2002-11-26
Police Annual Report
Mr BURKE to MINISTER for POLICE, FIRE and EMERGENCY SERVICES
The police annual report was pulled before it could be tabled at last month’s parliamentary sittings, preventing the revelation that property crime has increased across the Territory by 6%. What was the cost to produce and then pulp the original police report? What was the cost to reprint the second version of the police annual report, and what were the changes that needed to be made that were so important that it required the pulling of the annual report on the eve of its tabling in the first place?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the Leader of the Opposition for his great conspiracy theory question. The police annual report was not pulled and was not due for release in the last sittings of parliament. The Leader of the Opposition must have a short memory. It is not that long ago that he was occupying a seat on this side of the House. Politicians do not prepare annual reports and certainly my office does not prepare the police annual report; the Police Commissioner, other officers and support staff at Berrimah do.
It is solely and wholly their responsibility as to when they present that report to myself as minister for sign-off. It was their decision and it is their decision alone in terms of when that report is presented to the police minister, and then obviously it is tabled in this parliament or released as soon as possible.
I would like to take the Leader of the Opposition back; for the last five years, the police annual report was tabled under previous administrations in the last sittings of parliament before the Christmas break. That is going to happen again; we have already released the police annual report. So to say that it was pulled, it was pulped, it was shredded is implying that that was done as a result of some information in there that we wanted to keep from Territorians. Nothing could be further from the truth. There were issues of accuracy in the annual report that on second and third readings through the review system in police that were not picked up. I do not have the details, nor is it my place or my responsibility to understand which items of detail were picked up in further reviews.
The report that Territorians will be able to access is the most comprehensive police report that has ever been released to the Territory community. It is complemented by the Justice report. We are releasing more detailed information that Territorians will be able to see over time will serve them well by informing public debate on crime. At the end of the day, if you don’t measure the incidence of crime in the community and report on it, we can’t, as a legislature, devise public policy to deal with those issues.
It is a comprehensive report. It was not pulled or pulped on any request or information from the minister’s office; it was purely a decision of the Police Commissioner and his senior staff that the report was presented to me as minister and then to the people of the Northern Territory when they were happy with it.
Security Measures – NT Government
Ms LAWRIE to CHIEF MINISTER
Chief Minister, can you inform the House of steps taken by the Northern Territory government to review security measures in the wake of the Bali bombings?
ANSWER
It is a very important question from the member for Karama and, Madam Speaker, like the response you have just given to the House about parliamentary precinct security, security for Territorians, our community working in the public sector, wherever they are has become, very sadly, something that we have to upgrade and monitor more carefully.
While we saw a level of response after September 11 last year, following Bali, again we have had to reassess our security, particularly for Darwin and the Northern Territory because Bali is literally our back yard. It was only the last sittings of parliament that we were here, joined as one, condemning what happened in Bali, but also as a parliament offering our support and sympathy to the victims and their families of the Bali bombings.
Last night’s reception here in the Main Hall was an indication of how we valued our community’s response to the Bali bombings and how various sections of the community responded. We would have to say that our community is magnificent when it comes to disasters - we are a magnificent community most of the time, but when there is trouble, a disaster, something as horrific as the Bali bombings, our community responds with enormous concern and focus.
It was with great pride that I was with state leaders and the Prime Minister in Canberra last month. The Prime Minister chose to thank the Territory specifically for what we had done following the Bali bombings. Those thanks should go to those who were involved in our counter-disaster arrangements and especially to those who were involved in the medical and the associated areas dealing with the aftermath of Bali. It was really a terrific occasion last night that, as a community, we could thank those who participated across a wide range of areas.
The Territory response to Bali showed again how effectively we can respond in a counter-disaster circumstance and was recognition of the excellent coordination arrangements that were put in place over a number of years in the Territory.
What Bali and September 11 have meant is that, sadly, we have to be much more aware of terrorist activity. We need to closely examine what our current counter-terrorism arrangements are, both nationally and in the Territory.
