Mr RIOLI - 1995-11-29
The minister had more than 6 months between the completion of the report of the Sessional Committee on the Environment on the Mary River wetlands and the commencement of work on the barrage at Tommycut Creek. Why didn't the contract go to tender?
Mr Coulter: You cannot get out there, Maurice. It is the wet season, remember. It is 3 m under water.
Mr Ede: In the dry season.
Mr Coulter: When does the dry season finish? When does it become dry out there? You do not have a clue! I do not think you have been over even the Adelaide River bridge.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! The minister is on his feet.
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, the more often members opposite raise this issue, the more they expose their ignorance in relation to it. When the rain ceases, it does not mean that a Toyota can be driven out to the mouth of Tommycut Creek. Perhaps it might be possible to do that in a mini submarine, but not in a Toyota Landcruiser, a bulldozer or a dump truck. With great difficulty, the equipment was taken out to Tommycut Creek in late October, after a small barrage was constructed across a waterway to provide access. The fact is that it is a very difficult place to get to. Because of its remoteness and because nothing has been built there apart from a stock fence, there is no information available in relation to the nature of the land from an engineering point of view, the technical aspects of the soils and the other problems. The only engineer who has any knowledge about it is the fellow who made the barrage. The fact is that that was the difficulty we were working against. To have people like the members for Arafura and Fannie Bay making these wild assertions about what should have been done and ...
Mr Bailey: Did it go to tender or didn't it? This is the question.
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Mr REED: ... if only we had listened to the opposition - which, I might say, did not come up with any of these suggestions before the work was done. We would all be much better off if we had the benefit of hindsight before the event.
Members interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! On both sides.
Mr REED: Next year, when we see the results of the wet season, we will be able to reassess the position. As we speak, work is being done on other suggestions from the committee that might be appropriate to halt the intrusion of salt water into the Mary River wetlands. Work is being done to assess the viability and engineering aspects of the chokes suggested for Tommycut Creek and Sampan Creek. The member for Fannie Bay's suggestion that nothing is being done is wrong.
Ms MARTIN: A point of order, Mr Speaker! The question related to why a tender process was not entered into. The minister has not answered that.
Mr SPEAKER: The minister has an opportunity to get around to answering the question. I am sure that he will do that.
Mr REED: I am responding in part to some of the interjections of members opposite. If they want to show better manners and not interject, I will not be distracted from my answer. However, in responding to those interjections, I can provide some information.
The member for Fannie Bay asserted that she did not say that she wanted a structure constructed across the bed of Tommycut Creek, before we proceeded to construct the barrage. I quote from the transcript of what she said on 8DDD's Drive Time on 23 November 1995 when Kevin Naughton interviewed her. She said: `It [the barrage] should have had some kind of structural base to it, either concrete or steel'. The member for Fannie Bay cannot remember what she said last week, let alone what she may have said in the House in October or be able to absorb what other members said in relation to the construction of the barrage. If she has amnesia to that extent and suffers so badly from it that she cannot even ...
Members interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr REED: The member should not believe that, because she thinks that we will not be able to prove it to her, she can get away with not being honest in this House about what she said on radio. I am telling her that, if she misleads this House and the people of the Territory by saying something on radio that she totally rejects in here, then I will expose her amnesia and I will ensure that she is truthful with Territorians.
Members interjecting.
Mr REED: ... having said one thing on the radio and then coming in here and saying something quite different.
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Mr Ede: What about the tender process?
Mr REED: The member for Arafura asked why the work was not put out to tender. I have explained that in part. Again, I advise him to read the Parliamentary Record for 18 October. It is all in there. That is your bible on the mother of all barrages.
Mr Bailey: You waited for 5 months, and you did nothing.
Members interjecting.
Mr REED: Members opposite are saying that we did not act quickly enough to get out there and construct the barrage. If we had called for tenders for the construction of the barrage, we would still be preparing the documentation. We would still be ...
Members interjecting.
Mr REED: ... contractors to respond to those advertisements. We would not be able to get anything done until January and then we would need to use a submarine to get out there because it would have rained. The facts are that members opposite are not familiar with conditions in the wetlands. As the member for Fannie Bay has illustrated, they are not familiar even with what they said last week. They have no credibility in this regard. On the one hand, they are criticising us for not acting quickly enough but, on the other, they are suggesting a tender process which would take months before the work could commence. That is a complete contradiction.
