Mr MALEY - 2001-11-29
Does the Chief Minister see any relationship between the election of her government and the collapse in business confidence identified by the Yellow Pages survey? I draw her attention to the Business Index and the following statement:
The state or territory that recorded the greatest drop in support during the quarter was the Northern Territory government,
whose support fell from 41% to 5%.
To make the point clear, my office has prepared a graph, and you can see the dramatic fall there. What do you intend to do about this drop?
Members interjecting.
Mr STIRLING: A point of order, Madam Speaker! I would ask that the member table that graph. This Assembly has had some experience of these types of graphs. I would ask him to table it.
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Member for Goyder, table ...
Mr MALEY: Indeed, I have another copy here and I intend to table that document. But the question still remains, and I ...
Madam SPEAKER: Hang on, just hang on, let us get it right. Would you seek leave to table, first of all, and then ask questions.
Mr MALEY: I simply table that document, and I have a second copy for that purpose.
Madam SPEAKER: Okay, now ask your question.
Mr MALEY: The question still stands. What does the Chief Minister plan to do about this drop?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, with all due respect to the opposition, they have only had three months in opposition, they are still learning how to do it. To ask the same question three times in a row is really not quite grasping the point. I think I very honestly spelt out at the appointment of this new government that there has been a drop in business support.
It gives me the opportunity to say again, that in terms of overall states, we are still fourth from the top. There are other states that have negative attitudes from business to their governments. Even though it does not fill me with great joy that we can see that kind of drop in confidence in this Territory government, I say again, this was taken before our major initiatives came into play. I have been through those, and I will take the time in the House to go through them again. So, thank you for the question. Even though it is repetitive, it gives me the opportunity to spell out very clearly what this new government has done.
At the beginning of November we held a major Economic Development Summit. It was held in this place. One hundred and thirty people from around the Territory from business - particularly non-indigenous and indigenous business - from the non-government sector; we had educators here; welcomed the presence of the Leader of the Opposition, great to see him here. We had a very productive one-and-a-half day’s talking about initiatives for the Territory’s future, how business and government can work closely together.
There was a whole raft of recommendations that came out of that in the communiqu, and this government is working closely together with business on that. Just take one of those - that is business being more involved in what is happening getting gas on to the beach here in Darwin. Business said to us: ‘Can we be more involved, can we work more closely with the gas task force?’ Yes, they are, and they have welcomed that opportunity. ‘What about major projects? What is happening in terms of possible development projects for the Darwin CBD area?’ We have responded. The Wharf Precinct has been taken from the glossy brochure and we are now activating it. It is back with consultation with the community and that will be to the end of February, a major initiative. There is a lot of excitement from the business community about this, and this is welcomed.
What else have we done? We have introduced QuickStart II. What else have we done? We have filled the gaping hole in the capital works budget that was left by the previous administration. Around the Territory, $15m getting our small subcontractors on the job, getting those period contractors back on the job. Yes, we have taken action.
We have had a fair and responsible mini-budget welcomed by the business community, welcomed very strongly as a sign of a real direction coming from government and a getting rid of the previous culture. They recognise what that culture was. They recognise what that was - uncontrolled budgets, running up debt, not focussed on service delivery, not focussed on outcomes.
Members interjecting.
Ms MARTIN: So this government ...
Madam SPEAKER: Chief Minister, pause for a moment. There seems to be a little bit of rabble on both sides again. Chief Minister has the floor.
Mr Stirling interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Leader of Government Business, did you just hear what I said? I remind you again.
Ms MARTIN: So I say, again, that we are disappointed that these figures that were taken before the beginning of November indicate that there has been a drop in confidence in the Territory government. I think you would expect that, there has been a change of government. Business has to get to know us, and I think if you look at the initiatives over the last month, business has to get to know this new government as government. They certainly knew us as opposition. Why do you think we are sitting on this side of the House and you are on that side of the House?
So, we will be judged by business on what we have done, particularly over the last month. We will be out there to win the confidence of business. and we will be doing this very actively and engaging in partnerships with our business community, something that they truly welcome because they know that building this Territory is all about partnerships with government and non-government and business. That is what this government is about.