Next week, I will be going to COAG, meeting in Canberra as usual. The main theme of COAG is national security. The key issues will be: our national counter-terrorism plan; critical infrastructure protection; upgrading chemical, biological and radiological response capability. Currently, a representative from my department is in Canberra with the NCTC Executive Committee developing that new plan which state premiers and the Prime Minister and chief ministers will meet about next week.
Within the Territory, critical infrastructure protection plans are being developed for our key assets which include Royal Darwin Hospital, essential power, water and communication utilities. As announced last week, the Northern Territory Police Commissioner has allocated a senior police officer to be the full-time NT Counter-Terrorism Security Coordinator to work with the community to make sure each sector of our community has appropriate security arrangements and vigilance in place to ensure that we are fully prepared for any terrorist incidents. Hopefully, such incidents will never happen.
Government has put a proposal to the Prime Minister which we developed with the assistance of the Canberra-based Australian Strategic Policy Institute for a high-level multilateral regional forum which really would be underpinned by practical and mutual assistance arrangements between Australia and the maritime countries of South East Asia, to enhance things like effective regional counter-terrorism cooperation and capability. No such forum currently exists and when we are looking at security issues, we look at Australia but we also have to look, particularly where we are positioned, at our neighborhood as well. I have proposed the high level multilateral regional forum to the Prime Minister and will raise it again at COAG next week.
Finally, I mention two specific issues: the first is in this parliamentary forum, to scotch again the media reports of 19 November that Darwin had been specifically named as a terrorist target. That report was alarmist and not supported by any credible intelligence, and I make that point very forcefully. There was no credible intelligence to say that Darwin was under attack or any possible attack. However, there is Commonwealth government advice that there could be a possible terrorist attack in Australia, no specifics there, within the next few months. In that respect, our security measures will meet the requirements of the federal government.
It is a great sadness for our community that these attacks have happened, not only for the world community when September 11 happened, but Bali has shown us that although we thought we were a safe haven, it is not the case. Bali is very close to Australia; very, very close to Darwin.
We are upgrading security, but what we have to say to our community members is: your response needs to be one of greater vigilance, of being more suspicious but, above all, don’t let that get in the way of getting on with life as normal. It is a balancing act. I want to assure our community that government, working with all our agencies, is doing everything that we need to do to make sure that our security requirements meet both the post-11 September and post-12 October situations.
Police Annual Report
Mr BURKE to MINISTER for POLICE, FIRE and EMERGENCY SERVICES.
Minister, with regard to the first police annual report that was pulled, I am sure you are aware that the report made it as far as the Chamber Attendant’s office in the last sittings before it was pulled. Can you also confirm, minister, that the Police Commissioner directed the Government Printer to reprint the police annual report, regardless of cost, in order to meet a deadline to enable launch of the police report and your colleague, the Minister for Justice’s, version of crime statistics? Minister, what part did your office or your colleague’s office or you, personally, play in the decision to ensure that those two reports appeared together?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, the conspiracy theory becomes deeper and deeper. As I stated to the parliament previously, the police annual report to me as minister and then, through me, to the parliament and the people of the Northern Territory is a report that is owned by the Commissioner of Police reporting on his agency’s work throughout the last year. There is a point in time where I sign off on that annual report and then have the responsibility to bring that to the people of the Northern Territory at the earliest opportunity.
The version of the report that I signed off on is the one that is currently before this parliament. So it will be …
Mr Reed: Well, it isn’t. Where is it?
Mr HENDERSON: It has been made public already. We have given you …
Members interjecting.
Mr HENDERSON: …parliamentary reviews to allow you to go through the report prior to coming to parliament. So we have actually put it out ahead of schedule. There is so much to hide in it that we released it ahead of schedule . There is so much to hide in this report, that we actually released it before parliament convened. We gave them the ammunition for them to prepare for these sittings; so that is how secret the report is. This is a great conspiracy theory!
