2016-04-21
Education Budget
Ms MANISON to MINISTER for EDUCATION
Yesterday I asked you a very direct question about ruling out further cuts to public education in your government’s upcoming budget. You refused to rule out further cuts. I am giving you another opportunity to do so today with a very direct question. Will you rule out further cuts to public education in the upcoming NT budget? Yes or no?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, it is an interesting question; I recall being in opposition for four years, asking the same question of the Henderson government in the lead-up to every budget. Of course, what we heard from the previous Labor government was pretty much what you will hear from me now, which is that I will not pre-empt what the Treasurer will release on budget day.
I am excited about the forthcoming budget and what we will do in education. What frustrates me more than anything about the constant attack on Territory education from the Labor opposition and the unions is that they always focus on dollars. They never focus on results, reform in the system, what you can do with education, or the fact that today our education results are far better than they were under the Labor government.
I can quote facts all day long about the number of children passing their NTCET today compared to when the Labor government was in power. More Indigenous students are passing their NTCET than ever did under a Labor government. I can continue to quote facts and figures about how the education system is in a far better place today than it was only three-and-a-half years ago.
I admit there has been a fair bit of bark lost by me in introducing these reforms, but you focus on dollars only and not results.
Ms MANISON: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Standing Order 110; answers will be concise and directly relevant to the question asked. It was a very direct question. Will you rule out further cuts to public education in the upcoming NT budget, yes or no?
Madam SPEAKER: Thank you, member for Wanguri. Minister, you have the call.
Mr CHANDLER: I have already said you will get the same answer that we got for four years under the former Labor government. Every year we would ask the same question and what we got is what you will get from me. I will not pre-empt what the Treasurer will release in the budget next month. You only have a short time to wait.
We have a tremendous record in regard to education. You guys have a self-righteous thought that you own education. That is not true. If you look at the results in education today …
Ms Lawrie interjecting.
Mr CHANDLER: … not when you were a minister, member for Karama …
Members interjecting.
Mr CHANDLER: They do not want to hear good news, and that is sad. They are the only ones trashing education in the NT. Look at the number of parents moving their children into the public education space today; they have confidence in this government. The numbers speak for themselves.
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Visitors
Visitors
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, I advise of the presence in the gallery of the South Australian Aboriginal Lands Parliamentary Standing Committee members: Hon Tung Ngo, Dr Duncan McFetridge, Hon Terry Stephens, Mr Jon Gee and Hon Jason Caire. Welcome to Parliament House. I hope you find it very enlightening. Take some tips back to South Australia.
Members: Hear, hear!
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Ms FYLES: A point of order, Madam Speaker! The Minister for Housing is not in the Chamber, so which minister will take her questions?
Madam SPEAKER: The Chief Minister will take questions for the Minister for Housing.
Leader of the Opposition – Intentions for Industry
Mr WESTRA van HOLTHE to CHIEF MINISTER
As the Chamber might be aware, the Leader of the Opposition has been busy lining up his wrecking balls and spruiking his plan to destroy the NT economy while being led by his union and Greens mates, some of whom have come all the way from Tasmania. At the same time, he has been dodging all the hard questions.
Can the Chief Minister outline why he thinks the Leader of the Opposition is dodging these debates and is basically missing in action?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Katherine for the question. ‘Missing in action’ is a very acute observation because it is correct. The Leader of the Opposition is missing in action because of his lack of experience. He has never had a full-time job in his life. He went straight from school to the union and then to the Labor Party. He wants to run the Northern Territory economy and has never had a job in his life.
He is continuously missing in action in explaining what he will do to the gas industry with his moratorium, and to the horticulture, trucking and cattle industries – we can go back to some of the machinations that have occurred before.
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Standing Order 110: relevance. Do you have anything to say about what you, as the Chief Minister, are doing?
Madam SPEAKER: It is not a point of order.
Mr GILES: While we have been busy, paying back Labor debt, fixing deficit, and putting more money into education and health infrastructure than ever before, the Leader of the Opposition has been missing in action for a number of important occasions.
I remember when the faceless men and women of the union movement were moving against the member for Karama when she was the Leader of the Opposition. Where was the Leader of the Opposition? He was interstate hiding again, missing in action. Where was the Opposition Leader when the Territory Labor executive disendorsed the then Leader of the Opposition, the member for Karama? He happened to be out bush. Where is he now for the debate about the moratorium? Is he answering serious questions about the gas, horticultural, trucking industry or cattle moratoriums? He is missing in action.
Leader of the Opposition, I challenge you to a series of debates on the economy, in public, televised. You can outline your wrecking-ball approach to the Territory economy and I will outline the Country Liberals’ approach to building a sustainable economy in the Northern Territory, one that fills jobs, not destroys them.
Make no mistake, the Opposition Leader is continually missing in action, except for his wrecking-ball approach to the Territory economy.
