2011-08-16
ABSENCE OF SPEAKER
The CLERK: Honourable members, I advise the Speaker will be absent from the Assembly this morning. Pursuant to Standing Order 9, the Deputy Speaker will perform the duties of the Speaker during that absence.
Madam Deputy Speaker Walker took the Chair at 10 am.
VISITORS
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: Honourable members, I advise of the presence in the gallery of Year 3/4 Wagaman Primary School students accompanied by Mrs Lois Ramsay, Mrs Carol Hethrington, and Ms Kirsten King; and Years 8, 9 and 10 Taminmin College Japanese exchange students and teachers from Kamitonda Junior High School in the Wakayama Prefecture near Osaka accompanied by Mrs Sue MacLean.
On behalf of honourable members, I extend a warm welcome to our visitors.
Members: Hear, hear!
Mr Mills: Perhaps Konnichiwa would be appropriate, Madam Acting Speaker.
A member: Perhaps it would.
TABLED PAPER
Pairing Arrangement – Members for Nightcliff and Goyder
Pairing Arrangement – Members for Nightcliff and Goyder
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: Honourable members, I draw your attention to the pairing arrangement between the members for Nightcliff and Goyder from 10 am until 2 pm signed by the government Whip, the member for Fannie Bay, and the opposition Whip, the member for Port Darwin.
EVIDENCE (NATIONAL UNIFORM LEGISLATION) BILL
(Serial 172)
(Serial 172)
Bill presented and read a first time.
Ms LAWRIE (Justice and Attorney-General): Madam Speaker, I move that the bill be now read a second time.
This bill is to reform Northern Territory evidence law and bring it into line with the Australian Uniform Evidence law, known as the UEA, which was adopted initially by the Commonwealth and New South Wales in 1995, and has since been adopted by Victoria, Tasmania, and Norfolk Island.
The UEA has also applied in the Australian Capital Territory by force of Commonwealth law. In April 2011, the ACT parliament enacted its own version of the UEA.
The policy behind the uniform law is that all relevant and reliable evidence that is of an appropriate probative value should be admissible unless such evidence would cause unfair prejudice to a party to a court proceeding.
Until now, the Northern Territory evidence law has been a mixture of common law evidence modified by various statutes, some dating back hundreds of years reflecting a variety of sometimes conflicting aims and purposes.
The main current statutory provisions are contained in the Evidence Act, Evidence (Business Records) Interim Arrangements Act, and the Sexual Offences (Evidence and Procedure) Act. There are, however, many evidence provisions in other acts.
Common law evidence principles, as modified by ad hoc statutory reform, have generally served us well. However, in some critical areas these rules have ceased to develop and the system has become inefficient, lacking in coherence and structure, and has failed to keep up with the changes and needs of a modern and fair justice system. Reform has been long overdue, and this uniform evidence bill does what the courts and the common law were unable to do.
The uniform evidence bill draws the law of evidence together, updating and reforming, where necessary, into one well-organised and logically-constructed document which is easily accessed and understood. There are significant reforms introduced by this bill; for example, the area of hearsay, discretionary exclusion, and cross-examining of a party’s own witness. The ultimate issue rule and common knowledge rule regarding opinion evidence have been abolished. It is now easier to admit computer-generated evidence. Various changes have been made in criminal proceedings in, for example, the competence of family to give evidence, tendency evidence, and similar fact evidence.
Some of the main changes the bill will make to the Northern Territory evidence law are:
1. The law relating to hearsay:
- Reliable firsthand hearsay will now be able to be introduced in certain circumstances (Part 3.2).
- Once relevant evidence is admitted for a purpose other than to establish the truth of what was said, it then becomes evidence of the truth of what was said (clause 60).
In criminal proceedings firsthand hearsay will be admissible where the person who made the representation is not available to give evidence (clause 65).
A hearsay exception for Aboriginal traditional laws and customs has been created (clause 72).
2. Hostile or unfavourable witnesses:
- The law relating to ‘hostile witnesses’ is reformed. Cross-examination of a party’s own witness is allowed if the witness gives unfavourable evidence without the necessity for finding the witness is ‘hostile’. The witness’ previous statement may be adduced as evidence of the truth of what it contains (clause 38).
3. Documents:
- The original document rule is abolished and replaced by a more flexible system (Part 2.2).
The admission of computer-generated evidence is facilitated (clauses 146 and 147).
4. Self-incrimination:
- A witness may be forced to give evidence in the interests of justice notwithstanding the privilege against self-incrimination. If the evidence is required, the witness is given a certificate providing both direct and indirect use of immunity (clause128).
5. Similar fact or propensity evidence:
- The rules regarding similar fact and propensity evidence are rationalised, and the evidence is now admissible if the probative value of the evidence substantially outweighs any prejudicial affect it may have on the defendant (clause 101).
This is a major reform - an important step for the Northern Territory - and is something this government is proud to introduce. We have an adversarial justice system, and evidence law is central to our system of procedural justice.
The laws of evidence regulate what material a court may consider when determining factual issues, how that material is presented in court and, then, how the court goes about deciding factual issues on that evidence.
Since the uniform Evidence Act was introduced by New South Wales and the Commonwealth, it has generated 15 years of valuable jurisprudence from the Australian High Court, the Federal Court, the Supreme Court of both New South Wales and the ACT and, more recently, from the Supreme Court of Victoria. This vast intellectual resource is now available for the Northern Territory.
The history of the development of the uniform Evidence Act is worth stating. In 1979, the Australian Law Reform Commission was tasked with producing a report for a comprehensive rationalisation and reform of the laws of evidence. After extensive consultation, including 16 research papers and two discussion papers, an interim report was produced in 1985. A final report, along with a draft Evidence Bill, was produced in 1987. In 1991, the Standing Committee of Attorneys-General, SCAG, gave ‘in principle’ support to uniform evidence laws and, in 1993, consultation between New South Wales and the Commonwealth resulted in the production of, essentially, uniform evidence bills. These bills were finally passed in both the Commonwealth and New South Wales parliaments in 1995. The uniform Evidence Act was described by the federal Minister for Justice in March 1995 as one of the most important reforms in the administration of justice in Australia.
After a few years in operation, the Evidence Act was subject to a major joint inquiry by the New South Wales Law Reform Commission, the Victorian Law Reform Commission, and the Australian Law Reform Commission. A joint report was published in 2005 calling for substantial amendments which were reflected in both the New South Wales act and the Commonwealth act. In 2008, the Victorian Evidence Act, almost identical to the New South Wales and Commonwealth acts, was enacted.
The Law Reform Committee of the Northern Territory has also examined the proposed law and has strongly supported the enactment of the law in the Territory. Introducing the Evidence (National Uniform Legislation) Bill in the Northern Territory has advantages beyond the obvious advantage of having evidence law that, for most of the core evidentiary provisions, is codified for most Australian jurisdictions. It is not just a restatement of the common law, but it is an improvement in many areas of substantive evidence law relating to the adducing, admissibility, and proof of evidence.
The bill applies to all proceedings commencing in all courts in the Northern Territory, including those exercising federal jurisdiction. It applies to proceedings that relate to bail, as well as interlocutory proceedings.
The bill is divided into five chapters which are structured roughly in the same order that issues will arise in a trial. Chapter 1 deals with formal matters and the application of the act; chapter 2 deals with adducing evidence; chapter 3 deals with the admissibility of evidence; chapter 4 deals with proof; and chapter 5 deals with miscellaneous matters and includes the dictionary that contains the definitions. Chapter 2 deals with adducing evidence and is divided into three parts.
Witnesses: the first part deals with witnesses themselves, their competence and compellability, as well as the general rules involved in giving evidence. This includes rules on the examination, re-examination, and cross-examination of witnesses. The second part deals with documentary evidence and sets out the way documents can be proved. The third part deals with procedural rules relating to evidence adduced other than by witnesses.
Clauses 12 and 13 create a presumption that all witnesses are competent to testify, and unless it is proved otherwise, may be compelled to do so. Exceptions to this include people with an incapacity such as a mental, intellectual, or physical disability, and people disqualified by being judges or jurors or heads of state. These provisions have been drafted so as to include as many people as possible as competent witnesses, and ensure relevant information is before the court. Difficulties faced by children and people with intellectual disabilities are kept in mind.
The common law test that the witness understands the nature and consequences of the oath has been changed to a focus on the capacity to understand the duty to tell the truth. A defendant’s family, which includes spouses, de facto partners, and the defendant’s parents and children, are both competent and compellable as witnesses in criminal proceedings that involve the defendant.
The bill strikes a balance between the interests of maintaining and protecting a family and facilitating the administration of justice by allowing objections to giving evidence in those circumstances where the harm caused to the family outweighs the desirability of having the evidence, bearing in mind the gravity of the offence and the importance of the proposed evidence.
The law on unfavourable witnesses is changed by clause 38. The previous law required a witness to be declared hostile before he or she can be cross-examined by the party who called them. The current test for declaring a witness hostile is difficult, needlessly pedantic, and is not always possible. It requires the party who called the witness to show that the witness is deliberately withholding material evidence. The uniform bill, however, allows the party who called the witness, with the leave of the court, to cross-examine that witness where that witness has given evidence unfavourable to the calling party, does not appear to be making a genuine attempt to give evidence, or if the witness has made a prior statement that is inconsistent with their in court testimony. This allows the prosecution to cross-examine uncooperative witnesses who may not have met the old common law test. In combination with other sections, this will allow the prosecution to lead evidence of the original statement the witness made to police, and for that statement to be led as evidence of what happened.
Clause 41 gives the court power to disallow improper questioning in cross-examination.
Admissibility: chapter 3 of the bill contains the rules controlling the admissibility of evidence. The first rule is the general inclusionary rule. If evidence is relevant then it is admissible, unless it is excluded under one of the other exclusionary rules set out in the bill. If evidence is not relevant it is never admissible. The exclusionary rules build on - and also reform and rationalise - the rules at common law that dealt with hearsay and opinion evidence, admissions, tendency and coincidence evidence, evidence of the credibility and character of witnesses, identification evidence, and rules identifying discretionary and mandatory exclusions for unfairness and improperly obtained evidence.
Hearsay: the hearsay rule prevents the admission into evidence of a previous representation of a person with the purpose of proving the existence of a fact asserted by the person in that representation. The provisions in this bill make significant changes to the common law which the ALRC described as overly-complex, technical, inflexible, piecemeal, costly, and incoherent, with the added problem of excluding substantially probative evidence. This bill provides a more structured approach to hearsay evidence. There are a set of carefully structured exceptions to the rule where hearsay may be the best evidence available. There are stricter rules for criminal proceedings than civil proceedings.
The main departure from the common law is clause 60 of the bill, which allows hearsay as evidence of the truth of what is asserted if it is first admitted for a purpose other than as proof of an asserted fact. If the hearsay evidence is admitted for another purpose - for example, as evidence relevant to the credibility of a witness - then it may also be used for its hearsay purpose; that is, as proof of the asserted fact. This is a more sensible approach and puts to rest all the complicated, confusing, and often illogical directions judges have had to give to juries about the way they could use certain hearsay evidence for one thing, but not for another.
There are protections in the act for hearsay exceptions such as directions about the relative reliability of hearsay evidence. Hearsay is split into firsthand hearsay, which is evidence given by a person of a representation that was heard or seen by the witness and which was made by a person who had personal knowledge of the events in question, and more remote hearsay, with different rules applying to each. In civil proceedings, if the maker of representation is unavailable, the hearsay rule does not apply to firsthand hearsay including hearsay in documentary form.
Clause 65 allows firsthand hearsay in oral or documentary form in criminal proceedings where the maker of the representation is unavailable in certain specified situations. The hearsay evidence is admissible when it is made under a duty, or at the same time or shortly after the event, and occurred in situations which make it unlikely the representation is a fabrication, or when the representation was made in circumstances that make it highly probable the representation is reliable.
Clause 72 provides a specific exception to the hearsay rule in relation to evidence of a representation about the existence or non-existence or content of the traditional laws and customs of an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander group. This makes the laws of evidence more responsive to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander oral tradition.
The rules of expert evidence have been structured and clarified in this bill. An expert is a person with specialised knowledge based on their training, study, or experience. An expert may give evidence of their opinion if it is wholly or substantially based on that specialised knowledge.
An unintended implied assertion such as a child answering the phone and saying, ‘Hello, Daddy’, is not hearsay if led to prove the party on the other end of the phone is the child’s father. More remote hearsay can be admitted on the basis of its reliability and/or necessity. This includes government and commercial records, reputation as to family relationships and public rights, certain communications, commercial labels and tags and evidence in interlocutory proceedings.
Ultimate issue and common knowledge rules: the ultimate issue rule prevents a witness from expressing an opinion on an issue to be decided by the court. The common knowledge rule excludes expert opinion evidence on matters of common knowledge. Clause 80, however, makes evidence of an opinion not inadmissible only because it is about a fact in issue or an ultimate issue or a matter of common knowledge. This has changed the common law rule, and the ultimate issue rule and the common knowledge rule have been abolished.
Admissions: the rules on admissibility of admissions are clarified by the bill. Part 3.4 creates an exception to both hearsay and the opinion rules for firsthand evidence of an admission against a person’s interest in criminal proceedings. Evidence which is not firsthand or is against a third party may, however, be excluded under the opinion or hearsay rules.
Both the common law and the uniform evidence bill allow admissions made by someone against their interest as an exception to the hearsay rule. Both the common law and the evidence bill also have rules restricting evidence of admissions where the integrity of the evidence may be compromised.
Clause 84 of the uniform evidence bill excludes evidence of admissions that were influenced by violent, oppressive, inhuman or degrading conduct, or the threat of such conduct. The relevant test is not whether the will has been overborne. Instead, the admission must not be influenced by violent, oppressive, inhuman or degrading conduct. This is a far lower standard.
Clause 85 gives the added protection in criminal proceedings that the evidence of the admission, if made in the presence of an investigating official, is not admissible unless the circumstances in which the admission was made make it unlikely the truth of the admission was adversely affected.
Clause 90 gives the court discretion to refuse to admit evidence of an admission if, having regard to the circumstances under which it was made, its use would be unfair to the accused. This reflects the common law relating to criminal proceedings. The reliability of the admission is not the sole criteria of fairness.
We also have the Anunga Rules in the Northern Territory which protect the interests of those who do not have English as their first language. The bill does not affect the operation of those rules.
In a criminal proceeding, the privilege against self-incrimination is preserved and clause 89 states that evidence of silence in the face of questioning must not be given an unfavourable inference.
Tendency and coincidence: Part 3.6 establishes the tendency rule which excludes evidence of conduct character or reputation adduced to prove a tendency in the person to think or act a particular way unless that evidence has significant probative value that substantially outweighs any prejudicial effect. This part also establishes the coincidence rule which prevents reliance on similarity of events or circumstances and the unlikelihood of those events or circumstances occurring coincidentally, again, unless the evidence has significant probative value that substantially outweighs any prejudicial effect. If tendency or coincidence evidence has been admitted because it is relevant to another matter, it is still not to be used in the prescribed manner; that is, to prove a matter was unlikely to be a coincidence or to prove someone was likely to act in a particular way.
Credibility: Part 3.7 deals with the credibility rule. This is the general principle that credibility evidence about a witness is not admissible. An exception is made for expert evidence concerning credibility, and clause 103 allows credibility evidence to be adduced in cross-examination if it could substantially affect the assessment of the credibility of a witness. Protections are given for the cross-examination of defendants regarding their credibility.
Clause 110 allows a defendant to adduce evidence as to his or her good character, although when such evidence is introduced the prosecution can then adduce rebuttal evidence. Clause 111 allows a defendant in criminal proceedings to adduce expert evidence of the character of a co-defendant in the proceedings.
Identification: Part 3.9 changes the common law regarding the admissibility of identification evidence in a criminal trial. It applies only in criminal proceedings and, to a certain extent, is stricter than the common law. Visual identification evidence of a defendant is not admissible if an identification parade was not held unless it would not have been reasonable to have held one. Identification evidence is notoriously unreliable and clause 116 requires a judge to inform the jury of the need for caution when assessing identification evidence.
Privileges: privileges are dealt with in Part 3.10 and include client legal privileges, which continue along broadly traditional lines, including communications that have the dominant purpose of obtaining legal advice or assistance for pending or anticipated litigation. In line with general policy, there are very few circumstances in which evidence that may be adduced for the benefit of a defendant in a criminal proceeding should be granted privilege. With religious confessions to clergy, both the fact that the confession was made and its content are protected.
The uniform evidence bill takes a different approach to the common law regarding the privilege against self-incrimination. The common law does not require a witness to answer a question where the answer may tend to incriminate that witness in an offence. This bill, on the other hand, provides that a court can require the witness to answer if the interests of justice require it.
Clause 128 provides that before giving the required evidence the witness is issued with a certificate preventing the use of that evidence, or evidence derived from that evidence, from being used in subsequent proceedings against that witness. The privilege against self-incrimination is further protected by clause 128. If a witness claims that giving certain evidence would tend to prove that witness had committed an offence or is liable to a civil penalty, the court may decide that there are reasonable grounds to object to giving evidence and may give the witness a certificate that protects the witness from the direct evidence and any derived evidence being used against the witness in any proceeding. If the interests of justice require it, the court can then compel the witness to give the evidence, but must give the witness a certificate. The court can then receive the relevant evidence in the matter at hand, and the witness is protected against the adverse consequences of giving that evidence.
In the area of a sexual assault communications privilege we differ slightly from the other uniform acts. This privilege has been developed extensively and thoroughly in the Northern Territory and our current sexual assault communications privileges will be dealt with in a later bill or retained in the Sexual Offences (Evidence and Procedure) Act or another act that replaces that act.
Discretionary exclusions: Part 3.11 deals with discretionary and mandatory exclusions of evidence. There is a general discretion retained by the court in both civil and criminal proceedings to exclude otherwise admissible evidence if the probative value of that evidence is substantially outweighed by the danger that the evidence might be unfairly prejudicial, misleading, confusing, or result in an undue waste of time. In criminal proceedings, however, the court must refuse to admit prosecution evidence if its probative value is outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice to the defendant.
In both civil and criminal proceedings where evidence has been obtained unlawfully or improperly, clause 138 requires the court to engage in a balancing exercise, and states the court must exclude the evidence unless the desirability of admitting the evidence in the particular case outweighs the undesirability of admitting evidence that was obtained in that particular way.
Proof: chapter 4 deals with matters of proof, including the standard of proof for criminal and civil proceedings, the facilitation of proof for documents, proof of foreign laws, and judicial warnings to juries.
New rules are introduced to facilitate the proof of evidence produced by machines, documents produced in the course of business, documents attested to by a Justice of the Peace, a lawyer, or a notary public, the execution of document seals, documents more than 20 years old, matters relating to post including electronic communications, and matters of official record.
The old common law rules including the original document rule and the best evidence rule are abolished. This removal requires the retention and storage of hard copy documents and files by businesses and non-profit organisations for evidentiary purposes, and allows the use of original documents, transcripts, computer printouts, business extracts, and official copies of public documents. Safeguards are provided in relation to the testing of documents and the means by which documents have been produced or kept. Clause 147 facilitates the proof of documents used in the course of business, and is drafted sufficiently widely to cover reports based on a query of a database or a printout from a document imaging system. The presumption is for admission and the burden is on the opposing party to raise evidence sufficient to raise doubt about the presumption. These reforms bring evidence law up to date with modern record keeping technology, and will result in substantial savings for business and non-profit organisations.
Warnings: in jury trials, judges are required to give warnings and directions to the jury, detailing how the jury is to evaluate and use the evidence in the trial. There are a great many possible warnings, and a failure to give a warning or direction is commonly the ground of an appeal in criminal cases. While common law warning requirements, unless specifically withdrawn by statute, will still be applicable, this bill makes it clear that the warning must, in most cases, be asked for by counsel before the warning or direction is given. There is, consequently, an onus on counsel to request a warning which reduces the likelihood of an appeal being granted for a failure to give an unrequested warning. This is subject to, however, the overriding duty of the court to prevent miscarriages of justice. If a judge was of a view that a warning was required but it was not requested by counsel, then the judge must ask counsel (in the absence of the jury) whether such a warning is requested.
Judges are required by clause 165 to warn juries of potentially unreliable evidence. This can be hearsay, identification evidence, evidence of admissions, and evidence affected by age or ill health. The obligations under the common law remain to give appropriate warnings and directions to juries. This is all subject to clause 165A which controls what a judge tells a jury about a child’s evidence.
Written evidence is encouraged in the form of affidavits and statements for formal and routine matters, including certificates for expert evidence.
Chapter 5 of the bill deals with miscellaneous matters such as the right of parties to waive rules of evidence and make agreements on facts. The dictionary is also included in Chapter 5.
I also mention that later in this year or early in 2012, I will be introducing a bill that will deal with consequential matters, such as correcting cross-references, and which will also provide for the repeal of the Evidence (Business Records) Interim Arrangements Act, and for some amendments to the Sexual Offences (Evidence and Procedure) Act and the Evidence Act.
A number of provisions in the current Evidence Act will be retained. For example, the vulnerable witness provisions in Part IIA of the current Evidence Act will be retained and placed in a new act. Section 26E, which provides extra protection to the evidence of children in sexual or serious violent offences, will also be retained. Part VA, which provides for communications links for in court and out of court evidence, Part VI, providing for evidence on commission, and Part VIA, providing for confidential communications, and various other necessary procedural provisions will be retained in another act. Other uniform evidence jurisdictions, such as New South Wales and Victoria, have dealt with their excess evidentiary provisions in a similar manner.
Madam Deputy Speaker, I commend the bill to honourable members and I table a copy of the explanatory statement.
Debate adjourned.
JUSTICE AND OTHER LEGISLATION AMENDMENT BILL
(Serial 148)
(Serial 148)
Continued from 23 February 2011.
Mr ELFERINK (Port Darwin): Madam Deputy Speaker, we indicate at the outset we will not be opposing this bill. Everyone can go back to sleep.
This is a fairly straightforward bill. It is in the form of an omnibus bill which deals with procedural processes through government which are being tidied up to reflect other legislative changes and to make government and courts operate more effectively - something this side of the House would be very disinclined to oppose.
The Bail Act is amended to enable the master to take a greater role in the arraignment process in the Supreme Court, and we have no major problems with that process.
The Business Tenancies (Fair Dealings) Act is being amended to enable section 26 of that legislation to operate more effectively. Basically, the process of a commercial lease negotiation will prevent the lease from being entered into for a period less than five years, unless a legal practitioner and, ultimately through other amendments, an accountant can sign off on that renegotiated lease. This is to protect small businessmen, and we on this side of the House cannot see a major problem with that.
The Firearms Act and Weapons Control Act have had a raft of minor statute revisions put into place that deal particularly with the changing form of orders of restraint. The old section 99 Justices Act legislation, which was repealed several years ago, was one of the older forms of restraint. We now have personal violence restraining orders in place. This act tidies up the Weapons Control Act to acknowledge those legislative amendments over time, and the CAFTA, Consumer Affairs and Fair Trading Act, is being amended to enable other legislative changes that went through this House in the not-so-distant past to proceed through more practical means. Essentially, the ACCC and the Trade Practices Act 1974 have picked up much of the consumer protection component as part of the national agreement, and this act is being amended to reflect that national agreement and recent legislative changes in this House.
Madam Deputy Speaker, beyond that, we have nothing to add to this legislative instrument other than to say, good luck with it, folks.
Ms LAWRIE (Justice and Attorney-General): Madam Deputy Speaker, this is, basically, to assist the further administration of Justice-related portfolios legislation operating in the Territory. We do these JLAs, justice legislation amendment bills, regularly.
As the opposition has supported the bill, I will not take too long. It amends the Bail Act, the Business Tenancies (Fair Dealings) Act, the Firearms Act, Weapons Control Act, and Consumer Affairs and Fair Trading Act. We have had no adverse comment from anyone in relation to the JLA, and I thank the opposition for its support.
Motion agreed to; bill read a second time.
Ms LAWRIE (Justice and Attorney-General) (by leave): Madam Deputy Speaker, I move that the bill be now read a third time.
Motion agreed to; bill read a third time.
MOTION
Note Paper – Public Accounts Committee – NT Government Agencies’ Internal Controls
Note Paper – Public Accounts Committee – NT Government Agencies’ Internal Controls
Continued from 3 May 2011.
Mr ELFERINK (Port Darwin): Madam Deputy Speaker, I am a little surprised. I thought the member for Fannie Bay was in continuation today. I hope he is not late to the House. In any instance, I will not be on my feet for a great deal of time – hello …
Mr GUNNER: Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker …
Mr ELFERINK: A point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker! I have the call for what it is worth …
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: Member for Fannie Bay, the member for Port Darwin does, indeed, have the call.
Mr ELFERINK: However, for the sake of the efficient process of this House, I am prepared to relinquish the call, as long as I am not deprived of an opportunity to speak on this at the completion of the member for Fannie Bay’s comments. Is that is all right with the Leader of Government Business?
Dr Burns: Yes, of course.
Mr ELFERINK: Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker.
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: Thank you, member for Port Darwin.
Mr GUNNER (Fannie Bay): Madam Deputy Speaker, the Public Accounts Committee looked into the internal audit controls of departments, which I thought we dealt with quite well as a committee. The member for Port Darwin was instrumental in that process, and much of what we did could not have been done without his interrogation of public servants who appeared before the committee. I commend him on his professionalism. The member for Fong Lim participated in the early part of the inquiry before the member for Katherine came on to the Public Accounts Committee. I commend the member for Fong Lim for his efforts through that process.
We met with various departments; some had more issues than others with questions about how they were managing. Initially, use of credit cards and how they were acquitted against the public account was how the inquiry commenced. However, we went beyond the terms of reference into general risk management processes, risk committees, and how departments managed risk within their associations.
For example, the Department of Health appeared before the committee several times to talk about how it was dealing with risk and the processes being put in place over a period of time. We were not the first Public Accounts Committee to look at this issue; other Public Accounts Committees had looked into this issue. When we met with departments, we thought this was a point we had to emphasise; that previous Public Accounts Committees and Auditors-General had made comment that risk management needed to be improved and addressed. In particular, the Department of Health had issues it generally took on and, by the time our investigation had finished, had put those practices in place. As a committee, we were comfortable with the approach to a very important issue: managing not only the public account, which is where we started, but also managing risk within organisations which can have many different impacts.
They were willing to participate in the process and were open in discussing what they were dealing with. They had a good risk committee chaired by a former Auditor-General and put points very well, and it was well received by the committee.
Obviously, you, Madam Deputy Speaker, and the member for Arafura were part of the Public Accounts Committee which looked into those issues. As you will appreciate, public accounts cover a very broad range of things and it is important to draw down. We drew down to how we manage risk in those departments. It was a thorough process and we have the report before us today. The member for Nelson was also part of the scrutiny by that committee.
The Treasurer asked the Public Accounts Committee to look at an agency for a trial process for accounts payable, corporate credit card management, procurement and travel procedures. This referral arose out of the Auditor-General’s August 2008 report which identified a number of issues for each of these financial and administration areas.
The Auditor-General’s report raised questions about whether internal control processes in all agencies were efficient. The committee found genuine efforts had been made by all agencies to respond to the issues raised by the Auditor-General in his report. Uniform processes have been developed across all agencies and electronic systems have been rolled out for accounts payable and travel, which will allow better tracking. Implementation of the Financial Management Toolkit earlier this year is a significant enhancement to internal control processes.
The committee’s inquiry process involved writing to all agencies to obtain copies of the minutes of their internal audit committee meetings since January 2004. The PAC also asked for a list of actions taken by each audit committee to address any audit or risk assessment issues in the agency at that time.
From the audit committee minutes of all agencies the committee found a number of important features of internal audit function present in some NT government agencies that exemplify best practice principles. These features include:
an overarching department risk and assurance framework of policies to support the internal audit function and risk management such as policies on internal audit, conflict of interest, risk management, travel and procurement;
use of control self-assessments to allow staff to identify processes and issues to be addressed by audit committees;
clear and detailed audit committee minutes of meetings which provide sufficient information of each item discussed to allow for tracking of action items;
The PAC believes these features should be considered for incorporation into any overarching framework or set of guidelines on internal audit to be adopted by agencies. Once all audit committee minutes were received, the PAC received briefings from Treasury, the Department of Business and Employment, the Department of Education and Training, and the Department of Health and Families.
Of particular concern to the Auditor-General in his report were the agencies which do not follow control processes for appropriate credit card management, and the number of unsubmitted and uncleared credit transactions in the electronic card management system. During the inquiry, the Auditor-General advised the PAC that after the audit agencies had made concerted efforts to clear all unsubmitted credit card transactions. The Auditor-General was satisfied the situation previously identified was rectified by 30 June 2008. The committee is satisfied with the Auditor-General’s response and believes it reflects the important role and function of the Auditor-General as a safeguard to maintaining the financial integrity of the Northern Territory.
For accounts payable, the Auditor-General identified a receipt and tracking system that allows for deletion of receipts after processing; incorrectly rounded off GST amounts; and weaknesses in reconciliation of control accounts, which was of particular concern to the committee.
The committee was informed that the electronic invoice management system rolled out in 2010 would automate the accounts payable process and reduce the types of errors identified by the Auditor-General. The PAC also learnt the current revision of Treasurer’s Directions aims to further address any weaknesses.
For procurement processes, the Auditor-General reported non-compliance of procurement directions, procurement policies, and Treasurer’s Directions. The PAC found that, since 2008, guidelines, procedures, and forms for procurement have been improved, and are now centrally located on the Department of Business and Employment Intranet website.
The PAC learnt that, between 2008 and 2009, a review of the Procurement Act Regulations and Directions was undertaken. The review resulted in important changes to procurement including: increases to all procurement thresholds within tiers; compulsory use of electronic agency procurement requisition online for Tier 2 and higher, being purchases over $15 000; more delegation for NTG agency chief executives for certificate of exemption from the public tendering process; and the development of a core procurement network across agencies to provide high-level outposted strategic procurement advice and services across all agencies.
For the administration of travel, the Auditor-General reported weaknesses in the review and clearing of outstanding travel acquittals. The PAC found the implementation of the electronic Travel Request Information Processing System (TRIPS) - a handy acronym - across the agencies addresses the issues raised by the Auditor-General and eliminates the chances of travel acquittals being overlooked by creating electronic reminders and triggers for action for each step in the process.
The committee found, since the Auditor-General’s report, many significant changes have been made to internal control processes in NT government agencies. A key change has been the completion and introduction of the Financial Management Toolkit for all agencies to use. The toolkit provides a central place for financial policy matters linked with brief guidelines and information for internal control processes for all agencies to follow. The legislative basis of the toolkit is Treasurer’s Directions under the Financial Management Act. The government’s series of Treasurer’s Directions covers internal controls.
The PAC is pleased to hear government has responded effectively to the concerns of the Auditor-General expressed in August 2008. For this reason, Recommendation 1 asked that Treasury enforce the new Treasurer’s Direction G2.2 regarding internal controls. Further, the implementation of the directions must include training and other assistance to ensure all agencies understand and comply with all elements of the financial management framework set out in the direction.
The PAC also recommends, in conjunction with the implementation of the Financial Management Toolkit, all agencies review systems and processes with reference to the standardised rules and guidelines contained in the toolkit. The PAC also believes the Auditor-General’s compliance and control function is best placed as a watching brief on the implementation of revised Treasurer’s Directions, as well as the whole-of-government policies and procedures brought together under the Financial Management Toolkit.
The committee received a briefing from the Department of Health in October last year on its risk and assurance framework. The framework is based on the Australian and New Zealand Risk Management Standard. The committee found an important feature of the Department of Health model is that risk assessment is factored into all the department’s business processes which compels managers and staff to consider and manage for risks. The Department of Health model is supported by a step-by-step guide that allows each part of the process to build towards appropriate and effective management of identified risks.
The committee believes the Department of Health’s risk and assurance framework effectively links internal audit function and risk management in an overarching strategic structure that incorporates best practice principles and standards. For this reason, the committee’s Recommendation 4 asks that the Treasurer develop the Corporate Risk Management Framework currently used by the Department of Health and Families as a model for all NT government departments.
In conclusion, the Public Accounts Committee is pleased to see the changes being implemented across all agencies. The committee hopes its recommendations can contribute in some way towards ensuring better management and accountability through improved uniform internal control processes.
I thank staff of all agencies that have provided information to the committee - it was extremely valuable and important; the Parliamentary Library staff for their research assistance; the committee office staff for their support work; and the members of the Public Accounts Committee for their bipartisan approach to this inquiry.
We took up an issue that had come before previous Public Accounts Committees which the Auditor-General again raised in his report. We thought it important as a committee to look into this issue, work out what was going on, and lead it to a conclusion where we felt confident the practices to be adopted would ensure this did not happen again. As a committee, we have arrived at that point. We still need to keep a watching eye on it. As has been flagged, as a committee we will go back to this if we need to. We like to think we have arrived at a point, through the framework the Treasurer has issued, where agencies now adopt best practice and manage their internal risks. We will now have confidence in how the public account is being acquitted. That is critical to what the committee does.
We wanted to get this to a position where we felt we could conclude and, summarising the recommendations, have arrived at a point where the departments are taking those recommendations on, as they have to under the Treasurer’s Directions, and we will not be in this position again. However, we will be keeping a watching eye on it, as will the Auditor-General. That was an important conclusion for this committee.
It is good to be talking about this in the House today. As a committee, we finished this some time ago; however, it has taken some time with the way Orders of the Day work to get this happening today. It was an important outcome for the committee, and I commend my fellow committee members for putting together a sound report. The detail was good, the recommendations sound, and we are moving forward in a way that should ensure people have confidence in how our public account is being acquitted. I thank the member for Port Darwin for his leading role in that.
