Mr BALDWIN - 1995-10-18
With the Northern Territory Tourist Commission actively chasing the self-drive holiday market, has the minister given any thought to how tourists might be better served by the Territory's road sign system?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, for some time, concern has been expressed in relation to the distance markers on the Stuart Highway, Barkly Highway and Victoria Highway. It is 750 km from Katherine to Tennant Creek and 611 km from the Western Australian border to Katherine. The concern is that insufficient information is available on those markers to enable tourists travelling on them to plan their trips properly or to ascertain how far they need to travel in a day to reach their next destination. In response to that concern, my department has designed a number of signs which will be trialled along the Victoria Highway in an attempt to rectify that problem without the expense of replacing every individual distance marker.
There are 4 of the new signs. Style A relates to medical services, style B relates to rest areas, style C relates to service stations, and style D relates to accommodation. To indicate to members what the signs look like, I have here a colour copy of the medical signs. It is especially important for the caravan drive market that people have adequate information as to how far they need to travel over the course of a day to reach suitable facilities. Indeed, at the end of the day, it is important that they have some indication as to how far they might continue ...
Mr Stirling: Can't they read maps?
Mr PALMER: Tritely, the member for Nhulunbuy interjects: `Can't they read maps?' That reflects his level of interest in the Territory tourism industry.
It is essential that people touring in the Territory are in a position to make decent judgments about how far they can drive comfortably without becoming fatigued. We hope to have these signs on all major roads in the Territory in the future, because they will be very useful to the tourism industry.
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ANSWER
Mr Speaker, for some time, concern has been expressed in relation to the distance markers on the Stuart Highway, Barkly Highway and Victoria Highway. It is 750 km from Katherine to Tennant Creek and 611 km from the Western Australian border to Katherine. The concern is that insufficient information is available on those markers to enable tourists travelling on them to plan their trips properly or to ascertain how far they need to travel in a day to reach their next destination. In response to that concern, my department has designed a number of signs which will be trialled along the Victoria Highway in an attempt to rectify that problem without the expense of replacing every individual distance marker.
There are 4 of the new signs. Style A relates to medical services, style B relates to rest areas, style C relates to service stations, and style D relates to accommodation. To indicate to members what the signs look like, I have here a colour copy of the medical signs. It is especially important for the caravan drive market that people have adequate information as to how far they need to travel over the course of a day to reach suitable facilities. Indeed, at the end of the day, it is important that they have some indication as to how far they might continue ...
Mr Stirling: Can't they read maps?
Mr PALMER: Tritely, the member for Nhulunbuy interjects: `Can't they read maps?' That reflects his level of interest in the Territory tourism industry.
It is essential that people touring in the Territory are in a position to make decent judgments about how far they can drive comfortably without becoming fatigued. We hope to have these signs on all major roads in the Territory in the future, because they will be very useful to the tourism industry.
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Last updated: 09 Aug 2016