Mr ELFERINK - 2002-10-09
Minister, in August last year, you tabled a discussion paper, a 61-page management plan, for the Casuarina Coastal Reserve. You did so during Ministerial Reports with the knowledge that the opposition would have two minutes to read the report, digest it and respond to it. Minister, isn’t it true that you tabled the report in this fashion to hide from the public a serious issue of public safety? Isn’t it true that the report contained serious allegations of lewd sex, theft and drunkenness at Casuarina Beach that go to the very heart of the law and order problem which is flourishing under the Martin Labor government?
ANSWER
I thank the member for his question. It is an excellent question. I really congratulate him because the report for the Casuarina Coastal Reserve began to be drafted 18 months ago under the CLP government, so the majority of the allegations you made today were drafted under your very own government.
As for tabling the report, the Casuarina Coastal Reserve was declared under the Crown Lands Act, not the Territory Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act. If you had read a bit deeper into the situation, you would have found out that this government is not obliged to table the Casuarina Coastal Reserve Management Plan under the Crown Lands Act. It is different when you table a report for a national park that has been declared under Territory Parks. The only reason we tabled this report was for the information of members and for the public.
We would be really stupid to table a report that contains all these extraordinary matters that you referred you. The report was in the making for 18 months. The report was done 18 months before I tabled it in parliament. The first public consultations were actually held in March and April 2001. I took part in those consultations, and I remember being there with the then member for Casuarina, Peter Adamson.
There were other consultations after that, and the report was put on the shelf. When we came to government and I became the minister, I asked what happened to the Casuarina report, and the then Director of Territory Parks and Wildlife Commission told me he didn’t want to put it out because the elections were coming. They were his exact words.
Members interjecting.
Mr VATSKALIS: So what you tell us today, that there are all these crimes, was already in the text. The text was drafted when your own party was in government. What is recorded in the report, the drunkenness was happening before, lewd acts of sex were happening before.
What we have done now, because we are aware of these issues, is that we have taken measures under this management plan to eliminate drunkenness. We have limited the time you can actually drink alcohol in the park in accordance with the same conditions as the city of Darwin. We have also applied, in the reserve, our own by-laws and also the Summary Offences Act and we are cooperating with the police to increase patrols. We also intend to employ Aboriginal rangers to patrol the area to eliminate the issue of itinerants. There were continuous complaints about the Casuarina Coastal Reserve and we are the ones who really moved to do something about it because you either didn’t want to or were unable to do anything about it.
ANSWER
I thank the member for his question. It is an excellent question. I really congratulate him because the report for the Casuarina Coastal Reserve began to be drafted 18 months ago under the CLP government, so the majority of the allegations you made today were drafted under your very own government.
As for tabling the report, the Casuarina Coastal Reserve was declared under the Crown Lands Act, not the Territory Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act. If you had read a bit deeper into the situation, you would have found out that this government is not obliged to table the Casuarina Coastal Reserve Management Plan under the Crown Lands Act. It is different when you table a report for a national park that has been declared under Territory Parks. The only reason we tabled this report was for the information of members and for the public.
We would be really stupid to table a report that contains all these extraordinary matters that you referred you. The report was in the making for 18 months. The report was done 18 months before I tabled it in parliament. The first public consultations were actually held in March and April 2001. I took part in those consultations, and I remember being there with the then member for Casuarina, Peter Adamson.
There were other consultations after that, and the report was put on the shelf. When we came to government and I became the minister, I asked what happened to the Casuarina report, and the then Director of Territory Parks and Wildlife Commission told me he didn’t want to put it out because the elections were coming. They were his exact words.
Members interjecting.
Mr VATSKALIS: So what you tell us today, that there are all these crimes, was already in the text. The text was drafted when your own party was in government. What is recorded in the report, the drunkenness was happening before, lewd acts of sex were happening before.
What we have done now, because we are aware of these issues, is that we have taken measures under this management plan to eliminate drunkenness. We have limited the time you can actually drink alcohol in the park in accordance with the same conditions as the city of Darwin. We have also applied, in the reserve, our own by-laws and also the Summary Offences Act and we are cooperating with the police to increase patrols. We also intend to employ Aboriginal rangers to patrol the area to eliminate the issue of itinerants. There were continuous complaints about the Casuarina Coastal Reserve and we are the ones who really moved to do something about it because you either didn’t want to or were unable to do anything about it.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016