Ms MARTIN - 1998-02-18
Will he confirm that, early last week, the auxiliary transformer at Snell Street blew out, extensively damaging the unit and blacking out the Parap shopping district and residences in Ludmilla, Fannie Bay and the Narrows? If the minister had been there at the time, he would have seen how unhappy shopkeepers were as their freezers were rendered inoperable at peak time. Will he confirm that this occurred because the sub-pumps in the pit had not been maintained? Will he admit that this blow-out happened 5 weeks after the Tiwi blackout because of a lack of maintenance?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I have already said that I will not respond ...
Mr Bailey: You know about every mining lease in the Territory and whether it has been held up.
Mr POOLE: You can play your silly games.
Mr Bailey: You have already sent the kids off.
Mr Hatton: Take it on notice and get on with the business at hand.
Mr POOLE: I am very tempted to take all these questions on notice, but I will not do that yet. I will not take all the questions on notice because I do not want to embarrass members opposite. I know they do not have any other questions. They have to stick to the game plan.
Ms Martin: Come on Eric, tell the constituents of Fannie Bay.
Mr POOLE: I went through a list yesterday of the amounts of money that the government has spent in the Northern Territory over the past 5 years. Obviously, honourable members opposite did not listen. In 1992-93, expenditure on repairs and maintenance was $16.186m and, for works in communities around the Territory, expenditure was another $4.583m, totalling some $20m. In 1993-94, we spent a total of $14.18m. In 1994-95, we spent a total of $17.18m. In 1995-96, we spent a total of $21m. In 1996-97, we spent a total of nearly $22m. In 1997-98, we will spend a total of nearly $22m.
The opposition will not recognise the fact that we live in a tropical area. All kinds of electrical problems are caused by nature. The top end of the Northern Territory experiences the highest incidence of lightning strikes in the world. Other difficulties are caused by birds and bats ...
Mr Bailey: None of them lack of maintenance?
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr POOLE: In actual fact, individual reports may refer to the odd human failure, but most relate to lightning strikes and bird strikes or are the responsibility of excessive rainfall. I guess occurrences of that kind will continue. I suggest that there is a high probability that further power outages will be experienced in the Northern Territory, as they are in North Queensland and the north of Western Australia. I am not informed of the nitty-gritty details of washers that may be missing or the drip on the line, the tree that falls on the line etc, except in very general terms. I defy honourable members to spend their time personally investigating every outage that occurs in the Northern Territory. I am satisfied that, as problems come to light in the power distribution system, the management and staff of the Power and Water Authority will do their best to fix them as quickly as possible. Further to that, they try to implement programs and reactions to ensure that those problems do not recur.
I am looking at some information that I have been given. In actual fact, the incident on 28 January resulted from a cable termination fault. It had nothing to do with maintenance. It does not really affect anything. When the problem was fixed, no new unit was required, nor were there any repairs necessary to the unit. I receive flash reports of outages as they occur. They are very cursory and I would defy anybody who was not an ...
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr POOLE: It is quite apparent that no one on the opposition side is interested. I shall take the opportunity, while I am on my feet, to say that I heard the Leader of the Opposition talk on radio about ALP candidates in Alice Springs at the weekend. She said I was to be replaced or that I was to retire.
Mr STIRLING: A point of order, Madam Speaker! This is irrelevant nonsense that has no bearing on the question.
Madam SPEAKER: Is this relevant to the question, minister?
Mr POOLE: It was on the radio and I assure you, Madam Speaker, that if there had been a power outage, nobody would have heard it. She was trying to cover up her embarrassment because the Labor Party cannot find a candidate to stand against me in Araluen. She suggested that I would retire anyway. I shall be here for the duration of this parliament and, if I decide to retire, I will give the constituents of Araluen and the people of the Northern Territory a little more warning than Neil Bell did. I would not embarrass my own party by not giving it time to organise a reasonable candidate to replace me.
Madam SPEAKER: I remind ministers to please keep their answers short. I think they have been going on a little too long.
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I have already said that I will not respond ...
Mr Bailey: You know about every mining lease in the Territory and whether it has been held up.
Mr POOLE: You can play your silly games.
Mr Bailey: You have already sent the kids off.
Mr Hatton: Take it on notice and get on with the business at hand.
Mr POOLE: I am very tempted to take all these questions on notice, but I will not do that yet. I will not take all the questions on notice because I do not want to embarrass members opposite. I know they do not have any other questions. They have to stick to the game plan.
Ms Martin: Come on Eric, tell the constituents of Fannie Bay.
Mr POOLE: I went through a list yesterday of the amounts of money that the government has spent in the Northern Territory over the past 5 years. Obviously, honourable members opposite did not listen. In 1992-93, expenditure on repairs and maintenance was $16.186m and, for works in communities around the Territory, expenditure was another $4.583m, totalling some $20m. In 1993-94, we spent a total of $14.18m. In 1994-95, we spent a total of $17.18m. In 1995-96, we spent a total of $21m. In 1996-97, we spent a total of nearly $22m. In 1997-98, we will spend a total of nearly $22m.
The opposition will not recognise the fact that we live in a tropical area. All kinds of electrical problems are caused by nature. The top end of the Northern Territory experiences the highest incidence of lightning strikes in the world. Other difficulties are caused by birds and bats ...
Mr Bailey: None of them lack of maintenance?
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr POOLE: In actual fact, individual reports may refer to the odd human failure, but most relate to lightning strikes and bird strikes or are the responsibility of excessive rainfall. I guess occurrences of that kind will continue. I suggest that there is a high probability that further power outages will be experienced in the Northern Territory, as they are in North Queensland and the north of Western Australia. I am not informed of the nitty-gritty details of washers that may be missing or the drip on the line, the tree that falls on the line etc, except in very general terms. I defy honourable members to spend their time personally investigating every outage that occurs in the Northern Territory. I am satisfied that, as problems come to light in the power distribution system, the management and staff of the Power and Water Authority will do their best to fix them as quickly as possible. Further to that, they try to implement programs and reactions to ensure that those problems do not recur.
I am looking at some information that I have been given. In actual fact, the incident on 28 January resulted from a cable termination fault. It had nothing to do with maintenance. It does not really affect anything. When the problem was fixed, no new unit was required, nor were there any repairs necessary to the unit. I receive flash reports of outages as they occur. They are very cursory and I would defy anybody who was not an ...
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr POOLE: It is quite apparent that no one on the opposition side is interested. I shall take the opportunity, while I am on my feet, to say that I heard the Leader of the Opposition talk on radio about ALP candidates in Alice Springs at the weekend. She said I was to be replaced or that I was to retire.
Mr STIRLING: A point of order, Madam Speaker! This is irrelevant nonsense that has no bearing on the question.
Madam SPEAKER: Is this relevant to the question, minister?
Mr POOLE: It was on the radio and I assure you, Madam Speaker, that if there had been a power outage, nobody would have heard it. She was trying to cover up her embarrassment because the Labor Party cannot find a candidate to stand against me in Araluen. She suggested that I would retire anyway. I shall be here for the duration of this parliament and, if I decide to retire, I will give the constituents of Araluen and the people of the Northern Territory a little more warning than Neil Bell did. I would not embarrass my own party by not giving it time to organise a reasonable candidate to replace me.
Madam SPEAKER: I remind ministers to please keep their answers short. I think they have been going on a little too long.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016