Dr LIM - 1996-02-28
Alice Springs residents saw the introduction of town council wardens to help with the control of itinerant drinking in the Todd River and the surrounding areas. Even at this early stage, people have noticed the effectiveness of the program. Could the minister advise the Assembly of programs being put in place by communities around the Territory to address antisocial behaviour through wine cask levy funds?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, I am pleased to advise on the progress of the $5m wine cask levy program which is now starting to take effect, as the honourable member mentioned. In some centres, it is proving effective far more rapidly than in others. The principal centres of Darwin, Palmerston, Katherine, Tennant Creek, Alice Springs and Nhulunbuy have all had their local meetings and gatherings to investigate what they believe is best for their own towns. To date, $155 000 has been approved for Katherine to expand the Kalano patrol system. It is doing very well and I am told there is some noticeable improvement there already. I have recently approved 2 trial drinking sites at Kalano and Warlpiri. The Katherine community is very concerned about drinking areas in the town, particularly in suburbia, and this is one of the problems.
Mr Ah Kit interjecting.
Mr FINCH: I take up the interjection of the member for Arnhem that informal drinking areas certainly are a problem to Territorians.
Mr Ah Kit: They have been drinking there for the last 30 years.
Mr FINCH: The member for Arnhem would be interested in this because, while I have not heard yet from Tennant Creek as to what people there would like to include specifically in their program, it seems that, according to reports in the newspaper, the member for Barkly has established her own informal drinking area in her normally vacant private house. I think this is taking matters into one's own hands far too much.
Mr Ede: Don't people drink in your yard?
Mr Coulter: Very seldom does the next-door neighbour jump the fence and want to fight him.
Members interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr FINCH: Mr Speaker, I can hardly blame the neighbour of the member for Barkly who did take offence at empty cans flying across his side fence from the member's property. Members ask whether people are not allowed to drink in the member's backyard. Of course
Page 1239
they are. That was the point of the strategy. That is why permission was given for them to drink in the backyard instead of on the front footpath or across in the park where they would have been breaching the 2 km law. The honourable member is quite entitled to have whomsoever she wishes drinking in her backyard. However, she ought to be aware that there is a fair degree of public resistance to such occurrences ...
Members interjecting.
Mr FINCH: If you want to see what the reaction was in Katherine ...
Mrs Hickey interjecting.
Mr FINCH: If you want to bring home to people who are breaching the law by drinking publicly in your street or in the park across the road - people who, I understand, do not normally visit your own home ...
Mr Ede: A certain type of people ...
Mr FINCH: I do not think the member for Fannie Bay's neighbours would take too kindly to it either.
Mr Ede: How do you classify the people who are allowed to drink in the parks?
Mr FINCH: Honourable members opposite treat this lightly, but I doubt whether the member for Barkly's neighbours or Tennant Creek residents would treat it lightly.
While we are talking about giving permission ...
Mr Ede: You can have nice white fellows in your yard to drink but nobody ...
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr Stone: He is talking about drunks.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! The Minister for Health Services has the floor. I request that members on both sides of the House cease interjecting.
Mr FINCH: I take up the interjection of the Leader of the Opposition because he voiced a very obvious racial comment. At no time did I mention who these drinkers were.
Mr Ede: Yes, you did.
Mr Bell: You implied it.
Mr FINCH: Read Hansard slowly over the weekend. While we are on the subject of who gives permission and who does not give permission, here is a question for the member for Barkly. Has the member for Barkly reported her parliamentary electoral vehicle stolen? Yes or no? For the record, I take it that it has not been stolen.
Page 1240
Mr EDE: A point of order, Mr Speaker! I am not quite sure how that question ties in with standing orders but, if you can find an area of the business of this House that relates to that, the member may ask a question. He is making innuendoes about the member for Barkly, and making comments that are bordering on a racial mire, if not in the middle of it. However, he cannot introduce another matter, implying some sort of wrongdoing on the part of the member for Barkly except by way of a substantive motion.
