2003-10-14
ConocoPhillips - Local Industry Participation Plan
Mr BURKE to MINISTER for BUSINESS, INDUSTRY and RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
The opposition is aware that you were advised by your department in May/June of this year that:
- ConocoPhillips continue to stall on submission of a local participation plan.
Have they now lodged that plan? What are the details of the plan and will you provide a copy to the Assembly?
ANSWER
Mr Acting Speaker, I thank the Leader of the Opposition for his question. Yes, as government, we have been pursuing ConocoPhillips for their Local Industry Participation Plan for quite some time now. It is certainly an issue that we believe could have been progressed much faster.
Under the federal government’s Major Project Facilitation regime, there is a requirement for any major development to be given status under that regime for an Australian Industry Participation Plan to be developed. Subsequent to that, ConocoPhillips were to provide us with a Local Industry Participation Plan. The head plan has been the Australian Industry Participation Plan, which has been some time awaited for at that Commonwealth government level. Our understanding is that this is very close to being finalised in a formal plan that has been signed off and approved by the Commonwealth government.
We have seen draft proposals from ConocoPhillips and are currently working with them on the content of those. In terms of a final agreed Local Industry Participation Plan, we have seen drafts from ConocoPhillips. We are not happy with those drafts and we are currently working with them to resolve the issues.
Tourism – International Marketing Initiatives
Ms LAWRIE to MINISTER for TOURISM
I understand the Northern Territory Tourist Commission recently participated in a joint marketing campaign in the UK. What have been the initial results of that campaign, and is the commission developing other marketing initiatives in the international market place?
ANSWER
Mr Acting Speaker, I thank the member for her very important question. This is the latest marketing campaign in the UK and it is already yielding excellent results. The Northern Territory Tourist Commission and Austravel, which is a UK retailer, recently undertook a cooperative marketing campaign to increase the number of UK visitors to the Northern Territory by promoting Virgin Blue flights to Darwin and Alice Springs. I will explain how that works in a minute, but it is a very exciting campaign.
The Northern Territory Tourist Commission contributed $62 500 to this campaign, and Austravel has contributed the same amount. The crux of the offer is that consumers are offered a free connection to either Alice Springs or Darwin on Virgin Blue when they book their international flight from London to Sydney. This is utilising Virgin Blue capacity into the Territory. It has an international component to it and there is a free connection for those who book London to Sydney through this offer.
The campaign has a number of elements: advertising on the tube on sites around central London; panels on London buses in the city and West End; in-store point of sale material, including window displays; 5000 leaflets distributed in-store; and a 12 000 e-mail blast to members of the Austravel data base with a web site link.
This campaign started on 1 September and will run through to the end of December. I am pleased to report that, by 13 October, there were 5280 web site responses to the e-mail blast, as well as 200 telephone inquiries. To this stage, it has translated into 278 new bookings to the NT, with an estimated economic return of $500 000. I would emphasise that this is only halfway through this particular marketing exercise, and these results are very encouraging.
The campaign demonstrates the effectiveness of the Tourist Commission’s marketing strategies internationally by launching Virgin Blue services within Australia into the Territory to the UK market. I believe there will be a significant market segment that will be very interested in those services. It is delivering a Northern Territory branding campaign to the consumer; building brand awareness for Austravel, the partner. It is a very tactical e-commerce telephone and retail campaign. It is converting a lot of interest into bookings as evidenced by the results that I mentioned before.
This campaign is not just a one-off. Our Tourist Commission is constantly working on joint marketing strategies with a range of partners. In Germany, for example, we are in partnership with Thomas Cook Destination Australia, with a $250 000 print campaign that aims to bring over 2500 businesses to Australia in its first year of operation. Similarly, in New Zealand we are participating in a cooperative tactical marketing campaign for the Discover Australia brand. It is a $100 000 campaign that involves television and radio marketing, print advertising and newspaper inserts that aims to increase awareness of the Discover Australia offerings.
I believe these campaigns represent very good value for the Territory’s marketing dollars. There are large contributions, both in cash and in infrastructure from our commercial partners, to help the Northern Territory market ourselves to clients that otherwise would be very expensive to reach. This is a very smart way to spend our money. There are marketing results. We are strategic, careful and we are not involved in scattergun approaches like the opposition.
Employment Opportunities - LNG Plant
Mr DUNHAM to MINISTER for BUSINESS, INDUSTRY and RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
Your colleague, the Treasurer and minister for unemployment, has said a number of times, and is quoted in today’s NT News …
Mr STIRLING: A point of order, Mr Acting Speaker! If he is going to refer to the minister by title, he needs to refer to that correctly.
Mr DUNHAM: Minister for Employment, sorry, a slip of the tongue.
He has said a number of times and is quoted in today’s NT News as saying that the loss of more than 8000 Territory jobs is incorrect, because 1500 had signed up for construction of the LNG plant at Wickham Point.
