2005-05-05
Budget 2005-06 – Guarantee of Supply
Mr BURKE to CHIEF MINISTER
Is it not a fact that a budget must pass appropriation to be implemented? Is it further not a fact that on 30 June, supply runs out and, unless a budget is passed by that time, there will be no money to run the Territory? Given these facts, will you give a guarantee that an election will not be called until the budget is passed, thus guaranteeing supply?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, we had around an hour-and-a-half discussing this very issue this morning in a very incompetent censure brought on this government and, I believe, implicitly me, by the opposition. I said very clearly then that it is my carriage about when the election is called, as it was when the Opposition Leader was Chief Minister. That election will be called before 15 October, as it is dictated by legislation.
On Tuesday, the Treasurer brought down a fantastic 2005-06 Budget. It has targeted expenditure that will grow the skills of 10 000 Territorians over the next four years. It has a record capital works budget and, importantly, it reduces taxes for business. Every measure in that budget affects Territory families in a positive way. It is a family-friendly budget. Right across every aspect of every budget paper, we are thinking of Territory families and how we can make their life better.
We are committed to this budget and to this Territory. Public servants will be paid. The scare campaign that is implicit in the Opposition Leader’s question is a load of rubbish. The processes of this parliament, of budget scrutiny, will continue as appropriate, and we will have an election by 15 October.
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Visitors
Visitors
Madam SPEAKER: I advise honourable members of the presence in the gallery of Charles Darwin University political studies students, accompanied by Dr Bill Wilson. On behalf of honourable members, I extend to you a warm welcome.
Members: Hear, Hear!
Madam SPEAKER: I am quite sure Dr Wilson is there getting the lay of the land.
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Darwin City Waterfront – Potential Benefit
Ms LAWRIE to CHIEF MINISTER
Yet again, the opposition has further outlined their opposition to the waterfront precinct development. Can you inform this House how the waterfront development will benefit Territorians?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, this is a particularly pertinent question after the questions we were asked yesterday when the Opposition Leader declared that - not based on fact – parts of the waterfront and convention proposal, which are in the final stages of financial close, that they were not happening. They simply came in here and said: ‘You are deceiving Territorians because there is no lock’. I said: ‘Yes, there is a lock’. He simply refused to listen and declared we were walking away from maintaining water quality, that we had a sham of public consultation, and what was on display in the model at Casuarina, which hundreds and hundreds of Territorians have looked at, was simply, as he described it this morning: ‘The whole thing is a mess’. The whole waterfront project, he said - with great insight and an understanding of what 100 people have been working on for months and months - was a mess, and virtually implied that I was misleading Territorians.
This morning I said to him that he can imply anything he likes about me. I am a tough Chief Minister, I can cop it, but go out and tell that to Territory companies which have put their heart and soul into this process, which have put in hours and hours of work. They know it is a great project, and they know their companies, their workers, will have years of work. They will be helping Territory families. They will be providing Darwin with an exciting new dimension for our wonderful city. I said: ‘Go out and tell Steve Margetic and Michael Sitzler from Sitzlers’, whose hearts and souls are in this project, ‘Go and tell Robert Wilson from McMahon NT and his workers that they are lying; that they are a mess’, or: ‘Go and tell Dick Guit from Barclay Mowlem the same thing’.
This is a terrific project. Just to put on the record exactly what is happening, I point out to the House where the lock is. Maybe the Opposition Leader does not know. This is one of the diagrams of the waterfront, and here is the lock. The sea wall, which had a minor variation, explained well by consortium leader Malcolm Macintyre to the media, which is quite logical …
Mr Baldwin: 20%.
Mr Burke: 20%.
Ms MARTIN: If you look at what Malcolm Macintyre said, he said 5%. Read the newspaper occasionally; it might help. Then he said: ‘The marina has gone. There is nowhere for the boats’. There is the marina: five hectares of marina area.
Members interjecting.
Ms MARTIN: I get carried away sometimes. It is a great project. Here is the marina, which the Opposition Leader said we had taken away.
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Ms MARTIN: He said we were conning Territorians. The Opposition Leader owes it to Territorians …
Mr DUNHAM: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Could that be tabled, please?
Madam SPEAKER: Chief Minister, would you table that document? Yes or no?
Ms MARTIN: Madam Speaker, I will obtain some other copies and table them. I have things written on these and I will keep them to myself, thank you very much.
Madam SPEAKER: All right. Give the member for Drysdale a copy, would you? He obviously wants one.
Ms MARTIN: Madam Speaker, this is an exciting project, and I cannot understand why the Opposition Leader comes in time and time again to try to undermine it, to criticise and demean the project. It is ...
Mr Burke: How dare we question anything that this government does, is that what you are saying?
Madam SPEAKER: Order, order!
Ms MARTIN: Madam Speaker, the difference between questioning and simply telling …
Mr Burke: No, questioning!
Madam SPEAKER: Leader of the Opposition, order!
Ms MARTIN: … making up things is what you did. You spent 24 …
Mr Burke interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Chief Minister, would you cease for a minute? I hope we are not going to have one of these Question Times where we have all these interjections. You have asked the Chief Minister a question. Let her answer it without interjections.
Ms MARTIN: Madam Speaker, the opposition is entitled to ask questions, but they cannot make up things and then allege they are facts, and then start running stories on them, and that is what they have done.
