2014-03-19
Madam Speaker Purick took the Chair at 10 am.
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, I advise of the presence in the gallery of a Year 7 class from Rosebery Middle School accompanied by Alison Stringer, Gillian Furness and Rebecca McSkimming, and a visiting youth group led by Ben Riley and Rebecca Healy. Welcome everyone, and I hope you enjoy your tour and time at Parliament House.
Members: Hear, hear!
WATER EFFICIENCY LABELLING AND STANDARDS (NATIONAL UNIFORM LEGISLATION) BILL
(Serial 70)
Bill presented and read a first time.
Mr CHANDLER (Lands, Planning and the Environment): Madam Speaker, I move that the bill be now read a second time.
This bill repeals the existing Water Efficiency Labelling and Standards Act and applies the Commonwealth Water Efficiency Labelling and Standards Act 2005, as in force from time to time, as a law of the Northern Territory. In doing so, it upholds government’s commitment to create a national scheme for water efficiency labelling and standards through the implementation of nationally consistent legislation.
In 2005, the Northern Territory signed the intergovernmental agreement for the Water Efficiency Labelling and Standards Scheme. Known as WELS, the scheme applies performance standards to household water products including washing machines, dishwashers, showers, toilets, urinals and tap ware. These products must be registered under the scheme before they can be offered for sale in Australia. The scheme is designed to promote the conservation of Australia’s water resources and support the development of new water use technologies.
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Minister, could I interrupt for a minute, please. Honourable members, I advise of the presence in the gallery of three Year 5/6 classes from Leanyer Primary School, accompanied by David Cocks, Hayley Jack and Macushla Kelly. On behalf of honourable members, I extend a warm welcome to our visitors and hope they enjoy their visit to Parliament House.
Members: Hear, hear!
Mr CHANDLER: Welcome students. Leanyer Primary, fantastic.
Mr Deputy Speaker, the scheme requires industries to place information labels on their products to inform consumers of the water efficiency of the product. It works the same way as the energy star rating system on electrical appliances which provide information on the energy efficiency of the product. Many of us have seen those on fridges, when we go into places like Harvey Norman, Betta Electrical and other places to help us understand the efficiency.
Since the WELS scheme started, urban water consumption across Australia has reduced and there have been increases in the sale and registration of four star and higher rated products. It is anticipated the WELS scheme will achieve 800 GL of water savings by 2021.
I now turn to the legislative and policy framework underpinning WELS. The WELS scheme is established by the Commonwealth Water Efficiency Labelling and Standards Act 2005 and complimentary state and territory legislation. The Commonwealth act establishes the national Water Efficiency Labelling and Standards Regulator, with powers and functions to regulate water efficiency standards consistently across Australia.
It creates a consistent playing field for those industry participants that operate in multiple jurisdictions and minimises the compliance costs which, in turn, encourages compliance with the scheme. An independent review of the WELS scheme was undertaken in 2010, resulting in a number of recommendations to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the scheme. As part of the review, consultation was undertaken with state and territory governments, water utilities and consumer and industry representatives. The review recommended two major changes to the Commonwealth act to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the WELS scheme.
Firstly, it recommended broadening the compliance provisions to allow both civil and criminal penalties to be applied. Secondly, it recommended improvements to the WELS product registration and fee provisions. The Standing Council on Environment and Water agreed to implement the recommendations of the independent review. During 2011 and 2012, a range of bills was introduced into the Australian parliament to give effect to these amendments. In summary, the bills introduced changes to compliance and enforcement provisions of the Commonwealth act to ensure that tailored and appropriate responses can be provided when the act is contravened.
These changes are aimed at improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the compliance and enforcement effort. The bills also change the product registration and fee provisions to raise the proportion of costs recovered from industry participants through the registration of WELS products from 20% to 80%, in accordance with the original intention of the scheme. The balance of costs is provided by the Commonwealth, the states and territories. The government contribution is apportioned half to the Commonwealth, with the states and territories continuing on a pro rata population basis.
The Northern Territory’s commitment is 0.5% of the national funding requirements and in 2012-13 equated to $1902. Under the original Commonwealth act, any minor change to the legislation, even a typographical error, required agreement from all jurisdictions. This reduced the effectiveness of the act and created a significant amount of unnecessary work. The 2011 and 2012 bills introduced powers for the Commonwealth minister to determine detailed arrangements necessary for the administration of the scheme through the development of disallowable ministerial instruments. These changes will make it easier for the scheme to be modified from time to time to improve its efficiency and effectiveness, particularly in relation to the registration of products, without the need to amend supporting state and territory legislation. All states and territories will still need to agree to the terms of the scheme, or to any variation of the scheme other than a variation to remove an ambiguity or uncertainty, or to correct an error before the instrument is made.
As a consequence of the 2011 and 2012 bills, the Northern Territory’s WELS act is no longer consistent with the Commonwealth act. This bill resolves that issue and realigns the Northern Territory’s WELS act with the Commonwealth act. The bill, effectively, applies the Commonwealth act as it is in force from time to time as if it were a law of the Northern Territory, reducing the need to amend the Territory’s legislation should there be further amendments to the Commonwealth act in the future.
The bill does not represent a change in the government’s policy regarding WELS or abrogate any of its rights or responsibilities. It will have the same effect as the legislation it replaces. The current legislative approach for the WELS scheme is a Commonwealth led legal framework, supported by mirror state and territory legislation. However, the current Northern Territory WELS act replicates rather than adopts the Commonwealth act. As a result, the Northern Territory’s WELS act requires amendment each time a change is made to the Commonwealth act. Each time the act becomes inconsistent, it creates ambiguity for those businesses that are required to comply with the WELS scheme. Adopting Commonwealth laws as Northern Territory laws through the use of ‘applied provisions’ as they apply from time to time, is advantageous for several reasons.
Firstly, the Northern Territory’s corresponding laws will always be up to date with the Commonwealth act. This means our obligations under the intergovernmental agreement are always met and the application of the WELS scheme in the Northern Territory is seamless.
Secondly, it provides certainty for the regulated community in the Northern Territory, such as importers, wholesalers and retailers of household plumbing products, who operate in multiple states and territories.
Finally, avoiding the need to amend our act every time the Commonwealth amends its legislation represents a practical saving in government resources. This is not to imply that this government will have no say in changes to the WELS scheme or its underlying legislation.
While the states and territories have no operational role in the administration of the WELS scheme, under the WELS intergovernmental agreement the majority of jurisdictions must agree before substantive changes can be made to the scheme. This means the Northern Territory will be consulted before any amendments to the Commonwealth act or a disallowable instrument are proposed. This bill also includes provisions that will allow the Northern Territory to modify the Commonwealth act as it applies in the Northern Territory through regulations, should that be necessary. For example, regulations could be made to state that certain sections of the Commonwealth act do not have effect in the Northern Territory. This ensures the Northern Territory act will not only be fit for purpose, but the Territory retains control of the intent of its legislation.
The bill is modelled on the New South Wales legislation which has been successfully operating since 2005. Unlike all other jurisdictions, amendments to the New South Wales legislation were not required following the 2011 and 2012 Commonwealth amendments. Tasmania and South Australia have also adopted this legislative approach with their new WELS legislation which commenced in 2014. The Commonwealth supports the Northern Territory’s approach in developing this legislation.
There are more than 16 000 products registered under the WELS scheme, but none are registered under the Northern Territory act. There are no manufacturers of WELS products in the Northern Territory and there will be no significant impacts on importers or retailers from the passage of this legislation. However, it is important the scheme continues to apply to the Northern Territory.
Territorians are the highest users of water in Australia, consuming almost three times as much water as the national average. Water is a finite resource and our rapidly-growing population, in conjunction with changing rainfall patterns, means we need to be water smart. The Power and Water Corporation works to educate businesses and the public on ways to save water and decrease water bills by changing behaviours and upgrading appliances to those with higher water efficiency ratings.
This bill will ensure the WELS scheme continues to operate in the Northern Territory efficiently and to full effect, supporting the water savings efforts of the Power and Water Corporation and providing water saving benefits to all Territorians.
The Northern Territory has a clear interest in the operation of the scheme and the complementary legislation which has been drafted.
Mr Deputy Speaker, I commend this bill to the House.
Debate adjourned.
Continued from 20 February 2014.
Mr GUNNER (Fannie Bay): Mr Deputy Speaker, we will be supporting this bill. The bill is, effectively, a clean-up bill. It makes a few tweaks to the Sentencing Act, the Youth Justice Act, and the Criminal Code Act that have been requested by the judiciary and other legal bodies. The amendments are sensible, there is nothing controversial in any of the amendments, and they all have the support of relevant stakeholders.
Briefly, the bill cleans up the Sentencing Act so revocation of parole in relation to serving unexpired terms of imprisonment is the same if revoked by a court of parole board. Currently, if an offender on parole commits another offence, then the original term of imprisonment should be served along with any additional sentence imposed for the second offence. This is the case if the court revokes parole, but is not the case if the parole board does. The intention is if you commit an offence while on parole the original sentence be served, and this amendment ensure this occurs. Similar amendments have been made to the Youth Justice Act in this bill so the same principle applies.
This bill also responds to concerns NAAJA raised about a section of the Sentencing Act in relation to the treatment of customary law being inconsistent with the Racial Discrimination Act. This is being amended so information relating to customary law or cultural practice can be considered by the court when sentencing, without restriction.
I take the opportunity to congratulate the government for so diligently considering the advice of NAAJA. I recommend they take the advice of NAAJA and CAALAS more seriously in other areas of legislation. We recently saw the Minister for Health attack CAALAS in relation to mandatory treatment legislation when all that had happened was exactly what CAALAS and other legal bodies had predicted. It was an extraordinary outburst over an issue that could have been completely avoided if the minister had listened to CAALAS in the first place. In relation to this bill, it is good the government has acted on advice from NAAJA.
At the request of former Chief Magistrate now judge, Jenny Blokland, amendments are made within this bill to ensure indictable offences can be considered by the Supreme Court when higher charges are being heard. The request follows the inability of the Supreme Court to consider a domestic violence order breach in sentencing, given it had not yet been finalised by the Magistrates Court. The amendment means the Supreme Court can take into account summary charges when sentencing.
Some amendments were circulated by the minister last night which are, essentially, minor in nature and do not change the substance of the legislation.
Mr Deputy Speaker, we support the bill and the amendments.
Mr WOOD (Nelson): Mr Deputy Speaker, the crossbenches also support this legislation. There are, obviously, some very important changes …
Mr Elferink: You are not cross, you are very polite.
Mr WOOD: That is right, I am. I am a polite crossbencher. Thank you, minister.
In relation to what is before us, I thank the department for giving me a briefing. One of the areas I had problems understanding was the requirement to serve an unexpired term of imprisonment upon being sentenced to imprisonment for a new offence – how that change made any sense. I hope you do not mind me reading part of the e-mail I received from the department. If anyone else is trying to work out how it operates they may be able to take some advice from your department and it …
Mr Elferink: I don’t mind, I welcome it.
Mr WOOD: The department has sent me an example which, as it says, demonstrates the difference between the current operation of the section and the intended effect of the amendment:
Even though it is complicated I got the gist and understand what the changes are ...
Mr Elferink: In other words, commit the crime do the time.
Mr WOOD: Yes, that is right. I would like to thank the department for the briefing and the good explanation of something that is not so easy to understand. I support those changes.
Clause 104A is a bit of a change. People say we should have special laws for Aboriginal people. In this case Aboriginal Legal Aid is saying we should not, this should apply to all of us. That is very good because the law should be applied equally and I support that.
In relation to the Supreme Court being able to take into account summary offences, it does not mean they have to take into account all summary offences but they can, especially where it means a more efficient judicial system, makes sense, probably saves a bit of money and stops people’s time being wasted going to and from different courts. That is a good amendment as well.
Again, I learn a little more every time I go to a briefing with your departments, minister. If I ever retire from this can I say I have some experience with prior learning …
Mr Elferink: I reckon you get half a law degree.
Mr WOOD: I thank the minister for the amendments brought before the House. I support them and appreciate the briefing from the department.
Mr ELFERINK (Attorney-General and Justice): Mr Deputy Speaker, I wish to place on the record my thanks to honourable members for their support of this legislative instrument. It is a bit of an omnibus bill, because it ranges far and wide and, as indicated by the shadow Attorney-General, there are a number of minor amendments which do not have any effect on the intent of the bill. It is tidying up a few glitches in the system, as we know happens from time to time. Legislation is a complex animal. I often think to myself, as I watch the drafters of these instruments beaver away in the work they do, they are an amazing brand of lawyer. There is an art form and skill in legislation and, whilst it is not exciting to look at, it is the equivalent of an intellectual Cirque du Soleil act when you watch them reel out their expertise.
From time to time there is a glitch and today is glitch day. I realise all members acknowledge this and we need to tidy up those little glitches, which we will do later.
The legislation is there to do five things. Some of them are very small and others are of a more substantive nature. It would serve me well to quickly go through them again.
Section 64 of the Sentencing Act is being changed to ensure every parolee is required to serve the unexpired term of imprisonment upon sentencing for a new offence, whether the parole has been revoked by a court or a parole board.
As I interjected with the member for Nelson, this is very much a case of commit the crime do the time. The accumulation or concurrent passage of time for offences which are fundamentally separate and different to each other confronts the notion the average Territorian would have of how sentencing and parole matters are dealt with by a court of law and the parole board.
There should be no reward or remission for further offending, nor any gift given to an offender for further offending when, if they are back before the courts and been found guilty of offences, they have not learnt the lesson from the previous time round. If their parole has been revoked, they should dispose of the sentences accumulatively, which is the thrust of the amendment today.
I will briefly skip over section 131 of the Youth Justice Act. It has the effect of mirroring the amendments to section 64; however, with application to youth offenders. Proposed section 104A of the Sentencing Act teases, if you like, a potential discrepancy with the Commonwealth Racial Discrimination Act 1975.
Perish the thought we would have in our statute book a legislative instrument which is at odds with the Commonwealth statute book, and we would not seek to do so. The Rights of the Terminally Ill Act still sits on our statute book as an effectively defunct legislative instrument.
Section 109 of the constitution deals with inconsistencies between state jurisdictions but probably does not apply in the Northern Territory. I understand it does in the ACT in the way the self-government act is constructed, but in the Northern Territory section 109 probably does not apply, which leaves us floating in the sea a bit.
There has even been some professorial consideration of the application of the doctrine of repugnancy I think it is called from way back, which has a somewhat different effect to the effect of the section 109 inconsistency in the constitution. The section 109 inconsistency in the constitution says the state act is defeated only to the extent of the inconsistency with federal legislation. The doctrine of repugnancy, of course, invites a much more substantial outcome. One would suggest, in the instance where the Rights of the Terminally Ill Act was to be restored by repeal of the amendment to the Commonwealth territories act, some would argue we would have the effect of restoring the Rights of the Terminally Ill Act. That is probably unlikely. The doctrine of repugnancy will have determined that the Rights of the Terminally Ill Act is probably repealed, and if a court was ever asked to determine that, it is possible it would go in that fashion.
I digress, being excited into comment by the amendments I am referring to in relation to a possible inconsistency with the Racial Discrimination Act. Frankly, I do not want to be the Attorney-General who tests the rigour of the arrangements of Northern Territory legislation when inconsistencies exist with Commonwealth legislation. Consequently, rather than have the fight, let us do something smarter, particularly in this instance and focus on the nature of these particular amendments.
We apply the law to all Territorians equally, and so we should. I, as Attorney-General and a true liberal, confess that when we separate people out by classifications – we do it in so many ways, football teams at the lower end of the scale, bikie gangs, genders, sexuality, race, religion – as a true liberal of a John Stuart Mill variety, I believe that as far as we possibly can, despite the good intentions of those people who seek to classify people by groups, we should live in a society where the individual is respected and regarded as someone to be protected.
Alleviating the inconsistency with the Racial Discrimination Act sits comfortably with my personal political prejudices and biases. I believe the individual should be measured and tested on who they are not what gender they are, what god they believe in, what race they belong to, or for that matter, necessarily what football team they play for.
I also draw members’ attention to possibly the most important amendment to this legislative instrument, the functionality of our courts system. This is the amendment to the Sentencing Act to enable the Supreme Court to take into account summary offences when sentencing an offender on indictment. What can you say about that other than duh? It could not be a more commonsense amendment in procedure. The idea of having matters remitted back to lower courts, when they essentially arise from the same facts as the indictable offences because the Supreme Court cannot dispose of those summary offences, strikes me as a superfluous exercise and, ultimately, a waste of time. One could well imagine the confusion of an accused person going through the court system, having matters dealt with arising from the same facts, finding themselves sitting in the Supreme Court and having the indictable offences disposed of only to have to deal with the summary offences in another place or by another means. Common sense would dictate that would be the case. However, it is not inconceivable that matters could be, for whatever reason, remitted to a lower court. Why? There is no reason to do it. I am sure if a judge sits on the bench of the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory, they are more than capable of dealing with an objectionable word charge or a driving offence when disposing of other matters. That pretty much is it.
Clauses 388, 389, 390 and 391 are inserted into the Criminal Code Act to allow the Supreme Court to finalise and dispose of those charges on indictment which I just referred to. That is, essentially, what the amendments to section 107 of the Sentencing Act means.
As a consequence, there is little more I have to add to the debate today. Of course, I need to take this matter into the committee stage so we can dispose of these minor amendments on the floor of the House. I look forward to getting through the committee stage, hopefully before lunch, which would enable us to get on to other business of the House.
Motion agreed to; bill read a second time.
In committee:
Clauses 1 to 5, by leave, taken together and agreed to.
Clause 6:
Mr ELFERINK: Mr Chairman, I move amendment 17.1 that the heading to clause 6 of the Justice and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2014 be amended so the reference to Division 5 is omitted and replaced with a reference to Division 8. This technical amendment is necessary as new Divisions 5 to 7 of Part XI are to be inserted into the Criminal Code Act by a number of other recent acts which are yet to commence.
Amendment agreed to.
Mr ELFERINK: Mr Chairman, I move amendment 17.2, so clause 6 of the Justice and Other Legislative Amendment Bill 2014 be amended so the reference to section 447 is omitted and replaced with numerals after section 450. This technical amendment is necessary as a number of other recent acts, which are yet to commence, insert provisions after section 447, namely, new sections 448, 449 and 450.
Amendment agreed to.
Mr ELFERINK: Mr Chair, I move amendment 17.3 to allow the proposed heading to be inserted by clause 6 of the Justice and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2014 be amended so the reference to Division 5 is omitted and replaced with a reference to Division 8. This technical amendment is necessary as new Divisions 5, 6 and 7 of Part XI are to be inserted into the Criminal Code Act by a number of other recent acts which are yet to commence. I am sure honourable members would accept those types of errors need to be corrected and we would not anticipate, necessarily, leaving errors of this nature in a legislative instrument.
Amendment agreed to.
Mr ELFERINK: Mr Chair, I move amendment 17.4 to allow proposed section 448 to be inserted by clause 6 of the Justice and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2014 – be amended so section 448 is omitted and replaced with section 451. This is a technical amendment and is necessary as new sections 448 to 450 are to be inserted into the Criminal Code Act by a number of other recent acts which have yet to commence.
Amendment agreed to.
Clause 6, as amended, agreed to.
Remainder of bill taken as a whole and agreed to.
Bill reported; report adopted.
Mr ELFERINK (Attorney-General and Justice): Madam Speaker, I move that the bill be now read a third time.
Motion agreed to; bill read a third time.
MINISTERIAL STATEMENT
Building the Contribution of Parks and Wildlife to the Territory
Mrs PRICE (Parks and Wildlife): Madam Speaker, our Territory has a unique and diverse network of 87 parks and reserves stretching from the waterfalls of the lush wet tropical north through to the ochre sands of one of the driest places on Earth, the Red Centre.
Our parks and reserves include some of our iconic and well-loved places such as Garig Gunak Barlu (Cobourg), Litchfield, Nitmiluk, West MacDonnell and Watarrka National Parks. Within our parks, visitors can find a variety of scenery, wildlife and experiences attracting those who enjoy a diverse range of activities such as camping, swimming, hiking, bush art, photography, fishing and the list goes on.
Our parks are not only places for recreation and conservation, but collectively play a significant role in contributing to the Territory’s economy through the generation of tourism, associated businesses and employment. Many of the parks and reserves contain unrealised and untapped tourism opportunities. These can include sustainable products and activities like tours, accommodation or trails for visitors to experience unique nature and culture found in our parks and reserves.
Tour operators play a key role in ecotourism experiences and rely on infrastructure and facilities developed and maintained by the Northern Territory government. Under Labor, there was little opportunity for private sector investment in our parks and reserves leading to rundown, tired infrastructure in our parks. This will change. Our parks and reserves are now open for business, with greater opportunities for private, public and traditional owner partnerships. These partnerships will lead to local jobs and better infrastructure, leading to an enhanced tourism experience feeding into the Territory’s Tourism Vision 2020 strategy.
The unique and spectacular landscapes, ranges, gorges, waterholes, wildlife and cultural sites of the Territory’s national parks and reserves are the main reason many people visit the Territory. In additional to the world heritage parks of Uluru and Kakadu, national parks such as Watarrka, Finke Gorge, the West MacDonnell, Nitmiluk, Litchfield, Judbarra, Mary River and Garig Gunak Barlu (Cobourg) have iconic standing on the national and international tourism stage.
Parks are a cornerstone of the Territory’s tourism product. Tourism Vision 2020 recognises the major contribution of our parks, reserves and wildlife to the tourism economy and plans to start growing the NT tourism sector. The strategy was developed in consultation, and will be implemented in partnership, with industry. The strategy’s target is to grow the visitor economy in the Northern Territory to $2.2bn by 2020. Nature-based tourism generated more than $4m in revenue in 2012 in Australia, with 61% of inbound visitors choosing nature-based activities as the primary purpose of their visit. National research shows visitors are more likely to participate in nature-based tourism activities in the Northern Territory than anywhere else in Australia.
Research commissioned by the Sustainable Tourism Cooperative Research Centre in 2010 estimated visitation to our parks and reserves, including Uluru, Kata-Tjuta and Kakadu National Parks, which are managed by Parks Australia, supported $1.2bn in direct value to the economy with an estimated 2597 direct jobs and 1963 indirect jobs.
The popularity of our parks and reserves is clear, with over three million annual visits last year. These visitors either fly or drive from the Territory, interstate or overseas. They enjoy the parks’ magnificent bushwalks and they ride, swim, fish, hunt, four-wheel-drive and glamp. They snack, dine and luxuriate in our best hotels, pouring money into our economy every day supporting our Territory businesses. The ‘Do the Territory’ tourism marketing line also extends to our parks.
Our Parks and Wildlife Commission is working closely with Tourism NT, industry, Indigenous joint management partners and land councils to get rid of Labor’s legacy message that our parks and reserves are closed for business. Our parks and reserves are open for business.
As many of our parks and reserves are located remotely, they provide much-needed employment to local people, especially Indigenous people, whose knowledge and ability to care for their country is critical for the long-term care of the land.
I am proud to announce that over the past six months, the Parks and Wildlife Commission of the Northern Territory has developed an Indigenous employment strategy for its staff. A key initiative of this strategy is continued progression of Indigenous staff, with a view to achieving proportional representation of Indigenous employees across all levels and streams within the organisation.
While the strategy has identified a number of aims, there are four significant commitments I would like to highlight:
1. progression towards a 10-year goal of reaching and maintaining 30% Indigenous employment across the commission, reflecting a cultural diversity within the Northern Territory community
3. providing opportunities for training, capacity building and professional development to work towards proportional representation of Indigenous people across all levels within the commission
4. a commitment to provide trainees, apprentices and cadets with full-time employment following successful completion of their training.
As well as our staff, parks and reserves infrastructure is a critical issue for the ongoing capability of our parks to cope with growing tourism demand. An issue identified by Tourism Vision 2020 was the lack of a clear plan for tourism development for parks.
In partnership with Tourism NT, the Department of Business and other stakeholders the Parks and Wildlife Commission has prepared the NT Parks Tourism and Recreation Masterplan. This visionary plan provides the blueprint to unlock the tourism potential of our most prized natural and cultural assets in ways that enhance the range and richness of visitor experiences and encourage business investment. At the same time, the value of these assets will be protected and enhanced.
The master plan guides resource allocation towards identified tourism opportunities across our parks and reserves over the next 10 years. There are huge possibilities which range from low key, ‘pop-up’ concessions selling coffee at visitor hot spots to sophisticated eco-accommodation and niche adventure experiences using private or public infrastructure. For example zip lines, which for the benefit of members, is another term for flying fox.
I want to reassure all Territorians all developments will be done in a way that carefully manages the balance between protecting our cultural and environmental assets while harnessing and stimulating private investment opportunities.
This is nothing new; many of our parks and reserves already provide the basis for many significant major commercial enterprises. These include Kings Canyon Resort in Watarrka National Park, the Jawoyn enterprises including the Cicada Lodge at Nitmiluk National Park, and the Wildman River Wilderness Lodge near Mary River National Park.
The NT Parks Tourism and Recreation Masterplan will build on the already impressive business investments and business opportunities in parks. For example, Alice Springs is fast becoming a major mountain-biking destination. My department is developing a mountain bike track network at the Alice Springs Telegraph Station and new concessions to manage the Telegraph Station’s historic precinct and the shop with a grant to Clarke and Justine Petrick of Outback Cycling, who will also use the Telegraph Station as a base for bike hire and tours.
Talking about trails, last year rights to exclusive use eco-camps along the Larapinta Trail in the West MacDonnell National Park were issued to World Expeditions. This internationally renowned company will expose amazing Central Australian trails which traverse some of the oldest geographies on the planet to a huge, worldwide audience. World Expeditions will also give back to the community, including offering places for local Aboriginal guides on their tours, providing local jobs for local people for the local economy in Alice Springs. World Expeditions’ success is also attracting other companies to provide similar services on the trail. Watch this space.
Not only is the Centre is looking up, the positive glow extends to the Top End as well. In May last year, the Wangi centre opened in Litchfield National Park boasting both a caf and arts and cultural centre. Looking around other developments across the Top End, the new Munbililla Campground in the Limmen National Park will soon be under private management, providing another boost to jobs for the local economy.
As well, in my electorate of Stuart, the visitor services at Leliyn – Edith Falls – in Nitmiluk National Park will soon be under private management. These are more great examples of how our parks and reserves generate business and local employment for Territorians.
There are currently 45 concessions operating on parks and reserves. These businesses also operate out of the Territory Wildlife Park, Alice Springs Desert Park, George Brown Darwin Botanic Gardens, and Window on the Wetlands interpretive centre. As well, there are currently 121 registered tour operators taking visitors to our parks and reserves across the Territory.
However, it is not only direct opportunities that our parks and reserves provide, there are indirect benefits. Conferences, concerts and festivals are also good for business. The recent Mbantua Festival at the Alice Springs Telegraph Station Historical Reserve was enjoyed by thousands. This festival has many benefits for the Alice Springs community, including social and economic.
The Parks Tourism and Recreation Masterplan will also look at increasing the value of parks and reserves as venues for events. Darwin Botanic Gardens last year played host to 77 events including the Darwin Festival, Tropical Garden Spectacular, Tracks Dance Company, the Teddy Bears Picnic and the Wine Tasting Festival. There will be more such events in our parks and reserves which will encourage more visits, more local jobs and a much-needed boost for our local economy.
It is not only the land that can provide opportunities. The resources generated within our parks and reserves also provide worldwide business opportunities …
Madam SPEAKER: Minister, would you like to pause for the lunch suspension. We will resume after 2 pm.
Debate suspended.
Continued from earlier this day.
Mrs PRICE (Parks and Wildlife): Madam Speaker, before lunch I stated there will be more events in our parks and reserves to encourage more visits, more local jobs and a much-needed boost for our local economy, but it is not only the land that can provide opportunities. The resources generated within our parks and reserves also provide worldwide business opportunities.
The Parks and Wildlife Commission manage the sustainable use of wildlife in parks. Crocodile egg collection on and off parks generates income for the Territory, for business and traditional owners. The NT crocodile industry is worth $25m a year and returns more than $1m every year to Indigenous landowners. The potential for increasing commercial yields from sustainable use of wildlife, including crocodiles and harvest of native plant materials, is also on my agenda. Hunting is an increasingly popular pursuit supported by Top End parks and reserves such as Howard Springs and Harrison Dam.
Last year the Parks and Wildlife Commission granted more than 2000 waterfowl hunting permits generating over $40 000 to be used in our parks. A total of 280 permits were issued to people from interstate who create economic benefits through their travel and associated tourism, accommodation and dining. One study found the harvest of magpie geese may contribute as much as $1.2m per year to the Northern Territory economy. I have also asked the commission to identify new areas for hunters for next season. New hunting areas and an increasing number of hunters will benefit Territory businesses.
The flow-on effects are significant as hunters contribute to the economy buying guns, ammunition, clothing, refrigeration, fuel and vehicle costs. These hunting dollars are welcome in the Northern Territory. I want to send the message to hunters across Australia that we are open for business in a safe, sustainable and sensitive way. Come and hunt the NT!
It is not only hunters; I am working with AFANT to develop a sustainable and sensitive way to open more areas for recreational fishing in our parks and reserves. A strong focus of any model has to be how it can provide local jobs and business opportunities.
Our national parks and reserves have always been important to the tourism economy. However, with its renewed focus and close collaboration with Tourism NT and the Department of Business, the commission will further grow this benefit to the tourism economy. Our parks and reserves are definitely open for business.
There is so much untapped potential in our parks this government has to explore. There are big ideas, a bold vision and a commitment to making our parks and reserves the jewel in the crown. To do this we need to explore areas that have previously been off limits under the old guard. We now have the passion and commitment to make it happen. We have a strong and powerful brand in the Parks and Wildlife Commission that works hand-in-hand with the new Tourism NT marketing strategy.
The attraction of our crocodiles is internationally known. They generate significant amounts of revenue from tourism and their products. There are private operations which run jumping crocodile tours, but what about taking it a step further? I know there is a huge market for people to have a close up experience with our crocs – an interactive and memorial experience in a safe, controlled environment. I am looking at exploring an idea that private operators could offer individual or small group tours to tag along with the Parks team capturing crocodiles or getting them out of traps – the experience of being a park ranger for a few hours; that would work!
Over 200 crocs are now removed across Darwin Harbour alone. This provides a unique and interesting opportunity to tour operators and I look forward to working with interested operators on yet more ways to attract visitors to the Territory.
It is not only crocs capturing the attention. I would like to see turtle tours expanded across our coast where people can help and watch the release of baby turtles in a sensitive and sustainable way.
I was blessed to participate in a release recently, and it was truly a life-changing moment watching the baby turtles struggle up through the sand after being buried as an egg by their mother 45 days before. They are strugglers; they make a long dash from their nest above the high tide line all the way to the water’s edge, avoiding predators on the way. If they survive, females will return to the same beach to lay their own eggs when they are 20 years old.
There are a number of locations across the Top End coast where this occurs, including our own Garig Gunak Barlu National Park, Lee Point, Gunn Point and Casuarina coastal reserve. I am keen to look to the private sector and work with them to deliver a sustainable and sensitive product. I believe these tours will be a huge hit with international visitors.
There are countless other opportunities waiting for a progressive and focused government that can make these opportunities a reality. Government cannot do it alone, and this year we will be seeking expressions of interest to attract private sector interest in developing products, experiences or activities which are in the public interest, environmentally sustainable and preserve the land’s natural and cultural assets. This process will be open to suitably experienced and resourced individuals or organisations which identify an opportunity in any location within the park’s estate.
This will test the market for innovative ideas for investment in parks and will ensure the process is not restricted by government. Places like the Territory Wildlife Park could use a hand from the private sector. Nearly 56 000 people visit the park each year creating $1.2m in revenue for the park through ticket sales, events and the gift shop. Why can we not have the Australia zoo in the Top End? That would be fantastic. That could only be done in partnership with the private sector. To achieve it, I am looking at changing the status of the park to a zoo-based conservation organisation.
This means refocusing the park’s business to concentrate on broader conservation outcomes, in particular, in the long-term security of populations of species and natural habitats. This shift in focus helps attract investment by promoting conservation on a bigger scale, which is aligned to the parks core business. We would be looking at developing a number of innovative, commercial products to keep the park current, relevant and sustainable well into the future.
Any proposal could look at accommodation on-site, a conference venue, weddings, tour links with the CBD by ferry accessing the harbour, local helicopter tours, new exhibits and more local animals. The ideas are endless.
I want to invigorate the Alice Springs Desert Park as well, not only to link it back with the local community and Territorians, but to promote it across the world for its unique experience. Its location alone is magnificent, nestled in the world-renowned MacDonnell Ranges, where the earth’s crust bursts out in ochre colours. It is so beautiful any time of the evening.
The Alice Springs Desert Park offers so many opportunities: on-site accommodation; a wedding and conference venue; more exhibits of native Central Australian animals; great use of technology; and the possibility of a world-class restaurant that could overlook the nocturnal activities of the park’s inhabitants. I say it is the best place to have wedding receptions, because my daughter had a wedding reception at Alice Springs Desert Park. It was a great venue.
As I tour our parks and reserves, I am so impressed by the enthusiasm and excitement evident in our parks staff. They are all happy that the Parks and Wildlife Commission has entered a new era under the Giles government. Staff are responding to the strong vision of connecting all people with the Territory’s unique nature and culture. This vision is embodied in the commission’s three-year strategic plan. This plan will be achieved by delivering high-quality and sustainable environmental, cultural and visitor outcomes for Northern Territory parks, reserves and wildlife.
The commission will strengthen local communities and economies by recognising that environmental and cultural resources are vital to delivering positive social, sustainable and economic outcomes. As can be seen from this statement, I am committed to pushing our parks and reserves onto the world stage, giving more back to Territorians, bringing more visitors, generating more jobs and more investment opportunities, and boosting our economy. It is a big task, but we have already started. I am looking forward to updating Territorians and this House on the exciting developments as they happen.
As my colleague, the Minister for Tourism says, ‘Do the NT’. I would like to add to that and say to all Territorians and everyone across the world, ‘Do the NT parks and reserves’.
I move that the Assembly takes note of this statement.
Ms WALKER (Nhulunbuy): Madam Speaker, I thank the minister for bringing this statement before the House. I read it with much interest when it was circulated last night. A number of things about the minister’s statement stood out for me. As we all know, we have a very unique and diverse network of parks across the Northern Territory which make an incredibly important contribution to our economy not just in generating tourism numbers, but they are of important culture, conservation and heritage value as well.
Within the minister’s statement she says under Labor parks, and especially infrastructure, had become tired and run down. I hear, yet again, the catchcry which comes up in every ministerial statement and every opportunity for debate from the CLP government – it is now open for business – and this also extends to the Territory’s network of parks. The minister highlights the new NT Parks Tourism and Recreation Masterplan which will complement the Tourism Vision 2020 strategy, a plan the CLP government has for development, and it is a most interesting document. I read it with great interest, and look forward to seeing the final paper beyond the draft we now have.
Timing wise, because I was not in Darwin or Alice Springs when consultations were held, I was unable to attend a consultation. Perhaps the government needs to consider those of us who live in the northeast Arnhem region in Nhulunbuy, which – while it will change at the end of the year – is the fourth largest town in the Northern Territory. We may not have a park, per se, in our region, but we are greatly interested. When I say ‘we’ I mean the large Indigenous population for who caring for land and sea country is very close to their hearts. I would be grateful if the CLP government could give more thought to including those of us in northeast Arnhem Land in their consultation schedule.
With regard to feedback from the consultation sessions, a member of the Leader of the Opposition’s office attended and provided feedback to me, and I understand they were very valuable sessions.
There is a very strong message in the minister’s statement, perhaps, I fear, at the expense of other messages I might have thought important in this portfolio for Parks and Wildlife. It is about the fact the minister will be seeking expressions of interest for new commercial opportunities in our parks. She acknowledged, quite rightly, developments like Cicada Lodge at Nitmiluk and the importance of partnerships with tour operators – not just in Nitmiluk but in other parks – to safely promote and encourage visitors whilst managing these parks.
She also talked about remote Indigenous business and employment opportunities, which was interesting to hear. It is not the first time we have heard about it. This was mooted in January I think. The minister did not do the media interview but, rather, the Chief Minister leapt into that space on 31January. I am looking at the transcript when the Chief Minister phoned ABC to offer a few comments about plans to develop the Territory Wildlife Park and/or the Alice Springs Desert Park. In her statement she said they will reinvigorate the Desert Park in Alice. That is something the Chief Minister was talking about on Alice Springs radio on 31 January. However, there is no detail on that. No doubt that will come through when the final master plan is released to Territorians.
The minister talked about the role of Parks and Wildlife in crocodile management and the sustainable use of wildlife. She talked about the harvesting of crocodile eggs. It is a very important industry in the Northern Territory and an important source of employment. I note that last year’s Rural Woman of the Year was Giovanna Webb from the Northern Territory, an expert on crocodiles who is doing much work in the area of creating sustainable employment, building an understanding of crocodiles and doing great work in Maningrida. I saw on her Facebook page recently that she is travelling to Nhulunbuy this week. Perhaps she is talking with Gumatj about crocodiles, perhaps she is there for a holiday, I am not sure. I take my hat off to her and the amazing work she does around crocodiles, educating others about crocodiles and their habitats and generating employment for Indigenous women in the business of crocodiles and hatchlings.
I note the minister wants to push our parks and reserves onto the world stage. I am sure the Territory would welcome that, not only for the economic value but for the rich cultural and historic value and to demonstrate we have something unique in the Northern Territory that is worth promoting and, at the same time, worth preserving and managing carefully – the cultural and historic elements of those parks.
I am the opposition member responsible for this important portfolio. I have had that responsibility for a few months. I acknowledge the work the member for Nightcliff did as former shadow. I have read with great interest the Parks and Wildlife’s guide to the parks and reserves in the Northern Territory. It is a little difficult, being isolated in Nhulunbuy, particularly during the Wet Season, but this will be my guide and my bible during the time I have responsibility for this portfolio to make my way around to these parks to see, firsthand, what is happening, what the park rangers think about what is happening on their turf and, no doubt, talk to many visitors along the way. That is the opportunity the member for Nightcliff took during the Dry Season last year when she headed off on the road for a camping trip with her family for a couple of weeks visiting as many parks as she possibly could. I will endeavour to do something similar.
This is the first substantive statement we have had from the minister. It is good to hear from her. I hope we hear more from her, not only in this portfolio of Parks and Wildlife, but those other areas for which she has responsibility. I have a particular interest not only in Parks and Wildlife, but in Community Services and homelands, so I look forward to the next statement the minister might turn her thoughts to.
With Parks and Wildlife she has an enviable job, and the Northern Territory can rightly be proud of its parks estate. We live in a wonderful landscape and have some truly inspiring national parks and reserves. I have an enviable job, being shadow minister in this area of responsibility, and I look forward to getting around to as many parks and reserves in the Northern Territory as I can. However, my job would be made much easier if I could access a briefing through the minister’s office.
I first wrote to the minister’s office on 24 January requesting a briefing, and basically since then an e-mail trail has followed. I try to give adequate notice to minister’s offices, because I am not Darwin based, to let people know when I am coming in, particularly around sittings and available for briefings. There is a gap in the communication chain, regrettably, in the minister’s office. I am aware the CEO of Parks and Wildlife is located in Alice Springs, so I appreciate he would need to be in Darwin at the same time I am. Hopefully, we can line that up. I reminded the minister’s office on 10 March that I was seeking a briefing and would be here for two weeks of sittings. To date, I have not had a response to that request. It would help me do my job if I was able to receive a briefing.
I take my hat off to the member for Port Darwin, who has been one of the more proactive ministers in accommodating those of us seeking briefings.
It is important to remember the whole point of national parks is they pass from one generation to another in as good a state as possible for their continued use and enjoyment. A vital principle we need to keep in mind is what our parks are there for. We must never lose sight of why they became a park, or a reserve, including their cultural values to traditional owners. While there are no parks in my electorate, which sits entirely on Aboriginal Land Trust, I have lived there long enough to understand and appreciate the intrinsic connection to land and sea country the Yolngu people of my electorate have.
The challenge for the minister is not just to be a park visitor herself and use her role to promote the parks, but to immerse herself in the detail of what our park system seeks to achieve and support that work. I am sure in the time she has been in Cabinet she has been doing that, because she really needs to fully embrace the role of parks and reserves, be their champion and work in Cabinet to ensure the continued growth and appropriate development of our parks estate.
I have not been a member of Cabinet, but I understand Cabinet processes can be very competitive and every member around the Cabinet table wants to best represent the interests of the portfolio they have responsibility for. They are all-important and, at the same time, they want to represent the best interests of their constituency. I hope the member for Stuart is in there fighting hard for Parks and Wildlife to deliver the best results for the Parks and Wildlife Commission and all associated with it.
Labor is proud of its record in government supporting our Parks and Wildlife service, despite what the minister said in her statement about Labor’s record. In particular, we are especially proud of the steps we took early in our period of government, and in the face of opposition from the CLP, to broaden joint management opportunities in over 20 parks and secure the future of parks subject to legitimate land rights. I am talking about the Aboriginal Land Rights Act and, of course, native title claims.
The former Labor government worked hard to embrace joint management and see it not as some type of reluctant arrangement, but rather more the norm in our Territory approach to park management. The former Labor government understood – and continues to see the value-adding – that joint management can bring to the management of the Territory’s parks and reserves, the cultural overlay which enthrals our park visitors, as well as the Indigenous knowledge traditional owners can bring to Parks and Wildlife management.
A true expression of government and the local community working together on the management of our parks and reserves is in the best interests of all. However, the challenge – certainly the challenge this minister will find - is while Labor had been united on this point, seeing joint management as an opportunity, the CLP has always had its share of influential voices which actively decry joint management, whether they are opposed to Aboriginal land rights or see it as pandering to traditional owners and some kind of unnecessary encumbrance. I am interested to hear the minister’s views on this aspect of joint management, perhaps when she wraps up this debate or some other time.
I also note the work Labor did in government to make the long-awaited Limmen National Park a reality. At the same time, let us not forget the provision of development opportunity for iron ore mining in the same region. I see this as an important and good example of a Labor minister for Parks and Wildlife, the very active and passionate Karl Hampton, who worked with the whole of Cabinet to bring a long-awaited park to fruition while also accommodating important regional development opportunities. A very careful balance was achieved at the end of the day.
One of the new government’s first acts was to disallow plans of management for two of our parks, including the first joint management plan for the Mary River National Park. It was disappointing, most of all for the staff and stakeholders who worked so hard on those plans, to see them unravelled. We will wait to see what difference there will be in the new plans which are yet to be made public.
Another early decision of this government was to remove a hard-working senior ranger from the Parks and Wildlife Commission, and funding for the position, from Dhimurru Aboriginal Corporation. This is an issue close to my heart because this is part of my constituency. Dhimurru is an incredible organisation and a big employer of Indigenous people. It looks after and manages recreation areas across a sizeable IPA area. It also looks after sea country around that land and, for a number of years, has had in place a senior parks ranger funded position which worked closely with the Yolngu rangers in a role which spent a lot of time mentoring, supporting, training and developing Yolngu rangers.
I do not have in front of me the response I received from minister Conlan, who was responsible for Parks and Wildlife at the time, but they were not interested in maintaining that position. I daresay it was either a cost cutting or cost shifting measure, but it remains unresolved because there is issue around the fact it was a partnership agreement under section 73 of the Territory Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act. There was an agreement this position would be with Dhimurru, to support an ongoing arrangement and the training of Aboriginal rangers. I have not given up on it. I will continue to raise it in parliament and with the new minister. I know she recognises, as do a number of members from bush electorates, the importance of Indigenous employment.
While the mini-budget in December 2012 provided some funding to Parks and Wildlife for parks activities, the government also flagged there would be a review of the remote ranger stations and staffing in our remote parks. I will be interested to hear from the minister what plans there are and whether we might anticipate some cuts. We have heard nothing more of the review, and now would have been a good time to hear of the minister’s commitment to maintaining staff in remote parts of the Territory. Perhaps she might also comment on that when she wraps on this statement.
A telling test of the new minister’s effectiveness and the government’s commitment to our parks and reserves will be the upcoming budget for Parks and Wildlife. We will be listening and watching with great interest in the first week of May when the budget is handed down.
I am pleased to hear, as I said at the outset, that we might see the final draft of the NT Parks Tourism and Recreation Masterpan. It is good to see there has been some very thorough planning happening in that area. I know Parks staff and consultants, like long time tourism businessman, Rick Murray, have been working hard on this for some time. This work has also included two rounds of consultation sessions in major Territory centres but not in northeast Arnhem Land.
I will be interested to see how you consulted with landowners in the more remote parts of the Northern Territory, including the land councils, about your new plans for our parks and reserves, including the joint managed reserves.
Your statement speaks of exploring potential for new commercial developments in our parks and reserves. One thing I am conscious of is in the tourism world there is a constant need to refresh the product. Of course, government never has all the answers or good ideas, so it is good to see you are renewing the framework for working with the private sector on new ideas, exploring new opportunities for visitors to enjoy our parks and to keep attracting people to the Northern Territory.
It is important to stay mindful of the core values of our parks and why they were established in the first place, not just to allow ephemeral market forces to dictate and drive new developments. We must always be mindful of the core values for our parks and reserves having the status they do.
Of course, fashions change over time. Let us cherish and protect the values that led to the establishment of those parks in the first place. Poor planning and change for the worst can be difficult to remedy once the damage has been done, especially in a park setting. As I suggested before, we need new ideas, new projects and investments that are in harmony with the values and plans of management for each of our parks with a keen eye to appropriateness, sustainability, potential future liability of the taxpayer and, most importantly, how the development adds value to the park.
The community will want reassurance that appropriate attention is given to monitoring the impacts of change and there is an opportunity for adaptive management if problems should emerge. In this regard, I note regular industry and community concern continues about the management of the popular Buley Rockhole in Litchfield National Park at busy times of the year. Buley Rockhole is a great park asset many different users like to enjoy, but we regularly hear of overcrowding and car parking issues, as well as conflicts between different users at times when it is especially busy with peak numbers during the Dry Season.
While I am speaking of Litchfield, I note while the statement claims Labor ran down park infrastructure and claims the new Wangi Falls visitor centre at Litchfield is an achievement of the CLP, the development of facilities at Wangi was a Labor initiative. It was announced by Parks and Wildlife minister, Karl Hampton, on 9 November 2011, and all the planning started well before the CLP came into government.
I would also like to mention another initiative in the Ngukurr region, which the member for Arnhem represents. In July 2011 the Labor government invested $1.5m towards developing a new campground at Tomato Island, also known as Munbililla, on the Roper River. This is evidence of our commitment to providing campground facilities for locals and tourists, and for supporting local Indigenous economic development.
Nitmiluk National Park stands out as one place where the joint management board has embraced commercial development which complements the park, but at the same time provides new recreation and tourism opportunities, as well as economic development opportunities for traditional owners, including the exciting and beautiful new Cicada Lodge.
Another element of the Nitmiluk model is revenue from these commercial arrangements returns directly to the park. I hope the new minister can find ways to ensure any new income streams that might be generated out of the commercial opportunities she and her agency are currently exploring will directly benefit the parks, and it is not going into consolidated revenue to fund unfunded commitments in the bush at the next election.
I lived in Katherine many years ago and was a regular visitor to the gorge on kayaking and trekking trips when I was a bit younger and fitter. I had not been back there for some time until I went in July last year. I was stunned at the development of Nitmiluk National Park. It was first class. Regrettably, I did not have time to go kayaking or walking, let alone have the level of fitness to do it, so I treated my 13-year-old to a helicopter ride with me. It was a short trip up over the gorge. It was breathtaking. I commend the work the Jawoyn Association has done in partnership with government in promoting the facilities at Nitmiluk, showcasing the beautiful site and the cultural and heritage values for thousands of visitors who pass through every year.
I will be keen to see how the new NT Parks Tourism and Recreation Masterplan provides real opportunities for partnership with land owning traditional owners, and whether that be a business partnership, direct management of businesses or more employment opportunities for local people.
The minister mentioned a new Parks and Wildlife Indigenous employment strategy. I would also like to hear more of whether Parks and Wildlife and the Department of Business propose to provide support to the merging or fledgling Indigenous business enterprises, and progress in developing more contracts for park management work that would benefit local Indigenous workers in areas such as fire management, weed control, wildlife management, and other Parks and Wildlife management services.
In 2008 NRETAS – as the agency was then known – released its four-year priorities to guide the future direction of the agency and provide support to the Territory government’s then 2030 strategic plan, recognising NRETAS had a key role to play in closing the gap by setting an Indigenous employment target of 14% by the end of 2012. The figures I have reflect that, in June 2009, 8.2% of employees within NRETAS identified as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander. That had increased by January 2011 to 9.5% of NRETAS employees identified as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander. This compares to the 10-year goal of 30% Indigenous employment in the statement. It would be good to see, under the next strategic plan the minister puts out, how that Indigenous employment target is tracking and what things are in place to promote Indigenous employment not only in Parks and Wildlife, but across the Northern Territory public service.
I was pleased to see the minister’s statement referred to our urban parks as well, and how they contribute to their local communities and economies as venues for festivals and community events. We would all be pleased to see more of those opportunities. I am delighted the minister was able to attend the wedding of her daughter in a park. I could think of no better place to go than one of our beautiful parks or reserves in the Northern Territory for such a special event as a wedding.
While I am mentioning urban parks, I acknowledge the former Labor government established the Charles Darwin National Park in Darwin, and what a great asset that is, particularly as we see more urban infill development in that part of Darwin city.
The statement mentioned new ideas for the future of the Territory Wildlife Park and the Alice Springs Desert Park. I understand the need for refreshing tourism products, but these parks are still public assets and we need to ensure any new commercial arrangements do not see those assets lost to the public through any changing circumstances in the future.
In the statement there was much focus on parks being open for business and unlocking potential commercial opportunities at the risk of not talking about other things, so I was surprised to see little mention of the biodiversity and cultural values of our park estate in this first statement. It was really about maximising more commercial opportunities in our parks. I do not have an issue with that. Whilst I have not had a briefing to understand what those commercial opportunities might be, let us not lose sight of the importance of biodiversity and cultural values of our parks.
We should not forget that ensuring the careful stewardship of the biodiversity and cultural values of our parks and reserves is part of the core purpose of our park system and, in turn, a critical part of our national and international system of national parks and reserves. Parks and Wildlife in the Territory has historically had a great national reputation for the quality of its scientific staff working in the biodiversity area, and their work underpinning the day-to-day management work of rangers in our parks and reserves. In fact, it reminds me I have a book which I daresay is a collector’s item and would be out of publication now, but it was a joint venture by NT Parks and Wildlife and strong traditional owner Banduk Marika …
Mr ELFERINK: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Pursuant to Standing Order 77, I request an extension of time for the member to complete her remarks.
Motion agreed to.
Ms WALKER: Thank you Madam Speaker and member for Port Darwin. Forgive me, I lost track of the time. I have a brilliant book at home I will lend to people – very carefully – because if I do not get it back I will never see it; there is no replacing it. It documents the native vegetation in northeast Arnhem Land, the botanical names for plants alongside the Yolngu names, and also the medicinal and traditional purposes these plants might serve. It is a fascinating document and must have been done more than 20 years ago, definitely under the former CLP government, and it is a very important body of work …
Mr Wood: It is still around. I do not think you can buy it, but I have a copy.
Ms WALKER: I am pleased to hear that, member for Nelson.
Many people working in this area of scientific study are concerned the government moved the biodiversity scientists from the then NRETAS portfolio connected to their Parks colleagues to the Land Resource Management portfolio, a likely part of the move to push along the northern Australia development program. I would like assurances that move worked and has not in any way detracted from the important work they do, the relationship they have with Parks and Wildlife and the research into those areas, because it is important that work is also informed by good science. I hope the work Parks and Wildlife did and the focus on this core function of the parks estate is not in any way degraded over time by a lack of access to solid science because that would be a tragedy.
A case in point is the potential impact of Mataranka water allocations on parks and reserves in the Elsey region, including the famous springs. There is plenty of discussion about that in this parliament. In a similar vein, it is also true biodiversity conservation will never be entirely met just through the parks estates, but our parks estate is our safety net.
That is why, when Labor was in government, we supported Eco-Link and low cost efforts working in partnership with Indigenous landowners, NGOs and pastoralists to better manage land for biodiversity conservation along important wildlife corridors in the Northern Territory, connecting to a national system of such corridors, indeed, international connections for migratory species. That was another very worthy area of work which, unfortunately, has been dumped by the current government.
Eco-Link was one of the first initiatives the member for Namatjira took on and promoted in 2008, not long after the election, as Labor’s Environment minister. I think the first speech I made in this House after my maiden speech was in support of Eco-Link and the ministerial statement that came with it.
The minister also refers to crocodile management, and this is very important work for us all. I am sure the Northern Territory community is grateful for the skills and knowledge of the parks crocodile management teams, led by Tommy Nichols. I am not sure how he would feel about tourists paying to join him when trapping and removing dangerous problem crocs. However, if Parks and Wildlife staff are open to it as a commercial opportunity, let us see how it goes.
Crocodile management was also part of the contention I had with the cessation of a senior parks ranger based with Dhimurru because the individual looked after crocodile management programs, closely supported by the Dhimurru Yolngu rangers. However, should we have problem crocodiles around the northeast Arnhem Land region now, we need to contact Darwin and have a Parks team fly out to trap and relocate a problem crocodile. Fatal crocodile attacks occur, regrettably; it is part of the environment in the Northern Territory with crocodiles. I am mindful, in my electorate, that crocodile traps which were placed strategically around Nhulunbuy were removed some time ago because Dhimurru is no longer able to manage trapping and relocating crocodiles.
This is a very important area of work not just in northeast Arnhem Land, but crocodile management must continue to be funded at appropriate levels. This way, crocodile management plans are more than bits of paper, and we are actively managing problem crocodiles and quickly and professionally dealing with crocodile incidents. This includes providing adequate staff to ensure compliance with permits to allow the harvest of crocodiles from the wild.
I look forward to hearing more from the minister about the biodiversity conservation wildlife management work of Parks and Wildlife. I also note there is no mention in the statement of this government’s policy on resource extraction in our parks and reserves. I am mindful of objections last year to oil and gas exploration in Watarrka National Park and would like to hear from the minister on the issue.
The minister stepped out with her statement about Parks and Wildlife and appears to be slowly moving from a position of occasional media releases about the work of Parks and Wildlife staff to a more considered statement on the future of our parks. Well done minister, I congratulate you. Our parks and reserves are some of our most precious landscapes. As minister, you have an important responsibility to ensure your government supports the careful management and stewardship of this land often, and almost always, in company with traditional owners. I wish you well in your work and look forward to having more debate on this subject.
I also hope you can now take charge of your office and ensure I have access to timely briefings on Parks and Wildlife. I can then better contribute to debates and policy development in this Chamber and beyond.
Lastly, I wish to add thanks on behalf of my opposition colleagues, and on behalf of Territorians, to all the hard-working staff in Parks and Wildlife who have the important and demanding job of managing our parks and reserves and ensuring wildlife management to appropriate standards.
Thank you for bringing this statement before the House. I look forward to hearing the contribution of others.
Mr HIGGINS (Daly): Madam Speaker, I thank the minister for bringing this statement on today. Parks and Wildlife is one of the least contentious portfolios someone could have other than Tourism, but I could not find a better minister than the member for Stuart to look after the portfolio. I know she has a keen interest in it because on about 15 occasions she has visited these parks across the Territory, my wife and I have been left with dog minding duties for some of her staff. I am quite aware of the amount of travel she has been doing looking after this portfolio.
Being involved in tourism for the last 15 years, something that always amazed me was there was no plan connecting parks and tourism. I was glad to see, when the Tourism Vision 2020 came out, it clearly identified the role of parks in the Territory economy and tourism itself. I also look forward to the master plan that is coming out, and I agree with the member for Nhulunbuy in recognising Rick Murray. I have known Rick for many years and he is a very good person and quite capable of coming up with some very good ideas in this area.
One thing missing was while the minister spoke about infrastructure in parks, there is a major issue outside the parks and I will give a couple of examples. I have been pushing to ensure we complete the Litchfield loop road. It gives tourists a circle. They tend to come up – especially the grey nomads – turn off at the Kakadu Highway, go through Kakadu then come back. Some avoid Darwin but go through Berry Springs Wildlife Park, around through Litchfield and, hopefully, down to the Daly. Anyway, we can only try. That loop road is important infrastructure that needs completing. I know there are some problems with native title around the Finniss River area, but outside that there are no impediments.
The other example is access to Litchfield itself through Batchelor. There are some dangerous sections of road that need improvement, so I will be pushing our government to look at some of those.
Four-wheel-drive access through Surprise Creek from the Daly end seems to be closed for a longer period every year so we need to have a close look at that. The number of people four-wheel driving is increasing every year – more and more people come into our caravan park wanting to know what four-wheel driving they can do. While I am talking about Litchfield, I acknowledge the Wangi centre was probably a Labor government initiative, but the CLP set up Litchfield and Robin Falls. Some parks with a lot of potential have disappeared. At the Daly, for years – the member for Nelson would remember the crossing and the park there. A toilet block which has been locked up since the Katherine floods is still there.
That land was handed back to the Malak Malak people as part of a land claim. I am not speaking on behalf of them, but I am sure they would be interested in some assistance to develop that. Many Darwin people have used the crossing for somewhere to camp – fishermen and so forth. There is still a lot of potential for places like that to open up.
There is also Browns Creek. I know there has been a lot of damage done there and they were using that as a cheap camping area. I have raised these two issues with the minister saying we need to look at them.
The other issue with the Daly is if you go west of the Daly to Elizabeth Downs – the property, as well as the land trust land – a lot of the land and scenery is as good as Kakadu and is untouched. One of the requests I put to the minister was to see if we can look at some of those areas. One area to start with is around Peppimenarti and the floodplain to see if we can convert that into a park with more access for tourists. It would create jobs for local Indigenous people. We already spend a lot of money on caring for country and ranger programs. That is a key area with potential to develop our park holdings and is something we should push forward on.
Another matter is the Territory Wildlife Park. In the statement the minister spoke about extending the wildlife park into a zoo. Some people may remember when the wildlife park first opened and you could come in from the back – come across Darwin Harbour and enter that way. There is potential to link that with tourism, perhaps through SeaLink, to get people to come from this side of the harbour rather than having to drive around, and also building up tourism around the harbour then entering the wildlife park that way.
In the past, I have had a go at the member for Barkly about pig hunting. I was talking about rounding up pigs and plonking them somewhere. One thing many people are keen on doing at the moment is pig hunting. This could be expanded in the national parks. I am not saying we will round pigs up and put them in the gully, which is what I believe the member said. The context of his remark was there is potential for tourism and local employment. West of the Daly there is a huge number of pigs. We would have 30 or 40 come through our place every night during the Wet Season. There is great potential for a tourism business, as well as assisting the park.
Many people ask, ‘Why not get private people to shoot all the feral animals?’ and clear it that way. People need to realise that, for people who do the culling, it is in their interest not to cull many otherwise they are doing themselves out of a job. We need to bear that in mind when we consider who will do any culling for us.
I was also interested in the crocodile experience and getting them out of traps. Years ago at the Daly we would do cherubim traps. When we did them at night we found you could quite easily pick up a baby crocodile. We found many people wanted to have that experience so we went to Parks and Wildlife and got a permit called ‘Permit to Interfere with Wildlife’ to catch freshwater crocodiles at night time. There were time limits on it, and we had to do a report back to Parks and Wildlife on how many died while in our possession and how many people we took out etcetera.
It is a matter of trying to find someone to do that. My son was doing it at the time, and I have not been able to find a replacement for him. I believe it was when Tommy lost part of his hand that my son decided he would not do it anymore.
The number of people who were interested in that was amazing. We could have filled 20 boats a night with tourists. I believe there is great of deal potential, and the minister mentioned that in her speech.
The other issue was the use of parks for groups like the ones I picked up with, Tracks Dance group. I know David McMicken, from that group, quite well. It does a lot of work at Lajamanu as well. It reminded me that the Darwin Symphony Orchestra, for three or four years in a row, played at the Daly. There were 2000 or 3000 people who attended that concert. Now it is moved around every year and they have not been back to the Daly. It was a fantastic spot to have it. There are many other fantastic spots around the Territory where an orchestra can hold similar events. We have a lot of potential and it is a great way of promoting our parks.
Yes, we could open up more areas in our national parks to fishing, but I am also very aware of the impact that can have. There are many areas around the Territory where we have to be careful in putting in bag limits and catch limits. While I support opening up more areas for fishermen and relieving some of the pressure on the Daly, it is something we have to be cognisant of.
I agree with the Territory saying parks are open for business. Over the last 10 years there has been a decline in the maintenance of our parks, for whatever reason, which has led to early closures. Having them open for business and linking them clearly with tourism is very good.
The vision itself will give tourism a boost. Tourism, as you would have heard on the radio over the last few days, has been a bit flat but a boost is expected. I was listening to Mark Crummy, who used to be in partnership with Rick Murray and now works for the Tourist Commission, saying early indications are there is a boost in tourism this year. We hope so.
The Indigenous employment option – I mentioned three things there. I have mentioned the Daly River Crossing, Browns Creek and west of Peppi to set up national parks. There is potential to create Indigenous employment, and I am sure in everyone’s electorate they will find similar stories or areas where people would be interested in looking.
I am looking forward to the master plan, and I thank the minister for bringing the statement to the House.
Mr WOOD (Nelson): Madam Speaker, I pick up on some of the comments from the member for Daly. I started to get a little homesick when you spoke about the Daly. You left out Mt Nancar, which is one of those isolated parks needing some development or access for people to get there. You said it is probably one of the easier portfolios.
I was looking at some history and went back to 26 November 2003, when we debated the Parks and Reserves (Framework for the Future) Bill. The minister has said in previous speeches how great it is we have joint management. It would be worth reading that debate, minister, because at that time the CLP did not support joint management. At times it was a very acrimonious debate. I believe joint management is the way to go because of the opportunities it creates, especially for local people, but it has not always been plain sailing. Hopefully, things have settled down now and a lot can be done to improve our parks.
Minister, your statement is titled ‘Building the Contribution of Parks and Wildlife to the Territory’. What contribution? I am not being facetious. There is a contribution to the economy, which includes employment, and a contribution to biodiversity which, unfortunately, is not mentioned in this document at all. I have a great concern about where this government puts biodiversity, where it relates in importance in preserving our natural environment, and placing it with the minister for Primary Industry and mining – I am wondering whether, to some extent, there is a conflict of interest. There is also the benefit of our parks from a cultural point of view.
Minister, I also think heritage, especially our World War II heritage, should be part of parks. Some parks come under your portfolio. Howard Springs, for instance, is a World War II site. It is there because the Army built a dam theren not necessarily because of its biodiversity. I am not saying it was not important. There is obviously a beautiful spring with some lovely jungle, but the pool was not there until the Army built a wall across the creek.
We need to discuss preservation of our World War II heritage a lot more because that is also a role for Parks and it can be a great contributor to tourism in the Northern Territory. At the moment we have Strauss Airfield, a heritage site. Those who have been around a long time would know there was a long battle to get Strauss Airfield protected from being part of the Stuart Highway. I am not sure who is responsible for it – the Department of Transport might be.
There are parks down the track. The various airfields, MacDonald, Fenton, Long – I am trying to think of the one at Larrimah. There are heritage sites at Larrimah, and the railway line still exists between Larrimah and Birdum. Someone might be able to help me with the name of the airfield north of Larrimah, which was, I think, the second biggest town in the Northern Territory during the war - it starts with G. It will come to me later.
The park is just sitting there and there must be great opportunities to develop tourism up and down the highway. Some great books were brought out by the Conservation Commission a long time ago mapping those parks. Other books have come out since, some with CDs in them, which allow tourists to understand World War II heritage in the Northern Territory.
