2012-11-28
Mini-Budget –
Motor Vehicle Registrations
Ms LAWRIE to MINISTER for TRANSPORT referred to TREASURER
Will you increase motor vehicle registration by 15% in the mini-budget next week?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the Leader of the Opposition for her question. This reminds me of the first Question Time when the shadow minister for Transport and Infrastructure asked some fanciful questions about the Infrastructure department. He was leading up the wrong garden path and I corrected him. He has not said anything to the contrary yet, but I also know he has been lodging written questions about our portfolios and how the public service numbers work. This is the popular strategy.
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Relevance: it is a yes or no answer. Will you hike up motor vehicle registrations by 15% in the mini-budget next week?
Mr GILES: Thank you very much Opposition Leader, we are moving from one popular strategy of public servants to the next popular strategy of Power and Water and now you are moving onto registrations. As you know, the Treasurer will table a mini-budget next week.
As you would well know - it has only been a short time since you have been out of government - registrations are a taxation matter and are not a matter for the Transport minister. I am happy to hand that question over to the Treasurer. You have walked in here before with some of these scurrilous little complaints, running popular strategies from public servant numbers to Power and Water, and now you are talking about registrations.
Mrs LAMBLEY (Treasurer): The mini-budget will be handed down next Tuesday. The opposition will have to wait.
SUPPLEMENTARY QUESTION
Mini-Budget - Motor Vehicle Registrations
Mini-Budget - Motor Vehicle Registrations
Ms LAWRIE to TREASURER
You are not ruling out that you will hike up motor vehicle registration next week. How much will you slug Territorians for motor vehicle registration in your mini-budget next week? Come clean for Territorians.
ANSWER
The Leader of the Opposition will have to wait until next week when I release all details in the mini-budget.
Government Assets –
Repairs and Maintenance
Repairs and Maintenance
Mr HIGGINS to CHIEF MINISTER
Can you tell the House what provisions have been made for the Northern Territory government’s repairs and maintenance needs for the billions of dollars worth of government assets?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Daly for his very important question. The Northern Territory does own billions of dollars worth of assets, which are vital in supporting Territorians in providing educational opportunities or even health services. The repair and maintenance of these assets also provides jobs for a very large number of people such as plumbers who live in the suburbs and fix toilets in schools, carpenters who specialise in fixing or replacing doors and windows in office blocks, and electricians who work to fix power points in our hospitals and other public amenities. All these tradespeople or small businesses represent the heart and soul of our Territory community and they are reliant upon repairing and maintaining these assets to support themselves and their families, and support the Territory.
Any small business operator or homeowner understands that our assets, whether they are houses, roads, fridges, air conditioners, multistorey buildings or electrical systems, all need to have money spent on them for repairs and maintenance over their lifetime. When those small businesses and families do their budgets, as we all need to, they make provision for the cost of those repairs and maintenance. They realise they must provide for this expenditure.
When businesses are in trouble one of the first areas they sacrifice for the sake of cash flow is repairs and maintenance. This is not rocket science, neither is it innovative. This is a time-honoured method of buying time when you are in financial difficulty. Every government which has collapsed under the mountains of debt has had a history of cutting essential maintenance expenditure, and the same applies to those big corporations which have failed financially.
Sadly, this is a story of the former Labor government - debt soaring, cash flow falling, the moneylenders pouring over our books checking our credit levels. It did not believe in providing money responsibly for essential programs. They were the martyrs of, ‘the cheque is in the mail’.
My government has inherited a legacy of massive non-provision of monies for a range of programs, one of which is adequate repairs and maintenance of government assets. As a result of finding examples of Labor’s waste and mismanagement in every nook and cranny of government it is not possible to address this shortfall immediately.
What my government can and will do is start to increase the R&M budget year-on-year so we maintain government assets to the standard expected by Territorians, as well as support Territory families through creating more jobs. The government will provide an extra $10m in 2012-13, $20m in 2013-14, $30m in 2014-15, and $40 in 2015-16 for this important work. That is a total of $100m.
Madam SPEAKER: Chief Minister, your time has expired.
Mini-Budget –
Increases in Costs for Families
Increases in Costs for Families
Ms LAWRIE to CHIEF MINISTER
Your power and water increases are pushing families to the brink. Do you guarantee you will not increase any further costs for families in the mini-budget next week?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the Leader of the Opposition for her question. You are relentless, Opposition Leader, and you know the facts. You know them more than anybody, and it is so telling when you were pushed with an honest question by the media on Friday, ‘Would you reduce the tariffs if you were the Chief Minister?’. Squib, squib, ‘I will have to check the books.’ You know the books! You know the facts. You know the reality. You know the serious challenge the Territory faces.
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker!
Mr MILLS: Yes, I will answer your question. There is a mini-budget next week, wait to see.
Three-hub Economy –
Infrastructure Support
Infrastructure Support
Ms LEE to MINISTER for INFRASTRUCTURE
Can you update the House on your role and that of the Department of Infrastructure in building vital infrastructure to support the three-hub economy? Are you aware of any threats to this role?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Arnhem for her question. Like many new members in this Chamber, or new ministers, I was very excited to take on this role, turning up on the first day being a minister, and then turning up for the first day of parliament. I slicked back the hair, shined the shoes, got the train tracks out of the shirt. I was really pumped and excited. We made a commitment to Territorians that we would build the Territory. We have our three-hub economy. We want to build roads and bridges, get tourism going, and agriculture and horticulture to thrive and move forward. We want all these things to happen.