Mr FINCH: I concede, Mr Speaker, that my question about giving permission for the use of her electorate, taxpayer-funded vehicle by other than family or electorate staff is irrelevant to the question about giving permission for people to drink in her backyard, but it is a matter that will be taken up later in some detail. I am sure the member knows exactly what I am talking about.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! The minister should confine himself to the question.
Mr FINCH: Mr Speaker, I am going to talk about good programs coming up in Darwin. I want to involve the Larrakia people. They ought to be involved.
Mr BELL: A point of order, Mr Speaker! This is wasting time. If the minister wants to speak extensively about the operation of the wine cask levy, he knows that the matter in central Australia to which the question related is the subject of a reference to the Committee on Use and Abuse of Alcohol by the Community. He is wasting Question Time by filibustering. We are sick of it.
Mr SPEAKER: The minister should come to the nub of the answer as quickly as possible.
Mr FINCH: Mr Speaker, I would have been finished by now if the member for MacDonnell had not digressed. We are not here to debate the reference to the Committee on Use and Abuse of Alcohol by the Community, but the wine cask levy. Darwin involvement is important.
Mr Bell: The question was about central Australia.
Mr FINCH: I have not finished there yet.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! I asked the minister to come to the nub of his answer as quickly as possible. I trust that he will do that.
Mr Manzie: He is interrupted all the time.
Mr FINCH: Mr Speaker, the Darwin program will involve the Larrakia people. We trust that they will come up in the next few days with a scheme that will involve the Larrakia people in a program similar to that in Katherine. There are 2 other programs, one involving youth and one involving security at Casuarina, that have been endorsed. Alice Springs proposes a $100 000 scheme to equip 2 Aboriginal wardens to deal with itinerant campers and some other problems there. There is a $70 000 per year program at Nhulunbuy - a little above the budgeted figure for them. We hope that, from this program, there will also be some benefit
Page 1241
from night patrol systems. Nothing is proposed yet from Tennant Creek and nothing from Palmerston. We hope those committees will come forward, together with some other smaller communities.
Mr Coulter: We have too many ideas and not enough money.
Mr FINCH: That is probably the problem at Palmerston. We look forward to receiving recommendations from other centres because that money - some $5m over the next 5 years - will provide benefits to those communities by preventing some of the antisocial behaviour that all Territorians abhor.
Page 1242
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, I am pleased to advise on the progress of the $5m wine cask levy program which is now starting to take effect, as the honourable member mentioned. In some centres, it is proving effective far more rapidly than in others. The principal centres of Darwin, Palmerston, Katherine, Tennant Creek, Alice Springs and Nhulunbuy have all had their local meetings and gatherings to investigate what they believe is best for their own towns. To date, $155 000 has been approved for Katherine to expand the Kalano patrol system. It is doing very well and I am told there is some noticeable improvement there already. I have recently approved 2 trial drinking sites at Kalano and Warlpiri. The Katherine community is very concerned about drinking areas in the town, particularly in suburbia, and this is one of the problems.
Mr Ah Kit interjecting.
Mr FINCH: I take up the interjection of the member for Arnhem that informal drinking areas certainly are a problem to Territorians.
Mr Ah Kit: They have been drinking there for the last 30 years.
Mr FINCH: The member for Arnhem would be interested in this because, while I have not heard yet from Tennant Creek as to what people there would like to include specifically in their program, it seems that, according to reports in the newspaper, the member for Barkly has established her own informal drinking area in her normally vacant private house. I think this is taking matters into one's own hands far too much.
Mr Ede: Don't people drink in your yard?
Mr Coulter: Very seldom does the next-door neighbour jump the fence and want to fight him.
Members interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr FINCH: Mr Speaker, I can hardly blame the neighbour of the member for Barkly who did take offence at empty cans flying across his side fence from the member's property. Members ask whether people are not allowed to drink in the member's backyard. Of course
Page 1239
they are. That was the point of the strategy. That is why permission was given for them to drink in the backyard instead of on the front footpath or across in the park where they would have been breaching the 2 km law. The honourable member is quite entitled to have whomsoever she wishes drinking in her backyard. However, she ought to be aware that there is a fair degree of public resistance to such occurrences ...
Members interjecting.