Education Funding
Ms MANISON to MINISTER for EDUCATION
Yesterday you said that education funding to our schools has no correlation to outcomes. This is in direct contradiction to your government’s submission to the Senate Select Committee on School Funding Investment, which said:
- Any reduction in funding is likely to have a more significant effect on education service delivery in the Northern Territory than in other jurisdictions, due to limited economies of scale, dispersion and the extent of disadvantage.
It went on to say:
- … every additional dollar is critical to closing the gap in Indigenous disadvantage in remote areas.
Will you now admit that your cuts to education impact on the quality of education and outcomes, as outlined in your government’s submission?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I wish the member for Wanguri would listen to some of the debates in the Chamber. We discussed the Senate inquiry very openly yesterday. It is true that dollars matter, but it is more about how the money is spent. It is the wisdom we spoke of yesterday of how money is spent. You cannot walk into a school and flutter money around like confetti, as the former Labor government did. You target how that money will be used.
We have taken the focus away from the confetti you used to throw around, and we are focusing on results. That is what is important and what the Labor opposition fails to understand. Yes, money is important, but if it is not spent wisely it can be wasted.
Ms Fyles interjecting.
Mr CHANDLER: Back to the Senate inquiry, if the honourable member would like to listen. The Senate inquiry was looking at scenarios and what would happen if these kinds of cuts were to occur. We need to give an answer. If that kind of money was taken away from the Northern Territory, around $20m a year, it could equate to 200 teachers in the Northern Territory. It is speculative.
The former agreement I had with Christopher Pyne, the then Minister for Education, was for a four-year deal that the Territory benefitted from by an extra $272m by not signing up to the Gonski deal. We gained an additional $272m because of good negotiations and relationships with the federal government. Had we listened to this mob over here, the coffers in the Northern Territory would have been short by around $272m in education.
The current funding agreement lasts all this year and next year. Until the end of 2017 we will be in the current funding agreement. At the moment we are negotiating the agreement from 2018 onwards. The Senate inquiry is looking at what impacts could occur if money was taken out of the budget. I have it on the record from Senator Birmingham, the current Education minister, that he has no intention of taking money away from the Northern Territory. He will be giving us more money.
He was on record – if you happened to listen to radio this, morning member for Karama. There is a promise from the federal government for more money into the Northern Territory because they understand the importance of their support of the Northern Territory government in the education space.
SUPPLEMENTARY QUESTION
Education Funding
Education Funding
Ms MANISON to MINISTER for EDUCATION
I hope we see confirmation of further funding secured for the Northern Territory from the Commonwealth. Can you guarantee we will have additional Commonwealth funding? How did it go trying to negotiate with the Commonwealth for more money when the CLP government has continually cut funding to public education?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, through very good negotiations we were able to secure a very good deal with the federal government, and I thank them for that. The reality is that the Northern Territory government relies heavily on federal funding. If a Labor government takes over in the future it will want a whole lot more. If you cut all the things you say you will from our economy you will want more money from the federal government because you will not be able to generate money in the Territory.
We want to look at natural resources and how we can grow the Territory. The Chief Minister has already said that royalties from any onshore gas production will go into education. Where does that come from if this mob, with its wrecking-ball approach, wants to destroy our economy? Where do the jobs for the kids we are educating today come from if we have …
Madam SPEAKER: Minister, your time has expired.
Infrastructure Development Fund –
Investment Manager
Investment Manager
Mrs FINOCCHIARO to TREASURER
Can you please inform the House who has been selected as the investment manager for the Northern Territory Infrastructure Development Fund, and explain how important this fund will be for the future development of the Northern Territory?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Drysdale for her wonderful question. Members will be aware that in the last budget we announced the creation of the Infrastructure Development Fund. We have seeded that with $200m from the sale of TIO. The view is that the fund will leverage the government’s money and raise another $800m from Australian and international investors, giving the fund a pool of about $1bn. That should see $3bn of infrastructure investment in the Northern Territory over the coming years.
It is a down payment on our future. As part of having an Infrastructure Development Fund we had to find an investment fund manager. I am pleased to inform the House that six applications were lodged as part of an expression of interest process, and I can announce today that the Infrastructure Capital Group has been chosen from the six expressions of interest. ICG was selected over five other contenders due to its experience in developing infrastructure assets.
The Infrastructure Capital Group is an independent Australian infrastructure funds management business with over 15 years of experience and it has a successful track record in infrastructure investment. It targets the mid-market range infrastructure sector. It is owned and led by some of Australia’s most experienced infrastructure investors and operators, like Mike Fitzpatrick – many people know he is the chair of the AFL – along with John Clarke and Andrew Pickering.
It is a 100% staff-owned business. They are all committed to the business, and I am pleased to say they were here this morning and they met with a number of colleagues. They met with the Opposition Leader and the Independent member for Nelson. It is fantastic to have this fund manager appointed, and I expect over the coming months and years we will see this develop into a serious fund that invests money in the Territory.
