2007-05-02
Budget 2007-08 – Treasurer’s Public Statements
Mrs MILLER to TREASURER
Twice this week you have been caught out denying public statements that you made. On the first occasion, you were caught deceiving the Chamber of Commerce over public service numbers and, again yesterday, when you did not tell the truth in this House about comments you made to the ABC about the McArthur River Mine debacle ...
Mr HENDERSON: A point of order; Madam Speaker! The member for Katherine well knows that she cannot accuse any member of this House of not telling the truth or lying in this House unless she does so by way of substantive motion. I ask her to withdraw the comments that my colleague has not told the truth in this House.
Mrs MILLER: Madam Speaker, I did not call him a liar.
Madam SPEAKER: I ask you to withdraw the comments about deceit and the other comments, member for Katherine, and reword the question.
Mrs MILLER: Certainly, Madam Speaker. Treasurer, twice this week you have been caught out denying public statements you have made. On the first occasion, you were publicly castigated for making misleading promises to the Chamber of Commerce over public service numbers and, again yesterday, when in this House, you denied making comments that you had made to the ABC about the McArthur River Mine debacle. If you cannot tell the truth to the Chamber of Commerce and you cannot be straight with this parliament, what hope does your credibility have when you are trying to sell your budget?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Katherine for her question. If she saw the NT News today: ‘Business says it’s a Stirling effort’. Some days after calling for the Treasurer’s resignation, they commended the budget and say it is a ‘stirling’ budget.
Let us have a look at these staffing numbers. This quote I made at the luncheon last year to the Chamber of Commerce that ‘I will go he’, was read by one Chris Young as a commitment or a promise to resign if numbers did not come down. He is the only person I have heard, apart from the member for Katherine, who thinks the statement ‘I will go he’ means ‘I will resign’. In fact, the journalists of the Northern Territory, being of a somewhat younger generation than I, profess to having never heard the term let alone understanding it to mean ‘I will resign’. They were totally unfamiliar with the term.
When another business person was asked by Channel 9 what they thought, and were they at the lunch last year, they said yes. When asked if they heard the Treasurer make this statement, they said yes. They were then asked if they thought it would mean I would resign. The comment from that business person was: ‘I am not Chris Young’. My case rests on that example. Did I lie? Did I misrepresent the facts to the Chamber of Commerce? Did I break a commitment in the sense that I would resign if numbers did not come down? No, on all those counts.
In fact, we are now tracking, as acknowledged by the Chamber of Commerce, along that very commitment. The number of public servants increased by approximately 89 between March 2006 and March 2007; that is, across the board in the public sector of some 15 000 public servants. If we look at the nature or the make-up of the increase there were: 62 police, four Aboriginal Community Police Officers, so 66 police; 21 or 23 doctors; and in the order of 54 or 55 nurses.
Is there anyone sitting on the opposition benches who does not think we should have extra police? No, they agree with that. That we should not have extra doctors? No, they agree with that. That we should not have extra nurses? No, they agree with that. Yet, with those 140 people extra in absolute key service delivery areas, the public sector has gone up by 89 across the board. What does it tell you? It tells you that the public sector has shed 51 jobs, somewhere, across the board in the other areas which means, as the Chamber of Commerce agreed in the paper today, that government is tracking along that commitment. We do not back away from increasing service delivery numbers. We do not back away from the commitment to put 100 young Territorians into the public sector over the next 12 months, to give them skills to then release them into the private sector. Rather than just riding the private sector to produce skilled young Territorians job ready into the workforce, the government is joining that commitment as well. Of course, that will drive up numbers. They will be in there for 12 months while they get those necessary skills, and then they will be out into the private sector.
In relation to the comment on McArthur River, the comment was made at a press conference within an hour of the decision being handed down. At that stage, I had not even seen a brief, let alone had a briefing from Justice. In fact, senior lawyers from Justice were still analysing the decision to pick up exactly what the bottom line was, what it meant, before it came to me by way a brief. I was asked for a comment and I said, along the lines - and we can get the transcript, I do not have it with me but I am happy …
Mrs Miller: I have it here.
Mr STIRLING: Yes, you have the transcript of what was said on the news. I want the transcript of what was actually said.
The comment was along the lines of the court may have found, and may believe, that the government has not followed proper process. It was not an opinion from me that government did not follow proper process; it was expressing a view that that may be what the decision contained. We will get the transcript down here and I will table it, because we have the full transcript of what was said. If you chop off a couple of words at the start of the sentence you get an entirely different meaning.
That is why there was no misleading here. I never expressed a view that government had made an error in this at all. Government followed its processes and, even now - notwithstanding Justice Angel and the Supreme Court’s decision that this government and everyone has to live with - we respect the court’s decision. However, we do believe, and we maintain that, notwithstanding Justice Angel’s interpretation of the act - and he is a Supreme Court judge who has delivered a ruling in this - all proper process was followed in relation to every aspect of the authorisation of the McArthur River Mine conversion.
Madam Speaker, in relation to the first one, apparently there are two people in the Northern Territory now who believe ‘I will go he’ means I will resign – that is Chris Young, and the second person is the member for Katherine. Even the Chamber understands what we are doing regarding numbers in the public sector. They understand that we will be operating and working over the next three years to drive down, in a very modest way, reductions in back office staff, administrative areas, where we can find - and we will be challenging chief executive officers and their senior management to find - smarter ways of carrying out those sorts of activities but, at the same time, continuing to drive police, doctors, nurses and teachers where required into the system.
