Ms MARTIN - 1996-08-14
The Treasurer has been extremely generous with Territory taxpayers' money spent on accommodation at the Savoy Hotel in London. What kind of message does he believe this extravagance sends to people in Housing Commission accommodation as they try to meet the 8% rent increase he has just slugged them with?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, someone pulled me up in the mall last week and commented that, if on every visit overseas I made I was able to save the Territory $1m, I should be sent abroad more often.
Mr Bailey: You haven't shown us how you have done it yet. You have not provided any figures.
Mr REED: I thank the shadow treasurer for his interjection. I will explain to him now where he can look in the book. That will show him how it has been done. He should know, but he does not.
The fact is that there has been a marked decrease in our interest payments in recent years. Why is that? It is because the former Treasurer embarked on a program of visiting financial institutions, as I did this year, to negotiate lower interest rates. That is precisely what happened during my recent visit overseas.
Mr Bailey: So world interest rates came down because you went overseas? What a joke!
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Ms Martin: You needed to stay at the Savoy?
Mr Coulter: We had never gone overseas until 4 years ago, for this purpose.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! The Treasurer has the floor. I ask members to keep their comments short.
Mr REED: The ineptitude of the shadow treasurer has been clearly illustrated. A reduction in interest rates does not mean that the financial institutions ring up and offer cheaper money. We have to go to them and sell what we ...
Members interjecting.
Mr REED: We need the ability to put the necessary financial arrangements in place to achieve the lower interest rates. That is what the Treasury officers are for. One can imagine ...
Members interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr REED: One could imagine sending a fax from Darwin to some major financial institution in Amsterdam or Brussels, stating: `Dear Sir, I would not mind borrowing $100m, Mike Reed, Treasurer, Northern Territory. PS: Please send cheque'. We have had Khemlani. We have been through that with your mob. We operate a little more responsibly.
Mr Stirling: You are a little more extravagant.
Mr REED: To pick up the interjection, as to why I went ...
Members interjecting.
Mr REED: I will explain why I went. I went on the recommendation of Treasury ...
Ms Martin: Why did you stay at the Savoy?
Mr REED: That is because ...
Mr Bailey: Because they wanted to go too.
Mr REED: I will come to that. I am not going to dodge the point. It is a good point. Thank you for raising it.
Members interjecting.
Mr REED: If you want an answer, tell your mob not to interject because I will answer their questions too. People listening to the broadcast want to know the answers to the interjections as well. If you have some manners and listen to the answer, I am sure that the people listening and the people in the gallery would appreciate that. I would be able to answer
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you without having to shout. I would be able to speak in low, dulcet tones and everyone would be able to hear me.
I went because Treasury officers recommended that I should go. The people you need to contact in these institutions are the directors or the assistant directors of the organisations. There is little point in trying to sell your case to someone who works at the transaction counter. You need to come face-to-face with people at the higher level. Having a minister in the delegation, in my case the Treasurer, provides the ability to come face-to-face with higher-level officials in the respective financial institutions. That worked very well. We met with the people who make the investment decisions in the financial institutions. Treasury officers going on their own would perhaps be able to see only people at transaction desks who would convey our message to their senior people in a form that we would have no opportunity to vet. That is why we were so successful. That is why we have already raised over $US50m. We are seeking to raise about $US200m this year. In a matter of a couple of months, we have raised $US50m.
Why did I stay at the Savoy? Why didn't you ask me where I ...
Members interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! A question has been asked. The minister is attempting to answer it. I ask members to keep their interjections short.
Mr Bailey: My interjection ...
Mr REED: Your interjection was in relation to the exchange risk. This is why it is so frustrating. It is in my media release. I have provided the information to the public of the Northern Territory, I do not know how many times.
Mr Bailey: You have not.
Mr REED: I do not know how many times the former Treasurer made the statement that we do not take risks with the foreign exchange. Any transactions are immediately swapped back to Australian dollars through our agents, NatWest. It is in printed form. All you have to do is read it. The difficulty for the member is in getting it through his head and understanding it. He does not understand what he is given. Territorians do understand the information that I provide.
Mr Bailey: When we get the annual report, we ask for a briefing and we are told that none of your officers is available.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr Bailey: This is the offer by the Chief Minister ...
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr Bailey: ... of briefings that the Treasurer will not give ...
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Mr SPEAKER: Order! The member for Wanguri will recall previous warnings about coming to order when order is called. I expect you to follow that instruction.
