2009-05-05
Madam Speaker Aagaard took the Chair at 10 am.
Mr MILLS (Opposition Leader): Madam Speaker, I move that the member for Araluen be granted leave of absence for the sittings due to ill health.
Motion agreed to.
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, I table Message No 8 recommending to the Legislative Assembly a bill for an act authorising the issuing and expending of public monies of the Territory in respect of the year ending 30 June 2010; and Message No 9 recommending to the Legislative Assembly a bill for an act authorising additional issuing and expending of public monies of the Territory for the year ending 30 June 2009.
Dr BURNS (Leader of Government Business) (by leave): Madam Speaker, I move – That the routine of business of the Assembly be rearranged or suspended, if a question or debate is before the Chair, so as to permit the Treasurer to deliver Budget 2009-10 at 11 am this day.
Motion agreed to.
Dr BURNS (by leave): Madam Speaker, I move - That the routine of business of the Assembly, General Business, Notices and Orders of the Day be rearranged or suspended, if a question or debate is before the Chair, so as to permit a response to Budget 2009-10 by the Leader of the Opposition at 11 am Wednesday, 6 May 2009.
Motion agreed to.
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, I advise that at 11 am, during Government Business, I will call on the Treasurer to deliver Budget 2009-10. The member speaking at that time will be asked to continue their remarks after Question Time.
Mr HENDERSON (Chief Minister): Madam Speaker, I report on the Council of Australian Governments Meeting held in Hobart last week.
I, together with the Prime Minister and my state and territory colleagues, reaffirmed our commitment to addressing the challenges presented by the current economic downturn. The financial and economic crisis that the world is in at the moment is significantly affecting Australia’s economy. This is the biggest crisis Australia and the world has seen for many generations, and the Territory is not going to be immune from what is happening around the world and the rest of Australia. However, due to this government’s sound financial and economic management, we will come out of this better than many other states.
The Australian economy is set to contract, and unemployment, particularly youth unemployment, is expected to rise. To that end, COAG agreed to a plan that will ensure that every Australian, indeed every Territory child, will have the opportunity to make the most of education or training.
All governments agreed to implement a National Youth Participation Requirement which will begin next year. This includes a mandatory requirement for all students to complete Year 10; a mandatory requirement for all students who have completed Year 10 to remain at school, be in training, or undertake at least 25 hours of work, until the age of 17.
In addition, all governments agreed to a youth compact that includes an entitlement for youth aged between 15 and 19 to receive an educational training place, subject to admission requirements and course availability; and an entitlement for youth aged between 20 and 25 to an education or training place to upgrade their qualifications.
Young people who are not engaged in education or training will be unable to access the youth allowance, and their parents will not receive Family Tax Benefit Part A. Therefore, mums and dads will be getting behind this as well.
This is all about improving educational outcomes and shoring up the Australian workforce as we begin to recover from the current economic crisis. There is no doubt that those kids who drop out of school with little or no qualifications tend to become low-income earners, unemployed, and, many of them, tragically, unemployable.
We should not settle for anything less than the very best for our children. Every child should be given the chance to take advantage of the opportunities the Territory has to offer and be able to contribute positively to society. Dropping out of school at 15 and living on the dole will no longer be an option.
COAG also reached agreement on action that will ensure Australia’s natural disaster arrangements. All leaders agreed to the development of a telephone-based emergency warning system that will enable states and territories to deliver warnings via landline and mobile phones, based on the billing address of the subscriber. Further work will also be undertaken into the capacity to deliver warnings based on the location of the mobile phone.
As part of these enhanced natural disaster arrangements, further agreement was reached on the establishment of a Commonwealth-funded emergency call centre to be used in the event of local services being overwhelmed during a disaster, and the establishment of a working group to consider additional ways to build Australia’s resilience to natural disasters. The telephone-based early warning system is important to the Territory, where we have the whole gamut of natural disasters – cyclones, floods and fire.
Emergency Services already has a number of warnings in place, such as radio messages, loud speakers, letter drops and the Internet. The new system will enhance those efforts, particularly for families new to the Territory who may not have prepared for events like cyclones, or for tourists who may not have ready access to media outlets.
In a landmark decision, COAG also agreed to an expanded new National Renewable Energy Target, being 20% of Australia’s electricity from renewable sources by 2020. The Commonwealth has attached shortfall penalties to the scheme. We will do what we can to achieve the 20% goal but, unfortunately, the Territory has no renewable industries yet, so there is no doubt we will struggle to reach that target. That has not deterred us. We are in discussions with the Commonwealth to ensure that, instead of paying penalties, we can invest that money in establishing a renewable energy industry in the Territory.
COAG agreed to operating arrangements for the new Coordinator-General for Remote Indigenous Services. This position will oversee the implementation of programs and services in 26 locations across the country, including 15 in the Territory, to help close the gap. The Coordinator-General will be responsible for the implementation of major reforms in remote housing, infrastructure, and employment in communities, to deliver real results for Indigenous Australians.
In closing, I am pleased to inform the House that the next COAG meeting will be held in Darwin on 2 July, which means the Prime Minister and all the Premiers will be here on the evening of 1 July, to witness the great Territory celebration of firecrackers on Territory Day. I know that he and all his colleagues are very keen to witness what is a unique Territory institution.
However, the more important, deeper question – Labor only talks about how things look on the surface and the face of things – is you have to ensure kids go to primary school. It is not optional to go to primary school. Ensure that message is backed up. Ensure that the curriculum is tight, so that when they leave school they are able to participate in the future of the Territory and in the great job of paying back this colossal debt which will fall upon the younger generations. That is the real thinking behind this. We must ensure that whilst they are at school, they are prepared to engage in that grand responsibility which we bequeath to them.
Mr WOOD (Nelson): Madam Speaker, I thank the Chief Minister for his report. I imagine COAG discusses many issues. One issue I noticed on an ABC news web page recently, was that builders have warned aspiring new homebuyers to expect a $10 000 hike in the cost of building a new house, after new energy requirements were agreed last week. It said:
Chief Minister, you know my concerns about the five-star rating being unsuitable for the Northern Territory. If you were in this meeting of Australian government ministers and you supported the six-star rating, could you explain what that means to the Territory and, is the Master Builders Association correct that it will cost people at least another $10 000, making it even harder for people in the Northern Territory to afford a new home?
Mr HENDERSON (Chief Minister): Madam Speaker, I thank members for their comments. I know we have the Treasurer handing down the Budget 2009-10 at 11 am, and the political lines are being drawn, but this is a government that will support jobs. We will support jobs with everything that we have, because there is nothing more important to Territorians and to the future of the Territory than maintaining economic growth and jobs growth in the Northern Territory.
The Leader of the Opposition talked about this government being poorly prepared. We have seen record jobs growth in the Northern Territory since 2001. We have seen record economic growth in the Northern Territory that has allowed businesses to grow and jobs to grow in the Northern Territory, and we have record population growth. When the CLP were last in office, people were leaving the Territory in droves because they could not get a job.
In regard to the member for Nelson’s comments, we will discuss this later. However, industries in the Territory - the peak bodies - the Housing Industry Association and the TCA, support the changes. They will need information, in terms of education and we will support them.
Madam SPEAKER: Chief Minister, your time has expired.
Housing the Territory – Homestart NT
Mr KNIGHT (Housing): Madam Speaker, I report on the launch of a new Territory government initiative to help more Territorians buy their own home at an affordable price.
In recent years, the Territory’s strong economy and population growth has seen an increase in the property market. That has been great news for homeowners, but it has made it difficult for Territory families to get started in the housing market. We know that housing affordability is placing stress on some Territory families and, through the Housing the Territory strategy, this government outlined its commitment to getting more homes on the market at an affordable price.
As part of Housing the Territory, we outlined a 20-year land release strategy and the expansion of the Land Development Corporation’s role to oversee residential and affordable housing developments, including working with the private sector on innovative and affordable housing development. We want to do everything we can to help Territorians take advantage of these opportunities to buy their own home. The government’s new Homestart NT initiative is focused directly on helping low to middle-income earners become homeowners.
Homestart NT comes into effect on 1 June 2009 and builds on the success of the former HomeNorth program. Since 2004, more than 1100 Territory families accessed HomeNorth Extra to buy their own home. This government knows that the market has changed and HomeNorth is no longer what we need to help Territory families buy their own home. Reflecting the current property market, Homestart NT offers income thresholds and property price purchase caps that opens up access to about 40% of the property market for low to middle-income earners, without investing more than 30% of their income.
In Darwin and Palmerston, the areas of highest population growth, Homestart NT offers a purchase price cap of $420 000, that is an increase of $70 000 on the old HomeNorth scheme. In Alice Springs, the price cap has risen by $35 000 to $300 000. In Katherine, the new limit is $267 000, that is an increase of $42 000. In Tennant Creek, there is an increase of $15 000 to bring the purchase price cap to $125 000.
These price caps will not allow people to buy all properties available on the market at the moment, but approximately 40% of the properties will be available. That is a sensible and sustainable cap for low to middle-income earners. Income limits have also been raised. For example, a single person can now have a gross income of $60 000, an increase of $5000; and a household of three people can have a gross income of $85 500, that is an increase of $10 500 from the HomeNorth Scheme.
Homestart NT also features the low 2% deposit rate, the shared equity loans and the fee assistance loans. Each applicant will be assessed on their ability to repay, and will be offered financial support accordingly. The raised income limit opens up home ownership as an option for Territory families, while ensuring that investment is limited to 30% of their income.
Homestart NT will help low and middle-income earning Territorians to buy their own home at an affordable price. I look forward to the scheme commencing on 1 June.
Ms PURICK (Goyder): Madam Speaker, I thank the minister for his report. The government claims it to be a new NT initiative, and yes, it is probably slightly different from the previous HomeNorth scheme. The reason they have had to make these changes is because the previous scheme is not working. Young couples or young people, or anyone for that matter, have not been able to buy into the property market, have not been able to either afford the land or to build a home, given the prices and the cost of living up here.
One of the main contributors to this situation has been this government’s lack of land release in a systematic and orderly fashion, notably Bellamack, which has been talked about ad nauseam. However, we know that the tender documents for the finalisation of that development have still not been signed, the unsuccessful tenderers have not been debriefed, and it is unlikely we will see any of this land turned-off this year, given the work required in regards to surveying, development of headworks, etcetera.
The government says it will be looking forward to working with the private sector. It should be doing that already - obviously it is not. I know that in Alice Springs there is a severe shortage of land, same as in Tennant Creek. To my understanding there has been only one Buildstart application in Alice Springs. There are only two vacant blocks in Alice Springs that could be purchased by people who are eligible for Homestart. It is the same in Tennant Creek - it is non-competitive - people cannot buy land because there is no land available. It is the same for Katherine and pretty much the same across Darwin.
The government talks about the other subdivisions in the Palmerston area, but if it is the same track record as Bellamack they will be a long way off. With the news today and over the weekend that land values have gone up considerably, it means that many people will not be able to afford to purchase land because that is what the market will be dictating.
I do not believe this scheme is going to work. I hope that it will work and we can get more people into their own homes but it is unlikely under this government because it does not have a vision for housing and the future of housing in the Northern Territory.
Mr WOOD (Nelson): Madam Speaker, I thank the minister for his report. I am not sure that we are going in the right direction. Perhaps the government should stop and think where it is heading.
I quote from an article by Jessica Irvine from the Sydney Morning Herald on 22 April this year:
I understand where the government is coming from, and it might be doing it for what it thinks are the right reasons, but we need to step back and see whether it is the right reason. If we are pushing the price of houses up, we are taking away the advantages the government thinks it is giving to first homeowners.
We are also putting people into more debt, and in times of economic recession when employment can be risky, people could be forced to sell off their houses because they are unemployed. That is already happening in Sydney. I believe we should be very careful of making people go into more debt to buy their house. We need to release land at a cheaper price so that the overall purchase price of a house and land is cheaper, not requiring a larger HomeNorth subsidy. We are putting people into debt when we should not be.
The government is more concerned about being popular than worrying about the market. He is worried about the big end of town; he should worry about the little end of town, look after those people and do not put families into debt for the rest of their lives. Rethink this policy; see what your last policy did in relation to whether it forced house prices up.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Nelson, your time has expired.
Mr KNIGHT (Housing): Madam Speaker, that was an absolutely pathetic attempt from the opposition. It does not understand HomeNorth.
I never hear from the opposition spokesperson for Housing. She is lazy, she does not understand the industry, and she does not understand the new Homestart scheme. She has had no briefing on this and she obviously does not read the newspaper. There have been tenders go out for Johnston, so there is land release happening. We have a 20-year strategy …
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Order!
Mr KNIGHT: … and if the opposition is so against this scheme, they should tell the 18 people who have already put in expressions of interest about the Homestart scheme since the announcement was made last week. This scheme is good for young Territory families who are getting into their first home.
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Order!
Mr KNIGHT: The opposition do not like this program. They do not understand it and it is a weak and pathetic attempt by the opposition spokesperson.
Ms McCARTHY (Young Territorians): Madam Speaker, National Youth Week has been part of the Territory’s youth calendar since 2000, and provides an opportunity for young people to share ideas, take part in events, and most importantly, to have fun.
National Youth Week is about recognising and celebrating the achievements of young people and the positive contribution they make to the community. This year, a total of 90 registered events were held across the Territory and it was outstanding to see so many activities on offer and, especially, how many young people were involved.
Events and activities planned throughout the Territory included:
Alice Springs - Youth Week Dance Party, Heat Wave Music and Arts Festival, and Lyrical Hip-Hop Workshops.
Barkly – a Pool Party, Junior Lightning Carnival, and sporting activities.
Darwin - a Family Fun Day, ten pin bowling and Big Gig free workshops in Darwin.
East Arnhem - Maningrida Youth Day, Mini-Olympics, and Saltwater People Music and Fun Concert.
Katherine - rock climbing, a Blue Light disco, and legal advice clinics.
Palmerston - BMX freestyle coaching clinic, midnight basket ball, an after party, a youth bazaar, and live gigs.
Gunbalanya - Come and Swim and a Streetwise skateboard clinic.
Opening and closing celebrations were held in Darwin, Palmerston, Alice Springs, Tennant Creek, Nhulunbuy, East Arnhem, and Katherine. Celebrations were proudly supported by beyondblue, the national depression initiative, and the Northern Territory government.
All the celebrations were large events which brought together youth service providers and received high youth participation. Many smaller events were combined to attract as many young people to make a move and get involved.
During National Youth Week I was extremely pleased to attend the Young Achiever Awards. This event highlights the wonderful young people in the Northern Territory. I am sure this House will join me in congratulating the 2009 Young Achiever Award winners: Kia Naylor, Northern Territory Government Career Achievement Award; Nathan Frick, Minister for Young Territorians Excellence in Youth Leadership Award; Brilee Jacques, Department of Health and Families Young Carers Award; Katie Chatto, ConocoPhillips Environment Award; Kat Byron, Somerville Community Services Award; Tashka Urban, Charles Darwin University Arts Award; Bronte James, McArthur River Mining Regional and Rural Initiative Award; Jack Benson, Perkins Shipping Sports Award, and Simone Liddy, Power and Water Science and Engineering Award.
The Territory’s National Young Member for 2008 and 2009, Amy Robinson, will shortly be handing over to the 2010 representative. I thank Amy for the wonderful job she has done representing young people in the Northern Territory over the past two years.
I take this opportunity to extend a very warm welcome to the 2010 representative, Tim Reilly. Tim is an active member in the community and he has played a representative role as a keen sportsperson, a volunteer for Camp Quality, and currently travels to remote communities in his role with surf life saving.
Congratulations and thank you to everyone who has been involved to make National Youth Week 2009 such a success.
Mr STYLES (Sanderson): Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Arnhem for those good words about Youth Week. I also attended many of the functions and events that the member for Arnhem mentioned, and was very heartened to see the events that occurred for young people around the Territory.
I have a couple of issues in relation to Youth Week. It appears that the government is very good at putting on great events during Youth Week, however, there are 51 other weeks in the year. I see that there are still many youth slipping through the cracks.
I note the sad lack of services occurring around the Territory and that the Territory is failing our youth in relation to drug education and putting good role models into schools. I note that school-based police officers are still struggling to get into classrooms and give these young people a balanced view of what is occurring in our community. I also note that there is a problem with school-based nurses who are there to support young people and to give them information they will need to conduct themselves in a way most of us in the community see as a fit and proper way for young people to grow up.
I ask that the government reconsider a number of the issues that face youth, and look very carefully at reinstating some of the programs that have suffered in recent years, and give our youth the chance they deserve: for a good education, and a balanced view of what the community expects of our young people as opposed to just a one-eyed version or, in fact, no direction and guidance at all.
Ms McCARTHY (Young Territorians): Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Sanderson for his comments. I remind members opposite of the terrific amount of work that is happening with youth across the Northern Territory.
First, I highlight to the member for Sanderson that the work of our school-based constables is important. I know we have pushed to place them in our regions, and we have police in those regions that make an effort to be a part of the school structure, so that our students and youth can grow up knowing they can relate to police officers in an environment where they can have confidence.
The Clontarf Program is going across the Northern Territory, which is an outstanding example of encouraging our youth to not only be fine young men and women in society in the Northern Territory, but also to encourage them to finish their schooling. This is what the government is committed to: wanting every single child to have access to opportunities that were not there for those remote regions where our kids are now graduating in Year 12.
Reports noted pursuant to standing orders.
Continued from 16 February 2009.
Madam SPEAKER: I remind you, member for Brennan, that I will ask you to resume your seat at 11 am.
Mr CHANDLER (Chandler): Madam Speaker, I thank the minister for a very well-arranged briefing, and for providing a very good understanding of what the agreement is setting out to do.
Basically, this agreement puts into place an arrangement that does not necessarily bind each of the states and territories involved, but ensures that any development which occurs in any of these states or territories which may have an impact on Lake Eyre, will need to be considered. In that light, it would be fair to say that if we were going to develop anything in the Todd River - this is just an example - that may have an impact on Lake Eyre we must consider Lake Eyre in any action that a developer may take.
We also understand that the agreement does not bind the Territory in any way to masses of funding. I believe it is about $50 000, $10 000 of which is in cash.
It is fair to say that, had our river systems in that area of the country - the southern area of the Northern Territory - been lush, tropical flowing rivers of the north, perhaps there would be more of a reason to be concerned about what future development may have on the Lake Eyre area.
The only question this side of the House asks the government is - and I am sure this is so - that no future development in that area would be hampered in any way by signing up to this agreement. I am quite certain that it would not, from my understanding of the agreement.
Perhaps if the rivers in that particular part of our wonderful Territory were fast flowing, tropical rivers there would be more to worry about if we decided to build a dam or something for properties and future farming that could have a significant impact on the Lake Eyre area. The rivers in that area of the Northern Territory are very dry and I would hazard a guess that any rain falling north of Alice Springs and flowing through the Todd River from time to time would be very unlikely to make its way all the way to Lake Eyre. I could be wrong; perhaps it is a long bow to draw, that the rains falling north of Alice Springs would run into Lake Eyre.
This side of the House understands what the agreement has set out to do. It is unfortunate that an agreement such as this was not made many years ago in relation to the River Murray. We all know the effects over-use of that resource has caused the River Murray, and you only have to go into South Australia to see how much it has impacted. I will use this as an example. The River Murray often gives people a false sense that things are going well. People visit areas like Renmark and see this wide open stretch of water which is all due to the weirs in the river there, and it sometimes gives a wrong impression of how healthy our river systems are.
Only a few weeks ago I had the opportunity to visit Victoria. I took the opportunity to go to the Kinglake area, and also to Echuca and Swan Hill to see some of the beautiful red gums of the past that have been devastated by the lack of water. An agreement like the agreement the Territory government is about to sign with Queensland, South Australia, and New South Wales could have protected this river system - this wonderful resource - long ago. To see the trees in that part of the country, particularly along the Murray from Echuca to Swan Hill, was really devastating.
I was brought up in southern New South Wales in a little town called Moulamein, which is where the famous billabong runs into the Edward River and then into the River Murray. They call it the famous point. The Edward actually runs off the Murray, north of Deniliquin, and then south of Swan Hill. It was interesting to note a few years ago that, because of the salt intrusion north of Deniliquin and the Swan Hill area, they diverted much of the water through the Edward River. It was amazing that, in a very short period of time, not only was the river back to its peak of many years ago but fish species were returning to that river system. There were fish like redfin, yellow belly, and the famous Murray Cod coming back into that river system.
We questioned how it was possible that these fish that had all but disappeared had returned to a river system because of the water that was sent down that way. It was brought home to me that many of these eggs are laid by fish in the drier areas of the river, and it takes water to bring them back online. These fish eggs, frogs and other species could lay dormant for many years in these back reaches that only get water in big flood years, and when the water was diverted through the Edward, the life that came back into that river was just incredible. There was talk of river boats being able to make it through some of those areas which could not and would not have happened for many years.
An agreement like this is a very positive move. You have recognition, from each of the states and territories involved, that Lake Eyre is a very important part of our country, and should be protected. Through an agreement like this, we have the potential to save that area from unwanted and, probably, unneeded development in that part of the world. If such an agreement had been in existence perhaps a few decades back for the River Murray, we possibly would not be in the same position we are today.
It is very important to note that the agreement does not, from my understanding, tie the Territory into any legal issue with any development that it may have; just that the Northern Territory considers any impact that development may have on the Lake Eyre area of Australia.
Madam Speaker, I thank the minister and her department for providing a very good briefing on the matter. This side of the House supports the agreement.
Mr HAMPTON (Central Australia): Madam Speaker, I support this legislation. In the February sittings I spoke in support of the Cross-border Justice Bill. I talked about how the Ngaanyatjarra Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjaralands had been chopped in three, by lines drawn on a map by colonial officials in the 19th century. The unintended consequences of their actions were that three separate jurisdictions had to administer three separate systems of justice in the cross-border region of Central Australia.
The colonial officials have more to answer for. Not only did they ignore cultural borders, they also ignored physical boundaries. The consequence of this for the Lake Eyre Basin was that responsibility for its administration lies with a number of jurisdictions.
The Cross-border Justice Bill aims to improve the delivery of law and justice services in the NPY lands by removing various legal obstacles caused by the state and territory borders. Similarly, this bill aims to improve environmental outcomes across state and territory borders by ratifying the Lake Eyre Basin Intergovernmental Agreement.
The minister stated that the agreement, which was signed by the Australian, Queensland, South Australian and Northern Territory governments, aims to ensure sustainability of the river systems in the basin. It is a good agreement for the environment in a fragile part of our country and it is appropriate that we are debating the bill at this time, because the rivers are running into Lake Eyre.
We have heard of boom and bust economies, this is the ultimate ‘boom and bust ecology’. For years, even decades, there is little, if any, water flowing, then comes the deluge. The floodwaters that have spread devastation across Queensland have receded south along the Diamantina and Georgina Rivers and what some people call the dead centre is springing to life. Billions of desert flowers are blooming, millions of birds have arrived at the lake, fish are spawning, and even camels are heading there from the Simpson Desert.
It has been fascinating to research Lake Eyre. I am almost tempted to call myself an amateur limnologist. According to the history books, Lake Eyre was discovered in 1840 by the English explorer, Edward John Eyre. This would have come as a surprise to the local custodians, the Arabunna people, who did not know that the lake was missing.
But sometimes the lake did disappear. By 1962, there had been virtually no rain in the region for 20 years and the surface of the dried-up lake was as hard as concrete. As a result, the location was chosen for an attempt on the land speed record by Englishman, Donald Campbell, in his car Bluebird. Campbell and his crew arrived in March 1963 for the May attempt on the record. The inevitable happened - it started raining. By May, the lake was flooding and Campbell called off the record attempt. However, there was a happy ending. Campbell returned to the lake the following year and the rain did not come, and Bluebird duly set a new world land speed record of 648 km/h.
The Lake Eyre Basin is a massive area of land, over 1 million km, almost as big as the Northern Territory. It is spread roughly equally across Queensland, South Australia, and the Northern Territory, with a small sliver in New South Wales.
In terms of my Regional Development portfolios, the Lake Eyre Basin has massive opportunities, particularly for the local traditional owners, the Arabunna people. I also note that the Simpson Desert Land Claim is close to being handed back to the Aboriginal traditional owners. It is important that these types of opportunities are included in any agreement, or that some of those opportunities flow through to traditional owners in jobs and tourism.
Madam Speaker, it is an area of immense conservation significance and I am pleased to support this bill which, in turn, supports the future of the Basin.
Mr ELFERINK (Port Darwin): Madam Speaker, I note that today we are probably one of the only jurisdictions in the country which will be passing two Appropriation Bills, or having one Appropriation Bill introduced, and we are passing one this morning.
Members may recall that when this apparently innocuous piece of legislation hit the table it also came with a tabling letter from you, Madam Speaker, where the Treasurer gave notification of an appropriation from the Central Holding Authority. I confess to being more than a little confused at the time as to why we were passing a new Appropriation bill in an off-budget spend.
Subsequent to that time, the matter has been explained to me and, whilst I understand the technical argument behind it - I am not sure if the technical argument is 100% correct, but I am not going to worry about that - I urge members opposite that if they are going to waltz into this place with an Appropriation bill, that they should at least give some notification to members opposite. Appropriation bills are the vehicle by which we authorise the Treasurer to take money out of the Central Holding Authority and it becomes an off-budget spend.
The reason I am so anxious to make sure that appropriation bills are properly policed is that in the last financial year, the Treasurer went to her original appropriation and withdrew the 5% allowed under the Financial Management Act beyond that original appropriation. That took her within $1000 of the legal limit she could take out, without having to come back into this place and ask for more money, in the last financial year.
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! I question the relevance of the shadow Treasurer’s speech to the Lake Eyre debate we have before us. Time and again I have explained to him the Treasurer’s allowance and how it works from year to year. He simply does not understand it.
Mr ELFERINK: May I speak to the point of order, Madam Speaker? This is an appropriation bill that we are discussing. There is an appropriation component to it. I have to speak in terms of an appropriation bill.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Port Darwin, it is actually a bill relating to the Lake Eyre Basin. Standing Order 67 - no digression from the subject. However, I will allow you to continue with a level of latitude, but if you can relate your comments as closely as possible to the bill.
Mr ELFERINK: As I am doing, Madam Speaker, because I am talking about an appropriation bill and the financial arrangements that this government has in place in the way that it appropriates money. What I am saying is entirely relevant to this bill because this bill appropriates money from the Central Holding Authority, amongst other things. That is what I am talking about right now.
Members have to be aware that every financial year we provide to the government of the Northern Territory an account for contingent liabilities, if you like. I like to call it the piggy bank - the Treasurer hates that term - because it is essentially a wad of money that we give - $40m last year - to the Treasurer in case of unexpected expenditure. Beyond that, the government is then allowed to take 5% more. We put $40m into the kick and last financial year it took that $40m out and spent it by December of last financial year. The government went one step further; it went back into the Central Holding Authority and took out a further 5% of the entire appropriation, which brought them up - if memory serves me correctly - to the order of $177m - the price of three schools - of unbudgeted expenditure ...
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Port Darwin, I ask you to direct your comments to the bill before us. If you wish to speak about appropriation, can you make it in the context of the bill before us?
Mr ELFERINK: Okay, Madam Speaker. This year, they come in and - what do I see? The very unusual step, unannounced - no advice or notice given to the House for the rationale behind it – for an appropriation bill to enable this particular legislation to pass and be paid for, which means it was not going to be found in the budget. This is a completely separate appropriation from the Central Holding Authority.
I have been nervous for quite some time about this government’s approach to what it has been doing this financial year, based on what occurred last financial year - which is why it was important for me to go through it. Last financial year, the government drained the piggy bank, and everything it could, to within $1000 - a $4bn budget - and it went to within $1000 of having to come into this place and ask for more money.
The government advises the House of its changes to budgetary expenditure, and when it shifts money around through the Transfer of Excess Allocations. In the last financial year …
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! I know the shadow Treasurer is frustrated because the Leader of the Opposition is giving the budget reply tomorrow, but this is about the Lake Eyre Appropriation bill. His remarks are nowhere near it …
Mr Mills: Appropriation bill.
Mr Elferink: Appropriation bill.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr Elferink: Embarrassing, is it not?
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Ms LAWRIE: No, it is not.
Mr Mills: It is embarrassing.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Leader of the Opposition, cease interjecting. Member for Port Darwin, I remind you of Standing Order 67 - No digression from the subject. This is a bill relating to the Lake Eyre Basin Intergovernmental Agreement Bill 2009 (Serial 31) and …
Mr ELFERINK: Madam Speaker, I …
Madam SPEAKER: Excuse me, member for Port Darwin, I am speaking. I remind you that you need to direct your comments directly to the bill at hand. While there may be some link, you need to be very careful in the way you link it, so it is clear to us listening.
Mr ELFERINK: I am endeavouring to construct the argument. Whilst the Treasurer acknowledges that this is an appropriation bill - she just said so - I suggest that it is entirely appropriate that I examine the way the government appropriates money. Surely, that would not be outside the realms of normal conduct in the debate for an appropriation bill.
I will proceed because it is a very important mechanism that the government is using. It is highly unusual that it came into this place; under normal circumstances, one would have expected that there would have been a Transfer of Excess Allocation so that we could all see …
Dr BURNS: A point of order, Madam Speaker! This debate is about Lake Eyre Basin …
Mr Elferink: Appropriation bill.
Madam SPEAKER: Resume your seat, member for Port Darwin.
Dr BURNS: I ask about relevance, Madam Speaker.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Port Darwin, I have asked you to make your comments as close as possible to the bill before the House. While there is a fair bit of latitude, it must actually be relevant to the bill.
Mr ELFERINK: Madam Speaker, this is entirely relevant to the bill. This is an appropriation bill. They are taking money out of the Central Holding Authority. If I cannot speak about an appropriation bill in terms of appropriation, I cannot speak. Surely …
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Port Darwin, this is a bill about the Lake Eyre agreement. While I am allowing you a fair bit of latitude, can you please make some comments relating to the bill itself?
Mr ELFERINK: Okay. To make the Lake Eyre agreement work, they have to take $50 000 out of the Central Holding Authority. Under normal circumstances, one would expect that money to come out of the Treasurer’s Advance, which is exactly the sort of thing that the Treasurer’s Advance is about.
We have not seen the Transfer of Excess Allocation from the Treasurer’s Advance to this particular agreement because the Transfer of Excess Allocation is not tabled. That is why we have not seen it. Madam Speaker, last year …
Dr BURNS: A point of order, Madam Speaker! I call relevance once again, and I also point to the fact that the member for Port Darwin is demonstrating his complete lack of knowledge about how the government works and how appropriations are made, particularly for an amount of $60 000.
Madam SPEAKER: Leader of Government Business, there is no point of order.
Ms Lawrie: It was a requirement of the IGA that we do it as an appropriation.
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order, order! Member for Port Darwin, you may continue but remember Standing Order 67.
Mr ELFERINK: I appreciate that, Madam Speaker, and I thank you for your guidance.
This appropriation bill - this money being taken from outside the normal budgetary process …
Ms Lawrie: Was a requirement of the IGA.
Mr ELEFERINK: Yes.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr Mills: Yes. Calm down and listen.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Ms Lawrie: He needs to get it right.
Mr ELFERINK: This money that was being taken from outside of the normal budgetary process could just have easily been taken from within the normal budgetary process.
Ms Lawrie: No, it was a requirement of the IGA.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr ELFERINK: Whilst I appreciate the Treasurer’s anxiety about this …
Ms Lawrie: Not anxious, just get it right.
Mr MILLS: A point of order Madam Speaker! You directed me to refrain from interjecting. I ask you to do the same for the Treasurer.
Madam SPEAKER: Treasurer, if you can cease interjecting, thank you.
Mr ELFERINK: Thank you, Madam Speaker. The government has taken a wholly unusual way to pay for this …
Mr Knight: It was a requirement of the IGA.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr ELFERINK: It has taken an unusual way to pay for this agreement. The reason I am suspicious of this, and in the absence of any Transfer of Excess Allocations - something that is normally done in a timely and efficient fashion – is that we are seeing, before this House, some sort of signal from the government that it may have expired the total amount that it could possibly expire through the Transfer of Excess Allocation or that it has already extended itself to the point where it has reached the 5% limit demanded by the Financial Management Act. That is at the nub of this particular issue.
The government wants to portray itself as a financial manager, but when it has to come in here with a second appropriation bill …
Mr KNIGHT: A point of order, Madam Speaker! We have digressed significantly. There has not been one word mentioned of the Lake Eyre Agreement. This is …
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order, order! Minister, resume your seat. I remind you of Standing Order 67, member for Port Darwin. If you can keep it on track, please.
Mr ELFERINK: Madam Speaker, whilst I appreciate we are talking about a particular agreement, attached to this agreement is an appropriation bill. That is a bill where this House passes law …
Dr BURNS: A point of order, Madam Speaker! I again call relevance. The member for Port Darwin was told about this agreement and why this was an appropriation bill, yet he comes in, pulling a political stunt in front of a crowd, trying to …
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Dr BURNS: … and I call relevance again.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Port Darwin, can you please make your comments relevant to the bill?
Mr ELFERINK: Madam Speaker, this is an appropriation bill. To make this agreement work, the government is appropriating money. That is what we do with a budget every year. And we give that budget to the government every year through an appropriation bill. This bill is a second appropriation bill, taken from outside of the budgetary process, a highly unusual process, a completely unusual process to make this legislation…
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order, order! Member for Port Darwin, you have the call, but can you keep your comments with no digression from the subject, please?
Mr ELFERINK: Madam Speaker, this is an appropriation bill, which means that we take money from outside of the normal budgetary processes. For me not to talk about the appropriation bill when there is an appropriation bill on the table is impossible …
Members interjecting.
Mr ELFERINK: I appreciate that members opposite are feeling nervous and twitchy about this particular issue because this is demonstrative of the way they conduct their business.
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Order!
Mr ELFERINK: This is indicative of the way that they conduct their business. What we are seeing now, with the constant interjections and the constant points of order, is that they are trying to disrupt me whilst I am trying to challenge them and criticise them for sidestepping the normal budgetary processes of the Northern Territory, so they can get this legislation through.
This is what this government does all the time. If it does not want to hear it, all it does is call points of order, it tries to shut debate down and gag the speaker on his feet. I will not be drawn into that. If it brings an appropriation bill into this House, which is outside the normal budgetary processes, I will be on my feet, as I was when this bill was introduced, asking questions about it straight away. That is my job and my duty. I believe the people of the Northern Territory deserve to know that this government is more than happy to sidestep the normal protocols of appropriating money …
Dr BURNS: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Once again, he is weaving his story and becoming completely irrelevant. He knows that this bill is about $50 000, that it is part of an intergovernmental agreement and this is the appropriate way to bring it into this place. He is embarrassing himself and his side …
Madam Speaker, I ask that relevance be called.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Port Darwin, I ask you for the final time to make your comments relevant to this bill or I will ask you to resume your seat.
Mr ELFERINK: Madam Speaker, this is an appropriation bill. I cannot but talk about an appropriation bill when we are talking about an appropriation bill.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Port Darwin, if you can make your comments relate to the Lake Eyre Basin.
Mr ELFERINK: All right, Madam Speaker. The government gets a budget at the beginning of the year. It then signs up to agreements which it should pay out of that budget, but it does not. It comes into this place and takes more money out of the savings of Northern Territorians. This agreement is a classical example of it. Then the government can say it was not part of the budget, so it did not exceed that part of the budget. That is the way that these guys operate, Madam Speaker. When someone catches them doing it, all you hear from them is interruption, interjection and points of order on the relevance of appropriation bills when we are discussing appropriation bills.
That is bizarre. It is bizarre the way they conduct themselves and it is a bizarre argument that we should not be talking about an appropriation bill when we have an appropriation bill in front of the House. They do not particularly want to hear this but Territorians deserve to know that they operate in this fashion.
I accept that this bill has to be passed, for no other reason than we are signed up to an agreement, and we should honour that agreement. But why does the government not go through the normal budgetary processes of budgeting at the beginning of the year so that it knows it can sign up to this agreement and put the money in the can? Do not come waltzing in with appropriation bills halfway through the day or halfway through the financial year because, oops, we forgot that bit.
Madam Speaker, if the government is going to be a good financial manager, then it should plan at the beginning of the year. What is the point of having a budget if it cannot plan for how that financial year rolls out?
Last year we saw an extra $175m spent, which was not in the budget. We did not know about it when we passed the budget; the government simply went and spent it. It then had to take money out of the Central Holding Authority, to the absolute limit. It went within $1000 of having to come back to this place and having to pass a new appropriation bill. They have spent like drunken sailors, they continue to spend like drunken sailors and now they are spending like drunken sailors with a credit card.
Debate suspended.
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, I advise that I have given permission for various media to broadcast live, or rebroadcast with sound and vision, the presentation of the budget and the Treasurer’s speech, and the Leader of the Opposition’s reply.
I have also given permission for Territory FM radio to broadcast live the presentation of the budget and the Treasurer’s speech and the Leader of the Opposition’s reply, and also the Northern Territory News to take photographs, both today and tomorrow.
I advise honourable members that after the suspension for lunch the Chair will resume at 2.30 pm.
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, I advise you of the presence in the Chamber of Ms Dawn Lawrie, the former member for Nightcliff, and the mother of the Treasurer.
VISITORS
Madam Speaker: Honourable members, I also advise that Ms Jennifer Prince, the Under-Treasurer, and officers of the Northern Territory Treasury are in the gallery to listen to the budget.
Also present are Casuarina Secondary College, Year 12 Economics students, accompanied by Irini Pikoulos; Wagaman Primary School Year 2/3 students, accompanied by Mrs Gemma Chadbourne and Miss Debbie; and especially members of the public visiting to watch the 2009-10 Budget presentation.
Bills presented and read a first time.
Ms LAWRIE (Treasurer): Madam Speaker, I move that the bills be now read a second time.
I table the Appropriation (Additional for 2008-2009) Bill, the Appropriation Bill (2009-2010), and the related papers.
Since I stood in this Assembly to deliver the 2008-09 Budget, the very basis of the world’s economy has fundamentally changed. There is no doubt this has been the toughest budget to frame in Territory history. Over the past financial year we have witnessed an exceptionally swift and severe global economic deterioration - the worst global recession for 75 years.
All developed economies, and most of Australia’s major trading partners, have recorded sharply negative growth and threaten to remain in recession for the foreseeable future.
Despite its stronger economic foundations and substantial efforts by the Rudd government, Australia has not been able to avoid recession. Against this setting, the Territory Labor government has structured the 2009-10 Budget with a fundamental goal - to protect Territory jobs across all sectors of our economy.
Budget 2009-10 delivers this key priority by building the Territory. At its core is an unprecedented $1.3bn infrastructure investment in the Territory’s housing, roads, schools, and community, creating over 2500 construction and related jobs.
Budget 2009-10 delivers stronger frontline services and more frontline staff through a record $1bn health budget, an $808m investment in education, and $279m for police and emergency services.
Budget 2009-10 maintains consumer and business confidence, improves economic efficiency and invests in programs and policies which provide maximum benefit to the broader economy. Budget 2009-10 demonstrates the Henderson Labor government’s absolute focus on action now to create and sustain Territory jobs and minimise the impact of these daunting economic conditions on Territory families.
Despite severe reductions in the GST pool, the Northern Territory has increased investment spending to protect jobs and economic growth. This is a deliberate decision of the government.
The necessary result is a temporary budget deficit for the first time in six years. Importantly, however, Budget 2009-10 demonstrates stringent fiscal and economic management through a five-year strategy to step out of deficit, while maintaining necessary levels of infrastructure spending.
This is an unprecedented budget for unprecedented times. It is a budget that concentrates on core government business: keeping people in jobs, keeping our economy strong, and keeping the Territory at the forefront of growth. Thus far, the Northern Territory has stood firm in the global economic storm. The Northern Territory economy is estimated to grow by 4.1% in 2008-09. This is expected to be one of the highest growth rates in the nation.
While the global economy is not expected to recover quickly over the coming year, the Territory economy will continue to buck the trend, growing by a forecast 2% in 2009-10. This is a remarkable achievement in a period when most other jurisdictions will be struggling to record any growth at all. Record investment expenditure, estimated to have increased by 13.1% in real terms to $5.2bn in 2008-09, has been the primary force insulating the Territory from the slowing global economy.
Investment expenditure has been driven by major private sector projects such as the Blacktip gas project, the Bonaparte gas pipeline, and the GEMCO manganese refinery expansion on Groote Eylandt. It has also been supported by substantial government infrastructure projects such as the Victoria Highway upgrade, the Tiger Brennan Drive extension, the Owen Springs and Weddell Power Stations, and the ongoing redevelopment of the Darwin waterfront.
Economic growth in 2008-09 has been supported by an estimated 9.5% increase in Territory exports including LNG, condensate and LPG, alumina, and manganese.
Consumption expenditure, which accounts for around 70% of the demand for goods and services in the Territory, is forecast to increase by 2.5% in 2008-09 and 2009-10.
While record low interest rates and Commonwealth stimulus payments to households have played their part in supporting growth in private spending, it is underpinned by the ongoing confidence Territorians have in our economy.
We also continue to out-perform other jurisdictions on a wide range of key economic indicators. In the face of sharp rises elsewhere, our trend unemployment rate has remained steady at 4% over the past three months, and is the second lowest nationally, behind the ACT.
Between the 2008-09 Budget and March 2009, the most recent data available shows full-time jobs have increased by more than 7000, in sharp contrast to the 0.9% decrease in full-time jobs nationally. The outlook for employment in the Territory remains positive, with growth of 2.5% estimated for 2008-09 and 1.5% in 2009-10. A major employment organisation noted in a recent report: if you want a job, move to the Territory.
Greater job certainty results in greater consumer confidence, and this is reflected in our retail trade figures. Retail spending grew by 8.7% in the Northern Territory in 2008 to $2.3bn, well above the 1.8% national growth rate. While growth is forecast to moderate in 2009-10, it is still expected to grow.
The Northern Territory’s estimated population growth of 1.8% in 2009 also outpaces the national average, fuelled by our young population and high birth rate, as well as positive nett migration of people looking for work and attracted by our great lifestyle.
The Darwin CPI is estimated to moderate to 2.6% in 2009 from 4% reported for 2008. Territory and federal government initiatives, such as Buildstart and the First Home Owner Boost have led to large numbers of homebuyers entering the Territory property market in 2008-09. The Commonwealth’s First Home Owner Boost Scheme has assisted over 660 Territory first homebuyers. The Territory’s Buildstart Scheme provides a $14 000 incentive to buy or build new homes. Over 183 Buildstart applications have been received and 94 grants paid so far. These have both helped to stimulate economic activity, providing more jobs in construction and supply industries, and delivering more housing for our growing population.
However, for industries more directly exposed to global economic forces and, in particular, China’s retreat from its record growth, the news is more sombre. The resources sector, so important to the Territory economy, has been undeniably affected. Nevertheless, it is well placed to capitalise on the massive infrastructure spending plans announced by governments around the world.
One of the primary drivers of the Territory economy in 2009-10 will be record levels of public investment expenditure. The $1.3bn infrastructure program is 47% higher than is estimated for 2008-09, which is a record year itself. Spending is allocated across all parts of the Territory and in all service areas.
Budget 2009-10 shows the Territory government is acting decisively to keep our economy strong and keep Territorians in jobs. The Territory government had the foresight to act when global times were good, to pursue major projects and with them secure the Northern Territory’s long-term future.
Mega-projects such as INPEX are already having an impact, with front end engineering and design already contributing directly to the Territory economy. The project has also had a significant indirect impact on the economy by supporting consumer and business confidence levels, which according to Sensis remain substantially higher than national levels. This US$12bn project will be the largest private sector investment in the Territory’s history, and the best insurance we have against the current global crisis and potential downturns over the next generation.
Budget 2009-10 also demonstrates the Territory Labor government’s close cooperation with the Rudd government to roll-out the Nation Building and Jobs Plan stimulus package. The Territory government strongly supports all components of the Commonwealth’s efforts to protect Australia from the worst of the downturn. Opposition to the package would have been disastrous for the Territory economy, with an immediate negative impact on jobs. But, the massive stimulus package will only flow through to job numbers if it is rapidly and efficiently delivered on the ground.
The Territory government is already proving it is up to the challenge. Dedicated Stimulus Action Squads have been established to deliver the package. To make sure projects are tendered quickly and efficiently, the government has streamlined procurement arrangements, lifted thresholds, improved information flow, and reduced paperwork. Complementing this, the government has taken quick action to increase Development Consent Authority resources to speed up the planning approval processes.
The Nation Building and Jobs Plan will provide $350m in infrastructure to the Northern Territory, including $272m to the Territory government over four years. Tenders are already under way for:
$12m in road repairs and maintenance, $1.5m for black spots, and $2.5m to improve safety at railway crossings;
$10.5m for the first round of the National School Pride refurbishment projects in every school; and
$7.1m for the first round of new and upgraded social housing in Alice Springs, Tennant Creek, and Darwin.
The Commonwealth will also spend an extra $76m on Defence housing in the next year; a further boost for the construction industry.
A fundamental component of the Henderson Labor government’s work with the Rudd government, is maintaining Territory spending on job-creating projects, programs, and policies. The Northern Territory will go well beyond this baseline requirement.
In Budget 2009-10, we will build the Territory through a record infrastructure spend of $1.3bn, an increase of $414m from 2008-09, to create and sustain jobs, increase economic efficiency, and improve our quality of life.
In this Budget, housing infrastructure totals $255.9m, and includes:
$10m for a 44-unit seniors village in Bellamack;
Budget 2009-10 allocates $108.6m for land release and community infrastructure, including the development of the new Palmerston suburbs of Johnston, Mitchell and Zuccoli. Land will be available in Johnston and Bellamack by the end of the year.
Budget 2009-10 includes a record education infrastructure budget of $196.8m, incorporating:
$101.9m for the Nation Building and Jobs Plan package;
Community safety remains a priority for the Henderson government with a $51.9m infrastructure program also creating jobs on the ground. This funding includes:
$8m for police stations;
This facility will be contemporary in design and operation, improving rehabilitation prospects and lowering re-offending rates. The current Darwin facility is clearly at the end of its useful life. Only a new prison will deliver the outcomes the community requires.
Our lifestyle is a central part of what makes the Territory great. The Henderson government will keep it that way by investing in infrastructure for families. This includes:
$5m for a water park in Palmerston;
Significant investment in power, water and sewerage assets continues in budget 2009-10, with the five-year infrastructure program now totalling $1.4bn. Projects that will be undertaken as part of this program include:
$226m for new power stations and distribution;,
The $1.3bn infrastructure investment also includes a record roads budget of $322m, almost four times that of 2001. Not only do roads create jobs during construction, they open up the Territory for greater economic investment and efficiency and that means more jobs in the pastoral, mining and tourism sectors.
In partnership with the Commonwealth, work will continue on Tiger Brennan Drive with $89.5m for the 7.5km extension and the Berrimah Road rail overpass. There is also $10.3m for additional duplication and passing lanes.
Other major roads projects include:
$19m for community, beef and mining roads in our regions;
As responsible governments around the world recognise, maintaining a blind adherence to a surplus in this major global downturn will cost jobs and damage communities for years to come. At a time like this, when private investment slows, governments must step in.
Budget 2009-10 demonstrates strong economic management by maintaining spending to protect our economy, while mapping a clear, staged return to a balanced budget within five years.
After six years of surplus a collapse in GST revenues, coupled with government’s commitment to increase investment spending to maintain economic growth and jobs, means that a temporary budget deficit in 2008-09 and the following four years is unavoidable. The decision to go into temporary deficit was not taken lightly, but it was made with an absolute commitment to return the budget to surplus as soon as economically responsible.
The Fiscal Integrity and Transparency Act requires that a fiscal strategy, reflecting current economic and financial conditions, is tabled with each budget. The fiscal strategy contained in this budget varies from the strategy that has guided us in recent years because of the very different economic circumstances that now prevail.
The new fiscal strategy retains the previous components of sustainable service provision, infrastructure for economic and community development, competitive tax environment, and prudent management of liabilities, but the elements have changed to reflect the current economic and financial reality.
The sustainable service provision component provides a commitment to maintaining strong fiscal discipline by limiting expense growth over the budget cycle to ensure there is an operating surplus in the general government sector.
During the period of economic downturn, infrastructure spending will increase to support jobs and maintain growth. The operating surplus will not be sufficient to cover this higher level of capital spending and a temporary cash deficit will result. When revenue growth returns to its usual level, the growth in expenses will not increase at the same rate, resulting in higher operating surpluses as well as cash surpluses. The surplus funds will be used to retire debt built up during the period of economic downturn.
The infrastructure component of the strategy commits to spending at least twice the depreciation expense on new infrastructure during the period of economic downturn. When usual economic conditions return, infrastructure spending will be at least the same as depreciation.
The competitive tax component remains unchanged. The prudent management of liabilities aspect commits to return nett debt to its 2007-08 level, once the economy recovers, through a 5% per annum reduction in debt levels.
Turning to the estimated budget outcomes that result from this new fiscal strategy, a deficit of $17m is estimated for 2008-09. This is better than my February update, largely due to further increases in mineral royalty payments, offset by lower GST revenue. During 2008-09 total receipts have increased by $275m and payments by $302m. While total receipts have increased, there has been a significant reduction in GST revenue of $162m or 6.7%.
While tied Commonwealth revenue has increased by $262m, and will provide important services, it is not available for general use. Mining royalties have increased by $137m, which is an indication of strength in our resources sector. While this growth will continue next year, it will be at a lower level. The payment variation of $302m is a result of policy decisions, matching expenditure for the tied Commonwealth funding and the carryover from 2007-08.
The deficit for 2009-10 is now expected to be $201m - $222m worse than was expected this time last year. This is largely the effect of a substantial GST reduction of $211m, which lowers the GST proportion of our total revenue from around 67% to 55%.
The reduction in GST revenue has a major effect on the budget and all forward estimate years. From 2008-09 through to 2012-13, the GST revenue is $916m lower than estimated at the time of the 2008-09 Budget, due solely to the economic downturn as a result of the global financial crisis. While the budget is expected to remain in deficit over the forward estimate years, the government’s clear path to return the budget to surplus is evident in the estimated budget outcome through to 2012-13.
A budget deficit inevitably means that debt levels increase. The increase in general government debt since the May 2008-09 Budget and the end of the current forward estimate period is $577m, but this is $339m lower than the reduction in GST revenue over the same period, and demonstrates the extent of this budget’s fiscal discipline.
In May 2008, the estimate for the debt to revenue ratio for the general government sector was 20% at the end of the forward estimate period. The revised ratio in the 2009-10 Budget is 33%, still approximately half the debt to revenue ratio of 61% when we came to office.
The Henderson government is justifiably proud that the Territory is the lowest taxing jurisdiction for small business. I am pleased to announce that Budget 2009-10 maintains this enviable position. I am also pleased to confirm that there are no new taxes in this budget. Government’s commitment to supporting business means we will not, for example, impose a fire and emergency services levy or a land tax, which are levied in all other states. Since 2001, this government has undertaken significant taxation reform, with cumulative tax savings totalling $321m. However, the significant reduction in GST revenue has meant that the government must extend the time lines for remaining national tax reform commitments.
The abolition of stamp duty on business transactions, excluding land, will now be completed on 1 July 2012. This change does not impose any new charge on Territory businesses and meets our intergovernmental commitments. The Territory is not alone in this process. Queensland, South Australia, and New South Wales have all announced that they will now abolish their remaining duties in 2012.
Each year, the Territory pays $3.9m to fund an on-road fuel subsidy of 1.1 per litre, mostly paid to fuel retailers, in the hope that it will be passed onto Territory motorists. The Parry report indicated that Territory fuel prices were driven by the low volume of fuel sold and the lack of vigorous competition. These market conditions raise valid questions as to whether the subsidy is actually being passed on to consumers, particularly in regional areas. Tasmania and Victoria abolished similar subsidies and this resulted in no noticeable impact on prevailing fuel prices in these states. Government has decided that Territorians are better served by redirecting these funds to the substantially increased roads and public transport budget.
Budget 2009-10 includes a range of reforms that improve taxation equity and reduce red tape. Previously, the takeover of listed entities with valuable landholdings was not subject to stamp duty, in contrast to the stamp duty treatment of land held by Territorians when they purchase a home. Budget 2009-10 will ensure that stamp duty is payable for the acquisition of valuable landholdings of large listed companies and trusts where such an entity becomes the subject of a takeover or merger. Stamp duty rules on landholding trusts will also be aligned with the rules that apply to companies, making the stamp duty scheme simpler and fairer.
As indicated in last year’s budget, from 1 July 2009, the Territory will move to more fully harmonise its payroll tax legislation with most other states. The majority of the Territory’s payroll taxpayers also pay this tax in other states. This will reduce red tape for these businesses as they will only need to deal with one set of payroll tax rules.
We will also expand payroll exemptions for charitable and benevolent institutions, and wages paid to employees undertaking maternity or adoption leave or emergency volunteer work, such as firefighting, at a cost of $1.3m.
Many of the fees for government services have not been reviewed for years. These fee levels have been eroded by inflation and are well below the cost of providing these services. The government will update fee and charge levels, and introduce an indexation mechanism to apply from 1 January 2010. A similar mechanism will also be included in the Penalty Units legislation.
Although unrelated to the budget and not a revenue source for government, the Motor Accident Compensation Contributions Commissioner has also determined a 5% increase in motor accident compensation premiums, in line with increases in benefits. The government has therefore decided not to increase motor vehicle registration fees. I am advised that this MACA increase will add approximately $20 to MACA premiums, or an overall registration increase of 3.7%.
I now turn to specific initiatives in Budget 2009-10. The core focus of Budget 2009-10 is on protecting and creating jobs for Territorians. In addition to our unprecedented $1.3bn infrastructure investment, the Henderson Labor government will create new and boost continuing programs to help Territorians into jobs.
Budget 2009-10 provides an additional $1m per annum to support an extra 10 000 apprentice and trainee commencements between 2009 and 2012. In cooperation with the Commonwealth, $1.3m is being provided for a trade training centre in Tennant Creek; and $500 000 is provided to establish two regional job hubs – one in Nhulunbuy and one in Tennant Creek, to support local employment.
During 2009-10, in response to the global economic outlook, Tourism NT will focus on stimulating demand for Territory tourism experiences and supporting local tourism businesses. A Tourism Stimulus Response of $9.3m over two years will target campaigns in selected markets and assist operators to improve their business operations. Tourism NT will also spend $1.5m to increase the Territory’s competitive aviation access position in key source markets.
Keeping Territorians safe is a key government priority. A centrepiece of the Henderson Labor government‘s Budget 2009-10 Community Safety Program is a three-year program to deliver a new Berrimah fire station at a cost of $12.3m, combined with a substantial increase over four years in fire and emergency services resources. In 2009-10, the government will provide $1.65m to commence the first phase of this initiative, with 11 new firefighter positions for Darwin, and nine new firefighters for Alice Springs.
Budget 2009-10 continues the important Safer Streets initiative, with additional funding in 2009-10 of $5.1m, taking the total funding for this program to $9.3m. This initiative tackles crime and disorder in urban centres head-on, by boosting uniformed police numbers by a further 25 and providing an additional 10 police auxiliaries. The government is also directing $2.5m to establish Police Beats in shopping precincts. We have already seen how successful this visible police presence has been in Casuarina. We will also provide $6m to upgrade the Alice Springs Police Station and $2m to convert the Numbulwar police post to a fully operational police station.
Budget 2009-10 delivers $3.4m to establish and maintain closed circuit television systems in the greater Darwin area, and $7.2m to continue the upgrade of the Police, Fire and Emergency Services digital radio network. This expanded and more effective police presence will lead to more successful investigations and prosecutions, which is why government will also allocate $3.8m to improve court capacity, boost prosecution resources, and strengthen the Forensic Science Branch.
The Territory Labor government is keen to embrace and fund new ideas to drive our criminal re-offending rates down. Therefore, Budget 2009-10 provides $2m to establish a regional prisoner work camp in the Barkly region.
It is unacceptable that most violent crime in the Northern Territory occurs within a domestic relationship. The government will provide an additional $15m over three years to enhance domestic violence prevention services and support our world first mandatory reporting laws.
Closing the Gap continues to achieve results in the justice sector through $2.9m for remote area community corrections officers and rehabilitation programs for family violence and sex offenders. Funding of almost $1m is also allocated in Budget 2009-10 to address antisocial behaviour through the Darwin area night patrol services and a Palmerston office to coordinate accommodation and Return to Country programs.
There is additional funding of $544 000 in 2008-09 and $1.1m ongoing to expand emergency accommodation for young people at risk in Alice Springs.
The Henderson Labor government’s focus on housing will create jobs and help more people to buy their own home. Homestart NT will provide low-to-middle income earners with assistance to purchase their own homes. Targeted at the affordable housing market, Homestart NT will provide access to 40% of properties in the Territory’s main centres, while requiring no more than 30% of household income in repayments. Income levels are linked to household size, with access to the scheme geared towards families. Homestart NT will provide low-to-middle-income earners with the most substantial package of assistance ever to help them achieve homeownership.
The Rudd and Henderson Labor governments are also working together to realise the fundamental right all people have to appropriate accommodation. The Nation Building and Jobs Plan package will provide $64m over four years to expand social housing throughout the Territory.
The Remote Indigenous Housing National Partnership Agreement will provide $1.7bn over 10 years for new and upgraded housing in remote areas. This massive building effort will be complemented by $21.4m in Commonwealth funding to support tenancy and maintenance services for remote housing.
For the first time ever, the Territory government will deliver a $1bn Health budget. This 117% increase in health funding since 2001 demonstrates the Henderson Labor government’s focus on improving health outcomes for all Territorians, no matter where they live.
Highlights in Budget 2009-10 include an additional $2m to continue after hours urgent care service at the Palmerston Super Clinic hub. Since it opened, over 3700 Palmerston residents have used this important service. Construction to expand the Palmerston Super Clinic will commence in 2009-10, and an additional $960 000 is also included to expand Palmerston ambulance services.
The cancer centre will be completed by the end of this calendar year and will take in patients by early 2010. The government will provide $2m to support this important step forward by providing modern, supportive accommodation for patients and their families from outside Darwin while they undertake treatment.
The government also recognises that there has been historic neglect of young people and adults with complex care needs. Over many years this has adversely affected individuals and the wider community. In Budget 2009-10 this will dramatically change. The government is directing $13.9m in 2009-10 and 2010-11 to construct secure care facilities and additional secure beds in Alice Springs and Darwin Hospitals.
Another strong community concern is access to public dental services. The government is therefore allocating additional funding of $1.5m for general dental services to cut our waiting lists by providing 4000 extra appointments in the first year.
We are commencing a 10-year heart health plan in 2009-10 by allocating an additional $630 000 to improve cardiac services.
Closing the Gap initiatives are continuing through $5.5m for expanded services for children in care, child protection services and chronic disease programs.
The $808m Education and Training budget will improve educational outcomes for all Territory students. Budget 2009-10 provides $11.2m over two years to establish the Alice Springs Dual Campus Middle School and Youth Hub, with $4.76m in 2009-10 and $2.6m in 2010-11 for upgrades at the Gillen Campus and ANZAC Hill Campus. In 2010-11 a $3.85m 30-bed boarding facility will also be constructed.
To help close the educational outcome gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous students, funding of $5.1m will deliver six additional school counsellors, five mobile preschools, and 16 additional remote area teachers to support increased enrolments. Budget 2009-10 also commences a $2.6m five-year commitment for the Families as First Teacher Program to support Indigenous families in remote locations.
The Territory offers the best lifestyle in Australia, and the Henderson Labor government is making sure it stays that way. In Budget 2009-10 funding of $9.7m is provided to support sport and recreation initiatives and facilities across the Territory, including $1m for remote community sport and recreation programs, and $1m extra to build and upgrade sporting infrastructure.
New funding of $2m each year will also be provided for the next four years for parks infrastructure to support the Territory’s Tourism Stimulus package and improve access to our beautiful environment.
Budget 2009-10 also improves our public transport system by providing $1m for park-and-ride facilities in the greater Darwin area, $600 000 for new bus services in Darwin, and $1.8m for expanded free bus travel for students and seniors.
The government is also providing an extra $3.3m to increase pensioner and carers’ concessions for motor vehicle registration, drivers’ licences and power and water subsidies.
Budget 2009-10 includes a further $1.1m to support arts and festival initiatives. There is also a three year, $2.1m commitment for ecoBiz NT, a new program to improve business energy efficiency.
Government is also providing $10.5m to our great horse and greyhound racing industries as part of industry funding agreements.
Last week the Chief Minister released the draft Territory 2030 strategic plan to encourage new ideas and help the Territory grow. In Budget 2009-10 funding of $1.5m has been allocated to implement the plan, along with $1.1m to continue our path towards statehood.
The Northern Territory faces incredible challenges over the coming financial year, as we travel through this turbulent global economic period. These unprecedented times require complete focus on what matters most: protecting the jobs that support our hard-working Territory families. An unprecedented infrastructure spend demonstrates the Henderson Labor government’s absolute commitment to doing everything it can to protect jobs. Record-breaking Health, Justice and Education budgets will provide the frontline services every Territorian deserves, no matter where they live, and give our kids the best possible future.
In the most challenging global economic conditions we have faced since self-government, this is the budget to carry the Territory safely through the storm.
Madam Speaker, I commend the bill to the House.
Members: Hear, hear!
Debate adjourned.
Continued from earlier this day.
Mr WOOD (Nelson): Madam Speaker, I thank the minister for introducing this bill. There are some questions that need some explanation. I do not know whether it is worth going into committee stage to discuss those; I will see what answers we receive during this debate.
One of the questions is: why an intergovernmental agreement has to go before parliament for ratification? I presume that most governments have numbers of agreements between states and territories, so it is interesting that this intergovernmental agreement has to be ratified by this particular bill. What does ratification through this House mean when it comes to reading this particular agreement? How much is binding, for instance, on the Northern Territory government? If it has agreed to this agreement via being ratified in parliament, are we then bound to everything in the agreement? If that is the case, then I thought this agreement should have been part of the debate that went with the bill.
We can debate it, but the agreement is already up and running, so there is not really an opportunity for us to participate in an agreement that we are being asked to ratify. All we are being asked to ratify are a small number of clauses in a very short bill. It basically says this act is to approve, ratify and facilitate the Lake Eyre Basin Intergovernmental Agreement.
It is a question that should be answered because it goes to the crux of the matter: why do we need this legislation to ratify this agreement? If we do need this ratification, then it is a reasonable question for a parliamentarian in this House to ask why the agreement should not have been agreed to before it was ratified, so we all could have participated in the debate about this agreement. That does not put the agreement down. I am trying to put in some balance as to why we are in parliament dealing with this issue today.
The question the member for Port Darwin raised today in relation to a clause in the agreement, which is in the schedules under Annexure B, where the Terms state that:
Ms Lawrie: It is a requirement of the IGA.