Mr ELFERINK (Port Darwin): Madam Deputy Speaker, not only would I like to thank the committee staff and my fellow committee members, I will go one bold step further and actually thank them. What bought us into this committee was a matter of sufficient concern for the Auditor-General to cast a grim eye on some of the practices in our departments. That is, of course, not to infer anything of a criminal nature, but some of the practices in those departments tended towards the negligent. His shot across the bow of these departments ultimately led to this committee turning its mind to the issues the Auditor-General had seen.
I pause briefly to point out that the Auditor-General often sees his primary client as the Public Accounts Committee of the Northern Territory. He has said so in the past, and it is a sensible attitude he brings to his job because he draws many of those issues to our attention.
One of the things abundantly clear to the Auditor-General was the matter of credit card transactions. For those of us who have a few grey hairs and recall the public service, even a few years ago, the idea of a public servant armed with a credit card was a novel and new thing. In the old days things were done with purchase orders, VMO books, and other administrative documents. Effectively, they achieved the same thing, but there is a familiar convenience with a credit card which seems to have manifested itself in the use of a credit card in a familiar and convenient way. The formality of a purchase order, a vehicle maintenance order, or similar document is sidestepped by a credit card and, as a consequence, I suspect some of the practices the Auditor-General drew to our attention were born out of that familiarity. I do not need to remind honourable members that familiarity breeds contempt.
I am glad the member for Fannie Bay was handed a speech because he was stumbling a little at the start. He may have been a little flustered and his freestyle speaking settles on the ears not entirely differently to the way pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis settles on the lungs. However, he had his script, and I am grateful to him for reading it to us.
The Financial Management Act is essentially the toolkit by which we manage the finances of the Northern Territory and it enables the Treasurer to issue Treasurer’s instructions as to how that is done. During the process of quizzing various departments, they clearly had prior knowledge they would have to give an account of the quality of their audit processes. Departments are now supposed to have their audit committee meet quarterly, and I am pleased to inform the House that audit committees do not just count beans; they looks at other aspects, including occupational health and safety, and other audits throughout the departments. It is a good and effective oversight model.
I draw honourable members’ attention to Appendix C of the report where we use the Health and Families risk and assurance framework. Whilst it looks a little complicated, we were sufficiently convinced by its complexity that we could use it to demonstrate Napoleon Bonaparte won the battle of Waterloo. Nevertheless, it is a tool which has been used both interstate and overseas and seems to be a reasonable model for which audit committees can keep an eye on a raft of matters they have to turn their attention to. Like the member for Fannie Bay, I am reassured practices have improved substantially across departments since the beginning of this inquiry.
There is always room for continual improvement and I agree with the member for Fannie Bay: it would not be a bad thing if the Public Accounts Committee was, from time to time, to cast a steely eye over this issue again to reassure ourselves the good work done by the departments is maintained at the appropriate standard.
Mr WOOD (Nelson): Madam Deputy Speaker, I would like to say a few words. First, I thank the staff and fellow members for the work they have put into what many might think is a fairly dry matter. However, dry as it might be, it is a very important area the PAC has covered. From my point of view, as one who sometimes regards himself as a shoe box accountant, it is also a learning curve to understand how the public service operates. It is not that easy if you come from outside and have never been involved in the public service. There are members on the PAC who have had more experience in this area than me. However, as time has passed I understand there is a definite need to ensure there are checks and balances within our public service so there is not an abuse of the processes and that money is not being wasted. That is a very important part of what the Public Accounts Committee process is about.
As mentioned, the Public Accounts Committee spoke about accounts payable. It spoke about credit card management, procurement, and travel procedures; all important issues. It also mentioned internal audits and risk management, again important areas. It brings to mind an ongoing issue in relation to a particular planning matter. I have asked when departments make decisions, whether they look at the risk involved in making the wrong decision. If so, what are the consequences if they make a wrong decision? I am interested to see, in relation to land sold which should not have been, whether the department looked at risk management in relation to the decision-making process.
I have learnt from being on the PAC that government departments have to be aware they need to review their risk management all the time, and people in positions where decisions are made need to be fully aware of the consequences of those decisions. In other words, if they make the right decision there is little risk; if they make the wrong decision there could be quite a risk to government. That risk could be financial or political. Internal audits and risk management are an extremely important part of the public service, especially when decisions are being made which affect the lives of people in the Northern Territory.
I thank all the staff and fellow members of the PAC. I also thank the Auditor-General. His name is Frank, and that fits with how he speaks his mind. He is always frank; he always says it as it is. In my case, he is easy to understand, even on complex issues. If you do not understand, he will explain it until you do. I thank him because he is very much a supporter of the Public Accounts Committee system. When you know your Auditor-General backs the Public Accounts Committee system, you feel you are working together for good governance in the Northern Territory, which is great.
I thank the member for Port Darwin. He puts his heart and soul into the PAC and, believe it or not, I listen intently to what he has to say because he has a good understanding of the areas we have to deal with. He is doing his best and, even though we have our differences of opinion and at times he is political, he is spot on in what he is doing on the PAC. He is looking at investigating what the government is doing, not necessarily from a political point of view; he genuinely wants to ensure the systems we have for running our government are being run appropriately. He has a good understanding of some of the systems and is able to ask questions I do not have the expertise to ask. I thank the member for Port Darwin for the hard work he puts into the PAC, along with other members. There is no doubt about it, everybody on the PAC does their bit, an example of a good bipartisan committee which committees should be about, trying to achieve things for governance or government as a whole, rather than siding with one party or another.
Madam Deputy Speaker, I thank everyone for the effort they put into this report. I am sure there will be more reports to discuss in the future.
Mr GUNNER (Fannie Bay): Madam Deputy Speaker, I will go one step further this time and thank the members of the committee, especially those who contributed to the debate today. I welcome their support in keeping an eye on this in the future to ensure those internal agency control measures have been adopted.
I agree with the member for Nelson; the Auditor-General has a great capacity to explain things in a way that makes sense to anyone regardless of whether you have economic or financial experience. He has a way of explaining things and getting to the heart of a matter and is a great asset to this parliament and the Public Accounts Committee.
Madam Deputy Speaker, I commend the report to the House.
Motion agreed to; paper noted.
MOTION
Note Paper – Fourth Report of the Council of Territory Cooperation – Recent Community Trips
Note Paper – Fourth Report of the Council of Territory Cooperation – Recent Community Trips
Continued from 23 June 2011.
Mr WOOD (Nelson): Madam Deputy Speaker, I comment on a CTC report about a number of trips made in relation to SIHIP, ranging from one to Maningrida late last year to several this year. The report sets out a number of recommendations and also details the trips. This time it has some photographs to show the evidence we put forward so people understand where we are coming from. The idea was, regardless of what we think of SIHIP, we continue to put forward our concerns about the operation of SIHIP in the Northern Territory.
Members of the CTC visited Maningrida late last year and, at the time, 11 new houses were handed over to Territory Housing with five under construction. These figures are now out of date but give an indication of where things were at that time.
An interesting matter was raised recently. The CTC was concerned about electric hot water systems being installed instead of solar. However, we were recently informed - I had discussions with people who know a little more about this than me - the alliances are putting in - I have not worked out how many yet - a solar pump. I had not heard of a solar pump before …
Mr Chandler: Oh, yes.
Mr WOOD: The member for Brennan has. He thinks people are getting confused with a solar hot water system - which I might be - and a heat pump. A heat pump is probably the correct word. This might be an opportunity to explain what a heat pump is. When you hear what they are some of the criticism about putting in electric hot water systems may not be totally correct. A small printout from Energy Matters Australia:
- Usually when you think of solar hot water, panels and a collector tank installed on a roof spring to mind - a traditional solar hot water system.
A heat pump is a different way to use renewable energy to heat water - that doesn’t need solar panel! Heat pumps can save you a bundle of cash on your hot water bills as they use approximately one third the energy of an electric hot water heater. Additionally, there’s generous rebates available making them an extremely economical option!
How does a heat pump work?
A heat pump is a little like a reverse refrigerator. It transfers the heat in the air outside of the unit to the water stored inside the heater through a heat exchange system. In the case of heat pumps, ‘heat’ is a relative term as they will still work in very cold conditions -at least minus-10C, so it will still be generating hot water for you during winter nights.
It then goes on to explain how it operates:
- External air is drawn into the heat system via a fan into an evaporator containing a special type of refrigerant, which is stored in piping. The refrigerant used is called R134a, which isn’t a CFC, so it doesn’t negatively affect the earth’s ozone layer.
A compressor then pumps the now gaseous refrigerant through a small valve, which compressors it, and as a result of the process generates a great deal of heat.
The temperature of the refrigerant has now dropped dramatically as the heat has been drawn away, so it returns to a liquid state and the heat pump cycle begins again.
- Massive savings in hot water related expenses over the long term.
A heat pump produces between three to five times the amount of renewable energy than electricity required to power a unit.
It’s an environmentally friendly hot water option given the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions through less energy requirement.
A heat pump is effective even in low temperatures. In extreme cold, an electric assist is activated to ensure the water stays at the desired temperature.
No roof space or panels needed.
Ease of installation as a solar heat pump uses the connections as an electric hot water system.
One of the concerns from the Maningrida trip was the decision to only partly refurbish houses under SIHIP, and the message it sends to tenants about how houses are looked after. We had concerns about using electric hot water systems instead of solar hot water systems in new SIHIP houses. We also needed to know what was happening with the closure of CDEP. This trip was some time ago and the CTC is not convinced anything has changed much in relation to the condition refurbished houses are left in.
We all saw buildings – and have continued to see them – where the laundry, shower and kitchen have been upgraded but the floor might be left in its original state and the outside of the building was not painted. Our concern, as a committee, was you were handing over a half-finished house. For the amount of money identified for these houses, surely there would be enough to complete them? As in the previous report, there is a belief this area should be taken over by councils.
The trip to Galiwinku and Gunbalanya was undertaken by me and the secretariat, Helen Campbell, and was based on reports that materials which should have been covered were being left in the open. The concern was that if materials are affected by saltwater, rain and weather that would affect the length of time these buildings would survive.
I must admit, we picked a really good day to fly to Galiwinku. It was one of the roughest flights I have ever had. I did not know a small plane could do such aerobatics and still come out in one piece. I know my hand was very sweaty by the end of the trip from hanging on to the bottom of the seat. However, we made it and we saw materials uncovered at the barge landing and near the storage area for the alliances.
Since this report, the alliances have come back with responses. I understand the government will also respond. Regardless of whether the doors were the right ones - the photograph in the report shows 30 or 40 doors which were the wrong ones - why would you leave them outside to waste? They could surely be used for something else - whether for internal doors in existing houses, used for trestles or whatever. To leave them out in the rainy weather seems such an enormous waste. There was timber - laminated veneer lumber - left out in the weather. There is some argument whether that is the right thing to do; however, you would think for the good management of materials you would ensure they were wrapped. There was also steel left out, and I am not talking about the large steel sections; roofing steel was left uncovered. The CTC has concerns materials transported by sea to these communities are not being covered to the extent they should be.
We already know that vehicles sent by barge, if not given an oil coating, become covered in saltwater and their life can be reduced - the same with building materials. If we are serious about getting best value for money, we have to ensure the building materials for these houses have not been affected by saltwater or rain otherwise the lifespan of the house could be affected, which will result in additional costs and repairs. It is important these houses are able to survive for the next 30 or 40 years with as little maintenance as necessary.
On the way back we visited Gunbalanya, an area where the houses had been started by Earth Connect. That company was asked to leave the alliance program and the houses were taken over by Territory Alliance. At the time we visited - that had caused major delays in housing even though the government said there would be a smooth transition - there was a fair bit of delay in getting the building program going after Earth Connect left.
In March this year, the CTC visited Milikapiti and Pirlangimpi on Melville Island in relation to a concern from the local member that a number of refurbished houses - we were unsure whether they were rebuilt - had been done in a way you could justify the amount of money set aside for them. The CTC met with local people in the morning and discussed a number of issues in relation to their concerns. Some people might think the concerns were mundane, but for many people they were important, such as the repair of stoves and the new style of taps. As we travelled, we noticed some houses were not being repaired. Some had been partially repaired by the council, but because Milikapiti and Pirlangimpi are communities with no new houses on any future program, it is vitally important that houses are maintained to allow people to live there or overcrowding will only become worse.
We spoke to people about the hot water systems which they said were not working and they had to put their finger on the button to heat the water. They had concerns about floor coverings, breezeways, and some of the interior painting. They also had an issue that sometimes the houses were painted inside but not outside. There were a range of issues, many of which have since been responded to by the alliance. I expect they will be covered in the government’s response.
There are some valid and good responses by the alliance. For instance, in the case of people having to put their finger on a button for the hot water system, those hot water systems have a thermostat. The hot water cannot get above a certain temperature, and the button springs out when the water reaches a certain level. By putting your finger on the button, you are forcing the hot water system to operate when it should not be operating. The hot water systems were operating; however, we discovered there is not enough explanation by the alliances - not just the alliances, also Territory Housing - as to how items in the new house work - how a new mixer tap works, how the hot water system works, what the button on the wall is for. That area needs looking at.
As an aside, on my recent trip over the Sandover and Plenty Highways, I was shown the laundry of a house with dual handles on the tap. Even I am unsure what they are for; I gather they are to connect a washing machine. No one explained what they were so no one knew how to operate them. There is concern Territory Housing is not doing enough initial work before people move into houses about new stoves, new taps, new hot water systems, and even heat pumps. We received feedback about hot water systems, but maybe they were heat pumps and people did not know. Whether there is a lack of communication with tenants before they move into these houses about the changes - how to operate a new stove - these issues need to be looked at.
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Visitors
Visitors
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: Honourable members, I advise the presence in the gallery of Year 5/6 Wanguri Primary School students accompanied by Ms Stefanie Murdoch; Ms Amber Morgan, formally a fantastic Nhulunbuy teacher; Ms Erin McCann; and Ms Rachel Dolan.
On behalf of honourable members, I extend a warm welcome to our visitors.
Members: Hear, hear!
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: Thank you, member for Nelson.
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Mr WOOD: Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. I took my best catch in E Grade cricket on the Wanguri oval. That is what I remember about it; E for elderly. Southern Districts has a good E Grade cricket team.
Madam Deputy Speaker, there were many issues in relation to simple things like shower drains not being cleared and toilet roll holders broken. There was a feeling there could have been better value for money, which has been said many times in relation to refurbishments.
The other area was employment. It was said 10 men were employed at Pirlangimpi, 15 at Milikapiti, but only two received qualifications and were already second- and third-year apprentices. It was said the training was Mickey Mouse.
As noted in our recommendations, there are many issues in relation to employment. Recommendation 5 says:
- The CTC recommends government provide information about the sustainability of SIHIP employment and training and about how government is measuring and reporting on the sustainability of SIHIP employment and training for Indigenous people.
That was one of our concerns on our trip to Melville Island. It has been a continuing concern 30% Indigenous people have to be employed. However, as we discovered in more recent times, when you dig down into what that figure means, there are not many Indigenous people employed. In some areas there are. Bathurst Island is one of the brighter lights; however, if you compare that with Wadeye, where only one person out of about 230 lasted 26 weeks, you have to ask what is going on? Other communities were similar.
I become annoyed when a federal minister talks about achieving a 30% goal. That is spin. It is not telling the truth because this program is not only about building houses and making healthier places for people to live, but also creating long-term employment where possible. You are not achieving long-term employment if only one person at Wadeye can last 26 weeks. There may be reasons. However, it would be better to say there is an issue which needs investigating rather than say we have achieved targets. Targets do not mean anything if there is no change on the ground. That is an area the CTC is concerned about.
The Council of Territory Cooperation was also concerned houses were not being kept clean or in good order, and there seemed to be little evidence of the tenancy management support or living skills program described by DHLGRS staff last year. It has been raised with me recently that there is not enough emphasis - it is a difficult area for the government - on training people not only moving into houses, but when they are in houses there needs to be an ongoing life skills program. You should not be coming back to the house in six or 12 months. I have visited many houses and, when you see the outside of the house dirty - it is not just the inside of the house that is going to create a healthy climate, the outside of the house is covered in junk - you wonder what life skills are being taught to people.
Bathurst Island is a classic example. Many years ago when I was there, the Department of Health, through the hospital, had groups of women working on a continual basis, going through houses teaching people how to cook and keep the house clean. That is the type of thing we need. It is not just about living in the house or building a house to reduce overcrowding, it is about making a healthy house, which is one of the main reasons the federal government put forward this program. It is not an easy area because it will cost a large sum of money. What is the point in building houses and asking people to look after them if people are not trying to help with their skills, enforcing them, and ensuring people are looking after their houses? There needs to be a bit of carrot and stick otherwise these houses will not last 40 years.
In response to some of our queries - and people can read them; I am summarising bits and pieces as I go along - the minister for DHLGRS, minister Burns, was kind enough to return to Milikapiti and Pirlangimpi. Unfortunately, we had an issue with the plane so our trip to Pirlangimpi was not as long as we would have liked. However, we had some good, honest discussions about issues with people on Melville Island. There were explanations about the stoves and various components in the buildings, and that the hot water systems had been fixed. We raised an issue about incorrect wiring. There were explanations given about housing reference groups. When you have meetings with one group, then with another group, sometimes there are different versions of the same story. It can be a little difficult sometimes to know where the truth is; whether some things are exaggerated more than they should be. Issues about drainage were discussed and looked at.
In relation to the lifespan of things like stoves and taps etcetera, Recommendation 3 said:
- The CTC recommends that government ensure that all newly installed components as part of SIHIP have adequate warranties through either manufacturers or the associated alliance.
Recommendation 2 said:
- The CTC recommends that maintenance requests for SIHIP houses are monitored for at least 12 months after handover to track if and where there are problems with housing components.
It gets back to the issue that these houses have to last a long time. We also want to ensure these houses do not require high maintenance. We are saying we will install new stoves and new taps that might be fine theoretically - people have studied these things and said they are fine - but will they be easily maintained, will they cost an arm and a leg to replace, and can people operate them easily? Those things need to be assessed.
In relation to stoves, the council staff at Milikapiti said: ‘At the moment, we can replace a coil in an existing stove’. You have to remember that out of 90 houses at Milikapiti, 30-odd were alliance refurbishments, and the rest are looked after by the council. They say in those houses there is one type of stove which they have the coil for - the coil is fairly cheap; when they go bung, they can replace it quickly. The alliances put in new stoves - stoves which are separate from the oven. I understand if one of the knobs breaks, the whole thing does not work, and replacement costs are much higher. You have a group of houses with one type of stove compared to houses with another.
It was the same with taps. Generally, existing houses have standard taps. They have now installed mixer taps. Mixer taps are fine, but let us ensure they have a long life because to fix them is much more expensive than a standard tap. Mixer taps have an advantage for people, especially pensioners – old people who have trouble turning taps on and off; they are much easier to operate. So, there are advantages in having mixer taps. However, a council has to keep more expensive spares on hand, and it requires a more technical person to pull apart a mixer tap than a standard tap.
We are highlighting the fact that if these changes are being put forward by the alliance we assess them to see if they are going to make a difference or make things more expensive.
I thank the minister for visiting Milikapiti and Pirlangimpi with us because some of the issues raised were sorted out. Some of them were problems, some were misconceptions, especially the hot water system, where you had to stand against the wall with your finger on the button to keep the water hot. The water was already hot; that is just a release button - when the water is hot it pumps out. People were trying to make the water hot when they could not make it any hotter. There was a misunderstanding of what new facilities have been put into the houses.
Madam Deputy Speaker, I will go through the six recommendations. Recommendation 1 was:
- The CTC recommends that government and alliances review the consultation process they undertake as part of determining SIHIP scope of works and throughout SIHIP’s delivery in communities.
That was an issue. The alliance had a different point of view in their response than the people. They did quite a bit of work over there, but some people say that was not listened to by the alliances and people had a different perspective.
Recommendation 2:
- The CTC recommends that maintenance requests for SIHIP houses are monitored for at last 12 months after handover to track if and where there are problems with housing components.
Recommendation 3:
- The CTC recommends that government ensure that all new installed components as part of SIHIP have adequate warranties through either manufacturers or the associated alliance.
That related to the alliances buying a heap of stoves or fridges and storing them in a big shed somewhere, and it may be 12 months later that they install them in a house. The concern was the warranty would have run out by the time they were installed. Our understanding is the alliances worked with the suppliers, and the suppliers are guaranteeing those warranties will start when they go into the house, which is fair, otherwise it would be useless.
Recommendation 4:
- The CTC recommends that tenants are trained in use of all components of refurbished or rebuilt houses prior to occupying a house and that this become part of the tenancy support program.
Before people go into a house they should not just be given a piece of paper saying: ‘Here is your house, goodbye’. There needs to be a good training program. It could be an instruction class, or getting a group of people together and using DVDs as part of a program to show people how to look after houses ...
Mr ELFERINK: A point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker! Pursuant to Standing Order 77, I move an extension of time.
Motion agreed to.
Mr WOOD: Thank you, member for Port Darwin. I cannot emphasis enough, we can criticise the houses but they have been built. Good houses are being built. It is no good if there are not programs to teach people what to do, before they get into the house, and to keep helping those people maintain the houses in a clean fashion.
My house is not the cleanest in the world; it is a shame job sometimes. If the member for Port Darwin was popping around I would clean up the back verandah pretty quickly; however, overall the house should be relatively clean. We have much more to do to ensure people know how to look after their houses. If we really believe healthy houses make healthy people, that has to be a major part of the program.
Recommendation 5:
- The CTC recommends government provide information about the sustainability of SIHIP employment and training and about how government is measuring and reporting on the sustainability of SIHIP employment and training for Indigenous people.
That is a key factor in this program yet difficult to see in some places. I reported to this House that I had received a list of people employed by Thamarrurr, subcontractors for New Future Alliance in Wadeye. My understanding is around five Wadeye people were employed and the rest came from elsewhere. Although it is an Indigenous employment company, it was not employing many locals. That concern was raised with me. They might be Indigenous people from elsewhere, and some people have said: ‘Well, that is okay’. However, I would have thought when you were working on major projects like building new houses and are there for a long period of time, the majority of Indigenous people - I am not saying it should be exclusively local - should be local. That has been a concern.
We are saying to the government: do not say we are fulfilling our goal of 30% Indigenous employment when the numbers benefitting are quite low. It would be better to give us the full statistics. We receive a quarterly report from the government on what the alliances are doing. It is not quite up to the standard we would like, especially financially. It tells us the number of houses being refurbished and rebuilt, and is also starting to put detailed employment figures with analysis, which is what needs to come. The government, especially the federal government, puts in too much spin and not enough about what is happening on the ground
Recommendation 6:
- The CTC is given an update on the progress of the review of the Local Government Act and of its recommendation for service fees to be re-introduced.
I will be interested to hear the government’s response. The member for Arafura has been a prominent supporter of this because it is one way local government could achieve some of its goals, especially on the Tiwi Islands. When the new Local Government Act was introduced, the idea of having service fees was not allowed. As you know, councils are struggling to provide services and the Tiwi Islands is a classic example where the football oval has been locked down and the swimming pool has been shut.
Issues about local government funding are a major concern for many of us. I would be very careful to say not all councils are in the same boat. I was recently in Katherine, with the member for Katherine, at the graduation of some young people from the Roper Gulf Shire. The impression I gained from Michael Berto is that council is doing quite well. When I get an opportunity, I will look at the difference between the Roper Gulf Shire and maybe the East Arnhem Shire or the Tiwi Shire. What are they doing different and which is better? I am not going to put the downer on all local governments; however, they have issues and the Tiwi Islands have issues.
The member for Arafura has put forward, and the CTC has taken up, the recommendation that we look at re-introducing service fees. The member for Arafura could talk more about why that is important, but the simple thing is people received better services. They even had a bus they could drive around which was funded out of those fees.
The last place I want to knock is Nguiu - I cannot think of its new name. You might say I am biased because I worked on the council. In days gone by it was a much cleaner place; it looked like it was maintained more. Today, there does not seem to be the number of people working, which could be because the council does not get enough money to employ people. We would have men and machines working every day ensuring it was spotless. Unfortunately, councils do not have that money and that is where the welfare money should go: back into the councils to lift that money up to a reasonable hourly rate and you will have people employed.
One of the key issues relating to many problems in the communities - especially around people’s belief in themselves and pride in their community - is we have put people on welfare. That discussion will continue. We have heard Galarrwuy Yunupingu and Noel Pearson, and from both sides of this parliament, about the downside of welfare. On the other side, councils should be able to perform work, keep communities clean, and give people a feeling of pride. If you close the football oval down on Bathurst Island, that is nearly sacrilege. I used to state the religions as football, Catholicism and beer. It might be the other way around sometimes, but football is at the top and it is sad to hear the oval has been closed. The member for Arafura might be able to give us an update on that.
These trips were important. They were not big in the sense that we had media following us, but were done without too much fuss. The worst thing you can do is tell people you are coming. You need to check on the spot to see what is happening because the danger of a trip where you tell everybody you are coming means the place is always nice and tidy where that may not be the case otherwise.
I would like comments on this report. It is important the Council of Territory Cooperation continues to look at SIHIP houses. We have not given it away; however, we have been looking at other things such as child protection and the animal cruelty issue, both of which have been taking some of our time. We will continue to look at the issues around SIHIP. Everyone wants to ensure works are done using the money allocated as efficiently as possible with as little waste as possible and the houses achieve, over the next 40 years, the goals they are meant to, which are reducing overcrowding, producing healthier families, and making communities much safer than they are at the present time.
Ms SCRYMGOUR (Arafura): Madam Deputy Speaker, I will probably go through until 12 noon. If I do, will you shut down or will we keep going until I have finished?
Mr Elferink: Madam Deputy Speaker, we on this side of the House would have no objection if the member runs slightly into the luncheon break.
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: Member for Arafura, you could always resume your comments after Question Time.
Ms SCRYMGOUR: I would like to pick up on several things the member for Nelson mentioned which are particularly relevant to areas in the Tiwi Islands, and Gunbalanya and Maningrida, two areas in western Arnhem Land. However, I first place on record my appreciation and thanks to minister, Chris Burns, who, on all trips when issues were highlighted, has responded efficiently and effectively. Also, thanks to Ken Davies and Andrew Kirkman from the department. Whenever issues have come out of our community visits in relation to SIHIP, or housing in general, both these public servants at the top of the Housing department have been able to respond quite effectively to the committee.
For the member for Nelson’s information, the new name of Nguiu is Wurrumiyanga. I agree, member for Nelson, when we looked at Milikapiti and Pirlangimpi - I have taken this up a number of times with the department and have spoken to the minister about it - the Tiwi Islands are unique to other areas in the Northern Territory in the refurbishment and repairs and maintenance bucket. The Tiwi Islands was part of the first tranche of funding from the Commonwealth government. All those houses were set at around $150 000 to $160 000 per house being refurbished.
When we looked at Milikapiti - and I thank the minister for visiting with the member for Nelson and me to look at some of the issues – my concern was when you looked at the work undertaken on many of the houses you were hard stretched to see evidence of $160 000 being spent at either Milikapiti or Pirlangimpi. The committee has had a number of discussions with the alliance to find evidence of the money spent on those houses. Bear in mind, in Milikapiti there is housing stock of just over 90 houses and only 30 houses were refurbished.
In that community, 60-odd houses fall into the category of legacy houses and are the responsibility of the local government shire. The member for Nelson spoke about funding and problems the shire is having in ongoing maintenance of those legacy homes. The member for Nelson mentioned the stoves. I will not go into areas the member for Nelson went through.
My recent trips to the Tiwi Islands indicate we still have a long way to go on the biggest issue - tenancy management. I hope the minister and the department picks up on this. You can throw much money at this but, at the end of the day, people resident in those houses through the tenancy management agreement should have to take responsibility for the maintenance, cleanliness, and ongoing appearance of the houses. What needs to be looked at - when I spoke to a number of people there - is the tenancy agreement is not signed by one person who takes responsibility but by a number of people. That, in itself, is a major issue because if you have a tenancy arrangement in mainstream - let us say Darwin, for argument’s sake - for a public house and you have five members of your family staying with you, you do not have five people sign the tenancy agreement. This would create a nightmare.
It is already problematic in some areas where other members of the household are part of the tenancy arrangement. I understand the concept that if you have responsible adults living in the house part of the agreement then is everyone takes responsibility. However, it can also create a situation where one of the adults who is part of the agreement creates a problem, or starts smashing the house as we have seen in a number of communities - the member for Nelson quoted Wadeye.
On the Tiwi Islands there have been new houses at Wurrumiyanga, but quite good repairs and maintenance at Milikapiti and Pirlangimpi. When you look at the refurbishments, some of the houses were of a better standard than we see in Darwin. To go back and look at some of the houses and see the state of disrepair makes you want to cry because that is taxpayers’ money. At some stage, there has to be some responsibility taken for these houses, not just by government, but by the tenants and Aboriginal people themselves. If we look at the standard of some of the houses - sure, they have become more expensive, particularly in Maningrida where you have the block brick.
Maningrida is in the member for Nhulunbuy’s electorate. Many of us in the Top End have coastal communities in the direct path of cyclonic conditions. The block brick being used in Maningrida is more expensive, but important in cyclonic conditions versus some of the houses you have seen on Melville Island, where those houses are not built to the same standard as the more expensive ones in Maningrida.
The issue I have with Maningrida is the solar system, and I keep raising this. I have raised it with the minister and the department, and will continue to raise it and have this debate with the department, the alliance, and others. The member for Nelson touched on it. Every hot water system in the new houses is electric. When you talk about people with small disposable incomes per household, the cost of electricity for the household is paid using power cards - households have to learn not only about cleanliness, but other things. Aboriginal people in those communities also have to look at becoming more efficient with power usage. That cannot happen when you have electric hot water systems. It beggars belief that in this day and age, particularly in the tropics where we probably have the best solar system - the sun - that we do not utilise it effectively for hot water systems in those communities.
I note in the report the response from the department was it felt having electric hot water systems would be more cost-effective and better for longer-term cost efficiency for those communities. Cost efficient for whom? For the government, not for residents of communities because the purchase of power cards will triple usage? I have asked electricians, and other people who have visited Maningrida, where I can put my hands on research on places like Maningrida where Power and Water may have looked at the usage per house in Maningrida, what that predicted usage will be and the cost to consumers in converting to electric water system boosters.
Throughout Milikapiti, there were problems with the solar systems. The biggest issue along coastal island communities was corrosion, which goes to the quality of the hot water systems being placed on the roofs of houses.
Travelling around my electorate of Arafura, on the Tiwi Islands and also western Arnhem Land - because Gunbalanya is currently under way with new and refurbished houses, and also the refurbishments in Maningrida - the minister and I have travelled regularly to Maningrida to keep an eye on the subdivision issues around Maningrida, housing, and trying to get tenancy management training in place.
The member for Nelson touched on employment and mentioned Wadeye. When the member for Nelson mentions Wadeye or the Tiwi Islands, I know they are close to his heart. That is not a criticism; they are areas that are softer, close to your heart, and I have no problems with that.
If you look at Maningrida before SIHIP, there was not a high expectation they would meet certain targets, particularly with employment. The federal government’s removal of CDEP, whether it is good or bad - in some communities CDEP was problematic. However, when I look at communities like Maningrida where CDEP provided the road for 28 private enterprises to be established in that community, the demise of CDEP will take employment figures backwards.
There have been many critics of CDEP. However, look at the Australian car industry - I say this to people who knock CDEP or think it has not worked in many areas – and the subsidy the Australian government provides to the Australian car industry to keep jobs in Australia. Look at Ford, look at the car industry in Australia; the Australian government provides a substantial subsidy to that industry. Why is it CDEP, which is a job subsidy in communities, is seen as a dirty word or we cannot go near it? What the federal government has done by removing CDEP is taken people from a jobs program, and one that developed enterprises, and put people back on the dole.
Everyone is now on work for the dole so everyone can be income managed. I do not have a problem with income management, but people were in full-time employment and were put on unemployment benefits for the sake of income managing people. The impact on the communities, and on individuals who went from working in full-time jobs to only working for the dole for four hours, is a retrograde step and bad policy by federal bureaucrats and politicians who are far removed from us in the Northern Territory. Decisions should not be taken on the eastern seaboard, or in Canberra, as to what is the best policy or direction for our communities.
The failure to look at CDEP, address CDEP appropriately, reinstate a reformed CDEP, to look at where those jobs were - there were substantial jobs in places like Maningrida where people were working and engaged. We do not see the same level of engagement on the Tiwi Islands. I have not seen it on the Tiwi Islands, in Maningrida or Gunbalanya, and I can only speak for those communities I have visited through the CTC. It has been fantastic to get to these communities and you are right, member for Nelson, the Roper Gulf Shire and East Arnhem Shire are operating much more effectively.
I am sure the CTC, very early, was looking at a comparative study between a shire in the Top End and a shire in the Centre as to economic viability and what is happening. I have always maintained that if we cannot get it right on the Tiwi Islands - my people the Tiwi, one language, one people, isolated and buffeted by the dynamics and what happens on the mainland - if we were unable to get major reform happening on the Tiwi Islands amongst one language group and one people then we were going to have problems elsewhere.
If you look at Tiwi, West Arnhem - I would like to talk to the two local members regarding Roper Gulf and East Arnhem to see what those ingredients are. Particularly for Roper Gulf, it means a hell of a lot when you have a dynamic CEO who can work with the communities and make things happen. I am not defaming or demeaning any existing CEOs. However, if you look at the other shires, there have been problems in recruitment of quality people with the level of expertise to make things happen.
