Ms CARTER - 2001-02-28
The Opposition Leader and the opposition education spokesman recently visited Aberdeen in Scotland to learn about the oil and gas industry. They indicated before they went they would be looking at industry training and seeking opportunities for the Territory in this area. Since we are yet to hear from the Leader of the Opposition about what she achieved from the visit, can the minister tell the House what initiatives this government is taking in the area of oil and gas training?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, this is a good question. It is disappointing that the Leader of the Opposition and her companion did not first make some inquiries about the appropriate people to see. There were many key people they missed out on visiting and, as a result of that, they have obviously come back with total misinformation. It is disturbing they then use that misinformation to create a perception problem about the Northern Territory.
First of all, I want to run through a few things that have been done. The government has been focusing in Aberdeen on making business connections to profile Darwin as a supply and service operations base, and to learn from the UK’s experience in developing industry infrastructure and job-training skills. Very strong interest has been expressed by Aberdeen College and other institutions in forming alliances with NT University. On these visits, I have taken people from the university because there are many opportunities to join courses, such as train-the-trainer programs and many other training initiatives.
Aberdeen College provides training courses for most major companies in the North Sea oil and gas industry. The Northern Territory University has already entered into a memorandum of understanding with the National Safety Council of Australia and Chubb to create a national institutional industry framework under which oil and gas training can be developed. In other words, they have already joined with the appropriate organisations and industry to put together an appropriate training process.
NTU has already commenced marine rescue courses under a joint venture with Marine Rescue International based in Aberdeen. Representatives from the Northern Territory University, through government-sponsored missions to Aberdeen, have been put in touch with other training institutions in Scotland. Those institutions include the South Tyneside College and the Montrose Scotia Training International, both of which provide specialist training courses and facilities for the oil and gas industry. Much activity is occurring.
We would have been pleased to provide information to the Leader of the Opposition, because this is the first time in nearly 10 years they have shown interest in what is occurring offshore and in Darwin. But, for the first time in 10 years, did they want to find out what was happening? Did they want to get information on who would be appropriate to talk to, or the organisations to follow-up on the work that industry and education have been doing? No, they did not want to do that.
Worse still, instead of coming back and saying, ‘Look, we have a few queries and we are not too sure what is going on; what is happening’, they have not even bothered to even find out, after they got back, whether there was any activity going on. They come into this parliament and they create an impression amongst the media representatives, amongst people in the community ...
Mrs HICKEY: A point of order, Mr Speaker!
Mr MANZIE: ... that not only is nothing going on but we do not have the capacity to do it. One of the biggest problems I have in trying ...
Mrs HICKEY: A point of order, Mr Speaker!
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mrs HICKEY: Thank you, Mr Speaker! Finally! Nobody was interjecting on the minister and yet the volume of his delivery has increased according to his emotional state. Could you ask the minister to temper the volume a bit.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! There is no point of order. It is a little bit ...
Members interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! There is no point of order.
Mr MANZIE: Mr Speaker, isn’t it marvellous! They get caught out and they go to ground. They suddenly try to stop the criticism because, oops, it will hurt the image of their leader!
I will say this very clearly. We have - and independent people can confirm this - the best education system in Australia; the best-resourced schools in Australia; the best class sizes in Australia and the best results; and the best job opportunities for students graduating. Yet, the members opposite try to denigrate that. What they are doing is creating an atmosphere - and they did it again today - which makes it harder and harder for industry to accept the fact that not only can we do it, but we can do it better.
This is one of the biggest problems that I have, and members of the government have, with bringing industry here. The opposition is proud of this because they think they can make it hard for government. Well, they do not make it hard for government. They make it hard for all the kids who are hoping to get jobs; all the kids who are out there training. Educational institutions have been planning and working with industry for some years, unbeknown to the opposition who have not bothered to even ask. They are giving an impression to industry that is ruining the credibility of the Territory. I say to them - shame on you!
They bring up the process and say that Timor has a plan; they are well on the way. Well, let me say that Timor is working on developing a plan. In fact, industry in the Territory, the Northern Territory government, and the Northern Territory University are working together to be in a position to tender for the training processes when called for from Timor. So, not only do we know they are developing a plan, we are working with them to be able to provide the training because we have the capacity and the expertise. But does the Leader of the Opposition care? No. All she wants to do is denigrate ...