The state or territory that recorded the greatest drop in support during the quarter was the Northern Territory government,
whose support fell from 41% to 5%.
To make the point clear, my office has prepared a graph, and you can see the dramatic fall there. What do you intend to do about this drop?
Members interjecting.
Mr STIRLING: A point of order, Madam Speaker! I would ask that the member table that graph. This Assembly has had some experience of these types of graphs. I would ask him to table it.
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Member for Goyder, table ...
Mr MALEY: Indeed, I have another copy here and I intend to table that document. But the question still remains, and I ...
Madam SPEAKER: Hang on, just hang on, let us get it right. Would you seek leave to table, first of all, and then ask questions.
Mr MALEY: I simply table that document, and I have a second copy for that purpose.
Madam SPEAKER: Okay, now ask your question.
Mr MALEY: The question still stands. What does the Chief Minister plan to do about this drop?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, with all due respect to the opposition, they have only had three months in opposition, they are still learning how to do it. To ask the same question three times in a row is really not quite grasping the point. I think I very honestly spelt out at the appointment of this new government that there has been a drop in business support.
It gives me the opportunity to say again, that in terms of overall states, we are still fourth from the top. There are other states that have negative attitudes from business to their governments. Even though it does not fill me with great joy that we can see that kind of drop in confidence in this Territory government, I say again, this was taken before our major initiatives came into play. I have been through those, and I will take the time in the House to go through them again. So, thank you for the question. Even though it is repetitive, it gives me the opportunity to spell out very clearly what this new government has done.
At the beginning of November we held a major Economic Development Summit. It was held in this place. One hundred and thirty people from around the Territory from business - particularly non-indigenous and indigenous business - from the non-government sector; we had educators here; welcomed the presence of the Leader of the Opposition, great to see him here. We had a very productive one-and-a-half day’s talking about initiatives for the Territory’s future, how business and government can work closely together.
There was a whole raft of recommendations that came out of that in the communiqu, and this government is working closely together with business on that. Just take one of those - that is business being more involved in what is happening getting gas on to the beach here in Darwin. Business said to us: ‘Can we be more involved, can we work more closely with the gas task force?’ Yes, they are, and they have welcomed that opportunity. ‘What about major projects? What is happening in terms of possible development projects for the Darwin CBD area?’ We have responded. The Wharf Precinct has been taken from the glossy brochure and we are now activating it. It is back with consultation with the community and that will be to the end of February, a major initiative. There is a lot of excitement from the business community about this, and this is welcomed.
What else have we done? We have introduced QuickStart II. What else have we done? We have filled the gaping hole in the capital works budget that was left by the previous administration. Around the Territory, $15m getting our small subcontractors on the job, getting those period contractors back on the job. Yes, we have taken action.
We have had a fair and responsible mini-budget welcomed by the business community, welcomed very strongly as a sign of a real direction coming from government and a getting rid of the previous culture. They recognise what that culture was. They recognise what that was - uncontrolled budgets, running up debt, not focussed on service delivery, not focussed on outcomes.
Members interjecting.
Ms MARTIN: So this government ...
Madam SPEAKER: Chief Minister, pause for a moment. There seems to be a little bit of rabble on both sides again. Chief Minister has the floor.
Mr Stirling interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Leader of Government Business, did you just hear what I said? I remind you again.
Ms MARTIN: So I say, again, that we are disappointed that these figures that were taken before the beginning of November indicate that there has been a drop in confidence in the Territory government. I think you would expect that, there has been a change of government. Business has to get to know us, and I think if you look at the initiatives over the last month, business has to get to know this new government as government. They certainly knew us as opposition. Why do you think we are sitting on this side of the House and you are on that side of the House?
So, we will be judged by business on what we have done, particularly over the last month. We will be out there to win the confidence of business. and we will be doing this very actively and engaging in partnerships with our business community, something that they truly welcome because they know that building this Territory is all about partnerships with government and non-government and business. That is what this government is about.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016