Mr BAILEY - 1997-04-29
Last week, the minister told ABC Radio that the Trade Development Zone has cost Territorians about $40m. Is it not a fact that the Trade Development Zone has cost Territorians at least double that amount? Is it not also true that the Yulara complex has cost Territorians at least $500m over the last decade? Add to this the cost for the Sheraton hotels, the debacle over the Dalway purchase, the Agricultural Development and Marketing Authority and the casino buyout and that amounts to about $1000m for starters. Does the minister expect that Territorians will recoup anything near the money lost in poor investment decisions by the Country Liberal Party government? If he were a manager in private industry, wouldn't he be sacked for losing $1000m?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, I think I can speak from a position of some authority because I was a manager in private enterprise for many years before this life in parliament. The fact is that, once again, the member for Wanguri is misleading with his question. The member phrased his question as though I had said last week on radio that the Trade Development Zone cost $Xm. If he looked at the transcript of that broadcast, he would be well aware that I made it quite clear that I was talking about the development of infrastructure - roads, sewerage, water supply - and the various developments that have occurred there. All the government is doing is looking at the possibility of selling off land and buildings in the Trade Development Zone that have not been sold. There have already been some $10m-worth of sales over the past few years where Territorians have invested in their own properties at the zone. More than half the properties there have been purchased by people who are in occupancy and working there.
Mr Bailey: Such as Visy Board?
Mr POOLE: I do not know how the opposition would manage the Trade Development Zone. Would Labor control companies to the extent where it decided whether they should upgrade or downgrade their operations, depending on market demand? I suggest that it would not. Visy Board is a huge national company, and a very profitable company in a very tight commercial environment. It is a fact of life that a company of that kind has to remain competitive in the market area. If it is bringing paper to the Northern Territory specifically to make cardboard boxes, a horticulture industry that requires cardboard packaging for only some 5 months of the year at this stage is obviously a problem for it. It simply did not obtain the volume of goods it thought it would get through the operation of the new brewery. At the moment, the new brewery is using pallets and plastic wrap, and it is producing large containers of beer. Obviously, it is not using enough cardboard to give Visy Board the through volume that it needs to turn a profit in its operation. All Visy Board has done is stand back from its
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operation and cease manufacturing for the moment. It is maintaining the premises that it owns at the Trade Development Zone, and will utilise them as a distribution centre. I understand that it is not removing any of the equipment. As things pick up, no doubt it will begin production again. I certainly hope it will do that as quickly as possible. However, it is nothing to do with me or the government. I do not know why the member used that throwaway line about Visy Board.
I would love to be able to sit down and work out exactly the total wages that have been paid through operations at the Trade Development Zone. It operates at 95% capacity ...
Mr Stirling: Hengyang.
Mr POOLE: In a commercial environment, there will be successes and failures. No doubt private enterprise will always reflect that in the Northern Territory.
At places such as Yulara and the Trade Development Zone, the money that has been paid to Territorians who work there is immense. It would far outweigh the economic costs of the operations. Thousands of people have been employed at Yulara. The money that is generated throughout the Northern Territory by the large hotel operations, whether they be at Yulara or the former Sheraton in Darwin, would be immense. How many people work in the hotel industry, in the larger hotels? Thousands have been paid wages of at least $400 or $500 a week over what - 15 years? It is an immense amount of money.
We are looking at the viability of selling the few remaining Trade Development Zone buildings and the land. I suggest that, at the end of the day, the ledger for the government will be very much on the profit side.
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ANSWER
Mr Speaker, I think I can speak from a position of some authority because I was a manager in private enterprise for many years before this life in parliament. The fact is that, once again, the member for Wanguri is misleading with his question. The member phrased his question as though I had said last week on radio that the Trade Development Zone cost $Xm. If he looked at the transcript of that broadcast, he would be well aware that I made it quite clear that I was talking about the development of infrastructure - roads, sewerage, water supply - and the various developments that have occurred there. All the government is doing is looking at the possibility of selling off land and buildings in the Trade Development Zone that have not been sold. There have already been some $10m-worth of sales over the past few years where Territorians have invested in their own properties at the zone. More than half the properties there have been purchased by people who are in occupancy and working there.
Mr Bailey: Such as Visy Board?
Mr POOLE: I do not know how the opposition would manage the Trade Development Zone. Would Labor control companies to the extent where it decided whether they should upgrade or downgrade their operations, depending on market demand? I suggest that it would not. Visy Board is a huge national company, and a very profitable company in a very tight commercial environment. It is a fact of life that a company of that kind has to remain competitive in the market area. If it is bringing paper to the Northern Territory specifically to make cardboard boxes, a horticulture industry that requires cardboard packaging for only some 5 months of the year at this stage is obviously a problem for it. It simply did not obtain the volume of goods it thought it would get through the operation of the new brewery. At the moment, the new brewery is using pallets and plastic wrap, and it is producing large containers of beer. Obviously, it is not using enough cardboard to give Visy Board the through volume that it needs to turn a profit in its operation. All Visy Board has done is stand back from its
Page 2077
operation and cease manufacturing for the moment. It is maintaining the premises that it owns at the Trade Development Zone, and will utilise them as a distribution centre. I understand that it is not removing any of the equipment. As things pick up, no doubt it will begin production again. I certainly hope it will do that as quickly as possible. However, it is nothing to do with me or the government. I do not know why the member used that throwaway line about Visy Board.
I would love to be able to sit down and work out exactly the total wages that have been paid through operations at the Trade Development Zone. It operates at 95% capacity ...
Mr Stirling: Hengyang.
Mr POOLE: In a commercial environment, there will be successes and failures. No doubt private enterprise will always reflect that in the Northern Territory.
At places such as Yulara and the Trade Development Zone, the money that has been paid to Territorians who work there is immense. It would far outweigh the economic costs of the operations. Thousands of people have been employed at Yulara. The money that is generated throughout the Northern Territory by the large hotel operations, whether they be at Yulara or the former Sheraton in Darwin, would be immense. How many people work in the hotel industry, in the larger hotels? Thousands have been paid wages of at least $400 or $500 a week over what - 15 years? It is an immense amount of money.
We are looking at the viability of selling the few remaining Trade Development Zone buildings and the land. I suggest that, at the end of the day, the ledger for the government will be very much on the profit side.
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Last updated: 09 Aug 2016