Mr AH KIT - 1998-04-30
The Treasurer has cynically attempted to blame the Katherine region flood for his budget of betrayal and his budget blow-out. It appears the Treasurer has been making it up as he goes along. At different times, he has told Territorians that the Katherine flood will cost the Territory government $50m, then $68m and then $70m. Yesterday, the Treasurer muddied the waters further. Will the Treasurer, for the first time, tell Territorians simply and honestly how much money the Katherine flood will cost the Territory government in net terms? To make it simple for the Treasurer, that means not counting the money that will be paid by Canberra.
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I would not expect the honourable member for Arnhem, from the comfort and isolation of his office in the northern suburbs of Darwin, to know ...
Mrs HICKEY: A point of order, Madam Speaker! The Treasurer is slagging the member. I ask you to direct him to answer the question that my colleague asked.
Madam SPEAKER: Treasurer, please answer the question.
Mr REED: Madam Speaker, I am pleased to be able to respond to the question asked by the honourable member. Unlike the member, the 100 or so people whom I addressed yesterday at a presentation on the budget and the 80 or 90 business people from around Darwin at a breakfast function this morning understood precisely the implications of the Katherine flood. They understood the sequence of figures that the member for Arnhem has just read out. That is ...
Ms Martin: Which one?
Mr REED: This is your problem. You are all looking at it from afar. Not one of you has been there to look seriously at what has been happening. You all went into hiding. We could not find any of you anywhere. The member for Arnhem has asked a question and members opposite do not want to listen to the answer. I am sure that the people listening to this broadcast would like to hear the answer.
It is obvious to anyone with even partial intelligence that, as time has elapsed since the flood, the costs have continued to grow as the extent of the
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damage has been realised. Closer to the time of the flood, estimates of its cost were lower. As further investigative work has been done in relation to damage, more costs have emerged. Hence the escalating figures that the member for Arnhem referred to. The $85m that I mentioned in the context of the budget is the best known estimate of costs to this time. There will be further costs to come. In the main, they will have probably to be borne wholly by the Territory. An example I can give is the need to move some important infrastructure from the flood channel to higher land.
Mr Bailey interjecting.
Mr REED: I know you are not interested, but people who are listening may be interested. Show them a little courtesy and let them hear the answer.
The control equipment for the electricity supply in Katherine had to be protected by PAWA by sandbagging to prevent the incursion of water. It is in the flood channel and it cannot be allowed to remain there. It will have to be protected and, to effect that, it will have to be relocated. That will cost several million dollars. Because that does not come under the natural disaster relief arrangements - that is, it is ...
Mrs Hickey: That is a CLP disaster.
Mr REED: I pass on my sympathies to constituents of mine in Katherine who are listening to the broadcast of this Question Time. The Leader of the Opposition is showing direct contempt for them. Obviously, she does not appreciate the magnitude of the ordeal that they have been through. The member for Barkly and her colleagues opposite have no sympathy for the people of Katherine over the trauma they experienced. They have one bloke who has not even been there in any serious way to see what the circumstances are. He is talking from the comfort of an isolated office in the northern suburbs of Darwin. His colleagues are simply laughing at the facts that I am providing to them.
Mr TOYNE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! This has nothing to do with the question.
Madam SPEAKER: I believe the Treasurer is responding to the interjection. Members of the opposition are not giving him an opportunity to tell the people exactly what the Katherine floods have cost.
Mr Ah Kit: How much from the Commonwealth?
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Member for Arnhem!
Mr REED: Madam Speaker, I will not stand in this Chamber and allow members opposite to treat my constituents with contempt. They have been laughing at them during the course of my response in relation to bringing the town back to normal. The town has experienced extreme tragedy. The Leader of the Opposition should be absolutely ashamed of herself. She puts herself forward as a possible Chief Minister!
The full costs of the Katherine flood are still emerging. At the moment, they are of the order of $85m. We will recoup about half of that from the Commonwealth, but we still do not know the full extent of the costs. Naturally, in time, a more accurate determination of the costs will be known. Everyone else can follow that logic but, unfortunately, the Labor Party cannot.
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ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I would not expect the honourable member for Arnhem, from the comfort and isolation of his office in the northern suburbs of Darwin, to know ...
Mrs HICKEY: A point of order, Madam Speaker! The Treasurer is slagging the member. I ask you to direct him to answer the question that my colleague asked.
Madam SPEAKER: Treasurer, please answer the question.
Mr REED: Madam Speaker, I am pleased to be able to respond to the question asked by the honourable member. Unlike the member, the 100 or so people whom I addressed yesterday at a presentation on the budget and the 80 or 90 business people from around Darwin at a breakfast function this morning understood precisely the implications of the Katherine flood. They understood the sequence of figures that the member for Arnhem has just read out. That is ...
Ms Martin: Which one?
Mr REED: This is your problem. You are all looking at it from afar. Not one of you has been there to look seriously at what has been happening. You all went into hiding. We could not find any of you anywhere. The member for Arnhem has asked a question and members opposite do not want to listen to the answer. I am sure that the people listening to this broadcast would like to hear the answer.
It is obvious to anyone with even partial intelligence that, as time has elapsed since the flood, the costs have continued to grow as the extent of the
Page 229
damage has been realised. Closer to the time of the flood, estimates of its cost were lower. As further investigative work has been done in relation to damage, more costs have emerged. Hence the escalating figures that the member for Arnhem referred to. The $85m that I mentioned in the context of the budget is the best known estimate of costs to this time. There will be further costs to come. In the main, they will have probably to be borne wholly by the Territory. An example I can give is the need to move some important infrastructure from the flood channel to higher land.
Mr Bailey interjecting.
Mr REED: I know you are not interested, but people who are listening may be interested. Show them a little courtesy and let them hear the answer.
The control equipment for the electricity supply in Katherine had to be protected by PAWA by sandbagging to prevent the incursion of water. It is in the flood channel and it cannot be allowed to remain there. It will have to be protected and, to effect that, it will have to be relocated. That will cost several million dollars. Because that does not come under the natural disaster relief arrangements - that is, it is ...
Mrs Hickey: That is a CLP disaster.
Mr REED: I pass on my sympathies to constituents of mine in Katherine who are listening to the broadcast of this Question Time. The Leader of the Opposition is showing direct contempt for them. Obviously, she does not appreciate the magnitude of the ordeal that they have been through. The member for Barkly and her colleagues opposite have no sympathy for the people of Katherine over the trauma they experienced. They have one bloke who has not even been there in any serious way to see what the circumstances are. He is talking from the comfort of an isolated office in the northern suburbs of Darwin. His colleagues are simply laughing at the facts that I am providing to them.
Mr TOYNE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! This has nothing to do with the question.
Madam SPEAKER: I believe the Treasurer is responding to the interjection. Members of the opposition are not giving him an opportunity to tell the people exactly what the Katherine floods have cost.
Mr Ah Kit: How much from the Commonwealth?
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Member for Arnhem!
Mr REED: Madam Speaker, I will not stand in this Chamber and allow members opposite to treat my constituents with contempt. They have been laughing at them during the course of my response in relation to bringing the town back to normal. The town has experienced extreme tragedy. The Leader of the Opposition should be absolutely ashamed of herself. She puts herself forward as a possible Chief Minister!
The full costs of the Katherine flood are still emerging. At the moment, they are of the order of $85m. We will recoup about half of that from the Commonwealth, but we still do not know the full extent of the costs. Naturally, in time, a more accurate determination of the costs will be known. Everyone else can follow that logic but, unfortunately, the Labor Party cannot.
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Last updated: 09 Aug 2016