2002-10-16
Indigenous Deaths in Custody – Communique
Mr BURKE to MINISTER for JUSTICE and ATTORNEY-GENERAL
Minister, you have just signed the 1997 Communique of the Ministerial Summit on Indigenous Deaths in Custody which sought to lower the over-representation of indigenous people in custody. Could you confirm for this House that since the other jurisdictions signed that communique in 1997, the numbers of indigenous people in custody have increased in every state? Can you confirm that in the Northern Territory over the same period, the figures actually fell from 439 to 422 in September 2001, and have only begun to rise again since you attained government? Could you explain what the communique achieved in those jurisdictions that signed it, apart from symbolism?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Brennan for his question because it is a very important day today, the signing of that communique, five years after the rest of Australia moved into a recommitment regarding reform in the indigenous justice area, that we are now joining the rest of Australia.
You are asking what practical effect the signing of the communique might have today. We are taking very seriously the practical requirements of the communique, which is to look at customary law issues – we have already indicated we are going to move to an inquiry in the Northern Territory - and the over-representation of indigenous people in our prisons and in prisons around Australia.
The type of action we are committed to is to look at the options available within the justice system to deal with indigenous offenders without - and I stress this point, Madam Speaker - diluting the elements of our Criminal Code. There will be one law, and that law will be applied equally to every Territorian, including indigenous Territorians but, there are, as you well know, within our court system, options for a court to take in terms of sentencing and deposition of an offender once found guilty. We will look at what options there are to reduce the representation of indigenous prisoners in our gaols and we will be taking the elements of that communique very seriously as a guide to the reforms that I intend to pursue in my portfolio areas.
I will leave the other detail of that to the statement I intend to make at the end of Question Time in which I will outline quite a number of initiatives that I believe will impact on indigenous justice and the position of people within our justice system.
Bali Incident - Update
Ms LAWRIE to CHIEF MINISTER
Could you please bring the House up to date in regard to the response to the Bali bombings?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, it is hard to believe in a way that such a short time after the bombings in Bali, services in the Territory are returning closer to normality, especially for the hospital and police. Let me make it very clear, though, that the Territory is still on standby in case there are any further demands on the services that we have already offered or others that maybe we haven’t predicted as yet. So even though things are returning to normal, we are on standby.
The focus is now on families and friends of those who died and the very sad task of identifying bodies, and then making sure that those bodies return home. Indonesian authorities at this stage have said that the death toll is still at the figure that we have had for the last 24 hours, about 180 people. Australians confirmed dead in that number are 30 but, very sadly, we do expect that figure to go higher. There are still about 160 Australians unaccounted for.
The situation right now at Royal Darwin Hospital is that there are seven injured from the Bali bombing still in care from earlier evacuations. Four of those seven are in intensive care and, because of their condition, there is no plan at present to move any of those seven. We had some arrivals this morning on the scheduled commercial flight, five came on that flight. They were able to get themselves to the hospital or they didn’t need stretcher assistance. They have been treated as outpatients at the hospital. Two have already been discharged and three are still receiving treatment.
Extraordinarily, though, on current information, none of these are Territorians, and we have still not established whether there has been even one Territorian injured in what happened on Saturday night in Bali. Of the five who came in this morning, one was from Queensland, two were British, two from Sweden. None of those have been admitted to hospital for further care.
As I indicated, the hospital is returning to normal service today with some elective surgery to be carried out tomorrow and Friday. They will be mostly day cases not requiring overnight stays. The outpatient clinic will resume tomorrow, and the hospital says that all services will be fully operational from Monday.
Gary Lum, who is Acting General Manager of Royal Darwin Hospital, has said thank you to this House for our support of what they did yesterday, and that the staff at RDH have been very grateful for the words and the support generally coming from the parliament and from the community for the work they did.
The situation for the Territory now is that we are still on standby as far as the hospital is concerned, and our offer from the Police Commissioner to assist in disaster victim identification and crime scene examination is still there but, as yet, it hasn’t been taken up. Police, Fire and Emergency Services are remaining in contact with Emergency Management Australia and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in Darwin to be across any other requirements that may be asked of us. The police had established a 24 hour Emergency Operation Centre. That was closed as of yesterday at 3 pm.
On the wider level of security, as I mentioned yesterday, the public sector security is being reviewed, specifically because of the shooting of a senior public servant in Adelaide, and that reassessment of our public sector security is taking place. We expect that to be an ongoing process.
Moving forward, a national day of mourning is to be held on Sunday. What we are looking at is having an ecumenical service in Darwin, but any other parts of the Territory that would be thinking about having such an ecumenical service, and we are working with the churches involved to establish where that would be and at what time. It is very important that all over Australia on Sunday, we will be marking the appalling tragedy in Bali, and that national day of recognition of the hurt and injury and the undermining of trust associated with when a bombing like that happens. I know many churches, as well, will be having special prayers for Bali victims during their regular Sunday services.
