Mr SETTER - 1995-03-02
I refer the minister to criticism by the federal member for the Northern Territory, Hon Warren Snowdon, of the allocation of special purpose grants to Territory communities. The federal member seemed to imply that the allocation of such grants was questionable. How are special purpose grants determined, what protocols are in place in respect of their allocation and are the comments by the federal member in fact a case of those in glasshouses?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, a glasshouse would be overly describing the position in which the federal member finds himself. Recently, the member for the Northern Territory said on radio: `Well, is the - I would like to know how the special purpose grants to local governments are determined in the Northern Territory. Are they being properly assessed?' That implied that I go around with a chequebook, handing out money willy-nilly. The problem is that he probably has a guilty conscience because we know what he does. I believe we should have a close look at some of the DEET funding, the methods of assessment and the number of times the Parliamentary Secretary for DEET has waived the conditions of grant in order to provide money to meet the political commitments he is making around the bush.
He might start by justifying the circumstances that led to $530 000-worth of funding to the Bulman or Gulin Gulin community. I believe the unit cost was about $16 500. The DEET guidelines indicate that it should be about $11 000 of which about $7500 would be wages. In the Territory, there is a little extra cost and the unit cost has worked out generally at about $14 000. How did it reach $16 500 in that instance? Who waived the guidelines? Why did it occur just after Warren Snowdon had been there and the people had given him a hard time because the federal government had not delivered on Crean's promise last year to give them $300 000? I would like to know what political or organisational assessment occurred to justify that.
Local government funding is a matter that should be examined. The federal member has something to answer for there when he is out defending his left-wing factional push on what they call per capita funding. We receive $7.3m from the federal government in financial assistance grants (FAG). That is approximately 1% of the $700m that is distributed throughout Australia in federal government FAG money. We are required to allocate that taking account of need. That was well-known by the member for the Northern Territory when he jumped the gun. Most of these announcements undergo a Local Government Grants Commission process of assessment based on needs and population to determine which community will receive what amount of money. It is then approved by myself. It goes then to Hon Brian Howe, the federal minister, who also has to approve it. Following that, we negotiate a joint press release and the money is sent out.
What we need to be careful of is Warren Snowdon sneaking around Brian Howe's office, announcing it a few days before the agreed date for the joint press release and claiming credit for himself. That is simply politics. I accept that. Interestingly, when an announcement is made by the Northern Territory government relating to joint funding, it takes about 10 minutes
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for a fax to arrive from the federal minister's office asking why we are breaking the protocols. How many times has the federal minister torn into Warren Snowdon for breaking the protocols? Any one of my ministerial colleagues can give innumerable examples of the Territory member doing that. He has been known for many years as the member who does nothing but claims credit for everything.
Mr Manzie: And gets himself into every photo.
Mr HATTON: Yes. He jumps into every photo. If you watch parliament on the television, you will see his little head popping around behind the Prime Minister. If a minister is walking somewhere, Warren will be walking behind him, trying to get his photo in the newspaper. It is a joke!
Members interjecting.
Mr HATTON: Apart from that paltry sum of money from the federal government - only 1% of the funds - no account has been taken of need. There has been no assessment of the need. That is totally contrary to the processes of the Commonwealth/state financial arrangement, totally contrary to the Commonwealth's requirements of our distribution of funding, and contrary to the recommendations of the Grants Commission in 1990 when it recommended that there should be an assessment on a needs basis between the states. The Commonwealth funds on a per capita basis in order to funnel money into Sydney and Melbourne. Let me say that the Greater Geelong Area Council receives $2m in federal assistance which is more than the total funding for the Northern Territory.
Mr Ede: Yes, that is outrageous.
Mr HATTON: I agree that it is outrageous. Interestingly, I wrote to the federal member last year. I had been running this issue at the ministerial council. We finally had a resolution from the council. The smaller states stood up and we passed a resolution to have the matter referred to the Premiers Conference to be addressed under local government funding.
Mr Ede: What? You put him in charge?
Mr HATTON: No. We are trying to put it up to the heads of government in view of the fact that we seem to be unable to get anything through the federal minister who happens to be the head of the left-wing faction of the Labor Party and who happens also to be a Melbourne politician. As an alternative, we have put it to the Premiers Conference and, hopefully, to COAG in order to have it addressed.
This is money that is being denied to Aboriginal communities. We estimate that the per capita funding distribution is costing local government in the Northern Territory in the order of $25m a year. What would that do for the delivery of services in every Aboriginal community and, for that matter, municipal councils throughout the Northern Territory? I wrote to the federal member last year asking him to lobby Brian Howe and lobby in Canberra to assist us. I did not even receive an answer to my letter. We can forget about him taking any action because it is contrary to left-wing faction policy.