You are right member for Nelson, I have spoken, ad nauseum, on local government and councils being able to generate service fees. The reason I keep saying service fees is shires should be able to generate service fees as Aboriginal land is not rateable and, unless the exemption to land trust under the Local Government Act is lifted, you are not going to get the rate base to make the shires viable.
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: Member for Arafura, if I could interrupt you. It is after midday and you have just over 10 minutes remaining with the option of a further 10-minute extension. Would you like to resume your comments after lunch, or were you winding up?
Ms SCRYMGOUR: I am about to wind up, Madam Deputy Speaker. I will not be long.
It has been good for the CTC to look at these issues, work with the minister, the department, the alliance, and the communities to address major reform in housing and make things work. I acknowledge the recent community trips, and I know the member for Nhulunbuy will also be talking about that.
Debate suspended.
NOTICE OF MOTION
Mr TOLLNER (Fong Lim): Madam Speaker, I give notice that on the next General Business Day I shall move –
- That the Northern Territory government immediately action its plan to develop the land known as the Bagot community and create a beautiful new suburb to house some of the existing residents of the Bagot community, first homeowners, and other homebuyers.
Dr BURNS: A point of order, Madam Speaker. I seek your advice, perhaps not immediately; however, some contemplation about whether that motion is in order given Standing Order 62.
Madam SPEAKER: Given it was difficult to hear, after Question Time I will consider that and confer with the member for Fong Lim.
Mr ELFERINK: Speaking to the point of order, Madam Speaker, I ask if you are going to receive submissions from the government on this issue that the opposition would also be granted leave to make submissions.
Madam SPEAKER: Indeed, that would happen.
MOTION
Note Paper – Fourth Report of the Council of Territory Cooperation – Recent Community Trips
Note Paper – Fourth Report of the Council of Territory Cooperation – Recent Community Trips
Continued from earlier this day.
Ms WALKER (Nhulunbuy): Madam Speaker, I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this debate. I will try not to be repetitive. My two other colleagues from CTC have already commented on this report. The CTC has been spread pretty thin over the last few months. This report goes back to travels undertaken from November, January, March and April. As members know, since then we have redirected our energy into other matters the CTC is inquiring into. That includes care and protection of children and, of course, we currently have the Animal Welfare Governance Subcommittee under way. It is probably testing our memories a little going back to things we did as far back as November. Obviously, reading the report and going back through the notes I took on these visits, it comes back to me.
I acknowledge the contribution from our very supportive secretariat. In the same vein, as the member for Arafura commented, I acknowledge the support we receive from public servants who appear at public hearings as witnesses to give evidence. In the areas of SIHIP and A Working Future policy particularly, I acknowledge the contribution from Mr Ken Davies, the CE of Local Government, Housing and Regional Services and also in the area of housing, his colleague, Mr Andrew Kirkman. His title must be Executive Director for Remote Housing. They always avail themselves to our public hearings and are incredibly helpful in the level of detail they endeavour to provide to us.
That is all good, but there is nothing quite like getting on the ground and visiting communities, seeing for ourselves what is happening, talking to residents and employees of the shire, and to other people who live and work there in all sorts of jobs.
Of the four trips reported on in this report, I participated in two. I went to Maningrida with the members for Arafura and Nelson. That was my very first visit to Maningrida. I did not make it to Galiwinku in January because I was on leave and not in the country at the time. I will talk a little more about that. Obviously, the member for Nelson has spoken about it. I went to Milikapiti and Pirlangimpi, which was a great visit. However, I did not go on the return visit when members of CTC went with the minister. I should also add our minister for Housing shows a great deal of interest in the reports we generate, is always very prompt in responding to requests for further information, and is interested in the investigations and recommendations that come from CTC. I acknowledge the minister for making himself available, and for going on that visit to the Tiwi Islands.
We visited Maningrida in November last year. A hive of activity is occurring there. There is a huge subdivision under way, only slightly smaller than the one at Galiwinku. We had a good look around - very solid houses are being built. Regarding employment, we sat in the dining mess at lunchtime when in Maningrida and spoke to a number of Indigenous employees from that community. It would always be ideal to see more people engaged and employed, but those people we spoke with valued the work they were doing and were valued by the alliance contractors in their contribution. It is always difficult in these places where there are cultural obligations and what have you, to see people getting to work in a timely fashion, and regularly. That is something the alliances need to continue to work on.
At Maningrida we had problems viewing refurbishments. Our report describes these refurbishments as half done. We appreciate it is a very difficult position. The federal government calls the shots on how the program is working. The Northern Territory government engages at that level to talk with the minister and with the agencies responsible as to how we can get better value.
I recognise we have so many dollars dedicated to do so many refurbishments in each community, and that by restoring houses to a level of functionality that makes them safe and targets the wet areas - the bathroom, kitchen and laundry - means there are not sufficient funds left to completely repaint houses inside and out. In providing refurbishment to that level means we have additional money to do even more houses. The more houses we can make safer and healthier for families is a good thing, but I would have to agree with my colleagues on the CTC and the report and recommendations we put forward, it is a great shame these houses cannot be fully completed, inside and outside.
As the member for Nelson said, people spend quite a deal of time outside their house. Around my electorate and, indeed, around the Territory, people enjoy sitting on their verandah. The need for somewhere clean and healthy to sit with family is important, and to paint places inside and out promotes a sense of pride for the tenants who live there, a sense of community pride. In an ideal world, we would love to see these places painted inside and out, because the member for Nelson is right, we are not giving the right message to tenants when we give them keys to a house with half the rooms looking pretty schmicko and the others, whilst cleaned up, not repainted, which is a great shame.
We have written to the federal minister for FaHCSIA seeking a meeting with her to discuss our concerns and put questions to her. To date, we have not been successful, although the member for Nelson was able to chew her ear during Community Cabinet at Palmerston. I understand the minister is busy. CTC will be around for a while yet, as will SIHIP, so we hope to have an opportunity to speak with her face-to-face at some stage.
One of the key concerns from the trip to Maningrida, which has already been mentioned, was the closure of CDEP and, across the communities we visit, employment. As the member for Arafura said, we need to look at the continuation of CDEP, or a reformed CDEP. We heard at Maningrida, from Bawinanga corporation, which looks after the homelands and is the counterpart of Laynhapuy from my electorate. It is a big employer of people and an effective system. To see its demise is worrying and we need something to replace it.
We had the announcement from the Minister for Local Government around budget time this year about a package of $30m over the next three years, which is good, in supporting jobs around municipal services in shires. Hopefully, that would include some of the maintenance on these houses. That is fantastic for the next three years. However, we need something long term and sustainable in providing employment and training because, as the member for Nelson said, it is not just about a housing program to address overcrowding and healthy living matters for people in these houses, it is also about providing employment and training.
That was our visit to Maningrida. Maningrida had some real issues during what was an incredible Wet Season, but things are back on track and, no doubt, people are working as fast as they can before the onset of the next Wet Season.
The member for Nelson, as Chair of CTC, visited Galiwinku and Gunbalanya on 21 January. As I said at the outset, I was unable to accompany him. I would have liked to, and asked him if he could hang on for a week but he could not wait. I appreciate he wanted to go there unannounced. He had received some intelligence about building materials that were of concern because they were left in a manner that exposed them to the elements and, being the Wet Season, that is not good, so the member for Nelson went. The photograph I am looking at here, I can confirm that is exactly what it was like because when I was there a week later - I took my camera as I had spoken to the member for Nelson following his visit, and I, too, in my little hire car had a good look around. It is inexcusable that a pile of doors, even if they were not the right doors, were left out in the weather. I am sure they could have had some use somewhere else, if not returned.
One of the issues with smaller communities where they have a massive project on their doorstep, facilities in communities, such as a wharf area or a capital lay down area for all the equipment coming in for the program, do not exist. That is partly being addressed through budget announcements last year of a few million dollars going into places like Ramingining, Millingimbi, Galiwinku, and at least two others to have proper barge landings, hardstand areas, some lighting, and a secure area to address this. However, it did not help the situation at Galiwinku in January.
The downside of going to the community unannounced for the member for Nelson was he did not have the opportunity to view the progress of SIHIP other than an external view. It is a shame because there is good work happening. Since the rejigging of the refurbishment program, the quality of the work is much better than it was previously, which is good to see.
When I was there on 27th and 28th, I organised, through the alliance and Territory Housing, to take a tour of how things were progressing. There is a huge subdivision near the airstrip at Galiwinku which must have 70-plus houses on it. The community has 90 new houses, about 53 refurbishments, and I cannot remember how many rebuilds, but that program is coming along well. They were not affected by the same type of wet weather as Maningrida, and work is progressing ahead of the Wet Season to get people into houses as quickly as we can, but only when the houses, utilities and infrastructure are ready to support the tenants in new places.
The member for Nelson spent part of his time there, because it was his first visit to the community; looking around the place. He visited the school and met the principal, Bryan Hughes, so it was a good opportunity to view the BER-funded assembly hall - I showed a photograph of that during one of our debates last week. It is an impressive school for attendance with a new infrastructure going into the school - the BER hall. They received funding, as one of eight schools in the Territory, for a science laboratory, and have been quite innovative with that laboratory. They have split it into two halves: half is an aquaculture centre, and the other half a horticulture centre.
As the member for Nelson mentioned, there are plans to convert the construction quarters of the contractors associated with the BER project to visitor accommodation. I acknowledge Mark Russell and the builder for negotiating that outcome because it is a real positive for the school, particularly when accommodation in these communities is quite difficult to get.
It is important to talk about the schools as well. Whilst CTC looks at a range of things - and we are focusing on SIHIP - from what we see ourselves - Bob Beadman, the former Coordinator-General, had commented on schools, attendance, and the need to get children into schools. It is not just about looking at houses; it is about the CTC getting a feel for the community, which is why we have public meetings to gauge people’s views and wishes - whether it be with housing, the shire, schools, health, or roads. We take all that information on board and bring it back through these reports.
I am sorry the member for Nelson had such a rocky trip. I fly there every couple of months and have never had a trip quite like you described, member for Nelson, and hope I never do.
I will talk briefly about our visit to Milikapiti and Pirlangimpi, which are in the electorate of the member for Arafura. As I said at the outset, this was my first visit to these communities. Milikapiti struck me as being very much like Yirrkala in my own electorate. It is a beautiful place - really beautiful. Policemen in Nhulunbuy do a rotation to the Tiwi Islands and Elcho Island, and they all - I probably should not say it but I will, although their wives might not like the idea - like going because they go fishing and also enjoy the beautiful community. They go for postings of anything from two to five weeks.
We were made to feel very welcome at Milikapiti where we held a public meeting. A range of issues was raised. A common theme came out at Milikapiti and Pirlangimpi, and has come across from Elcho to Santa Teresa - floor coverings. It sounds like such a simple thing but it has been problematic. Where we see houses refurbished, families are left with concrete floors. They are old, pitted, capture dirt, and are not healthy. Whilst kitchen floors and wet areas may be retiled, it is the living areas and other parts of the house where these bare floors, as the report says, are permeable and impossible to keep clean. As we see this program ongoing, that is one of the recommendations we strongly make. We need proper covering on the floors. Whether it is a sturdy lino or terracotta tiles, which is what is being used in all the new houses, it would be a good thing.
We talked about stove tops and the inappropriateness of some that have been installed, and the cost. The fact they turn over so quickly is partly for lack of a good strong tenancy management program; a tenancy education program that teaches and supports tenants to know how these appliances work. I cannot help but wonder, as I read publications from the Centre for Appropriate Technology in Central Australia that come up with some innovative devices which accommodate people who do most of their cooking outdoors - very sturdy, fuelled by fire not electricity, and very workable. We are a bit off the mark if we are not taking up some of the recommendations of the Centre for Appropriate Technology.
We talked about support for tenancy management. Some of the refurbished houses we looked at that had been handed back to tenants were not up to scratch. The member for Nelson said houses will not last 40 years if we do not have proper processes in place. Not only that, we will not be delivering outcomes around healthy living - which is one of the major aims of the program - if we cannot support tenants to manage their homes; to know how to keep them clean and use the various devices and installations. There is a tenancy management program …
Dr BURNS: A point of order, Madam Speaker! I move that the member be given an extension of time pursuant to Standing Order 77 to complete her remarks.
Motion agreed to.
Ms WALKER: Thank you, Madam Speaker. I cannot over-emphasise the fact that we need a strong tenancy management, tenancy education process, not only to protect the asset, but for the people living there to be healthy and safe.
There was a comment in the report about the condition of some of the legacy houses the CTC saw at Milikapiti. We were concerned with walls rusted where they joined floors and unsafe-feeling floors and stairs. That is one of the challenges of scoping the work. Contractors come in to scope the place and make judgments about what work needs to be done and how far they can spread the budget. Sometimes, it is obvious what is wrong with the house, sometimes less obvious.
During my last visit to Galiwinku in May, I took the opportunity to visit some refurbished and new houses, as well as the new subdivision. The contractors were telling me one particular house they were refurbishing – being in a coastal environment with all the steel buildings rust is a huge issue - they were cleaning out the kitchen and removing the cupboards. When they removed the cupboard the whole wall started to give. They could not see it until they were pulling out the kitchen fittings, which is what was holding the wall up. Luckily, nobody was injured; no wall fell down. However, that is the state of some of these legacy houses, and it makes scoping difficult. When they think they are working on a house with X problems and find, as they delve deeper, Y problems, it starts to cost a little more.
I called into the school at Milikapiti. I am indebted to Suzanne Brogan, the principal. As always happens on these visits, our schedule goes out the window because we often end up seeing more houses than planned because tenants say: ‘Come and look at my house, I want you to see this’. We try to accommodate everyone. I thank Suzanne Brogan, the principal, who stayed back well after school, with her staff, to show me through the school and sit down and chat with me. That school has an attendance of 90%, which is fantastic. That is on a par with our Darwin urban schools. The school staff put it down to the fact they work hard and closely with the community, that education is valued and everyone works together. That is the way we need all our schools to be. I take my hat off to the school at Milikapiti.
There is a similar story around the school at Pirlangimpi. As one of the members has already said, our visit was delayed because of flight problems so we lost time in Pirlangimpi. It was not helped by the rain setting in upon us as well. The principal, Daryll Kinnane, came to the public meeting. We could not get to the school, but he came across to the public meeting and advised us they have a similar attendance rate, about 92%, which, again, is fantastic. It is also a result of a community working collectively to get their kids to school, recognising the value of education and having children at school every day.
Pirlangimpi is quite blessed and visionary in that the houses are all block houses. They are solid and, in the type of refurbishments they require, they have a distinct advantage. Structurally, these places are very solid. We saw some strange decisions made in these places. We have talked about the taps and the solar water systems, and removal of hot taps from laundries and the very strange location - I am looking at the picture here - of a kitchen cupboard installed on the living room wall. Those decisions leave you shaking your head.
As a result of that and a list of issues being sent direct to the minister, a response was quickly received to each of the concerns. As a follow-up, the minister himself travelled to the Tiwis with the members for Arafura and Nelson to see and talk with tenants and shire people about what was going on.
The report states:
- The wrong message is being sent by governments. Communities that trash houses get new housing and rebuilds and those that look after housing get nothing.
That is another recurring theme across the communities we visited. It is quite unfair to those tenants who have looked after their houses and kept them clean. As a result, they might be 40 years old but are still liveable. Whereas we have had tenants who do not look after houses, on occasions do deliberate damage - or their visitors - to their house and, because the house is in such a state, they are the people who get the new houses. That is quite unfair.
The housing reference groups on communities have a role to play in allocation of houses, but it is only in an advisory capacity to Territory Housing which then makes final decisions around allocations. It is an ongoing issue, and people who make recommendations need to feel they are being listened to and valued. We need to keep an eye on this so tenants who are looking after their properties have the opportunity to be rewarded with a new house, possibly a bigger house that allows them to accommodate their family, and perhaps the house they vacate be refurbished, if need be, for another family.
Madam Speaker, we have already discussed the six recommendations. We have stepped away from SIHIP, A Working Future policy, and community visits based on that train of investigation. We will get back to it once we are through the other matters we are dealing with. Madam Speaker, I thank my colleagues for their ongoing support, and at any time members opposite want to return to the CTC you would be very welcome.
Member for Araluen, you would find it really valuable, particularly in the area of child protection, an area you are passionate about. It would be fantastic to have someone with your passion and background as part of the CTC, because we have excellent access to senior public servants and other witnesses we might call before the CTC, which goes across all areas of our investigation.
Mr ELFERINK (Port Darwin): Madam Speaker, I will pick up where the honourable member left off. We have an adversarial system of government and, whilst that is often criticised by people who see it in action because of its nature, one of the things that made this side of the House determine not to stay with the CTC was that it tries to capture a spirit of cooperation. Many of the public would expect a spirit of cooperation amongst people in this House who, every time we sit for the welfare of the people of the Northern Territory and ask the good Lord direct our attentions and deliberations, prosper as a result of those prayers. People expect us to work together and do not realise that 90% of the time we do.
The Council of Territory Cooperation, which we have been invited back to, is now delivering a report to this House in a very cooperative fashion. The member for Nhulunbuy agrees with the member for Nelson, and many of their observations and comments are valuable and correct. The problem is, in an adversarial system the very nature of that system is designed to keep government on its toes. We now have a very expensive report. We have heard how much travel has occurred to report to this House some important issues - the quality of work being done in remote communities, and the fact the longevity of some the houses built will be retarded because many of the construction materials, particularly the steel, have been exposed to the weather. These are serious problems and should be cause for alarm.
I am alarmed by them and worried the 30- to 40-year life span applied to these buildings will be diminished by virtue of the fact SIHIP is not protecting the material properly as it is being transported. I heard with alarm the member for Nhulunbuy raise several criticisms in relation to that and other issues. We hope the Northern Territory government, as a result of this expenditure, will be galvanised into action because whilst it is a mostly federal, partly Northern Territory government program, the legacy of the program will entirely be the responsibility of the Northern Territory government. These diminished houses and materials exposed to the air will cause these houses to deteriorate and future Northern Territory governments will have to pay for them.
In an adversarial system, the government would be responding to the reports being made in this House, but with the Housing minister’s presence in the House and apparent lack of interest, not to mention the rest of the government’s lack of interest …
Dr BURNS: A point of order, Madam Speaker! The member is attributing motives and behaviour to me that are not true. I am here and listening very intently, Madam Speaker.
Mr ELFERINK: Madam Speaker, I accept the comment. However, I deliberately waited for some time before jumping for the call so the minister for Housing could leap to his feet and respond to these critical issues which …
Dr BURNS: A point of order, Madam Speaker! The government will be making a formal response on Thursday.
Mr ELFERINK: All of a sudden, you will be making a formal response. You are not ready for it now, which makes my point. A cooperative process means we have a government which is, by its apparent lack of interest as I look around the room, hardly moved at all. All of a sudden, we introduce …
Dr BURNS: A point of order, Madam Speaker! The member knows full well he cannot refer to the presence or absence of members in the Chamber. He is making an assertion about government members.
Mr ELFERINK: All I said was a lack of interest by government members. I made no reference to the presence or otherwise of a person in the Chamber, but I thank the honourable minister for pointing it out.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Port Darwin, if you could withdraw that last part and get on with the script.
Mr ELFERINK: Madam Speaker, I withdraw and I will get on with it.
The point I sought to make is: with a cooperative system, government is indifferent. The moment you introduce an element of adversity into it we have government responding, leaping to its feet and calling points of order. It is for that reason members on this side of the House decided not to participate any further in the Council of Territory Cooperation unless it was under circumstances where we needed to - hardly cooperative. However, only now does government announce, once it has been barbed, it will respond on Thursday.
Why do you not respond now? You have had this report in your clutches since it was tabled last week. Now, the government is suddenly going to be responsible, once barbed into action, and that is the challenge of the adversarial system. The report from the Council of Territory Cooperation has fallen on deaf ears with this government and continues to do so. It is only when someone is prepared to poke the government in its ‘go’ nerve that it starts to move. I am prepared to poke the government in the ‘go’ nerve for the sake of the people who occupy these houses today, tomorrow, and into the future.
The government should be alarmed that one of its own members is critical of the housing it is about to accept and take carriage of into the future. I would be alarmed because if it wants to talk about division over issues, talk about that type of division; where criticism is flowing from its own side of the House in relation to what is happening in these houses. What has happened to these houses, and the whole of SIHIP’s program from day one, has not been good enough. This is another example of the government’s maladministration and I am glad to hear it has suddenly decided to galvanise itself into action. However, I note it is a moment of adversity rather than cooperation which has achieved that response.
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Tabled Paper
Pairing Arrangement – Members for Casuarina and Brennan
Pairing Arrangement – Members for Casuarina and Brennan
Madam SPEAKER: Before I call the next speaker, I have a document relating to pairs for the period from 4 pm to 7 pm this evening for the members for Casuarina and Brennan, and signed by the two Whips.
_________________________
Dr BURNS (Public and Affordable Housing): Madam Speaker, as mentioned in a point of order, government is in receipt of this report. Government has considered this report and is in the process, along with the departments, of considering and putting together our response. I assure this House we take this report extremely seriously and will be responding, as government, on Thursday. For the member for Port Darwin to assert we have gone to sleep on this issue, or not taken it seriously, is not so and we will be responding on Thursday.
The member for Port Darwin alluded to various matters that have been raised, not only by the member for Nelson, but other members of the committee. Government members of the committee represent bush electorates and are passionate and interested in what is happening in their electorates, and fierce advocates for their electorates. I can tell you as minister, they bring their concerns to me directly. They also, obviously, express concerns through the council, and that is a very healthy way to be. These members, first and foremost, have the wellbeing and welfare of their constituents and their electorate at heart and I commend them for it. This is exactly the robust type of debate and discussion that occurs on this side of the House.
What do we see on the other side of the House? Recently, we have seen the member for Goyder, along with the member for Nelson, bring out a separate planning policy document to the rest of the party. We are told it is complementary. I am not sure whether that is with an ‘i’ or with an ‘e’, but we have a healthy debate on this side and I commend members on this side. If I did not take this committee seriously I would not have gone, as a number of members have said, to the Tiwi Islands with the department and the alliance contractors to hear, firsthand, the issues raised by the committee.
For the member for Port Darwin to say government is not taking the work of this committee seriously is complete balderdash. I wanted to mention that, and I look forward to debate on Thursday when I come forward with government’s response to the findings and recommendations of the committee.
Mr ELFERINK: A point of order, Madam Speaker! How is the minister going to respond to this debate when he has used his contribution time to attack this side of the House? How are you going to do that, minister?
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Port Darwin, I assume he will give notice of a motion.
Mr ELFERINK: Yes, he will have to give notice of a motion. We now have to change the rules of the House to accommodate this man. It shows you how poorly prepared he is.
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: That is not a change of rules, member for Port Darwin.
Mr GILES (Braitling): Madam Speaker, I would like to comment briefly on the Council of Territory Cooperation report, specifically on SIHIP - the gift that keeps on giving, in a political sense.
In my previous work for the federal government in Melbourne and Canberra, both in Prime Minister and Cabinet and DEEWR, and my relations and liaison with many Aboriginal people in bureaucracies and communities around Australia, the common theme is the waste and mismanagement in Aboriginal affairs, the amount of money that goes towards bureaucracy, and the lack of tangible outcomes on the ground - in this case houses and housing refurbishments. It also crosses over to health and education. The thing I find difficult with SIHIP is where to go.
There is report after report into SIHIP. There is commentary throughout the Northern Territory and Australian media about the maladministration of SIHIP and about performance failures. You cannot go to any community in the Territory where SIHIP has not had a failure of some form. The evidence within the Johnson report, which is a federal Cabinet report obtained by Channel 7 and released last week, says on page 14:
- The capacity of the Northern Territory government is of particular concern as evidenced by its performance to date in the housing and schooling domains.
I take an overall view and review of this program, and think how many Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory are missing out. It happens in other programs around the country, but this would have to be – of all the programs I have ever dealt with – the biggest failure, with the biggest amount of waste and mismanagement. I can talk about different topics – there is an MPI today on these things – but this is a substandard program delivered in a substandard way to – in a subconscious way – substandard people on the ground. There is no way this would be accepted in any other part of Australia. It is absolutely abhorrent!
The thing that amazes me - I try my hardest not to attack the member for Nelson in a political …
Mr Wood: You did not do too badly last week.
Mr GILES: No, I did well …
Mr Wood: You mentioned my name about 25 times in one speech.
Mr GILES: The government has failed in the delivery of this program. When the member for Nelson, as Chair of CTC, stands in a scrutiny role to oversight this and deliver outcomes - that clearly is not happening. People have a right, particularly Indigenous Territorians, but also Australian taxpayers who contribute to this, to ask when they are going to see reforms.
Part of the problem with the alliance modelling is they outsource the procurement process and the government has no idea how much they are spending on anything, but continues to probe and ask the questions. I beg and plead with the member for Nelson to hold the government to account on this …
Mr Wood: Like the carbon tax.
Mr GILES: Hold them to account. The carbon tax is a different issue …
Mr Wood: There is the mining tax, too, and the live cattle ban. I did not realise I was such a …
Mr GILES: I listened to the interjections by the Chairman of the CTC, the member for Nelson. If he thinks it is okay …
Mr Wood: You are making this up.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr GILES: … that we have funds going towards Indigenous Territorians from a service level outcome objective, and not doing anything …
Mr Wood: You do not listen to my speeches, do you?
Mr GILES: Well, you can talk! You can talk; you have to take action …
Mr Wood: No, you have the silver tongue.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Member for Nelson!
Mr GILES: You have to take action. You tell the people who are not getting refurbishments done on their house. Go to Santa Teresa where only half the houses have been done, where CDEP employees are made to work on the job because they are not paying people, and they now do not have jobs. You get out there …
Mr Wood: Rubbish!
Mr GILES: That is not rubbish …
Mr Wood: No, you are rubbish.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Nelson, you will have an opportunity to respond.
Mr GILES: You are abhorrent! You have let down Aboriginal people …
Dr BURNS: A point of order, Madam Speaker! The member well knows he needs to direct his comments through the Chair.
Mr GILES: My comments are coming through the Chair.
Mr Wood: No, they are not.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Braitling, if you could direct them over here it might be helpful.
Mr GILES: No worries. I want to say this is the worst program I have ever seen in Indigenous affairs. People should be ashamed!
It is my job to hold government to account and try to improve things. That is how improvements happen from time to time. However, this is still going on. It was announced in 2007 as an emergency to protect children. The CTC is failing. I appreciate the comments by the members for Nhulunbuy, Nelson and Arafura; they try to provide a critique, but it is abhorrent that it continues. Someone has to put a stop to it. You cannot keep wasting money like this.
The Johnson report talked about it. Amongst other things, it talked about 232 Indigenous programs run by the federal government, this being one of them. It talked about waste and mismanagement, the need for a streamlined process, how to rationalise things and remove administrative burden, and ensure there are better outcomes on the ground.
We have an opportunity to make change. There is $1.8bn in the national partnership agreement to 2018. We cannot keep doing this. The minister has to act, and the member for Nelson has the power to make him act. Do not let Aboriginal Territorians continue to suffer because these are the people Australian taxpayers are trying to help. The Northern Territory government is failing them and the Independent member for Nelson sits idly by and lets it happen. He has the power to make change. He has not achieved anything in this. It is the Auditor-General’s report, the role Senator Scullion, the federal Indigenous affairs shadow minister has taken, along with me and my parliamentary colleagues. We have held them to account.
The member for Nelson cares, but he has to take action to make change. You raise the issue, but you have to take action. You cannot stand by with this. We have not even reached shire council reform and all the failures in that area. What will we get from the next CTC report? We will talk about problems with SIHIP once again, and with the shire, and nothing will change. For Aboriginal Territorians, 25 August 2012 cannot come soon enough, not in a political sense, but when they start seeing outcomes. Also, the child protection area - protecting children - and school attendance - getting kids to school. Everyone around Australia says ‘Education is the most important thing’ and the government has a statement today - we know all that, you have to get outcomes.
My level of frustration is right up the top with SIHIP. I consult colleagues and people in Canberra about what to do. Do I call for a judicial inquiry? Do I call for a Royal Commission? How do we fix it? How do we put a stop to this waste and mismanagement? At Wadeye, we have seen 33% of the money go to administration and human resource tasks rather than houses. Is it just the Liberals who realise this is a failure? This is a waste of $20m. The minister for Business, the minister for Construction, and the Treasurer talk about Territory jobs as part of the stimulus package. SIHIP is a stimulus to the economy and should be a stimulus to the communities with the outcome of protecting children and housing families, as Australian taxpayers want. They signed up to this, but they are not getting it.
It is $20m at Wadeye. The outstations are asking for $20m per year for five years. We have wasted $20m at Wadeye. We could have put a subsistence package out to the outstations with that money. We could have done many things. We could have built school halls. We could have fixed the child protection system. I hold you to account, member for Nelson, because you are part of the problem and you should be part of the solution.
The idea of going to shire councils might be a good one. If it is, make it happen. If it does not work, fix it and go another way. There are solutions but it is not happening in this House and it is not happening with this government. That is why the Johnson report talked about the lack of capacity of the Northern Territory government to deliver on housing and education outcomes. It should have gone further with other portfolio areas.
The member for Johnston, the minister for Housing and minister for Education - two areas with the least capacity - cares, but he is not making the changes either. His role in public housing is a case in point - how poorly is that managed? The member for Arafura cares - make changes! We cannot keep wasting money. This is not about government waste and red tape, this is real money; real taxpayers’ dollars going out the door to nowhere. As I said, my level of frustration with this program is at the upper limits. I do not want to bang on about it to gain political points, I want it fixed so kids get a house to live in, a bedroom to sleep in, a place to store food so they can have a good night’s sleep and go to school the next day; so they can sleep away from perpetrators of child sexual acts, in some instances, so they are not coming into the child protection system.
Last week I was informed of some Aboriginal children who recently died while under the child protection system. They fall into this category, and when kids are dying, partly because they are not getting appropriate housing, emotionally, that is disturbing. It cuts right to the heart that this is a failure. When people spoke about pink batts and the unfortunate death of four Australians, the Coalition was right to raise that as a failure. However, Aboriginal kids are dying in the Territory partly because they do not have a safe place to live. The minister for Housing, the Chief Minister, the Treasurer, and others on the government benches, as well as the member for Nelson, should hang their heads in shame ...
Mr WOOD: A point of order, Madam Speaker! I reject the suggestion that I have something to do with what he calls a failure – he is inferring I am responsible for the deaths of some of these people.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Nelson, this is not a point of order.
Mr GILES: It is not a point of order. Sit down. It is not a point of order.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Member for Braitling! Member for Braitling, can I clarify that you were not implying members of parliament were involved in the deaths of children in the Northern Territory?
Mr GILES: No, no, not at all.
Madam SPEAKER: Now we have clarified that, please continue.
Mr GILES: I will clarify it further, Madam Speaker. The Little Children are Sacred report resulted in the Northern Territory intervention. Part of that was emergency housing; a commitment of $672m at the time, which is now $1.8bn out to 2018. They cannot get it right but we are giving them more money. Thanks, Julia. The money for that housing was supposed to protect children and provide them with a safe place to sleep so they could have proper nourishment, a proper kitchen with properly stored food, and they did not have to share rooms with other people, potentially people suffering alcohol abuse problems or other issues. This was designed to give kids a safe bedroom to sleep in and it has failed. Children, as a result, directly or indirectly, are becoming part of the child protection system and some die. You can call it a long bow; however, it is part of the process.
When I heard last week of other kids in the child protection system who have passed away, I cried. That is appalling. My critique of people involved in the CTC and in this government is fair. They can play political games and be paid extra money to sit on committees, but to me it is about the kids, not politics. There is no media release from Adam about this. This is about the kids and how things should be changed. This is why the Little Children are Sacred report and the intervention happened. It is an absolute failure.
Mr WOOD (Nelson): Madam Speaker, it is disappointing to hear the member for Braitling talk the way he has. I have spent more time with Aboriginal people than the member for Braitling has been alive. I have lived in tin huts with Aboriginal boys. I have seen 15 boys under the age of 21 die from the effects of alcohol. I live with an Aboriginal lady, my wife, Imelda. To hear the venom from the member for Braitling, as if, by some reason my being the Chair of the CTC holds me responsible for all the ills of this world, I find astounding.
I expect members of parliament not to be a bag of wind or shout clichs and smart comments that are so shallow they evaporate in five seconds just to get a headline about something that is so important: the welfare of our first people in the Northern Territory, which I am also passionate about. However, I will not talk rhetoric, shallow clichs, or use a silver tongue when I have to deal with practical, down-to-earth, realistic issues that are not easy to change.
I will give you one example. SIHIP, love it or hate it - I am not a great fan of it either - was set up by the Liberals originally. The alliance system started before the Labor government came in; it took it on afterwards. The reality is, to stop SIHIP now would cost millions more dollars because the companies would sue the federal government for loss of revenue. You cannot drop a system because you do not like it. There has to be a little more thought before you have this grandiose plan that we should scrap the program because it is not doing as well as it should have. You have to think these things through.
I would rather see the previous system where individual companies had individual contracts. I have said before, as has the CTC, I would like councils to take over refurbishments. However, the decision-making is not something the CTC can force on the federal government. I said in this parliament that I sat down with minister Macklin and put the issue of councils taking over the refurbishments to her and she said she would look at it. However, if she does not agree with me there is nothing much I can do. After all, the CTC is a committee and, like all committees, we put out recommendations and it is up to the government to decide whether it accepts those recommendations - it does not matter what committee it is …
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr WOOD: There can be proper debate in this House, as we are having now - some more proper than others. There can be vigorous debate in this House about the issues we are talking about; that is what we are doing now. However, the committee is a committee and the idea is all people on the committee work together to find solutions and bring those solutions back to this House for debate. That process occurs with all other committees; it is no different with the CTC.
