Mr BALCH - 2001-02-20
Earlier this month, the Productivity Commission reported that the Northern Territory spends the highest per capita of all Australian jurisdictions on the health of Territorians. How will the prosperity and growth generated by the Darwin to Alice Springs railway continue this trend and help provide the best possible health care for Territorians?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, it is true that my portfolio responsibilities see me as a big spender in the Northern Territory. I have a little truth to let the Labor Party into; to spend money, you have to earn money. That is why I welcome the railway. I welcome what it will bring to the Territory. It means that the good health services that we’ve built in this place - and there are some tens of millions of dollars in upgrading our facilities underway as we speak - will continue to be able to rely on the buoyancy of this economy. It is buoyant under this CLP government and it will remain so.
The advent of the railway will bring a few other benefits that we have long recognised. The reason I carry responsibility for both social and health issues is we realise there’s a nexus between the two. We’ve long understood that one of the precursors to ill health, particularly among indigenous people, has been unemployment. We are aware that a project like the railway, which encompasses the breadth of the Northern Territory from top to bottom, will have massive spin-offs for many small communities along the length and breadth of the Territory. There will be ample opportunity for employment for Aboriginal people, and there will be ample opportunity in the future for the railway to be a catalyst for development for small communities that exist up along the Track. That was certainly the case in the previous railway which was prematurely shut down and which serviced towns like Union Reef, Brocks Creek, Grove Hill and Larrimah; towns which when the railway ceased to run virtually died - they were pretty much ghost towns.
I suspect this railway will be a great boon to economic activity right up and down the Northern Territory. It will mean employment opportunities for remote Territorians, particularly in Katherine and Tennant Creek but also in the remote Aboriginal communities along the Track. It will mean that they can participate in this great Territory venture. The buoyancy that it will bring us can be further deployed into making sure that the Territory still has great social programs, such as our programs in education and particularly in health, my portfolio responsibility.
As well as being a great spender, with my PAWA responsibilities I am also a great earner. It is my hope that as the Territory grows the commercial instrumentality, which is the Power and Water Authority, will be able to provide greater capacity to reduce the cost of electricity. We will have more people living here and more industry. We will have a great opportunity to make sure that those benefits are passed on to domestic consumers.
The railway is yet another great step in our economic stewardship of this place. Its benefits will definitely flow through to the social portfolios, particularly health. I welcome the breakthrough that the Chief Minister had with the Prime Minister in recent days. I am entirely confident that this project will go ahead to the benefit of all Territorians.
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, it is true that my portfolio responsibilities see me as a big spender in the Northern Territory. I have a little truth to let the Labor Party into; to spend money, you have to earn money. That is why I welcome the railway. I welcome what it will bring to the Territory. It means that the good health services that we’ve built in this place - and there are some tens of millions of dollars in upgrading our facilities underway as we speak - will continue to be able to rely on the buoyancy of this economy. It is buoyant under this CLP government and it will remain so.
The advent of the railway will bring a few other benefits that we have long recognised. The reason I carry responsibility for both social and health issues is we realise there’s a nexus between the two. We’ve long understood that one of the precursors to ill health, particularly among indigenous people, has been unemployment. We are aware that a project like the railway, which encompasses the breadth of the Northern Territory from top to bottom, will have massive spin-offs for many small communities along the length and breadth of the Territory. There will be ample opportunity for employment for Aboriginal people, and there will be ample opportunity in the future for the railway to be a catalyst for development for small communities that exist up along the Track. That was certainly the case in the previous railway which was prematurely shut down and which serviced towns like Union Reef, Brocks Creek, Grove Hill and Larrimah; towns which when the railway ceased to run virtually died - they were pretty much ghost towns.
I suspect this railway will be a great boon to economic activity right up and down the Northern Territory. It will mean employment opportunities for remote Territorians, particularly in Katherine and Tennant Creek but also in the remote Aboriginal communities along the Track. It will mean that they can participate in this great Territory venture. The buoyancy that it will bring us can be further deployed into making sure that the Territory still has great social programs, such as our programs in education and particularly in health, my portfolio responsibility.
As well as being a great spender, with my PAWA responsibilities I am also a great earner. It is my hope that as the Territory grows the commercial instrumentality, which is the Power and Water Authority, will be able to provide greater capacity to reduce the cost of electricity. We will have more people living here and more industry. We will have a great opportunity to make sure that those benefits are passed on to domestic consumers.
The railway is yet another great step in our economic stewardship of this place. Its benefits will definitely flow through to the social portfolios, particularly health. I welcome the breakthrough that the Chief Minister had with the Prime Minister in recent days. I am entirely confident that this project will go ahead to the benefit of all Territorians.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016