Is it not a fact that both your department and the Office of Territory Development advise that peak employment for the construction will be 1100 to 1200, not 1500? Is it not a fact that your department has advised you that ‘some 30% to 40% of the construction work force is likely to be sourced from within the NT’? Is it not a fact that, according to your department, only 300 to 500 Territorians might get work on construction of the plant?
Ms Lawrie: What is the question?
Mr DUNHAM: The question is: will you now publicly correct the wrong figures your colleague continues to use to hide behind the fact of the enormous job losses in the past 18 months?
ANSWER
Mr Acting Speaker, I do not have the copy of the NT News in front of me now, but I thought the comments attributed to my colleague were that 1500 people had registered for work at the LNG plant. The latest numbers I have is that there has been some increase on that. I do not think, unless I stand corrected, that he said that there would be 1500 jobs, but that 1500 people had registered for that particular project.
The issue here is to maximise jobs for Territorians on this development. Certainly, over a considerable period of time, stretching back three years at least, the ISO has been working very closely with ConocoPhillips in terms of understanding the requirements that they have for local industry in construction and ongoing through life support of the LNG plant. They have been working so closely, in fact, that officers from the ISO have gone and worked with ConocoPhillips in the United States. There has been a lot of work done with individual companies in the Northern Territory to understand those requirements from ConocoPhillips. There have been briefings provided to business and industry in the Northern Territory.
Yes, contracts are going to be let, and they are either going to be won or lost by Territory business. Each time a Territory business loses a particular contract with Bechtel, that is very sad but, at the end of the day, Bechtel is making commercial decisions.
I have had numerous briefings from business people in the Northern Territory who are actually entering into joint venture arrangements with southern and international companies, trying to boost their capacity to get work at the LNG plant, and jobs for Territorians. At the moment, 65% of the 200 to 220 people at Wickham Point are local recruits and that is going to decline. We just do not have the work force with the very specific, intricate skills that this project requires, to source the majority of the labour force from our local job marketplace. That has never been the case.
Only yesterday I had a briefing on some of the work that is happening within my colleague’s department regarding further TAFE accreditation and training to get some of our local tradespeople up to the mark that Bechtel are going to require. There is a lot of proactive work happening there. As government, through the ISO and Employment, Education and Training, we are doing whatever we can to upgrade the skills of people in our work force to give them a crack at work on that plant.
In the agreements that the ISO has, and the on-site industrial agreements that they have with the unions, they have to test local recruits and rule them out first before they bring anyone in from interstate. I commend the union movement, through the Trades and Labour Council, for the very productive work they are doing with Bechtel to ensure that we recruit and employ as many local people and apprentices on this plant as possible.
To allege that, somehow, my colleague has said that there are going to be 1500 local people employed on this project is patently wrong, and is playing mischief. We will be doing everything we can to maximise local employment and contracts for Territory business.
Tourism Industry Statistics
Mr McADAM to MINISTER for TOURISM
Recently, we heard a lot about statistical measures of the state of the tourism industry. Can you please advise the House on these measures and other figures which provide information on tourist numbers?
ANSWER
Mr Acting Speaker, I welcome the question from the honourable member. Over the last week or so, and during the Katherine by-election campaign, there were lots of figures thrown up by the opposition, talking down where the tourism industry is currently and being very negative.
There is no doubt that, over the past two years, the tourism industry has taken some heavy hits. However, for the opposition to claim, as they did last week and this week, that there has been a 50% reduction of tourism numbers into Darwin, is an absolute furphy. For the current member for Katherine to say in the last day of the campaign that there are 20 000 fewer tourists in the Katherine area is absolutely ludicrous. I will go through the figures that relate to those because it is important to place these things on the record.
The figure that was used by the opposition to try and assert that tourism numbers in the Darwin region have fallen by 50% is based on the meter on the door at Tourism Top End. Tourism Top End would be the first to say that numbers going through their door should not be taken as any indication whatsoever of overall tourist numbers in the Top End. In fact, it is acknowledged that less than 30% of tourists actually visit the office. The officers do a great job there in selling tourism product and offering a service, but we are finding increasingly that tourists are looking to the Internet to make their bookings, and hotels now are gearing up to be able to sell packages at the hotel.
It is an absolute furphy for people to say that there has been a 50% decrease in tourism numbers into Darwin. The figures that I have, based on airline arrivals - take that for example - domestic airline arrivals in July were up by 7% over the previous year; hotel nights in 2002-03 were up by 14% - very important.
This could become a battle of statistics: ‘You have your numbers, we have our numbers’. I have been asking members of the tourism industry about this very fact, and …
Ms Carney: The Tourist Commission said minus 17% less international holiday expenditure when they came to Alice Springs to tell us, you dill!
Mr ACTING SPEAKER: Order! Member for Araluen, that is not an interjection, it is a statement.
Dr BURNS: For instance, I had a conversation recently with Dr Graeme Webb who, most people would know, is the proprietor of Crocodyllus Park, a very important tourism facet for Darwin. Quite a lot of tourists who come to the Darwin Region go and see that particular operation. I could spend a few minutes commending that whole operation and what Graeme Webb has done there. He has told me consistently that his figures have been showing consistent growth over the past year. He said, from September this year to September last year, there was a 30% increase in the number of visitors. That is very important.
