2006-05-02
Territory Taxes
Ms CARNEY to TREASURER
By the end of this financial year, you expect to receive $378m in taxes raised from Territorians. That is $78m more than you budgeted for. In its last year of government, the CLP taxed Territorians $216m. You have increased local taxes by $168m per year, compared to the CLP’s last year in office. Treasurer, why do you continue to drive up Territory taxes?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, nothing could be further from the truth in terms of driving up taxes. In fact, this government has been the most tax reforming government in the Territory’s history - $74m knocked out of the taxation revenue system, $74m gone forever, never to come back on the books, and $134m extra over the life of this government. The question is a nonsense. We are the most tax reforming government in the Territory’s history.
Cyclone Monica and Regional Flooding - Government Response
Mr KNIGHT to CHIEF MINISTER
Could you please advise the House of the Territory’s response to Cyclone Monica and the recent flooding of the Katherine and Daly Regions?
Ms Carney: You are not even asking a budget question, you chicken.
Madam SPEAKER: Order, Leader of the Opposition!
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, the question is a totally appropriate and very important one for this House. Today. the budget has been delivered and we will be talking about that budget during Question Time. There has already been one question.
The fact that April had two major natural disaster events in the Territory makes it a very significant issue and one that I am proud to speak about on behalf of all Territorians. We had flooding early in April in Katherine and the region, and then what was described as probably the biggest cyclone to ever come to the Top End of Australia, Cyclone Monica, last week. It is a very pertinent question and I thank the member for Daly for raising the issue.
With the flooding in the Katherine region, we had communities affected in Katherine, Mataranka, Beswick, Jilkminggan, Binjari and Nauiyu. Luckily, Nhulunbuy was spared Cyclone Monica. However, the communities of Maningrida, Oenpelli and Jabiru were not. With a great sense of relief everyone in Darwin, Palmerston and the rural area breathed easy on 25 April 2006 as we realised we had also been spared. If Cyclone Monica had taken a different course in the Top End, the member for Nhulunbuy would have known the impact in Nhulunbuy and, for every member here, it would have had a significant impact on Darwin and the regional areas.
I pay tribute to the way Territorians responded, and the work which has been done across the Top End to recover from the flooding and the cyclone. Work in Maningrida, Oenpelli and Jabiru continues. It was most remarkable that, even though we had significant flooding and a significant cyclone, nobody was injured. We should be enormously grateful that no Territorian was injured in those two major events.
That is due, in no small way, to people following directions. We do know what to do when we are warned about floods and cyclones. I, as Chief Minister, other members in this House, and ministers responsible for various responses in the flooding and the cyclone were very impressed with the way Territorians responded to direction during those times. Not only did Territorians respond to directions, they did it with a strong sense of community and, when things were really tough, with a good sense of humour. The Territorian spirit and humour came through as well.
I visited Katherine twice during the floods, and saw firsthand the damage that had been inflicted by Cyclone Monica at Maningrida and Oenpelli. Our counter disaster response, in both cases, for Katherine region and for Cyclone Monica, was swift and professional. We will learn from that response; we can always do better. That assessment is being done now. I pay tribute to Territorians who were involved across the Top End.
There has been a quick recovery from the flood and the cyclone and there are a few examples of that resilience. The Katherine River broke its banks on Friday, 7 April. The pharmacy in the Target shopping centre was flooded. By Saturday morning, the floors had been cleaned, the carpet was cleaned, the lower shelves were restocked, and the pharmacy was open for business. It was a really quick response: 'Yes, we were flooded but we are back in business'.
The patients from the hospital were moved efficiently and effectively either to RAAF Tindal or to the high school. The hospital was back in operation by Sunday morning, and power restored to all homes by Sunday as well.
In terms of tourism, only one week was lost for Ghan passengers to do the trip up the gorge. By the Wednesday after the flooding, Ghan passengers were once again doing the trip up the gorge. There was enormous cooperation between all levels of government. I pay tribute to the community governments in the Katherine region and to the Commonwealth government in how we worked with them through Centrelink.
By the end of last week, 500 households in the Katherine region had received immediate relief and temporary accommodation through the Natural Disaster Relief Arrangements. The same applies to Monica. Monica damaged the communities at Maningrida, Oenpelli and Jabiru. Much of that was through falling trees. Some of those beautiful old mahogany trees, particularly in Maningrida and Oenpelli, fell and damaged homes. Fifty per cent of the homes in Maningrida were damaged in some way, but only four needed to be demolished, and approximately 40% of the houses in Oenpelli were damaged as well.
Mrs Braham: Have you finished your statement yet? You won’t have to give it later.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Ms MARTIN: Madam Speaker, power was quickly restored to all those communities.
Madam Speaker, if members opposite are not interested …
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Ms MARTIN: This has been a significant time for the Territory, and I pay tribute to those who did the hard work in the communities that were affected.