This is a great project. We are moving towards financial close. Today, in the Development Consent Authority, approval has been given to some key components of the waterfront project, and that is the community infrastructure of Stage 1. Approval has been given to the public park, swimming and water play areas, a wave pool, amenities block, a boating lagoon, children’s play equipment, the bridge link with the lift, escarpment stairs, board walks amphitheatre, car parks. We have approval for some key elements of the waterfront. I am delighted and so are Territorians.
Budget 2005-06 – Guarantee of Supply
Mr BURKE to CHIEF MINISTER
This is a copy of the Appropriation Act, which has as its aim:
- To authorise the issuing and expending of public monies of the Territory in respect of the year ending 30 June 2005.
It guarantees payment to run the Territory until 30 June. If the budget is not passed by 30 June and supply runs out, how can you guarantee that public servants will be paid, that government will pay its debts to business, that essential services such as hospitals, schools, public transport, police, fire and emergency services will have the money necessary to operate on a day-to-day basis? Is this a responsible way to run the Territory’s economy?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, the question from the Leader of the Opposition is predicated on some date that he seems to have in his mind of when I am going to call the election. As I said, it is all based on speculation about whether I am going to call an election shortly, otherwise you would not be asking this. As I said before, we are a responsible government. We have a terrific public sector, we value our businesses. Those payments, of course, will continue, and we will have an election before 15 October. End of story!
The Ghan – Additional Service
Mrs AAGAARD to MINISTER for TOURISM
Today marks the arrival of the additional Ghan service in the Territory. Can you please update the House on this exciting development?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Nightcliff for the question. It is an exciting development. Not that long ago, at 1.45 this afternoon, the second Adelaide to Darwin Ghan service, which is on for the next three months, arrived in Alice Springs. It will arrive in Katherine, the member for Katherine might be interested, at 8.00 am tomorrow, and depart at 2.15 pm, arriving in Darwin at 6.15 pm. It is a real tribute to the success of The Ghan and the ongoing interest of not only Australians, but overseas visitors taking that wonderful, iconic journey across Australia.
There are three months of additional services for a second Adelaide to Darwin Ghan. It means 13 extra journeys over the three months, and will deliver an extra 348 people per week into the Territory, into our economy; that means, conservatively, about $1m. The Ghan’s Gold Class has already sold out for the May, June and July period. GSR is doing a great job. It is great news for the Territory.
In just over the 12 months that The Ghan has been operating, 80 000 passengers have enjoyed that wonderful journey and the forward bookings are terrific.
Dr Lim interjecting.
Ms MARTIN: One of the key issues for The Ghan – and I would have thought the member for Greatorex would be interested – is how many tourists we can get to stop in Alice Springs. I have been talking to GSR about this and our Tourist Commission has been working with them on it. There is a new brochure, a Red Centre Package, which has been developed for the third service to encourage stopovers in Central Australia. Because there are three trains a week now going into Alice Springs, there is an opportunity for many more travellers to spend time in the Centre and pick up the train later to head north. We have done considerable work with GSR. They are advertising into niche markets around Australia. For example, this week they are hosting 25 media reps from Australia and New Zealand into Alice, and it is a trip strongly supported by the Royal Flying Doctor Service.
Madam Speaker, The Ghan is a tourism success story. I pay tribute to Tony Braxton-Smith at GSR and all their staff. They have made The Ghan one of the iconic journeys of the world, and good luck to them because it represents dollars for the Territory economy.
Budget 2005-06 – Cost of Living
Mr BURKE to CHIEF MINISTER
I received today, as I am sure you would know, the March quarter figures for the average retail prices for a standard basket of goods in the Northern Territory compared with the December quarter of 2004. It shows that a basket of goods in Darwin has gone up from $288.88 to $305.52, a rise of $16.64 or 5.8%. It is interesting compared with your CPI figure of 1.6% in the budget. You are presiding over a cost of living rise for basic commodities for an average Territory family who have won nothing from your budget. It is not good enough that families are being hit with these rises when there is nothing from you in your budget for them.
Is not the quality of a budget measured not by what is spent, but by what is achieved with the budget? Because this budget has achieved nothing for the average Territorian, does not this basket of goods show that your management of the economy is a basket case?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, there are two points in answer to that question. I am disappointed that the price of a basket of goods has increased because we have been doing very well. We have seen the prices come down, particularly when measured against Cairns, wasn’t it, Treasurer?
Mr Stirling: Yes, Cairns and Mt Isa.
Ms MARTIN: Cairns and Mt Isa, and we had been doing quite well over a number of quarters, so it is very disappointing and we will take a close look at that.
However, to say that the budget delivered this week is not about families is wrong, wrong, wrong. The budget was all about families, and lessening tax on businesses which, of course, affects families. It was about increasing those critical services, increasing education and training dollars. It was about our health system and building safer communities. The best thing we can do for families is just that. We have great programs in place for families, for example, the HomeNorth program, and subsidised child care. We have wonderful facilities here and a lifestyle second to none.
This government is supporting families in every element of our budget. To say there was no mention of families in the budget is simply wrong. The whole budget is backing Territorians and their families. I am very proud of the budget. I am disappointed with the latest figures on the basket of goods. I am sure those figures are different across the Territory, and I am hopeful that, in Alice Springs, particularly, it stayed very competitive.
