Mrs BRAHAM - 2001-05-30
Treasurer, can you just clarify: there is a revenue item in the budget for $50m from the sale of NT Fleet assets and that you are going to lease vehicles from now on. I think that is a great idea. But have you considered impact of putting $50m worth of NT vehicles on the market in one year? Wouldn’t it make more sense to phase it out over a couple of years? Could you just clarify exactly how you are going to do that?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, they are not just going to hit the market tomorrow. In terms of the decision, we have looked at the operation of NT Fleet which currently purchase their vehicles. They in turn lease them to government agencies. In looking at that we have recognised that an asset that is estimated to be valued at $50m could, in fact, be cashed up and that money used for better purposes elsewhere in government, particularly looking at the over-the-horizon requirements for the gas industry, for example so that we can maximise our opportunities.
Members interjecting.
Mr REED: Here we go. The old whinger’s on it again. The Leader of the Opposition: whinge, whinge, whinge; knock, knock, knock. Don’t let anything positive happen. Don’t do anything different than you ever did it before because that would be innovative and imaginative and we would have to extend our little brain cells to be able to relate to it. You are the biggest whinger. The Leader of the Opposition is the biggest whingerthat you could ever come across.
Members interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! Order!
Mrs Braham: Answer the question, Mike. Answer the question.
Mr REED: She has no capacity to see anything positive in anything or any benefit that might have been ...
Members interjecting.
Mr REED: So, in terms of doing that, in the sale mechanism, those kinds of issues will be taken into account, and the vehicles will probably roll out in the way that they currently do. For example, when they have reached the end of the period for which they are useful - that is to say it is time to sell it - then they will be sold through. Or they might be sold en masse and the company that buys them will then take account of it. I daresay that there will be different offers come forward from different folks who want to purchase the asset.
Having sold the asset in a way that will take into account the concerns expressed by the good member, NT Fleet then will lease the vehicles, and in turn on-lease them to the agencies. And we will have - and I say ‘we’ collectively, Territorians - will have $50m in a cash asset rather than an asset tied up in vehicles that government considers could be used for better purposes for Territorians, notwithstanding the stupid, inane whingeing interjections of the Leader of the Opposition, who just does not have the capacity to look at what the potential is to maximise an asset, turn it into cash and use it for a more significant purpose.
She does not understand, for example, and I will take the opportunity to draw her attention to Budget book No 2 - that’s the one with two bars on it - it is no good turning your back on the particular instruction that you are about to be given because that is why you fail to understand the budget books.
The honourable member’s former interest in superannuation might well be served in turning to page 212-213 of Budget Book No 2, that has two bars on it - we didn’t write 2 on it because we didn’t think you would understand that - the Department of Corporate and Information Services, Superannuation Office. In terms of the entitlements of Territorians, which the Leader of the Opposition quite misleadingly said on radio had been wiped out by this government and public servants will forego them, is all demonstrated there. The amounts of money from the Consolidated Revenue account to be appropriated in this budget, just as they were appropriated in 2000-01, $86.914m, and exceeding $80m this coming year. That is superannuation. Nothing to do with the Conditions of Service Trust, for the whingeing Leader of the Opposition. This has everything to do with the Consolidated Revenue account, an allocation for the Superannuation Office, to make sure that Territory public servants and their superannuation entitlements are enshrined in the budget, the cash is provided.
Listen, don’t get ready to stand up because it has not soaked in yet. She has to understand how to read and interpret the budget books. And don’t go telling Territory public servants that their money in the Conditions of Service Trust for their superannuation has gone. It has not gone, it is still on the books. Their superannuation is safeguarded on pages 212-213 in Budget Book No 2, just as it has been in years past, and just as it always will be, safeguarded for Territory public servants on behalf of the CLP government.
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, they are not just going to hit the market tomorrow. In terms of the decision, we have looked at the operation of NT Fleet which currently purchase their vehicles. They in turn lease them to government agencies. In looking at that we have recognised that an asset that is estimated to be valued at $50m could, in fact, be cashed up and that money used for better purposes elsewhere in government, particularly looking at the over-the-horizon requirements for the gas industry, for example so that we can maximise our opportunities.
Members interjecting.
Mr REED: Here we go. The old whinger’s on it again. The Leader of the Opposition: whinge, whinge, whinge; knock, knock, knock. Don’t let anything positive happen. Don’t do anything different than you ever did it before because that would be innovative and imaginative and we would have to extend our little brain cells to be able to relate to it. You are the biggest whinger. The Leader of the Opposition is the biggest whingerthat you could ever come across.
Members interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! Order!
Mrs Braham: Answer the question, Mike. Answer the question.
Mr REED: She has no capacity to see anything positive in anything or any benefit that might have been ...
Members interjecting.
Mr REED: So, in terms of doing that, in the sale mechanism, those kinds of issues will be taken into account, and the vehicles will probably roll out in the way that they currently do. For example, when they have reached the end of the period for which they are useful - that is to say it is time to sell it - then they will be sold through. Or they might be sold en masse and the company that buys them will then take account of it. I daresay that there will be different offers come forward from different folks who want to purchase the asset.
Having sold the asset in a way that will take into account the concerns expressed by the good member, NT Fleet then will lease the vehicles, and in turn on-lease them to the agencies. And we will have - and I say ‘we’ collectively, Territorians - will have $50m in a cash asset rather than an asset tied up in vehicles that government considers could be used for better purposes for Territorians, notwithstanding the stupid, inane whingeing interjections of the Leader of the Opposition, who just does not have the capacity to look at what the potential is to maximise an asset, turn it into cash and use it for a more significant purpose.
She does not understand, for example, and I will take the opportunity to draw her attention to Budget book No 2 - that’s the one with two bars on it - it is no good turning your back on the particular instruction that you are about to be given because that is why you fail to understand the budget books.
The honourable member’s former interest in superannuation might well be served in turning to page 212-213 of Budget Book No 2, that has two bars on it - we didn’t write 2 on it because we didn’t think you would understand that - the Department of Corporate and Information Services, Superannuation Office. In terms of the entitlements of Territorians, which the Leader of the Opposition quite misleadingly said on radio had been wiped out by this government and public servants will forego them, is all demonstrated there. The amounts of money from the Consolidated Revenue account to be appropriated in this budget, just as they were appropriated in 2000-01, $86.914m, and exceeding $80m this coming year. That is superannuation. Nothing to do with the Conditions of Service Trust, for the whingeing Leader of the Opposition. This has everything to do with the Consolidated Revenue account, an allocation for the Superannuation Office, to make sure that Territory public servants and their superannuation entitlements are enshrined in the budget, the cash is provided.
Listen, don’t get ready to stand up because it has not soaked in yet. She has to understand how to read and interpret the budget books. And don’t go telling Territory public servants that their money in the Conditions of Service Trust for their superannuation has gone. It has not gone, it is still on the books. Their superannuation is safeguarded on pages 212-213 in Budget Book No 2, just as it has been in years past, and just as it always will be, safeguarded for Territory public servants on behalf of the CLP government.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016