You asked a very important question about whether I am aware of any threats to this role and my role as the Minister for Transport and Infrastructure? I am aware of some serious threats, member for Arnhem. I am aware of the legacy left behind by Labor, the legacy of debt, deficit, deceit, waste and the list goes on. I am running around with a little brush trying to sweep things up and clean up all Labor’s mess.
One of the very sad pieces of waste and debt and mismanagement I am chasing up which stops me from building as many roads and bridges as I want, particularly in your electorate, member for Arnhem, is the asset management system, a system originally supposed to cost $19.73m. Unfortunately, it has already cost in the order of $30m. That is $10m over budget, member for Arnhem. However, the problem gets worse. The new fire and police station at Berrimah is a $10m facility. We could have built one in Arnhem, Greatorex, Namatjira or Fong Lim. We could have had better infrastructure around the Territory. It is an excellent asset but, unfortunately ...
Mr GUNNER: A point of order, Madam Speaker! The minister has not touched upon the contractual dispute between Fujitsu and government. He might need to be careful about his answer.
Madam SPEAKER: Thank you, member for Fannie Bay. Minister, you have the call.
Mr GILES: Member for Arnhem, the $10m could have gone a long way to building the infrastructure we need to support our three-hub economy. However, I am advised that not only have we spent $30m - $10m more than the budget - we now need another $40m to get AMS working. This is Labor mismanagement.
What could you do with $40m in your electorate? You could build two bridges at Ngukurr. Member for Arnhem, you could build a bridge over Cahill’s Crossing, you could fix the Plenty Highway, you could do work in the Tanami, you could fully duplicate Vanderlin Drive ...
Mr GUNNER: A point of order, Madam Speaker!
Mr GILES: There is so much we could do, but Labor’s mismanagement of that $40m ...
Madam SPEAKER: Minister, please be seated.
Mr GUNNER: The minister has not touched upon the Fujitsu contract and might need to be careful how he answers that question because of the contractual dispute between government and Fujitsu.
Madam SPEAKER: Please be seated, there is no point of order.
Mr ELFERINK: A point of order, Madam Speaker! These points of order are deliberately designed to chew up ministers’ answers. I put the opposition on notice that if they persist, we will bring a motion into this House to give ministers unlimited time to answer the questions.
Ms Lawrie: Why don’t you gag Question Time altogether?
Mr ELFERINK: Okay. You are on notice.
Madam SPEAKER: Please be seated, Leader of Government Business.
Mr GILES: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Do I have an opportunity to use my last 15 seconds which was wasted through a point of order?
Madam SPEAKER: No, please be seated.
Mini-Budget –
Effect on Schools of Power and Water Tariff Increases
Effect on Schools of Power and Water Tariff Increases
Mr GUNNER to TREASURER
How much funding have you included in your mini-budget next week to compensate all schools to ensure that none of them suffer from your price rise hike?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, thank you to the member for Fannie Bay for his question. These price hikes will affect everyone in the community. The tariff increases which will come into effect from 1 January next year will, indeed, have a very profound impact on schools that have already tight budgets. That is why we have chosen to subsidise the public schools system. Instead of a 30% increase in electricity bills, we will reduce that to 15%, effectively, by the use of significant subsidies.
Yes, schools will be impacted across the Northern Territory. We do not have any solutions or mechanisms by which we can further assist schools to manage these further imposts on their budget. As we said yesterday morning, we reluctantly increased these tariffs and, at the end of the day, you can blame the former Labor government for these increases.
We hope to work with schools in reducing their consumption of water and electricity in order to somehow manage their way through these difficult times.
Asset Management System –
Cost Blowouts
Cost Blowouts
Ms FINOCCHIARO to MINISTER for INFRASTRUCTURE
In his previous answer, the minister described the major budget blowout with the Asset Management System project delivery. Can he inform the House on when AMS was supposed to be operational and where the cost blowouts occurred?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Drysdale for the question.
I know you are very interested in this subject because you want to see bigger investment in your electorate of Drysdale. It is very hard when we are dealing with government waste, debt and mismanagement. However, I am very happy to give you a time line of how things happened so you can get to the bottom of it.
Let me explain, member for Drysdale. The AMS project began in 2007. It was designed to replace individual departmental asset management systems for a whole-of-government asset management approach. The project was scoped and estimated by the Labor government at $14m. Tenders were called in 2008, they came in for $27.3m.
You would have thought the alarm bells would start to ring when you thought it was going to cost $14m, and the tenders came in at $27.3m. However, alarm bells were not heard by the former Treasurer, the now Leader of the Opposition, or the former Minister for Transport and Infrastructure. Instead, they negotiated the price down to $19.73m - $19.73m on a price that had come in at $27.3m.
The only thing that had been achieved in the 2007-08 tender process until November 2011 was that budget blowout which we know reached $30m.