It is not just up and down the track; there are other parts of the Territory as well. There is a strong relationship between wildlife parks – development from a tourism perspective – and retaining culture and biodiversity while bringing in heritage parks to do the same thing. Combining them increases the opportunity for tourist development in the Northern Territory, and retaining those special areas which are important and give the Territory a signature other parts of Australia do not have is an area we should look at.
You mentioned parks are run down. The parks were not all that great because at estimates I looked at the number of people visiting parks. Parks like Casuarina have a lot of people visiting them. It is one of the most popular parks in Australia, probably because it is very close to the main city. There were other parks where visitor numbers had dropped.
In the case of Howard Springs, the numbers were dropping off partly because a government department decided no one could swim there and there was a lot of toing and froing. Many people are still disappointed they cannot swim there, but the government spent a lot of money putting rock pools and a waterfall in. It is one of the best adventure playgrounds you will see. I was there recently and you see mums and kids enjoying the water, the flying foxes and the rocks and posts. That was done by a previous government.
It was done in consultation with the community and the more you can get the local community – both Indigenous and non-Indigenous – involved in management decisions of a park the better the outcomes. I see that with Howard Springs. The community and the liaison group working with the rangers made sure the park – even though people were sad they could not swim there – developed into something worthwhile. Many people are now coming back and you only have to go down on the weekend to see.
I am not against tourism development. The idea of being able to use parks for accommodation, concerts or whatever is not a problem, but it has to be sensitive to what the park is. The biodiversity, culture and wildlife of the park is the number one priority and development must be limited to not unduly affecting those important matters, which are the reason for the park existing.
The wildlife park may have opportunities and the member for Daly talked about a ferry down the harbour. That was running for a while and would pick up tourists on a bus and take them back to Darwin. The problem is ferries are not cheap. It is a fair distance and, unfortunately, the tourist operator did not continue with it. That is not to say it should not be looked at, but it needs careful consideration because it must make money otherwise it will not happen.
The member for Daly mentioned infrastructure. Road infrastructure to get people to the parks is important. I am not concerned about infrastructure within a park being fantastic because Gregory National Park – pardon me, I have forgotten the new name for the park – is beautiful. I went on the stock route and you need a good set of tyres. It took me seven hours to do 70 km. It is not the fastest bit of country in the west, but gee, there is scenery and history.
There is a history of cattle stations, Aboriginal history and beautiful flora such as boab trees, beautiful creeks, rivers and paperbarks. It is a wonderful park and sometimes part of the adventure of going into a park is it not being too easy. To get into the park – Limmen is a classic example – the infrastructure to get there needs upgrading. I went to Limmen last year and, because of the mining activity, that road was one of the worst I have ever travelled on. It is meant to be part of the Savannah Way from Queensland across the Northern Territory to Western Australia, but you need a caravan made from strong steel if you want to get there in one piece. That road was very poorly maintained, and if we are to get people to these parks we have to get them, and the crockery, there in one piece.
I will also give a plug to the books the member for Nhulunbuy was talking about, the ethnobotany books. My wife is involved in putting one together at the present time for the Batjamalh language. There have been quite a number of books: the Jawoyn, Wardaman, Port Keats and Tiwi people all have books, and I presume the member for Nhulunbuy was talking about a similar book. Parks and Wildlife has been involved, through the traditional owners and people like Glenn Wightman, and there is a book – which I think the member for Nhulunbuy is referring to – which shows the medicinal benefits of particular native plants. Again, this is an important part of what Parks and Wildlife does.
I need to give a plug to a few other parks, some of which are in my area. I have spoken about Howard Springs park; it is certainly looking a million dollars compared to what it was a couple of years ago. Tree Point is a small and very fragile park which, unfortunately, suffers because we do not have enough rangers to keep an eye on it. It has a delicate sand dune system which is not very wide. You would be pushing to get 100 m or 200 m wide of high ground, with the sea on one side and mangroves on the other side.
It is not a park many people would know. It is in an area the minister mentioned in her statement, where the turtles sometimes come onto the beach, but unfortunately, it is also connected to Gunn Point beach. Most of that land is Land Development Corporation and, unfortunately, people nowadays seem to think it is the sand raceway for ATVs or quad bikes. If you are a turtle trying to come onto the beach, you could have a problem making it there. As the member for Daly said, we need to look at expanding some of our parks.
Mr Abbott said recently we have too many parks but I do not agree. There are areas in the Northern Territory that still need protection and one would be the Gunn Point/Tree Point area. There is no one to manage that area and it is very fragile. I get complaints from the two landowners living there – there are three landowners as the Aboriginal people live right on Tree Point and there are two people with private houses. There is no attempt, on a regular basis, to stop people from damaging that environment. The rangers go there as best they can. I am not saying they do not do their work, but I put to the other government there should be a ranger station there, at least on weekends. There is water and power, and it would be an ideal place for Parks to have a weekend ranger station and work in conjunction with the Land Development Corporation so Gunn Point beach is patrolled and protected. That is not happening at the moment.
We have Melacca swamp. People do not normally go there because it has been set up for crocodile egg collecting. It is surrounded by Koolpinyah Station and the Adelaide River, so it is not exactly accessible. It is not meant to be a park to visit; it is to protect the crocodile breeding area. Naturally, it is a very important area.
Minister, Shoal Bay Coastal Reserve is another area which will come up for discussion. In the proposed Towards a Greater Darwin Land Use Plan, Shoal Bay Coastal Reserve has been zoned as only partial conservation, which is the mangrove areas, and the rest is called open space and natural area. I do not know if you will look at that, but Shoal Bay Coastal Reserve was put there after a developer wanted to build a prawn farm on the upper reaches of some of the creeks in the area. AFANT opposed it and, after meetings with Denis Burke, the then Chief Minister, the prawn farm was moved to the Blackmore River and the Chief Minister declared that area a conservation reserve. I am not sure how much science went into that.
The Planning Commission says we need to look at that park. I hope we look at it from a conservation value point of view and put that on a higher plain than how much we can develop that land.
There is the Howard Springs hunting area. You mentioned hunting in your statement and you should not forget Harrison Dam. There is another area on the Blackmore which shooters can use. I do not have anything against people shooting magpie geese as long as they eat them, do not waste them and do not annoy the neighbours. Harrison Dam had some issues in relation to neighbours. Our friends from the hunting association have done a lot of work at Harrison Dam spraying weeds, making sure there is no rubbish and it is kept in a good state. I congratulate them because they do a good job and are part of the conservation of these areas.
We should not forget Window on the Wetlands, sometimes called Window on the Weedland, unfortunately, because it looks over an area of mimosa. However, it is an important park and has one of the nicest views around. Aboriginal people in the area have gained employment from managing the site. It is in the member for Goyder’s area.
I am going through parks more or less based on Litchfield. Some of these parks are in the member for Daly’s area, such as the Berry Springs Nature Park. There are issues about the number of times that has been closed. Is it going through the same death throes as Howard Springs did, where the water quality was not up to standard and, when the water quality could not be shown to be up to standard, it was closed? It also has issues with crocodiles, so there are other management issues. The member for Daly said that is not right, but he will not go swimming there in the Wet Season.
Fogg Dam – and, the member for Goyder might help me, there is a working bee coming up …
Madam SPEAKER: This Sunday.
Mr WOOD: … this Sunday. If anyone would like to go to Fogg Dam I am sure it would be appreciated.
I may have missed some parks, but there are many parks we appreciate which need to be maintained. We have to encourage people to visit some of the parks.
We have the Territory Wildlife Park, and I totally agree with the member for Daly when he said we have to finish the Litchfield loop road. He might say I have a conflict of interest because I have some relations who might use it to get to the mouth of the Daly River where, by the way, there is another reserve you can visit where the boat ramp is. There are limits on the number of people who can be there, but if you wanted another case of poor infrastructure, try to drive down there now it is terrible. If we are developing our parks we need to make sure our infrastructure is up to scratch.
If the Litchfield loop road was developed there would be a better chance for the wildlife park to see more people. People could go past the wildlife park, on to Batchelor through Litchfield National Park and do a loop, or they could do the reverse. That makes a much better day out. At the moment, if the water is over the Finniss or the road has not been graded nothing will happen.
I congratulate the previous government; it was doing about 10 km of that road a year. It is not cheap, but all of a sudden it stopped. That extra 10 km of bitumen was making it more attractive for people to head down that way.
I would like to mention a couple of other parks.
Mr ELFERINK: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Pursuant to Standing Order 77, I request an extension of time for the member.
Motion agreed to.
Mr WOOD: Thank you, members. I mentioned Limmen National Park, a wonderful park. It has only recently been declared a national park. The minister mentions – it was called Tomato Island, but it is called more than that – Munbililla camping ground. I went there last year and it is tops. If you have been driving on the Roper Highway or the Savannah Way and come to this camping ground you will be very relieved. There is green grass, the beautiful Roper River next door, fantastic toilets and showers, a small store, a ranger station and you can put your boat in because there is a boat ramp.
Some people complained because it used to be free. When I was there people were parking down the road for free, but the cost is not too high. One good thing about our parks is you can park overnight for $3 or $4 and get a hot shower. You have a safe place to set up a barbecue and camp for the night. Sometimes you camp with other people and get to know them.
How many people have been to Flora River Nature Park? It is a beautiful park. Do not step in the water because the crocodiles are big. It is where the Flora meets the Daly. They could put a bigger solar hot water system in because the night I arrived was in the Dry Season and getting cold. I turned up late and there was not a lot of hot water left, but for $3 or $4 a night I stayed there. It was a beautiful night among the gum trees, a full moon and you could hear the water running over the falls. That is what I like about the Northern Territory; there are some beautiful areas.
Also, try Keep River National Park. If you are in a hurry you can do it in a day; if you have more time you can stay longer. It is beautiful.
I mentioned the Limmen. I have been to the Lost City – the one on the east. Unfortunately, I only had the morning. I had an appointment to look at McArthur River Mine so was there very early in the morning when the sun came up and the dew was on the grass. The colours of the Lost City were magnificent, but I did not have enough time to stay. There is another lost city on the left hand side as you are going up, which I intend to look at as well.
Minister, I know from my own family’s experience there are Indigenous rangers and we have Indigenous parks. I am not sure if that is the correct name, but there is some land in the Northern Territory with Commonwealth protection. It would be good if we worked together. The rangers at the mouth of the Daly do their best, but I wonder if they have direction. Working with Parks and Wildlife and Indigenous rangers would be beneficial for both. At the moment, whilst there is no doubt the rangers do a good job, we are all in the business of protecting the environment and showing people our environment. Sometimes I wonder if we should be working more closely together so we do not duplicate but get the best results from the knowledge on both sides. I put that forward as something worth looking at.
Lastly, I will talk about Katherine Gorge. The member for Nhulunbuy said she is not as fit as she used to be. I have a sore knee these days – too much umpiring. However, I enjoy going to Nitmiluk but have not been for the last two years. There are some great day walks. If you want a day off to get away – go in February when it is stinking hot. People might say it is strange. Put a rucksack on your back and take some cold water and something to eat. There are great half day and full day walks. In February the bush looks fantastic – walking across the top of the tablelands - the flowers are out, the water is running out of the creeks and you can swim at Southern Rockhole or Butterfly Gorge. They are beautiful places to swim, make them your halfway stop then turn around and come back.
We, as members of the community, have to promote our parks as well. Many people do not know about these parks and we need to tell them how beautiful these places are. Yes, they are a bit off the track; you have to travel a fair way and I have not been to all of them. I would love to get to more Central Australian parks. If I was brave enough and there was nothing on in parliament – that will be the day – I would love to do the MacDonnell walk, but it is a fair walk. I would love to get down to Chambers Pillar. I think there is also a site there for a very rare species of citrus. I am trying to think of the park set aside for that protected species. There are a number of sites in Central Australia.
Another one is a wildlife reserve in the Barkly Tablelands few people would know about on Rankin Road ...
Mr McCarthy: Connells Lagoon.
Mr WOOD: Connells Lagoon, yes. How many people know that is there? They see a piece of flat ground, but it is there for a reason. Again, some of these places need more advertising. Maybe they need some facilities. People will not stop if it looks like a hole in the fence with a gate – it needs some explanation. The Douglas Daly is also a great place to stop. I could go on and on, but parliament is a time to promote what is great about the Northern Territory and our parks are.
I wish you well in your endeavours to make our parks more popular. Tourism is important in the Northern Territory, but we should make sure it does not ruin the attraction we are trying to promote.
The member for Daly mentioned pig hunting. A lot of pig hunters go around on ATVs and, I know from my area, some people on ATVs have no respect for the environment. They might not have respect for the pig either and sometimes they wreck the place. I am not against people culling feral animals, but I remember the recent New South Wales debate about the right to shoot in national parks. Some people are concerned they might go for a walk in the park and something whistles between their ears – they might be a bit concerned. Those things have to be well managed. We want to keep feral animals out of our parks because they do a lot of damage.
Once again, thank you minister for your statement. I appreciate the time to give a plug to some of our parks, especially in my area.
Mr VATSKALIS (Casuarina): Mr Deputy Speaker, I thank the minister for bring this statement to the House, because I agree with the minister view that:
We agree the parks should not be locked up and the key thrown away so nobody goes there, but should be places for people to visit. If people do not know what are in the parks they will not care, and when somebody does not care about something it will eventually disappear and be destroyed. When people know about the beautiful park and its significance, they will look after it. Through word of mouth other people will learn about it, visit and eventually protect it.
As you know, minister, I came from Western Australia, where I was fortunate to live in Port Hedland, in the northwest. In the three years I lived in Port Hedland I visited quite a few of the parks in Western Australia: Millstream, Karijini National Park and some other parks. I thought they were fantastic because I had not been to the Northern Territory. After visiting some of the parks in the Northern Territory, if I thought the Western Australia parks were good the Territory parks were much better for many reasons.
First, there is a difference in the environment based on the climatic differences of the Northern Territory, with the tropical rainforest and a great deal of water, to the arid centre with big, wide landscapes and fantastic colours. You can visit the parks safely and enjoy going there.
I have visited quite a few parks in the Northern Territory, from Kakadu down to Central Australia, and have enjoyed every day I spent there. The member for Nelson said he loves to walk around them; I prefer to drive. You can see more in a shorter period of time and, when you have a family and two kids asking, ‘Are we there yet?’ it is preferable to be in a car with air conditioning rather than dragging two young children through the park.
However, the parks are not only places to see, they offer employment opportunities for Territorians, especially those who do not live in the big urban centres. Territorians who live in rural and remote areas can find business and employment opportunities in parks.
I agree that parks should have different roles. Some parks could be for passive recreation, others for active recreation. You mentioned pig hunting. Some people would like to go pig hunting, but we have to ensure the safety of visitors. We do not want people walking down a path when someone is firing a high calibre rifle trying to hit a pig. We should put some areas aside because different people have different tastes. Some people would like to put a tent up, open the car fridge, pull a tinnie out and have a drink. Others would like to get dirty and smelly – they want to go through the swamp and try to kill a pig. I understand that, even if I do not like it.
There are a lot of nice words throughout the statement but, minister, they are not real solutions. You talk about how the parks can provide opportunities. Let us talk about those opportunities and face the reality of tourism at the moment. Australia is no longer the destination it was 20 years ago. Twenty or 30 years ago Paul Hogan was telling people to throw a shrimp on the barbie and people were flocking to Australia.
Nowadays, we are struggling with other destinations. Nowadays, we are struggling to attract our own citizens to the Northern Territory because it is much cheaper to go to Bali from Melbourne or Sydney, and cheaper to go to Singapore or Thailand than come to the Territory for many reasons – airfares, accommodation and availability of rooms. We have to find a way to attract tourists to the Territory, and Territory parks are unique in attracting tourists if we promote them properly, tell people what we have and make it easy for people to visit the parks.
When I was Minister for Tourism many years ago the first trip I took was to China. I was astounded when people there told me what they liked in the Territory was the open space, the forests, the water, the Indigenous culture and all of them can exist in one park. In some of our parks we have all of them. If you go to Kakadu you see it, if you go to Central Australia – okay, forget the water, there is not much there unless is rains in Alice Springs, but there is a lot of culture, colour, open space and many Indigenous people. They are totally different to what people in countries we try to attract tourists from have seen.
The parks also present an opportunity for business. I know there is the mentality, ‘Let’s open the parks and bring big conglomerates in to build five-star hotels’. You do not have to do that; you could do it differently. A good example is Cicada Lodge at Katherine Gorge. It is a very small but luxurious development by the local Indigenous people and it is exploited by the local Indigenous people, attracting people from around Australia and the world. I have heard superb comments about this. I encourage your department to look at it and promote this kind of development in some of the parks people are visiting.
It is not only developing lodges, you mentioned putting in infrastructure. I agree not every park has to have a bitumen road. Some parks can have a well-graded dirt road where people use their four-wheel drive to get around. They like doing that.
One of the comments I heard before is people come to Australia and the Northern Territory from Germany because this is the only place they can drive on a dirt road. In Europe, very rarely do you drive on a dirt road. Every country in Europe has bitumen roads, unless you go somewhere in the east of Russia or eastern Turkey. Most of the roads are bitumen and very well signposted. People come to the Territory because they have the opportunity to drive on a road totally different to what they are used to. They like that. Some people in Europe would not drive the four-wheel drives we do here, but they like that.
Minister, there are opportunities to look at the parks and what they can offer to different people. Different people have different tastes. Some people like to see conservation. Parks like the Limmen National Park and the Limmen Marine Park offer this opportunity to people. People come from down south to look at things they cannot see there.
As I said, I am from Western Australia. People like to go to Margaret River in Western Australia because of the unique environment, the wine, the food and everything else. You will not find that here, but at Margaret River you will not find the open spaces, the unique ecosystem and the unique culture we have. People can be encouraged to visit if we promote our parks properly and offer what they want in the variety of parks we have.
We are not doing that very well and need to find a way to do it. I went to China recently and visited some of the tourist agencies. I showed them some of my personal photos from Kakadu, Katherine Gorge and the Rock. People were astounded there were places in the world so unique and untouched by civilisation. People want to come here, but will only do so if we tell them what we have to offer and provide a comfortable means for them to travel in the Territory and experience our parks.
In other states they have developed parks and established small hotels or lodges. People can visit after having booked well in advance on websites or even a register. That can happen here and we have done things like that before. The member for Nelson mentioned Tomato Island, which was developed by Labor. I am pleased to say we opened that facility. It was one of the previous government’s initiatives, but I am pleased it is up and running. I am pleased to hear the praise from you, which means we have done something really good.
I also heard you talking about the Wangi Falls centre in Litchfield. Again, it was our initiative, and I am pleased to hear it was a good one. It is fantastic because it draws so many people there. Things like that can happen in the parks, and not only the ones close to Darwin, but ones further away. We have to promote them otherwise people will not go.
Engage Indigenous people. Give opportunity to Indigenous people, not only for conservation, but to develop businesses. I will give you an example. Many years ago I opened the Larapinta Trail. People from Central Australia will know the Larapinta Trail very well. It is now famous around the world and rates as one of the 10 most important trails in the world.
There was a proposal by a company to establish stations on the Larapinta Trail so walkers could have somewhere to sleep off the rough ground, and some facilities for eating. It would be modular and set up in the morning and taken away in the afternoon. I saw the plans and they were really good. There was quite a reaction from the department. They thought it was not appropriate, but who says what is appropriate or what is not? It is what the client wants. If you do not have it they will not come. Do you prefer something that will never have visitors, nobody will ever see it, or do you prefer something that will attract people and become so popular it will generate income and business for regional centres like Alice Springs? Having Indigenous people like at Katherine Gorge – I am always pleased to visit Katherine Gorge, get into the boat, go up the gorge and have Indigenous people drive the boat with a running commentary. Sometimes it is very cheeky, but enjoyed by all while taking in the cool air and the beauty of the place.
We want to attract business to the Territory. You are Minister for Parks and Wildlife; however, your position gives you the opportunity to promote tourism in the regional centres more than the Tourism minister has done in the past. Under the control of your department you have vast areas of the Territory’s unique – some of them unexplored, some unknown to people not only outside the Territory, but within the Territory. Let us not forget we have people coming from down south for work or are posted because of Defence force employment. Some of those people get to know our parks and what they say on their social media pages, and also word of mouth, attracts more tourists to the Territory.
I have taken people to Litchfield, Kakadu and Katherine Gorge. The comments I get from people are they have never seen anything like it. My wife’s relatives came from China and I took them to Litchfield on a one-day trip and they were astounded. The comment, when they finished the trip, was they would like to come back and look at more parks.
Minister, thank you for your statement. You have the opportunity, using your position as Minister for Parks and Wildlife, not only to promote tourism in the Territory but also to provide employment to some of your constituents in remote areas. There are not many employment opportunities for people from Stuart but tourism, managing parks, and working in parks as Indigenous rangers are unique opportunities and you should use your capacity as Minister for Parks and Wildlife to make sure this happens.
Ms PURICK (Goyder): Mr Deputy Speaker, I will speak briefly on this statement from the Minister for Parks and Wildlife, and commend the minister for bringing the statement to parliament. There is no doubt parks and reserves form an important part of the fabric of our communities and contribute to economic wellbeing, lifestyle and, of course, the future of the Northern Territory and the people within our borders. The statement goes a long way to describing what is happening in many of our parks and reserves, particularly in the remote areas and Central Australia, which is good.
I want to comment on a few areas relevant to the Top End and the greater rural area. The minister referenced, on about page 11, hunting being an increasingly popular pursuit, and that is quite correct. Whether it be pig hunting – and a lot of my constituents are pig hunters and many, if not most, are very law-abiding pig hunters and enjoy the sport. Yes, Harrison Dam is one of the main sites, but there is also Howard Springs Reserve and the Lambells Lagoon area. Over past years we have had quite a few issues particular to Harrison and Lambells because the hunting season was impacting both from an amenity and also a safety perspective on nearby residents. However, with the collaboration of NT Police, the NT Firearms Council, park rangers, myself and the residents, we managed to come to an understanding and also put the hunting season back a couple of days before Christmas then it restarted in the New Year. There was also a lot of education for all those people.
There is still an issue with litter in the park areas, particularly shotgun cartridges. The minister visited those areas, and I thank her for doing that. She also visited Fogg Dam. Somehow we still need to do a bit of work with the hunters and people who go with them such that they might expend the cartridges, but they need to pick them up as well because it is copper and goodness knows what else, and it does not look good either. It still needs a bit of work, minister. I am not quite sure how we do that because some people are a bit reckless, but we should give it a go.
I agree, a lot of people come to the Territory because of our hunting season, whether it be for magpie geese or pigs.
You mentioned you asked the commission to identify new areas of hunting for next season. I have no issue with that, but the one caution I give, minister, is be careful if these new areas are located close to sprawling rural developments, because we will end up with the same situation as we did with Lambells Lagoon or Harrison Dam where reckless hunters shoot across properties, which is not what anyone wants. I add a word of caution, wherever the areas are, we should try to have them away from residential areas now and in the future.
I was a bit concerned about ‘Come and Hunt the NT’. I do not know what kind of message that sends to people down south. Hopefully, it means they will come to the Northern Territory to hunt in a safe manner. Not everything is a free-for-all; they cannot hunt anything anywhere. It is probably catchy and will probably get a lot of people in.
You mentioned, on page 13, having close collaboration with Tourism NT, the Department of Business and the commission. You need to consider collaboration with local government, specifically the Litchfield Council, given Litchfield Council has reserves under their management and control, particularly Freds Pass Reserve. I am not sure if the minister has been there lately, but it is a large expanse of reserve of about 25 user groups. There are areas around the back used predominantly for recreation, bush walking, cross-country horse riding, children on push bikes and things of that nature.
Whilst user groups use their particular areas for sports and competitions, there is a great chunk of the year when the reserve does not get used at all except for residents who might exercise there. There must be some way we can make the reserve a more attractive place for events not dissimilar to the Botanical Gardens, with its tropical garden show and Teddy Bears’ Picnic, things of that nature. We have the Freds Pass Show back this year for two days in May, but there is some work the commission could do with Litchfield Council to see how we can maximise the wonderful reserve at Freds Pass.
The other area of comment – the member for Nelson touched on this – is the two springs close to Darwin, being Howard Springs and Berry Springs. Howard Springs is much better than it was before. There are still issues with Berry Springs closing and opening repeatedly, particularly in the Wet Season when it is hot. I understand the safety issues with crocodiles and things of that nature, but it seems a shame. It is such a beautiful facility yet it is starting to become inaccessible for large chunks of the year. I am not sure what can be done, but I know there are issues with alleged contamination of water from the Territory Wildlife Park. We need to look at areas close to Darwin which are similar in nature and could be developed in association with the council or private landowners so we could have some other areas of recreation and safe swimming.
In reading the minister’s statement, one thing we need to think about in the near future, with the number of tour ships starting to frequent Darwin and the number of people they bring, is they only have about seven to nine hours per day here. Yes, they can hop on a tour somewhere. Those tourists like nature, ecotourism, getting out in the environment and finding out about flora and fauna, but we need to have a desktop study of what is available to tourists within 50 km of Darwin. There is Howard Springs reserve, and coastal reserves if they want to go to a beach, but they generally want to see flora and fauna. I am not sure there is enough or that new attractions are coming online which would appeal to tourists. We want these ships to come because they bring so many people and put a lot into the economy. I ask if the minister can take this on board and see what else, within about 50 km of Darwin, could become a park-like attraction for tourists and locals as well.
The member for Nelson mentioned heritage tourism, and it might be a statement all in itself. The airfield he was trying to remember was Gorrie, but there are a lot of airfields and World War II historical sites from Darwin to Katherine. Many of them are starting to, or already have, fallen into a state of disrepair. Strauss airfield is protected but we have Pell, Livingstone, Sattler, Hughes – Gould is further in towards Batchelor –Fenton and others. One area that needs to be looked at urgently is Snake Creek.
Snake Creek is located just before Adelaide River on the other side of the railway line now, and the whole area has been looted. They are even taking the large doors of the – I am not sure what they stored there – the storage areas. Trevor Horman – who is president of either the National Trust or Historical Society – is very concerned. It will not be long before those doors are not there at all. To get those doors off they are using oxyacetylene, so it is serious people doing serious damage to our history.
Snake Creek, in particular, is a fascinating area if you have ever been there, minister and members, and gives an insight into exactly what was developed in and around Darwin during the World War II period.
One area not really touched on was the great potential for the gold history of the Northern Territory and fossicking. I know the fossicking people and the prospectors’ association people are dead keen to get access to more fossicking areas other than the designated ones. They have an issue getting on to exploration leases, and it is ongoing for them and the exploration industry. Perhaps we need to look at how we can develop that small part of the tourist industry and whether they can have access – I do not know what the laws are – to parks and reserves. Perhaps we need to give some consideration to it because that too can generate economic development in the regions, and could also have flow-on effects to employment for local Aboriginal people in the Top End and elsewhere.
When I went to Tomato Island I took some engineering people because they were putting up interpretive signs. We went to the historic police station at the causeway of the Roper going out to Ngukurr – I am not sure what it is called – but the police station is in an incredible state of disrepair. The interpretive signs have all become worn and weather-beaten, and that is a shame. That could be the same for other historical police stations and houses in the bush and remote areas. Some of those are close to reserves and parks and some are not, but we need to take an inventory of those historic sites and pull them into the tourism, parks and reserves picture.
Thank you, minister, for your excellent statement. There are parts of it, and parts I have just raised, that could probably lead to another statement in the near future, in association with tourism.
Mr STYLES (Infrastructure): Mr Deputy Speaker, I support this fantastic statement from the minister. The Territory is an interesting place to be. One of the first things we need is roads and infrastructure. Nothing moves, nothing goes anywhere and we cannot use our parks if we do not have roads and infrastructure. I will address several things before I look at how my portfolios interact hand-in-glove with the Parks portfolio. Firstly, I will quote from page two of the statement:
If we look at what the minister and the government is proposing, parks being open for business is part of the Territory being open for business, and encouraging people to invest their money, time and intellectual property in the Northern Territory to not only generate wealth and prosperity for themselves, but for the Territory population.
We all know the current Northern Territory government faces some financial challenges inherited from the previous government. We understand that and are fixing it. To do that, we need to generate wealth and job opportunities, and the opportunities for businesses to commence and flourish so they employ more people. It is pretty basic economics. It is 101, day one, week one. Money is made round to go around. The faster it goes around the more tax it spins off, the more GST it spins off, the more assistance we get from our federal counterparts, which is good for the Territory.
I will talk about access to personal property rights. It may be small business wants to open up a concession in one of our parks. The Territory government is challenged with borrowing money. If we borrow more money the ratings agencies – Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s – are likely to downgrade us. For every point they downgrade us we could be up for $35m to $37m per year. That is an enormous amount of money in a small economy. We do not want to lose that so we have to think outside the square. We have to give people a framework they can work in. Our Parks and Wildlife sanctuaries are a perfect framework to give people the opportunity to work with us and generate jobs, opportunities and wealth.
The second point William Bernstein made in his book about sustained wealth creation was intellectual property. This occurred when I was in opposition. I had people knocking my door down saying, ‘I have a great idea. I have been working on it for years and have put a lot of effort into it.’ They said they spoke to the previous government and were told, ‘Great. Give us all your ideas – your intellectual property – and we will put it out to tender.’ I thought that was interesting because who in their right mind would spend years developing ideas and business plans to have it placed in the public domain so people can get a free ride? That does not work. We have to generate facilities and a framework where people who have highly developed intellectual property can join public/private partnerships or be given access to our parks to generate wealth.
We all know we need more infrastructure, none more than me. People are knocking on my door on a daily basis talking about providing suitable infrastructure all over the Territory. However, like everyone, I have a budget. I fight in Cabinet to get more. Sometimes I win, sometimes I don’t. Sadly, the federal government has inherited an enormous debt too and is struggling to come to terms with it. They know they need infrastructure, so how can they generate wealth if they cannot invest in job creation and business creation to generate tax dollars to provide the services governments need to.
If we look at what we can do with our parks, we need capital. Point three in William Bernstein’s book is access to cheap capital. However, if we borrow more money we have to pay more interest – not only more interest on the money we borrow, but more interest on the entire amount. It would be ridiculous because the people who monitor governments and other financial institutions need to be assured you are fiscally responsible with the money and have the ability to borrow money. If we keep borrowing and spending money, those people will say we are not being fiscally responsible and will curtail our activities in relation to borrowing money.
That is why you cannot make wild commitments to do this and that. You have to act responsibly, and that is what the Giles government is doing. We are looking very carefully at a whole range of ideas around creating the infrastructure and facilities to generate wealth without having to borrow money on behalf of the taxpayer of the Northern Territory.
We need to access capital. How do we do that? You talk to private enterprise. There are people with lots of money looking for somewhere to park. I was in Singapore recently and people were saying how unique the Northern Territory is. I agree with the member for Casuarina’s contribution to this argument – the Northern Territory is unique with some fantastic iconic places people want to see.
My colleague, the Minister for Tourism, has a fantastic program, the 2020 vision, regarding the contribution tourism can make to the Northern Territory economy.
That brings me to the fourth point of William Bernstein’s book on sustained economic growth and wealth creation, transport and communication. Years ago the only form of communication was the postman who rode along the old outback track and dropped the mail off with papers that were six months old. That was about the only communication you had. We are fortunate these days with modern digital communication – a great thing; however, we are still struggling with roads. We have 36 000 km of roads with 22 000 km unsealed. It is a challenge for a government of any persuasion to get the roads to a condition which will be of extra benefit to the Territory.
However, we look at the roads that are important. We have to prioritise, and have done so. Recently the Chief Minister, and Deputy Prime Minister Mr Truss, announced a $106m regional roads productivity package. There is $90m from the federal government and $16m from the Territory government. That is about building roads so people in the bush not only have access to major cities, but our tourism industry – the grey nomads and people who want a challenge in regional outback Australia can see some of the iconic things we have and look at some of the beautiful ranges and rivers the member for Nelson spoke about – there are six in this package.
On the Roper Highway, construction of new bridges across the Roper River and the Wilton River will occur and I will talk a bit more about that shortly.
However, they are the four things one needs to generate and sustain wealth not just over the short term, but over the long term. You have to have those things, and that is the type of thing we on this side of politics are working on – a coordinated strategy across government to make sure we can generate wealth because the only way we can get out of the mess we have inherited – there are four ways – as I talk to people, as I knock on people’s doors in my electorate they say, ‘How do you see it going?’ I say, ‘There are a couple of ways to get out of debt. One is you can put taxes up’, and no one in the Territory wants us to put taxes up. The moment you mention that there is a collective groan. The second way is to reduce services. You do not want to reduce services, but you can make them more efficient.
The third way is a combination of one and two, and that is generally what most governments do. The fourth thing is economic development. If you have economic development and increase your income, that immediately changes your debt-to-income ratio and instead of having the terrible debt-to-income ratio we have, we reduce it. Obviously, if you have a debt and you double your income you halve your debt-to-income ratio. That is where we need to be, but to do that we have to increase our income. How do we do that? We get the Tourism minister to run the 2020 strategy and start to see the numbers and airlines coming in.
This is all about getting people to our parks because they are iconic, unique, and we need to make sure we have well-developed infrastructure. How do we do that if the government cannot provide it? Let us think about that. Let us go to the private sector. That is a good idea, minister for Tourism, write that down. We will talk to the private sector. That is why we are looking at options and thinking outside the square.
Parks are the cornerstone of the Territory’s tourism product. We need the member for Greatorex, our Tourism minister, to sell this to international tourists and international booking agents. We need to make sure we have good facilities so when people go onto websites to comment, they put positive comments about the journey.
We know happiness is not a destination, it is a journey. If you want to visit a park and be happy and have a great experience – you do not want to have a terrible journey because by the time you get there you are not happy and that spoils it. We have been working with Darwin Airport Corporation and Ian Kew to make our airports better. We are doing a range of things to make the experience of getting to our parks a whole lot better.
There are many other issues, but I will move on and talk about how we will do that? How do we integrate the whole experience so when people get to our magnificent parks there is infrastructure in the parks and people providing services? There is a range of issues we need to deal with in our parks to make that experience positive. As I said, there is a whole-of-government approach to this. We, in Cabinet and in the party room, talk about these things, and together we work to make sure we do that. In my portfolios we have taken a whole-of-government look at transport, and transport planning and infrastructure. We have created a road map with eight clear and distinct areas which will eventually help tourism. I will quote some figures from the minister’s statement. The research:
Mr Conlan: They tell another 50 people.
Mr STYLES: That is right. We do not want them to have a bad experience. International marketing statistics will tell you if you have a positive experience you will tell at least three people – some people will tell heaps more and we want people to do that, but these are the basic figures – but if you have a bad experience you will tell 14 people. That is not a good thing. We are about creating our parks environment so the Parks minister can be proud of her effort and the minister for Tourism can be proud of his – Lands and Planning – we can all be proud when we update the House.
I heard the Minister for Lands, Planning and the Environment say he is proud of what we are doing and our achievements. This morning the Chief Minister spoke about cutting crime rates. The Minister for Tourism said our figures are up. It is great. Everyone on this side has a really positive outlook on what is happening in the Territory. Sadly, the other side does not want to see that or understand you can improve things after the mess left to us. I wanted to clarify some of those points.
In relation to the road map, eight major areas will be looked at, investigated, and there will be submissions from all stakeholders and various parts of the industry. That will come together and be blended to make the Northern Territory Integrated Transport Planning and Investment Roadmap.
The Darwin regional transport plan is about getting people around Darwin. If tourists come from Alice Springs, or through Darwin by ship, air or rail, we need to ensure we can get those people around and they can start their journey to our fantastic parks and iconic things in the Territory so it is a continual, enjoyable journey.
Obviously, the things I am interested in with reference to Parks and Wildlife include the roads and bridge strategy. Also, the aviation industry and services strategy is very important for our tourism industry. The public transport system – those who arrive by train need to get around. There is the taxi industry reform strategy, which is essential for our international visitors. Motor Vehicle Registry is not so much in relation to our Parks and Wildlife, and the maritime industry is a different section. They are the eight.
When we look at the roads and bridge strategy, to get people on buses with tour operators, the grey nomads with the caravan or Winnebago tripping around having a great time with gen sets and portable barbeques – it is a bit different to when I did it with a ute, a swag, a few rocks with a fire and a bit of mesh on top. There are people who seriously want to spend money in our towns and parks.
Mr ELFERINK: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Pursuant to Standing Order 77, I move an extension of time for the member to complete his comments.
Motion agreed to.
Mr STYLES: Thank you, Madam Speaker, and I thank members for the extra time.
In relation to the roads and bridges strategy – we have a range of inputs there – this is an expensive exercise. There are not many toll roads in the Northern Territory to our iconic tourism destinations. The Australian government is looking at assisting us and there is a whole capital works program around a bridges and roads strategy to get things happening.
Of course, we are challenged with dollars. I look at a map of the Territory when discussing this with the appropriate people and see we have 1.3 million square kilometres with 230 000 people paying taxes. We must have the assistance of the federal government otherwise we cannot compete with anyone else. We need our community service obligations. We have an increasing user expectation – people in the Winnebago do not necessarily want to be driving on the same roads I did when I took my kids out there 25 years ago. They want a bitumen road with a big line down the middle and coffee shops on the side, and we will get there. When they get to a park they need a nice coffee shop where they can talk about whose Winnebago is the biggest, who is having a good time and who is not ...
Mr Elferink: Winnebago envy is very common among grey nomads.
Mr STYLES: There you go. There are many ordinary people who have worked all their lives who want to have a great time experiencing what the Northern Territory has to offer.
We have challenges in relation to roads and bridges. We have climatic conditions. In the north we have cyclones and floods and at the moment, with the great Wet Season we have had – I am in Darwin enjoying 28C while my relatives interstate are suffering from 47C. Perhaps they should come to the Territory for a cool change. It is causing a fair bit of damage. With the Wet Season coming to a conclusion we have to repair an enormous amount of damage. The damage bill at this point is heading into millions and millions of dollars which we will have to spend, but that is part of living in the north. In the arid Centre you have droughts and, if it gets too hot there, the tourists will not use the roads but we have to provide good services for them.
I mentioned earlier there is 36 000 km of road network in the Northern Territory and only 24% is sealed. A massive 76% of our roads are unsealed. It takes a lot of effort and money from the government to maintain those roads, but we do. We have to do the very best we can with what we have.
I said today during Question Time I wish I had a big cheque book. It would be great to write cheques out and be like the fairies and throw fairy dust everywhere and say, ‘There you go, it is all fixed, there is a big cheque’. However, we cannot do that so we have to work with the money we have. We have to work without the $1m each day which goes to paying the interest bill. Imagine what we could do with an extra $1m a day. I am sure members on both sides of this House could give me a great list of what we could do with it. We have to move on and cope with the flooding that occurs.
The Northern Territory Regional Infrastructure Study and Port Investment is something we need to do to work out where we can move money around to benefit communities and create jobs. There will be many opportunities, once we get infrastructure into our parks, for local Aboriginal people. One of the things Aboriginal people have a huge advantage in, especially when you look at parks development and the jobs that will come from private investment in parks, is they live there. They do not have to fly-in, fly-out or build a house, they live there. When we start generating wealth it will stay in the community.
One thing I hear from communities as I talk to the leaders is they want the money to stay in their community and they want jobs. When I talk about building infrastructure – along with my colleague, the Minister for Housing, we are doing the best we can to give people the opportunity to build and maintain their own homes.
This morning the Minister for Housing spoke about creating jobs there, yet it appears the opposition does not want to listen. They do not want to listen to the great things happening in the bush because it is about moving opportunities to local people.
This government has a policy of local solutions to local problems. If we have issues we talk to local people. If people live near a park, let us give them the opportunity, if they wish, to start a business. If they do not wish to do that, give them the opportunity to get a job. That is what we are about on this side of the House – jobs, jobs and jobs.
The national infrastructure study will prioritise regional infrastructure projects based on the greatest economic social and environmental benefit. It is about value for money. It is not about throwing a cheque at someone saying, ‘Here, go away’.
I recall when we were in opposition the former government would say, ‘Yes, but we spent more money than you and did this and that in relation to cash outlays’. I remember, time and time again, saying money is an input not an outcome.
We need outcomes from our investment and to do that you have to plan. There is an old saying called the six Ps – proper planning prevents not very good performance. There is another word in there but I will not inflict it upon the House. They are the six Ps: proper planning prevents … poor performance. You have to plan for these things. Again, planning does not involve throwing money around; it is about making sure you get the desired outcome.
I move to the regional roads productivity package I mentioned before. There is $106m and six priority projects identified across the Northern Territory regional road network. These are the roads the grey nomads, mums and dads on holidays with the kids, the Winnebago people – there are not that many Winnebagos – or the huge Denning buses some people have they convert into mobile homes. They want to drive around the Territory and have a look as well. There is $40m on the Roper Highway; the Port Keats Road, $20m – there you go, member for Daly; the Arnhem Link Road, $11m; the Buntine Highway, $10m; Central Arnhem Road, $15m; and the Santa Teresa Road, $10m.
My wife recently went to Santa Teresa – great place –about the third time she had been there. We are working on making sure tourists have access to those experiences when they travel out there. Of course, whilst tourists are enjoying fantastic new experiences, local people are being employed. They offer services and people are prepared to pay for them. When they want to drive to national parks and other places we need to make sure that is the whole experience. The longer we keep people in the Northern Territory the better off, as a Territory, we are, the better off the people are, the better off our children are and the better off people in communities are.
It is about thinking outside the square and opening up parks for private investment. The government does not have access to a massive bucket of money where it can say, ‘Let’s build this here and let’s do this here’. We are constrained so we think outside the square and look at the things we can do to get private industry involved in making our parks a better place to be.
The Port Keats Road across the Moyle floodplains will be done and the Arnhem link road, so people can go to Maningrida, Gunbalanya and Ramingining – all those places. There is so much more I could contribute to this debate if I had more time, but I would like to commend not only the minister, but my colleagues for their ability to think outside the square. I hear the opposition time and time again try to rubbish us and say all is terrible. However, we are getting results.
I will continue to work with my colleagues and people like the minister for Parks, who has a passion for opening up the parks for job and wealth creation. I will continue to work with my colleagues to make sure we continue to deliver fantastic outcomes for the people of the Northern Territory.
Mr CONLAN (Central Australia): Madam Speaker, I thank the Minister for Infrastructure for that. I will happily take over. You could speak for another 40 minutes, but I will take the baton and continue this fantastic debate. I thank the Minister for Parks and Wildlife for bringing it on today. I was formerly the Minister for Parks and Wildlife, and while I was sad to lose such a great portfolio, I was pleased to see such a capable and competent minister take the baton from me and work with a great team of people in the Parks and Wildlife Commission.
One of the first things we did when re-elected in 2012 was realign the department to a commission once again. It stood as the Parks and Wildlife Service under the previous government and lost some of its spirit, soul and a whole chunk of its anonymity. Now it is a stand-alone agency and stands proudly once again with the big eagle as the logo of the Parks and Wildlife Commission of the Northern Territory. It is something we can all be very proud of. One of the instantly recognisable symbols across Australia is the wedge-tailed eagle standing proud with the NT Parks and Wildlife Commission.
The other great instantly recognised logo throughout Australia – one of the great advantages the Northern Territory has above all other jurisdictions in this country is that instantly recognisable logo, our tourism brolga. It has been around for a long time and has captured the hearts and imagination of all Australians. Territorians are very proud of it. Growing up in the great state of Queensland I was captured by that from a very early age. Queensland is certainly a powerhouse for tourism and, in many respects, led the way for years, but one thing we did not have is the fantastic, instantly recognisable brand – badging or imaging if you like – the Northern Territory has now.
With that in mind, I would like to explore the tourism aspects of our parks and wildlife and reflect on some of the areas mentioned in the statement by the Minister for Parks and Wildlife.
I could almost read the statement again. I think it is against standing orders if I read it into Hansard, but it speaks volumes about what we are trying to achieve with our parks and wildlife and putting the Territory back on the powerhouse map as being the preferred holiday destination above all others. This includes Queensland and New South Wales, which for many years have taken a huge chunk of our international and domestic visitation.
Australia, particularly the Northern Territory, is recognised for its natural environment. The big blue sky aspect, the clean fresh air, the wide open spaces and the friendly happy people – this is what research has told Tourism Australia and us – is what sets Australia apart, and the Northern Territory, as a holiday destination. The room to move, the friendly disposition of people, the clean fresh air and the big blue sky aspect cannot be understated or overstated. Compared to those smoggy, busy, highly populated cities of Europe, North America and Asia, Australia really has a significant advantage when it comes to our natural environment. It is where we punch well above our weight.
Our built up cities like Sydney and Melbourne, two great cities of nearly five million people or so, are up there with some of the other great cities of the world such as Paris and London. Even they are considered clean with fresh air, sparkling clear water and a great cultural and social environment. Australia is recognised as a wonderful wide open space and a clean, natural environment kind of destination.
Our parks in the Northern Territory are critical to that. They are a key element to attracting visitors. One might go so far as to say it is why people visit the Northern Territory. We are seeing some great numbers come through the Centre. Exploring our parks through Central Australia and the world-renowned icon of Uluru is starting to see resurgence.
In Darwin we are feeling a fair bit of pressure through our tourism industry. Sadly, this has been the case for some time now. It is still difficult to turn around and this can be sheeted home directly to the accommodation squeeze in the Top End.
It is a reflection of the previous government’s failure to plan. It is one thing to bring great industry to the table in the form of INPEX, but the resources boom has seen an accommodation squeeze in the Top End – the flow-on effects for that, not only for our local tour operators, but to tour operators down the track – those operators in our parks who rely on the gateway of Darwin to provide a platform for them to explore our natural environment through Kakadu, Litchfield, Mary River and others.
It has posed a significant issue; not to say there is not good stuff on the horizon. The Minister for Parks and Wildlife is working tirelessly with her agency through the CEO, Andrew Bridges, who is a great guy and has his finger on the pulse when it comes to working with our parks, traditional owners and industry, to develop the best possible product.
One of the first things I did when appointed Minister for Parks and Wildlife, was disallow the two plans put in place by the previous Labor government, just in time, by a day. We were able to disallow the Mary River and Litchfield National Park plans of management, and I know the minister would be well aware of them. With our view of wealth generation and opening up our parks these two plans were restrictive, inward looking and obstacle creating. They moved to shut down our parks and restrict visitation and growth, and in turn restrict opportunities for Aboriginal people to get some economic buy-in.
We saw a great opportunity to disallow those two plans and create a new plan. That is part of the new master plan the Minister for Parks and Wildlife is embarking on. It was a good thing we did because the two plans we disallowed would have stayed in effect for a decade. Without the parks, our whole tourism story could be a completely different look. They are crucial for us to deliver our tourism story and generate wealth through tourism, and visitor and holiday expenditure. Without them it is a big ask to expect holiday visitation to go through the roof through Alice Springs and Darwin alone. They cannot carry the goals and aspirations of our tourism industry, and they cannot alone be expected to achieve our $2.2bn holiday visitor expenditure by the year 2020. While they will play a part in and go a long way towards achieving that, we desperately need our parks on board and that was very much part of disallowing the Mary River and Litchfield National Parks plans of management when we were first elected.
I want to run through some of our marketing activity. I will use this as an opportunity to highlight some of the work Tourism NT is doing. I do not think I am straying too far from the topic, Mr Deputy Speaker, but pull me up if I am; I am sure someone will.
The minister dedicated more than half her statement to the visitor experience, growing wealth, generating wealth, Indigenous employment and employment full stop. It is about maximising the use of our parks while still protecting them and retaining that great environmental aspect, but also utilising them to leverage more great tourism outcomes for the Northern Territory.
I want to run through some of our marketing activity which will feed directly into doing just that, and that is maximising our tourism story through our parks. Our ‘Do the NT’ campaign was a full glossy brochure in the Sunday Age and the Herald Sun last Sunday. It was one of those glossy brochures that fall out of the middle. It stands out above the Repco catalogue and the like because it is an extraordinary document and it is how to ‘Do the NT’. It is packed with fun ideas on what to do in the Northern Territory.
It really plays on that ‘Do the NT’ side of things. Don’t sit around being too cold this winter, get out and Do the NT. If it is too dry, too hot, too rugged, too far, well, it’s not. The Northern Territory is a place for you. There were 400 000 into newspapers in our two capital cities, our two biggest domestic markets in New South Wales and Victoria. They had the potential to reach well over one million people last Sunday. It is all part of our current burst of marketing activation. The first burst of the new brand campaign ‘Do the NT’ occurred on 29 September last year, with mass coverage on TV, building awareness and supporting high frequency activity across print, radio and digital mediums and focusing on the primary 50-plus market. We really wanted to target the cashed-up baby boomers.
People are looking for something different these days. These people have done Dreamworld, the Gold Coast and the Sydney Harbour type experience. They have done the family holiday as a child, a couple, a family and are cashed-up baby boomers. The kids have left the nest – empty-nesters if you like – and they are looking for something really different, and that is what the Northern Territory can offer, primarily through our parks. There are things in the Northern Territory that cannot be experienced anywhere else in the world. That is exactly who we are trying to target through our ‘Do the NT’ campaign. The 50-plus were our first burst – the cashed-up baby boomers, the empty nesters.
The second phase of the brand campaign ‘Do the NT’ was launched on 2 February and ran until 1 March. The creative message highlighted to consumers was ‘How to Do the NT’, which is the brochure I am holding up, which targets the 18 to 35-year old looking for a high adventure holiday. The NT is in the back of their mind or are aware of the NT as a holiday destination, but are not yet convinced and prepared to convert that into a holiday booking because they are unsure of how to do the NT.
Research shows us people know it is here, but the issue with the Northern Territory – this relates back to our parks – is it is a beautiful land, but you cannot climb, you cannot touch, you cannot swim – you cannot do things. Through all the aggressive marketing we have done over the years with the ‘never, never go’ to ‘share our stories’, we lost our way a bit and ended up with a product people were aware of but unsure of how to do it – you cannot climb that rock, walk through that park or swim in that waterhole. We wanted to show people they can ‘Do the NT’. The NT is open for business and very much open for tourism.
The new second phase of our marketing campaign was ‘How to Do the NT’, the things you can do here and, while here, this is how you do it. We expect to see some great results from the second burst of the campaign. It is early days. It is a tough slog and we are coming off a very low base. A number of factors have driven visitation down in the Northern Territory and the previous Labor government was one. Other factors were outside the control of the ballot box, including the GFC, the high Australian dollar and the like. We are coming off a pretty low base, but we are seeing evidence that we have started to stem the decline. It is very important.
Tourism is an interesting beast. It is very easy for politicians to die in a ditch over a month-by-month figure. Low figures come out and you say, ‘Oh my God, we have failed. We have not achieved what we wanted to.’ It requires a fair bit of discipline to understand tourism is about a trend, it is not about a daily figure. You need to look back over a period of time to see how you are tracking.
When this government came on board in 2012 we were in significant decline. The figures are there. Both governments use Tourism Research Australia for the National Visitor Survey and the International Visitor Survey figures. We were in significant decline but we have been able to stem that decline. We have not seen any real increases yet. We have seen a couple of spikes and, unfortunately, a few dips over the recent quarter or so. However, overall the trend indicates the decline has been halted, which is good news.
Visitor expenditure is up. People are staying longer and spending more, which bodes well for our 2020 vision to create a visitor economy worth $2.2bn by the year 2020. There are some early indicators we are on the right track. However, it is a trend. I am not trying to back away. I have said previously, this time next year is when you can start judging whether or not the member for Greatorex has been a good Tourism minister. I have put my neck out. If you stick you head up in this House it will be shot off. I am quite prepared to have it shot off because I have confidence in the work we are doing, the work Tourism NT is doing with our agencies and all our wealth-generating agencies – the Minister for Infrastructure, the Minister for Parks and Wildlife, the Minister for Primary Industry and Fisheries, the Minister for Lands, Planning and the Environment and the Minister for Land Resource Management, which is important as well.
With the broader support of Cabinet and government members, I am convinced we can turn this ship around and see some significant increases that are not just a month-by-month spike but a trend.
Last year was a consolidating year for Tourism NT where we embarked on some pretty radical steps to set us up for the long-term journey and start to see some great results on the board. Relocation of the headquarters to Alice Springs was met with enormous resistance by the opposition; however, that has been a seamless transition and is starting to tick over very well. Nevertheless, it was still a bold decision by government.
The leasing of Territory Discoveries was another one. There was also the reconstitution of the board of commissioners, the new brand ‘Do the NT’, the new logo, the new slogan, the new marketing activity and the additional $8m we received to bolster our international marketing.
Some big steps were taken last year which consolidated what the new government wanted to do and set up an agenda and vision. This year we should start to see things kick in. I hope so, because there is a fair bit riding on it. I have put a lot of stock into a lot of people and have backed myself on this. I think we can pull this off and will start to see some great trends emerging out of Tourism NT. Barring some, Heaven forbid, uncontrollable event, if we keep going, all things being equal, we should start to see some quality numbers back through Tourism NT over 2014.
Mr CHANDLER: A point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker! Pursuant to Standing Order 77, I request an extension of time for the member.
Motion agreed to.
Mr CONLAN: Thanks Mr Deputy Speaker and honourable members.
I will touch on some of the other areas, specifically parks. Let us look at the NT visitor guide. These are a few notes I made with regard to tourism and our parks specifically. What I outlined in the last 20 minutes was the way Tourism NT is positioning our parks as the key critical asset and trying to drive visitation to our parks through our two gateways of Alice Springs and Darwin.
The government launched the biggest and most comprehensive visitor guide to our parks and reserves last year. I think it was just before the member for Stuart became Parks minister, but she has overseen the roll-out of it and it has been extraordinarily popular. It is almost like the Tennant Creek phone book – thick and glossy with comprehensive ways to enjoy our parks. I will refer to some of my notes rather than ad lib, but it is a one-stop shop for tourists to help plan their trip to our parks and learn more about what they can see in our natural surrounds. Simply put, it is a must have for everyone wanting to enjoy the great outdoors in the Northern Territory.
The visitor guide will encourage more tourists to visit our parks and ensure they get the best possible experience while there. I think it is 75 pages long, so nearly as big as the Tennant Creek phone book. The visitor guide to parks and reserves in the Northern Territory has been divided into four key regions: Darwin, Katherine, Barkly and Central Australia. It is a fabulous publication and I encourage you to pick up a copy and leave it on the coffee table. If you have visitors coming up this season get them a copy and they can enjoy our parks just like we do.
Litchfield National Park was awarded a Certificate of Excellence by leading tourism travel site TripAdvisor, which is no mean feat. It was a terrific accolade for one of our national parks and important tourism attractions. The Certificate of Excellence is a prestigious award given to attractions consistently achieving outstanding travel reviews on TripAdvisor.
Litchfield has punched above its weight as a national park and a visitor destination in its own right. To receive the award, the attraction must rank in the top 10% worldwide for traveller feedback. I repeat, it is an extraordinary feat and is something right here on our doorstep. It must maintain an overall rating of four or higher out of a possible five as reviewed by travellers on TripAdvisor over the past year. You can see it has been a consistent product over the course of the year and it rates in the top 10 worldwide.
I did an interview recently and was quizzed about why visitation in Litchfield National Park is strong, whereas Kakadu National Park is tapering off. It is no coincidence Litchfield National Park is a Northern Territory park and Kakadu is a Commonwealth park. Maybe the reason is because we put a lot of resources into promoting and encouraging people to visit Litchfield National Park and providing a terrific, unbelievable, worldwide, world-class experience, as evidenced by that survey.
I will touch on the Larapinta Trail too, because it is hard to go past this global icon. It was named as one of only seven iconic great walks in Australia, and these camps will help attract more visitors to the Territory, particularly from Europe, where adventure trekking is extremely popular. It is touching on the niche tourism side of things. The Minister for Parks and Wildlife touched on the mountain bike trails we are developing, and the ribbon will soon be cut in Alice Springs, through the Telegraph Station, to tap into this niche tourism.
To back up my earlier point about people looking for a different experience these days, the person embarking on a holiday is not so much looking to lay on a beach and put their feet up on a banana lounge anymore. That used to be the way we saw holidays. Nowadays, people are looking for an experience and niche market holidays are becoming more apparent and sought after. The Larapinta Trail is one. Worldwide trekking is becoming hugely popular; it is in great demand and we have one of Australia’s great iconic walks – there are only seven. Three or four are in Tasmania, and we have one on our doorstep in the Northern Territory.
The Northern Territory government, the Central Land Council and traditional owners have worked together to allow joint management of the national park and exclusive subleases have allowed new, architecturally-designed, semi-permanent camp sites on the remote Larapinta Trail. I had the pleasure of opening one of those before I lost the great Parks and Wildlife portfolio to the new minister. World Expeditions has a wonderful area set aside at the base of the Larapinta Trail named after the architect – I wish I could remember, I do not mean to be disrespectful, I have lost the name. The architect who designed it has passed away and his partner was there to cut the ribbon to officially open it. It is a great story.
If you do not like camping on the ground – they call it glamping, which is a glamorous style of camping. It is terrific. There are a couple with hot showers, quality food, first-class wine, all that sort of thing, but you are out underneath a billion stars.
The Larapinta Trail is one of Australia’s most spectacular attractions and these camps make the trek even better for tourists in the Territory, offering a unique experience. I think the minister touched on mountain bike tracks, but I reiterate what she said and support the government’s initiative to explore mountain biking. This is a niche market we cannot turn our back on or ignore. Alice Springs intends to become the centre for mountain bikers around the world, with support from Parks and Wildlife. That will be by development of trail networks through the Telegraph Station. It is a rapidly growing sport and one of the best locations in the world to get involved is at the Telegraph Station. Our fast-flowing single track is recognised as one of the best available anywhere.
The master plan for tourism and recreation in parks and reserves: I have made notes about that so will read that them. I have probably touched on some of it, but it is important to repeat the message and the government’s commitment to leveraging tourism through our parks. The community, stakeholders and the tourism industry are invited to help set the direction of the master plan and the future use of the Territory’s parks and reserves over the next decade. This is in response to this government disallowing the two plans of management for the Mary River and Litchfield National Parks. This will be a much more outwardly looking and inclusive style of management, particularly if all Territorians have a say.
The master plan will align the government’s Tourism Vision 2020, the Northern Territory strategy for growth. The aim is to set a clear vision for the Parks and Wildlife Commission as a leader in providing visitor enjoyment, community and business engagement of the Territory parks, and also to set clear direction for developing and managing recreation and tourism values and opportunities for the Territory’s most visited parks over the next 10 years. It is an important document, and it is important all Territorians have their say. We want to set this up for the next decade, and it demonstrates the government’s commitment to improving our parks and making them completely accessible to all Territorians.
I thank the minister for this important statement, and I wholeheartedly support it and look forward to working with the Minister for Parks and Wildlife in my capacity as the Minister for Tourism and the Minister for Arts and Museums. I did not touch on that. There is another 40 minutes about how the art scene, through our rock art and Indigenous art, generates huge interest and huge tourism potential through our national parks.
I commend the statement to the House and thank the minister for bringing it on.
Mr CHANDLER (Lands, Planning and the Environment): Mr Deputy Speaker, I commend the Minister for Parks and Wildlife for bringing this statement forward.
Minister Conlan said earlier he had the privilege of being the Minister for Parks and Wildlife prior to minister Price. For four years in opposition I had the privilege – if you want to call it a privilege – of being the shadow Minister for Parks and Wildlife. In that time I visited many of our wonderful parks and reserves across the Northern Territory, and in opposition we said many things about our parks.
I recall many times they were closed with gates up everywhere. There were padlocks and you could not go down roads. We had a mantra, while in opposition, that we would open up the parks. Parks are for people, and I have spoken to many people about the value of our parks and our flora and fauna, but they cannot be valued if they are locked up because people have to see and appreciate what we have. I know Uluru and Kakadu are both under federal control, but I look forward to the day when those two magnificent parks are under the control of the Northern Territory government. I hope that occurs because we can probably do much better than Parks Australia does. There would be a lot of synergy in including those parks with Northern Territory parks.
It is like having two lots of people on different buses heading in the same direction. One is Parks Australia and one is the Northern Territory Parks and Wildlife service, all with the same intention but two completely different jurisdictions running the show. I did not quite understand how that could work successfully. Whilst there are good people on both sides, the Northern Territory government’s Parks and Wildlife is mature enough. We have demonstrated, with the many fabulous parks we have in the NT, we could manage and operate Uluru as well as Kakadu.
I visited many parks in the time I was shadow minister, such as Kings Canyon. I remember being bogged for a few hours on the Ernest Giles Road. At the time it saw much attention from the media, and I was stuck for about seven hours on that road.
That day it was about 2C or 3C with rain trickling down in the middle of July, which should not have been happening. It was cold, wet and I was bogged. It created a bit of media at the time, but I much preferred to see our parks from the ground up not an office 1500 km away or an aircraft 30 000 feet above. Would I get bogged again? Perhaps, but unless you have been there it is hard to appreciate what a great country we have.
The Watarrka National Park at King’s Canyon is a fabulous part of the world, as is Uluru. Uluru impresses me greatly with its magnificence. That is why it is well-known and well-regarded around the world. Once you have seen it from a hiker’s point of view, or someone who appreciates the land, walking around the Olgas is equally as impressive, if not more so. With the walking trails you get to see the Olgas and it is such a beautiful part of Central Australia.
In the Darwin region, there are parks like Litchfield, Berry Springs, and Casuarina Coastal Reserve. You do not have to go far in Darwin to see some magnificent territory. If people look at Casuarina Coastal Reserve they will be amazed at what they find. People do not often associate our botanic gardens with Parks and Wildlife, but they are all part of the team of specific parks and reserves we hold dear to our heart as Territorians – Charles Darwin National Park, Fogg Dam, Manton Dam and Mary River are all areas you can visit not far from Darwin.
I have some great memories of Charles Darwin National Park. During my time in the Air Force I used to run around it every morning. That was the bomb dump and our police dog section. For many years we kennelled our police dogs there every night in the old asbestos-ridden kennels we had. I have never seen a place in Darwin – in fact, I do not recall being in a place in Darwin – where I have seen more sandflies than there. The sandflies blew me away. You could walk into the crew hut at 4 am or 5 am at high tide a see a fog of sandflies. I always thought what a marvellous place for a housing development one day, before it was a national park. I am not professing, minister, that you turn the national park into a housing estate, but would it not be a fabulous residential development? The sandflies would just about eat people up.
For many years in opposition we looked at Parks and Wildlife with the mentality of the last government – our parks closed – and wished we had them open. For many years there were no new rides. If you go to places like the Gold Coast and see the big theme parks, they would not be successful today if they did not keep reinventing themselves. They need people to return, and even then they struggle to make a dollar.
Our parks and reserves are no different. Previous governments invested heavily into our parks. You only have to look at both the Desert Park in Alice Springs and the Territory Wildlife Park at Berry Springs to see the kind of money pumped into those assets years ago. Sadly, the Territory Wildlife Park is showing its age. By comparison, if you go to Alice Springs and look at the Desert Park, it still looks as fresh, clean and new as the day it opened. I do not know if the weather conditions in Central Australia are kinder to equipment, paint or whatever, but that place looks remarkably well and I get a kick out of it every time I go there.
The Territory Wildlife Park needs to be reinvigorated. This government, and the minister, are both working hard on achieving that and we should not rule anything out. People talk about private investment in our parks as something that should be frowned upon and Territorians may lose control of their parks, but that is just scaremongering. There have been some great partnerships with private business in our parks for many years and there is no reason that cannot continue into the future. In opposition I had a view that the Territory Wildlife Park could just about have a three- or four-star hotel chain build a complex there, perhaps an ecotour type camping area with camping grounds and tents where tourists have the opportunity to interact with the park after hours. At sunset you could have Indigenous dancers around campfires; you could have a nocturnal experience for tourists in the park.
To achieve this you need people, and how do you get people into a park? You need a reason for them to be there, and something like a three- four- or five-star hotel could be constructed close to the site to bring people into the park as well as rejuvenating the park and getting the numbers up. I saw plans years ago which included a chairlift across the park. One plan I saw included a ferry service from the Darwin CBD all the way up Darwin Harbour, through the arms, and all the way to Berry Springs as another way of bringing tourists into the Territory Wildlife Park.
