2008-10-21
Madam Speaker Aagaard took the Chair at 10 am.
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, it is with deep regret that I advise of the death on 30 September 2008 of Mr Stephen Edward (Sam) Calder, AM OBE DFC, Northern Territory member of the House of Representatives from 1966 until 1980, and a decorated pilot.
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, I draw your attention to the presence in the Speaker’s Gallery of friends of the late Mr Calder. I acknowledge that Mr Sam Calder’s relatives were not able to be here, unfortunately, for this occasion. I recognise the Hon Austin Asche AC QC; Mr Ian Watts AM; Mr Chris Rooney and Mrs Rooney; the Hon Grant Tambling; Mr Peter Upton; and Mr Rick Setter, the former member for Jingili and also the acting President of the Australian-American Association. On behalf of honourable members, I extend to you a very warm welcome.
Members: Hear, hear!
Madam SPEAKER: I call on the Chief Minister.
Mr HENDERSON (Chief Minister): Madam Speaker, I move - That this Assembly express its deep regret at the death of Mr Stephen Edward (Sam) Calder AM OBE DFC, an elected member for the Northern Territory in the House of the Representatives, a World War II war hero, and a great contributor to the constitutional development of the Territory, and tender its profound sympathy to his family and friends.
Madam Speaker, in paying tribute this morning to Sam Calder, we celebrate the life of a man whose life’s work spoke far louder than his nickname of Silent Sam, and whose place in Territory political and constitutional history will not be forgotten. A politician, pastoralist, businessman, aviator and sportsman, Sam Calder was all of these through his long life. However, it is as a Territorian, above all, that we honour him today.
He flew into the Territory and entered the pages of our history in 1939, and left us just a few weeks ago at the age of 92. We honoured him here, 10 days ago, at a State funeral in Darwin, where he lived his last years.
Uniquely, Sam Calder was at the founding of three political parties in the Northern Territory: the Country Party in 1966, just before he successfully ran for the Territory’s House of Representatives seat; the Country Liberal Party in 1974, and the Territory Nationals in 1986. We were reminded of the latter fact at Sam’s State funeral with the presence of Ian Tuxworth, the former Territory Nationals’ leader, as well as one of its most stalwart supporters, James Petrich. Less directly, we were reminded of these links through Grant Tambling, who sat with the Nationals in the Senate and who also spoke eloquently at his funeral.
Sam Calder was the patron of the Territory Nationals, campaigning hard for them, even though he was in his early 70s by that time. A death notice from the Territory Nationals in the papers a couple of weeks ago with its logo, unseen for more than a decade, was an echo of this fascinating period in the Territory’s political development.
Sam Calder was always committed to the bush side of politics. In 1974, the Country Liberal Party was formed from the Country and Liberal Parties, and Sam Calder was there at its birth. According to Sam, Paul Everingham, who later became the Territory’s first Chief Minister and later the Territory’s federal member in Canberra, wanted to call it the Liberal Country Party. Sam said: ‘I said, “no bloody way. I am a Country Party bloke”. So we called it the CLP, and it stayed that way’. His membership of different parties is not to suggest that Sam Calder was a fickle man. He was committed and dedicated to his side of politics and he served it well.
Indeed, one of his great attributes was as a man of principle. Although the philosophies that guided him were quite different from this side of the House, it was as a man of principle that I honour him today. I will speak in a moment of the importance of his principled stands to the development of the Northern Territory, however, I should first acknowledge that he was a great and formidable opponent of the Australian Labor Party and a source of great frustration to our side of politics.
His election to the House of Representatives for the Country Party in 1966 broke the back of Labor representation in the lower federal parliament for 14 years - a seat that we had held since 1949. He was persuaded to stand by Damian Miller, a lifelong friend, with whom he arrived in the Territory in 1939 to work for Eddie Connellan’s new airline. He agreed to stand after a few drinks of Scotch - very expensive drinks for the Labor Party as it turned out! He went on to defeat Labor faithful including John Waters and Ted Robertson.
In later years, recalling his first election by a mere 480 votes, Sam demonstrated his typical dry sense of humour:
However, he was no class warrior and was prepared to tip his hat to some of his opponents, as he said in 1989:
In voting with Labor, he found himself sitting with Clyde Cameron, a man he had not liked and whom he had once branded ‘a dingo’ during a debate. ‘We later ended up firm friends,’ he was to say many years later.
Sam Calder makes it sound easy, as he was to relate in 2000, and I quote:
The first Labor and CLP Territory Senators, Ted Robertson and Bernie Kilgariff, were direct beneficiaries of the strong principles for the Territory held by Sam Calder.
Since 1922, the Northern Territory representative in federal parliament had been unable to vote on any motion, unless it directly affected the Northern Territory. This led Sam Calder to very forcefully tell the then Country Party leader, ‘Black Jack’ (John) McEwan, that the Territory would be lost to the conservative side of politics if he could not win the vote on all matters in federal parliament as a Territory MHR. He won this right in 1968, and it was announced in an answer to a dorothy dixer from him to the then Prime Minister, John Gorton. It is hard to imagine a parliamentary Question Time of greater import to the Territory’s constitutional development than this.
We all come to politics in different ways, and so it was with Sam Calder. As Sam said, he came from conservative, but inactive parents in a comfortable, middle-class Melbourne environment. He always wanted to go on to the land and, ultimately, achieved that ambition in the Territory, and then became interested in politics. As he said:
It is hard to imagine anywhere else producing such a prominent politician from such a remote exposure to politics.
However, Sam was other things as well. He was a World War II hero, winning a Distinguished Flying Cross after 120 missions against the Germans, flying in Typhoons and Hurricanes.
Ian Tuxworth rang me the morning after Sam’s death and talked about Sam’s amazing contribution in the Royal Air Force during World War II and the more than 120 missions that he flew. He revealed the fact that Sam Calder never spoke about that time until later in their relationship when he talked about the average life expectancy for a pilot during that time being about 40 missions. When he got to 40, every mission was potentially his last - given the odds. To make that type of contribution, as an individual, for much of the time in that aircraft, with flack flying, thinking you are on borrowed time, would really steel you and mould your character for the rest of your life. After talking to Ian Tuxworth, I can understand how that would happen. It is an amazing history and record that he brought back to the Territory.
He helped found the most important airline in the Territory of the day, flying as chief pilot for Eddie Connellan. He worked hard in the pastoral industry at Argadargada, Narwietooma and Singleton.
Sam was a prominent sportsman as well, after whom cricket’s Calder Shield is named, a match played between Darwin and Alice Springs every year.
I did not know Sam Calder personally - I had only met him on one occasion. However, since his passing, and speaking with prominent Territorians on the other side of politics during the reception we had after the State funeral, I am committed to understanding that he did make a significant contribution to the constitutional development of the Northern Territory during difficult times.
As a man, he made a very significant and personal contribution in World War II - a time of great tragedy around the world, and during his time in the Territory he made a significant contribution in many ways.
Madam Speaker, Sam Calder was a true Territorian. I pay my respects and condolences to Sam’s family.
Mr MILLS (Opposition Leader): Madam Speaker, the opposition certainly supports this motion and acknowledges that the Territory parliament stands, in many ways, as a legacy to the contributions of a man - Sam Calder.
The business that we conduct in this Chamber does not occur by accident, but by the efforts of others who have gone before us. It is in the presence of a legacy that we conduct our business today. It adds another dimension to our deliberations and considerations. It is with that in mind that we make these comments.
It was very fitting that there was a State funeral to honour the contribution made by Sam. The need to identify, recognise, and celebrate the contributions made by citizens of this nature is necessary for all of us because the efforts of individuals, of citizens, as we all are, are informed, strengthened, and encouraged by the examples set by others.
We acknowledge that all of us are born and all of us will die. At the time Sam Calder was born, albeit not in the Northern Territory, the Northern Territory had no representation at all. Between 1911 and 1922, there was no voice whatsoever, no vote, no political representation of any kind. It has changed.
The next stage was the representation, but no voice - a body present in the parliament, but no voice at all. In the next stage of development, there was representation and a voice. The next stage was that the voice could speak on matters, not just pertaining to the Northern Territory, but pertaining to any matter, as a citizen of this nation representing the citizens of the Northern Territory. What a journey those four different stages indicate, and they did not happen by accident. It happened by the representation, principally in this case, of Sam Calder demonstrating the principle of proper representation.
It then led to the next stage: self-government, giving this place in our continent the authority to conduct its own business. The development of self-government was a critical stage in the history of the Northern Territory. It is very humbling to acknowledge that the things we do today and take for granted are a result of the efforts of others, therefore, we must treat them with greater respect. That is why State funerals, condolence motions, and times when we pause to reflect are so important.
Those steps then lead us to the next - to take this one step further. All the way from no representation, when the Territory was an underdeveloped colonial frontier - at the time of Sam’s birth – along the continuum, the development, all the way through to self-government - but not quite where we need to be to take that next step.
As we talk of legacies, it is the time to recognise the legacy of the achievements and reflect on our own capacity to contribute to that next stage. In honour of the legacy that has been achieved, in honour of that which we benefit from today and take it to the next step – Statehood. That we carry on that legacy and we add to it; we are a part of the continuum, as a part of the honouring.
I met Sam on a number of occasions as I joined the Country Liberal Party and he struck me as a quiet man who was on a mission to make sure that his message was delivered. He was a man from the bush, a man of whose extraordinary achievements I had heard, and a man I admired by reputation and when I met him, it was his quietness that struck me. Quietness in the sense that he came to meetings to make clear the need to represent issues particularly regarding the RSL and servicemen, he was a man I knew had to be listened to. There are some who carry that presence and they are my memories of Sam Calder.
Having others speak of his achievements and him not speaking of his achievements, amplifies and strengthens the presence of a man. He was one who stood up for the bush and stood up for principle; as the Chief Minister has referenced, he was identified as a man of principle. My meetings with him and my observations of Sam showed that he was governed by conviction and principle. He was always loyal to his Defence mates and as a private citizen he actively supported the Aviation Museum, the RAAF Officers’ Mess, the Australian-American Association, and the Artillery Museum. He was active in supporting cricket and tennis and he maintained good friendships.
Sam was noted as one who liked to keep fit and walk along the foreshore. I have been struck on a couple of occasions of references to him walking along the foreshore backwards, as an alternative way of keeping fit. I find it the most curious thing, because my father has this strange idea too - that walking backwards is particularly good for you. I never actually saw Sam walking backwards and I will have to do some investigations as to why that might have been.
He was known and acknowledged, and the fact that others spoke of his achievements amplifies the need for us to stop and reflect on his contribution. I will use some of the words that I presented at the State funeral, so that they are recorded in Hansard. I was considering that legacy and that those who achieve provide us with an opportunity to take it to the next step.
The Chief Minister referred to the Typhoons, and Sam wanted, I understand, to fly Spitfires. They developed the Typhoon which was quite a heavy and difficult plane to master, and with the capacity to carry a large bombload. I have read the account of those early stages of the development of a new plane, which resulted in an extraordinary number of fatalities of those who were mastering this colossal plane: ‘as he is learning to master this new plane, 23 young pilots’, the same age as my son, ‘were killed before him in mastering that plane.’ One after the other, these airmen would get into these planes, which had a number of technical difficulties, to endeavour to master them.
Not only did he master the Typhoon, he carried out over 120 missions, which is absolutely phenomenal. When we put in it in the context of young men in their twenties, it is awesome. Even to stop there and consider our young people today and to reflect on the contribution made by a citizen who has left us and recognise the message and the example that is set by those who have gone before us, such as Sam.
Ahead of the 1944 D-Day invasion, Sam Calder was ordered to fly solo from Britain to Normandy across the Channel. Sam was unaccustomed to flying solo and did not like flying solo in these events. The purpose of the mission was to check if the weather on the other side of the Channel was okay before the Allied invasion. While flying across the Channel, he had to avoid being shot down by those on the other side, and on the way back he did not know if he was going to be shot down by those who were poised to invade. He refers to the decisions he had to make on that flight. Sam saw the battlefield from the cockpit of his Typhoon ahead of a very historic battle.
Sam assessed many different battlefields and fought with honour throughout his whole life. In some ways he looked from his position as a citizen to battles to be fought in the Northern Territory. As a pioneer aviator, Sam Calder fought the tyranny of distance and delivered mail, medical services and passengers throughout the Northern Territory. As a pastoralist, Sam Calder fought the elements to carve out a living from Territory soil. From the cockpit of a mail plane or the cab of a truck, he saw the Territory.
From the centre to the north, Sam saw what the Territory could be, but together with many other Territorians he saw what it was. He saw the political battlefield ahead of the battle for Territory rights. In the postwar years, Australians living in the Territory were barely seen and rarely heard. Although the representative of the people of the Northern Territory was permitted to sit in the parliament, he was refused the right to speak unless the debate directly related to the Northern Territory.
A new and unfamiliar battleground began to form - politics. Country Party leader, John McEwan, invited Sam to join the battle in Canberra. However, it was fellow Territorians from Alice Springs, Tennant Creek, Katherine, and Darwin who strengthened Sam for this new battle - the fight to provide a voice and recognition for Territorians.
In the 1996 federal election, Sam Calder entered the new world of politics. It was in this new battleground that Sam Calder, in my view, arguably won his greatest battles. Sam was there in 1974, when two parties merged to form a new and successful political force - the Country Liberal Party - a model admired by others which has taken Queenslanders 35 years to try. I was pleased to go to a meeting in Queensland two weeks ago and to make reference to the achievements of Sam Calder, and to welcome them to a new and exciting era.
Sam’s legacy stands as a monument today. A monument carved in the political rights earned for Territorians by the persuasion of this quiet, but not so silent, Territory treasure. A voice for Territorians in Canberra not just to speak on matters relating to the Territory but on matters affecting us as Australian citizens who live in Australia’s Northern Territory. We assemble in our parliament because we were granted self-government. This grant was a concession by Canberra and a gallant victory for Sam Calder, and others, who fought for years to achieve this for Territorians. It is a monument complete, yet incomplete.
Statehood is the next step – the final victory. Sam Calder commenced the battle for Territory rights in 1996 and it would be an honouring of the efforts and achievements of this distinguished Territorian to continue until Statehood is secured. When Territorians stand with constitutional rights equal to any other Australian living in one of the other states, then Sam’s work will be complete.
Stephen (Sam) Calder AM OBE DFC leaves what we all dream of – an enduring legacy; a legacy that lifts those who are left with the ability to see new possibilities. Sir Isaac Newton described this when he said:
Sam Calder, in my view, was a giant who served with distinction. This man, whose quietness and confidence was his strength, is a giant upon whose shoulders Territorians can stand today to reach further still. Thank you for the legacy, Sam.
Members: Hear, hear!
Ms PURICK (Goyder): Madam Speaker, Sam Calder was a man among men. He lived a life many of us could only dream about. He lived a full and long life, and was blessed with a large circle of friends and loved ones. His life was filled with achievements which stand as a testament to him. He was a humble man who went about his business in a quiet, but determined way and throughout maintained a sense of high purpose and dignity.
Since his passing, there have been many comments and stories about Sam’s political career and his dedication to the Territory, his cattle and pastoral work, including opening up remote parts of the Territory with his young family; his sporting prowess in cricket and tennis; and aviation work in peaceful times. Sam’s heart was in Central Australia but he travelled widely, particularly throughout Australia.
What I find the most remarkable part of Sam’s life is his flying career during Word War II. Not to detract from Sam’s work and life before and after the war, I believe it to be the highest calling in life for a person to pledge their life and, possibly lose their life, so others may live. That is what Sam Calder did, and he did it with quiet determination and a strong spirit.
Sam’s flying career is what legends are made of and is an inspiration to us all. He flew over 120 missions, when it was the average for an airman to survive perhaps 15. Over half of Sam’s squadron were killed in action, which would have weighed heavily on his mind each time he took off on another mission, not knowing if it was going to be his last. No doubt he lost many a good friend and possibly many friends from his younger days in Melbourne.
Sam flew the Typhoon fighter planes which, at the time, were still in development stages. It was a large plane with only one engine, and pilots had to be very good not only to get them off the ground but to fly them successfully - and not too high as they were not good at high levels. Some of the issues that were recorded about the planes were as follows:
Not only did pilots like Sam have to deal with the difficulties of the aeroplane they also had to deal with the difficulties of being under enemy fire. Given that many of the planes were in the development stages, many of them failed to return or even take off properly, losing many airmen. Pilots needed to be extremely well skilled and, obviously, Sam was one of those people. He was the pilots’ pilot.
Sam was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for gallantry during active service, operations under enemy fire, and for acts of valour, courage and devotion to duty. In flying the Typhoons, Sam and his squadron were largely responsible for paving the Allies path into Germany’s demise, a fact that is not well recorded in aviation history from the war.
Sam Calder was part of that history, and we thank him for our country being safe and prosperous today. Sam Calder will be missed by all, not the least his family. I extend my personal condolences to Sam’s family. I also pass on the condolences of my mother, Noel Padgham, who knew Sam well and always enjoyed talking with him and sharing stories.
Vale, Sam Calder.
Mr TOLLNER (Fong Lim): Madam Speaker, it is a great privilege for me to pay tribute to Stephen (Sam) Calder. He was a great Territorian, a man who should be respected and paid tribute to by all Territorians.
It is fantastic to see so many of his friends and both sides of parliament joining in this motion. I particularly thank the Chief Minister for extending the State funeral for Sam Calder. I am disappointed that the federal parliament did not acknowledge the contribution of Sam Calder in the same manner. I suppose that is a matter for the federal parliament. I take my hat off to the Chief Minister for extending the State funeral to Sam.
The Territory has changed significantly in recent years. When I say ‘recent years’, I speak about the last 50 or so years. It was a completely different place in the years that Sam Calder became a war hero, a sporting ambassador, and his many other roles.
In 1922, the federal parliament first enacted special legislation that allowed the Territory to send a representative to the Canberra parliament, although that person did not have a vote or much of a right to speak. In 1936, the federal parliament first allowed that member to vote in the Chamber, although that member could only vote on matters specifically relating to ordinances of the Northern Territory. In 1958, the elected member for the Northern Territory was allowed to vote on any proposed law or matter relating solely or principally to the Northern Territory.
We heard today that Sam was elected to the federal parliament in 1966, so this is the atmosphere that Sam Calder was elected to in 1966. Territorians, and I am sure most people in this Chamber today, are concerned about our lack of Statehood, our representation federally, and our rights as Australian citizens. Just imagine how it was back in 1966 when the member for the Northern Territory was only allowed to vote on matters particularly affecting the Northern Territory – they could not have a say in anything else.
In 1968, that all changed - largely due to the work of Sam Calder - and the Northern Territory member was granted full voting rights and the right to speak on any matter that he deemed fit and worthy. This was a monumental step in the constitutional development of the Northern Territory. In 1974, Sam was again instrumental in allowing the Northern Territory, and the ACT for that matter, to send two Senators from the Northern Territory – fairly recent history.
People talk about ‘silent Sam’, because he was a quiet and humble man, but I believe it was a badge that Sam wore proudly, acknowledging the fact that, prior to 1968, he was not allowed to speak and he was forced into silence. He wore that moniker as an identification of the fact that Territorians were classed in a different category from the rest of Australians.
In 1978, the Northern Territory was granted self-government. Sam Calder played a leading role in that as well. Irrespective of what a person’s political allegiances are or where they stand, we have to acknowledge greatness when we see it. I agree with the Leader of the Opposition, that Sam Calder was a giant amongst men. I have talked to some of the old faithful, rusted-on Country Liberals, and Sam was a great mentor. I was talking to our former federal Senator, Grant Tambling, who told me that he was Sam Calder’s immediate successor in the federal parliament when he was first elected to the House of Representatives, and Sam was a strong mentor. In relation to the Country Liberal Party, there is no doubt that the Party would not exist the way it does today without the strong influence and input of Sam Calder.
It is incumbent that we, as a parliament, acknowledge the work of Sam Calder, because the Territory would not be the place it is today without him. He was a war hero, a sporting ambassador and a pastoralist. However, as parliamentarians, I believe, we owe a great debt to Sam Calder. May he rest in peace.
Mr ELFERINK (Port Darwin): Madam Speaker, I pass on my condolences to the family of Sam Calder.
If there is any accusation I am worried about in my life, it is that the accusation would be levelled at me that I did not live my life to the fullest.
Sam Calder can be accused of many things in his life, but he will never be accused of having wasted his life, or that he did not take life by the throat in such a way to have lived it completely in the most extraordinary way. He was a man who lived in extraordinary times. I have often been moved by the stories about him flying his Typhoon over Normandy immediately prior to the operation, which was called ‘Overlord’, better known as the D-Day landings.
General Eisenhower was terrified when putting the operation together because the weather reports were awful. Many an invasion in history has been scuttled because the gods determined that the weather on a particular day would mean that the invasion could not be completed. The Japanese have a word for it – kamikaze - which comes from the time when the Chinese were sweeping through the Korean Peninsula, attempting to invade Japan, and the weather, the typhoons that were sweeping through the straits of Japan were called kamikaze - the literal translation is the ‘divine wind’.
It is no accident of history that a Typhoon was sent out to check the beaches at Normandy to determine whether a landing was possible because of the weather conditions. There were five beaches designated to become killing fields a short time after he made his flight. It would have been a wet day and he would have climbed into the cockpit of his Typhoon well before sun-up, started up his 24-cylinder engine and then, with the droning sound of aircraft of that period, set out across the English Channel. He would have flown over the five beaches, from memory, Gold, Juno, Omaha, Sword, and Utah, and he would have looked down at a place where human history was about to change in a few days time. Fortunately, the resistance on four of those beaches was not as bad as it could have been. If anybody has ever seen the opening scenes of the film Saving Private Ryan, you get an appreciation of what was faced by those soldiers as they landed on Omaha Beach.
To be involved, perhaps only in hindsight, in history of such moment in the way that he was, being the eyes and ears of General Eisenhower, would have been a monumental thing in its own right - something that I would proudly hang my hat on as I lived the rest of my life, regaling my grandchildren with the stories of what I saw immediately prior to history being made and human history being changed irrevocably as a result. Not so with Sam. He returned to Australia and continued to develop and live his life in a way that I jealously admire. He worked in the pastoral industry and the federal parliament, and I am not going to relive that.
I was reminded of another epitaph. In St Paul’s Cathedral in London is the grave of Sir Christopher Wren with a headstone which his son organised. It was not actually a headstone; it was a black granite cover over the top of the grave, and it has inscribed on it: ‘Lector, si monumentum requiris, Circumspice’, which literally translates as: ‘Reader, if you seek his monument, look around you.’
Madam Speaker, I was set in mind of that, because of the work that Sam Calder did and the efforts that he put in on the constitutional development of the Northern Territory, and I say to honourable members: Si monumentum requiris, Circumspice.
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, I add my condolences to the family of Mr Calder. I spoke to Mr Calder’s daughter, Erika Woodgate, last week and expressed my regret at his passing. I know that Erika and her husband, David, were very sorry that they were unable to be here today.
I knew Mr Calder a little, as a constituent who lived in Casuarina Drive in Nightcliff. Leader of the Opposition, I have also heard those stories about Sam walking backwards on the foreshore but I never saw him doing that. As his local member, I had the good fortune to speak with him several times, most often at commemorative services, such as Anzac Day, Remembrance Day, Victory in the Pacific Day, and the Commemoration of the Bombing of Darwin, where he was a regular attendee.
The last time I saw him was at the Commemoration of the Bombing of Darwin at the USS Peary memorial some years ago. He had been an active member of the Australian-American Association and he was a very strong supporter of the alliance between Australia and the United States. On that occasion he was already very frail and ill, but he attended as he did every year to recognise the fallen heroes who had died so many years before. He was a great patriot and Australian. He will be sadly missed. May he rest in peace.
Honourable members, after I put the question I ask members to stand for one minute’s silence as a mark of respect.
Motion agreed to.
Members stood in their place in silence for one minute.
The CLERK: Madam Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 100A, I inform honourable members that a response to Petition No 1 has been received and circulated to members. A copy of the response will be provided to the member who tabled the petition for distribution to petitioners.
Ms LAWRIE (Treasurer): Madam Speaker, I report to members today on the serious issues affecting the global economy and the implications for the Northern Territory. The global financial system is currently facing one of its greatest crises of confidence with markets experiencing elevated levels of volatility not seen since the 1930s. The Prime Minister has made several statements recently indicating that while Australia will undoubtedly be affected by the downturn, the country remains well placed to deal with it. This is also true of the Northern Territory.
We will not be immune, but our current economic strength and sound financial position places us in a good position. INPEX coming to Darwin helps us firewall ourselves against the downturn. The loss of confidence in the international financial system will impact on the economy. The International Monetary Fund is forecasting growth for Australia to moderate from 4.2% in 2007 to 2.2% in 2009. However, you need to consider this alongside the fact that, in the Northern Territory, the INPEX project is forecast by ACIL Tasman to increase growth by 19.9% by 2015.
Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures and we have seen an unprecedented response from governments around the world. The Prime Minister acted swiftly and announced a package which included guaranteeing specific banking deposits for three years - a $10.4bn economic stimulus package which provides for increased expenditure on pensioners, families, housing, and training. This is in addition to the Reserve Bank of Australia’s decision to prevent a rapid slowing in the economy by reducing the cash rate by 1%. Similarly, the Northern Territory government continues to guarantee all deposits and insurance policies held by the Territory Insurance Office, the TIO, as we have done since its establishment almost 30 years ago.
The Territory’s economy is not immune to capital market volatility and declines in economic activity. If the Australian economy slows significantly we will feel the effects in the Territory. There is potential for a reduction in GST revenue, as well as own source revenue such as payroll tax, mining royalties, and stamp duty. However, our strong economic position will hold us in good stead and our position is further strengthened by the INPEX project.
While the Territory has exposure to financial markets it has no direct exposure to failed financial institutions and has not experienced any defaults on its investments. The Territory invests in equities primarily through the Conditions of Service Reserve, or COSR, which exists to meet long-term liabilities such as superannuation. The COSR has generated a long-term return of 9.48% on average over the past five years, with a negative return in the most recent year, in line with comparable funds. Following consultation with fund advisers, COSR has not changed its underlying investment strategy as it reflects the funds long-term objectives, although an increased reliance on more defensive assets has been adopted. As at 30 September 2008, the nett value of the Territory’s investments have notionally fallen by $11.8m, reflecting the current market.