Budget 2005-06 – Skills Shortage
Mr KIELY to MINISTER for EMPLOYMENT, EDUCATION and TRAINING
Is it a fact the skills shortage is one of the most significant issues blocking expansion and growth nationwide? Is it a fact that the government has announced the most extensive training and skilling program ever seen in the Territory? Is it a fact that skilling was totally ignored in the response to Budget 2005 by the Leader of the Opposition?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Sanderson for his question. The answer to the three parts of that question is unequivocally yes, yes and yes.
Yes, it is true that a skills shortage is one of the most significant blockers to both nationwide expansion and in the Northern Territory. Yes, indeed, the answer to the second part of the question, the Labor government has proudly made skilling and training of Territorians an absolute centrepiece in this budget. And, yes, it is true that nowhere in his address in reply to the budget did the Leader of the Opposition mention the words ‘skills’ or ‘training’.
Ms Martin: Not once.
Mr STIRLING: Not once. Not one single cent of commitment towards skilling and training Territorians. The only thing we can read from that is that he will rip up the Jobs Plan. He will abolish the Jobs Plan if he is elected and cut that essential skilling and training for Territorians to pay for his own uncosted, unfunded promises. I waited in silence all of the way through the Leader of the Opposition’s response to the budget for him to drop out exactly where he would go with the Jobs Plan – would he retain it, would he seek to expand it, or what he would do with it.
I waited in expectation that he would say something about it because his shadow spokesperson, the member for Greatorex, told us in the Alice Springs sittings and even before then that his own jobs plan was only weeks away. Now, when were the Alice Springs sittings?
Members interjecting.
Mr STIRLING: It has to be five or six months ago that the member for Greatorex was telling us that he was going to produce the Country Liberal Party’s training program in two to three weeks. Well, it is a while since those statements were made.
Quite clearly, they have no plans and it is the same position they had when the Country Liberal Party were in government. They had no plans for training at all, no strategic direction about funding for training and skilling, and they spent no time on it at all. We had to work quickly. We spent a considerable amount of money building up the resources for skilling and training for the Territory.
We now have 35% more Territorians in training than we had when we were elected in August 2001. As of 19 April this year, there are 3280 apprentices and trainees. There were 2200 on 19 August 2001 when this government was elected. We have increased the new entrants to training by 20% from 2029 in 2001 to about 2500 commencements in 2004. We have young Territorians out there getting the skills and training they need to get a quality position in an expanding work force to help them get ahead and help move the Territory ahead. It is disappointing, to say the least, that there was not one word from the opposition in relation to skills and training.
Freds Pass Show – Free Bus Service
Mr WOOD to MINISTER for TRANSPORT and INFRASTRUCTURE
You recently rejected a request for a free bus service to travel from Palmerston to the Freds Pass Show on 21 and 22 May. In light of the fact that the Freds Pass Show is the Territory’s best show and that over 24 000 attend the show, that there are traffic problems on the highway at show time, that your government does not believe in the Berrimah Line, that free buses are provided to the V8s, the Darwin Cup and the Arafura Games, that there will be politicians attending the show, that I am a great bloke and that everyone in the rural area thinks you are a great bloke, too, would you please reconsider your decision to at least provide one free bus per hour or even two hours to go from Palmerston Interchange to the Freds Pass Show?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for his question. The fact is I did write to the Freds Pass group and informed them I had rejected their request for a bus, but seeing the member for Nelson is such a nice bloke, I will reconsider.
Members: Hear, hear!
Mr Stirling: How easy was that, Gerry?
Madam SPEAKER: He did not say he was going to give it to you, he only said ‘reconsider’.
Budget 2005-06 – Efficiency Dividend
Mr BURKE to CHIEF MINISTER
Given your stated generosity in your budget, can you explain why in this budget government departments are being asked to hand back 2% of their budget allocation during 2005-06 to your Treasury as an efficiency dividend, and I refer you to Budget Paper No 3 at page 8. This does not include Health, Education, Police and Justice but does include major sector service agencies such as Infrastructure, Business and Primary Industry. How can you justify asking your departments which are already struggling to deliver services to claw back 2% of their allocation to your Treasury coffers?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, the Opposition Leader’s question seems to imply this has not happened before, but yes, it has. Had he looked at the budget last year, he would have seen the same thing.
Mr Burke: 1%.
Ms MARTIN: No, it was 2%. It is quite the norm and it is something that was there under the Country Liberal Party; you ask departments to become more efficient. Technology and better administration allow them to be efficient. We have given growth money to departments, and we are saying we also expect efficiencies. It is interesting that the opposition is saying we are spending far too much money on irrelevant things like Health, Education and Police and yet is griping to us when we say we want efficiency dividends. We are an effective and tight administration and we expect our departments to be, too.
We give growth money for specific areas. We have no shame about the $75m we put into Police to make our streets safer. Well done, Police minister; 120 more police on the beat. We have to pay for that, and we have the funds to do it effectively. I have no shame that we are putting money into training and secondary education in this budget. I say: ‘Well done, Minister for Employment, Education and Training’ because we need to have that. However, we can also say to our departments that we want to see efficiencies in the way they are run, and that 2% is nothing new.
Residential Property Market
Ms LAWRIE to CHIEF MINISTER
Tomorrow night, the Real Estate Institute is holding its annual dinner. Does the institute have something to celebrate or will it be a sombre night?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I am making this prediction about the Real Estate Institute because I think they will be celebrating. Why will they be celebrating? Because of the housing prices that we have right across the Territory, and the growth we have seen in those prices in the last three years. Real estate across the Territory is going gang busters and, most importantly, the value of Territorians’ homes has sky-rocketed under this Labor government.
