Mr MILLS - 2008-02-21
Yesterday, you said that the nearly 10 million litres of grog being consumed in the Territory is because of tourists and ‘the significant population growth that we have seen in Darwin and Palmerston since 2001’ ...
Dr BURNS: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Once again, the Opposition Leader is playing a little with the Parliamentary Record here. Yesterday, he said it was 10 million litres extra per annum since we came to power in 2001, making a total of 60 million litres when, in fact, it is 10 million litres over the whole life since we have come to power. He has overestimated by about 60 million litres and he should confess it. He has it wrong again.
Madam SPEAKER: There is no point of order. Minister, if you wish to, you may approach me to make a personal explanation after Question Time.
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Dr BURNS: Madam Speaker, the point of order that I am making is that he shifted from the incorrect statement he made yesterday to trying to make it a correct statement today. That is the point I am making here, Madam Speaker.
Madam SPEAKER: Nevertheless, the Leader of the Opposition is asking a question and it will be up to the Chief Minister to answer it how wishes. Leader of the Opposition.
Mr MILLS: Thank you, Madam Speaker. The nearly 10 million litres of grog being consumed in the Territory you said yesterday was because of tourists and ‘the significant population increase that we have seen in Darwin and Palmerston since 2001’. According to Tourism NT figures - and I have the figures here - the stays for tourists who stay overnight are, in fact, lower in 2007 than in 2000. Thus, according to your own logic, the Territory population increase since 2000 - that is, of 17 000 people - are the ones, not the tourists who stayed overnight, who drank all the booze. If that is the case - the document is tabled - that means that every one of these men, women and children would have to have drunk two bottles of wine every single day to account for that increase.
Will you now admit that the extra grog consumption is not from new arrivals and tourists but, in fact, is a systemic and deepening problem entrenched in the Territory community?
Mr VATSKALIS: Madam Speaker, can I ask the member to table his figures, because the figures he says he has are totally different to the figures that I have from Tourism NT. As a matter of fact, interstate visitors increased by 46 000 last year, they did not decrease.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Minister for Tourism, the Leader of the Opposition has tabled the document. Can we have somebody copy the document and distribute it to the Chief Minister and other ministers, please?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the Opposition Leader for a very confused and confusing question. The Leader of the Opposition would be the only person in this room who would think that there are fewer tourists in Darwin now than there were in the early 2000s. He would be the only person who would believe there are fewer tourists in Darwin over the last year than there were four or five years ago in the aftermath of the Ansett collapse, 11 September, the HIH insurance crash, and an economy with zero percent growth. If we look at that period since then, with the additional airlines and seat capacity that have come to the Northern Territory, and talk to anybody in the tourism business and ask if there are more tourists around today than there were four or five years ago, they will all tell you that there are.
Once again, the Leader of the Opposition shows that he does not get out very much at all. The population growth in the last two-and-a-half years in Darwin and Palmerston alone is over 14 000 extra people. We are also at a time where we have seen significant new licensed premises develop over that period; for example, in Mitchell Street. We have an economy that is powering ahead. People have more disposable income so, instead of going out maybe one night of the week or over the weekend, people can go out two or three nights a week because they have more money in their pockets.
However, I am not denying the fact that the Northern Territory does have a significant problem with alcohol and we consume, per capita, more alcohol than other Australians, quite significantly. That is why this government is putting in place a range of measures to try to reduce the amount of alcohol consumed in the Northern Territory - which we have debated up hill and down dale. We have our policies in place. We see that alcohol, and the abuse of alcohol, is a significant problem in the Northern Territory. We have a complex set of issues here. We are working on them with a range of solutions right across the Northern Territory.
All we have is the Opposition Leader playing around with confused and confusing figures, and not one single policy initiative from the other side at all to deal with the issue. Play around with numbers all you like. We acknowledge the problem and are working on it. However, in regard to Darwin and Palmerston, you can see that population growth and tourists are part of the reason for that increase.
Dr BURNS: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Once again, the Opposition Leader is playing a little with the Parliamentary Record here. Yesterday, he said it was 10 million litres extra per annum since we came to power in 2001, making a total of 60 million litres when, in fact, it is 10 million litres over the whole life since we have come to power. He has overestimated by about 60 million litres and he should confess it. He has it wrong again.
Madam SPEAKER: There is no point of order. Minister, if you wish to, you may approach me to make a personal explanation after Question Time.
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Dr BURNS: Madam Speaker, the point of order that I am making is that he shifted from the incorrect statement he made yesterday to trying to make it a correct statement today. That is the point I am making here, Madam Speaker.
Madam SPEAKER: Nevertheless, the Leader of the Opposition is asking a question and it will be up to the Chief Minister to answer it how wishes. Leader of the Opposition.
Mr MILLS: Thank you, Madam Speaker. The nearly 10 million litres of grog being consumed in the Territory you said yesterday was because of tourists and ‘the significant population increase that we have seen in Darwin and Palmerston since 2001’. According to Tourism NT figures - and I have the figures here - the stays for tourists who stay overnight are, in fact, lower in 2007 than in 2000. Thus, according to your own logic, the Territory population increase since 2000 - that is, of 17 000 people - are the ones, not the tourists who stayed overnight, who drank all the booze. If that is the case - the document is tabled - that means that every one of these men, women and children would have to have drunk two bottles of wine every single day to account for that increase.
Will you now admit that the extra grog consumption is not from new arrivals and tourists but, in fact, is a systemic and deepening problem entrenched in the Territory community?
Mr VATSKALIS: Madam Speaker, can I ask the member to table his figures, because the figures he says he has are totally different to the figures that I have from Tourism NT. As a matter of fact, interstate visitors increased by 46 000 last year, they did not decrease.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Minister for Tourism, the Leader of the Opposition has tabled the document. Can we have somebody copy the document and distribute it to the Chief Minister and other ministers, please?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the Opposition Leader for a very confused and confusing question. The Leader of the Opposition would be the only person in this room who would think that there are fewer tourists in Darwin now than there were in the early 2000s. He would be the only person who would believe there are fewer tourists in Darwin over the last year than there were four or five years ago in the aftermath of the Ansett collapse, 11 September, the HIH insurance crash, and an economy with zero percent growth. If we look at that period since then, with the additional airlines and seat capacity that have come to the Northern Territory, and talk to anybody in the tourism business and ask if there are more tourists around today than there were four or five years ago, they will all tell you that there are.
Once again, the Leader of the Opposition shows that he does not get out very much at all. The population growth in the last two-and-a-half years in Darwin and Palmerston alone is over 14 000 extra people. We are also at a time where we have seen significant new licensed premises develop over that period; for example, in Mitchell Street. We have an economy that is powering ahead. People have more disposable income so, instead of going out maybe one night of the week or over the weekend, people can go out two or three nights a week because they have more money in their pockets.
However, I am not denying the fact that the Northern Territory does have a significant problem with alcohol and we consume, per capita, more alcohol than other Australians, quite significantly. That is why this government is putting in place a range of measures to try to reduce the amount of alcohol consumed in the Northern Territory - which we have debated up hill and down dale. We have our policies in place. We see that alcohol, and the abuse of alcohol, is a significant problem in the Northern Territory. We have a complex set of issues here. We are working on them with a range of solutions right across the Northern Territory.
All we have is the Opposition Leader playing around with confused and confusing figures, and not one single policy initiative from the other side at all to deal with the issue. Play around with numbers all you like. We acknowledge the problem and are working on it. However, in regard to Darwin and Palmerston, you can see that population growth and tourists are part of the reason for that increase.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016