Ms LEE - 2012-12-04
Last week you provided some insight into the vast amount of money to be provided over the next 30 years to build a new prison under the public private partnership, or PPP. Can you tell the House if you are satisfied that the full disclosure of this arrangement has convinced you that Territory taxpayers have benefited from this $1.8bn deal?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the honourable member for her question. She takes these things seriously, particularly the correction of people in the Northern Territory. We have some pretty good plans on this side of the House and are looking forward to making some good announcements in this area.
I remind honourable members that the promise of a $495m prison at 8.5% interest will lead to a final payment, in today’s dollar terms, of $1.8bn. The sums in relation to this are of some concern to me, because the sums we were given by the former government were, for construction, that this will not cost more than $495m.
The Auditor-General already begs to differ and says $521m. The fact is, what people of the Northern Territory were not told by the world’s most flaccid Treasurer was the ...
Ms Lawrie: Stumbling because you are making it up as you go.
Mr ELFERINK: What Territorians were not told ...
Ms Lawrie: October ...
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Member for Karama.
Mr ELFERINK: Pipe down and control yourself! What she did not tell Territorians was the full cost of the prison for its construct, which includes all of the other non-construct items such as finding the finances and those things, was $621m. This was to protect the Territory taxpayer. They said, ‘We have this great PPP arrangement in place to protect the Territory taxpayer’. They said it was going to cost another $56m to do the design and construct themselves.
We are already, at the design and construct phase, well beyond the original price of $495m ...
Mr McCARTHY: A point of order, Madam Speaker! The minister continues to talk about a prison when it is a precinct.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Barkly, please be seated. It is not a point of order.
Mr ELFERINK: Madam Speaker, in response to this, I will be referring this matter to the Public Accounts Committee so it can cast an eye over what has occurred and report back to this House. In the letter I will write to the Public Accounts Committee, one of the areas I will be particularly interested in is whether or not the funding method used represented optimum value for the taxpayers of the Northern Territory.
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the honourable member for her question. She takes these things seriously, particularly the correction of people in the Northern Territory. We have some pretty good plans on this side of the House and are looking forward to making some good announcements in this area.
I remind honourable members that the promise of a $495m prison at 8.5% interest will lead to a final payment, in today’s dollar terms, of $1.8bn. The sums in relation to this are of some concern to me, because the sums we were given by the former government were, for construction, that this will not cost more than $495m.
The Auditor-General already begs to differ and says $521m. The fact is, what people of the Northern Territory were not told by the world’s most flaccid Treasurer was the ...
Ms Lawrie: Stumbling because you are making it up as you go.
Mr ELFERINK: What Territorians were not told ...
Ms Lawrie: October ...
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Member for Karama.
Mr ELFERINK: Pipe down and control yourself! What she did not tell Territorians was the full cost of the prison for its construct, which includes all of the other non-construct items such as finding the finances and those things, was $621m. This was to protect the Territory taxpayer. They said, ‘We have this great PPP arrangement in place to protect the Territory taxpayer’. They said it was going to cost another $56m to do the design and construct themselves.
We are already, at the design and construct phase, well beyond the original price of $495m ...
Mr McCARTHY: A point of order, Madam Speaker! The minister continues to talk about a prison when it is a precinct.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Barkly, please be seated. It is not a point of order.
Mr ELFERINK: Madam Speaker, in response to this, I will be referring this matter to the Public Accounts Committee so it can cast an eye over what has occurred and report back to this House. In the letter I will write to the Public Accounts Committee, one of the areas I will be particularly interested in is whether or not the funding method used represented optimum value for the taxpayers of the Northern Territory.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016