I thank all those involved in the counter disaster councils in those different parts of the Territory, our emergency services, our volunteer workers, contractors, and all levels of government. Thanks to our Top End residents who, throughout April, showed commonsense, good humour, and resilience and were able to learn from what had happened before, follow directions and keep themselves safe.
We will have a statement this afternoon, but I wanted to put on the record, during Question Time, how important it is that we learn from what has happened before, and that, with debriefings, maybe we can do things slightly differently in the future.
Extra GST Revenue – Balancing the Budget
Ms CARNEY to TREASURER
In the current financial year, you are going to receive $63m more than you budgeted from the GST. The GST, a tax that you and your friends so passionately oppose, has delivered hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars in extra revenue to your government, much more than you ever expected. Treasurer, despite all of the GST, some $750m since coming to office, you have still not delivered a balanced budget despite your promises to do so. Why not?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the Leader of the Opposition for her question. Once again, she leads with her chin. Not only have we produced balanced budgets for three years running, we have produced surplus budgets …
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr STIRLING: Three years in a row, $30m, $40m, $50m surplus budgets. The question is a nonsense.
Budget 2006-07 – Focus and Priorities
Mr KIELY to TREASURER
This morning you delivered the Martin government’s fifth full budget. Can you advise Territorians of the focus of that budget, and what priorities the Martin government has established in Budget 2006-07?
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order, order!
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Sanderson for a sensible question.
I am very proud, indeed, to deliver the Martin government’s fifth full budget and my fourth as Treasurer of the Northern Territory. The priorities of the government in this 2006-07 budget are built on: supporting and growing business and industry; improving educational outcomes; building a healthier Territory for all Territorians; providing a safer community for all Territorians; and, enhancing what we would all acknowledge is the greatest lifestyle in Australia here in the Territory.
Budget 2006-07 delivers on those priorities, and it delivers on them very well. We do this through reducing taxes. We have just heard this nonsense from the Leader of the Opposition that we are a government that is increasing taxes. Nothing could be further from the truth. I sat through a lock-up with the business world this morning, waiting for questions, waiting for anything slightly critical. Even Leon Loganathan, probably the harshest critic of this government in the whole of the Northern Territory, did not open his mouth. He had nothing to say. I said: ‘We work hard at keeping you and the business world happy, Leon, and I am pleased, from the absence of questions, that we have done so’.
At lunchtime, with the Chamber of Commerce - any critical questions? No. There were a couple of questions about detail and clarity, but nothing critical. Business loves this government because this government has looked after business in the time that it has been in office, reducing taxes, producing high levels of infrastructure spending - $482m will be rolled out this year. I would like to say that was all we spent this year, but when you look at what the Chief Minister was just talking about with Cyclone Monica and the floods, there will be increases to that infrastructure spend throughout the year as those needs become apparent.
The government is investing in strategic economic drivers for the Northern Territory: $100m for the waterfront; an additional $10m now built into the tourism marketing budget gives them the ability to go out there in any year and market to the tune of $27.6m – unheralded sort of expenditure – with a total budget of about $38.3m. There is millions in power capacity being put out through the Power and Water Corporation; and a strong social development program through record budgets in Health, Community Services, Employment, Education and Training, and Police, Fire and Emergency Services. This budget delivers all of these things, most importantly, within sound and sustainable fiscal parameters going forward.
This year, the government uses the budget framework to create thousands of jobs for Territorians and to grow and broaden the economic base in the Territory. It is another solid, effective Martin government budget. Going on the feedback thus far from the business lock-up, the media lock-up, and the Chamber of Commerce lunch …
Members interjecting.
Mr STIRLING: You blokes ought to get out and speak to business sometimes. Get out and talk to them. Unless the people you talk to are not actually members of the Chamber of Commerce and were not there at lunch - maybe that is a different thing - however, the Chamber of Commerce was very happy with this budget.
Budget 2006-07 – Balancing the Budget
Ms CARNEY to TREASURER
In the current financial year, you raised much more in tax than you expected. You sold liquid assets and raised an extra $40m; you received an extra unexpected $78m in local taxes; you received $63m more than you expected from the GST, and you received another $36m from other charges that you did not even expect. In total, you have received $217m more than you originally budgeted for. With all of the extra money, you still could not manage to balance your budget. Why can’t you?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, without going to the detail of some of those figures, which are patently incorrect, in general terms, the government did receive more income throughout the financial year 2005-06, as is always the case with every government in history.
The budget, as it stands in May 2005 when it is delivered, is delivered on the advice and knowledge that the government has to date of the expenditure requirements of the agencies for the 12 months going forward.
Quite clearly, when large agreements, such as the training agreement with DEET, which runs to tens of millions of dollars; the health agreement between the Commonwealth, the states and territories; and the housing agreements are not signed up at the time that the May budget goes down on the books, of course, expenditure will go up during the year, as it will when unforeseen events occur and have to be met throughout the year, as it will when enterprise bargaining agreements are set.