The member for Braitling doubts my sincerity. I find his inference objectionable because I am part of the CTC. I do not have some magical way of overturning what he sees as a dreadful program, therefore, children will die because there is not enough housing and, by inference, I am responsible for that. I find that extremely offensive, quite upsetting, and not fitting for a person in this parliament to accuse me of that.
SIHIP - love it or hate it - has produced houses. The member for Braitling does not think I have travelled. I have travelled to many communities yet …
Mr Giles: I did not say that.
Mr WOOD: Read your speech about Santa Teresa. I have been to Santa Teresa. The CTC was first to raise the issue of the verandah floors; others jumped on the bandwagon later. Fine, the more people the better. The front page of the NT News showing graffiti on the house in Maningrida was my photograph. I sent it to the NT News because I was so annoyed that houses were being handed over to clients without being fully finished.
I have been to many places looking at SIHIP houses. I recently finished a tour of the Sandover/Plenty Highways and looked at quite a number of SIHIP houses. It is not hard to pick them because they all look the same; they all have the same improvements and the same front walls which are not painted. As Chairman of the CTC, I will continue to push with the government for changes. Whether those changes take place, just like any other committee, is up to the government to decide and people will make the decision of whether the government has done its job or not.
To balance the debate about SIHIP, I ask the member for Braitling to have a full briefing from the alliance. The New Future Alliance and Territory Alliance are mainly made up of Territory companies putting this program together.
I am no friend of the alliances. The reason I did not take the member for Nhulunbuy to Galiwinku was because I wanted to go out quickly without telling anyone because we had reports materials were being left outside in the rain. I was not trying to send too many bells to Galiwinku that I was coming. It would have been nice for the member for Nhulunbuy, but I was told: ‘Go there now and you will see the issues’. We visited and raised the issues, and the government and the alliances know about it.
We expressed concern about hot water systems being installed when we thought solar hot water systems should be. Then I was told the alliances have been putting in heat pumps which are environmentally efficient. I knew nothing about heat pumps.
By all means, criticise where criticism is fair. As a member of parliament, go to the communities to find out what people think of their new houses. Also, talk to the alliances, even if you are an opponent - so what? I am sure Alan McGill at Territory Alliance would welcome you if you want a discussion about the alliance system.
I have been critical of the alliance system because you cannot trace the money, as has the Auditor-General. I understand the Commonwealth Auditor-General is ready to issue a report on the same system. Even though I can be critical and raise these issues, in the end, the federal government will make the decision of whether to pull the pin on the alliance system. I am sure it would be looking at the financial costs of that.
We are worried about wastage of money, and there are times - I have a question tomorrow about wastage of money. I have already raised a number of issues with the Auditor-General as a local member. We can say there is waste of money, but would there be a bigger waste of money closing the alliance process down? Would those companies sue the government for not fulfilling the contract? We pay them millions of dollars which we could put into housing, and then start a new program. That does not make any sense to me. We have to live with SIHIP. Love it or hate it, we have to keep an eye on it all the time. That is what the CTC is trying to do.
The Commonwealth minister will make the decision, not Gerry Wood or the members for Nhulunbuy or Arafura, if they think the alliance system is broken and needs fixing.
What I, the CTC, and this parliament can do is contribute to that debate to ensure there is as little wastage of money as possible, and ensure Aboriginal people get houses. My biggest concern is not so much the program we have now - even though I have concerns about whether the money is being well spent – but there does not seem to be a policy from this government, or the federal government, in relation to what we call small communities. I have raised this before.
We went to Milikapiti and Pirlangimpi. Milikapiti is a classic example - the member for Nhulunbuy mentioned it – where most of the houses are made of steel frame in a saltwater environment and most have a rust problem. At Pirlangimpi, most of the houses are block. However, none of those communities are getting new houses. We know the block houses will be good for a while. Unfortunately, people will have babies but there will not be new houses to go into. Whereas, at Milikapiti the houses are rusting away - not all of them - and require high maintenance. There needs to be a bigger effort to ensure all the houses at Milikapiti can be kept in a state where families can live because, with no new houses, you have to put more effort into keeping the existing houses available.
It is easy to stand in this parliament and knock. I have gone crook at the government about land release and other things. It is easy on this side if you want to knock the government; however, there has to be some fairness in what you do. If you are knocking the government so you can be in power next time, I cannot argue with that. That process does not contribute much except be a headline-grabbing exercise rather than something with any depth to it. I did not hear anything with depth. I heard many clichs from the member for Braitling, and I understand his frustration - I have the same frustration. I try to be a realist, not someone who is sounding gongs, or whatever that biblical term is about making lots of noise. However, is there much depth in what he is saying? I say there is not.
I work hard to go through these important issues and am happy to repeat it to Ms Macklin time after time. We need some changes, but to infer I am not compassionate, not fair dinkum, I do not want change, is insulting. The member for Braitling hardly knows me. He is a newcomer to the Territory. He knows very little about my history, very little about my past. I hope I contribute, through my past, to debates in this parliament.
So many other issues besides housing are really important. We are going to debate tomorrow night, hopefully, the issue of suicide in the Northern Territory. There are so many health issues we need to debate. There are so many issues about childcare and so many about literacy and numeracy. I am no expert on those, but I try to learn. I visit communities, I go to schools, I talk to councils, and I talk to people who own houses. I try to get people in communities to tell me what the issues are. I do not want to hear what some highfalutin academic says about something. I do not want to always take what is said in this parliament because much of it is grandstanding and looking for a headline with the final hope to win another election.
I do not mind this side trying to win government, that is their job. However, when they argue, put something sensible to the community, people can say: ‘Well, that is pretty good; we know on what basis he is saying that’. However, to hear what has come out today, which would make a fine headline but there is no depth to it - it will be like page 1 of the NT News sometimes, all headline, about one inch of wording, and you have to go to page 7 to read the rest.
Whilst I am disappointed at what the member for Braitling has said and his inference about me, let us move on. The CTC will continue to look at issues in relation to SIHIP. It will continue to ask questions, and one of our next meetings should be talking to the alliances again. I recommend to any member of parliament who does not know much about what is going on, talk to the alliances, ask them questions; ask them whether workers fly in or fly out; ask them how much it costs to move machinery to communities by barge; ask them if they cover their goods; ask them if they poured concrete correctly on a tank at Maningrida recently - Maningrida or Elcho. There are many issues, but do not be afraid to ask them before you bag them in parliament. The fairest way is to bag them after you have spoken to them. I have a question tomorrow which is not great from an alliance point of view, but I will ask the question anyway.
I hope what I heard today is a minority view from the opposition. I know everyone in the opposition and respect them all. They do not always agree with me; that is fine. I am one Independent, I can take that. I hope when people criticise me they do so in a way that can be justified because I have done something wrong, or they do not agree with my argument. However, to infer I have powers far beyond this planet - the member for Braitling said I had power over the carbon tax, the live cattle ban, and the mining tax. Well, blow me down, if I had that much power I could be a dictator. I could, Madam Speaker, take over your place and you would all have to do as you were told. It is headlines, and, unfortunately, the type of headlines that do not contribute to good debate.
I thank the staff who put the report together. I thank the members of the CTC and say, sincerely, I would like the opposition to come on board with these issues. It does not mean you cannot have a good barney afterwards. If we work together to see the issues in a more bipartisan way rather than an …
Mr Elferink: Adversarial.
Mr WOOD: Adversarial, thank you very much. That was not adversarial; that was cooperative ...
Mr Elferink: I would like to think of it as charitable.
Mr WOOD: Charity is not a bad thing in life.
Madam Speaker, I thank the public servants who come to our meetings. They must grind their teeth sometimes knowing they have to sit in front of us for one or two hours and are going to be asked the same questions again. It also keeps them on their toes.
The CTC is a good process. It might not be perfect, but it is a good process. It does not stop the Westminster system operating in this parliament to debate issues, and that is important. Once again, thank you to all the people who have contributed to the debate today. I appreciate what they have said and will continue, hopefully, to do my best for the first people of this country and the second people of this country equally because we are all Territorians. The issues concerning us are ones all of us should look at in a reasoned and sensible manner before we open our mouths.
Motion agreed to; paper noted.
TABLED PAPER
Office of the Ombudsman – Annual Report 2009-10
Office of the Ombudsman – Annual Report 2009-10
Dr BURNS (Leader of Government Business): Madam Speaker, I table the 32nd Annual Report 2009-10 of the Ombudsman.
MOTION
Print paper - Office of the Ombudsman – Annual Report 2009-10
Print paper - Office of the Ombudsman – Annual Report 2009-10
Dr BURNS (Leader of Government Business): Madam Speaker, I move that the report be printed.
Motion agreed to; paper printed.
MOTION
Note paper - Office of the Ombudsman – Annual Report 2009-10
Note paper - Office of the Ombudsman – Annual Report 2009-10
Dr BURNS (Leader of Government Business): Madam Speaker, I have a short tabling statement.
I tabled the 2009-10 report of the Ombudsman for the Northern Territory pursuant to section 154(1) of the Ombudsman Act. We are required to table this report before the Assembly within six sitting days. Honourable members would be aware the Ombudsman Act requires the annual report is provided within three months of the end of the financial year for tabling in this Assembly.
Madam Speaker, members would be aware the Ombudsman did not provide her report until 27 June this year. The Ombudsman has acknowledged the delay in forwarding her report and states:
- This report was required to be delivered to the Chief Minister by 30 September 2010 for tabling in the Legislative Assembly. I acknowledge my responsibility for the delay and offer my regret and apologies to the members of the Legislative Assembly for any apparent disrespect.
The Ombudsman 2009-10 Annual Report provides a detailed assessment of the office’s performance during the financial year including: the resolution of complaints made about government agencies; recommendations to improve the delivery of services by government agencies; the inspection of Northern Territory Police records as required under the Telecommunications (Interception) Northern Territory Act and the Surveillance Devices Act; the management of the Ombudsman’s office; and the financial statements required under the Financial Management Act.
The annual report highlights the valuable work undertaken by the Ombudsman and her staff. I extend the appreciation of government to the Ombudsman and her staff for their efforts to improve the resolution of complaints, government processes, and equality of public administration.
Madam Speaker, I seek leave to continue my remarks at a later date to take note of the report.
Leave granted.
Debate adjourned.
MINISTERIAL STATEMENT
Education in the Northern Territory
Education in the Northern Territory
Dr BURNS (Education and Training): Madam Speaker, education is the No 1 priority of this government. That is what Territorians told the Territory 2030 committee when it went out for consultation, and why it is central to the Territory’s direction for the next 20 years.
In 2011, if a child goes to school every day in the Northern Territory they receive a good education. There is no doubt education is the key. It is the vehicle that can deliver social, cultural and economic development. It is essential to a safer, longer, and better life and a stable, strong and growing society and economy.
The Northern Territory government, under Labor, has invested heavily in education over the past 10 years. This investment includes eight new schools, 407 additional teaching staff, and a record budget of $930m in 2011-12 to make education affordable for Territory families who recognise education is all important for their children’s future prosperity …
Mr ELFERINK: A point of order, Madam Speaker! I thought the mover of a motion had 30 minutes to speak. I notice the clock is set on 20 ...
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: The mover of the motion has no time limit.
Mr ELFERINK: It is not running?
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: No.
Mr ELFERINK: That would explain it. I apologise.
Dr BURNS: We know the massive investments we have made as a government are paying off for many young Territorians. The fact is: students who go to school every day are getting a top-class education, as good as anywhere else in the nation. Today’s students, with strong attendance, can look forward to a bright future thanks to their ability to obtain a sound education through our Territory schools. We have made fundamental changes to the way education is delivered in the Territory so many more young people have the opportunity to complete school.
Prior to Labor coming to government in 2001, the Territory’s education system had a written policy of denying students living in remote parts of the Northern Territory the opportunity to complete Year 12 in their communities. As a government, we have not shied away from the challenges associated with delivering a first-class education in remote school settings - from the establishment of preschools in communities where there were previously none, to the delivery of Year 12 level education to young Aboriginal kids in remote communities who have as much right to an education as any other Territorian.
The bottom line is our investment and our relentless effort to improve education in the Northern Territory has yielded results we are proud of. The CLP, which after 10 years in opposition still has no education policy to speak of, would have you believe our education system is broken; it is failing. Whenever they get the opportunity to talk it down they cannot help themselves. Everyone was watching when the Leader of the Opposition chose the most simplistic interpretation of the My School website to tell Territorians their schools were no good, to infer Territory teachers were not good enough, and to scare mums and dads into believing if their child attends school here they will fail.
In truth, the education system in the Northern Territory is strong. Territorians know if a child goes to school every day they will do as well as they would in any other school in Australia and fulfil their potential. Every year, we see over a 1000 students graduating from Year 12, competing with other students around Australia and gaining entry to universities of their choice, to study courses of their choice including medicine, nursing, engineering, architecture - to name a few. If our system was broken the way the CLP continually claim this would not be the case.
On a like-schools comparison, Territory schools are as good as, if not better than, other schools in Australia. For example, when we compare our provincial schools with the metropolitan Australian averages, 23 of our schools equalled or exceeded NAPLAN test results in reading, writing, and numeracy in Years 3 and 5. When comparing our NAPLAN cohort gains from 2008 to 2010, we record some of the strongest improvements in Australia. In fact, we registered above average national gains in 11 of 15 testing areas. This is a reflection of continual improvement in education in the Northern Territory which enables our students to achieve high outcomes and go on to universities around Australia.
Our students are doing just as well in the traditional trades, with 4700 apprentices and trainees currently in training. That is a record number, and we are well on our way to reaching our second four-year target of 10000 apprentices and trainee commencements.
Young people who choose not to go on to further study are now in the best possible position to take advantage of the prosperous times ahead with our growing economy. In keeping with these great opportunities for young people and the needs of industry, we have formed a peak industry group to continue to align training with industry needs, as well as a joint government task force for the resources sector, which will be particularly important when INPEX makes its final investment decision.
To help our students get the most out of their education, we are building them world-class, new schools and delivering improved facilities. Our investment in school infrastructure has been massive, to say the least. The Building Education Revolution, or BER, infrastructure has delivered $206m for Territory government schools, and $64m for non-government schools, which has seen every primary school receive new or upgraded buildings. The Territory government’s $300 000 upgrade of every primary school or group school will also stand our schools in good stead well into the future. I am sure all students, parents, and teachers in our new schools would agree they are terrific facilities.
Under this government, we have invested heavily in new schools we have built including Arlparra High School, Baniyala Garrangali School, Bonya School, Darwin Middle School, Manyallaluk School, Nganambala School at Emu Point, and Rosebery Primary School and Rosebery Middle School. Construction of the new Nemarluk School is also under way.
Our investment in upgrading existing schools is something we are also very proud of. In particular, our middle and senior schools have benefited from new and improved facilities. This has included: $8.4m for Darwin High School; $3m for Dripstone Middle School; $2m for Sanderson Middle School; $8.4m for Casuarina Senior College including previous funding; $5m for the redevelopment and upgrade of Centralian Middle School; $14m for Palmerston Senior College; and $4.5m for Taminmin College.
One aspect I am particularly proud of is the Henderson government’s investment in special schools. We have committed $30m to upgrade these schools which provide valuable education to students with high needs. Much of this work is now under way or completed. I am particularly pleased that the construction of the new Nemarluk School is progressing well and we are on track to have it open for the 2012 school year.
The government will continue with its long-term agenda of improving education in the Northern Territory through quality programs and initiatives and sound strategic direction. I have engaged the head of the Australian Council for Educational Research, Professor Geoff Masters, as a major part of informing this path of improvement. He is actively helping us focus our efforts, and has been in the Territory over the last week. This is his third visit and he has already visited a number of schools. As I said in Question Time, Professor Masters has delivered his first report to me with 15 recommendations and, together, we released the report publicly last week. I have already tabled the report and the department’s response to that report during Question Time.
The department has accepted all of his recommendations, which will ensure school accountability and performance processes are robust enough to help schools deliver improved educational outcomes, particularly in literacy and numeracy. One of the aspects of Professor Masters’ report is the need for greater emphasis on those very important early years of a child’s life that sets them up for lifelong learning. We have to get those early years right. Aligning the significant efforts of government will be the key to this, including such programs as child and family centres, Families as First Teachers, and mobile preschools.
The government also provides a childcare subsidy that covers every child attending a licensed day care service. We are the only Australian jurisdiction to provide this subsidy which helps parents with the cost of childcare and helps us keep fees low. Last year, this government made available $3.8m for this purpose.
Professor Masters acknowledges the establishment of a strong foundation for action that underpins the DET strategic plan. He also identifies ways in which the system can improve, and proposes high priority actions to clarify and enhance current practices in order to improve literacy and numeracy outcomes.
Partnerships are an integral part of the way this government does business in education. Our strong association with the Australian government, through national partnership agreements and the BER funding, provide not only increased investment but the wider support to implement aspects of our plan to deliver quality education to Territorians.
The Menzies School of Health Research is another strong supporter of our education system, and they work with us as a research partner engaged in evaluation to enable the roll-out of evidence-based practices. Coupled with our partnership with the Australian Centre for Educational Research, our relationship with Menzies will ensure the recommendations we undertake and programs we put in place are rigorously evaluated for their effectiveness.
Our new Centre for School Leadership, Learning and Development has also been formed through a partnership with Charles Darwin University. The centre will improve student learning by providing high-quality professional learning and development programs and activities for school leaders and aspiring school leaders.
Additionally, as mentioned earlier, we have established Centres of Excellence in our senior secondary schools to ensure even more of our high-performing students have the opportunity to be challenged and extended. A Centre for Excellence began this year at Darwin High School, with 42 students studying maths, science and engineering. Another started at Casuarina Senior College, with 29 students in health sciences. Centralian College is becoming a Centre for Excellence for Sustainable Futures and Solar Energy, while Palmerston Senior College will become a Centre for Excellence for the Arts in 2012.
I have detailed a strong position the government has developed over the past 10 years for education in the Territory. However, this government has always acknowledged the unique circumstances of the Territory and the challenges we face. This acknowledgement, however, always comes with a plan to tackle those challenges. Unlike the CLP which, I believe, has no plan or, for that matter, no comprehensive policies, we have a robust plan to create a smart Territory - a plan that is steeped in research, evaluation and evidence-based practice.
I have said quite plainly that children who attend Northern Territory urban schools do as well as, if not better than, their peers in other Australian states and territories.
For those students who live in remote communities with unique circumstances and, in many cases unacceptable levels of attendance, for those remote schools we have a plan that addresses those challenges. It is a plan which is gaining momentum: we must address poor school attendance in remote communities; we must achieve better literacy and numeracy levels which will allow students to secure jobs, further training or higher education; we must ensure infants and young people are ready to learn at school; we must get better at retaining our teachers and principals in the bush; and we must work better with communities. Our plan includes a range of measures that will target children who have become disengaged with school and those who may not be doing well if they are going to school.
We are working to ensure we get the best teachers in our schools, that we have strong leadership, and that we have the right programs, systems and support in place. Our plan includes:
the Target 180 program, which trials an extended school year by up to 10 weeks per year to allow students in remote communities who are absent from school for extended periods during the school year due to cultural activities to have the maximum opportunity to receive at least 180 days of schooling in a calendar year;
The Territory 2030 strategy and the department’s Smart Territory strategic plan for the next four years will form the basis of our overall plan to address the challenges head on. We have the Every Child, Every Day strategy, which includes approaches such as the frequent attendees program that rewards students for consistent attendance, better school planning and collection of data so we know what is working and what is not. We have our No School, No Service program which is a partnership with local schools and businesses not to serve students during school hours.
Earlier this year, we reformed the Education Act to better help our system to connect and help students and families who have not been able to see the value of education. For the first time ever, the new legislation makes it mandatory for parents or students to attend compulsory meetings about a child’s attendance, enrolment or participation. Since the legislation came into effect on 1 June this year, 66 compulsory conference notices have been issued with the result that 32 students have returned to school. Our new legislation also enables the department to issue recalcitrant parents and students with infringement notices for continued and unimproved school attendance, enrolment or participation. It is one of the toughest aspects of the changes, but it is one this government does not shy away from.
As we begin to implement these strategies, we have seen a 2.3% increase in overall attendance, an overall 3.1% rise in our very remote numbers, and a 3.6% lift in our Indigenous student numbers when comparing Term 1 this year with Term 1 last year. Once we get students re-attending regularly we are getting the best in literacy and numeracy instruction. Our literacy and numeracy strategy and the Transition to Year 9 is being implemented and is guiding our teachers about the expected levels each and every child in the Territory should be attaining at each and every year level to Year 9.
We have established the first three of six Strong Start, Bright Future colleges which take a child from birth right through to employment. We are giving those kids a pathway they can see that will lead to jobs and healthier lifestyles. That is paying off, with nearly 18% increase in attendance at the West Arnhem and Groote Eylandt colleges.
We have also established the Families as First Teachers programs in all regions. This program builds family knowledge of early learning through active engagement in quality early childhood education programs prior to starting school.
We will continue to work in partnership with the Australian government and, with its help, will deliver five integrated child and family centres across the Territory. These centres will bring together a range of early learning, health, childcare, parenting and family support services to improve the overall development and wellbeing of children and provide support to their families. These centres will be located in Maningrida, Ngukurr, Yuendumu, Gunbalanya and Palmerston, and we will work in partnership with local services and programs to ensure they meet local priorities and needs.
Strong and effective partnerships with communities are as important as providing quality education and critical to effective school operations. We are building those ties through local implementation plans in our 20 growth towns and through school community partnerships. We have eight signed and active in communities, with another 32 in the pipeline. The roll-out of our Schooling 3-9 program as part of our Strong Start, Bright Future colleges is another great example of schools and communities working together to make education facilities available for additional after-hours educational activities that benefit not only students but parents and grandparents. At Gunbalanya, for example, the community is using the school after hours for a community library program for woodwork and a driver’s licence program.
Our partnerships extend to industry; those stakeholders that can provide help to our students to get jobs. I mentioned the Jobs Guarantee and Beyond School Guarantee earlier. We are training in job pathway partnerships with ERA Ranger Mine, ILC Meatworks, Injalak Arts Centre, GEMCO and the Groote Eylandt and Bickerton Island enterprises to name just a few.
We also established educational partnerships. We have very successful Clontarf and Girls Academy programs operating in 14 secondary schools across the Northern Territory, with new schools coming on board every year, as well as link with Chris Sarra and the Strong Smarter Institute in Queensland.
Schools, teachers and principals are critical to reaching the goals of our plan. Teachers are front and centre to helping our students achieve their best. The Department of Education and Training has introduced a new teacher screening and induction program to ensure teachers opting for a very remote posting are aware of the requirements of teaching in isolated places and are robust enough to handle what, sometimes, can be a totally alien lifestyle. I am pleased to say teacher retention in remote communities this year has increased by more than 20% compared to the same time last year. In 2010, 128 commenced and 94 retained. In 2011, 116 new teachers commenced with 109 retained. We are also growing our own local teacher workforce with programs and assistance to get more Territorians into the teaching profession.
All the initiatives, programs and strategies I have outlined, and the results we are achieving, are the culmination of many years of hard work and innovative approaches. As a result, the education system in the Northern Territory is going from strength to strength. It is not as the opposition would have you believe: in crisis or in need of an overhaul. There is room for improvement and we have taken bold steps and, in the next year, will see a consolidation of the initiatives we have already introduced and, hopefully, much anticipated improvements to our educational outcomes.
In conclusion, I reiterate education and training in the Northern Territory is well-placed to deliver a quality outcome for all Territorians no matter where they live. Parents who send their children to school every day can be confident their child will receive an education as good as anywhere else in Australia.
Madam Deputy Speaker, I commend the statement to the House. I move that the Assembly take note of the statement.
Mr CHANDLER (Brennan): Madam Deputy Speaker, well, come in spinner. I have no doubt the department of Education, including all the wonderful teachers, work hard; however, on the back of some of the most damning attendance rates and academic results it takes courage to spruik about your success.
In the statement you mentioned some of the positive areas of NAPLAN. You failed to mention some of the bad results you are getting for your investment. We could focus on the negatives or on some of the positives; however, you are not giving a clear indication if you are going to only talk about the positives. There are negatives.
Attendance is another one. I heard the Chief Minister say today attendance is crucial; without attendance we cannot have good results. I have a chart - KPI comparisons – 2010-2011 original to 2010-2011 revised. There are a couple of things, but I am going to talk middle schools for a minute seeing we were focusing on that today. On the figures I have here, there are a several rather damning results. When talking about average attendance rates for non-Indigenous children, you are talking 89% with no reduction in the revision. For Indigenous, the original estimate was 70% and it has dropped to 64.2%, down 5.8%.
What is damning in this is the students attending over 80%. Non-Indigenous have gone from 99% to 93% in the revised figures, but the figure for Indigenous students attending middle school over 80% of the time has dropped from a horrible 21% down to an abhorrent level of 15%.
We could talk figures all day. We could talk about some of the things people who come into my office have spoken about. This government says all the time: ‘We have policies, we have commitments, and we have dollars’. The difference is, you are the government. If your systems are so good there is nothing different for us to do if we were take government in August next year, because everything would be laid out for us. Everything is so good, so rosy, and so perfect we would not dare want to change things.
Minister, I can tell you things are not as rosy as your ministerial advisors or your department tells you. I get a completely different message to what you sometimes sell in here.
This government likes to promote the notion that before the Labor government reign in the Northern Territory education did not exist; that the former CLP government did nothing for education, never focused on education, and no schools were ever constructed under the former CLP government. It also does its damndest to promote the perception that only after the Labor government was elected did the focus on education commence; that new schools were built, etcetera. It is just spin.
Perhaps we need to have a history lesson to remind Territorians just how many schools were built prior to a Labor administration. Let me tell you, the record of the former CLP government stacks up quite considerably compared to the current government. Let us use Palmerston as an example - a place very close to my heart. When we talk about primary schools, there used to be a policy in the Northern Territory government where there was one school, one suburb. One of the rationales behind that policy was no child had to walk over any major road to get to school when they lived in the suburb where their school existed. When I first moved to Palmerston, we had Moulden, Driver and Gray, each with primary schools, with Woodroffe still a very new suburb. However, Woodroffe Primary School was still constructed. The next school to come along was Durack, which was completed in the suburb of Durack. That was followed soon after by Bakewell Primary School, because there was a new suburb of Bakewell.
However, that is where it stopped for many years. After that, the suburbs of Gunn and Rosebery were built either side of Bakewell. Then, we had the suburb of Farrar. Yet, in all that time we had one primary school catering for those four suburbs. It is not fair to say parents were not able to send children to other schools, but Woodroffe was also a very busy school. In fact, Bakewell was exposed as splitting at the seams.
It is probably the reason I stand here today, because my anger got to a level in a constant fight with this government to get additional infrastructure in Palmerston. Over a very long period of time, with a group of very dedicated chairs and principals of Palmerston schools, we saw the government finally come, dragged and kicked along, to commit to Rosebery primary and middle schools and, indeed, turning Palmerston High School into a senior college.
It is easy to say hats off to the government for providing these additional resources, but let me tell you, there was a long, hard fight with this government to get it to recognise Palmerston was the growth area of the Northern Territory and where the infrastructure needed to be. In the end, it is fantastic we have new infrastructure. However, do not be too proud of it because you had to deliver it; you had no choice but to deliver it.
When we talk about outcomes, this government likes to talk about money; it has given this or that amount of money, and has put money into this or that. When I have a look at the results of NAPLAN and the attendance results we, as Territorians, are getting a very poor return on our investment - a very poor return. We need to do better. We have to do better for the sake of our children.
Of some of the issues I often have brought to my attention, teacher turnover is an amazing one, particularly in remote locations. Why is government not doing more to keep good teachers, promote good teachers, and offer permanent positions for good teachers? I have been told the average principal knows within three months whether a teacher is going to be a good teacher. Many of these good teachers, on contracts in particular, cannot be offered full-time positions before other full-time teachers already in the pool are offered positions. What happens to good teachers? They are often poached by other schools which are in the position to offer full-time positions.
Teachers are evaluated, just like most people. Even politicians are evaluated because, if you have not done the job, you certainly will not be elected the next time. Teachers are evaluated as part of their normal employment conditions. However, principals - the ones who work with and know how good a teacher is – are not able to offer full-time employment. There should be a process where teachers on contract can be recommended to the department to be made permanent. Principals are best placed to make these decisions, not the department.
Let us look at statistics on academic results. This government often - very often - brings up the fact there were no Indigenous students able to complete Year 12 in the bush prior to it coming to government. Let me tell you statistics do not tell you the whole story, because I am not interested in statistics, I am interested in academic standards being achieved.
One Indigenous Year 12 graduate I spoke to has not been offered any further help from this government and cannot even find a job. I have had reports of Indigenous rangers in Wadeye who cannot read or write, yet they passed Year 12. What about good programs - programs with achievement demonstrated - not being supported? I mentioned in this House a number of programs that have shown damn good results that this government decided not to continue with. Even in today’s paper, a literacy program for the Northern Territory’s youth is under threat. I will read directly a quote from the paper:
- The Northern Territory government refused to help fund the Exodus Foundation program - developed with Macquarie University - which has been taught in four Top End schools.
The Rev Bill Crews said it was the only method that worked.
‘It is a circuit breaker on poverty - teaching literacy to kids who have fallen through the cracks’, he said.
‘More than $3m a year has been wasted on ineffective programs. This has left the most successful program within weeks of closure’.
I also call on this government to reconsider its position on this program.
It reminds me of additional literacy and numeracy funding made available for programs in schools where levels are critical, only to be withdrawn when levels rise. The program stops, the levels fall, and the schools reapply for the same funding. This seesaw approach is ridiculous. It is the same for accelerated literacy and numeracy programs. These need to start earlier, and if the curriculum has not been developed to start the programs earlier, develop the damn curriculum! As I have said before, why do we fail to commit to programs where real results have been achieved? Just like the save the children attendance program - a program showing real results - snuffed out because a decision is made to replace it. How is that going? How are our attendance rates going for Indigenous students in particular?
Some issues have been raised with me - and this issue in was from a school in the northern suburbs. In 2009, Power and Water increased costs by 18%. This school in the northern suburbs said its budget was only increased by 9% to deal with this. Therefore, it has to find the additional money within its own budget to pay the government’s own power increases. This year, Power and Water have increased costs again, and again the school budget has only been increased by 50% of that cost. The same school also expressed concerns over new buildings which, although they are welcome, the increased maintenance costs cannot be budgeted until next year, and that includes cleaners, etcetera. It spruiks about the additional benefits of some of the BER-funded programs, but this government has not seen fit to provide additional resources to maintain the infrastructure, to clean the infrastructure, to keep it in good order, to protect the investment made by the federal government.
Recently, I was advised Nightcliff Middle School was three teachers short in the science and maths area. Although the department has, apparently, responded very quickly to the school’s challenges after repeated complaints by parents, again, it highlights the real problems occurring in our schools, seemingly without end. What does it tell you about the departmental processes? Information provided to me, from that same school, suggests another maths teacher could not speak English and the whole class failed algebra. If that is the case, who has failed - the class, the teacher, the department, or the minister?
Information I received from Taminmin suggests a woodwork teacher was teaching maths and science. I have raised this before in this House. The science experiments were limited to substances no more technical than bicarb soda. A question to the minister: before you continue to promote the notion you and your department are doing so well in delivering high quality education, how do you explain to a parent that their child’s science education is limited to bicarb soda experiments? Does the minister think this, in any way, limits a student’s learning? How does this provide high-quality education?
Another point raised with me in regard to Nightcliff Middle School was the government’s ICT offices have been created in the area that was previously the school library. ICT moved in earlier this year - which is great, and there are benefits for the school; it is highly welcome. However, the school does not have a library. The minister today explained how the books have been sent around the schools in some form of open learning plan idea. A school without a library - everyone knows how important it is that kids are exposed to books, relaxation and, in some cases, even escaping from bullies at lunchtime, etcetera. The school does not have an allocation for a librarian so the department has taken the library and left the school without such a vital resource for teachers and kids. As far as I can determine, there is no commitment from this government to compensate the school for the lack of resource. Why not? Again, I ask the question: how does this support the notion of providing high-quality education?
At a recent departmental brief when I raised the issue I was gobsmacked by the response from the department’s advisors. They spoke of the library as some dark, dingy, horrible place that has been under-resourced and not given the focus it perhaps should have had or deserved. I ask you: who provides the resources to these schools? Is it the department of Education? Is it the minister through policies? To have advisors blame the school for the current position of the library is astounding when it is, in fact, government policy and a government minister who has decided in the House today that libraries were not important and were not his responsibility; they were the school’s responsibility.
One parent said to me: ‘Labor can forget about support for their future forward ideological policies when, right now, they are stripping our kids of their future, based on reality of their education’. Another parent from Palmerston advised that his son, who is Grade 1 at Rosebery school, is suspected of being gifted, but the Education department has dragged its feet since last year in the process of having him tested. His son once attended Woodroffe preschool and Transition classes before relocating to Rosebery. Both the schools have been very helpful, but their hands are tied when it comes to the department. I hear this time and time again.
Madam Deputy Speaker, you have heard today the pros and cons of education. This government calls it ‘its No 1 priority’. I looked at a couple of questions we received answers for. This one was on the More Indigenous Teachers (MIT) program. The MIT program was developed in 2007 to provide a focused approach to recruiting and retaining more Indigenous teachers. The MIT plan had a target of 40 Indigenous teachers over four years from 2007 to 2010. I could be wrong here, but numbers provided to me show we have 29 of those teachers in place at the moment. So, a program that was to run from 2007 to 2010 for 40 Indigenous teachers has only been able to achieve 29 so far.