As a government we are doing some fantastic things. The minister should be commended for the work she is doing in our parks, and the community should be promoting our parks for people to visit at different times of the year. If you look at some of our parks, Litchfield being a prime example, in the middle of the Dry Season compared to visiting Litchfield in the Wet Season, you see the waterfalls and the differences. Many tourists are afraid of our Wet Season, afraid of cyclones and all things Territorian which keeps them away. It is the most fantastic time of year to be in the Northern Territory, particularly in the northern part of the Territory. Our thunder and lightning storms are second to none. The waterfalls, the brilliance, the difference in our community and our parks – the greenery just blows you away and our parks come alive in the Wet Season.
Sadly, during the height of the Wet Season there are many parts of the parks you cannot reach. However, as a government, we should do all we can to keep these areas open for as long as possible. During the Dry Season the smoky skies and sunsets are brilliant. I have spent time on the Mary River fishing around the Shady Camp area, where you would sit on a boat watching a sunset with the pandanus in the background, the birds flying in the sky, the smoke, the sun and the colours – it is truly mesmerising.
In the Northern Territory we have some of the best parks and reserves in the world. We should do all we can to support, promote and talk them up. Unlike some of the opposition, who want to talk them down, let us talk them up because that is how we attract people. We still have our issues, and this is where I get back to Parks Australia.
I was speaking to some elders in the Mutitjulu area who would love to set up a ballooning business at Uluru. I could not think of anything nicer than going around Uluru in a hot air balloon at dawn. The hot air balloon company in Alice Springs does a fantastic job, but can you imagine having the same thing at Uluru. Yet some elders at Mutitjulu were speaking to me about their frustrations when trying to work with Parks Australia. These are traditional owners of the area who have difficulties working with Parks Australia, and in some cases the Central Land Council, to get their business up and running. I thought Parks Australia and the Central Land Council would be jumping at opportunities to promote local Indigenous people getting a business like this off the ground, because it is a game changer in bringing tourists to Uluru and Central Australia.
Imagine, for one moment, going up in a balloon at dawn with the sun coming up and the different colours off the rock. It would be truly mesmerising. There would be a few marriage proposals if that atmosphere was available.
There are so many things we can do to promote our parks. Where we are so unique in the Northern Territory is Central Australia is different to the Barkly, which is fascinating and different to the Katherine area and the Top End. In Central Australia, look through the West MacDonnells, Rainbow Valley, Ruby Gap, Finke Gorge and Chambers Pillar. When I was at the Henbury meteorites I imagined what happened thousands of years ago when those meteorites hit the ground. I still have horrible thoughts of the Ernest Giles Road for some reason, but I will get over that one day. It is a fantastic, fascinating part of the world.
Around the Barkly area, around Tennant Creek, look at Attack Creek. The Barrow Creek Telegraph Station is well worth a stop, as is the telegraph station in Tennant Creek itself. Karlu Karlu, the Devils Marbles – every time we drive down the track we pull up there, not only to stretch the legs, but because it is a fascinating part of the Territory and something we should promote.
One thing that has always fascinated me about the Devils Marbles is who made the decision to run the power lines through there when they could have gone around ...
Mr Tollner: It wasn’t me! I wasn’t the shareholding minister then.
Mr CHANDLER: You were not the shareholding minister. There is a road around the Devils Marbles and a side track takes you in so you can see the rocks much closer. Then you have power lines running through the whole thing and I think, ‘Wow, that could have been done differently’. It is too late now; we cannot do anything about it.
These parts of the country should be supported, and the minister is doing a fantastic job promoting our parks. As I said, the Darwin area has some great conservation reserves. Look at Shoal Bay.
As the member for Nelson said earlier, throw a knapsack on, grab some water and head into some of these areas. Take a portable GPS unit or a flare in case you get into trouble. Be prepared, as one should always be when they go into some of these places, because you can get into trouble and there are some big distances in the Northern Territory. If something goes wrong it puts a lot of pressure on our essential services to rescue somebody. Like Ernest Giles Road, you can sit there for eight hours before a car comes past. You must be prepared if you are going to some of these beautiful areas. I know about going through the West MacDonnell Ranges and so forth. When you go out to these places, make sure you have the right resources on board – plenty of water and take note of the weather conditions. It can be a cold place in the winter and a hot place in the summer, but we have some fantastic places.
Around the Katherine region there is the Elsey National Park, Gregory National Park, the Keep River, Nitmiluk, Limmen National Park and Cutta Cutta caves. These are all fantastic places to go. I have only been to Cutta Cutta twice, and both times it blew me away. I had no idea there was such beauty underground. I visited on one occasion when they had just replaced a whole lot of 12 volt lighting, so the lighting sections of the caves were lit up and looked fantastic. They were still replacing other parts because a flood had gone through.
Again, these areas are part of our heritage. They mean so much to so many people and, wherever possible, we should be protecting them. At the same time, you cannot protect something by locking it up, you have to allow people to see it. The more people who see our parks and reserves the more they will be protected into the future because people value what they understand. I have spoken to Professor Graham Webb many times about crocodile management …
Mr TOLLNER: A point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker! Pursuant to Standing Order 77, I move an extension of time for the Minister for Education to finish his remarks.
Motion agreed to
Mr CHANDLER: I have spoken to Professor Graham Webb many times about crocodiles. He will tell you to make sure we protect crocodiles; we must value them. You will not protect anything you do not value. While we are touching on that and the Minister for Parks and Wildlife – the CROCWISE program has been successful and well run in our schools. Many times I have been visiting schools across the Northern Territory when the CROCWISE program is being run, and I hope it will continue in our schools. We must continue to get the message out and appreciate new students come through our school system every year and we must keep reminding them of the message. This is not a one-off message. You must keep reminding people time and time again. Thank you for the program and I hope it continues.
I have spoken about parks in the Darwin area, like Berry Springs, the Botanical Gardens, Casuarina Coastal Reserve, Charles Darwin National Park, Fogg Dam, Manton Dam and Mary River. In the Katherine area I have spoken about Limmen, Nitmiluk, Cutta Cutta, Elsey, Gregory and Keep River. We also have parks run by Parks Australia: Uluru and Kakadu. As Territorians, we have so many things to be proud of. So many of our parks are open and available and the more they are used, the more people will value them. Our tourism industry in the Northern Territory is underpinned by the natural resources in our parks. Look at the gorge in Nitmiluk National Park, it is fascinating. There is a spiritual feeling at some of these places. I do not know what it is, but when you go to some of these places – it has affected me when I have visited different parts of the Territory. Uluru is another place. For some reason, when you go there it is as if the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. I cannot explain it. When you are at some of these destinations, something happens to you. It is difficult to articulate but is a feeling you get. We have so much to offer Territorians and the rest of the world.
Mr Deputy Speaker, I commend the minister for the statement. Everyone in this Chamber will be behind you when it comes to supporting the national parks and reserves in the Northern Territory, our great assets.
Mr WESTRA van HOLTHE (Primary Industry and Fisheries): Mr Deputy Speaker, I support the statement by the Minister for Parks and Wildlife, Building the Contribution of Parks and Wildlife to the Territory.
In the statement the Minister for Parks and Wildlife has outlined the way forward for the Northern Territory’s parks and reserves, and the important role they will play in helping to deliver this government’s Tourism Vision 2020 strategy. This is in stark contrast to the attitude the former government took with respect to our parks in the Northern Territory.
Clearly, this government wants to see our parks opened up so people can use them. They are beautiful, natural attributes we have, yet they languished under the helm of the former Labor government because they wanted to lock the parks up. I found that quite extraordinary. The minister’s vision for parks in the Northern Territory is a welcome breath of fresh air.
Territory parks are unique. They are second to none, in my view. As the local member for Katherine – I have said this before in this House – Katherine is the ideal location to begin your next adventure exploring our parks and reserves. Katherine is located only a couple of hours from Kakadu, Litchfield and Gregory National Parks, not to mention it sits on the doorstep of the stunning Nitmiluk or Katherine Gorge National Park.
You can explore a lot of Nitmiluk without a four-wheel drive, as we have sealed roads leading right to the doorstep of both Katherine Gorge and Edith Falls. There is an abundance of safe swimming spots in the region, including Katherine Hot Springs and Mataranka thermal pools, Bitter Springs to the south and Edith Falls to the north.
There is Cutta Cutta Caves, a series of limestone caverns dating back 500 million years, with sparkling columns, pillars, and flowstones of calcite crystal. I note my colleague, the member for Arnhem, listening intently and smiling as I talk about Cutta Cutta Caves. She drives past them regularly along the Stuart Highway as she goes between Barunga and Katherine, something I used to do many years ago when I was in the police force based at both Mataranka and Maranboy. I could not tell you the number of times I drove past Cutta Cutta Caves. It was always great to see so many visitors pouring in and out of Cutta Cutta – lots of cars.
Further out from Katherine there are magnificent camping spots to explore in the Limmen National Park and Elsey National Park, as well as Mataranka.
Before becoming a member of parliament, my wife and I ran a bed and breakfast in Katherine. I was extremely proud to be a member of the Katherine Region Tourist Association, which is where I met you, Mr Deputy Speaker, when you were on the KRTA as well. We have known each other for quite some time.
During this time, tourism was, in part, our bread and butter when my wife and I were operating the B&B. As such, I have firsthand knowledge and appreciation of the magnificent drawcards our national parks, reserves and unique wildlife are in drawing tourists to the Northern Territory. In fact, when we were operating our bed and breakfast, we would be corresponding with our prospective guests about the activities of the region. We would virtually write up itineraries which suited the guests given the number of days they had. It always included visits into the national parks. If they were a short stay, a one day, Nitmiluk was definitely on the itinerary. If they were longer stays, we would extend those itinerary locations down to Mataranka, out to Gregory and the other parks in the region. We allowed our property to become the base so people could have a lovely place to stay at night then visit our beautiful national parks during the day.
The parks, tourism and recreation master plan will go a long way to ensuring visitor numbers in our national parks continue to grow, and that vital and necessary infrastructure continues to grow alongside these visitor numbers. On my next trip to a Territory national park I look forward to impressing my sons – I do not think they would have done this – by hanging off a zip line – I might give that a go – and being able to purchase real coffee at a pop-up concession stand, all great ideas that encourage people to get into our national parks.
I have every confidence the Minister for Parks and Wildlife will ensure all developments happen in a way which manages the balance between growth of small business – which means jobs in our regions – and the protection of our cultural and environmental assets.
In mid-September last year, as Minister for Mines and Energy, I undertook a road trip to visit several remote mining operations. This trip took me through some of the most remote parts of the Northern Territory and, at the same time, through some of the most stunning outback scenery you could ever hope to see. The majority of this beautiful countryside, with its vast ranges and deep rivers, was located in the Limmen National Park, Kakadu National Park, Nitmiluk National Park and Elsey, just to name a few.
I encourage all members in this House, if they have not had the opportunity to experience the magnificence of these parks, to put them on your bucket list now. Everybody needs to do our parks!
I commend the Minister for Parks and Wildlife on her vision to create unique visitor experiences in the form of events such as ranger for a day, allowing people to get up close with our wildlife. What a great initiative.
As the minister states, our parks and reserves are definitely open for business and, as local member for Katherine, a town in which many people and businesses rely heavily on the tourism dollar, I am particularly heartened to learn the NT Parks Tourism and Recreation Masterplan will be achieved by delivering high quality sustainable environmental, cultural and visitor outcomes for Northern Territory parks, reserves and wildlife.
It is a wonderful thing to have the beautiful natural assets we call our parks in the Northern Territory. I have been to quite a number of the national parks …
Mr Tollner: You are a bit of a fisherman.
Mr WESTRA van HOLTHE: I am a bit of a fisherman. Thank you for the interjection, member for Fong Lim.
I have been to a number of the national parks and what I love about them is the diversity across each and every one of them. One park in one part of the Top End will be completely different and possess completely different attributes to a similar park in another part of the Top End, and similarly for those in Central Australia. It is heartening to see we have a minister and a government committed to making sure these parks form a useful part of the growth of our economy.
There are three key economic drivers in the Northern Territory: the mining sector, the primary industry sector – I am proud to have stewardship of those through my ministerial portfolios – and also tourism. If we do not have product for our tourists they will not come. If you lock up the national parks like the Labor government did – is it any wonder tourism was flagging in the Northern Territory for many years? You cannot tie up the natural beauty of a place, one of the things that will attract visitors to the Northern Territory, and still expect visitor numbers to remain strong.
Visitors to the Northern Territory are looking for a number of experiences and, without doubt, the natural beauty of the Northern Territory is a huge part of that. You can jump on the Stuart Highway, drive up and down, pop out along the Arnhem Highway and see whatever is on the side of the road, but until you get off the road and into our national parks you do not have an opportunity to fully appreciate what the Northern Territory has to offer.
I mentioned, prompted by the member for Fong Lim, fishing. Fishing is available across many of our parks, and I encourage people to get out amongst it – obey all the fishing rules, because some of the parks have rules – and use it as an opportunity and reason to get into our parks. There are some great locations. Think about Katherine Gorge – Nitmuluk – what a stunning jewel in the crown of the Northern Territory. It was always marketed as the jewel in the crown of the Territory and still is. I will probably get an argument from some people about it, but I am willing to face them down because I am confident the Katherine Gorge represents, if not the most, one of the most attractive places in the Northern Territory to visit.
I am delighted to support the minister’s statement this afternoon. She has vision and is clearly driven to ensure our parks are used sensibly and wisely so they can contribute to the economy of the Northern Territory through the tourism sector.
There was some mention earlier – I only caught a bit of it – of mining in national parks. We follow a strict regulatory regime before any mining activity can take place in our national parks. There is an extra one or two layers approvals need to go through before they can be commenced in our national parks. I want to allay any fears that our national parks are considered expendable. Significant work goes into the approval process of any mining activity before it is allowed in those areas. Some of the approval process requires significant consultation, which can take a number of years.
In closing, I think we have some tremendous opportunities in the Northern Territory to grow the tourism sector around our national parks. We would be remiss if we did not grab any opportunity we could and run with it. Congratulations to the Minister for Parks and Wildlife, and I am very pleased to support her statement in this House.
Debate suspended.
Mr VOWLES (Johnston): Madam Speaker, I move that the Legislative of Assembly calls on the Chief Minister to discipline the member for Greatorex for the disrespectful and abusive language he used towards the member for Namatjira, also, that the Legislative Assembly congratulates the member for Namatjira and the member for Araluen for their courage in speaking out against workplace bullying, and that the Legislative Assembly makes a powerful statement to all Territory women that bullying in this workplace or anywhere is not acceptable in 2014.
This motion has three distinct aspects: failure of leadership, courageous women and an affirmation by this House that certain behaviour – in this case, bullying – is not acceptable in this day and age, if it ever was. The Chief Minister is, for want of a better term, the CEO of that side of the House. It is his responsibility to make sure he provides a duty of care to his members; he needs to lead.
We will demonstrate that in the matter of the vile and abusive language used by the member for Greatorex towards the member of Namatjira in the CLP party room, the Chief Minister failed in his duty of care.
He should have immediately disciplined the member of Greatorex but did not. Like many failed leaders before him, he compounded his lack of leadership by covering up the original offence to protect his frail numbers, but in the process he diminished himself as a leader and diminished the office of Chief Minister. There is no doubt what was alleged to have been said by the member of Greatorex to the member of Namatjira was, in fact, said. The victim has confirmed it, and no one from that side of the House has contradicted it.
For the record, she told ABC radio on 11 March:
The ABC presenter asked her a direct question and, without hesitation, she answered firmly and certainly that:
Again, significantly, there has been no public contradiction. The victim approached the leader and told him what had happened, and we are all left in no doubt that is what she did.
How did the Chief Minister, the CEO of that side of the House, with his duty of care, react? His reply to his aggrieved college was:
In other words, ‘Don’t bother me with such minor matters as workplace vilification, bullying or verbal abuse. Let’s sweep it under the carpet.’
The Chief Minister put it into the ‘too hard basket’; he failed her. At a time when leadership was called for, at a time when any leader worth their position would have intervened and taken action, this leader failed. That is not where it ended. Not content with letting down his colleagues, his values and letting down everyone who heard the comment, the Chief Minister decided it would be best to cover it up.
The cover-up started on 8 March on ABC TV. When he had the chance to come clean, the Chief Minister uttered these words.
Perhaps he was mistaken or perhaps he had forgotten what the member for Namatjira had said to him. He had another chance to set the record straight on Channel 9 the same day. Again, it was the same script, the same lines that had been worked by the backroom boys in the Chief Minister’s office. The Chief Minister said:
The spin was on. The following day he was more strident. On Territory FM, the Chief Minister said:
There is no equivocation, no doubt and no way out. Like Lady Macbeth, the Chief Minister was steeped in so much blood there was no going back. The untruth had to be continued.
The final insult came on 10 March on Mix 104.9 FM. Pete Davies asked ‘Are you going to sack minister Conlan?’ The Chief Minister laughed. Yes, that is right, he laughed. Being verbally abused is now a laughing matter for this Chief Minister. Then, he replied, ‘Absolutely not’. To his credit, Pete Davies persisted, ‘Why not?’ The Chief Minister replied, ‘Why would I?’ Playing dumb is never a great line of defence, Chief Minister. It was the biggest political story in the Northern Territory that day, and the Chief Minister replied, ‘Why would I?’ Where had he been for the previous few days?
Pete Davies tries to jog his memory. ‘Well, I mean, he referred to one of his colleagues as well – as the C word’. Here was the Chief Minister’s chance to finally come clean, to step up and admit he knew what had happened. But, no, the cover-up was in full swing, ‘Well, Pete’, he said, ‘I would actually challenge that. I don’t believe that to be actually true’. I will repeat that. The Chief Minister said on live radio, ‘I don’t believe that to be actually true’.
In reference to the other great political cover-up, let us call this Conlangate. Chief Minister, you must need allies to stick your neck out for that foul-mouthed minister of yours. We have established the comments were said. Not a single person on that side of the House has contradicted the member for Namatjira since she spoke to ABC radio on 11 March. The words were said, there is no doubt. We know the Chief Minister knew the words had been said. Since 11 March, he has not denied that.
The cover-up lasted from 8 March to 10 March, until the member for Namatjira went on the record. Since then, there has been nothing from this Chief Minister. After failing his duty of care, after failing the leadership test and concocting his clumsy backroom boy lines on the subject, since 11 March, since the truth came out – silence. He wants it to all go away. It is not, Chief Minister, because today your honesty and leadership is being judged.
To the brave woman who took the stand – I have already mentioned the member for Namatjira – her courage in speaking out is to be applauded. Her recollection was clear and precise:
She remembered it word for word, and who would not? It is not easy to go public about a colleague’s misbehaviour, but some things transcend politics. This was such a case.
The member for Namatjira told ABC listeners:
Of course she did. It was a big step to reveal the truth, but it had to be done. Throughout the previous three days her character, her recollection and her honesty had been put to the sword by the Chief Minister. Someone had to speak up, and the member for Namatjira did. It was a political risk, but she had the courage of her convictions. She had to put the record straight. It was her word against the Chief Minister’s; the man who had spent the previous three days telling all and sundry nothing had happened. The truth came out and the victim spoke up. However, she was not alone.
The member for Araluen is also a woman with courage and fortitude. On Friday 7 March, she told the ABC 7.30 Report:
She went further in the Sunday Territorian on 9 March. She said:
An apology was not forthcoming in the first place. Think about that. Six women, insulted by what the member for Greatorex had said, wanted him to say, ‘I am sorry’, but he could not. As we know, an apology was eventually dragged out of the member for Greatorex – very big of him.
There may be a political cost for the member for Araluen. I hope there is not because, by speaking out, she did the right thing. The member for Araluen’s final word on the subject is perhaps the most telling. She told the Sunday Territorian it was not easy being a woman in parliament. I am here to tell the members for Araluen and Namatjira this man salutes your stand.
To bullying. About 400 years ago, Irish philosopher Edmund Burke said rudeness is the weak man’s imitation of strength. I am happy to amend it for the 21st century: bullying is the weak man’s imitation of strength. It is weak and cowardly, but it is more than that. It is intimidating, damages people’s confidence, messes with their psyche and, for the record, is in total contravention of the Territory’s own anti-bullying policy. The front page of the policy reads:
Madam Speaker, this House has to make a decision. Do we say no to bullying, or do we say it is okay? Do we say leaders have a duty of care to their colleagues, or do we say covering up is acceptable? Do we applaud those who have the courage to face bullies head on and say enough is enough, or do we turn our backs on them? The answer is obvious. This motion deserves a unanimous response in the affirmative. I commend the motion to the House.
Mr GILES (Chief Minister): Madam Speaker, I welcome the motion. At the outset, I do not, the Country Liberals do not, and this government does not support bullying in the workplace. Also at the outset, this motion, even though I endorse it, is too narrow in its wording. Let me be specific. Whilst Labor has made it very clear in the latter part of the motion quote:
Madam Speaker, it is my strong view that this reference to women only does not go far enough. I would like to make it clear to this House, and all Territorians, that this government and this parliament do not condone bullying of women, or anyone else.
I would like members on both sides of this House to consider changing this motion so everyone can be included, as it should be, with equality.
In this regard we are well guided in the public service by excellent policies and procedures that have stood the test of time and have been often lauded as leading the country in their progressive nature. These guidelines, set in stone for all to see, are called Appropriate Workplace Behaviour Employment Instruction No 13, dated 29 June 2012 by then Public Service Commissioner, Mr Graham Symons. This employment instruction is introduced, in part, as follows:
The document goes on to describe appropriate workplace behaviour as follows:
In this place we might all consider ourselves as employees. However, I hazard a guess most of the school kids who visit Question Time each day would not necessarily agree with the statement that we treat each other in a respectful, professional, fair, equitable and courteous manner. You only have to turn to today’s NT News to read the view of one political hopeful running in the Blain by-election, Mr Matthew Cranitch, when he was referring to the Opposition Leader who:
This might be indicative of the nature of the beast we call politics. We all know, on both sides of this House, politics is a robust game. We all know you need to have a thick skin. Even members opposite know, full well, by the letter of these guidelines, internal meetings do not always go swimmingly behind closed doors. I dare any one of the members opposite to look at each other, or any Territorian in the eye and claim otherwise. Sometimes in politics, as the Leader of the Opposition and her deputy know, behind closed doors it can be very different ball game. Accusations of bullying, directly or indirectly, can come from those outside the group.
Earlier I quoted Mr Matthew Cranitch from today’s NT News. Two days ago, in the same newspaper, Matthew Cranitch made a claim about the Opposition Leader some might refer to as bullying. The article says:
Whether this occurred or not is still subject to speculation, because the Leader of the Opposition might reject outright even speaking to Mr Cranitch. I leave it up to others to judge whether bullying occurred on that occasion or not. Bullying is defined by others, such as the Public Service Commissioner. The Definition of Workplace Bullying and Inappropriate Behaviour, according to the Commissioner in his 2012 instruction, is:
This last part of the Commissioner’s missive is an interesting one to note. After we all leave this place and go about our lives as Territorians, we might reflect that most reasonable Territorians would find what we all do in this place, from time to time, is unacceptable. Let me be clear: bullying, as it has been defined in this way, should never be tolerated. We should reject it, openly discuss it, and ensure it does not happen anywhere in the workplace, at whatever level, wherever and regardless of whether it is man, woman or child.
Is it an expectation all Territorians should have of us, and us of each other. I will leave any change to the latter part of this motion to others in this House as, clearly, this motion is directed towards me. I know, in all good conscience, all members of this House would agree.
As importantly, I turn to the first part of this motion, because this is the part which relates directly to me, as Chief Minister, disciplining another member. I talk to members on this side of the House quite often. This includes all colleagues on this side of the Chamber, and my discussions range broadly from meetings with large groups, in-depth discussions with a few concerned members, through to one-on-one formal or informal chats.
The role of Chief Minister, from time to time, must include leadership of matters of discipline, conduct, language and overall respect for each other. As I said earlier, we all know politics is a robust game and you need a thick skin. This means there is robust debate between members of this side of the House when we meet as a group of people to discuss issues of importance. We pride ourselves as a party on not divulging things which occur behind closed doors.
From time to time I have had to discipline members on this side of the House on matters of conduct, language and overall respect for each other. What this means is I do not condone bullying, but do condone robust debate. The message to Territorians, when I meet them in the street, is simple: I do not, the Country Liberals do not and this government does not support bullying in the workplace by anyone. The message for members opposite, and the House, is this motion is endorsed. However, it needs to be amended slightly so it can broadly include everyone: men, women and children. I recommend those changes to you.
Ms WALKER (Nhulunbuy): Madam Speaker, I support the motion brought forward by my colleague, the member for Johnston, which calls on the Chief Minister to discipline the member for Greatorex for disrespectful and abusive language he used towards the member for Namatjira.
As a woman I support others, particularly women, who have been on the receiving end of bullying in the workplace and subjected to unacceptable treatment by a colleague who could be a peer, a subordinate or a manager, it does not matter. Nor does it matter whether the incidents of workplace bullying occurred behind closed doors, in a private meeting or in a public place, or with or without witnesses. I support the members for Namatjira and Araluen, who have had the courage to speak out about workplace bullying within their own ranks, bullying which transcends political boundaries.
Apart from the deep personal hurt and anxiety workplace bullying can cause to an individual, male or female, where bullying is known to have occurred, when the victim or a witness in support of a victim speaks out, one would expect that incident would be dealt with appropriately and the victim, at the very least, would receive a public apology from the perpetrator and the latter would receive some admonishment or discipline. Bad or bullying behaviour cannot be dealt with if the perpetrator is unwilling to accept any responsibility for his or her actions.
The events of the past week-and-a-half – an extraordinary incident in the CLP party wing meeting where the member for Namatjira was sworn at by the member for Greatorex – may never have reached the public domain nor been the subject of a debate in this House if a different course of action had been taken by the member for Greatorex and his boss, the Chief Minister. There and then, on the spot, there could have been an apology offered, stern words to the member for Greatorex about his incredibly inappropriate behaviour, his offensive language and the need to change and modify his behaviour. However, none of that occurred and I have no reason to doubt the allegations from the member for Namatjira, nor did female members of the CLP.
I know there are some bizarre goings-on in the ranks of the CLP, and there are currently many divisions, but does anyone here think the member for Namatjira is making this up for the heck of it? Does anyone in the public or the media think she is just making this up? Do they think the conversation and the abusive, disgraceful and disrespectful language never occurred?
The Chief Minister, when alerted by the member for Namatjira to the offensive remarks directed at her by the member of Greatorex, chose to brush the matter aside when he said:
As the member for Johnston said and is widely known, there has been no public contradiction that the event happened. As recently as Question Time today, when the member for Greatorex was asked about this subject, he said:
This whole saga is not just about the member for Namatjira’s word against the word of the Chief Minister or the member for Greatorex. This incident came to light because the member for Araluen chose to speak out and place on the public record she was no longer:
She also stated with conviction that:
Today, I speak out against it with my own account of having been on the receiving end of what I believe to be bullying and harassment from the member for Greatorex. I wish to read onto the public record a letter I drafted to Speaker Aagaard on 4 May 2011:
That was the letter I wrote to the then Speaker on 4 May 2011. I did not give that letter to the Speaker. I decided not to for a number of reasons, which I have thought about a great deal in the past week, with new allegations about how the member for Greatorex treats other female colleagues in this House, our workplace.
Bullying and harassment does not have to include abusive language. He did not swear at me, but I was deeply offended and felt threatened and intimidated by his behaviour. The victims of bullying, women especially, often question themselves as to whether they are overreacting or just need to toughen up, get over it and move on, whether they might be perceived and dismissed as mischief makers, or have fears about whether there might be repercussions and recriminations for proceeding with a complaint and asking for an apology.
I know of the experiences of other women where the process of formally lodging a complaint about bullying can, sadly, often be more painful than the original offence and result in a victim becoming ostracised. With hindsight, I had every right to pursue what was clearly bullying behaviour. I wish I had, with an expectation the member for Greatorex be asked to modify his behaviour towards me and others and behave in a way more respectful of colleagues, despite the unusual workplace ours is. It is adversarial by its nature, but there must be boundaries.
They were not isolated and out of character incidents from the member for Greatorex. He is well-known for his angry outbursts and taunts. I understand only too well the pressures of his job, but he needs help with anger management. He lacks empathy and respect. He crossed a line in his dealings with me in the past, and clearly the members for Araluen and Namatjira think he crossed a line in that party wing meeting last month.
As a person in public life, he needs to offer a public apology to the member for Namatjira. The Chief Minister needs to step up, show some leadership, and be seen to discipline the member for Greatorex and send a very strong message that bullying in this workplace, or anywhere, is not acceptable in this day in age, whether it be directed at men or women. It is not only the right thing to do, it is also the decent thing to do. There are no excuses for bullying and harassment. I commend the motion to the House.
Mr WOOD (Nelson): Madam Speaker, something was said at a party meeting. Some say it was, some say it was not, and some will not say so who do you believe? Is this all about what is currently happening in the CLP, and is this motion meant to fuel the fires of discontent? I do not support the language alleged to have been said, not only if it is said to women, although that is bad enough, but to anyone. I do not support swearing or abusive language and, over the years, I have heard plenty from some members of this parliament on both sides. I have also copped my fair share of abuse in this House, certainly some from the member for Greatorex.
As politicians, we should be setting the standard with appropriate and considered language not encouraging the use of bad language. Next time they send a footballer off the field for swearing I bet he or she says to me, ‘I was only copying your mates in parliament’. This motion could be stopped in its tracks if the Chief Minister, the leader of the government, made a clear and unequivocal statement about the matter. Unfortunately, the waters have been muddied with the CLP presently in disarray and a by-election campaign happening at the same time.
If the member for Greatorex said something he should not have he should apologise. If any member of the CLP said something inappropriate they should apologise. The Chief Minister should show some leadership, even if it means kicking a few butts, saying if this is the behaviour of members of his party it is not on – bad language or bullying – otherwise he will act. Fix it, Chief Minister, and let us move on and start governing the Territory.
I make it clear, so please do not try to twist my words or put words in my mouth that are not true. I do not support bad, abusive and crude language, but I will not get caught up in the internal machinations of the CLP or by-election politics. We can all pontificate and condemn others in this parliament, but in the end we are all elected by the people. If the people think our behaviour is abusive and bullish, the people will judge us and make the final decision at the next election.
Madam SPEAKER: Pursuant to Standing Order 156, the member for Namatjira called for a division and the Leader of the Opposition indicated support pursuant to Standing Order 157. The division was not required due to the lack of any member voting with the noes.
Motion agreed to.
Mr WOOD (Nelson): Madam Speaker, I move that Standing Order 21A relating to the Public Accounts Committee be amended by inserting, after paragraph 2(e):
(f) to inquire into and report to the Legislative Assembly on any matters within the executive authority of ministers of the Territory to which the committee is of the opinion that the attention of the Assembly should be drawn.
In a more enlightened era we had a committee called the Council of Territory Cooperation. This committee was able to look at any matter it wished or was asked to by the government. It had members from both sides and an independent Chair. It was able to self-refer without approval from the parliament. This is part of its terms of reference:
Purpose of the committee
Members interjecting.
Mr WOOD:
There was a difference in the domestic violence figures being presented in annual reports so the CTC invited a number of agencies to explain. Interestingly, all members agreed crime statistics should not be quarterly as that can cause a distortion in the conclusion because of small numbers in some communities. A number of visits and public meetings were held at Nguiu, Wadeye, Alice Springs and Groote Eylandt to see SIHIP firsthand and discuss local government reform. Child protection was also on the agenda. A subcommittee of the CTC was formed which looked at animal welfare governance, the Mataranka cattle deaths and matters related to animal welfare legislation. The subcommittee produced 21 recommendations, all of which were agreed to or supported by the government. On top of that, the CTC made another 56 recommendations to government, over 75% of which the government supported.
The council visited 30 communities and held many public meetings, with public being the main focus of everything the CTC did. All in all, it might not have been perfect, but it opened up government to the people and gave all members of parliament, especially backbenchers, a more active role in the parliament. There was opposition from within its ranks from members who are now in government. They said it cost too much money to run, it was not achieving anything, ministers could not be investigated anyway and it was Paul Henderson/Gerry Wood thing. I suspect the last reason was the main reason for its demise.
The CLP participated in the CTC and, even after CLP members left, it still had an important role in monitoring government programs. Many of the issues the CTC looked at are still relevant today. For example, the power blackout, remote housing, outstation funding, town leases, changes to local government, changes to Power and Water, urban housing and lots more.
This motion today would allow a cheaper version of the CTC to operate as it would come under the existing committee system, and I presume the government would allow ministers to appear. That was a complaint by the member for Katherine at one stage, although the Labor government eventually acceded to it. The only other difference would be there would be no independent chair, but I can live with that. The committee could also look at bills before parliament, something I have been calling for, for a long time.
As I have said on other occasions, our parliament and the Queensland parliament are both unicameral houses. In other words, they have no upper House to scrutinise bills. Queensland uses committees to scrutinise bills before they go back to parliament for a vote. We could do the same, paving the way for an improved process and making sure legislation is well tested before being voted on. For me, the Power and Water bills are a classic example of bills that should have gone before a committee. The committee system also allows the public to participate in what is going on through public hearings, and for the media to play its part as the disseminator of news.
I quote from the Parliamentary Record on 30 November 2010. It is from Mr Elferink, member for Port Darwin, and is part of what he had to say in relation to the CTC:
Mr Elferink: It is designed for that.
Mr WOOD: Is designed for an upper House, yes. Back to the quote:
The member for Port Darwin went on to say:
Madam Speaker, I am attempting to resolve this issue today. A simple amendment, as the Attorney-General once said, is before us today. It will be good for parliament, good for parliamentarians, especially those at the back, and good for the people because they will become part of the process through open, transparent, and public meetings. I hope both sides will support this motion.
Mr GUNNER (Fannie Bay): Madam Speaker, as the member for Nelson knows, in our last term of government we had a committee of self-referencing powers. The member for Nelson just went through a range of things the Council of Territory Cooperation achieved. I served for some time on that committee with the member for Nelson.
On our side, we believe and support a committee having self-referencing powers in this parliament. At the moment we do not have one with those powers, so we support working with the member for Nelson, working in this Chamber, to have a committee with the ability to refer matters of significance in the Territory to itself. That could be anything.
You mentioned bills specifically, member for Nelson. Obviously, bills have subjects at their heart. The whole point of having a bill is you are trying to achieve an outcome. Whether it is the bill itself or the subject within the bill, it would be good for committees to have the ability to build an evidence base, question witnesses and run a funded consultation process on behalf of this parliament on issues of significance, which is what the Council of Territory Cooperation did. It is what some of our select committees sometimes do on specific issues.
Last term I was a member of the environment committee. We had witnesses, we travelled and took evidence on issues relating to the environment. I believe – we have supported you in the past, member for Nelson – in having a committee with self-referencing powers.
Mr ELFERINK (Attorney-General and Justice): Madam Speaker, this is a very quick debate. I am not used to things moving so quickly. I confess my mind was elsewhere as the member sat down …
Ms Walker: I bet it was.
Mr ELFERINK: Sorry? Okay. Anyway, I have the proposed section to be inserted, an amendment to Standing Order 21A inserting after paragraph 2(e) – that deals with examining the reports of the Auditor-General tabled in the Legislative Assembly with the accounts of an agency of the Northern Territory, including any documents annexed or appended to those reports, pursuant to the Audit Act.
Today it is proposed the House insert a new paragraph:
(f) to inquire into and report to the Legislative Assembly on any matters within the executive authority of ministers of the Territory to which the committee is of the opinion that the attention of the Assembly should be drawn.
I briefly discussed this yesterday with the member for Nelson and subsequently discussed this amongst my colleagues on the government benches. I am inclined, and the government is inclined, to agree with the term of reference. I note, however, this is a Public Accounts Committee and, whilst this is a broad reference being sought by the member for Nelson and this House, I am of the opinion it could very well be a useful one. I had always argued the CTC was nothing more than a glorified Public Accounts Committee and we had almost replicated two committees but for a self-referencing power.
I note the member for Nelson – although he has not indicated to me in discussions prior to this – sees this as a vehicle by which to bring bills before this House for scrutiny. I am not entirely sure that is in the purview of the Public Accounts Committee per se. I am a little surprised by his response because I anticipated, from the conversations I had with the member for Nelson, that this would remain an inquiry into what government does on a day-to-day basis, i.e. the ability to bring public servants in, quiz them about what is happening within departments, etcetera. It was not on my radar in relation to reviewing bills necessarily. I am a little on my feet here because I indicated prior to this I had some support for the amendment, but bills are a different thing.
May I propose, as I look at the member for Nelson, that we have a discussion about this issue now at the back of the Chamber? Perhaps we can bring on the next item of business and suspend this so I can come back to the Chamber in a second. Does that suit the proposer of the bill?
Madam Speaker, I seek leave to adjourn this for a short period whilst I speak to the member for Nelson. I ask that the next business item come on. If you want to be included that is fine.
Madam SPEAKER: The member for Fong Lim is speaking next and has 14 minutes.
Mr WOOD: Could I ask that the member for Fannie Bay, who is supporting this, also joins the discussion?
Mr ELFERINK: Yes.
Leave granted; debate suspended.
MOTION
Tiwi Islands and the Federal Government
Continued from 21 August 2013.
Mr TOLLNER (Treasurer): Madam Speaker, this has been sitting on the Notice Paper for some time now. It is probably wise to suggest we are no longer dealing with Kevin Rudd. What a blessing for Australia. He is long gone. We now have a new Prime Minister who is opposed to the carbon tax. What a wonderful thing. I imagine the mover of this motion would be quite enamoured about the fact we no longer have Mr Rudd and the new Prime Minister is against the carbon tax.
The new Prime Minister, I am well informed, is of a view to repeal the carbon tax. That would be a wonderful thing because it would impact on the cost of living in the Northern Territory by reducing it. I am also reliably informed the one thing in the way of the carbon tax being repealed is the Australian Labor Party. It is opposed to reducing the cost of living for Territorians. The Opposition Leader has made a bit of a song and dance in recent months about the cost of living. She says it is important to her and to the Northern Territory.
One thing the Opposition Leader could do to reduce the cost of living in the Northern Territory is contact her colleagues in the federal parliament, particularly those who sit in the Senate, and let them know the carbon tax is hurting Territorians. It is, according to this motion, hurting the people of the Tiwi Islands. It is hurting Indigenous Territorians and I would think, if the Opposition Leader is as big-hearted as she says, she would have no hesitation whatsoever contacting her federal Labor colleagues.
Additionally, if the Opposition Leader is as important as she thinks in the Australian Labor Party, she should be able to direct her federal Labor colleagues to do what they can to reduce the cost of living in the Northern Territory and allow the carbon tax to be repealed.
On that note, I might listen to what the Leader of the Opposition has to say about repealing the carbon tax.
Motion agreed to.
Continued from earlier this day.
Mr ELFERINK (Attorney-General and Justice): Madam Speaker, I thank the House for its indulgence. This was one of those things you do on the run because we wanted to make sure the interpretation was correct.
I pick up on the comments from the member for Nelson, where he said there would be a capacity for the Public Accounts Committee to look into bills. It sent a flag up the flag pole for me because he spoke about models in other jurisdictions where committees take bills away and report back to the House. They have a capacity to hold up the passage of a bill through a House if it gets bogged down in the committee system. That caused me some concern.
The leader of opposition business, the member for Fannie Bay, tried to qualify the comments by saying it was not so much the bills being investigated, but the subject of the bills capable of being investigated. If it is within the executive authority of ministers of the Territory a bill before this House may attract some attention from the Public Accounts Committee. Of course it can inquire about a subject of this nature as long as it falls within the executive arm of government. I am not entirely sure how it would work for something like the Defamation Act or the Contracts Act, which do not affect the executive arm of government other than the fact the Crown is bound by both those legislative instruments. I will leave it to the wisdom of the committee members to navigate as the case sees fit. Consequently, the proposed amendment as it stands on the Notice Paper:
(f) to inquire into and report to the Legislative Assembly on any matters within the executive authority of ministers of the Territory to which the committee is of the opinion that the attention of the Assembly should be drawn
Mr WOOD (Nelson): Madam Speaker, I am extremely pleased. Not often do you get something passed through parliament on this side of the Chamber, but it is encouraging to find there is support for this matter. This amendment will open up parliament. It will be a breath of fresh air in some ways, because the committee will be able to self-refer any matter, and I qualify that in relation to bills. Even if it were to look at bills, it would not stop the bill going through parliament unless parliament wished to refer a bill to a committee, which is a different thing. If it wanted to look at the contents of a bill the government was still debating, this parliament could continue on its own way in relation to that regardless of whether the committee was looking at it or not. I would not expect that to be any other way.
The CTC had its faults, I know that. It was not perfect, and I sometimes look back and wish it had started off better, but it did not and then there were some adjustments. I am not sure those changes were the best way for it to operate, but it operated and a lot of people put a lot of hard work into trying their best to make it work. There are many issues that, up until now, it has been difficult for parliament to get a report on. One of the advantages of this committee is you can bring in the public servants who are directly involved in projects.
The classic example was SIHIP. We would have public servants – I would not expect the committee to be holding so many meetings it would drive public servants up the wall and stop them doing their job. However, they would at least come to a meeting with a schedule showing you how many houses were being built at a certain place, how many rebuilds there were, how many refurbs, the cost of the refurbs, the cost of rehabs, were they on target, how many Aboriginal people were employed, were there issues with infrastructure and all those types of things.
I visited Elcho Island on a short trip. It was meant to be a quick trip on purpose, so people did not know I was coming. I had complaints about materials being left out in the weather, so as Chair, I flew there to see for myself whether doors were being left out in the weather to rot. We went to Umbakumba and there were complaints about the standard of block work. I remember the member for Port Darwin getting underneath the house – I remember The Australian being there as well – with a ruler to check some of the materials on the verandah. They were using some special – it was like an artificial wood, and there were some concerns the timber would not hold up in the weather. The company building those houses was sacked. We were able to investigate those things.
We were also able to talk to councils about the failure of the CouncilBiz IT program which, at that stage, cost government a lot of money. I presume it cost the councils a lot of money to set up too. In fact, the Barkly shire pulled out. It was so concerned about it and thought it could introduce a better and cheaper scheme than what was proposed. A committee could look at where we are with remote housing at present.
The previous government looked at growth towns. I do not know where we are at with growth towns, because many of the issues the committee looked at were leases. There has not been a lot of debate in this House in recent times about leases on Aboriginal land. There are 90-year leases, 40-year leases, 15-year leases and seven-year leases – all types of leases. It would be good to see if the theory behind some of the leases, which were to allow private Aboriginal housing, is happening. That was one of the big pushes for leases on Aboriginal land. It was not just about formalising government buildings, church building etcetera; it was about facilitating an opportunity for people to build their own house on Aboriginal land using the lease system.
It would be good to investigate whether increasing the chance of an Aboriginal person owning their own house has happened. The committee could investigate that and ask people if it has happened.
We have a promise of $5200 per house to be spent on outstations. The committee could visit an outstation which has put its hand up for this money and see how much has been spent.
One issue with SIHIP was too much money spent on administration and not enough on maintenance – on doing something. Again, a committee could look at those issues.
It could also look at why the power went off recently. The member for Katherine was concerned I was asking for a big inquiry. No. A committee like we have at the moment could ask experts from Power and Water to attend a public hearing, get the technical people in, perhaps the Utilities Commission and some other people, and ask in a public arena exactly what happened. What caused it? Was it faulty equipment? Was it a management issue? Was it a maintenance issue? What was the reason? The committee has the ability to question people.
I was watching A-PAC recently and the boss of Qantas was being questioned by a Commonwealth committee. He had to answer questions about the future of Qantas. Our committee would have similar powers to ask various government agencies how well they are spending our money and what they are achieving. That would be the committee’s role.
You will notice there has been development on the Tiwi Islands. The government said it is spending money on the Tiwi Islands to open up land for development, etcetera. The committee could ask the government what it is doing on the Tiwi Islands and how much money is being spent. They are the issues a committee could look at. Perhaps it could look at some of the Power and Water issues.
I thank the government. I do not get too excited these days in parliament, but I am excited about this because it is a good change. This will improve the parliamentary process and be good, especially for backbenchers, the opposition and Independents – me – to question the government on where it is going and its policies, especially where those policies affect the budget. It is also good the people of the Northern Territory as they will be able to hear, firsthand, from people involved in these projects and find out exactly what is happening on the ground.
Most people do not know what is happening in the bush, or what is happening in government itself. We do not know what is going on. This committee is an opportunity, for government as well, to tell people what its policies are, explain what it is doing and, at the same time, answer questions from the committee to make sure those policies are effective and are well run and not wasting money. That is what the old Council of Territory Cooperation did.
People might remember the excellent subcommittee formed in relation to the cattle deaths at Mataranka. All the recommendations were either supported or agreed to by the government of the day and, from those recommendations, we have a new Animal Welfare Act. That type of thing can be achieved. It also improves the animal husbandry processes at Mataranka Station, and have we heard of any problems since then? I have not. The university has now set up processes to make sure the way it runs Mataranka Station is to the highest standard and it is very unlikely the issues we had previously will occur again. A lot of that has to do with that committee being able to self-refer and bring forward important issues. They were important issues of the day, and out of the subcommittee came some good changes to animal welfare in the Northern Territory.
I thank the government and the opposition for supporting this. Only time will tell. It will keep some of us busy, and let us see what happens now it is part of the committee system. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Motion agreed to.
Continued from 16 October 2013.
Mr McCARTHY (Barkly): Madam Speaker, I continue with the debate that the Assembly condemns the CLP for the deepening and ongoing chaos in the Territory government hurting families, businesses and our lifestyle. It is ironic I have six minutes left in this debate when it has been well and truly over six months since we last visited the issue. However, the chaos and dysfunction in this government has continued. It is not just the opposition questioning this state of affairs, it the Territory itself – Territory people – and it is now the hot topic of conversation in constituencies across the Territory. People are asking questions and, as a member of the opposition, I will continue to ask questions. It is my job to hold this government to account, and the government is hell-bent on shutting us down. If you look at what has been happening over 18 months, the government was built with a foundation of sand and it goes back to the August 2012 election.
This government made unfunded promises, promises it could not keep, and then went on a chaotic trail of trying to cover-up, trying to put the reality into a context that was not plausible within the constituency, and it continues that behaviour to this day. The foundations of sand the government was built on relate to the bush, to the grassroots constituency of the Northern Territory.
Today in Question Time I asked the Chief Minister about very important projects that were on the books – an August 2012 work in progress by the previous Labor government representing $125m in capital works across the Northern Territory in relation to delivering health infrastructure, transport infrastructure, youth and early childhood service delivery and trade and vocational training. Once again, the Chief Minister refused to deal with it. It was all about spin, all about recreating the CLP reality, and I am afraid the bush does not buy it and Territorians, in general, do not buy it.
It has continued, and when we talk about the Northern Territory this is the government of the Northern Territory, the leadership of our land and it has continued from a coup. It is a Chief Minister, in a most undignified fashion, being taken out by a young rival, a revolving door of ministers, unsettled departments, continual destabilising of the public sector, chaos in education and the failing alcohol policies. The whole substance of strengthening families and strengthening the grassroots of development in the Northern Territory has been lost and there does not seem to be any clean air in sight.
It is ironic I now, in reflection, debate this motion. The Chief Minister has to answer to the constituency of the Northern Territory, but also to the CLP government and his members. It is about a team and making sure the team bonds and works. I have coached many teams in my time, but the last team I actively coached was the Tennant Creek junior rugby league development project, the youngest, most inexperienced players in the Northern Territory who lined up every year and took on the biggest and the best. It hurts; it is a bone crunching sport and it hurts. What got us through was we were united. What got us through each carnival and each time we faced the David and Goliath challenges was team spirit, bonding, collegiality and, at the end of the day, a linking of arms and solidarity. That is the challenge now for this government, because unless it can deal with the internal problems, there is no way it will ever be able to govern the Northern Territory, as the member for Port Darwin reminds us continually, for the people and in the best interest of Northern Territorians.
Mr HIGGINS (Daly): Madam Speaker, in the last few weeks, and during the last sittings, I have developed an opinion of what goes on in the Labor Party. People constantly pick on Aboriginal communities saying how they are welfare dependant, there are no jobs, the people do not work and are critical of them. The conclusion I have reached is what has happened in the oppositon in the last few months is members are trying to have the welfare state, which applies in Indigenous communities, adopted in the northern suburbs of the Northern Territory.
By that I mean if someone loses their job they jump up and down and say the government is doing the wrong thing and should be paying people to retain their jobs. More recently, we have spoken about the power outage and the compensation paid in Darwin and the northern suburbs if power is out for more than 12 hours. However, in the bush you have to go for 24 or 48 hours without electricity before you receive any compensation. Who are the welfare recipients here? It seems Labor wants the entire Northern Territory to be welfare dependent.
When we talk about the cost of electricity and the price hikes, someone has to pay for it; the money has to come from somewhere. While Power and Water is running at a loss, this government has to put money from health, education and law and order in to supporting Power and Water. We try to spread the load, which is why power and water bills have been increasing.
We talk about job losses in the public sector and, on our side, the Attorney-General has shown numbers have not decreased, but the opposition constantly goes on about the number of people on contracts. Contracts are temporary employment. People in the bush are constantly on contracts. All the tenders for roads maintenance are contracts. They only last for three years and when they finish we have to get another contract. This is the real world.
Talking about our election commitments and the issues with roads – the ALP said it had secured these commitments prior to the last election. I agree with that; however, as soon as they lost government the federal Labor Party withdrew the offer or delayed the funding for five or six years. When we talk about the Port Keats Road, where we have $20m to spend in the next 12 months – I remember attending a car accident on the Port Keats Road about seven years ago when I was with the emergency services. There were 16 people in a Troopie. When we arrived one was dead, and the other 15 had broken arms or legs. Only one person could walk around, and it took 10 hours to get the dead person out of the car. On the radio the next day the current Opposition Leader said the Port Keats Road was a top priority for the then Labor government, but it did not spend one cent on that road from then on.
Labor built a bridge, terrific. The person with the hat and mo mentioned prior to the federal election said the bridge was so good that everyone west of the Daly would no longer be cut off other than about five or six days a year. This year I have been cut off for well over six weeks. Only last week I was able to get back to my house, so when we talk about election commitments that is just a load of rubbish.
The other issue was cutting resources to schools, with fewer teachers. My understanding is the student/teacher ratio is well within the current EBA. Why did teachers not whinge and complain when they negotiated the last EBA? My wife is a teacher and taught at a Catholic school for many years. Her view is they should toughen up. The number of kids in the class she had was far in excess of what teachers have now. It would be good if we had one teacher to two kids, but we cannot afford it.
I want to raise the dodgy deals. I have spoken before about the water licence issued to Tina MacFarlane. We constantly hear this water licence is worth millions of dollars, but I cannot understand how you can equate that to millions of dollars. You cannot sell it; we do not have water trading. To use that water, you must develop a stack of infrastructure which, as people know, would cost a lot of money. It does not add any value to a property having a water licence, despite how much you have.
I find some of the mistruths from people on the other side very annoying. In the last few months I have been disappointed with some of the stuff espoused by people on the other side. They need to remember how they left the economy of the Northern Territory. They say – when we are trying to fix it – what a lousy job we are doing, but the Treasurer has asked for answers. Where do we get the money? I would like to hear, ‘We had a power failure last week. Everyone in Darwin will be compensated so why not look at what is happening in the bush?’ In the city people only have to wait 12 hours before they get $80 or whatever. In the bush it is longer. That was a deal you people set up not us, and you ask what we did with it. I am asking what you did with it. Why are people in the bush treated differently to people in Darwin? I definitely will not support this motion.
Mr TOLLNER (Treasurer): Madam Speaker, it is rather interesting, with all the gusto about this motion, that no one from the opposition is speaking on it ...
Ms Lawrie: That is rubbish, I stood to speak. Do not mislead the House.
Mr TOLLNER: Did you? All right, I apologise. Do you want to speak next …
Ms Lawrie: You saw it.
Mr TOLLNER: All right. It is an interesting motion, taking about inflicting power and water price hikes and spiking the cost of living. In the previous motion I spoke about how it is affecting the Tiwi Islands. There is something to speak about there.
I thought the Opposition Leader might have taken the opportunity, during the last motion, to explain to Territorians why she has not called any of her friends in Canberra. Why has she not called some of those Labor senators and said, ‘The cost of living is being impacted by the carbon tax. It is hurting us through our power bills, our transport bills, and almost everything we consume in the Northern Territory is being impacted by the carbon tax?’
It is interesting when you see this motion introduced by the Leader of the Opposition, who was quick to decide she wanted to sum up debate and get it over and done with ...
Ms Lawrie: You said no one stood.
Mr TOLLNER: No one stood?
Ms Lawrie: Make up your mind.
Mr TOLLNER: I thought you might have had a few people behind you to speak on such a motion but, clearly, not. Clearly, the Opposition Leader is lacking support. She had the poor, tired member for Barkly speaking for five minutes, and that is that ...
Mr McCarthy: That is what I had left.
Mr TOLLNER: That is all he had left, that is right. At least you spoke and I am glad. It is good you spoke. Clearly, you support the Leader of the Opposition, but where are the others? The member for Wanguri is smiling and being very nice, but not speaking on this motion. The member for Nhulunbuy normally speaks on everything, you would think she would take the opportunity …
Ms Walker: Perhaps I am waiting to hear what you have to say.
Mr TOLLNER: Here we go. The member for Johnston is standing in the doorway like Superman. I take it he has come in to speak on the motion. The member for Casuarina is busily sitting there. I did not see him leap to his feet to support the Leader of the Opposition. We know the member for Fannie Bay is not about to leap to his feet to support the Leader of the Opposition. At the moment, it is just the member for Barkly who seems to support the Opposition Leader. Well, there you go; that is it. That is the level of support the member for Karama has – the member for Barkly …
Ms Lawrie: Do you want to call a division?
Mr TOLLNER: I thought you had a motion you want debated out; you would like to hear feedback from government members. I am sure a couple of government members may want to speak on this. I notice, even when I am speaking light-heartedly, the member for Karama cannot help but interject. What a sad and sorry side it is.
I put to the Leader of the Opposition again: why do you not show your relevance and show you mean something to the Australian Labor Party? Demonstrate that by picking up a telephone and ringing Stephen Conroy, leader of the Labor Party in the Senate – one of those jokers down there anyhow. Perhaps give Mr Conroy a call, or one of the other Labor senators and say, ‘How about you get out of the way. How about you acknowledge Mr Abbott went to an election on scrapping the carbon tax? He won and Territorians are hurting. It would be nice if you got out of the way and let the carbon tax disappear and die a peaceful death, rather than dragging things out over and over and hurting Territorians. It would be far easier to just get out of the way.’ That is not a difficult conversation for someone who is relevant in the Australian Labor Party to have with a colleague down south.
Is this just a branch office of a much greater organisation that pulls the strings of the Leader of the Opposition? That may well be the case. When Labor was last in government in the Northern Territory, I do not recall it bucking the federal Labor system once. Even when federal Labor banned live cattle exports, the Territory Labor mob was quick to dance to its tune. I remember the Chief Minister saying it was a circuit breaker we needed to have. This is simply a branch of a much larger organisation that pulls its strings. My guess is the Leader of the Opposition not only has no relevance here, but no relevance nationally ...
Ms Lawrie: How are the numbers looking?
Mr TOLLNER: Well, ask about us. A few weeks ago I saw our Chief Minister castigating Tony Abbott and the federal Liberal government for not putting Darwin front and centre in the north Australian development plan. Had it been a Territory Labor government and a federal Labor government, there is no way known Labor in the Territory would dare raise its voice to someone in Canberra. For years we saw you were nothing but puppets to the federal Labor Party. We have a homegrown, home spun Northern Territory Country Liberal Party solely for the benefit of Territorians and to serve Territorians ...
Ms Fyles: When was the last time you benefited Territorians?
Ms Lawrie: What was it Shane Stone said?
Mr TOLLNER: There you go. That is fundamentally the difference we have here. We have a bunch of puppets sitting over there who will not dare pull on Mr Shorten and his cohorts – Electricity Bill they call him these days. There is no way known they will make a phone call to Electricity Bill …
Mr GUNNER: A point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker! Even in the House of Reps the Speaker has ruled you should be referring to the Leader of the Opposition by his proper title not the pseudonym the Treasurer is currently using.
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Treasurer, could you please refer to members by their title.
Mr TOLLNER: Absolutely. I am sorry to be offensive to the comrades on the other side, but it proves a point. They are quick to jump to the defence of their federal counterparts. There is no way known they will have the federal opposition leader’s name besmirched simply because he fails to understand they lost an election campaign and the carbon tax is hurting Territorians. No way known will they buck him there! The member for Fannie Bay cannot even tolerate his name. All over the media we have seen him being referred to as such, but we cannot do it here because their federal colleagues would not look kindly on the underlings in the Northern Territory not taking objection to it. They are quick to tell us we cannot call him Electricity Bill, we have to refer to him as the federal Opposition Leader. Good stuff member for Fannie Bay, you will go a long way in the Labor Party I have no doubt. Keep toeing that line mate, keep raising objections every time somebody says something naughty about the federal Labor Party, your parent organisation, the organisation that pulls your strings, tells you what to do and say and how to act in the Northern Territory.
That is why, when Labor was in government here, it was adopting laws from Labor states all over Australia. That is what Labor governments do; they believe in socialism. They believe everybody should be drawn down to the same level; we are not unique in the Northern Territory and are just the same as all other daleks in the country. That is the way the Labor Party operates. One rule for all is the way they want it to be.
This motion is about chaos in the Territory government and talks about power and water price hikes spiking the cost of living. An amount of 5.5% of the bill in the Northern Territory is due to the carbon tax. If power prices are so important – I note you have been running around in the electorate of Blain polluting the letterboxes of the good citizens with misinformation about power price hikes. If you are really serious about reducing the cost of electricity in the Northern Territory, you could instantly, if you had heart and relevance to do it, take almost 5.5% off the power bills of the electors of Blain. No, you would rather put out misinformation. I saw the ‘Not for Sale’ stuff you had there. There is still no sign of that petition, but we are keen to see it and a few of us are looking forward to signing it, if possible ...
Ms Lawrie: We will give you one on TIO as well, shall we?
Mr TOLLNER: Give us one on the whole lot, that would be marvellous. At the end of day, it does not matter to those opposite what you put in people’s letterboxes. All that matters is people feel scared and fearful for their future. This is the way they operate on the other side; they try to scare people and make them fearful for their future. If you want to reduce the cost of living it is easily done for a relevant person, someone who believes they want to reduce the cost of living. Tell your mates in Canberra to get out of the way. It is not a big deal.
When I look at the rest of this motion, there is not much there at all. ‘Cutting resources to our schools with less teachers and support staff’, what a load of nonsense. It seems the former government was pretty happy with the results it was generating in its education system. A sea of red someone described the NAPLAN results as – it might have been the local media. This is what the former government wanted to stick to – it was quite happy setting the bar very low in the Northern Territory for education outcomes. This government is not very happy setting the bar low for educational outcomes, and I commend our Minister for Education for having the intestinal fortitude to shake the system up because it is required.
As a parent, I want to see better results for my kids; I want to make sure they are getting the best possible education. Sadly, that was not the case with the former Labor government, and 10 years of Labor probably means 10 years of lost opportunity for a bunch of kids across the Northern Territory. Labor was not interested in outcomes, it was more interested in – I do not know. Goodness knows what it was interested in, apart from spending money, which it was wonderful at. The global financial crisis proved it. The Leader of the Opposition was Treasurer at the time and it was a big green light for her to spend and rack up a bit of debt. There is nothing wrong with a bit of debt is there, member for Karama? Love a bit of debt, especially Labor debt, which you are best at.
I remember in opposition Labor constantly bragged about how much money it spent. Spending money, as far as Labor was concerned, was the outcome it was chasing. It did not matter – get the money out the door. I note there is a federal inquiry into the pink batts scheme – that fiasco. The Leader of the Opposition took her lead from the then Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, and his faithful – sort of – deputy, Wayne Swan, who was dead keen to get the money out the door.
I recently saw a documentary about the pink batts fiasco and how Peter Garrett – poor old Midnight Oil – was constantly warning about the way money was being pushed out. He warned the Prime Minster and said, ‘Perhaps we need to slow down on this pink batts stuff because there could well be some problems’, but he was told in no uncertain terms, ‘Just get the money out the door’. That is the way Labor governments operate. The outcome does not matter, what matters is getting the money out the door. They spent $10bn mailing $900 cheques all over the place. We heard about sending money to foreigners who had not lived in the country for decades, and sending money to dead people. It did not really matter; it was just about getting the money out the door.
People said it would be a great boost to China. People would buy more flat screen TVs, but where was the benefits for Australians? Since that time I have not heard many people saying, ‘Thank you, Mr Rudd, for giving me $900’.
I hear a few people very concerned about the level of debt in this country. The Minister for Infrastructure said it well today in Question Time with his pyramid story. Debt has now become the really pressing issue for governments around Australia. I note the drastic measures taken in Queensland to get the budget back in order, and the drastic measures which had to be taken into account in NSW and Victoria. Pretty well anywhere there was a Labor government had serious debt problems. I remember at the time people saying this was good policy and they all took their lead from each other, all the socialists around the world. Barack Obama threw $21 trillion at the global financial crisis. He needed a stimulus package. He was big on Keynesian economics and spending your way out of debt. It is interesting that you can spend your way out of debt. Clearly, that is the way governments operate.
Oddly enough, a fellow in New Zealand called John Key went the other way. At the time of the global financial crisis, New Zealand was ranked around 160 on the world economic performance scale. When the global financial crisis hit, John Key, former merchant banker and brand new Prime Minister of New Zealand, took a different approach to the socialists around the world, those in Europe, the US, Australia and various Australian states. John Key said, ‘We are doing three things’, and I do not have his exact words but the intent was, ‘We are not spending money because we do not have any. We are broke.’
He said instead of spending money they would lay off public servants and introduce what, for New Zealand, was the equivalent of WorkChoices, which Rudd and Gillard were rapidly dismantling in Australia. The theory was the way to get out of trouble for New Zealand was not to spend money because they did not have money to spend. They could not stimulate their economy because they were already broke. The view was if they reduced the number of public servants by streamlining the public service, made decision-making quicker, provided much more business focus and, at the same time, introduced flexibility into the workplace the New Zealand economy would naturally quicken and wealth could be more easily produced.
At that time, I recall John Key was pilloried because he was swimming against that great tide of socialist leaders around the world. He was not well liked, and people thought he was quite mad, but being a little country like New Zealand no one really cared. New Zealand was ranked way down the food chain as far as good economies were concerned. If you look at it nowadays – someone said yesterday it is ranked around eighth in the world …
Mr CHANDLER: A point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker! Pursuant to Standing Order 77, I ask for an extension of time for the member.
Mr TOLLNER: Thank you very much, Minister for Education. That is very nice of you.
As I said, it was a very low-ranked country as far as economic performance was concerned. Someone recently told me it is now ranked eighth in the world. It has one of the highest standards of living in the world, exports are up, and a lot of wealth is being shared amongst the citizens of New Zealand. It would be interesting to do a case study on countries around the world and how they reacted to the global financial crisis, and whether some countries reacted the same way John Key did in New Zealand. I am not aware of any, but I would not suggest for a second it was the only country to react in that manner. It would certainly be one of the few.
If you look at the situation around the world following the financial global crisis, pretty well every country where stimulus packages were operating now have major debt problems. If you look across Europe, their debt problems are such it will be almost impossible to crawl out. In the Northern Territory we are staring down the barrel of $5.5bn. That great edifice, the prison Mahal – as my good friend and colleague the member for Port Darwin calls it – is about the only …
Mr McCarthy: Precinct. The minister now calls it a precinct.
Mr TOLLNER: Yes, prison Mahal is a mixture of prison and Taj Mahal. It is like a major five-star prison where …
Mr McCarthy: No, David, it goes with the correct terminology.
