Mr MITCHELL - 2000-03-02
The expansion of the Ord River Scheme coming over from the Western Australian border into the Territory will present many opportunities for our pastoral and horticultural industries. Can the minister tell us what opportunities will be generated by this important project in terms of the potential to protect land that is not required for pastoral purposes?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, it will again provide more jobs to Territorians in that it will increase the national park estate to over 50 000 km2. It will increase the size of the Keep River National Park by some 400%. That will, over time, require more rangers to be employed, and it will, of course, provide alternative destinations for tourist operators, and for Territorians and people from other parts of Australia and internationally to enjoy the great outback of the Northern Territory.
It’s a major expansion, as I say, of some 400%. It includes Spirit Hill Station and other parts of that locale. It includes the national park right through to the foreshores of the Victoria River, including Entrance Island, and also some foreshores of the tidal reaches of the Keep River, Sandy Creek and onto the coast. I table that map for the benefit of honourable members. As such, it will add various vegetation types that currently aren’t in the conservation estate. The Foundations for our Future documents that the Chief Minister has launched indicate a very firm and solid direction that the Territory will take in all aspects of our life and business. It will ensure that we meet the requirements of ecological sustainability, biodiversity and, most importantly, an advance for the lifestyle of Territorians in providing more recreation areas for Territorians to enjoy themselves in and to experience the wonders of the Northern Territory.
The honourable member indicated employment, and I did touch on that. I daresay that many people of Port Darwin over time might go out to the Keep River National Park and the expanded area that they will be able to enjoy. Of course, there are quite a number of new folk in Port Darwin. There are 19% more people in the Port Darwin division since the last distribution. I don’t know what they are all doing. I don’t think they are all sitting down doing nothing like the members opposite. I suspect they are not at home doing nothing. They might be some of the people who have got a job every 6 hours in the Northern Territory.
Of course the divisions of Brennan and Blain are similar. The enrolment in Brennan is 7197. In the division of Blain, the total is 9.69% above quota, so all these people are out there ...
Ms Martin: What’s that to do with jobs?
Mr REED: Well, what it has got to do with jobs is that those people will enjoy our national park estate. Those figures come from the Labor Party’s submission on the electorate boundaries redistribution. They can’t sit here and question their own credibility by saying there are no jobs when the seat of Port Darwin itself has grown by 19% since the last redistribution. I dare say that that 19% of growth in that particular division, plus the people who have lived here for a bit longer, will look forward to the opportunity to go and enjoy themselves on our national park estate.
They will look forward to continuing in the workforce, because they won’t be sitting at home idly like the members opposite sit idly. They are bone idle lazy, and Territorians, including those in the Port Darwin electorate, will not only be better represented after 11 March from the point of view of the opposition’s candidate that they otherwise might fall foul of, but of course they’ll be able to enjoy the national park estate.
In relation to parks and wildlife, lifestyle, and the environment, the government is again being proactive. We will take, with the dedication of this new Keep River National Park enlarged by 400% over its current area, the national park estate to over 50 000 km2. That, I think, is a tribute worth recognising. From the point of view of the Parks and Wildlife Commission, they are the best parks and wildlife management authority in Australia in my view. They do an excellent job. They are recognised nationally as having expertise that is, if not equal to, well above the other park estate managers in this country. I’d like to think that even members opposite would join the government in recognising the benefits of setting more land aside for our national park estate, and indeed the benefits of having it managed by the Parks and Wildlife Commission.
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, it will again provide more jobs to Territorians in that it will increase the national park estate to over 50 000 km2. It will increase the size of the Keep River National Park by some 400%. That will, over time, require more rangers to be employed, and it will, of course, provide alternative destinations for tourist operators, and for Territorians and people from other parts of Australia and internationally to enjoy the great outback of the Northern Territory.
It’s a major expansion, as I say, of some 400%. It includes Spirit Hill Station and other parts of that locale. It includes the national park right through to the foreshores of the Victoria River, including Entrance Island, and also some foreshores of the tidal reaches of the Keep River, Sandy Creek and onto the coast. I table that map for the benefit of honourable members. As such, it will add various vegetation types that currently aren’t in the conservation estate. The Foundations for our Future documents that the Chief Minister has launched indicate a very firm and solid direction that the Territory will take in all aspects of our life and business. It will ensure that we meet the requirements of ecological sustainability, biodiversity and, most importantly, an advance for the lifestyle of Territorians in providing more recreation areas for Territorians to enjoy themselves in and to experience the wonders of the Northern Territory.
The honourable member indicated employment, and I did touch on that. I daresay that many people of Port Darwin over time might go out to the Keep River National Park and the expanded area that they will be able to enjoy. Of course, there are quite a number of new folk in Port Darwin. There are 19% more people in the Port Darwin division since the last distribution. I don’t know what they are all doing. I don’t think they are all sitting down doing nothing like the members opposite. I suspect they are not at home doing nothing. They might be some of the people who have got a job every 6 hours in the Northern Territory.
Of course the divisions of Brennan and Blain are similar. The enrolment in Brennan is 7197. In the division of Blain, the total is 9.69% above quota, so all these people are out there ...
Ms Martin: What’s that to do with jobs?
Mr REED: Well, what it has got to do with jobs is that those people will enjoy our national park estate. Those figures come from the Labor Party’s submission on the electorate boundaries redistribution. They can’t sit here and question their own credibility by saying there are no jobs when the seat of Port Darwin itself has grown by 19% since the last redistribution. I dare say that that 19% of growth in that particular division, plus the people who have lived here for a bit longer, will look forward to the opportunity to go and enjoy themselves on our national park estate.
They will look forward to continuing in the workforce, because they won’t be sitting at home idly like the members opposite sit idly. They are bone idle lazy, and Territorians, including those in the Port Darwin electorate, will not only be better represented after 11 March from the point of view of the opposition’s candidate that they otherwise might fall foul of, but of course they’ll be able to enjoy the national park estate.
In relation to parks and wildlife, lifestyle, and the environment, the government is again being proactive. We will take, with the dedication of this new Keep River National Park enlarged by 400% over its current area, the national park estate to over 50 000 km2. That, I think, is a tribute worth recognising. From the point of view of the Parks and Wildlife Commission, they are the best parks and wildlife management authority in Australia in my view. They do an excellent job. They are recognised nationally as having expertise that is, if not equal to, well above the other park estate managers in this country. I’d like to think that even members opposite would join the government in recognising the benefits of setting more land aside for our national park estate, and indeed the benefits of having it managed by the Parks and Wildlife Commission.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016