Mr WESTRA van HOLTHE - 2016-05-24
My question is a bit of a follow on from the last question asked by the Leader of the Opposition. This government exercised fiscal discipline, restraint and a great deal of responsibility whilst fixing the financial mess we inherited in 2012 after 11 years of hard Labor. Our government has worked hard to get the Territory back on track.
Can you please inform the House of the outcomes of the tough decisions made by the Giles government in this year’s budget? Are you aware of alternative policies or positions?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Katherine for his question. Without a doubt we have made tough decisions, and every one of them has been opposed by the Labor opposition.
We tackled the reforms in the Power and Water Corporation. When we came to government we knew Power and Water was a financial basket case. We have taken measures to reform that corporation and structurally separate it to make it more accountable and transparent, and to introduce a utilities market. We are seeing the fruits of that.
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Where is the statement of corporate intent?
Madam SPEAKER: It is not a point of order.
Mr TOLLNER: We have made some hard decisions in relation to the Power and Water Corporation structural separation, decisions that should have been taken 20 years ago when competition reforms were introduced to Australia and every other jurisdiction made them. It never happened under the previous Labor government, but we did the job and have structurally separated the Power and Water Corporation. More reforms will occur, but without a doubt we are finding efficiencies, as demonstrated by reductions in tariffs.
We saved the Territory Insurance Office. By liberating it from government ownership the Territory Insurance Office avoided being consumed by its global competitors. We know the Labor government tried to do the same thing but did not have the ticker to do the job. We copped some criticism for it, but we have stayed the course and the benefits are there for everybody to see.
We leased the Port of Darwin because it was strategically the right thing to do, and because we want the private sector to fund it rather than Territorians forever having to fund port maintenance and upgrades. We want to see the port on the Maritime Silk Road. We want to see Darwin as a trade and transport logistics hub. All these things are important to development and future growth and prosperity for Territorians. It is only through making tough decisions like that you can better fund education, health and all those things.
The alternative is scary because the opposition wants to decimate entire industries and put the Territory on a path to ruin.
Can you please inform the House of the outcomes of the tough decisions made by the Giles government in this year’s budget? Are you aware of alternative policies or positions?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Katherine for his question. Without a doubt we have made tough decisions, and every one of them has been opposed by the Labor opposition.
We tackled the reforms in the Power and Water Corporation. When we came to government we knew Power and Water was a financial basket case. We have taken measures to reform that corporation and structurally separate it to make it more accountable and transparent, and to introduce a utilities market. We are seeing the fruits of that.
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Where is the statement of corporate intent?
Madam SPEAKER: It is not a point of order.
Mr TOLLNER: We have made some hard decisions in relation to the Power and Water Corporation structural separation, decisions that should have been taken 20 years ago when competition reforms were introduced to Australia and every other jurisdiction made them. It never happened under the previous Labor government, but we did the job and have structurally separated the Power and Water Corporation. More reforms will occur, but without a doubt we are finding efficiencies, as demonstrated by reductions in tariffs.
We saved the Territory Insurance Office. By liberating it from government ownership the Territory Insurance Office avoided being consumed by its global competitors. We know the Labor government tried to do the same thing but did not have the ticker to do the job. We copped some criticism for it, but we have stayed the course and the benefits are there for everybody to see.
We leased the Port of Darwin because it was strategically the right thing to do, and because we want the private sector to fund it rather than Territorians forever having to fund port maintenance and upgrades. We want to see the port on the Maritime Silk Road. We want to see Darwin as a trade and transport logistics hub. All these things are important to development and future growth and prosperity for Territorians. It is only through making tough decisions like that you can better fund education, health and all those things.
The alternative is scary because the opposition wants to decimate entire industries and put the Territory on a path to ruin.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016