Dr LIM - 2000-05-18
Local government elections are just around the corner. I understand that the Alice Springs Town Council sought a contribution from the Northern Territory government of approximately $6m to its financing the redevelopment of the Civic Centre precinct. Now it appears that the council’s finance committee is recommending the $12m project be abandoned because it could not proceed without a large injection of funds from the Territory government.
Can the minister please advise the House if the action was premature and whether or not government will contribute the large injection of funds the council says it needs.
ANSWER
Simply put, Mr Speaker, the answer is no, we will not be contributing $6m to the Alice Springs Town Council Civic Centre project and putting the rate payers of Alice Springs into debt for another $6m. I am quite sure the members from Central Australia have had feedback, the same as I have, that the ratepayers of Alice Springs really do not even know what this is all about - what is planned.
The ratepayers of Alice Springs have been asking council for a long time to provide them with many other facilities. For instance, car parking in the central business district is at a premium, but what is the council doing about it? Nothing.
We have heard them say numerous times they will address the little parks and put up shade shelters. Have they done anything in your electorate? No. Nothing has happened in mine. They have their priorities wrong. The ratepayers of Alice Springs have written numerous times to the paper saying that they think the priorities should be in other areas, not a big Taj Mahal for the council.
Let’s just listen to their proposed program. They want upgraded council chambers, they want a public library that is upgraded, they want a multi-purpose media room. We have just committed all this money to a convention centre in Alice Springs, but they want to go into this grand function room. It is ridiculous what they are asking the ratepayers in Alice Springs to pay for, when they can’t get the basics right.
This is a tourist town, but if you are a tourist in Alice Springs and you go into the central business district, excuse me, you do not have a public toilet facility. And that would be a fundamental priority for a tourist who arrives in town, surely.
The town council has been told a number times by ratepayers that they should be addressing the priorities of the town, not building this large centre and putting ratepayers into debt. I hear tell that the financial committee the other night recommended that it be put on hold and it should be reconsidered after the town council elections. What an opportunity for all those candidates to declare publicly where they stand on this $12m public project, and also declare what they see as the priorities for the Alice Springs Town Council for the next 4 years.
Government has made this decision. It is now up to the town council to get their act together and start providing facilities that the residents require.
Can the minister please advise the House if the action was premature and whether or not government will contribute the large injection of funds the council says it needs.
ANSWER
Simply put, Mr Speaker, the answer is no, we will not be contributing $6m to the Alice Springs Town Council Civic Centre project and putting the rate payers of Alice Springs into debt for another $6m. I am quite sure the members from Central Australia have had feedback, the same as I have, that the ratepayers of Alice Springs really do not even know what this is all about - what is planned.
The ratepayers of Alice Springs have been asking council for a long time to provide them with many other facilities. For instance, car parking in the central business district is at a premium, but what is the council doing about it? Nothing.
We have heard them say numerous times they will address the little parks and put up shade shelters. Have they done anything in your electorate? No. Nothing has happened in mine. They have their priorities wrong. The ratepayers of Alice Springs have written numerous times to the paper saying that they think the priorities should be in other areas, not a big Taj Mahal for the council.
Let’s just listen to their proposed program. They want upgraded council chambers, they want a public library that is upgraded, they want a multi-purpose media room. We have just committed all this money to a convention centre in Alice Springs, but they want to go into this grand function room. It is ridiculous what they are asking the ratepayers in Alice Springs to pay for, when they can’t get the basics right.
This is a tourist town, but if you are a tourist in Alice Springs and you go into the central business district, excuse me, you do not have a public toilet facility. And that would be a fundamental priority for a tourist who arrives in town, surely.
The town council has been told a number times by ratepayers that they should be addressing the priorities of the town, not building this large centre and putting ratepayers into debt. I hear tell that the financial committee the other night recommended that it be put on hold and it should be reconsidered after the town council elections. What an opportunity for all those candidates to declare publicly where they stand on this $12m public project, and also declare what they see as the priorities for the Alice Springs Town Council for the next 4 years.
Government has made this decision. It is now up to the town council to get their act together and start providing facilities that the residents require.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016