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Mr Ede: Rubbish!
Mr HATTON: The Leader of the Opposition knows what it is like. These fellows stood up against the 3-mine policy, and Warren Snowdon threatened to have them sanctioned by the party.
Mr Ede: Wrong!
Mr HATTON: Would you like to see the press releases in relation to that?
Members interjecting.
Mr HATTON: The fact is that, in addition to this, the Northern Territory provides some $14m out of its discretionary funding, none of which goes to municipal councils. It all goes to community government and association councils, and town camp organisations around the Territory. That is twice as much as the federal government contributes in its so-called tax-sharing arrangements.
That money is distributed to the communities. In fact, it increased in this year's budget although not by much. However, it did increase to take into account of the additional community governments coming on-stream. We hold some of the money aside from the general distribution because inevitably circumstances emerge during the course of the year where communities will be looking for some financial assistance for particular projects. Any applications are referred to the department for assessment. Recommendations are made through the departmental processes to myself for approval or otherwise. There is a clear and accountable process of assessment of programs. Inevitably, however, with numbers of competing requests coming through, some get up and some do not, and there is some prioritisation. These applications cover a variety of needs. For example, the Galiwinku community has serious financial management problems. Financial assistance is being provided to enable a reorganisation of the accounting and management processes, training in financial management and constitutional reviews for the Galiwinku Council.
A number of communities are obtaining management strategies, management reviews or funding for temporary coordinators as they work through serious financial problems. For example, a particular community acquired a second-hand grader. We provided funds for it to buy the grader because it was impossible for the community to manage with the roads funding alone. The Minister for Transport and Works mentioned that briefly. What he did not say was that Brian Howe is trying finally to do something about the roads funding that our local government Grants Commission distributes. It determines which communities receive what money through a formula ...
Mr Ede: It misses a lot of roads.
Mr HATTON: We do not. We have estimated that there are over 11 000 km of roads - probably 13 000 km of roads. The federal government recognises only 8000 km. I cannot even get it to take that into account. That is the problem. The allocation nationally is cut for the Territory because the federal government will not even recognise the roads that exist in the Territory. If the opposition would like to go further, it should note that, when
Page 497
Brian Howe's personal staff came here, they spoke to ATSIC, the land councils, the Local Government Association and the Territory government. Everybody said that what Warren Snowdon had done was a disaster and that allocation of funding should return to the previous method. However, the minister cannot do it politically. He is trying to find a solution.
Page 498
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, a glasshouse would be overly describing the position in which the federal member finds himself. Recently, the member for the Northern Territory said on radio: `Well, is the - I would like to know how the special purpose grants to local governments are determined in the Northern Territory. Are they being properly assessed?' That implied that I go around with a chequebook, handing out money willy-nilly. The problem is that he probably has a guilty conscience because we know what he does. I believe we should have a close look at some of the DEET funding, the methods of assessment and the number of times the Parliamentary Secretary for DEET has waived the conditions of grant in order to provide money to meet the political commitments he is making around the bush.
He might start by justifying the circumstances that led to $530 000-worth of funding to the Bulman or Gulin Gulin community. I believe the unit cost was about $16 500. The DEET guidelines indicate that it should be about $11 000 of which about $7500 would be wages. In the Territory, there is a little extra cost and the unit cost has worked out generally at about $14 000. How did it reach $16 500 in that instance? Who waived the guidelines? Why did it occur just after Warren Snowdon had been there and the people had given him a hard time because the federal government had not delivered on Crean's promise last year to give them $300 000? I would like to know what political or organisational assessment occurred to justify that.
Local government funding is a matter that should be examined. The federal member has something to answer for there when he is out defending his left-wing factional push on what they call per capita funding. We receive $7.3m from the federal government in financial assistance grants (FAG). That is approximately 1% of the $700m that is distributed throughout Australia in federal government FAG money. We are required to allocate that taking account of need. That was well-known by the member for the Northern Territory when he jumped the gun. Most of these announcements undergo a Local Government Grants Commission process of assessment based on needs and population to determine which community will receive what amount of money. It is then approved by myself. It goes then to Hon Brian Howe, the federal minister, who also has to approve it. Following that, we negotiate a joint press release and the money is sent out.
What we need to be careful of is Warren Snowdon sneaking around Brian Howe's office, announcing it a few days before the agreed date for the joint press release and claiming credit for himself. That is simply politics. I accept that. Interestingly, when an announcement is made by the Northern Territory government relating to joint funding, it takes about 10 minutes
Page 495
for a fax to arrive from the federal minister's office asking why we are breaking the protocols. How many times has the federal minister torn into Warren Snowdon for breaking the protocols? Any one of my ministerial colleagues can give innumerable examples of the Territory member doing that. He has been known for many years as the member who does nothing but claims credit for everything.