McArthur River Mine Expansion –
Supreme Court Decision
Supreme Court Decision
Mr KNIGHT to MINISTER for MINES and ENERGY
Can you update the Assembly on the recent Supreme Court decision in relation to the McArthur River Mine expansion?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Daly for his question. The Solicitor-General for the Northern Territory, Mr Tom Pauling QC, has advised me that this decision of the court is based on a technical legal issue surrounding the initial application lodged for the McArthur River Mine site. I emphasise, this is a technical legal issue. The court has made no finding on the extensive environmental assessment and the consultation processes. We have rigorously followed due process when it came to environmental assessment of this project and our public consultation process has been thorough.
I intend to introduce a bill today seeking amendment to the McArthur River Project Agreement Ratification Act. Government will seek leave to debate and pass the bill tomorrow. The proposed amendment will rectify a technical legal issue surrounding the initial application lodged by Xstrata for the McArthur River Mine in 2002. Government has been advised by the Solicitor-General for the Northern Territory that this is the most appropriate method to quickly resolve this issue. If the deficiency lies in the Territory legislation, as the court has found, then the solution lies in amending the legislation. We are acting swiftly to ensure the technical legal framework is in place to support government’s decision about the mine’s expansion.
Darwin Port Corporation – Value of Assets
Mr MILLS to TREASURER
You would be aware that assets lower your nett debt situation. Two years ago, the Darwin Port Corporation had assets valued at $68m. Now, those very same assets - the same buildings and structures - are older and valued at $210m, based on nothing more than on how you classify them. In the process, you have wiped $152m off the Territory’s nett debt with a book entry that even the Auditor-General has queried, when you changed the Port Corporation from a profit-seeking to a non-profit-seeking organisation. How does this imaginative accounting assist your government’s credibility?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, there is no imaginative accounting around here. As resources are pumped in and extra infrastructure is added out at the port, of course the value of the port is going to increase. It is going to increase into the future as we get more bulk loading facilities out there, as we build on the advantage of having the train running up here, as more mines come into that, as more infrastructure is added there. That is the bottom line; that the port will continue to grow and add value in what it does.
I understand, also, there is a change of accounting standards which the Auditor-General agrees with. It does not affect nett debt in the sense that the member for Blain is suggesting. It does affect nett worth. However, if you build additional infrastructure, add to the value of the port in the work it does, and add to the value of the work that is going through that port - as we will see as more mines come on stream as a result, in part at least, of the railway and the added advantage of getting the product north and getting it across to the port out there - of course, the port is going to strengthen in value. We will see that in years to come.
Budget 2007-08 – Backing Territory Business
Ms SACILOTTO to TREASURER
One of the priorities of the Martin government has been to grow the economy through support for business. Can the Treasurer advise the House how Budget 2007-08 backs Territory business?
ANSWER
I thank the member for Port Darwin for her question, Madam Speaker. I am very pleased to advise the House how this government continues, and has produced, the most business friendly budget in the Territory’s history. We back business in four ways in Budget 2007-08: a very high infrastructure spend in the first place; investing in the economic drivers of the Territory to continue to grow and expand the economic base from which we operate upon; we contain further taxation reduction; and we maintain, unlike our predecessors, a very strong fiscal discipline. In other words, we do not blow the budget in delivering that support to business.
I have detailed already the $645m spend on infrastructure in 2007-08: $645m cash to be spent - not programmed, not to be cashed at 42% like the CLP used to do; $645m cash - every last dollar of which will be spent in 2007-08. When we delivered our first full budget in 2002-03, I was pretty pleased to see, at that time, a record $334m capital works program. In that last five years, we have almost doubled that - within $13m of doubling it. It is a massive injection into business. It is massive support for the construction and building industry across the Territory. We know people in the construction industry. They tell me the last couple of years have never been better. They have never been as busy as they have been under this government.
That infrastructure plan, of course, includes a massive roll-out from Power and Water of $814m over the next five years, which is double what went out in the previous five years; a massive injection into roads, particularly R&M, over the next four years; but, importantly, it is investments in small, medium and large projects which spreads out the work across the whole contracting area from small, medium and large businesses, so that they all get a crack at the pie. Importantly, it is also spread across the Territory and the regions so that contractors, wherever they are in the Territory, also get a slice of the action.
We are investing in the key economic drivers, with the $38.3m budget for tourism. Work will continue to upgrade and improve the port, probably add value to it along the way. Mining is backed with a new exploration program, Bringing Forward Discovery, with $12m over four years. There is $1.15m to the peak industry associations for support for their particular areas; $650 000 for business management and capability programs; $830 000 for indigenous economic development initiatives; $500 000 for regional economic development support; and $1.78m for Territory Business Centres.
In Budget 2007-08 that brings to $156.2m the amount of tax reduced by this government since we came to office. We are, and continue to be, by a fair way, the lowest-taxing jurisdiction in Australia for businesses with up to 100 staff. We have reduced stamp duty on conveyancing for first homebuyers. We abolished the stamp duty on hiring. There was a comment last night that there is nothing in this budget for business - an extraordinary comment - $5.3m to knock off the stamp duty on hiring.
If you combine all those initiatives with the fiscal restraint that does not see this government blowing its budget, it is double good news in strong support for business. It is good business and makes good business sense to back business in the Northern Territory. We have proven our economic management credentials. This year, our budget not only plans for 12 months ahead but, importantly, is laying the foundation for the next 10 years.