Let us turn to Katherine, where it was asserted by the member for Katherine that there were 20 000 fewer visitors in the region based on the door meter at the Katherine Regional Tourist Association. I looked into it and, apart from the door at the Katherine Regional Tourist Association, what would be the best indicator of tourist numbers in the Katherine region? Of course, it is the numbers going to Katherine Gorge, Nitmiluk. Inquiries were made with Parks and Wildlife. What did we find? There has not been a 20 000 decrease in numbers of people going to Katherine Gorge, there has been a modest increase of 0.7% and, on inquiries with the Jawoyn Association, I am assured that their income has remained steady.
It is a furphy for people to come out the day before an election, based on figures on a door at a regional tourism association and assert there are 20 000 people fewer. Those figures from Nitmiluk Gorge show that there has been no 20 000 decrease as has been asserted …
Members interjecting.
Mr ACTING SPEAKER: Order!
Dr BURNS: If the member for Katherine wants to bring to this House some figures from her business, I believe that the self-drive market has been doing very well. In fact, Mr Bill Daw, General Manager of the Katherine Regional Tourist Association, had an article on 28 August where he said ‘Bread-and-butter tourists save day’ …
Members interjecting.
Dr BURNS: Sorry, this is the Northern Territory News, on Thursday 28 August, page 2. Does that make you happy? It says:
- Association general manager Bill Daw said the Katherine industry had been largely spared from the global slump.
…
- Mr Daw said the industry was not as affected by the tourist slump because it was dominated by the self-drive market - domestic travellers, mainly by those coming by road.
…
He said …
Now, listen to this, this is Bill Daw again:
- He said the interstate advertising campaign being run by the Northern Territory Tourist Commission had boosted tourist numbers.
- ‘There are positive things in the pipeline’, said Mr Daw.
If we turn to the day before the election, in the NT News, 3 October 2003, page 7. This is in relation to the 20 000 fewer visitors:
- The figures were issued by the Regional Tourist Association. The association’s vice-president is Fay Miller, CLP candidate for tomorrow’s Katherine by-election.
The general manager is Bill Daw, who is also a member of the CLP.
That is what it says there. We heard about Braedon Earley in this place a little while ago. Well, Bill Daw is another version of that.
Turning to Central Australia, Virgin Blue has clearly given a boost to tourism in Central Australia. Domestic capacity into Alice Springs is now 5% greater than this time last year. In July, there was a 12% increase in arrivals over the previous year, and in August, a 15% increase …
Ms Carney: Do not forget to tell them about the 17.6% reduction in international holiday expenditure.
Dr BURNS: You do not like it because you are always talking it down.
Ms Carney: They are your own figures! You can scrounge around and find whatever you like …
Dr BURNS: I do not know whether you know how to count, member for Araluen.
Ms Carney: … we have these ones, these ones.
Mr ACTING SPEAKER: Order, member for Araluen, order!
Dr BURNS: Mr Acting Speaker, the member for Araluen sent me a letter in the recent past in which she asserted that 23 plus 13 is 35! This is her form with numbers.
Returning to the main story - I am wrapping it up now - increased visitation into Central Australia has been estimated, through Virgin Blue and the Japanese charters, at an extra $2m into the tourism industry. The current outlook for the whole of the tourism industry in the Territory is positive. Forward bookings through Territory Discoveries are 19% above target, and forecast growth in holiday visitors to the NT in 2004 is 3%, which is expected to equate to an increase in expenditure of 8%.
Challenges remain, but stop talking it down. This government is acting, as I have said in the first question, to increase tourism. We have Virgin Blue in there. We are working hard with the industry and there is sign of recovery.
Ms Carney interjecting.
Mr ACTING SPEAKER: Order! I remind ministers to keep answers reasonably brief.
NT Representation in Asia
Mr MILLS to MINISTER for ASIAN RELATIONS and TRADE
You have cut the cost of overseas representation in Asia by almost 18% between 2002-03 and this year; that is, from $415 000 a year to $340 000 a year. If you are committed to an Asian engagement plan, why are you cutting back on our representation? Why have you gotten rid of the representation in Bangkok and Sabah, particularly in light of the fact that Sabah sent the only international government delegation to this year’s Expo?
ANSWER
Mr Acting Speaker, I thank the honourable member for his question because it is a good question. There are some good answers in respect of, when I came to the position as Minister for Asian Relations and Trade, what was inherited as our representation around the Asian region, and the performance and outcomes achieved on behalf of the Northern Territory as a result of contracts in place in the region.
Yes, we had a number of people scattered all through the region on retainers of various amounts over that period of time. However, what was not behind those representative officers in the regions was any form of contract that would ensure outcomes were being delivered for the Northern Territory. A significant percentage of the work being conducted in that part of the world was to the benefit of business and industry in the Northern Territory, and there was no performance-based contract or framework. So, yes, we did review.