The Territory Insurance Office is also involved in financial markets. TIO is financially sound. Its overall liquidity and capital reserves remain strong and are above the levels set by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority, APRA. As outlined, while the Territory is not immune, our strong economy and this government’s sound financial management place the Territory in a solid and sustainable economic position to ride out the volatility.
The Chief Minister went after INPEX with such vigour because he knew that it would underline the Territory’s economy for decades to come. In light of recent global events, his decision was all the more prudent. The INPEX project will help firewall the Northern Territory economy against the effects of the global crisis. INPEX themselves have made statements that they will not be adversely affected by the global downturn. Under the Henderson government, the Northern Territory is now placed as best as it can be to ride out an uncertain global economic future.
Mr ELFERINK (Port Darwin): Madam Speaker, one of my great disappointments about ministerial reports is that there is an issue as important as this and I get two minutes to respond and that is the end of the debate. This is not a debate; ministerial reports are a three-ring circus.
There are numerous issues facing the Northern Territory as a result of the current global economic conditions. Whilst I acknowledge that the Territory and Australia is well positioned, largely due to Australia’s good financial management over the past decade, it is worthwhile visiting the issues that the Northern Territory may face. Whilst I take comfort from the reassurances by the Treasurer that both the Territory Insurance Office and the Conditions of Service Reserve are somewhat protected and insulated against the international environment, it needs a great deal more investigation, than simply a few reassuring words from the Treasurer.
The Conditions of Service Reserve is where we put money aside to look after the superannuation liability that the Territory has. That money has not been placed into investments like bonds; that money has gone onto the stock market. As the minister was very quick to qualify, she continually referred to – or several times referred to - comparable funds. Non-comparable funds are not performing in the way that the comparable funds are operating, when you consider the condition of the Conditions of Service Reserve.
Woe betide this government, if in its depleted state - as it has currently lost money two years running - it now touches the Conditions of Service Reserve for infrastructure development. I suspect, from their response to recent statements in the public, that is exactly what they are intending to do. What sort of Treasurer goes on holidays in the middle of a financial crisis?
Mr WOOD (Nelson): Madam Speaker, I thank the minister for her report. I am interested in the minister’s comments regarding the effect a downturn in countries like China, for instance, has on growth. I heard on the radio today that China has moved from double-digit growth to single-digit growth. As the Territory is a large exporter, especially of minerals, I would like to know what effect a downturn in places like China and other countries will have on the Territory’s economy, particularly exports.
We depend on our export industry in the Territory, especially mining. I am interested to know what the government thinks the effect will be with the downturn in growth in those countries, especially China.
Ms LAWRIE (Treasurer): Madam Speaker, I welcome the contribution by the member for Nelson. Discussion was held amongst Treasurers, with a report from Ken Henry, the head of the federal Treasury, looking at the impact that the downturn or the slight moderation in China, would have on the national economy, particularly in the resources base.
Whilst there is a downturn, we do see some fairly decisive action occurring in China to ensure that growth will be provided. We are expecting a slight moderation as a result of the downturn in China. However, China still requires resources for its growth. In addition, the Indian subcontinent and Japan are very keen on our resources. There is still very good, strong news in our resources base. We are predicting some impact, potentially flowing through into our own source revenue, such as mining royalties.
We are taking into account the situation in China and as a government, together with the federal government, we are watching it closely. We had our resources tied up …
Madam SPEAKER: Treasurer, your time has expired.
Mr HENDERSON (Chief Minister): Madam Speaker, on Monday, 22 September, a severe storm hit Alice Springs with little warning. The storm lasted only 20 minutes, however, it was characterised by heavy rain, and wind gusts reaching up to 120 km/h. The result saw localised flash flooding, property damage, and trees and power lines torn down, causing widespread power failure, with up to 85% of Alice losing electricity supply.
I pay tribute to the local heroes who rallied together to restore normality to the community in an efficient and effective manner. The storm hit Alice Springs with little notice. The Bureau of Meteorology issued a severe thunderstorm warning just before 1 pm and the storm front arrived at 1.15 pm.
I travelled to Alice Springs the next day to see the impact of storm. It was remarkable to see the destruction that a 20 minute storm, equivalent to a category 1 cyclone, had on the town. While some locations within Alice were more affected than others, there were a few areas that were spared damage. Amazingly, despite the level of physical property damage, there were no presentations to the Alice Springs Hospital as a result of the storm. Most of the physical damage was caused by falling trees. I visited several sites where trees fell across power lines, cutting electricity to local areas. I visited residents on the east side, north side, and near the town centre, to see the damage to their homes, caused mostly by fallen trees.
Despite the inconvenience of having no power, and the trauma associated with damage to their homes, people were philosophical and patient. I have no doubt that the patience and cooperation demonstrated by Alice residents was a reflection of the great effort put in by our Police, Fire and Northern Territory Emergency Services staff and volunteers. Personnel from Power and Water, staff and volunteers from Bushfires NT, members from Correctional Services, workers from the Alice Springs Town Council, and private contractors enlisted to assist with the recovery effort.
Following the onset of the storm, incident operation centres were immediately established at Police, Fire and Rescue Services and NT Emergency Services. Police Commander Bert Hofer took overall control of the situation, while Tom Konieczny, from Fire Services and Rob Romaldi, from Emergency Services managed service logistics and operations from their respective incident operation centres. To manage the response efficiently and in a coordinated manner, calls for assistance to Police and Fire Services were diverted to the Joint Emergency Services Communications Centre in Darwin. A communications protocol was put in place between Police and Emergency Services, and I am advised that Emergency Services responded to 91 calls for assistance over the next three days.
I saw the amazing work of NTES staff and volunteers as they secured and pruned trees and branches, sandbagged areas subject to flash flooding, and put tarpaulins on roofs. I am told that NTES staff and 20 volunteers put in over 600 cumulative hours of work over the four days of the clean up. It was truly a magnificent effort. I am advised that Fire and Rescue Services responded to approximately 32 calls from the public and automated fire systems. Police were deployed throughout the town to manage traffic at intersections in areas where power lines and trees had fallen.
The overwhelming impact of the storm was the widespread loss of power throughout Alice Springs. At one point, over 6800 homes were without power. I understand that by Thursday power had been restored to all residences. The preparedness of the Power and Water personnel to work around the clock to restore power to Alice businesses and residences was exceptional. Line crew numbers were augmented by a crew from Darwin, who flew down on the Police aircraft, as well as crews who drove down from Katherine and Tennant Creek.
There are always lessons that can be learned from these types of incidents. There is no better training ground and no better way of improving how we respond to situations than live exercises. This storm was no exception.
The Alice Springs Counter Disaster Committee will make recommendations about future operations and we will ensure that those recommendations are acted upon. I am personally grateful for the manner in which everyone involved in this emergency responded, as no doubt are the residents of Alice Springs. The positive way our communities respond cooperatively to challenges is a great trait of Territorians and the Alice Springs response to this storm is no exception. Madam Speaker, I commend this report to the House.
Ms CARNEY (Araluen): Madam Speaker, I thank the Chief Minister for his report. This is a good report to make on the first sitting day since the storm. I also thank you, Chief Minister, for coming to Alice Springs so quickly. The Minister for Central Australia was apparently missing in action. However, your presence was appreciated by many.
The storm was truly a remarkable event. I was having lunch in the mall and saw tables and chairs flying and I thought for a moment I would see animals flying through the air. I had never seen anything like this before. A number of businesses and many homeowners around Alice Springs were affected. In my own case, we spent most of the night without power and had some storm damage.
I will give TIO a plug here – they really stepped up to the plate, as we would expect for damage like this in the Territory. My experience in having something replaced was terrific. I note that their staff worked around the clock and people insured with TIO have done quite well with their insurance claims. Thank you, TIO.
I also thank the ABC. In times of emergencies or crises in this country, the ABC comes through every single time, as it did on this occasion. They were the communications centre for those not involved in the Police, Fire or Emergency Services and, like everyone else, I was tuned to the ABC for days. I also thank Mayor Damien Ryan, Alan White from Power and Water, Police Commander Bert Hofer, and Rob Romaldi from Emergency Services – they all did a fabulous job. People stepped up to the plate - I saw civilians conducting traffic - and everyone was helping each other. The day after the storm I went to work in casual clothes and drove around the electorate because I thought some people might want my help with removing debris.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Araluen, your time has expired.
Ms CARNEY: It was a great community effort and thank you, Chief Minister, for making the report.
Mr WOOD (Nelson): Madam Speaker, I would not normally speak about this, however, I have just come back from the Masters, where I had expected to see a town with trees still lying all over the place and roofs still blown off, but I did not. It shows how much work the people of Alice Springs did in getting their town back to normal.
There were many comments from people at the Masters saying: ‘We heard there was a storm, and there were many trees down, yet Alice looks as beautiful as ever’. It was great to hear those responses from people. It is obvious that many people did a lot of work to bring Alice back to the stage where the Masters could operate. I stayed with a friend who lives in Memorial Drive and he had a large peppercorn tree with a huge trunk that fell down and it missed landing on his roof because he had a weights press nearby and the tree rested on that. It made a mess of the weights press but his house was saved.
His comments, and sometimes he is a fairly cynical fellow, were that TIO did a great job in sorting out insurance issues. He is not a great lover of the local council or local government, but he was very appreciative of the quick work that the council did in collecting many of the trees that had been chopped up by private operators and left on the verges. He had some encouraging words for the council saying that they had done a great job.
For all those who visited Alice Springs for the Masters Games …
Ms Carney: Did someone mention the Masters?
Mr WOOD: … and the Masters is one of those key events for Alice, they also appreciate the great work that the council has done.
I notice the member for Araluen is showing off her medal. I assume that is for golf. Some of us actually participated in real sports like athletics …
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Nelson your time has expired.
Ms SCRYMGOUR (Arts and Museums): Madam Speaker, it is an absolute pleasure to report on the national success enjoyed by one of the Territory’s leading artists, singer/songwriter, Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu.
On Sunday night, Gurrumul won his second ARIA Award for the Best Independent Release, after also being a finalist in the Best Male Singer and Best Album Awards. This followed last month’s ARIA Award for Best World Music Album.
Simultaneously, Gurrumul learnt that his self-titled album, Gurrumul, had gone gold – a fantastic achievement for him personally, and a real feather in the cap for the Territory’s Indigenous music scene. This follows the four awards the album picked up at this year’s Northern Territory Indigenous Music Awards in Darwin for the Act of the Year, Song of the Year, Album of the Year and Artwork Design. Last month, Gurrumul blitzed the Deadly Awards in Sydney with Best Singer, Best Album and Best Artist Awards.
Gurrumul, who is 37 years of age, is no newcomer to the music scene, both here and abroad. As one of the original members of Yothu Yindi, Gurrumul toured with the ground-breaking band, before branching off and establishing Saltwater Band based in Galiwinku.
Earlier this year, I had the great honour to be at the media launch of Gurrumul’s debut solo album. As I described it then, it is a recording I had for some months and was pretty much wearing it out by playing it so often. When I was listening to it with one of my Tiwi mothers, she described Gurrumul as having the voice of an angel. I also said that its importance lay in the sheer beauty of the languages in which it is sung. Time has not proved me wrong, with over 30 000 copies now sold. It is fabulous to see the success Gurrumul is enjoying.
As Ben Langford wrote in the current issue of Rolling Stone, he is a musician who has well and truly paid his dues in the industry. Yet, wonderfully, it is to his aunties that he gives tribute for his work and success; the same aunties who helped grow him up at Galiwinku. As Gamritj Gurruwiwi, who would sing to this little blind boy in local languages, told Ben Langford:
It is, indeed, his turn to sing, Madam Speaker.
The success he is enjoying is owed to Darwin-based Skinnyfish Music, which also supports a number of other Aboriginal bands in the Territory. Mark Grose and Michael Hohnen, and their crew at Skinnyfish, deserve our congratulations. It is a model built on promoting our musicians at the community level, and internationally through hard copy and online music sales.
The Northern Territory Indigenous contemporary music scene has a great history with early bands such as the Yugul Band at Ngukurr, Letterstick Band at Maningrida, and Soft Sands at Galiwinku, to the more recent successes of the Warumpi Band, Yothu Yindi and Yilila, and soloists such as Shellie Morris, Leah Flanagan and Warren H. Williams. There are many more that could be named here. We want to see these successes consolidate and expand into the future, and as any of these musicians will tell you, making a living from music is a very hard task.
While a strategy is being finalised through the Department of Business and Employment, we have recently embarked on funding an Indigenous Music Touring Circuit in the Territory. Music NT, our peak body for contemporary music, has already coordinated meetings of the music sector in Alice Springs and Darwin to design what that circuit might look like. They will submit a three-year plan to Arts NT and me in the new year and the circuit will start in the next financial year.
Gurrumul’s success is another in a series of ground-breaking successes by Indigenous artists in the Territory. Congratulations Geoffrey, may you and many others in the Indigenous music industry, see greater successes in the future.
Mr BOHLIN (Drysdale): Madam Speaker, I thank the Minister for Arts and Museums. I also congratulate Geoffrey for his fantastic results. It is great to see Territorians getting up and mixing it with, not only local people, but national and international artists. It shows the Territory has a great depth of talent, whether it is sporting prowess in the Masters Games, or our fantastic artists and musicians.
I have been very blessed to hear many young singers, who are in their early high school years, sing beautifully. It is inspiring to think they have the strength to stand in front of large audiences and do so without any disability. Therefore, when we see great people get up and do fantastic things for their people and their country which they believe in so much, is truly inspirational.
I was lucky enough to see Shellie Morris when she sang at Songs of Liberty. I admire people with the strength to stand for their beliefs and make great paths for the Territory and for this nation. I look forward to seeing the career of Geoffrey continue, and I am sure he will continue because he is very good at what he does.
Ms SCRYMGOUR (Arts and Museums): Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Drysdale for his comments. We have much talent and I cannot list every musician, but I would like to acknowledge Drum Atweme which is a fantastic group of young kids in Central Australia, and also Nokturnal.
I have mentioned Skinnyfish in the Top End, but I emphasise the work and the contribution that CAAMA Music and Warlpiri Media play in Central Australia by promoting those bands at the grassroots, community level. I have seen the benefits of music, particularly in schools, and how it can be used as a means of encouraging kids’ attendance.
I thank Paul Djolpa McKenzie, who won the Outstanding Achievement in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Education Award at the Deadly Awards. Paul works with young Indigenous men in Maningrida to divert them from other activities, to go back to school and to learn, using music as a medium. To Paul, and many other unsung heroes in the Territory, it is great …
Madam SPEAKER: Minister, your time has expired.
The question is that ministerial reports be noted.
Mr ELFERINK: A point of order, Madam Speaker! There is no question before the House. I have long been critical of these ministerial reports as a three-ring circus. We are about to put a question that has not been put before the House. As far as I am concerned, we, as this House, should not dignify this ministerial reports process by pretending that there is a question before the House. Just to drive the point home, if the question is put, I will divide the House.
Madam SPEAKER: Thank you very much, member for Port Darwin. It is the custom, as you would be aware, and part of our standing orders in relation to what we do in the day ...
Mr ELFERINK: A point of order, Madam Speaker! I seek direction to the standing order that shows me that custom ...
Mr Henderson: Are you questioning the Speaker?
Mr ELFERINK: Yes, I am.
Mr Henderson: Are you challenging the Speaker?
Mr ELFERINK: Yes, I am questioning …
Madam SPEAKER: Please pause. Order!
Mr Henderson: Do it by way of substantive motion.
Mr ELFERINK: … the processes that you abuse in this House on a daily basis.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Sit down, please. I will seek advice. The question is that ministerial reports be noted.
The Assembly divided:
Ayes 13 Noes 11
Ms Anderson Mr Bohlin
Dr Burns Ms Carney
Mr Gunner Mr Chandler
Mr Hampton Mr Conlan
Mr Henderson Mr Elferink
Mr Knight Mr Giles
Ms Lawrie Mr Mills
Mr McCarthy Ms Purick
Ms McCarthy Mr Styles
Ms Scrymgour Mr Tollner
Mr Vatskalis Mr Westra van Holthe
Ms Walker
Mr Wood
Motion agreed to.
Mr KNIGHT (Essential Services): Madam Speaker, I will provide details to the House on the issues and events at the Casuarina Zone Substation and the power outages that have affected residences and businesses in Darwin’s northern suburban areas during September and October.
I wish to repeat what I said at the time to the community: the level of outages, and the duration of these outages, during September and October is totally unacceptable. I understand the annoyance, anger and concern this has caused residents and businesses, and I apologise on behalf of the government. In a modern capital city such as Darwin, this is unacceptable and, as the Minister for Essential Services, I accept full responsibility.
I will take members through the background to the events and the issues that have subsequently arisen. Electricity for Darwin and Palmerston is generated at Channel Island and Weddell Power Stations. It is then sent through transmission lines to zone substations at 132 000 volts and 66 000 volts. At the zone substations, electricity is stepped down through large transformers to 11 000 volts. The voltage then goes to an 11 000 volt switchboard where a busbar is housed. It is then distributed on 11 000 volt feeders to the distribution substations found in many streets. These distribution substations then step down the voltage to 415 and 240 volts, and then sent to customers.
Zone substations have what is called N-1 capacity. This is an electrical term used in utilities around the world, and it means that if one piece of apparatus faults, such as a circuit breaker or a transformer going out of service, customers should not be affected. The whole network is protected by complex protection systems. If there is a fault anywhere in the network, the affected component is instantly isolated. Some circuit breakers use oil as an insulating medium. They are referred to as bulk-oil breakers.
The first and most serious power outage took place on Friday, 19 September. By 4 pm, the total load on the Casuarina Zone Substation was about 35 mW, reflecting a high level of airconditioning load. Two of the three transformers at the substation were in service and running in parallel. The third transformer was energised and on standby, or N-1. Each of the loaded transformers was operating at about 50% of its rated capacity to cover for the losses. At about 4.30 pm, the 11 000 volt bulk-oil circuit breaker connecting Transformer No 1 to the 11 000 volt busbar failed. This quickly escalated to a ‘three phase to earth current fault’, indicating a catastrophic mechanical failure. The explosion caused a fire in the switch room, automatically releasing CO2 into the room to extinguish the fire. 15 000 customers lost supply immediately.
The 11 000 volt switchboard has three sections and the section containing the defaulted circuit breaker was isolated by remote control. The Northern Territory Fire and Rescue Service checked the Casuarina Zone Substation for approximately one hour and deemed it safe to access. Work commenced on checking the condition of the remaining equipment in the switch room, in particular the circuit breaker that caused the major outage. The busbar was checked and tested to ensure that the remaining equipment was safe to put back into service. Extensive cleaning was needed to ensure that any carbon residues did not lead to further faults.
At the same time, field operators were involved in switching customers to alternative supply. Wagaman was re-energised at approximately 9 pm; Jingili at approximately 9.50 pm; and the Royal Darwin Hospital restored at around 11.30 pm. Power and Water Corporation crews worked throughout the night and power was restored to most homes by midnight. Brinkin and Tiwi were restored at 1 am, and Casuarina Shopping Centre at 6.45 am.
The fault occurred after hours and the call centre, which normally closes at 5.30 pm, received calls until midnight. System Control took calls from residents and power crews after that.
At approximately 11.30 am the following day, Saturday, 20 September, an underground high voltage cable fault occurred, affecting the Casuarina Shopping Centre - power was restored at 2.15 pm. This high voltage cable was not at the Casuarina Zone Substation.
The next serious outage occurred at approximately 11.15 pm. It was due to a flashover which occurred in 11kV cable termination box within Casuarina Zone Substation. A flashover occurs when insulation fails. The protection system operated correctly and identified it as a fault to the metal frame of the switchboard isolating all HV feeders to that section of the switchboard. Five thousand, one hundred and thirty two customers lost power, but all customers, except Charles Darwin University, were back on supply within one-and-a-half-hours.
A further flashover occurred in an 11kV termination box within Casuarina Zone Substation at 8.23 pm on Thursday, 2 October. Again, the protection system operated correctly and identified a fault to the metal frame of the switchboard and disconnected all feeds to that section of the board. Approximately 7000 customers lost their power.
As a result, it was necessary to carry out extensive tests to identify any further problems. Given previous faults, it was no longer considered safe for Power and Water workers to work next to this energised switchgear. For that reason, the substation had to be de-energised and a further 7000 customers were affected. Efforts were made to transfer the load to other feeders, as the Royal Darwin Hospital and Darwin Private Hospital are on that section of the 11kV busbar. Work commenced to clean busbar No 3 and it was completed at 4 am. After extensive testing and field switching taking place, the 11 000 high voltage busbar was deemed safe and was re-energised at 7 am, with residences and businesses connected immediately.
The government and Power and Water were seriously concerned about this outage. It became clear that we had a situation, where in a three-busbar substation, one busbar was disabled and another serious fault, which could not be explained, occurred in an unrelated section of the equipment. There was no certainty that further failures, possibly major failures, would not occur. Of great concern was that if a further major failure occurred and disabled another section of the busbar, that supply could not be guaranteed, and it was unknown how long an outage of that type would be.
We decided that given the potential threat, we needed to put measures in place which would ensure a more reliable supply. In recognition of the seriousness of the situation, the Chief Minister asked the Counter Disaster Council to convene. The Counter Disaster Council met on Saturday, 4 October and directed the Region 1 Counter Disaster Committee be called together to put in place a plan of action against the worst case scenario. That was the correct and responsible action to take. That evening I spoke to the Leader of the Opposition and offered him a briefing on this subject.
The plan aimed to minimise disruption to the affected northern suburbs if an extended power outage occurred again at the Casuarina Zone Substation. The plan included: securing backup power generation capacity from interstate and overseas for the northern suburbs; strengthening contingency plans for Royal Darwin Hospital’s emergency backup power generation; identifying health and aged care facilities at risk during a potential extended power outage and developing contingency plans; identifying high priority traffic light intersections for installation of lighting; notifying Telstra and Optus communications to put in place contingency plans to ensure fixed and mobile phone availability; working with the public health group to develop fact sheets and information on a wide range of matters, including food storage, heat stress, and swimming pool hygiene; developing public information about home and business safety and security issues; devising a property safety plan for the affected area; reviewing policies for schools, staff and student welfare and security; working with welfare groups to put in place plans and measures for assisting vulnerable people in the community; and liaising with major retail stores to consolidate their contingency plans for backup power.
It was important to prepare against the possibility of a major power outage and to be open with the public about what we were doing and why. We undertook a public advice campaign equilvent to what would occur in preparing the public for a cyclone. While this caused considerable public comment, this was the most appropriate thing to do.
Since 19 September and through October there have been a number of major outages in the northern suburbs. On Tuesday, 7 October, there was an unrelated power outage when an underground HV cable failed in Casuarina Village; up to 2000 customers were affected for periods of up to three hours. On Sunday, 12 October, another underground HV cable faulted which resulted in 2600 customers being affected for up to one hour. These were not related to the Casuarina Zone Substation.
While the failures caused a heightened sense of concern, these subsequent outages had resulted from more common causes of outages, such as cable faults, trees falling on power lines, tripped feeders, etcetera. They were not related to any further problems at Casuarina Zone Substation.
To assist Power and Water to determine the reasons for these outages and possible solutions, an expert on switchgear, Mr John Hardwick, is assisting investigations into the incident. He is a senior engineerer with one of Australia’s largest power network firms, Energy Australia. Energy Australia has in service hundreds of the same brand and type of circuit breaker as the one that failed at Casuarina Zone Substation. What we have seen over the past weeks is unacceptable and must be addressed.
As the Minister for Essential Services, I ordered an independent inquiry into these incidents, headed by Mr Mervyn Davies, one of Australia’s foremost leaders in electrical distribution systems. He holds a Bachelor of Engineering, a Masters in Engineering Science, and a Bachelor of Commerce, and has extensive experience in managing both the financial and technical performance in electricity distribution businesses. Mr Davies has been in the utilities industry for more than 40 years and has held senior management positions within the industry. He has acted for periods of time as the Managing Director of Energy Australia, Australia’s largest electricity distribution company. His specific electricity distribution experience includes managing system control, system planning, and regional operations, logistics and contracts.
I table the terms of reference of Mr Davies’ investigation, for the information of members. Members will note the comprehensive nature of these terms of reference. Mr Davies will report on the precise technical causes of the fault. He will also examine Power and Water’s maintenance practices before the fault and their performance after the events. He will also recommend the necessary actions to prevent its re-occurrence.
This investigation will be a warts-and-all examination of these events and the causal factors. The preliminary report will be available by the end of this month. We expect this report to focus on the technicalities of the event; exactly what failed, and how the system responded. The draft report is expected five weeks after the preliminary report and will go to the wider matters such as maintenance. Mr Davies will provide his final report two weeks after that. Government will respond to the recommendations put forward by Mr Davies as they arise, where appropriate.
Over the past couple of weeks, Power and Water staff worked tirelessly, day and night, in response to the power outages in the northern suburbs. They continue to work around the clock to implement power generation contingency plans, as well as develop longer-term plans for the Casuarina Zone Substation.
Most staff across the corporation have been involved in some way, including, electricians; linesmen; technicians; water service workers, overseeing contingency operations at water pumping stations; customer service staff, dealing with the large volume of inquiries to the call centre; and media and communications personnel in getting information and messages out to the residences and businesses through daily media briefings, press ads, letterbox drops to residents, and updates to the Power and Water website. These staff are dedicated to their work, and I sincerely thank each one of them. I also thank the Electrical Trades Union which has played an important role in assisting us through these issues.
I wish to deal with some of the issues that have been the subject of public debate as a result of these power outages. Much has been made of payment of dividends to the government by the Power and Water Corporation over the last six years. To ensure that members are fully aware of Power and Water funding issues, I provide the following three tables: Table 1 shows the payments made from Power and Water Corporation to government since 1995–96; Table 2 shows the contribution and payments made by government to Power and Water Corporation since 1995–96; and Table 3, a summary showing contributions versus payments. These tables, that my office put together, are based on figures provided by Power and Water and confirmed by Treasury. They tell an interesting tale.