Mr WOOD: That might be the case. But there has not been a proper explanation of that. I am asking the minister who has carriage of this bill to explain what that means. It might be simple for the Treasurer; she is the Treasurer, I am not - and do not intend to be the Treasurer - but I would like the minister to enlighten us as to why there has been this special requirement to bring forth approval for that particular $10 000. I was not given any explanation at the time. By the way, I thank the government for its briefing, but this issue was not raised at that briefing.
There are a number of minor questions that I would like to ask. One is in relation to Part V, Institutional Structure, where 5.3(b) talks about when the minister cannot perform their duties on this ministerial forum, and it seems that another minister will have those responsibilities and perform all the duties of that member. It is only a technical question, but does it have to be a minister or can it be, for instance, a backbencher who attends the ministerial forum, so it is not restricted to ministers?
Annexure B, Terms, states that:
(c) the remainder of the Northern Territory contribution will be drawn from natural resource management, environmental or other program activities within the Agreement Area that support the objectives of the Lake Eyre Basin Intergovernmental Agreement (but excluding any activities funded jointly through existing Commonwealth - Territory agreements).
I wonder if the minister has examples of what other activities would be funded jointly through existing Commonwealth/Territory agreements in relation to the Lake Eyre Basin.
There has been much discussion about the control of water. The former Howard government tried to instigate an agreement between all states for the Commonwealth to take control of our waterways. For good reason it believed that having so many people in charge of our waterways was not good for the nation. It could be seen that many of the problems which exist today with the allocation of water, especially in the Murray-Darling area, are because there were too many bureaucracies and states looking after water which flowed from one state to another. I wonder if there is an opportunity, or has there been any discussion, for the Commonwealth to control water that flows into the Lake Eyre Basin. We would not want to see the issues which have arisen in the Murray-Darling area.
I was listening to the member for Stuart talk about how - he calls them colonialists - carved up the Pitjantjatjara lands with straight lines which did not represent their natural governance areas. If that is not a good argument against statehood I will go ‘he’, because that is one of the problems we have with statehood. We have this series of boundaries of longitude and latitude which do not necessarily bear any relationship with geographical, cultural or Indigenous boundaries. We have just plonked them on a map of Australia and said: ‘I am now a crow eater, you are now a Mexican’, and we barrack for our team and they barrack for their team. We have basically become a type of parochial group.
I have an article from the federal government about the issues involved in trying to find a place for the radioactive waste facility. The article quoted the minister, Mr Ferguson, who basically said that we have problems because Australians have acted in an immature way - and I believe he is referring to our parochialism - in trying to find answers to issues we have to solve.
When I look at the Lake Eyre Basin, I believe, to some extent, it is the same thing. The Lake Eyre Basin is cut up into four states; there is a very tiny part in New South Wales, yet we now have to have an agreement which means many people travel to many forums to discuss these issues, which is good. But when you think about it, the water and the wildlife do not have any relationship to boundaries; they flow from one end to the other.
I believe there is much going for the idea that water, especially our major rivers, is controlled by the Commonwealth. That is not to say the states should not have input, but when you realise that a river is an entity, from beginning to end, whether it runs into Lake Eyre or runs into the sea, especially our major rivers, then we have to treat them as a whole rather than sliced up.
This intergovernmental agreement goes some way to getting around that by saying we will deal with it as one body. But, it was said at the briefing, a government can pull out of this intergovernmental agreement if it feels like it. If there is a political stoush between one state and another, they can pull out of this agreement. That is why sometimes it is better that the Commonwealth maintains control over some of these waters. That would also give a sense of uniformity; a uniform approach to how the rivers in this area are managed. That is not to say we should start to manage them in a way which is causing some controversy at the moment in Queensland with the wild rivers. We know industries rely on these rivers, along with the environment and Indigenous groups; we need to take that into account. We also need to make sure the river and the processes that go with the river are kept in the healthiest state possible by having good decision-making processes.
I thank the minister for presenting this bill. I am interested in hearing her answers to the questions I have raised.
Mr McCARTHY (Transport): Madam Speaker, I also support the Lake Eyre Basin Intergovernmental Agreement Bill. I commend my parliamentary colleague, the member for Stuart, for bringing an Indigenous perspective to this debate. He has also sparked the imagination of the member for Nelson regarding the importance of that perspective in any debate, and bringing that perspective to this House. There are cultural boundaries and geographic connections. I see the fusion of this knowledge and imaginative debate as being part of our support for the passage of this bill through parliament.
Earlier this year, Australia saw an enormous weather system move down and across western Queensland and the Barkly. It was a system of storms and rains which went largely unnoticed by the rest of the nation, but was of vital interest to the thousands of people to whom it brought welcome relief from the drought. I was a witness to these great rains and I know that many in my electorate welcomed its coming, even though there was inconvenience with roads made impassable, including the Barkly Highway for a few weeks - our link to Queensland.
However, it was Mother Nature at her best and most powerful. It is what makes living in inland Australia such an extraordinary experience. Yet, this massive weather system had an impact across not only Queensland and the Territory but also New South Wales and South Australia, because these fabulous rains feed the massive Lake Eyre Basin, the largest inland river drainage system in the world. Even as we speak, the rains which fell months ago are still flowing into Lake Eyre.
To give you an idea of the size, the Lake Eyre Basin is 1.2 million km, nearly the size of the Northern Territory. In other words, the Lake Eyre Basin covers around one-seventh of the Australian continental area. In Brunette Downs, many moons ago, there was a group of directors from Texas who were debating around the table, and the point was regularly raised that everything is bigger in Texas. For our American cousins, who reckon they can think big, the Lake Eyre Basin is nearly twice the size of the state of Texas. It is a region that is still largely pristine and undamaged by agriculture and other developments, although it hosts important cattle country.
As you can see from this year’s rains, it is subject to massive variability in seasons and water flows, especially the famous Diamantina and Georgina Rivers and Cooper Creek system. In the Northern Territory, the Hay, Finke and Todd River systems also contribute to the Lake Eyre Basin.
It is a region of massive ecological importance as seen by recent footage showing the explosion of bird life that occurs during flood times. It is a region also of great significance to Indigenous groups across three states and the Northern Territory. The Lake Eyre Basin, and what happens to it, has a fundamental impact on the ecology of vast areas of Australia’s inland.
This legislation is about getting it right in ways federalism often fails. It is a mechanism by which different state and territory governments, along with the Commonwealth, can sit down and work together to achieve common objectives for the environment. We have all seen the massive failures of the Murray-Darling system and the difficulties now being faced at a federal level in getting it right.
There are already good cross-border arrangements, at an officer level, dealing with the Lake Eyre Basin. This new law, based on existing legislation in South Australia and Queensland, puts that sort of cooperation into legislative form.
The bill is a clear example of the Territory government’s commitment to the environment, as well as our willingness to work in cross-border situations with our interstate counterparts. It is a model of what can be achieved by Australians working together, no matter which state or territory we live in. I commend this bill to the House.
Ms ANDERSON (Natural Resources, Environment and Heritage): Madam Speaker, I take this opportunity to thank each of my colleagues, and the opposition, for their input into this bill.
I reflect on the first committee meeting that I attended for the Lake Eyre Basin when I was an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commissioner, and it was a requirement under ATSIC for commissioners who had the portfolio similar to the minister’s to sit on the Lake Eyre Basin Committee. I gained an understanding of where the rivers flow - the Diamantina, the Georgina, and the Finke. We are very lucky in the Northern Territory to have the oldest river in the world run into Lake Eyre. I learnt that while I was on the Lake Eyre committee. The amount of knowledge you gain from people with an understanding of the environment, the bird life, the river flow, and Australia’s environment in its entirety, is wonderful. They do not just talk about rivers in Queensland, New South Wales, Northern Territory, and South Australia in isolation. They bring it all together, including the concerns that we all have, and which I have heard from the member for Brennan, my colleagues on this side, and the member for Nelson.
This gives us a great opportunity to work as partners on this agreement - the partners are Queensland, South Australia, and the Northern Territory. We always promised we would have some kind of legislation to be equal partners on this committee.
One of the questions that the member for Nelson asked is if a backbencher could represent the minister, and yes, this happens on many ministerial councils. I represented the member for Johnston when he was the Minister for Health at a ministerial council; you go there representing the government of the day’s position.
I will answer individual questions and if we have not covered the core of your questions, member for Nelson, we can have those answered for you.
The Lake Eyre Basin Intergovernmental Agreement was signed by the South Australian, Queensland, and Australian governments in 2000, and the Northern Territory signed in 2004. The other jurisdictions brought in legislation to give full effect to the agreement. The agreement allows the Northern Territory to join, with full membership rights, by passing its own legislation, which we are doing today. While we currently participate as a member, this is at the discretion of other states and, on the basis of that, we are moving to enact legislation.
The agreement is important because it commits all the relevant governments to work together on protecting Lake Eyre Basin. The Territory has an important role because it is upstream of the states and has the responsibility to ensure that it does not do things which affect other parts of the Lake Eyre Basin.
A ministerial forum is responsible for the implementation of the agreement. It develops policies and strategies which each jurisdiction then adopts as government policy. The Lake Eyre Basin Intergovernmental Agreement currently applies to the Cooper Creek system, including the Thompson and Barkly Rivers, the Georgina and Diamantina River systems within Queensland and South Australia, ending at Lake Eyre, and the Northern Territory portion of the basin. In a nutshell, the agreement is about the proper management of water and other resources in the Lake Eyre Basin so we can avoid negative impacts on environmental, economic, and social values of the region.
This gives us a great opportunity to learn. We just heard about the Murray-Darling River and its problems. This committee can make sure that in such areas of the Northern Territory and Queensland - the northern zone - we do not make the same mistakes as other states have made in the past.
In response to the member for Brennan and the questions he asked and concerns that he raised, the policy directions of the ministerial council take into account the social, cultural, and economic values of the basin. All members of the agreement want sustainable development in our deserts, and the policy decisions of the council have to be adopted by all members and it has to be unanimous. I will not agree to any decision that is not in the Territory’s interests, member for Brennan, and I go there as the minister and sit on this forum representing all the policies of the Northern Territory government.
I draw the member for Brennan’s attention to clause 4 of the agreement, which says:
4.9 Each State will continue to have responsibility for its policy formulation and the administration of its legislation relevant to water and related natural resource management within the Lake Eyre Basin Agreement Area, but in so doing will, to the fullest extent that it is able, comply with this Agreement and other applicable Policies and Strategies developed or adopted under it. Further, to the extent that may be necessary, each State will use its best endeavours …”
I will go back to the member for Port Darwin who raised the issue of this being an appropriation bill. It was determined to be an appropriation bill because it relates to a national agreement. As the Treasurer said, it is a small portion of money - it is $50 000 - that allows us to be equal partners under this agreement with the two other partners under legislation. I believe we should take this opportunity to legislate and make sure that we are there with 100% support of this parliament and have legislation because other states also have legislation.
I believe they have waited for us. Member for Nelson, we sat on the committee, under a memorandum of understanding, based on the fact that we would bring legislation forward. The agreement for the NT to participate in the ministerial council in 2004 was based on the undertaking that the NT would enact legislation like South Australia, Queensland, and the Australian government.
This is necessary to affirm the importance of the agreement and the need for joint action by all the parties. Even if ministers and governments change, rather than having Commonwealth control with the problems and challenges this would involve, we have an agreement backed by legislation which we believe is a better approach.
Motion agreed to; bill read a second time.
In committee:
Bill, by leave, taken as a whole.
Mr WOOD: The bill includes the agreement and I have two questions. There was much debate before the budget speech about the $10 000, and I am yet to understand the process. The government is required, under this agreement, to pay $10 000 into a fund which will be used for travel. Why is an appropriation bill required for $10 000, or is an appropriation required for any sum of money outside of the budget? Is there no flexibility within the budget of a department to pay that sort of money?
Ms ANDERSON: Madam Chair, I advise the member for Nelson that we received advice from Parliamentary Counsel that the combined effect of clauses 4 and 5 of the bill would be enactment; the effect of which would be to dispose of monies received by the Territory and, therefore, a message in terms of Section 11 of the Northern Territory (Self-Government) Act 1978 was required.
Mr WOOD: Thank you, minister. I will look up sections 4 and 5 of the Northern Territory (Self-Government) Act.
There was a lot of argy-bargy in this debate about appropriations and budgets and, from my point of view, the reason was not clear. The Treasurer obviously knew better than I did, but I did not understand that. I thank the minister for the answer.
The other question was in relation to Annexure B, page 21:
Are there any Commonwealth-Territory agreements in relation to the Lake Eyre Basin at the present time?
Ms ANDERSON: Member for Nelson, I am advised that an example of other activities jointly funded by existing Commonwealth and Territory agreements are funds allocated through the bilateral Natural Heritage Trust Fund.
It is a ministerial forum and it would be expected that the NT be represented by another minister in the event that the minister for Natural Resources was unavailable. Leave would be sought from the Chair to allow another representative.
Mr WOOD: Were there two answers in that? One was in relation to whether another person, not necessarily a minister, could represent you on that ministerial forum – were there two answers in there?
Ms ANDERSON: Yes, member for Nelson.
Mr WOOD: I thank the minister for the answers. Listening to the member for Barkly talk about the power of the rivers in that area, especially the Georgina, reminded me that I checked the Rankin River crossing earlier this year, where you can see the might of the rivers that go into the Georgina catchment. It is a huge and fantastic system. It is great that we have at least some agreement over it.
Mr CHANDLER: I only have two questions, minister. Under the operations of the ministerial forum, resolutions to the forum on the operation of the agreement are carried only by unanimous vote. Is the minister aware of the process if a unanimous vote cannot be achieved?
Ms ANDERSON: I am advised that if there was disagreement, no decision made would be made.
Mr CHANDLER: The agreement awaits a commitment and ratification from the New South Wales parliament to cover all involved parties. Does the minister have an update on whether New South Wales is likely to pass this legislation?
Ms ANDERSON: It has not yet, member for Brennan.
Bill agreed to.
Bill reported; report adopted.
Mr CHANDLER: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Can I call a state of the House? This is important legislation and I do not know if we have the numbers.
Madam SPEAKER: There are more than 10 members here, member for Brennan. I remind you that to call a quorum when there is not one required is a naming offence. However, I will just warn you on this occasion.
Ms ANDERSON (Natural Resources, Environment and Heritage): Madam Speaker, I move that the bill now be read a third time.
Motion agreed to; bill read a third time.
Continued from 17 February 2009.
Mr BOHLIN (Drysdale): Madam Speaker, sometimes it is good to have a bill that does not have so much contention when we bring it before the House. From what we can see, it is simply a housekeeping matter. It is mostly a change in governance of records and archives to follow the certain needs for amendments when we had the separation in administration between the Archives and records services. It is important that they make these amendments, and I can see the benefit.
It is somewhat concerning that, although not addressed in this bill, there are some further needs. We would like to see more from the government on its future intentions, goals and direction for managing our records.
There is a need to plan for the future; we need to plan for the future storage of our archives services. They are not in abundance at the moment. We have a stack of archives in the building in Cavanagh Street overloading the structure there. I do not consider it is best practice to rent an office block, pay the rent and jam it full of boxes and smelly records. I do not think it is in the best interests of looking after those records in the way they are kept.
It is about planning for the future and we do not see it in this budget - the need to plan for where we are going to store our archives. There are also precious items representing the important history of this great Territory stored in sheds. In the tropics we have humidity and mould. I would hate to see anything important to the Territory people left to the elements. It is important to fix the minor administration, but we need to see where we are going with the archive services in the future.
We need to push ahead and make sure we plan. We have a big task ahead of us, as does the federal government, in regard to our e-records and what we are going to do with our digital archiving. The need to ensure that we develop properly in this area and ensure we have the best facilities available is paramount. I wonder if this government knows it has a potential problem and, if it does, if it listens to advisors properly and considers where we will need to go in building that infrastructure to ensure that we have something.
This bill is simple. To talk much more would only be to waste the time of the House. It is a good change; it is a few amendments to some basic administrative requirements. I can see no great concern there.
I noticed this morning that a further amendment to this landed on our table. I am sure it was only a minor adjustment that was needed, but surely, with plenty of planning – the word planning comes in again – that could have been brought forward last week and we could have known about the change. It makes very little difference and it will not impact on our position. At this stage, we see no reason to oppose the bill and we will be supporting the bill.
Mr WOOD (Nelson): Madam Speaker, I concur with the member for Drysdale about the bill; I do not have any objections to the bill. We received a good briefing from the department, and I appreciate that, but I do have some questions. We are going into the committee stage, so instead of asking those questions now I will ask them when we get there. My questions relate to sections 138(1) and (2) and there may be something leading on from that afterwards.
Dr BURNS (Business): Madam Speaker, it is my pleasure to support this bill. As other speakers have noted, it is a bill to amend arrangements concerning the management of government records and archives following an administrative separation of the records and Archives services.
The public sector manages large volumes of electronic and hard copy records, and it is crucial they are managed properly. These can focus on the day-to-day records generated by the government, and Archives deal with records which have long-term value and are retained for historical purposes. My understanding is there could be a whole range of records; it does not necessarily have to be confined to government records, but it could be school newsletters, pamphlets in the community, it could be a whole range of things, but these have long-term value and are retained for historical purposes.
There has been no change to the services delivered - two work units have moved within the government structure - and there has been no change to the resourcing of the services; and that is of crucial importance. This bill formalises the way our public service manages records and archives. Records and Archives were previously managed within the old DCIS, the Department of Corporate and Information Services, now within DBE, the Department of Business and Employment.
Under the new arrangements, records remain in DBE and Archives is managed by NRETAS. That is why my colleague, the minister, has carriage of this particular legislation. It was decided to split these services due to the large amount of electronic records produced by the government. It is very important that we focus on these electronic records because at a push of a button they can evaporate. A librarian said to me some years ago that this is probably one of the greatest challenges for library services and Archives. It is not the paper trail any more but the electronic trail, and the need to preserve all those electronic records.
The government values the work undertaken by the public service in records and Archives. We are focusing on day-to-day records generated by the government, as well as outside of the government, and the Archives deals with records that have long-term value and are retained for historical purposes.
As I was musing over that, I thought of an article in the NT News on Monday, 27 April, titled ‘Toeing the party line – New boy finds politics no holiday’ – and it is about the member for Brennan. I admire what the member for Brennan had to say in his interview. It was straightforward, honest, and very commendable. He said:
That is a commendable sentiment from the opposition. Oppositions around the country tend to take a negative and combative role. I know the member for Blain is really looking at issues as they come along. He said:
But Mr Chandler has already started to feel the strain of party politics, he said:
That is right. We all know, apart from the Independent, that is how party politics works.
Equally confusing in a way, is the diverse position, I do not know whether it was worked out in the party room, particularly around the closure of Fog Bay …
Mr ELFERINK: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Whilst I do not want to diminish the minister’s latitude on this particular topic, I believe he has strayed from the topic, and I raise the point of order on relevance.
Dr BURNS: Madam Speaker, if I could speak to the point of order. We are talking about the long-term value of historical records. I am showing that there needs to be a collection of records for historical purposes, so that historians or students of the future can delve through and see the whole gamut of the argument.
Mr ELFERINK: Speaking to the point of order. Horse droppings, Madam Speaker.
Mr WOOD: Madam Speaker, may I speak to the point of order. That latitude is nearly as big as the Lake Eyre Basin; it is very wide.
Madam SPEAKER: Yes, minister, if you could please contain your comments to the bill, thank you, Standing Order 67.
Dr BURNS: I will, Madam Speaker, but it is very important that I allude to these particular records. The member for Katherine came out very strongly against the emergency closure instituted by my colleague, the member for Casuarina. There are reports about that and there is this report which should be on the public record and put into the archives. The Amateur Fishermen’s Association, a non-government group, who put out this particular …
Mr BOHLIN: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Where is the relevance in this? The member has gone so far west he is bound to enter into another state the way he is going, and we only wish that was the case.
Madam SPEAKER: There is no point of order. Minister, if you could relate your comments to the bill, please.
Dr BURNS: The member for Katherine has put out a position. Another archival piece of paper which should be in our Archives under this new arrangement is from the Amateur Fishermen’s Association when it called on the Country Liberal Party to clarify its position on this very important issue. In the NT News today there is something else which should be archived. It says the CLP yesterday was strongly criticised by one of its old allies, and Warren de With says: ‘We are confused as to just where the Country Liberals stand on this’.
We have had three bits of paper. We have the member for Brennan saying if things are decided in the party room, we will stick to it. We have two very divergent …
Mr WOOD: A point of order, Madam Speaker! We are dealing with an act and it says an act to amend the Information Act. Could the minister kindly tell me how that is relevant to amend the Information Act?
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Nelson, resume your seat. Standing Order 67 …
Dr BURNS: Madam Speaker, I did allude in my speech to the importance …
Madam SPEAKER: Minister, please pause. I know you have linked these items with the bill, but if you could finish those comments as soon as possible.
Dr BURNS: I will finish my comments on the closure of Bynoe Harbour. I might talk about important documents relating to Tiger Brennan Drive or the radiation oncology unit. There is a whole range of issues that I could raise in relation to records. Such as pamphlets put out by the former member for Solomon during the previous federal election campaign, various letters - there is a letter that Warren Truss wrote to me saying - I have tabled it in this House, it should be on the public record – that the federal government would cap the contribution they would put in to Tiger Brennan Drive to $13.7m. Then we have the member for Solomon, along with Jim Lloyd, coming out publicly, it is reported in the NT News …
Mr WOOD: A point of order, Madam Speaker! The minister in a previous debate was saying how standing orders are being abused by long questions from the member for Port Darwin - he was going crook about the abuse of standing orders. This is an abuse of standing orders. It is irrelevant and he is using the time for propaganda. That is what it is. I do not know what your visions of relevance are in this case, but it is not speaking about amending the Information Act.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Nelson, the Standing Order is 67, which is no digression from the subject and that has nothing to do with relevance. Minister, can you please come to the point on these comments quickly.
Dr BURNS: All right, I will spare the member for Nelson getting to his feet again. I will correct one thing the member for Nelson said when he accused me of propagating propaganda. I am alluding to - and I have a wad of documentation I could wade through – the ambivalent, even contradictory, positions by the opposition on a whole range of issues. But I take the member for Nelson’s point, and your point, Madam Speaker, and on that note I commend this bill to the House.
Mr GILES (Braitling): Madam Speaker, I note the comments made by the member for Johnston and I will digress slightly, through relevance or otherwise. I note some of the documents he thought very important in terms of the Information Act and its amendments and what needs to be kept on record. It might also be important to keep on record the transcripts of police conversations, when people ring the 131 444 number or the 000 number. Those phone conversations when the police do not get the message and no one turns up, are very important.
We may joke about paraphernalia and newspaper articles about the Country Liberal side of things and how that needs to be incorporated as information which must be archived for the future. It is important to get serious and look at the people who ring the police number and can never get through, and if you want to get smart about …
Mr WOOD: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Just for the sake of balance, that section you just mentioned before in standing orders, this is also a digression. This is about amending the Information Act.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Braitling, as I commented to the Minister for Business, Standing Order 67, which is about digression from the subject. If you could speak directly, or as closely as possible, to the bill, that would be helpful.
Mr GILES: Madam Speaker, I am talking about information. I do take your point. But just commenting further in response to what the member for Johnston said, the people who ring the police hotline are looking for services in relation to law and order …
Dr BURNS: A point of order, Madam Speaker! At least I had documents I was prepared to table. The member for Braitling is talking about telephone conversations which are not even captured by the archive and record services.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Braitling, it is about the Information Amendment Bill 2009 (Serial 33) which relates to documents. I ask you to contain your comments to the bill, please. Standing Order 67.
Mr GILES: Madam Speaker, in relation to the digital documents of the recordings of the police numbers, I will not say any more. I had to put it on the record that there are other sides to the equation.
Ms ANDERSON (Arts and Museums): Madam Speaker, I thank all members in this House for their contribution to this very important bill we are passing in the House today.
This legislation formalises the way our public service currently deals with records or documents produced by the government, and archives those documents with long-term value retaining them for historical purposes. Records and Archives used to be managed together under the single name of Archives, within the old DCIS, now DBE.
In 2007, it was decided to split these functions, mainly due to the large amount of electronic records now produced by the government. As a result, the new Department of Business and Employment, previously DCIS, now manages how each government department handles its records on a day-to-day basis.
Archives is now managed by NRETAS which is appropriate because Archives is much like a museum of records the government produces. This goes to the heart of what my colleague, the member for Johnston, was saying: this is information that Archives will have forever, for the next two, if not four, generations of Territorians to go back to and read what former politicians, mayors or others have said in the Northern Territory.
An area where it is absolutely crucial the two services operate together very carefully is records disposal. We do not want to keep all records, but we do not want to dispose of records that need to be preserved for history in our Archives. Currently, the way the two services work together is through an MOU between DBE and NRETAS. This amendment is about placing this arrangement in legislation.
The opportunity has also been taken to make minor amendments to clear up some drafting issues in the act. This legislation does not make any changes to the FOI or privacy provisions of the Information Act.
Motion agreed to; bill read a second time.
In committee:
Bill, by leave, taken as a whole.
Ms ANDERSON: Madam Chair, I move amendment 11.1
Mr WOOD: To clarify, we are dealing with clause 3(1). Is that right? That whole section will be omitted? Does that mean the words:
Act, unless the contrary intention appears -
also disappear, or are they retained in the act?
Ms ANDERSON: Member for Nelson, there is a committee stage amendment to revoke a provision of the Information Amendment bill that has already been given effect by the amendments to the Ombudsman Act, passed during the February sittings.
Mr WOOD: I am trying to read it as it is written. In clause 3(1), it says:
Does it mean that not only the word ‘act’ disappears, but also ‘act, unless the contrary intention appears’?
Ms ANDERSON: Yes, member for Nelson.
Amendment agreed to.
Mr WOOD: Minister, throughout the bill, especially from clause 136 onwards, the word ‘must’ appears many times in relation to what must be done. When you get to clause 138(1), it says:
In the previous act it was ‘may’. Why has that been changed?
Ms ANDERSON: Member for Nelson, it has changed from ‘may’ to ‘must’. ‘May’ was too non-committal and made the clause rather redundant.
Mr WOOD: Thank you. In light of what you have said, in clause 138(2) it says that the minister ‘may’. How come he or she has not been given a ‘must’?
Ms ANDERSON: I am advised, member for Nelson, that is the minister’s position.
Mr WOOD: That is fine. What happens if the minister does not approve the standard, even if subsections (a) and (b) are okay?
Ms ANDERSON: Member for Nelson, the standard does not get issued.
Mr WOOD: I am presuming the previous standard stands?
Ms ANDERSON: That is the case, member for Nelson.
Bill, as amended, agreed to.
Bill reported; report adopted.
Ms ANDERSON (Arts and Museums): Madam Speaker, I move that the bill be now read a third time.
Motion agreed to; bill read a third time.
Continued from 28 April 2009.
Mr VATSKALIS (Health): Madam Speaker, I support the Chief Minister’s statement on Territory 2030 - Fresh Ideas, Real Results.
I congratulate the steering committee members: Ms Vicki O’Halloran, Co-Chair; Bill Moss AM, Co-Chair; Michael Berto; Jan Ferguson; Ted Egan; Professor Jonathan Carapetis; Steve Margetic; and Denis Mackenzie. It is a very good idea to include the community in this way to develop a plan for our future, although an ex-Chief Minister will argue why we involved the community to draft a plan for the future. It was the same Chief Minister who, without consulting anyone in his constituency, formed a special committee which resulted in the Territory not being a state now because of the public reaction. The referendum was lost at the time with a very small majority.
If we are going to get ideas for the future, who are we going to ask but the people who will be here for the future and who have investment here? They and their children are going to be here. Governments are elected to govern but, at the same time, the government is elected by the people for the people, and should take into account the ideas and thoughts of the people they are elected to govern.
The committee has undertaken an enormous amount of work in less than six months. I thank the people and organisations that put in the 77 submissions and the 300 people who had face-to-face meetings with the committee.
The steering committee put education at the centre of the Territory’s future. This might sound strange coming from the Health Minister, but I applaud and agree with them. Improving education is probably the most important aspect of improving health. Many health conditions are preventable and teaching and encouraging our children to adopt healthier lifestyles will lead to much healthier lives.
Health and wellbeing is one of the five focus areas of Territory 2030. The draft strategy states that:
However, it goes on to point out the Territory lifestyle of getting outdoors and being active is a benefit towards better health. It is an important point because when we talk about adopting a healthy lifestyle, it does not mean we have to abandon the Territory lifestyle. All the things which make the Territory great can contribute to our health.
The draft strategy really shows that prevention is better than cure. The strategy says we should concentrate on wellness rather than illness. Focusing on wellness rather than illness is more than just a health issue. The government spends hundreds of millions of dollars each year on non-acute or preventative health within the Health department. But there are many other areas of government that are just as important in relation to preventative health. As Health Minister, I support the health objectives and aims as outlined in the strategy.
We know that we have to close the gap on Indigenous life expectancy and many of the aims are directed to this. But importantly, the strategy acknowledges that it is not just Indigenous Territorians whose health can be improved. There is a long way to go but recently we have seen some successes in relation to Indigenous health. There has been a three-year improvement in the life expectancy for Territory Aboriginal women, and the Indigenous infant mortality rates have fallen by 35%. More needs to be done, but it is important to understand we are headed in the right direction.
An example of where we are heading in the right direction is doctors and nurses. The draft strategy outlines that by 2030 we will need an additional 961 nurses and an additional 105 doctors. In the last eight years we have employed 533 nurses and 162 doctors, so if we maintain our current rate of growth we will achieve this. The 95 extra nurses announced as part of Budget 2009-10 demonstrates our commitment to continue this recruitment. In fairness, it was pointed out that the 523 nursing positions are not all new, 200 of them replaced nurses the CLP had sacked in the past. As I mentioned, in the last eight years we have created an additional 162 doctor positions. Over the next 20 years I would like to see more than the 105 extra doctors the strategy refers to, particularly GPs.
The draft strategy talks about the need to develop a world-class health workforce. For this to be achieved a radical national reform to the health workforce is required. Remote areas of the Northern Territory have the highest health care needs in Australia. At the same time, the Northern Territory has the least number of general practitioners in the country; per head of population the Territory has around half the number of GPs of New South Wales. The poor health outcomes of the Territory will not improve while this discrepancy continues.
The average Territorian receives only half the Medicare funding of the average Australian. A Territorian receives around seven Medicare services per year compared to the Australian average of 13. Under the national Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, the average Territorian receives only around a third of the funding of the national average. On a health needs basis, the Territory should be receiving more than the national average in both Medicare and PBS funding. Radical reform is needed.
I have to stress that despite what was stated in the editorial in the NT News, I did not ask for capping the number of doctors in other states, and I did not ask for a forced transfer of doctors here. I am asking that if a number of Medicare numbers are allocated, then the government should make sure that a number of these are allocated to rural and remote Australia. It should be easier to get a Medicare number in rural and north Australia than the city. In addition to that, let us give some incentives to doctors who spend some time in rural and remote areas, or create a point system which can be utilised for a specialist even faster than other doctors who choose not to go to remote and rural Australia.
This is not only a problem for the Territory, this is a problem for Australia, and we are not going to address this issue unless we take some tough decisions. I know there are people who say that a better salary package would be the solution. It does not matter how much money governments offer, people still choose to live in urban centres for various reasons: their family lives there, the volume of people is there, and there are better opportunities for training.
We have special conditions that mainstream doctors will not see anywhere else in Australia, and we have to find a way to address the lack of doctors in rural and remote areas, and also reward those doctors who choose to work in these areas.
I refer now to Primary Industry, Fisheries and Resources. When it comes to ensuring our future prosperity these sectors are well placed to contribute, particularly in developing our region. The committee highlighted its fundamental aspirations for the Northern Territory economy as: Territorians have jobs, the economy has a broad base that reduces the extreme business cycle of volatility currently inherent in the economy, and the Territory takes advantage of future business and economic opportunities which will emerge to remain competitive in the long term.
The committee points out that it will require the creation of new economic opportunities, a competitive business environment, ongoing investment in infrastructure, a competitive and productive workforce, and land for new development. The Primary Industry, Fisheries and Resources Sector underpin our future prosperity. Submissions received by the committee confirm this view.
The mining industry currently accounts for more than 25% of our Gross State Product, the second highest of any jurisdiction in Australia, and this is set to continue into the future. Without continued investment in exploration today we are unlikely to discover the resources that will underpin our future resource development in exports. It is not only those directly employed in the resources industry who will benefit as the flow-on benefits make such an important contribution to the economy.
We need to invest in our economic future to ensure we are well placed for the next surge in growth when international conditions improve. Long-term planning is critical for our future success and we have already commenced this journey.
Bringing Forward Discovery, a four-year $14.4m exploration investment strategy, is laying the foundation for the future development of the Territory. This program seeks to promote the Territory as a preferred destination for exploration investment; assist companies in attracting investment exploration projects, particularly from China and Japan; and government-industry collaboration to encourage exploration in vast greenfield regions of the Territory.
In a global competitive market for mineral exploration, a key consideration for companies in deciding where to invest is the quality and availability of geoscientific data and information, vital for reducing its exposure to exploration risks. The committee points out that our economy is predominantly based on a narrow central spine with varying-sized economies placed along its length. In seeking to expand our economy from the west to the east, that is, building on our central economic spine, we have commenced regional gravity surveys to encourage further work in under-explored regions. These surveys allow for improved interpretation of undercover geology to allow explorers to better target exploration.
We have recently released results of the largest gravity survey ever taken in the Territory, covering 150 000 km, from the Queensland border to the Tanami Track and from Alice Springs to Barrow Creek. Next month, another new major gravity survey will commence over the Barkly region, east and north-east of Tennant Creek. This will underpin private sector investment exploration into the future. It is just one example of how we are planning the future development of the resource industry.
Our success in encouraging exploration in the Territory in a difficult investment climate, is reflected in the success of the 10th Annual Geoscience Exploration Seminar, or AGES, held in Alice Springs in March 2009. It was the most successful and well-attended conference ever, and bodes well for the Territory during these difficult times.
The primary industry sectors, including pastoral, crops, forest, horticulture, and fisheries, are well placed to contribute to our future prosperity. The committee highlights the most obvious place to start growing our local industry is building on the strength we already have. The Territory’s primary industries are set to play a vital role, both in terms of food production and underpinning regional prosperity. The primary industry sectors have been increasing both in production and overall volume in recent years, contributing substantially to the Territory’s economy. It is not only its contribution to our economy but it is the industry which manages the majority of productive land in the Territory.
Sustainable pastoral production systems provide an opportunity to substantially increase our cattle herd, particularly in the Top End. The rangeland areas of the Territory are well suited for breeding cattle to satisfy the specific requirements for feedlots both in Australia and throughout South East Asia.
I take offence when the CLP ex-Chief Minister makes comments about the Labor government abandoning Asia. If the previous CLP government was so well connected with Asia, why is there only one market in Indonesia that will buy live cattle exports from the Territory? Since we came to power we have opened other markets. I personally travelled to Vietnam to help the Vietnamese government with their decision to establish feedlots. I believe the first export of Territory cattle to Vietnam will take place in September.
In addition, this government has a China and Japan strategy to promote the Territory as a destination for mineral exploration and production. As a result, we now have three Chinese companies with offices in Darwin and a number of Chinese companies are organising exploration themselves, not as joint ventures, and also a number of Chinese companies forming joint ventures with mineral companies in the Territory.
The committee also points to the need to identify suitable land for future long-term and sustainable food production. That is the reason the government originally authorised me to commence negotiations with the federal government and the Western Australia government for the Territory to participate in the future Ord River expansion, Stage 2, which covers areas on both our borders. It is a long time before the expansion takes place, but we have to start the negotiations now; we have to be part of the team to find out what issues will affect the Territory and what we need to do to be part of that expansion in order to identify the enormous amount of land in the Territory which can be opened up for food production.
One example of our commitment to the Indigenous Pastoral Program - bringing Indigenous land back into production - is growing our cattle herd and providing jobs in the regions, and we also have a system with Indigenous people with vast tracks of land to open their land, either facilitating negotiations with a pastoral lease and Indigenous people, or encouraging Indigenous people to open their own pastoral properties. We have done that successfully.
The crops, forestry, and horticultural sectors are growing throughout the Territory. The cropping sector can contribute directly to growing our local industry. It is currently focused on broadacre cropping, pasture seeds and hay production, with major expansion of peanuts and maize production. The expansion of peanut production has been underpinned by a great deal of baseline research over a long time, testing new cultivation methods in the Territory. This expansion is likely to contribute to and drive economic development and jobs in Katherine. The production of peanuts in Katherine, for the first time, exceeded production of peanuts at Kingaroy in Queensland.
The Territory’s horticultural sector, comprising a mix of family-owned and corporate-funded farms, continues to expand. Expansion of the industry is principally driven by market niches arising from climatic conditions differing to other production areas throughout Australia. It is generally focused on Dry Season production, under irrigation and, because of this, access to water will continue to be at the forefront of our discussions in the future.
We also need to confront the challenges to our future prosperity, and plot a way forward. As the Chief Minister mentioned, ‘a failure to plan is a plan to fail’. Climatic change will bring about a range of challenges that we all have to respond to: warmer temperatures, more frequent and deeper droughts, more extreme weather, and biosecurity risks surrounding a possible increase in pests and diseases. It will directly impact on the productivity of our primary industry sector.
When it comes to climate change, we need to be mindful that the Territory’s primary industry sector is already based around considerable inter-annual and intra-annual variations in climate. Further growth can only occur if we have the right mix of land and water resources, production that meets market demand, and ready access to the required infrastructure. Our response to climate change will impact directly on our primary industry sector. The Australian government has signalled that agriculture, fisheries, and forestry will be included in an emissions trading scheme by 2015.
I urge all Territorians to have their say in response to the draft strategy. I have had a look at the website, and I particularly like the feedback section, and the way you can provide feedback by dragging and dropping the priorities around.
I congratulate the Chief Minister on this initiative and statement. I congratulate the steering committee for the hard work they have undertaken and for the work that is still ahead of them.
Mr ELFERINK (Port Darwin): Madam Deputy Speaker, I presume we are talking about the 2030 draft strategy?
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: We are.
Mr ELFERINK: Good-o! I am on my feet - at the right place at the right time. I also make a few comments in relation to the 2030 draft strategy. We can do so now in the light of the budget which has now been delivered, and the rather surprisingly called ‘temporary deficit strategy’.
Whilst I am not going to talk about the budget in any length, lest I anticipate debate - perish the thought that I would; I am sure that the Leader of Government Business would be very quick to pick me up on that heinous crime, should I anticipate debate - however, it does at least paint a picture for the difficult launch pad that 2030 will have as a strategy into the future.
One thing that concerns me about this strategy is that the elected government of the day is now seeking to source its ideas from beyond its own dimensions. Whilst we have an increasingly large public service to feed ideas up to the government, it seems that the government, nevertheless, remains bereft of a clear direction in which it can advance the Northern Territory for the benefit of the people who live in the Northern Territory.
I take this opportunity to talk about a trend which I have noticed occurring in other jurisdictions. I have been flicking through some budget papers to see if I could find the trend appearing here. It is a trend that is of some concern to me. In other jurisdictions there has been a predilection, on the part of certain departments, to start readjusting the parameters of measurements of success in an effort to determine and show that they are meeting the benchmarks they set themselves. What you see happening in certain areas – let us say Health, for argument’s sake – is the benchmarks which were striven for in the past have been lowered in subsequent years so that it was easier to meet those benchmarks.
I draw attention to a couple of things in Budget Paper No 3 which are of some concern to me. I know that, in the absence - whilst he has leave of absence, I believe I can refer to his absence – of the member for Greatorex in his role as the shadow minister, I can reflect quickly on his department. When he became the shadow minister prior to the last election one of the first issues he raised was the bed numbers for mental health in the Northern Territory. As you look at the bed numbers through the Report on Government Services, which are those voluminous tomes we get twice a year which make good bookends in their own right, they actually contain interesting information, in the area of mental health services, one can see the Northern Territory has consistently delivered about half the mental health beds of every other jurisdiction in the country.
It is for this reason I am concerned about a number which I see in the budget papers today at page 209 - I have not read the whole budget papers - but it is the non-weighted, occupied bed days by designated services - I am still looking for a definition of that. I have seen that the number of designated bed days has dropped from 12 000 to 10 900. Does that mean fewer beds for mental health services in the Northern Territory? I would be deeply concerned if it was. I would also be deeply concerned if the targets that the government was setting were being diminished to enable departments to say that we met our benchmarks.
If we keep lowering the benchmarks, it is going to be easy for departments to reach those benchmarks. But, being in government is not about doing things which are necessarily easy; it is about doing things which are necessarily difficult, and the reason that we set benchmarks is so we can strive to achieve them and, God willing, and Treasurer’s willing, you are able to achieve those outcomes. However, that is one example.
I draw members’ attention to the Department of Regional Development, Primary Industry, Fisheries and Resources, in which there is a benchmark for the 2008-09 final estimate of 1450 exploration licences granted, falling to 1200 in the next year. Without having Budget Paper No 3 from last year in front of me, I am uncertain whether that 1450 benchmark reflects the original budget, but it is clearly a drop in the number of mineral exploration licences granted In the current economic climate, one would hope that the department would have been anxious to raise the number, or at least match the number, of mineral exploration licences being granted, not because it is easy, but because benchmarks that are worth striving for are benchmarks which are hard to obtain. If we simply create ourselves a system by which there are lower benchmarks year in year out, it is not about delivering services in that instance, it is simply being able to say that we reached our benchmark.
I have not read this whole document, and I am sure other members will be reading this document very closely to determine whether such benchmarks continue to exist, or if benchmarks are being reduced. I urge all members of this House, particularly non-ministers, to look carefully at various departments where they have an interest, or even across the government, to see where else these benchmarks are allowed to slacken off, not for the sake of the people of the Northern Territory, but rather for the sake of delivering services or being able to claim that we have met the benchmarks. We shall see.
I also pick up on Indigenous Territorians on page 5 of this document, and I quote it because it is worth quoting:
Whilst I appreciate that this negotiation process included traditional owners, the section of the Kenbi Land Claim which will provide a future for the Indigenous people who will own that land – and I notice that Jenny Macklin, the federal Indigenous Affairs minister, had not signed off on this land claim, but that is an aside - what is interesting is that the fortune that will flow from the possession of that land will flow from the possession of the Territory title. If you look at the future development intentions for the Kenbi Land Claim, it is not the two thirds which will be formed by inalienable land title that will produce wealth for Indigenous people, but rather the one third which is normal Territory freehold.
Anyone with a rudimentary understanding of the operation of the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act will understand it creates a number of impediments for Aboriginal people being able to generate wealth on their land. These are practical considerations. I do not accuse the drafters of the legislation of intentionally trying to entrap Aboriginal people. However, the outcome of the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act is that the structures which were put in place to become the walls of protection around Aboriginal people have ultimately become their prison.
If you think about the process of trying to develop a project on an Aboriginal land trust you quickly start to understand why the legislation, in its current shape, throws up so many impediments to development on Aboriginal land. For argument’s sake, if I had $10m and I had the option of developing a block in Sydney or developing a block on Aboriginal land, and I took my $10m to a block in Sydney, it would be easy. I would see a lawyer, buy myself an appropriate block, pay the conveyancing fees, stamp duties, land taxes and bingo, it is mine. However, in the instance of an Aboriginal land trust, I have to go to the appropriate land council - I am trying to do to the right thing, I want to see Aboriginal people have jobs and I want to use my $10m to encourage Aboriginal people to have jobs. The land council says yes, they are very anxious to have you on board, however they have to talk to the owners of the land trust.
Being a trust instrument, it then has to meet. A meeting is organised and the fees and charges for that meeting are sheeted back to the person with the $10m. They then go through all the processes of having a negotiation. The first meeting will throw up more questions than answers. Then it goes back to the person with the investment money. The person with the investment money answers the questions; there is another meeting and, finally, after a period of six to 12 months, you may get some basis for a project up and running. The whole thing is ‘may’ – speculative - it may happen.
The consequence of this is that anyone with $10m to invest, no matter how captured they are by their social conscience, will realise that their $10m will be much smaller by the time these processes are gone through, and there is no guarantee of an investment outcome at the other end. Small wonder investment money is so shy of finding its way into these remote places. Big investment money can get a foot in the door, particularly in the mining industry. Small investment, the mums and dads or retirees who want to live in Maningrida rather than in the suburbs of Sydney to live out their retirement, so they can sit on a beach with a coconut palm over their house have no chance because of these structures - no chance whatsoever. The money they would have spent at the local shop never appears; it never manifests itself. These are the practical considerations we have to consider going into the future.
Territory 2030 is talking about a period of 22 years. The Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act has been operating for 32 years, so we are talking about less time than the act has existed. For some reason, the outcomes which were proposed, if you read the public statements by minister Viner at the time as he reassured Territorians of all sorts of things, it was clear that this was seen as some sort of way to resolve what were then called ‘Aboriginal issues’.
There are still Aboriginal issues, sadly. Whilst I note the desire to bring Aboriginal people to enjoy the fruits of a modern society, we will have to look seriously at the mechanisms in place by which Aboriginal people can enjoy the fruits of modern society. But when investment money - and I am talking about private investment money - is scared off by a laborious process of finding investment with no guaranteed outcomes, it is small wonder that the investment money is going elsewhere.
With the compassion that we all feel towards some of the disgusting outcomes you see in Aboriginal communities, the fact remains that the wall of protection continues to be the prison. I get frustrated with all these compassionate comments we hear in this Chamber, without any substance behind them. Compassion, without any mental rigor bought to it, is merely a bundle of emotions, a Hallmark card, for lack of better expression. Whilst the members opposite, in particular, like to think they have a monopoly on compassion the fact is, compassion without any sort of critical thought produces outcomes where everyone who has enjoyed less than the fruits of society is automatically a victim. You create a situation where we do not look at individuals; we simply feel compassion for them. Mere compassion without any intellectual rigor is sympathy and that, in my opinion, is not a basis for a moral structure.
There needs to be a little more mental rigor bought to compassionate policies. All you end up doing, when compassion is the only driver you have, without mental vigour or any structural thought going into what you feel compassionate about, is spend a lot of money on what you think is wrong without understanding the mechanics underlying it.
Whilst compassion is something that we all feel - you cannot but feel compassion if you see what is happening in places like Papunya, Yuendumu, Hermannsburg and any other number of communities I could name – but, mere compassion, without intellectual rigor and the ability to ask real and difficult questions about it, has produced a welfare result. All we find ourselves saying is: ‘How is this happening? We have to throw more money and effort at it; we have to do more.’ But without anything other than feeling compassion, we are not going to produce any real results. That morality, if you like, and that intellectual rigor must find its way into our policy structures. If that intellectual rigor does not find its way into the policy structures then Indigenous Territorians will not enjoy the fruits provided by a modern society.
They will not walk comfortably in our two cultures. They will not be proud in the understanding that non-Indigenous Territorians have started to fully appreciate more than 40 000 years of knowledge, history, laws, medicine and culture. They will continue to be - what I complained of in my maiden speech to this House, 12 years ago - the ones we lower a glass dome over and our children press their noses to the glass and say: ‘Oh look, Mummy, there goes an Aboriginal person’. It is not going to work that way.
If we want to lift Indigenous Territorians, then we have to start creating the vehicles for them to lift themselves. We cannot provide this stuff for them. We cannot provide a butler for every individual Aboriginal person, three shifts a day. Even if we did, if the drive was not there for the individuals who were being looked after, it still would not change. The drive has to come from within. It must come from each individual person. Some will be better than others, but we seem to be terrified of the thought that some Aboriginal people will do better than others. My world view is that if some were doing better than others, then at least some were doing better.
One of the most astonishing things I heard in politics was when I was running a similar argument a few years ago in Alice Springs. I forget who the individual was, but they said: ‘It is dreadful that under your proposals some Aboriginal people will miss out on jobs’. I remember thinking to myself - in fact I said it to that person: ‘Well, guess what? It is better to have half the Aboriginal people unemployed than to have all Aboriginal people unemployed’. Would I like to see full employment amongst Aboriginal people? Hell, yes! But, my goodness gracious me, if the benchmark we use is that an Aboriginal person should not have a job in case another Aboriginal person might see that person and in some way feel deprived, it would be a remarkable philosophy.
All these issues have to be dealt with. I am frustrated that the benchmark is 2030. Why should we not be looking at a much earlier time to deal with these issues? Why can we not be saying: ‘Get investment into these remote communities in a way that investment money feels attracted to these communities?’ That is where you will get the jobs from. That is where you will get the creative future. Yes, we need education for those Aboriginal people, but we also need a contextual environment where that education means something. There is no point being a PhD if there is no job at the other end of the study.
Ms McCARTHY (Children and Families): Madam Deputy Speaker, I support the statement by the Chief Minister. I commend the members of the Territory 2030 Steering Committee. I believe that Vicky O’Halloran, Bill Moss, Michael Berto, Jan Ferguson, Ted Egan, Jonathan Carapetis, Steve Margetic, and Denis Mackenzie have done a magnificent job in pulling together a report which provides such a comprehensive overview of the Territory’s road to the future.
When we consider the future and the potential it might hold for change, the first place many will start to look at is our past. That is where I start. We are looking at the next 20 to 30 years and, if we do look at the last 20 to 30 years – and I pick up on some of the comments of the previous speaker, the member for Port Darwin - it is true that individuals across the country and, indeed the world, need to have something to believe in, to feel inspired, to feel a sense of hope about what the future holds for them, and to feel that whatever the future holds, it does provide a future with opportunity; a future with choice.
I recall growing up in the last 20 to 30 years, looking at the issues of land rights and at the struggles of my families, and I recognise that we were pigeonholed into a position where we had to first declare who we were as Yanyuwa Garawa people and, on many occasions, prove why we were who we were, and our relationship to country. On many occasions, through the land rights movement, we would sit in courts, either in the township of Borroloola or on Centre Island, trying to explain our Aboriginality and our attachment to land and sea.
If we look at the past 10, 20 or 30 years, when young Aboriginal men and women were made to feel alienated about their sense of identity, I would like to think, when I look at the next 20, 30 or 40 years, that those individuals who are coming through can always feel proud of who they are.
One thing I would like to see very different in the next 20 to 30 years is that sense of pride of place. Leaders across the world like Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King talk about the content of character. When we look at leadership, hope, and aspiration for the future that is what we want for our young people coming through. That is what we want to see for our young people, not only in Darwin, Alice Springs, Katherine and Tennant Creek, but all our mob who are out in Arnhem Land, who are across at Papunya and Yuendumu, in Wadeye, at Yarralin, Kalkarindji – we want these young men and women in these communities to recognise that they have a future, ability and an opportunity for choice, something which was very limited in the last 20 or 30 years.
The potential for change over the next 20 years is enormous. The projections in the draft plan give a feeling of what may lie ahead. It is also easy to see why the Chief Minister sees that it is designed to focus community discussion. Some of the projections are sure to do just that. The draft report projects that by 2030 the Territory will have a population of about 300 000 people, of which about 170 000 will be living in the greater Darwin region. Nearly 100 000 of the Territory’s population will be Indigenous. There will be a doubling of the number of Territorians over the age of 60, and demographic changes of the kind foreshadowed in the draft report will mean a substantially increased demand for services of all kinds.
Apart from the growth in demand in essential services like power and water, it is estimated that by 2030 the Territory will need an additional 3090 teachers, another 105 doctors, 960 extra nurses, and an additional 26 schools. Over the next 21 years, it is also estimated Gross State Product will rise from the current $15.6bn to almost $48bn.
Climatologists predict higher sea levels, a hotter, wetter Top End, and a hotter and drier Central Australia. Temperatures are expected to increase two to three degrees, with an increased number of cyclones. Extreme weather events are likely to impact significantly on biodiversity, food production, and tourism. Two industries which could be presented with serious challenges as a result of climate change are the cattle industry, which could be affected by a decline in existing farm production of almost 20%, and tourism. Tourism could be looking at operating in a different environment by 2030. For instance, the report suggests that Kakadu could be affected, as a tourist destination, with climate change.
That is a snapshot of the Northern Territory our children will inherit. It is only through proper, long-term planning that we can hope to hand over to them a Territory which is heading in the right direction, and it is only through proper planning that we can hope to minimise the potential impact of challenges like climate change, and planning is what the 2030 strategy is all about.
Education is the centrepiece of the 2030 strategy, and Indigenous education is a priority. Indigenous students make up half of the Territory’s school population, but we all know these same students are seriously under-represented among high-achieving students. We must work to turn this around. I know that in my electorate of Arnhem there is a consistent effort to see that change. We can no longer afford to have a significant proportion of our population disengaged from the workforce, but without adequate educational outcomes in the bush, the Territory will continue to fail to make the most of its true potential. I believe we are on the right track now because, as we are growing our regions and growing our own, we will see that, with education, there will be a progression on to employment.
As an Indigenous member of the Assembly, and as the member for Arnhem, I want to see all Territorians in a position to derive full benefits from the place in which they live. It is also important that all Territorians are in a position where they are empowered, and they can make properly informed choices for themselves and their families about their futures.
There is no doubt that education impacts on all of the draft report’s five focus areas, and those five focus areas are: prosperity; society; environment; knowledge, creativity, and innovation; and health and wellbeing.
As the Minister for Young Territorians and minister assisting the Chief Minister on Education, I am delighted about the proposal to establish a major institute for education and child development. Such an institute would bring into focus the link between education and health, particularly during the early years. While the proposed institute would be independent of government, it would be linked to key policy makers and practitioners with connections to a global coalition of experts.
Within the priority area of education there are three key objectives:
1. Territorians meet or exceed the national standards for education and training;
3. Develop a world-class education system.
The plan sets some ambitious targets. All Territory parents have the right to expect that our schools will produce results equal to those anywhere in the country. While we produce strong academic results, our great challenge is among Indigenous students in remote areas. It is vital that parents in remote areas come to realise that education starts well before school. All Territory children must be school-ready by the age of five. There are some ambitious targets being set. It comes to striving to meet or exceed the national education standards. The targets include:
halving the gap in literacy and numeracy between Indigenous and non-Indigenous students by 2020 and halving it again by 2030.
by 2020, the proportion of 15 to 19-year-olds attaining Year 12 (NTCE) or equivalent is at or above national levels.
The plan points out that it is vital that there is an acceptance that learning starts in the early years and that it continues as a lifelong experience.
Apart from striving toward national levels to increase the number of young Territorians participating in preschool, we must also work to increase the number of older Territorians who continue with some form of education.
One of the things I find exciting about this strategy is taking it out to the people. I have already had initial discussions with some families in Ngukurr and in Ramingining about running workshops to have a look at what kind of plan they want, specifically for their communities and their families, over the next couple of decades. This is when local people on the ground have an opportunity to work out and map out what they see as the future. It took some time in talking with some families about this concept, because they had not really had an opportunity to think about the future, about their particular family or their region in those terms.
Usually when I talk to families they will mention that they want a bridge or they would like the road fixed up, but when we get down to having a vision of what we would like to see our children grow up with in these communities, then something else happens. A fundamental which is always consistent is the desire to see culture, language, songs, and stories alive and well into the next 20, 30, 40, 50 years, so that when people pass on they know that their children are fully able to understand who they are, where they come from, what their relationship is to one another and to the country that they live in - the areas, the rivers, the rocks, and the animals around them.
At the older end of the spectrum is the hope it can be achieved by increasing to national levels the number of students engaged in education until Year 12. It is also planned that by 2030, in addition to increasing the number of Territorians undertaking VET, the Territory will exceed the national average for participation levels. It is also planned to work toward increased numbers of Territorians in adult education, professional development, and community education.
I do not believe anyone could argue that the Territory should strive for world-class education opportunities and when it comes to planning to develop this in the Territory, one of the keys will undoubtedly be new technologies. New technologies have the potential to break down the barriers of distance which significantly impact on our educational outcomes across the Territory. I commend the members of the committee for targeting education as the priority for the Territory over the next 20 years.
As the Minister for Statehood, I will address constitutional development in the context of the draft report. In the focus area of society, the report has identified its first objective as a strong and vibrant democracy.
The report notes that statehood is an essential element to the Territory’s future. The report is confident the Territory will already be an established state of Australia. As Statehood Minister, I am heartened by the report’s observation that as a state the Territory will have the power to make its own laws, will have a stronger voice in the national parliament, and Territorians will be recognised as equal citizens under the Australian constitution.
This is what hits at the heart of the future of the Northern Territory. We have a terrific Statehood Steering Committee made up of people from all walks of life, and representing all different areas across the Northern Territory community. We have heard discussions this afternoon on the interests of Indigenous Territorians. A profound quality of the Statehood Steering Committee is the ability for Indigenous Territorians to be adequately represented to talk about their aspirations for the future. I know the 2030 strategy will be welcomed by the Statehood Steering Committee which will be conducting workshops over the next 12 months, in an effort to inquire from all Territorian’s how they see the future state; the seventh state of the Federation of Australia.
This report goes right to the heart of the importance of statehood for the Territory. It states that statehood would be measured by the fact the Territory is able to make its own laws without the risk of them being overturned by the Australian government. That is what it comes down to: our sense of equality. We must have the ability to make our own decisions without the ever-present threat of intervention from Canberra. As every member of this House knows, until we are a state Canberra can overturn any laws we might pass. As the Statehood Steering Committee says in its submission to the 2030 draft:
That sense of equality hits at the heart of Territorians, in particular, Indigenous Territorians who see this path as one where they can have, in some respects, their belief about culture, identity, songs, and stories enshrined in the walk towards statehood.
While much of the 2030 report is a goal to be aspired to, much is practical, achievable and vital to the attainment of real results for the Northern Territory. I will be keeping a close eye on the 2030 steering committee consultations over the next few months.
Hopefully, within my electorate of Arnhem, I will also be having discussions with individuals, families and organisations about their vision for Ngukurr, Numbulwar, Umbakumba, Angurugu, Milingimbi, Ramingining, Bulman, and Bickerton Island. I will be asking each of these communities to think about how they see the future for their respective communities and to attach these hopes to the wider draft and bigger picture of what we see for all people of the Northern Territory. I commend this statement to the House.
Mr BOHLIN (Drysdale): Madam Deputy Speaker, I note a few tags that are not colours like the rest of the print in this book but they are particular points that I have some concerns with.
Without doubt, the people who have been involved in developing this strategy have worked very hard. I know a few people involved who have put a lot of thought into what they have said and put forward. I am sure everyone else who was involved did the same.
However, does this really guide us in the way we need to go? Is this the direction, and is it really showing any form of leadership? If we are looking to the future, we need to recognise that the future is vitally important and that is why it is so important to plan.
The future of the Territory does not rest on this book. It rests entirely upon how the government will run and deliver its promises. It rests upon the information gained from the public and the day-to-day encounters when you get out amongst the people and talk to them and listen to them, and not hide behind the rhetoric we have had during the debates today. Some of the stuff that came out in debates today was shameful, and certain members opposite should consider that their behaviour was shameful.
If we look to some of the needs - and I will start by going to our population growth - I note in this book that Katherine, Tennant Creek, and Nhulunbuy show virtually no growth whatsoever. These are our regions. They are vitally important; intrinsically as important as the rest of the Territory. How is it possible that in this book there could be due consideration that those three towns - major centres within the Territory - have no growth over the next 20 years? If that is the case, either your graphs are incorrect or you did not read further into the book. However, I have more promise and hope for those regions; I have a vision that sees all our communities growing. I can see that places like Katherine, for instance, will grow simply because it is a region full of abundant life and vibrant community spirit. I was there on Saturday and saw the growth of that beautiful town, and to see how the people warmed to visitors and how they aspire to a future of growth. I hope this book does not reflect the future, because I, personally, believe that it will become a tourist centre for the Northern Territory.
However, if we are to grow - and our population needs to grow and it is definitely showing that it will grow - we need to continue to work on our housing needs. I read in a document over a month ago - and I do not have the document to hand - that this government projected that we will need around 1600 houses per year to keep up with growth. If that is the case, given that we are a little less than halfway through 2009 - and I must say it has flown by faster than some of us can keep up with at times – based on the growth needs of 1600 houses per year, then we are currently short a little over 600 blocks of land in this year alone, available for sale or development. If that is a cumulative effect, we are in much trouble.
We have been saying since we came to this parliament after being elected in August that land release is a key issue. We need to stop talking about it and have those blocks of land for sale. There is an urgent need for housing blocks so that developers can get our young Territorians into a house and land package, because the availability is not currently there. If a person on the other side of this Chamber says: ‘Oh no, there are 500 blocks available’, as they did once before, then they are obviously not talking to the industry. Industry has told me that those numbers are counted almost on two hands. Some of them may not be able to count with two hands, but that is only 10 blocks of land available, and that is ridiculous. It is a shameful delivery of land release by this government. That is why we have such a high rental rate in this town. It is disgusting and it is putting enormous pressure on families.
If that is not putting enough pressure, then turn to page 29. You can see what happens when you put housing strain on people, when you do not maintain the Housing Commission stocks we had and you sell off stock. Yes, we have heard the story before from the other side that in your day – well, guess what? My day is today, not 10 years ago - you sold off as well. They did, the statistics are there to say they did. However, since you came to power, in the last eight years, you have continued to sell off. Who is in the wrong? You are continuing to sell, you are not refurbishing at the rate required, and you are not doing turnarounds to ensure we have people in our housing who feel safe. Everyone knows that crime rates in the Territory are horrendous.
We keep saying it - we have said it since we have come in – and it was a founding reason for why I became involved in politics, because I believe in the right of the people to have freedom, and freedom from the scourge of what could be called society. You need to be able to go to the shops and have a quiet coffee and not be harassed by anyone. You need to be able to leave your house locked and not come back to find the doors kicked in. That is not a great reflection on society.
I will take time to refer to page 29, where there are comments from two particular areas in the ‘You said it’ box. The first is from the West Arnhem Shire, Submission No 24, and I quote:
I believe in that comment. I believe in the people who wrote that comment, because that is a true reflection of what the society believes is the case right now.
The second comment is from Mr Peter Tait, Submission No 17, I quote:
I thank Peter Tait for his comments, because I also believe in introducing a more respectful and tolerant society. Through time we have lost the element of respect in our society. Crime is an extremely important topic and, unfortunately, it affects too many people; it leaves too many victims behind. But this government, by producing this document, or allowing it to be printed, has only allocated one-and-a-half pages to crime. What an appalling effort.
Every day I go to work and I hear concerns about crime, yet this document has one-and-a-half pages on how we expect to deal with crime over the next 20 years - it is a joke. People who have written submissions are clearly concerned about crime and these are heartfelt comments. They are the type of comments that people I speak to reminisce upon. These are the same sort of comments I hear. But this government allows this document to come out with two - I will correct myself there - one-and-a-half pages, because it finishes there, it is not two full pages, on crime.