The system was not made to go live until April 2012. That is when it was fully switched on, in full knowledge that the system was not working. Unfortunately, when they turned AMS on they turned all the other legacy systems - the old systems - off. So we were put in an all or nothing situation by the time of the changeover.
By October 2012 the investment had reached $26.2m, which is up substantially from the original estimate of $14m. Now we are told we will need an extra $40m to start to fix this - so we are up to $30m and now we need another $40m for something that was supposed to cost $14m. Currently just, for your interest member for Drysdale, the system is operating at 11%.
Rents are disappearing, contractors’ details are being strewn all over the Territory, nothing seems to be working with AMS, and I am very happy to have lumbered on my shoulders an AMS system that is not quite working. This shows the cavalier approach by the previous Labor government.
This was failing, they knew it was failing. They were not in control of it, it lacked leadership, throwing good money after bad, and now we are looking at a $70m project and we still do not know if it will work because of the design concept right from the start. It is a significant failure.
When the former Treasurer, the Leader of the Opposition, starts asking us about budgets, let me tell you that I have to put $40m into something we cannot even see, on a project plan you designed that has failed more than doubly to date and is operating at 11%. It is a complete sham and I would rather be building the duplication of Vanderlin Drive, working on Lee Point Road, or fixing our other major infrastructure components of the Northern Territory.
Mini-Budget –
Private School Fees
Private School Fees
Mr GUNNER to TREASURER
Many families send their children to private schools, not because they are rich but because of faith. How much is in your mini-budget to ensure that no private school has to hike up their fees as a result of your power and water bills?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Fannie Bay for his question. We will be providing no subsidies for any private enterprise in the Northern Territory when it comes to these tariff increases.
Asset Management System Conclusion
Mrs PRICE to MINISTER for INFRASTRUCTURE
Through his previous answers to questions the minister has detailed significant mismanagement and budget blowouts associated with the Asset Management System project. Can the minister reveal what will be required to bring this delay and expensive project to conclusion?
ANSWER
Thank you very much, member for Stuart, another very good question. The short answer is: leadership. That is what is required to get on top of AMS to find out what on earth has gone wrong.
We have been in this job now for 13/14 weeks and trying to get a grasp on AMS is difficult. Yesterday I tasked the department to come to me with every invoice that has ever been spent on AMS to fiind out exactly what we have purchased to date.
Now I am sitting here today after Question Time going through line-by-line, finding out where all our money has gone and I want to send a clear message to the department in response to this. This is about providing solutions for the Northern Territory.
In my time as minister in coming into government, and based on evidence from the opposition role, there is one thing missing from government and that is customer service. There is no customer service throughout the Territory.
People are not responding to issues of constituents, contractors or ministers, and as the minister who is now in charge of infrastructure, responsible for AMS, this is about putting leadership in place and taking control of a defunct system that is not producing what it was designed to produce, even when it was scoped at $14m or when it came in at $27m, or at $19m, or $30m or the extra $40m that is required.
Someone has to take control of this. It is our job to take control of it, and my job as the minister. Labor had no hands-on approach with AMS. That $40m could go a long way towards building our three-hub economy in the Northern Territory. Let me go through a few things we could do with $40m.
We could fund 17 Arafura Games; we could turn off one thousand blocks of land; we could build a new car park for Royal Darwin Hospital, Minister for Health; we could build a new high school and have change in our back pocket; we could build a state-of-the-art football stadium; full duplication of Vanderlin Drive; seal 80 km of the Tanami Highway, and I know the member for Stuart would be happy with that; 25 new cyclone shelters, a new bridge over Rapid Creek; seal 75 km on the central Arnhem Road; two high-level bridges over the Walton and Roper Rivers; 150 km of cycle paths - because we know cycling in the Northern Territory has the highest per capita rate in all of Australia. I could go on; a bridge over the East Alligator River - and I am sure the member for Arafura would be happy with that - sealing Fogg Bay all the way to Dundee; 11 new bus routes; upgrade every bus stop so it complied with the Disability Discrimination Act.
Madam Speaker, $40m could go a long way in the Territory but I am left with this basket case AMS, trying to fund it from money that we do not have because Labor left us with a big black hole. It is a perilous situation and I think you guys should hang your heads in shame for not being in charge of this.
To answer the question from the member for Stuart, the answer is one word: leadership. It is getting control of what has been going on, providing solutions, getting our hands dirty and fixing this problem that Labor has left us with.
Mini-Budget –
Independent Schools and Free Public Bus Service
Independent Schools and Free Public Bus Service
Mr WOOD to TREASURER
I was going to ask a question of the Chief Minister but the previous answer from the Treasurer concerned me. Treasurer, am I right in saying you will not help subsidise independent schools as you will for government schools, and if that is the case, are you going to refuse children who are going to private schools - independent schools - the right to use the free public bus service?
ANSWER
I thank the member for Nelson for his question. The government’s mini-budget review will provide $2.3m in 2012-13 and $4.7m ongoing to offset the increased costs of electricity, water and sewerage tariffs in government schools. Currently, across all NT government schools, the essential services grant budget is adequate to cover utility services at the pre-increased tariff rate …
Mr WOOD: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Relevance. The question is, was I hearing things when the minister said they will not give subsidies to schools that are independent, and does that mean that the children who go to private schools who use the public bus service will not be allowed to use the public bus service anymore?
