2012-02-15
Madam Speaker Aagaard took the Chair at 10 am.
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, I draw your attention to the presence in the gallery of Year 9 and Year 10 Palmerston Senior College Special Education Centre students accompanied by Mrs Jan Woodward, Mrs Joanne de Franz, Mrs Donna Harbridge and Mrs Rokiah Lacey; and also Year 4/5 Moil Primary School students accompanied by Ms Rachel Birkin, Ms Mary Ryng, Mrs Shirley Russell, Mrs Tamara Stenhouse and Mrs Helen Lolias.
On behalf of honourable members, I extend to you a very warm welcome.
Members: Hear, hear!
Mr GILES (Braitling): Madam Speaker, I present a petition from 170 petitioners praying that the safety of elderly residents at 40 Head Street, Braitling, be ensured. The petition bears the Clerk’s certificate that it conforms with the requirements of standing orders.
Madam Speaker, I move that the petition be read.
Motion agreed to; petition read:
The CLERK: Madam Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 100A, I inform honourable members that a response to petition No 55 has been received and circulated to honourable members. The text of the response will be placed on the Legislative Assembly website. A copy of the response will be provided to the member who tabled the petition for distribution to petitioners.
Bill presented and read a first time.
Mr HENDERSON (Chief Minister): Madam Speaker, I move that the bill be now read a second time.
The Darwin Waterfront Corporation Act establishes the Darwin Waterfront Corporation to:
(a) develop, manage and service the Darwin Waterfront Precinct for the benefit of the community; and
The functions of the corporation include, amongst other things:
(a) to preserve good order in the precinct;
(c) to do anything for the development and maintenance of other civic amenities and facilities in the precinct including the staging of public events and entertainment in the precinct.
(a) sanitation, garbage collection and street cleaning;
Section 15 of the Darwin Waterfront Corporation Act contains provisions which allow the corporation to impose rates on land in the precinct for the purpose of funding these municipal services.
This bill is introduced for the purpose of:
(a) correcting a technical anomaly arising out of the interaction between the Darwin Waterfront Corporation Act and Unit Title Schemes Act; and
I will address each of these matters in turn. First, the technical anomaly. Section 15 of the act was amended by the Unit Title Schemes Act to insert new terms and definitions consistent with the Unit Title Schemes Act. In particular, section 15(7) was amended to refer to units in a scheme, a reference to a unit development under the Unit Title Schemes Act, as well as units in a plan, a reference to a unit development under the Unit Titles Act. It has always been the intention that, regardless of the number of layers in a scheme under the Unit Title Schemes Act, that rates:
(a) under section 15(3)(a) of the Darwin Waterfront Corporation Act, would be levied directly on the owner of the relevant unit; that is, the actual owner of an apartment; and
(b) under section 15(3)(b) of the act, would be levied on the common property at the highest level of the scheme.
Based on the current wording of section 15(7), it is not clear that the corporation can levy rates directly on the owner of the unit and, at the same time, levy rates on the common property at the highest level of the scheme. If not corrected, this could have considerable administrative and financial impacts on the corporation, as well as body corporate managers or administrators. This does not reflect the policy intention of the Unit Title Schemes Act or the Darwin Waterfront Corporation Act.
The second issue is consistency with the Local Government Act. The corporation has the power to levy rates, and it is intended the corporation should be capable of enforcing rates in a manner consistent with bodies under the Local Government Act. This bill will insert provisions into the act such that:
(a) unpaid rates will be deemed to be a charge on the land and, once rates have been in arrears for six months, the corporation will be able to register a charge on the land along the same lines as sections 170 to 176 of the Local Government Act. This will reduce the cost and difficulty of administering unpaid rates;
(c) the corporation will be able to levy rates on a proportional basis where land becomes rateable, or ceases to be rateable, during the course of the financial year along the lines of section 146 of the Local Government Act. This will enable the corporation to only levy rates for that part of the financial year where the land is rateable. This amendment is important in the context of the ongoing development of the precinct; and
(d) a number of ancillary provisions relating to administration and enforcement of rates have been identified, including:
In conclusion, the Darwin Waterfront Precinct is a place of residence and business and a venue for public events and entertainment. The Darwin Waterfront Corporation must have funding for the municipal services it provides and for the important functions it performs in the precinct. Similarly to local government areas throughout the Territory, that funding is raised from a number of sources including funding from government and, importantly, the levying of rates on land within the precinct.
Madam Speaker, the government considers that the bill is balanced and fair. I commend the bill to the Assembly.
Debate adjourned.
Bill presented and read a first time.
Ms LAWRIE (Treasurer): Madam Speaker, I move that the bill be now read a second time.
Treasury is currently implementing major reforms to the Territory’s Public Sector superannuation schemes. The superannuation reform project will provide cost savings and administrative efficiencies, as well as greater flexibility for government and members without affecting members’ entitlements.
Legislation for Stage 1 of the project was passed in 2010 and implemented during 2011. Stage 1 removed the NT government death and invalidity (NTGDIS) medical requirements for new employees; implemented transition to retirement provisions for NT government and public authorities’ superannuation scheme (NTGPASS) and NT Supplementary Benefits Scheme (NTSSS) members; introduced account keeping fees for retained NTGPASS members; and replaced three trustee boards with the Superannuation Trustee Board (STB).
Stage 2 was approved by Cabinet in October 2011 and will: finalise the composition of the STB; restructure three schemes (NTGPASS, NTSSS and NTGDIS); replace the current Appeals Board with the Commonwealth’s Superannuation Complaints Tribunal; and amalgamate the current superannuation legislation into a single act and regulations.
Stage 2 is being implemented in two parts. The current bill will finalise the composition of the STB, and a future bill will implement the remainder of the reforms. The current bill expands the STB from six members to nine members to include representation for each of the three schemes.
The board has responsibility for and includes employee and employee nominated members as follows:
a chair and a deputy chair appointed after consultation with Unions NT;
This provision is necessary because each of the schemes are now closed, and the STB membership will become unrepresentative of the STB’s functions as the pool of funds managed by the STB declines over time.
Debate adjourned.
Continued from 30 November 2011.
Mr ELFERINK (Port Darwin): Madam Speaker, today I wish to make some comments in relation to this legislative instrument but can indicate, at the outset, the Attorney-General need not occupy the chair he is about to because we will not be going into the committee stages. I can indicate at this stage he will be enjoying the support of the Country Liberals in relation to this bill. This bill is not quite a statute law review bill in how it operates, but it is ...
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Order! Member for Fong Lim, order! Honourable members! Member for Port Darwin, you have the call.
Mr ELFERINK: I congratulate the member for Johnston on his elevation. I always knew he aspired to this level. He did not quite get there and is about to retire, but he thought he would sit in the seat for a while just to get the feel for it. I cannot say I blame him.
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr ELFERINK: Back to the business at hand, Madam Speaker. Whilst this is not a statute law review type of bill which normally crosses the i’s and dots the t’s, it makes amendments across a series of legislative instruments namely the Bail Act, the Companies Act, Liquor Act, the Local Court Act, Oaths, Affidavits and Declarations Act, the Police Administration Act - and that is it.
The amendments are relatively minor and, without even having spoken to the Chief Justice about them, I suspect some of them, if not all of them, were generated by request of the judiciary because they are the ones who have to, clearly, live with the implications of this bill.
Starting first with the Bail Act, section 6 of the Bail Act, the capacity to grant bail for certain periods, which is clause 4 in the bill, is being amended. Currently, the section allows bail to be granted to an accused person for certain periods while the offence is being dealt with by way of a court. This includes being charged with an offence, and the person’s first appearance before the court during any adjournments and during the course of the trial between being found guilty and being sentenced. Other periods include between the person’s committal under the criminal law conditions of the Release of Offenders Act, or section 40 of the Sentencing Act, and when the court deals with them in accordance with that committal.
The amendment proposes that an inconsistency be resolved which arose out of the Criminal Law (Conditional Release of Offenders) Act repeal some time ago. New sections 6(f) and (g) in the Bail Act have been inserted to refer to the correct sections of the Sentencing Act, so bail can be granted to a person who has allegedly breached a suspended sentence or good behaviour bond. There is no effective change to the intent of the current provisions, but I suspect it clears up a potentially anomalous situation.
I now refer to the Companies (Trustees and Personal Representatives) Act. The section currently only applies to the transfer of assets to liabilities of a company which has had its licence cancelled under the Commonwealth Corporations Act. The amendment seeks to amend this section to accommodate the compulsory and voluntary transfer of assets and liabilities between companies. Once again, this legislative change mirrors a change in the Commonwealth legislation and returns consistency to the two instruments in their operation relative to each other. Clause 8, new section 55 and a new section 56 are for the same reasons.
I now turn my attention to the Justices Act, section 191 which deals with procedure for failure to appear, which comes about out of the operation …
[Mobile phone ringing theme from The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.]
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Fong Lim!
Mr Knight: You are the ugly one.
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr Fong Lim: At least I am not the bad one.
Members interjecting.
Mr Westra van Holthe: I will give that one to you, Rob; that was pretty quick.
Madam SPEAKER: Order, order, honourable members!
Mr ELFERINK: Yes, outrageous conduct, Madam Speaker.
The problem is, of course, with the law surrounding liable, slander, and defamation, it can only be defamatory if it is not true.
The Justices Act - and I might as well touch on the amendments to the Police Administration Act because they work hand in hand with each other - deals with the changing of arrangements surrounding a person who has been given a notice to appear under section 133B of the Police Administration Act. What, effectively, occurs at the moment is, if a person fails to respond to a notice issued under that part of the legislation, then a warrant is issued to apprehend the person. Members will be aware that, from time to time, particularly in relation to minor matters, the courts will deal with matters ex parte, which means the person who is charged with the offence will have the matter heard in their absence. The amendments under the Justices Act enable the discretion to be exercised by a court by either issuing a warrant or allowing the matter to proceed by way of an ex parte hearing.
This is a pretty forward amendment and I will not go back and forward and touch on the amendment to the Police Administration Act because the Police Administration Act is being amended to accommodate the operation of the amendment under the Justices Act.
Section 106B of the Liquor Act is also being amended. Currently, it is an offence for a child to enter on to, or remain on, licensed premises that are prohibited to children under section 106. The licensee or employee may use the defence that the child was at least 16 years of age when they were supplied a form of identification that indicated they were an adult. Under section 106B(3) the defence to a charge against this offence does not relate to provisions under section 106B(1) as they refer to the supply of liquor to the child rather than access to premises. The amendment proposes and seeks to rectify the irregularity of the defence provision so it refers to a child entering or remaining on the premises rather than referring necessarily to the supply of alcohol. This amendment is a straightforward correction of a provision which, essentially, would be nonsensical in its operation. Once again, the Country Liberals indicate they have no problem with the intent of the amendment the minister is bringing into this place.
I now turn my attention to the Local Court Act. Section 19, Appeals to the Supreme Court, clause 15 of the bill, is intended to create, if you like, a capacity for appeals against interlocutory orders to not be entirely or generally bound by the provision of the 14-day appeal period but, under certain circumstances, that appeal period may be extended, I presume, with the discretion of the court. The test, of course, in that is the exceptional circumstances would not materially prejudice – or the appeal would not be materially prejudiced because of the delay.
That sounded like Swahili when I said that, so I will read what has been written for me: these provisions allow a person to appeal an interlocutory order after the prescribed 14-day period in exceptional circumstances, provided the appeal would not materially be prejudiced because of the delay. Yes, that is better.
Once again, it is a straightforward exercise. In how a court operates, I am often surprised with the number of legislative instruments we pass in this place dictating or describing to courts how they should operate. I tend to be a bit of a purist when it comes to this sort of thing. I believe courts are made of, generally, smart people who can probably figure out how to operate themselves, and anything that returns a greater quality of discretion to those courts in how they operate would be something I would be automatically inclined to support. While sentencing practices and those sort of practices, from time to time, will raise my eyebrows, the operation and administration of the courts is something I believe, as a general proposition, should be left to the courts themselves.
In the Oaths, Affidavits and Declarations Act - section 5 and clause 17 of this bill - the form of the oath is to be amended. Essentially, without going into the details of amendments, what it seeks to do is remove identifying material from the oaths that are taken by courts. Currently, oaths include names and addresses. This will allow addresses to be dropped away, and identifying the person by name will be sufficient. Whilst I personally, in the past, never had any personal concern when I have had to swear oaths over supplying my address, I can imagine why other people, and in what circumstances other people, may be nervous about that sort of thing and, as a consequence, as long as the identity of the person is well established, the declaration of their address may not be necessary and, where it is not necessary, of course, if they would seek to decline to declare where they live, then so much the better for them.
Section 18 - no, I have dealt with that. I am not going to go through it in detail.
That, then, takes us to the Police Administration Act which I referred to earlier. As far as we are concerned on this side of the House, that matter has already been dealt with.
In short, nothing controversial flows from this. You do not have to be a rocket scientist to figure out this has probably come to government as requests from the judiciary themselves. I am always happy to support the judiciary when it comes to their own administration.
Madam Speaker, the government can enjoy our support in relation to this matter.
Mr GILES (Braitling): Madam Speaker, I am not going to talk directly to this legislation, but I pricked my ears up about a couple of things the member for Port Darwin said, particularly the concerns we have in Central Australia and other areas across the Northern Territory around restitution orders: the granting of restitution orders, the administration of them, and the implication around restitution orders, particularly for the victims of crime.
It has been a growing concern throughout the Northern Territory that victims of crime, particularly property crime, are not receiving restitution orders to get back some type of compensatory measure for the criminal damage that has been caused. I have been engaged in communications with the Attorney-General of the Northern Territory and, also federally, with the Minister for Human Services, inquiring about section 60 of the Social Security Act and whether garnishee orders can be made for restitution recovered by the Fines Recovery Unit.
Without being too generalistic, we know many of the crimes committed in the Northern Territory are by people who are on some form of welfare payment. Section 60 of the Social Security Act under the Commonwealth prohibits the garnisheeing of that income for the purposes of restitution so the victims of crime can get money back.
A perfect example of this scenario is the situation that occurred at the Aurora Hotel in Alice Springs last week, where there was substantial damage done, including smashing windows on the front door of a hotel. While that may seem trivial to some, for these business and property owners who continually have to replace doors, windows and screens, it is highly expensive. At Club Eastside the other night, there was $10 000 damage for about $100-worth of alcohol. That Club Eastside and all the members at that club have no way, through this current process, of getting their money back if those perpetrators of the crime were recipients of welfare of some sort. I encourage the Attorney-General of the Northern Territory to engage his federal counterparts to try to make changes to the Social Security Act through consultation with the Human Services minister so the victims of crime in the Northern Territory can get some compensation from the criminal damage that has been effected by those people who may or may not be on some form of welfare.
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Port Darwin for leading me into that opportunity to have that conversation. I encourage the Attorney-General to take these matters further. He would have my full cooperation if he would like to pursue these matters.
Mr KNIGHT (Justice and Attorney-General): Madam Speaker, I thank members for their contribution. It is good to know the CLP has a Swahili speech writer up there at the moment …
Mr Elferink: The Swahili was mine; the speechwriter wrote that.
Mr KNIGHT: Okay. I thank members for their contribution. This is one of the semi-regular omnibus bills that come into the parliament. We have seven statutes we are amending with this legislation. Basically, it is a bit of a tidy up of them. Some of them have been in operation for over 12 months, and a review of those acts occurs around the 12 month mark. There has been quite a bit of consultation around this and, as the member for Port Darwin highlighted, comments have come up through the judiciary about the operation of some of these acts, and improvements and corrections have been offered up. I thank the Chief Justice for his contribution, and the Chief Magistrate and the Law Society of the Northern Territory - they were consulted in relation to these changes - and also the NT Bar Association, the Criminal Lawyers Association of the NT, and the Legal Aid Commission. This has impacted on them, as well as the Northern Territory Aboriginal Justice Agency and, in Central Australia, the Central Australian Aboriginal Legal Aid Service. They offered contribution to these bills.
Starting with the Companies (Trustees and Personal Representatives) Act, this brings us into line with Commonwealth legislation which was passed in 2001 to allow ASIC to voluntarily transfer assets and liabilities to another trust company. This brings us in line with the national scheme. Several jurisdictions have moved and other jurisdictions have an ability, through their regulations, to make this move as well. It will have some effects in the Northern Territory, but it enables ASIC to have that provision.
With respect to the Bail Act, this is, basically, correcting a referencing problem that occurred. The intent of section 6(f) of the Bail Act was to allow bail to be granted to a person who had allegedly breached a suspended sentence or good behaviour bond for the period between their committal and their appearance in court. This clarifies the ability of the court to give that person bail. There is a wide spectrum of offences with respect to the breach of a suspended sentence and a good behaviour bond, and this allows the court to, ultimately, have some discretion in granting bail. I see the application of this probably occurring at the lower end of offences.
The member for Port Darwin also talked about the Justices Act. With respect to police notices to appear, this is a problem not only in our major centres but out bush as well. We see a great deal of failure to appear. This gives effect to the police notice, as is the case for a court summons, allowing the matter to be heard ex parte and, quite rightly, with amendments to the Police Administration Act puts on notice - there would be some wording which, would be presented to the offender - if they do not appear at court the matter will be heard.
This is an improvement and brings some consistency. It, apparently, was the intent of the original passage of the Justices Act with respect to police notices, so this clarifies that. Hopefully, this speeds up the court processes, especially in bush courts. Many matters are adjourned repeatedly; however, for those strict liability offences at the minor end, this will clear up many of those matters. This simplifies the operation.
There was a minor drafting error in the Liquor Act which had to be clarified. That has now been corrected so it actually makes section 106B(3) make sense. The defence in section 106B(3) does not correctly link to section 106B(1), so that has been corrected with this legislation.
As the members talked about the Local Court Act with respect to the interlocutory orders, this just allows people who do not meet the 14-day period of appeal - for whatever reason, especially self-representation in the Magistrates Court – to be able to take that matter to the Supreme Court before final orders are issued.
With respect to the oaths and affidavits, just to clarify for the member for Port Darwin, my understanding is, currently, it does not say where the name appears. This legislative amendment will make it appear after the comma, after ‘I, - the name will be inserted in there. With respect to the address, it can be included, but it is optional to include it. I guess for some oaths or affidavits it may be required to be inserted because of clarity. There may be many John Smiths around, I imagine ...
Mr Elferink: If it assists you, I did not lose too much sleep over it.
Mr KNIGHT: Okay. I like talking about this; I need to be thorough. Anyway, I am just clarifying that. This also helps interpreters with respect to the way they provide the oaths and affidavits, and also the orderlies who present the oath in the third party.
I have gone through companies and trustees.
Madam Speaker, I thank honourable members for speaking on this matter; it certainly does tidy it up. There were other matters I was hoping to get into this legislation but, hopefully, we will be able to include those in another JLA but, certainly, in some other legislation. I thank the department for all their help in this matter, and we look forward to the passage of this bill. I thank the legal profession, the judiciary staff at the DPP, the police, and the Commonwealth for informing us of these changes.
Motion agreed to; bill read second time.
Mr KNIGHT (Justice and Attorney-General) (by leave): Madam Speaker, I move that the bill be now read a third time.
Motion agreed to; bill read a third time.
MOTION
Note Statement - Gearing Up For Growth
Continued from 14 February 2012.
Mr McCARTHY (Lands and Planning): Madam Speaker, I am pleased today to support the Chief Minister’s statement on the next phase of the Northern Territory’s growth – and what a time it is to be a Territorian; a very exciting time in the history of the Northern Territory.
Since the Legislative Assembly last sat, the economic future of the Territory has changed forever, secured by the signing of the final investment decision by INPEX and Total for the Ichthys LNG project on 13 January 2012. After years of work, it was truly a monumental occasion and, to quote the Chief Minister: ‘We made it!’
I was at my electorate office in Tennant Creek on the day of the final investment decision, along with my wife, Dawn, and we watched the signing ceremony as it was streamed through the Internet. Watching the ceremony almost 1000 km away in my office on Paterson Street, it confirmed again for me what I truly believe this side of the House believes; that the Ichthys LNG project will benefit all of the Territory.
I will just push rewind because I have to make a comment on the members for Araluen and Greatorex, both prominent Central Australian citizens but, unfortunately, in a rabble that has no plans and no policy and, yesterday they confirmed for me, they have no imagination. When I watched this streamed live on the Internet and I had a discussion with some people in the office on that particular day, I hit the street to tell the story that I had been working on for a number of years, with the Henderson government, to pitch it to the Barkly that we can be involved in this prosperity. This is for the whole of the Territory; this is not just about Darwin. That chitter chatter yesterday, that uninformed, unintelligent chitter chatter from the members for Araluen and Greatorex, really highlighted how out of touch you can get if you do not take an interest in what is happening in the Northern Territory, and the bigger picture of what is happening in the Northern Territory.
The Chief Minister, and this side of the House, has had the eye firmly on the target for securing INPEX for the Territory for years. The government has been planning for, and is delivering, projects and initiatives to ensure the vision was realised - and it has been. The Chief Minister’s commitment and resolve has never waivered. He has provided certainty for INPEX and Total across the years and planned for the future of the whole of the Northern Territory and all of its citizens.
Of course, the same cannot be said about the others. As a constituent in April 2008 and before, I was following this closely because I was examining this as a potential game changer for the Northern Territory - and summed up by some eminent INPEX directors – that now Northern Australia has joined the global energy sector to be real players in the global energy sector.
In April 2008, at the key point in the campaign to secure INPEX for the Territory, the Country Liberal Party was saying it did not support the project. The Leader of the Opposition went so far as to say he did not support the project going ahead at Middle Arm. I disagreed with him then and I disagree with him now. He did not support it; that was the position which is on record. It was a time when we, as a Northern Territory, were seriously the underdog against the bids coming in from Western Australia. So, it was at this vulnerable time that we needed the unanimous support of all Territorians. However, the Country Liberal Party chose not to support it then.
Thank goodness the Chief Minister worked so hard to make it a certainty that INPEX arrived on our doorstep and it is made very clear now that everyone is open for business. Thank goodness for the hundreds of people across the world and the Territory who committed years of work to securing a final investment decision on the project.
The Leader of the Opposition spoke to the statement yesterday, and I was very interested to hear his contribution to the debate. I will make a few comments on his contribution because I found it to be shallow and uninformed. I listened to the member for Araluen talk about how the Leader of the Opposition gets around the Territory. Well, he certainly needs to take a closer look because what we have here is the opportunity, in history, to challenge the stereotypes of the fly-in/fly-out model. With a project of the magnitude of the Ichthys project the fly-in/fly-out model and the visionary Marine Supply Base to capture the offshore opportunities as well as the onshore opportunities. means people from the regions and remote areas can get a stake in the game. They can fly into the capital city and they can fly out.
Members might be interested to know this is the real deal, because I have two sons who do this. They are fly-in/fly-out workers. They have chosen to work the 14 day on and the seven day off. The miner at Olympic Dam tells me he will never go back to the Monday to Friday grind. It suits his lifestyle, it suits his plan, which is a plan to create a real estate portfolio, to get in early, to work hard and to focus on, possibly, an early retirement. He is 26 years of age. It works, it does happen; people from the regions understand this. We have the same shift changes going in and out of Bootu Creek, just north of Tennant Creek, The Granites on the Tanami, McArthur River at Borroloola - coming out of capital cities and back.
This is going to reverse this. This is where kids from Tennant Creek, Ali Curung or Elliott can get on a regular passenger transport from Tennant Creek into Darwin, work a hard shift with the best tradies in the world, on the biggest project that the Northern Territory has ever seen, and return home. They have seven days off to sit on the billabong fishing, to have access to real prosperity, to support their families, to buy things for their wives and children, to fit out the home and garden, and to go to Melbourne and watch their favourite football team play. That is the difference between welfare and wages: prosperity that will be paid for labour on this, which is a massive project, a great project for the Territory. It is, as I said, real recognition that the global energy sector has entered the space.
The member for Blain then talked down the project; that there is no accommodation. The usual mantra of the Country Liberal Party: there is no accommodation. Well, when I hit the street in Tennant Creek - and I have been telling the story for the last couple of years to regional and remote residents - these guys are building a 2500-bed workers village - 2500 beds! The Northern Territory government is putting out opportunities for the private sector to also get into the same space of providing supported worker accommodation, and that is the key pin to engaging regional and remote constituents.
In Tennant Creek, when the Northern Australian Railway went through, we had a 250-bed workers village, and that made an incredible difference to some of the businesses in the town which maximised those opportunities. Some operated on the edge and got a bit of that commercial benefit. What it showed the town and the community was, this is real, this is how big industry works. This is a space where you are not dancing down Mitchell Street - or Paterson Street for the Tennant Creek example - you are at work, you are focused, you may be in training and, when you are not at work, then you go home for a shift break. That was 250 beds; this project is bringing 2500 beds.
Let us get that out there for the start, because that is a real opportunity for recruiting youth and adults from the regional areas. I am not about taking the skilled workforce from the regional areas, as the skilled workers around Tennant Creek and the Barkly are doing quite well without government investment in infrastructure. It is not so much about those guys. It is about the unemployed and the youth. It is about the 17-year-old at the Barkly College today, in the trade training centre. That brings me to the next point.
The member for Blain went back in time and talked about the technical colleges in that era of education. Well, being an educator, he knows what happened. That was a whole period in history where the accelerator in the trade training area was taken off, and then governments - state, territory and federal - have realised that pedal has to be put back on, because there needs to be options presented to our kids, our youth. The opportunities are there in the construction, infrastructure, and transport and logistics areas.
The member for Blain talked the gloom and doom; that there are no trade training centres, no preparation. Well guess what? The Barkly College in Tennant Creek has a trade training centre. I have visited the place. Borroloola is about to receive one. There are a number of others rolling out across the Territory. This is great news, because the Ichthys project, the Marine Supply Base, and the associated energy sector projects that will aggregate around this in the capital of Darwin, will be ongoing for decades. It is really important now to ensure we get the benefits from these trade training centres; get our kids prepared and get them into the workplace working with some of the best trades people in the world.
What the Country Liberal Party continues to neglect when it runs down the Territory and talks the gloom and doom is there is a very active private sector of developers out there working very hard in the housing area, not only building houses but also releasing land and creating subdivisions - not only in Darwin, but right across the board.
In response to the member for Araluen, I was in Alice Springs just over a week ago. It was wonderful to meet with the Planning for the Future Forum - led by the mayor, co-chaired by the member for Stuart - to talk about the five actions on that plan developed in 2008 that had all been completed, and about now creating the new model in which Central Australia, Alice Springs, works together with government to continually inform their needs and to create the development opportunities for the future. The discussion is going to be quite challenging because the first thing I put on the table was: ‘Let us talk about how to get developments up in the CBD. Let us talk about energising the CBD and Alice Springs with people. That is good urban design that creates good passive surveillance. That is the best way, globally, we have seen to address antisocial behaviour. The other side of that is you are going to have to talk about building heights’. I put that back to the Alice Springs community, led by reputable leaders. It is government working with Alice Springs on the bigger picture; having plans and policy to deliver the real outcomes.
When we talk about Alice Springs and the gloom and doom, there are some challenges in the business sector - there is no doubt about that. I come from Tennant Creek and we know all about challenges with main street businesses. Business is a very dicey environment in regard to the economic credentials of what is going on around you. We do not only talk about the Northern Territory, we talk nationally and globally since 2008. However, it is really nice to see building and construction, planning and development, new subdivisions and work sites throughout the town, and roads infrastructure being developed.
It is ministers of the Henderson government working hard to address the challenges within the tourism industry, local government, sport and rec, youth, community safety - and it does not stop. The sleeves are rolled up on this side and it continues. The member for Araluen needs to take interest in those really positive things happening within Alice Springs and the community of Central Australia.
I took great interest in the ConocoPhillips LNG project at Wickham Point. I saw the step change in the economy that provided. I saw that as a game changer; however, after doing the studies on Ichthys LNG, this a major project that combines with the Marine Supply Base and, currently, the Darwin Correctional precinct. This, then, aggregates within investments in mineral exploration across the Northern Territory, the development of the East Arm port - that critical logistics point which represents the gateway to Asia - the drive in population growth, and the economic opportunities these together provide for all Territorians.
The Territory is well placed to take advantage of these opportunities. This is not a negative, this is a big positive. That is why this government is investing in key projects, strategically delivering for Territorians now, and focusing on the future. You have to have a plan; you have to have policies. You have to be able to articulate them and be able to talk up the Territory.
When the Chief Minister left that wonderful function put on to celebrate the signing of the Ichthys project for Territorians, he took off to Perth on the hunt for another major project. There was no rest. I congratulated him about 10.30 pm and he was in the air going to Perth the next day to bid and to use the knowledge we have on this side of the House to talk up the Territory to attract another player to aggregate around this global energy sector that has come to northern Australia.
The story is pretty clear: from 2001 the Territory Labor government’s infrastructure program has injected considerable significant cash into the Territory’s economy. It has been a clear plan to create jobs to build enabling infrastructure that will support project development. Putting a total on that, around $9bn since 2001 was spent by the Territory Labor government. That is a significant investment that has paid the dividends of attracting the big end of town, which are projects such as Ichthys. Infrastructure spending has increased by 300% - a government with clear plans with a strong policy agenda and with vision to see that enabling infrastructure is the way to go to attract the big players to town and to the Territory. We understand the valuable role government in the Territory plays, and its efforts in underpinning the economy that supports Territory jobs.
Some of the projects we should reflect on, because we need to be proud of ourselves in this place; we need to go out and tell the story and talk up the Territory. The Tiger Brennan Drive extension project provides faster travel times between Darwin and Palmerston and improved access to the port. There are new police stations at Casuarina, Numbulwar, and Galiwinku. There is a new police station being constructed in Tennant Creek in two phases right on the main street at the moment. A joint police and fire station was built at Humpty Doo and a fire station at Marrara, and a new fire station is under construction at Berrimah. In planning and vision, that new fire station at Berrimah is right in the middle of the logistics hub we will be developing considerably over many decades - good planning, good results.
It is wonderful to celebrate new schools. The Darwin Middle School, Wadeye secondary education facility, Rosebery schools, Wugularr schools, and upgrades to all of our primary schools is something I comment on everywhere I travel in the Northern Territory.
Power stations infrastructure includes Owen Springs, Alpurrurulam, Docker River, and Titjikala. I was at Alpurrurulam in January and they gave me a tour of the new power station being constructed - a combination of diesel, solar, and wind. If anyone has been to Alpurrurulam, that is in a pretty remote part of the Territory. That community is seeing a cutting edge hybrid system going in that will save them much grief in saving fuel, reducing the risk of running out of traditional power supply of diesel over the Wet Season. They will also be part of a green Territory, being a leading community in showing the rest of the world how you go about greening your space.
Another important project is essential services. The new sewerage facility at Borroloola is an amazing project in a growth town. This government has many examples of setting up enabling infrastructure in power, water, and sewerage so that we can then work together with the Australian government to attract additional cash - those big cash buckets we need to support the continuation of the roll-out of housing, health, and education infrastructure. It is, once again, good planning with a great deal of good vision.
New sporting facilities are at Traeger Park in Alice Springs, Marrara, Palmerston, the Purkiss Reserve in Tennant Creek …
Madam SPEAKER: Minister, your time has expired.
Mr McCARTHY: Madam Speaker, thank you. Pity.
Ms McCARTHY (Local Government): Madam Speaker, I support the Chief Minister’s statement of the Territory gearing up for growth. I certainly agree the Northern Territory is an incredibly good place to be. It is poised for the next development phase of the Northern Territory, and we can now have more confidence and certainty about a very bright future.
The final investment decision for the Ichthys project brings to fruition much hard work over many years, and hard work to secure the economic future of the Northern Territory. The project is the second biggest investment in a single project in Australia’s history. It is not just about Darwin; it is about the economic future of the Northern Territory as a whole. It was pleasing to hear comments such as those from Julie Ross, President of the Northern Territory Chamber of Commerce, on ABC radio in January where she said the project is not just a benefit for Darwin, it is a benefit for the whole of the Northern Territory.
As I have said on many occasions, our government is very committed to providing the opportunity for all people of the Northern Territory, regardless of where they live, to participate in and benefit from the Territory’s booming economy. We are entering a period of great opportunity and prosperity, and there are many ways people across the Northern Territory can gear up for growth. This project is just one of many that will reshape the economic landscape.
Not every region or town has a major project like Ichthys on their doorstep, but every town does have the opportunity for growth of small businesses and further development. In the context of our regions and more remote areas, what seem like small steps are actually great leaps forward in the level of amenity and service these areas experience.
It is the vision of our government that all Territorians have the opportunity to participate in, and be part of, this growth. There is a range of actions and strategies that our government is taking to ensure that the future of the regions of the Territory is bright. I have said consistently in this parliament that we recognise incredible decades of neglect, and what we are building here is the firm foundations for decades of prosperity such as the Territory 2030 strategy, A Working Future, Stronger Families, and Every Child, Every Day. Investing in the infrastructure that will underpin strong and thriving regions is also critical.
The A Working Future policy initiative provides the framework for improving service delivery, infrastructure, and land tenure to facilitate development and investment in the Territory growth towns. These regional and remote areas of the Northern Territory are gearing up for growth by identifying what services and facilities they want in their towns, just like regional centres right across the country. This includes such areas as education, the basis for engagement with employment and economic opportunities in any region. We are providing Territory children with the skills to participate in the Territory economy into the future, and this is a crucial investment in the future strength of our regions.
This also includes significant investment in housing through the Strategic Indigenous Housing and Infrastructure Program. It is another important investment in the future of our regions. Safe, healthy and secure houses are integral to strong families who are able to take advantage of employment or other economic development opportunities in their region.
Increasing economic participation in Territory growth towns is a key aspect of transforming the growth towns into regional centres with opportunities and services just like anywhere across the country. The local implementation plans identify a range of opportunities for economic participation such as linkages with major projects, but also right across the spectrum to opportunities for small businesses to start up. One of the fundamental aspects of local implementation plans of this government is the emphasis on working with the people so the growth of these regions is determined by the people who live there. That has been an absolutely critical part of A Working Future. It has also been an absolutely critical part in the partnership between the federal and Northern Territory governments in working with people across our regions.
Planning for the Future forums are also a key aspect of A Working Future and the forums provide a full picture of employment and development opportunities within each growth town in the public and private sectors. To date, future forums have been held in Ngukurr, Ntaria, Borroloola, and Wurrumiyanga. These forums are about developing further the local implementation plans.
I spoke recently with a number of key business industry personnel to discuss what we are doing with A Working Future, how they can get themselves informed in beginning to negotiate and really step into the space of working with our regions, with the local implementation plans. I thank the Minerals Council for that support in ensuring we are communicating directly with businesses. That came through the Indigenous Economic Development Taskforce, which is chaired by Ron Morony. Ron and Peter from the Minerals Council were able to coordinate that gathering so there can now be a linkage between the work our government and the Service Delivery Coordination Unit has been doing with the growth of these regions, now linking it with business. Clearly, it is not just about governments at a Territory and federal level that have to see the investment and the growth of these regions; we definitely need private investment. This is why the importance has been placed on the people of the region determining how they wish to see their areas grow; hence, the local implementation plans.
Regional development is focused on creating strong regional and remote economies that are underpinned by profitable and sustainable industries. Infrastructure is a key aspect of this development in our regions, and unprecedented investment has been made in infrastructure across the Territory growth towns, including education, health, essential services and roads. We have seen this government invest in an historic infrastructure investment across our regions of nearly $1bn, and it will not end there. What we are also very careful of is there has to be vigilance in ensuring that money is spent wisely and effectively in the places where it is necessary to improve that infrastructure.
Roads and other transport infrastructure provide access to our regions, another critical factor for gearing the regions up for growth. As part of A Working Future, $69.4m is being invested in transport and infrastructure capital works in the current financial year. This includes upgrades to roads, airstrips, barge landings and community infrastructure because, unless we can improve the linkages, the road transport, the links by barge, establishing an improvement of the barges across the Territory, we know there will always be that difficulty; it will choke the growth for economic potential in these regions. That is what this government is doing. We are very active and very determined to see growth opportunities for all people across the Northern Territory.
The National Broadband Network will also be a game changer and is integral to regional and remote areas gearing up for growth. Access to high-speed Internet will provide many opportunities for new ways of accessing and delivering information and services - and not just for businesses but also for individuals. There are many members in this parliament who use the Internet for different reasons, and communication with our constituents. As bush members in particular, it is something we have seen has been an incredible tool. The National Broadband Network is going to allow that kind of efficiency in communication for these isolated regions, which can be isolated up to months at a time with the Wet Season in the Top End. It has been a great initiative of the federal and Territory governments to really push through this communication network.
It is also important in education and healthcare for this kind of communication. It really is an exciting time for thinking of innovative ways to operate in remote and regional areas, to be able to bring the people of the Northern Territory together in many different ways. This type of communication is a very critical way of doing it, and not just for the Northern Territory. Obviously, people want to have access to other parts of the country through the Internet, and they also have access to anyone overseas.
Assistance is available for developing business or industry capability in the regions through the Regional Economic Development Fund. $300 000 per year is allocated to the fund and, in 2010-11, $260 000 was distributed to 12 organisations to support them in a range of areas.
This included funding for Thamarrurr Development Corporation for a business plan to assist with the establishment and operation of a public bus service in Wadeye. This is exactly the kind of local enterprise that will transform a region and has obvious benefits for the community as a whole. This kind of transportation is something that, again, our government has been very passionate and determined to put in place. It is pleasing to see the connectivity for people in the Ngukurr and Numbulwar regions who can now use the Bohdi Bus to get into Katherine, and the people of Borroloola who can use the Bohdi Bus, to get into Katherine and vice versa. This kind of transportation has made the movement of people and business far more efficient and easier. I commend the Minister for Transport for this terrific initiative across our region. I only speak for my constituency, but I am aware of the benefit of that type of transportation across the Northern Territory and other major centres.
It is a great time for aspiring businesses to look into the future and think about how they can link with major projects or other business opportunities, however small or large, in their local area to establish or expand their business. It is certainly a great time to be thinking not only about what we already have, but what we are want into the future and what is possible for our regional and remote regions.
The Northern Territory government is setting the foundations for this investment and growth across the Territory. Indigenous businesses can seek assistance for business development, professional or personal development, or the purchase of assets through the Indigenous Business Development Program. In 2011, the fund distributed $500 000 to support 26 Indigenous businesses and has distributed over $2.9m to 185 businesses since 2005.
The Indigenous Economic Development Strategy is focused on improving the quality of life for Indigenous Territorians through full participation in the economy. The strategy recognises that increased participation of Indigenous people in the economic fabric of the regions requires new and innovative thinking by both the public and private sectors.
At the beginning of my response, I touched on the Service Delivery Coordination Unit. This is an area I am proud of. The team in the Service Delivery Coordination Unit over the last couple of years has been working with every agency in the Northern Territory government to ensure that within the system of government there is a very strong emphasis - a very normal emphasis - on including our regions across the Territory. It is not just Darwin and not just Alice Springs; we must be there for every Territorian. It is through the Service Delivery Coordination Unit, coordinating with our federal agencies and the Northern Territory government agencies, we ensure critical infrastructures are hitting the ground and we are growing regions in the right way.
The Indigenous Economic Development Taskforce brings together expertise from these various areas and the land councils to identify and foster opportunities for growth and economic development in the regions. The task force is currently working with a focus on linking the opportunities in the growth towns as set out in the economic profiles.
The first economic profile, including surveys of local businesses, was produced in 2008 for Alice Springs, and followed in 2009 for Katherine and Tennant Creek. These profiles are being developed for each growth town and are a way of informing businesses and also for investment decision-making. By that, if I go back to the discussion I am having with business and the business development minister, and the work we are doing with business, it is about now starting to get them engaged with these growth towns, with the Indigenous people, the traditional owners, the Northern Land Council, the Central Land Council, along with inclusion of Tiwi Land Council and the Anindilyakwa Land Council. This is a new era and a new way of doing business across the Northern Territory.
In the economic profiles being developed, the profiles also foster a place-based approach to local ownership of regional economic development. So far, those profiles have been established for Ngukurr, Gunbalanya, Yirrkala, and Ntaria, with more expected throughout the year.
Assisting people across the Territory to reap the benefits of other major industries in the Territory is also a focus of Regional Development. This includes maximising opportunities in the mining and the pastoral sectors, particularly for local employment. These are areas where the private sector is committed to maximising opportunities for local communities and Indigenous Territorians.
I mention the emerging opportunities relating to the carbon economy and carbon offsets. The Australian government announced last year a range of measures to address our climate change challenge, and a package of measures including new opportunities in relation to carbon farming. In announcing these initiatives, the Australian government has also rightly recognised that Indigenous Australians manage around 20% of Australia’s land mass. This is a carbon farming initiative to assist Indigenous landowners develop carbon farming initiatives. It is pleasing to note that Territorians are already well established in this space; for example, the North Australian Fire Abatement Project, which we have heard about in this House on a number of occasions, in particular from the member for Arafura and the Environment minister who very much support further development in this new industry.
In Central Australia, Rowan Foley has a central role in chairing the National Indigenous Climate Change Steering Committee and, more recently, working to establish a Northern Territory non-for-profit company, the Aboriginal Carbon Fund, as a one-stop shop to develop carbon trade activities on Indigenous land, Indigenous co-benefits, and research and development. As you can see, big energy intensive developments in the Northern Territory, and elsewhere, will be looking to fund carbon offsets, and we are being positioned to benefit from these new investments.
A project such as Ichthys can provide a valuable boost for our tourism industry. New workers coming to the Northern Territory for the project will want to explore the Northern Territory while they have the opportunity, and this offers many opportunities for local attractions such as Kakadu and Uluru, and also for other quintessential Territory experiences such as the fishing tours. New workers will encourage their friends and family to come and visit the Northern Territory and take short trips around the Territory. Visitors who travel to the Territory to visit friends and relatives spent $110m in the 2010-11 financial year - this is on top of people residing in the Northern Territory taking 124 000 holiday trips within the Territory. So, it is certainly a very lucrative sector for the tourism industry.
With our airlines in the Northern Territory, we have seen a move by Jetstar to also increase flights from Manila to Tokyo, very much taking into account what we are going to see in air travel between Japan and Darwin. It is quite exciting to think about the opportunities which are ahead of us. However, as with all opportunities we want to ensure we wisely and efficiently prepare for what will be quite an important time for the people and for business in the Northern Territory. Northern Territory tourism is looking into those types of relationships. I believe it is critical, along with Japan and ...
Mr GUNNER: A point of order, Madam Speaker! I move an extension of time for the minister, pursuant to Standing Order 77.
Motion agreed to.
Ms McCARTHY: Thank you, member for Fannie Bay and colleagues.
It is critical that we continue - as the team in Tourism NT does - pursuing the opportunities with both Japan and China. We have heard about the announcement of Darwin Airport expansion of our terminal which will begin in the middle of this year and be completed next year. All these things build a sense of hope and excitement for the future. Again, our government is very aware that it is not just about Darwin; we want to ensure that the flow-on effects to our regions are very much a part of this growth.
The $30bn project in Darwin is stimulating investment in hotels and other major tourism infrastructure across the Top End. A number of significant hotel brands have identified Darwin as a destination in which they would like to expand their network, and several are actively pursuing potential partnerships with local developers. For example, the Cavenagh Hotel has removed its 85 rooms from the tourism accommodation market to provide accommodation for Serco employees. This diversification provides dual benefits of maintaining returns for property owners, especially during the current tourism downturn, and also encourages refurbishments which will refresh these properties when they return to the tourism pool.
We know we are in a challenging environment in tourism. For those travellers who want to go overseas it is very much an exciting time because of the Australian dollar being as high as it is, but it means a challenge for our tourism businesses in the Northern Territory. Our government is consistently working with the tourism industry, very mindful of the enormous pressures on many of these places.
Developments such as Ichthys provide opportunities to expand, as I said, the Darwin international aviation hub. We are very excited to see how things are going in that area.
As you can you see and have heard, we have some terrific things ahead of us. We are preparing for the future. We are building a foundation for decades of prosperity, not just for Darwin and Alice Springs, but for all people across the Northern Territory. We are mindful of the challenges which exist for business, but we also know, with the recent announcement of this project in our capital city, it is going to be an important opportunity for all people across the Northern Territory and our businesses interstate.
Madam Speaker, I commend the statement to the House.
Mr GUNNER (Fannie Bay): Madam Speaker, I support the Chief Minister’s statement about how we are rising to the challenge and to the opportunities presented by INPEX in the Northern Territory. As we know, when we have resource developments in the Territory - whether it is at Nhulunbuy, Groote Eylandt or, as in this case, INPEX coming into Darwin - they lead to a better, stronger Territory and a better, stronger Territory economy. The secondary benefits that flow from that lead to better schools, better roads, better infrastructure, and better services.
As a Territory government, we look at how our tax base works and what we are required to do. You need a strong economy. You need people coming in and investing in the Northern Territory. From that, you get your secondary benefits. That is definitely the message I am hearing when I am talking to people - whether that is at the door, at the local shop, or at a function for business people. They are talking about, mainly, the secondary benefits they see are going to flow from INPEX and the general confidence, optimism, and hope they have as a result of that. They see the future - if that makes sense - because not many Territorians necessarily are going to be getting a cheque from INPEX.
There will be many workers involved in the construction stage and ongoing but, as a percentage of Territorians, most people are going to look forward to the secondary benefits. Many people understand that, which is why some remarks made by opposition members were a little disappointing. They were choosing to confine this purely to INPEX coming into Darwin, and not seeing the broader benefit for the Territory.
As I said, whether it is resource development in Nhulunbuy or Groote, or INPEX coming into town, when you get a better, stronger Territory, that is what you get: a better, strong Territory. To say Alice Springs is left out of INPEX is to not see how the Territory works, and what the point is of us being a Territory within our borders and how we work as a government.
I want to defend Alice Springs. As someone who loves Alice, who was born in Alice, who has the majority of his family still living in Alice Springs, I get quite depressed and distressed when members of the opposition come in here and all they do is tar the town. That is not the Alice Springs I know. I know Alice Springs has challenges and problems; there is no denying that. You cannot deny that - it does have challenges. However, the way it is presented in here, I have to close my eyes and try to hold a firm image of Alice Springs in my memory. It is a different place. I talk to my family a great deal and they talk about the problems in Alice Springs. However, when someone who loves Alice Springs talks about Alice Springs, they present it in a completely different way to the way the members of the opposition do - which is just negativity and despair.
When you hear people talk about Alice, they talk about how it can be better. They come from a constructive, positive point of view and recognise the challenges they have. When I hear, in particular the member for Greatorex, talk about Alice Springs, all I am hearing is ‘I hate this place’. He comes into this Chamber and talks, in many ways, about how much he hates Alice. It is quite extraordinary …
Ms Scrymgour: And Darwin.
Mr GUNNER: And Darwin. He does not even want to be here. I find that very difficult to deal with. As an elected member for that area, he needs to be providing leadership. He is one of the people who needs to be providing leadership and constructive suggestions for Alice Springs - and not just use every opportunity to sink the boot in. There are problems in Alice and he should talk about those problems, but he needs to also talk about solutions. He needs to bring some policies into this Chamber, to bring forward some ways in which he thinks we can deal with these situations, and to present Alice Springs in a more constructive, positive frame - not just the …
Ms Scrymgour: Trashing it.
Mr GUNNER: Yes, it gets worse every sittings; it is extraordinary the trashy way he talks.
There is a real cycle in Alice Springs between summer bad, winter good. That is not a good thing and we need to think of ways to break that. We are trying. I know the member for Central Australia does a lot there, constantly working with different people to try to get things done. There is a problem in Alice Springs around that. Businesses get quite flat and antisocial behaviour problems around town get quite bad during the summer period, then you come out of it during winter. We need to find a way to work through those cyclic issues without constantly sticking the boot into a town we love - part of the Territory. You do not get anywhere by doing that.
I get a little worked up when I hear the member for Greatorex do that, because I love Alice Springs. I did not get much time off over the Christmas period, but what time I did have, I spent driving to Alice Springs and back because I really like Alice. I get quite surprised when members of the opposition stick the boot in.
The Chief Minister spoke about how we are primed for prosperity, and what we are doing to ensure the Territory gets those benefits. There is a real sense of quiet confidence, is the best way to put it, if you want to generalise it. Some people are more excited than others, but there is a real sense of quiet confidence about what INPEX is going to mean for the Territory. The benefit will be largely secondary.
I have had quite a few conversations with different people who talk about the next five or 10 years. These are people who have a stake in the Territory; they are not leaving tomorrow. They are really looking forward to how the Territory is going to change for the better over five and 10 years, in investments into schools, into roads, and into community infrastructure. We are going to see a real change. People picture it as the way we invested into the waterfront. I did not mind the old waterfront, but what we have done to that area is a real revitalisation and regeneration of a part of our city.
I believe many people see similar investments like that happening around Darwin - and I am speaking obviously about Darwin, being the member for Fannie Bay. The majority of people I talk to are living and working in Darwin. However, there is going to be a broader benefit than that; it is going to flow across the whole Territory, because we are a Territory government, we have one budget and we look to everywhere.
We are very serious about how we invest in the bush through things like the growth towns and into the regions. The people I talk to are mainly living and working in Fannie Bay, perhaps Stuart Park and the Gardens, and they talk about those benefits they can see happening around their area in the inner city. There will be many benefits flowing into the inner city where there is a growing density of population.
We have been here before. It was not that long ago the Territory was a pioneer town, pioneer country. My great-granddad rocked up to Tennant Creek in the 1930s, and there was no bitumen road, it was just a very small place by a creek. It became a town in around 1935. There were about 400 people there, of which 30 or 40 were women and about 20 were kids. It was a real mining-heavy town; there was a bit of a gold rush. It was a very small place, a very hard place to live, a real pioneer town. Around the resource development of Tennant Creek a community emerged.
We are a bit luckier in Darwin because we already have a community, so the challenges we face are big and difficult, but we do not have to establish a community from start. Some of the people from INPEX and JPK who talked of the project have actually mentioned that. They are used to going into deserts and jungles. Now, they have come into a capital city that has much infrastructure already which, in the past, they would have had to build.
Tennant Creek in the 1930s would have been a dusty old place to live in. I have heard many tall tales from the family about Tennant. My great-granddad, Con Perry, at one stage, probably coming from Alice Springs, came into town on Kilgariff’’s carts - and not Bernie, but Bernie’s old man. The cart broke down. The story was there was some beer in the cart, and the reason why Tennant Creek is not by the creek is because everyone moved up to where the cart broke down and established the community of Tennant Creek around the cart. Unfortunately, that is not quite true apparently, but it is a nice story.
My great-granddad actually found the original source of water for Tennant Creek, the original permanent water supply. Obviously, you have to camp by a creek for water, but he found a permanent source of water under the ground so Tennant Creek could be established. He learnt pretty quickly that it was better to supply the mining industry than be a miner and made a great deal of money. I have not seen it, but he did much better running stores on the main street than digging for gold himself.
However, it does not quite leave the blood, because he did not lose interest in mining and we had Eldorado for quite a long time. My dad, at one stage in his early teens, was working at Eldorado. However, the Mines department closed Eldorado down. They came for a visit and discovered to work the mine you had to climb down a rope, then you swung across the shaft on to a ledge which was not quite that safe. They put the kibosh on it which was very sensible. You have to look after your workers.
However, they built a community in Tennant Creek. They had the longest church in Tennant Creek. They moved the Catholic church from Pine Creek to Tennant Creek because Pine Creek did not need it. They called it the longest church in the world because bits of it kept dropping off on the road. There were bits of the church all the way from Pine Creek to Tennant Creek. That was brought down by Kathleen Webber, formerly Kathleen Hayes, who deserves credit for this. She and her family founded Noble’s Knob. I am sure many people know Noble’s Knob - my grandad worked on Noble’s Knob for a long time. She paid for the church to be transported from Pine Creek and erected in Tennant Creek.
That is what they did; they established a community. From a small town of 400 people with only a very small component of women and children, they founded a community. They built the schools, they brought in a church, ran a church, and created a real sense of community. They wanted to make a lasting contribution to the Territory.
That is really important when we look at and work on these developments. Essentially, the spirit behind the Chief Minister’s speech is how we take these investments and not see them as one-off items on the balance sheet; how they contribute and build a better community.
The people behind INPEX who are coming to town have that same spirit to leave something behind. Darwin, and the Territory, is going to be better off for INPEX coming, and we are going to see a better built community as a result of that. We are luckier in Darwin because we already have a community established. We are going to see, as a result of INPEX, more people absorbed into our sporting clubs, our community groups, our churches, and our schools. We are going to see a stronger, better Territory.
Darwin, as a capital city, is still in many ways a small place. Working with community clubs on your patch, you can sometimes see how too few do too much. It is going to be really important, as we grow, that we see more people volunteering, more people involved in our community groups, and more people participating. One of the benefits from this project of Darwin growing is seeing more people getting involved. I have no doubt we are going to see that.
People have kids, they go to schools, and school councils get bigger and stronger. There will be more people going to the Railway Club, the Sailing Club, or getting involved with Waratahs Footy Club. Buffs might get some more players. There is going to be real strength to Darwin as a result of this. Those are the secondary benefits we do not often talk about. We sometimes focus more on the size of the project, the construction stage of the project, which is not unimportant, but we should be also looking at the greater contribution it is going to make to the people of this place, and the benefits we are going to see in our community. That is the real strength to this project; that we are not starting from scratch.
Most Territorians still have that frontier independent spirit, which is why it was such a tragedy to see statehood fall over last year. As a Territorian who loves this place, you want to be independent - and that is separate to politics. You want the Territory to have the same rights as any other state. That is want you want; you do not care about Labor, Liberal or whatever, or Northern Territory general elections, you just want the Territory to be a state. That is why it was so disappointing to see that issue become caught up in party politics, because it does not belong there. Both parties want statehood - just do it. That was quite frustrating as well.
We are better placed in Darwin to take INPEX, absorb it into our community, and look at those secondary benefits that are going to flow over the next five or 10 years and further into the future. It is going to be very exciting to see our community grow, mature, and have more people available to help within our existing community clubs. It is going to be a fantastic result.
However, we need to do more; to look at that construction stage and how people get involved. There is a shop front opening soon in the central business district so businesses and people can approach that to work out how they can get involved. The department of Business has also been running seminars to ensure local business get their capabilities straight; that they have their pre-approvals or licensing, or whatever they need, sorted out first, which is important. There, obviously, is some training that goes into how they engage with INPEX. It will be different to how they engage with government, so they have to work through that.
There are many local businesses which are very excited about winning work on the INPEX project because, if they can get INPEX work, and they have the qualifications and competencies INPEX like, then they can see themselves getting work elsewhere in the world. This is a global company. If they are good enough for INPEX, they are good enough for anyone. They see this as a real challenge, opportunity, and a way to measure against the best in the world, and get a return during the INPEX project. They see this opportunity as one where they can spread their wings; they can tender to anything around the world and say: ‘We were good enough for INPEX. We did an amazing job. We did it on time, we did it on budget. Why not take us?’ They see a real opportunity to expand beyond Darwin.
That is something we do not talk about enough at the moment either; about how it is not just an opportunity for local business to get involved with INPEX, this is an opportunity for local business to get involved in global projects. They are going to be working at such a high standard on a high-standard project they are going to be able to be competitive globally. That is something we need to talk about. I know local businesses are talking about it. They see this as a really exciting opportunity to test themselves against the best and, then, get work in the rest of the world. That is a really exciting aspect to this project.
The Chief Minister also spoke about some of the other things we are doing around town to adjust to INPEX, particularly in regard to training. The member for Port Darwin made some comments that he did not think enough people liked the trades. That is not the feeling or impression I am getting when I get out and about. I believe there has been a real tidal change in how people perceive the trades. Trades are seen with genuine credibility, as a genuine option. There was probably a period where a uni degree was seen as the only way out and a trade was almost a secondary decision. I do not think that is the case at all anymore now; trades are definitely seen as a genuine career option as much as going to university. A trade certificate is a very good way to go. The feeling I get from talking to my schools and people around town is there are people who want to go down that path. So, to talk about dust on benches, I do not think is to view it in the same way as the majority of other people do. There is a real hunger amongst people to become tradies, or to get those certificates.
With the INPEX project there has been an investment in the Larrakia Trade Training Centre, and Charles Darwin University is involved to ensure we can fill those job needs and skill gaps. As the Chief Minister said, there is more to this than just filling INPEX’s needs; there is also the backfilling. As we have seen in the past with other big projects, INPEX will hire some people, and that creates a vacancy somewhere else. So, it is not necessarily getting a job with INPEX; there is going to be job creation and job vacancies happening at the moment. It is about making sure we are bringing in and training up people who can do a whole range of things. You will not just weld on the INPEX project, there are accountants, lawyers, and all sorts of people involved. Charles Darwin University is involved, and the Larrakia Trade Training Centre is in that space.
We have had a Jobs Plan for quite a few years now, from when the former member for Fannie Bay was first elected in 2001, of around that 10 000 figure. We keep putting money, time and investment into that to ensure we keep bringing Territorians on, because we want to keep Territorians in the Territory. We want to provide job opportunities in the Territory - and this is a very exciting place to be. When we look around at the global circumstances, there are not too many places in the world where you can look into a Year 12 graduating class and, if you want to speak to that Year 12 graduating class - and I get the opportunity to do this as I am sure other members do - you can genuinely say to them: ‘There are jobs here for all of you. There are jobs here’. Around the globe - the other day the Spanish rate was 48% youth unemployment, 25% unemployment. We are very fortunate in the Territory that we can genuinely say to kids leaving Grade 12: ‘There is a job here for you; there is a place here for you. We want to keep you’. It is very exciting we have that here, and people do not have it elsewhere in the world. We are very well placed in the Territory.
The Chief Minister spoke about - and I have spoken about in this House a great deal - how we adjust to the fact that more people are going to want to live in Darwin. There is no doubt that housing is a massive issue in the Territory, as well as Darwin.
There is much going on in my electorate. I have spoken in this House many times about what we are doing around Parap and the work I have been doing with the minister for Housing, complementing the natural regeneration of the area. It is not just Parap. I know of a program the Housing department is doing which the minister for Housing spoke about in his contribution to this debate. It was around looking at identified public Housing single dwellings on big blocks and seeing how we can make that into, say, a duplex - we are doing that in Stuart Park at the moment - that can house our seniors or people with disabilities.
In Stuart Park, where we are doing it at the moment, it has been very well received by the people in the street. There are a few who have asked questions or were not too sure about it, but the majority of the street was very supportive of that idea of taking that Territory Housing property, rebuilding it into two nice, new dwellings, and putting in someone who is either disabled or a senior. They can see the benefit that is going to have to the community they live in, and the community they share with …
Dr BURNS: A point of order, Madam Speaker! I move that the member be given an extension of time, pursuant to Standing Order 77.
Motion agreed to.
Mr GUNNER: Thank you, minister.
There is an embracing of that decision to refocus how we use public housing in our suburbs. It is a very sensible way to go. It is good to see local neighbours saying: ‘Yes, we agree’. It is good to see a single house being replaced by two units that better accommodate the needs we have. As the minister spoke about, we have quite a few senior Territorians in three- or four-bedroom homes. They have been there for a long time; they love where they live. I can understand why they love where they live. I grew up in Territory housing in Tennant Creek and Alice Springs.
However, it is not your house; it is a taxpayer house and it is there for a public purpose. You have to be sensitive to the emotions you can have towards the place you have grown up in. So, by providing a purpose-built, brand new unit for a senior, you can provide an easier way out for that person into a place where they can have some say in, maybe, the colour of the tiles, or you can involve them in that process. You find, suddenly, a way through what has been a tricky situation. We can open up that three- or four-bedroom home left behind for a family that needs it.
It is a very sensible way to go. I know there are other properties in Stuart Park we will probably look at doing something similar with. It has been happening in other parts of Darwin. It is a very good way to look at, reinvest, and reinvigorate our public housing stock.
We are also creating an affordable housing rental company. There is a gap in the market between social housing and the private market; there is no doubt about that. There are low-income workers who struggle to get a place in the private market. We have recognised that. The Commonwealth has recognised that because this is a national problem, and they have a very good scheme around affordable housing rental companies that have been established elsewhere. We are now establishing one here where we can create a stock of homes and units that are rented out at around 75% to 85% of the market rate to people who are low-income workers.
We can ensure that stock is spread out. We want to have workers in the inner city, in the outer suburbs, and in Palmerston. It is important that stock is evenly distributed. Some of the first stocks are going to be in Parap. We do not want to price workers out of the inner city. It is important that your local barista, cleaner, nurse, or whoever, has access to properties in the inner city as much as they have access to properties in the northern suburbs or Palmerston. It is a very sensible investment program. It is a great idea to try to address that gap in the market between public housing and the private market. It is important, from a policy point of view, that we ensure those properties are evenly spread. It is the same with public housing, making sure those properties are evenly spread and people are close to local services and where they work. We do not want to price people out of certain areas of town, especially looking forward over the next five, 10, 15, or 20 years. Decisions you make now can have much broader ramifications. We need to ensure we are always keeping property in the city that is available for low-income workers. We have to ensure they have somewhere to live.
The Chief Minister spoke about that and dual occupancy, which is also a bit similar to the Territory Housing I was talking about earlier - a single dwelling into two. There are 3000 blocks, I think, in maybe Darwin and Palmerston that fall into this – no, low 2000s – that fall into this category. Not everyone is going to want to take that option. In talking to some people in my electorate, they are interested in doing a granny flat that is larger than you are currently allowed to do under the SD, which is quite prescriptive, providing a secondary dwelling on their block as most people might consider dual occupancies - a straight duplex. Many people are not going to go for the straight duplex option, they want to look at, say, a granny flat or a building downstairs underneath their elevated home, which means the same setback, the same driveway - very similar to what you have in your street now.
It creates the ability for options or choice. I believe that is important because, at the moment in the Planning Act, you step straight from single dwelling to multiple dwelling, there is no dual occupancy option – there is none. I do not believe that makes sense; there should be a dual occupancy option in the Planning Act, as there is a choice. Many people I have spoken with want to keep their large blocks, which is fantastic. I know some people want to look at how they can create a building downstairs at their house, or create a granny flat, and some even want to go down the duplex path - but that was not too many of them. It is, though, a choice or an opportunity, or an option that is standing on the table that was not there before. I believe that is really important.
We have been working with the Parap Residents Association in my local area. It was not that long after I was first elected that they wrote to me saying they thought this was missing from the Planning Act. We have worked with them, and through the greater area town plan discussion paper, Towards 2030, we put it out there. We now have it on exhibition on its own so people can definitely know that it is there and talk about it. I believe it is a really important option going forward about how we control growth in our city, high density in the CBD, medium density around our shops, cascading from our shops into quiet suburbia. Without going down a high density path, we ensure we have planned density around shops to ensure shops are vibrant, better and safer, with choices. However, in the suburbs, you have ordinary homes, or possibly dual occupancy. I believe that is something most people welcome and it will be interesting to see how that goes with the exhibition phase.
In rising to the opportunity of INPEX, we are looking at training and housing. I believe many people are looking at the secondary benefits around roads, schools, and community. That excites many people. I believe it is a fantastic opportunity - it is brilliant, really. It is very exciting that you can talk to a class of Year 12s and say with confidence that there is a job for them here if they want it. If they go through university here, there is a job if they want it. If they go through trade training here, there is a job if they want it. They can stay in the community they currently live in if they want to; they do not have to leave the Territory, they can stay.
It is a choice I made. I believe it is a choice that too few of my classmates made, in a sense, but it is now a choice all people graduating from Year 12 can make. I am really excited we have opportunities for all our young Territorians in the Territory. If they choose to go down south, it is not because there is not a job for them here; which I believe is really important for the growth of the Territory.
Madam Speaker, I support the Chief Minister’s statement. I believe we have some incredibly exciting opportunities. As I said at the start, whether it is resource development at Nhulunbuy, or resource development at Groote Eylandt, or INPEX coming to Darwin, a better, stronger economy makes for a better, stronger Territory and those benefits flow to all of the Territory. This is not a project only for Darwin, which will only benefit Darwin, this is a project that is going to benefit the Territory. We are one budget, we are one people, and having INPEX coming to Darwin is going to see a better, stronger Territory.
Ms WALKER (Nhulunbuy): Madam Speaker, I also wish to speak in this important debate. I thank the Chief Minister for bringing this statement before the House, because Gearing up for Growth is crucial to the future of the Territory and those of us who call this fantastic place home.
The Chief Minister is quite right when he says there is no doubt we are lucky to be living in this part of the world at this time in our history. Without a doubt, I have always felt very lucky to be living in the Territory for the past 25 years, because it has presented me and my family with fantastic opportunities and a lifestyle which is second to none. Like so many people, I came for two years, and 25 years last month I am still here and have no plans to leave.
If, as the Chief Minister says, we are primed for prosperity, it is not because the government has been lucky. It is because there has been, since Labor came to power in 2001, bold and careful strategic planning, hand in hand with sound economic policy, to ensure the long-term prosperity for the Territory and all Territorians. The bold move by former Chief Minister, Clare Martin, to woo INPEX away from Western Australia to Darwin is well documented, and culminated in last month’s announcement that INPEX, and partner Total, had made their final investment decision which will see the Ichthys LNG project proceed in Darwin.
This government does have a bold and strategic vision called Territory 2030. Planning for the future and growth is a pressing matter for any government and one of the reasons why the Chief Minister announced, in August 2008, the formation of the Territory Growth Planning Unit, followed by the establishment of the Territory 2030 Steering Committee. The far-reaching work of this committee has assisted the government, over the last three-and-a-half years, to provide us with a blueprint and direction for the next 20 years in the Territory.
Territory 2030 Steering Committee Co-Chair, Bill Moss, on the launch of the Territory 2030 statement said: ‘You cannot implement unless you have a vision’. This government certainly does have a vision. Let us remember also that the Territory 2030 strategy is a plan for the future which was developed following extensive Territory-wide consultation in our remote, regional, and urban areas. Those consultations continue with the member for Arafura in the role of parliamentary secretary for Territory 2030, and reporting to Cabinet as a subcommittee of Cabinet. I comment the work of the member for Arafura with Territory 2030.
The scope of the strategy is far-reaching and embraces a vision for where we want to be by 2030. Underpinning everything is education to promote lifelong participation as well as develop a world-class education system. This is as it should be. It is what empowers us and sets us on a path from childhood through to adult life. It is our key; our link to knowledge, to survival, and to economic independence. Those without it lack self-determination, opportunity and, most often, face a future which has limitations. For far too many, that means a dependence on welfare.
I spoke in this Chamber in the final sittings of 2011 about how the government was preparing for major projects and how seeking out, supporting and securing major projects is absolutely critical for the Territory’s future. It is the investment of major projects which provides jobs, training and opportunities for other businesses in the supply chain, and certainty to the strong economic future of the Territory. It is absolutely critical because it is these major projects which will bring in revenue to enable us to continue to build things such as better schools, hospitals, health clinics, police stations, social housing, roads, and other very necessary infrastructure which government is responsible for. Also, to be able to resource these essential and core areas of government service delivery with more teachers, more nurses, doctors, health professionals, together with police - including the 400 extra that have been recruited to the Territory under Labor - and emergency service personnel.
The Deputy Chief Minister is spot on when she said in her contribution to the debate yesterday that the key to opportunity is education. Gearing up for growth is not just about INPEX; it is about having a vision and a plan to see that vision realised. This is why education is the cornerstone of Territory 2030 However, it goes back much earlier than Territory 2030.
One of the first things this government did after winning the 2001 election, and first day on the job in government, was to begin to redress the deficiencies and underinvestment in education in the bush in the Northern Territory. Under Labor’s first ever education minister, my predecessor, Syd Stirling, we saw, and continue to see, significant spending to build, upgrade and resource schools, to recruit teachers into remote areas so Indigenous students could receive the education they deserved, which included a secondary education, something that had been denied for 27 years by a Darwin-centric, narrow-minded CLP government …
Mr Elferink: Nonsense! Not true!
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Ms WALKER: Struck a chord there.
Madam Speaker, I find it disingenuous of the Leader of the Opposition to talk about manual art centres in schools collecting dust, and wonder where he might be talking about ...
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Order! Member for Port Darwin, you do not have the call.
Ms WALKER: Thank you, Madam Speaker. He, indeed, had his opportunity yesterday to make a contribution. I listened quietly to him, and it would be nice if he could do the same for me.
The Leader of the Opposition was talking yesterday about manual art centres in schools collecting dust. I wonder where he might be talking about. I am very keen to know which schools he is talking about, because this government’s investment in schools is unprecedented, including the building of trade training centres with the support of the federal government.
I had the great honour, in one of my first official duties as the parliamentary secretary for Education and Training, to announce in November 2010 $8.5m investment in trade training centres at Groote Eylandt, Jabiru and Gunbalanya. Establishing trade training centres in these communities is all about providing skills to young people to get them on a pathway into real jobs in their communities, each of which, in this particular instance, have a mining company within very close proximity.
Further to this, late last year in December, I think it was, our Education minister announced further federal funding of just over $3m to go into establishing or upgrading trade training centres in northeast Arnhem Land in my electorate at Yirrkala, Galiwinku, Nhulunbuy High School, and in the member for Arnhem’s electorate in Gapuwiyak - again with mining at the centre of northeast Arnhem Land. Also, many other industries are there, and it gives students the opportunity to learn new skills and to be on the pathway to further training and a real job.
I took the opportunity last year to visit the Larrakia Trade Training Centre which, as we know, opened in February 2011. It is run by Advanced Training International, along with project partners, Larrakia Development Corporation and Kormilda College. The centre provides industrial trade apprenticeship training and employment opportunities for all Territorians. An important aim of the centre is to create a pool of skilled workers, not only for INPEX, but to meet the need in rural and remote parts of the Territory. This is a great example of where a project developer is directly contributing to the development of our social capital and providing flow-on benefits for the Territory.
I also took the opportunity around that time to visit the trade training centre at Charles Darwin University on its Casuarina Campus. It is a fantastic facility and covers a number of trade training areas. I know many apprentices from my electorate come into CDU for their block training.
As the Chief Minister said, this is all about boosting capacity and capability, and creating jobs for Territorians. This is something we have been crying out for in the bush following the decades of neglect before 2001. However, I have to quantify that when we are talking about this government’s investment in education in trade training centres, the investment does, in fact, go right across the education sphere - in fact from birth. Programs such as Families as First Teachers are assisting parents with building their skills to help their children to learn and grow, and to see them ready for preschool when their time comes around at the age of four.
It is a critical part of the Every Child, Every Day policy which is underpinned by the fact that, if a child attends school on every school day then they will receive a quality education, they will be proficient in the core areas of literacy and numeracy, and they will have the opportunity for greater choices in life through further training and work.
I have certainly seen firsthand the success of the Families as First Teachers program. When visiting Galiwinku on Elcho Island in December last year, I attended a delightful community event which saw children and their families from the Families as First Teachers program having almost a little graduation ceremony, where each of those children went up and collected a beautiful photograph and a certificate to say they had been through the Families as First Teachers program and they were, indeed, on the pathway graduating into preschool. It was held at Shepherdson College adjacent to the preschool. There were dozens and dozens of children and families there. I look forward to getting back up to Elcho after these sittings to visit Shepherdson College and to see how those children are settling into preschool.
As we heard from the minister for Education, his No 1 priority in education is to drive attendance, to get every child to school every day. It is not without its challenges. It is something which is everyone’s responsibility and can only happen when there are solid partnerships and shared understandings about the importance and value of education - those shared understandings between kids, between parents, families and their communities, their schools, the Department of Education, and the government.
We know there are some very complex factors which impact on children’s lives which make getting to school difficult, but this government is singularly determined to address this. I really look forward to seeing, as I know members on this side do - we keep hearing about it - the member for Brennan’s policy for education for the Country Liberals. As the dedicated and hard-working shadow for Education, we look forward to that education policy. I believe the more remote schools he visits, the harder he probably finds it to devise his own policy because he can see, and he has said on some occasions, the good work that is happening out in our remote schools. We certainly look forward to seeing that policy.
Madam Speaker, it is midday …
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Nhulunbuy, would you mind continuing your remarks after Question Time?
Ms WALKER: No, that will be fine, thanks, Madam Speaker.
Debate suspended.
Continued from earlier this day.
Ms WALKER (Nhulunbuy): Madam Speaker, the member for Johnston, as minister for Education and Training, provided a list during his contribution to this debate of the many schools this government has built. On top of that, he listed some of the significant investments through the federal government’s Building the Education Revolution program which sees our schools, both urban and bush, both government and non-government, equipped with great schools. It is a program, as we well know, members on the opposite side including their counterparts in the federal parliament, rejected. They did not support it at their peril. Mind you, that does not stop them from going along to openings of schools of what is being delivered under that program in the Territory.
Apart from this government’s commitment to delivering on the infrastructure to our great schools, we are also ensuring they are resourced with quality teachers including - as we heard during Question Time from the minister - an additional 407 teachers this government has recruited since 2002. A fair number of those teachers are out in our bush schools which previously were seriously under-resourced and neglected by the CLP government.
I will also highlight the additional investment in special education by this government to meet the needs of our disabled and special needs students, with new and appropriate facilities for schools like Nemarluk which, sadly, the CLP last year made something of a political football out of.
Gearing up for growth is not just about INPEX, it is about having a longer-term strategy around how we educate our kids to be active participants in the life of the Territory, and in the workforce in order to contribute to and grow the economies of our towns and communities.
Those economies in many remote Indigenous communities already exist based on the strengths of Indigenous knowledge and culture businesses such as eco-cultural tourism, caring for country, land and sea through strong ranger programs such as those at Laynhapuy Homelands with Yirralka Rangers, Dhimurru Rangers based in Nhulunbuy, the Gumurr Marthakal Rangers based on Elcho and servicing Elcho Island and the Marthakal Homelands, and Djelk Rangers as well, operating in Maningrida. Those programs are all good employers of Indigenous people - and, yes, I will add to it the baskets produced by nationally and internationally recognised fibre artists across the Top End of the Northern Territory.
To that end, this government has planned strategically for future growth in the bush through the A Working Future policy which, as we know, was launched by the member for Macdonnell in 2009 when she was on this side of the Chamber. This is a policy which she launched with hand on heart, standing side-by-side with the Chief Minister, which is transforming our largest remote communities to towns through a process underpinned by local implementation plans, and which provide a blueprint for the planning for growth of these places. They are also developed and supported by the local reference group in each community with each local implementation plan, which confirms the commitment to work with all three tiers of government to close the gap of Indigenous disadvantage.
This sort of planning and delivering in the bush simply never happened under the CLP with the same level of commitment which this government is driving, because the bush to them was out of sight and out of mind. At the time, so too were Indigenous people.
In 2012, we will continue to see infrastructure boosted through SIHIP, which is building new houses, as well as hundreds of refurbishments and rebuilds across the Northern Territory’s remote communities. We know the program has not been without its problems, but let us not also forget this is the single biggest housing program in the history of Australia. It is transformational in delivering $672m of new and refurbished homes to some of the Territory’s most disadvantaged people who live, not in hellholes as the member for Fong Lim describes them, but in communities where decades of neglect and overcrowded houses simply have not been addressed until now.
In my own electorate, I see the program at Galiwinku on Elcho Island, including its new subdivision due for completion in April, pending Wet Season weather does not cause delays. New homes have been handed over and, when completed, Galiwinku will have 90 new houses and 53 refurbishments.
At Maningrida, there is also a new subdivision to accommodate 100 or so new homes. While it is sometime since I visited SIHIP in Alice Springs, I heard the Chief Minister today quote the figure of 70 new homes there in town camps, transforming people’s lives in the Centre.
Under SIHIP, we will see delivery of 750 new houses, 230 rebuilds and 2500 refurbishments. As at January 2012, 486 new houses have been completed, with 177 further new houses under way. In addition to that, 1950 rebuilds and refurbishments have been completed, with 28 currently under way. That is almost 2500 families living in new and improved housing in our disadvantaged communities.
I come back to the Ichthys project, because I can definitely draw comparisons between the importance of the project to the future of the Territory with the establishment of the Gove joint venture and the original bauxite mining company Nabalco in my own electorate. I had to smile when I heard the Chief Minister say in his statement that the Ichthys project is a game changer, the second biggest investment in a single project in the nation’s history. Well, 40 years ago that is exactly what was said about the operations in Gove. At that time, it was the second biggest project in Australia with a budget of $320m - a large amount of money in those days - and second in size to the Snowy Mountain Hydro-Electric Scheme - or so I was advised when I picked up the role of PR person for Nabalco many years ago.
Of course, the start-up of mining operations in Gove was also a game changer. It opened up remote northeast Arnhem Land. The deal with the federal government was that in establishing mining and processing operations, the Gove joint venture also took responsibility for building an entire town with hundreds of houses, a school, a hospital, a court house, a post office, a retail and business precinct, sporting facilities including an Olympic-size pool, roads, power generation and all the necessary infrastructure which goes with building a town ...
Ms SCRYMGOUR: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Pursuant to Standing Order 77, I seek an extension of time for the member for Nhulunbuy to complete her speech.
Motion agreed to.
Ms WALKER: Thank you, Madam Speaker. Today the township of Nhulunbuy is an important regional centre in service delivery for people who work and live in northeast Arnhem Land, and a key point of economic activity which is still predominantly mining. Nabalco has gone through acquisitions and mergers over the years and rebranded as Alcan, Rio Tinto Alcan and, now, Pacific Aluminium.
There is significant employment through mining and significant export earnings through bauxite and alumina sales which flow on to government revenue. Last year, after several years of intensive negotiation between leaseholders Rio Tinto with traditional landowners, we saw the signing of a renewal of leases for a further 42 years, with a deal that secures long-term confidence and economic returns through jobs and business opportunities for Indigenous people.
So significant was the signing and renewal of those leases that, when the ceremony was held at Yirrkala in June last year the Prime Minister herself, along with minister for Indigenous Affairs, minister Macklin, visited Yirrkala to be part of that signing. Whilst I have not read the Prime Minister’s speech delivered in parliament today about closing the gap, I understand she makes reference to that event. It is of national significance.
While I was not in Gove when operations officially opened in 1972, I was there and working for Alcan during the G3 $2.5bn expansion project in 2004. I have listened closely to concerns of the member for Nelson about the fact that a construction camp for 3000 workers will be constructed in the rural area. I am pleased to hear the member for Nelson is feeling confident about assurances he has had from INPEX’s Sean Kildare around the operations of the workers village.
I can only say from the experiences of Gove during the G3 expansion that the workers village, which was purpose-built to accommodate 1700 people, was not the impost on our town some people feared it might be. Workers lived there and worked on the project under strict terms of a code of conduct which had zero tolerance for those who deviated from it. To the best of my knowledge, no one did lock up their daughters. The G3 village accommodated hard-working men and women, many of them with families interstate, who were working hard to pay off their mortgages and save money. Many of them sought and secured permanent jobs and relocated their families to Nhulunbuy once the plant was operational.
Whilst living in the G3 village, these people also spent considerable money with local businesses in our community and were also generous supporters of fundraising in our community for all manner of projects. I can only say to the member for Nelson and any other members who may be concerned - perhaps the member for Goyder as well - about the coming of a village that will house 3000 construction workers in the rural Darwin area, you will see there are far more benefits and positives than there are negatives for your local economies and your electorates.
I commend the Chief Minister for bringing this statement before the House. It is a very important statement. It is not a puff piece as the member for Greatorex bangs on about. This is talking about important policy, about how we have developed that policy, the importance to our economy, to jobs, and how we are supporting that through grassroots work, through all-important cornerstones of education.
It is an important debate to have in this House. I am pleased members opposite have participated, for the most part. I hope to see more of them contribute to this debate, but I will not hold my breath.
Policy development is important. It is something this government worked incredibly hard at. It is what governments have to do. With the CLP members opposite presenting themselves as the alternate government to the Northern Territory, I just find they are bereft of policy and ideas. So long as they do not launch policies for constituents, for this parliament, then they really have very little to go to the electorate with in August of this year.
There was an interesting contribution to the debate from the member of Port Darwin, who actually pitched for a vote for the CLP at the next election on the strength of leadership on their side, which I find very curious, given the known leadership contention on that side. I could not help but think those words would have been more appropriate coming from the Leader of the Opposition during his contribution, as opposed to coming from the member of Port Darwin. I can only think that perhaps the member for Port Darwin is posturing for leadership.
I leave it there, Madam Speaker. I commend the statement to the House.
Ms SCRYMGOUR (Arafura): Madam Speaker, I also support the Chief Minister’s Gearing Up For Growth statement. Yes, member for Nhulunbuy, the member for Port Darwin’s speech was a tussle for the leadership.
As the Chief Minister said, it is a time for optimism and excitement in the Territory – not just now but for a future we all want on this side of the House; for that prosperity to flow for our regions as well. There will be flow-on benefits for our regions and remote communities. If we look at this regarding what is happening with the Ichthys project – which I had to ask the member for Nhulunbuy a number of times regarding its pronunciation - in this development and project, in economic terms, if we build the economy of the Northern Territory then, naturally, you are going to have those flow-on effects, not just in Darwin but in our regions and remote communities. That economic benefit will mean more teachers, more police and, certainly, more needed investment in infrastructure, not just in Darwin but in our regions of Katherine, Tennant Creek, Alice Springs, Nhulunbuy and many of our remote communities.