We had a fairly interesting time with teachers negotiating their EBA last year which resulted in pretty healthy wage increases for them. How much worse that would have been if we had said: ‘Okay, we have negotiated an agreement but we cannot pay you until 1 July 2006 because it will mess up our budget. It will make DEET look like it spent more than it budgeted for so, while we are going to give you 6%, 7%, 8%, 15% over three - whatever the figure was - we are actually not going to pay that until 1 July 2006’. I doubt they would have signed that bit of paper, and nor would nurses, doctors, or any other worker who is entitled to a fair remuneration.
It is a bit like - there was an incident last year; I cannot quite recall - but if a school falls over, you go and build it. You do not tell them: ‘Oh, you have to wait until the financial year next year because that will upset the budget books, and then the opposition will pick on us and create a nuisance by saying we actually spent more than we budgeted for’.
That will be the day when an agency actually comes in - and there would be something very wrong indeed, I would think, something very funny going on, where an agency came back at the end of the financial year, not knowing until about November of that year, that they actually spent less than was budgeted for at the time of the May budget.
Many things are not known. Yes, increased revenue, in big part, from a strong and robust economy: properties changing hands; businesses changing hands; accruing conveyance duties and stamp duties. In fact, you will see in stamp duties and property duties next year that we expect, as of today, to probably receive something like $52m or $53m less in financial year 2007-08 because around $50m of those conveyance duties coming through were in the form of a number of very large one-off transactions that occurred in the past; the duty was payable and paid in the 2005-06 year. That is not to say that something of that ilk might not occur throughout 2006-07 - so much the better for government and the taxpayer if it does. However, it is not known at this stage, so you do see a predicted $52m to $53m drop off in property conveyancing.
In relation to payroll tax, notwithstanding that we have taken that payroll tax threshold from $600 000 when we came to government to $1m as of 1 July 2005, and $1.25m from 1 July 2006, payroll tax receipts continue to grow. How can that be? When you are cutting the threshold, you are reducing the number of businesses going into the payroll tax. There is only one reason for that, and that is increased growth, a buoyant economy, more people working and greater payroll tax receipts. It is an area we are going to continue to focus on. I gave the Chamber of Commerce a commitment at lunchtime that we will next work on the rate, currently standing at 6.2%, and we will work to bring that down to 5.9% in the outer years.
Members: Hear, hear!
Tax Reforms
Ms SACILOTTO to TREASURER
The Martin Labor government is the most tax reforming government in the Territory’s history. Can you tell the House how this has been achieved?
Mrs Braham: Did we not just have this question?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I only answered it in part before. Now you get the full version, absolutely unexpurgated.
This is the most tax-reforming government in Territory history. We in government are very proud tell the business community of the Northern Territory that here is a Labor government that is delivering you the greatest tax reform in the business world in Territory history. It never happened under the CLP, it never happened under a conservative government that loves you to death, but it is happening under a Labor government.
We have made the Territory the lowest taxing jurisdiction in the whole of Australia for all small business. We have gone further than that. We have made the Territory the lowest taxing jurisdiction for businesses with up to 100 staff. That is a significant impetus for Territory business. We have also made our payroll taxation the most competitive in Australia for businesses with up to 100 staff, and we have more than doubled that payroll tax threshold from $600 000 to $1.25m in just three budgets. That has taken out 187 businesses from the net. We have reduced the rate from 6.5% to 6.2%.
The effect is this on the bottom line for business: a business with a $2m payroll in the year 2000 under the Country Liberal Party would have paid $92 400 per year. Today, they pay $46 500, and the Leader of the Opposition dares to ask me why taxes have gone up. The last time you were in government, that is what you were taxing business: $92 400, today it is $46 500.
Since 2001, we have also reduced five stamp duties, we have removed debits tax, we have removed electronic debit transaction duty, and we have increased the tax-free threshold for stamp duty on conveyancing. First home buyers was $80 000 when we came to government. How on earth was that a break for first home owners, even up until August 2001? We have lifted that in a very meaningful sense for those first home owner buyers up to $225 000. Not one cent of that first $125 000 attracts any stamp duty. We introduced, and then increased to $2500 the Principal Place of Residence Rebate. From 1 July this year, we remove altogether the unquotable marketable securities on the grant or renewal of leases and franchises. In the future, we are going to remove the stamp duty on hiring and the business component of the non-residential conveyances.
This is fact. This has happened. This is part of the $74m that we have knocked out of taxation, en route to a further $134m over the next few years. Not bad. I challenge anyone to name another government, in a pro rata sense, that has done anything like that in the last few years by way of taxation reform. $74m knocked out, gone altogether, forever, off our books, and a further $134m-worth of reductions over the course of our reforms. We are the most tax-reforming government in the history of the Territory.
Members: Hear, hear!
Building the Territory for All Generations –
Retirement Villages for Self-Funded Retirees
Retirement Villages for Self-Funded Retirees
Mrs BRAHAM to MINISTER for SENIOR TERRITORIANS
It is not a budget question. I did not think the budget had much to ask about.
Madam SPEAKER: Just ask the question, member for Braitling.