Mrs LAMBLEY: I do not quite see the correlation between the tariff increases and bus fares. We will not be subsidising non-government schools for these tariff increases. They are privately operated and run, and like any private business these tariffs will have to be absorbed into the business plans and business mechanisms currently in place. This is a very difficult decision from this government. We know it is going to be painful. We have discussed it at length already in this sittings of parliament. We do not have …
Members interjecting
Mr Henderson: They are not rich schools.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Member for Wanguri. Continue, minister.
Mrs LAMBLEY: … and as regards increases to bus fares, the member for Nelson will have to wait until the mini-budget next week for any explanation of any increase in any revenue because that will be contained in the budget.
Mini-Budget –
Renal Dialysis and Impact of Price Increases
Renal Dialysis and Impact of Price Increases
Mr VATSKALIS to TREASURER
As you are aware, renal dialysis is very power intensive. How much more money have you allocated in your mini-budget to fund the electricity price hike or are you going to request the renal dialysis clinic to treat fewer people in order to cope with your price hike?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Casuarina. Once again, these increases in tariffs will be absorbed within the budgets of every government service or agency that is affected. We are all affected by these tariff increases. Obviously, the health and wellbeing of people who are sick and require treatment is of absolute priority for this government, for any government.
To assert that we do not care because we are increasing the cost of electricity, sewerage and power is false. May I remind the former government that they presided over the highest rentals in the country? Over the last 11 years the former government subjected the people of the Northern Territory to the highest rentals in the country. In the September 2012 quarter, renting a house in Darwin ...
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Relevance. The question was about whether they are increasing funding in terms of renal services to cover the cost of the price hikes. It has nothing at all to do with rentals.
Madam SPEAKER: Thank you, Opposition Leader.
Mrs LAMBLEY: Madam Speaker, it is all about the cost of living. It is all about the impost of things like rentals, and electricity prices and sewerage prices.
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! It was a very specific question with no preamble. It was about renal services and whether or not additional funding would be allocated to cater for the increase in price costs in renal services.
Madam SPEAKER: Treasurer, please come to the point.
Mrs LAMBLEY: Madam Speaker, people who receive renal dialysis treatment also pay rent and have been subjected to extraordinarily high rents over the last 11 years thanks to the former government. When you look at how these people cope in the community, their access to services, their lifestyle, their quality of living, let us look at the full picture. It is not just about an increase in power that will affect the quality of life of renal dialysis patients. It is about the rents they pay and, once again, you can thank the former government for that.
Department of Health Budget –
Impact of Lack of Action
Impact of Lack of Action
Mr STYLES to MINISTER for HEALTH
Could you please advice the House of the ongoing impact of the Department of Health budget due to the lack of action of the former Labor government?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Sanderson for his question. It is interesting that yesterday I announced some of the largest health reforms ever in the Northern Territory’s history yet there is not one question from the opposition on those reforms. So I thank the member for Sanderson for the question.
The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare recently announced figures in relation to the level of funding the Northern Territory receives from the Australian government in relation to health. It is quite interesting because around the country the Commonwealth funds state and territory governments for health services and they average around 62% of health budgets. We in the Northern Territory receive 43% of our budget from the Commonwealth government. If we were brought up to the national average, that difference would equate to something like $600m more going into our health budget.
Clearly, the Northern Territory has the sickest people in the nation by a factor of two. We have the most people living in the remotest areas, the most poverty - all of those dreadful statistics - yet we are funded much lower than the national average, something like $600m a year. And what do we hear from the former Labor government on this matter of funding? Absolutely nothing. I did not hear a peep in the entire term from the former Labor government about the disgusting level of Commonwealth funding we receive in the Northern Territory. It is not hard to understand why ...
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! He is misleading parliament. I made many speeches about Tony Abbott slashing health funding in the Northern Territory.
Mr ELFERINK: A point of order, Madam Speaker! I ask the Leader of the Opposition to withdraw the allegation or proceed by way of substantive motion. She said the Health minister was misleading parliament. That is unparliamentary and she should withdraw it.
Madam SPEAKER: Opposition Leader, withdraw misleading.
Ms LAWRIE: I withdraw. He is making it up again.
Mr TOLLNER: The fact is the former Territory government never stood up for Territorians. It never stood up for Territorians in relation to the carbon tax or when McArthur River Mine was under threat. You never stood up for Territorians with the live cattle export dispute. You are simply puppets for federal Labor. You are a shame and you are disgusting.
Madam SPEAKER: Minister, sit down!
Low Income Earners –
Government Assistance
Government Assistance
Ms FYLES to TREASURER
Susan Penfold from St Vincent De Paul said on ABC:
- It is going to have a major effect on our low income earners. We have a lot of people who use our services and request Power and Water vouchers and rental assistance and we expect that to actually rise with these increases.
Will your mini-budget increase funding for Power and Water vouchers and rental assistance? Will you increase the grace period before you cut off people’s power, and will you allow four agreements to pay each year?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Nightcliff for her question. Our aim is to assist low income earners in every way we can to get through these difficult times. The Power and Water Corporation has provided an updated website in which people can access information around how they can make water and electricity savings, there is an audit on offer they can do online as to how they can reduce their bills. Organisations such as St Vincent de Paul will be at the coalface of hearing from and helping people who are really finding it difficult to pay these increased tariffs. We will assist these organisations in any way we can to get through these difficult times.
