Mr BALDWIN - 1995-03-02
Recent damage to roads across the Northern Territory as a result of the wet season is a timely reminder of the responsibility for road maintenance and construction. Has the controversial matter of local roads funding been resolved?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, this matter has been raised in the House previously. A statement was made in relation to the very serious situation that has occurred in the Territory as a result of representations made by the federal member, Hon Warren Snowdon, who advocated extremely strongly that half of the allocation of local roads funding be removed from the Territory government and provided directly to local community governments. An amount of $4m-odd per year is involved, and it relates to 8000 km of local roads on Aboriginal communities.
Most honourable members are well aware of the problems this has caused in relation to local roads in Aboriginal communities. In fact, in a number of instances, the communities have
Page 485
spent the money elsewhere or, given the very small sum they received when the funding was distributed among the numerous communities affected, they have been unable to do anything constructive with it. As a result, Aboriginal roads have deteriorated seriously across the Territory. Members will recall the quite heated debate in this Assembly. I was quite ashamed that members such as the member for MacDonnell supported the concept of removing the funds from the Territory coffers and paying them directly to communities in a way that has caused this extremely serious deterioration of the roads.
Mr Bell: You should read the ...
Mr MANZIE: He reacts again, Mr Speaker. I am disappointed for his constituents that he supported his federal colleague because they thought it might win them some votes. The end result of interfering with the process has been a very serious deterioration in local roads which is causing a great deal of concern to Aboriginal people throughout the Territory. Unfortunately, that has been accompanied by comments to Aboriginal people from people such as the member for MacDonnell which infer that the Territory government has their roads funding and is spending it in other areas. I find that very disappointing because the people concerned deserve the truth in relation to this matter.
As a result of representations by many government members, the federal government recognised problems with the Snowdon plan. It admitted that there are problems in the Territory that need to be addressed as a result of the following of that plan. As a consequence, the federal government established a steering committee, which included representatives of local government associations, land councils, ATSIC and the Territory government, to review the impacts on local roads funding of the Snowdon plan. That committee was established in July 1994. At this stage, we have not had any finalisation of that process, but I hope that the result at the end of the day will be beneficial to Aboriginal people. Once all the facts are laid out, changes will be made to the funding process.
It is somewhat ironic that I have a letter from the Leader of the Opposition which makes representations. That is certainly an acceptable process that all members should be encouraged to follow. However, this letter refers to the state of the road from the Sandover Highway through to Utopia Primary School. The Leader of the Opposition pointed out that the recent heavy rains have meant that a classroom and a small ablution block cannot be brought in because of the state of the road. He pointed out that the Urapuntja Council has used up all its roads maintenance funds and cannot assist with repairs. That is an example of the type of problems the Snowdon plan has caused in remote Aboriginal communities.
What I find upsetting is that the honourable member has requested that we use Territory government funds. A certain sum of money is allocated by the federal government to local roads funding. Half of that, $4m for 8000 km of roads, was removed from the Territory government. We were told that it would be given directly to the communities and they would maintain the roads because this government was not doing a good job. The rest of the money was to be used for 16 000 km of Territory local roads that did not fall into the same category. We had only half as much money per kilometre.
The Leader of the Opposition acknowledged the problem. He asked for the diversion of money, which is intended for other Territory roads, to be spent in areas where money has been
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allocated already. It is pretty simple. What he should be doing is castigating his federal colleague for forcing the federal government to accept his plan. Obviously, he and his colleagues thought they would obtain some political benefit from it. They must swallow their pride and go back now to the federal government and admit that they were wrong. Not only did they not gain any votes out of it, but they have ruined the roads system for Aboriginal communities. However, he wants to divert more Territory taxpayers' funds to the areas where money has already been allocated, and blow the rest of the Territory.
The Leader of the Opposition needs to take a long, hard look at the facts of the situation and read the debates that have taken place in this House. I will be very happy to supply him with a briefing from my department. If he does not want to listen to what I say in order that he can understand fully, possibly he can make representations to the federal government against the wishes of the Territory member, Hon Warren Snowdon, who really is responsible for this very sad situation.