Mr TOLLNER: Prison Mahal was a great legacy from the former Labor government. That was probably the only achievement of 11 years of Labor, a new big prison. What a shame! It is hardly unexpected when you have a government led from Canberra which mails $900 cheques to dead people and burns people’s houses down with the pink batts scheme – cash for clunkers, green loans – a myriad of money waste. You could talk for hours about the way Labor governments waste money around the country. It is sad.
After 13 years John Howard was probably looking a bit old and tired. We needed a refresh and Kevin Rudd, at the time, sold himself as Howard-‘lite’, ‘I am no different from John Howard. There is not a cigarette paper of difference between us on economic policy’, he said in that election campaign. How wrong we were to believe him! It is like Julie Gillard going into an election saying, ‘There will never be a carbon tax under a government I lead’. Goodness me! Within a couple of weeks of the election being called we found ourselves staring down the barrel of a carbon tax, something always committed to as never being supported.
We find now not only do they support it, but they refuse to acknowledge Australians overwhelming voted against it. Irrespective of the fact Australians overwhelming voted against it, and Territorians are hurting because of the cost of living pressures as we are told by the Leader of the Opposition, there is no way known they will get out of the way and let that dreadful, disgusting tax disappear – no way at all.
There is nothing in this motion. It talks about crime; we have seen what has happened with crime. We have seen probably the biggest cuts to crime in the history of the Northern Territory. I heard the Chief Minister in Question Time both yesterday and today talk about the way crime had plummeted in Central Australia and across Darwin, Palmerston and other areas of the Northern Territory. It makes a joke of this motion when you say crime is out of control, but I understand this is from October last year and some months have passed.
You try to create your own reality. The opposition is operating in some parallel universe where everything is dreadful; the whole place is going to hell in a hand basket because they are no longer in government. I know it is difficult to lose government, but until you get over that there is no chance of winning government. You have to get over losing and understand you are not in government before you have the capacity to rebuild, reform and present something credible to the electorate. This nonsense of telling mistruths will not stack up. You might get away with it once or twice, but in the end you sound like the boy who cried wolf – when the wolf turns up no one believes you because they are used to you making things up. When something happens people are not listening to you. I fear that has happened with the opposition in recent months.
There is also the nonsense about the Power and Water Corporation and how it will be privatised, how disconnections are sevenfold what they were under the Labor government and how the network price determination will cost Territorians another $1.2bn. The classic one yesterday was $150m for the structural separation of the Power and Water Corporation. My goodness, where do these numbers come from? Is it just a number the Opposition Leader plucks out of the air, or does she have some spin doctor saying, ‘It will really hurt if we come up with this number. It has to be big, large and sound really scary because Territorians are now used to hearing big numbers because of all the debt we racked up. We have to throw a big number out to really scare Territorians.’
So, $150m to separate the Power and Water Corporation – what a load of nonsense! The reforms we are making to the Power and Water Corporation will more than pay for themselves. If they did not we would not be making them. We are making the organisation more efficient, more transparent and more accountable. That is what the reforms are about and, at the same time, allowing competition in to drive down prices. Ultimately, that is what everybody should want. There is a number of additional benefits from joining the national energy market, adopting their rules, joining with the AER and having it as our regulator – major benefits.
If the Territory has a desire to involve itself in gas trading, in building or connecting to the national gas grid, we have to adopt AER guidelines, we have no choice. We have to join the 21st century. We cannot operate as an island economy. The Chief Minister, with his vision, is plotting a course for the Northern Territory to join the world economy and build wealth and prosperity for Territorians and, ultimately, that is what they want.
It has been my great pleasure to pull this motion to bits. I am dead keen to hear from the Leader of the Opposition on what she intends to do about the carbon tax. Will she make a phone call? Perhaps that is what she is doing right now, texting her mates in Canberra and telling them to get out of the way. We can only hope.
We will not be supporting this nonsense, but I thank the Leader of the Opposition for bringing it on.
Mr STYLES (Infrastructure): Mr Deputy Speaker, I concur with my colleagues on this side of the House. A lot of things coming from those opposite appear to be extremely exaggerated. They seem to believe if they say something often enough people will believe it …
Members interjecting.
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Can we all read Standing Order 51 again, please.
Mr STYLES: It appears the opposition does not want to hear things. The interesting thing is they talk about chaos in government. The motion reads: ‘Chaos in the Territory Government’ …
Members interjecting.
Mr STYLES: They are a sad lot! They allowed the Territory to go into massive debt. The Leader of the Opposition, who was the Treasurer and Deputy Chief Minister, is laughing about the amount of debt they left my kids. I do not know what you want to leave your children, but I do not want to leave my children with the massive debt you did. My role is part of a really great government showing some fantastic results. Look at what has been said here today. Crime rates are down, investment is occurring and we are kicking goals all over the place. I am sure …
Members interjecting.
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: I will not say it again, cease interjecting.
Mr STYLES: They laugh. I hope people are watching or listening to this on the Internet, because I will show them what the previous government left us. I used it earlier today, but if people at home were not watching on the Internet, I ask them to take note of the debt the federal Australian Labor Party’s policies left this country in. When they were in government before – Hawke and Keating – it was $96bn. Howard and Costello reduced that. Please note, people watching on the Internet, the blue line runs below because we had money in the bank. When Labor came in they spent all the money in the bank so they needed to borrow some. It goes up again and then, at the end here …
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker! Standing Order 67. It is irrelevant to the debate. I draw the member’s attention to this. He must be confused which debate we are in, because it has nothing to do with points contained in this motion.
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: I do not see that as a point of order. He is talking about debt.
Ms Lawrie: Debt is not mentioned in the motion.
Mr STYLES: I do not know what they are afraid of. If they think it is a joke, why would they worry about it? However, people watch this and I hope they look at the clear picture of where debt levels are.
Let us come back to the Northern Territory. We are talking about debt and inflicting prices and all types of things. The non-financial public sector nett debt – for those watching and listening – we go happily along and the CLP is in government. Then the ALP comes in and we get the cash cow from Canberra and the GST rolls in, which was really good, we dropped a bit. Then the now Opposition Leader, then Treasurer, takes over and look what happens to the debt? This is when the former ALP Treasurer, the member for Karama, was in and the debt goes sky high. This is where it is going now, because of the commitments the people opposite made.
I do not want my kids to be left with that debt, or be in a situation of unmanageable debt or end up heading down the track of countries like Greece, Portugal, Ireland and Spain. They are in terrible trouble due to the financial mismanagement of government. When you see this happening, it is a disgrace. We must fix the problem. We are looking at how we might operate more efficiently and effectively. They are two important words in economics: you must have an ‘efficient’ and ‘effective’ operating system. The previous government did not run an efficient and effective operating financial system.
Some of the points in the motion refer to power and water price hikes and spiking the cost of living. I ask people watching this: who introduced the carbon tax? Who increased the cost of power? The Treasurer suggested the Opposition Leader should phone her friends in Canberra and have them support Mr Abbott, the Prime Minister of Australia, and his efforts to take away the carbon tax and give everyone a break.
This morning I heard there is debate on the mining tax. The ALP was planning to do many things in relation to the mining tax but, sadly, it has not realised any money. It is also impinging on the country’s ability to get things happening.
I spoke earlier about creating economic activity. There are a number of ways governments can get out of trouble. You can increase taxes, and sometimes that is inevitable with CPI rises, and when the cost of doing business in government rises we have to increase prices. The second way is to decrease services.
We do not want to do that. On this side we look for opportunities to be more efficient and effective at what we do. By thinking smarter, we come up with ideas of how to provide the same level of service while reducing cost, and these are things responsible governments do. For those listening – I hope some young people are listening – it is about responsible government. You cannot come into government, get the chequebook out and throw money around like it is fairy dust hoping everything will be fixed.
The other thing mentioned in this House today was government is subsidising the Power and Water Corporation to the tune of about $150m a year. That is made up of a number of things. We are not putting power up by more than the national average. I understand we are still not quite at the national average.
The next thing is the ongoing turmoil in the Northern Territory public service. In my departments there is no turmoil. I have a fantastic bunch of public servants, from the CEO down to those who have just joined the organisation, who are working really hard. They are doing some great things, and I will talk about some to demonstrate government is functioning. There is no drama, we are kicking good goals and making a great contribution to the economic development of the Northern Territory.
For instance, there is the regional infrastructure study to drive the Northern Territory economy. Work has already started on that Territory-wide study to prioritise infrastructure and investment to drive the economy. As has been said by many in this House, you need to have economic development to increase jobs, increase taxation, and increase the economic cycle that goes around and benefits the Northern Territory. I also mentioned William Bernstein’s book and it is appropriate to mention it again. The book is about how the wealth of the world was created. It is called The Birth of Plenty: How the Prosperity of the Modern World was Created.
I do not know if those opposite have read that book. I do not know if any of them have studied economics, but Economics 101 will tell you, if you follow William Bernstein’s book – he has studied every economy in the world going back hundreds of years. He says there are four things you must have to sustain economic growth. Massive debt and massive interest payments are not in there. The first is you have to have access to property rights. We, on this side, are trying to break records in getting land released so people can buy property. I commend the Minister for Lands, Planning and the Environment for escalating what was a very tedious process of land release under the former government.
I remember reading figures from the opposition of Treasury’s estimate of the number of blocks needed – around 2000 a year. That was given to Labor some time before it lost government. If I remember the figures – I am happy to be corrected by the opposition on this – in the last three years of the previous government, we went from about 1100 blocks of land per year down to about 900, down to about 562.
We saw the slowdown of land release. We saw competition with a growing population – young people coming to the Territory, young people who were born here, grew up here, married and wanted to buy a house. When they went to buy a house every block of land was swamped with purchasers because insufficient land was released. We auctioned blocks of land, which was really sad. Young people told me they could not afford to buy a block of land because of the auction system. People would say, ‘I will give you this much for that land’, then someone else would say, ‘I will give you that much’. It kept going until somebody ran out of money. The last person standing got the block of land. That went on and, when all the blocks of land were sold, people had to go to the rental market.
There were more people than rental properties. What happened? There was another auction. It was pretty sad the previous government was going backwards with land release and creating a major problem for young people.
When we came to government we looked at a range of things. We are looking at different options for town planning, densification, land release and affordable homes being rolled out with head leases by the Department of Housing to help young people get into a home. We are doing things, making things happen, and speeding things up.
I go back to regional infrastructure. That study will support economic development through regional areas of the Northern Territory. I am talking about houses and land around Darwin, but we have Alice Spring, Tennant Creek, Katherine, Nhulunbuy, and all the small towns and communities. We need to generate infrastructure in all those places. Sadly, we have a borrowing issue where we have to be careful. We do not want to be downgraded by the rating agencies so it is important we do it responsibility.
On this side of the House it is important we think outside the square. This graph shows the previous government said, ‘We will borrow some more money and throw money at it’. Sadly, the then ALP government failed to realise money is an input not an outcome. They still believe money is an outcome – how much money you spend. However, when you do not have the money you have to be careful what you do. We are planning what we do. We have already rolled out many things. We are still planning to make sure we responsibility move the Territory into a position where economic development will flourish, not just in Darwin with INPEX, but across the Territory.
This afternoon in the House we heard the Minster for Parks and Wildlife talk about opening up our parks and getting private enterprise involved in running these parks. We heard about private enterprise building infrastructure in them, and working with local people to solve local issues and create a local economy. We have some of the most unique landscapes in the world in communities in outback Australia. We have opportunities to create economic growth for people who live in those communities and who, fortunately, get to see it every day. They live there, they breathe it and they know the country backwards. There must thousands of people in the world who would like the opportunity to get out of the middle of Europe, out of overcrowded Asian cities, America, and come to the Territory, but we have to create the infrastructure for that. If the government was in chaos and could not organise a chook raffle, none of this would be happening.
It is absurd the opposition says the government is in chaos. I know this motion was brought on in October last year, but since then the opposition should have realised we are doing a fine job and, perhaps, withdrawn this. No, they probably want to get some cheap political points from saying the government is in chaos. It is sad, but true.
In my department we are undertaking a study to identify transport infrastructure needs. It will give us an idea of roads, bridges, ports, rail and aerodromes – all this is happening. All this had been left for 11 years ...
Mr Vowles interjecting.
Mr STYLES: I hear people interjecting but cannot understand what it is about. I am sure it is something absurd. They are saying, ‘This is terrible’. My mother told me about people in glasshouses. You should not be throwing rocks at yourself, because you left us with not only poor infrastructure, but a massive debt. What do we get for that debt? Not a great deal.
We are looking at the utility infrastructure needs in relation to power and water in regional Australia, the water requirements, wastewater, telecommunications – there is a range of issues this infrastructure study will look at. It is a joint study funded by the Australian and Northern Territory governments, and will highlight key things we need to do and guide the government in determining what we need to do. We will look at where we can stimulate economic development where there are overwhelming social needs and issues like that.
I talk about the public service. In the Department of Infrastructure, the Department of Transport and in the youth area – let me tell you some of the great things happening in youth.
I was recently at the launch of the Chief Minister’s Youth Round Table. What a fantastic bunch of Territorians! They are young, intelligent, keen, enthused; they are terrific people. The Territory is full of terrific young people, but if you continue to pound young people with debt and a sadness that overcomes them – if you are listening, you all owe, federally and locally, about $40 000 each. That is not a very good start. I remember looking at figures some years ago where, interstate, people had debts of $400 per head or $1000, but not in the Territory. We have this great big millstone around our neck dragging along behind us slowing people down …
Mr WESTRA van HOLTHE: A point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker! Pursuant to Standing Order 77, I seek an extension of time for the member for Sanderson.
Motion agreed to.
Mr STYLES: Thank you. The Chief Minister’s Youth Round Table – it is refreshing to see because when you talk to them about positive things they do not interject; they want to hear about the good things happening. They throw questions at you about things they would like to see happening, some things they would like to happen sooner, but generally they are a great bunch of people.
It is very diverse. We have people from outback and remote Australia, regional areas and Alice Springs, Darwin and Katherine. It is a fantastic thing to see. They meet four times a year and advise the Chief Minister and me, as Minister for Young Territorians, of things that concern them. It is well-known we only have this country on loan and, at some stage, all of us in this House will hand it on to the next generation.
I would like to do what my mother and father always taught me, ‘Whatever you do in life son, try to leave the place in better condition than you found it’. I look at these graphs and think they did not listen to their mum or dad or pay attention to that lesson in life, because they have left the place in worse condition than they found it.
That is probably why people who looked at the rising debt – people in households know you cannot keep spending money. I do not know where you get the idea you can spend your way out of debt. My mother would probably want to take that up with all of you. She would certainly take it up with me if I said to her, ‘Mum, it’s really easy, I can spend my way out of debt.’ I reckon there would be a ghastly silence before my mother said, ‘Sit down, son. I need to explain some basic facts of life.’
I do not think that occurred with too many on the other side. If it did, they are ignoring some good advice that not only their parents, but anyone who had anything to do with teaching them about economics would have given them.
I congratulate those young people and the staff of the Department of the Chief Minister for what they do. They are encouraging young people to get involved in range of decisions that we can implement, not as a government in chaos, but as a well-functioning government that is getting on with the job of creating jobs and economic growth in the Territory to not only benefit those in urban areas, but also those in remote and rural Australia. Some of the things they spoke to me about were drugs and alcohol, sporting facilities and issues like that.
I move to seniors. What are we doing with seniors? It is not as chaotic as the opposition would like everyone to think. The picture they are trying to paint is everything is terrible, the sky is about to fall in and everything was great until they lost government. That is not the case. This government and Cabinet are functioning well. We are putting a new budget together, and will have a responsible budget out in May.
Let us talk about what is happening in the seniors area that is so chaotic. We have formed a ministerial advisory council for seniors, also for multicultural affairs but I will get to that shortly. We consult, we listen to people and now this ministerial council will have representatives from the major seniors groups. There will be another six positions for people from various groups in the community representing a wide variety of people. They will meet regularly and discuss issues that are important to them. They will advise the government on what seniors are annoyed about, what they want and their needs.
We will also ask the seniors ministerial advisory council to look at various issues from a government perspective and say, ‘Would you mind looking at this so we can get some good feedback about issues which concern seniors’. In the Northern Territory we have the Pensioner and Carer Concession Scheme, which goes a long way to giving pensioners a helping hand and asking them to stay in the Territory longer than they might.
Let us move to multicultural affairs. Is multicultural affairs in chaos? No, it is not. We have just had the round of grants applications go out. We live in a fantastic place with our multicultural community. Obviously everyone would like lots of things now, but most people realise we have been left with a staggering debt and are pretty good about it. When you talk to people and discuss their immediate, mid- and long-term needs, they are good people. They do not like the fact we are debt, and I said earlier today I would love to run out with a chequebook and give cheques to everyone but, when you throw cheques around someone has to pay the money back. This socialist attitude of just throwing money around – I think Margaret Thatcher said socialism is great until you run out of other people’s money to spend.
That is what happened. The former ALP government ran out of other people’s money to spend and reached the point where it became so staggering people could not ignore where it had been going.
I go back to ministerial advisory councils. We are having a great time talking to these people because they are really good people. They understand they cannot have everything each day, and we must share the money around. There is a certain pot of money – and I am sure the previous government did that – but I will not go into some of the things I heard about the previous government throwing money around like there was no tomorrow.
Multicultural Affairs is going quite well, and I commend the Office of Multicultural Affairs, the Office of Senior Territorians and the Office of Youth Affairs in the Department of the Chief Minister. We are lucky to have some great people working very hard to make sure everything is running smoothly. That does not fit into point two, ‘Ongoing turmoil in the NT Public Service …’.
I do not see that happening. I have meetings with these people on a regular basis and they are cordial and fun. People in these departments see we are looking to create things, to generate things and looking for people who think outside the square. Public servants now have the freedom to think about how they might create the things we need to help young people, help senior members and help our multicultural people without necessarily just throwing money at them. There are lots of good things coming out of the public service at the moment, but it is important to give people the freedom to make decisions about things they want to put up.
It does not matter how ridiculous people might think it is. I am asking people in the public service, if they have some thoughts, to give them to us. They love it because they can put their creativity to work. This is unlike what I am led to believe previously happened. You had to be a bit careful what you put up because you would be growled at. I could go into some stories, but will not because I would probably have to identify some of the public servants. They were disappointed they had to be a little careful. Now they cannot believe the freedom they have to tell me what they think. They do not have to agree with me, and are encouraged not to agree.
That is the ‘no fear or favour’ thing we are doing well. I, and my colleagues, do not see, ‘Ongoing turmoil in the NT Public Service’. Do you see any? I do not see any either, Mr Deputy Speaker. They are some of the things the Department of the Chief Minister is doing, as well as those fabulous public servants.
I move to point three, ‘Broken election promises across the Territory – from the city to the bush, including rising violent crime’.
We heard the figures today. They do not want to believe the police force or the people who put these things together because there are some fantastic results against rising crime. We have seen figures plummet to the lowest level since they started keeping statistics. They will say that is terrible and untrue, but it is.
I am at dot point three of six, and would love to speak longer but, sadly, time prevents me. I can assure those opposite that we, as a group and me personally, will not be supporting this motion. Thank you.
Mr GUNNER (Fannie Bay): Mr Deputy Speaker, I support the motion that this Assembly condemns the CLP for the deepening and ongoing chaos in the Territory government, hurting families, businesses and our lifestyle. We saw a demonstration of that chaos this evening when the CLP voted in favour of the Chief Minister disciplining the member for Greatorex for the disrespectful and abusive language he used towards the member for Namatjira.
The Chief Minister voted in favour of disciplining the member for Greatorex. The member for Greatorex voted in favour of being disciplined. We would like to know what form of discipline the Chief Minister has given the member for Greatorex. We are assuming, now the motion has agreed to by the CLP, we will hear more about the details of the discipline taken by the CLP.
The motion went on to talk about power and water price hikes, and we have spoken about this in the Chamber quite a bit. The power and water price hikes are hurting Territory families significantly. We have the Blain by-election in a few weeks, and I have doorknocked most of the houses in Rosebery as part of that by-election. At door after door people in Rosebery talk about the impact on them of the significant increase in power and water prices. After making a promise to Territorians to cut the cost of living, the government significantly increased power and water prices.
People I spoke to in Rosebery made it very clear – and they are repeating what people all around the Territory are saying – they are upset the election promise was broken. They are upset power and water prices were increased significantly, are having incredible difficulty managing their household bills and coping with the cost of living, and being able to pay the bills all Territorians have. Whether it is rent or a mortgage, that extra strain on the household budgets from the CLP decision to significantly increase the cost of power and water in the Northern Territory is hurting them badly.
We on this side condemn that decision by the CLP. We condemn the fact they decided to break their election promise and are hurting Territory families by their decision to raise the cost of power and water. It is a significant impost on Territory households.
We have seen turmoil in the NT public service with five ministerial reshuffles and two Chief Ministers in 12 months. Since this motion was introduced, we have seen even more changes. There is significant chaos on the other side. We have seen the member for Blain leave this Chamber. We saw a Chief Minister properly elected by the people of the Northern Territory people – we accepted that on our side, we lost government. We saw someone take the CLP to government, yet, within a shatteringly short time, he was knifed in the back and replaced. Yet we are meant to believe, from members opposite speaking tonight, there is no chaos on the other side.
We have seen a Chief Minister replaced and, in fact, leave this Chamber. The member for Blain’s seat is empty because the CLP rolled him. They rolled the person who led them to an election victory. We now have an empty seat in this Chamber. Yet, the CLP members tried to tell us there is no chaos on the other side. We see the result of chaos in the CLP. We have an empty seat in this Chamber this sittings because the member for Blain, the former Chief Minister, is moving on because he was rolled by his own side. We have significant chaos amongst the CLP. We have had two Chief Ministers in one term of government. We may even have more. The Wanguri by-election preceded the rolling of the member for Blain. For all we know, the Blain by-election may precede the rolling of the member for Braitling.
We have seen significant chaos amongst the CLP. We saw, again tonight, the CLP voting for one of its own members to be disciplined – more chaos amongst the CLP. The CLP has broken a number of election promises. The most significant is, for many Territorians, the broken promise to cut the cost of living and, in fact, significantly raise the cost of living in the Northern Territory and double the cost of living pressure on Northern Territorians. CPI has doubled in the NT.
Another broken promise is to cut crime by 10% a year, every year. We have domestic violence related up by 22%, alcohol-related assault up by 14%, assault up by 12% and crime against the person is up 10%. We acknowledge the Chief Minister when he talks about property crime. At the moment in the Northern Territory graffiti might be down, but your chances of being bashed are up. Most people would say their biggest fear when it comes to crime is personal violence. In the Northern Territory violence against the person is up, mainly because of failed alcohol policies – mainly because the supply of alcohol to problem drunks has increased. The Chief Minister has run this spurious argument around wholesale alcohol purchases which covers every Territorian or visitor to the Territory. The alcohol debate is about supply to problem drunks, and that is what we have always spoken about in this Chamber.
We need some societal or community pressure around how we view and consume alcohol, but, by and large, what contributes to our crime stats and our problems in the Northern Territory centres on supply of alcohol to problem drunks. We have seen – it is in the crime stats – a significant increase in personal assault, with domestic violence up 22%. That is a consequence of the CLP’s failure to deal properly with alcohol, specifically supply of alcohol. The CLP is finally starting to realise it has made mistakes in that area.
We have seen the members for Daly and Araluen talk about the Banned Drinker Register and the fact it may be good to reinstate it. In Tennant Creek, we have seen a return to the ID scanning system. The Banned Drinker Register was an ID scanning system which helped control the supply of alcohol. In Tennant Creek we have seen the return to a very limited version of the Banned Drinker Register. We see ID scanning systems in operation in Tennant Creek. What concerns us, and one reason the Banned Drinker Register was Territory-wide, is people are mobile. If you do something like this in Tennant Creek – a local area management plan which I hope works well for Tennant Creek because Tennant Creek has issues at the moment – you will see the problems move. You need a Territory-wide approach to the supply of alcohol.
We have always said the CLP does not need to embrace the Banned Drinker Register. It could have its own version of control and supply. However, it needs to work out what that is. It has made very clear its political opinion of the Banned Drinker Register, so what is your policy decision around supply and controlling supply? Your decision to vacate that space and have a policy failure is directly contributing to the fact violence and assaults in the Territory are up. We are seeing a 22% increase in domestic violence, a 10% increase in crime against the person, a 12% increase in assault and a 14.5% increase in alcohol-related assault. It is not good at the moment.
We call on CLP members to get over themselves and heal their rifts. We need good government for the Northern Territory, but at the moment the CLP is driven by chaos. I support the motion.
Mr WESTRA van HOLTHE (Primary Industry and Fisheries): Madam Speaker, I do not support the ridiculous motion the opposition has brought into this Chamber, and I am disappointed they have taken this tack.
I had an occasion to look up the word chaos on www.dictionary.com – I will wait for that to come back on my iPad. Under www.dictionary.com it says, ‘a state of utter confusion or disorder, a total lack of organisation or order, any confused or disorderly mass’. That describes the state of this government when we took over in August 2012. It was a complete and utter shambles and we were left with enormous legacies to deal with. On that very significant night in the Northern Territory’s history of 25 August 2012, I do not think anyone on this side of the Chamber fully realised the state the Northern Territory was in, or what was being handed to us to fix. What we have to do now is get on and fix the utter and abject mess left by the former Labor government.
As I read through the terms of this motion, I see the first paragraph talks about deepening and ongoing chaos in the Territory government, hurting families, businesses and our lifestyle. It then lists a bunch of other things. I will look at some of those issues around business and lifestyle and run a few comparisons for the benefit of those listening to see what it was like when Labor was in power and what we have had to fix since coming to power in the Northern Territory, and the ongoing work.
Since August 2012, the Country Liberal government has had its head down and its backside up, furiously working to steer the Northern Territory back in the right direction, back to an even footing.
It has been spoken about many times in this House: we inherited a projected debt of $5.5bn. There was no plan from the former Labor government to start reducing the debt or paying it back. I do not believe there were any forward projections to indicate surplus budgets, which meant the debt would continue to rise. As the member for Sanderson quite adequately pointed out, you cannot keep spending money and expect to miraculously get out of debt. That said, I do not have a problem with debt per se as long as the money being borrowed is used to build and create wealth and infrastructure.
I do not know how much money the Labor government spent in its 11 years of office in total; you have to go back through the books. However, I wonder what positive legacy it might have left behind. What came out of it? What big infrastructure was built? Rosebery schools were one big piece of infrastructure. Beyond that, I do not know if there is anything about which the former Labor government could proudly say, ‘We did this!’ We were immediately left behind the eight ball trying to not only unravel the mess left behind, but also to fund many legacy items as well. We started with the mini-budget process to identify saving initiatives and fund our election commitments.
This motion talks about commitments not met, but most have been. When you look at my portfolio areas, I can almost say every single election promise made with respect to areas I am responsible for has either been completed and delivered or is well on the way.
Having gone through that process and the mini-budget and the budget since, we set about our agenda to stimulate economic development across the whole Northern Territory.
The achievements within my portfolios in the last 19 months have been significant, coming off the back of what a huge legacy Labor left behind. One of the big legacies Labor left behind – if this does not come under the definition of chaos I will eat my hat – was the chaos surrounding the live cattle ban in 2011. I know the Territory Labor government was not the architect of that ban, but the Labor government was alongside then Prime Minister Julia Gillard and her henchman, the former Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, agreeing with the need to suspend the live cattle trade into Indonesia. Tell me that did not hurt Territory families! In fact, it is still hurting Territory families.
I said in the House, and in the media a number of times, we would pay the price for that chaotic act for many years to come. I can assure you that, notwithstanding the rebound in that trade over the past 18 months or so, people in the cattle sector are still doing it tough. Guess what? Most are family run businesses. The people employed by the large companies are part of families and that still hurts. What did we have to do? We had to put our head down and our backside up and fix that mess.
I took three trips to Indonesia in the first 12 months of being in office to rebuild those relations, and to let the Indonesians know they could once again trust the Northern Territory government. They could not trust the Labor government after the announcement of the live cattle suspension. Since that time we have moved on. The trade has now resumed and is back at dizzying heights. It is wonderful to see so many cattle leaving the Port of Darwin heading to Indonesia, but did we stop there? No, we did not; we continued that work.
We now have a burgeoning trade in live cattle with Vietnam. Some early work was done by the former government in opening the door to Vietnam, but they sat on their hands and did little with it. Once this government came into power we started to see real numbers of cattle being shipped out. Seventy-seven thousand head or thereabouts went through the Port of Darwin last year.
The question to ask is: did we stop there? No, we are trying to help Territory families. This government is committed to helping Territory families so we looked at another part of the sector needing help, the buffalo industry. We now have a brand spanking new buffalo trade with Vietnam.
This has never been done before and is a testament to the commitment of this government, the hard work of the Department of Primary Industry and Fisheries and everyone who worked alongside in the industry to find a new way to grow the economy through buffaloes. It is not that hard, it just takes a bit of effort. That does not sound chaotic to me, it sounds well-planned.
Let us get the live cattle trade back to Vietnam; that is plan one. Plan two is looking for other markets, and plan three is about diversifying and seeing what other commodities we can send to our Southeast Asian neighbours. We have put together and funded a new initiative for a live export market development unit in the department of Primary Industry. New funding went into that. Does that sound like chaos to you? No, it is just part of plan to grow the economy of the Northern Territory in the primary industry sector.
I spoke about the legacy we inherited from the former government. The motion mentions public servants. Let me assure you when we came to government morale in the public service was at an all-time low, particularly in the departments for which I have responsibility.
From about 2004 to 2011-12, general public service numbers grew by 18%. In the former Department of Resources, which comprised Mines and Energy and Primary Industry and Fisheries, public sector numbers dropped 14%. General public sector rose by 18%, but the Department of Resources dropped by 14%. That hurt Territory families because those departments were no longer sufficiently resourced to continue to grow two of the three key economic drivers of the Northern Territory. Our capacity was depleted by the former government.
That caused chaos because we inherited an enormous backlog of work, exacerbated by the philosophy of the former government around red and green tape and its penchant for wanting to tie things up in layer upon layer of approvals and red and green tape. We are moving to fix that and it is part of the plan. There is no chaos, it is part of the plan. Multi-year mine management plans are an example, so operating companies no longer have to submit a full mine management plan every 12 months but can submit a supplement. That streamlines the process and removes some red tape. That does not sound incredibly chaotic to me. We continue trying to build the economy around those important facets of Primary Industries and Mines and Energy.
The Ord has been spoken about for the last 40 or 50 years. Western Australia has done a stellar job in bringing its side of the Ord development online. The Labor government in the Northern Territory took over in 2011, and did precious little to get anything happening in the Ord. In fact, you could say nothing. There is nothing on the ground, and there were no moves to develop the Northern Territory side of the Ord. In fact, probably more work was done prior to 2001 when the old CLP government was in power and commenced the process and started looking at it.
In the 19 months of a new Country Liberals government, we did more with the Ord than the former Labor government did in 11 years. We established an Ord Development Unit – a new unit with new funding to – guess what? – try to grow that primary industry sector to build the economy. It is all part of a plan. That does not sound too chaotic.
We signed an MOU with the federal government and the Western Australian government to progress the Ord. Even though the members opposite would have people of the Northern Territory believe it has stalled and nothing is happening, that is not the case. An enormous amount of work is being done in the background to prepare for native title negotiations and other things. Those necessary first and early steps need to be taken before we can change tenure and start development on that 14 000 ha, or thereabouts, of land. That does not sound too chaotic, it sounds like part of a plan.
I move to the Tiwis. What did the former Labor government do to help the Tiwi people? Precious little, I imagine. In the last few months we have started a concerted push to get economic development happening for the Tiwi Islands. An area of 10 000 ha has been identified for agricultural purposes. Other tracts of land are identified for tourism and other uses on the Tiwi Islands. That does not sound too chaotic to me, that sounds like part of a plan to build the economy of the Northern Territory.
That is what you can bring all this back to. While Labor was bumbling from one social agenda to the next, the Country Liberals government has put aside that social agenda to a large degree because we realise the future of the Northern Territory relies on building the economy. While we might be criticised by members opposite for doing things like putting up power and water prices, that was necessary in order to balance the books of Power and Water and help with the Territory’s bottom line. This was all with a bigger plan in mind: that development of the Northern Territory, though significant economic growth under the Country Liberals government, would ease that pain over the long term. There is nothing chaotic about that. What you would probably find chaotic was the random way the former government dealt with issues around power and water pricing.
They realised, and the former Treasurer knew, power and water prices needed to increase, they had to, yet for political expediency and lack of political courage they failed to meet their obligations to allow power and water prices to track to such a degree that Power and Water would become a more sustainable entity, and to also ease the bumps along the way for consumers who would have to pay.
In hindsight, it would be easy to say it is better to put prices up incrementally every year instead of having to incur larger power rises all in one hit. However, that, again, was a legacy left to us by the former Labor government.
I want to touch on Berrimah Farm too while we are talking about the chaos that was a hallmark of the former government. We have looked at Berrimah Farm and how it might best be used into the future. I identified some of the land at Berrimah Farm could be better utilised and we set about formulating a plan – no chaos there ...
Mrs LAMBLEY: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Pursuant to Standing Order 77, I request an extension of time for the member.
Motion agreed to.
Mr WESTRA van HOLTHE: Thank you, Madam Speaker and member for Araluen.
We looked at Berrimah Farm and realised the importance of the research and extension work done out of our research farms across the Northern Territory, particularly recognising the importance of Berrimah Farm. We looked at how best to use that land. It came to my attention that the former Labor government’s plan for Berrimah Farm was to leave it as a thumbnail on the landscape of Berrimah. The plan was to so chop it up it would have severely impacted on the capacity and capability of Berrimah Farm to do the work it was intended to. I found that quite disgraceful but fitting the philosophy of the former Labor government – not interested in the primary sector or not understanding it. We recognise the importance of it, which is why any changes to Berrimah Farm will be sensible and allow for the best use of the land and also the capacity of Berrimah Farm to continue as it is currently.
Let us talk about Mines and Energy and the chaos we inherited. I mentioned before the former Department of Resources’ public service numbers were depleted by 14% from about 2004-11. The former government, in its chaotic fashion, ceased or reduced funding to important geoscience programs within the department. Bringing Forward Discovery was the pre-competitive geoscience program fully funded initially by the former Labor government, but they let funding slip away. The money allocated for Bringing Forward Discovery had to be diverted into general operations of the Department of Mines and Energy – Department of Resources as it was at the time – because there was no plan by the former government to grow the mining sector in the Northern Territory.
They did not have a clue. They were so disorganised they could not grasp the fact you need a public service supporting the economic area of the Northern Territory, which is where we ended up with the Department of Mines and Energy. In a plan – yes, we have a plan; it is not chaotic on this side of the House – we funded a brand new program called CORE – Creating Opportunities for Resource Exploration. This was a fully-funded model – after we picked up the legacy-funded item from the former government – and we have pumped new money into the program to bring on exploration to create the new generation of mines required in the Northern Territory to continue the growth of that sector, increase royalties, provide jobs for Territorians and grow our economy. It is all part of a plan.
Let us talk about the mining levy. That was all part of a plan too because mining in the Northern Territory needs to be ecologically sustainable. We know mining itself is not sustainable because when you mine something you take it away, which is not sustainable. You can do it in a way which allows for ecological sustainability; balancing the environment with mining. Yes, in the former government’s reign they introduced a system of bonding mining activities to hold money in lieu of environmental damage, which was a fine idea. However, they did not have the political courage, will, or the political intelligence to consider how they might deal with legacy mining issues in the Northern Territory.
It is estimated the legacy mines of the Territory will cost around $1bn to $1.5bn to remediate. The question I had when we were talking about this policy was, ‘Who should fund this? Should the taxpayer fund this or the mining companies?’ The taxpayer did not cause the problem we have with legacy mines so it came down to the mining companies, which is why the mining levy – 1% of the value of the bond – was introduced. That money will be used to deal with remediation of legacy mining issues across the Northern Territory because we want mining to be ecologically sustainable. The way to do this is to get some acceptance from the community. You can mine without serious harm to the environment and, in order to do so, industry and government needs to work together to prove to the economy you can do it. Where there are mistakes, there are mechanisms to fix them; it is part of the plan.
I do not want to be in parliament, in years to come, answering questions about legacy mine sites because we failed to act. We have acted; it is part of a plan and could not be considered chaotic in any sense of the word.
I spoke about the pastoral industry earlier in the context of the live cattle trade. While formulating plans on this side of the House we wanted to look at how we could make better use of our pastoral land in the Northern Territory, recognising our pastoral estate is about 48% of the Territory’s land area. That is why we made amendments to the Pastoral Land Act, so non pastoral use could be commercialised on pastoral land across the Northern Territory, with a permit issued by the Pastoral Land Board.
That is not chaos; that is part of a plan to make the pastoral sector of the Northern Territory more sustainable through diversification. It makes perfect sense to me, but I do not think those on the other side of the House get it. That is why I am really disappointed with the content of this motion. It fails to recognise all the planning this government has done over the past 19 months, and the actions we have brought to bear to institute the plans we have. All the opposition has sought to do is cheapen the parliamentary process by bringing on a motion that is thin at best.
I have much more I could talk about. I could talk about fishing and the fact the former minister for Fisheries knew years ago we had some sustainability problems with our reef fish. Rather than make a decision – the former minister did not have the courage to deal with the tough issues in the fisheries sector – he ignored them. That seems pretty chaotic to me. I, on the other hand, as minister for Fisheries, grab these tough issues which take a bit of courage and deal with them. When I tell people perhaps we must have areas of sea closed to fishing – they are tough decisions to make but part of a plan to make sure we have sustainable fisheries for the future. If we do not plan now we will have problems later.
I do not get where the opposition comes from when it talks about chaos in government. For the past 19 months we have had our heads down and tails up. We have been working diligently to fix the mess we inherited in August 2012, and drive a new agenda that will see a very bright economic future for the Northern Territory.
Not only do I not support this motion, I condemn the opposition for daring to bring it on.
Mr CHANDLER (Education): I too, like my colleagues on this side of the House, do not support this motion. That is not to say we never support motions on GBD; the member for Nelson was given support earlier tonight ...
Mr McCarthy: And the member for Johnston.
Mr CHANDLER: And the member for Johnston, that is true. That is two in one night. I stand corrected, you are correct.
This motion says quote:
First, I do not agree with the motion, it is pure political garbage. I often wonder, when motions like this are before the House, whether it is the best use of parliament’s time discussing them rather than getting on with what is important.
The previous Labor government can probably be proud of some things it did in getting on with the business, like we on this side are trying to do. Motions like this are not something either side of the House can be proud of because they do benefit Territorians. You slap us around a bit; we slap you around a bit. How is that benefitting Territorians when there are much more important things to be getting on with?
One thing became clear when the member for Sanderson spoke about the budget. The Leader of the Opposition tried to move a point of order saying this had nothing to do with the budget. It has everything to do with the budget and the fiscal position of the Northern Territory. Let us not talk about the debt. I know we talk about the debt and it needs to be mentioned, but I will not mention ‘the debt’. What is worse is the former structure of government set up under the Labor Party was of such magnitude it was costing around $5bn a year to run. That is every teacher, every police officer, every nurse, every doctor, every service provided and every piece of infrastructure provided by the government was, basically, costing around $5bn a year and we had revenue of around $4bn. That is, clearly, living beyond your means. If that is not curtailed it will end in disaster.
I do not want to talk about the debt, let us talk about the structure of government and why, on coming to government, the Country Liberals found themselves with some pretty harsh decisions to make. We received a lot of pressure from the other side of the House today because we had the courage to make those decisions. Is that because we wanted to? No, it was because we had to. We have to get the Northern Territory back on a stable financial footing. If we continued doing what the previous Treasurer and previous government did, we would be in worse than we are now.
When the opposition says power and water charge increases are hurting families – of course they are hurting families. Any charge we pay for, whether it is registration, food on the table, rent, power – every impost on our pockets hurts. To say it would not have happened under a Labor government is dishonest. We know; we have seen the letters. We have seen where the Leader of the Opposition recommended increased charges.
I bet my last dollar had Labor won the last election, at some time in this term of government they would have had no choice but to increase the prices of power and water in the Northern Territory – without a doubt. They knew they could not keep borrowing more and more money. In fact, I have looked at some of the stats. The member for Sanderson held a chart up earlier. I had a lot of criticism for Syd Stirling, then Treasurer, for other reasons. He was Education minister when I had some issues. As far as managing Treasury, he did a sterling job compared to the following Treasurer, who took the Northern Territory further and further into debt.
When we talk about taking over government and realising the fiscal position of the Northern Territory and the structure of government itself, some pretty harsh decisions had to be made. Let us put this on the record, politics is a populist game. Why would some of the decisions be made if they were not necessary? Why would you make a decision you know will provide financial pain to people in the Northern Territory if it was not necessary? If Territorians are complaining about this government making some of the decisions it has, they should be complaining outside the member for Karama’s office because she was responsible for getting the Northern Territory into the fiscal position it is today.
The art of politics is about winning favour with the general public. I put to you it has taken real courage to make some of these decisions. I suggest the former government had no courage whatsoever because it was not game to make tough decisions. The easy decision was to continue borrowing money and build the public service to the stage it would provide an ongoing legacy for many years to come.
Look at the debt, the fiscal position and look at the structure of government and the ongoing costs of government. When you compare it with the average family paying off a house – they may take 25 or 30 years to pay that house off. You can only imagine, given the debt the Northern Territory has, the structure of government today and the cost it takes to run that structure, the debt could take generations to pay off. That is a huge legacy. Rather than a government you say is in chaos, I suggest it is a well-structured government intent on ensuring our children are not left with a legacy of debt to pay for years to come.
I often wonder, when we come into this House, where Labor Party facts come from. I wonder if there is a special Labor fact app on iPads today, because I am continually bombarded with media releases and I copied some earlier. There are heaps of media releases where the information is plain wrong. The first says, ‘Labor Calls for the End to Teacher Dispute’. This was dated 7 March 2013. There is the first mistake; the date is not right. It goes on to provide incorrect information, and even when the government and the Department of Education correct it, it does not stop the Labor opposition running a line they know is untrue.
Rather than talk to a motion like this, I would prefer to demonstrate, from a portfolio perspective, some of the things we have been doing in government to demonstrate we are not in chaos. This government has a plan to achieve its vision. I look at the things each minister is working on and, as the member for Sanderson said earlier, heads down bums up. That is what it has been like during the last 18 months. Yes, a few things along the way have been challenging, but they are challenges any new government – particularly when discovering the mess we still are sweeping up – we need a huge broom.
I have run through a few already, but there have been many positive changes. I look at Lands and Planning, also the vision for education in the Northern Territory rather than accepting the previous results – having the courage to look at how we change education in the Northern Territory and improve results. It is not only how much money you throw at education, which you see as a result. There are many recipes to make a chocolate cake. They are all a little different but, at the end of the day, will make the cake, and some better than others. I want a different recipe to that used in the past because if we continue to do things the same way we will get the same results. We have to look at different ways.
If we were a government in crisis or in chaos, why would we be so active in areas like the Indigenous education review? Why would we be calling an inquiry into fracking in the Northern Territory if we were not serious about the nature of fracking, the potential of the oil and gas industry in the Territory and making sure we get it right? Why call an inquiry if we are not serious about the business? Why would I be looking at Indigenous education when so many said to brush it aside and manage it day to day – we will never get better results so keep doing it. No, not good enough.
We have been elected to this House to truly represent Northern Territorians, particularly children, and provide them with every opportunity for their future. We have to have the courage to do what is required to improve educational results.
In Lands and Planning, look at some of the legislation passed at the last sittings, where we have a concurrent legislative framework for rezoning and development consent. The opportunity for developers to use this pathway can make the world of difference for a development, save a great deal of money and improve the cost of living for Territorians because the process has sped up. That can save money and, at the end of the day, future residents of the Northern Territory, when purchasing properties – any savings are passed directly on to them.
The infill sites we have identified are all about having enough land to get in front of what was left behind. It was so far behind the wave it was not funny. This is when land prices increased ...
Ms Lawrie interjecting.
Mr CHANDLER: The Opposition Leader can harp and cry, but we can show you facts around land prices in the Northern Territory over the last decade. It is close to 11% per annum every year for the last 10 years. How is that sustainable? If you were truly interested in the cost of living that is where you would focus your attention. We are focused on getting quality land release out in record time. I have seen the stats on how quickly things are being approved. At the moment, the Department of Lands, Planning and the Environment has about 100 more new development applications on its books than this time last year.
The Territory is growing. We have come from such a low base it will take a huge effort to ensure we get in front of the wave. We have to punch through that wave if we have any chance of reducing the cost of living for Territorians. It is a commitment this Country Liberals government made. One way we can make a huge difference to Territorians is through land release, something the former government did not keep up with …
Members interjecting.
Mr CHANDLER: They sit there harping because they know I am touching on a raw nerve.
We know how much the price of land went up in the last decade under Labor, which is a true reflection of the cost of living. Rents are at record levels in the Northern Territory because of failed land release in the last decade or more. However, we are catching up and closing the gap. Do we have much more to do? Damn right we have. We have heaps to do and are working on it. John Coleman, the Department of Lands, Planning and the Environment and all the staff are doing a tremendous job not just in the Top End, but in Katherine, Tennant Creek and Alice Springs, working on land agreements in remote towns so we can, for the first time, provide real economic opportunity for those areas. Some are difficult to work on. However, if we want to make a difference for remote Territorians and provide them with opportunities on their own land, we must start unlocking some of the legislative devices that have locked the land up for so long.
Are we working on that? Yes, we are. If we were a government in chaos, why would we bother? Why would we focus on these areas? That is why this motion is just political rubbish.
In Lands, Planning and the Environment we are planning for growth not just in Darwin, but across the board. We have the NT Planning Commission, strategic land use plans, expert advice on special projects and planning policy. The previous government did not keep its eye on the ball when it came to good planning. It signed off on getting INPEX to Darwin, something that could underpin the financial security of the Northern Territory, or part thereof. However, it failed to keep up with the impact INPEX had on land prices, the price of housing and the cost of living in the Northern Territory.
If Labor had been a good government, not only would it have secured companies like INPEX for the Territory, it would also have ensured copious amounts of land were being released to ensure land prices did not go through the roof ...
Ms Lawrie: Bellamack.
Mr CHANDLER: I find that amazing …
Ms Lawrie: Muirhead.
Mr CHANDLER: Let us talk about Bellamack. It costs $300 000 for a block of land in Bellamack. We are working on Zuccoli at the moment and have blocks of land …
Mr ELFERINK: A point of order, Madam Speaker! The Leader of the Opposition, in the last 10 minutes, has said more than the minister.
Ms Lawrie: Rubbish. Do not mislead …
Mr ELFERINK: I believe Standing Order 51 should be applied.
Madam SPEAKER: Opposition Leader!
Mr ELFERINK: She still goes on, Madam Speaker, trying talking over the top of me.
Madam SPEAKER: Opposition Leader, cease interjecting.
Ms Lawrie: How are you feeling, John? It is all unravelling.
Madam SPEAKER: Opposition Leader, you are on a warning.
Mr CHANDLER: The stage we are working on at the moment will see blocks of land from $123 500 up to $300 000. Bellamack is next door, but allowing more flexibility in blocks sizes has provided the opportunity for land to be released for as low as $123 500, something not possible under the previous government for many years. I guarantee the more affordable lots will be the first to go because it is what younger people can afford ...
Mr ELFERINK: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Pursuant to Standing Order 77, I move an extension of time for the member.
Madam SPEAKER: He can only have an extension until 9 pm.
Motion agreed to.
Mr CHANDLER: Other things in the area of Lands and Planning include expanding the online one-stop shop to current applications. As already mentioned, looking at title bonds has been a bugbear of many developers for many years. Other jurisdictions have bonded titles, which is a way to speed up the process. As I said, 70 infill sites were identified, with the ability to turn off around 2700 dwellings very quickly to keep up with demand. There is the long-term Towards a Darwin Regional Land Use Plan, which will secure land planning for the future.
Labor spoke a lot about Weddell, but when we took over government we looked at what had been done behind the scenes and it was very little. There were a lot of glossy brochures about Weddell. The former minister spoke about the new …
Mr McCarthy: Roads, water and power.
Mr CHANDLER: There is a new water line and so forth going through, which is all fantastic stuff, but little more was done to secure the future of Weddell. Weddell would not have an economy. It was to be another satellite city and, in the future, when we have finished infill sites and have areas around – I know this will cause some consternation – Kowandi north, Palmerston north or whatever you want to call it. Nothing is concrete yet. It is the area northeast of Palmerston, once those areas …
Mr Wood: Rural.
Mr CHANDLER: Rural areas. See, you slam me on the rural area ...
Mr Wood: No, I did not. The member for Goyder lives there.
Mr CHANDLER: That is right. There are many infill sites …
Mr Elferink: When I was a kid, Anula was a rural area.
Mr CHANDLER: It was. Many of the infill sites and other areas of Palmerston, when filled – I believe the next major area of development will be around Murrumujuk because that is where the government wants to see future development of the Glyde Point area because there will be an economy there. We want to build an economy around a port infrastructure and heavy industry which will require people living nearby to support that development.
Something like Weddell would put more pressure on our roads infrastructure. My thinking changed seriously when I took a planning trip and looked at some of the cities that have drawn themselves away from being another Los Angeles. We hubbed through Phoenix, Arizona. It was amazing to look at from the air. We only flew in and out, but it was an amazing city that went forever with huge road networks. The freeway system was incredible. I thought Los Angeles was bad, but Phoenix looked like Alice Springs on steroids. It was flat, it was gorgeous to look at …
Mr Wood: Was it tropical?
Mr CHANDLER: No, it was dry, flat desert. Even the rocky outcrops reminded me of Alice Springs. It went on forever through huge road networks.
The city of Portland decided years ago not to continue down the beautiful fertile valleys surrounding the city. They densified the city through light rail networks, trams systems and made the city walkable. Looking at the trees, they transformed the city. Strangely enough, they did it by reducing the amount of car parking available in their city rather than increasing it. They made a conscious decision.
There is a great tribute to the city’s forefathers who made this decision. As you go from the airport to the city you go on a freeway and there is a massive ramp that runs up and just stops. It goes nowhere and it stands out. When you look at it you think, ‘Hello, they ran out of money’. In one of the first meetings we had there I asked what was happening with the extension to the freeway. They said a conscious decision had been made. If they continued with it they would bring another freeway connection into the city with more cars. They made a conscious decision. They wanted to densify. They wanted to stop cars coming into the city but they wanted to attract people.
This is where I had my change of thinking around this because I live in a satellite city – Palmerston …
Mr Wood: You can develop industries in Weddell.
Mr CHANDLER: Yes, but down the track. Would I say Weddell will never happen? Absolutely not! Weddell will happen as this city grows. However, before we get there, there are so many infill sites and environmentally friendly ways of moving forward.
You can look at cities – I mentioned Portland – where they can demonstrate the energy consumed by that city per person is about 40% reduced by the way they live compared to an urban sprawl environment. There are many areas we can look at. This is what we are working on. If we were a government in crisis …
Madam SPEAKER: Minister, the time is 9 pm. Would you like to hold your comments over?
Mr CHANDLER: Yes, please, Madam Speaker.
Debate adjourned.
Mr ELFERINK (Leader of Government Business): Madam Speaker, I move that the Assembly do now adjourn.
Mr GILES (Braitling): Madam Speaker, on 20 February the Assembly was informed by the Minister for Lands, Planning and the Environment that he had recommended to the government that an inquiry be held into the potential environmental impacts of hydraulic fracking. Today I announce Dr Allan Hawke AC has been appointed to head the inquiry.
Dr Hawke is eminently qualified to lead the inquiry. He is a former diplomat and former Chancellor of the Australian National University. He has been a senior public servant in Canberra and was Chief of Staff to Labor Prime Minister, Paul Keating.
Since retiring, he has conducted a number of high level reviews for the Australian government and other jurisdictions. These reviews include the Hawke report into the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act. Dr Hawke will formally start his work as commissioner in early April, and will call for public submissions on this important issue.
The Territory has vast reserves of shale gas located more than one kilometre below the earth’s surface. These could be unlocked using hydraulic fracturing. The use of this technique could generate many millions of dollars in export earnings for the Territory. These reserves could also hold the key to securing the country’s energy supply into the future, but we understand this should not come at the cost of our environment. Shale gas fracking is fundamentally different to coal seam gas fracking used interstate. This is because the coal seam gas is usually located closer to the surface and nearer to ground water aquifers.
We intend to give the public accurate information about the scale of environmental risks this presents. We know this issue can be a contentious one at times, but we want the public to have confidence in this process so have ordered a thorough inquiry. The aim is to separate the proven evidence about environmental risk from the myths, and give an accurate picture based on science through independent analysis. The inquiry will result in recommendations on whether steps should be taken to mitigate any potential impacts from fracking. Dr Hawke is expected to report back to the Northern Territory government by the end of the year and I look forward to seeing his report.
Ms FYLES (Nightcliff): Madam Speaker, it is with great pleasure I inform the House of the great achievement of one of my local constituents, Ms Dawn Lawrie. Dawn was recently appointed a Member of the Order, AM, in the General Division of the Order of Australia for her significant service to public administration, particularly as an advocate for social inclusion and to the parliaments of the Northern Territory.
Dawn has a career I admire, as do many others. In 1971 Dawn was elected to the Northern Territory Legislative Council, the second woman to be elected to the NT parliament. As the independent local member for Nightcliff, she continued to represent our wonderful community for 12 years.
One of Dawn’s first actions as an elected member was to introduce a bill to put women on the jury roll. At that time women could ask to go on the roll, but no woman had ever served on a jury. Other acknowledgements of note during her elected years included being appointed as the NT representative on the Interim Committee on the National Estate, the forerunner to the National Heritage Commission. She sponsored a bill to stop the destruction of Casuarina sand dunes, which her daughter Delia has fond memories of, abortion law reform, before which women had no access to safe procedures, and she established the parole board. Before that bill passed the only avenue to access parole was by application to the Governor-General.
After Cyclone Tracy she sought federal funding to preserve and protect Darwin buildings of significant heritage status including: Browns Mart, the Chung Wah Society building to repair and rebuild the Chinese temple, and save the Town Hall ruins from being bulldozed. She fought to stop approximately 80% of Nightcliff being rezoned by southern planners. We have all heard stories that after Cyclone Tracy southern planners wanted to reshape our city.
After her years as a member of parliament Dawn continued to play a valuable role in our community. In fact, she still does today. Some achievements of note: she chaired a committee on children’s services in the Northern Territory for Hon Barry Coulter; with her late husband John Berry she established the Palmerston Newspaper; she was appointed executive officer for the NT Committee on Discrimination in Employment and Occupation and represented the Northern Territory at a national level on this; and was appointed the first NT Regional Director for the Human Rights Commission, establishing the NT office.
Dawn was appointed Administrator of the Cocos Keeling Islands, a great change in administration on the island. Dawn took the time to learn the language and gain respect by involving local people in the changes taking place and encouraging local residents to gain qualifications. She was appointed the first NT Anti-Discrimination Commissioner, and was in a position to continue her work in advancing and enhancing opportunity for women and girls, particularly those who wish to enter trades considered more a male prerogative.
Dawn was the chief executive officer of YMCA, the manager of clinical services at Danila Dilba Medical Services, president of the NT Aids & Hepatitis Council for four years, a marriage celebrant from 1975 to 2012 and, most recently, was the disability advocate at Darwin Community Legal Service. Although she is now retired, Dawn remains very active in the community. She is a member and secretary of the Friends of the Darwin Symphony Orchestra, a chair of the Place Names Committee for the NT, and provides a Justice of the Peace service, something she has been doing since 1975. In fact, she provides this service in my office every Tuesday morning for the residents of Nightcliff. I know many people pop by just to chat to Dawn.
Dawn has achieved some truly amazing results in our community, but when you speak to Dawn she proudly states her greatest achievement is, ‘Successfully raising her three gifted children’.
I would like to take this opportunity, on behalf of our community, to thank Dawn for her outstanding contribution. It is a tremendous achievement to receive the Member of the Order award, and long overdue recognition of her tireless efforts and the high standard of service she provided to our community – a lifetime of service.
If anyone needs the services of a JP you can ring Dawn and she will pop down. Only a few weeks ago I was in my office on a Saturday morning and somebody came in urgently needing some documents. A quick call to Dawn discovered she was just at Woolworths getting the paper and would come past. Half-an-hour to 40 minutes later she said, ‘Well, I will go home and have that cuppa, but it will probably be a bit cold now’. She literally was just grabbing the paper to have with her coffee but was side-tracked to our office. She still gives that commitment to our community.
Dawn is very passionate about supporting women and children particularly. Dawn House is named after her, something I did not know until recently. These are just some of the ways Dawn has helped our community and will continue to do so.
I thought it important to take the time tonight to acknowledge her efforts and share with this parliament her recent award.
Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Mr GUNNER (Fannie Bay): Madam Speaker, on the last day of the last sittings I had the privilege to be invited to attend the funeral of Mr Christopher Lake by his fellow firefighters. Chris Lake, Lakey, was a firefighter of 24 years who tragically passed away too early from cancer. I asked the family for permission to read the eulogy from the day into the Hansard.
VISITORS
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, I advise of the presence in the gallery of a Year 7 class from Rosebery Middle School accompanied by Alison Stringer, Gillian Furness and Rebecca McSkimming, and a visiting youth group led by Ben Riley and Rebecca Healy. Welcome everyone, and I hope you enjoy your tour and time at Parliament House.
Members: Hear, hear!
WATER EFFICIENCY LABELLING AND STANDARDS (NATIONAL UNIFORM LEGISLATION) BILL
(Serial 70)
Bill presented and read a first time.
Mr CHANDLER (Lands, Planning and the Environment): Madam Speaker, I move that the bill be now read a second time.
This bill repeals the existing Water Efficiency Labelling and Standards Act and applies the Commonwealth Water Efficiency Labelling and Standards Act 2005, as in force from time to time, as a law of the Northern Territory. In doing so, it upholds government’s commitment to create a national scheme for water efficiency labelling and standards through the implementation of nationally consistent legislation.
In 2005, the Northern Territory signed the intergovernmental agreement for the Water Efficiency Labelling and Standards Scheme. Known as WELS, the scheme applies performance standards to household water products including washing machines, dishwashers, showers, toilets, urinals and tap ware. These products must be registered under the scheme before they can be offered for sale in Australia. The scheme is designed to promote the conservation of Australia’s water resources and support the development of new water use technologies.
___________________________
Visitors
Visitors
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Minister, could I interrupt for a minute, please. Honourable members, I advise of the presence in the gallery of three Year 5/6 classes from Leanyer Primary School, accompanied by David Cocks, Hayley Jack and Macushla Kelly. On behalf of honourable members, I extend a warm welcome to our visitors and hope they enjoy their visit to Parliament House.
Members: Hear, hear!
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Mr CHANDLER: Welcome students. Leanyer Primary, fantastic.
Mr Deputy Speaker, the scheme requires industries to place information labels on their products to inform consumers of the water efficiency of the product. It works the same way as the energy star rating system on electrical appliances which provide information on the energy efficiency of the product. Many of us have seen those on fridges, when we go into places like Harvey Norman, Betta Electrical and other places to help us understand the efficiency.
Since the WELS scheme started, urban water consumption across Australia has reduced and there have been increases in the sale and registration of four star and higher rated products. It is anticipated the WELS scheme will achieve 800 GL of water savings by 2021.
I now turn to the legislative and policy framework underpinning WELS. The WELS scheme is established by the Commonwealth Water Efficiency Labelling and Standards Act 2005 and complimentary state and territory legislation. The Commonwealth act establishes the national Water Efficiency Labelling and Standards Regulator, with powers and functions to regulate water efficiency standards consistently across Australia.
It creates a consistent playing field for those industry participants that operate in multiple jurisdictions and minimises the compliance costs which, in turn, encourages compliance with the scheme. An independent review of the WELS scheme was undertaken in 2010, resulting in a number of recommendations to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the scheme. As part of the review, consultation was undertaken with state and territory governments, water utilities and consumer and industry representatives. The review recommended two major changes to the Commonwealth act to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the WELS scheme.
Firstly, it recommended broadening the compliance provisions to allow both civil and criminal penalties to be applied. Secondly, it recommended improvements to the WELS product registration and fee provisions. The Standing Council on Environment and Water agreed to implement the recommendations of the independent review. During 2011 and 2012, a range of bills was introduced into the Australian parliament to give effect to these amendments. In summary, the bills introduced changes to compliance and enforcement provisions of the Commonwealth act to ensure that tailored and appropriate responses can be provided when the act is contravened.
These changes are aimed at improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the compliance and enforcement effort. The bills also change the product registration and fee provisions to raise the proportion of costs recovered from industry participants through the registration of WELS products from 20% to 80%, in accordance with the original intention of the scheme. The balance of costs is provided by the Commonwealth, the states and territories. The government contribution is apportioned half to the Commonwealth, with the states and territories continuing on a pro rata population basis.
The Northern Territory’s commitment is 0.5% of the national funding requirements and in 2012-13 equated to $1902. Under the original Commonwealth act, any minor change to the legislation, even a typographical error, required agreement from all jurisdictions. This reduced the effectiveness of the act and created a significant amount of unnecessary work. The 2011 and 2012 bills introduced powers for the Commonwealth minister to determine detailed arrangements necessary for the administration of the scheme through the development of disallowable ministerial instruments. These changes will make it easier for the scheme to be modified from time to time to improve its efficiency and effectiveness, particularly in relation to the registration of products, without the need to amend supporting state and territory legislation. All states and territories will still need to agree to the terms of the scheme, or to any variation of the scheme other than a variation to remove an ambiguity or uncertainty, or to correct an error before the instrument is made.
As a consequence of the 2011 and 2012 bills, the Northern Territory’s WELS act is no longer consistent with the Commonwealth act. This bill resolves that issue and realigns the Northern Territory’s WELS act with the Commonwealth act. The bill, effectively, applies the Commonwealth act as it is in force from time to time as if it were a law of the Northern Territory, reducing the need to amend the Territory’s legislation should there be further amendments to the Commonwealth act in the future.
The bill does not represent a change in the government’s policy regarding WELS or abrogate any of its rights or responsibilities. It will have the same effect as the legislation it replaces. The current legislative approach for the WELS scheme is a Commonwealth led legal framework, supported by mirror state and territory legislation. However, the current Northern Territory WELS act replicates rather than adopts the Commonwealth act. As a result, the Northern Territory’s WELS act requires amendment each time a change is made to the Commonwealth act. Each time the act becomes inconsistent, it creates ambiguity for those businesses that are required to comply with the WELS scheme. Adopting Commonwealth laws as Northern Territory laws through the use of ‘applied provisions’ as they apply from time to time, is advantageous for several reasons.
Firstly, the Northern Territory’s corresponding laws will always be up to date with the Commonwealth act. This means our obligations under the intergovernmental agreement are always met and the application of the WELS scheme in the Northern Territory is seamless.
Secondly, it provides certainty for the regulated community in the Northern Territory, such as importers, wholesalers and retailers of household plumbing products, who operate in multiple states and territories.
Finally, avoiding the need to amend our act every time the Commonwealth amends its legislation represents a practical saving in government resources. This is not to imply that this government will have no say in changes to the WELS scheme or its underlying legislation.
While the states and territories have no operational role in the administration of the WELS scheme, under the WELS intergovernmental agreement the majority of jurisdictions must agree before substantive changes can be made to the scheme. This means the Northern Territory will be consulted before any amendments to the Commonwealth act or a disallowable instrument are proposed. This bill also includes provisions that will allow the Northern Territory to modify the Commonwealth act as it applies in the Northern Territory through regulations, should that be necessary. For example, regulations could be made to state that certain sections of the Commonwealth act do not have effect in the Northern Territory. This ensures the Northern Territory act will not only be fit for purpose, but the Territory retains control of the intent of its legislation.
The bill is modelled on the New South Wales legislation which has been successfully operating since 2005. Unlike all other jurisdictions, amendments to the New South Wales legislation were not required following the 2011 and 2012 Commonwealth amendments. Tasmania and South Australia have also adopted this legislative approach with their new WELS legislation which commenced in 2014. The Commonwealth supports the Northern Territory’s approach in developing this legislation.
