Mr STIRLING - 2000-02-23
Every time Territorians open their home power bills, they shudder. Being charged the second highest power prices in Australia hurts household budgets in the Territory. I ask if the minister could just tell us again why the GST is such a winner for Territorians when it’s going to add an extra 9% to their power bills?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, we have a history in this place of the Labor Party making criticisms about fundamental government policies that are well enunciated and well written out, and they compare them with this amorphous mass of a lack of policy which is their position. I think it’s most unfair on Territorians to pose the question of what are we going to do here in the Northern Territory, when it’s a national and global issue and without even being able to juxtapose that answer with what they would do.
Now, this is a very cute debate, because we have Mr Beazley talking about roll back, which is a cunning phrase that is yet to have any mathematical devices applied to it. You have this gentleman here from Arnhem talking about how fetes are being taxed $250m. Now, I have a lot of school fetes in my electorate ...
A member interjecting.
Mr DUNHAM: ...and I can’t …
A member interjecting.
Mr DUNHAM: ...and we have various scare campaigns going on on the minutiae of the new tax. The reality is the whole system must change. If the intention was to tinker with the system we have, that’s really not a fundamental change, and if the intention is to display to the people listening to this broadcast the current system is really good and we should retain it and it’s not complex, I’d like to hear that argument, because the current system is immensely complex in how it displays its tax.
Now, I’m in the fortunate position being the minister for health to know that health is tax free under the GST and so, too, is water and sewerage. The tax relating to electricity will apply and we are working those figures out. It is a complex matter as people will realise because it’s not a matter of just applying a flat tax rate. But I would remind members that we did receive an accolade during last year from the opposition where they applauded the government on holding tax prices down and we have a record here of trying to keep electricity prices as low as we possibly can. Unlike our colleagues in the states, we can’t rely on that dirty, nasty stuff buried under the ground called coal to run cheap electricity as their Labor cohorts do down in the eastern states.
Yes, our electricity is expensive compared to other places because we had to build infrastructure. We are hopeful that the prospectivity that has been proved up in our northern seas will make gas cheaper for us. We have put an immense amount of infrastructure in from a very neglectful situation that we inherited from the Commonwealth government when we inherited a heavy oil-fired power station which was polluting and potentially hazardous to our harbour. So we have opted for a greener source than we inherited from the Commonwealth. We are optimistic about the price of electricity coming down with the advent of bulk gas coming on shore.
Yes, it’s true that if you compared electricity prices in the Territory across Australia, particularly where you have most of Australia living in close proximity, we don’t compare as well. Western Australia is probably in a similar position as us, and that’s where I suggest the bench mark could be made, because they don’t rely on the cheap and nasty coal that comes out of the ground like my counterpart in Queensland is going to do. We are looking to the future of the Territory, we are looking to the future in terms of making sure that our power is predictable and greener than coal, and we are making sure that Territorians’ best interests are cared for with the GST.
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, we have a history in this place of the Labor Party making criticisms about fundamental government policies that are well enunciated and well written out, and they compare them with this amorphous mass of a lack of policy which is their position. I think it’s most unfair on Territorians to pose the question of what are we going to do here in the Northern Territory, when it’s a national and global issue and without even being able to juxtapose that answer with what they would do.
Now, this is a very cute debate, because we have Mr Beazley talking about roll back, which is a cunning phrase that is yet to have any mathematical devices applied to it. You have this gentleman here from Arnhem talking about how fetes are being taxed $250m. Now, I have a lot of school fetes in my electorate ...
A member interjecting.
Mr DUNHAM: ...and I can’t …
A member interjecting.
Mr DUNHAM: ...and we have various scare campaigns going on on the minutiae of the new tax. The reality is the whole system must change. If the intention was to tinker with the system we have, that’s really not a fundamental change, and if the intention is to display to the people listening to this broadcast the current system is really good and we should retain it and it’s not complex, I’d like to hear that argument, because the current system is immensely complex in how it displays its tax.
Now, I’m in the fortunate position being the minister for health to know that health is tax free under the GST and so, too, is water and sewerage. The tax relating to electricity will apply and we are working those figures out. It is a complex matter as people will realise because it’s not a matter of just applying a flat tax rate. But I would remind members that we did receive an accolade during last year from the opposition where they applauded the government on holding tax prices down and we have a record here of trying to keep electricity prices as low as we possibly can. Unlike our colleagues in the states, we can’t rely on that dirty, nasty stuff buried under the ground called coal to run cheap electricity as their Labor cohorts do down in the eastern states.
Yes, our electricity is expensive compared to other places because we had to build infrastructure. We are hopeful that the prospectivity that has been proved up in our northern seas will make gas cheaper for us. We have put an immense amount of infrastructure in from a very neglectful situation that we inherited from the Commonwealth government when we inherited a heavy oil-fired power station which was polluting and potentially hazardous to our harbour. So we have opted for a greener source than we inherited from the Commonwealth. We are optimistic about the price of electricity coming down with the advent of bulk gas coming on shore.
Yes, it’s true that if you compared electricity prices in the Territory across Australia, particularly where you have most of Australia living in close proximity, we don’t compare as well. Western Australia is probably in a similar position as us, and that’s where I suggest the bench mark could be made, because they don’t rely on the cheap and nasty coal that comes out of the ground like my counterpart in Queensland is going to do. We are looking to the future of the Territory, we are looking to the future in terms of making sure that our power is predictable and greener than coal, and we are making sure that Territorians’ best interests are cared for with the GST.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016