Mr BURKE - 2007-06-20
Please inform the House what the recently released census population figures mean for the Northern Territory.
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Brennan for his question. He lives in a part of the Territory that is part of this very good story we have to tell about the last Census.
Territorians will remember that in August last year, we were all required to fill in a Census form for our households. After years and years and years of frustration, with everyone knowing that the Census under-counted the Territory population in past census periods, we are starting to see, after all those years, some accuracy emerging.
In saying that, I do not want to disparage the efforts of the Australian Bureau of Statistics, nor the efforts of the Census workers or of the volunteers who, during the Census period, travelled many thousands of kilometres, walked the soles off many pairs of shoes door to door in major centres to ensure everyone receives and fills in their form. I do not demean that effort at all.
What I do say is that the 2006 Census has been a far more robust exercise than we have ever seen conducted in the Northern Territory before. It is important to note and record the assistance provided by the Northern Territory government to the Australian Bureau of Statistics in what is a massive task in Australia, but even more difficult in the Northern Territory, given our dispersed population across so many small communities over great distances. We assisted the ABS through awareness raising activities and an engagement with the communities. I congratulate and thank every Territorian for participating to help calculate that far more accurate population figure for the Northern Territory than we ever had before.
I was pleased to stand with the Chief Minister in the mall recently and announce that the Territory population was then officially 212 551 people. It was boosted in large part because the Census picked up 3986 Territorians who had previously not been counted. Now, it is not just an exercise to satisfy whoever the minister is responsible for population figures in Canberra, nor indeed the armies of bureaucrats involved. It has a very real and immediate effect on the Territory’s bottom line financially because under the federal GST revenue sharing scheme, more people means more funding; more funding means greater ability to deal with health care needs, with infrastructure needs, education and police.
We know how much the opposition like to carry on about GST money coming in. They call it a windfall. They demean the right that the Territory has to this money, the money that we both need and deserve. We are focusing on spending that money across key priority areas that are helping to build the Territory not just for 2007-08, but for the next decade and beyond.
The figure also demonstrates that people are voting with their feet. We have the second fastest growing population in Australia. They are coming to a place in the Northern Territory with a strong, stable economy, a place with well paid jobs, with thriving local businesses and a place where they can enjoy a great lifestyle and raise a family. On the basis of that, who would not want to live here?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Brennan for his question. He lives in a part of the Territory that is part of this very good story we have to tell about the last Census.
Territorians will remember that in August last year, we were all required to fill in a Census form for our households. After years and years and years of frustration, with everyone knowing that the Census under-counted the Territory population in past census periods, we are starting to see, after all those years, some accuracy emerging.
In saying that, I do not want to disparage the efforts of the Australian Bureau of Statistics, nor the efforts of the Census workers or of the volunteers who, during the Census period, travelled many thousands of kilometres, walked the soles off many pairs of shoes door to door in major centres to ensure everyone receives and fills in their form. I do not demean that effort at all.
What I do say is that the 2006 Census has been a far more robust exercise than we have ever seen conducted in the Northern Territory before. It is important to note and record the assistance provided by the Northern Territory government to the Australian Bureau of Statistics in what is a massive task in Australia, but even more difficult in the Northern Territory, given our dispersed population across so many small communities over great distances. We assisted the ABS through awareness raising activities and an engagement with the communities. I congratulate and thank every Territorian for participating to help calculate that far more accurate population figure for the Northern Territory than we ever had before.
I was pleased to stand with the Chief Minister in the mall recently and announce that the Territory population was then officially 212 551 people. It was boosted in large part because the Census picked up 3986 Territorians who had previously not been counted. Now, it is not just an exercise to satisfy whoever the minister is responsible for population figures in Canberra, nor indeed the armies of bureaucrats involved. It has a very real and immediate effect on the Territory’s bottom line financially because under the federal GST revenue sharing scheme, more people means more funding; more funding means greater ability to deal with health care needs, with infrastructure needs, education and police.
We know how much the opposition like to carry on about GST money coming in. They call it a windfall. They demean the right that the Territory has to this money, the money that we both need and deserve. We are focusing on spending that money across key priority areas that are helping to build the Territory not just for 2007-08, but for the next decade and beyond.
The figure also demonstrates that people are voting with their feet. We have the second fastest growing population in Australia. They are coming to a place in the Northern Territory with a strong, stable economy, a place with well paid jobs, with thriving local businesses and a place where they can enjoy a great lifestyle and raise a family. On the basis of that, who would not want to live here?
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016