The opposition has made much of the use of Power and Water Corporation dividends by government. Figures show the CLP removed approximately the same amount in dividend payments in their last six years of office as the government has in their first six years. It should be noted, that the government last year decided that the Power and Water Corporation should receive a dividend holiday for the financial year 2007–08 and 2008-09. The figures also show that the total government contribution by the Labor government to the corporation in our first six years was $393.6m, compared $92.7m in the last six years of the CLP government. The Labor government’s contribution to the corporation has been 420% higher than the previous CLP government contribution.
The difference between the total level of receipts, including taxation, paid to government compared to payments made to the corporation was $14.3m, during the CLP government’s final six years and, for the same time period, the Labor government’s contribution was $246m.
Members interjecting.
Mr KNIGHT: But wait, there is more! For three financial years, the CLP government slashed and ripped out more funding than it placed into the Power and Water Corporation. The Labor government has never done this. These figures are made worse by the actions undertaken by the CLP government in the years 1998, 1999, and 2000. In 1998, the CLP commissioned Merrill Lynch and Fay, Richwhite to review the financial performance and commercial value of the then Power and Water Authority.
That report, which has never been made public, resulted in recommendations that included the removal of 300 staff from the organisation. In response to this report, the CLP government introduced measures designed to remove 150 staff and reduce funding to Power and Water Authority by $30m per year for three years and, then to maintain this saving at the achieved levels.
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order, order!
Mr KNIGHT: They proceeded to undertake a ruthless slashing and burning of staff throughout the entire organisation. The then Minister for Essential Services, Mr Barry Coulter, told parliament in 1999 the aim was to axe 150 jobs, saying:
Between 1 July 1998 and 1 July 2001, the CLP government reduced numbers drastically, slashing 114 jobs, from 821 to 707 staff.
Mr Tollner: Just open the window.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr KNIGHT: In 2000, the staff numbers fell to 690. The following jobs were slashed by the CLP: 31 technical staff; 22 professional staff; and 78 service workers.
Today, there are approximately 814 staff, including 174 technical staff - 21 above the 2001 levels, and 86 professional staff – up from 45 in 2001. Service workers staff numbers are now 233, enhanced by significant contractor numbers. During the same period, apprentice numbers have also grown from 23 to more than 50, another great initiative by this government to grow our own.
Allegations have also been made regarding expenditure on repairs and maintenance. As part of his terms of reference, Mr Davies is responsible for providing the government with his view on repairs and maintenance expenditure. I will not speculate on what this report might say, however, significant increases in the expenditure on repairs and maintenance have occurred in the last six years. I table a document called Table 4, Capital and Repairs and Maintenance expenditure of Power and Water. This table shows that the government spent $245.2m on repairs and maintenance in the six years to 2007-08, and $736.3m in total capital and repairs and maintenance in those six years.
For the first term of this government, we were focused on restarting the economy of the Northern Territory, which had ground to a halt under the CLP. In 2006, the Blanch report drew a line in the sand for Power and Water. It was a bare-all report, which exposed a ‘run to fail’ culture and decades of underfunding.
This government responded immediately, announcing a five-year major program of repairs and maintenance and capital investment. In May 2007, the government and Power and Water announced an initial commitment of $814m over five years, a commitment that grew quickly to $1bn, with detailed costings and price and content escalation. $200m was expended in the 2007-08 year, and the program will continue through until 2011-12. The program will be added to and move forward beyond those five years.
In broad terms, the five-year $1bn program can be broken down as follows: $214m approximate for generation; $273m approximate for network projects; $91m approximate for water projects; $101m approximate for sewerage projects; $84m approximate for other projects; and $243m approximate for repairs and maintenance.
The $1bn will be allocated over five years in the following way in rounded terms:
2007-08 - $156.13m on capital, and $41.25m on repairs and maintenance;
2008-09 - $166.5m on capital, and $50.15m on repairs and maintenance;
2009-10 - $150.6m on capital, and $50.4m on repairs and maintenance;
2010-11 - $160.2m on capital, and $50.8m on repairs and maintenance; and
2011-12 - $134.1m capital, and $49.98m on repairs and maintenance.
An item by item breakdown is not provided, because it is the subject of contract negotiations and commercial-in-confidence discussions. The government does not want to prejudice contract prices in advance.
However, there have been some very clear public statements about the elements contained within these works. Projects are planned right across the Territory and will go across all elements of the Power and Water Corporation.
Projects include: a new power station at Weddell; a new power station in Alice Springs; new substations at East Arm, Archer, Alice Springs, inner city, Snell, and Lee Point, with major rebuilds at the Edith River zone; major augmentation to the Katherine and Tennant Creek Power Stations; major upgrades to the Channel Island Power Station; improved zone station capacitor banks; upgraded switch stations; and more.
The Blanch Report, with Power and Water’s own internal assessment, played an important role in the decision to lift capital and maintenance expenditure to the planned levels. Power and Water Corporation has been diligent in responding to the issues raised by the Blanch Report; it was dealt with seriously and immediately.
I welcome comments made by Mr Steve Blanch on ABC radio earlier this month, and I quote:
Power outages are unacceptable. Not to act or inform the public would have been even more unacceptable. The government and Power and Water have acted to ensure that if a further major event was to occur, supply for hospital, priority patients, residents, schools, and businesses can be provided. We have launched independent investigations into the issues at this zone substation, other zone substations, and the repairs and maintenance regime. We have provided ongoing advice to everyone throughout this whole period – nothing has been kept behind closed doors.
Prior to this event, we had already started a $1bn program to boost essential services across the Territory. Approximately $200m has already been spent to date. We will recalibrate that spending, if needed, to respond to issues raised by the Davies and Hardwick investigations. We will continue to act to build our power supply’s reliability into the future.
Madam Speaker, I commend the statement to the House, and I move that the Assembly take note of the statement.
Mr ELFERINK (Port Darwin): Madam Speaker, can you smell the fear from the people opposite? Can you smell the fear …
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr ELFERINK: … pumping through the veins of this government? Can you imagine how much time they spent in front of the altars to various gods and powers to ensure that this farce did not occur in the middle of the recent election campaign?
I have enjoyed listening to this statement, because I highlighted on the statement, which was circulated last night - I remind the minister - four fateful words: ‘I accept full responsibility’. If this statement is an expression of accepting full responsibility, then I am a monkey’s uncle. I cannot imagine that you would walk into this place and say: ‘I accept full responsibility’ and then spend the next 20 minutes bleating about how it is not your fault and how it is all the fault of the ancient CLP government and, my god, I am surprised you did not blame ancient Rome in the mix.
All we have heard from this minister is an explanation as to what physically went wrong and then an attempt to blame somebody else, other than himself, in spite of ‘I accept full responsibility’, and then used the same tired old line and the same mistake that this government has made again and again: the mistake of assuming that the simple expenditure of money is a result. It is not.
Spending money is an input. It is what you put into a process in an effort to obtain a result. Let us examine this. The government has told us how much extra they have put into health since 2001. However, do we see the results that we would hope from that expenditure in 2001? No, we do not. The government has made so much of all the extra money that they have put into our police force. Yet, are Territorians safer at night? Can we walk down the street at 4 am in Mitchell Street and feel completely safe? No, we cannot.
Ms Lawrie: Yes, I can.
Mr ELFERINK: I did not see you out there at 5 am on Friday or Saturday. Were you tucked away in bed again?
Can we take comfort that our education system, after receiving so much extra money, is providing outcomes for Territory students? Do parents feel comfortable that their kids are achieving the results that they want them to achieve? The claim that spending money alone is the solution to all of these problems is a fallacy. You have to do more than simply spend money. We have heard the Minister for Health run this line: I do nothing in terms of policy. All I do is make sure that the department has sufficient funds so that they can do what they have to do. That was the defence when the health crisis started not so long ago. It would pay ministers to ask further questions as to what happens inside the departments after they give them the money.
I grabbed the Centralian Advocate the other day and on the front cover there was a story about $4.5m being spent on electrical cabling, two thirds of which is now redundant, because it is no longer needed for the $20m power station which has to be shipped from the Ron Goodin Power Station to the Owen Springs facility. There was the purchase of two generators, the Titan and the Taurus, which were too noisy for the Ron Goodin Power Station because they were almost in the middle of Alice Springs. The question that begs from those two examples alone is the $20m spent to build a new power station, which would not be necessary because we bought a set of loud generator sets. We then have to replace that power station with another which has to be cabled, however we have two thirds too much cable because the plans have changed. That does not strike me as particularly good planning. That strikes me as a lot of spending. It does not strike me as a particularly useful outcome.
In the Territory at the moment we are building a pipeline 270 km long to hook up with the existing pipeline between Darwin and Alice Springs. That pipeline goes from Blacktip to Wadeye; Blacktip is the gas field and Wadeye is the community. Then the government takes over and it goes all the way to the existing north-south pipeline, so we can get gas to the Channel Island Power Station built by the CLP - that dreadful pack of irresponsible so and so’s - at a cost of, what? $170m at last count. I could be corrected on that, but a substantial amount of money.
I still find it difficult to comprehend how you can spend that sort of money building a pipeline which is going to carry gas 500 km, when one of the largest gas supplies in the southern hemisphere is within visual distance of the Channel Island Power Station. That is all part of the money rolled into this $1bn package. Is that an excellent outcome for the Territory taxpayer? I think not.
A much better result would have been an effective negotiation to secure gas through commercial arrangements. I have heard the former Chief Minister say: ‘It is not obvious, there is something else behind the scene, but we are not going to tell you what it is’, which is the problem in relation to that negotiation. It has never been explained, to any level of credibility, why that gas was never secured through normal commercial operations from a gas supply 3 km from Darwin’s power station.
A lot of money is being spent - I believe I am up to $200m already - and we still have not had an outcome which I consider particularly good for Territorians. Yet, this government says it again and again: ‘We are spending money, we are spending money’. We know you are spending money. You have had a capacity to spend money given to you, which has fallen into your lap like …
Mr Tollner: Manna from heaven.
Mr ELFERINK: … manna from heaven, yes. There is the ALP coming out of Egypt, looking for food, walking around the Sinai Desert, and there is the manna from heaven given to them by God. I never considered John Howard to be so divine that I would call him God, however, they received huge amounts of GST revenue, much more GST than they ever expected.
It is an interesting exercise to go back through the last Budget Paper No 2, back to 2002, and compare the prediction for the GST revenue and then go to the Treasurer’s Annual Financial Report, year-on-year, to see how much they actually got. I did that exercise to the last financial year - $1.2bn. Let us pause here for a moment. This is money beyond their expectations. If you read the budget forecast - and Treasuries are often very careful to be conservative in their forecasts - as to what they expected the GST rise was going to be, it is already a substantial amount of money. Yet, at the end of each financial year, you whack on this great wad on top of it and, lo and behold, that is a hell of a windfall. $1.2bn over five years, six years, is more than they ever expected to get. Beyond the forecasts - more money than we ever expected to get. Did we squirrel it away? Yes, some in the Conditions of Service Reserve, which is apparently not doing so well - a little. But, where has the rest of it gone?
This government reached into the Treasurer’s Advance last year and extracted all the money that they could lawfully take, without coming back into this parliament and asking for more - within $1000. The Financial Management Act of the Northern Territory says that we will allow a little flexibility in the budgetary process, because we know that ups and downs of the budgetary process occur. However, if you have to get more money out of the Central Holding Authority, you funnel it into the Treasurer’s Advance, and then have the Administrator sign off on that.
The Treasurer came into this House and said: ‘This is the money I am going to need to run the Northern Territory. I am then going to create a little kick on the side’. It is called the Treasurer’s Advance, and you will find it in Budget Paper No 3 under the Central Holding Authority. ‘I am going to put $40m in there, in case something goes wrong’. They put the $40m in it – it is contingent liability – and then, if we really need to, we can go back to the Central Holding Authority and blow the budget by as much as 5%, before you have to come in …
Ms Lawrie: It is called initiatives between budgets.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr ELFERINK: … to this House and ask for more money. Guess what? They made it to September or October last year before the contingent liability was gone. In December, they were already touching the Treasurer’s Advance for a further $95m and, by June last financial year - I am only talking a few months ago - they had gone to within $1000 of having to come back into this parliament asking for more money. This is a government which has, doubtlessly, a capacity to spend. I have never doubted the Labor Party’s capacity to spend. It is the issue of getting bang for bucks, so that when a Territorian goes to the light switch and flicks, oh, my goodness, the lights come on – shock, horror. What is this government’s response? Go buy a generator.
Members interjecting.
Mr ELFERINK: It is the CLP’s responsibility. There is no way that any credible minister can walk in here and say: ‘I accept full responsibility’, and then point at the other side of the House and say: ‘But it is all your fault, it is all your fault’.
I will provide another example from this statement. I wonder if the minister, in his haste to attack former minister, Barry Coulter - who I am not defending in any way in this place - could pick up the phone and talk to him. That is what I did. I was curious. When I saw that in the newspaper, I thought I had better find out what was going on. So I rang and said: ‘Barry, mate, what are you doing, sacking all these people?’ He said: ‘There was a time when we were living in the period of the recession we had to have, and those sorts of things, but, yes, we decided to get rid of some staff, which were not technical staff at that stage’.
I notice that the minister says 31 technical staff, the newspaper today says 100 technical staff, and Mr Coulter said no technical staff. Without going into that …
Ms Lawrie: Do not mislead the House.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr ELFERINK: ... he made sure that some of those people who – I will rephrase that – they offered packages to some of those people who provided service workers. These are the people who go around and lop the trees around the power lines and that sort of thing. Those people, with their packages, started new businesses - which still exist in this town today - and do the same work as the service worker staff which Power and Water hired.
We now have the situation where service workers left the Power and Water Authority, formed their own company and have now returned to provide those services to the Power and Water Authority. The minister says we now have 233 service workers working in the Power and Water Corporation, and they are enhanced by a significant number of contract workers. That is right - we have now doubled up. We have twice as many people doing the same job. Talk about expenditure and thinking about how you spend money.
There is an undeniable problem that this government cannot get their head around; that they are actually responsible for supplying power to the people of the Northern Territory. I invite members to look at page 19 of the Blanch Report. During the report, I heard the minister say: ‘Oh, the CLP sat on the report’. The only reason the Blanch Report is public is because it was leaked. This minister is happy to criticise other ministers. I do not remember a December 2006 ministerial report in parliament, where this report, which we have just received, was placed on the table. If the minister is going to accuse the CLP of sitting on reports, I urge him to look to his own house first.
Page 19 of this report highlights a deteriorating problem of SAIDI events and SAIFI events. These events are basically the duration and frequency of power cuts to PAWA customers. There are two charts, and although the actual occasions of those power cuts are all over the place, the trend lines are quite clear. The trend lines demonstrate, between 2003 and 2005-06, an increasing trend.
The minister is trying to make out that the CLP would not have spent money on repairs and maintenance and would not have built new generation sets. We built the infrastructure when it was required when we were in power - or the CLP of that day, it was not me and it was not us - the CLP of that day built the infrastructure when it was required. Stokes Hill to Channel Island - much improved. What he admits to in his own statement is this: he actually kept the repairs and maintenance budget depressed at the same level year in, year out, until this financial year.
When the government came to power they were very quick to readjust the Northern Territory budget. They created a mini-budget and re-established and reiterated their spending priorities. I ask members to go to page 13 of Budget Paper No 2 of that budget, where this government said that they were going to spend less on infrastructure and they were going to spend that money on the other functional areas of government - whatever that means.
Resonating through the following budgets, and bear in mind that infrastructure includes the repairs and maintenance budgets, you can track that they sat on the repairs and maintenance budget. In spite of a 4% CPI, and that materiel and personnel were becoming more expensive year in, year out, if you go through each Budget Paper No 4 between 2002 and last financial year it tracked around $40m - slightly under in most instances. In real terms, if you allow for the changes in materiel, wages and conditions, and the CPI effect, it is a cut every year.
This government does it; they call it an efficiency dividend. They do it to the public service every year. The efficiency dividend in the budget for this year is approximately 3%, not including health, education and police, but it applies to every other department. By depressing the money in this fashion, it is an even more rapacious efficiency dividend. I acknowledge that you spend money. I acknowledge that the government has spent money on further infrastructure, but in doing that you have to raise the repairs and maintenance budget, otherwise you will be stretching the maintenance budget beyond capacity and finally rifts start to appear. Those rifts started to appear in a very big way recently.
I also acknowledge that in this year’s Budget Paper No 4, there is an increase of about $10m; the first increase for the repairs and maintenance budget in six years. It increases to $50m. This is where I am now genuinely concerned. I will go through the minister’s own words: in 2008-09 - repairs and maintenance of $50.15m; in 2009-10 - repairs and maintenance of $50.4m; in 2010-11 - repairs and maintenance of $50.8m; 2011-12 - repairs and maintenance of $49.98m.
Those of us who ignore the lessons of history are doomed to repeat them. Surely he would have figured out that after sitting on the repairs and maintenance budget for six years at $40m, by now committing himself to sit on the repairs and maintenance budget for a further five years, whilst increasing the size of the infrastructure, he is going to bring upon himself exactly the same issues that we are currently facing. He will, and for that he will be utterly responsible - not just in some churlish way, but in a complete way.
It is up to this minister to go into the next Budget Cabinet and to extract a repairs and maintenance increase which reflects the needs of the network and of the generation capacity. If he fails to do so, there will be no Barry Coulter to blame, there will be no CLP to blame, and there will be no fall back position or capacity to spin his way out of it. However, with the rate that these folk change ministries, it will not be his problem.
Territorians have every right to expect that there is going to be a light when you turn on the switch. No matter who you try to blame and how much you try to shift the blame, the Power and Water Authority is responsible for delivering a service which is reliable. I cannot lay my hands on the statement in their annual report, but it is actually part of their mission statement.
I am also concerned about the way the government tries to spin these things. I draw honourable members’ attention to media releases which were released by both the Power and Water Authority and the government, that the provision of power in Alice Springs is going to be supplemented or augmented by a couple of generators, which will be able to pump out 10.6 mW, I believe it was, of electricity into the network in Alice Springs. I was surprised to read in a recent Gazette, and I noticed it again in Power and Water’s annual report on page 12, that the new 8 mW generating set at Owen Springs Power Station is expected to be installed and commissioned by the end of November 2008.
Why would you go out into the public arena and say you are going to push out a 10 mW generation system when the actual generation capacity is 8 mW? I asked Andrew Macrides this particular question during a briefing. He said: ‘That is the label on the machine itself, but most machines are capable of generating more capacity than what they rated and what the compliance plate on the machine says’. However, if you buy an 8 mW generator, and you tell Territorians it is a 10 mW generator, you can well imagine and understand why government is not trusted. By saying one thing and doing another, you are really betraying the trust of Territorians, and before too long, that trust wears very thin, as mine has.
The attempts of the minister today to shift responsibility for this problem to somewhere other than himself, in spite of dressing himself up in a cloak of responsibility, is reprehensible. This was a good statement when he started. I thought: ‘Good. He has pulled on the mantle of responsibility, and he is saying: “I am taking it on myself”’. He then went on to carefully explain what the issues were in the power system at the Casuarina Substation, and he then failed to live up to the promise that he made at the beginning of the statement.
In the country of my birth, we have a series of dikes in certain parts of Holland that keep the North Sea at bay. There is a major dike which has a masculine name of some sort. There is a second dike called The Maiden. There is a third dike and it is called The Sleeper. When the North Sea is washing up against The Sleeper, you are just buying time. On those occasions when the North Sea has washed up against The Sleeper, as a couple of dikes have broken in Dutch history, that was all The Sleeper ever did: buy time.
That was all the last part of the busbar was able to do in Darwin at the Casuarina Substation – buy time. I am not a technical expert at all, but fortunately, the briefing I received was drawn in large bits of crayon and simple pictures, but I do recall that part. Fortunately, PAWA has been able to restore a part of the busbar and although there was a cascading failure through the system, they have actually come back from the brink a little.
I note that the response by government was to create a counter disaster response, and whilst I understand that, I think to myself that a counter disaster committee against the government of the Northern Territory might be a useful thing for many Territorians.
There is no way that this government can shift responsibility anywhere else other than to take it upon their own shoulders. When you hear stories that babies are being resuscitated in the hospital under torch light because the UPS has failed in the hospital, and then you hear that the UPS has not been fired up recently and run through its normal maintenance cycle because there are issues in getting parts for a system that dates back to the 1970s, you know there are problems.
I acknowledge that this government is trying to fix the problems and is addressing them. However, it is only doing it through the vehicle of spin. It is now saying: ‘We are spending $1bn on repairs to Power and Water’, but it is very careful about how it separates out power and water, when talking about issues such as: ‘The water system is fine, the sewerage system is fine, the power system needs to be fixed, but we are spending $1bn on Power and Water’. In that step, they are neglecting to say that the expenditure is over the whole of the Power and Water infrastructure network. It is over five years, which the minister has pointed out ...
Ms Lawrie: Not neglected to say it. We said it when we announced it.
Mr ELFERINK: Beg your pardon?
Ms Lawrie: We are not neglecting to say it. It was very clearly articulated at the announcement of the $1bn investment.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr ELFERINK: No, not articulated when the newspaper ran it. They want to give Territorians the impression that they are spending $1bn on their power system. No, they are not. The $1bn also includes the normal funding that would have occurred under any arrangements. I noticed that he added into that list $250m for repairs and maintenance, however, if you stretch that over five years, it returns to the issue I was raising before.
Madam Speaker, government must do better than they are doing. They must stop using mere expenditure as an outcome in its own right, and start governing the Northern Territory. The facts are that the lights do not go on when you throw the switches; there is a monumental problem in the Territory’s MAP testing for education; we are not safe on our streets, as we used to be; and our health system is in crisis. Surely, government should start governing, not by simply quoting amounts of money, but actually doing something.
Debate suspended.
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, I draw your attention to the presence in the Speaker’s Gallery of Mr Neville Perkins OAM, a former member for Macdonnell. On behalf of honourable members, I extend to you a very warm welcome.
Members: Hear, hear!
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, I also draw your attention to the presence in the galleries of visitors as part of the Parliament House public tour program. On behalf of honourable members, I extend to you a very warm welcome.
Members: Hear, hear!
Mr ELFERINK (Port Darwin): Madam Speaker, I move – That the government be censured for its monumental failure to supply the basic services of power, water and sewerage to the people of the Northern Territory and then lying to them about the provision of such services.
I table the signed censure motion.
I have been astonished listening today to the minister in this House, as well as to other members trying to deflect responsibility and doing none of what they promised in the opening lines of the statement delivered. The minister said he would take full responsibility. I have been convinced, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that he has no intention of taking full responsibility for the debacle that Power and Water has become under their governance. We learned today in Question Time a most important fact; that Power and Water will be made to pay for this debacle. There is no way that Power and Water can afford to pay for the generators, fuel, and all those other items that they will have to pay for, without passing the costs on.
Members of this House know that the tariffs for the Power and Water Corporation are set by government, and this government tied those tariffs to CPI. Any elevation of those tariffs beyond CPI in the near future will be a direct result of this crisis. For some reason, this government is under the impression that they are not responsible for the decay in Power and Water facilities. It was their mini-budget. Their very first act in government was to come into this place and introduce a budget paper, which said, amongst other things - and the citation is page 13, Budget Paper No 2 of the 2001 mini-budget, straight after the 2001 election - that they were going to spend less on infrastructure. I invite members to go to that budget paper and read that paragraph. They were true to their word.
Ms Lawrie: We have had one record infrastructure spend after the other since then - since we climbed out of the black hole that you left us in.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr ELFERINK: True to their word. You will notice it is this slippery government that in the statistics they dropped on the table today, they certainly did not include the 2001 mini-budget. They said: ‘Oh, no, that was a shared thing between us and the CLP’. Codswallop - absolute codswallop!
They were – when was the election in 2001? August, September?
A member: August.
Mr ELFERINK: … a couple of months into the financial year. They came along and introduced their own budget and in that budget - the one that ran for the rest of the financial year - they promised to cut infrastructure, and they did.
However, inside the infrastructure budget there is the repairs and maintenance budget. Whilst I acknowledge the interjections from the Treasurer, that spending has increased on infrastructure - and I will refer to that shortly, the repairs and maintenance did not go up. If you track it through Budget Papers No 4 each year between 2002 and until the current year, the budget for repairs and maintenance for the Power and Water Corporation did not go up. It tracked at around $40m.
Mr Knight: That is a lie! That is a lie!
Mr ELFERINK: Check the budget papers. He is the one who is being accused of lying. If he wants to bring a censure motion about me, I am happy.
They did not, until last financial year, track up. If you allow for CPI, the cost of materials and wages, it was probably in the area, close to, or possibly even more, a 20% cut over time. What does the minister do? He says, in the year 2008-09, the current financial year: ‘I am going to add some more money to the repairs and maintenance budget’. This year we see that finally, after that reprehensible bleeding-off from repairs and maintenance, there is a jump from $40m to $50m in one year.
This takes them roughly to the position they were in when they inherited government. What has the minister announced today? He announced in his statement a freeze of the repairs and maintenance budget, which will continue to track at approximately $50m for the next …
Ms Lawrie: Not true. He did not announce a freeze at all. It is your fantasy.
Mr ELFERINK: I pick up on the Treasurer’s interjection, ‘did not announce a freeze at all’, and I invite the Treasurer to go to page 15 of the circulated statement. If this is not a freeze, I do not know what is.
Ms Lawrie: Do you know what estimates are?
Mr ELFERINK: Repairs and maintenance from the year 2008-09 will be $50.15m.
Ms Lawrie: Forward estimates.
Mr ELFERINK: For the year 2009-10, it will be $50.4m; for the year 2010-11, it will be $50.8m and, after tracking along at $50m a year, in the year 2011-12, it will drop back down to $49.98m. The Treasurer says: ‘These are just forward estimates’. What on earth am I supposed to do with budget papers if the Treasurer says I cannot trust them? What a load of rot! ‘I cannot trust them’, she says, ‘they are just forward estimates’.
