Mr WOOD - 2008-11-25
Last night at the Australia Day Awards, one of your employees, Rachel Meldrum, won the Young Australian of the Year for the NT for her scientific work investigating Panama disease in bananas. Rachel, like many other good people, works for you and Territorians at Berrimah Research Farm.
Your government, in your first 100 days, has decided to drastically reduce the role of Berrimah Research Farm without giving the over 200 people who work there a say in the future of the farm. In light of your government’s strong statement about workers’ rights during the last federal election, in light of the important work the employees at Berrimah Farm do for the Territory, will you call and attend a meeting with all the staff at the farm so they can tell you their concerns about the future of their workplace?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for his question. He has an obsession with Berrimah Farm. It probably has some sentimental value to him. I know Berrimah Farm has been there for 50 years.
The member has to remember that, currently, nothing much happens at Berrimah Farm apart from the laboratories which operate. Most of the research is done outside Darwin. Berrimah Farm was established in the 1950s when it was in the rural area. People who worked there would have had to take their own lunch.
Research on cattle and plants happens at Kidman Springs, Douglas Daly, and in Alice Springs. None of the people who work at Berrimah Farm are going to lose their jobs; none will be forcibly moved to another place. People will have a say where they want to work and where they are going to work.
Mr Bohlin: What happens when they retire?
Mr VATSKALIS: When people retire they often go fishing.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Minister, please direct your comments through the Chair.
Mr VATSKALIS: Madam Speaker, in answer to the member, when people retire, they do not go to work anymore, they go fishing or they go somewhere else.
People at Berrimah Farm will not be sacked. They will be asked where they want to work and what they want to do. Many of these people who do research will choose to go somewhere else to work; they are not attached to Berrimah Farm for their rest of their life. People move around, and will continue to move to other places where research is undertaken.
Your government, in your first 100 days, has decided to drastically reduce the role of Berrimah Research Farm without giving the over 200 people who work there a say in the future of the farm. In light of your government’s strong statement about workers’ rights during the last federal election, in light of the important work the employees at Berrimah Farm do for the Territory, will you call and attend a meeting with all the staff at the farm so they can tell you their concerns about the future of their workplace?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for his question. He has an obsession with Berrimah Farm. It probably has some sentimental value to him. I know Berrimah Farm has been there for 50 years.
The member has to remember that, currently, nothing much happens at Berrimah Farm apart from the laboratories which operate. Most of the research is done outside Darwin. Berrimah Farm was established in the 1950s when it was in the rural area. People who worked there would have had to take their own lunch.
Research on cattle and plants happens at Kidman Springs, Douglas Daly, and in Alice Springs. None of the people who work at Berrimah Farm are going to lose their jobs; none will be forcibly moved to another place. People will have a say where they want to work and where they are going to work.
Mr Bohlin: What happens when they retire?
Mr VATSKALIS: When people retire they often go fishing.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Minister, please direct your comments through the Chair.
Mr VATSKALIS: Madam Speaker, in answer to the member, when people retire, they do not go to work anymore, they go fishing or they go somewhere else.
People at Berrimah Farm will not be sacked. They will be asked where they want to work and what they want to do. Many of these people who do research will choose to go somewhere else to work; they are not attached to Berrimah Farm for their rest of their life. People move around, and will continue to move to other places where research is undertaken.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016