Power and Water Charges - Increases
Mr MILLS to TREASURER
Your budget income is now $3.3bn. This means that you will have over $1000m more every year from when you came to office - every single year. After six years of massive increases in taxation revenue, why are you planning to raise the power and water prices every year for the next five years when these hikes will add, according to the NT News, $700 to families’ power and water bills?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Blain for his question. This government froze power prices for five years on coming to government, and they have been held at the one spot for some time prior to that following the introduction of the GST - or outside the increase of the GST at the time. It is a simple equation: wages go up each year, the cost of inputs into producing energy continue to grow each year. If you do not adjust the charges to consumers across the board, there is …
Mrs Braham: Will you also increase the buy back price of people who generate power?
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Member for Braitling, cease interjecting.
Mr STIRLING: There is only one other way to fill the hole, the gap that would widen inside Power and Water Corporation’s budget; that is, the cost of producing, supplying, and distributing against the income received. That is by way of consumer obligation payments, which stand now – I think they are in the $40m bracket when we came to government - at $57m. That is a big whack out of the Territory budget in order to keep downward pressure on water, power and sewerage.
There is a limit to how much you can put into those consumer service obligations in order to keep prices down. At some point, it has to be recognised that costs are rising. We will escalate our power, water and sewerage by CPI over the next five years and then it will be reviewed. I would think, notwithstanding no one likes to put prices up, and Territorians do not like prices being put up, I am sure they find that preferable to the 35% increases that South Australia experienced a couple of years ago. You have to approach this with a good deal of commonsense and say small increases over a consistent period will hold the line rather than doing nothing, finding you have a $120m hole in your Power and Water budget in a couple of years time, and then have to look at about a 20% or 30% increase. That has been the reality in other states. We are not about to let that happen here.
We also expect a CPI factor to moderate to around 2.5% through 2008. That will moderate the effect of those increases, and we certainly do not expect another 4.4% increase as we have seen this year. How we obtain that increase is simply the CPI, registered in the calendar year previous; that is, January to December 2006. That figure was 4.4%.
Budget 2007-08 – Reaction by Community
Mr KIELY to TREASURER
Twenty-four hours after delivering Budget 2007-08, can the Treasurer please advise the House of the reaction it has received from the thinking public?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Sanderson for his question. There are people who do think about this, as opposed to the other side, member for Sanderson, as you were suggesting. I have spoken at a number of functions since delivering the budget yesterday and, before that, I had lock-ups with a number of key groups representing a very broad cross-section of business in the Territory. There were many different community groups: local government, NTCOSS and union leadership. I am pleased to say that all those diverse …
Mr Mills interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr STIRLING: All those diverse groups are delighted with Budget 2007-08. I had lunch with the Chamber of Commerce yesterday and breakfast with the Property Council this morning. Yes, people would like to see a little more of this and a little more of that. That is always the way with budgets, nothing different there. They like to see their favourite projects get up or get a bit more funding. That does not always happen. I was surprised at the bubble, the infectious enthusiasm, at the Property Council this morning. I think the member for Blain might even have been there.
Mr Mills: No, I was there.
Mr STIRLING: Tell me that is not true, that it was not a very pleasant atmosphere at that breakfast this morning?
Mr Mills: It was a nice breakfast, yes.
Mr STIRLING: It was a pleasant breakfast with good people - very happy people. They expressed that satisfaction …
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr STIRLING: They expressed that satisfaction, both at lunch and at breakfast. The Chamber of Commerce President, Rick Paul, at yesterday’s lunch, said the Chamber of Commerce had a list of issues it wanted to deal with, and that we had dealt with the vast majority of them. In today’s media, he expressed himself as pleased with the budget.
Ryan O’Hanlon from the Real Estate Institute of the Northern Territory told ABC TV last night there has never been a better time for first homebuyers to get into the home market. There has never been a better time.
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr STIRLING: The only people who disagree are you mob!
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Opposition members!
Mr STIRLING: Do you think I write the lines for these blokes? I do not think so. They are independent thinkers.
The Property Council, for which, as a group of people I have admiration, is also pleased with the budget. The Housing Industry Association was quick out of the blocks to support the budget. These groups have all realised one thing that the opposition has not: this budget is not about today; it is not just about 2007-08. They see it for what it is; it is about putting down the foundations for the successful development of the Territory over the next 10 years.
They also recognise it is about prudent fiscal management and effective economic management. The opposition could not spell those words, let alone understand them because they never practised them in all the years they were in government. This budget will continue to grow the economy. It will continue to create jobs. It will secure and further enhance our lifestyle. It is a budget welcomed by the community and only an opposition whose attitude really would sour the milk of human kindness - that is the best way to express it about them are the ones that can find a fault with it.
The Leader of the Opposition’s reply this morning probably passed without too much thought, similar in vein to the way in which it was written. On any analysis, they show that they could not be trusted with managing the economy. They are proposing to spend $70m on a housing authority that does what the private sector already does very well, thank you very much. That $70m, in the speech from the Leader of the Opposition this morning, would set up that authority and help 100 people. We have spent $4m in stamp duty reductions and we have helped 1200 first homebuyers in the Northern Territory. You spend $70m-plus and help just 100 people out of a potential 1200.
It is clear, with the land release, that that authority would go on releasing land on to the market. You would flood the market and devastate the value of homes that people already have built, purchased, live in and own - that is their life savings, their equity, and their future super, probably in many of those cases in those properties. The CLP would see that undervalued. We propose a balance to ensure that the asset built up by homeowners is protected into the future. It is not a balance that the CLP seem to appreciate.
