Ms CARTER - 2001-02-20
What potential benefits for trade between Australia and Asia will flow from the completion of the Alice Springs to Darwin railway?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, it really is worthwhile reiterating what the railway will do in relation to trade. Completion of the railway and the associated developments that the Minister for Territory Ports has explained to us will transform Darwin’s role as Australia’s gateway to Asia. Obviously the opposition see that as a threat because, as you know, the opposition is a branch of the Australian Labor Party. Their federal masters in Canberra want to stop the activity occurring here which is going to transform our port into an active port which plays an active role in moving product in and out of Australia. This is because their mates who run the ports and the transport companies down in Melbourne and Sydney are starting to become concerned. They have gone to their mate Ferguson, saying: ‘You’ve got to stop this’. And this mob here, they are playing along with it. We heard Warren Snowdon on the radio only last week saying it’s a pig in the poke. That’s the Labor Party’s attitude to it.
As the member for Karama pointed out, their record in promoting and supporting developments that create jobs for Territorians and lifestyle improvements in this Territory are abysmal. Every major job-creating project, every major project which advances the Territory, the Labor Party is on record as saying: ‘We don’t support it; we don’t want it to go ahead’. That’s the fact of the matter, and they are repeating their form at the present time.
We all know Darwin is the closest Australian capital city to the key South-East Asian centres of commerce and trade, including Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, Manila, which are all within 4000 km.
Members interjecting.
Mr MANZIE: They are still bleating over there. They can’t help themselves. They have to knock everything that creates jobs and activities.
This railway will reinforce our strategic location and our potential as a transport and logistics hub of regional significance. The combined railway and port operations will be able to handle 500 000 shipping containers each year. That represents 20% of Australia’s total sea freight volume. Once established, the new trade route to and from the southern markets of Australia into that South-East Asian area will make transit time savings of between 25% and 50% readily achievable.
Figures like those, coupled with Darwin’s record of industrial stability, will make the new north-south route attractive to importers and exporters alike, in particular those dealing in time-sensitive and valuable product.
That’s why the Labor Party doesn’t like it. They are masters at saying: ‘We’re going to lose a bit of influence’. If they haven’t got anything to say that’s going to support it, they should at least keep quiet. But the carry-on that we have been getting from these people, it really turns my stomach. We on this side of the House have been working on this project for many, many years. It is close to fruition and these people are trying to undermine it. The Leader of the Opposition is saying: ‘Yes, Kim’ll give $300m’. She should have heard old Snowdon on the radio last week. ‘And what do you say, Mr Snowdon, about Clare Martin’s claim of $300m from a Labor government? ‘Oh, no, no, no! We wouldn’t support that. That’s a pig in a poke.’ That’s the Labor Party’s real reaction to the railway.
Every now and then when you scratch the surface, up it pops. Everything this mob do and say is put together to try and stop development. Otherwise, why would they try and prevent everything that has created momentum and economic development in the Territory? Why have they tried to stop it? You have to ask yourself: what are they doing here?
I’ve been to South-East Asia many, many times. On the last trip I found a very, very keen interest in the railway and other developments which are planned for the Northern Territory. The railway and the port will provide impetus to establish Darwin as a key supply, service and distribution centre for the region, especially for the oil and gas activities currently taking place in the Timor Sea, eastern Indonesia, and Papua New Guinea. It will give a boost to the Territory’s mining industry. In fact, I have received a couple of approaches from mineral developers with deposits located near the railway route about using the railway to transport minerals to Darwin for overseas export.
There are completely new operations that this railway may make viable and which will increase economic activity and create jobs for Territorians - something this group doesn’t want because they don’t want to see success. They want to be able to stand up and say, as we’ve heard year after year from the Leader of the Opposition: ‘Really, the unemployment figures in the Territory are way above the official figures’. They love it. They love denigrating the Territory. They love knocking job-creating projects.
There can be no doubt the railway will give a tremendous lift to two-way trade between Australia and Asia, and Darwin will be at the centre of the action. But there’s no doubt the ALP are actively involved in trying to prevent it.
It is similar to their claims on petrol. The Labor Party introduced that petrol tax and they kept quiet for 13 years about it. Then when the Howard government gives all Australians on average salaries an extra $50 a week as a result of taxation reductions through the GST, what does this mob do? They say: ‘What’s the government doing about fuel?’ I’ll tell you what they are doing. They gave the average wage earner an extra $50 a week in income tax reductions, and this mob want to roll it back. They are a disgrace to the economic development of Australia. In particular, they are really working to undermine the creation of jobs and activity in our Territory.