The police annual report is a report that the Commissioner releases to me, reporting on the running of his agency for the last 12 months. The report that I have signed off on is the one that has been made public and available to Territorians.
Leader of the Opposition - Travel
Mr BONSON to MINISTER for POLICE, FIRE and EMERGENCY SERVICES
Can the minister inform the House whether policing techniques used in New York have been examined in recent times, and whether these techniques have been utilised closer to home?
ANSWER
I thank the member for Millner for his question. Yes, Madam Speaker, New York, New York, it is a wonderful town, as the old saying goes. This whole issue regarding the Leader of the Opposition taking his family with him and going all the way to New York to examine policing in New York is nothing about public policy or good outcomes for Territorians in reducing crime in our community; it is all about entitlements. The Leader of the Opposition should hang his head in shame after the comments he made on the radio that he was off to study Comsat and urban decay - urban decay in the leafy suburbs of Palmerston absolutely confounded anybody who listened to that.
It is not about policing techniques, it is about entitlements, as the Leader of the Opposition stated himself, when he told Territorians, and I quote from the NT News:
- It is all about leadership, mate.
It is about leadership from the front of an aircraft. He went on to say, because he has been missing the travel since he was confined to irrelevancy as Opposition Leader, that if he did not take his entitlements, others would not be interested in getting into politics. Here we have the motivation for the Leader of the Opposition – and I hope not too many of his colleagues opposite - saying the motivation to enter politics is about accessing and making use of entitlements that are very generously granted to us as politicians by the people of the Northern Territory to do our job, and that if you do not take them then you cannot get good people into politics.
I can speak for every one of the 13 members on this side of the House that we did not put our hands up to serve the good people of the Northern Territory because there were good entitlements attached to the job.
I have been advised by the Northern Territory Police that an assessment of Comsat and other New York policing techniques was concluded by former Commissioner Brian Bates just over four years ago - not that long ago, and during the time when the previous government was in office. Former Commissioner Bates attended New York and undertook days of research of Comsat and associated issues as part of a large Territory delegation - and I think people will remember that. My colleague …
Mr Stirling interjecting.
Mr HENDERSON: … the member for Nhulunbuy remembers it well. Led by former CLP Chief Minister, Shane Stone, off they all went to New York. Syd went away as well. I do not know whether you have spoken to Syd about Comsat, but you could have got a briefing from Syd; he could have told you all about it.
However, former Commissioner Bates knows a lot more about policing than the Leader of the Opposition. Such was that trip, this report was tabled in this parliament. I table it again. I do not know whether the Leader of the Opposition has read it. It is interesting, when you go through the debate, that the member for Brennan made a supporting statement about the report, and I jog his memory about that statement.
So we have this urgent desire to drag the Burke family off to New York to study Comsat when this was already done four years ago. I am advised by our police - and for the Leader of the Opposition, as shadow police spokesperson, you would have thought that if this was such a burning public policy issue, at least he would look at two sides of the debate. He would ask me or my predecessor for a briefing about the status of play, how we record, assess, evaluate and monitor crime stats in the Northern Territory. Not one request. He says he knows the answer. This is the man, the most arrogant …
Members interjecting.
Mr HENDERSON: I wish, on this side, as police minister, I had the wisdom of the Leader of the Opposition. I don’t know how his crystal ball is going, but he has the answers. Well, if he has the answers, why is he going to New York? This is all about leadership from the front end of a plane.
In fact, the Comsat style policing performance reviews are now in place. He does not have to go to New York. They are now in place in the Northern Territory, Queensland, New South Wales, South Australia, and the Australian Federal Police. So we have these systems in place here in Australia. He does not need to go to New York at all. In fact, he has just returned from New South Wales where my understanding from the briefings that he received in New South Wales are that the NSW police are looking at our systems that are being held up as being in the vanguard of the latest techniques in police administration systems for recording, monitoring and evaluating the impacts of crime.
