Mr WESTRA van HOLTHE - 2016-05-25
Budget week is one of highs and lows. Certainly a major high point for me and for Katherine was the announcement of a skywalk at Nitmiluk National Park. A huge low, unfortunately, were the words of the Leader of the Opposition in canning the idea, clearly diminishing the desire of the Jawoyn people to further their own economic opportunities. Labor clearly does not support tourism, Aboriginal people or their aspirations.
Chief Minister, could you please tell us why the Northern Territory government needs to invest $20m into adventure experiences such as the skywalk at Nitmiluk National Park?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Katherine for his question. It was great to be with him last Sunday at Katherine Gorge launching the skywalk initiatives as part of this budget.
He is right; we have announced one at Australia’s own Grand Canyon, being Nitmiluk gorge, or Katherine Gorge for those who do not know the name. There is $10m going into a 300 m elevated glass platform with a link across to enable tourists to have a better visitor experience, particularly adventure tourists.
We have another $10m set aside for a similar initiative at another park in the Northern Territory. We will work with the joint park management bodies to identify the right location. It could be in Litchfield, Kings Canyon or anywhere. We will go through a process to identify the best park for that to be at.
I was surprised to hear about the Leader of the Opposition and Labor not supporting it. We know that Labor does not support tourism. I have a chart here which demonstrates international visitors to the Northern Territory between 2001 and 2015. You can see the decline under Labor and you can see that we have turned it around and international visitors are coming back.
I was quite surprised to hear the Leader of the Opposition, in his budget reply, say, ‘We are going to start targeting China’. Why have we not targeted China? Let me tell you what happened. Every other state in Australia started targeting China eight years ago. In the Northern Territory eight years ago, Labor was in government and did not target China. It missed the curve; that is why we are playing catch up now in targeting the Chinese market.
It is a very good point to look at what happened with Labor and tourism. It almost brings you back to the Labor roulette game, because back then we had Kon Vatskalis and Malarndirri McCarthy as Tourism ministers. We all know that Malarndirri McCarthy is a frontrunner for the Labor Senate spot as Nova Peris has pulled the pin. In Question Time today we heard that the former Tourism minister, Kon Vatskalis, came forward as a late starter, putting his hand up, identifying he is not Aboriginal but is a Territorian and wants to have a crack at it.
It is a very interesting Labor roulette game, because we also have Rob Knight in the mix. We know that Marion Scrymgour is in the mix. Luke Gosling is trying to have a go, but the officials behind the scenes in Labor are saying, ‘No, Luke, you can’t’. The Leader of the Opposition has a Gunner versus Gosling competition on who can get up and who cannot. I am backing the dark horse. I reckon Syd Stirling said, ‘Get out of the way, Nova, we are putting Delia in. We have done a deal in Karama.’ I reckon that is what is happening.
The roulette wheel is going around and the ball will eventually bounce on Delia Lawrie and she will get the guernsey for the Labor Senate spot in Canberra.
Madam SPEAKER: Chief 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.
Chief Minister, could you please tell us why the Northern Territory government needs to invest $20m into adventure experiences such as the skywalk at Nitmiluk National Park?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Katherine for his question. It was great to be with him last Sunday at Katherine Gorge launching the skywalk initiatives as part of this budget.
He is right; we have announced one at Australia’s own Grand Canyon, being Nitmiluk gorge, or Katherine Gorge for those who do not know the name. There is $10m going into a 300 m elevated glass platform with a link across to enable tourists to have a better visitor experience, particularly adventure tourists.
We have another $10m set aside for a similar initiative at another park in the Northern Territory. We will work with the joint park management bodies to identify the right location. It could be in Litchfield, Kings Canyon or anywhere. We will go through a process to identify the best park for that to be at.
I was surprised to hear about the Leader of the Opposition and Labor not supporting it. We know that Labor does not support tourism. I have a chart here which demonstrates international visitors to the Northern Territory between 2001 and 2015. You can see the decline under Labor and you can see that we have turned it around and international visitors are coming back.
I was quite surprised to hear the Leader of the Opposition, in his budget reply, say, ‘We are going to start targeting China’. Why have we not targeted China? Let me tell you what happened. Every other state in Australia started targeting China eight years ago. In the Northern Territory eight years ago, Labor was in government and did not target China. It missed the curve; that is why we are playing catch up now in targeting the Chinese market.
It is a very good point to look at what happened with Labor and tourism. It almost brings you back to the Labor roulette game, because back then we had Kon Vatskalis and Malarndirri McCarthy as Tourism ministers. We all know that Malarndirri McCarthy is a frontrunner for the Labor Senate spot as Nova Peris has pulled the pin. In Question Time today we heard that the former Tourism minister, Kon Vatskalis, came forward as a late starter, putting his hand up, identifying he is not Aboriginal but is a Territorian and wants to have a crack at it.
It is a very interesting Labor roulette game, because we also have Rob Knight in the mix. We know that Marion Scrymgour is in the mix. Luke Gosling is trying to have a go, but the officials behind the scenes in Labor are saying, ‘No, Luke, you can’t’. The Leader of the Opposition has a Gunner versus Gosling competition on who can get up and who cannot. I am backing the dark horse. I reckon Syd Stirling said, ‘Get out of the way, Nova, we are putting Delia in. We have done a deal in Karama.’ I reckon that is what is happening.
The roulette wheel is going around and the ball will eventually bounce on Delia Lawrie and she will get the guernsey for the Labor Senate spot in Canberra.
Madam SPEAKER: Chief 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