The negative carping of the opposition is just plain frightening. The member for Greatorex has become unleashed. It is actually quite frightening when you think that there is an election coming up in August this year, and this is an opposition that wants to sell itself as being credible and an alternative. God help us if the member for Greatorex ever gets into the highest office if the CLP wins government. Given the blank pieces of paper they have – as you said, member for Nhulunbuy – bereft of policy or any vision, it is going to be interesting. The member for Greatorex constantly criticises. He talks about us being obsessed; I believe the member for Greatorex is obsessed with this side of the House and government. He accuses this government of not caring about Alice Springs, or that this project will not benefit Alice Springs. He is doing a great disservice - as are all the other members of the CLP who are members from Central Australia doing a big disservice to their constituents because they do not represent them at the highest level in a proactive way to try to get the outcomes that their constituents need for health, education, policing, infrastructure, putting together or suggesting ways forward in policy, or even announcing what their policies are instead of the negative carping. I have yet to hear any member of the other side come up with any future policy, policy directions, or solutions they may take.
In all the travels I have done through the regions in places like Katherine, Tennant Creek, Nhulunbuy and Alice Springs, you come across many good people, committed and passionate about their towns, about their regions, looking at solutions rather than talking down their towns and communities. Many people have asked about the development and what is happening in Darwin with projects. People in these regions know that if we can attract these huge investments, those investments will flow into those regions. Mining, the resource sector, is certainly huge – there has been more exploration happening in our regions and in our remote communities than ever before. For people to say it is a closed shop in the Northern Territory - that is not true; there is much happening. Talking it down as you often hear members on the other side do, is not doing the Northern Territory, let alone the regions they represent, any favours.
This is the second day of sittings and it is their General Business Day this afternoon. They will be going through all of the motions they have put forward. It will be interesting to see when they go through these motions whether they will offer and outline any solutions going forward, rather than just constantly carping and talking things down. That is the challenge to those CLP members because they have to get out of this. It is even federally - you can see the no, no, no, no, negative stance which flows on to these guys where everything is a no, no, no, negative stance. One day they are going to be in government and they are going to have to put their policies forward and have them tested before the electorate, and be able to lead and govern for all Territorians, not just a select few. The CLP has a track record of governing for just a select few.
I acknowledge the former Chief Minister, Clare Martin, and Mr Paul Tyrrell, who both pursued this project and both need to be given some acknowledgement of what they did when they pursued this project. There are many public servants across our agencies and also former members of Cabinet - the former Treasurer, Syd Stirling, through his stewardship with Clare Martin as the Chief Minister, put the financial state of the Northern Territory back in the black. There are many of us on this side who came through from 2001. It was in our first term of government when a mini-budget had to be brought into this Chamber because of the bad financial state of the Northern Territory. There was no development, no investment in infrastructure; everything had come to a stop in the Northern Territory.
When you think about that first Cabinet led by Clare Martin with Syd Stirling as the Treasurer and all of them – and at that time the Cabinet was only seven or eight ministers - did a lot of hard work and all the grunt that needed to be done, because we had a huge policy agenda that had to be pursued and implemented. The shock of finding what was the reality of the financial state of the Northern Territory was disappointing. The now Chief Minister, with three or four members of the present Cabinet, who were part of the Cabinet in 2001, turned around that financial state. To see what we inherited in 2001, the work that has gone into turning the financial state of the Northern Territory around, and this huge investment in this project is certainly a boost to the confidence for the people of the Northern Territory. People should feel confident that big giants such as Total have had the confidence to invest their money here with this project.
I congratulate the government for the strategic infrastructure development and the infrastructure we have invested in recently to get this Territory moving forward. I recall that much of that started with the Darwin waterfront - if I digress - which was another huge investment project that we had done recently. I was there for New Year during their fireworks display. It was fantastic to see the number of Territory families from around Darwin and also visitors to Darwin, at the waterfront enjoying all that is to offer there. When you look at that investment and what we have done in Darwin, and also Katherine where I was recently, at the infrastructure that is going on there - and I am looking forward to seeing the cultural centre that will be built there.
In Tennant Creek, there has been some fantastic infrastructure that has happened there with the oval, the Battery Hill Mining, and Nyinkka Nyunyu - there has been a lot of reform. It is good to see the reform happening in Alice Springs with housing in the town camps. At Nhulunbuy and many of our remote communities, there is the strategic housing program. While it sounds good for people to continually knock that housing program, I think of communities like Maningrida with 110 more houses than that community has ever had pre-2001 - that is more families in houses.
If we go to the heart of looking at child protection, ensuring those kids are going to school every day to get a quality education, we all know that the infrastructure investment in housing is so important. The housing program and money spent and overseen by the Northern Territory government is contributing to that. The minister for Housing - and also my colleague, the member for Casuarina - is very passionate about ensuring that massive infrastructure project is implemented, and the consultation and communication with the community happens. I have stood in this House before and acknowledged Ken Davies and Andrew Kirkman who I think do a fantastic job in ensuring that program and the communication with the communities does happen.
Having been born and bred in this town, I often have this discussion with the member for Goyder. I really am disappointed that members of the CLP have not contributed in a more productive way to this debate, because it is about optimism, and it is exciting when you think about it - look at the skyline of Darwin, go to Katherine, any place you travel throughout the Northern Territory. When I talk to people about 2030, the Chief Minister’s vision, and how we move forward with building the Territory over the next five, 10, 15, 20 years moving towards 2030, it gives people hope. It is about building optimism and ensuring we can give every child in the Northern Territory, regardless of race, colour or creed, the quality education they deserve.
With that education we can get more investment from big projects such as the Ichthys project. I look forward to seeing the Territory growing and moving forward because it is about time and is certainly a welcome development, particularly with the jobs, the training, and opportunities for young Indigenous kids in Darwin. We often look at kids in remote communities, but there are many opportunities for young Indigenous kids in Darwin. There are Indigenous families who are quite excited about this project because, for their kids and their grandchildren, it is about the future.
Madam Deputy Speaker, this project does give hope because it is about that investment.
Mr HENDERSON (Chief Minister): Madam Deputy Speaker, I thank all members for contributing to the debate – some more than others with regard to their enthusiasm for the exciting times the Territory faces. That is what this debate is all about. It is an opportunity for members of this House to contribute to a debate on how we, as a Territory, are going to leverage off the massive investment coming our way through our resources sector to ensure the entire community of the Northern Territory benefits.
Many people have contributed to that. That investment is coming, and a debate in this parliament about how we can ensure people right throughout the Northern Territory have opportunities and also get benefits from the investment - I was looking forward to many ideas being generated in the debate about what we could be doing and some strategies we might look to adopt.
When you look at your television screen in the evening watching the world news you see how life is such a struggle for so many millions of people around the world with the downturn in Europe, the struggling US economy, millions of people being thrown out of work, but here in Australia, particularly in the Northern Territory, our future is very bright. This debate is being conducted in the Territory in a climate where other parliaments around Australia are talking about the thousands of jobs in Victoria that have disappeared from the manufacturing sector in the last six months, and the thousands of jobs which will disappear from the financial sector in Sydney and Melbourne over the coming period. Those are the debates other parliaments are having around this nation: how to shore up investments and create jobs, given the downturn those economies are experiencing as a result of many policy parameters, particularly the high Australian dollar and, strategically, where we need to be. We are in a different place in the Northern Territory with regard to our competitive advantage with our resource sector, and it certainly is a very different debate.
I really felt, as I travelled around the Northern Territory, particularly in the last two or three months, a real change in optimism, in confidence, in looking forward to a bright future in the Territory. People really do understand, with all the issues and difficulties we have - and every society has its issues and difficulties - the long-term future is certainly bright for our kids.
Unfortunately, that optimism is not shared by the opposition. The Leader of the Opposition, in a very dour contribution, gave some pretty mealy-mouthed support and credit for securing the Ichthys project. He was obsessed with apportioning credit. It is not about credit. It is about acknowledging the fact that there were hundreds and, around the world, thousands of people who worked so hard to get this project to a final investment decision. It did not happen by accident; it did not fall from the sky. When he says that this project was always going to happen, he is, basically, insulting many hundreds and thousands of people around Australia and the world who worked hard to make this project happen, including many public servants across government who worked tirelessly to see this project get across the line. The Leader of the Opposition needs to be more gracious. I am sure if he was to bump into senior executives from INPEX, if he was meeting with them, he would not say to them: ‘Well, it was always going to happen anyway. You guys did not do a great deal, and welcome to the Territory’. I am sure he would not say that but, of course, he says that in here because being gracious is not something that is a natural part of his demeanour.
I am very excited about what it means for people across the Territory. Having been briefed on the workforce requirements of this particular project, there are going to be significant opportunities for world-class jobs during the construction phase, and ongoing in the operation phase.
I congratulate INPEX and Total for their $3m investment in the Larrakia Trade Training Centre that is up and running out there towards the port. Over 400 apprentices and trainees are being trained, in part, through that facility. Many of those apprentices and trainees are Indigenous, given the partnership with the Larrakia. I congratulate INPEX and Total for having the confidence to make that type of investment, commitment, and contribution to the Northern Territory, and training people for this project even prior to a final investment decision. It just goes to show what good corporate citizens these companies are going to be in the Territory for the next 40-or-so years, if not longer.
I will relate a story about the Larrakia Trade Training Centre. I have been there on a number of occasions now. One of the great stories I have to tell is of a fellow who sought me out, shook hands, and told me his story. He was an Indigenous guy born in the town camps in Alice Springs. He moved from Alice Springs, worked on pastoral stations and around Central Australia fixing bores, running fence lines and working on pastoral leases. He moved to Katherine and was involved in picking fruit and melons. He came to Darwin and was sharing accommodation with a couple of guys. He started an apprenticeship. He was doing a Certificate III in Construction and was really looking forward to working on the INPEX project. The great story is that he is very keen to get back to the town camps in Alice Springs and let those kids there know that there is a life outside the town camps, and you can earn great money and get ahead as an Indigenous person in the Territory. That is a great story.
Member for Barkly, I look forward to working with you to see how some of those kids from Tennant Creek and the Barkly can get jobs on this particular program. I am also engaged in very early discussions with the alliance partners about how the Indigenous employees on SIHIP can get some upskilling and be offered jobs to actually transition from SIHIP on to this massive construction program. Through people I know personally, I know there have been a couple of conversations held in a couple of SIHIP projects, and there is a lot of excitement amongst those Indigenous employees about opportunities of working on this project. They certainly have the opportunities if they are putting in the effort and can gain the qualifications.
This project is going to deliver, along with the Marine Supply Base and Charles Darwin University. I again put on the record my thanks to our Vice-Chancellor, Barney Glover, for his leadership at the university to ensure the oil and gas research institute will be up and running this year and that engineering courses are being expanded at the university.
A great story I heard about enrolments at the university is that there has been a 50% increase in students starting engineering degrees. The university has a very bright future as a centre of excellence in research and development, and training at the tertiary and trades level for a massive workforce which will be required across Northern Australia to deliver $150bn worth of projects that have already reached financial close and will be delivered in northern Australia over the next 10 years.
Darwin, as the capital of northern Australia, will see its fair share of our ability to support, maintain and deliver those projects, and our university will be pivotal in providing that workforce. Jacques Nasser, the Chief Executive from BHP, said recently in a speech that Charles Darwin University should be the preeminent university to deliver the workforce for northern Australia; I certainly agree with Mr Nasser on that point.
I welcome the member for Araluen’s contribution saying that Alice Springs had had a wonderful few months in regard to crime. It is good to see there is some acknowledgement from the Alice Springs members that police really have lifted their game in Alice Springs along with other government agencies - not only government agencies but also the non-government sector with the Youth Hub and all its activities over the school holiday program. I thank our Minister for Central Australia for his work and the leadership role he has played. It is a much different approach, a whole-of-community approach in Alice Springs, and police have seen a significant reduction in crime over the summer period. I thank the member for Araluen for acknowledging that because the non-government sector - everyone who has been involved, the people at the Youth Hub and police - deserve a pat on the back as opposed to the bile that comes from the member for Greatorex and other people on this issue. My congratulations to everyone in Alice Springs as well; they did a great job.
I am not going to comment and give life to what the member for Greatorex said – it was his usual bile and he had nothing positive to contribute.
I do not know who the member for Fong Lim’s audience is but he is certainly entertaining. Off he went on his bizarre climate change rant. I do not think he mentioned Triton in this debate. I do not know if it is an arm wrestle or just the slow grip of a python squeezing the environmental commitments out of the CLP that the member for Fong Lim is engaged in, but he criticised the government for aiming to reduce the emissions by 60% by 2050. If he has a close look at the CLP’s policy which they took to the last election – and I assume it is still their policy - they had exactly the same goal. I do not know if the member for Fong Lim was asleep when that policy was put forward by the CLP at the last election, whether he just ignored it, or whether he argued against it in the party room. As far as I am aware, it is still the CLP policy. But he went off on a rant, again taking on his leader in the House on that issue.
He also criticised the government for the energy ratings requirements for houses and commercial property. My reading of the CLP policy is they have gone even further; that the CLP would by now have mandated a 6-star energy rating for all houses in the Northern Territory, which would significantly add to the cost of housing. That is in their policy yet the member for Fong Lim railed against the policy position. I correct that: the policy position that the CLP took to the last election. I am assuming that is still their policy because we have not heard they have any others.
He also wants to have open slather water extraction on the Daly River. There was a front page in The Australian with Tony Abbott - I do not know if wild Bill Heffernan might have been in there - about draining the north’s rivers to turn the north into the food bowl of Asia. There was mass confusion in CLP ranks about whether they should support this policy. It was impossible to get a comment from the Leader of the Opposition for two or three days, and then his comments were contradicted by the member for Fong Lim. So they are all over the place regarding the Daly River, damming the Daly, turning the Northern Territory into a food bowl. We already know they have plans to dam the Elizabeth River and two other rivers and tributaries into Darwin Harbour.
It really is interesting, on this side of the House, watching the contorted positions. No wonder they do not have any policies; they cannot agree with each other. The shadow Environment minister was wrapping himself in a cloak of green, going to the Environment Centre and parading himself as the green’s saviour of the Country Liberal Party, and working with green groups to come up with climate change policy prior to the last election. Good luck to the shadow Environment minister. He did his job and got out there and tried to wrap the CLP up in a big, green cloak. Underneath that big, green cloak we know there is a great, big Trojan Horse - called the member for Fong Lim - who really does not believe in sustainable development at all, or in any of the environmental sciences.
The opposition has derided and railed against scientists who put forward any sort of opinion that shows we need to be careful in sustainable development. It is very interesting watching these policy contortions on the other side. I bet London to a brick that it is the member for Fong Lim who wins out. He will prevail, and he will, ultimately, prevail as Leader of the Opposition. We know the war he would rage and the policy fronts he would wage that war on.
It is an interesting time. I thank my colleagues who contributed to the debate on this statement. This side of the House is very excited about the future of the Northern Territory. We are very excited about the future for all of those 44 000 kids who are in our classrooms, back to school at the beginning of this year. We have our sleeves rolled up; we have our policies in place. We are out there working with our community to make the Territory a better place. We have our A Working Future policies and funding in place to start turning around that tide of Indigenous disadvantage. This is an exciting time for the Northern Territory. It is a pity the opposition could not put forward anything positive in debate.
Madam Speaker, I commend the statement to the House.
Motion agreed to; statement noted.
MOTION
Note Statement - Supporting Territorians
Continued from 29 November 2011.
Mr VATSKALIS (Health): Madam Speaker, I support Hon Delia Lawrie’s statement on supporting Territorians. I will inform the House on how the Northern Territory government is helping to support Territorians in a multitude of ways across my portfolio areas of Children and Families, Health, and Resources.
The Northern Territory government wants to ensure that families are supported to provide their children with the best start to life possible. The Northern Territory government funds our non-government organisations to deliver services that aim to give Territory children the best start in life, and help Territory mums and dads be the best parents they can.
Increasing the ability of our non-government partners to support Territory children and their families is a key priority of our government. In 2010-11, the Territory government provided $38m to 70 non-government organisations to deliver a wide range of services that support Territory children and their families. The Henderson Labor government has also increased core funding to the Northern Territory Council of Social Services by $625 000 a year, with additional one-off funding of $267000 in 2011-12; increased funding to Foster Care NT by $585 000 a year; increased funding of $200 000 in 2010-11 and $325 000 a year from 2011-12 onwards for the Create Foundation, an advocacy group for children in care which will see them significantly expand services in Darwin and establish a presence in Alice Springs; and increased funding to the National Association for Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect by $250 000 a year.
Being a parent can be one of the most rewarding, yet challenging, tasks someone can embark on. Right across the Territory our government funds a range of services that help support Territory parents. In 2010-11, the Northern Territory government provided $2.9m for a broad range of prevention and early intervention services including parenting information, skills development, play activities and groups, and cultural healing and support.
In Darwin, the Northern Territory government provided $106 000 in 2010-11 for the Darwin Toy Library, a valuable service that lends and provides information about a wide range of toys and equipment to support the development and learning of children. This service is available to all parents. However, there is a particular focus on low-income families who may not have the ability to buy new toys at every stage of a child’s development. Funding is provided for a similar toy library service in Nhulunbuy.
In Alice Springs, the Northern Territory government has provided additional one-off funding of $43 000 in 2011-12 for the Children’s Services Support Program (Central Australia) Inc to provide parenting support and information. Tangentyere Council receives funding from the Northern Territory government to run the Ketye Program, which offers parenting education resources for Indigenous vulnerable families with children aged up to seven years old with a connection to town camps in and around Alice Springs.
In Katherine, the Northern Territory government provides funding for the Baby FAST program which supports young vulnerable Indigenous parents to help improve outcomes for children and reduce child abuse and neglect.
The Northern Territory government also understands that families and parents experience crisis situations from time to time. This is why the government provided around $1.7m in 2010-11 for crisis support funding to provide early support to families and individuals, including general and specialised counselling, accommodation support, and access and referrals to other services.
The Henderson government is committed to improving the health of all Territorians with services that are closer to people’s home, keeping families together, and living longer and healthier lives. The Northern Territory Labor government delivered the Territory’s first $1bn health budget in 2009-10. In 2011-12, the budget has increased to $1.12bn. Health funding has more than doubled, up by 149% since 2001 when we came to government.
In supporting Territory families we have:
delivered the Palmerston Super Clinic, reduced pressure on the RDH emergency department with over 18 000 patients seen in the first year of operation and provided the urgent care after-hours medical service treating 28 000 residents of Palmerston since opening;
delivered the Territory’s first $19m cancer care treatment centre at RDH, the Alan Walker Cancer Care Centre, so Territorians do not need to travel interstate for radiation therapy;
opened the 26-room Barbara James House in Stuart Park to provide a peaceful home-like environment for patients undergoing cancer treatment and their carers;
commenced construction of the new $24.7m emergency department at Alice Springs with 35 treatment bays, a fast-track unit, isolation beds and new medical imaging;
opened the $28m first full Northern Territory medical school in partnership with Flinders University, Charles Darwin University, and the NT and Australian governments in February 2011. Territory kids can now train to become doctors within even having to leave the Northern Territory;
introduced a $1.5m dental blitz in 2010 to reduce the general dental waiting list with $750 000 ongoing. This will reduce waiting lists for general appointments to the best in Australia;
delivered the new $100m five-year contract with St John Ambulance for expanded ambulance services and patient transport for better clinical safety;
supported Territorians in remote areas with a new Top End medical retrieval contract to CareFlight - $256m over 10 years for a fully integrated service, new planes, extra specialists and nursing staff and maintenance system;
opened the 12-bed hospice at Royal Darwin Hospital for $4.5m in 2005, providing excellent end-of-life care for Territorians, and support for families in these sad and difficult times;
opened new renal dialysis units in Alice Springs, Gap Road, Katherine, Tennant Creek, Palmerston and remote areas at Santa Teresa, Ramingining, Umbakumba, Galiwinku, Maningrida with an extra $24.4m from Budget 2007-08;
planning is well under way for the $110m Palmerston hospital;
provided $22m for patient and Indigenous mothers’ accommodation at RDH which is under construction. This will help people from remote areas to stabilise in a supportive environment with their carer;
provided $30m for new emergency department at Gove District Hospital;
upgraded Tennant Creek emergency department;
delivered new patient accommodation hostels in Katherine and Gove;
delivered new remote health centres in Milikapiti, Daly River, Yuendumu, Nguiu, Jilkminggan, Kalkarindji, Maningrida, plus $50m for several new remote healthcare centres and for major upgrades; and
provided $13m for renal patient accommodation in Central Australia.
In addition to these services, the Northern Territory Patient Assistance Travel Scheme provides assistance with the cost of interstate and intrastate travel and accommodation for patients who are required to travel over 200 km to access specialist health services. A total of 20 000 patients and 8000 escorts were assisted with travel and accommodation subsidies in 2010-11 to the value of $10m. This is important assistance to families who are accessing specialist medical treatment interstate, or who attend other Territory major hospitals from regional or remote areas.
We also provide the Disability Equipment Program, previously known as the Territory Independence and Mobility Equipment Scheme. The Northern Territory government provides over $1.5m per year to the Disability Equipment Program to support Territorians with a disability to live and participate in their community through the provision of appropriate equipment, aids, and appliances. Equipment provided includes toileting and showering aids, lifting devices, bed equipment, sitting equipment, pressure management equipment, wheel mobility aids, ambulatory mobility aids and standing equipment, personal emergency response systems, and home modifications such as grab rails and ramps.
In addition to the Disability Equipment Program, the Companion Card scheme is a national scheme enabling people with a disability who require lifelong attendant care support from a companion to participate in identified activities without incurring the cost of a second ticket for their companion. Cardholders present their card when booking or purchasing a ticket from participating business, and are issued with a second companion ticket for their companion at no charge.
When it comes to supporting Territorians, the Resources, Primary Industry and Fisheries portfolios are delivering real results. Members would be aware that mining continues to be the largest industry sector in the Territory, contributing around 26% of GSP and, in contrast, nationally it accounts for only 6.8% of GDP. Our Primary Industry sector continues to grow and creates opportunities and jobs throughout the Territory. Fishing continues to make such an important contribution to our great Territory lifestyle whether it be catching a fish or ordering some of the best seafood in the world from the menu, sometimes, at the waterfront.
When it comes to programs supporting Territorians and Territory families, we are delivering.
Members on this side of the House understand that human activity is impacting on our climate. I remember a time when the Leader of the Opposition did have a policy on climate change. We believe we could make a difference, but the opposition members now have changed their minds. It is for this reason the Northern Territory government is a strong supporter and proud partner of the Alice Springs Solar City Project. In 2010-11, the Territory government provided $276 000 in cash and in-kind support towards the second-last stage of the project.
Over the life of the project, the Territory government will provide $3.764m for the likes of renewable and energy efficient projects at Araluen Cultural Precinct and Alice Springs Hospital; installation of smart meters, domestic time of use trials; installation of solar technologies; and financial incentives. It is estimated the project will save at least 12 942 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent per annum, the equivalent of taking 22% of cars in Alice Springs off the road every year.
The Territory government has invested strongly in supporting the growth of the Territory’s resources industry through the seven-year $25.8m Bringing Forward Discovery initiative. This has contributed to an unprecedented boom in mineral exploration in the Territory, with over $195m in exploration expenditure in the past financial year.
As part of this initiative, the Territory government has committed $3m over the past four years in direct funding to exploration through the Geophysics and Drilling Collaborations program. This program provides 50%, up to $100 000, of the direct cost of select exploration drilling or geophysical programs in underexplored greenfield areas. Priority is given to projects which test innovative new concepts and have the potential to open up new areas for exploration. This funding does not only benefit the companies concerned, but also flows to local drilling companies and other contractors. New discoveries have been made from this program and many other funded programs have provided encouragement to the companies to continue exploration in these unexplored areas, bringing ongoing benefits to the community.
The Geological Survey group within the Department of Resources recently won a Chief Minister’s Award for excellence in the public sector in the Growing Prosperity category for its success in implementing the Bringing Forward Discovery initiative and stimulating mineral and petroleum exploration in the Territory.
The Territory government is also supporting young Territorians to gain a start in the resources industry through our ongoing Resources, Earth Science, Mining and Petroleum scholarships. The scholarships provide $36 000 per year to support three young Territorians to study interstate for degrees which will give them the skill to become professionals in the Territory resources sector. I am pleased to report that, to date, all recipients of the scholarship have brought their valuable skills back to the Territory and are working for Territory focused exploration and mining companies. It is all about providing opportunity for Territorians, to train and retain our own, and ensuring Territorians have every opportunity to pursue their dream job, whether it is in the resource, primary industry or fisheries arena.
Last financial year, support for the primary industries groups that grow our primary industries totalled $370 000. The Northern Territory Horticultural Association received $185 000; the Northern Territory Agricultural Association received $100000, and the Northern Territory Livestock Exporters’ Association received $85 000. Funding is provided to assist industry associations to represent and promote their respective industries in the Territory.
I congratulate the Northern Territory Horticultural Association and the Northern Territory Agricultural Association for considering an amalgamation to better represent their respective members. The Northern Territory Agricultural Association held its AGM in Katherine recently with members offering their support for the amalgamation, as their industries are identical.
The government also supports pastoralists directly through the delivery of the Pastoral Water Enhancement Scheme. The scheme enhances land and water resources management by encouraging the sound planning of stock watering facilities through technical advice and financial subsidy. This scheme is delivered by my Department of Resources with assistance from the Department of Natural Resources, Environment, the Arts and Sports. Last financial year, the assistance totalled $80 000. We sponsored cultural events at the Royal Darwin Show and Freds Pass Show totalling $4500 for the last financial year.
Industry events receive support on the occasion of special events. Last financial year, the support totalled $9000. Dr Brian Radunz, the Territory’s Chief Veterinary Officer since 1999, was recently awarded the Chief Minister’s Public Service Medal for his strong leadership of the animal health program which safeguards our important cattle industry. Dr Radunz has also played a major role in developing and implementing animal health policy within the Territory and nationally.
Under our fisheries program, we offer support for non-Indigenous Marine Ranger Groups around the Territory coast. Indigenous marine rangers’ grants of around $60 000 per year are offered to Anindilyakwa Sea Rangers program, Bawinanga Aboriginal Corporation, Mabunji Aboriginal Resource Association Incorporated, Northern Land Council, Thamarrurr Development Corporation Limited, and Tiwi Land Council.
The Fisheries Division has led the development of specific compliance training for Indigenous marine rangers in collaboration with Charles Darwin University and the Water Police. To date, more than 50 male and female rangers have received certificate qualifications in fisheries compliance. The Fisheries Division recently won the Chief Minister’s Award for Excellence for delivering quality education and training to Indigenous marine rangers and for its Indigenous Apprenticeships program.
A range of aquacultural enterprises focusing on low technology, sea-based methods are being trialled on Goulburn Island and Groote Eylandt. A sea cucumber ranch in the open sea is likely to offer a small annual income stream to communities, and part-time job opportunities, especially for young community members.
When it comes to AFANT, in addition to its operational grant to represent the views of Territory anglers we also provide a small clubs grant. Under this grant, a range of projects are undertaken to support Territorians.
The Darwin Flyrodders Club received funds to assist in its public fly-casting clinics. I attended a clinic at the waterfront recently and attempted the art of fly-fishing, and saw fly-tying firsthand. While I was on the lawn a range of family groups were present with a number of Territory kids enthralled by fly-tying. Nhulunbuy Regional Sport Fishing Club received a contribution towards its women and junior fishing clinics. Katherine Game Fishing Club received funding for a marquee to use its competitions. Dundee Social and Recreational Club received funding for a barbecue and tables. We are making fishing even better for Territorians and Territory families through improving recreational fishing facilities. Recognising the importance of recreational fishing, the Northern Territory government committed to an infrastructure fund of $1m per annum from 2008 to 2012 to improve access to recreational fisheries across the Top End by upgrading facilities.
In addition to the $4m Palmerston facility, there have been upgrades to boat ramps at Leeders Creek, King Ash Bay, Gove, Dinah Beach, Elizabeth River, Saltwater Arm, Milne Inlet, Corroboree Billabong, Middle Arm, Six Pack Creek and Hardies Billabong. Toilets have been installed at Corroboree Billabong and Adelaide River. A pontoon has been installed at the Dinah Beach boat ramp.
For those who are not familiar with ramps throughout the Territory, the installation of floating pontoons has proven to be very popular with family groups. It means the family no longer need to stand waist deep in water in some of our most popular boat ramps to launch and retrieve a vessel. Rather, the floating pontoon provides for the family to easily launch and retrieve their vessel without even getting their feet wet. Here in the Territory, with some of the largest tides in the nation, building boat ramps and pontoons is not without its challenges. We are committed to make a family day out on the water even easier and safer.
In conclusion, Madam Deputy Speaker, the Henderson Labor government is deeply committed to supporting Territorians. Today, I have outlined a number of programs and plans to assist Territorians in developing strong and healthy Territory families with the capacity to participate in, and contribute to, a strong and healthy Territory.
Mr KNIGHT (Justice and Attorney-General): Madam Deputy Speaker, I support the Chief Minister’s important statement regarding supporting Territorians. It is incumbent on the government and the community to try to support our valuable Territorians in particular ways. It has been this government, over the last 10 to 11 years that has increased support to the community in a number of areas.
It has been our government’s commitment to support senior Territorians. Historically, it has been the case that people have come here and contributed to the non-Indigenous development of the Northern Territory. Traditionally, they left their families down south to move into agricultural production, or move with the Commonwealth government at the time. It has been the case that senior Territorians, once they reached retirement age, moved back to their family networks down south. When some finished their time here as Commonwealth public servants, they also retired down south. Some of these people spent a great deal of time in the Northern Territory and had a great understanding of it. The corporate history in different industries and their contacts are invaluable, and their leaving is a loss.
It had been a keen focus of the previous Chief Minister to retain senior Territorians by making it more attractive for them to stay here. One of those schemes is the Northern Territory Pensioner and Carer Concession Scheme. This scheme was designed to provide assistance and also some incentives to stay in the Northern Territory. Many senior Territorians had a lot of time on their hands and, with many family members getting older down south, they wanted to see them. The danger was, in wanting to see them, and the high cost of travelling to see them, they would make the choice to relocate down south. Under the scheme we have provided funding for senior Territorians, usually on a two-year basis, of the equivalent of an economy airfare to southern capital cities, to visit their family. That way they get to see their family but remain in the Northern Territory for their children, grandchildren, and our wider community. That has been quite successful. The number of seniors leaving the Northern Territory has significantly reduced. Through programs in housing and more recent planning changes as well, it has enabled senior Territorians to live a more comfortable life. We look forward to them staying here.
Another benefit of the scheme is the Seniors Card. There is a significant take-up of that card. A year or so ago, up to 800 businesses had signed up to that card, offering discounts across a range of products. I thank those businesses for offering their generosity to a growing number of people in our community. People patronise those businesses who participate. We have a competition each year for which business provides the best seniors discount. A caf in Katherine won it last year. I am unsure about this year, but it is something we thank our businesses for. We understand the cost of living is a major concern for pensioners and seniors, also carers, who are often on fixed incomes.
In order to keep seniors in the Territory we offer the most generous Pensioner and Carer Concession Scheme in the country. We have done much analysis of the scheme and, by and large, it is the best one in the country. There are currently 23000 members in the concession scheme in the Northern Territory - quite a significant take-up. With my local member hat on, I would like to see the scheme be further promoted in our more remote areas to offer people opportunities to take advantage of the rebates and incentives. Seniors and carers are eligible, but also aged war service veterans and pensioners, and low-income superannuates.
Over 121 concessions were granted in the 2010-11 year totalling $18.3m. The concessions offered were around power, council rates, water bills, sewerage bills, garbage bills, and motor vehicle registration. Offering concessions on motor vehicle registration is a great initiative of the government, also free drivers’ licences. There are also concessions on spectacles and free public transport. If you grow old in the Territory you will be looked after better by this government than anywhere else in the country.
Electricity concessions are around $585 per year and over 46 000 electricity concessions were granted in the 2010-11 year for a total value of nearly $10m. That is a great deal of money going back into the pockets of senior Territorians. This concession has been increased since the election of the Henderson Labor government to ensure senior Territorians and pensioners and carers are not affected by any price increases. There is a commitment around providing that assistance. Naturally, the cost of providing electricity does go up, but we are trying to insulate senior Territorians and people on very low incomes from those increased costs. It was the Henderson Labor government that abolished the 50% maximum cap on power accounts as well.
In order to keep seniors in the Territory, a concession of 62.5% is offered off council rates up to a maximum of $200 a year. I get a lot of representation from seniors, both in my own electorate and in other electorates, about this particular subsidy. This is the Northern Territory’s contribution to their cost of living. I believe it is incumbent on local councils to have a look at providing similar subsidies for their senior Territorians. Obviously, within our budget we absorb those costs across society. I guess that is where local government needs to have a look as well - whether it treats its senior Territorians or its pensioners and carers a little more differently by offering concessions, just to keep them in the community. Councils across the Territory are under pressure, but this is a way of giving those vulnerable people on low incomes who have served the Territory for decades a bit of relief in their latter years.
This $200 a year from the Northern Territory government is higher than local government rates concessions given in Queensland, Victoria, Western Australia and also South Australia. We are leading the country in our rate concessions in the Northern Territory. There were over 5000 council rate concessions granted in the 2010-11 year, which was nearly $1.1m in that financial year of relief provided to those seniors who are landowners as well. We have that situation where we have asset-rich and cash-poor seniors and low-income earners out there who may have bought a very cheap block in the rural area. I guess progress has caught up with them, and so have the more modern levels of rates as well. They own their block but it is starting to cost them quite a lot of money out of their weekly incomes.
Our water rates concession is the best in the country. That is on top of having the lowest water prices in the country. It has been this government that has kept our power prices to the second lowest in the country, our sewerage rates are the second lowest in the country, and our water prices are the lowest in the country. On top of that, we offer a concession for our seniors of up to $265 a year. This particular concession has been increased since the election of the Henderson Labor government in 2008. There were over 17 500 concessions granted in the 2010-11 year, totalling $750 000. Again, more money staying in the pockets of senior Territorians so they can live a lot easier.
With the sewerage concession, again, it is also the best in the country and, as I said, the second lowest sewerage prices in the country. That concession is $275 per year ...
Mr Tollner interjecting.
Mr KNIGHT: Nice to have you back, Dave.
Mr Tollner: Is Delia sitting there?
Mr KNIGHT: We are all moving around, Dave. You can sit over there next to Kezia if you like, Dave.
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order!
Mr KNIGHT: With respect to the sewerage rates concessions, there was something like 16 000 concessions granted in 2010-11 to a value of $88 000. Again, a significant contribution.
Over 5300 garbage rate concessions were granted in that same financial year, with the amount varying per council - some council’s garbage rates were fairly small and others are quite significant.
The motor vehicle registration concession is $154 per year per vehicle. That is a good contribution - those increased registrations are natural enough but this tries to keep people’s cars registered and on the road so they have some mobility in their later life. This has been increased by $50 since the election of the Henderson Labor government - quite a significant increase. Over 14 000 concessions for motor vehicle registration were granted in 2010-11 and the value of those 14 000 concessions was $1.45m.
Seniors will also benefit from having a free driver’s licence. It is a great relief for seniors to not have to pay for a driver’s licence renewal. This was introduced under the Henderson Labor government. There were 3800 given out in 2010-11 to a value of over $300 000.
Following on from the Enough is Enough alcohol reforms, seniors came to the government and told us that those who did not have ID had trouble purchasing a proof-of-age card as well, and that there would be a cost imposed on them. This government feels passionately about seniors, so we listened and extended the free proof-of-age card to senior Territorians.
The Territory also offers one claim every two-year period for the cost of prescription spectacles. Obviously, many senior Territorians’ eyesight starts to go, so this is another benefit and another reason to stay in the Northern Territory. There were over 10 000 spectacle concessions given out in 2010-11 and that value is a little over $1m - a great contribution to our senior Territorians.
The Northern Territory is the only jurisdiction to offer seniors free public transport, which is available in Darwin and Alice Springs. This is great for seniors who, perhaps, are unable to drive but want to get around town to participate and have an active life in their later years. Being able to hop on a bus and get around town keeps them active and is valuable for our community. They do not have to worry about mucking around with paying for buses all the time; they can hop on the buses for free. This concession was introduced by this government.
Our unique concession is our interstate and overseas travel which I talked about. This concession is offered to seniors, aged pensioners, and totally or permanently incapacitated veterans and aged war service veterans. It was introduced to keep people in the Territory but also allow them to see their friends and family interstate or overseas. The concession is 50% off an airfare every two years. The concession can accrue to make up 100% concession every four years. Having a completely cost-free trip interstate or overseas is a wonderful opportunity to see family when many people have very little income, they are on a pension and spend most of their money on the basic essentials. To look forward to every four years travelling interstate or overseas to catch up with their family certainly is a great way of looking after our valuable Territorians.
Current card holders are also able to use their travel entitlements to bring a friend or family member living interstate or overseas to visit them in the Northern Territory - another way to keep people happy, keep them in the Territory, but also get friends and family to come to the Northern Territory. To ensure the benefit goes to Territorians, applicants must be a resident for two years before actually applying for this particular benefit. Over 2300 concessions were granted in 2010-11, and this value ...
Mr GUNNER: A point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker! I move an extension of time for the member, pursuant to Standing Order 77.
Motion agreed to.
Mr KNIGHT: I thank members. Over 2300 concessions were granted in 2010-11 to a total value of $2.55m - again, a great way of keeping Territorians here and supporting them in the latter part of their lives.
One of the new concessions is the $8500 stamp duty concession. This is if seniors buy or downsize a home. Obviously, in your housing career, you start off at home with your family, then you might move out and move in with some friends, then you get a partner and you get a small home, family gets bigger, you buy a bigger home, and then kids start to leave home. We have many seniors in the Northern Territory, who may have lost a partner, or their children have moved out, who have a three- or four-bedroom home and they are all by themselves. Many of these homes are older homes and are elevated, which causes access problems and maintenance problems on an older building. We offer incentives to allow these senior Territorians to move to downsize.
As you move through your life, you move down to something smaller as your family moves away, or you have gone back to being by yourself. Getting a smaller home that is more easily maintained and more appropriate for your physical needs is a good way to go. It also frees up some of the value you have accumulated in your home over the years to live a lot easier. This is a great initiative enabling people to do that.
The Seniors Card is a great way for businesses to provide discounts to senior Territorians. There are around 15 000 permanent NT residents aged 60 and over receiving discounts on goods and services from over 630 local businesses. Seniors also have the opportunity to nominate their favourite seniors-friendly business. As I said earlier, the caf in Katherine won that a year or so ago. They were providing great service to their seniors. We thank those businesses for participating.
There has been a great deal of focus about looking after our seniors. It is about supporting them. We are coming into the 70-year anniversary of the Bombing of Darwin, and there are many seniors who might have been around at the time, post the war reconstruction, through Cyclone Tracy - all those events. Having those seniors here to contribute to the history and the story telling of the history of the Northern Territory is extremely valuable, so we value our seniors.
The budget for supporting senior Territorians is almost $20m. That is three times as much as our opposition counterparts, the CLP, in their last year of government, which was $6.5m. We are serious about our seniors; serious about looking after them and about easing the burden of increased costs as they get older. We will continue to look at ways to provide assistance to cater for their needs into the future.
Madam Speaker, I congratulate the Chief Minister on this statement. We are extremely focused on all parts of our community, supporting people whether they be youth, seniors, the business community, or our other vulnerable Territorians, whether in the city or the bush. I commend the statement to the House.
Mr HENDERSON (Chief Minister): Madam Speaker, I support this very important statement being debated in the House tonight, a statement from the Treasurer about how this government is supporting Territorians and Territory families with regard to the cost of living.
We are focused on making the Territory the best place to live and raise a family in the country. Given the tyranny of distance and our isolation from the major capital cities and population centres, the cost of living is higher in the Northern Territory than many parts of the country, purely because of the geographic distance we are away from most of the things we consume in the Territory.
In order to be able to attract, recruit and retain people into the Territory, we have to have other advantages in lifestyle and being able to access a job and great services. We have to punch above our weight in the Northern Territory compared to the rest of Australia. That is why we have the most comprehensive range of incentives, grants, concessions, and subsidies in the country to help Territorians get ahead. By a country mile this government provides more support to families and people who are socially disadvantaged than anywhere else in the nation.
Starting with our youngest, we are the only place in Australia to provide a childcare subsidy, around $20 per week per child. All of us who have had children in the Northern Territory know when you are raising a young family, in that first two or three years if your partner has to go back to the workplace, the cost of childcare is very significant and a big hit on the family budget. Every bit helps, and we are the only jurisdiction to provide a subsidy of around $20 a week.
We also recognise supporting families with kids going back to school at the beginning of February - most families around the Territory are pretty maxed out when it comes to getting kids back to school. Christmas is a very expensive time of year for families with all of the celebrations. Many people in the Territory, particularly in Darwin and Palmerston, choose to get away over the Christmas break and reconnect with family down south or overseas. Getting kids back to school and kitting kids out for school comes at a time of year when the credit card has a big hole in it and the family savings are not in great order. Our $75 Back to School Bonus really helps parents at the beginning of the school year. Being at the schools in my electorate, the feedback I get from parents is that $75 is invaluable for uniforms, book packs, pre-payment of school fees, and also school excursions. If you have two or three kids it really is a very big help.
Also, we have honoured our election commitments, again focusing on families and the cost of raising families in the Territory. We are the only place in the country where students get free public transport on our bus network - students, seniors and carers. We are the only place in the country where there is free transport. Again, for mums and dads, the combination of childcare subsidy, Back to School Bonus, and free transport really does help the family budget in the expensive costs of getting kids to school.
We provide free school dental services. That not only has good health outcomes for Territory kids but, in the absence of a free school dental service, parents would have to pay to access dental services. We all know how expensive it is when we have to visit the dentist.
Another reason why we support super clinics on this side of the House - GP super clinics in Palmerston and the one for Darwin - is that they cut the cost and increase quality and access to healthcare for Territory families. We recognise that a trip to the doctor - there are very few doctors, for a whole heap of reasons, who bulkbill in the Northern Territory - the out-of-pocket expenses can be very significant. So, the GP super clinics are also about providing some relief to families when they need to access medical care.
As kids get older, leave school, and start a trade or apprenticeship, our apprentice and trainee schemes really help give a young person a start. Our Workwear/Workgear Bonus grant helps them get the tools and clothes they need. I acknowledge it is difficult, particularly for first-year apprentices. The wages for a first-year apprentice and the award rates are not great; they are not an incentive in their own at all for kids to do an apprenticeship. However, those low rates recognise the cost to employers in that first year when there is very little productivity from a first-year apprentice. There are many kids who cannot access apprenticeships for all sorts of reasons - their home circumstance might not allow them to be at home with mum or dad, or they might have to contribute to the family budget - so our first- and second-year apprentices do it pretty tough. Our Workwear/Workgear Bonus grant of - I think it is $1000 after they complete the first three months of their apprenticeship - really does help out and we are very keen to support that scheme into the future.
We also provide a benefit to our small businesses across the Territory by being the lowest taxing jurisdiction for small and medium businesses in the country. That enables our businesses to offset some of the costs of doing business in the Northern Territory, given the tyranny of distance, and allows them to be competitive with interstate business. Businesses recognise the tax yoke on them in the Northern Territory is much less than it is elsewhere in the nation.
The Territory government, through the budget, provides the most expansive electricity concessions in the country. My colleague, the Minister for Senior Territorians, just spoke about the concessions for seniors. They are very well received and regarded by seniors. However, for everyone who lives in the Territory in all of the suburbs, the average electricity subsidy for an average family home is around $820. That is a very significant subsidy to the family. If families had to pay an extra $820 for electricity a year that would be a very big hit on the family budget.
When you look at the support and concessions we provide to families, they are expansive. Childcare subsidies, Back to School Bonus, free bus transport for students, free school dental services, support for apprentices and trainees, support in subsidies for electricity - all of those things go to offsetting the cost of living in the Territory, and those subsidies have grown in recent years.
We also have a range of schemes to help families buy a home, including stamp duty concessions and HOMESTART NT scheme. For first homebuyers our stamp duty concessions are among the most generous in the country at around $560 000, off the top of my head. We are getting families into a home, ensuring that, unless someone is buying a first home of around $800 000 or $900 000, they are paying very little stamp duty. If they are paying less than $560 000 for their first home – most people buy their first home through the unit market as opposed to the housing market – very few pay any stamp duty on their first home in the Territory and, if they are paying stamp duty, it is less than they would pay elsewhere in the nation.
Our seniors know they have the most generous concession scheme in the country. My colleague, the minister for Seniors, discussed all of those concessions. These concessions have grown and expanded under the Labor government because we know that keeping our seniors here and having intergenerational families call the Territory their home is much better for kids as they grow up, and provides much greater stability in continuing to grow your family in the Territory.
In the Territory, whether you live in the bush or in town, there are very expansive schemes in place to support families, seniors, young people and business. Supporting young people – some of the other schemes are higher education scholarships for school leavers. There are a number of those every year. In Alice Springs, there is the Bernie Kilgariff Memorial Scholarship. We have significant teacher education scholarships; vocational education and training scholarships; dollar-for-dollar subsidy schemes for non-government schools – we are one of the few governments in Australia which supports non-government schools to the extent we do; an education allowance for students with disabilities; travel and boarding schemes; a correspondence site allowance; School of the Air student functions allowance allowing kids who are studying through School of the Air to get to a function somewhere in the Territory; remote area travel allowance schemes; correspondence materials delivery assistance scheme; isolated students education allowance; and a tertiary fares reimbursement scheme. All of those schemes are supporting the cost of education and ensuring that the breadth of education is available to as many kids as possible.
Supporting Territory business is also very much about supporting jobs. As well as being the lowest taxing jurisdiction in the country, we have invested significant money into business upskill programs, the Indigenous Business Development Program, employer incentives and assistance for taking on apprentices and trainees, our BuildBonus scheme, our trade support schemes, ecoBiz Northern Territory, just to name a few – supporting businesses to employ people.
We are also providing significant subsidies to seniors with the NT Pensioner and Carer Concession Scheme. Our Seniors Card is very popular. I thank all the Territory businesses which provide concessions to seniors who have a Seniors Card. The number of businesses supporting our seniors grows every year. I thank those businesses for providing our seniors with a few dollars’ relief on their purchases from those businesses. We have many pensioner and carer concessions with seniors. Another commitment at the last Territory election was free driver’s licences and that has been warmly received. There is the Northern Territory taxi subsidy scheme, and a lift incentive scheme to help people with mobility issues in their homes.
We recognise that costs are higher in the Territory; virtually everything we consume in our homes, in our businesses, and in the community is imported from overseas or interstate. We are still growing our local manufacturing industry, and the manufacturing industry we do have imports much of its raw materials from down south or overseas. The distances between where goods are produced and where they are sold in the Territory, apart from Perth, are probably far greater than most places around the world. We also recognise the particularly high construction costs in the Northern Territory, and the fact that we have to build homes to cyclone coded standards, which means that per square metre construction costs in the Territory are around 30% higher than down south. Of course all of those materials have to be imported from interstate and overseas. So, there are good reasons why the cost of living is high, has always been higher in the Northern Territory than elsewhere in many other parts of Australia.
There is really nothing governments can do about those things, but where we can help is through a range of subsidies and concessions, trying to target those as much as possible to families and people who have fixed incomes. I believe we do a pretty good job. They are the most generous schemes in the country. As the Chief Minister, I will continue to recognise that people need a bit of extra support to make their life in the Territory as great as possible, and provide every opportunity to support families and support growing up kids in the Territory.
Madam Speaker, I commend the Treasurer’s statement to the House.
Mr HAMPTON (Natural Resources, Environment and Heritage): Madam Speaker, I also support the statement, Supporting Territorians. Supporting Territorians is all about letting Territorians know about the wide range of government support available to them. Territorians have access to a range of grants, concession rebates, and subsidies. Colleagues before me have been able to talk in more detail about some of the grants, concession rebates and subsidies they have through their portfolios.
The Territory government is helping Territorians get ahead with some of the most generous subsidies and concessions in the country. If you are a parent, student, senior, apprentice, carer, small business owner, or a community group, chances are there is something for you. In my Environment and Sport portfolios, there is a range of grants to help support local people and local groups.
Energy Smart is a Territory-wide rebate available for households after purchasing selected energy-saving devices. The Territory government is providing households with a rate rebate of up to $200. These energy-saving devices will not only help save money and reduce your household power usage, but you will also be helping the environment. Energy-saving devices reduce the amount of greenhouse gases that power consumption produces. Items available for rebate include power boards, energy efficient light globes, timers, power usage meters, and fridge and freezer seals. The program was launched in July 2009, with $125 000 worth of rebates given in the first two years. As at the end of October 2011, $22 000 has been provided in rebates to households for this financial year. It is easy to apply for a rebate online in three easy steps: first, choose the approved list of energy smart items; second, purchase and install items from the list; third, complete the rebate application form, remembering to include your banking details, and scan or post in your receipts.
Our EnvironmeNT Grants program has provided funding to schools and community groups since 2004, supporting a range of small- to medium-sized environmental projects across the Northern Territory. Grants are allocated from three distinct categories, these being operational funding, operational and running costs for non-government organisations, and funding for individual projects and funding for school-based projects. All funding delivered through these categories must also address specific environmental themes that reflect the main issues of concern among the Territory community. Currently, these themes include climate change, invasive species management, waste and resource recovery, water conservation, and wildlife conservation. The 2011 round allocated $780 000 to 55 applications, comprising of 13 schools, five operational, and 37 individual projects. Since the EnvironmeNT Grant program started in 2004, 359 grants worth $4.5m have been awarded to schools, individuals, and operational programs.
EnvironmeNT school grants support programs such as the Shepherdson College junior ranger program, where students record and respond to waste either washing up or being dumped on the main beach of the community. Shepherdson College is a community education centre located in Galiwinku on Elcho Island in the northeast Arnhem Land region of the Northern Territory.
EnvironmeNT individual grants support projects such as the Alice Desert Smart Eco Fair with $10 000 to the Arid Lands Environment Centre, and community gardens sustainability projects such as the Lakeside Drive Community Gardens Lets Grow project which this year received $10 000.
A new community climate change grants program is currently under way with a budget of $200 000. Projects up to $20 000 are invited to address energy efficiency issues in this round. The focus will change each year to address aspects of climate change.
The Territory government is also working to assist Central Australian residents save water. Central Australia is one of the driest places on earth and we should look after our water supply wisely. A Central Australian Waterwise Rebate Scheme assists residents to install and use water efficient technology.
Residents in the Alice Springs and Tennant Creek region can receive between $50 to $900 for eligible water saving products, and up to $600 for eligible plumbing services. Installing and using water saving products reduces the amount of water used around the home. Cutting down hot water heated by electric or gas systems also reduces the amount of energy required to supply the service. Using less water and energy means less cost at bill time.
The scheme began in 2006 offering customers rebates on water efficient products, and the scheme has grown to incorporate a $100 indoor plumbing rebate component. Currently, around 15% of claims made are for the indoor plumbing rebate. Rebates ranging from $50 to $150 are available for products such as water efficient toilets, showerheads, washing machines and pool covers. In 2006, there were six participating retailers. This has now grown to 16 participating outlets in Alice Springs and Tennant Creek.
This financial year, over $93 000 in product and plumbing and rainwater tank rebate claims have already been paid. A range of support services in Central Australia have been established and enhanced under the $150m Alice Springs Transformation Plan. Innovative partnerships have been set up to support children and families, victims of domestic violence, alcohol rehabilitation, public housing tenants, and school retention programs. Around $25m was earmarked under the ASTP for the social support services which, along with new and refurbished houses, are making an enormous difference, not only to improved living conditions in town camps, but to the wider Alice Springs community.
To support the development of sport and recreation in the Territory, the Northern Territory government offers financial assistance to sport, recreation and local government organisations to assist in the delivery of services and programs within the community. This support for sport and recreation helps contribute to our great Territory lifestyle. Over $72m of sport and recreation grant funding has been provided directly to sport in the Territory since 2001-02. That is from grassroots participation initiatives to facility construction and maintenance to Indigenous sport, to support our peak sporting bodies, to support our elite national teams such as the Pearls, Stingers, Mosquitoes, Thunder and Storm. In 20011-12, $10.371m will be spent supporting sports and events.
Our Grass Roots Development Grants allow organisations including clubs, groups, and service deliverers to strengthen their capability to deliver sport or recreation services programs which promote participation. For example, in 2011-12 Anyinginyi Health received $3000 to train staff to run boxing fitness programs for the community. Also, Darwin Cricket Club received $3000 to install shade at one of Darwin’s most beautiful and popular cricketing ovals, Kahlin Oval. The MacDonnell Shire received $15 600 to purchase sport and recreation equipment for the communities within the shire.
Our Facility Development Grants allow sporting organisations and peak sporting bodies to apply for funding to help improve their capacity to provide affordable and accessible sport and recreation opportunities through the development of their facilities. For example, in 2011-12, the Alice Springs Town Council received $50 000 to install shade at sporting facilities around Alice Springs. This will enhance not only player comfort but, also, spectator comfort. Litchfield Rugby League Club received $50 000 to install field lighting at its facility. The club itself contributed $130 000 to the project, which is a significant and much-needed upgrade. NT Cricket received $60 000 to upgrade the practice facilities at Traeger Park. This is a jointly-funded $180 000 upgrade, with NT Cricket and the Alice Springs Town Council also contributing $60 000 each toward the project.
Our Peak Sport Organisation Grants provide assistance to peak Territory sporting bodies to assist with increasing their capacity to develop and deliver sport and active recreation programs. For example, in 2011-12, NT Athletics received $88 200 to recruit and train staff in order to develop the sport and increase participation levels. A recent $4.2m upgrade to the Arafura Stadium will also benefit the sport. Hockey NT received $130 000 to develop the sport. We have seen this sport produce some of the outstanding international athletes such as Des Abbott who has participated in an Olympic and Commonwealth Games and achieved medal rankings. Touch Football NT received $115 000 to develop the sport. The NT government also provides significant ground maintenance support to its facility at the Darwin Turf Club.
Our Active Recreation Grants allow recreation bodies to apply for funding to assist with increasing their capacity to develop and deliver physically active recreation programs.
Our Active Remote Community Grants provide assistance to remote communities to deliver sport and recreation activities to Territorians in remote communities throughout the Northern Territory. For example, in 2011-12, the active remote community program funds 58 community sport and recreation officer positions across eight local government shires and non-government organisations. The majority of these positions are filled by Aboriginal people, thus this sport and recreation initiative, which not only delivers health and crime prevention outcomes, also provides significant employment benefits.
Our National League Incentive assists NT teams to compete in a national league. There are numerous rebates and grants available within my Environment and Sports portfolios, and I encourage Territorians to apply for them. I encourage people to visit the Supporting Territorians Incentive database on the Supporting Territorians website for further information on the range of rebates, discounts, and scholarships.
Madam Speaker, I look forward to continuing to hear my colleagues on this side of the House about the action being taken by the Territory government to support Territorians.
Mr McCARTHY (Lands and Planning): Madam Speaker, it is with pleasure that tonight I add my support to the Deputy Chief Minister’s statement. Territorians have always been ready to give anything a go. Many of us came here for a short time but ended up staying for a lifetime. The Territory is full of challenges and opportunities, but it is all about the opportunities on offer. Those challenges and opportunities, to experience a lifestyle unlike anywhere else in Australia, is part of the reason why Territorians call the Territory home.
The Territory, now, has opportunities like never before. This government is planning for the future and is supporting Territorians to maximise the opportunities on offer. We have invested more than $4bn in our infrastructure program since the global financial crisis, and more than 15 000 new jobs have been created in the Northern Territory.
The final investment decision for the Ichthys LNG will see the largest project in the Territory’s history go ahead creating 3000 new jobs. We are building on record levels of infrastructure investment with carefully planned initiatives to support Territorians to access new housing options and economic opportunities - initiatives such as record land release, dual occupancy, short stay accommodation village, and the release, today, of 10-year strategies to guide investment in infrastructure, transport and roads, maintaining the Territory’s momentum, and providing certainty for the business sector.
I am proud to be part of a Labor government which is committed to supporting Territorians so they can make the most of the incredible opportunities on offer here. It is not always easy living in one of the remote parts of Australia, though. For some of us, it means being far away from our relatives interstate; for others it can mean travelling hundreds of kilometres from main service hubs. There are many challenges and that is why this government is pleased to offer support for Territorians in a range of areas.
The parents amongst us know that raising kids is not always an easy business – rewarding, yes, but there are daily pressures on the back pocket, no matter where you live. The Treasurer, in her statement, outlined some of the fantastic and nation-leading initiatives this government has introduced to support families raising young children. Amongst them is the childcare subsidy which provides more than $27 a week off the childcare bill for children under two, and just over $20 a week for children over two. The childcare rebate is welcomed by the families who use the Tennant Creek Childcare Centre, a great asset in our town. We have heard some more about the $75 per child Back to School Bonus voucher to help mum and dad with the cost of uniforms, books and other school materials, another great incentive from the Northern Territory government.
One of the great things this government is able to do when kids become teenagers is provide support for families to get them into accredited driver training. Sadly, the 2006 Road Safety Taskforce Report noted that 17- to 20-year-old drivers are three times more likely to be involved in a serious crash than drivers aged 21 years and over. As a father, I know how much pressure driver training lessons can generate, financially and otherwise. While parents are often the first driving instructor, accessing accredited driver training can really go a long way to boosting their skills and safety on the road. We recognise that might not come cheaply.
Through the current driver training and licensing, or DTAL program, students are able to access 12 vouchers to the value of $40 each to support their driver training. Students can also access additional resources and theory lessons to support their practical training. About 1200 students take part in the program every year, which equates to about $576 000 a year in financial support for driver training. It is a practical way this government is supporting Territory families and young Territorians for better road safety outcomes.
We are on track for the roll-out of the government’s Drive Safe NT program within the next few months, delivering on another election commitment. This enhanced program will support drivers aged 16 to 25 in their driver training, including subsidised driving lessons with qualified instructors and online access to theory materials. The department is also reviewing ways to provide improved access to driver training in growth towns.
In talking about licences, I acknowledge the hard-working staff of the Motor Vehicle Registry who provide a frontline role in supporting Territorians accessing licences and registration. In 2010-11, more than 30 000 concessional licences and registrations were processed by the MVR. The combined total savings for Territorians from these concessions was more than $2.6m. These concessions are available to a range of Territorians, including primary producers and seniors.
For primary producers it means a 50% deduction from the registration component of a vehicle. In 2010-11, this equated to a saving for primary producers of almost $550 000. Senior Territorians are able to receive up to $55 off the full price of registration for a 12-month renewal. About 11 000 registration transaction were completed for senior Territorians in 2010-11 saving almost $390 000. It is another way this government is supporting Territorians with the cost of living.
Driving a private vehicle does not suit everyone; it is not always an option for everyone. The environmental benefits of not always driving yourself are also known. Indeed, the Territory 2030 strategy sets the target of reducing the impact on the environment by reducing reliance on private motor vehicles. As the Minister for Transport, I am proud of this government’s investment in our public transport networks.
In an Australian first, this government announced free travel on our public bus network for seniors, students, and pensioners. It is an initiative that supports Territorians to access services and facilities, including getting to school, medical appointments, shops, and recreation. The bus free travel for seniors, students and pensioners commenced in January 2009. Figures from the Department of Lands and Planning for the Darwin region urban bus network show that, out of an estimated 4.8 million total trips taken in 2010-11, around 2.9 million trips, or 60% of those journeys, were free travel.
To further support Territorians accessing public bus travel, this government is also continually looking at ways to expand and enhance the network. In October 2010, the government commenced the orbital bus routes, delivering on an election commitment. The semi-express orbitals run during peak periods on loops between Darwin, Casuarina, and Palmerston bus interchanges. The addition of the orbitals means commuters wait no more than 20 minutes for any bus to get them to another interchange during peak periods, getting to work faster and keeping more cars off the road.
This government has also introduced new and improved services around Lyons, Tipperary Waters, Bayview Haven, Cullen Bay, and the waterfront. The Henderson government has expanded the bus network in Alice Springs, including a new Route 500 service. That service has increased runs to and from the hospital from four services per day to 15 services per day. Route 12, a school bus, was started in July last year in response to extra passenger demand, and Routes 300 and 301 have been expanded with an additional midday run. A Jay Creek bus service was also set up for students, and a special needs bus with an onboard carer.
Supporting Territorians in growth towns, the government is funding a number of bus trials through our Integrated Regional Transport Strategy. More than $3.1m has been committed to support the trial of 10 new passenger bus services in Central Australia, the Katherine region and Gove. The bus trial in Gove, run by local business YBE, provides a five-day-a-week service, connecting Yirrkala, Ski Beach and Wallaby Beach to the Nhulunbuy township and the mine for a $5 flat fee. Centre Bush Bus is delivering trial services from Alice Springs to Titjikala, Santa Teresa, Areyonga, Ntaria, Nyirripi, Yuendumu, Ali Curung, and Elliott. Bohdi Bus is run out of Katherine and they are delivering government passenger bus trials to Borroloola and Numbulwar. These are important services connecting Territorians in remote areas with services and communities.
We are also expanding public bus infrastructure to support additional services. I was pleased to open the $1.8m Coolalinga Park and Ride last September. It has 60 car bays, CCTV and four motorbike parks, with 140 bus services passing through it each week. It is a great alternative for rural residents to driving to work each day. The $1.4m Humpty Doo Park and Ride opened last month, with services including 40 car park bays, CCTV, and a secure pushbike enclosure. $5 will get you unlimited travel on the bus network for the day, or $2 for three hours of unlimited travel. A weekly ticket is available at the Darwin, Casuarina, and Palmerston Bus Interchanges for $15, providing an affordable alternative to driving, a boost to the environment, and no hassle finding a car park.
We are also investing in improving our bus stops and shelters to make it even more convenient to catch a bus. Seventeen bus stops in Darwin, five in Palmerston, and 76 in Alice Springs have been upgraded in the last two financial years. Thirty-seven bus shelters have been upgraded to comply with disability access standards in the same period, and 59 new school bus stops have been installed in Palmerston and the rural area.
This government’s support for Territorians to reduce our impact on the environment is showcased right across the Territory. At Alpurrurulam, for example, three 15 KW wind turbines have now been installed, making it the only community in the Territory to use both solar and wind power to generate electricity at this stage. The project is part of a solar and wind generation initiative across Alpurrurulam, Ti Tree and Kalkarindji, with Ti Tree and Kalkarindji to be generating energy through solar power stations. The three projects are set to begin generating power next year, supplying up to 80% of the power used during the day in these communities, and greatly reducing their reliance on other fuels such as diesel.
This government’s support for Territorians is reflected across our society. Those who know me and know of my passion in relation to the value of arts and culture that bring benefits to the community will see the real outcomes this government has delivered across the community; outcomes that really connect the community. I am proud to be part of a government that supports and develops our arts and culture sector, recognising its value and generating jobs, and enhancing and celebrating our lifestyle, our culture, and our heritage.
In 2010-11, this government provided operational and program funding of more than $3.3m to 25 art organisations in Katherine, Darwin, Tennant Creek, and Alice Springs. The funding and support enabled organisations such as Artback NT, the Northern Territory Writers’ Centre, Barkly Regional Arts, Katherine Regional Arts, Corrugated Iron and Desart Inc to support artists at festivals, events, exhibitions and performances. Eighteen festivals across the Northern Territory were supported with grants totally more than $1m. The festivals included the Bulman-Weemol, Mahbilil, MOBFEST Tanami, the Nightcliff Seabreeze, Alice Springs Beanie, and Words on the Fringe 2011, events that have put the spotlight on many of our creative artists, supporting them to access new opportunities, and allowing Territorians to enjoy more of what makes our community so special.
Twenty-seven arts project grants were awarded for a total of more than $300 000. The grants supported performances such as The Wardrobe, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Gorrdondolmi, an Arts Access performing arts project in Central Australia, and the Divas of the Desert. A further nine grants to schools and presenting partners totalling $50 000 enabled artists to work with schools and young Territorians to develop digital art works about being a Territory for the Territory’s centenary celebrations.
A further $319 846 was offered through grants to support strategic opportunities, including delivery of the national visual arts and crafts strategy and arts and education initiatives. Several of these opportunities also drew in match funding from the Australian government totalling almost $500 000.
In our smaller communities, cultural centres provide a hub for jobs and tourism. Through the Regional Museums Grant Support Program, $222 000 was provided to support eight museum organisations. Last year’s recipients included the Batchelor Museum Development Association, the Kanamkek-Yile Ngala Museum at Wadeye, the Historical Society of Katherine, the National Trust of Australia, Gulf Branch Borroloola, and the Central Australian Aviation Museum in Alice Springs.
Support for the Territory’s screen industry is also provided with 57 grants totalling almost $500 000 offered in 2010-11. The grants supported project development, production funding, screen travel, industry development and screen culture funding. This generates new opportunities to tell the Territory’s story on screen.
The Northern Territory is ready for the next phase of growth and this government is supporting Territorians to take advantage of our bright future. This united government has outlined our strategies to support the growth of our own workforce with investment in our schools, traineeships and apprenticeships. We are focused on ensuring we meet the challenges of record growth, including access to a range of housing options, training for Territorians, and support for business to attract and keep workers.
The Territory government’s Housing the Territory policy includes record land release, creating additional housing opportunities, and stimulating our local building sector. The government’s policy of allocating 15% of land release to social and affordable housing is ensuring opportunities are available right across the community, and we are working with developers to facilitate private land developments. Government investment and headworks including $20m for Palmerston East this year alone, and more than $7m for Kilgariff, cuts the up-front investment for developers and supports new blocks being delivered at a more affordable price for Territorians.
Let us look at some of the government and private land release in the last few years. In Alice Springs, there was Stages 1 and 2 of Larapinta and Mt Johns. Headworks are now pushing into Kilgariff and work has begun on the suburb’s first intersection.
Across the Darwin and Palmerston housing market, there are now 4000 blocks in the development pipeline. About 3000 of them are now with private developers. Today, Territorians are able to buy lots in Bellamack, Johnston, Muirhead, and Mt Johns in Alice Springs. Bellamack will, ultimately, deliver 678 lots, and 128 homes are now completed. In Johnston, which will deliver 490 lots, all titles have been issued for Stages 1A and 1A, and 89 building approvals have been issued. Headworks are under way to Zuccoli and planning for Weddell is continuing. These government land release developments are complemented by private developments, such as Lyons, Muirhead, and the Palmerston CDU Campus.
Another land release, about which I am very excited, is on home turf in Tennant Creek - the first in 30 years, and testament to the opportunities on offer in the Territory’s regions. A total of 54 residential lots have been completed, and all 28 lots in Stage 1 were sold at auction. Nine lots were reserved by government for affordable housing, and the remaining 18 lots will go under the hammer at auction in April. I advise the House that at touch football on Sunday morning over December and January, I had regular inquiries about when that second round of land release is coming on.
In Katherine, subdivision and development works are complete for 38 residential and one commercial lot. They are on the market now.
In addition to land release, government is supporting Territorians to access housing through infill. New initiatives such as dual occupancy and the development of a short-stay accommodation village will help more Territorians access housing. Dual occupancy will give owners of single dwelling zoned residential blocks of at least 1000 m2 the opportunity to build a second residential dwelling on-site. With 2890 lots of at least 1000 m2 zoned single dwelling across the Darwin region, and 1512 single dwelling lots in Alice Springs, this initiative presents a real opportunity to meet housing demand through infill ...
Mr HAMPTON: Madam Speaker, I move an extension of time that would allow my colleague to complete his statement, pursuant to Standing Order 77.
Motion agreed to.
Mr McCARTHY: I thank the member for …
Mr Tollner: We want to hear a few more ‘McCarthyisms’.
Mr McCARTHY: You will have to come to touch football on Sunday mornings.
Mr Tollner: Gladly. You will probably tackle me.
Mr McCARTHY: I am very interested in golden oldies or playing parliamentary Rugby. But I want to play on the other side; I do not want to play with your side.
Mr Tollner: I do not know whether I want to run around a football field with you, Gerry. I reckon you would be after my head.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr McCARTHY: Madam Speaker, at this point, I stress that this government has the plan and the policy to make it easier for Territorians to access housing options.
However, I was quite concerned when I listened to the announcement from the Leader of the Opposition about setting up a new planning commission, which will add another layer of red tape and more cost to the process of rolling out land and providing housing options. A planning commission just to do what the Development Consent Authority already does, does not make sense. I caution the Country Liberal Party about this planning commission, as Territorians would have to get the tick off from both the Development Consent Authority and, consequently, the planning commission. More red tape will just mean higher house prices, and that is not supporting Territorians.
This government’s commitment to supporting Territorians includes a strong commitment to supporting Territory businesses. The Department of Construction and Infrastructure awards about 95% of its contracts to Territory businesses. We continue to work and engage with industry to highlight the opportunities on offer, and to hear how we can do things better.
Industry forums run by the Department of Construction and Infrastructure each year in Darwin and Alice Springs continue to attract strong support from business. The sessions focus on how industry can do business with DCI, and often feature guest speakers from industry associations. There were 90 registrations received for the Alice Springs forum last year and 210 in Darwin. Planning is under way for forums in 2012. I was delighted to be at one of those DCI forums in Alice Springs and welcomed the opportunity to see the positive nature of the construction and infrastructure sector in that town. I was particularly interested in having a discussion about focusing on a regional perspective for Alice Springs because there is a great deal of work going on in infrastructure in the regions. I encourage businesses to go to these forums and to hear about contract opportunities and also share information from industry and stakeholders which will benefit good decision-making by government.
An important body of work supporting Territorians which has happened away from the spotlight is the establishment and improvements to the Development One Stop Shop run by the Department of Lands and Planning. Since its introduction in July 2009, 888 clients have made bookings through the Development One Stop Shop. Services on offer include one-on-one meetings with planners for assistance in understanding the development application process, and development assessment forums so developers can brief staff of key agencies on forthcoming proposals. Last year, the development assessment forums were extended to Alice Springs in response to the demand from the industry from the Centre.
The one-stop shop also provides capacity to pre-book lodgement briefings of the Development Consent Authority, so it can receive feedback on key areas it needs to address in formulating their applications. These initiatives are all about supporting developers to keep the economy moving by cutting red tape.
The Northern Territory is at the forefront of electronic development assessment. We are the only jurisdiction in which all development applications are lodged electronically. This facility will soon be further enhanced to allow the development community to transact a wider range of applications, including obtaining compliance for developments and subdivisions. The Development One Stop Shop also provides a gateway to development applications online, which allows electronic lodgement, payment ...
[Mobile phone ringing.]
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Fong Lim, there is a fine coming your way.
Mr McCARTHY: ... circulations for service agencies, and tracking of applications by developers.
The Henderson Labor government believes in Territorians, whether you are a student, a carer, a family, a senior, a small business operator, an artist, or a developer. There are government incentives and practical support available to help every Territorian achieve their goals.
Madam Speaker, I commend the statement to the House.
Madam SPEAKER: Minister for Local Government, please bear in mind that General Business starts at 5.30 pm.
Ms McCARTHY (Local Government): Madam Speaker, I welcome and support the Treasurer’s ministerial statement on all the programs made available by our government to support Territory families. One of the most important things we can do, as a government, is ensure our economy continues to grow and develop across the Northern Territory; that new businesses are developing, existing businesses are expanding, and we are creating jobs for our young people.
I spoke earlier in the House today about our objective to support this through A Working Future and other programs of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Regional Services. Two specific programs are our Regional Economic Development Fund and the Indigenous Business Development Program, both of which provide funding support to the Territories regionally-based business community. Over $0.5m of grant funding has been expended or committed this financial year. This has included support for the development of business ideas and new businesses in a diverse range of business sectors, including maintenance services, arts and culture, film production, landscape services, fisheries, sports management, fashion, hospitality, tourism, construction, and retail.
In Katherine, our government is funding $3.5m for the Katherine Cultural Precinct and, between 2008 and 2011, provided over $230 000 to the Growing Katherine Business project. The Northern Territory government support for the Tennant Creek tourism industry includes funding the Tennant Creek Foundation, which has been instrumental in sustaining the Battery Hill Mining Centre and the Nyinkka Nyunyu Art and Culture Centre.
In her statement, the Treasurer also mentioned the importance of strong families and the suite of support this government provides to Territory families. One of my key objectives, as Minister for Indigenous Development, has been to ensure that all Territory families, no matter where they live, have opportunity to access these services.
I am very proud of our work on A Working Future and our partnership with the Australian government and local governments under the National Partnership Agreement on Remote Service Delivery. This agreement is a long-term generational commitment, based on delivering coordinated, targeted, and accelerated development in our remote growth towns. For the first time, this work recognises existing service gaps and changes the way governments invest in remote areas.
A key part of this has been, for the first time ever, detailed assessment of the baseline in each of our growth towns of what services exist in our towns, and the current gaps. We are also working on identifying existing jobs, as well as new business and employment opportunities. My department, and the Department of Business and Employment, have produced jobs profiles for each of the Territory growth towns to support better planning for business development, and identify employment pathways for these places. DBE is now working to develop a workforce plan for each community to support systemic training and employment services activity.
Another important part of this work is the establishment of an across-government remote training, employment and economic development working group to support the implementation of the economic development components of A Working Future. This means doing this through seven economic development teams. We have seen economic development teams established for Kalkarindji, Lajamanu, Yuendumu, Papunya, Elliott, Ali Curung, Angurugu and Umbakumba. These teams will work with local people to progress economic participation actions contained in local implementation plans, with the aim of more business development and more jobs for our young people. The local implementation plans are part of the remote service delivery (RSD) across the Northern Territory, where we have 15 RSD sites and, of the 15, there have been 13 local implementation plans established.
We have also established a Financial and Commercial Literacy Taskforce, led by the Department of Business and Employment, but including key members from the private and public sector, with the aim of maximising opportunities to improve financial and commercial literacy across the growth towns. A successful pilot project involving training around financial and commercial literacy was run in Millingimbi in the last quarter of 2011. The next phase of the project has commenced, including the support for the development of a local training organisation to continue to deliver the training.
Working with banks to enable mainstream finance access on Aboriginal land and refining our procurement processes to encourage Indigenous business growth are also important parts of supporting new opportunities for Territory families living in our growth towns. This work included a workshop held in November 2011 involving key members from the four major financial institutions in Australia, land councils and key government departments, including a day trip to Wadeye.
More broadly, we are working across both government and the private sector to achieve real progress in one of our government’s key priorities, and that is maximising Indigenous employment opportunities ...
Mr Giles: Time.
Madam SPEAKER: No, it is not 5.30 pm yet.
Mr Giles: No, I was just joking.
Ms McCARTHY: There is such a good story to tell here, member for Braitling.
Mr Giles: I know.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Order!
Ms McCARTHY: Indigenous employment has been a feature of the Northern Territory government’s employment strategies, commencing with the Workforce Employment and Training Strategy in 2003 to 2005. In Budget 2011-12, I was proud to announce a three-year Northern Territory commitment of $8.4m per year to support Indigenous employment in shire council core services.
Madam Speaker, I take this opportunity to acknowledge in the gallery the Mayor for Victoria Daly Shire, Reg King, who is here this evening.
Our local government Indigenous jobs development grants provide assistance of up to 50% of the wage and on-costs for, predominantly, entry level Indigenous employees delivering council core services. In December 2011, 440 positions in council core services were supported by this program. The NT and Commonwealth governments have also jointly provided $200 000 funding to LGANT to develop and pilot a shire jobs plan for the Roper Gulf Shire, and the program will be made available to the other shires upon completion of the pilot in March 2012 ...
Madam SPEAKER: Minister, it being 5.30 pm, in accordance with Standing Order 93, debate is suspended and General Business will now have precedence over Government Business until 9 pm.
Debate adjourned.
Ms PURICK (Goyder): Madam Speaker, I move –
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, before we proceed, I have before me a document relating to pairs for the members for Karama and Brennan. It is signed by the two Whips. I table that document.
Ms PURICK: Madam Speaker, the use of the word ‘condemn’ may seem harsh; however, it is appropriate given the serious nature of this matter. Without clear and proper planning, our future development and, more importantly, the community as a whole, could suffer as a consequence of this government’s failure to plan for the future growth in the rural areas of the Top End of the Territory where extractive industry and products are mostly located, as is the industry in general.
I have spoken on the extractive industries previously. The minister will recall my comments in December 2010 where I attempted to bring a greater focus on the extractive industries and the future supply of material, particularly in the greater Darwin region. Regrettably, the minister and the government did not think it appropriate to support my motion and, by association, the future of the extractive industries in the Territory.
The extractive industries have had a long history in the Territory from around 1879 when porcelanite was used to build Darwin’s first buildings. Coincidently, with the 70th commemoration of the Bombing of Darwin, there are many historical photographs on display, and it is clear that most of the buildings were built from this extractive material.
Since those early days, the extractive industry has played an important and integral role in the development of the Territory and its towns and communities, particularly in times of disaster such as World War II and Cyclone Tracy, both events consuming an enormous level of extractive material to rebuild the cities and towns.
As I said previously, the extractive industry supplies many and varied products including - and to quote what I said previously, the industry products are: sand, gravel, quarry rock, clay soils, road-based rocks, decorative and rocks which are used in the making of concrete asphalt road bases and a range of construction and landscaping activities. The four main types are fine sand, coarse sand, natural gravel, and crushed rock aggregate.
Dimensional stone, soil, and clay are produced locally across the Territory, but on a smaller scale. Crushed rock includes armour rock, which are the large chunks of rocks used in sea walls, port developments, and marinas. Concrete aggregate is used in making concrete and sealing aggregate is used in road surfacing material, including chip seal, hot mix and so on. Fine crushed rock is used in high-quality road-based material. Quarry rock is used in concrete blocks, concrete sleepers and concrete. Crusher dust is used in concrete blocks as pipe bedding and fill material. Trap rock is used as basket rocks and used in drains to stop erosion. Fine sand is used in bricky sand, paving sand and fill. Fine wash sand is used in concrete aggregate. Coarse sand and river sand is used in besser block production and in concrete. Natural gravel is road-based gravel and is used for base, core, sub-base and shoulder gravel in road construction. Fill gravel is used for select fill.
There are decorative stones such as rooster red quartz which is used extensively in landscaping; particularly in the Top End. Topsoil is used for gardening and landscaping work. Other materials include dimensional stone which is used in fancy bench tops in houses, and porcelanite which is used in paving, walls, and landscaping.
As the Territory and the rural areas continue to grow in population and industrial developments, it will be vital that the extractive resources are secured to provide low-cost construction materials to aid this growth.
Given the advent of a large-scale industrial project on our doorstep, the effect on the extractive industry will be enormous. Additionally, the rural community, and everyone who uses our roads, will be affected; for example, we know the amount of armour rock needed to support the INPEX gas project will see a triple road train carting this rock down the Arnhem Highway every nine minutes. Or, that is the proposal.
Currently, the demand for extractive products is being met by the industry. However, I am concerned where the future product is going to be sourced from, given two factors: the demand by industrial projects and the lack of attention by this government to the future of the industry and its ability to continue to grow and prosper. The government will say it works with the industry group - and it does, as does this side of the Chamber. However, talking and undertaking real action are two completely different things.
With the passing of each year, we are witnessing the extractive industry being pushed further and further from the markets, and we have seen good extractive areas being locked away or given away by encroaching developments. There is no doubt the competition for land in the rural area has dramatically increased in recent years. Subdivisions, agricultural developments, protection of waterways, establishing of Landcare areas, hunting reserves, and aquacultural projects have all threatened to sterilise land from the extractive industries.
The extractive operations at the 13 Mile have closed, and the land taken over by Defence for war games. While much of the road-based gravel resources in that area have been depleted, there does remain some good amounts of other extractive material such as valuable quartzite resources that are suitable for trap rock and armour rock. There was a time when the 13 Mile quarries were supplying 60% of all crushed rock for Darwin. Now the material has to be sourced from elsewhere, industry people tell me it has resulted in commodity prices rising between 30% to 60% which, of course, is passed on to the consumers.
Extractive operations near the new gaol in the King Creek/Howard Peninsula area have been disrupted. While the dispute that arose from Haul Road being locked out, which has been resolved, land has been lost to the extractive industry. What happens if the government builds its proposed asbestos dump near the gaol? More extractive land potentially lost. What happens if the government and the local government people agree on a new waste transfer facility near the new gaol? More land lost to the extractive industry.
Sunday Creek is a vital area for the extractive industry, with resources in hard rock, quartzite, sand, and gravel. However, it has been threatened by encroaching rural subdivisions and irresponsible real estate sales people telling new residents that land will never be built out, and extractive operations are only short term. Where is the protection for these operations and industry?
I seek assurances from the government that it will not agree to conversion of pastoral releases which are located in this area into freehold land without full and proper consultation with the extractive industry and the community, or not at all any conversion. Conversion to freehold will, effectively, lock up valuable resources that will be needed for the future development of Darwin and surrounding areas. I suggest, minister, that there should be a plan to formally secure the land in Sunday Creek, along with the areas in the Black Jungle and the Howard Springs areas, known for extractive material resources and potential.
Channel Island Road areas located close to Palmerston and the proposed gas projects are areas known for fine sand, laterite gravel, fill material, and decorative stone. What work has been done to ascertain the exact level of material, and what plans the government has to protect this area for extraction?
Previously, I referenced the technical report that was produced in 2001 by the department, which is a good report - and the technical data is relevant today. Last time I spoke in the House about the extractive industry, the minister said there was no need to undertake any further reviews into the extractive industry as geology does not change, and the report and its geology was sufficient - or words to that effect. That is true, minister, geology rarely does change. Since 2001 when the report was written, there has been much growth in the Darwin and rural area, and that has not been taken into current thinking by government. For example, the railway from Darwin to Alice Springs had been announced at that time. However, since that time, there has been an increase in subdivisions and development across the rural area, the opening up of new suburbs in Palmerston, repairs to bad road damage such as the Barkly Highway, and just general growth in the population that comes with the passing of time.
