Ms ANDERSON - 2007-10-09
Is the minister aware of the successful Gunya Titjikala tourism venture that has been closed down in my electorate and the impact of the removal of CDEP on this venture? Can you provide the House further information on alternative approaches as to how we can help Gunya Titjikala?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Macdonnell for her very important question. She is a great advocate for tourism in her electorate and, very importantly, a component of this issue is education for indigenous students in her electorate.
All members of this House and many Territorians would understand that the Gunya Titjikala tourism venture in Central Australia has received accolades from around this country and overseas, and has been a beacon for indigenous cultural tourism in the Northern Territory. It is probably the first uniquely independent indigenous cultural experience with fantastic high end, high quality camping facilities for high yielding, low impact corporate tourists.
It has been embraced, like probably nothing else in Titjikala for many years, as a real source of wellbeing, a source of employment for people at Titjikala, and an inspiration for the students at Titjikala to go on to Yirara High School in Alice Springs to complete their secondary education.
I am very concerned, as Tourism Minister and Education minister, that the federal government’s ideological approach to ripping up CDEP across the Northern Territory will see this venture flounder and potentially fail. This is all because of the federal government intervention under the guise of child abuse, which we all absolutely abhor and want to see stamped out across the Northern Territory. Wrapped up in the intervention response to an appalling tragedy that is taking place across the Northern Territory is the ideological response that we are just going to rip up CDEP right across the Northern Territory. This impacts on tiny little isolated communities, mainstream urban centres, one size fits all, right across the Northern Territory without thinking through the impact of that policy decision.
We need more indigenous tourism product across the Northern Territory, not less. One of the great strengths that we have in our tourism industry, and one that we can build on into the future for the benefit of mainstream tourism and employment and financial independence for indigenous people is to see more indigenous tourism product, not less. We cannot afford to see Titjikala fail.
One of the outcomes is that in 2004, when this project started, there was just one child at Titjikala who was regularly attending high school at Alice Springs, just one. I am advised that very recently, there were 24 students at Yirara College in Alice Springs wanting to complete their secondary education because they want to go back and work in this enterprise and other jobs in Alice Springs.
What we are seeing is very significant financial disincentives being put in place as a result of this program. Winding away CDEP, putting people on Newstart, then if you work for more than 15 hours a week, marginal tax rates kick in, which means that people are worse off. People are worse off working 15 hours a week and more on Newstart than they were on CDEP.
I would like to quote from Paul Conlan, the Managing Director of Gunya Tourism Pty Ltd, who issued a media release earlier this week calling on the federal government to immediately cease the roll-out of abolition of CDEP in remote communities. He said:
In this federal election, the issue of industrial relations and AWAs will be a big issue. For the benefit of those opposite, Mr Conlan said:
Clearly, no one is going to be better off as a result of the ideological position that is being put by the federal government and the minister, Dr Sharman Stone.
This is a national issue. The Prime Minister was on television last night saying that he is not in electioneering mode, he is not just throwing money around willy-nilly, he is not in electioneering mood. Prime Minister, if you are not in electioneering mood, I call on the Prime Minister to call his minister Dr Sharman Stone into line, get them to reassess what is happening at Titjikala and other remote communities across the Northern Territory, to step back, move away from an ideological position, look at the impact of this one size fits all approach across the Northern Territory and the damage that it is going to do. In the interests of indigenous people who live in remote communities, step back, reassess and adopt the Kevin Rudd approach in terms of the release that went out to say the issue of transitioning people into full-time jobs we support where there is a market economy. It is appropriate in Darwin, appropriate in Alice Springs, but at Titjikala, Ngukurr, Milingimbi and Maningrida, there needs to be more consultation, commonsense applied, slow down …
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr HENDERSON: Madam Speaker, this whole policy response was supposed to, and we all agree with this, improve the situation for indigenous children across the Northern Territory. Reducing the incomes of indigenous families, putting disincentives in place to work, is not going to improve outcomes for indigenous children and not provide incentives for those kids to go on to school at Alice Springs. It will not work; it will fail. The federal government needs to slow down and support ventures like Gunya Titjikala and others that are emerging across the Northern Territory, not destroy them by this ideological approach in terms of ripping out CDEP.