I say that crime is important, and I say dealing with crime and antisocial behaviour is vitally important, so that this Territory can grow successfully, as the beautiful place that it is. Everyone in this Chamber knows that the Territory is beautiful, even the member for Barkly knows that his town and his region are beautiful and there are elements of that rocky desert that everyone can enjoy. But not when antisocial behaviour is so rife that you cannot feel safe. You do not feel safe in Alice Springs. It is not right and it must be dealt with firmly. It is a shame that this document, created by some very smart people, were either not allowed or overlooked the fact that crime is vitally important to the public. I cannot believe that this document was produced with so little information on crime. Law and order is the foundation of a great society. We once had a better result than we do currently. It is a shame and it has been disgusting to see it slowly slip away.
However, and I do not doubt the importance of this, there are over eight pages, in blue - colour is important for some people - on health. We all know that health is important, but the statistics show, and people tell us, that crime is more important. When you assault someone they need health services. There is no doubt that if we can reduce crime and teach people that they need to look after themselves and live a healthy lifestyle, we will not need to be as concerned with health because health outcomes will be much better. With many of our trauma patients being the result of assaults - the disgusting rate of assaults in the Territory - you would think that if you spent a little more time on cracking down on crime, making sure that penalties are appropriate, that the reform is appropriate and the rehabilitation is suitable to the client, we would have a massive reduction in those assaults, which would lessen the burden on the Health department.
I will move on to energy. We had a debate in the Chamber about the Geothermal Energy bill. This document says, on page 53, that:
It concerns me that it says ‘made available’. A box of tissues may be available for you. Is it that they will be available, will they be used, and will they be a common thread within our society that we have greater use of solar energy in the lovely warm tropics or in the shiny deserts? No, it is just going to be ‘made available’. The government needs to focus on renewable sources. It needs to ensure that the gas is delivered to our power stations so that we do not chew through tanker-loads of diesel, so we have a more environmentally-friendly power grid system, and that we work towards using the amazing natural resources that we have, like solar.
I noticed in a newspaper advertisement the other day that we now have the ability to install a solar-powered system which will have a return to the grid, if the power supply is enough, and I believe that is a great idea. It is only about the 1 KW range - I am sure members will correct me – which, unfortunately, is not quite enough. The average household needs to produce around 3.3 KW of power. That is where we should be aiming. Ensuring that we can support and rebate to those types of levels so that we produce enough power for fridges, and unfortunately, air conditioners - for those who are reliant on air conditioners.
Whilst I talk about air conditioners, it comes down to the energy-efficiency rating in our homes. I quote from page 53:
I believe this is a very sensible comment. Currently, we follow the trend of the southern states, where the woollies are woolly and the sun swelters, but we do not live down there. We have the deserts and the tropics. That means we should be developing our own energy-rating system and selling that to our federal counterparts saying this is what we need for the Territory and this is why we say your current rating system is inappropriate.
I have been given information by builders that to implement a 5-star energy rating in our houses would cost the average homeowner in excess of $20 000 per building for an average house. We already have unaffordable properties - you can see that by the demand on the rental system, at over $500 a week, and by the increase in land prices because there is no land available - but then we are going to insist upon energy ratings which will drive the price $20 000 or more above the current rating, and that only gives you an average house.
I heard today about an energy rating of six, that would drive another 10, I would bet on a compounded effect that it would be more likely to lift that price from a 4 rating to somewhere around $50 000 to $60 000 or more. This is not smart. Boxing ourselves in and preventing the airflow from front to rear of the property, and allowing for eaves, is also not smart.
Some of the plans I have seen for the Bellamack area are ludicrous, to say the least. They are putting in demands at this stage which mean that you cannot have your roller door level with your front door, in alignment with the house; it has to be set back. You must have a concrete pad in your back yard in case you ever have a boat trailer. What if you do not have a boat trailer? You still have to pay for that concrete pad. When you have the concrete pad, you will have to put up a screen so your neighbour cannot see the nice boat you have just bought. This will cost you more money. It will cost more money to make sure it is cyclone-coded. If your house faces west and there are windows, then all the windows need to have batten screens on them …
A member: Do not forget the midges.
Mr BOHLIN: Yes, do not forget the midges. Thank God we do not have any where we can be outside. We will just be stuffed in our air-conditioned box. How is that energy efficient? Bring back the louvres, the open air areas, the Territory lifestyle, and stop driving it down into the southern states.
There is much interesting stuff in this strategy. There is one page, page 58, to do with the arts, and I quote:
If we can take anything from that, I hope it is that we can use the arts and industries like that to help promote healthier living. We have a problem with health in the Northern Territory. We must find any leverage point we can to sell people the importance of a healthy lifestyle; eating fruit and vegetables, and getting involved in sport. Hopefully, that way we can have a long life.
Mr Rudd, the Prime Minister of this country, says that broadband is a project bigger and more important than the Snowy River scheme. How come it gets one page? One page is how much the government has allowed for such an important point. Yet, Prime Minister, one of their people, says it is bigger than the Snowy River scheme.
This is a very interesting document and the people involved have done a great job; they have done the best they could. I would love to sit down and talk about it anytime, but you have much to catch up on, guys.
Mr HAMPTON (Regional Development): Madam Deputy Speaker, I support the Chief Minister’s statement on the Draft Territory 2030 Strategy. There can be no doubt that today’s changing circumstances require a fresh approach; one that looks to the future and that is not anchored in the past.
The cornerstone of the Chief Minister’s 2030 strategy is community engagement. It brings together business and community groups which will set the goals and establish how we will measure success. It is transparent, enabling all Territorians to see what we have and have not achieved. By its very nature, the Territory 2030 strategy is a long-term plan. It is crucial that the strategy is owned and supported by Territorians. We understand, in a rapidly changing world, we have to draw on more expertise and knowledge.
The approach we are using draws on the knowledge and expertise available within the general community. Goals and objectives are defined by the community and the community has a say on how results are measured. As the Minister for Central Australia and the Minister for Regional Development, I believe it is important for all the people of the Northern Territory, from the Centre to the Top End, to have the opportunity to set out the course for the future of our great Territory. I commend the Chief Minister for ensuring that Territorians have such an opportunity.
As the Minister for Regional Development with responsibility for Indigenous economic development, I have a deep interest in the aspirations of regional and Indigenous Territorians. Territory 2030 will be building on previous and ongoing initiatives, such as the Indigenous Economic Development Framework and the Economic Development Committees, to address the development needs of all residents across the regions.
I believe everyone acknowledges that there are some major challenges facing the Territory into the future. While my department has some major plans in place, such as the Economic Development Framework and we contribute to plans such as Closing the Gap, what has been lacking is an overarching structure to draw together our projects and other departments’ projects into a strategic direction for the whole-of-government. Territory 2030 is a missing piece of the puzzle. The draft strategy recognises that the Territory needs to invest in its economic future and create an environment which would allow all our regional towns and communities to develop as modern economic centres. I quote from the strategy:
These are two crucial issues that are the focus of the Indigenous Economic Development Framework and the Economic Development Committees. The draft strategy continues:
The draft strategy states:
The 2030 strategy states that:
Finally, in words which could be a motto for any Minister for Regional Development, it states:
As the Minister for Regional Development, I was delighted to see so many communities across the Territory putting forward their views on the issues that are most important to them. Not only have almost 80 individuals, businesses and peak groups provided written input, many Territorians have given their time to be involved in the consultation meetings. Members of the steering committee have met with community members across the NT, including people at Anmatjere in the Ti Tree region, Galiwinku, Tennant Creek, Katherine, and Alice Springs. Staff members from the department of Regional Development have been assisting in the consultation process by helping to organise meetings of the steering committee, and the Economic Development Committees as well.
At the start of the community consultation process, the Territory 2030 Steering Committee hosted a two-hour community forum at the Alice Springs Town Council chambers on 23 February 2009. Approximately 45 local residents took the opportunity to speak to the committee Co-Chairs, Vicki O’Halloran and Bill Moss, and steering committee members, including Jan Ferguson, an Alice Springs resident, on issues of importance to the region. The discussions were extensive and concentrated on local issues.
Professor Jonathan Carapetis, on behalf of the Territory 2030 Steering Committee, hosted a two-hour community forum in Galiwinku in early March 2009, where approximately 30 local residents took the opportunity to speak on issues of importance to their region. This was a tremendous turnout for a small community, and a great opportunity for a remote Indigenous community to put their views and concerns directly to the steering committee. The issues raised were varied, often focusing on issues very specific to individual communities and sectors of the economy.
It soon became clear there were many shared concerns, and there was much overlap on issues such as education and jobs. People throughout the region, or throughout the Territory, aspire to have strong and resilient communities which are supported by healthy, educated people who have access to, and can work in, real jobs. There was a common focus on economic prosperity supported by appropriate infrastructure, and good management of the natural environment, as well as the need for knowledge and innovation to be supported. There was also recognition of the benefits that may be realised through participation in sport and recreation through improving health, reducing crime, boosting tourism, the economy, enhancing social cohesion, or just something people want to do.
As the Minister for Sport and Recreation, I was very pleased, though not surprised, to see an emphasis on our great Territory lifestyle. Some of the aims include:
participating in sport and physical activity at the same level as other Australians;
the number of Territory teams participating in national sporting competitions is expanded; and
Territorians have access to a wide range of facilities and activities that enhance the Territory lifestyle.
If Territorians had access to national and international standard sporting facilities there would be numerous benefits. It could lead to more national and international competitions being held at such venues, allowing Territorians the opportunity to watch or take part in top-class sport. This would give Territory teams’ access to the best facilities in preparation for competitions, and it could lead to us hosting more top-class sporting events. It would be amazing to host a World Cup football match or a World Cup cricket match, not to mention hosting more AFL games - hopefully, Collingwood.
We are on our way already with the upgrades of TIO Stadium and other premier facilities, such as Traeger Park and the aquatic centre developments in Alice Springs. We also aim to have more Territory teams participating in national competitions. The NT Stingers and the NT Pearls are already competing in the National Hockey League; the Territory Thunder is competing in the Queensland AFL, and doing well; and the Territory Storm is competing in the Australian Netball League.
It would be good if we had a Rugby League team in the NRL - I am sure the member for Barkly would be very happy - or a football team in the A League.
Mr Wood: Join the Barkly.
Mr HAMPTON: Member for Nelson, dreams like these can be realised, but only when the whole community dares to dream together.
Turning to my portfolio of Information, Communications and Technology Policy, we are seeing the development of a massive project which, I suspect, will have ramifications well beyond 2030. The National Broadband Network is a nation-building project that will make Australia a global leader in broadband. Access to high speed broadband is an essential enabler of business competitiveness and community wellbeing. The government appreciates this, and that is why we have invested jointly with Telstra, Rio Tinto Alcan, and the Northern Land Council in laying 800 km of optic fibre across Arnhem Land.
We have delivered. If you look at the six priority areas of the 2030 strategy – education; society; prosperity; health and wellbeing; environment and knowledge; and creativity and innovation, access to high-speed broadband and the National Broadband Network is significant to them all. With education in particular, high-speed broadband can play a transforming role. The Draft Territory 2030 Strategy aims to ensure that the Territory is a world-leader in providing education in remote areas. This can be achieved with the assistance of online and virtual-schooling. As well as a nation-building project, the NBN has the potential to transform Australia.
I will work constructively with the Commonwealth government, in particular Senator Conroy, to ensure the best possible outcomes for all Territorians.
As the member for Stuart, and not only an Indigenous member of this parliament but a member of parliament, it is very important that Territory 2030 is an inclusive process. I will encourage all of the people in my communities, through the electorate of Stuart - we know it is the largest electorate in the Northern Territory, stretching from Pine Creek through to the western side of the Territory down to Nyirripi, Yuendumu, Lajamanu, Kalkarindji, Pigeon Hole, Yarralin, Timber Creek, Mataranka, Beswick, Barunga, Manyallaluk, and east to Mulga Bore – to contribute to the 2030 discussion, and hopefully getting them involved. It is just as important for them as for someone sitting in Alice Springs or Darwin; it shapes their future as well as ours.
I join the Chief Minister in thanking the members of the 2030 steering committee for all the work they have done to date in seeking the views and input from all the people, sectors and regions across the Northern Territory. I am pleased to support the Chief Minister’s statement.
Ms PURICK (Goyder): Madam Deputy Speaker, whilst there are some good items in the draft strategy, there are many areas that cause me some concern. I thought the document was like a Life Be In It document, with references to health and wellbeing and the use of the word ‘unique’, which is probably overused.
I have no issue with the steering committee people who are listed and they have been talked about; mostly they are Territory-based. I am a little disappointed though at the lack of broadness of the committee in regards to the business and industry communities. I know there are some business people on it, but I would have liked to see a few more, so that there was a broader all-encompassing look at industry and business. Without a sound economic base, the government does not have the funds or wealth to provide all the services that it needs to provide.
I am also a little disappointed that the government did not see fit to appoint a Territory-based person as the chairman and saw the need to go interstate. I have no issue with the gentleman in question, but I am sure there would have been some eminently qualified people in the Territory who could have filled the role and filled it well.
On page 5, and it probably appears elsewhere in the document, I put on the record that I am not a ‘non’. It says we have Indigenous Territorians and we have non-Indigenous Territorians. I would like to be known as an ‘other’ Territorian. I am not a ‘non’. It means you are a not person. This expression is used quite a lot and I would like to see it taken out of the language because, to my way of thinking, it is almost a negative.
In regards to the document as a whole, it concerns me a little that the government seems to be abdicating its responsibility and its role in policy setting and vision setting and it seems to be ruling by committee. I have no issue with the composition of the committee, but it seems to me that the government has relied on what other people have said and are saying, rather than what the government should be coming up with.
In the early part of the document it talks about the climate and how it has changed and we know that, we have been told by experts all around the country, if not around the world. However, I do not see any information or even any direction of how the government or the Territory as a community will prepare for these climate changes. For example, in the Top End cyclones will be more frequent and intense and extreme weather events will significantly impact on the biodiversity, but, sadly, we know that the cyclone shelters in the Darwin and rural area are lacking and I do not see any planning for improvements.
It also proposed that the Territory government establish a NT household survey because it does not think it can get the right information out of the census data. It says it is useful but not regular enough. Perhaps it has overlooked the Australian Bureau of Statistics data. I question how this information would be gathered. What methodology would be used so that it is legitimate, and how is it going to get Territorians to participate? Would it consider legislation in any form? That would scare me considerably.
It also references the establishment of the Northern Territory Future Fund, independently controlled and managed to secure alternative revenue streams. That gives me some concern. I am not quite sure what it is looking to set up and why it feels the need to set up something. Surely the government should be working to attract investment into the Northern Territory.
In regards to education, which is one of the key focus areas, if not the key focus area: I do not have any issue with that, because it is fundamental that all people receive a sound education so they are well equipped to meet the challenges once they leave the learning institutions. But it seems to be missing some of the basics: providing and ensuring that all our schools are properly equipped with state-of-the-art equipment and that buildings are safe and secure. Many of the primary schools need improvement. I know money has been allocated to some primary schools in the budget, but, sadly, not all the schools, particularly some in the rural areas.
Another basic area that is important for education is the school bus routes and the provision of buses. We struggle in the rural area with the buses and the bus routes. There is a family of nine children at the Humpty Doo Station who cannot get the school bus to collect them to take them to either Taminmin or Humpty Doo Primary School. That is very sad because their grandmother wants those children to go to school to get a good education but they are missing out.
I do not see much information about supporting teachers. Obviously they are an important component of the whole package. Recruiting and retaining teachers in the Northern Territory and paying them appropriate salaries so they are comfortable in their employment.
I agree with providing adequate services and support for people with disabilities, whether they are in the school system or in the community. In the school system, people who have learning challenges need to be fully supported. We should also look at the other end of the spectrum and fully acknowledge and support children who are gifted and talented in school. From what I have seen in some of the schools in the Territory and in talking with parents who have children with special needs, it seems that they get overlooked. If we are going to be fair to all our schoolchildren, then we need to cater for all their needs.
The government makes a big play of the number of apprenticeships it has, about 10 000. But it does not tell you how many do not finish their apprenticeships. The dropout rates in the first 12 months and two years are alarming. That fact has to be out there because it is being overlooked quite considerably by this government.
Statehood? Yes, we have to keep working hard on our path towards statehood. The government needs to be much firmer and harder with its federal counterparts so they acknowledge that it is a fair and proper thing for us to go to statehood. The government must overcome any obstructions thrown up by some of the federal parliamentarians.
In regards to housing, there is much to talk but safe, affordable housing is a basic necessity for every family. It is a fundamental right for people to have safe housing; that they feel secure in their houses, that they are not tormented by unruly behaviour in the streets, and do not have overcrowding. Sadly, that is not the case in the Territory. On page 25 it references that we need to have affordable and appropriate housing into the future that meets the needs of all Territorians. That is fine, but this government has strangled the release of land so that young people in remote and urban areas cannot get a block of land to build a house. If they do secure land, it is at a huge cost. It is putting many young people into debt and that might be something they will live to regret in the near future if interest rates change.
On page 25 it also talks about the aims, but it does not give much detail on how the government thinks they can reduce all these things. For example, and I quote:
families can afford to move to and stay in the Territory; and
seniors have more accommodation options available to them.
They are all fine and nice words, but you have to be a little more specific than that. We know that there are many seniors in the rural area, but there are not many affordable housing options or places where they can stay. That is something that does not seem to be written up in this.
In regard to lifestyle, it talks about lifestyle for more Territorians, how we should enjoy ourselves, that the Territory is a terrific place - all that sort of ‘you beaut’ stuff - and that we should have more parks and reserves. But I ask: where? Are we talking in the urban areas or in the hinterland? The government struggles to manage the parks it has so I question how it is going to manage more parks. If there could be more parks and reserves, I would welcome it because, sadly, Howard Springs is not what it used to be. We cannot swim there any longer because of issues with the water. Berry Springs is often closed for large parts of the Wet Season which is the time when you want to swim because it is hot. Most of our creeks and waterways around the rural areas - in the Top End - and areas around the north coast of the Territory are unsafe to swim in because of the crocodiles. Yet, there is no planning for any kind of water parks for people in the rural area, given that there are 20 000 to 25 000 people living there.
The government says that Weddell is coming on stream - in five years turning the sod - but those people will have no water park. The government has spent an enormous amount of money on Lake Leanyer, a wave pool, and promised a water park for Palmerston, which already has a swimming pool. However, there seems to be scant regard for recreational activities in other parts of the Territory. We have some bike paths but there seems to be little consideration of other parts of the Territory for bike paths which many people seem to enjoy.
While we are talking about lifestyle, it is very difficult for people who are on low-to-middle incomes and who live a long way from town centres to access recreational activities like BassintheGrass, when the government does not extend the public transport system to the rural area. We have had public buses advertised previously. My office did get some concession for one of the Labor Day events. But for BassintheGrass, buses only come from Palmerston and the northern suburbs to Darwin. When Lake Leanyer opened, buses only came from Palmerston and the northern suburbs. When it comes to anywhere beyond that, bugger the rural area people; they have to get there by themselves. I do not believe that is good enough. We struggle with the bus services generally, but young people are encouraged to take up these healthy activities and the government does not consider that one or two public buses into town to access these events are worthwhile. I find that very disappointing.
On page 29, the government talks about ensuring public safety, and that is good. My big issue with that is it talks about reducing the number of victims, reducing the number of people killed on roads, and reducing the number of serious injuries. I believe the aim should be to ‘eliminate’. We should not be saying: ‘Last year we killed 20 people on our roads but this year we have only killed 10 people. We are doing a good job’. I believe the wording should be ‘eliminate’, not ‘reduce’. Whether people think that is achievable is another issue, but the aim should always be to have no injuries, no deaths, regardless of where it is - whether it be on the roads, in workplaces, in homes - anywhere. If the government is serious about ensuring public safety, then it should have stronger aims and back it up with a good, strong, solid strategy.
In regard to investing in and valuing our people, cultures, and communities, yes, that is all pretty reasonable, but it should be all encompassing and it does not seem to be. It only references Aboriginal people. I see no reference to other cultures, such as our history in regard to Chinese, the Greeks, or the Italians at the mica fields in Central Australia. They made valuable contributions. They did much work to make the Territory what it is today. They have a particular culture which some still have with them, and they have contributed to what the Northern Territory is today. There are many more. I find it disappointing that they do not seem to be scooped up in this section at all.
It also talks about recognising the cultural heritage of the Territory by recognising and using Indigenous place names. I do not have a big issue with that, but what about recognising the contribution of the Chinese people in the Pine Creek area with names or even in the Darwin area? There are some roads in Pine Creek that are named after old Chinese families, but it should be more encompassing, and it does not seem to be that way. It seems to be very myopic in recognising one culture and not other cultures.
It also talks about the value of the community, people and volunteers, and that is great. I do not believe there is enough recognition given to them. There are systems of awards and we know they are out there, but when the government can support volunteers and carers, they should and do it well.
In regard to the section on prosperity, there is an item, and I quote:
I am unclear where that kind of agency would sit with the government departments. Is it another quasi-tourism department? Why is it just tourism education and other? Why is it not to bring the World Cup soccer here, or what was mentioned previously? I have no issue with developing Darwin as an international city. It is very important, as we go into the future, to make our mark in Australia, particularly with our northern neighbours. The Office of Territory Promotions has me worried, it seems to be something that is just a good idea, so let us get out there and promote, but it is a bit short on substance.
One of the things that is not really mentioned in the business or prosperity areas, is we know that mining and energy contribute substantially to our economy but, the bigger picture this government is not capturing is the benefits that can and would flow from servicing the offshore industry and also the mining industry, seem to have been overlooked a little. We know it is there, but if this is going 10, 15, or 20 years into the future, the planning should be done now if we are going to capitalise. We know that the world is running out of particular energy sources, that the demand for energy is going up, and that we have an abundance of uranium resources and, potentially, gas resources offshore, but there does not seem to be any vision of how we could capture that and make the service sector a more viable and larger sector.
It does not have any vision or comment on areas that are within the domain of the Commonwealth that the NT could lobby the Commonwealth to change, such as a flow-through share scheme, which would bring enormous benefits to the junior side of the mineral and other exploration industries.
Another point in the prosperity area is that we are talking about 2030. The Blacktip gas field has about one trillion cubic feet of gas which, from my memory, will last about 20 years supplying gas to Darwin. But there is no mention of where we are going to get our next energy supply from. Where is our next source of energy going to come from?
There is talk about the environment, and how we can look after the environment and grow trees and all that sort of thing, but there is no real mention and no vision for where we are going to get our future water supply for Darwin and the new development areas, such as Weddell and whatever is going to come after Weddell. Even with regard to Weddell, which is meant to have the first sod turned in five years, where is the water supply going to come from? Where is the sewerage supply going to come from? And, more importantly, where is their power going to come from? Maybe there is a big scheme out there with regard to recycling and compost.
We are talking big picture, and if Weddell is going to be the next Palmerston, with another 10 000 lots, there does not seem to be any vision as to what kind of township Weddell is going to be. Is it going to be a complete urban township like Palmerston or is it going to be a bit like Marlow Lagoon, where you have some bigger rural blocks? There does not seem to be any master plan for the Weddell, Noonamah and area beyond. I wish I had bought the Noonamah pub when it was offered for sale some years ago.
The area of water resources and water management, not only for the Top End, but also for Central Australia and elsewhere, is sadly lacking in this document, and that is pretty disappointing.
Finally, health and health services are fundamental to our wellbeing and our lifestyle and it is disappointing that we are talking about growth, more population and trying to get people healthier – they cannot look after themselves so someone has to look after them – but there is no mention of proposed health facilities in the Top End rural area and other places of the Northern Territory. We know that we are going to need a new hospital, either in Palmerston or beyond, to service the growing population that is referenced in this document, but there is no mention of health.
It talks about needing more health professionals but it does not talk about the fundamentals of how we are going to recruit and retain them, or how we are going to make their lifestyle better, given that they are such an important part of the health system.
I know much hard work has gone into this document by the government officials and the committee, and I know many people, individuals, and organisations have taken time and trouble to put in submissions. I will be encouraging people to put in submissions. There are some serious, glaring omissions regarding the vision, and strategies and objectives to support that vision.
Mr TOLLNER (Fong Lim): Madam Deputy Speaker, I am having a flick through this and seeing what is in it. Great stuff. Great bunch of people involved.
It is a little like Kevin Rudd’s wonderful 2020 convention where he dragged the greatest minds in the country off to Canberra. They brainstormed and came up with thousands of fresh and fantastic ideas, all devoted to real results and making positive changes in the community. There was plenty of reformist zeal in the room; people were really geed-up about the opportunity to make some real change to the way Australia would be in the year 2020. What came of it? Not much at all. There was somewhere around half a dozen or a dozen ideas that were picked up by the government.
One of the people on the 2030 steering committee was there, a bloke called Jonathon Carapetis, who is a very smart man; he was named the smartest person in Australia a year or two ago, as I recall. I heard him commenting on the radio about Kevin Rudd’s 2020 plan and he said it was all a little disappointing in the end. The bionic eye was one of the ideas the government picked up. Jonathon Carapetis said that that was a great idea, it is a fantastic thing the bionic eye, but as far as needs go and the requirements of the community, in his point of view, the bionic eye was not up there. There is a range of diseases, and medical breakthroughs that need to be found. The bionic eye was not one of those things that figured highly in Mr Carapetis’ mind. He summed it up in the way most people did: that there was a whole lot of wind and, at the end of the day, there was not much come out of it.
That is the big fear we hold for this document. There are all those good people who have put in time working through ideas, toiling away and doing their bit to try to make this a better place. The committee has put up some great ideas but my big concern is that it is all wind and it will go nowhere in the end.
As I always say, in this place and out there, when you are dealing with Labor governments, not just in Canberra and particularly in the Northern Territory, you do not listen to what they say, you look at what they do.
Dr Burns: Like Tiger Brennan?
Mr TOLLNER: Look at what they do.
Dr Burns: They do not do.
Mr TOLLNER: Here we go. The Minister for Business has jumped straight on Tiger Brennan. Let us look at Tiger Brennan. If we go back to 2003, I believe Tiger Brennan was going to cost somewhere around $27m. The Commonwealth stumps up its fair share. We get to 2008-09 and it is not done – it is incomplete. Is it $27m? No, it is somewhere around $110m and still growing. There is no road yet and the minister has the audacity to bang on about how the government is building a $110m highway. It is building a $110m extension and it is costing taxpayers much more than $80m that they could have saved by doing it back when it said it would.
We see so many examples where the government strides in and promises something and it takes them years - if ever - to deliver on these things. We see it with the oncology unit. That was a 2001 election promise. Almost a decade ago. It will be a decade by the time it is operating.
Dr Burns: You said it had been delivered in your election pamphlet.
Mr TOLLNER: Unfortunately, as the minister knows, it is not the Commonwealth that builds hospitals. The Commonwealth provides the funds and, in this particular case, the Territory government does the work. Or is supposed to. Did this Territory government do the work? No, it reneged. The government said initially that it was going to do it on its own. But somewhere along the line the government decided that it would not do that; it needed some help from Canberra. Canberra came to the party and gave it some help. The government said that was not enough. What has the Territory government contributed to the oncology unit, in real terms?
The Territory government has made a contribution of around $1.5m over 10 years, of a $30m oncology unit. When you look at these things you have to take the government with a grain of salt.
Bellamack is a classic example. Twelve months ago the government was going to be turning blocks off, but there is not a house to be seen at the moment. I do not believe one block has been turned-off. I would suggest it is a long time before we see people living at Bellamack. It is a long way away.
This weekend I went for a swim at an absolutely beautiful spot not far from here: the wave pool. The wave pool is fantastic, I have to say. I had a great day with the kids but I could not help thinking, goodness me, this was supposed to be opened in September last year. We were being told around election time that it would be opened in September. Eight months later and we finally got to have a swim - great stuff. I also recall - when we were going to be able to swim in it in September – that it would be free to the public. This is not the case. It cost $12 to get me and my family in, which was $12 well spent because we had a great time. But you have to ask the question: why can they not be honest with us from the word go? Why do we have to hear all this malarkey about ‘we are going to do this, we are going to do that’? You are big on promises and small on delivery.
Fresh ideas – real results. It should be: no idea – real debt. That is what we have in the Northern Territory: a government with no idea but they know how to crack up real debt. That is where we are at. I flick through this great stuff and one of the first things I see is that the government is going to establish a future fund in the Northern Territory. Get that. It just lumbered every Territorian – man, woman, child, probably our dogs next – with a $26 000 debt. We are running a $200m budget deficit and, what is it going to do? It is going to build a future fund. This is cloud cuckoo-land stuff coming from the government.
The failed Treasurer that we have at the moment could not give anyone any idea of when we are going to come out of debt in the Northern Territory or when we will we start running surplus budgets. She said it is a definite plan of this government to start running positive budgets. Good on her but, at the moment, all we are seeing is a deficit budget. We have no idea how long we are going to be in debt for. In The Australian today, there is a great little story from the federal government, the headline reads:
Mr Swan said that the federal government is going to be in deficit for much longer than he first predicted.
We had our budget today, and the Treasurer tells us that the government has all these great plans to come out of debt. You have to wonder when are they going to come out of debt, considering the incompetent people - their comrades - in Canberra, do not know when they will get out of debt. The Treasurer told us today that we are only in debt because the Commonwealth is going into debt, and it has nothing to do with any Labor people; it is because of the global financial crisis. It is a good excuse, but it is a pipe dream.
We know that Labor governments are very good at creating debt and running up big bills all over the place, but they are not particularly good when it comes to paying off debt; for being responsible, doing the hard work, and making the tough decisions; they are not good at that.
If you flick through this strategy, you see things like housing - what a classic:
Ask the constituents at Bellamack what the houses are like. Ask the people at Yuendumu who know that there is a fund of $700m. It has been two years since the emergency intervention started. In an emergency - a national emergency - the Territory’s rights were trampled over because of the appalling way the Territory government was dealing with Aboriginal Territorians. The federal government marched in on an emergency mission, stumped up $700m and told the Territory government to get out and build some emergency accommodation and housing. It is two years down the track, where are we? How many houses do we have? Do we have one, two, three - any? Zero.
In Question Time today, the member for Daly, the minister, jumped up, all happy, saying that we have an extra $330m for housing. What a joke - talk about a circus. You have been sitting on $700m for two years and you have not been able to build a single house and you have the audacity to march in here and tell us you got another $330m. What a joke. What an absolute joke you are …
Mr Knight interjecting.
Mr TOLLNER: You are an absolute joke. Get out there and see these houses that you are supposed to be building. You could not organise a – well, I will not say that. It is absolutely appalling. It says in the strategy:
Housing is a basic right for all citizens.
Mr Knight: That is true.
Mr TOLLNER: Here we go, the minister says: ‘That is true’. A bunch of people live about 200 m from my electorate office who should not be in any sort of a house; they should be in an institution. They should not be living with normal people. They are disgusting scum and I cannot speak about them in any other way. They do not deserve to be in a house. They vomit in the public housing stairwells, they urinate all over the public housing buildings, they smash doors and windows, and they smash their neighbours and themselves at night. There are no other words to describe them; they are complete and utter animals, and this minister says they have a right to live with normal, decent people.
Mr Knight: You have not written to me once about it. Why not write to me about it?
Mr TOLLNER: That is what you say. You say they have a right to live with normal, decent people, mate. That is a joke.
Mr Knight: What are you doing? You are so lazy. Why are you so lazy?
Dr BURNS: A point of order, Madam Speaker! The member for Fong Lim should know by now he needs to address his comments through the Chair.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Fong Lim, address your comments through the Chair.
Mr TOLLNER: Sorry, Madam Speaker. The minister for frivolous points of order jumps up and calls me …
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Fong Lim, that was not a frivolous point of order. I ask you to direct your comments through the Chair, thank you.
Mr TOLLNER: I apologise, Madam Speaker. I did say I would direct my comments through you, but I was referring through you, that this minister is the minister for frivolous points of order.
Dr BURNS: A point of order, Madam Speaker! As you have pointed out, it is a very important point of order. I thought the member for Fong Lim would at least apologise to me also, because it is a point of order, a standing order within this parliament, to ensure that comments are directed through the Chair and not across the Chamber.
Madam SPEAKER: Leader of Government Business …
Mr TOLLNER: Madam Speaker, for ease of …
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Fong Lim, I am speaking. You can resume your chair while I am speaking, thank you, and follow the courtesies.
Mr Mills interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Leader of the Opposition!
Mr Mills: Yes, Madam Speaker.
Madam SPEAKER: I ask you to cease interjecting.
Mr Mills: Yes, Madam Speaker, I will.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Fong Lim, I will let you continue. I would like you to direct your comments through the Chair, thank you.
Mr TOLLNER: Thank you very much, Madam Speaker, and if it helps, I unreservedly withdraw any sort of allegation or imputation that I made to my precious friend. I did not mean to cause him, or yourself for that matter, any trouble. However, I was making some pretty serious points. I was talking about the right to a house. The right …
Mr Knight: What is the address?
Mr TOLLNER: People have a right to a house providing they perform their responsibilities, which is to look after that house and look after the community they are in. If they do not do that, they forfeit their right. It is not a right of every citizen to have a house. If you do not look after the house or the unit that the government provides you, by the taxpayer, you should be booted out of it. Go and look down the road, not 200 m from my electorate office, and I see a place that is crammed to the gills with a whole …
Mr Knight: What is the address?
Mr TOLLNER: I am sure you know the address, minister.
Mr Knight: Come on.
Mr TOLLNER: You would not talk to A Current Affair or most of the other media when they rang you up. You know this stuff is happening, not just in my electorate, but in practically every electorate in Darwin, Katherine, Tennant Creek, and Alice Springs. In virtually every centre in the Territory there are people who are abusing the privilege of being in a public house or unit, and the minister turns a blind eye to it. That is particularly galling, to me.
There is a wonderful page in the strategy titled Objective 3: The Territory maintains an enviable lifestyle. When I came here it was an enviable lifestyle, but the fact that my house has been broken into three times in the last month does not make it enviable. The fact that our roads have fallen to pieces and, because of the poor state of the roads, the government has taken the extreme step of putting in place speed restrictions. The fact that we are laden with regulation and are living in a nanny state does not equate to a wonderful lifestyle. You wonder when the government will start reversing some of these trends that they started so long ago.
People come to the Territory because of the freedoms, and when you talk about the Territory lifestyle, most people are talking about the fact that you can come to the Territory, it is a laid back lifestyle, there is a lack of regulation, and you can do things in the Territory that you cannot do in most other parts of the country. This government seems hell-bent on changing that; ruining our lifestyle. That is all they ever do. But by 2030, somehow or other – magically - all of that is going to change. Magically they are going to fix up the crime problem. I saw the other day they came out and said they are going to stop the bikies. They cannot even stop the kids in Malak from wrecking the local school so how are they going to stop a bikie gang? How ridiculous is this?
Objective 4 – Ensuring public safety. Ask the poor fellow who has to sleep in his business every night because the police are not around to respond to the constant break-ins. Ask the people in hospitals who have been bashed. It is just ridiculous.
You look all through this strategy, the focus area – Prosperity. On the day the Treasurer announces that we are $200m in debt and that we have a $6bn liability - that figure is incredibly large. How we can have a figure of $6bn of debt in the Territory is beyond me. This document, great as the people are who have put it together, tirelessly as they have worked, it is a great document, but it is a pity that the document is not reflected by the people who run this government. It is a shameful government. It does nothing. They sit on their hands and then they bleat when they are called out and say it was all the fault of someone else – John Howard, the CLP …
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Fong Lim, your time has expired.
Mr WOOD (Nelson): Madam Speaker, when I first heard about 2030 last October I thought it was something to do with the northern suburbs and their power outages. I thought it meant 20 minutes on, 30 minutes off. But it does not mean that, although it might have been a vision for some people in the northern suburbs. It is about a vision for the Territory or what sort of Territory we should aim for in 2030, and if we come up with an agreed vision, how we will achieve that vision.
When you read the document you could say it is a summary of all the speeches in parliament since self-government and probably well before that. How many times have we discussed education – especially Indigenous education - the economy, the environment, planning, health, governments, lifestyle, heritage, and many other issues? Whilst I understand that this is a draft document and there are many other matters that have not been included, I know that between now and the year 2030 there will be another five Territory elections, and I say it is unlikely that any of us will still be in this parliament when the year comes around, except maybe the member for Fannie Bay and the member for Braitling. Many things can change by then – politically, economically, environmentally, so going into too much detail may just be a waste of paper.
A vision is important, but this government has been in power for eight years, so has it been operating without a vision for the last eight years? Sometimes I believe that is the case. For instance, any vision, without being told by a committee of visions, would know that we need: a strong and mixed economy; affordable land for housing and industry; jobs; good education with high attendance and the results to go with it; good health services including aged care; energy – that is the energy that runs our powerhouses; well-maintained and expanding infrastructure; to maintain a healthy lifestyle with adequate passive and active recreation facilities; to live in a safe environment; to look after the environment; and good planning. That is it. That is what the government should have as its vision. After all, that is why governments are elected: to show vision and leadership. Sometimes you can get bogged down with committees instead of pushing forward with some well thought out strategies supported by common sense and adequate funding.
We had a vision from the previous government. I did not always agree with it, but when this government took over much of that vision disappeared. For instance, there was a vision to have heavy industry at Glyde Point and a township at Gunn Point. This was to be connected to Darwin by a new road, a railway and several energy corridors. The government acquired all that land, but they chucked it all out, using some fairly suspicious arguments and now the heavy industry is in Darwin Harbour. The Darwin plan, that the previous government put forward, had Berrimah Farm as future industrial and open space. But because there was pressure on the government to sound as if it was doing something about housing, it made an ABC morning show announcement that Berrimah would become a housing estate. There was not much vision there – there was much politics. There will be no housing until at least 2013 onwards.
Then we have the prison which has been moved to Weddell because the new one cannot be built within 500 m of housing, but there is no housing at Berrimah. Even if the government persists with the idea, it simply does not build houses within 500 m.
There was also the Litchfield land use objective which showed a regional waste facility. A number of years ago there was a great debate in this parliament about closing the Humpty Doo landfill. The government said we will build a new regional waste dump facility; that was its vision. We are still sending our rubbish to Shoal Bay landfill that belongs to Darwin City Council.
Although there have been visions, unfortunately when you get a change of government, sometimes those visions pass away. Governments need to have vision. A party comes out with a policy, a policy is its vision. That does not mean that you do not talk to the people, but if you do not have a vision within yourself, why are you in parliament?
I have come with various visions. I have spoken about Darwin Harbour being a national park, about development around this region. I have a vision; it does not always come off because I am an Independent. But I expect a party to have a vision which would be their policy that would go into the community for comment. It does not mean that the policy is not the vision. It may be adjusted to what people have to say. We seem to have it a little the other way around now. We are saying that we are just representatives of the people in parliament and we will let them drive the vision. We will go along like computers and carry out that vision. I would find that most depressing as a politician.
I would rather see the government identify its goals for the future and say that this is where it wants to go. It could then ask the people for comment on the strategies to achieve those goals. For example, if it said it has a strategy to reduce the number of people in prison by the year 2030 - which is a great vision, a vision we can all believe in, we do not need a committee to tell us that - how are we going to achieve that strategy? The government is already on the path. It said that it would put a work camp in Tennant Creek; it is already developing its strategies to achieve that. We then need the community to give us some ideas on how to reach that goal, not necessarily to make the goal; that is what the government is for; the government has a requirement to lead.
This document does have some good ideas in it, but I have seen many things go around with good ideas. For instance, when this government was first elected, it held meetings with all the business leaders. It might have had two of those meetings. I presume it was doing something about a vision, but has anyone done an analysis of the effectiveness of those meetings, what came out of those meetings and how much was achieved?
Sometimes you need good leaders who can present good arguments and who can convince people. That does not mean they do not listen to people, but they are able to convince people that this is the way we should be going. We can get too tied up in committees and talking, and I can probably be accused of that sometimes, but we are not achieving unless we take action.
When I look back at some of our major problems, especially with alcohol and Indigenous literacy and numeracy, we have not gone anywhere. We seem to be either stagnant or going backwards. The vision is to let us improve literacy and numeracy, let us turn out doctors, nurses, and leaders from the Aboriginal community - let us make that a goal. But how do we get there? We might make some tough decisions in the short-term; decisions that we have to make. Let us bring the community along and ask them how we can achieve that goal?
I am concerned and I do not believe that something aimed for by the 2030 committee is the way we should go. I am not saying that the community should not participate in decision-making processes, but we, as parliamentarians, and especially the government, has to set its goals, because what will it do when it comes to the next election? Surely, it puts forward goals that the government thinks people will vote for. That is how it works. How is that achieved? Bring the people along and work with them in trying to achieve those goals. If they voted you in, they believed in your vision, but they might not believe in everything. You hear these great words: I have a mandate. You might have made 500 promises, but you cannot say that people agree with everything that you put forward. However, you have been elected on a broad vision that you put to the people as party policy, and you should stick to that party policy and that vision. If you do not, then you are letting people down. It has to be flexible; times change. We know we are in a recession at the moment. That is why you are in parliament; to show leadership.
You also have to be careful that you do not get hijacked. Many ordinary folk probably do not have time to go to these meetings. Some of these people who put their names down at the back are subsidised by the taxpayers. There are members of certain groups that have made submissions and get paid to do it; it is their job to go out and comment. I am concerned about some of the groups. There is Families for a Nuclear-Free Future. I hope that they were not the only ones who put their two bobs worth in, there might be other people - a few scientists – who have a different point of view. You have to be careful that these things do not get hijacked by certain groups. There is nothing wrong with them putting their ideas forward, but we have to look at the broader vision that is required and not have a narrow vision.
I will mention education, and having boarding schools available closer to home. What about parents who want to allow their children to board interstate? I do not think it is necessary to have your children educated in the Territory when you live on a cattle station or on remote communities.
It concerns me a little to see a statement like:
I am not against women being in leadership positions, but it should be based on merit. The classic example is this parliament; there are women in these positions based on merit.
There is even an issue about education, saying that we should mandate Indigenous studies as part of the curriculum. I do not know who would run that. It could be a person from Sydney or another place and it will be their version of Indigenous studies. If you want to promote Indigenous studies, take kids to Arnhem Land or the Barkly, and learn by sitting around with Indigenous people and listening to what they have to say. Sometimes there is too much formality placed on this, when the best way to gain an understanding of Indigenous people is to sit down with them in communities and talk to them as if you are long-lost friends. Treat them the same as you would treat anyone else and they will treat you just the same; they will take you into their hearts, and they will treat you well.
That was my way of learning about Indigenous people. I was 19 when I walked into Daly River from middle-class Melbourne. I had never really seen an Aboriginal person in my life before - I think I had seen Lionel Rose. I walked into Daly River, and people loved me from the day I arrived; they knew I had come to work with them. It was the same at Bathurst Island. I went back recently, and it was a fairly emotional time for me; I felt that I was back with family. I had been back previously but not for enough time to really say hello. I am not sure that formalised mandated Indigenous studies are the way to go. There are better ways to do it; more genuine ways to achieve that understanding.
The member for Goyder raised a few issues with transport and future water supplies. I could go on with the vision that I have about many things, but I will not do that tonight because the Chief Minister has asked us to comment on this document. I have given a more philosophical approach in saying that I do not believe this is the right approach. I am not knocking what people have done, there are good people who have worked hard, especially the Co-Chair, Vicki O’Halloran, who is a wonderful lady and does a fantastic amount of work especially with Somerville; that is the last thing I am trying to do. I am saying that I am not sure this is the right way to go.
Visions for 2030 are nice in the sense that they cover some of the things that we all want: education, society, prosperity, health, wellbeing and environment, but sometimes there are things that no government can put a vision on. You can have all these sorts of things, but we need a society that has a vision all the time that promotes a belief in something. We can cut our society up into nice sections and say that is fine, we should all be happy by the year 2030, but if people do not have a belief in anything, then what is the point in being here? We are not human beings that can be cut up into little sections or are dissected, and as long as we fit into those little boxes we are happy.
Surely there is more to us than this vision; things like being kind and respectful to people. How many of the problems in society are related to not being kind and respectful to others? Most things that cause us problems in society are because of lack of respect and lack of kindness to one another. We should be trying to reduce conflict. These are philosophical ideas but they are real. We should be less selfish in our society.
Look at the discussions we are having today about society. We are becoming too much ‘me’, rather than ‘us’. We are a society that surrounds ourselves in material goods. It is a strange situation that the federal government - I am not trying to be political because it is not the only government doing it - but it is saying we need to have a stimulus package. Why? So we can buy more material goods. We have a society that relies on a growth in the sale of material goods. You have to wonder if that made us a happier society. Do we have more problems today than people in days gone by, when they did not have television, pokies, iPods and computers?
The vision for the year 2030 is a vision that we should have forever. People had a vision of being kind and respectful in about 0 AD. There are some visions that should go right through our lives, and you would hope, through life as long as it exists. If we do not look at those particular things, then you have to wonder where we are heading as a nation. I do not believe we can deal with our society purely in economic terms. Whilst that is good, we need to have a vision of who we are, where we are going, and some of those deeper questions that all human beings have to ask one another. They may not be the most appropriate things to put in a document like this.
I would like to see philosophy taught at school. I was brought up in a religious school, but we were taught philosophy; we were not just taught religion. We need to have a society that questions why we are here, who we are, and our relationship with other people. That has to be the linking of all these other things within this strategy. The way we look after our old people is how we respect our old people. Why do we have so many people in gaol? Because we do not respect other people or their property and we do not respect them as human beings; we are not kind to them.
We have not taught and instilled those things in our children. We need to focus on some of those things. People knock the idea of manners. I was watching Question and Answer the other day and they were talking about etiquette. They had the ex-president of Carlton, whose name escapes me …
A member: Elliott. John Elliott.
Mr WOOD: Mr Elliott was talking about manners. There was some other lady who said it was a sexist, ageist thing. I did not agree with that. Opening a door for someone is respect. Saying thank you and please is respect for someone. It is not some highfalutin thing, and we need more of that being taught in our society. I would have these things as a vision to promote within our schools and in the media. The media will sometimes knock the behaviour of our young people, yet some of the behaviour of the media actually promotes it. The media puts it out there as sensationalist because it will sell papers.
There are more things that we need to have as part of our vision than what is in this book. They are intangibles in some ways, but they are the more important visions that we need to look at in our lives, otherwise we become like a computer. We should be aiming to be more human, more loving to other people, more kind and respectful, and many of the other things would fall into place.
Mr McCARTHY (Transport): Madam Speaker, I support the statement on the Draft Territory 2030 Strategy and I will make two points.
First, planning is something we all do, from the most mundane day-to-day preparation of a shopping list to the kind of education you would like your kids to undertake. To fail to plan, as the Chief Minister often reminds us, is to plan to fail.
Second, there is a real responsibility on this parliament, from both sides of the Assembly, to develop a vision for the future based on the aspirations of Territorians from all walks of life. This is not to say it has to be a vision with which we all agree, nor is that vision something to be set in stone for all time. It is something that we must develop as time goes on, as circumstances change and as new challenges and opportunities present themselves.
This is what I found so encouraging about the statement on 2030. We have a document which has come not from the bowels of a bureaucracy or the lofty towers of an academy but from a group of dedicated Territorians who have been asked to put forward their vision of the future. As politicians, we are being asked to be part of that process and respond constructively, along with every other citizen in the Northern Territory. How each one of us responds demonstrates our capacity to share in the development of a vision for the future.
As a former teacher, I can only applaud the work of the committee, and its vision and the emphasis on education as the foundation for all that we do in the coming two decades. Too often we forget that education is one of the building blocks of our community and that education is now recognised as a lifelong endeavour, not something abandoned as you leave the school gates for the last time.
The Territory 2030 strategy and its key focus areas of education, society, prosperity, health and wellbeing, environment and knowledge, creativity and innovation, depend on a modern, integrated, safe, sustainable, accessible and effective transport system for success. Transport is an area where planning for the future is paramount, and I appreciate the suggestions made by the committee.
The 2030 plan recognises the need for improving transport infrastructure and services to ensure Territory suburbs, cities, towns, and regions are connected. The movement of people and freight through the appropriate transport channels is integral to the social and economic development of the Northern Territory. Transport improves access to employment, education, recreation, business, health, justice, housing, community, and social opportunities for all people.
The Northern Territory government is finalising a 10-year road strategy and is about to commence the development of two transport strategies: a 10-year integrated regional transport strategy and an overarching Northern Territory transport strategy. These will support, as well as respond to, the 2030 plan and other Northern Territory government policies and initiatives. The road and transport strategies will guide and inform transport services and infrastructure development needs into the future.
A perfect example of this is with our new city of Weddell. While other jurisdictions are deeply pessimistic about the future, we are in the process of planning this new city. Transport within Weddell, as well as its links with Palmerston, Casuarina and the city, will necessarily be part of the planning and development of this city. Its planning will have to allow the replication of our great lifestyle, as well as take on the new challenges of global warming. Public transport will play critical role in this.
At a broader level, the Northern Territory government is responsible for nearly 22 000 km of roads and nearly 200 bridges. The 10-year road strategy will provide a plan for managing the development and operation of the road network into the future. This will be done through a planned approach of assessment, prioritisation and resourcing to allow the Territory to maintain and improve the road network. Views from a broad range of key interest groups have been obtained to underpin the strategy, to ensure that the desires of Territorians and the key drivers of economic growth and social development are met.
The remote and regional areas of the Northern Territory provide considerable challenges for the provision of transport services. The nature of communities in the Northern Territory, and accessibility to them, means that a mix of road, air and marine transport is required across different regions.
The Northern Territory government is about to advertise a consultancy for a comprehensive study of regional transport issues, and opportunities to allow for the development of a 10-year integrated regional transport strategy. The study will be undertaken in close consultation with stakeholders. The consultancy will look at possible Northern Territory government initiatives which can improve and expand transport services to communities, for the movement of both passengers and freight, with key focuses being the provision of public, health and school transport services. The consultancy will make recommendations on possible service delivery models, which may encompass marine, aviation and bus services and will take into account the specific and appropriate requirements of different regions and communities. The outcomes of the study will be available in late 2009.
An overarching 10-year integrated study for the Northern Territory is also being developed to provide a high-level framework to set a number of guiding principles for the development of transport policy and the coordinated delivery of transport services and infrastructure across the Northern Territory. The strategy will include a number of key actions to be implemented to meet the current and future transport challenges for the Northern Territory. These strategies will not only support the Territory 2030 plan and its positioning of the Northern Territory into the future, but will also take into account the delivery of the Northern Territory government’s Closing the Gap, climate change and strategic land use and other key initiatives. Meeting the demand for and delivering transport services and infrastructure is not easy.
The Northern Territory’s extreme climatic conditions, low population base and vast distances between urban centres and towns provide a number of challenges which significantly affect services and infrastructure delivery. However, the Northern Territory government is committed to meeting these challenges and coming up with the best possible solutions to meet community and business demands and expectations.
The Northern Territory government aims to continually improve public transport services. The use of public transport and the move away from private car usage in the Northern Territory’s urban areas will contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the transport sector in the future, and will assist to address road traffic and parking congestion issues. A number of improvements to services have been implemented, or are under way, to improve transport infrastructure and services, and to encourage Territorians in Darwin and Alice Springs to use buses. Improvements to services are the key to increasing patronage on public bus services. In addition, a public transport framework for the Darwin central business district is being developed by the Department of Planning and Infrastructure.
Nearly 100% of the Darwin public bus network has low floor, easy access buses to allow access for people with disabilities, as well as the elderly and parents with prams. A program of new shelters and upgrading of existing bus shelters is continually being rolled out. The recently completed bus shelter near Kokoda Industries in Winnellie provides a high-standard shelter which meets the requirements of people with disabilities and restricted mobility. The design for the shelter was developed in close consultation with disability groups.
A review of commercial passenger services has recently been undertaken and is now available for comment at the government website, www.nt.gov.au/dpi/doc. The review is aimed at providing an improved level of service for consumers and to develop a sustainable industry. Recommendations from the review, which are the basis for further consultation, include the use of three licence categories instead of the current nine; the gradual reduction of the capped ratio to better match supply within existing levels of demand; and the introduction of a standards-based accreditation regime.
The Northern Territory is currently working with other states and territories to develop a national road safety strategy for 2010 to 2020. This work will provide the foundation for a 10-year Northern Territory road safety strategy and benchmark targets referred to in the Territory 2030 plan. Road safety is everyone’s responsibility, but it is important that we all work together to protect our road users. This is not just about changing road user behaviour, but is also a vision for an inherently safe road system for our future generations.
As any bush member can tell you, air transport services are sometimes the only link between communities isolated by Wet Season flooding and the major Northern Territory centres. This isolation can sometimes extend for months. The Northern Territory government maintains a strategic network of 72 regional airports which service major communities throughout the Territory. In recent years, the government has been progressively upgrading these airports to a sealed standard, at a cost of approximately $3m per annum. Funding for ongoing works, including maintenance, is paid directly to communities that have the capability to undertake works, or to contract as necessary. A key component of the regional transport strategy will be the investigation of options relating to improving the services of communities through air transport, including the provision of a regular passenger service where viable and appropriate.
Cycling and walking form important linkages between communities, and the health and social benefits are well recognised. The Territory government, in conjunction with local government, has established an extensive network of cycle paths in Darwin, Palmerston, Katherine, Alice Springs, and Tennant Creek. Reviews of these networks are undertaken on a regular basis, in conjunction with cycling user groups, to determine maintenance and development requirements. Reviews of the Alice Springs, Darwin, and Palmerston cycling networks will be undertaken this year. The Department of Planning and Infrastructure has established bicycle liaison groups in major centres, and these groups have proven to be very successful in providing a communication forum for bicycle users.
In relation to Correctional Services, there are clear implications for planning that arise from the Territory 2030 statement. The priority focus areas I have outlined also give Correctional Services the opportunity to contribute to the overall Territory strategy. Correctional Services will promote lifelong participation in education through the expansion of education and vocational training in the prison system. Our vision is that all prisoners will have the opportunity to benefit from education and training, so that they can increase their employment opportunities and life skills, and potentially, decrease further re-offending. Under the objective of ensuring public safety, Correctional Services aims to work cooperatively to increase community harmony and social cohesion.
This is a new era in Correctional Services which will focus on a number of areas. This includes the construction of the Doug Owston Correctional Facility, incorporating a secure mental health and behaviour management facility. The new facility will be designed to ensure that appropriate facilities are provided for prisoners to effectively participate in education, vocational training, and work and rehabilitation programs.
Appropriate community safety is achieved through the provision of modern electronic and physical security systems, and best practice in innovative design and construction is employed. We are also moving towards a trial in implementation of programs that provide cost-effective alternatives to imprisonment which focus on vocational training, such as prisoner work camps, a trial of which is to be established in the Barkly region.
Further, we are moving to the development of a comprehensive case management system for youth in detention that will focus on reintegration to the community, and particularly on re-engaging youth with education, vocation, and employment programs. Over the coming years, Northern Territory Correctional Services will also focus on the following strategies in support of the Territory 2030 plan:
Prisoner work camps, or outreach programs as they will be known, will be the lynch pin of the Northern Territory Correctional Services plan. Commencing in the Barkly region, these outreach programs will provide a cost-effective alternative to traditional imprisonment. They benefit the community through the provision of valuable work projects, and they benefit prisoners as they gain work skills and a strong work ethic. Low-security rated prisoners will also be required to cook, clean, and generally maintain themselves in a camp as a work-ready environment.
I welcome the Territory 2030 plan and look forward to supporting and achieving its aims through the work of both Transport and Correctional Services, for which I hold ministerial responsibility. Mr Acting Deputy Speaker, I support the statement.
Ms WALKER (Nhulunbuy): Mr Acting Deputy Speaker, I welcome the opportunity to speak on the draft Territory 2030 strategy and commend the steering committee for its hard work and commitment to date in harnessing the views and vision of a wide cross-section of Territorians in order to produce this comprehensive document. I have also enjoyed, for the most part, listening to the views that have been shared in this Chamber, from last Tuesday to today; some quite diverse views.
Some of my colleagues on the other side are somewhat cynical in their judgment of the document, alongside another member of the opposition who said it was a great document and commended the Chief Minister for it. I always enjoy listening to what the member for Nelson has to say and his views on the Territory and where we are headed.
I thank the Chief Minister for the invitation to contribute to the debate and acknowledge that the invitation also invites dissenting views, and we have heard some of those and that is healthy, that is what part of being in this parliament is all about.
One of the challenges of producing a document, a draft plan such as this, is capturing all the views and ideas from different people in different settings, urban, rural, remote and bush, and we all know how challenging it can be to please everyone and to capture the breadth of ideas and find a generic one-size-fits-all kind of approach.
On first read I was, and I still am, greatly impressed and even inspired by the work put forward by the Territory 2030 Steering Committee. It is a bold and visionary strategy, with a wide-reaching and long-term view to see where Territorians will be in a little over 20 years time. In my mind, that is not very far away.
I know that some will say that the strategy maps out targets but it lacks the details on how the final strategy will deliver on its goals. Let us remember that when this strategy is finalised it is what will help to shape and formulate the government’s direction and it is imperative that we begin with a plan, as we heard the member for Nelson say. On Monday evening last week on the news, when the Territory 2030 Steering Committee announced the launch of this document, Bill Moss said that you cannot implement unless you have a vision.
I also acknowledge that contributing to the shaping of this draft strategy, in what has been a fairly aggressive time frame, were Territorians and groups from all manner of backgrounds, including 77 that made formal submissions. While I have not read all of them, I have either read or scanned a few of them, and was pleased to see submissions from my own electorate, from Aboriginal Resource and Development Services, known as ARDS, and Reverend Dr Djininyini Gondarra, from Elcho Island, who is the chair of ARDS, put in a separate submission, advocating for the future of the first Australians, the first Territorians: the Yolngu people.
I read with particular interest the submissions of LGANT, the West Arnhem Shire, Carers NT and long-term educator and Territorian, Henry Gray. I also recognise that the draft strategy has had the input of a fairly diverse group of people across the Territory who took the opportunity to attend and participate in regional meetings. In my electorate, a forum was held at Galiwinku and hosted by steering committee member Professor Jonathan Carapetis on 3 March 2009. On 11 March 2009, a very productive meeting and workshop was held in Nhulunbuy led by Terry Hart, the team leader for Territory 2030. Valuable ideas about the future of the Nhulunbuy region were exchanged and collected and absorbed into the draft strategy.
Members of the steering committee will be visiting Nhulunbuy again this week to meet with members of the East Arnhem Regional Economic Development Committee. I am sorry that my presence in the Chamber will prevent me from attending.
I commend the steering committee and its secretariat for the large amount work, in a relatively short space of time, and for making available and readily accessible a large amount of material, including a series of fact sheets, on a very comprehensive website. However, I express my disappointment that the Arnhem region, let alone the East Arnhem region, has been overlooked for an individual focus with a fact sheet of its own, but rather my region has been grouped together under the single heading of the Top End region, which is an area stretching from Wadeye in the west to Nhulunbuy in the east.
Expedient, perhaps for the sake of communication on the World Wide Web, but let us not forget that regional issues differ and the Top End, as defined on the fact sheet, takes in four different bush electorates. I look forward to engaging with people in my electorate to find out what their views are because the views of Nhulunbuy and the East Arnhem region are unique and different to other parts of the Territory.
The scope of the draft 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 and this is absolutely as it should be. It is what empowers us and sets us on a path from childhood to adult life. It is our key, our link to knowledge, to survival, to economic independence and those without it lack choices, power and most often they face a future which has limitations.
Since winning the US election, Barack Obama has seen unprecedented positive media coverage for one in his position, and so too has his wife, Michelle Obama - not only for her wardrobe. On their recent visit to London for G20, Michelle Obama visited schools where young girls flocked to hear her and to embrace her as a role model. She told them that she is in her position now because of the education she was provided with, and that she embraced and valued as a child. The universal message about the need for education and the importance of attending school has been delivered most recently in the Territory by 2009 Australian of the Year, Professor Mick Dodson, on recent visits to schools in Katherine and Darwin.
There has been a good deal of work around Transforming Indigenous Education and there is still much to do. Governments, at federal and Territory level, historically have failed to meet the deficit in education outcomes for Indigenous children. This government is committed to improving education and recognises the step change needed.
In my electorate, education sits high on the issues agenda, but in particular it is the delivery of education to children and adults in homeland communities. So much evidence points to and supports the quality of life on traditional homelands and we need to continue to support students and their families who choose to remain in their communities on their clan estates. This could be through reshaping the current Homelands Learning Centres, introduction of boarding schools in hub communities and providing transport options for students. In addition, these transport options will lessen people’s reliance on very costly plane charters or costly bush-taxis to have access to the most basic of services, including being able to do their grocery shopping.
On the subject of measuring educational outcomes, I am on the same page as Henry Gray. It is the federal government’s Australia-wide NAPLAN test which has more than highlighted, rather, it has shamed the Territory and put us in the national spotlight for unacceptably high failure rates amongst Indigenous students; especially in remote areas, including my electorate. Professor Helen Hughes regularly reminds me of this.
Schools are preparing for this year’s NAPLAN testing of Years 3, 5, 7, and 9 students in a few weeks time. Measurement is the only way to see if we are improving outcomes but, I share the same hope as Henry Gray, and I quote:
Education for all children and adults, whether they are Indigenous or non-Indigenous - and member for Goyder, if the word non-Indigenous offends, do forgive - needs to be meaningful, rewarding, and relevant in order to provide a pathway to knowledge, employment, productive lives, and with that, economic independence. I note with interest that within education, there is an aim to ensure:
I applaud this inclusion and hope that it is inclusive of local Indigenous history for every school in every region of the Territory. Along with it local Indigenous language should also be part of the language offerings within the curriculum. In my electorate, and I am sure other bush electorates are no different, English is the third, fourth or fifth language for the vast majority of Indigenous people who are fluent speakers of a number of dialects of Yolngu Matha.
However, the reverse of this is that only a small handful of non-Indigenous people are competent speakers of the local language in the region. By 2030, I would like to think those employed in the delivery of services, particularly in government roles to Indigenous people, are trained in Indigenous knowledge and culture and basic language skills. Closing the Gap surely involves some bridge building from both sides of culture.
After education, health takes a very high priority. The shift in thinking, from delivering services to treat the sick to deal with the challenges of making and keeping people well, is significant. Speaking for my electorate of Nhulunbuy, the delivery of health services, especially in the preventative area, can only be successful where it recognises that health education is central. How can we do that? We need to provide people with information that they can access, understand, and relate to.
This is what Aboriginal Resource Development Services describe as ‘health literacy’ in its submission. It means we need to provide information in language, and we need provide support with competent and trained health workers who can translate so that people can make the connection between cause and effect when it comes to their health. In the Treasurer’s budget announcement today, I was very pleased to see that in my region, ARDS will receive $0.21m in order to continue its work in economic development and community service with the Yolngu people of North East Arnhem Land.
There are other things that we can do in the area of health, beginning with things like smoking; to legislate or target smoking and reduce the terrible impact that it has on Territorians, Indigenous people in particular, but also non-Indigenous people. Training and growing our own doctors, nurses, and allied health professionals is also a path we must continue to go down. The NT, as we heard from our Health Minister in the Chamber last week, is the only jurisdiction that does not have a medical school of its own. If we want to grow our own to keep medical professionals in the Northern Territory, including remote areas, we must work harder to train and retain them.