I thank the opposition for its bipartisan support of the Infrastructure Development Fund. These funds need bipartisan support if they are to last the test of time. It is a fantastic initiative for the Northern Territory and we will see large amounts of private sector money invested into the future of the Territory.
Education – Early Years
Mr GUNNER to MINISTER for EDUCATION
Your early years plan, announced yesterday, has no new initiatives, funding or vision. It will not make a dent in the high number of Territory children classified as vulnerable in the five domains of the early childhood development census. A declining number of remote children are attending preschool and almost 10 000 child protection notifications are not triggering a support response from government.
Will you adopt Labor’s policy to make early childhood development the focus of government, with a dedicated children’s minister, by expanding the number of nurse visits to parents, making sure more women receive antenatal services, investing in NGOs to provide support services for vulnerable families identified in child protection, and making sure every child is school ready by day one, Term 1, Year 1?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I guarantee I will never do anything that Labor says it will do in education policy. We have seen the results. I will not take a Gunner-ball approach to education, which you want to take to everything. It sounds like an all-day sucker, doesn’t it, a Gunner-ball.
The earlier we can intervene in providing a solid platform for any child, whether they are in remote or urban schools – it is the best possible thing we can do. On top of having the best student-to-teacher ratios in the country, we invested heavily in the early years program. We are investing more in Families as First Teachers, which is showing tremendous …
Ms Walker: A great Labor program.
Mr CHANDLER: Whoa! Hang on a minute. You did not design that one; it was not the Northern Territory Labor Party’s policy. Let us get this right; it was not your policy or design, but it is something that works extremely well and we are investing heavily in. We know the earlier we can intervene the more solid the foundation we can provide.
Unlike the former Labor government, we had the courage to lift the rock and look under it to see how bad some of the conditions and results in remote communities were. We have reintroduced early childhood testing for health and other checks to ensure they are not missing out on vital information in their early years. We know that a healthy child has far more chance of succeeding in early education and that in the year leading up to preschool, children can grow as much as four to six years in development. In fact, the same amount of development they can get in an entire primary school education, experts tell us they can acquire in 12 to 18 months before they go into preschool.
We know how important it is, which is why the policy we have released will deal with many of the issues we see across the Northern Territory. We have re-based education in the Northern Territory. I guarantee you that in all negotiations I have had with the federal government it has had faith that in the Northern Territory we will not waste any money it might give us because we have a different, far better system today. Our results are improving and are far better than we ever got under 12 years of a Labor government in the Northern Territory; that is a fact.
Education – Achievements for NT Children
Mr CONLAN to MINISTER for EDUCATION
Can the minister update the House on what the Country Liberal government is achieving for children across the Northern Territory? The House will be very interested to hear the answer.
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, if we had listened to Labor, followed their advice and signed up to Gonski, which was the wrong model for the Northern Territory, we would have sold ourselves short by $272m. We receive $505.9m over four years under the agreement we signed with the federal government under the former minister, Christopher Pyne, which is $272m more than we received under the previous agreement.
Who signed up to the previous agreement? The former Labor government. Through good negotiation and by not signing up to the Gonski deal, the Northern Territory received $272m more than we would have had we …
Mr McCARTHY: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Standing Order 110: relevance. The minister has already said it is not about money.
Madam SPEAKER: That is not a point of order.
Mr CHANDLER: We have invested in infrastructure. We put $12.4m into the new Northern Territory Open Education Centre, which is due to open in a few months; $31m into Henbury School, a fantastic initiative – you were in government for 12 years and you did not build a new Henbury School – $21m into a new special needs school in Palmerston, due to open in September; and $10m into refurbishments, new classrooms and school facilities were constructed in Darwin, Maningrida, Galiwinku, Batchelor, Borroloola and Palmerston. There is a new $4m preschool at Braitling Primary School, a $5.5m Child and Family Centre at Larapinta Primary School, and a new music school.
There is $68.5m going into schools across the Northern Territory for things they need now: extra classrooms to increase the capacity of Territory schools; multipurpose learning areas; improved sporting facilities; water and mechanical upgrades; new preschools and early learning facilities; kiss and go areas for safe student drop offs; playgrounds, and the list goes on.
Not only are we stimulating the economy, we are putting vital infrastructure into education because we have a growing system that Territorians can have confidence in, far more confidence than what they could have in a bloated system under the former Labor government. Labor seems to have this self-righteous belief that it owns education, which, based on our results, is wrong. On our results alone, we own education.
Darwin River Dam –
Effects of Low Water Level
Effects of Low Water Level
Mr WOOD to MINISTER for LAND RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Darwin River Dam is 8% below its level this time last year and the level has already started to fall. In the first three months of this year we received 551 mL compared to the average of 1103 mL. As well, anecdotal evidence in the rural area shows that the water table is lower than usual.
