Mr WOOD - 2008-09-10
You said that one of the reasons you called the election was that INPEX needed certainty, or as you said in your taxpayer-funded brochure: ‘… without wholehearted support from government, this project will not proceed in Darwin’. You then proceeded to lose six seats in the election and only just hung on to government. What message has that now sent to INPEX about your government’s handling of this project? Do you not accept that your total spin about the siting of INPEX in Darwin Harbour has not the wholehearted support of people as you claimed? Why have you not completed the environmental impact statement the government promised for Glyde Point in January 2006?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Nelson for his question and his ongoing, unwavering opposition to the INPEX gas plant ...
Mr WOOD: A point of order, Madam Speaker! The Chief Minister is not telling the truth. He knows that I support INPEX. I do not support it in the middle of the harbour. He is deliberately misleading this parliament.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Nelson, if you feel that the Chief Minister misrepresented what you have said, you can approach me to make a personal explanation after Question Time. Chief Minister, please answer the question.
Mr HENDERSON: In responding to the member for Nelson, he cannot stand here and say that he supports the INPEX project, but he does not support it going at Middle Arm. He has been told by the company that it is Middle Arm or Western Australia. He knows that if he was to take it from Middle Arm the project would go to Western Australia. He is very mischievous in his comments about this project.
We have done, as a government, I have done, as the Chief Minister, everything I can to secure this project for the Northern Territory. We have a project facilitation agreement in place, and contractual arrangements in place for precisely what land is available at Middle Arm, and the terms and conditions for the sale of that land. If Darwin is chosen, the company will have to go through the most rigorous of Northern Territory and Commonwealth environmental approval processes. There will be no compromise, absolutely no compromise, on the environmental standards that INPEX will have to meet to develop their project in Darwin.
We can have this project that will not only secure 4000 jobs in the construction phase but, most importantly for the Northern Territory, an extra $50bn into our economy over the next 20 years. Now, that is an extra $50bn into the economy which will employ thousands of Territorians, create enterprise opportunities, business opportunities for small, medium, and large businesses right across the Northern Territory, and will give governments into the future additional revenues to further expand infrastructure services right across the Northern Territory.
A responsible government, a government with the interests of the Northern Territory at heart, should be going after these major projects, because we can have both. We can have the investment, we can have the jobs, we can have the economic activity, and we can have world-class environmental outcomes. We can have both. I am committed to both. I look forward to a decision from INPEX and hope the decision comes our way.
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Nelson for his question and his ongoing, unwavering opposition to the INPEX gas plant ...
Mr WOOD: A point of order, Madam Speaker! The Chief Minister is not telling the truth. He knows that I support INPEX. I do not support it in the middle of the harbour. He is deliberately misleading this parliament.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Nelson, if you feel that the Chief Minister misrepresented what you have said, you can approach me to make a personal explanation after Question Time. Chief Minister, please answer the question.
Mr HENDERSON: In responding to the member for Nelson, he cannot stand here and say that he supports the INPEX project, but he does not support it going at Middle Arm. He has been told by the company that it is Middle Arm or Western Australia. He knows that if he was to take it from Middle Arm the project would go to Western Australia. He is very mischievous in his comments about this project.
We have done, as a government, I have done, as the Chief Minister, everything I can to secure this project for the Northern Territory. We have a project facilitation agreement in place, and contractual arrangements in place for precisely what land is available at Middle Arm, and the terms and conditions for the sale of that land. If Darwin is chosen, the company will have to go through the most rigorous of Northern Territory and Commonwealth environmental approval processes. There will be no compromise, absolutely no compromise, on the environmental standards that INPEX will have to meet to develop their project in Darwin.
We can have this project that will not only secure 4000 jobs in the construction phase but, most importantly for the Northern Territory, an extra $50bn into our economy over the next 20 years. Now, that is an extra $50bn into the economy which will employ thousands of Territorians, create enterprise opportunities, business opportunities for small, medium, and large businesses right across the Northern Territory, and will give governments into the future additional revenues to further expand infrastructure services right across the Northern Territory.
A responsible government, a government with the interests of the Northern Territory at heart, should be going after these major projects, because we can have both. We can have the investment, we can have the jobs, we can have the economic activity, and we can have world-class environmental outcomes. We can have both. I am committed to both. I look forward to a decision from INPEX and hope the decision comes our way.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016