Dr LIM - 1999-04-29
The opposition has in the past criticised the Territory government for the lack of development in Central Australia. I know the opposition’s claims are incorrectly representing the government. I recall launching the Northern Territory government-funded Alice Springs Profile, which shows very clearly that the reverse is the case. Can the minister please advise the House how much development is going on down there?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, the member is right. There’s heaps going on in Alice Springs at the moment. Yesterday morning, the member for Stuart, old Mr Doom and Gloom himself, was on the radio being negative as usual, for the simple reason he doesn’t know what is going on in Alice Springs.
We didn’t just have a very good budget for Central Australia. There are lots of things going on that show that private industry has confidence in the town and is willing to put its money where its mouth is. I think if the member for Stuart would just take time to find out what was going on, instead of getting out there creating all this doom and gloom about Alice Springs, he would learn something.
The Leader of the Opposition made a fly-by-night visit to Alice Springs and, of course, got in front of the television cameras, which she really likes to do. She started quoting something about this and she got it wrong. She obviously hadn’t read it, so she got the 2 documents back to front. She was saying this is the profile. It’s not the profile, it’s a discussion paper. This is the profile. This is the one put out by the Alice Springs Council, funded by the Territory government to the tune of $20 000. This is the snapshot, the current thing. This is our vision for the future. This is the discussion paper.
And where was your contribution, member for Stuart? I haven’t heard a peep from you about this. It’s about time you started saying something positive about it and telling us where you see Alice Springs going.
Members interjecting.
Mrs BRAHAM: Yes. Notice? The bear has come out and finally said: ‘We will support it. We will be contributing’. But where is your contribution? Not a thing.
I want to tell the House a little about some of the private developments going on in Alice Springs at the moment. There is a lot of support from the tourist industry, which obviously sees great potential in Alice Springs and central Australia. We have the Alice Springs Resort’s $5m expansion for new rooms. We have nearly $5m at King’s Canyon. Lasseters is giving the casino a $5m upgrade. As well as that, they’ve just spent $5m developing the Internet gaming operation. We have over $6m at Yulara, the Sails in the Desert Hotel. We also have $1m for the Outback Pioneer Hotel. So the tourist industry is saying: ‘We’re willing to get behind central Australia and develop’.
As well as that, we have 2 big industrial developments. We have the Western Precinct, $6m, under way at the moment and we also have the Australian Properties development of the Ghan Estate. I don’t know whether the member for Stuart realises that that will provide 45 industrial blocks. I could go on and on. Pine Gap is developing more domes and building a $1m warehouse. All this is private development, additional to the good news we got in the Territory budget. Mr Doom and Gloom over there needs to find out a little bit more about what’s going on in Alice Springs. Perhaps then he will support the people of Alice Springs and its businesses.
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, the member is right. There’s heaps going on in Alice Springs at the moment. Yesterday morning, the member for Stuart, old Mr Doom and Gloom himself, was on the radio being negative as usual, for the simple reason he doesn’t know what is going on in Alice Springs.
We didn’t just have a very good budget for Central Australia. There are lots of things going on that show that private industry has confidence in the town and is willing to put its money where its mouth is. I think if the member for Stuart would just take time to find out what was going on, instead of getting out there creating all this doom and gloom about Alice Springs, he would learn something.
The Leader of the Opposition made a fly-by-night visit to Alice Springs and, of course, got in front of the television cameras, which she really likes to do. She started quoting something about this and she got it wrong. She obviously hadn’t read it, so she got the 2 documents back to front. She was saying this is the profile. It’s not the profile, it’s a discussion paper. This is the profile. This is the one put out by the Alice Springs Council, funded by the Territory government to the tune of $20 000. This is the snapshot, the current thing. This is our vision for the future. This is the discussion paper.
And where was your contribution, member for Stuart? I haven’t heard a peep from you about this. It’s about time you started saying something positive about it and telling us where you see Alice Springs going.
Members interjecting.
Mrs BRAHAM: Yes. Notice? The bear has come out and finally said: ‘We will support it. We will be contributing’. But where is your contribution? Not a thing.
I want to tell the House a little about some of the private developments going on in Alice Springs at the moment. There is a lot of support from the tourist industry, which obviously sees great potential in Alice Springs and central Australia. We have the Alice Springs Resort’s $5m expansion for new rooms. We have nearly $5m at King’s Canyon. Lasseters is giving the casino a $5m upgrade. As well as that, they’ve just spent $5m developing the Internet gaming operation. We have over $6m at Yulara, the Sails in the Desert Hotel. We also have $1m for the Outback Pioneer Hotel. So the tourist industry is saying: ‘We’re willing to get behind central Australia and develop’.
As well as that, we have 2 big industrial developments. We have the Western Precinct, $6m, under way at the moment and we also have the Australian Properties development of the Ghan Estate. I don’t know whether the member for Stuart realises that that will provide 45 industrial blocks. I could go on and on. Pine Gap is developing more domes and building a $1m warehouse. All this is private development, additional to the good news we got in the Territory budget. Mr Doom and Gloom over there needs to find out a little bit more about what’s going on in Alice Springs. Perhaps then he will support the people of Alice Springs and its businesses.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016