Are you preparing for water restrictions this year? Are you prepared to reduce extraction entitlements from Power and Water Corporation bores in the Howard East Aquifer to protect domestic bores in the area which are relied on by locals for their water supply?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for his question. Yes, there has been less than average rainfall in the last few years. The Darwin River Dam catchment received reasonable rain this year; however, the dam is still running at about 90%.
Power and Water has strategies in place for when we have less than average rainfall occurrences. In regard to whether there are plans to restrict the water available to Power and Water from its bores, everyone works to an 80:20 rule and Power and Water is no different. The amount of water allocated to Power and Water licences in the Howard East Aquifer is based on that 80:20 rule. The amount it is given is a maximum amount of water, and once the review of rainfall for the last Wet Season is completed, its allocation will be announced, adjusted under the 80:20.
Much of this information is already available on the Internet site. In December last year there were two new licences – it may have been four – for Power and Water, and these conditions are quite clearly laid out.
I mentioned yesterday that there are 7500 bores, and I mentioned the exemption. These bores are not licensed. The bores are rated as pumping less than 15 L a second, and there is no way we could restrict those. All we can do is ask people to be more conscious of the amount of water they are using.
Power and Water does a great job in this area, and tells people to use water rationally. In my area you can tell when bores are on if they have a pressure release, and quite often bores are on 24 hours a day. These are the rural people who are complaining about the lack of water. I ask that they be a little more responsible in their use of water in that area.
Buy Local Plan – Interstate Contractors
Mr GUNNER to MINISTER for BUSINESS
Your Buy Local policies are failing and you are destroying jobs in the Territory. Steel fabrication for the Nhulunbuy boarding school, the netball courts in Alice Springs and the BMX bike track went interstate. We have now been advised that you gave a grant to the Darwin Bowls and Social Club, and the steel work on that has gone interstate also.
How many more jobs will you send interstate? Ahead of your crisis meeting with steel fabricators this Friday, will you commit to supporting Labor’s plan, which industry supports? Will you support Labor’s plan to apply the 25% local content weighting beyond the head contractor, and will you require all recipients of capital grants to apply the same rules?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I sincerely thank the Leader of the Opposition for the opportunity to explain how clueless he is in relation to this industry.
You will not read the Hawke report on fracking or any of our policies and you do not know what you are talking about. Let me tell you what happens with grants. You already know that when we give a grant of 10%, 20% or 30% to an organisation, we cannot dictate to them that they use local businesses, but we are looking at that; we took that on board from industry.
We have a tender process where you buy local. If you have a business here and you say, ‘I want to use Billy Bloggs, Jane and Mary for this’, and I put that into the tender and you win it, those conditions are written into the contract. If you say in your tender document that you will use local people, it is transferred into the contract. If you do not use local people, you breach the contract. It is that simple.
If you are in private enterprise and say …
Mr Gunner: So you are admitting to the loophole?
Mr STYLES: There is no loophole. You have to read what is in there.
You are talking about jobs. This is the man – the member for Fannie Bay – who will export 6300 jobs in the onshore gas industry interstate. This industry will create the work for the steel fabrication industry and you want to shut it down. I quote from your Labor policy:
- … Territory Labor will implement a moratorium covering all unconventional gas prospecting, exploration and extraction activities …
He will shut the industry down.
Mr GUNNER: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Standing Order 110. If he cannot answer the Buy Local question in three minutes today, how can he front a meeting on Friday to answer …
Madam SPEAKER: It is not a point of order, please sit down.
Mr STYLES: That is a clear indication of how desperate he is. He has made the wrong call and decision. He will send 6300 jobs interstate and he will kill the onshore gas industry. Already the onshore gas is what keeps these people going.
Mr Gunner: You are admitting that your stimulus package has failed.
Mr STYLES: He is so desperate – he continues to interject, trying to put everyone off their game, because he does not have any answers for the false call he has made. Then there is the member for Barkly …
Ms WALKER: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Standing Order 110: relevance. It was a very clear question. I would like to hear why the steel work for construction in my community is going interstate. He was not asked about fracking.
Mr STYLES: You have to pay attention to the situation, member for Nhulunbuy. This is about jobs for the steel construction industry. Looking at onshore gas, these people manufacture all the goods they are making for this. This is where their jobs and contracts come from.
Madam SPEAKER: Minister, your time has expired.
Health Infrastructure
Mr KURRUPUWU to MINISTER for HEALTH
Can you please update the House on this government’s plan to develop and improve the health infrastructure across the Territory?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I gleefully answer this question because it is an answer that we, as a government, must be particularly proud of. An amount of $400m has been dedicated to expenditure on the health system and infrastructure upgrades that have either been done, are under way or soon will be done, in partnership between the Northern Territory government and the Commonwealth.