Let us go back to 2001. In 2001, when we came to office, the average value of a house in Darwin was $188 000. Today, that same house is worth $256 500. In terms of a percentage increase, that is nearly a 36.5% increase in that Darwin house. In the time we have been government, the value of the most important asset that most of us own has increased in Darwin by that enormous amount of 36%.
Let us look at Palmerston where that figure was $171 550 in 2001 and has gone up 32.9%, almost a one-third increase, to $228 000. In Alice Springs, and Madam Speaker, you would be interested, there is an increase in value of 25.7%. The average house in Alice Springs in 2001 was just over $165 000, now it is $239 375.
The principal asset that most Territorians have is their home. We are proud to have provided the economic base for the value of that asset to grow so much. We have added to the wealth of every Territorian with a home. Every family is benefiting from this government’s policy. What is even better is that if a Territorian does not own a home, we have great programs to help them do so. The HomeNorth program is terrific and is a tribute to the minister. The stamp duty cuts for first home buyers announced in the budget, virtually doubling the threshold, is another incentive for Territorians to get into the market.
Alleged Unauthorised Computer Access
Mr BURKE to MINISTER for CORPORATE and INFORMATION SERVICES
In parliament on 17 February 2005 in response to the knowledge that the opposition had gained access to your government dirt files that you held on many Territorians, in accusing my office of hacking into secure government files, you said:
- Given the Opposition Leader's office had hacked into an unauthorised area of government security, what other government networks have been hacked into by the Opposition Leader's office?
You would be aware that I have subsequently written to the Ombudsman, who has completed his report. I will quote in part from the Ombudsman, who said, in response to my concern:
- It is apparent that the access to the government media database occurred as a result of a computer security failure and this inadvertently allowed access by your office to a database that would normally be unable to be accessed by your office.
Given the gravity of your allegations against my office, will you now withdraw these comments and apologise for the allegations you made?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, let us get the parameters of this answer right. The government does not hold a dirt file on Territorians, absolutely not. That is just another one of the smears of the CLP opposition. It is a media quotes database, the same database structure that they had when they were in government. Let us get that fact straight right now: the government does not hold a dirt file on Territorians: never has; never will. It contains public record comments in the same way that the CLP used its media quotes database.
The issue here goes to the integrity of the Leader of the Opposition and whether he can be trusted with the truth. The fact is, and I do not have the Ombudsman’s letter with me, but on 14 separate occasions, someone in the Leader of the Opposition’s office knowingly accessed this database to which they knew they had no authorised access. Not once, so it was not accidental; not twice, but on 14 separate occasions. One has to ask under whose instructions did they access this unauthorised database on 14 separate occasions?
I owe the Leader of the Opposition no apology whatsoever. The Leader of the Opposition has lost his integrity in this debate because on not one occasion, not two occasions, but 14 separate occasions did his office access a database that they knew they had no access to. To my mind, that is hacking.
Budget 2005-06 - Construction Sector Response
Mr BONSON to MINISTER for TRANSPORT and INFRASTRUCTURE
Can you advise the Assembly of any recent statistics showing the state of the Territory engineering and construction industries and what this means for contracts for Territory business and growth in local jobs?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for his question. Of course, the engineering and construction industries lie at the very heart of the Territory moving ahead. It was a bit peculiar to hear the opposition making very negative noises about the engineering and construction industries in the Territory and the level of construction activity. These views are completely in contrast to views expressed this morning at the TCA breakfast. It was great to be there with the Treasurer this morning, and hear the very warm reception that our budget received from the TCA and its members. One comment by the executive officer of the TCA struck me. He said: ‘Some of our members thought government should take their foot off the accelerator’, such is the activity both in the public and private sectors. We have not taken our foot off the accelerator in terms of capital works. Our capital works program in terms of a spend is right up there.
To look at the spend in terms of this sector, engineering activity in the Northern Territory had an annual value of less than $200m. It had been at about that level for the previous 10 years under the CLP. We promised to introduce an Office of Territory Development to boost major projects, and we delivered on that promise. We also promised to establish a number of task forces for major projects, another action the CLP opposition said was a bad thing. Now we find that engineering activity is running at $1.4bn on an annualised basis. Here is another graph. You can see the activity here for about 10 years, $200m, and then – look at that! – March 2001, quite soon after that, it peaks and goes up there, an eight to ninefold increase in activity under this government. I believe it will continue.
There is a whole suite of projects either on line or coming on line: the Alcan expansion at Nhulunbuy, the Trans-Territory Pipeline, Bootu Creek mining, bulk loading at the Port of Darwin, the fuel terminal, Desert Knowledge, major tourist loop roads, and the one thing that is anathema to them – it is like a mirror and a vampire – the Darwin Waterfront redevelopment. It is clear that this government’s long term plans are keeping the Territory moving ahead while the Leader of the Opposition and the CLP are simply unbelievable.
Budget 2005-06 – Traeger Park Upgrade
Mr ELFERINK to TREASURER
The upgrade of Traeger Park Stage 2 at $1.7m in last year’s budget is missing from this year’s budget. The Minister for Community Development yesterday agreed that the money was not in the budget. No work has been done at Traeger Park. Has the job been cancelled in Alice Springs? Are you going to build it? If so, when? Where is the money?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I am assured that it is continuing. We have spent over $5m on Traeger Park since we have been in government …
Mr Elferink interjecting.