On an associated issue, Leigh Hillman, who is with the Council on the Ageing, is flying to Bali on Friday and is collecting items for a hospital treating local Balinese who were injured in the bombings. They are Balinese who simply do not have the money to be able to afford the important things that they need. That includes everything ranging from lip salve to mouthwash, Strepsils, throat medicines, eye drops, ear drops, antiseptic soaps and liquid soaps, face washers and tissues. Leigh has said that if people can help with donations of any of those items, they should get them to the COTA office in Nightcliff.
The priority for the Department of Foreign Affairs is to be able to reconcile all cases reported by families with information available on the ground in Bali. Just listening to reports overnight of families who still can’t find a member or a relation who was there – it is such a tragedy, and such a dreadful situation to be faced with. The Consulate in Bali, though, says to the best of its knowledge, there are no Australians remaining in hospitals in Bali.
To finish on a federal note, the Prime Minister has said that the federal government will pay the entire cost of repatriation to Australia of the remains of all Australians who were killed in the bombings, and that government would also pay the cost of any Australians who needed to go to Bali in order to assist with identification. Even though the immediate urgent task for the Territory in terms of medical services is tapering off, that work is continuing, and the focus at this stage is now on Bali.
Small Business – Security Concerns
Mr MALEY to MINISTER for BUSINESS, INDUSTRY and RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
Security continues to remain an important issue for many small businesses which operate in the Northern Territory. Indeed, business seems to be copping the brunt of unlawful entries and criminal damages. Apart from electric fences and guard dogs, which your government has already suggested, what, if any, constructive advice can you give to business? Second, what strategies is your government developing to protect small business?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the shadow minister for his question. It is a bit of a strange question. In terms of security for business, it goes to the same for security for Territorians as individuals. Unfortunately, there is an element of our population in the Northern Territory which is hell-bent on committing criminal acts against businesses, residential properties, and what we have to do in the Northern Territory is work as a community to eliminate as much of the opportunity as possible to do this.
Within the context of the recent budget, we have provided additional resources for the police. I know the police also are very keen and do get involved, in many instances, in conducting security audits with groups of business, individual business premises and operators to try and ensure, through those audits, that businesses do protect themselves to the best of their ability.
We are providing the police with additional resources. We have committed to additional police. We are certainly looking to move through, as we debated in the House earlier today, a significant public strategy to reduce drug-related crime in the Northern Territory. Those strategies will work their way through over time.
However, for the business community and the residential community in particular, we do have to look at our own home and business security. Unfortunately, we have to put in place measures to reduce the opportunities for people to commit criminal offences. If you talk to any police officers, they will say that most property crime is opportunistic and if you put the preventative measures in place, you create less of a target for yourself. There are no easy answers to this. We will work with the community through safety audits at a business level.
The other thing that I am aware is occurring – I do not have the specific detail of this - is looking through the planning scheme. There is a whole concept now out there in terms of security for any new developments, whether they be commercial, residential or retail type developments, you actually look at the whole aspect, through design, of reducing the opportunity for criminal activity. I know through the Planning minister’s office that those aspects are being looked at in the review of planning in the Northern Territory.
So there is a range of things to do. I would urge the honourable member opposite that if he has knowledge of specific areas of groups of businesses that are doing it tough, then they certainly can contact me or the police minister, and we can work with the police to look at safety audits in those areas.
NT Economy – Access Economics Forecast
Mr BONSON to TREASURER
Has the Treasurer’s attention been drawn to an Access Economics report providing information on the Outlook for the Northern Territory Economy? Can the Treasurer comment on the predictions in this report.
ANSWER
Certainly, Madam Speaker. I always look forward to the Access Economics assessment of where the Territory is, what the predictions are for our economic growth over the next five years, and how we are comparing with other states around the country.
The latest survey from Access Economics was released yesterday. The Territory comes out on top, which is great news for us, with average annual growth in GSP over the next four years to the 2005-06 financial year forecast to be 4.3%. So an annual growth rate which tops us around the country of 4.3%. That compares to an Australian average of 3.4%. It is great news for the Territory. For the 2002-03 year, Access Economics says that the forecast is probably something like 4.9% for the Territory.
This is the 15th Access Economics survey of state forecasts; they release them every quarter. It is interesting to know that the Access report - and we will have a copy go to everyone - is more optimistic about Territory growth than in fact we are. They believe that the Territory economy is regaining momentum - and all the figures indicate this - after what hit with the doldrums over the last couple of years. Even nicer is the fact that they are describing the sun-belt states – that is Western Australia, Queensland and us - as having ‘shimmering prospects’ We are at the top of the shimmering prospects. I would like to quote from the report. The forecasters ‘believe that those up north retain better prospects than the rest of us, and that the NT is still in pole position with output expected to grow by over 4% a year’.
Mr Burke: What do they put that to?
