, one near each international airport. The minister said the units would be located as close as possible to each airport and that the beds and associated infrastructure were being put in place now. Will Darwin International Airport have such a 500-bed quarantine unit assigned to it? Have the preparations for the opening of such a unit been completed? Where will that unit be located? Further, would all arriving passengers at the airport be placed into that quarantine unit as a precautionary measure, and for how long will they be kept there?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I cannot give the detail the member is asking for at the moment. What I can say is that there is an officer-level task force working on these issues. As I said in my ministerial report earlier this week, Tarun Weeramanthri goes to those forums, and I am sure the details of that initiative announced by the minister – which, I must say, is news to me - regarding any impact that we will now want to negotiate to the Territory. If that is, indeed, what he is saying, we will have the opportunity to talk about that in about three weeks time at the Ministerial Council which I chair. We will give you a detailed answer once we know the detail of the minister’s announcement.
_______________________
Visitors
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, I draw your attention to the presence in the gallery of visitors from Primary Industry, Fisheries and Mines. They are accompanied by Mr Richard Jackson. On behalf of all honourable members, I extend to you a warm welcome.
Members: Hear, hear!
_______________________
Radioactive Waste Facility – Transport Implications
Mr BURKE to MINISTER for INFRASTRUCTURE and TRANSPORT
This morning, the federal Science minister introduced two pieces of legislation into federal parliament that would allow it to establish a nuclear dump near either Katherine or Alice Springs …
Mr WOOD: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Repetition.
Mr Burke: What repetition?
Mr WOOD: Same question in a different …
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr WOOD: We are going to debate it later; it is repetitious.
Mr Kiely: Stop grandstanding.
Members interjecting.
Mr Stirling: We know you do not like talking about it …
Madam SPEAKER: Order, Deputy Chief Minister!
Mr WOOD: My point of order is repetition, Madam Speaker.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Nelson, there is no point of order. These questions are directed to different ministers.
Mr Wood: Same question.
Madam SPEAKER: They are directed to …
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: … different ministers. Member for Nelson, resume your seat.
Mr Stirling: You are trying to gag debate but you do not want to hear …
Madam SPEAKER: Order, Deputy Chief Minister!
Mr BURKE: Thank you, Madam Speaker. Minister, what are the implications of this stunt to Territorians from the transport perspective?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Brennan for his question. As has already been outlined by the Minister for Health, there is one category of waste which consists of medical waste through radiopharmaceuticals. As the minister has indicated, most hospitals can adequately handle that waste.
The other category of waste, of course, relates to reprocessed, spent fuel rods which are predominantly returning to the Northern Territory from France. Most of this waste would have to traverse an Australian port and, if the waste dump is to be located in the Northern Territory, it would most likely be the Port of Darwin.
As minister with responsibility for the port, I made some inquiries of the Darwin Port Corporation about the feasibility and readiness, if you like, of our port to handle these quite large loads in which the nuclear waste and spent rods are encased. I was advised that the federal government itself admits that it is not clear whether Australian ports have the capacity to handle these nuclear waste components.
Furthermore, I asked the Darwin Port Corporation about its ability to handle this nuclear waste and they informed me that they made inquiries with a number of organisations, including the World Nuclear Transport Institute and relevant Commonwealth agencies. Australian ports’ capacity to handle the waste has not yet been considered in detail by the relevant Commonwealth authorities, and that is pretty important to note. Approvals would need to be sought from the relevant international organisations and conventions before proceeding.
The federal government would have the public believe that the nuclear waste dump is only for low-level radioactive rubbish from medical treatments and facilities. The reality is that this waste material is far more dangerous than the low-level waste that is the off-shoot of medical treatments. In fact, even though it is designated as medium-level nuclear waste, the amount of radioactivity that this particular waste emits is the same level as high-level nuclear waste. The only difference is that high-level nuclear waste needs to be cooled. The nuclear waste that we are considering to go into this dump consists of high-level emitting substances, such as caesium strontium and cobalt. We should take note of that, because when the federal minister dances around and opens up 44-gallon drums full of medical waste, and pulls it out with gloves, I would like to see him do the same with this so-called intermediate-level waste, and maybe put his head ...
Mr Wood: Oh, that is ridiculous.
Dr BURNS: I will pick up on the interjections from the member for Nelson. He came into this place pretending to be green but now, in this debate, he is showing his true colours: glowing green.
I have already mentioned the port’s capacity. There will also be a road linkage to get to wherever this facility is going to be located, so to come through the Port of Darwin it would be going down the Stuart Highway. It would be going through Katherine, Elliott, Tennant Creek, and I suppose if it was to come up through a South Australian port, it would come up through Alice Springs. In terms of transport, this proposed nuclear dump has great ramifications, and I believe the member for Nelson needs to take …
Mr Wood: You should go to the meetings.
Dr BURNS: Well, I went to the meetings …
Madam SPEAKER: Order! We seem to be having a series of mobile phones ringing. Whoever’s phone that is could they remove it from the House, please.
Dr BURNS: Member for Nelson, other members of this place, and the Northern Territory public as a whole, should be very cognisant of this fact, that this waste could be travelling along the Stuart Highway, past their houses, shopping centres, and where their children play.
Question Time concluded for moving of motion by Chief Minister.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016