I will highlight some of the jobs we are talking about, and this is setting aside the Palmerston Regional Hospital, which is also …
Ms Lawrie: You want to set that aside. You are hopeless.
Mr ELFERINK: I pick up on the interjection. I table three photographs of the Palmerston Regional Hospital, which is under construction. What did the former Labor government achieve? It achieved a compound on which it spent $300 000 for hired equipment to stand idle to convince the people of Palmerston it was doing something. What a disgrace these people across the Chamber are!
A total of $64m will be spent on the Royal Darwin Hospital alone, the very hospital they want to shut down. They want to shut it down, yet they also want to make sure I continue to spend the $64m on that hospital. It includes an eye clinic, an emergency department, hybrid operating theatres, a paediatric ward, and all sorts of things. Perhaps we should just get rid of the paediatric ward. Is that the plan they have on that side of the House?
Mr McCARTHY: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Standing Order 110: relevance. I would like to hear about the bush health clinics that are still not open.
Madam SPEAKER: That is not a point of order.
Mr ELFERINK: I am happy to get to that. Galiwinku, Numbulwar, Maningrida, Ngukurr, Robertson River, Ntaria, Docker River, Papunya, Canteen Creek, Elliott, Titjikala and Umbakumba will all soon be open or are already operating. That is the answer to that question. Katherine, $7.6m …
Mr McCARTHY: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Standing Order 110: relevance. They are not open and most are not built.
Madam SPEAKER: That is not a point of order.
Mr ELFERINK: In Katherine there is $7.6m to move the hospital. The member for Nhulunbuy will receive $7.7m in her hospital; perhaps she would argue against that.
Ms WALKER: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Standing Order 110: relevance. There was $13m coming to Gove hospital.
Madam SPEAKER: That is not a point of order. Sit down!
Mr ELFERINK: What an ungrateful lot they are. Why do they despise success and achievement? This government has backed infrastructure every step of the way, is building the Palmerston Regional Hospital and continues to build the hospital infrastructure across the Northern Territory. What we do not do is spend money on piles of bureaucrats who sit in offices and shuffle paper around. We build hospitals and clinics. We build the infrastructure for the people of the Northern Territory.
Child Protection Statistics
Ms MOSS to MINISTER for CHILDREN and FAMILIES
The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare report on child protection released today outlines that more than 50% of substantiated child protection investigations were for infants, the highest in the nation. More than 54% of child protection orders were for children aged zero to four years, again the highest in the nation. You gained 163 new foster careers but lost 136 last year. Your department stated in this report that the Northern Territory does not currently fund services defined as prevention or unification services.
This report confirms that you have not invested in early intervention and prevention services to stop children and families entering the child protection system. When will your government do the right thing and reverse cuts to NGO services in child protection?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, starting with the suggestion of cuts, we are increasing and have increased the budget substantially.
Ms Fyles: It is a national report pointing out that you are failing.
Mr ELFERINK: I pick up on the interjection. The national report, which I presume is the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare report …
Ms Moss: Yes.
Mr ELFERINK: One of the problems we have with members opposite is they struggle with some fundamentals. That report refers to 2014-15, so we are talking about something that is already historical by about 18 months to two years. They are trying to use those statistics to paint a picture. We no doubt have a problem with child protection in the Northern Territory. In the care of the Crown at the moment are over 1000 children. That is a disgrace and an indictment on all sorts of things, not least of which is some of the issues we face in remote and regional areas. That is also disgraceful. I am on the record as being critical of the circumstances that generate those outcomes.
Every time I talk about the number of children we have in child protection I am told I am stealing another generation. God, it is not true. This government has to cope with an abandoned generation, one abandoned by the parents who neglect, abuse or sexually abuse their children. All we hear from the members opposite is quotes from two-year old data which is being used as a political point scoring exercise.
We have increased funding and protection, and we continue to do so because of the influences that cause the problems in our community, not least of which is the presence of alcohol. All the measures this government has introduced will be removed by a future Labor government.
I remain highly critical of a passive welfare system which, unfortunately, contributes substantially to this problem in our community. Unfortunately the federal government, in this jurisdiction, spends millions of dollars every fortnight so this government has to spend millions of dollars cleaning up the resultant mess. All we hear from the members opposite is there is a report saying there is a problem. Yes, there is a problem, but the contribution made by other influences and factors beyond the control of this government are the things we have to cope with. We have to deal with that abandoned generation.
Should that person opposite become the next child protection minister she will be faced with exactly the same problems and will struggle for answers because she will not have the courage to place at least part of the blame where it belongs, which is on miscreant parents who do not look after their children, and neglect, abuse or sexually abuse them.
Madam SPEAKER: Minister, your time has expired.