While growth can bring opportunities and positive outcomes, it can also bring challenges and a downside. However, these latter aspects can be minimised with careful and sound planning, which appears to be absent of late. For example, the government seems to be comfortable to bring triple, if not quad, road trains down the Arnhem Highway every nine minutes to supply armour rock for the INPEX project. I can tell you the fact does not please people in my electorate, nor emergency personnel, given the potential risk associated with such a high increase in the volume of traffic. Even industry is uncomfortable with the proposed frequency of traffic to service the gas project. I now ask, minister, is government planning to have armour rock from other sources, or are they planning to cart the rock from Mt Bundy?
I listened to what the member for Arafura said earlier today in regard to what positive moves we have on this side of the House, what we would do, and how we would manage a situation - a fair comment and sentiment. I can say in regard to those questions the government needs to address the real - the very real - issue of growth of the Top End, particularly in the industrial projects area, and where the extractive material is going to be sourced from in an economic and sustainable way, considering the interest and safety of community. The government needs to get serious about the extractive industries and start work immediately on developing a strategic plan such that resources and future resources can be assessed, major haul routes can be identified to minimise impacts on residents and community, and consideration be given to the environment as well as impacts on existing and future developments.
There needs to be planning to protect the extractive materials from incompatible land use such that they may be utilised for existing or future extraction. Land uses which threaten the viability of those extractive deposits, or the effective functioning of designated haul routes servicing extractive deposits sites, should not be supported. In particular, it is considered that encroaching residential development of any density represents a significant threat to these areas and the future of the economy which depends on the extractive material to be produced at a competitive and reasonable cost.
Ideally, buffer zones should be established around extractive areas to prevent residential creep. Buffer zones are not unusual in Australia and they can vary from 500 m to 1 km – which exist in some of the other states.
Resource protection measures are not as good as they could be, and the government needs to work smarter - not necessarily harder - with industry, local government, and the community so all stakeholders understand the resource is where it is found, not where we would like it to be located. In moving the extractive material to its final destination, cost competitiveness is critical to the success of the industry, the economy, and the community as a whole.
Madam Deputy Speaker, let us get serious about the extractive industry and give it the same attention you give to visiting trade delegations from Japan. Let us face it, without a vibrant and sustainable extractive industry, you will not have major gas projects or any other projects in the future.
Mr VATSKALIS (Primary Industry, Fisheries and Resources): Madam Deputy Speaker, the only thing I agree with the member opposite about is we need the extractive industry and, if we do not have it, we are not going to have any growth in the Territory.
I am a little surprised. I understand the member’s support for the extractive industry - I support the extractive industry as well – but, at the same time, I know very well the member opposite argues sometimes, when we have some different developments encroaching in areas in the rural and semi-rural area, it contradicts the lifestyle of the people there.
Fortunately, it is not something that is unique to Darwin; it happens everywhere. It happens where I come from in Perth. When I went to Perth for the first time in 1983, and had my first job in 1985 in Wanneroo, I recall very well most of the sand and rock was coming from the quarries around Wanneroo. Within four years, Wanneroo had become an urban metropolis and the quarries had to move out another 20 km or 30 km.
This is the nature of the beast; as the population increases, people demand more land and, unfortunately in our case, our land is limited. We can only go south - we cannot go north; it is a bit wet up north. We have to push out industries that are incompatible with the lifestyle; but that does not mean we have to ignore the extractive industry. We have to support and work together with the extractive industry to redefine new areas. That has been done in the past. I have in front of me, Extractive Minerals Within the Outer Darwin Area report, which was published in 2001. The report is valid today because it identified a number of areas in outer Darwin which are now utilised by the industry to provide the gravel, sand, and rock for the development activities taking place around Darwin.
At the same time, many things have changed from the good old days when someone got a grader or a front end loader and went somewhere and started digging without consideration for the noise, dust, or impact the traffic may have on the neighbours. Things now have to be done a different way - more properly, more sophisticated, using equipment which will not produce a great deal of dust or noise. In addition to that, we have the requirement of rehabilitation. I recall the member for Nelson asking me many times about the sandpits on the island where the power station is located. They were some remnants of the good old days where people would take away the material, and left the pits as they were then. Now, there are requirements for rehabilitation because land is abandoned but can be used later after material has been taken and there is no further use for the extractive industry.
I am aware of the pressure on the extractive industry and also of the need for the extractive industry to be in very close proximity to development, otherwise we will end up paying an enormous amount of money per cubic metre of sand, or cubic metre of gravel, or per tonne of rock. That, of course, will add to the cost of housing and construction.
I have been working very closely with the extractive industry. We had a number of issues arising from the changes to land use. The member opposite raised the example of the prison. Yes, I understand the prison will actually be established in an area which is utilised by the extractive industry; however, working together with my colleague, the minister for Corrections, the extractive industry and I identified the areas absolutely required for the prison, and which other areas can be utilised outside the prison. In addition to that, we identified the time line for the construction of the prison, and we urged the owners of the exploration and licence to extract material to work completely in cooperation with Corrections in order to acquire the material from that area - which actually had to be excavated to level the area and put in services. So, they took all the material to utilise until the prison is constructed.
With the extractive industry, we also worked well to identify some of the issues in the new Mining Titles Act, because there were some issues raised by them which we addressed. They raised the issue of the environmental bonds. We identified the extractive industry is not as noxious as the mining industry; it is not the same level of disturbance or environmental impact. They do not use chemicals, they do not use some of the practices the mining industry will use, so they do not have the impact on the environment. As a result, the environmental bond is different than the mining bond.
Work has been done by the department under this government and the previous government. Areas around Darwin have been identified, in consultation with the extractive industry. We understand the need for the industry to have new areas, and the department continues to work with the industry to identify these new areas. We have pressure from people who want land, people in the rural area who do not want the extractive industry next to their blocks for various, obvious reasons. There is always this competition between the different parties with regard to land use, and we have to actually find the golden means: how to accommodate lifestyle and some of the extractive industry.
We also understand very well the significant volumes of material required for the construction of the new projects and, of course, the armour rock which comes from Mt Bundy. There is only one access to Mt Bundy, which is the Arnhem Highway and, yes, there will be significant traffic coming from Mt Bundy. However, because there will be significant traffic, it does not mean that safety is not taken into consideration. We had the same movement of trucks during construction with Bechtel and ConocoPhillips, with a significant requirement for rock. We had the same requirements with the railway construction for gravel and ballast, and the same requirements for armour rock when the port was constructed. All of those were provided by the extractive industry and the transport industry through the same corridors. After all, there is only one corridor from south to north to Darwin, which is the Stuart Highway, and one road corridor from Mt Bundy to Darwin, which is via the Arnhem Highway and then onto the Stuart Highway.
I understand the concerns of the industry. We have worked with the industry before and will continue to do so. I am always open to suggestions by the industry. Again, we have to marry different land uses with the needs of Darwin to develop, and the extractive industry to provide this material at a reasonable price. There is no disagreement about it.
The motion put forward by the member is not supported by our government. We believe we come here and argue about politics, but what the industry wants to see is a solution to the problem we face today. It is not only the industry, but also the consumer who wants to acquire material for the construction of houses at reasonable prices. The price will increase with every kilometre further away from Darwin the industry sources the material.
Madam Speaker, we will not support this motion. One thing we will support is the extractive industry in its quest to identify find new areas as the source of material for the development of Darwin.
Mr WOOD (Nelson): Madam Deputy Speaker, I will say a few things before I speak on the motion before us.
The change to General Business Day was a result of some pressure by the CLP to have more time for GBD, and also as part of the agreement between me and the Chief Minister. Those changes have been very good. We now have General Business Day every week of the sittings which is a great improvement on what was before.
It was a little disappointing to see, in a previous sittings, 18 motions put forward by the CLP, most condemning the government. I understand people are entitled to condemn the government; I do not have a problem with that. However, General Business Day should not be a one-sided free-to-air election campaign strategy. It should be about getting people on both sides of parliament involved in debate around important issues. I am not saying any of these issues put forward are not important, but the tone in which they have been written, in most cases, condemns the Northern Territory government for its failure.
That is a fairly black and white statement, nearly as bad as belonging to the Collingwood cheer squad. It is very one-eyed. For instance, there is a motion condemning the Territory government for failing to address the Territory’s infrastructure requirements. If you are totally one-eyed and barrack for Collingwood and want to win government at any cost, that makes sense. The reality is the government has spent money on infrastructure such as Tiger Brennan Drive, they are building a bridge over the Daly River, they put bicycle paths in Katherine and Howard Springs, they built the Cullen River bridge, and are working on the Darwin sewerage plant. That is infrastructure the government is building. That is not to say you think the government should do more. You may even say you think the government has not done a good job with some of those projects. However, when you put it in such stark terms, it is difficult for anyone to either support or even want to debate the motion.
In motion No 7 the member for Fong Lim has put forward that the Assembly urges the Henderson government to immediately clean storm water drains in order to mitigate flooding around Darwin. That allows more room for the government to listen to the argument put forward by the proposer of that motion. The government might agree that something needs to be done. However, when it is put in the context that the government is to be condemned, it is a fairly black-and-white approach to debating a motion. Strangely enough, there are several motions where we are asked to condemn ourselves because it says ‘the Northern Territory parliament recognise the failures of the past’. The second motion is that ‘this parliament recognises its failures’. It might be the parliament’s failures, but it seems to be an interesting phrase used when you look at the rest of the motion.
I am not knocking the idea that we should have plenty of debate in GBD, neither am I knocking the idea of what has been put forward. The issues raised by the CLP are certainly worthy of debate in this House. However, the way they were brought to the parliament in one big slab and the way they are worded tends to limit ...
Mr Tollner: I am about to call you for relevance.
Mr WOOD: Okay. The member for Fong Lim, who is just about to call a point of order on irrelevance - talk about the pot calling the kettle black; it seems funny coming from him.
I get back to the subject he wants me to talk about, extractive mining. I thank the member for Goyder, my neighbour, for raising the issue. It is an important issue. As I have said before, Darwin would not be built it if was not for the rural area. The rural area is the main ...
Members interjecting.
Mr WOOD: It is good to see the member for Fong Lim knows ...
Mr Tollner interjecting.
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! Member for Fong Lim, order!
Mr WOOD: I will get a word in when I can, just occasionally. The member for full stops is right next to me with interruptions and laughter.
Madam Deputy Speaker, planning of extractive mining is an important issue. I repeat, Darwin would not have been built without the extractive mining that comes from the rural area. Where does most of your sand come from? It comes from the Howard River catchment area. Where does most of your gravel come from? It comes from Howard Springs, Humpty Doo, and Middle Arm Peninsula – as much as I would have liked it not to have come from Middle Arm Peninsula, because that was a fine example of poor planning. Where does most of our rock come from? It comes from …
Mr Tollner: Mt Bundy.
Mr WOOD: Yes. However, it also comes from places such as Blake’s Quarry and the Thorngate Road quarries. There is quite a lot of gravel still being removed from the Howard Peninsula. It is common knowledge, if you push the sources of extractive mining further away, they will cost people - that is, residents, through the price of their houses, units, and their development - more money because the further you have to transport these materials, the more costly it is. It is very important the government does plan - and I recognise the government has a book on extractive mining, but that book is fairly old - I think the minister said …
Ms Purick: 2001.
Mr WOOD: 2001. The rural area has expanded quite considerably. What the minister should have said is ‘We are looking at upgrading that document’ because, especially in the case of the member for Goyder, subdivisions have moved further south. I understand where she is coming from, because I have also been approached by people in the Sunday Creek area who were disturbed when extractive mining, all of a sudden, appeared on their doorstep. They were not expecting that, because nobody told them there were leases nearby. When those leases were being developed they, all of a sudden, found they had traffic, lights, and noise they were not expecting in what was regarded as a peaceful rural subdivision. The way around that is good planning.
The one limiting factor in subdivisions in the rural area is the possible moratorium on bores. If there is a moratorium on bores, then it is likely some of the development that has occurred over the last few years will slow down considerably. I say to the government: upgrade your book on extractive materials and mining in the rural area so there can be input from the planners, the shire council, the community, and the industry, to ensure we do not limit ourselves to the point where we have to start bringing in gravel and rock from 100 km away. If we can develop our extractive mining materials closer to Darwin, closer to where the development is, we certainly keep our cost down.
Of course, with extractive mining, you have heavy vehicles using the roads. The member for Goyder mentioned the issues about traffic. We did, at least last year, as the member for Barkly would know, have a heavy vehicle transport group get together and look at the planning for heavy vehicle movements in the Darwin region. That was based on concerns about the amount of traffic that would use our roads, especially with the development of INPEX.
The other issue about roads is not just traffic; it is about damage to roads. That can be an issue, especially to local government, which had not, until recent times, been able to receive rates from mining. At least it now receives some income. However, the wear and tear on roads is another issue. One only has to go to the traffic lights at Howard Springs between 7.30 am and 8.30 am each day, and you will find, mixed with all the traffic, will be triples and doubles, all coming from the extractive mining area, either north of the prison, or on Gunn Point Road to the north of the Howard River.
No one is saying that is not important; we know it is important that industry keeps going. However, it is requirement of the government to ensure there is adequate infrastructure for the movement of these materials without affecting local traffic too much. We can say what a great industry it is but, at the same time, government must ensure that, whilst it is praising the industry it is also assisting to ensure the infrastructure is there to carry the industry.
In addition, there is the environment, which has always been a big issue. For quite a while, the extractive mining industry was able to do what it liked. Today, the guidelines are much stricter. People become concerned when they see bulldozers going near creeks or lagoons, whether they are removing gravel or sand. The Howard River is an important part of the rural area; it is well known for fishing and for being used for recreational off-road riding. It is also a very important environmental area. If you go along Girraween Road and have a look at the Howard River there, it is quite dense jungle, with lots of palms, and it is a beautiful area. The waterways and lagoons in the Howard River area, and in the Litchfield Shire, need to be protected from the encroachment of extractive mining, as has occurred in the past. As I said, there is more regulation and the industry realises it has to be more in keeping with the environment and with what people think the industry should do to protect the environment.
Those three areas in relation to planning need to be looked at if the government looks at reviewing its extractive mining policies for the Top End. Of course, there are other parts of the Territory which require extractive mining, especially places like Alice Springs with their new suburb of Kilgariff; they, obviously, have similar issues.
One of the areas the minister touched on is rehabilitation. I fly into Darwin occasionally and I look around to see where all the extractive mining is - you can certainly see it. The minister said there is rehabilitation. There may be, but I do not think it is as good as the minister makes it out to be. There needs to be more work done on that. There needs to be work done on some of the older sites, which were perhaps abandoned before there was a requirement to rehabilitate. Rehabilitation is something the government needs to keep as part of a revised policy on extractive mining.
There are good people out there in the industry, for sure, and they do their bit. However, there are other places where you will be pushing to see where the rehabilitation has occurred. It is an area which needs ongoing work. Some people are good at it. However, there are other areas - maybe areas from years ago - which do not look too good when you drive through them.
The minister also mentioned that we should not lock up land. One of the big parcels of land the government should be looking at is the Power and Water land to the north of Howard River. It goes from Girraween Road to Gunn Point Road and has been locked up as a potential water source for the Darwin water supply. Historically, it was an extractive mining area. I am interested if the minister could tell us whether the Power and Water land is now able to be used for extractive mining. There is a considerable amount of land there that has sand and gravel resources and, knowing how much effort is required to allow the Kamfari to operate from that land, I am wondering whether by, handing that land over to Power and Water some years ago, the government has locked it up from an extractive mining point of view. If you take the minister’s argument that we want to keep extractive mining close to Darwin, if you lock up that Power and Water land, then you force companies to move further away from Darwin.
The other area the member for Goyder touched on is where are our future resources? Have we identified those future resources, and have we made sure they are not built on? Yes, for sure, you can use that land afterwards, but you cannot use that land when people are living on it, so you need to identify it so it is not developed. That, again, would be part of the revised 2001 report. I hope the government seriously looks at revising its policies in relation to the future of extractive mining, especially in the rural area.
Madam Deputy Speaker, I believe the motion in general is a good motion. I repeat, at the risk of the member for Fong Lim getting on his high horse about relevance, if these motions had been worded better, I believe it would have encouraged the government to, perhaps, come more on side with some of the things we are talking about, and support them. I suppose if you put it straight in their face that everything they have done is a failure, you are not probably going to attract some bipartisan support on some of these issues.
I thank the member for Goyder for bringing this particular matter to parliament. People might think it is a bit of a dry matter – well, I suppose it is dry when you are digging it up in the Dry Season - but it is a really important issue, because industry cannot survive without extractive mining. Government must ensure that extractive mining is protected and is planned for in the future. If we are to have a prosperous Northern Territory, then we need sand, gravel, rock, aggregate, and all those things to build our roads, our tall buildings, and our industry. Without that, we will not prosper. Once again, I thank the member for Goyder for bringing the motion to parliament tonight.
Mr STYLES (Sanderson): Madam Deputy Speaker, first, in relation to this, there is much good work done out there by many good people in the extractive mining industry. They work hard, they are entrepreneurial, they get in, and they just do it - quite often under difficult circumstances. I listened to the member for Casuarina talk about some of the positive issues about the extractive industry and the planning. However, I do not think the government has gone anywhere near, or close enough to, what they should be doing. There are a couple of reasons for this which I will point out.
We should acknowledge that the member for Nelson pointed out that we have all these negative motions on our Notice Paper: we are talking about the failure of the government to do this and the failure of the government to do that. I have listened on occasions to the member for Nelson saying that he does not believe it is the job of the opposition to actually make legislation, but it is also the job of opposition, especially, to keep the government to account. Where the government does not make appropriate legislation, then I believe it is up to the opposition to put forward legislation and ideas to hold the government to account and, perhaps, give them some ideas on direction to go.
We talk about mining. It is really great for the Territory. There are great initiatives out there when you look at some of the exploration that has been done. If you look at maps of the Northern Territory, and go from south up to the north, and look at what is going on either side of the rail, one sees a great deal of exploration has gone on and there is a lot of new mining proposed.
The issue I raise here tonight is the impact on a number of areas I have an interest in, those especially being my portfolios of Youth and Seniors. I have a constant stream of young people I know in the northern suburbs and from other areas I knew during my former role in the community who say to me, when I see them: ‘We are leaving the Territory. We cannot afford to stay here’. These are issues I have raised on previous occasions in this House, yet I do not see the planning coming out to fix some of the issues that the youth and the seniors in our community face.
We hear much about the big ticket items of INPEX and ConocoPhillips, and the building of new gas trains - all of those things in relation to gas. However, what we do not see is the impact it is going to have on our youth and our seniors, and the planning that needs to go in to preventing some of the negative things that are occurring.
In the November sittings last year, an issue was raised about the negative growth of people working in trades and other service providers. When you look at some of the people leaving the Territory, there are electricians, mechanics, nurses, and refrigeration mechanics. They are people who are providing so many different services to our community, and services we are in desperate need of. Yet, when you talk to them they say: ‘I cannot afford to live here’.
Much of that goes back to land release and lack of planning by the government. It is our job to hold the government to account and raise these issues on an ongoing basis so the community can say: ‘Well, what is happening in relation to land release?’ We hear the government say: ‘We are going to release 200 blocks here, 100 blocks there’. That is great, but their own modelling from Treasury - to quote the Chief Minister - was about 1800 or so blocks that need to be released every year. Last year, there was nothing like 1800 blocks …
A member interjecting.
Mr STYLES: Not even 30%, my colleague tells me. I believe it was 500-and-something blocks released. How on earth are we going to get our young people into houses? This means we are breaking families up.
How do you grow your own doctors? I heard in this House today the Chief Minister saying we are in a good period; we are growing our own doctors. I have heard the Minister for Health speak about how good the Flinders University annex is here. That is very good news, but we are required to grow our own doctors and nurses and other health professionals.
What are we doing about keeping our own electricians, mechanics and nurses? These are people who have lived here from childhood - most were born here. The families migrated from all over Australia 30 years ago, they had children here, they had a bright future here, and their kids are here. These people have housing, yet, we are putting them in a position where we are splitting up families and they have to go south so they can afford to live. What happened to the policy of growing our own?
The government makes a great issue of 10 000 apprentices. Where are these apprentices going to live? Where are the houses? Where is the accommodation? Where is the planning for that? I do not see it and I have grave concerns for the future of these young people. They have goals, dreams they would like to pursue yet, through lack of planning by the government and lack of timely land release, you cannot get a block of land. There are a few and the government will say: ‘Yes, we have so many at Bellamack, we have had a ballot’. However, there are so many young people who cannot get a home or a block of land. Builders are battling to get a block of land to build a spec home on. There are issues out there which are about failing to plan.
I will say it again: it is up to the opposition to remind people the government appears to have failed miserably in this area. It is up to those people to try to do whatever they can to look after their families; however, they are hindered by the lack of planning by the government.
When we come to seniors, there are a number of things seniors are saying to me, and I was dealing with one of those issues this afternoon. People are working. They moved to Darwin some years ago and some of them are low-income workers. They love the place, like most of the people in this House. The Territory is a great place; it is a land of opportunity - but not an opportunity for all to own a home. We have seniors in the Northern Territory in rented accommodation in the private sector who are working and are happy to pay rent. They are quite happy with their lot; however, many of them are baby boomers who are fast approaching retirement age. Due to the lack of planning and the fact the extractive mining industry and the oil and gas is going to boom, we do not have enough blocks of land, houses, or affordable housing, to be able to house these seniors. There are numerous couples and singles who are seniors who are going to be required to leave the Territory the moment they stop working.
That is a sad situation for any community, let alone the community of Darwin. These people have given their all to help develop the Territory, they enjoy the Territory lifestyle and, like all of us, they certainly appreciate the diversity of the place in which they live. Many of these people come from other countries; there are mixed marriages between people from various countries. They do not want to move, they do not feel they are going to be comfortable anywhere else. At that age of your life, when you have worked all your life, you would like to be able to spend the time where all your friends are, where your family is, and not be forced to go and live in a unit somewhere in Tasmania, because it is the only place you can afford to go - where you have no friends, no support, no nothing, and all your family is in the Northern Territory. That is the situation we find ourselves in, in relation to lack of planning for the future development of not only the extractive minerals industry, but the oil and gas.
Other things which will stop people coming here in caravans is the caravan legislation that was brought in by the government in relation to not being able to have semi-permanent caravan sites. We are losing people daily in these trades areas - retired people who come up here and choose, because they are semi-retired, to work four or five months of the year, and have the rest in travel. They are not coming here. A raft of people who left at the beginning of the Wet Season last year came and saw me because I have a number of large caravan parks in my electorate. They said: ‘Well, it has been nice knowing you, Pete, but we are going and we are not coming back. We are going to Townsville next, and Cairns because they are a lot more friendly over there, and we can do a whole range of things that we cannot do here’. Again, it is just the restrictive practices that government has put on us in relation to encouraging people up here, especially seniors.
What are we going to do? We do not see too many house blocks coming on to the market. We do not see a massive increase in the availability of accommodation. INPEX now has given its final investment decision. That means we are going to have many more people here. The opposition has not been, as the government has, sitting on its rear end not doing anything. We have been talking to industry out there. Industry has expressed concern about where we are going to put these people. I have said before in this House that the government appears to want to turn the capital city of the Northern Territory, Darwin, into a fly-in/fly-out city. Well, that is terrible, because that brings so many social problems.
The other thing that is a bit of a trend is in relation to families and marriages. There seems to be a trend where the people who have been flying in/flying out are struggling to keep marriages together, to keep relationships together, and to bond with their children. There is a trend starting to emerge where these people actually want to live a lot closer to where they are working so they can have all the benefits of a good family life, combined with a good income ...
Mr McCarthy: I want to live in Tennant Creek - fly in and fly out.
Mr STYLES: That is fine. I will pick up on the interjection. How many houses are there for everyone in Tennant Creek? How many blocks of land are available in Tennant Creek? What is the demand ...
Mr McCarthy: Fifty-four – 200 capacity.
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order!
Mr STYLES: Perhaps we can get some of these blocks up to Darwin, because we have a massive shortage in Darwin. If that is the case I congratulate the government for making plenty of land available in Tennant Creek. What about the rest of the Territory? If that is the case ...
Members interjecting.
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order!
Mr STYLES: Absolutely. I would like someone from the government to come across and say: ‘We have all these blocks in Darwin, and we have this plan where everyone is going to be able to get a house at a reasonable price’ ...
Dr BURNS: A point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker! I have listened carefully to the member for Sanderson, and I call him on relevance. Anyway, this whole wad of motions is just a stunt and sideshow to take away from the fact that you do not have any policies. All you can do is whinge ...
Members interjecting.
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: Thank you, Leader of Government Business, you can resume your seat. Member for Sanderson, whilst there is always some latitude in the debate, I ask you to come back to the motion before the House, which is about the extractive industries. Thank you, you have the floor.
Mr STYLES: Madam Deputy Speaker, I hope the members of the government will keep their interjections relevant to the items being discussed, so we can pick up on those interjections. It would be fine if they kept their interjections to a minimum. I will not take much more time of the House.
INPEX and the extractive mining industry proposals for the Northern Territory are going to put more and more pressure on the limited resources available - that the government has not provided. That is going to push prices up and create all sorts of dramas for the older people in our community who have, in fact, built the Territory. Something I have always believed in is we should look after the old people because they once looked after us. It is a crying shame that I have a list of people coming through my office to speak to me about their fears because they are going to lose their accommodation; they cannot afford to pay the rents and rents are increasing. One bloke came in the other day and said that on the day the FID for INPEX was signed, his rent went up $50. He said: ‘I just cannot afford to live here and I am going to have to go. My kids are all settled here but I cannot live with them’.
There is a whole range of these issues. I ask the government to have a serious think about looking at their housing policies. We hear it, but I do not see any action. We, on this side of the House, have for a long time - and especially since I have been in this House - been asking the government to ensure there is sufficient land release so these sort of pressures are not forced upon people in the Northern Territory. The sad thing is the government has not listened, it has failed to release sufficient land and, therefore, put enormous pressure on house prices and on housing availability. That has had a serious impact on those in our community who can probably least afford it - our youth and our seniors.
Ms PURICK (Goyder): Madam Deputy Speaker, I thank the minister, the member for Nelson, and my colleague, the member for Sanderson, for their comments.
It is an important motion and an important subject. I will continue to talk on the extractive industry in the Territory at each and every opportunity that is appropriate in this House because I believe there is a need to develop strategic thinking and a strategic plan about where the industry is going and where it should be going. The minister missed my point slightly; it is not about supporting or not supporting the industry. I accept and acknowledge the government supports and works with the industry, as do we. I was trying to highlight the need for future or current planning so the industry can move towards future prosperity and supply the products for our growing economy - whether it be normal demand for residential roads, buildings, bridges, or the industrial projects we have on our doorstep and will, hopefully, have more.
It is about planning, strategic thinking, and protecting resources for the future development of the Northern Territory. Creating buffer zones - or thinking about creating buffer zones - around areas to limit residential creep is not something new or novel. I ask the minister if he would consider that in consultation with industry because it could help with the relationship between industry and the general community, wherever they are located.
I still have concerns about extractive areas that are being locked up or denied to the industry; notably the gaol and the surrounding areas. I know the government and the department talk with the industry on a regular basis, and that is good. I urge the government to keep doing that so, if there is something planned, they talk to the industry before they make any announcements.
The member for Nelson’s comments were welcomed. He has a long history of interest in the extractive industry in the rural area, which dates back to the time when he was the Litchfield Council President when the industry was - shall we say? - fractured to use a geological term. However, that has since changed with the formation of the industry group, and what happened previously, obviously, does not happen now. He talked about the impact, both positive and not so positive, of the extractive industries in the rural area. It does affect people in his electorate as it does in mine, and also probably the member for Daly. As I said in my speech, the resources are where you find them, not necessarily where you want them to be. We do have great potential.
What I am concerned about is the fact that the extractive industry is now starting to go further afield in regard to applying for land. They are going as far down as the Marrakai, and they will be going probably even further if that ground is not suitable. The further they go away from the urban centres, of course, the more it costs to transport the material. Those costs will be passed on directly to the consumers, which will then, ultimately, make the cost of building certain things more expensive. That, of course, contributes to our cost of living up here.
The member for Nelson also talked about the competing land uses, and we acknowledge that that is an issue which government needs to deal with in the community, such that all stakeholders have a fair and good hearing. However, it has to be balanced. It is important that government acknowledges there is a balancing act here, and it should not always fall down on the side of those who are opposed to industry - whether it be extractive, mining or any other industry – because, generally, their opposition is based on ideological grounds and not on sound, sensible, and logical grounds.
The road system is of concern to me and also the member for Nelson, particularly with the prospect of a large quantity of armour rock and other material being required to build the INPEX gas plant, in addition to the workers camps that will be placed in and around the Palmerston area and also in the Howard Springs area.
The member for Nelson also commented on the department’s report which was done by Nigel Doyle in 2001. That is some 12 years ago. The report, technically, is very sound, and that does not change. However, as I and the member for Nelson said, much has changed in the rural area in regard to development of subdivisions, and where the rural area is going generally. I ask the minister again to consider, not so much commissioning a new report, but have the department look at where the industry is going and, perhaps, start looking strategically at where it should be going.
I thank my colleague, the member for Sanderson. He raised some very important issues in regard to young people, because we do want to retain our young people in the Northern Territory, we do want to grow our own, we do want to equip them with the skills, such that they are the ones who go into the industry, and put down their roots here. However, if they have difficulties buying land and housing and setting up families here because it is just so expensive, then we will lose them. Generally, when we lose them and they go interstate, they do not come back. That industry suffers from lack of people to work with the road transport, with the industry to use the equipment and also, basically, finding the material they want to extract.
There were some very good comments about our young people, and also about the lack of land release and the cost of living up here. That still passes through all industries and affects everyone. So, thank you to the member for Sanderson.
Madam Speaker, I will leave it at that.
Motion negatived.
Mr GILES (Braitling): Madam Speaker, I move –
In hindsight, the member for Nelson may have been right when he mentioned the wording of this motion. I may have written it wrong, or spelt it out wrong when I introduced the notice. However, I did listen carefully to the member for Nelson, and had a bit of a chuckle to myself, as he complained about the number and type of motions on this Notice Paper.
I have gone through all the motions a number of times; I believe they are very important. The economy in the regions of the Northern Territory is important. The future of the Northern Territory is in the regions. It is an important thing to talk about, and to debate the successes and failures in that area. I note he spoke about infrastructure and how good a job the government has done on infrastructure. While things might get built, it does not necessarily mean that infrastructure is good. I suppose the member for Nelson must be pretty happy putting the INPEX workers camp and the new gaol in his electorate, and the traffic congestion that will bring. Perhaps he sees benefit in that. However, it is important and it is detrimental to speak otherwise of parliamentary motions.
It is interesting when you reflect on his comments about infrastructure. I was going to mention a particular road throughout this debate because the government likes to talk about roads. We know in the Northern Territory the failures when it comes to government investment in roads. The roads used to be the best in the country. They are not the best in the country now by no mean feat. We find it very difficult to get – or we cannot get - any asset management reports out of the government; it does not matter how hard we try or request to find out the state of the roads. We know at certain points when a road needs to be replaced, when it needs to be resealed, when extra work needs to be done, and we know the government is not doing that. Our roads across the Northern Territory are beyond their economic life, but the government is not investing in those roads. I challenge the member for Nelson to say it is important to debate infrastructure more generally.
Madam Speaker, I seek leave to present some photographs of the Carpentaria Highway shortly. We will see - for those people who are watching - the lovely road verges on the way into Borroloola on the Carpentaria Highway. I seek leave to table three pictures in a second, Madam Speaker. We also have another photograph of the verges on the Carpentaria Highway. Here is another lovely photo I have taken. You cannot really see it from there, but behind all the grass and the trees is a road sign. The trees in front of the signs might be 12 ft tall, but it really shows how well the maintenance work is being done at Borroloola. I do not think trees grow 12 ft in half a Wet Season.
I seek leave to table those photographs.
Leave granted.
Mr GILES: There is a murmur coming from the member for Barkly, the Minister for Lands and Planning, who should be fixing that. That is in his electorate, so I find it very surprising ...
Mr McCarthy: What is the date on it?
Mr GILES: That was on Monday, Minister for Lands and Planning - in your electorate on Monday ...
Mr McCarthy: What month is it?
Mr GILES: It is February. I know you are not that smart, but it is February. Have a look at a calendar …
Mr McCarthy: It is the Wet Season, isn’t it?
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Order!
Mr GILES: It is important we talk about the regions in the Northern Territory. The member for Johnston is chiming in because he loves seeing photos. He produces his own, but he really loves seeing these photos.
It is important to look at the region. The future of the Territory is in the regions. While it is very positive that INPEX has been approved for Darwin - and I congratulate the former Chief Minister, Clare Martin, and Paul Tyrell, for all the work they have done to get that here. The trailing efforts have come down now post the Clare Martin era, but it was Clare Martin who got INPEX here. We recognise that on this side of the House. The government will not; it will try to take all the credit itself. However, the fact remains there only seems to be one shot in the locker for these guys, and they were all banking on Clare Martin’s intervention to get INPEX here.
INPEX is here now, but what else is on the horizon for the Northern Territory? I have not seen the Chief Minister deliver any major projects apart from what was delivered by previous governments; that being Clare Martin with INPEX as a stand-out.
You do not have to look far across any of the regions to identify where failures are. We know there was a prime opportunity for the Northern Territory stage of Ord River to be developed, but the government did not want to take up that initiative and did not sign off on it. I remember several years ago, as I am sure the Minister for Regional Development will recall, during an Estimates process the government did not seem to have any knowledge of anything to do with the Ord River. No one was assigned to look after the project itself, not even a project officer to try to bring it to fruition. The opportunities the Ord River could have provided for the region of the Northern Territory to start a wide-ranging industry - whether that is horticulture or otherwise - in one part of the Territory would have been magnificent.
I did a bit of research today around the economic development side of regional development, looking at some of the economic profiles across the Territory. It is interesting to have a look at, as an example, the Alice Springs economic profile. I remember the time when the previous Minister for Regional Development, the member for Stuart, raised it and said how well everything was going in Alice Springs. Everything has gone backwards since he said that. Actually, at the point when he made the announcement, it had already started to go backwards a couple of years before.
If we look here: ‘Investment opportunities, pastoral production’. We know what happened in the pastoral industry. The Chief Minister and the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, stood up in Nhulunbuy and tried to kill the cattle industry. This is the Chief Minister who takes all his running orders from Julia Gillard, who tried to kill the cattle industry. If it was not for the fortunate intervention of the Liberals and the Country Liberals to bring that back, it would have been even further decimated.
The horticultural industry – nothing has happened in growth in the horticultural industry since this economic profile was done. We have Centrefarm at Ali Curung, which is looking to expand but they cannot get any power generation of additional capacity out of Tennant Creek. We see farms in the horticultural industry in Central Australia trying to sell up and go. There is a prime opportunity there for an expansion of the horticultural industry but, as all the efforts of Clare Martin around INPEX, none of those efforts from a major project point of view are being put around horticulture in the Centre - which is a massive opportunity to open the Centre up in horticulture as far as it goes up to Tennant Creek.
Live transport services - talking about the cattle industry, we know they do not support the live cattle industry when the Chief Minister, Paul Henderson, and the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, tried to kill off the live cattle industry. Here we see under primary industries - I hear the minister for Primary Industries having a bit of a chuckle. He would be very interested to see under Investment Opportunities, it has listed here from the previous Minister for Regional Development, ‘the wild harvesting of camels’. And you are the Primary Industry minister who debated about not having the wild harvesting of camels. You voted against that industry, which is listed in your economic profile, when your minister stood up and said how good it was.
Tourism: the Red Centre Way – have not seen the Mereenie Loop done, but that is in your economic profile. International air charters: the Minister for Tourism is also the Minister for Regional Development. When was the last time an international air charter came to Alice Springs? I do not think one has come since you have been the Minister for Tourism. You can correct me if I am wrong …
Ms McCarthy: Last month.
Mr GILES: To Alice Springs or straight to Uluru? Straight to Uluru, yes, not to Alice Springs. This is the Alice Springs economic profile –yours - not the Uluru one, not Central Australia, the Alice Springs economic profile, which you have listed here. I do not think there has been one since you have been minister, but I am happy to be corrected.
Mining: supply of goods and services to mining, including Newmont. I pick up on the interjections that the minister for Resources made yesterday to my good colleague, the member for Greatorex, when he talked about $500m for Newmont …
Mr Vatskalis interjecting.
Mr GILES: $500m for Newmont. I have to ask what the benefits are that are coming to Alice Springs? Previously, when Newmont wanted the Tanami Road to be sealed as part of the infrastructure debate - which the member for Nelson does not seem to be too happy to have - they were going to use Alice Springs as a major supply centre. Instead, they have now taken much of their work over to Western Australia. So, the castigation he gave my colleague, the member for Greatorex yesterday, was completely unwarranted. Yet, it is still in your economic profile. We knew at the time this economic profile was rubbish, and it still remains the same.
Under the construction area you have ‘residential and rental properties’. We are still waiting for Kilgariff to come. We have been waiting for 12 years to get something substantial happening. Here we have ‘the CBD upgrade’. The CBD upgrade, promised in 2008, still has not happened - $5m and they still have not lifted a paver in the mall to make this happen. It is in your economic profile, so it just shows the economic profile you have been doing is nothing more than paper weights, like most of the documents you produce. Everyone is busy but nothing is getting done.
I ask the Minister for Regional Development how often do the economic development committees meet? How many times this year and the end of last year has the Economic Development Committee of Alice Springs met? How many times has the one in Tennant Creek met? I heard they do not even meet at all. Katherine does not meet at all; they have become defunct. You stood up in your last parliamentary debate, minister, and talked about: ‘Oh, we have these new committees at Kalkarindji and Lajamanu and other places’. You cannot even get the urban centre ones to operate and all of our economies are falling over. It is an important point to debate.
Staying on Central Australia, we know they do not support mining development. Arafura Resources - a rare earths mine for Aileron, which will be a great investment - wanted to come to the Port of Darwin and start a processing facility, but you knocked them back on the land, so they have taken their $780m processing plant facility to Whyalla in South Australia. A $780m investment back then - it is worth more now – which could have come to Darwin but you did not want anything to do with it. The upstream and downstream benefits that would have come with that facility - but nothing.
Focusing particularly on Arafura Resources at Aileron, should that program go ahead, which is looking very positive, they are looking at 160 workers ...
Mr Vatskalis: Not according to the last announcement.
Mr GILES: Well, you know the technology for the processing plant has not been shored up yet, minister. … 160 workers operating on what they are calling a drive-in/drive-out facility, where they fly into Alice Springs and drive up to Aileron. Last year and the year before would have been the perfect time for you and the minister for Resources to be working to develop the Alice Springs community to ensure there are employees, local to Alice Springs, local to Aileron at Belyuen at the little outstation there, at Ti Tree, maybe even Tennant Creek, to be able to come down and work there, but you have not focused on it. You have not given it major project status. You have not even given it a project status at all to try to develop that industry.
I will talk quickly about another opportunity which is emerging: the aircraft boneyard concept at Alice Springs Airport. It is some time away; I understand they will start laying the tarmac in August. If they are going to start storing airplanes from around Asia in Alice Springs it is a fantastic opportunity. If they are going to start utilising that for pulling planes apart, surely there is an industry opportunity to set up a project status, to work with CDU, maybe even BIITE, and look at other institutions to start training people in aircraft engineering and maintenance. If you are going to have planes there which need to be pulled apart or serviced, or even if you are going to run tourism around that opportunity, why not start training people now before it arrives? You guys will get ready too late when what we could see is growing the economy by training people in those industries now. Look beyond the realm; there are some fantastic opportunities there.
As I said, the economic development committees have fallen over right across the Northern Territory. That shows that the government is not focusing on the regions. Shame on you, Minister for Regional Development, because you hold a regional seat, a bush seat. I know you have connections to Borroloola on a personal sense but from a business sense, when I was at Borroloola last week, it is interesting to go around and have a look at infrastructure.
I have some pictures here of the top camp No 1 looking at the road infrastructure in the town camp. You can see the water that pools in the roads throughout the Wet Season. It does not disappear, and I am told it stays there for much of the Dry Season too. Borroloola is a growth town in the Northern Territory, but no there are no SIHIP works and no road infrastructure. You go out the back of the school where they are doing the headworks in the subdivision, and it has been explained to me that it appears to people to be somewhat of a mini-Beirut – there are bomb craters everywhere. People do not know when the work projects are going to finish. It is abysmal. With Borroloola being such an important town in the Northern Territory, linking us from the Territory to Queensland at that part of our border, you would think there would be a greater focus on Borroloola, doing the road maintenance and building the infrastructure.
Then we heard the Attorney-General, who is also the minister for Power and Water, talking today about Power and Water. Go to Borroloola and look at the buffer zone which has been created around the power station and is stopping development by anyone who wants to do anything within 250 m of that power station. There are Indigenous organisations there that are trying to develop land which have now been prohibited to do any development. The town of Borroloola is land locked because of land tenure and land title issues, but land within that town now cannot be developed because Power and Water, under the minister’s guidance as the responsible minister, is not allowing that development to happen.
I would like to know how that buffer zone came about, when it came about, and if there is going to be any compensation measures to the owners of the land who now cannot develop? The reason they want to develop is to build accommodation for Indigenous employees in Borroloola, some of whom work at the mine - which is exactly what we want; we are getting people off welfare. This is a failure in the chain, but no one seems to be in control of that issue. I have written to the minister about it, and I look forward to him coming to me and having a chat.
Magellan Resources, another company that wanted to operate up in Darwin - knocked back by the minister. Another future potential industry which could have done a whole lot of work, right throughout the Northern Territory, processing in Darwin; once again, upstream and downstream industries - but nothing.
In the regions, we have not yet debated the native vegetation bill which is going to come before this Chamber any day. The native vegetation act is going to prohibit or restrict development in the regions of the Northern Territory. It will be holding back the pastoral industry, horticulture and agriculture. It is just crazy; the things this government is doing.
Look what the carbon tax is going to do to the Northern Territory; the inflationary pressures that it is going to create with no gain for the Northern Territory – no gain whatsoever. Yesterday, the member for Fong Lim talked about the carbon that will come from INPEX, and how that is going to blow out the targets by this government. So, this government’s environmental agenda is completely off the table because they will never meet their targets. Without quoting verbatim what the member for Fong Lim said, you can turn every light off in the Territory and kick everyone out and we still would not meet our targets. The carbon tax is just crazy. This parliament passed a motion where we called on the federal government not to put the carbon tax in the Northern Territory for 50 years. I do not see the Chief Minister hanging from the chandeliers in Canberra trying to make that come to fruition.
Recently, we heard the minister for Natural Resources start to get on the band wagon about croc safari hunting, because he has not done anything about crocodiles since his time in the job. Actually, the government has not. Crocs are such a pest now, people are in danger all the time. I just saw on the news before, it looks like there might be one at Lake Alexander. We should be supporting croc safari hunting. We talk about economic development in the regions, creating businesses, getting people off welfare - or I talk about getting people off welfare - and here we have a perfect opportunity to start businesses and get people actively employed and engaged in the mainstream economy.
The federal government is still sitting on its hands, although there are some murmurings that the minister, Tony Burke, may be re-looking at it. Surely, this is an environmental issue, with an animal that has become a pest because of such numbers. There are economic opportunities in harvesting those crocodiles, and there are safety measures we need to put in place to protect people of the Top End, but they just still sit on their hands and do not do anything.
You have to really ask what is going on with this government when it comes to economic development right across the regions of the Northern Territory. I spoke briefly about Borroloola. An issue that has come up right across the Northern Territory - everywhere I have gone, not just SIHIP, not just shire councils - has also been the federal government’s moves to end CDEP wages and move everybody on to Newstart. I have argued uphill and down dale about the failures of sit-down money - sit-down money being the Newstart, or the dole, without people having to actively participate. CDEP is a program of transition, of training and, in some ways, a place of rescue to give people active employment and opportunity on the back of failures by government in development of economies and a lack of real jobs in communities. CDEP is there because there are no real jobs.
We have thousands of CDEP places across the Northern Territory, and the federal government wants to take those wages off people and put them all on Newstart so they can be welfare quarantined. These are the people who are actually doing something. The government wants to take their wages and welfare quarantine. Well, I say the federal government should not be stopping CDEP wages. They should not be forcing people on to income management for purposes of quarantining. These are people’s jobs. So many communities rely on the services of CDEP workers. If you put people on Newstart the only thing that will happen is people will go off CDEP, go on to Newstart, and stay on Newstart and not work. Then, all the services in these communities will fall over.
Once again, it will be a complete shemozzle, much like the implementation of the shire program where everything falls apart. We will have to have the federal government coming in to spend more money to employ people from outside those communities to do the job the CDEP workers used to do. You are much better keeping the wages, trying to develop economies and real jobs.
I say to the Northern Territory government: join me in asking the federal government not to end CDEP wages and put people on Newstart with welfare quarantining. It is going to bring everything undone. I know the Minister for Indigenous Development agrees with me. I hope, if she responds to this motion, she joins in calling on Jenny Macklin not to end CDEP wages and put thousands of people on the dole. We have thousands of people working and participating in the economy, albeit through CDEP, at the moment and many people on top-up. If you put everybody on the dole it sends people so far backwards and into a life of prolonged misery. Get people actively participating, not sitting on the dole.
As part of the development of the economies in the regions, what is required is a strategic plan for Power and Water to identify where it is going to invest in power generation facilities. We know in Tennant Creek they are short of power; in Ti Tree they are short of power. We know places like Aileron, with Arafura Resources, needs more power to get their projects up and running. There is an opportunity for a PPP - a public private partnership - to develop power infrastructure which can be utilised by the broader Northern Territory community, future businesses, and the mine itself. That is a great opportunity.
I have already touched on the opportunities for mining industry engagement and employment strategy. In Central Australia, we have Central Petroleum, Tanami Gold is soon to start up, PetroFrontier, Arafura, Minemakers - all these projects are around there, but we are not getting ready for the industry to come in. We are not getting ready, so will be operating on a fly-in/fly-out model. I would much prefer, as the Health Minister talks about in the health profession, growing our own. We should be growing our own in the mining sector as well.
In wrapping up, I know the future of the Territory is in the regions. Our urban centres are service centres for the work that happens all around us. INPEX is a prime example of that, and the government needs to start developing strategies, initiatives, and economic approaches to the regions.
The Ord River I have spoken about. In mining, there is the potential of uranium in the Warlpiri region, gold development through the Barkly, and some of the phosphate resources there. There is road infrastructure that is required for future projects like Western Desert Resources and Sherwin Iron and the need to build roads and connectivity in some of these regional Indigenous communities.
What is the future for Wadeye? Where is the plan for the future of Wadeye? What is going to happen in the Daly? There is simply a vacuum of ideas, policies, or future directions. What we see is economic profiles such as the East Arnhem Economic Profile, the Tennant Creek Profile, Gunbalanya and Yirrkala. They are all there but are only bits of paper. If you do not start doing things on the ground nothing will ever happen. You can consult, talk to people, pay consultancy fees, and make people feel happy, but unless you do anything nothing will change. This approach of getting rid of CDEP wages is another knife or rod in the back for the regional areas of the Northern Territory.
Madam Speaker, I will leave it there. The motion originally should have said - it would be my fault – ‘the parliament recognise the failures of the Northern Territory government to develop economies in the region’. I will not put an amendment in because the member for Nelson is not happy that we are debating these issues. He is happy with his gaol and the INPEX plant in his electorate. I will let others comment.
Ms McCARTHY (Regional Development): Madam Speaker, it is good to actually hear the member for Braitling refer to the title. I must admit, in preparing for this motion he has brought before the parliament, I wondered, from a constitutional point of view, what the implications of the motion would mean when we talk about whether the parliament is passing a no confidence motion in all its members. You put a very challenging thought there, member for Braitling. I am sure it is probably a first for the House.
Regional economic development is a very serious issue and very important for this side of the House. I definitely disagree regarding the Northern Territory government’s moves to improve economic development across regions.
There were a number of points the member raised in his motion. I begin with the policy of the Northern Territory government in A Working Future. We have, as a whole-of-government, across our agencies, focused concertedly, determinedly, on our regions across the Northern Territory. We have had to deal with so many issues in that process.
The very first thing we have considered, in dealing with wanting to pave the way for stronger economic growth across the regions, was the empowerment of local people across the regions, recognising that it is not governments - whether it is Territory or federal - it has to be about the people being very much a part of determining the way they want to grow their respective communities and towns across the Northern Territory.
This is something we deliberately embarked on within our policy, because we recognised it would not matter how much money was being put into these places if it was not the people themselves actually determining and growing it. We have had to embark on it by setting up the Service Delivery Coordination Unit. I refer to this because this is the real hub in focusing on all of these places across the regions. We make no apology for doing that. We recognise this is what our government is about; that we want to ensure every Territory person, wherever they live across the regions, has a vision for the future for their place, and they are included, very much so, in how the Northern Territory grows.
We also recognise - and in some of the comments the member for Braitling made regarding the piece of paper - the fact that pieces of paper can be just pieces of paper, but they can also be very much living documents that actually guide and direct the way things happen. What we have done is ensure there are local implementation plans; that there are actually plans for these respective areas.
Reference has been made of the economic development committees – that is a really valid point the member has raised in the House. I am acutely aware that we need to ensure within the economic development committees there is a connection with all the other work we are doing with the Northern Territory government across our agencies. I have instructed that there be a review of these economic development committees across the Northern Territory, because I am concerned about that connection: the fact that we are successfully embarking on the remote service delivery sites across the Northern Territory, that we have the A Working Future policy, and we have, in the first time of the history of the Northern Territory budget, been able to provide almost $1bn towards the infrastructure for these regions.
The important thing for this motion and to this House, is making sure that taxpayers money is spent wisely and effectively to improve the infrastructure in these regions. We know, very much so – and we have debated consistently in this House - that unless we fix the roads, build the bridges, and have the connection on the arterial highways beyond the Stuart Highway, then any kind of economy we want to help flourish and grow out there is going to have difficulty getting back to market - to be able to get produce from Ngukurr back to Katherine, from Wadeye into Darwin, from Papunya into Alice Springs. That is why A Working Future has been a critical part of our government’s focus. We know we have also had to deal with a number of other factors such as the land tenure across the Northern Territory, and the fact that nearly 50% of the land mass is Aboriginal land.
Our government has deliberately focused on making sure we dealt appropriately and respectfully with the rights of Indigenous people across the Northern Territory regarding the rental that is required for this land. A tremendous amount of work has had to take place. It is part of explaining where we are, where we are coming from, and where we are going and wanting to see these places grow. It is important that the economy flourishes in each of these areas. However, there are a number of steps we have to embark on first.
It is interesting to note that the member for Braitling went to Borroloola. I commend you for that because you must be the only one on that side who has done so. It is interesting to see because, if we look at the history of Borroloola - and I can speak very strongly on the history of it …
Members interjecting.
Ms McCARTHY: Clearly, the other members on the other side are not interested. The history of it is such that it took nearly 30 years for the land of the Yanyuwa to be fought and won for the Yanyuwa to be able to grow and prosper in that country.
Think about the almost three decades spent in trying to prove the Yanyuwa were traditional owners of that country. Instead of all that court time, all that energy wasted in litigation, just imagine where the people of Borroloola could be today without having had to go through almost three decades of fighting for land. I bring that to the House as a reality check because that story is very similar to the stories of many Indigenous people across the Northern Territory. This is a very real situation for any government wanting to work genuinely with Indigenous people in this country. The Northern Territory Labor government is doing exactly that. We want to have that genuine relationship with Indigenous people. We have to do it properly, with substance, and with a firm view that what we are building is not about today and tomorrow, but about the generational change which is required to give hope to people who live in our regions across the Territory.
At the same time there has to be fairness. Under the Australian Constitution there is a clause which says ‘just compensation for land’. Nearly half of the Territory land mass is Aboriginal land. It was an incredibly important decision for our government to pay the rent. That is not going to solve all the problems, but this is the social justice issues side of what our government stands for.
We know that we do not want people on sit-down money. We do not want people to be on welfare. We have never wanted to see welfare as the only employment opportunity for people in the Northern Territory. That is why in each of these areas we have consistently worked on unpacking each of these growth towns - from Gunbalanya to the Tiwis, Groote Eylandt, at northeast Arnhem Land with Ramingining, Milingimbi and Yirrkala, to the Centre with Papunya, Hermannsburg, Lajamanu, Kalkarindji. We have diligently worked on all of these places, which have never in the history of the Northern Territory had any scoping plans. They have never had any infrastructure plans for these places such as basic sewerage. If you go to Borroloola you can see the investments that are taking place there to fix what should have been done years ago. There were no plans within those structures. These are very basic expectations that you would have of growing any place in Australia. Yet, the bureaucracies did not have it.
After I took this job on, member for Braitling, one of the first things I asked in the department was: ‘Show me the plans for growing these places’. They were not there. We have had to, within the Service Delivery Coordination Unit, not only have a vision for the future, but actually start to build the foundations of very simple, basic planning that the rest of the country probably takes for granted.
I hear you when you ask how many times has the Alice Springs Economic Development Committee met; how many times the Tennant Creek Economic Development Committee has met. I am acutely aware of all of those things. That does not satisfy your question, no doubt, member for Braitling but, hopefully, it gives you a better understanding of where the focus has been and why it has been that.
We are about connecting all of these things. We know we rely on the federal government for financial support. We know we have to have the arterial roads across the Northern Territory improved. We have been able to build the bridges in some of these places, but we need extraordinary amounts of money to continue that investment over a period of time. We know it is not just about the growth towns, we also know the concerns on homelands. We also know the smaller communities that feel perhaps they may be missing out. We have to take all of these things into consideration and try to be fair but, at the same time, have a vision that unites all people of the Northern Territory - black and white, young and old, male and female, from the north to the south, from the south to the north. That is our vision, and we will diligently, consistently continue to work on that.
Regarding the economic development committees, we currently have a review under way. I have had some questions I have asked of these committees across the Territory. However, there is also another key issue here I believe is important in this motion; that is, we also have the federal government’s connection with economic development committees across the country. We have the RDA, which is under federal minister Simon Crean, which is chaired by Mayor Damian Ryan from Alice Springs. How do we ensure we can connect up the economic development committees of the Northern Territory, the A Working Future policies, with what the federal government is doing? There is no point the ships sailing past each other. There has to be an effective connection between these groups.
We have also been working on ensuring that those submissions and business proposals which have been going to the federal government, either have the support or at least the awareness of the Northern Territory government to be able to get behind it. I know this is something the Mayor of Alice Springs has been incredibly passionate about, so too the men and women on that RDA.
As part of this debate on this ...
Mr Giles: You have a frog in your throat.
Ms McCARTHY: ... as part of this debate on … Yes, I might need to get a drink of water.
Madam Speaker, I will talk about the Katherine Economic Development Committee, which has made a valuable contribution to the Katherine area in identifying economic development priorities, as do other committees across the Territory.
I share with the House some of the work and the examples of this committee, promoting and securing funding for growing Katherine businesses, which has been instrumental in the creation of six new businesses in areas such as the service sector, health, agriculture, and IT, and expanded or retained 11 businesses that generated a total of eight full-time positions. It promoted the planning forum in 2008 for Katherine, and supported its proposals for: land release and strengthening the town as a regional transport hub; developing a low-security training facility in the region; the development of the Katherine cultural centre, which is near completion; a partnership by local high schools in developing a Vocational Education and Training centre; initiatives towards establishment of Katherine as a Centre of Excellence for Remote Health; promoting development of water allocation plans for the region to enable sustainable, economic, environmental and social outcomes; and promoting the annual NT conference of the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and the Bureau of Rural Sciences which was held in Katherine for the first time in October 2010 ...
Mr Giles: You should thank Fay Miller.
Ms McCARTHY: What was that?
Mr Giles: You should thank Fay Miller for all her hard work.
Ms McCARTHY: It was good to see the former member for Katherine recently.
The economic development committees are working across the Northern Territory. As I said in the beginning of my response to this motion, I have asked for a review into them because, clearly, I want to see the connection with our broader A Working Future policy and the other policies we have. Also, keeping in mind there is Stronger Futures legislation before the federal parliament with the inquiry due to be here next week, and recognising, again, there is significant funding from the feds through that area of the NTER, and wanting to ensure that, whatever the future vision is with Stronger Futures, it should be very much about jobs in these regions.
The Indigenous Economic Development Taskforce brings together expertise from various areas and the land councils to identify and foster opportunities for growth and economic development in the regions. The task force, chaired by Ron Morony, is currently working with a focus on linkages with opportunities in the growth towns as set out in economic profiles.
We met in Uluru towards the end of last year. One of the reasons I directed the task force to meet there was, obviously, the $300m investment into Yulara by the Indigenous Land Corporation is an incredible amount of money. We have to ensure success in the investment of Yulara, and that success needs to be about ensuring local people are very much a part of it. Yulara, Uluru itself, and the Anangu have a history. It is a place that is always conscious of working forward in wanting to take advantage of the enormous benefits that come from tourism and visitors to the Rock. Again, the challenge here is that it is spent wisely and there is work for people in that region.
When the Tourism ministers met in Darwin last year, one of the things we were able to get from all Tourism ministers across Australia and the federal Tourism minister, is they focused and supported Yulara being the national Indigenous training hospitality centre. That was an incredible coup if we want to look at economic development for Central Australia and the fact we are about real jobs, not welfare, and we want to see jobs across our regions of the Northern Territory.
I do not recognise a failure of the Northern Territory Labor government in regional economic development. We have heard consistently in this House today, and in previous statements by the minister for Planning and Roads, the amount of money going into infrastructure across the Northern Territory. By all means, it is not enough; we always have to be seeking more. However, this government is very much committed to the regions across the Northern Territory. This government will continue to be committed to the people across the regions of the Northern Territory and we will not give up.
Madam Speaker, I do not support this motion before the House.
Mr TOLLNER (Fong Lim): Madam Speaker, I was not intending to speak on this debate but, having listened to the minister’s response, I feel compelled to make some comments. First, I congratulate the member for Braitling for bringing on this motion. In the Northern Territory we need to discuss the regions. That old clich about the Berrimah Line - we do not take much notice of it when we live in Darwin, but people outside Darwin feel acutely that they are being neglected and their interests are not being looked after. That is an historical thing and these things happen. However, it has increased in recent years with this Labor government, because they certainly do not have the interests of the region at heart.
The minister’s presentation just demonstrated what a blind spot she has in relation to what is going on out there in the bush. You can go to any state in Australia and see what is going on in the bush. I am from Queensland. Queensland is probably the most developed state regionally. Wherever you look, there are workable roads, there is people working the land, there is industry, there is enterprise, and people have a sense of worth. However, in the Northern Territory, so much of it is neglected. Admittedly, much of it is not the fault of this Labor government; they inherited many of the problems. However, one of the concerns I have is they are not interested in fixing some of those issues.
The minister talked about Borroloola. By the way, minister, I have probably spent more time in Borroloola than you have. That is up for argument, of course. I am no stranger to the place, and I have a pretty rough idea how things are out there.
However, talking about a fight that has lasted over 30 years, and the fact that they are in court, shows a complete lack of understanding of the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act. This is one of the fundamental reasons why previous government’s resisted the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act for so long - not because those governments were opposed to land rights. In actual fact, they were great supporters of land rights and wanted to see Indigenous people owning their own land. However, the way the legislation had been written, had been to specifically exclude the involvement of the Northern Territory government. The Northern Territory government could not compulsorily acquire land for the installation of services you would expect in any other community - roads, schools, hospitals, and police stations. They could not do that.
The only opportunity that government has had in respect to the public interest on Aboriginal freehold land is right at the outset - right at the outset when those cases were being decided. There is a point of record, because there has not been one single land claim that has ever gone before the courts, that those positions have not been upheld. Every single claim has been amended in some way to incorporate the public interest. What a ridiculous situation, where you have a land claim in place and the only time the government can represent the public interest is right at the outset, before the claim is granted. That means the government of the day - whoever they are, whatever political ilk they are - has to have a extraordinarily long vision into the future, to think how things might develop - not a short-term vision and say: ‘Oh well, we can leave that for the next 10 or 20 years’. In some cases, you have to think about hundreds of years time. That law excluded completely the right of Territorians to have a say on that land once it was granted.
Those are the reasons why previous governments found themselves in court. It is quite easy to sit on the sidelines and say: ‘Oh, you are just a pack of racists, you never supported land rights. You never supported Aboriginal’s rights to own land …
Ms McCARTHY: A point of order, Madam Speaker! The accusation of racism was totally out of order.
Mr TOLLNER: Why? Who did I accuse?
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Fong Lim, are you referring to anyone in particular, or …
Mr TOLLNER: No, I am suggesting that people said our government was racist ...
Madam SPEAKER: There is no point of order.
Mr TOLLNER: That was a suggestion that was made a long time. Quite often, political opponents of ours have said we have used the race card in elections. Nothing could be further from the truth. These arguments are quite convenient for the other side. They can sit there and say: ‘Oh, you have these poor people in court, therefore, you must not like them’. Nothing could be further from the truth. We see ourselves in this quixotic situation now fighting windmills, trying to say we will do this and we will do that and we will do all of these things. However, unless you actually sit down and negotiate long and hard with the land council, nothing gets done, nothing can happen.
Who owns the houses on Aboriginal land? They were built by government but they are not standing on government land, therefore, the government does not own them. They were not built by the land councils, they were built by someone else, therefore, the land councils do not own them. The whole situation is completely questionable.
We see Territory housing putting money into fixing up Territory Housing properties in the order of somewhere between $5000 and $10 000 a year. A skerrick of that is spent on Aboriginal houses in remote communities. Why? Because the Northern Territory does not own those houses; they look after those houses almost as a favour or a sign of goodwill, but there is no real ownership of those houses. The same applies to schools, police stations and hospitals. The roads that are built are not owned by government, they are not public roads. You cannot publicly drive down these roads - the public cannot go there. These are the things that concerned governments of previous years, and they should concern governments nowadays.
Governments nowadays should be looking and saying Aboriginal people deserve the same rights, the same entitlements as all other Australians. They should be able to access shops and schools, and people should be able to visit their communities without having to go through some remote foreign organisation such as a land council to get a permit to visit. I have heard stories of people saying: ‘You would not just let anyone in on your land, it is private’. However, I am not asking the government to build a school or a road on my land. So these are the concerns I have when I hear ministers bang on about some of the practices and the things previous governments did because, clearly, they have no understanding at all of the requirements of the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act.
As I say, I get around the Territory quite a bit and I am aware that there is a push by a number of people in a number of places across the Territory to form their own land councils. The driving factor in that is the desire to create their own industry and businesses. They feel they are being held up, they are being stymied by some of the major land councils - either the Central Land Council or the Northern Land Council.
Aboriginal people are fed up that they cannot develop their own businesses or industries on their land. They are also fed up that they cannot privately own their own house. The Northern Territory government, the Commonwealth, and the land councils all have to all agree to put a 40-, 50- or 100-year lease on this land before you can hive a bit of it off and give it to someone so they can build their own house; and 99.99% of the time that is never ever going to happen. That is wrong. Aboriginal people should be able to build a house on their own land and own it. They should be able to take the titles of that land to the bank and borrow against it. That is a right of every Australian, but it seems it is not a right which is supported by this government for Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory.
The rest of the motion is right as well. The government has failed to support the regions, simply by ignoring them. In many cases, they have been taken over and completely infiltrated by green extremists to the point where they are introducing all of these repressive laws in relation to native vegetation clearing ...
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Order!
Mr TOLLNER: Here we go. Native vegetation clearing, where you are going to need a full-blown environmental impact statement to plough up 100 acres of dirt. It is a bizarre situation to say the least, where you are going to need a permit to cut a dead branch off a tree. It is absolutely ridiculous! To suggest that, somehow, you are supporting the regions by introducing these types of laws, is just mind-bogglingly stupid.
People should have the rights to farm where farming is possible. They should have the rights to access water where there is water available, particularly in places like the Ord River Stage 2 where you have literally thousands of gigalitres of fresh water flowing out into the ocean every year, or in the Daly where you have many hundreds of gigalitres of water flowing out into the ocean. Surely, farmers can access just a little of that without impacting too much on the environment?
However, this lot seem to have been completely mesmerised by the green extremists. Hardly surprising when you see what is going on in Canberra with Julia Gillard and Bob Brown, where she is a complete captive of The Greens. But, this has been going on much longer in the Northern Territory than that relationship has been in Canberra.
I just say shame on the minister. Open your eyes and have a look at what is going on around the Territory. Have a look at Indigenous people of the Northern Territory, talk to Indigenous people, ask them what they want. Their views are not that dissimilar from most people in the community. They want education for their children, they want to be able to get a job - a decent job, a proper, real job, not some CDEP made-up job where you come in for half a day a week and sweep the floors of the council office, but a real job, something that is meaningful, gives their life meaning. That is what they want. They want opportunities for their children and, most of all, they want to be a part of their land and stay on their land. They do not want to have to move to Darwin, Katherine, Tennant Creek, or Alice Springs in order to get a job. They should be able to do it where they live, particularly if they have productive land and there is a possibility of industry taking hold.
Madam Speaker, I support this motion in its entirety. The parliament should recognise this government has failed in its efforts to drive the economy in the regions. They are completely and utterly blinkered when it comes to driving the economy in the regions.
Mr GILES (Braitling): Madam Speaker, I thank the minister for her contribution, and the member for Fong Lim. The member for Fong Lim spoke a whole lot of sense about a whole lot of things. I am not a supporter of arguing the Berrimah Line. I believe we are all Territorians and we should all talk that way. When I spoke in my opening speech, I spoke about the regions as part of the Northern Territory, not separate from Darwin and not talking about the Berrimah Line. We are all Territorians.
Going straight to the point from when the minister spoke, I am glad we did not have that constitutional debate between the two of us in the parliament. I say, from the outset, I enjoy engaging in conversation with you in the parliamentary Chamber, and also the members for Arafura and Stuart, I think. You are all highly motivated by wanting to have change, and I actually prefer to talk to you outside of the Chamber about the direction we should be moving. You are the three better bush members who actually have a vested interest in the development of the bush, and I say that sincerely. While I will talk against some of the things you said, I do think you are three members who are poorly led in achieving outcomes in the area in which you want to achieve. That was quite evident, as I said, listening to what you had to say.
Just quickly, I am pretty sure you said you would like to see a review of economic development committees in the opening part of your statement, and you somewhat agreed with my comments about economic development committees. You said you would like to see a review - I am not quoting you verbatim - and later, you said there is a review under way. I am interested to find out if there is a review, or if you would like to see a review, because you did talk about both things.
Minister, I am very disappointed you are the only person who spoke because this was not a motion about Aboriginal people, it was not just about the bush, and it was not just about the growth towns. This is about the regions.
I spoke broadly about many townships, some communities, mining, power and water, horticulture, the Ord River - whatever the stage would be called in the Northern Territory. None of those topics were discussed. It is in your portfolio, but it is also broader than your portfolio. The Minister for Central Australia should also have spoken.
The fact remains - and I will talk about the town where I live, my home of Alice Springs, with 44 businesses closing, as the members for Araluen and Greatorex relayed yesterday. There are shop fronts empty everywhere and there is a significant problem. I recognise, minister- and am talking to you as you are also the Tourism Minister - there are global problems in the tourism industry and I recognise there are national problems. My opinion is crime in Alice Springs is the biggest detractor to tourism, and it is going to take a long time to fix because of your government’s failure in law and order.
When we have what I would call headline industries of tourism and mining, then probably government services or welfare services being the main staples of Alice Springs, we are in a difficult position because mining has not started in Alice Springs. There is exploration, but we really have one mine apart from a couple of small extractive industries - without putting these aside, member for Goyder. We have a couple of extractive industries. We really only have the Newmont Granites mine. Other than that, there is nothing else and there have been no new mines since 1976 ...
Dr Burns: What about Angela and Pamela?
Mr GILES: There have been no new mines since 1976. When we have tourism in the doldrums –sure, some people are doing okay - we have mining that has not started, we are relying now on government servicing; there is no headline industry.
Retail and property business services - all those other what you might call smaller industries on a broader scale - are now all suffering because the bigger industries are not working. This is part of what this debate was about, and no one from your side of government has spoken about that. Yes, you spoke about Indigenous communities, you spoke about A Working Future. However, the people who live in a town like Alice Springs are looking for economic solutions. It is such an issue that Major Projects or the Chief Minister needs to step in and start driving some economic solutions for the town. It is not going to be fixed overnight. It has been a long time coming, and crime and law and order have brought it on. As it has become worse - some of the policies and programs you have in place are driving it to become worse - there is no light at the end of the tunnel. People are leaving in droves. You might think, politically, that supports you in an electoral sense, but for the people who live there, black and white, it is a significant problem, and there needs to be some leadership.
Unfortunately, the member for Stuart, the Minister for Central Australia, may have some good ideas; he does not always display them. As I said earlier, the members for Stuart and Arafura are being poorly led to take control of these solutions which need to be put in place.
I found it funny that you spoke about A Working Future after debates that occurred today. I am sure, when the Leader of the Opposition asked today during Question Time who was running the government, who was in charge, and who was leading who, the A Working Future was an initiative of the federal government when you had to take on 15 areas of the Northern Territory and you added an additional five, including Papunya and other areas. Those are remote locations. I cannot think of the acronym right now. However, they are the large centres across Australia the federal government put in place; 15 were in the Northern Territory and you added five more which you now put under your banner of A Working Future. It was funny that you were referring to your successes based on a federal government initiative, minister.
This is not just about Indigenous people; this is about broader areas of the Northern Territory. It is a failure of your government to not even respond to what it is going to do in the Barkly, Katherine, Nhulunbuy, Alice Springs, Yuendumu, Lajamanu or otherwise, because there is no leadership.
When I said the three local members - who I enjoy having a conversation with - are not being led by your government - the government is not leading in developing economic solutions in the bush. While we look at economic profiles such as this one from Gunbalanya/Oenpelli. As I said, it is all good to have a bit of paper. There are a couple of good things at Gunbalanya, particularly the meatworks there which is a fantastic opportunity, and the partnerships they have with Uluru and the selling of the product there. There are some good things but, unless more happens, nothing much is going to change.
That is why, when I said the future is in the regions, I spoke about the need for shire reform, because it is a regional approach that needs to happen. This is not ‘let us go and attack the government about the shires’. It has to be about the regions. If you have a regional context, a smaller geographic area - putting aside the other issues about shires - you actually create a greater competitive approach from a regional perspective where regions want to compete in a business sense - and there will be some who are winners and some who are losers.
With issues such as the member for Fong Lim spoke about, land tenure reform, people will get to a point where they see they need land tenure reform. That is why I believe the fundamental principle of what I am talking about is the same principle which is driving the desire for people to create regional land councils, because people are at a point where they realise they are being held back and they need fundamental change. We know, around the world, people and economies only grow when you have secure land title. The land councils, in the broader sense, have done their job to date and, now, it is time to move to a new model and a progressive change.
The motion does need to be amended. I am not going to put an amendment in place. It is about the parliament recognising the Labor government’s failure in regard to supporting the Territory’s economy in the regions. Alice Springs is in pain, much like the rest of the Territory. If Clare Martin had not brought INPEX in, Darwin would be feeling the same pressures - our house prices, land prices, petrol prices, and grocery prices. Now, we see the carbon tax is going to put all these things up.
If everything was rosy and bubbling along really well, the smaller issues, on a global scale, may not have had as much impact. However, when we see the implementation of things such as CDL, that is inflationary. Cartons of beer have gone up by more than $10, and you only get $2.40 back. There are so many families in the Territory who cannot afford that extra $10 – they just cannot afford it. It is inflationary. While on the issue of CDL, the minister for Natural Resources likes to get cute and say we will roll it back and get rid of it. We will not get rid of it, but we would like to see a better model that did not have such a financial impact on Territorians’ bottom lines. How can you pay $10 extra to get $2.40 back?
Madam Speaker, I will leave it there. I move that motion that this parliament does recognise the Labor government’s failures. I certainly recognise those failures. I know my side of the Chamber recognises those failures when it comes to the Territory economy in the regions. I encourage the minister, on a final note, to have a chat to her colleagues. This is about the economy of the Territory. I ask her, with good grace, to try to get her government, and maybe the Chief Minister or the Treasurer, the Deputy Chief Minister, to try to bring forward some economic solutions for Alice Springs. The $1.4m tourism campaign ain’t going to work in the short term. We need something done sooner, rather than later.
Motion negatived.
Mr TOLLNER (Fong Lim): Madam Speaker, I move –
I know this government likes to talk up how good they are to Aboriginal people, how much they care about them. In fact, at the last election campaign what was going to happen with the Bagot community was a hot topic in the Fong Lim electorate. Government made all sorts of wonderful promises. On 7 August 2008, the Labor Party issued a media release with the headline ‘Greening the Territory, Improving our Lifestyle’. On the second page of that media release it said:
In inverted commas it gave comments from the Chief Minister:
Fine words in a media release. As I said, it was a hot topic in the election campaign because on the same day on the ABC news, Matthew Bonson, who was the former member for Millner and Labor’s candidate for the new seat of Fong Lim, said his party would build a $4.5m police shopfront in the Bagot community as well as improve drug and rehabilitation services if they retained office. Goodness me, they have retained office. The Chief Minister said they were going to spend $2.7m funding the establishment of a permanent police post from 2009-10. Matthew Bonson said the government would spend $4.5m on a police shopfront in the Bagot community.
Whether it is $2.7m or $4.5m is a moot point because, when you drive past or go into the Bagot community - it is now 2012, not 2009-10 - you can look very hard but I would be surprised if anyone going into that community can find a police post with four police officers and two auxiliaries working from it. The fact is, it does not exist. This is a clear broken election commitment by this Labor government. That stinks because the people at Bagot and around Bagot community deserve better.
As the Chief Minister said on 7 August 2008:
I do not think a hell of a lot has changed since 7 August 2008 for the people in Bagot, or its neighbours around Bagot. I do not think a hell of a lot has changed at all. I can tell you as a fact, as the local member, calls to my office have not reduced at all from people living around the Bagot community.
When I talk to people inside the Bagot community, their concerns in the main are about blow-ins from out of town turning up, disrupting their lifestyle, getting drunk, bashing people, and carrying on with all the antisocial behaviour that you read about in newspapers and see on television news. It is an appalling situation. It seems to me the government has just turned a blind eye on Bagot. They will say one thing to them come election time and, then, once they are elected, completely ignore them. They give them nothing. I guarantee you, in a few months time, we will have a Labor candidate out there making all sorts of promises to them, telling them what a racist bunch the Country Liberals are, and how we do not look after the people of Bagot, you cannot trust us. But they will be out there making all these flash election commitments and trying to paper over the fact that this government has done absolutely nothing to build a police post and have it manned by police officers.
This is, fundamentally, a law and order issue. I am wondering whether the Police minister will be good enough to grace us with his presence and explain exactly why this Labor government has not honoured its election commitment of 2008; why they feel it is okay to ignore the residents of Bagot when it comes to providing the rule of law for people who live within that community, and why he thinks it is okay for people who live around that community to have to put up with loud music, screaming, carrying on every night, with rubbish blowing through the fences? Why does the Chief Minister think that is okay and he can just break this election commitment?
That is what this motion is about, Madam Speaker. I am very keen to hear the answers. I believe the people of Bagot deserve better. In actual fact, I am on the record as saying they should be able to have private home ownership. They should be able to enjoy the services that you would in any normal suburb. That is my view. It is interesting to see how my political opponents, over the years, have twisted that to suggest somehow that we are going to try to steal their land. I cannot understand the logic of that ...
Mr Elferink: They will say anything to be elected.
Mr TOLLNER: Yes, that is right, member for Port Darwin, they will do ...
Mr Elferink: Today we had the Health minister telling us that we had never provided any form of health ...
Mr TOLLNER: They will do and say anything to get elected. This is a perfect example of a Police minister - same one in 2008 we have now, the Chief Minister - who will do and say anything to get himself back into government, but will not act on some of the promises he makes because, quite frankly, he could not give two hoots about the people who live on the Bagot community and their desires for the rule of law to apply inside the gates, the same way it does outside the gates of the Bagot community.
Madam Speaker, I will sit here, I am all ears, waiting for the Police minister to stand here and vindicate himself as to why nothing has occurred in Bagot ...
Mr Elferink: It is the Education minister.
Mr TOLLNER: Oh, the Education minister!
Dr BURNS (Education and Training): I have spent a fair amount of time at Bagot over the years and I do know a little about it. It is an important issue.
Madam Speaker, it was interesting listening to the language of the member for Fong Lim, when he kept on saying inside Bagot; in Bagot. So, there is in and out. It is very interesting language. If he was talking about Shiers Street or Hudson Fysh, he would say ‘at Hudson Fysh’. I went to Hudson Fysh, not in Hudson Fysh. His language really belies an attitude, which is a very unfortunate attitude. It is an attitude that ...
Mr TOLLNER: A point of order, Madam Speaker! For the minister’s sake, Bagot is a community; Hudson Fysh is a block of units. There is a subtle difference, minister.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Fong Lim, it is not a point of order.
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! That is not a point of order. Member for Fong Lim, you do not have to call.
Dr BURNS: I go to Bagot when I go there.
Mr Tollner: Yes, so do I.
Madam SPEAKER: Minister, can you direct your comments through the Chair, please?
Dr BURNS: I am not in Bagot.
Mr Tollner: You are inside the Bagot community.
Dr BURNS: I go to Bagot.
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Minister, please direct your comments through the Chair. There is too much disorderliness over here, please.
Dr BURNS: All right, Madam Speaker. However, it is interesting. I am not pointing a finger at the member for Fong Lim, but it is a very common attitude in relation to the Bagot community; that it is some type of island that is not part of the wider Darwin community - when it is in every way; socially, sporting, and in relationships also.
It was also interesting to listen to the member for Fong Lim during his offering in this important debate that he did not mention once the master plan developed by the people of Bagot themselves in collaboration with Yilli Rreung. I am unsure whether the member for Fong Lim has availed himself of the opportunity to meet with Yilli Rreung, particularly Mr Colin Tidswell, who I have known for a long time in a professional way. I have a great deal of respect for Colin and the way he operates. He has worked in a number of places all around the Territory, in remote areas of the Territory. I have seen him achieve fantastic things in remote communities, particularly in local government. He is someone I respect a great deal.
Colin, along with people from the University of Melbourne, has developed a master plan for Bagot in relation to future developments at Bagot. All of us should be taking note of what the people of Bagot are expressing through this process. It was disappointing that the member for Fong Lim did not mention this. I am unsure if he has met with Colin, who has some great ideas, great concepts, and some great directions, not only in relation to the Bagot community, but for other locations in and around Darwin. I met with Colin, I met with members of the board, I met with staff at Yilli Rreung on the block of land that used to be owned by government and is now occupied by Yilli Rreung. They have some very interesting accommodation past Marrara along Boulter Road or thereabouts. It is very important that people - and I commend any member to go out there and listen to what they are doing and see the good work they are doing.
To say government has done nothing in Bagot is really not true. As I said in the last debate on this issue, we have funded: fencing of 38 residential houses; numbering and water meters for 56 residential houses; improvements to the sport and recreation facilities which were really fundamental to the Bagot community; improvements to community infrastructure like ablution blocks; reroofing the community hall; improving disabled access to community access; numbering of houses and mail services to individual houses; and improvements to internal roads.
In relation to community safety, we have also been working on supporting community leaders and their initiatives. As I said in an earlier debate, Bagot is a very complex place. The member for Fong Lim - I do not have the picture with me this time; I flashed it around last time of he and Mr Brough during the election in 2007. I do not know how it happened, but an apparition of the good Lord Jesus appeared behind minister Brough as if he was some very special saviour. He was making an announcement that he was going to turn Bagot into a suburb of Darwin. Whilst there might have been some people in the Bagot community on that day, at that time, who might have supported that particular initiative or suggestion, it would be fair to say, given the dynamics of Bagot, there would probably be an equal number, if not a greater number, of people who would be opposed to that. There would be many people floating in between and, possibly, some of the most ardent advocates who were standing next to minister Brough on the day might have had a different view the day after. That is not to say that people are mercurial; I am just saying it is intense and volatile there. People have views, people change their views and, basically, one of the challenges regarding Bagot is to find those people who can speak with some authority in that particular community.
I trust what has been done here for a master plan for Bagot. I suppose there are suspicions. I am not accusing the member for Fong Lim of wanting to sell off their land, but there would be deep suspicions within Bagot about any move to push them to one corner of the block and have some housing development on the other three-quarters or half of the block. I do not think that is the way to go. Reading this plan of the community, I believe they have something different in mind.
It is a complex issue. There are other complex issues we have to deal with in this area - I suppose Knuckeys Lagoon is one, and One Mile Dam is another one, where there are complex interrelationships between the residents of One Mile Dam. There are issues related to the Aboriginal Development Foundation. Most of us here know Mr Bernie Valadian - I have known Bernie and his sister, Margaret, for many years - and also the Larrakia. If ever there is a complex and dynamic interrelationship, it is that one in relation to One Mile Dam. I have gone there and met with Mr David Timber, who I respect, who puts forward a certain view. However, you will not hear that view echoed by the Larrakia. Then, there is another development with the Aboriginal Development Foundation and another overlay through Yilli Rreung. We are looking at very complex issues here, notwithstanding the land tenure issues.
I have looked into this fairly deeply. I remember Jack Ah Kit, when he was Minister for Local Government, also looked into this very closely. I can tell you that legal advice was sought on this, and it is a very complex legal situation, as well, regarding the lease holders and all those interrelationships. What we have to do is try to negotiate our way through - not based on personalities - to get the best outcome. That is certainly what this government is doing.