Mr REED: Mr Speaker, I refer now to the question of accommodation. During these visits, you often have to take into account the circumstances of where you are staying. You must take into account traffic, for example, and staying in proximity to the business district.
Ms Martin: The Savoy is not near the City!
Mr Bailey: It is near the red-light district, not the business district.
Mr Coulter: You would know, wouldn't you?
Mr REED: I thank the honourable member for his interjection and his knowledge of the whereabouts of the red-light district in London. I am sure his constituents will appreciate the wonderful knowledge he has about the half-day tour to wherever the red-light district is. I think that is the best illustration so far in these sittings of the incompetence of members opposite, although we are only into the second day of the sittings.
In relation to accommodation, it must be said that you stay at a place that is convenient to where you will work. You do not stay at the corner pub. How do you invite the director of a major bank to your hotel if you are staying at the Ferret and Trouserleg down on the corner? Would you say: `Come down to the Ferret and Trouserleg, or the YMCA. I am staying in a little backroom there to save some money for the Territory'? The answer is no. You have to entertain people on these occasions, and you have to be able to entertain them at a place that is both acceptable and convenient.
I have stayed in much more expensive places. In Japan, for example, you cannot stay somewhere cheap if you are dealing with the business sector. I point out that honourable members opposite do not question whether other states do this. They are starting to do it. The recent delegation from the NSW government to Europe had an incredible entourage, including 20 or 30 media personnel. God only knows what it cost. It does not really matter to me. Let me say that, in putting together this visit, we kept the numbers to a minimum. A few Treasury officers were included, but I did not take any of my staff because I could work with the Treasury officers. We complemented each other quite well. It was the first time I had been overseas without a staff member, and it is an indication that we give sensitive consideration to the cost of these trips.
If I can make a trip like this, which saves Territory taxpayers' money and brings returns to Territorians, that is a satisfactory outcome. I look forward to similar trips in the future that will generate some benefits to Territorians. Such trips will be taken on the same basis of careful consideration of their structure. The trouble with honourable members opposite is that they take trips that cost the taxpayers money. They do not indicate where they are going. We are up- front when we go overseas.
Is the Leader of the Opposition up-front in making announcements about where her members are when they are absent? I wonder. If she is to apply standards to us, she should apply similar standards to the opposition and make announcements about where her members
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are going. She should advise the Territory public about what she is doing, where she is going and whom she is taking with her. She should not sneak out and not tell anyone about it. We are up-front and we make the announcement.
Page 1477
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, someone pulled me up in the mall last week and commented that, if on every visit overseas I made I was able to save the Territory $1m, I should be sent abroad more often.
Mr Bailey: You haven't shown us how you have done it yet. You have not provided any figures.
Mr REED: I thank the shadow treasurer for his interjection. I will explain to him now where he can look in the book. That will show him how it has been done. He should know, but he does not.
The fact is that there has been a marked decrease in our interest payments in recent years. Why is that? It is because the former Treasurer embarked on a program of visiting financial institutions, as I did this year, to negotiate lower interest rates. That is precisely what happened during my recent visit overseas.
Mr Bailey: So world interest rates came down because you went overseas? What a joke!
Page 1473
Ms Martin: You needed to stay at the Savoy?
Mr Coulter: We had never gone overseas until 4 years ago, for this purpose.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! The Treasurer has the floor. I ask members to keep their comments short.
Mr REED: The ineptitude of the shadow treasurer has been clearly illustrated. A reduction in interest rates does not mean that the financial institutions ring up and offer cheaper money. We have to go to them and sell what we ...
Members interjecting.
Mr REED: We need the ability to put the necessary financial arrangements in place to achieve the lower interest rates. That is what the Treasury officers are for. One can imagine ...
Members interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr REED: One could imagine sending a fax from Darwin to some major financial institution in Amsterdam or Brussels, stating: `Dear Sir, I would not mind borrowing $100m, Mike Reed, Treasurer, Northern Territory. PS: Please send cheque'. We have had Khemlani. We have been through that with your mob. We operate a little more responsibly.
Mr Stirling: You are a little more extravagant.
Mr REED: To pick up the interjection, as to why I went ...
Members interjecting.
Mr REED: I will explain why I went. I went on the recommendation of Treasury ...
Ms Martin: Why did you stay at the Savoy?
Mr REED: That is because ...
Mr Bailey: Because they wanted to go too.
Mr REED: I will come to that. I am not going to dodge the point. It is a good point. Thank you for raising it.
Members interjecting.