There are more than 16 000 products registered under the WELS scheme, but none are registered under the Northern Territory act. There are no manufacturers of WELS products in the Northern Territory and there will be no significant impacts on importers or retailers from the passage of this legislation. However, it is important the scheme continues to apply to the Northern Territory.
Territorians are the highest users of water in Australia, consuming almost three times as much water as the national average. Water is a finite resource and our rapidly-growing population, in conjunction with changing rainfall patterns, means we need to be water smart. The Power and Water Corporation works to educate businesses and the public on ways to save water and decrease water bills by changing behaviours and upgrading appliances to those with higher water efficiency ratings.
This bill will ensure the WELS scheme continues to operate in the Northern Territory efficiently and to full effect, supporting the water savings efforts of the Power and Water Corporation and providing water saving benefits to all Territorians.
The Northern Territory has a clear interest in the operation of the scheme and the complementary legislation which has been drafted.
Mr Deputy Speaker, I commend this bill to the House.
Debate adjourned.
JUSTICE AND OTHER LEGISLATION AMENDMENT BILL
(Serial 69)
(Serial 69)
Continued from 20 February 2014.
Mr GUNNER (Fannie Bay): Mr Deputy Speaker, we will be supporting this bill. The bill is, effectively, a clean-up bill. It makes a few tweaks to the Sentencing Act, the Youth Justice Act, and the Criminal Code Act that have been requested by the judiciary and other legal bodies. The amendments are sensible, there is nothing controversial in any of the amendments, and they all have the support of relevant stakeholders.
Briefly, the bill cleans up the Sentencing Act so revocation of parole in relation to serving unexpired terms of imprisonment is the same if revoked by a court of parole board. Currently, if an offender on parole commits another offence, then the original term of imprisonment should be served along with any additional sentence imposed for the second offence. This is the case if the court revokes parole, but is not the case if the parole board does. The intention is if you commit an offence while on parole the original sentence be served, and this amendment ensure this occurs. Similar amendments have been made to the Youth Justice Act in this bill so the same principle applies.
This bill also responds to concerns NAAJA raised about a section of the Sentencing Act in relation to the treatment of customary law being inconsistent with the Racial Discrimination Act. This is being amended so information relating to customary law or cultural practice can be considered by the court when sentencing, without restriction.
I take the opportunity to congratulate the government for so diligently considering the advice of NAAJA. I recommend they take the advice of NAAJA and CAALAS more seriously in other areas of legislation. We recently saw the Minister for Health attack CAALAS in relation to mandatory treatment legislation when all that had happened was exactly what CAALAS and other legal bodies had predicted. It was an extraordinary outburst over an issue that could have been completely avoided if the minister had listened to CAALAS in the first place. In relation to this bill, it is good the government has acted on advice from NAAJA.
At the request of former Chief Magistrate now judge, Jenny Blokland, amendments are made within this bill to ensure indictable offences can be considered by the Supreme Court when higher charges are being heard. The request follows the inability of the Supreme Court to consider a domestic violence order breach in sentencing, given it had not yet been finalised by the Magistrates Court. The amendment means the Supreme Court can take into account summary charges when sentencing.
Some amendments were circulated by the minister last night which are, essentially, minor in nature and do not change the substance of the legislation.
Mr Deputy Speaker, we support the bill and the amendments.
Mr WOOD (Nelson): Mr Deputy Speaker, the crossbenches also support this legislation. There are, obviously, some very important changes …
Mr Elferink: You are not cross, you are very polite.
Mr WOOD: That is right, I am. I am a polite crossbencher. Thank you, minister.
In relation to what is before us, I thank the department for giving me a briefing. One of the areas I had problems understanding was the requirement to serve an unexpired term of imprisonment upon being sentenced to imprisonment for a new offence – how that change made any sense. I hope you do not mind me reading part of the e-mail I received from the department. If anyone else is trying to work out how it operates they may be able to take some advice from your department and it …
Mr Elferink: I don’t mind, I welcome it.
Mr WOOD: The department has sent me an example which, as it says, demonstrates the difference between the current operation of the section and the intended effect of the amendment:
- 1. Offender is sentenced to 4 years imprisonment for Offence A
- 2. Offender is released on parole after serving 2 years in prison, therefore he has 2 years remaining on his sentence
3. Offender then commits a further offence (Offence B) while on parole for Offence A
4. Offender is remanded in custody for Offence B
5. 3 months later the Parole Board revokes the offender’s parole for Offence A as a result of an accumulation of various incidents (previous breaches of parole conditions (i.e. positive drug tests), misbehaviour in prison and being charged with an Offence B)
6. 6 months later the offender pleads guilty to Offence B and is sentenced to a term of 3 years imprisonment.
Under current section 64 of the Sentencing Act, the term of 3 years imprisonment for Offence B would run at the same time as the 2 years remaining for offence A (concurrently) = 3 years imprisonment.
Under amended section 64 of the Sentencing Act, the term of 2 years imprisonment for Offence A would run after the term of 3 years for offence B (cumulatively) = 5 years imprisonment.
This can be contrasted with an offender who has not had their parole revoked by the Parole Board, prior to being sentenced for Offence B, who, under current section 64, would be required to serve the term of 2 years imprisonment for offence A after the term of three years for (Offence B (cumulatively) = 5 years imprisonment. This position will not be changed under amended section 64.
- You can see the disparity and unfair advantage an offender has under current section 64 if their parole is revoked by the Parole Board prior to being sentenced for Offence B.
Even though it is complicated I got the gist and understand what the changes are ...
Mr Elferink: In other words, commit the crime do the time.
Mr WOOD: Yes, that is right. I would like to thank the department for the briefing and the good explanation of something that is not so easy to understand. I support those changes.
Clause 104A is a bit of a change. People say we should have special laws for Aboriginal people. In this case Aboriginal Legal Aid is saying we should not, this should apply to all of us. That is very good because the law should be applied equally and I support that.
In relation to the Supreme Court being able to take into account summary offences, it does not mean they have to take into account all summary offences but they can, especially where it means a more efficient judicial system, makes sense, probably saves a bit of money and stops people’s time being wasted going to and from different courts. That is a good amendment as well.
Again, I learn a little more every time I go to a briefing with your departments, minister. If I ever retire from this can I say I have some experience with prior learning …
Mr Elferink: I reckon you get half a law degree.
Mr WOOD: I thank the minister for the amendments brought before the House. I support them and appreciate the briefing from the department.
Mr ELFERINK (Attorney-General and Justice): Mr Deputy Speaker, I wish to place on the record my thanks to honourable members for their support of this legislative instrument. It is a bit of an omnibus bill, because it ranges far and wide and, as indicated by the shadow Attorney-General, there are a number of minor amendments which do not have any effect on the intent of the bill. It is tidying up a few glitches in the system, as we know happens from time to time. Legislation is a complex animal. I often think to myself, as I watch the drafters of these instruments beaver away in the work they do, they are an amazing brand of lawyer. There is an art form and skill in legislation and, whilst it is not exciting to look at, it is the equivalent of an intellectual Cirque du Soleil act when you watch them reel out their expertise.
From time to time there is a glitch and today is glitch day. I realise all members acknowledge this and we need to tidy up those little glitches, which we will do later.
The legislation is there to do five things. Some of them are very small and others are of a more substantive nature. It would serve me well to quickly go through them again.
Section 64 of the Sentencing Act is being changed to ensure every parolee is required to serve the unexpired term of imprisonment upon sentencing for a new offence, whether the parole has been revoked by a court or a parole board.
As I interjected with the member for Nelson, this is very much a case of commit the crime do the time. The accumulation or concurrent passage of time for offences which are fundamentally separate and different to each other confronts the notion the average Territorian would have of how sentencing and parole matters are dealt with by a court of law and the parole board.
There should be no reward or remission for further offending, nor any gift given to an offender for further offending when, if they are back before the courts and been found guilty of offences, they have not learnt the lesson from the previous time round. If their parole has been revoked, they should dispose of the sentences accumulatively, which is the thrust of the amendment today.
I will briefly skip over section 131 of the Youth Justice Act. It has the effect of mirroring the amendments to section 64; however, with application to youth offenders. Proposed section 104A of the Sentencing Act teases, if you like, a potential discrepancy with the Commonwealth Racial Discrimination Act 1975.
Perish the thought we would have in our statute book a legislative instrument which is at odds with the Commonwealth statute book, and we would not seek to do so. The Rights of the Terminally Ill Act still sits on our statute book as an effectively defunct legislative instrument.
Section 109 of the constitution deals with inconsistencies between state jurisdictions but probably does not apply in the Northern Territory. I understand it does in the ACT in the way the self-government act is constructed, but in the Northern Territory section 109 probably does not apply, which leaves us floating in the sea a bit.
There has even been some professorial consideration of the application of the doctrine of repugnancy I think it is called from way back, which has a somewhat different effect to the effect of the section 109 inconsistency in the constitution. The section 109 inconsistency in the constitution says the state act is defeated only to the extent of the inconsistency with federal legislation. The doctrine of repugnancy, of course, invites a much more substantial outcome. One would suggest, in the instance where the Rights of the Terminally Ill Act was to be restored by repeal of the amendment to the Commonwealth territories act, some would argue we would have the effect of restoring the Rights of the Terminally Ill Act. That is probably unlikely. The doctrine of repugnancy will have determined that the Rights of the Terminally Ill Act is probably repealed, and if a court was ever asked to determine that, it is possible it would go in that fashion.
I digress, being excited into comment by the amendments I am referring to in relation to a possible inconsistency with the Racial Discrimination Act. Frankly, I do not want to be the Attorney-General who tests the rigour of the arrangements of Northern Territory legislation when inconsistencies exist with Commonwealth legislation. Consequently, rather than have the fight, let us do something smarter, particularly in this instance and focus on the nature of these particular amendments.
We apply the law to all Territorians equally, and so we should. I, as Attorney-General and a true liberal, confess that when we separate people out by classifications – we do it in so many ways, football teams at the lower end of the scale, bikie gangs, genders, sexuality, race, religion – as a true liberal of a John Stuart Mill variety, I believe that as far as we possibly can, despite the good intentions of those people who seek to classify people by groups, we should live in a society where the individual is respected and regarded as someone to be protected.
Alleviating the inconsistency with the Racial Discrimination Act sits comfortably with my personal political prejudices and biases. I believe the individual should be measured and tested on who they are not what gender they are, what god they believe in, what race they belong to, or for that matter, necessarily what football team they play for.
I also draw members’ attention to possibly the most important amendment to this legislative instrument, the functionality of our courts system. This is the amendment to the Sentencing Act to enable the Supreme Court to take into account summary offences when sentencing an offender on indictment. What can you say about that other than duh? It could not be a more commonsense amendment in procedure. The idea of having matters remitted back to lower courts, when they essentially arise from the same facts as the indictable offences because the Supreme Court cannot dispose of those summary offences, strikes me as a superfluous exercise and, ultimately, a waste of time. One could well imagine the confusion of an accused person going through the court system, having matters dealt with arising from the same facts, finding themselves sitting in the Supreme Court and having the indictable offences disposed of only to have to deal with the summary offences in another place or by another means. Common sense would dictate that would be the case. However, it is not inconceivable that matters could be, for whatever reason, remitted to a lower court. Why? There is no reason to do it. I am sure if a judge sits on the bench of the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory, they are more than capable of dealing with an objectionable word charge or a driving offence when disposing of other matters. That pretty much is it.
Clauses 388, 389, 390 and 391 are inserted into the Criminal Code Act to allow the Supreme Court to finalise and dispose of those charges on indictment which I just referred to. That is, essentially, what the amendments to section 107 of the Sentencing Act means.
As a consequence, there is little more I have to add to the debate today. Of course, I need to take this matter into the committee stage so we can dispose of these minor amendments on the floor of the House. I look forward to getting through the committee stage, hopefully before lunch, which would enable us to get on to other business of the House.
Motion agreed to; bill read a second time.
In committee:
Clauses 1 to 5, by leave, taken together and agreed to.
Clause 6:
Mr ELFERINK: Mr Chairman, I move amendment 17.1 that the heading to clause 6 of the Justice and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2014 be amended so the reference to Division 5 is omitted and replaced with a reference to Division 8. This technical amendment is necessary as new Divisions 5 to 7 of Part XI are to be inserted into the Criminal Code Act by a number of other recent acts which are yet to commence.
Amendment agreed to.
Mr ELFERINK: Mr Chairman, I move amendment 17.2, so clause 6 of the Justice and Other Legislative Amendment Bill 2014 be amended so the reference to section 447 is omitted and replaced with numerals after section 450. This technical amendment is necessary as a number of other recent acts, which are yet to commence, insert provisions after section 447, namely, new sections 448, 449 and 450.
Amendment agreed to.
Mr ELFERINK: Mr Chair, I move amendment 17.3 to allow the proposed heading to be inserted by clause 6 of the Justice and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2014 be amended so the reference to Division 5 is omitted and replaced with a reference to Division 8. This technical amendment is necessary as new Divisions 5, 6 and 7 of Part XI are to be inserted into the Criminal Code Act by a number of other recent acts which are yet to commence. I am sure honourable members would accept those types of errors need to be corrected and we would not anticipate, necessarily, leaving errors of this nature in a legislative instrument.
Amendment agreed to.
Mr ELFERINK: Mr Chair, I move amendment 17.4 to allow proposed section 448 to be inserted by clause 6 of the Justice and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2014 – be amended so section 448 is omitted and replaced with section 451. This is a technical amendment and is necessary as new sections 448 to 450 are to be inserted into the Criminal Code Act by a number of other recent acts which have yet to commence.
Amendment agreed to.
Clause 6, as amended, agreed to.
Remainder of bill taken as a whole and agreed to.
Bill reported; report adopted.
Mr ELFERINK (Attorney-General and Justice): Madam Speaker, I move that the bill be now read a third time.
Motion agreed to; bill read a third time.
MINISTERIAL STATEMENT
Building the Contribution of Parks and Wildlife to the Territory
Mrs PRICE (Parks and Wildlife): Madam Speaker, our Territory has a unique and diverse network of 87 parks and reserves stretching from the waterfalls of the lush wet tropical north through to the ochre sands of one of the driest places on Earth, the Red Centre.
Our parks and reserves include some of our iconic and well-loved places such as Garig Gunak Barlu (Cobourg), Litchfield, Nitmiluk, West MacDonnell and Watarrka National Parks. Within our parks, visitors can find a variety of scenery, wildlife and experiences attracting those who enjoy a diverse range of activities such as camping, swimming, hiking, bush art, photography, fishing and the list goes on.
Our parks are not only places for recreation and conservation, but collectively play a significant role in contributing to the Territory’s economy through the generation of tourism, associated businesses and employment. Many of the parks and reserves contain unrealised and untapped tourism opportunities. These can include sustainable products and activities like tours, accommodation or trails for visitors to experience unique nature and culture found in our parks and reserves.
Tour operators play a key role in ecotourism experiences and rely on infrastructure and facilities developed and maintained by the Northern Territory government. Under Labor, there was little opportunity for private sector investment in our parks and reserves leading to rundown, tired infrastructure in our parks. This will change. Our parks and reserves are now open for business, with greater opportunities for private, public and traditional owner partnerships. These partnerships will lead to local jobs and better infrastructure, leading to an enhanced tourism experience feeding into the Territory’s Tourism Vision 2020 strategy.
The unique and spectacular landscapes, ranges, gorges, waterholes, wildlife and cultural sites of the Territory’s national parks and reserves are the main reason many people visit the Territory. In additional to the world heritage parks of Uluru and Kakadu, national parks such as Watarrka, Finke Gorge, the West MacDonnell, Nitmiluk, Litchfield, Judbarra, Mary River and Garig Gunak Barlu (Cobourg) have iconic standing on the national and international tourism stage.
Parks are a cornerstone of the Territory’s tourism product. Tourism Vision 2020 recognises the major contribution of our parks, reserves and wildlife to the tourism economy and plans to start growing the NT tourism sector. The strategy was developed in consultation, and will be implemented in partnership, with industry. The strategy’s target is to grow the visitor economy in the Northern Territory to $2.2bn by 2020. Nature-based tourism generated more than $4m in revenue in 2012 in Australia, with 61% of inbound visitors choosing nature-based activities as the primary purpose of their visit. National research shows visitors are more likely to participate in nature-based tourism activities in the Northern Territory than anywhere else in Australia.
Research commissioned by the Sustainable Tourism Cooperative Research Centre in 2010 estimated visitation to our parks and reserves, including Uluru, Kata-Tjuta and Kakadu National Parks, which are managed by Parks Australia, supported $1.2bn in direct value to the economy with an estimated 2597 direct jobs and 1963 indirect jobs.
The popularity of our parks and reserves is clear, with over three million annual visits last year. These visitors either fly or drive from the Territory, interstate or overseas. They enjoy the parks’ magnificent bushwalks and they ride, swim, fish, hunt, four-wheel-drive and glamp. They snack, dine and luxuriate in our best hotels, pouring money into our economy every day supporting our Territory businesses. The ‘Do the Territory’ tourism marketing line also extends to our parks.
Our Parks and Wildlife Commission is working closely with Tourism NT, industry, Indigenous joint management partners and land councils to get rid of Labor’s legacy message that our parks and reserves are closed for business. Our parks and reserves are open for business.
As many of our parks and reserves are located remotely, they provide much-needed employment to local people, especially Indigenous people, whose knowledge and ability to care for their country is critical for the long-term care of the land.
I am proud to announce that over the past six months, the Parks and Wildlife Commission of the Northern Territory has developed an Indigenous employment strategy for its staff. A key initiative of this strategy is continued progression of Indigenous staff, with a view to achieving proportional representation of Indigenous employees across all levels and streams within the organisation.
While the strategy has identified a number of aims, there are four significant commitments I would like to highlight:
1. progression towards a 10-year goal of reaching and maintaining 30% Indigenous employment across the commission, reflecting a cultural diversity within the Northern Territory community
3. providing opportunities for training, capacity building and professional development to work towards proportional representation of Indigenous people across all levels within the commission
4. a commitment to provide trainees, apprentices and cadets with full-time employment following successful completion of their training.
As well as our staff, parks and reserves infrastructure is a critical issue for the ongoing capability of our parks to cope with growing tourism demand. An issue identified by Tourism Vision 2020 was the lack of a clear plan for tourism development for parks.
In partnership with Tourism NT, the Department of Business and other stakeholders the Parks and Wildlife Commission has prepared the NT Parks Tourism and Recreation Masterplan. This visionary plan provides the blueprint to unlock the tourism potential of our most prized natural and cultural assets in ways that enhance the range and richness of visitor experiences and encourage business investment. At the same time, the value of these assets will be protected and enhanced.
The master plan guides resource allocation towards identified tourism opportunities across our parks and reserves over the next 10 years. There are huge possibilities which range from low key, ‘pop-up’ concessions selling coffee at visitor hot spots to sophisticated eco-accommodation and niche adventure experiences using private or public infrastructure. For example zip lines, which for the benefit of members, is another term for flying fox.
I want to reassure all Territorians all developments will be done in a way that carefully manages the balance between protecting our cultural and environmental assets while harnessing and stimulating private investment opportunities.
This is nothing new; many of our parks and reserves already provide the basis for many significant major commercial enterprises. These include Kings Canyon Resort in Watarrka National Park, the Jawoyn enterprises including the Cicada Lodge at Nitmiluk National Park, and the Wildman River Wilderness Lodge near Mary River National Park.
The NT Parks Tourism and Recreation Masterplan will build on the already impressive business investments and business opportunities in parks. For example, Alice Springs is fast becoming a major mountain-biking destination. My department is developing a mountain bike track network at the Alice Springs Telegraph Station and new concessions to manage the Telegraph Station’s historic precinct and the shop with a grant to Clarke and Justine Petrick of Outback Cycling, who will also use the Telegraph Station as a base for bike hire and tours.
Talking about trails, last year rights to exclusive use eco-camps along the Larapinta Trail in the West MacDonnell National Park were issued to World Expeditions. This internationally renowned company will expose amazing Central Australian trails which traverse some of the oldest geographies on the planet to a huge, worldwide audience. World Expeditions will also give back to the community, including offering places for local Aboriginal guides on their tours, providing local jobs for local people for the local economy in Alice Springs. World Expeditions’ success is also attracting other companies to provide similar services on the trail. Watch this space.
Not only is the Centre is looking up, the positive glow extends to the Top End as well. In May last year, the Wangi centre opened in Litchfield National Park boasting both a caf and arts and cultural centre. Looking around other developments across the Top End, the new Munbililla Campground in the Limmen National Park will soon be under private management, providing another boost to jobs for the local economy.
As well, in my electorate of Stuart, the visitor services at Leliyn – Edith Falls – in Nitmiluk National Park will soon be under private management. These are more great examples of how our parks and reserves generate business and local employment for Territorians.
There are currently 45 concessions operating on parks and reserves. These businesses also operate out of the Territory Wildlife Park, Alice Springs Desert Park, George Brown Darwin Botanic Gardens, and Window on the Wetlands interpretive centre. As well, there are currently 121 registered tour operators taking visitors to our parks and reserves across the Territory.
However, it is not only direct opportunities that our parks and reserves provide, there are indirect benefits. Conferences, concerts and festivals are also good for business. The recent Mbantua Festival at the Alice Springs Telegraph Station Historical Reserve was enjoyed by thousands. This festival has many benefits for the Alice Springs community, including social and economic.
The Parks Tourism and Recreation Masterplan will also look at increasing the value of parks and reserves as venues for events. Darwin Botanic Gardens last year played host to 77 events including the Darwin Festival, Tropical Garden Spectacular, Tracks Dance Company, the Teddy Bears Picnic and the Wine Tasting Festival. There will be more such events in our parks and reserves which will encourage more visits, more local jobs and a much-needed boost for our local economy.
It is not only the land that can provide opportunities. The resources generated within our parks and reserves also provide worldwide business opportunities …
Madam SPEAKER: Minister, would you like to pause for the lunch suspension. We will resume after 2 pm.
Debate suspended.
MINISTERIAL STATEMENT
Building the Contribution of Parks and Wildlife to the Territory
Building the Contribution of Parks and Wildlife to the Territory
Continued from earlier this day.
Mrs PRICE (Parks and Wildlife): Madam Speaker, before lunch I stated there will be more events in our parks and reserves to encourage more visits, more local jobs and a much-needed boost for our local economy, but it is not only the land that can provide opportunities. The resources generated within our parks and reserves also provide worldwide business opportunities.
The Parks and Wildlife Commission manage the sustainable use of wildlife in parks. Crocodile egg collection on and off parks generates income for the Territory, for business and traditional owners. The NT crocodile industry is worth $25m a year and returns more than $1m every year to Indigenous landowners. The potential for increasing commercial yields from sustainable use of wildlife, including crocodiles and harvest of native plant materials, is also on my agenda. Hunting is an increasingly popular pursuit supported by Top End parks and reserves such as Howard Springs and Harrison Dam.
Last year the Parks and Wildlife Commission granted more than 2000 waterfowl hunting permits generating over $40 000 to be used in our parks. A total of 280 permits were issued to people from interstate who create economic benefits through their travel and associated tourism, accommodation and dining. One study found the harvest of magpie geese may contribute as much as $1.2m per year to the Northern Territory economy. I have also asked the commission to identify new areas for hunters for next season. New hunting areas and an increasing number of hunters will benefit Territory businesses.
The flow-on effects are significant as hunters contribute to the economy buying guns, ammunition, clothing, refrigeration, fuel and vehicle costs. These hunting dollars are welcome in the Northern Territory. I want to send the message to hunters across Australia that we are open for business in a safe, sustainable and sensitive way. Come and hunt the NT!
It is not only hunters; I am working with AFANT to develop a sustainable and sensitive way to open more areas for recreational fishing in our parks and reserves. A strong focus of any model has to be how it can provide local jobs and business opportunities.
Our national parks and reserves have always been important to the tourism economy. However, with its renewed focus and close collaboration with Tourism NT and the Department of Business, the commission will further grow this benefit to the tourism economy. Our parks and reserves are definitely open for business.
There is so much untapped potential in our parks this government has to explore. There are big ideas, a bold vision and a commitment to making our parks and reserves the jewel in the crown. To do this we need to explore areas that have previously been off limits under the old guard. We now have the passion and commitment to make it happen. We have a strong and powerful brand in the Parks and Wildlife Commission that works hand-in-hand with the new Tourism NT marketing strategy.
The attraction of our crocodiles is internationally known. They generate significant amounts of revenue from tourism and their products. There are private operations which run jumping crocodile tours, but what about taking it a step further? I know there is a huge market for people to have a close up experience with our crocs – an interactive and memorial experience in a safe, controlled environment. I am looking at exploring an idea that private operators could offer individual or small group tours to tag along with the Parks team capturing crocodiles or getting them out of traps – the experience of being a park ranger for a few hours; that would work!
Over 200 crocs are now removed across Darwin Harbour alone. This provides a unique and interesting opportunity to tour operators and I look forward to working with interested operators on yet more ways to attract visitors to the Territory.
It is not only crocs capturing the attention. I would like to see turtle tours expanded across our coast where people can help and watch the release of baby turtles in a sensitive and sustainable way.
I was blessed to participate in a release recently, and it was truly a life-changing moment watching the baby turtles struggle up through the sand after being buried as an egg by their mother 45 days before. They are strugglers; they make a long dash from their nest above the high tide line all the way to the water’s edge, avoiding predators on the way. If they survive, females will return to the same beach to lay their own eggs when they are 20 years old.
There are a number of locations across the Top End coast where this occurs, including our own Garig Gunak Barlu National Park, Lee Point, Gunn Point and Casuarina coastal reserve. I am keen to look to the private sector and work with them to deliver a sustainable and sensitive product. I believe these tours will be a huge hit with international visitors.
There are countless other opportunities waiting for a progressive and focused government that can make these opportunities a reality. Government cannot do it alone, and this year we will be seeking expressions of interest to attract private sector interest in developing products, experiences or activities which are in the public interest, environmentally sustainable and preserve the land’s natural and cultural assets. This process will be open to suitably experienced and resourced individuals or organisations which identify an opportunity in any location within the park’s estate.
This will test the market for innovative ideas for investment in parks and will ensure the process is not restricted by government. Places like the Territory Wildlife Park could use a hand from the private sector. Nearly 56 000 people visit the park each year creating $1.2m in revenue for the park through ticket sales, events and the gift shop. Why can we not have the Australia zoo in the Top End? That would be fantastic. That could only be done in partnership with the private sector. To achieve it, I am looking at changing the status of the park to a zoo-based conservation organisation.
This means refocusing the park’s business to concentrate on broader conservation outcomes, in particular, in the long-term security of populations of species and natural habitats. This shift in focus helps attract investment by promoting conservation on a bigger scale, which is aligned to the parks core business. We would be looking at developing a number of innovative, commercial products to keep the park current, relevant and sustainable well into the future.
Any proposal could look at accommodation on-site, a conference venue, weddings, tour links with the CBD by ferry accessing the harbour, local helicopter tours, new exhibits and more local animals. The ideas are endless.
I want to invigorate the Alice Springs Desert Park as well, not only to link it back with the local community and Territorians, but to promote it across the world for its unique experience. Its location alone is magnificent, nestled in the world-renowned MacDonnell Ranges, where the earth’s crust bursts out in ochre colours. It is so beautiful any time of the evening.
The Alice Springs Desert Park offers so many opportunities: on-site accommodation; a wedding and conference venue; more exhibits of native Central Australian animals; great use of technology; and the possibility of a world-class restaurant that could overlook the nocturnal activities of the park’s inhabitants. I say it is the best place to have wedding receptions, because my daughter had a wedding reception at Alice Springs Desert Park. It was a great venue.
As I tour our parks and reserves, I am so impressed by the enthusiasm and excitement evident in our parks staff. They are all happy that the Parks and Wildlife Commission has entered a new era under the Giles government. Staff are responding to the strong vision of connecting all people with the Territory’s unique nature and culture. This vision is embodied in the commission’s three-year strategic plan. This plan will be achieved by delivering high-quality and sustainable environmental, cultural and visitor outcomes for Northern Territory parks, reserves and wildlife.
The commission will strengthen local communities and economies by recognising that environmental and cultural resources are vital to delivering positive social, sustainable and economic outcomes. As can be seen from this statement, I am committed to pushing our parks and reserves onto the world stage, giving more back to Territorians, bringing more visitors, generating more jobs and more investment opportunities, and boosting our economy. It is a big task, but we have already started. I am looking forward to updating Territorians and this House on the exciting developments as they happen.
As my colleague, the Minister for Tourism says, ‘Do the NT’. I would like to add to that and say to all Territorians and everyone across the world, ‘Do the NT parks and reserves’.
I move that the Assembly takes note of this statement.
Ms WALKER (Nhulunbuy): Madam Speaker, I thank the minister for bringing this statement before the House. I read it with much interest when it was circulated last night. A number of things about the minister’s statement stood out for me. As we all know, we have a very unique and diverse network of parks across the Northern Territory which make an incredibly important contribution to our economy not just in generating tourism numbers, but they are of important culture, conservation and heritage value as well.
Within the minister’s statement she says under Labor parks, and especially infrastructure, had become tired and run down. I hear, yet again, the catchcry which comes up in every ministerial statement and every opportunity for debate from the CLP government – it is now open for business – and this also extends to the Territory’s network of parks. The minister highlights the new NT Parks Tourism and Recreation Masterplan which will complement the Tourism Vision 2020 strategy, a plan the CLP government has for development, and it is a most interesting document. I read it with great interest, and look forward to seeing the final paper beyond the draft we now have.
Timing wise, because I was not in Darwin or Alice Springs when consultations were held, I was unable to attend a consultation. Perhaps the government needs to consider those of us who live in the northeast Arnhem region in Nhulunbuy, which – while it will change at the end of the year – is the fourth largest town in the Northern Territory. We may not have a park, per se, in our region, but we are greatly interested. When I say ‘we’ I mean the large Indigenous population for who caring for land and sea country is very close to their hearts. I would be grateful if the CLP government could give more thought to including those of us in northeast Arnhem Land in their consultation schedule.
With regard to feedback from the consultation sessions, a member of the Leader of the Opposition’s office attended and provided feedback to me, and I understand they were very valuable sessions.
There is a very strong message in the minister’s statement, perhaps, I fear, at the expense of other messages I might have thought important in this portfolio for Parks and Wildlife. It is about the fact the minister will be seeking expressions of interest for new commercial opportunities in our parks. She acknowledged, quite rightly, developments like Cicada Lodge at Nitmiluk and the importance of partnerships with tour operators – not just in Nitmiluk but in other parks – to safely promote and encourage visitors whilst managing these parks.
She also talked about remote Indigenous business and employment opportunities, which was interesting to hear. It is not the first time we have heard about it. This was mooted in January I think. The minister did not do the media interview but, rather, the Chief Minister leapt into that space on 31January. I am looking at the transcript when the Chief Minister phoned ABC to offer a few comments about plans to develop the Territory Wildlife Park and/or the Alice Springs Desert Park. In her statement she said they will reinvigorate the Desert Park in Alice. That is something the Chief Minister was talking about on Alice Springs radio on 31 January. However, there is no detail on that. No doubt that will come through when the final master plan is released to Territorians.
The minister talked about the role of Parks and Wildlife in crocodile management and the sustainable use of wildlife. She talked about the harvesting of crocodile eggs. It is a very important industry in the Northern Territory and an important source of employment. I note that last year’s Rural Woman of the Year was Giovanna Webb from the Northern Territory, an expert on crocodiles who is doing much work in the area of creating sustainable employment, building an understanding of crocodiles and doing great work in Maningrida. I saw on her Facebook page recently that she is travelling to Nhulunbuy this week. Perhaps she is talking with Gumatj about crocodiles, perhaps she is there for a holiday, I am not sure. I take my hat off to her and the amazing work she does around crocodiles, educating others about crocodiles and their habitats and generating employment for Indigenous women in the business of crocodiles and hatchlings.
I note the minister wants to push our parks and reserves onto the world stage. I am sure the Territory would welcome that, not only for the economic value but for the rich cultural and historic value and to demonstrate we have something unique in the Northern Territory that is worth promoting and, at the same time, worth preserving and managing carefully – the cultural and historic elements of those parks.
I am the opposition member responsible for this important portfolio. I have had that responsibility for a few months. I acknowledge the work the member for Nightcliff did as former shadow. I have read with great interest the Parks and Wildlife’s guide to the parks and reserves in the Northern Territory. It is a little difficult, being isolated in Nhulunbuy, particularly during the Wet Season, but this will be my guide and my bible during the time I have responsibility for this portfolio to make my way around to these parks to see, firsthand, what is happening, what the park rangers think about what is happening on their turf and, no doubt, talk to many visitors along the way. That is the opportunity the member for Nightcliff took during the Dry Season last year when she headed off on the road for a camping trip with her family for a couple of weeks visiting as many parks as she possibly could. I will endeavour to do something similar.
This is the first substantive statement we have had from the minister. It is good to hear from her. I hope we hear more from her, not only in this portfolio of Parks and Wildlife, but those other areas for which she has responsibility. I have a particular interest not only in Parks and Wildlife, but in Community Services and homelands, so I look forward to the next statement the minister might turn her thoughts to.
With Parks and Wildlife she has an enviable job, and the Northern Territory can rightly be proud of its parks estate. We live in a wonderful landscape and have some truly inspiring national parks and reserves. I have an enviable job, being shadow minister in this area of responsibility, and I look forward to getting around to as many parks and reserves in the Northern Territory as I can. However, my job would be made much easier if I could access a briefing through the minister’s office.
I first wrote to the minister’s office on 24 January requesting a briefing, and basically since then an e-mail trail has followed. I try to give adequate notice to minister’s offices, because I am not Darwin based, to let people know when I am coming in, particularly around sittings and available for briefings. There is a gap in the communication chain, regrettably, in the minister’s office. I am aware the CEO of Parks and Wildlife is located in Alice Springs, so I appreciate he would need to be in Darwin at the same time I am. Hopefully, we can line that up. I reminded the minister’s office on 10 March that I was seeking a briefing and would be here for two weeks of sittings. To date, I have not had a response to that request. It would help me do my job if I was able to receive a briefing.
I take my hat off to the member for Port Darwin, who has been one of the more proactive ministers in accommodating those of us seeking briefings.
It is important to remember the whole point of national parks is they pass from one generation to another in as good a state as possible for their continued use and enjoyment. A vital principle we need to keep in mind is what our parks are there for. We must never lose sight of why they became a park, or a reserve, including their cultural values to traditional owners. While there are no parks in my electorate, which sits entirely on Aboriginal Land Trust, I have lived there long enough to understand and appreciate the intrinsic connection to land and sea country the Yolngu people of my electorate have.
The challenge for the minister is not just to be a park visitor herself and use her role to promote the parks, but to immerse herself in the detail of what our park system seeks to achieve and support that work. I am sure in the time she has been in Cabinet she has been doing that, because she really needs to fully embrace the role of parks and reserves, be their champion and work in Cabinet to ensure the continued growth and appropriate development of our parks estate.
I have not been a member of Cabinet, but I understand Cabinet processes can be very competitive and every member around the Cabinet table wants to best represent the interests of the portfolio they have responsibility for. They are all-important and, at the same time, they want to represent the best interests of their constituency. I hope the member for Stuart is in there fighting hard for Parks and Wildlife to deliver the best results for the Parks and Wildlife Commission and all associated with it.
Labor is proud of its record in government supporting our Parks and Wildlife service, despite what the minister said in her statement about Labor’s record. In particular, we are especially proud of the steps we took early in our period of government, and in the face of opposition from the CLP, to broaden joint management opportunities in over 20 parks and secure the future of parks subject to legitimate land rights. I am talking about the Aboriginal Land Rights Act and, of course, native title claims.
The former Labor government worked hard to embrace joint management and see it not as some type of reluctant arrangement, but rather more the norm in our Territory approach to park management. The former Labor government understood – and continues to see the value-adding – that joint management can bring to the management of the Territory’s parks and reserves, the cultural overlay which enthrals our park visitors, as well as the Indigenous knowledge traditional owners can bring to Parks and Wildlife management.
A true expression of government and the local community working together on the management of our parks and reserves is in the best interests of all. However, the challenge – certainly the challenge this minister will find - is while Labor had been united on this point, seeing joint management as an opportunity, the CLP has always had its share of influential voices which actively decry joint management, whether they are opposed to Aboriginal land rights or see it as pandering to traditional owners and some kind of unnecessary encumbrance. I am interested to hear the minister’s views on this aspect of joint management, perhaps when she wraps up this debate or some other time.
I also note the work Labor did in government to make the long-awaited Limmen National Park a reality. At the same time, let us not forget the provision of development opportunity for iron ore mining in the same region. I see this as an important and good example of a Labor minister for Parks and Wildlife, the very active and passionate Karl Hampton, who worked with the whole of Cabinet to bring a long-awaited park to fruition while also accommodating important regional development opportunities. A very careful balance was achieved at the end of the day.
One of the new government’s first acts was to disallow plans of management for two of our parks, including the first joint management plan for the Mary River National Park. It was disappointing, most of all for the staff and stakeholders who worked so hard on those plans, to see them unravelled. We will wait to see what difference there will be in the new plans which are yet to be made public.
Another early decision of this government was to remove a hard-working senior ranger from the Parks and Wildlife Commission, and funding for the position, from Dhimurru Aboriginal Corporation. This is an issue close to my heart because this is part of my constituency. Dhimurru is an incredible organisation and a big employer of Indigenous people. It looks after and manages recreation areas across a sizeable IPA area. It also looks after sea country around that land and, for a number of years, has had in place a senior parks ranger funded position which worked closely with the Yolngu rangers in a role which spent a lot of time mentoring, supporting, training and developing Yolngu rangers.
I do not have in front of me the response I received from minister Conlan, who was responsible for Parks and Wildlife at the time, but they were not interested in maintaining that position. I daresay it was either a cost cutting or cost shifting measure, but it remains unresolved because there is issue around the fact it was a partnership agreement under section 73 of the Territory Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act. There was an agreement this position would be with Dhimurru, to support an ongoing arrangement and the training of Aboriginal rangers. I have not given up on it. I will continue to raise it in parliament and with the new minister. I know she recognises, as do a number of members from bush electorates, the importance of Indigenous employment.
While the mini-budget in December 2012 provided some funding to Parks and Wildlife for parks activities, the government also flagged there would be a review of the remote ranger stations and staffing in our remote parks. I will be interested to hear from the minister what plans there are and whether we might anticipate some cuts. We have heard nothing more of the review, and now would have been a good time to hear of the minister’s commitment to maintaining staff in remote parts of the Territory. Perhaps she might also comment on that when she wraps on this statement.
A telling test of the new minister’s effectiveness and the government’s commitment to our parks and reserves will be the upcoming budget for Parks and Wildlife. We will be listening and watching with great interest in the first week of May when the budget is handed down.
I am pleased to hear, as I said at the outset, that we might see the final draft of the NT Parks Tourism and Recreation Masterpan. It is good to see there has been some very thorough planning happening in that area. I know Parks staff and consultants, like long time tourism businessman, Rick Murray, have been working hard on this for some time. This work has also included two rounds of consultation sessions in major Territory centres but not in northeast Arnhem Land.
I will be interested to see how you consulted with landowners in the more remote parts of the Northern Territory, including the land councils, about your new plans for our parks and reserves, including the joint managed reserves.
Your statement speaks of exploring potential for new commercial developments in our parks and reserves. One thing I am conscious of is in the tourism world there is a constant need to refresh the product. Of course, government never has all the answers or good ideas, so it is good to see you are renewing the framework for working with the private sector on new ideas, exploring new opportunities for visitors to enjoy our parks and to keep attracting people to the Northern Territory.
It is important to stay mindful of the core values of our parks and why they were established in the first place, not just to allow ephemeral market forces to dictate and drive new developments. We must always be mindful of the core values for our parks and reserves having the status they do.
Of course, fashions change over time. Let us cherish and protect the values that led to the establishment of those parks in the first place. Poor planning and change for the worst can be difficult to remedy once the damage has been done, especially in a park setting. As I suggested before, we need new ideas, new projects and investments that are in harmony with the values and plans of management for each of our parks with a keen eye to appropriateness, sustainability, potential future liability of the taxpayer and, most importantly, how the development adds value to the park.
The community will want reassurance that appropriate attention is given to monitoring the impacts of change and there is an opportunity for adaptive management if problems should emerge. In this regard, I note regular industry and community concern continues about the management of the popular Buley Rockhole in Litchfield National Park at busy times of the year. Buley Rockhole is a great park asset many different users like to enjoy, but we regularly hear of overcrowding and car parking issues, as well as conflicts between different users at times when it is especially busy with peak numbers during the Dry Season.
While I am speaking of Litchfield, I note while the statement claims Labor ran down park infrastructure and claims the new Wangi Falls visitor centre at Litchfield is an achievement of the CLP, the development of facilities at Wangi was a Labor initiative. It was announced by Parks and Wildlife minister, Karl Hampton, on 9 November 2011, and all the planning started well before the CLP came into government.
I would also like to mention another initiative in the Ngukurr region, which the member for Arnhem represents. In July 2011 the Labor government invested $1.5m towards developing a new campground at Tomato Island, also known as Munbililla, on the Roper River. This is evidence of our commitment to providing campground facilities for locals and tourists, and for supporting local Indigenous economic development.
Nitmiluk National Park stands out as one place where the joint management board has embraced commercial development which complements the park, but at the same time provides new recreation and tourism opportunities, as well as economic development opportunities for traditional owners, including the exciting and beautiful new Cicada Lodge.
Another element of the Nitmiluk model is revenue from these commercial arrangements returns directly to the park. I hope the new minister can find ways to ensure any new income streams that might be generated out of the commercial opportunities she and her agency are currently exploring will directly benefit the parks, and it is not going into consolidated revenue to fund unfunded commitments in the bush at the next election.
I lived in Katherine many years ago and was a regular visitor to the gorge on kayaking and trekking trips when I was a bit younger and fitter. I had not been back there for some time until I went in July last year. I was stunned at the development of Nitmiluk National Park. It was first class. Regrettably, I did not have time to go kayaking or walking, let alone have the level of fitness to do it, so I treated my 13-year-old to a helicopter ride with me. It was a short trip up over the gorge. It was breathtaking. I commend the work the Jawoyn Association has done in partnership with government in promoting the facilities at Nitmiluk, showcasing the beautiful site and the cultural and heritage values for thousands of visitors who pass through every year.
I will be keen to see how the new NT Parks Tourism and Recreation Masterplan provides real opportunities for partnership with land owning traditional owners, and whether that be a business partnership, direct management of businesses or more employment opportunities for local people.
The minister mentioned a new Parks and Wildlife Indigenous employment strategy. I would also like to hear more of whether Parks and Wildlife and the Department of Business propose to provide support to the merging or fledgling Indigenous business enterprises, and progress in developing more contracts for park management work that would benefit local Indigenous workers in areas such as fire management, weed control, wildlife management, and other Parks and Wildlife management services.
In 2008 NRETAS – as the agency was then known – released its four-year priorities to guide the future direction of the agency and provide support to the Territory government’s then 2030 strategic plan, recognising NRETAS had a key role to play in closing the gap by setting an Indigenous employment target of 14% by the end of 2012. The figures I have reflect that, in June 2009, 8.2% of employees within NRETAS identified as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander. That had increased by January 2011 to 9.5% of NRETAS employees identified as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander. This compares to the 10-year goal of 30% Indigenous employment in the statement. It would be good to see, under the next strategic plan the minister puts out, how that Indigenous employment target is tracking and what things are in place to promote Indigenous employment not only in Parks and Wildlife, but across the Northern Territory public service.
I was pleased to see the minister’s statement referred to our urban parks as well, and how they contribute to their local communities and economies as venues for festivals and community events. We would all be pleased to see more of those opportunities. I am delighted the minister was able to attend the wedding of her daughter in a park. I could think of no better place to go than one of our beautiful parks or reserves in the Northern Territory for such a special event as a wedding.
While I am mentioning urban parks, I acknowledge the former Labor government established the Charles Darwin National Park in Darwin, and what a great asset that is, particularly as we see more urban infill development in that part of Darwin city.
The statement mentioned new ideas for the future of the Territory Wildlife Park and the Alice Springs Desert Park. I understand the need for refreshing tourism products, but these parks are still public assets and we need to ensure any new commercial arrangements do not see those assets lost to the public through any changing circumstances in the future.
In the statement there was much focus on parks being open for business and unlocking potential commercial opportunities at the risk of not talking about other things, so I was surprised to see little mention of the biodiversity and cultural values of our park estate in this first statement. It was really about maximising more commercial opportunities in our parks. I do not have an issue with that. Whilst I have not had a briefing to understand what those commercial opportunities might be, let us not lose sight of the importance of biodiversity and cultural values of our parks.
We should not forget that ensuring the careful stewardship of the biodiversity and cultural values of our parks and reserves is part of the core purpose of our park system and, in turn, a critical part of our national and international system of national parks and reserves. Parks and Wildlife in the Territory has historically had a great national reputation for the quality of its scientific staff working in the biodiversity area, and their work underpinning the day-to-day management work of rangers in our parks and reserves. In fact, it reminds me I have a book which I daresay is a collector’s item and would be out of publication now, but it was a joint venture by NT Parks and Wildlife and strong traditional owner Banduk Marika …
Mr ELFERINK: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Pursuant to Standing Order 77, I request an extension of time for the member to complete her remarks.
Motion agreed to.
Ms WALKER: Thank you Madam Speaker and member for Port Darwin. Forgive me, I lost track of the time. I have a brilliant book at home I will lend to people – very carefully – because if I do not get it back I will never see it; there is no replacing it. It documents the native vegetation in northeast Arnhem Land, the botanical names for plants alongside the Yolngu names, and also the medicinal and traditional purposes these plants might serve. It is a fascinating document and must have been done more than 20 years ago, definitely under the former CLP government, and it is a very important body of work …
Mr Wood: It is still around. I do not think you can buy it, but I have a copy.
Ms WALKER: I am pleased to hear that, member for Nelson.
Many people working in this area of scientific study are concerned the government moved the biodiversity scientists from the then NRETAS portfolio connected to their Parks colleagues to the Land Resource Management portfolio, a likely part of the move to push along the northern Australia development program. I would like assurances that move worked and has not in any way detracted from the important work they do, the relationship they have with Parks and Wildlife and the research into those areas, because it is important that work is also informed by good science. I hope the work Parks and Wildlife did and the focus on this core function of the parks estate is not in any way degraded over time by a lack of access to solid science because that would be a tragedy.
A case in point is the potential impact of Mataranka water allocations on parks and reserves in the Elsey region, including the famous springs. There is plenty of discussion about that in this parliament. In a similar vein, it is also true biodiversity conservation will never be entirely met just through the parks estates, but our parks estate is our safety net.
That is why, when Labor was in government, we supported Eco-Link and low cost efforts working in partnership with Indigenous landowners, NGOs and pastoralists to better manage land for biodiversity conservation along important wildlife corridors in the Northern Territory, connecting to a national system of such corridors, indeed, international connections for migratory species. That was another very worthy area of work which, unfortunately, has been dumped by the current government.
Eco-Link was one of the first initiatives the member for Namatjira took on and promoted in 2008, not long after the election, as Labor’s Environment minister. I think the first speech I made in this House after my maiden speech was in support of Eco-Link and the ministerial statement that came with it.
The minister also refers to crocodile management, and this is very important work for us all. I am sure the Northern Territory community is grateful for the skills and knowledge of the parks crocodile management teams, led by Tommy Nichols. I am not sure how he would feel about tourists paying to join him when trapping and removing dangerous problem crocs. However, if Parks and Wildlife staff are open to it as a commercial opportunity, let us see how it goes.
Crocodile management was also part of the contention I had with the cessation of a senior parks ranger based with Dhimurru because the individual looked after crocodile management programs, closely supported by the Dhimurru Yolngu rangers. However, should we have problem crocodiles around the northeast Arnhem Land region now, we need to contact Darwin and have a Parks team fly out to trap and relocate a problem crocodile. Fatal crocodile attacks occur, regrettably; it is part of the environment in the Northern Territory with crocodiles. I am mindful, in my electorate, that crocodile traps which were placed strategically around Nhulunbuy were removed some time ago because Dhimurru is no longer able to manage trapping and relocating crocodiles.
This is a very important area of work not just in northeast Arnhem Land, but crocodile management must continue to be funded at appropriate levels. This way, crocodile management plans are more than bits of paper, and we are actively managing problem crocodiles and quickly and professionally dealing with crocodile incidents. This includes providing adequate staff to ensure compliance with permits to allow the harvest of crocodiles from the wild.
I look forward to hearing more from the minister about the biodiversity conservation wildlife management work of Parks and Wildlife. I also note there is no mention in the statement of this government’s policy on resource extraction in our parks and reserves. I am mindful of objections last year to oil and gas exploration in Watarrka National Park and would like to hear from the minister on the issue.
The minister stepped out with her statement about Parks and Wildlife and appears to be slowly moving from a position of occasional media releases about the work of Parks and Wildlife staff to a more considered statement on the future of our parks. Well done minister, I congratulate you. Our parks and reserves are some of our most precious landscapes. As minister, you have an important responsibility to ensure your government supports the careful management and stewardship of this land often, and almost always, in company with traditional owners. I wish you well in your work and look forward to having more debate on this subject.
I also hope you can now take charge of your office and ensure I have access to timely briefings on Parks and Wildlife. I can then better contribute to debates and policy development in this Chamber and beyond.
Lastly, I wish to add thanks on behalf of my opposition colleagues, and on behalf of Territorians, to all the hard-working staff in Parks and Wildlife who have the important and demanding job of managing our parks and reserves and ensuring wildlife management to appropriate standards.
Thank you for bringing this statement before the House. I look forward to hearing the contribution of others.
Mr HIGGINS (Daly): Madam Speaker, I thank the minister for bringing this statement on today. Parks and Wildlife is one of the least contentious portfolios someone could have other than Tourism, but I could not find a better minister than the member for Stuart to look after the portfolio. I know she has a keen interest in it because on about 15 occasions she has visited these parks across the Territory, my wife and I have been left with dog minding duties for some of her staff. I am quite aware of the amount of travel she has been doing looking after this portfolio.
Being involved in tourism for the last 15 years, something that always amazed me was there was no plan connecting parks and tourism. I was glad to see, when the Tourism Vision 2020 came out, it clearly identified the role of parks in the Territory economy and tourism itself. I also look forward to the master plan that is coming out, and I agree with the member for Nhulunbuy in recognising Rick Murray. I have known Rick for many years and he is a very good person and quite capable of coming up with some very good ideas in this area.
One thing missing was while the minister spoke about infrastructure in parks, there is a major issue outside the parks and I will give a couple of examples. I have been pushing to ensure we complete the Litchfield loop road. It gives tourists a circle. They tend to come up – especially the grey nomads – turn off at the Kakadu Highway, go through Kakadu then come back. Some avoid Darwin but go through Berry Springs Wildlife Park, around through Litchfield and, hopefully, down to the Daly. Anyway, we can only try. That loop road is important infrastructure that needs completing. I know there are some problems with native title around the Finniss River area, but outside that there are no impediments.
The other example is access to Litchfield itself through Batchelor. There are some dangerous sections of road that need improvement, so I will be pushing our government to look at some of those.
Four-wheel-drive access through Surprise Creek from the Daly end seems to be closed for a longer period every year so we need to have a close look at that. The number of people four-wheel driving is increasing every year – more and more people come into our caravan park wanting to know what four-wheel driving they can do. While I am talking about Litchfield, I acknowledge the Wangi centre was probably a Labor government initiative, but the CLP set up Litchfield and Robin Falls. Some parks with a lot of potential have disappeared. At the Daly, for years – the member for Nelson would remember the crossing and the park there. A toilet block which has been locked up since the Katherine floods is still there.
That land was handed back to the Malak Malak people as part of a land claim. I am not speaking on behalf of them, but I am sure they would be interested in some assistance to develop that. Many Darwin people have used the crossing for somewhere to camp – fishermen and so forth. There is still a lot of potential for places like that to open up.
There is also Browns Creek. I know there has been a lot of damage done there and they were using that as a cheap camping area. I have raised these two issues with the minister saying we need to look at them.
The other issue with the Daly is if you go west of the Daly to Elizabeth Downs – the property, as well as the land trust land – a lot of the land and scenery is as good as Kakadu and is untouched. One of the requests I put to the minister was to see if we can look at some of those areas. One area to start with is around Peppimenarti and the floodplain to see if we can convert that into a park with more access for tourists. It would create jobs for local Indigenous people. We already spend a lot of money on caring for country and ranger programs. That is a key area with potential to develop our park holdings and is something we should push forward on.
Another matter is the Territory Wildlife Park. In the statement the minister spoke about extending the wildlife park into a zoo. Some people may remember when the wildlife park first opened and you could come in from the back – come across Darwin Harbour and enter that way. There is potential to link that with tourism, perhaps through SeaLink, to get people to come from this side of the harbour rather than having to drive around, and also building up tourism around the harbour then entering the wildlife park that way.
In the past, I have had a go at the member for Barkly about pig hunting. I was talking about rounding up pigs and plonking them somewhere. One thing many people are keen on doing at the moment is pig hunting. This could be expanded in the national parks. I am not saying we will round pigs up and put them in the gully, which is what I believe the member said. The context of his remark was there is potential for tourism and local employment. West of the Daly there is a huge number of pigs. We would have 30 or 40 come through our place every night during the Wet Season. There is great potential for a tourism business, as well as assisting the park.
Many people ask, ‘Why not get private people to shoot all the feral animals?’ and clear it that way. People need to realise that, for people who do the culling, it is in their interest not to cull many otherwise they are doing themselves out of a job. We need to bear that in mind when we consider who will do any culling for us.
I was also interested in the crocodile experience and getting them out of traps. Years ago at the Daly we would do cherubim traps. When we did them at night we found you could quite easily pick up a baby crocodile. We found many people wanted to have that experience so we went to Parks and Wildlife and got a permit called ‘Permit to Interfere with Wildlife’ to catch freshwater crocodiles at night time. There were time limits on it, and we had to do a report back to Parks and Wildlife on how many died while in our possession and how many people we took out etcetera.
It is a matter of trying to find someone to do that. My son was doing it at the time, and I have not been able to find a replacement for him. I believe it was when Tommy lost part of his hand that my son decided he would not do it anymore.
The number of people who were interested in that was amazing. We could have filled 20 boats a night with tourists. I believe there is great of deal potential, and the minister mentioned that in her speech.
The other issue was the use of parks for groups like the ones I picked up with, Tracks Dance group. I know David McMicken, from that group, quite well. It does a lot of work at Lajamanu as well. It reminded me that the Darwin Symphony Orchestra, for three or four years in a row, played at the Daly. There were 2000 or 3000 people who attended that concert. Now it is moved around every year and they have not been back to the Daly. It was a fantastic spot to have it. There are many other fantastic spots around the Territory where an orchestra can hold similar events. We have a lot of potential and it is a great way of promoting our parks.
Yes, we could open up more areas in our national parks to fishing, but I am also very aware of the impact that can have. There are many areas around the Territory where we have to be careful in putting in bag limits and catch limits. While I support opening up more areas for fishermen and relieving some of the pressure on the Daly, it is something we have to be cognisant of.
I agree with the Territory saying parks are open for business. Over the last 10 years there has been a decline in the maintenance of our parks, for whatever reason, which has led to early closures. Having them open for business and linking them clearly with tourism is very good.
The vision itself will give tourism a boost. Tourism, as you would have heard on the radio over the last few days, has been a bit flat but a boost is expected. I was listening to Mark Crummy, who used to be in partnership with Rick Murray and now works for the Tourist Commission, saying early indications are there is a boost in tourism this year. We hope so.
The Indigenous employment option – I mentioned three things there. I have mentioned the Daly River Crossing, Browns Creek and west of Peppi to set up national parks. There is potential to create Indigenous employment, and I am sure in everyone’s electorate they will find similar stories or areas where people would be interested in looking.
I am looking forward to the master plan, and I thank the minister for bringing the statement to the House.
Mr WOOD (Nelson): Madam Speaker, I pick up on some of the comments from the member for Daly. I started to get a little homesick when you spoke about the Daly. You left out Mt Nancar, which is one of those isolated parks needing some development or access for people to get there. You said it is probably one of the easier portfolios.
I was looking at some history and went back to 26 November 2003, when we debated the Parks and Reserves (Framework for the Future) Bill. The minister has said in previous speeches how great it is we have joint management. It would be worth reading that debate, minister, because at that time the CLP did not support joint management. At times it was a very acrimonious debate. I believe joint management is the way to go because of the opportunities it creates, especially for local people, but it has not always been plain sailing. Hopefully, things have settled down now and a lot can be done to improve our parks.
Minister, your statement is titled ‘Building the Contribution of Parks and Wildlife to the Territory’. What contribution? I am not being facetious. There is a contribution to the economy, which includes employment, and a contribution to biodiversity which, unfortunately, is not mentioned in this document at all. I have a great concern about where this government puts biodiversity, where it relates in importance in preserving our natural environment, and placing it with the minister for Primary Industry and mining – I am wondering whether, to some extent, there is a conflict of interest. There is also the benefit of our parks from a cultural point of view.
Minister, I also think heritage, especially our World War II heritage, should be part of parks. Some parks come under your portfolio. Howard Springs, for instance, is a World War II site. It is there because the Army built a dam theren not necessarily because of its biodiversity. I am not saying it was not important. There is obviously a beautiful spring with some lovely jungle, but the pool was not there until the Army built a wall across the creek.
We need to discuss preservation of our World War II heritage a lot more because that is also a role for Parks and it can be a great contributor to tourism in the Northern Territory. At the moment we have Strauss Airfield, a heritage site. Those who have been around a long time would know there was a long battle to get Strauss Airfield protected from being part of the Stuart Highway. I am not sure who is responsible for it – the Department of Transport might be.
There are parks down the track. The various airfields, MacDonald, Fenton, Long – I am trying to think of the one at Larrimah. There are heritage sites at Larrimah, and the railway line still exists between Larrimah and Birdum. Someone might be able to help me with the name of the airfield north of Larrimah, which was, I think, the second biggest town in the Northern Territory during the war - it starts with G. It will come to me later.
The park is just sitting there and there must be great opportunities to develop tourism up and down the highway. Some great books were brought out by the Conservation Commission a long time ago mapping those parks. Other books have come out since, some with CDs in them, which allow tourists to understand World War II heritage in the Northern Territory.
It is not just up and down the track; there are other parts of the Territory as well. There is a strong relationship between wildlife parks – development from a tourism perspective – and retaining culture and biodiversity while bringing in heritage parks to do the same thing. Combining them increases the opportunity for tourist development in the Northern Territory, and retaining those special areas which are important and give the Territory a signature other parts of Australia do not have is an area we should look at.
You mentioned parks are run down. The parks were not all that great because at estimates I looked at the number of people visiting parks. Parks like Casuarina have a lot of people visiting them. It is one of the most popular parks in Australia, probably because it is very close to the main city. There were other parks where visitor numbers had dropped.
In the case of Howard Springs, the numbers were dropping off partly because a government department decided no one could swim there and there was a lot of toing and froing. Many people are still disappointed they cannot swim there, but the government spent a lot of money putting rock pools and a waterfall in. It is one of the best adventure playgrounds you will see. I was there recently and you see mums and kids enjoying the water, the flying foxes and the rocks and posts. That was done by a previous government.
It was done in consultation with the community and the more you can get the local community – both Indigenous and non-Indigenous – involved in management decisions of a park the better the outcomes. I see that with Howard Springs. The community and the liaison group working with the rangers made sure the park – even though people were sad they could not swim there – developed into something worthwhile. Many people are now coming back and you only have to go down on the weekend to see.
I am not against tourism development. The idea of being able to use parks for accommodation, concerts or whatever is not a problem, but it has to be sensitive to what the park is. The biodiversity, culture and wildlife of the park is the number one priority and development must be limited to not unduly affecting those important matters, which are the reason for the park existing.
The wildlife park may have opportunities and the member for Daly talked about a ferry down the harbour. That was running for a while and would pick up tourists on a bus and take them back to Darwin. The problem is ferries are not cheap. It is a fair distance and, unfortunately, the tourist operator did not continue with it. That is not to say it should not be looked at, but it needs careful consideration because it must make money otherwise it will not happen.
The member for Daly mentioned infrastructure. Road infrastructure to get people to the parks is important. I am not concerned about infrastructure within a park being fantastic because Gregory National Park – pardon me, I have forgotten the new name for the park – is beautiful. I went on the stock route and you need a good set of tyres. It took me seven hours to do 70 km. It is not the fastest bit of country in the west, but gee, there is scenery and history.
There is a history of cattle stations, Aboriginal history and beautiful flora such as boab trees, beautiful creeks, rivers and paperbarks. It is a wonderful park and sometimes part of the adventure of going into a park is it not being too easy. To get into the park – Limmen is a classic example – the infrastructure to get there needs upgrading. I went to Limmen last year and, because of the mining activity, that road was one of the worst I have ever travelled on. It is meant to be part of the Savannah Way from Queensland across the Northern Territory to Western Australia, but you need a caravan made from strong steel if you want to get there in one piece. That road was very poorly maintained, and if we are to get people to these parks we have to get them, and the crockery, there in one piece.
I will also give a plug to the books the member for Nhulunbuy was talking about, the ethnobotany books. My wife is involved in putting one together at the present time for the Batjamalh language. There have been quite a number of books: the Jawoyn, Wardaman, Port Keats and Tiwi people all have books, and I presume the member for Nhulunbuy was talking about a similar book. Parks and Wildlife has been involved, through the traditional owners and people like Glenn Wightman, and there is a book – which I think the member for Nhulunbuy is referring to – which shows the medicinal benefits of particular native plants. Again, this is an important part of what Parks and Wildlife does.
I need to give a plug to a few other parks, some of which are in my area. I have spoken about Howard Springs park; it is certainly looking a million dollars compared to what it was a couple of years ago. Tree Point is a small and very fragile park which, unfortunately, suffers because we do not have enough rangers to keep an eye on it. It has a delicate sand dune system which is not very wide. You would be pushing to get 100 m or 200 m wide of high ground, with the sea on one side and mangroves on the other side.
It is not a park many people would know. It is in an area the minister mentioned in her statement, where the turtles sometimes come onto the beach, but unfortunately, it is also connected to Gunn Point beach. Most of that land is Land Development Corporation and, unfortunately, people nowadays seem to think it is the sand raceway for ATVs or quad bikes. If you are a turtle trying to come onto the beach, you could have a problem making it there. As the member for Daly said, we need to look at expanding some of our parks.
Mr Abbott said recently we have too many parks but I do not agree. There are areas in the Northern Territory that still need protection and one would be the Gunn Point/Tree Point area. There is no one to manage that area and it is very fragile. I get complaints from the two landowners living there – there are three landowners as the Aboriginal people live right on Tree Point and there are two people with private houses. There is no attempt, on a regular basis, to stop people from damaging that environment. The rangers go there as best they can. I am not saying they do not do their work, but I put to the other government there should be a ranger station there, at least on weekends. There is water and power, and it would be an ideal place for Parks to have a weekend ranger station and work in conjunction with the Land Development Corporation so Gunn Point beach is patrolled and protected. That is not happening at the moment.
We have Melacca swamp. People do not normally go there because it has been set up for crocodile egg collecting. It is surrounded by Koolpinyah Station and the Adelaide River, so it is not exactly accessible. It is not meant to be a park to visit; it is to protect the crocodile breeding area. Naturally, it is a very important area.
Minister, Shoal Bay Coastal Reserve is another area which will come up for discussion. In the proposed Towards a Greater Darwin Land Use Plan, Shoal Bay Coastal Reserve has been zoned as only partial conservation, which is the mangrove areas, and the rest is called open space and natural area. I do not know if you will look at that, but Shoal Bay Coastal Reserve was put there after a developer wanted to build a prawn farm on the upper reaches of some of the creeks in the area. AFANT opposed it and, after meetings with Denis Burke, the then Chief Minister, the prawn farm was moved to the Blackmore River and the Chief Minister declared that area a conservation reserve. I am not sure how much science went into that.