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Keep the volume down. It is very difficult to hear, to be quite honest. Member for Port Darwin, cease interjecting, please.
Mr ELFERINK: Madam Speaker, I am sorry, I cannot help the Treasurer’s loudness.
Madam Speaker, it is inherit on government to be honest. We have seen it from the minister in the last week alone, where she was embarrassed, in a most extraordinary way, because of the very unseemly public spat that developed as a result of her dishonesty. This percolates throughout government.
A media release from Power and Water - and I know that there was a matching government media release - that said they were commissioning the installation of 10.9 mW diesel/gas generators. This is the media release - this is what goes out to the media to see - ‘However, although we publish the Government Gazette in the Northern Territory, it is not quite as well read as the Northern Territory News and some media releases’. If you read the Government Gazette, which deals with that particular contract, it is an 8 mW generator with 30% less capacity than what was promised. I am aware of the excuse that there is a little compliance plate that says there is an 8 mW capacity on this generator but you can run it harder. However, if you are buying an 8 mW generator, then you do not go out and say that there is a 10.9 mW generator in the works.
A member: You cannot run something at 120%.
Mr ELFERINK: I pick up on the interjection from my immediate left. That is right. You do not run your assets as hard as they can possibly go and more, and not expect failures as a result. The Blanch report, which was delivered in 2006 and buried by this government, outlines on page 19, that power outages - under this government, with a maintenance program that was frozen at $40m a year - were increasing in both frequency and duration for the people of the Northern Territory. I remain fascinated beyond measure, that a government, in all seriousness, can come into a place like this and say that it is not their responsibility, when they have been in power for eight years.
I will put this environment of repairs and maintenance freezes into context. Back in the late 1980s this country suffered from a recession that we had to have, as I recall, and then we did do well for a few years. Then some evil people flew an aeroplane into the side of a building in New York City and that also caused tough financial times. The Northern Territory government of the day managed the way well through those tough financial times and were still able to decrease the frequency and duration of power cuts in the Northern Territory.
Over the past seven years, this government has been the recipient and the beneficiary of more taxation then they ever dared to dream, from both the local and federal levels. In spite of a Treasurer who seems to bind herself to the misguided belief that it is Commonwealth coffers that fill up with GST revenue, the fact is that the GST has actually been flowing directly to the states and territories, within the principles of the agreements made between the states and the Commonwealth government in the late 1990s. Under the process of horizontal fiscal equalisation, the Territory has done particularly well out of the GST.
Honourable members may not be aware that our GST revenue is currently tracking at about 450 in the dollar; when the Australian average is $1, we are getting $4.50. Some of the larger states are getting 80 and 90. New South Wales and Victoria are not happy about it. Fortunately, the agreements and arrangements in place mean that we do well. Not only has the GST gone up but it has gone up beyond expectation.
Therefore, it is important to do two specific things when we talk about GST revenues. The first is that the Treasury each year predicts the increase in GST revenue. It sits down and asks: how much is the GST going to increase? We think it is about that much; we will shave a little off the top because we have to be conservative, and that is going to be the GST result for the year. That expressed prediction - a forward estimate, which we cannot rely on according to the Treasurer - is put into Budget Paper No 2 and you see how the forward estimates work in that process.
It is an interesting exercise to go to Budget Paper No 2, where it shows the estimate of the GST and SPP, then to the Treasurer’s annual report at the end of that financial year where you see what they actually received. What you discover is that every year, not only do they get their increase as predicted, they get more and the little parts they did not expect, if you add them up over the financial years 2002-03 through to last financial year, it is approximately $1.2bn. This is money they did not even expect to get. They could have turned that money, or rolled that money into savings and into infrastructure, and they did, to a degree.
We do see the construction of certain Power and Water infrastructure. The construction of that Power and Water infrastructure had to happen because it was necessary.
By some strange implication, the government seems to be suggesting that if the CLP, or Country Liberals, had retained government they would have done nothing to augment the Power and Water infrastructure. What arrant nonsense. You are so full of it, guys, it is absolutely amazing. The suggestion that we would not do it is rubbish.
Not one member of this side of the House now was in Cabinet during the period of the last government. I have never had any intention of selling PAWA and the Cabinet of the day did not ask me either. Talk about creating furphys and trying to lie to Territorians about obfuscating the real issue.
This policy of obnubilation is no longer carrying any weight amongst the people of the Northern Territory and they are quickly becoming weary of the fact that they get a very nice media cycle but they do not get lights, cold freezers, or a hospital UPS that does the job so people are not resuscitating babies under torch light. That is what this issue is about - not trying to better the media cycle.
Members interjecting.
Mr ELFERINK: I pick up on the interjection by the Chief Minister: scaring Territorians. Territorians have a right to be afraid. Territorians have a right to be afraid that they cannot be guaranteed electrical power when they switch on their lights and it cannot even be guaranteed in the hospitals. You think that is not something to be afraid of. When the Chief Minister is so worried about what he can stick in his next press release, rather than actually deliver services that matter, then Territorians have a right to be very afraid, and unlike space, even in the dark in the Territory, Territorians can be heard screaming. They are very angry indeed.
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Order! Member for Port Darwin, have you finished?
Mr ELFERINK: No, Madam Speaker, I was just waiting for the courtesy of silence from the members opposite.
Let us talk about where that extra spending has gone. We are in the surprising situation in the Northern Territory currently, where we are building a pipeline - a much acclaimed pipeline, according to government - but there is an underlying principle which has been forgotten, that I will cover now.
The pipeline being built from the Blacktip field to go through Wadeye is now going through 270 km of Territory bush to hook up with an existing pipeline. The existing pipeline goes from the Mereenie fields in Central Australia to Darwin and Alice Springs to run the gas powered turbines. The Mereenie fields have been running out of gas for some time, so the Blacktip field will augment the Mereenie field and supply gas to the power stations in the Northern Territory, including the one at Channel Island.
It remains unexplained by this government why we are spending $170m of the $1bn on building a pipeline to a power station which is within rifle shot of one of the largest gas supplies in the southern hemisphere. This is an extraordinary situation. If I stand on the roof of the Channel Island Power Station, I can quite clearly see the tip of the ConocoPhillips gas tank in Darwin Harbour. For some reason, to fire the gas turbines on our generator sets, we have to pipe gas 500 km. Surely, in the realms of good government, someone must have thought: ‘Wow, if we need to spend $170m of that money, we should try to negotiate a better outcome, even though it might be expensive - as they are the only gas supplier around - with ConocoPhillips. Let us talk to them.’ It remains utterly unexplained to this day why those deals were never done. There is $170m gone from the $1bn.
This government would have led Territorians to believe that they were spending $1bn on power. That is also not true, because they are spending $1bn over the five-year period, as required by their deteriorating infrastructure, not only on power generation, but also the supply of water and fixing our sewerage system. It is about one Olympic-sized pool of raw sewage a day pumped into Darwin Harbour, 500m from the beach outside this House. That is not a good outcome. This government has been promising for a long time, ad nauseum, to fix it, and slowly, ever so slowly, they are getting around to it.
The other aspect of this arrangement is water. What is the government’s solution, for one of the fastest growing cities in Australia, to provide water? There are three proposed dam sites in the Darwin area: the Bennett Dam across the Finniss River, and two potential dams, which could exist simultaneously, over the Adelaide River, the Wirra and the Marrakai Dam.
I believe the most advanced of these is the Wirra Dam which is near the Adelaide River township. Do we see an allocation in the budget for bringing on water so we can augment the water supply to the fastest growing city in Australia? No. We find an allocation in the budget that we are going to make the existing dam wall higher, which will provide about 20% extra water.
Okay, I accept that. That is probably not so bad. However, the other aspect of this is to spend $50m on augmenting Manton Dam which was built around the end of the World War II. There are problems with Manton Dam, because the water that comes out of there needs to be purified. That is not the case for the Darwin River Dam at the moment. The Darwin River Dam provides water straight from dam to tap, after some chlorination and filtering, as I understand. The water that comes out of Manton Dam is a lot dirtier than the water that comes out of the Darwin River Dam.
We are relying, in our ultra-modern city with increasing building sizes and growth, on a piece of infrastructure that dates back to World War II, and produces dirty water. That is the solution. That is part of the $1bn fix we are being told about. This is not giving me much comfort at all. We have a government entirely predisposed to telling Territorians that everything is sweetness and light, with many media releases going out. We have no end of comfort for Territorians, except in one important way - that their airconditioners will not work. The solution for government, so far, has been to tell Territorians: ‘Go and buy a generator’.
Mr Henderson: No, we did not say that; Mr Macrides said that.
Mr ELFERINK: I believe that the member for Casuarina has followed his own government’s advice and bought a generator. I would also like to know if there is any truth in the rumour that staffers on the fifth floor have been sleeping in their offices during the power cuts.
Mr Henderson: Oh rubbish! Only rumours that you put around.
Mr ELFERINK: I heard a rumour; that is all. I did not start it, but I heard the rumour …
Mr Henderson: Yes, spread rumours …
Mr ELFERINK: Is it true …
Mr Henderson: Spread rumours.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr ELFERINK: Is it true? That is the question that I ask.
Mr Henderson: We do not repeat them in here.
Madam SPEAKER: Order, order!
Mr Tollner: They should claim bed tax.
Madam SPEAKER: Order, order! Member for Port Darwin, you have the call.
Mr ELFERINK: There comes a time, when a government has to take responsibility for the decisions it makes. This government has not, in any way, decided to take responsibility for the decisions it makes. We know how cute they can be. We heard it five minutes ago when we had to extract out of the minister a very important comment. I want him to return to this as a matter of priority. He said that Power and Water is going to pick up the cost of this exercise. He said they will not pass on this cost to the consumer through tariff increases. This government sets the tariffs and, as a matter of policy, has said those tariffs will be set at CPI.
This minister needs to tell Territorians, without equivocation, without trying to dodge it or in any way dress it up, that power and water prices will not go up beyond the CPI promise that they have made. If he can do that, he might be able to claw back some credibility. However, with the way he was ducking and weaving during Question Time, I very much doubt that he is prepared to make that promise, because I do not believe that they are capable of keeping it.
The Treasurer alluded that GST might actually go down, in an answer during Question Time. For the first time since this government has been in power, they are actually going to have to manage a tight budget. That means they are going to have to find other sources of income, and will have to restrain themselves from the reckless spending that we saw, even as early as last financial year. They pushed their appropriation boundaries to the very limit last financial year. They got $333m extra out of all of their sources of revenue, and they managed to spend it all. They also increased their appropriations to within $1000 of the allowable limit. A $3.5bn budget and they went to the very edge of their allowable limit by $1000. That is not good budgetary control; that is not good budgetary command.
Dr Burns: It is like the black hole that Percy found, $130m.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr ELFERINK: If the minister, and the government, intends to keep the promise made during Question Time and during his ministerial statement earlier today, to be honest with Territorians, they have not demonstrated any capacity to do so. They have deliberately gone out of their way to obfuscate the real facts. The fact that matters most to Territorians is that when they go to their fridge, the meat is not going to be rotten in the freezer; that when they go to turn their swimming pool filters on, the filters are going to work; and when they try to turn an airconditioner or a light switch on, that they are going to get electricity.
There is no such faith amongst Territorians at the moment and, frankly, I can see a lot of Territorians will be relying on these into the future.
This government stands condemned …
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Greatorex, please put that under your table.
Mr Conlan: Sorry, Madam Speaker, I am just having trouble reading.
Mr ELFERINK: This government stands condemned for its monumental failure to provide even the most basic services. Whilst they continue to believe that the mere expenditure of money is the solution to problems, they will always fail. It is the reason that they have failed in health, education, and law and order. We are not safer, our kids are not better educated, and we are certainly not healthier. Yet, what is the fall back position of government every time? ‘But we are spending more’. And now all we hear from government is: ‘But we are spending more’.
They are spending more on fixing things, like the Alice Springs Power Station, which has now had to be moved as a result of the Taurus and the Titan being too loud, which is what? A $20m to $30m exercise? They buy some cable so the new Alice Springs Power Station can supply power to the people of Alice Springs. Guess what? You bought two-thirds too much cable. What is he going to do with the rest of it, sunshine?
Ms Carney: Darwin people really enjoyed the Masters Games because the power was on all the time.
Madam SPEAKER: Order, member for Araluen!
Mr ELFERINK: Spending is not an outcome in its own right. What you do with the money is what counts and this government …
Mr HENDERSON: A point of order, Madam Speaker! I believe that you advised Florence Nightingale to take his stupid prop off his table earlier in the day, and it has reappeared. It just goes to show the hilarity and mirth that he has shown for this whole subject.
Mr CONLAN: A point of order, Madam Speaker!
Madam SPEAKER: I was listening to this point of order, thank you, member for Greatorex. What is your point of order?
Mr CONLAN: The Chief Minister referred to the member for Araluen as Florence Nightingale …
Ms Carney: No, it is him. He is Florence Nightingale.
Mr CONLAN: The member for Port Darwin is Florence Nightingale. Either way, it does not really matter. It is unparliamentary and I ask that he withdraw that comment.
Madam SPEAKER: Please pause. I have already ruled that if props are relevant to the debate and it is the member who has the call, they can have them. The member has the call, please continue.
Mr ELFERINK: Madam Speaker, I will be happy to give them this particular candle, because it will be the brightest thing on that side of the House.
This government has a duty to do the basics before it does all the other things it wants to do. The basic things, such as making sure we are safe, healthy, educated, and that the lights go on. They have failed in all of those areas, and this has been the most monumental disaster that has befallen the Territory since they came into power.
This government deserves to be censured, and should be censured, for failing Territorians, and they went to an election early to avoid what they knew was coming.
Madam Speaker, I cannot believe the cynicism of a government that would do something in such a reprehensible fashion. Censured for their failures and censured at the next election by the people of the Northern Territory.
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Member for Port Darwin, I ask you to put the candle down now, thank you.
Mr Elferink: All right, Madam Speaker.
Mr KNIGHT (Essential Services): Madam Speaker, a few things happened today. We had Question Time, which the CLP cut short. There was more time available to ask questions. We also had a ministerial statement that we put forward on this subject. I have been out there nearly every day in front of the media, answering questions and providing information about this very subject. The CLP is being deceitful, telling lies to Territorians …
Mr ELFERINK: A point of order, Madam Speaker! If he wants to bring on a censure motion he can, but he is the one being censured, not us.
A member: This is a censure motion, you klutz.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Minister, I ask you to withdraw. In a censure motion, while there is somewhat more latitude, the matters that relate to the censure motion, if for example in the censure motion it mentions something that you have suggested, then that is fine, otherwise it is not. I ask you to withdraw those comments.
Mr HENDERSON: Madam Speaker, a point of order! Just on a point of clarification and I am not detracting from your ruling. The minister said that the CLP had been out there lying to Territorians. He did not name an individual member. Standing orders relate to individual members, not to organisations. I seek a point of clarification regarding explicitly what the minister said.
Madam SPEAKER: I will seek some advice. I ask you to withdraw, minister. We have usually ruled that a collective use of a term is the same as for an individual if a member draws it to the attention of the Speaker at the time. I ask you to withdraw that comment, please.
Mr KNIGHT: I withdraw, Madam Speaker. The CLP has been deceitful to Territorians about the truth. We have been out there every day, talking about this subject, providing reports and solid information, and the member for Port Darwin has been deceitful.
He has provided information to the Leader of Opposition, who has taken that information on face value - more fool him. I have only been in this parliament three years, however, I have seen several instances where the former member for Greatorex, in particular, has trundled into this parliament with these great little graphs, supplied by the former advisor, the member for Port Darwin. The member for Greatorex would then put on a great show about these graphs and it turned out these graphs were actually false. They had false information in them and bits of numbers were pulled out of the air. Maybe the member for Port Darwin took them down to the childcare centre in Mitchell Street and gave them to the three-year-olds and said: ‘Come on, you can have a bit of a play with this. Draw some graphs, put some numbers together’. I would not believe anything that the member for Port Darwin has put up.
We have been up-front about what we have been doing with this utility since 2001, and it is a record that we will standby and highlight. However, we have not had in this parliament the CLP putting their hand up for their time in government. Not one time have they put their hand up for their time in government. Not one time have they seen the legacy that was left to this government with Power and Water. You had an organisation that for several years was on a downward spiral. They were stripping it out, gutting profit, gutting staff, preparing it for a fire sale, selling an asset of the Territory which belongs to Territorians. They were going to sell this utility for whatever price they could get for it.
When this government came to office it pumped money into Power and Water. I will quote some figures for the member for Port Darwin - his creativity with figures. In the last six years of the CLP government, the repairs and maintenance expenditure averaged $25m. In the first six years of the Labor government, we spent $39m on average. That is a 55% difference in repairs and maintenance alone. We have been totally up-front with this House and with Territorians about our capital works expenditure as well. We are rebuilding this organisation, across all the services within Power and Water, including the water supply and the sewerage.
I will pick up on a few comments from the member for Port Darwin regarding the dam. We are looking into the future for building the capacity of water supply, securing water supplies for Darwin, in particular, and also around the Territory. The current dam, the member for Port Darwin highlighted, where we are raising the wall, which will give us increased capacity. That capacity will give us the demand requirements for the Darwin area for 15 to 35 years. In that time, we will be working on commissioning a new dam. He identified it - however, he got the name wrong. He obviously does not know the local Aboriginal tribe there - the Warrai. It is the Warrai Dam, member for Port Darwin, outside Adelaide River. We have looked at those dams and they will be properly costed, designs will be done, and we have 15 to 35 years to do that work. We have identified and secured the land at Marrakai for the dam. The member for Port Darwin is deceiving Territorians with the facts.
We have a little history on the Larrakeyah outfall. I believe the outfall was commissioned approximately 40 years ago. Tom Harris, as the member for Port Darwin from 1978 for several years, did he or the CLP government of the day do anything about it? No. Did the former Chief Minister, Shane Stone, member for Port Darwin, bring anything into Cabinet about doing something about it? No, he did not. Did the next member for Port Darwin do anything about this issue? No, she did not. Then we get a local Labor member in that seat and we put in $35m to fix the problem. Here we get a good strong Labor member in that seat, who raises the issue and gets some results. We have been up-front; we respond and fix the problems.
Members interjecting.
Mr KNIGHT: This is a very serious subject. I have been up-front through countless briefings and media conferences. I have not talked about going out and buying your own generators. This was a comment made by the CEO of Power and Water. In this tropical environment people need to make their own arrangements, as has been the case for decades. I do not know how long you have been here, member for Fong Lim, but the power goes out. It went out under the CLP on a regular basis …
Members interjecting.
Mr KNIGHT: Member for Fong Lim, for decades you could set your watch to when the power was going to go out under the CLP government. We have been investing in this utility because it needed investment. Over the years that we have had responsibility for it, we have put in substantial dollars. In 2001, the CLP had $26m allocated for repairs and maintenance. We increased that to $31m in 2001-02. We increased that budget quite significantly, and the budget has risen increasingly over the years. This is a commitment of this government. We did not hear about $1bn expenditure, or significant capital investment into this utility, by the CLP. No, it was strip the assets, strip the profit out of it, cut the expenditure by cutting staff. It is little wonder we are in this situation today. It does not take long to strip out assets and to get rid of staff, but it takes a long time to rebuild a utility such as this.
We had skilled workers in that organisation, and the CLP government got rid of them ...
Mr Tollner: No, they outsourced.
Mr KNIGHT: We talked about approximately 90 essential staff taken out of that organisation …
Mr Tollner: Do not say they got rid of them; they never did. You are misleading the parliament again.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr KNIGHT: We had a retort from the member for Port Darwin. He gave Bazza a call and got an explanation about how this 90 became contractors. That was their answer. Only four of those staff actually went out – you got rid of over 100 and only four became contractors. What sort of excuse is that? You slashed this organisation.
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order, order!
Mr KNIGHT: We are building a strong utility. We are putting money into all areas of Power and Water because it is much needed. We will rebuild this organisation. We have the strong elements, we have money going in and we have strong management. I have great faith in Andrew Macrides, and so does the Electrical Trades Union. I thank all the workers, especially the unionised workers. Trevor Gauld has done a great job working alongside Andrew Macrides in this particular crisis. It is …
Mr Tollner: Hear, hear, the comrades!
Mr KNIGHT: Exactly, member for Fong Lim. They do a great job. It is a great union and it shows you, on the conservative side of politics, what a great union does …
Mr Tollner: They are that good, you employed the previous boss.
Mr KNIGHT: It is all about Hopper.
Mr Tollner: It is all about Hopper.
Mr KNIGHT: That is right. The CLP seem a bit indignant that we have some very skilled and knowledgeable personnel working for us at the moment. I guess they are a bit fearful about that because there is great history in the staff, and they know where the bodies are buried, I guess, in the time of the CLP.
Madam Speaker, I reject this censure motion. It is simply a case where the CLP are fearful themselves. The member for Port Darwin responded earlier today to my statement about Power and Water, which outlined the facts of exactly what happened, and he talked about this side being fearful. We have no fear because we have been totally honest. The fear exists on the other side, when the member for Port Darwin got a copy of the Blanch report, which talked about the culture of run to failure within this organisation for decades. If he had a copy of the Merrill Lynch report - which he probably has, because it is not widely out there – which looked at ...
Mr Elferink: Table it.
Mr KNIGHT: I do not have a copy.
Mr Elferink: How do you know what is in it if you do not have a copy, you wally? How can you possibly criticise a report you have not read?
Madam SPEAKER: Order, order!
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Minister, would you please direct your comments through the Chair.
Mr KNIGHT: Madam Speaker, I am sure there is great fear on the other side of this parliament, because they know that they are responsible, to a degree, of where we are now. All I ask them is to take responsibility for what they did. We will take responsibility for what we did and what we are going to do …
Mr Conlan: Full responsibility. That means 100%.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr KNIGHT: I do. I have stated that publicly and in this House. However, you have never taken any responsibility for what you have done to this organisation - what was left to us. The Blanch report clearly highlights exactly why this organisation got to the state it was in. The Merrill Lynch report, apparently, goes to the fact that this organisation was being prepared for sale. It was being stripped down …
Mr Conlan: Is that a report you read in the NT News?
Mr KNIGHT: Are you saying that the NT News does not report correctly?
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order, order!
Mr KNIGHT: The CLP is laughing at the NT News reporting.
Mr ELFERINK: A point of order; Madam Speaker! The NT News has got it wrong in the past, and they may well have it wrong on this particular issue. This minister cannot know whether they are right or wrong, because he is referring to a report he has never seen.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Port Darwin, there is no point of order. Resume your seat. Minister, please continue.
Mr KNIGHT: They are still in denial. They do not want to accept the findings of a report that they commissioned, when the member for Port Darwin and the Leader of the Opposition was in the parliament, which said: ‘Sell it off, strip it back and sell it off’.
Mr Elferink: You do not know that. You do not know what is in the report, you wally, you have not read the copy.
Madam SPEAKER: Order, order!
Mr Elferink: You are an idiot. I cannot believe you are going back to this.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Port Darwin, cease interjecting. Minister, please continue and direct your comments through the Chair.
Mr KNIGHT: We have seen where they are coming from - strip back this organisation and flog it off. There has been a lot said about the reliability of the corporation, and about the SAIDI and the SAIFI - about the duration and the frequency. The member for Port Darwin is creatively, with a bit of deception going on - lying to Territorians.
Ms CARNEY: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Earlier on, we had the question of the allegation of lying. He should lengthen his tie. He looks like a schoolboy, just like Gerry.
Madam SPEAKER: I think that is enough, thank you, member for Araluen. Minister, please continue.
Mr KNIGHT: What he failed to mention earlier are some quotes which I will quote now:
He was making an assertion that these assets have suddenly given up the ghost, that they were having both interruptions and the duration of them. However, this report, which he failed to mention - he is being deceptive to Territorians - clearly highlights that the cause of this was ageing, indicating that these assets had not been replaced and that they had not been maintained. The organisation that the CLP ran had a culture of run to failure; a culture exacerbated by the lack of investment.
The report also highlights that in the last 12 years of the CLP government, nine of those 12 years, they spent less in capital expenditure than the depreciation. That is shameful. However, there was no mention, no putting your hand up, taking responsibility, for what you did whilst you were in government. We are putting our hand up for what we have done, and what we are going to do with this organisation, but the CLP refused to take any responsibility whatsoever.
In the first six years of the Labor government there has only been one year that we spent less in capital than depreciation - that was in the first year. Since then, that figure has been growing, and this only goes up to 2006-07. 2007-08 and 2008-09 will probably be off the chart, because we have shown confidence in this organisation and we have invested the money.
I reject this politics that the CLP is trying to play. We go by our record; the figures are out there. The CLP are worried about those figures. They will not go to the facts. They want to go to the politics of it, and that is not good for Territorians, because Territorians deserve a reliable power supply. It is this government which is rebuilding Power and Water.
Where would Territorians and the Power and Water Corporation be, if the CLP was still in government? They were moving down a track of slashing 300 staff out of the organisation. They got to 114, so there was another …
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Order!
Mr KNIGHT: You need to wake up in this parliament and read the newspaper. You are supposed to be a politician. There were 114 staff stripped out of the organisation up to 2001 and there were another 300 to go. Then there was the attempt to sell the organisation. Goodness knows where we would be with the CLP. There was lack of investment, asset stripping, cutting of wages, and staff in the organisation. It would be in a very poor state.
We stand by our record with Power and Water. We will rebuild this organisation and we will have a strong and reliable power, water, and sewerage utility for Territorians.
Mr TOLLNER (Fong Lim): Madam Speaker, it gives me great pleasure to speak on this Censure Motion because the government clearly deserves censure.
For the benefit of the minister, he should understand that this crisis could have been prevented. Do you know what would have prevented this crisis? Maintenance could have prevented this crisis. Maintenance is not something that should have happened eight years ago, 10 years ago, 15 years ago – it is ongoing – it should happen on an ongoing basis. For the minister to stand up here and try to deflect attention from his own and the government’s shortcomings, and to suggest that it was problems eight years ago that led to a lack of maintenance over recent years, I believe flies in the face of absolute reason.