In respect of our representation in Thailand, when we see exactly what trade and potential for trade there is with that country, it was very limited, yet we were paying a significant amount of money to people in Thailand. When we went to renew that contract late last year, the person who was contracted was actually living on the east coast of Australia somewhere, he was not resident in Thailand at all. I will pick up the issue on Sabah as well.
What we have done through the Trade Support Scheme is significantly boost that scheme to enable us to buy consultancy services in the region to research specific market opportunities for Territory business, on behalf of Territory business, when they want to access that information, rather than having somebody sitting in an office in Bangkok waiting for somebody to come and knock on the door, which is what the previous government had in place. Very few people did go and knock on the door, I might say, and it certainly was not promoted.
We now have the facility, with $300 000 available for Territory business, that if a business is looking to Thailand for a market opportunity, we will be able to engage consultants in the region to do the work on the ground on an as-needs basis. That facility has never been there in the past. Our commitment in funding to enable Territory businesses to have support for international trade is five times the commitment by the previous government, and our focus is absolutely locked on to achieving trade outcomes.
I am happy to say here that, yes, we are doing it differently. Just because the CLP did it one way does not mean to say, automatically, that we are going to do it the same way as we inherited. We are not; we are doing it differently. We are putting more money into the Trade Support Scheme, rather than just funding bums on seats in planes to fly off to Asia. To be very specific, very targeted, there is five times more money in that particular scheme, growing to $0.5m over the next two years, than was put in by the previous government.
Capital Works Program – Infrastructure and Employment Opportunities
Mr BONSON to MINISTER for TRANSPORT and INFRASTRUCTURE
Can you please inform the House how the government’s capital works program is providing much needed infrastructure for the Territory community and providing jobs for Territorians?
ANSWER
Mr Acting Speaker, I thank the member for his question. In the coming three months - October, November, December - between now and the end of the year, this government is committed to spend $137m on capital works repair and maintenance programs. That means, by the end of the year, this government would have spent $205m – 25% more than last year – supporting at least 2000 jobs in our economy. The total public sector capital works cash flow for 2003-04 is nearly $400m, supporting 4000 jobs in our economy.
This is good news for the construction industry, the economy, and for Territorians. I do not have to sit here and state the figures of how much we are going to spend. You only have to open Thursday’s newspapers and find out the tenders that are going to be advertised and what is coming your and our way in the next few months. That was actually on 2 October and, on 9 October, there are more jobs advertised, for everywhere in the Territory. That is good news. All these works will be going out. This is recognised by local members who, I have to admit, are advertising in their local newsletter. I quote from one such newsletter that says:
- It is important that you know what is happening in your community. These are some of the jobs which will happen out your way. The government has called for tenders or advised the public that this work is coming.
He lists in his electorate what is going to happen. I thank the local member, the member for Macdonnell, very much, for advertising what jobs the government is going to bring to his electorate - not a Labor electorate. Thank you, member for Macdonnell, because it is good work. You advised the community and, at the same time, proved what this government is doing.
The government is putting all this money out and, as reported today in the NT News, in a very small column, according to the June quarterly figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, a total of $89.3m was spent on construction in the June quarter, an increase of more than 10% on the same quarter last year. The bulk of this spending was on residential properties and renovation, providing a lot of work for the construction industry.
As my colleague, the member for Nhulunbuy, mentioned the other day – and probably members of the opposition know – there are not many people around sitting drinking coffee or doing nothing. Most of these people are working, in renovation and the construction industry, and a lot of those people are working in remote communities. It is good news for all of us, and good news for the economy. It is very good news coming our way, because millions and millions in tenders are going to be advertised by the end of the year. It is a good Christmas present to all these people who, under the CLP, suffered for a long time.
Mr DUNHAM: A point of order, Mr Acting Speaker! I wonder if those papers could be tabled?
Mr ACTING SPEAKER: Are you not wishing to table them?
Mr VATSKALIS: No.
Malaysia Airlines – Schedules into Darwin
Mr MILLS to MINISTER for ASIAN RELATIONS and TRADE
One media political commentator was recently moved to comment that the Martin Labor government could never be taken at face value. To quote:
- It is as slippery as an eel when it comes to communicating with Territorians. As well, it seems incapable of understanding the concept that the electorate should be told the truth.
Minister, you saw no value in attending one of the region’s largest business and investment summits, yet you were quite happy to jet off to Malaysia on a much-publicised campaign to lure Malaysia Airlines back to Darwin, even though you knew that it had already withdrawn its scheduling plans for Darwin. Why did you hide the fact from Territorians that Malaysia Airlines had withdrawn its scheduling plans for Darwin Airport?
ANSWER
Mr Acting Speaker, I thank the honourable member for his question, which implies that we should roll over without a fight. That is certainly not the type of person or minister I am. The issue of Malaysia Airlines withdrawing their application for slots at Darwin Airport was an issue for Malaysia Airlines to make public. What the member is not aware of - and I wish he would seek a briefing, having taken over his new portfolio, if he is really interested in actually achieving growth and exports to the Asian region.