They have told Territorians they will reduce the price of petrol. To do this, they will subsidise converting cars to LPG. The federal government already puts out a very generous subsidy in order to convert these vehicles and Territorians do not want it, frankly. They are not rocking up there to have their cars converted - very low numbers indeed. That is not what the people want, no matter how much money you throw at it ...
Ms Carney: Perhaps there is something you can do to help them do that, I do not know, maybe offer them a rebate …
Mr STIRLING: You said you would reduce the petrol bill by $20 a week. You have squibbed it. You came up with an option that no one wants. Territorians do not want gas in their cars. Sorry, but it is a fact.
Mrs Miller: Because they could not afford it.
Ms Carney: Must be the way you run your health programs.
Mr STIRLING: You had better get out there and start educating for the next couple of years if you want to build that conversion rate.
Ms Carney: You are just inconsistent.
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr STIRLING: You said twenty bucks off your bill! ‘What is the Clare Martin Labor government doing? I will tell you what I will do; I will take twenty bucks a week off your fuel bill’. No, you have not. You have not done a thing. You have added onto an existing Commonwealth program that is not even used.
Mrs Miller: Because it was still going to cost, and it is now not going to cost under our policy.
Mr STIRLING: What we have to look at, in the Leader of the Opposition’s responses this morning, is not only what she said, but what she did not say: no initiatives for community safety; no initiatives for community health services; no initiatives on infrastructure; no initiatives for mining; no initiatives for primary industry; nothing for roads; nothing for bush roads, and the list goes on, Madam Speaker. They are expected to deliver something of a credible alternative; they are not capable of it.
Planning and Development – Process Fees
Mr WOOD to MINISTER for PLANNING and LANDS
Three days before the planning forum, you announced in a media release headed ‘Improved Planning and Development Processes’: ‘The business community has come to government asking that the processes be improved and, in Budget 2007-08, we are responding’. Is it not a strange response to business when, on one hand, you say you will put on more staff to help the process but, on the other hand, increase development application fees such as advertising going from nil to $240; planning scheme amendments from nil to $2200; large development applications from $500 to $2000, or $5000 or $15 000 and onwards?
Considering that your government received an extra $140m this year in GST from the Commonwealth to run the Territory, why is it necessary to bump up these charges by over 2000%? Is this not a case of getting the GST with one hand and getting increased charges with the other, like a double tax on Territorians?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the shadow, shadow minister for Planning over there, because the member for Nelson at least takes an interest in planning issues, unlike the shadow minister missing in action from the CLP. He has his finger on the pulse; he was at the planning forum. I did not notice any members of the opposition at the planning forum.
Certainly, we have been listening to industry. As we know, the Territory has a booming economy as a result of that. We have had a fivefold increase in development applications coming through the Department of Planning and Infrastructure. In response to that, the government has a $1.3m-plus initiative in the budget this year to boost capacity within the agency, particularly the Planning and Building Services unit. We will be focusing on a graduate program, as well as some very senior planners and expertise to come into the agency to help boost capacity to, where possible, speed up processes and ensure people who are wanting to develop in the Territory can get a very prompt response. There is no doubt, with a fivefold increase in those applications coming forward, the Department of Planning and Infrastructure has really copped the strain of the development boom we have seen in the Territory. I wholeheartedly thank the staff of DPI who have been at the coalface doing it tough, processing incredibly well, a fivefold increase in applications coming forward.
We listen to industry; industry was clearly saying we need more staff there. We are starting to see an extending of the time it takes to get applications through. I am not saying that every application that goes in gets up. As you know, shadow, shadow minister for planning.
Mrs Braham: Some do that we do not want to get up.
Ms LAWRIE: Of course, some do, as that should be the case. We do not want to stymie development in the Territory. In fact, we have been ensuring that we have a fair and accountable process for that.
It is good news regarding improving capacity. I thank my Cabinet colleagues because, whilst we obviously have efficiency dividends in place to look at bringing staff in the backrooms down, we clearly identified the Planning and Building Services area within DPI as a core area to generate growth in our economy. Therefore, I am looking forward to recruitment in that area.
Regarding the development assessment fees, it was quite absurd to have no increase in fees for a long time – it was $500 fee for an application in the development process. We had a $500 fee for a building that has a project value of $1m and the same fee for a building value of $50m. The difference between assessing an application between a $1m and a $50m project is significant. There is an enormous amount of detail that has to be ploughed through in a $50m project, as opposed to the lesser value project. It was clearly an absurd situation in that we were out of step with the rest of the country, which has a tiered system that we have now introduced. We are really at the lower end of the fees that exist around the country for processing development applications.
It is about saying to industry: ‘You are bringing forward your important development proposals, but there is a fair fee structure in place now’. I have to say that the response I have had from industry has been mixed. Of course, the industry peak body, the TCA, is not singing its praises by any stretch of the imagination, but the key developers are saying: ‘It is not going to prevent us from bringing development applications forward’. They do not assess whether they will perceive it as a development based on the fee. The fee is insignificant to the economic viability of their development. It will not stymie development, but it will put in place a fair fee structure with a tiered system that reflects the complexity of the applications coming forward.
Crime Rates - Rise
Mr MILLS to TREASURER
Your budget income is now $3.3bn. This means that you will have over $1bn more every year from when you came to office. After six years of massive increases in taxation revenue, why are rates of personal crime higher now than they were three years ago, as reported on page 16 of your last edition of the Territory Crime Statistics? Can you explain how your $1.1bn more each year is making the Territory safer when personal crime rates continue to rise?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Blain for his question. If only we could get $1.1bn extra each year, we would have debt knocked over in about three years, including something like nearly $4bn in employee liability. The GST accumulated growth between the time the GST was instituted and the forecast receipts from the GST for 2007-08 is about $650m all up. Where this $1.1bn each year is that the member for Blain refers to, I do not know.