I look at this crisis - we call it a crisis because 15 000 houses in the northern suburbs went without power. I recall the previous member for Sanderson standing in this Chamber and saying after a blackout: ‘Just open a window. You do not need power in the Territory. Just open a window.’ I think this government learnt from the former member for Sanderson’s tactic, probably discovered it was a bad tactic, so they do not go down that line these days. They do not tell people to open a window. What they tell people is: ‘Buy a generator’. They have moved into the new age now. They are encouraging people to get out there and buy a generator. It is good to see the Minister for Business and Employment is leading by example and telling everybody he has bought a generator.
I am sure there will be more members on the other side of the Chamber who will be running out and buying a generator, because they understand there are things that this government cannot supply. The minister told this Chamber earlier, that you cannot expect a reasonable supply of power in the Northern Territory - this is something we should not expect. We should all have generators on hand, ready for when the power goes out because the minister cannot guarantee supply of electricity.
You do not have to preach that message too loudly, because the 15 000 households in the northern suburbs have come to the realisation that this government is not prepared to guarantee anything. We are not talking about a Wet Season power outage - as the minister quite often refers to - when lightning strikes or trees fall and knock down a power line and a few houses go out. We are talking about something that has happened smack bang in the middle of the Dry Season, resulting in 15 000 houses without power.
I cannot recall in the 20 years that I have been in the Northern Territory - I know there are people here who have been here much longer. The member for Goyder has spent a lifetime in the Northern Territory; I do not know if she is aware of times when 15 000 houses have gone without power …
Ms Purick: Never.
Mr TOLLNER: ...in the middle of the Dry Season. Evidently, the minister tries to tell us this is something that happens. I have a particular interest in what this impact means to business. I was out with my wife at Casuarina Shopping Square where we were buying some stuff for our house and …
A member: A generator.
Mr TOLLNER: No. I do not think you can get too many generators at Casuarina Shopping Square. We were not buying generators, we were buying something else. We walked into one shop and the lady there was reading a notice that had just come through from Power and Water. A line caught her attention and she said to me: ‘Have a look at this.’ It was this short paragraph in the middle of this notice, and I quote:
No explanation is given to shopkeepers or business owners at Casuarina Square, about what is being done to sort out problems for them. In fact, some shopkeepers got a letter from Centre Management, saying that:
The power goes off at Casuarina Shopping Square and local small businesses close down. They close the doors of their shops and walk out. I asked this lady and a couple of other businesses how that would affect their business. Some of those businesses, which are part of large national chains, said the costs would be picked up through their chains and would be borne by those businesses nationally. Fine, they could get over such a problem.
What about the small Territory businesses, like the florist, the baker, or the butcher? The rents and leases at Casuarina Shopping Square are enormous. If the lights go out, the rents do not stop and the wages bills do not stop coming in. These businesses inform me they will have nothing to do but close the doors of the shop and walk away from that business. We are sacrificing Territory small business when the power goes out at Casuarina Shopping Square. The minister and the member for Casuarina should be aware of that. They should be working 24 hours a day to ensure that there is effort made to guarantee supply of power to Casuarina Shopping Square.
Mr Vatskalis: I was at a meeting with the businesses; I did not see you there.
Mr TOLLNER: It is a big place, Kon. Do not think for a second that I do not get around Casuarina Shopping Square and talk to some of the businesses.
The other thing that was raised in Question Time today was the issue of McArthur River Mine and the generators that went out there. They are Power and Water generators. They are, as the Treasurer said, outsourced, and the maintenance and upkeep is directed to a company that is outside of Power and Water. However, they are ultimately the responsibility of the Power and Water Corporation.
Mr Vatskalis: You got it wrong again.
Mr TOLLNER: In April, they had three generators. In April, the first generator went down, and they were informed it would take four months to fix the generator. They started bringing in generators and diesel from interstate. In June, the second generator went out, and in September, the third Power and Water generator went out. There was no electricity service being supplied by the Power and Water Corporation in September. I am told that the first generator that went out has only recently been fixed. To this stage, McArthur River Mine has been bringing in diesel and generators to supply their power needs. You may ask: what does a business like that really matter; they are a big business? The pipeline, which I believe was built in 1995, cost Territorians approximately $40m. This is now a stranded asset until the generators are fixed; it is not serving any purpose at all …
Ms Lawrie: It is not stranded.
Mr TOLLNER: As the Treasurer said in response in Question Time, the royalties that the McArthur River Mine pay to the Territory are paid as a percentage of profits, and those royalties are paid in advance. They are paid on an estimation of income and profits.
The last few months have been particularly hard for Xstrata Zinc. I note today, looking at the Internet, that the international price for zinc is approximately $US0.51 per pound. That has fallen from approximately $US1.30 per pound eight months ago. The company is having some problems of their own due to the world financial crisis. To top it off, they have lost power. They now have to bring in their own generators and diesel to supply their own electricity. What does the Chief Minister say about it? Well, he does not know anything about it - he has not been briefed. He said in Question Time: ‘Sorry, I know nothing about that’, and sat down.
You can understand that if Bob’s Pies from around the corner goes broke, the Chief Minister is not going to know about it. I can understand that. However, we are talking about McArthur River Mine which supplies more than 5% of the gross state product of the Northern Territory. McArthur River Mine underpins the Territory budget, supplies income to more than 500 households in the Northern Territory, and supports the Borroloola township. If the McArthur River Mine closed, you can safely bet that the Borroloola township would close. The Chief Minister knows nothing about it. He cannot answer that question, he says. This has been happening since April. The Chief Minister is not across it.
I am sure the McArthur River Mine will be asking for a refund of the royalties they have paid to the Territory government, and the Chief Minister knows nothing about it. How much are the royalties that have been paid to the Territory government? The Treasurer would not answer that question. Is it $1m, $5m, or $10m - how much is it? What are we talking about? The Chief Minister does not know. The Treasurer refuses to answer the question. The whole mine site could shut down because the global financial crisis has put its viability somewhat at risk. However, you have to wonder - if you cannot get power there, if the Territory government is buying up every generator available in Australia - how does McArthur River Mine hope to keep generating power? It is an appalling situation.
You have to ask if they knew this crisis was coming. Some fictitious report said that we did not foresee problems at the Casuarina substation. Then I walk across and I see my old mate, Alan Paton, who was the boss of the Electrical Trades Union – he did a good job, representing the workers in the electrical trades industry – and miraculously ends up with a job, just a month or two before the Territory election, in the Chief Minister’s office. I wondered, what is this white knight of whatever is right doing suddenly appearing in the Chief Minister’s office a couple of months out from an election? The Chief Minister gets up and says: ‘It has nothing to do with me calling the election’. Sure, pull the other one.
Answer the question: why is the former boss of the Electrical Trades Union hanging around your office a couple of months before an election campaign, if you did not know a crisis was looming? What else did they do? What is the other response of the Territory government? John Howard was out of the question, so you cannot blame him. Let us blame Barry Coulter - he gave a bit of grief over a few years. They turn up and they say: Barry Coulter had this planned - to strip 300 jobs. A plan, for what? A plan from a report that no one has actually seen, apart from the comrades at the NT News.
So the comrades blame the Country Liberals, blame Barry Coulter, and the minister jumps straight on it, like it is the gospel - the gospel according to Nigel Adlam or Nick Calacouras. They have seen this report - it must be right. They refuse to acknowledge that those jobs were outsourced.
The power crisis did not happen seven years ago, or six years ago, you could explain that away. You could blame the Country Liberals if it happened five or six years ago. However, the government has been sitting there for eight long years. They had eight long years to fix this problem. If it was a maintenance problem in the first place, the government had the ability to fix it.
It is maintenance, something that is done regularly if you have a budget for it. As the member for Port Darwin explained, you have frozen the budget for the next five years. You still refuse to acknowledge that there is a problem.
What else do you do? You start to make up funny little stories to deflect attention from the government. Like my good friend, the member for Greatorex, coming in and mouthing something – he just made it up - then ran it by the comrades at the NT News, they will print it. Then I pick up today’s paper and there is another little story about, what, somebody doing this? It is terrible that this sort of stuff happens. It is terrible, but it is a good diversion. Let us run a bit of interference, let us get the message off Power and Water. Let us come into Question Time and rattle on about INPEX, not answer a question and not take any responsibility for anything.
This government is absolutely appalling. The Chief Minister has the audacity to stand up in Question Time and say: ‘I do not know what the Opposition Leader is talking about’, in relation to McArthur River. Then the Treasurer gets up and gives a glib response: ‘No, it is an outsourced company of Power and Water that look after that’.
Ms Lawrie: I did not say that. Do not mislead.
Mr TOLLNER: It is an outsourced company of Power and Water. You and I know it is. Everybody knows it is. It is the responsibility of Power and Water and by extension, the responsibility of the minister and the Chief Minister, where the blame sits.
Members: Hear, hear!
Mr TOLLNER: Absolutely disgusting. I have never seen a government in my life that refuses to stand up and take their licks when they are coming. Absolutely appalling. When it comes to Labor, do not listen to what they say; look at what they do. They have done absolutely nothing. They have been putting all the ducks in line in the lead up to the election, to make sure that they got this election out of the way before the rot set in. They knew this was coming and they deceived Territorians the whole way through. They went in to an election campaign on the most flimsy of arguments and this is the result. An absolutely do nothing government, that takes no responsibility for any actions that they do not take.
Mr HENDERSON (Chief Minister): Madam Speaker, what an amazingly inept, loud performance by the member for Fong Lim.
Much has been said in this debate and before responding to some of the assertions and allegations made by the members for Port Darwin and for Fong Lim. I say, as I said at the media conference today, there can be lots of argy-bargy about who funded what, when, but what the people of the northern suburbs want to know is when is their electricity supply going to be restored to normal and the Casuarina Substation rebuilt, and we have a plan to do that. That plan is in place.
We have the opposition with a lot of mirth in Question Time today and cute little stunts with candles, trying to make fun of the problems that Power and Water have had. We have been diligent, serious, open, and honest with Territorians in dealing with the problem, as Territorians would expect the government and the power provider to do.
The genesis of this problem was not created overnight. To identify the precise cause of the outages at Casuarina Zone Substation, we have brought in the best experts in Australia to provide advice on what went wrong and to give advice to Power and Water and to the government about what needs to be put in place to ensure that we do not have a recurrence. That is what Territorians would want their government to do and that is what we have done. I expect that the opposition would come in here and huff and puff about this particular issue, but you would think that the way they have carried on in Question Time today, and in this Censure Motion this afternoon, that there was never a single power cut when the CLP were in government - that the lights and the airconditioning was on all the time, and there was never an interruption to power. That is not the case.
We do live in the tropics. We have a lot of our residential homes connected by above ground power lines and we are in a program of putting those underground - something the CLP have opposed from the day we started that program. Territorians have suffered power outages of one extreme or another from the day Power and Water, and prior to that NTEC, was created.
To create this illusion that there were never any power outages under the CLP belies the truth. I recall very well, in the same area of the northern suburbs, in 1999 I believe, many thousands of homes around the Tiwi, Anula, Nakara area, through to Casuarina, were out for up to 13 hours. This was a similar outage that occurred in the northern suburbs. What was the response of the government of the day? Did they come in and bring in the best experts in Australia to advise on what went wrong? Did they offer to make that report available to the public, or engage the unions at Power and Water to be part of the investigation into that matter? No, they did not. They barrelled on with their plan, conceived in 1998, to rip up to 300 workers out of Power and Water, and slashed their budget by $30m a year, to enable them to put Power and Water onto the marketplace with a set of books and accounts that looked as though the company was making money. So, even with a significant outage over 13 hours in the same area back in 1999, they barrelled on with their plan to continue to sack workers at Power and Water and to strip the budget.
All of that is ancient history for the residents in the northern suburbs who have been affected. They want to see a plan to restore the system to robust stability and that is what we are doing. However, they come in here and create a type of nirvana, that when they were in government, there was never a power outage, we never had any problems, and everything was hunky-dory. We have the responsibility to put the record straight and we are taking this issue very seriously.
I will address some of the allegations that have been made by the member for Port Darwin. He is the shadow treasurer and he is trying to make an impression. That is all well and good. He needs to understand a little more when he talks about the GST and windfall payments to the Northern Territory that we never anticipated. He says we have lived in bloody lotus land – pardon, I withdraw the adjective, Madam Speaker - that we have lived in lotus land, as a result of this unexpected money that has come to the Northern Territory. He shows that he does not understand the Commonwealth/state financial relationships, and the structure of the GST agreements.
When the states signed up to the GST, they signed up to revenue growing over time. The agreement contained ‘guaranteed minimum payments’ that the states signed up to. The member for Port Darwin talks about a $1.2bn windfall. The amount we would have received under the old system in guaranteed minimum payments - and he talks about $1.2bn - the amount of money we have received in excess of what we would have received with the same growth rates, or the same revenue inflows into the Commonwealth government under the old system, is around $163m. When you amortise that over five or six years, it is approximately 1% of the Northern Territory government’s budget that we have received, over and above what we would have received under guaranteed minimum payments without the GST coming in.
So, there has been no windfall to the Northern Territory government. We have received what is rightly our share in Commonwealth payments under the Grants Commission and the agreements signed for the GST. We have received only 1% more than we would have had under the old system with guaranteed minimum payments. There has been no windfall ...
Mr Elferink: Not true.
Mr HENDERSON: If the member for Port Darwin wants to continue with that allegation, he will only make himself look more stupid, because it is not true. We are receiving what we are entitled to receive, what we should receive, given the costs and complexities of providing services to the people of the Northern Territory.
We have been criticised for placing generators in the suburbs. We had the theatrical performance by the member for Fong Lim, carrying on about buying up all the generators around Australia and what a terrible thing it is, because the poor company at McArthur River cannot get its hands on a generator. We have a responsibility to those consumers in the northern suburbs, whilst we know the Casuarina Substation is vulnerable, to ensure they receive a power supply, in the event of another significant outage.
That is what a responsible government does. That is what the minister and I did when we were briefed a day or so after the second outage and Power and Water could not guarantee that there would not be another significant outage, which would, potentially, leave consumers without power for a number of days. I immediately said to Power and Water: ‘We have to bring in generating capacity as a backup in case that occurs’. We have to plan for the worst. Given that Power and Water could not put any risk analysis on the substation being significantly impacted again, as they did not know what caused the outage, we, quite prudently, went out and sourced the generating capacity.
However, we have been roundly criticised by the opposition for this. We have had scaremongering from the member for Port Darwin saying: ‘This is going to cost tens of millions of dollars and it is going to be passed through to every Territorian’s electricity bill’. That is not the case ...
Mr Elferink: I did not put a figure on it; I asked you to put a figure on it.
Mr HENDERSON: … $6m and if he had bothered to listen, and to read the statements from Power and Water, the queries have been answered by Andrew Macrides. Power and Water have made statements, indicating that they would pick up this contingency and it would be covered within their budget …
Mr ELFERINK: A point of order, Madam Speaker! This censure goes to honesty. I have not put a figure on what this is going to cost. I have asked the question. If the minister is going to allege that I have said it will cost tens of millions of dollars, I would like him to find me the quote, so I can see it. It is about being honest in this House; it is as simple as that. It is outrageous.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Port Darwin, there is no point of order.
Mr HENDERSON: Thank you, Madam Speaker. He did not listen to Andrew Macrides or the minister, who said $6m at the time. He continues to run the scare campaign that every Territorian will have to pay increased power prices as a result of putting the generators in the northern suburbs. Nothing could be further from the truth. This is a responsible government, looking at a risk management plan, to ensure that customers’ power stays on in the event there is another significant outage.
I also instructed the Counter Disaster Council be called to put contingencies and plans in place, in the event of a significant outage which could go on for a number of days. That is what you do in government when you are faced with unexpected circumstances - you make the tough decisions.
We are determined to get to the bottom of why this outage has occurred at this substation, and to ensure the substation is rectified. We will also audit all our other substations throughout the network, to make sure it does not happen anywhere else. Can we guarantee the power will never go out again in the Northern Territory? No. No power company in the world can guarantee there will not be outages, either intermittent or significant. That is the nature of the business they are in. It is the responsibility of government, whilst the power entity is still government owned, to ensure that they have the financial capacity to deliver the services Territorians rightly expect them to deliver - and that is what we are doing.
We also had the theatrics of the member for Fong Lim about the McArthur River Mine. I will provide some history – I know the CLP does not like history. The contracts for McArthur River Mine go back to the initial contracts that were put in place by the then CLP government - the terms, conditions, and the structures of those contracts - that Power and Water continue to honour.
Power and Water supply gas to a company called EDL, which operates and owns the generators there. Power and Water buy this power from EDL and supply it to the mine. The contracts, put together when the CLP were in power, were on low rates. Advice I have received, is that because the electricity rates were so low under the terms of the contract, there are no guarantees of power within the contract the CLP put in place.
I am advised that EDL have a rotor problem in their generator that they are trying to rectify. This has absolutely nothing to do with allegations that the government has neglected to spend money on maintenance, and therefore, the mining company cannot do what it has to do. This is about the terms and conditions of a contract put in place by the CLP, with some fairly tricky contractual relationships, and the company called EDL, which owns and operates the generators. Power and Water supplies gas to them, then takes the electricity from them and sells it to the mine. I do not know why the contract was structured like that. Ask the ministers of the day who put those contracts together. But do not say that the problems being experienced at the McArthur River Mine are tied to the problems that Power and Water have experienced in delivering power to the northern suburbs, because it is not the case.
The member for Fong Lim should get some facts together before he comes in with a big spray and theatrics. There is no history or facts in the rot that he comes into this parliament with. The great conspiracy theory that I had information and knowledge that the substation was about to blow up and we better hurry up and rush off to the electorate - you have to do a bit better than that. Next, they will be saying that we deliberately sabotaged it or something. It is nonsense to come in here …
Members interjecting.
Mr HENDERSON: Well, it is. It detracts from parliamentary debate and the esteem with which this institution should be held by Territorians. This is a very serious issue which has affected thousands of Territorians. We take responsibility for identifying and fixing the problem. But to come in and say - without any evidence at all - that I knew it was about to blow up, and that I called an early election - is absolute nonsense. To have this paraded as a conspiracy theory in Question Time, and then this Censure Motion, with no evidence - if this is the game that the opposition are going to play over the next few years, goodness knows where we are going to head.
We should not be talking about good, hard-working Territorians, who work in ministerial offices or in offices of the Opposition Leader. These are Territorians who have been offered a job and are working for ministers or for the Leader of the Opposition. To trawl names around and drag people into the political bear pit - the CLP are doing it time and time again – dragging public servants through the mud. I urge them not to go down the path of attacking ministerial staff – because I will not. They have drawn a very long bow - that I have someone working in my office, connected to the union movement, therefore, I had some secret information that the substation was about to blow up. They have to do a lot better than that, because it really is a long bow.
I remind people opposite that we are the Labor Party and we do have links to the union movement. We also have people working for the government with strong links to the business community, the health profession, the education profession, and the mining community. We have people working for us with strong links to the union movement - it is about the community of the Northern Territory, and that should be expected.
We have gone through the whole story of funding for Power and Water over the years. The facts are there for all to see. Any assessment of funding for Power and Water and the budgets for repairs, maintenance, and capital, and the contributions of governments over the years through CSO payments, tax receipts, and dividends from the company - any way you chop those figures up - will show that this government has significantly increased the budget of Power and Water in every area.. It was run to the bone by the previous government in an attempt to improve the balance sheet, so they could put it on the market, flog it off and not have a problem. That is the truth.
Territorians want the problem fixed and that is what we are doing. That is why we have the backup generators in place. I will say …
Members interjecting.
Mr HENDERSON: Outside the argy-bargy of the political debate, as Chief Minister, I give my thanks and appreciation to the very hard-working crews of Power and Water, who have busted the proverbial gut over many weeks in response to this. These are Territorian men and women, with families - I know numbers of people have been pulled off leave – who are there to resolve this problem. I say thank you to those people, the blue collar and the white collar workers, and the executives of Power and Water; everyone has pulled together as a team, to try to resolve these problems affecting Territorians. I am sure both sides of the House want to thank those workers for their contribution.
Members: Hear, hear!
Mr HENDERSON: Madam Speaker, I move that the question be now put.
The Assembly divided:
Ayes 12 Noes 11
Ms Anderson Mr Bohlin
Dr Burns Ms Carney
Mr Gunner Mr Chandler
Mr Hampton Mr Conlan
Mr Henderson Mr Elferink
Mr Knight Mr Giles
Ms Lawrie Mr Mills
Mr McCarthy Ms Purick
Ms McCarthy Mr Styles
Ms Scrymgour Mr Tollner
Mr Vatskalis Mr Westra van Holthe
Ms Walker
Motion agreed to.
Madam SPEAKER: The question now is that the Censure Motion be agreed to.
The Assembly divided:
Ayes 11 Noes 12
Mr Bohlin Ms Anderson
Ms Carney Dr Burns
Mr Chandler Mr Gunner
Mr Conlan Mr Hampton
Mr Elferink Mr Henderson
Mr Giles Mr Knight
Mr Mills Ms Lawrie
Ms Purick Mr McCarthy
Mr Styles Ms McCarthy
Mr Tollner Ms Scrymgour
Mr Westra van Holthe Mr Vatskalis
Ms Walker
Motion negatived.
Continued from earlier this day.
Ms LAWRIE (Leader of Government Business): Madam Speaker, we have been continuing to debate the issue of Power and Water which was a subject of Ministerial Statement on the Casuarina Zone Substation.
Madam Speaker, I move that the question be now put.
Mr ELFERINK (Port Darwin): Madam Speaker, I wish to speak to the motion. We have an extraordinary situation where we have a minister of the Crown coming into this place, moving that the statement be noted and giving the most superfluous explanation of why that should occur. It is the right of every parliamentarian in the Northern Territory to speak on debates.
In the last sittings in this House, we had the government gag debate on several occasions and we now have an effective gag yet again. This government comes into this House and expects to introduce a ministerial statement, discuss the issues, and then they expect to shut that down after there have been a couple of speakers.
The argument - the very spurious argument - put by the Leader of Government Business, is that all the issues have been canvassed. I have not heard from other members of this House, other than the member for Fong Lim, the minister responsible, the Chief Minister, and myself. What if some other members wanted to talk on this particular statement which is before the House at the moment? There are a whole bunch of angles that we do not know about. The government just voted in a Censure Motion that the motion be put. So, they allow two speakers each – well, that is a normal thing that we are allowed …
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr ELFERINK: We appreciate that there is a standing convention that there are only two speakers on a Censure Motion, but it is still a motion of this House that the censure debate was gagged after two key speakers on each side. It is a convention that I am starting to have some reservations about. However, to say that: ‘Four members have spoken, we can now ignore the issue and hope it goes away’, what about the issues that the member for Macdonnell might want to raise? She may well have issues, to speak in support of the Northern Territory government or not. What about the member for Barkly? What about the member for Casuarina, who may want to speak in support of the government? After all, he is a man who has bought a generator as a result of this. What about the member for Goyder? What about the Independent member for Nelson? What about all the members on this side of the House who want to debate this particular issue?
It is an outrage that debate after debate in this House is truncated by a government that does not want to be responsible for the actions of governance. This government is trying to truncate debate for one simple reason only; they want to be in bed on time.
Members interjecting.
Mr ELFERINK: We work a 33-day year in parliament.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Port Darwin, resume your seat. I am trying to clarify what the motion is that the Leader of Government Business has put because there was already a motion before the Chair that the ministerial statement be noted. Leader of Government Business, was it your intention to say that the motion be put?
Ms LAWRIE: Yes, Madam Speaker.
Madam SPEAKER: The question is that the motion be now put.
The Assembly divided:
Ayes 13 Noes 12
Mrs Aagaard Mr Bohlin
Ms Anderson Ms Carney
Dr Burns Mr Chandler
Mr Gunner Mr Conlan
Mr Hampton Mr Elferink
Mr Henderson Mr Giles
Mr Knight Mr Mills
Ms Lawrie Ms Purick
Mr McCarthy Mr Styles
Ms McCarthy Mr Tollner
Ms Scrymgour Mr Westra van Holthe
Mr Vatskalis Mr Wood
Ms Walker
Motion agreed to.
Mr Elferink: Outrageous!
Ms Carney: I have never seen that. You have not done that before, on your own statement.
Mr Elferink: This is the fourth time, folks in the public galleries, in four days, that they have …
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr Elferink: … absolutely prevented us from talking about any issues.
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! The question is that the motion be now agreed to.
Mr ELFERINK: We will divide again, Madam Speaker, and we will now bog you down in process, so you are here until midnight every night.
Madam SPEAKER: Is the division supported?
Ms Carney: The division is supported, Madam Speaker.
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! I remind members that this is a motion that the ministerial statement be now noted.
The Assembly divided:
Ayes 13 Noes 12
Mrs Aagaard Mr Bohlin
Ms Anderson Ms Carney
Dr Burns Mr Chandler
Mr Gunner Mr Conlan
Mr Hampton Mr Elferink
Mr Henderson Mr Giles
Mr Knight Mr Mills
Ms Lawrie Ms Purick
Mr McCarthy Mr Styles
Ms McCarthy Mr Tollner
Ms Scrymgour Mr Westra van Holthe
Mr Vatskalis Mr Wood
Ms Walker
Motion agreed to.
Mr HENDERSON (Chief Minister): Madam Speaker, on 26 September 2008, the Ichthys Joint Venture announced that Darwin had been selected as the preferred onshore location for development of LNG facilities for the project. This was an historic announcement for the Territory and one which could help secure our future for decades to come.
We have managed to capture the prize of preferred option for the largest single resource investment in Australian history. We achieved this result by a sustained campaign, one I am very proud of, that saw us convince INPEX and Total that Darwin is the place to be for LNG industry development, and that the Territory could provide the certainty the joint venture required to invest in the project. This is a major coup for the Northern Territory.
Despite the celebration, we do not pretend that all we do now is sit back and reap the rewards. The Ichthys team has a long way to go before a final investment decision by the joint venture commits this $US20bn project to investment. Equally, the Northern Territory government, in partnership with a broad range of local stakeholders, faces a number of challenges and opportunities to realise the potential this project has to offer the Territory, its business and its people. We also face a number of challenges to grow our infrastructure and services. I know that INPEX is keen to engage on these issues and I have put in place a number of initiatives to deal with these challenges.