Sport and Recreation Infrastructure
Mrs FINOCCHIARO to MINISTER for SPORT and RECREATION
Can you please update the House on the extensive infrastructure investment program the CLP government is delivering across Sport and Recreation for all Territorians?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for her question. The Sport and Rec department has a little saying we have developed of late: we do not walk at Sport and Rec. We have many building programs fixing old bits of infrastructure. We have been working on a master plan to look at the areas we need to focus on and putting money towards those things. Let’s kick this off.
The Alice Springs netball centre – $4.25m from the NT government. It was meant to be two courts, but, by George, we got four. The Alice Springs Town Council is working with us to the tune of $1.5m. NT Link, a private business, is chipping in $500 000, which is a great example of different levels of government and private enterprise working together in sport.
In motor sport – $4m for the replacement of the existing water mains system at the Hidden Valley Motor Sports Complex. There is $2m for the construction of a permanent air conditioned, glass-fronted structure. There is $1m for the lighting in the pit area, and $1.85m for infrastructure upgrades for the Alice Springs speedway and go-karts. There is $100 000 for Wi-Fi at Hidden Valley. There is $1m towards replacement of the antiquated infrastructure at Katherine Motor Sports Club. In Darwin there is $250 000 for track and facility lighting at the Top End Motocross Club.
For remote ovals, $2m was set aside and we have upgraded those ovals and put lights at Wadeye, Lajamanu and Emu Point.
Leanyer Water Park redesign and construction of the lagoon and cascade areas, more in the Hidden Valley Motor Sports Complex, realigning the electricity easement – another $3.2m.
Under capital grants there was more than $18m. Alice Springs Golf Club – $1.5m for bowling greens. Satellite City BMX – nearly $2m to get a track over it so we can get our kids to a national standard. Darwin bowls club received $1.5m to change to the synthetic surface and for a new roof cover over the green. Darwin North RSL bowls club – $500 000. Freds Pass management board – $560 000. Katherine golf club – $820 000; Livingstone – $100 000; Riding for the Disabled – $250 000. Top End Road Racing Association – $200 000. Darwin velodrome – $1.5m. Regional tennis centre – $8m. Alice Springs Karting Club – $300 000.
Madam Speaker, I have something for the Leader of the Opposition. I red card him for turning up with no policy, no plan and no ideas. We do not walk at Sport and Rec!
Single Dwelling Residential Blocks – Rezoning
Ms LAWRIE to MINISTER for LANDS and PLANNING
Your Planning Commission currently has a proposal to rezone single dwelling residential blocks across the Northern Territory ranging from 800 m2 to 1000 m2. Please provide the Assembly and the public with an exact number of how many single dwelling residential blocks of 800 m2, 900 m2, 950 m2 and 1000 m2 could be affected? This is a genuine question for information to be passed to the public that they have every right to receive from the government.
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, what a wonderful question from the member for Karama. I appreciate you asking that. It is true that the Planning Commission is consulting. No firm decisions have been made by government in relation to any of those consultations, but I encourage the Planning Commission to talk to people about dual occupancy opportunities they see in the future.
This is not the first time these questions have been asked. I have a report from 2 February 2012. I will read parts of it:
- Northern Territory’s Chief Minister, Paul Henderson, this week announced a new housing initiative as part of the Territory Government’s strategic housing package.
Under the initiative, the government is proposing to introduce a Dual Occupancy option to give owners of residential blocks of at least 1000 m2 the opportunity to build a second residential dwelling onsite to promote alternative housing options.
It went on to say:
- The proposed amendment to the NT Planning Scheme would allow dual occupancy development on land zoned SD.
Who, I have to ask, do you think the Minister for Lands and Planning was on 2 February 2012? It was none other than the member for Karama, the person who just asked that question.
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Standing Order 110: relevance. The minister was the member for Barkly. The question was very specific. Provide the numbers of lots potentially affected by subdivision and dual occupancy on 800m2, 900m2, 950m2 and 1000m2. If you do not have the answer I am happy to take that on notice.
Mr TOLLNER: Is it not ironic that the member for Karama asked this question when not more than three or four years ago she was doing exactly the same thing?
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Standing Order 110: relevance. I was not doing the same thing. This is 800m2 and above. What are the numbers?
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Karama. that is not a point of order. You made your point previously.
Mr TOLLNER: I do not know why the member for Karama would be fired up over this; it was her policy in 2012.
Madam SPEAKER: Minister, if you could get to the point of the question please.
Mr TOLLNER: I am getting to the point, Madam Speaker. It is ironic that the member for Karama asked this question. This is an idea being put forward by the Planning Commissioner and it is being consulted on with the community right now.
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Standing Order 110: relevance. It was a very specific question. You have 35 seconds left. You are the Planning minister. What are the numbers of residential single dwelling blocks of 800m2, 900m2, 950m2 and 1000m2 potentially affected?
Madam SPEAKER: You have asked the question before.