The Planning Commission says we need to look at that park. I hope we look at it from a conservation value point of view and put that on a higher plain than how much we can develop that land.
There is the Howard Springs hunting area. You mentioned hunting in your statement and you should not forget Harrison Dam. There is another area on the Blackmore which shooters can use. I do not have anything against people shooting magpie geese as long as they eat them, do not waste them and do not annoy the neighbours. Harrison Dam had some issues in relation to neighbours. Our friends from the hunting association have done a lot of work at Harrison Dam spraying weeds, making sure there is no rubbish and it is kept in a good state. I congratulate them because they do a good job and are part of the conservation of these areas.
We should not forget Window on the Wetlands, sometimes called Window on the Weedland, unfortunately, because it looks over an area of mimosa. However, it is an important park and has one of the nicest views around. Aboriginal people in the area have gained employment from managing the site. It is in the member for Goyder’s area.
I am going through parks more or less based on Litchfield. Some of these parks are in the member for Daly’s area, such as the Berry Springs Nature Park. There are issues about the number of times that has been closed. Is it going through the same death throes as Howard Springs did, where the water quality was not up to standard and, when the water quality could not be shown to be up to standard, it was closed? It also has issues with crocodiles, so there are other management issues. The member for Daly said that is not right, but he will not go swimming there in the Wet Season.
Fogg Dam – and, the member for Goyder might help me, there is a working bee coming up …
Madam SPEAKER: This Sunday.
Mr WOOD: … this Sunday. If anyone would like to go to Fogg Dam I am sure it would be appreciated.
I may have missed some parks, but there are many parks we appreciate which need to be maintained. We have to encourage people to visit some of the parks.
We have the Territory Wildlife Park, and I totally agree with the member for Daly when he said we have to finish the Litchfield loop road. He might say I have a conflict of interest because I have some relations who might use it to get to the mouth of the Daly River where, by the way, there is another reserve you can visit where the boat ramp is. There are limits on the number of people who can be there, but if you wanted another case of poor infrastructure, try to drive down there now it is terrible. If we are developing our parks we need to make sure our infrastructure is up to scratch.
If the Litchfield loop road was developed there would be a better chance for the wildlife park to see more people. People could go past the wildlife park, on to Batchelor through Litchfield National Park and do a loop, or they could do the reverse. That makes a much better day out. At the moment, if the water is over the Finniss or the road has not been graded nothing will happen.
I congratulate the previous government; it was doing about 10 km of that road a year. It is not cheap, but all of a sudden it stopped. That extra 10 km of bitumen was making it more attractive for people to head down that way.
I would like to mention a couple of other parks.
Mr ELFERINK: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Pursuant to Standing Order 77, I request an extension of time for the member.
Motion agreed to.
Mr WOOD: Thank you, members. I mentioned Limmen National Park, a wonderful park. It has only recently been declared a national park. The minister mentions – it was called Tomato Island, but it is called more than that – Munbililla camping ground. I went there last year and it is tops. If you have been driving on the Roper Highway or the Savannah Way and come to this camping ground you will be very relieved. There is green grass, the beautiful Roper River next door, fantastic toilets and showers, a small store, a ranger station and you can put your boat in because there is a boat ramp.
Some people complained because it used to be free. When I was there people were parking down the road for free, but the cost is not too high. One good thing about our parks is you can park overnight for $3 or $4 and get a hot shower. You have a safe place to set up a barbecue and camp for the night. Sometimes you camp with other people and get to know them.
How many people have been to Flora River Nature Park? It is a beautiful park. Do not step in the water because the crocodiles are big. It is where the Flora meets the Daly. They could put a bigger solar hot water system in because the night I arrived was in the Dry Season and getting cold. I turned up late and there was not a lot of hot water left, but for $3 or $4 a night I stayed there. It was a beautiful night among the gum trees, a full moon and you could hear the water running over the falls. That is what I like about the Northern Territory; there are some beautiful areas.
Also, try Keep River National Park. If you are in a hurry you can do it in a day; if you have more time you can stay longer. It is beautiful.
I mentioned the Limmen. I have been to the Lost City – the one on the east. Unfortunately, I only had the morning. I had an appointment to look at McArthur River Mine so was there very early in the morning when the sun came up and the dew was on the grass. The colours of the Lost City were magnificent, but I did not have enough time to stay. There is another lost city on the left hand side as you are going up, which I intend to look at as well.
Minister, I know from my own family’s experience there are Indigenous rangers and we have Indigenous parks. I am not sure if that is the correct name, but there is some land in the Northern Territory with Commonwealth protection. It would be good if we worked together. The rangers at the mouth of the Daly do their best, but I wonder if they have direction. Working with Parks and Wildlife and Indigenous rangers would be beneficial for both. At the moment, whilst there is no doubt the rangers do a good job, we are all in the business of protecting the environment and showing people our environment. Sometimes I wonder if we should be working more closely together so we do not duplicate but get the best results from the knowledge on both sides. I put that forward as something worth looking at.
Lastly, I will talk about Katherine Gorge. The member for Nhulunbuy said she is not as fit as she used to be. I have a sore knee these days – too much umpiring. However, I enjoy going to Nitmiluk but have not been for the last two years. There are some great day walks. If you want a day off to get away – go in February when it is stinking hot. People might say it is strange. Put a rucksack on your back and take some cold water and something to eat. There are great half day and full day walks. In February the bush looks fantastic – walking across the top of the tablelands - the flowers are out, the water is running out of the creeks and you can swim at Southern Rockhole or Butterfly Gorge. They are beautiful places to swim, make them your halfway stop then turn around and come back.
We, as members of the community, have to promote our parks as well. Many people do not know about these parks and we need to tell them how beautiful these places are. Yes, they are a bit off the track; you have to travel a fair way and I have not been to all of them. I would love to get to more Central Australian parks. If I was brave enough and there was nothing on in parliament – that will be the day – I would love to do the MacDonnell walk, but it is a fair walk. I would love to get down to Chambers Pillar. I think there is also a site there for a very rare species of citrus. I am trying to think of the park set aside for that protected species. There are a number of sites in Central Australia.
Another one is a wildlife reserve in the Barkly Tablelands few people would know about on Rankin Road ...
Mr McCarthy: Connells Lagoon.
Mr WOOD: Connells Lagoon, yes. How many people know that is there? They see a piece of flat ground, but it is there for a reason. Again, some of these places need more advertising. Maybe they need some facilities. People will not stop if it looks like a hole in the fence with a gate – it needs some explanation. The Douglas Daly is also a great place to stop. I could go on and on, but parliament is a time to promote what is great about the Northern Territory and our parks are.
I wish you well in your endeavours to make our parks more popular. Tourism is important in the Northern Territory, but we should make sure it does not ruin the attraction we are trying to promote.
The member for Daly mentioned pig hunting. A lot of pig hunters go around on ATVs and, I know from my area, some people on ATVs have no respect for the environment. They might not have respect for the pig either and sometimes they wreck the place. I am not against people culling feral animals, but I remember the recent New South Wales debate about the right to shoot in national parks. Some people are concerned they might go for a walk in the park and something whistles between their ears – they might be a bit concerned. Those things have to be well managed. We want to keep feral animals out of our parks because they do a lot of damage.
Once again, thank you minister for your statement. I appreciate the time to give a plug to some of our parks, especially in my area.
Mr VATSKALIS (Casuarina): Mr Deputy Speaker, I thank the minister for bring this statement to the House, because I agree with the minister view that:
- Our parks are not only places for recreation and conservation, but collectively play a significant role contributing to the Territory’s economy through the generation of tourism, associated businesses and employment.
We agree the parks should not be locked up and the key thrown away so nobody goes there, but should be places for people to visit. If people do not know what are in the parks they will not care, and when somebody does not care about something it will eventually disappear and be destroyed. When people know about the beautiful park and its significance, they will look after it. Through word of mouth other people will learn about it, visit and eventually protect it.
As you know, minister, I came from Western Australia, where I was fortunate to live in Port Hedland, in the northwest. In the three years I lived in Port Hedland I visited quite a few of the parks in Western Australia: Millstream, Karijini National Park and some other parks. I thought they were fantastic because I had not been to the Northern Territory. After visiting some of the parks in the Northern Territory, if I thought the Western Australia parks were good the Territory parks were much better for many reasons.
First, there is a difference in the environment based on the climatic differences of the Northern Territory, with the tropical rainforest and a great deal of water, to the arid centre with big, wide landscapes and fantastic colours. You can visit the parks safely and enjoy going there.
I have visited quite a few parks in the Northern Territory, from Kakadu down to Central Australia, and have enjoyed every day I spent there. The member for Nelson said he loves to walk around them; I prefer to drive. You can see more in a shorter period of time and, when you have a family and two kids asking, ‘Are we there yet?’ it is preferable to be in a car with air conditioning rather than dragging two young children through the park.
However, the parks are not only places to see, they offer employment opportunities for Territorians, especially those who do not live in the big urban centres. Territorians who live in rural and remote areas can find business and employment opportunities in parks.
I agree that parks should have different roles. Some parks could be for passive recreation, others for active recreation. You mentioned pig hunting. Some people would like to go pig hunting, but we have to ensure the safety of visitors. We do not want people walking down a path when someone is firing a high calibre rifle trying to hit a pig. We should put some areas aside because different people have different tastes. Some people would like to put a tent up, open the car fridge, pull a tinnie out and have a drink. Others would like to get dirty and smelly – they want to go through the swamp and try to kill a pig. I understand that, even if I do not like it.
There are a lot of nice words throughout the statement but, minister, they are not real solutions. You talk about how the parks can provide opportunities. Let us talk about those opportunities and face the reality of tourism at the moment. Australia is no longer the destination it was 20 years ago. Twenty or 30 years ago Paul Hogan was telling people to throw a shrimp on the barbie and people were flocking to Australia.
Nowadays, we are struggling with other destinations. Nowadays, we are struggling to attract our own citizens to the Northern Territory because it is much cheaper to go to Bali from Melbourne or Sydney, and cheaper to go to Singapore or Thailand than come to the Territory for many reasons – airfares, accommodation and availability of rooms. We have to find a way to attract tourists to the Territory, and Territory parks are unique in attracting tourists if we promote them properly, tell people what we have and make it easy for people to visit the parks.
When I was Minister for Tourism many years ago the first trip I took was to China. I was astounded when people there told me what they liked in the Territory was the open space, the forests, the water, the Indigenous culture and all of them can exist in one park. In some of our parks we have all of them. If you go to Kakadu you see it, if you go to Central Australia – okay, forget the water, there is not much there unless is rains in Alice Springs, but there is a lot of culture, colour, open space and many Indigenous people. They are totally different to what people in countries we try to attract tourists from have seen.
The parks also present an opportunity for business. I know there is the mentality, ‘Let’s open the parks and bring big conglomerates in to build five-star hotels’. You do not have to do that; you could do it differently. A good example is Cicada Lodge at Katherine Gorge. It is a very small but luxurious development by the local Indigenous people and it is exploited by the local Indigenous people, attracting people from around Australia and the world. I have heard superb comments about this. I encourage your department to look at it and promote this kind of development in some of the parks people are visiting.
It is not only developing lodges, you mentioned putting in infrastructure. I agree not every park has to have a bitumen road. Some parks can have a well-graded dirt road where people use their four-wheel drive to get around. They like doing that.
One of the comments I heard before is people come to Australia and the Northern Territory from Germany because this is the only place they can drive on a dirt road. In Europe, very rarely do you drive on a dirt road. Every country in Europe has bitumen roads, unless you go somewhere in the east of Russia or eastern Turkey. Most of the roads are bitumen and very well signposted. People come to the Territory because they have the opportunity to drive on a road totally different to what they are used to. They like that. Some people in Europe would not drive the four-wheel drives we do here, but they like that.
Minister, there are opportunities to look at the parks and what they can offer to different people. Different people have different tastes. Some people like to see conservation. Parks like the Limmen National Park and the Limmen Marine Park offer this opportunity to people. People come from down south to look at things they cannot see there.
As I said, I am from Western Australia. People like to go to Margaret River in Western Australia because of the unique environment, the wine, the food and everything else. You will not find that here, but at Margaret River you will not find the open spaces, the unique ecosystem and the unique culture we have. People can be encouraged to visit if we promote our parks properly and offer what they want in the variety of parks we have.
We are not doing that very well and need to find a way to do it. I went to China recently and visited some of the tourist agencies. I showed them some of my personal photos from Kakadu, Katherine Gorge and the Rock. People were astounded there were places in the world so unique and untouched by civilisation. People want to come here, but will only do so if we tell them what we have to offer and provide a comfortable means for them to travel in the Territory and experience our parks.
In other states they have developed parks and established small hotels or lodges. People can visit after having booked well in advance on websites or even a register. That can happen here and we have done things like that before. The member for Nelson mentioned Tomato Island, which was developed by Labor. I am pleased to say we opened that facility. It was one of the previous government’s initiatives, but I am pleased it is up and running. I am pleased to hear the praise from you, which means we have done something really good.
I also heard you talking about the Wangi Falls centre in Litchfield. Again, it was our initiative, and I am pleased to hear it was a good one. It is fantastic because it draws so many people there. Things like that can happen in the parks, and not only the ones close to Darwin, but ones further away. We have to promote them otherwise people will not go.
Engage Indigenous people. Give opportunity to Indigenous people, not only for conservation, but to develop businesses. I will give you an example. Many years ago I opened the Larapinta Trail. People from Central Australia will know the Larapinta Trail very well. It is now famous around the world and rates as one of the 10 most important trails in the world.
There was a proposal by a company to establish stations on the Larapinta Trail so walkers could have somewhere to sleep off the rough ground, and some facilities for eating. It would be modular and set up in the morning and taken away in the afternoon. I saw the plans and they were really good. There was quite a reaction from the department. They thought it was not appropriate, but who says what is appropriate or what is not? It is what the client wants. If you do not have it they will not come. Do you prefer something that will never have visitors, nobody will ever see it, or do you prefer something that will attract people and become so popular it will generate income and business for regional centres like Alice Springs? Having Indigenous people like at Katherine Gorge – I am always pleased to visit Katherine Gorge, get into the boat, go up the gorge and have Indigenous people drive the boat with a running commentary. Sometimes it is very cheeky, but enjoyed by all while taking in the cool air and the beauty of the place.
We want to attract business to the Territory. You are Minister for Parks and Wildlife; however, your position gives you the opportunity to promote tourism in the regional centres more than the Tourism minister has done in the past. Under the control of your department you have vast areas of the Territory’s unique – some of them unexplored, some unknown to people not only outside the Territory, but within the Territory. Let us not forget we have people coming from down south for work or are posted because of Defence force employment. Some of those people get to know our parks and what they say on their social media pages, and also word of mouth, attracts more tourists to the Territory.
I have taken people to Litchfield, Kakadu and Katherine Gorge. The comments I get from people are they have never seen anything like it. My wife’s relatives came from China and I took them to Litchfield on a one-day trip and they were astounded. The comment, when they finished the trip, was they would like to come back and look at more parks.
Minister, thank you for your statement. You have the opportunity, using your position as Minister for Parks and Wildlife, not only to promote tourism in the Territory but also to provide employment to some of your constituents in remote areas. There are not many employment opportunities for people from Stuart but tourism, managing parks, and working in parks as Indigenous rangers are unique opportunities and you should use your capacity as Minister for Parks and Wildlife to make sure this happens.
Ms PURICK (Goyder): Mr Deputy Speaker, I will speak briefly on this statement from the Minister for Parks and Wildlife, and commend the minister for bringing the statement to parliament. There is no doubt parks and reserves form an important part of the fabric of our communities and contribute to economic wellbeing, lifestyle and, of course, the future of the Northern Territory and the people within our borders. The statement goes a long way to describing what is happening in many of our parks and reserves, particularly in the remote areas and Central Australia, which is good.
I want to comment on a few areas relevant to the Top End and the greater rural area. The minister referenced, on about page 11, hunting being an increasingly popular pursuit, and that is quite correct. Whether it be pig hunting – and a lot of my constituents are pig hunters and many, if not most, are very law-abiding pig hunters and enjoy the sport. Yes, Harrison Dam is one of the main sites, but there is also Howard Springs Reserve and the Lambells Lagoon area. Over past years we have had quite a few issues particular to Harrison and Lambells because the hunting season was impacting both from an amenity and also a safety perspective on nearby residents. However, with the collaboration of NT Police, the NT Firearms Council, park rangers, myself and the residents, we managed to come to an understanding and also put the hunting season back a couple of days before Christmas then it restarted in the New Year. There was also a lot of education for all those people.
There is still an issue with litter in the park areas, particularly shotgun cartridges. The minister visited those areas, and I thank her for doing that. She also visited Fogg Dam. Somehow we still need to do a bit of work with the hunters and people who go with them such that they might expend the cartridges, but they need to pick them up as well because it is copper and goodness knows what else, and it does not look good either. It still needs a bit of work, minister. I am not quite sure how we do that because some people are a bit reckless, but we should give it a go.
I agree, a lot of people come to the Territory because of our hunting season, whether it be for magpie geese or pigs.
You mentioned you asked the commission to identify new areas of hunting for next season. I have no issue with that, but the one caution I give, minister, is be careful if these new areas are located close to sprawling rural developments, because we will end up with the same situation as we did with Lambells Lagoon or Harrison Dam where reckless hunters shoot across properties, which is not what anyone wants. I add a word of caution, wherever the areas are, we should try to have them away from residential areas now and in the future.
I was a bit concerned about ‘Come and Hunt the NT’. I do not know what kind of message that sends to people down south. Hopefully, it means they will come to the Northern Territory to hunt in a safe manner. Not everything is a free-for-all; they cannot hunt anything anywhere. It is probably catchy and will probably get a lot of people in.
You mentioned, on page 13, having close collaboration with Tourism NT, the Department of Business and the commission. You need to consider collaboration with local government, specifically the Litchfield Council, given Litchfield Council has reserves under their management and control, particularly Freds Pass Reserve. I am not sure if the minister has been there lately, but it is a large expanse of reserve of about 25 user groups. There are areas around the back used predominantly for recreation, bush walking, cross-country horse riding, children on push bikes and things of that nature.
Whilst user groups use their particular areas for sports and competitions, there is a great chunk of the year when the reserve does not get used at all except for residents who might exercise there. There must be some way we can make the reserve a more attractive place for events not dissimilar to the Botanical Gardens, with its tropical garden show and Teddy Bears’ Picnic, things of that nature. We have the Freds Pass Show back this year for two days in May, but there is some work the commission could do with Litchfield Council to see how we can maximise the wonderful reserve at Freds Pass.
The other area of comment – the member for Nelson touched on this – is the two springs close to Darwin, being Howard Springs and Berry Springs. Howard Springs is much better than it was before. There are still issues with Berry Springs closing and opening repeatedly, particularly in the Wet Season when it is hot. I understand the safety issues with crocodiles and things of that nature, but it seems a shame. It is such a beautiful facility yet it is starting to become inaccessible for large chunks of the year. I am not sure what can be done, but I know there are issues with alleged contamination of water from the Territory Wildlife Park. We need to look at areas close to Darwin which are similar in nature and could be developed in association with the council or private landowners so we could have some other areas of recreation and safe swimming.
In reading the minister’s statement, one thing we need to think about in the near future, with the number of tour ships starting to frequent Darwin and the number of people they bring, is they only have about seven to nine hours per day here. Yes, they can hop on a tour somewhere. Those tourists like nature, ecotourism, getting out in the environment and finding out about flora and fauna, but we need to have a desktop study of what is available to tourists within 50 km of Darwin. There is Howard Springs reserve, and coastal reserves if they want to go to a beach, but they generally want to see flora and fauna. I am not sure there is enough or that new attractions are coming online which would appeal to tourists. We want these ships to come because they bring so many people and put a lot into the economy. I ask if the minister can take this on board and see what else, within about 50 km of Darwin, could become a park-like attraction for tourists and locals as well.
The member for Nelson mentioned heritage tourism, and it might be a statement all in itself. The airfield he was trying to remember was Gorrie, but there are a lot of airfields and World War II historical sites from Darwin to Katherine. Many of them are starting to, or already have, fallen into a state of disrepair. Strauss airfield is protected but we have Pell, Livingstone, Sattler, Hughes – Gould is further in towards Batchelor –Fenton and others. One area that needs to be looked at urgently is Snake Creek.
Snake Creek is located just before Adelaide River on the other side of the railway line now, and the whole area has been looted. They are even taking the large doors of the – I am not sure what they stored there – the storage areas. Trevor Horman – who is president of either the National Trust or Historical Society – is very concerned. It will not be long before those doors are not there at all. To get those doors off they are using oxyacetylene, so it is serious people doing serious damage to our history.
Snake Creek, in particular, is a fascinating area if you have ever been there, minister and members, and gives an insight into exactly what was developed in and around Darwin during the World War II period.
One area not really touched on was the great potential for the gold history of the Northern Territory and fossicking. I know the fossicking people and the prospectors’ association people are dead keen to get access to more fossicking areas other than the designated ones. They have an issue getting on to exploration leases, and it is ongoing for them and the exploration industry. Perhaps we need to look at how we can develop that small part of the tourist industry and whether they can have access – I do not know what the laws are – to parks and reserves. Perhaps we need to give some consideration to it because that too can generate economic development in the regions, and could also have flow-on effects to employment for local Aboriginal people in the Top End and elsewhere.
When I went to Tomato Island I took some engineering people because they were putting up interpretive signs. We went to the historic police station at the causeway of the Roper going out to Ngukurr – I am not sure what it is called – but the police station is in an incredible state of disrepair. The interpretive signs have all become worn and weather-beaten, and that is a shame. That could be the same for other historical police stations and houses in the bush and remote areas. Some of those are close to reserves and parks and some are not, but we need to take an inventory of those historic sites and pull them into the tourism, parks and reserves picture.
Thank you, minister, for your excellent statement. There are parts of it, and parts I have just raised, that could probably lead to another statement in the near future, in association with tourism.
Mr STYLES (Infrastructure): Mr Deputy Speaker, I support this fantastic statement from the minister. The Territory is an interesting place to be. One of the first things we need is roads and infrastructure. Nothing moves, nothing goes anywhere and we cannot use our parks if we do not have roads and infrastructure. I will address several things before I look at how my portfolios interact hand-in-glove with the Parks portfolio. Firstly, I will quote from page two of the statement:
- Our parks and reserves are now open for business, with greater opportunities for private, public and traditional owner partnerships.
If we look at what the minister and the government is proposing, parks being open for business is part of the Territory being open for business, and encouraging people to invest their money, time and intellectual property in the Northern Territory to not only generate wealth and prosperity for themselves, but for the Territory population.
We all know the current Northern Territory government faces some financial challenges inherited from the previous government. We understand that and are fixing it. To do that, we need to generate wealth and job opportunities, and the opportunities for businesses to commence and flourish so they employ more people. It is pretty basic economics. It is 101, day one, week one. Money is made round to go around. The faster it goes around the more tax it spins off, the more GST it spins off, the more assistance we get from our federal counterparts, which is good for the Territory.
I will talk about access to personal property rights. It may be small business wants to open up a concession in one of our parks. The Territory government is challenged with borrowing money. If we borrow more money the ratings agencies – Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s – are likely to downgrade us. For every point they downgrade us we could be up for $35m to $37m per year. That is an enormous amount of money in a small economy. We do not want to lose that so we have to think outside the square. We have to give people a framework they can work in. Our Parks and Wildlife sanctuaries are a perfect framework to give people the opportunity to work with us and generate jobs, opportunities and wealth.
The second point William Bernstein made in his book about sustained wealth creation was intellectual property. This occurred when I was in opposition. I had people knocking my door down saying, ‘I have a great idea. I have been working on it for years and have put a lot of effort into it.’ They said they spoke to the previous government and were told, ‘Great. Give us all your ideas – your intellectual property – and we will put it out to tender.’ I thought that was interesting because who in their right mind would spend years developing ideas and business plans to have it placed in the public domain so people can get a free ride? That does not work. We have to generate facilities and a framework where people who have highly developed intellectual property can join public/private partnerships or be given access to our parks to generate wealth.
We all know we need more infrastructure, none more than me. People are knocking on my door on a daily basis talking about providing suitable infrastructure all over the Territory. However, like everyone, I have a budget. I fight in Cabinet to get more. Sometimes I win, sometimes I don’t. Sadly, the federal government has inherited an enormous debt too and is struggling to come to terms with it. They know they need infrastructure, so how can they generate wealth if they cannot invest in job creation and business creation to generate tax dollars to provide the services governments need to.
If we look at what we can do with our parks, we need capital. Point three in William Bernstein’s book is access to cheap capital. However, if we borrow more money we have to pay more interest – not only more interest on the money we borrow, but more interest on the entire amount. It would be ridiculous because the people who monitor governments and other financial institutions need to be assured you are fiscally responsible with the money and have the ability to borrow money. If we keep borrowing and spending money, those people will say we are not being fiscally responsible and will curtail our activities in relation to borrowing money.
That is why you cannot make wild commitments to do this and that. You have to act responsibly, and that is what the Giles government is doing. We are looking very carefully at a whole range of ideas around creating the infrastructure and facilities to generate wealth without having to borrow money on behalf of the taxpayer of the Northern Territory.
We need to access capital. How do we do that? You talk to private enterprise. There are people with lots of money looking for somewhere to park. I was in Singapore recently and people were saying how unique the Northern Territory is. I agree with the member for Casuarina’s contribution to this argument – the Northern Territory is unique with some fantastic iconic places people want to see.
My colleague, the Minister for Tourism, has a fantastic program, the 2020 vision, regarding the contribution tourism can make to the Northern Territory economy.
That brings me to the fourth point of William Bernstein’s book on sustained economic growth and wealth creation, transport and communication. Years ago the only form of communication was the postman who rode along the old outback track and dropped the mail off with papers that were six months old. That was about the only communication you had. We are fortunate these days with modern digital communication – a great thing; however, we are still struggling with roads. We have 36 000 km of roads with 22 000 km unsealed. It is a challenge for a government of any persuasion to get the roads to a condition which will be of extra benefit to the Territory.
However, we look at the roads that are important. We have to prioritise, and have done so. Recently the Chief Minister, and Deputy Prime Minister Mr Truss, announced a $106m regional roads productivity package. There is $90m from the federal government and $16m from the Territory government. That is about building roads so people in the bush not only have access to major cities, but our tourism industry – the grey nomads and people who want a challenge in regional outback Australia can see some of the iconic things we have and look at some of the beautiful ranges and rivers the member for Nelson spoke about – there are six in this package.
On the Roper Highway, construction of new bridges across the Roper River and the Wilton River will occur and I will talk a bit more about that shortly.
However, they are the four things one needs to generate and sustain wealth not just over the short term, but over the long term. You have to have those things, and that is the type of thing we on this side of politics are working on – a coordinated strategy across government to make sure we can generate wealth because the only way we can get out of the mess we have inherited – there are four ways – as I talk to people, as I knock on people’s doors in my electorate they say, ‘How do you see it going?’ I say, ‘There are a couple of ways to get out of debt. One is you can put taxes up’, and no one in the Territory wants us to put taxes up. The moment you mention that there is a collective groan. The second way is to reduce services. You do not want to reduce services, but you can make them more efficient.
The third way is a combination of one and two, and that is generally what most governments do. The fourth thing is economic development. If you have economic development and increase your income, that immediately changes your debt-to-income ratio and instead of having the terrible debt-to-income ratio we have, we reduce it. Obviously, if you have a debt and you double your income you halve your debt-to-income ratio. That is where we need to be, but to do that we have to increase our income. How do we do that? We get the Tourism minister to run the 2020 strategy and start to see the numbers and airlines coming in.
This is all about getting people to our parks because they are iconic, unique, and we need to make sure we have well-developed infrastructure. How do we do that if the government cannot provide it? Let us think about that. Let us go to the private sector. That is a good idea, minister for Tourism, write that down. We will talk to the private sector. That is why we are looking at options and thinking outside the square.
Parks are the cornerstone of the Territory’s tourism product. We need the member for Greatorex, our Tourism minister, to sell this to international tourists and international booking agents. We need to make sure we have good facilities so when people go onto websites to comment, they put positive comments about the journey.
We know happiness is not a destination, it is a journey. If you want to visit a park and be happy and have a great experience – you do not want to have a terrible journey because by the time you get there you are not happy and that spoils it. We have been working with Darwin Airport Corporation and Ian Kew to make our airports better. We are doing a range of things to make the experience of getting to our parks a whole lot better.
There are many other issues, but I will move on and talk about how we will do that? How do we integrate the whole experience so when people get to our magnificent parks there is infrastructure in the parks and people providing services? There is a range of issues we need to deal with in our parks to make that experience positive. As I said, there is a whole-of-government approach to this. We, in Cabinet and in the party room, talk about these things, and together we work to make sure we do that. In my portfolios we have taken a whole-of-government look at transport, and transport planning and infrastructure. We have created a road map with eight clear and distinct areas which will eventually help tourism. I will quote some figures from the minister’s statement. The research:
- … estimated visitation to our parks and reserves, including Uluru, Kata-Tjuta and Kakadu National Parks, which are managed by Parks Australia, supported $1.2bn in direct value to the economy with an estimated 2597 direct jobs and 1963 indirect jobs.
Mr Conlan: They tell another 50 people.
Mr STYLES: That is right. We do not want them to have a bad experience. International marketing statistics will tell you if you have a positive experience you will tell at least three people – some people will tell heaps more and we want people to do that, but these are the basic figures – but if you have a bad experience you will tell 14 people. That is not a good thing. We are about creating our parks environment so the Parks minister can be proud of her effort and the minister for Tourism can be proud of his – Lands and Planning – we can all be proud when we update the House.
I heard the Minister for Lands, Planning and the Environment say he is proud of what we are doing and our achievements. This morning the Chief Minister spoke about cutting crime rates. The Minister for Tourism said our figures are up. It is great. Everyone on this side has a really positive outlook on what is happening in the Territory. Sadly, the other side does not want to see that or understand you can improve things after the mess left to us. I wanted to clarify some of those points.
In relation to the road map, eight major areas will be looked at, investigated, and there will be submissions from all stakeholders and various parts of the industry. That will come together and be blended to make the Northern Territory Integrated Transport Planning and Investment Roadmap.
The Darwin regional transport plan is about getting people around Darwin. If tourists come from Alice Springs, or through Darwin by ship, air or rail, we need to ensure we can get those people around and they can start their journey to our fantastic parks and iconic things in the Territory so it is a continual, enjoyable journey.
Obviously, the things I am interested in with reference to Parks and Wildlife include the roads and bridge strategy. Also, the aviation industry and services strategy is very important for our tourism industry. The public transport system – those who arrive by train need to get around. There is the taxi industry reform strategy, which is essential for our international visitors. Motor Vehicle Registry is not so much in relation to our Parks and Wildlife, and the maritime industry is a different section. They are the eight.
When we look at the roads and bridge strategy, to get people on buses with tour operators, the grey nomads with the caravan or Winnebago tripping around having a great time with gen sets and portable barbeques – it is a bit different to when I did it with a ute, a swag, a few rocks with a fire and a bit of mesh on top. There are people who seriously want to spend money in our towns and parks.
Mr ELFERINK: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Pursuant to Standing Order 77, I move an extension of time for the member to complete his comments.
Motion agreed to.
Mr STYLES: Thank you, Madam Speaker, and I thank members for the extra time.
In relation to the roads and bridges strategy – we have a range of inputs there – this is an expensive exercise. There are not many toll roads in the Northern Territory to our iconic tourism destinations. The Australian government is looking at assisting us and there is a whole capital works program around a bridges and roads strategy to get things happening.
Of course, we are challenged with dollars. I look at a map of the Territory when discussing this with the appropriate people and see we have 1.3 million square kilometres with 230 000 people paying taxes. We must have the assistance of the federal government otherwise we cannot compete with anyone else. We need our community service obligations. We have an increasing user expectation – people in the Winnebago do not necessarily want to be driving on the same roads I did when I took my kids out there 25 years ago. They want a bitumen road with a big line down the middle and coffee shops on the side, and we will get there. When they get to a park they need a nice coffee shop where they can talk about whose Winnebago is the biggest, who is having a good time and who is not ...
Mr Elferink: Winnebago envy is very common among grey nomads.
Mr STYLES: There you go. There are many ordinary people who have worked all their lives who want to have a great time experiencing what the Northern Territory has to offer.
We have challenges in relation to roads and bridges. We have climatic conditions. In the north we have cyclones and floods and at the moment, with the great Wet Season we have had – I am in Darwin enjoying 28C while my relatives interstate are suffering from 47C. Perhaps they should come to the Territory for a cool change. It is causing a fair bit of damage. With the Wet Season coming to a conclusion we have to repair an enormous amount of damage. The damage bill at this point is heading into millions and millions of dollars which we will have to spend, but that is part of living in the north. In the arid Centre you have droughts and, if it gets too hot there, the tourists will not use the roads but we have to provide good services for them.
I mentioned earlier there is 36 000 km of road network in the Northern Territory and only 24% is sealed. A massive 76% of our roads are unsealed. It takes a lot of effort and money from the government to maintain those roads, but we do. We have to do the very best we can with what we have.
I said today during Question Time I wish I had a big cheque book. It would be great to write cheques out and be like the fairies and throw fairy dust everywhere and say, ‘There you go, it is all fixed, there is a big cheque’. However, we cannot do that so we have to work with the money we have. We have to work without the $1m each day which goes to paying the interest bill. Imagine what we could do with an extra $1m a day. I am sure members on both sides of this House could give me a great list of what we could do with it. We have to move on and cope with the flooding that occurs.
The Northern Territory Regional Infrastructure Study and Port Investment is something we need to do to work out where we can move money around to benefit communities and create jobs. There will be many opportunities, once we get infrastructure into our parks, for local Aboriginal people. One of the things Aboriginal people have a huge advantage in, especially when you look at parks development and the jobs that will come from private investment in parks, is they live there. They do not have to fly-in, fly-out or build a house, they live there. When we start generating wealth it will stay in the community.
One thing I hear from communities as I talk to the leaders is they want the money to stay in their community and they want jobs. When I talk about building infrastructure – along with my colleague, the Minister for Housing, we are doing the best we can to give people the opportunity to build and maintain their own homes.
This morning the Minister for Housing spoke about creating jobs there, yet it appears the opposition does not want to listen. They do not want to listen to the great things happening in the bush because it is about moving opportunities to local people.
This government has a policy of local solutions to local problems. If we have issues we talk to local people. If people live near a park, let us give them the opportunity, if they wish, to start a business. If they do not wish to do that, give them the opportunity to get a job. That is what we are about on this side of the House – jobs, jobs and jobs.
The national infrastructure study will prioritise regional infrastructure projects based on the greatest economic social and environmental benefit. It is about value for money. It is not about throwing a cheque at someone saying, ‘Here, go away’.
I recall when we were in opposition the former government would say, ‘Yes, but we spent more money than you and did this and that in relation to cash outlays’. I remember, time and time again, saying money is an input not an outcome.
We need outcomes from our investment and to do that you have to plan. There is an old saying called the six Ps – proper planning prevents not very good performance. There is another word in there but I will not inflict it upon the House. They are the six Ps: proper planning prevents … poor performance. You have to plan for these things. Again, planning does not involve throwing money around; it is about making sure you get the desired outcome.
I move to the regional roads productivity package I mentioned before. There is $106m and six priority projects identified across the Northern Territory regional road network. These are the roads the grey nomads, mums and dads on holidays with the kids, the Winnebago people – there are not that many Winnebagos – or the huge Denning buses some people have they convert into mobile homes. They want to drive around the Territory and have a look as well. There is $40m on the Roper Highway; the Port Keats Road, $20m – there you go, member for Daly; the Arnhem Link Road, $11m; the Buntine Highway, $10m; Central Arnhem Road, $15m; and the Santa Teresa Road, $10m.
My wife recently went to Santa Teresa – great place –about the third time she had been there. We are working on making sure tourists have access to those experiences when they travel out there. Of course, whilst tourists are enjoying fantastic new experiences, local people are being employed. They offer services and people are prepared to pay for them. When they want to drive to national parks and other places we need to make sure that is the whole experience. The longer we keep people in the Northern Territory the better off, as a Territory, we are, the better off the people are, the better off our children are and the better off people in communities are.
It is about thinking outside the square and opening up parks for private investment. The government does not have access to a massive bucket of money where it can say, ‘Let’s build this here and let’s do this here’. We are constrained so we think outside the square and look at the things we can do to get private industry involved in making our parks a better place to be.
The Port Keats Road across the Moyle floodplains will be done and the Arnhem link road, so people can go to Maningrida, Gunbalanya and Ramingining – all those places. There is so much more I could contribute to this debate if I had more time, but I would like to commend not only the minister, but my colleagues for their ability to think outside the square. I hear the opposition time and time again try to rubbish us and say all is terrible. However, we are getting results.
I will continue to work with my colleagues and people like the minister for Parks, who has a passion for opening up the parks for job and wealth creation. I will continue to work with my colleagues to make sure we continue to deliver fantastic outcomes for the people of the Northern Territory.
Mr CONLAN (Central Australia): Madam Speaker, I thank the Minister for Infrastructure for that. I will happily take over. You could speak for another 40 minutes, but I will take the baton and continue this fantastic debate. I thank the Minister for Parks and Wildlife for bringing it on today. I was formerly the Minister for Parks and Wildlife, and while I was sad to lose such a great portfolio, I was pleased to see such a capable and competent minister take the baton from me and work with a great team of people in the Parks and Wildlife Commission.
One of the first things we did when re-elected in 2012 was realign the department to a commission once again. It stood as the Parks and Wildlife Service under the previous government and lost some of its spirit, soul and a whole chunk of its anonymity. Now it is a stand-alone agency and stands proudly once again with the big eagle as the logo of the Parks and Wildlife Commission of the Northern Territory. It is something we can all be very proud of. One of the instantly recognisable symbols across Australia is the wedge-tailed eagle standing proud with the NT Parks and Wildlife Commission.
The other great instantly recognised logo throughout Australia – one of the great advantages the Northern Territory has above all other jurisdictions in this country is that instantly recognisable logo, our tourism brolga. It has been around for a long time and has captured the hearts and imagination of all Australians. Territorians are very proud of it. Growing up in the great state of Queensland I was captured by that from a very early age. Queensland is certainly a powerhouse for tourism and, in many respects, led the way for years, but one thing we did not have is the fantastic, instantly recognisable brand – badging or imaging if you like – the Northern Territory has now.
With that in mind, I would like to explore the tourism aspects of our parks and wildlife and reflect on some of the areas mentioned in the statement by the Minister for Parks and Wildlife.
I could almost read the statement again. I think it is against standing orders if I read it into Hansard, but it speaks volumes about what we are trying to achieve with our parks and wildlife and putting the Territory back on the powerhouse map as being the preferred holiday destination above all others. This includes Queensland and New South Wales, which for many years have taken a huge chunk of our international and domestic visitation.
Australia, particularly the Northern Territory, is recognised for its natural environment. The big blue sky aspect, the clean fresh air, the wide open spaces and the friendly happy people – this is what research has told Tourism Australia and us – is what sets Australia apart, and the Northern Territory, as a holiday destination. The room to move, the friendly disposition of people, the clean fresh air and the big blue sky aspect cannot be understated or overstated. Compared to those smoggy, busy, highly populated cities of Europe, North America and Asia, Australia really has a significant advantage when it comes to our natural environment. It is where we punch well above our weight.
Our built up cities like Sydney and Melbourne, two great cities of nearly five million people or so, are up there with some of the other great cities of the world such as Paris and London. Even they are considered clean with fresh air, sparkling clear water and a great cultural and social environment. Australia is recognised as a wonderful wide open space and a clean, natural environment kind of destination.
Our parks in the Northern Territory are critical to that. They are a key element to attracting visitors. One might go so far as to say it is why people visit the Northern Territory. We are seeing some great numbers come through the Centre. Exploring our parks through Central Australia and the world-renowned icon of Uluru is starting to see resurgence.
In Darwin we are feeling a fair bit of pressure through our tourism industry. Sadly, this has been the case for some time now. It is still difficult to turn around and this can be sheeted home directly to the accommodation squeeze in the Top End.
It is a reflection of the previous government’s failure to plan. It is one thing to bring great industry to the table in the form of INPEX, but the resources boom has seen an accommodation squeeze in the Top End – the flow-on effects for that, not only for our local tour operators, but to tour operators down the track – those operators in our parks who rely on the gateway of Darwin to provide a platform for them to explore our natural environment through Kakadu, Litchfield, Mary River and others.
It has posed a significant issue; not to say there is not good stuff on the horizon. The Minister for Parks and Wildlife is working tirelessly with her agency through the CEO, Andrew Bridges, who is a great guy and has his finger on the pulse when it comes to working with our parks, traditional owners and industry, to develop the best possible product.
One of the first things I did when appointed Minister for Parks and Wildlife, was disallow the two plans put in place by the previous Labor government, just in time, by a day. We were able to disallow the Mary River and Litchfield National Park plans of management, and I know the minister would be well aware of them. With our view of wealth generation and opening up our parks these two plans were restrictive, inward looking and obstacle creating. They moved to shut down our parks and restrict visitation and growth, and in turn restrict opportunities for Aboriginal people to get some economic buy-in.
We saw a great opportunity to disallow those two plans and create a new plan. That is part of the new master plan the Minister for Parks and Wildlife is embarking on. It was a good thing we did because the two plans we disallowed would have stayed in effect for a decade. Without the parks, our whole tourism story could be a completely different look. They are crucial for us to deliver our tourism story and generate wealth through tourism, and visitor and holiday expenditure. Without them it is a big ask to expect holiday visitation to go through the roof through Alice Springs and Darwin alone. They cannot carry the goals and aspirations of our tourism industry, and they cannot alone be expected to achieve our $2.2bn holiday visitor expenditure by the year 2020. While they will play a part in and go a long way towards achieving that, we desperately need our parks on board and that was very much part of disallowing the Mary River and Litchfield National Parks plans of management when we were first elected.
I want to run through some of our marketing activity. I will use this as an opportunity to highlight some of the work Tourism NT is doing. I do not think I am straying too far from the topic, Mr Deputy Speaker, but pull me up if I am; I am sure someone will.
The minister dedicated more than half her statement to the visitor experience, growing wealth, generating wealth, Indigenous employment and employment full stop. It is about maximising the use of our parks while still protecting them and retaining that great environmental aspect, but also utilising them to leverage more great tourism outcomes for the Northern Territory.
I want to run through some of our marketing activity which will feed directly into doing just that, and that is maximising our tourism story through our parks. Our ‘Do the NT’ campaign was a full glossy brochure in the Sunday Age and the Herald Sun last Sunday. It was one of those glossy brochures that fall out of the middle. It stands out above the Repco catalogue and the like because it is an extraordinary document and it is how to ‘Do the NT’. It is packed with fun ideas on what to do in the Northern Territory.
It really plays on that ‘Do the NT’ side of things. Don’t sit around being too cold this winter, get out and Do the NT. If it is too dry, too hot, too rugged, too far, well, it’s not. The Northern Territory is a place for you. There were 400 000 into newspapers in our two capital cities, our two biggest domestic markets in New South Wales and Victoria. They had the potential to reach well over one million people last Sunday. It is all part of our current burst of marketing activation. The first burst of the new brand campaign ‘Do the NT’ occurred on 29 September last year, with mass coverage on TV, building awareness and supporting high frequency activity across print, radio and digital mediums and focusing on the primary 50-plus market. We really wanted to target the cashed-up baby boomers.
People are looking for something different these days. These people have done Dreamworld, the Gold Coast and the Sydney Harbour type experience. They have done the family holiday as a child, a couple, a family and are cashed-up baby boomers. The kids have left the nest – empty-nesters if you like – and they are looking for something really different, and that is what the Northern Territory can offer, primarily through our parks. There are things in the Northern Territory that cannot be experienced anywhere else in the world. That is exactly who we are trying to target through our ‘Do the NT’ campaign. The 50-plus were our first burst – the cashed-up baby boomers, the empty nesters.
The second phase of the brand campaign ‘Do the NT’ was launched on 2 February and ran until 1 March. The creative message highlighted to consumers was ‘How to Do the NT’, which is the brochure I am holding up, which targets the 18 to 35-year old looking for a high adventure holiday. The NT is in the back of their mind or are aware of the NT as a holiday destination, but are not yet convinced and prepared to convert that into a holiday booking because they are unsure of how to do the NT.
Research shows us people know it is here, but the issue with the Northern Territory – this relates back to our parks – is it is a beautiful land, but you cannot climb, you cannot touch, you cannot swim – you cannot do things. Through all the aggressive marketing we have done over the years with the ‘never, never go’ to ‘share our stories’, we lost our way a bit and ended up with a product people were aware of but unsure of how to do it – you cannot climb that rock, walk through that park or swim in that waterhole. We wanted to show people they can ‘Do the NT’. The NT is open for business and very much open for tourism.
The new second phase of our marketing campaign was ‘How to Do the NT’, the things you can do here and, while here, this is how you do it. We expect to see some great results from the second burst of the campaign. It is early days. It is a tough slog and we are coming off a very low base. A number of factors have driven visitation down in the Northern Territory and the previous Labor government was one. Other factors were outside the control of the ballot box, including the GFC, the high Australian dollar and the like. We are coming off a pretty low base, but we are seeing evidence that we have started to stem the decline. It is very important.
Tourism is an interesting beast. It is very easy for politicians to die in a ditch over a month-by-month figure. Low figures come out and you say, ‘Oh my God, we have failed. We have not achieved what we wanted to.’ It requires a fair bit of discipline to understand tourism is about a trend, it is not about a daily figure. You need to look back over a period of time to see how you are tracking.
When this government came on board in 2012 we were in significant decline. The figures are there. Both governments use Tourism Research Australia for the National Visitor Survey and the International Visitor Survey figures. We were in significant decline but we have been able to stem that decline. We have not seen any real increases yet. We have seen a couple of spikes and, unfortunately, a few dips over the recent quarter or so. However, overall the trend indicates the decline has been halted, which is good news.
Visitor expenditure is up. People are staying longer and spending more, which bodes well for our 2020 vision to create a visitor economy worth $2.2bn by the year 2020. There are some early indicators we are on the right track. However, it is a trend. I am not trying to back away. I have said previously, this time next year is when you can start judging whether or not the member for Greatorex has been a good Tourism minister. I have put my neck out. If you stick you head up in this House it will be shot off. I am quite prepared to have it shot off because I have confidence in the work we are doing, the work Tourism NT is doing with our agencies and all our wealth-generating agencies – the Minister for Infrastructure, the Minister for Parks and Wildlife, the Minister for Primary Industry and Fisheries, the Minister for Lands, Planning and the Environment and the Minister for Land Resource Management, which is important as well.
With the broader support of Cabinet and government members, I am convinced we can turn this ship around and see some significant increases that are not just a month-by-month spike but a trend.
Last year was a consolidating year for Tourism NT where we embarked on some pretty radical steps to set us up for the long-term journey and start to see some great results on the board. Relocation of the headquarters to Alice Springs was met with enormous resistance by the opposition; however, that has been a seamless transition and is starting to tick over very well. Nevertheless, it was still a bold decision by government.
The leasing of Territory Discoveries was another one. There was also the reconstitution of the board of commissioners, the new brand ‘Do the NT’, the new logo, the new slogan, the new marketing activity and the additional $8m we received to bolster our international marketing.
Some big steps were taken last year which consolidated what the new government wanted to do and set up an agenda and vision. This year we should start to see things kick in. I hope so, because there is a fair bit riding on it. I have put a lot of stock into a lot of people and have backed myself on this. I think we can pull this off and will start to see some great trends emerging out of Tourism NT. Barring some, Heaven forbid, uncontrollable event, if we keep going, all things being equal, we should start to see some quality numbers back through Tourism NT over 2014.
Mr CHANDLER: A point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker! Pursuant to Standing Order 77, I request an extension of time for the member.
Motion agreed to.
Mr CONLAN: Thanks Mr Deputy Speaker and honourable members.
I will touch on some of the other areas, specifically parks. Let us look at the NT visitor guide. These are a few notes I made with regard to tourism and our parks specifically. What I outlined in the last 20 minutes was the way Tourism NT is positioning our parks as the key critical asset and trying to drive visitation to our parks through our two gateways of Alice Springs and Darwin.
The government launched the biggest and most comprehensive visitor guide to our parks and reserves last year. I think it was just before the member for Stuart became Parks minister, but she has overseen the roll-out of it and it has been extraordinarily popular. It is almost like the Tennant Creek phone book – thick and glossy with comprehensive ways to enjoy our parks. I will refer to some of my notes rather than ad lib, but it is a one-stop shop for tourists to help plan their trip to our parks and learn more about what they can see in our natural surrounds. Simply put, it is a must have for everyone wanting to enjoy the great outdoors in the Northern Territory.
The visitor guide will encourage more tourists to visit our parks and ensure they get the best possible experience while there. I think it is 75 pages long, so nearly as big as the Tennant Creek phone book. The visitor guide to parks and reserves in the Northern Territory has been divided into four key regions: Darwin, Katherine, Barkly and Central Australia. It is a fabulous publication and I encourage you to pick up a copy and leave it on the coffee table. If you have visitors coming up this season get them a copy and they can enjoy our parks just like we do.
Litchfield National Park was awarded a Certificate of Excellence by leading tourism travel site TripAdvisor, which is no mean feat. It was a terrific accolade for one of our national parks and important tourism attractions. The Certificate of Excellence is a prestigious award given to attractions consistently achieving outstanding travel reviews on TripAdvisor.
Litchfield has punched above its weight as a national park and a visitor destination in its own right. To receive the award, the attraction must rank in the top 10% worldwide for traveller feedback. I repeat, it is an extraordinary feat and is something right here on our doorstep. It must maintain an overall rating of four or higher out of a possible five as reviewed by travellers on TripAdvisor over the past year. You can see it has been a consistent product over the course of the year and it rates in the top 10 worldwide.
I did an interview recently and was quizzed about why visitation in Litchfield National Park is strong, whereas Kakadu National Park is tapering off. It is no coincidence Litchfield National Park is a Northern Territory park and Kakadu is a Commonwealth park. Maybe the reason is because we put a lot of resources into promoting and encouraging people to visit Litchfield National Park and providing a terrific, unbelievable, worldwide, world-class experience, as evidenced by that survey.
I will touch on the Larapinta Trail too, because it is hard to go past this global icon. It was named as one of only seven iconic great walks in Australia, and these camps will help attract more visitors to the Territory, particularly from Europe, where adventure trekking is extremely popular. It is touching on the niche tourism side of things. The Minister for Parks and Wildlife touched on the mountain bike trails we are developing, and the ribbon will soon be cut in Alice Springs, through the Telegraph Station, to tap into this niche tourism.
To back up my earlier point about people looking for a different experience these days, the person embarking on a holiday is not so much looking to lay on a beach and put their feet up on a banana lounge anymore. That used to be the way we saw holidays. Nowadays, people are looking for an experience and niche market holidays are becoming more apparent and sought after. The Larapinta Trail is one. Worldwide trekking is becoming hugely popular; it is in great demand and we have one of Australia’s great iconic walks – there are only seven. Three or four are in Tasmania, and we have one on our doorstep in the Northern Territory.
The Northern Territory government, the Central Land Council and traditional owners have worked together to allow joint management of the national park and exclusive subleases have allowed new, architecturally-designed, semi-permanent camp sites on the remote Larapinta Trail. I had the pleasure of opening one of those before I lost the great Parks and Wildlife portfolio to the new minister. World Expeditions has a wonderful area set aside at the base of the Larapinta Trail named after the architect – I wish I could remember, I do not mean to be disrespectful, I have lost the name. The architect who designed it has passed away and his partner was there to cut the ribbon to officially open it. It is a great story.
If you do not like camping on the ground – they call it glamping, which is a glamorous style of camping. It is terrific. There are a couple with hot showers, quality food, first-class wine, all that sort of thing, but you are out underneath a billion stars.
The Larapinta Trail is one of Australia’s most spectacular attractions and these camps make the trek even better for tourists in the Territory, offering a unique experience. I think the minister touched on mountain bike tracks, but I reiterate what she said and support the government’s initiative to explore mountain biking. This is a niche market we cannot turn our back on or ignore. Alice Springs intends to become the centre for mountain bikers around the world, with support from Parks and Wildlife. That will be by development of trail networks through the Telegraph Station. It is a rapidly growing sport and one of the best locations in the world to get involved is at the Telegraph Station. Our fast-flowing single track is recognised as one of the best available anywhere.
The master plan for tourism and recreation in parks and reserves: I have made notes about that so will read that them. I have probably touched on some of it, but it is important to repeat the message and the government’s commitment to leveraging tourism through our parks. The community, stakeholders and the tourism industry are invited to help set the direction of the master plan and the future use of the Territory’s parks and reserves over the next decade. This is in response to this government disallowing the two plans of management for the Mary River and Litchfield National Parks. This will be a much more outwardly looking and inclusive style of management, particularly if all Territorians have a say.
The master plan will align the government’s Tourism Vision 2020, the Northern Territory strategy for growth. The aim is to set a clear vision for the Parks and Wildlife Commission as a leader in providing visitor enjoyment, community and business engagement of the Territory parks, and also to set clear direction for developing and managing recreation and tourism values and opportunities for the Territory’s most visited parks over the next 10 years. It is an important document, and it is important all Territorians have their say. We want to set this up for the next decade, and it demonstrates the government’s commitment to improving our parks and making them completely accessible to all Territorians.
I thank the minister for this important statement, and I wholeheartedly support it and look forward to working with the Minister for Parks and Wildlife in my capacity as the Minister for Tourism and the Minister for Arts and Museums. I did not touch on that. There is another 40 minutes about how the art scene, through our rock art and Indigenous art, generates huge interest and huge tourism potential through our national parks.
I commend the statement to the House and thank the minister for bringing it on.
Mr CHANDLER (Lands, Planning and the Environment): Mr Deputy Speaker, I commend the Minister for Parks and Wildlife for bringing this statement forward.
Minister Conlan said earlier he had the privilege of being the Minister for Parks and Wildlife prior to minister Price. For four years in opposition I had the privilege – if you want to call it a privilege – of being the shadow Minister for Parks and Wildlife. In that time I visited many of our wonderful parks and reserves across the Northern Territory, and in opposition we said many things about our parks.
I recall many times they were closed with gates up everywhere. There were padlocks and you could not go down roads. We had a mantra, while in opposition, that we would open up the parks. Parks are for people, and I have spoken to many people about the value of our parks and our flora and fauna, but they cannot be valued if they are locked up because people have to see and appreciate what we have. I know Uluru and Kakadu are both under federal control, but I look forward to the day when those two magnificent parks are under the control of the Northern Territory government. I hope that occurs because we can probably do much better than Parks Australia does. There would be a lot of synergy in including those parks with Northern Territory parks.
It is like having two lots of people on different buses heading in the same direction. One is Parks Australia and one is the Northern Territory Parks and Wildlife service, all with the same intention but two completely different jurisdictions running the show. I did not quite understand how that could work successfully. Whilst there are good people on both sides, the Northern Territory government’s Parks and Wildlife is mature enough. We have demonstrated, with the many fabulous parks we have in the NT, we could manage and operate Uluru as well as Kakadu.
I visited many parks in the time I was shadow minister, such as Kings Canyon. I remember being bogged for a few hours on the Ernest Giles Road. At the time it saw much attention from the media, and I was stuck for about seven hours on that road.
That day it was about 2C or 3C with rain trickling down in the middle of July, which should not have been happening. It was cold, wet and I was bogged. It created a bit of media at the time, but I much preferred to see our parks from the ground up not an office 1500 km away or an aircraft 30 000 feet above. Would I get bogged again? Perhaps, but unless you have been there it is hard to appreciate what a great country we have.
The Watarrka National Park at King’s Canyon is a fabulous part of the world, as is Uluru. Uluru impresses me greatly with its magnificence. That is why it is well-known and well-regarded around the world. Once you have seen it from a hiker’s point of view, or someone who appreciates the land, walking around the Olgas is equally as impressive, if not more so. With the walking trails you get to see the Olgas and it is such a beautiful part of Central Australia.
In the Darwin region, there are parks like Litchfield, Berry Springs, and Casuarina Coastal Reserve. You do not have to go far in Darwin to see some magnificent territory. If people look at Casuarina Coastal Reserve they will be amazed at what they find. People do not often associate our botanic gardens with Parks and Wildlife, but they are all part of the team of specific parks and reserves we hold dear to our heart as Territorians – Charles Darwin National Park, Fogg Dam, Manton Dam and Mary River are all areas you can visit not far from Darwin.
I have some great memories of Charles Darwin National Park. During my time in the Air Force I used to run around it every morning. That was the bomb dump and our police dog section. For many years we kennelled our police dogs there every night in the old asbestos-ridden kennels we had. I have never seen a place in Darwin – in fact, I do not recall being in a place in Darwin – where I have seen more sandflies than there. The sandflies blew me away. You could walk into the crew hut at 4 am or 5 am at high tide a see a fog of sandflies. I always thought what a marvellous place for a housing development one day, before it was a national park. I am not professing, minister, that you turn the national park into a housing estate, but would it not be a fabulous residential development? The sandflies would just about eat people up.
For many years in opposition we looked at Parks and Wildlife with the mentality of the last government – our parks closed – and wished we had them open. For many years there were no new rides. If you go to places like the Gold Coast and see the big theme parks, they would not be successful today if they did not keep reinventing themselves. They need people to return, and even then they struggle to make a dollar.
Our parks and reserves are no different. Previous governments invested heavily into our parks. You only have to look at both the Desert Park in Alice Springs and the Territory Wildlife Park at Berry Springs to see the kind of money pumped into those assets years ago. Sadly, the Territory Wildlife Park is showing its age. By comparison, if you go to Alice Springs and look at the Desert Park, it still looks as fresh, clean and new as the day it opened. I do not know if the weather conditions in Central Australia are kinder to equipment, paint or whatever, but that place looks remarkably well and I get a kick out of it every time I go there.
The Territory Wildlife Park needs to be reinvigorated. This government, and the minister, are both working hard on achieving that and we should not rule anything out. People talk about private investment in our parks as something that should be frowned upon and Territorians may lose control of their parks, but that is just scaremongering. There have been some great partnerships with private business in our parks for many years and there is no reason that cannot continue into the future. In opposition I had a view that the Territory Wildlife Park could just about have a three- or four-star hotel chain build a complex there, perhaps an ecotour type camping area with camping grounds and tents where tourists have the opportunity to interact with the park after hours. At sunset you could have Indigenous dancers around campfires; you could have a nocturnal experience for tourists in the park.
To achieve this you need people, and how do you get people into a park? You need a reason for them to be there, and something like a three- four- or five-star hotel could be constructed close to the site to bring people into the park as well as rejuvenating the park and getting the numbers up. I saw plans years ago which included a chairlift across the park. One plan I saw included a ferry service from the Darwin CBD all the way up Darwin Harbour, through the arms, and all the way to Berry Springs as another way of bringing tourists into the Territory Wildlife Park.
As a government we are doing some fantastic things. The minister should be commended for the work she is doing in our parks, and the community should be promoting our parks for people to visit at different times of the year. If you look at some of our parks, Litchfield being a prime example, in the middle of the Dry Season compared to visiting Litchfield in the Wet Season, you see the waterfalls and the differences. Many tourists are afraid of our Wet Season, afraid of cyclones and all things Territorian which keeps them away. It is the most fantastic time of year to be in the Northern Territory, particularly in the northern part of the Territory. Our thunder and lightning storms are second to none. The waterfalls, the brilliance, the difference in our community and our parks – the greenery just blows you away and our parks come alive in the Wet Season.
Sadly, during the height of the Wet Season there are many parts of the parks you cannot reach. However, as a government, we should do all we can to keep these areas open for as long as possible. During the Dry Season the smoky skies and sunsets are brilliant. I have spent time on the Mary River fishing around the Shady Camp area, where you would sit on a boat watching a sunset with the pandanus in the background, the birds flying in the sky, the smoke, the sun and the colours – it is truly mesmerising.
In the Northern Territory we have some of the best parks and reserves in the world. We should do all we can to support, promote and talk them up. Unlike some of the opposition, who want to talk them down, let us talk them up because that is how we attract people. We still have our issues, and this is where I get back to Parks Australia.
I was speaking to some elders in the Mutitjulu area who would love to set up a ballooning business at Uluru. I could not think of anything nicer than going around Uluru in a hot air balloon at dawn. The hot air balloon company in Alice Springs does a fantastic job, but can you imagine having the same thing at Uluru. Yet some elders at Mutitjulu were speaking to me about their frustrations when trying to work with Parks Australia. These are traditional owners of the area who have difficulties working with Parks Australia, and in some cases the Central Land Council, to get their business up and running. I thought Parks Australia and the Central Land Council would be jumping at opportunities to promote local Indigenous people getting a business like this off the ground, because it is a game changer in bringing tourists to Uluru and Central Australia.
Imagine, for one moment, going up in a balloon at dawn with the sun coming up and the different colours off the rock. It would be truly mesmerising. There would be a few marriage proposals if that atmosphere was available.
There are so many things we can do to promote our parks. Where we are so unique in the Northern Territory is Central Australia is different to the Barkly, which is fascinating and different to the Katherine area and the Top End. In Central Australia, look through the West MacDonnells, Rainbow Valley, Ruby Gap, Finke Gorge and Chambers Pillar. When I was at the Henbury meteorites I imagined what happened thousands of years ago when those meteorites hit the ground. I still have horrible thoughts of the Ernest Giles Road for some reason, but I will get over that one day. It is a fantastic, fascinating part of the world.
Around the Barkly area, around Tennant Creek, look at Attack Creek. The Barrow Creek Telegraph Station is well worth a stop, as is the telegraph station in Tennant Creek itself. Karlu Karlu, the Devils Marbles – every time we drive down the track we pull up there, not only to stretch the legs, but because it is a fascinating part of the Territory and something we should promote.
One thing that has always fascinated me about the Devils Marbles is who made the decision to run the power lines through there when they could have gone around ...
Mr Tollner: It wasn’t me! I wasn’t the shareholding minister then.
Mr CHANDLER: You were not the shareholding minister. There is a road around the Devils Marbles and a side track takes you in so you can see the rocks much closer. Then you have power lines running through the whole thing and I think, ‘Wow, that could have been done differently’. It is too late now; we cannot do anything about it.
These parts of the country should be supported, and the minister is doing a fantastic job promoting our parks. As I said, the Darwin area has some great conservation reserves. Look at Shoal Bay.
As the member for Nelson said earlier, throw a knapsack on, grab some water and head into some of these areas. Take a portable GPS unit or a flare in case you get into trouble. Be prepared, as one should always be when they go into some of these places, because you can get into trouble and there are some big distances in the Northern Territory. If something goes wrong it puts a lot of pressure on our essential services to rescue somebody. Like Ernest Giles Road, you can sit there for eight hours before a car comes past. You must be prepared if you are going to some of these beautiful areas. I know about going through the West MacDonnell Ranges and so forth. When you go out to these places, make sure you have the right resources on board – plenty of water and take note of the weather conditions. It can be a cold place in the winter and a hot place in the summer, but we have some fantastic places.
Around the Katherine region there is the Elsey National Park, Gregory National Park, the Keep River, Nitmiluk, Limmen National Park and Cutta Cutta caves. These are all fantastic places to go. I have only been to Cutta Cutta twice, and both times it blew me away. I had no idea there was such beauty underground. I visited on one occasion when they had just replaced a whole lot of 12 volt lighting, so the lighting sections of the caves were lit up and looked fantastic. They were still replacing other parts because a flood had gone through.
Again, these areas are part of our heritage. They mean so much to so many people and, wherever possible, we should be protecting them. At the same time, you cannot protect something by locking it up, you have to allow people to see it. The more people who see our parks and reserves the more they will be protected into the future because people value what they understand. I have spoken to Professor Graham Webb many times about crocodile management …
Mr TOLLNER: A point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker! Pursuant to Standing Order 77, I move an extension of time for the Minister for Education to finish his remarks.