The issue is, we are not going to be able to export anything to and from Asia unless we improve transport links. At this point in time, I have met with the Chairman and the CEO of Malaysia Airlines, as has the Chief Minister, to update them after their decision regarding the impacts of the significant investment that is going to be occurring in the Territory economy, and the growth of the economy as a result of the railway, the LNG plant, the increased Defence activity, and improvements in forecasts that we have from the tourism industry, to see what we could do to see them return.
I am pleased to announce to the House that Malaysia Airlines have not walked away from the Northern Territory; they are maintaining their office in Darwin. We are on their horizon in the medium- and long-term, and they have entered into a code sharing arrangement with Garuda to facilitate and keep their connection with Darwin. Therefore, I resile from the fact that, somehow, as a result of the decision being taken, we should not be in there fighting for Malaysia Airlines to return. That is what we were doing.
As for an announcement regarding whether they had applied for their slots or withdrawn those applications, that is a commercial announcement for the airline to make. I can also say that applications for slots to Darwin Airport come and go on a regular basis. From my knowledge of my time in that portfolio - something like 50 different airlines around the world have accepted applications for slots at Darwin Airport. Just because somebody applies for a slot, does not necessarily mean that they are going to be here tomorrow.
I am pleased to announce to the House that Malaysia Airlines certainly do see opportunities to return here. They are keeping their local office here and they are in a code sharing arrangement with Garuda.
NT Police – Allocation of Resources
Mr ELFERINK to MINISTER for POLICE, FIRE and EMERGENCY SERVICES
You would agree that public safety and crimes against people are matters of serious concern in the community. Why, then, are you dividing your resources in the following manner: for investigations - 369 000 hours; for speed and red light cameras - 765 000 hours? You have cut spending on road safety by millions, yet you dedicate twice as much time to the revenue-raising aspect of traffic policing as you do to investigating crime. Do you not think that this approach is a little too cynical for an already overtaxed public?
ANSWER
Mr Acting Speaker, the capacity of the opposition to spin, twist and turn information to their own political ends knows no bounds. The member for Macdonnell should be absolutely ashamed and embarrassed to come in here today with this particular allegation. It was an allegation that he tested with the Police Commissioner in a briefing in my office just a couple of days ago that, in the budget papers, it would appear, under the output criteria, that we have withdrawn and cut back funding to the road safety area. It is totally not the case.
We have a dedicated Traffic Unit based at Nightcliff Police Station that is funded discretely as an operational area in itself within police. We have made a commitment, through the O'Sullivan Report, with the injection of $75m, to reinstate a dedicated traffic branch. The figures were firmly advised to the shadow minister as a result of better police record-keeping, in regard the amount of time that those police officers who were not dedicated to that particular section at Nightcliff spend performing traffic duties.
There has been no cut. It has been a clarification of an understanding of the statistics compiled by police, of what percentage of operational police duties are spent in relation to traffic duties against offences of property crime and violent crime. That will continue to refine itself under the output-based reporting that we have adopted.
The Police Commissioner advised the honourable member of this yesterday. For him to come into the House today, and basically say: ‘I do not believe what the Police Commissioner told me’, does not stand you in good stead, member for Macdonnell, for further briefings that you may request of the commissioner, if you are not going to take advice that he gives you on face value and then come in here and parrot the opposite. There has been no cut to the traffic branch. That is the answer to the question.
Electricity Outages - Cause
Mr BONSON to MINISTER for ESSENTIAL SERVICES
Is there any basis to the claim that recent power interruptions have been caused by a reduction in the Power and Water Corporation repairs and maintenance budget?
ANSWER
I thank the member for his question. This is a very important question, and it is probably appropriate, given last week. There was a lot of publicity and a lot of public feeling about the blackouts that occurred. It is important, this week, to place this on the record, particularly since the member for Drysdale has been going around mischievously suggesting that there has been a cut in the repairs and maintenance budget of the Power and Water Corporation.
Any examination of budget papers and what is on the public record will show that the repairs and maintenance for PowerWater went from $38m in 2002-03 to $42m in 2003-04. There has been an increase. It is mischievous to suggest that there has been a decrease in repairs and maintenance.
As I said last week, the issue with the generators at Berrimah was a very unusual incident and failure. PowerWater is taking that issue up with the manufacturers. I can assure this House, the information I have received from PowerWater is that their repairs and maintenance regime – and if we are talking specifically about those generators – is carried out more often than is suggested by the manufacturers. That is in recognition of the fact that we live in a tropical environment and things wear harder. To say that repairs and maintenance on those transformers was put off, it had not been done and they broke down, is not true. That is the advice I have from PowerWater: first, repairs and maintenance has not been cut, either in terms of the money allocated to them or, secondly, in terms of the frequency in which it is carried out.
This question gives me an opportunity to take a broader view of the reliability of our power system. There is no doubt that the outages and blackouts last week caused a great deal of inconvenience, both to householders, families, and businesses. I have apologised a number of times about this.