Mrs BRAHAM: Minister, thank you for sending out the Building the Territory for All Generations. We were pleased to see the discussion paper, and I am pleased to see you responded to have a survey in it. You said in your letter to me that you were concerned about self-funded retirees and wanted to know what was the level of interest. Minister, did you read that survey? Did you proof it?
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Braitling, can you please ask the question.
Mrs BRAHAM: Madam Speaker, my question to the minister is, if you wanted to determine if there was sufficient interest in retirement villages for self-funded retirees in Alice Springs or Tennant Creek, why did you not have the people who responded to the survey indicate where they came from? You could possibly have 200 replies, but they could be from anywhere. Your survey does not give you what you intended to get. Minister, will you fix it up?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Braitling for her question. I know she has an active interest in this area. I welcome it as I do not believe we talk enough about senior Territorians and their value to the Territory.
In terms of Alice Springs, we might get 200, however, we have to start from somewhere, member for Braitling.
Mrs Braham: But you will not know where they are from.
Ms SCRYMGOUR: You asked the question, let me answer. I had a look at that survey and I thought the questions were quite reasonable. Given the lack of data and …
Mrs Braham: You miss the point.
Ms SCRYMGOUR: There is a lack of baseline data to enable us to plan and put policies in place for senior Territorians whether it be infrastructure, programs, the health system and other areas. The questions were broad but we need that. You cannot limit the questions. We have to take in a wider scope.
I read the survey. I believe it is good and the Office of Senior Territorians has responded and put it out there.
Budget 2006-07 – Budget Blowouts
Ms CARNEY to TREASURER
Some three years ago, the Chief Minister told Territorians that if any CEO of a department did not live within their budget they would be sacked. You have just told the House in a previous answer that it is normal – it certainly is normal under Labor - for budgets to blow out. Treasurer, who is wrong? You or the person on your left?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the Leader of the Opposition for her question. Perhaps I should go into teacher mode for just a little, but it is so patronising, I dislike doing it.
I tried to explain before that the budget, as it is laid out in May, as of today, and it spells out the expenditure for 2006-07, is simply never, ever going to be able to list and enumerate all of the expenditure requirements for that agency going forward.
I had an example at lunchtime - I am not sure I am liberty to quote - no. However, the Commonwealth, in all its wisdom, may, between now and when it delivers its budget next week, contact agencies and say: ‘Here is $15m for such and such a project’. They have done it before. In fact, in the 2003-04 budget, one of the reasons that we produced an even healthier surplus than we thought we might in the end, was that $36m extra came through in the last six weeks of the financial year, and it was not known at the time the budget was put down in May of 2003.
Those sorts of eventualities always have occurred and will always occur into the future. It does not mean that a chief executive officer has, to put it in the words of the Leader of the Opposition, blown their budget. If they have, the penalty under this government is to start looking for another job. The Chief Minister has made that patently clear during the course of the life of this government and that is still the rule.
Let us take DEET as an example; around $580m in the budget last year. It is probably spent close to $630m. There are the EBAs, the extra expenditure approved by Cabinet throughout the year, the signing of the training agreement and the indigenous education agreement might have been in there, but a range of agreements sometimes in the tens of millions of dollars, many of those agreements require matching expenditure by the state or territory. If you are going to bring in a program out of the blue – could be a $15m program - and you have to spend at least $10m against that program, that can, in fact, mean more staff. Maybe the last thing you want to do is put on more staff. However, if you are going to get your hands on that $15m to enhance the educational outcomes of Territorians, which is what the Commonwealth and the Northern Territory governments both agreed to, then you have to match, as per the rules of the agreement, you have to put on those extra staff in order to be able to bring that program to life.
That is just a snapshot of what can occur throughout a year. When an EBA is ticked off and signed, I would not be in the room with the union when you are suggesting to them: ‘Yes, okay you have your 5% but we are not going to pay it until the first of July next year’. I do not think that would be a healthy place to be for anyone if you are going to put that to the workers.
The other example most recently in our minds is the floods and the expenditure in relation to Cyclone Monica. We are not going to say to Maningrida School: ‘Sorry about that school but we cannot actually rebuild it until 2007-08’. I will tell you why, because that houses the Year 12 students at Maningrida, and if there is one thing I am hanging my hat on as minister for Education, and one thing I am enormously proud of, it is these indigenous students in their own home community achieving their Year 12. They have done it in Maningrida in the past and they will do it again this year. We are not going to have them fail because we are not going rebuild their school until the next financial year. It is just an example. It is an example of the sorts of things that occur throughout the year which require extra expenditure.
Budget 2006-07 –
Building Stronger Families
Building Stronger Families
Mr BURKE to MINISTER for FAMILY and COMMUNITY SERVICES
Palmerston is the fastest growing city in Australia. Can the minister update the House on how Budget 2006-07 helps build stronger families in the Territory?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Brennan for his question. It is a very important question. The opposition may not be interested in supporting families, but the Martin Labor government certainly is.