Mr PALMER (Leader of Government Business): Mr Speaker, I ask that further questions be placed on the Question Paper.
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, it really is worthwhile reiterating what the railway will do in relation to trade. Completion of the railway and the associated developments that the Minister for Territory Ports has explained to us will transform Darwin’s role as Australia’s gateway to Asia. Obviously the opposition see that as a threat because, as you know, the opposition is a branch of the Australian Labor Party. Their federal masters in Canberra want to stop the activity occurring here which is going to transform our port into an active port which plays an active role in moving product in and out of Australia. This is because their mates who run the ports and the transport companies down in Melbourne and Sydney are starting to become concerned. They have gone to their mate Ferguson, saying: ‘You’ve got to stop this’. And this mob here, they are playing along with it. We heard Warren Snowdon on the radio only last week saying it’s a pig in the poke. That’s the Labor Party’s attitude to it.
As the member for Karama pointed out, their record in promoting and supporting developments that create jobs for Territorians and lifestyle improvements in this Territory are abysmal. Every major job-creating project, every major project which advances the Territory, the Labor Party is on record as saying: ‘We don’t support it; we don’t want it to go ahead’. That’s the fact of the matter, and they are repeating their form at the present time.
We all know Darwin is the closest Australian capital city to the key South-East Asian centres of commerce and trade, including Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, Manila, which are all within 4000 km.
Members interjecting.
Mr MANZIE: They are still bleating over there. They can’t help themselves. They have to knock everything that creates jobs and activities.
This railway will reinforce our strategic location and our potential as a transport and logistics hub of regional significance. The combined railway and port operations will be able to handle 500 000 shipping containers each year. That represents 20% of Australia’s total sea freight volume. Once established, the new trade route to and from the southern markets of Australia into that South-East Asian area will make transit time savings of between 25% and 50% readily achievable.
Figures like those, coupled with Darwin’s record of industrial stability, will make the new north-south route attractive to importers and exporters alike, in particular those dealing in time-sensitive and valuable product.
That’s why the Labor Party doesn’t like it. They are masters at saying: ‘We’re going to lose a bit of influence’. If they haven’t got anything to say that’s going to support it, they should at least keep quiet. But the carry-on that we have been getting from these people, it really turns my stomach. We on this side of the House have been working on this project for many, many years. It is close to fruition and these people are trying to undermine it. The Leader of the Opposition is saying: ‘Yes, Kim’ll give $300m’. She should have heard old Snowdon on the radio last week. ‘And what do you say, Mr Snowdon, about Clare Martin’s claim of $300m from a Labor government? ‘Oh, no, no, no! We wouldn’t support that. That’s a pig in a poke.’ That’s the Labor Party’s real reaction to the railway.
Every now and then when you scratch the surface, up it pops. Everything this mob do and say is put together to try and stop development. Otherwise, why would they try and prevent everything that has created momentum and economic development in the Territory? Why have they tried to stop it? You have to ask yourself: what are they doing here?
I’ve been to South-East Asia many, many times. On the last trip I found a very, very keen interest in the railway and other developments which are planned for the Northern Territory. The railway and the port will provide impetus to establish Darwin as a key supply, service and distribution centre for the region, especially for the oil and gas activities currently taking place in the Timor Sea, eastern Indonesia, and Papua New Guinea. It will give a boost to the Territory’s mining industry. In fact, I have received a couple of approaches from mineral developers with deposits located near the railway route about using the railway to transport minerals to Darwin for overseas export.
There are completely new operations that this railway may make viable and which will increase economic activity and create jobs for Territorians - something this group doesn’t want because they don’t want to see success. They want to be able to stand up and say, as we’ve heard year after year from the Leader of the Opposition: ‘Really, the unemployment figures in the Territory are way above the official figures’. They love it. They love denigrating the Territory. They love knocking job-creating projects.
There can be no doubt the railway will give a tremendous lift to two-way trade between Australia and Asia, and Darwin will be at the centre of the action. But there’s no doubt the ALP are actively involved in trying to prevent it.
It is similar to their claims on petrol. The Labor Party introduced that petrol tax and they kept quiet for 13 years about it. Then when the Howard government gives all Australians on average salaries an extra $50 a week as a result of taxation reductions through the GST, what does this mob do? They say: ‘What’s the government doing about fuel?’ I’ll tell you what they are doing. They gave the average wage earner an extra $50 a week in income tax reductions, and this mob want to roll it back. They are a disgrace to the economic development of Australia. In particular, they are really working to undermine the creation of jobs and activity in our Territory.
Mr PALMER (Leader of Government Business): Mr Speaker, I ask that further questions be placed on the Question Paper.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016