Ms MARTIN: That is great news for the Northern Territory. We certainly expect the whingeing and the negative comments from the opposition to cease. This is about growing. We are here, as a parliament, to see the Northern Territory grow. Yet when we hear good figures from an authoritative analyst like Access Economics, all you can hear from that side of the House is griping about ‘Oh, it is not really happening’. Negative comments, negative comments. We should be celebrating the fact that in forecasts for growth, we are leading the country. It looks great when we are leading the country, and those predictions are for the next four to five years. We should be applauding the fact and working together to achieve those.
Mr Dunham: Last year you said it was five, and it came in at 1.7. Why should we trust this?
Ms MARTIN: Again, the whingeing, whining member for Drysdale. The whine of the voice. You should celebrate the fact that we have good growth figures, that we are leading the nation. But all we hear are whingeing, whining comments.
If you put that into the context of other signals of economic growth, we have unemployment down to 4%. That has come down from over 7% a year ago. It is the lowest in Australia. There is a pick-up in building approvals, and that has happened over recent months - certainly compared with this time last year - and retail sales are going well, they are on the grow.
We, as a government, are putting into place the building blocks to see sustainable growth in the future. We are resource rich. We, as a government, have opened up Aboriginal land to mining. It took just four months of being in government, 70 000 km2 of land opened up that previously was not. It took a will to do it. The previous government did not have that will.
We have seen other developments through a process of negotiation, a word that was not known by the previous government. We are negotiating, we are opening up land, we are moving ahead. We are not constrained by the political rhetoric that we saw from the other government matched by their actions. We have high levels of infrastructure spending happening, a budget brought down that the highest level of cash against capital expenditure in the Territory’s history, and we are investing in our future through greater spending on health and education.
This is good news. There is the graph to prove it. The Territory is moving ahead, and I would expect us, as a parliament, to applaud these terrific figures.
Child Care Centre - Tiwi
Mr WOOD to MINISTER for TRANSPORT and INFRASTRUCTURE
Your government is presently building a temporary child care centre at the old Tiwi campus. Could you please confirm whether Environmental Health and Children’s Services have raised concerns about the suitability of this building as a child care centre? What is the future of this demountable building? How much did it cost to build this facility? Could you say why this temporary child care facility was built in Queensland and not in the Territory?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for his question. No, we are not building a temporary child care centre. We are negotiating with the current operator of the child care centre at Tiwi to finalise her lease and build a new purpose-built child care facility. The simple reason for that is that the building in which the child care is housed is not the best; I can say that. It was built in the 1970s, and like many buildings of that era, it contains a lot of asbestos. It was given to the university which rented it to the current operator. The then government took it back for a number of millions of dollars but it did not spend any money to maintain it. As a result, the building continued to fall apart and I now have a situation where I have a building full of asbestos that is falling apart and houses a child care centre.
We have had successful negotiations with the current operator. We have already commenced the demolition of part of the building because it was not safe. We will continue to complete the demolition when the new purpose-built child care centre is built by the current operator.
The transportables you referred to were brought in as a temporary measure to move the child care to transportables away from the building. However, it was considered better and easier to build a new child care centre far away from the building than house it in transportables.
These transportables, however, belong to the government. They were purchased by the government and they are going to be used for other similar purposes. There was no concern from the Children’s Services and Environmental Health about the quality of the building; there were some concerns about some areas of the building and the configuration of the building that my department is going to consider.
NT Economy - Business Confidence
Mr MALEY to MINISTER for BUSINESS, INDUSTRY and RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
You informed members who attended the forum hosted by the Darwin Business Association that your government was listening to the concerns of business and that more would be done to help business operators. It has been several months since that meeting and you have done nothing and there are still a number of empty shops. Indeed, we just heard what your Chief Minister said about the Territory economy. One important matter was missed out, of course, revealed in the Northern Territory labour market review, is that your government currently enjoys the lowest business confidence of any government in Australia.
My question is on behalf of business. Why haven’t you done anything to help those businesses and, second, why have you failed in your responsibility as the business minister?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the honourable member for his question. It is great that he is finally interested as the shadow business minister in this portfolio, because I think these are the first couple of questions I have had from the honourable member for many months now.
We are not happy, obviously not happy with the Yellow Pages statistics, but this is the first time that they have raised this in the House. The shadow minister for business has finally woken up to this. I can certainly say that if I had been in his shoes, I would have been into that particular issue a lot earlier. But never mind, he is learning his job.
At the Small Business Forum we attended some months ago, there were a number of issues raised. I do not have all of those details in front of me, but in terms of vacant retail space in the mall, I just have to point - maybe the member opposite hasn’t opened his eyes - to the significant development that is occurring in Mitchell Street at the moment, not far way away from Parliament House, where there is significant confidence in terms of the retail sector. Most of the retail space in that development has been booked out.
Mr Reed: Nothing to do with you.