This budget has great news for Territory families. More jobs help our Territory families: $84m for training and employment programs that provide families with strong employment opportunities. All Territory families will also benefit from our tax reduction of $74m. We are improving education outcomes with the highest education budget ever; a budget which means better results by building better schools. More money in the budget for healthy communities helps our families with a healthier future for our Territory hospitals. All Territory families benefit from these initiatives.
For younger families, we will be providing the highest level of childcare subsidies ever. The Martin government is the only state or territory government in Australia which directly subsidises childcare costs, with some $3.6m expended in Budget 2006-07 to support families in childcare.
For older members of our Territory families, the Martin government provides the most generous pensioner concession scheme in Australia. In this budget, a record $8.3m will be spent on helping pensioners cut costs, from helping with their electricity bills through to paying for interstate trips to visit families and friends.
As Minister for Family and Community Services, I am delighted that Budget 2006-07 implements such a strong social development program. We are delivering on our commitment to provide a carer’s card, which will provide, for the first time, concessions for those family members who so selflessly care for others in less fortunate situations.
As we know, abuse of alcohol can rip families apart. We are increasing treatment places. Our division of Alcohol and Other Drugs now has a budget of around $21m, with almost $11m going directly to non-government organisations throughout the Territory to deliver rehabilitation services.
In Mental Health, there is an extra $500 000 to provide 24 hour support for people with mental illnesses, and their families.
We are delivering for the regions with $500 000 for a new Central Australian mental health crisis accommodation service. There is $200 000 for a new family support service in the Barkly region, and $450 000 to support people with ageing-related and disability issues to return home to remote communities after their hospital stay.
Finally, Madam Speaker, there is nothing more important to Territory families than our children. Our massive investment in child protection continues in this budget. Our Child Protection Services budget is now four times what it was when we came to government in 2001. We have not doubled it or tripled it; we have quadrupled it. We are very proud of this achievement. The Martin government is helping Territory families to build a strong future, and Budget 2006-07 is, indeed, a very family-friendly budget.
Budget 2006-07 – Treasurer’s Budget Management Credentials
Ms CARNEY to TREASURER
Is it not the case that you will receive, in either income or asset sales, an additional $217m-worth of unexpected revenue this year? The answer is yes. Is it not the case that if you had not received the unexpected $217m, you would have presided over a budget deficit of $264m? Does this not speak volumes about your budget management credentials? Why on earth do you think you have cause for smiling?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker ...
Ms Carney: You are not interested in numbers, in deficits? Fancy that.
Madam SPEAKER: Order, order!
Mr STIRLING: Madam Speaker, I thank the Leader of the Opposition for her question. If I go back, for example, to the increased Special Purpose Payments flowing from the Commonwealth throughout a year, sometimes you might not know the program even exists. The Commonwealth might not even know in May when the budget comes down, but by October/November they have dreamt this one up and they have gone to the states and asked them to sign on. That will require - in very many cases, it would be unusual if it was not the case - corresponding expenditure from the Commonwealth.
It is a nonsense to say, you have all of this revenue and you have spent it all; if you do not have that revenue, you would now have a $200m deficit. Well, if we had not received the revenue, we would not have spent it. If we had not had the agreement signed off with the Commonwealth, we would not have received that revenue; we would not have had to match that revenue and expenditure; we would not have had to put on extra staff in order to run that program out; and the question would not have arisen in the first place, so there would never have been a $200m deficit.
It sends shudders down my spine when the Leader of the Opposition talks about $200m deficits, because that is exactly where the Country Liberal Party was headed when Territorians saved this place from the CLP. It was a $134m deficit headed for in 2001-02 until this government came in and put an end to the nonsense where they just continued to spend like drunken sailors, without any thought to the future.
Go out and ask the business world what they thought of how things were going in 2001-02 – then the highest taxing government in Territory history, the last government of the CLP in 2001-02. Compare your rates of taxation and your take compared with what we do today.
The question is hypothetical in the sense that, if you had not had all this extra money, then you would have been $200m worse off. No, we would not, because if we had not had all of that extra money, then we would not have been required to match it and put on extra staff. The question is a bit fanciful.
Budget 2006-07 – Delivering Jobs and Economic Growth
Mr BONSON to MINISTER for INFRASTRUCTURE and TRANSPORT
Can the minister advise how Budget 2006-07 will deliver jobs and economic growth to the Territory through its expenditure and infrastructure?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Millner for his question. $482m is the total infrastructure cash spend in this budget, and I am very proud to be Infrastructure minister to preside over that spend. That does not include the $100m spend on the waterfront development. All in all, it totals somewhere around $2.7bn in infrastructure spend since this government came to office in 2001 – very significant - record spends and record cash.
There are many new members in this House, and this is their first budget. I am sure they are now aware of what a revote means and what cash means. By now, they would be aware that, in the CLP’s last budget, the revote actually exceeded the cash. In other words, they did not even have enough money for the projects that were left from one year to another, let alone any new projects. I am sure all new members in this place join with me in their disgust at the CLP and the way they handled their infrastructure spend.