I will step back at this point and share with this Assembly some of the history of this project. It shows a dedicated and personal effort by the government to secure this multibillion dollar investment for the Territory. Our engagement with INPEX arguably has its roots in the participation by INPEX as an equity partner in the highly successful developments by the Bayu-Undan and Darwin LNG joint venturers. INPEX is very pleased with its investment in Bayu-Undan and Darwin LNG, and we should not underestimate the value of this project, along with other resource projects in our recent history, in establishing the Territory’s credibility as a location for major resource development in the eyes of global companies and global financiers.
In late January and early February 2007, former Chief Minister, Clare Martin, led a mission to Tokyo and Osaka to meet with senior Japanese government energy officials and Japanese companies with a stake in Timor Sea gas and LNG. INPEX was one of those companies. Over a lunch engagement, the former Chief Minister struck up a relationship with the Chairman and President of INPEX, Mr Kunihiko Matsuo and Mr Naoki Kuroda. Ichthys was acknowledged as an important company priority, but there was no suggestion at the time that Darwin was a potential onshore LNG location for the field. Two months later, the INPEX hierarchy sent a small team to visit Darwin to assess the potential for Darwin as an alternative site for the Ichthys project.
Initial impressions from this reconnaissance visit were favourable, but there was a lot of work to be done and plenty of doubters in the INPEX camp. After another two months, in late May 2007, the INPEX team again visited, this time for a more intensive round of fact finding and a probing of the issues. Again, the report card on the Territory was looking good. We were starting to win over a few INPEX people in the Perth office, but the majority were still focused on the Maret Islands. Following this meeting, however, the engagement with INPEX intensified. Meetings become more frequent and consultants were engaged to conduct analysis of critical project development issues. Generally, those from the INPEX team who actually visited Darwin left with growing enthusiasm for the site.
This set the stage for the former Chief Minister to lead a mission to Japan from 20 to 22 September 2007, specifically to present the case for Darwin as a site for Ichthys LNG onshore facilities and demonstrate the Northern Territory government’s support for the project. The INPEX hierarchy were impressed, but still held strong reservations, despite internal advice that issues and uncertainties surrounding the Maret Islands site were mounting. Nevertheless, they were prepared to commit increasing resources to the assessment of Darwin. In the weeks that followed, discussions and studies continue to firm up the viability of Blaydin Point on Middle Arm Peninsula as a strong alternative site to the Maret Islands. There were visits by a growing number of progressively more senior members of the INPEX and Total team.
In November 2007, the then Chief Executive of the Department of the Chief Minister, Paul Tyrrell, flew to Paris to put the case of Darwin to senior executives of Total. Mr Tyrrell had established a solid working relationship with many senior INPEX representatives in both Perth and Japan. When I became Chief Minister in November 2007, I was given a briefing on the status of the project and our campaign to secure it for Darwin. I gave this project my all out commitment, ensuring that it was the key development priority for me and my staff.
In December 2007, our lobbying efforts resulted in commitment by INPEX and Total to $US30m in site related studies to bring Darwin up to the same stage of technical understanding as the Maret Islands. We were getting close to a level playing field.
To guide the intensifying engagement between INPEX, Total, and the Territory government, and to publicly demonstrate the commitment of both parties to the serious consideration of Darwin as the alternative site, a project facilitation agreement was signed on 27 February 2008. This agreement represented a new phase in the project development and was marked by a ramp-up of activities and the establishment of a high level steering group, consisting of senior executives from key NT government agencies, as well as senior Australian representatives of INPEX. The Maret Islands was still the preferred development site for INPEX, but Darwin was publicly acknowledged as the alternative site. This is the point at which we thought we really had a shot at winning the project.
On 14 March 2008, I visited Mr Matsuo, the Chairman of INPEX, and Mr Kuroda, the President of INPEX in Tokyo, to put the case for Darwin to win the Ichthys LNG project. I also met with potential customers for the LNG project, demonstrating to these customers the certainty the government was prepared to offer INPEX. These customers included Osaka Gas Company, Tokyo Gas, and Tokyo Electric Power Company. We also met with Mr Masashi Nakano, a senior Vice Minister for the Economy, Trade and Industry. The visit was also an opportunity to demonstrate at the highest level, the commitment of the Northern Territory to the project.
The level of activity from this point on was so great that I cannot do it justice here, however, I will describe the highlights. In the months following March, there was a range of high level meetings involving myself, other ministers, our Onshore Gas Taskforce, and senior representatives of INPEX and Total, both in Darwin and Perth. This culminated in a mission to Paris in early June, where I presented the case for Darwin to senior Paris-based representatives of Total. I met with Mr Charles Mattenet, Mr Eric Ferron, Mr Hugues Montmayeur, and Mr Yves Louis Darricarrere.
On 18 July 2008, the Northern Territory government and the Ichthys Joint Venture partners signed a Project Development Agreement, to provide a legally binding framework in relation to providing secure bankable title and sufficient long-term tenure for the land on offer. It was another critical element in our bid to provide certainty to the partners of this project.
Another important step towards providing that certainty was the Territory election which I called on 9 August. Only Labor supported the project from the beginning and was 100% behind it. Thankfully, we won the election and that certainty was locked in place for the next four years. By this stage, we had done everything we could to attract the project. We had argued our case, showed the company what we had to offer, and provided the certainty needed for such a massive investment. All we could do was wait.
Late on Thursday, 25 September, I met informally with Mr Kuroda, Chairman of INPEX, and other senior executives of INPEX and Total, including Mr Jiro Okada and Mrs Okada, Mr Okawa, Mr Sakamoto, and Mr Sean Kildare. Mr Kuroda advised me that he would be announcing that Darwin was the preferred site for their LNG project.
We are only part way through this long journey, but given the enormity of this part of the journey it is appropriate to recognise it in this Assembly today. It is also appropriate to recognise the enormous effort undertaken to get this decision in place.
I thank Mr Paul Tyrrell, Chairman of the Onshore Gas Taskforce, for his incredible efforts. In an industry which relies on the development of solid working relationships, Mr Tyrrell established comfortable and close relationships with INPEX and Total which meant our bid would be heard fairly. Being heard gave us the opportunity to impress.
I thank my department and the team of public servants across several agencies who have worked diligently to bring the project to this stage.
Looking forward, the next step for the joint venture is the engineering and design stage examinations. This is expected sometime before the end of the year and will launch an estimated $250m in engineering design and related studies which will last for approximately one year. It will lead to a final investment decision in early 2010.
At the same time, this project will be subject to the most rigorous and detailed environmental and planning assessments. The environmental assessment of the project within the NT jurisdiction is under way and will enter the consultation and public review stage in 2009.
Given a favourable outcome to these assessments, construction could start in 2010 and continue to 2014. Construction of the two 4.2 million tonne per annum LNG trains will be staggered by about 12 months, with the first LNG shipment from Train 1 estimated to take place in late 2014 or early 2015.
The Ichthys LNG project promises to deliver a transformation to the Territory economy with an additional 2000-plus workforce on-site and potentially a further 2000 or more jobs elsewhere in the community, supplying goods and services to the project directly or indirectly, or created by virtue of expenditure generated by the project’s workforce in additional indirect employment.
Alongside increased employment, there will be a significant boost in business activity to supply goods and services and for off-site fabrication of components for the projects. A similar boost in business activity will be driven by expenditure boosted indirectly by the project. Not only will the onshore project boost employment and business, the construction of the offshore pipeline and the construction and commissioning of offshore facilities at the Ichthys field will impact on our economy.
Training is expected to feature heavily as one of the benefits delivered to the local workforce, as well as those workers from interstate and overseas. Similarly, we expect to see improved business capability from existing businesses increasing their scale of operation, bringing in new equipment and technology and otherwise improving their ability to participate in projects of this nature.
We foresee business capability will be strengthened by local businesses forming new alliances with strategic partners. The addition of two LNG trains to the existing Darwin LNG will create a critical mass for the establishment of new businesses that might otherwise have supplied goods and services remotely from Perth or Singapore.
We are heartened by the success achieved and reputations built by Darwin businesses during construction of Darwin LNG and know that they will be launching into the Ichthys LNG project from a higher level of readiness, understanding and capability. This expansion, in all its forms, will be enhanced by the staggered construction of two trains over a period of five years this time, compared to three years for Darwin LNG.
The Territory government is making sure that the Territory and Territorians can seize the opportunities presented by this project on several fronts. We are working with INPEX and the local Northern Territory Industry Capability Network to ensure that jobs and business opportunities stay local where possible. Like other major projects, the government has asked INPEX to develop a local industry participation plan that will provide full, fair and reasonable opportunity for local business to participate in the project during the pre-construction, construction and operational phases.
The government will invest $200 000 to hold a series of forums across the Territory to ensure businesses know how to tap into the numerous opportunities over the coming years. I have great confidence the experience of Territory business through the Darwin LNG construction, Alcan G3 expansion and a range of other major resource projects in the Territory and interstate will hold us in good stead for winning contracts in the Ichthys LNG project.
On the employment and training front, the Territory government is preparing for the rising demand for skilled workers when construction begins in 2010. The government has delivered on the commencement of 10 000 apprenticeships and traineeships over the last four years and we have committed to an additional $1m to deliver another 10 000 trainees and apprentices over the next four years. At present we have a record number of VET students at Territory schools and training organisations - 22 000.
We encourage all employers to take on trainees or apprentices. The economic security the INPEX project will provide means there will be no better time to train someone in a trade or a profession. Training for major resource construction projects is not just about increasing the number of skilled workers. A significant element of the training effort is directed towards increasing the skills of the existing workforce. Workers on the project will be trained and accredited for new competencies.
The government has committed to additional resources, almost doubling the efforts to upskill workers through the Build Skills program. This will enable workers to be employed longer on the site across a range of skilled activities, and enable skills gaps to be plugged. I assure this House that there will be a comprehensive range of education and training activities to maximise the employment of Territorians on the project during pre-construction, construction, and operations.
A project this size will have a major impact on the Territory, particularly in the greater Darwin region. While the workforce may be of similar size to that employed on Darwin LNG, it will come at a time when there is significantly less spare capacity in our economy than existed prior to the commencement of construction at Wickham Point.
Since 2003, the Territory economy has been powering along, with the construction of Darwin LNG, followed by the Alcan G3 expansion, development in the mining sector driven by the commodity boom, construction of the waterfront and high-rise residential buildings, and increasing activities in both the tourism and Defence sectors.
The consequences of our rapidly expanding economy are growing pains in our skilled workforce, housing and a range of infrastructure. We are not alone in this regard. The government is taking action immediately on some issues, and putting into place effective planning in response to other issues. I have already spoken of the training we are putting in place to ensure that there are enough skilled workers in the economy.
The government is also increasing the effort we put in to attracting people to work in the Territory. Additional staff members are being put into place in a Workforce Growth NT unit in the Department of Business and Employment. Worker road shows are being conducted and we are pushing into potential worker supply across the world.
To coordinate planning process across the government, I recently formed a Territory Growth Planning Unit within my department. One aspect of the work they are doing is undertaking an initiative called Managing Darwin’s Growth. This project will provide a solid, evidence-based analysis of service needs that will need to be fulfilled by the government over the short, medium and long term.
Availability and price of land and rental accommodation is foremost in the minds of many Territorians. This is a problem we have right here and now. The government will establish four new suburbs around Palmerston: Bellamack, Johnston, Zuccoli, and Mitchell. Three thousand seven hundred blocks of land will be released. This will provide housing for around 15 000 people. The successful developer for the first release of 700 lots at Bellamack is a consortium of Urban Pacific and Brierty. To support this development, a tender for $5.7m to construct headworks for the suburb has been awarded to Wolpers Grahl. The first blocks at Bellamack are expected to be on the market in 2009. The suburb of Johnston will provide approximately 850 blocks, with 50 to 200 lots released in late 2009, utilising existing utilities infrastructure. The suburb of Zuccoli will produce up to 1750 lots and will become one of the biggest suburbs in Palmerston, with first lots expected on sale in 2010. Mitchell will be the final of the four suburbs, with around 400 lots entering the market from 2012.
The Defence Housing Authority is also developing land at Lyons and Muirhead. At Lyons, the development of approximately 700 lots is approaching the halfway mark, with 400 lots in total expected to be released to the public. At Muirhead, there is 152 ha with the potential for approximately 1000 blocks. Plans for this release are now well established.
To facilitate land release for residential development, government has created a dedicated Land Release Unit within the Department of Planning and Infrastructure, and that department has been working closely with the councils and industry to ensure quality and timely outcomes.
The Ichthys LNG project will require additional accommodation. That is why the project will develop workers’ villages. It is expected the construction village will be in or around Palmerston or Litchfield, so it is close to the construction site. Indirect employment generated by the project will require housing in the community and other developments outside the INPEX construction village.
We are also investing in additional police, building a new primary school and middle school at Palmerston, and increasing health services. The tender for the provision of after-hours medical services at the Palmerston super clinic has been advertised. Over a short period of time, this super clinic will significantly lift the services available to residents in the Palmerston and rural areas. We are also committed to increasing ambulance services in the area.
We are on the verge of a new and historic era in the evolution of the Territory’s economy. We have just notched up a critical milestone on the road to securing the largest single resource investment in Australia’s history: a $US20bn project with a five-year construction time frame and an expected operational life of 40 years. It is expected to inject $50bn over the next two decades alone; to employ over 2000 people on-site during construction and a similar number directly and indirectly elsewhere in the community; with potential for future expansion on this site and at Wickham Point; that will build capability and diversity in our workforce, skill base and our industry; that will supply Japan and Asia with a clean fuel source and will reduce greenhouse emissions relative to alternative fuels; and supplying it from a location with a stable political environment.
We are winning this project because Darwin had some great characteristics for major resource development, such as: massive gas resources in our region; a natural deep-water harbour; access to modern infrastructure including our port at East Arm, the Darwin Business Park, the AustralAsia Railway, a 24-hour international airport; and our connection to the national highway system. We have the services and social amenities of a capital city, including education and health services, access to world-class tourist icons, recreational opportunities, entertainment, and after hours activities.
We have major project experience, including delivery of an LNG plant, the Alcan G3 expansion, the port, the railway, the convention centre, and a host of mining and mineral processing projects. We have land zoned for industrial development and with secure tenure. We have a defined and rigorous environmental process. We have a can-do government, a can-do workforce, and an industrial base with a can-do attitude and experience. These are all features that place us well to maximise the benefits that will be delivered by the Ichthys LNG project, and to deliver future investment from other major projects.
Madam Speaker, I move that the Assembly take note of the statement.
Mr MILLS (Opposition Leader): Madam Deputy Speaker, I acknowledge and welcome the statement. It is an important statement. Without a doubt, this is a project of significance for the Northern Territory.
That positions were taken to achieve a political end were not reflected in this discussion when INPEX was being considered, or the Territory was being considered and INPEX was being pursued. The scope and the nature of such projects are significant and are welcome, and INPEX was never the issue. That matter has been discussed time and again.
I acknowledge the contribution of the former Chief Minister, Clare Martin. I remember when this matter was first raised. I was surprised, as were many others as it was presented, at the audacious nature of the pitch. Clearly, there are those who watch these things and the former Chief Minister received some good advice from a very senior public servant who has been involved over an extended period of time, both for this government and previous governments. Whoever that is, most likely Mr Tyrrell, I commend Mr Tyrrell for that advice which the former Chief Minister acted on. The baton was passed to the current Chief Minister, Mr Paul Henderson, who has continued with the initiative which will have profound consequences in the Northern Territory – both economic and social.
I also acknowledge the contribution made by INPEX, and particularly Sean Kildare. I attended the briefings and the discussions over an extended period of time, and they have assisted the opposition to understand the scope of the project, and to make our way through the difficult period when games were being played. We need to go through some layers regarding this decision, because government will probably - they have, in fact - jumped over a few parts of this story.
I have touched on the preliminary ones by acknowledging the contribution made by the former Chief Minister, the current Chief Minister, senior public servants, Sean Kildare, and INPEX, and the range of briefings that have been received across the board.
The next part of it starts with a comment that was made by Ms Margaret Clinch, a well known Darwin citizen, at a public meeting recently. She said: ‘The Chief Minister went to the election saying this election is about providing certainty for INPEX, but what about certainty for Territorians on a range of issues that matter’, and at a large public meeting that resonated very deeply. There is concern within the Territory community that issues that matter are not being provided the proper consideration from government in all their enthusiasm and excitement for a major project. I am not saying that the project should not occur but there is concern about the capacity and the attitude of government to make sure that the things that matter are properly attended to.
To reinforce the uncertainty that exists in our community, the Chief Minister makes a tactical decision in the lead up to the election - on the eve of the election - to advise his own community that he phoned Tokyo before he advised the Territory community that he was making the decision to go the polls 11 months early. That was a tactical error and a very disrespectful thing, in my view, to do to the Territory community.
The next phase which further reinforced the concern that exists within the community was bringing INPEX, a foreign national company, into the election debate and discussion. Anyone who has done any work in a cross-cultural context working with management and business, particularly those in our region, it is quite offensive to those who are in business, particularly those in senior levels in a Japanese company, to be brought in this way to be used as a political tool. The Chief Minister would no doubt be aware, as many others and those who are accustomed to these things, of the level of offence that was committed by bringing a Japanese company into the election campaign. They learned from that and when you look at the Western Australian campaign, they completely withdrew. That kind of attitude and behaviour by a government reinforces the uncertainty that exists within the community.
Further to that, in the seat of Fannie Bay, I have copies of glossy brochures that were circulated with the assertion that if Terry Mills is elected then INPEX will not come; that was being circulated through the community. That is a lie - but that does not matter. Games were being played, and in the interest of acquiring power you can misuse the truth, you can offend a Japanese company, you can offend your community by phoning Tokyo before you advise your community that you are taking them to an early election - no wonder the community is requiring attention on matters that are of concern to them.
No wonder, within the space of a week, there have been two significant public meetings; good meetings of good citizens who want a range of issues addressed. The first one was held by the NT Chamber of Commerce discussing planning matters. By the change of positions that we have seen emerge over the last couple of years by this government, it is clear that there has been practically no direction, there is no clear vision, plan or purpose; it is reactive and it is causing confusion. People do not know where we are going. There are certain decisions being made that are leading to an unsettled community. Announcements are being made for the effect rather than the result. We need to have those matters of direction established.
Little wonder there was a well attended meeting organised by the NT Chamber of Commerce and within the week there was another meeting organised by the Environment Centre of the Northern Territory, and for those who attended it was a good meeting. They are citizens with a range of views and concerns and it was a balanced meeting. There were members from here present: the member for Drysdale and the Deputy Opposition Leader attended. There were no government members in attendance at that meeting.
There were many citizens who expressed concern on a range of issues. They need to be listened to. If we are going to take the notion of leadership seriously, you have to recognise the concerns citizens have and respond to those. In the meeting run by the NT Chamber of Commerce, what stimulates these meetings is the recognition that a significant event is occurring in the Northern Territory that will have a profound economic impact. Without a doubt, it will have a profound social impact, positive and negative. There will be negative consequences economically - these things are not black and white. The citizens require a leadership role from government, not a spin role, not one that is just caught up with enthusiasm about this great big thing that is going to happen and it is really good. You have to go further than that.
To illustrate that most clearly, I turn to what has occurred in Palmerston recently. It was two years ago and the member for Karama was responsible for Planning, as she still is. When issues of great concern were being raised by families who could not find a place to live, let alone consider a future in the Territory to put down roots and raise a family, the hysterical response again and again from the member for Karama was that the property market would be completely destroyed if we had a flooding of the market – an exaggerated response. All that was required was a recognition that you need to have places for people to live. This is one of the effects of significant development of this kind.
There was a holding of the position, a denial of the need to release land. Pressure increased, but there was an ideological position and a line being run again and again, and reinforced by other members who are still here. Then the penny dropped. They realised, obviously by doing some polling, that the problem was serious and they needed to react so they fast-tracked Bellamack. They changed their language significantly. Once there was great alarm about releasing land; now there was a desperate need to release land. What happened to the previous argument? Was it just to hold a position? Are you serving the interests of the community or serving your own interests and holding your own position? Or working it through and providing leadership?
Then Bellamack is described and there are press releases and glossy brochures. I live in Palmerston and I have received plenty of them. The dates keep moving. Now it is 2010 before we have people living out there. But do not worry, the pressure has now increased and the position of 2007 is completely abandoned. We now need to increase the release of land because there are things happening, so what we will do is make further announcements. We have had announcements to assure people there is more land coming on stream. I have heard the minister for Planning say we have the most extensive, or some sort of hyperbole like that, land release program in the nation. Wow! We have had these statements made but there still has not been anything to show for it in Bellamack. Now we have other suburbs being announced.
People will say: ‘There you go, there is a grand announcement, we can all breathe easy’. Not unless you go and talk to people and find the pressure is ratcheted up to such a degree it is going to have a colossal social impact on the Northern Territory. There are people at middle management level who you may need for economic growth in the Territory, but they cannot afford to live here - right now. However, we are waiting until 2010 before there is some space created in the market. Nonetheless, they have talked about all these houses which are going to be built because that is a clear reaction to the concern that is in the community because INPEX is coming and there is going to be this expansion. But they have not thought it through, nor have they have assured citizens that they are providing real leadership. We have seen no action to alleviate this concern whatsoever, and the pressure is increasing.
There needs to be a different tack taken by government rather than the reaction and spin. Unless some of these members reflect on the course of their decision-making, are they going to be here to inherit the consequences of these decisions? There are people who are leaving now because they cannot afford to stay. It is a serious concern. The Chief Minister knows that the issues are not contained to the challenges and opportunities of INPEX, because ConocoPhillips, at the same time, is likely to expand significantly. That is also going to enlarge the economic and social impact on the Territory.
We talk about economic development but speak little of our requirement to lead in the area of law and order and the provision of basic services. That is the real business of a government. You can get away with it for some time, talking about all the great things that are happening, but if the citizens are increasingly unhappy about the issues and matters that concern them being unattended, they will not appreciate the things that are occurring that government says: ‘We are doing for you’, such as great big plants coming. You have to manage this in a far better way.
Anyone who has been to Port Hedland will see significant investment and development. However, there is another side to that story. If you exit the position of leadership, both in the social and economic sense, you end up with a serious problem. There are many citizens concerned that there has been an absence of proper leadership on the things that matter when it comes to this kind of development. If any member has a chance to look at the Four Corners program regarding the impact in places like Port Hedland, you should. It is not just a matter of big announcements and big things happening and getting yourself caught up in this; you are going to be held accountable for other things - the things that matter to ordinary Territorians.
Why have we not heard, with all these announcements of extra blocks of land in Palmerston, about the plan for the hospital? You need a hospital; you need that kind of social infrastructure. Where are the extra schools being planned now? Where is the enlarged capacity for power and water, right here and now? I believe that if you were talking of matters of vision and direction, you would attend to the basic social infrastructure. It is very easy to describe sections of land that have been on a drawing board since well before you came, and announce them as if it will magically assemble.
Think of Palmerston for an example. Do you think what happened in Palmerston was that a minister said: ‘Let us start Palmerston and we are going to release all this land’? What happened first was the infrastructure was put in place. A water tower was built. That sort of business needs to be attended to and you do not see that; you just see the announcement that land is going to be released. However, no reference to crossings and major arterials so kids can get from one place to the other. Is there going to be a need for a hospital? Absolutely, there is a need for a regional hospital – without a doubt – to service the growing rural area and Palmerston ...
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: Forgive the interruption, Leader of the Opposition. I wish to advise members of the presence in the gallery of Mr Damien Ryan, the Mayor of Alice Springs. On behalf of honorable members, I extend a warm welcome.
Members: Hear, hear!
Mr MILLS: Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. With all the talk going on, I have to ask, what about Alice Springs? What direct effect will this have on our regional communities? Has that been thought through? Will it flow through to improve our road system? What sort of story are we telling our citizens about that?
That is where we need to unlock this and say: this is exciting - about as exciting as the former Chief Minister putting her head out of the window of a train and riding into town with a big grin on her face as though she had achieved this. Well, it did not happen like that. Much more went into that. To get there and cut the ribbon when INPEX starts, and to say: ‘I have achieved this’ - it did not happen like that. There is much more to the story. You are unlocking something that will have a profound effect across the Territory, and unless you attend to that sort of stuff, you are going to have citizens meeting again and again, as we have already had the Environment Centre and the Chamber of Commerce - well attended meetings - good citizens came and spoke up.
The Planning minister left the Chamber of Commerce meeting early. No government member attended the Environment Centre meeting. So what is this about? You are probably out crafting up your next glossy brochure, or cutting your next advertisement with the reassuring tones of the Chief Minister to come out of the radio saying: ‘Hi there, INPEX is going to be great everyone, and I am the bloke that did it’, and funded by Territory taxpayers. ‘Are you all happy with that?’ ‘Oh yeah, this is great’.
I am getting phone calls about the problems people are having: people who cannot get into a house, people who cannot control bad behaviour in the streets, and the police who cannot attend. This all part of the issue. I have heard this Chief Minister describe, at a planning meeting that was held in this Chamber - I believe it was the second Economic Summit - using profound words which I thought meant something - that we do not live in an economy, we live in a community, we live in a society - the economy is a part of it.
It seems that this Labor government has got themselves all caught up and thought, this Japanese company, I helped get it here, I am really good - we will be in power forever. But that is not what it is about. That is not what we say at the beginning of parliament. That is not what our debates are about. That is not what the process of this Chamber is about. That is not what we spoke about this morning when we were talking about Sam Calder, and the contribution that he made and the legacy that he has left. It is not just about a gas plant and cutting ads and glossy brochures. It is much more than that. I cannot see anything to reassure Territorians that the things that matter are being attended to.
