Mr MILLS - 2007-05-02
You would be aware that assets lower your nett debt situation. Two years ago, the Darwin Port Corporation had assets valued at $68m. Now, those very same assets - the same buildings and structures - are older and valued at $210m, based on nothing more than on how you classify them. In the process, you have wiped $152m off the Territory’s nett debt with a book entry that even the Auditor-General has queried, when you changed the Port Corporation from a profit-seeking to a non-profit-seeking organisation. How does this imaginative accounting assist your government’s credibility?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, there is no imaginative accounting around here. As resources are pumped in and extra infrastructure is added out at the port, of course the value of the port is going to increase. It is going to increase into the future as we get more bulk loading facilities out there, as we build on the advantage of having the train running up here, as more mines come into that, as more infrastructure is added there. That is the bottom line; that the port will continue to grow and add value in what it does.
I understand, also, there is a change of accounting standards which the Auditor-General agrees with. It does not affect nett debt in the sense that the member for Blain is suggesting. It does affect nett worth. However, if you build additional infrastructure, add to the value of the port in the work it does, and add to the value of the work that is going through that port - as we will see as more mines come on stream as a result, in part at least, of the railway and the added advantage of getting the product north and getting it across to the port out there - of course, the port is going to strengthen in value. We will see that in years to come.
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, there is no imaginative accounting around here. As resources are pumped in and extra infrastructure is added out at the port, of course the value of the port is going to increase. It is going to increase into the future as we get more bulk loading facilities out there, as we build on the advantage of having the train running up here, as more mines come into that, as more infrastructure is added there. That is the bottom line; that the port will continue to grow and add value in what it does.
I understand, also, there is a change of accounting standards which the Auditor-General agrees with. It does not affect nett debt in the sense that the member for Blain is suggesting. It does affect nett worth. However, if you build additional infrastructure, add to the value of the port in the work it does, and add to the value of the work that is going through that port - as we will see as more mines come on stream as a result, in part at least, of the railway and the added advantage of getting the product north and getting it across to the port out there - of course, the port is going to strengthen in value. We will see that in years to come.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016