However, let us look at the work PowerWater has been doing over a number of years and what they mean to do in the future. In 1997, 475 minutes was the average number of minutes customers in Darwin were off supply. At that time, that was the worst reliability record in Australia. There are a number of technical reasons for that, apart from the environment we live in. Since that time, PowerWater have been undertaking steps to bring that number down. In comparison, for the 12 month period to June 2003, the average number of minutes customers were off supply was 165, which is a great improvement. In 2003, it was 165 minutes, and the 1997 average number of minutes was 475. There has been a positive improvement. We have come up the ladder in terms of the reliability of our electricity supply. However, we still face problems, as we did last year, as will with the oncoming of the Wet.
The majority of maintenance, I am advised by PowerWater, is carried out by PowerWater staff. That is in contrast to the allegations that are being made by the member for Drysdale. There are some particular activities for which PowerWater do not have the specialist skills or resources, so some of these things are outsourced: vegetation management, street light maintenance, some minor low voltage replacement works, and some specialist works.
PowerWater has not reduced its repairs and maintenance. As a government, we are working tirelessly to ensure that the Territory has one of the best power networks in the country. That is why we have initiated the undergrounding power project, starting in Nightcliff. That is a great project, because the evidence shows that those suburbs with underground power experience far less frequency of outages than those older suburbs that have the overhead lines. We are working hard on this issue, and it does not help things for the member for Drysdale to go around saying things that are not particularly correct.
Chief Justice of the Northern Territory - Appointment
Ms SCRYMGOUR to MINISTER for JUSTICE and ATTORNEY-GENERAL
The Territory’s Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Justice Brian Martin, retires at the end of this month. Can you please advise the House who will take on this important role as the new Chief Justice of the Supreme Court?
ANSWER
Mr Acting Speaker, I am very pleased to announce today that Justice Brian Ross Martin, a judge from the Supreme Court of South Australia since 1999, is to be the new Chief Justice of the Northern Territory Supreme Court.
Justice Martin brings a wealth of skills and experience to the Supreme Court with his outstanding reputation as a barrister and judge, and for his leadership skills. Justice Martin was Senior Counsel assisting the Western Australian Royal Commission, WA Inc, between 1991 and 1992, where his effective cross-examination of witnesses had a major impact on the proceedings. You can see that we are not politically motivated in this appointment.
He was appointed Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions in 1997, and served in that position until his appointment to the South Australian bench in 1999. He also chaired the national Standing Committee of Attorneys-General Working Committee on Reforming Criminal Trial Processes which, in the year 2000, produced a blueprint for achieving greater efficiencies within the criminal justice system. His most recent trial was South Australia’s Snowtown murders. His handling of that very complex trial was praised throughout the justice community.
The Chief Justice position is a critical one in the Northern Territory justice system. The criteria used to judge possible appointees included legal knowledge and experience, intellectual and analytical ability, sound and decisive judgment, personal integrity and fairness, maturity, courtesy, humanity and commitment, organisation ability and communication skills. With his calibre and breadth of experience, Justice Martin will be a welcome addition to the Territory’s bench. On behalf of the government, I congratulate him on his appointment.
I take this opportunity to pay tribute to our retiring Chief Justice, also Chief Justice Martin. As many members will know, Chief Justice Martin retires at the end of this month after a long career of distinguished public service. He has served as the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in the Northern Territory since March 1993 and, during that time, has demonstrated compassion, balance and a sense of justice. He has contributed to the law as a private solicitor, Solicitor-General, judge and Chief Justice, and has consistently and fiercely defended the independence of the judiciary, often against quite difficult political actions.
Chief Justice Martin has much to reflect on through his years of practice of the law, and we take great pride in his achievements. We wish him and his wife, Lorraine, happiness and fulfilment in their retirement.
Members: Hear, hear!
NT Police – Allocation of Resources
Mr ELFERINK to MINISTER for POLICE, FIRE and EMERGENCY SERVICES
The minister anticipated my next question in answering the last, but I will put my question to him. In this financial year, you have set aside 369 000 hours for the investigation of offences. For speed and red light cameras, you have dedicated 765 000 hours. Why are you dedicating so much time to that particular area?
ANSWER
Mr Acting Speaker, if the opposition wants to keep asking the same question, I will be providing the same answer.
First things first, and a lesson to my shadow counterpart. I, as minister, do not direct the Police Commissioner as to exactly where, and to what extent, he should be deploying resources into the traffic section. The issue here, through the police reporting methods, is in regard to the amount of time police officers who are not dedicated to the Traffic Branch at Nightcliff Police Station, spend on traffic-related duties. That is going to change from year to year. It is going to change on the number of particular operations that the commissioner and his senior staff may decide to run at any point in time. For example, the drive safely campaign that is on at the moment, has probably started a number of weeks earlier than it has in previous years, such is the operational determination to try and make an impact on the road toll.
I categorically deny, as a government, that we are withdrawing our focus on the responsibilities for road safety and traffic management. The issues of the hours and dollars committed are in relation to more improved reporting and accountability processes within the police to determine how much time police officers who are not dedicated to that unit actually spend on those particular issues.