Motion agreed to
Mr CHANDLER: I have spoken to Professor Graham Webb many times about crocodiles. He will tell you to make sure we protect crocodiles; we must value them. You will not protect anything you do not value. While we are touching on that and the Minister for Parks and Wildlife – the CROCWISE program has been successful and well run in our schools. Many times I have been visiting schools across the Northern Territory when the CROCWISE program is being run, and I hope it will continue in our schools. We must continue to get the message out and appreciate new students come through our school system every year and we must keep reminding them of the message. This is not a one-off message. You must keep reminding people time and time again. Thank you for the program and I hope it continues.
I have spoken about parks in the Darwin area, like Berry Springs, the Botanical Gardens, Casuarina Coastal Reserve, Charles Darwin National Park, Fogg Dam, Manton Dam and Mary River. In the Katherine area I have spoken about Limmen, Nitmiluk, Cutta Cutta, Elsey, Gregory and Keep River. We also have parks run by Parks Australia: Uluru and Kakadu. As Territorians, we have so many things to be proud of. So many of our parks are open and available and the more they are used, the more people will value them. Our tourism industry in the Northern Territory is underpinned by the natural resources in our parks. Look at the gorge in Nitmiluk National Park, it is fascinating. There is a spiritual feeling at some of these places. I do not know what it is, but when you go to some of these places – it has affected me when I have visited different parts of the Territory. Uluru is another place. For some reason, when you go there it is as if the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. I cannot explain it. When you are at some of these destinations, something happens to you. It is difficult to articulate but is a feeling you get. We have so much to offer Territorians and the rest of the world.
Mr Deputy Speaker, I commend the minister for the statement. Everyone in this Chamber will be behind you when it comes to supporting the national parks and reserves in the Northern Territory, our great assets.
Mr WESTRA van HOLTHE (Primary Industry and Fisheries): Mr Deputy Speaker, I support the statement by the Minister for Parks and Wildlife, Building the Contribution of Parks and Wildlife to the Territory.
In the statement the Minister for Parks and Wildlife has outlined the way forward for the Northern Territory’s parks and reserves, and the important role they will play in helping to deliver this government’s Tourism Vision 2020 strategy. This is in stark contrast to the attitude the former government took with respect to our parks in the Northern Territory.
Clearly, this government wants to see our parks opened up so people can use them. They are beautiful, natural attributes we have, yet they languished under the helm of the former Labor government because they wanted to lock the parks up. I found that quite extraordinary. The minister’s vision for parks in the Northern Territory is a welcome breath of fresh air.
Territory parks are unique. They are second to none, in my view. As the local member for Katherine – I have said this before in this House – Katherine is the ideal location to begin your next adventure exploring our parks and reserves. Katherine is located only a couple of hours from Kakadu, Litchfield and Gregory National Parks, not to mention it sits on the doorstep of the stunning Nitmiluk or Katherine Gorge National Park.
You can explore a lot of Nitmiluk without a four-wheel drive, as we have sealed roads leading right to the doorstep of both Katherine Gorge and Edith Falls. There is an abundance of safe swimming spots in the region, including Katherine Hot Springs and Mataranka thermal pools, Bitter Springs to the south and Edith Falls to the north.
There is Cutta Cutta Caves, a series of limestone caverns dating back 500 million years, with sparkling columns, pillars, and flowstones of calcite crystal. I note my colleague, the member for Arnhem, listening intently and smiling as I talk about Cutta Cutta Caves. She drives past them regularly along the Stuart Highway as she goes between Barunga and Katherine, something I used to do many years ago when I was in the police force based at both Mataranka and Maranboy. I could not tell you the number of times I drove past Cutta Cutta Caves. It was always great to see so many visitors pouring in and out of Cutta Cutta – lots of cars.
Further out from Katherine there are magnificent camping spots to explore in the Limmen National Park and Elsey National Park, as well as Mataranka.
Before becoming a member of parliament, my wife and I ran a bed and breakfast in Katherine. I was extremely proud to be a member of the Katherine Region Tourist Association, which is where I met you, Mr Deputy Speaker, when you were on the KRTA as well. We have known each other for quite some time.
During this time, tourism was, in part, our bread and butter when my wife and I were operating the B&B. As such, I have firsthand knowledge and appreciation of the magnificent drawcards our national parks, reserves and unique wildlife are in drawing tourists to the Northern Territory. In fact, when we were operating our bed and breakfast, we would be corresponding with our prospective guests about the activities of the region. We would virtually write up itineraries which suited the guests given the number of days they had. It always included visits into the national parks. If they were a short stay, a one day, Nitmiluk was definitely on the itinerary. If they were longer stays, we would extend those itinerary locations down to Mataranka, out to Gregory and the other parks in the region. We allowed our property to become the base so people could have a lovely place to stay at night then visit our beautiful national parks during the day.
The parks, tourism and recreation master plan will go a long way to ensuring visitor numbers in our national parks continue to grow, and that vital and necessary infrastructure continues to grow alongside these visitor numbers. On my next trip to a Territory national park I look forward to impressing my sons – I do not think they would have done this – by hanging off a zip line – I might give that a go – and being able to purchase real coffee at a pop-up concession stand, all great ideas that encourage people to get into our national parks.
I have every confidence the Minister for Parks and Wildlife will ensure all developments happen in a way which manages the balance between growth of small business – which means jobs in our regions – and the protection of our cultural and environmental assets.
In mid-September last year, as Minister for Mines and Energy, I undertook a road trip to visit several remote mining operations. This trip took me through some of the most remote parts of the Northern Territory and, at the same time, through some of the most stunning outback scenery you could ever hope to see. The majority of this beautiful countryside, with its vast ranges and deep rivers, was located in the Limmen National Park, Kakadu National Park, Nitmiluk National Park and Elsey, just to name a few.
I encourage all members in this House, if they have not had the opportunity to experience the magnificence of these parks, to put them on your bucket list now. Everybody needs to do our parks!
I commend the Minister for Parks and Wildlife on her vision to create unique visitor experiences in the form of events such as ranger for a day, allowing people to get up close with our wildlife. What a great initiative.
As the minister states, our parks and reserves are definitely open for business and, as local member for Katherine, a town in which many people and businesses rely heavily on the tourism dollar, I am particularly heartened to learn the NT Parks Tourism and Recreation Masterplan will be achieved by delivering high quality sustainable environmental, cultural and visitor outcomes for Northern Territory parks, reserves and wildlife.
It is a wonderful thing to have the beautiful natural assets we call our parks in the Northern Territory. I have been to quite a number of the national parks …
Mr Tollner: You are a bit of a fisherman.
Mr WESTRA van HOLTHE: I am a bit of a fisherman. Thank you for the interjection, member for Fong Lim.
I have been to a number of the national parks and what I love about them is the diversity across each and every one of them. One park in one part of the Top End will be completely different and possess completely different attributes to a similar park in another part of the Top End, and similarly for those in Central Australia. It is heartening to see we have a minister and a government committed to making sure these parks form a useful part of the growth of our economy.
There are three key economic drivers in the Northern Territory: the mining sector, the primary industry sector – I am proud to have stewardship of those through my ministerial portfolios – and also tourism. If we do not have product for our tourists they will not come. If you lock up the national parks like the Labor government did – is it any wonder tourism was flagging in the Northern Territory for many years? You cannot tie up the natural beauty of a place, one of the things that will attract visitors to the Northern Territory, and still expect visitor numbers to remain strong.
Visitors to the Northern Territory are looking for a number of experiences and, without doubt, the natural beauty of the Northern Territory is a huge part of that. You can jump on the Stuart Highway, drive up and down, pop out along the Arnhem Highway and see whatever is on the side of the road, but until you get off the road and into our national parks you do not have an opportunity to fully appreciate what the Northern Territory has to offer.
I mentioned, prompted by the member for Fong Lim, fishing. Fishing is available across many of our parks, and I encourage people to get out amongst it – obey all the fishing rules, because some of the parks have rules – and use it as an opportunity and reason to get into our parks. There are some great locations. Think about Katherine Gorge – Nitmuluk – what a stunning jewel in the crown of the Northern Territory. It was always marketed as the jewel in the crown of the Territory and still is. I will probably get an argument from some people about it, but I am willing to face them down because I am confident the Katherine Gorge represents, if not the most, one of the most attractive places in the Northern Territory to visit.
I am delighted to support the minister’s statement this afternoon. She has vision and is clearly driven to ensure our parks are used sensibly and wisely so they can contribute to the economy of the Northern Territory through the tourism sector.
There was some mention earlier – I only caught a bit of it – of mining in national parks. We follow a strict regulatory regime before any mining activity can take place in our national parks. There is an extra one or two layers approvals need to go through before they can be commenced in our national parks. I want to allay any fears that our national parks are considered expendable. Significant work goes into the approval process of any mining activity before it is allowed in those areas. Some of the approval process requires significant consultation, which can take a number of years.
In closing, I think we have some tremendous opportunities in the Northern Territory to grow the tourism sector around our national parks. We would be remiss if we did not grab any opportunity we could and run with it. Congratulations to the Minister for Parks and Wildlife, and I am very pleased to support her statement in this House.
Debate suspended.
MOTION
Bullying in the Workplace
Bullying in the Workplace
Mr VOWLES (Johnston): Madam Speaker, I move that the Legislative of Assembly calls on the Chief Minister to discipline the member for Greatorex for the disrespectful and abusive language he used towards the member for Namatjira, also, that the Legislative Assembly congratulates the member for Namatjira and the member for Araluen for their courage in speaking out against workplace bullying, and that the Legislative Assembly makes a powerful statement to all Territory women that bullying in this workplace or anywhere is not acceptable in 2014.
This motion has three distinct aspects: failure of leadership, courageous women and an affirmation by this House that certain behaviour – in this case, bullying – is not acceptable in this day and age, if it ever was. The Chief Minister is, for want of a better term, the CEO of that side of the House. It is his responsibility to make sure he provides a duty of care to his members; he needs to lead.
We will demonstrate that in the matter of the vile and abusive language used by the member for Greatorex towards the member of Namatjira in the CLP party room, the Chief Minister failed in his duty of care.
He should have immediately disciplined the member of Greatorex but did not. Like many failed leaders before him, he compounded his lack of leadership by covering up the original offence to protect his frail numbers, but in the process he diminished himself as a leader and diminished the office of Chief Minister. There is no doubt what was alleged to have been said by the member of Greatorex to the member of Namatjira was, in fact, said. The victim has confirmed it, and no one from that side of the House has contradicted it.
For the record, she told ABC radio on 11 March:
- I want to put this matter to bed. On Monday 17 February at 4.25, at our wing, Matt used the words, ‘Why don’t you do all of us a big favour, Alison, f*** off, you c***’
The ABC presenter asked her a direct question and, without hesitation, she answered firmly and certainly that:
- Matt used the words, ‘Why don’t you do us all a favour, Alison, f*** off, you c***’.
- I bought it to the attention of the Chief Minister and said, ‘Chief Minister, this man has just called me a f***** c***’.
Again, significantly, there has been no public contradiction. The victim approached the leader and told him what had happened, and we are all left in no doubt that is what she did.
How did the Chief Minister, the CEO of that side of the House, with his duty of care, react? His reply to his aggrieved college was:
- We have a full agenda, let’s get on with business.
In other words, ‘Don’t bother me with such minor matters as workplace vilification, bullying or verbal abuse. Let’s sweep it under the carpet.’
The Chief Minister put it into the ‘too hard basket’; he failed her. At a time when leadership was called for, at a time when any leader worth their position would have intervened and taken action, this leader failed. That is not where it ended. Not content with letting down his colleagues, his values and letting down everyone who heard the comment, the Chief Minister decided it would be best to cover it up.
The cover-up started on 8 March on ABC TV. When he had the chance to come clean, the Chief Minister uttered these words.
- Look, I am not aware of any offensive language that may or may not have been used.
Perhaps he was mistaken or perhaps he had forgotten what the member for Namatjira had said to him. He had another chance to set the record straight on Channel 9 the same day. Again, it was the same script, the same lines that had been worked by the backroom boys in the Chief Minister’s office. The Chief Minister said:
- I am not aware of any offensive language that may or may not have been used.
The spin was on. The following day he was more strident. On Territory FM, the Chief Minister said:
- Matt Conlan did not say that.
There is no equivocation, no doubt and no way out. Like Lady Macbeth, the Chief Minister was steeped in so much blood there was no going back. The untruth had to be continued.
The final insult came on 10 March on Mix 104.9 FM. Pete Davies asked ‘Are you going to sack minister Conlan?’ The Chief Minister laughed. Yes, that is right, he laughed. Being verbally abused is now a laughing matter for this Chief Minister. Then, he replied, ‘Absolutely not’. To his credit, Pete Davies persisted, ‘Why not?’ The Chief Minister replied, ‘Why would I?’ Playing dumb is never a great line of defence, Chief Minister. It was the biggest political story in the Northern Territory that day, and the Chief Minister replied, ‘Why would I?’ Where had he been for the previous few days?
Pete Davies tries to jog his memory. ‘Well, I mean, he referred to one of his colleagues as well – as the C word’. Here was the Chief Minister’s chance to finally come clean, to step up and admit he knew what had happened. But, no, the cover-up was in full swing, ‘Well, Pete’, he said, ‘I would actually challenge that. I don’t believe that to be actually true’. I will repeat that. The Chief Minister said on live radio, ‘I don’t believe that to be actually true’.
In reference to the other great political cover-up, let us call this Conlangate. Chief Minister, you must need allies to stick your neck out for that foul-mouthed minister of yours. We have established the comments were said. Not a single person on that side of the House has contradicted the member for Namatjira since she spoke to ABC radio on 11 March. The words were said, there is no doubt. We know the Chief Minister knew the words had been said. Since 11 March, he has not denied that.
The cover-up lasted from 8 March to 10 March, until the member for Namatjira went on the record. Since then, there has been nothing from this Chief Minister. After failing his duty of care, after failing the leadership test and concocting his clumsy backroom boy lines on the subject, since 11 March, since the truth came out – silence. He wants it to all go away. It is not, Chief Minister, because today your honesty and leadership is being judged.
To the brave woman who took the stand – I have already mentioned the member for Namatjira – her courage in speaking out is to be applauded. Her recollection was clear and precise:
- On Monday, 17 February, at 4.25 at our wing, Matt used the words ‘Why don’t you all do us a favour, Alison, f*** off, you c***.
She remembered it word for word, and who would not? It is not easy to go public about a colleague’s misbehaviour, but some things transcend politics. This was such a case.
The member for Namatjira told ABC listeners:
- Look, I think any woman would feel insulted. I felt absolutely insulted.
Of course she did. It was a big step to reveal the truth, but it had to be done. Throughout the previous three days her character, her recollection and her honesty had been put to the sword by the Chief Minister. Someone had to speak up, and the member for Namatjira did. It was a political risk, but she had the courage of her convictions. She had to put the record straight. It was her word against the Chief Minister’s; the man who had spent the previous three days telling all and sundry nothing had happened. The truth came out and the victim spoke up. However, she was not alone.
The member for Araluen is also a woman with courage and fortitude. On Friday 7 March, she told the ABC 7.30 Report:
- My reason for talking to you today is that I no longer feel that I am willing or able to defend Matt Conlan or to be part of any sort of cover-up. His behaviour was unacceptable and I stand by the fact that people who are subjected to that sort of bullying and harassment in the workplace should be able to speak out against it.
She went further in the Sunday Territorian on 9 March. She said:
- The six female members of the wing, we banded together and demanded an apology which was not forthcoming in the first place.
An apology was not forthcoming in the first place. Think about that. Six women, insulted by what the member for Greatorex had said, wanted him to say, ‘I am sorry’, but he could not. As we know, an apology was eventually dragged out of the member for Greatorex – very big of him.
There may be a political cost for the member for Araluen. I hope there is not because, by speaking out, she did the right thing. The member for Araluen’s final word on the subject is perhaps the most telling. She told the Sunday Territorian it was not easy being a woman in parliament. I am here to tell the members for Araluen and Namatjira this man salutes your stand.
To bullying. About 400 years ago, Irish philosopher Edmund Burke said rudeness is the weak man’s imitation of strength. I am happy to amend it for the 21st century: bullying is the weak man’s imitation of strength. It is weak and cowardly, but it is more than that. It is intimidating, damages people’s confidence, messes with their psyche and, for the record, is in total contravention of the Territory’s own anti-bullying policy. The front page of the policy reads:
- Bullying is NOT acceptable to anyone, anytime, anywhere!
Madam Speaker, this House has to make a decision. Do we say no to bullying, or do we say it is okay? Do we say leaders have a duty of care to their colleagues, or do we say covering up is acceptable? Do we applaud those who have the courage to face bullies head on and say enough is enough, or do we turn our backs on them? The answer is obvious. This motion deserves a unanimous response in the affirmative. I commend the motion to the House.
Mr GILES (Chief Minister): Madam Speaker, I welcome the motion. At the outset, I do not, the Country Liberals do not, and this government does not support bullying in the workplace. Also at the outset, this motion, even though I endorse it, is too narrow in its wording. Let me be specific. Whilst Labor has made it very clear in the latter part of the motion quote:
- … that the Legislative Assembly makes a powerful statement to all Territory women that bullying in this workplace or anywhere is not acceptable in 2014.
Madam Speaker, it is my strong view that this reference to women only does not go far enough. I would like to make it clear to this House, and all Territorians, that this government and this parliament do not condone bullying of women, or anyone else.
I would like members on both sides of this House to consider changing this motion so everyone can be included, as it should be, with equality.
In this regard we are well guided in the public service by excellent policies and procedures that have stood the test of time and have been often lauded as leading the country in their progressive nature. These guidelines, set in stone for all to see, are called Appropriate Workplace Behaviour Employment Instruction No 13, dated 29 June 2012 by then Public Service Commissioner, Mr Graham Symons. This employment instruction is introduced, in part, as follows:
- a) sets out the requirement for all employees to behave appropriately in the workplace;
- b) sets out the requirement for Chief Executive Officers to foster a culture which supports appropriate behaviour and is free from bullying;
The document goes on to describe appropriate workplace behaviour as follows:
- 2.1 Employees must treat other employees and members of the public in a respectful, professional, fair, equitable and courteous manner, and act in a manner consistent with the Performance and Conduct Principle and the NTPS Code of Conduct.
2.2 Managers have a responsibility to foster a culture of respect in the workplace, and to ensure employees are treated appropriately and not subjected to bullying.
- 2.3 The NTPS will not accept inappropriate workplace behaviour or bullying and will deal with it in a fair and timely manner in accordance with the provisions of the Act and supporting legislation.
In this place we might all consider ourselves as employees. However, I hazard a guess most of the school kids who visit Question Time each day would not necessarily agree with the statement that we treat each other in a respectful, professional, fair, equitable and courteous manner. You only have to turn to today’s NT News to read the view of one political hopeful running in the Blain by-election, Mr Matthew Cranitch, when he was referring to the Opposition Leader who:
- … constantly interjects and throws mindless abuse at …
… and a Treasurer who seems to get his jollies by taking cheap shots back at her ….
This might be indicative of the nature of the beast we call politics. We all know, on both sides of this House, politics is a robust game. We all know you need to have a thick skin. Even members opposite know, full well, by the letter of these guidelines, internal meetings do not always go swimmingly behind closed doors. I dare any one of the members opposite to look at each other, or any Territorian in the eye and claim otherwise. Sometimes in politics, as the Leader of the Opposition and her deputy know, behind closed doors it can be very different ball game. Accusations of bullying, directly or indirectly, can come from those outside the group.
Earlier I quoted Mr Matthew Cranitch from today’s NT News. Two days ago, in the same newspaper, Matthew Cranitch made a claim about the Opposition Leader some might refer to as bullying. The article says:
- Mr Cranitch said that two weeks ago Ms Lawrie phoned him to say she was concerned he would split the Labor vote, and threatened to go above his head to stop his campaign.
Whether this occurred or not is still subject to speculation, because the Leader of the Opposition might reject outright even speaking to Mr Cranitch. I leave it up to others to judge whether bullying occurred on that occasion or not. Bullying is defined by others, such as the Public Service Commissioner. The Definition of Workplace Bullying and Inappropriate Behaviour, according to the Commissioner in his 2012 instruction, is:
- 4.1 Workplace bullying is repeated, inappropriate, unreasonable behaviour directed towards an employee or employees that creates a risk to health and safety in the workplace.
- ‘Repeated behaviour’ refers to the persistent nature of the behaviour and can refer to a pattern of related behaviours over time.
4.2 ‘Inappropriate’ or ‘unreasonable’ behaviour is behaviour that a reasonable person, having regard to the circumstances, would find unacceptable, humiliating, threatening, victimising or undermining to an employee’s mental well-being and right to respect and dignity in the workplace.
This last part of the Commissioner’s missive is an interesting one to note. After we all leave this place and go about our lives as Territorians, we might reflect that most reasonable Territorians would find what we all do in this place, from time to time, is unacceptable. Let me be clear: bullying, as it has been defined in this way, should never be tolerated. We should reject it, openly discuss it, and ensure it does not happen anywhere in the workplace, at whatever level, wherever and regardless of whether it is man, woman or child.
Is it an expectation all Territorians should have of us, and us of each other. I will leave any change to the latter part of this motion to others in this House as, clearly, this motion is directed towards me. I know, in all good conscience, all members of this House would agree.
As importantly, I turn to the first part of this motion, because this is the part which relates directly to me, as Chief Minister, disciplining another member. I talk to members on this side of the House quite often. This includes all colleagues on this side of the Chamber, and my discussions range broadly from meetings with large groups, in-depth discussions with a few concerned members, through to one-on-one formal or informal chats.
The role of Chief Minister, from time to time, must include leadership of matters of discipline, conduct, language and overall respect for each other. As I said earlier, we all know politics is a robust game and you need a thick skin. This means there is robust debate between members of this side of the House when we meet as a group of people to discuss issues of importance. We pride ourselves as a party on not divulging things which occur behind closed doors.
From time to time I have had to discipline members on this side of the House on matters of conduct, language and overall respect for each other. What this means is I do not condone bullying, but do condone robust debate. The message to Territorians, when I meet them in the street, is simple: I do not, the Country Liberals do not and this government does not support bullying in the workplace by anyone. The message for members opposite, and the House, is this motion is endorsed. However, it needs to be amended slightly so it can broadly include everyone: men, women and children. I recommend those changes to you.
Ms WALKER (Nhulunbuy): Madam Speaker, I support the motion brought forward by my colleague, the member for Johnston, which calls on the Chief Minister to discipline the member for Greatorex for disrespectful and abusive language he used towards the member for Namatjira.
As a woman I support others, particularly women, who have been on the receiving end of bullying in the workplace and subjected to unacceptable treatment by a colleague who could be a peer, a subordinate or a manager, it does not matter. Nor does it matter whether the incidents of workplace bullying occurred behind closed doors, in a private meeting or in a public place, or with or without witnesses. I support the members for Namatjira and Araluen, who have had the courage to speak out about workplace bullying within their own ranks, bullying which transcends political boundaries.
Apart from the deep personal hurt and anxiety workplace bullying can cause to an individual, male or female, where bullying is known to have occurred, when the victim or a witness in support of a victim speaks out, one would expect that incident would be dealt with appropriately and the victim, at the very least, would receive a public apology from the perpetrator and the latter would receive some admonishment or discipline. Bad or bullying behaviour cannot be dealt with if the perpetrator is unwilling to accept any responsibility for his or her actions.
The events of the past week-and-a-half – an extraordinary incident in the CLP party wing meeting where the member for Namatjira was sworn at by the member for Greatorex – may never have reached the public domain nor been the subject of a debate in this House if a different course of action had been taken by the member for Greatorex and his boss, the Chief Minister. There and then, on the spot, there could have been an apology offered, stern words to the member for Greatorex about his incredibly inappropriate behaviour, his offensive language and the need to change and modify his behaviour. However, none of that occurred and I have no reason to doubt the allegations from the member for Namatjira, nor did female members of the CLP.
I know there are some bizarre goings-on in the ranks of the CLP, and there are currently many divisions, but does anyone here think the member for Namatjira is making this up for the heck of it? Does anyone in the public or the media think she is just making this up? Do they think the conversation and the abusive, disgraceful and disrespectful language never occurred?
The Chief Minister, when alerted by the member for Namatjira to the offensive remarks directed at her by the member of Greatorex, chose to brush the matter aside when he said:
- We have a full agenda, let’s get on with business.
As the member for Johnston said and is widely known, there has been no public contradiction that the event happened. As recently as Question Time today, when the member for Greatorex was asked about this subject, he said:
- … I have said it before and I will say it again, I will not be making any comment relating to discussions which took place inside the party room.
This whole saga is not just about the member for Namatjira’s word against the word of the Chief Minister or the member for Greatorex. This incident came to light because the member for Araluen chose to speak out and place on the public record she was no longer:
- … willing or able to defend Matt Conlan or to be part of any sort of cover-up.
She also stated with conviction that:
- … people who are subjected to that sort of bullying and harassment in the workplace should be able to speak out against it.
Today, I speak out against it with my own account of having been on the receiving end of what I believe to be bullying and harassment from the member for Greatorex. I wish to read onto the public record a letter I drafted to Speaker Aagaard on 4 May 2011:
- Dear Madam Speaker,
I write to you to bring to your attention what I consider to be unacceptable behaviour from the member for Greatorex in his dealings with me, whilst I am in the Chair in my role as Deputy Speaker and Chair of Committee. I accept, as a member, that parliament is a place where debate is frequently robust and heated between members and also, at times, between a member and the Speaker. However, I do try, when chairing debate, to be mindful that I have a responsibility to maintain order and to do so fairly and without bias. I try hard to rise above attacks which might be regarded as personal and, similarly, accept that in the theatre which is parliament, members may overstep the mark, but by their own admission of having done so, adjust their behaviour accordingly.
However, recent attacks on me by the member for Greatorex while I am in the Chair are, I believe, designed to deliberately goad, intimidate and undermine. The member for Greatorex, in so doing, demonstrates a disrespect for the institution which is the parliament and the integrity of the House.
Whilst I have discussed with you and the Clerk an incident during the recent Alice Springs sittings, I now put this in writing.
On the final sitting day, 31 March 2011, I was chairing committee stage amendments in relation to the Care and Protection of Children Amendment Bill. Debate had reached its conclusion when the member for Greatorex returned to the Chamber as I was about to report to the Speaker. His persistent interjections at this point – he had missed the debate – gave cause for me to issue a warning to him. He was, clearly, out of order.
Moments later, when I returned to my chair at the rear of the Chamber, the member for Greatorex approached me, somewhat animated and angry, and said to me, ‘You think you’re good sitting up there, don’t you?’ I was so stunned by his outburst I simply asked him what he was talking about, and he repeated the statement before walking off, perhaps oblivious to me uttering, ‘You idiot’. The incident was overheard by two agency CEOs, who I will not name today, who appeared to be as stunned as I was.
Later that evening when I was in the Speaker’s Chair, I was approached by the member for Braitling with a query about proceedings. He also took the opportunity to tell me that he apologised for the member for Greatorex’s behaviour, having witnessed the incident, and assuring me he was, ‘out of line’. I certainly appreciated this apology.
The member for Greatorex’s behaviour whilst I was in the Speaker’s Chair last night …
… during the second reading debate of the Private Hospitals and Nursing Homes Bill was unacceptable once again. I allowed the member for Greatorex considerable latitude during the debate, particularly with regard to relevance, but had no choice but to eventually ask him to resume his seat in accordance with Standing Order 70. Throughout this debate, and including several exchanges with me, he persistently argued.
Hansard obviously records the exchanges and the interjections, but what Hansard does not capture is the tone, the gestures, and the underlying contempt. It was my view that the member for Greatorex was clearly agitated and intent on an argument. This was confirmed once he had resumed his seat and proceeded to cross the Chamber to speak with the …
… member for Daly, Mr Knight. Whilst I could not hear the exchange, clearly he was angry and his behaviour towards the member for Daly threatening. A comment from the member for Arafura clearly shows this.
Madam Speaker, every member of this House has the right to speak, but they do so within the parameters of standing orders and common courtesy.
Yours sincerely
Lynne Walker
That was the letter I wrote to the then Speaker on 4 May 2011. I did not give that letter to the Speaker. I decided not to for a number of reasons, which I have thought about a great deal in the past week, with new allegations about how the member for Greatorex treats other female colleagues in this House, our workplace.
Bullying and harassment does not have to include abusive language. He did not swear at me, but I was deeply offended and felt threatened and intimidated by his behaviour. The victims of bullying, women especially, often question themselves as to whether they are overreacting or just need to toughen up, get over it and move on, whether they might be perceived and dismissed as mischief makers, or have fears about whether there might be repercussions and recriminations for proceeding with a complaint and asking for an apology.
I know of the experiences of other women where the process of formally lodging a complaint about bullying can, sadly, often be more painful than the original offence and result in a victim becoming ostracised. With hindsight, I had every right to pursue what was clearly bullying behaviour. I wish I had, with an expectation the member for Greatorex be asked to modify his behaviour towards me and others and behave in a way more respectful of colleagues, despite the unusual workplace ours is. It is adversarial by its nature, but there must be boundaries.
They were not isolated and out of character incidents from the member for Greatorex. He is well-known for his angry outbursts and taunts. I understand only too well the pressures of his job, but he needs help with anger management. He lacks empathy and respect. He crossed a line in his dealings with me in the past, and clearly the members for Araluen and Namatjira think he crossed a line in that party wing meeting last month.
As a person in public life, he needs to offer a public apology to the member for Namatjira. The Chief Minister needs to step up, show some leadership, and be seen to discipline the member for Greatorex and send a very strong message that bullying in this workplace, or anywhere, is not acceptable in this day in age, whether it be directed at men or women. It is not only the right thing to do, it is also the decent thing to do. There are no excuses for bullying and harassment. I commend the motion to the House.
Mr WOOD (Nelson): Madam Speaker, something was said at a party meeting. Some say it was, some say it was not, and some will not say so who do you believe? Is this all about what is currently happening in the CLP, and is this motion meant to fuel the fires of discontent? I do not support the language alleged to have been said, not only if it is said to women, although that is bad enough, but to anyone. I do not support swearing or abusive language and, over the years, I have heard plenty from some members of this parliament on both sides. I have also copped my fair share of abuse in this House, certainly some from the member for Greatorex.
As politicians, we should be setting the standard with appropriate and considered language not encouraging the use of bad language. Next time they send a footballer off the field for swearing I bet he or she says to me, ‘I was only copying your mates in parliament’. This motion could be stopped in its tracks if the Chief Minister, the leader of the government, made a clear and unequivocal statement about the matter. Unfortunately, the waters have been muddied with the CLP presently in disarray and a by-election campaign happening at the same time.
If the member for Greatorex said something he should not have he should apologise. If any member of the CLP said something inappropriate they should apologise. The Chief Minister should show some leadership, even if it means kicking a few butts, saying if this is the behaviour of members of his party it is not on – bad language or bullying – otherwise he will act. Fix it, Chief Minister, and let us move on and start governing the Territory.
I make it clear, so please do not try to twist my words or put words in my mouth that are not true. I do not support bad, abusive and crude language, but I will not get caught up in the internal machinations of the CLP or by-election politics. We can all pontificate and condemn others in this parliament, but in the end we are all elected by the people. If the people think our behaviour is abusive and bullish, the people will judge us and make the final decision at the next election.
Madam SPEAKER: Pursuant to Standing Order 156, the member for Namatjira called for a division and the Leader of the Opposition indicated support pursuant to Standing Order 157. The division was not required due to the lack of any member voting with the noes.
Motion agreed to.
MOTION
Proposed Amendments – Standing Order 21A
Proposed Amendments – Standing Order 21A
Mr WOOD (Nelson): Madam Speaker, I move that Standing Order 21A relating to the Public Accounts Committee be amended by inserting, after paragraph 2(e):
(f) to inquire into and report to the Legislative Assembly on any matters within the executive authority of ministers of the Territory to which the committee is of the opinion that the attention of the Assembly should be drawn.
In a more enlightened era we had a committee called the Council of Territory Cooperation. This committee was able to look at any matter it wished or was asked to by the government. It had members from both sides and an independent Chair. It was able to self-refer without approval from the parliament. This is part of its terms of reference:
Purpose of the committee
- (2) That the committee facilitate:
- (a) greater levels of collaboration in the governance of the Northern Territory;
(b) enhance parliamentary democracy by providing a strong role for members of the Legislative Assembly who are not members of the executive government, particularly on matters of common concern;
(c) expand involvement in important Northern Territory initiatives and projects;
(d) provide new avenues for Territorians to have input through the Legislative Assembly into the government of the Northern Territory; and …
Members interjecting.
Mr WOOD:
- (e) provide a road map for tackling some specific issues currently facing the Territory.
- (3) The committee consist of up to six members including two government members, two opposition members and at least one independent member to be appointed by a subsequent resolution and that unless otherwise ordered, Mr Wood be appointed Chairman of the committee.
- Duties of the committee
- (4) That the committee inquire into, consider, make recommendations and report to the Assembly from time to time on the following matters of public importance:
- (a) the strategic Indigenous housing and infrastructure program (SIHIP);
(b) local government reform;
(c) the planning scheme and the establishment of Weddell;
(d) a working future (including homelands policy);
(e) any other matter of public importance referred to it by the Legislative Assembly; and
(f) any matter of public importance concerned with the administration of matters of which ministers of the Territory have executive authority pursuant to the provisions of the Northern Territory (Self-Government) Act and Regulations (Commonwealth).
There was a difference in the domestic violence figures being presented in annual reports so the CTC invited a number of agencies to explain. Interestingly, all members agreed crime statistics should not be quarterly as that can cause a distortion in the conclusion because of small numbers in some communities. A number of visits and public meetings were held at Nguiu, Wadeye, Alice Springs and Groote Eylandt to see SIHIP firsthand and discuss local government reform. Child protection was also on the agenda. A subcommittee of the CTC was formed which looked at animal welfare governance, the Mataranka cattle deaths and matters related to animal welfare legislation. The subcommittee produced 21 recommendations, all of which were agreed to or supported by the government. On top of that, the CTC made another 56 recommendations to government, over 75% of which the government supported.
The council visited 30 communities and held many public meetings, with public being the main focus of everything the CTC did. All in all, it might not have been perfect, but it opened up government to the people and gave all members of parliament, especially backbenchers, a more active role in the parliament. There was opposition from within its ranks from members who are now in government. They said it cost too much money to run, it was not achieving anything, ministers could not be investigated anyway and it was Paul Henderson/Gerry Wood thing. I suspect the last reason was the main reason for its demise.
The CLP participated in the CTC and, even after CLP members left, it still had an important role in monitoring government programs. Many of the issues the CTC looked at are still relevant today. For example, the power blackout, remote housing, outstation funding, town leases, changes to local government, changes to Power and Water, urban housing and lots more.
This motion today would allow a cheaper version of the CTC to operate as it would come under the existing committee system, and I presume the government would allow ministers to appear. That was a complaint by the member for Katherine at one stage, although the Labor government eventually acceded to it. The only other difference would be there would be no independent chair, but I can live with that. The committee could also look at bills before parliament, something I have been calling for, for a long time.
As I have said on other occasions, our parliament and the Queensland parliament are both unicameral houses. In other words, they have no upper House to scrutinise bills. Queensland uses committees to scrutinise bills before they go back to parliament for a vote. We could do the same, paving the way for an improved process and making sure legislation is well tested before being voted on. For me, the Power and Water bills are a classic example of bills that should have gone before a committee. The committee system also allows the public to participate in what is going on through public hearings, and for the media to play its part as the disseminator of news.
I quote from the Parliamentary Record on 30 November 2010. It is from Mr Elferink, member for Port Darwin, and is part of what he had to say in relation to the CTC:
- The problem I was concerned about became manifest very quickly, because this thing …
- … could have been only one of two things. It could have been an upper House in this Chamber, in which case we would have had to clear out the library and have a Legislative Council and two Chambers.
Mr Elferink: It is designed for that.
Mr WOOD: Is designed for an upper House, yes. Back to the quote:
- I am not sure if that would have been possible under the Northern Territory (Self-Government) Act, I would have to check that. Or it would have to be a parliamentary committee. We like to call it the Council of Territory Cooperation, but it is a parliamentary committee.
The member for Port Darwin went on to say:
- We already have a parliamentary committee which holds the public account to scrutiny. Much of what the CTC does is little more than a Public Accounts Committee held in public. I maintained that from the outset. I continue to maintain that today. What this committee achieves could be easily achieved by simple amendments to the standing orders or the reference to the Public Accounts Committee, and this would be a resolved issue.
Madam Speaker, I am attempting to resolve this issue today. A simple amendment, as the Attorney-General once said, is before us today. It will be good for parliament, good for parliamentarians, especially those at the back, and good for the people because they will become part of the process through open, transparent, and public meetings. I hope both sides will support this motion.
Mr GUNNER (Fannie Bay): Madam Speaker, as the member for Nelson knows, in our last term of government we had a committee of self-referencing powers. The member for Nelson just went through a range of things the Council of Territory Cooperation achieved. I served for some time on that committee with the member for Nelson.
On our side, we believe and support a committee having self-referencing powers in this parliament. At the moment we do not have one with those powers, so we support working with the member for Nelson, working in this Chamber, to have a committee with the ability to refer matters of significance in the Territory to itself. That could be anything.
You mentioned bills specifically, member for Nelson. Obviously, bills have subjects at their heart. The whole point of having a bill is you are trying to achieve an outcome. Whether it is the bill itself or the subject within the bill, it would be good for committees to have the ability to build an evidence base, question witnesses and run a funded consultation process on behalf of this parliament on issues of significance, which is what the Council of Territory Cooperation did. It is what some of our select committees sometimes do on specific issues.
Last term I was a member of the environment committee. We had witnesses, we travelled and took evidence on issues relating to the environment. I believe – we have supported you in the past, member for Nelson – in having a committee with self-referencing powers.
Mr ELFERINK (Attorney-General and Justice): Madam Speaker, this is a very quick debate. I am not used to things moving so quickly. I confess my mind was elsewhere as the member sat down …
Ms Walker: I bet it was.
Mr ELFERINK: Sorry? Okay. Anyway, I have the proposed section to be inserted, an amendment to Standing Order 21A inserting after paragraph 2(e) – that deals with examining the reports of the Auditor-General tabled in the Legislative Assembly with the accounts of an agency of the Northern Territory, including any documents annexed or appended to those reports, pursuant to the Audit Act.
Today it is proposed the House insert a new paragraph:
(f) to inquire into and report to the Legislative Assembly on any matters within the executive authority of ministers of the Territory to which the committee is of the opinion that the attention of the Assembly should be drawn.
I briefly discussed this yesterday with the member for Nelson and subsequently discussed this amongst my colleagues on the government benches. I am inclined, and the government is inclined, to agree with the term of reference. I note, however, this is a Public Accounts Committee and, whilst this is a broad reference being sought by the member for Nelson and this House, I am of the opinion it could very well be a useful one. I had always argued the CTC was nothing more than a glorified Public Accounts Committee and we had almost replicated two committees but for a self-referencing power.
I note the member for Nelson – although he has not indicated to me in discussions prior to this – sees this as a vehicle by which to bring bills before this House for scrutiny. I am not entirely sure that is in the purview of the Public Accounts Committee per se. I am a little surprised by his response because I anticipated, from the conversations I had with the member for Nelson, that this would remain an inquiry into what government does on a day-to-day basis, i.e. the ability to bring public servants in, quiz them about what is happening within departments, etcetera. It was not on my radar in relation to reviewing bills necessarily. I am a little on my feet here because I indicated prior to this I had some support for the amendment, but bills are a different thing.
May I propose, as I look at the member for Nelson, that we have a discussion about this issue now at the back of the Chamber? Perhaps we can bring on the next item of business and suspend this so I can come back to the Chamber in a second. Does that suit the proposer of the bill?
Madam Speaker, I seek leave to adjourn this for a short period whilst I speak to the member for Nelson. I ask that the next business item come on. If you want to be included that is fine.
Madam SPEAKER: The member for Fong Lim is speaking next and has 14 minutes.
Mr WOOD: Could I ask that the member for Fannie Bay, who is supporting this, also joins the discussion?
Mr ELFERINK: Yes.
Leave granted; debate suspended.
MOTION
Tiwi Islands and the Federal Government
Continued from 21 August 2013.
Mr TOLLNER (Treasurer): Madam Speaker, this has been sitting on the Notice Paper for some time now. It is probably wise to suggest we are no longer dealing with Kevin Rudd. What a blessing for Australia. He is long gone. We now have a new Prime Minister who is opposed to the carbon tax. What a wonderful thing. I imagine the mover of this motion would be quite enamoured about the fact we no longer have Mr Rudd and the new Prime Minister is against the carbon tax.
The new Prime Minister, I am well informed, is of a view to repeal the carbon tax. That would be a wonderful thing because it would impact on the cost of living in the Northern Territory by reducing it. I am also reliably informed the one thing in the way of the carbon tax being repealed is the Australian Labor Party. It is opposed to reducing the cost of living for Territorians. The Opposition Leader has made a bit of a song and dance in recent months about the cost of living. She says it is important to her and to the Northern Territory.
One thing the Opposition Leader could do to reduce the cost of living in the Northern Territory is contact her colleagues in the federal parliament, particularly those who sit in the Senate, and let them know the carbon tax is hurting Territorians. It is, according to this motion, hurting the people of the Tiwi Islands. It is hurting Indigenous Territorians and I would think, if the Opposition Leader is as big-hearted as she says, she would have no hesitation whatsoever contacting her federal Labor colleagues.
Additionally, if the Opposition Leader is as important as she thinks in the Australian Labor Party, she should be able to direct her federal Labor colleagues to do what they can to reduce the cost of living in the Northern Territory and allow the carbon tax to be repealed.
On that note, I might listen to what the Leader of the Opposition has to say about repealing the carbon tax.
Motion agreed to.
MOTION
Proposed Amendments – Standing Order 21A
Proposed Amendments – Standing Order 21A
Continued from earlier this day.
Mr ELFERINK (Attorney-General and Justice): Madam Speaker, I thank the House for its indulgence. This was one of those things you do on the run because we wanted to make sure the interpretation was correct.
I pick up on the comments from the member for Nelson, where he said there would be a capacity for the Public Accounts Committee to look into bills. It sent a flag up the flag pole for me because he spoke about models in other jurisdictions where committees take bills away and report back to the House. They have a capacity to hold up the passage of a bill through a House if it gets bogged down in the committee system. That caused me some concern.
The leader of opposition business, the member for Fannie Bay, tried to qualify the comments by saying it was not so much the bills being investigated, but the subject of the bills capable of being investigated. If it is within the executive authority of ministers of the Territory a bill before this House may attract some attention from the Public Accounts Committee. Of course it can inquire about a subject of this nature as long as it falls within the executive arm of government. I am not entirely sure how it would work for something like the Defamation Act or the Contracts Act, which do not affect the executive arm of government other than the fact the Crown is bound by both those legislative instruments. I will leave it to the wisdom of the committee members to navigate as the case sees fit. Consequently, the proposed amendment as it stands on the Notice Paper:
(f) to inquire into and report to the Legislative Assembly on any matters within the executive authority of ministers of the Territory to which the committee is of the opinion that the attention of the Assembly should be drawn
Mr WOOD (Nelson): Madam Speaker, I am extremely pleased. Not often do you get something passed through parliament on this side of the Chamber, but it is encouraging to find there is support for this matter. This amendment will open up parliament. It will be a breath of fresh air in some ways, because the committee will be able to self-refer any matter, and I qualify that in relation to bills. Even if it were to look at bills, it would not stop the bill going through parliament unless parliament wished to refer a bill to a committee, which is a different thing. If it wanted to look at the contents of a bill the government was still debating, this parliament could continue on its own way in relation to that regardless of whether the committee was looking at it or not. I would not expect that to be any other way.
The CTC had its faults, I know that. It was not perfect, and I sometimes look back and wish it had started off better, but it did not and then there were some adjustments. I am not sure those changes were the best way for it to operate, but it operated and a lot of people put a lot of hard work into trying their best to make it work. There are many issues that, up until now, it has been difficult for parliament to get a report on. One of the advantages of this committee is you can bring in the public servants who are directly involved in projects.
The classic example was SIHIP. We would have public servants – I would not expect the committee to be holding so many meetings it would drive public servants up the wall and stop them doing their job. However, they would at least come to a meeting with a schedule showing you how many houses were being built at a certain place, how many rebuilds there were, how many refurbs, the cost of the refurbs, the cost of rehabs, were they on target, how many Aboriginal people were employed, were there issues with infrastructure and all those types of things.
I visited Elcho Island on a short trip. It was meant to be a quick trip on purpose, so people did not know I was coming. I had complaints about materials being left out in the weather, so as Chair, I flew there to see for myself whether doors were being left out in the weather to rot. We went to Umbakumba and there were complaints about the standard of block work. I remember the member for Port Darwin getting underneath the house – I remember The Australian being there as well – with a ruler to check some of the materials on the verandah. They were using some special – it was like an artificial wood, and there were some concerns the timber would not hold up in the weather. The company building those houses was sacked. We were able to investigate those things.
We were also able to talk to councils about the failure of the CouncilBiz IT program which, at that stage, cost government a lot of money. I presume it cost the councils a lot of money to set up too. In fact, the Barkly shire pulled out. It was so concerned about it and thought it could introduce a better and cheaper scheme than what was proposed. A committee could look at where we are with remote housing at present.
The previous government looked at growth towns. I do not know where we are at with growth towns, because many of the issues the committee looked at were leases. There has not been a lot of debate in this House in recent times about leases on Aboriginal land. There are 90-year leases, 40-year leases, 15-year leases and seven-year leases – all types of leases. It would be good to see if the theory behind some of the leases, which were to allow private Aboriginal housing, is happening. That was one of the big pushes for leases on Aboriginal land. It was not just about formalising government buildings, church building etcetera; it was about facilitating an opportunity for people to build their own house on Aboriginal land using the lease system.
It would be good to investigate whether increasing the chance of an Aboriginal person owning their own house has happened. The committee could investigate that and ask people if it has happened.
We have a promise of $5200 per house to be spent on outstations. The committee could visit an outstation which has put its hand up for this money and see how much has been spent.
One issue with SIHIP was too much money spent on administration and not enough on maintenance – on doing something. Again, a committee could look at those issues.
It could also look at why the power went off recently. The member for Katherine was concerned I was asking for a big inquiry. No. A committee like we have at the moment could ask experts from Power and Water to attend a public hearing, get the technical people in, perhaps the Utilities Commission and some other people, and ask in a public arena exactly what happened. What caused it? Was it faulty equipment? Was it a management issue? Was it a maintenance issue? What was the reason? The committee has the ability to question people.
I was watching A-PAC recently and the boss of Qantas was being questioned by a Commonwealth committee. He had to answer questions about the future of Qantas. Our committee would have similar powers to ask various government agencies how well they are spending our money and what they are achieving. That would be the committee’s role.
You will notice there has been development on the Tiwi Islands. The government said it is spending money on the Tiwi Islands to open up land for development, etcetera. The committee could ask the government what it is doing on the Tiwi Islands and how much money is being spent. They are the issues a committee could look at. Perhaps it could look at some of the Power and Water issues.
I thank the government. I do not get too excited these days in parliament, but I am excited about this because it is a good change. This will improve the parliamentary process and be good, especially for backbenchers, the opposition and Independents – me – to question the government on where it is going and its policies, especially where those policies affect the budget. It is also good the people of the Northern Territory as they will be able to hear, firsthand, from people involved in these projects and find out exactly what is happening on the ground.
Most people do not know what is happening in the bush, or what is happening in government itself. We do not know what is going on. This committee is an opportunity, for government as well, to tell people what its policies are, explain what it is doing and, at the same time, answer questions from the committee to make sure those policies are effective and are well run and not wasting money. That is what the old Council of Territory Cooperation did.
People might remember the excellent subcommittee formed in relation to the cattle deaths at Mataranka. All the recommendations were either supported or agreed to by the government of the day and, from those recommendations, we have a new Animal Welfare Act. That type of thing can be achieved. It also improves the animal husbandry processes at Mataranka Station, and have we heard of any problems since then? I have not. The university has now set up processes to make sure the way it runs Mataranka Station is to the highest standard and it is very unlikely the issues we had previously will occur again. A lot of that has to do with that committee being able to self-refer and bring forward important issues. They were important issues of the day, and out of the subcommittee came some good changes to animal welfare in the Northern Territory.
I thank the government and the opposition for supporting this. Only time will tell. It will keep some of us busy, and let us see what happens now it is part of the committee system. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Motion agreed to.
MOTION
Chaos in the Territory Government
Chaos in the Territory Government
Continued from 16 October 2013.
Mr McCARTHY (Barkly): Madam Speaker, I continue with the debate that the Assembly condemns the CLP for the deepening and ongoing chaos in the Territory government hurting families, businesses and our lifestyle. It is ironic I have six minutes left in this debate when it has been well and truly over six months since we last visited the issue. However, the chaos and dysfunction in this government has continued. It is not just the opposition questioning this state of affairs, it the Territory itself – Territory people – and it is now the hot topic of conversation in constituencies across the Territory. People are asking questions and, as a member of the opposition, I will continue to ask questions. It is my job to hold this government to account, and the government is hell-bent on shutting us down. If you look at what has been happening over 18 months, the government was built with a foundation of sand and it goes back to the August 2012 election.
This government made unfunded promises, promises it could not keep, and then went on a chaotic trail of trying to cover-up, trying to put the reality into a context that was not plausible within the constituency, and it continues that behaviour to this day. The foundations of sand the government was built on relate to the bush, to the grassroots constituency of the Northern Territory.
Today in Question Time I asked the Chief Minister about very important projects that were on the books – an August 2012 work in progress by the previous Labor government representing $125m in capital works across the Northern Territory in relation to delivering health infrastructure, transport infrastructure, youth and early childhood service delivery and trade and vocational training. Once again, the Chief Minister refused to deal with it. It was all about spin, all about recreating the CLP reality, and I am afraid the bush does not buy it and Territorians, in general, do not buy it.
It has continued, and when we talk about the Northern Territory this is the government of the Northern Territory, the leadership of our land and it has continued from a coup. It is a Chief Minister, in a most undignified fashion, being taken out by a young rival, a revolving door of ministers, unsettled departments, continual destabilising of the public sector, chaos in education and the failing alcohol policies. The whole substance of strengthening families and strengthening the grassroots of development in the Northern Territory has been lost and there does not seem to be any clean air in sight.
It is ironic I now, in reflection, debate this motion. The Chief Minister has to answer to the constituency of the Northern Territory, but also to the CLP government and his members. It is about a team and making sure the team bonds and works. I have coached many teams in my time, but the last team I actively coached was the Tennant Creek junior rugby league development project, the youngest, most inexperienced players in the Northern Territory who lined up every year and took on the biggest and the best. It hurts; it is a bone crunching sport and it hurts. What got us through was we were united. What got us through each carnival and each time we faced the David and Goliath challenges was team spirit, bonding, collegiality and, at the end of the day, a linking of arms and solidarity. That is the challenge now for this government, because unless it can deal with the internal problems, there is no way it will ever be able to govern the Northern Territory, as the member for Port Darwin reminds us continually, for the people and in the best interest of Northern Territorians.
Mr HIGGINS (Daly): Madam Speaker, in the last few weeks, and during the last sittings, I have developed an opinion of what goes on in the Labor Party. People constantly pick on Aboriginal communities saying how they are welfare dependant, there are no jobs, the people do not work and are critical of them. The conclusion I have reached is what has happened in the oppositon in the last few months is members are trying to have the welfare state, which applies in Indigenous communities, adopted in the northern suburbs of the Northern Territory.
By that I mean if someone loses their job they jump up and down and say the government is doing the wrong thing and should be paying people to retain their jobs. More recently, we have spoken about the power outage and the compensation paid in Darwin and the northern suburbs if power is out for more than 12 hours. However, in the bush you have to go for 24 or 48 hours without electricity before you receive any compensation. Who are the welfare recipients here? It seems Labor wants the entire Northern Territory to be welfare dependent.
When we talk about the cost of electricity and the price hikes, someone has to pay for it; the money has to come from somewhere. While Power and Water is running at a loss, this government has to put money from health, education and law and order in to supporting Power and Water. We try to spread the load, which is why power and water bills have been increasing.
We talk about job losses in the public sector and, on our side, the Attorney-General has shown numbers have not decreased, but the opposition constantly goes on about the number of people on contracts. Contracts are temporary employment. People in the bush are constantly on contracts. All the tenders for roads maintenance are contracts. They only last for three years and when they finish we have to get another contract. This is the real world.
Talking about our election commitments and the issues with roads – the ALP said it had secured these commitments prior to the last election. I agree with that; however, as soon as they lost government the federal Labor Party withdrew the offer or delayed the funding for five or six years. When we talk about the Port Keats Road, where we have $20m to spend in the next 12 months – I remember attending a car accident on the Port Keats Road about seven years ago when I was with the emergency services. There were 16 people in a Troopie. When we arrived one was dead, and the other 15 had broken arms or legs. Only one person could walk around, and it took 10 hours to get the dead person out of the car. On the radio the next day the current Opposition Leader said the Port Keats Road was a top priority for the then Labor government, but it did not spend one cent on that road from then on.
Labor built a bridge, terrific. The person with the hat and mo mentioned prior to the federal election said the bridge was so good that everyone west of the Daly would no longer be cut off other than about five or six days a year. This year I have been cut off for well over six weeks. Only last week I was able to get back to my house, so when we talk about election commitments that is just a load of rubbish.
The other issue was cutting resources to schools, with fewer teachers. My understanding is the student/teacher ratio is well within the current EBA. Why did teachers not whinge and complain when they negotiated the last EBA? My wife is a teacher and taught at a Catholic school for many years. Her view is they should toughen up. The number of kids in the class she had was far in excess of what teachers have now. It would be good if we had one teacher to two kids, but we cannot afford it.
I want to raise the dodgy deals. I have spoken before about the water licence issued to Tina MacFarlane. We constantly hear this water licence is worth millions of dollars, but I cannot understand how you can equate that to millions of dollars. You cannot sell it; we do not have water trading. To use that water, you must develop a stack of infrastructure which, as people know, would cost a lot of money. It does not add any value to a property having a water licence, despite how much you have.
I find some of the mistruths from people on the other side very annoying. In the last few months I have been disappointed with some of the stuff espoused by people on the other side. They need to remember how they left the economy of the Northern Territory. They say – when we are trying to fix it – what a lousy job we are doing, but the Treasurer has asked for answers. Where do we get the money? I would like to hear, ‘We had a power failure last week. Everyone in Darwin will be compensated so why not look at what is happening in the bush?’ In the city people only have to wait 12 hours before they get $80 or whatever. In the bush it is longer. That was a deal you people set up not us, and you ask what we did with it. I am asking what you did with it. Why are people in the bush treated differently to people in Darwin? I definitely will not support this motion.
Mr TOLLNER (Treasurer): Madam Speaker, it is rather interesting, with all the gusto about this motion, that no one from the opposition is speaking on it ...
Ms Lawrie: That is rubbish, I stood to speak. Do not mislead the House.
Mr TOLLNER: Did you? All right, I apologise. Do you want to speak next …
Ms Lawrie: You saw it.
Mr TOLLNER: All right. It is an interesting motion, taking about inflicting power and water price hikes and spiking the cost of living. In the previous motion I spoke about how it is affecting the Tiwi Islands. There is something to speak about there.
I thought the Opposition Leader might have taken the opportunity, during the last motion, to explain to Territorians why she has not called any of her friends in Canberra. Why has she not called some of those Labor senators and said, ‘The cost of living is being impacted by the carbon tax. It is hurting us through our power bills, our transport bills, and almost everything we consume in the Northern Territory is being impacted by the carbon tax?’
It is interesting when you see this motion introduced by the Leader of the Opposition, who was quick to decide she wanted to sum up debate and get it over and done with ...
Ms Lawrie: You said no one stood.
Mr TOLLNER: No one stood?
Ms Lawrie: Make up your mind.
Mr TOLLNER: I thought you might have had a few people behind you to speak on such a motion but, clearly, not. Clearly, the Opposition Leader is lacking support. She had the poor, tired member for Barkly speaking for five minutes, and that is that ...
Mr McCarthy: That is what I had left.
Mr TOLLNER: That is all he had left, that is right. At least you spoke and I am glad. It is good you spoke. Clearly, you support the Leader of the Opposition, but where are the others? The member for Wanguri is smiling and being very nice, but not speaking on this motion. The member for Nhulunbuy normally speaks on everything, you would think she would take the opportunity …
Ms Walker: Perhaps I am waiting to hear what you have to say.
Mr TOLLNER: Here we go. The member for Johnston is standing in the doorway like Superman. I take it he has come in to speak on the motion. The member for Casuarina is busily sitting there. I did not see him leap to his feet to support the Leader of the Opposition. We know the member for Fannie Bay is not about to leap to his feet to support the Leader of the Opposition. At the moment, it is just the member for Barkly who seems to support the Opposition Leader. Well, there you go; that is it. That is the level of support the member for Karama has – the member for Barkly …
Ms Lawrie: Do you want to call a division?
Mr TOLLNER: I thought you had a motion you want debated out; you would like to hear feedback from government members. I am sure a couple of government members may want to speak on this. I notice, even when I am speaking light-heartedly, the member for Karama cannot help but interject. What a sad and sorry side it is.
I put to the Leader of the Opposition again: why do you not show your relevance and show you mean something to the Australian Labor Party? Demonstrate that by picking up a telephone and ringing Stephen Conroy, leader of the Labor Party in the Senate – one of those jokers down there anyhow. Perhaps give Mr Conroy a call, or one of the other Labor senators and say, ‘How about you get out of the way. How about you acknowledge Mr Abbott went to an election on scrapping the carbon tax? He won and Territorians are hurting. It would be nice if you got out of the way and let the carbon tax disappear and die a peaceful death, rather than dragging things out over and over and hurting Territorians. It would be far easier to just get out of the way.’ That is not a difficult conversation for someone who is relevant in the Australian Labor Party to have with a colleague down south.
Is this just a branch office of a much greater organisation that pulls the strings of the Leader of the Opposition? That may well be the case. When Labor was last in government in the Northern Territory, I do not recall it bucking the federal Labor system once. Even when federal Labor banned live cattle exports, the Territory Labor mob was quick to dance to its tune. I remember the Chief Minister saying it was a circuit breaker we needed to have. This is simply a branch of a much larger organisation that pulls its strings. My guess is the Leader of the Opposition not only has no relevance here, but no relevance nationally ...
Ms Lawrie: How are the numbers looking?
Mr TOLLNER: Well, ask about us. A few weeks ago I saw our Chief Minister castigating Tony Abbott and the federal Liberal government for not putting Darwin front and centre in the north Australian development plan. Had it been a Territory Labor government and a federal Labor government, there is no way known Labor in the Territory would dare raise its voice to someone in Canberra. For years we saw you were nothing but puppets to the federal Labor Party. We have a homegrown, home spun Northern Territory Country Liberal Party solely for the benefit of Territorians and to serve Territorians ...
Ms Fyles: When was the last time you benefited Territorians?
Ms Lawrie: What was it Shane Stone said?
Mr TOLLNER: There you go. That is fundamentally the difference we have here. We have a bunch of puppets sitting over there who will not dare pull on Mr Shorten and his cohorts – Electricity Bill they call him these days. There is no way known they will make a phone call to Electricity Bill …
Mr GUNNER: A point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker! Even in the House of Reps the Speaker has ruled you should be referring to the Leader of the Opposition by his proper title not the pseudonym the Treasurer is currently using.
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Treasurer, could you please refer to members by their title.
Mr TOLLNER: Absolutely. I am sorry to be offensive to the comrades on the other side, but it proves a point. They are quick to jump to the defence of their federal counterparts. There is no way known they will have the federal opposition leader’s name besmirched simply because he fails to understand they lost an election campaign and the carbon tax is hurting Territorians. No way known will they buck him there! The member for Fannie Bay cannot even tolerate his name. All over the media we have seen him being referred to as such, but we cannot do it here because their federal colleagues would not look kindly on the underlings in the Northern Territory not taking objection to it. They are quick to tell us we cannot call him Electricity Bill, we have to refer to him as the federal Opposition Leader. Good stuff member for Fannie Bay, you will go a long way in the Labor Party I have no doubt. Keep toeing that line mate, keep raising objections every time somebody says something naughty about the federal Labor Party, your parent organisation, the organisation that pulls your strings, tells you what to do and say and how to act in the Northern Territory.
That is why, when Labor was in government here, it was adopting laws from Labor states all over Australia. That is what Labor governments do; they believe in socialism. They believe everybody should be drawn down to the same level; we are not unique in the Northern Territory and are just the same as all other daleks in the country. That is the way the Labor Party operates. One rule for all is the way they want it to be.
This motion is about chaos in the Territory government and talks about power and water price hikes spiking the cost of living. An amount of 5.5% of the bill in the Northern Territory is due to the carbon tax. If power prices are so important – I note you have been running around in the electorate of Blain polluting the letterboxes of the good citizens with misinformation about power price hikes. If you are really serious about reducing the cost of electricity in the Northern Territory, you could instantly, if you had heart and relevance to do it, take almost 5.5% off the power bills of the electors of Blain. No, you would rather put out misinformation. I saw the ‘Not for Sale’ stuff you had there. There is still no sign of that petition, but we are keen to see it and a few of us are looking forward to signing it, if possible ...
Ms Lawrie: We will give you one on TIO as well, shall we?
Mr TOLLNER: Give us one on the whole lot, that would be marvellous. At the end of day, it does not matter to those opposite what you put in people’s letterboxes. All that matters is people feel scared and fearful for their future. This is the way they operate on the other side; they try to scare people and make them fearful for their future. If you want to reduce the cost of living it is easily done for a relevant person, someone who believes they want to reduce the cost of living. Tell your mates in Canberra to get out of the way. It is not a big deal.
When I look at the rest of this motion, there is not much there at all. ‘Cutting resources to our schools with less teachers and support staff’, what a load of nonsense. It seems the former government was pretty happy with the results it was generating in its education system. A sea of red someone described the NAPLAN results as – it might have been the local media. This is what the former government wanted to stick to – it was quite happy setting the bar very low in the Northern Territory for education outcomes. This government is not very happy setting the bar low for educational outcomes, and I commend our Minister for Education for having the intestinal fortitude to shake the system up because it is required.
As a parent, I want to see better results for my kids; I want to make sure they are getting the best possible education. Sadly, that was not the case with the former Labor government, and 10 years of Labor probably means 10 years of lost opportunity for a bunch of kids across the Northern Territory. Labor was not interested in outcomes, it was more interested in – I do not know. Goodness knows what it was interested in, apart from spending money, which it was wonderful at. The global financial crisis proved it. The Leader of the Opposition was Treasurer at the time and it was a big green light for her to spend and rack up a bit of debt. There is nothing wrong with a bit of debt is there, member for Karama? Love a bit of debt, especially Labor debt, which you are best at.
I remember in opposition Labor constantly bragged about how much money it spent. Spending money, as far as Labor was concerned, was the outcome it was chasing. It did not matter – get the money out the door. I note there is a federal inquiry into the pink batts scheme – that fiasco. The Leader of the Opposition took her lead from the then Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, and his faithful – sort of – deputy, Wayne Swan, who was dead keen to get the money out the door.
I recently saw a documentary about the pink batts fiasco and how Peter Garrett – poor old Midnight Oil – was constantly warning about the way money was being pushed out. He warned the Prime Minster and said, ‘Perhaps we need to slow down on this pink batts stuff because there could well be some problems’, but he was told in no uncertain terms, ‘Just get the money out the door’. That is the way Labor governments operate. The outcome does not matter, what matters is getting the money out the door. They spent $10bn mailing $900 cheques all over the place. We heard about sending money to foreigners who had not lived in the country for decades, and sending money to dead people. It did not really matter; it was just about getting the money out the door.