Mr HENDERSON: There are other proposed developments around Darwin - the member for Katherine says: ‘Nothing to do with you’. Well, this is the fundamental philosophical difference that we do have. As you heard the Chief Minister saying, in terms of the budget this year, we are putting $333m into the capital works program to, in a large part, support the small business sector in the Northern Territory. After the fiscal legacy that we inherited, we have turned the budget around. The fundamental thing that those opposite don’t understand is that investment is primarily driven via the private sector, not from government. Government is there to provide the climate, to work within the fiscal climate, the taxation and regulatory climate, to allow business to prosper. But at the end of the day, it is the private sector that invests.
As we can see from the growth figures that are emerging in the economy - the downturn in unemployment, the 4% predicted growth rate - that investment is starting to come from the private sector, and that is what we want to see. It is not about governments building Taj Mahals out there in the community every couple of years. It was one of the key things that came out of Economic Development Summit - and I know the Leader of the Opposition attended that summit; I am not sure about the shadow business minister - what the private sector wants to see is a diversified economy in the Northern Territory. They want to see government, over time, reducing its involvement in the economy. They want to see the private sector leading the growth charge.
That is what is happening at the moment. We can see the growth figures coming through. Our responsibility is to talk the economy up, to talk investment up. We are creating that climate, we are doing it in a fiscally responsible way, something that members opposite never bothered to achieve, certainly in their last three or four years of office.
Aboriginal Customary Law – Government Position
Ms SCRYMGOUR to MINISTER for JUSTICE and ATTORNEY-GENERAL
What is the government’s attitude in respect to customary law?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, this is a very important question, particularly in the light of the totally irresponsible piece in the NT News by Col Newman. It was a gross misrepresentation of our government’s position on customary law which we have made very clear in the last few days. I thought it was very important today to put on record a succinct statement of what our position is regarding the position on customary law within the Northern Territory.
I will read from the preamble of the Inquiry into Customary Law which is currently being set up, and this is very clearly what our government thinks of this:
- There are many parts of statutory and common law in the Northern Territory, as well as in other state, territory and Commonwealth jurisdictions, that incorporate or take into account elements of Aboriginal customary law.
Aboriginal law is commonly misunderstood in relating primarily to issues of punishment and payback and its interface with the Northern Territory Criminal Code. This is simply untrue. Aboriginal law encompasses an extremely broad and complex set of rules and unwritten legislation governing social relationships, economic rights, land ownership, wildlife conservation, land management and intellectual property rights.
- It is the view of the Northern Territory government that, in accordance with Australian and international law, Aboriginal customary law should be recognised consistent with universally recognised human rights and fundamental freedoms.
It is for this reason that the Northern Territory government affirms that the Northern Territory Criminal Code applies to all citizens of the Northern Territory without exception. This means that the Northern Territory government does not condone any of the crimes in that Code, including but not limited to murder, manslaughter, dangerous act, rape, incest, carnal knowledge, kidnap, assault or theft.
- The Northern Territory government believes there is much value in supporting and sustaining Aboriginal customary law, and that the knowledge contained in Aboriginal customary law can be of mutual benefit to all citizens in the Northern Territory as well as its custodians.
Darwin Mall - Antisocial Behaviour
Mr MALEY to MINISTER for BUSINESS, INDUSTRY and RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
Traders in the Mall and their customers are now having to endure anti-social behaviour by an increasing number of itinerants. Minister, what are you doing to stop this kind of behaviour and support our small business traders who are currently doing it tough and operating in the Mall in the CBD?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, the member for Goyder has woken from his slumber, and it is great to see. It must have been that trip to Namibia. He came in here post- that and said: ‘I’ve been reinvigorated. I’ve been reinvigorated, I finally understand what I’ve been elected to do, and that is to represent the people of the Northern Territory’. That’s great. It is good to see the taxpayer getting a great return on that investment in terms of sending him to Namibia, and I welcome his interest.
The issue in terms of itinerants in the Mall has only occurred since 18 August last year. The previous government had many, many years to deal with these issues, and what did we see? We saw absolutely nothing, certainly nothing that made any sort of impact. So it is a bit rich to come in here and expect us to wave a magic wand and clear up a very complex set of social issues overnight.
What I can say - and the member may have been missing during statements in this House - is that we are developing an itinerant strategy. It is not only a paper-based strategy, but a funded strategy with $0.5m allocated this year. That is $0.5m worth of action that we are putting in place. There has been a broad amount of community consultation to try and deal with this problem. It is certainly an investment that the previous government never made in terms of trying to tackle this problem. Public drunkenness, behaviour are issues that need to be tackled.
I can remember standing in this House imploring the previous government to up funding for the Night Patrol, and what did they do? They actually cut it back, they cut back the hours of operation of the Night Patrol. We are going to make it a more effective operation.
There is an Itinerants Strategy. I would urge the member opposite to get a briefing on that. It is a very comprehensive strategy and there is $0.5m allocated to it in this year’s budget.
