Ms CARNEY - 2002-06-20
Minister, further budget cuts by your government has forced the closure of the Holiday Centre in Darwin, as announced to the Territory tourism industry through the NT News on Sunday. Is it true that Territory Discoveries is to be sold? Is it also true that the Holiday and Information Centre at Darling Harbour is facing closure?
ANSWER
I thank the honourable member for question. Again, she has it all wrong, spreading these rumours that she seems to bring into this House. Let us get this straight. The Holiday Centre in Darwin was not closed because of budget cuts. The Holiday Centre and the functions there are being consolidated in Alice Springs. I would have thought that that is something that the member for Araluen would be very pleased about. We are consolidating the function. This is a decision made by the board to consolidate the function to provide a better service. They are also moving towards a new IT system with a new database to provide this service to the tourism sector and allow bookings to be made. It will be a much easier process and there are going to be ongoing cost savings by not having to duplicate IT systems and have high network costs. Also, by consolidating those people into one team we get a better team to develop better opportunities for people. It is something that I am advised has been called for, for many years, by CARTIA in Alice Springs. They are very pleased with the decision. I can honestly say …
Mr Reed: That is because they are not affected. It is the Top End operators who are affected, you goose.
Mr HENDERSON: It is interesting the member for Katherine …
Ms Carney: What does tourism Top End say?
Mr HENDERSON: Well, I have not heard, they have not contacted my office. They have not contacted my office.
Ms Carney: You wouldn’t know!
Mr Reed: Well, they are the ones who are affected.
Mr HENDERSON: Well, let us get to this point. Again, it goes to show how little members opposite know. The Tourist Commission has been set up outside of the Public Sector Management Act as an independent board and the board takes its own decisions. If those members opposite believe, and this is an interesting …
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order, order!
Mr HENDERSON: This is an interesting opposition. The tourism industry will be very interested to hear this. If members opposite believe that the Tourist Commission should be brought back in-house to the public service, with the CEO reporting directly to me, and the minister signing-off on all decisions - if that is what you mean, rather than having it set up much more responsive to industry, much closer to industry needs – well, that that is the new official position of the CLP …
Ms Carney: Oh, what rubbish.
Mr HENDERSON: That is very interesting. I can say that it is a difficult decision to take. All those 12 staff members have been offered the opportunity to relocate to Alice Springs. Of course, we know that many of those people - in fact, the vast majority of those people - for personal circumstances obviously will not be able to take up that option. But we are working …
Mr Reed: So it’s see you later!
Mr HENDERSON: It is interesting. The member for Katherine sits there and mumbles these inane comments, says: ‘See you later’. We are working with the CPSU - their newfound union mates over here - to get the best possible outcome for those people. We are putting opportunities for enhanced redundancy payments on the table over and above what we are obliged to under the award, and doing everything we can to relocate those people in jobs in the Northern Territory.
If we compare that to what happened when the Tourist Commission was taken out of the public sector in 1993 - I will quote Barry Coulter, who was the Treasurer at the time, from Hansard:
The Tourist Commission has been restructured, has been made accountable and has developed a fresh focus under
a new managing director, Ian Mitchell. The commission has seen a reduction in staff numbers from 152 to 93.
That is 59 staff. They were not offered anything like we are offering in trying to help these people. That was 59 people who were put on the scrap heap by those members opposite.
I have taken the recommendation from the board. I think that consolidation in Alice Springs is going to be good for the industry, and I am surprised there is not a lot more support for that from the member for Araluen.
In regards to the other rumours that she is peddling: the sale of the Territory Discoveries and the site at Darling Harbour. I will be interested to see the submission from the member for Araluen to the strategic review of the Tourist Commission that is under way at the moment. I hope that she is not a lazy opposition spokesperson; that she is actually going to put in a submission. I would be interested to see what the big picture is; but I am not going to pre-empt that review. The new CEO is consulting with industry, something this previous mob never did. They never consulted with industry. We will be handing down that review and the new direction for the Tourist Commission later during the year.
ANSWER
I thank the honourable member for question. Again, she has it all wrong, spreading these rumours that she seems to bring into this House. Let us get this straight. The Holiday Centre in Darwin was not closed because of budget cuts. The Holiday Centre and the functions there are being consolidated in Alice Springs. I would have thought that that is something that the member for Araluen would be very pleased about. We are consolidating the function. This is a decision made by the board to consolidate the function to provide a better service. They are also moving towards a new IT system with a new database to provide this service to the tourism sector and allow bookings to be made. It will be a much easier process and there are going to be ongoing cost savings by not having to duplicate IT systems and have high network costs. Also, by consolidating those people into one team we get a better team to develop better opportunities for people. It is something that I am advised has been called for, for many years, by CARTIA in Alice Springs. They are very pleased with the decision. I can honestly say …
Mr Reed: That is because they are not affected. It is the Top End operators who are affected, you goose.
Mr HENDERSON: It is interesting the member for Katherine …
Ms Carney: What does tourism Top End say?
Mr HENDERSON: Well, I have not heard, they have not contacted my office. They have not contacted my office.
Ms Carney: You wouldn’t know!
Mr Reed: Well, they are the ones who are affected.
Mr HENDERSON: Well, let us get to this point. Again, it goes to show how little members opposite know. The Tourist Commission has been set up outside of the Public Sector Management Act as an independent board and the board takes its own decisions. If those members opposite believe, and this is an interesting …
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order, order!
Mr HENDERSON: This is an interesting opposition. The tourism industry will be very interested to hear this. If members opposite believe that the Tourist Commission should be brought back in-house to the public service, with the CEO reporting directly to me, and the minister signing-off on all decisions - if that is what you mean, rather than having it set up much more responsive to industry, much closer to industry needs – well, that that is the new official position of the CLP …
Ms Carney: Oh, what rubbish.
Mr HENDERSON: That is very interesting. I can say that it is a difficult decision to take. All those 12 staff members have been offered the opportunity to relocate to Alice Springs. Of course, we know that many of those people - in fact, the vast majority of those people - for personal circumstances obviously will not be able to take up that option. But we are working …
Mr Reed: So it’s see you later!
Mr HENDERSON: It is interesting. The member for Katherine sits there and mumbles these inane comments, says: ‘See you later’. We are working with the CPSU - their newfound union mates over here - to get the best possible outcome for those people. We are putting opportunities for enhanced redundancy payments on the table over and above what we are obliged to under the award, and doing everything we can to relocate those people in jobs in the Northern Territory.
If we compare that to what happened when the Tourist Commission was taken out of the public sector in 1993 - I will quote Barry Coulter, who was the Treasurer at the time, from Hansard:
The Tourist Commission has been restructured, has been made accountable and has developed a fresh focus under
a new managing director, Ian Mitchell. The commission has seen a reduction in staff numbers from 152 to 93.
That is 59 staff. They were not offered anything like we are offering in trying to help these people. That was 59 people who were put on the scrap heap by those members opposite.
I have taken the recommendation from the board. I think that consolidation in Alice Springs is going to be good for the industry, and I am surprised there is not a lot more support for that from the member for Araluen.
In regards to the other rumours that she is peddling: the sale of the Territory Discoveries and the site at Darling Harbour. I will be interested to see the submission from the member for Araluen to the strategic review of the Tourist Commission that is under way at the moment. I hope that she is not a lazy opposition spokesperson; that she is actually going to put in a submission. I would be interested to see what the big picture is; but I am not going to pre-empt that review. The new CEO is consulting with industry, something this previous mob never did. They never consulted with industry. We will be handing down that review and the new direction for the Tourist Commission later during the year.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016