The fact is, when it comes to crime and reported crime, we believe, absolutely, that there is greater reporting of crime compared to when we came to government. I will tell you why, in part: (1) is that there are more police officers out there catching the baddies, so you are going to get more crime; and (2) the Domestic Violence Strategy, as rolled out by the police, which ensures reporting and no backing away. You cannot say he belted me and then say, no he did not. That goes to court, is recorded, and is reported, as opposed to a drop-off prior to that policy. If the injured party walked away from the reporting process, that is where it ended so it did not become a report. Therefore, there is greater reporting to police, in addition to reporting overall.
It is interesting that this government gives the Country Liberal Party the opportunity to comment with some information at their fingertips in relation to quarterly releases of crime statistics. When we came to government, the only time you ever saw crime statistics was once a year, buried in the Police, Fire and Emergency Services Annual Report. That was the only time you saw any relation, any bearing, any information, on crime statistics across the whole face of government.
This government created a crime prevention area under the former Attorney-General inside the Department of Justice. It spent considerable money and brought in considerable expertise in and around, not just counting, monitoring and recording crime, but analysing it, the causes of it, where it is occurring and where it might go in the future. They produce that information quarterly.
The opposition ought be thankful, Madam Speaker, that, as opposed to their government, which sat on this information year in year out, this government, has put more police out on the beat, put in strategies that demand greater accountability, greater reporting of crime, and put into place quarterly reporting of statistics so that they at least have a view and know what is going on. We do that, as opposed to a once-a-year snapshot buried in the back of the Police, Fire and Emergency Services Annual Report.
Alice Springs – Depiction as a Tourist Destination
Ms ANDERSON to MINISTER for TOURISM
A recent story on a current affairs program depicted life in Alice Springs. Does the minister believe the story accurately portrays Alice Springs and that Alice Springs is a good destination for tourists?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague, the member for Macdonnell, for her question. She is a passionate advocate for Central Australia and Alice Springs. Yes, Alice Springs is a fantastic and wonderful tourism destination. Obviously, I have read the transcripts of the television program that went to air last night. I believe its depiction of Alice Springs is extraordinarily inaccurate.
The types of challenges facing Alice Springs - and we as a parliament were there just over a week ago - we are not backing away from, but they are faced by many communities throughout Australia and the world. The challenge for all of us, as a government, as a community, is to work together to negate those challenges. This government, the police and the Alice Springs Town Council, are all working very hard to reduce and, hopefully, eliminate some of the appalling issues that have been occurring in Alice Springs.
The Chief Minister is visiting Alice Springs again next week. We will continue to focus on those issues. We all have a responsibility to be in the solutions business. Sadly, there are some local politicians, and other people with barrows to push, who seem to think that they are personally going to benefit from portraying Alice Springs’ challenges as a crisis with no solutions.
It really was appalling that, in the Leader of the Opposition’s budget reply, after all of the issues that confronted this parliament in Alice Springs just over a week ago, there was not one mention, one initiative on what to do to get on top of the issues in and around Alice Springs. Not one, Madam Speaker …
Ms Carney: You have no idea. We are giving you ideas and you still do not take them up. You still will not increase police numbers.
Madam SPEAKER: Order, order! Leader of the Opposition!
Ms Carney: What about same time monitoring? We have written to your mate about that.
Madam SPEAKER: Leader of the Opposition, cease interjecting.
Mr HENDERSON: The Leader of the Opposition is devoid of original thought, Madam Speaker, with not one initiative. I offer a challenge to the Leader of the Opposition and the member for Greatorex today, who represent seats in Alice Springs. I believe they have a responsibility to stand up for tourism and for Alice Springs today.
I issued a media release very quickly today that has been circulated widely through CATIA and the Chamber of Commerce – ‘Alice Springs: Fantastic and Welcoming’. The first paragraph:
- The Central Australian town of Alice Springs remains a fantastic and welcoming destination for both local and international visitors, …
The last paragraph:
- The fact is Alice Springs remains a wonderful destination for tourists and welcoming home for residents and we look forward to welcoming visitors from Australia and around the world, …
The challenge for the Leader of the Opposition is to show some leadership ...
Ms Carney: … into town and got drunk at the pub, not to mention what else happened.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr HENDERSON: … and issue a media release today, Madam Speaker.
Ms Carney: You have shown contempt for Alice Springs from day one and you should be ashamed of yourself.
Madam SPEAKER: Order, order! Leader of the Opposition, cease interjecting!
Mr HENDERSON: I am absolutely astounded that the Leader of the Opposition, who has a very responsible position in this parliament, and is a local member in Alice Springs, will not issue a media release today. The challenge is there. I will be the first to come back to this parliament and congratulate her for standing up for Alice Springs, for standing up for tourism, which employs many hundreds of people in Alice Springs. It contributes overwhelmingly to the economy of Alice Springs. She should stand up for the town and support Alice Springs. That is the challenge for the Leader of the Opposition.
There was not one initiative in the budget reply, not one original thought in terms of getting on top of the problems …
Ms Carney interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Ms Carney: Madam Speaker, he is just revolting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Leader of the Opposition, withdraw that last comment.
Ms CARNEY: I withdraw the word ‘revolting’, Madam Speaker.