The CLP has not lost its arrogance. This is the biggest junket since Fred Finch went to Las Vegas to see a Mike Tyson fight, and Territorians will not forget it. I just wonder - we have the member for Blain starting to wander in to policy areas for which he does not have responsibility - whether this is the swan song. This is the farewell trip. This is the farewell trip, just like the trip to Las Vegas was Fred Finch’s farewell trip. That is certainly what it smells like, and I can see the member for Blain smiling. It is disgraceful that the CLP has not learnt from the past.
I have an offer for the member for Brennan, the Leader of the Opposition, to save the taxpayers between $20 000 and $30 000 - certainly not leadership from the front of an aircraft that he is looking for: On the condition that he cancels his farewell trip, I will personally pay, out of my own pocket, for him to visit an Australian jurisdiction of his choosing which utilises the policing techniques he is going to New York to see.
That is the challenge. Is the Leader of the Opposition going to take up my offer, or is he really going to insult Territorians by going on this farewell junket to the tune of $20 000 to $30 000 to study systems that are already in place in Australia, that have already been assessed by the Northern Territory police? There are enormous amounts of work going on. Is he going to take up that offer or is he going to insult Territorians, treat them with absolute contempt and arrogance and swan off to New York to do his Christmas shopping?
Madam SPEAKER: Before we go on, I remind members that you should refer to other members in the House by their electorate or their ministerial portfolio. I noticed a slip in the last answer, but the minister concerned did take it with humour so I tended to ignore it, but I remind you about it.
ABS Gross State Product Figures
Mr KIELY to TREASURER
The latest gross state product economic growth data was released recently by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. What do these statistics tell Territorians about the Martin government’s management of the economy?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Sanderson for his question, my first question as Treasurer, and I am absolutely delighted. I am delighted to have that portfolio behind my name because they are a great bunch of people to work with. They are superb public servants, our 220-odd public servants sitting over there in Treasury. They are a delight to work with, they are highly professional and I am enjoying being Treasurer which I always saw as a bit dry and dusty. I have to tell you it is the most exciting area of government that I have had to work in so far because it is whole-of-government. They have their heads around it; I know they are going to get my head around it fairly quickly, and I look forward to that.
The latest gross state product figures for the Territory do show a great story and real economic growth in 2001-02 of 4.8%, up from 4.1% the previous year, and just 0.3% in the year 1999-2000. This government has been able to deliver the strongest percentage economic growth figures for the last three years. Our first year in government produced the strongest figures in the last three years.
Mr Baldwin: Tell the Chamber of Commerce.
Mr Dunham: So everything’s okay?
Mr STIRLING: Well, you ought to listen because this tells the story of where your government was taking us and taking the Territory and where this government is.
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr STIRLING: Madam Speaker, of course it does stand in stark contrast to the gloom and doom of the now opposition that the CLP government used to say: ‘God help us if Labor is elected; it will be all gloom and doom’. The figures tell a different story, and the further you look into the figures, the more encouraging they are because they show a broad based recovery in activity through 2001-02, and most sectors of the onshore economic activity are significantly stronger in 2001-02 compared with the previous year.
Household consumption: 6.8% in 2001-02. It was 1.8% in 2001. Government consumption up 5.1% compared with 3.4% the previous year. Private fixed capital investment up 43.4%, a decline of 9.5% in 2000-01. As a consequence, GSP total surpassed the $9bn for the first time in 2001-02, and that was with some decline in oil exports from the Timor Sea. So excluding exports and imports, state final demand, which has a focus on that onshore activity, grew by 13.8% in 2001-02 compared with a rise of just 1.8% the year before. The Territory’s economic growth rate at 4.8% is some 0.9 percentage points ahead of the national average.
They are good figures and they are going to get better. Of course, this government has spelt out its economic blueprint to build a better Territory and the economic upturn that was seen over this last year is expected to broaden and gain further momentum. We have a record level of capital works spending out there in the community, as a result of our budget, occurring through 2002-03. We did deliberately put all the additional cash we could muster into the capital works program last year because the construction industry had been out on its feet; it said goodnight two years earlier.