We can talk about the pros and cons. We can talk about a government that wants to sprout it is so good when it comes to education and that the previous CLP government had nothing and no focus on education. I continually hear the previous CLP government was never in the game when it came to education. I was not part of a previous CLP government. I know my background and that I want what is a right and proper process. I want a department focused on children. I know the minister is a caring man; he cares about educating our future. However, when I hear things that go on behind the scenes, when I see the tactics applied by this government - it comes into this House and it is all rosy. It promotes itself as having some high, ethical standard of government which has everything right.
I received an e-mail a short time ago. I will give you an indication of how this government works behind the scenes. It is all roses on the surface. I received an e-mail this afternoon and I will read from the e-mail:
- Rod from Chris Burns’ office phoned …
… and was quite angry.
… is extremely upset that the office has demanded a copy of the information provided to me.
It is all roses on the surface, but you act like thugs behind the scenes ...
Ms Lawrie: Not true.
Mr CHANDLER: You act like thugs – absolute thugs. You are demanding people …
Ms Lawrie: Not true.
Mr CHANDLER: You cannot stand in this House and raise any criticism. Parents out there cannot raise a problem. They are not game to, because of the retribution that comes from your mob. You come into this House, you think you are all roses and a lovely group of people – your ethics suck!
Members interjecting.
Mr CHANDLER: Absolutely, absolutely! You had people behind the scenes going about their business, acting like thugs …
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Order!
Mr CHANDLER: … demanding information from people. Quite frankly, I am disgusted at the approach.
I have respect for this minister. I have respect for most people in this Chamber. However, to find out this goes on behind the scenes, in retribution - we could raise many issues where we know this government has form in the way it goes chasing people, the way it goes hunting like a pack of dogs. I am absolutely ashamed this action is from a government that professes to have education as its focus. However, it prefers to go behind the scenes to find out who is providing information to the opposition.
All we are trying to do is get you to lift your game – that is it! The opposition’s job is to hold you accountable. Any time it does, you go on a witch-hunt after people who provide us with information. It is absolutely disgusting!
Madam Deputy Speaker, I will not be supporting this statement today. It is full of wonderful ideas; it is full of bullet points and headlines, but there is no substance to it.
Ms LAWRIE (Treasurer): Madam Deputy Speaker, talk about a lack of substance. We just heard it from the would-be if he could-be, the shadow spokesperson for Education - an absolute lack of substance. Somehow, empty rhetoric from the opposition is transposing itself as policy and it is not - it is simply empty rhetoric. Find some depth to your argument; find a way to articulate the policy direction of education in the Territory.
The minister for Education has come forward with a robust statement which points to achievements, challenges, and the pathway to better outcomes for our students. Instead, we get from the shadow spokesperson empty rhetoric. We are getting used to that from the opposition in this Chamber. They are somewhat frustrated, I daresay, in the fact people are starting to see through how shallow a pool they are swimming in. We are proud of our record in delivering quality and affordable education services, of our record in building better schools, and of our record in supporting teachers and school staff throughout the Territory, including our remote and regional areas.
Education is one of the most crucial services of government delivery. It will provide the building blocks for better opportunity for all Territorians, making us a smarter and more productive Territory and, fundamentally, a better society.
When we came to government there was no getting away from it; the stark reality was there in the resources - $476m invested in education by the CLP. Since then, we have taken the education budget to $930m - a record in the delivery of education services in the Territory. That is a 95% increase, almost doubling the budget from 2001.
The reality is, if you want better outcomes in education you have to have better school infrastructure, more teachers in the classrooms, more teacher aides and support across the system - put more staff and resources in. You heard the debate about Nightcliff Middle School today in the Chamber. What the opposition continues to ignore is that school is two staff above establishment. How a school determines to deploy those two staff above establishment is a decision made by the school. However, the opposition will not understand that because they want to be directive about every individual’s life. They want to be in your face, in your back yard, telling you - whether it is in your business, or in your school, or how you live - because they have a fixed view on how it shall be, irrespective of the views of the local people, the local community, and the local structures empowered to make those local decisions.
Some of us lived through the dark years of the 27 years of neglect - the decades of neglect. Our government is working with the challenges that came out of those decades of neglect. We remember just how prescriptive they were. If you did not suit their way, if you were not cut from their cloth, you were run out of the Territory.
Member for Brennan, you talk about witch-hunts. You were so very wrong! Many of us sitting here lived through those dark decades and we saw exactly how the CLP, in government, preferred to operate. I understand when it transposes that natural inclination to witch-hunt, and that natural behaviour toward us, because that is how it thinks it happens - because that is how it happened under the CLP. It certainly does not happen that way under Labor.
We heard a minister in Question Time today say clearly that if the school wants to deploy its resources in a particular way, and is above establishment in its resources, that is a decision for the school. There will not be a directive from his ministerial office if they are achieving the education outcomes. That whole issue seemed to be completely missed by the member for Brennan - whether Nightcliff Middle School is grasping the IT challenge – grasping an IT in excellence position, and positioning itself for the modern era in education.
As a parent of teenagers, my teenagers love reading books; however, I see how much knowledge and learning they do with their school work and homework using their laptops. I look forward to a day when they have iPads. I have seen their classrooms go from blackboards to whiteboards to SMART boards. There is a dynamic IT revolution occurring in our schools, and the CLP members just bury their heads in the sand - it was not the way they did it, it was not the way they do it, therefore, it cannot and should not happen.
Schools are getting on with it. They get on with local decision-making - making informed decisions. If Nightcliff Middle School wants to grasp the IT excellence role, well, all power to them, I say. I am a product of that school. I am very proud of being a product of the Nightcliff public schooling system. They are innovative, and continue to be innovative. I know Liz Veel as a principal; I have seen her work as an assistant principal in the past. She is a dynamic educator, and I have every confidence in decisions being made for the local school community.
It is a furphy and nonsense to listen to the hollow, empty rhetoric of the member for Brennan because, without the resources investing in teachers, the IT systems, infrastructure, and maintaining a school through R&M, you are not really funding the education outcomes that we, quite rightly, want to provide as opportunities for all of our children. We have invested that critical $592m since coming to government in all those key areas of R&M, minor new works, and the capital spend.
I was at Malak school recently for the BER opening. I have seen that school transformed in a physical way and an education learning way. Quite frankly, I do not know if it would have transformed in all those ways without the physical improvements at the school - the capital improvements. There is a real sense of community pride and ownership in that school. There is a real sense of ‘we are as good as we can be matched up against anyone anywhere in Australia’. That school has a whole range of complex and challenging kids across a broad social and economic strata. Quite frankly, every time we have extra R&M, minor new works and a major capital improvement into the school, you see the school community lift and respond to that investment in the way a school looks. You cannot set that aside and say it is not important to the outcomes - it is.
The $930m education budget is a significant slice out of our $5.3bn overall budget. It shows, with almost a fifth of our budget going to education alone, how critical it is to us. We have put an extra 400 teachers across our education system. If you want to drive those literacy and numeracy and broader learning outcomes, it has to come from staffing additional teachers into the classrooms. We are continuing with our record of delivering with an emphasis on teachers. Budget 2011-12 provides $1.2m to establish up to 50 specialist teacher positions in identified schools. That is, we will remunerate at a higher level specialist teacher positions, our best teachers, rather than taking our best teachers out of the classroom and putting them into the administrative aspects of education, which is what had to happen if you wanted to be remunerated at say a vice principal level. We will invest in specialist teacher funding to keep our best teachers in the classroom and, not just keep them in the classroom, but buddy them up so they can do professional development with teachers across the range of our schools.
There is also an additional $1.18m to provide an extra 85 teacher aides in Transition classes across the Territory. Anyone who understands early childhood learning understands the critical importance of getting those staff-to-student ratios increased in Transition. I am delighted to see we are investing in 85 additional teacher aides in our Transition classes. If we can get in at the early childhood learning, we will start to see a turnaround in the outcomes we are striving to achieve.
The other way we are supporting families is encouragement of Every Child, Every Day at school. We laid the foundation for this in our new policy when we came to government which was around the Back to School vouchers. We understand it is often hard for families with the cost of getting their kids to school. It is really hard to have them outfitted in uniforms and get their resources, which is why we started the Back to School voucher for every child of $50, which we have increased to $75. It has been a very popular initiative and takes some of the financial stress off families at the start of the school year.
Other initiatives include the establishment of centres for excellence at our senior secondary colleges and our comprehensive high schools across four years. The first centre commenced operation at Darwin High and focuses on maths, science, and engineering. Then it rolled out to Casuarina Senior College, which is focused on health sciences. In the first year of operation, there are 42 students at the Darwin centre and 29 students at the Casuarina Centre for Excellence. This is a strong start to what is a great program.
An investment in technology has been critical. There is $1.5m to expand the At School pilot using virtual schooling as a learning alternative for secondary senior students. There is the all-important SMART board technology, which is now a feature through most of our schools and classrooms. We have also supported the federal government’s initiative to roll-out laptops to students.
If you look at other initiatives in supporting teachers: $2.8m to establish the Institute of School Leadership, Learning and Development to develop existing and aspiring educational leaders; we have improved and expanded training and development pathways for Indigenous educators; we have significantly invested in English as a Second Language training and support for teachers; and we established a quality Remote Teaching Service unit to support our very remote Indigenous schools.
Keeping students at school is critical. We recognise there are many reasons in family situations that make it challenging to get kids to school and keep them there. That is why we have had to invest across a range of support measures to expand Positive Learning Centres. We have one at Palmerston High School and Gray Primary School, and we have the new Alice Springs Youth Hub, all designed to re-engage and transition students back into mainstream schooling.
We recognise in the area of special needs the need for an increase in the intensive support services to build school capacity to support students with disabilities and high-level behavioural and emotional difficulties. We invested $30m to improve facilities for students with special needs. This is across Nemarluk School, with the new $11.9m facility at Alawa; $3m to upgrade facilities at Taminmin; $2m to upgrade facilities at Henbury; and we have ongoing upgrades at Acacia Hill School in Alice Springs, as well as the special student needs at Palmerston High School.
We are very proud of our record of investing in our schools. We have put in an additional $246m over four years in capital upgrades to every primary and group school across the Territory. That is $300 000 per school to provide those all-important upgrades to our school infrastructure. There is $5m to upgrade Casuarina Secondary College - that is a school, when you look at the results of the students, absolutely punching above its weight; $3m upgrade to Dripstone Middle School; $3m upgrade to Tennant Creek High School; and $1m upgrade to Sanderson Middle School. I have seen the changes at Sanderson Middle School. They have put in place an innovative learning facility hinged around a music program and I take my hat to them for that.
There is $6m to convert the homelands centres to schools, and we have heard our Education minister talk about those achievements. There is $2m for a further expansion of Yirrkala’s CEC; $2m for the next stage of Ross Park Primary School upgrade; $2m for a new middle school at Arlparra; $2m for the Yilpara Homelands Centre to become a school; $2m for Stage 2 of upgrades to Alawa Primary School; $2m for Nakara Primary School; $2m for Leanyer Primary School; $1.55m for Yirrkala CEC; $1.5m for upgrades to Maningrida CEC; $1.5m upgrade for Kalkaringi CEC; $1.25m for Shepherdson College at Galiwinku - it was a fine school I saw when I visited; a $1.25m upgrade for Gunbalanya CEC; $1.25m upgrade for Gapuwiyak CEC; and a $1.25m upgrade for Ramingining CEC. The list continues: $1.25m for Yuendumu, Angurugu, Numbulwar, Millingimbi, and Lajamanu. Ngukurr gets $1.25m; Ali Curung gets $1m; Malak Primary School gets $1m; and Jingili Primary School $500 000.
This is real investment in real education facilities. Do you know what is impressive? It is right across the Territory. It is in the urban centres, the regional centres, and in our remote centres.
In addition to this, we have built entire new schools, with a $56m investment in the new primary and middle schools at Rosebery. We have built Arlparra High School, Baniyala Garrangali School, Bonya School, Darwin Middle School, Manyallaluk School, and Nganambala School at Emu Point. We have also invested in child and family centres in remote areas at Yuendumu, Gunbalanya, Maningrida and Ngukurr, to name a few. This is Territory government investment.
I want to talk about the Building the Education Revolution commitment from the Commonwealth, where we have seen $207m - in addition to the investment I have outlined - spent across our school infrastructure on upgrades and new facilities. This is money the opposition said: ‘No, reject it; we do not want it. No, it is a waste of money’. Well, it has not been a waste. It has been critical in construction jobs. Any of us going out to the schools, talking to the school community - understand it. They understand never could they have seen such a dramatic increase in school facilities if it was not for the Commonwealth BER stimulus funding.
How incredibly hypocritical is it to see the opposition roll out to the BER openings, such as the member for Sanderson at Malak school the other night. They are there clapping - and we saw the photographs in the Chamber today – and cheering on, when they said vote against it. They were arguing for months and months against this investment. Do they get a little embarrassed? Do they blush, at least, when they attend these BER openings knowing they were totally opposed to this expenditure? Do they say, with any honesty whatsoever, to their school communities: ‘I did not want to see this happen. If I had my way, it would not have happened’? Or do they pretend - because they are the great pretenders. They will say one thing and do another. They will do one thing and say something completely contradictory. Hypocrisy in its purest form, when you see these BER openings occur and a member of the CLP turns up. It is rampant hypocrisy at its most base level.
In stark contrast to the opposition, we recognised the opportunity for what it was. We recognised it was a significant opportunity for investment in our school infrastructure and embraced it. We worked very hard. We put together very tight processes across education and construction to deliver the program on time and in budget. We have achieved significantly in the way this roll-out has occurred.
We also ensured each school was able to negotiate, through DEWR, any changes in the roll-out of the funding to meet their unique school needs. I will point out one example of that, which is Marrara Christian School. I was representing Senator Trish Crossin at the opening on Friday night. Yes, they delivered a state-of-the-art library which is fantastic for them. They delivered that, but were able to shift some of their funding around to ensure they could deliver a new IT system linking all the Christian schools across the Territory. They were more excited about the IT system and the opportunities that delivers for them across the Christian Schools Association than the bricks and mortar. Bricks and mortar are great; the IT solutions are going to take them to a whole new realm of not only learning opportunities for the students, but professional development for the teachers and staff as well.
In my electorate of Karama, I have embraced these new funding opportunities for the schools. We have seen new libraries, classrooms and multipurpose areas built. Funding, of course, has delivered minor upgrades like painting and new carpets to improve school facilities. When you look at the breakdown, Karama Primary School has had $125 000 in school refurbishments and has finished the upgrade of the extension to the school canteen. Also at Karama Primary School, currently under construction is a multipurpose learning area for $2m, delivering a multipurpose classroom, and associated covered walkways.
Malak Primary School has spent its $125 000 on playground upgrades and it looks magnificent. It has also completed a $1.9m upgrade of the administration facility and is building a new community multipurpose room as part of that upgrade.
Manunda Terrace Primary School is constructing a $1.98m library building and associated covered walkways. Also, the school has completed a $125 000 R&M spend on refurbishments in classrooms and signage.
I have visited O’Loughlin College and walked through the fantastic new science laboratories that a Catholic school education system could never have delivered. They are state-of-the art new science laboratories. I have heard the principal and teachers say that. It is a dramatic improvement ...
Mr ELFERINK: A point of order, Madam Speaker! I move an extension of time pursuant to Standing Order 77 for the member to complete her remarks.
Motion agreed to.
Ms LAWRIE: I thank the member for Port Darwin for the extension of time.
Holy Family School has a brilliant new library and outdoor learning centre with the whole focus on IT learning. It is taking it into the new millennium in the way the emphasis is on IT learning. It was great to be out there with the school principal. The Bishop was there to open it; there was such a vibe around the school to see what a fantastic new facility Holy Family School has.
As I said, I was at Marrara Christian School for the opening of their $2.79m library and IT learning facilities.
Compare and contrast. We have grasped the opportunities of the Commonwealth Building the Education Revolution in the $207m school investment. We have focused on building up school infrastructure, putting 400 extra teachers into the classrooms, and 75 teacher aides into Transition, and all the innovative learning systems and processes creating centres of excellence because we are striving for excellence in education in the Territory.
What some of us are particularly proud of is we are delivering secondary education for remote Indigenous students in the bush, which did not happen until Labor won government. We said to the communities: ‘You can have secondary education in your community’. The communities that now have secondary education facilities are Galiwinku, Minyerri, Kalkarindji, Maningrida, Wadeye, Papunya, Utopia, Borroloola and Ramingining. They are so important to giving our Territory kids the opportunities they, quite rightly, should have to build stronger families, build stronger futures, get into training, get into jobs, and build their own communities. They have a choice. They can stay and learn and develop and go onto meaningful education and jobs in their community, or they can move around like any other Australian. It is critical to give people choices, and we have done that.
We are also delivering preschool education in the bush. We are funding five mobile preschools that service 25 remote communities. In partnership with the Commonwealth, we need to continue to increase resources into the regions. I welcome the Commonwealth’s commitment to 170 extra teachers across our remote schools, a $21.4m investment in remote communities.
There is a bipartisan view that we want improved education outcomes. Clearly, we will never get a bipartisan debate in this Chamber when it comes to any policy of significance or, perhaps, of lesser significance. I am disappointed the member for Brennan, the shadow minister for Education and Training, has resorted to the fear and loathing rhetoric that is the hallmark of politics of division of the past. Can we get over it and sign up to ensuring we debate the policy initiatives? With debate around policy initiatives you achieve better outcomes.
We are starting to see those outcomes come through in the NAPLAN tests. We are starting to see improvements; bearing in mind testing in the past did not happen for a vast number of our students. When we say: ‘Oh, well, it is bad now’, at least we are tracking our kids. At least we are tracking every individual kid and what is happening with their learning opportunities which did not happen in the past - out of sight, out of mind; do not test them because it might not be a good test result. Well, we need to know those test results so we can put additional effort into the literacy and numeracy programs to get the outcomes.
In 10 years, I have seen children in my own electorate for whom English is a second language and who speak their traditional language at home with their parents - traditional Aboriginal, Thai, Indonesian, Filipino, and Timorese languages. They need that extra literacy and numeracy support to reach the standard of outcomes of the other kids. I have seen the literacy and numeracy programs at Manunda Terrace, Karama, and Malak primary schools. I am proud to see the turnaround in the testings outcomes for those kids. I have seen them be tested at Year 3, Year 5, and Year 7. I have seen those kids go on and be tested at Year 9. I have had a decade as a local member. I have seen the way the kids are behaving - those kids who are getting the time and effort invested in their education needs and outcomes, and what that does. I am incredibly proud of those kids. I see them now coming through into senior school. I saw them when they were in early childhood at our local schools.
We have to be reasonably proud of our children if we invest in them and provide their family with the pathways and the support and say: ‘Come on, get your kids to school’. Get the kids to school but, when the kids are at school - and the Chief Minister is spot on about this - you have to engage them. School has to be exciting, innovative, and interesting. It cannot just be what a middle-aged man sitting in Palmerston says it ought to be. Realty check, member for Brennan! If your way of getting kids to engage is the only way, it is not going to work. I love libraries. I sat in libraries for years as a kid. You know what? They were boring. I watched my kids excited and innovated around the new IT and what is happening with multimedia and a whole array of things - and I am not there; I am from a different generation. I do not get it, but what I do get is how the new learning tool and the new ways of learning engages them and keeps them engaged, and they learn more and pick up more than saying: ‘Go and sit in the library and do what I did when I was a kid’. It is different these days. I understand it is different.
That is why I say let the local schools, if you resource them appropriately - and I go back to Nightcliff Middle School - two above establishment - make those decisions locally. I thank the teachers for the EBA because they agreed to be innovative saying they are open to changing the days a school should be open. We are already seeing it in Gunbalanya; they have an agreement. They will change when they are on school holidays and when they are not to suit the needs of that school community and those children. It is not to suit the needs of the teachers, a bureaucrat sitting in Darwin, or of the minister for Education; it is to suit the kids at the school so they turn up to school.
School is there when they are in the community in the Wet Season. This innovation is not occurring elsewhere, but is in the Territory, and we are so proud of it.
I do not understand why some of these debates cannot be more bipartisan. I do not understand why there has to be a race to the bottom in making empty accusations about people and the intent of people. It is time for a few members in this Chamber to be a little more mature in their approach to policy debates.
Ms ANDERSON (Macdonnell): Madam Deputy Speaker, I contribute to the education statement and congratulate the minister for bringing this forward, because it is a genuine statement this House needs to debate. I take great comfort in listening to what the government has done in some of my electorate, as the Deputy Chief Minister said, and seeing secondary school eventually being introduced at Papunya.
I take great offence to that first paragraph that says only the government’s major priority is education, because education is a priority of every member in this House. I take education very seriously. I certainly have with my children, and now my little grannies. It is at the forefront of everyone’s mind. We are seeing changes and, as the minister said, the government can do so much. We can put all these resources into good-quality education and teachers but, at the end of the day, there has to be a 50:50 partnership between the community, parents, and the government. If your children do not go to school, the end result is they are not going to be educated, therefore, their future is doomed. They go down the path of being in the justice revolving door; they are on drugs, alcohol, and Centrelink.
Education gives great opportunities to anyone, black or white. I have stood in this House before and said we should look at the system - the government has gone down the path of consultation. However, it has not gone down a path of two streams of education - a black education and a white education - because if we get down to that, we make two different Territories - one for blacks and one for white. We have stood in this House honestly before and said we are all Territorians and, therefore, we need to have a system in place where all our children have the benefit of a good-quality education that makes something of them.
There are great opportunities in the Northern Territory and we need to pass that message more fluently into remote Aboriginal communities through posters. I will go back to the strategies of getting the message out to remote Aboriginal communities in big posters - putting them at the shop, the school, the clinic, and the office. If you have a look at the six-and-a-half or seven hours an office is open on a remote Aboriginal community, you would have the whole population go through there, either to use the phone, talk to someone about something, or ring Centrelink. Having it at the health service, the same amount of population would be going through the front door of our clinics in remote Aboriginal communities. As I keep saying in this House, the education strategy is really important and we should release it in the form of CD, or great big posters that are put everywhere in the community saying how important education is.
I take this opportunity to say we can condemn many things, but there are many hard-working teachers in remote Aboriginal communities. Teachers in the electorate of Macdonnell are hard-working and put more than 120% of their time into kids, not just the six-and-a-half hours they have them in the classroom, but after hours, talking to their parents and their communities about their behaviour, or to their little brother or sister not coming to school. I believe we need to get that interaction happening more so the community takes ownership of the school, participates more in the day-to-day running of the school, and shows interest.
One of the things this government implemented was parent/teacher night in remote Aboriginal communities. I saw it for the first time in 2005-06 where, in my own community, the principal started saying to parents: ‘You have to be interested in looking at your children’s work, and on such-and-such a day at the end of the term we will be having an open day for parents and the community to look at their children’s work and you can talk to the teacher’. That is similar to what happens in mainstream schools in Darwin, Katherine, and Alice Springs. I went to parent/teacher nights for my children in Alice Springs, so it is really good to see the same replicated in remote Aboriginal communities.
I believe that really pulls the parents and the community - or the aunt or the grandmother - in to look and assess their children’s work from their own experience of when they went to school, and have the opportunity to talk to teachers about where their children are heading. Where are their children or grandchildren travelling? Are they going well? Are they not going well? What would you want them to do? Can they come inside the classroom and give you a couple of hours of their time as a grandmother or parent? This is so the kids can see the engagement and the interest, I guess. That is what kids need – that interest inside the classroom, and that is what we have not seen in remote Aboriginal communities for a very long time. We need to get the parents and the communities interested and back inside the classroom, spending an hour or two there, giving their time for nothing, for their children’s future, so their children can see they are interested in their wellbeing and their education.
Minister, I said last time that sports weekends are really big factors in children not going to school. With the shires, we need to have some kind of rule in place that on public holidays they hold sports weekend from Friday to whenever the public holiday finishes, but they should never go into a school day. On the Queen’s Birthday weekend, I think we were in parliament and I rang to check with the Papunya School principal on the Tuesday to see how many kids had turned up. Five kids turned up to school on Tuesday. That is terrible! It should be up to those leaders to say to those kids: ‘Today is a school day. We might still be behind in football or softball, but you get over to school. Your parents are going to take you to school and we do not want to see any kids at the football oval, the softball oval, or at the basketball court during school hours’.
The strongest message, minister, we need to send to remote Aboriginal communities is to say children must go to school every day. They cannot continuously blame any government and say: ‘You failed in this area of educating our children’, because 50% of the responsibility lies with the parents and the community to get their children to school.
It is so easy now for children. They are fed at school. They get their school uniforms at school, so it should not be really hard for their parents to take their children to school. Someone else is feeding them, someone else is bathing them, and someone has them for six hours. That takes the children out of their hair for six hours.
The other thing, minister, is ceremonies. This was specifically brought to my attention by several communities in my electorate where ceremonies are running into the start of school terms. The member for Stuart needs to talk to these communities. He is a traditional man and can address these issues with the people in his area, as well as mine, and the people in Barkly about having ceremonies at certain times when school breaks for Christmas and finishing when school comes back. That is very important, and I hope the minister takes that up.
The other thing is we have the childcare things going now, but we want to see it increase so the communities are not just getting one day of a teacher going to four communities. Maybe, later on, when there is more money we can look at two communities - maybe Papunya and Haasts Bluff - sharing one of those for a whole week instead of having one day dispersed between the four communities. It defeats the purpose of what Masters has reported back to you; that we have to start looking at children younger now, even from birth. That is a great encouragement to see him pick up on that.
The other issue is tracking the whole family. If a child is absent from school, sometimes the absentee has gone on sorry business for a couple of months to another community such as from Papunya to Kintore, Papunya to Imanpa, or Papunya to Docker or somewhere like that. This can be done in collaboration with the Health department where you track the whole family, not just for medical purposes, but for education purposes, so that family is picked up somewhere else and that child has the ability to go to school. I have said in this House before, families move in huge groups into Alice Springs, which they are entitled to do. However, we need to have some kind of linkage where these kids can access schools straightaway and not sit in the mall of Alice Springs for three or four days not going to school. Those three or four days in their lifetime matters to them. It means they are not being educated. Those are some of the things we can look at.
I take great interest in something I read on Professor Marcia Langton giving a speech in Darwin this Thursday on starving children. The comments are just ad hoc. Her suggestion in her speech of having eskies or something you lock up inside clinics is ridiculous. A clinic is a clinic. It is there for sick people, not to store food. It is obvious Marcia does not understand the situation of a remote Aboriginal community. If there are children who fail to thrive there should be a program. We have had programs in the past called a skinny kids centre. However, the hospital recommends to the community that they feed the children in the community instead of sending them away unless they are critically ill. She seems to be under the impression this can be solved without looking at the current programs we already have in place.
Look at the report that has come down from Geoff Masters - the Northern Territory’s Early Childhood Plan, the National Early Childhood Development Strategy, and the Families as First Teachers Program are all very important programs. If she is concerned about failure to thrive in remote Aboriginal communities, these programs already exist. She should be talking to the Northern Territory government to give her thoughts on already existing programs in the communities. I am shocked to read today that she plans to recommend a movement to educate Aboriginal parents and carers on how to feed their children. She plans to do this through a Better Homes and Gardens-style show broadcast on Imparja and NITV by getting communities to keep fresh food in shared cool storage facilities at community clinics. That has to be crazy!
The poor clinic staff work from 7 am until 7 pm, not counting emergencies at 2 am, 3 am, 4 am or 5 am for pregnant women, people who are dying or bashed. What happens at 2 am when a nurse gets a knock on the door saying: ‘Can I get my esky out of the clinic?’ This is utter nonsense coming from a professor! I cannot see the common sense in what Marcia is trying to do or what she is saying. It is absolutely ridiculous. The target audience of the TV show, the parents who are not caring properly for their children, are not going to be watching Imparja and NITV anyway, Marcia.
Minister, this education needs to be taking place with all the programs you already have going on in the community - attaching themselves to this.
Honest to God, I had to laugh at what was written today. I hope she gets a very low audience when she speaks on Thursday night, or no one turns up. I hope someone with some sense can talk to the media and outline some of these nonsensical suggestions she is putting up. It comes from people who sit in big cities, who have not been to a remote Aboriginal community and know nothing about what is happening on remote Aboriginal communities. This is the kind of suggestion we get from these people who do not understand existing programs and suggest ridiculous things like putting eskies inside health centres - as if to say our nurses are not working hard enough.
Mr KNIGHT (Business and Employment): Madam Deputy Speaker, as the parent of a teenage child I, like every Territory parent, want to ensure the education system forms a firm foundation that will transition our children to successful career paths.
I begin by paying tribute to the teachers of the Northern Territory and our schools throughout the Northern Territory. I have visited quite a few. There are about 12 schools in my electorate, which range from fairly large schools in the rural area down to one-teacher schools in Litchfield National Park. Those teachers are very dedicated and many of those schools struggle with issues outside the normal, straightforward curriculum. They are the foundation of the Labor government’s efforts to ensure every student has the ability to obtain a good education through our schools.
All of my life I have believed in the importance of education. I have believed education can transform lives. Our government wants to ensure every Territory secondary school student has the opportunity to get real learning through school and gain skills. That is what they need through their life and in their workplace. They can move on to various areas and, obviously, with the big industrial growth here, apprenticeships and trades is a big area and those trades bring higher incomes.
One of the great opportunities students have is to begin an apprenticeship while they are still at school as part the Northern Territory Certificate of Education and Training. My son is one of those. The greatest expansion of skills and training ever seen in the Territory is currently under way with a record number of more than 4000 apprentices and trainees in the Territory. We are committed to growing more of our own tradespeople to meet current and future demands for skilled labour. That is why first-year apprentices and trainees continue to receive financial assistance for work wear, safety gear, and other necessities. Traditional trades such as plumbers, carpenters, and electricians can take advantage of a $1000 grant from the Northern Territory government to address skills shortages. Assistance of $300 is available for other eligible, registered apprenticeships and traineeships. This is a result of our government’s commitment to create more opportunities for students to enter the trades.
We are on track to meet our target of 10 000 apprentices and trainees over the four-year period. Those apprentices and trainees play a vital role in the economic growth of the Northern Territory - and it is great to see the Territory does have growth. If you look through those forward years, it continues to grow. That is with projects we know. Over the period of those forward years, other projects will come along. The oil and gas area is one of those big areas. The Northern Territory will become the north Australian oil and gas hub for service and supply into the Timor Sea and beyond, and into the Banda Sea in the future as well, as further oil and gas exploration permits are issued.
The Northern Territory certainly has a bright future. The final investment decision for INPEX will be known towards the end of the year. It is great to see INPEX is engaging with schools and the Trade Training Centre which was recently opened, to which it committed, I think, $5m or $10m into that facility. It is acknowledging it has a commitment to the Northern Territory and a commitment to training our own. INPEX is a massive project. It is the biggest ever single investment in the Northern Territory’s history - some $30bn in investment. Over the 40 years of known life, it will contribute something like $50bn to the Australian economy.
This is in stark contrast to those in the opposition who do not seem to value education. They do not have a policy on this area ...
Ms Purick: Oh, rubbish!
Mr KNIGHT: Well, you do not have a policy so, obviously, it is not important. Education is the foundation of everything we do. It is no use us going overseas or working interstate with investors to build our economy. When we build our economy we create jobs. Those people who get those jobs pay taxes, they contribute to the government revenue, which means the government can spend more on education, on health services, on infrastructure, and that builds up our community and makes it a more attractive place to come to. It makes it a more attractive place to stay, so education is fundamental; it is the core of everything we do.
This government has doubled our education budget over our time in government. The work we have been doing with the task force, the gearing up of local business for major projects, is an exercise in working with those high-level industry proponents, working with their representative organisations, the peak bodies, and also the unions, but understanding what demands are required. Then, feeding that back into our curriculum; feeding that back into the structure of our education system in the Northern Territory so young people who are coming through the system, even at primary school levels, can start to see some career paths and pathways to employment from that early age.
It was described to me today that we are small enough and we are big enough in the Northern Territory. We are small enough to know each other and big enough to have many services, and I hope it stays that way. We will grow, but as long as we stay as a tightknit community where the government can work very closely with industry, that is extremely important.
The future looks very bright. Over the life of the construction phase of INPEX, several thousand new jobs will be created. In Question Time today, I was talking about visiting a couple of businesses over the last couple of days. I visited Stuart Kenny at Hydraulink, and he has made a real commitment to apprentices and is taking on some new apprentices this year. He is building his workforce; he has almost doubled since he started business. Also, over the last four or five years, Hastings Deering’s workforce has doubled. Their revenues have doubled and they are looking at expanding into other areas of land. There is a massive shed on Wishart Road and they are looking at expanding quite considerably because they have confidence in the Northern Territory. They have confidence to employ people, and confidence to build up their workforce from local people, because local people will stay. They have their networks here and will certainly stay here in the future.
I congratulate the minister on bringing this statement to the House. I have had the opportunity to visit a number of schools. Taminmin College has grown in numbers especially, and that indicates people in the rural area and beyond recognise it as a high quality school. It is bursting at the seams at the moment because there is that much confidence in the ability of the school, that much choice in curriculum. The pathways through the VET program are well advanced, and provide real opportunities through the agricultural pathways as well, with the farm they have there. Rural kids are getting the best quality education.
We need to invest in our children, to look at providing the best quality education for our kids. I suspect the pathways for anyone in other cities would be fairly limited. We are working at both the school level and at creating economic development at the other end to create jobs for these young people coming through. I congratulate the minister for bringing this statement to the House and I commend it to all members.
Mr BOHLIN (Drysdale): Madam Deputy Speaker, I am going to try my best today to keep this positive, because I am blessed in the seat of Drysdale in part of Palmerston with having many schools in my electorate. It is, without a doubt, the highlight of my working week when I go to an assembly or give out an award - or many awards - to some of the children. It is something I am passionate about.