Commercial Passenger Vehicle Industry
Mr KIELY to MINISTER for TRANSPORT and INFRASTRUCTURE
Can the minister advise whether he has completed work on changes to the commercial passenger vehicle industry? If so, what are the effects of the changes he proposes?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for his question. I am very happy to announce today that, following complex negotiations and discussions undertaken with the taxi industry, this government is taking measures to fix the industry that, unfortunately, the previous government managed to nearly ruin. Not only did they manage to nearly ruin it, but on top of that they gave us an extra $20m in debt. We had people working in the taxi industry for $3 an hour. We have had complaint after complaint.
I intend to introduce, in the November sittings, a detailed Ministerial Statement to allow all members of this House to air their views on this matter.
Let me tell you some of the things we are doing. We are trying to create a high quality industry that will deliver quality service to consumers. We want to make sure there is no fighting amongst the different sectors of the same industry. We want to ensure that workers take a decent income home, and create a climate where the industry and its consumers control its destiny.
Very briefly, the first thing we are doing is establishing a commercial passenger vehicle board. That board will provide advice to the minister on various aspects of the industry, will be responsible to oversee the entry standards for drivers and operators, and will overview the industry training requirements. It will consult with industry and will advise the minister with regards to fares and advise on the number of the taxis as required. It will also record operators’ maximum fares for taxis and minibuses.
All drivers will now require 78 hours training instead of 24 hours, to be consistent with other states. Training providers will be required to be independent of operators in Darwin and Alice Springs, and all new taxi drivers will have to have a licence for at least five years. However, the board will have the opportunity to waive this requirement for smaller centres. All commercial licences will require a full-year payment. If you try to get a new licence today, you have to pay $16 000 upfront and, after that, you pay $4000 every quarter. A new regulation will be phased in requiring the holder of a licence to directly be linked to the vehicle ownership.
Minibuses will continue to operate without meters. They will be able to pick up clients from the streets but within three years, they have to pay the same licence as a taxi, which today is $16 000. However, all new entries in the minibus sector have to pay $16 000 upfront from now.
The private hire category is out and we have three new categories: executive taxis, limousines and special function cars. Special function cars are the ones you use for weddings and other functions, limousines will be exactly the same way they operate down south – pre-booking only, while the executive taxis will be taxis with higher standards than the other taxis, better standards for the drivers and the fares will be different from the taxis.
The taxis will remain as they are now, and they will sit at ranks with executive taxis. We are trying to introduce a level playing field, and we believe we have achieved that. The first response we received from industry is positive. However, the board will be working very closely with the industry. There will be representatives from the taxi industry, consumers, people with disabilities, and tourism. They will work very closely with industry and the minister in order to fix the problem. But, as I said before, the previous government nearly managed to destroy the industry. The argument was: ‘Oh, you have to wait a lot to get a taxi’ instead of doing what other states did, phase in a number of licences, they decided to free the market. All of a sudden, we found out that the market is flooded, there are a lot of taxis operating for the same clientele and, as a result, the people would go home with $3 an hour.
Dr Lim: So when are you going to give me my briefing? I asked you 10 days ago. Are you going to give me the briefing, or aren’t you?
Mr VATSKALIS: I am prepared to offer a briefing to any member of this House who wishes to be briefed on this matter, and also to be constructive.
Chinatown Project
Dr LIM to MINISTER for BUSINESS, INDUSTRY and RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
My question is about the Chinatown project, in which I am particularly interested. Would you kindly inform honourable members of what the current status of the Chinatown development is, and when will the Northern Territory government be taking up office space? He doesn’t know!
ANSWER
Madam Speaker I thank the member for Greatorex; he either wants an answer to this question or he doesn’t.
The issue of the Chinatown development - yes, we were very pleased to be able to award the office space tender. I believe that the Chinatown project will add magnificently to the community of the Northern Territory and Darwin. The minister who has specific carriage of this is the minister for DCIS, so I might ask my honourable colleague, the minister, for a specific response.
Dr TOYNE: Madam Speaker, NT Properties is continuing to work with the developers on details of their development. We have not, as yet, received final confirmation of the total financial package being in place. We are continuing to work with the developers on the details of how that can be achieved.
Parliament in Central Australia
Mr McADAM to LEADER of GOVERNMENT BUSINESS
Can the Leader of Government Business advise the House of steps taken to ensure the people of Central Australia have every chance to view parliament next year?
Madam SPEAKER: Leader of Government Business, you are not stealing my thunder, are you?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, you would be as interested in the answer to this as the member for Barkly. We do believe parliament is important to the people and to the Northern Territory for a number of reasons. One of the reasons we were not persuaded yesterday to shortcut or circumvent the normal, natural process of parliament was because it stands as an important living symbol of the democratic process.
Equally, we believe it is important for the Territory’s parliament to sit in Alice Springs because we see Alice Springs as a vital part of the Northern Territory democracy. As we move forward to May next year, this decision to take parliament down to the Centre is already attracting considerable interest in Central Australia. We want the people of the Centre to have an opportunity to see their parliament at work, to see the processes of parliament, to see how laws are made, and how it all comes together in the democratic system that we have.