Madam Speaker, our infrastructure projects mean jobs for Territorians, 5200 jobs – that is significant. The other significant part of our infrastructure spend is that it is spent throughout the regions. We are a government that supports our regions through our infrastructure spend. I issued a press release earlier in the week about some of the spends in and around Darwin - $4.3m for the new fire station at Marrara; $5.8m for the completion of the home of soccer; and a whole range of other projects. There are other items - $25m for new power generation in Darwin …
Mrs Braham: Why did you move the payroll section to Darwin? So much for support for the regions.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Dr BURNS: Member for Braitling, you might be interested in $8.6m for the Desert Peoples Centre in Alice Springs; $2.9m for a new health centre in Kalkarindji; the Darwin City Waterfront development: $10m for headworks on the boundary; $1.3m for replacement of the power station at Canteen Creek in the Barkly region; and, in Alice Springs, $1.3m for headworks in Mt John Valley to assist and support the opening up of new land in Alice Springs. We are a government that is interested in economic development and support for economic development throughout the Northern Territory.
Madam Speaker, this infrastructure spend is significant. Industry knows it and the community knows it. I just hope that the members opposite can recognise and applaud it.
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Visitors
Visitors
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, I draw your attention to the presence in the gallery of participants of the study tour for senior administrators from Nusa Tenggara Timur, the Nusa Tenggara Primary Education Partnership. On behalf of honourable members, I extend a very warm welcome to our visitors.
Members: Hear, hear!
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Oncology Radiotherapy Unit
Mr WOOD to MINISTER for HEALTH
The Northern Territory government received more than $63m in GST than expected. Is it not fair to ask why, with all that extra money, your government has not announced the construction of an oncology and radiotherapy unit at Royal Darwin Hospital as has been promised previously?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, we have been very clear publicly about the process we are following regarding the radiation oncology unit. I have written to the federal minister. We believe, on the best advice from our experts, regarding not only the establishment costs, but also the recurrent costs that are involved in the project, that it is most appropriately tackled through a partnership agreement between us and the federal government and a third party operator. That is the model we have arrived at. We have written to the federal minister. We hope that honest Dave Tollner, the member for Solomon, might be keeping his promise – and he staked his career on it – that he will get federal government support in behind this project. I believe we are in a win-win situation: we will either get an oncology unit or we will get rid of Dave Tollner.
Budget 2006-07 –
Demand on Territory Hospitals
Demand on Territory Hospitals
Ms McCARTHY to MINISTER for HEALTH
Can the minister advise how Budget 2006-07 helps build healthier communities through addressing the increasing demand on Territory hospitals?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, the high level of demand on our hospitals, particularly our major hospital, and throughout our hospital network has been obvious for some time. The average increase of 10% per annum of presentations to our emergency departments is a pretty eye-catching figure when you are trying to resource and sustain safe and adequate services for Territorians seeking this sort of help.
The drivers for demand are known: people are presenting at hospital as an alternative because we are very low in GP numbers in the community, and there are high levels of ill-health in our indigenous community.All of those are known factors that make the situation particularly extreme in the Northern Territory, although you will see this demand increase in hospitals all round the country.
We have built into the $780.6m Health budget a strong commitment to the capacity of our hospitals to deal with demand. In fact, $14.1m of that budget is aimed at increasing the ability of our hospitals to deal with patients that present to them. To give members some further detail of what this involves, for Royal Darwin Hospital, base funding has increased to $196m to meet demand. That now budgets the hospital to deal with issues such as the use of overflow beds, and the adjustment of staffing numbers in line with demand being experienced, in other words, the day-to-day operational issues the hospital has to deal with when faced with high demand. We put in six extra beds. These will be funded beds additional to the existing tally in that hospital.
Most important for Royal Darwin Hospital is an allocation of $7.8m recurrent to establish a Rapid Admission and Planning Unit. The RAPU is the leading edge of modernising hospital practice for patient through-flow and the assessment of patients, and arrangements for their care during their stay in hospital through to discharge. The clinician brought this to us as the key initiative that Royal Darwin Hospital needs to take to deal with access and bed lock within the hospital. It is a longer term sustainable solution, rather than simply putting in bed numbers which will be filled almost the next day by doctors referring patients straight into the beds without having a systematic planning and deposition process within the hospitals. We are going to take the Royal Darwin Hospital up to leading edge in hospital and patient management, along with maybe only half a dozen other hospitals in Australia.
We are increasing base funding for Alice Springs Hospital to $97m to meet the same demand factors we have seen in the Royal Darwin Hospital. That will allow the Alice Springs Hospital, within budget, to handle high patient loads through the use of overflow beds, and by adjusting their staffing. We will establish the capacity for 15 extra beds to go into that hospital. They will go into Ward 4, which is currently being refurbished as part of the repair of the appalling mess we were left with. That will be a significant down payment on the 24 beds for that hospital within this term of government, together with the ones we are putting into Darwin.