Mr TOLLNER: It would be nice to be able to get to the point without rude interjections and meaningless interruptions. This is being dealt with by the Planning Commission. It is a proposal it is putting out for consultation. There is no direction from government at this stage on whether we will allow 800m2, 1000m2, 950m2 or 1200m2 – we are consulting with the community.
Madam SPEAKER: The minister’s time has expired.
Housing – Remote
Mr KURRUPUWU to CHIEF MINISTER
The Country Liberal government has done a lot in relation to housing, and has built many new houses and has upgraded houses in my electorate. I know how important housing is to people in my community. Can the Chief Minister please outline what the government has done to date in remote housing, and what the Country Liberals will be doing to invest in housing in the future?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Arafura for his question.
Ms Fyles: Where is the minister?
Mr GILES: I heard the interjection from the member for Nightcliff. I will explain to her what happened in the four years prior to her being elected. Labor was delivering the Strategic Indigenous Housing and Infrastructure Program, something I am sure the member for Casuarina is learning much about. Labor was running a housing program across the Territory. It brought people in from interstate under its non-buy local program. It was building houses for about $1m in the bush. The program was being overseen by then minister, Chris Burns, advised by the member for Wanguri, who was the housing adviser at the time, making sure all the money was being wasted up and down the wall, and houses were not being built.
This was at the same time as the Territory intervention started. You might remember the Northern Territory intervention. It started because then Chief Minister, Clare Martin, succeeded by Paul Henderson under the Labor government, failed to address issues of child protection in the Northern Territory.
During SIHIP one of your former ministers, the member for Namatjira, walked out because you were wasting that money. At the same time you agreed to take all Aboriginal houses off Aboriginal communities …
Members interjecting.
Mr GILES: They keep talking because they do not like the message that will be delivered. They took all the houses from Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory, all 4305 of them. They proceeded to run a program of trying to build $1m houses. After hundreds of millions of dollars were spent, not one new bedroom was built. A good example is in the electorate of Barkly, where $36.5m was spent and not one new house or bedroom was built. There was an emergency in child protection and you spent $36.5m without building one bedroom or one house.
I digress. From today, 21 April, until 30 June 2018 the NT government will spend $351m on building 152 new houses, 256 replacement houses and 1150 refurbishments of up to $100 000 for houses needing extensive work.
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Standing Order 110; you have had three-and-a-half years to do that and you failed.
Mr GILES: I can look at what we have already done, whether it is Milikapiti, Minjilang, Warruwi, Galiwinku, Finke, Umbakumba, Kalkarindji, Bulman, Weemol, Kybrook Farm, Areyonga, Mount Liebig, Kintore, Nyirripi or Ampilatwatja – and that is just this year.
Madam SPEAKER: Chief Minister, your time has expired.
Political Donations – Member for Blain
Ms FYLES to MINISTER ASSISTING the TREASURER
Clause 7.2 in the Ministerial Code of Conduct requires that ministers must act honestly at all times and be truthful in their statements. You borrowed $10 000 when you sought to be elected as the member for Blain. The NT News stated:
- Mr Barrett said the terms of the loan from Mr Lewis were: ‘If you win, pay it back as soon as you can, if you don’t win, we’ll call it a day and you know, I lost 10 grand – which I thought was pretty good of him but I had actually never met him before that.
Mr ELFERINK: A point of order, Madam Speaker! It is not relevant to the minister’s ministry, which is a requirement of the question.
Madam SPEAKER: You do need to address the question to the minister that is relevant to their portfolio.
Ms FYLES: If you could let me finish my question I will …
Madam SPEAKER: No, rephrase the question.
Ms FYLES: Mr Lewis said:
- He was a candidate in the election, he was a friend of mine, he was out of wages for two months so I gave him some money to pay his house mortgage. I knew him quite well.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Nightcliff, you need to ask a question relevant to the minister’s portfolio responsibilities, which are Sport and Recreation, and youth affairs.
Ms FYLES: It is a question in relation to his portfolio as Minister Assisting the Treasurer. It is a financial question. Where did the $10 000 from the CLP’s political slush fund come from?
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, Standing Order 106(3) says:
- Questions may be put to a Minister relating to public affairs, to proceedings pending in the Assembly, or to any matter of administration for which they are responsible.
I will allow the question, but please …
Mr Tollner: What?
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Fong Lim, go to Standing Order 106 and see what it says. You might learn something.
If you could temper your question to the Minister for Sport and Recreation please. It is entirely up to the minister whether he chooses to answer the question or not, or refer it to someone else.
Ms FYLES: It is a very relevant question, Madam Speaker.
As the Minister Assisting the Treasurer, does he know the difference between a loan and a grant? Please answer the question.
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I know the difference between a loan and a grant. I am not impressed with your question, especially considering you sent me a written question, which I replied to, and you guys have already put an FOI on all the relevant information, which has come back to me. You are muckraking because you have nothing to talk about that relates to policy or anything that relates to this party.