Mr STIRLING: Over $5m, I think, we have spent thus far and there is still work to do. I am assured by the Minister for Central Australia that it is happening. Just where it is in the budget, I will find that information and point it out to you.
NT Fire Service – Foam Generating Machines
Mr WOOD to MINISTER for POLICE, FIRE and EMERGENCY SERVICES
As you know, this is one of the most important questions you will get all week …
Mr Henderson: It is a very important question.
Mr WOOD: … many young children in the Territory have great fun using a soap machine, and I think I asked you this question about 12 months ago. Recently, at the Volunteer Fire Brigade Games held at Freds Pass, lo! and behold, there was no soap machine because someone has banned it. Why was it banned 12 months ago, then allowed and now banned again? If the reason for banning is public liability, how many children have been injured by this machine, or is there someone in your department who just opposes fun?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Nelson for his question. The minister for fun on this side of the House is a keen supporter of the firies and the foam machine. Of all the issues one has to grapple with as a minister, the issue of the foam and the public liability aspects in regard to whether our great fire fighters in the Northern Territory, who do a fantastic job, are covered for public liability in the event that – and I agree with the member for Nelson it is a very unlikely event – a child is injured as a result of having fun in the foam is one that has exercised many minds and a lot of legal counsel.
I had a report from the Director of Fire Services a few weeks ago that the issue of legal liability was bouncing backward and forward between lawyers. I have asked him to look at that again. If the advice comes back that the firies are not covered by public liability, I will be looking at other avenues by which we can cover them so we can make the foam available again. As with everything, if you put two lawyers in a room, they will come up with 15 different legal opinions. It seems to be a trivial issue on one hand, when schools want access to the foam, but I am very conscious that we do not want to be exposing our fire service officers to potential legal claims for liability where they are not covered by government in the event of a personal claim.
I am still trying to have this issue resolved. I want to see it resolved, but we do have to protect the liability of our fire service officers.
Environmental Assessments
Ms LAWRIE to MINISTER for ENVIRONMENT and HERITAGE
Last March, you gave a report outlining environmental assessment of development projects. Could you please outline any progress that has been made during this year?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Karama for her question because I know she has a great interest in the environment. Following on from my colleague, the member for Johnston, in terms of all the development, much has happened since last March because this government is moving the Territory ahead, with a number of exciting major developments planned for the near future.
Since I last spoke, a number of projects have completed their environmental assessments. Public environment reports have been completed for a number of important projects including the Alcan alumina refinery at Gove, the waterfront project, Bootu Creek manganese mine, Harts Range garnet mine and the biodiesel plant. Other projects, which are still at various stages of their assessment, include: the McArthur River mine expansion; the Trans-Territory Pipeline; the Blacktip gas pipeline and processing plant; the Glyde Point industrial estate; Browns oxide-cobalt-copper-nickel mine near Batchelor; Mt Porter gold project; the Marine Harvest Barramundi Farm at Port Patterson and Snake Bay; and the Aussie Prawn Aquaculture project.
It is a long list and, in fact, this number of environmental assessments on the go is simply unprecedented. In the last year of the Leader of the Opposition when he was Chief Minister, they only had 85 environmental assessments. Last year, we had 288. That is over three times as many.
There are two reasons for this amazing increase under the Martin Labor government: development in the Territory is booming; and the Martin Labor government is balancing growth by protecting our environment. This level of environmental assessment is absolutely necessary to avoid the type of costly mistakes that the CLP made with Mt Todd, mistakes that cost the taxpayer and affect our lifestyle. The Territory has had 26 years of neglect of our environment. We cannot go back to the days of low development and no environment protection.
Budget 2005-06 - Victims of Crime
Ms CARNEY to MINISTER for JUSTICE and ATTORNEY-GENERAL
Last week, your department hounded a victim of crime to the Full Court of the Supreme Court to extract $3000 from her for costs arising from a clerical error. As you know, we have received a number of leaked Cabinet documents, some of which show and clearly demonstrate that you are not going to give victims of crime more money and, in fact, what you are going to do is review what you give them now. Why is it that under this government, victims of crime are second-class citizens?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I take it the question relates to projections for the Victims of Crime Compensation Scheme. The amount in the budget papers is set each year by Treasury and then reviewed on the basis of what demand and costs accrue to the scheme, which is adjusted every year. It is a demand-driven scheme, which is continuing in its reformed format. The reforms we put in place went to the costs of the legal representation of victims, not to the compensation payments to the victims themselves. That situation continues. There is no cap on that scheme. Whatever successful applications are cleared through that scheme will be paid out and that will be the amount of money that is spent on it.
HomeNorth Scheme
Mr McADAM to MINISTER for HOUSING
Minister, $750 000 worth of HomeNorth loans in Tennant Creek is a great result. It is a great initiative and it is a credit to you as a minister. Can you please provide an update in regards to the predicted 250 HomeNorth loans for this financial year?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Barkly for his question. Indeed, it is true that Tennant Creek has hit the magic $750 000 mark, with eight HomeNorth loans in the capital of the Barkly. It is a great result, as you say. Eleven months ago, when I said that I thought we could benefit Territorians with around 250 HomeNorth loans under the Martin Labor government’s revised scheme, I could, in retrospect, be said to have been misleading the House.