Tennant Creek, Katherine and Gove hospitals will receive an extra $3.5m to maintain services and to meet demand.
Our hospitals will have their capacities further increased to provide safe, sustainable services to the high levels of presentation they are experiencing from the Territory community.
Budget 2006-07 – Wages Bill
Ms CARNEY to TREASURER
In the current financial year, you are predicting your wages bill will blow out by $98m - Budget Paper No 2 - which means you have spent $98m more than you expected last year. I remind you that the Auditor-General has already reprimanded you for doing the same last year, about $100m. My question is: why do you keep underestimating your wages bill so badly?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the Leader of the Opposition for her question. Much has been said by the opposition over recent weeks and there is some confusion about the figures they put out from day to another day.
In relation to a big slab of the costs, you need to look at the effect the - I have a lot of trouble with this word, but there are such people as actuaries and they do actuarial work – that is, they look at the books of governments. They did this mid-last year for the Northern Territory government. They looked at the number of people in the public sector; the number who were in the old Northern Territory Government and Public Authorities Superannuation Scheme – NTGPASS; the number of people in the Commonwealth Superannuation Scheme, the old CSS, who are in the Territory or work for the Territory government; how they are going through into retirement; what is the effect in terms of them living longer; what is the effect of more of them taking pensions rather than lump sum payments, which is the case going forward; and a whole range of facts and indicators that come into play when these actuaries go about their work.
The upshot of that is that there was a quite dramatic revision to the liabilities facing this government all of the way through to the year 2060. That is when it is expected that the final payments under CSS and NTGPASS would be finally expended.
We make no secret of overall staff numbers. In fact, we put the figures on the website on a monthly basis under the Office of the Commissioner for Public Employment, and there has been growth. However, this government has been extraordinarily busy in its first term, getting health, education and police back to an even keel. Each one was a basket case when we were elected in 2001.
Police could not take annual leave; they were buying leave back because there were not enough coppers on deck to cover leave requirements, so you had low morale and a stressed police force. The minister for Police worked very hard with the O’Sullivan review to bring those numbers up. The final 30 of the increased 200 police numbers will come on deck this next year. Are we going to get rid of any of those 200 extra police? I think not, given the work and the expenditure to get them there. We will keep them there.
Are we going to get rid of any of the 212 extra nurses that the Minister for Health has seen come into the health system? I think not. Are we going to get rid of any of the extra 120 or 130 over formula teachers in the Education department? I think not.
Has there been growth with executive contracts and executives over all? Yes, there has. Not as much as the opposition would allege, and why is that? Well, if you are out there building policy, if you are out there rebuilding the key service delivery agencies of government as we have been, you have to have a little bit of policy grunt. You have to have a few senior people around to direct and draw these programs together, and see them implemented into the public sector.
I have stood in this House before and said numbers are probably not going to remain at those levels into the short-term, middle-term and long-term future. We have a quite high attrition rate in the public sector. Numbers can be worked down over time, and they will be. It will not be done with redundancies; it will not be done with buying people out. It is not necessary. The attrition rate alone takes care of that. You are never going to get the people to leave that you can do without, so there always has to be a replacement factor there. Bit by bit, it will smooth out and, if it takes 18 months, two years, so be it. I and the government see numbers coming down over the middle- and longer-term.
Budget 2006-07 – Safer Communities
Mr NATT to MINISTER for POLICE, FIRE and EMERGENCY SERVICES
How is Budget 2006-07 building the Territory’s future by supporting safer communities?
Mrs Braham: That is a hard question. Where is our mobile police station, minister? It is May.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I am very proud to announce another record budget for the Northern Territory Police, Fire and Emergency Services. In Budget 2006-07, the tri-service budget has been increased to $212m. That is a 55% increase to Police, Fire and Emergency Services since we came to office in 2001.
We have had a lot of talk about budgets and increases in allocations and revenues. The fundamental of any budget situation is all about priorities of government. We said right at the beginning, in 2001, that building safer communities was a priority for this government and that is why the tri-service has received such significant increases.
Compare our track record in terms of priorities for safer communities to the previous CLP administrations, when it was patently obvious that funding for our police force was not a priority. In fact, it was so small a priority for the then government, there was a total freeze on recruitment in the early 1990s.
We are now entering the final year of the $75m Building our Police Force plan, with a target of an extra 200 police on the beat by the end of 2006, and $32m in this budget goes to achieving that target. What does the extra police this year give back to Territorians? In a large part, an additional 17 000 hours in general patrols; that is a higher visibility of our police across the community, a higher capacity to be proactive in those communities, and to respond quickly and effectively.
This year will also see established dedicated traffic branches in Darwin and Alice Springs. Such was the priority of those traffic squads under previous CLP administrations, that they were scrapped. They are now going to be rebuilt in this budget. Regarding ongoing work to improve living and working conditions for our police officers, comments about blow-outs in wages and salaries would indicate that, if there was a CLP government, we would not fund the EBA increases that this government has funded; we would see increasing morale problems that we inherited when we came to government. It is very clear that there would not be increased funding for working conditions for police officers under a CLP administration. There is in this budget.