I suppose that goes back to the fact that my education was not as good as it could have been. Perhaps I could have applied myself better at the time, or maybe some of the teachers involved could have dealt with things a little differently. I recall when I went through Years 9 and 10, my maths teacher taught what I now refer to as ‘text book teaching’. It is where the teacher stood at the front of the classroom and simply opened up the book and said: ‘Right, this is your page number’. About the only effort the teacher put in for the day was to write the page number of the relevant equation on the book and then proceeded to do very little for the rest of the class time. I found that difficult to deal with.
The irony of that is, after two years of even my parents complaining about this teacher, and particularly the method involved, I went on to a different maths class and proceeded to be an A and A+ student in Year 11.
It is important we have good teachers and, I believe, my electorate of Drysdale is blessed with many good teachers who we have a pretty good working relationship with.
What I want to go on with and this will, hopefully, be the gripe for the day. I have printed off a list of schools from the Education and Training directory of the department’s website. On a quick count, I have come up with 276 schools in the Northern Territory. I do not know how accurate it is, but I presume it is pretty accurate.
Towards the back, on the last page, is Walungurru School. This is a school I had a great deal to do with when I was a police officer at Kintore. It is a beautiful little school. The roofs were lined with rocks but, in itself, it was a beautiful school. I saw two principals go into that school. The first principal, whom I choose not to name, was fantastic. The second one I did not have as much time to get to know so I probably cannot make much more comment. The first principal had been around for a long time. She was a part-Aboriginal lady and had the school’s heart and soul within her heart and soul. It was a shame to see her go.
In fact, I remember being in town on a trip. I think we had to do the remittance, take them into Alice Springs and come back. I came back to find one of our best teachers, who was the Year 1 teacher - it was strange because the school did not have the standard Year 1 through to Year 6. It was bizarre. It was Year 1, 2, and 3, and that was it. It was a mix and that was partly due to the numbers of kids in the school. There were 60-odd kids eligible to be enrolled. There was about the same number of kids eligible to be in senior school. We had a Christian high school on-site. Of those 60-odd kids, only six ever went to school. That was very disappointing to see. At least there were those kids who did want to get an education. Only a year ago, I saw some of those kids here. They had come all the way to Kormilda and it was fantastic to see.
Getting back to the Year 1 teacher, I came back from a trip doing remittance in Alice Springs to find a story going around, as stories go around remote communities and you find out what is going on. The teacher was, by far, the best teacher in the school. She believed in discipline and she used discipline in the class and produced fantastic results. The kids would be made to stand in one straight line before they walked off to a particular event, or to do some sports, or take an almost daily trip to the shop to buy a piece of fruit which I thought was an amazing idea. The shopkeepers always would comment that the kids from that particular class would, even on a Saturday, a non-school day, or the following year, be the kids who would continue to come to the shop and not buy junk food but buy a piece of fruit. They were fantastic lessons. The teacher would get the kids in one straight line and she would not move until they were in a straight line. She did not yell and scream and carry on like a crazy woman, she made sure the kids were all disciplined, they were all in a straight line, told them off if they were not, got them back in line, got them quiet, and off they would go.
The great thing was if you came across the class about to leave, you went into the class to say good day to them all, or they were walking across the land between the shop and the school and you ran into them, she would stop the class. They all stopped, nice and quiet, then she would say: ‘Class, say good morning to Sergeant Bohlin’. They would say: ‘Good morning, Sergeant Bohlin’ - every kid would say the same. These children had beautiful, polite manners. She would do it to any of the significant people within the community, whether it would be the doctor or the CEO of the community. It was fantastic.
I was watching classes to hear these kids read, in English, books she would hold up - age appropriate books but read in English. She would hold up the books and they would strongly and proudly belt out the words and letters before them. However, in the year levels following that it did not happen. The kids were not speaking clear English. The kids were not given that discipline and direction in the class; the classes were out of control. However, not in that first class. The schooling level attained in that first class was brilliant and, as those kids moved to the next level the following year, it became retarded. The learning wound itself back because there was not that dedicated love and devotion to those students and the discipline they needed. That feeling of wanting and being part of a group was lost.
The sad part was, one day when we were in town, some form of social worker had been called in to help the most senior class because the teacher had lost control of the class. The teacher was pretty much an out-of-control character and one I would not have considered a great role model for teaching. However, at least they had done the schooling and were having a go.
The social worker would come out during the recess and watch this Year 1 teacher coordinating the kids, getting them in a nice straight line so they could all have fun shooting basketball hoops. The teacher made them get into a nice straight line first so it was controlled and there was no fighting - everyone had a go and everyone felt they had participated. The sad thing is this social worker from the Education department pulled the teacher up and said: ‘You cannot do that. You are going to cause those children to self-harm, you will destroy their morale and you will destroy their personal strength’. In fact, the comments were worse than that.
That teacher was, within weeks, told to leave the community by the Education department because she dared to care enough about those kids to bring some discipline, dared to teach the children and bring enough control into a classroom that the kids would have a bit of normality in their live. The best teacher in that town was asked to leave by your department, and that is an absolute disgrace. That amazing teacher was in tears on a couple of occasions when I went past - once in Alice Springs and once prior to leaving - because this so-called educational social worker had told her everything she was doing was going to lead to these students self-harming when they grew up, because she dared give a little discipline, a little love and a little attention and care and normality to their life. That is a disgrace; that is disgusting! It is bizarre.
I was not going to go into that big story for too long, but it astonishes me that when a teacher is doing a great job, with fantastic outcomes, someone who has, obviously, no idea - never had a real hard life or was confused by life - comes in with their degree and says: ‘No, you are rubbish’. Disgraceful!
The story comes from the fact that, on these lists there are 276 schools. We have listened to bizarre comments from the government side in the last two weeks that we do not believe in education, we do not support education, we have not listed anything to do with Aboriginal education. Of course, we have not yet. Why should we rule out or highlight any one particular nationality, culture, or race? Why should we? Why should we not be about teaching? Why should that side get away with saying we do not support education; we do not do anything for education?
There are 276 schools on this list. How many schools have you built in your 10-year reign? Is it six or some similar number? Feel free to correct me at any stage, but I guarantee it is not 276. So, some time prior to the last 10 years, over 270 schools were built in the Northern Territory by the Country Liberal Party. Do not dare come into this House and say we do not care about education! Over 270 schools have been built by this proud party and you gloat about six? I must say, they are very welcome schools to have. But do not dare say we do not care about schools! Over 270 schools were built under our governance. It is absolutely disgraceful of this government to try to sway public opinion saying that we do not care when, in reality, it is the foundation upon which the Northern Territory was built by the Country Liberal Party.
The good stuff to talk about, of course, is I have a number of primary schools in my electorate. I have mentioned many times in this House how proud I am of my schools. Driver Primary School has had much attention because it is just that – a little like the teacher in Kintore I previously mentioned – there is a bit of discipline in the school and much respect. The teachers have control of the classes and the kids have fun. It is an amazing, magical learning experience. They have the Stephanie Alexander garden out the back, and it is blossoming. Nowadays, they are selling, before the assembly, some of the fruit and vegetables to put the money back into the garden to help keep it going. It is just amazing to see a garden I helped build in working bees, side by side with parents, doing so well – and with the assistance of government funding, without doubt. It is a great thing: win/win all round. It is amazing to have that atmosphere at Driver Primary School; it is beautiful place to be.
Durack Primary School is another fantastic school in my electorate. It is a heavy Defence school with many Defence families coming to morning teas. I have good chats with those people. Everyone loves to get stuck into a pollie when they can. If you have them on the end of a cup of tea while you are there, good on them. However, we also have fun. We talk about serious issues, the fun issues, family issues, and the fact their husbands or their wives occasionally are overseas on deployment. Durack Primary School is a great school. We have a new principal this year who is doing an amazing job carrying on the legacies of previous principals. Of course, that is a school also built by the Country Liberals, or under the Country Liberals’ governance at the time. It was a private school, part of the development when Fairway Waters was built. Driver Primary School is a Country Liberals’ school.
Palmerston Christian School is another fantastic school in my electorate, predominantly privately funded. Again, it is a school I have attended working bees side by side with parents, and certainly got a bit of dirt under my nails and blisters using a mattock digging trenches for irrigation. That school is also a fantastic, vibrant place. The kids are so well behaved. In fact, at the moment we are seeing Palmerston Christian School have a small display at the Palmerston Markets, trying to continue to grow their school family as a whole.
I have enjoyed going to that school and giving talks to kids doing political studies. I have even talked with one of the classes about different opportunities, different cultures, and how, as a democracy in Australia we are very lucky, whereas some countries do not have that same democratic freedom. We managed to get the kids quite excited when we talked about it; how we engaged and got the kids involved with the discussion. Palmerston Christian School is a beautiful school, again, at Marlow Lagoon, part of my electorate.
The Palmerston Senior College, which used to be Palmerston High School, is doing some amazing things. It has a Defence aide teacher who helps out with some of the Defence families. Being a senior school, it is a little harder to get involved, because they do not have the regular assemblies the primary schools have. However, we have been involved recently with their arts, when they had an arts competition. I saw some amazing different scopes and mediums of art, from digital art through to traditional Aboriginal dot paintings. It was just great to see. I sponsored an award there. By the time I had finished trying to look …
Ms PURICK: Madam Deputy Speaker, I move an extension of time for the member, pursuant to Standing Order 77.
Motion agreed to.
Mr BOHLIN: Thank you, member for Goyder, thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker.
By the time I finished judging this art competition at the senior school I had provided a prize for - not only did I give a first prize, but another three certificates of merit because it was so hard to make a decision. We have some amazing emerging artists at that school, both in the ICT field - the more modern form of digital art - and also the traditional hand-drawn and hand-painted arts.
What excites me about the redistribution is that, although Palmerston Christian School will come off my books per se, I will then have the Good Shepherd school in my electorate as it moves into Gray. I have already been to a morning tea there and taken some cakes and had a great time chatting with people I had met previously at the Palmerston Markets. It is another great family-orientated school doing a great job right on the edge. The school has a fantastic feel to it and I am really looking forward to getting further involved with that school. The school has been there for a while too, but it is good to see that it is developing families.
The other one is another public school, the Gray Primary School - built again under the Country Liberal government; it has been there for a very long time. I have to say it needs a little more TLC now. It probably could do with a paint job. As it comes under my electorate soon, at the next election, I will be working with that school to see what we can do to help give it a little cut and polish and a little more ‘bling’ so it is an even better learning environment.
Its demographic is a little harder than some of the other areas. I went there a while back when we were having one of our really cold snaps, to see all these little mites sitting on the floor in the assembly and they all had their cardigans, jumpers and jackets on. There was a whole mix and match of different clothes to keep them warm. It was a really nice experience to be involved with the school. It is not yet in my electorate, but is soon to be. I was very proud of all those kids sitting there, rugged up, having a great time. They got involved. It is always good when you can ruin a teacher’s day, perhaps, by taking the kids all the way to the ceiling - screaming, shouting, laughing and having a great time. Then, bring them down and let them go back to their classes. It is a good bit of fun, but education and learning need to be fun. It needs to be an exciting environment.
The Treasurer mentioned that earlier. She talked about how she felt the ICT age was a much more exciting age than the libraries. She is not wrong, but libraries have a massive place in our society. A library is an additional learning sanctuary, if you could call it that. It is a place where we can guide our kids because, traditionally, across the world a library is a quiet place. If we take our kids into a library, it is a really good reason to tell all these kids they have to be quiet for once and give them that control and discipline and get a nice, quiet, calm environment.
Our librarians across the Northern Territory do a fantastic job on limited resources to keep new resources coming in. Yes, there is the whole issue of being able to get a tablet - whatever brand of computer tablet you can have - and you can get books put onto it. However, there is nothing better than sitting down with a book, holding it, opening up the pages, and feeling what has gone into that book. The Harry Potter series was very profitable. How many of those books were sold? J K Rowling is just amazing. Would it have had the same impact if all that had been left to a little computer tablet for kids to grab? It is not the same thing when you download it. You physically do not get connected with the book. You do not sit in your bed - it is probably not the best thing for your eyesight to be sitting in bed reading a computer late at night.
I believe the feelings of a real library and the interaction you get with librarians is fantastic. I would hate to see those disappear out of our schools or from our communities any time soon. In the communities, they are places for parents to take their kids. I remember my ex-wife and my daughter would go to the library and have reading sessions. We would go there together at times and sit down and have a great time. There were mothers and, occasionally the fathers, sitting together and being part of a community. I would hate to see anyone wind that back because that is what they are: a library is a gathering place; a history place.
Madam Speaker, predominantly, it is all great stuff here. I have fantastic schools in my electorate of Drysdale; I am so lucky. I am grateful to hold my position there and be involved with the community.
Mrs LAMBLEY (Araluen): Madam Speaker, I talk tonight about the education statement the government presented today. I agree, we have some incredible schools in the Northern Territory thanks to the teachers, parents, children, friends of the schools and, of course, the auxiliary staff who all contribute to what are fantastic schools.
In my electorate of Araluen I have numerous primary schools, preschools, and Centralian Middle School. I have Bradshaw Primary School, Gillen Primary School, Araluen Christian School, as well as the Traeger Park Campus of OLSH and Ida Stanley, Gillen, Bradshaw, and Congress preschools.
Tonight I want to talk a little about the less sexy side of education which the government does not like to talk too much about; that is, the non-attendance of children at school - the very low attendance rates we are seeing throughout the Northern Territory. I am told by the Children’s Commissioner that school attendance rates in the Northern Territory have never been so low. This is a very serious problem.
I draw your attention to the Ombudsman’s report tabled last week in parliament titled A Life Long Shadow, a report of a partial investigation of the child protection authority. In the Ombudsman’s report she has identified the inextricable link between education and child protection. The two, from the perspective of the Ombudsman, go hand in hand - you cannot separate them.
- Not attending school for a school age child is probably one of the strongest indicators that a child’s wellbeing is neglected.
That is from page 105 of the Ombudsman’s report.
It is also the most easily identifiable. The Ombudsman says there should be a stronger link between the Care and Protection of Children Act and the Education Act. She made a recommendation in her report around the link that should exist between the two departments. When you think about it, it makes sense. It would indicate without much assessment or thought, if children are repeatedly not attending school there could be a child protection issue around abuse or neglect. The fact they are not attending means they are going without something that will enable them to live a fulfilling and, possibly, more positive life.
The Ombudsman, in her tabled report, talked about how the non-attendance at school ought to be included in the Care and Protection of Children Act as a specific category of harm to children, just as witnessing violence is. She draws that comparison between violence and not sending your children to school; they are one and the same. They could be seen as equally disruptive and destructive to a child, which I tend to agree with.
She said she would also like to see the child protection authority informed whenever, under the recent amendments to the Education Act, the principal of a school issues a notice to parents or to a child over 14 requiring them to show reasonable excuse why they have not attended school, and such a notice should be treated as a notification under section 26 of the Care and Protection of Children Act and actioned exactly as if it was a report of physical abuse. By that, she is also saying that when a child habitually does not attend school - when parents fail to send their children to school - it should be treated as if it was a form of child abuse and neglect and should be notified subsequently; there should be a mandatory implication that if a child does not attend school habitually they should be notified to the child protection authority, and they should be investigated and assessed like any other notification to the child protection authority.
The Ombudsman said in her investigation of the matter she was told the general attitude at the moment within the child protection authority is that school absences are a school-related matter rather than a child protection issue. At the moment, the Ombudsman has identified there is a separation between education and child protection. However, to make a more seamless service, to provide a better service to children in education and child protection, the two should actually be combined.
She talked about how one of her investigators attended the central intake service of the child protection authority of the Department of Children and Families. She said one of the intake workers was dealing with a notification from someone by telephone about a child who was not attending school - had not attended school for the last three days. She said the intake worker assessed the situation as required, then referred the notifier to the school truancy line, and provided the notifier with the number for that service. This notification was then recorded as an intake event only. It was not recorded as a child protection issue at all; it was just an event.
The Ombudsman said the investigator subsequently contacted the telephone number the intake worker had given the notifier, and the number went straight to an area in the Education department known as the school operational support, strategic school policy development area. The person who answered the telephone told the investigator the area did not handle any truancy-related matters. Then, the investigator was put through to the Director of School Enrolment and Attendance, who informed the investigator that, currently, there was no official truancy line.
I do not know exactly when the investigator went through this process. It could have been several years ago; it could have been six months or six weeks ago. The point the Ombudsman is making is there is a disconnect, and there should not be; child protection and education go hand-in-hand. If we are ever going to find some solutions to the grave and worsening problem of school attendance in the Northern Territory, we must link the two. Recommendation 3 in the Ombudsman’s report should be taken up by the government. She recommends legislative changes to add a new reporting requirement relating to non-attendance at school as an indicator of cumulative harm. She said this should be instituted; provisions ought to be inserted into section 15(2) of the Care and Protection of Children Act to define harm to include when ‘a child or young person habitually does not attend school without a reasonable excuse’.
The government’s response to Recommendation 3 in the Ombudsman’s report was it will be carefully considered by the child protection authority. It agrees to it, but it was caveated by ‘will carefully be considered by the child protection authority’. In other words, the government has not committed at all to implementing this particular recommendation. It will ‘consider’ whether or not it will do it, which leaves the door wide open. What is the government’s policy on this, minister? Is there some commitment to linking child protection and education?
The Ombudsman concludes by saying this recommendation would be consistent with the government’s policies and strategies of Closing the Gap; Every Child, Every Day; and A Working Future.
Madam Speaker, I would like the government to give us an indication of whether it is committed to linking the two and showing some absolute dedication and support to children who are not getting to school for whatever reason, and perhaps making the Education department and the child protection authority a seamless service for children.
Ms McCARTHY (Local Government): Madam Speaker, I am most pleased to speak in support of the minister for Education’s statement. Our government believes in the power of education to transform the lives of individuals in communities. We are committed to the objective of providing young Territorians with opportunities to expand their horizons and to fully participate in a rapidly changing world.
Last year saw record spending in schools across my electorate of Arnhem, and Groote Eylandt in particular, with major new infrastructure either completed or under way in every community, including new classrooms, libraries, IT upgrades, and new sports areas. We are seeing real improvements in my electorate. We again had record numbers of students completing Year 12 in 2010.
As I have said in this House before, when I travel to places in Arnhem, I see the tremendous amount of work being done by not only the teachers, but the families, because educating our children - Every Child, Every Day - is everyone’s responsibility and everyone’s business. It is not just a job for government, as we have heard from previous members in the House speaking to this statement. We certainly need our families to actively support their children’s education. It is an issue that has been consistently raised, even as recently as the consultations in regard to the Stronger Futures document for the federal government.
In Maningrida, there were women at the women’s meeting talking about the need to have the families far more involved with their children’s education, because they know firsthand that it is not just about governments, teachers or principals at the schools, it is about all of the community working together. We have a real challenge in attendance and getting our children to school, and it has to be a united commitment by all involved in these regions.
While the challenges are great, as government we are passionately committed to turning this situation around and we must convince parents about the importance of getting their children to school. As the Menzies Foundation’s 2010 workshop report on how to close the gap in Indigenous education states:
- The challenge for Australian society is to support parents and teachers in seizing back the initiative, and in providing leadership about values, behaviour and learning. If we can capture the imagination of our young people, particularly those from disadvantaged circumstances, society will be more able to help them acquire the skills needed to better manage their lives and to help themselves, their families and their communities to a better future.
In my electorate of Arnhem, the Anindilyakwa Land Council took up this challenge with its review of education in the Groote Eylandt and Bickerton Island regions. This review titled New Ownership New Responsibilities, was commissioned by the people of Groote Eylandt and Bickerton Island through the Anindilyakwa Land Council which represents their interests. Education is not just a job for governments, and two of the primary motivations behind the Anindilyakwa Land Council undertaking this review were the recognition that current and future generations will not fully realise economic opportunities and build strong communities without a meaningful education, and that current educational outcomes are unsatisfactory - this from the people of Groote Eylandt. This was why it was so important that Gregor Ramsey was very much a part of this review for Groote Eylandt together with Gail Cummins, Trish Hansen and Liz Wauchope. This was something the Anindilyakwa people were, and still are, passionate about
The review was published in July 2009 and highlights how different paradigms of work and learning shape expectations. It pointed out that for Anindilyakwa people to take advantage of employment opportunities, their minds must first be open to the idea of education and training as being primary means of obtaining paid work.
The review noted that although much learning occurs, formal schooling is not a distinct process in Indigenous culture. The review stated:
- … Indigenous parents want their children or grandchildren to ‘gain an education’ - whatever that means to them - but they do not understand the plain hard effort and family support that goes into effective learning in a school system.
One of the major impediments to the achievement of more equitable outcomes for Indigenous children, which the review identified, is there is currently no community ownership of the Indigenous schools and there is limited parental and family engagement. The review also stated:
- The review team considers that the Indigenous community’s lack of engagement is also a product of its lack of autonomy and of any sense of ownership of the schooling provided to its children.
It highlights there is an urgent need to engage Indigenous parents and the community in valuing, promoting, and setting directions for education, and bringing the parents and the wider community much closer to the activities of the teachers and the school.
The reason I highlight Groote Eylandt in particular, is because we also hold up Groote Eylandt in this parliament regarding leasing and the remote partnership agreement between the Northern Territory government, the Commonwealth, and the Anindilyakwa people. We are seeing progress on Groote in many ways and in many forms. The fact that education is equally as important in ensuring that children get to school has been very encouraging; for the men and women on the island to actually take a hold and ownership of the way their future is unfolding in front of them, determining their own future by making sure they are very much a part of the educational system.
There are challenges with Umbakumba, Angurugu and Bickerton schools but I am delighted to see we have amazing men and women working in these schools. Recently, at Angurugu School, I spoke about how there have been improvements at that school, one of the most challenging schools in my electorate of Arnhem. I am delighted to say we are seeing more children coming to this school. We are certainly seeing an increase in the optimism for the future of the children in that school. I believe it comes down to the wonderful work of the principal, but also of the teachers involved and the fact that families are becoming more involved with the Angurugu School. We still have a way to go; there is no doubt about that. As the member for Arnhem in this parliament for the last six years, I have recognised the incredible challenges on Groote, in particular.
Parents and other carers have to get serious about their children going to school every day, and work with the schools and other parents and families to see that it happens. The Anindilyakwa Land Council’s review stated:
- One thing is clear: governments can provide appropriate services and support for young people but cannot command their active and willing participation. This is something that only the Anindilyakwa people themselves can do.
Members on this side of the House want to see schools as a key part of community life; a place that parents and families feel connected to and where kids want to be. What we are talking about is generational change and working in partnership with Indigenous communities - not over the top, but working and walking with Indigenous people. The Commonwealth, local government and the non-government sector all need to work together to achieve this. That is why, as part of our A Working Future policy, we are working in partnership and understanding that government cannot create the change we all want on its own. This is the way it should be: a government working together, combining resources, working in partnership and focusing on creating new opportunities for Territorians living in the bush to prosper and enjoy the benefits of the growing Territory economy.
Our local implementation plans are part of this process and are a mechanism for community engagement - a very important mechanism focusing on local priorities and ensuring that frontline investments align with local priorities. These local implementation plans are being developed through close consultation between governments and local reference groups in each community. I highlighted in this House today, as I have done on previous occasions, this is really about the remote service delivery sites across Australia. The fact is there are 29 across Australia, with 15 in the Northern Territory. We have added another five to six as part of the A Working Future policy with the growth towns. They set out the priorities for each community and include targets, actions, success measures, and time lines for achieving these priorities.
Gunbalanya, in the electorate of Arafura, was the first community to sign a local implementation plan on 10 November 2010. That opportunity was an important one because we had the federal minister here at the time who was very much a part of the signing ceremony. Since then, local implementation plans for all 15 remote service delivery national partnership agreement sites have been endorsed by the Northern Territory government and the Australian government and are being implemented, and 13 of these have been signed by all stakeholders.
I am particularly pleased that all the local implementation plans include the Families as First Teachers program as a priority, in particular to deliver the Certificate III Community Services to the local Indigenous Families as First Teachers family liaison officers in the workplace. In addition, all local implementation plans prioritise the establishment of early childhood coordinators and universal access to preschool for every child in the year before full-time school.
I am always proud we have undertaken a comprehensive mapping exercise of the education and training needs of our growth towns. An incredible amount of work has gone into this baseline data collection and job profiling. It might sound like really quite dull stuff, but it is so important for government agencies, and government as a whole in the Northern Territory and the federal government, to have data. We did not have that data before on such a consistent, constant level across the Northern Territory. This mapping exercise has been pivotal and fundamental to the firm foundation of the growth of these regions so in five, 10, 15, or 20 years time, whoever is in any of these positions can look at the progress in these regions across the Northern Territory across all forms but, in particular, in education.
The Henderson Labor government looks at this and says: ‘Let us turn around the decades of neglect and look towards the decades of prosperity’.
A huge amount of work has gone into it and we are working with the local reference group in each of our growth towns to analyse this data, looking at education requirements for children from birth through to post-school options. Naturally, the challenge I am focused on is to move beyond the analysis of data to ensure the local implementation plans adapt and reflect the local people’s priorities and needs on the ground. That is why our local shires, the local implementation teams, the land councils, and my own Indigenous Affairs Advisory Council all play a vital role in staying connected to the implementation of A Working Future and helping to identify the areas we need to keep working on and particularly focus on.
The pathway of education is the pathway to the formation of a positive sense of self, a strong cultural identity, and the learning and literacy skills needed to make choices about how we live and the means to make those choices. Education is central to people’s wellbeing and future life choices. Our government is committed to every single Territorian, be they in the cities, the towns, or remote communities. We are committed to them having access to a better education in order to have a future where they have a choice - the choice to live where they want to live, to take on a pathway to training, employment, or university, and be supported to succeed on that pathway.
This access to choice is vitally important for every child in the Northern Territory; to have a choice to live life to the best of their ability. We provide opportunities for young people to choose their individual schooling and career pathways with their families, their teachers, and those who mentor and encourage them to be the best they can, to do the best they can. This is about having the choice to attend a Centre for Excellence in our senior secondary schools at Darwin High School, Casuarina Senior College and, soon, Centralian College and Palmerston Senior College; to attend a boarding school or residential college; to access scholarship opportunities; to take up vocational education and training; and to maximise options beyond schooling.
Madam Speaker, I am talking about access to educational choice. In order to do this, we need to keep working together for the sake of our children. We need our young people to achieve at school, build confidence, and develop aspirations and goals for the future. I commend the minister’s statement to the House.
Debate adjourned.
MATTER OF PUBLIC IMPORTANCE
Public Housing in Remote Communities under SIHIP
Public Housing in Remote Communities under SIHIP
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, I have received the following letter from the member for Braitling:
- Madam Speaker,
I propose for discussion this day the following definite matter of public importance:
The arrangements surrounding the delivery of public housing in remote communities under SIHIP as compared with remote housing for government workers.
Yours sincerely,
Member for Braitling.
Mr GILES (Braitling): Madam Speaker, I place on the table today a matter of public importance on the arrangements surrounding delivery of public housing in remote communities under SIHIP - the Strategic Indigenous Housing and Infrastructure Program - as compared with remote housing for government workers.
People would be well aware of SIHIP. There is always much commentary about the value for money received and the administrative failures of the government in the implementation of this program. I will draw upon two examples to clearly illustrate that, keeping in mind I have a couple of written questions I recently forwarded to the Minister for Public and Affordable Housing - one surrounding Wadeye house No 232 and its construction costs, and the other around SIHIP construction costs per square metre per community.
In undertaking this matter of public importance, I have done some research and also worked with my federal colleague, Senator Scullion, who is the federal shadow minister for Indigenous Affairs and speaks quite often on the failures of SIHIP. During the federal budget estimates hearings, a number of questions were placed on notice and responses have been received, particularly regarding house No 232 in Wadeye. The question regarding house No 232 in Wadeye was question No 223, Hansard page CA22 of 3 June 2011. What was sent back was a scope of works that was undertaken on that house. I will quickly read through them because we need to recall - and I will take a step back - this house No 232, despite what has been said in this Chamber, is a rebuild, not a refurbishment, according to the previously tabled papers which include the paperwork from the New Future Alliance which clearly illustrates house No 232 was in a poor standard and needed a rebuild. That is despite what was said in this Chamber, whether accidental, misleading, or otherwise.
The scope of works has been received. We do not have the costs, because the Commonwealth does not see the costs of individual contracts. I am unsure if the Territory government does; it just outsourced all the procurement processes. All we know is it is $200 000, which is the average cost for a rebuild. The scope of works was:
unsafe conditions were rectified, including all electrical and plumbing items;
installation of a new large laundry tub, including tapware and waste disposal;
I understand there are still remedial works under way after the Commonwealth sent people in to check that house. Those remedial works are external painting, rectification works to window awnings, and repairs to window sills. That is the scope of works received from the federal government.
When we had the debate last week I spoke about a two-tiered system across a number of areas, particularly for Indigenous Territorians. I have looked at the type of work that would be done on government employee housing. I have a response to questions on notice, particularly tender Nos T101670 and T101771, which were two tenders to undertake rebuilding and refurbishment work at government employee houses in Mataranka.
For some reason, the tender package was split into two; they both went to the same contractor. I am unsure if that is to reduce the costs within a contract. Instead of it being over $1m, we now have two for less than $1m, but both added up to well over $1m. In those tenders, which together totalled $1.198992m, 10 houses were refurbished. I will do the simple averages, which is what the government does for SIHIP. We will call it $1.199m for ease of numbers. That, for 10 houses of rebuild/refurbishment works, equates to about $119 000 per house.
Some houses have bigger scopes of work than others. These were 4 Gunn Street, Mataranka; 8 Gunn Street, Mataranka, for Unit 2 only; 27 Gunn Street, Mataranka; 1 Gunn Street, Mataranka; 2 Gunn Street, Mataranka; 6 Gunn Street, Mataranka – it seems like all of Gunn Street was done; 30 Gunn Street, Mataranka; 32 Gunn Street, Mataranka; 9 Gunn Street, Mataranka; and I think the last one is 20 Gunn Street, Mataranka.
There was a number of scope of works for each one of those properties. I have not picked the biggest scope of works, I have not picked the smallest, I have picked the middle-of-the-road one. I will walk through the scope of works for this government employee housing:
refix ceiling sheet and flush finish;
replace window glass or louvres;
This is still for bedroom 1:
replace fan with three-blade 1400 mm fan - allow for paint touch-up up and around fan controller.
- Bedroom 1 main:
replace single GPO and install new double GPO in existing location;
supply and install CAT460 cushion-type door stop;
supply and install phone outlets to Austel standard;
- … air-conditioner to be inverter type minimum 4-star energy rating;
And a list of approved manufacturers:
- Bedroom 2:
- Bedroom 3:
- Dining Room:
replace existing single GPO and install new double GPO in existing location;
- Hallway/Passage:
- Internal:
Kitchen:
replace existing stove with Westinghouse pack 144W;
- Laundry:
- Lounge Room:
Toilet:
- Carport - these guys get carports:
supply and install triple lock Crimsafe Meshtec or Alspec commercial to all hinged and sliding doors and Crimsafe, Meshtec and Alspec commercial to fixed screens;
That is the scope of work for 6 Gunn Street, Mataranka. Those paying attention would understand that took longer to go through than a refurbishment I read out for house No 232 at Wadeye, as provided as a response to estimates questions by Senator Scullion.
The point is, as I am sure you can imagine, the average cost of that work for 10 government employee houses in Mataranka for those two tenders was $119 000 according to figures from the tender papers. However, we hear $200 000 is being spent on the SIHIP house. What that creates is …
Dr Burns: You did not hear that.
Mr GILES: That is the outcome you say - $200 000 for a rebuild average cost.
Dr Burns: We will go back through our estimates Hansard.
Mr GILES: Go for it.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr GILES: The point is this is a two-tiered system where different expectations are being provided for people in the bush who are most needy - the people who were identified as needing a response as part of the Little Children are Sacred report when we had to provide bedrooms for every child.
My comment before in the CTC debate, which seemed to ire the member for Nelson so harshly, is a case in point. How can you say you have one list of works for a government house that big and a small list for a house in Wadeye, but this one costs $200 000 and this is $119 000? It is simply about understanding the maladministration and the failures in SIHIP.
I call on the government to stop it - stop the waste. This is a wasted program. You are not helping the people most in need. You are lining the pockets of people who come from interstate to work in the Territory. You are not stimulating local Territorians as much as you should be. It is a failure of a program and you should be held to account for it. As I said earlier - and I am not going to repeat the mantra - this is the worst program I have ever seen. And I have seen a stack of some 232 programs identified in the Johnson report from federal Cabinet. It amazes me how your bush members can allow this to happen.
We saw $36.5m attributed to Tennant Creek for SIHIP that did not occur. We know the package Earth Connect took up in Groote Eylandt never proceeded. There is an allegation of a $50m payout going to those people, although you would not disclose that because you call it Cabinet-in-Confidence. The culture of cover-up with SIHIP will continue; you will not release any figures on it at all. Now, because of your failure, the people in Groote Eylandt get no new houses. They get some repairs and maintenance they are doing themselves.
There are no new houses, as I understand it, under the new package at Groote Eylandt. I would be happy for the minister to correct me on that. If there are new houses being built at Groote Eylandt I would like to know how many, where, and when they will be finished. The local community has a contract to do the works out there now. However, I would be happy for you to tell me otherwise.
I would also be happy for you to tell me what the square metre average cost was for a SIHIP house at the commencement of the program, and what it is right now, and how that compares to government employee housing and the private sector. That will, again, identify the maladministration. We look at things like government employee housing at Ramingining. We have probably all seen them before. They all look good, they have carports and concrete paths to the clothes line, fences, yards all tidied up - all of that work. However, there are no houses at Ramingining. We will wait to see if that happens under a new package.
