Mr HIGGINS - 2013-05-15
The Northern Territory business community, which I am part of, wants a government that makes responsible decisions. Can you inform the House why the 2013-14 budget is good for business and how it will help to grow a diverse economic base that will attract investment?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Daly for the question. It is now 10.50 am on Wednesday, the second day after the budget, yet we have not had one single question from the opposition to the Treasurer. We have had two lots of Question Time, and not one question to the Treasurer.
Goodness me! That is how they ran government; there was no fiscal responsibility …
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! It is because of the way he behaves.
Mr ELFERINK: Madam Speaker, I respectfully remind you of your earlier warning …
Madam SPEAKER: Thank you, Leader of Government Business. Please be seated.
Mr TOLLNER: The member for Daly asked me a question about what is in this budget for business. I am proud to say that the Giles government is sticking with our election commitment to grow a three-hub economy. There is plenty in this for business, agriculture, mining and tourism.
We are not a one-trick pony government, like the former government. Everything was focused on the Ichthys project and nothing else seemed to matter. As the Chief Minister just said, 50 applications for water licences sitting on the minister’s desk were never actioned. We are getting on with making business easier in the Northern Territory.
As far as agriculture goes, there is money in the budget to support the Ord River development. As the Chief Minister said, we are freeing up water resources. We will not be implementing a native vegetation act where you need a full-blown EIS to prune a tree. That will not be happening under this government. We want the agricultural sector to grow; we want jobs on the land. We know there will never be broadacre farming in the Northern Territory, but there is plenty of opportunity to grow food on a mosaic of good land, right across the Northern Territory. We are a government that will support that.
We support tourism. We have put an additional $8m into international marketing, which means a total of $15m has been allocated to let people around the world know about this wonderful place called the Northern Territory.
We are supporting the mining industry. We are doing everything we can. We are putting another $9.1m into the department of Mines, a department the previous government just let wallow. We are committed to driving economic growth in the Northern Territory. We are committed to diversifying our economic base. We are not a one-trick government like the former government. We are doing everything in our power to grow the private sector.
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Daly for the question. It is now 10.50 am on Wednesday, the second day after the budget, yet we have not had one single question from the opposition to the Treasurer. We have had two lots of Question Time, and not one question to the Treasurer.
Goodness me! That is how they ran government; there was no fiscal responsibility …
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! It is because of the way he behaves.
Mr ELFERINK: Madam Speaker, I respectfully remind you of your earlier warning …
Madam SPEAKER: Thank you, Leader of Government Business. Please be seated.
Mr TOLLNER: The member for Daly asked me a question about what is in this budget for business. I am proud to say that the Giles government is sticking with our election commitment to grow a three-hub economy. There is plenty in this for business, agriculture, mining and tourism.
We are not a one-trick pony government, like the former government. Everything was focused on the Ichthys project and nothing else seemed to matter. As the Chief Minister just said, 50 applications for water licences sitting on the minister’s desk were never actioned. We are getting on with making business easier in the Northern Territory.
As far as agriculture goes, there is money in the budget to support the Ord River development. As the Chief Minister said, we are freeing up water resources. We will not be implementing a native vegetation act where you need a full-blown EIS to prune a tree. That will not be happening under this government. We want the agricultural sector to grow; we want jobs on the land. We know there will never be broadacre farming in the Northern Territory, but there is plenty of opportunity to grow food on a mosaic of good land, right across the Northern Territory. We are a government that will support that.
We support tourism. We have put an additional $8m into international marketing, which means a total of $15m has been allocated to let people around the world know about this wonderful place called the Northern Territory.
We are supporting the mining industry. We are doing everything we can. We are putting another $9.1m into the department of Mines, a department the previous government just let wallow. We are committed to driving economic growth in the Northern Territory. We are committed to diversifying our economic base. We are not a one-trick government like the former government. We are doing everything in our power to grow the private sector.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016