Highlighting the potential pain and suffering these tariff increases are going to bring to Territorians is, obviously, the role of the opposition. They are doing a great job. I just wonder if continuing to create hysteria, worry, and anxiety is the way to go. The message we are getting from people in the community is yes, they understand these price hikes were and are necessary. They understand these hikes are due to the mismanagement of the former government and, in the long run, they will be able to cope and get on top of these bills because they have faith in this government that, in the long run, we will reduce the cost of living …
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! It was St Vincent de Paul, the question was quite specific. I go to relevance here. Will you increase funding in the mini-budget?
Madam SPEAKER: Please be seated. Treasurer, you have the call.
Mrs LAMBLEY: The contents of the mini-budget will be revealed in parliament next Tuesday, 4 December.
However, continuing on what I was saying, we will work with these organisations and assist people who are in need in every way we can. We just hope people can bear with us because, in the long run, this government is committed to lowering the price of rental accommodation in the Northern Territory through land release, increasing the stock of affordable housing by 2000 during our term of government. We have plans afoot to offset these increases.
Medi-Hotel Concept
Mr KURRUPUWU to MINISTER for HEALTH
Can the minister please explain the concept of a medi-hotel and how it operates?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Arafura. It is a good question, member for Arafura, because many people do not understand what a medi-hotel is. Let me explain to you exactly what a medi-hotel is.
A medi-hotel is accommodation for people accessing health and hospital services from outside of town. It is for people still requiring some medical care who are not sick enough to be in hospital. It is also a hotel for long-grassers without a home, and for relatives and escorts of people in hospital. It all sounds quite wonderful.
The concept of a medi-hotel is a great idea. It should house as many patients as possible. It should house as many of their relatives as possible. It should house as many long-grassers as possible. It is something that we all want to do.
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Opposition Leader!
Mr TOLLNER: The former government actually had one built by the Commonwealth. They stuck their hand out and accepted their $18.6m for the medi-hotel at Royal Darwin Hospital. It has been constructed. The only problem we find now we are in government is that there is no money to run this medi-hotel. The former government said they would just pull it out of the normal day-to-day expenses of the Health department. The problem, of course, is the Health department has always been deficit-funded; there has never been money in the bank to run a medi-hotel.
Some tough decisions are being made about what to do with that medi-hotel at Royal Darwin Hospital. However, there is more. They put in for …
Ms Lee: Do not point your finger at me! Talk about your own electorate!
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Arnhem.
Ms Lee interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Arnhem, you are on a warning. Members may I remind you of Standing Order 51.
- No member may converse aloud or make any noise or disturbance which in the opinion of the Speaker is designed to interrupt or has the effect of interrupting a member speaking.
Minister, you have the call.
Mr TOLLNER: And this is not the only one, the former government committed to a medi-hotel of 24 beds at Katherine hospital, a medi-hotel at Gove hospital, and we currently have the federal member for Lingiari, the Indigenous health minister, trying to push on us medi-hotels for Tennant Creek and Alice Springs, all with no operational money. The previous Labor government never cared about where the money was coming from.
There is evidence in all the stuff Treasury is digging up now. What a shame you all are.
Mini-Budget –
Frontier Services Funding
Frontier Services Funding
Ms FYLES to TREASURER
Frontier Services provides a range of health and community services across the Territory. The regional manager of Frontier Services, Sharon Davies said on ABC:
- I was almost in tears yesterday considering the impact. We now struggle to recruit, it means somebody on $20.00 per hour, they are gone.
How much will your mini-budget increase funding to NGOs to compensate for their power and water bill hikes and to increase salaries to retain their staff?
ANSWER
Rents in the Northern Territory are crippling the ability for services like Frontier Services to recruit and retain staff. The tariff increases for power, water and sewerage have not come into effect yet. This is all fear mongering and scaremongering from the opposition.
Rents have continued to cripple the Northern Territory economy for many years. What did you do about that, opposition, when you were in government? Leader of the Opposition, what did you do to assist low-income earners pay their astronomical and ever increasing rents? Nothing. The former government did nothing on that front to the extent where now the medium asking rental price for a house in Darwin is $700 a week. When we hear from the member for Nightcliff ...
Mr MILLS: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Reflecting on the last comment you made about comments designed to interrupt the speaker, I draw your attention to the Leader of the Opposition who is engaging in repeated obstruction.
Madam SPEAKER: Thank you, Chief Minister.
Minister, you have the call.
Mrs LAMBLEY: With rents as high as $700 per week, how can people live in the Northern Territory now despite…
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Relevance. The question was quite specific. What funding is in the mini-budget to compensate non-government organisations for the hike in power prices and additional salary to retain their staff?
Mrs LAMBLEY: Madam Speaker, I put the question back to the Leader of the Opposition, what subsidy did you give organisations like Frontier Services to assist with the high rentals their workers had to pay? What assistance did you give them? It is the same scenario; it is a comparable scenario. Here we are intending to increase tariffs.
