Ms MARTIN - 2000-11-29
The Treasurer claimed that he would fully explain to Territorians the details regarding the purchase of Paul Everingham’s transmission line in his statement to the House yesterday. Well, Mr Speaker, he failed. There are still many unanswered questions.
The Treasurer said: ‘Under the original deal struck for the transmission line, by the end of 20 years the line would have been largely paid for’. That is from the Treasurer’s speech. He went on to say that after 10 years only $1m had been paid off the line. That means a $50m loan had been reduced after 10 years to $49m. As guarantor the Treasurer had a responsibility to ensure the loan was repaid. Why didn’t he do his job properly and ensure payments were being made off the loan so that Territorians were not subject to such huge financial losses on this deal?
ANSWER
Well, Mr Speaker, I was not Treasurer for much of that time. I suppose that might be one reason. The arrangements were explained in detail yesterday in a 24-page statement. The ABC Radio commentator, Fred McCue, seemed to understand it exceedingly well. His comments this morning were that there was a lot of detail in this statement and it explained the issues quite thoroughly.
Now he can understand it and I dare say many others do too. But I am not surprised that the members opposite do not, because they do not want to. That has been their position ever since they commenced pursuing this particular issue on 10 November when I made the announcement that the Power and Water Authority had purchased the line. The details were provided yesterday in terms of the history right back to day 1 as to why the line was purchased. It was a provision of necessary infrastructure to service Territorians. It is a position that this government has been in since self-government. We took on the responsibility of an area with very low levels of infrastructure to service Territorians and there have been enormous advances ever since.
Honourable members will remember that of this transmission line was supposed to have two components, one of which was to go to Jabiru. Our preference as the government of the day was that a loan be taken for the government to construct it in its own right. That was not possible because the federal government of the day, a federal Labor government, would not allow the Territory government to do that. As a consequence the arrangements had to be put in place notwithstanding those circumstances because the government was determined to provide infrastructure for Territorians. The rest is history. It was explained in detail yesterday.
Members interjecting.
Mr REED: Noise does not equate to productivity or output.
Mr STIRLING: A point of order, Mr Speaker!The point of the question goes to why the government did not ensure the capital of the loan to NT Power. They were the guarantor. It was their responsibility to make sure this loan was paid off because anything that was not paid off was on their heads.
Mr DUNHAM: Speaking to the point of order, Mr Speaker ...
Mr SPEAKER: No, I am sorry, there is no point of order. There is nothing to speak to.
Mr REED: Having received the information yesterday - and they had to be force-fed that, because as I indicated yesterday with letters that I wrote to the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, I think on 14 November, offering him a full and detailed briefing, he refused it. I subsequently offered in writing a full and detailed briefing to the Leader of the Opposition. She refused to accept that offer because they do not want to know the facts. They do not want to be aware of what the circumstances were and are because that would eliminate their opportunity to get out of gutter and continue to come back on this issue.
The arrangements of the former owners of the transmission line and how they handled their business was very much a matter for them. In terms of the government’s commitment there was a charge of $4m a year that was paid for using that line. If you look at that in the context of where we are today, had we retained that process in place - the $4m a year over the next 10 years - it would have cost us $40m. However, because we moved to purchase the line the ongoing costs will be now $3m a year. That is $30m over 10 years, saving $10m.
That puts the lie to another line that the Labor Party have been driving, that the people of the Northern Territory will have to pay more in electricity costs to cover the cost of the purchase of the line. Wrong! The Power and Water Authority will accrue lower costs in terms of the line and its purchase. They have an asset which, as I said yesterday, when it was built in 1988 had a life of 40-50 years. It still has a life of 30-40 years. It is a wonderful asset, a wonderful benefit to Territorians, and a great outcome for them.
The Treasurer said: ‘Under the original deal struck for the transmission line, by the end of 20 years the line would have been largely paid for’. That is from the Treasurer’s speech. He went on to say that after 10 years only $1m had been paid off the line. That means a $50m loan had been reduced after 10 years to $49m. As guarantor the Treasurer had a responsibility to ensure the loan was repaid. Why didn’t he do his job properly and ensure payments were being made off the loan so that Territorians were not subject to such huge financial losses on this deal?
ANSWER
Well, Mr Speaker, I was not Treasurer for much of that time. I suppose that might be one reason. The arrangements were explained in detail yesterday in a 24-page statement. The ABC Radio commentator, Fred McCue, seemed to understand it exceedingly well. His comments this morning were that there was a lot of detail in this statement and it explained the issues quite thoroughly.
Now he can understand it and I dare say many others do too. But I am not surprised that the members opposite do not, because they do not want to. That has been their position ever since they commenced pursuing this particular issue on 10 November when I made the announcement that the Power and Water Authority had purchased the line. The details were provided yesterday in terms of the history right back to day 1 as to why the line was purchased. It was a provision of necessary infrastructure to service Territorians. It is a position that this government has been in since self-government. We took on the responsibility of an area with very low levels of infrastructure to service Territorians and there have been enormous advances ever since.
Honourable members will remember that of this transmission line was supposed to have two components, one of which was to go to Jabiru. Our preference as the government of the day was that a loan be taken for the government to construct it in its own right. That was not possible because the federal government of the day, a federal Labor government, would not allow the Territory government to do that. As a consequence the arrangements had to be put in place notwithstanding those circumstances because the government was determined to provide infrastructure for Territorians. The rest is history. It was explained in detail yesterday.
Members interjecting.
Mr REED: Noise does not equate to productivity or output.
Mr STIRLING: A point of order, Mr Speaker!The point of the question goes to why the government did not ensure the capital of the loan to NT Power. They were the guarantor. It was their responsibility to make sure this loan was paid off because anything that was not paid off was on their heads.
Mr DUNHAM: Speaking to the point of order, Mr Speaker ...
Mr SPEAKER: No, I am sorry, there is no point of order. There is nothing to speak to.
Mr REED: Having received the information yesterday - and they had to be force-fed that, because as I indicated yesterday with letters that I wrote to the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, I think on 14 November, offering him a full and detailed briefing, he refused it. I subsequently offered in writing a full and detailed briefing to the Leader of the Opposition. She refused to accept that offer because they do not want to know the facts. They do not want to be aware of what the circumstances were and are because that would eliminate their opportunity to get out of gutter and continue to come back on this issue.
The arrangements of the former owners of the transmission line and how they handled their business was very much a matter for them. In terms of the government’s commitment there was a charge of $4m a year that was paid for using that line. If you look at that in the context of where we are today, had we retained that process in place - the $4m a year over the next 10 years - it would have cost us $40m. However, because we moved to purchase the line the ongoing costs will be now $3m a year. That is $30m over 10 years, saving $10m.
That puts the lie to another line that the Labor Party have been driving, that the people of the Northern Territory will have to pay more in electricity costs to cover the cost of the purchase of the line. Wrong! The Power and Water Authority will accrue lower costs in terms of the line and its purchase. They have an asset which, as I said yesterday, when it was built in 1988 had a life of 40-50 years. It still has a life of 30-40 years. It is a wonderful asset, a wonderful benefit to Territorians, and a great outcome for them.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016