We need to get reform in this area. You know I am passionate about it. You know it is bad. If it tastes like it, smells like it, and it looks like it, you know what it is. We all know what it is ...
Dr Burns: Fine wine.
Mr GILES: Sorry?
Dr Burns: Keep going.
Mr GILES: We all know what it is - and it is a matter of public importance. This is as important as the carbon tax. It is as important as the pink batts. This is government waste and government failure. Sure, not everyone sees it because they can see a house go up, but they do not recognise how much money went into that house. They can see a slap of paint on the outside of a house and it looks new. However, when it costs $75 000 for that, it is not new; that has been government waste. It is all over the place.
For the minister to claim that house No 232 in Wadeye was a refurbishment – well, maybe he needs to change the alliance paperwork. Clearly, they were working on it as a rebuild. Clearly, when he said in parliament the other day they have gone back to do some more work, that is also not good – and I am paraphrasing. They were sent back to do more work - we all know that - after the federal employees went back in after the estimates process.
I plead with the minister to end this charade of SIHIP, start saving money, and give it to the people on the ground where it is most needed. What we have at the moment is a program worse than the pink batts. It is fortunate no one has lost their life. This is worse than the pink batts program. Hundreds of millions of dollars have just been lost – disappeared into the ether - and has not helped the kids who are most in need.
Dr BURNS (Public and Affordable Housing): Madam Speaker, I welcome this matter of public importance brought on by the member for Braitling. I have said on the record a number of times that SIHIP did not get off to a good start. I have acknowledged that. I have also said in more recent times that it is producing results. There are 2000 families across the Territory who have now benefited from this program with its five-year target of 750 new houses, 2500 refurbishments, and 230 rebuilds.
At various points since the 2008 election, the member for Braitling has attacked this program. I will be frank, some of the points he and other members have made, including the member for Nelson, have been quite valid. As minister, I have tried to guide this program, be involved with it and ensure results are happening on the ground. However, it has been beset by problems. I am not going to step away from that.
If I go to the style of the member for Braitling in what he does, one of the first things he did, grabbing a few headlines, was asserted - this was in 2010 - there was $230m missing from SIHIP. He mounted an argument, just the same as he did tonight reading out the scope of works of both. At a flat-earth level, it sounds okay, but he misses important details. He mentioned the memorandum of understanding between the Commonwealth and the Territory:
- The MOU said $793m, plus $100m from the NT government. The $647m spoken about by the member for Casuarina, who was the Housing minister at the time - he talked about $647m, including the $100m, so $547m from the Commonwealth dollars. This is the minister’s statement of 1 May 2008. We have gone from $793m to $574m; there is a discrepancy in federal dollars. I would like to know where that has gone; whether it is been siphoned off to other projects or what has happened.
It is quite clear in the MOU, and I did direct the member to the MOU. The MOU on remote housing, signed in 2007, was made up of $793m, existing programs $265m – well, that is more or less your $230m - plus $527.7m in SIHIP. When you add it all up, the MOU funding was $527.7m, Northern Territory government contribution $100m, Nguiu group and tenant top-up $25m, increase in six communities in the southern shires $20m - all adding up to $672m.
I am not going to go into it, because I am going to focus on what is going on with this MPI. He has made other assertions. He made an assertion that, basically, 170 homes will have be demolished. Untrue! He is really twisting what was said in a briefing. There was an acknowledgment that there were 170 houses deemed beyond economic repair; however, there are no plans to demolish them.
So, we have this history of the member for Braitling getting facts and figures, confabulating them and shaking them all up, and then spraying them across the House. However, time after time after time, his arguments have not stacked up.
Tonight, he is on about a comparison between GEH housing and SIHIP. I will turn to that. Part of what he alleged here tonight, and earlier last week, was in relation to houses in Wadeye. Reading from the Parliamentary Record from last week’s questions, he asked how the government could justify paying $75 000 per house to be renovated to the alliance and receiving an estimated $20 000 worth of work was good value for money.
Regarding SIHIP and $75 000 - I have said time after time the average cost of a new house is $450 000, the average cost of a rebuild is $200 000, and the average cost of a refurbishment is $75 000.
I could be forgiven, given the trigger if you like of $75 000 in the question asked by the member for Braitling, plus the scheme of works at Wadeye of approximately nearly $70m, with 105 new houses, 77 refurbs, and 28 rebuilds. They have just about achieved their targets there. There are refurbishments there. In answer, I said:
- The member is correct in saying the average cost of the refurbishments is $75 000; that is an average cost.
I believe he is referring to several houses at Wadeye, and pictures taken by Senator Scullion and published in the Senate.
I do not think he can quibble with what I have said there. We spoke about this issue in estimates. The member for Braitling asked me specifically in estimates, in relation to the photos he tabled:
- Are they refurbished or rebuilt houses?
This was on Thursday, 16 June 2011. I said:
- A very good question, member for Braitling. In a category sense, they are rebuilds. In the amount of work, I would categorise them as just over the edge of refurbishments. There is a $100 000 limit on refurbishments. There has probably been a bit more than $100 000 worth of work done. Certainly, they are over the $100 000 mark. I can tell you before you even start, $200 000 has not being spent on those houses
That was my answer then.
Tonight it comes back a little different and, somehow, I could be misleading parliament and the House. He has left the question up in the air. I have tried to take your questions and answer them the best I can. That was the truthful answer in estimates to your question, and the truthful answer I gave, I believe, to your question in parliament last week.
Turning to the issue you raised last week regarding government employee housing in Ramingining, you said something like:
- That is unlike the SIHIP houses which the minister claimed cost $450 000 but, in fact, is probably about $800 000 or $900 000 for a three-bedroom. We do not know.
In Ramingining, the teachers get housing, but not the kids. I would love to have a teacher’s house myself, but we in this parliament are not beneficial enough to be living in teacher housing. None of us can live in it, just like Indigenous Territorians cannot live in teacher housing.
With regard to the teacher and government employee housing at Ramingining, this is my advice, member for Braitling: housing delivered at Ramingining was part of the $18m project to deliver 47 two-bedroom prefabricated homes for teacher housing. That was part of the intervention the Commonwealth undertook. I think it was called 200 Teachers, some for the private, non-government sector and some for government. Housing was part of that. They were prefabricated in urban areas and transported to Ramingining. Northern Territory Link supplied four of these dwellings, which included two bedrooms built to cyclone code, each with a verandah, carport, fencing, air-conditioning and shed.
You are right regarding SIHIP works at Ramingining. Works at Ramingining have not been allocated. Ramingining is scheduled to receive refurbishment works to 54 houses before the end of 2013.
What I can tell you about government employee housing, specifically at Ramingining, obviously they are not built to the same standards of durability as new SIHIP dwellings because we are aiming, with those SIHIP dwellings for Indigenous Territorians, that there be a 35- to 40-year life span. We have already seen, in Wadeye, at least one new steel-frame construction house that someone took an iron bar to and smashed their way through the wall. I answered questions about that in parliament last week. We have pursued that family and repayments are being made. Alternative arrangements have been made for that family member who has had some problems; they are better housed elsewhere.
We have concluded that solid core-filled walls are the best way to go with SIHIP housing. Obviously, those houses for government employees in Ramingining are not built to that same standard; they are not subject to the same wear and tear you alluded to.
You have gone through a large list of the scope of works in Mataranka and compared that to the scope of works in Wadeye. I say also, member for Braitling, when I have been out in the communities, before they even start the refurbishments on the internal work, a great deal of structural work has to be done. What has happened is, with time, particularly with the steel-frame construction and those that might have some wooden-frame construction, people hose their houses out. It is a tropical environment, the water gets into the steel construction, particularly into the plates, and there is corrosion. They pull the wall off and are confronted with major structural works to make the house good, even before they start on the kitchens, bathrooms, and toilet.
Whilst I could see you were reading a very extensive list of works that were carried out in that government employee housing -- I think you said there was an average of $110 000 to $115 000 and much work carried out. I am not a builder and stand corrected, but I did not hear major structural works as part of what you read out. I am more than happy to continue the conversation with you about that scope of works.
I must commend the tender officer who wrote the scope of works – much time spent in scoping up those works. I add, the scoping of the works for SIHIP, as I am advised, is part of the cost of building there. There are two separate systems. I come back to the fact that we are making inroads there. You say you want the whole program to stop. As I reported last week - it has probably changed a bit in a week - 324 new houses were completed, 200 under construction, and just under 1600 have been rebuilt and refurbished. I also said in answer to questions last week that this is benefiting 2000 families across the Territory.
We know the Coalition and the CLP have been against this program from the start. They have been very critical of it; that is fair enough. That is politics; that is a democracy. However, at the end of the day, this program is providing Aboriginal or Indigenous employment and training. Whilst there has been criticism about the fact we are reporting somewhere between 30% to 40% of the workforce is Indigenous, and people are not getting real jobs, we have to remember often these are young men who have no history of work. For them to come along each day and participate in work, receive training, show the discipline involved in work, is an incredible step forward. You do not have to be Indigenous to understand people need to get into the mode of work. Many non-Indigenous kids find it hard to settle into a work environment, take orders and sometimes do menial jobs.
I go back to my own history. My father made me work in my school holidays in the dirtiest, noisiest, greasiest, hottest jobs he could find for me. Probably not a great deal of pay but …
Mr Tollner: You would have been a problem child, I have no doubt.
Dr BURNS: I was a problem child, but we have discussed that before. It showed me discipline. Dad always said to me: ‘Son, you have privilege. You are receiving a good education. You will have a professional education, but you need to understand how most people have to work hard, struggle for everything, how every week is a struggle, and how workplaces are not always pleasant’. His message was: never think yourself better than anyone else. That was a great lesson for me. I made great friends and heard many stories. That is where some of my understanding of life came about. It is all about a culture of work. Dad always said: ‘Never stand around waiting to be told to do something, son. There is always a job for you to do. You tell the boss you have done that job and ask what the next thing to do is. Do not hide or have a smoke or whatever’. In those days, I was a cigarette smoker, member for Fong Lim. That is a long time ago ...
Mr Tollner: You were a wild child!
Dr BURNS: Dad was red hot about that and saving too. That was his generation, and I am grateful for that. What I am saying is no matter who it is - whether it is an Indigenous or a non-Indigenous kid - it is that culture of work. Unfortunately, probably for a whole generation of Indigenous kids, they have not been to work and they have not been to school, so they need literacy and numeracy. There is much on-the-job training to be done. However, I can say, as I have travelled around the Territory and seen those young blokes working, their faces light up. They know they are contributing something back to their community.
I do not know, ideologically, why the CLP is opposed to Indigenous employment and training. Now the houses are coming out of the ground and we are getting results, they are trying even harder. I read Senator Scullion’s transcript on Top-FM last week. He called me a bonehead. I can take that on the chin. He sounded a little desperate and was flailing around and seemed very upset about things. He must have been having a bad day for whatever reason, and poor old Chris got it with both barrels. However, I can take it. I have had worse, even on the floor of this parliament.
I am prepared to argue for SIHIP and its benefit. I do not believe it should be stopped, as the member for Braitling has suggested. That would disadvantage many people. We need to press on. This is a long journey; it is going to take decades to address the arrears in Indigenous housing. This is a massive first step. I read out the funding. There is $100m - plus some more from the Territory government. We have heard in this parliament about the money we have also put in, in infrastructure to support further development, particularly in the Indigenous towns across the Territory. We are a government that is looking to the future. We understand SIHIP is a first step - a very important first step.
I implore the member for Braitling. I have a booklet here. The bits in red are the pieces the member for Braitling has said, and the rest of it is factually pulling it to bits, bit by bit - as I did with the missing $230m. He was running around in 2010 telling anyone who would listen $230m was missing. However, when it came down to it, he had not read the MOU, the partnership agreement with the Commonwealth. It is quite clear in that. I have another copy here. I am sure you have plenty of copies I have tabled which, quite clearly, outline what I said in my preamble about your $230m. I will read, with interest, the Parliamentary Record and the extensive list you have talked about in government employee housing.
We will not back away from what we are doing for government employee housing. In Budget 2011-12, there is $42m for government employee housing in remote areas. I had a huge list: Arlparra, Borroloola, so on, and so forth. We do not back away from that. If you are going to deliver services, if you are going to implement policy, you need the employees on the ground interacting with the community - whether they be policemen, nurses, teachers, or whoever. This is a very important plank of what government does. We are not going to apologise for that. We are certainly also not going to be pulling SIHIP, as the member suggests.
Mr TOLLNER (Fong Lim): Madam Deputy Speaker, I am glad to support the member for Braitling’s matter of public importance. It is important. It has been great sitting here listening to the minister, as it tends to be these days. A man on his way out tends to speak a little more honestly than someone trying to stay here for a long time. The minister failed on this occasion; he tried to defend the indefensible.
He reckoned SIHIP is meeting its targets. Last Monday, we heard the Chief Minister say he was proud of SIHIP. I suppose his Housing minister needs to follow his lead, so suggesting they are meeting their targets is nothing surprising.
What amazes me consistently is the mentality of this government which believes spending money is, in itself, an outcome. At the end of the minister’s speech he very proudly said: ‘We are spending $42m on government housing programs’. That is great, but it would be good to know how many houses he is building for $42m. However, the government does not put those targets on itself, because every time it sets a target it has to reduce it because it constantly finds itself failing to meet them. That is why all this government ever talks about is how much money it is spending - $100m or more from the Northern Territory government on SIHIP I heard the minister say - not how many more houses the Northern Territory government is going to build or how many more rebuilds or refurbishments but, no: ‘We are spending $100m or more’.
That tells us nothing except they are costing our budget $100m this year. We do not know where that money is going, how many houses it will deliver, how many houses it will fix. This whole thing is somewhat of a joke. The quagmire of missing money, of stories, of rumour or innuendo about this housing program is rife. Our offices - not just mine, and I am sure not just the member for Braitling’s, but members on this side of the House - are getting telephone calls from people all across the Territory - I would be surprised if members of government are not also - about the rorts and failures in this program, the houses that are not being built, the refurbishments that are being done, and the rebuilds that leave houses in an unliveable condition. There is a veritable tidal wave of calls coming through all the time about this program.
It amazes me that the ministers of this government and the Chief Minister have excuse after excuse after excuse for why this program is not working. The minister said it is difficult for Indigenous people getting into work for the first time. I agree, it is difficult. It would be particularly difficult for Aboriginal kids in remote communities to have to go to a job when none of their parents work, none of their friends work, very few people in the community work, they have poor education, very few can read and write - that makes it difficult for them to attend work. Somehow the minister, the Chief Minister and, it seems, all the people in government have lost sight of what SIHIP was about. It was part of an emergency intervention. It was not about an Aboriginal training program or an Aboriginal employment program. This was about building houses quickly for people desperately in need of accommodation in remote communities. It was all about getting things on the ground quickly. It was never about community engagement or talking with elders about where to site things or that type of stuff.
The Commonwealth compulsorily put leases on townships and put in place government business managers so it could act instantly to deal with an emergency and build houses as part of an emergency. The Commonwealth, at the time it instigated the Northern Territory Emergency Response, was talking about the houses being emergency accommodation. So, we were not looking at building million dollar houses or houses that would last 20, 30, or 40 years; we were looking at emergency accommodation - things done in a big way, cheaply, as fast as possible to meet an emergency response. That is why this money was put up. Here we see ourselves, four years down the track looking at enormous amounts of money funnelled into this program, with very little to show in education and training - that was never part of it - or Indigenous employment, or the consultation.
I asked the other day how many 99-year leases are in place around the Territory. There are only two I am aware of: Groote Eylandt and the Tiwis. Nowhere else has this government actioned those things. In very few places are there houses going up that meet the needs of the population now. The government says this stuff takes time, it is difficult to train Indigenous kids and get them into work, it is a bit of a culture shock, the negotiations we are having with the elders are long and drawn out. There is just one excuse after the next, after the next, after the next. It typifies the whole area of Indigenous affairs over the last 30 years.
That is why the member for Braitling, I, and most of my colleagues - I imagine all of my colleagues - are calling for massive changes to happen now. Throw out all this nonsense and let us start delivering on the ground. Let us mark ourselves in measurable items such as how many houses will be built and how many kids will be educated - not how much money we will spend. Ultimately, if that is how you set your goal and your targets, that is all you end up with: a great big black hole to pour money in. That is exactly what has happened with SIHIP. It is not good enough.
As I said last week in this parliament, Australian governments are spending more than $100 000 per person in remote communities. A family of four, a mum and dad and two kids, receive in-kind support from the Australian government of more than $400 000. An income of $400 000 a year to a family of four lets you live practically anywhere in Australia you want. For some reason or other, it is not enough in remote communities. Things need to change. The government needs to slap itself around the head and understand this money came about, primarily, to meet the needs of a population desperately in need of accommodation. It was all about meeting an emergency that had been declared in the Northern Territory. I do not need to go on about what led to the call for that emergency but, again, it was recognised that a large part was a failure of the Northern Territory government. It is something the Northern Territory government refuses to accept.
The report leaked on Channel 7 or whatever last week, the Johnson report, made the point and I quote:
- The capacity of the Northern Territory government is a particular concern, as evidenced by its performance to date in the housing and schooling domains.
This is from federal Cabinet. That is what they think of their Labor colleagues in the Northern Territory; they are failures and their performance to date is not up to scratch. It is quite an appalling situation. For those reasons, I am quite glad to support the member for Braitling in this motion. The more he shines a light on these issues, the greater the chance of action occurring.
Unfortunately, I do not believe time will come quickly enough for this government. It seems to constantly dig itself deeper. The old saying is: ‘When you find yourself in a hole, stop digging’. These guys seem incapable of stopping. The worse things get, the more money they throw in; the more money they throw in, the worse things get, and the cycle continues to degenerate.
This government needs to take breath, take stock, work out what its priorities are, work out the targets - I mean real targets, not targets to spend money - tell people what they are, hold themselves to those targets, and deliver the outcome.
Mr STYLES (Sanderson): Madam Deputy Speaker, I support this matter of public importance. I have listened to the debate for the last three years in relation to SIHIP and, generally, I do not believe anyone can say much has happened. I know the government will say: ‘Yes, we have houses out here and this is happening and that is happening’. We hear that on a regular basis, but we do not see the numbers. The numbers of houses are trickling through. At some stages, they stop and then, suddenly, we have a big burst of something happening in a particular community. Some houses might be finished or some may be refurbished.
I have listened to people from both sides of this House give information, costings, and how it works, alliances and agreements - there is much talk about. What we do not see is the rubber on the road and things increasing in pace. I do not know how long it takes to get this information together, but many people ask me in my daily routine of getting around my electorate talking to various people and organisations, businesses, communities, and barbecues I go to.
People are flummoxed as to why things are not happening. It has been around for some time; the money has been in the bank. People want to know when it is going to be spent to produce some decent outcomes as opposed to a trickle of homes here and there. People also want to know when it is going to finish because it is impacting on their life.
What is happening in remote, rural and regional Australia is terrible. We need to assist people by getting them into homes and decreasing overcrowding in homes. I do not have to explain to anyone in this House the results of overcrowding. Substance abuse problems, sexual abuse problems, the psychological abuse problems we have in remote and regional Australia can be attributed in some way, shape, or form to overcrowding. How is it we have a lag, so to speak, in the delivery of homes and accommodation under SIHIP?
I have spoken to many people, especially in the metropolitan areas, as to how it impacts on them. How does the cost of delivery of these homes impact? If builders and tradespeople can go to communities for what appears to be lesser amounts of work and larger amounts of money, you struggle to do a renovation on your home or to build new homes. We see that with the downturn in the number of houses being built in metropolitan areas. You wonder where the builders are. If they do not have a job they leave. We hear evidence that over 100 people a month are leaving. We have a population growth of less than 1%. My understanding is children being born in the Northern Territory account for that 1%. The negative interstate migration is skilled workers.
When talking to people to attract them to the Territory they will say: ‘Well, that is great. I would love to get a job in the Territory. I am a builder, I am tradesperson, I am a sparky’ - a whole range of trades. The problem is they are thinking people and they ask a number of questions. I have something quite close to home myself - in fact, members of my family are considering moving to the Northern Territory. They look at things and ask: ‘Will it cost a fortune to live up there, Pete’. I say: ‘It does. There is a shortage of land and a shortage of housing availability, rentals, purchasing. It is all pretty expensive’. One only has to look at the ABS figures and the figures put out by the various institutions around Australia as to the cost of rental properties in Darwin compared to elsewhere in Australia. We are right up the top.
When you try to attract a skilled labour force, which does impact on the ability to deliver SIHIP and any remote housing - be it government workers or SIHIP - this has a huge impact. People look at the cost of living and look at the education outcomes. These days, it is much easier to Google education outcomes in the Territory compared to where they might be in some other place in Australia. They can have a look at health outcomes and the waiting lists. They can look at reports. They can go to a range of websites to obtain information on what is happening in the Northern Territory.
When we see the travelling road shows and ministers from the government go interstate and say: ‘Come to the Territory, it is fabulous - a great lifestyle’, the problem is the lifestyle is disappearing. We are looking at the nanny state where you cannot turn around, you cannot do anything - you cannot even make rude noises unless someone wants to put a carbon tax on it.
There are issues we struggle with in attracting interstate people to come here. There are skill shortages that put the price of skilled labour up. It makes everything far more expensive. It makes SIHIP expensive and government worker’s accommodation expensive.
A number of people, I understand, have approached government with solutions to the problem. I went to an opening of a home some six or nine months ago called a crate house. It comes in a crate; you simply open the door, get the spanners and the hammers out and, about four weeks later, you have an instant home. They are displayed. I believe the member for Johnston was there, as minister for Housing, to look at it. We all commented that it was a great idea.
There are alternatives to building $1.2m homes on remote communities, or even in regional Australia. These homes can be delivered in a fairly short time frame. They can be erected, go to woe, in four weeks. They are already wired up; electrics are there. You simply need some skilled labour to fly out on the day, hook it up to the mains power, hook up the plumbing, and anything else that requires a licensed person to put it together. They are very good homes. They come in about six different levels, I suppose, from a very basic home to an executive home. They have different fittings in them, obviously, and different states of readiness. The basic ones are not totally indestructible, but are designed to be very strong, tough, and long-lasting.
Another example I heard of is transportable homes that slide out. They open up from the centre and out they go - instant home. If we are looking at providing people in remote communities and regional Australia with housing options and outcomes, as a community we can do that fairly quickly. It is going to take the government to make a move, and to move a bit quicker than it has done.
People are asking for better homes, better accommodation, and accommodation that is not crowded and packed with 15, 20, 25 people in one home. Options are available at a much cheaper cost than some of the homes being built. I suppose the argument from the other side of the House will be we have to do this, and do things that are appropriate. We have to build them, we have to build them solid, and we have to do a whole range of things. The problem is this has been going on for about three years and we still have not seen a multitude of homes coming online.
When we look at the policies that bring about some of these shortages, and some of the things government should be looking at, I went to the Northern Territory government website to look at the Northern Territory occupational shortage list for 2011. It is very interesting reading. It says we have many issues. When one looks at the legend that explains the rating put next to particular occupations, if it has a rating of S then it is a Northern Territory-wide shortage; M is a metropolitan shortage; and R is a regional shortage - and it goes on with a range of others. As one looks at this list - and I am looking at page 2 of what you print off the website – it starts off with an occupation: construction program manager – S; engineering manager – S; production manager mining – S. There is a whole range of S with a legend of SBE which is just a general shortage everywhere. There is a whole range of those.
What I do not see is too many Rs or ‘others’. Predominantly they are S. That means we have a shortage. I go through two pages, and it has everything you need in the construction industry - things in the aircraft maintenance area, electronics, cooks, hairdressers, sign writers, cabinetmakers and earth movers. The list goes on and on to the point where one has to say we do not have a surplus of very many people at all.
One of the things I come across on a regular basis - and I was talking to a motor mechanic the other day, a young man whose family I have known since he was a young lad. He said to me: ‘Mr Styles, I have to go. I cannot afford to live here’. I said: ‘That is a real shame because your family are here’. He said: ‘Yes, but my partner and I would like to buy a home; we would like to start a family’. He is in his mid- to late-20s and he is struggling. They cannot buy a home. Why? Probably because of land shortage - insufficient blocks of land. It has pushed the prices up sky high to the point where young people in the Territory are struggling to find enough money for a deposit. They go to the banks and have to get mortgage insurance, which costs a fortune. They say it is prohibitive and they have to move south.
Not only are we ripping up the fabric of our community, but we are creating a skill shortage by the systemic policy failures of the current government. I am sure members will argue against it, and that is probably their job to do so. However, it is also our job on this side of the House to point out the failings of government. If the government wants to disregard any of the information we give it, or the observations people are making outside this House - that is, the general public - then it does so at its own peril.
Our job is to bring these matters, via this House, to the government’s attention so, hopefully, it might do something about rectifying the problem; that is, release more land. I am not saying it needs to collapse the housing market, because that is the answer we seem to get from the Treasurer on a regular basis. We need to create an environment where young people can prosper.
One of the things I always heard from my parents, in their desire, aims and goals in life, was to leave the world - and particularly the part of the world they lived in - in a far better state than they found it. I have been here for 30 years. I came here as a young bloke. The Territory has been good to me. I have three children here and they struggle. Without a helping hand from parents, they would have all struggled. They are lucky they have parents who are in a position to do something.
The sad thing is, with the shortage of skills we have - and there are two pages on this list - we are going to be in dire straits. We are trying to create an economic environment here where people can prosper and flourish, yet people cannot afford to be here. It is going to cost industry and governments an enormous amount of money to support some of these young people with incentives or whatever. If they organised the release of land to make it easier for young people to get on, we would not have a skills shortage and we might have SIHIP - if we had spare people around - coming on quicker and cheaper.
Madam Deputy Speaker, I ask the government to take note of some of the issues that we, on our side, are trying to highlight so it can make the Territory a better place for not only our young people, but all of us.
Ms SCRYMGOUR (Arafura): Madam Deputy Speaker, I speak in relation to the MPI brought forward by the member for Braitling regarding SIHIP. It was interesting listening to the comments coming from the members for Fong Lim and Sanderson in relation to this project. Reflecting on the comments from the member for Braitling, I know he has travelled into some of the communities in Central Australia and looked at some of the repairs and maintenance and refurbishment programs. He has also recently been through my electorate of Arafura, both in Gunbalanya and quickly through Maningrida. I believe he went on to Ramingining with Senator Scullion looking around these communities.
One thing I want to clear up with the member for Fong Lim is housing was never part of the equation. I wish he would stop trying to rewrite history and say housing was on the table when the then federal government intervened in remote communities in the Northern Territory because that is not the case. If you look at the NT legislation, there is not even one mention of protecting children. So much for these guys on the other side rewriting history and beating their chests and saying they are the only party with a high moral ground in protecting children. There is not one mention of ‘child’ in the whole 500 pages of the NT legislation.
SIHIP is a fantastic program. Problematic? Yes, there have been problems and there have been issues. As we have stated, and the minister has stated very clearly in the House, rolling out a massive capital works program such as SIHIP, there was always going to be problems associated with that. The member for Nhulunbuy, myself, and the member for Nelson travelled, as everyone in this Chamber knows, quite extensively throughout the Northern Territory looking at SIHIP …
Mr Chandler interjecting.
Ms SCRYMGOUR: Are you right? You are like a bored child, member for Brennan.
We travelled quite extensively through a number of the communities to look at SIHIP and see things firsthand. We have talked to communities, councils and people about the program. We have talked extensively to the alliance. We can criticise the alliance, but I believe they have a massive job ahead of them. The housing program is an important one. For people to say it is a failure and it should go away - is that code for: ‘We should not build houses in communities for black people? The housing should be somewhere else?’
It is not a failure. Yes, there have been problems. Nevertheless, I look at communities like Maningrida where there are 109 more new houses in that community than under any previous CLP government. It is the same with Gunbalanya, where there will be, I think, 69 more new houses.
In addition to the SIHIP houses, this government has spent substantial funds and committed substantial funds to building government employee houses. I heard the member for Braitling say government employee housing should not be constructed or established in those communities. You cannot have your cake and eat it, member for Braitling, by also saying we should be getting the best teachers, the best child protection workers and the best police. All those government employees in those communities have to be accommodated, and government has a responsibility to construct and establish government employee housing. That is a must if we are going to make inroads into getting good teachers, if we are going to deal with law and order issues in those communities by getting more police, and if we are going to deal with the issue of child protection by getting child protection workers in those communities.
Government would be negligent in its responsibility if it did not provide appropriate housing for its staff in those communities. The way to lure good people to those communities is to provide them with standard comfortable accommodation. Many people who go out there move with their family. If they are going to take their family they will want good accommodation for their families to live in.
There has been much criticism of SIHIP for a long time, but we have seen substantial housing. I agree with the minister, the targets are being met. No matter what minister says we are on target; the housing is meeting our targets under the agreement. We are always going to be criticised because it was so good. The opposition constantly runs to the media and says not one house has been built - millions have been spent and not one house has been built. To see the number of houses constructed and Aboriginal people living in those houses is a good thing.
The housing earmarked to go into places like Maningrida, Galiwinku and Gapuwiyak in East Arnhem is not going halfway to meet the needs of those communities. However, it is a start, and that is the important thing. To have 50 more housing stock in Galiwinku, Gapuwiyak, Ali Curung – in many of the growth towns around the Northern Territory, the housing stock going in is important.
Finally, the buck-passing stopped with this government and leadership was shown. For any of us who have been in the Territory and worked around the Territory for a long time, and anyone with any insight into those communities - the minister for Housing has that history in remote Aboriginal communities - one of the biggest issues to paralyse these communities was somebody taking responsibility for the administration of public housing in remote communities.
With the government showing leadership, taking over the responsibility for that public housing stock – yes, it does not come without elements of grief but, nevertheless, that is what real leadership shows. Finally, the grief in those communities where only certain families would get into houses has been removed and the process in relation to public housing has been normalised like in Darwin or any of our urban centres. That is part of the process of normalisation we need to put in place in these communities.
Employment in Maningrida - and I was listening to the offensive words of the member for Fong Lim who does not go past the Berrimah Line unless he is going pig shooting. He needs to get out to some of these communities where Indigenous employment, particularly with SIHIP, yes, has been problematic. I know from my own people on the Tiwi Islands, where people have been talking about how they had reached the 100 mark in employment of Aboriginal Tiwi men. If you look now, those numbers have gone down. You have the peaks and the troughs in any of these employment programs. It has been a new way and reform in working.
The alliances are trying to encourage the Aboriginal workforce to stay. When you talk to the various alliance partners, people are quite keen to give Aboriginal men the skills so those men not only continue to work in their own community, but are able to gain those skills to be able to go to other communities. That is the goal I know this government is committed to working towards; where we can see Aboriginal men - and maybe men from the Tiwi Islands - travel to communities like Maningrida or Port Keats, and we have an Indigenous workforce that could be mobilised throughout these communities to do the ongoing repairs and maintenance. That is achievable. I know people will think that is pie-in-the-sky stuff and cannot happen. I believe it is achievable, and it just needs the will and commitment of all players to be able to make it happen.
Yes, work ethics amongst many of our Indigenous men who are employed in that workforce need to change. I was heartened on my last trip to Maningrida looking at the housing program there. The minister would be pleased with this. I constantly delight in Maningrida, in that as well as a very effective male land management program they also have a very effective female land management program.
I was pleased when I went to look at the SIHIP houses at Maningrida to see the number of young women who have suddenly become part of the SIHIP workforce. When I have talked to other builders in and around Darwin and elsewhere, those male builders remark - and maybe the Minister for Construction could tell me whether they see this - that women working in the construction and building sector are better than men because young women take pride in and time with their work. I am not saying young men are any less than that, but it is good to see young women - particularly young Indigenous women in Maningrida - becoming part of that workforce. It is a sign of the times and shows we are making inroads into providing employment in this program not just for young men, but there is an avenue for young women to learn other skills as well. They see other alternatives and they get to make greater choices in their life.
Whilst people can bag and criticise SIHIP, it is a program, as we have always said, big in nature but providing the needed houses and infrastructure across the Northern Territory. It is not without its problems but, as a government, we care about those issues. I can say this minister and the department does whatever is possible to address those issues.
Discussion concluded.
ADJOURNMENT
Dr BURNS (Leader of Government Business): Madam Deputy Speaker, I move that the Assembly do now adjourn.
Mr VATSKALIS (Casuarina): Madam Deputy Speaker, as local member and Health Minister, I was thrilled to be invited to attend the official opening of the new Charles Darwin University Sports Precinct and Medical Centre on 29 June 2011, with my good friend and ex-compatriot from Western Australia, Senator Chris Evans, federal Minister for Tertiary Education.
The new medical centre is the first designated medical facility on the university’s Casuarina campus since 2007. In addition to providing vital medical services, the centre will also give student doctors an opportunity to receive training under close supervision. It is an integral component of the NT medical program.
CDU’s new sports facility houses the state-of-the-art Exercise and Sport Science Laboratory for teaching and research activities, and provides consultancy services, sport science, and rehabilitation services. The sports facility also boasts a comprehensive collection of machine and free weights, cardio equipment, group fitness classes, an Olympic weight lifting platform, and a multipurpose indoor space.
August is Seniors Month. I am very proud to say that the NT recognises our seniors and celebrates by offering a wide range of activities and events across the Territory. Our seniors also receive free public transport and airfare entitlements, which no other state provides. Seniors’ celebrations and events are all about staying active, keeping fit, and trying new things. I am looking forward to catching up with many of my senior constituents later in the month at our annual Parliament House morning tea, hosted by minister Knight.