With this draft document we move into the next phase of consultation, where community input is invited again, through another series of forums and, quite innovatively, Territorians have the opportunity to provide their feedback online through the feedback forum on the Territory 2030 website, which allows visitors to enter and edit text into the current drafts. I have been online and completed the five-minute online survey which enables people to reorganise the priority of each of the objectives for each of the focus areas. At the end of the process, we will see a concrete document put up to government for consideration as policy.
Personally, I find the Territory 2030 process exciting and engaging in adopting a whole-of-Territory view for the future. I have one question - which I have already received assurance on - that the strategy, when finalised and adopted as policy, remains our constant reference point; our road map. I deal with a certain amount of cynicism in my electorate from constituents who, in the last few years, have been overwhelmed by the introduction of new or changes to existing government policy. It is imperative that we keep Territorians engaged and informed, that we continue to communicate and consult with them, to ensure that we are all on the same path and on the same journey; working together in one direction towards common goals.
Madam Speaker, I thank the Chief Minister for his statement on Territory 2030 and commend it to the House.
Mr CHANDLER (Brennan): Madam Speaker, I will also speak about the 2030 plan and about the importance of planning. Congratulations to the committee and all the others who have been involved, including public servants, in putting this document together.
I have heard it said before that this plan, this vision, is more a job for the government than the committees and the consultants. Residents want leaders and visionaries, not ministers willing to devolve their responsibilities wherever or whenever they feel. The member for Nelson said earlier today that there is one thing we have all failed to do and that is to apply a little analysis. I suggest that we could go all around this country and to any governments that existed over the years, perhaps even around the world, where they have all put together plans for the future, perhaps similar plans. Our own Prime Minister, Mr Rudd, had the 2020 plan, as we all know. I do not know if going 2030 is one better, or it could have been 2040. That 2020 plan, which would have cost this nation a fair amount of money and much very good advice, is going to waste as I believe very few of those initiatives are being taken forward.
I remember in 1985, when I first came to the Northern Territory, I was amazed at Bagot Road and the overpass, given the amount of traffic which appeared to travel on that road during the day and the evening. You have roads that are three and four lanes wide, and there was barely a car on the road. I thought: ‘This place has been designed for the future’. I took my hat off to the planners at the time - the people had the vision to provide something for the future.
Yet, I struggle – and, again, I cannot help but be cynical - when I see the situation that Palmerston and the rural area has been in, in recent years, appreciating that Tiger Brennan Drive is on the books and is something which is going to go ahead. The tap was turned off for that area of the Top End, and it was as if the vision had lost the way, as was said earlier. We were left, and we still are today – I know what it is like coming in, in the morning, it is terrible to try to get into the city in the morning. If we had planned to do the Tiger Brennan extension perhaps four or five, maybe even six or seven years ago, we would not be in the position we are today. I question the vision that was there years ago, that seems to have come to a severe halt in recent years.
To be honest, part of the reason that I got into politics in the first place was through frustration with the way the government today appears to use consultants the way it does and the way that it uses committees without wanting to make decisions itself. I look back at the consultation in regard to the middle schools where, first of all, I am on the public record suggesting that I support middle schools. But the consultation phase was more of a grandiose presentation, where it was very clear from the outset that the government was not listening to what people had to say in regard to middle schools. It was more about presenting middle schools in the best way it possibly could and to get everyone in the audience to agree with its side of the argument.
It was the same thing with compulsory school uniforms which were introduced - we are talking about vision, we are talking about planning for the future - but the school that I represented, Bakewell, had an exceptionally high rate of parents who sent their children to school wearing their uniforms - fantastic results - 97% and 98% of the children turning up in uniform. However, the council and the parents I spoke with did not enjoy the fact that it was going to be compulsory; we will tell you what to do. Again, it was through this consultation practice, which we all had to respond to government with what we felt. As a chair of the school at the time, I supported school uniforms. I believe it shows pride in one’s school, and you can see the difference in a child who is in uniform and one who is without. You only need to talk to any teacher who will tell you the difference in their behaviour. I supported uniforms, but it was how it was presented and how the consultation was conducted. I know it was put back from one school in particular, and others, where they took issue with the fact that it was becoming compulsory.
Consultation again, in regard to Rosebery schools. You have a government that is going into battle with local councils over a road, whether it should or should not be put between the two schools. It was as though, during the consultation phase, the plan had already been put down, agreed to and made, prior to the consultation. So when you have your consultants talking to the community, you do not have them listen to the community, and bring back to government what the community’s thoughts are; more so, it is for the sake of consultation, rather than really listening to the community and going back.
If the government was serious about listening to the community, perhaps they would turn up to more public meetings. I know you had one recently with Arafura. I look at the public meeting at Howard Springs regarding the INPEX development and the workers camp. The sad thing was that there were no government representatives at that meeting. The member for Nelson, members from our side and I went to that public meeting. INPEX sent someone to that meeting, yet there were no government representatives. If the government was really concerned about listening to the future, and about having a vision and a plan, you would think it would turn up to these public meetings.
You look at our harbour, and the vision of where our future heavy industries, gas and the downstream petroleum industries are likely to occur. The bottom line is that what happens on the harbour today is what we will be left with. With vision and planning it should have been Glyde Point, or even further out, where there was a vast tract of land away from where residents live.
While we are talking about that, let us look at Berrimah Farm and the prison, moving the prison for the sake of getting a little land for housing. You are going to land-lock East Arm. In 10, 20 or 30 years where are the businesses that want to develop going to go when the peninsula is filled, particularly when they need access to a port? And it will fill. It might be after every person in this House is no longer with us, but it will fill. The only natural course is for it to come back towards the current industrial area of Berrimah, but it will not be able to now because that place will be filled with houses, as will the prison site. There is a lack of vision and planning and I am really worried that the East Arm area will be land-locked.
Here is a little vision for Weddell. Why was there not the opportunity for Weddell to be given to INPEX to start a little city? Perhaps they could have built it using the DHA model, where a developer basically builds two and three bedroom homes and builds a village that could be on-sold to local investors to give first homebuyers access into the market. Those homes could be leased back by INPEX whilst they were building the new plant. Young investors would have a three or four year opportunity to get rent back from this village. It would also provide the INPEX workers a wonderful opportunity to live in a little village atmosphere, far better than living in some workers camp. We know that INPEX wants to put in a pool, tennis courts, restaurants, mini-golf and things like that, and perhaps a few parks and gardens. Guess what, we have the start of our little city.
Weddell gets a kick start through developers, at no cost to this government. Perhaps the government could bring the services to the Weddell site but then give that site to INPEX. They then pass it on to a developer who develops our little city. Perhaps that is the way INPEX could give back to our community. This is one idea. I see so many opportunities for young people to get into the housing market with a tenant for the first three or four years, while the camp is being built. And wow! We just got the start of our new little city at little or no cost to the government. It is just an idea.
I question the timing of this strategy. I am not sure of this, but sometimes you think these plans are put on the table to defer our thoughts away from some of the critical issues that are affecting people today. Planning is important - it is vital. However, to seemingly ignore current issues is abysmal.
One of the current issues is housing. I could take the Minister for Housing to some places, not in Soweto, but in Woodroffe, Moulden and other suburbs that are not part of a third-world country, or show him some photos I have of cars that have been burned or trashed, units that have been vacant for many months with the excuse that there is no money in the budget to put paint them or clean them up and put tenants in. We know that the list of people waiting to get into these homes is longer than my arm and yet there are vacant properties. We talk about not having the money to do this, but perhaps we could collect some of the rents that are due on these properties, or clean them up quickly and get new tenants in that are paying the rent, as a way of getting some revenue back into the government coffers.
I could show you an area that is more like a war zone. I have had a few people saying that my stance on public housing is a little harsh and that some people in our community need to be treated with kid gloves. I would not like to see anyone on the street because they have been kicked out of public housing. However, there needs to be some rules and there needs to be some respect for the community that we live in and if people do not want to live by those rules, then unfortunately, yes, they should be on the street. That may appear harsh, but it will be their choice, not ours.
Another issue is the private housing market at the moment. The lack of land releases is the single largest issue causing the high cost of housing and clearly putting most young families out of the property market. We are talking about 2030, but these are some of the current issues the government should be working on as hard as they can to ensure that land is released at a fast enough rate to ensure that the market is not over-inflated. The reality is that the average wage is not keeping up with the cost of housing.
The high cost of rent is a flow-on from that. Again, we are planning for 2030, but what are some of the things that we are doing today? What are some of the policies we are developing today and what are their effects on things like the rental market? The average person who comes here and cannot afford a 3 or 4-bedroom home is deciding to pack up and leave the Territory. These are good people, hard workers, but they leave because they cannot afford to live here. This is regrettable.
Health, hospitals, and oncology, this is another one that with perhaps a little vision could have been used. My understanding of an oncology unit is that it is autonomous to the hospital and yet, it also needs accommodation. At the moment, Palmerston needs a hotel to keep the place vibrant and to assist with its development. The first step of a hospital for the Palmerston and rural area may have been to put the oncology unit there. Together, it would give a developer a real opportunity to see a return on building a hotel.
The sad thing is that law and order comes down to a lack of community respect. Unfortunately today, many people’s attitudes are focused on their own rights. If you want rights, you have responsibilities. I noted a text to the editor the other day where a young person felt that it was his right to get the dole. Another story relates to a gentleman who came into my office a couple of weeks ago who wanted help because Centrelink had cut off his payments. I said: ‘That does not sound fair. Why have they cut off your payments?’ He said: ‘Apparently I did not turn up to an interview’. I said: ‘That does not sound right. Surely there has to be some kind of level playing field.’ He answered: ‘I did not turn up to three interviews.’ I said: ‘And you expect Centrelink to pay you?’ He said: ‘Yeah, I was busy.’ I said: ‘If you were busy, why were you not busy working?’
It is amazing how people have this attitude that someone owes them a living. It is really sad. There is always going to be an element of society that it will be that way, whether they are brought up that way by their parents and the values that they have instilled in them. It is sad to think that we have a government that is trying to plan for the future and yet many of today’s policies are causing this effect in the community; that people have a focus on themselves rather than what they can do for the community.
This is another point to do with our prisons. I was looking at a Victorian program the other day. Victoria has a huge problem with prisoners who leave prison and within days or weeks are back in prison, with no real chance to start again. I am talking about people who have spent a long time in prison. Victoria is starting to talk about a program that allows prisoners to work in the community, similar to a program we have, but they get paid to do that. They have a choice: they can learn a trade, some kind of vocation that will give them an opportunity later on or they can work for the community. Whilst it is not much money, they are paid. I believe it is in the realm of $40 to $50 a day. This is a new program it is looking at.
The end result is that you could have a prisoner, leaving prison, with not only the skills necessary in the outside world, but they may have $2000, $3000, $4000 in their back pocket. They are not homeless or back on the street the first night they leave. They are not back in that same cycle where they are throwing a rock through a window to go back to prison, or end up back on drugs or alcohol. These people leave with some money so they can pay for accommodation. They are removed from that environment and have the skills to back them up. Not only is there a little money behind them but also the skills that help. These programs are out there and are worth exploring a little more.
Programs like Brahminy could be taken further. We have a demographic at the moment that is falling apart and, if we are serious about planning for the future, these kids and these kinds of programs need to be studied further. We need to get more of these children, who have fallen on the wrong side of society, into these programs with a chance of rehabilitation, with a chance to right the wrongs and show them that the world is a good place and that they have a place in our community; give them a real chance to survive.
Madam Speaker, sometimes, I cannot help being cynical about this government’s approach to the future, given its track record. Over the past seven or eight years, we have been let down severely. I hope that a plan such as this will be taken on, and we can see some real results. I wish you well, Chief Minister.
Mr GUNNER (Fannie Bay): Madam Speaker, I support the Chief Minister’s statement and the draft strategy. It is a good start. That is where we are at; it is a draft strategy.
The steering committee has been given a huge job to work out, with Territorians, the kind of place we want the Territory to be in 2030. The strategy is aspirational and it is meant to be. We should be bold about the kind of place we want the Territory to be. Territorians are confident and optimistic, and we have already forged a great place to live. We can make it even better. The best way to do that is to plan for a better Territory, to have a clear, shared vision of the Territory we want. That shared vision will be Territory 2030 and it will inform all future decisions. It is a very useful, integral strategy about where we are going forward as a place.
The steering committee has done much work to date, but what we have before us is just a good start. There is more work that we need to do to turn this draft strategy into an agreed shared vision of where we want to be in 2030. Sometimes it is self-evident where we want to be in 2030; sometimes it is not so obvious. What is clear is that, if we make day-to-day decisions, year-to-year decisions, and even if we make decisions as part of five-year strategic plans, having a shared vision of where we want to be in 2030 will make those decisions easier to make.
This is where the inspiration, ingenuity, confidence and aspirations of Territorians are so important. If this strategy is going to work, it must be owned by Territorians. It must be contested and forged through robust consultation and ongoing rigour. To ensure the spirit of contestability, open debate, and constructive consultation, the decision made by the Chief Minister to not only entrust this job to an independent steering committee of outstanding people, but to formally make them part of the Cabinet process, is significant - it is historic for the Territory. Many people probably do not appreciate the significance of that step, but as a measure of the seriousness and credibility we afford this strategy, the Chief Minister has opened up the Cabinet process. In the implementation of this document, and reporting against the goals that will be in the final strategy, there will be a Cabinet subcommittee of independent people from outside the government to ensure that we stay on track in achieving those clear, shared goals that will be in the final Territory 2030 strategy.
One of the reasons the Chief Minister had confidence was because of the quality of people on the steering committee. Quite a few people in this House have spoken during debate of the quality of the members of this committee including Vicki O’Halloran, the CEO of Somerville, as Co-Chair; Bill Moss who has 33 years experience in the Australian global financial market; Michael Berto; Jan Ferguson; Ted Egan; Jonathan Carapetis; Steve Margetic; and Denis Mackenzie are all outstanding people. I know they will be doing their best in pulling together the aspirations of Territorians and forging a clear, shared vision for Territory 2030.
The steering committee has done some serious work in predicting some of the baseline conditions that will exist in the Territory in 2030. Where and how will our population grow? What does that mean for basic service provision, the growth of our economic base, and the impact on our environment? It is predicted that in 2030, the Top End will be hotter and wetter. I do not support that part of the statement. However, one fact that stands out to me, on page 9 of the document, is the doubling of the population of Territorians aged over 60. That is something I am already sensitive to in my electorate. Looking at the broad vision that the steering committee outline, it is hard to disagree with the broad picture painted by Territorians for the future.
As other members of the House have already commented, it is pretty straightforward and it is hard to disagree with things like lifelong learning; Indigenous Territorians enjoying the fruits provided by a modern society, walking comfortably in our two cultures; that it will be a state, I am sure the Minister for Statehood is very confident about that one; it will be a healthy community having made great strides against preventable illness. These are all things that we are comfortable agreeing with. We will be an inclusive society that will have high levels of homeownership, which is a critical element to retaining and growing our local population, and we will be true custodians of our natural heritage. Everything on pages 5 and 6 provide a clear outline of where we want to go.
New initiatives that could make a significant systemic improvement to how we approach government in the Territory, how we think about the decisions we make, and how we measure those decisions, are the suggestions for having a triple bottom line, the steering committee described it as a wellbeing index, and a Northern Territory household survey to gather accurate information about the state of our communities.
Regarding the wellbeing index, or the triple bottom line, I am sure most members are aware of the idea of measuring outcomes in the context of economic, environmental, and social impacts. The idea of finding a way to formalise a triple bottom line for government reporting is worth considering, but it will probably give Treasury a bit of a headache. It is likely that the steering committee is right, and this will result in the government having a more accurate measure of the health of a community.
It is important to remember, though, that the government does not work in isolation; businesses, the non-government sector, community groups, and individuals all influence and impact on the health and wellbeing of the community. We need to bear that in mind when we consider the impact of governmental decisions.
With regard to the Northern Territory household survey, there has been much debate in the Chamber in the past about the reliability of the census data. I can remember the former member for Nhulunbuy being particularly vocal on the subject. The suggestion of a regular household survey seems an eminently sensible solution to give the government access to data that allows it to tailor its actions.
The steering committee mentioned that complex methodologies would be required; a telephone survey would not be enough. That is an important point, because some of the most important data we need will often be from people who have no phone. Having accurate data on a more regular basis will lead to better decision-making by the government, and having a fresh look at how we measure outcomes, adopting a triple bottom line, will allow the government, and the general community to have a better way of assessing the government’s decisions.
The steering committee identified one clear priority, education, and five separate focus areas of health and wellbeing; prosperity; knowledge, creativity and innovation; society; and, environment. There is no doubt that education is important. The steering committee has raised the idea of establishing an Institute for Education and Child Development. As I understand it, the institute will tie together education, health and the early years. It will be a research and policy centre, not an education and health service delivery centre. I am interested to find out more about this proposal. I am sure it is not the intention of the steering committee to create an extra level of bureaucracy or a new body to do the work that the Department of Health and Families or the department of Education should be doing. We need to tackle the problems that emerge in many children before they reach school. There is a gap, and the steering committee has identified that it needs attention.
There is a need for more research that would lead to new policy directions for the government on early childhood education. The Territory is different in many ways to most other places in the world. We have very difficult challenges that we need to address in early childhood. There is no doubt we can do better as a community. This involves families, not just the government, talking about issues that emerge between when a child is born and when they attend school, when children are not often involved with a formal body like a school, so that issues can be identified and addressed. That is a very public understanding, I believe, of the situation we have, and there will be an ongoing public debate about it for a long time. As with any public debate, sound research is important so that we have an informed debate and make informed decisions.
There is no doubt that we have some very important goals we need to meet, hopefully well before 2030, when it comes to education. There are many children and adults who need to learn to read and write. I agree with the steering committee that we should expect our children to perform as well as any other children in Australia. I also agree that education is not just for schoolchildren; learning new skills as adults, going to courses after hours, and doing postgraduate work should continue through our lives. While this happens now, we should be prepared for this to be an area of growing demand. Technology is constantly evolving and it will change how we live, both at home and at work. There is a growing diversity in occupations people are employed in, and sometimes that is out of their control.
The Territory is connected to the global economy and we have seen the swiftness with which industries can change, emerge, or even disappear. We want to be able to provide a highly-skilled and stable workforce for business in the Territory. The best way to do that is to grow skills at home, and that is where the challenges of the bush probably emerge - distance, health, governance, and more. Technology will help us tackle the challenges in providing education. We have a huge territory to cover, but everyone in the Territory should be able to access a great education.
For example, there is one great initiative in schools for children who have middle ear disease. As you can imagine, if you cannot hear the teacher you will not learn, and if you are in class you are more than likely to be mucking up, although it is more likely that you will be a truant. The teachers wear a microphone that hangs comfortably around their neck and the students have headphones to enable them to hear the teacher. I believe the students pass around a microphone so others can hear what is going on in the classroom. It would be better if they did not have middle ear disease in the first place, and that is a challenge we need to tackle, perhaps through the institute the steering committee proposes, but it is great to see simple technology conquering problems and delivering quality education to all children.
The challenges and advantages of Darwin becoming a university town are exciting and significant. Universities bring with them a vibrant energy, something Darwin is already known for, and it will be amazing to see where the Territory could go and what we could be capable of achieving if we took our already passionate population and added to it a larger university population. This is the kind of bold vision that, if adopted in the final strategy, would have important implications of future decisions by the Territory government. It would also have an impact on our relationship with the federal government because it would need to come on board if we were to make that a reality.
Under the five focus areas there is a series of important ambitions – significant aims and aspirations, in some cases they are self-evident, and others are exciting new ideas. The steering committee has done a great job in putting those ideas together into this draft document. There has been much hard work by the Territory 2030 Steering Committee to bring us to this point. It is a point to jump off from; as a place to start discussion to inspire people to contribute. The committee has done an excellent job.
The second round of consultations will commence now and people can meet the steering committee to discuss the draft strategy at a series of meetings up and down the track. There is a 2030 website, a postal address, as some people still like to formally write, and there is a number you can call if you would like to discuss the draft strategy with the steering committee.
Like the member for Nhulunbuy, I hopped online and did the five-minute survey - it was probably faster than five minutes. I encourage all Territorians to make an effort to contribute in some way to the final strategy. I commend this statement to the House.
Mr HENDERSON (Chief Minister): Madam Speaker, I thank all honourable members for their contributions to what has been a very important debate in this House on the Territory 2030 Draft Strategy, prepared for the Territory community by the steering committee that has done such a magnificent job in taking the debate to this point.
Some of the supposed expert commentary is running the line that the government should not ask the community what its aspirations are, which is very condemning of Territorians having the capacity to inform and advise the government, and put forward a point of view for the government to consider. I have every confidence in Territorians expressing their vision of what the Territory should or could look like in 2030.
As we have said all along, the committee will produce its final report, and it will then be up to the government to make the hard decision of whether we accept the recommendations made by the committee. But I have confidence in Territorians. The Territory is a magnificent place; I would not live anywhere else in the world. The Territory is full of wonderful, creative, talented, and entrepreneurial people who have a vision for the Territory, and it would be myopic, in the extreme, to believe that only the Chief Minister, or nine people in Cabinet, should have a view of where the Territory should go. I have confidence in Territorians and I thank those Territorians who have taken part in the debate so far.
It is disappointing to hear the heart of the CLP’s response. Some of the opposition members, not all of them, have delivered a negative, carping and knocking appraisal of both the aims and objectives of Territory 2030.
Members interjecting.
Mr HENDERSON: I said some, not all. I will go through the comments and the process adopted to arrive at these conclusions. Instead of spending time laying out their vision for the future of the Territory, the members for Blain, Drysdale, and Katherine spent much of their time in response commenting cynically on the process, the steering committee, and the likely response from the government.
I will quote from the Daily Hansard. The member for Katherine said:
That is the cynical, carping response from the member of Katherine.
I went to Katherine for the community discussion on 2030, which many people attended; both new and old faces. It was a very lively debate; there was enthusiasm about the concept of 2030 and generated many great ideas about developing Katherine and the region, both socially and economically. There was another public meeting that was also well attended. I am not sure whether the member for Katherine attended the public meeting but he did not attend the meeting I attended. The view of Katherine residents and some of the leaders in the Katherine community - both business and community leaders - was one of great interest in contributing to the debate for the development of the Katherine region.
For the member for Katherine to decry his own constituents and believe that his own constituents are some patsy for the government’s self-interest is a poor reflection on his acceptance of the views of the Katherine community who took part by making a submission. I can only imagine what the members of the steering committee think when they hear themselves described in this way. I would hardly call Bill Moss and Steve Margetic card-carrying political hacks, and I imagine that Ted Egan and Jan Ferguson would feel fairly aggrieved. In fact, all members of the committee would find his comments offensive.
The member is wrong on another front. This document is drafted from the ideas of Territorians. The suggestions came from Territorians in formal submissions and at face-to-face meetings. They are not politically charged ideas; these ideas came from members of the Territory community.
I pick up on comments made by my colleague, the Business Minister: many of the ideas are visionary and expansive. The Opposition Leader compared the exercise to processes - I do not know where he was coming from - in Abu Dhabi and Kenya. He has clearly flagged his lack of commitment. How on earth he managed to pull Abu Dhabi and Kenya into this debate, I am not sure. He likened me to Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe in another debate. He seems to have not only a fascination with Taiwan but with Africa at the moment. How that relates to the Northern Territory goodness only knows. The Leader of the Opposition gave a rambling critique on a whole range of issues and did not deal with many of the ideas, the structure of this particular report, or the work that has gone into it.
The exception to the cynicism of some of the CLP members was the member for Braitling. I congratulate him on some free-thinking, untainted by the need to constantly oppose everything that not only the government does, but also the hard work that the steering committee has put into Territory 2030. The member for Braitling said:
I thank the member for Braitling for taking this document on face value and understanding the passion and the commitment of Territorians who have worked hard, in their own time, to take us to where we are today. He went on to comment on elements of the proposal and offered the view that the Katherine growth issues are not being fully addressed in the document. This is the sort of commentary that we have been seeking in the debate; comments seeking to improve the document and its output.
I am also grateful to the member for Port Darwin for a more positive contribution to this document than that given by his leader. The member for Drysdale maintained his usual standard of contribution in this debate, and I point out to the member that the document is based on current growth projections; they are not frozen in time.
The government takes the development of the regions very seriously, and we have just handed down a budget that shows record investment in housing, roads, and developing education and community infrastructure across the regions of the Northern Territory. Throughout the document, it is clear that the committee also takes that growth very seriously. Should the member feel that there should be a greater emphasis on Katherine then he should make that submission accordingly. That is what the website is there to do; to put a submission through for consideration by the committee.
The member for Goyder, who spoke twice on this debate - I do not know how she managed to do that, some of the watch keepers have advised me that she spoke twice - posed some good questions about the future needs of the Territory. A mistake the member for Goyder made, and with due respect, a mistake made by a number of people, was to assume that the document will comprehensively cover everything that needs to be achieved between now and 2030. That is not what this document is designed to achieve.
It is designed to be an aspirational framework document with key targets and performance indicators for the government, both now and in the future, to strive towards, based on the aspirations of Territorians. No document could achieve a blueprint that would seek to address every single issue, either economic or social, that the government and the community will confront between now and 2030. For a start, issues will change and priorities will shift as the different parts of the economic and social cycle emerge. New challenges and new technologies will emerge and no document can foresee those issues. The document strives to have an overview of the key goals and commitments that we want to achieve, the type of community we want to live in, and the place where we want to be.
I go to the fairly histrionic contribution by the member for Fong Lim. I was paying attention to the contribution from the member for Fong Lim while I was in my office working on some paperwork. I kept on having to turn the volume down because as his level of enthusiasm for the debate increased in volume it also increased in octaves. He went up an octave each time he went up in volume ...
Dr Burns: Like Roy Orbison.
Mr HENDERSON: That is right. It was like a Roy Orbison performance. You were almost a falsetto there at one point, member for Fong Lim, you were participating so enthusiastically in the debate.
The member for Fong Lim has done a few things in his life – the same as I have; I have done a few jobs in my time - but you missed your calling in life, member for Fong Lim, you should have been a stand-up comedian. I believe you would make a pretty good stand-up comedian; long on quality, short on common sense and practical advice. That is what we have come to expect from the member for Fong Lim. The rhetoric is there. All the old conservative shibboleths are trotted out about the Labor government being for debt, and the conservatives for responsible financial management, but it does skirt around the facts. Never let the facts get in the way of a good piece of political rhetoric, member for Fong Lim.
When he was talking about Labor governments going into debt, he did not mention that we have just come off six surplus budgets in a row; six surplus budgets that paid $380m of CLP debt, which we inherited when we came to government. There was no acknowledgement that this government has created thousands of jobs in the Northern Territory economy, and has seen private sector investment in the Northern Territory run at a pace that was never imagined under the CLP government. Business confidence is the highest in the nation – not only confidence in their businesses, but confidence in the government’s management of the economy. No comments at all about record population growth in the Northern Territory.
All of these significant advances in the economic circumstances of the Northern Territory. No comment about the broadening of the Territory’s economic base or that under a Labor government - it was never the case under a CLP government - we are the lowest-taxing jurisdiction for small business in the country by a significant margin. What we have from the member for Fong Lim is the usual political rhetoric that will grab a headline, but you could never make a policy from.
The real results of this government are nothing to be ashamed of. We have worked really hard to be where we are today. We have a long way to go and there is much work to do to continue to build the economic and social capacity of the Northern Territory.
Let me give a couple of examples. There has been much rhetoric that we have spent a great deal of money, but where are the results? Let us look at health services. We have better health services today than ever before. The government has delivered 100 more hospital beds, a birth centre, a hospice, and the rapid admission unit. There are an extra 170 doctors and 500 extra nurses employed in Territory Health services, and that will be increased in this budget.
Then you try to run an argument that we are employing extra doctors and extra nurses, but where are the results? There is a range of specialist services that are available in the Territory which were never available when the CLP was in government. You had to get on a plane and fly south.
The additional Royal Darwin Hospital specialist services include: a haematologist to work with the oncologist at Royal Darwin Hospital; a cancer care nurse; a gastroenterologist; increased numbers of allied health physiotherapists, occupational therapists and pharmacists; extra paediatricians; an extra eye specialist; a surgeon assigned to the RAPU unit; an additional intensive care specialist; an additional wound care nurse; and a microbiologist, outside the generalist doctors. That is a significant increase in the clinical capacity of Royal Darwin Hospital which has significantly improved the care being provided to Territorians.
Let us look at Alice Springs Hospital. It is hard to recruit specialists in the Northern Territory, even more so to our regional hospitals, but in Alice Springs we have an additional intensive care specialist; an intensive senior care registrar; a 0.5 emergency consultant; nine additional emergency department registered nurses; six additional junior medical officers; an additional emergency senior registrar; and one additional general surgeon. Do not tell me that those people are not making a real and substantive difference to the quality of clinical care provided at Alice Springs Hospital.
Do not tell me that an additional 580 nurses are not providing significant improvements to the quantity and quality of care provided in the Northern Territory. If you look at the population growth between 2001 and 2009 - I have not done the equations and the sums - but this is a significant increase in the overall capacity of our health system. It is not just keeping up with population growth; it is improving the capacity of our health system and the care being provided to Territorians. The continual critical condemnation from members opposite of the quality of the health system in the Northern Territory is a kick in the guts to the thousands of people who work in the Health department; in our hospitals, community health centres …
Dr BURNS: A point of order, Madam Speaker! I move that the Chief Minister be given an extension of time pursuant to Standing Order 77.
Motion agreed to.
Mr HENDERSON: Madam Speaker, I thank honourable members. The challenge in this document, in terms of health and wellbeing, is to make sure that we understand the challenges of making people well, not just treating the sick. That is a very astute recommendation. How you put action items around that and set targets is a debate for another day. The Health Minister has talked about improvements to primary health care. But it is not just about the health system; it is about the wellbeing of Territorians, so that in the future, fewer Territorians will present to hospital in early age than they do currently.
There are around 3000 people in training, which is 50% more people receiving training than in 2001. That is a significant achievement. What are the practical outcomes of that? There is a more skilled workforce and community and that is better for people looking for work and for employers trying to source skilled workers. People opposite talk about what have you actually achieved? We have more people per capita in apprenticeships and traineeships in the Territory than anywhere else in Australia and we need to do more. We will do more. That is more young people being given skilled opportunities than ever before.
I recall debates in this House sometime ago when the former Treasurer was questioning the CLP Education and Training minister about the jobs plan? What was the vision for a jobs plan? Why did not the government of the day have a jobs plan? This is not going back too far in history, maybe 10, 11, 12 years ago, the CLP Education minister stood up and said that you do not need a jobs plan; kids leave school and they get a job. What is the point of a jobs plan? That was the CLP’s jobs plan – kids leave school and they get a job. No vision, focus, policy effort, or financial contribution - just sink or swim. That was essentially the policy of the CLP of the day. If you are good enough you will get a job. If you are not good enough, who cares, you will pick something up along the way. We are not like that. We believe integrally in the contribution each Territorian can make to our community and society if they have the education that they should have and if they are given the training opportunities to take advantage of our growing economy.
I am grateful for the contributions from the members and ministers on this side of the House. The minister for Natural Resources, Environment and the Arts laid out a clear vision for the integrated and sustainable Territory she wants to see in 2030 and the creative future she envisages for our community. I also appreciated her comments on Indigenous policy issues raised by the draft strategy. These are big issues for the Territory; the conservation of our environment and balancing that with the need for developing the economy and jobs.
The member for Macdonnell is a well regarded artist in her own right. The artistic and creative capacity of Territorians can benefit from being encouraged and developed. The commitment on this side of the House to significant Indigenous policy reform will continue, and we will strive and continue to deliver, not only policy reforms, but real improvements for Indigenous people around the Northern Territory.
The Minister for Housing contributed detail on how he would achieve affordability in housing. The issue of housing affordability was a significant element of the feedback I witnessed during the first 2030 consultation process. I agree with the aim of lifting our affordability to above the national average by 2015. Those are the sorts of targets that will be considered by the government and either accepted or rejected. By putting those targets out there, it gives a platform to construct policies to ensure we work towards those targets. The government is already working towards that. Earlier this year, the committee was briefed on the proposals that we have put in place under the Housing the Territory Strategy released on 4 March 2009.
I now outline what happens next. Territorians will be given every possible opportunity to comment on the aspirational goals set out in this document. They will be given the opportunity to push their own aspirations and to comment on those they believe should not be a part of the document. Whilst this is being done, a significant body of work is under way to quantify these targets. Once the final draft comes to the government, it will be converting those aspirational targets into measurable targets to aim for. Once those targets are in place, the government will focus its effort on achieving those goals. The final document, which goes before the public, will be a document with clearer targets; targets that are clearly enumerated.
The government and the public sector will then be organised to focus on achieving these goals. Every year the government will publish achievements against the targets. Every two years there will be a review of the targets to ensure they remain relevant. In between, there will be a subcommittee of Cabinet which will contain the co-chairs of the committee, monitoring the performance of the government and the public service against these targets.
That is very significant reform. The subcommittee of Cabinet is not determinant; it is not a decision-making body. But, it is a formal subcommittee of Cabinet and the co-chairs, Vicki O’Halloran and Bill Moss, will be able to speak directly to CEOs, and hold them to account for how their departments are striving towards the targets. It will be a breath of fresh air in ensuring that the government’s policy, goals, objectives and commitments are focused on by CEOs and government departments.
The Territory 2030 targets will be the most monitored and transparent of any targets produced by any government in the Territory’s history. Let me give an example of how I expect this to work. If in the final document we decide that the target will be to make housing affordability in the Territory above the national average by 2015, I expect the responsible departments will take that goal and provide a plan for implementing it. That plan will go to the relevant minister for approval. I would then expect that minister to report against that plan to the subcommittee of Cabinet and to Cabinet. I would also expect that in their regular reports, ministers will be able to tell me whether we are on target. I expect that in any public report on the target that information would be made clear to Territorians. If the target is not being achieved, I would also expect a plan to fix it.
During budget deliberations, I expect that our priorities in allocating funds would be determined, in a large part, by the priorities we have established in the Territory 2030 document. Members should not be in doubt about the seriousness with which we take this particular process.
I thank the subcommittee for all their work to date. I know that the subcommittee will be reading contributions to the debate by members in this House, and this will form a formal part of the feedback to the Territory 2030 document. To those members, on both sides of the House - and I acknowledge the member for Brennan, who was fairly constructive in his comments on the document – who have made a positive contribution in the good faith that this document has been brought before us, I thank you.
For those members opposite who have been cynical not only about the document, but of the motives of the government in bringing forward this plan, I ask you to look again. I am not bold enough to believe, or some people might say dream, that this government will be here in 2030, although, with different people in the government, between now and then, there is a possibility, given the political history in this country. I hope that we would hang on until 2030, but there is a possibility of a change of government between now and 2030. That is the reality of the facts of political cycles. However, I like to think that whoever is occupying these benches in 2020 or 2025 would still be following the aspirations of Territorians and the goals and aspirations that Territorians want us to achieve.
I really hope that whoever comes after me, as Chief Minister, that those goals and aspirations of Territorians would be upheld ...
Madam SPEAKER: Chief Minister, your time has expired.
Motion agreed to; statement noted.
Dr BURNS (Leader of Government Business): Madam Speaker, I move that the Assembly do now adjourn.
I acknowledge the great cultural diversity of my electorate. There is a great mix of ethnic, cultural, and religious groups, and this is the reason why the Top End has such an outstanding reputation of being a young, vibrant, and diverse place to live and work. I will give some detail about three multicultural events I have attended recently.
On 19 March, I attended the Jingili Primary School Twilight International Market, a feast of international food and culture. The Twilight International Market is an annual event which is an opportunity for students to appreciate the richness of other cultures. It was fantastic to see so much parental involvement in this event. It is a true testament to the sense of community that exists at Jingili Primary School. Apart from the principal, Jodie Green who does such a great job, chief organiser, Larelle Gilbert and other school staff, parent helpers included Barb McKaige, Tracey Mehonoshen, Karen Edyvane, Brigitte Grahl, Melanie Schofield, Josh and Jo Davis, Jane Fryar, Tara Metcalf, Juanita Gay, Shannon Mustey and, of course, James Lantry, who all did a fantastic job. The event raised approximately $5000 for the school, an outstanding success by any measure.
On 13 April, I attended the Songkran or Water Festival and Planting of the Bodhi Tree at the Wat Pa Darwin temple. Songkran is the Thai New Year, normally celebrated from 13 to 15 April. Thai Buddhist people normally go to the temple and offer food to the monks, followed by a blessing. They then have a community lunch followed by the sprinkling of scented water on the hands of parents and other respected elderly people in the community, ask for forgiveness for any wrongdoing, and for their blessing. After that formality is over, the fun starts with people throwing water over each other.
The Northern Territory government handed over land to the Thai Theravada Association in June 2007 to build a Thai Buddhist temple. The association constructed a multipurpose building, and this is the place which they currently use as a place to get together on special and regular occasions. Approximately 160 people attended the celebration. The Thai community is very proud of their new temple and is grateful to the Northern Territory government in assisting the granting of land.
The association also held a Thai Food Fair on Sunday, 19 April, which raised $20 520 towards their building fund. I congratulate the Association’s President, Somsong Albert; Vice President Jaroon Rattarom; Secretary/Public Officer, Joanna Albert; Treasurer, Yaowaluk Graham; and committee members, Mrs Jongrak Pettifer, Mrs Sawien Carney, and Mr Jaray Pocarbut.
On 18 April 2009, I attended a function put on by the Sri Lanka-Australia Friendship Association to celebrate the Sinhala and Tamil New Year. Though the Sri Lankan community in Darwin is relatively small, over 300 people were present on the night to enjoy well presented cultural items, sumptuous Sri Lankan food, and very lively music. Sinhala and Tamil New Year, known as Aluth Avurudda in Sinhalese, and Puththandu in Tamil, is the most important festival for the Sinhala and Tamil communities in Sri Lanka.
The date on which the Sri Lankan New Year occurs is determined by astrological signs and this year the old year ended on 13 April; the New Year was heralded in the early hours of 14 April. I understand that in addition to religious ceremonies, the New Year celebrations are characterised by lavish feasts, fireworks displays, games, and parties. On the evening, the organisers took the opportunity to share traditional Sri Lankan food, cultural items, customs and rituals with other communities living in Darwin.
During the evening, I met a great number of people, including Chandra Seneviratne, President of the association; his wife, Hemali; Dr Ben Dayaratne, Vice President of the association; and his wife, Bernie; Brenda Kulatunga, the Treasurer of the association also performed a cultural item that evening, and her husband, Muni Kulatunga, and his son, AJ (Arjuna); Lalith Ramachandra, Secretary and also MC; Aruna Wijeratne; Dr Chandima de Alwis; Dr Himani Kariyawasam; and Dr T Mehendrarajah.
The member for Arnhem gave a great speech that night and had everyone enthralled. It was a great night, great music, tremendous food, and I commend all these cultural groups within the community in Darwin, particularly in my electorate.
Mr TOLLNER (Fong Lim): Madam Deputy Speaker, last Thursday it was my great honour to be able to attend ATEC in Darwin. ATEC is the Australian Tourism and Export Council, which held its symposium last week.
ATEC and the Australian Tourism Exchange, ATE, are the two biggest tourism conferences in the country. It is the first time in 35 years that the organisation, formerly known as the Inbound Tour Operators of Australia, has held its conference in Darwin. It was very difficult to get down to ATEC because we were in sittings. ATEC was held at the new convention centre, and it was a great venue. I went on Thursday morning for the official opening, and I was glad to see that the Tourism Minister went. The federal Tourism Minister, Martin Ferguson, was there to help open the symposium.
ATEC is an extremely important organisation from the Territory’s perspective, because all the inbound tour operators from around Australia and the world attended. These tour operators send hundreds of thousands of people to the Northern Territory from different parts of the globe on packaged holidays and it was incredible to have such a group of people in Darwin.
On Friday night, it held the gala dinner at SKYCITY Casino, which was a fantastic opportunity to network, talk to some of the people in the industry, and find out what they thought of the Northern Territory.
I understand that many of the Territory tourism operators took the opportunity to show these people around the Top End. A number of them went to Kakadu, and Crocodylus Cove, and a range of tourist attractions in the Top End. I was at the dinner and the federal shadow Tourism minister, Steven Ciobo, also attended, but no one from the Northern Territory government – they were conspicuous by their absence. There was not a minister to be seen - no Tourism minister or Chief Minister.
For an event of this calibre, I thought that the Territory parliament would have really rolled it out and welcomed these people with open arms, because you can spend an absolute fortune tracking around the world trying to get in touch with these operators and sell your product to them, but to get them to your city is unbelievable. To have them in your city and not take the time to talk to them is atrocious. This is typical of the government; it takes its eye off the ball all the time.
I understand that on Friday night they were at SKYCITY Casino with their comrades celebrating May Day. I do not have a drama with unions, or with celebrations for May Day, but when you have a function like this in your back yard - not more than 100 m away – you would think they could get up and show some courtesy; go down, have a mingle, say ‘good day’ to a few people, show your face and be interested. But it was not to be - no Tourism minister or Chief Minister. I was ashamed that this parliament could not do better and it is a terrible situation.
Ms ANDERSON (Macdonnell): Madam Deputy Speaker, I thank the people of Katherine for the Katherine Country Music Muster.
I went to the 10th anniversary of the Katherine Country Music Muster. It was an absolutely wonderful weekend with a wonderful group of people. At about 2 pm on Saturday, a four-year-old girl called Caitlin got up with her mum and dad and insisted on singing. Her dad asked: ‘Are you only going to sing the chorus?’, and she said: ‘No, I am going to sing the whole lot’. And she sang a well known Slim Dusty song.
A member: Sing it.
Ms ANDERSON: No, I am not going to sing it, but I will read it. If I had a guitar I would. This is the song:
It is a wonderful Slim Dusty song.
In Katherine I saw how people got together with everyone who sponsored the 10th Anniversary of the Muster, how they celebrated in their little town and how vibrant it was. There were all different kinds of people, business people, Indigenous people and people from all walks of life. I also saw the member for Katherine and the member for Drysdale. The former member for Katherine, Fay Miller, was also there, and I had a good chat to June Tapp. The former Mayor of Katherine, Jim Forscutt, was also there. It was wonderful to catch up in such a beautiful atmosphere with so many tremendous and wonderful people who make up Katherine.
Thank you for a tremendous night, Katherine, a night I will never forget because I am a Country and Western fan.
I place on the record that Warren H Williams was still the best. He comes from my country and home town of Hermannsburg. But if I was the judge I would have given number one to little Caitlin.
Mr ELFERINK (Port Darwin): It is all such a juvenile thing, is it not? But I love it.
Madam Deputy Speaker, I make a few observations in relation to the Budget. I suppose that once a shadow treasurer, always a shadow treasurer, and no one else is interested in this sort of thing, but I am. I wish to contrast two world views that have occurred in this House in the last few years under this government.
When the CLP lost power, the government, in a fit of almost hysteria, rolled in Professor Percy Allan, and found – manufactured, I might say - a black hole - labelled it a black hole. It got stuck into the CLP about all sorts of things; not least of which was the income to debt ratio. Thank God, I got that out - I am getting tired.
At the time, the Treasurer, Syd Stirling, would come in and erupt and the veins would stand out on his head like he had about 400 pounds of pressure per square inch in his veins. He would turn 15 shades of crimson and rant and rave about budgets that were all unsustainable, and that the CLP members were economic vandals and all sorts of the froth and bubble. And the now Treasurer stands up like a banshee on speed and launches into tirades about the irresponsibility of the former Country Liberal government.
I asked a question today, quite specifically on these particular issues, because the ratio to revenue projection this government is heading towards is almost the same as the ratio it said was unsustainable and economic vandalism. I find it curious that this government has chosen to say that it is a different type of ratio. It is not. A ratio of 130% and a ratio of 131% are not different in any way, other than the 1% difference between the two.
It took me a moment to figure it out when I was reading this budget paper because I was fully expecting this number to come up. I was a little surprised, especially in light of what was in the mid-year annual financial report about the 10-year bond rate and how that was affecting the income to debt ratio, to open the balance sheet at 3.7% and find that the liabilities to revenue ratio was only stretching out to 116%. That was interesting. It took me a while to figure it out, but I finally got there. This paragraph, on page 35, says:
There is the magical word: non-financial public sector. What we see reported in this budget paper is the general government sector’s position. It does not say much about the non-financial public sector. What is the difference? The non-financial public sector includes Power and Water which, in that period, will be racking up $1.4bn worth of debt to pay for the decay that has occurred in the power and water system for the last few years.
It is too cute by half for the government to try to assert that the debt to revenue situation is half of what it was under the last government. Yes, the general government balance sheet will show a reduction in nett debt from that period. However, if you factor in the non-financial public sector, which is still a public debt, you will find out that situation is somewhat different. In a couple of years’ time, this government will be exactly where the CLP government was in 2001. The difference is that this time it will not be economic vandalism or unsustainable; this time it will be good financial management.
Mr HAMPTON (Stuart): Madam Deputy Speaker, in early April of this year I was able to attend the famous Katherine Research Station Farm and Garden Day, and see for myself the buzz this local event causes. With so much to do and see, it is not surprising that the Farm and Garden day is such a huge event, attracting over 1750 people from around the Katherine region.
It was great to see so many people enjoying the wide variety of events on offer including horse cutting events, sheep showing, helicopter rides, working dog trials, poultry competitions, a successful poultry auction, and egg and spoon races as well.
The day provides an opportunity for the Katherine Research Station staff to showcase the wide range of industries they work with, and services they provide to the region, some of which include advice on beef cattle and property management, animal health, rangeland management, horticulture, field crops, and protection from local and exotic plant diseases.
The day also provides a wonderful opportunity for local rural-related businesses in the Katherine region to showcase their goods and services. Included in the line-up this year were the very popular Brisk Contracting/Aerotech, providing helicopter rides; Landmark; The Top Saddlery; Livestock Nutrition Technologies, and many others. The carnival atmosphere provides an excellent chance to catch up with people in Katherine over a steak sandwich, and I had interesting chats with plenty of people.
Well done to all those involved in making the event a great success, particularly the Katherine Research Station staff. I also acknowledge the presence of the member for Katherine during the show.
I congratulate Bronte James from the Hidden Valley Station for winning the McArthur River Mining Regional and Rural Initiative Award at the NT Young Achievers Awards. Bronte splits her work time between Frances Creek and Pine Creek, where she is a truck driver at Hidden Valley Station, near Daly Waters, on her parents’ cattle property. With such a hectic schedule, Bronte still finds time to be the secretary of the Katherine Branch of the Brahmin Breeders Association, which put on a fantastic dinner before the Katherine show. Bronte’s contribution to the cattle industry, community work, and raising the profile of young women, in both the mining and pastoral industries, has been recognised. Well done, Bronte, on your much deserved win.
Other finalists for the award included Skye MacFarlane from Stylo Station in Mataranka and Erin Harrower from Dorisvale Station near Pine Creek.
I also congratulate Rowan Sullivan from the Caves Creek Station, Mataranka, on being elected President of the Northern Territory Cattlemen’s Association at the recent conference in Alice Springs. Rowan is also a councillor for the Roper Gulf Shire. I had the fantastic opportunity last year to visit Cave Creek Station, and along with his father Jim, enjoyed a cuppa and tour of the property.
I acknowledge the passing of a senior Warlpiri man from Nyirripi, a Mr L Turner Jampijinpa, who died recently in Alice Springs after a short illness. Mr Turner is well-known as being one of the painters of the Barunga statement which is in Parliament House in Canberra, along with other great artists like Dennis Williams Japanungka, and Mr W Rubuntja, who has also passed away.
I have many fond memories of Mr Turner, not only as my cousin, but also as someone who was not easily put over. In many public meetings, when senior public servants from Canberra would come to Yuendumu or Nyirripi to talk about different sorts of policy, he spoke strongly in relation to his people’s needs and what he thought about the government’s policy and the way it should go into the future. I was fortunate to visit Mr Turner at the Alice Springs Hospital before he passed away, with all his family members who were present. In particular, I acknowledge his son, Lance, who has to shoulder much of the responsibilities now that his father has passed away.
The day after I visited him I was driving out to Nyirripi and I received the phone call on my satellite phone that he had passed away. I was also very fortunate in being able to go to the sorry camp and pay my respects to him there as well. It will probably never be the same driving out to Nyirripi again, knowing that my cousin, Mr Turner, will not be there.
Mr CHANDLER (Brennan): Madam Deputy Speaker, I will speak about a couple of issues that are affecting people in Palmerston.
Matthew McCarthy is a young man with a learner’s permit, a worker who continues to struggle getting to and from work, not to mention the impact it has on his employer. Why? The earliest he can get an appointment to get his provisional licence is August this year. This is a current issue; not 2030 - a current issue.
Carole McKay, who lives in Batchelor, struggles, along with many other parents, to drive her secondary school students to and from Taminmin High every day. The minister is aware of this – 22 kids needing high school teaching and rely on their parents to drive them to and from school each day, from Batchelor to Taminmin.
This government has demonstrated to me and others time and again that it is all talk and glossy announcements, rather than delivering on matters of greatest concern to Territorians. I got into this gig in the first place because there was a lack of vision for Palmerston, and the undeniable fact that the funding tap was shut tight under the leadership of the former members for Drysdale and Brennan. One fine example was our after hours medical clinic being closed, on their watch, without any voice opposing it, it would appear. Where was their vision then? Certainly not 2030.
However, with all these failings in Palmerston, I suppose we can rest now. The former member has been offered a very well paid position in the Palmerston Office of the Chief Minister. I suspect most people would trade that office for a few more police in Palmerston. Interestingly, now that there are three staff in that office, it was still closed last Wednesday afternoon, so what are we paying for? Our electorate offices have only one staff member who manage to keep the office open longer than the Chief’s office which has three paid staff. Perhaps they knew the Chief was interstate last week, so they took advantage of the situation. Great work ethic - and they talk about principles. I know what their vision is, and it is not 2030.
Here is a vision. Close down each of the Chief Minister’s offices and redirect the savings into providing all electorate offices, on both sides of the House, not just ours, a level 1 administrative support officer. No one in this House could argue that our Electorate Officers do not work above and beyond, and no one could argue the purpose of an electorate office is to serve the community. Savings from the office of propaganda and taxpayer-funded election campaigns could be better served in each of our electorate offices.
Interestingly, I noted the former member carrying an armful of government hats and other protocol supplied propaganda. As an elected local member, I cannot even get a Territory flag in a Northern Territory government office. That is absolutely shameful, and is nothing but a blight on this government, which is certainly focused on itself and not on Territorians.
I wanted to add these words in the 2030 debate this evening, but I did not quite get there. However, there are many issues, things like Matthew McCarthy, who is left with a learner‘s permit, and has to wait until August before he can be tested to get a provisional licence. These are the ‘here and nows’ that the government needs to focus on. How does a young man, who is gainfully employed, get to work and home, relying on co-workers or parents to sit with him, because he is only on a learner’s permit? To have to wait until August to get a licence is ridiculous. Carole McKay, living in Batchelor, and many other parents, are still waiting for the promised bus from Batchelor to Taminmin High. My understanding is that, when there were at least 18 students, the money that a bus would cost to run on a daily basis would be cheaper than the government pays parents in their kilometre allowance. There are 22 kids now, so you would think that they have reached the point where a bus is more economically viable.
We understand that the Batchelor area does provide some secondary education, and I am all for supporting local schools, but if that education is diminished somewhat because the curriculum is much less than the children can get at Taminmin High, then the government is holding these children to ransom over a few measly dollars. I believe it is very important to look at some of these issues. This is an ongoing issue that the minister is well aware of.
Mr KNIGHT (Daly): Madam Deputy Speaker, I was very proud to take part in the May Day march yesterday, along with a great number of my colleagues on this side of the House. It is a very important day for the labour movement. It acknowledges a hard-fought struggle for some very basic conditions that we have in contemporary society that we just take for granted – the eight-hour day, superannuation, and a whole range of other benefits. It was a great day. I know that across the Territory, with the roll-out of local government, the work of the labour movement is appreciated for the better conditions that are achieved.
The Wadeye Football League’s two top teams, the Kartpurr Magpies and the Wudapuli/Nama Dockers, recently came face-to-face in the grand final at Wadeye. In 2009 the trophy went to the Magpies with a score of 12-10, 82, defeating the Dockers 6-12, 48. There was a bit of errant kicking on behalf of the Dockers, but it was a great game, over 1000 locals turned up. It is great to see football come back to Wadeye.
Congratulations to the best players for the Magpies: Cooney Arriuu, Leon Kinthari, Gary Ariuu, Barty Narburup; and the Dockers best players were Alister Lantjin, Lawrence Warnier, Darren Lantjin, and Alex Lantjin. Cooney Arriuu took out the best on ground. Congratulations to all those players and congratulations to the AFL staff. They have done a great job. It brings the community back together and, thank goodness, there was no trouble, everyone appreciated that.
Another event I will mention is the Back to the Banyan Tree reunion. The Cox Country Club, at Wagait Beach, celebrated 20 years of establishment and I made it to the celebrations which went on for most of the day and into the evening. I attended the rodeo last weekend and when I got back they were still going strong at around 11 pm or 12 midnight.
Congratulations to Natasha Walford, who is the president, for doing all the organising. I know she was ably assisted by other committee members: Dave who was on the barbeque, and Bronwyn and Patty, who were working the bar, and also Simon Walford, Natasha’s husband, who was working the barbeque and the bar at the same time. It was a great day and everyone had a great time. It shows how a community can come back together and they can really make a go of it. The new committee seems to be having a good try to get the bar and club going again for the community. The message is that everyone is welcome back to the club. Congratulations.
Lastly, I close by sending my congratulations and best wishes to Joan Stokes, who is the NT finalist for the Barnardos Australia’s Mother of the Year award. Joan is from Adelaide River, in my electorate. The winner of the Australian Mother of the Year will be announced at the national event in Sydney on 7 May 2009. I hope Joan does well and I congratulate her. I wish all the mothers around the nation, around the Territory, a Happy Mother’s Day.
Mr WESTRA VAN HOLTHE (Katherine): Madam Deputy Speaker, I report to the House on the raving success of the Katherine Country Music Muster, held over the weekend of 1, 2 and 3 May 2009. At the risk of sounding a little repetitive, given the comments made by the member for Macdonnell, I may be able to add a few more details to fill in the blanks. I acknowledge the member for Macdonnell and thank her for attending the music muster over the weekend and also the member for Drysdale, who attended with me and got to know some of the warm and wonderful people who make Katherine their home.
The premier country music event in the Northern Territory, this year’s muster was in its 10th year and was the best it has ever been. Born after the devastating 1998 floods, the Katherine Country Music Muster continues to grow in popularity, evidenced by the numbers who attend, and the quality of musicians who are attracted to the event.
On Friday, more than 350 people attended. On Saturday, a whopping 1000 or more visited, including the member for Macdonnell, and Sunday, which was the wind down day, there were more than 200 people listening to the artists and having a good time. Over the course of the weekend more than 1500 people went through the gates, well up on last year’s numbers. The atmosphere at this year’s event was sensational. There was much dancing, supported by the quality sounds of many talented live artists. The event was well managed and people were well behaved, despite the revelry that went late into the night.
It is not a cheap event to run. The total costs are expected to be around $140 000. This is a huge amount of money in anyone’s language, and was only achieved through the hard work of the organising committee, through fundraising and gate sales, and sponsorship. I was proud to have donated part of the $48 000 raised through sponsorships. The remainder, $92 000, was raised through the hard work of the following people and I acknowledge the dedication and effort put in by them; all as volunteers and all with the aim of putting Katherine well and truly on the Country Music map of Australia.
I thank the following: Shirley Canning – President of the Katherine Country Music Muster; Kerry Watkins – Vice President; Rebecca Oliver – Treasurer; Cheryl Holt – Secretary; Kate Oliver – who organised the entertainment; Sue Moran – who organised the Beaut Ute Competition, Merchandising and the local radio station; Melanie Reichelmeier – who organised the marketing and promotion; Lydia Lou, Max Holt, Ray who works at the local office supplies shop; Sharon Ephgrave, and Boris Norton all of whom volunteered their time to make this such a successful event.
The planning for the music muster begins just after the preceding one. A huge amount of effort goes into sourcing artists and entertainers, marketing, merchandising and so on. As the event gets closer, the volunteers ramp up the hours until the weekend when this small but dedicated group often work from 7 am to 1 am, doing everything from cleaning toilets to serving behind the bar.
In the absence of funding from government sources, Katherinites unite to make this a special and successful event. I hope the minister for Arts might see her way clear to assist this wonderful event with some government grant money, which would go someway to reducing the amount of effort that volunteers have to expend in their fundraising activities to make it such a successful event. I imagine that next year’s event will be as successful as this year’s and, again, I thank all those involved.
Mr STYLES (Sanderson): Madam Deputy Speaker, I bring to the House’s attention the fantastic event I was fortunate enough to attend over the May Day weekend, the Alice Springs Cup.
The Cup this year was organised by a very creative and entrepreneurial group of people on the committee. One of the most magnificent events I have been to in recent times was the Cup Ball, which was held on Saturday night. The committee decided they wanted to try to increase the number of tourists coming to Alice Springs, and also the patronage of some of the locals. I feel they have to be commended because they did a fantastic job of creating quite a spectacle.
This event took place in a disused quarry near the town site of Alice Springs. They decorated it with numerous lights which gave a magnificent effect. During the evening they had a Pavarotti look alike - not quite sound alike unfortunately - who did a magnificent job from the top of the cliffs, in the spotlight, overlooking about 400 people.
They did a fantastic job setting the place up. My understanding is the Alice Springs Convention Centre and, in particular, the manager, Scott Boocock, had much to do with making that part of the evening a great success. The general set up, the layout, and the facilities were second to none for an outdoor function. The feedback I got from visitors from interstate was that they were impressed with what was provided. When asked if they would be recommending that they bring friends, or convey that good feeling to friends so they will attend next year, they said they would definitely be doing that.
This attests to the creativity of those involved, and how much they should be congratulated for what was becoming a very traditional event indoors; it was taken outdoors and made into an event where there were fireworks, light displays, singing, entertainment, and a magnificent band to put on a night of revelry and dancing.
I attended the Alice Springs Cup at Pioneer Park. There is a fine group of people out there who put on a great day. The day went very smoothly. The course looked magnificent with the efforts of the grounds maintenance manager, Mr Terry Huish. They put a lot of work into it and I am sure there is a great team of volunteers behind him who helped make the course look so great on the day. The event was organised by Chairman, Paul Bain, whom I was fortunate enough to have a chat with. He gave me the rundown on some of the benefits they have enjoyed by being in Alice Springs, with some of the interstate horses and the visitors.
He was ably assisted by Andrew Doyle, the Vice Chairman and, of course, there is also a team of people who make any event like this a success. The Treasurer is a very important part of the Alice Springs Turf Club, and Patrick Sheldon obviously does a great job. I met many of the committee members including Trevor Bell; David Falkenberg; Kevin Hickmott; Craig Lambley; and Alan Rowe, and also the Chief Executive of the Alice Springs Turf Club, Mathew Champ.
The Cup was a raging success. There was standing room only in the main halls and grandstands. Unfortunately, I was not there for the Cup because we had to return on the plane, but a good day was had by all. It was a top class event, and those people who had any part in creating such a fabulous tourist attraction in Alice Springs, in what is the southern winter, need to be congratulated. I hope they have far greater success next year, and for all the hard work, they deserve every success that comes to them.
Motion agreed to; the Assembly adjourned.
LEAVE OF ABSENCE
Member for Araluen
Member for Araluen
Mr MILLS (Opposition Leader): Madam Speaker, I move that the member for Araluen be granted leave of absence for the sittings due to ill health.
Motion agreed to.
MESSAGE FROM ADMINISTRATOR
Messages No 8 and No 9
Messages No 8 and No 9
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, I table Message No 8 recommending to the Legislative Assembly a bill for an act authorising the issuing and expending of public monies of the Territory in respect of the year ending 30 June 2010; and Message No 9 recommending to the Legislative Assembly a bill for an act authorising additional issuing and expending of public monies of the Territory for the year ending 30 June 2009.
MOTION
Routine of Business
Routine of Business
Dr BURNS (Leader of Government Business) (by leave): Madam Speaker, I move – That the routine of business of the Assembly be rearranged or suspended, if a question or debate is before the Chair, so as to permit the Treasurer to deliver Budget 2009-10 at 11 am this day.
Motion agreed to.
Dr BURNS (by leave): Madam Speaker, I move - That the routine of business of the Assembly, General Business, Notices and Orders of the Day be rearranged or suspended, if a question or debate is before the Chair, so as to permit a response to Budget 2009-10 by the Leader of the Opposition at 11 am Wednesday, 6 May 2009.
Motion agreed to.
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, I advise that at 11 am, during Government Business, I will call on the Treasurer to deliver Budget 2009-10. The member speaking at that time will be asked to continue their remarks after Question Time.
MINISTERIAL REPORTS
Report on Council of Australian Governments Meeting
Report on Council of Australian Governments Meeting
Mr HENDERSON (Chief Minister): Madam Speaker, I report on the Council of Australian Governments Meeting held in Hobart last week.
I, together with the Prime Minister and my state and territory colleagues, reaffirmed our commitment to addressing the challenges presented by the current economic downturn. The financial and economic crisis that the world is in at the moment is significantly affecting Australia’s economy. This is the biggest crisis Australia and the world has seen for many generations, and the Territory is not going to be immune from what is happening around the world and the rest of Australia. However, due to this government’s sound financial and economic management, we will come out of this better than many other states.
The Australian economy is set to contract, and unemployment, particularly youth unemployment, is expected to rise. To that end, COAG agreed to a plan that will ensure that every Australian, indeed every Territory child, will have the opportunity to make the most of education or training.
All governments agreed to implement a National Youth Participation Requirement which will begin next year. This includes a mandatory requirement for all students to complete Year 10; a mandatory requirement for all students who have completed Year 10 to remain at school, be in training, or undertake at least 25 hours of work, until the age of 17.
In addition, all governments agreed to a youth compact that includes an entitlement for youth aged between 15 and 19 to receive an educational training place, subject to admission requirements and course availability; and an entitlement for youth aged between 20 and 25 to an education or training place to upgrade their qualifications.
Young people who are not engaged in education or training will be unable to access the youth allowance, and their parents will not receive Family Tax Benefit Part A. Therefore, mums and dads will be getting behind this as well.
This is all about improving educational outcomes and shoring up the Australian workforce as we begin to recover from the current economic crisis. There is no doubt that those kids who drop out of school with little or no qualifications tend to become low-income earners, unemployed, and, many of them, tragically, unemployable.