Mr Dunham: Not again!
Mr AH KIT: Yes, and I would be proud to say that, in retrospect, I could have been misleading the House. In fact, in the first 10 months …
Mr Elferink: Again.
Mr AH KIT: No, not again. If you wait, you will hear what I have to say.
In fact, in the first 10 months of the scheme, HomeNorth has achieved over 500 loans funded, finally approved and approval in principle to the tune, as of last Friday night, of $88m. It is a mistake to which I am happy to confess. I repeat: it is a mistake to which I am happy to confess. Indeed, Madam Speaker, in your own home town, there have been 93 funded and final approved loans to the value of $17.8m, so those who say that it has been hard for home owners in Alice Springs should speak to those households, over 80% of whom are first home owners.
The scheme has been running for 10 months. There are a few things we could say about the kind of people getting into home ownership in the Territory because HomeNorth is a key element of Labor’s population policy. In fact, 63% of HomeNorth loans have been going to people under the age of 34 and, indeed, 21% are under the age of 24. These are young Territorians who want to stay to enjoy our great lifestyle and who want to invest in the future. They want to live where they have grown up and this is where they will build their futures.
Compare that with the southern and eastern states with impossibly high deposits. The Territory, on the other hand, has the highest affordability under Labor and Australia’s best first home owner’s scheme. Interestingly, too, 45% of home buyers are single women and 30% single men. In other words, they are Territorians in the process of building households and moving ahead in the world.
Other landmarks in the HomeNorth scheme are: Palmerston with 130 loans, which hit the $25m mark some time in the last week; Darwin also went past the $7m mark last week with 37 HomeNorth clients; the member for Nelson will be pleased to hear, the rural area is poised to achieve $3m in loans; and the northern suburbs are pretty well level-pegged with Alice, with 89 new HomeNorth loans at a shade under $16m.
HomeNorth has demonstrated the strong desire by Territorians to own their own patch of the Territory and provide a strong commitment to investing in the Territory’s future.
Budget 2005-06 – Community Health Services
Ms CARNEY to MINISTER for HEALTH
Community Health Services have been cut in this week’s budget by nearly $6m. These services are aimed at improving health through education and development, prevention, early intervention and so on. The outcome for these services is, according to Budget Paper No 3 at page 125:
- … that the burden of ill health in the community and the need for hospitalisation are reduced.
It is estimated that more people will be admitted into Territory hospitals in the next financial year, based on the estimates contained within the budget papers. Why have you cut funding to Community Health Services by $6m, and do you admit you have failed to reduce the burden of ill health and the need for hospitalisation for Territorians?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, this is a case of reading the budget papers carefully for the member for Araluen. When you look under the Output Costs on page 123, you have:
- Community Health Services - the reduction of $5.5m is due to a reallocation of $6.1m as a result of the remapping of services, offset by $1.9m additional funding for growth and $0.6m for oral health. The balance, a decrease of $1.9m, is mainly due to adjustments for Australian government funding and one-off revenue adjustments in 2004-05.
To give you a little more explanation of that, the remapping of services referred to is a reallocation of corporate overheads, which are the support corporate services provided to all government agencies, which has been reallocated within the agency budget. It is not a removal of the overall effort. Some services previously apportioned to Community Health Services, such as the Gove Medical Unit and Medical Retrievals from Alice Springs Hospital, have been more appropriately apportioned to Acute Care, so the money is still there and is in the Acute Care budget. Some Commonwealth grants finished in 2004-05 and have not yet been renewed. They are highly likely to continue but they are not yet formalised and therefore cannot go into the budget figures until that happens. Essentially, as appears at page 123 of Budget Paper No 3, there is no reduction in the Community Health Services budget.
Budget 2005-06 – Public Transport for Seniors
Mr BONSON to MINISTER for TRANSPORT and INFRASTRUCTURE
Can you advise the Assembly and the residents of Millner of the public transport initiatives in Budget 2005 which will benefit senior Territorians?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for his question. There is no doubt that the Territory does have a population with a youthful profile. I believe the average age for Territorians is somewhere between 29 and 30. Nonetheless, we value our senior Territorians. We want them to stay here and we want to support them. We also realise they have a range of issues that go beyond health care and housing, and I am delighted to reaffirm that the government has allocated an additional $144 000 in the 2005-06 Budget to provide dedicated bus services for senior Territorians in Darwin and Palmerston.
This program will provide designated services for senior Territorians, taking them to and from major shopping centres and the hospital. It will provide regular services to public housing seniors’ villages. The initial service will commence with a dedicated service for seniors in the Fannie Bay Seniors Village, the Coconut Grove and Nightcliff areas. However, it will progressively extend to other villages and complexes. A driver and an escort will be on the specially-designated bus and will assist passengers on and off the bus with their shopping.
I commend this initiative to the House. It once again demonstrates that we are a government for all Territorians and our long term plans are for taking the Territory ahead.
Budget 2005-06 – Health Research Funding
Ms CARNEY to MINISTER for HEALTH
Funding for health research has been cut in this budget by $300 000. In your speech about last year’s budget, you said that the Menzies School of Health Research, the CRC for Aboriginal Health and the Health Gains Unit had made:
- … a valuable contribution to the evidence base of our health policies and services.