I am also advised - and I have to say I have not spoken to the Bagot community directly about this myself – that there was some divergence of opinion regarding a police post for Bagot. There were views put forward by quite a number of people on Bagot community that they would really prefer a Night Patrol model for Bagot, with close interaction with police.
You can stand up here and say this is set in stone, but I have been around long enough to know it is a very complex situation we are dealing with. We have been trying to improve infrastructure and community safety, recreational facilities, and street lighting - all demonstrating our commitment and support for the community of Bagot.
We know alcohol is a cause of violent crime and, over the years, there have been many visitors to Bagot and alcohol is a major problem. That is why, member for Fong Lim, as a government, we introduced very strong alcohol measures, the Banned Drinker Register and all the other suite of changes we have introduced within the Northern Territory, all aimed at improving this issue of drunkenness and antisocial behaviour, not only at places like Bagot but also at places like the shopping centre where my office is. I have said before, I certainly have noticed positive changes in relation to that. There has been a decrease in activity. I am not saying it is perfect there, but there has been an improvement. I am looking for further improvement as our Banned Drinker Register and the tribunals we have set up are going to become more active and have more effect.
As we know and as the Chief Minister said, the CLP wants to turn the taps on again, open the rivers of grog, and has a plan for some sort of excavation in Katherine where they are going to bulldoze all the drunks in a great big deep hole and let them rot in there. I do not think it is much of a plan on the part of the opposition, but we will let the people decide.
I note with interest that the bookmakers now have the CLP at $1.75 for the next election and Labor at $2.05. I can tell you this little story. When I was a candidate in 2001 they were offering seven to two for a Labor victory - and I took it. I went down to the Sportingbet at the race track and put down my $20. I let Barry Coulter know when I was going to pick up my winnings and Barry congratulated me on my astute punting. Unfortunately, I handed the ticket in and received my $70. What I should have done is framed the ticket. I think the ticket was worth more than $70 in a frame. I would not take too much consolation in that - fair enough, you are ahead. It is probably not a bad estimation, $1.75 for you and $2.05 for us. I think it is a great deal closer than that ...
Mr ELFERINK: A point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker! Whilst I would never seek to discourage the minister from waxing lyrical, the rules of this House require a certain tangible element of relevance to exist in the minister’s contribution. We are often pulled up on this side of the House for …
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: Thank you, member for Port Darwin, I get the message. Minister, I ask you to come back to the subject please.
Dr BURNS: It is a relevant point of order by the member for Port Darwin. I did digress.
I am back to a very important discussion about Bagot, and will close by saying I suggest and encourage the member for Fong Lim to have a discussion with Col Tidswell and the Bagot community. You might want to meet with them together and have a joint meeting about this vision for the Bagot community. I think it is great. I encourage him to become involved in it. It is a positive thing; it is a real starting point. We will leave the former history of Mal Brough. We need to have a starting point, and this is a great one. We have someone there in Col Tidswell and Yilli Rreung who are going to constructively engage with Bagot, and we should be using that goodwill and experience.
Madam Deputy Speaker, government will have ongoing support for the Bagot community. We will listen to the Bagot community, and work with them to make it a safer, better place for their kids and grandkids.
Mr ELFERINK (Port Darwin): Madam Deputy Speaker, I want to, very briefly, make a few comments about the Leader of Government Business’s contribution. It is quite a serious response that I want to make about his opening comments about living in, or at, or going to the place. What the minister was suggesting was that the words used by the member for Fong Lim implied some sort of separation - apartheid for lack of a better word. That is true because that is exactly what is at play here. You cannot go around and identify a class of people and say Aboriginal people, and enshrine that concept into things like the Aboriginal Land Rights Act and make it the law of this nation - enshrine that concept into policies such as ‘we will employ 10% of Aboriginal people’, then say it is shocking that we talk about people because they are classified as something different. It is nonsense.
This is the thing that I have been railing against since Day 1 of walking into this House. Unfortunately, even I have to use the language of difference because it is just so commonly the vernacular in this place, it is engrained in our thinking; that the entrenched racism of that language is always there, because we have to use it, because we identify a class of people because they are black, or they have some sort of heritage that goes back to Aboriginal people, the original owners of this country.
I am getting wholly and solely sick of it. I find it astonishing that the minister will say: ‘Oh, well, there is this underlying undercurrent in the words that the member used; that they are somehow separate or different’. My word, they are separate or different because we do so - you do so -- as an act of policy and as an act of law. That is the yardstick you introduced! So, do not lecture the member for Fong Lim about whether he used conjunctives like ‘at’ or ‘in’ when, in fact, it is at the heart of your policy substance that that separation occurs. That is the part that irritates me about that response from the government in relation to this issue.
What the member for Fong Lim is arguing for is abating that effect, normalising these people into our communities, and not treating them like some sort of museum exhibit where we press our nose up to the glass and say: ‘Oh, look, Aboriginal people’. For goodness sakes! When are we going to shake that mentality? It just gives me the right royal willies when there is an opportunity from the members of government to, for one second, lay the charge of some sort of implied racism at the feet of the member for Fong Lim when, in fact, all he has done is, in a very minor way, classified the people by your measure, as being set apart.
I am sick of them being set apart, because it does them no good whatsoever. If you want to have a political system based on looking after the downtrodden, then stop identifying people by classifications like Aboriginal, because not all Aboriginal people are downtrodden. There are several people who work in this room who would be classified as Aboriginal who I would not call downtrodden - they are on about $180 000 a year. They are not downtrodden so they do not deserve to be classified in that fashion. Why do you not start making policies that classify people as downtrodden, and we will then look after the people who are downtrodden, despite the colour of their skin. There’s a thought! This particular approach by the Leader of Government Business belies the fact that he is prepared to, even at the slightest indication of a use of a word, imply there is some secret or underlying racism in the member for Fong Lim’s contribution. Yet, he thrives, lives, and breathes this stuff on a daily basis.
If we go back to Question Time today, how often did he say ‘Aboriginal education’? What? White kids are not doing badly in some other mainstream schools? Why do we not target school education policies of kids who are not performing, rather than Aboriginal kids in remote communities? For God’s sakes, do not play these silly games and grow up ...
Dr BURNS: A point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker! There was no implied racism to the member for Fong Lim.
Mr Elferink: But why did you even mention it?
Dr BURNS: I was merely making a reference to institutionalisation - in gaol, in hospital, in Bagot.
Mr Elferink: And by race!
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! Leader of Government Business, there is no point of order, but should you wish to make a personal explanation, you can approach the Speaker later to do that.
Mr Tollner: I am just wondering whether the …
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: Are there any further speakers?
Mr Tollner: Will the Police minister speak?
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: Are there any further speakers? Member for Fong Lim in closing debate.
Mr TOLLNER (Fong Lim): Madam Deputy Speaker, I actually thought the Police minister might front for this. I do feel sorry for the Leader of Government Business. Clearly, he is out of his depth on this issue. The motion, to remind the minister, was about honouring an election commitment to build a police post. He seemed to talk about a whole range of other things. However, I thank him for his contribution. I will get on to that in a minute.
I thank the member for Port Darwin; that was a very eloquent piece. I could not have said it better. It is one of those things which wholly upsets me; that people are treated as different through legislation and our own talk. I do not believe it is right either, but that is another topic.
Responding to the minister’s contribution, he made much about Colin Tidswell of Yilli Rreung, and what he is doing. The minister is aware he mentioned Colin Tidswell to me some time ago; said he was running Yilli Rreung and that I should have a chat to him. I did that. I agree with him, Colin Tidswell is a great bloke. He seemed like a nice fellow, and I have nothing but good things to say about what he is trying to do at Yilli Rreung. I visited the place the minister referred to on Batton Road, the old Summer Institute of Linguistics site. There is no doubt about it, Colin Tidswell and Yilli Rreung have done a fantastic job in providing accommodation services to, in the main, Indigenous people - but not only Indigenous people, a whole range of people who are living out there. I have no complaints about that.
I spoke to Colin Tidswell about our plans for the Bagot community. I have to admit, I have not seen the drawings or the plans they have come up with, but I told Colin Tidswell there was no point showing it to me because it is past high time for some action at Bagot. This whole idea of treating them separately - that they do not live in a normal suburb - I find completely abhorrent. Whatever they come up with, if they want to be treated separately it is not going to happen if I have any say in it in a new government. I tell you right here and now - and you can run out there and tell as many other people - if we are in government at the next term and I have any say in the matter whatsoever, I will be doing my utmost to see what is now the Bagot community is transformed into a new and beautiful suburb and the people currently living there are offered private home ownership opportunities where they can live in a normal community. That is what most people would want.
If they do not want to do that, they can continue living in the houses they are currently in but they will be paying rent to Territory Housing at the normal Territory Housing rate. If they want to move to another Aboriginal community somewhere else, they are at their liberty to do that. The fact is, I am going to do my utmost to ensure what is now the Bagot community is turned into a normal suburb and people have access to all the services they would expect in any other normal suburb.
The minister spoke about complex issues. I cannot understand what he is talking about. He said there are complex issues. He said the land tenure is complex. He said the government had legal advice. It is a special purpose lease, for goodness sake! I cannot understand what is so complex. It was not too complex when the previous Chief Minister decided to run a bulldozer through the Arafura Bowls Club and turn it into a block of units. That did not seem too complex. Perhaps the member for Fannie Bay can explain how that complex special purpose lease was ploughed in, in Fannie Bay and Parap. It was the same type of lease that applies to Bagot. It is a special purpose lease. Ultimately, government controls that. If those people are in breach of that lease, government can move on it. I suggest there are probably not too many special purpose leases of Indigenous communities where they are not actually in breach of the lease conditions. Given that, what is complex?
On the issue of policing, I am extraordinarily disappointed that the Chief Minister is not man enough to stand up and explain why he is breaking an election commitment. Why is this man so spineless that he cannot come into this Chamber and explain to the people of the Northern Territory why he is breaking an election commitment? He commitment $2.7m to a police post in the Bagot Community being built and posted by four policemen and two auxiliaries by 2009-10. Well, we are now in 2012; there is no police post, there is not even a hope, and the best the Leader for Government Business can come up with is: ‘I do not know really what it is, but I think there is a divergence of views on police by the people inside Bagot’. Goodness me! What sort of a defence is that? ‘I think there is a divergence of views on police’ were his words. Goodness me! That is an excuse not to honour a $2.7m election commitment to allow police to have a post inside Bagot? It is just wrong. As I said, I feel for the Leader of Government Business having to defend this lack of action by government in a community which they say they care about.
As I said to Colin Tidswell, he is wasting his breathe if he is trying to convince me that Bagot should not become a normal suburb. He seemed to suggest to me that would create a massive electoral backlash. The fact is I am ready for it. I am ready for it because I can tell you right now that the majority of people inside Bagot community have had enough. The people who live around Bagot community have had enough. They are sick to death of itinerants turning up in their community drunk, being violent, swearing, and screaming at all hours of the night. They have just had enough. If people want to make it a fight in Fong Lim over that issue, well, bring it on at the next election. I am keen.
Minister, I am glad you are back and listening, because I can tell you I met with Colin Tidswell. He is a top bloke, he is going a fantastic job, but he has not convinced me at all that we should change our plans on what to do with Bagot. I am wholly disappointed that government has not met its election commitments. They run around skiting, saying: ‘We are doing this, and we are doing that. We care for Aboriginal people’. However, when it actually comes to a community right smack bang in the middle of the capital city, what have they done? The minister said: ‘We have spent $4.5m on fences, numbering houses …’ - goodness me, I do not even know whether they get a postal service in there; they certainly do not get any municipal services. Their rubbish is not collected; that is something they have to organise themselves.
Evidently they have spent $4.5m there - it is a bit hard to see where. I said to someone out there just the other day: ‘Governments said they have spent $4.5m in here’. They were looking around and saying: ‘You are kidding me. Where? Where did they spend it?’ I said: ‘Evidently it has been spent - $4.5m they have spent in this community’. Goodness me, maybe $4.5m does not go too far these days. If the minister for Housing says they have spent $4.5m, I believe he is a decent man and would not make that sort of stuff up. He, obviously, is not getting much bang for his buck if that is the case, though, because it is pretty average. I feel concerned for the people in Bagot because, based on the output they are getting for their money, you could drop $200m in there and you would be lucky to see any change at all.
I am very disappointed in this government. I am particularly disappointed in the Chief Minister, the spineless Police minister who cannot even come in here and respond to this motion and explain why he is not honouring an election commitment. It is all too late now. You cannot even say that you will get it done by the end of the term.
Madam Deputy Speaker, we are now in February. To get it done in the next six months - spend $2.7m building a police post and staffing it with four officers - is a job even the good Lord would have difficulty delivering at this stage of the term. I hope the Chamber joins with me. I am aware our side of the House does not have the numbers in this place. I implore members on the other side, who say they care about Indigenous communities, who have a skerrick of morality about them, and who feel aggrieved that their own government is not honouring the commitments they made. I look at the member for Barkly. I know how disappointed he would be if he made commitments during an election campaign which were reneged on. The members for Casuarina, Daly and Fannie Bay would not tolerate it, and I know the Leader of Government Business is quite a tough nut under that happy-go-lucky exterior, and would not tolerate the reneging of election commitments in his electorate.
I do not know why the people of Bagot should have to tolerate it as well, and I am so disappointed that the Chief Minister is not here to explain it.
The Assembly divided.
Ayes 11 Noes 11
Ms Anderson Mrs Aagaard
Mr Bohlin Dr Burns
Mr Conlan Mr Gunner
Mr Elferink Mr Hampton
Mr Giles Mr Henderson
Mrs Lambley Mr Knight
Mr Mills Mr McCarthy
Ms Purick Ms McCarthy
Mr Styles Ms Scrymgour
Mr Tollner Mr Vatskalis
Mr Westra van Holthe Ms Walker
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: Honourable members, there being an equality of votes, pursuant to section 27(1) of the Northern Territory (Self-Government) Act, the question is found in the negative.
Motion negatived.
MOTION POSTPONED
Resources for Mental Health
Ms PURICK (Goyder): Madam Deputy Speaker, I gave notice of the following motion:
Madam Deputy Speaker, I was prepared to talk on this motion because I believe the subject is very important and goes across the whole of our community, urban as well as remote. However, I believe that, because of my role and involvement with the Select Committee on Youth Suicide, I possibly have a conflict of interest. The committee has not finished its deliberations and the report has not been delivered to parliament. Therefore, I am concerned that some of the things I was going to talk about may preempt, or be in conflict with, what may come out of that report. Therefore I will not talk to this motion at this point in time and will possibly move this notice of motion in the House at a later stage.
Madam Deputy Speaker, I move - that consideration of the notice of motion be postponed until a later hour.
Motion agreed to.
Mr STYLES (Sanderson): Madam Deputy Speaker, I move –
Casuarina Square is a large shopping centre located in the northern suburbs of Darwin. If you look at the shopping centre and the environs next door, on a common fence line is, basically, the Casuarina Village area, across the road on the other side of Trower Road you have Casuarina Plaza, and in the mix of all that you have the Casuarina Bus Interchange.
The buses are an issue, apart from the timetable of the buses that come and go and allow for large numbers of young people and various people to be sitting around the interchange waiting for buses and connecting with other buses to go to the hospital, to town, and back around the northern suburbs. It gives people time to get up to mischief. In some cases, in the afternoon there are young people coming in from schools, all changing buses, and it gets to be a little chaotic from time to time.
I have been talking to a number of people recently who go to Casuarina Square, and they were expressing concerns. It is elderly women especially who go across to Casuarina Square. They try to use the ATMs. There are groups of people loitering around in the underground car parks close to where the taxi rank is, watching who goes to the ATMs. This may or may not be true, but the perception by the people who use the facility is that these people are casing potential victims. They watch them get into taxis and watch them go to cars. They follow them home and realise the person may be cashed up and, therefore, later in the night, break in. There are elderly people out there - and, again I reiterate for the government’s sake - elderly women who are frightened to go to some of these places.
The government will say all types of things. There is a shopfront there and a whole range of things have been done. People should feel safe because we have people in shopfronts and many police officers around the place. The trouble is, as I expressed in this House last evening, police officers are tied up with a whole range of other things and cannot necessarily be everywhere at once.
It is about the perception. If the government would like to say: ‘You have it wrong, member for Sanderson, it is a great place’ - it is a great place to go and I do much of my shopping out there. It is a great place. However, I am probably in a slightly different category from the people who are talking to me about antisocial behaviour and crime. If the government is doing such a good job, it seems to be failing in allowing the public to understand what a great job it is doing. They need to either fix the problem or at least tell people what government is doing.
There are many people out there who are concerned about things that are occurring. For instance, pensioners travelling on buses - we have transit officers. I know one gentleman who travels on the bus daily and has done a time and motion study in relation to transit officers. He is a pensioner and does not drive. He has kept a log on what is happening on the buses. He says people get on the buses and behave badly and abuse people. Many are under the influence of alcohol, and he says that the poor old bus drivers appear to be unable to control these people. If they try to do it, the bus drivers are subjected to abuse, etcetera. I do not know whether we see, on a regular basis through the courts, that these people are charged with disorderly behaviour. These are some of the issues occurring on buses.
The other issue is people shopping at Coles and Woolworths there. They are pushing shopping trolleys out in the evening because they work during the day. They are being humbugged by people who want to get a portion of the alcohol they may have purchased. They are going to cars and the lighting at Casuarina Square is reasonable, but there are areas where it is dark and a little isolated. You have people going out there who are concerned for their personal safety, and that of young children who may be travelling with them. They are getting harassed and humbugged.
Again, where is the government’s initiative in relation to having police out there? It appears, when you look at the police statistics, there are many other things happening out and about. It is, obviously, behoving of the Police Commissioner to do something to pull issues back down to some form of normality.
I was recently at Casuarina Square and some of the surrounds going through talking to the business owners in relation to their turnover. Although I did not ask for dollar figures, I was asking for percentages. Some of these businesses are anything up to 35% down on trading. They put that down to a number of things. One is people are doing it pretty tough out there and disposable income is just not what it was; house rents and payments, the cost of housing and servicing of loans has gone up. They tell me that when they talk to people, that lack of disposable income due to cost of living and housing pressures has reduced the amount of money they have to spend in places that are located in Casuarina Square.
The other aspect of this is there are people who choose not to go to Casuarina Square now, or at least do not go there on a regular basis, therefore, the contact with businesses in and around Casuarina Square have been reduced.
Kids are coming and going because, obviously, Casuarina Square is a magnet for many young people who are a bit bored and do not have a lot to do. There is an increasing amount of graffiti in the northern suburbs and on the avenues young people are using to get to and from Casuarina Square. The well-publicised graffiti hot line the government put out some good media releases on a number of years ago, was going along quite nicely. We note it is not being monitored anymore. So, that is something government did and, suddenly, it just disappeared.
The movie theatre that is located at Casuarina Square. Late at night, there are still issues about the safety of people when they leave the late viewings at Casuarina Square. People have asked me to raise this with the government, via this House.
Consumption of alcohol is still a problem in and around Casuarina Square. There is still an issue regarding the car park between Trower Road and Big W. It appears the Banned Drinker Register still has not got rid of many of those people who are causing problems there. I heard the Chief Minister quote figures today that all this stuff is down 20%. Well, that certainly is not getting out there amongst the people who …
Mr Giles: There are wine clubs now.
Mr STYLES: That is true, but you still have people out there consuming alcohol. If they are on the Banned Drinker Register, creating all health issues for themselves. I am told they just moved to not only mouth wash and products like Listerine, but to liquid soap and shampoo. Apparently there are ingredients in those which give them some sort of a high. I cannot understand why one would want to drink shampoo.
The issue of police numbers and response times I covered last night, and I am not going to go through that again and take up any more time of this House. I just ask the government to appreciate that what they are doing out there does not appear to be working. They will say that figures are showing this and that, but what we still have is a large number of people complaining about the lack of law and order in and around Casuarina Square, and the situation where they are concerned about their welfare and safety going to and from Casuarina Square at various times of a 24-hour period.
Madam Deputy Speaker, I ask the government to encourage Casuarina Square - or in conjunction with Casuarina Square, Casuarina Village and Casuarina Plaza - to do a survey of shoppers to find out what they really think and what they are doing. That would be, hopefully, done by some independent group of people – it could be university students doing some sort of project - so we get some independent figure as to what is actually going on out there, and get a real picture of the fears and concerns of the people who are talking to me. They could talk to them and bring it back into this House.
Mr KNIGHT (Justice and Attorney-General): Madam Deputy Speaker, I provide a response to the GBD item from the member for Sanderson. It is all doom and gloom from the member for Sanderson; it is all that the world is such a bad place and ...
Mr Styles: You did not even listen to what I said. Pay attention.
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order!
Mr KNIGHT: I know things are not that bad. We need a member for Sanderson who is bright and bubbly and can provide some positive enthusiasm. However, from the member for Sanderson, it is always: ‘Oh, this person came into my electorate office and he said it was all bad’ - all unnamed, all unidentified: ‘Oh, this person, and all these things happening’. It is all bad, all doom and gloom - poor old, sad sack over there. Sad Sack from Sanderson - that is what he should be called.
I digress, Madam Deputy Speaker. We are talking about alleged high rates of antisocial behaviour and violence around the Casuarina shopping centre. I congratulate the complex management, security, and all the agencies which monitor the behaviour of the public in those areas for the work that goes on at the Casuarina shopping centre.
In addition to our tough new drinking laws, this government has rebuilt the police force. Over the years of the CLP, they ran it into the ground …
Ms Purick: Oh, we did not!
Mr KNIGHT: I will give you some data about that, member for Goyder: a three-year freeze on recruitment - how can you freeze recruitment for three years while you are losing officers and …
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr KNIGHT: Freezing recruitment for three years. In the Territory, we have twice as many police officers per capita than anywhere else in Australia. As of 22 January this year we had nearly 1400 police officers compared to 900 in 2003. So, there is roughly 400 more police officers. If the CLP was still in government we would have a third less police officers. Somehow, a third less police officers is going to fix your crime rates? That is what you will have under a CLP government; you are going to have a smaller police force to improve crime and antisocial behaviour somehow.
One of the initiatives we have put in place at Casuarina has been our Police Beat. The Leader of the Opposition wants to close these down - it is on the record. However, I know in my conversations at Casuarina with the business owners and the complex management, they are delighted with the work the Police Beat does. It is their face, there are officers moving around. In my personal time there, I see police moving around and the people in that complex are very aware of it. The trade has knowledge of the positive impact the Police Beat has had in addressing crime and antisocial behaviour in the complex. Officers from the Police Beat also work with the social order and general duties patrols to provide dedicated patrols throughout the shopping precinct.
It has been further expanded through the enrolment of the Casuarina police across the road and the transit safety officers, another initiative of this government. This includes the information sharing and targeting of the known antisocial behaviour hot spots in the area. They have certainly seen some positive results at Casuarina thanks to those increased police numbers and the Police Beat. I congratulate those officers. The complementary initiatives in the Darwin region include the use of Night Patrols - moving people on if they are causing problems and creating an interagency tasking and coordination group which acts as a collective problem solving forum with a focus on antisocial behaviour and public safety issues. There has also been the creation of a community safety working group which meets to address a range of justice, social, welfare and community safety issues.
The creation of a first response patrol - these are great. The Territory Housing compliance officers are doing their work around the housing complexes. I mentioned the transit officers. There are also the truancy officers working with those young people the Sad Sack from Sanderson seems to dislike so much. I do not know how he lasted so long in his role as a school-based constable. The public housing safety officers are also doing excellent work. All of these targeted groups are clamping down on crime and antisocial behaviour and it is providing dividends. The police statistics show that crime and antisocial behaviour has decreased by 56% from 2008 to 2011. The statistics show, with these extra police and all these other transit officers, safety officers, and Police Beats, they are driving down crime and antisocial behaviour. Total offences against the person fell by 30%, assault offences dropped by 33% ...
Mr Giles: So you say.
Mr KNIGHT: It is true, member for Braitling, that property offences ...
Mr Giles: You will not release crime figures, will you?
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order!
Mr KNIGHT: Property offences fell by 8%, property damage offences fell by 42%, commercial break-in offences dropped by 50%. So they are real results from ...
Mr Giles: Go and tell them that. Tell the business owners and property owners that have been suffering and ...
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! Member for Braitling!
Mr KNIGHT: Madam Deputy Speaker, we had fewer police out there under the CLP and crime was skyrocketing out of control. We have brought that crime rate down ...
Mr Giles: Just make it up, if you like.
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order!
Mr KNIGHT: ... by getting police out there. We know what the CLP’s ...
Mr Giles: Cannot have any agreement with the truth ...
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order!
Mr KNIGHT: ... answer to their initiative is to cut the public service. Police officers would be front and centre to get back to the levels the opposition thinks it should be, which is 400 police officers less. Many of these issues the member for Sanderson talked about are alcohol-related, but he does not seem to accept the correlation between alcohol and crime. He does not see the link ...
Mr Westra van Holthe interjecting.
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! Member for Katherine!
Mr KNIGHT: He is on the public record as saying that he does not see a link between alcohol and crime. I really cannot fathom that. Any right-minded person would know that happens ...
Mr Giles: Does that mean every time you have a drink you commit a crime?
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order!
Mr KNIGHT: Our own statistics show that 60% of all crimes are all alcohol-related. We know this is our biggest challenge in the Northern Territory, and that is why we introduced the Banned Drinker Register - 2000 people prevented from buying alcohol at takeaway outlets in the Northern Territory. That is curbing their behaviour ...
Mr Giles: They break in and steal it.
Mr KNIGHT: Yes, member for Braitling, they are cunning people, but this is making it difficult for them - 2000 people prevented each day from having that, prevented from doing that ...
Members interjecting.
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order!
Mr KNIGHT: ... and the solution. The member for Katherine, old Arthur Daly over here, he wants to, basically, get rid of the Banned Drinker Register – get those 2000 people straight to the bottle shop. The member for Greatorex wants to open it up at 8 o’clock …
Mr WESTRA van HOLTHE: A point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker! I would like to confirm that we will get rid of the Banned Drinker Register, so you do not have to allude to it. We are going to do it; put in something even better.
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: Resume your seat, member for Katherine. There is no point of order.
Mr KNIGHT: The people of Katherine should know that the member for Katherine wants to give full rein to the several hundred, I am sure, hardened drinkers in Katherine. Down to the bottle-shop they go! Get drunk as you like, out in the streets - that is the member for Katherine’s solution to alcohol problems. The member for Greatorex wants to open them up at 8 o’clock in the morning, get them all drunk to wander the streets - that is his solution. We know this is just an incomprehensible policy position of the CLP, where they are saying pour more grog on it and you will fix it. What ludicrous people over there! Anyone owning up to this one?
Mr Conlan: What one?
Mr KNIGHT: To pouring more grog on the problem. Pour more grog on the problem.
Mr Conlan interjecting.
Mr KNIGHT: Oh, that is yours, member for Greatorex, the ...
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! Order!
Mr KNIGHT: Madam Deputy Speaker, we do not support this motion. We know, in all complexes through Australia, through the world, where you get large congregations of people, especially young people, you get a few incidents. I have been there. There have been a few young people carrying on a bit, but we have the security there. There are police patrols, extra police, truancy officers - there is a whole range of initiatives going on. I congratulate all those services which the member for Sanderson will probably axe, because he reckons takeaway and all those things will solve the problem. Great work from all those services there: the police, businesses, and management of the Casuarina shopping centre precinct.
Mr GILES (Braitling): Madam Deputy Speaker, I start by thanking the member for Sanderson - the very happy man from Sanderson - for bringing this motion on. I was not going to speak, but I thought I should jump in. Living in Alice Springs, you hear information come backwards and forwards and, in our parliamentary role, try to keep abreast of all things from different portfolios. The things we hear about Casuarina all the time are gangs, fights, criminal damage, and criminal behaviour ...
Members interjecting.
Mr GILES: No, this is through the media; this is police responding to the issue in the media. That is all we ever hear about it. I spend much time with my colleague, the member for Sanderson, in the northern suburbs talking to people: constituents, business owners, and people on the street. They all have a fear about Casuarina and the shopping centre. When mums and dads are scared to go to the shopping centre, it is a bad place to be.
You were very excited giving your speech. You must have recently learnt to read; you were very eloquent in the way you spoke from those notes.
The fact remains that we hear in Alice Springs about the crime at Casuarina. That is not coming from our side of parliament, that is coming from public officials - whether it is members of parliament, from government, police, emergency services staff, or otherwise. That is reflected by people on the ground that I, the member for Sanderson, and other members of the CLP speak with when we talk to members of the public. That is a great concern and why this is an important motion to bring forward.
The response is always: ‘We have more police, we have more police’, but it is not solving the problem. We already know Julia Gillard, the Prime Minister of Australia, forced the Northern Territory government into bringing about these alcohol measures, although the Chief Minister was on television today saying: ‘No, no, we did that ourselves; it was all our idea’. There is a competition to say who brought in these punitive approaches.
However, the crime continues. You have tried this culture of cover-up by not releasing the crime statistics. You were so good in Alice Springs you tried to paper over the cracks of the crime of this summer by deciding to get rid of the media unit of Alice Springs police - centralise it, once again, up to Darwin and not issue any media releases ...
Mr Westra van Holthe: Where have I heard that before?
Mr GILES: Member for Katherine, good interjection. You may not know what happened in Alice. They got rid of the police media unit and decided not to issue any media and sat back and said: ‘No crime here; nothing to see’. You could go down to the shops - I gave some illustrations last night ...
Mr Westra van Holthe: Is that a case of hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil?
Mr GILES: That is right. I had to issue a media release saying they are covering up because they got rid of the media office and, all of a sudden, they started trickling out. However, the businesses being broken into and the people being assaulted did not need a media release. They did not need the government to hide to know that crime was a problem, and continues to be a problem.
I thought it was very interesting - and this is the point that made me jump up when the recently literate Attorney-General started talking about youth crimes and just dismissed them. He just brushed them off: ‘Those things happen; they come and go’. It jogged my memory about a statement the Chief Minister made yesterday when I was referring to the appalling response time to the damage and violent crime conducted at the Aurora Hotel in Alice Springs. The Chief Minister said: ‘From time to time, some things are going to go wrong’. I am sure that was verbatim. That is not good enough when you have a lady who could have been murdered after being hit over the head with an iron bar. You are saying: ‘Well, youth crime just happens. It just happens, do not worry about it. Mums and dads do not need to feel safe; they do not need to worry about their kids going down the shops on their own with the potential of being attacked’. That is the situation as it is.
The Chief Minister leads by example: ‘Sometimes, things just go wrong’. What? You mean police not turn up for 40 minutes? That is good enough; just brush it off your shoulders? That is not good enough and is the same approach you have taken.
I spoke earlier tonight about poor leadership by your Chief Minister and your government for the three bush members and how, if they had better leadership, more things would happen in the bush. It is the same with crime. How can you have a Chief Minister say ‘From time to time some things go wrong’ for a 40-minute response time? You still cannot get the response time right at Casuarina, because we know no longer can you call your police station to ask for a response and service. You have to go through the communications centre. I am sure the member for Katherine experiences the same difficulties we experience in Alice Springs, and everyone in the bush experiences. The member for Barkly, if he is talking to his community, they will have to be complaining, because they all complain to me about what happens in Tennant Creek. You cannot call Tennant Creek police – oh, no, you have to go to Darwin.
The reason this is becoming a problem and why crime is continuing is the communications centre in Berrimah is now running an evaluation process about who they will respond to and who they will not respond to. We know they must be responding to the political hot spots for Labor, more importantly than the Country Liberal Party seats. However, that gibe aside, it seems to me the communications centre, under the auspices of the Police minister - who is the Chief Minister - and the Police Commissioner, has moved things to a position of after the fact. Not responding before the crime happens, not while the crime happens, but after the fact.
If you get a break-in now, you cannot get police to turn up until a couple of days, on most occasions, to come and take evidence and fingerprints. The Aurora incident at the hotel was a live issue of which the video footage is now on the Internet on the NT News. I encourage people to look at it to see the four areas of failures - from ABC, from Cordell Jigsaw, from those ladies who committed appalling actions, and from the police for not turning up at all. The same thing happens here in Casuarina. It is not just Casuarina, member for Sanderson; it is all those areas in the northern suburbs.
Do you know how hard it is to get a police response time in Fannie Bay? It is not the police on the ground, it is the systems that have been put in place in the communications centre. It is the way the PROMIS system has to be entered so you cannot have any police available to get out there. These are the problems. This is why, in Fannie Bay and Parap, the crimes are still continuing. This is what the issue is. These are the things which the very articulate member for Sanderson was highlighting in his debate. When we sit in our shadow Cabinet, the voice of the member for Sanderson about the failures about crime and law and order at the Casuarina shopping centre are continual, because he is our flag man in the Northern Territory. He is the person who gets all the issues, who has to deal with all the complaints about this bad Labor government that is not improving ...
Mr Tollner: In the northern suburbs.
Mr GILES: In the northern suburbs. Well, it is across the Territory, member for Fong Lim, but he gets all the northern suburb’s complaints - from the electorates of people who sit opposite who do not speak up.
This is what I was reflecting before when I was engaging across the Chamber with the member for Arnhem, the Minister for Regional Development and Indigenous policy. It is about leadership. It is about leadership and trying to get change in that area, and that is not occurring.
The Attorney-General is not from the northern suburbs or Casuarina. The Police minister did not even stand – not even the local member for Casuarina tried to lay out a platform of how things are being rectified, and what needs to change, and how the police communications centre will be revamped to ensure there are adequate response times to address the crime in Casuarina, and to address what is happening with the gangs that are continuing. Member for Sanderson, I hope, in your wrap-up, you talk more about the gangs which are running around out there.
The member for Sanderson, in this motion, has a great deal of passion from his time spent as a school-based police officer. He had to deal with these things at a local level, with the people who were involved in these local issues. He has seen it grow from the ground up, right up to the top where some of these bad eggs are now participating in the antisocial behaviour that continues to make mums and dads feel unsafe. He is absolutely right in moving this motion to condemn the government for its failure to address crime and antisocial behaviour at Casuarina shopping centre.
The member for Johnston should be embarrassed about the number of people who come through the member for Sanderson’s office complaining about law and order issues - from his area - the same as the members for Nightcliff, Wanguri, and Fannie Bay. They will not stand up here and talk about these issues, but we know that crime is a problem. The member for Fong Lim and I quite often go to the Raging Bull in Parap to get our steak, and the law and order issues in Parap amaze me. I try to speak up on all the issues in my electorate to get change in the area. I have never heard the member for Fannie Bay talk about what he is doing to try to fix law and order issues. You could drive there tonight and there would be problems with law and order, and nothing would happen. He is not dealing with the public housing issues in Fannie Bay - and these are replicated through Casuarina and Johnston. These are the things we need to try to fix.
When it comes to providing a safe environment, we have to remember that as taxpayers, every Territorian deserves an adequate response from police.
Let me reflect on a conversation I had with a young lady by the name of Hope from the Aurora Hotel when I sat down with her on Saturday. She was crying and emotionally distraught. She said - and I will not use the profanity: ‘I am a taxpayer, I pay my taxes. My taxes go to the welfare cheques of the people who beat me up, but my taxes cannot get the police to turn up and protect me’. That is not good enough.
That is the society we live in. That is why mums and dads, teenagers, and kids do not feel safe going to Casuarina shopping centre. That is why I commend the motion the member for Sanderson has put forward tonight because this goes to the heart of the issues in the Northern Territory, which is law and order, Madam Deputy Speaker ...
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: Member for Braitling, it is 9 pm. Under Standing Order 41A we will be going into adjournment debate. You can resume your comments on the next General Business Day.
Debate adjourned.
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: Honourable members, I propose that the Assembly do now adjourn pursuant to Standing Order 41A(b).
Mr VATSKALIS (Casuarina): Madam Deputy Speaker, I intend today to talk about some of the retirees in my Department of Health but, first, I will make some comments about the crime situation at the Casuarina Shopping Square. There is no crime problem at Casuarina Shopping Square. The only problem is in the mind of the member for Sanderson who has about as much idea about the crime in Casuarina as the member for Fong Lim has about climate change on Triton.
There is a little difference. The member for Sanderson lives about 10 km from Casuarina Square; my electorate office is next to Casuarina Square. I have very good relationships and contacts with the Casuarina Square management and the Casuarina Police Station. I am the first one to receive complaints about problems at Casuarina. Inside Casuarina Square there is a Police Beat - which the opposition has rejected, has opposed, and has said publicly will remove if it comes to government.
The only problem is the CLP is trying to scare people in Darwin, and the Northern Territory, into believing that, somehow, crime is uncontrollable. I went to Casuarina nearly every day last week. I go to Casuarina regularly. I have never had a problem, personally, at Casuarina and I never had someone come to Casuarina telling me about problems.
Yes, there were problems before. I remember very well the Casuarina gangs but, if the members bothered to talk to anyone, apart from amongst themselves, they would find that the crime that they are describing in Casuarina is non-existent. I challenge them to bring statistics here to show there is crime at Casuarina, and I promise to bring back statistics from the police station and the police force in Casuarina which will contradict their allegations.
Stop the beat-up, get a grip on reality, and do not try to scare the people in Darwin and the Northern Territory about crime. There are problems in certain areas, but there are no problems in Casuarina Square.
I would like to speak about the retirement of a number of people from the Department of Health. First, I say thank you to Rosemary Jongue who has retired after more than 25 years of dedicated service at RDH as a hospital services assistant. Ms Jongue officially retired on 24 November 2011.
Ms Lynne Lawrence, a very good friend - we worked together in the Health Department in Casuarina Plaza next to Casuarina Square, and there was no crime problem there either - is retiring after 29 years of dedicated service in the Darwin, Katherine, Tennant Creek and Gove District Hospitals, from her current role as Director of Nursing at Katherine District Hospital. Ms Lawrence has also been involved in coordinating aspects of the 2005 Bali bombing, Timor-Leste evacuations, and the 1998 Katherine flood. Ms Lawrence has commenced leave and will be officially retiring on 30 June 2012.
Betty Clarke has retired after 25 years of dedicated service, with 24 of those years being spent as a nurse in the delivery suite. Ms Clarke is a fellow of the Australian College of Midwives. Ms Clarke has also supported nurses in her work as an Australian Nursing Federation job representative, fighting for rights and better working conditions. Ms Clarke officially retired on 1 February 2012.
Ms Wendy Mann has retired after 25 years of dedicated service, with six being spent in the Department of the Legislative Assembly as an Electorate Officer, and 19 being spent in the Department of Health in Alice Springs. Ms Mann started with the Department of Legislative Assembly on 28 August 1986 and has worked for the Department of Health since 1 February 1993 in Alice Springs.
Ms Margaret McLean is retiring after 30 years of dedicated service from her current position of Area Service Manager in Tennant Creek. Ms McLean has achieved a great deal throughout her career, including being named the Northern Territory Remote Area Nurse of the Year, the Northern Territory National Finalist HESTA Nurse of the Year 2007, and has also been nominated for the Living Legend Awards in the Northern Territory Nurse of the Year Awards 2011. Ms McLean has commenced leave and will officially retire on 29 June 2012.
Ms Vasantharani Rajan has retired after 24 years dedicated service from her current position as a Senior Nurse and Team Leader in the Renal Unit at RDH. Ms Rajan is a highly respected and admired Senior Clinical Nurse who has worked in other clinical units at the hospital. Ms Rajan officially retired on 18 January 2012.
Ms Sue Keith is retiring from the Department of Health after 30 years of service with the Northern Territory government. Ms Keith has worked in a variety of roles, including school secretary at Oenpelli School, financial roles within the Department of Education, and various policy positions with the Department of Health. Ms Keith will officially retire on 17 February 2012.
Ms Kate McTaggart who has already left the department, resigned from the Department of Health after 28 years of service with the Northern Territory government from her current position of Acting Senior Director and Director of People and Organisational Learning. Ms McTaggart started with the Territory government in March 1983 and has held many senior positions. Ms McTaggart believes her greatest career achievement has been bringing together and working with teams of talented and driven people who are willing to learn and work as a team, to bring workforce visions and strategies to life. Ms McTaggart officially resigned on 23 November 2011. I had the pleasure to work with Ms McTaggart in my previous role as the minister for Transport.
It is with much sadness that I advise that Dr Mike Williams, a leading Northern Territory paediatrician, passed away on New Year’s Day 2012 after battling a brain tumour over the past couple of years. Mike graduated from Monash University in Medicine in 1986. In 1993, Mike took up a position as an Advanced Paediatric Registrar at Royal Darwin Hospital. He completed his training in 1994 and began his work as a consultant paediatrician at both the Royal Darwin Hospital and the Darwin Private Hospital. Every month, Mike travelled to Katherine to see children at the Katherine District Hospital, Kintore Clinic, Wurli Wurlinjang, and the communities of Barunga, Beswick, Binjari, Kalkarindji, Lajamanu and Pine Creek.
Mike was awarded an adjunct appointment with the Northern Territory Clinical School of Flinders University soon after it opened. He lectured in general paediatrics, gastroenterology and the use of information technology in medicine. Mike also supported a range of research studies conducted with the Menzies School of Health Research, especially those involving children from the Katherine region.
Mike was diagnosed with a brain tumour in 2009. Showing immense courage in difficult circumstances, Mike continued working between operations and chemotherapy until 2011, and never lost his humour.
The Department of Health is deeply grateful to Mike for his dedication and commitment to the care of Northern Territory children. Many young Territorians are living healthier and happier lives because of his care and dedication. Our thoughts are with Mike’s wife, Jill, and his children.
In January 2012, the National Clinical Care and Trauma Response Centre delivered two days of training at the invitation of the United Nations based in Dili. Forty personnel nominated by the UN took part in the course. They included doctors and nurses from the United Nations, and personnel from the United Nations Emergency Response Team and Fire Service. Other participants included the Portuguese Embassy doctor, the Australian Embassy doctor and a Malaysian Military Medical Officer. The invitation from the UN provided the National Clinical Care and Trauma Response Centre with an excellent opportunity to network with medical staff working in Dili. The United Nations Chief of Mission Support, Mr Amadou Camara, and United Nations Chief of Staff, Mr Toby Lanzer were appreciative of the training opportunities and the ongoing support provided by both the centre and the Royal Darwin Hospital.
In December 2011, I also visited the National Clinical Care and Trauma Response Centre to be introduced to the Sim Family, three highly specialised 3G manikins which have joined the centre to enhance the training opportunities for doctors and nurses in the Northern Territory. The centre, based at Royal Darwin Hospital, is now recognised as the simulation training centre in the Northern Territory. The training equipment provides realistic simulated patients with correct anatomical and physiological features and functions which react to the treatment administered. As a matter of fact, these mannequins can talk, shed tears, vomit, bleed, and do anything a human being can do under a trauma situation. It can even react with a temperature. They look like humans; from a distance you can mistake them for humans.
In 2012, the centre is offering more than 1300 places for training courses. The courses include Australian Medical Assistance Team Training courses that are recognised nationally, internally, and internationally.
These are the people I want to say a big thank you to for dedicating so many years of their lives working in the Health Department to the benefit of Territorians. Of course, with the Critical Trauma Centre recognised nationally and internationally as a training provider of high standards, I am very pleased to be the minister working with such dedicated professionals such as Dr Mike Williams who, even a few months before his death, was providing services to kids in and around Katherine. Rest forever. You will be remembered forever, Mike Williams; you were a dedicated and tremendous person.
Mr WESTRA van HOLTHE (Katherine): Madam Deputy Speaker, unlike the member for Casuarina, I do not live in a parallel universe. When he was referring to the fact there is no crime, no problems, nothing bad happening at Casuarina Square, the only conclusion I can draw is he is looking at a different Casuarina Square to the rest of us. My goodness me!
I have an interest in theoretical physics - not that I understand it very well, but I have an interest in it. Minister, tonight you have gone some way to proving some of the theories about alternative universes.
That is not entirely what I want to talk about. I do not live in another universe because when I walk in the mornings - I live in Katherine, a beautiful place to live. I love living in Katherine, Northern Territory. There is only one. Thank God for Katherine, it is the jewel in the Territory’s crown. Believe you me, I love living there.
I spend much time on the streets and when I go out on the streets what I see is sad; that is, the amount of antisocial behaviour and crime occurring there. Unfortunately, it is a very sad product of the Labor government’s policy that is foisting this continued problem across not only Katherine, but the Northern Territory. Most mornings when I am in Katherine I go for a walk, for a number of reasons. One of those reasons is to survey my main street and the other roads I walk down. I could go along our beautiful river corridor. We have a beautiful walking path along our river. But no, what I do is walk into the main street and look at what is happening there. I get to see, often, the aftermath of what has occurred the night before.
I could walk down the main street on any given day and find a number of shop windows that are broken. Some of them have been broken for some time because the owners of those shops have had their windows smashed so often they do not bother fixing them any longer. They do not take insurance on those windows or do not claim because it costs them too much.
I am mindful of those types of things happening in my patch. This is occurring largely because young people, drunk people, all sorts of people walking up and down the main street at night who seem to act with impunity. Of course, with so much of our crime rate attributed to the misuse of alcohol, I have to draw a line between that behaviour, that damage I see in the main street, and the government’s policies around alcohol.
The opposition writes to the government with Questions on Notice from time to time, and we receive answers. We wrote a question last year about the number of people on the Banned Drinker Register. I quote from the letter we have received:
If you extrapolate those figures out a little to what we currently have - and I am just going to use the assumptions and same percentages. If we now have something like 2100 people on the BDR, working off these other figures, there should be approximately 4200 banning notices issued in the Northern Territory to date. Using those same percentages, that means there are 2983 with their first BAT notice, 588 on their second, 630 on their third and, of those 630 - using those same percentages of 63% - 400 of those have breached their third BAT notice.
I am just going to total those up. From the second, third, and the three-plus category, just using those figures I have extrapolated, there are approximately 1600 people who have either received a second or third, or subsequently breached their third banning notice.
The government talks about how well their alcohol reforms are going. How well are they going? I would like to know - and I would like someone on the other side to tell me - how those alcohol reforms going for the 1600 people – 1600 people using the figures that I talked about - who are on second, third, or subsequent banning notices? How is it working for them? I do not think it is. Surely, it cannot be. There are 1600 Territorians you and your policy are letting down. A number of those people are walking around my town committing offences. What is it? About 60% of offending in the Northern Territory is alcohol-related ...
Mr Knight: Yes, it is.
Mr WESTRA van HOLTHE: Of the offending that goes in Katherine, 60% is alcohol-related. I actually dispute that figure. I would say, based on my experience, it is a hell of a lot higher. What we have to do is find a way to address this problem.
The member for Daly said before: ‘The CLP is just going to pour alcohol on the problem’. The problem is, the member for Daly and all the others on the other side just do not listen; they do not get our policy, because it does not fit within the framework of their thinking. This is about personal responsibility. What is not the problem? I tell you what the problem is not: the problem is not alcohol, it is the misuse of alcohol. That is the problem. I should be able to have a beer, just like anyone else, at the end of the day. I should be able to go to the pub at 10 o’clock in the morning and get a takeaway, because I want to take it up to Edith Falls and have a glass of wine with my wife for lunch. That is what I should be able to do. But, no, I cannot under these restrictions. Do you know why, Madam Deputy Speaker? Because I, and nearly everyone else in Katherine, are being punished. We are being punished because of the bad behaviour of a few people - the people this government, through its policy, is letting down. All 1600 of them. There are 1600 Territorians being let down because these people just continue in the system. I receive reports regularly that people on their third banning notice are still being picked up for protective custody.
I would like any one of you - members for Johnston, Daly, or Barkly - to tell me how your policy is helping someone who has been picked up for being drunk while they are on their third banning notice. It is not. The policy of the Country Liberals is - and I will spell it out, I only have 30 seconds: we will build a facility to house these people where they will be given mandatory rehabilitation. However, we will be focusing on the people with the problem; the people who misuse alcohol - not the vast majority of the people of the Northern Territory who are good citizens, the ones who do not contribute to our antisocial behaviour or the crime rate.
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: Your time has expired, member for Katherine.
Mr McCARTHY (Barkly): Madam Deputy Speaker, it never ceases to amaze me in the semantics of debate when the Country Liberal Party member is on their feet; it is all about ‘my’ and ‘I’. It says a great deal about the member. It says a great deal about their intrinsic values and their policy development we are waiting to see.
I acknowledge and congratulate our Barkly residents who received Australia Day Awards in 2012. A well-known and acclaimed Barkly musician, Mr Barry Benning, was named Tennant Creek Citizen of the Year for his inspiration and mentoring provided to dozens of other emerging performers throughout the town and regions. Margie McLean, who the Minister for Health congratulated on her retirement after 30 years serving as a health professional in the Barkly, was named Elliott Citizen of the Year for her contribution to health in the community. The Cheeky Dog artist and entrepreneur Deon Beasley was awarded Tennant Creek Junior Citizen of the Year. Barkly College Citizens of the Year were Matthew Green for the primary school and Hannah Baldock for the high school. The Event of the Year went to NAIDOC Week, organised by a number of Indigenous organisations with an event highlight being the NAIDOC Ball.
After the Australia Day breakfast where the awards were presented, the town community traditionally gathers at Lake Mary Ann. Once again, the fun day at the lake was a huge success, with the regular events demanded by the public of thong throwing, the leaky bucket race, the egg throwing, and the tug of war. However, the raft race is an action-packed event hotly contested each year with teams of eight from local government and non-government organisations, which is followed by the iron man or woman, which is another traditional activity.
It was very interesting this year because the 2012 raft race incurred an emergency which required a serious water rescue. The trained lifeguards Jenni Zendeli and Adam Drake became our homegrown heroes with the rescue of two members of the BP Prospect team in the traditional raft race. I acknowledge the Tennant Creek Emergency Services Unit for their support of the Australia Day activities and the many other community events each year, At this event, they operated the lifeboat carrying our two local heroes
I was the master of ceremonies that day and I was working with a brilliant crew of young people from Barkly Shire Council. It is fantastic to be able to work with the youth. They organised the whole day and we pulled a big crowd there. There is traditional barbecued food, a band, and a great deal of alcohol consumed. It just works a treat. It is about working with young people, and being able to relate to young people - not living in fear of young people, but engaging with young people.
We were actually setting up this raft race; the rafts were in the water up against the dam. We were going through a check list of who was going to do what and who was going to man what. I was running the old school teacher lines about the judges and whether they were in position when we talked about rescue. These two lifeguards boarded the Emergency Services boat and went out into the centre of the dam, as they do every year. In 2012, there were two people in that BP Prospect team who departed company with the raft and were in serious trouble in deep water. Jenni Zendeli, a kid I know from school, and Adam Drake, a wonderful youth worker and now manager of the Anyinginyi Health Congress Sport and Rec, rescued these two guys and became our local heroes.
I thank the Barkly Shire Council CEO, David Shoobridge, and the shire staff for the wonderful job they did organising and operating the Australia Day activities, and I make special mention of that young team of organisers who were a pleasure to work with.
Tennant Creek never ceases to amaze me. During the absolute intensity of what was going on, I was approached by one of our very much emerging Indigenous leaders, Rose Graham. Rose had a plan. She wanted to do some sort of reconciliation activity with the Indigenous flag and the Australian flag. I thank the Tennant Creek Police, because their camp had a number of flags hanging up and we were able to borrow an Australian flag, and Rose had the Indigenous flag. We decided to do put the kids together. So, we had kids from all over the community together - I reckon there would have been about 60 in the circle - and we created this game where they were passing the two flags around the circle. To my great delight, the band, who named themselves The Rissoles for the day - they were a mob of session musos from town - started to play that famous Warumpi Band song - I remember from memory, but I will stand corrected by the member for Johnston - Black Fella, White Fella, and that song started to resonate across the crowd as these two kids put together this ad hoc ceremony.
It left many people very emotional, thinking that maybe we should formalise this from next year and beyond, because this activity which was presented and promoted by a young Indigenous woman, very much an emerging leader, signalled what Tennant Creek is all about, and the understanding and relationships we have as a community. It was a pleasure to be around that activity.
Regarding Casuarina Square, I will tell a quick story of my youngest son. I could not keep the sport up to him in Tennant Creek, so we had to make a really radical family decision and send him to boarding school. So, we sent him to St John’s College. When I was a visitor to this town, visiting him while he was at boarding school, we were regular visitors to Casuarina Square. I will never forget the most inspiring times when I walked around Casuarina Square with Joseph McCarthy, and the number of young people who would stop and say hello and he would engage with. There were kids from Arnhem Land, a couple of guys from Doomadgee in Queensland, I remember well - great Rugby League players in Doomadgee - and kids from Wadeye. They were from all over the Top End and Darwin. They were young people, they were vibrant, some were big, some were small, they were switched on, they were challenging, and they would engage with each other. I thought: ‘This is really good, because this kid is from Tennant Creek, he is settling into the capital city, he is making friends, he is engaging’.
He was aware of Casuarina Square when it did have problems, but it was quite a while back. It was a Labor government which dealt with the gang mentality. Hearing the member for Sanderson talk about transport, I know the old gentleman he is talking about. He is an incredible letter writer, and I am missing his letters. I used to love reading his letters. Member for Sanderson, you might remind him, I would love to hear some more, because not only does he have beautiful handwriting script, he is a classic letter writer.
Regarding transport, when we talk about what the Labor government has done in the area of the community and the CPV industry - the commercial passenger vehicle industry - we are talking about CCTV on the buses at Casuarina Interchange, passenger service officers operating there dealing with the public, our transit officers mentioned by the Minister for Young Territorians in his reply, fencing in that area, and movement of passengers - over 34 000 a week at Casuarina Bus Interchange. It flows smoothly and it flows well.
I encourage the member for Sanderson, with his police background and as a campus constable, to engage with the concerned seniors and share his knowledge about youth with the seniors who come to his office and express concerns, and give them a positive to take away. Give them some strategies about how to engage with young people in a positive light; how to deal with young people. Or simple strategies about how to stay safe in the community and how to move in and out of areas they may feel vulnerable in. It is the duty of an MLA to lead; we are elected community leaders. The member for Sanderson has much more to offer than we ever hear in this House. He needs to be seriously challenged to go back to his electorate and start talking up the Territory - talk it up.
Mr WOOD (Nelson): Madam Deputy Speaker, I will talk tonight about a man who recently died in Sydney. I say he was a man of numbers, he was a man of the Territory, he was a man of God, and he was a friend of mine as well. His name was Br Ken Gallagher, a Missionary of the Sacred Heart.
I will read a tribute Mr Laurence Ah Toy gave at his funeral last Monday. I thought that would be the best way to remember him as Laurence knew Br Gallagher much more than I did. I would like to read that tonight:
I should explain that the member for Fong Lim mentioned that I have a gammy arm. Well so did Br Ken Gallagher and that is the reason I called him the ‘one-armed bandit’. That is where he got his name.
Of how hard-headed he was:
I will interrupt that, as I have a quote here from Fr Tim Brennan, the Provincial of the MSCs, who made an interesting remark that the 39 homes for Aboriginal people that were put on Bathurst Island preceded the initiative of Mal Brough by nearly 30 years. I should also say I was on Bathurst Island when those first houses arrived.
Many of those people mentioned by Laurence I also know, and did know over the many years in the Territory.
Which is out at Nightcliff:
Madam Deputy Speaker, I will have to continue this tomorrow night.
Mrs LAMBLEY (Araluen): Madam Deputy Speaker, tonight I will talk about crime in Alice Springs and, specifically, crime in my electorate of Araluen.
Over the last couple of months, we have had Operation Thresher operating in Alice Springs. This has been a police effort to try to combat crime and, to some extent, it has alleviated the problem. However, the problem is still there. I have testimonies from constituents to prove that things have improved marginally. However, people in Araluen, specifically the area called Gillen, are continuing to suffer because of crime in Alice Springs.
Last week, on Wednesday, 8 February, I invited a group of residents from Standley Street in Gillen to attend a breakfast meeting with several senior police officers from the Alice Springs police force. This was quite an incredible coming together of the police and members of the community. All the residents were invited by each other. One resident, who I will call Annie, went around and invited all the people from Standley Street to come along to a breakfast meeting. Most of these people have experienced firsthand crime, break-ins, theft, and assaults within their homes and their immediate neighbourhood. These people came along with a very strong agenda to express their fears, their concerns and their ideas to the police officers who were kind enough to attend. Those police officers were the Commander of the Southern Region, Michael Murphy, Acting Superintendent of the Alice Springs Division, Michael Potts, and Superintendent Michael White. We were lucky enough to have three senior police officers attend a 7 am meeting on Wednesday, 8 February.
What unfolded was quite remarkable. All of the people who attended, bar one gentleman, had experienced serious crime which had seriously affected them. For most, they seemed to be quite traumatised and remained in a state of fear as a consequence of what they had experienced.
For example, Suzie – I am using fictitious names - said a car had driven into her fence, the driver bolted, and she had major fears for the safety of her children. She also had concerns about her children playing in the park. Her parents, who lived around the corner, had been seriously robbed during 2011 and had quite a quantity of their personal effects stolen. Mary said that she had been broken into five or six times. She was a resident of Standley Street. Annie, the lady who was responsible for calling the meeting and inviting people to come along, had her vehicle stolen and her house broken into. She felt quite concerned the street was being targeted. She felt there was a need for the neighbours to come together and find a solution with the police, which meant that she was quite inspired to call the meeting. Lizzie, despite having a large dog, said her house was broken into 10 weeks after moving in. Barry has had two break-ins in the last four to five years. He told of how he has had several motor vehicles stolen and lots of work gear stolen from his house. Trevor told of how several of his neighbours had moved out of the street because of crime and antisocial behaviour. Vera described the street as being a war zone and expressed concerns about how she felt crime was becoming more of an issue, rather than less of an issue.
The police were wonderful, as they always are. They were very respectful and helpful in giving the residents much advice on how they might secure their property. He went through the three Rs, which are apparently used to advise residents: recognise danger; refuse any offer; run away and report it to the first person they feel safe with.
What it said to me, as the member for Araluen, sitting back listening to these 10 very concerned residents, was the fact that crime in Alice Springs is still alive and well, despite Operation Thresher and many other initiatives that have been implemented in Alice Springs over the last 12 to 18 months. Crime is affecting the residents of Gillen in particular. Since Operation Thresher came into effect, which was around November 2011 - it has operated for around three months in Alice Springs - crime did continue.
I will read through a few media releases very quickly just to give you an idea of the things that have been going on. On 20 January:
On 30 January, another story about crime in Gillen:
Specifically they refer to an incident of crime:
Also in Gillen, on 17 January, they talked about how the Gillen Club was targeted once again. The Gillen Club, as well as many other clubs in Alice Springs, are targeted regularly. On 17 January, at the Gillen Club:
On 21 November 2011, around the time that Operation Thresher began:
And the last one, on 21 October 2011:
This is just a very small area of Alice Springs. The message I am giving you tonight is that crime is still a major problem for these poor residents who have bought into what they described last Wednesday in the breakfast meeting I had with them as ‘a lovely area’ - it is green, it is quite pretty. People thought they were buying into a safe family suburb where they could live safely and happily. Many of them have children, and have committed to Alice Springs as a place where they want to live and work. These incidents raise very serious questions around the quality of their life, their safety, their family, and their animals. They talked about how some of their animals are traumatised. Ultimately, it leads them question: ‘Do I stay in Alice Springs or not?’
Madam Deputy Speaker, to conclude, I remind the House of some of the statistics we put together last year. We put together 10 years of hard Labor; why Labor must go. Because we are not given quarterly crime statistics any more, we have to refer back to the data we have which we believe is reliable; that is, the five-year period between 2004-05 and 2009-10.
Alice Springs has felt the brunt of Labor’s failed law and order policy. Since 2004-05, robbery has increased by 450%, assault by 87%, sexual assault by 97%, house break-ins by 64%, commercial break-ins by 185%, motor vehicle theft by 97%, and property damage by 71%. This is simply not good enough.
Mr CONLAN (Greatorex): Madam Deputy Speaker, I like the member for Daly who called the member for Sanderson the Sad Sack from Sanderson - that was pretty funny. No wonder he is such a sad sack: because of all the crime he has experienced in the electorate of Sanderson. Of course, he would walk around feeling like a sad sack, as you would, confronted with the issues he is in his electorate of Sanderson, and taking the complaints on board from the enormous number of constituents who turn up to his doorstep at the Northlakes Shopping Centre every single day of the week. It would be enough to wear you down. The member for Daly is probably not far off - the dopey dill from Daly, you might say, if you want to start using that alliteration.
I also would like to reinforce the government’s failure when it comes to Alice Springs. Government might consider it to be repetition; I say reinforcement. I will say ‘reinforcement’ repeatedly. As I said yesterday, we have a town under siege. We lost 44 businesses in the last few years - 44 businesses that have either given up, have had enough, or have been sent to the wall by the government’s failed law and order policies.
They include the Golden Inn; the airport shuttle service; the Alice Plaza newsagent; the Arunta Bookshop - that was an absolute beauty; Big Al’s; the Blood Bank - can you believe we lost the Blood Bank in Alice Springs; Gallery Gondwana; Jetset Travel have packed up and left Alice Springs; and Mac Air. The Peter Appleyard Gallery could not make much of a go of it; they tried their hardest but were constantly confronted with the issues that we all are in Central Australia and indeed, Alice Springs. Polkadot; the Sunglass Shop; Sussan - a chain store like Sussan has pulled out of Alice Springs, as did another large store, Rivers. A store like Rivers did not last long in Alice Springs confronted with the issues that we all are.
The Cricket and Football Shop closed, in a town like Alice Springs that is so dominated by sport – cricket, football, and sports. They did not just sell cricket and football gear, they sold a great deal of sporting gear. It was a bit of a specialty sports store for various sports around town. We all know how important the focus on sports is in Alice Springs. For a store like that to be unable to continue trading because of the pressures the government is placing on it through its complete lacklustre approach to law and order is just despicable.
Keller’s Restaurant was another one. Pulver’s, as I said last night, was another one, and The Lane …
A member: Keller’s is gone?
Mr CONLAN: I beg your pardon?
A member: Keller’s is gone?
Mr CONLAN: Keller’s, yes, he pulled the pin. You can still see him on Sunday at the markets with Kranskys, I bet. No, the restaurant, the Swiss/Indian store, which was so unique for Alice Springs - Swiss and Indian …
Mr Elferink: And in the world.
Mr CONLAN: In the world, exactly. Yodelling as he was having a vindaloo. Yes, gone. That is a list of some of the 44 businesses which have shut their doors, or been sent to the wall because they just cannot continue with the enormous pressure being placed on them by Paul Henderson and his inept Labor government.
We see a situation where a business has been broken into 37 times in one year. The Town and Country Tavern has been assaulted 37 times in one year. What we heard from the inept Chief Minister and his inept government yesterday, under a sustained attack by the Territory opposition, dragging this government kicking and screaming to at least admit, come to the party, or come some way to admitting that in Alice Springs: ‘Yes, okay, we could have done better’. By golly, you could have done better! It is all a bit for you now, I fear. What we hear from them is: ‘Alice Springs is just like every other town in the country. Every town, large and small, has its problems. Every town in the country - it does not matter where you go, uphill, down dale, you will find towns all over this country that have just the same social problems as Alice Springs’.
What a load of rubbish! You find me one town, one capital city - I bet you cannot. Mr Paul Henderson, the inept Chief Minister of the Northern Territory, the coward who cannot face the people of Alice Springs, I challenge you to find me one town, one business in any capital city - whether it be the main street of Sydney or an outback town anywhere else in this country - that has sustained an attack 37 times in one year, and is still trading. Find me any business. I defy you to find me a business anywhere in this country that has sustained an assault 37 times in one year ...
Mr Elferink: You might find one in Baghdad; that would be the UN compound. No, they have not been attacked that often.
Mr CONLAN: You will not find it. I am telling you, you will not find it because it does not exist. The problems in Alice Springs are unique. They are fundamentally unique because of a whole raft of social issues that you have failed to grasp and address. Your alcohol laws are absolutely hopeless! So hopeless that just last week, a business sustained a $10 000 attack. In fact, it was the same bloke, another business - ram raided, $10 000 worth of damage for two bottles of grog. That is what prohibition does. That is what your alcohol laws are driving people to. If they cannot buy it, they still steal it, and they will do anything they can to get their hands on it.
Your alcohol laws are hopeless - absolutely hopeless. You crow about your Police Beat, somehow trying to paint us to be an organisation or an outfit that does not like the Police Beats. I cannot speak with too much conviction about the Casuarina Police Beat; I will leave that for my Top End colleagues. However, the one in Alice Springs is hopeless. It is manned largely by auxiliaries - if anyone is there to take the call. If anyone pushes the button and there is no one in the Police Beat, it is diverted to Darwin. We heard yesterday numerous examples of what happens when a call is diverted to a Top End call centre and someone who has no local or intimate knowledge of the precinct or the jurisdiction it comes from. There are a number of examples of why the Police Beat in Alice Springs has failed to live up to its expectations.
I have to say it was extraordinary that, last year in this parliament, the inept Chief Minister of the Northern Territory said, when questioned about the operation of the Police Beat, that he was not too sure about how many people are manning it, or how often it is manned. ‘That is an operational matter’, he said, ‘for the police, I do not get involved in that’. This is actually a major tier. This is a huge string to your law and order policy. I would have thought you would be across it, Chief Minister. But, no, once again, happy to crow what suits, but unable to provide any detail - all flash and no substance, as they say. That is clearly what we are experiencing with the leader of the Northern Territory Labor Party - absolutely hopeless, just like his policies, his government and his members.
The member for Johnston is absolutely hopeless. What a legacy he will leave this parliament and this Territory! The member for Karama is absolutely hopeless. She has just about sent the Territory to the wall. God help us if we win government and have to open that book. Goodness me, what will it say? $300m, some say $600m in the red. The member for Casuarina is presiding over the longest waiting lists in the country. You cannot get in to have elective surgery in this place; you have to wait months, sometimes years - absolutely hopeless! And they are your best four; they are the best you have.
We talk about the small man in the box, up the back, the member for Stuart, the Minister for Central Australia. God help Central Australia under the stewardship of the member for Stuart! No wonder we are in such trouble. You could almost excuse the inept Chief Minister and his kitchen cabinet over there - as Top End-centric members who are only focused on the northern suburbs - for dismissing Central Australia. You would hope the local member might stand up for Central Australia in Cabinet, but he is clearly not heard. He is clearly bullied and overlooked at every opportunity. You are hopeless! You are a hopeless government, and your policies, when it comes to Central Australia, are nothing but hopeless.
Mr ELFERINK (Port Darwin): Madam Deputy Speaker, I will touch on a couple of issues. However, before I do, first I ask a question of the Public Trustee for the Northern Territory: where is your annual report for last year? You are duty bound, as the Attorney-General is duty bound, to ensure the report is tabled within six sitting days after 30 June, if memory serves me. It is not there and, once again, this government and its ministers are not keeping an eye on what is going on and the legislative requirements of their administrative structures.
I have some issues with the waterfront. I note today the Chief Minister placed on the table, and gave notice of, the amendments to the Darwin Waterfront Corporation Act. I am not going to anticipate debate and discuss what is in that act; suffice to say it will have the effect of further cementing the Darwin Waterfront Corporation as the local governing authority for the area known as the waterfront, not the Darwin City Council.
I am fully aware of the circumstances that led to the rather anomalous situation that the premier residential area of the capital city of the Northern Territory is not under the governance of the Darwin City Council for services. However, the situation has now gone on for too long.
What is going on in this environment is nothing shy of ridiculous. You have the Northern Territory government, through its waterfront corporation, levying taxes under a structure of an imposed form of government, bearing in mind that, technically speaking, the mayor of the Darwin waterfront is the Chief Minister of the Northern Territory, and the CEO of the Darwin Waterfront Corporation is the town clerk. I find it nothing shy of astonishing that this organisation is now regularly levying taxes and fines, as they lawfully are permitted to do under the arrangements, but they are using DCC staff. Darwin City Council parking inspectors are policing the waterfront under contract. It is nothing short of bizarre.
The real problem is the people who live at the waterfront, people who have purchased homes and rental properties there, have no capacity to elect their local government representatives. That is shown in the way local government operates in the waterfront. We had the farcical situation of the first set of bylaws that came through this place which instructed, essentially, illegalities by virtue of the way those bylaws operated. That was corrected after some foot dragging by the government. However, we have a situation where there is now taxation without representation occurring for the people who live at the waterfront and who have purchased those premises. They have no power to elect their local government.
This was understood at the time when this farcical situation started out. Believe me, I am no champion of the Darwin City Council’s decision not to get involved - and I understand government was forced into a position. However, government at the time made a promise which is enshrined in section 37 of the Darwin Waterfront Corporation Act. Section 37 says they will review the waterfront’s operation.
That is not in the annual reports which are on the record of this parliament – there are four of them. There is no record of that review being conducted. Unless that review was conducted and the minister decided to sit on it because there was no requirement under the legislation to have it tabled in parliament, I call on the Chief Minister to table the Darwin Waterfront Corporation review because the people who live there, as ratepayers, should at least have the right to know the results of that legislatively required review.
We have seen no evidence of it and, frankly, my belief is that the review has never been conducted. Now, we have a Chief Minister seeking even greater taxing powers to be imposed on the people who live at the waterfront. There is already a surcharge of 20% allowed by the legislative instrument for some extra services - which I am not entirely sure whether the residents of the waterfront have received.
The government is deeply entrenched in the waterfront position because you have to remember in Stage 2, which frankly looks like a dump - it is an abandoned vacant lot. The big billboard advertising the second development component of the waterfront – Stage 2 or Stage 5, depending on who you talk to - has faded in the sunlight to the point where it is barely legible. The sales office is a demountable that looks daggy, in amongst weeds. The Darwin Waterfront Corporation has made some efforts in recent days to tidy up some of the weeds – well, bully for them!
In looking at our premier residential district, Stage 1 looks fine – good. It does not contain all the promises of government but it looks fine. Stage 2 is a vacant lot. The old iron ore wharf has been removed but, because the government has a commercial interest in the outcome, there is no driver, as far as government is concerned, to develop Stage 2 because the real estate market is a bit flat. If the real estate market is a little flat then, surely, as a government, that is the time you want your government investment starting to work so you can help the local economy. However, that is not what the government is doing.
Because of their 18% interest they are taking advice from Toga. I know Toga owns this; the government is only a passenger. However, Toga is sitting on those properties, and there is no commitment from government or Toga to develop the area until 2012. My understanding is the contracts for the pre-sales have a sunset clause in late 2013. Verbally, some of the purchasers of those pre-sales were assured by Toga, whilst it is not written - and I am aware of the effect of the Statute of Frauds - it was strongly hinted at the time: ‘It will not be long, construction will start soon; it will be happening any moment now’. Unfortunately, I do not see any evidence of any construction occurring there at all. I hope it will happen soon. I hope they start rolling this out quickly.
However, if you do that, you are going to be doing it in an environment where you are now competing directly with an economy which will be heating up during that period. Once again, government has engaged in amplifying the boom/bust cycle rather than reducing it, which is what they promised they would do in 2001 when they formed government. They were going to engage in what was called counter-cyclical spending - but that is another story.
Therefore, you have government with a pecuniary interest in the private development of Stage 2, and the place looks like a dump. In Stage 1 where the people live, they have no representation and their rates are levied upon them by someone who is not elected. It is time this silly situation was sorted out.
It is definitely a duty of the Northern Territory government and Darwin City Council to reach some sort of accord so the area falls within the municipality of the Darwin City Council for one reason only: simply that people who are levied taxes must have a capacity to choose the representatives who levy those taxes upon them. Whilst this is a matter of some local services, these taxes are still a burden upon the people who pay them. Taxation without representation, as a concept, has a very spectacular history on the North American continent. I make that comparison because it demonstrates how seriously people take the concept of taxation without representation.
People who live at the Darwin waterfront should not be the untermenschen of the Northern Territory at a political level. This is not good government. I will certainly be lobbying there that, should there be a change of government, these issues are redressed in favour of the people who live there and pay the local rates, taxes and charges they have to pay. They should be able to, at least, elect their own representatives.
What I expect from government is it does what the legislation it created for itself requires of it and have the review. If it has been done - and I have seen no evidence – then table it in this House. In the absence of that review being tabled in this House, as far as I and everyone else is concerned, it has not been done.
Dr BURNS (Johnston): Madam Deputy Speaker, tonight I want to speak about the life of Betty Gould, mother to Helen Allmich, the Editor of our Hansard and well-known in this Chamber, and also Paula Thornton and Patrick Gould. It was my pleasure to know Betty and her late husband, Kevin. They were delightful people. They always made me feel happy when I met them.
I intend to read the eulogy Paula gave at Betty’s funeral. It is very personal, but it is better than if I was to change it and make it into the third person. I read from this beautiful eulogy:
Motion agreed to; the Assembly adjourned.
VISITORS
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, I draw your attention to the presence in the gallery of Year 9 and Year 10 Palmerston Senior College Special Education Centre students accompanied by Mrs Jan Woodward, Mrs Joanne de Franz, Mrs Donna Harbridge and Mrs Rokiah Lacey; and also Year 4/5 Moil Primary School students accompanied by Ms Rachel Birkin, Ms Mary Ryng, Mrs Shirley Russell, Mrs Tamara Stenhouse and Mrs Helen Lolias.
On behalf of honourable members, I extend to you a very warm welcome.
Members: Hear, hear!
PETITION
Safety of Elderly Residents at 40 Head Street, Braitling
Safety of Elderly Residents at 40 Head Street, Braitling
Mr GILES (Braitling): Madam Speaker, I present a petition from 170 petitioners praying that the safety of elderly residents at 40 Head Street, Braitling, be ensured. The petition bears the Clerk’s certificate that it conforms with the requirements of standing orders.
Madam Speaker, I move that the petition be read.
Motion agreed to; petition read:
- To the Honourable Speaker and members of the Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory, we the undersigned respectfully showeth we urgently seek the security gates on the Territory Housing complex at 40 Head Street, Braitling, in Alice Springs, as well as more lighting and security cameras be installed.
Your petitioners, therefore, humbly pray the Legislative Assembly take the necessary steps to ensure the safety of the elderly residents.
RESPONSE TO PETITION
Petition No 55
Petition No 55
The CLERK: Madam Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 100A, I inform honourable members that a response to petition No 55 has been received and circulated to honourable members. The text of the response will be placed on the Legislative Assembly website. A copy of the response will be provided to the member who tabled the petition for distribution to petitioners.
- Petition No 55
Ban Sale of Fireworks in the Northern Territory
Date presented: 19 October 2011
Presented by: Mr Giles
Referred to: Minister for Justice and Attorney-General
Date response due: 14 February 2011
Date response received: 14 February 2011
Date response presented: 15 February 2011
Response:
The Northern Territory is the only jurisdiction in Australia where private possession and ignition of fireworks is permitted. Territory Day is an important celebration and it is highly valued by most Territorians.
The 2011 Territory Day was regarded as one of the better celebrations on record. Apprehending those who possess and ignite fireworks after the approved period is never easy, as offenders tend to move quickly away after the event before police can arrive.
The Dangerous Goods Act 1980 and Dangerous Goods Regulations have been amended for the past three years, as a result of feedback from the competent authority and from other parties such as Police, Fire and Emergency Services following Territory Day.
DARWIN WATERFRONT CORPORATION AMENDMENT BILL
(Serial 198)
(Serial 198)
Bill presented and read a first time.
Mr HENDERSON (Chief Minister): Madam Speaker, I move that the bill be now read a second time.
The Darwin Waterfront Corporation Act establishes the Darwin Waterfront Corporation to:
(a) develop, manage and service the Darwin Waterfront Precinct for the benefit of the community; and
The functions of the corporation include, amongst other things:
(a) to preserve good order in the precinct;
(c) to do anything for the development and maintenance of other civic amenities and facilities in the precinct including the staging of public events and entertainment in the precinct.
(a) sanitation, garbage collection and street cleaning;
Section 15 of the Darwin Waterfront Corporation Act contains provisions which allow the corporation to impose rates on land in the precinct for the purpose of funding these municipal services.
This bill is introduced for the purpose of:
(a) correcting a technical anomaly arising out of the interaction between the Darwin Waterfront Corporation Act and Unit Title Schemes Act; and
I will address each of these matters in turn. First, the technical anomaly. Section 15 of the act was amended by the Unit Title Schemes Act to insert new terms and definitions consistent with the Unit Title Schemes Act. In particular, section 15(7) was amended to refer to units in a scheme, a reference to a unit development under the Unit Title Schemes Act, as well as units in a plan, a reference to a unit development under the Unit Titles Act. It has always been the intention that, regardless of the number of layers in a scheme under the Unit Title Schemes Act, that rates:
(a) under section 15(3)(a) of the Darwin Waterfront Corporation Act, would be levied directly on the owner of the relevant unit; that is, the actual owner of an apartment; and
(b) under section 15(3)(b) of the act, would be levied on the common property at the highest level of the scheme.
Based on the current wording of section 15(7), it is not clear that the corporation can levy rates directly on the owner of the unit and, at the same time, levy rates on the common property at the highest level of the scheme. If not corrected, this could have considerable administrative and financial impacts on the corporation, as well as body corporate managers or administrators. This does not reflect the policy intention of the Unit Title Schemes Act or the Darwin Waterfront Corporation Act.
The second issue is consistency with the Local Government Act. The corporation has the power to levy rates, and it is intended the corporation should be capable of enforcing rates in a manner consistent with bodies under the Local Government Act. This bill will insert provisions into the act such that:
(a) unpaid rates will be deemed to be a charge on the land and, once rates have been in arrears for six months, the corporation will be able to register a charge on the land along the same lines as sections 170 to 176 of the Local Government Act. This will reduce the cost and difficulty of administering unpaid rates;
(c) the corporation will be able to levy rates on a proportional basis where land becomes rateable, or ceases to be rateable, during the course of the financial year along the lines of section 146 of the Local Government Act. This will enable the corporation to only levy rates for that part of the financial year where the land is rateable. This amendment is important in the context of the ongoing development of the precinct; and
(d) a number of ancillary provisions relating to administration and enforcement of rates have been identified, including:
In conclusion, the Darwin Waterfront Precinct is a place of residence and business and a venue for public events and entertainment. The Darwin Waterfront Corporation must have funding for the municipal services it provides and for the important functions it performs in the precinct. Similarly to local government areas throughout the Territory, that funding is raised from a number of sources including funding from government and, importantly, the levying of rates on land within the precinct.
Madam Speaker, the government considers that the bill is balanced and fair. I commend the bill to the Assembly.
Debate adjourned.
SUPERANNUATION AMENDMENT BILL
(Serial 195)
(Serial 195)
Bill presented and read a first time.
Ms LAWRIE (Treasurer): Madam Speaker, I move that the bill be now read a second time.
Treasury is currently implementing major reforms to the Territory’s Public Sector superannuation schemes. The superannuation reform project will provide cost savings and administrative efficiencies, as well as greater flexibility for government and members without affecting members’ entitlements.
Legislation for Stage 1 of the project was passed in 2010 and implemented during 2011. Stage 1 removed the NT government death and invalidity (NTGDIS) medical requirements for new employees; implemented transition to retirement provisions for NT government and public authorities’ superannuation scheme (NTGPASS) and NT Supplementary Benefits Scheme (NTSSS) members; introduced account keeping fees for retained NTGPASS members; and replaced three trustee boards with the Superannuation Trustee Board (STB).
Stage 2 was approved by Cabinet in October 2011 and will: finalise the composition of the STB; restructure three schemes (NTGPASS, NTSSS and NTGDIS); replace the current Appeals Board with the Commonwealth’s Superannuation Complaints Tribunal; and amalgamate the current superannuation legislation into a single act and regulations.
Stage 2 is being implemented in two parts. The current bill will finalise the composition of the STB, and a future bill will implement the remainder of the reforms. The current bill expands the STB from six members to nine members to include representation for each of the three schemes.
The board has responsibility for and includes employee and employee nominated members as follows:
a chair and a deputy chair appointed after consultation with Unions NT;
This provision is necessary because each of the schemes are now closed, and the STB membership will become unrepresentative of the STB’s functions as the pool of funds managed by the STB declines over time.
Debate adjourned.
JUSTICE AND OTHER LEGISLATION AMENDMENT BILL (No 2)
(Serial 191)
(Serial 191)
Continued from 30 November 2011.
Mr ELFERINK (Port Darwin): Madam Speaker, today I wish to make some comments in relation to this legislative instrument but can indicate, at the outset, the Attorney-General need not occupy the chair he is about to because we will not be going into the committee stages. I can indicate at this stage he will be enjoying the support of the Country Liberals in relation to this bill. This bill is not quite a statute law review bill in how it operates, but it is ...
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Order! Member for Fong Lim, order! Honourable members! Member for Port Darwin, you have the call.
Mr ELFERINK: I congratulate the member for Johnston on his elevation. I always knew he aspired to this level. He did not quite get there and is about to retire, but he thought he would sit in the seat for a while just to get the feel for it. I cannot say I blame him.
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr ELFERINK: Back to the business at hand, Madam Speaker. Whilst this is not a statute law review type of bill which normally crosses the i’s and dots the t’s, it makes amendments across a series of legislative instruments namely the Bail Act, the Companies Act, Liquor Act, the Local Court Act, Oaths, Affidavits and Declarations Act, the Police Administration Act - and that is it.
The amendments are relatively minor and, without even having spoken to the Chief Justice about them, I suspect some of them, if not all of them, were generated by request of the judiciary because they are the ones who have to, clearly, live with the implications of this bill.