There is a new 7.4 metre coastal vessel for Ngukurr Police Station, the last boat to be delivered by the government’s $1m coastal vessel replacement program. Such was the state of our Marine and Fisheries Branch, they had hardly any boats to get out on the water at all when we came to government. Now, they are out there increasingly.
We will be delivering on our election commitment for $630 000 for the new police social order patrols, and we can already see those patrols having a significant effect in and around Darwin. Funding of $440 000 has been allocated to Stage 2 of an initiative to provide Aboriginal Community Police Officers working in remote communities with police-owned vehicles. That is a very significant commitment to our ACPOs, and takes the pressure off community government councils across the Territory for funding for essential infrastructure for our ACPOs.
There is $110 000 for Neighbourhood Watch, a very important community organisation. We doubled funding to Neighbourhood Watch when we came to government. $500 000 has been allocated to continue the implementation of the Fire and Rescue Services review. When we came to government, morale amongst our firies was at rock bottom; a pretty dysfunctional organisation in an internal sense. We have managed to rebuild what was a pretty problematic part of the tri-service.
There is much being said about dollars here, but what are the outcomes? The investment in our police force has seen a 50% decrease in property crime across the Northern Territory. That is what the people of the Northern Territory want – they want to see improved services. That is 50% of people now not getting broken into across the Territory that were getting broken into when the CLP was in government.
We have dedicated Domestic Violence Units across the Northern Territory, better protecting women and children, giving confidence to women to report attacks of domestic violence against them. There is a reduction in social order offences across the Territory. A 55% increase in the police budget is certainly going to make safer communities across the Territory.
Budget 2006-07 - Hospital Waiting Lists
Ms CARNEY to CHIEF MINISTER
Why is it that, despite record income levels including about $217m in unexpected income which was not budgeted for, your government continues to preside over massive increases in elective surgery waiting lists, increases in dental waiting lists and bed shortages at our hospitals? You continue to fail to deliver on your election promises to build a high school in Palmerston and an oncology unit at Royal Darwin Hospital, just to name two. Now that you, as captain of the ship, have increased the Health budget again, will this mean that you will finally reduce hospital waiting lists to levels that existed prior to you coming to office? Can Territorians expect to see some bang for their buck?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, the opposition has led with a number of questions about this budget, as we would expect. Many of them have been simply wrong. When the Opposition Leader consistently says we failed to deliver on election commitments, the Opposition Leader and the opposition is, again, consistently wrong.
This government is proud of its delivery on election commitments. The Police minister just mentioned the growing numbers in our police force; that has tackled one of the outstanding issues in the Territory - property crime …
Ms Carney: What about the oncology unit and Palmerston high school?
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Leader of the Opposition!
Ms MARTIN: Go back nearly five years and remember what property crime was about and the key cry of Territorians: ‘Do something about property crime’. We have delivered on promises right across the board. We are - what is the word for it …
Ms Carney: Liars, stumped!
Madam SPEAKER: Leader of the Opposition, I ask you to withdraw.
Ms Carney: I withdraw, Madam Speaker.
Ms MARTIN: Territorians are generally pleased, and certainly we as government are pleased, that there has been additional funds through the GST to be able to put significant increases in those services that Territorians expect good delivery from government. That is through our health system, through police, and through education. This budget, again, puts appropriate increases into those three areas so that we can deliver for Territorians.
For example, here is figure from Alice Springs. I thought the Opposition Leader would be interested in this. In the last four years, the increase to the Alice Springs Hospital budget has been nearly 100%. We can say to Territorians, we are delivering a much more reliable and safe service in Alice Springs Hospital, and it is a tribute to the Health minister that we are doing that.
Areas like health and hospitals are difficult areas. The demand is increasing. We have increased the funds and we will continue to strive to deliver very effective hospital services right across the Territory, very effective health services, effective police services, and deliver education to all Territorians. We have proudly done that, and this budget again underpins that.
When I said the Opposition Leader has been consistently wrong, she is trying to prove in some fanciful part of her brain that we are a high taxing government. We are not. We are the lowest taxing government, particularly for businesses with fewer than 100 employees, in Australia.
We could go back to Introduction to Budgets 101, but, really, the Opposition Leader needs to look at the budget, needs to understand it a bit more effectively, and understand that we have reduced taxes very effectively for Territory businesses. We have a healthy, growing economy which means that we are receiving a healthy amount of tax revenue from businesses.
We have reduced taxes. We have put more money into Education, Health and Police and, very proudly, into Tourism. Top End Tourism is reporting to me that, May on May, this year there has been a 32% increase in bookings for the Top End compared with last year. That is the effect of marketing bang and getting real bang for our buck. Madam Speaker, this is an excellent budget and I pay tribute to our Treasurer.
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