Mr WOOD - 2014-02-19
In the last sittings of parliament you made a statement about transport in the Northern Territory. In the statement you said nothing about the sale of the government-owned bus service, a public asset. Three days later, the day after sittings - after we had all gone home - you announced the government-owned bus service was to be sold. Why did you leave the sale of the Darwin Bus Service out of your ministerial statement when you knew you would announce the decision three days later? Why did you not have the courtesy of telling the parliament of your intention to sell the public bus service, but left the announcement until parliament had finished? Can you explain the reason the Darwin Bus Service is being sold, what you expect to receive for it - and the ‘it’ is a public asset by the way - and who you intend to sell it to?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Nelson for the question. We were looking at a range of issues. We wanted to get the tenders for this out as soon as we could, which is why we were pushing to meet the 6 December deadline. A range of meetings occurred with the Department of Transport and with me. We wanted to get everything done for the change-over in a financial year. The longer you leave these things, the longer you have the commencement date. We have looked at a range of issues in the transport sector and public transport in relation to providing an effective and efficient service to the people of the Northern Territory to get around at a respectable price, but also to increase the service and the competition.
As Darwin grows - and we all know we are in for a massive growth spurt - we are looking at introducing competition into the system. You will notice this across a range of portfolios. We on this side are about driving forces down because of competition.
We had this discussion in a previous debate in this House in relation to what we do on our side and what you do on your side. We hear the members of the opposition calling for one big fat organisation to run Power and Water, for instance, but to get efficiencies you need competition. This has been proven all over the place. If you look at power, for instance, it was the Labor governments around Australia privatising power to drive the cost down. It was Labor that advocated the breakdown of Telstra.
We have competition now. I think I mentioned to you the last time we debated, my phone calls these days are cheaper if I want to ring someone interstate than they were 32 years ago when we had one provider. So, tell me where competition is not a good thing.
We on this side want to go into competition; we have thrown it out there to see what will happen. My understanding is …
Mr WOOD: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Pursuant to Standing Order 113: relevance. I asked why this was not included in your ministerial statement and why were we told after parliament had completed its sittings.
Madam SPEAKER: Minister, if you can get to the point please.
Mr STYLES: The decision was not made. The decision was made as soon as we could get the information in.
Members interjecting.
Mr STYLES: I hear the interjections, but you cannot announce something until the decision is made and the department signs off to ensure all due diligence has been done in relation to the tendering process. We will put it out there. My understanding is six organisations have tendered for this and the department is, with some experts, determining what will happen. When you ask who we will give it to, it is about the tendering process being done, due diligence being done and then we will talk to the people who are the recipients.
Madam SPEAKER: Minister, your time has expired.
Mr ELFERINK (Leader of Government Business): Madam Speaker, I ask that further questions be placed on the Written Question Paper.
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Nelson for the question. We were looking at a range of issues. We wanted to get the tenders for this out as soon as we could, which is why we were pushing to meet the 6 December deadline. A range of meetings occurred with the Department of Transport and with me. We wanted to get everything done for the change-over in a financial year. The longer you leave these things, the longer you have the commencement date. We have looked at a range of issues in the transport sector and public transport in relation to providing an effective and efficient service to the people of the Northern Territory to get around at a respectable price, but also to increase the service and the competition.
As Darwin grows - and we all know we are in for a massive growth spurt - we are looking at introducing competition into the system. You will notice this across a range of portfolios. We on this side are about driving forces down because of competition.
We had this discussion in a previous debate in this House in relation to what we do on our side and what you do on your side. We hear the members of the opposition calling for one big fat organisation to run Power and Water, for instance, but to get efficiencies you need competition. This has been proven all over the place. If you look at power, for instance, it was the Labor governments around Australia privatising power to drive the cost down. It was Labor that advocated the breakdown of Telstra.
We have competition now. I think I mentioned to you the last time we debated, my phone calls these days are cheaper if I want to ring someone interstate than they were 32 years ago when we had one provider. So, tell me where competition is not a good thing.
We on this side want to go into competition; we have thrown it out there to see what will happen. My understanding is …
Mr WOOD: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Pursuant to Standing Order 113: relevance. I asked why this was not included in your ministerial statement and why were we told after parliament had completed its sittings.
Madam SPEAKER: Minister, if you can get to the point please.
Mr STYLES: The decision was not made. The decision was made as soon as we could get the information in.
Members interjecting.
Mr STYLES: I hear the interjections, but you cannot announce something until the decision is made and the department signs off to ensure all due diligence has been done in relation to the tendering process. We will put it out there. My understanding is six organisations have tendered for this and the department is, with some experts, determining what will happen. When you ask who we will give it to, it is about the tendering process being done, due diligence being done and then we will talk to the people who are the recipients.
Madam SPEAKER: Minister, your time has expired.
Mr ELFERINK (Leader of Government Business): Madam Speaker, I ask that further questions be placed on the Written Question Paper.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016