Mr STIRLING - 2000-11-28
In speaking to the media, he has referred to the eventual purchase of this transmission line as akin to renting a house first and then buying it. I ask him to further his own analogy and please tell Territorians again why: (1) paying rent over 10 years that equated to 50% more than the original cost of the house, (2) paying all the operating costs such as the rates, the repairs, the maintenance, the broken toilet, (3) underwriting the mortgage, and (4) after committing to all of that, having absolutely not 1 of equity in that house represents best use of taxpayers’ dollars?
Tell us again, Chief Minister, why buying the house at more than double the market value represents such a good deal for Territorians? Would you purchase your own house under such terms?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, I say this to the opposition quite seriously: If you like, we can suspend Question Time now and the Treasurer can make the statement. I am sure we can then bring on Question Time after the statement is delivered so that we can stop this nonsense, because you do not know what you are talking about. You are quite happy to run all sorts of lines through ignorance. You bathe in ignorance just to try and get a little bit of a headline.
This is a serious offer. Do you want to know what is happening from this point? We can suspend Question Time, have the statement, and reopen Question Time.
Members interjecting.
Mr BURKE: The answer is: ‘Let’s keep Question Time going’.
The question is: ‘Did we essentially get a good deal on this powerline?’ Firstly, let us consider what the Labor Party thinks is a good deal. They are using some expert who has been rolled in. Remember, this transmission line is over 300 kilometres. They reckon that you can build this transmission line, under one expert’s opinion, for $15m.
Ms Martin: No, it is worth $15m.
Mr BURKE: $15m - well you have to build a new one if you are going to have one. I might just remind people that is about $50 000 per kilometre. Anyone who can build a transmission line over that country with native title, even putting aside native title, for $50 000 a kilometre is doing real good for that kind of transmission line. If it cost $20m, that is about $66 000 per kilometre. Let us just get that into perspective.
The other factor is, as I said, the Treasurer will go through all of the details of the history of the line and the reasons for the purchase. The reality is that the Northern Territory was paying lease costs on the loan of about $4m per year. The take-or-pay arrangements were over 20 years, with a 10 year review. Under the old arrangements we still have 10 years of lease costs to go. That is 10 x 4 in lease costs to go - $40m. Under the new arrangements where we now own the line, the arrangements over the next 10 years are of interest payments, and $1m rests just on that alone.
I might also remind members that, when you talk about how much the line costs, what it is worth, and whether we got dudded, listen to the statement and also keep in the back of your minds …
Mr Stirling: You got that right.
Mr BURKE: Listen! Keep in the back of your minds that the people we bought it from about 8 months ago paid $49m and we paid $43m.
Tell us again, Chief Minister, why buying the house at more than double the market value represents such a good deal for Territorians? Would you purchase your own house under such terms?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, I say this to the opposition quite seriously: If you like, we can suspend Question Time now and the Treasurer can make the statement. I am sure we can then bring on Question Time after the statement is delivered so that we can stop this nonsense, because you do not know what you are talking about. You are quite happy to run all sorts of lines through ignorance. You bathe in ignorance just to try and get a little bit of a headline.
This is a serious offer. Do you want to know what is happening from this point? We can suspend Question Time, have the statement, and reopen Question Time.
Members interjecting.
Mr BURKE: The answer is: ‘Let’s keep Question Time going’.
The question is: ‘Did we essentially get a good deal on this powerline?’ Firstly, let us consider what the Labor Party thinks is a good deal. They are using some expert who has been rolled in. Remember, this transmission line is over 300 kilometres. They reckon that you can build this transmission line, under one expert’s opinion, for $15m.
Ms Martin: No, it is worth $15m.
Mr BURKE: $15m - well you have to build a new one if you are going to have one. I might just remind people that is about $50 000 per kilometre. Anyone who can build a transmission line over that country with native title, even putting aside native title, for $50 000 a kilometre is doing real good for that kind of transmission line. If it cost $20m, that is about $66 000 per kilometre. Let us just get that into perspective.
The other factor is, as I said, the Treasurer will go through all of the details of the history of the line and the reasons for the purchase. The reality is that the Northern Territory was paying lease costs on the loan of about $4m per year. The take-or-pay arrangements were over 20 years, with a 10 year review. Under the old arrangements we still have 10 years of lease costs to go. That is 10 x 4 in lease costs to go - $40m. Under the new arrangements where we now own the line, the arrangements over the next 10 years are of interest payments, and $1m rests just on that alone.
I might also remind members that, when you talk about how much the line costs, what it is worth, and whether we got dudded, listen to the statement and also keep in the back of your minds …
Mr Stirling: You got that right.
Mr BURKE: Listen! Keep in the back of your minds that the people we bought it from about 8 months ago paid $49m and we paid $43m.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016