Mr FINCH: If you want to see what the reaction was in Katherine ...
Mrs Hickey interjecting.
Mr FINCH: If you want to bring home to people who are breaching the law by drinking publicly in your street or in the park across the road - people who, I understand, do not normally visit your own home ...
Mr Ede: A certain type of people ...
Mr FINCH: I do not think the member for Fannie Bay's neighbours would take too kindly to it either.
Mr Ede: How do you classify the people who are allowed to drink in the parks?
Mr FINCH: Honourable members opposite treat this lightly, but I doubt whether the member for Barkly's neighbours or Tennant Creek residents would treat it lightly.
While we are talking about giving permission ...
Mr Ede: You can have nice white fellows in your yard to drink but nobody ...
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr Stone: He is talking about drunks.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! The Minister for Health Services has the floor. I request that members on both sides of the House cease interjecting.
Mr FINCH: I take up the interjection of the Leader of the Opposition because he voiced a very obvious racial comment. At no time did I mention who these drinkers were.
Mr Ede: Yes, you did.
Mr Bell: You implied it.
Mr FINCH: Read Hansard slowly over the weekend. While we are on the subject of who gives permission and who does not give permission, here is a question for the member for Barkly. Has the member for Barkly reported her parliamentary electoral vehicle stolen? Yes or no? For the record, I take it that it has not been stolen.
Page 1240
Mr EDE: A point of order, Mr Speaker! I am not quite sure how that question ties in with standing orders but, if you can find an area of the business of this House that relates to that, the member may ask a question. He is making innuendoes about the member for Barkly, and making comments that are bordering on a racial mire, if not in the middle of it. However, he cannot introduce another matter, implying some sort of wrongdoing on the part of the member for Barkly except by way of a substantive motion.
Mr FINCH: I concede, Mr Speaker, that my question about giving permission for the use of her electorate, taxpayer-funded vehicle by other than family or electorate staff is irrelevant to the question about giving permission for people to drink in her backyard, but it is a matter that will be taken up later in some detail. I am sure the member knows exactly what I am talking about.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! The minister should confine himself to the question.
Mr FINCH: Mr Speaker, I am going to talk about good programs coming up in Darwin. I want to involve the Larrakia people. They ought to be involved.
Mr BELL: A point of order, Mr Speaker! This is wasting time. If the minister wants to speak extensively about the operation of the wine cask levy, he knows that the matter in central Australia to which the question related is the subject of a reference to the Committee on Use and Abuse of Alcohol by the Community. He is wasting Question Time by filibustering. We are sick of it.
Mr SPEAKER: The minister should come to the nub of the answer as quickly as possible.
Mr FINCH: Mr Speaker, I would have been finished by now if the member for MacDonnell had not digressed. We are not here to debate the reference to the Committee on Use and Abuse of Alcohol by the Community, but the wine cask levy. Darwin involvement is important.
Mr Bell: The question was about central Australia.
Mr FINCH: I have not finished there yet.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! I asked the minister to come to the nub of his answer as quickly as possible. I trust that he will do that.
Mr Manzie: He is interrupted all the time.
Mr FINCH: Mr Speaker, the Darwin program will involve the Larrakia people. We trust that they will come up in the next few days with a scheme that will involve the Larrakia people in a program similar to that in Katherine. There are 2 other programs, one involving youth and one involving security at Casuarina, that have been endorsed. Alice Springs proposes a $100 000 scheme to equip 2 Aboriginal wardens to deal with itinerant campers and some other problems there. There is a $70 000 per year program at Nhulunbuy - a little above the budgeted figure for them. We hope that, from this program, there will also be some benefit
Page 1241
from night patrol systems. Nothing is proposed yet from Tennant Creek and nothing from Palmerston. We hope those committees will come forward, together with some other smaller communities.
Mr Coulter: We have too many ideas and not enough money.
Mr FINCH: That is probably the problem at Palmerston. We look forward to receiving recommendations from other centres because that money - some $5m over the next 5 years - will provide benefits to those communities by preventing some of the antisocial behaviour that all Territorians abhor.
Page 1242
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016