Madam SPEAKER: Thank you. Continue, minister.
Mr HENDERSON: As I said in debate in Alice Springs, the responsibility for all of us is not to deny the problems and bury our heads in the sand but to be in the solutions business, a responsibility the opposition has failed dramatically.
Madam Speaker, the proof is the number of visitors who come back again and again to Alice Springs to see the spectacular landscapes, the Masters Games …
Ms Carney: Yes, wonderful! Do you know why I know that? Because I live there. Fantastic!
Mr HENDERSON: Then issue a media release and say so.
Ms Carney interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Leader of the Opposition!
Mr HENDERSON: You are into amplifying problems, not solutions for your own short-term political gain. You are an absolute disgrace.
International tourism numbers increased by over 6%, an extra 17 000 travellers to Alice Springs last year, and the average length of stay increased from four to five nights. We want to see that continue. We want to continue to build those numbers, provide jobs for people in Alice Springs, and to see investment in Alice Springs, not amplification of the problems in Alice Springs. Again, I say that Alice Springs is fantastic and welcoming for tourists from all over the world ...
Ms Carney: That is why I live there, you fool!
Mr KIELY: A point of order, Madam Speaker! I request that the Leader of the Opposition withdraw that remark.
Ms CARNEY: I withdraw the word ‘fool’, Madam Speaker.
Madam SPEAKER: Thank you, Leader of the Opposition.
Budget 2007-08 – Education Spending
Mr MILLS to TREASURER
Your budget income is now $3.3bn. This means that you will have over $1bn more to spend. Despite six years of massive increases in taxation revenue, MAP testing results for Years 3, 5 and 7 in the last annual report at pages 47 to 51 are failing to show improvement with some areas actually declining in student literacy in the past five years. Considering the numbers show no improvement, Territorians are interested to know how you are spending the $1.1bn more that you have to spend in lifting education standards.
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, we have increased the Education budget each and every year since we came to government. In fact, before we came to government, I had a couple of little insiders in the department, they used to know what was going on. I used to catch up with a couple of them at the TAB in Cavenagh Street at lunchtime. We would get to about late September or October - they used to come and talk to Alf about this because he knew a couple of these individuals. They would say: ‘Education is about $8m over’. I used to say: ‘It couldn’t be! It is only October; we have only just started the financial year’. They would say: ‘Oh, no. We are already in strife’. By November, that figure could have been $20m or $30m and I used to worry about this bloke’s advice …
Mr MILLS: A point of order, Madam Speaker! It is interesting to hear about the TAB …
Mr STIRLING: … until we got to budget time!
Madam SPEAKER: Minister, please pause. What is your point of order?
Mr MILLS: It is interesting to hear about the TAB, but we are interested in the increase in academic standards, not the capacity for this government to spend.
Madam SPEAKER: There is no point of order, member for Blain. As you will be aware, there is a fair bit of latitude in relation to answering questions. Minister, if you could come to the point.
Mr STIRLING: Madam Speaker, they used to bleed those agencies dry, Health among them. Not only that, they used to lie about the budget in Health and we caught them out. We caught them out in the Public Accounts Committee, on the record, and Education, about their funding, trying to pretend that they had a bigger increase in a particular financial year than they actually did by underwriting what they had spent the year before. That is how they used to run the budget.
We are honest; we are up front. We have transparency, we have the Fiscal Integrity and Transparency Act, and so the sorts of shonks they pulled can never be pulled by this government or, indeed, any future government of the Northern Territory.
We have funded healthy increases into every agency, but particularly with Education and Health. The reason those figures might go backwards - and I am going to go to the minister for Education on this point - is if you get totally illiterate, totally innumerate children coming into the system, and you sit them down and make them do a literacy/numeracy test, which the MAP is, guess what? Hello! They fail. Guess what that does to the results? You do not have to be Einstein; even you could work that out. It has the effect somewhat of lowering the results across the board.
Madam Speaker, I will defer to my colleague, the minister for Education.
Mr HENDERSON (Employment, Education and Training): Madam Speaker, I did want to talk about this issue because it is very important. I share, in spite of the argy-bargy across the table, a very great desire, with the shadow minister, to see outcomes improve. Certainly, if you look at the MAP testing results and you drill down and understand what is happening across the Northern Territory, we have more students sitting these tests than ever before.
Under the previous government, it was not compulsory to undertake MAP tests in the Northern Territory. Guess what? None of the indigenous kids in remote communities, in all of those bush schools, sat the MAP test. The only testing necessary was in our urban schools. That is pretty close to being correct as I have seen all of the data.
This is a government that actually wants to see every single child achieving benchmark. We have a long way to go; however, if you do not measure it you cannot manage it. The CLP did not measure it, particularly in the bush.
If you break down what results we are getting, the further you get out of the major centres, particularly Darwin, into the regional and remote areas, the main issue that affects those MAP testing results is attendance. That is the No 1 issue that we all have to focus on. I urge every member of this House to work with their communities to get kids to school.
If you look at our MAP testing results for our 29 primary schools in Darwin and Palmerston, at the moment all of these numbers are lumped in with regional schools in the comparisons, and we are compared to regions like Albury/Wodonga and places like that across Australia. I asked for an exercise to be done looking at our Darwin and Palmerston schools, and I pay credit to these schools and their teachers. Eighteen out of the 29 schools exceed the metropolitan averages of Sydney, Melbourne and the ACT. Those are the results that I want to see in the bush. If we can do it in Darwin we can do it in the bush.