Madam Speaker, I ask that further questions be placed on the Written Question Paper.
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Macdonnell for her very important question. She is a great advocate for tourism in her electorate and, very importantly, a component of this issue is education for indigenous students in her electorate.
All members of this House and many Territorians would understand that the Gunya Titjikala tourism venture in Central Australia has received accolades from around this country and overseas, and has been a beacon for indigenous cultural tourism in the Northern Territory. It is probably the first uniquely independent indigenous cultural experience with fantastic high end, high quality camping facilities for high yielding, low impact corporate tourists.
It has been embraced, like probably nothing else in Titjikala for many years, as a real source of wellbeing, a source of employment for people at Titjikala, and an inspiration for the students at Titjikala to go on to Yirara High School in Alice Springs to complete their secondary education.
I am very concerned, as Tourism Minister and Education minister, that the federal government’s ideological approach to ripping up CDEP across the Northern Territory will see this venture flounder and potentially fail. This is all because of the federal government intervention under the guise of child abuse, which we all absolutely abhor and want to see stamped out across the Northern Territory. Wrapped up in the intervention response to an appalling tragedy that is taking place across the Northern Territory is the ideological response that we are just going to rip up CDEP right across the Northern Territory. This impacts on tiny little isolated communities, mainstream urban centres, one size fits all, right across the Northern Territory without thinking through the impact of that policy decision.
We need more indigenous tourism product across the Northern Territory, not less. One of the great strengths that we have in our tourism industry, and one that we can build on into the future for the benefit of mainstream tourism and employment and financial independence for indigenous people is to see more indigenous tourism product, not less. We cannot afford to see Titjikala fail.
One of the outcomes is that in 2004, when this project started, there was just one child at Titjikala who was regularly attending high school at Alice Springs, just one. I am advised that very recently, there were 24 students at Yirara College in Alice Springs wanting to complete their secondary education because they want to go back and work in this enterprise and other jobs in Alice Springs.
What we are seeing is very significant financial disincentives being put in place as a result of this program. Winding away CDEP, putting people on Newstart, then if you work for more than 15 hours a week, marginal tax rates kick in, which means that people are worse off. People are worse off working 15 hours a week and more on Newstart than they were on CDEP.
I would like to quote from Paul Conlan, the Managing Director of Gunya Tourism Pty Ltd, who issued a media release earlier this week calling on the federal government to immediately cease the roll-out of abolition of CDEP in remote communities. He said:
- The removal of CDEP is without doubt the worst policy decision in the last 30 years of indigenous affairs.
In this federal election, the issue of industrial relations and AWAs will be a big issue. For the benefit of those opposite, Mr Conlan said:
- If the government’s AWA fairness test was applied to this situation, it would fail miserably.
Clearly, no one is going to be better off as a result of the ideological position that is being put by the federal government and the minister, Dr Sharman Stone.
This is a national issue. The Prime Minister was on television last night saying that he is not in electioneering mode, he is not just throwing money around willy-nilly, he is not in electioneering mood. Prime Minister, if you are not in electioneering mood, I call on the Prime Minister to call his minister Dr Sharman Stone into line, get them to reassess what is happening at Titjikala and other remote communities across the Northern Territory, to step back, move away from an ideological position, look at the impact of this one size fits all approach across the Northern Territory and the damage that it is going to do. In the interests of indigenous people who live in remote communities, step back, reassess and adopt the Kevin Rudd approach in terms of the release that went out to say the issue of transitioning people into full-time jobs we support where there is a market economy. It is appropriate in Darwin, appropriate in Alice Springs, but at Titjikala, Ngukurr, Milingimbi and Maningrida, there needs to be more consultation, commonsense applied, slow down …
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr HENDERSON: Madam Speaker, this whole policy response was supposed to, and we all agree with this, improve the situation for indigenous children across the Northern Territory. Reducing the incomes of indigenous families, putting disincentives in place to work, is not going to improve outcomes for indigenous children and not provide incentives for those kids to go on to school at Alice Springs. It will not work; it will fail. The federal government needs to slow down and support ventures like Gunya Titjikala and others that are emerging across the Northern Territory, not destroy them by this ideological approach in terms of ripping out CDEP.
Madam Speaker, I ask that further questions be placed on the Written Question Paper.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016