Mr BURKE - 2005-02-09
Regarding the waterfront project, let us look at this project which seems to be in such a shambles. You had three bids but you secretly chose one without allowing the community to have their say on the other proposals. You duped the public on the height profiles of the development, on which you were forced to backflip after strong community pressure. The environmental aspects are not transparent and shown to be unreliable. You expect the public to take on face value that you will do a good deal, but refuse to tell what the deal is. One of your partners is in administration and you cannot adequately explain what the impact on the project is. We are at the 11th hour before financial close and you still refuse to tell the biggest partner, the Territory taxpayer, how much it will cost them to be a partner. Is there time for you to demonstrate some honesty and transparency to Territorians and come clean with exactly what is going on with this project?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I have never heard such negativity towards a $1bn project for Darwin, which will grow our economy, tourism, our community, and our population, and provide 1000 jobs over its time - for a decade to maybe 15 years. This is a very exciting project and all we hear from the opposition is negativity and criticism about it. I wonder whether the opposition has talked to our community and even listened to some of the excitement our community has about the waterfront redevelopment.
As I indicated yesterday, when I stood there for many hours with the model and talked to people about it, they did not just use words like, ‘Oh, this is okay,’ they said, ‘This is terrific! This is a great project for our future! This means job for me and probably my kids. This is great!’
The whole bid process was done appropriately with two probity auditors. I would cast the Opposition Leader’s mind back to when he was yesterday’s man and was overseeing bids for the rail. That was not done in public. That was done appropriately, in commercial-in-confidence, and revealed to Territorians when the deal was in place.
Mr Burke: You did not believe in commercial-in-confidence when you were in opposition! You wanted FOI to tell people everything.
Ms MARTIN: We worked with you. We took a long time. And did you hear criticism from us? No!
Members interjecting.
Ms MARTIN: This is the same kind of project. If the Opposition Leader forgets the processes and mechanisms of what went into that project, which similarly apply to this - he has either forgotten what happened or he really is yesterday’s man.
All environmental processes will be followed. In the development, all statutory processes will be followed. All developments go through the Development Consent Authority with proper public process. We have one instance now where we have a proud Territory company that is facing tough times. The Darwin Cove Consortium will find a way through this, I am confident. I would like to think that our opposition wants to see Henry Walker Eltin find a way through this. Why the bagging, why the criticism, and why on earth do you still want to scrap it?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I have never heard such negativity towards a $1bn project for Darwin, which will grow our economy, tourism, our community, and our population, and provide 1000 jobs over its time - for a decade to maybe 15 years. This is a very exciting project and all we hear from the opposition is negativity and criticism about it. I wonder whether the opposition has talked to our community and even listened to some of the excitement our community has about the waterfront redevelopment.
As I indicated yesterday, when I stood there for many hours with the model and talked to people about it, they did not just use words like, ‘Oh, this is okay,’ they said, ‘This is terrific! This is a great project for our future! This means job for me and probably my kids. This is great!’
The whole bid process was done appropriately with two probity auditors. I would cast the Opposition Leader’s mind back to when he was yesterday’s man and was overseeing bids for the rail. That was not done in public. That was done appropriately, in commercial-in-confidence, and revealed to Territorians when the deal was in place.
Mr Burke: You did not believe in commercial-in-confidence when you were in opposition! You wanted FOI to tell people everything.
Ms MARTIN: We worked with you. We took a long time. And did you hear criticism from us? No!
Members interjecting.
Ms MARTIN: This is the same kind of project. If the Opposition Leader forgets the processes and mechanisms of what went into that project, which similarly apply to this - he has either forgotten what happened or he really is yesterday’s man.
All environmental processes will be followed. In the development, all statutory processes will be followed. All developments go through the Development Consent Authority with proper public process. We have one instance now where we have a proud Territory company that is facing tough times. The Darwin Cove Consortium will find a way through this, I am confident. I would like to think that our opposition wants to see Henry Walker Eltin find a way through this. Why the bagging, why the criticism, and why on earth do you still want to scrap it?
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016