Therefore, I will bat it away when the opposition calls for a Territory development task force, to work it through as a community. Of course, they will bat it away. They are not interested in that sort of stuff, because they have a little unit in the office somewhere and they are pulling all that stuff together - you do not need anyone else. You do not need the opposition; they are irrelevant, cut them out. We do not need these other folk, because we have something going on of our own, we do not need to work through these things. We do not need to attend the community meetings. We do not need to front. We do not have to hold ourselves accountable. We can just pass off responsibility for these things to other people because, after all, the nature of the game is to stay in power. Well, not for the people who live in the northern suburbs, and you bat them away. Poor old Barry Coulter has copped responsibility for the power going out in Casuarina the other day. There are issues that are front and centre here.
Chief Minister, though I welcome the statement and I acknowledge that you have touched on these things, I believe the problem is going to remain because of the lack of leadership with regard to the things that concern Territorians – and a failure to attend to those matters in an imaginative and energetic way. Those issues will remain whilst you play your games on your computer.
Madam Speaker, I acknowledge the statement. I welcome the statement. I heard the words that have been spoken. I acknowledge the reference to things, such as infrastructure, but we will wait to see whether the citizens will start to be reassured that it not just INPEX that will be given certainty, but that Territorians will be given certainty over things that matter.
Mr WOOD (Nelson): Madam Speaker, at least I get a chance to speak in this House. I should start off by saying I am exceptionally disappointed with what happened before. Censure Motions have nothing to do with me; they are to do with the party that puts them in. With the statement that came up earlier, I should have been entitled, I believe, like any other speaker, to speak on that statement. However, I digress from the subject we are talking about today, which is very important. I hope this statement can go through to the end because we were given two statements tonight, they are both very weighty and important subjects and it should be a requirement of government not to worry about what time we knock off, but allow these statements to continue until everyone has had a chance to have a say. If they feel that these statements are too long, then only have one per day, but let us not have just a few people speak on them. These are important issues and the people of the Northern Territory want to hear what their local members have to say about them.
Members: Hear, hear!
Mr WOOD: That is why I am speaking now on the INPEX statement. I have called the INPEX statement a ‘tale of spin’, because there is no doubt that Darwin is growing and there will be many benefits from the arrival of INPEX and the Chief Minister has certainly said that. Most of the statement is about the benefits and how he and his predecessor and other ministers were able to win INPEX over to Darwin. That is a good story and I am not knocking it. However, if you only tell that side of the story, you are only telling half of it. You can always say: ‘What a wonderful thing this is for the Territory’, but the government should not be working on the principle that the end justifies the means.
That is what has concerned me ever since the government decided to try to attract INPEX to Darwin Harbour. We need to keep things in perspective. We know that INPEX is a company that will sell our gas to Japan and none of it will be set aside for us. I ask the government: is that how they convinced INPEX to come here? Was it not only that we had infrastructure here - airports, roads, electricity, and schools - but that the key factor was that we did not ask for any gas to be retained in the Northern Territory? I believe the Western Australian government actually asked for gas. I would like to know the detail of the agreements made between the Northern Territory government and INPEX. That is a key factor we should have knowledge about.
I do think that LNG has a future for industry in the Northern Territory, not the gas that is coming from Blacktip, but LNG. I cite the boss of Wesfarmers in Western Australia who has set up a plant in Western Australia to distribute LNG because he believes it is the future energy source for transport and power in Western Australia. I believe that we should have left ourselves that possibility as well. It is our gas. It is Australian energy. It is beholden on us as a nation to retain some of our energy for ourselves. We already do not have a steel industry in Australia because we closed it down and sold it to China. The steel picket that might have cost $1.50 20 years ago probably costs us $3 now because we send all our coal to China and they produce our steel pickets and send them back to us. We have lost our ability, I believe, to control our future. By not retaining the gas that we produce we are doing future generations a disservice.
This is short-sightedness based more on political expediency. There are more votes in saying: ‘We won the gas’, but the hard questions we really need to ask are: how did you win the gas? Did you actually leave the future of our country out of the equation just so that you would be able to say: ‘We won the gas, but we are not going to tell you how we did it?’
I am concerned that the Chief Minister may have a little of his mother country in him when he delights in the fact that Darwin Harbour will become an industrial harbour. That is a crying shame. We had an opportunity to have a harbour that was so special, that did not destroy its natural beauty, and that put its heavy industry elsewhere. We could have done something that many other cities today would be envious of. There are many cities today which have tried to move their industry away from the sea, yet here we are doing exactly the opposite.
I have lived in the Territory for nearly 39 years. I love the Territory and the bush. That does not mean I will not chop a tree down or I will not clear some land, but I will do it with some sense of sadness, because I love the bush. However, I realise that if I am going to eat something, I have to clear some land. If we are to develop the city, like we developed Palmerston, you clear some land. So, we do destroy some of our environment but I believe we do not have to destroy it when we do not need to. That is what we are going to do with our beautiful harbour.
My other concern is how this whole debate about bringing INPEX also avoids the process that got it here and it is to some extent more spin. It started when the government promised - in a letter written to the Environment Centre in 2006 - that it would do an Environmental Impact Statement for Glyde Point; the proposed site for future heavy industry. It did not do that. It was not completed. I battled my way through the freedom of information system to obtain a copy of that EIS, which does exist, but its completion was withdrawn by the government when it decided that they were not going to go any further. I was told it would cost me $1000 to get a copy of that. Freedom of information is a wonderful thing the government talks about, but you can always be stopped by the cost. I am not going to pay $1000 for a copy of the Environmental Impact Statement. Instead I have settled for the Executive Summary, which is probably much easier to read and will give me all the information I need. I can guarantee it will be a lot cheaper. I am waiting for that because I am interested to see what that impact statement says.
The government decided to reject the use of Glyde Point based on objections from the Environment Centre, The Australian Conservation Foundation, and the Amateur Fishing Association of the Northern Territory - none of whom could be said to be independent scientific bodies. They might have concerns about science, about fishing, but none of them would be regarded as independent or truly scientific. They were used to cover-up the excuse or the spin that they were not going to use Glyde Point. You have to remember that Glyde Point was always out of the equation from the government’s point of view once INPEX was in sight because they knew they could not get Glyde Point ready. So, they had to make way for INPEX to come to the harbour.
To add to that, the government then decided to rezone Glyde Point to Open Recreation - not Conservation, even though they had been telling us how wonderfully important it was to retain this area. They said they were protecting Leeders Creek, which was already zoned Conservation. When that excuse started to get a little hard to believe, the Chief Minister said it was too costly to build at Glyde Point, it would cost $500m in infrastructure. When I see the figures bandied about how much money this company is going to spend, $20bn, the $500m for infrastructure looks quite small. The government could have recovered a lot of that $500m of infrastructure by building the township of Murrumujuck, which has always been planned for Shoal Bay, and by getting contributions from other industries that were going to go to Glyde Point. That was not discussed. You can put out the spin, it is going to cost too much money - $500m - but did we get a chance to analyse that? No. It was the spin. People thought, we cannot afford that, however, we could have if we had done some planning. So Glyde Point is out of the way.
What is the next problem? We have to put INPEX in the middle of the harbour. Therefore, we had to change the NT Planning Scheme, because until late last year there was to be no LNG in the middle of the harbour and no heavy industries such as smelters. The government just decided to advertise it was going to scrap that section of the Planning Act and had a public meeting. And you know what public meetings are like. The Chairman of the Development Consent Authority sits there, hears what people have to say, he does not debate it or discuss it. He collects all that information and sends it off to the Minister for Planning and Lands, who had decided to get rid of this section of the NT Planning Scheme and then made the decision based on these submissions, regardless of what they said - and I know what they said because I was at the meetings. They all said they did not want the planning scheme to change. The minister changed the planning scheme which meant that LNG and heavy industry could now be in the harbour.
The thing that annoys me so much is that then you get this brochure that the minister puts out - I do not know how much money it has cost. We all know about INPEX - it is on the radio and in the newspaper. A little more of taxpayers’ money to cool yourself down in the hot weather; we had these before the election, now we have them after the election. This annoys me so much - the spin – the Chief Minister says in his brochure: ‘Where will it be built? On designated industrial land at Blaydin Point on Middle Arm Peninsula’. Yes, it is. But, the bit that he does not tell - and this is the omission, this is the bit that I do not like – is that it was not designated for LNG until late last year, when they changed the rules. It was designated for light industrial, similar to Winnellie.
I did not agree with that either. I fought the CLP and I am still fighting about putting light industrial in the middle of the harbour. You can put light industrial anywhere. They changed the rules. What you are doing continually - and it was noted at the Chamber of Commerce meeting - was that the land was always industrial. Correct, again. The public out there do not know the full story so they accept it - yes, it was already industrial. Well, analyse it, look at it carefully. The government is not quite telling the truth. It was light industrial; they changed the rules to make sure INPEX went there. That is what annoys me. That is what is not coming out in the debate.
Then, what normally happens, because Middle Arm is in the Litchfield Shire Council, there is the independent Development Consent Authority, which is made up of five people who independently decide on whether a planning application should go ahead, be deferred, or be rejected. They make that decision independent of government. Well, to make sure this happens, the government decided it would scrap the independent Development Consent Authority. I heard the Chief Minister say - or it might have been the minister for Planning – during a response to a question, because they were all about INPEX today: ‘We have had no short cuts in the development of INPEX’. Well, this is the classic shortcut. They got rid of the independent Development Consent Authority, and the Minister for Planning and Lands is now the Development Consent Authority - herself only. That is the short cut. The short cut now is that, when any decision is made, the minister will make the decision about the future of INPEX. I find it most difficult to believe that this is a fair, open and independent process, because the minister is part of the Cabinet.
The minister has agreed, through the Cabinet, that this is where this development will go on Blaydin Point. Otherwise, they would not be there. She will make a decision when it goes to the Development Consent Authority - which is the minister - to decide whether this development should go there. What a conflict of interest! There has to be a conflict of interest. That is why the independent five-person Development Consent Authority of Litchfield should have been retained; so that it was at arm’s length from the minister having to make a decision over this. That did not happen.
The Chief Minister has also said: ‘We will have full environmental impact statements done about this’. I have no doubt there will be. There has to be. The minister for the Environment has said that today. Again, is there not a conflict? That is why I asked where the EPA was. The minister is also part of Cabinet, the same Cabinet which has agreed for this to go on Blaydin Point. I would love to know what happens if the EIS comes back and says dredging 300 000 m3 of mud out of Darwin Harbour would be a major environmental impact on the harbour, and there are doubts about whether this should go ahead. Will the minister be brave enough to put her head on the chopping block and say it will not happen? She is already part of the Cabinet process which says it will happen.
I would like those questions answered because people find it difficult to understand how that system works. This is a classic example of where an independent EPA should have been able to make that decision. It is a classic example of where an independent Development Consent Authority should have made the decision. There is no problem with the government supporting it. There is no problem with the government backing it. There is no problem with the government saying all the good things about it. However, the process needs to be right, and the process has been corrupted. I am not saying the minister or anyone is corrupt. I am using that term to indicate that the process has been changed, conveniently, to make sure that INPEX goes to Blaydin Point. It will probably go there, with the right processes - but the government could not take that risk and is making sure the rules are changed to make sure it goes there.
That is the spin I do not like. That is the story people do not understand. Yes, INPEX will bring benefits to the Territory. There is no doubt about that - employment. I should not just harp on the history - and it is not all history yet, because we have not been through an EIS or the development consent stage - but I believe the government has to answer some other difficult questions that I believe many people are not clear on.
We already know that Arafura Resources is going to come to town, or hopes to come to town. We know that it has an agreement with Incitec Pivot, a fertiliser and chemical company. The two need to go together. We have already heard from Dow Chemicals on ABC radio saying - even though the Chief Minister said we have not had any formal approach from them - there is only one place for them to operate from if they come to Darwin – the middle of the harbour. Therefore, we are going to turn our city - our beautiful centre of the harbour - into an industrial estate. If that happens, it happens, there is nothing much I can do about that, although I still say it was a wrong decision. You can have those industries, but in the right place.
What will happen when the centre of the harbour is full? Where is the future planning for the continuation of this industry? I have not heard of anything, and that worries me. We have made a short-term decision to get INPEX here, because we did not do the planning we needed to do. I ask the government: where is Incitec Pivot? Where is Arafura Resources going to go? Where is Dow Chemicals going to go? I have not heard anything from the government about that.
The government is talking about how it is going to help develop a workers’ camp. I put it to the government: why not build a suburb? I was at the Chamber of Commerce meeting, minister - I sat next to you - and I heard you say that, and I thought, gee, it is the same day I had asked why not look at building a suburb? I spoke to Sean Kildare from INPEX, and he did not think it was such a bad idea. He did not say he would accept it, but he certainly thought it was an idea worth talking about. But the government had already made up its mind that it was going to build a workers’ camp. If we spend all that money on a workers’ camp, why not add a bit more - like value adding? We have the apple, now let us make apple pie. We have a workers’ camp, why not make a suburb? We can then sell that suburb to people on low incomes, to first homeowners, or to people who cannot get into the market. We could start it at Weddell, which is close to Blaydin Point. But, no, that idea did not come from the government, so we cannot give that a tick. At least put it forward as a possibility. I hope the minister might give it some thought, because I think it has some value. Anyway, we try.
There are certainly lots of issues, and the member for Blain mentioned some. The effect of INPEX on rent – we already have people living in sheds. There has been a debate about people living in sheds, and I know that some of that pressure has been taken off. There were some very officious people – they were doing their job, and I am not knocking them for doing that – however people are living in sheds simply because life is tough for many people. They do not have the money to build a house, and I would rather they live in a shed than on the street, or in a tent somewhere, or on a piece of Crown land in an old wrecked car. I would rather give people the chance to get off the ground by living in a shed. Why are people living in sheds? They do not have the money to buy land or housing. They probably have problems paying the rent. I recently saw a statement saying that ‘rents may have gone down in all other capitals, but not the Territory – they have increased by 7%’, I believe it was, it might have been 14%, but it had certainly gone up.
The real question that should have been debated today by the Chief Minister - Madam Speaker, am I allowed an extension of time in this debate?
Mr ELFERINK: Madam Speaker, I move that the member for Nelson be granted an extension of time, pursuant to Standing Order 77.
Motion agreed to.
Mr WOOD: Madam Speaker, what should have been added to this discussion is the social effects of INPEX coming. We do not want to gloss over them. It is very nice to say the great benefits that will come. The minister talked about extra training. He talked about helping existing small industries and the benefit of a couple of hundred extra people per week going to the movies is an extra $6000 per day or something like that. So, small industry will benefit. It was put to me recently that, in relation to small business, our economy is going pretty well flat chat at the moment - you try to get someone to do work for you. I saw the headlines of a little seminar that the Property Council has coming up. It said ‘boom or bust’ and that was very clever.
A member: Boom or burst.
Mr WOOD: Boom or burst. I believe they are saying that our economy is travelling along at full steam in many cases, and we come in with this whopping project. What will be the effects? Not only on rent and housing; what are the effects on schools? What are the effects on public housing - we are already short on public housing? It is a debate we really need to have. We are selling and knocking down public housing. If you read the NT Shelter newsletters lately - we have many homeless people. There are many people who cannot afford housing, yet we seem to be reducing the number of houses for those people. There are also the broad issues of integrating a large workforce temporarily into our community. We should have enough experience with ConocoPhillips to cover that.
It is a bit like when the Defence Forces first came to Darwin. We set up structures to make sure that those people who came were settled into the community, that they did not disrupt the community too much and that they fitted in. We need to make sure that those things are being put in place as well. It is not just about the dollars and cents. We are dealing with humans, many of them, coming to Darwin and there are social implications in that.
Chief Minister, I understand there are great benefits in having the gas come onshore. I am disappointed - and I will keep saying that we should retain a percentage of the gas. I ask the Chief Minister to tell us what the agreement was in relation to the retention of any gas for the Territory. We are entitled to have the opportunity to have some of that gas for the benefit of Territorians. I would like to believe that INPEX, as a good corporate citizen, could build a suburb in Weddell and leave that as its legacy. It is going to spend $20bn; it can leave something permanent, put something back into our society. And if there is something that is needed more than anything, it is housing.
A member: Give them the land. They will probably make a few quid on the way.
Mr WOOD: Well, they could make a quid on the land. However, regardless of how that is done, it would be a good legacy for a company.
People should be reminded that the reason INPEX is in the middle of the harbour, those nine concrete tanks - that is what could happen - which will be sitting in our harbour, and if they are as big as what ConocoPhillips has - you will not miss them. There is one thing I believe the Chief Minister either avoids on purpose, or he just does not want to hear, he keeps saying that INPEX will not affect the environment. That is possibly right. I do not believe that ConocoPhillips has had any major effect on the harbour however, there is a major effect on the atmosphere, as it pushes out heaps of carbon dioxide. We will have nine of these tanks and huge trains, and we are going to affect the atmosphere - we will affect the environment. I do not know how we are going to offset this project by a reduction in burning, because we might not have any Territory left for them to reduce burning.
We are going to have these nine big tanks, and the Chief Minister has forgotten the aesthetics of our harbour. If you read the NT Planning Scheme for Darwin Harbour, the aesthetic values of Darwin Harbour must be taken into account in the planning process - not maybe - must. Now, if someone can convince me that nine big concrete tanks sitting in our harbour, unless they are painted all prettily with lovely flowers and colours, are going to be aesthetically pleasing to the majority of people who love our harbour, I will go he.
I have never received a response from the Chief Minister. He keeps saying that the environment will be protected. I am not talking about that. I am talking about what the planning scheme says: the aesthetics. That is the bit that I have always been concerned about. We lose the beauty of our harbour and we turn it into an Altona, or a Botany Bay - you name it. We do not have to do that.
I stand here today, not because I am opposed to INPEX coming to the Northern Territory, or because I am opposed to development because I believe the Territory has to stand on its own feet eventually and not be dependent on the nearly 80% of government Commonwealth funds that comes to the Territory to keep us going, we need to develop our own industries. I say that I will always believe this should never have occurred in Darwin Harbour. It is a beautiful harbour and if you talk to the Aboriginal people who go hunting in this harbour, you will find that it is a rich harbour. Unfortunately, the harbour has been scraped for gravel. I understand that and I believe that was also a bad mistake. We had so much potential in the centre of our harbour for the community, for development around the harbour and the middle of the harbour for nature, environment, places to fish, places to walk, places to enjoy the beauty. It would have been an ideal place to have a useable national park. But we did not go with that vision. We went with the vision of short-term expediency and lack of planning.
It might sound corny. It is not necessarily anti-INPEX. But when I look at Darwin Harbour in years to come, I will say ‘rest in peace’.
Madam SPEAKER: In accordance with sessional order, I suspend the sittings until 6.45 pm for the dinner break.
Debate suspended.
Continued from earlier this day.
Ms PURICK (Goyder): Madam Speaker, I thank the Chief Minister for his statement. I have done a little research and have looked at the word ‘Ichthys’. The definition that I have received is ‘Jesus Christ, God’s son, Saviour’. It is an ancient and classical Greek word for fish. In English, it refers to a symbol consisting of two intersecting arcs, the ends of the right side extending beyond the meeting point to resemble the profile of a fish. It was said to have been used as a secret Christian symbol, and is now known as the Jesus fish, which many of us will see on car stickers.
This project uses a similar fish symbol which may be prophetic as the company has been blessed with multiplication of its assets and prosperity and has flourished. I hope that it does flourish with the project proposed for Darwin, despite Labor’s woeful handling of planning issues, particularly with Middle Arm.
On page 3 of the Chief Minister’s statement, he talked about infrastructure and how the government intends to grow our infrastructure. I am not sure what ‘grow our infrastructure’ means. I thought you grew plants, but growing infrastructure is a little new to me. I question how government is going to do this in the time frame required for this project to really be successful, given that much of our roads infrastructure is coming to the end of their economic life. The shoulders of our roads are badly damaged, particularly our highways. What are they going to do regarding the delivery of water supplies to this project? Of course, we have power needs which are under incredible strain at the moment, and there are sewerage needs.
This project will need a lot of water for its operation and establishment, more so than the ConocoPhillips plant uses. Where will government get this water from? The Darwin River Dam, as good a dam as it is, will soon outgrow its life. The dam was developed and planned in the 1960s and opened in the late 1960s. I went to the opening of this dam. The planning of the Darwin River Dam took 10 to 15 years, and we should be planning right now to have the opening of a new dam somewhere in the near future - not just sometime down the track.
Page 5 of this report talked about a report card. It talked about the ‘report card on the Territory was looking good’. I question what this report card really did show to the INPEX people from Perth, because the report card of this government does not look good. It must be a different report to what I have. We have issues with power. We have issues with our health system and, in particular, Darwin Hospital and Alice Springs Hospital. We have issues with law and order, schooling, education, land availability and affordable land. I do not think the report card is going that well.
The other key issue regarding a project of this standing is the labour force. There is no mention here about the labour force that will be required, other than its 2000 new jobs and, possibly, 2000 indirect jobs. One of the issues that is not mentioned is that the federal government has put a freeze, supposedly temporary, on 457 visas intake, until revision is done. The revision will be downwards for the number of people who are allowed to come into this country. We need 457 visas, whether they are tradespeople, semi-skilled, professionals, or people of that nature. There is already pressure on our Darwin labour market. It is a key economic issue.
Darwin still has an issue with the bumped up salaries and wages from the ConocoPhillips plant. Let us not kid ourselves. That plant did bump up wages, and good on the people who secured jobs there. I have heard stories of people who were working in mechanical workshops who became storemen at the ConocoPhillips plant and doubled their salary - and good on them. However, it has left a legacy of our salary and wages being higher than what business can sometimes sustain. This INPEX plant will most likely have a similar situation: it will bump up salaries and wages, which will impact across business and industry in Darwin and the rural area.
One of the things that government does not talk about regarding a major project of this scale, is that a business or a project of this size will affect the periodic contracts with government by contractors. These contractors will have to pay more for their skilled staff, they will have to pay more for their salaried staff to keep them in their projects, and this will be passed on to the government in their periodical contracts. That means more cost to you and me, the taxpayer.
INPEX is also a flagship project. It is a big project, and no doubt it will be a good project. We accept that and we have supported that. However, I ask the question, what concessions, what has the government given away, what will it give away to ensure that this project comes to fruition in the immediate future? The statement claims that we have massive gas resources. We know we have massive gas resources, but they are not entirely ours. The offshore oil and gas industry is controlled by the Commonwealth and they get the bulk of the proceeds of this industry. If this government was serious about trying to get the proceeds from the offshore oil and gas industry, they would be negotiating more seriously than they are regarding moving towards statehood so that we can get the full benefits of the offshore oil and gas industry.
Yes, we do have a deep water port. As my colleague, the member for Blain, explained previously, there are some serious concerns from the community regarding this project being located within the precinct of the Darwin Harbour and all that may come from this project in downstream processing.
The Chief Minister’s statement also talks about the modern infrastructure that we have. I do not think this modern infrastructure includes our road system. It definitely does not include our power system. Our water supply will be put under pressure. Darwin River Dam will be put under pressure in the very near future, if this project goes ahead, which I hope it does. If the subdivisions in the Palmerston and Lee Point areas go ahead, there will be enormous pressure placed upon our water supply.
The government does not talk about it much, but the bores in the Girraween aquifer area are also drawing down on our water supplies at a large rate. Each bore is pumping about 60 litres a second, and they are pumping that more than 15 hours per day. There are more than 12 bores. This water complements the water from Darwin River Dam, but this water, for those who do not know, is reasonably acidic and the water coming out of the bore fields is alkaline. They mix them together to get a good water mix, which is then delivered to the town people of Darwin. Do not worry about the people in the rural area with bores that are linked to this aquifer, as long as we have water that is supplied to the town people.
A member: Yes, northern suburbs.
Ms PURICK: The northern suburbs, well they do not have power, so they should have good water. Water is a finite resource, we know that, but there does not seem to be any real planning in regard to this project’s consumption and use of water, and any downstream gas industries that may also need a lot of water.
The statement talks about environmental assessment - that it should be well defined and rigorous. I hope it is, and I would expect that it should be, given the size and the scope of the project. I hope that government has their department and the EPA well organised and in order, such that we do not see the monumental muck up that we saw with the McArthur River environmental assessment. I hope that government has learned from that experience. You need to be very diligent in how you go about environmental assessment, regardless of the commodity and regardless of the companies involved.
The statement is fairly lengthy. It is a little high on the gloss and not that good on the substance, as to how it will directly impact on the Northern Territory, Darwin in particular, apart from 2000 jobs and 2000 indirect jobs. I believe we need to see a little more detail regarding planning and infrastructure and also to take into consideration the social and community impacts of such a large-scale project.
It will change the face of Darwin and Darwin Harbour. It was disappointing that there were no members from government at the Environment Centre-coordinated public meeting at the waterfront. It was disappointing that there were not too many members at the Chamber of Commerce’s Top End forum, apart from the minister who was there. Whilst I welcome and congratulate INPEX and their joint venture partner, Total - which was one of the co-owners of the Koongarra Uranium project - I hope that the government is embracing Total now - as they should have done at that time, given that they had a strong interest then, and probably do still now, on uranium as an energy source.
A member: You want Koongarra mines, is that what you are saying?
Ms PURICK: Total is involved with Koongarra Mining.
Whilst the statement was reasonably lengthy, I believe it needs, to use an expression, to drill down deeper to see what it really means for the Northern Territory and also for people in the Top End. It is a little light regarding exactly how it will impact on our economy and how government is going to be able to support such a project, so that it brings benefits to every Territorian and the Territory in the future, and not just be a project that the Chief Minister takes credit for, when really the credit is not his. It was the former Chief Minister - she was the one who started it. She obviously had the vision and this Chief Minister has come along as a Johnny-come-lately, taking credit, when credit is due somewhere else. That is typical of this government, taking credit for things that they actually did not start.
I wish the proponents well and I hope that they engage well with the community and engage with industry and business. They will probably be successful, despite the government, not because of the government.
Ms LAWRIE (Treasurer): Madam Speaker, I sincerely congratulated the Chief Minister earlier today, on the heist of the century, in convincing the boards of INPEX and Total to look at Darwin seriously.
