Ms MARTIN - 1999-08-10
In his weekend crisis call, Barry Coulter reminded the Territory Liberal Party what little support the Chief Minister has in the business community, saying:
I think we are losing support from business at a steady and alarming rate. They look to us to provide inspiration, or at least hope, and I don’t think they are at all satisfied at this current time.
What changes will the Chief Minister introduce to give business some hope that he will lift his game?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, the thoughts of Barry Coulter are certainly heeded by this CLP government. He is a very experienced minister, now sadly retired from this House. In fact, I encouraged the former member to speak quite candidly at our conference - quite at odds, I might say, with the way the Labor Party conducts reviews into how it performs.
We have – I’ve lost it for the moment – a document from the Labor Party, marked ‘private and confidential’, which talks about the way they performed so badly at the previous election. So the first message …
Ms Martin: You only have the one copy? You poor thing! It must be worn ragged by now.
Mr BURKE: It is a confidential document which among other things says that in exit polling from the last election the overwhelming issue was that the Labor Party was not trusted by Territorians to govern. This confidential document goes on with various strategies that the Labor Party would be encouraged to develop in order to gain back some of that support. Not the least was a strategy to develop, in conjunction with bush members and candidates, an approach to ‘detach Aboriginal voters from the CLP’. How they go about that ...
Mr STIRLING: A point of order, Mr Speaker! The question was quite specific in asking about business support for the Country Liberal Party. It had nothing to do with the Labor Party or Aboriginal issues.
Mr SPEAKER: There is no point of order. The Chief Minister has some leeway in answering the question.
Mr BURKE: Mr Speaker, how they go about that detachment is something I’ll take the opportunity to speak on, if I get that opportunity. The point I want to make about Barry Coulter’s speech is that it was made in an open forum. ABC television cameras and tape recorders were encouraged in the meeting. One of the things the CLP recognises is that it only enjoys government through the good grace and trust of Territorians. It is conscious of that day by day. It takes every opportunity to interrogate and learn from any mistakes it might be making at any time.
That was the context of the encouragement that was given to Barry Coulter to say where he felt, as one individual, we needed to lift our game. I can tell you that every member who was present listening to that speech, while they may not agree with everything that was said, certainly is appreciative of the fact that someone of Barry Coulter’s status is encouraged to speak his mind in an open forum, for everyone to listen. That is an example of how the CLP government looks at its own efforts.
Now, what are we going to do to develop business confidence? We have a Minister for Industries and Business and we have had a total restructuring of the portfolio and department. We are mindful of the fact that there has been a softening of business support in some sectors in the Northern Territory. There is no doubt about that. It is something, in fact, that we alluded to as far back as 1994, particularly when it comes to issues such as native title.
We warned the Labor Party in 1994 and we warned it again after the Wik decision that continued Labor Party support of the native title position that the Labor Party federally adopted and that the Labor Party federally - encouraged by this particular group - continues to adopt is an obstruction and a detriment to business development in the Northern Territory.
The honourable minister, I am sure, will take the opportunity - again, if he gets that opportunity - to speak about the applications for exploration and mining that have diminished to almost nothing since that Wik High Court decision was made. When the Labor Party stands up and asks, ‘What are you going to do as a government?’, I think it’s high time the media started asking the Labor leader what, in fact, she would do. What we have received from her is continual criticism. She is best described by an article in the Weekend Australian which says ...
Ms Martin interjecting.
Mr BURKE: Did your mum like the heading, ‘Top End Pretender’?That was the opinion of that reporter - ‘Top End Pretender’. She pretends to have policies. She pretends to have ideas. She pretends to lead. But all she can do is criticise.
What the Labor Party has done is dumped policies. I don’t mind criticism of this government. I can go on and on about what’s happened in terms of the Northern Territory economy. But it’s about time that some interrogation was done as to what exactly you would do. All I’ve ever heard from the Labor leader opposite is that she would take $30m from a restructuring of PAWA and put that out to reduce electricity tariffs to domestic consumers.
Now, anyone with an ounce of economic knowledge would know that what we have in PAWA is a business performing badly. When you restructure a business to get $30m of restructuring efficiencies, you don’t have $30m in your hand to put out in some sort of lessening of tariffs. What you’ve done is make a business competitive against competition, which is what we’re introducing in the Northern Territory.
To suggest that somehow you have $30m is a way of saying to Territorians that you will walk into the Territory’s Treasury coffers and take $30m. That’s normal for Labor. That’s the way Labor did it in Western Australia. That’s the way Labor did it in Victoria. That’s the way the Labor Party did it in South Australia. And they ran the governments broke. If you want to talk about economic policies, if you want to criticise this government’s approach to business, stand up and tell us how you would do it.