We should not settle for anything less than the very best for our children. Every child should be given the chance to take advantage of the opportunities the Territory has to offer and be able to contribute positively to society. Dropping out of school at 15 and living on the dole will no longer be an option.
COAG also reached agreement on action that will ensure Australia’s natural disaster arrangements. All leaders agreed to the development of a telephone-based emergency warning system that will enable states and territories to deliver warnings via landline and mobile phones, based on the billing address of the subscriber. Further work will also be undertaken into the capacity to deliver warnings based on the location of the mobile phone.
As part of these enhanced natural disaster arrangements, further agreement was reached on the establishment of a Commonwealth-funded emergency call centre to be used in the event of local services being overwhelmed during a disaster, and the establishment of a working group to consider additional ways to build Australia’s resilience to natural disasters. The telephone-based early warning system is important to the Territory, where we have the whole gamut of natural disasters – cyclones, floods and fire.
Emergency Services already has a number of warnings in place, such as radio messages, loud speakers, letter drops and the Internet. The new system will enhance those efforts, particularly for families new to the Territory who may not have prepared for events like cyclones, or for tourists who may not have ready access to media outlets.
In a landmark decision, COAG also agreed to an expanded new National Renewable Energy Target, being 20% of Australia’s electricity from renewable sources by 2020. The Commonwealth has attached shortfall penalties to the scheme. We will do what we can to achieve the 20% goal but, unfortunately, the Territory has no renewable industries yet, so there is no doubt we will struggle to reach that target. That has not deterred us. We are in discussions with the Commonwealth to ensure that, instead of paying penalties, we can invest that money in establishing a renewable energy industry in the Territory.
COAG agreed to operating arrangements for the new Coordinator-General for Remote Indigenous Services. This position will oversee the implementation of programs and services in 26 locations across the country, including 15 in the Territory, to help close the gap. The Coordinator-General will be responsible for the implementation of major reforms in remote housing, infrastructure, and employment in communities, to deliver real results for Indigenous Australians.
In closing, I am pleased to inform the House that the next COAG meeting will be held in Darwin on 2 July, which means the Prime Minister and all the Premiers will be here on the evening of 1 July, to witness the great Territory celebration of firecrackers on Territory Day. I know that he and all his colleagues are very keen to witness what is a unique Territory institution.
However, the more important, deeper question – Labor only talks about how things look on the surface and the face of things – is you have to ensure kids go to primary school. It is not optional to go to primary school. Ensure that message is backed up. Ensure that the curriculum is tight, so that when they leave school they are able to participate in the future of the Territory and in the great job of paying back this colossal debt which will fall upon the younger generations. That is the real thinking behind this. We must ensure that whilst they are at school, they are prepared to engage in that grand responsibility which we bequeath to them.
Mr WOOD (Nelson): Madam Speaker, I thank the Chief Minister for his report. I imagine COAG discusses many issues. One issue I noticed on an ABC news web page recently, was that builders have warned aspiring new homebuyers to expect a $10 000 hike in the cost of building a new house, after new energy requirements were agreed last week. It said:
- The decision to lift the standard from four or five stars to six was made at the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) meeting in Hobart last week. In order to achieve a six-star rating, home designers recommended that people keep artificial heating and cooling to an absolute minimum, and also try to limit the use of large windows.
The Master Builders Association of Victoria says, even with careful planning, the high energy efficiency standards will cost people an average of $10 000 to build a new house. The decision “will go down as one of the most significant blows to housing affordability in the past decade”, Deputy Executive Director, Radley De Silva said.
Chief Minister, you know my concerns about the five-star rating being unsuitable for the Northern Territory. If you were in this meeting of Australian government ministers and you supported the six-star rating, could you explain what that means to the Territory and, is the Master Builders Association correct that it will cost people at least another $10 000, making it even harder for people in the Northern Territory to afford a new home?
Mr HENDERSON (Chief Minister): Madam Speaker, I thank members for their comments. I know we have the Treasurer handing down the Budget 2009-10 at 11 am, and the political lines are being drawn, but this is a government that will support jobs. We will support jobs with everything that we have, because there is nothing more important to Territorians and to the future of the Territory than maintaining economic growth and jobs growth in the Northern Territory.
The Leader of the Opposition talked about this government being poorly prepared. We have seen record jobs growth in the Northern Territory since 2001. We have seen record economic growth in the Northern Territory that has allowed businesses to grow and jobs to grow in the Northern Territory, and we have record population growth. When the CLP were last in office, people were leaving the Territory in droves because they could not get a job.
In regard to the member for Nelson’s comments, we will discuss this later. However, industries in the Territory - the peak bodies - the Housing Industry Association and the TCA, support the changes. They will need information, in terms of education and we will support them.
Madam SPEAKER: Chief Minister, your time has expired.
Housing the Territory – Homestart NT
Mr KNIGHT (Housing): Madam Speaker, I report on the launch of a new Territory government initiative to help more Territorians buy their own home at an affordable price.
In recent years, the Territory’s strong economy and population growth has seen an increase in the property market. That has been great news for homeowners, but it has made it difficult for Territory families to get started in the housing market. We know that housing affordability is placing stress on some Territory families and, through the Housing the Territory strategy, this government outlined its commitment to getting more homes on the market at an affordable price.
As part of Housing the Territory, we outlined a 20-year land release strategy and the expansion of the Land Development Corporation’s role to oversee residential and affordable housing developments, including working with the private sector on innovative and affordable housing development. We want to do everything we can to help Territorians take advantage of these opportunities to buy their own home. The government’s new Homestart NT initiative is focused directly on helping low to middle-income earners become homeowners.
Homestart NT comes into effect on 1 June 2009 and builds on the success of the former HomeNorth program. Since 2004, more than 1100 Territory families accessed HomeNorth Extra to buy their own home. This government knows that the market has changed and HomeNorth is no longer what we need to help Territory families buy their own home. Reflecting the current property market, Homestart NT offers income thresholds and property price purchase caps that opens up access to about 40% of the property market for low to middle-income earners, without investing more than 30% of their income.
In Darwin and Palmerston, the areas of highest population growth, Homestart NT offers a purchase price cap of $420 000, that is an increase of $70 000 on the old HomeNorth scheme. In Alice Springs, the price cap has risen by $35 000 to $300 000. In Katherine, the new limit is $267 000, that is an increase of $42 000. In Tennant Creek, there is an increase of $15 000 to bring the purchase price cap to $125 000.
These price caps will not allow people to buy all properties available on the market at the moment, but approximately 40% of the properties will be available. That is a sensible and sustainable cap for low to middle-income earners. Income limits have also been raised. For example, a single person can now have a gross income of $60 000, an increase of $5000; and a household of three people can have a gross income of $85 500, that is an increase of $10 500 from the HomeNorth Scheme.
Homestart NT also features the low 2% deposit rate, the shared equity loans and the fee assistance loans. Each applicant will be assessed on their ability to repay, and will be offered financial support accordingly. The raised income limit opens up home ownership as an option for Territory families, while ensuring that investment is limited to 30% of their income.
Homestart NT will help low and middle-income earning Territorians to buy their own home at an affordable price. I look forward to the scheme commencing on 1 June.
Ms PURICK (Goyder): Madam Speaker, I thank the minister for his report. The government claims it to be a new NT initiative, and yes, it is probably slightly different from the previous HomeNorth scheme. The reason they have had to make these changes is because the previous scheme is not working. Young couples or young people, or anyone for that matter, have not been able to buy into the property market, have not been able to either afford the land or to build a home, given the prices and the cost of living up here.
One of the main contributors to this situation has been this government’s lack of land release in a systematic and orderly fashion, notably Bellamack, which has been talked about ad nauseam. However, we know that the tender documents for the finalisation of that development have still not been signed, the unsuccessful tenderers have not been debriefed, and it is unlikely we will see any of this land turned-off this year, given the work required in regards to surveying, development of headworks, etcetera.
The government says it will be looking forward to working with the private sector. It should be doing that already - obviously it is not. I know that in Alice Springs there is a severe shortage of land, same as in Tennant Creek. To my understanding there has been only one Buildstart application in Alice Springs. There are only two vacant blocks in Alice Springs that could be purchased by people who are eligible for Homestart. It is the same in Tennant Creek - it is non-competitive - people cannot buy land because there is no land available. It is the same for Katherine and pretty much the same across Darwin.
The government talks about the other subdivisions in the Palmerston area, but if it is the same track record as Bellamack they will be a long way off. With the news today and over the weekend that land values have gone up considerably, it means that many people will not be able to afford to purchase land because that is what the market will be dictating.
I do not believe this scheme is going to work. I hope that it will work and we can get more people into their own homes but it is unlikely under this government because it does not have a vision for housing and the future of housing in the Northern Territory.
Mr WOOD (Nelson): Madam Speaker, I thank the minister for his report. I am not sure that we are going in the right direction. Perhaps the government should stop and think where it is heading.
I quote from an article by Jessica Irvine from the Sydney Morning Herald on 22 April this year:
- On July 27, 2007, the Labor opposition hosted a ‘housing affordability summit’ in the main committee room in Parliament House. About 150 housing experts from all over the country braved Canberra’s winter chill to discuss solutions to the housing affordability crisis.
I was there. There was little agreement on what needed to be done, but summiteers were unanimous in what should not be done. Everyone agreed that increasing the First Home Owners Grant would simply result in higher house prices.
Labor seemed convinced and produced a discussion paper quoting the Chief Economist of ANZ, Saul Eslake, saying:
- anything which puts additional cash in the hands of buyers results merely in more expensive houses.
I understand where the government is coming from, and it might be doing it for what it thinks are the right reasons, but we need to step back and see whether it is the right reason. If we are pushing the price of houses up, we are taking away the advantages the government thinks it is giving to first homeowners.
We are also putting people into more debt, and in times of economic recession when employment can be risky, people could be forced to sell off their houses because they are unemployed. That is already happening in Sydney. I believe we should be very careful of making people go into more debt to buy their house. We need to release land at a cheaper price so that the overall purchase price of a house and land is cheaper, not requiring a larger HomeNorth subsidy. We are putting people into debt when we should not be.
The government is more concerned about being popular than worrying about the market. He is worried about the big end of town; he should worry about the little end of town, look after those people and do not put families into debt for the rest of their lives. Rethink this policy; see what your last policy did in relation to whether it forced house prices up.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Nelson, your time has expired.
Mr KNIGHT (Housing): Madam Speaker, that was an absolutely pathetic attempt from the opposition. It does not understand HomeNorth.
I never hear from the opposition spokesperson for Housing. She is lazy, she does not understand the industry, and she does not understand the new Homestart scheme. She has had no briefing on this and she obviously does not read the newspaper. There have been tenders go out for Johnston, so there is land release happening. We have a 20-year strategy …
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Order!
Mr KNIGHT: … and if the opposition is so against this scheme, they should tell the 18 people who have already put in expressions of interest about the Homestart scheme since the announcement was made last week. This scheme is good for young Territory families who are getting into their first home.
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Order!
Mr KNIGHT: The opposition do not like this program. They do not understand it and it is a weak and pathetic attempt by the opposition spokesperson.
National Youth Week
Ms McCARTHY (Young Territorians): Madam Speaker, National Youth Week has been part of the Territory’s youth calendar since 2000, and provides an opportunity for young people to share ideas, take part in events, and most importantly, to have fun.
National Youth Week is about recognising and celebrating the achievements of young people and the positive contribution they make to the community. This year, a total of 90 registered events were held across the Territory and it was outstanding to see so many activities on offer and, especially, how many young people were involved.
Events and activities planned throughout the Territory included:
Alice Springs - Youth Week Dance Party, Heat Wave Music and Arts Festival, and Lyrical Hip-Hop Workshops.
Barkly – a Pool Party, Junior Lightning Carnival, and sporting activities.
Darwin - a Family Fun Day, ten pin bowling and Big Gig free workshops in Darwin.
East Arnhem - Maningrida Youth Day, Mini-Olympics, and Saltwater People Music and Fun Concert.
Katherine - rock climbing, a Blue Light disco, and legal advice clinics.
Palmerston - BMX freestyle coaching clinic, midnight basket ball, an after party, a youth bazaar, and live gigs.
Gunbalanya - Come and Swim and a Streetwise skateboard clinic.
Opening and closing celebrations were held in Darwin, Palmerston, Alice Springs, Tennant Creek, Nhulunbuy, East Arnhem, and Katherine. Celebrations were proudly supported by beyondblue, the national depression initiative, and the Northern Territory government.
All the celebrations were large events which brought together youth service providers and received high youth participation. Many smaller events were combined to attract as many young people to make a move and get involved.
During National Youth Week I was extremely pleased to attend the Young Achiever Awards. This event highlights the wonderful young people in the Northern Territory. I am sure this House will join me in congratulating the 2009 Young Achiever Award winners: Kia Naylor, Northern Territory Government Career Achievement Award; Nathan Frick, Minister for Young Territorians Excellence in Youth Leadership Award; Brilee Jacques, Department of Health and Families Young Carers Award; Katie Chatto, ConocoPhillips Environment Award; Kat Byron, Somerville Community Services Award; Tashka Urban, Charles Darwin University Arts Award; Bronte James, McArthur River Mining Regional and Rural Initiative Award; Jack Benson, Perkins Shipping Sports Award, and Simone Liddy, Power and Water Science and Engineering Award.
The Territory’s National Young Member for 2008 and 2009, Amy Robinson, will shortly be handing over to the 2010 representative. I thank Amy for the wonderful job she has done representing young people in the Northern Territory over the past two years.
I take this opportunity to extend a very warm welcome to the 2010 representative, Tim Reilly. Tim is an active member in the community and he has played a representative role as a keen sportsperson, a volunteer for Camp Quality, and currently travels to remote communities in his role with surf life saving.
Congratulations and thank you to everyone who has been involved to make National Youth Week 2009 such a success.
Mr STYLES (Sanderson): Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Arnhem for those good words about Youth Week. I also attended many of the functions and events that the member for Arnhem mentioned, and was very heartened to see the events that occurred for young people around the Territory.
I have a couple of issues in relation to Youth Week. It appears that the government is very good at putting on great events during Youth Week, however, there are 51 other weeks in the year. I see that there are still many youth slipping through the cracks.
I note the sad lack of services occurring around the Territory and that the Territory is failing our youth in relation to drug education and putting good role models into schools. I note that school-based police officers are still struggling to get into classrooms and give these young people a balanced view of what is occurring in our community. I also note that there is a problem with school-based nurses who are there to support young people and to give them information they will need to conduct themselves in a way most of us in the community see as a fit and proper way for young people to grow up.
I ask that the government reconsider a number of the issues that face youth, and look very carefully at reinstating some of the programs that have suffered in recent years, and give our youth the chance they deserve: for a good education, and a balanced view of what the community expects of our young people as opposed to just a one-eyed version or, in fact, no direction and guidance at all.
Ms McCARTHY (Young Territorians): Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Sanderson for his comments. I remind members opposite of the terrific amount of work that is happening with youth across the Northern Territory.
First, I highlight to the member for Sanderson that the work of our school-based constables is important. I know we have pushed to place them in our regions, and we have police in those regions that make an effort to be a part of the school structure, so that our students and youth can grow up knowing they can relate to police officers in an environment where they can have confidence.
The Clontarf Program is going across the Northern Territory, which is an outstanding example of encouraging our youth to not only be fine young men and women in society in the Northern Territory, but also to encourage them to finish their schooling. This is what the government is committed to: wanting every single child to have access to opportunities that were not there for those remote regions where our kids are now graduating in Year 12.
Reports noted pursuant to standing orders.
LAKE EYRE BASIN INTERGOVERNMENTAL AGREEMENT BILL
(Serial 31)
(Serial 31)
Continued from 16 February 2009.
Madam SPEAKER: I remind you, member for Brennan, that I will ask you to resume your seat at 11 am.
Mr CHANDLER (Chandler): Madam Speaker, I thank the minister for a very well-arranged briefing, and for providing a very good understanding of what the agreement is setting out to do.
Basically, this agreement puts into place an arrangement that does not necessarily bind each of the states and territories involved, but ensures that any development which occurs in any of these states or territories which may have an impact on Lake Eyre, will need to be considered. In that light, it would be fair to say that if we were going to develop anything in the Todd River - this is just an example - that may have an impact on Lake Eyre we must consider Lake Eyre in any action that a developer may take.
We also understand that the agreement does not bind the Territory in any way to masses of funding. I believe it is about $50 000, $10 000 of which is in cash.
It is fair to say that, had our river systems in that area of the country - the southern area of the Northern Territory - been lush, tropical flowing rivers of the north, perhaps there would be more of a reason to be concerned about what future development may have on the Lake Eyre area.
The only question this side of the House asks the government is - and I am sure this is so - that no future development in that area would be hampered in any way by signing up to this agreement. I am quite certain that it would not, from my understanding of the agreement.
Perhaps if the rivers in that particular part of our wonderful Territory were fast flowing, tropical rivers there would be more to worry about if we decided to build a dam or something for properties and future farming that could have a significant impact on the Lake Eyre area. The rivers in that area of the Northern Territory are very dry and I would hazard a guess that any rain falling north of Alice Springs and flowing through the Todd River from time to time would be very unlikely to make its way all the way to Lake Eyre. I could be wrong; perhaps it is a long bow to draw, that the rains falling north of Alice Springs would run into Lake Eyre.
This side of the House understands what the agreement has set out to do. It is unfortunate that an agreement such as this was not made many years ago in relation to the River Murray. We all know the effects over-use of that resource has caused the River Murray, and you only have to go into South Australia to see how much it has impacted. I will use this as an example. The River Murray often gives people a false sense that things are going well. People visit areas like Renmark and see this wide open stretch of water which is all due to the weirs in the river there, and it sometimes gives a wrong impression of how healthy our river systems are.
Only a few weeks ago I had the opportunity to visit Victoria. I took the opportunity to go to the Kinglake area, and also to Echuca and Swan Hill to see some of the beautiful red gums of the past that have been devastated by the lack of water. An agreement like the agreement the Territory government is about to sign with Queensland, South Australia, and New South Wales could have protected this river system - this wonderful resource - long ago. To see the trees in that part of the country, particularly along the Murray from Echuca to Swan Hill, was really devastating.
I was brought up in southern New South Wales in a little town called Moulamein, which is where the famous billabong runs into the Edward River and then into the River Murray. They call it the famous point. The Edward actually runs off the Murray, north of Deniliquin, and then south of Swan Hill. It was interesting to note a few years ago that, because of the salt intrusion north of Deniliquin and the Swan Hill area, they diverted much of the water through the Edward River. It was amazing that, in a very short period of time, not only was the river back to its peak of many years ago but fish species were returning to that river system. There were fish like redfin, yellow belly, and the famous Murray Cod coming back into that river system.
We questioned how it was possible that these fish that had all but disappeared had returned to a river system because of the water that was sent down that way. It was brought home to me that many of these eggs are laid by fish in the drier areas of the river, and it takes water to bring them back online. These fish eggs, frogs and other species could lay dormant for many years in these back reaches that only get water in big flood years, and when the water was diverted through the Edward, the life that came back into that river was just incredible. There was talk of river boats being able to make it through some of those areas which could not and would not have happened for many years.
An agreement like this is a very positive move. You have recognition, from each of the states and territories involved, that Lake Eyre is a very important part of our country, and should be protected. Through an agreement like this, we have the potential to save that area from unwanted and, probably, unneeded development in that part of the world. If such an agreement had been in existence perhaps a few decades back for the River Murray, we possibly would not be in the same position we are today.
It is very important to note that the agreement does not, from my understanding, tie the Territory into any legal issue with any development that it may have; just that the Northern Territory considers any impact that development may have on the Lake Eyre area of Australia.
Madam Speaker, I thank the minister and her department for providing a very good briefing on the matter. This side of the House supports the agreement.
Mr HAMPTON (Central Australia): Madam Speaker, I support this legislation. In the February sittings I spoke in support of the Cross-border Justice Bill. I talked about how the Ngaanyatjarra Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjaralands had been chopped in three, by lines drawn on a map by colonial officials in the 19th century. The unintended consequences of their actions were that three separate jurisdictions had to administer three separate systems of justice in the cross-border region of Central Australia.
The colonial officials have more to answer for. Not only did they ignore cultural borders, they also ignored physical boundaries. The consequence of this for the Lake Eyre Basin was that responsibility for its administration lies with a number of jurisdictions.
The Cross-border Justice Bill aims to improve the delivery of law and justice services in the NPY lands by removing various legal obstacles caused by the state and territory borders. Similarly, this bill aims to improve environmental outcomes across state and territory borders by ratifying the Lake Eyre Basin Intergovernmental Agreement.
The minister stated that the agreement, which was signed by the Australian, Queensland, South Australian and Northern Territory governments, aims to ensure sustainability of the river systems in the basin. It is a good agreement for the environment in a fragile part of our country and it is appropriate that we are debating the bill at this time, because the rivers are running into Lake Eyre.
We have heard of boom and bust economies, this is the ultimate ‘boom and bust ecology’. For years, even decades, there is little, if any, water flowing, then comes the deluge. The floodwaters that have spread devastation across Queensland have receded south along the Diamantina and Georgina Rivers and what some people call the dead centre is springing to life. Billions of desert flowers are blooming, millions of birds have arrived at the lake, fish are spawning, and even camels are heading there from the Simpson Desert.
It has been fascinating to research Lake Eyre. I am almost tempted to call myself an amateur limnologist. According to the history books, Lake Eyre was discovered in 1840 by the English explorer, Edward John Eyre. This would have come as a surprise to the local custodians, the Arabunna people, who did not know that the lake was missing.
But sometimes the lake did disappear. By 1962, there had been virtually no rain in the region for 20 years and the surface of the dried-up lake was as hard as concrete. As a result, the location was chosen for an attempt on the land speed record by Englishman, Donald Campbell, in his car Bluebird. Campbell and his crew arrived in March 1963 for the May attempt on the record. The inevitable happened - it started raining. By May, the lake was flooding and Campbell called off the record attempt. However, there was a happy ending. Campbell returned to the lake the following year and the rain did not come, and Bluebird duly set a new world land speed record of 648 km/h.
The Lake Eyre Basin is a massive area of land, over 1 million km, almost as big as the Northern Territory. It is spread roughly equally across Queensland, South Australia, and the Northern Territory, with a small sliver in New South Wales.
In terms of my Regional Development portfolios, the Lake Eyre Basin has massive opportunities, particularly for the local traditional owners, the Arabunna people. I also note that the Simpson Desert Land Claim is close to being handed back to the Aboriginal traditional owners. It is important that these types of opportunities are included in any agreement, or that some of those opportunities flow through to traditional owners in jobs and tourism.
Madam Speaker, it is an area of immense conservation significance and I am pleased to support this bill which, in turn, supports the future of the Basin.
Mr ELFERINK (Port Darwin): Madam Speaker, I note that today we are probably one of the only jurisdictions in the country which will be passing two Appropriation Bills, or having one Appropriation Bill introduced, and we are passing one this morning.
Members may recall that when this apparently innocuous piece of legislation hit the table it also came with a tabling letter from you, Madam Speaker, where the Treasurer gave notification of an appropriation from the Central Holding Authority. I confess to being more than a little confused at the time as to why we were passing a new Appropriation bill in an off-budget spend.
Subsequent to that time, the matter has been explained to me and, whilst I understand the technical argument behind it - I am not sure if the technical argument is 100% correct, but I am not going to worry about that - I urge members opposite that if they are going to waltz into this place with an Appropriation bill, that they should at least give some notification to members opposite. Appropriation bills are the vehicle by which we authorise the Treasurer to take money out of the Central Holding Authority and it becomes an off-budget spend.
The reason I am so anxious to make sure that appropriation bills are properly policed is that in the last financial year, the Treasurer went to her original appropriation and withdrew the 5% allowed under the Financial Management Act beyond that original appropriation. That took her within $1000 of the legal limit she could take out, without having to come back into this place and ask for more money, in the last financial year.
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! I question the relevance of the shadow Treasurer’s speech to the Lake Eyre debate we have before us. Time and again I have explained to him the Treasurer’s allowance and how it works from year to year. He simply does not understand it.
Mr ELFERINK: May I speak to the point of order, Madam Speaker? This is an appropriation bill that we are discussing. There is an appropriation component to it. I have to speak in terms of an appropriation bill.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Port Darwin, it is actually a bill relating to the Lake Eyre Basin. Standing Order 67 - no digression from the subject. However, I will allow you to continue with a level of latitude, but if you can relate your comments as closely as possible to the bill.
Mr ELFERINK: As I am doing, Madam Speaker, because I am talking about an appropriation bill and the financial arrangements that this government has in place in the way that it appropriates money. What I am saying is entirely relevant to this bill because this bill appropriates money from the Central Holding Authority, amongst other things. That is what I am talking about right now.
Members have to be aware that every financial year we provide to the government of the Northern Territory an account for contingent liabilities, if you like. I like to call it the piggy bank - the Treasurer hates that term - because it is essentially a wad of money that we give - $40m last year - to the Treasurer in case of unexpected expenditure. Beyond that, the government is then allowed to take 5% more. We put $40m into the kick and last financial year it took that $40m out and spent it by December of last financial year. The government went one step further; it went back into the Central Holding Authority and took out a further 5% of the entire appropriation, which brought them up - if memory serves me correctly - to the order of $177m - the price of three schools - of unbudgeted expenditure ...
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Port Darwin, I ask you to direct your comments to the bill before us. If you wish to speak about appropriation, can you make it in the context of the bill before us?
Mr ELFERINK: Okay, Madam Speaker. This year, they come in and - what do I see? The very unusual step, unannounced - no advice or notice given to the House for the rationale behind it – for an appropriation bill to enable this particular legislation to pass and be paid for, which means it was not going to be found in the budget. This is a completely separate appropriation from the Central Holding Authority.
I have been nervous for quite some time about this government’s approach to what it has been doing this financial year, based on what occurred last financial year - which is why it was important for me to go through it. Last financial year, the government drained the piggy bank, and everything it could, to within $1000 - a $4bn budget - and it went to within $1000 of having to come into this place and ask for more money.
The government advises the House of its changes to budgetary expenditure, and when it shifts money around through the Transfer of Excess Allocations. In the last financial year …
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! I know the shadow Treasurer is frustrated because the Leader of the Opposition is giving the budget reply tomorrow, but this is about the Lake Eyre Appropriation bill. His remarks are nowhere near it …
Mr Mills: Appropriation bill.
Mr Elferink: Appropriation bill.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr Elferink: Embarrassing, is it not?
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Ms LAWRIE: No, it is not.
Mr Mills: It is embarrassing.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Leader of the Opposition, cease interjecting. Member for Port Darwin, I remind you of Standing Order 67 - No digression from the subject. This is a bill relating to the Lake Eyre Basin Intergovernmental Agreement Bill 2009 (Serial 31) and …
Mr ELFERINK: Madam Speaker, I …
Madam SPEAKER: Excuse me, member for Port Darwin, I am speaking. I remind you that you need to direct your comments directly to the bill at hand. While there may be some link, you need to be very careful in the way you link it, so it is clear to us listening.
Mr ELFERINK: I am endeavouring to construct the argument. Whilst the Treasurer acknowledges that this is an appropriation bill - she just said so - I suggest that it is entirely appropriate that I examine the way the government appropriates money. Surely, that would not be outside the realms of normal conduct in the debate for an appropriation bill.
I will proceed because it is a very important mechanism that the government is using. It is highly unusual that it came into this place; under normal circumstances, one would have expected that there would have been a Transfer of Excess Allocation so that we could all see …
Dr BURNS: A point of order, Madam Speaker! This debate is about Lake Eyre Basin …
Mr Elferink: Appropriation bill.
Madam SPEAKER: Resume your seat, member for Port Darwin.
Dr BURNS: I ask about relevance, Madam Speaker.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Port Darwin, I have asked you to make your comments as close as possible to the bill before the House. While there is a fair bit of latitude, it must actually be relevant to the bill.
Mr ELFERINK: Madam Speaker, this is entirely relevant to the bill. This is an appropriation bill. They are taking money out of the Central Holding Authority. If I cannot speak about an appropriation bill in terms of appropriation, I cannot speak. Surely …
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Port Darwin, this is a bill about the Lake Eyre agreement. While I am allowing you a fair bit of latitude, can you please make some comments relating to the bill itself?
Mr ELFERINK: Okay. To make the Lake Eyre agreement work, they have to take $50 000 out of the Central Holding Authority. Under normal circumstances, one would expect that money to come out of the Treasurer’s Advance, which is exactly the sort of thing that the Treasurer’s Advance is about.
We have not seen the Transfer of Excess Allocation from the Treasurer’s Advance to this particular agreement because the Transfer of Excess Allocation is not tabled. That is why we have not seen it. Madam Speaker, last year …
Dr BURNS: A point of order, Madam Speaker! I call relevance once again, and I also point to the fact that the member for Port Darwin is demonstrating his complete lack of knowledge about how the government works and how appropriations are made, particularly for an amount of $60 000.
Madam SPEAKER: Leader of Government Business, there is no point of order.
Ms Lawrie: It was a requirement of the IGA that we do it as an appropriation.
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order, order! Member for Port Darwin, you may continue but remember Standing Order 67.
Mr ELFERINK: I appreciate that, Madam Speaker, and I thank you for your guidance.
This appropriation bill - this money being taken from outside the normal budgetary process …
Ms Lawrie: Was a requirement of the IGA.
Mr ELEFERINK: Yes.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr Mills: Yes. Calm down and listen.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Ms Lawrie: He needs to get it right.
Mr ELFERINK: This money that was being taken from outside of the normal budgetary process could just have easily been taken from within the normal budgetary process.
Ms Lawrie: No, it was a requirement of the IGA.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr ELFERINK: Whilst I appreciate the Treasurer’s anxiety about this …
Ms Lawrie: Not anxious, just get it right.
Mr MILLS: A point of order Madam Speaker! You directed me to refrain from interjecting. I ask you to do the same for the Treasurer.
Madam SPEAKER: Treasurer, if you can cease interjecting, thank you.
Mr ELFERINK: Thank you, Madam Speaker. The government has taken a wholly unusual way to pay for this …
Mr Knight: It was a requirement of the IGA.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr ELFERINK: It has taken an unusual way to pay for this agreement. The reason I am suspicious of this, and in the absence of any Transfer of Excess Allocations - something that is normally done in a timely and efficient fashion – is that we are seeing, before this House, some sort of signal from the government that it may have expired the total amount that it could possibly expire through the Transfer of Excess Allocation or that it has already extended itself to the point where it has reached the 5% limit demanded by the Financial Management Act. That is at the nub of this particular issue.
The government wants to portray itself as a financial manager, but when it has to come in here with a second appropriation bill …
Mr KNIGHT: A point of order, Madam Speaker! We have digressed significantly. There has not been one word mentioned of the Lake Eyre Agreement. This is …
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order, order! Minister, resume your seat. I remind you of Standing Order 67, member for Port Darwin. If you can keep it on track, please.
Mr ELFERINK: Madam Speaker, whilst I appreciate we are talking about a particular agreement, attached to this agreement is an appropriation bill. That is a bill where this House passes law …
Dr BURNS: A point of order, Madam Speaker! I again call relevance. The member for Port Darwin was told about this agreement and why this was an appropriation bill, yet he comes in, pulling a political stunt in front of a crowd, trying to …
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Dr BURNS: … and I call relevance again.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Port Darwin, can you please make your comments relevant to the bill?
Mr ELFERINK: Madam Speaker, this is an appropriation bill. To make this agreement work, the government is appropriating money. That is what we do with a budget every year. And we give that budget to the government every year through an appropriation bill. This bill is a second appropriation bill, taken from outside of the budgetary process, a highly unusual process, a completely unusual process to make this legislation…
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order, order! Member for Port Darwin, you have the call, but can you keep your comments with no digression from the subject, please?
Mr ELFERINK: Madam Speaker, this is an appropriation bill, which means that we take money from outside of the normal budgetary processes. For me not to talk about the appropriation bill when there is an appropriation bill on the table is impossible …
Members interjecting.
Mr ELFERINK: I appreciate that members opposite are feeling nervous and twitchy about this particular issue because this is demonstrative of the way they conduct their business.
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Order!
Mr ELFERINK: This is indicative of the way that they conduct their business. What we are seeing now, with the constant interjections and the constant points of order, is that they are trying to disrupt me whilst I am trying to challenge them and criticise them for sidestepping the normal budgetary processes of the Northern Territory, so they can get this legislation through.
This is what this government does all the time. If it does not want to hear it, all it does is call points of order, it tries to shut debate down and gag the speaker on his feet. I will not be drawn into that. If it brings an appropriation bill into this House, which is outside the normal budgetary processes, I will be on my feet, as I was when this bill was introduced, asking questions about it straight away. That is my job and my duty. I believe the people of the Northern Territory deserve to know that this government is more than happy to sidestep the normal protocols of appropriating money …
Dr BURNS: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Once again, he is weaving his story and becoming completely irrelevant. He knows that this bill is about $50 000, that it is part of an intergovernmental agreement and this is the appropriate way to bring it into this place. He is embarrassing himself and his side …
Madam Speaker, I ask that relevance be called.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Port Darwin, I ask you for the final time to make your comments relevant to this bill or I will ask you to resume your seat.
Mr ELFERINK: Madam Speaker, this is an appropriation bill. I cannot but talk about an appropriation bill when we are talking about an appropriation bill.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Port Darwin, if you can make your comments relate to the Lake Eyre Basin.
Mr ELFERINK: All right, Madam Speaker. The government gets a budget at the beginning of the year. It then signs up to agreements which it should pay out of that budget, but it does not. It comes into this place and takes more money out of the savings of Northern Territorians. This agreement is a classical example of it. Then the government can say it was not part of the budget, so it did not exceed that part of the budget. That is the way that these guys operate, Madam Speaker. When someone catches them doing it, all you hear from them is interruption, interjection and points of order on the relevance of appropriation bills when we are discussing appropriation bills.
That is bizarre. It is bizarre the way they conduct themselves and it is a bizarre argument that we should not be talking about an appropriation bill when we have an appropriation bill in front of the House. They do not particularly want to hear this but Territorians deserve to know that they operate in this fashion.
I accept that this bill has to be passed, for no other reason than we are signed up to an agreement, and we should honour that agreement. But why does the government not go through the normal budgetary processes of budgeting at the beginning of the year so that it knows it can sign up to this agreement and put the money in the can? Do not come waltzing in with appropriation bills halfway through the day or halfway through the financial year because, oops, we forgot that bit.
Madam Speaker, if the government is going to be a good financial manager, then it should plan at the beginning of the year. What is the point of having a budget if it cannot plan for how that financial year rolls out?
Last year we saw an extra $175m spent, which was not in the budget. We did not know about it when we passed the budget; the government simply went and spent it. It then had to take money out of the Central Holding Authority, to the absolute limit. It went within $1000 of having to come back to this place and having to pass a new appropriation bill. They have spent like drunken sailors, they continue to spend like drunken sailors and now they are spending like drunken sailors with a credit card.
Debate suspended.
MEDIA ARRANGEMENTS
Presentation of Budget Speech
Presentation of Budget Speech
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, I advise that I have given permission for various media to broadcast live, or rebroadcast with sound and vision, the presentation of the budget and the Treasurer’s speech, and the Leader of the Opposition’s reply.
I have also given permission for Territory FM radio to broadcast live the presentation of the budget and the Treasurer’s speech and the Leader of the Opposition’s reply, and also the Northern Territory News to take photographs, both today and tomorrow.
I advise honourable members that after the suspension for lunch the Chair will resume at 2.30 pm.
DISTINGUISHED VISITORS
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, I advise you of the presence in the Chamber of Ms Dawn Lawrie, the former member for Nightcliff, and the mother of the Treasurer.
VISITORS
Madam Speaker: Honourable members, I also advise that Ms Jennifer Prince, the Under-Treasurer, and officers of the Northern Territory Treasury are in the gallery to listen to the budget.
Also present are Casuarina Secondary College, Year 12 Economics students, accompanied by Irini Pikoulos; Wagaman Primary School Year 2/3 students, accompanied by Mrs Gemma Chadbourne and Miss Debbie; and especially members of the public visiting to watch the 2009-10 Budget presentation.
APPROPRIATION BILL (2009-2010)
(Serial 41)
APPROPRIATION (ADDITIONAL FOR 2008-2009) BILL
(Serial 40)
(Serial 41)
APPROPRIATION (ADDITIONAL FOR 2008-2009) BILL
(Serial 40)
Bills presented and read a first time.
Ms LAWRIE (Treasurer): Madam Speaker, I move that the bills be now read a second time.
I table the Appropriation (Additional for 2008-2009) Bill, the Appropriation Bill (2009-2010), and the related papers.
Since I stood in this Assembly to deliver the 2008-09 Budget, the very basis of the world’s economy has fundamentally changed. There is no doubt this has been the toughest budget to frame in Territory history. Over the past financial year we have witnessed an exceptionally swift and severe global economic deterioration - the worst global recession for 75 years.
All developed economies, and most of Australia’s major trading partners, have recorded sharply negative growth and threaten to remain in recession for the foreseeable future.
Despite its stronger economic foundations and substantial efforts by the Rudd government, Australia has not been able to avoid recession. Against this setting, the Territory Labor government has structured the 2009-10 Budget with a fundamental goal - to protect Territory jobs across all sectors of our economy.
Budget 2009-10 delivers this key priority by building the Territory. At its core is an unprecedented $1.3bn infrastructure investment in the Territory’s housing, roads, schools, and community, creating over 2500 construction and related jobs.
Budget 2009-10 delivers stronger frontline services and more frontline staff through a record $1bn health budget, an $808m investment in education, and $279m for police and emergency services.
Budget 2009-10 maintains consumer and business confidence, improves economic efficiency and invests in programs and policies which provide maximum benefit to the broader economy. Budget 2009-10 demonstrates the Henderson Labor government’s absolute focus on action now to create and sustain Territory jobs and minimise the impact of these daunting economic conditions on Territory families.
Despite severe reductions in the GST pool, the Northern Territory has increased investment spending to protect jobs and economic growth. This is a deliberate decision of the government.
The necessary result is a temporary budget deficit for the first time in six years. Importantly, however, Budget 2009-10 demonstrates stringent fiscal and economic management through a five-year strategy to step out of deficit, while maintaining necessary levels of infrastructure spending.
This is an unprecedented budget for unprecedented times. It is a budget that concentrates on core government business: keeping people in jobs, keeping our economy strong, and keeping the Territory at the forefront of growth. Thus far, the Northern Territory has stood firm in the global economic storm. The Northern Territory economy is estimated to grow by 4.1% in 2008-09. This is expected to be one of the highest growth rates in the nation.
While the global economy is not expected to recover quickly over the coming year, the Territory economy will continue to buck the trend, growing by a forecast 2% in 2009-10. This is a remarkable achievement in a period when most other jurisdictions will be struggling to record any growth at all. Record investment expenditure, estimated to have increased by 13.1% in real terms to $5.2bn in 2008-09, has been the primary force insulating the Territory from the slowing global economy.
Investment expenditure has been driven by major private sector projects such as the Blacktip gas project, the Bonaparte gas pipeline, and the GEMCO manganese refinery expansion on Groote Eylandt. It has also been supported by substantial government infrastructure projects such as the Victoria Highway upgrade, the Tiger Brennan Drive extension, the Owen Springs and Weddell Power Stations, and the ongoing redevelopment of the Darwin waterfront.
Economic growth in 2008-09 has been supported by an estimated 9.5% increase in Territory exports including LNG, condensate and LPG, alumina, and manganese.
Consumption expenditure, which accounts for around 70% of the demand for goods and services in the Territory, is forecast to increase by 2.5% in 2008-09 and 2009-10.
While record low interest rates and Commonwealth stimulus payments to households have played their part in supporting growth in private spending, it is underpinned by the ongoing confidence Territorians have in our economy.
We also continue to out-perform other jurisdictions on a wide range of key economic indicators. In the face of sharp rises elsewhere, our trend unemployment rate has remained steady at 4% over the past three months, and is the second lowest nationally, behind the ACT.
Between the 2008-09 Budget and March 2009, the most recent data available shows full-time jobs have increased by more than 7000, in sharp contrast to the 0.9% decrease in full-time jobs nationally. The outlook for employment in the Territory remains positive, with growth of 2.5% estimated for 2008-09 and 1.5% in 2009-10. A major employment organisation noted in a recent report: if you want a job, move to the Territory.
Greater job certainty results in greater consumer confidence, and this is reflected in our retail trade figures. Retail spending grew by 8.7% in the Northern Territory in 2008 to $2.3bn, well above the 1.8% national growth rate. While growth is forecast to moderate in 2009-10, it is still expected to grow.
The Northern Territory’s estimated population growth of 1.8% in 2009 also outpaces the national average, fuelled by our young population and high birth rate, as well as positive nett migration of people looking for work and attracted by our great lifestyle.
The Darwin CPI is estimated to moderate to 2.6% in 2009 from 4% reported for 2008. Territory and federal government initiatives, such as Buildstart and the First Home Owner Boost have led to large numbers of homebuyers entering the Territory property market in 2008-09. The Commonwealth’s First Home Owner Boost Scheme has assisted over 660 Territory first homebuyers. The Territory’s Buildstart Scheme provides a $14 000 incentive to buy or build new homes. Over 183 Buildstart applications have been received and 94 grants paid so far. These have both helped to stimulate economic activity, providing more jobs in construction and supply industries, and delivering more housing for our growing population.
However, for industries more directly exposed to global economic forces and, in particular, China’s retreat from its record growth, the news is more sombre. The resources sector, so important to the Territory economy, has been undeniably affected. Nevertheless, it is well placed to capitalise on the massive infrastructure spending plans announced by governments around the world.
One of the primary drivers of the Territory economy in 2009-10 will be record levels of public investment expenditure. The $1.3bn infrastructure program is 47% higher than is estimated for 2008-09, which is a record year itself. Spending is allocated across all parts of the Territory and in all service areas.
Budget 2009-10 shows the Territory government is acting decisively to keep our economy strong and keep Territorians in jobs. The Territory government had the foresight to act when global times were good, to pursue major projects and with them secure the Northern Territory’s long-term future.
Mega-projects such as INPEX are already having an impact, with front end engineering and design already contributing directly to the Territory economy. The project has also had a significant indirect impact on the economy by supporting consumer and business confidence levels, which according to Sensis remain substantially higher than national levels. This US$12bn project will be the largest private sector investment in the Territory’s history, and the best insurance we have against the current global crisis and potential downturns over the next generation.
Budget 2009-10 also demonstrates the Territory Labor government’s close cooperation with the Rudd government to roll-out the Nation Building and Jobs Plan stimulus package. The Territory government strongly supports all components of the Commonwealth’s efforts to protect Australia from the worst of the downturn. Opposition to the package would have been disastrous for the Territory economy, with an immediate negative impact on jobs. But, the massive stimulus package will only flow through to job numbers if it is rapidly and efficiently delivered on the ground.
The Territory government is already proving it is up to the challenge. Dedicated Stimulus Action Squads have been established to deliver the package. To make sure projects are tendered quickly and efficiently, the government has streamlined procurement arrangements, lifted thresholds, improved information flow, and reduced paperwork. Complementing this, the government has taken quick action to increase Development Consent Authority resources to speed up the planning approval processes.
The Nation Building and Jobs Plan will provide $350m in infrastructure to the Northern Territory, including $272m to the Territory government over four years. Tenders are already under way for:
$12m in road repairs and maintenance, $1.5m for black spots, and $2.5m to improve safety at railway crossings;
$10.5m for the first round of the National School Pride refurbishment projects in every school; and
$7.1m for the first round of new and upgraded social housing in Alice Springs, Tennant Creek, and Darwin.
The Commonwealth will also spend an extra $76m on Defence housing in the next year; a further boost for the construction industry.
A fundamental component of the Henderson Labor government’s work with the Rudd government, is maintaining Territory spending on job-creating projects, programs, and policies. The Northern Territory will go well beyond this baseline requirement.
In Budget 2009-10, we will build the Territory through a record infrastructure spend of $1.3bn, an increase of $414m from 2008-09, to create and sustain jobs, increase economic efficiency, and improve our quality of life.
In this Budget, housing infrastructure totals $255.9m, and includes:
$10m for a 44-unit seniors village in Bellamack;
Budget 2009-10 allocates $108.6m for land release and community infrastructure, including the development of the new Palmerston suburbs of Johnston, Mitchell and Zuccoli. Land will be available in Johnston and Bellamack by the end of the year.
Budget 2009-10 includes a record education infrastructure budget of $196.8m, incorporating:
$101.9m for the Nation Building and Jobs Plan package;
Community safety remains a priority for the Henderson government with a $51.9m infrastructure program also creating jobs on the ground. This funding includes:
$8m for police stations;
This facility will be contemporary in design and operation, improving rehabilitation prospects and lowering re-offending rates. The current Darwin facility is clearly at the end of its useful life. Only a new prison will deliver the outcomes the community requires.
Our lifestyle is a central part of what makes the Territory great. The Henderson government will keep it that way by investing in infrastructure for families. This includes:
$5m for a water park in Palmerston;
Significant investment in power, water and sewerage assets continues in budget 2009-10, with the five-year infrastructure program now totalling $1.4bn. Projects that will be undertaken as part of this program include:
$226m for new power stations and distribution;,
The $1.3bn infrastructure investment also includes a record roads budget of $322m, almost four times that of 2001. Not only do roads create jobs during construction, they open up the Territory for greater economic investment and efficiency and that means more jobs in the pastoral, mining and tourism sectors.
In partnership with the Commonwealth, work will continue on Tiger Brennan Drive with $89.5m for the 7.5km extension and the Berrimah Road rail overpass. There is also $10.3m for additional duplication and passing lanes.
Other major roads projects include:
$19m for community, beef and mining roads in our regions;
As responsible governments around the world recognise, maintaining a blind adherence to a surplus in this major global downturn will cost jobs and damage communities for years to come. At a time like this, when private investment slows, governments must step in.
Budget 2009-10 demonstrates strong economic management by maintaining spending to protect our economy, while mapping a clear, staged return to a balanced budget within five years.
After six years of surplus a collapse in GST revenues, coupled with government’s commitment to increase investment spending to maintain economic growth and jobs, means that a temporary budget deficit in 2008-09 and the following four years is unavoidable. The decision to go into temporary deficit was not taken lightly, but it was made with an absolute commitment to return the budget to surplus as soon as economically responsible.
The Fiscal Integrity and Transparency Act requires that a fiscal strategy, reflecting current economic and financial conditions, is tabled with each budget. The fiscal strategy contained in this budget varies from the strategy that has guided us in recent years because of the very different economic circumstances that now prevail.
The new fiscal strategy retains the previous components of sustainable service provision, infrastructure for economic and community development, competitive tax environment, and prudent management of liabilities, but the elements have changed to reflect the current economic and financial reality.
The sustainable service provision component provides a commitment to maintaining strong fiscal discipline by limiting expense growth over the budget cycle to ensure there is an operating surplus in the general government sector.
During the period of economic downturn, infrastructure spending will increase to support jobs and maintain growth. The operating surplus will not be sufficient to cover this higher level of capital spending and a temporary cash deficit will result. When revenue growth returns to its usual level, the growth in expenses will not increase at the same rate, resulting in higher operating surpluses as well as cash surpluses. The surplus funds will be used to retire debt built up during the period of economic downturn.
The infrastructure component of the strategy commits to spending at least twice the depreciation expense on new infrastructure during the period of economic downturn. When usual economic conditions return, infrastructure spending will be at least the same as depreciation.
The competitive tax component remains unchanged. The prudent management of liabilities aspect commits to return nett debt to its 2007-08 level, once the economy recovers, through a 5% per annum reduction in debt levels.
Turning to the estimated budget outcomes that result from this new fiscal strategy, a deficit of $17m is estimated for 2008-09. This is better than my February update, largely due to further increases in mineral royalty payments, offset by lower GST revenue. During 2008-09 total receipts have increased by $275m and payments by $302m. While total receipts have increased, there has been a significant reduction in GST revenue of $162m or 6.7%.
While tied Commonwealth revenue has increased by $262m, and will provide important services, it is not available for general use. Mining royalties have increased by $137m, which is an indication of strength in our resources sector. While this growth will continue next year, it will be at a lower level. The payment variation of $302m is a result of policy decisions, matching expenditure for the tied Commonwealth funding and the carryover from 2007-08.
The deficit for 2009-10 is now expected to be $201m - $222m worse than was expected this time last year. This is largely the effect of a substantial GST reduction of $211m, which lowers the GST proportion of our total revenue from around 67% to 55%.
The reduction in GST revenue has a major effect on the budget and all forward estimate years. From 2008-09 through to 2012-13, the GST revenue is $916m lower than estimated at the time of the 2008-09 Budget, due solely to the economic downturn as a result of the global financial crisis. While the budget is expected to remain in deficit over the forward estimate years, the government’s clear path to return the budget to surplus is evident in the estimated budget outcome through to 2012-13.
A budget deficit inevitably means that debt levels increase. The increase in general government debt since the May 2008-09 Budget and the end of the current forward estimate period is $577m, but this is $339m lower than the reduction in GST revenue over the same period, and demonstrates the extent of this budget’s fiscal discipline.
In May 2008, the estimate for the debt to revenue ratio for the general government sector was 20% at the end of the forward estimate period. The revised ratio in the 2009-10 Budget is 33%, still approximately half the debt to revenue ratio of 61% when we came to office.
The Henderson government is justifiably proud that the Territory is the lowest taxing jurisdiction for small business. I am pleased to announce that Budget 2009-10 maintains this enviable position. I am also pleased to confirm that there are no new taxes in this budget. Government’s commitment to supporting business means we will not, for example, impose a fire and emergency services levy or a land tax, which are levied in all other states. Since 2001, this government has undertaken significant taxation reform, with cumulative tax savings totalling $321m. However, the significant reduction in GST revenue has meant that the government must extend the time lines for remaining national tax reform commitments.
The abolition of stamp duty on business transactions, excluding land, will now be completed on 1 July 2012. This change does not impose any new charge on Territory businesses and meets our intergovernmental commitments. The Territory is not alone in this process. Queensland, South Australia, and New South Wales have all announced that they will now abolish their remaining duties in 2012.
Each year, the Territory pays $3.9m to fund an on-road fuel subsidy of 1.1 per litre, mostly paid to fuel retailers, in the hope that it will be passed onto Territory motorists. The Parry report indicated that Territory fuel prices were driven by the low volume of fuel sold and the lack of vigorous competition. These market conditions raise valid questions as to whether the subsidy is actually being passed on to consumers, particularly in regional areas. Tasmania and Victoria abolished similar subsidies and this resulted in no noticeable impact on prevailing fuel prices in these states. Government has decided that Territorians are better served by redirecting these funds to the substantially increased roads and public transport budget.
Budget 2009-10 includes a range of reforms that improve taxation equity and reduce red tape. Previously, the takeover of listed entities with valuable landholdings was not subject to stamp duty, in contrast to the stamp duty treatment of land held by Territorians when they purchase a home. Budget 2009-10 will ensure that stamp duty is payable for the acquisition of valuable landholdings of large listed companies and trusts where such an entity becomes the subject of a takeover or merger. Stamp duty rules on landholding trusts will also be aligned with the rules that apply to companies, making the stamp duty scheme simpler and fairer.
As indicated in last year’s budget, from 1 July 2009, the Territory will move to more fully harmonise its payroll tax legislation with most other states. The majority of the Territory’s payroll taxpayers also pay this tax in other states. This will reduce red tape for these businesses as they will only need to deal with one set of payroll tax rules.
We will also expand payroll exemptions for charitable and benevolent institutions, and wages paid to employees undertaking maternity or adoption leave or emergency volunteer work, such as firefighting, at a cost of $1.3m.
Many of the fees for government services have not been reviewed for years. These fee levels have been eroded by inflation and are well below the cost of providing these services. The government will update fee and charge levels, and introduce an indexation mechanism to apply from 1 January 2010. A similar mechanism will also be included in the Penalty Units legislation.
Although unrelated to the budget and not a revenue source for government, the Motor Accident Compensation Contributions Commissioner has also determined a 5% increase in motor accident compensation premiums, in line with increases in benefits. The government has therefore decided not to increase motor vehicle registration fees. I am advised that this MACA increase will add approximately $20 to MACA premiums, or an overall registration increase of 3.7%.
I now turn to specific initiatives in Budget 2009-10. The core focus of Budget 2009-10 is on protecting and creating jobs for Territorians. In addition to our unprecedented $1.3bn infrastructure investment, the Henderson Labor government will create new and boost continuing programs to help Territorians into jobs.
Budget 2009-10 provides an additional $1m per annum to support an extra 10 000 apprentice and trainee commencements between 2009 and 2012. In cooperation with the Commonwealth, $1.3m is being provided for a trade training centre in Tennant Creek; and $500 000 is provided to establish two regional job hubs – one in Nhulunbuy and one in Tennant Creek, to support local employment.
During 2009-10, in response to the global economic outlook, Tourism NT will focus on stimulating demand for Territory tourism experiences and supporting local tourism businesses. A Tourism Stimulus Response of $9.3m over two years will target campaigns in selected markets and assist operators to improve their business operations. Tourism NT will also spend $1.5m to increase the Territory’s competitive aviation access position in key source markets.
Keeping Territorians safe is a key government priority. A centrepiece of the Henderson Labor government‘s Budget 2009-10 Community Safety Program is a three-year program to deliver a new Berrimah fire station at a cost of $12.3m, combined with a substantial increase over four years in fire and emergency services resources. In 2009-10, the government will provide $1.65m to commence the first phase of this initiative, with 11 new firefighter positions for Darwin, and nine new firefighters for Alice Springs.
Budget 2009-10 continues the important Safer Streets initiative, with additional funding in 2009-10 of $5.1m, taking the total funding for this program to $9.3m. This initiative tackles crime and disorder in urban centres head-on, by boosting uniformed police numbers by a further 25 and providing an additional 10 police auxiliaries. The government is also directing $2.5m to establish Police Beats in shopping precincts. We have already seen how successful this visible police presence has been in Casuarina. We will also provide $6m to upgrade the Alice Springs Police Station and $2m to convert the Numbulwar police post to a fully operational police station.
Budget 2009-10 delivers $3.4m to establish and maintain closed circuit television systems in the greater Darwin area, and $7.2m to continue the upgrade of the Police, Fire and Emergency Services digital radio network. This expanded and more effective police presence will lead to more successful investigations and prosecutions, which is why government will also allocate $3.8m to improve court capacity, boost prosecution resources, and strengthen the Forensic Science Branch.
The Territory Labor government is keen to embrace and fund new ideas to drive our criminal re-offending rates down. Therefore, Budget 2009-10 provides $2m to establish a regional prisoner work camp in the Barkly region.
It is unacceptable that most violent crime in the Northern Territory occurs within a domestic relationship. The government will provide an additional $15m over three years to enhance domestic violence prevention services and support our world first mandatory reporting laws.
Closing the Gap continues to achieve results in the justice sector through $2.9m for remote area community corrections officers and rehabilitation programs for family violence and sex offenders. Funding of almost $1m is also allocated in Budget 2009-10 to address antisocial behaviour through the Darwin area night patrol services and a Palmerston office to coordinate accommodation and Return to Country programs.
There is additional funding of $544 000 in 2008-09 and $1.1m ongoing to expand emergency accommodation for young people at risk in Alice Springs.
The Henderson Labor government’s focus on housing will create jobs and help more people to buy their own home. Homestart NT will provide low-to-middle income earners with assistance to purchase their own homes. Targeted at the affordable housing market, Homestart NT will provide access to 40% of properties in the Territory’s main centres, while requiring no more than 30% of household income in repayments. Income levels are linked to household size, with access to the scheme geared towards families. Homestart NT will provide low-to-middle-income earners with the most substantial package of assistance ever to help them achieve homeownership.
The Rudd and Henderson Labor governments are also working together to realise the fundamental right all people have to appropriate accommodation. The Nation Building and Jobs Plan package will provide $64m over four years to expand social housing throughout the Territory.
The Remote Indigenous Housing National Partnership Agreement will provide $1.7bn over 10 years for new and upgraded housing in remote areas. This massive building effort will be complemented by $21.4m in Commonwealth funding to support tenancy and maintenance services for remote housing.
For the first time ever, the Territory government will deliver a $1bn Health budget. This 117% increase in health funding since 2001 demonstrates the Henderson Labor government’s focus on improving health outcomes for all Territorians, no matter where they live.
Highlights in Budget 2009-10 include an additional $2m to continue after hours urgent care service at the Palmerston Super Clinic hub. Since it opened, over 3700 Palmerston residents have used this important service. Construction to expand the Palmerston Super Clinic will commence in 2009-10, and an additional $960 000 is also included to expand Palmerston ambulance services.
The cancer centre will be completed by the end of this calendar year and will take in patients by early 2010. The government will provide $2m to support this important step forward by providing modern, supportive accommodation for patients and their families from outside Darwin while they undertake treatment.
The government also recognises that there has been historic neglect of young people and adults with complex care needs. Over many years this has adversely affected individuals and the wider community. In Budget 2009-10 this will dramatically change. The government is directing $13.9m in 2009-10 and 2010-11 to construct secure care facilities and additional secure beds in Alice Springs and Darwin Hospitals.
Another strong community concern is access to public dental services. The government is therefore allocating additional funding of $1.5m for general dental services to cut our waiting lists by providing 4000 extra appointments in the first year.
We are commencing a 10-year heart health plan in 2009-10 by allocating an additional $630 000 to improve cardiac services.
Closing the Gap initiatives are continuing through $5.5m for expanded services for children in care, child protection services and chronic disease programs.
The $808m Education and Training budget will improve educational outcomes for all Territory students. Budget 2009-10 provides $11.2m over two years to establish the Alice Springs Dual Campus Middle School and Youth Hub, with $4.76m in 2009-10 and $2.6m in 2010-11 for upgrades at the Gillen Campus and ANZAC Hill Campus. In 2010-11 a $3.85m 30-bed boarding facility will also be constructed.
To help close the educational outcome gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous students, funding of $5.1m will deliver six additional school counsellors, five mobile preschools, and 16 additional remote area teachers to support increased enrolments. Budget 2009-10 also commences a $2.6m five-year commitment for the Families as First Teacher Program to support Indigenous families in remote locations.
The Territory offers the best lifestyle in Australia, and the Henderson Labor government is making sure it stays that way. In Budget 2009-10 funding of $9.7m is provided to support sport and recreation initiatives and facilities across the Territory, including $1m for remote community sport and recreation programs, and $1m extra to build and upgrade sporting infrastructure.
New funding of $2m each year will also be provided for the next four years for parks infrastructure to support the Territory’s Tourism Stimulus package and improve access to our beautiful environment.
Budget 2009-10 also improves our public transport system by providing $1m for park-and-ride facilities in the greater Darwin area, $600 000 for new bus services in Darwin, and $1.8m for expanded free bus travel for students and seniors.
The government is also providing an extra $3.3m to increase pensioner and carers’ concessions for motor vehicle registration, drivers’ licences and power and water subsidies.
Budget 2009-10 includes a further $1.1m to support arts and festival initiatives. There is also a three year, $2.1m commitment for ecoBiz NT, a new program to improve business energy efficiency.
Government is also providing $10.5m to our great horse and greyhound racing industries as part of industry funding agreements.
Last week the Chief Minister released the draft Territory 2030 strategic plan to encourage new ideas and help the Territory grow. In Budget 2009-10 funding of $1.5m has been allocated to implement the plan, along with $1.1m to continue our path towards statehood.
The Northern Territory faces incredible challenges over the coming financial year, as we travel through this turbulent global economic period. These unprecedented times require complete focus on what matters most: protecting the jobs that support our hard-working Territory families. An unprecedented infrastructure spend demonstrates the Henderson Labor government’s absolute commitment to doing everything it can to protect jobs. Record-breaking Health, Justice and Education budgets will provide the frontline services every Territorian deserves, no matter where they live, and give our kids the best possible future.
In the most challenging global economic conditions we have faced since self-government, this is the budget to carry the Territory safely through the storm.
Madam Speaker, I commend the bill to the House.
Members: Hear, hear!
Debate adjourned.
LAKE EYRE BASIN INTERGOVERNMENTAL AGREEMENT BILL
(Serial 31)
(Serial 31)
Continued from earlier this day.
Mr WOOD (Nelson): Madam Speaker, I thank the minister for introducing this bill. There are some questions that need some explanation. I do not know whether it is worth going into committee stage to discuss those; I will see what answers we receive during this debate.
One of the questions is: why an intergovernmental agreement has to go before parliament for ratification? I presume that most governments have numbers of agreements between states and territories, so it is interesting that this intergovernmental agreement has to be ratified by this particular bill. What does ratification through this House mean when it comes to reading this particular agreement? How much is binding, for instance, on the Northern Territory government? If it has agreed to this agreement via being ratified in parliament, are we then bound to everything in the agreement? If that is the case, then I thought this agreement should have been part of the debate that went with the bill.
We can debate it, but the agreement is already up and running, so there is not really an opportunity for us to participate in an agreement that we are being asked to ratify. All we are being asked to ratify are a small number of clauses in a very short bill. It basically says this act is to approve, ratify and facilitate the Lake Eyre Basin Intergovernmental Agreement.
It is a question that should be answered because it goes to the crux of the matter: why do we need this legislation to ratify this agreement? If we do need this ratification, then it is a reasonable question for a parliamentarian in this House to ask why the agreement should not have been agreed to before it was ratified, so we all could have participated in the debate about this agreement. That does not put the agreement down. I am trying to put in some balance as to why we are in parliament dealing with this issue today.
The question the member for Port Darwin raised today in relation to a clause in the agreement, which is in the schedules under Annexure B, where the Terms state that:
- The Northern Territory will join the Original Agreement on the following terms agreed by and with the Original Parties
Ms Lawrie: It is a requirement of the IGA.
Mr WOOD: That might be the case. But there has not been a proper explanation of that. I am asking the minister who has carriage of this bill to explain what that means. It might be simple for the Treasurer; she is the Treasurer, I am not - and do not intend to be the Treasurer - but I would like the minister to enlighten us as to why there has been this special requirement to bring forth approval for that particular $10 000. I was not given any explanation at the time. By the way, I thank the government for its briefing, but this issue was not raised at that briefing.
There are a number of minor questions that I would like to ask. One is in relation to Part V, Institutional Structure, where 5.3(b) talks about when the minister cannot perform their duties on this ministerial forum, and it seems that another minister will have those responsibilities and perform all the duties of that member. It is only a technical question, but does it have to be a minister or can it be, for instance, a backbencher who attends the ministerial forum, so it is not restricted to ministers?
Annexure B, Terms, states that:
(c) the remainder of the Northern Territory contribution will be drawn from natural resource management, environmental or other program activities within the Agreement Area that support the objectives of the Lake Eyre Basin Intergovernmental Agreement (but excluding any activities funded jointly through existing Commonwealth - Territory agreements).
I wonder if the minister has examples of what other activities would be funded jointly through existing Commonwealth/Territory agreements in relation to the Lake Eyre Basin.