Ms MARTIN: Stop yelling, Daryl. A point of order, Mr Speaker!
Mr SPEAKER: Order! There is no point of order.
Ms MARTIN: Look, it really is ...
Mr SPEAKER: Order! It is a little much for the opposition to be making a claim on this, given the level of interjections and the loudness of interjections coming from the opposition at times.
Ms Martin: The gallery is ...
Mr SPEAKER: There is no point of order!
Mr MANZIE: Thank you, Mr Speaker. It is a disgrace that we have the opposition attempting to denigrate the standards of education, the work ...
Ms Martin:We denigrate nothing. We asked you for a jobs plan.
Mr MANZIE: She is still at it. She wants to create this monologue on the radio; that is what she does it for. She has been trained by her minders that when there is criticism coming, if you start mumbling and continue talking, you create an undercurrent which blocks the microphone so the community cannot hear. That is her tactic, but it will not work because people realise that everything she brings up is trying to destroy the credibility of institutions and people in the Territory.
This is the best example I have seen for a long time. This is Labor’s plan; it is taken out of Labor’s position paper Planning for a New Millennium. There is one line:
Phillips Petroleum and Woodside Petroleum are both well advanced with plans for onshore processing, including downstream processing of gas to commence during the next decade.
Planning for a New Millennium. What a document of substance! She then gets up here and tries to put down all the work that has been happening. She goes across to Aberdeen and does not even make an enquiry as to who she could talk to - who is working, who is liaising with who - to get some background to build on the work that has been done for some years by many people.
No, she does not want to do that; she wants to destroy the work that has been done. Well, let me tell her this: The government has been working, and will continue to work, to ensure we get gas onshore because, until we get gas onshore, all this other stuff will not happen.
That is our first priority. At the same time we have been working, and the institutions in the Territory and industry in the Territory, have been working on building and developing our training requirements. Industry has been playing a very big part, and there is an industry group actually involved in all these areas.
I say to the Leader of the Opposition, please give Territorians a go; please do not denigrate them. Please assist and help to build them up. We on this side of the House will continue to work to ensure we develop the industry activity and growth that will create jobs. We will make sure our education system and industry work together in developing the training to ensure that young Territorians get those job opportunities.
Mr PALMER (Leader of Government Business): Mr Speaker, I ask that further questions be placed on the Question Paper.
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, this is a good question. It is disappointing that the Leader of the Opposition and her companion did not first make some inquiries about the appropriate people to see. There were many key people they missed out on visiting and, as a result of that, they have obviously come back with total misinformation. It is disturbing they then use that misinformation to create a perception problem about the Northern Territory.
First of all, I want to run through a few things that have been done. The government has been focusing in Aberdeen on making business connections to profile Darwin as a supply and service operations base, and to learn from the UK’s experience in developing industry infrastructure and job-training skills. Very strong interest has been expressed by Aberdeen College and other institutions in forming alliances with NT University. On these visits, I have taken people from the university because there are many opportunities to join courses, such as train-the-trainer programs and many other training initiatives.
Aberdeen College provides training courses for most major companies in the North Sea oil and gas industry. The Northern Territory University has already entered into a memorandum of understanding with the National Safety Council of Australia and Chubb to create a national institutional industry framework under which oil and gas training can be developed. In other words, they have already joined with the appropriate organisations and industry to put together an appropriate training process.
NTU has already commenced marine rescue courses under a joint venture with Marine Rescue International based in Aberdeen. Representatives from the Northern Territory University, through government-sponsored missions to Aberdeen, have been put in touch with other training institutions in Scotland. Those institutions include the South Tyneside College and the Montrose Scotia Training International, both of which provide specialist training courses and facilities for the oil and gas industry. Much activity is occurring.
We would have been pleased to provide information to the Leader of the Opposition, because this is the first time in nearly 10 years they have shown interest in what is occurring offshore and in Darwin. But, for the first time in 10 years, did they want to find out what was happening? Did they want to get information on who would be appropriate to talk to, or the organisations to follow-up on the work that industry and education have been doing? No, they did not want to do that.
Worse still, instead of coming back and saying, ‘Look, we have a few queries and we are not too sure what is going on; what is happening’, they have not even bothered to even find out, after they got back, whether there was any activity going on. They come into this parliament and they create an impression amongst the media representatives, amongst people in the community ...