If we go back that previous two years, a deficit budget that came in at something like $225m - $225m they spent more than revenue received by them when they were in government. At the same time, the construction industry was reeling, spiralling down hill. The next year, when they told us that we were headed for a $12m deficit, still had done nothing for the construction industry and, of course, when we had a very close look at the figures - and it was within about 10 days of gaining government - we were told the budget position was ‘unsustainable’. We found we were headed for another $126m deficit on top of that. So you have a $225m blow-out, $126m projected blow-out that financial year, and nothing at all out there in capital works.
We have addressed that and we have them back in place. In fact, someone said to me the other day that the Leader of the Opposition stepped into the lift and he said to one of the staffers: ‘When are you going to get the place going?’ I thought: ‘My God! Doesn’t he walk down Mitchell Street? Doesn’t he see those big things?’ He has forgotten what they look like. They are called cranes. He has forgotten what they look like because they didn’t have any. They didn’t have any in the years that he was Chief Minister, and still running a budget deficit of $225m in one financial year. That is a disgrace! You burdened Territorians with the greatest debt levels in Australia. They already were, but you and your mate beside you, and now this bloke over here - it’s the Burke and Mills show lately. We haven’t heard of Reed. It used to be Burke and Reed. It is the Burke and Mills show lately. He has been jumping into police stories and everything else. I am wondering when he is going to jump up on the Treasury.
Mr Baldwin interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order, member for Daly!
Mr STIRLING: Madam Speaker, we put in place QuickStart II to tide the local construction industry over the last Wet Season and this year, moved to significantly increase the First Home Buyer’s Stamp Duty Concession to $3640 as well as introduce the Principal Place of Residence Rebate for all home buyers of $1500. We abolished taxes on wet hires as well as substantially reducing the stamp duty payable on franchises when they are initially undertaken and when they are renewed.
As a government, we are spending money on the towns and in the remote areas. There is no point in having one part of the Territory boom while the rest misses out. The railway has made a significant contribution, and we acknowledge that to onshore activity, but it is not the only factor at play. Housing is expected to recover from its lows of early 2001 and there is every likelihood of the LNG plant proceeding and the arrival of gas onshore from a range of fields in the Timor Sea. What this government has done is demonstrate that it can manage the economy and it can manage the Territory’s funding.
Madam SPEAKER: I will remind ministers that we have only had five questions.
Property Crime
Mr BURKE to MINISTER FOR POLICE, FIRE and EMERGENCY SERVICES
Minister, police have confirmed, last night in fact, that for the past three weeks, property crime in the Territory has been increasing. Last week when you and your government were telling Territorians there has been a reduction in property crime, you must have known the truth as the police minister, the truth being that property crime was actually increasing. Did you withold this important information from Territorians so that your government could attempt a con job on Territorians with the lie that crime was decreasing?
Mr STIRLING: A point of order, Madam Speaker! I would ask that the allegation or assertion of lie be withdrawn.
Madam SPEAKER: No, I will accept that question. I will accept it in the context of the question.
Mr STIRLING: Well, I would ask that he …
Mr Burke: The statement was a lie. The statement was a lie!
Madam SPEAKER: If you listened to the question, he was not saying the minister was lying, so I will accept it in the context of the question.
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, the conspiracy deepens. I do not know who the Leader of the Opposition has been talking to, but we, as a government …
Ms Martin: Isn’t that [inaudible] of the CLP?
Mr HENDERSON: Yes, one could suspect that is probably where it is coming from.
Madam Speaker, we of the government are committed to producing quarterly crime statistics, very comprehensive, detailed crime statistics, region by region across the Northern Territory. This is the first volume. Quarterly means it will be released four times a year which is four times more often than the previous government released comprehensive, detailed crime statistics. We will release these statistics, good or bad, on a quarterly basis. We have to look at crime statistics as a trend over a period of time - some weeks they are up; some weeks they are down. We are trying to hide these figures so much that we are going to be releasing them once every three months. Again, this conspiracy about crime having been up for the last three weeks, if that trend continues it will be picked up in the crime statistics when they are released in three months time.