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Relevance. She is not answering the questions. They are about funding to non-government organisations to compensate them for the power price hikes they will have to pay and funding to increase their staff’s wages. You scrapped HOMESTART Extra.
Madam SPEAKER: Please be seated, Opposition Leader. Treasurer, you have the call.
Mrs LAMBLEY: Madam Speaker, in 2009 the former Labor government increased power and water prices by 18%. Did they offer any subsidy? Did they offer any extra money to Frontier Services so they could pay their workers? The answer to that is, no, they did not assist Frontier Services workers with their rent. They did not assist Frontier Services to pay their water, power and sewerage tariffs. Similarly, we are in a position where we cannot provide much assistance either.
Health –
Impact of Unfunded Programs
Impact of Unfunded Programs
Ms FINOCCHIARO to MINISTER for HEALTH
Would you please advise the House of the ongoing impact of high-cost unfunded programs accepted by the former Labor government on the basis of no operational funding?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Drysdale for the question. Clearly, she has an interest in the finances of the Northern Territory, unlike the former Labor government which stuck everything they could on the credit card and hoped one day they would be out of office and someone would turn up and scratch their heads wondering how to pay the bills, because that is exactly the situation we find ourselves in.
There are some very worthwhile things that the former Labor government committed to, irrespective of the fact that they had no money to pay for them. A couple of examples: the Alice Springs Emergency Department upgrade, a fantastic initiative funded by the federal government in the main, $21m of the $24.9m. The former Territory government put in $3.8m in that upgrade. Good on them. What they did not do was provide a budget for the managing of that emergency department. We have to find $5.5m per year within our budget now because it was never ever budgeted for by the previous Labor government.
Similarly, another very worthwhile project, the Gove Emergency Department upgrade was a $13m project funded by the federal government but with no operational budget considerations by the former government. Last night I mentioned the dialysis bus in Central Australia, and the member for Namatjira and gave support to that concept. Obviously, we want dialysis buses and the like but this bus was funded entirely from the Commonwealth without operational funding - to be picked up by the Territory government with no item in the budget for it. Unbudgeted! There are a swag of these things, so it is not just medi-hotels, it is not just emergency departments, there is a gamut of things that were never funded operationally by the former government.
It was the view of the former government, that whatever Canberra had to offer they would say, ‘Thank you very much’, irrespective of the cost to the Territory. They would never ever stand up for the Territory, they would never strike a deal for the Territory. The former Chief Minister was simply a puppet for federal Labor. In fact, when they banned our live cattle exports the former Chief Minister welcomed it saying it was a circuit breaker that we needed to have…
Well goodness me, what a failure. He would never stand up for the Territory on the carbon tax, he never stood up for the Territory on the McArthur River mine, he has never stood up for the Territory on health, we are $600m short in our health budget…
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Relevance. It was his own Dorothy Dixer on health and he went off on a ranting, rambling tangent because he wants to be the Chief Minister. He is busy knifing Millsy already.
Madam SPEAKER: Opposition Leader. Please be seated. Minister your time has expired.
Mini-Budget –
Childcare Fee Increases
Childcare Fee Increases
Ms FYLES to TREASURER
When Mitchell Street Child Care Centre claimed that fees would have to go up $5 per day you issued a press release saying the increases were not justified. Earlier this month you opened the Farrar Early Learning Centre. The Centre has just written to parents informing them that, due to increases in utiliies costs, their rates will go up from $75 per day, an increase of $4. Treasurer, do you now accept in the real world childcare costs will go up by around $4 to $5 per day as a result of your price hikes?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Nightcliff for her question, which I might say is rather misleading. The tariff increases have not come into effect yet.
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! You have ruled out ‘misleading’ already in this question time. I ask the member to withdraw.
Madam SPEAKER: Treasurer you have the call but be careful with your language.
Mrs LAMBLEY: Thank you. The tariff increases have not come into effect yet. How on earth can you explain an increase of $4 in a letter that has been issued by a childcare centre?
Ms FYLES: A point of order, Madam Speaker! I have a letter in my hands that states the fees will go up $4 per day from 1 January thanks to the utilities rise. I seek leave to table the document.
Leave granted.
Mrs LAMBLEY: Going on the case that the Leader of the Opposition pushed forward to the media last week, a $5 increase would have meant a $72 000 increase in power bills for that childcare centre. If this childcare centre is saying there is a $4 per week increase then the figures just do not stack up. When you are talking about childcare centres, you have to keep in mind that the federal Labor government, endorsed by the former Northern Territory government, brought in a national quality framework for early childhood education and care which …
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker!
Mrs LAMBLEY: No, this is highly relevant if you just sit down and
Ms LAWRIE: The letter refers specifically to utilities costs. You might want to read the letter.
Mrs LAMBLEY: In the reforms brought in by the federal Labor government, the staff-to-child ratios have increased. The requirement to have a fully-skilled qualified teacher in every childcare centre needs an astronomical increase in the cost of every single childcare centre and early education centre throughout the Northern Territory.
When you are talking about childcare centres increasing their costs and passing on any increase in cost to parents, the consumer of their services, there is quite a risk that you are getting two things very confused. One, the increase in cost because of the national quality standards which have been put in place are putting an extra burden on families, on carers who have to use childcare centres, and also the increase in tariffs. I would argue that childcare centres need to separate these two issues if they are going to get into this debate. I cannot see how any childcare centre could justifiably say $4 a week extra is due to tariff increases.
