Mr HIGGINS - 2014-03-27
Can you outline for the Assembly the extensive program of work rolled out by this government to drive development in the bush?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Daly for his question. He is keen on seeing us deliver outcomes in the bush. We want to see the delivery of economic change to ensure there are jobs in the bush and move away from the patterns of welfare and sit-down money, which have been around for too long.
Many would know we have been in talks with a number of communities interested in pursuing real economic opportunities on their land, with strong interest coming in early days from Tiwi Islands, Ngukurr, Wadeye and the Utopia region, where people want to see a change of paradigm, from public sector investments to include private sector investments so we can start to see people have an opportunity in life, start to see …
Members interjecting.
Mr GILES: … kids have hope for the future, so they can have a purpose for going to school, ensuring it can be a long lasting program for the Northern Territory. We are putting this under our draft program called Framing the Future, which will be released in finality soon. Under the Framing the Future document, we have investments under four key areas: economic; social; cultural; and environmental - all underpinned through the development of the northern Australia proposed strategy.
Northern Australia will see an investment in infrastructure, education and health, with the Palmerston regional hospital. This includes roads, such as the Port Keats Road in the member for Daly’s electorate, Plenty Highway, Sandover Highway, Carpentaria Highway, Roper Highway and Central Arnhem Road - the top road - at some of those remote locations. We must have the infrastructure in place in those remote locations to ensure people are better connected, have the ability to meet up with one another, and so we can open up and get access to markets. This way, products which are grown, farmed or otherwise can get to the port or the market.
It is a long-term approach. There have been many decades of lack of investment in the Northern Territory. Fundamentally, there are only about four main roads in the Northern Territory, those being the Stuart, Barkly, Victoria and Arnhem Highways. The Arnhem Highway is crumbling badly with the Wet Season and the heavy trucks to a point where a truck is only allowed to go across the Arnhem Highway every eight minutes.
We have substantially invested in the bush. I have been Chief Minister for 12 months and we have been in government for 18 months. It is a long-term approach towards getting more money into the bush. We inherited a $5.5bn Labor debt legacy when we came to government, so balancing to get the deficit to zero and then start paying off debt while getting investment into the bush and creating economies is a challenge, but we are up for the challenge. We believe our policies and programs are the right plans for the future and will deliver outcomes for Territorians.
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Daly for his question. He is keen on seeing us deliver outcomes in the bush. We want to see the delivery of economic change to ensure there are jobs in the bush and move away from the patterns of welfare and sit-down money, which have been around for too long.
Many would know we have been in talks with a number of communities interested in pursuing real economic opportunities on their land, with strong interest coming in early days from Tiwi Islands, Ngukurr, Wadeye and the Utopia region, where people want to see a change of paradigm, from public sector investments to include private sector investments so we can start to see people have an opportunity in life, start to see …
Members interjecting.
Mr GILES: … kids have hope for the future, so they can have a purpose for going to school, ensuring it can be a long lasting program for the Northern Territory. We are putting this under our draft program called Framing the Future, which will be released in finality soon. Under the Framing the Future document, we have investments under four key areas: economic; social; cultural; and environmental - all underpinned through the development of the northern Australia proposed strategy.
Northern Australia will see an investment in infrastructure, education and health, with the Palmerston regional hospital. This includes roads, such as the Port Keats Road in the member for Daly’s electorate, Plenty Highway, Sandover Highway, Carpentaria Highway, Roper Highway and Central Arnhem Road - the top road - at some of those remote locations. We must have the infrastructure in place in those remote locations to ensure people are better connected, have the ability to meet up with one another, and so we can open up and get access to markets. This way, products which are grown, farmed or otherwise can get to the port or the market.
It is a long-term approach. There have been many decades of lack of investment in the Northern Territory. Fundamentally, there are only about four main roads in the Northern Territory, those being the Stuart, Barkly, Victoria and Arnhem Highways. The Arnhem Highway is crumbling badly with the Wet Season and the heavy trucks to a point where a truck is only allowed to go across the Arnhem Highway every eight minutes.
We have substantially invested in the bush. I have been Chief Minister for 12 months and we have been in government for 18 months. It is a long-term approach towards getting more money into the bush. We inherited a $5.5bn Labor debt legacy when we came to government, so balancing to get the deficit to zero and then start paying off debt while getting investment into the bush and creating economies is a challenge, but we are up for the challenge. We believe our policies and programs are the right plans for the future and will deliver outcomes for Territorians.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016