Mrs HICKEY: A point of order, Mr Speaker!
Mr MANZIE: ... that not only is nothing going on but we do not have the capacity to do it. One of the biggest problems I have in trying ...
Mrs HICKEY: A point of order, Mr Speaker!
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mrs HICKEY: Thank you, Mr Speaker! Finally! Nobody was interjecting on the minister and yet the volume of his delivery has increased according to his emotional state. Could you ask the minister to temper the volume a bit.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! There is no point of order. It is a little bit ...
Members interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! There is no point of order.
Mr MANZIE: Mr Speaker, isn’t it marvellous! They get caught out and they go to ground. They suddenly try to stop the criticism because, oops, it will hurt the image of their leader!
I will say this very clearly. We have - and independent people can confirm this - the best education system in Australia; the best-resourced schools in Australia; the best class sizes in Australia and the best results; and the best job opportunities for students graduating. Yet, the members opposite try to denigrate that. What they are doing is creating an atmosphere - and they did it again today - which makes it harder and harder for industry to accept the fact that not only can we do it, but we can do it better.
This is one of the biggest problems that I have, and members of the government have, with bringing industry here. The opposition is proud of this because they think they can make it hard for government. Well, they do not make it hard for government. They make it hard for all the kids who are hoping to get jobs; all the kids who are out there training. Educational institutions have been planning and working with industry for some years, unbeknown to the opposition who have not bothered to even ask. They are giving an impression to industry that is ruining the credibility of the Territory. I say to them - shame on you!
They bring up the process and say that Timor has a plan; they are well on the way. Well, let me say that Timor is working on developing a plan. In fact, industry in the Territory, the Northern Territory government, and the Northern Territory University are working together to be in a position to tender for the training processes when called for from Timor. So, not only do we know they are developing a plan, we are working with them to be able to provide the training because we have the capacity and the expertise. But does the Leader of the Opposition care? No. All she wants to do is denigrate ...
Ms MARTIN: Stop yelling, Daryl. A point of order, Mr Speaker!
Mr SPEAKER: Order! There is no point of order.
Ms MARTIN: Look, it really is ...
Mr SPEAKER: Order! It is a little much for the opposition to be making a claim on this, given the level of interjections and the loudness of interjections coming from the opposition at times.
Ms Martin: The gallery is ...
Mr SPEAKER: There is no point of order!
Mr MANZIE: Thank you, Mr Speaker. It is a disgrace that we have the opposition attempting to denigrate the standards of education, the work ...
Ms Martin:We denigrate nothing. We asked you for a jobs plan.
Mr MANZIE: She is still at it. She wants to create this monologue on the radio; that is what she does it for. She has been trained by her minders that when there is criticism coming, if you start mumbling and continue talking, you create an undercurrent which blocks the microphone so the community cannot hear. That is her tactic, but it will not work because people realise that everything she brings up is trying to destroy the credibility of institutions and people in the Territory.
This is the best example I have seen for a long time. This is Labor’s plan; it is taken out of Labor’s position paper Planning for a New Millennium. There is one line:
Phillips Petroleum and Woodside Petroleum are both well advanced with plans for onshore processing, including downstream processing of gas to commence during the next decade.
Planning for a New Millennium. What a document of substance! She then gets up here and tries to put down all the work that has been happening. She goes across to Aberdeen and does not even make an enquiry as to who she could talk to - who is working, who is liaising with who - to get some background to build on the work that has been done for some years by many people.
No, she does not want to do that; she wants to destroy the work that has been done. Well, let me tell her this: The government has been working, and will continue to work, to ensure we get gas onshore because, until we get gas onshore, all this other stuff will not happen.
That is our first priority. At the same time we have been working, and the institutions in the Territory and industry in the Territory, have been working on building and developing our training requirements. Industry has been playing a very big part, and there is an industry group actually involved in all these areas.
I say to the Leader of the Opposition, please give Territorians a go; please do not denigrate them. Please assist and help to build them up. We on this side of the House will continue to work to ensure we develop the industry activity and growth that will create jobs. We will make sure our education system and industry work together in developing the training to ensure that young Territorians get those job opportunities.
Mr PALMER (Leader of Government Business): Mr Speaker, I ask that further questions be placed on the Question Paper.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016