There has been much discussion about the control of water. The former Howard government tried to instigate an agreement between all states for the Commonwealth to take control of our waterways. For good reason it believed that having so many people in charge of our waterways was not good for the nation. It could be seen that many of the problems which exist today with the allocation of water, especially in the Murray-Darling area, are because there were too many bureaucracies and states looking after water which flowed from one state to another. I wonder if there is an opportunity, or has there been any discussion, for the Commonwealth to control water that flows into the Lake Eyre Basin. We would not want to see the issues which have arisen in the Murray-Darling area.
I was listening to the member for Stuart talk about how - he calls them colonialists - carved up the Pitjantjatjara lands with straight lines which did not represent their natural governance areas. If that is not a good argument against statehood I will go ‘he’, because that is one of the problems we have with statehood. We have this series of boundaries of longitude and latitude which do not necessarily bear any relationship with geographical, cultural or Indigenous boundaries. We have just plonked them on a map of Australia and said: ‘I am now a crow eater, you are now a Mexican’, and we barrack for our team and they barrack for their team. We have basically become a type of parochial group.
I have an article from the federal government about the issues involved in trying to find a place for the radioactive waste facility. The article quoted the minister, Mr Ferguson, who basically said that we have problems because Australians have acted in an immature way - and I believe he is referring to our parochialism - in trying to find answers to issues we have to solve.
When I look at the Lake Eyre Basin, I believe, to some extent, it is the same thing. The Lake Eyre Basin is cut up into four states; there is a very tiny part in New South Wales, yet we now have to have an agreement which means many people travel to many forums to discuss these issues, which is good. But when you think about it, the water and the wildlife do not have any relationship to boundaries; they flow from one end to the other.
I believe there is much going for the idea that water, especially our major rivers, is controlled by the Commonwealth. That is not to say the states should not have input, but when you realise that a river is an entity, from beginning to end, whether it runs into Lake Eyre or runs into the sea, especially our major rivers, then we have to treat them as a whole rather than sliced up.
This intergovernmental agreement goes some way to getting around that by saying we will deal with it as one body. But, it was said at the briefing, a government can pull out of this intergovernmental agreement if it feels like it. If there is a political stoush between one state and another, they can pull out of this agreement. That is why sometimes it is better that the Commonwealth maintains control over some of these waters. That would also give a sense of uniformity; a uniform approach to how the rivers in this area are managed. That is not to say we should start to manage them in a way which is causing some controversy at the moment in Queensland with the wild rivers. We know industries rely on these rivers, along with the environment and Indigenous groups; we need to take that into account. We also need to make sure the river and the processes that go with the river are kept in the healthiest state possible by having good decision-making processes.
I thank the minister for presenting this bill. I am interested in hearing her answers to the questions I have raised.
Mr McCARTHY (Transport): Madam Speaker, I also support the Lake Eyre Basin Intergovernmental Agreement Bill. I commend my parliamentary colleague, the member for Stuart, for bringing an Indigenous perspective to this debate. He has also sparked the imagination of the member for Nelson regarding the importance of that perspective in any debate, and bringing that perspective to this House. There are cultural boundaries and geographic connections. I see the fusion of this knowledge and imaginative debate as being part of our support for the passage of this bill through parliament.
Earlier this year, Australia saw an enormous weather system move down and across western Queensland and the Barkly. It was a system of storms and rains which went largely unnoticed by the rest of the nation, but was of vital interest to the thousands of people to whom it brought welcome relief from the drought. I was a witness to these great rains and I know that many in my electorate welcomed its coming, even though there was inconvenience with roads made impassable, including the Barkly Highway for a few weeks - our link to Queensland.
However, it was Mother Nature at her best and most powerful. It is what makes living in inland Australia such an extraordinary experience. Yet, this massive weather system had an impact across not only Queensland and the Territory but also New South Wales and South Australia, because these fabulous rains feed the massive Lake Eyre Basin, the largest inland river drainage system in the world. Even as we speak, the rains which fell months ago are still flowing into Lake Eyre.
To give you an idea of the size, the Lake Eyre Basin is 1.2 million km, nearly the size of the Northern Territory. In other words, the Lake Eyre Basin covers around one-seventh of the Australian continental area. In Brunette Downs, many moons ago, there was a group of directors from Texas who were debating around the table, and the point was regularly raised that everything is bigger in Texas. For our American cousins, who reckon they can think big, the Lake Eyre Basin is nearly twice the size of the state of Texas. It is a region that is still largely pristine and undamaged by agriculture and other developments, although it hosts important cattle country.
As you can see from this year’s rains, it is subject to massive variability in seasons and water flows, especially the famous Diamantina and Georgina Rivers and Cooper Creek system. In the Northern Territory, the Hay, Finke and Todd River systems also contribute to the Lake Eyre Basin.
It is a region of massive ecological importance as seen by recent footage showing the explosion of bird life that occurs during flood times. It is a region also of great significance to Indigenous groups across three states and the Northern Territory. The Lake Eyre Basin, and what happens to it, has a fundamental impact on the ecology of vast areas of Australia’s inland.
This legislation is about getting it right in ways federalism often fails. It is a mechanism by which different state and territory governments, along with the Commonwealth, can sit down and work together to achieve common objectives for the environment. We have all seen the massive failures of the Murray-Darling system and the difficulties now being faced at a federal level in getting it right.
There are already good cross-border arrangements, at an officer level, dealing with the Lake Eyre Basin. This new law, based on existing legislation in South Australia and Queensland, puts that sort of cooperation into legislative form.
The bill is a clear example of the Territory government’s commitment to the environment, as well as our willingness to work in cross-border situations with our interstate counterparts. It is a model of what can be achieved by Australians working together, no matter which state or territory we live in. I commend this bill to the House.
Ms ANDERSON (Natural Resources, Environment and Heritage): Madam Speaker, I take this opportunity to thank each of my colleagues, and the opposition, for their input into this bill.
I reflect on the first committee meeting that I attended for the Lake Eyre Basin when I was an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commissioner, and it was a requirement under ATSIC for commissioners who had the portfolio similar to the minister’s to sit on the Lake Eyre Basin Committee. I gained an understanding of where the rivers flow - the Diamantina, the Georgina, and the Finke. We are very lucky in the Northern Territory to have the oldest river in the world run into Lake Eyre. I learnt that while I was on the Lake Eyre committee. The amount of knowledge you gain from people with an understanding of the environment, the bird life, the river flow, and Australia’s environment in its entirety, is wonderful. They do not just talk about rivers in Queensland, New South Wales, Northern Territory, and South Australia in isolation. They bring it all together, including the concerns that we all have, and which I have heard from the member for Brennan, my colleagues on this side, and the member for Nelson.
This gives us a great opportunity to work as partners on this agreement - the partners are Queensland, South Australia, and the Northern Territory. We always promised we would have some kind of legislation to be equal partners on this committee.
One of the questions that the member for Nelson asked is if a backbencher could represent the minister, and yes, this happens on many ministerial councils. I represented the member for Johnston when he was the Minister for Health at a ministerial council; you go there representing the government of the day’s position.
I will answer individual questions and if we have not covered the core of your questions, member for Nelson, we can have those answered for you.
The Lake Eyre Basin Intergovernmental Agreement was signed by the South Australian, Queensland, and Australian governments in 2000, and the Northern Territory signed in 2004. The other jurisdictions brought in legislation to give full effect to the agreement. The agreement allows the Northern Territory to join, with full membership rights, by passing its own legislation, which we are doing today. While we currently participate as a member, this is at the discretion of other states and, on the basis of that, we are moving to enact legislation.
The agreement is important because it commits all the relevant governments to work together on protecting Lake Eyre Basin. The Territory has an important role because it is upstream of the states and has the responsibility to ensure that it does not do things which affect other parts of the Lake Eyre Basin.
A ministerial forum is responsible for the implementation of the agreement. It develops policies and strategies which each jurisdiction then adopts as government policy. The Lake Eyre Basin Intergovernmental Agreement currently applies to the Cooper Creek system, including the Thompson and Barkly Rivers, the Georgina and Diamantina River systems within Queensland and South Australia, ending at Lake Eyre, and the Northern Territory portion of the basin. In a nutshell, the agreement is about the proper management of water and other resources in the Lake Eyre Basin so we can avoid negative impacts on environmental, economic, and social values of the region.
This gives us a great opportunity to learn. We just heard about the Murray-Darling River and its problems. This committee can make sure that in such areas of the Northern Territory and Queensland - the northern zone - we do not make the same mistakes as other states have made in the past.
In response to the member for Brennan and the questions he asked and concerns that he raised, the policy directions of the ministerial council take into account the social, cultural, and economic values of the basin. All members of the agreement want sustainable development in our deserts, and the policy decisions of the council have to be adopted by all members and it has to be unanimous. I will not agree to any decision that is not in the Territory’s interests, member for Brennan, and I go there as the minister and sit on this forum representing all the policies of the Northern Territory government.
I draw the member for Brennan’s attention to clause 4 of the agreement, which says:
4.9 Each State will continue to have responsibility for its policy formulation and the administration of its legislation relevant to water and related natural resource management within the Lake Eyre Basin Agreement Area, but in so doing will, to the fullest extent that it is able, comply with this Agreement and other applicable Policies and Strategies developed or adopted under it. Further, to the extent that may be necessary, each State will use its best endeavours …”
I will go back to the member for Port Darwin who raised the issue of this being an appropriation bill. It was determined to be an appropriation bill because it relates to a national agreement. As the Treasurer said, it is a small portion of money - it is $50 000 - that allows us to be equal partners under this agreement with the two other partners under legislation. I believe we should take this opportunity to legislate and make sure that we are there with 100% support of this parliament and have legislation because other states also have legislation.
I believe they have waited for us. Member for Nelson, we sat on the committee, under a memorandum of understanding, based on the fact that we would bring legislation forward. The agreement for the NT to participate in the ministerial council in 2004 was based on the undertaking that the NT would enact legislation like South Australia, Queensland, and the Australian government.
This is necessary to affirm the importance of the agreement and the need for joint action by all the parties. Even if ministers and governments change, rather than having Commonwealth control with the problems and challenges this would involve, we have an agreement backed by legislation which we believe is a better approach.
Motion agreed to; bill read a second time.
In committee:
Bill, by leave, taken as a whole.
Mr WOOD: The bill includes the agreement and I have two questions. There was much debate before the budget speech about the $10 000, and I am yet to understand the process. The government is required, under this agreement, to pay $10 000 into a fund which will be used for travel. Why is an appropriation bill required for $10 000, or is an appropriation required for any sum of money outside of the budget? Is there no flexibility within the budget of a department to pay that sort of money?
Ms ANDERSON: Madam Chair, I advise the member for Nelson that we received advice from Parliamentary Counsel that the combined effect of clauses 4 and 5 of the bill would be enactment; the effect of which would be to dispose of monies received by the Territory and, therefore, a message in terms of Section 11 of the Northern Territory (Self-Government) Act 1978 was required.
Mr WOOD: Thank you, minister. I will look up sections 4 and 5 of the Northern Territory (Self-Government) Act.
There was a lot of argy-bargy in this debate about appropriations and budgets and, from my point of view, the reason was not clear. The Treasurer obviously knew better than I did, but I did not understand that. I thank the minister for the answer.
The other question was in relation to Annexure B, page 21:
- (c) … excluding any activities funded jointly through existing Commonwealth-Territory agreements).
Are there any Commonwealth-Territory agreements in relation to the Lake Eyre Basin at the present time?
Ms ANDERSON: Member for Nelson, I am advised that an example of other activities jointly funded by existing Commonwealth and Territory agreements are funds allocated through the bilateral Natural Heritage Trust Fund.
It is a ministerial forum and it would be expected that the NT be represented by another minister in the event that the minister for Natural Resources was unavailable. Leave would be sought from the Chair to allow another representative.
Mr WOOD: Were there two answers in that? One was in relation to whether another person, not necessarily a minister, could represent you on that ministerial forum – were there two answers in there?
Ms ANDERSON: Yes, member for Nelson.
Mr WOOD: I thank the minister for the answers. Listening to the member for Barkly talk about the power of the rivers in that area, especially the Georgina, reminded me that I checked the Rankin River crossing earlier this year, where you can see the might of the rivers that go into the Georgina catchment. It is a huge and fantastic system. It is great that we have at least some agreement over it.
Mr CHANDLER: I only have two questions, minister. Under the operations of the ministerial forum, resolutions to the forum on the operation of the agreement are carried only by unanimous vote. Is the minister aware of the process if a unanimous vote cannot be achieved?
Ms ANDERSON: I am advised that if there was disagreement, no decision made would be made.
Mr CHANDLER: The agreement awaits a commitment and ratification from the New South Wales parliament to cover all involved parties. Does the minister have an update on whether New South Wales is likely to pass this legislation?
Ms ANDERSON: It has not yet, member for Brennan.
Bill agreed to.
Bill reported; report adopted.
Mr CHANDLER: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Can I call a state of the House? This is important legislation and I do not know if we have the numbers.
Madam SPEAKER: There are more than 10 members here, member for Brennan. I remind you that to call a quorum when there is not one required is a naming offence. However, I will just warn you on this occasion.
Ms ANDERSON (Natural Resources, Environment and Heritage): Madam Speaker, I move that the bill now be read a third time.
Motion agreed to; bill read a third time.
INFORMATION AMENDMENT BILL
(Serial 33)
(Serial 33)
Continued from 17 February 2009.
Mr BOHLIN (Drysdale): Madam Speaker, sometimes it is good to have a bill that does not have so much contention when we bring it before the House. From what we can see, it is simply a housekeeping matter. It is mostly a change in governance of records and archives to follow the certain needs for amendments when we had the separation in administration between the Archives and records services. It is important that they make these amendments, and I can see the benefit.
It is somewhat concerning that, although not addressed in this bill, there are some further needs. We would like to see more from the government on its future intentions, goals and direction for managing our records.
There is a need to plan for the future; we need to plan for the future storage of our archives services. They are not in abundance at the moment. We have a stack of archives in the building in Cavanagh Street overloading the structure there. I do not consider it is best practice to rent an office block, pay the rent and jam it full of boxes and smelly records. I do not think it is in the best interests of looking after those records in the way they are kept.
It is about planning for the future and we do not see it in this budget - the need to plan for where we are going to store our archives. There are also precious items representing the important history of this great Territory stored in sheds. In the tropics we have humidity and mould. I would hate to see anything important to the Territory people left to the elements. It is important to fix the minor administration, but we need to see where we are going with the archive services in the future.
We need to push ahead and make sure we plan. We have a big task ahead of us, as does the federal government, in regard to our e-records and what we are going to do with our digital archiving. The need to ensure that we develop properly in this area and ensure we have the best facilities available is paramount. I wonder if this government knows it has a potential problem and, if it does, if it listens to advisors properly and considers where we will need to go in building that infrastructure to ensure that we have something.
This bill is simple. To talk much more would only be to waste the time of the House. It is a good change; it is a few amendments to some basic administrative requirements. I can see no great concern there.
I noticed this morning that a further amendment to this landed on our table. I am sure it was only a minor adjustment that was needed, but surely, with plenty of planning – the word planning comes in again – that could have been brought forward last week and we could have known about the change. It makes very little difference and it will not impact on our position. At this stage, we see no reason to oppose the bill and we will be supporting the bill.
Mr WOOD (Nelson): Madam Speaker, I concur with the member for Drysdale about the bill; I do not have any objections to the bill. We received a good briefing from the department, and I appreciate that, but I do have some questions. We are going into the committee stage, so instead of asking those questions now I will ask them when we get there. My questions relate to sections 138(1) and (2) and there may be something leading on from that afterwards.
Dr BURNS (Business): Madam Speaker, it is my pleasure to support this bill. As other speakers have noted, it is a bill to amend arrangements concerning the management of government records and archives following an administrative separation of the records and Archives services.
The public sector manages large volumes of electronic and hard copy records, and it is crucial they are managed properly. These can focus on the day-to-day records generated by the government, and Archives deal with records which have long-term value and are retained for historical purposes. My understanding is there could be a whole range of records; it does not necessarily have to be confined to government records, but it could be school newsletters, pamphlets in the community, it could be a whole range of things, but these have long-term value and are retained for historical purposes.
There has been no change to the services delivered - two work units have moved within the government structure - and there has been no change to the resourcing of the services; and that is of crucial importance. This bill formalises the way our public service manages records and archives. Records and Archives were previously managed within the old DCIS, the Department of Corporate and Information Services, now within DBE, the Department of Business and Employment.
Under the new arrangements, records remain in DBE and Archives is managed by NRETAS. That is why my colleague, the minister, has carriage of this particular legislation. It was decided to split these services due to the large amount of electronic records produced by the government. It is very important that we focus on these electronic records because at a push of a button they can evaporate. A librarian said to me some years ago that this is probably one of the greatest challenges for library services and Archives. It is not the paper trail any more but the electronic trail, and the need to preserve all those electronic records.
The government values the work undertaken by the public service in records and Archives. We are focusing on day-to-day records generated by the government, as well as outside of the government, and the Archives deals with records that have long-term value and are retained for historical purposes.
As I was musing over that, I thought of an article in the NT News on Monday, 27 April, titled ‘Toeing the party line – New boy finds politics no holiday’ – and it is about the member for Brennan. I admire what the member for Brennan had to say in his interview. It was straightforward, honest, and very commendable. He said:
- … he believes the government is not always wrong.
That is a commendable sentiment from the opposition. Oppositions around the country tend to take a negative and combative role. I know the member for Blain is really looking at issues as they come along. He said:
Their hearts are in the right place, as are those on our side of things. They will get my support if I think they have done something right. But if we could do it better, they will get criticised.
But Mr Chandler has already started to feel the strain of party politics, he said:
- I can support the government in the shadow cabinet, but if they decide against it, you have to support what the party decides.
That is right. We all know, apart from the Independent, that is how party politics works.
Equally confusing in a way, is the diverse position, I do not know whether it was worked out in the party room, particularly around the closure of Fog Bay …
Mr ELFERINK: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Whilst I do not want to diminish the minister’s latitude on this particular topic, I believe he has strayed from the topic, and I raise the point of order on relevance.
Dr BURNS: Madam Speaker, if I could speak to the point of order. We are talking about the long-term value of historical records. I am showing that there needs to be a collection of records for historical purposes, so that historians or students of the future can delve through and see the whole gamut of the argument.
Mr ELFERINK: Speaking to the point of order. Horse droppings, Madam Speaker.
Mr WOOD: Madam Speaker, may I speak to the point of order. That latitude is nearly as big as the Lake Eyre Basin; it is very wide.
Madam SPEAKER: Yes, minister, if you could please contain your comments to the bill, thank you, Standing Order 67.
Dr BURNS: I will, Madam Speaker, but it is very important that I allude to these particular records. The member for Katherine came out very strongly against the emergency closure instituted by my colleague, the member for Casuarina. There are reports about that and there is this report which should be on the public record and put into the archives. The Amateur Fishermen’s Association, a non-government group, who put out this particular …
Mr BOHLIN: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Where is the relevance in this? The member has gone so far west he is bound to enter into another state the way he is going, and we only wish that was the case.
Madam SPEAKER: There is no point of order. Minister, if you could relate your comments to the bill, please.
Dr BURNS: The member for Katherine has put out a position. Another archival piece of paper which should be in our Archives under this new arrangement is from the Amateur Fishermen’s Association when it called on the Country Liberal Party to clarify its position on this very important issue. In the NT News today there is something else which should be archived. It says the CLP yesterday was strongly criticised by one of its old allies, and Warren de With says: ‘We are confused as to just where the Country Liberals stand on this’.
We have had three bits of paper. We have the member for Brennan saying if things are decided in the party room, we will stick to it. We have two very divergent …
Mr WOOD: A point of order, Madam Speaker! We are dealing with an act and it says an act to amend the Information Act. Could the minister kindly tell me how that is relevant to amend the Information Act?
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Nelson, resume your seat. Standing Order 67 …
Dr BURNS: Madam Speaker, I did allude in my speech to the importance …
Madam SPEAKER: Minister, please pause. I know you have linked these items with the bill, but if you could finish those comments as soon as possible.
Dr BURNS: I will finish my comments on the closure of Bynoe Harbour. I might talk about important documents relating to Tiger Brennan Drive or the radiation oncology unit. There is a whole range of issues that I could raise in relation to records. Such as pamphlets put out by the former member for Solomon during the previous federal election campaign, various letters - there is a letter that Warren Truss wrote to me saying - I have tabled it in this House, it should be on the public record – that the federal government would cap the contribution they would put in to Tiger Brennan Drive to $13.7m. Then we have the member for Solomon, along with Jim Lloyd, coming out publicly, it is reported in the NT News …
Mr WOOD: A point of order, Madam Speaker! The minister in a previous debate was saying how standing orders are being abused by long questions from the member for Port Darwin - he was going crook about the abuse of standing orders. This is an abuse of standing orders. It is irrelevant and he is using the time for propaganda. That is what it is. I do not know what your visions of relevance are in this case, but it is not speaking about amending the Information Act.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Nelson, the Standing Order is 67, which is no digression from the subject and that has nothing to do with relevance. Minister, can you please come to the point on these comments quickly.
Dr BURNS: All right, I will spare the member for Nelson getting to his feet again. I will correct one thing the member for Nelson said when he accused me of propagating propaganda. I am alluding to - and I have a wad of documentation I could wade through – the ambivalent, even contradictory, positions by the opposition on a whole range of issues. But I take the member for Nelson’s point, and your point, Madam Speaker, and on that note I commend this bill to the House.
Mr GILES (Braitling): Madam Speaker, I note the comments made by the member for Johnston and I will digress slightly, through relevance or otherwise. I note some of the documents he thought very important in terms of the Information Act and its amendments and what needs to be kept on record. It might also be important to keep on record the transcripts of police conversations, when people ring the 131 444 number or the 000 number. Those phone conversations when the police do not get the message and no one turns up, are very important.
We may joke about paraphernalia and newspaper articles about the Country Liberal side of things and how that needs to be incorporated as information which must be archived for the future. It is important to get serious and look at the people who ring the police number and can never get through, and if you want to get smart about …
Mr WOOD: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Just for the sake of balance, that section you just mentioned before in standing orders, this is also a digression. This is about amending the Information Act.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Braitling, as I commented to the Minister for Business, Standing Order 67, which is about digression from the subject. If you could speak directly, or as closely as possible, to the bill, that would be helpful.
Mr GILES: Madam Speaker, I am talking about information. I do take your point. But just commenting further in response to what the member for Johnston said, the people who ring the police hotline are looking for services in relation to law and order …
Dr BURNS: A point of order, Madam Speaker! At least I had documents I was prepared to table. The member for Braitling is talking about telephone conversations which are not even captured by the archive and record services.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Braitling, it is about the Information Amendment Bill 2009 (Serial 33) which relates to documents. I ask you to contain your comments to the bill, please. Standing Order 67.
Mr GILES: Madam Speaker, in relation to the digital documents of the recordings of the police numbers, I will not say any more. I had to put it on the record that there are other sides to the equation.
Ms ANDERSON (Arts and Museums): Madam Speaker, I thank all members in this House for their contribution to this very important bill we are passing in the House today.
This legislation formalises the way our public service currently deals with records or documents produced by the government, and archives those documents with long-term value retaining them for historical purposes. Records and Archives used to be managed together under the single name of Archives, within the old DCIS, now DBE.
In 2007, it was decided to split these functions, mainly due to the large amount of electronic records now produced by the government. As a result, the new Department of Business and Employment, previously DCIS, now manages how each government department handles its records on a day-to-day basis.
Archives is now managed by NRETAS which is appropriate because Archives is much like a museum of records the government produces. This goes to the heart of what my colleague, the member for Johnston, was saying: this is information that Archives will have forever, for the next two, if not four, generations of Territorians to go back to and read what former politicians, mayors or others have said in the Northern Territory.
An area where it is absolutely crucial the two services operate together very carefully is records disposal. We do not want to keep all records, but we do not want to dispose of records that need to be preserved for history in our Archives. Currently, the way the two services work together is through an MOU between DBE and NRETAS. This amendment is about placing this arrangement in legislation.
The opportunity has also been taken to make minor amendments to clear up some drafting issues in the act. This legislation does not make any changes to the FOI or privacy provisions of the Information Act.
Motion agreed to; bill read a second time.
In committee:
Bill, by leave, taken as a whole.
Ms ANDERSON: Madam Chair, I move amendment 11.1
Mr WOOD: To clarify, we are dealing with clause 3(1). Is that right? That whole section will be omitted? Does that mean the words:
Act, unless the contrary intention appears -
also disappear, or are they retained in the act?
Ms ANDERSON: Member for Nelson, there is a committee stage amendment to revoke a provision of the Information Amendment bill that has already been given effect by the amendments to the Ombudsman Act, passed during the February sittings.
Mr WOOD: I am trying to read it as it is written. In clause 3(1), it says:
- Section 4
omit
Act, unless the contrary intention appears –
substitute
Act:
Does it mean that not only the word ‘act’ disappears, but also ‘act, unless the contrary intention appears’?
Ms ANDERSON: Yes, member for Nelson.
Amendment agreed to.
Mr WOOD: Minister, throughout the bill, especially from clause 136 onwards, the word ‘must’ appears many times in relation to what must be done. When you get to clause 138(1), it says:
- The responsible service for a standard must submit the standard to the Minister for approval.
In the previous act it was ‘may’. Why has that been changed?
Ms ANDERSON: Member for Nelson, it has changed from ‘may’ to ‘must’. ‘May’ was too non-committal and made the clause rather redundant.
Mr WOOD: Thank you. In light of what you have said, in clause 138(2) it says that the minister ‘may’. How come he or she has not been given a ‘must’?
Ms ANDERSON: I am advised, member for Nelson, that is the minister’s position.
Mr WOOD: That is fine. What happens if the minister does not approve the standard, even if subsections (a) and (b) are okay?
Ms ANDERSON: Member for Nelson, the standard does not get issued.
Mr WOOD: I am presuming the previous standard stands?
Ms ANDERSON: That is the case, member for Nelson.
Bill, as amended, agreed to.
Bill reported; report adopted.
Ms ANDERSON (Arts and Museums): Madam Speaker, I move that the bill be now read a third time.
Motion agreed to; bill read a third time.
MOTION
Note Statement - Territory 2030 – Draft Strategy
Note Statement - Territory 2030 – Draft Strategy
Continued from 28 April 2009.
Mr VATSKALIS (Health): Madam Speaker, I support the Chief Minister’s statement on Territory 2030 - Fresh Ideas, Real Results.
I congratulate the steering committee members: Ms Vicki O’Halloran, Co-Chair; Bill Moss AM, Co-Chair; Michael Berto; Jan Ferguson; Ted Egan; Professor Jonathan Carapetis; Steve Margetic; and Denis Mackenzie. It is a very good idea to include the community in this way to develop a plan for our future, although an ex-Chief Minister will argue why we involved the community to draft a plan for the future. It was the same Chief Minister who, without consulting anyone in his constituency, formed a special committee which resulted in the Territory not being a state now because of the public reaction. The referendum was lost at the time with a very small majority.
If we are going to get ideas for the future, who are we going to ask but the people who will be here for the future and who have investment here? They and their children are going to be here. Governments are elected to govern but, at the same time, the government is elected by the people for the people, and should take into account the ideas and thoughts of the people they are elected to govern.
The committee has undertaken an enormous amount of work in less than six months. I thank the people and organisations that put in the 77 submissions and the 300 people who had face-to-face meetings with the committee.
The steering committee put education at the centre of the Territory’s future. This might sound strange coming from the Health Minister, but I applaud and agree with them. Improving education is probably the most important aspect of improving health. Many health conditions are preventable and teaching and encouraging our children to adopt healthier lifestyles will lead to much healthier lives.
Health and wellbeing is one of the five focus areas of Territory 2030. The draft strategy states that:
- To date, the Territory lifestyle has in many ways been an impediment to good health and wellbeing.
However, it goes on to point out the Territory lifestyle of getting outdoors and being active is a benefit towards better health. It is an important point because when we talk about adopting a healthy lifestyle, it does not mean we have to abandon the Territory lifestyle. All the things which make the Territory great can contribute to our health.
The draft strategy really shows that prevention is better than cure. The strategy says we should concentrate on wellness rather than illness. Focusing on wellness rather than illness is more than just a health issue. The government spends hundreds of millions of dollars each year on non-acute or preventative health within the Health department. But there are many other areas of government that are just as important in relation to preventative health. As Health Minister, I support the health objectives and aims as outlined in the strategy.
We know that we have to close the gap on Indigenous life expectancy and many of the aims are directed to this. But importantly, the strategy acknowledges that it is not just Indigenous Territorians whose health can be improved. There is a long way to go but recently we have seen some successes in relation to Indigenous health. There has been a three-year improvement in the life expectancy for Territory Aboriginal women, and the Indigenous infant mortality rates have fallen by 35%. More needs to be done, but it is important to understand we are headed in the right direction.
An example of where we are heading in the right direction is doctors and nurses. The draft strategy outlines that by 2030 we will need an additional 961 nurses and an additional 105 doctors. In the last eight years we have employed 533 nurses and 162 doctors, so if we maintain our current rate of growth we will achieve this. The 95 extra nurses announced as part of Budget 2009-10 demonstrates our commitment to continue this recruitment. In fairness, it was pointed out that the 523 nursing positions are not all new, 200 of them replaced nurses the CLP had sacked in the past. As I mentioned, in the last eight years we have created an additional 162 doctor positions. Over the next 20 years I would like to see more than the 105 extra doctors the strategy refers to, particularly GPs.
The draft strategy talks about the need to develop a world-class health workforce. For this to be achieved a radical national reform to the health workforce is required. Remote areas of the Northern Territory have the highest health care needs in Australia. At the same time, the Northern Territory has the least number of general practitioners in the country; per head of population the Territory has around half the number of GPs of New South Wales. The poor health outcomes of the Territory will not improve while this discrepancy continues.
The average Territorian receives only half the Medicare funding of the average Australian. A Territorian receives around seven Medicare services per year compared to the Australian average of 13. Under the national Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, the average Territorian receives only around a third of the funding of the national average. On a health needs basis, the Territory should be receiving more than the national average in both Medicare and PBS funding. Radical reform is needed.
I have to stress that despite what was stated in the editorial in the NT News, I did not ask for capping the number of doctors in other states, and I did not ask for a forced transfer of doctors here. I am asking that if a number of Medicare numbers are allocated, then the government should make sure that a number of these are allocated to rural and remote Australia. It should be easier to get a Medicare number in rural and north Australia than the city. In addition to that, let us give some incentives to doctors who spend some time in rural and remote areas, or create a point system which can be utilised for a specialist even faster than other doctors who choose not to go to remote and rural Australia.
This is not only a problem for the Territory, this is a problem for Australia, and we are not going to address this issue unless we take some tough decisions. I know there are people who say that a better salary package would be the solution. It does not matter how much money governments offer, people still choose to live in urban centres for various reasons: their family lives there, the volume of people is there, and there are better opportunities for training.
We have special conditions that mainstream doctors will not see anywhere else in Australia, and we have to find a way to address the lack of doctors in rural and remote areas, and also reward those doctors who choose to work in these areas.
I refer now to Primary Industry, Fisheries and Resources. When it comes to ensuring our future prosperity these sectors are well placed to contribute, particularly in developing our region. The committee highlighted its fundamental aspirations for the Northern Territory economy as: Territorians have jobs, the economy has a broad base that reduces the extreme business cycle of volatility currently inherent in the economy, and the Territory takes advantage of future business and economic opportunities which will emerge to remain competitive in the long term.
The committee points out that it will require the creation of new economic opportunities, a competitive business environment, ongoing investment in infrastructure, a competitive and productive workforce, and land for new development. The Primary Industry, Fisheries and Resources Sector underpin our future prosperity. Submissions received by the committee confirm this view.
The mining industry currently accounts for more than 25% of our Gross State Product, the second highest of any jurisdiction in Australia, and this is set to continue into the future. Without continued investment in exploration today we are unlikely to discover the resources that will underpin our future resource development in exports. It is not only those directly employed in the resources industry who will benefit as the flow-on benefits make such an important contribution to the economy.
We need to invest in our economic future to ensure we are well placed for the next surge in growth when international conditions improve. Long-term planning is critical for our future success and we have already commenced this journey.
Bringing Forward Discovery, a four-year $14.4m exploration investment strategy, is laying the foundation for the future development of the Territory. This program seeks to promote the Territory as a preferred destination for exploration investment; assist companies in attracting investment exploration projects, particularly from China and Japan; and government-industry collaboration to encourage exploration in vast greenfield regions of the Territory.
In a global competitive market for mineral exploration, a key consideration for companies in deciding where to invest is the quality and availability of geoscientific data and information, vital for reducing its exposure to exploration risks. The committee points out that our economy is predominantly based on a narrow central spine with varying-sized economies placed along its length. In seeking to expand our economy from the west to the east, that is, building on our central economic spine, we have commenced regional gravity surveys to encourage further work in under-explored regions. These surveys allow for improved interpretation of undercover geology to allow explorers to better target exploration.
We have recently released results of the largest gravity survey ever taken in the Territory, covering 150 000 km, from the Queensland border to the Tanami Track and from Alice Springs to Barrow Creek. Next month, another new major gravity survey will commence over the Barkly region, east and north-east of Tennant Creek. This will underpin private sector investment exploration into the future. It is just one example of how we are planning the future development of the resource industry.
Our success in encouraging exploration in the Territory in a difficult investment climate, is reflected in the success of the 10th Annual Geoscience Exploration Seminar, or AGES, held in Alice Springs in March 2009. It was the most successful and well-attended conference ever, and bodes well for the Territory during these difficult times.
The primary industry sectors, including pastoral, crops, forest, horticulture, and fisheries, are well placed to contribute to our future prosperity. The committee highlights the most obvious place to start growing our local industry is building on the strength we already have. The Territory’s primary industries are set to play a vital role, both in terms of food production and underpinning regional prosperity. The primary industry sectors have been increasing both in production and overall volume in recent years, contributing substantially to the Territory’s economy. It is not only its contribution to our economy but it is the industry which manages the majority of productive land in the Territory.
Sustainable pastoral production systems provide an opportunity to substantially increase our cattle herd, particularly in the Top End. The rangeland areas of the Territory are well suited for breeding cattle to satisfy the specific requirements for feedlots both in Australia and throughout South East Asia.
I take offence when the CLP ex-Chief Minister makes comments about the Labor government abandoning Asia. If the previous CLP government was so well connected with Asia, why is there only one market in Indonesia that will buy live cattle exports from the Territory? Since we came to power we have opened other markets. I personally travelled to Vietnam to help the Vietnamese government with their decision to establish feedlots. I believe the first export of Territory cattle to Vietnam will take place in September.
In addition, this government has a China and Japan strategy to promote the Territory as a destination for mineral exploration and production. As a result, we now have three Chinese companies with offices in Darwin and a number of Chinese companies are organising exploration themselves, not as joint ventures, and also a number of Chinese companies forming joint ventures with mineral companies in the Territory.
The committee also points to the need to identify suitable land for future long-term and sustainable food production. That is the reason the government originally authorised me to commence negotiations with the federal government and the Western Australia government for the Territory to participate in the future Ord River expansion, Stage 2, which covers areas on both our borders. It is a long time before the expansion takes place, but we have to start the negotiations now; we have to be part of the team to find out what issues will affect the Territory and what we need to do to be part of that expansion in order to identify the enormous amount of land in the Territory which can be opened up for food production.
One example of our commitment to the Indigenous Pastoral Program - bringing Indigenous land back into production - is growing our cattle herd and providing jobs in the regions, and we also have a system with Indigenous people with vast tracks of land to open their land, either facilitating negotiations with a pastoral lease and Indigenous people, or encouraging Indigenous people to open their own pastoral properties. We have done that successfully.
The crops, forestry, and horticultural sectors are growing throughout the Territory. The cropping sector can contribute directly to growing our local industry. It is currently focused on broadacre cropping, pasture seeds and hay production, with major expansion of peanuts and maize production. The expansion of peanut production has been underpinned by a great deal of baseline research over a long time, testing new cultivation methods in the Territory. This expansion is likely to contribute to and drive economic development and jobs in Katherine. The production of peanuts in Katherine, for the first time, exceeded production of peanuts at Kingaroy in Queensland.
The Territory’s horticultural sector, comprising a mix of family-owned and corporate-funded farms, continues to expand. Expansion of the industry is principally driven by market niches arising from climatic conditions differing to other production areas throughout Australia. It is generally focused on Dry Season production, under irrigation and, because of this, access to water will continue to be at the forefront of our discussions in the future.
We also need to confront the challenges to our future prosperity, and plot a way forward. As the Chief Minister mentioned, ‘a failure to plan is a plan to fail’. Climatic change will bring about a range of challenges that we all have to respond to: warmer temperatures, more frequent and deeper droughts, more extreme weather, and biosecurity risks surrounding a possible increase in pests and diseases. It will directly impact on the productivity of our primary industry sector.
When it comes to climate change, we need to be mindful that the Territory’s primary industry sector is already based around considerable inter-annual and intra-annual variations in climate. Further growth can only occur if we have the right mix of land and water resources, production that meets market demand, and ready access to the required infrastructure. Our response to climate change will impact directly on our primary industry sector. The Australian government has signalled that agriculture, fisheries, and forestry will be included in an emissions trading scheme by 2015.
I urge all Territorians to have their say in response to the draft strategy. I have had a look at the website, and I particularly like the feedback section, and the way you can provide feedback by dragging and dropping the priorities around.
I congratulate the Chief Minister on this initiative and statement. I congratulate the steering committee for the hard work they have undertaken and for the work that is still ahead of them.
Mr ELFERINK (Port Darwin): Madam Deputy Speaker, I presume we are talking about the 2030 draft strategy?
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: We are.
Mr ELFERINK: Good-o! I am on my feet - at the right place at the right time. I also make a few comments in relation to the 2030 draft strategy. We can do so now in the light of the budget which has now been delivered, and the rather surprisingly called ‘temporary deficit strategy’.
Whilst I am not going to talk about the budget in any length, lest I anticipate debate - perish the thought that I would; I am sure that the Leader of Government Business would be very quick to pick me up on that heinous crime, should I anticipate debate - however, it does at least paint a picture for the difficult launch pad that 2030 will have as a strategy into the future.
One thing that concerns me about this strategy is that the elected government of the day is now seeking to source its ideas from beyond its own dimensions. Whilst we have an increasingly large public service to feed ideas up to the government, it seems that the government, nevertheless, remains bereft of a clear direction in which it can advance the Northern Territory for the benefit of the people who live in the Northern Territory.
I take this opportunity to talk about a trend which I have noticed occurring in other jurisdictions. I have been flicking through some budget papers to see if I could find the trend appearing here. It is a trend that is of some concern to me. In other jurisdictions there has been a predilection, on the part of certain departments, to start readjusting the parameters of measurements of success in an effort to determine and show that they are meeting the benchmarks they set themselves. What you see happening in certain areas – let us say Health, for argument’s sake – is the benchmarks which were striven for in the past have been lowered in subsequent years so that it was easier to meet those benchmarks.
I draw attention to a couple of things in Budget Paper No 3 which are of some concern to me. I know that, in the absence - whilst he has leave of absence, I believe I can refer to his absence – of the member for Greatorex in his role as the shadow minister, I can reflect quickly on his department. When he became the shadow minister prior to the last election one of the first issues he raised was the bed numbers for mental health in the Northern Territory. As you look at the bed numbers through the Report on Government Services, which are those voluminous tomes we get twice a year which make good bookends in their own right, they actually contain interesting information, in the area of mental health services, one can see the Northern Territory has consistently delivered about half the mental health beds of every other jurisdiction in the country.
It is for this reason I am concerned about a number which I see in the budget papers today at page 209 - I have not read the whole budget papers - but it is the non-weighted, occupied bed days by designated services - I am still looking for a definition of that. I have seen that the number of designated bed days has dropped from 12 000 to 10 900. Does that mean fewer beds for mental health services in the Northern Territory? I would be deeply concerned if it was. I would also be deeply concerned if the targets that the government was setting were being diminished to enable departments to say that we met our benchmarks.
If we keep lowering the benchmarks, it is going to be easy for departments to reach those benchmarks. But, being in government is not about doing things which are necessarily easy; it is about doing things which are necessarily difficult, and the reason that we set benchmarks is so we can strive to achieve them and, God willing, and Treasurer’s willing, you are able to achieve those outcomes. However, that is one example.
I draw members’ attention to the Department of Regional Development, Primary Industry, Fisheries and Resources, in which there is a benchmark for the 2008-09 final estimate of 1450 exploration licences granted, falling to 1200 in the next year. Without having Budget Paper No 3 from last year in front of me, I am uncertain whether that 1450 benchmark reflects the original budget, but it is clearly a drop in the number of mineral exploration licences granted In the current economic climate, one would hope that the department would have been anxious to raise the number, or at least match the number, of mineral exploration licences being granted, not because it is easy, but because benchmarks that are worth striving for are benchmarks which are hard to obtain. If we simply create ourselves a system by which there are lower benchmarks year in year out, it is not about delivering services in that instance, it is simply being able to say that we reached our benchmark.
I have not read this whole document, and I am sure other members will be reading this document very closely to determine whether such benchmarks continue to exist, or if benchmarks are being reduced. I urge all members of this House, particularly non-ministers, to look carefully at various departments where they have an interest, or even across the government, to see where else these benchmarks are allowed to slacken off, not for the sake of the people of the Northern Territory, but rather for the sake of delivering services or being able to claim that we have met the benchmarks. We shall see.
I also pick up on Indigenous Territorians on page 5 of this document, and I quote it because it is worth quoting:
- Indigenous Territorians will enjoy the fruits provided by a modern society walking comfortably in our two cultures and proud in the understanding that non-Indigenous Territorians have started to fully appreciate 40 000 years of knowledge, history, laws, medicine and culture.
Whilst I appreciate that this negotiation process included traditional owners, the section of the Kenbi Land Claim which will provide a future for the Indigenous people who will own that land – and I notice that Jenny Macklin, the federal Indigenous Affairs minister, had not signed off on this land claim, but that is an aside - what is interesting is that the fortune that will flow from the possession of that land will flow from the possession of the Territory title. If you look at the future development intentions for the Kenbi Land Claim, it is not the two thirds which will be formed by inalienable land title that will produce wealth for Indigenous people, but rather the one third which is normal Territory freehold.
Anyone with a rudimentary understanding of the operation of the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act will understand it creates a number of impediments for Aboriginal people being able to generate wealth on their land. These are practical considerations. I do not accuse the drafters of the legislation of intentionally trying to entrap Aboriginal people. However, the outcome of the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act is that the structures which were put in place to become the walls of protection around Aboriginal people have ultimately become their prison.
If you think about the process of trying to develop a project on an Aboriginal land trust you quickly start to understand why the legislation, in its current shape, throws up so many impediments to development on Aboriginal land. For argument’s sake, if I had $10m and I had the option of developing a block in Sydney or developing a block on Aboriginal land, and I took my $10m to a block in Sydney, it would be easy. I would see a lawyer, buy myself an appropriate block, pay the conveyancing fees, stamp duties, land taxes and bingo, it is mine. However, in the instance of an Aboriginal land trust, I have to go to the appropriate land council - I am trying to do to the right thing, I want to see Aboriginal people have jobs and I want to use my $10m to encourage Aboriginal people to have jobs. The land council says yes, they are very anxious to have you on board, however they have to talk to the owners of the land trust.
Being a trust instrument, it then has to meet. A meeting is organised and the fees and charges for that meeting are sheeted back to the person with the $10m. They then go through all the processes of having a negotiation. The first meeting will throw up more questions than answers. Then it goes back to the person with the investment money. The person with the investment money answers the questions; there is another meeting and, finally, after a period of six to 12 months, you may get some basis for a project up and running. The whole thing is ‘may’ – speculative - it may happen.
The consequence of this is that anyone with $10m to invest, no matter how captured they are by their social conscience, will realise that their $10m will be much smaller by the time these processes are gone through, and there is no guarantee of an investment outcome at the other end. Small wonder investment money is so shy of finding its way into these remote places. Big investment money can get a foot in the door, particularly in the mining industry. Small investment, the mums and dads or retirees who want to live in Maningrida rather than in the suburbs of Sydney to live out their retirement, so they can sit on a beach with a coconut palm over their house have no chance because of these structures - no chance whatsoever. The money they would have spent at the local shop never appears; it never manifests itself. These are the practical considerations we have to consider going into the future.
Territory 2030 is talking about a period of 22 years. The Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act has been operating for 32 years, so we are talking about less time than the act has existed. For some reason, the outcomes which were proposed, if you read the public statements by minister Viner at the time as he reassured Territorians of all sorts of things, it was clear that this was seen as some sort of way to resolve what were then called ‘Aboriginal issues’.
There are still Aboriginal issues, sadly. Whilst I note the desire to bring Aboriginal people to enjoy the fruits of a modern society, we will have to look seriously at the mechanisms in place by which Aboriginal people can enjoy the fruits of modern society. But when investment money - and I am talking about private investment money - is scared off by a laborious process of finding investment with no guaranteed outcomes, it is small wonder that the investment money is going elsewhere.
With the compassion that we all feel towards some of the disgusting outcomes you see in Aboriginal communities, the fact remains that the wall of protection continues to be the prison. I get frustrated with all these compassionate comments we hear in this Chamber, without any substance behind them. Compassion, without any mental rigor bought to it, is merely a bundle of emotions, a Hallmark card, for lack of better expression. Whilst the members opposite, in particular, like to think they have a monopoly on compassion the fact is, compassion without any sort of critical thought produces outcomes where everyone who has enjoyed less than the fruits of society is automatically a victim. You create a situation where we do not look at individuals; we simply feel compassion for them. Mere compassion without any intellectual rigor is sympathy and that, in my opinion, is not a basis for a moral structure.
There needs to be a little more mental rigor bought to compassionate policies. All you end up doing, when compassion is the only driver you have, without mental vigour or any structural thought going into what you feel compassionate about, is spend a lot of money on what you think is wrong without understanding the mechanics underlying it.
Whilst compassion is something that we all feel - you cannot but feel compassion if you see what is happening in places like Papunya, Yuendumu, Hermannsburg and any other number of communities I could name – but, mere compassion, without intellectual rigor and the ability to ask real and difficult questions about it, has produced a welfare result. All we find ourselves saying is: ‘How is this happening? We have to throw more money and effort at it; we have to do more.’ But without anything other than feeling compassion, we are not going to produce any real results. That morality, if you like, and that intellectual rigor must find its way into our policy structures. If that intellectual rigor does not find its way into the policy structures then Indigenous Territorians will not enjoy the fruits provided by a modern society.
They will not walk comfortably in our two cultures. They will not be proud in the understanding that non-Indigenous Territorians have started to fully appreciate more than 40 000 years of knowledge, history, laws, medicine and culture. They will continue to be - what I complained of in my maiden speech to this House, 12 years ago - the ones we lower a glass dome over and our children press their noses to the glass and say: ‘Oh look, Mummy, there goes an Aboriginal person’. It is not going to work that way.
If we want to lift Indigenous Territorians, then we have to start creating the vehicles for them to lift themselves. We cannot provide this stuff for them. We cannot provide a butler for every individual Aboriginal person, three shifts a day. Even if we did, if the drive was not there for the individuals who were being looked after, it still would not change. The drive has to come from within. It must come from each individual person. Some will be better than others, but we seem to be terrified of the thought that some Aboriginal people will do better than others. My world view is that if some were doing better than others, then at least some were doing better.
One of the most astonishing things I heard in politics was when I was running a similar argument a few years ago in Alice Springs. I forget who the individual was, but they said: ‘It is dreadful that under your proposals some Aboriginal people will miss out on jobs’. I remember thinking to myself - in fact I said it to that person: ‘Well, guess what? It is better to have half the Aboriginal people unemployed than to have all Aboriginal people unemployed’. Would I like to see full employment amongst Aboriginal people? Hell, yes! But, my goodness gracious me, if the benchmark we use is that an Aboriginal person should not have a job in case another Aboriginal person might see that person and in some way feel deprived, it would be a remarkable philosophy.
All these issues have to be dealt with. I am frustrated that the benchmark is 2030. Why should we not be looking at a much earlier time to deal with these issues? Why can we not be saying: ‘Get investment into these remote communities in a way that investment money feels attracted to these communities?’ That is where you will get the jobs from. That is where you will get the creative future. Yes, we need education for those Aboriginal people, but we also need a contextual environment where that education means something. There is no point being a PhD if there is no job at the other end of the study.
Ms McCARTHY (Children and Families): Madam Deputy Speaker, I support the statement by the Chief Minister. I commend the members of the Territory 2030 Steering Committee. I believe that Vicky O’Halloran, Bill Moss, Michael Berto, Jan Ferguson, Ted Egan, Jonathan Carapetis, Steve Margetic, and Denis Mackenzie have done a magnificent job in pulling together a report which provides such a comprehensive overview of the Territory’s road to the future.
When we consider the future and the potential it might hold for change, the first place many will start to look at is our past. That is where I start. We are looking at the next 20 to 30 years and, if we do look at the last 20 to 30 years – and I pick up on some of the comments of the previous speaker, the member for Port Darwin - it is true that individuals across the country and, indeed the world, need to have something to believe in, to feel inspired, to feel a sense of hope about what the future holds for them, and to feel that whatever the future holds, it does provide a future with opportunity; a future with choice.
I recall growing up in the last 20 to 30 years, looking at the issues of land rights and at the struggles of my families, and I recognise that we were pigeonholed into a position where we had to first declare who we were as Yanyuwa Garawa people and, on many occasions, prove why we were who we were, and our relationship to country. On many occasions, through the land rights movement, we would sit in courts, either in the township of Borroloola or on Centre Island, trying to explain our Aboriginality and our attachment to land and sea.
If we look at the past 10, 20 or 30 years, when young Aboriginal men and women were made to feel alienated about their sense of identity, I would like to think, when I look at the next 20, 30 or 40 years, that those individuals who are coming through can always feel proud of who they are.
One thing I would like to see very different in the next 20 to 30 years is that sense of pride of place. Leaders across the world like Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King talk about the content of character. When we look at leadership, hope, and aspiration for the future that is what we want for our young people coming through. That is what we want to see for our young people, not only in Darwin, Alice Springs, Katherine and Tennant Creek, but all our mob who are out in Arnhem Land, who are across at Papunya and Yuendumu, in Wadeye, at Yarralin, Kalkarindji – we want these young men and women in these communities to recognise that they have a future, ability and an opportunity for choice, something which was very limited in the last 20 or 30 years.
The potential for change over the next 20 years is enormous. The projections in the draft plan give a feeling of what may lie ahead. It is also easy to see why the Chief Minister sees that it is designed to focus community discussion. Some of the projections are sure to do just that. The draft report projects that by 2030 the Territory will have a population of about 300 000 people, of which about 170 000 will be living in the greater Darwin region. Nearly 100 000 of the Territory’s population will be Indigenous. There will be a doubling of the number of Territorians over the age of 60, and demographic changes of the kind foreshadowed in the draft report will mean a substantially increased demand for services of all kinds.
Apart from the growth in demand in essential services like power and water, it is estimated that by 2030 the Territory will need an additional 3090 teachers, another 105 doctors, 960 extra nurses, and an additional 26 schools. Over the next 21 years, it is also estimated Gross State Product will rise from the current $15.6bn to almost $48bn.
Climatologists predict higher sea levels, a hotter, wetter Top End, and a hotter and drier Central Australia. Temperatures are expected to increase two to three degrees, with an increased number of cyclones. Extreme weather events are likely to impact significantly on biodiversity, food production, and tourism. Two industries which could be presented with serious challenges as a result of climate change are the cattle industry, which could be affected by a decline in existing farm production of almost 20%, and tourism. Tourism could be looking at operating in a different environment by 2030. For instance, the report suggests that Kakadu could be affected, as a tourist destination, with climate change.
That is a snapshot of the Northern Territory our children will inherit. It is only through proper, long-term planning that we can hope to hand over to them a Territory which is heading in the right direction, and it is only through proper planning that we can hope to minimise the potential impact of challenges like climate change, and planning is what the 2030 strategy is all about.
Education is the centrepiece of the 2030 strategy, and Indigenous education is a priority. Indigenous students make up half of the Territory’s school population, but we all know these same students are seriously under-represented among high-achieving students. We must work to turn this around. I know that in my electorate of Arnhem there is a consistent effort to see that change. We can no longer afford to have a significant proportion of our population disengaged from the workforce, but without adequate educational outcomes in the bush, the Territory will continue to fail to make the most of its true potential. I believe we are on the right track now because, as we are growing our regions and growing our own, we will see that, with education, there will be a progression on to employment.
As an Indigenous member of the Assembly, and as the member for Arnhem, I want to see all Territorians in a position to derive full benefits from the place in which they live. It is also important that all Territorians are in a position where they are empowered, and they can make properly informed choices for themselves and their families about their futures.
There is no doubt that education impacts on all of the draft report’s five focus areas, and those five focus areas are: prosperity; society; environment; knowledge, creativity, and innovation; and health and wellbeing.
As the Minister for Young Territorians and minister assisting the Chief Minister on Education, I am delighted about the proposal to establish a major institute for education and child development. Such an institute would bring into focus the link between education and health, particularly during the early years. While the proposed institute would be independent of government, it would be linked to key policy makers and practitioners with connections to a global coalition of experts.
Within the priority area of education there are three key objectives:
1. Territorians meet or exceed the national standards for education and training;
3. Develop a world-class education system.
The plan sets some ambitious targets. All Territory parents have the right to expect that our schools will produce results equal to those anywhere in the country. While we produce strong academic results, our great challenge is among Indigenous students in remote areas. It is vital that parents in remote areas come to realise that education starts well before school. All Territory children must be school-ready by the age of five. There are some ambitious targets being set. It comes to striving to meet or exceed the national education standards. The targets include:
halving the gap in literacy and numeracy between Indigenous and non-Indigenous students by 2020 and halving it again by 2030.
by 2020, the proportion of 15 to 19-year-olds attaining Year 12 (NTCE) or equivalent is at or above national levels.
The plan points out that it is vital that there is an acceptance that learning starts in the early years and that it continues as a lifelong experience.
Apart from striving toward national levels to increase the number of young Territorians participating in preschool, we must also work to increase the number of older Territorians who continue with some form of education.
One of the things I find exciting about this strategy is taking it out to the people. I have already had initial discussions with some families in Ngukurr and in Ramingining about running workshops to have a look at what kind of plan they want, specifically for their communities and their families, over the next couple of decades. This is when local people on the ground have an opportunity to work out and map out what they see as the future. It took some time in talking with some families about this concept, because they had not really had an opportunity to think about the future, about their particular family or their region in those terms.
Usually when I talk to families they will mention that they want a bridge or they would like the road fixed up, but when we get down to having a vision of what we would like to see our children grow up with in these communities, then something else happens. A fundamental which is always consistent is the desire to see culture, language, songs, and stories alive and well into the next 20, 30, 40, 50 years, so that when people pass on they know that their children are fully able to understand who they are, where they come from, what their relationship is to one another and to the country that they live in - the areas, the rivers, the rocks, and the animals around them.
At the older end of the spectrum is the hope it can be achieved by increasing to national levels the number of students engaged in education until Year 12. It is also planned that by 2030, in addition to increasing the number of Territorians undertaking VET, the Territory will exceed the national average for participation levels. It is also planned to work toward increased numbers of Territorians in adult education, professional development, and community education.
I do not believe anyone could argue that the Territory should strive for world-class education opportunities and when it comes to planning to develop this in the Territory, one of the keys will undoubtedly be new technologies. New technologies have the potential to break down the barriers of distance which significantly impact on our educational outcomes across the Territory. I commend the members of the committee for targeting education as the priority for the Territory over the next 20 years.
As the Minister for Statehood, I will address constitutional development in the context of the draft report. In the focus area of society, the report has identified its first objective as a strong and vibrant democracy.
The report notes that statehood is an essential element to the Territory’s future. The report is confident the Territory will already be an established state of Australia. As Statehood Minister, I am heartened by the report’s observation that as a state the Territory will have the power to make its own laws, will have a stronger voice in the national parliament, and Territorians will be recognised as equal citizens under the Australian constitution.
This is what hits at the heart of the future of the Northern Territory. We have a terrific Statehood Steering Committee made up of people from all walks of life, and representing all different areas across the Northern Territory community. We have heard discussions this afternoon on the interests of Indigenous Territorians. A profound quality of the Statehood Steering Committee is the ability for Indigenous Territorians to be adequately represented to talk about their aspirations for the future. I know the 2030 strategy will be welcomed by the Statehood Steering Committee which will be conducting workshops over the next 12 months, in an effort to inquire from all Territorian’s how they see the future state; the seventh state of the Federation of Australia.
This report goes right to the heart of the importance of statehood for the Territory. It states that statehood would be measured by the fact the Territory is able to make its own laws without the risk of them being overturned by the Australian government. That is what it comes down to: our sense of equality. We must have the ability to make our own decisions without the ever-present threat of intervention from Canberra. As every member of this House knows, until we are a state Canberra can overturn any laws we might pass. As the Statehood Steering Committee says in its submission to the 2030 draft:
- … Statehood is an essential element to the future development of the Northern Territory …
That sense of equality hits at the heart of Territorians, in particular, Indigenous Territorians who see this path as one where they can have, in some respects, their belief about culture, identity, songs, and stories enshrined in the walk towards statehood.
While much of the 2030 report is a goal to be aspired to, much is practical, achievable and vital to the attainment of real results for the Northern Territory. I will be keeping a close eye on the 2030 steering committee consultations over the next few months.
Hopefully, within my electorate of Arnhem, I will also be having discussions with individuals, families and organisations about their vision for Ngukurr, Numbulwar, Umbakumba, Angurugu, Milingimbi, Ramingining, Bulman, and Bickerton Island. I will be asking each of these communities to think about how they see the future for their respective communities and to attach these hopes to the wider draft and bigger picture of what we see for all people of the Northern Territory. I commend this statement to the House.
Mr BOHLIN (Drysdale): Madam Deputy Speaker, I note a few tags that are not colours like the rest of the print in this book but they are particular points that I have some concerns with.
Without doubt, the people who have been involved in developing this strategy have worked very hard. I know a few people involved who have put a lot of thought into what they have said and put forward. I am sure everyone else who was involved did the same.
However, does this really guide us in the way we need to go? Is this the direction, and is it really showing any form of leadership? If we are looking to the future, we need to recognise that the future is vitally important and that is why it is so important to plan.
The future of the Territory does not rest on this book. It rests entirely upon how the government will run and deliver its promises. It rests upon the information gained from the public and the day-to-day encounters when you get out amongst the people and talk to them and listen to them, and not hide behind the rhetoric we have had during the debates today. Some of the stuff that came out in debates today was shameful, and certain members opposite should consider that their behaviour was shameful.
If we look to some of the needs - and I will start by going to our population growth - I note in this book that Katherine, Tennant Creek, and Nhulunbuy show virtually no growth whatsoever. These are our regions. They are vitally important; intrinsically as important as the rest of the Territory. How is it possible that in this book there could be due consideration that those three towns - major centres within the Territory - have no growth over the next 20 years? If that is the case, either your graphs are incorrect or you did not read further into the book. However, I have more promise and hope for those regions; I have a vision that sees all our communities growing. I can see that places like Katherine, for instance, will grow simply because it is a region full of abundant life and vibrant community spirit. I was there on Saturday and saw the growth of that beautiful town, and to see how the people warmed to visitors and how they aspire to a future of growth. I hope this book does not reflect the future, because I, personally, believe that it will become a tourist centre for the Northern Territory.
However, if we are to grow - and our population needs to grow and it is definitely showing that it will grow - we need to continue to work on our housing needs. I read in a document over a month ago - and I do not have the document to hand - that this government projected that we will need around 1600 houses per year to keep up with growth. If that is the case, given that we are a little less than halfway through 2009 - and I must say it has flown by faster than some of us can keep up with at times – based on the growth needs of 1600 houses per year, then we are currently short a little over 600 blocks of land in this year alone, available for sale or development. If that is a cumulative effect, we are in much trouble.
We have been saying since we came to this parliament after being elected in August that land release is a key issue. We need to stop talking about it and have those blocks of land for sale. There is an urgent need for housing blocks so that developers can get our young Territorians into a house and land package, because the availability is not currently there. If a person on the other side of this Chamber says: ‘Oh no, there are 500 blocks available’, as they did once before, then they are obviously not talking to the industry. Industry has told me that those numbers are counted almost on two hands. Some of them may not be able to count with two hands, but that is only 10 blocks of land available, and that is ridiculous. It is a shameful delivery of land release by this government. That is why we have such a high rental rate in this town. It is disgusting and it is putting enormous pressure on families.
If that is not putting enough pressure, then turn to page 29. You can see what happens when you put housing strain on people, when you do not maintain the Housing Commission stocks we had and you sell off stock. Yes, we have heard the story before from the other side that in your day – well, guess what? My day is today, not 10 years ago - you sold off as well. They did, the statistics are there to say they did. However, since you came to power, in the last eight years, you have continued to sell off. Who is in the wrong? You are continuing to sell, you are not refurbishing at the rate required, and you are not doing turnarounds to ensure we have people in our housing who feel safe. Everyone knows that crime rates in the Territory are horrendous.
We keep saying it - we have said it since we have come in – and it was a founding reason for why I became involved in politics, because I believe in the right of the people to have freedom, and freedom from the scourge of what could be called society. You need to be able to go to the shops and have a quiet coffee and not be harassed by anyone. You need to be able to leave your house locked and not come back to find the doors kicked in. That is not a great reflection on society.
I will take time to refer to page 29, where there are comments from two particular areas in the ‘You said it’ box. The first is from the West Arnhem Shire, Submission No 24, and I quote:
- Territorians are entitled to be safe and secure in their communities - at work, home and on the roads.
I believe in that comment. I believe in the people who wrote that comment, because that is a true reflection of what the society believes is the case right now.
The second comment is from Mr Peter Tait, Submission No 17, I quote:
- Major outcomes to be achieved in the next three decades in the NT (include) a respectful, tolerant, safe and socially untroubled society for all NT residents
I thank Peter Tait for his comments, because I also believe in introducing a more respectful and tolerant society. Through time we have lost the element of respect in our society. Crime is an extremely important topic and, unfortunately, it affects too many people; it leaves too many victims behind. But this government, by producing this document, or allowing it to be printed, has only allocated one-and-a-half pages to crime. What an appalling effort.
Every day I go to work and I hear concerns about crime, yet this document has one-and-a-half pages on how we expect to deal with crime over the next 20 years - it is a joke. People who have written submissions are clearly concerned about crime and these are heartfelt comments. They are the type of comments that people I speak to reminisce upon. These are the same sort of comments I hear. But this government allows this document to come out with two - I will correct myself there - one-and-a-half pages, because it finishes there, it is not two full pages, on crime.