Defence Infrastructure Projects – Local Employment Opportunities
Mr KIELY to MINISTER for BUSINESS, INDUSTRY and RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
A hard-working subcontractor I know in Sanderson purchased a backhoe and asked me about work opportunities at Robertson Barracks. Would the minister please update the House on the status of involvement of local firms in the delivery of Defence infrastructure projects at Robertson Barracks?
ANSWER
Mr Acting Speaker, I thank the member for Sanderson and his hard-working constituent for their particular question. Yes, we, as a government, and through the department, have increased resources put to the Defence Support Division within my department. We are working very strategically with Defence and the lead contractors in maximising Territory involvement in the major projects that are coming through.
On 21 August this year, the federal parliamentary committee gave approval to the commencement of $75m worth of works at Robertson Barracks to provide for the relocation of the 1st Aviation Regiment. As members will know, this will now be the home to 17 Tiger armed reconnaissance helicopters, as well as providing maintenance, command, training and domestic facilities. The Chief Minister has been to France to meet with the board of Eurocopter. I have visited their offices in Sydney on a couple occasions. A few weeks ago, principals of that organisation were in Darwin working with the department and through the Australian Industry and Defence Network, Darwin branch, looking at the capacity and capability of Territory businesses, not only for the construction phase but, more importantly, through the through life support for those helicopters when they are here. They were very impressed with the capability of engineering companies currently working in that aviation space based at Darwin Airport, and are forming very strategic, and what I am absolutely certain will be long-lasting relationships with some companies there.
However, in regards to the capital works at Robertson Barracks, a number of discrete packages of work under head contracts will be delivered. Preliminary planning indicates there will be a minimum of four head contracts. These are early works and services to deliver site clearance and in-ground services - drainage, access and building pads. The second head contract will be airside works to deliver command control, operational, administrative and logistics facilities for the flying elements of the regiment. This could be further split into three packages: command facilities, workshop facilities, air shelters and pavements. Logistics works will deliver facilities including stores, vehicle shelters and general workshops; and domestic accommodation of 110 units. We are working with Territory businesses who are the likely lead companies to bid for those prime contracts.
A consortium of local project management firms, Connell Wagner and Savant, have been appointed to the projects and have already led the project through the conceptual design review stage, with Defence stakeholders. It is also pleasing to note that local firm Spowers Architects, in collaboration with Conrad and Cargett, have been appointed as design architects and are already under way with the concept plans. It is important to note, when you think of capital works and construction, it is all bulldozers, blocklayers and the trades. However, behind that is a massive engineering, design and drafting phase, and all of these are important elements of our economy. The design team also comprises a number of prominent Territory firms including Sinclair Knight Merz, Clive Towell Quantity Surveyors, Townes Chappell Mudgway, and Clouston Landscape Architects. Forty management and design professionals are extensively committed to this phase of the project. The construction phase is expected to employ approximately 150 people on site, with additional job opportunities in the design and manufacturing sector.
We are working very closely with business and industry in the Territory, and also with Defence, in understanding how they are parcelling up this work, encouraging them to break these parcels up into segments to allow for the size and scale of Territory business to enter into partnerships with primes, to maximise local content on these Defence projects. I commend the hard work that my departmental staff do in this area, as well as the companies involved in AIDN in the Northern Territory, for working very constructively on these projects.
NT Police - Recruitment
Mr ELFERINK to MINISTER for POLICE, FIRE and EMERGENCY SERVICES
You have stated that you cannot recruit more than 120 police every year. You said that you would provide 200 more police by the end of 2006. Your current attrition rate is 8.64%, or 81 police a year. This means that, if you hire to your maximum capacity for the next three years, you will lose 243 and gain 360, a difference of 117. How can you promise an extra 200 police on the beat when you can only recruit little better than half of what you promised?
ANSWER
Mr Acting Speaker, I thank the honourable member and ex-police officer for his question. The challenge and the target is for an additional 200 police on the street by 2006. The issue is recruitment. We will be recruiting at the maximum level. We cannot recruit any faster than to the maximum level. We are committed to boosting those police numbers and putting police out on the street, which the O’Sullivan Report has so clearly identified has been deficient for many years.
I find it interesting that the honourable member is asking this question, saying we cannot possibly do it because, in previous comments that he has made to the media, he has basically stated - and I do not have the actual quotes here – that, somehow, it is going to be dangerous to recruit all these new recruits because they are not going to have the experience, they are going to be exposed to danger out on the streets. He was really questioning the commitment that we have as a government to maximise recruitment because, previous comments he has made have been that that is essentially irresponsible, and it is going be exposing police officers to danger. We do not accept that. We do accept that it is going to be tough for those new recruits for a couple of years, but I have every confidence in police officers currently serving to guide and mentor those new recruits in their duties.