Attendance is the key issue, and the reason those figures are showing declines is that there are more kids sitting the test. We are not hiding the problem, we are acknowledging the problem. Under the CLP, those kids were never tested and they were never reported on.
Budget 2007-08 – Building a Healthier Territory
Mr HAMPTON to MINISTER for HEALTH
Can the minister advise the House whether Budget 2007-08 will build a healthier Territory, a priority of this Martin government?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Stuart for his question. I did lay on the record this morning that it is a record Health budget this year of $838m, an increase in expenditure of some 73% since we came to government in 2001, particularly in the hospital sector, which has an increase in expenditure of $27.8m. I have already spoken today on some of the issues around the Health budget; however, I take the opportunity of this question to focus on two important issues within our sector.
One of them relates to bed block, and what this government is doing through this budget to alleviate bed block in our hospitals. The second one relates to renal disease, which I know will be of great concern to members who represent bush electorates.
We have announced further beds in Alice Springs Hospital and Royal Darwin Hospital - 12 to be implemented in both institutions this year, bringing the extra beds, as part of our 24 bed election commitment in both hospitals, to 18 at Royal Darwin Hospital and 12 at Alice Springs Hospital. I believe those extra beds, costed at $5.3m fully staffed, will go a long way to reducing issues of bed block.
Similarly, these beds come in tandem with the implementation of the Rapid Admission Planning Unit, which has already gone out to tender and will be implemented and fully constructed, I believe, around August or September of this year. That facilitates the flow through our Accident and Emergency Department at Royal Darwin Hospital, which is a very important strategy. With both of these - the extra beds and the RAPU - that means 130 extra staff in toto; 80 in the unit and 50 for the 24 extra beds, and they will mainly be nurses.
I will briefly touch on the issues around renal disease. This is a government that has consistently invested money to address the issue of renal disease. It is something that this government can be very proud of. It has increased from $12.1m in 2002-03 to $21.3m in 2006-07. All the way along it has been expanding services, and caring for and supporting those with renal disease and end-stage renal failure in the Northern Territory. If you look at the statistics on the graphs, they are very sad graphs, but they also show that, since this government has been investing in combating renal disease across the Territory, the survival times and rates for these patients have been improving to the extent they are now coming to the national average.
We are not only investing significant amounts of money for treatment of end-stage renal disease - $24.4m and this will increase, recurrent funding, to an estimated $30m in 2010-11 - a substantial tranche of money within the budget - but we are also looking to reduce renal disease in the longer term through increased resources into primary health care to delay pre-dialysis patients from getting to that end-stage situation.
We are also looking at putting satellites on remote communities. There was a point made this morning in the Opposition Leader’s speech, talking about all these amounts of money and what it is doing for individual Territorians. I believe what I have just talked about, in the hospital scene, particularly in relation to renal patients, is dipping right down to people who have a major problem. We are showing, through this budget and through the budgets that preceded this and the budgets that are following after, that we are committed to those issues.
Dalgety Road Town Camps - Accommodation
Mrs BRAHAM to MINISTER for PLANNING and LANDS
Madam Speaker, before I do ask my question, I inform the House that the CLP branch Advance Alice is now being re-badged Dis-advance Alice.
Members interjecting.
Ms Carney: What an idiot! That was offensive. That is outrageous what you said, being from Alice Springs.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Member for Braitling, ask your question.
Mr Stirling: She tells the truth, more than you do.
Ms Carney: You would not know what it was and you could not even spell it.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
As you know, the question of whether the donga development along Dalgety Road in Alice Springs should go ahead has been raised constantly by residents in that area, especially after reports of the DCA, which did not give its approval but, unfortunately, gave you a loophole by stating that, if it did go ahead, it could do under certain conditions. You and I know the AAPA Board met yesterday. I notice Indigenous Business Australia’s engineering consultants, QANTEC have put an ad in the paper for registrations of interest for these facilities to go ahead. Could you tell me, what was the result of the AAPA Board decision yesterday? Have they given certificates of clearance, or is this an indication that this development is going to go ahead despite that consultation?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Braitling for her question. I acknowledge that she has been consistent and thorough in getting to the bottom of the details of these important temporary accommodation site developments in Alice Springs. I acknowledge her efforts as a local member in that respect. The member for Braitling drew my attention to an advertisement in the Centralian Advocate on 1 May. That advertisement was for registrations of interest from contractors suitably qualified to construct those facilities. It was placed by the consulting engineers, QANTEC McWilliam on behalf of Indigenous Business Australia which is a federal government agency.
Having had this drawn to my attention, I asked my agency to have a look at what that advertisement was all about. The advice I have received is that the pre-construction conditions that I set as Planning minister on the leases for those accommodation sites have not yet been met. The advice I have received today is that those AAPA certificates, as part of the conditions for the site, have not yet been issued. That clears up categorically those two aspects of the question. I am also advised that there are no plans to implement any works at this stage.
QANTEC McWilliam were contacted by my agency and I am advised that, regarding the purpose of the advertisement, the process was intended to pre-qualify prospective contractors in order that they may establish the capacity of potential for future tender works when all the approvals are in place. It is really to test the marketplace in Alice Springs to see what capacity there is in the event that all the approvals are in place. The intention by QANTEC, I am advised, was to streamline any future tender assessments to enable work to proceed at the earliest opportunity in the event that all clearances and approvals are put in place.