We said for year after year in the parliament on this side of the House that if you want to develop good public policy, good policing strategies in relation to crime in the Northern Territory, you have to gather the data. You have to analyse the data and in the context of involving the community in the debate and become part of the solution, to publish the statistics. We are going to be releasing them four times a year, which is four times as often as the previous government. We can see that from the trend in the first release - no crime is obviously the optimum though no jurisdiction around the world has managed to achieve it - but we are starting to make an impact and we can see this from Operation Gene Sweep II conducted over the last weekend. I had the pleasure of going and meeting the officers and detectives that were involved in that operation. The hard work they put in resulted in the arrest of an additional 20 people over the weekend.
The police are doing their job and securing results on behalf of the people of the Northern Territory. We are putting the statistics out in the public realm. So hard are we trying to hide the truth from Territorians, we are releasing statistics four times a year. The Leader of the Opposition can have all the conspiracy theories he likes, but we will be judged over our term by our fight against crime. We believe we are putting the legislation in place, legislation which those on the opposition benches did not put in place to give police the tools to get out and apprehend villains who commit crimes in our society, drug-related crime in particular. They would not go near it.
We are giving police the tools to do the job. There are 80 new police officers coming on board by the end of the financial year, and we are reporting the statistics to the people of the Northern Territory four times a year which is four times more than those opposite were doing when they were in government.
Dumping of Rubbish on Vacant Land
Mr WOOD to MINISTER for LANDS and PLANNING
I am sure this question won’t require a ministerial statement to answer it. During the year, there was a public outcry about the amount of rubbish being dumped on Crown land. Has the government done a survey to record rubbish dumped on Crown land, especially around the urban and rural areas of Darwin? Does the minister have a plan to clean up the rubbish such as a work-for-the-dole or CDEP program, and has the government any plans to try and reduce the illegal dumping on Crown land?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for his question. Illegal dumping on Crown land or any undeveloped land is not a new problem. I have been dealing with that since my previous life as an Environmental Health Officer. On many occasions I was called out to Lee Point, outside Secrett Road, and I had to deal with a variety of dumped items. On one notable occasion, Christmas Eve, I was out there checking out some medical waste that had been dumped illegally on Crown land.
I am also aware of the issue of illegal dumping on council land and even on privately owned land. Unfortunately, some people tend to think if there is a vacant block of land, it is a rubbish tip and they can dump their rubbish there rather than travel to the appropriate dumping facility.
I have discussed the issue with my department and the council. I have also discussed the possibility with my department that when we award contracts, for example for renovation of public housing, we will require contractors to provide us with a receipt from the rubbish tip to confirm that they have dumped the rubbish that they generate from the demolition or renovation of the building.
However, I have to admit we don’t have many inspectors in place for the simple reason that no one department has the full authority to deal with that issue. The health department, the Environmental Health section, deals with the issue; the town council deals with the issue, my department deals with the issue. The big problem is that the legislation is dysfunctional. You have to actually catch somebody in the act of dumping rubbish to be able to prosecute. On many occasions I have found receipts, letters and evidence of the person who dumped the rubbish, but there was no way we could go to court and successfully prosecute that person.
We need a holistic approach. We have to work together with the other departments and the local council. Also, we have to look at how we are going to change the legislation in order to be able to successfully prosecute people who are caught, or not caught in the act, but found to be dumping rubbish. It is a big problem. There is plenty of vacant land around Darwin and there are many people who are not doing the right thing, even if it means they have to travel many kilometres further out than the rubbish tip to dump rubbish. It is a plain stupid thing, but many people think that is the right thing to do. It is not. It affects everybody. It affects the environment. Some of the things that are dumped are quite dangerous because they involve chemicals, building materials and other noxious items.
Editor’s Note: Question Time concluded owing to a motion for suspension of standing orders to move a censure motion.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016