We have made a commitment. We will recruit 150 a year. He should read the whole report. The extra 200 police officers on the street will be achieved as a result of civilianising a number of positions that are currently the domain of sworn police officers. O’Sullivan identified that up to 80 positions could be civilianised to free up those police to be deployed. That is something to work through. We might end up with 50, we might end up with 80, but we have funded 80 positions. The other boost to police numbers outside of recruitment will be the lateral entry target of senior sergeants and sergeants from interstate to try and assist with that dearth of experience that O’Sullivan noted, as a result of four years in the early 1990s during which the previous government did not recruit one additional police officer.
We set those targets. With maximum recruiting, the civilianisation of a number of positions, lateral entry and, hopefully, as a result of our commitment to our police force, a reduction in that attrition rate, our target is for 200 extra serving police officers on the beat; 150 new recruits, achieved through maximum recruitment. That is what we funded, that is what we will deliver.
Water Bores – Required Distance from Septic Tanks
Mr MALEY to MINISTER for HEALTH and COMMUNITY SERVICES
Mr Acting Speaker, my question is asked on your behalf, as member for Nelson.
It has come to my attention recently that water bores in the rural area are now permitted to be drilled 50 m from a septic tank as long as the water is only being used for the garden. The original distance for a bore to be drilled was 100 m to make sure the aquifer was not contaminated by septic tank waste.
Could you please tell the House if it is true that bores can now be drilled 50 m from a septic tank? Who made this decision and how long ago was it made? Will the new rule put at risk the health of those people who presently use the aquifer for drinking water? Who is going to check that water pumped from bores for garden use only do exactly that; pump the water for the garden only and not for household use? Finally, was there any public discussion about these changes before they were introduced?
ANSWER
Mr Acting Speaker, there has been no change to this regulation or law. It is still 100 m, so all of the other questions are not relevant. The answer is: it is still 100 m.
Drug Operations by Police and Army
Mr BONSON to MINISTER for POLICE, FIRE and EMERGENCY SERVICES
Can the minister please update the Assembly on recent efforts taken to tackle the use of amphetamines, marijuana and steroids in our community. Are you aware of any alternative approaches to those being pursued by the government and the police?
ANSWER
I thank the member for Millner for his question. He is a great supporter of the strategies that we, as a government, are developing to combat the illicit drug problem in the Northern Territory.
As a result of combined activities by the NT Police and Military Police, an operation targeting marijuana, amphetamines and steroids took place at Robertson Barracks yesterday, and investigations, including sampling of some soldiers and interviews, are continuing. In saying that, I welcome the comments of 1st Brigade Commander, Brigadier Ashley Power, on the news last night and reported in the paper today, who said he intends to implement a policy of zero tolerance to illegal drug trade and use in the Army.
This stands in stark contrast to comments made by the Leader of the Opposition, who has always had a ‘soft on drugs’ approach. We will come to some quotes from the Leader of the Opposition because, in this job, your words do come back to haunt you on occasion. He has admitted that, when he was in a position of responsibility at Robertson Barracks, he was soft on drugs. Earlier this year, on 7 February, the Leader of the Opposition said on ABC radio that he let cannabis use take place at Robertson Barracks. I will quote from the interview with the ABC:
- But there are many people, and I noticed it specifically when I was CEO of 2 Cav Regiment, there are many people that will not drink alcohol, but will have the occasional smoke. Now, you know, that is for them to decide.
This was the attitude of the Leader of the Opposition when he was in that position of responsibility; that he noticed it specifically and he left it as a matter of individual choice. He did not employ a zero tolerance approach to drug use amongst the people for whom he was responsible. According to the opposition - and it is on the record - the Territory’s drug problem and the links between drugs and crime are ‘minuscule’. He also stated, in the same interview:
The reality is in the Northern Territory, I do not believe that hard drugs are a major problem.
That is a specific quote. The head-in-the-sand approach existed for year after year among the then government, the now opposition, that hard drugs are not a major problem in the Northern Territory, that the links between drug use and property crime is minimal. There was an acknowledgment on the public record that, in a previous life when he was in a position of responsibility in the Army, drug use was a personal issue for serving members, not one that he should have any position on.
That stands in stark contrast with this government’s position to target the illegal use and trafficking of drugs in every part of the community. We are boosting up police resources in part to deal with this issue. Yesterday’s front page of the NT News very clearly shows that hard drugs such as amphetamines are being manufactured in enormous quantities in the Northern Territory. This $16m figure, I am advised today, has been upgraded to $18m, which is the value of the drugs that were on those premises. When you try and say that the link between drug use and crime is minuscule, I urge honourable members to take a look at the weapons that Superintendent Les Martin is brandishing here: the most appalling, vicious knife and the firearms.
People who traffic in these types of drugs are not pussy cats. The link between drug use and property crime is not minuscule. We are not going to back off pursuing these people who profit from trade in illicit drugs in our community. That is evidenced by the great work that the police are doing. I commend the police for the work they are doing in this area, and I condemn the Opposition Leader for his ‘soft on drugs’ approach.
Mr Acting Speaker, I ask that further questions be placed on the Question Paper.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016