______________________
Distinguished Visitor
The Hon Denis Burke and Mrs Annette Burke
Distinguished Visitor
The Hon Denis Burke and Mrs Annette Burke
Madam SPEAKER: Before I call the next speaker, I acknowledge in the gallery the former Chief Minister, Hon Denis Burke, and Mrs Annette Burke. Welcome!
______________________
Public Housing –
Maintenance and Renewal by Labor Government
Maintenance and Renewal by Labor Government
Mr HIGGINS to MINISTER for HOUSING
Can you inform the House what plans the previous Labor government had in place to maintain and renew the public housing stock?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Daly for his question. The answer is simple. The previous Labor government had nothing in place - no plans at all – niente, nada, nought, tidak. Everything seemed to be a shoot from the hip and take as many photo opportunities as you possibly could with any Australian government funded projects.
When I came into my role as Minister for Housing I was astounded to discover a complete lack of strategy associated with planning, maintenance, disposal and renewal of public housing.
This is mindboggling when you consider the estimated combined value of 5000+ urban public housing assets and 1300 government employee housing assets to be around $1.8bn. That figure does not include a further 4900 remote public housing assets.
What responsible government would not have in place a plan to maintain, to dispose of, and renew a public housing portfolio worth in excess of $1.8bn? It would also be a government which left the Territory with a debt that required the Mills government to take swift and necessary action to avoid Territorians paying an additional $1m a day in interest rates in about two years from now. This is an additional $1m a day that would not be spent on housing, education, health, policing or any other services which support Territorians.
As a former chair of a local primary school, I would rather be delivering a cheque for $1m to school. The next day let us go across to Gray Primary School, the next day Rosebery Primary School, the next day perhaps to some of the NGOs that require assistance and hand them a cheque for $1m. Imagine being able to do that every single day, not a week or even a month - every single day for 12 months, 365 days a year. That is $1m we do not have and cannot give to these organisations or schools because of your mismanagement.
Last week I heard you mention something like childcare facilities ...
Mr McCARTHY: A point of order, Madam Speaker. Three ministers from this government have now denigrated public servants who cannot come into this House to defend themselves.
Madam SPEAKER: There is no point of order. Minister, you have the call.
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Barkly, you are on a warning.
Mr CHANDLER: Unfortunately, because the previously Labor government did not provide a responsible strategy and policy, the maintenance efforts in the past are largely focused on bandaid fixers when things broke and did not include proactive program maintenance and targeted approaches. Strategic asset management for dummies tells you that it is essential.
Madam SPEAKER: You time has expired, minister, please be seated.
Residential Building Insurance Workshops - Feedback
Mr WOOD to MINISTER for LANDS, PLANNING and the ENVIRONMENT
Your department recently held a number of workshops with builders regarding residential building cover. Two builders have contacted me recently saying that after attending the workshop they had some concerns. What feedback have you received from the workshops and what are you saying to builders?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, it is interesting you have received that feedback. The feedback I have received was it was well received. If you have contrary feedback, let us know and we will deal with it.
Public Housing –
Neglect by Previous Government
Neglect by Previous Government
Mr STYLES to MINISTER for HOUSING
Can you explain how the previous government failed to listen to advice and how that has impacted on the neglected state of public housing?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Sanderson and welcome his question. It is funny, we just had the rhetoric come across from the former government saying we were having a go at public servants and perhaps they were not doing their job. I say the public servants were doing their job; this mob just did not listen to them. That is the truth.
I previously spoke of my astonishment to discover there was no strategic asset management plan in place for a housing portfolio worth in excess of $1.8bn. Then I discovered plenty of advice was provided to the previous Labor government by senior public servants on the need to develop a strategic asset management plan with little traction being gained because this mob just did not listen.
Imagine my surprise when I found $900 000 was spent on commissioning a Northern Territory public housing portfolio strategy report in 2010. That report highlighted a need for immediate action, something the previous Labor government chose to ignore.
The strategy recommended that to get back on track and address a backlog of maintenance and to implement planned cyclical and normal repairs and maintenance programs, there needed to be an investment of $89m over four years - that is at 2010 dollar values.
Lip service was paid by the previous Labor government to this report and they committed $19.9m over three years towards a targeted upgrade program in the 2011-12 budget. To add insult to injury, in the same year when the department was well into targeted upgrades of public housing stock, the former Labor government snatched $20m in cash away from the department and gave it to another agency.
This, effectively, slammed the brakes on expenditure in both the targeted upgrade program and new government employee housing builds. It left the departmental officers in the uncomfortable position of having to explain to long-term tenants why their planned works were now going to have to be deferred to the following year.
Even with all this information at hand, the previous Labor government failed to develop a strategy that could guide the management, planning and maintenance of all NT public housing stock ...
Ms WALKER: A point of order, Madam Speaker! I ask that the minister simply table the document he is reading from, or are they personal notes?
Madam SPEAKER: Minister, are you prepared to table or are they personal notes?
Mr CHANDLER: Madam Speaker, they are notes I put together upstairs. Okay?