For this reason, we will propose changes to the normal format of parliament, purely for the three days in Alice Springs. The reason for this is to maximise the opportunity for local people to see the different aspects of parliament that they may not otherwise have the opportunity if we were to stick to the rigid format that we normally run. A critical ingredient of parliamentary activity is the scrutiny of government during Question Time, and we know that often that is when most people are in the gallery to see their parliament at work.
We propose that Question Time should be held on one day in the morning, which would give a certain sector of the population the opportunity to come in, on the next day in the afternoon, and on one of the three days in the evening to cater for the different needs of residents and to give as many people as possible the opportunity to come in and see that. By restructuring it, it will enable those with children, workers, as I said, and it will increase the opportunity for residents from outside Alice Springs also to plan to get in to see Question Time.
It is a strong commitment from government to do this, and we recognise that the parliament sittings going down there - it is not just for Alice Springs, it is for all the people of Central Australia, including the bush communities, and I would hope that as many people as possible can get in from the bush and from the Barkly.
The other point I want to make, as the planning goes on, and you would be well aware of that, this is not symbolism. We are not taking parliament to Alice Springs for the sake of parliament popping up in Alice Springs for the three days. It will be parliamentary business as usual with parliament carrying out all of its normal functions, dealing with legislation and other items that come up.
As I said, planning is continuing and one of the key target groups that we do want to experience parliament first hand is our school children. The Department of Employment, Education and Training is continuing to work with schools, through the Discovering Democracy program, to assist them to develop activities leading up to when parliament comes down and around those themes of parliament, the processes and the making of laws. We think that build-up to it within the school curriculum will help children be prepared and give them some pre-understanding prior to coming in and seeing parliament at work.
A range of community events is being planned that will enable as many Centralians as possible to meet with all their parliamentarians is being organised, and I know your staff, Madam Speaker, within the Assembly are busy planning for all of the logistics.
We have strong enthusiasm from local business and other organisations, who are looking forward to the chance to show all Territorians that Alice Springs is a wonderful host, and we will make the most out of these historic sittings in Alice Springs.
Madam SPEAKER: I also advise members at this stage that we are making plans to hold the Youth Parliament on the Friday of that week which will give another opportunity for schools to be involved.
Minister for Asian Relations and Trade - Travel to Asia
Mr BURKE to MINISTER for ASIAN RELATIONS and TRADE
In June last year, your Chief Minister attacked the previous Asian Relations Minister and Resource Minister for only making six trips into Asia in 2000-01. How many trips have you made, as you hold both portfolios as well as tourism, and how do you answer the criticism of your Chief Minister that six is not enough?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, it is an interesting question. It is a pity that the Leader of the Opposition was not interested in this issue during the Estimates process where he had the opportunity because this information was provided to him.
Members interjecting.
Mr HENDERSON: He asked the questions in the Estimates process and we provided him with the answers in a lot of detail, but he decided, on behalf of the business community in the Northern Territory, that it was much more important to catch a lunch time flight off to Canberra than to stay and pursue issues through the Estimates Committee process. He could have made that appointment by catching the midnight flight out of Darwin but, no, that was a bit too uncomfortable for him, so he went out on the lunch time flight.
He had an opportunity, if he was truly interested in this question, to pursue it in Estimates. Madam Speaker, I don’t have the exact number in front of me, it was three or four …
Members interjecting.
Mr HENDERSON: … trips into Asia last year. If members opposite would be quiet and just listen, the reason for that is when we came to government …
Dr Lim: You can’t remember where you went.
Mr HENDERSON: I will pick up on the globe trotting member for Greatorex in a moment, and the great contribution that he has made in the past to the business community in the Northern Territory.
When we came to government, Madam Speaker, we thought that we would inherit a lot of detail, a lot of strategic work at agency level in terms of strategic interests that we were pursuing in the Asian region. And guess what? Nothing! There was nothing there. No trade strategy, no analysis in terms of where our strategic objectives are despite being there for 26 years!
What we did inherit was a wall full of MOUs that globe trotting previous ministers had signed tripping around the place. A good start, but no follow-up. No structures to support those MOUs. No strategies to support those MOUs . The fact was that any increase in exports that were being achieved by the Northern Territory community were being run by individual business operators in the Northern Territory, apart from, and I will say, a good example was the live cattle trade.
However, the majority of that effort in that work was down to the Live Cattle Exporters Association at a national level. Our department does a magnificent job, and I have inherited those in terms of extension work on the ground in Indonesia and the Philippines in particular. The Chief Minister and I will be in the Philippines within the next week or two, and I am about to release, over the next couple of days, a strategy which will be the springboard for Northern Territory business to engage in the region in terms of a targetted trade strategy, the first time a trade strategy has been developed by government.
Mr Burke: Garbage!
Members interjecting.
Mr HENDERSON: Madam Speaker, having met with a business operator who is involved in trade a couple of days ago, who has been part of the community critiquing this, he said that it was way, way overdue. In fact, he had stopped participating in government trade missions in Asia back in about 1986-87 because all they did was provide photo opportunities for previous ministers.