What I can tell Territory businesses is this. There is a softening, particularly in some sectors. The construction industry is one. That is a softening which is expected. Last year alone, Defence in the Northern Territory spent $480m. We have had a growth cycle in the construction industry that’s been going something like that. Sure, it is softening, but no government in Australia can keep up that sort of rapid growth interminably. What we are seeing is a softening in that sector. At the same time, it is very interesting to see some of the developments that are coming on line when we talk about business in the construction industry.
Mr TOYNE: A point of order, Mr Speaker! The Chief Minister has been on his feet for nearly 10 minutes now. This is Question Time. We would like to get on with other questions.
Mr SPEAKER: The Chief Minister does have some leeway in answering the question, but I ask that he wind the answer up as quickly as possible.
Mr BURKE: Here isone example of business confidence. We have just put out the new suburb of Farrar. Fourteen developers put in expressions of interest for the development of those sites. That is hardly a sign of a troubled economy.
As I’ve said on a number of occasions, if you look at the Northern Territory economy and you look at 180 000 people in the Northern Territory occupying one-sixth of Australia, with all the difficulties of getting infrastructure across that vast land breadth, you can appreciate this. The Northern Territory economy is not dependent on one single sector. The Northern Territory has an excellent tourist industry and excellent tourism potential. The Northern Territory will shortly have a railway being built, bringing a boom to construction right through the length and breadth of the Territory. The Northern Territory is not dependent wholly on the mining sector. It is not dependent wholly on the oil and gas sector. It is not dependent wholly on primary industries. It is not dependent wholly on construction. But it is driven in every one of those areas by strong economic growth.
No other population group of 180 000 in the world could point to such a diverse and robust economic environment in which to live, and particularly to the way that that environment shelters us from adverse trends in the global economy. These are the economic circumstances that the Northern Territory exists in, developed through CLP government policies over many, many years.
We accept the fact that at the moment, until the railway is built, there is an economic softening in some areas. That railway was predicted to be built in 1999. The reason it’s not being built in 1999 is that it took us another 12 months to clear the native title issues on the corridor. So when it comes to native title issues, stand up and be counted. Do you support the policies that being put in place through the federal government beingblocked by Senator Bolkus? That will continue to act as an obstruction to economic growth across the whole of the Northern Territory.
I think we are losing support from business at a steady and alarming rate. They look to us to provide inspiration, or at least hope, and I don’t think they are at all satisfied at this current time.
What changes will the Chief Minister introduce to give business some hope that he will lift his game?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, the thoughts of Barry Coulter are certainly heeded by this CLP government. He is a very experienced minister, now sadly retired from this House. In fact, I encouraged the former member to speak quite candidly at our conference - quite at odds, I might say, with the way the Labor Party conducts reviews into how it performs.
We have – I’ve lost it for the moment – a document from the Labor Party, marked ‘private and confidential’, which talks about the way they performed so badly at the previous election. So the first message …
Ms Martin: You only have the one copy? You poor thing! It must be worn ragged by now.
Mr BURKE: It is a confidential document which among other things says that in exit polling from the last election the overwhelming issue was that the Labor Party was not trusted by Territorians to govern. This confidential document goes on with various strategies that the Labor Party would be encouraged to develop in order to gain back some of that support. Not the least was a strategy to develop, in conjunction with bush members and candidates, an approach to ‘detach Aboriginal voters from the CLP’. How they go about that ...
Mr STIRLING: A point of order, Mr Speaker! The question was quite specific in asking about business support for the Country Liberal Party. It had nothing to do with the Labor Party or Aboriginal issues.
Mr SPEAKER: There is no point of order. The Chief Minister has some leeway in answering the question.
Mr BURKE: Mr Speaker, how they go about that detachment is something I’ll take the opportunity to speak on, if I get that opportunity. The point I want to make about Barry Coulter’s speech is that it was made in an open forum. ABC television cameras and tape recorders were encouraged in the meeting. One of the things the CLP recognises is that it only enjoys government through the good grace and trust of Territorians. It is conscious of that day by day. It takes every opportunity to interrogate and learn from any mistakes it might be making at any time.
That was the context of the encouragement that was given to Barry Coulter to say where he felt, as one individual, we needed to lift our game. I can tell you that every member who was present listening to that speech, while they may not agree with everything that was said, certainly is appreciative of the fact that someone of Barry Coulter’s status is encouraged to speak his mind in an open forum, for everyone to listen. That is an example of how the CLP government looks at its own efforts.