Starting first with the Bail Act, section 6 of the Bail Act, the capacity to grant bail for certain periods, which is clause 4 in the bill, is being amended. Currently, the section allows bail to be granted to an accused person for certain periods while the offence is being dealt with by way of a court. This includes being charged with an offence, and the person’s first appearance before the court during any adjournments and during the course of the trial between being found guilty and being sentenced. Other periods include between the person’s committal under the criminal law conditions of the Release of Offenders Act, or section 40 of the Sentencing Act, and when the court deals with them in accordance with that committal.
The amendment proposes that an inconsistency be resolved which arose out of the Criminal Law (Conditional Release of Offenders) Act repeal some time ago. New sections 6(f) and (g) in the Bail Act have been inserted to refer to the correct sections of the Sentencing Act, so bail can be granted to a person who has allegedly breached a suspended sentence or good behaviour bond. There is no effective change to the intent of the current provisions, but I suspect it clears up a potentially anomalous situation.
I now refer to the Companies (Trustees and Personal Representatives) Act. The section currently only applies to the transfer of assets to liabilities of a company which has had its licence cancelled under the Commonwealth Corporations Act. The amendment seeks to amend this section to accommodate the compulsory and voluntary transfer of assets and liabilities between companies. Once again, this legislative change mirrors a change in the Commonwealth legislation and returns consistency to the two instruments in their operation relative to each other. Clause 8, new section 55 and a new section 56 are for the same reasons.
I now turn my attention to the Justices Act, section 191 which deals with procedure for failure to appear, which comes about out of the operation …
[Mobile phone ringing theme from The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.]
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Fong Lim!
Mr Knight: You are the ugly one.
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr Fong Lim: At least I am not the bad one.
Members interjecting.
Mr Westra van Holthe: I will give that one to you, Rob; that was pretty quick.
Madam SPEAKER: Order, order, honourable members!
Mr ELFERINK: Yes, outrageous conduct, Madam Speaker.
The problem is, of course, with the law surrounding liable, slander, and defamation, it can only be defamatory if it is not true.
The Justices Act - and I might as well touch on the amendments to the Police Administration Act because they work hand in hand with each other - deals with the changing of arrangements surrounding a person who has been given a notice to appear under section 133B of the Police Administration Act. What, effectively, occurs at the moment is, if a person fails to respond to a notice issued under that part of the legislation, then a warrant is issued to apprehend the person. Members will be aware that, from time to time, particularly in relation to minor matters, the courts will deal with matters ex parte, which means the person who is charged with the offence will have the matter heard in their absence. The amendments under the Justices Act enable the discretion to be exercised by a court by either issuing a warrant or allowing the matter to proceed by way of an ex parte hearing.
This is a pretty forward amendment and I will not go back and forward and touch on the amendment to the Police Administration Act because the Police Administration Act is being amended to accommodate the operation of the amendment under the Justices Act.
Section 106B of the Liquor Act is also being amended. Currently, it is an offence for a child to enter on to, or remain on, licensed premises that are prohibited to children under section 106. The licensee or employee may use the defence that the child was at least 16 years of age when they were supplied a form of identification that indicated they were an adult. Under section 106B(3) the defence to a charge against this offence does not relate to provisions under section 106B(1) as they refer to the supply of liquor to the child rather than access to premises. The amendment proposes and seeks to rectify the irregularity of the defence provision so it refers to a child entering or remaining on the premises rather than referring necessarily to the supply of alcohol. This amendment is a straightforward correction of a provision which, essentially, would be nonsensical in its operation. Once again, the Country Liberals indicate they have no problem with the intent of the amendment the minister is bringing into this place.
I now turn my attention to the Local Court Act. Section 19, Appeals to the Supreme Court, clause 15 of the bill, is intended to create, if you like, a capacity for appeals against interlocutory orders to not be entirely or generally bound by the provision of the 14-day appeal period but, under certain circumstances, that appeal period may be extended, I presume, with the discretion of the court. The test, of course, in that is the exceptional circumstances would not materially prejudice – or the appeal would not be materially prejudiced because of the delay.
That sounded like Swahili when I said that, so I will read what has been written for me: these provisions allow a person to appeal an interlocutory order after the prescribed 14-day period in exceptional circumstances, provided the appeal would not materially be prejudiced because of the delay. Yes, that is better.
Once again, it is a straightforward exercise. In how a court operates, I am often surprised with the number of legislative instruments we pass in this place dictating or describing to courts how they should operate. I tend to be a bit of a purist when it comes to this sort of thing. I believe courts are made of, generally, smart people who can probably figure out how to operate themselves, and anything that returns a greater quality of discretion to those courts in how they operate would be something I would be automatically inclined to support. While sentencing practices and those sort of practices, from time to time, will raise my eyebrows, the operation and administration of the courts is something I believe, as a general proposition, should be left to the courts themselves.
In the Oaths, Affidavits and Declarations Act - section 5 and clause 17 of this bill - the form of the oath is to be amended. Essentially, without going into the details of amendments, what it seeks to do is remove identifying material from the oaths that are taken by courts. Currently, oaths include names and addresses. This will allow addresses to be dropped away, and identifying the person by name will be sufficient. Whilst I personally, in the past, never had any personal concern when I have had to swear oaths over supplying my address, I can imagine why other people, and in what circumstances other people, may be nervous about that sort of thing and, as a consequence, as long as the identity of the person is well established, the declaration of their address may not be necessary and, where it is not necessary, of course, if they would seek to decline to declare where they live, then so much the better for them.
Section 18 - no, I have dealt with that. I am not going to go through it in detail.
That, then, takes us to the Police Administration Act which I referred to earlier. As far as we are concerned on this side of the House, that matter has already been dealt with.
In short, nothing controversial flows from this. You do not have to be a rocket scientist to figure out this has probably come to government as requests from the judiciary themselves. I am always happy to support the judiciary when it comes to their own administration.
Madam Speaker, the government can enjoy our support in relation to this matter.
Mr GILES (Braitling): Madam Speaker, I am not going to talk directly to this legislation, but I pricked my ears up about a couple of things the member for Port Darwin said, particularly the concerns we have in Central Australia and other areas across the Northern Territory around restitution orders: the granting of restitution orders, the administration of them, and the implication around restitution orders, particularly for the victims of crime.
It has been a growing concern throughout the Northern Territory that victims of crime, particularly property crime, are not receiving restitution orders to get back some type of compensatory measure for the criminal damage that has been caused. I have been engaged in communications with the Attorney-General of the Northern Territory and, also federally, with the Minister for Human Services, inquiring about section 60 of the Social Security Act and whether garnishee orders can be made for restitution recovered by the Fines Recovery Unit.
Without being too generalistic, we know many of the crimes committed in the Northern Territory are by people who are on some form of welfare payment. Section 60 of the Social Security Act under the Commonwealth prohibits the garnisheeing of that income for the purposes of restitution so the victims of crime can get money back.
A perfect example of this scenario is the situation that occurred at the Aurora Hotel in Alice Springs last week, where there was substantial damage done, including smashing windows on the front door of a hotel. While that may seem trivial to some, for these business and property owners who continually have to replace doors, windows and screens, it is highly expensive. At Club Eastside the other night, there was $10 000 damage for about $100-worth of alcohol. That Club Eastside and all the members at that club have no way, through this current process, of getting their money back if those perpetrators of the crime were recipients of welfare of some sort. I encourage the Attorney-General of the Northern Territory to engage his federal counterparts to try to make changes to the Social Security Act through consultation with the Human Services minister so the victims of crime in the Northern Territory can get some compensation from the criminal damage that has been effected by those people who may or may not be on some form of welfare.
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Port Darwin for leading me into that opportunity to have that conversation. I encourage the Attorney-General to take these matters further. He would have my full cooperation if he would like to pursue these matters.
Mr KNIGHT (Justice and Attorney-General): Madam Speaker, I thank members for their contribution. It is good to know the CLP has a Swahili speech writer up there at the moment …
Mr Elferink: The Swahili was mine; the speechwriter wrote that.
Mr KNIGHT: Okay. I thank members for their contribution. This is one of the semi-regular omnibus bills that come into the parliament. We have seven statutes we are amending with this legislation. Basically, it is a bit of a tidy up of them. Some of them have been in operation for over 12 months, and a review of those acts occurs around the 12 month mark. There has been quite a bit of consultation around this and, as the member for Port Darwin highlighted, comments have come up through the judiciary about the operation of some of these acts, and improvements and corrections have been offered up. I thank the Chief Justice for his contribution, and the Chief Magistrate and the Law Society of the Northern Territory - they were consulted in relation to these changes - and also the NT Bar Association, the Criminal Lawyers Association of the NT, and the Legal Aid Commission. This has impacted on them, as well as the Northern Territory Aboriginal Justice Agency and, in Central Australia, the Central Australian Aboriginal Legal Aid Service. They offered contribution to these bills.
Starting with the Companies (Trustees and Personal Representatives) Act, this brings us into line with Commonwealth legislation which was passed in 2001 to allow ASIC to voluntarily transfer assets and liabilities to another trust company. This brings us in line with the national scheme. Several jurisdictions have moved and other jurisdictions have an ability, through their regulations, to make this move as well. It will have some effects in the Northern Territory, but it enables ASIC to have that provision.
With respect to the Bail Act, this is, basically, correcting a referencing problem that occurred. The intent of section 6(f) of the Bail Act was to allow bail to be granted to a person who had allegedly breached a suspended sentence or good behaviour bond for the period between their committal and their appearance in court. This clarifies the ability of the court to give that person bail. There is a wide spectrum of offences with respect to the breach of a suspended sentence and a good behaviour bond, and this allows the court to, ultimately, have some discretion in granting bail. I see the application of this probably occurring at the lower end of offences.
The member for Port Darwin also talked about the Justices Act. With respect to police notices to appear, this is a problem not only in our major centres but out bush as well. We see a great deal of failure to appear. This gives effect to the police notice, as is the case for a court summons, allowing the matter to be heard ex parte and, quite rightly, with amendments to the Police Administration Act puts on notice - there would be some wording which, would be presented to the offender - if they do not appear at court the matter will be heard.
This is an improvement and brings some consistency. It, apparently, was the intent of the original passage of the Justices Act with respect to police notices, so this clarifies that. Hopefully, this speeds up the court processes, especially in bush courts. Many matters are adjourned repeatedly; however, for those strict liability offences at the minor end, this will clear up many of those matters. This simplifies the operation.
There was a minor drafting error in the Liquor Act which had to be clarified. That has now been corrected so it actually makes section 106B(3) make sense. The defence in section 106B(3) does not correctly link to section 106B(1), so that has been corrected with this legislation.
As the members talked about the Local Court Act with respect to the interlocutory orders, this just allows people who do not meet the 14-day period of appeal - for whatever reason, especially self-representation in the Magistrates Court – to be able to take that matter to the Supreme Court before final orders are issued.
With respect to the oaths and affidavits, just to clarify for the member for Port Darwin, my understanding is, currently, it does not say where the name appears. This legislative amendment will make it appear after the comma, after ‘I, - the name will be inserted in there. With respect to the address, it can be included, but it is optional to include it. I guess for some oaths or affidavits it may be required to be inserted because of clarity. There may be many John Smiths around, I imagine ...
Mr Elferink: If it assists you, I did not lose too much sleep over it.
Mr KNIGHT: Okay. I like talking about this; I need to be thorough. Anyway, I am just clarifying that. This also helps interpreters with respect to the way they provide the oaths and affidavits, and also the orderlies who present the oath in the third party.
I have gone through companies and trustees.
Madam Speaker, I thank honourable members for speaking on this matter; it certainly does tidy it up. There were other matters I was hoping to get into this legislation but, hopefully, we will be able to include those in another JLA but, certainly, in some other legislation. I thank the department for all their help in this matter, and we look forward to the passage of this bill. I thank the legal profession, the judiciary staff at the DPP, the police, and the Commonwealth for informing us of these changes.
Motion agreed to; bill read second time.
Mr KNIGHT (Justice and Attorney-General) (by leave): Madam Speaker, I move that the bill be now read a third time.
Motion agreed to; bill read a third time.
MOTION
Note Statement - Gearing Up For Growth
Continued from 14 February 2012.
Mr McCARTHY (Lands and Planning): Madam Speaker, I am pleased today to support the Chief Minister’s statement on the next phase of the Northern Territory’s growth – and what a time it is to be a Territorian; a very exciting time in the history of the Northern Territory.
Since the Legislative Assembly last sat, the economic future of the Territory has changed forever, secured by the signing of the final investment decision by INPEX and Total for the Ichthys LNG project on 13 January 2012. After years of work, it was truly a monumental occasion and, to quote the Chief Minister: ‘We made it!’
I was at my electorate office in Tennant Creek on the day of the final investment decision, along with my wife, Dawn, and we watched the signing ceremony as it was streamed through the Internet. Watching the ceremony almost 1000 km away in my office on Paterson Street, it confirmed again for me what I truly believe this side of the House believes; that the Ichthys LNG project will benefit all of the Territory.
I will just push rewind because I have to make a comment on the members for Araluen and Greatorex, both prominent Central Australian citizens but, unfortunately, in a rabble that has no plans and no policy and, yesterday they confirmed for me, they have no imagination. When I watched this streamed live on the Internet and I had a discussion with some people in the office on that particular day, I hit the street to tell the story that I had been working on for a number of years, with the Henderson government, to pitch it to the Barkly that we can be involved in this prosperity. This is for the whole of the Territory; this is not just about Darwin. That chitter chatter yesterday, that uninformed, unintelligent chitter chatter from the members for Araluen and Greatorex, really highlighted how out of touch you can get if you do not take an interest in what is happening in the Northern Territory, and the bigger picture of what is happening in the Northern Territory.
The Chief Minister, and this side of the House, has had the eye firmly on the target for securing INPEX for the Territory for years. The government has been planning for, and is delivering, projects and initiatives to ensure the vision was realised - and it has been. The Chief Minister’s commitment and resolve has never waivered. He has provided certainty for INPEX and Total across the years and planned for the future of the whole of the Northern Territory and all of its citizens.
Of course, the same cannot be said about the others. As a constituent in April 2008 and before, I was following this closely because I was examining this as a potential game changer for the Northern Territory - and summed up by some eminent INPEX directors – that now Northern Australia has joined the global energy sector to be real players in the global energy sector.
In April 2008, at the key point in the campaign to secure INPEX for the Territory, the Country Liberal Party was saying it did not support the project. The Leader of the Opposition went so far as to say he did not support the project going ahead at Middle Arm. I disagreed with him then and I disagree with him now. He did not support it; that was the position which is on record. It was a time when we, as a Northern Territory, were seriously the underdog against the bids coming in from Western Australia. So, it was at this vulnerable time that we needed the unanimous support of all Territorians. However, the Country Liberal Party chose not to support it then.
Thank goodness the Chief Minister worked so hard to make it a certainty that INPEX arrived on our doorstep and it is made very clear now that everyone is open for business. Thank goodness for the hundreds of people across the world and the Territory who committed years of work to securing a final investment decision on the project.
The Leader of the Opposition spoke to the statement yesterday, and I was very interested to hear his contribution to the debate. I will make a few comments on his contribution because I found it to be shallow and uninformed. I listened to the member for Araluen talk about how the Leader of the Opposition gets around the Territory. Well, he certainly needs to take a closer look because what we have here is the opportunity, in history, to challenge the stereotypes of the fly-in/fly-out model. With a project of the magnitude of the Ichthys project the fly-in/fly-out model and the visionary Marine Supply Base to capture the offshore opportunities as well as the onshore opportunities. means people from the regions and remote areas can get a stake in the game. They can fly into the capital city and they can fly out.
Members might be interested to know this is the real deal, because I have two sons who do this. They are fly-in/fly-out workers. They have chosen to work the 14 day on and the seven day off. The miner at Olympic Dam tells me he will never go back to the Monday to Friday grind. It suits his lifestyle, it suits his plan, which is a plan to create a real estate portfolio, to get in early, to work hard and to focus on, possibly, an early retirement. He is 26 years of age. It works, it does happen; people from the regions understand this. We have the same shift changes going in and out of Bootu Creek, just north of Tennant Creek, The Granites on the Tanami, McArthur River at Borroloola - coming out of capital cities and back.
This is going to reverse this. This is where kids from Tennant Creek, Ali Curung or Elliott can get on a regular passenger transport from Tennant Creek into Darwin, work a hard shift with the best tradies in the world, on the biggest project that the Northern Territory has ever seen, and return home. They have seven days off to sit on the billabong fishing, to have access to real prosperity, to support their families, to buy things for their wives and children, to fit out the home and garden, and to go to Melbourne and watch their favourite football team play. That is the difference between welfare and wages: prosperity that will be paid for labour on this, which is a massive project, a great project for the Territory. It is, as I said, real recognition that the global energy sector has entered the space.
The member for Blain then talked down the project; that there is no accommodation. The usual mantra of the Country Liberal Party: there is no accommodation. Well, when I hit the street in Tennant Creek - and I have been telling the story for the last couple of years to regional and remote residents - these guys are building a 2500-bed workers village - 2500 beds! The Northern Territory government is putting out opportunities for the private sector to also get into the same space of providing supported worker accommodation, and that is the key pin to engaging regional and remote constituents.
In Tennant Creek, when the Northern Australian Railway went through, we had a 250-bed workers village, and that made an incredible difference to some of the businesses in the town which maximised those opportunities. Some operated on the edge and got a bit of that commercial benefit. What it showed the town and the community was, this is real, this is how big industry works. This is a space where you are not dancing down Mitchell Street - or Paterson Street for the Tennant Creek example - you are at work, you are focused, you may be in training and, when you are not at work, then you go home for a shift break. That was 250 beds; this project is bringing 2500 beds.
Let us get that out there for the start, because that is a real opportunity for recruiting youth and adults from the regional areas. I am not about taking the skilled workforce from the regional areas, as the skilled workers around Tennant Creek and the Barkly are doing quite well without government investment in infrastructure. It is not so much about those guys. It is about the unemployed and the youth. It is about the 17-year-old at the Barkly College today, in the trade training centre. That brings me to the next point.
The member for Blain went back in time and talked about the technical colleges in that era of education. Well, being an educator, he knows what happened. That was a whole period in history where the accelerator in the trade training area was taken off, and then governments - state, territory and federal - have realised that pedal has to be put back on, because there needs to be options presented to our kids, our youth. The opportunities are there in the construction, infrastructure, and transport and logistics areas.
The member for Blain talked the gloom and doom; that there are no trade training centres, no preparation. Well guess what? The Barkly College in Tennant Creek has a trade training centre. I have visited the place. Borroloola is about to receive one. There are a number of others rolling out across the Territory. This is great news, because the Ichthys project, the Marine Supply Base, and the associated energy sector projects that will aggregate around this in the capital of Darwin, will be ongoing for decades. It is really important now to ensure we get the benefits from these trade training centres; get our kids prepared and get them into the workplace working with some of the best trades people in the world.
What the Country Liberal Party continues to neglect when it runs down the Territory and talks the gloom and doom is there is a very active private sector of developers out there working very hard in the housing area, not only building houses but also releasing land and creating subdivisions - not only in Darwin, but right across the board.
In response to the member for Araluen, I was in Alice Springs just over a week ago. It was wonderful to meet with the Planning for the Future Forum - led by the mayor, co-chaired by the member for Stuart - to talk about the five actions on that plan developed in 2008 that had all been completed, and about now creating the new model in which Central Australia, Alice Springs, works together with government to continually inform their needs and to create the development opportunities for the future. The discussion is going to be quite challenging because the first thing I put on the table was: ‘Let us talk about how to get developments up in the CBD. Let us talk about energising the CBD and Alice Springs with people. That is good urban design that creates good passive surveillance. That is the best way, globally, we have seen to address antisocial behaviour. The other side of that is you are going to have to talk about building heights’. I put that back to the Alice Springs community, led by reputable leaders. It is government working with Alice Springs on the bigger picture; having plans and policy to deliver the real outcomes.
When we talk about Alice Springs and the gloom and doom, there are some challenges in the business sector - there is no doubt about that. I come from Tennant Creek and we know all about challenges with main street businesses. Business is a very dicey environment in regard to the economic credentials of what is going on around you. We do not only talk about the Northern Territory, we talk nationally and globally since 2008. However, it is really nice to see building and construction, planning and development, new subdivisions and work sites throughout the town, and roads infrastructure being developed.
It is ministers of the Henderson government working hard to address the challenges within the tourism industry, local government, sport and rec, youth, community safety - and it does not stop. The sleeves are rolled up on this side and it continues. The member for Araluen needs to take interest in those really positive things happening within Alice Springs and the community of Central Australia.
I took great interest in the ConocoPhillips LNG project at Wickham Point. I saw the step change in the economy that provided. I saw that as a game changer; however, after doing the studies on Ichthys LNG, this a major project that combines with the Marine Supply Base and, currently, the Darwin Correctional precinct. This, then, aggregates within investments in mineral exploration across the Northern Territory, the development of the East Arm port - that critical logistics point which represents the gateway to Asia - the drive in population growth, and the economic opportunities these together provide for all Territorians.
The Territory is well placed to take advantage of these opportunities. This is not a negative, this is a big positive. That is why this government is investing in key projects, strategically delivering for Territorians now, and focusing on the future. You have to have a plan; you have to have policies. You have to be able to articulate them and be able to talk up the Territory.
When the Chief Minister left that wonderful function put on to celebrate the signing of the Ichthys project for Territorians, he took off to Perth on the hunt for another major project. There was no rest. I congratulated him about 10.30 pm and he was in the air going to Perth the next day to bid and to use the knowledge we have on this side of the House to talk up the Territory to attract another player to aggregate around this global energy sector that has come to northern Australia.
The story is pretty clear: from 2001 the Territory Labor government’s infrastructure program has injected considerable significant cash into the Territory’s economy. It has been a clear plan to create jobs to build enabling infrastructure that will support project development. Putting a total on that, around $9bn since 2001 was spent by the Territory Labor government. That is a significant investment that has paid the dividends of attracting the big end of town, which are projects such as Ichthys. Infrastructure spending has increased by 300% - a government with clear plans with a strong policy agenda and with vision to see that enabling infrastructure is the way to go to attract the big players to town and to the Territory. We understand the valuable role government in the Territory plays, and its efforts in underpinning the economy that supports Territory jobs.
Some of the projects we should reflect on, because we need to be proud of ourselves in this place; we need to go out and tell the story and talk up the Territory. The Tiger Brennan Drive extension project provides faster travel times between Darwin and Palmerston and improved access to the port. There are new police stations at Casuarina, Numbulwar, and Galiwinku. There is a new police station being constructed in Tennant Creek in two phases right on the main street at the moment. A joint police and fire station was built at Humpty Doo and a fire station at Marrara, and a new fire station is under construction at Berrimah. In planning and vision, that new fire station at Berrimah is right in the middle of the logistics hub we will be developing considerably over many decades - good planning, good results.
It is wonderful to celebrate new schools. The Darwin Middle School, Wadeye secondary education facility, Rosebery schools, Wugularr schools, and upgrades to all of our primary schools is something I comment on everywhere I travel in the Northern Territory.
Power stations infrastructure includes Owen Springs, Alpurrurulam, Docker River, and Titjikala. I was at Alpurrurulam in January and they gave me a tour of the new power station being constructed - a combination of diesel, solar, and wind. If anyone has been to Alpurrurulam, that is in a pretty remote part of the Territory. That community is seeing a cutting edge hybrid system going in that will save them much grief in saving fuel, reducing the risk of running out of traditional power supply of diesel over the Wet Season. They will also be part of a green Territory, being a leading community in showing the rest of the world how you go about greening your space.
Another important project is essential services. The new sewerage facility at Borroloola is an amazing project in a growth town. This government has many examples of setting up enabling infrastructure in power, water, and sewerage so that we can then work together with the Australian government to attract additional cash - those big cash buckets we need to support the continuation of the roll-out of housing, health, and education infrastructure. It is, once again, good planning with a great deal of good vision.
New sporting facilities are at Traeger Park in Alice Springs, Marrara, Palmerston, the Purkiss Reserve in Tennant Creek …
Madam SPEAKER: Minister, your time has expired.
Mr McCARTHY: Madam Speaker, thank you. Pity.
Ms McCARTHY (Local Government): Madam Speaker, I support the Chief Minister’s statement of the Territory gearing up for growth. I certainly agree the Northern Territory is an incredibly good place to be. It is poised for the next development phase of the Northern Territory, and we can now have more confidence and certainty about a very bright future.
The final investment decision for the Ichthys project brings to fruition much hard work over many years, and hard work to secure the economic future of the Northern Territory. The project is the second biggest investment in a single project in Australia’s history. It is not just about Darwin; it is about the economic future of the Northern Territory as a whole. It was pleasing to hear comments such as those from Julie Ross, President of the Northern Territory Chamber of Commerce, on ABC radio in January where she said the project is not just a benefit for Darwin, it is a benefit for the whole of the Northern Territory.
As I have said on many occasions, our government is very committed to providing the opportunity for all people of the Northern Territory, regardless of where they live, to participate in and benefit from the Territory’s booming economy. We are entering a period of great opportunity and prosperity, and there are many ways people across the Northern Territory can gear up for growth. This project is just one of many that will reshape the economic landscape.
Not every region or town has a major project like Ichthys on their doorstep, but every town does have the opportunity for growth of small businesses and further development. In the context of our regions and more remote areas, what seem like small steps are actually great leaps forward in the level of amenity and service these areas experience.
It is the vision of our government that all Territorians have the opportunity to participate in, and be part of, this growth. There is a range of actions and strategies that our government is taking to ensure that the future of the regions of the Territory is bright. I have said consistently in this parliament that we recognise incredible decades of neglect, and what we are building here is the firm foundations for decades of prosperity such as the Territory 2030 strategy, A Working Future, Stronger Families, and Every Child, Every Day. Investing in the infrastructure that will underpin strong and thriving regions is also critical.
The A Working Future policy initiative provides the framework for improving service delivery, infrastructure, and land tenure to facilitate development and investment in the Territory growth towns. These regional and remote areas of the Northern Territory are gearing up for growth by identifying what services and facilities they want in their towns, just like regional centres right across the country. This includes such areas as education, the basis for engagement with employment and economic opportunities in any region. We are providing Territory children with the skills to participate in the Territory economy into the future, and this is a crucial investment in the future strength of our regions.
This also includes significant investment in housing through the Strategic Indigenous Housing and Infrastructure Program. It is another important investment in the future of our regions. Safe, healthy and secure houses are integral to strong families who are able to take advantage of employment or other economic development opportunities in their region.
Increasing economic participation in Territory growth towns is a key aspect of transforming the growth towns into regional centres with opportunities and services just like anywhere across the country. The local implementation plans identify a range of opportunities for economic participation such as linkages with major projects, but also right across the spectrum to opportunities for small businesses to start up. One of the fundamental aspects of local implementation plans of this government is the emphasis on working with the people so the growth of these regions is determined by the people who live there. That has been an absolutely critical part of A Working Future. It has also been an absolutely critical part in the partnership between the federal and Northern Territory governments in working with people across our regions.
Planning for the Future forums are also a key aspect of A Working Future and the forums provide a full picture of employment and development opportunities within each growth town in the public and private sectors. To date, future forums have been held in Ngukurr, Ntaria, Borroloola, and Wurrumiyanga. These forums are about developing further the local implementation plans.
I spoke recently with a number of key business industry personnel to discuss what we are doing with A Working Future, how they can get themselves informed in beginning to negotiate and really step into the space of working with our regions, with the local implementation plans. I thank the Minerals Council for that support in ensuring we are communicating directly with businesses. That came through the Indigenous Economic Development Taskforce, which is chaired by Ron Morony. Ron and Peter from the Minerals Council were able to coordinate that gathering so there can now be a linkage between the work our government and the Service Delivery Coordination Unit has been doing with the growth of these regions, now linking it with business. Clearly, it is not just about governments at a Territory and federal level that have to see the investment and the growth of these regions; we definitely need private investment. This is why the importance has been placed on the people of the region determining how they wish to see their areas grow; hence, the local implementation plans.
Regional development is focused on creating strong regional and remote economies that are underpinned by profitable and sustainable industries. Infrastructure is a key aspect of this development in our regions, and unprecedented investment has been made in infrastructure across the Territory growth towns, including education, health, essential services and roads. We have seen this government invest in an historic infrastructure investment across our regions of nearly $1bn, and it will not end there. What we are also very careful of is there has to be vigilance in ensuring that money is spent wisely and effectively in the places where it is necessary to improve that infrastructure.
Roads and other transport infrastructure provide access to our regions, another critical factor for gearing the regions up for growth. As part of A Working Future, $69.4m is being invested in transport and infrastructure capital works in the current financial year. This includes upgrades to roads, airstrips, barge landings and community infrastructure because, unless we can improve the linkages, the road transport, the links by barge, establishing an improvement of the barges across the Territory, we know there will always be that difficulty; it will choke the growth for economic potential in these regions. That is what this government is doing. We are very active and very determined to see growth opportunities for all people across the Northern Territory.
The National Broadband Network will also be a game changer and is integral to regional and remote areas gearing up for growth. Access to high-speed Internet will provide many opportunities for new ways of accessing and delivering information and services - and not just for businesses but also for individuals. There are many members in this parliament who use the Internet for different reasons, and communication with our constituents. As bush members in particular, it is something we have seen has been an incredible tool. The National Broadband Network is going to allow that kind of efficiency in communication for these isolated regions, which can be isolated up to months at a time with the Wet Season in the Top End. It has been a great initiative of the federal and Territory governments to really push through this communication network.
It is also important in education and healthcare for this kind of communication. It really is an exciting time for thinking of innovative ways to operate in remote and regional areas, to be able to bring the people of the Northern Territory together in many different ways. This type of communication is a very critical way of doing it, and not just for the Northern Territory. Obviously, people want to have access to other parts of the country through the Internet, and they also have access to anyone overseas.
Assistance is available for developing business or industry capability in the regions through the Regional Economic Development Fund. $300 000 per year is allocated to the fund and, in 2010-11, $260 000 was distributed to 12 organisations to support them in a range of areas.
This included funding for Thamarrurr Development Corporation for a business plan to assist with the establishment and operation of a public bus service in Wadeye. This is exactly the kind of local enterprise that will transform a region and has obvious benefits for the community as a whole. This kind of transportation is something that, again, our government has been very passionate and determined to put in place. It is pleasing to see the connectivity for people in the Ngukurr and Numbulwar regions who can now use the Bohdi Bus to get into Katherine, and the people of Borroloola who can use the Bohdi Bus, to get into Katherine and vice versa. This kind of transportation has made the movement of people and business far more efficient and easier. I commend the Minister for Transport for this terrific initiative across our region. I only speak for my constituency, but I am aware of the benefit of that type of transportation across the Northern Territory and other major centres.
It is a great time for aspiring businesses to look into the future and think about how they can link with major projects or other business opportunities, however small or large, in their local area to establish or expand their business. It is certainly a great time to be thinking not only about what we already have, but what we are want into the future and what is possible for our regional and remote regions.
The Northern Territory government is setting the foundations for this investment and growth across the Territory. Indigenous businesses can seek assistance for business development, professional or personal development, or the purchase of assets through the Indigenous Business Development Program. In 2011, the fund distributed $500 000 to support 26 Indigenous businesses and has distributed over $2.9m to 185 businesses since 2005.
The Indigenous Economic Development Strategy is focused on improving the quality of life for Indigenous Territorians through full participation in the economy. The strategy recognises that increased participation of Indigenous people in the economic fabric of the regions requires new and innovative thinking by both the public and private sectors.
At the beginning of my response, I touched on the Service Delivery Coordination Unit. This is an area I am proud of. The team in the Service Delivery Coordination Unit over the last couple of years has been working with every agency in the Northern Territory government to ensure that within the system of government there is a very strong emphasis - a very normal emphasis - on including our regions across the Territory. It is not just Darwin and not just Alice Springs; we must be there for every Territorian. It is through the Service Delivery Coordination Unit, coordinating with our federal agencies and the Northern Territory government agencies, we ensure critical infrastructures are hitting the ground and we are growing regions in the right way.
The Indigenous Economic Development Taskforce brings together expertise from these various areas and the land councils to identify and foster opportunities for growth and economic development in the regions. The task force is currently working with a focus on linking the opportunities in the growth towns as set out in the economic profiles.
The first economic profile, including surveys of local businesses, was produced in 2008 for Alice Springs, and followed in 2009 for Katherine and Tennant Creek. These profiles are being developed for each growth town and are a way of informing businesses and also for investment decision-making. By that, if I go back to the discussion I am having with business and the business development minister, and the work we are doing with business, it is about now starting to get them engaged with these growth towns, with the Indigenous people, the traditional owners, the Northern Land Council, the Central Land Council, along with inclusion of Tiwi Land Council and the Anindilyakwa Land Council. This is a new era and a new way of doing business across the Northern Territory.
In the economic profiles being developed, the profiles also foster a place-based approach to local ownership of regional economic development. So far, those profiles have been established for Ngukurr, Gunbalanya, Yirrkala, and Ntaria, with more expected throughout the year.
Assisting people across the Territory to reap the benefits of other major industries in the Territory is also a focus of Regional Development. This includes maximising opportunities in the mining and the pastoral sectors, particularly for local employment. These are areas where the private sector is committed to maximising opportunities for local communities and Indigenous Territorians.
I mention the emerging opportunities relating to the carbon economy and carbon offsets. The Australian government announced last year a range of measures to address our climate change challenge, and a package of measures including new opportunities in relation to carbon farming. In announcing these initiatives, the Australian government has also rightly recognised that Indigenous Australians manage around 20% of Australia’s land mass. This is a carbon farming initiative to assist Indigenous landowners develop carbon farming initiatives. It is pleasing to note that Territorians are already well established in this space; for example, the North Australian Fire Abatement Project, which we have heard about in this House on a number of occasions, in particular from the member for Arafura and the Environment minister who very much support further development in this new industry.
In Central Australia, Rowan Foley has a central role in chairing the National Indigenous Climate Change Steering Committee and, more recently, working to establish a Northern Territory non-for-profit company, the Aboriginal Carbon Fund, as a one-stop shop to develop carbon trade activities on Indigenous land, Indigenous co-benefits, and research and development. As you can see, big energy intensive developments in the Northern Territory, and elsewhere, will be looking to fund carbon offsets, and we are being positioned to benefit from these new investments.
A project such as Ichthys can provide a valuable boost for our tourism industry. New workers coming to the Northern Territory for the project will want to explore the Northern Territory while they have the opportunity, and this offers many opportunities for local attractions such as Kakadu and Uluru, and also for other quintessential Territory experiences such as the fishing tours. New workers will encourage their friends and family to come and visit the Northern Territory and take short trips around the Territory. Visitors who travel to the Territory to visit friends and relatives spent $110m in the 2010-11 financial year - this is on top of people residing in the Northern Territory taking 124 000 holiday trips within the Territory. So, it is certainly a very lucrative sector for the tourism industry.
With our airlines in the Northern Territory, we have seen a move by Jetstar to also increase flights from Manila to Tokyo, very much taking into account what we are going to see in air travel between Japan and Darwin. It is quite exciting to think about the opportunities which are ahead of us. However, as with all opportunities we want to ensure we wisely and efficiently prepare for what will be quite an important time for the people and for business in the Northern Territory. Northern Territory tourism is looking into those types of relationships. I believe it is critical, along with Japan and ...
Mr GUNNER: A point of order, Madam Speaker! I move an extension of time for the minister, pursuant to Standing Order 77.
Motion agreed to.
Ms McCARTHY: Thank you, member for Fannie Bay and colleagues.
It is critical that we continue - as the team in Tourism NT does - pursuing the opportunities with both Japan and China. We have heard about the announcement of Darwin Airport expansion of our terminal which will begin in the middle of this year and be completed next year. All these things build a sense of hope and excitement for the future. Again, our government is very aware that it is not just about Darwin; we want to ensure that the flow-on effects to our regions are very much a part of this growth.
The $30bn project in Darwin is stimulating investment in hotels and other major tourism infrastructure across the Top End. A number of significant hotel brands have identified Darwin as a destination in which they would like to expand their network, and several are actively pursuing potential partnerships with local developers. For example, the Cavenagh Hotel has removed its 85 rooms from the tourism accommodation market to provide accommodation for Serco employees. This diversification provides dual benefits of maintaining returns for property owners, especially during the current tourism downturn, and also encourages refurbishments which will refresh these properties when they return to the tourism pool.
We know we are in a challenging environment in tourism. For those travellers who want to go overseas it is very much an exciting time because of the Australian dollar being as high as it is, but it means a challenge for our tourism businesses in the Northern Territory. Our government is consistently working with the tourism industry, very mindful of the enormous pressures on many of these places.
Developments such as Ichthys provide opportunities to expand, as I said, the Darwin international aviation hub. We are very excited to see how things are going in that area.
As you can you see and have heard, we have some terrific things ahead of us. We are preparing for the future. We are building a foundation for decades of prosperity, not just for Darwin and Alice Springs, but for all people across the Northern Territory. We are mindful of the challenges which exist for business, but we also know, with the recent announcement of this project in our capital city, it is going to be an important opportunity for all people across the Northern Territory and our businesses interstate.
Madam Speaker, I commend the statement to the House.
Mr GUNNER (Fannie Bay): Madam Speaker, I support the Chief Minister’s statement about how we are rising to the challenge and to the opportunities presented by INPEX in the Northern Territory. As we know, when we have resource developments in the Territory - whether it is at Nhulunbuy, Groote Eylandt or, as in this case, INPEX coming into Darwin - they lead to a better, stronger Territory and a better, stronger Territory economy. The secondary benefits that flow from that lead to better schools, better roads, better infrastructure, and better services.
As a Territory government, we look at how our tax base works and what we are required to do. You need a strong economy. You need people coming in and investing in the Northern Territory. From that, you get your secondary benefits. That is definitely the message I am hearing when I am talking to people - whether that is at the door, at the local shop, or at a function for business people. They are talking about, mainly, the secondary benefits they see are going to flow from INPEX and the general confidence, optimism, and hope they have as a result of that. They see the future - if that makes sense - because not many Territorians necessarily are going to be getting a cheque from INPEX.
There will be many workers involved in the construction stage and ongoing but, as a percentage of Territorians, most people are going to look forward to the secondary benefits. Many people understand that, which is why some remarks made by opposition members were a little disappointing. They were choosing to confine this purely to INPEX coming into Darwin, and not seeing the broader benefit for the Territory.
As I said, whether it is resource development in Nhulunbuy or Groote, or INPEX coming into town, when you get a better, stronger Territory, that is what you get: a better, strong Territory. To say Alice Springs is left out of INPEX is to not see how the Territory works, and what the point is of us being a Territory within our borders and how we work as a government.
I want to defend Alice Springs. As someone who loves Alice, who was born in Alice, who has the majority of his family still living in Alice Springs, I get quite depressed and distressed when members of the opposition come in here and all they do is tar the town. That is not the Alice Springs I know. I know Alice Springs has challenges and problems; there is no denying that. You cannot deny that - it does have challenges. However, the way it is presented in here, I have to close my eyes and try to hold a firm image of Alice Springs in my memory. It is a different place. I talk to my family a great deal and they talk about the problems in Alice Springs. However, when someone who loves Alice Springs talks about Alice Springs, they present it in a completely different way to the way the members of the opposition do - which is just negativity and despair.
When you hear people talk about Alice, they talk about how it can be better. They come from a constructive, positive point of view and recognise the challenges they have. When I hear, in particular the member for Greatorex, talk about Alice Springs, all I am hearing is ‘I hate this place’. He comes into this Chamber and talks, in many ways, about how much he hates Alice. It is quite extraordinary …
Ms Scrymgour: And Darwin.
Mr GUNNER: And Darwin. He does not even want to be here. I find that very difficult to deal with. As an elected member for that area, he needs to be providing leadership. He is one of the people who needs to be providing leadership and constructive suggestions for Alice Springs - and not just use every opportunity to sink the boot in. There are problems in Alice and he should talk about those problems, but he needs to also talk about solutions. He needs to bring some policies into this Chamber, to bring forward some ways in which he thinks we can deal with these situations, and to present Alice Springs in a more constructive, positive frame - not just the …
Ms Scrymgour: Trashing it.
Mr GUNNER: Yes, it gets worse every sittings; it is extraordinary the trashy way he talks.
There is a real cycle in Alice Springs between summer bad, winter good. That is not a good thing and we need to think of ways to break that. We are trying. I know the member for Central Australia does a lot there, constantly working with different people to try to get things done. There is a problem in Alice Springs around that. Businesses get quite flat and antisocial behaviour problems around town get quite bad during the summer period, then you come out of it during winter. We need to find a way to work through those cyclic issues without constantly sticking the boot into a town we love - part of the Territory. You do not get anywhere by doing that.
I get a little worked up when I hear the member for Greatorex do that, because I love Alice Springs. I did not get much time off over the Christmas period, but what time I did have, I spent driving to Alice Springs and back because I really like Alice. I get quite surprised when members of the opposition stick the boot in.
The Chief Minister spoke about how we are primed for prosperity, and what we are doing to ensure the Territory gets those benefits. There is a real sense of quiet confidence, is the best way to put it, if you want to generalise it. Some people are more excited than others, but there is a real sense of quiet confidence about what INPEX is going to mean for the Territory. The benefit will be largely secondary.
I have had quite a few conversations with different people who talk about the next five or 10 years. These are people who have a stake in the Territory; they are not leaving tomorrow. They are really looking forward to how the Territory is going to change for the better over five and 10 years, in investments into schools, into roads, and into community infrastructure. We are going to see a real change. People picture it as the way we invested into the waterfront. I did not mind the old waterfront, but what we have done to that area is a real revitalisation and regeneration of a part of our city.
I believe many people see similar investments like that happening around Darwin - and I am speaking obviously about Darwin, being the member for Fannie Bay. The majority of people I talk to are living and working in Darwin. However, there is going to be a broader benefit than that; it is going to flow across the whole Territory, because we are a Territory government, we have one budget and we look to everywhere.
We are very serious about how we invest in the bush through things like the growth towns and into the regions. The people I talk to are mainly living and working in Fannie Bay, perhaps Stuart Park and the Gardens, and they talk about those benefits they can see happening around their area in the inner city. There will be many benefits flowing into the inner city where there is a growing density of population.
We have been here before. It was not that long ago the Territory was a pioneer town, pioneer country. My great-granddad rocked up to Tennant Creek in the 1930s, and there was no bitumen road, it was just a very small place by a creek. It became a town in around 1935. There were about 400 people there, of which 30 or 40 were women and about 20 were kids. It was a real mining-heavy town; there was a bit of a gold rush. It was a very small place, a very hard place to live, a real pioneer town. Around the resource development of Tennant Creek a community emerged.
We are a bit luckier in Darwin because we already have a community, so the challenges we face are big and difficult, but we do not have to establish a community from start. Some of the people from INPEX and JPK who talked of the project have actually mentioned that. They are used to going into deserts and jungles. Now, they have come into a capital city that has much infrastructure already which, in the past, they would have had to build.
Tennant Creek in the 1930s would have been a dusty old place to live in. I have heard many tall tales from the family about Tennant. My great-granddad, Con Perry, at one stage, probably coming from Alice Springs, came into town on Kilgariff’’s carts - and not Bernie, but Bernie’s old man. The cart broke down. The story was there was some beer in the cart, and the reason why Tennant Creek is not by the creek is because everyone moved up to where the cart broke down and established the community of Tennant Creek around the cart. Unfortunately, that is not quite true apparently, but it is a nice story.
My great-granddad actually found the original source of water for Tennant Creek, the original permanent water supply. Obviously, you have to camp by a creek for water, but he found a permanent source of water under the ground so Tennant Creek could be established. He learnt pretty quickly that it was better to supply the mining industry than be a miner and made a great deal of money. I have not seen it, but he did much better running stores on the main street than digging for gold himself.
However, it does not quite leave the blood, because he did not lose interest in mining and we had Eldorado for quite a long time. My dad, at one stage in his early teens, was working at Eldorado. However, the Mines department closed Eldorado down. They came for a visit and discovered to work the mine you had to climb down a rope, then you swung across the shaft on to a ledge which was not quite that safe. They put the kibosh on it which was very sensible. You have to look after your workers.
However, they built a community in Tennant Creek. They had the longest church in Tennant Creek. They moved the Catholic church from Pine Creek to Tennant Creek because Pine Creek did not need it. They called it the longest church in the world because bits of it kept dropping off on the road. There were bits of the church all the way from Pine Creek to Tennant Creek. That was brought down by Kathleen Webber, formerly Kathleen Hayes, who deserves credit for this. She and her family founded Noble’s Knob. I am sure many people know Noble’s Knob - my grandad worked on Noble’s Knob for a long time. She paid for the church to be transported from Pine Creek and erected in Tennant Creek.
That is what they did; they established a community. From a small town of 400 people with only a very small component of women and children, they founded a community. They built the schools, they brought in a church, ran a church, and created a real sense of community. They wanted to make a lasting contribution to the Territory.
That is really important when we look at and work on these developments. Essentially, the spirit behind the Chief Minister’s speech is how we take these investments and not see them as one-off items on the balance sheet; how they contribute and build a better community.
The people behind INPEX who are coming to town have that same spirit to leave something behind. Darwin, and the Territory, is going to be better off for INPEX coming, and we are going to see a better built community as a result of that. We are luckier in Darwin because we already have a community established. We are going to see, as a result of INPEX, more people absorbed into our sporting clubs, our community groups, our churches, and our schools. We are going to see a stronger, better Territory.
Darwin, as a capital city, is still in many ways a small place. Working with community clubs on your patch, you can sometimes see how too few do too much. It is going to be really important, as we grow, that we see more people volunteering, more people involved in our community groups, and more people participating. One of the benefits from this project of Darwin growing is seeing more people getting involved. I have no doubt we are going to see that.
People have kids, they go to schools, and school councils get bigger and stronger. There will be more people going to the Railway Club, the Sailing Club, or getting involved with Waratahs Footy Club. Buffs might get some more players. There is going to be real strength to Darwin as a result of this. Those are the secondary benefits we do not often talk about. We sometimes focus more on the size of the project, the construction stage of the project, which is not unimportant, but we should be also looking at the greater contribution it is going to make to the people of this place, and the benefits we are going to see in our community. That is the real strength to this project; that we are not starting from scratch.
Most Territorians still have that frontier independent spirit, which is why it was such a tragedy to see statehood fall over last year. As a Territorian who loves this place, you want to be independent - and that is separate to politics. You want the Territory to have the same rights as any other state. That is want you want; you do not care about Labor, Liberal or whatever, or Northern Territory general elections, you just want the Territory to be a state. That is why it was so disappointing to see that issue become caught up in party politics, because it does not belong there. Both parties want statehood - just do it. That was quite frustrating as well.
We are better placed in Darwin to take INPEX, absorb it into our community, and look at those secondary benefits that are going to flow over the next five or 10 years and further into the future. It is going to be very exciting to see our community grow, mature, and have more people available to help within our existing community clubs. It is going to be a fantastic result.
However, we need to do more; to look at that construction stage and how people get involved. There is a shop front opening soon in the central business district so businesses and people can approach that to work out how they can get involved. The department of Business has also been running seminars to ensure local business get their capabilities straight; that they have their pre-approvals or licensing, or whatever they need, sorted out first, which is important. There, obviously, is some training that goes into how they engage with INPEX. It will be different to how they engage with government, so they have to work through that.
There are many local businesses which are very excited about winning work on the INPEX project because, if they can get INPEX work, and they have the qualifications and competencies INPEX like, then they can see themselves getting work elsewhere in the world. This is a global company. If they are good enough for INPEX, they are good enough for anyone. They see this as a real challenge, opportunity, and a way to measure against the best in the world, and get a return during the INPEX project. They see this opportunity as one where they can spread their wings; they can tender to anything around the world and say: ‘We were good enough for INPEX. We did an amazing job. We did it on time, we did it on budget. Why not take us?’ They see a real opportunity to expand beyond Darwin.
That is something we do not talk about enough at the moment either; about how it is not just an opportunity for local business to get involved with INPEX, this is an opportunity for local business to get involved in global projects. They are going to be working at such a high standard on a high-standard project they are going to be able to be competitive globally. That is something we need to talk about. I know local businesses are talking about it. They see this as a really exciting opportunity to test themselves against the best and, then, get work in the rest of the world. That is a really exciting aspect to this project.
The Chief Minister also spoke about some of the other things we are doing around town to adjust to INPEX, particularly in regard to training. The member for Port Darwin made some comments that he did not think enough people liked the trades. That is not the feeling or impression I am getting when I get out and about. I believe there has been a real tidal change in how people perceive the trades. Trades are seen with genuine credibility, as a genuine option. There was probably a period where a uni degree was seen as the only way out and a trade was almost a secondary decision. I do not think that is the case at all anymore now; trades are definitely seen as a genuine career option as much as going to university. A trade certificate is a very good way to go. The feeling I get from talking to my schools and people around town is there are people who want to go down that path. So, to talk about dust on benches, I do not think is to view it in the same way as the majority of other people do. There is a real hunger amongst people to become tradies, or to get those certificates.
With the INPEX project there has been an investment in the Larrakia Trade Training Centre, and Charles Darwin University is involved to ensure we can fill those job needs and skill gaps. As the Chief Minister said, there is more to this than just filling INPEX’s needs; there is also the backfilling. As we have seen in the past with other big projects, INPEX will hire some people, and that creates a vacancy somewhere else. So, it is not necessarily getting a job with INPEX; there is going to be job creation and job vacancies happening at the moment. It is about making sure we are bringing in and training up people who can do a whole range of things. You will not just weld on the INPEX project, there are accountants, lawyers, and all sorts of people involved. Charles Darwin University is involved, and the Larrakia Trade Training Centre is in that space.
We have had a Jobs Plan for quite a few years now, from when the former member for Fannie Bay was first elected in 2001, of around that 10 000 figure. We keep putting money, time and investment into that to ensure we keep bringing Territorians on, because we want to keep Territorians in the Territory. We want to provide job opportunities in the Territory - and this is a very exciting place to be. When we look around at the global circumstances, there are not too many places in the world where you can look into a Year 12 graduating class and, if you want to speak to that Year 12 graduating class - and I get the opportunity to do this as I am sure other members do - you can genuinely say to them: ‘There are jobs here for all of you. There are jobs here’. Around the globe - the other day the Spanish rate was 48% youth unemployment, 25% unemployment. We are very fortunate in the Territory that we can genuinely say to kids leaving Grade 12: ‘There is a job here for you; there is a place here for you. We want to keep you’. It is very exciting we have that here, and people do not have it elsewhere in the world. We are very well placed in the Territory.
The Chief Minister spoke about - and I have spoken about in this House a great deal - how we adjust to the fact that more people are going to want to live in Darwin. There is no doubt that housing is a massive issue in the Territory, as well as Darwin.
There is much going on in my electorate. I have spoken in this House many times about what we are doing around Parap and the work I have been doing with the minister for Housing, complementing the natural regeneration of the area. It is not just Parap. I know of a program the Housing department is doing which the minister for Housing spoke about in his contribution to this debate. It was around looking at identified public Housing single dwellings on big blocks and seeing how we can make that into, say, a duplex - we are doing that in Stuart Park at the moment - that can house our seniors or people with disabilities.
In Stuart Park, where we are doing it at the moment, it has been very well received by the people in the street. There are a few who have asked questions or were not too sure about it, but the majority of the street was very supportive of that idea of taking that Territory Housing property, rebuilding it into two nice, new dwellings, and putting in someone who is either disabled or a senior. They can see the benefit that is going to have to the community they live in, and the community they share with …
Dr BURNS: A point of order, Madam Speaker! I move that the member be given an extension of time, pursuant to Standing Order 77.
Motion agreed to.
Mr GUNNER: Thank you, minister.
There is an embracing of that decision to refocus how we use public housing in our suburbs. It is a very sensible way to go. It is good to see local neighbours saying: ‘Yes, we agree’. It is good to see a single house being replaced by two units that better accommodate the needs we have. As the minister spoke about, we have quite a few senior Territorians in three- or four-bedroom homes. They have been there for a long time; they love where they live. I can understand why they love where they live. I grew up in Territory housing in Tennant Creek and Alice Springs.
However, it is not your house; it is a taxpayer house and it is there for a public purpose. You have to be sensitive to the emotions you can have towards the place you have grown up in. So, by providing a purpose-built, brand new unit for a senior, you can provide an easier way out for that person into a place where they can have some say in, maybe, the colour of the tiles, or you can involve them in that process. You find, suddenly, a way through what has been a tricky situation. We can open up that three- or four-bedroom home left behind for a family that needs it.
It is a very sensible way to go. I know there are other properties in Stuart Park we will probably look at doing something similar with. It has been happening in other parts of Darwin. It is a very good way to look at, reinvest, and reinvigorate our public housing stock.
We are also creating an affordable housing rental company. There is a gap in the market between social housing and the private market; there is no doubt about that. There are low-income workers who struggle to get a place in the private market. We have recognised that. The Commonwealth has recognised that because this is a national problem, and they have a very good scheme around affordable housing rental companies that have been established elsewhere. We are now establishing one here where we can create a stock of homes and units that are rented out at around 75% to 85% of the market rate to people who are low-income workers.
We can ensure that stock is spread out. We want to have workers in the inner city, in the outer suburbs, and in Palmerston. It is important that stock is evenly distributed. Some of the first stocks are going to be in Parap. We do not want to price workers out of the inner city. It is important that your local barista, cleaner, nurse, or whoever, has access to properties in the inner city as much as they have access to properties in the northern suburbs or Palmerston. It is a very sensible investment program. It is a great idea to try to address that gap in the market between public housing and the private market. It is important, from a policy point of view, that we ensure those properties are evenly spread. It is the same with public housing, making sure those properties are evenly spread and people are close to local services and where they work. We do not want to price people out of certain areas of town, especially looking forward over the next five, 10, 15, or 20 years. Decisions you make now can have much broader ramifications. We need to ensure we are always keeping property in the city that is available for low-income workers. We have to ensure they have somewhere to live.
The Chief Minister spoke about that and dual occupancy, which is also a bit similar to the Territory Housing I was talking about earlier - a single dwelling into two. There are 3000 blocks, I think, in maybe Darwin and Palmerston that fall into this – no, low 2000s – that fall into this category. Not everyone is going to want to take that option. In talking to some people in my electorate, they are interested in doing a granny flat that is larger than you are currently allowed to do under the SD, which is quite prescriptive, providing a secondary dwelling on their block as most people might consider dual occupancies - a straight duplex. Many people are not going to go for the straight duplex option, they want to look at, say, a granny flat or a building downstairs underneath their elevated home, which means the same setback, the same driveway - very similar to what you have in your street now.
It creates the ability for options or choice. I believe that is important because, at the moment in the Planning Act, you step straight from single dwelling to multiple dwelling, there is no dual occupancy option – there is none. I do not believe that makes sense; there should be a dual occupancy option in the Planning Act, as there is a choice. Many people I have spoken with want to keep their large blocks, which is fantastic. I know some people want to look at how they can create a building downstairs at their house, or create a granny flat, and some even want to go down the duplex path - but that was not too many of them. It is, though, a choice or an opportunity, or an option that is standing on the table that was not there before. I believe that is really important.
We have been working with the Parap Residents Association in my local area. It was not that long after I was first elected that they wrote to me saying they thought this was missing from the Planning Act. We have worked with them, and through the greater area town plan discussion paper, Towards 2030, we put it out there. We now have it on exhibition on its own so people can definitely know that it is there and talk about it. I believe it is a really important option going forward about how we control growth in our city, high density in the CBD, medium density around our shops, cascading from our shops into quiet suburbia. Without going down a high density path, we ensure we have planned density around shops to ensure shops are vibrant, better and safer, with choices. However, in the suburbs, you have ordinary homes, or possibly dual occupancy. I believe that is something most people welcome and it will be interesting to see how that goes with the exhibition phase.
In rising to the opportunity of INPEX, we are looking at training and housing. I believe many people are looking at the secondary benefits around roads, schools, and community. That excites many people. I believe it is a fantastic opportunity - it is brilliant, really. It is very exciting that you can talk to a class of Year 12s and say with confidence that there is a job for them here if they want it. If they go through university here, there is a job if they want it. If they go through trade training here, there is a job if they want it. They can stay in the community they currently live in if they want to; they do not have to leave the Territory, they can stay.
It is a choice I made. I believe it is a choice that too few of my classmates made, in a sense, but it is now a choice all people graduating from Year 12 can make. I am really excited we have opportunities for all our young Territorians in the Territory. If they choose to go down south, it is not because there is not a job for them here; which I believe is really important for the growth of the Territory.
Madam Speaker, I support the Chief Minister’s statement. I believe we have some incredibly exciting opportunities. As I said at the start, whether it is resource development at Nhulunbuy, or resource development at Groote Eylandt, or INPEX coming to Darwin, a better, stronger economy makes for a better, stronger Territory and those benefits flow to all of the Territory. This is not a project only for Darwin, which will only benefit Darwin, this is a project that is going to benefit the Territory. We are one budget, we are one people, and having INPEX coming to Darwin is going to see a better, stronger Territory.
Ms WALKER (Nhulunbuy): Madam Speaker, I also wish to speak in this important debate. I thank the Chief Minister for bringing this statement before the House, because Gearing up for Growth is crucial to the future of the Territory and those of us who call this fantastic place home.
The Chief Minister is quite right when he says there is no doubt we are lucky to be living in this part of the world at this time in our history. Without a doubt, I have always felt very lucky to be living in the Territory for the past 25 years, because it has presented me and my family with fantastic opportunities and a lifestyle which is second to none. Like so many people, I came for two years, and 25 years last month I am still here and have no plans to leave.
If, as the Chief Minister says, we are primed for prosperity, it is not because the government has been lucky. It is because there has been, since Labor came to power in 2001, bold and careful strategic planning, hand in hand with sound economic policy, to ensure the long-term prosperity for the Territory and all Territorians. The bold move by former Chief Minister, Clare Martin, to woo INPEX away from Western Australia to Darwin is well documented, and culminated in last month’s announcement that INPEX, and partner Total, had made their final investment decision which will see the Ichthys LNG project proceed in Darwin.
This government does have a bold and strategic vision called Territory 2030. Planning for the future and growth is a pressing matter for any government and one of the reasons why the Chief Minister announced, in August 2008, the formation of the Territory Growth Planning Unit, followed by the establishment of the Territory 2030 Steering Committee. The far-reaching work of this committee has assisted the government, over the last three-and-a-half years, to provide us with a blueprint and direction for the next 20 years in the Territory.
Territory 2030 Steering Committee Co-Chair, Bill Moss, on the launch of the Territory 2030 statement said: ‘You cannot implement unless you have a vision’. This government certainly does have a vision. Let us remember also that the Territory 2030 strategy is a plan for the future which was developed following extensive Territory-wide consultation in our remote, regional, and urban areas. Those consultations continue with the member for Arafura in the role of parliamentary secretary for Territory 2030, and reporting to Cabinet as a subcommittee of Cabinet. I comment the work of the member for Arafura with Territory 2030.
The scope of the strategy is far-reaching and embraces a vision for where we want to be by 2030. Underpinning everything is education to promote lifelong participation as well as develop a world-class education system. This is as it should be. It is what empowers us and sets us on a path from childhood through to adult life. It is our key; our link to knowledge, to survival, and to economic independence. Those without it lack self-determination, opportunity and, most often, face a future which has limitations. For far too many, that means a dependence on welfare.
I spoke in this Chamber in the final sittings of 2011 about how the government was preparing for major projects and how seeking out, supporting and securing major projects is absolutely critical for the Territory’s future. It is the investment of major projects which provides jobs, training and opportunities for other businesses in the supply chain, and certainty to the strong economic future of the Territory. It is absolutely critical because it is these major projects which will bring in revenue to enable us to continue to build things such as better schools, hospitals, health clinics, police stations, social housing, roads, and other very necessary infrastructure which government is responsible for. Also, to be able to resource these essential and core areas of government service delivery with more teachers, more nurses, doctors, health professionals, together with police - including the 400 extra that have been recruited to the Territory under Labor - and emergency service personnel.
The Deputy Chief Minister is spot on when she said in her contribution to the debate yesterday that the key to opportunity is education. Gearing up for growth is not just about INPEX; it is about having a vision and a plan to see that vision realised. This is why education is the cornerstone of Territory 2030 However, it goes back much earlier than Territory 2030.
One of the first things this government did after winning the 2001 election, and first day on the job in government, was to begin to redress the deficiencies and underinvestment in education in the bush in the Northern Territory. Under Labor’s first ever education minister, my predecessor, Syd Stirling, we saw, and continue to see, significant spending to build, upgrade and resource schools, to recruit teachers into remote areas so Indigenous students could receive the education they deserved, which included a secondary education, something that had been denied for 27 years by a Darwin-centric, narrow-minded CLP government …
Mr Elferink: Nonsense! Not true!
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Ms WALKER: Struck a chord there.
Madam Speaker, I find it disingenuous of the Leader of the Opposition to talk about manual art centres in schools collecting dust, and wonder where he might be talking about ...
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Order! Member for Port Darwin, you do not have the call.
Ms WALKER: Thank you, Madam Speaker. He, indeed, had his opportunity yesterday to make a contribution. I listened quietly to him, and it would be nice if he could do the same for me.
The Leader of the Opposition was talking yesterday about manual art centres in schools collecting dust. I wonder where he might be talking about. I am very keen to know which schools he is talking about, because this government’s investment in schools is unprecedented, including the building of trade training centres with the support of the federal government.
I had the great honour, in one of my first official duties as the parliamentary secretary for Education and Training, to announce in November 2010 $8.5m investment in trade training centres at Groote Eylandt, Jabiru and Gunbalanya. Establishing trade training centres in these communities is all about providing skills to young people to get them on a pathway into real jobs in their communities, each of which, in this particular instance, have a mining company within very close proximity.
Further to this, late last year in December, I think it was, our Education minister announced further federal funding of just over $3m to go into establishing or upgrading trade training centres in northeast Arnhem Land in my electorate at Yirrkala, Galiwinku, Nhulunbuy High School, and in the member for Arnhem’s electorate in Gapuwiyak - again with mining at the centre of northeast Arnhem Land. Also, many other industries are there, and it gives students the opportunity to learn new skills and to be on the pathway to further training and a real job.
I took the opportunity last year to visit the Larrakia Trade Training Centre which, as we know, opened in February 2011. It is run by Advanced Training International, along with project partners, Larrakia Development Corporation and Kormilda College. The centre provides industrial trade apprenticeship training and employment opportunities for all Territorians. An important aim of the centre is to create a pool of skilled workers, not only for INPEX, but to meet the need in rural and remote parts of the Territory. This is a great example of where a project developer is directly contributing to the development of our social capital and providing flow-on benefits for the Territory.
I also took the opportunity around that time to visit the trade training centre at Charles Darwin University on its Casuarina Campus. It is a fantastic facility and covers a number of trade training areas. I know many apprentices from my electorate come into CDU for their block training.
As the Chief Minister said, this is all about boosting capacity and capability, and creating jobs for Territorians. This is something we have been crying out for in the bush following the decades of neglect before 2001. However, I have to quantify that when we are talking about this government’s investment in education in trade training centres, the investment does, in fact, go right across the education sphere - in fact from birth. Programs such as Families as First Teachers are assisting parents with building their skills to help their children to learn and grow, and to see them ready for preschool when their time comes around at the age of four.
It is a critical part of the Every Child, Every Day policy which is underpinned by the fact that, if a child attends school on every school day then they will receive a quality education, they will be proficient in the core areas of literacy and numeracy, and they will have the opportunity for greater choices in life through further training and work.
I have certainly seen firsthand the success of the Families as First Teachers program. When visiting Galiwinku on Elcho Island in December last year, I attended a delightful community event which saw children and their families from the Families as First Teachers program having almost a little graduation ceremony, where each of those children went up and collected a beautiful photograph and a certificate to say they had been through the Families as First Teachers program and they were, indeed, on the pathway graduating into preschool. It was held at Shepherdson College adjacent to the preschool. There were dozens and dozens of children and families there. I look forward to getting back up to Elcho after these sittings to visit Shepherdson College and to see how those children are settling into preschool.
As we heard from the minister for Education, his No 1 priority in education is to drive attendance, to get every child to school every day. It is not without its challenges. It is something which is everyone’s responsibility and can only happen when there are solid partnerships and shared understandings about the importance and value of education - those shared understandings between kids, between parents, families and their communities, their schools, the Department of Education, and the government.
We know there are some very complex factors which impact on children’s lives which make getting to school difficult, but this government is singularly determined to address this. I really look forward to seeing, as I know members on this side do - we keep hearing about it - the member for Brennan’s policy for education for the Country Liberals. As the dedicated and hard-working shadow for Education, we look forward to that education policy. I believe the more remote schools he visits, the harder he probably finds it to devise his own policy because he can see, and he has said on some occasions, the good work that is happening out in our remote schools. We certainly look forward to seeing that policy.
Madam Speaker, it is midday …
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Nhulunbuy, would you mind continuing your remarks after Question Time?
Ms WALKER: No, that will be fine, thanks, Madam Speaker.
Debate suspended.
MOTION
Note Statement - Gearing Up For Growth
Note Statement - Gearing Up For Growth
Continued from earlier this day.
Ms WALKER (Nhulunbuy): Madam Speaker, the member for Johnston, as minister for Education and Training, provided a list during his contribution to this debate of the many schools this government has built. On top of that, he listed some of the significant investments through the federal government’s Building the Education Revolution program which sees our schools, both urban and bush, both government and non-government, equipped with great schools. It is a program, as we well know, members on the opposite side including their counterparts in the federal parliament, rejected. They did not support it at their peril. Mind you, that does not stop them from going along to openings of schools of what is being delivered under that program in the Territory.
Apart from this government’s commitment to delivering on the infrastructure to our great schools, we are also ensuring they are resourced with quality teachers including - as we heard during Question Time from the minister - an additional 407 teachers this government has recruited since 2002. A fair number of those teachers are out in our bush schools which previously were seriously under-resourced and neglected by the CLP government.
I will also highlight the additional investment in special education by this government to meet the needs of our disabled and special needs students, with new and appropriate facilities for schools like Nemarluk which, sadly, the CLP last year made something of a political football out of.
Gearing up for growth is not just about INPEX, it is about having a longer-term strategy around how we educate our kids to be active participants in the life of the Territory, and in the workforce in order to contribute to and grow the economies of our towns and communities.
Those economies in many remote Indigenous communities already exist based on the strengths of Indigenous knowledge and culture businesses such as eco-cultural tourism, caring for country, land and sea through strong ranger programs such as those at Laynhapuy Homelands with Yirralka Rangers, Dhimurru Rangers based in Nhulunbuy, the Gumurr Marthakal Rangers based on Elcho and servicing Elcho Island and the Marthakal Homelands, and Djelk Rangers as well, operating in Maningrida. Those programs are all good employers of Indigenous people - and, yes, I will add to it the baskets produced by nationally and internationally recognised fibre artists across the Top End of the Northern Territory.
To that end, this government has planned strategically for future growth in the bush through the A Working Future policy which, as we know, was launched by the member for Macdonnell in 2009 when she was on this side of the Chamber. This is a policy which she launched with hand on heart, standing side-by-side with the Chief Minister, which is transforming our largest remote communities to towns through a process underpinned by local implementation plans, and which provide a blueprint for the planning for growth of these places. They are also developed and supported by the local reference group in each community with each local implementation plan, which confirms the commitment to work with all three tiers of government to close the gap of Indigenous disadvantage.
This sort of planning and delivering in the bush simply never happened under the CLP with the same level of commitment which this government is driving, because the bush to them was out of sight and out of mind. At the time, so too were Indigenous people.
In 2012, we will continue to see infrastructure boosted through SIHIP, which is building new houses, as well as hundreds of refurbishments and rebuilds across the Northern Territory’s remote communities. We know the program has not been without its problems, but let us not also forget this is the single biggest housing program in the history of Australia. It is transformational in delivering $672m of new and refurbished homes to some of the Territory’s most disadvantaged people who live, not in hellholes as the member for Fong Lim describes them, but in communities where decades of neglect and overcrowded houses simply have not been addressed until now.
In my own electorate, I see the program at Galiwinku on Elcho Island, including its new subdivision due for completion in April, pending Wet Season weather does not cause delays. New homes have been handed over and, when completed, Galiwinku will have 90 new houses and 53 refurbishments.
At Maningrida, there is also a new subdivision to accommodate 100 or so new homes. While it is sometime since I visited SIHIP in Alice Springs, I heard the Chief Minister today quote the figure of 70 new homes there in town camps, transforming people’s lives in the Centre.
Under SIHIP, we will see delivery of 750 new houses, 230 rebuilds and 2500 refurbishments. As at January 2012, 486 new houses have been completed, with 177 further new houses under way. In addition to that, 1950 rebuilds and refurbishments have been completed, with 28 currently under way. That is almost 2500 families living in new and improved housing in our disadvantaged communities.
I come back to the Ichthys project, because I can definitely draw comparisons between the importance of the project to the future of the Territory with the establishment of the Gove joint venture and the original bauxite mining company Nabalco in my own electorate. I had to smile when I heard the Chief Minister say in his statement that the Ichthys project is a game changer, the second biggest investment in a single project in the nation’s history. Well, 40 years ago that is exactly what was said about the operations in Gove. At that time, it was the second biggest project in Australia with a budget of $320m - a large amount of money in those days - and second in size to the Snowy Mountain Hydro-Electric Scheme - or so I was advised when I picked up the role of PR person for Nabalco many years ago.
Of course, the start-up of mining operations in Gove was also a game changer. It opened up remote northeast Arnhem Land. The deal with the federal government was that in establishing mining and processing operations, the Gove joint venture also took responsibility for building an entire town with hundreds of houses, a school, a hospital, a court house, a post office, a retail and business precinct, sporting facilities including an Olympic-size pool, roads, power generation and all the necessary infrastructure which goes with building a town ...
Ms SCRYMGOUR: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Pursuant to Standing Order 77, I seek an extension of time for the member for Nhulunbuy to complete her speech.
Motion agreed to.
Ms WALKER: Thank you, Madam Speaker. Today the township of Nhulunbuy is an important regional centre in service delivery for people who work and live in northeast Arnhem Land, and a key point of economic activity which is still predominantly mining. Nabalco has gone through acquisitions and mergers over the years and rebranded as Alcan, Rio Tinto Alcan and, now, Pacific Aluminium.
There is significant employment through mining and significant export earnings through bauxite and alumina sales which flow on to government revenue. Last year, after several years of intensive negotiation between leaseholders Rio Tinto with traditional landowners, we saw the signing of a renewal of leases for a further 42 years, with a deal that secures long-term confidence and economic returns through jobs and business opportunities for Indigenous people.
So significant was the signing and renewal of those leases that, when the ceremony was held at Yirrkala in June last year the Prime Minister herself, along with minister for Indigenous Affairs, minister Macklin, visited Yirrkala to be part of that signing. Whilst I have not read the Prime Minister’s speech delivered in parliament today about closing the gap, I understand she makes reference to that event. It is of national significance.
While I was not in Gove when operations officially opened in 1972, I was there and working for Alcan during the G3 $2.5bn expansion project in 2004. I have listened closely to concerns of the member for Nelson about the fact that a construction camp for 3000 workers will be constructed in the rural area. I am pleased to hear the member for Nelson is feeling confident about assurances he has had from INPEX’s Sean Kildare around the operations of the workers village.
I can only say from the experiences of Gove during the G3 expansion that the workers village, which was purpose-built to accommodate 1700 people, was not the impost on our town some people feared it might be. Workers lived there and worked on the project under strict terms of a code of conduct which had zero tolerance for those who deviated from it. To the best of my knowledge, no one did lock up their daughters. The G3 village accommodated hard-working men and women, many of them with families interstate, who were working hard to pay off their mortgages and save money. Many of them sought and secured permanent jobs and relocated their families to Nhulunbuy once the plant was operational.
Whilst living in the G3 village, these people also spent considerable money with local businesses in our community and were also generous supporters of fundraising in our community for all manner of projects. I can only say to the member for Nelson and any other members who may be concerned - perhaps the member for Goyder as well - about the coming of a village that will house 3000 construction workers in the rural Darwin area, you will see there are far more benefits and positives than there are negatives for your local economies and your electorates.
I commend the Chief Minister for bringing this statement before the House. It is a very important statement. It is not a puff piece as the member for Greatorex bangs on about. This is talking about important policy, about how we have developed that policy, the importance to our economy, to jobs, and how we are supporting that through grassroots work, through all-important cornerstones of education.
It is an important debate to have in this House. I am pleased members opposite have participated, for the most part. I hope to see more of them contribute to this debate, but I will not hold my breath.
Policy development is important. It is something this government worked incredibly hard at. It is what governments have to do. With the CLP members opposite presenting themselves as the alternate government to the Northern Territory, I just find they are bereft of policy and ideas. So long as they do not launch policies for constituents, for this parliament, then they really have very little to go to the electorate with in August of this year.
There was an interesting contribution to the debate from the member of Port Darwin, who actually pitched for a vote for the CLP at the next election on the strength of leadership on their side, which I find very curious, given the known leadership contention on that side. I could not help but think those words would have been more appropriate coming from the Leader of the Opposition during his contribution, as opposed to coming from the member of Port Darwin. I can only think that perhaps the member for Port Darwin is posturing for leadership.
I leave it there, Madam Speaker. I commend the statement to the House.
Ms SCRYMGOUR (Arafura): Madam Speaker, I also support the Chief Minister’s Gearing Up For Growth statement. Yes, member for Nhulunbuy, the member for Port Darwin’s speech was a tussle for the leadership.
As the Chief Minister said, it is a time for optimism and excitement in the Territory – not just now but for a future we all want on this side of the House; for that prosperity to flow for our regions as well. There will be flow-on benefits for our regions and remote communities. If we look at this regarding what is happening with the Ichthys project – which I had to ask the member for Nhulunbuy a number of times regarding its pronunciation - in this development and project, in economic terms, if we build the economy of the Northern Territory then, naturally, you are going to have those flow-on effects, not just in Darwin but in our regions and remote communities. That economic benefit will mean more teachers, more police and, certainly, more needed investment in infrastructure, not just in Darwin but in our regions of Katherine, Tennant Creek, Alice Springs, Nhulunbuy and many of our remote communities.
The negative carping of the opposition is just plain frightening. The member for Greatorex has become unleashed. It is actually quite frightening when you think that there is an election coming up in August this year, and this is an opposition that wants to sell itself as being credible and an alternative. God help us if the member for Greatorex ever gets into the highest office if the CLP wins government. Given the blank pieces of paper they have – as you said, member for Nhulunbuy – bereft of policy or any vision, it is going to be interesting. The member for Greatorex constantly criticises. He talks about us being obsessed; I believe the member for Greatorex is obsessed with this side of the House and government. He accuses this government of not caring about Alice Springs, or that this project will not benefit Alice Springs. He is doing a great disservice - as are all the other members of the CLP who are members from Central Australia doing a big disservice to their constituents because they do not represent them at the highest level in a proactive way to try to get the outcomes that their constituents need for health, education, policing, infrastructure, putting together or suggesting ways forward in policy, or even announcing what their policies are instead of the negative carping. I have yet to hear any member of the other side come up with any future policy, policy directions, or solutions they may take.
In all the travels I have done through the regions in places like Katherine, Tennant Creek, Nhulunbuy and Alice Springs, you come across many good people, committed and passionate about their towns, about their regions, looking at solutions rather than talking down their towns and communities. Many people have asked about the development and what is happening in Darwin with projects. People in these regions know that if we can attract these huge investments, those investments will flow into those regions. Mining, the resource sector, is certainly huge – there has been more exploration happening in our regions and in our remote communities than ever before. For people to say it is a closed shop in the Northern Territory - that is not true; there is much happening. Talking it down as you often hear members on the other side do, is not doing the Northern Territory, let alone the regions they represent, any favours.
This is the second day of sittings and it is their General Business Day this afternoon. They will be going through all of the motions they have put forward. It will be interesting to see when they go through these motions whether they will offer and outline any solutions going forward, rather than just constantly carping and talking things down. That is the challenge to those CLP members because they have to get out of this. It is even federally - you can see the no, no, no, no, negative stance which flows on to these guys where everything is a no, no, no, negative stance. One day they are going to be in government and they are going to have to put their policies forward and have them tested before the electorate, and be able to lead and govern for all Territorians, not just a select few. The CLP has a track record of governing for just a select few.
I acknowledge the former Chief Minister, Clare Martin, and Mr Paul Tyrrell, who both pursued this project and both need to be given some acknowledgement of what they did when they pursued this project. There are many public servants across our agencies and also former members of Cabinet - the former Treasurer, Syd Stirling, through his stewardship with Clare Martin as the Chief Minister, put the financial state of the Northern Territory back in the black. There are many of us on this side who came through from 2001. It was in our first term of government when a mini-budget had to be brought into this Chamber because of the bad financial state of the Northern Territory. There was no development, no investment in infrastructure; everything had come to a stop in the Northern Territory.
When you think about that first Cabinet led by Clare Martin with Syd Stirling as the Treasurer and all of them – and at that time the Cabinet was only seven or eight ministers - did a lot of hard work and all the grunt that needed to be done, because we had a huge policy agenda that had to be pursued and implemented. The shock of finding what was the reality of the financial state of the Northern Territory was disappointing. The now Chief Minister, with three or four members of the present Cabinet, who were part of the Cabinet in 2001, turned around that financial state. To see what we inherited in 2001, the work that has gone into turning the financial state of the Northern Territory around, and this huge investment in this project is certainly a boost to the confidence for the people of the Northern Territory. People should feel confident that big giants such as Total have had the confidence to invest their money here with this project.
I congratulate the government for the strategic infrastructure development and the infrastructure we have invested in recently to get this Territory moving forward. I recall that much of that started with the Darwin waterfront - if I digress - which was another huge investment project that we had done recently. I was there for New Year during their fireworks display. It was fantastic to see the number of Territory families from around Darwin and also visitors to Darwin, at the waterfront enjoying all that is to offer there. When you look at that investment and what we have done in Darwin, and also Katherine where I was recently, at the infrastructure that is going on there - and I am looking forward to seeing the cultural centre that will be built there.
In Tennant Creek, there has been some fantastic infrastructure that has happened there with the oval, the Battery Hill Mining, and Nyinkka Nyunyu - there has been a lot of reform. It is good to see the reform happening in Alice Springs with housing in the town camps. At Nhulunbuy and many of our remote communities, there is the strategic housing program. While it sounds good for people to continually knock that housing program, I think of communities like Maningrida with 110 more houses than that community has ever had pre-2001 - that is more families in houses.
If we go to the heart of looking at child protection, ensuring those kids are going to school every day to get a quality education, we all know that the infrastructure investment in housing is so important. The housing program and money spent and overseen by the Northern Territory government is contributing to that. The minister for Housing - and also my colleague, the member for Casuarina - is very passionate about ensuring that massive infrastructure project is implemented, and the consultation and communication with the community happens. I have stood in this House before and acknowledged Ken Davies and Andrew Kirkman who I think do a fantastic job in ensuring that program and the communication with the communities does happen.
Having been born and bred in this town, I often have this discussion with the member for Goyder. I really am disappointed that members of the CLP have not contributed in a more productive way to this debate, because it is about optimism, and it is exciting when you think about it - look at the skyline of Darwin, go to Katherine, any place you travel throughout the Northern Territory. When I talk to people about 2030, the Chief Minister’s vision, and how we move forward with building the Territory over the next five, 10, 15, 20 years moving towards 2030, it gives people hope. It is about building optimism and ensuring we can give every child in the Northern Territory, regardless of race, colour or creed, the quality education they deserve.
With that education we can get more investment from big projects such as the Ichthys project. I look forward to seeing the Territory growing and moving forward because it is about time and is certainly a welcome development, particularly with the jobs, the training, and opportunities for young Indigenous kids in Darwin. We often look at kids in remote communities, but there are many opportunities for young Indigenous kids in Darwin. There are Indigenous families who are quite excited about this project because, for their kids and their grandchildren, it is about the future.
Madam Deputy Speaker, this project does give hope because it is about that investment.
Mr HENDERSON (Chief Minister): Madam Deputy Speaker, I thank all members for contributing to the debate – some more than others with regard to their enthusiasm for the exciting times the Territory faces. That is what this debate is all about. It is an opportunity for members of this House to contribute to a debate on how we, as a Territory, are going to leverage off the massive investment coming our way through our resources sector to ensure the entire community of the Northern Territory benefits.
Many people have contributed to that. That investment is coming, and a debate in this parliament about how we can ensure people right throughout the Northern Territory have opportunities and also get benefits from the investment - I was looking forward to many ideas being generated in the debate about what we could be doing and some strategies we might look to adopt.
When you look at your television screen in the evening watching the world news you see how life is such a struggle for so many millions of people around the world with the downturn in Europe, the struggling US economy, millions of people being thrown out of work, but here in Australia, particularly in the Northern Territory, our future is very bright. This debate is being conducted in the Territory in a climate where other parliaments around Australia are talking about the thousands of jobs in Victoria that have disappeared from the manufacturing sector in the last six months, and the thousands of jobs which will disappear from the financial sector in Sydney and Melbourne over the coming period. Those are the debates other parliaments are having around this nation: how to shore up investments and create jobs, given the downturn those economies are experiencing as a result of many policy parameters, particularly the high Australian dollar and, strategically, where we need to be. We are in a different place in the Northern Territory with regard to our competitive advantage with our resource sector, and it certainly is a very different debate.
I really felt, as I travelled around the Northern Territory, particularly in the last two or three months, a real change in optimism, in confidence, in looking forward to a bright future in the Territory. People really do understand, with all the issues and difficulties we have - and every society has its issues and difficulties - the long-term future is certainly bright for our kids.