We will be up there doing the business on the back of a strategic objective, and we will be launching that in a couple of days.
Advertising Agency Tender - NTTC
Mr BONSON to MINISTER for TOURISM
What is the result of the Tourist Commission’s advertising agency tender?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, this is good news today. I can inform the House that a major marketing company, Euro RSCG, has been selected as the preferred tenderer for the NTTC’s domestic tourism account. This is a very important decision for the tourism industry in the Territory to ensure that we have the best possible marketing agency running and developing our marketing and tourism campaigns with the Tourist Commission and, more importantly, with the industry in the Northern Territory. It is absolutely vital that you get the most creative people on board, because it is a very tough climate out there in terms of competition for tourists.
We have been through a very rigorous and vigorous process in terms of selecting the best company for this account. Euro RSCG is one of Australia’s fastest growing advertising agencies, having won $64m worth of new business in 2002; very aggressive, a very large company out there in the market place. Their other clients include Cadbury, Monster, Suncorp, Metway, Volvo, Intel, Dell, P&O, Orange and Time Life.
Over the last four years, Euro RSCG has been named both agency of the year and interactive agency of the year. In an increasingly dynamic and online world, when so much more of the conversion for decisions that tourists make in terms of where they are going to visit is being made in an online environment with access and research over the Internet, it really is good to have secured a marketing agency that has specific and very good credentials in this area.
Euro RSCG partnership is part of Euro RSCG worldwide, and they are one of the world’s five largest integrated communications agencies. Their strengths as an agency are to place creativity at the centre of business strategy and to use media in very innovative ways.
I can also say that part of the selection criteria, for the first time for this particular account that has been approved, is local content. We really did say, and a lot of the feedback I had initially as tourism minister, was that all of the decisions were being made in Sydney without any reference back to business and the industry in the Northern Territory. Industry in the Northern Territory didn’t know what was going on, didn’t understand what the advertising strategy was, couldn’t see the outcome of that strategy, couldn’t measure the strategy, and they very much wanted to see a lot more of that sort of marketing effort being based in the Northern Territory. So we did put that as part of the selection criteria, and Territory business will be involved in terms of working with Euro RSCG on those campaigns.
Again, the shadow minister for Tourism was critical - and again out of touch with the industry - when she said that we had sacked the Marketing Director in Sydney. We had not sacked anybody; we relocated the position to Darwin, where the industry was saying they wanted to see that position located. They did not want the position based on the north shore of Sydney, which is about as removed from the tourist industry in the Northern Territory as you could get; they wanted the position based in the Northern Territory. We listened to industry and we responded. It is a critical position.
We are pleased to announce Euro RSCG as the holders of the new account. I met with senior executives from the company yesterday when they came through, having been told the news, and they are very keen and enthusiastic to get on board, to work with industry in the Northern Territory, and we will be seeing some dynamic and innovative new campaigns.
FORWAARD – Potential Expansion of Services
Mr WOOD to MINISTER for COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
It was said at a recent public hearing of the Substance Abuse Committee that FORWAARD intends to set up a new establishment on Thorngate Road near the Robertson Barracks as soon as possible. This was their intention a number of years ago. Could you please tell the House whether the government is supporting this new move because it wants to set up a temporary Wet Season site there for itinerants? If so, has there been any community consultation about such a move? Why is the government establishing a new centre in the rural area when there is already a suitable centre at Bees Creek which has ample room for expanded facilities, operates for all races, has operated successfully for 18 years, and is a place you visited recently? I refer to ANSTI and I should declare I am a member of the board.
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I welcome the question from the member for Nelson. I did visit ANSTI on my way to Katherine. I was impressed with ANSTI and what it has been established to deliver by way of alcohol rehabilitation. I was also concerned about the lack of support from the previous government. I think, along with yourself and a few other members, the President of the Litchfield Shire Council is also a member of ANSTI, and the program that they have been running there for some 15-odd years is quite good.
They spoke to me and raised issues of concern in respect of other alcohol rehabilitation programs being run in other parts of the Top End in respect of the itinerants program. After having a good look around their facilities, I left with a commitment to get Leon Morris, the Itinerants Project Coordinator, down there to talk to them. My office has told me that happened last Friday. I have not had an opportunity to get back to Leon and find out what he has to report in regards to that trip but, certainly, I will be wanting to assist ANSTI as much as possible within the current budget that I have. I must say that they have been waiting for a while and have been lacking in support, and we need to review the situation.
It is not smart for me to stand up here and talk about an itinerants project that has $0.5m, for us to be very serious about getting on top of the antisocial behavioural problems. We are talking about some 200 to 300 people who, as we know, are living in the long grass and we need to put in these programs. We also need to take into consideration those types of organisations similar to ANSTI, and how they can be supported because if we are aiming to get people back to their communities, to get people out of the long grass, to provide services for them, we need to look at and review the alcohol rehabilitation programs that are in place.