I am also very fortunate to have three terrific schools in my electorate. Alawa Primary, Nakara Primary, and Dripstone Middle School are all looking fantastic after receiving much-needed upgrades to assembly areas, classrooms, science labs, and playground areas.
Last week, I met and welcomed the new principals of Nakara Primary and Dripstone Middle School. Nakara’s new principal, Brendan Wessely, hails from sunny Queensland. Brendan left his deputy principal position at Mountain Creek State School on the Sunshine Coast to take up this position, along with wife Kellie, and children Gretel, Holly, and Ben, and he is looking forward to making Darwin his home.
New Dripstone Middle School principal, Brian Collins, hails from northeast Victoria. He has over 30 years experience as a teacher and principal, and recently as a regional leader in the Hume region of northeast Victoria. Brian’s teaching qualifications in both primary and secondary school settings are an ideal background for middle school leadership. Brian’s wife, Leanne, will be joining him in Darwin.
I look forward to working with both principals, and I am sure the Nakara and Dripstone communities join me in welcoming them to Darwin.
Madam Deputy Speaker, I extend my deepest condolences to the Hart family on the loss of their beloved father and grandfather, Kenny Hart. I was saddened to hear that our dear friend, Kenny Hart from the Alawa community, passed away recently. Ken will be sadly missed by his family and friends. Debbie and I will always have fond memories of Ken’s regular visits to my electorate office and his interesting sense of humour. Rest in peace, Ken.
I take the opportunity to extend my thanks to three staff members who retired from the Department of Health this year. Ms Susan Duffield retired on 30 April 2011 after 36 years of dedicated service. Susan commenced employment in December 1974 as a cadet radiographer. She worked at the then Darwin Hospital whilst studying radiography by correspondence through RMIT. In the late 1970s, Susan expressed an interest in ultrasound, a newly-introduced form of medical imaging. Susan became the first person in the Northern Territory to achieve qualifications in this new, dynamic area. As ultrasound changed in complexity and method of image production, Susan was able to keep abreast with the rapid technological and procedural changes that occurred. She also took on a training role. Susan is a pioneer of medical imaging in the Northern Territory, being the first to study radiography under a cadet scheme and the first to obtain qualifications in ultrasound.
In 1973, Prime Minister Gough Whitlam sent minister Al Grassby to the Philippines to complete negotiations for the family’s return to Darwin. It was on the return flight to Darwin that Dely gave birth to her third child. In March 1977, Dely commenced employment with Darwin Hospital as a domestic in the staff kitchen. In 1984, she transferred to the Central Sterilising Department for two weeks training and stayed on until her retirement.
During the last 14 years, Mervyn has worked tirelessly and professionally to provide tuberculosis control services to the Darwin region. Mervyn’s knowledge and attention to culture has been invaluable when carrying out tuberculosis screening and education in communities. His particular interest has been working with Prison Health Services to provide effective tuberculosis screening and treatment for people within the Darwin prison system.
Madam Deputy Speaker, I thank Susan, Dely, and Mervyn for their significant contributions to the department. I wish them happiness in commencing their well-deserved retirement.
Mr GILES (Braitling): Madam Deputy Speaker, I, and several of my colleagues, on a frequent basis, raise the issue of crime and law and order in Alice Springs. There are many people in this Chamber on the other side who question that and think: ‘How bad can it be?’
I received an e-mail this morning while I was sitting in parliament. I have taken the person’s name off the e-mail, but I would like to read out the letter that was attached to the e-mail:
- Hi Adam
Please allow me to express my concern about the disgusting behaviour that is occurring in your electorate and my neighbourhood.
I live in Spicer Crescent and, recently, the antisocial behaviour that is occurring on a regular basis near this area has become worse. I have provided a map …
- … which shows locations as follows: a) the main area that groups gather to drink, fight, scream and carry on; b) Morris Soak camp; c) approximate address of a house occupied by Indigenous tenants - normally very friendly people who always say ‘hello’ and wave when driving past their house.
Due to alcohol restrictions, drinking is not allowed in neither Morris Soak camp or the house indicated by c) on the map. Instead, they gather at the dry creek bed and drink there, out of mind, out of sight.
After the drinking has finished, the residents of the Spicer Crescent house return, shouting and fighting with each other as they go from the creek bed and stagger their way along Spicer Crescent to their house or another nearby residence. Residents’ bins are knocked over and my fence now has many palings kicked out. Empty green cans and wine bladders are regularly dumped in my front yard and the roadway is often littered with broken glass.
I have needed to confront these people on numerous occasions, especially after my kids have woken up screaming.
- After the usual racial abuse and show of bravado, they usually move along after being challenged, but one night, things will turn ugly, and I will defend myself and my property using whatever force is necessary. My children are aged five and eight, and as a father, it makes me angry that they are woken up by fighting and screaming literally outside their bedroom window. Naturally enough they are scared and it is unhelpful for their concentration at school the next day after being woken by this rubbish on a regular basis.
It is also pretty hard to promote reconciliation or at least respect for other cultures when this is what they see. When kids talk about drunken blackfellas behaving like ferals, it is pretty hard to correct them, because they are right. I do, of course, go to lengths to explain that not all Aboriginal people are like that and give them many examples of friends of mine who are Aboriginal and work, but it gets hard making excuses for this mob all the time; so much for reconciliation!
My neighbours and I call the police when somebody is getting flogged, but with limited resources at night, the assurance patrol usually turns up once they have all moved on or driven away. Fires are regularly lit, cars are heard getting smashed, and the abuse, shouting, and violence is occurring on a regular basis. Cars are driven along the footpath and right along the dirt verge alongside Lovegrove Drive, especially when the group disperses. At a guess, I would not think the driver is entirely sober.
The mess the next day with blankets, bedding, nappies, bottles, cans, etcetera, is an absolute disgrace. Feel free to park on the corner of Lovegrove Drive and Elder Street most nights at 9 pm for a firsthand experience.
Adam, are you able to apply any pressure on our behalf for the police to do more patrols along this area? It seems the police are happy to turn a blind eye unless somebody is being killed and even on these occasions, they are usually stretched to the limit. Legislation exists to prevent this sort of …
… this sort of crap going on …
… yet it is not actively enforced. Why not?
… I realise that other areas in town have more problems than us, but for all the laws and grog restrictions, this behaviour should have been eliminated by police, the Alice Springs Town Council Rangers or a combination of both.
We now have many restrictions on our ability to enjoy a drink, yet this mob seems to be totally unaffected by it. I should be able to live in my house and enjoy a peaceful lifestyle, not listen to this [same word] every second night. You should see how bad it gets when there is a big footy comp happening in town.
Adam, thanks for your time in reading this. I understand you have many pressing issues, but for a modern, progressive town, this sort of behaviour is unacceptable and will probably be the reason for my family ending up leaving.
I remember arriving here 12 years ago. I was blown away by the fact that a drive down Gap Road showed a hive of activity with tourists and locals out and about. Every night seemed to be like a weekend with so many people about. We enjoyed a wide selection of restaurants and nightclubs and felt reasonably safe. Many restaurants have now gone, due to smash and grabs, and there is bugger all entertainment in the CBD. The town has declined in this short period of time and the situation described above is only one symptom of an underlying disease that is slowly killing a once beautiful, vibrant, and safe town.
I look forward to your response, husband, father, and long-term resident.
This is a person who I have not spoken to about crime or law and order before; however, he found my e-mail address and sent this to me this morning.
I responded saying I would talk about it in parliament tonight. I will also pursue it with the Centralian Advocate and try to apply pressure to the police to be opposite the intersection of Spicer Crescent and Lovegrove Drive and I will seek leave to table that piece of paper.
Leave granted.
Mr GILES: Hopefully, the minister for Police will give that map to the Police Commissioner first thing and direct police straight to that drinking area where those problems are occurring.
I want to reflect on, whilst this is in letter form and was e-mailed to me, the conversations in this letter are things that are relayed to me on a daily basis in Alice Springs. The concerns I have about the reluctance of the Police minister to appoint a permanent southern regional commander in Alice Springs hints of neglect for Alice Springs. If we are going to address crime in Alice Springs, we need a stable police force that is well resourced. That starts with appointing a police southern regional commander on a permanent basis so they can develop a crime prevention strategy and community engagement strategy, get on the ground now, and start actioning the issues of crime in Alice Springs.
The letter I just read out, with all the connotations and references about drunken blackfellas and asking how to explain to children that is not the way to talk; not all people are the same, it is just a difficult social issue we have, and crime is out of control. As a parent, I have the same conversation with my daughter and I know many other people do as well. There was a reference in the letter about ‘so much for reconciliation’. It is sad to see such a comment written, but it is real because it comes from so many other people. When you are trying to move forward on a reconciled basis, you have to deal with these things. The true form of reconciliation is seeing Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal kids playing with each other, Chinese kids, whoever, because they do not see race in their eyes. They just see kids and, as referred to in this letter, the children aged five and eight are saying things like that and it becomes a general disparaging remark relayed in the community amongst families - not everybody, but I would say a fair majority of people in town and we need to address this.
When average punters in the street can see the crime going on and yet police cannot, you have to ask the question: ‘Are they resourced; do they have the right strategy in place?’ What are we doing about tackling substance abuse as a first step, before we tackle the criminal element at the back end, and the crimes that have been committed?
As we have seen in this letter from this family, fence palings have been kicked in, baby nappies, grog bottles, smashed glass, abuse in the street and he said: ‘I will defend myself and my property using whatever force is necessary’. That language of vigilantism - if people are looking at citizens’ defence, particularly after the last summer we had, it paints people in a bad position where they have to bear arms to defend their property. I talk about it ad nauseam, and will continue to do so because that is the view, pure and simple, at the heart of the majority of the constituents within my electorate.
I call on the Chief Minister to immediately appoint a southern regional commander in Alice Springs to develop a crime prevention strategy and community engagement strategy and start fighting crime. Further, the idea that the current acting southern regional commander was going to be moved to Katherine - while I do not want to talk about personalities, police make their decisions for any number of reasons but you have to look at the impact that has on town. The recent removal of some police to Darwin has had a negative effect on our town because of the family status they have in our community.
I understand the current acting member’s partner has a senior role in another bureaucracy in town that would have had a severe negative effect in Alice Springs, and for the government to be able to deliver programs in other areas. I will not say which department.
Mr HENDERSON (Wanguri): Madam Deputy Speaker, I pay tribute tonight to Frank Geddes, undoubtedly one of the most influential figures ever in Darwin Rugby League. Frank’s influence on the game was so great that in Rugby League he was fittingly known as ‘The Godfather’. Sadly, Frank passed away in the early hours of Friday morning at Royal Darwin Hospice.
Clive Francis (Frank) Geddes was born at Quirindi, New South Wales on 15 September 1929. His father and three generations of the family worked as station hands on Walhollow Station approximately 20 miles west of Quirindi on the Mooki River. After leaving school, he qualified as a welder following three years of night school at Sydney’s Ultimo Technical College. Amongst Frank’s early welding jobs was a stint at Sydney’s Cockatoo Island dockyards where he worked on the construction of HMAS Voyager.
Frank originally arrived in Darwin in 1952. His first job was with the Department of Works and Housing at the 18 Mile workshop. He quickly became involved in the local sporting scene, in particular Rugby League, the game at which, on a local level, he would leave a lasting mark. It was on a brief trip home to Quirindi for a Rugby League trip to Werris Creek that he met his wife to be, Barbara.
In December 1952, he was back in Darwin doing steel fabrication work on the new Stokes Hill Wharf. He worked on that particular job with Joe Vigliotti and Peter La Pira who went on to become successful contractors and community leaders.
In 1954, Frank was back in Sydney working on the Total oil storage tanks in the Boral refinery. He also spent time working on the construction of the Pyrmont Bridge and the water supply pipeline from Warragamba Dam to Sydney.
Finally, three years after meeting Barbara, they married in Sydney in September 1955 and they were still together almost 56 years later when Frank passed away.
In May 1958, the young couple and their first child, Douglas, drove out of Sydney in a Ford Mercury V8 heading for Darwin. They cracked the vehicle’s cylinder head about 70 km from Three Ways, and crawled into Tennant Creek where the car was repaired. Frank and Barb booked into the Tennant Creek Hotel, but their son, Doug, was admitted to hospital with gastroenteritis. They eventually made it to Darwin, and Frank was soon back with the Department of Works and Housing.
Once Frank settled back into the Darwin community, he threw himself into doing what he would go on to do for the next 50 years: volunteering to work in sport and community activities. Frank also began playing Rugby League for the famous Wallabies Rugby League team. He was halfback in his club’s first premiership side. The following year, Frank joined the Brothers Rugby League Club and, as a sign of things to come, he was elected club secretary in 1961 and president in 1962. Just for good measure, he also coached the club in 1964 and 1965.
His involvement in Darwin and Northern Territory Rugby League spanned the next 25 years. It included a stint as DRL secretary from 1967 to 1973, and president from 1974 to 1979. He also coached the Darwin representative side in 1972. There is no doubt about the debt the game of Rugby League in Darwin owes to Frank Geddes. Fittingly, he was awarded for his services to the game and to the community with an Order of Australia Medal in 1980.
Frank continued his employment with the Northern Territory public sector in various roles until his medical retirement in 1981. Frank’s final job was Manager of the Essential Services Group (ESG) at Coonawarra Road, Winnellie. By the time Frank left the ESG, they were better known as ‘Geddes mob’. Frank’s public service career had a number of highlights. These included improved maintenance to essential service infrastructure to remote communities, formation of specialist maintenance teams to work in remote areas, the development and introduction of training courses in essential service operations, and the development and implementation of maintenance period contracts.
Throughout his life, he gave willingly of his time, knowledge, experience, and boundless energy to numerous community groups. Apart from his involvement in Rugby League, Frank served as a member of Darwin and District Drug and Alcohol Foundation, the Northern Territory Road Safety Council, and he was also a member of the Northern Territory Museum and Art Gallery Board. Frank was Chairman of the Marrara Sports Complex between 1984 and 1986. He was a foundation member of the Arafura Pistol Club and served as the club’s secretary/treasurer for seven years. He also contributed 20 years of service to the Darwin Returned Services League, remaining heavily involved with the club until ill health prevented him continuing in 2010.
Frank was awarded the Centennial Medal in 2003. He was also awarded life membership of Brothers Rugby League Club, Darwin Rugby League, Darwin RSL and Services Club, and the Arafura Pistol Club. Last year, Frank finished writing a history of the Darwin RSL. It is hoped the Darwin RSL will publish the book in the not too distant future.
Frank is survived by his wife, Barbara; his son, Douglas; daughter, Christine; and his two grandsons, Michael and Matthew. Frank was one of those people we need more of, someone who had a genuine commitment for the betterment of their community. Frank Geddes will be sadly missed, and certainly, reading his commitment to our community, not only the sporting community but the broader community of Darwin over so many years is just an enormous legacy that he has left, a legacy of goodwill and a significant contribution. He is remembered very fondly by his family and many hundreds of friends in Darwin. Vale Frank Geddes.
Mrs LAMBLEY (Araluen): Madam Deputy Speaker, first I pay tribute to the Desert Sports Foundation, which celebrated the achievements of local sports men and women in Alice Springs the weekend before last.
On Saturday, 6 August 2011, the Desert Sports Foundation held the inaugural Centralian Advocate Sports History Expo. This event was a remarkable expo featuring elite sports people from Central Australia. There were dozens of fascinating exhibits featuring collections from sportsmen and sportswomen over the decades. I am assured it will be bigger and better next year.
On the evening of Saturday, 6 August 2011, the Desert Sports Foundation celebrated its second Desert Sports Foundation League of Champions Induction at the Gillen Club in Alice Springs, which is in the Araluen electorate. This was a wonderful night celebrating the sporting achievements of people in Central Australia. At this event, 10 Centralian people were inducted into the Desert Sports Foundation Hall of Fame. They were: John Bell for running; Geoff Curtis for Finke Desert bike racing and speedway; Matt Gadsby for track and field; Lillian Hill for darts; Max Horton for tennis; Lyle Kempster for baseball; Hamish McDonald for track and field, he is a Paralympian; Reg Preece for basketball; Christine Trefry for pistol shooting; and David Yeaman for sports administration.
I pay tribute to the outstanding Alice Springs people who make up the Desert Sports Foundation committee. In particular, I pay tribute to my dear friend and former colleague, Alderman Murray Stewart, the chairman of the Desert Sports Foundation. Murray has been the major driver of the Desert Sports Foundation. It was Murray’s vision, energy, and drive that created this wonderful foundation we can all be proud of. Other committee members of the Desert Sports Foundation are Dave Douglas, Liz Dashwood, Susie Thompson, Steve Brown, Brad Clarke, Tara Everett, Terry Hooton, Ian McAdam, Kevin Rockemer, Alan Rowe, Vanessa Stokes, and Andrea Sullivan. Congratulations to everyone who has been involved in the Desert Sports Foundation, you are truly great Centralians. Well done!
I would like to talk about the fourth Drovers Ball held on Saturday night, 13 August. The Drovers are the Alice Springs Hospital volunteer service, which have been operating for probably four or five years. The ball was a spectacular event attended by over 600 people. I extend my congratulations to the volunteers and organisers of this ball. It has become the premier social event in Alice Springs. The Granites Gold Mine Social Club donated $50 000 to the Drovers on Saturday night, which is truly amazing. The service that the volunteers, the Drovers, provide the community of Alice Springs is invaluable. I thank you and congratulate you.
Finally, I pay my respects to an Aboriginal lady who died at Larapinta Valley camp last week, Mrs Ebatarinja. She was a fine mother and grandmother and a true matriarch to her family. I was introduced to Mrs Ebatarinja by a local Aboriginal lady, Maureen Abbott, and I know for certain that Mrs Ebatarinja will be sadly missed by her family and the community of Alice Springs.
Mr McCARTHY (Barkly): Madam Deputy Speaker, it gives me great pleasure in tonight’s adjournment debate to congratulate some of the Northern Territory’s most capable engineers and planners on their well-deserved recognition at the recent Engineering Excellence Awards. The awards held earlier this month recognise the outstanding efforts and innovative designs of our engineers and planners. These awards and the nominated projects showcase Territory engineering, which is at the forefront of design and is leading the nation in public infrastructure. The range of public infrastructure works delivered and managed by staff from both the Department of Lands and Planning and the Department of Construction and Infrastructure were recognised.
The Palmerston Boat Ramp received the President’s Award for engineering excellence; it is an excellent recreational facility supporting one of the Territory’s favourite pastimes, fishing in Darwin Harbour. The Territory government project was built in partnership with Macmahon. To fit a floating platform down the centre of the existing boat ramp to maximise usage for anglers, was innovative. The boat ramp upgrade also includes a state of the art aluminium fishing jetty for land-based fishers, which is high-quality, low-maintenance, and corrosion resistant. DCI and Macmahon demonstrated ingenuity, originality, and innovation in delivering this outstanding facility.
I particularly mention Chandan Kalase, Louise McCormick, Geoff Horni, and Ernie Wanka from the Department of Lands and Planning; and Lyle Hebb, Ralf Zenke, Suzie Whitaker, Justin Rossiter, and the late Mike Makepeace from the Department of Construction and Infrastructure.
The Tiger Brennan Drive extension from Berrimah Road to the Stuart Highway received the People’s Choice Award. The $127m project is the largest road and bridge project in the Territory’s history. There would be no one in this House who has not benefited from the project, even the member for Drysdale, who said it defied the laws of physics. The project included a grade separated interchange with the highway, Roystonea Avenue, and the new dual lane carriageways; the design and construction of 7.5 km of roadway, two overpass bridges and associated ramps; as well as a pedestrian and cyclist facility. Macmahon was the successful tenderer for the project, with their main consultant, Sinclair Knight Merz. This large-scale project opened to traffic ahead of schedule on 20 December 2010.
I particularly congratulate Louise McCormick, Geoff Horni, and Ernie Wanka from the Department of Lands and Planning; and Steve Hoyne, Shane Dahlhelm, Lou Cowan, and Joanna Winslade from the Department of Construction and Infrastructure. Without the devoted work of these staff, the Tiger Brennan Drive extension project would not have been delivered ahead of schedule.
Closing the Gap - the Engineering Excellence Awards also recognised the outstanding work that has been done to close the gap on Indigenous disadvantage. In particular, it considered the Bridging the Gap submissions and plans put forward within the Territory growth towns policy to improve transport services and infrastructure provision in and around the growth towns. These submissions propose a significant program of works to bring roads up to a standard that would be expected elsewhere in regional Australia. Towards this objective, the Northern Territory government has completed a transport infrastructure survey and a gap analysis of multi-modal transport assets and infrastructure in each of the towns. The gap analysis included an inventory survey and assessment of the condition and capacity and usage of roads, barge landings, and aerodromes across each of the Territory growth towns and their surrounding regions.
I thank and congratulate Chandan Kalase and Ernie Wanka from the Department of Lands and Planning for their exhaustive work on this highly commended submission.
The new $7m McArthur River bridge provides a vital link between Borroloola and surrounding communities in the Roper Gulf Shire. The highly commended project was jointly funded by the Australian and Northern Territory governments, managed by the Department of Construction and Infrastructure, and built by Steelcon.
The construction of the 220 m long bridge was driven by the need for better access across the McArthur River during the Wet Season for the 1000 residents of the Borroloola area. Prior to the construction of the bridge on the Wollogorang Road, residents were often forced to make the hazardous journey across the fast-flowing river by boat. I had great pleasure in travelling to Borroloola in June this year to officially open the bridge. As the local member and a former resident of Borroloola, I was very proud to officially open this bridge, which will have such a positive impact on our community, cutting closure times in the Wet Season.
The project was constructed efficiently over one Dry Season with bridge beams precast in Darwin during the Wet Season so construction could start as soon as the Dry Season began. The project also helped to boost skills in the region by employing Indigenous workers during the construction phase.
I congratulate Sumesh Dhir, Louise McCormick, Geoff Horni, and Ernie Wanka from the Department of Lands and Planning; and Glen Jones, Peter Watton, Mal Hunnam, and Amanda Runn from the Department of Construction and Infrastructure.
In 2010, Alice Springs Airport became the first Australian airport to have a large-scale - more than 100 kW - photovoltaic system providing a direct source of renewable energy to its internal grid. The first of its kind in the southern hemisphere, the solar power station comprises 28 SolFocus arrays, each 8 m wide and 7 m high. The solar power station now supplies approximately 20% of the airport’s energy needs, reducing its carbon emissions by about 470 tonnes of carbon dioxide a year and the equivalent of about 70 Alice Springs households per annum.
Concentrator photovoltaic, or CPV, systems are an emerging solar technology that offers greater opportunities for cost reductions in photovoltaic systems by tracking the sun throughout the day. As a result of this innovative and exciting move by Alice Springs Airport, they received two awards - the Australian Solar Energy Society Award for sustainability, and the Engineering Excellence Award for Environment and Sustainability. I congratulate Alice Springs Airport for taking a proactive step towards a cleaner environment through innovative engineering solutions.
I take this opportunity to acknowledge and thank one of the Territory’s long-term public servants. Mr Lalith Ramachandra retires from the Northern Territory public sector on 23 September 2011 after serving the Northern Territory for a period spanning 30 years and five months, having commenced with the Northern Territory government on 9 March 1981. Lalith is currently employed with the Department of Construction and Infrastructure, Design Branch, Professional Services in Darwin. His personal efforts within the department over this period have been greatly appreciated. He is particularly recognised for his provision of technical, professional, and mechanical expertise to the supervision and construction of building services on many government buildings in the Northern Territory and his ongoing support and commitment to develop the quality of public infrastructure.
Work colleagues have spoken highly of the dedication and support he has provided them to meet project standards and time frames. He should be applauded for his commitment and dedication to his profession and the organisation generally.
Lalith is planning to spend well-deserved quality time with his family upon retirement. I wish him all the very best for the future and thank him for his support and commitment to the Northern Territory over the past 30 years.
Mr ELFERINK (Port Darwin): Madam Deputy Speaker, I draw into sharp relief the issue of this government’s decision to cuddle up to Julia Gillard and Joe Ludwig’s ban of the live export trade. What I want to bring into sharp relief is a demonstration of the way this decision, this short-sighted, knee-jerk response from Canberra, ably supported by an equally short-sighted Territory government, has had on people.
I was approached at the Darwin Show not long ago by a gentleman and, as a consequence of that conversation, he wrote to me. I would like to impress upon all members of this House the amount of pain brought to this particular gentleman and his business because of this short-sighted decision. I quote from the letter:
- Thanks for allowing me the time to talk to you on Saturday at the show.
- I have just started my own business, having previously been involved in another local business in the same industry.
I have applied for and received the $5000 business assistance payment.
My income relies on sales of cattle to mainly the live export industry as a stock agent and primary producer. Needless to say, my income as a stock agent has been cut by about 80% and, as a primary producer, cattle are at present unsaleable for live export or at a reduced value to meatworks.
- I have forms for the business hardship payment up to $20 000.
My interpretation of the document is that it will only cover expenses and then only if you have insufficient funds available.
My business is running on overdrafts or loans which were set up because I had the income or ability to service the debt prior to 7 June when the radical decision to suspend live export was inhumanely put on the industry.
Currently, my expenses are low for this time of the year because there is no work, which in turn means no income. I now struggle to cover basic expenses for the family and compounding interest each month. We are a family having a go, and now the rug has been pulled out from under us.
I also note this package from government must be lodged prior to 30 September.
This decision by the ALP has reduced this industry to a fraction of what it was, and the long-term future of the northern pastoral industry looks bleak.
Long-term industry participants, including myself, suspect the trade in Indonesia will be dramatically reduced for the next five years.
That being said, a possible $20 000 in the next two months will only cover basic expenses. What happens after that?
We offered bipartisanship in a response and, whilst you say you were acting in a bipartisan fashion, you in no way included the Country Liberals in any of the work you did, despite the fact that the Country Liberals responded far more aggressively in the first instance than you did. You were still waiting, Chief Minister, to figure out which way the public was going to jump, then you responded after you knew what was happening. Leadership sometimes means being out the front. This Chief Minister has not been out the front; he has been tagging along behind. At first, he was tagging along behind Julia Gillard and Joe Ludwig and now he is tagging along behind public sentiments he now realises exist in our community.
That is not leadership; it is political cowardice. Unfortunately, the author of this letter is the victim of that political cowardice. This government, for that alone, deserves to be condemned at the next Northern Territory election.
Mr KNIGHT (Daly): Madam Deputy Speaker, I will respond to the member for Port Darwin. I have never seen a Labor government working so closely with industry. You would think that would be something the Country Liberal Party would traditionally do as a party. The Chief Minister, since the ban happened, has been working extremely closely with both the Northern Territory Cattlemen’s Association and the Livestock Exporters Association, on a daily basis. Those two organisations have never criticised the efforts of the Chief Minister, his strategy, and his input into the resolution of this situation. We have been critical of the ban and actively worked behind the scenes - and in front - to get this resolved as quickly as possible. We have provided assistance to the Cattlemen’s Association financially, as they had requested, to get them to re-establish market trades overseas.
The member for Port Darwin talked about the Darwin Show. I was with the Chief Minister at the presentation of awards for the cattle prizes with livestock exporters. Those exporters congratulated the Chief Minister on his efforts to get this situation resolved.
I take my advice and my heart from the industry - the cattlemen and the organisation which represents the cattle industry. They are supportive of the actions of the Chief Minister, what he did for them in the Northern Territory and whilst he was in Canberra. They have never been critical of the Chief Minister because he is someone who has stood up for the Northern Territory.
The CLP does not have any endorsement from the Northern Territory Cattlemen’s Association. The member for Port Darwin does not have any endorsement from the Northern Territory Cattlemen’s Association or the Livestock Exporters Association. He well knows that because he is not with their particular approach. He is aware of it and they are aware of it, and he should just leave it lie, because the Northern Territory government through this Chief Minister, has done an incredible job. He is closer to the peak bodies and these industries than the CLP ever has been.
Mr STYLES (Sanderson): Madam Deputy Speaker, I have a good news tonight. I have had much to do with many classes from my schools in my electorate over the past couple of weeks. I congratulate Parliamentary Education Services. People have made mention of this service before; however, when you are dealing with young kids who are excited and want to leap about the place, it requires a great deal of patience and skill. The two people with whom I have dealt over last week and today, Caroline Cavanagh and Karen Parker, are to be congratulated on the way they conduct their tours, the way they conduct themselves, and the way they interact with students.
I was fortunate last week to have Anula Primary School visit parliament and shortly I would like to go through the names of the students who were fortunate to come to have a look at this great place we call Parliament House. I would like to put on the public record some information about Anula Primary School and its history, which was sourced from the Anula Primary School website. I take the opportunity so when students search for information about their tour, they will find some of the things said about their school.
Currently, it is ably led by the principal, Kerry Hudson, ably assisted by the two APs, Judy Percher and Melinda Kealy, and there is a raft of wonderful teachers at Anula. One only has to go to Anula Primary School to see how a truly multicultural school works, how successful and happy it is. It is exhilarating and uplifting to go to a school where you walk in, look at the children, and think: ‘That is our future’. You look at the staff, the support staff, and the crew, the entire school staff, and you say: ‘We are in safe hands’. We struggle with some of our school marks and how we are viewed, both nationally and within the Territory; however, the dedication of students and staff is only to be commended.
Anula Primary School’s website says:
- Anula Primary School was built in 1978, four years after Cyclone Tracy devastated Darwin. The northern suburbs of Darwin were growing and the school was to cater for this increasing population. The open plan design of the building was to complement the philosophy of the school at the time.
The first principal of Anula Primary School, Mr C W Young, wrote in his philosophy statement in the parent handbook 1978, ‘The building is constructed along open lines and every effort will be made to move towards an open-minded approach to the education process’. He gave the school the directives that all classes would be vertically grouped, teachers would teach in teams, and no compartmentalisation would feature at the school.
- In 1981, the Intensive English Unit opened to cater for the growing number of migrant families settling in Darwin. The unit commenced with four teaching groups and some part-time instructors who assisted with the maintenance of the children’s first language. In the early 1990s, Anula School accepted the first international fee-paying student, a practice that continues today. Multiculturalism has been a feature of Anula Primary School and it makes it a truly distinctive school.
- In the mid-1980s, the Department of Education began the process of devolving some of its power to the school community. As a result, the parent association was replaced with the school council. This encouraged parents to take a higher profile as partners in the education process with greater involvement in decision-making. At Anula Primary School, this was a time when the school philosophy was reviewed by the principal and the school council. The philosophy, policy, and practices at the school remained child-centred with a strong focus on student engagement and partnerships, a feature that remains today.
- In 1986, a significant change occurred at Anula Primary School - the abolition of corporal punishment. The principal, Mr Val Martins, was forward thinking and adopted a ‘William Glasser’ style approach where students should accept responsibility for their own behaviour. The aim was to create a caring, stimulating environment in which children respect the rights of others, reach their full potential, and become responsible, independent, and tolerant human beings. These qualities remain today and are strongly reflected through our school values of honesty, responsibility, respect, collaboration, and doing our best.
Over the years, the school has undertaken many projects to enhance the grounds and facilities. Our most recent building improvement project has been the complete refurbishment of the assembly and stage areas, the construction of a community/cooking room, and a purpose-built facility devoted to the arts. The whole school community has been involved in the beautification of the school grounds which are now leafy, attractive, and a pleasure to stroll around.
There have been many principals who have led this school, each bringing their own experience and flair. There are also some very long serving staff still here today who have experienced the many changes over the 33 years. Anula Primary School remains a child-centred, caring, learning environment that values individuality and diversity.
I have been fortunate as the member for Sanderson; I have been involved with Anula Primary School for around 20 years. I have seen some of those principals come and go. It is fabulous when you get to work with some of these people because these people do not become teachers for money. You cannot pay teachers enough money to work with young people. They do it because that is where their heart is and I am sure, Madam Deputy Speaker, you can relate to what I am talking about.
The young people who visited parliament were excited to be here. I showed them around the fifth floor offices, they were excited to look at the balcony. Some of these young people had never been in an elevator before, and I find that quite amazing. Obviously, it was an exciting adventure.
The first of three classes was a 5/6 composite class with Mrs Kim Bond and the students were: Joseph Harvey; Maria Cameirao; Phoebe Motlap; Jack Santi; Nikita Fenwick-Jones; Joanna Lih; Jarrod Rollo; Georgina Kefaloukos; Macenzie Sach; Kiriaki Loukataris; Nelson Kasavubu; Jack Yaxley; Tenille Dakers; Andrew Washington; Tyreece Harris; Dallas Dharramandji; Abdul Salam; Michael Truong; Jason Lawrence; Apichart Apichart; Iman Manzi; Konshi David; Hawa Mansaray; Nikki Driss; and Lee Tims.
The other class that was here at the same time was Richard Lees’ 5/6 class and the students were: Amanda McCoy; Ben Greenall; Tania Soares; Cassidy Gerken; Daniel Maher; Kristine Haycock; Saige Neave; Hong Wong; David Gusmao; Nattalie Watanato; Jack Oldroyd; Nidnoy Thongthaeng; Riley McCormack; Gabrielle Gillamac; Jardel Fernandes; Ebony Watkins; Javier Haretuku; Margaret Ritar; Joseph Trouten; Matthew Lawrence; Ann Murphy; Jack Laube; Kosta Torizis; and Ariel Hughes.
Madam Speaker, it was a pleasure to have these young people here and see them enjoying their first visit to Parliament House where they were able to see democracy at work and other interesting aspects of the building. What a historic and special place it is in the hearts and minds of the Northern Territorians, and will now be in the hearts and minds of these young people.
Motion agreed to; the Assembly adjourned.
Last updated: 04 Aug 2016