Mrs PRICE - 2012-11-28
Through his previous answers to questions the minister has detailed significant mismanagement and budget blowouts associated with the Asset Management System project. Can the minister reveal what will be required to bring this delay and expensive project to conclusion?
ANSWER
Thank you very much, member for Stuart, another very good question. The short answer is: leadership. That is what is required to get on top of AMS to find out what on earth has gone wrong.
We have been in this job now for 13/14 weeks and trying to get a grasp on AMS is difficult. Yesterday I tasked the department to come to me with every invoice that has ever been spent on AMS to fiind out exactly what we have purchased to date.
Now I am sitting here today after Question Time going through line-by-line, finding out where all our money has gone and I want to send a clear message to the department in response to this. This is about providing solutions for the Northern Territory.
In my time as minister in coming into government, and based on evidence from the opposition role, there is one thing missing from government and that is customer service. There is no customer service throughout the Territory.
People are not responding to issues of constituents, contractors or ministers, and as the minister who is now in charge of infrastructure, responsible for AMS, this is about putting leadership in place and taking control of a defunct system that is not producing what it was designed to produce, even when it was scoped at $14m or when it came in at $27m, or at $19m, or $30m or the extra $40m that is required.
Someone has to take control of this. It is our job to take control of it, and my job as the minister. Labor had no hands-on approach with AMS. That $40m could go a long way towards building our three-hub economy in the Northern Territory. Let me go through a few things we could do with $40m.
We could fund 17 Arafura Games; we could turn off one thousand blocks of land; we could build a new car park for Royal Darwin Hospital, Minister for Health; we could build a new high school and have change in our back pocket; we could build a state-of-the-art football stadium; full duplication of Vanderlin Drive; seal 80 km of the Tanami Highway, and I know the member for Stuart would be happy with that; 25 new cyclone shelters, a new bridge over Rapid Creek; seal 75 km on the central Arnhem Road; two high-level bridges over the Walton and Roper Rivers; 150 km of cycle paths - because we know cycling in the Northern Territory has the highest per capita rate in all of Australia. I could go on; a bridge over the East Alligator River - and I am sure the member for Arafura would be happy with that - sealing Fogg Bay all the way to Dundee; 11 new bus routes; upgrade every bus stop so it complied with the Disability Discrimination Act.
Madam Speaker, $40m could go a long way in the Territory but I am left with this basket case AMS, trying to fund it from money that we do not have because Labor left us with a big black hole. It is a perilous situation and I think you guys should hang your heads in shame for not being in charge of this.
To answer the question from the member for Stuart, the answer is one word: leadership. It is getting control of what has been going on, providing solutions, getting our hands dirty and fixing this problem that Labor has left us with.
ANSWER
Thank you very much, member for Stuart, another very good question. The short answer is: leadership. That is what is required to get on top of AMS to find out what on earth has gone wrong.
We have been in this job now for 13/14 weeks and trying to get a grasp on AMS is difficult. Yesterday I tasked the department to come to me with every invoice that has ever been spent on AMS to fiind out exactly what we have purchased to date.
Now I am sitting here today after Question Time going through line-by-line, finding out where all our money has gone and I want to send a clear message to the department in response to this. This is about providing solutions for the Northern Territory.
In my time as minister in coming into government, and based on evidence from the opposition role, there is one thing missing from government and that is customer service. There is no customer service throughout the Territory.
People are not responding to issues of constituents, contractors or ministers, and as the minister who is now in charge of infrastructure, responsible for AMS, this is about putting leadership in place and taking control of a defunct system that is not producing what it was designed to produce, even when it was scoped at $14m or when it came in at $27m, or at $19m, or $30m or the extra $40m that is required.
Someone has to take control of this. It is our job to take control of it, and my job as the minister. Labor had no hands-on approach with AMS. That $40m could go a long way towards building our three-hub economy in the Northern Territory. Let me go through a few things we could do with $40m.
We could fund 17 Arafura Games; we could turn off one thousand blocks of land; we could build a new car park for Royal Darwin Hospital, Minister for Health; we could build a new high school and have change in our back pocket; we could build a state-of-the-art football stadium; full duplication of Vanderlin Drive; seal 80 km of the Tanami Highway, and I know the member for Stuart would be happy with that; 25 new cyclone shelters, a new bridge over Rapid Creek; seal 75 km on the central Arnhem Road; two high-level bridges over the Walton and Roper Rivers; 150 km of cycle paths - because we know cycling in the Northern Territory has the highest per capita rate in all of Australia. I could go on; a bridge over the East Alligator River - and I am sure the member for Arafura would be happy with that - sealing Fogg Bay all the way to Dundee; 11 new bus routes; upgrade every bus stop so it complied with the Disability Discrimination Act.
Madam Speaker, $40m could go a long way in the Territory but I am left with this basket case AMS, trying to fund it from money that we do not have because Labor left us with a big black hole. It is a perilous situation and I think you guys should hang your heads in shame for not being in charge of this.
To answer the question from the member for Stuart, the answer is one word: leadership. It is getting control of what has been going on, providing solutions, getting our hands dirty and fixing this problem that Labor has left us with.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016