Mr REED: If you want an answer, tell your mob not to interject because I will answer their questions too. People listening to the broadcast want to know the answers to the interjections as well. If you have some manners and listen to the answer, I am sure that the people listening and the people in the gallery would appreciate that. I would be able to answer
Page 1474
you without having to shout. I would be able to speak in low, dulcet tones and everyone would be able to hear me.
I went because Treasury officers recommended that I should go. The people you need to contact in these institutions are the directors or the assistant directors of the organisations. There is little point in trying to sell your case to someone who works at the transaction counter. You need to come face-to-face with people at the higher level. Having a minister in the delegation, in my case the Treasurer, provides the ability to come face-to-face with higher-level officials in the respective financial institutions. That worked very well. We met with the people who make the investment decisions in the financial institutions. Treasury officers going on their own would perhaps be able to see only people at transaction desks who would convey our message to their senior people in a form that we would have no opportunity to vet. That is why we were so successful. That is why we have already raised over $US50m. We are seeking to raise about $US200m this year. In a matter of a couple of months, we have raised $US50m.
Why did I stay at the Savoy? Why didn't you ask me where I ...
Members interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! A question has been asked. The minister is attempting to answer it. I ask members to keep their interjections short.
Mr Bailey: My interjection ...
Mr REED: Your interjection was in relation to the exchange risk. This is why it is so frustrating. It is in my media release. I have provided the information to the public of the Northern Territory, I do not know how many times.
Mr Bailey: You have not.
Mr REED: I do not know how many times the former Treasurer made the statement that we do not take risks with the foreign exchange. Any transactions are immediately swapped back to Australian dollars through our agents, NatWest. It is in printed form. All you have to do is read it. The difficulty for the member is in getting it through his head and understanding it. He does not understand what he is given. Territorians do understand the information that I provide.
Mr Bailey: When we get the annual report, we ask for a briefing and we are told that none of your officers is available.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr Bailey: This is the offer by the Chief Minister ...
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr Bailey: ... of briefings that the Treasurer will not give ...
Page 1475
Mr SPEAKER: Order! The member for Wanguri will recall previous warnings about coming to order when order is called. I expect you to follow that instruction.
Mr REED: Mr Speaker, I refer now to the question of accommodation. During these visits, you often have to take into account the circumstances of where you are staying. You must take into account traffic, for example, and staying in proximity to the business district.
Ms Martin: The Savoy is not near the City!
Mr Bailey: It is near the red-light district, not the business district.
Mr Coulter: You would know, wouldn't you?
Mr REED: I thank the honourable member for his interjection and his knowledge of the whereabouts of the red-light district in London. I am sure his constituents will appreciate the wonderful knowledge he has about the half-day tour to wherever the red-light district is. I think that is the best illustration so far in these sittings of the incompetence of members opposite, although we are only into the second day of the sittings.
In relation to accommodation, it must be said that you stay at a place that is convenient to where you will work. You do not stay at the corner pub. How do you invite the director of a major bank to your hotel if you are staying at the Ferret and Trouserleg down on the corner? Would you say: `Come down to the Ferret and Trouserleg, or the YMCA. I am staying in a little backroom there to save some money for the Territory'? The answer is no. You have to entertain people on these occasions, and you have to be able to entertain them at a place that is both acceptable and convenient.
I have stayed in much more expensive places. In Japan, for example, you cannot stay somewhere cheap if you are dealing with the business sector. I point out that honourable members opposite do not question whether other states do this. They are starting to do it. The recent delegation from the NSW government to Europe had an incredible entourage, including 20 or 30 media personnel. God only knows what it cost. It does not really matter to me. Let me say that, in putting together this visit, we kept the numbers to a minimum. A few Treasury officers were included, but I did not take any of my staff because I could work with the Treasury officers. We complemented each other quite well. It was the first time I had been overseas without a staff member, and it is an indication that we give sensitive consideration to the cost of these trips.
If I can make a trip like this, which saves Territory taxpayers' money and brings returns to Territorians, that is a satisfactory outcome. I look forward to similar trips in the future that will generate some benefits to Territorians. Such trips will be taken on the same basis of careful consideration of their structure. The trouble with honourable members opposite is that they take trips that cost the taxpayers money. They do not indicate where they are going. We are up- front when we go overseas.
Is the Leader of the Opposition up-front in making announcements about where her members are when they are absent? I wonder. If she is to apply standards to us, she should apply similar standards to the opposition and make announcements about where her members
Page 1476
are going. She should advise the Territory public about what she is doing, where she is going and whom she is taking with her. She should not sneak out and not tell anyone about it. We are up-front and we make the announcement.
Page 1477
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016