Page 487
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, this matter has been raised in the House previously. A statement was made in relation to the very serious situation that has occurred in the Territory as a result of representations made by the federal member, Hon Warren Snowdon, who advocated extremely strongly that half of the allocation of local roads funding be removed from the Territory government and provided directly to local community governments. An amount of $4m-odd per year is involved, and it relates to 8000 km of local roads on Aboriginal communities.
Most honourable members are well aware of the problems this has caused in relation to local roads in Aboriginal communities. In fact, in a number of instances, the communities have
Page 485
spent the money elsewhere or, given the very small sum they received when the funding was distributed among the numerous communities affected, they have been unable to do anything constructive with it. As a result, Aboriginal roads have deteriorated seriously across the Territory. Members will recall the quite heated debate in this Assembly. I was quite ashamed that members such as the member for MacDonnell supported the concept of removing the funds from the Territory coffers and paying them directly to communities in a way that has caused this extremely serious deterioration of the roads.
Mr Bell: You should read the ...
Mr MANZIE: He reacts again, Mr Speaker. I am disappointed for his constituents that he supported his federal colleague because they thought it might win them some votes. The end result of interfering with the process has been a very serious deterioration in local roads which is causing a great deal of concern to Aboriginal people throughout the Territory. Unfortunately, that has been accompanied by comments to Aboriginal people from people such as the member for MacDonnell which infer that the Territory government has their roads funding and is spending it in other areas. I find that very disappointing because the people concerned deserve the truth in relation to this matter.
As a result of representations by many government members, the federal government recognised problems with the Snowdon plan. It admitted that there are problems in the Territory that need to be addressed as a result of the following of that plan. As a consequence, the federal government established a steering committee, which included representatives of local government associations, land councils, ATSIC and the Territory government, to review the impacts on local roads funding of the Snowdon plan. That committee was established in July 1994. At this stage, we have not had any finalisation of that process, but I hope that the result at the end of the day will be beneficial to Aboriginal people. Once all the facts are laid out, changes will be made to the funding process.
It is somewhat ironic that I have a letter from the Leader of the Opposition which makes representations. That is certainly an acceptable process that all members should be encouraged to follow. However, this letter refers to the state of the road from the Sandover Highway through to Utopia Primary School. The Leader of the Opposition pointed out that the recent heavy rains have meant that a classroom and a small ablution block cannot be brought in because of the state of the road. He pointed out that the Urapuntja Council has used up all its roads maintenance funds and cannot assist with repairs. That is an example of the type of problems the Snowdon plan has caused in remote Aboriginal communities.
What I find upsetting is that the honourable member has requested that we use Territory government funds. A certain sum of money is allocated by the federal government to local roads funding. Half of that, $4m for 8000 km of roads, was removed from the Territory government. We were told that it would be given directly to the communities and they would maintain the roads because this government was not doing a good job. The rest of the money was to be used for 16 000 km of Territory local roads that did not fall into the same category. We had only half as much money per kilometre.
The Leader of the Opposition acknowledged the problem. He asked for the diversion of money, which is intended for other Territory roads, to be spent in areas where money has been
Page 486
allocated already. It is pretty simple. What he should be doing is castigating his federal colleague for forcing the federal government to accept his plan. Obviously, he and his colleagues thought they would obtain some political benefit from it. They must swallow their pride and go back now to the federal government and admit that they were wrong. Not only did they not gain any votes out of it, but they have ruined the roads system for Aboriginal communities. However, he wants to divert more Territory taxpayers' funds to the areas where money has already been allocated, and blow the rest of the Territory.
The Leader of the Opposition needs to take a long, hard look at the facts of the situation and read the debates that have taken place in this House. I will be very happy to supply him with a briefing from my department. If he does not want to listen to what I say in order that he can understand fully, possibly he can make representations to the federal government against the wishes of the Territory member, Hon Warren Snowdon, who really is responsible for this very sad situation.
Page 487
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016