People said it would be a great boost to China. People would buy more flat screen TVs, but where was the benefits for Australians? Since that time I have not heard many people saying, ‘Thank you, Mr Rudd, for giving me $900’.
I hear a few people very concerned about the level of debt in this country. The Minister for Infrastructure said it well today in Question Time with his pyramid story. Debt has now become the really pressing issue for governments around Australia. I note the drastic measures taken in Queensland to get the budget back in order, and the drastic measures which had to be taken into account in NSW and Victoria. Pretty well anywhere there was a Labor government had serious debt problems. I remember at the time people saying this was good policy and they all took their lead from each other, all the socialists around the world. Barack Obama threw $21 trillion at the global financial crisis. He needed a stimulus package. He was big on Keynesian economics and spending your way out of debt. It is interesting that you can spend your way out of debt. Clearly, that is the way governments operate.
Oddly enough, a fellow in New Zealand called John Key went the other way. At the time of the global financial crisis, New Zealand was ranked around 160 on the world economic performance scale. When the global financial crisis hit, John Key, former merchant banker and brand new Prime Minister of New Zealand, took a different approach to the socialists around the world, those in Europe, the US, Australia and various Australian states. John Key said, ‘We are doing three things’, and I do not have his exact words but the intent was, ‘We are not spending money because we do not have any. We are broke.’
He said instead of spending money they would lay off public servants and introduce what, for New Zealand, was the equivalent of WorkChoices, which Rudd and Gillard were rapidly dismantling in Australia. The theory was the way to get out of trouble for New Zealand was not to spend money because they did not have money to spend. They could not stimulate their economy because they were already broke. The view was if they reduced the number of public servants by streamlining the public service, made decision-making quicker, provided much more business focus and, at the same time, introduced flexibility into the workplace the New Zealand economy would naturally quicken and wealth could be more easily produced.
At that time, I recall John Key was pilloried because he was swimming against that great tide of socialist leaders around the world. He was not well liked, and people thought he was quite mad, but being a little country like New Zealand no one really cared. New Zealand was ranked way down the food chain as far as good economies were concerned. If you look at it nowadays – someone said yesterday it is ranked around eighth in the world …
Mr CHANDLER: A point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker! Pursuant to Standing Order 77, I ask for an extension of time for the member.
Mr TOLLNER: Thank you very much, Minister for Education. That is very nice of you.
As I said, it was a very low-ranked country as far as economic performance was concerned. Someone recently told me it is now ranked eighth in the world. It has one of the highest standards of living in the world, exports are up, and a lot of wealth is being shared amongst the citizens of New Zealand. It would be interesting to do a case study on countries around the world and how they reacted to the global financial crisis, and whether some countries reacted the same way John Key did in New Zealand. I am not aware of any, but I would not suggest for a second it was the only country to react in that manner. It would certainly be one of the few.
If you look at the situation around the world following the financial global crisis, pretty well every country where stimulus packages were operating now have major debt problems. If you look across Europe, their debt problems are such it will be almost impossible to crawl out. In the Northern Territory we are staring down the barrel of $5.5bn. That great edifice, the prison Mahal – as my good friend and colleague the member for Port Darwin calls it – is about the only …
Mr McCarthy: Precinct. The minister now calls it a precinct.
Mr TOLLNER: Yes, prison Mahal is a mixture of prison and Taj Mahal. It is like a major five-star prison where …
Mr McCarthy: No, David, it goes with the correct terminology.
Mr TOLLNER: Prison Mahal was a great legacy from the former Labor government. That was probably the only achievement of 11 years of Labor, a new big prison. What a shame! It is hardly unexpected when you have a government led from Canberra which mails $900 cheques to dead people and burns people’s houses down with the pink batts scheme – cash for clunkers, green loans – a myriad of money waste. You could talk for hours about the way Labor governments waste money around the country. It is sad.
After 13 years John Howard was probably looking a bit old and tired. We needed a refresh and Kevin Rudd, at the time, sold himself as Howard-‘lite’, ‘I am no different from John Howard. There is not a cigarette paper of difference between us on economic policy’, he said in that election campaign. How wrong we were to believe him! It is like Julie Gillard going into an election saying, ‘There will never be a carbon tax under a government I lead’. Goodness me! Within a couple of weeks of the election being called we found ourselves staring down the barrel of a carbon tax, something always committed to as never being supported.
We find now not only do they support it, but they refuse to acknowledge Australians overwhelming voted against it. Irrespective of the fact Australians overwhelming voted against it, and Territorians are hurting because of the cost of living pressures as we are told by the Leader of the Opposition, there is no way known they will get out of the way and let that dreadful, disgusting tax disappear – no way at all.
There is nothing in this motion. It talks about crime; we have seen what has happened with crime. We have seen probably the biggest cuts to crime in the history of the Northern Territory. I heard the Chief Minister in Question Time both yesterday and today talk about the way crime had plummeted in Central Australia and across Darwin, Palmerston and other areas of the Northern Territory. It makes a joke of this motion when you say crime is out of control, but I understand this is from October last year and some months have passed.
You try to create your own reality. The opposition is operating in some parallel universe where everything is dreadful; the whole place is going to hell in a hand basket because they are no longer in government. I know it is difficult to lose government, but until you get over that there is no chance of winning government. You have to get over losing and understand you are not in government before you have the capacity to rebuild, reform and present something credible to the electorate. This nonsense of telling mistruths will not stack up. You might get away with it once or twice, but in the end you sound like the boy who cried wolf – when the wolf turns up no one believes you because they are used to you making things up. When something happens people are not listening to you. I fear that has happened with the opposition in recent months.
There is also the nonsense about the Power and Water Corporation and how it will be privatised, how disconnections are sevenfold what they were under the Labor government and how the network price determination will cost Territorians another $1.2bn. The classic one yesterday was $150m for the structural separation of the Power and Water Corporation. My goodness, where do these numbers come from? Is it just a number the Opposition Leader plucks out of the air, or does she have some spin doctor saying, ‘It will really hurt if we come up with this number. It has to be big, large and sound really scary because Territorians are now used to hearing big numbers because of all the debt we racked up. We have to throw a big number out to really scare Territorians.’
So, $150m to separate the Power and Water Corporation – what a load of nonsense! The reforms we are making to the Power and Water Corporation will more than pay for themselves. If they did not we would not be making them. We are making the organisation more efficient, more transparent and more accountable. That is what the reforms are about and, at the same time, allowing competition in to drive down prices. Ultimately, that is what everybody should want. There is a number of additional benefits from joining the national energy market, adopting their rules, joining with the AER and having it as our regulator – major benefits.
If the Territory has a desire to involve itself in gas trading, in building or connecting to the national gas grid, we have to adopt AER guidelines, we have no choice. We have to join the 21st century. We cannot operate as an island economy. The Chief Minister, with his vision, is plotting a course for the Northern Territory to join the world economy and build wealth and prosperity for Territorians and, ultimately, that is what they want.
It has been my great pleasure to pull this motion to bits. I am dead keen to hear from the Leader of the Opposition on what she intends to do about the carbon tax. Will she make a phone call? Perhaps that is what she is doing right now, texting her mates in Canberra and telling them to get out of the way. We can only hope.
We will not be supporting this nonsense, but I thank the Leader of the Opposition for bringing it on.
Mr STYLES (Infrastructure): Mr Deputy Speaker, I concur with my colleagues on this side of the House. A lot of things coming from those opposite appear to be extremely exaggerated. They seem to believe if they say something often enough people will believe it …
Members interjecting.
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Can we all read Standing Order 51 again, please.
Mr STYLES: It appears the opposition does not want to hear things. The interesting thing is they talk about chaos in government. The motion reads: ‘Chaos in the Territory Government’ …
Members interjecting.
Mr STYLES: They are a sad lot! They allowed the Territory to go into massive debt. The Leader of the Opposition, who was the Treasurer and Deputy Chief Minister, is laughing about the amount of debt they left my kids. I do not know what you want to leave your children, but I do not want to leave my children with the massive debt you did. My role is part of a really great government showing some fantastic results. Look at what has been said here today. Crime rates are down, investment is occurring and we are kicking goals all over the place. I am sure …
Members interjecting.
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: I will not say it again, cease interjecting.
Mr STYLES: They laugh. I hope people are watching or listening to this on the Internet, because I will show them what the previous government left us. I used it earlier today, but if people at home were not watching on the Internet, I ask them to take note of the debt the federal Australian Labor Party’s policies left this country in. When they were in government before – Hawke and Keating – it was $96bn. Howard and Costello reduced that. Please note, people watching on the Internet, the blue line runs below because we had money in the bank. When Labor came in they spent all the money in the bank so they needed to borrow some. It goes up again and then, at the end here …
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker! Standing Order 67. It is irrelevant to the debate. I draw the member’s attention to this. He must be confused which debate we are in, because it has nothing to do with points contained in this motion.
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: I do not see that as a point of order. He is talking about debt.
Ms Lawrie: Debt is not mentioned in the motion.
Mr STYLES: I do not know what they are afraid of. If they think it is a joke, why would they worry about it? However, people watch this and I hope they look at the clear picture of where debt levels are.
Let us come back to the Northern Territory. We are talking about debt and inflicting prices and all types of things. The non-financial public sector nett debt – for those watching and listening – we go happily along and the CLP is in government. Then the ALP comes in and we get the cash cow from Canberra and the GST rolls in, which was really good, we dropped a bit. Then the now Opposition Leader, then Treasurer, takes over and look what happens to the debt? This is when the former ALP Treasurer, the member for Karama, was in and the debt goes sky high. This is where it is going now, because of the commitments the people opposite made.
I do not want my kids to be left with that debt, or be in a situation of unmanageable debt or end up heading down the track of countries like Greece, Portugal, Ireland and Spain. They are in terrible trouble due to the financial mismanagement of government. When you see this happening, it is a disgrace. We must fix the problem. We are looking at how we might operate more efficiently and effectively. They are two important words in economics: you must have an ‘efficient’ and ‘effective’ operating system. The previous government did not run an efficient and effective operating financial system.
Some of the points in the motion refer to power and water price hikes and spiking the cost of living. I ask people watching this: who introduced the carbon tax? Who increased the cost of power? The Treasurer suggested the Opposition Leader should phone her friends in Canberra and have them support Mr Abbott, the Prime Minister of Australia, and his efforts to take away the carbon tax and give everyone a break.
This morning I heard there is debate on the mining tax. The ALP was planning to do many things in relation to the mining tax but, sadly, it has not realised any money. It is also impinging on the country’s ability to get things happening.
I spoke earlier about creating economic activity. There are a number of ways governments can get out of trouble. You can increase taxes, and sometimes that is inevitable with CPI rises, and when the cost of doing business in government rises we have to increase prices. The second way is to decrease services.
We do not want to do that. On this side we look for opportunities to be more efficient and effective at what we do. By thinking smarter, we come up with ideas of how to provide the same level of service while reducing cost, and these are things responsible governments do. For those listening – I hope some young people are listening – it is about responsible government. You cannot come into government, get the chequebook out and throw money around like it is fairy dust hoping everything will be fixed.
The other thing mentioned in this House today was government is subsidising the Power and Water Corporation to the tune of about $150m a year. That is made up of a number of things. We are not putting power up by more than the national average. I understand we are still not quite at the national average.
The next thing is the ongoing turmoil in the Northern Territory public service. In my departments there is no turmoil. I have a fantastic bunch of public servants, from the CEO down to those who have just joined the organisation, who are working really hard. They are doing some great things, and I will talk about some to demonstrate government is functioning. There is no drama, we are kicking good goals and making a great contribution to the economic development of the Northern Territory.
For instance, there is the regional infrastructure study to drive the Northern Territory economy. Work has already started on that Territory-wide study to prioritise infrastructure and investment to drive the economy. As has been said by many in this House, you need to have economic development to increase jobs, increase taxation, and increase the economic cycle that goes around and benefits the Northern Territory. I also mentioned William Bernstein’s book and it is appropriate to mention it again. The book is about how the wealth of the world was created. It is called The Birth of Plenty: How the Prosperity of the Modern World was Created.
I do not know if those opposite have read that book. I do not know if any of them have studied economics, but Economics 101 will tell you, if you follow William Bernstein’s book – he has studied every economy in the world going back hundreds of years. He says there are four things you must have to sustain economic growth. Massive debt and massive interest payments are not in there. The first is you have to have access to property rights. We, on this side, are trying to break records in getting land released so people can buy property. I commend the Minister for Lands, Planning and the Environment for escalating what was a very tedious process of land release under the former government.
I remember reading figures from the opposition of Treasury’s estimate of the number of blocks needed – around 2000 a year. That was given to Labor some time before it lost government. If I remember the figures – I am happy to be corrected by the opposition on this – in the last three years of the previous government, we went from about 1100 blocks of land per year down to about 900, down to about 562.
We saw the slowdown of land release. We saw competition with a growing population – young people coming to the Territory, young people who were born here, grew up here, married and wanted to buy a house. When they went to buy a house every block of land was swamped with purchasers because insufficient land was released. We auctioned blocks of land, which was really sad. Young people told me they could not afford to buy a block of land because of the auction system. People would say, ‘I will give you this much for that land’, then someone else would say, ‘I will give you that much’. It kept going until somebody ran out of money. The last person standing got the block of land. That went on and, when all the blocks of land were sold, people had to go to the rental market.
There were more people than rental properties. What happened? There was another auction. It was pretty sad the previous government was going backwards with land release and creating a major problem for young people.
When we came to government we looked at a range of things. We are looking at different options for town planning, densification, land release and affordable homes being rolled out with head leases by the Department of Housing to help young people get into a home. We are doing things, making things happen, and speeding things up.
I go back to regional infrastructure. That study will support economic development through regional areas of the Northern Territory. I am talking about houses and land around Darwin, but we have Alice Spring, Tennant Creek, Katherine, Nhulunbuy, and all the small towns and communities. We need to generate infrastructure in all those places. Sadly, we have a borrowing issue where we have to be careful. We do not want to be downgraded by the rating agencies so it is important we do it responsibility.
On this side of the House it is important we think outside the square. This graph shows the previous government said, ‘We will borrow some more money and throw money at it’. Sadly, the then ALP government failed to realise money is an input not an outcome. They still believe money is an outcome – how much money you spend. However, when you do not have the money you have to be careful what you do. We are planning what we do. We have already rolled out many things. We are still planning to make sure we responsibility move the Territory into a position where economic development will flourish, not just in Darwin with INPEX, but across the Territory.
This afternoon in the House we heard the Minster for Parks and Wildlife talk about opening up our parks and getting private enterprise involved in running these parks. We heard about private enterprise building infrastructure in them, and working with local people to solve local issues and create a local economy. We have some of the most unique landscapes in the world in communities in outback Australia. We have opportunities to create economic growth for people who live in those communities and who, fortunately, get to see it every day. They live there, they breathe it and they know the country backwards. There must thousands of people in the world who would like the opportunity to get out of the middle of Europe, out of overcrowded Asian cities, America, and come to the Territory, but we have to create the infrastructure for that. If the government was in chaos and could not organise a chook raffle, none of this would be happening.
It is absurd the opposition says the government is in chaos. I know this motion was brought on in October last year, but since then the opposition should have realised we are doing a fine job and, perhaps, withdrawn this. No, they probably want to get some cheap political points from saying the government is in chaos. It is sad, but true.
In my department we are undertaking a study to identify transport infrastructure needs. It will give us an idea of roads, bridges, ports, rail and aerodromes – all this is happening. All this had been left for 11 years ...
Mr Vowles interjecting.
Mr STYLES: I hear people interjecting but cannot understand what it is about. I am sure it is something absurd. They are saying, ‘This is terrible’. My mother told me about people in glasshouses. You should not be throwing rocks at yourself, because you left us with not only poor infrastructure, but a massive debt. What do we get for that debt? Not a great deal.
We are looking at the utility infrastructure needs in relation to power and water in regional Australia, the water requirements, wastewater, telecommunications – there is a range of issues this infrastructure study will look at. It is a joint study funded by the Australian and Northern Territory governments, and will highlight key things we need to do and guide the government in determining what we need to do. We will look at where we can stimulate economic development where there are overwhelming social needs and issues like that.
I talk about the public service. In the Department of Infrastructure, the Department of Transport and in the youth area – let me tell you some of the great things happening in youth.
I was recently at the launch of the Chief Minister’s Youth Round Table. What a fantastic bunch of Territorians! They are young, intelligent, keen, enthused; they are terrific people. The Territory is full of terrific young people, but if you continue to pound young people with debt and a sadness that overcomes them – if you are listening, you all owe, federally and locally, about $40 000 each. That is not a very good start. I remember looking at figures some years ago where, interstate, people had debts of $400 per head or $1000, but not in the Territory. We have this great big millstone around our neck dragging along behind us slowing people down …
Mr WESTRA van HOLTHE: A point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker! Pursuant to Standing Order 77, I seek an extension of time for the member for Sanderson.
Motion agreed to.
Mr STYLES: Thank you. The Chief Minister’s Youth Round Table – it is refreshing to see because when you talk to them about positive things they do not interject; they want to hear about the good things happening. They throw questions at you about things they would like to see happening, some things they would like to happen sooner, but generally they are a great bunch of people.
It is very diverse. We have people from outback and remote Australia, regional areas and Alice Springs, Darwin and Katherine. It is a fantastic thing to see. They meet four times a year and advise the Chief Minister and me, as Minister for Young Territorians, of things that concern them. It is well-known we only have this country on loan and, at some stage, all of us in this House will hand it on to the next generation.
I would like to do what my mother and father always taught me, ‘Whatever you do in life son, try to leave the place in better condition than you found it’. I look at these graphs and think they did not listen to their mum or dad or pay attention to that lesson in life, because they have left the place in worse condition than they found it.
That is probably why people who looked at the rising debt – people in households know you cannot keep spending money. I do not know where you get the idea you can spend your way out of debt. My mother would probably want to take that up with all of you. She would certainly take it up with me if I said to her, ‘Mum, it’s really easy, I can spend my way out of debt.’ I reckon there would be a ghastly silence before my mother said, ‘Sit down, son. I need to explain some basic facts of life.’
I do not think that occurred with too many on the other side. If it did, they are ignoring some good advice that not only their parents, but anyone who had anything to do with teaching them about economics would have given them.
I congratulate those young people and the staff of the Department of the Chief Minister for what they do. They are encouraging young people to get involved in range of decisions that we can implement, not as a government in chaos, but as a well-functioning government that is getting on with the job of creating jobs and economic growth in the Territory to not only benefit those in urban areas, but also those in remote and rural Australia. Some of the things they spoke to me about were drugs and alcohol, sporting facilities and issues like that.
I move to seniors. What are we doing with seniors? It is not as chaotic as the opposition would like everyone to think. The picture they are trying to paint is everything is terrible, the sky is about to fall in and everything was great until they lost government. That is not the case. This government and Cabinet are functioning well. We are putting a new budget together, and will have a responsible budget out in May.
Let us talk about what is happening in the seniors area that is so chaotic. We have formed a ministerial advisory council for seniors, also for multicultural affairs but I will get to that shortly. We consult, we listen to people and now this ministerial council will have representatives from the major seniors groups. There will be another six positions for people from various groups in the community representing a wide variety of people. They will meet regularly and discuss issues that are important to them. They will advise the government on what seniors are annoyed about, what they want and their needs.
We will also ask the seniors ministerial advisory council to look at various issues from a government perspective and say, ‘Would you mind looking at this so we can get some good feedback about issues which concern seniors’. In the Northern Territory we have the Pensioner and Carer Concession Scheme, which goes a long way to giving pensioners a helping hand and asking them to stay in the Territory longer than they might.
Let us move to multicultural affairs. Is multicultural affairs in chaos? No, it is not. We have just had the round of grants applications go out. We live in a fantastic place with our multicultural community. Obviously everyone would like lots of things now, but most people realise we have been left with a staggering debt and are pretty good about it. When you talk to people and discuss their immediate, mid- and long-term needs, they are good people. They do not like the fact we are debt, and I said earlier today I would love to run out with a chequebook and give cheques to everyone but, when you throw cheques around someone has to pay the money back. This socialist attitude of just throwing money around – I think Margaret Thatcher said socialism is great until you run out of other people’s money to spend.
That is what happened. The former ALP government ran out of other people’s money to spend and reached the point where it became so staggering people could not ignore where it had been going.
I go back to ministerial advisory councils. We are having a great time talking to these people because they are really good people. They understand they cannot have everything each day, and we must share the money around. There is a certain pot of money – and I am sure the previous government did that – but I will not go into some of the things I heard about the previous government throwing money around like there was no tomorrow.
Multicultural Affairs is going quite well, and I commend the Office of Multicultural Affairs, the Office of Senior Territorians and the Office of Youth Affairs in the Department of the Chief Minister. We are lucky to have some great people working very hard to make sure everything is running smoothly. That does not fit into point two, ‘Ongoing turmoil in the NT Public Service …’.
I do not see that happening. I have meetings with these people on a regular basis and they are cordial and fun. People in these departments see we are looking to create things, to generate things and looking for people who think outside the square. Public servants now have the freedom to think about how they might create the things we need to help young people, help senior members and help our multicultural people without necessarily just throwing money at them. There are lots of good things coming out of the public service at the moment, but it is important to give people the freedom to make decisions about things they want to put up.
It does not matter how ridiculous people might think it is. I am asking people in the public service, if they have some thoughts, to give them to us. They love it because they can put their creativity to work. This is unlike what I am led to believe previously happened. You had to be a bit careful what you put up because you would be growled at. I could go into some stories, but will not because I would probably have to identify some of the public servants. They were disappointed they had to be a little careful. Now they cannot believe the freedom they have to tell me what they think. They do not have to agree with me, and are encouraged not to agree.
That is the ‘no fear or favour’ thing we are doing well. I, and my colleagues, do not see, ‘Ongoing turmoil in the NT Public Service’. Do you see any? I do not see any either, Mr Deputy Speaker. They are some of the things the Department of the Chief Minister is doing, as well as those fabulous public servants.
I move to point three, ‘Broken election promises across the Territory – from the city to the bush, including rising violent crime’.
We heard the figures today. They do not want to believe the police force or the people who put these things together because there are some fantastic results against rising crime. We have seen figures plummet to the lowest level since they started keeping statistics. They will say that is terrible and untrue, but it is.
I am at dot point three of six, and would love to speak longer but, sadly, time prevents me. I can assure those opposite that we, as a group and me personally, will not be supporting this motion. Thank you.
Mr GUNNER (Fannie Bay): Mr Deputy Speaker, I support the motion that this Assembly condemns the CLP for the deepening and ongoing chaos in the Territory government, hurting families, businesses and our lifestyle. We saw a demonstration of that chaos this evening when the CLP voted in favour of the Chief Minister disciplining the member for Greatorex for the disrespectful and abusive language he used towards the member for Namatjira.
The Chief Minister voted in favour of disciplining the member for Greatorex. The member for Greatorex voted in favour of being disciplined. We would like to know what form of discipline the Chief Minister has given the member for Greatorex. We are assuming, now the motion has agreed to by the CLP, we will hear more about the details of the discipline taken by the CLP.
The motion went on to talk about power and water price hikes, and we have spoken about this in the Chamber quite a bit. The power and water price hikes are hurting Territory families significantly. We have the Blain by-election in a few weeks, and I have doorknocked most of the houses in Rosebery as part of that by-election. At door after door people in Rosebery talk about the impact on them of the significant increase in power and water prices. After making a promise to Territorians to cut the cost of living, the government significantly increased power and water prices.
People I spoke to in Rosebery made it very clear – and they are repeating what people all around the Territory are saying – they are upset the election promise was broken. They are upset power and water prices were increased significantly, are having incredible difficulty managing their household bills and coping with the cost of living, and being able to pay the bills all Territorians have. Whether it is rent or a mortgage, that extra strain on the household budgets from the CLP decision to significantly increase the cost of power and water in the Northern Territory is hurting them badly.
We on this side condemn that decision by the CLP. We condemn the fact they decided to break their election promise and are hurting Territory families by their decision to raise the cost of power and water. It is a significant impost on Territory households.
We have seen turmoil in the NT public service with five ministerial reshuffles and two Chief Ministers in 12 months. Since this motion was introduced, we have seen even more changes. There is significant chaos on the other side. We have seen the member for Blain leave this Chamber. We saw a Chief Minister properly elected by the people of the Northern Territory people – we accepted that on our side, we lost government. We saw someone take the CLP to government, yet, within a shatteringly short time, he was knifed in the back and replaced. Yet we are meant to believe, from members opposite speaking tonight, there is no chaos on the other side.
We have seen a Chief Minister replaced and, in fact, leave this Chamber. The member for Blain’s seat is empty because the CLP rolled him. They rolled the person who led them to an election victory. We now have an empty seat in this Chamber. Yet, the CLP members tried to tell us there is no chaos on the other side. We see the result of chaos in the CLP. We have an empty seat in this Chamber this sittings because the member for Blain, the former Chief Minister, is moving on because he was rolled by his own side. We have significant chaos amongst the CLP. We have had two Chief Ministers in one term of government. We may even have more. The Wanguri by-election preceded the rolling of the member for Blain. For all we know, the Blain by-election may precede the rolling of the member for Braitling.
We have seen significant chaos amongst the CLP. We saw, again tonight, the CLP voting for one of its own members to be disciplined – more chaos amongst the CLP. The CLP has broken a number of election promises. The most significant is, for many Territorians, the broken promise to cut the cost of living and, in fact, significantly raise the cost of living in the Northern Territory and double the cost of living pressure on Northern Territorians. CPI has doubled in the NT.
Another broken promise is to cut crime by 10% a year, every year. We have domestic violence related up by 22%, alcohol-related assault up by 14%, assault up by 12% and crime against the person is up 10%. We acknowledge the Chief Minister when he talks about property crime. At the moment in the Northern Territory graffiti might be down, but your chances of being bashed are up. Most people would say their biggest fear when it comes to crime is personal violence. In the Northern Territory violence against the person is up, mainly because of failed alcohol policies – mainly because the supply of alcohol to problem drunks has increased. The Chief Minister has run this spurious argument around wholesale alcohol purchases which covers every Territorian or visitor to the Territory. The alcohol debate is about supply to problem drunks, and that is what we have always spoken about in this Chamber.
We need some societal or community pressure around how we view and consume alcohol, but, by and large, what contributes to our crime stats and our problems in the Northern Territory centres on supply of alcohol to problem drunks. We have seen – it is in the crime stats – a significant increase in personal assault, with domestic violence up 22%. That is a consequence of the CLP’s failure to deal properly with alcohol, specifically supply of alcohol. The CLP is finally starting to realise it has made mistakes in that area.
We have seen the members for Daly and Araluen talk about the Banned Drinker Register and the fact it may be good to reinstate it. In Tennant Creek, we have seen a return to the ID scanning system. The Banned Drinker Register was an ID scanning system which helped control the supply of alcohol. In Tennant Creek we have seen the return to a very limited version of the Banned Drinker Register. We see ID scanning systems in operation in Tennant Creek. What concerns us, and one reason the Banned Drinker Register was Territory-wide, is people are mobile. If you do something like this in Tennant Creek – a local area management plan which I hope works well for Tennant Creek because Tennant Creek has issues at the moment – you will see the problems move. You need a Territory-wide approach to the supply of alcohol.
We have always said the CLP does not need to embrace the Banned Drinker Register. It could have its own version of control and supply. However, it needs to work out what that is. It has made very clear its political opinion of the Banned Drinker Register, so what is your policy decision around supply and controlling supply? Your decision to vacate that space and have a policy failure is directly contributing to the fact violence and assaults in the Territory are up. We are seeing a 22% increase in domestic violence, a 10% increase in crime against the person, a 12% increase in assault and a 14.5% increase in alcohol-related assault. It is not good at the moment.
We call on CLP members to get over themselves and heal their rifts. We need good government for the Northern Territory, but at the moment the CLP is driven by chaos. I support the motion.
Mr WESTRA van HOLTHE (Primary Industry and Fisheries): Madam Speaker, I do not support the ridiculous motion the opposition has brought into this Chamber, and I am disappointed they have taken this tack.
I had an occasion to look up the word chaos on www.dictionary.com – I will wait for that to come back on my iPad. Under www.dictionary.com it says, ‘a state of utter confusion or disorder, a total lack of organisation or order, any confused or disorderly mass’. That describes the state of this government when we took over in August 2012. It was a complete and utter shambles and we were left with enormous legacies to deal with. On that very significant night in the Northern Territory’s history of 25 August 2012, I do not think anyone on this side of the Chamber fully realised the state the Northern Territory was in, or what was being handed to us to fix. What we have to do now is get on and fix the utter and abject mess left by the former Labor government.
As I read through the terms of this motion, I see the first paragraph talks about deepening and ongoing chaos in the Territory government, hurting families, businesses and our lifestyle. It then lists a bunch of other things. I will look at some of those issues around business and lifestyle and run a few comparisons for the benefit of those listening to see what it was like when Labor was in power and what we have had to fix since coming to power in the Northern Territory, and the ongoing work.
Since August 2012, the Country Liberal government has had its head down and its backside up, furiously working to steer the Northern Territory back in the right direction, back to an even footing.
It has been spoken about many times in this House: we inherited a projected debt of $5.5bn. There was no plan from the former Labor government to start reducing the debt or paying it back. I do not believe there were any forward projections to indicate surplus budgets, which meant the debt would continue to rise. As the member for Sanderson quite adequately pointed out, you cannot keep spending money and expect to miraculously get out of debt. That said, I do not have a problem with debt per se as long as the money being borrowed is used to build and create wealth and infrastructure.
I do not know how much money the Labor government spent in its 11 years of office in total; you have to go back through the books. However, I wonder what positive legacy it might have left behind. What came out of it? What big infrastructure was built? Rosebery schools were one big piece of infrastructure. Beyond that, I do not know if there is anything about which the former Labor government could proudly say, ‘We did this!’ We were immediately left behind the eight ball trying to not only unravel the mess left behind, but also to fund many legacy items as well. We started with the mini-budget process to identify saving initiatives and fund our election commitments.
This motion talks about commitments not met, but most have been. When you look at my portfolio areas, I can almost say every single election promise made with respect to areas I am responsible for has either been completed and delivered or is well on the way.
Having gone through that process and the mini-budget and the budget since, we set about our agenda to stimulate economic development across the whole Northern Territory.
The achievements within my portfolios in the last 19 months have been significant, coming off the back of what a huge legacy Labor left behind. One of the big legacies Labor left behind – if this does not come under the definition of chaos I will eat my hat – was the chaos surrounding the live cattle ban in 2011. I know the Territory Labor government was not the architect of that ban, but the Labor government was alongside then Prime Minister Julia Gillard and her henchman, the former Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, agreeing with the need to suspend the live cattle trade into Indonesia. Tell me that did not hurt Territory families! In fact, it is still hurting Territory families.
I said in the House, and in the media a number of times, we would pay the price for that chaotic act for many years to come. I can assure you that, notwithstanding the rebound in that trade over the past 18 months or so, people in the cattle sector are still doing it tough. Guess what? Most are family run businesses. The people employed by the large companies are part of families and that still hurts. What did we have to do? We had to put our head down and our backside up and fix that mess.
I took three trips to Indonesia in the first 12 months of being in office to rebuild those relations, and to let the Indonesians know they could once again trust the Northern Territory government. They could not trust the Labor government after the announcement of the live cattle suspension. Since that time we have moved on. The trade has now resumed and is back at dizzying heights. It is wonderful to see so many cattle leaving the Port of Darwin heading to Indonesia, but did we stop there? No, we did not; we continued that work.
We now have a burgeoning trade in live cattle with Vietnam. Some early work was done by the former government in opening the door to Vietnam, but they sat on their hands and did little with it. Once this government came into power we started to see real numbers of cattle being shipped out. Seventy-seven thousand head or thereabouts went through the Port of Darwin last year.
The question to ask is: did we stop there? No, we are trying to help Territory families. This government is committed to helping Territory families so we looked at another part of the sector needing help, the buffalo industry. We now have a brand spanking new buffalo trade with Vietnam.
This has never been done before and is a testament to the commitment of this government, the hard work of the Department of Primary Industry and Fisheries and everyone who worked alongside in the industry to find a new way to grow the economy through buffaloes. It is not that hard, it just takes a bit of effort. That does not sound chaotic to me, it sounds well-planned.
Let us get the live cattle trade back to Vietnam; that is plan one. Plan two is looking for other markets, and plan three is about diversifying and seeing what other commodities we can send to our Southeast Asian neighbours. We have put together and funded a new initiative for a live export market development unit in the department of Primary Industry. New funding went into that. Does that sound like chaos to you? No, it is just part of plan to grow the economy of the Northern Territory in the primary industry sector.
I spoke about the legacy we inherited from the former government. The motion mentions public servants. Let me assure you when we came to government morale in the public service was at an all-time low, particularly in the departments for which I have responsibility.
From about 2004 to 2011-12, general public service numbers grew by 18%. In the former Department of Resources, which comprised Mines and Energy and Primary Industry and Fisheries, public sector numbers dropped 14%. General public sector rose by 18%, but the Department of Resources dropped by 14%. That hurt Territory families because those departments were no longer sufficiently resourced to continue to grow two of the three key economic drivers of the Northern Territory. Our capacity was depleted by the former government.
That caused chaos because we inherited an enormous backlog of work, exacerbated by the philosophy of the former government around red and green tape and its penchant for wanting to tie things up in layer upon layer of approvals and red and green tape. We are moving to fix that and it is part of the plan. There is no chaos, it is part of the plan. Multi-year mine management plans are an example, so operating companies no longer have to submit a full mine management plan every 12 months but can submit a supplement. That streamlines the process and removes some red tape. That does not sound incredibly chaotic to me. We continue trying to build the economy around those important facets of Primary Industries and Mines and Energy.
The Ord has been spoken about for the last 40 or 50 years. Western Australia has done a stellar job in bringing its side of the Ord development online. The Labor government in the Northern Territory took over in 2011, and did precious little to get anything happening in the Ord. In fact, you could say nothing. There is nothing on the ground, and there were no moves to develop the Northern Territory side of the Ord. In fact, probably more work was done prior to 2001 when the old CLP government was in power and commenced the process and started looking at it.
In the 19 months of a new Country Liberals government, we did more with the Ord than the former Labor government did in 11 years. We established an Ord Development Unit – a new unit with new funding to – guess what? – try to grow that primary industry sector to build the economy. It is all part of a plan. That does not sound too chaotic.
We signed an MOU with the federal government and the Western Australian government to progress the Ord. Even though the members opposite would have people of the Northern Territory believe it has stalled and nothing is happening, that is not the case. An enormous amount of work is being done in the background to prepare for native title negotiations and other things. Those necessary first and early steps need to be taken before we can change tenure and start development on that 14 000 ha, or thereabouts, of land. That does not sound too chaotic, it sounds like part of a plan.
I move to the Tiwis. What did the former Labor government do to help the Tiwi people? Precious little, I imagine. In the last few months we have started a concerted push to get economic development happening for the Tiwi Islands. An area of 10 000 ha has been identified for agricultural purposes. Other tracts of land are identified for tourism and other uses on the Tiwi Islands. That does not sound too chaotic to me, that sounds like part of a plan to build the economy of the Northern Territory.
That is what you can bring all this back to. While Labor was bumbling from one social agenda to the next, the Country Liberals government has put aside that social agenda to a large degree because we realise the future of the Northern Territory relies on building the economy. While we might be criticised by members opposite for doing things like putting up power and water prices, that was necessary in order to balance the books of Power and Water and help with the Territory’s bottom line. This was all with a bigger plan in mind: that development of the Northern Territory, though significant economic growth under the Country Liberals government, would ease that pain over the long term. There is nothing chaotic about that. What you would probably find chaotic was the random way the former government dealt with issues around power and water pricing.
They realised, and the former Treasurer knew, power and water prices needed to increase, they had to, yet for political expediency and lack of political courage they failed to meet their obligations to allow power and water prices to track to such a degree that Power and Water would become a more sustainable entity, and to also ease the bumps along the way for consumers who would have to pay.
In hindsight, it would be easy to say it is better to put prices up incrementally every year instead of having to incur larger power rises all in one hit. However, that, again, was a legacy left to us by the former Labor government.
I want to touch on Berrimah Farm too while we are talking about the chaos that was a hallmark of the former government. We have looked at Berrimah Farm and how it might best be used into the future. I identified some of the land at Berrimah Farm could be better utilised and we set about formulating a plan – no chaos there ...
Mrs LAMBLEY: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Pursuant to Standing Order 77, I request an extension of time for the member.
Motion agreed to.
Mr WESTRA van HOLTHE: Thank you, Madam Speaker and member for Araluen.
We looked at Berrimah Farm and realised the importance of the research and extension work done out of our research farms across the Northern Territory, particularly recognising the importance of Berrimah Farm. We looked at how best to use that land. It came to my attention that the former Labor government’s plan for Berrimah Farm was to leave it as a thumbnail on the landscape of Berrimah. The plan was to so chop it up it would have severely impacted on the capacity and capability of Berrimah Farm to do the work it was intended to. I found that quite disgraceful but fitting the philosophy of the former Labor government – not interested in the primary sector or not understanding it. We recognise the importance of it, which is why any changes to Berrimah Farm will be sensible and allow for the best use of the land and also the capacity of Berrimah Farm to continue as it is currently.
Let us talk about Mines and Energy and the chaos we inherited. I mentioned before the former Department of Resources’ public service numbers were depleted by 14% from about 2004-11. The former government, in its chaotic fashion, ceased or reduced funding to important geoscience programs within the department. Bringing Forward Discovery was the pre-competitive geoscience program fully funded initially by the former Labor government, but they let funding slip away. The money allocated for Bringing Forward Discovery had to be diverted into general operations of the Department of Mines and Energy – Department of Resources as it was at the time – because there was no plan by the former government to grow the mining sector in the Northern Territory.
They did not have a clue. They were so disorganised they could not grasp the fact you need a public service supporting the economic area of the Northern Territory, which is where we ended up with the Department of Mines and Energy. In a plan – yes, we have a plan; it is not chaotic on this side of the House – we funded a brand new program called CORE – Creating Opportunities for Resource Exploration. This was a fully-funded model – after we picked up the legacy-funded item from the former government – and we have pumped new money into the program to bring on exploration to create the new generation of mines required in the Northern Territory to continue the growth of that sector, increase royalties, provide jobs for Territorians and grow our economy. It is all part of a plan.
Let us talk about the mining levy. That was all part of a plan too because mining in the Northern Territory needs to be ecologically sustainable. We know mining itself is not sustainable because when you mine something you take it away, which is not sustainable. You can do it in a way which allows for ecological sustainability; balancing the environment with mining. Yes, in the former government’s reign they introduced a system of bonding mining activities to hold money in lieu of environmental damage, which was a fine idea. However, they did not have the political courage, will, or the political intelligence to consider how they might deal with legacy mining issues in the Northern Territory.
It is estimated the legacy mines of the Territory will cost around $1bn to $1.5bn to remediate. The question I had when we were talking about this policy was, ‘Who should fund this? Should the taxpayer fund this or the mining companies?’ The taxpayer did not cause the problem we have with legacy mines so it came down to the mining companies, which is why the mining levy – 1% of the value of the bond – was introduced. That money will be used to deal with remediation of legacy mining issues across the Northern Territory because we want mining to be ecologically sustainable. The way to do this is to get some acceptance from the community. You can mine without serious harm to the environment and, in order to do so, industry and government needs to work together to prove to the economy you can do it. Where there are mistakes, there are mechanisms to fix them; it is part of the plan.
I do not want to be in parliament, in years to come, answering questions about legacy mine sites because we failed to act. We have acted; it is part of a plan and could not be considered chaotic in any sense of the word.
I spoke about the pastoral industry earlier in the context of the live cattle trade. While formulating plans on this side of the House we wanted to look at how we could make better use of our pastoral land in the Northern Territory, recognising our pastoral estate is about 48% of the Territory’s land area. That is why we made amendments to the Pastoral Land Act, so non pastoral use could be commercialised on pastoral land across the Northern Territory, with a permit issued by the Pastoral Land Board.
That is not chaos; that is part of a plan to make the pastoral sector of the Northern Territory more sustainable through diversification. It makes perfect sense to me, but I do not think those on the other side of the House get it. That is why I am really disappointed with the content of this motion. It fails to recognise all the planning this government has done over the past 19 months, and the actions we have brought to bear to institute the plans we have. All the opposition has sought to do is cheapen the parliamentary process by bringing on a motion that is thin at best.
I have much more I could talk about. I could talk about fishing and the fact the former minister for Fisheries knew years ago we had some sustainability problems with our reef fish. Rather than make a decision – the former minister did not have the courage to deal with the tough issues in the fisheries sector – he ignored them. That seems pretty chaotic to me. I, on the other hand, as minister for Fisheries, grab these tough issues which take a bit of courage and deal with them. When I tell people perhaps we must have areas of sea closed to fishing – they are tough decisions to make but part of a plan to make sure we have sustainable fisheries for the future. If we do not plan now we will have problems later.
I do not get where the opposition comes from when it talks about chaos in government. For the past 19 months we have had our heads down and tails up. We have been working diligently to fix the mess we inherited in August 2012, and drive a new agenda that will see a very bright economic future for the Northern Territory.
Not only do I not support this motion, I condemn the opposition for daring to bring it on.
Mr CHANDLER (Education): I too, like my colleagues on this side of the House, do not support this motion. That is not to say we never support motions on GBD; the member for Nelson was given support earlier tonight ...
Mr McCarthy: And the member for Johnston.
Mr CHANDLER: And the member for Johnston, that is true. That is two in one night. I stand corrected, you are correct.
This motion says quote:
That this Assembly condemns the CLP for the deepening and ongoing chaos in the Territory Government, hurting – families, and businesses and our lifestyle.
First, I do not agree with the motion, it is pure political garbage. I often wonder, when motions like this are before the House, whether it is the best use of parliament’s time discussing them rather than getting on with what is important.
The previous Labor government can probably be proud of some things it did in getting on with the business, like we on this side are trying to do. Motions like this are not something either side of the House can be proud of because they do benefit Territorians. You slap us around a bit; we slap you around a bit. How is that benefitting Territorians when there are much more important things to be getting on with?
One thing became clear when the member for Sanderson spoke about the budget. The Leader of the Opposition tried to move a point of order saying this had nothing to do with the budget. It has everything to do with the budget and the fiscal position of the Northern Territory. Let us not talk about the debt. I know we talk about the debt and it needs to be mentioned, but I will not mention ‘the debt’. What is worse is the former structure of government set up under the Labor Party was of such magnitude it was costing around $5bn a year to run. That is every teacher, every police officer, every nurse, every doctor, every service provided and every piece of infrastructure provided by the government was, basically, costing around $5bn a year and we had revenue of around $4bn. That is, clearly, living beyond your means. If that is not curtailed it will end in disaster.
I do not want to talk about the debt, let us talk about the structure of government and why, on coming to government, the Country Liberals found themselves with some pretty harsh decisions to make. We received a lot of pressure from the other side of the House today because we had the courage to make those decisions. Is that because we wanted to? No, it was because we had to. We have to get the Northern Territory back on a stable financial footing. If we continued doing what the previous Treasurer and previous government did, we would be in worse than we are now.
When the opposition says power and water charge increases are hurting families – of course they are hurting families. Any charge we pay for, whether it is registration, food on the table, rent, power – every impost on our pockets hurts. To say it would not have happened under a Labor government is dishonest. We know; we have seen the letters. We have seen where the Leader of the Opposition recommended increased charges.
I bet my last dollar had Labor won the last election, at some time in this term of government they would have had no choice but to increase the prices of power and water in the Northern Territory – without a doubt. They knew they could not keep borrowing more and more money. In fact, I have looked at some of the stats. The member for Sanderson held a chart up earlier. I had a lot of criticism for Syd Stirling, then Treasurer, for other reasons. He was Education minister when I had some issues. As far as managing Treasury, he did a sterling job compared to the following Treasurer, who took the Northern Territory further and further into debt.
When we talk about taking over government and realising the fiscal position of the Northern Territory and the structure of government itself, some pretty harsh decisions had to be made. Let us put this on the record, politics is a populist game. Why would some of the decisions be made if they were not necessary? Why would you make a decision you know will provide financial pain to people in the Northern Territory if it was not necessary? If Territorians are complaining about this government making some of the decisions it has, they should be complaining outside the member for Karama’s office because she was responsible for getting the Northern Territory into the fiscal position it is today.
The art of politics is about winning favour with the general public. I put to you it has taken real courage to make some of these decisions. I suggest the former government had no courage whatsoever because it was not game to make tough decisions. The easy decision was to continue borrowing money and build the public service to the stage it would provide an ongoing legacy for many years to come.
Look at the debt, the fiscal position and look at the structure of government and the ongoing costs of government. When you compare it with the average family paying off a house – they may take 25 or 30 years to pay that house off. You can only imagine, given the debt the Northern Territory has, the structure of government today and the cost it takes to run that structure, the debt could take generations to pay off. That is a huge legacy. Rather than a government you say is in chaos, I suggest it is a well-structured government intent on ensuring our children are not left with a legacy of debt to pay for years to come.
I often wonder, when we come into this House, where Labor Party facts come from. I wonder if there is a special Labor fact app on iPads today, because I am continually bombarded with media releases and I copied some earlier. There are heaps of media releases where the information is plain wrong. The first says, ‘Labor Calls for the End to Teacher Dispute’. This was dated 7 March 2013. There is the first mistake; the date is not right. It goes on to provide incorrect information, and even when the government and the Department of Education correct it, it does not stop the Labor opposition running a line they know is untrue.
Rather than talk to a motion like this, I would prefer to demonstrate, from a portfolio perspective, some of the things we have been doing in government to demonstrate we are not in chaos. This government has a plan to achieve its vision. I look at the things each minister is working on and, as the member for Sanderson said earlier, heads down bums up. That is what it has been like during the last 18 months. Yes, a few things along the way have been challenging, but they are challenges any new government – particularly when discovering the mess we still are sweeping up – we need a huge broom.
I have run through a few already, but there have been many positive changes. I look at Lands and Planning, also the vision for education in the Northern Territory rather than accepting the previous results – having the courage to look at how we change education in the Northern Territory and improve results. It is not only how much money you throw at education, which you see as a result. There are many recipes to make a chocolate cake. They are all a little different but, at the end of the day, will make the cake, and some better than others. I want a different recipe to that used in the past because if we continue to do things the same way we will get the same results. We have to look at different ways.
If we were a government in crisis or in chaos, why would we be so active in areas like the Indigenous education review? Why would we be calling an inquiry into fracking in the Northern Territory if we were not serious about the nature of fracking, the potential of the oil and gas industry in the Territory and making sure we get it right? Why call an inquiry if we are not serious about the business? Why would I be looking at Indigenous education when so many said to brush it aside and manage it day to day – we will never get better results so keep doing it. No, not good enough.
We have been elected to this House to truly represent Northern Territorians, particularly children, and provide them with every opportunity for their future. We have to have the courage to do what is required to improve educational results.
In Lands and Planning, look at some of the legislation passed at the last sittings, where we have a concurrent legislative framework for rezoning and development consent. The opportunity for developers to use this pathway can make the world of difference for a development, save a great deal of money and improve the cost of living for Territorians because the process has sped up. That can save money and, at the end of the day, future residents of the Northern Territory, when purchasing properties – any savings are passed directly on to them.
The infill sites we have identified are all about having enough land to get in front of what was left behind. It was so far behind the wave it was not funny. This is when land prices increased ...
Ms Lawrie interjecting.
Mr CHANDLER: The Opposition Leader can harp and cry, but we can show you facts around land prices in the Northern Territory over the last decade. It is close to 11% per annum every year for the last 10 years. How is that sustainable? If you were truly interested in the cost of living that is where you would focus your attention. We are focused on getting quality land release out in record time. I have seen the stats on how quickly things are being approved. At the moment, the Department of Lands, Planning and the Environment has about 100 more new development applications on its books than this time last year.
The Territory is growing. We have come from such a low base it will take a huge effort to ensure we get in front of the wave. We have to punch through that wave if we have any chance of reducing the cost of living for Territorians. It is a commitment this Country Liberals government made. One way we can make a huge difference to Territorians is through land release, something the former government did not keep up with …
Members interjecting.
Mr CHANDLER: They sit there harping because they know I am touching on a raw nerve.
We know how much the price of land went up in the last decade under Labor, which is a true reflection of the cost of living. Rents are at record levels in the Northern Territory because of failed land release in the last decade or more. However, we are catching up and closing the gap. Do we have much more to do? Damn right we have. We have heaps to do and are working on it. John Coleman, the Department of Lands, Planning and the Environment and all the staff are doing a tremendous job not just in the Top End, but in Katherine, Tennant Creek and Alice Springs, working on land agreements in remote towns so we can, for the first time, provide real economic opportunity for those areas. Some are difficult to work on. However, if we want to make a difference for remote Territorians and provide them with opportunities on their own land, we must start unlocking some of the legislative devices that have locked the land up for so long.
Are we working on that? Yes, we are. If we were a government in chaos, why would we bother? Why would we focus on these areas? That is why this motion is just political rubbish.
In Lands, Planning and the Environment we are planning for growth not just in Darwin, but across the board. We have the NT Planning Commission, strategic land use plans, expert advice on special projects and planning policy. The previous government did not keep its eye on the ball when it came to good planning. It signed off on getting INPEX to Darwin, something that could underpin the financial security of the Northern Territory, or part thereof. However, it failed to keep up with the impact INPEX had on land prices, the price of housing and the cost of living in the Northern Territory.
If Labor had been a good government, not only would it have secured companies like INPEX for the Territory, it would also have ensured copious amounts of land were being released to ensure land prices did not go through the roof ...
Ms Lawrie: Bellamack.
Mr CHANDLER: I find that amazing …
Ms Lawrie: Muirhead.
Mr CHANDLER: Let us talk about Bellamack. It costs $300 000 for a block of land in Bellamack. We are working on Zuccoli at the moment and have blocks of land …
Mr ELFERINK: A point of order, Madam Speaker! The Leader of the Opposition, in the last 10 minutes, has said more than the minister.
Ms Lawrie: Rubbish. Do not mislead …
Mr ELFERINK: I believe Standing Order 51 should be applied.
Madam SPEAKER: Opposition Leader!
Mr ELFERINK: She still goes on, Madam Speaker, trying talking over the top of me.
Madam SPEAKER: Opposition Leader, cease interjecting.
Ms Lawrie: How are you feeling, John? It is all unravelling.
Madam SPEAKER: Opposition Leader, you are on a warning.
Mr CHANDLER: The stage we are working on at the moment will see blocks of land from $123 500 up to $300 000. Bellamack is next door, but allowing more flexibility in blocks sizes has provided the opportunity for land to be released for as low as $123 500, something not possible under the previous government for many years. I guarantee the more affordable lots will be the first to go because it is what younger people can afford ...
Mr ELFERINK: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Pursuant to Standing Order 77, I move an extension of time for the member.
Madam SPEAKER: He can only have an extension until 9 pm.
Motion agreed to.
Mr CHANDLER: Other things in the area of Lands and Planning include expanding the online one-stop shop to current applications. As already mentioned, looking at title bonds has been a bugbear of many developers for many years. Other jurisdictions have bonded titles, which is a way to speed up the process. As I said, 70 infill sites were identified, with the ability to turn off around 2700 dwellings very quickly to keep up with demand. There is the long-term Towards a Darwin Regional Land Use Plan, which will secure land planning for the future.
Labor spoke a lot about Weddell, but when we took over government we looked at what had been done behind the scenes and it was very little. There were a lot of glossy brochures about Weddell. The former minister spoke about the new …
Mr McCarthy: Roads, water and power.
Mr CHANDLER: There is a new water line and so forth going through, which is all fantastic stuff, but little more was done to secure the future of Weddell. Weddell would not have an economy. It was to be another satellite city and, in the future, when we have finished infill sites and have areas around – I know this will cause some consternation – Kowandi north, Palmerston north or whatever you want to call it. Nothing is concrete yet. It is the area northeast of Palmerston, once those areas …
Mr Wood: Rural.
Mr CHANDLER: Rural areas. See, you slam me on the rural area ...
Mr Wood: No, I did not. The member for Goyder lives there.
Mr CHANDLER: That is right. There are many infill sites …
Mr Elferink: When I was a kid, Anula was a rural area.
Mr CHANDLER: It was. Many of the infill sites and other areas of Palmerston, when filled – I believe the next major area of development will be around Murrumujuk because that is where the government wants to see future development of the Glyde Point area because there will be an economy there. We want to build an economy around a port infrastructure and heavy industry which will require people living nearby to support that development.
Something like Weddell would put more pressure on our roads infrastructure. My thinking changed seriously when I took a planning trip and looked at some of the cities that have drawn themselves away from being another Los Angeles. We hubbed through Phoenix, Arizona. It was amazing to look at from the air. We only flew in and out, but it was an amazing city that went forever with huge road networks. The freeway system was incredible. I thought Los Angeles was bad, but Phoenix looked like Alice Springs on steroids. It was flat, it was gorgeous to look at …
Mr Wood: Was it tropical?
Mr CHANDLER: No, it was dry, flat desert. Even the rocky outcrops reminded me of Alice Springs. It went on forever through huge road networks.
The city of Portland decided years ago not to continue down the beautiful fertile valleys surrounding the city. They densified the city through light rail networks, trams systems and made the city walkable. Looking at the trees, they transformed the city. Strangely enough, they did it by reducing the amount of car parking available in their city rather than increasing it. They made a conscious decision.
There is a great tribute to the city’s forefathers who made this decision. As you go from the airport to the city you go on a freeway and there is a massive ramp that runs up and just stops. It goes nowhere and it stands out. When you look at it you think, ‘Hello, they ran out of money’. In one of the first meetings we had there I asked what was happening with the extension to the freeway. They said a conscious decision had been made. If they continued with it they would bring another freeway connection into the city with more cars. They made a conscious decision. They wanted to densify. They wanted to stop cars coming into the city but they wanted to attract people.
This is where I had my change of thinking around this because I live in a satellite city – Palmerston …
Mr Wood: You can develop industries in Weddell.
Mr CHANDLER: Yes, but down the track. Would I say Weddell will never happen? Absolutely not! Weddell will happen as this city grows. However, before we get there, there are so many infill sites and environmentally friendly ways of moving forward.
You can look at cities – I mentioned Portland – where they can demonstrate the energy consumed by that city per person is about 40% reduced by the way they live compared to an urban sprawl environment. There are many areas we can look at. This is what we are working on. If we were a government in crisis …
Madam SPEAKER: Minister, the time is 9 pm. Would you like to hold your comments over?
Mr CHANDLER: Yes, please, Madam Speaker.
Debate adjourned.
ADJOURNMENT
Mr ELFERINK (Leader of Government Business): Madam Speaker, I move that the Assembly do now adjourn.
Mr GILES (Braitling): Madam Speaker, on 20 February the Assembly was informed by the Minister for Lands, Planning and the Environment that he had recommended to the government that an inquiry be held into the potential environmental impacts of hydraulic fracking. Today I announce Dr Allan Hawke AC has been appointed to head the inquiry.
Dr Hawke is eminently qualified to lead the inquiry. He is a former diplomat and former Chancellor of the Australian National University. He has been a senior public servant in Canberra and was Chief of Staff to Labor Prime Minister, Paul Keating.
Since retiring, he has conducted a number of high level reviews for the Australian government and other jurisdictions. These reviews include the Hawke report into the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act. Dr Hawke will formally start his work as commissioner in early April, and will call for public submissions on this important issue.
The Territory has vast reserves of shale gas located more than one kilometre below the earth’s surface. These could be unlocked using hydraulic fracturing. The use of this technique could generate many millions of dollars in export earnings for the Territory. These reserves could also hold the key to securing the country’s energy supply into the future, but we understand this should not come at the cost of our environment. Shale gas fracking is fundamentally different to coal seam gas fracking used interstate. This is because the coal seam gas is usually located closer to the surface and nearer to ground water aquifers.
We intend to give the public accurate information about the scale of environmental risks this presents. We know this issue can be a contentious one at times, but we want the public to have confidence in this process so have ordered a thorough inquiry. The aim is to separate the proven evidence about environmental risk from the myths, and give an accurate picture based on science through independent analysis. The inquiry will result in recommendations on whether steps should be taken to mitigate any potential impacts from fracking. Dr Hawke is expected to report back to the Northern Territory government by the end of the year and I look forward to seeing his report.
Ms FYLES (Nightcliff): Madam Speaker, it is with great pleasure I inform the House of the great achievement of one of my local constituents, Ms Dawn Lawrie. Dawn was recently appointed a Member of the Order, AM, in the General Division of the Order of Australia for her significant service to public administration, particularly as an advocate for social inclusion and to the parliaments of the Northern Territory.
Dawn has a career I admire, as do many others. In 1971 Dawn was elected to the Northern Territory Legislative Council, the second woman to be elected to the NT parliament. As the independent local member for Nightcliff, she continued to represent our wonderful community for 12 years.
One of Dawn’s first actions as an elected member was to introduce a bill to put women on the jury roll. At that time women could ask to go on the roll, but no woman had ever served on a jury. Other acknowledgements of note during her elected years included being appointed as the NT representative on the Interim Committee on the National Estate, the forerunner to the National Heritage Commission. She sponsored a bill to stop the destruction of Casuarina sand dunes, which her daughter Delia has fond memories of, abortion law reform, before which women had no access to safe procedures, and she established the parole board. Before that bill passed the only avenue to access parole was by application to the Governor-General.
After Cyclone Tracy she sought federal funding to preserve and protect Darwin buildings of significant heritage status including: Browns Mart, the Chung Wah Society building to repair and rebuild the Chinese temple, and save the Town Hall ruins from being bulldozed. She fought to stop approximately 80% of Nightcliff being rezoned by southern planners. We have all heard stories that after Cyclone Tracy southern planners wanted to reshape our city.
After her years as a member of parliament Dawn continued to play a valuable role in our community. In fact, she still does today. Some achievements of note: she chaired a committee on children’s services in the Northern Territory for Hon Barry Coulter; with her late husband John Berry she established the Palmerston Newspaper; she was appointed executive officer for the NT Committee on Discrimination in Employment and Occupation and represented the Northern Territory at a national level on this; and was appointed the first NT Regional Director for the Human Rights Commission, establishing the NT office.
Dawn was appointed Administrator of the Cocos Keeling Islands, a great change in administration on the island. Dawn took the time to learn the language and gain respect by involving local people in the changes taking place and encouraging local residents to gain qualifications. She was appointed the first NT Anti-Discrimination Commissioner, and was in a position to continue her work in advancing and enhancing opportunity for women and girls, particularly those who wish to enter trades considered more a male prerogative.
Dawn was the chief executive officer of YMCA, the manager of clinical services at Danila Dilba Medical Services, president of the NT Aids & Hepatitis Council for four years, a marriage celebrant from 1975 to 2012 and, most recently, was the disability advocate at Darwin Community Legal Service. Although she is now retired, Dawn remains very active in the community. She is a member and secretary of the Friends of the Darwin Symphony Orchestra, a chair of the Place Names Committee for the NT, and provides a Justice of the Peace service, something she has been doing since 1975. In fact, she provides this service in my office every Tuesday morning for the residents of Nightcliff. I know many people pop by just to chat to Dawn.
Dawn has achieved some truly amazing results in our community, but when you speak to Dawn she proudly states her greatest achievement is, ‘Successfully raising her three gifted children’.
I would like to take this opportunity, on behalf of our community, to thank Dawn for her outstanding contribution. It is a tremendous achievement to receive the Member of the Order award, and long overdue recognition of her tireless efforts and the high standard of service she provided to our community – a lifetime of service.
If anyone needs the services of a JP you can ring Dawn and she will pop down. Only a few weeks ago I was in my office on a Saturday morning and somebody came in urgently needing some documents. A quick call to Dawn discovered she was just at Woolworths getting the paper and would come past. Half-an-hour to 40 minutes later she said, ‘Well, I will go home and have that cuppa, but it will probably be a bit cold now’. She literally was just grabbing the paper to have with her coffee but was side-tracked to our office. She still gives that commitment to our community.
Dawn is very passionate about supporting women and children particularly. Dawn House is named after her, something I did not know until recently. These are just some of the ways Dawn has helped our community and will continue to do so.
I thought it important to take the time tonight to acknowledge her efforts and share with this parliament her recent award.
Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Mr GUNNER (Fannie Bay): Madam Speaker, on the last day of the last sittings I had the privilege to be invited to attend the funeral of Mr Christopher Lake by his fellow firefighters. Chris Lake, Lakey, was a firefighter of 24 years who tragically passed away too early from cancer. I asked the family for permission to read the eulogy from the day into the Hansard.
- Christopher John Lake: Eulogy, 20 February 2014.
On behalf of all the Lake family, I would like to thank you all for attending today. We are here to pay our last respects to Christopher John Lake who passed away peacefully with Emma and Ashton at his side. Alice Springs was his home town and it was always his wish to be laid to rest here. I’d like to read some messages from family who couldn’t be here today …
He came from a large family. My grandparents, the late Percy and Maudie Lake, had 10 children.
My uncle was the eighth of the 10. He is survived by his brothers Ian, Micky, Robert and his sister Irene. He was raised in the family home in Hartley Street, next door to the Steakhouse today. They had a family dog called Rover who led the pack of the Lake kids through the streets of Alice whenever they were allowed to go out. Everyone knew the Lake kids weren’t far away when they saw Rover heading around the corner with his charges in tow. Rover was very disappointed once when his registration to enter the Royal Sydney Show was knocked back because the family couldn’t prove his pedigree! He soon got over it.
The Lake kids were pretty helpful to the local municipal council, teaching stray dogs to run really fast when the dog catcher was doing the rounds. They also helped other families in the neighbourhood, especially when their fruit trees and grapevines were laden with juicy ripe fruits. They simply jumped the fence and harvested what they could, without even being asked!!
My uncle, as I recall, was a very proud man. Coming from a large family, he learnt how to fend for himself very early in life. He went to the local schools and was involved in the local sports teams.
His first job was with the PMG, now known to us as Australia Post.
Uncle was always a hard-working man and was a very handy man.
He was a good saver and a very good provider for his family.
He only believed in paying cash for whatever he needed and he looked after everything so well. He bought a green Holden Monaro car when they first came out. It was, like everything he owned, the cleanest, most highly polished car in Alice Springs, I swear.
He married Heather and they then brought Emma into the family, their only child of whom he was very proud. He recalled to us how Emma joined the family. He said she came crawling down the driveway one day wearing nothing but a nappy, a hat with corks hanging off it and a bottle in her mouth! She never left! As his only child, he loved her and cared for her. He adored his four grandsons, Kurtis, Wade, Leeland and Ashton and enjoyed spending time with them.
- He practically built their family home out at the Hornsby estate.
I think his favourite pastime was spending time in his beloved shed. He spent endless hours there tinkering and fixing things. In keeping with his nature, he probably had the best kept array of tools one could imagine. He taught Emma how to do the essentials in home maintenance.
He was very proud of Emma’s accomplishments as a young swimmer. He, like all good fathers, only ever wanted the best for his daughter and his grandchildren.
My uncle was a hard-working self-reliant man. His working life involved time with the then Department of Works on road maintenance, and the Power and Water Authority as a skilled linesman. He then joined the Alice Springs Fire Brigade in November 1978 where he trained and become a fireman; he spent 12 months in the brigade in Alice Springs before attending the training course in Darwin, and returned to Alice Springs as a D class firefighter.
He attended two of the largest fires in Alice Springs: the mobile depot fire in the early 1980s and the Telford Alice Hotel fire in 1983. In 2001 he sat for the senior firefighter exams and became a senior firefighter. In 2003 he retired from the fire service.
- Chris said he will always cherish his memories of the fire service. ‘I was proud to serve my community and to work with some of the finest men I would ever meet in my life’, he said.
I know people have lots of stories about Uncle Chris and while talking to family this week we laughed about the stories we remembered. I invite you to reminisce when we gather at the Gillen Club after we bury Uncle Chris at the Garden Cemetery today.
Last updated: 04 Aug 2016