The calling for interest in forthcoming construction contracts is not unusual. I am advised that it does enable those principals to assess possible contractors prior to any construction tenders being available, and it makes the industry aware that a project will be forthcoming in the future. I am advised there is no basis for public concern, that due process is not being observed in this advertisement, or that the proponents - ultimately the federal government in this case through IBA through QANTEC - are not meeting the conditions of the permits granted for the facilities.
Budget 2007-08 – Support for Central Australia
Ms ANDERSON to MINISTER for CENTRAL AUSTRALIA
Can the minister advise the House on how Central Australia has been supported under Budget 2007-08?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Macdonnell, a very committed member for Central Australia as, indeed, is the member for Stuart.
Before I go into all the details, I would also like to express my concerns about the program that was aired last night on Today Tonight. I am not going to challenge the Leader of the Opposition to issue a media release because, quite frankly, it is not enough for you to issue a media release. I believe that she and the member for Greatorex have been quite dishonest, quite divisive, not in the spirit of making any real attempts to try to resolve some of the issues in Central Australia, particularly Alice Springs ...
Ms Carney: We have given you various scenarios and alternatives. You just do not take them up. We have been telling you for two years, Elliot.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr McADAM: We have made it very clear – just listen to me …
Ms Carney: Well, you do not. You have not been listening which is why it is the way it is.
Madam SPEAKER: Order, order! Leader of the Opposition!
Mr WOOD: A point of order, Madam Speaker! It has not been the normal number of questions asked today. We are getting ministerial statements. With due respect to the minister - I understand where he is coming from - he is not actually answering the question. He is commenting on a previous question.
Mr McADAM: I am answering the question member for …
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Nelson, please resume your seat. The minister is answering the question. Please continue.
Mr McADAM: In response, I will say that it is incumbent on you, Leader of the Opposition, and you, the member for Greatorex, to engage the total community in Alice Springs in a very constructive way. I am very much aware of the passion and the commitment of people like Steven Brown and Murray Stewart. I know that this government is going to work with all sectors there to try to resolve these problems. We acknowledge that there are some real issues there ….
Ms Carney: Remember those 500 people who turned up? Half of them were my constituents. What do you think about that, Elliot? Why do you not talk about that?
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr McADAM: If you listen to me I can answer this question. If you let me just finish this then I will go on to the other part of the question.
The point I want to make is this: my challenge to you and to the member for Greatorex in respect to Central Australia is to be mature, to engage with all sectors of the community, both indigenous and non-indigenous, and not to play pure politics ...
Ms Carney: Thank you for that gratuitous advice. Why do you not do your job and work for them, because you have failed?
Mr McADAM: Would you like me to keep going?
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Leader of the Opposition, order!
Mr McADAM: That is my challenge to you, Leader of the Opposition. Be fair dinkum: engage all sectors of the community in the interests of everyone in Alice Springs. That is all I am asking. I do not think that that is unreasonable because I can tell, you there are many decent people in Alice Springs who expect it of you, and you, member for Greatorex.
Ms Carney: You cannot be taken seriously, Elliot.
Mr McADAM: You do not believe that? We will see.
Ms Carney: You are just not serious.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Ms Carney: You are the government. Do something, you have ignored it. You all have. You should be ashamed of yourselves.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr McADAM: We will see. That is your challenge. Would you like me to work with you? Anyway, back to …
Members interjecting.
Ms Carney: Yes, get back to the question.
Madam SPEAKER: Order, opposition members.!
Mr McADAM: I was about to get back to that, but there are so many interjections. As I said, Central Australia is one of the real dynamic communities, which includes Alice Springs, Tennant Creek and all the indigenous communities around there - very viable, very strong. This government’s commitment in this budget is going to go a long way in improving the quality of life, infrastructure spends, education, and health right across the board.
By way of example, in the Barkly region, we have $5m going into the Borroloola Primary School …
Mr Bonson: For the kids.
Mr McADAM: Yes, to make it a better place. Also, in Borroloola, there will be $5m into the Borroloola sewerage upgrade, which is also going to provide development opportunities. There is $1m, which is part of the $6.2m upgrade of Ross Park Primary School in Alice Springs; $6m to the Emergency Department of the Alice Springs Hospital, including a total of $13m for ongoing new hospital works, improving facilities for the Alice Springs Hospital and people living in Alice Springs. There is a $1m upgrade for the Tennant Creek Hospital, which is a fire safety upgrade.
There is a record spend on roads repairs and maintenance right across the Northern Territory, with $23.3m going into the Central Australian region on projects such as the Red Centre Way, $10.5m; Outback Way, $1.96m; Maryvale Road, $1.4m; Sandover Highway, $0.5m; Alice Springs to Santa Teresa connector road, $0.5m; Tanami Road, $2m, which is very important, because this enhances and improves economic and social opportunities for indigenous and non-indigenous people, pastoral and mining industries right across the board.
The other important aspect that relates to Central Australia is the $814m infrastructure spend by Power and Water: $8.9m for the power station at Brewer Estate; $450 000 for Ntaria, Hermannsburg, upgrade for water; the same at Roe Creek, $800 000; new generation capacity into Tennant Creek, $1.5m over five years; Tennant Creek Pump Station upgrade, $800 000; and upgrade water production at Epenarra, $700 000.
From what I have said thus far you can see that there has been a clear commitment on the part of this government in respect to real dollars flowing through Alice Springs for real outcomes, as opposed to the artificial responses that have been put forward thus far by the Leader of the Opposition and the member for Greatorex.
Mr HENDERSON (Leader of Government Business): Madam Speaker, I ask that further questions be placed on the Written Question Paper.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016