Unfortunately, that optimism is not shared by the opposition. The Leader of the Opposition, in a very dour contribution, gave some pretty mealy-mouthed support and credit for securing the Ichthys project. He was obsessed with apportioning credit. It is not about credit. It is about acknowledging the fact that there were hundreds and, around the world, thousands of people who worked so hard to get this project to a final investment decision. It did not happen by accident; it did not fall from the sky. When he says that this project was always going to happen, he is, basically, insulting many hundreds and thousands of people around Australia and the world who worked hard to make this project happen, including many public servants across government who worked tirelessly to see this project get across the line. The Leader of the Opposition needs to be more gracious. I am sure if he was to bump into senior executives from INPEX, if he was meeting with them, he would not say to them: ‘Well, it was always going to happen anyway. You guys did not do a great deal, and welcome to the Territory’. I am sure he would not say that but, of course, he says that in here because being gracious is not something that is a natural part of his demeanour.
I am very excited about what it means for people across the Territory. Having been briefed on the workforce requirements of this particular project, there are going to be significant opportunities for world-class jobs during the construction phase, and ongoing in the operation phase.
I congratulate INPEX and Total for their $3m investment in the Larrakia Trade Training Centre that is up and running out there towards the port. Over 400 apprentices and trainees are being trained, in part, through that facility. Many of those apprentices and trainees are Indigenous, given the partnership with the Larrakia. I congratulate INPEX and Total for having the confidence to make that type of investment, commitment, and contribution to the Northern Territory, and training people for this project even prior to a final investment decision. It just goes to show what good corporate citizens these companies are going to be in the Territory for the next 40-or-so years, if not longer.
I will relate a story about the Larrakia Trade Training Centre. I have been there on a number of occasions now. One of the great stories I have to tell is of a fellow who sought me out, shook hands, and told me his story. He was an Indigenous guy born in the town camps in Alice Springs. He moved from Alice Springs, worked on pastoral stations and around Central Australia fixing bores, running fence lines and working on pastoral leases. He moved to Katherine and was involved in picking fruit and melons. He came to Darwin and was sharing accommodation with a couple of guys. He started an apprenticeship. He was doing a Certificate III in Construction and was really looking forward to working on the INPEX project. The great story is that he is very keen to get back to the town camps in Alice Springs and let those kids there know that there is a life outside the town camps, and you can earn great money and get ahead as an Indigenous person in the Territory. That is a great story.
Member for Barkly, I look forward to working with you to see how some of those kids from Tennant Creek and the Barkly can get jobs on this particular program. I am also engaged in very early discussions with the alliance partners about how the Indigenous employees on SIHIP can get some upskilling and be offered jobs to actually transition from SIHIP on to this massive construction program. Through people I know personally, I know there have been a couple of conversations held in a couple of SIHIP projects, and there is a lot of excitement amongst those Indigenous employees about opportunities of working on this project. They certainly have the opportunities if they are putting in the effort and can gain the qualifications.
This project is going to deliver, along with the Marine Supply Base and Charles Darwin University. I again put on the record my thanks to our Vice-Chancellor, Barney Glover, for his leadership at the university to ensure the oil and gas research institute will be up and running this year and that engineering courses are being expanded at the university.
A great story I heard about enrolments at the university is that there has been a 50% increase in students starting engineering degrees. The university has a very bright future as a centre of excellence in research and development, and training at the tertiary and trades level for a massive workforce which will be required across Northern Australia to deliver $150bn worth of projects that have already reached financial close and will be delivered in northern Australia over the next 10 years.
Darwin, as the capital of northern Australia, will see its fair share of our ability to support, maintain and deliver those projects, and our university will be pivotal in providing that workforce. Jacques Nasser, the Chief Executive from BHP, said recently in a speech that Charles Darwin University should be the preeminent university to deliver the workforce for northern Australia; I certainly agree with Mr Nasser on that point.
I welcome the member for Araluen’s contribution saying that Alice Springs had had a wonderful few months in regard to crime. It is good to see there is some acknowledgement from the Alice Springs members that police really have lifted their game in Alice Springs along with other government agencies - not only government agencies but also the non-government sector with the Youth Hub and all its activities over the school holiday program. I thank our Minister for Central Australia for his work and the leadership role he has played. It is a much different approach, a whole-of-community approach in Alice Springs, and police have seen a significant reduction in crime over the summer period. I thank the member for Araluen for acknowledging that because the non-government sector - everyone who has been involved, the people at the Youth Hub and police - deserve a pat on the back as opposed to the bile that comes from the member for Greatorex and other people on this issue. My congratulations to everyone in Alice Springs as well; they did a great job.
I am not going to comment and give life to what the member for Greatorex said – it was his usual bile and he had nothing positive to contribute.
I do not know who the member for Fong Lim’s audience is but he is certainly entertaining. Off he went on his bizarre climate change rant. I do not think he mentioned Triton in this debate. I do not know if it is an arm wrestle or just the slow grip of a python squeezing the environmental commitments out of the CLP that the member for Fong Lim is engaged in, but he criticised the government for aiming to reduce the emissions by 60% by 2050. If he has a close look at the CLP’s policy which they took to the last election – and I assume it is still their policy - they had exactly the same goal. I do not know if the member for Fong Lim was asleep when that policy was put forward by the CLP at the last election, whether he just ignored it, or whether he argued against it in the party room. As far as I am aware, it is still the CLP policy. But he went off on a rant, again taking on his leader in the House on that issue.
He also criticised the government for the energy ratings requirements for houses and commercial property. My reading of the CLP policy is they have gone even further; that the CLP would by now have mandated a 6-star energy rating for all houses in the Northern Territory, which would significantly add to the cost of housing. That is in their policy yet the member for Fong Lim railed against the policy position. I correct that: the policy position that the CLP took to the last election. I am assuming that is still their policy because we have not heard they have any others.
He also wants to have open slather water extraction on the Daly River. There was a front page in The Australian with Tony Abbott - I do not know if wild Bill Heffernan might have been in there - about draining the north’s rivers to turn the north into the food bowl of Asia. There was mass confusion in CLP ranks about whether they should support this policy. It was impossible to get a comment from the Leader of the Opposition for two or three days, and then his comments were contradicted by the member for Fong Lim. So they are all over the place regarding the Daly River, damming the Daly, turning the Northern Territory into a food bowl. We already know they have plans to dam the Elizabeth River and two other rivers and tributaries into Darwin Harbour.
It really is interesting, on this side of the House, watching the contorted positions. No wonder they do not have any policies; they cannot agree with each other. The shadow Environment minister was wrapping himself in a cloak of green, going to the Environment Centre and parading himself as the green’s saviour of the Country Liberal Party, and working with green groups to come up with climate change policy prior to the last election. Good luck to the shadow Environment minister. He did his job and got out there and tried to wrap the CLP up in a big, green cloak. Underneath that big, green cloak we know there is a great, big Trojan Horse - called the member for Fong Lim - who really does not believe in sustainable development at all, or in any of the environmental sciences.
The opposition has derided and railed against scientists who put forward any sort of opinion that shows we need to be careful in sustainable development. It is very interesting watching these policy contortions on the other side. I bet London to a brick that it is the member for Fong Lim who wins out. He will prevail, and he will, ultimately, prevail as Leader of the Opposition. We know the war he would rage and the policy fronts he would wage that war on.
It is an interesting time. I thank my colleagues who contributed to the debate on this statement. This side of the House is very excited about the future of the Northern Territory. We are very excited about the future for all of those 44 000 kids who are in our classrooms, back to school at the beginning of this year. We have our sleeves rolled up; we have our policies in place. We are out there working with our community to make the Territory a better place. We have our A Working Future policies and funding in place to start turning around that tide of Indigenous disadvantage. This is an exciting time for the Northern Territory. It is a pity the opposition could not put forward anything positive in debate.
Madam Speaker, I commend the statement to the House.
Motion agreed to; statement noted.
MOTION
Note Statement - Supporting Territorians
Continued from 29 November 2011.
Mr VATSKALIS (Health): Madam Speaker, I support Hon Delia Lawrie’s statement on supporting Territorians. I will inform the House on how the Northern Territory government is helping to support Territorians in a multitude of ways across my portfolio areas of Children and Families, Health, and Resources.
The Northern Territory government wants to ensure that families are supported to provide their children with the best start to life possible. The Northern Territory government funds our non-government organisations to deliver services that aim to give Territory children the best start in life, and help Territory mums and dads be the best parents they can.
Increasing the ability of our non-government partners to support Territory children and their families is a key priority of our government. In 2010-11, the Territory government provided $38m to 70 non-government organisations to deliver a wide range of services that support Territory children and their families. The Henderson Labor government has also increased core funding to the Northern Territory Council of Social Services by $625 000 a year, with additional one-off funding of $267000 in 2011-12; increased funding to Foster Care NT by $585 000 a year; increased funding of $200 000 in 2010-11 and $325 000 a year from 2011-12 onwards for the Create Foundation, an advocacy group for children in care which will see them significantly expand services in Darwin and establish a presence in Alice Springs; and increased funding to the National Association for Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect by $250 000 a year.
Being a parent can be one of the most rewarding, yet challenging, tasks someone can embark on. Right across the Territory our government funds a range of services that help support Territory parents. In 2010-11, the Northern Territory government provided $2.9m for a broad range of prevention and early intervention services including parenting information, skills development, play activities and groups, and cultural healing and support.
In Darwin, the Northern Territory government provided $106 000 in 2010-11 for the Darwin Toy Library, a valuable service that lends and provides information about a wide range of toys and equipment to support the development and learning of children. This service is available to all parents. However, there is a particular focus on low-income families who may not have the ability to buy new toys at every stage of a child’s development. Funding is provided for a similar toy library service in Nhulunbuy.
In Alice Springs, the Northern Territory government has provided additional one-off funding of $43 000 in 2011-12 for the Children’s Services Support Program (Central Australia) Inc to provide parenting support and information. Tangentyere Council receives funding from the Northern Territory government to run the Ketye Program, which offers parenting education resources for Indigenous vulnerable families with children aged up to seven years old with a connection to town camps in and around Alice Springs.
In Katherine, the Northern Territory government provides funding for the Baby FAST program which supports young vulnerable Indigenous parents to help improve outcomes for children and reduce child abuse and neglect.
The Northern Territory government also understands that families and parents experience crisis situations from time to time. This is why the government provided around $1.7m in 2010-11 for crisis support funding to provide early support to families and individuals, including general and specialised counselling, accommodation support, and access and referrals to other services.
The Henderson government is committed to improving the health of all Territorians with services that are closer to people’s home, keeping families together, and living longer and healthier lives. The Northern Territory Labor government delivered the Territory’s first $1bn health budget in 2009-10. In 2011-12, the budget has increased to $1.12bn. Health funding has more than doubled, up by 149% since 2001 when we came to government.
In supporting Territory families we have:
delivered the Palmerston Super Clinic, reduced pressure on the RDH emergency department with over 18 000 patients seen in the first year of operation and provided the urgent care after-hours medical service treating 28 000 residents of Palmerston since opening;
delivered the Territory’s first $19m cancer care treatment centre at RDH, the Alan Walker Cancer Care Centre, so Territorians do not need to travel interstate for radiation therapy;
opened the 26-room Barbara James House in Stuart Park to provide a peaceful home-like environment for patients undergoing cancer treatment and their carers;
commenced construction of the new $24.7m emergency department at Alice Springs with 35 treatment bays, a fast-track unit, isolation beds and new medical imaging;
opened the $28m first full Northern Territory medical school in partnership with Flinders University, Charles Darwin University, and the NT and Australian governments in February 2011. Territory kids can now train to become doctors within even having to leave the Northern Territory;
introduced a $1.5m dental blitz in 2010 to reduce the general dental waiting list with $750 000 ongoing. This will reduce waiting lists for general appointments to the best in Australia;
delivered the new $100m five-year contract with St John Ambulance for expanded ambulance services and patient transport for better clinical safety;
supported Territorians in remote areas with a new Top End medical retrieval contract to CareFlight - $256m over 10 years for a fully integrated service, new planes, extra specialists and nursing staff and maintenance system;
opened the 12-bed hospice at Royal Darwin Hospital for $4.5m in 2005, providing excellent end-of-life care for Territorians, and support for families in these sad and difficult times;
opened new renal dialysis units in Alice Springs, Gap Road, Katherine, Tennant Creek, Palmerston and remote areas at Santa Teresa, Ramingining, Umbakumba, Galiwinku, Maningrida with an extra $24.4m from Budget 2007-08;
planning is well under way for the $110m Palmerston hospital;
provided $22m for patient and Indigenous mothers’ accommodation at RDH which is under construction. This will help people from remote areas to stabilise in a supportive environment with their carer;
provided $30m for new emergency department at Gove District Hospital;
upgraded Tennant Creek emergency department;
delivered new patient accommodation hostels in Katherine and Gove;
delivered new remote health centres in Milikapiti, Daly River, Yuendumu, Nguiu, Jilkminggan, Kalkarindji, Maningrida, plus $50m for several new remote healthcare centres and for major upgrades; and
provided $13m for renal patient accommodation in Central Australia.
In addition to these services, the Northern Territory Patient Assistance Travel Scheme provides assistance with the cost of interstate and intrastate travel and accommodation for patients who are required to travel over 200 km to access specialist health services. A total of 20 000 patients and 8000 escorts were assisted with travel and accommodation subsidies in 2010-11 to the value of $10m. This is important assistance to families who are accessing specialist medical treatment interstate, or who attend other Territory major hospitals from regional or remote areas.
We also provide the Disability Equipment Program, previously known as the Territory Independence and Mobility Equipment Scheme. The Northern Territory government provides over $1.5m per year to the Disability Equipment Program to support Territorians with a disability to live and participate in their community through the provision of appropriate equipment, aids, and appliances. Equipment provided includes toileting and showering aids, lifting devices, bed equipment, sitting equipment, pressure management equipment, wheel mobility aids, ambulatory mobility aids and standing equipment, personal emergency response systems, and home modifications such as grab rails and ramps.
In addition to the Disability Equipment Program, the Companion Card scheme is a national scheme enabling people with a disability who require lifelong attendant care support from a companion to participate in identified activities without incurring the cost of a second ticket for their companion. Cardholders present their card when booking or purchasing a ticket from participating business, and are issued with a second companion ticket for their companion at no charge.
When it comes to supporting Territorians, the Resources, Primary Industry and Fisheries portfolios are delivering real results. Members would be aware that mining continues to be the largest industry sector in the Territory, contributing around 26% of GSP and, in contrast, nationally it accounts for only 6.8% of GDP. Our Primary Industry sector continues to grow and creates opportunities and jobs throughout the Territory. Fishing continues to make such an important contribution to our great Territory lifestyle whether it be catching a fish or ordering some of the best seafood in the world from the menu, sometimes, at the waterfront.
When it comes to programs supporting Territorians and Territory families, we are delivering.
Members on this side of the House understand that human activity is impacting on our climate. I remember a time when the Leader of the Opposition did have a policy on climate change. We believe we could make a difference, but the opposition members now have changed their minds. It is for this reason the Northern Territory government is a strong supporter and proud partner of the Alice Springs Solar City Project. In 2010-11, the Territory government provided $276 000 in cash and in-kind support towards the second-last stage of the project.
Over the life of the project, the Territory government will provide $3.764m for the likes of renewable and energy efficient projects at Araluen Cultural Precinct and Alice Springs Hospital; installation of smart meters, domestic time of use trials; installation of solar technologies; and financial incentives. It is estimated the project will save at least 12 942 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent per annum, the equivalent of taking 22% of cars in Alice Springs off the road every year.
The Territory government has invested strongly in supporting the growth of the Territory’s resources industry through the seven-year $25.8m Bringing Forward Discovery initiative. This has contributed to an unprecedented boom in mineral exploration in the Territory, with over $195m in exploration expenditure in the past financial year.
As part of this initiative, the Territory government has committed $3m over the past four years in direct funding to exploration through the Geophysics and Drilling Collaborations program. This program provides 50%, up to $100 000, of the direct cost of select exploration drilling or geophysical programs in underexplored greenfield areas. Priority is given to projects which test innovative new concepts and have the potential to open up new areas for exploration. This funding does not only benefit the companies concerned, but also flows to local drilling companies and other contractors. New discoveries have been made from this program and many other funded programs have provided encouragement to the companies to continue exploration in these unexplored areas, bringing ongoing benefits to the community.
The Geological Survey group within the Department of Resources recently won a Chief Minister’s Award for excellence in the public sector in the Growing Prosperity category for its success in implementing the Bringing Forward Discovery initiative and stimulating mineral and petroleum exploration in the Territory.
The Territory government is also supporting young Territorians to gain a start in the resources industry through our ongoing Resources, Earth Science, Mining and Petroleum scholarships. The scholarships provide $36 000 per year to support three young Territorians to study interstate for degrees which will give them the skill to become professionals in the Territory resources sector. I am pleased to report that, to date, all recipients of the scholarship have brought their valuable skills back to the Territory and are working for Territory focused exploration and mining companies. It is all about providing opportunity for Territorians, to train and retain our own, and ensuring Territorians have every opportunity to pursue their dream job, whether it is in the resource, primary industry or fisheries arena.
Last financial year, support for the primary industries groups that grow our primary industries totalled $370 000. The Northern Territory Horticultural Association received $185 000; the Northern Territory Agricultural Association received $100000, and the Northern Territory Livestock Exporters’ Association received $85 000. Funding is provided to assist industry associations to represent and promote their respective industries in the Territory.
I congratulate the Northern Territory Horticultural Association and the Northern Territory Agricultural Association for considering an amalgamation to better represent their respective members. The Northern Territory Agricultural Association held its AGM in Katherine recently with members offering their support for the amalgamation, as their industries are identical.
The government also supports pastoralists directly through the delivery of the Pastoral Water Enhancement Scheme. The scheme enhances land and water resources management by encouraging the sound planning of stock watering facilities through technical advice and financial subsidy. This scheme is delivered by my Department of Resources with assistance from the Department of Natural Resources, Environment, the Arts and Sports. Last financial year, the assistance totalled $80 000. We sponsored cultural events at the Royal Darwin Show and Freds Pass Show totalling $4500 for the last financial year.
Industry events receive support on the occasion of special events. Last financial year, the support totalled $9000. Dr Brian Radunz, the Territory’s Chief Veterinary Officer since 1999, was recently awarded the Chief Minister’s Public Service Medal for his strong leadership of the animal health program which safeguards our important cattle industry. Dr Radunz has also played a major role in developing and implementing animal health policy within the Territory and nationally.
Under our fisheries program, we offer support for non-Indigenous Marine Ranger Groups around the Territory coast. Indigenous marine rangers’ grants of around $60 000 per year are offered to Anindilyakwa Sea Rangers program, Bawinanga Aboriginal Corporation, Mabunji Aboriginal Resource Association Incorporated, Northern Land Council, Thamarrurr Development Corporation Limited, and Tiwi Land Council.
The Fisheries Division has led the development of specific compliance training for Indigenous marine rangers in collaboration with Charles Darwin University and the Water Police. To date, more than 50 male and female rangers have received certificate qualifications in fisheries compliance. The Fisheries Division recently won the Chief Minister’s Award for Excellence for delivering quality education and training to Indigenous marine rangers and for its Indigenous Apprenticeships program.
A range of aquacultural enterprises focusing on low technology, sea-based methods are being trialled on Goulburn Island and Groote Eylandt. A sea cucumber ranch in the open sea is likely to offer a small annual income stream to communities, and part-time job opportunities, especially for young community members.
When it comes to AFANT, in addition to its operational grant to represent the views of Territory anglers we also provide a small clubs grant. Under this grant, a range of projects are undertaken to support Territorians.
The Darwin Flyrodders Club received funds to assist in its public fly-casting clinics. I attended a clinic at the waterfront recently and attempted the art of fly-fishing, and saw fly-tying firsthand. While I was on the lawn a range of family groups were present with a number of Territory kids enthralled by fly-tying. Nhulunbuy Regional Sport Fishing Club received a contribution towards its women and junior fishing clinics. Katherine Game Fishing Club received funding for a marquee to use its competitions. Dundee Social and Recreational Club received funding for a barbecue and tables. We are making fishing even better for Territorians and Territory families through improving recreational fishing facilities. Recognising the importance of recreational fishing, the Northern Territory government committed to an infrastructure fund of $1m per annum from 2008 to 2012 to improve access to recreational fisheries across the Top End by upgrading facilities.
In addition to the $4m Palmerston facility, there have been upgrades to boat ramps at Leeders Creek, King Ash Bay, Gove, Dinah Beach, Elizabeth River, Saltwater Arm, Milne Inlet, Corroboree Billabong, Middle Arm, Six Pack Creek and Hardies Billabong. Toilets have been installed at Corroboree Billabong and Adelaide River. A pontoon has been installed at the Dinah Beach boat ramp.
For those who are not familiar with ramps throughout the Territory, the installation of floating pontoons has proven to be very popular with family groups. It means the family no longer need to stand waist deep in water in some of our most popular boat ramps to launch and retrieve a vessel. Rather, the floating pontoon provides for the family to easily launch and retrieve their vessel without even getting their feet wet. Here in the Territory, with some of the largest tides in the nation, building boat ramps and pontoons is not without its challenges. We are committed to make a family day out on the water even easier and safer.
In conclusion, Madam Deputy Speaker, the Henderson Labor government is deeply committed to supporting Territorians. Today, I have outlined a number of programs and plans to assist Territorians in developing strong and healthy Territory families with the capacity to participate in, and contribute to, a strong and healthy Territory.
Mr KNIGHT (Justice and Attorney-General): Madam Deputy Speaker, I support the Chief Minister’s important statement regarding supporting Territorians. It is incumbent on the government and the community to try to support our valuable Territorians in particular ways. It has been this government, over the last 10 to 11 years that has increased support to the community in a number of areas.
It has been our government’s commitment to support senior Territorians. Historically, it has been the case that people have come here and contributed to the non-Indigenous development of the Northern Territory. Traditionally, they left their families down south to move into agricultural production, or move with the Commonwealth government at the time. It has been the case that senior Territorians, once they reached retirement age, moved back to their family networks down south. When some finished their time here as Commonwealth public servants, they also retired down south. Some of these people spent a great deal of time in the Northern Territory and had a great understanding of it. The corporate history in different industries and their contacts are invaluable, and their leaving is a loss.
It had been a keen focus of the previous Chief Minister to retain senior Territorians by making it more attractive for them to stay here. One of those schemes is the Northern Territory Pensioner and Carer Concession Scheme. This scheme was designed to provide assistance and also some incentives to stay in the Northern Territory. Many senior Territorians had a lot of time on their hands and, with many family members getting older down south, they wanted to see them. The danger was, in wanting to see them, and the high cost of travelling to see them, they would make the choice to relocate down south. Under the scheme we have provided funding for senior Territorians, usually on a two-year basis, of the equivalent of an economy airfare to southern capital cities, to visit their family. That way they get to see their family but remain in the Northern Territory for their children, grandchildren, and our wider community. That has been quite successful. The number of seniors leaving the Northern Territory has significantly reduced. Through programs in housing and more recent planning changes as well, it has enabled senior Territorians to live a more comfortable life. We look forward to them staying here.
Another benefit of the scheme is the Seniors Card. There is a significant take-up of that card. A year or so ago, up to 800 businesses had signed up to that card, offering discounts across a range of products. I thank those businesses for offering their generosity to a growing number of people in our community. People patronise those businesses who participate. We have a competition each year for which business provides the best seniors discount. A caf in Katherine won it last year. I am unsure about this year, but it is something we thank our businesses for. We understand the cost of living is a major concern for pensioners and seniors, also carers, who are often on fixed incomes.
In order to keep seniors in the Territory we offer the most generous Pensioner and Carer Concession Scheme in the country. We have done much analysis of the scheme and, by and large, it is the best one in the country. There are currently 23000 members in the concession scheme in the Northern Territory - quite a significant take-up. With my local member hat on, I would like to see the scheme be further promoted in our more remote areas to offer people opportunities to take advantage of the rebates and incentives. Seniors and carers are eligible, but also aged war service veterans and pensioners, and low-income superannuates.
Over 121 concessions were granted in the 2010-11 year totalling $18.3m. The concessions offered were around power, council rates, water bills, sewerage bills, garbage bills, and motor vehicle registration. Offering concessions on motor vehicle registration is a great initiative of the government, also free drivers’ licences. There are also concessions on spectacles and free public transport. If you grow old in the Territory you will be looked after better by this government than anywhere else in the country.
Electricity concessions are around $585 per year and over 46 000 electricity concessions were granted in the 2010-11 year for a total value of nearly $10m. That is a great deal of money going back into the pockets of senior Territorians. This concession has been increased since the election of the Henderson Labor government to ensure senior Territorians and pensioners and carers are not affected by any price increases. There is a commitment around providing that assistance. Naturally, the cost of providing electricity does go up, but we are trying to insulate senior Territorians and people on very low incomes from those increased costs. It was the Henderson Labor government that abolished the 50% maximum cap on power accounts as well.
In order to keep seniors in the Territory, a concession of 62.5% is offered off council rates up to a maximum of $200 a year. I get a lot of representation from seniors, both in my own electorate and in other electorates, about this particular subsidy. This is the Northern Territory’s contribution to their cost of living. I believe it is incumbent on local councils to have a look at providing similar subsidies for their senior Territorians. Obviously, within our budget we absorb those costs across society. I guess that is where local government needs to have a look as well - whether it treats its senior Territorians or its pensioners and carers a little more differently by offering concessions, just to keep them in the community. Councils across the Territory are under pressure, but this is a way of giving those vulnerable people on low incomes who have served the Territory for decades a bit of relief in their latter years.
This $200 a year from the Northern Territory government is higher than local government rates concessions given in Queensland, Victoria, Western Australia and also South Australia. We are leading the country in our rate concessions in the Northern Territory. There were over 5000 council rate concessions granted in the 2010-11 year, which was nearly $1.1m in that financial year of relief provided to those seniors who are landowners as well. We have that situation where we have asset-rich and cash-poor seniors and low-income earners out there who may have bought a very cheap block in the rural area. I guess progress has caught up with them, and so have the more modern levels of rates as well. They own their block but it is starting to cost them quite a lot of money out of their weekly incomes.
Our water rates concession is the best in the country. That is on top of having the lowest water prices in the country. It has been this government that has kept our power prices to the second lowest in the country, our sewerage rates are the second lowest in the country, and our water prices are the lowest in the country. On top of that, we offer a concession for our seniors of up to $265 a year. This particular concession has been increased since the election of the Henderson Labor government in 2008. There were over 17 500 concessions granted in the 2010-11 year, totalling $750 000. Again, more money staying in the pockets of senior Territorians so they can live a lot easier.
With the sewerage concession, again, it is also the best in the country and, as I said, the second lowest sewerage prices in the country. That concession is $275 per year ...
Mr Tollner interjecting.
Mr KNIGHT: Nice to have you back, Dave.
Mr Tollner: Is Delia sitting there?
Mr KNIGHT: We are all moving around, Dave. You can sit over there next to Kezia if you like, Dave.
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order!
Mr KNIGHT: With respect to the sewerage rates concessions, there was something like 16 000 concessions granted in 2010-11 to a value of $88 000. Again, a significant contribution.
Over 5300 garbage rate concessions were granted in that same financial year, with the amount varying per council - some council’s garbage rates were fairly small and others are quite significant.
The motor vehicle registration concession is $154 per year per vehicle. That is a good contribution - those increased registrations are natural enough but this tries to keep people’s cars registered and on the road so they have some mobility in their later life. This has been increased by $50 since the election of the Henderson Labor government - quite a significant increase. Over 14 000 concessions for motor vehicle registration were granted in 2010-11 and the value of those 14 000 concessions was $1.45m.
Seniors will also benefit from having a free driver’s licence. It is a great relief for seniors to not have to pay for a driver’s licence renewal. This was introduced under the Henderson Labor government. There were 3800 given out in 2010-11 to a value of over $300 000.
Following on from the Enough is Enough alcohol reforms, seniors came to the government and told us that those who did not have ID had trouble purchasing a proof-of-age card as well, and that there would be a cost imposed on them. This government feels passionately about seniors, so we listened and extended the free proof-of-age card to senior Territorians.
The Territory also offers one claim every two-year period for the cost of prescription spectacles. Obviously, many senior Territorians’ eyesight starts to go, so this is another benefit and another reason to stay in the Northern Territory. There were over 10 000 spectacle concessions given out in 2010-11 and that value is a little over $1m - a great contribution to our senior Territorians.
The Northern Territory is the only jurisdiction to offer seniors free public transport, which is available in Darwin and Alice Springs. This is great for seniors who, perhaps, are unable to drive but want to get around town to participate and have an active life in their later years. Being able to hop on a bus and get around town keeps them active and is valuable for our community. They do not have to worry about mucking around with paying for buses all the time; they can hop on the buses for free. This concession was introduced by this government.
Our unique concession is our interstate and overseas travel which I talked about. This concession is offered to seniors, aged pensioners, and totally or permanently incapacitated veterans and aged war service veterans. It was introduced to keep people in the Territory but also allow them to see their friends and family interstate or overseas. The concession is 50% off an airfare every two years. The concession can accrue to make up 100% concession every four years. Having a completely cost-free trip interstate or overseas is a wonderful opportunity to see family when many people have very little income, they are on a pension and spend most of their money on the basic essentials. To look forward to every four years travelling interstate or overseas to catch up with their family certainly is a great way of looking after our valuable Territorians.
Current card holders are also able to use their travel entitlements to bring a friend or family member living interstate or overseas to visit them in the Northern Territory - another way to keep people happy, keep them in the Territory, but also get friends and family to come to the Northern Territory. To ensure the benefit goes to Territorians, applicants must be a resident for two years before actually applying for this particular benefit. Over 2300 concessions were granted in 2010-11, and this value ...
Mr GUNNER: A point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker! I move an extension of time for the member, pursuant to Standing Order 77.
Motion agreed to.
Mr KNIGHT: I thank members. Over 2300 concessions were granted in 2010-11 to a total value of $2.55m - again, a great way of keeping Territorians here and supporting them in the latter part of their lives.
One of the new concessions is the $8500 stamp duty concession. This is if seniors buy or downsize a home. Obviously, in your housing career, you start off at home with your family, then you might move out and move in with some friends, then you get a partner and you get a small home, family gets bigger, you buy a bigger home, and then kids start to leave home. We have many seniors in the Northern Territory, who may have lost a partner, or their children have moved out, who have a three- or four-bedroom home and they are all by themselves. Many of these homes are older homes and are elevated, which causes access problems and maintenance problems on an older building. We offer incentives to allow these senior Territorians to move to downsize.
As you move through your life, you move down to something smaller as your family moves away, or you have gone back to being by yourself. Getting a smaller home that is more easily maintained and more appropriate for your physical needs is a good way to go. It also frees up some of the value you have accumulated in your home over the years to live a lot easier. This is a great initiative enabling people to do that.
The Seniors Card is a great way for businesses to provide discounts to senior Territorians. There are around 15 000 permanent NT residents aged 60 and over receiving discounts on goods and services from over 630 local businesses. Seniors also have the opportunity to nominate their favourite seniors-friendly business. As I said earlier, the caf in Katherine won that a year or so ago. They were providing great service to their seniors. We thank those businesses for participating.
There has been a great deal of focus about looking after our seniors. It is about supporting them. We are coming into the 70-year anniversary of the Bombing of Darwin, and there are many seniors who might have been around at the time, post the war reconstruction, through Cyclone Tracy - all those events. Having those seniors here to contribute to the history and the story telling of the history of the Northern Territory is extremely valuable, so we value our seniors.
The budget for supporting senior Territorians is almost $20m. That is three times as much as our opposition counterparts, the CLP, in their last year of government, which was $6.5m. We are serious about our seniors; serious about looking after them and about easing the burden of increased costs as they get older. We will continue to look at ways to provide assistance to cater for their needs into the future.
Madam Speaker, I congratulate the Chief Minister on this statement. We are extremely focused on all parts of our community, supporting people whether they be youth, seniors, the business community, or our other vulnerable Territorians, whether in the city or the bush. I commend the statement to the House.
Mr HENDERSON (Chief Minister): Madam Speaker, I support this very important statement being debated in the House tonight, a statement from the Treasurer about how this government is supporting Territorians and Territory families with regard to the cost of living.
We are focused on making the Territory the best place to live and raise a family in the country. Given the tyranny of distance and our isolation from the major capital cities and population centres, the cost of living is higher in the Northern Territory than many parts of the country, purely because of the geographic distance we are away from most of the things we consume in the Territory.
In order to be able to attract, recruit and retain people into the Territory, we have to have other advantages in lifestyle and being able to access a job and great services. We have to punch above our weight in the Northern Territory compared to the rest of Australia. That is why we have the most comprehensive range of incentives, grants, concessions, and subsidies in the country to help Territorians get ahead. By a country mile this government provides more support to families and people who are socially disadvantaged than anywhere else in the nation.
Starting with our youngest, we are the only place in Australia to provide a childcare subsidy, around $20 per week per child. All of us who have had children in the Northern Territory know when you are raising a young family, in that first two or three years if your partner has to go back to the workplace, the cost of childcare is very significant and a big hit on the family budget. Every bit helps, and we are the only jurisdiction to provide a subsidy of around $20 a week.
We also recognise supporting families with kids going back to school at the beginning of February - most families around the Territory are pretty maxed out when it comes to getting kids back to school. Christmas is a very expensive time of year for families with all of the celebrations. Many people in the Territory, particularly in Darwin and Palmerston, choose to get away over the Christmas break and reconnect with family down south or overseas. Getting kids back to school and kitting kids out for school comes at a time of year when the credit card has a big hole in it and the family savings are not in great order. Our $75 Back to School Bonus really helps parents at the beginning of the school year. Being at the schools in my electorate, the feedback I get from parents is that $75 is invaluable for uniforms, book packs, pre-payment of school fees, and also school excursions. If you have two or three kids it really is a very big help.
Also, we have honoured our election commitments, again focusing on families and the cost of raising families in the Territory. We are the only place in the country where students get free public transport on our bus network - students, seniors and carers. We are the only place in the country where there is free transport. Again, for mums and dads, the combination of childcare subsidy, Back to School Bonus, and free transport really does help the family budget in the expensive costs of getting kids to school.
We provide free school dental services. That not only has good health outcomes for Territory kids but, in the absence of a free school dental service, parents would have to pay to access dental services. We all know how expensive it is when we have to visit the dentist.
Another reason why we support super clinics on this side of the House - GP super clinics in Palmerston and the one for Darwin - is that they cut the cost and increase quality and access to healthcare for Territory families. We recognise that a trip to the doctor - there are very few doctors, for a whole heap of reasons, who bulkbill in the Northern Territory - the out-of-pocket expenses can be very significant. So, the GP super clinics are also about providing some relief to families when they need to access medical care.
As kids get older, leave school, and start a trade or apprenticeship, our apprentice and trainee schemes really help give a young person a start. Our Workwear/Workgear Bonus grant helps them get the tools and clothes they need. I acknowledge it is difficult, particularly for first-year apprentices. The wages for a first-year apprentice and the award rates are not great; they are not an incentive in their own at all for kids to do an apprenticeship. However, those low rates recognise the cost to employers in that first year when there is very little productivity from a first-year apprentice. There are many kids who cannot access apprenticeships for all sorts of reasons - their home circumstance might not allow them to be at home with mum or dad, or they might have to contribute to the family budget - so our first- and second-year apprentices do it pretty tough. Our Workwear/Workgear Bonus grant of - I think it is $1000 after they complete the first three months of their apprenticeship - really does help out and we are very keen to support that scheme into the future.
We also provide a benefit to our small businesses across the Territory by being the lowest taxing jurisdiction for small and medium businesses in the country. That enables our businesses to offset some of the costs of doing business in the Northern Territory, given the tyranny of distance, and allows them to be competitive with interstate business. Businesses recognise the tax yoke on them in the Northern Territory is much less than it is elsewhere in the nation.
The Territory government, through the budget, provides the most expansive electricity concessions in the country. My colleague, the Minister for Senior Territorians, just spoke about the concessions for seniors. They are very well received and regarded by seniors. However, for everyone who lives in the Territory in all of the suburbs, the average electricity subsidy for an average family home is around $820. That is a very significant subsidy to the family. If families had to pay an extra $820 for electricity a year that would be a very big hit on the family budget.
When you look at the support and concessions we provide to families, they are expansive. Childcare subsidies, Back to School Bonus, free bus transport for students, free school dental services, support for apprentices and trainees, support in subsidies for electricity - all of those things go to offsetting the cost of living in the Territory, and those subsidies have grown in recent years.
We also have a range of schemes to help families buy a home, including stamp duty concessions and HOMESTART NT scheme. For first homebuyers our stamp duty concessions are among the most generous in the country at around $560 000, off the top of my head. We are getting families into a home, ensuring that, unless someone is buying a first home of around $800 000 or $900 000, they are paying very little stamp duty. If they are paying less than $560 000 for their first home – most people buy their first home through the unit market as opposed to the housing market – very few pay any stamp duty on their first home in the Territory and, if they are paying stamp duty, it is less than they would pay elsewhere in the nation.
Our seniors know they have the most generous concession scheme in the country. My colleague, the minister for Seniors, discussed all of those concessions. These concessions have grown and expanded under the Labor government because we know that keeping our seniors here and having intergenerational families call the Territory their home is much better for kids as they grow up, and provides much greater stability in continuing to grow your family in the Territory.
In the Territory, whether you live in the bush or in town, there are very expansive schemes in place to support families, seniors, young people and business. Supporting young people – some of the other schemes are higher education scholarships for school leavers. There are a number of those every year. In Alice Springs, there is the Bernie Kilgariff Memorial Scholarship. We have significant teacher education scholarships; vocational education and training scholarships; dollar-for-dollar subsidy schemes for non-government schools – we are one of the few governments in Australia which supports non-government schools to the extent we do; an education allowance for students with disabilities; travel and boarding schemes; a correspondence site allowance; School of the Air student functions allowance allowing kids who are studying through School of the Air to get to a function somewhere in the Territory; remote area travel allowance schemes; correspondence materials delivery assistance scheme; isolated students education allowance; and a tertiary fares reimbursement scheme. All of those schemes are supporting the cost of education and ensuring that the breadth of education is available to as many kids as possible.
Supporting Territory business is also very much about supporting jobs. As well as being the lowest taxing jurisdiction in the country, we have invested significant money into business upskill programs, the Indigenous Business Development Program, employer incentives and assistance for taking on apprentices and trainees, our BuildBonus scheme, our trade support schemes, ecoBiz Northern Territory, just to name a few – supporting businesses to employ people.
We are also providing significant subsidies to seniors with the NT Pensioner and Carer Concession Scheme. Our Seniors Card is very popular. I thank all the Territory businesses which provide concessions to seniors who have a Seniors Card. The number of businesses supporting our seniors grows every year. I thank those businesses for providing our seniors with a few dollars’ relief on their purchases from those businesses. We have many pensioner and carer concessions with seniors. Another commitment at the last Territory election was free driver’s licences and that has been warmly received. There is the Northern Territory taxi subsidy scheme, and a lift incentive scheme to help people with mobility issues in their homes.
We recognise that costs are higher in the Territory; virtually everything we consume in our homes, in our businesses, and in the community is imported from overseas or interstate. We are still growing our local manufacturing industry, and the manufacturing industry we do have imports much of its raw materials from down south or overseas. The distances between where goods are produced and where they are sold in the Territory, apart from Perth, are probably far greater than most places around the world. We also recognise the particularly high construction costs in the Northern Territory, and the fact that we have to build homes to cyclone coded standards, which means that per square metre construction costs in the Territory are around 30% higher than down south. Of course all of those materials have to be imported from interstate and overseas. So, there are good reasons why the cost of living is high, has always been higher in the Northern Territory than elsewhere in many other parts of Australia.
There is really nothing governments can do about those things, but where we can help is through a range of subsidies and concessions, trying to target those as much as possible to families and people who have fixed incomes. I believe we do a pretty good job. They are the most generous schemes in the country. As the Chief Minister, I will continue to recognise that people need a bit of extra support to make their life in the Territory as great as possible, and provide every opportunity to support families and support growing up kids in the Territory.
Madam Speaker, I commend the Treasurer’s statement to the House.
Mr HAMPTON (Natural Resources, Environment and Heritage): Madam Speaker, I also support the statement, Supporting Territorians. Supporting Territorians is all about letting Territorians know about the wide range of government support available to them. Territorians have access to a range of grants, concession rebates, and subsidies. Colleagues before me have been able to talk in more detail about some of the grants, concession rebates and subsidies they have through their portfolios.
The Territory government is helping Territorians get ahead with some of the most generous subsidies and concessions in the country. If you are a parent, student, senior, apprentice, carer, small business owner, or a community group, chances are there is something for you. In my Environment and Sport portfolios, there is a range of grants to help support local people and local groups.
Energy Smart is a Territory-wide rebate available for households after purchasing selected energy-saving devices. The Territory government is providing households with a rate rebate of up to $200. These energy-saving devices will not only help save money and reduce your household power usage, but you will also be helping the environment. Energy-saving devices reduce the amount of greenhouse gases that power consumption produces. Items available for rebate include power boards, energy efficient light globes, timers, power usage meters, and fridge and freezer seals. The program was launched in July 2009, with $125 000 worth of rebates given in the first two years. As at the end of October 2011, $22 000 has been provided in rebates to households for this financial year. It is easy to apply for a rebate online in three easy steps: first, choose the approved list of energy smart items; second, purchase and install items from the list; third, complete the rebate application form, remembering to include your banking details, and scan or post in your receipts.
Our EnvironmeNT Grants program has provided funding to schools and community groups since 2004, supporting a range of small- to medium-sized environmental projects across the Northern Territory. Grants are allocated from three distinct categories, these being operational funding, operational and running costs for non-government organisations, and funding for individual projects and funding for school-based projects. All funding delivered through these categories must also address specific environmental themes that reflect the main issues of concern among the Territory community. Currently, these themes include climate change, invasive species management, waste and resource recovery, water conservation, and wildlife conservation. The 2011 round allocated $780 000 to 55 applications, comprising of 13 schools, five operational, and 37 individual projects. Since the EnvironmeNT Grant program started in 2004, 359 grants worth $4.5m have been awarded to schools, individuals, and operational programs.
EnvironmeNT school grants support programs such as the Shepherdson College junior ranger program, where students record and respond to waste either washing up or being dumped on the main beach of the community. Shepherdson College is a community education centre located in Galiwinku on Elcho Island in the northeast Arnhem Land region of the Northern Territory.
EnvironmeNT individual grants support projects such as the Alice Desert Smart Eco Fair with $10 000 to the Arid Lands Environment Centre, and community gardens sustainability projects such as the Lakeside Drive Community Gardens Lets Grow project which this year received $10 000.
A new community climate change grants program is currently under way with a budget of $200 000. Projects up to $20 000 are invited to address energy efficiency issues in this round. The focus will change each year to address aspects of climate change.
The Territory government is also working to assist Central Australian residents save water. Central Australia is one of the driest places on earth and we should look after our water supply wisely. A Central Australian Waterwise Rebate Scheme assists residents to install and use water efficient technology.
Residents in the Alice Springs and Tennant Creek region can receive between $50 to $900 for eligible water saving products, and up to $600 for eligible plumbing services. Installing and using water saving products reduces the amount of water used around the home. Cutting down hot water heated by electric or gas systems also reduces the amount of energy required to supply the service. Using less water and energy means less cost at bill time.
The scheme began in 2006 offering customers rebates on water efficient products, and the scheme has grown to incorporate a $100 indoor plumbing rebate component. Currently, around 15% of claims made are for the indoor plumbing rebate. Rebates ranging from $50 to $150 are available for products such as water efficient toilets, showerheads, washing machines and pool covers. In 2006, there were six participating retailers. This has now grown to 16 participating outlets in Alice Springs and Tennant Creek.
This financial year, over $93 000 in product and plumbing and rainwater tank rebate claims have already been paid. A range of support services in Central Australia have been established and enhanced under the $150m Alice Springs Transformation Plan. Innovative partnerships have been set up to support children and families, victims of domestic violence, alcohol rehabilitation, public housing tenants, and school retention programs. Around $25m was earmarked under the ASTP for the social support services which, along with new and refurbished houses, are making an enormous difference, not only to improved living conditions in town camps, but to the wider Alice Springs community.
To support the development of sport and recreation in the Territory, the Northern Territory government offers financial assistance to sport, recreation and local government organisations to assist in the delivery of services and programs within the community. This support for sport and recreation helps contribute to our great Territory lifestyle. Over $72m of sport and recreation grant funding has been provided directly to sport in the Territory since 2001-02. That is from grassroots participation initiatives to facility construction and maintenance to Indigenous sport, to support our peak sporting bodies, to support our elite national teams such as the Pearls, Stingers, Mosquitoes, Thunder and Storm. In 20011-12, $10.371m will be spent supporting sports and events.
Our Grass Roots Development Grants allow organisations including clubs, groups, and service deliverers to strengthen their capability to deliver sport or recreation services programs which promote participation. For example, in 2011-12 Anyinginyi Health received $3000 to train staff to run boxing fitness programs for the community. Also, Darwin Cricket Club received $3000 to install shade at one of Darwin’s most beautiful and popular cricketing ovals, Kahlin Oval. The MacDonnell Shire received $15 600 to purchase sport and recreation equipment for the communities within the shire.
Our Facility Development Grants allow sporting organisations and peak sporting bodies to apply for funding to help improve their capacity to provide affordable and accessible sport and recreation opportunities through the development of their facilities. For example, in 2011-12, the Alice Springs Town Council received $50 000 to install shade at sporting facilities around Alice Springs. This will enhance not only player comfort but, also, spectator comfort. Litchfield Rugby League Club received $50 000 to install field lighting at its facility. The club itself contributed $130 000 to the project, which is a significant and much-needed upgrade. NT Cricket received $60 000 to upgrade the practice facilities at Traeger Park. This is a jointly-funded $180 000 upgrade, with NT Cricket and the Alice Springs Town Council also contributing $60 000 each toward the project.
Our Peak Sport Organisation Grants provide assistance to peak Territory sporting bodies to assist with increasing their capacity to develop and deliver sport and active recreation programs. For example, in 2011-12, NT Athletics received $88 200 to recruit and train staff in order to develop the sport and increase participation levels. A recent $4.2m upgrade to the Arafura Stadium will also benefit the sport. Hockey NT received $130 000 to develop the sport. We have seen this sport produce some of the outstanding international athletes such as Des Abbott who has participated in an Olympic and Commonwealth Games and achieved medal rankings. Touch Football NT received $115 000 to develop the sport. The NT government also provides significant ground maintenance support to its facility at the Darwin Turf Club.
Our Active Recreation Grants allow recreation bodies to apply for funding to assist with increasing their capacity to develop and deliver physically active recreation programs.
Our Active Remote Community Grants provide assistance to remote communities to deliver sport and recreation activities to Territorians in remote communities throughout the Northern Territory. For example, in 2011-12, the active remote community program funds 58 community sport and recreation officer positions across eight local government shires and non-government organisations. The majority of these positions are filled by Aboriginal people, thus this sport and recreation initiative, which not only delivers health and crime prevention outcomes, also provides significant employment benefits.
Our National League Incentive assists NT teams to compete in a national league. There are numerous rebates and grants available within my Environment and Sports portfolios, and I encourage Territorians to apply for them. I encourage people to visit the Supporting Territorians Incentive database on the Supporting Territorians website for further information on the range of rebates, discounts, and scholarships.
Madam Speaker, I look forward to continuing to hear my colleagues on this side of the House about the action being taken by the Territory government to support Territorians.
Mr McCARTHY (Lands and Planning): Madam Speaker, it is with pleasure that tonight I add my support to the Deputy Chief Minister’s statement. Territorians have always been ready to give anything a go. Many of us came here for a short time but ended up staying for a lifetime. The Territory is full of challenges and opportunities, but it is all about the opportunities on offer. Those challenges and opportunities, to experience a lifestyle unlike anywhere else in Australia, is part of the reason why Territorians call the Territory home.
The Territory, now, has opportunities like never before. This government is planning for the future and is supporting Territorians to maximise the opportunities on offer. We have invested more than $4bn in our infrastructure program since the global financial crisis, and more than 15 000 new jobs have been created in the Northern Territory.
The final investment decision for the Ichthys LNG will see the largest project in the Territory’s history go ahead creating 3000 new jobs. We are building on record levels of infrastructure investment with carefully planned initiatives to support Territorians to access new housing options and economic opportunities - initiatives such as record land release, dual occupancy, short stay accommodation village, and the release, today, of 10-year strategies to guide investment in infrastructure, transport and roads, maintaining the Territory’s momentum, and providing certainty for the business sector.
I am proud to be part of a Labor government which is committed to supporting Territorians so they can make the most of the incredible opportunities on offer here. It is not always easy living in one of the remote parts of Australia, though. For some of us, it means being far away from our relatives interstate; for others it can mean travelling hundreds of kilometres from main service hubs. There are many challenges and that is why this government is pleased to offer support for Territorians in a range of areas.
The parents amongst us know that raising kids is not always an easy business – rewarding, yes, but there are daily pressures on the back pocket, no matter where you live. The Treasurer, in her statement, outlined some of the fantastic and nation-leading initiatives this government has introduced to support families raising young children. Amongst them is the childcare subsidy which provides more than $27 a week off the childcare bill for children under two, and just over $20 a week for children over two. The childcare rebate is welcomed by the families who use the Tennant Creek Childcare Centre, a great asset in our town. We have heard some more about the $75 per child Back to School Bonus voucher to help mum and dad with the cost of uniforms, books and other school materials, another great incentive from the Northern Territory government.
One of the great things this government is able to do when kids become teenagers is provide support for families to get them into accredited driver training. Sadly, the 2006 Road Safety Taskforce Report noted that 17- to 20-year-old drivers are three times more likely to be involved in a serious crash than drivers aged 21 years and over. As a father, I know how much pressure driver training lessons can generate, financially and otherwise. While parents are often the first driving instructor, accessing accredited driver training can really go a long way to boosting their skills and safety on the road. We recognise that might not come cheaply.
Through the current driver training and licensing, or DTAL program, students are able to access 12 vouchers to the value of $40 each to support their driver training. Students can also access additional resources and theory lessons to support their practical training. About 1200 students take part in the program every year, which equates to about $576 000 a year in financial support for driver training. It is a practical way this government is supporting Territory families and young Territorians for better road safety outcomes.
We are on track for the roll-out of the government’s Drive Safe NT program within the next few months, delivering on another election commitment. This enhanced program will support drivers aged 16 to 25 in their driver training, including subsidised driving lessons with qualified instructors and online access to theory materials. The department is also reviewing ways to provide improved access to driver training in growth towns.
In talking about licences, I acknowledge the hard-working staff of the Motor Vehicle Registry who provide a frontline role in supporting Territorians accessing licences and registration. In 2010-11, more than 30 000 concessional licences and registrations were processed by the MVR. The combined total savings for Territorians from these concessions was more than $2.6m. These concessions are available to a range of Territorians, including primary producers and seniors.
For primary producers it means a 50% deduction from the registration component of a vehicle. In 2010-11, this equated to a saving for primary producers of almost $550 000. Senior Territorians are able to receive up to $55 off the full price of registration for a 12-month renewal. About 11 000 registration transaction were completed for senior Territorians in 2010-11 saving almost $390 000. It is another way this government is supporting Territorians with the cost of living.
Driving a private vehicle does not suit everyone; it is not always an option for everyone. The environmental benefits of not always driving yourself are also known. Indeed, the Territory 2030 strategy sets the target of reducing the impact on the environment by reducing reliance on private motor vehicles. As the Minister for Transport, I am proud of this government’s investment in our public transport networks.
In an Australian first, this government announced free travel on our public bus network for seniors, students, and pensioners. It is an initiative that supports Territorians to access services and facilities, including getting to school, medical appointments, shops, and recreation. The bus free travel for seniors, students and pensioners commenced in January 2009. Figures from the Department of Lands and Planning for the Darwin region urban bus network show that, out of an estimated 4.8 million total trips taken in 2010-11, around 2.9 million trips, or 60% of those journeys, were free travel.
To further support Territorians accessing public bus travel, this government is also continually looking at ways to expand and enhance the network. In October 2010, the government commenced the orbital bus routes, delivering on an election commitment. The semi-express orbitals run during peak periods on loops between Darwin, Casuarina, and Palmerston bus interchanges. The addition of the orbitals means commuters wait no more than 20 minutes for any bus to get them to another interchange during peak periods, getting to work faster and keeping more cars off the road.
This government has also introduced new and improved services around Lyons, Tipperary Waters, Bayview Haven, Cullen Bay, and the waterfront. The Henderson government has expanded the bus network in Alice Springs, including a new Route 500 service. That service has increased runs to and from the hospital from four services per day to 15 services per day. Route 12, a school bus, was started in July last year in response to extra passenger demand, and Routes 300 and 301 have been expanded with an additional midday run. A Jay Creek bus service was also set up for students, and a special needs bus with an onboard carer.
Supporting Territorians in growth towns, the government is funding a number of bus trials through our Integrated Regional Transport Strategy. More than $3.1m has been committed to support the trial of 10 new passenger bus services in Central Australia, the Katherine region and Gove. The bus trial in Gove, run by local business YBE, provides a five-day-a-week service, connecting Yirrkala, Ski Beach and Wallaby Beach to the Nhulunbuy township and the mine for a $5 flat fee. Centre Bush Bus is delivering trial services from Alice Springs to Titjikala, Santa Teresa, Areyonga, Ntaria, Nyirripi, Yuendumu, Ali Curung, and Elliott. Bohdi Bus is run out of Katherine and they are delivering government passenger bus trials to Borroloola and Numbulwar. These are important services connecting Territorians in remote areas with services and communities.
We are also expanding public bus infrastructure to support additional services. I was pleased to open the $1.8m Coolalinga Park and Ride last September. It has 60 car bays, CCTV and four motorbike parks, with 140 bus services passing through it each week. It is a great alternative for rural residents to driving to work each day. The $1.4m Humpty Doo Park and Ride opened last month, with services including 40 car park bays, CCTV, and a secure pushbike enclosure. $5 will get you unlimited travel on the bus network for the day, or $2 for three hours of unlimited travel. A weekly ticket is available at the Darwin, Casuarina, and Palmerston Bus Interchanges for $15, providing an affordable alternative to driving, a boost to the environment, and no hassle finding a car park.
We are also investing in improving our bus stops and shelters to make it even more convenient to catch a bus. Seventeen bus stops in Darwin, five in Palmerston, and 76 in Alice Springs have been upgraded in the last two financial years. Thirty-seven bus shelters have been upgraded to comply with disability access standards in the same period, and 59 new school bus stops have been installed in Palmerston and the rural area.
This government’s support for Territorians to reduce our impact on the environment is showcased right across the Territory. At Alpurrurulam, for example, three 15 KW wind turbines have now been installed, making it the only community in the Territory to use both solar and wind power to generate electricity at this stage. The project is part of a solar and wind generation initiative across Alpurrurulam, Ti Tree and Kalkarindji, with Ti Tree and Kalkarindji to be generating energy through solar power stations. The three projects are set to begin generating power next year, supplying up to 80% of the power used during the day in these communities, and greatly reducing their reliance on other fuels such as diesel.
This government’s support for Territorians is reflected across our society. Those who know me and know of my passion in relation to the value of arts and culture that bring benefits to the community will see the real outcomes this government has delivered across the community; outcomes that really connect the community. I am proud to be part of a government that supports and develops our arts and culture sector, recognising its value and generating jobs, and enhancing and celebrating our lifestyle, our culture, and our heritage.
In 2010-11, this government provided operational and program funding of more than $3.3m to 25 art organisations in Katherine, Darwin, Tennant Creek, and Alice Springs. The funding and support enabled organisations such as Artback NT, the Northern Territory Writers’ Centre, Barkly Regional Arts, Katherine Regional Arts, Corrugated Iron and Desart Inc to support artists at festivals, events, exhibitions and performances. Eighteen festivals across the Northern Territory were supported with grants totally more than $1m. The festivals included the Bulman-Weemol, Mahbilil, MOBFEST Tanami, the Nightcliff Seabreeze, Alice Springs Beanie, and Words on the Fringe 2011, events that have put the spotlight on many of our creative artists, supporting them to access new opportunities, and allowing Territorians to enjoy more of what makes our community so special.
Twenty-seven arts project grants were awarded for a total of more than $300 000. The grants supported performances such as The Wardrobe, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Gorrdondolmi, an Arts Access performing arts project in Central Australia, and the Divas of the Desert. A further nine grants to schools and presenting partners totalling $50 000 enabled artists to work with schools and young Territorians to develop digital art works about being a Territory for the Territory’s centenary celebrations.
A further $319 846 was offered through grants to support strategic opportunities, including delivery of the national visual arts and crafts strategy and arts and education initiatives. Several of these opportunities also drew in match funding from the Australian government totalling almost $500 000.
In our smaller communities, cultural centres provide a hub for jobs and tourism. Through the Regional Museums Grant Support Program, $222 000 was provided to support eight museum organisations. Last year’s recipients included the Batchelor Museum Development Association, the Kanamkek-Yile Ngala Museum at Wadeye, the Historical Society of Katherine, the National Trust of Australia, Gulf Branch Borroloola, and the Central Australian Aviation Museum in Alice Springs.
Support for the Territory’s screen industry is also provided with 57 grants totalling almost $500 000 offered in 2010-11. The grants supported project development, production funding, screen travel, industry development and screen culture funding. This generates new opportunities to tell the Territory’s story on screen.
The Northern Territory is ready for the next phase of growth and this government is supporting Territorians to take advantage of our bright future. This united government has outlined our strategies to support the growth of our own workforce with investment in our schools, traineeships and apprenticeships. We are focused on ensuring we meet the challenges of record growth, including access to a range of housing options, training for Territorians, and support for business to attract and keep workers.
The Territory government’s Housing the Territory policy includes record land release, creating additional housing opportunities, and stimulating our local building sector. The government’s policy of allocating 15% of land release to social and affordable housing is ensuring opportunities are available right across the community, and we are working with developers to facilitate private land developments. Government investment and headworks including $20m for Palmerston East this year alone, and more than $7m for Kilgariff, cuts the up-front investment for developers and supports new blocks being delivered at a more affordable price for Territorians.
Let us look at some of the government and private land release in the last few years. In Alice Springs, there was Stages 1 and 2 of Larapinta and Mt Johns. Headworks are now pushing into Kilgariff and work has begun on the suburb’s first intersection.
Across the Darwin and Palmerston housing market, there are now 4000 blocks in the development pipeline. About 3000 of them are now with private developers. Today, Territorians are able to buy lots in Bellamack, Johnston, Muirhead, and Mt Johns in Alice Springs. Bellamack will, ultimately, deliver 678 lots, and 128 homes are now completed. In Johnston, which will deliver 490 lots, all titles have been issued for Stages 1A and 1A, and 89 building approvals have been issued. Headworks are under way to Zuccoli and planning for Weddell is continuing. These government land release developments are complemented by private developments, such as Lyons, Muirhead, and the Palmerston CDU Campus.
Another land release, about which I am very excited, is on home turf in Tennant Creek - the first in 30 years, and testament to the opportunities on offer in the Territory’s regions. A total of 54 residential lots have been completed, and all 28 lots in Stage 1 were sold at auction. Nine lots were reserved by government for affordable housing, and the remaining 18 lots will go under the hammer at auction in April. I advise the House that at touch football on Sunday morning over December and January, I had regular inquiries about when that second round of land release is coming on.
In Katherine, subdivision and development works are complete for 38 residential and one commercial lot. They are on the market now.
In addition to land release, government is supporting Territorians to access housing through infill. New initiatives such as dual occupancy and the development of a short-stay accommodation village will help more Territorians access housing. Dual occupancy will give owners of single dwelling zoned residential blocks of at least 1000 m2 the opportunity to build a second residential dwelling on-site. With 2890 lots of at least 1000 m2 zoned single dwelling across the Darwin region, and 1512 single dwelling lots in Alice Springs, this initiative presents a real opportunity to meet housing demand through infill ...
Mr HAMPTON: Madam Speaker, I move an extension of time that would allow my colleague to complete his statement, pursuant to Standing Order 77.
Motion agreed to.
Mr McCARTHY: I thank the member for …
Mr Tollner: We want to hear a few more ‘McCarthyisms’.
Mr McCARTHY: You will have to come to touch football on Sunday mornings.
Mr Tollner: Gladly. You will probably tackle me.
Mr McCARTHY: I am very interested in golden oldies or playing parliamentary Rugby. But I want to play on the other side; I do not want to play with your side.
Mr Tollner: I do not know whether I want to run around a football field with you, Gerry. I reckon you would be after my head.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr McCARTHY: Madam Speaker, at this point, I stress that this government has the plan and the policy to make it easier for Territorians to access housing options.
However, I was quite concerned when I listened to the announcement from the Leader of the Opposition about setting up a new planning commission, which will add another layer of red tape and more cost to the process of rolling out land and providing housing options. A planning commission just to do what the Development Consent Authority already does, does not make sense. I caution the Country Liberal Party about this planning commission, as Territorians would have to get the tick off from both the Development Consent Authority and, consequently, the planning commission. More red tape will just mean higher house prices, and that is not supporting Territorians.
This government’s commitment to supporting Territorians includes a strong commitment to supporting Territory businesses. The Department of Construction and Infrastructure awards about 95% of its contracts to Territory businesses. We continue to work and engage with industry to highlight the opportunities on offer, and to hear how we can do things better.
Industry forums run by the Department of Construction and Infrastructure each year in Darwin and Alice Springs continue to attract strong support from business. The sessions focus on how industry can do business with DCI, and often feature guest speakers from industry associations. There were 90 registrations received for the Alice Springs forum last year and 210 in Darwin. Planning is under way for forums in 2012. I was delighted to be at one of those DCI forums in Alice Springs and welcomed the opportunity to see the positive nature of the construction and infrastructure sector in that town. I was particularly interested in having a discussion about focusing on a regional perspective for Alice Springs because there is a great deal of work going on in infrastructure in the regions. I encourage businesses to go to these forums and to hear about contract opportunities and also share information from industry and stakeholders which will benefit good decision-making by government.
An important body of work supporting Territorians which has happened away from the spotlight is the establishment and improvements to the Development One Stop Shop run by the Department of Lands and Planning. Since its introduction in July 2009, 888 clients have made bookings through the Development One Stop Shop. Services on offer include one-on-one meetings with planners for assistance in understanding the development application process, and development assessment forums so developers can brief staff of key agencies on forthcoming proposals. Last year, the development assessment forums were extended to Alice Springs in response to the demand from the industry from the Centre.
The one-stop shop also provides capacity to pre-book lodgement briefings of the Development Consent Authority, so it can receive feedback on key areas it needs to address in formulating their applications. These initiatives are all about supporting developers to keep the economy moving by cutting red tape.
The Northern Territory is at the forefront of electronic development assessment. We are the only jurisdiction in which all development applications are lodged electronically. This facility will soon be further enhanced to allow the development community to transact a wider range of applications, including obtaining compliance for developments and subdivisions. The Development One Stop Shop also provides a gateway to development applications online, which allows electronic lodgement, payment ...
[Mobile phone ringing.]
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Fong Lim, there is a fine coming your way.
Mr McCARTHY: ... circulations for service agencies, and tracking of applications by developers.
The Henderson Labor government believes in Territorians, whether you are a student, a carer, a family, a senior, a small business operator, an artist, or a developer. There are government incentives and practical support available to help every Territorian achieve their goals.
Madam Speaker, I commend the statement to the House.
Madam SPEAKER: Minister for Local Government, please bear in mind that General Business starts at 5.30 pm.
Ms McCARTHY (Local Government): Madam Speaker, I welcome and support the Treasurer’s ministerial statement on all the programs made available by our government to support Territory families. One of the most important things we can do, as a government, is ensure our economy continues to grow and develop across the Northern Territory; that new businesses are developing, existing businesses are expanding, and we are creating jobs for our young people.
I spoke earlier in the House today about our objective to support this through A Working Future and other programs of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Regional Services. Two specific programs are our Regional Economic Development Fund and the Indigenous Business Development Program, both of which provide funding support to the Territories regionally-based business community. Over $0.5m of grant funding has been expended or committed this financial year. This has included support for the development of business ideas and new businesses in a diverse range of business sectors, including maintenance services, arts and culture, film production, landscape services, fisheries, sports management, fashion, hospitality, tourism, construction, and retail.
In Katherine, our government is funding $3.5m for the Katherine Cultural Precinct and, between 2008 and 2011, provided over $230 000 to the Growing Katherine Business project. The Northern Territory government support for the Tennant Creek tourism industry includes funding the Tennant Creek Foundation, which has been instrumental in sustaining the Battery Hill Mining Centre and the Nyinkka Nyunyu Art and Culture Centre.
In her statement, the Treasurer also mentioned the importance of strong families and the suite of support this government provides to Territory families. One of my key objectives, as Minister for Indigenous Development, has been to ensure that all Territory families, no matter where they live, have opportunity to access these services.
I am very proud of our work on A Working Future and our partnership with the Australian government and local governments under the National Partnership Agreement on Remote Service Delivery. This agreement is a long-term generational commitment, based on delivering coordinated, targeted, and accelerated development in our remote growth towns. For the first time, this work recognises existing service gaps and changes the way governments invest in remote areas.
A key part of this has been, for the first time ever, detailed assessment of the baseline in each of our growth towns of what services exist in our towns, and the current gaps. We are also working on identifying existing jobs, as well as new business and employment opportunities. My department, and the Department of Business and Employment, have produced jobs profiles for each of the Territory growth towns to support better planning for business development, and identify employment pathways for these places. DBE is now working to develop a workforce plan for each community to support systemic training and employment services activity.
Another important part of this work is the establishment of an across-government remote training, employment and economic development working group to support the implementation of the economic development components of A Working Future. This means doing this through seven economic development teams. We have seen economic development teams established for Kalkarindji, Lajamanu, Yuendumu, Papunya, Elliott, Ali Curung, Angurugu and Umbakumba. These teams will work with local people to progress economic participation actions contained in local implementation plans, with the aim of more business development and more jobs for our young people. The local implementation plans are part of the remote service delivery (RSD) across the Northern Territory, where we have 15 RSD sites and, of the 15, there have been 13 local implementation plans established.
We have also established a Financial and Commercial Literacy Taskforce, led by the Department of Business and Employment, but including key members from the private and public sector, with the aim of maximising opportunities to improve financial and commercial literacy across the growth towns. A successful pilot project involving training around financial and commercial literacy was run in Millingimbi in the last quarter of 2011. The next phase of the project has commenced, including the support for the development of a local training organisation to continue to deliver the training.
Working with banks to enable mainstream finance access on Aboriginal land and refining our procurement processes to encourage Indigenous business growth are also important parts of supporting new opportunities for Territory families living in our growth towns. This work included a workshop held in November 2011 involving key members from the four major financial institutions in Australia, land councils and key government departments, including a day trip to Wadeye.
More broadly, we are working across both government and the private sector to achieve real progress in one of our government’s key priorities, and that is maximising Indigenous employment opportunities ...
Mr Giles: Time.
Madam SPEAKER: No, it is not 5.30 pm yet.
Mr Giles: No, I was just joking.
Ms McCARTHY: There is such a good story to tell here, member for Braitling.
Mr Giles: I know.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Order!
Ms McCARTHY: Indigenous employment has been a feature of the Northern Territory government’s employment strategies, commencing with the Workforce Employment and Training Strategy in 2003 to 2005. In Budget 2011-12, I was proud to announce a three-year Northern Territory commitment of $8.4m per year to support Indigenous employment in shire council core services.
Madam Speaker, I take this opportunity to acknowledge in the gallery the Mayor for Victoria Daly Shire, Reg King, who is here this evening.
Our local government Indigenous jobs development grants provide assistance of up to 50% of the wage and on-costs for, predominantly, entry level Indigenous employees delivering council core services. In December 2011, 440 positions in council core services were supported by this program. The NT and Commonwealth governments have also jointly provided $200 000 funding to LGANT to develop and pilot a shire jobs plan for the Roper Gulf Shire, and the program will be made available to the other shires upon completion of the pilot in March 2012 ...
Madam SPEAKER: Minister, it being 5.30 pm, in accordance with Standing Order 93, debate is suspended and General Business will now have precedence over Government Business until 9 pm.
Debate adjourned.
MOTION
Extractive Industries – Planning for the Future
Extractive Industries – Planning for the Future
Ms PURICK (Goyder): Madam Speaker, I move –
- That the Territory government be condemned for its failure to provide planning for the future of the extractive industries in the future development of the Northern Territory.
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Tabled Paper
Pairing Arrangement – Members for Karama and Brennan
Tabled Paper
Pairing Arrangement – Members for Karama and Brennan
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, before we proceed, I have before me a document relating to pairs for the members for Karama and Brennan. It is signed by the two Whips. I table that document.
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Ms PURICK: Madam Speaker, the use of the word ‘condemn’ may seem harsh; however, it is appropriate given the serious nature of this matter. Without clear and proper planning, our future development and, more importantly, the community as a whole, could suffer as a consequence of this government’s failure to plan for the future growth in the rural areas of the Top End of the Territory where extractive industry and products are mostly located, as is the industry in general.
I have spoken on the extractive industries previously. The minister will recall my comments in December 2010 where I attempted to bring a greater focus on the extractive industries and the future supply of material, particularly in the greater Darwin region. Regrettably, the minister and the government did not think it appropriate to support my motion and, by association, the future of the extractive industries in the Territory.
The extractive industries have had a long history in the Territory from around 1879 when porcelanite was used to build Darwin’s first buildings. Coincidently, with the 70th commemoration of the Bombing of Darwin, there are many historical photographs on display, and it is clear that most of the buildings were built from this extractive material.
Since those early days, the extractive industry has played an important and integral role in the development of the Territory and its towns and communities, particularly in times of disaster such as World War II and Cyclone Tracy, both events consuming an enormous level of extractive material to rebuild the cities and towns.
As I said previously, the extractive industry supplies many and varied products including - and to quote what I said previously, the industry products are: sand, gravel, quarry rock, clay soils, road-based rocks, decorative and rocks which are used in the making of concrete asphalt road bases and a range of construction and landscaping activities. The four main types are fine sand, coarse sand, natural gravel, and crushed rock aggregate.
Dimensional stone, soil, and clay are produced locally across the Territory, but on a smaller scale. Crushed rock includes armour rock, which are the large chunks of rocks used in sea walls, port developments, and marinas. Concrete aggregate is used in making concrete and sealing aggregate is used in road surfacing material, including chip seal, hot mix and so on. Fine crushed rock is used in high-quality road-based material. Quarry rock is used in concrete blocks, concrete sleepers and concrete. Crusher dust is used in concrete blocks as pipe bedding and fill material. Trap rock is used as basket rocks and used in drains to stop erosion. Fine sand is used in bricky sand, paving sand and fill. Fine wash sand is used in concrete aggregate. Coarse sand and river sand is used in besser block production and in concrete. Natural gravel is road-based gravel and is used for base, core, sub-base and shoulder gravel in road construction. Fill gravel is used for select fill.
There are decorative stones such as rooster red quartz which is used extensively in landscaping; particularly in the Top End. Topsoil is used for gardening and landscaping work. Other materials include dimensional stone which is used in fancy bench tops in houses, and porcelanite which is used in paving, walls, and landscaping.
As the Territory and the rural areas continue to grow in population and industrial developments, it will be vital that the extractive resources are secured to provide low-cost construction materials to aid this growth.
Given the advent of a large-scale industrial project on our doorstep, the effect on the extractive industry will be enormous. Additionally, the rural community, and everyone who uses our roads, will be affected; for example, we know the amount of armour rock needed to support the INPEX gas project will see a triple road train carting this rock down the Arnhem Highway every nine minutes. Or, that is the proposal.
Currently, the demand for extractive products is being met by the industry. However, I am concerned where the future product is going to be sourced from, given two factors: the demand by industrial projects and the lack of attention by this government to the future of the industry and its ability to continue to grow and prosper. The government will say it works with the industry group - and it does, as does this side of the Chamber. However, talking and undertaking real action are two completely different things.
With the passing of each year, we are witnessing the extractive industry being pushed further and further from the markets, and we have seen good extractive areas being locked away or given away by encroaching developments. There is no doubt the competition for land in the rural area has dramatically increased in recent years. Subdivisions, agricultural developments, protection of waterways, establishing of Landcare areas, hunting reserves, and aquacultural projects have all threatened to sterilise land from the extractive industries.
The extractive operations at the 13 Mile have closed, and the land taken over by Defence for war games. While much of the road-based gravel resources in that area have been depleted, there does remain some good amounts of other extractive material such as valuable quartzite resources that are suitable for trap rock and armour rock. There was a time when the 13 Mile quarries were supplying 60% of all crushed rock for Darwin. Now the material has to be sourced from elsewhere, industry people tell me it has resulted in commodity prices rising between 30% to 60% which, of course, is passed on to the consumers.
Extractive operations near the new gaol in the King Creek/Howard Peninsula area have been disrupted. While the dispute that arose from Haul Road being locked out, which has been resolved, land has been lost to the extractive industry. What happens if the government builds its proposed asbestos dump near the gaol? More extractive land potentially lost. What happens if the government and the local government people agree on a new waste transfer facility near the new gaol? More land lost to the extractive industry.
Sunday Creek is a vital area for the extractive industry, with resources in hard rock, quartzite, sand, and gravel. However, it has been threatened by encroaching rural subdivisions and irresponsible real estate sales people telling new residents that land will never be built out, and extractive operations are only short term. Where is the protection for these operations and industry?
I seek assurances from the government that it will not agree to conversion of pastoral releases which are located in this area into freehold land without full and proper consultation with the extractive industry and the community, or not at all any conversion. Conversion to freehold will, effectively, lock up valuable resources that will be needed for the future development of Darwin and surrounding areas. I suggest, minister, that there should be a plan to formally secure the land in Sunday Creek, along with the areas in the Black Jungle and the Howard Springs areas, known for extractive material resources and potential.
Channel Island Road areas located close to Palmerston and the proposed gas projects are areas known for fine sand, laterite gravel, fill material, and decorative stone. What work has been done to ascertain the exact level of material, and what plans the government has to protect this area for extraction?
Previously, I referenced the technical report that was produced in 2001 by the department, which is a good report - and the technical data is relevant today. Last time I spoke in the House about the extractive industry, the minister said there was no need to undertake any further reviews into the extractive industry as geology does not change, and the report and its geology was sufficient - or words to that effect. That is true, minister, geology rarely does change. Since 2001 when the report was written, there has been much growth in the Darwin and rural area, and that has not been taken into current thinking by government. For example, the railway from Darwin to Alice Springs had been announced at that time. However, since that time, there has been an increase in subdivisions and development across the rural area, the opening up of new suburbs in Palmerston, repairs to bad road damage such as the Barkly Highway, and just general growth in the population that comes with the passing of time.
While growth can bring opportunities and positive outcomes, it can also bring challenges and a downside. However, these latter aspects can be minimised with careful and sound planning, which appears to be absent of late. For example, the government seems to be comfortable to bring triple, if not quad, road trains down the Arnhem Highway every nine minutes to supply armour rock for the INPEX project. I can tell you the fact does not please people in my electorate, nor emergency personnel, given the potential risk associated with such a high increase in the volume of traffic. Even industry is uncomfortable with the proposed frequency of traffic to service the gas project. I now ask, minister, is government planning to have armour rock from other sources, or are they planning to cart the rock from Mt Bundy?
I listened to what the member for Arafura said earlier today in regard to what positive moves we have on this side of the House, what we would do, and how we would manage a situation - a fair comment and sentiment. I can say in regard to those questions the government needs to address the real - the very real - issue of growth of the Top End, particularly in the industrial projects area, and where the extractive material is going to be sourced from in an economic and sustainable way, considering the interest and safety of community. The government needs to get serious about the extractive industries and start work immediately on developing a strategic plan such that resources and future resources can be assessed, major haul routes can be identified to minimise impacts on residents and community, and consideration be given to the environment as well as impacts on existing and future developments.
There needs to be planning to protect the extractive materials from incompatible land use such that they may be utilised for existing or future extraction. Land uses which threaten the viability of those extractive deposits, or the effective functioning of designated haul routes servicing extractive deposits sites, should not be supported. In particular, it is considered that encroaching residential development of any density represents a significant threat to these areas and the future of the economy which depends on the extractive material to be produced at a competitive and reasonable cost.
Ideally, buffer zones should be established around extractive areas to prevent residential creep. Buffer zones are not unusual in Australia and they can vary from 500 m to 1 km – which exist in some of the other states.
Resource protection measures are not as good as they could be, and the government needs to work smarter - not necessarily harder - with industry, local government, and the community so all stakeholders understand the resource is where it is found, not where we would like it to be located. In moving the extractive material to its final destination, cost competitiveness is critical to the success of the industry, the economy, and the community as a whole.
Madam Deputy Speaker, let us get serious about the extractive industry and give it the same attention you give to visiting trade delegations from Japan. Let us face it, without a vibrant and sustainable extractive industry, you will not have major gas projects or any other projects in the future.
Mr VATSKALIS (Primary Industry, Fisheries and Resources): Madam Deputy Speaker, the only thing I agree with the member opposite about is we need the extractive industry and, if we do not have it, we are not going to have any growth in the Territory.
I am a little surprised. I understand the member’s support for the extractive industry - I support the extractive industry as well – but, at the same time, I know very well the member opposite argues sometimes, when we have some different developments encroaching in areas in the rural and semi-rural area, it contradicts the lifestyle of the people there.
Fortunately, it is not something that is unique to Darwin; it happens everywhere. It happens where I come from in Perth. When I went to Perth for the first time in 1983, and had my first job in 1985 in Wanneroo, I recall very well most of the sand and rock was coming from the quarries around Wanneroo. Within four years, Wanneroo had become an urban metropolis and the quarries had to move out another 20 km or 30 km.
This is the nature of the beast; as the population increases, people demand more land and, unfortunately in our case, our land is limited. We can only go south - we cannot go north; it is a bit wet up north. We have to push out industries that are incompatible with the lifestyle; but that does not mean we have to ignore the extractive industry. We have to support and work together with the extractive industry to redefine new areas. That has been done in the past. I have in front of me, Extractive Minerals Within the Outer Darwin Area report, which was published in 2001. The report is valid today because it identified a number of areas in outer Darwin which are now utilised by the industry to provide the gravel, sand, and rock for the development activities taking place around Darwin.
At the same time, many things have changed from the good old days when someone got a grader or a front end loader and went somewhere and started digging without consideration for the noise, dust, or impact the traffic may have on the neighbours. Things now have to be done a different way - more properly, more sophisticated, using equipment which will not produce a great deal of dust or noise. In addition to that, we have the requirement of rehabilitation. I recall the member for Nelson asking me many times about the sandpits on the island where the power station is located. They were some remnants of the good old days where people would take away the material, and left the pits as they were then. Now, there are requirements for rehabilitation because land is abandoned but can be used later after material has been taken and there is no further use for the extractive industry.
I am aware of the pressure on the extractive industry and also of the need for the extractive industry to be in very close proximity to development, otherwise we will end up paying an enormous amount of money per cubic metre of sand, or cubic metre of gravel, or per tonne of rock. That, of course, will add to the cost of housing and construction.
I have been working very closely with the extractive industry. We had a number of issues arising from the changes to land use. The member opposite raised the example of the prison. Yes, I understand the prison will actually be established in an area which is utilised by the extractive industry; however, working together with my colleague, the minister for Corrections, the extractive industry and I identified the areas absolutely required for the prison, and which other areas can be utilised outside the prison. In addition to that, we identified the time line for the construction of the prison, and we urged the owners of the exploration and licence to extract material to work completely in cooperation with Corrections in order to acquire the material from that area - which actually had to be excavated to level the area and put in services. So, they took all the material to utilise until the prison is constructed.
With the extractive industry, we also worked well to identify some of the issues in the new Mining Titles Act, because there were some issues raised by them which we addressed. They raised the issue of the environmental bonds. We identified the extractive industry is not as noxious as the mining industry; it is not the same level of disturbance or environmental impact. They do not use chemicals, they do not use some of the practices the mining industry will use, so they do not have the impact on the environment. As a result, the environmental bond is different than the mining bond.
Work has been done by the department under this government and the previous government. Areas around Darwin have been identified, in consultation with the extractive industry. We understand the need for the industry to have new areas, and the department continues to work with the industry to identify these new areas. We have pressure from people who want land, people in the rural area who do not want the extractive industry next to their blocks for various, obvious reasons. There is always this competition between the different parties with regard to land use, and we have to actually find the golden means: how to accommodate lifestyle and some of the extractive industry.
We also understand very well the significant volumes of material required for the construction of the new projects and, of course, the armour rock which comes from Mt Bundy. There is only one access to Mt Bundy, which is the Arnhem Highway and, yes, there will be significant traffic coming from Mt Bundy. However, because there will be significant traffic, it does not mean that safety is not taken into consideration. We had the same movement of trucks during construction with Bechtel and ConocoPhillips, with a significant requirement for rock. We had the same requirements with the railway construction for gravel and ballast, and the same requirements for armour rock when the port was constructed. All of those were provided by the extractive industry and the transport industry through the same corridors. After all, there is only one corridor from south to north to Darwin, which is the Stuart Highway, and one road corridor from Mt Bundy to Darwin, which is via the Arnhem Highway and then onto the Stuart Highway.
I understand the concerns of the industry. We have worked with the industry before and will continue to do so. I am always open to suggestions by the industry. Again, we have to marry different land uses with the needs of Darwin to develop, and the extractive industry to provide this material at a reasonable price. There is no disagreement about it.