Have they stopped making valuable contributions? If not, why has their funding been cut?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, by way of general advice to the member, these types of matters can be better dealt with in Estimates in detail. However, I can give you the information regarding this budget item. The 2004-05 estimate for health research is $4.7m. The 2005-06 estimate is $4.4m. The variation apparent in the budget papers is 0.3% or $300 000. There is no reduction in health research, as those figures might be telling you.
The difference is largely a grant to the Menzies School of Health, the output for which was formerly calculated with depreciation costs. However, as no assets are attributable to health research, no depreciation charge is made in the health research output so it is simply an administrative treatment of the figures; it is not a reduction.
Leader of the Opposition - Certificates of Exemption for Consultants
Mr KIELY to MINISTER for BUSINESS and INDUSTRY
The Leader of the Opposition is fond of referring to how much he wants to support Territorians and local business. Is the minister aware of any interstate businesses that the Leader of the Opposition has been supporting lately? Can the minister inform the House of any Certificates of Exemption that have been issued that relate to the Leader of the Opposition’s office?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Sanderson for his question. It is a good question and it goes to the heart of supporting Territorians. The Opposition Leader calls the CLP ‘the Territory party’, but I would have say that more and more, they are becoming the Territory Liberals. He has a problem: he needs to explain to Territorians why he has employed a southern-based Liberal Party self-proclaimed dirt digger to run his election campaign this year. Why has he had to go south to Liberal Party headquarters to get someone to run his campaign?
I table a copy of the Gazette dated 4 May 2005, which shows a consultancy to provide expert advice to the Leader of the Opposition for a period of six months, a Certificate of Exemption to a company called Media and Political Counsel, Melbourne, Victoria - not to a Territory company - at a cost of $45 000 to Territory taxpayers. That is done by way of a Certification of Exemption. We have not looked to see if there is anyone in the Territory who can help us, who actually knows Territorians and knows the Territory economy. No! They decided to go to Liberal Party headquarters in Melbourne, probably down in Collins Street, and get Mr Ian Hanke up here. How do we know Mr Ian Hanke is involved?
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order, order!
Mr HENDERSON: Madam Speaker, if you go to ASIC and do a company search, you can see that one Ian Hanke is a Director of this company, and I table the ASIC search as well. Is this how the CLP supports Territorians? Is this how the once proud Territory party supports Territorians? There is no-one in the CLP who can run this election for him; he has to bring in Liberal party hacks from Melbourne.
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr HENDERSON: Let us have a look at this Mr Ian Hanke and see his track record.
Madam SPEAKER: Cease for minute, minister. There are too many interjections.
Mr HENDERSON: Who is this Ian Hanke? Well, he once worked for former Defence Minister Peter Reith, and was certainly the architect - who can forget the rottweilers, the balaclavas, on the wharves around Australia? This is the type of dirty tactics, the thugs that were employed by the government to try to drive honest workers out of a job across Australia - balaclavas and rottweilers! That is certainly very un-Australian.
This same bloke told the media that he was the ‘dirt man’ in the last federal election. These are the types of people, under the cloak of a Certificate of Exemption, that the Leader of the Opposition is bringing to the Northern Territory to run his campaign. This will show Territorians that the CLP will stop at nothing to regain government in the Northern Territory.
Mr Baldwin interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Daly, cease!
Mr HENDERSON: Why will they stop at nothing? One has to go to the comments of the member for Drysdale in this House some months ago when he stated that the CLP had a ‘rightful inheritance’ to run the Northern Territory. According to the CLP, this ‘rightful inheritance’ is their right to govern the Northern Territory. They will stop at nothing, and they bring in this southern dirt man from the last federal election to run their campaign. But it is worse because we had the Leader of the Opposition on Pete and Alice in the Morning talking about his policies. The Deputy Leader of the Opposition offered the party membership $50 to come up with a bright idea. It obviously has not done any good. Then we had the member for Daly who was going to take over policy direction in the party, and obviously he has gone fishing because here is the Opposition Leader, on Pete and Alice in the Morning, saying: ‘I have had federal Treasury people helping me design these policies and I am looking to bring them out’.
Not only is the CLP bringing up some dirt operator from the Liberal Party to run their campaign, he has people in Canberra writing his policies for him. This is the man who is going to lead the Territory out of the wilderness, as he claimed yesterday. Territorians are on notice. The once proud CLP are nothing but a sad, lonely branch of the Liberal Party in the Northern Territory. I am absolutely confident that Territorians will see through that at the next election.
Humpty Doo Landfill Site
Mr WOOD to MINISTER for the ENVIRONMENT and HERITAGE
Is it true that the Humpty Doo landfill will not have its licence renewed, and that the council will have to pay $3m for rehabilitation? Is it the intention of the government to force council to transfer its waste to Shoal Bay and therefore increase rates to residents, or has your government, after years of council’s requests, selected an alternative landfill site within the shire?
ANSWER
I will answer part of your question, member for Nelson. There are other parts which should then be answered by the Minister for Transport and Infrastructure.
Madam Speaker, the Humpty Doo dump, which was established in 1980 - I am not telling you anything new; you were part of Litchfield Shire Council - represents all that was wrong with the CLP’s planning and environmental control.
Members interjecting.
Ms SCRYMGOUR: Well, you located it in a swamp, you idiots! How much worse can you get than that? There are houses nearby that get their water from local bores, and there were no environmental controls in terms of its operation. In recent years, there have been numerous complaints from nearby residents, and there have been fires in the tip face and concerns expressed over health implications.