Mr Manzie: And gets himself into every photo.
Mr HATTON: Yes. He jumps into every photo. If you watch parliament on the television, you will see his little head popping around behind the Prime Minister. If a minister is walking somewhere, Warren will be walking behind him, trying to get his photo in the newspaper. It is a joke!
Members interjecting.
Mr HATTON: Apart from that paltry sum of money from the federal government - only 1% of the funds - no account has been taken of need. There has been no assessment of the need. That is totally contrary to the processes of the Commonwealth/state financial arrangement, totally contrary to the Commonwealth's requirements of our distribution of funding, and contrary to the recommendations of the Grants Commission in 1990 when it recommended that there should be an assessment on a needs basis between the states. The Commonwealth funds on a per capita basis in order to funnel money into Sydney and Melbourne. Let me say that the Greater Geelong Area Council receives $2m in federal assistance which is more than the total funding for the Northern Territory.
Mr Ede: Yes, that is outrageous.
Mr HATTON: I agree that it is outrageous. Interestingly, I wrote to the federal member last year. I had been running this issue at the ministerial council. We finally had a resolution from the council. The smaller states stood up and we passed a resolution to have the matter referred to the Premiers Conference to be addressed under local government funding.
Mr Ede: What? You put him in charge?
Mr HATTON: No. We are trying to put it up to the heads of government in view of the fact that we seem to be unable to get anything through the federal minister who happens to be the head of the left-wing faction of the Labor Party and who happens also to be a Melbourne politician. As an alternative, we have put it to the Premiers Conference and, hopefully, to COAG in order to have it addressed.
This is money that is being denied to Aboriginal communities. We estimate that the per capita funding distribution is costing local government in the Northern Territory in the order of $25m a year. What would that do for the delivery of services in every Aboriginal community and, for that matter, municipal councils throughout the Northern Territory? I wrote to the federal member last year asking him to lobby Brian Howe and lobby in Canberra to assist us. I did not even receive an answer to my letter. We can forget about him taking any action because it is contrary to left-wing faction policy.
Page 496
Mr Ede: Rubbish!
Mr HATTON: The Leader of the Opposition knows what it is like. These fellows stood up against the 3-mine policy, and Warren Snowdon threatened to have them sanctioned by the party.
Mr Ede: Wrong!
Mr HATTON: Would you like to see the press releases in relation to that?
Members interjecting.
Mr HATTON: The fact is that, in addition to this, the Northern Territory provides some $14m out of its discretionary funding, none of which goes to municipal councils. It all goes to community government and association councils, and town camp organisations around the Territory. That is twice as much as the federal government contributes in its so-called tax-sharing arrangements.
That money is distributed to the communities. In fact, it increased in this year's budget although not by much. However, it did increase to take into account of the additional community governments coming on-stream. We hold some of the money aside from the general distribution because inevitably circumstances emerge during the course of the year where communities will be looking for some financial assistance for particular projects. Any applications are referred to the department for assessment. Recommendations are made through the departmental processes to myself for approval or otherwise. There is a clear and accountable process of assessment of programs. Inevitably, however, with numbers of competing requests coming through, some get up and some do not, and there is some prioritisation. These applications cover a variety of needs. For example, the Galiwinku community has serious financial management problems. Financial assistance is being provided to enable a reorganisation of the accounting and management processes, training in financial management and constitutional reviews for the Galiwinku Council.
A number of communities are obtaining management strategies, management reviews or funding for temporary coordinators as they work through serious financial problems. For example, a particular community acquired a second-hand grader. We provided funds for it to buy the grader because it was impossible for the community to manage with the roads funding alone. The Minister for Transport and Works mentioned that briefly. What he did not say was that Brian Howe is trying finally to do something about the roads funding that our local government Grants Commission distributes. It determines which communities receive what money through a formula ...
Mr Ede: It misses a lot of roads.
Mr HATTON: We do not. We have estimated that there are over 11 000 km of roads - probably 13 000 km of roads. The federal government recognises only 8000 km. I cannot even get it to take that into account. That is the problem. The allocation nationally is cut for the Territory because the federal government will not even recognise the roads that exist in the Territory. If the opposition would like to go further, it should note that, when
Page 497
Brian Howe's personal staff came here, they spoke to ATSIC, the land councils, the Local Government Association and the Territory government. Everybody said that what Warren Snowdon had done was a disaster and that allocation of funding should return to the previous method. However, the minister cannot do it politically. He is trying to find a solution.
Page 498
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016