The motion put forward by the member is not supported by our government. We believe we come here and argue about politics, but what the industry wants to see is a solution to the problem we face today. It is not only the industry, but also the consumer who wants to acquire material for the construction of houses at reasonable prices. The price will increase with every kilometre further away from Darwin the industry sources the material.
Madam Speaker, we will not support this motion. One thing we will support is the extractive industry in its quest to identify find new areas as the source of material for the development of Darwin.
Mr WOOD (Nelson): Madam Deputy Speaker, I will say a few things before I speak on the motion before us.
The change to General Business Day was a result of some pressure by the CLP to have more time for GBD, and also as part of the agreement between me and the Chief Minister. Those changes have been very good. We now have General Business Day every week of the sittings which is a great improvement on what was before.
It was a little disappointing to see, in a previous sittings, 18 motions put forward by the CLP, most condemning the government. I understand people are entitled to condemn the government; I do not have a problem with that. However, General Business Day should not be a one-sided free-to-air election campaign strategy. It should be about getting people on both sides of parliament involved in debate around important issues. I am not saying any of these issues put forward are not important, but the tone in which they have been written, in most cases, condemns the Northern Territory government for its failure.
That is a fairly black and white statement, nearly as bad as belonging to the Collingwood cheer squad. It is very one-eyed. For instance, there is a motion condemning the Territory government for failing to address the Territory’s infrastructure requirements. If you are totally one-eyed and barrack for Collingwood and want to win government at any cost, that makes sense. The reality is the government has spent money on infrastructure such as Tiger Brennan Drive, they are building a bridge over the Daly River, they put bicycle paths in Katherine and Howard Springs, they built the Cullen River bridge, and are working on the Darwin sewerage plant. That is infrastructure the government is building. That is not to say you think the government should do more. You may even say you think the government has not done a good job with some of those projects. However, when you put it in such stark terms, it is difficult for anyone to either support or even want to debate the motion.
In motion No 7 the member for Fong Lim has put forward that the Assembly urges the Henderson government to immediately clean storm water drains in order to mitigate flooding around Darwin. That allows more room for the government to listen to the argument put forward by the proposer of that motion. The government might agree that something needs to be done. However, when it is put in the context that the government is to be condemned, it is a fairly black-and-white approach to debating a motion. Strangely enough, there are several motions where we are asked to condemn ourselves because it says ‘the Northern Territory parliament recognise the failures of the past’. The second motion is that ‘this parliament recognises its failures’. It might be the parliament’s failures, but it seems to be an interesting phrase used when you look at the rest of the motion.
I am not knocking the idea that we should have plenty of debate in GBD, neither am I knocking the idea of what has been put forward. The issues raised by the CLP are certainly worthy of debate in this House. However, the way they were brought to the parliament in one big slab and the way they are worded tends to limit ...
Mr Tollner: I am about to call you for relevance.
Mr WOOD: Okay. The member for Fong Lim, who is just about to call a point of order on irrelevance - talk about the pot calling the kettle black; it seems funny coming from him.
I get back to the subject he wants me to talk about, extractive mining. I thank the member for Goyder, my neighbour, for raising the issue. It is an important issue. As I have said before, Darwin would not be built it if was not for the rural area. The rural area is the main ...
Members interjecting.
Mr WOOD: It is good to see the member for Fong Lim knows ...
Mr Tollner interjecting.
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! Member for Fong Lim, order!
Mr WOOD: I will get a word in when I can, just occasionally. The member for full stops is right next to me with interruptions and laughter.
Madam Deputy Speaker, planning of extractive mining is an important issue. I repeat, Darwin would not have been built without the extractive mining that comes from the rural area. Where does most of your sand come from? It comes from the Howard River catchment area. Where does most of your gravel come from? It comes from Howard Springs, Humpty Doo, and Middle Arm Peninsula – as much as I would have liked it not to have come from Middle Arm Peninsula, because that was a fine example of poor planning. Where does most of our rock come from? It comes from …
Mr Tollner: Mt Bundy.
Mr WOOD: Yes. However, it also comes from places such as Blake’s Quarry and the Thorngate Road quarries. There is quite a lot of gravel still being removed from the Howard Peninsula. It is common knowledge, if you push the sources of extractive mining further away, they will cost people - that is, residents, through the price of their houses, units, and their development - more money because the further you have to transport these materials, the more costly it is. It is very important the government does plan - and I recognise the government has a book on extractive mining, but that book is fairly old - I think the minister said …
Ms Purick: 2001.
Mr WOOD: 2001. The rural area has expanded quite considerably. What the minister should have said is ‘We are looking at upgrading that document’ because, especially in the case of the member for Goyder, subdivisions have moved further south. I understand where she is coming from, because I have also been approached by people in the Sunday Creek area who were disturbed when extractive mining, all of a sudden, appeared on their doorstep. They were not expecting that, because nobody told them there were leases nearby. When those leases were being developed they, all of a sudden, found they had traffic, lights, and noise they were not expecting in what was regarded as a peaceful rural subdivision. The way around that is good planning.
The one limiting factor in subdivisions in the rural area is the possible moratorium on bores. If there is a moratorium on bores, then it is likely some of the development that has occurred over the last few years will slow down considerably. I say to the government: upgrade your book on extractive materials and mining in the rural area so there can be input from the planners, the shire council, the community, and the industry, to ensure we do not limit ourselves to the point where we have to start bringing in gravel and rock from 100 km away. If we can develop our extractive mining materials closer to Darwin, closer to where the development is, we certainly keep our cost down.
Of course, with extractive mining, you have heavy vehicles using the roads. The member for Goyder mentioned the issues about traffic. We did, at least last year, as the member for Barkly would know, have a heavy vehicle transport group get together and look at the planning for heavy vehicle movements in the Darwin region. That was based on concerns about the amount of traffic that would use our roads, especially with the development of INPEX.
The other issue about roads is not just traffic; it is about damage to roads. That can be an issue, especially to local government, which had not, until recent times, been able to receive rates from mining. At least it now receives some income. However, the wear and tear on roads is another issue. One only has to go to the traffic lights at Howard Springs between 7.30 am and 8.30 am each day, and you will find, mixed with all the traffic, will be triples and doubles, all coming from the extractive mining area, either north of the prison, or on Gunn Point Road to the north of the Howard River.
No one is saying that is not important; we know it is important that industry keeps going. However, it is requirement of the government to ensure there is adequate infrastructure for the movement of these materials without affecting local traffic too much. We can say what a great industry it is but, at the same time, government must ensure that, whilst it is praising the industry it is also assisting to ensure the infrastructure is there to carry the industry.
In addition, there is the environment, which has always been a big issue. For quite a while, the extractive mining industry was able to do what it liked. Today, the guidelines are much stricter. People become concerned when they see bulldozers going near creeks or lagoons, whether they are removing gravel or sand. The Howard River is an important part of the rural area; it is well known for fishing and for being used for recreational off-road riding. It is also a very important environmental area. If you go along Girraween Road and have a look at the Howard River there, it is quite dense jungle, with lots of palms, and it is a beautiful area. The waterways and lagoons in the Howard River area, and in the Litchfield Shire, need to be protected from the encroachment of extractive mining, as has occurred in the past. As I said, there is more regulation and the industry realises it has to be more in keeping with the environment and with what people think the industry should do to protect the environment.
Those three areas in relation to planning need to be looked at if the government looks at reviewing its extractive mining policies for the Top End. Of course, there are other parts of the Territory which require extractive mining, especially places like Alice Springs with their new suburb of Kilgariff; they, obviously, have similar issues.
One of the areas the minister touched on is rehabilitation. I fly into Darwin occasionally and I look around to see where all the extractive mining is - you can certainly see it. The minister said there is rehabilitation. There may be, but I do not think it is as good as the minister makes it out to be. There needs to be more work done on that. There needs to be work done on some of the older sites, which were perhaps abandoned before there was a requirement to rehabilitate. Rehabilitation is something the government needs to keep as part of a revised policy on extractive mining.
There are good people out there in the industry, for sure, and they do their bit. However, there are other places where you will be pushing to see where the rehabilitation has occurred. It is an area which needs ongoing work. Some people are good at it. However, there are other areas - maybe areas from years ago - which do not look too good when you drive through them.
The minister also mentioned that we should not lock up land. One of the big parcels of land the government should be looking at is the Power and Water land to the north of Howard River. It goes from Girraween Road to Gunn Point Road and has been locked up as a potential water source for the Darwin water supply. Historically, it was an extractive mining area. I am interested if the minister could tell us whether the Power and Water land is now able to be used for extractive mining. There is a considerable amount of land there that has sand and gravel resources and, knowing how much effort is required to allow the Kamfari to operate from that land, I am wondering whether by, handing that land over to Power and Water some years ago, the government has locked it up from an extractive mining point of view. If you take the minister’s argument that we want to keep extractive mining close to Darwin, if you lock up that Power and Water land, then you force companies to move further away from Darwin.
The other area the member for Goyder touched on is where are our future resources? Have we identified those future resources, and have we made sure they are not built on? Yes, for sure, you can use that land afterwards, but you cannot use that land when people are living on it, so you need to identify it so it is not developed. That, again, would be part of the revised 2001 report. I hope the government seriously looks at revising its policies in relation to the future of extractive mining, especially in the rural area.
Madam Deputy Speaker, I believe the motion in general is a good motion. I repeat, at the risk of the member for Fong Lim getting on his high horse about relevance, if these motions had been worded better, I believe it would have encouraged the government to, perhaps, come more on side with some of the things we are talking about, and support them. I suppose if you put it straight in their face that everything they have done is a failure, you are not probably going to attract some bipartisan support on some of these issues.
I thank the member for Goyder for bringing this particular matter to parliament. People might think it is a bit of a dry matter – well, I suppose it is dry when you are digging it up in the Dry Season - but it is a really important issue, because industry cannot survive without extractive mining. Government must ensure that extractive mining is protected and is planned for in the future. If we are to have a prosperous Northern Territory, then we need sand, gravel, rock, aggregate, and all those things to build our roads, our tall buildings, and our industry. Without that, we will not prosper. Once again, I thank the member for Goyder for bringing the motion to parliament tonight.
Mr STYLES (Sanderson): Madam Deputy Speaker, first, in relation to this, there is much good work done out there by many good people in the extractive mining industry. They work hard, they are entrepreneurial, they get in, and they just do it - quite often under difficult circumstances. I listened to the member for Casuarina talk about some of the positive issues about the extractive industry and the planning. However, I do not think the government has gone anywhere near, or close enough to, what they should be doing. There are a couple of reasons for this which I will point out.
We should acknowledge that the member for Nelson pointed out that we have all these negative motions on our Notice Paper: we are talking about the failure of the government to do this and the failure of the government to do that. I have listened on occasions to the member for Nelson saying that he does not believe it is the job of the opposition to actually make legislation, but it is also the job of opposition, especially, to keep the government to account. Where the government does not make appropriate legislation, then I believe it is up to the opposition to put forward legislation and ideas to hold the government to account and, perhaps, give them some ideas on direction to go.
We talk about mining. It is really great for the Territory. There are great initiatives out there when you look at some of the exploration that has been done. If you look at maps of the Northern Territory, and go from south up to the north, and look at what is going on either side of the rail, one sees a great deal of exploration has gone on and there is a lot of new mining proposed.
The issue I raise here tonight is the impact on a number of areas I have an interest in, those especially being my portfolios of Youth and Seniors. I have a constant stream of young people I know in the northern suburbs and from other areas I knew during my former role in the community who say to me, when I see them: ‘We are leaving the Territory. We cannot afford to stay here’. These are issues I have raised on previous occasions in this House, yet I do not see the planning coming out to fix some of the issues that the youth and the seniors in our community face.
We hear much about the big ticket items of INPEX and ConocoPhillips, and the building of new gas trains - all of those things in relation to gas. However, what we do not see is the impact it is going to have on our youth and our seniors, and the planning that needs to go in to preventing some of the negative things that are occurring.
In the November sittings last year, an issue was raised about the negative growth of people working in trades and other service providers. When you look at some of the people leaving the Territory, there are electricians, mechanics, nurses, and refrigeration mechanics. They are people who are providing so many different services to our community, and services we are in desperate need of. Yet, when you talk to them they say: ‘I cannot afford to live here’.
Much of that goes back to land release and lack of planning by the government. It is our job to hold the government to account and raise these issues on an ongoing basis so the community can say: ‘Well, what is happening in relation to land release?’ We hear the government say: ‘We are going to release 200 blocks here, 100 blocks there’. That is great, but their own modelling from Treasury - to quote the Chief Minister - was about 1800 or so blocks that need to be released every year. Last year, there was nothing like 1800 blocks …
A member interjecting.
Mr STYLES: Not even 30%, my colleague tells me. I believe it was 500-and-something blocks released. How on earth are we going to get our young people into houses? This means we are breaking families up.
How do you grow your own doctors? I heard in this House today the Chief Minister saying we are in a good period; we are growing our own doctors. I have heard the Minister for Health speak about how good the Flinders University annex is here. That is very good news, but we are required to grow our own doctors and nurses and other health professionals.
What are we doing about keeping our own electricians, mechanics and nurses? These are people who have lived here from childhood - most were born here. The families migrated from all over Australia 30 years ago, they had children here, they had a bright future here, and their kids are here. These people have housing, yet, we are putting them in a position where we are splitting up families and they have to go south so they can afford to live. What happened to the policy of growing our own?
The government makes a great issue of 10 000 apprentices. Where are these apprentices going to live? Where are the houses? Where is the accommodation? Where is the planning for that? I do not see it and I have grave concerns for the future of these young people. They have goals, dreams they would like to pursue yet, through lack of planning by the government and lack of timely land release, you cannot get a block of land. There are a few and the government will say: ‘Yes, we have so many at Bellamack, we have had a ballot’. However, there are so many young people who cannot get a home or a block of land. Builders are battling to get a block of land to build a spec home on. There are issues out there which are about failing to plan.
I will say it again: it is up to the opposition to remind people the government appears to have failed miserably in this area. It is up to those people to try to do whatever they can to look after their families; however, they are hindered by the lack of planning by the government.
When we come to seniors, there are a number of things seniors are saying to me, and I was dealing with one of those issues this afternoon. People are working. They moved to Darwin some years ago and some of them are low-income workers. They love the place, like most of the people in this House. The Territory is a great place; it is a land of opportunity - but not an opportunity for all to own a home. We have seniors in the Northern Territory in rented accommodation in the private sector who are working and are happy to pay rent. They are quite happy with their lot; however, many of them are baby boomers who are fast approaching retirement age. Due to the lack of planning and the fact the extractive mining industry and the oil and gas is going to boom, we do not have enough blocks of land, houses, or affordable housing, to be able to house these seniors. There are numerous couples and singles who are seniors who are going to be required to leave the Territory the moment they stop working.
That is a sad situation for any community, let alone the community of Darwin. These people have given their all to help develop the Territory, they enjoy the Territory lifestyle and, like all of us, they certainly appreciate the diversity of the place in which they live. Many of these people come from other countries; there are mixed marriages between people from various countries. They do not want to move, they do not feel they are going to be comfortable anywhere else. At that age of your life, when you have worked all your life, you would like to be able to spend the time where all your friends are, where your family is, and not be forced to go and live in a unit somewhere in Tasmania, because it is the only place you can afford to go - where you have no friends, no support, no nothing, and all your family is in the Northern Territory. That is the situation we find ourselves in, in relation to lack of planning for the future development of not only the extractive minerals industry, but the oil and gas.
Other things which will stop people coming here in caravans is the caravan legislation that was brought in by the government in relation to not being able to have semi-permanent caravan sites. We are losing people daily in these trades areas - retired people who come up here and choose, because they are semi-retired, to work four or five months of the year, and have the rest in travel. They are not coming here. A raft of people who left at the beginning of the Wet Season last year came and saw me because I have a number of large caravan parks in my electorate. They said: ‘Well, it has been nice knowing you, Pete, but we are going and we are not coming back. We are going to Townsville next, and Cairns because they are a lot more friendly over there, and we can do a whole range of things that we cannot do here’. Again, it is just the restrictive practices that government has put on us in relation to encouraging people up here, especially seniors.
What are we going to do? We do not see too many house blocks coming on to the market. We do not see a massive increase in the availability of accommodation. INPEX now has given its final investment decision. That means we are going to have many more people here. The opposition has not been, as the government has, sitting on its rear end not doing anything. We have been talking to industry out there. Industry has expressed concern about where we are going to put these people. I have said before in this House that the government appears to want to turn the capital city of the Northern Territory, Darwin, into a fly-in/fly-out city. Well, that is terrible, because that brings so many social problems.
The other thing that is a bit of a trend is in relation to families and marriages. There seems to be a trend where the people who have been flying in/flying out are struggling to keep marriages together, to keep relationships together, and to bond with their children. There is a trend starting to emerge where these people actually want to live a lot closer to where they are working so they can have all the benefits of a good family life, combined with a good income ...
Mr McCarthy: I want to live in Tennant Creek - fly in and fly out.
Mr STYLES: That is fine. I will pick up on the interjection. How many houses are there for everyone in Tennant Creek? How many blocks of land are available in Tennant Creek? What is the demand ...
Mr McCarthy: Fifty-four – 200 capacity.
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order!
Mr STYLES: Perhaps we can get some of these blocks up to Darwin, because we have a massive shortage in Darwin. If that is the case I congratulate the government for making plenty of land available in Tennant Creek. What about the rest of the Territory? If that is the case ...
Members interjecting.
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order!
Mr STYLES: Absolutely. I would like someone from the government to come across and say: ‘We have all these blocks in Darwin, and we have this plan where everyone is going to be able to get a house at a reasonable price’ ...
Dr BURNS: A point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker! I have listened carefully to the member for Sanderson, and I call him on relevance. Anyway, this whole wad of motions is just a stunt and sideshow to take away from the fact that you do not have any policies. All you can do is whinge ...
Members interjecting.
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: Thank you, Leader of Government Business, you can resume your seat. Member for Sanderson, whilst there is always some latitude in the debate, I ask you to come back to the motion before the House, which is about the extractive industries. Thank you, you have the floor.
Mr STYLES: Madam Deputy Speaker, I hope the members of the government will keep their interjections relevant to the items being discussed, so we can pick up on those interjections. It would be fine if they kept their interjections to a minimum. I will not take much more time of the House.
INPEX and the extractive mining industry proposals for the Northern Territory are going to put more and more pressure on the limited resources available - that the government has not provided. That is going to push prices up and create all sorts of dramas for the older people in our community who have, in fact, built the Territory. Something I have always believed in is we should look after the old people because they once looked after us. It is a crying shame that I have a list of people coming through my office to speak to me about their fears because they are going to lose their accommodation; they cannot afford to pay the rents and rents are increasing. One bloke came in the other day and said that on the day the FID for INPEX was signed, his rent went up $50. He said: ‘I just cannot afford to live here and I am going to have to go. My kids are all settled here but I cannot live with them’.
There is a whole range of these issues. I ask the government to have a serious think about looking at their housing policies. We hear it, but I do not see any action. We, on this side of the House, have for a long time - and especially since I have been in this House - been asking the government to ensure there is sufficient land release so these sort of pressures are not forced upon people in the Northern Territory. The sad thing is the government has not listened, it has failed to release sufficient land and, therefore, put enormous pressure on house prices and on housing availability. That has had a serious impact on those in our community who can probably least afford it - our youth and our seniors.
Ms PURICK (Goyder): Madam Deputy Speaker, I thank the minister, the member for Nelson, and my colleague, the member for Sanderson, for their comments.
It is an important motion and an important subject. I will continue to talk on the extractive industry in the Territory at each and every opportunity that is appropriate in this House because I believe there is a need to develop strategic thinking and a strategic plan about where the industry is going and where it should be going. The minister missed my point slightly; it is not about supporting or not supporting the industry. I accept and acknowledge the government supports and works with the industry, as do we. I was trying to highlight the need for future or current planning so the industry can move towards future prosperity and supply the products for our growing economy - whether it be normal demand for residential roads, buildings, bridges, or the industrial projects we have on our doorstep and will, hopefully, have more.
It is about planning, strategic thinking, and protecting resources for the future development of the Northern Territory. Creating buffer zones - or thinking about creating buffer zones - around areas to limit residential creep is not something new or novel. I ask the minister if he would consider that in consultation with industry because it could help with the relationship between industry and the general community, wherever they are located.
I still have concerns about extractive areas that are being locked up or denied to the industry; notably the gaol and the surrounding areas. I know the government and the department talk with the industry on a regular basis, and that is good. I urge the government to keep doing that so, if there is something planned, they talk to the industry before they make any announcements.
The member for Nelson’s comments were welcomed. He has a long history of interest in the extractive industry in the rural area, which dates back to the time when he was the Litchfield Council President when the industry was - shall we say? - fractured to use a geological term. However, that has since changed with the formation of the industry group, and what happened previously, obviously, does not happen now. He talked about the impact, both positive and not so positive, of the extractive industries in the rural area. It does affect people in his electorate as it does in mine, and also probably the member for Daly. As I said in my speech, the resources are where you find them, not necessarily where you want them to be. We do have great potential.
What I am concerned about is the fact that the extractive industry is now starting to go further afield in regard to applying for land. They are going as far down as the Marrakai, and they will be going probably even further if that ground is not suitable. The further they go away from the urban centres, of course, the more it costs to transport the material. Those costs will be passed on directly to the consumers, which will then, ultimately, make the cost of building certain things more expensive. That, of course, contributes to our cost of living up here.
The member for Nelson also talked about the competing land uses, and we acknowledge that that is an issue which government needs to deal with in the community, such that all stakeholders have a fair and good hearing. However, it has to be balanced. It is important that government acknowledges there is a balancing act here, and it should not always fall down on the side of those who are opposed to industry - whether it be extractive, mining or any other industry – because, generally, their opposition is based on ideological grounds and not on sound, sensible, and logical grounds.
The road system is of concern to me and also the member for Nelson, particularly with the prospect of a large quantity of armour rock and other material being required to build the INPEX gas plant, in addition to the workers camps that will be placed in and around the Palmerston area and also in the Howard Springs area.
The member for Nelson also commented on the department’s report which was done by Nigel Doyle in 2001. That is some 12 years ago. The report, technically, is very sound, and that does not change. However, as I and the member for Nelson said, much has changed in the rural area in regard to development of subdivisions, and where the rural area is going generally. I ask the minister again to consider, not so much commissioning a new report, but have the department look at where the industry is going and, perhaps, start looking strategically at where it should be going.
I thank my colleague, the member for Sanderson. He raised some very important issues in regard to young people, because we do want to retain our young people in the Northern Territory, we do want to grow our own, we do want to equip them with the skills, such that they are the ones who go into the industry, and put down their roots here. However, if they have difficulties buying land and housing and setting up families here because it is just so expensive, then we will lose them. Generally, when we lose them and they go interstate, they do not come back. That industry suffers from lack of people to work with the road transport, with the industry to use the equipment and also, basically, finding the material they want to extract.
There were some very good comments about our young people, and also about the lack of land release and the cost of living up here. That still passes through all industries and affects everyone. So, thank you to the member for Sanderson.
Madam Speaker, I will leave it at that.
Motion negatived.
MOTION
Territory Economy in the Regions
Territory Economy in the Regions
Mr GILES (Braitling): Madam Speaker, I move –
- That this parliament recognises its failures in regard to supporting the Territory’s economy in the regions.
In hindsight, the member for Nelson may have been right when he mentioned the wording of this motion. I may have written it wrong, or spelt it out wrong when I introduced the notice. However, I did listen carefully to the member for Nelson, and had a bit of a chuckle to myself, as he complained about the number and type of motions on this Notice Paper.
I have gone through all the motions a number of times; I believe they are very important. The economy in the regions of the Northern Territory is important. The future of the Northern Territory is in the regions. It is an important thing to talk about, and to debate the successes and failures in that area. I note he spoke about infrastructure and how good a job the government has done on infrastructure. While things might get built, it does not necessarily mean that infrastructure is good. I suppose the member for Nelson must be pretty happy putting the INPEX workers camp and the new gaol in his electorate, and the traffic congestion that will bring. Perhaps he sees benefit in that. However, it is important and it is detrimental to speak otherwise of parliamentary motions.
It is interesting when you reflect on his comments about infrastructure. I was going to mention a particular road throughout this debate because the government likes to talk about roads. We know in the Northern Territory the failures when it comes to government investment in roads. The roads used to be the best in the country. They are not the best in the country now by no mean feat. We find it very difficult to get – or we cannot get - any asset management reports out of the government; it does not matter how hard we try or request to find out the state of the roads. We know at certain points when a road needs to be replaced, when it needs to be resealed, when extra work needs to be done, and we know the government is not doing that. Our roads across the Northern Territory are beyond their economic life, but the government is not investing in those roads. I challenge the member for Nelson to say it is important to debate infrastructure more generally.
Madam Speaker, I seek leave to present some photographs of the Carpentaria Highway shortly. We will see - for those people who are watching - the lovely road verges on the way into Borroloola on the Carpentaria Highway. I seek leave to table three pictures in a second, Madam Speaker. We also have another photograph of the verges on the Carpentaria Highway. Here is another lovely photo I have taken. You cannot really see it from there, but behind all the grass and the trees is a road sign. The trees in front of the signs might be 12 ft tall, but it really shows how well the maintenance work is being done at Borroloola. I do not think trees grow 12 ft in half a Wet Season.
I seek leave to table those photographs.
Leave granted.
Mr GILES: There is a murmur coming from the member for Barkly, the Minister for Lands and Planning, who should be fixing that. That is in his electorate, so I find it very surprising ...
Mr McCarthy: What is the date on it?
Mr GILES: That was on Monday, Minister for Lands and Planning - in your electorate on Monday ...
Mr McCarthy: What month is it?
Mr GILES: It is February. I know you are not that smart, but it is February. Have a look at a calendar …
Mr McCarthy: It is the Wet Season, isn’t it?
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Order!
Mr GILES: It is important we talk about the regions in the Northern Territory. The member for Johnston is chiming in because he loves seeing photos. He produces his own, but he really loves seeing these photos.
It is important to look at the region. The future of the Territory is in the regions. While it is very positive that INPEX has been approved for Darwin - and I congratulate the former Chief Minister, Clare Martin, and Paul Tyrell, for all the work they have done to get that here. The trailing efforts have come down now post the Clare Martin era, but it was Clare Martin who got INPEX here. We recognise that on this side of the House. The government will not; it will try to take all the credit itself. However, the fact remains there only seems to be one shot in the locker for these guys, and they were all banking on Clare Martin’s intervention to get INPEX here.
INPEX is here now, but what else is on the horizon for the Northern Territory? I have not seen the Chief Minister deliver any major projects apart from what was delivered by previous governments; that being Clare Martin with INPEX as a stand-out.
You do not have to look far across any of the regions to identify where failures are. We know there was a prime opportunity for the Northern Territory stage of Ord River to be developed, but the government did not want to take up that initiative and did not sign off on it. I remember several years ago, as I am sure the Minister for Regional Development will recall, during an Estimates process the government did not seem to have any knowledge of anything to do with the Ord River. No one was assigned to look after the project itself, not even a project officer to try to bring it to fruition. The opportunities the Ord River could have provided for the region of the Northern Territory to start a wide-ranging industry - whether that is horticulture or otherwise - in one part of the Territory would have been magnificent.
I did a bit of research today around the economic development side of regional development, looking at some of the economic profiles across the Territory. It is interesting to have a look at, as an example, the Alice Springs economic profile. I remember the time when the previous Minister for Regional Development, the member for Stuart, raised it and said how well everything was going in Alice Springs. Everything has gone backwards since he said that. Actually, at the point when he made the announcement, it had already started to go backwards a couple of years before.
If we look here: ‘Investment opportunities, pastoral production’. We know what happened in the pastoral industry. The Chief Minister and the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, stood up in Nhulunbuy and tried to kill the cattle industry. This is the Chief Minister who takes all his running orders from Julia Gillard, who tried to kill the cattle industry. If it was not for the fortunate intervention of the Liberals and the Country Liberals to bring that back, it would have been even further decimated.
The horticultural industry – nothing has happened in growth in the horticultural industry since this economic profile was done. We have Centrefarm at Ali Curung, which is looking to expand but they cannot get any power generation of additional capacity out of Tennant Creek. We see farms in the horticultural industry in Central Australia trying to sell up and go. There is a prime opportunity there for an expansion of the horticultural industry but, as all the efforts of Clare Martin around INPEX, none of those efforts from a major project point of view are being put around horticulture in the Centre - which is a massive opportunity to open the Centre up in horticulture as far as it goes up to Tennant Creek.
Live transport services - talking about the cattle industry, we know they do not support the live cattle industry when the Chief Minister, Paul Henderson, and the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, tried to kill off the live cattle industry. Here we see under primary industries - I hear the minister for Primary Industries having a bit of a chuckle. He would be very interested to see under Investment Opportunities, it has listed here from the previous Minister for Regional Development, ‘the wild harvesting of camels’. And you are the Primary Industry minister who debated about not having the wild harvesting of camels. You voted against that industry, which is listed in your economic profile, when your minister stood up and said how good it was.
Tourism: the Red Centre Way – have not seen the Mereenie Loop done, but that is in your economic profile. International air charters: the Minister for Tourism is also the Minister for Regional Development. When was the last time an international air charter came to Alice Springs? I do not think one has come since you have been the Minister for Tourism. You can correct me if I am wrong …
Ms McCarthy: Last month.
Mr GILES: To Alice Springs or straight to Uluru? Straight to Uluru, yes, not to Alice Springs. This is the Alice Springs economic profile –yours - not the Uluru one, not Central Australia, the Alice Springs economic profile, which you have listed here. I do not think there has been one since you have been minister, but I am happy to be corrected.
Mining: supply of goods and services to mining, including Newmont. I pick up on the interjections that the minister for Resources made yesterday to my good colleague, the member for Greatorex, when he talked about $500m for Newmont …
Mr Vatskalis interjecting.
Mr GILES: $500m for Newmont. I have to ask what the benefits are that are coming to Alice Springs? Previously, when Newmont wanted the Tanami Road to be sealed as part of the infrastructure debate - which the member for Nelson does not seem to be too happy to have - they were going to use Alice Springs as a major supply centre. Instead, they have now taken much of their work over to Western Australia. So, the castigation he gave my colleague, the member for Greatorex yesterday, was completely unwarranted. Yet, it is still in your economic profile. We knew at the time this economic profile was rubbish, and it still remains the same.
Under the construction area you have ‘residential and rental properties’. We are still waiting for Kilgariff to come. We have been waiting for 12 years to get something substantial happening. Here we have ‘the CBD upgrade’. The CBD upgrade, promised in 2008, still has not happened - $5m and they still have not lifted a paver in the mall to make this happen. It is in your economic profile, so it just shows the economic profile you have been doing is nothing more than paper weights, like most of the documents you produce. Everyone is busy but nothing is getting done.
I ask the Minister for Regional Development how often do the economic development committees meet? How many times this year and the end of last year has the Economic Development Committee of Alice Springs met? How many times has the one in Tennant Creek met? I heard they do not even meet at all. Katherine does not meet at all; they have become defunct. You stood up in your last parliamentary debate, minister, and talked about: ‘Oh, we have these new committees at Kalkarindji and Lajamanu and other places’. You cannot even get the urban centre ones to operate and all of our economies are falling over. It is an important point to debate.
Staying on Central Australia, we know they do not support mining development. Arafura Resources - a rare earths mine for Aileron, which will be a great investment - wanted to come to the Port of Darwin and start a processing facility, but you knocked them back on the land, so they have taken their $780m processing plant facility to Whyalla in South Australia. A $780m investment back then - it is worth more now – which could have come to Darwin but you did not want anything to do with it. The upstream and downstream benefits that would have come with that facility - but nothing.
Focusing particularly on Arafura Resources at Aileron, should that program go ahead, which is looking very positive, they are looking at 160 workers ...
Mr Vatskalis: Not according to the last announcement.
Mr GILES: Well, you know the technology for the processing plant has not been shored up yet, minister. … 160 workers operating on what they are calling a drive-in/drive-out facility, where they fly into Alice Springs and drive up to Aileron. Last year and the year before would have been the perfect time for you and the minister for Resources to be working to develop the Alice Springs community to ensure there are employees, local to Alice Springs, local to Aileron at Belyuen at the little outstation there, at Ti Tree, maybe even Tennant Creek, to be able to come down and work there, but you have not focused on it. You have not given it major project status. You have not even given it a project status at all to try to develop that industry.
I will talk quickly about another opportunity which is emerging: the aircraft boneyard concept at Alice Springs Airport. It is some time away; I understand they will start laying the tarmac in August. If they are going to start storing airplanes from around Asia in Alice Springs it is a fantastic opportunity. If they are going to start utilising that for pulling planes apart, surely there is an industry opportunity to set up a project status, to work with CDU, maybe even BIITE, and look at other institutions to start training people in aircraft engineering and maintenance. If you are going to have planes there which need to be pulled apart or serviced, or even if you are going to run tourism around that opportunity, why not start training people now before it arrives? You guys will get ready too late when what we could see is growing the economy by training people in those industries now. Look beyond the realm; there are some fantastic opportunities there.
As I said, the economic development committees have fallen over right across the Northern Territory. That shows that the government is not focusing on the regions. Shame on you, Minister for Regional Development, because you hold a regional seat, a bush seat. I know you have connections to Borroloola on a personal sense but from a business sense, when I was at Borroloola last week, it is interesting to go around and have a look at infrastructure.
I have some pictures here of the top camp No 1 looking at the road infrastructure in the town camp. You can see the water that pools in the roads throughout the Wet Season. It does not disappear, and I am told it stays there for much of the Dry Season too. Borroloola is a growth town in the Northern Territory, but no there are no SIHIP works and no road infrastructure. You go out the back of the school where they are doing the headworks in the subdivision, and it has been explained to me that it appears to people to be somewhat of a mini-Beirut – there are bomb craters everywhere. People do not know when the work projects are going to finish. It is abysmal. With Borroloola being such an important town in the Northern Territory, linking us from the Territory to Queensland at that part of our border, you would think there would be a greater focus on Borroloola, doing the road maintenance and building the infrastructure.
Then we heard the Attorney-General, who is also the minister for Power and Water, talking today about Power and Water. Go to Borroloola and look at the buffer zone which has been created around the power station and is stopping development by anyone who wants to do anything within 250 m of that power station. There are Indigenous organisations there that are trying to develop land which have now been prohibited to do any development. The town of Borroloola is land locked because of land tenure and land title issues, but land within that town now cannot be developed because Power and Water, under the minister’s guidance as the responsible minister, is not allowing that development to happen.
I would like to know how that buffer zone came about, when it came about, and if there is going to be any compensation measures to the owners of the land who now cannot develop? The reason they want to develop is to build accommodation for Indigenous employees in Borroloola, some of whom work at the mine - which is exactly what we want; we are getting people off welfare. This is a failure in the chain, but no one seems to be in control of that issue. I have written to the minister about it, and I look forward to him coming to me and having a chat.
Magellan Resources, another company that wanted to operate up in Darwin - knocked back by the minister. Another future potential industry which could have done a whole lot of work, right throughout the Northern Territory, processing in Darwin; once again, upstream and downstream industries - but nothing.
In the regions, we have not yet debated the native vegetation bill which is going to come before this Chamber any day. The native vegetation act is going to prohibit or restrict development in the regions of the Northern Territory. It will be holding back the pastoral industry, horticulture and agriculture. It is just crazy; the things this government is doing.
Look what the carbon tax is going to do to the Northern Territory; the inflationary pressures that it is going to create with no gain for the Northern Territory – no gain whatsoever. Yesterday, the member for Fong Lim talked about the carbon that will come from INPEX, and how that is going to blow out the targets by this government. So, this government’s environmental agenda is completely off the table because they will never meet their targets. Without quoting verbatim what the member for Fong Lim said, you can turn every light off in the Territory and kick everyone out and we still would not meet our targets. The carbon tax is just crazy. This parliament passed a motion where we called on the federal government not to put the carbon tax in the Northern Territory for 50 years. I do not see the Chief Minister hanging from the chandeliers in Canberra trying to make that come to fruition.
Recently, we heard the minister for Natural Resources start to get on the band wagon about croc safari hunting, because he has not done anything about crocodiles since his time in the job. Actually, the government has not. Crocs are such a pest now, people are in danger all the time. I just saw on the news before, it looks like there might be one at Lake Alexander. We should be supporting croc safari hunting. We talk about economic development in the regions, creating businesses, getting people off welfare - or I talk about getting people off welfare - and here we have a perfect opportunity to start businesses and get people actively employed and engaged in the mainstream economy.
The federal government is still sitting on its hands, although there are some murmurings that the minister, Tony Burke, may be re-looking at it. Surely, this is an environmental issue, with an animal that has become a pest because of such numbers. There are economic opportunities in harvesting those crocodiles, and there are safety measures we need to put in place to protect people of the Top End, but they just still sit on their hands and do not do anything.
You have to really ask what is going on with this government when it comes to economic development right across the regions of the Northern Territory. I spoke briefly about Borroloola. An issue that has come up right across the Northern Territory - everywhere I have gone, not just SIHIP, not just shire councils - has also been the federal government’s moves to end CDEP wages and move everybody on to Newstart. I have argued uphill and down dale about the failures of sit-down money - sit-down money being the Newstart, or the dole, without people having to actively participate. CDEP is a program of transition, of training and, in some ways, a place of rescue to give people active employment and opportunity on the back of failures by government in development of economies and a lack of real jobs in communities. CDEP is there because there are no real jobs.
We have thousands of CDEP places across the Northern Territory, and the federal government wants to take those wages off people and put them all on Newstart so they can be welfare quarantined. These are the people who are actually doing something. The government wants to take their wages and welfare quarantine. Well, I say the federal government should not be stopping CDEP wages. They should not be forcing people on to income management for purposes of quarantining. These are people’s jobs. So many communities rely on the services of CDEP workers. If you put people on Newstart the only thing that will happen is people will go off CDEP, go on to Newstart, and stay on Newstart and not work. Then, all the services in these communities will fall over.
Once again, it will be a complete shemozzle, much like the implementation of the shire program where everything falls apart. We will have to have the federal government coming in to spend more money to employ people from outside those communities to do the job the CDEP workers used to do. You are much better keeping the wages, trying to develop economies and real jobs.
I say to the Northern Territory government: join me in asking the federal government not to end CDEP wages and put people on Newstart with welfare quarantining. It is going to bring everything undone. I know the Minister for Indigenous Development agrees with me. I hope, if she responds to this motion, she joins in calling on Jenny Macklin not to end CDEP wages and put thousands of people on the dole. We have thousands of people working and participating in the economy, albeit through CDEP, at the moment and many people on top-up. If you put everybody on the dole it sends people so far backwards and into a life of prolonged misery. Get people actively participating, not sitting on the dole.
As part of the development of the economies in the regions, what is required is a strategic plan for Power and Water to identify where it is going to invest in power generation facilities. We know in Tennant Creek they are short of power; in Ti Tree they are short of power. We know places like Aileron, with Arafura Resources, needs more power to get their projects up and running. There is an opportunity for a PPP - a public private partnership - to develop power infrastructure which can be utilised by the broader Northern Territory community, future businesses, and the mine itself. That is a great opportunity.
I have already touched on the opportunities for mining industry engagement and employment strategy. In Central Australia, we have Central Petroleum, Tanami Gold is soon to start up, PetroFrontier, Arafura, Minemakers - all these projects are around there, but we are not getting ready for the industry to come in. We are not getting ready, so will be operating on a fly-in/fly-out model. I would much prefer, as the Health Minister talks about in the health profession, growing our own. We should be growing our own in the mining sector as well.
In wrapping up, I know the future of the Territory is in the regions. Our urban centres are service centres for the work that happens all around us. INPEX is a prime example of that, and the government needs to start developing strategies, initiatives, and economic approaches to the regions.
The Ord River I have spoken about. In mining, there is the potential of uranium in the Warlpiri region, gold development through the Barkly, and some of the phosphate resources there. There is road infrastructure that is required for future projects like Western Desert Resources and Sherwin Iron and the need to build roads and connectivity in some of these regional Indigenous communities.
What is the future for Wadeye? Where is the plan for the future of Wadeye? What is going to happen in the Daly? There is simply a vacuum of ideas, policies, or future directions. What we see is economic profiles such as the East Arnhem Economic Profile, the Tennant Creek Profile, Gunbalanya and Yirrkala. They are all there but are only bits of paper. If you do not start doing things on the ground nothing will ever happen. You can consult, talk to people, pay consultancy fees, and make people feel happy, but unless you do anything nothing will change. This approach of getting rid of CDEP wages is another knife or rod in the back for the regional areas of the Northern Territory.
Madam Speaker, I will leave it there. The motion originally should have said - it would be my fault – ‘the parliament recognise the failures of the Northern Territory government to develop economies in the region’. I will not put an amendment in because the member for Nelson is not happy that we are debating these issues. He is happy with his gaol and the INPEX plant in his electorate. I will let others comment.
Ms McCARTHY (Regional Development): Madam Speaker, it is good to actually hear the member for Braitling refer to the title. I must admit, in preparing for this motion he has brought before the parliament, I wondered, from a constitutional point of view, what the implications of the motion would mean when we talk about whether the parliament is passing a no confidence motion in all its members. You put a very challenging thought there, member for Braitling. I am sure it is probably a first for the House.
Regional economic development is a very serious issue and very important for this side of the House. I definitely disagree regarding the Northern Territory government’s moves to improve economic development across regions.
There were a number of points the member raised in his motion. I begin with the policy of the Northern Territory government in A Working Future. We have, as a whole-of-government, across our agencies, focused concertedly, determinedly, on our regions across the Northern Territory. We have had to deal with so many issues in that process.
The very first thing we have considered, in dealing with wanting to pave the way for stronger economic growth across the regions, was the empowerment of local people across the regions, recognising that it is not governments - whether it is Territory or federal - it has to be about the people being very much a part of determining the way they want to grow their respective communities and towns across the Northern Territory.
This is something we deliberately embarked on within our policy, because we recognised it would not matter how much money was being put into these places if it was not the people themselves actually determining and growing it. We have had to embark on it by setting up the Service Delivery Coordination Unit. I refer to this because this is the real hub in focusing on all of these places across the regions. We make no apology for doing that. We recognise this is what our government is about; that we want to ensure every Territory person, wherever they live across the regions, has a vision for the future for their place, and they are included, very much so, in how the Northern Territory grows.
We also recognise - and in some of the comments the member for Braitling made regarding the piece of paper - the fact that pieces of paper can be just pieces of paper, but they can also be very much living documents that actually guide and direct the way things happen. What we have done is ensure there are local implementation plans; that there are actually plans for these respective areas.
Reference has been made of the economic development committees – that is a really valid point the member has raised in the House. I am acutely aware that we need to ensure within the economic development committees there is a connection with all the other work we are doing with the Northern Territory government across our agencies. I have instructed that there be a review of these economic development committees across the Northern Territory, because I am concerned about that connection: the fact that we are successfully embarking on the remote service delivery sites across the Northern Territory, that we have the A Working Future policy, and we have, in the first time of the history of the Northern Territory budget, been able to provide almost $1bn towards the infrastructure for these regions.
The important thing for this motion and to this House, is making sure that taxpayers money is spent wisely and effectively to improve the infrastructure in these regions. We know, very much so – and we have debated consistently in this House - that unless we fix the roads, build the bridges, and have the connection on the arterial highways beyond the Stuart Highway, then any kind of economy we want to help flourish and grow out there is going to have difficulty getting back to market - to be able to get produce from Ngukurr back to Katherine, from Wadeye into Darwin, from Papunya into Alice Springs. That is why A Working Future has been a critical part of our government’s focus. We know we have also had to deal with a number of other factors such as the land tenure across the Northern Territory, and the fact that nearly 50% of the land mass is Aboriginal land.
Our government has deliberately focused on making sure we dealt appropriately and respectfully with the rights of Indigenous people across the Northern Territory regarding the rental that is required for this land. A tremendous amount of work has had to take place. It is part of explaining where we are, where we are coming from, and where we are going and wanting to see these places grow. It is important that the economy flourishes in each of these areas. However, there are a number of steps we have to embark on first.
It is interesting to note that the member for Braitling went to Borroloola. I commend you for that because you must be the only one on that side who has done so. It is interesting to see because, if we look at the history of Borroloola - and I can speak very strongly on the history of it …
Members interjecting.
Ms McCARTHY: Clearly, the other members on the other side are not interested. The history of it is such that it took nearly 30 years for the land of the Yanyuwa to be fought and won for the Yanyuwa to be able to grow and prosper in that country.
Think about the almost three decades spent in trying to prove the Yanyuwa were traditional owners of that country. Instead of all that court time, all that energy wasted in litigation, just imagine where the people of Borroloola could be today without having had to go through almost three decades of fighting for land. I bring that to the House as a reality check because that story is very similar to the stories of many Indigenous people across the Northern Territory. This is a very real situation for any government wanting to work genuinely with Indigenous people in this country. The Northern Territory Labor government is doing exactly that. We want to have that genuine relationship with Indigenous people. We have to do it properly, with substance, and with a firm view that what we are building is not about today and tomorrow, but about the generational change which is required to give hope to people who live in our regions across the Territory.
At the same time there has to be fairness. Under the Australian Constitution there is a clause which says ‘just compensation for land’. Nearly half of the Territory land mass is Aboriginal land. It was an incredibly important decision for our government to pay the rent. That is not going to solve all the problems, but this is the social justice issues side of what our government stands for.
We know that we do not want people on sit-down money. We do not want people to be on welfare. We have never wanted to see welfare as the only employment opportunity for people in the Northern Territory. That is why in each of these areas we have consistently worked on unpacking each of these growth towns - from Gunbalanya to the Tiwis, Groote Eylandt, at northeast Arnhem Land with Ramingining, Milingimbi and Yirrkala, to the Centre with Papunya, Hermannsburg, Lajamanu, Kalkarindji. We have diligently worked on all of these places, which have never in the history of the Northern Territory had any scoping plans. They have never had any infrastructure plans for these places such as basic sewerage. If you go to Borroloola you can see the investments that are taking place there to fix what should have been done years ago. There were no plans within those structures. These are very basic expectations that you would have of growing any place in Australia. Yet, the bureaucracies did not have it.
After I took this job on, member for Braitling, one of the first things I asked in the department was: ‘Show me the plans for growing these places’. They were not there. We have had to, within the Service Delivery Coordination Unit, not only have a vision for the future, but actually start to build the foundations of very simple, basic planning that the rest of the country probably takes for granted.
I hear you when you ask how many times has the Alice Springs Economic Development Committee met; how many times the Tennant Creek Economic Development Committee has met. I am acutely aware of all of those things. That does not satisfy your question, no doubt, member for Braitling but, hopefully, it gives you a better understanding of where the focus has been and why it has been that.
We are about connecting all of these things. We know we rely on the federal government for financial support. We know we have to have the arterial roads across the Northern Territory improved. We have been able to build the bridges in some of these places, but we need extraordinary amounts of money to continue that investment over a period of time. We know it is not just about the growth towns, we also know the concerns on homelands. We also know the smaller communities that feel perhaps they may be missing out. We have to take all of these things into consideration and try to be fair but, at the same time, have a vision that unites all people of the Northern Territory - black and white, young and old, male and female, from the north to the south, from the south to the north. That is our vision, and we will diligently, consistently continue to work on that.
Regarding the economic development committees, we currently have a review under way. I have had some questions I have asked of these committees across the Territory. However, there is also another key issue here I believe is important in this motion; that is, we also have the federal government’s connection with economic development committees across the country. We have the RDA, which is under federal minister Simon Crean, which is chaired by Mayor Damian Ryan from Alice Springs. How do we ensure we can connect up the economic development committees of the Northern Territory, the A Working Future policies, with what the federal government is doing? There is no point the ships sailing past each other. There has to be an effective connection between these groups.
We have also been working on ensuring that those submissions and business proposals which have been going to the federal government, either have the support or at least the awareness of the Northern Territory government to be able to get behind it. I know this is something the Mayor of Alice Springs has been incredibly passionate about, so too the men and women on that RDA.
As part of this debate on this ...
Mr Giles: You have a frog in your throat.
Ms McCARTHY: ... as part of this debate on … Yes, I might need to get a drink of water.
Madam Speaker, I will talk about the Katherine Economic Development Committee, which has made a valuable contribution to the Katherine area in identifying economic development priorities, as do other committees across the Territory.
I share with the House some of the work and the examples of this committee, promoting and securing funding for growing Katherine businesses, which has been instrumental in the creation of six new businesses in areas such as the service sector, health, agriculture, and IT, and expanded or retained 11 businesses that generated a total of eight full-time positions. It promoted the planning forum in 2008 for Katherine, and supported its proposals for: land release and strengthening the town as a regional transport hub; developing a low-security training facility in the region; the development of the Katherine cultural centre, which is near completion; a partnership by local high schools in developing a Vocational Education and Training centre; initiatives towards establishment of Katherine as a Centre of Excellence for Remote Health; promoting development of water allocation plans for the region to enable sustainable, economic, environmental and social outcomes; and promoting the annual NT conference of the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and the Bureau of Rural Sciences which was held in Katherine for the first time in October 2010 ...
Mr Giles: You should thank Fay Miller.
Ms McCARTHY: What was that?
Mr Giles: You should thank Fay Miller for all her hard work.
Ms McCARTHY: It was good to see the former member for Katherine recently.
The economic development committees are working across the Northern Territory. As I said in the beginning of my response to this motion, I have asked for a review into them because, clearly, I want to see the connection with our broader A Working Future policy and the other policies we have. Also, keeping in mind there is Stronger Futures legislation before the federal parliament with the inquiry due to be here next week, and recognising, again, there is significant funding from the feds through that area of the NTER, and wanting to ensure that, whatever the future vision is with Stronger Futures, it should be very much about jobs in these regions.
The Indigenous Economic Development Taskforce brings together expertise from various areas and the land councils to identify and foster opportunities for growth and economic development in the regions. The task force, chaired by Ron Morony, is currently working with a focus on linkages with opportunities in the growth towns as set out in economic profiles.
We met in Uluru towards the end of last year. One of the reasons I directed the task force to meet there was, obviously, the $300m investment into Yulara by the Indigenous Land Corporation is an incredible amount of money. We have to ensure success in the investment of Yulara, and that success needs to be about ensuring local people are very much a part of it. Yulara, Uluru itself, and the Anangu have a history. It is a place that is always conscious of working forward in wanting to take advantage of the enormous benefits that come from tourism and visitors to the Rock. Again, the challenge here is that it is spent wisely and there is work for people in that region.
When the Tourism ministers met in Darwin last year, one of the things we were able to get from all Tourism ministers across Australia and the federal Tourism minister, is they focused and supported Yulara being the national Indigenous training hospitality centre. That was an incredible coup if we want to look at economic development for Central Australia and the fact we are about real jobs, not welfare, and we want to see jobs across our regions of the Northern Territory.
I do not recognise a failure of the Northern Territory Labor government in regional economic development. We have heard consistently in this House today, and in previous statements by the minister for Planning and Roads, the amount of money going into infrastructure across the Northern Territory. By all means, it is not enough; we always have to be seeking more. However, this government is very much committed to the regions across the Northern Territory. This government will continue to be committed to the people across the regions of the Northern Territory and we will not give up.
Madam Speaker, I do not support this motion before the House.
Mr TOLLNER (Fong Lim): Madam Speaker, I was not intending to speak on this debate but, having listened to the minister’s response, I feel compelled to make some comments. First, I congratulate the member for Braitling for bringing on this motion. In the Northern Territory we need to discuss the regions. That old clich about the Berrimah Line - we do not take much notice of it when we live in Darwin, but people outside Darwin feel acutely that they are being neglected and their interests are not being looked after. That is an historical thing and these things happen. However, it has increased in recent years with this Labor government, because they certainly do not have the interests of the region at heart.
The minister’s presentation just demonstrated what a blind spot she has in relation to what is going on out there in the bush. You can go to any state in Australia and see what is going on in the bush. I am from Queensland. Queensland is probably the most developed state regionally. Wherever you look, there are workable roads, there is people working the land, there is industry, there is enterprise, and people have a sense of worth. However, in the Northern Territory, so much of it is neglected. Admittedly, much of it is not the fault of this Labor government; they inherited many of the problems. However, one of the concerns I have is they are not interested in fixing some of those issues.
The minister talked about Borroloola. By the way, minister, I have probably spent more time in Borroloola than you have. That is up for argument, of course. I am no stranger to the place, and I have a pretty rough idea how things are out there.
However, talking about a fight that has lasted over 30 years, and the fact that they are in court, shows a complete lack of understanding of the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act. This is one of the fundamental reasons why previous government’s resisted the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act for so long - not because those governments were opposed to land rights. In actual fact, they were great supporters of land rights and wanted to see Indigenous people owning their own land. However, the way the legislation had been written, had been to specifically exclude the involvement of the Northern Territory government. The Northern Territory government could not compulsorily acquire land for the installation of services you would expect in any other community - roads, schools, hospitals, and police stations. They could not do that.
The only opportunity that government has had in respect to the public interest on Aboriginal freehold land is right at the outset - right at the outset when those cases were being decided. There is a point of record, because there has not been one single land claim that has ever gone before the courts, that those positions have not been upheld. Every single claim has been amended in some way to incorporate the public interest. What a ridiculous situation, where you have a land claim in place and the only time the government can represent the public interest is right at the outset, before the claim is granted. That means the government of the day - whoever they are, whatever political ilk they are - has to have a extraordinarily long vision into the future, to think how things might develop - not a short-term vision and say: ‘Oh well, we can leave that for the next 10 or 20 years’. In some cases, you have to think about hundreds of years time. That law excluded completely the right of Territorians to have a say on that land once it was granted.
Those are the reasons why previous governments found themselves in court. It is quite easy to sit on the sidelines and say: ‘Oh, you are just a pack of racists, you never supported land rights. You never supported Aboriginal’s rights to own land …
Ms McCARTHY: A point of order, Madam Speaker! The accusation of racism was totally out of order.
Mr TOLLNER: Why? Who did I accuse?
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Fong Lim, are you referring to anyone in particular, or …
Mr TOLLNER: No, I am suggesting that people said our government was racist ...
Madam SPEAKER: There is no point of order.
Mr TOLLNER: That was a suggestion that was made a long time. Quite often, political opponents of ours have said we have used the race card in elections. Nothing could be further from the truth. These arguments are quite convenient for the other side. They can sit there and say: ‘Oh, you have these poor people in court, therefore, you must not like them’. Nothing could be further from the truth. We see ourselves in this quixotic situation now fighting windmills, trying to say we will do this and we will do that and we will do all of these things. However, unless you actually sit down and negotiate long and hard with the land council, nothing gets done, nothing can happen.
Who owns the houses on Aboriginal land? They were built by government but they are not standing on government land, therefore, the government does not own them. They were not built by the land councils, they were built by someone else, therefore, the land councils do not own them. The whole situation is completely questionable.
We see Territory housing putting money into fixing up Territory Housing properties in the order of somewhere between $5000 and $10 000 a year. A skerrick of that is spent on Aboriginal houses in remote communities. Why? Because the Northern Territory does not own those houses; they look after those houses almost as a favour or a sign of goodwill, but there is no real ownership of those houses. The same applies to schools, police stations and hospitals. The roads that are built are not owned by government, they are not public roads. You cannot publicly drive down these roads - the public cannot go there. These are the things that concerned governments of previous years, and they should concern governments nowadays.
Governments nowadays should be looking and saying Aboriginal people deserve the same rights, the same entitlements as all other Australians. They should be able to access shops and schools, and people should be able to visit their communities without having to go through some remote foreign organisation such as a land council to get a permit to visit. I have heard stories of people saying: ‘You would not just let anyone in on your land, it is private’. However, I am not asking the government to build a school or a road on my land. So these are the concerns I have when I hear ministers bang on about some of the practices and the things previous governments did because, clearly, they have no understanding at all of the requirements of the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act.
As I say, I get around the Territory quite a bit and I am aware that there is a push by a number of people in a number of places across the Territory to form their own land councils. The driving factor in that is the desire to create their own industry and businesses. They feel they are being held up, they are being stymied by some of the major land councils - either the Central Land Council or the Northern Land Council.
Aboriginal people are fed up that they cannot develop their own businesses or industries on their land. They are also fed up that they cannot privately own their own house. The Northern Territory government, the Commonwealth, and the land councils all have to all agree to put a 40-, 50- or 100-year lease on this land before you can hive a bit of it off and give it to someone so they can build their own house; and 99.99% of the time that is never ever going to happen. That is wrong. Aboriginal people should be able to build a house on their own land and own it. They should be able to take the titles of that land to the bank and borrow against it. That is a right of every Australian, but it seems it is not a right which is supported by this government for Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory.
The rest of the motion is right as well. The government has failed to support the regions, simply by ignoring them. In many cases, they have been taken over and completely infiltrated by green extremists to the point where they are introducing all of these repressive laws in relation to native vegetation clearing ...
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Order!
Mr TOLLNER: Here we go. Native vegetation clearing, where you are going to need a full-blown environmental impact statement to plough up 100 acres of dirt. It is a bizarre situation to say the least, where you are going to need a permit to cut a dead branch off a tree. It is absolutely ridiculous! To suggest that, somehow, you are supporting the regions by introducing these types of laws, is just mind-bogglingly stupid.
People should have the rights to farm where farming is possible. They should have the rights to access water where there is water available, particularly in places like the Ord River Stage 2 where you have literally thousands of gigalitres of fresh water flowing out into the ocean every year, or in the Daly where you have many hundreds of gigalitres of water flowing out into the ocean. Surely, farmers can access just a little of that without impacting too much on the environment?
However, this lot seem to have been completely mesmerised by the green extremists. Hardly surprising when you see what is going on in Canberra with Julia Gillard and Bob Brown, where she is a complete captive of The Greens. But, this has been going on much longer in the Northern Territory than that relationship has been in Canberra.
I just say shame on the minister. Open your eyes and have a look at what is going on around the Territory. Have a look at Indigenous people of the Northern Territory, talk to Indigenous people, ask them what they want. Their views are not that dissimilar from most people in the community. They want education for their children, they want to be able to get a job - a decent job, a proper, real job, not some CDEP made-up job where you come in for half a day a week and sweep the floors of the council office, but a real job, something that is meaningful, gives their life meaning. That is what they want. They want opportunities for their children and, most of all, they want to be a part of their land and stay on their land. They do not want to have to move to Darwin, Katherine, Tennant Creek, or Alice Springs in order to get a job. They should be able to do it where they live, particularly if they have productive land and there is a possibility of industry taking hold.
Madam Speaker, I support this motion in its entirety. The parliament should recognise this government has failed in its efforts to drive the economy in the regions. They are completely and utterly blinkered when it comes to driving the economy in the regions.
Mr GILES (Braitling): Madam Speaker, I thank the minister for her contribution, and the member for Fong Lim. The member for Fong Lim spoke a whole lot of sense about a whole lot of things. I am not a supporter of arguing the Berrimah Line. I believe we are all Territorians and we should all talk that way. When I spoke in my opening speech, I spoke about the regions as part of the Northern Territory, not separate from Darwin and not talking about the Berrimah Line. We are all Territorians.
Going straight to the point from when the minister spoke, I am glad we did not have that constitutional debate between the two of us in the parliament. I say, from the outset, I enjoy engaging in conversation with you in the parliamentary Chamber, and also the members for Arafura and Stuart, I think. You are all highly motivated by wanting to have change, and I actually prefer to talk to you outside of the Chamber about the direction we should be moving. You are the three better bush members who actually have a vested interest in the development of the bush, and I say that sincerely. While I will talk against some of the things you said, I do think you are three members who are poorly led in achieving outcomes in the area in which you want to achieve. That was quite evident, as I said, listening to what you had to say.
Just quickly, I am pretty sure you said you would like to see a review of economic development committees in the opening part of your statement, and you somewhat agreed with my comments about economic development committees. You said you would like to see a review - I am not quoting you verbatim - and later, you said there is a review under way. I am interested to find out if there is a review, or if you would like to see a review, because you did talk about both things.
Minister, I am very disappointed you are the only person who spoke because this was not a motion about Aboriginal people, it was not just about the bush, and it was not just about the growth towns. This is about the regions.
I spoke broadly about many townships, some communities, mining, power and water, horticulture, the Ord River - whatever the stage would be called in the Northern Territory. None of those topics were discussed. It is in your portfolio, but it is also broader than your portfolio. The Minister for Central Australia should also have spoken.
The fact remains - and I will talk about the town where I live, my home of Alice Springs, with 44 businesses closing, as the members for Araluen and Greatorex relayed yesterday. There are shop fronts empty everywhere and there is a significant problem. I recognise, minister- and am talking to you as you are also the Tourism Minister - there are global problems in the tourism industry and I recognise there are national problems. My opinion is crime in Alice Springs is the biggest detractor to tourism, and it is going to take a long time to fix because of your government’s failure in law and order.
When we have what I would call headline industries of tourism and mining, then probably government services or welfare services being the main staples of Alice Springs, we are in a difficult position because mining has not started in Alice Springs. There is exploration, but we really have one mine apart from a couple of small extractive industries - without putting these aside, member for Goyder. We have a couple of extractive industries. We really only have the Newmont Granites mine. Other than that, there is nothing else and there have been no new mines since 1976 ...
Dr Burns: What about Angela and Pamela?
Mr GILES: There have been no new mines since 1976. When we have tourism in the doldrums –sure, some people are doing okay - we have mining that has not started, we are relying now on government servicing; there is no headline industry.
Retail and property business services - all those other what you might call smaller industries on a broader scale - are now all suffering because the bigger industries are not working. This is part of what this debate was about, and no one from your side of government has spoken about that. Yes, you spoke about Indigenous communities, you spoke about A Working Future. However, the people who live in a town like Alice Springs are looking for economic solutions. It is such an issue that Major Projects or the Chief Minister needs to step in and start driving some economic solutions for the town. It is not going to be fixed overnight. It has been a long time coming, and crime and law and order have brought it on. As it has become worse - some of the policies and programs you have in place are driving it to become worse - there is no light at the end of the tunnel. People are leaving in droves. You might think, politically, that supports you in an electoral sense, but for the people who live there, black and white, it is a significant problem, and there needs to be some leadership.
Unfortunately, the member for Stuart, the Minister for Central Australia, may have some good ideas; he does not always display them. As I said earlier, the members for Stuart and Arafura are being poorly led to take control of these solutions which need to be put in place.
I found it funny that you spoke about A Working Future after debates that occurred today. I am sure, when the Leader of the Opposition asked today during Question Time who was running the government, who was in charge, and who was leading who, the A Working Future was an initiative of the federal government when you had to take on 15 areas of the Northern Territory and you added an additional five, including Papunya and other areas. Those are remote locations. I cannot think of the acronym right now. However, they are the large centres across Australia the federal government put in place; 15 were in the Northern Territory and you added five more which you now put under your banner of A Working Future. It was funny that you were referring to your successes based on a federal government initiative, minister.
This is not just about Indigenous people; this is about broader areas of the Northern Territory. It is a failure of your government to not even respond to what it is going to do in the Barkly, Katherine, Nhulunbuy, Alice Springs, Yuendumu, Lajamanu or otherwise, because there is no leadership.
When I said the three local members - who I enjoy having a conversation with - are not being led by your government - the government is not leading in developing economic solutions in the bush. While we look at economic profiles such as this one from Gunbalanya/Oenpelli. As I said, it is all good to have a bit of paper. There are a couple of good things at Gunbalanya, particularly the meatworks there which is a fantastic opportunity, and the partnerships they have with Uluru and the selling of the product there. There are some good things but, unless more happens, nothing much is going to change.
That is why, when I said the future is in the regions, I spoke about the need for shire reform, because it is a regional approach that needs to happen. This is not ‘let us go and attack the government about the shires’. It has to be about the regions. If you have a regional context, a smaller geographic area - putting aside the other issues about shires - you actually create a greater competitive approach from a regional perspective where regions want to compete in a business sense - and there will be some who are winners and some who are losers.
With issues such as the member for Fong Lim spoke about, land tenure reform, people will get to a point where they see they need land tenure reform. That is why I believe the fundamental principle of what I am talking about is the same principle which is driving the desire for people to create regional land councils, because people are at a point where they realise they are being held back and they need fundamental change. We know, around the world, people and economies only grow when you have secure land title. The land councils, in the broader sense, have done their job to date and, now, it is time to move to a new model and a progressive change.
The motion does need to be amended. I am not going to put an amendment in place. It is about the parliament recognising the Labor government’s failure in regard to supporting the Territory’s economy in the regions. Alice Springs is in pain, much like the rest of the Territory. If Clare Martin had not brought INPEX in, Darwin would be feeling the same pressures - our house prices, land prices, petrol prices, and grocery prices. Now, we see the carbon tax is going to put all these things up.
If everything was rosy and bubbling along really well, the smaller issues, on a global scale, may not have had as much impact. However, when we see the implementation of things such as CDL, that is inflationary. Cartons of beer have gone up by more than $10, and you only get $2.40 back. There are so many families in the Territory who cannot afford that extra $10 – they just cannot afford it. It is inflationary. While on the issue of CDL, the minister for Natural Resources likes to get cute and say we will roll it back and get rid of it. We will not get rid of it, but we would like to see a better model that did not have such a financial impact on Territorians’ bottom lines. How can you pay $10 extra to get $2.40 back?
Madam Speaker, I will leave it there. I move that motion that this parliament does recognise the Labor government’s failures. I certainly recognise those failures. I know my side of the Chamber recognises those failures when it comes to the Territory economy in the regions. I encourage the minister, on a final note, to have a chat to her colleagues. This is about the economy of the Territory. I ask her, with good grace, to try to get her government, and maybe the Chief Minister or the Treasurer, the Deputy Chief Minister, to try to bring forward some economic solutions for Alice Springs. The $1.4m tourism campaign ain’t going to work in the short term. We need something done sooner, rather than later.
Motion negatived.
MOTION
Bagot Community – Crime and Antisocial Behaviour
Bagot Community – Crime and Antisocial Behaviour
Mr TOLLNER (Fong Lim): Madam Speaker, I move –
- That this Assembly condemns the Henderson Labor government for its failure to:
- (a) control crime, antisocial behaviour, and the consumption of alcohol inside the Bagot Community;
(b) deliver on their election commitment to construct and man a police post within the Bagot Community; and
(c) deliver any meaningful plan to address the atrocious living conditions endured by the people living in the Bagot Community.
I know this government likes to talk up how good they are to Aboriginal people, how much they care about them. In fact, at the last election campaign what was going to happen with the Bagot community was a hot topic in the Fong Lim electorate. Government made all sorts of wonderful promises. On 7 August 2008, the Labor Party issued a media release with the headline ‘Greening the Territory, Improving our Lifestyle’. On the second page of that media release it said:
- Mr Henderson said his government will continue its commitment to improving the Territory’s urban centres.
In inverted commas it gave comments from the Chief Minister:
- ‘We will invest $6.7m to improve facilities at the Bagot community, including fencing kerbing, guttering and street lights’, he said.
‘$2.7m of the funding will see the establishment of a permanent police post from 2009-10 in the community, with four additional officers and two auxiliaries to be recruited for those positions.
The post will be staffed around hot spot times, as determined by police.
Bagot community is in the heart of our city - we must continue to improve its services and infrastructure so Bagot residents and its neighbours enjoy a better quality of life’.
Fine words in a media release. As I said, it was a hot topic in the election campaign because on the same day on the ABC news, Matthew Bonson, who was the former member for Millner and Labor’s candidate for the new seat of Fong Lim, said his party would build a $4.5m police shopfront in the Bagot community as well as improve drug and rehabilitation services if they retained office. Goodness me, they have retained office. The Chief Minister said they were going to spend $2.7m funding the establishment of a permanent police post from 2009-10. Matthew Bonson said the government would spend $4.5m on a police shopfront in the Bagot community.
Whether it is $2.7m or $4.5m is a moot point because, when you drive past or go into the Bagot community - it is now 2012, not 2009-10 - you can look very hard but I would be surprised if anyone going into that community can find a police post with four police officers and two auxiliaries working from it. The fact is, it does not exist. This is a clear broken election commitment by this Labor government. That stinks because the people at Bagot and around Bagot community deserve better.
As the Chief Minister said on 7 August 2008:
- Bagot community is in the heart of our city - we must continue to improve its services and infrastructure so Bagot residents and its neighbours enjoy a better quality of life.
I do not think a hell of a lot has changed since 7 August 2008 for the people in Bagot, or its neighbours around Bagot. I do not think a hell of a lot has changed at all. I can tell you as a fact, as the local member, calls to my office have not reduced at all from people living around the Bagot community.
When I talk to people inside the Bagot community, their concerns in the main are about blow-ins from out of town turning up, disrupting their lifestyle, getting drunk, bashing people, and carrying on with all the antisocial behaviour that you read about in newspapers and see on television news. It is an appalling situation. It seems to me the government has just turned a blind eye on Bagot. They will say one thing to them come election time and, then, once they are elected, completely ignore them. They give them nothing. I guarantee you, in a few months time, we will have a Labor candidate out there making all sorts of promises to them, telling them what a racist bunch the Country Liberals are, and how we do not look after the people of Bagot, you cannot trust us. But they will be out there making all these flash election commitments and trying to paper over the fact that this government has done absolutely nothing to build a police post and have it manned by police officers.
This is, fundamentally, a law and order issue. I am wondering whether the Police minister will be good enough to grace us with his presence and explain exactly why this Labor government has not honoured its election commitment of 2008; why they feel it is okay to ignore the residents of Bagot when it comes to providing the rule of law for people who live within that community, and why he thinks it is okay for people who live around that community to have to put up with loud music, screaming, carrying on every night, with rubbish blowing through the fences? Why does the Chief Minister think that is okay and he can just break this election commitment?
That is what this motion is about, Madam Speaker. I am very keen to hear the answers. I believe the people of Bagot deserve better. In actual fact, I am on the record as saying they should be able to have private home ownership. They should be able to enjoy the services that you would in any normal suburb. That is my view. It is interesting to see how my political opponents, over the years, have twisted that to suggest somehow that we are going to try to steal their land. I cannot understand the logic of that ...
Mr Elferink: They will say anything to be elected.
Mr TOLLNER: Yes, that is right, member for Port Darwin, they will do ...
Mr Elferink: Today we had the Health minister telling us that we had never provided any form of health ...
Mr TOLLNER: They will do and say anything to get elected. This is a perfect example of a Police minister - same one in 2008 we have now, the Chief Minister - who will do and say anything to get himself back into government, but will not act on some of the promises he makes because, quite frankly, he could not give two hoots about the people who live on the Bagot community and their desires for the rule of law to apply inside the gates, the same way it does outside the gates of the Bagot community.
Madam Speaker, I will sit here, I am all ears, waiting for the Police minister to stand here and vindicate himself as to why nothing has occurred in Bagot ...
Mr Elferink: It is the Education minister.
Mr TOLLNER: Oh, the Education minister!
Dr BURNS (Education and Training): I have spent a fair amount of time at Bagot over the years and I do know a little about it. It is an important issue.
Madam Speaker, it was interesting listening to the language of the member for Fong Lim, when he kept on saying inside Bagot; in Bagot. So, there is in and out. It is very interesting language. If he was talking about Shiers Street or Hudson Fysh, he would say ‘at Hudson Fysh’. I went to Hudson Fysh, not in Hudson Fysh. His language really belies an attitude, which is a very unfortunate attitude. It is an attitude that ...
Mr TOLLNER: A point of order, Madam Speaker! For the minister’s sake, Bagot is a community; Hudson Fysh is a block of units. There is a subtle difference, minister.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Fong Lim, it is not a point of order.
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! That is not a point of order. Member for Fong Lim, you do not have to call.
Dr BURNS: I go to Bagot when I go there.
Mr Tollner: Yes, so do I.
Madam SPEAKER: Minister, can you direct your comments through the Chair, please?
Dr BURNS: I am not in Bagot.
Mr Tollner: You are inside the Bagot community.
Dr BURNS: I go to Bagot.
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Minister, please direct your comments through the Chair. There is too much disorderliness over here, please.
Dr BURNS: All right, Madam Speaker. However, it is interesting. I am not pointing a finger at the member for Fong Lim, but it is a very common attitude in relation to the Bagot community; that it is some type of island that is not part of the wider Darwin community - when it is in every way; socially, sporting, and in relationships also.
It was also interesting to listen to the member for Fong Lim during his offering in this important debate that he did not mention once the master plan developed by the people of Bagot themselves in collaboration with Yilli Rreung. I am unsure whether the member for Fong Lim has availed himself of the opportunity to meet with Yilli Rreung, particularly Mr Colin Tidswell, who I have known for a long time in a professional way. I have a great deal of respect for Colin and the way he operates. He has worked in a number of places all around the Territory, in remote areas of the Territory. I have seen him achieve fantastic things in remote communities, particularly in local government. He is someone I respect a great deal.
Colin, along with people from the University of Melbourne, has developed a master plan for Bagot in relation to future developments at Bagot. All of us should be taking note of what the people of Bagot are expressing through this process. It was disappointing that the member for Fong Lim did not mention this. I am unsure if he has met with Colin, who has some great ideas, great concepts, and some great directions, not only in relation to the Bagot community, but for other locations in and around Darwin. I met with Colin, I met with members of the board, I met with staff at Yilli Rreung on the block of land that used to be owned by government and is now occupied by Yilli Rreung. They have some very interesting accommodation past Marrara along Boulter Road or thereabouts. It is very important that people - and I commend any member to go out there and listen to what they are doing and see the good work they are doing.
To say government has done nothing in Bagot is really not true. As I said in the last debate on this issue, we have funded: fencing of 38 residential houses; numbering and water meters for 56 residential houses; improvements to the sport and recreation facilities which were really fundamental to the Bagot community; improvements to community infrastructure like ablution blocks; reroofing the community hall; improving disabled access to community access; numbering of houses and mail services to individual houses; and improvements to internal roads.
In relation to community safety, we have also been working on supporting community leaders and their initiatives. As I said in an earlier debate, Bagot is a very complex place. The member for Fong Lim - I do not have the picture with me this time; I flashed it around last time of he and Mr Brough during the election in 2007. I do not know how it happened, but an apparition of the good Lord Jesus appeared behind minister Brough as if he was some very special saviour. He was making an announcement that he was going to turn Bagot into a suburb of Darwin. Whilst there might have been some people in the Bagot community on that day, at that time, who might have supported that particular initiative or suggestion, it would be fair to say, given the dynamics of Bagot, there would probably be an equal number, if not a greater number, of people who would be opposed to that. There would be many people floating in between and, possibly, some of the most ardent advocates who were standing next to minister Brough on the day might have had a different view the day after. That is not to say that people are mercurial; I am just saying it is intense and volatile there. People have views, people change their views and, basically, one of the challenges regarding Bagot is to find those people who can speak with some authority in that particular community.
I trust what has been done here for a master plan for Bagot. I suppose there are suspicions. I am not accusing the member for Fong Lim of wanting to sell off their land, but there would be deep suspicions within Bagot about any move to push them to one corner of the block and have some housing development on the other three-quarters or half of the block. I do not think that is the way to go. Reading this plan of the community, I believe they have something different in mind.
It is a complex issue. There are other complex issues we have to deal with in this area - I suppose Knuckeys Lagoon is one, and One Mile Dam is another one, where there are complex interrelationships between the residents of One Mile Dam. There are issues related to the Aboriginal Development Foundation. Most of us here know Mr Bernie Valadian - I have known Bernie and his sister, Margaret, for many years - and also the Larrakia. If ever there is a complex and dynamic interrelationship, it is that one in relation to One Mile Dam. I have gone there and met with Mr David Timber, who I respect, who puts forward a certain view. However, you will not hear that view echoed by the Larrakia. Then, there is another development with the Aboriginal Development Foundation and another overlay through Yilli Rreung. We are looking at very complex issues here, notwithstanding the land tenure issues.
I have looked into this fairly deeply. I remember Jack Ah Kit, when he was Minister for Local Government, also looked into this very closely. I can tell you that legal advice was sought on this, and it is a very complex legal situation, as well, regarding the lease holders and all those interrelationships. What we have to do is try to negotiate our way through - not based on personalities - to get the best outcome. That is certainly what this government is doing.
I am also advised - and I have to say I have not spoken to the Bagot community directly about this myself – that there was some divergence of opinion regarding a police post for Bagot. There were views put forward by quite a number of people on Bagot community that they would really prefer a Night Patrol model for Bagot, with close interaction with police.
You can stand up here and say this is set in stone, but I have been around long enough to know it is a very complex situation we are dealing with. We have been trying to improve infrastructure and community safety, recreational facilities, and street lighting - all demonstrating our commitment and support for the community of Bagot.
We know alcohol is a cause of violent crime and, over the years, there have been many visitors to Bagot and alcohol is a major problem. That is why, member for Fong Lim, as a government, we introduced very strong alcohol measures, the Banned Drinker Register and all the other suite of changes we have introduced within the Northern Territory, all aimed at improving this issue of drunkenness and antisocial behaviour, not only at places like Bagot but also at places like the shopping centre where my office is. I have said before, I certainly have noticed positive changes in relation to that. There has been a decrease in activity. I am not saying it is perfect there, but there has been an improvement. I am looking for further improvement as our Banned Drinker Register and the tribunals we have set up are going to become more active and have more effect.
As we know and as the Chief Minister said, the CLP wants to turn the taps on again, open the rivers of grog, and has a plan for some sort of excavation in Katherine where they are going to bulldoze all the drunks in a great big deep hole and let them rot in there. I do not think it is much of a plan on the part of the opposition, but we will let the people decide.
I note with interest that the bookmakers now have the CLP at $1.75 for the next election and Labor at $2.05. I can tell you this little story. When I was a candidate in 2001 they were offering seven to two for a Labor victory - and I took it. I went down to the Sportingbet at the race track and put down my $20. I let Barry Coulter know when I was going to pick up my winnings and Barry congratulated me on my astute punting. Unfortunately, I handed the ticket in and received my $70. What I should have done is framed the ticket. I think the ticket was worth more than $70 in a frame. I would not take too much consolation in that - fair enough, you are ahead. It is probably not a bad estimation, $1.75 for you and $2.05 for us. I think it is a great deal closer than that ...
Mr ELFERINK: A point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker! Whilst I would never seek to discourage the minister from waxing lyrical, the rules of this House require a certain tangible element of relevance to exist in the minister’s contribution. We are often pulled up on this side of the House for …
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: Thank you, member for Port Darwin, I get the message. Minister, I ask you to come back to the subject please.
Dr BURNS: It is a relevant point of order by the member for Port Darwin. I did digress.
I am back to a very important discussion about Bagot, and will close by saying I suggest and encourage the member for Fong Lim to have a discussion with Col Tidswell and the Bagot community. You might want to meet with them together and have a joint meeting about this vision for the Bagot community. I think it is great. I encourage him to become involved in it. It is a positive thing; it is a real starting point. We will leave the former history of Mal Brough. We need to have a starting point, and this is a great one. We have someone there in Col Tidswell and Yilli Rreung who are going to constructively engage with Bagot, and we should be using that goodwill and experience.
Madam Deputy Speaker, government will have ongoing support for the Bagot community. We will listen to the Bagot community, and work with them to make it a safer, better place for their kids and grandkids.
Mr ELFERINK (Port Darwin): Madam Deputy Speaker, I want to, very briefly, make a few comments about the Leader of Government Business’s contribution. It is quite a serious response that I want to make about his opening comments about living in, or at, or going to the place. What the minister was suggesting was that the words used by the member for Fong Lim implied some sort of separation - apartheid for lack of a better word. That is true because that is exactly what is at play here. You cannot go around and identify a class of people and say Aboriginal people, and enshrine that concept into things like the Aboriginal Land Rights Act and make it the law of this nation - enshrine that concept into policies such as ‘we will employ 10% of Aboriginal people’, then say it is shocking that we talk about people because they are classified as something different. It is nonsense.
This is the thing that I have been railing against since Day 1 of walking into this House. Unfortunately, even I have to use the language of difference because it is just so commonly the vernacular in this place, it is engrained in our thinking; that the entrenched racism of that language is always there, because we have to use it, because we identify a class of people because they are black, or they have some sort of heritage that goes back to Aboriginal people, the original owners of this country.
I am getting wholly and solely sick of it. I find it astonishing that the minister will say: ‘Oh, well, there is this underlying undercurrent in the words that the member used; that they are somehow separate or different’. My word, they are separate or different because we do so - you do so -- as an act of policy and as an act of law. That is the yardstick you introduced! So, do not lecture the member for Fong Lim about whether he used conjunctives like ‘at’ or ‘in’ when, in fact, it is at the heart of your policy substance that that separation occurs. That is the part that irritates me about that response from the government in relation to this issue.
What the member for Fong Lim is arguing for is abating that effect, normalising these people into our communities, and not treating them like some sort of museum exhibit where we press our nose up to the glass and say: ‘Oh, look, Aboriginal people’. For goodness sakes! When are we going to shake that mentality? It just gives me the right royal willies when there is an opportunity from the members of government to, for one second, lay the charge of some sort of implied racism at the feet of the member for Fong Lim when, in fact, all he has done is, in a very minor way, classified the people by your measure, as being set apart.
I am sick of them being set apart, because it does them no good whatsoever. If you want to have a political system based on looking after the downtrodden, then stop identifying people by classifications like Aboriginal, because not all Aboriginal people are downtrodden. There are several people who work in this room who would be classified as Aboriginal who I would not call downtrodden - they are on about $180 000 a year. They are not downtrodden so they do not deserve to be classified in that fashion. Why do you not start making policies that classify people as downtrodden, and we will then look after the people who are downtrodden, despite the colour of their skin. There’s a thought! This particular approach by the Leader of Government Business belies the fact that he is prepared to, even at the slightest indication of a use of a word, imply there is some secret or underlying racism in the member for Fong Lim’s contribution. Yet, he thrives, lives, and breathes this stuff on a daily basis.