I say that crime is important, and I say dealing with crime and antisocial behaviour is vitally important, so that this Territory can grow successfully, as the beautiful place that it is. Everyone in this Chamber knows that the Territory is beautiful, even the member for Barkly knows that his town and his region are beautiful and there are elements of that rocky desert that everyone can enjoy. But not when antisocial behaviour is so rife that you cannot feel safe. You do not feel safe in Alice Springs. It is not right and it must be dealt with firmly. It is a shame that this document, created by some very smart people, were either not allowed or overlooked the fact that crime is vitally important to the public. I cannot believe that this document was produced with so little information on crime. Law and order is the foundation of a great society. We once had a better result than we do currently. It is a shame and it has been disgusting to see it slowly slip away.
However, and I do not doubt the importance of this, there are over eight pages, in blue - colour is important for some people - on health. We all know that health is important, but the statistics show, and people tell us, that crime is more important. When you assault someone they need health services. There is no doubt that if we can reduce crime and teach people that they need to look after themselves and live a healthy lifestyle, we will not need to be as concerned with health because health outcomes will be much better. With many of our trauma patients being the result of assaults - the disgusting rate of assaults in the Territory - you would think that if you spent a little more time on cracking down on crime, making sure that penalties are appropriate, that the reform is appropriate and the rehabilitation is suitable to the client, we would have a massive reduction in those assaults, which would lessen the burden on the Health department.
I will move on to energy. We had a debate in the Chamber about the Geothermal Energy bill. This document says, on page 53, that:
- … renewable energy sources, including geo-thermal and solar, will have been further developed and made available.
It concerns me that it says ‘made available’. A box of tissues may be available for you. Is it that they will be available, will they be used, and will they be a common thread within our society that we have greater use of solar energy in the lovely warm tropics or in the shiny deserts? No, it is just going to be ‘made available’. The government needs to focus on renewable sources. It needs to ensure that the gas is delivered to our power stations so that we do not chew through tanker-loads of diesel, so we have a more environmentally-friendly power grid system, and that we work towards using the amazing natural resources that we have, like solar.
I noticed in a newspaper advertisement the other day that we now have the ability to install a solar-powered system which will have a return to the grid, if the power supply is enough, and I believe that is a great idea. It is only about the 1 KW range - I am sure members will correct me – which, unfortunately, is not quite enough. The average household needs to produce around 3.3 KW of power. That is where we should be aiming. Ensuring that we can support and rebate to those types of levels so that we produce enough power for fridges, and unfortunately, air conditioners - for those who are reliant on air conditioners.
Whilst I talk about air conditioners, it comes down to the energy-efficiency rating in our homes. I quote from page 53:
- We will develop an energy-efficient rating scheme that is appropriate to regional climates.
I believe this is a very sensible comment. Currently, we follow the trend of the southern states, where the woollies are woolly and the sun swelters, but we do not live down there. We have the deserts and the tropics. That means we should be developing our own energy-rating system and selling that to our federal counterparts saying this is what we need for the Territory and this is why we say your current rating system is inappropriate.
I have been given information by builders that to implement a 5-star energy rating in our houses would cost the average homeowner in excess of $20 000 per building for an average house. We already have unaffordable properties - you can see that by the demand on the rental system, at over $500 a week, and by the increase in land prices because there is no land available - but then we are going to insist upon energy ratings which will drive the price $20 000 or more above the current rating, and that only gives you an average house.
I heard today about an energy rating of six, that would drive another 10, I would bet on a compounded effect that it would be more likely to lift that price from a 4 rating to somewhere around $50 000 to $60 000 or more. This is not smart. Boxing ourselves in and preventing the airflow from front to rear of the property, and allowing for eaves, is also not smart.
Some of the plans I have seen for the Bellamack area are ludicrous, to say the least. They are putting in demands at this stage which mean that you cannot have your roller door level with your front door, in alignment with the house; it has to be set back. You must have a concrete pad in your back yard in case you ever have a boat trailer. What if you do not have a boat trailer? You still have to pay for that concrete pad. When you have the concrete pad, you will have to put up a screen so your neighbour cannot see the nice boat you have just bought. This will cost you more money. It will cost more money to make sure it is cyclone-coded. If your house faces west and there are windows, then all the windows need to have batten screens on them …
A member: Do not forget the midges.
Mr BOHLIN: Yes, do not forget the midges. Thank God we do not have any where we can be outside. We will just be stuffed in our air-conditioned box. How is that energy efficient? Bring back the louvres, the open air areas, the Territory lifestyle, and stop driving it down into the southern states.
There is much interesting stuff in this strategy. There is one page, page 58, to do with the arts, and I quote:
- There is an enormous opportunity to increase this economic benefit, as well as leveraging art and culture to make healthier societies.
If we can take anything from that, I hope it is that we can use the arts and industries like that to help promote healthier living. We have a problem with health in the Northern Territory. We must find any leverage point we can to sell people the importance of a healthy lifestyle; eating fruit and vegetables, and getting involved in sport. Hopefully, that way we can have a long life.
Mr Rudd, the Prime Minister of this country, says that broadband is a project bigger and more important than the Snowy River scheme. How come it gets one page? One page is how much the government has allowed for such an important point. Yet, Prime Minister, one of their people, says it is bigger than the Snowy River scheme.
This is a very interesting document and the people involved have done a great job; they have done the best they could. I would love to sit down and talk about it anytime, but you have much to catch up on, guys.
Mr HAMPTON (Regional Development): Madam Deputy Speaker, I support the Chief Minister’s statement on the Draft Territory 2030 Strategy. There can be no doubt that today’s changing circumstances require a fresh approach; one that looks to the future and that is not anchored in the past.
The cornerstone of the Chief Minister’s 2030 strategy is community engagement. It brings together business and community groups which will set the goals and establish how we will measure success. It is transparent, enabling all Territorians to see what we have and have not achieved. By its very nature, the Territory 2030 strategy is a long-term plan. It is crucial that the strategy is owned and supported by Territorians. We understand, in a rapidly changing world, we have to draw on more expertise and knowledge.
The approach we are using draws on the knowledge and expertise available within the general community. Goals and objectives are defined by the community and the community has a say on how results are measured. As the Minister for Central Australia and the Minister for Regional Development, I believe it is important for all the people of the Northern Territory, from the Centre to the Top End, to have the opportunity to set out the course for the future of our great Territory. I commend the Chief Minister for ensuring that Territorians have such an opportunity.
As the Minister for Regional Development with responsibility for Indigenous economic development, I have a deep interest in the aspirations of regional and Indigenous Territorians. Territory 2030 will be building on previous and ongoing initiatives, such as the Indigenous Economic Development Framework and the Economic Development Committees, to address the development needs of all residents across the regions.
I believe everyone acknowledges that there are some major challenges facing the Territory into the future. While my department has some major plans in place, such as the Economic Development Framework and we contribute to plans such as Closing the Gap, what has been lacking is an overarching structure to draw together our projects and other departments’ projects into a strategic direction for the whole-of-government. Territory 2030 is a missing piece of the puzzle. The draft strategy recognises that the Territory needs to invest in its economic future and create an environment which would allow all our regional towns and communities to develop as modern economic centres. I quote from the strategy:
- Our economy is predominantly based on a narrow central spine with varying-size economies placed along its length. The future economy needs to extend in the fullest sense, not only from north to south but also from east to west. Indigenous people must be active participants in every quarter of the economy.
These are two crucial issues that are the focus of the Indigenous Economic Development Framework and the Economic Development Committees. The draft strategy continues:
- We have made considerable progress in developing a strong private sector, but there is still much more effort to be expended. Skills, infrastructure and an adventurous spirit will be paramount. To achieve this, the economy must continue to grow at a rapid pace.
The draft strategy states:
- The fundamental aspirations for the Northern Territory economy are simple:
The 2030 strategy states that:
- Achieving these fundamentals will require the continued creation of new economic opportunities, a competitive business climate, investment in infrastructure, a competitive and productive workforce, and land for new developments.
Finally, in words which could be a motto for any Minister for Regional Development, it states:
- The Territory has enormous potential to grow its economy across sectors. It needs to take hold of the opportunities in moving ahead and ensure all parts of the Territory are involved in this growth.
As the Minister for Regional Development, I was delighted to see so many communities across the Territory putting forward their views on the issues that are most important to them. Not only have almost 80 individuals, businesses and peak groups provided written input, many Territorians have given their time to be involved in the consultation meetings. Members of the steering committee have met with community members across the NT, including people at Anmatjere in the Ti Tree region, Galiwinku, Tennant Creek, Katherine, and Alice Springs. Staff members from the department of Regional Development have been assisting in the consultation process by helping to organise meetings of the steering committee, and the Economic Development Committees as well.
At the start of the community consultation process, the Territory 2030 Steering Committee hosted a two-hour community forum at the Alice Springs Town Council chambers on 23 February 2009. Approximately 45 local residents took the opportunity to speak to the committee Co-Chairs, Vicki O’Halloran and Bill Moss, and steering committee members, including Jan Ferguson, an Alice Springs resident, on issues of importance to the region. The discussions were extensive and concentrated on local issues.
Professor Jonathan Carapetis, on behalf of the Territory 2030 Steering Committee, hosted a two-hour community forum in Galiwinku in early March 2009, where approximately 30 local residents took the opportunity to speak on issues of importance to their region. This was a tremendous turnout for a small community, and a great opportunity for a remote Indigenous community to put their views and concerns directly to the steering committee. The issues raised were varied, often focusing on issues very specific to individual communities and sectors of the economy.
It soon became clear there were many shared concerns, and there was much overlap on issues such as education and jobs. People throughout the region, or throughout the Territory, aspire to have strong and resilient communities which are supported by healthy, educated people who have access to, and can work in, real jobs. There was a common focus on economic prosperity supported by appropriate infrastructure, and good management of the natural environment, as well as the need for knowledge and innovation to be supported. There was also recognition of the benefits that may be realised through participation in sport and recreation through improving health, reducing crime, boosting tourism, the economy, enhancing social cohesion, or just something people want to do.
As the Minister for Sport and Recreation, I was very pleased, though not surprised, to see an emphasis on our great Territory lifestyle. Some of the aims include:
participating in sport and physical activity at the same level as other Australians;
the number of Territory teams participating in national sporting competitions is expanded; and
Territorians have access to a wide range of facilities and activities that enhance the Territory lifestyle.
If Territorians had access to national and international standard sporting facilities there would be numerous benefits. It could lead to more national and international competitions being held at such venues, allowing Territorians the opportunity to watch or take part in top-class sport. This would give Territory teams’ access to the best facilities in preparation for competitions, and it could lead to us hosting more top-class sporting events. It would be amazing to host a World Cup football match or a World Cup cricket match, not to mention hosting more AFL games - hopefully, Collingwood.
We are on our way already with the upgrades of TIO Stadium and other premier facilities, such as Traeger Park and the aquatic centre developments in Alice Springs. We also aim to have more Territory teams participating in national competitions. The NT Stingers and the NT Pearls are already competing in the National Hockey League; the Territory Thunder is competing in the Queensland AFL, and doing well; and the Territory Storm is competing in the Australian Netball League.
It would be good if we had a Rugby League team in the NRL - I am sure the member for Barkly would be very happy - or a football team in the A League.
Mr Wood: Join the Barkly.
Mr HAMPTON: Member for Nelson, dreams like these can be realised, but only when the whole community dares to dream together.
Turning to my portfolio of Information, Communications and Technology Policy, we are seeing the development of a massive project which, I suspect, will have ramifications well beyond 2030. The National Broadband Network is a nation-building project that will make Australia a global leader in broadband. Access to high speed broadband is an essential enabler of business competitiveness and community wellbeing. The government appreciates this, and that is why we have invested jointly with Telstra, Rio Tinto Alcan, and the Northern Land Council in laying 800 km of optic fibre across Arnhem Land.
We have delivered. If you look at the six priority areas of the 2030 strategy – education; society; prosperity; health and wellbeing; environment and knowledge; and creativity and innovation, access to high-speed broadband and the National Broadband Network is significant to them all. With education in particular, high-speed broadband can play a transforming role. The Draft Territory 2030 Strategy aims to ensure that the Territory is a world-leader in providing education in remote areas. This can be achieved with the assistance of online and virtual-schooling. As well as a nation-building project, the NBN has the potential to transform Australia.
I will work constructively with the Commonwealth government, in particular Senator Conroy, to ensure the best possible outcomes for all Territorians.
As the member for Stuart, and not only an Indigenous member of this parliament but a member of parliament, it is very important that Territory 2030 is an inclusive process. I will encourage all of the people in my communities, through the electorate of Stuart - we know it is the largest electorate in the Northern Territory, stretching from Pine Creek through to the western side of the Territory down to Nyirripi, Yuendumu, Lajamanu, Kalkarindji, Pigeon Hole, Yarralin, Timber Creek, Mataranka, Beswick, Barunga, Manyallaluk, and east to Mulga Bore – to contribute to the 2030 discussion, and hopefully getting them involved. It is just as important for them as for someone sitting in Alice Springs or Darwin; it shapes their future as well as ours.
I join the Chief Minister in thanking the members of the 2030 steering committee for all the work they have done to date in seeking the views and input from all the people, sectors and regions across the Northern Territory. I am pleased to support the Chief Minister’s statement.
Ms PURICK (Goyder): Madam Deputy Speaker, whilst there are some good items in the draft strategy, there are many areas that cause me some concern. I thought the document was like a Life Be In It document, with references to health and wellbeing and the use of the word ‘unique’, which is probably overused.
I have no issue with the steering committee people who are listed and they have been talked about; mostly they are Territory-based. I am a little disappointed though at the lack of broadness of the committee in regards to the business and industry communities. I know there are some business people on it, but I would have liked to see a few more, so that there was a broader all-encompassing look at industry and business. Without a sound economic base, the government does not have the funds or wealth to provide all the services that it needs to provide.
I am also a little disappointed that the government did not see fit to appoint a Territory-based person as the chairman and saw the need to go interstate. I have no issue with the gentleman in question, but I am sure there would have been some eminently qualified people in the Territory who could have filled the role and filled it well.
On page 5, and it probably appears elsewhere in the document, I put on the record that I am not a ‘non’. It says we have Indigenous Territorians and we have non-Indigenous Territorians. I would like to be known as an ‘other’ Territorian. I am not a ‘non’. It means you are a not person. This expression is used quite a lot and I would like to see it taken out of the language because, to my way of thinking, it is almost a negative.
In regards to the document as a whole, it concerns me a little that the government seems to be abdicating its responsibility and its role in policy setting and vision setting and it seems to be ruling by committee. I have no issue with the composition of the committee, but it seems to me that the government has relied on what other people have said and are saying, rather than what the government should be coming up with.
In the early part of the document it talks about the climate and how it has changed and we know that, we have been told by experts all around the country, if not around the world. However, I do not see any information or even any direction of how the government or the Territory as a community will prepare for these climate changes. For example, in the Top End cyclones will be more frequent and intense and extreme weather events will significantly impact on the biodiversity, but, sadly, we know that the cyclone shelters in the Darwin and rural area are lacking and I do not see any planning for improvements.
It also proposed that the Territory government establish a NT household survey because it does not think it can get the right information out of the census data. It says it is useful but not regular enough. Perhaps it has overlooked the Australian Bureau of Statistics data. I question how this information would be gathered. What methodology would be used so that it is legitimate, and how is it going to get Territorians to participate? Would it consider legislation in any form? That would scare me considerably.
It also references the establishment of the Northern Territory Future Fund, independently controlled and managed to secure alternative revenue streams. That gives me some concern. I am not quite sure what it is looking to set up and why it feels the need to set up something. Surely the government should be working to attract investment into the Northern Territory.
In regards to education, which is one of the key focus areas, if not the key focus area: I do not have any issue with that, because it is fundamental that all people receive a sound education so they are well equipped to meet the challenges once they leave the learning institutions. But it seems to be missing some of the basics: providing and ensuring that all our schools are properly equipped with state-of-the-art equipment and that buildings are safe and secure. Many of the primary schools need improvement. I know money has been allocated to some primary schools in the budget, but, sadly, not all the schools, particularly some in the rural areas.
Another basic area that is important for education is the school bus routes and the provision of buses. We struggle in the rural area with the buses and the bus routes. There is a family of nine children at the Humpty Doo Station who cannot get the school bus to collect them to take them to either Taminmin or Humpty Doo Primary School. That is very sad because their grandmother wants those children to go to school to get a good education but they are missing out.
I do not see much information about supporting teachers. Obviously they are an important component of the whole package. Recruiting and retaining teachers in the Northern Territory and paying them appropriate salaries so they are comfortable in their employment.
I agree with providing adequate services and support for people with disabilities, whether they are in the school system or in the community. In the school system, people who have learning challenges need to be fully supported. We should also look at the other end of the spectrum and fully acknowledge and support children who are gifted and talented in school. From what I have seen in some of the schools in the Territory and in talking with parents who have children with special needs, it seems that they get overlooked. If we are going to be fair to all our schoolchildren, then we need to cater for all their needs.
The government makes a big play of the number of apprenticeships it has, about 10 000. But it does not tell you how many do not finish their apprenticeships. The dropout rates in the first 12 months and two years are alarming. That fact has to be out there because it is being overlooked quite considerably by this government.
Statehood? Yes, we have to keep working hard on our path towards statehood. The government needs to be much firmer and harder with its federal counterparts so they acknowledge that it is a fair and proper thing for us to go to statehood. The government must overcome any obstructions thrown up by some of the federal parliamentarians.
In regards to housing, there is much to talk but safe, affordable housing is a basic necessity for every family. It is a fundamental right for people to have safe housing; that they feel secure in their houses, that they are not tormented by unruly behaviour in the streets, and do not have overcrowding. Sadly, that is not the case in the Territory. On page 25 it references that we need to have affordable and appropriate housing into the future that meets the needs of all Territorians. That is fine, but this government has strangled the release of land so that young people in remote and urban areas cannot get a block of land to build a house. If they do secure land, it is at a huge cost. It is putting many young people into debt and that might be something they will live to regret in the near future if interest rates change.
On page 25 it also talks about the aims, but it does not give much detail on how the government thinks they can reduce all these things. For example, and I quote:
families can afford to move to and stay in the Territory; and
seniors have more accommodation options available to them.
They are all fine and nice words, but you have to be a little more specific than that. We know that there are many seniors in the rural area, but there are not many affordable housing options or places where they can stay. That is something that does not seem to be written up in this.
In regard to lifestyle, it talks about lifestyle for more Territorians, how we should enjoy ourselves, that the Territory is a terrific place - all that sort of ‘you beaut’ stuff - and that we should have more parks and reserves. But I ask: where? Are we talking in the urban areas or in the hinterland? The government struggles to manage the parks it has so I question how it is going to manage more parks. If there could be more parks and reserves, I would welcome it because, sadly, Howard Springs is not what it used to be. We cannot swim there any longer because of issues with the water. Berry Springs is often closed for large parts of the Wet Season which is the time when you want to swim because it is hot. Most of our creeks and waterways around the rural areas - in the Top End - and areas around the north coast of the Territory are unsafe to swim in because of the crocodiles. Yet, there is no planning for any kind of water parks for people in the rural area, given that there are 20 000 to 25 000 people living there.
The government says that Weddell is coming on stream - in five years turning the sod - but those people will have no water park. The government has spent an enormous amount of money on Lake Leanyer, a wave pool, and promised a water park for Palmerston, which already has a swimming pool. However, there seems to be scant regard for recreational activities in other parts of the Territory. We have some bike paths but there seems to be little consideration of other parts of the Territory for bike paths which many people seem to enjoy.
While we are talking about lifestyle, it is very difficult for people who are on low-to-middle incomes and who live a long way from town centres to access recreational activities like BassintheGrass, when the government does not extend the public transport system to the rural area. We have had public buses advertised previously. My office did get some concession for one of the Labor Day events. But for BassintheGrass, buses only come from Palmerston and the northern suburbs to Darwin. When Lake Leanyer opened, buses only came from Palmerston and the northern suburbs. When it comes to anywhere beyond that, bugger the rural area people; they have to get there by themselves. I do not believe that is good enough. We struggle with the bus services generally, but young people are encouraged to take up these healthy activities and the government does not consider that one or two public buses into town to access these events are worthwhile. I find that very disappointing.
On page 29, the government talks about ensuring public safety, and that is good. My big issue with that is it talks about reducing the number of victims, reducing the number of people killed on roads, and reducing the number of serious injuries. I believe the aim should be to ‘eliminate’. We should not be saying: ‘Last year we killed 20 people on our roads but this year we have only killed 10 people. We are doing a good job’. I believe the wording should be ‘eliminate’, not ‘reduce’. Whether people think that is achievable is another issue, but the aim should always be to have no injuries, no deaths, regardless of where it is - whether it be on the roads, in workplaces, in homes - anywhere. If the government is serious about ensuring public safety, then it should have stronger aims and back it up with a good, strong, solid strategy.
In regard to investing in and valuing our people, cultures, and communities, yes, that is all pretty reasonable, but it should be all encompassing and it does not seem to be. It only references Aboriginal people. I see no reference to other cultures, such as our history in regard to Chinese, the Greeks, or the Italians at the mica fields in Central Australia. They made valuable contributions. They did much work to make the Territory what it is today. They have a particular culture which some still have with them, and they have contributed to what the Northern Territory is today. There are many more. I find it disappointing that they do not seem to be scooped up in this section at all.
It also talks about recognising the cultural heritage of the Territory by recognising and using Indigenous place names. I do not have a big issue with that, but what about recognising the contribution of the Chinese people in the Pine Creek area with names or even in the Darwin area? There are some roads in Pine Creek that are named after old Chinese families, but it should be more encompassing, and it does not seem to be that way. It seems to be very myopic in recognising one culture and not other cultures.
It also talks about the value of the community, people and volunteers, and that is great. I do not believe there is enough recognition given to them. There are systems of awards and we know they are out there, but when the government can support volunteers and carers, they should and do it well.
In regard to the section on prosperity, there is an item, and I quote:
- Establish an Office for Territory Promotions to promote business, education, tourism and other investment opportunities.
I am unclear where that kind of agency would sit with the government departments. Is it another quasi-tourism department? Why is it just tourism education and other? Why is it not to bring the World Cup soccer here, or what was mentioned previously? I have no issue with developing Darwin as an international city. It is very important, as we go into the future, to make our mark in Australia, particularly with our northern neighbours. The Office of Territory Promotions has me worried, it seems to be something that is just a good idea, so let us get out there and promote, but it is a bit short on substance.
One of the things that is not really mentioned in the business or prosperity areas, is we know that mining and energy contribute substantially to our economy but, the bigger picture this government is not capturing is the benefits that can and would flow from servicing the offshore industry and also the mining industry, seem to have been overlooked a little. We know it is there, but if this is going 10, 15, or 20 years into the future, the planning should be done now if we are going to capitalise. We know that the world is running out of particular energy sources, that the demand for energy is going up, and that we have an abundance of uranium resources and, potentially, gas resources offshore, but there does not seem to be any vision of how we could capture that and make the service sector a more viable and larger sector.
It does not have any vision or comment on areas that are within the domain of the Commonwealth that the NT could lobby the Commonwealth to change, such as a flow-through share scheme, which would bring enormous benefits to the junior side of the mineral and other exploration industries.
Another point in the prosperity area is that we are talking about 2030. The Blacktip gas field has about one trillion cubic feet of gas which, from my memory, will last about 20 years supplying gas to Darwin. But there is no mention of where we are going to get our next energy supply from. Where is our next source of energy going to come from?
There is talk about the environment, and how we can look after the environment and grow trees and all that sort of thing, but there is no real mention and no vision for where we are going to get our future water supply for Darwin and the new development areas, such as Weddell and whatever is going to come after Weddell. Even with regard to Weddell, which is meant to have the first sod turned in five years, where is the water supply going to come from? Where is the sewerage supply going to come from? And, more importantly, where is their power going to come from? Maybe there is a big scheme out there with regard to recycling and compost.
We are talking big picture, and if Weddell is going to be the next Palmerston, with another 10 000 lots, there does not seem to be any vision as to what kind of township Weddell is going to be. Is it going to be a complete urban township like Palmerston or is it going to be a bit like Marlow Lagoon, where you have some bigger rural blocks? There does not seem to be any master plan for the Weddell, Noonamah and area beyond. I wish I had bought the Noonamah pub when it was offered for sale some years ago.
The area of water resources and water management, not only for the Top End, but also for Central Australia and elsewhere, is sadly lacking in this document, and that is pretty disappointing.
Finally, health and health services are fundamental to our wellbeing and our lifestyle and it is disappointing that we are talking about growth, more population and trying to get people healthier – they cannot look after themselves so someone has to look after them – but there is no mention of proposed health facilities in the Top End rural area and other places of the Northern Territory. We know that we are going to need a new hospital, either in Palmerston or beyond, to service the growing population that is referenced in this document, but there is no mention of health.
It talks about needing more health professionals but it does not talk about the fundamentals of how we are going to recruit and retain them, or how we are going to make their lifestyle better, given that they are such an important part of the health system.
I know much hard work has gone into this document by the government officials and the committee, and I know many people, individuals, and organisations have taken time and trouble to put in submissions. I will be encouraging people to put in submissions. There are some serious, glaring omissions regarding the vision, and strategies and objectives to support that vision.
Mr TOLLNER (Fong Lim): Madam Deputy Speaker, I am having a flick through this and seeing what is in it. Great stuff. Great bunch of people involved.
It is a little like Kevin Rudd’s wonderful 2020 convention where he dragged the greatest minds in the country off to Canberra. They brainstormed and came up with thousands of fresh and fantastic ideas, all devoted to real results and making positive changes in the community. There was plenty of reformist zeal in the room; people were really geed-up about the opportunity to make some real change to the way Australia would be in the year 2020. What came of it? Not much at all. There was somewhere around half a dozen or a dozen ideas that were picked up by the government.
One of the people on the 2030 steering committee was there, a bloke called Jonathon Carapetis, who is a very smart man; he was named the smartest person in Australia a year or two ago, as I recall. I heard him commenting on the radio about Kevin Rudd’s 2020 plan and he said it was all a little disappointing in the end. The bionic eye was one of the ideas the government picked up. Jonathon Carapetis said that that was a great idea, it is a fantastic thing the bionic eye, but as far as needs go and the requirements of the community, in his point of view, the bionic eye was not up there. There is a range of diseases, and medical breakthroughs that need to be found. The bionic eye was not one of those things that figured highly in Mr Carapetis’ mind. He summed it up in the way most people did: that there was a whole lot of wind and, at the end of the day, there was not much come out of it.
That is the big fear we hold for this document. There are all those good people who have put in time working through ideas, toiling away and doing their bit to try to make this a better place. The committee has put up some great ideas but my big concern is that it is all wind and it will go nowhere in the end.
As I always say, in this place and out there, when you are dealing with Labor governments, not just in Canberra and particularly in the Northern Territory, you do not listen to what they say, you look at what they do.
Dr Burns: Like Tiger Brennan?
Mr TOLLNER: Look at what they do.
Dr Burns: They do not do.
Mr TOLLNER: Here we go. The Minister for Business has jumped straight on Tiger Brennan. Let us look at Tiger Brennan. If we go back to 2003, I believe Tiger Brennan was going to cost somewhere around $27m. The Commonwealth stumps up its fair share. We get to 2008-09 and it is not done – it is incomplete. Is it $27m? No, it is somewhere around $110m and still growing. There is no road yet and the minister has the audacity to bang on about how the government is building a $110m highway. It is building a $110m extension and it is costing taxpayers much more than $80m that they could have saved by doing it back when it said it would.
We see so many examples where the government strides in and promises something and it takes them years - if ever - to deliver on these things. We see it with the oncology unit. That was a 2001 election promise. Almost a decade ago. It will be a decade by the time it is operating.
Dr Burns: You said it had been delivered in your election pamphlet.
Mr TOLLNER: Unfortunately, as the minister knows, it is not the Commonwealth that builds hospitals. The Commonwealth provides the funds and, in this particular case, the Territory government does the work. Or is supposed to. Did this Territory government do the work? No, it reneged. The government said initially that it was going to do it on its own. But somewhere along the line the government decided that it would not do that; it needed some help from Canberra. Canberra came to the party and gave it some help. The government said that was not enough. What has the Territory government contributed to the oncology unit, in real terms?
The Territory government has made a contribution of around $1.5m over 10 years, of a $30m oncology unit. When you look at these things you have to take the government with a grain of salt.
Bellamack is a classic example. Twelve months ago the government was going to be turning blocks off, but there is not a house to be seen at the moment. I do not believe one block has been turned-off. I would suggest it is a long time before we see people living at Bellamack. It is a long way away.
This weekend I went for a swim at an absolutely beautiful spot not far from here: the wave pool. The wave pool is fantastic, I have to say. I had a great day with the kids but I could not help thinking, goodness me, this was supposed to be opened in September last year. We were being told around election time that it would be opened in September. Eight months later and we finally got to have a swim - great stuff. I also recall - when we were going to be able to swim in it in September – that it would be free to the public. This is not the case. It cost $12 to get me and my family in, which was $12 well spent because we had a great time. But you have to ask the question: why can they not be honest with us from the word go? Why do we have to hear all this malarkey about ‘we are going to do this, we are going to do that’? You are big on promises and small on delivery.
Fresh ideas – real results. It should be: no idea – real debt. That is what we have in the Northern Territory: a government with no idea but they know how to crack up real debt. That is where we are at. I flick through this great stuff and one of the first things I see is that the government is going to establish a future fund in the Northern Territory. Get that. It just lumbered every Territorian – man, woman, child, probably our dogs next – with a $26 000 debt. We are running a $200m budget deficit and, what is it going to do? It is going to build a future fund. This is cloud cuckoo-land stuff coming from the government.
The failed Treasurer that we have at the moment could not give anyone any idea of when we are going to come out of debt in the Northern Territory or when we will we start running surplus budgets. She said it is a definite plan of this government to start running positive budgets. Good on her but, at the moment, all we are seeing is a deficit budget. We have no idea how long we are going to be in debt for. In The Australian today, there is a great little story from the federal government, the headline reads:
Budget to be in deficit for longer than expected – Swan.
Mr Swan said that the federal government is going to be in deficit for much longer than he first predicted.
We had our budget today, and the Treasurer tells us that the government has all these great plans to come out of debt. You have to wonder when are they going to come out of debt, considering the incompetent people - their comrades - in Canberra, do not know when they will get out of debt. The Treasurer told us today that we are only in debt because the Commonwealth is going into debt, and it has nothing to do with any Labor people; it is because of the global financial crisis. It is a good excuse, but it is a pipe dream.
We know that Labor governments are very good at creating debt and running up big bills all over the place, but they are not particularly good when it comes to paying off debt; for being responsible, doing the hard work, and making the tough decisions; they are not good at that.
If you flick through this strategy, you see things like housing - what a classic:
- The Territory offers affordable and appropriate housing that meets the varying needs of Territorians.
Ask the constituents at Bellamack what the houses are like. Ask the people at Yuendumu who know that there is a fund of $700m. It has been two years since the emergency intervention started. In an emergency - a national emergency - the Territory’s rights were trampled over because of the appalling way the Territory government was dealing with Aboriginal Territorians. The federal government marched in on an emergency mission, stumped up $700m and told the Territory government to get out and build some emergency accommodation and housing. It is two years down the track, where are we? How many houses do we have? Do we have one, two, three - any? Zero.
In Question Time today, the member for Daly, the minister, jumped up, all happy, saying that we have an extra $330m for housing. What a joke - talk about a circus. You have been sitting on $700m for two years and you have not been able to build a single house and you have the audacity to march in here and tell us you got another $330m. What a joke. What an absolute joke you are …
Mr Knight interjecting.
Mr TOLLNER: You are an absolute joke. Get out there and see these houses that you are supposed to be building. You could not organise a – well, I will not say that. It is absolutely appalling. It says in the strategy:
Housing is a basic right for all citizens.
Mr Knight: That is true.
Mr TOLLNER: Here we go, the minister says: ‘That is true’. A bunch of people live about 200 m from my electorate office who should not be in any sort of a house; they should be in an institution. They should not be living with normal people. They are disgusting scum and I cannot speak about them in any other way. They do not deserve to be in a house. They vomit in the public housing stairwells, they urinate all over the public housing buildings, they smash doors and windows, and they smash their neighbours and themselves at night. There are no other words to describe them; they are complete and utter animals, and this minister says they have a right to live with normal, decent people.
Mr Knight: You have not written to me once about it. Why not write to me about it?
Mr TOLLNER: That is what you say. You say they have a right to live with normal, decent people, mate. That is a joke.
Mr Knight: What are you doing? You are so lazy. Why are you so lazy?
Dr BURNS: A point of order, Madam Speaker! The member for Fong Lim should know by now he needs to address his comments through the Chair.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Fong Lim, address your comments through the Chair.
Mr TOLLNER: Sorry, Madam Speaker. The minister for frivolous points of order jumps up and calls me …
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Fong Lim, that was not a frivolous point of order. I ask you to direct your comments through the Chair, thank you.
Mr TOLLNER: I apologise, Madam Speaker. I did say I would direct my comments through you, but I was referring through you, that this minister is the minister for frivolous points of order.
Dr BURNS: A point of order, Madam Speaker! As you have pointed out, it is a very important point of order. I thought the member for Fong Lim would at least apologise to me also, because it is a point of order, a standing order within this parliament, to ensure that comments are directed through the Chair and not across the Chamber.
Madam SPEAKER: Leader of Government Business …
Mr TOLLNER: Madam Speaker, for ease of …
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Fong Lim, I am speaking. You can resume your chair while I am speaking, thank you, and follow the courtesies.
Mr Mills interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Leader of the Opposition!
Mr Mills: Yes, Madam Speaker.
Madam SPEAKER: I ask you to cease interjecting.
Mr Mills: Yes, Madam Speaker, I will.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Fong Lim, I will let you continue. I would like you to direct your comments through the Chair, thank you.
Mr TOLLNER: Thank you very much, Madam Speaker, and if it helps, I unreservedly withdraw any sort of allegation or imputation that I made to my precious friend. I did not mean to cause him, or yourself for that matter, any trouble. However, I was making some pretty serious points. I was talking about the right to a house. The right …
Mr Knight: What is the address?
Mr TOLLNER: People have a right to a house providing they perform their responsibilities, which is to look after that house and look after the community they are in. If they do not do that, they forfeit their right. It is not a right of every citizen to have a house. If you do not look after the house or the unit that the government provides you, by the taxpayer, you should be booted out of it. Go and look down the road, not 200 m from my electorate office, and I see a place that is crammed to the gills with a whole …
Mr Knight: What is the address?
Mr TOLLNER: I am sure you know the address, minister.
Mr Knight: Come on.
Mr TOLLNER: You would not talk to A Current Affair or most of the other media when they rang you up. You know this stuff is happening, not just in my electorate, but in practically every electorate in Darwin, Katherine, Tennant Creek, and Alice Springs. In virtually every centre in the Territory there are people who are abusing the privilege of being in a public house or unit, and the minister turns a blind eye to it. That is particularly galling, to me.
There is a wonderful page in the strategy titled Objective 3: The Territory maintains an enviable lifestyle. When I came here it was an enviable lifestyle, but the fact that my house has been broken into three times in the last month does not make it enviable. The fact that our roads have fallen to pieces and, because of the poor state of the roads, the government has taken the extreme step of putting in place speed restrictions. The fact that we are laden with regulation and are living in a nanny state does not equate to a wonderful lifestyle. You wonder when the government will start reversing some of these trends that they started so long ago.
People come to the Territory because of the freedoms, and when you talk about the Territory lifestyle, most people are talking about the fact that you can come to the Territory, it is a laid back lifestyle, there is a lack of regulation, and you can do things in the Territory that you cannot do in most other parts of the country. This government seems hell-bent on changing that; ruining our lifestyle. That is all they ever do. But by 2030, somehow or other – magically - all of that is going to change. Magically they are going to fix up the crime problem. I saw the other day they came out and said they are going to stop the bikies. They cannot even stop the kids in Malak from wrecking the local school so how are they going to stop a bikie gang? How ridiculous is this?
Objective 4 – Ensuring public safety. Ask the poor fellow who has to sleep in his business every night because the police are not around to respond to the constant break-ins. Ask the people in hospitals who have been bashed. It is just ridiculous.
You look all through this strategy, the focus area – Prosperity. On the day the Treasurer announces that we are $200m in debt and that we have a $6bn liability - that figure is incredibly large. How we can have a figure of $6bn of debt in the Territory is beyond me. This document, great as the people are who have put it together, tirelessly as they have worked, it is a great document, but it is a pity that the document is not reflected by the people who run this government. It is a shameful government. It does nothing. They sit on their hands and then they bleat when they are called out and say it was all the fault of someone else – John Howard, the CLP …
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Fong Lim, your time has expired.
Mr WOOD (Nelson): Madam Speaker, when I first heard about 2030 last October I thought it was something to do with the northern suburbs and their power outages. I thought it meant 20 minutes on, 30 minutes off. But it does not mean that, although it might have been a vision for some people in the northern suburbs. It is about a vision for the Territory or what sort of Territory we should aim for in 2030, and if we come up with an agreed vision, how we will achieve that vision.
When you read the document you could say it is a summary of all the speeches in parliament since self-government and probably well before that. How many times have we discussed education – especially Indigenous education - the economy, the environment, planning, health, governments, lifestyle, heritage, and many other issues? Whilst I understand that this is a draft document and there are many other matters that have not been included, I know that between now and the year 2030 there will be another five Territory elections, and I say it is unlikely that any of us will still be in this parliament when the year comes around, except maybe the member for Fannie Bay and the member for Braitling. Many things can change by then – politically, economically, environmentally, so going into too much detail may just be a waste of paper.
A vision is important, but this government has been in power for eight years, so has it been operating without a vision for the last eight years? Sometimes I believe that is the case. For instance, any vision, without being told by a committee of visions, would know that we need: a strong and mixed economy; affordable land for housing and industry; jobs; good education with high attendance and the results to go with it; good health services including aged care; energy – that is the energy that runs our powerhouses; well-maintained and expanding infrastructure; to maintain a healthy lifestyle with adequate passive and active recreation facilities; to live in a safe environment; to look after the environment; and good planning. That is it. That is what the government should have as its vision. After all, that is why governments are elected: to show vision and leadership. Sometimes you can get bogged down with committees instead of pushing forward with some well thought out strategies supported by common sense and adequate funding.
We had a vision from the previous government. I did not always agree with it, but when this government took over much of that vision disappeared. For instance, there was a vision to have heavy industry at Glyde Point and a township at Gunn Point. This was to be connected to Darwin by a new road, a railway and several energy corridors. The government acquired all that land, but they chucked it all out, using some fairly suspicious arguments and now the heavy industry is in Darwin Harbour. The Darwin plan, that the previous government put forward, had Berrimah Farm as future industrial and open space. But because there was pressure on the government to sound as if it was doing something about housing, it made an ABC morning show announcement that Berrimah would become a housing estate. There was not much vision there – there was much politics. There will be no housing until at least 2013 onwards.
Then we have the prison which has been moved to Weddell because the new one cannot be built within 500 m of housing, but there is no housing at Berrimah. Even if the government persists with the idea, it simply does not build houses within 500 m.
There was also the Litchfield land use objective which showed a regional waste facility. A number of years ago there was a great debate in this parliament about closing the Humpty Doo landfill. The government said we will build a new regional waste dump facility; that was its vision. We are still sending our rubbish to Shoal Bay landfill that belongs to Darwin City Council.
Although there have been visions, unfortunately when you get a change of government, sometimes those visions pass away. Governments need to have vision. A party comes out with a policy, a policy is its vision. That does not mean that you do not talk to the people, but if you do not have a vision within yourself, why are you in parliament?
I have come with various visions. I have spoken about Darwin Harbour being a national park, about development around this region. I have a vision; it does not always come off because I am an Independent. But I expect a party to have a vision which would be their policy that would go into the community for comment. It does not mean that the policy is not the vision. It may be adjusted to what people have to say. We seem to have it a little the other way around now. We are saying that we are just representatives of the people in parliament and we will let them drive the vision. We will go along like computers and carry out that vision. I would find that most depressing as a politician.
I would rather see the government identify its goals for the future and say that this is where it wants to go. It could then ask the people for comment on the strategies to achieve those goals. For example, if it said it has a strategy to reduce the number of people in prison by the year 2030 - which is a great vision, a vision we can all believe in, we do not need a committee to tell us that - how are we going to achieve that strategy? The government is already on the path. It said that it would put a work camp in Tennant Creek; it is already developing its strategies to achieve that. We then need the community to give us some ideas on how to reach that goal, not necessarily to make the goal; that is what the government is for; the government has a requirement to lead.
This document does have some good ideas in it, but I have seen many things go around with good ideas. For instance, when this government was first elected, it held meetings with all the business leaders. It might have had two of those meetings. I presume it was doing something about a vision, but has anyone done an analysis of the effectiveness of those meetings, what came out of those meetings and how much was achieved?
Sometimes you need good leaders who can present good arguments and who can convince people. That does not mean they do not listen to people, but they are able to convince people that this is the way we should be going. We can get too tied up in committees and talking, and I can probably be accused of that sometimes, but we are not achieving unless we take action.
When I look back at some of our major problems, especially with alcohol and Indigenous literacy and numeracy, we have not gone anywhere. We seem to be either stagnant or going backwards. The vision is to let us improve literacy and numeracy, let us turn out doctors, nurses, and leaders from the Aboriginal community - let us make that a goal. But how do we get there? We might make some tough decisions in the short-term; decisions that we have to make. Let us bring the community along and ask them how we can achieve that goal?
I am concerned and I do not believe that something aimed for by the 2030 committee is the way we should go. I am not saying that the community should not participate in decision-making processes, but we, as parliamentarians, and especially the government, has to set its goals, because what will it do when it comes to the next election? Surely, it puts forward goals that the government thinks people will vote for. That is how it works. How is that achieved? Bring the people along and work with them in trying to achieve those goals. If they voted you in, they believed in your vision, but they might not believe in everything. You hear these great words: I have a mandate. You might have made 500 promises, but you cannot say that people agree with everything that you put forward. However, you have been elected on a broad vision that you put to the people as party policy, and you should stick to that party policy and that vision. If you do not, then you are letting people down. It has to be flexible; times change. We know we are in a recession at the moment. That is why you are in parliament; to show leadership.
You also have to be careful that you do not get hijacked. Many ordinary folk probably do not have time to go to these meetings. Some of these people who put their names down at the back are subsidised by the taxpayers. There are members of certain groups that have made submissions and get paid to do it; it is their job to go out and comment. I am concerned about some of the groups. There is Families for a Nuclear-Free Future. I hope that they were not the only ones who put their two bobs worth in, there might be other people - a few scientists – who have a different point of view. You have to be careful that these things do not get hijacked by certain groups. There is nothing wrong with them putting their ideas forward, but we have to look at the broader vision that is required and not have a narrow vision.
I will mention education, and having boarding schools available closer to home. What about parents who want to allow their children to board interstate? I do not think it is necessary to have your children educated in the Territory when you live on a cattle station or on remote communities.
It concerns me a little to see a statement like:
- … more Territory women take up leadership positions.
I am not against women being in leadership positions, but it should be based on merit. The classic example is this parliament; there are women in these positions based on merit.
There is even an issue about education, saying that we should mandate Indigenous studies as part of the curriculum. I do not know who would run that. It could be a person from Sydney or another place and it will be their version of Indigenous studies. If you want to promote Indigenous studies, take kids to Arnhem Land or the Barkly, and learn by sitting around with Indigenous people and listening to what they have to say. Sometimes there is too much formality placed on this, when the best way to gain an understanding of Indigenous people is to sit down with them in communities and talk to them as if you are long-lost friends. Treat them the same as you would treat anyone else and they will treat you just the same; they will take you into their hearts, and they will treat you well.
That was my way of learning about Indigenous people. I was 19 when I walked into Daly River from middle-class Melbourne. I had never really seen an Aboriginal person in my life before - I think I had seen Lionel Rose. I walked into Daly River, and people loved me from the day I arrived; they knew I had come to work with them. It was the same at Bathurst Island. I went back recently, and it was a fairly emotional time for me; I felt that I was back with family. I had been back previously but not for enough time to really say hello. I am not sure that formalised mandated Indigenous studies are the way to go. There are better ways to do it; more genuine ways to achieve that understanding.
The member for Goyder raised a few issues with transport and future water supplies. I could go on with the vision that I have about many things, but I will not do that tonight because the Chief Minister has asked us to comment on this document. I have given a more philosophical approach in saying that I do not believe this is the right approach. I am not knocking what people have done, there are good people who have worked hard, especially the Co-Chair, Vicki O’Halloran, who is a wonderful lady and does a fantastic amount of work especially with Somerville; that is the last thing I am trying to do. I am saying that I am not sure this is the right way to go.
Visions for 2030 are nice in the sense that they cover some of the things that we all want: education, society, prosperity, health, wellbeing and environment, but sometimes there are things that no government can put a vision on. You can have all these sorts of things, but we need a society that has a vision all the time that promotes a belief in something. We can cut our society up into nice sections and say that is fine, we should all be happy by the year 2030, but if people do not have a belief in anything, then what is the point in being here? We are not human beings that can be cut up into little sections or are dissected, and as long as we fit into those little boxes we are happy.
Surely there is more to us than this vision; things like being kind and respectful to people. How many of the problems in society are related to not being kind and respectful to others? Most things that cause us problems in society are because of lack of respect and lack of kindness to one another. We should be trying to reduce conflict. These are philosophical ideas but they are real. We should be less selfish in our society.
Look at the discussions we are having today about society. We are becoming too much ‘me’, rather than ‘us’. We are a society that surrounds ourselves in material goods. It is a strange situation that the federal government - I am not trying to be political because it is not the only government doing it - but it is saying we need to have a stimulus package. Why? So we can buy more material goods. We have a society that relies on a growth in the sale of material goods. You have to wonder if that made us a happier society. Do we have more problems today than people in days gone by, when they did not have television, pokies, iPods and computers?
The vision for the year 2030 is a vision that we should have forever. People had a vision of being kind and respectful in about 0 AD. There are some visions that should go right through our lives, and you would hope, through life as long as it exists. If we do not look at those particular things, then you have to wonder where we are heading as a nation. I do not believe we can deal with our society purely in economic terms. Whilst that is good, we need to have a vision of who we are, where we are going, and some of those deeper questions that all human beings have to ask one another. They may not be the most appropriate things to put in a document like this.
I would like to see philosophy taught at school. I was brought up in a religious school, but we were taught philosophy; we were not just taught religion. We need to have a society that questions why we are here, who we are, and our relationship with other people. That has to be the linking of all these other things within this strategy. The way we look after our old people is how we respect our old people. Why do we have so many people in gaol? Because we do not respect other people or their property and we do not respect them as human beings; we are not kind to them.
We have not taught and instilled those things in our children. We need to focus on some of those things. People knock the idea of manners. I was watching Question and Answer the other day and they were talking about etiquette. They had the ex-president of Carlton, whose name escapes me …
A member: Elliott. John Elliott.
Mr WOOD: Mr Elliott was talking about manners. There was some other lady who said it was a sexist, ageist thing. I did not agree with that. Opening a door for someone is respect. Saying thank you and please is respect for someone. It is not some highfalutin thing, and we need more of that being taught in our society. I would have these things as a vision to promote within our schools and in the media. The media will sometimes knock the behaviour of our young people, yet some of the behaviour of the media actually promotes it. The media puts it out there as sensationalist because it will sell papers.
There are more things that we need to have as part of our vision than what is in this book. They are intangibles in some ways, but they are the more important visions that we need to look at in our lives, otherwise we become like a computer. We should be aiming to be more human, more loving to other people, more kind and respectful, and many of the other things would fall into place.
Mr McCARTHY (Transport): Madam Speaker, I support the statement on the Draft Territory 2030 Strategy and I will make two points.
First, planning is something we all do, from the most mundane day-to-day preparation of a shopping list to the kind of education you would like your kids to undertake. To fail to plan, as the Chief Minister often reminds us, is to plan to fail.
Second, there is a real responsibility on this parliament, from both sides of the Assembly, to develop a vision for the future based on the aspirations of Territorians from all walks of life. This is not to say it has to be a vision with which we all agree, nor is that vision something to be set in stone for all time. It is something that we must develop as time goes on, as circumstances change and as new challenges and opportunities present themselves.
This is what I found so encouraging about the statement on 2030. We have a document which has come not from the bowels of a bureaucracy or the lofty towers of an academy but from a group of dedicated Territorians who have been asked to put forward their vision of the future. As politicians, we are being asked to be part of that process and respond constructively, along with every other citizen in the Northern Territory. How each one of us responds demonstrates our capacity to share in the development of a vision for the future.
As a former teacher, I can only applaud the work of the committee, and its vision and the emphasis on education as the foundation for all that we do in the coming two decades. Too often we forget that education is one of the building blocks of our community and that education is now recognised as a lifelong endeavour, not something abandoned as you leave the school gates for the last time.
The Territory 2030 strategy and its key focus areas of education, society, prosperity, health and wellbeing, environment and knowledge, creativity and innovation, depend on a modern, integrated, safe, sustainable, accessible and effective transport system for success. Transport is an area where planning for the future is paramount, and I appreciate the suggestions made by the committee.
The 2030 plan recognises the need for improving transport infrastructure and services to ensure Territory suburbs, cities, towns, and regions are connected. The movement of people and freight through the appropriate transport channels is integral to the social and economic development of the Northern Territory. Transport improves access to employment, education, recreation, business, health, justice, housing, community, and social opportunities for all people.
The Northern Territory government is finalising a 10-year road strategy and is about to commence the development of two transport strategies: a 10-year integrated regional transport strategy and an overarching Northern Territory transport strategy. These will support, as well as respond to, the 2030 plan and other Northern Territory government policies and initiatives. The road and transport strategies will guide and inform transport services and infrastructure development needs into the future.
A perfect example of this is with our new city of Weddell. While other jurisdictions are deeply pessimistic about the future, we are in the process of planning this new city. Transport within Weddell, as well as its links with Palmerston, Casuarina and the city, will necessarily be part of the planning and development of this city. Its planning will have to allow the replication of our great lifestyle, as well as take on the new challenges of global warming. Public transport will play critical role in this.
At a broader level, the Northern Territory government is responsible for nearly 22 000 km of roads and nearly 200 bridges. The 10-year road strategy will provide a plan for managing the development and operation of the road network into the future. This will be done through a planned approach of assessment, prioritisation and resourcing to allow the Territory to maintain and improve the road network. Views from a broad range of key interest groups have been obtained to underpin the strategy, to ensure that the desires of Territorians and the key drivers of economic growth and social development are met.
The remote and regional areas of the Northern Territory provide considerable challenges for the provision of transport services. The nature of communities in the Northern Territory, and accessibility to them, means that a mix of road, air and marine transport is required across different regions.
The Northern Territory government is about to advertise a consultancy for a comprehensive study of regional transport issues, and opportunities to allow for the development of a 10-year integrated regional transport strategy. The study will be undertaken in close consultation with stakeholders. The consultancy will look at possible Northern Territory government initiatives which can improve and expand transport services to communities, for the movement of both passengers and freight, with key focuses being the provision of public, health and school transport services. The consultancy will make recommendations on possible service delivery models, which may encompass marine, aviation and bus services and will take into account the specific and appropriate requirements of different regions and communities. The outcomes of the study will be available in late 2009.
An overarching 10-year integrated study for the Northern Territory is also being developed to provide a high-level framework to set a number of guiding principles for the development of transport policy and the coordinated delivery of transport services and infrastructure across the Northern Territory. The strategy will include a number of key actions to be implemented to meet the current and future transport challenges for the Northern Territory. These strategies will not only support the Territory 2030 plan and its positioning of the Northern Territory into the future, but will also take into account the delivery of the Northern Territory government’s Closing the Gap, climate change and strategic land use and other key initiatives. Meeting the demand for and delivering transport services and infrastructure is not easy.
The Northern Territory’s extreme climatic conditions, low population base and vast distances between urban centres and towns provide a number of challenges which significantly affect services and infrastructure delivery. However, the Northern Territory government is committed to meeting these challenges and coming up with the best possible solutions to meet community and business demands and expectations.
The Northern Territory government aims to continually improve public transport services. The use of public transport and the move away from private car usage in the Northern Territory’s urban areas will contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the transport sector in the future, and will assist to address road traffic and parking congestion issues. A number of improvements to services have been implemented, or are under way, to improve transport infrastructure and services, and to encourage Territorians in Darwin and Alice Springs to use buses. Improvements to services are the key to increasing patronage on public bus services. In addition, a public transport framework for the Darwin central business district is being developed by the Department of Planning and Infrastructure.
Nearly 100% of the Darwin public bus network has low floor, easy access buses to allow access for people with disabilities, as well as the elderly and parents with prams. A program of new shelters and upgrading of existing bus shelters is continually being rolled out. The recently completed bus shelter near Kokoda Industries in Winnellie provides a high-standard shelter which meets the requirements of people with disabilities and restricted mobility. The design for the shelter was developed in close consultation with disability groups.
A review of commercial passenger services has recently been undertaken and is now available for comment at the government website, www.nt.gov.au/dpi/doc. The review is aimed at providing an improved level of service for consumers and to develop a sustainable industry. Recommendations from the review, which are the basis for further consultation, include the use of three licence categories instead of the current nine; the gradual reduction of the capped ratio to better match supply within existing levels of demand; and the introduction of a standards-based accreditation regime.
The Northern Territory is currently working with other states and territories to develop a national road safety strategy for 2010 to 2020. This work will provide the foundation for a 10-year Northern Territory road safety strategy and benchmark targets referred to in the Territory 2030 plan. Road safety is everyone’s responsibility, but it is important that we all work together to protect our road users. This is not just about changing road user behaviour, but is also a vision for an inherently safe road system for our future generations.
As any bush member can tell you, air transport services are sometimes the only link between communities isolated by Wet Season flooding and the major Northern Territory centres. This isolation can sometimes extend for months. The Northern Territory government maintains a strategic network of 72 regional airports which service major communities throughout the Territory. In recent years, the government has been progressively upgrading these airports to a sealed standard, at a cost of approximately $3m per annum. Funding for ongoing works, including maintenance, is paid directly to communities that have the capability to undertake works, or to contract as necessary. A key component of the regional transport strategy will be the investigation of options relating to improving the services of communities through air transport, including the provision of a regular passenger service where viable and appropriate.
Cycling and walking form important linkages between communities, and the health and social benefits are well recognised. The Territory government, in conjunction with local government, has established an extensive network of cycle paths in Darwin, Palmerston, Katherine, Alice Springs, and Tennant Creek. Reviews of these networks are undertaken on a regular basis, in conjunction with cycling user groups, to determine maintenance and development requirements. Reviews of the Alice Springs, Darwin, and Palmerston cycling networks will be undertaken this year. The Department of Planning and Infrastructure has established bicycle liaison groups in major centres, and these groups have proven to be very successful in providing a communication forum for bicycle users.
In relation to Correctional Services, there are clear implications for planning that arise from the Territory 2030 statement. The priority focus areas I have outlined also give Correctional Services the opportunity to contribute to the overall Territory strategy. Correctional Services will promote lifelong participation in education through the expansion of education and vocational training in the prison system. Our vision is that all prisoners will have the opportunity to benefit from education and training, so that they can increase their employment opportunities and life skills, and potentially, decrease further re-offending. Under the objective of ensuring public safety, Correctional Services aims to work cooperatively to increase community harmony and social cohesion.
This is a new era in Correctional Services which will focus on a number of areas. This includes the construction of the Doug Owston Correctional Facility, incorporating a secure mental health and behaviour management facility. The new facility will be designed to ensure that appropriate facilities are provided for prisoners to effectively participate in education, vocational training, and work and rehabilitation programs.
Appropriate community safety is achieved through the provision of modern electronic and physical security systems, and best practice in innovative design and construction is employed. We are also moving towards a trial in implementation of programs that provide cost-effective alternatives to imprisonment which focus on vocational training, such as prisoner work camps, a trial of which is to be established in the Barkly region.
Further, we are moving to the development of a comprehensive case management system for youth in detention that will focus on reintegration to the community, and particularly on re-engaging youth with education, vocation, and employment programs. Over the coming years, Northern Territory Correctional Services will also focus on the following strategies in support of the Territory 2030 plan:
- ● expanding domestic and Indigenous family violence programs;
● expanding community-based sentencing alternatives, including home detention;
● expanding supported accommodation placements on release from prison;
● increasing opportunities for young offenders in detention to take part in employment programs and activities that enable positive engagement in the community;
● expanding sport and physical activity opportunities;
● working with health authorities to improve the health and wellbeing of offenders;
● expanding sexual and violent offender treatment services and substance abuse programs;
● minimising the impact of incarceration on children and families by preventing re-offending and expanding family access and programs for offenders;
● increasing the number of Indigenous employees in the Northern Territory Correctional Services Department;
● expanding offender reparation programs to benefit the community, for example, through regional prisoner work camps and the community support programs;
● supporting regional economies through the placement of key programs, such as prisoner work camps;
● managing orders of the courts and the Parole Board by effective supervision, compliance monitoring and by encouraging community-based offenders to address issues that lead to offending; and
● providing assessments and reports to the courts and Parole Board to assist with effective sentencing and enhanced judicial decision-making processes.
Prisoner work camps, or outreach programs as they will be known, will be the lynch pin of the Northern Territory Correctional Services plan. Commencing in the Barkly region, these outreach programs will provide a cost-effective alternative to traditional imprisonment. They benefit the community through the provision of valuable work projects, and they benefit prisoners as they gain work skills and a strong work ethic. Low-security rated prisoners will also be required to cook, clean, and generally maintain themselves in a camp as a work-ready environment.
I welcome the Territory 2030 plan and look forward to supporting and achieving its aims through the work of both Transport and Correctional Services, for which I hold ministerial responsibility. Mr Acting Deputy Speaker, I support the statement.
Ms WALKER (Nhulunbuy): Mr Acting Deputy Speaker, I welcome the opportunity to speak on the draft Territory 2030 strategy and commend the steering committee for its hard work and commitment to date in harnessing the views and vision of a wide cross-section of Territorians in order to produce this comprehensive document. I have also enjoyed, for the most part, listening to the views that have been shared in this Chamber, from last Tuesday to today; some quite diverse views.
Some of my colleagues on the other side are somewhat cynical in their judgment of the document, alongside another member of the opposition who said it was a great document and commended the Chief Minister for it. I always enjoy listening to what the member for Nelson has to say and his views on the Territory and where we are headed.
I thank the Chief Minister for the invitation to contribute to the debate and acknowledge that the invitation also invites dissenting views, and we have heard some of those and that is healthy, that is what part of being in this parliament is all about.
One of the challenges of producing a document, a draft plan such as this, is capturing all the views and ideas from different people in different settings, urban, rural, remote and bush, and we all know how challenging it can be to please everyone and to capture the breadth of ideas and find a generic one-size-fits-all kind of approach.
On first read I was, and I still am, greatly impressed and even inspired by the work put forward by the Territory 2030 Steering Committee. It is a bold and visionary strategy, with a wide-reaching and long-term view to see where Territorians will be in a little over 20 years time. In my mind, that is not very far away.
I know that some will say that the strategy maps out targets but it lacks the details on how the final strategy will deliver on its goals. Let us remember that when this strategy is finalised it is what will help to shape and formulate the government’s direction and it is imperative that we begin with a plan, as we heard the member for Nelson say. On Monday evening last week on the news, when the Territory 2030 Steering Committee announced the launch of this document, Bill Moss said that you cannot implement unless you have a vision.
I also acknowledge that contributing to the shaping of this draft strategy, in what has been a fairly aggressive time frame, were Territorians and groups from all manner of backgrounds, including 77 that made formal submissions. While I have not read all of them, I have either read or scanned a few of them, and was pleased to see submissions from my own electorate, from Aboriginal Resource and Development Services, known as ARDS, and Reverend Dr Djininyini Gondarra, from Elcho Island, who is the chair of ARDS, put in a separate submission, advocating for the future of the first Australians, the first Territorians: the Yolngu people.
I read with particular interest the submissions of LGANT, the West Arnhem Shire, Carers NT and long-term educator and Territorian, Henry Gray. I also recognise that the draft strategy has had the input of a fairly diverse group of people across the Territory who took the opportunity to attend and participate in regional meetings. In my electorate, a forum was held at Galiwinku and hosted by steering committee member Professor Jonathan Carapetis on 3 March 2009. On 11 March 2009, a very productive meeting and workshop was held in Nhulunbuy led by Terry Hart, the team leader for Territory 2030. Valuable ideas about the future of the Nhulunbuy region were exchanged and collected and absorbed into the draft strategy.
Members of the steering committee will be visiting Nhulunbuy again this week to meet with members of the East Arnhem Regional Economic Development Committee. I am sorry that my presence in the Chamber will prevent me from attending.
I commend the steering committee and its secretariat for the large amount work, in a relatively short space of time, and for making available and readily accessible a large amount of material, including a series of fact sheets, on a very comprehensive website. However, I express my disappointment that the Arnhem region, let alone the East Arnhem region, has been overlooked for an individual focus with a fact sheet of its own, but rather my region has been grouped together under the single heading of the Top End region, which is an area stretching from Wadeye in the west to Nhulunbuy in the east.
Expedient, perhaps for the sake of communication on the World Wide Web, but let us not forget that regional issues differ and the Top End, as defined on the fact sheet, takes in four different bush electorates. I look forward to engaging with people in my electorate to find out what their views are because the views of Nhulunbuy and the East Arnhem region are unique and different to other parts of the Territory.
The scope of the draft 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 and this is absolutely as it should be. It is what empowers us and sets us on a path from childhood to adult life. It is our key, our link to knowledge, to survival, to economic independence and those without it lack choices, power and most often they face a future which has limitations.
Since winning the US election, Barack Obama has seen unprecedented positive media coverage for one in his position, and so too has his wife, Michelle Obama - not only for her wardrobe. On their recent visit to London for G20, Michelle Obama visited schools where young girls flocked to hear her and to embrace her as a role model. She told them that she is in her position now because of the education she was provided with, and that she embraced and valued as a child. The universal message about the need for education and the importance of attending school has been delivered most recently in the Territory by 2009 Australian of the Year, Professor Mick Dodson, on recent visits to schools in Katherine and Darwin.
There has been a good deal of work around Transforming Indigenous Education and there is still much to do. Governments, at federal and Territory level, historically have failed to meet the deficit in education outcomes for Indigenous children. This government is committed to improving education and recognises the step change needed.
In my electorate, education sits high on the issues agenda, but in particular it is the delivery of education to children and adults in homeland communities. So much evidence points to and supports the quality of life on traditional homelands and we need to continue to support students and their families who choose to remain in their communities on their clan estates. This could be through reshaping the current Homelands Learning Centres, introduction of boarding schools in hub communities and providing transport options for students. In addition, these transport options will lessen people’s reliance on very costly plane charters or costly bush-taxis to have access to the most basic of services, including being able to do their grocery shopping.