Madam SPEAKER: Continue.
Mr CHANDLER: Madam Speaker, the lack of Labor strategy in their moratorium on the sale of properties between April 2010 and December 2011 saw them clinging to old stock that should have been sold to reduce the maintenance liability, and use the sales to redevelop other stock or build new. Instead, they continued to spend a finite maintenance budget on ageing stock that, in some instances, was considered beyond economic repair.
This, once again, highlights the policy failures and fiscal incompetence of the previous government and its complete disregard for the advice offered by industry experts and, of course, public servants ...
Madam SPEAKER: Minister, your time has expired.
Power and Water Tariff Increases –
Economic Modelling
Mr GUNNER to MINISTER for BUSINESS
Pubs, clubs and restaurants and our entire retail sector will have their costs jacked up and their sales slashed as a result of your power and water tariff hike. Will you conduct and release economic modelling on the impact your price hikes will have on our retail and hospitality industries and how many businesses will close and how many jobs will be lost?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I appreciate the question from the member for Fannie Bay. The obvious truth is power increases will affect all businesses here in the Northern Territory. One fails to recognise why these prices have been put up in the first place: because of the fiscal irresponsibility of the previous Labor government. That is the answer to the question ...
Mr GUNNER: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Relevance. The question was will he do economic modelling on how many businesses will close and how many jobs will be lost?
Mr CHANDLER: Madam Speaker, the issue is with power prices going up in the Territory and we know the reasons they are going up. Of course, there will be an effect on businesses. However, like anything - and I can remember it was Charles Darwin who said, ‘It is perhaps not the most intelligent or even the smartest people who will survive ...’, but those who can adapt will be the ones who survive in the Northern Territory.
We will survive; most people will survive. And guess what? The sun will come up tomorrow. However, the harsh reality is we are dealing with additional prices in the Northern Territory because of your fiscal irresponsibility. When does it all end? Does it just keep going on the credit card? Do we just keep borrowing money? I have heard the Treasurer say we are now spending 8% of our budget, and that is quite manageable.
Mr GUNNER: A point of order, Madam Speaker! The question was not about the philosophy that only the strong will survive. The question was: will you do economic modelling on how many businesses will close, and how many jobs will be lost?
Madam SPEAKER: Minister, can you come to the point?
Mr CHANDLER: Madam Speaker, the reality is that power prices going up will have an effect, there is no doubt about it. The reason we have to put up the prices is quite real, and most Territorians understand it is because of a previous Labour government’s irresponsibility, raking debt on the credit card, and where does it stop? People still talk about trying to pay off the debt in four years; that is so wrong. It is just getting government spending back under control, which was lost under your government. There comes a point in time where debt needs to be repaid.
Like I said earlier, $1m a day that could be spent on so many essential services in the Northern Territory cannot be because it is paying the bankers. The Labor government is supposed to look after the poor, yet your fiscal irresponsibility has sent the Territory to the brink of bankruptcy.
Mr Henderson: Rubbish!
Mr CHANDLER: Yes, to the brink of bankruptcy unless it is brought into line. You have failed to recognise this and now we have a debt situation that needs to be dealt with. Any of the increases can be put down to a previous Labor administration that failed Territorians miserably.
Public Housing –
State of Neglect
Ms FINOCCHIARO to MINISTER for HOUSING
Can you advise the House on the problems you now have to manage because of the neglected state the previous Labor government left the public housing stock in?
ANSWER
Thank you, Madam Speaker, and member for Drysdale, I appreciate the question. To be frank, the poor state of public housing is another basket case this government has inherited – another fine mess. The reality is that there are far better ways of managing housing stock when you have the amount of housing that we have in the Northern Territory. To see the failures of this previous government to acknowledge some of the real old stock - there are ways you can sell off old stock and renew it and have a situation where most of the budget is not taken up with R&M, which you, quite frankly, spent in the last couple of months you were in government. It leaves very little for ongoing R&M for the remainder of this financial year.
We will do our best to find that money, to fix some of the messes that have been created, but we need to be creative. I heard Barry O’Farrell a few months ago say that it does not matter where you live - and this will support some of the things you did, but you will not want to listen to it. It does not matter where you lived in Australia in the last 20 years, politics aside - Labor, Liberal, all states - it has been a prosperous time. But prosperous times lead to complacency. The previous government fell into the trap of becoming complacent. Sometimes you do need tough times to realise real initiative. Some of the juices are flowing through the departments at the moment in some real and innovative ways to solve some of the issues that we are facing.
The reality is, governments should not let their stock, particularly public housing stock, get to the rate of deterioration that has been the legacy of this Labor government over the last 11 years. There is real rot within some of the Territory Housing properties that will take a great deal of work and initiative to fix. We have to get rid of older stock, we have to replace it with newer stock and reinvest. Anything taken that is old and made new again - you halve your R&M budget.
Of course, someone that has the fiscal irresponsibility of the last government would not understand that. You need to have a strategic management plan in place to deal with some of the real housing issues. With newer stock, there is no need to spend so much on R&M, because it is new and in good condition. The former government failed Territorians miserably when it came to public housing stock.
Mr ELFERINK (Leader of Government Business): Madam Speaker, I ask that further questions be placed on the Written Question Paper.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016