I have some information which will be coming to you for your FOI query. I will read it into Hansard to make sure you are clear on it, member for Nightcliff.
This is from Iain Loganathan, who happens to be the guy in charge of disclosure at the Electoral Commission:
- Nathan, thanks for the e-mail. I concur with your comment that the disclosure of the loan was in accordance with the requirements of the Electoral Act. Thank you for your offer to provide further information that the terms of the loan have been complied with, but as previously advised, your previous e-mail stating you have repaid the loan suffices and I do not require any further information.
I have advised a member of your staff that this loan fully complies with the disclosure provisions of the Electoral Act.
Ms FYLES: A point of order, Madam Speaker! The last part of the question was very direct. Did the $10 000 come from the CLP political slush fund, Foundation 51?
Madam SPEAKER: That part of the question is out of order.
Mr BARRETT: Madam Speaker, now that I have answered that, there are a few things relating to policy I would like to talk about so we are not wasting everyone’s time with your muckraking.
Let us talk about the school voucher scheme, something the Country Liberal Party has done …
Ms FYLES: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Standing Order 110: relevance. If he has time to talk he can answer the question.
Mr BARRETT: Madam Speaker, the $200 Sport Voucher Scheme commenced on 1 July 2014. This year we have 296 urban activity providers registered; 30 760 vouchers were redeemed, totalling more than $3m; and 79 out of 103 remote schools are participating. The total number of vouchers in this financial year so far is 66 785; 20 191 vouchers have been redeemed in urban areas, and $1 984 252 has been paid to registered activity providers. There are 57 remote registered activity providers. More than $1m has been paid to fund 122 programs, benefitting 7531 students. What we have done on the Country Liberals side …
Ms FYLES: A point of order, Madam Speaker! With 30 seconds to go can he answer the question? Did the money come from the slush fund, Foundation 51?
Mr BARRETT: Rather than letting our staff muckrake, we on this side have our staff coming up with policies, plans and ideas to alleviate the issues they created when they were in government. We have a sports master plan; it outlines the direction we will move in for the next 10 years in the Territory. We will work towards improving women in sport, remote facilities and doing things for the benefit of the people in the Northern Territory. We will not be muckraking.
Lifestyle – Effect of Opposition Policy
Mr CONLAN to CHIEF MINISTER
The government has been pursuing its Framing the Future plan, which is based on the four pillars of prosperous economy, strong society, confident culture and balanced environment. This plan is delivering opportunities for Territorians, balancing development with our lifestyle and helping make the Territory a better place. Can the minister please advise what the Opposition Leader’s policies would mean to jobs and lifestyle in the Territory? This is a very important question for the House.
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Greatorex for his question. The Opposition Leader and the Labor policies would present a wrecking ball to many industries within the Northern Territory economy. Member for Greatorex, you know, as do I, that when we came to government, tourism was at an all-time low. You helped lift it up and it is continuing to grow. We faced enormous challenges with debt and deficit. We have had to pay back Labor’s debt and fix the budget, and now we have money going in the right direction.
We heard from the Sports minister about the sports infrastructure we have been investing in. We have the biggest education budget we have ever had. Every school in the Northern Territory is being invested in to make sure the infrastructure is there for our kids. Our hospitals are getting the best level of infrastructure investment they have ever had, whether it is Alice Springs Hospital, Royal Darwin Hospital getting $64m worth of investment, the brand-new hospital at Palmerston being built or the new ambulance centre at Katherine that will soon be built.
In horticulture, the cattle industry and the gas industry, Labor will, from a policy point of view, be a wrecking ball, and I know why. The Leader of the Opposition does not have any credentials or experience. He was not good enough to be a minister under the last government. This is a member of parliament has never had a real job. The Leader of the Opposition who has never had a real job.
If you want to talk about grants and loans, let us look at the pathway of the Leader of the Opposition. It was from school to uni to unions and then into the Labor Party. What union was that, the MWU? Are they the people who provided $130 000 to the NT Labor Party? Is that who you will be listening to should you form government, Leader of the Opposition?
What would Labor do to the Territory economy? Tourism, horticulture, agriculture and the gas industry would be gone. Labor would run a wrecking ball through the economy.
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Standing order 110: relevance. We have all seen the polls. The CLP will be wiped out. Will you stop trashing the Territory on the way out?
Madam SPEAKER: It is not a point of order; sit down.
Mr GILES: Our economic approach to the Northern Territory is growing the Northern Territory. We have the second-highest growth rate, the lowest unemployment rate and the greatest level of prospectivity for northern Australia and Australia.
On 27 August you can vote for a strong economy or a wrecking ball for the Northern Territory.
Madam SPEAKER: Chief Minister, your time has expired.
Mr ELFERINK (Leader of Government Business): Madam Speaker, I ask that further questions by placed on the Written Question Paper.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016