In respect of the FORWAARD project, I am not aware of where that is at, at this stage. I have been made aware of a block of land out there. I can inform the member that I will seek more information and provide that for him in respect of those concerns he raised.
Gas Industry – Polling
Mr BURKE to CHIEF MINISTER
Can you confirm that the government is conducting or has recently conducted polling within the Territory with some questions relating to onshore/offshore gas developments? If so, tell us for whom the polling is being conducted; for what purpose and list all the questions being asked in the results. If the results are not yet available, will she guarantee to provide the House with the results in view of her stance on this issue in the past?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, it is a great question from the Leader of the Opposition because one of the members in here had a partner who was polled, and reported to us that polling was taking place. We said: ‘The CLP is polling’. It is an interesting question …
Mr Burke: Well, we are not.
Ms MARTIN: We are not polling. You are not polling. The question is, Madam Speaker: who is polling? Are you polling, Madam Speaker?
Madam SPEAKER: It is not me.
Mr Ah Kit: Gerry, are you polling?
Ms MARTIN: We are not polling at this stage; we honestly thought that you were polling.
Mr Burke: Is the government polling?
Ms MARTIN: No.
WorldSkills National Championships
Ms SCRYMGOUR to MINISTER for EMPLOYMENT, EDUCATION and TRAINING
Can the minister inform the House about a recent initiative which recognises the training and skills of young Territorians?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Arafura for her question. Are you sure you are not polling?
Ms Martin: We thought it was you guys.
Ms Carney: Are you sure you are not polling?
Mr STIRLING: Maybe they have not told you. It is not us.
Ms Martin: Ah! The Liberal Party is polling!
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr STIRLING: Madam Speaker, we have a very active and high quality vocational educational and training system in the Northern Territory, with quality endorsed training providers and employers, in the main, with modern workplaces that are well equipped to train and skill their staff.
In June this year, DEET convened the Northern Territory Regional WorldSkills 2002 competition, with competitions held in Darwin, Alice Springs and Nhulunbuy. These competitions are like the Olympics of the training world because they give students and trainees the opportunity to demonstrate their wares against their peers in respective fields and really showcase their skills and development.
There are two sections: open round competitions for people under 25 undertaking or having recently completed training; and the VET in Schools competition for those students currently in Years 10, 11 and 12. The Territory government is a major contributor to the cost, and there has been generous support from a number of training organisations and businesses at both local and national level. I am sure that, by giving due recognition to the skills and talents of apprentices and students through WorldSkills, more young people will consider that this is an option for them when they see some of the work that their colleagues and peers do and when the WorldSkills is marketed, as it was on television some months ago.
Of course, not only is it identifying a potential career pathway for those students, it is also bringing the attention of business and employers to the idea of bringing apprentices on as a way of providing them with skilled staff.
The Northern Territory category gold medal winners are now preparing to compete at the WorldSkills 2002 National Competitions being held at the Newcastle Entertainment Centre from 24 to 26 October with the presentation ceremony on 27 October. In addition, WorldSkills Australia has issued special invitations to three NT silver medal winners to compete in construction, tourism, and food and beverage service categories. National category winners go on to represent Australia at the international competition in Switzerland in 2003.
I put on the record the achievements of the following young Territorians who will be representing the Northern Territory at the nationals.
In the Open Competition:
- Beauty Care: Carmen McLean
Business Services: Kelly Smith
Cookery: Derek Boath
Electrical Control: James Brown
Electrical Installation: Russell Kimber
Hairdressing: Fiona Hatzivalsalmis
Plumbing: Gary Tayler
Refrigeration: Danny Stevens, and
Welding: Errol McCoy.
In the VET in Schools Competition:
- Construction: Rafael Kammis
Business Administration: Colleen McAlpine
Information Technology: Liam Kuhl
Retail: Emma Long
Food and Beverage Service: Jenna Pearson from Alice Springs
Tourism: Bianca Reichstein from Alice Springs
Metal and Engineering: Kyle Williams from Nhulunbuy.
I am very pleased to say. That section was held in Nhulunbuy and I was there to see him do his thing on that day.
I wish every one of those students and trainees the very best on the next leg. I am sure they will be very competitive and I am absolutely sure they will be outstanding ambassadors for the Northern Territory.
Members: Hear, hear!
Bali Incident - School Travel to Indonesia
Mr MILLS to MINISTER for EMPLOYMENT, EDUCATION and TRAINING
Northern Territory education has benefitted from a longstanding and fruitful student and teacher exchange program with Indonesia, principally the eastern provinces. How many student and teachers are currently on exchange in Indonesia? How many are in Bali? Will these Territorians be returning to Darwin? Given that a number of class excursions are planned for the remainder of this term, what advice has the minister have for staff, students and parents who have plans to visit Indonesia?
ANSWER
I did not quite get the last part of the question, Madam Speaker. I will take the whole question on notice. I have not even discussed this with the CEO as to what form the program would take into the future. But I will certainly get back to you in a very short space of time
Madam Speaker, I ask that further questions be placed on the Question Paper.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016