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Mr Coulter: You cannot get out there, Maurice. It is the wet season, remember. It is 3 m under water.
Mr Ede: In the dry season.
Mr Coulter: When does the dry season finish? When does it become dry out there? You do not have a clue! I do not think you have been over even the Adelaide River bridge.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! The minister is on his feet.
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, the more often members opposite raise this issue, the more they expose their ignorance in relation to it. When the rain ceases, it does not mean that a Toyota can be driven out to the mouth of Tommycut Creek. Perhaps it might be possible to do that in a mini submarine, but not in a Toyota Landcruiser, a bulldozer or a dump truck. With great difficulty, the equipment was taken out to Tommycut Creek in late October, after a small barrage was constructed across a waterway to provide access. The fact is that it is a very difficult place to get to. Because of its remoteness and because nothing has been built there apart from a stock fence, there is no information available in relation to the nature of the land from an engineering point of view, the technical aspects of the soils and the other problems. The only engineer who has any knowledge about it is the fellow who made the barrage. The fact is that that was the difficulty we were working against. To have people like the members for Arafura and Fannie Bay making these wild assertions about what should have been done and ...
Mr Bailey: Did it go to tender or didn't it? This is the question.
Page 1079
Mr REED: ... if only we had listened to the opposition - which, I might say, did not come up with any of these suggestions before the work was done. We would all be much better off if we had the benefit of hindsight before the event.
Members interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! On both sides.
Mr REED: Next year, when we see the results of the wet season, we will be able to reassess the position. As we speak, work is being done on other suggestions from the committee that might be appropriate to halt the intrusion of salt water into the Mary River wetlands. Work is being done to assess the viability and engineering aspects of the chokes suggested for Tommycut Creek and Sampan Creek. The member for Fannie Bay's suggestion that nothing is being done is wrong.
Ms MARTIN: A point of order, Mr Speaker! The question related to why a tender process was not entered into. The minister has not answered that.
Mr SPEAKER: The minister has an opportunity to get around to answering the question. I am sure that he will do that.
Mr REED: I am responding in part to some of the interjections of members opposite. If they want to show better manners and not interject, I will not be distracted from my answer. However, in responding to those interjections, I can provide some information.
The member for Fannie Bay asserted that she did not say that she wanted a structure constructed across the bed of Tommycut Creek, before we proceeded to construct the barrage. I quote from the transcript of what she said on 8DDD's Drive Time on 23 November 1995 when Kevin Naughton interviewed her. She said: `It [the barrage] should have had some kind of structural base to it, either concrete or steel'. The member for Fannie Bay cannot remember what she said last week, let alone what she may have said in the House in October or be able to absorb what other members said in relation to the construction of the barrage. If she has amnesia to that extent and suffers so badly from it that she cannot even ...
Members interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr REED: The member should not believe that, because she thinks that we will not be able to prove it to her, she can get away with not being honest in this House about what she said on radio. I am telling her that, if she misleads this House and the people of the Territory by saying something on radio that she totally rejects in here, then I will expose her amnesia and I will ensure that she is truthful with Territorians.
Members interjecting.
Mr REED: ... having said one thing on the radio and then coming in here and saying something quite different.
Page 1080
Mr Ede: What about the tender process?
Mr REED: The member for Arafura asked why the work was not put out to tender. I have explained that in part. Again, I advise him to read the Parliamentary Record for 18 October. It is all in there. That is your bible on the mother of all barrages.
Mr Bailey: You waited for 5 months, and you did nothing.
Members interjecting.
Mr REED: Members opposite are saying that we did not act quickly enough to get out there and construct the barrage. If we had called for tenders for the construction of the barrage, we would still be preparing the documentation. We would still be ...
Members interjecting.
Mr REED: ... contractors to respond to those advertisements. We would not be able to get anything done until January and then we would need to use a submarine to get out there because it would have rained. The facts are that members opposite are not familiar with conditions in the wetlands. As the member for Fannie Bay has illustrated, they are not familiar even with what they said last week. They have no credibility in this regard. On the one hand, they are criticising us for not acting quickly enough but, on the other, they are suggesting a tender process which would take months before the work could commence. That is a complete contradiction.
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Last updated: 09 Aug 2016