Now, what are we going to do to develop business confidence? We have a Minister for Industries and Business and we have had a total restructuring of the portfolio and department. We are mindful of the fact that there has been a softening of business support in some sectors in the Northern Territory. There is no doubt about that. It is something, in fact, that we alluded to as far back as 1994, particularly when it comes to issues such as native title.
We warned the Labor Party in 1994 and we warned it again after the Wik decision that continued Labor Party support of the native title position that the Labor Party federally adopted and that the Labor Party federally - encouraged by this particular group - continues to adopt is an obstruction and a detriment to business development in the Northern Territory.
The honourable minister, I am sure, will take the opportunity - again, if he gets that opportunity - to speak about the applications for exploration and mining that have diminished to almost nothing since that Wik High Court decision was made. When the Labor Party stands up and asks, ‘What are you going to do as a government?’, I think it’s high time the media started asking the Labor leader what, in fact, she would do. What we have received from her is continual criticism. She is best described by an article in the Weekend Australian which says ...
Ms Martin interjecting.
Mr BURKE: Did your mum like the heading, ‘Top End Pretender’?That was the opinion of that reporter - ‘Top End Pretender’. She pretends to have policies. She pretends to have ideas. She pretends to lead. But all she can do is criticise.
What the Labor Party has done is dumped policies. I don’t mind criticism of this government. I can go on and on about what’s happened in terms of the Northern Territory economy. But it’s about time that some interrogation was done as to what exactly you would do. All I’ve ever heard from the Labor leader opposite is that she would take $30m from a restructuring of PAWA and put that out to reduce electricity tariffs to domestic consumers.
Now, anyone with an ounce of economic knowledge would know that what we have in PAWA is a business performing badly. When you restructure a business to get $30m of restructuring efficiencies, you don’t have $30m in your hand to put out in some sort of lessening of tariffs. What you’ve done is make a business competitive against competition, which is what we’re introducing in the Northern Territory.
To suggest that somehow you have $30m is a way of saying to Territorians that you will walk into the Territory’s Treasury coffers and take $30m. That’s normal for Labor. That’s the way Labor did it in Western Australia. That’s the way Labor did it in Victoria. That’s the way the Labor Party did it in South Australia. And they ran the governments broke. If you want to talk about economic policies, if you want to criticise this government’s approach to business, stand up and tell us how you would do it.
What I can tell Territory businesses is this. There is a softening, particularly in some sectors. The construction industry is one. That is a softening which is expected. Last year alone, Defence in the Northern Territory spent $480m. We have had a growth cycle in the construction industry that’s been going something like that. Sure, it is softening, but no government in Australia can keep up that sort of rapid growth interminably. What we are seeing is a softening in that sector. At the same time, it is very interesting to see some of the developments that are coming on line when we talk about business in the construction industry.
Mr TOYNE: A point of order, Mr Speaker! The Chief Minister has been on his feet for nearly 10 minutes now. This is Question Time. We would like to get on with other questions.
Mr SPEAKER: The Chief Minister does have some leeway in answering the question, but I ask that he wind the answer up as quickly as possible.
Mr BURKE: Here isone example of business confidence. We have just put out the new suburb of Farrar. Fourteen developers put in expressions of interest for the development of those sites. That is hardly a sign of a troubled economy.
As I’ve said on a number of occasions, if you look at the Northern Territory economy and you look at 180 000 people in the Northern Territory occupying one-sixth of Australia, with all the difficulties of getting infrastructure across that vast land breadth, you can appreciate this. The Northern Territory economy is not dependent on one single sector. The Northern Territory has an excellent tourist industry and excellent tourism potential. The Northern Territory will shortly have a railway being built, bringing a boom to construction right through the length and breadth of the Territory. The Northern Territory is not dependent wholly on the mining sector. It is not dependent wholly on the oil and gas sector. It is not dependent wholly on primary industries. It is not dependent wholly on construction. But it is driven in every one of those areas by strong economic growth.
No other population group of 180 000 in the world could point to such a diverse and robust economic environment in which to live, and particularly to the way that that environment shelters us from adverse trends in the global economy. These are the economic circumstances that the Northern Territory exists in, developed through CLP government policies over many, many years.
We accept the fact that at the moment, until the railway is built, there is an economic softening in some areas. That railway was predicted to be built in 1999. The reason it’s not being built in 1999 is that it took us another 12 months to clear the native title issues on the corridor. So when it comes to native title issues, stand up and be counted. Do you support the policies that being put in place through the federal government beingblocked by Senator Bolkus? That will continue to act as an obstruction to economic growth across the whole of the Northern Territory.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016