We are cleaning it up. There has been much discussion between my department, Litchfield Shire Council, DIPE and Local Government, as it is a local government issue. There is much discussion going on between these agencies and with Litchfield Shire Council. We are trying to improve on-site management at the dump and to assist them to comply with their licence conditions. We have said to Litchfield Shire Council that although their licence is due to expire soon, we will extend that and work with them a bit further in terms of trying to meet some of the environmental controls that they need to.
Dr BURNS (Transport and Infrastructure): Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague, the Minister for the Environment and Heritage. I will be brief. I can see the member for Macdonnell is keen to get up and ask a question.
Basically, the provision of waste disposal is a local government responsibility. In answer to your question, the licence will expire in August 2005. As the minister said, there have been ongoing problems and I have certainly had a number of complaints made to me personally. People have approached me about the problems around the Humpty Doo dump with dust, smoke, feral animals and stench. I believe the underlying water table is contaminated.
This has been going on for some time. I recently met with the President of the Litchfield Shire Council, Ms Mary Walshe, and it was a useful exchange. It was agreed that each arm of government, if you like, has responsibilities to remedy this situation. At present, there is fairly high level contact between officers, particularly in my department, and the shire council, and we are looking at ways to work through the issues. There will be an impost on government to some degree to support them to find alternative landfill sites. In the interim, there is some responsibility on Litchfield Shire to set up a transfer station and start the job of moving away from the existing site. It is a complex issue, however we are working constructively with Litchfield Shire to try and remedy the situation.
Tennant Creek Health Services
Mr ELFERINK to MINISTER for HEALTH
Recently, in the Tennant Creek newspaper, an advertisement appeared showing three fine young doctors about to provide services to the people of Tennant Creek should they happen to have a baby or some such thing. It turns out that, like everything else in Tennant Creek, those three young doctors are nothing but three staffers from the department with stethoscopes hung around their neck, which means that the minister is providing no services to the people of Tennant Creek, and I ask the …
Mr HENDERSON: A point of order Madam Speaker! I urge the honourable member to get on with his question. He is making a statement. Just ask the question and let us get on with it.
Madam SPEAKER: Your question?
Mr ELFERINK: The question is simply this: are these people capable of delivering your babies and, if not, what are they going to do for you - just simply put out a media release for you when you happen to have one?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, while the member for Macdonnell worries about who is or is not in the top of this ad, I am worried about the staffing of Tennant Creek health services.
To date, two senior welfare people have been appointed to Tennant Creek with, in fact, six midwives who are working in the Tennant Creek Hospital as of now. The infant and maternal health nurse position has been filled and this nurse will start this month. The Women’s Health Service for cervical screening continues to be available through scheduled screening weeks. I was in Tennant Creek the other day - unlike the member for Macdonnell who does not even get out into his electorate most of the time - and was very pleased to open a facility with eight renal chairs, and with renal nursing staff already there to run that new service in Tennant Creek. Whether these people are doctors or a picture of someone who is not a doctor, who cares? What I care about is who we have in Tennant Creek providing the health services.
I will say one more thing about the need for a general practitioner in Tennant Creek: we know that is a very high need. We have provided access to surgical facilities and every possible assistance to the town in trying to attract a GP in the private sector into Tennant Creek so they can provide those services.
Budget 2005-06
Ms LAWRIE to TREASURER
This week has seen the Martin government’s fourth budget. Can you advise the House just who have been the big winners in the budget?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Karama for her question. The opening line of the Budget Speech 2005 said: ‘Budget 2005 is backing Territorians’. That is who the winners are in this budget: Territorians, our families, our aged relatives, our friends in business out there, our school children, our young people looking for work, looking for training, looking for skills in order to get into the work force. They are all winners from the budget.
Territorian families buying their first home get a real helping hand through stamp duty cuts and a successful HomeNorth scheme. For Territorians who love fishing - and there are very many of them – there is $2m for infrastructure inside recreation fishing, better land and coastal access, and more research in fisheries protection. For Territorians who love our parks - and isn’t that everyone? – there is $7.4m for Litchfield over the next three years for facilities; $1.2m increase in funds to rangers and research; new facilities at Channel Point, all winners!
For Territorians who love sports – and, again, we have a big sports-loving population in the Northern Territory – there are more V8s, a bigger horse racing season, more AFL, more netball, more NBL, and the Arafura Games less than two weeks away.
Big winners are Territorians looking to improve skills. Territory families can be assured that this government will make sure that every child who leaves school can go to university, can be ready to get a job, or can be in training. Territorians will have real support for their cost of living through a continuing $43m power subsidy, $3.6m petrol subsidy, $3.7m in child care subsidies.
Territorians have, as well, 100 more teachers, 100 more nurses, and 120 more police on the beat. We have done a lot; we have much more to do, but Budget 2005 backs Territorians.
Madam Speaker, if I could respond to the member for Macdonnell’s earlier question about Traeger Park, if he goes to Budget Paper No 3 at page 192:
- … one-off capital grants totalling $3m (including for Traeger Park, lighting at Rugby Park, the Alice Springs swimming pool, and new turf at the Hockey Centre) …
Further information, I guess, would come from the Minister for Central Australia or the Minister for Sport and Recreation.
Mr HENDERSON (Leader of Government Business): The Treasurer loves this budget! Madam Speaker, I ask that further questions be placed on the Written Question Paper.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016