On the subject of measuring educational outcomes, I am on the same page as Henry Gray. It is the federal government’s Australia-wide NAPLAN test which has more than highlighted, rather, it has shamed the Territory and put us in the national spotlight for unacceptably high failure rates amongst Indigenous students; especially in remote areas, including my electorate. Professor Helen Hughes regularly reminds me of this.
Schools are preparing for this year’s NAPLAN testing of Years 3, 5, 7, and 9 students in a few weeks time. Measurement is the only way to see if we are improving outcomes but, I share the same hope as Henry Gray, and I quote:
- I hope the way forward will at some stage enable a balance to be achieved that does not focus solely and alone on academic measurement.
Education for all children and adults, whether they are Indigenous or non-Indigenous - and member for Goyder, if the word non-Indigenous offends, do forgive - needs to be meaningful, rewarding, and relevant in order to provide a pathway to knowledge, employment, productive lives, and with that, economic independence. I note with interest that within education, there is an aim to ensure:
- … all Territory students are able to demonstrate achievement in Indigenous studies …
I applaud this inclusion and hope that it is inclusive of local Indigenous history for every school in every region of the Territory. Along with it local Indigenous language should also be part of the language offerings within the curriculum. In my electorate, and I am sure other bush electorates are no different, English is the third, fourth or fifth language for the vast majority of Indigenous people who are fluent speakers of a number of dialects of Yolngu Matha.
However, the reverse of this is that only a small handful of non-Indigenous people are competent speakers of the local language in the region. By 2030, I would like to think those employed in the delivery of services, particularly in government roles to Indigenous people, are trained in Indigenous knowledge and culture and basic language skills. Closing the Gap surely involves some bridge building from both sides of culture.
After education, health takes a very high priority. The shift in thinking, from delivering services to treat the sick to deal with the challenges of making and keeping people well, is significant. Speaking for my electorate of Nhulunbuy, the delivery of health services, especially in the preventative area, can only be successful where it recognises that health education is central. How can we do that? We need to provide people with information that they can access, understand, and relate to.
This is what Aboriginal Resource Development Services describe as ‘health literacy’ in its submission. It means we need to provide information in language, and we need provide support with competent and trained health workers who can translate so that people can make the connection between cause and effect when it comes to their health. In the Treasurer’s budget announcement today, I was very pleased to see that in my region, ARDS will receive $0.21m in order to continue its work in economic development and community service with the Yolngu people of North East Arnhem Land.
There are other things that we can do in the area of health, beginning with things like smoking; to legislate or target smoking and reduce the terrible impact that it has on Territorians, Indigenous people in particular, but also non-Indigenous people. Training and growing our own doctors, nurses, and allied health professionals is also a path we must continue to go down. The NT, as we heard from our Health Minister in the Chamber last week, is the only jurisdiction that does not have a medical school of its own. If we want to grow our own to keep medical professionals in the Northern Territory, including remote areas, we must work harder to train and retain them.
With this draft document we move into the next phase of consultation, where community input is invited again, through another series of forums and, quite innovatively, Territorians have the opportunity to provide their feedback online through the feedback forum on the Territory 2030 website, which allows visitors to enter and edit text into the current drafts. I have been online and completed the five-minute online survey which enables people to reorganise the priority of each of the objectives for each of the focus areas. At the end of the process, we will see a concrete document put up to government for consideration as policy.
Personally, I find the Territory 2030 process exciting and engaging in adopting a whole-of-Territory view for the future. I have one question - which I have already received assurance on - that the strategy, when finalised and adopted as policy, remains our constant reference point; our road map. I deal with a certain amount of cynicism in my electorate from constituents who, in the last few years, have been overwhelmed by the introduction of new or changes to existing government policy. It is imperative that we keep Territorians engaged and informed, that we continue to communicate and consult with them, to ensure that we are all on the same path and on the same journey; working together in one direction towards common goals.
Madam Speaker, I thank the Chief Minister for his statement on Territory 2030 and commend it to the House.
Mr CHANDLER (Brennan): Madam Speaker, I will also speak about the 2030 plan and about the importance of planning. Congratulations to the committee and all the others who have been involved, including public servants, in putting this document together.
I have heard it said before that this plan, this vision, is more a job for the government than the committees and the consultants. Residents want leaders and visionaries, not ministers willing to devolve their responsibilities wherever or whenever they feel. The member for Nelson said earlier today that there is one thing we have all failed to do and that is to apply a little analysis. I suggest that we could go all around this country and to any governments that existed over the years, perhaps even around the world, where they have all put together plans for the future, perhaps similar plans. Our own Prime Minister, Mr Rudd, had the 2020 plan, as we all know. I do not know if going 2030 is one better, or it could have been 2040. That 2020 plan, which would have cost this nation a fair amount of money and much very good advice, is going to waste as I believe very few of those initiatives are being taken forward.
I remember in 1985, when I first came to the Northern Territory, I was amazed at Bagot Road and the overpass, given the amount of traffic which appeared to travel on that road during the day and the evening. You have roads that are three and four lanes wide, and there was barely a car on the road. I thought: ‘This place has been designed for the future’. I took my hat off to the planners at the time - the people had the vision to provide something for the future.
Yet, I struggle – and, again, I cannot help but be cynical - when I see the situation that Palmerston and the rural area has been in, in recent years, appreciating that Tiger Brennan Drive is on the books and is something which is going to go ahead. The tap was turned off for that area of the Top End, and it was as if the vision had lost the way, as was said earlier. We were left, and we still are today – I know what it is like coming in, in the morning, it is terrible to try to get into the city in the morning. If we had planned to do the Tiger Brennan extension perhaps four or five, maybe even six or seven years ago, we would not be in the position we are today. I question the vision that was there years ago, that seems to have come to a severe halt in recent years.
To be honest, part of the reason that I got into politics in the first place was through frustration with the way the government today appears to use consultants the way it does and the way that it uses committees without wanting to make decisions itself. I look back at the consultation in regard to the middle schools where, first of all, I am on the public record suggesting that I support middle schools. But the consultation phase was more of a grandiose presentation, where it was very clear from the outset that the government was not listening to what people had to say in regard to middle schools. It was more about presenting middle schools in the best way it possibly could and to get everyone in the audience to agree with its side of the argument.
It was the same thing with compulsory school uniforms which were introduced - we are talking about vision, we are talking about planning for the future - but the school that I represented, Bakewell, had an exceptionally high rate of parents who sent their children to school wearing their uniforms - fantastic results - 97% and 98% of the children turning up in uniform. However, the council and the parents I spoke with did not enjoy the fact that it was going to be compulsory; we will tell you what to do. Again, it was through this consultation practice, which we all had to respond to government with what we felt. As a chair of the school at the time, I supported school uniforms. I believe it shows pride in one’s school, and you can see the difference in a child who is in uniform and one who is without. You only need to talk to any teacher who will tell you the difference in their behaviour. I supported uniforms, but it was how it was presented and how the consultation was conducted. I know it was put back from one school in particular, and others, where they took issue with the fact that it was becoming compulsory.
Consultation again, in regard to Rosebery schools. You have a government that is going into battle with local councils over a road, whether it should or should not be put between the two schools. It was as though, during the consultation phase, the plan had already been put down, agreed to and made, prior to the consultation. So when you have your consultants talking to the community, you do not have them listen to the community, and bring back to government what the community’s thoughts are; more so, it is for the sake of consultation, rather than really listening to the community and going back.
If the government was serious about listening to the community, perhaps they would turn up to more public meetings. I know you had one recently with Arafura. I look at the public meeting at Howard Springs regarding the INPEX development and the workers camp. The sad thing was that there were no government representatives at that meeting. The member for Nelson, members from our side and I went to that public meeting. INPEX sent someone to that meeting, yet there were no government representatives. If the government was really concerned about listening to the future, and about having a vision and a plan, you would think it would turn up to these public meetings.
You look at our harbour, and the vision of where our future heavy industries, gas and the downstream petroleum industries are likely to occur. The bottom line is that what happens on the harbour today is what we will be left with. With vision and planning it should have been Glyde Point, or even further out, where there was a vast tract of land away from where residents live.
While we are talking about that, let us look at Berrimah Farm and the prison, moving the prison for the sake of getting a little land for housing. You are going to land-lock East Arm. In 10, 20 or 30 years where are the businesses that want to develop going to go when the peninsula is filled, particularly when they need access to a port? And it will fill. It might be after every person in this House is no longer with us, but it will fill. The only natural course is for it to come back towards the current industrial area of Berrimah, but it will not be able to now because that place will be filled with houses, as will the prison site. There is a lack of vision and planning and I am really worried that the East Arm area will be land-locked.
Here is a little vision for Weddell. Why was there not the opportunity for Weddell to be given to INPEX to start a little city? Perhaps they could have built it using the DHA model, where a developer basically builds two and three bedroom homes and builds a village that could be on-sold to local investors to give first homebuyers access into the market. Those homes could be leased back by INPEX whilst they were building the new plant. Young investors would have a three or four year opportunity to get rent back from this village. It would also provide the INPEX workers a wonderful opportunity to live in a little village atmosphere, far better than living in some workers camp. We know that INPEX wants to put in a pool, tennis courts, restaurants, mini-golf and things like that, and perhaps a few parks and gardens. Guess what, we have the start of our little city.
Weddell gets a kick start through developers, at no cost to this government. Perhaps the government could bring the services to the Weddell site but then give that site to INPEX. They then pass it on to a developer who develops our little city. Perhaps that is the way INPEX could give back to our community. This is one idea. I see so many opportunities for young people to get into the housing market with a tenant for the first three or four years, while the camp is being built. And wow! We just got the start of our new little city at little or no cost to the government. It is just an idea.
I question the timing of this strategy. I am not sure of this, but sometimes you think these plans are put on the table to defer our thoughts away from some of the critical issues that are affecting people today. Planning is important - it is vital. However, to seemingly ignore current issues is abysmal.
One of the current issues is housing. I could take the Minister for Housing to some places, not in Soweto, but in Woodroffe, Moulden and other suburbs that are not part of a third-world country, or show him some photos I have of cars that have been burned or trashed, units that have been vacant for many months with the excuse that there is no money in the budget to put paint them or clean them up and put tenants in. We know that the list of people waiting to get into these homes is longer than my arm and yet there are vacant properties. We talk about not having the money to do this, but perhaps we could collect some of the rents that are due on these properties, or clean them up quickly and get new tenants in that are paying the rent, as a way of getting some revenue back into the government coffers.
I could show you an area that is more like a war zone. I have had a few people saying that my stance on public housing is a little harsh and that some people in our community need to be treated with kid gloves. I would not like to see anyone on the street because they have been kicked out of public housing. However, there needs to be some rules and there needs to be some respect for the community that we live in and if people do not want to live by those rules, then unfortunately, yes, they should be on the street. That may appear harsh, but it will be their choice, not ours.
Another issue is the private housing market at the moment. The lack of land releases is the single largest issue causing the high cost of housing and clearly putting most young families out of the property market. We are talking about 2030, but these are some of the current issues the government should be working on as hard as they can to ensure that land is released at a fast enough rate to ensure that the market is not over-inflated. The reality is that the average wage is not keeping up with the cost of housing.
The high cost of rent is a flow-on from that. Again, we are planning for 2030, but what are some of the things that we are doing today? What are some of the policies we are developing today and what are their effects on things like the rental market? The average person who comes here and cannot afford a 3 or 4-bedroom home is deciding to pack up and leave the Territory. These are good people, hard workers, but they leave because they cannot afford to live here. This is regrettable.
Health, hospitals, and oncology, this is another one that with perhaps a little vision could have been used. My understanding of an oncology unit is that it is autonomous to the hospital and yet, it also needs accommodation. At the moment, Palmerston needs a hotel to keep the place vibrant and to assist with its development. The first step of a hospital for the Palmerston and rural area may have been to put the oncology unit there. Together, it would give a developer a real opportunity to see a return on building a hotel.
The sad thing is that law and order comes down to a lack of community respect. Unfortunately today, many people’s attitudes are focused on their own rights. If you want rights, you have responsibilities. I noted a text to the editor the other day where a young person felt that it was his right to get the dole. Another story relates to a gentleman who came into my office a couple of weeks ago who wanted help because Centrelink had cut off his payments. I said: ‘That does not sound fair. Why have they cut off your payments?’ He said: ‘Apparently I did not turn up to an interview’. I said: ‘That does not sound right. Surely there has to be some kind of level playing field.’ He answered: ‘I did not turn up to three interviews.’ I said: ‘And you expect Centrelink to pay you?’ He said: ‘Yeah, I was busy.’ I said: ‘If you were busy, why were you not busy working?’
It is amazing how people have this attitude that someone owes them a living. It is really sad. There is always going to be an element of society that it will be that way, whether they are brought up that way by their parents and the values that they have instilled in them. It is sad to think that we have a government that is trying to plan for the future and yet many of today’s policies are causing this effect in the community; that people have a focus on themselves rather than what they can do for the community.
This is another point to do with our prisons. I was looking at a Victorian program the other day. Victoria has a huge problem with prisoners who leave prison and within days or weeks are back in prison, with no real chance to start again. I am talking about people who have spent a long time in prison. Victoria is starting to talk about a program that allows prisoners to work in the community, similar to a program we have, but they get paid to do that. They have a choice: they can learn a trade, some kind of vocation that will give them an opportunity later on or they can work for the community. Whilst it is not much money, they are paid. I believe it is in the realm of $40 to $50 a day. This is a new program it is looking at.
The end result is that you could have a prisoner, leaving prison, with not only the skills necessary in the outside world, but they may have $2000, $3000, $4000 in their back pocket. They are not homeless or back on the street the first night they leave. They are not back in that same cycle where they are throwing a rock through a window to go back to prison, or end up back on drugs or alcohol. These people leave with some money so they can pay for accommodation. They are removed from that environment and have the skills to back them up. Not only is there a little money behind them but also the skills that help. These programs are out there and are worth exploring a little more.
Programs like Brahminy could be taken further. We have a demographic at the moment that is falling apart and, if we are serious about planning for the future, these kids and these kinds of programs need to be studied further. We need to get more of these children, who have fallen on the wrong side of society, into these programs with a chance of rehabilitation, with a chance to right the wrongs and show them that the world is a good place and that they have a place in our community; give them a real chance to survive.
Madam Speaker, sometimes, I cannot help being cynical about this government’s approach to the future, given its track record. Over the past seven or eight years, we have been let down severely. I hope that a plan such as this will be taken on, and we can see some real results. I wish you well, Chief Minister.
Mr GUNNER (Fannie Bay): Madam Speaker, I support the Chief Minister’s statement and the draft strategy. It is a good start. That is where we are at; it is a draft strategy.
The steering committee has been given a huge job to work out, with Territorians, the kind of place we want the Territory to be in 2030. The strategy is aspirational and it is meant to be. We should be bold about the kind of place we want the Territory to be. Territorians are confident and optimistic, and we have already forged a great place to live. We can make it even better. The best way to do that is to plan for a better Territory, to have a clear, shared vision of the Territory we want. That shared vision will be Territory 2030 and it will inform all future decisions. It is a very useful, integral strategy about where we are going forward as a place.
The steering committee has done much work to date, but what we have before us is just a good start. There is more work that we need to do to turn this draft strategy into an agreed shared vision of where we want to be in 2030. Sometimes it is self-evident where we want to be in 2030; sometimes it is not so obvious. What is clear is that, if we make day-to-day decisions, year-to-year decisions, and even if we make decisions as part of five-year strategic plans, having a shared vision of where we want to be in 2030 will make those decisions easier to make.
This is where the inspiration, ingenuity, confidence and aspirations of Territorians are so important. If this strategy is going to work, it must be owned by Territorians. It must be contested and forged through robust consultation and ongoing rigour. To ensure the spirit of contestability, open debate, and constructive consultation, the decision made by the Chief Minister to not only entrust this job to an independent steering committee of outstanding people, but to formally make them part of the Cabinet process, is significant - it is historic for the Territory. Many people probably do not appreciate the significance of that step, but as a measure of the seriousness and credibility we afford this strategy, the Chief Minister has opened up the Cabinet process. In the implementation of this document, and reporting against the goals that will be in the final strategy, there will be a Cabinet subcommittee of independent people from outside the government to ensure that we stay on track in achieving those clear, shared goals that will be in the final Territory 2030 strategy.
One of the reasons the Chief Minister had confidence was because of the quality of people on the steering committee. Quite a few people in this House have spoken during debate of the quality of the members of this committee including Vicki O’Halloran, the CEO of Somerville, as Co-Chair; Bill Moss who has 33 years experience in the Australian global financial market; Michael Berto; Jan Ferguson; Ted Egan; Jonathan Carapetis; Steve Margetic; and Denis Mackenzie are all outstanding people. I know they will be doing their best in pulling together the aspirations of Territorians and forging a clear, shared vision for Territory 2030.
The steering committee has done some serious work in predicting some of the baseline conditions that will exist in the Territory in 2030. Where and how will our population grow? What does that mean for basic service provision, the growth of our economic base, and the impact on our environment? It is predicted that in 2030, the Top End will be hotter and wetter. I do not support that part of the statement. However, one fact that stands out to me, on page 9 of the document, is the doubling of the population of Territorians aged over 60. That is something I am already sensitive to in my electorate. Looking at the broad vision that the steering committee outline, it is hard to disagree with the broad picture painted by Territorians for the future.
As other members of the House have already commented, it is pretty straightforward and it is hard to disagree with things like lifelong learning; Indigenous Territorians enjoying the fruits provided by a modern society, walking comfortably in our two cultures; that it will be a state, I am sure the Minister for Statehood is very confident about that one; it will be a healthy community having made great strides against preventable illness. These are all things that we are comfortable agreeing with. We will be an inclusive society that will have high levels of homeownership, which is a critical element to retaining and growing our local population, and we will be true custodians of our natural heritage. Everything on pages 5 and 6 provide a clear outline of where we want to go.
New initiatives that could make a significant systemic improvement to how we approach government in the Territory, how we think about the decisions we make, and how we measure those decisions, are the suggestions for having a triple bottom line, the steering committee described it as a wellbeing index, and a Northern Territory household survey to gather accurate information about the state of our communities.
Regarding the wellbeing index, or the triple bottom line, I am sure most members are aware of the idea of measuring outcomes in the context of economic, environmental, and social impacts. The idea of finding a way to formalise a triple bottom line for government reporting is worth considering, but it will probably give Treasury a bit of a headache. It is likely that the steering committee is right, and this will result in the government having a more accurate measure of the health of a community.
It is important to remember, though, that the government does not work in isolation; businesses, the non-government sector, community groups, and individuals all influence and impact on the health and wellbeing of the community. We need to bear that in mind when we consider the impact of governmental decisions.
With regard to the Northern Territory household survey, there has been much debate in the Chamber in the past about the reliability of the census data. I can remember the former member for Nhulunbuy being particularly vocal on the subject. The suggestion of a regular household survey seems an eminently sensible solution to give the government access to data that allows it to tailor its actions.
The steering committee mentioned that complex methodologies would be required; a telephone survey would not be enough. That is an important point, because some of the most important data we need will often be from people who have no phone. Having accurate data on a more regular basis will lead to better decision-making by the government, and having a fresh look at how we measure outcomes, adopting a triple bottom line, will allow the government, and the general community to have a better way of assessing the government’s decisions.
The steering committee identified one clear priority, education, and five separate focus areas of health and wellbeing; prosperity; knowledge, creativity and innovation; society; and, environment. There is no doubt that education is important. The steering committee has raised the idea of establishing an Institute for Education and Child Development. As I understand it, the institute will tie together education, health and the early years. It will be a research and policy centre, not an education and health service delivery centre. I am interested to find out more about this proposal. I am sure it is not the intention of the steering committee to create an extra level of bureaucracy or a new body to do the work that the Department of Health and Families or the department of Education should be doing. We need to tackle the problems that emerge in many children before they reach school. There is a gap, and the steering committee has identified that it needs attention.
There is a need for more research that would lead to new policy directions for the government on early childhood education. The Territory is different in many ways to most other places in the world. We have very difficult challenges that we need to address in early childhood. There is no doubt we can do better as a community. This involves families, not just the government, talking about issues that emerge between when a child is born and when they attend school, when children are not often involved with a formal body like a school, so that issues can be identified and addressed. That is a very public understanding, I believe, of the situation we have, and there will be an ongoing public debate about it for a long time. As with any public debate, sound research is important so that we have an informed debate and make informed decisions.
There is no doubt that we have some very important goals we need to meet, hopefully well before 2030, when it comes to education. There are many children and adults who need to learn to read and write. I agree with the steering committee that we should expect our children to perform as well as any other children in Australia. I also agree that education is not just for schoolchildren; learning new skills as adults, going to courses after hours, and doing postgraduate work should continue through our lives. While this happens now, we should be prepared for this to be an area of growing demand. Technology is constantly evolving and it will change how we live, both at home and at work. There is a growing diversity in occupations people are employed in, and sometimes that is out of their control.
The Territory is connected to the global economy and we have seen the swiftness with which industries can change, emerge, or even disappear. We want to be able to provide a highly-skilled and stable workforce for business in the Territory. The best way to do that is to grow skills at home, and that is where the challenges of the bush probably emerge - distance, health, governance, and more. Technology will help us tackle the challenges in providing education. We have a huge territory to cover, but everyone in the Territory should be able to access a great education.
For example, there is one great initiative in schools for children who have middle ear disease. As you can imagine, if you cannot hear the teacher you will not learn, and if you are in class you are more than likely to be mucking up, although it is more likely that you will be a truant. The teachers wear a microphone that hangs comfortably around their neck and the students have headphones to enable them to hear the teacher. I believe the students pass around a microphone so others can hear what is going on in the classroom. It would be better if they did not have middle ear disease in the first place, and that is a challenge we need to tackle, perhaps through the institute the steering committee proposes, but it is great to see simple technology conquering problems and delivering quality education to all children.
The challenges and advantages of Darwin becoming a university town are exciting and significant. Universities bring with them a vibrant energy, something Darwin is already known for, and it will be amazing to see where the Territory could go and what we could be capable of achieving if we took our already passionate population and added to it a larger university population. This is the kind of bold vision that, if adopted in the final strategy, would have important implications of future decisions by the Territory government. It would also have an impact on our relationship with the federal government because it would need to come on board if we were to make that a reality.
Under the five focus areas there is a series of important ambitions – significant aims and aspirations, in some cases they are self-evident, and others are exciting new ideas. The steering committee has done a great job in putting those ideas together into this draft document. There has been much hard work by the Territory 2030 Steering Committee to bring us to this point. It is a point to jump off from; as a place to start discussion to inspire people to contribute. The committee has done an excellent job.
The second round of consultations will commence now and people can meet the steering committee to discuss the draft strategy at a series of meetings up and down the track. There is a 2030 website, a postal address, as some people still like to formally write, and there is a number you can call if you would like to discuss the draft strategy with the steering committee.
Like the member for Nhulunbuy, I hopped online and did the five-minute survey - it was probably faster than five minutes. I encourage all Territorians to make an effort to contribute in some way to the final strategy. I commend this statement to the House.
Mr HENDERSON (Chief Minister): Madam Speaker, I thank all honourable members for their contributions to what has been a very important debate in this House on the Territory 2030 Draft Strategy, prepared for the Territory community by the steering committee that has done such a magnificent job in taking the debate to this point.
Some of the supposed expert commentary is running the line that the government should not ask the community what its aspirations are, which is very condemning of Territorians having the capacity to inform and advise the government, and put forward a point of view for the government to consider. I have every confidence in Territorians expressing their vision of what the Territory should or could look like in 2030.
As we have said all along, the committee will produce its final report, and it will then be up to the government to make the hard decision of whether we accept the recommendations made by the committee. But I have confidence in Territorians. The Territory is a magnificent place; I would not live anywhere else in the world. The Territory is full of wonderful, creative, talented, and entrepreneurial people who have a vision for the Territory, and it would be myopic, in the extreme, to believe that only the Chief Minister, or nine people in Cabinet, should have a view of where the Territory should go. I have confidence in Territorians and I thank those Territorians who have taken part in the debate so far.
It is disappointing to hear the heart of the CLP’s response. Some of the opposition members, not all of them, have delivered a negative, carping and knocking appraisal of both the aims and objectives of Territory 2030.
Members interjecting.
Mr HENDERSON: I said some, not all. I will go through the comments and the process adopted to arrive at these conclusions. Instead of spending time laying out their vision for the future of the Territory, the members for Blain, Drysdale, and Katherine spent much of their time in response commenting cynically on the process, the steering committee, and the likely response from the government.
I will quote from the Daily Hansard. The member for Katherine said:
- This is not representation of the people of the Northern Territory; this is a bunch of ministers and MLAs banging on about how they are going to protect their jobs coming into the future. That is all it is. These are politically charged ideas and decisions that they make. They are designed to do nothing more than protect themselves …
That is the cynical, carping response from the member of Katherine.
I went to Katherine for the community discussion on 2030, which many people attended; both new and old faces. It was a very lively debate; there was enthusiasm about the concept of 2030 and generated many great ideas about developing Katherine and the region, both socially and economically. There was another public meeting that was also well attended. I am not sure whether the member for Katherine attended the public meeting but he did not attend the meeting I attended. The view of Katherine residents and some of the leaders in the Katherine community - both business and community leaders - was one of great interest in contributing to the debate for the development of the Katherine region.
For the member for Katherine to decry his own constituents and believe that his own constituents are some patsy for the government’s self-interest is a poor reflection on his acceptance of the views of the Katherine community who took part by making a submission. I can only imagine what the members of the steering committee think when they hear themselves described in this way. I would hardly call Bill Moss and Steve Margetic card-carrying political hacks, and I imagine that Ted Egan and Jan Ferguson would feel fairly aggrieved. In fact, all members of the committee would find his comments offensive.
The member is wrong on another front. This document is drafted from the ideas of Territorians. The suggestions came from Territorians in formal submissions and at face-to-face meetings. They are not politically charged ideas; these ideas came from members of the Territory community.
I pick up on comments made by my colleague, the Business Minister: many of the ideas are visionary and expansive. The Opposition Leader compared the exercise to processes - I do not know where he was coming from - in Abu Dhabi and Kenya. He has clearly flagged his lack of commitment. How on earth he managed to pull Abu Dhabi and Kenya into this debate, I am not sure. He likened me to Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe in another debate. He seems to have not only a fascination with Taiwan but with Africa at the moment. How that relates to the Northern Territory goodness only knows. The Leader of the Opposition gave a rambling critique on a whole range of issues and did not deal with many of the ideas, the structure of this particular report, or the work that has gone into it.
The exception to the cynicism of some of the CLP members was the member for Braitling. I congratulate him on some free-thinking, untainted by the need to constantly oppose everything that not only the government does, but also the hard work that the steering committee has put into Territory 2030. The member for Braitling said:
- This document is a good one. Having been a manager in different areas and managing different projects, I see that producing a document like this is a good way of doing business. It is a sensible way of going about the process.
I thank the member for Braitling for taking this document on face value and understanding the passion and the commitment of Territorians who have worked hard, in their own time, to take us to where we are today. He went on to comment on elements of the proposal and offered the view that the Katherine growth issues are not being fully addressed in the document. This is the sort of commentary that we have been seeking in the debate; comments seeking to improve the document and its output.
I am also grateful to the member for Port Darwin for a more positive contribution to this document than that given by his leader. The member for Drysdale maintained his usual standard of contribution in this debate, and I point out to the member that the document is based on current growth projections; they are not frozen in time.
The government takes the development of the regions very seriously, and we have just handed down a budget that shows record investment in housing, roads, and developing education and community infrastructure across the regions of the Northern Territory. Throughout the document, it is clear that the committee also takes that growth very seriously. Should the member feel that there should be a greater emphasis on Katherine then he should make that submission accordingly. That is what the website is there to do; to put a submission through for consideration by the committee.
The member for Goyder, who spoke twice on this debate - I do not know how she managed to do that, some of the watch keepers have advised me that she spoke twice - posed some good questions about the future needs of the Territory. A mistake the member for Goyder made, and with due respect, a mistake made by a number of people, was to assume that the document will comprehensively cover everything that needs to be achieved between now and 2030. That is not what this document is designed to achieve.
It is designed to be an aspirational framework document with key targets and performance indicators for the government, both now and in the future, to strive towards, based on the aspirations of Territorians. No document could achieve a blueprint that would seek to address every single issue, either economic or social, that the government and the community will confront between now and 2030. For a start, issues will change and priorities will shift as the different parts of the economic and social cycle emerge. New challenges and new technologies will emerge and no document can foresee those issues. The document strives to have an overview of the key goals and commitments that we want to achieve, the type of community we want to live in, and the place where we want to be.
I go to the fairly histrionic contribution by the member for Fong Lim. I was paying attention to the contribution from the member for Fong Lim while I was in my office working on some paperwork. I kept on having to turn the volume down because as his level of enthusiasm for the debate increased in volume it also increased in octaves. He went up an octave each time he went up in volume ...
Dr Burns: Like Roy Orbison.
Mr HENDERSON: That is right. It was like a Roy Orbison performance. You were almost a falsetto there at one point, member for Fong Lim, you were participating so enthusiastically in the debate.
The member for Fong Lim has done a few things in his life – the same as I have; I have done a few jobs in my time - but you missed your calling in life, member for Fong Lim, you should have been a stand-up comedian. I believe you would make a pretty good stand-up comedian; long on quality, short on common sense and practical advice. That is what we have come to expect from the member for Fong Lim. The rhetoric is there. All the old conservative shibboleths are trotted out about the Labor government being for debt, and the conservatives for responsible financial management, but it does skirt around the facts. Never let the facts get in the way of a good piece of political rhetoric, member for Fong Lim.
When he was talking about Labor governments going into debt, he did not mention that we have just come off six surplus budgets in a row; six surplus budgets that paid $380m of CLP debt, which we inherited when we came to government. There was no acknowledgement that this government has created thousands of jobs in the Northern Territory economy, and has seen private sector investment in the Northern Territory run at a pace that was never imagined under the CLP government. Business confidence is the highest in the nation – not only confidence in their businesses, but confidence in the government’s management of the economy. No comments at all about record population growth in the Northern Territory.
All of these significant advances in the economic circumstances of the Northern Territory. No comment about the broadening of the Territory’s economic base or that under a Labor government - it was never the case under a CLP government - we are the lowest-taxing jurisdiction for small business in the country by a significant margin. What we have from the member for Fong Lim is the usual political rhetoric that will grab a headline, but you could never make a policy from.
The real results of this government are nothing to be ashamed of. We have worked really hard to be where we are today. We have a long way to go and there is much work to do to continue to build the economic and social capacity of the Northern Territory.
Let me give a couple of examples. There has been much rhetoric that we have spent a great deal of money, but where are the results? Let us look at health services. We have better health services today than ever before. The government has delivered 100 more hospital beds, a birth centre, a hospice, and the rapid admission unit. There are an extra 170 doctors and 500 extra nurses employed in Territory Health services, and that will be increased in this budget.
Then you try to run an argument that we are employing extra doctors and extra nurses, but where are the results? There is a range of specialist services that are available in the Territory which were never available when the CLP was in government. You had to get on a plane and fly south.
The additional Royal Darwin Hospital specialist services include: a haematologist to work with the oncologist at Royal Darwin Hospital; a cancer care nurse; a gastroenterologist; increased numbers of allied health physiotherapists, occupational therapists and pharmacists; extra paediatricians; an extra eye specialist; a surgeon assigned to the RAPU unit; an additional intensive care specialist; an additional wound care nurse; and a microbiologist, outside the generalist doctors. That is a significant increase in the clinical capacity of Royal Darwin Hospital which has significantly improved the care being provided to Territorians.
Let us look at Alice Springs Hospital. It is hard to recruit specialists in the Northern Territory, even more so to our regional hospitals, but in Alice Springs we have an additional intensive care specialist; an intensive senior care registrar; a 0.5 emergency consultant; nine additional emergency department registered nurses; six additional junior medical officers; an additional emergency senior registrar; and one additional general surgeon. Do not tell me that those people are not making a real and substantive difference to the quality of clinical care provided at Alice Springs Hospital.
Do not tell me that an additional 580 nurses are not providing significant improvements to the quantity and quality of care provided in the Northern Territory. If you look at the population growth between 2001 and 2009 - I have not done the equations and the sums - but this is a significant increase in the overall capacity of our health system. It is not just keeping up with population growth; it is improving the capacity of our health system and the care being provided to Territorians. The continual critical condemnation from members opposite of the quality of the health system in the Northern Territory is a kick in the guts to the thousands of people who work in the Health department; in our hospitals, community health centres …
Dr BURNS: A point of order, Madam Speaker! I move that the Chief Minister be given an extension of time pursuant to Standing Order 77.
Motion agreed to.
Mr HENDERSON: Madam Speaker, I thank honourable members. The challenge in this document, in terms of health and wellbeing, is to make sure that we understand the challenges of making people well, not just treating the sick. That is a very astute recommendation. How you put action items around that and set targets is a debate for another day. The Health Minister has talked about improvements to primary health care. But it is not just about the health system; it is about the wellbeing of Territorians, so that in the future, fewer Territorians will present to hospital in early age than they do currently.
There are around 3000 people in training, which is 50% more people receiving training than in 2001. That is a significant achievement. What are the practical outcomes of that? There is a more skilled workforce and community and that is better for people looking for work and for employers trying to source skilled workers. People opposite talk about what have you actually achieved? We have more people per capita in apprenticeships and traineeships in the Territory than anywhere else in Australia and we need to do more. We will do more. That is more young people being given skilled opportunities than ever before.
I recall debates in this House sometime ago when the former Treasurer was questioning the CLP Education and Training minister about the jobs plan? What was the vision for a jobs plan? Why did not the government of the day have a jobs plan? This is not going back too far in history, maybe 10, 11, 12 years ago, the CLP Education minister stood up and said that you do not need a jobs plan; kids leave school and they get a job. What is the point of a jobs plan? That was the CLP’s jobs plan – kids leave school and they get a job. No vision, focus, policy effort, or financial contribution - just sink or swim. That was essentially the policy of the CLP of the day. If you are good enough you will get a job. If you are not good enough, who cares, you will pick something up along the way. We are not like that. We believe integrally in the contribution each Territorian can make to our community and society if they have the education that they should have and if they are given the training opportunities to take advantage of our growing economy.
I am grateful for the contributions from the members and ministers on this side of the House. The minister for Natural Resources, Environment and the Arts laid out a clear vision for the integrated and sustainable Territory she wants to see in 2030 and the creative future she envisages for our community. I also appreciated her comments on Indigenous policy issues raised by the draft strategy. These are big issues for the Territory; the conservation of our environment and balancing that with the need for developing the economy and jobs.
The member for Macdonnell is a well regarded artist in her own right. The artistic and creative capacity of Territorians can benefit from being encouraged and developed. The commitment on this side of the House to significant Indigenous policy reform will continue, and we will strive and continue to deliver, not only policy reforms, but real improvements for Indigenous people around the Northern Territory.
The Minister for Housing contributed detail on how he would achieve affordability in housing. The issue of housing affordability was a significant element of the feedback I witnessed during the first 2030 consultation process. I agree with the aim of lifting our affordability to above the national average by 2015. Those are the sorts of targets that will be considered by the government and either accepted or rejected. By putting those targets out there, it gives a platform to construct policies to ensure we work towards those targets. The government is already working towards that. Earlier this year, the committee was briefed on the proposals that we have put in place under the Housing the Territory Strategy released on 4 March 2009.
I now outline what happens next. Territorians will be given every possible opportunity to comment on the aspirational goals set out in this document. They will be given the opportunity to push their own aspirations and to comment on those they believe should not be a part of the document. Whilst this is being done, a significant body of work is under way to quantify these targets. Once the final draft comes to the government, it will be converting those aspirational targets into measurable targets to aim for. Once those targets are in place, the government will focus its effort on achieving those goals. The final document, which goes before the public, will be a document with clearer targets; targets that are clearly enumerated.
The government and the public sector will then be organised to focus on achieving these goals. Every year the government will publish achievements against the targets. Every two years there will be a review of the targets to ensure they remain relevant. In between, there will be a subcommittee of Cabinet which will contain the co-chairs of the committee, monitoring the performance of the government and the public service against these targets.
That is very significant reform. The subcommittee of Cabinet is not determinant; it is not a decision-making body. But, it is a formal subcommittee of Cabinet and the co-chairs, Vicki O’Halloran and Bill Moss, will be able to speak directly to CEOs, and hold them to account for how their departments are striving towards the targets. It will be a breath of fresh air in ensuring that the government’s policy, goals, objectives and commitments are focused on by CEOs and government departments.
The Territory 2030 targets will be the most monitored and transparent of any targets produced by any government in the Territory’s history. Let me give an example of how I expect this to work. If in the final document we decide that the target will be to make housing affordability in the Territory above the national average by 2015, I expect the responsible departments will take that goal and provide a plan for implementing it. That plan will go to the relevant minister for approval. I would then expect that minister to report against that plan to the subcommittee of Cabinet and to Cabinet. I would also expect that in their regular reports, ministers will be able to tell me whether we are on target. I expect that in any public report on the target that information would be made clear to Territorians. If the target is not being achieved, I would also expect a plan to fix it.
During budget deliberations, I expect that our priorities in allocating funds would be determined, in a large part, by the priorities we have established in the Territory 2030 document. Members should not be in doubt about the seriousness with which we take this particular process.
I thank the subcommittee for all their work to date. I know that the subcommittee will be reading contributions to the debate by members in this House, and this will form a formal part of the feedback to the Territory 2030 document. To those members, on both sides of the House - and I acknowledge the member for Brennan, who was fairly constructive in his comments on the document – who have made a positive contribution in the good faith that this document has been brought before us, I thank you.
For those members opposite who have been cynical not only about the document, but of the motives of the government in bringing forward this plan, I ask you to look again. I am not bold enough to believe, or some people might say dream, that this government will be here in 2030, although, with different people in the government, between now and then, there is a possibility, given the political history in this country. I hope that we would hang on until 2030, but there is a possibility of a change of government between now and 2030. That is the reality of the facts of political cycles. However, I like to think that whoever is occupying these benches in 2020 or 2025 would still be following the aspirations of Territorians and the goals and aspirations that Territorians want us to achieve.
I really hope that whoever comes after me, as Chief Minister, that those goals and aspirations of Territorians would be upheld ...
Madam SPEAKER: Chief Minister, your time has expired.
Motion agreed to; statement noted.
ADJOURNMENT
Dr BURNS (Leader of Government Business): Madam Speaker, I move that the Assembly do now adjourn.
I acknowledge the great cultural diversity of my electorate. There is a great mix of ethnic, cultural, and religious groups, and this is the reason why the Top End has such an outstanding reputation of being a young, vibrant, and diverse place to live and work. I will give some detail about three multicultural events I have attended recently.
On 19 March, I attended the Jingili Primary School Twilight International Market, a feast of international food and culture. The Twilight International Market is an annual event which is an opportunity for students to appreciate the richness of other cultures. It was fantastic to see so much parental involvement in this event. It is a true testament to the sense of community that exists at Jingili Primary School. Apart from the principal, Jodie Green who does such a great job, chief organiser, Larelle Gilbert and other school staff, parent helpers included Barb McKaige, Tracey Mehonoshen, Karen Edyvane, Brigitte Grahl, Melanie Schofield, Josh and Jo Davis, Jane Fryar, Tara Metcalf, Juanita Gay, Shannon Mustey and, of course, James Lantry, who all did a fantastic job. The event raised approximately $5000 for the school, an outstanding success by any measure.
On 13 April, I attended the Songkran or Water Festival and Planting of the Bodhi Tree at the Wat Pa Darwin temple. Songkran is the Thai New Year, normally celebrated from 13 to 15 April. Thai Buddhist people normally go to the temple and offer food to the monks, followed by a blessing. They then have a community lunch followed by the sprinkling of scented water on the hands of parents and other respected elderly people in the community, ask for forgiveness for any wrongdoing, and for their blessing. After that formality is over, the fun starts with people throwing water over each other.
The Northern Territory government handed over land to the Thai Theravada Association in June 2007 to build a Thai Buddhist temple. The association constructed a multipurpose building, and this is the place which they currently use as a place to get together on special and regular occasions. Approximately 160 people attended the celebration. The Thai community is very proud of their new temple and is grateful to the Northern Territory government in assisting the granting of land.
The association also held a Thai Food Fair on Sunday, 19 April, which raised $20 520 towards their building fund. I congratulate the Association’s President, Somsong Albert; Vice President Jaroon Rattarom; Secretary/Public Officer, Joanna Albert; Treasurer, Yaowaluk Graham; and committee members, Mrs Jongrak Pettifer, Mrs Sawien Carney, and Mr Jaray Pocarbut.
On 18 April 2009, I attended a function put on by the Sri Lanka-Australia Friendship Association to celebrate the Sinhala and Tamil New Year. Though the Sri Lankan community in Darwin is relatively small, over 300 people were present on the night to enjoy well presented cultural items, sumptuous Sri Lankan food, and very lively music. Sinhala and Tamil New Year, known as Aluth Avurudda in Sinhalese, and Puththandu in Tamil, is the most important festival for the Sinhala and Tamil communities in Sri Lanka.
The date on which the Sri Lankan New Year occurs is determined by astrological signs and this year the old year ended on 13 April; the New Year was heralded in the early hours of 14 April. I understand that in addition to religious ceremonies, the New Year celebrations are characterised by lavish feasts, fireworks displays, games, and parties. On the evening, the organisers took the opportunity to share traditional Sri Lankan food, cultural items, customs and rituals with other communities living in Darwin.
During the evening, I met a great number of people, including Chandra Seneviratne, President of the association; his wife, Hemali; Dr Ben Dayaratne, Vice President of the association; and his wife, Bernie; Brenda Kulatunga, the Treasurer of the association also performed a cultural item that evening, and her husband, Muni Kulatunga, and his son, AJ (Arjuna); Lalith Ramachandra, Secretary and also MC; Aruna Wijeratne; Dr Chandima de Alwis; Dr Himani Kariyawasam; and Dr T Mehendrarajah.
The member for Arnhem gave a great speech that night and had everyone enthralled. It was a great night, great music, tremendous food, and I commend all these cultural groups within the community in Darwin, particularly in my electorate.
Mr TOLLNER (Fong Lim): Madam Deputy Speaker, last Thursday it was my great honour to be able to attend ATEC in Darwin. ATEC is the Australian Tourism and Export Council, which held its symposium last week.
ATEC and the Australian Tourism Exchange, ATE, are the two biggest tourism conferences in the country. It is the first time in 35 years that the organisation, formerly known as the Inbound Tour Operators of Australia, has held its conference in Darwin. It was very difficult to get down to ATEC because we were in sittings. ATEC was held at the new convention centre, and it was a great venue. I went on Thursday morning for the official opening, and I was glad to see that the Tourism Minister went. The federal Tourism Minister, Martin Ferguson, was there to help open the symposium.
ATEC is an extremely important organisation from the Territory’s perspective, because all the inbound tour operators from around Australia and the world attended. These tour operators send hundreds of thousands of people to the Northern Territory from different parts of the globe on packaged holidays and it was incredible to have such a group of people in Darwin.
On Friday night, it held the gala dinner at SKYCITY Casino, which was a fantastic opportunity to network, talk to some of the people in the industry, and find out what they thought of the Northern Territory.
I understand that many of the Territory tourism operators took the opportunity to show these people around the Top End. A number of them went to Kakadu, and Crocodylus Cove, and a range of tourist attractions in the Top End. I was at the dinner and the federal shadow Tourism minister, Steven Ciobo, also attended, but no one from the Northern Territory government – they were conspicuous by their absence. There was not a minister to be seen - no Tourism minister or Chief Minister.
For an event of this calibre, I thought that the Territory parliament would have really rolled it out and welcomed these people with open arms, because you can spend an absolute fortune tracking around the world trying to get in touch with these operators and sell your product to them, but to get them to your city is unbelievable. To have them in your city and not take the time to talk to them is atrocious. This is typical of the government; it takes its eye off the ball all the time.
I understand that on Friday night they were at SKYCITY Casino with their comrades celebrating May Day. I do not have a drama with unions, or with celebrations for May Day, but when you have a function like this in your back yard - not more than 100 m away – you would think they could get up and show some courtesy; go down, have a mingle, say ‘good day’ to a few people, show your face and be interested. But it was not to be - no Tourism minister or Chief Minister. I was ashamed that this parliament could not do better and it is a terrible situation.
Ms ANDERSON (Macdonnell): Madam Deputy Speaker, I thank the people of Katherine for the Katherine Country Music Muster.
I went to the 10th anniversary of the Katherine Country Music Muster. It was an absolutely wonderful weekend with a wonderful group of people. At about 2 pm on Saturday, a four-year-old girl called Caitlin got up with her mum and dad and insisted on singing. Her dad asked: ‘Are you only going to sing the chorus?’, and she said: ‘No, I am going to sing the whole lot’. And she sang a well known Slim Dusty song.
A member: Sing it.
Ms ANDERSON: No, I am not going to sing it, but I will read it. If I had a guitar I would. This is the song:
- We’ve done us proud to come this far,
Down through the years, to where we are,
Side by side, hand in hand,
We’ve lived and died for this great land,
We’ve done us proud.
It is a wonderful Slim Dusty song.
In Katherine I saw how people got together with everyone who sponsored the 10th Anniversary of the Muster, how they celebrated in their little town and how vibrant it was. There were all different kinds of people, business people, Indigenous people and people from all walks of life. I also saw the member for Katherine and the member for Drysdale. The former member for Katherine, Fay Miller, was also there, and I had a good chat to June Tapp. The former Mayor of Katherine, Jim Forscutt, was also there. It was wonderful to catch up in such a beautiful atmosphere with so many tremendous and wonderful people who make up Katherine.
Thank you for a tremendous night, Katherine, a night I will never forget because I am a Country and Western fan.
I place on the record that Warren H Williams was still the best. He comes from my country and home town of Hermannsburg. But if I was the judge I would have given number one to little Caitlin.
Mr ELFERINK (Port Darwin): It is all such a juvenile thing, is it not? But I love it.
Madam Deputy Speaker, I make a few observations in relation to the Budget. I suppose that once a shadow treasurer, always a shadow treasurer, and no one else is interested in this sort of thing, but I am. I wish to contrast two world views that have occurred in this House in the last few years under this government.
When the CLP lost power, the government, in a fit of almost hysteria, rolled in Professor Percy Allan, and found – manufactured, I might say - a black hole - labelled it a black hole. It got stuck into the CLP about all sorts of things; not least of which was the income to debt ratio. Thank God, I got that out - I am getting tired.
At the time, the Treasurer, Syd Stirling, would come in and erupt and the veins would stand out on his head like he had about 400 pounds of pressure per square inch in his veins. He would turn 15 shades of crimson and rant and rave about budgets that were all unsustainable, and that the CLP members were economic vandals and all sorts of the froth and bubble. And the now Treasurer stands up like a banshee on speed and launches into tirades about the irresponsibility of the former Country Liberal government.
I asked a question today, quite specifically on these particular issues, because the ratio to revenue projection this government is heading towards is almost the same as the ratio it said was unsustainable and economic vandalism. I find it curious that this government has chosen to say that it is a different type of ratio. It is not. A ratio of 130% and a ratio of 131% are not different in any way, other than the 1% difference between the two.
It took me a moment to figure it out when I was reading this budget paper because I was fully expecting this number to come up. I was a little surprised, especially in light of what was in the mid-year annual financial report about the 10-year bond rate and how that was affecting the income to debt ratio, to open the balance sheet at 3.7% and find that the liabilities to revenue ratio was only stretching out to 116%. That was interesting. It took me a while to figure it out, but I finally got there. This paragraph, on page 35, says:
- Although increasing, as a ratio to revenue the projected 130 per cent at the non financial public sector in 2012-13 is still marginally below the 131% recorded in 2001-02.
There is the magical word: non-financial public sector. What we see reported in this budget paper is the general government sector’s position. It does not say much about the non-financial public sector. What is the difference? The non-financial public sector includes Power and Water which, in that period, will be racking up $1.4bn worth of debt to pay for the decay that has occurred in the power and water system for the last few years.
It is too cute by half for the government to try to assert that the debt to revenue situation is half of what it was under the last government. Yes, the general government balance sheet will show a reduction in nett debt from that period. However, if you factor in the non-financial public sector, which is still a public debt, you will find out that situation is somewhat different. In a couple of years’ time, this government will be exactly where the CLP government was in 2001. The difference is that this time it will not be economic vandalism or unsustainable; this time it will be good financial management.
Mr HAMPTON (Stuart): Madam Deputy Speaker, in early April of this year I was able to attend the famous Katherine Research Station Farm and Garden Day, and see for myself the buzz this local event causes. With so much to do and see, it is not surprising that the Farm and Garden day is such a huge event, attracting over 1750 people from around the Katherine region.
It was great to see so many people enjoying the wide variety of events on offer including horse cutting events, sheep showing, helicopter rides, working dog trials, poultry competitions, a successful poultry auction, and egg and spoon races as well.
The day provides an opportunity for the Katherine Research Station staff to showcase the wide range of industries they work with, and services they provide to the region, some of which include advice on beef cattle and property management, animal health, rangeland management, horticulture, field crops, and protection from local and exotic plant diseases.
The day also provides a wonderful opportunity for local rural-related businesses in the Katherine region to showcase their goods and services. Included in the line-up this year were the very popular Brisk Contracting/Aerotech, providing helicopter rides; Landmark; The Top Saddlery; Livestock Nutrition Technologies, and many others. The carnival atmosphere provides an excellent chance to catch up with people in Katherine over a steak sandwich, and I had interesting chats with plenty of people.
Well done to all those involved in making the event a great success, particularly the Katherine Research Station staff. I also acknowledge the presence of the member for Katherine during the show.
I congratulate Bronte James from the Hidden Valley Station for winning the McArthur River Mining Regional and Rural Initiative Award at the NT Young Achievers Awards. Bronte splits her work time between Frances Creek and Pine Creek, where she is a truck driver at Hidden Valley Station, near Daly Waters, on her parents’ cattle property. With such a hectic schedule, Bronte still finds time to be the secretary of the Katherine Branch of the Brahmin Breeders Association, which put on a fantastic dinner before the Katherine show. Bronte’s contribution to the cattle industry, community work, and raising the profile of young women, in both the mining and pastoral industries, has been recognised. Well done, Bronte, on your much deserved win.
Other finalists for the award included Skye MacFarlane from Stylo Station in Mataranka and Erin Harrower from Dorisvale Station near Pine Creek.
I also congratulate Rowan Sullivan from the Caves Creek Station, Mataranka, on being elected President of the Northern Territory Cattlemen’s Association at the recent conference in Alice Springs. Rowan is also a councillor for the Roper Gulf Shire. I had the fantastic opportunity last year to visit Cave Creek Station, and along with his father Jim, enjoyed a cuppa and tour of the property.
I acknowledge the passing of a senior Warlpiri man from Nyirripi, a Mr L Turner Jampijinpa, who died recently in Alice Springs after a short illness. Mr Turner is well-known as being one of the painters of the Barunga statement which is in Parliament House in Canberra, along with other great artists like Dennis Williams Japanungka, and Mr W Rubuntja, who has also passed away.
I have many fond memories of Mr Turner, not only as my cousin, but also as someone who was not easily put over. In many public meetings, when senior public servants from Canberra would come to Yuendumu or Nyirripi to talk about different sorts of policy, he spoke strongly in relation to his people’s needs and what he thought about the government’s policy and the way it should go into the future. I was fortunate to visit Mr Turner at the Alice Springs Hospital before he passed away, with all his family members who were present. In particular, I acknowledge his son, Lance, who has to shoulder much of the responsibilities now that his father has passed away.
The day after I visited him I was driving out to Nyirripi and I received the phone call on my satellite phone that he had passed away. I was also very fortunate in being able to go to the sorry camp and pay my respects to him there as well. It will probably never be the same driving out to Nyirripi again, knowing that my cousin, Mr Turner, will not be there.
Mr CHANDLER (Brennan): Madam Deputy Speaker, I will speak about a couple of issues that are affecting people in Palmerston.
Matthew McCarthy is a young man with a learner’s permit, a worker who continues to struggle getting to and from work, not to mention the impact it has on his employer. Why? The earliest he can get an appointment to get his provisional licence is August this year. This is a current issue; not 2030 - a current issue.
Carole McKay, who lives in Batchelor, struggles, along with many other parents, to drive her secondary school students to and from Taminmin High every day. The minister is aware of this – 22 kids needing high school teaching and rely on their parents to drive them to and from school each day, from Batchelor to Taminmin.
This government has demonstrated to me and others time and again that it is all talk and glossy announcements, rather than delivering on matters of greatest concern to Territorians. I got into this gig in the first place because there was a lack of vision for Palmerston, and the undeniable fact that the funding tap was shut tight under the leadership of the former members for Drysdale and Brennan. One fine example was our after hours medical clinic being closed, on their watch, without any voice opposing it, it would appear. Where was their vision then? Certainly not 2030.
However, with all these failings in Palmerston, I suppose we can rest now. The former member has been offered a very well paid position in the Palmerston Office of the Chief Minister. I suspect most people would trade that office for a few more police in Palmerston. Interestingly, now that there are three staff in that office, it was still closed last Wednesday afternoon, so what are we paying for? Our electorate offices have only one staff member who manage to keep the office open longer than the Chief’s office which has three paid staff. Perhaps they knew the Chief was interstate last week, so they took advantage of the situation. Great work ethic - and they talk about principles. I know what their vision is, and it is not 2030.
Here is a vision. Close down each of the Chief Minister’s offices and redirect the savings into providing all electorate offices, on both sides of the House, not just ours, a level 1 administrative support officer. No one in this House could argue that our Electorate Officers do not work above and beyond, and no one could argue the purpose of an electorate office is to serve the community. Savings from the office of propaganda and taxpayer-funded election campaigns could be better served in each of our electorate offices.
Interestingly, I noted the former member carrying an armful of government hats and other protocol supplied propaganda. As an elected local member, I cannot even get a Territory flag in a Northern Territory government office. That is absolutely shameful, and is nothing but a blight on this government, which is certainly focused on itself and not on Territorians.
I wanted to add these words in the 2030 debate this evening, but I did not quite get there. However, there are many issues, things like Matthew McCarthy, who is left with a learner‘s permit, and has to wait until August before he can be tested to get a provisional licence. These are the ‘here and nows’ that the government needs to focus on. How does a young man, who is gainfully employed, get to work and home, relying on co-workers or parents to sit with him, because he is only on a learner’s permit? To have to wait until August to get a licence is ridiculous. Carole McKay, living in Batchelor, and many other parents, are still waiting for the promised bus from Batchelor to Taminmin High. My understanding is that, when there were at least 18 students, the money that a bus would cost to run on a daily basis would be cheaper than the government pays parents in their kilometre allowance. There are 22 kids now, so you would think that they have reached the point where a bus is more economically viable.
We understand that the Batchelor area does provide some secondary education, and I am all for supporting local schools, but if that education is diminished somewhat because the curriculum is much less than the children can get at Taminmin High, then the government is holding these children to ransom over a few measly dollars. I believe it is very important to look at some of these issues. This is an ongoing issue that the minister is well aware of.
Mr KNIGHT (Daly): Madam Deputy Speaker, I was very proud to take part in the May Day march yesterday, along with a great number of my colleagues on this side of the House. It is a very important day for the labour movement. It acknowledges a hard-fought struggle for some very basic conditions that we have in contemporary society that we just take for granted – the eight-hour day, superannuation, and a whole range of other benefits. It was a great day. I know that across the Territory, with the roll-out of local government, the work of the labour movement is appreciated for the better conditions that are achieved.
The Wadeye Football League’s two top teams, the Kartpurr Magpies and the Wudapuli/Nama Dockers, recently came face-to-face in the grand final at Wadeye. In 2009 the trophy went to the Magpies with a score of 12-10, 82, defeating the Dockers 6-12, 48. There was a bit of errant kicking on behalf of the Dockers, but it was a great game, over 1000 locals turned up. It is great to see football come back to Wadeye.
Congratulations to the best players for the Magpies: Cooney Arriuu, Leon Kinthari, Gary Ariuu, Barty Narburup; and the Dockers best players were Alister Lantjin, Lawrence Warnier, Darren Lantjin, and Alex Lantjin. Cooney Arriuu took out the best on ground. Congratulations to all those players and congratulations to the AFL staff. They have done a great job. It brings the community back together and, thank goodness, there was no trouble, everyone appreciated that.
Another event I will mention is the Back to the Banyan Tree reunion. The Cox Country Club, at Wagait Beach, celebrated 20 years of establishment and I made it to the celebrations which went on for most of the day and into the evening. I attended the rodeo last weekend and when I got back they were still going strong at around 11 pm or 12 midnight.
Congratulations to Natasha Walford, who is the president, for doing all the organising. I know she was ably assisted by other committee members: Dave who was on the barbeque, and Bronwyn and Patty, who were working the bar, and also Simon Walford, Natasha’s husband, who was working the barbeque and the bar at the same time. It was a great day and everyone had a great time. It shows how a community can come back together and they can really make a go of it. The new committee seems to be having a good try to get the bar and club going again for the community. The message is that everyone is welcome back to the club. Congratulations.
Lastly, I close by sending my congratulations and best wishes to Joan Stokes, who is the NT finalist for the Barnardos Australia’s Mother of the Year award. Joan is from Adelaide River, in my electorate. The winner of the Australian Mother of the Year will be announced at the national event in Sydney on 7 May 2009. I hope Joan does well and I congratulate her. I wish all the mothers around the nation, around the Territory, a Happy Mother’s Day.
Mr WESTRA VAN HOLTHE (Katherine): Madam Deputy Speaker, I report to the House on the raving success of the Katherine Country Music Muster, held over the weekend of 1, 2 and 3 May 2009. At the risk of sounding a little repetitive, given the comments made by the member for Macdonnell, I may be able to add a few more details to fill in the blanks. I acknowledge the member for Macdonnell and thank her for attending the music muster over the weekend and also the member for Drysdale, who attended with me and got to know some of the warm and wonderful people who make Katherine their home.
The premier country music event in the Northern Territory, this year’s muster was in its 10th year and was the best it has ever been. Born after the devastating 1998 floods, the Katherine Country Music Muster continues to grow in popularity, evidenced by the numbers who attend, and the quality of musicians who are attracted to the event.
On Friday, more than 350 people attended. On Saturday, a whopping 1000 or more visited, including the member for Macdonnell, and Sunday, which was the wind down day, there were more than 200 people listening to the artists and having a good time. Over the course of the weekend more than 1500 people went through the gates, well up on last year’s numbers. The atmosphere at this year’s event was sensational. There was much dancing, supported by the quality sounds of many talented live artists. The event was well managed and people were well behaved, despite the revelry that went late into the night.
It is not a cheap event to run. The total costs are expected to be around $140 000. This is a huge amount of money in anyone’s language, and was only achieved through the hard work of the organising committee, through fundraising and gate sales, and sponsorship. I was proud to have donated part of the $48 000 raised through sponsorships. The remainder, $92 000, was raised through the hard work of the following people and I acknowledge the dedication and effort put in by them; all as volunteers and all with the aim of putting Katherine well and truly on the Country Music map of Australia.
I thank the following: Shirley Canning – President of the Katherine Country Music Muster; Kerry Watkins – Vice President; Rebecca Oliver – Treasurer; Cheryl Holt – Secretary; Kate Oliver – who organised the entertainment; Sue Moran – who organised the Beaut Ute Competition, Merchandising and the local radio station; Melanie Reichelmeier – who organised the marketing and promotion; Lydia Lou, Max Holt, Ray who works at the local office supplies shop; Sharon Ephgrave, and Boris Norton all of whom volunteered their time to make this such a successful event.
The planning for the music muster begins just after the preceding one. A huge amount of effort goes into sourcing artists and entertainers, marketing, merchandising and so on. As the event gets closer, the volunteers ramp up the hours until the weekend when this small but dedicated group often work from 7 am to 1 am, doing everything from cleaning toilets to serving behind the bar.
In the absence of funding from government sources, Katherinites unite to make this a special and successful event. I hope the minister for Arts might see her way clear to assist this wonderful event with some government grant money, which would go someway to reducing the amount of effort that volunteers have to expend in their fundraising activities to make it such a successful event. I imagine that next year’s event will be as successful as this year’s and, again, I thank all those involved.
Mr STYLES (Sanderson): Madam Deputy Speaker, I bring to the House’s attention the fantastic event I was fortunate enough to attend over the May Day weekend, the Alice Springs Cup.
The Cup this year was organised by a very creative and entrepreneurial group of people on the committee. One of the most magnificent events I have been to in recent times was the Cup Ball, which was held on Saturday night. The committee decided they wanted to try to increase the number of tourists coming to Alice Springs, and also the patronage of some of the locals. I feel they have to be commended because they did a fantastic job of creating quite a spectacle.
This event took place in a disused quarry near the town site of Alice Springs. They decorated it with numerous lights which gave a magnificent effect. During the evening they had a Pavarotti look alike - not quite sound alike unfortunately - who did a magnificent job from the top of the cliffs, in the spotlight, overlooking about 400 people.
They did a fantastic job setting the place up. My understanding is the Alice Springs Convention Centre and, in particular, the manager, Scott Boocock, had much to do with making that part of the evening a great success. The general set up, the layout, and the facilities were second to none for an outdoor function. The feedback I got from visitors from interstate was that they were impressed with what was provided. When asked if they would be recommending that they bring friends, or convey that good feeling to friends so they will attend next year, they said they would definitely be doing that.
This attests to the creativity of those involved, and how much they should be congratulated for what was becoming a very traditional event indoors; it was taken outdoors and made into an event where there were fireworks, light displays, singing, entertainment, and a magnificent band to put on a night of revelry and dancing.
I attended the Alice Springs Cup at Pioneer Park. There is a fine group of people out there who put on a great day. The day went very smoothly. The course looked magnificent with the efforts of the grounds maintenance manager, Mr Terry Huish. They put a lot of work into it and I am sure there is a great team of volunteers behind him who helped make the course look so great on the day. The event was organised by Chairman, Paul Bain, whom I was fortunate enough to have a chat with. He gave me the rundown on some of the benefits they have enjoyed by being in Alice Springs, with some of the interstate horses and the visitors.
He was ably assisted by Andrew Doyle, the Vice Chairman and, of course, there is also a team of people who make any event like this a success. The Treasurer is a very important part of the Alice Springs Turf Club, and Patrick Sheldon obviously does a great job. I met many of the committee members including Trevor Bell; David Falkenberg; Kevin Hickmott; Craig Lambley; and Alan Rowe, and also the Chief Executive of the Alice Springs Turf Club, Mathew Champ.
The Cup was a raging success. There was standing room only in the main halls and grandstands. Unfortunately, I was not there for the Cup because we had to return on the plane, but a good day was had by all. It was a top class event, and those people who had any part in creating such a fabulous tourist attraction in Alice Springs, in what is the southern winter, need to be congratulated. I hope they have far greater success next year, and for all the hard work, they deserve every success that comes to them.
Motion agreed to; the Assembly adjourned.
Last updated: 04 Aug 2016