If we go back to Question Time today, how often did he say ‘Aboriginal education’? What? White kids are not doing badly in some other mainstream schools? Why do we not target school education policies of kids who are not performing, rather than Aboriginal kids in remote communities? For God’s sakes, do not play these silly games and grow up ...
Dr BURNS: A point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker! There was no implied racism to the member for Fong Lim.
Mr Elferink: But why did you even mention it?
Dr BURNS: I was merely making a reference to institutionalisation - in gaol, in hospital, in Bagot.
Mr Elferink: And by race!
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! Leader of Government Business, there is no point of order, but should you wish to make a personal explanation, you can approach the Speaker later to do that.
Mr Tollner: I am just wondering whether the …
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: Are there any further speakers?
Mr Tollner: Will the Police minister speak?
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: Are there any further speakers? Member for Fong Lim in closing debate.
Mr TOLLNER (Fong Lim): Madam Deputy Speaker, I actually thought the Police minister might front for this. I do feel sorry for the Leader of Government Business. Clearly, he is out of his depth on this issue. The motion, to remind the minister, was about honouring an election commitment to build a police post. He seemed to talk about a whole range of other things. However, I thank him for his contribution. I will get on to that in a minute.
I thank the member for Port Darwin; that was a very eloquent piece. I could not have said it better. It is one of those things which wholly upsets me; that people are treated as different through legislation and our own talk. I do not believe it is right either, but that is another topic.
Responding to the minister’s contribution, he made much about Colin Tidswell of Yilli Rreung, and what he is doing. The minister is aware he mentioned Colin Tidswell to me some time ago; said he was running Yilli Rreung and that I should have a chat to him. I did that. I agree with him, Colin Tidswell is a great bloke. He seemed like a nice fellow, and I have nothing but good things to say about what he is trying to do at Yilli Rreung. I visited the place the minister referred to on Batton Road, the old Summer Institute of Linguistics site. There is no doubt about it, Colin Tidswell and Yilli Rreung have done a fantastic job in providing accommodation services to, in the main, Indigenous people - but not only Indigenous people, a whole range of people who are living out there. I have no complaints about that.
I spoke to Colin Tidswell about our plans for the Bagot community. I have to admit, I have not seen the drawings or the plans they have come up with, but I told Colin Tidswell there was no point showing it to me because it is past high time for some action at Bagot. This whole idea of treating them separately - that they do not live in a normal suburb - I find completely abhorrent. Whatever they come up with, if they want to be treated separately it is not going to happen if I have any say in it in a new government. I tell you right here and now - and you can run out there and tell as many other people - if we are in government at the next term and I have any say in the matter whatsoever, I will be doing my utmost to see what is now the Bagot community is transformed into a new and beautiful suburb and the people currently living there are offered private home ownership opportunities where they can live in a normal community. That is what most people would want.
If they do not want to do that, they can continue living in the houses they are currently in but they will be paying rent to Territory Housing at the normal Territory Housing rate. If they want to move to another Aboriginal community somewhere else, they are at their liberty to do that. The fact is, I am going to do my utmost to ensure what is now the Bagot community is turned into a normal suburb and people have access to all the services they would expect in any other normal suburb.
The minister spoke about complex issues. I cannot understand what he is talking about. He said there are complex issues. He said the land tenure is complex. He said the government had legal advice. It is a special purpose lease, for goodness sake! I cannot understand what is so complex. It was not too complex when the previous Chief Minister decided to run a bulldozer through the Arafura Bowls Club and turn it into a block of units. That did not seem too complex. Perhaps the member for Fannie Bay can explain how that complex special purpose lease was ploughed in, in Fannie Bay and Parap. It was the same type of lease that applies to Bagot. It is a special purpose lease. Ultimately, government controls that. If those people are in breach of that lease, government can move on it. I suggest there are probably not too many special purpose leases of Indigenous communities where they are not actually in breach of the lease conditions. Given that, what is complex?
On the issue of policing, I am extraordinarily disappointed that the Chief Minister is not man enough to stand up and explain why he is breaking an election commitment. Why is this man so spineless that he cannot come into this Chamber and explain to the people of the Northern Territory why he is breaking an election commitment? He commitment $2.7m to a police post in the Bagot Community being built and posted by four policemen and two auxiliaries by 2009-10. Well, we are now in 2012; there is no police post, there is not even a hope, and the best the Leader for Government Business can come up with is: ‘I do not know really what it is, but I think there is a divergence of views on police by the people inside Bagot’. Goodness me! What sort of a defence is that? ‘I think there is a divergence of views on police’ were his words. Goodness me! That is an excuse not to honour a $2.7m election commitment to allow police to have a post inside Bagot? It is just wrong. As I said, I feel for the Leader of Government Business having to defend this lack of action by government in a community which they say they care about.
As I said to Colin Tidswell, he is wasting his breathe if he is trying to convince me that Bagot should not become a normal suburb. He seemed to suggest to me that would create a massive electoral backlash. The fact is I am ready for it. I am ready for it because I can tell you right now that the majority of people inside Bagot community have had enough. The people who live around Bagot community have had enough. They are sick to death of itinerants turning up in their community drunk, being violent, swearing, and screaming at all hours of the night. They have just had enough. If people want to make it a fight in Fong Lim over that issue, well, bring it on at the next election. I am keen.
Minister, I am glad you are back and listening, because I can tell you I met with Colin Tidswell. He is a top bloke, he is going a fantastic job, but he has not convinced me at all that we should change our plans on what to do with Bagot. I am wholly disappointed that government has not met its election commitments. They run around skiting, saying: ‘We are doing this, and we are doing that. We care for Aboriginal people’. However, when it actually comes to a community right smack bang in the middle of the capital city, what have they done? The minister said: ‘We have spent $4.5m on fences, numbering houses …’ - goodness me, I do not even know whether they get a postal service in there; they certainly do not get any municipal services. Their rubbish is not collected; that is something they have to organise themselves.
Evidently they have spent $4.5m there - it is a bit hard to see where. I said to someone out there just the other day: ‘Governments said they have spent $4.5m in here’. They were looking around and saying: ‘You are kidding me. Where? Where did they spend it?’ I said: ‘Evidently it has been spent - $4.5m they have spent in this community’. Goodness me, maybe $4.5m does not go too far these days. If the minister for Housing says they have spent $4.5m, I believe he is a decent man and would not make that sort of stuff up. He, obviously, is not getting much bang for his buck if that is the case, though, because it is pretty average. I feel concerned for the people in Bagot because, based on the output they are getting for their money, you could drop $200m in there and you would be lucky to see any change at all.
I am very disappointed in this government. I am particularly disappointed in the Chief Minister, the spineless Police minister who cannot even come in here and respond to this motion and explain why he is not honouring an election commitment. It is all too late now. You cannot even say that you will get it done by the end of the term.
Madam Deputy Speaker, we are now in February. To get it done in the next six months - spend $2.7m building a police post and staffing it with four officers - is a job even the good Lord would have difficulty delivering at this stage of the term. I hope the Chamber joins with me. I am aware our side of the House does not have the numbers in this place. I implore members on the other side, who say they care about Indigenous communities, who have a skerrick of morality about them, and who feel aggrieved that their own government is not honouring the commitments they made. I look at the member for Barkly. I know how disappointed he would be if he made commitments during an election campaign which were reneged on. The members for Casuarina, Daly and Fannie Bay would not tolerate it, and I know the Leader of Government Business is quite a tough nut under that happy-go-lucky exterior, and would not tolerate the reneging of election commitments in his electorate.
I do not know why the people of Bagot should have to tolerate it as well, and I am so disappointed that the Chief Minister is not here to explain it.
The Assembly divided.
Ayes 11 Noes 11
Ms Anderson Mrs Aagaard
Mr Bohlin Dr Burns
Mr Conlan Mr Gunner
Mr Elferink Mr Hampton
Mr Giles Mr Henderson
Mrs Lambley Mr Knight
Mr Mills Mr McCarthy
Ms Purick Ms McCarthy
Mr Styles Ms Scrymgour
Mr Tollner Mr Vatskalis
Mr Westra van Holthe Ms Walker
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: Honourable members, there being an equality of votes, pursuant to section 27(1) of the Northern Territory (Self-Government) Act, the question is found in the negative.
Motion negatived.
MOTION POSTPONED
Resources for Mental Health
Ms PURICK (Goyder): Madam Deputy Speaker, I gave notice of the following motion:
- That the Northern Territory government be condemned for its lack of resources and priority to mental healthcare across the Territory with reference to the following:
Madam Deputy Speaker, I was prepared to talk on this motion because I believe the subject is very important and goes across the whole of our community, urban as well as remote. However, I believe that, because of my role and involvement with the Select Committee on Youth Suicide, I possibly have a conflict of interest. The committee has not finished its deliberations and the report has not been delivered to parliament. Therefore, I am concerned that some of the things I was going to talk about may preempt, or be in conflict with, what may come out of that report. Therefore I will not talk to this motion at this point in time and will possibly move this notice of motion in the House at a later stage.
Madam Deputy Speaker, I move - that consideration of the notice of motion be postponed until a later hour.
Motion agreed to.
MOTION
Casuarina Shopping Square – Crime and Antisocial Behaviour
Casuarina Shopping Square – Crime and Antisocial Behaviour
Mr STYLES (Sanderson): Madam Deputy Speaker, I move –
- That the Northern Territory government be condemned for its failure to address crime and antisocial behaviour at Casuarina shopping centre and its failures to provide a safe environment for Territorians who wish to go shopping at Casuarina shopping centre.
Casuarina Square is a large shopping centre located in the northern suburbs of Darwin. If you look at the shopping centre and the environs next door, on a common fence line is, basically, the Casuarina Village area, across the road on the other side of Trower Road you have Casuarina Plaza, and in the mix of all that you have the Casuarina Bus Interchange.
The buses are an issue, apart from the timetable of the buses that come and go and allow for large numbers of young people and various people to be sitting around the interchange waiting for buses and connecting with other buses to go to the hospital, to town, and back around the northern suburbs. It gives people time to get up to mischief. In some cases, in the afternoon there are young people coming in from schools, all changing buses, and it gets to be a little chaotic from time to time.
I have been talking to a number of people recently who go to Casuarina Square, and they were expressing concerns. It is elderly women especially who go across to Casuarina Square. They try to use the ATMs. There are groups of people loitering around in the underground car parks close to where the taxi rank is, watching who goes to the ATMs. This may or may not be true, but the perception by the people who use the facility is that these people are casing potential victims. They watch them get into taxis and watch them go to cars. They follow them home and realise the person may be cashed up and, therefore, later in the night, break in. There are elderly people out there - and, again I reiterate for the government’s sake - elderly women who are frightened to go to some of these places.
The government will say all types of things. There is a shopfront there and a whole range of things have been done. People should feel safe because we have people in shopfronts and many police officers around the place. The trouble is, as I expressed in this House last evening, police officers are tied up with a whole range of other things and cannot necessarily be everywhere at once.
It is about the perception. If the government would like to say: ‘You have it wrong, member for Sanderson, it is a great place’ - it is a great place to go and I do much of my shopping out there. It is a great place. However, I am probably in a slightly different category from the people who are talking to me about antisocial behaviour and crime. If the government is doing such a good job, it seems to be failing in allowing the public to understand what a great job it is doing. They need to either fix the problem or at least tell people what government is doing.
There are many people out there who are concerned about things that are occurring. For instance, pensioners travelling on buses - we have transit officers. I know one gentleman who travels on the bus daily and has done a time and motion study in relation to transit officers. He is a pensioner and does not drive. He has kept a log on what is happening on the buses. He says people get on the buses and behave badly and abuse people. Many are under the influence of alcohol, and he says that the poor old bus drivers appear to be unable to control these people. If they try to do it, the bus drivers are subjected to abuse, etcetera. I do not know whether we see, on a regular basis through the courts, that these people are charged with disorderly behaviour. These are some of the issues occurring on buses.
The other issue is people shopping at Coles and Woolworths there. They are pushing shopping trolleys out in the evening because they work during the day. They are being humbugged by people who want to get a portion of the alcohol they may have purchased. They are going to cars and the lighting at Casuarina Square is reasonable, but there are areas where it is dark and a little isolated. You have people going out there who are concerned for their personal safety, and that of young children who may be travelling with them. They are getting harassed and humbugged.
Again, where is the government’s initiative in relation to having police out there? It appears, when you look at the police statistics, there are many other things happening out and about. It is, obviously, behoving of the Police Commissioner to do something to pull issues back down to some form of normality.
I was recently at Casuarina Square and some of the surrounds going through talking to the business owners in relation to their turnover. Although I did not ask for dollar figures, I was asking for percentages. Some of these businesses are anything up to 35% down on trading. They put that down to a number of things. One is people are doing it pretty tough out there and disposable income is just not what it was; house rents and payments, the cost of housing and servicing of loans has gone up. They tell me that when they talk to people, that lack of disposable income due to cost of living and housing pressures has reduced the amount of money they have to spend in places that are located in Casuarina Square.
The other aspect of this is there are people who choose not to go to Casuarina Square now, or at least do not go there on a regular basis, therefore, the contact with businesses in and around Casuarina Square have been reduced.
Kids are coming and going because, obviously, Casuarina Square is a magnet for many young people who are a bit bored and do not have a lot to do. There is an increasing amount of graffiti in the northern suburbs and on the avenues young people are using to get to and from Casuarina Square. The well-publicised graffiti hot line the government put out some good media releases on a number of years ago, was going along quite nicely. We note it is not being monitored anymore. So, that is something government did and, suddenly, it just disappeared.
The movie theatre that is located at Casuarina Square. Late at night, there are still issues about the safety of people when they leave the late viewings at Casuarina Square. People have asked me to raise this with the government, via this House.
Consumption of alcohol is still a problem in and around Casuarina Square. There is still an issue regarding the car park between Trower Road and Big W. It appears the Banned Drinker Register still has not got rid of many of those people who are causing problems there. I heard the Chief Minister quote figures today that all this stuff is down 20%. Well, that certainly is not getting out there amongst the people who …
Mr Giles: There are wine clubs now.
Mr STYLES: That is true, but you still have people out there consuming alcohol. If they are on the Banned Drinker Register, creating all health issues for themselves. I am told they just moved to not only mouth wash and products like Listerine, but to liquid soap and shampoo. Apparently there are ingredients in those which give them some sort of a high. I cannot understand why one would want to drink shampoo.
The issue of police numbers and response times I covered last night, and I am not going to go through that again and take up any more time of this House. I just ask the government to appreciate that what they are doing out there does not appear to be working. They will say that figures are showing this and that, but what we still have is a large number of people complaining about the lack of law and order in and around Casuarina Square, and the situation where they are concerned about their welfare and safety going to and from Casuarina Square at various times of a 24-hour period.
Madam Deputy Speaker, I ask the government to encourage Casuarina Square - or in conjunction with Casuarina Square, Casuarina Village and Casuarina Plaza - to do a survey of shoppers to find out what they really think and what they are doing. That would be, hopefully, done by some independent group of people – it could be university students doing some sort of project - so we get some independent figure as to what is actually going on out there, and get a real picture of the fears and concerns of the people who are talking to me. They could talk to them and bring it back into this House.
Mr KNIGHT (Justice and Attorney-General): Madam Deputy Speaker, I provide a response to the GBD item from the member for Sanderson. It is all doom and gloom from the member for Sanderson; it is all that the world is such a bad place and ...
Mr Styles: You did not even listen to what I said. Pay attention.
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order!
Mr KNIGHT: I know things are not that bad. We need a member for Sanderson who is bright and bubbly and can provide some positive enthusiasm. However, from the member for Sanderson, it is always: ‘Oh, this person came into my electorate office and he said it was all bad’ - all unnamed, all unidentified: ‘Oh, this person, and all these things happening’. It is all bad, all doom and gloom - poor old, sad sack over there. Sad Sack from Sanderson - that is what he should be called.
I digress, Madam Deputy Speaker. We are talking about alleged high rates of antisocial behaviour and violence around the Casuarina shopping centre. I congratulate the complex management, security, and all the agencies which monitor the behaviour of the public in those areas for the work that goes on at the Casuarina shopping centre.
In addition to our tough new drinking laws, this government has rebuilt the police force. Over the years of the CLP, they ran it into the ground …
Ms Purick: Oh, we did not!
Mr KNIGHT: I will give you some data about that, member for Goyder: a three-year freeze on recruitment - how can you freeze recruitment for three years while you are losing officers and …
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr KNIGHT: Freezing recruitment for three years. In the Territory, we have twice as many police officers per capita than anywhere else in Australia. As of 22 January this year we had nearly 1400 police officers compared to 900 in 2003. So, there is roughly 400 more police officers. If the CLP was still in government we would have a third less police officers. Somehow, a third less police officers is going to fix your crime rates? That is what you will have under a CLP government; you are going to have a smaller police force to improve crime and antisocial behaviour somehow.
One of the initiatives we have put in place at Casuarina has been our Police Beat. The Leader of the Opposition wants to close these down - it is on the record. However, I know in my conversations at Casuarina with the business owners and the complex management, they are delighted with the work the Police Beat does. It is their face, there are officers moving around. In my personal time there, I see police moving around and the people in that complex are very aware of it. The trade has knowledge of the positive impact the Police Beat has had in addressing crime and antisocial behaviour in the complex. Officers from the Police Beat also work with the social order and general duties patrols to provide dedicated patrols throughout the shopping precinct.
It has been further expanded through the enrolment of the Casuarina police across the road and the transit safety officers, another initiative of this government. This includes the information sharing and targeting of the known antisocial behaviour hot spots in the area. They have certainly seen some positive results at Casuarina thanks to those increased police numbers and the Police Beat. I congratulate those officers. The complementary initiatives in the Darwin region include the use of Night Patrols - moving people on if they are causing problems and creating an interagency tasking and coordination group which acts as a collective problem solving forum with a focus on antisocial behaviour and public safety issues. There has also been the creation of a community safety working group which meets to address a range of justice, social, welfare and community safety issues.
The creation of a first response patrol - these are great. The Territory Housing compliance officers are doing their work around the housing complexes. I mentioned the transit officers. There are also the truancy officers working with those young people the Sad Sack from Sanderson seems to dislike so much. I do not know how he lasted so long in his role as a school-based constable. The public housing safety officers are also doing excellent work. All of these targeted groups are clamping down on crime and antisocial behaviour and it is providing dividends. The police statistics show that crime and antisocial behaviour has decreased by 56% from 2008 to 2011. The statistics show, with these extra police and all these other transit officers, safety officers, and Police Beats, they are driving down crime and antisocial behaviour. Total offences against the person fell by 30%, assault offences dropped by 33% ...
Mr Giles: So you say.
Mr KNIGHT: It is true, member for Braitling, that property offences ...
Mr Giles: You will not release crime figures, will you?
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order!
Mr KNIGHT: Property offences fell by 8%, property damage offences fell by 42%, commercial break-in offences dropped by 50%. So they are real results from ...
Mr Giles: Go and tell them that. Tell the business owners and property owners that have been suffering and ...
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! Member for Braitling!
Mr KNIGHT: Madam Deputy Speaker, we had fewer police out there under the CLP and crime was skyrocketing out of control. We have brought that crime rate down ...
Mr Giles: Just make it up, if you like.
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order!
Mr KNIGHT: ... by getting police out there. We know what the CLP’s ...
Mr Giles: Cannot have any agreement with the truth ...
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order!
Mr KNIGHT: ... answer to their initiative is to cut the public service. Police officers would be front and centre to get back to the levels the opposition thinks it should be, which is 400 police officers less. Many of these issues the member for Sanderson talked about are alcohol-related, but he does not seem to accept the correlation between alcohol and crime. He does not see the link ...
Mr Westra van Holthe interjecting.
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! Member for Katherine!
Mr KNIGHT: He is on the public record as saying that he does not see a link between alcohol and crime. I really cannot fathom that. Any right-minded person would know that happens ...
Mr Giles: Does that mean every time you have a drink you commit a crime?
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order!
Mr KNIGHT: Our own statistics show that 60% of all crimes are all alcohol-related. We know this is our biggest challenge in the Northern Territory, and that is why we introduced the Banned Drinker Register - 2000 people prevented from buying alcohol at takeaway outlets in the Northern Territory. That is curbing their behaviour ...
Mr Giles: They break in and steal it.
Mr KNIGHT: Yes, member for Braitling, they are cunning people, but this is making it difficult for them - 2000 people prevented each day from having that, prevented from doing that ...
Members interjecting.
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order!
Mr KNIGHT: ... and the solution. The member for Katherine, old Arthur Daly over here, he wants to, basically, get rid of the Banned Drinker Register – get those 2000 people straight to the bottle shop. The member for Greatorex wants to open it up at 8 o’clock …
Mr WESTRA van HOLTHE: A point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker! I would like to confirm that we will get rid of the Banned Drinker Register, so you do not have to allude to it. We are going to do it; put in something even better.
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: Resume your seat, member for Katherine. There is no point of order.
Mr KNIGHT: The people of Katherine should know that the member for Katherine wants to give full rein to the several hundred, I am sure, hardened drinkers in Katherine. Down to the bottle-shop they go! Get drunk as you like, out in the streets - that is the member for Katherine’s solution to alcohol problems. The member for Greatorex wants to open them up at 8 o’clock in the morning, get them all drunk to wander the streets - that is his solution. We know this is just an incomprehensible policy position of the CLP, where they are saying pour more grog on it and you will fix it. What ludicrous people over there! Anyone owning up to this one?
Mr Conlan: What one?
Mr KNIGHT: To pouring more grog on the problem. Pour more grog on the problem.
Mr Conlan interjecting.
Mr KNIGHT: Oh, that is yours, member for Greatorex, the ...
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! Order!
Mr KNIGHT: Madam Deputy Speaker, we do not support this motion. We know, in all complexes through Australia, through the world, where you get large congregations of people, especially young people, you get a few incidents. I have been there. There have been a few young people carrying on a bit, but we have the security there. There are police patrols, extra police, truancy officers - there is a whole range of initiatives going on. I congratulate all those services which the member for Sanderson will probably axe, because he reckons takeaway and all those things will solve the problem. Great work from all those services there: the police, businesses, and management of the Casuarina shopping centre precinct.
Mr GILES (Braitling): Madam Deputy Speaker, I start by thanking the member for Sanderson - the very happy man from Sanderson - for bringing this motion on. I was not going to speak, but I thought I should jump in. Living in Alice Springs, you hear information come backwards and forwards and, in our parliamentary role, try to keep abreast of all things from different portfolios. The things we hear about Casuarina all the time are gangs, fights, criminal damage, and criminal behaviour ...
Members interjecting.
Mr GILES: No, this is through the media; this is police responding to the issue in the media. That is all we ever hear about it. I spend much time with my colleague, the member for Sanderson, in the northern suburbs talking to people: constituents, business owners, and people on the street. They all have a fear about Casuarina and the shopping centre. When mums and dads are scared to go to the shopping centre, it is a bad place to be.
You were very excited giving your speech. You must have recently learnt to read; you were very eloquent in the way you spoke from those notes.
The fact remains that we hear in Alice Springs about the crime at Casuarina. That is not coming from our side of parliament, that is coming from public officials - whether it is members of parliament, from government, police, emergency services staff, or otherwise. That is reflected by people on the ground that I, the member for Sanderson, and other members of the CLP speak with when we talk to members of the public. That is a great concern and why this is an important motion to bring forward.
The response is always: ‘We have more police, we have more police’, but it is not solving the problem. We already know Julia Gillard, the Prime Minister of Australia, forced the Northern Territory government into bringing about these alcohol measures, although the Chief Minister was on television today saying: ‘No, no, we did that ourselves; it was all our idea’. There is a competition to say who brought in these punitive approaches.
However, the crime continues. You have tried this culture of cover-up by not releasing the crime statistics. You were so good in Alice Springs you tried to paper over the cracks of the crime of this summer by deciding to get rid of the media unit of Alice Springs police - centralise it, once again, up to Darwin and not issue any media releases ...
Mr Westra van Holthe: Where have I heard that before?
Mr GILES: Member for Katherine, good interjection. You may not know what happened in Alice. They got rid of the police media unit and decided not to issue any media and sat back and said: ‘No crime here; nothing to see’. You could go down to the shops - I gave some illustrations last night ...
Mr Westra van Holthe: Is that a case of hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil?
Mr GILES: That is right. I had to issue a media release saying they are covering up because they got rid of the media office and, all of a sudden, they started trickling out. However, the businesses being broken into and the people being assaulted did not need a media release. They did not need the government to hide to know that crime was a problem, and continues to be a problem.
I thought it was very interesting - and this is the point that made me jump up when the recently literate Attorney-General started talking about youth crimes and just dismissed them. He just brushed them off: ‘Those things happen; they come and go’. It jogged my memory about a statement the Chief Minister made yesterday when I was referring to the appalling response time to the damage and violent crime conducted at the Aurora Hotel in Alice Springs. The Chief Minister said: ‘From time to time, some things are going to go wrong’. I am sure that was verbatim. That is not good enough when you have a lady who could have been murdered after being hit over the head with an iron bar. You are saying: ‘Well, youth crime just happens. It just happens, do not worry about it. Mums and dads do not need to feel safe; they do not need to worry about their kids going down the shops on their own with the potential of being attacked’. That is the situation as it is.
The Chief Minister leads by example: ‘Sometimes, things just go wrong’. What? You mean police not turn up for 40 minutes? That is good enough; just brush it off your shoulders? That is not good enough and is the same approach you have taken.
I spoke earlier tonight about poor leadership by your Chief Minister and your government for the three bush members and how, if they had better leadership, more things would happen in the bush. It is the same with crime. How can you have a Chief Minister say ‘From time to time some things go wrong’ for a 40-minute response time? You still cannot get the response time right at Casuarina, because we know no longer can you call your police station to ask for a response and service. You have to go through the communications centre. I am sure the member for Katherine experiences the same difficulties we experience in Alice Springs, and everyone in the bush experiences. The member for Barkly, if he is talking to his community, they will have to be complaining, because they all complain to me about what happens in Tennant Creek. You cannot call Tennant Creek police – oh, no, you have to go to Darwin.
The reason this is becoming a problem and why crime is continuing is the communications centre in Berrimah is now running an evaluation process about who they will respond to and who they will not respond to. We know they must be responding to the political hot spots for Labor, more importantly than the Country Liberal Party seats. However, that gibe aside, it seems to me the communications centre, under the auspices of the Police minister - who is the Chief Minister - and the Police Commissioner, has moved things to a position of after the fact. Not responding before the crime happens, not while the crime happens, but after the fact.
If you get a break-in now, you cannot get police to turn up until a couple of days, on most occasions, to come and take evidence and fingerprints. The Aurora incident at the hotel was a live issue of which the video footage is now on the Internet on the NT News. I encourage people to look at it to see the four areas of failures - from ABC, from Cordell Jigsaw, from those ladies who committed appalling actions, and from the police for not turning up at all. The same thing happens here in Casuarina. It is not just Casuarina, member for Sanderson; it is all those areas in the northern suburbs.
Do you know how hard it is to get a police response time in Fannie Bay? It is not the police on the ground, it is the systems that have been put in place in the communications centre. It is the way the PROMIS system has to be entered so you cannot have any police available to get out there. These are the problems. This is why, in Fannie Bay and Parap, the crimes are still continuing. This is what the issue is. These are the things which the very articulate member for Sanderson was highlighting in his debate. When we sit in our shadow Cabinet, the voice of the member for Sanderson about the failures about crime and law and order at the Casuarina shopping centre are continual, because he is our flag man in the Northern Territory. He is the person who gets all the issues, who has to deal with all the complaints about this bad Labor government that is not improving ...
Mr Tollner: In the northern suburbs.
Mr GILES: In the northern suburbs. Well, it is across the Territory, member for Fong Lim, but he gets all the northern suburb’s complaints - from the electorates of people who sit opposite who do not speak up.
This is what I was reflecting before when I was engaging across the Chamber with the member for Arnhem, the Minister for Regional Development and Indigenous policy. It is about leadership. It is about leadership and trying to get change in that area, and that is not occurring.
The Attorney-General is not from the northern suburbs or Casuarina. The Police minister did not even stand – not even the local member for Casuarina tried to lay out a platform of how things are being rectified, and what needs to change, and how the police communications centre will be revamped to ensure there are adequate response times to address the crime in Casuarina, and to address what is happening with the gangs that are continuing. Member for Sanderson, I hope, in your wrap-up, you talk more about the gangs which are running around out there.
The member for Sanderson, in this motion, has a great deal of passion from his time spent as a school-based police officer. He had to deal with these things at a local level, with the people who were involved in these local issues. He has seen it grow from the ground up, right up to the top where some of these bad eggs are now participating in the antisocial behaviour that continues to make mums and dads feel unsafe. He is absolutely right in moving this motion to condemn the government for its failure to address crime and antisocial behaviour at Casuarina shopping centre.
The member for Johnston should be embarrassed about the number of people who come through the member for Sanderson’s office complaining about law and order issues - from his area - the same as the members for Nightcliff, Wanguri, and Fannie Bay. They will not stand up here and talk about these issues, but we know that crime is a problem. The member for Fong Lim and I quite often go to the Raging Bull in Parap to get our steak, and the law and order issues in Parap amaze me. I try to speak up on all the issues in my electorate to get change in the area. I have never heard the member for Fannie Bay talk about what he is doing to try to fix law and order issues. You could drive there tonight and there would be problems with law and order, and nothing would happen. He is not dealing with the public housing issues in Fannie Bay - and these are replicated through Casuarina and Johnston. These are the things we need to try to fix.
When it comes to providing a safe environment, we have to remember that as taxpayers, every Territorian deserves an adequate response from police.
Let me reflect on a conversation I had with a young lady by the name of Hope from the Aurora Hotel when I sat down with her on Saturday. She was crying and emotionally distraught. She said - and I will not use the profanity: ‘I am a taxpayer, I pay my taxes. My taxes go to the welfare cheques of the people who beat me up, but my taxes cannot get the police to turn up and protect me’. That is not good enough.
That is the society we live in. That is why mums and dads, teenagers, and kids do not feel safe going to Casuarina shopping centre. That is why I commend the motion the member for Sanderson has put forward tonight because this goes to the heart of the issues in the Northern Territory, which is law and order, Madam Deputy Speaker ...
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: Member for Braitling, it is 9 pm. Under Standing Order 41A we will be going into adjournment debate. You can resume your comments on the next General Business Day.
Debate adjourned.
ADJOURNMENT
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: Honourable members, I propose that the Assembly do now adjourn pursuant to Standing Order 41A(b).
Mr VATSKALIS (Casuarina): Madam Deputy Speaker, I intend today to talk about some of the retirees in my Department of Health but, first, I will make some comments about the crime situation at the Casuarina Shopping Square. There is no crime problem at Casuarina Shopping Square. The only problem is in the mind of the member for Sanderson who has about as much idea about the crime in Casuarina as the member for Fong Lim has about climate change on Triton.
There is a little difference. The member for Sanderson lives about 10 km from Casuarina Square; my electorate office is next to Casuarina Square. I have very good relationships and contacts with the Casuarina Square management and the Casuarina Police Station. I am the first one to receive complaints about problems at Casuarina. Inside Casuarina Square there is a Police Beat - which the opposition has rejected, has opposed, and has said publicly will remove if it comes to government.
The only problem is the CLP is trying to scare people in Darwin, and the Northern Territory, into believing that, somehow, crime is uncontrollable. I went to Casuarina nearly every day last week. I go to Casuarina regularly. I have never had a problem, personally, at Casuarina and I never had someone come to Casuarina telling me about problems.
Yes, there were problems before. I remember very well the Casuarina gangs but, if the members bothered to talk to anyone, apart from amongst themselves, they would find that the crime that they are describing in Casuarina is non-existent. I challenge them to bring statistics here to show there is crime at Casuarina, and I promise to bring back statistics from the police station and the police force in Casuarina which will contradict their allegations.
Stop the beat-up, get a grip on reality, and do not try to scare the people in Darwin and the Northern Territory about crime. There are problems in certain areas, but there are no problems in Casuarina Square.
I would like to speak about the retirement of a number of people from the Department of Health. First, I say thank you to Rosemary Jongue who has retired after more than 25 years of dedicated service at RDH as a hospital services assistant. Ms Jongue officially retired on 24 November 2011.
Ms Lynne Lawrence, a very good friend - we worked together in the Health Department in Casuarina Plaza next to Casuarina Square, and there was no crime problem there either - is retiring after 29 years of dedicated service in the Darwin, Katherine, Tennant Creek and Gove District Hospitals, from her current role as Director of Nursing at Katherine District Hospital. Ms Lawrence has also been involved in coordinating aspects of the 2005 Bali bombing, Timor-Leste evacuations, and the 1998 Katherine flood. Ms Lawrence has commenced leave and will be officially retiring on 30 June 2012.
Betty Clarke has retired after 25 years of dedicated service, with 24 of those years being spent as a nurse in the delivery suite. Ms Clarke is a fellow of the Australian College of Midwives. Ms Clarke has also supported nurses in her work as an Australian Nursing Federation job representative, fighting for rights and better working conditions. Ms Clarke officially retired on 1 February 2012.
Ms Wendy Mann has retired after 25 years of dedicated service, with six being spent in the Department of the Legislative Assembly as an Electorate Officer, and 19 being spent in the Department of Health in Alice Springs. Ms Mann started with the Department of Legislative Assembly on 28 August 1986 and has worked for the Department of Health since 1 February 1993 in Alice Springs.
Ms Margaret McLean is retiring after 30 years of dedicated service from her current position of Area Service Manager in Tennant Creek. Ms McLean has achieved a great deal throughout her career, including being named the Northern Territory Remote Area Nurse of the Year, the Northern Territory National Finalist HESTA Nurse of the Year 2007, and has also been nominated for the Living Legend Awards in the Northern Territory Nurse of the Year Awards 2011. Ms McLean has commenced leave and will officially retire on 29 June 2012.
Ms Vasantharani Rajan has retired after 24 years dedicated service from her current position as a Senior Nurse and Team Leader in the Renal Unit at RDH. Ms Rajan is a highly respected and admired Senior Clinical Nurse who has worked in other clinical units at the hospital. Ms Rajan officially retired on 18 January 2012.
Ms Sue Keith is retiring from the Department of Health after 30 years of service with the Northern Territory government. Ms Keith has worked in a variety of roles, including school secretary at Oenpelli School, financial roles within the Department of Education, and various policy positions with the Department of Health. Ms Keith will officially retire on 17 February 2012.
Ms Kate McTaggart who has already left the department, resigned from the Department of Health after 28 years of service with the Northern Territory government from her current position of Acting Senior Director and Director of People and Organisational Learning. Ms McTaggart started with the Territory government in March 1983 and has held many senior positions. Ms McTaggart believes her greatest career achievement has been bringing together and working with teams of talented and driven people who are willing to learn and work as a team, to bring workforce visions and strategies to life. Ms McTaggart officially resigned on 23 November 2011. I had the pleasure to work with Ms McTaggart in my previous role as the minister for Transport.
It is with much sadness that I advise that Dr Mike Williams, a leading Northern Territory paediatrician, passed away on New Year’s Day 2012 after battling a brain tumour over the past couple of years. Mike graduated from Monash University in Medicine in 1986. In 1993, Mike took up a position as an Advanced Paediatric Registrar at Royal Darwin Hospital. He completed his training in 1994 and began his work as a consultant paediatrician at both the Royal Darwin Hospital and the Darwin Private Hospital. Every month, Mike travelled to Katherine to see children at the Katherine District Hospital, Kintore Clinic, Wurli Wurlinjang, and the communities of Barunga, Beswick, Binjari, Kalkarindji, Lajamanu and Pine Creek.
Mike was awarded an adjunct appointment with the Northern Territory Clinical School of Flinders University soon after it opened. He lectured in general paediatrics, gastroenterology and the use of information technology in medicine. Mike also supported a range of research studies conducted with the Menzies School of Health Research, especially those involving children from the Katherine region.
Mike was diagnosed with a brain tumour in 2009. Showing immense courage in difficult circumstances, Mike continued working between operations and chemotherapy until 2011, and never lost his humour.
The Department of Health is deeply grateful to Mike for his dedication and commitment to the care of Northern Territory children. Many young Territorians are living healthier and happier lives because of his care and dedication. Our thoughts are with Mike’s wife, Jill, and his children.
In January 2012, the National Clinical Care and Trauma Response Centre delivered two days of training at the invitation of the United Nations based in Dili. Forty personnel nominated by the UN took part in the course. They included doctors and nurses from the United Nations, and personnel from the United Nations Emergency Response Team and Fire Service. Other participants included the Portuguese Embassy doctor, the Australian Embassy doctor and a Malaysian Military Medical Officer. The invitation from the UN provided the National Clinical Care and Trauma Response Centre with an excellent opportunity to network with medical staff working in Dili. The United Nations Chief of Mission Support, Mr Amadou Camara, and United Nations Chief of Staff, Mr Toby Lanzer were appreciative of the training opportunities and the ongoing support provided by both the centre and the Royal Darwin Hospital.
In December 2011, I also visited the National Clinical Care and Trauma Response Centre to be introduced to the Sim Family, three highly specialised 3G manikins which have joined the centre to enhance the training opportunities for doctors and nurses in the Northern Territory. The centre, based at Royal Darwin Hospital, is now recognised as the simulation training centre in the Northern Territory. The training equipment provides realistic simulated patients with correct anatomical and physiological features and functions which react to the treatment administered. As a matter of fact, these mannequins can talk, shed tears, vomit, bleed, and do anything a human being can do under a trauma situation. It can even react with a temperature. They look like humans; from a distance you can mistake them for humans.
In 2012, the centre is offering more than 1300 places for training courses. The courses include Australian Medical Assistance Team Training courses that are recognised nationally, internally, and internationally.
These are the people I want to say a big thank you to for dedicating so many years of their lives working in the Health Department to the benefit of Territorians. Of course, with the Critical Trauma Centre recognised nationally and internationally as a training provider of high standards, I am very pleased to be the minister working with such dedicated professionals such as Dr Mike Williams who, even a few months before his death, was providing services to kids in and around Katherine. Rest forever. You will be remembered forever, Mike Williams; you were a dedicated and tremendous person.
Mr WESTRA van HOLTHE (Katherine): Madam Deputy Speaker, unlike the member for Casuarina, I do not live in a parallel universe. When he was referring to the fact there is no crime, no problems, nothing bad happening at Casuarina Square, the only conclusion I can draw is he is looking at a different Casuarina Square to the rest of us. My goodness me!
I have an interest in theoretical physics - not that I understand it very well, but I have an interest in it. Minister, tonight you have gone some way to proving some of the theories about alternative universes.
That is not entirely what I want to talk about. I do not live in another universe because when I walk in the mornings - I live in Katherine, a beautiful place to live. I love living in Katherine, Northern Territory. There is only one. Thank God for Katherine, it is the jewel in the Territory’s crown. Believe you me, I love living there.
I spend much time on the streets and when I go out on the streets what I see is sad; that is, the amount of antisocial behaviour and crime occurring there. Unfortunately, it is a very sad product of the Labor government’s policy that is foisting this continued problem across not only Katherine, but the Northern Territory. Most mornings when I am in Katherine I go for a walk, for a number of reasons. One of those reasons is to survey my main street and the other roads I walk down. I could go along our beautiful river corridor. We have a beautiful walking path along our river. But no, what I do is walk into the main street and look at what is happening there. I get to see, often, the aftermath of what has occurred the night before.
I could walk down the main street on any given day and find a number of shop windows that are broken. Some of them have been broken for some time because the owners of those shops have had their windows smashed so often they do not bother fixing them any longer. They do not take insurance on those windows or do not claim because it costs them too much.
I am mindful of those types of things happening in my patch. This is occurring largely because young people, drunk people, all sorts of people walking up and down the main street at night who seem to act with impunity. Of course, with so much of our crime rate attributed to the misuse of alcohol, I have to draw a line between that behaviour, that damage I see in the main street, and the government’s policies around alcohol.
The opposition writes to the government with Questions on Notice from time to time, and we receive answers. We wrote a question last year about the number of people on the Banned Drinker Register. I quote from the letter we have received:
- At the end of first three months of operation, there were 1576 people on the Banned Drinker Register.
If you extrapolate those figures out a little to what we currently have - and I am just going to use the assumptions and same percentages. If we now have something like 2100 people on the BDR, working off these other figures, there should be approximately 4200 banning notices issued in the Northern Territory to date. Using those same percentages, that means there are 2983 with their first BAT notice, 588 on their second, 630 on their third and, of those 630 - using those same percentages of 63% - 400 of those have breached their third BAT notice.
I am just going to total those up. From the second, third, and the three-plus category, just using those figures I have extrapolated, there are approximately 1600 people who have either received a second or third, or subsequently breached their third banning notice.
The government talks about how well their alcohol reforms are going. How well are they going? I would like to know - and I would like someone on the other side to tell me - how those alcohol reforms going for the 1600 people – 1600 people using the figures that I talked about - who are on second, third, or subsequent banning notices? How is it working for them? I do not think it is. Surely, it cannot be. There are 1600 Territorians you and your policy are letting down. A number of those people are walking around my town committing offences. What is it? About 60% of offending in the Northern Territory is alcohol-related ...
Mr Knight: Yes, it is.
Mr WESTRA van HOLTHE: Of the offending that goes in Katherine, 60% is alcohol-related. I actually dispute that figure. I would say, based on my experience, it is a hell of a lot higher. What we have to do is find a way to address this problem.
The member for Daly said before: ‘The CLP is just going to pour alcohol on the problem’. The problem is, the member for Daly and all the others on the other side just do not listen; they do not get our policy, because it does not fit within the framework of their thinking. This is about personal responsibility. What is not the problem? I tell you what the problem is not: the problem is not alcohol, it is the misuse of alcohol. That is the problem. I should be able to have a beer, just like anyone else, at the end of the day. I should be able to go to the pub at 10 o’clock in the morning and get a takeaway, because I want to take it up to Edith Falls and have a glass of wine with my wife for lunch. That is what I should be able to do. But, no, I cannot under these restrictions. Do you know why, Madam Deputy Speaker? Because I, and nearly everyone else in Katherine, are being punished. We are being punished because of the bad behaviour of a few people - the people this government, through its policy, is letting down. All 1600 of them. There are 1600 Territorians being let down because these people just continue in the system. I receive reports regularly that people on their third banning notice are still being picked up for protective custody.
I would like any one of you - members for Johnston, Daly, or Barkly - to tell me how your policy is helping someone who has been picked up for being drunk while they are on their third banning notice. It is not. The policy of the Country Liberals is - and I will spell it out, I only have 30 seconds: we will build a facility to house these people where they will be given mandatory rehabilitation. However, we will be focusing on the people with the problem; the people who misuse alcohol - not the vast majority of the people of the Northern Territory who are good citizens, the ones who do not contribute to our antisocial behaviour or the crime rate.
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: Your time has expired, member for Katherine.
Mr McCARTHY (Barkly): Madam Deputy Speaker, it never ceases to amaze me in the semantics of debate when the Country Liberal Party member is on their feet; it is all about ‘my’ and ‘I’. It says a great deal about the member. It says a great deal about their intrinsic values and their policy development we are waiting to see.
I acknowledge and congratulate our Barkly residents who received Australia Day Awards in 2012. A well-known and acclaimed Barkly musician, Mr Barry Benning, was named Tennant Creek Citizen of the Year for his inspiration and mentoring provided to dozens of other emerging performers throughout the town and regions. Margie McLean, who the Minister for Health congratulated on her retirement after 30 years serving as a health professional in the Barkly, was named Elliott Citizen of the Year for her contribution to health in the community. The Cheeky Dog artist and entrepreneur Deon Beasley was awarded Tennant Creek Junior Citizen of the Year. Barkly College Citizens of the Year were Matthew Green for the primary school and Hannah Baldock for the high school. The Event of the Year went to NAIDOC Week, organised by a number of Indigenous organisations with an event highlight being the NAIDOC Ball.
After the Australia Day breakfast where the awards were presented, the town community traditionally gathers at Lake Mary Ann. Once again, the fun day at the lake was a huge success, with the regular events demanded by the public of thong throwing, the leaky bucket race, the egg throwing, and the tug of war. However, the raft race is an action-packed event hotly contested each year with teams of eight from local government and non-government organisations, which is followed by the iron man or woman, which is another traditional activity.
It was very interesting this year because the 2012 raft race incurred an emergency which required a serious water rescue. The trained lifeguards Jenni Zendeli and Adam Drake became our homegrown heroes with the rescue of two members of the BP Prospect team in the traditional raft race. I acknowledge the Tennant Creek Emergency Services Unit for their support of the Australia Day activities and the many other community events each year, At this event, they operated the lifeboat carrying our two local heroes
I was the master of ceremonies that day and I was working with a brilliant crew of young people from Barkly Shire Council. It is fantastic to be able to work with the youth. They organised the whole day and we pulled a big crowd there. There is traditional barbecued food, a band, and a great deal of alcohol consumed. It just works a treat. It is about working with young people, and being able to relate to young people - not living in fear of young people, but engaging with young people.
We were actually setting up this raft race; the rafts were in the water up against the dam. We were going through a check list of who was going to do what and who was going to man what. I was running the old school teacher lines about the judges and whether they were in position when we talked about rescue. These two lifeguards boarded the Emergency Services boat and went out into the centre of the dam, as they do every year. In 2012, there were two people in that BP Prospect team who departed company with the raft and were in serious trouble in deep water. Jenni Zendeli, a kid I know from school, and Adam Drake, a wonderful youth worker and now manager of the Anyinginyi Health Congress Sport and Rec, rescued these two guys and became our local heroes.
I thank the Barkly Shire Council CEO, David Shoobridge, and the shire staff for the wonderful job they did organising and operating the Australia Day activities, and I make special mention of that young team of organisers who were a pleasure to work with.
Tennant Creek never ceases to amaze me. During the absolute intensity of what was going on, I was approached by one of our very much emerging Indigenous leaders, Rose Graham. Rose had a plan. She wanted to do some sort of reconciliation activity with the Indigenous flag and the Australian flag. I thank the Tennant Creek Police, because their camp had a number of flags hanging up and we were able to borrow an Australian flag, and Rose had the Indigenous flag. We decided to do put the kids together. So, we had kids from all over the community together - I reckon there would have been about 60 in the circle - and we created this game where they were passing the two flags around the circle. To my great delight, the band, who named themselves The Rissoles for the day - they were a mob of session musos from town - started to play that famous Warumpi Band song - I remember from memory, but I will stand corrected by the member for Johnston - Black Fella, White Fella, and that song started to resonate across the crowd as these two kids put together this ad hoc ceremony.
It left many people very emotional, thinking that maybe we should formalise this from next year and beyond, because this activity which was presented and promoted by a young Indigenous woman, very much an emerging leader, signalled what Tennant Creek is all about, and the understanding and relationships we have as a community. It was a pleasure to be around that activity.
Regarding Casuarina Square, I will tell a quick story of my youngest son. I could not keep the sport up to him in Tennant Creek, so we had to make a really radical family decision and send him to boarding school. So, we sent him to St John’s College. When I was a visitor to this town, visiting him while he was at boarding school, we were regular visitors to Casuarina Square. I will never forget the most inspiring times when I walked around Casuarina Square with Joseph McCarthy, and the number of young people who would stop and say hello and he would engage with. There were kids from Arnhem Land, a couple of guys from Doomadgee in Queensland, I remember well - great Rugby League players in Doomadgee - and kids from Wadeye. They were from all over the Top End and Darwin. They were young people, they were vibrant, some were big, some were small, they were switched on, they were challenging, and they would engage with each other. I thought: ‘This is really good, because this kid is from Tennant Creek, he is settling into the capital city, he is making friends, he is engaging’.
He was aware of Casuarina Square when it did have problems, but it was quite a while back. It was a Labor government which dealt with the gang mentality. Hearing the member for Sanderson talk about transport, I know the old gentleman he is talking about. He is an incredible letter writer, and I am missing his letters. I used to love reading his letters. Member for Sanderson, you might remind him, I would love to hear some more, because not only does he have beautiful handwriting script, he is a classic letter writer.
Regarding transport, when we talk about what the Labor government has done in the area of the community and the CPV industry - the commercial passenger vehicle industry - we are talking about CCTV on the buses at Casuarina Interchange, passenger service officers operating there dealing with the public, our transit officers mentioned by the Minister for Young Territorians in his reply, fencing in that area, and movement of passengers - over 34 000 a week at Casuarina Bus Interchange. It flows smoothly and it flows well.
I encourage the member for Sanderson, with his police background and as a campus constable, to engage with the concerned seniors and share his knowledge about youth with the seniors who come to his office and express concerns, and give them a positive to take away. Give them some strategies about how to engage with young people in a positive light; how to deal with young people. Or simple strategies about how to stay safe in the community and how to move in and out of areas they may feel vulnerable in. It is the duty of an MLA to lead; we are elected community leaders. The member for Sanderson has much more to offer than we ever hear in this House. He needs to be seriously challenged to go back to his electorate and start talking up the Territory - talk it up.
Mr WOOD (Nelson): Madam Deputy Speaker, I will talk tonight about a man who recently died in Sydney. I say he was a man of numbers, he was a man of the Territory, he was a man of God, and he was a friend of mine as well. His name was Br Ken Gallagher, a Missionary of the Sacred Heart.
I will read a tribute Mr Laurence Ah Toy gave at his funeral last Monday. I thought that would be the best way to remember him as Laurence knew Br Gallagher much more than I did. I would like to read that tonight:
- My name is Laurence Ah Toy and I have come from Darwin with my wife to pay our respects to Br Ken Gallagher and share some of the times we have spent over the past 40 years I have known him. Thank you for allowing me to pay a tribute to Br Ken Gallagher.
Our relationship was initially a business one with my accountancy office providing services to Catholic Missions and some Bathurst Island organisations. Our relationship developed into a firm and lasting friendship.
- Although I have known him for a long time, I know very little about his personal life before he came to Darwin. It was as if he wanted his life to begin when he took his vows as a Brother. He told me that joining the MSC order was the best thing he had ever done. It stopped him leading a dissolute life and gave his life a purpose. He taught accountancy to students in places like Monivae College.
- In 1973, Br Ken was appointed Business Manager of Catholic Missions in the NT and we met not long after he arrived. Ken says that our first meeting was on Bullocky Point near St John’s College and he said to me years later he believed it was the will of God that we met.
- The organisation known as Catholic Missions did not have a good reputation before his appointment. They had a bad credit record and a reputation for not paying bills. Ken sacked staff and employed people with the same dedication as he did to be able to service all the mission communities and their staff. He set about establishing networks and contacts to assist him.
- The Whitlam government provided major funding for communities and when these funds became available, Ken was able to plan and commence major building works on all the communities that the mission’s headquarters serviced. Staff housing, presbyteries and hostels were funded and built on many communities including Nguiu, Bathurst Island, Port Keats and the Daly River. The building work involved coordinating, designing, appointing contractors or engaging labour, sourcing and shipping materials, and arranging transport on barges or road transport to the correct destinations. Mission headquarters was also servicing other communities at Palumpa and Peppimenarti. He also took on the job of servicing the WA mission of Kalumburu with a regular barge service. These were enormous tasks and undertakings.
- I did not know until many years later he existed on little sleep and to keep himself occupied went back to the office and worked. I would often get a late night phone call in my office asking me to drop in on my way home for a quick chat about something that he considered important. The quick chats often lasted for more than an hour. Ken used to listen to the BBC World News on shortwave radio when he could not sleep.
Br Ken had a great deal of time for the late Fred Hollows who said to Ken: ‘If you want to help Aborigines, man, then get them out of the dirt and into housing’.
After Cyclone Tracy devastated Darwin, Ken was donated thousands of dollars worth of groceries from damaged warehouses. He sold the groceries through the Port Keats store. With the funds he brought over 30 Segal prefabricated cyclone coded houses from Adelaide. He road freighted them to Darwin; shipped them by barge and erected them on Bathurst Island.
Ken was so hard-headed that he earned the nickname of ‘the one-armed bandit’.
I should explain that the member for Fong Lim mentioned that I have a gammy arm. Well so did Br Ken Gallagher and that is the reason I called him the ‘one-armed bandit’. That is where he got his name.
This is an example …
Of how hard-headed he was:
- He had obtained a quote from John Grice of Barge Express to transport all the houses to Bathurst Island. The quote was based on the cubic measurements of the units. On their arrival from Adelaide, he filled those empty units in Darwin with as much freight as he could get into them to transport goods freight free with the units. His plan was uncovered when the crane at Barge Express was not able to lift the now very heavy units on to the special trailers. After some extra negotiations, all such extra freight was subsequently shifted freight free as long as the housing contract was running.
Ken single-handedly changed the face of Bathurst Island community by this initiative.
I will interrupt that, as I have a quote here from Fr Tim Brennan, the Provincial of the MSCs, who made an interesting remark that the 39 homes for Aboriginal people that were put on Bathurst Island preceded the initiative of Mal Brough by nearly 30 years. I should also say I was on Bathurst Island when those first houses arrived.
With his contacts he was always scrounging steel and building materials. The store at Peppimenarti was built from the old Thomas Brown premises in the city when it was taken down. The restaurant steel frame on Bathurst Island was from steel accumulated and stored in the St John’s College grounds near mission headquarters.
He did not do all this by himself. He achieved it by encouraging, challenging, persuading, and even a bit of bullying of people he wanted to work for the mission cause. He ended up recruiting very hard-working volunteers and employees. Most of those dedicated staff worked for years for Catholic Missions with minimum pay or as a love job. I got to know them and many of them are here today to pay their respects to the tireless and driven leader who was Br Ken. Ken really appreciated their efforts, and please forgive me if I have left out some names: the Port Keats storekeeper, Alan Greathead; Frank O’Donnell; Terry McCarthy; John Byrne; Tony Neeson; Mark Joyce; Tony Ryan; Leighton Wraith; Bob White; Brian Measey; Bob Tedcastle; John O’Brien; Colin McDonnell; the late Jim Burgess; the late Estelle Ilot, and the late Ernie McGrath were all part of the team that achieved great things.
Many of those people mentioned by Laurence I also know, and did know over the many years in the Territory.
- Of all of his appointments, his favourite was being the Bursar at Monivae College. I visited him and stayed at the college on a number of occasions where he proudly showed me over the grounds pointing out the many trees he had planted over his stays. He told me of the cattle raising ventures to assist finance and reduce cost of mowing the grass. He proudly took me through the buildings erected. Monivae was his great love but it did not replace the huge affection he had for the Territory. He was set to retire at the Ranch …
Which is out at Nightcliff:
- … until serious ill health forced him back to Sydney.
Some other notable examples of his efforts include the following. The community at Port Keats had commenced its own air freight and passenger service and they named it Murin Airways. Ken and I were asked to look at the operation when it was unable to pay its way. Our first decision was to sell the small unsuitable aircraft. Instead of closing the business when the airline did not have a plane, Ken negotiated to cross-high under contract a regular public transport service with a dedicated operator Airnorth, then owned by John Hardy. All bookings and ground handling at Port Keats and Darwin were operated by Murin’s staff. It has always run at a profit. We subsequently applied for and were granted charity status for the association as the surplus funds were used to build houses in Port Keats - Wadeye. Murin Airways, now known as Murin Travel and Freight Service, is still operating to this day and still building houses at Wadeye.
The cattle station operation at Palumpa being run by counsellor traditional owners was at a standstill. We recommended that they terminate the services of the consultant firm, and the then manager. Mission staff stepped in to assist with the operations. Today Palumpa still continues as a cattle operation and its abattoir supplies meat to the local communities of Daly River and Port Keats.
- Br Ken was asked to go to Santa Teresa in the Alice Springs region to give some financial advice. The community has a very large water supply. During our visit we were told that instead of investing in a market garden venture to make use of the water or start up a cattle project, a community leader, Jim Turner, wanted a community swimming pool. This was built.
- The health of the children’s eyes improved beyond expectations with daily doses of swimming in chlorinated water. Attendance at school improved with a no school, no pool policy that was implemented. Ken was criticised for the project but today, 20 years on, other community swimming pools are being built for the same health benefits and as a centre of community activities.
St John’s College had problems and was in a very serious financial state. An administration committee was appointed by the then Bishop with Brian Measey as chairman. With staff changes and vigorous financial control the situation was turned around within two years. Br Ken was wrongly blamed and severely criticised for his tough stand during that administration but we all worked together to achieve the great turn around which resulted. Some of those tough decisions, including forcing staff to resign, were wrongly blamed on Br Ken.
During one of his Territory postings, his ability to get things done was appreciated by the Order of Sisters of Charity of St Anne. The order wanted to build a preschool and childminding centre in the satellite city of Palmerston. Ken was the driving force that had the centre designed and built within a comparatively short time. His work was so appreciated that he was invited to stay at the order’s head office in Spain on one of his overseas trips. The Provincial kept contact during his stay in hospital in Darwin and at the nursing home.
Madam Deputy Speaker, I will have to continue this tomorrow night.
Mrs LAMBLEY (Araluen): Madam Deputy Speaker, tonight I will talk about crime in Alice Springs and, specifically, crime in my electorate of Araluen.
Over the last couple of months, we have had Operation Thresher operating in Alice Springs. This has been a police effort to try to combat crime and, to some extent, it has alleviated the problem. However, the problem is still there. I have testimonies from constituents to prove that things have improved marginally. However, people in Araluen, specifically the area called Gillen, are continuing to suffer because of crime in Alice Springs.
Last week, on Wednesday, 8 February, I invited a group of residents from Standley Street in Gillen to attend a breakfast meeting with several senior police officers from the Alice Springs police force. This was quite an incredible coming together of the police and members of the community. All the residents were invited by each other. One resident, who I will call Annie, went around and invited all the people from Standley Street to come along to a breakfast meeting. Most of these people have experienced firsthand crime, break-ins, theft, and assaults within their homes and their immediate neighbourhood. These people came along with a very strong agenda to express their fears, their concerns and their ideas to the police officers who were kind enough to attend. Those police officers were the Commander of the Southern Region, Michael Murphy, Acting Superintendent of the Alice Springs Division, Michael Potts, and Superintendent Michael White. We were lucky enough to have three senior police officers attend a 7 am meeting on Wednesday, 8 February.
What unfolded was quite remarkable. All of the people who attended, bar one gentleman, had experienced serious crime which had seriously affected them. For most, they seemed to be quite traumatised and remained in a state of fear as a consequence of what they had experienced.
For example, Suzie – I am using fictitious names - said a car had driven into her fence, the driver bolted, and she had major fears for the safety of her children. She also had concerns about her children playing in the park. Her parents, who lived around the corner, had been seriously robbed during 2011 and had quite a quantity of their personal effects stolen. Mary said that she had been broken into five or six times. She was a resident of Standley Street. Annie, the lady who was responsible for calling the meeting and inviting people to come along, had her vehicle stolen and her house broken into. She felt quite concerned the street was being targeted. She felt there was a need for the neighbours to come together and find a solution with the police, which meant that she was quite inspired to call the meeting. Lizzie, despite having a large dog, said her house was broken into 10 weeks after moving in. Barry has had two break-ins in the last four to five years. He told of how he has had several motor vehicles stolen and lots of work gear stolen from his house. Trevor told of how several of his neighbours had moved out of the street because of crime and antisocial behaviour. Vera described the street as being a war zone and expressed concerns about how she felt crime was becoming more of an issue, rather than less of an issue.
The police were wonderful, as they always are. They were very respectful and helpful in giving the residents much advice on how they might secure their property. He went through the three Rs, which are apparently used to advise residents: recognise danger; refuse any offer; run away and report it to the first person they feel safe with.
What it said to me, as the member for Araluen, sitting back listening to these 10 very concerned residents, was the fact that crime in Alice Springs is still alive and well, despite Operation Thresher and many other initiatives that have been implemented in Alice Springs over the last 12 to 18 months. Crime is affecting the residents of Gillen in particular. Since Operation Thresher came into effect, which was around November 2011 - it has operated for around three months in Alice Springs - crime did continue.
I will read through a few media releases very quickly just to give you an idea of the things that have been going on. On 20 January:
- Officers dedicated to Operation Thresher in Alice Springs have recovered two vehicles recently stolen from a Gillen residence.
Last Wednesday, the elderly couple, aged 78 and 79, woke to find their Subaru Forester and Rover Quintet missing.
On 30 January, another story about crime in Gillen:
- Alice Springs Police are calling for public assistance after a number of unlawful entries and property damage in the town overnight.
Specifically they refer to an incident of crime:
- Around the same time four vehicles were interfered with on the same street and Police believe the incidents are linked.
‘Vehicles in De Havilland Drive were targeted with two having their windows smashed to gain access. Police are calling for witnesses to come forward ...
Also in Gillen, on 17 January, they talked about how the Gillen Club was targeted once again. The Gillen Club, as well as many other clubs in Alice Springs, are targeted regularly. On 17 January, at the Gillen Club:
- Offenders smashed a window before making off with about 24 bottles of pre-mix alcohol.
On 21 November 2011, around the time that Operation Thresher began:
- Detective Sergeant Trent Abbott of the Property Crime Reduction Unit, said the majority of unlawful entries occurred in the Gillen area.
‘Since Friday we have received 14 reports of unlawful entry throughout Alice Springs and what is particularly disturbing is at least five of them were through unlocked doors ...’
And the last one, on 21 October 2011:
- Thieves have used a shovel to force open the back door of a house on Newland Street, Gillen, between 11 am and 2 pm on Wednesday 19 October.
This is just a very small area of Alice Springs. The message I am giving you tonight is that crime is still a major problem for these poor residents who have bought into what they described last Wednesday in the breakfast meeting I had with them as ‘a lovely area’ - it is green, it is quite pretty. People thought they were buying into a safe family suburb where they could live safely and happily. Many of them have children, and have committed to Alice Springs as a place where they want to live and work. These incidents raise very serious questions around the quality of their life, their safety, their family, and their animals. They talked about how some of their animals are traumatised. Ultimately, it leads them question: ‘Do I stay in Alice Springs or not?’
Madam Deputy Speaker, to conclude, I remind the House of some of the statistics we put together last year. We put together 10 years of hard Labor; why Labor must go. Because we are not given quarterly crime statistics any more, we have to refer back to the data we have which we believe is reliable; that is, the five-year period between 2004-05 and 2009-10.
Alice Springs has felt the brunt of Labor’s failed law and order policy. Since 2004-05, robbery has increased by 450%, assault by 87%, sexual assault by 97%, house break-ins by 64%, commercial break-ins by 185%, motor vehicle theft by 97%, and property damage by 71%. This is simply not good enough.
Mr CONLAN (Greatorex): Madam Deputy Speaker, I like the member for Daly who called the member for Sanderson the Sad Sack from Sanderson - that was pretty funny. No wonder he is such a sad sack: because of all the crime he has experienced in the electorate of Sanderson. Of course, he would walk around feeling like a sad sack, as you would, confronted with the issues he is in his electorate of Sanderson, and taking the complaints on board from the enormous number of constituents who turn up to his doorstep at the Northlakes Shopping Centre every single day of the week. It would be enough to wear you down. The member for Daly is probably not far off - the dopey dill from Daly, you might say, if you want to start using that alliteration.
I also would like to reinforce the government’s failure when it comes to Alice Springs. Government might consider it to be repetition; I say reinforcement. I will say ‘reinforcement’ repeatedly. As I said yesterday, we have a town under siege. We lost 44 businesses in the last few years - 44 businesses that have either given up, have had enough, or have been sent to the wall by the government’s failed law and order policies.
They include the Golden Inn; the airport shuttle service; the Alice Plaza newsagent; the Arunta Bookshop - that was an absolute beauty; Big Al’s; the Blood Bank - can you believe we lost the Blood Bank in Alice Springs; Gallery Gondwana; Jetset Travel have packed up and left Alice Springs; and Mac Air. The Peter Appleyard Gallery could not make much of a go of it; they tried their hardest but were constantly confronted with the issues that we all are in Central Australia and indeed, Alice Springs. Polkadot; the Sunglass Shop; Sussan - a chain store like Sussan has pulled out of Alice Springs, as did another large store, Rivers. A store like Rivers did not last long in Alice Springs confronted with the issues that we all are.
The Cricket and Football Shop closed, in a town like Alice Springs that is so dominated by sport – cricket, football, and sports. They did not just sell cricket and football gear, they sold a great deal of sporting gear. It was a bit of a specialty sports store for various sports around town. We all know how important the focus on sports is in Alice Springs. For a store like that to be unable to continue trading because of the pressures the government is placing on it through its complete lacklustre approach to law and order is just despicable.
Keller’s Restaurant was another one. Pulver’s, as I said last night, was another one, and The Lane …
A member: Keller’s is gone?
Mr CONLAN: I beg your pardon?
A member: Keller’s is gone?
Mr CONLAN: Keller’s, yes, he pulled the pin. You can still see him on Sunday at the markets with Kranskys, I bet. No, the restaurant, the Swiss/Indian store, which was so unique for Alice Springs - Swiss and Indian …
Mr Elferink: And in the world.
Mr CONLAN: In the world, exactly. Yodelling as he was having a vindaloo. Yes, gone. That is a list of some of the 44 businesses which have shut their doors, or been sent to the wall because they just cannot continue with the enormous pressure being placed on them by Paul Henderson and his inept Labor government.
We see a situation where a business has been broken into 37 times in one year. The Town and Country Tavern has been assaulted 37 times in one year. What we heard from the inept Chief Minister and his inept government yesterday, under a sustained attack by the Territory opposition, dragging this government kicking and screaming to at least admit, come to the party, or come some way to admitting that in Alice Springs: ‘Yes, okay, we could have done better’. By golly, you could have done better! It is all a bit for you now, I fear. What we hear from them is: ‘Alice Springs is just like every other town in the country. Every town, large and small, has its problems. Every town in the country - it does not matter where you go, uphill, down dale, you will find towns all over this country that have just the same social problems as Alice Springs’.
What a load of rubbish! You find me one town, one capital city - I bet you cannot. Mr Paul Henderson, the inept Chief Minister of the Northern Territory, the coward who cannot face the people of Alice Springs, I challenge you to find me one town, one business in any capital city - whether it be the main street of Sydney or an outback town anywhere else in this country - that has sustained an attack 37 times in one year, and is still trading. Find me any business. I defy you to find me a business anywhere in this country that has sustained an assault 37 times in one year ...
Mr Elferink: You might find one in Baghdad; that would be the UN compound. No, they have not been attacked that often.
Mr CONLAN: You will not find it. I am telling you, you will not find it because it does not exist. The problems in Alice Springs are unique. They are fundamentally unique because of a whole raft of social issues that you have failed to grasp and address. Your alcohol laws are absolutely hopeless! So hopeless that just last week, a business sustained a $10 000 attack. In fact, it was the same bloke, another business - ram raided, $10 000 worth of damage for two bottles of grog. That is what prohibition does. That is what your alcohol laws are driving people to. If they cannot buy it, they still steal it, and they will do anything they can to get their hands on it.
Your alcohol laws are hopeless - absolutely hopeless. You crow about your Police Beat, somehow trying to paint us to be an organisation or an outfit that does not like the Police Beats. I cannot speak with too much conviction about the Casuarina Police Beat; I will leave that for my Top End colleagues. However, the one in Alice Springs is hopeless. It is manned largely by auxiliaries - if anyone is there to take the call. If anyone pushes the button and there is no one in the Police Beat, it is diverted to Darwin. We heard yesterday numerous examples of what happens when a call is diverted to a Top End call centre and someone who has no local or intimate knowledge of the precinct or the jurisdiction it comes from. There are a number of examples of why the Police Beat in Alice Springs has failed to live up to its expectations.
I have to say it was extraordinary that, last year in this parliament, the inept Chief Minister of the Northern Territory said, when questioned about the operation of the Police Beat, that he was not too sure about how many people are manning it, or how often it is manned. ‘That is an operational matter’, he said, ‘for the police, I do not get involved in that’. This is actually a major tier. This is a huge string to your law and order policy. I would have thought you would be across it, Chief Minister. But, no, once again, happy to crow what suits, but unable to provide any detail - all flash and no substance, as they say. That is clearly what we are experiencing with the leader of the Northern Territory Labor Party - absolutely hopeless, just like his policies, his government and his members.
The member for Johnston is absolutely hopeless. What a legacy he will leave this parliament and this Territory! The member for Karama is absolutely hopeless. She has just about sent the Territory to the wall. God help us if we win government and have to open that book. Goodness me, what will it say? $300m, some say $600m in the red. The member for Casuarina is presiding over the longest waiting lists in the country. You cannot get in to have elective surgery in this place; you have to wait months, sometimes years - absolutely hopeless! And they are your best four; they are the best you have.
We talk about the small man in the box, up the back, the member for Stuart, the Minister for Central Australia. God help Central Australia under the stewardship of the member for Stuart! No wonder we are in such trouble. You could almost excuse the inept Chief Minister and his kitchen cabinet over there - as Top End-centric members who are only focused on the northern suburbs - for dismissing Central Australia. You would hope the local member might stand up for Central Australia in Cabinet, but he is clearly not heard. He is clearly bullied and overlooked at every opportunity. You are hopeless! You are a hopeless government, and your policies, when it comes to Central Australia, are nothing but hopeless.
Mr ELFERINK (Port Darwin): Madam Deputy Speaker, I will touch on a couple of issues. However, before I do, first I ask a question of the Public Trustee for the Northern Territory: where is your annual report for last year? You are duty bound, as the Attorney-General is duty bound, to ensure the report is tabled within six sitting days after 30 June, if memory serves me. It is not there and, once again, this government and its ministers are not keeping an eye on what is going on and the legislative requirements of their administrative structures.
I have some issues with the waterfront. I note today the Chief Minister placed on the table, and gave notice of, the amendments to the Darwin Waterfront Corporation Act. I am not going to anticipate debate and discuss what is in that act; suffice to say it will have the effect of further cementing the Darwin Waterfront Corporation as the local governing authority for the area known as the waterfront, not the Darwin City Council.
I am fully aware of the circumstances that led to the rather anomalous situation that the premier residential area of the capital city of the Northern Territory is not under the governance of the Darwin City Council for services. However, the situation has now gone on for too long.
What is going on in this environment is nothing shy of ridiculous. You have the Northern Territory government, through its waterfront corporation, levying taxes under a structure of an imposed form of government, bearing in mind that, technically speaking, the mayor of the Darwin waterfront is the Chief Minister of the Northern Territory, and the CEO of the Darwin Waterfront Corporation is the town clerk. I find it nothing shy of astonishing that this organisation is now regularly levying taxes and fines, as they lawfully are permitted to do under the arrangements, but they are using DCC staff. Darwin City Council parking inspectors are policing the waterfront under contract. It is nothing short of bizarre.
The real problem is the people who live at the waterfront, people who have purchased homes and rental properties there, have no capacity to elect their local government representatives. That is shown in the way local government operates in the waterfront. We had the farcical situation of the first set of bylaws that came through this place which instructed, essentially, illegalities by virtue of the way those bylaws operated. That was corrected after some foot dragging by the government. However, we have a situation where there is now taxation without representation occurring for the people who live at the waterfront and who have purchased those premises. They have no power to elect their local government.
This was understood at the time when this farcical situation started out. Believe me, I am no champion of the Darwin City Council’s decision not to get involved - and I understand government was forced into a position. However, government at the time made a promise which is enshrined in section 37 of the Darwin Waterfront Corporation Act. Section 37 says they will review the waterfront’s operation.
That is not in the annual reports which are on the record of this parliament – there are four of them. There is no record of that review being conducted. Unless that review was conducted and the minister decided to sit on it because there was no requirement under the legislation to have it tabled in parliament, I call on the Chief Minister to table the Darwin Waterfront Corporation review because the people who live there, as ratepayers, should at least have the right to know the results of that legislatively required review.
We have seen no evidence of it and, frankly, my belief is that the review has never been conducted. Now, we have a Chief Minister seeking even greater taxing powers to be imposed on the people who live at the waterfront. There is already a surcharge of 20% allowed by the legislative instrument for some extra services - which I am not entirely sure whether the residents of the waterfront have received.
The government is deeply entrenched in the waterfront position because you have to remember in Stage 2, which frankly looks like a dump - it is an abandoned vacant lot. The big billboard advertising the second development component of the waterfront – Stage 2 or Stage 5, depending on who you talk to - has faded in the sunlight to the point where it is barely legible. The sales office is a demountable that looks daggy, in amongst weeds. The Darwin Waterfront Corporation has made some efforts in recent days to tidy up some of the weeds – well, bully for them!
In looking at our premier residential district, Stage 1 looks fine – good. It does not contain all the promises of government but it looks fine. Stage 2 is a vacant lot. The old iron ore wharf has been removed but, because the government has a commercial interest in the outcome, there is no driver, as far as government is concerned, to develop Stage 2 because the real estate market is a bit flat. If the real estate market is a little flat then, surely, as a government, that is the time you want your government investment starting to work so you can help the local economy. However, that is not what the government is doing.
Because of their 18% interest they are taking advice from Toga. I know Toga owns this; the government is only a passenger. However, Toga is sitting on those properties, and there is no commitment from government or Toga to develop the area until 2012. My understanding is the contracts for the pre-sales have a sunset clause in late 2013. Verbally, some of the purchasers of those pre-sales were assured by Toga, whilst it is not written - and I am aware of the effect of the Statute of Frauds - it was strongly hinted at the time: ‘It will not be long, construction will start soon; it will be happening any moment now’. Unfortunately, I do not see any evidence of any construction occurring there at all. I hope it will happen soon. I hope they start rolling this out quickly.
However, if you do that, you are going to be doing it in an environment where you are now competing directly with an economy which will be heating up during that period. Once again, government has engaged in amplifying the boom/bust cycle rather than reducing it, which is what they promised they would do in 2001 when they formed government. They were going to engage in what was called counter-cyclical spending - but that is another story.
Therefore, you have government with a pecuniary interest in the private development of Stage 2, and the place looks like a dump. In Stage 1 where the people live, they have no representation and their rates are levied upon them by someone who is not elected. It is time this silly situation was sorted out.
It is definitely a duty of the Northern Territory government and Darwin City Council to reach some sort of accord so the area falls within the municipality of the Darwin City Council for one reason only: simply that people who are levied taxes must have a capacity to choose the representatives who levy those taxes upon them. Whilst this is a matter of some local services, these taxes are still a burden upon the people who pay them. Taxation without representation, as a concept, has a very spectacular history on the North American continent. I make that comparison because it demonstrates how seriously people take the concept of taxation without representation.
People who live at the Darwin waterfront should not be the untermenschen of the Northern Territory at a political level. This is not good government. I will certainly be lobbying there that, should there be a change of government, these issues are redressed in favour of the people who live there and pay the local rates, taxes and charges they have to pay. They should be able to, at least, elect their own representatives.
What I expect from government is it does what the legislation it created for itself requires of it and have the review. If it has been done - and I have seen no evidence – then table it in this House. In the absence of that review being tabled in this House, as far as I and everyone else is concerned, it has not been done.
Dr BURNS (Johnston): Madam Deputy Speaker, tonight I want to speak about the life of Betty Gould, mother to Helen Allmich, the Editor of our Hansard and well-known in this Chamber, and also Paula Thornton and Patrick Gould. It was my pleasure to know Betty and her late husband, Kevin. They were delightful people. They always made me feel happy when I met them.
I intend to read the eulogy Paula gave at Betty’s funeral. It is very personal, but it is better than if I was to change it and make it into the third person. I read from this beautiful eulogy:
- Betty, or as she was officially named, Dorothy May McKell, was born in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, on 28February 1934. Mind you, this date was under question as, when Mum applied for her first passport, she discovered that the date on her birth certificate was 25 February. Mum’s mother insisted Mum was born on the 28th, as how can any mother not remember the birth date of a child?
Mum was the second of five children. As the eldest daughter, she was often put in charge of her younger siblings, and she took over many of the chores in the house such as the Sunday roast.
- She was a serious scholar who loved going to school and told us about Sr Margaret Mary, a Mercy nun who instilled in her classes a love of all things Australian. This nun was a fierce Republican and, when any opportunity arose for her to teach about Australia, she did. Even though Mum loved going to school, at 14 her father forced her to leave school and find work. This continued to be a huge regret through her life. Hence, her insistence that we children complete compulsory schooling
- While she may not have had formal education qualifications, she could hold her own when discussing Australian history, world geography, the Royal Family, and the history of the Labor Party. The history of the Labor Party was a passion of Mum’s as Mum’s uncle, Sir William McKell, mostly through the 1940s and 1950, was the leader of the ALP in New South Wales and then Premier of New South Wales and, later, Governor-General of Australia.
- Mum was brought up on the Western Australia goldfields and told us about the multicultural flavour of the region and had us in fits of laughter when she would say: ‘Do not laugh, but Ted Parabonio …’. The sound of the names of her friends had us in stitches.
- As a young girl Mum often accompanied her grandmother to Adelaide by train, so this is probably the beginning of Mum’s desire to travel afar. Mum told us of some of her school friends who never even ventured to Perth. She was not going to be like that. She wanted to find out about the rest of the world. In 1956, Mum decided to travel to England. Unfortunately, world politics got in the way and the Sinai War broke out in October/November.
Mum then headed to Adelaide and found work in a department store. And, guess what? Her offsider was Dad’s mother. Mum was invited to meet the Gould family on several occasions, but when Mum met Dad’s older brother she was not interested in meeting the younger one. After the umpteenth invitation, Mum relented and met Dad and the rest, as they say, is history. Seven months after meeting Dad, wedding bells rang and, then, a year later, I, Paula, was born and, then, another year later we headed for the deepest, darkest Africa. Mum was pregnant with Helen.
Living in central Africa in the 1960s was a special time, and friendships from that time continued for the next 50 years. In fact, Mum has received mail from Africa just in the last couple of weeks. It is a pity the postal systems have prevented her from receiving these letters and learning how her friends in Africa appreciated her sending them gifts.
The Catholic Church was an important part of our family life, whether we were in town or in the bush. We lived in the towns, and dad was in the church choir and then the Knights of Da Gama, similar to our Knights of the Southern Cross. When we were in the bush, Dad, as Manager of Central Africa Road Services, was often called to fix cars or transport clergy or nuns from place to place. The nuns and priests in the Zambian bush came to rely on Mum and Dad for all sorts of things. Mum was always on the ready for unexpected visitors who used our home as a drop-in centre. It was not unusual for people to ask for a meal or a bed, and Mum saw this as a part of her life.
While we lived in the bush, Mum sent her shopping order to a town over 100 miles away once a month. The roads were not sealed and were in poor condition. Many a time, the orders were held up due to the rainy seasons or potholes or burst tyres. Mum learnt to make bread in the wood stove and with the supplies in the pantry, be resourceful with homegrown vegies and chooks, and was able to prepare a meal in no time at all. We did not have electricity and relied on a generator for only 12 hours a day.
When we returned to Australia, we moved to Port Augusta where Dad worked for the Commonwealth Railways. Mum and Dad were active members of the church and were involved in the parents and friends association at the school.
By 1966, between Dad and his brother there were seven Gould granddaughters and Dad’s mother was almost giving up on there ever being a Gould grandson. Fortunately, when Patrick was born, he was the first Gould grandson, much to Mum’s delight.
In 1971, Dad applied for a transfer to Darwin as the paymaster for the Commonwealth Railways. As usual, Dad joined the choir, and these pre-cyclone family friendship grew and continued. Darwin in the early 1970s was not much different from our experiences in Africa, and Mum’s resourcefulness was put to the test again. She enjoyed sewing, flower arranging, and cooking, and could produce something out of nothing for any occasion.
As Mum’s eyesight worsened, sewing became more difficult, but it did not stop her having an eye for fashion. She became the Darwin Manager of Mainly Maternity, a Perth-owned shop and, when the owner decided to sell her business, she offered it to Mum. Betty’s Boutique in the Darwin Plaza offered women a variety of clothing for many years until Mum closed the shop.
After her retirement, Mum continued devouring books on Australian history, politics and the Royal Family. She joined U3A and found a place to extend her knowledge and share her knowledge. We often found the dining room table and beyond covered in books, articles, newspaper when she was researching a topic. We have found exercise books and writing pads with several drafts of her talks. She practiced on us and expected us to be critical listeners. She also used to search the Internet, which she called the computer, for relevant information.
Mum loved gardening, became reasonably knowledgeable on local plants but, as her health deteriorated, the garden had to look after itself. Mum often talked about her visit to open houses and loved seeing other people’s gardens. Many years ago, she started concentrating on orchids and was very proud of the variety she had. Alas, these too became a thing of the past.
Over 10 years ago, Mum was diagnosed with a form of leukaemia called polycythaemia rubra vera. She suffered severe headaches, shortness of breath, and tiredness. All these symptoms made life difficult during the last few years. Mum was warned if the leukaemia did not get her, a heart attack or stroke would. This was cause for concern, but did not stop Mum from continuing going to Mass, socialising, U3A, shopping, the university hairdressing and beauty school and Girl Talk, to mention a few. New interests brought with them new friendships which were important, especially since Dad died. Mum decided she was not going to sit at home. She loved going out. Mum continued to be engaged in her social network. There are many here and some who could not be here today who are an important part of her life, and you know who you are. Thank you for being a part of Mum’s life.
Thank you, Mum, for all you have done for us. We take heart that your suffering is over and, once again, you are foxtrotting and quickstepping with Dad.
Farewell, Betty.
Motion agreed to; the Assembly adjourned.
Last updated: 04 Aug 2016