We do not have the foreign investment decision. However, for them to say that their preferred location is Darwin has been a significant step forward. There has been a great amount of work undertaken by the Labor government. The shadow minister just said that you have taken credit for something you did not start – well, this Labor government did start that. We have always acknowledged the role played by the former Chief Minister, Clare Martin. I have heard on several occasions the Chief Minister acknowledging the role of the former Chief Minister. Congratulations to the Chief Minister for consistently, persistently and aggressively pursuing this significant project for the Territory. In the uncertain economic times we are in, the INPEX project does set up the Territory’s economy for decades. This major project is of critical importance to our economy.
The Chief Minister travelled to Japan and Paris and spent hours putting together, with the best expertise available to our government, the best case Darwin could present to the companies. He had to deal, at that time, with an opposition that was doing everything they could to scuttle the project, including the Leader of the Opposition writing to Territorians saying that the project belonged in the 19th century. This is the project that he now claims he supports and apparently this project has advanced 200 years, from the 19th century to the 21st century, in just a couple of months.
Most disturbingly, at one stage we had the Leader of the Opposition saying that INPEX would not mind if the project was not located at Middle Arm. INPEX was then forced to come out publicly and set the record straight, pointing out that they had made it very clear that the project had to be at Middle Arm where the infrastructure exists. That was extremely problematic, with confusion coming from the Leader of the Opposition regarding this project and putting out this strange take about INPEX being anywhere but Middle Arm. It was proven to be highly irresponsible at the time.
The $12bn-plus project comes at a time when we already have an economy that is extremely strong. We have the lowest unemployment on record in the nation, at 2.6%; the highest population growth in years, at 2.4%; very strong retail, consumer and business confidence; our international trade surplus has increased by $913m over the last year to a record surplus of over $2bn. It is these settings into which the INPEX program is coming.
However, we cannot be complacent. The history of the Territory has been marked by these periods of boom and bust. That is something the Labor government has articulated that we wanted to change; we wanted to bring major projects that would consistently underpin our economy, without the boom and bust cycles. INPEX is about the long-term sustainability of our economy. In the midst of this global financial crisis, we believe it helps to firewall our economy. It is a significant insurance policy against the very significant impact of the global financial crisis.
ACIL Tasman, as we have heard, conducted a report into its economic benefits. Some of the findings was that injection of $50m into the Territory economy over the decades as a result of the project, by 2015 the Territory Gross State Product increasing by approximately 19.9% and the Australian Gross Domestic Product by about 0.47%. That is a significant 0.5% increase to the entire Australian economy. International trade is forecast to boost by around $9bn once production hits full swing – that is an increase of 179%.
There is potential for inflationary pressure, however, past experience in the Territory suggests the inflationary pressure may not be as high as the value of the investment project might at first imply. For example, inflationary pressure resulting from ConocoPhillips and the Alcan G3 projects was not significant. The ACIL Tasman report outlines the benefits to local business. Importantly, the report says, and I quote:
In the last few months I have had the opportunity to meet with many business people and attend various functions and I have found that, by and large, the entire business community is very supportive of this project. They wanted this government to attract INPEX to Darwin. The ACIL Tasman report noted that the LNG plant will create considerable demand for new infrastructure which brings me to my portfolios of Infrastructure and Planning.
We never shied away from the fact that, whilst INPEX will be a huge boost to our economy, it will bring its challenges. The Chief Minister has established the Territory Growth Planning Unit, to have a whole-of-government approach to undertake these planning challenges. These challenges come in many forms, for example, the matters raised by the member for Nelson, regarding where the construction workers will live, where the permanent workers will live, and what the options are. We are looking at those options. As Planning minister, I am not ruling anything out, including the member for Nelson’s suggestion that there be some opportunity for permanent accommodation for the INPEX project. I believe it provides opportunity for a mix across the range. You cannot get away from the need for a worker’s camp; a temporary boost in workers does require a camp. However, there are options that could deliver some permanent housing through the project. None of that has been ruled out and government has everything on the table under consideration. The mix of housing covers the permanent housing options through to the workers’ camp.
However, in understanding the broader effect on the growth of our community, we have identified land to develop for residential, as well as light industrial. As there are some economic spin-offs from a project of this size we will need additional light industrial land as well as the residential opportunities that it brings.
Approximately 7000 new homes are within the package of new residential land that the government is pursuing to turn-off into the marketplace. Where is that land? Predominantly, it is at Palmerston. Where does Palmerston sit in context to Middle Arm? Obviously, it is very accessible to Middle Arm and it makes a lot of sense for much of that growth to be in Palmerston. For the Bellamack, Johnston, Zuccoli and Mitchell suburbs, we have brought forward funding commitments to turn them off for availability of land. We are looking at those lots being turned into the marketplace in 2009, in Bellamack and some lots in Johnston.
The government has clearly said that we will keep an eye on the social implications of this. We do not resile from the need to provide the social and the economic infrastructure. For example, we are funding the construction of two new schools in Rosebery - a primary school and a middle school. We have a commitment to fund and build a water park, like Leanyer Recreation Park, in Palmerston. We are also committed to fund and build - and we will do it – state-of-the-art sporting complexes for Palmerston.
These social needs come with the growth that we see through job opportunities and people coming to work, live and enjoy the great Territory lifestyle that we all enjoy, particularly in that growth zone of Palmerston. Will the existing Palmerston residents benefit from this growth? The answer is yes. They will get two new state-of-the-art significant schools in Rosebery, a primary and a middle school, which will free up the existing Palmerston High School to be a senior school. Importantly, they will get the recreation opportunities they need and deserve. We have had a very strong commitment for an after-hours medical service in Palmerston, which is proceeding. There has been a call for tenders in the paper, so that will be an established practice by the time we see this additional growth in Palmerston.
In the areas of education, health, and social recreation infrastructure, the government has not only planned for all of those things to occur but it has the funding available in the budgets to proceed. It has been factored into our forward estimates in recurrent funding. It is not just that that we are saying we will do it, we have resourced into the departments to deliver those projects – this is important when you are looking at actions as well as the conversation about the subject.
In addition to the really strong growth in Palmerston, we are committed to proceeding with Berrimah Farm as both residential and light industrial and, ultimately, the Berrimah corridor, including the Berrimah prison farm site, because we will be building a new prison and getting rid of the old infrastructure of the prison at Berrimah.
With all these developments, we have said we will ensure there is 15% affordable and social housing within that, because we recognise that we need to continue to expand our public housing stock. There needs to be a range of public housing stock, from one-bedroom to two-bedroom unit complexes, as well as housing stock of three- and four-bedrooms. This is a range of public housing stock - not just one type. It is peppered throughout the entire development as good planning would require us to do. We have not had this in the past, which is why we have areas of our community that are ghettoes of high concentrations of public housing, which should never have occurred. They occurred in the past, however, our government has a very different policy setting and we will place public housing across our community.
It would be remiss of me if I did not mention the significant development at Muirhead. Yes, it is Defence Housing, but I have been in a series of very positive discussions with the Defence Housing Authority - they are a joy to work with. We are looking at opportunities in affordable and social housing, because people will want to live in a range of locations.
We cannot ignore the growth of apartments within the CBD, and that is extra stock. Predominantly, it provides for investment opportunities and provides the rental stock that we are looking for, but the action of cutting stamp duty rates across the board in my first budget was to encourage investors into the marketplace when I knew it was a tough time for those investors because of the high interest rates. I am hoping that with the Rudd government’s economic stimulus we will attract investors back into the marketplace with stamp duty cuts. We are seeing the interest rates drop and we will see a continued increase in rental stock, which we need, as well as the opportunities for first homebuyers to get into the marketplace.
As Planning minister, I will talk about the development approval process the member for Nelson, quite appropriately, raises whenever he talks about the INPEX project. Middle Arm Peninsula has been identified for many years for industrial development, going back to the Darwin Regional Structure Plan in 1984 and in the Darwin Regional Land Use Structure Plan of 1990 both identifying Middle Arm as industrial.
The Litchfield Area Plan of 1992, zoned Middle Arm to future use, and this government rezoned the peninsula from future use to development. Approximately 1200 ha of land is available for industrial development at Middle Arm. I will put that in context. The area is roughly equivalent to the size of the northern suburbs of Darwin. Much of that land is what they call inner land, it is not harbour frontage land, so there is a lot of land in that industrial zone on Middle Arm. Under this Labor government, we have seen 20 years of plans for development which were sitting on the shelves, turned into reality when the ConocoPhillips facility at Wickham Point was constructed and operating.
The conventional development assessment process will apply for those proposals on Middle Arm, similar to what applies for other divisions of the Development Consent Authority. A development application will go on public exhibition and the public will have the opportunity to comment through public hearings.
Mr Wood: Oh, come on, it will not make any difference. You will make the decisions.
Ms LAWRIE: The government intends to maintain control over the development at Middle Arm because of its strategic importance to the Territory, and for this reason …
Mr Wood: Oh, do not trust your own independence.
Ms LAWRIE: … I am the consent authority for all those development proposals.
Mr Wood: Then you have a conflict of interest.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Ms LAWRIE: This is no different to the process that the CLP put in place at East Arm.
Mr Wood: I am not worried about the CLP.
Ms LAWRIE: The CLP called this process reminiscent of Queen Victoria, however, it is exactly what they did at East Arm Port.
Members interjecting.
Ms LAWRIE: They cannot help but descend into a rabble knocking everything and whinging every time the Territory moves further ahead.
The INPEX project is a terrific project that will set up the Territory for decades to come. I congratulate the Chief Minister again on his statement, and for his efforts in, what many considered at the time impossible, bringing this project to Darwin. This government is committed to working with INPEX and our local businesses, through to the final investment decision and beyond. We are not only planning for growth, we are aggressively pursuing resource projects that provide the stimulus for growth, significantly, the resource projects that provide the revenue for this government to deliver those critical areas of human service delivery, and if you look at the size of the human service delivery areas in our budget, you will see just how significant these economic drivers are to that.
I make no apology for being a Treasurer and Planning and Lands Minister who recognises that to continue to improve the service delivery right across the Territory we need to land these big projects in the Territory. The opportunity of INPEX was seen, pursued, and delivered, against the odds, to Darwin to the stage at which it is today, where they are undertaking a great deal of work. I look forward to working with the government, as part of the government, to do what we can to ensure the final investment decision is a positive one for Darwin and for our economic future for decades to come.
We do recognise the challenges that come with a project of this size. I have not discussed the areas of essential services, but the Minister for Essential Services spoke during the debate earlier today about the work that Power and Water is doing and the discussions with INPEX about their needs. We recognise that there are significant challenges, not just the ones that I talked about such as residential, light industrial, education, and housing. I also talked about the recreation that we will be delivering for the beautiful city of Palmerston.
With these challenges there are fantastic opportunities for Territorians to have jobs, to have the comfort of a bright future in the Top End, or the Territory. I believe that the opportunities from this project will assist our government to deliver for Territorians right across the Territory, not just in the Top End where this major project will be located. I commend the Chief Minister on his statement.
Dr BURNS: Madam Speaker, I move that the statement be adjourned.
Madam SPEAKER: The question is that the debate be now adjourned.
Mr Elferink: Madam Speaker, I am on my feet.
Madam SPEAKER: I am sorry, I called the minister.
Mr ELFERINK: Madam Speaker, I am on my feet. He just moved a motion. A point of order, Madam Speaker!
Madam SPEAKER: There is no point of order. I called the Attorney-General. It is up to the Chair to call the member, not you, member for Port Darwin.
Mr ELFERINK: Are you telling me that I do not have a right to speak in this House?
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Port Darwin, I called the Attorney-General who has adjourned the debate.
Mr ELFERINK: Yes, and I am speaking to the motion that he has just put. What is this, a gag motion, Madam Speaker?
Madam SPEAKER: It is not a gag motion.
Mr ELFERINK: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Can I have this explained to me, because it is getting out of hand the way this government operates?
A member: We want to get on with your business.
Ms Lawrie: There is a matter of public importance coming up.
Mr ELFERINK: Why do you guys not finish the bloody statements you bring into this place?
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Order! Member for Port Darwin! Standing Order 71(1)(g): on the question that the debate be adjourned, there is no debate permitted.
Mr ELFERINK: Madam Speaker, this government is outrageous and the way they have conducted themselves in this place is way over the top.
The Assembly divided:
Ayes 13 Noes 12
Mrs Aagaard Mr Bohlin
Ms Anderson Ms Carney
Dr Burns Mr Chandler
Mr Gunner Mr Conlan
Mr Hampton Mr Elferink
Mr Henderson Mr Giles
Mr Knight Mr Mills
Ms Lawrie Ms Purick
Mr McCarthy Mr Styles
Ms McCarthy Mr Tollner
Ms Scrymgour Mr Westra van Holthe
Mr Vatskalis Mr Wood
Ms Walker
Motion agreed to; debate adjourned.
Mr ELFERINK (Port Darwin): Madam Speaker, I move - That so much of standing orders be suspended as would prevent this House from censuring the government for stifling democracy and gagging the voice of democracy in the Northern Territory.
I find myself dismayed, yet again, at the repeated use and abuse of standing orders in this place to stifle the voice of the members elected into this House. Every member in this House represents approximately 4700 Territorians.
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! The government will not be taking the censure motion. This is simply grandstanding by someone who is so arrogant that he thinks ...
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr Elferink: I want to represent my electorate. I want the right to speak in this place.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Order! Member for Port Darwin, resume your seat.
Ms LAWRIE: … the opposition controls the government business of the Chamber. Well, they simply do not. They have a matter of public importance which they want to debate. We are bringing it on. Let us debate the matter of public importance.
Mr Elferink: What have you got against working for a living?
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Member for Port Darwin, you will cease interjecting.
Ms LAWRIE: We are working for a living. I have no issue whatsoever.
Madam SPEAKER: Leader of Government Business, resume your seat.
Member for Port Darwin, you have been extremely rude. You are on a warning. You have been extremely rude to me and you are on a warning. One more interjection and I will be asking you to withdraw from the Chamber. Leader of Government Business.
Ms LAWRIE: The government will not be accepting the censure motion. We have a matter of public importance that the opposition thought was so important yesterday that they wrote to identify the matter of public importance, according to the standing orders. Bring it on. We are ready to debate the matter of public importance.
The government runs government business …
Ms Carney: You delivered two statements last night and you do not want finish either of them.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Member for Araluen, cease interjecting.
Ms LAWRIE: … just as on General Business Day the opposition runs that day. They are so arrogant that they will not accept …
Mr TOLLNER: A point of order, Madam Speaker! The Leader of Government Business rose on a point of order. She has talked for two and half minutes now and we still do not know what the point of order is …
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Fong Lim, resume your seat. The Leader of Government Business has the call.
Ms LAWRIE: Madam Speaker, I move that the question be now put.
The Assembly divided:
Ayes 13 Noes 12
Mrs Aagaard Mr Bohlin
Ms Anderson Ms Carney
Dr Burns Mr Chandler
Mr Gunner Mr Conlan
Mr Hampton Mr Elferink
Mr Henderson Mr Giles
Mr Knight Mr Mills
Ms Lawrie Ms Purick
Mr McCarthy Mr Styles
Ms McCarthy Mr Tollner
Ms Scrymgour Mr Westra van Holthe
Mr Vatskalis Mr Wood
Ms Walker
Motion agreed to.
Madam SPEAKER: The question now is that the motion to suspend standing orders be now agreed to.
The Assembly divided:
Ayes 12 Noes 13
Mr Bohlin Mrs Aagaard
Ms Carney Ms Anderson
Mr Chandler Dr Burns
Mr Conlan Mr Gunner
Mr Elferink Mr Hampton
Mr Giles Mr Henderson
Mr Mills Mr Knight
Ms Purick Ms Lawrie
Mr Styles Mr McCarthy
Mr Tollner Ms McCarthy
Mr Westra van Holthe Ms Scrymgour
Mr Wood Mr Vatskalis
Ms Walker
Motion negatived.
Mr TOLLNER (Fong Lim): Madam Speaker, I move - That so much of standing orders be suspended as would prevent this House from censuring the Leader of Government Business for stifling debate.
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Ms LAWRIE (Leader of Government Business): Madam Speaker, the arrogance and the grandstanding continues. It just goes to show the extent of the churlishness, and the contempt for the proceedings in this parliament.
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Ms LAWRIE: There is a matter of such importance which the opposition deemed so important that they called it on as a matter of public importance. We are ready to debate their matter of public importance. What they will not and cannot accept, is that we are the government and we are running government business ...
Mr Elferink: What you cannot accept is that you nearly were not.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Port Darwin, I ask you to withdraw from the Chamber.
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Ms LAWRIE: Madam Speaker, I move that the question be now put.
Madam SPEAKER: Is the division supported? It is supported. Ring the bells. The member for Port Darwin is allowed to come in during the division.
The Assembly divided:
Ayes 13 Noes 12
Mrs Aagaard Mr Bohlin
Ms Anderson Ms Carney
Dr Burns Mr Chandler
Mr Gunner Mr Conlan
Mr Hampton Mr Elferink
Mr Henderson Mr Giles
Mr Knight Mr Mills
Ms Lawrie Ms Purick
Mr McCarthy Mr Styles
Ms McCarthy Mr Tollner
Ms Scrymgour Mr Westra van Holthe
Mr Vatskalis Mr Wood
Ms Walker
Motion agreed to.
Madam SPEAKER: The question now is that the suspension of standing orders be now agreed to.
The Assembly divided:
Ayes 12 Noes 13
Mr Bohlin Mrs Aagaard
Ms Carney Ms Anderson
Mr Chandler Dr Burns
Mr Conlan Mr Gunner
Mr Elferink Mr Hampton
Mr Giles Mr Henderson
Mr Mills Mr Knight
Ms Purick Ms Lawrie
Mr Styles Mr McCarthy
Mr Tollner Ms McCarthy
Mr Westra van Holthe Ms Scrymgour
Mr Wood Mr Vatskalis
Ms Walker
Motion negatived.
MATTER OF PUBLIC IMPORTANCE
Relocation of Aeromedical Services to Katherine
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, I have received the following letter from the member for Katherine:
Is the matter of public importance supported?
Ms CARNEY: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Sorry, but we have not resumed our seats. We were not afforded an opportunity in the event that we were minded to do so.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Araluen, resume your seat please, I am speaking.
Ms Carney: We have not resumed ours, Madam Speaker.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Katherine, is it supported?
Mr WESTRA van HOLTHE: Yes, Madam Speaker.
Madam SPEAKER: Can I have members to show it is supported. Thank you very much.
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order, order! Member for Katherine, you have the call.
Mr WESTRA van HOLTHE (Katherine): Madam Speaker, on 21 July 2004, the then NT Minister for Health, Dr Peter Toyne, issued a media release titled: ‘Health Contract Takes Off’. He was referring to an upgraded and enhanced aeromedical service, at the start of the 10-year service contract with Pearl Aviation. I wonder if Dr Toyne would be surprised to know that a quarter of his health contract, touted as having taken off, is now effectively grounded largely due to inaction and an uncaring attitude by both the Northern Territory and federal Labor governments.
The issue of aeromedical services in the NT is of great importance to the residents of Katherine and its regional areas. It is also of great importance to everyone in the Northern Territory. I believe it would take a fool to deny the importance of this as a significant issue to Territorians. Our population is quite mobile. We like to travel around our great Territory and our travels take us into remote parts. Likewise, we have hundreds of thousands of visitors to the NT each year, many of whom travel by road from west, south, and east. By the very nature of our major road system, many people will find themselves in remote localities, even when they are travelling on our major highways.
Our remote areas away from main roads are, to a degree, buzzing with activity. The burgeoning tourism industry and the horticultural and agricultural industries take many people into places that are not easily accessible by land vehicles. Inevitably, and by the very nature of the activities undertaken in many of these remote locales, accidents happen and sometimes they result in death or serious injury. Residents of the NT and visitors to our Territory should be scared, in fact, they should be petrified and incensed that their lives are so at risk, should an accident befall them anywhere outside a major centre.
It is the government’s responsibility to provide essential health services to remote, as well as regional and urban centres. Without doubt, this Labor government has been sitting on its hands in providing health services to all Territorians. The scale of the problem is enormous and widespread. One only has to look at the RDH debacle, the shortage of doctors in Katherine and other hospitals, and that Katherine has lost its night capability for air-med evacuations and that there is no rotary wing rescue capability for remote areas of the NT.
The Tindal Airbase is 15 km south of Katherine. The airstrip facilities are shared with private and commercial services and the civilian terminal on the opposite side of the airstrip. This side of the airstrip is where the air-med services operate from. Over the last couple of years, the Department of Defence erected a rather substantial security fence around the perimeter of the defence area. Unfortunately, and possibly through a lack of foresight, or because of a lack of knowledge, the fence trapped a population of agile wallabies, along with nailtail wallabies and euros. This basically formed a trapped population with nothing to do apart from eat, sleep and breed. Soon enough, the population of macropods reached to a point where they severely impinged on the airstrip, causing hazards for arriving and departing aircraft.
I am advised that military aircraft have, in the past, collided with wallabies during hours of darkness. This had apparently caused a cessation of night time operations for a period of time. Unfortunately, the King Air aircraft, operated by Pearl Aviation, also collided with a wallaby in November, 2007. Pearl Aviation, the sub-contractors for air-med services in the top end of the Territory, quite rightly, based on considerations on the safety of their crew, of their medical personnel and patients and the aircraft, decided to suspend night time operations.
It has become apparent that there was a culling or relocation plan put into operation by Defence and anecdotally, the macropod population was reduced to a point where Pearl recommenced night time flights. This continued for a period of time before a near miss with a wallaby caused the cessation of night flights once again. Since the collision in November 2007, there have virtually been no night medical evacuations and no night operations from Katherine to remote areas. This is almost one full year without this vital service and it is not going to get any better in the short-term. The air-med problems are not limited to fixed wing evacuations.
In October 2006, Adrian Phillips, a pastoralist from the Katherine region, had a bull-catcher accident at Conways Outstation, which is about 200 km south-east of Katherine, on the Central Arnhem Road. Mr Phillips had a bull-catcher roll over him; the rollbar crushed his chest and he had suspected spinal injuries. The vehicle came to rest on his foot and ankle, virtually de-gloving his foot. Mr Phillips was operating with a helicopter in the area and a call was put out for a proper air evacuation. It was a call that went unfilled by a DMO operating from goodness knows where. Mr Phillips waited several hours for an ambulance and he was finally moved along 120 km of rough dirt road. I ask: would you or your family endure a ride like that in those conditions? Perhaps the Health Minister would like to ride the ambulance under those conditions. Mr Phillips endured that ride only because he was given eight injections of morphine in the space of two-and-a-half hours to deal with the pain from his injuries. Where was the rotary wing aircraft in this situation? A helicopter flight would have taken somewhere in the vicinity of 40 minutes from Katherine; a properly equipped and staffed machine would have been a more desirable method of transporting Mr Phillips.
Last month there was another bull-catcher accident, this time just out past Barunga, on the Central Arnhem Road and about 20 minutes flying time from Katherine. In this incident, the bull-catcher rolled and a man was killed, although I am led to believe not immediately. Another man had a bull-catcher roll on him and he also had suspected spinal injuries. Ironically, these two men were working for the same Mr Phillips who was involved in that accident back in 2006. A helicopter was working with these men and landed to provide assistance. Thank goodness for satellite phones. A 000 call was put in to report the incident. That was at about 4.45 pm. At the time, it was explained that the location of the accident precluded evacuation by wheeled transport and a request was put in for a helicopter to attend as this was the only way to reach these men.
I will whip through the time line from that point. Mr Phillips spoke to the 000 operator and he explained the situation. He was told that an ambulance would be sent. He called 000 again and was told the DMO would call him back regarding his request for a helicopter. He again explained the situation in relation to the helicopter rescue and was told he would be called back. After half-an-hour when no call was received from the DMO, Mr Phillips again called 000 and was finally put through to RDH and spoke to the DMO. He requested a helicopter and was told that there was either none available or there were no pilots to fly out of Darwin. He gave the exact latitude and longitude, offered the use of his Robinson 22, which was onsite, to fly back to Katherine and pick up a doctor to go back to the scene to provide medical support. His offer was refused.
I need to paint a picture here. This is not a political stunt or a statement. There is a real human side to this tragedy. There is a rolled-over bull-catcher in the scrub. One man lies dying and the other is, potentially, seriously injured with suspected spinal problems, the roll-bar having rolled on top of him. The injured man is lying in the bush and cannot be moved. The dying man is still breathing at that stage and after about 15 minutes, stops breathing. The helicopter pilot now begins to give CPR to the dying man. One man injured and one man being given CPR by a friend and work colleague. He continues with the CPR, expecting to hear from Mr Phillips that help is coming. However, no help was coming.
I will quote from Mr John Armstrong Jnr, the person giving CPR. He told me:
I go now to the fixed-wing situation. Without trying too hard, one can come up with a number of incidents where night medical evacuations have not taken place in circumstances where they should have. Earlier this year, a man died at Lajamanu of kidney failure. The man was a renal patient who checked himself out of the hospital, and it was many hours before a plane could come from Darwin to pick him up. Arguably, a flight from a Katherine-based aircraft might have reached him sooner and he might have survived.
Just two months ago, a teenager in Katherine broke his femur in a motorcycle accident. This is a life-threatening injury. The femur is the bone at the top of a person’s leg, which carries about a litre of blood. A broken bone can, potentially, sever or damage a femoral artery, which is almost a certain death sentence. He was unable to be airlifted to Darwin because this accident happened in the late afternoon and a plane coming from Darwin could not have landed in Katherine before dark.
In another incident reported on the ABC’s Country Hour in March this year - and I quote from the article:
Now comes the time to try to sort out the mess, associated with why these essential services are not in Katherine right now. It would be easy to blame Pearl Aviation because, ultimately, the decision to land or take off after dark lies with their pilots and senior staff. However, there is much in the background that needs to be examined.
This problem seems to have had a beginning in November 2007 when Pearl Aviation withdrew its night operations. Since that time, the Defence department has undertaken some programs for culling and/or relocation of macropods in the affected area. This has not worked - or has it? I now refer to a report of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Works which is dated June 2008. At pages 27 and 28 of the report, reference is made to the wallaby situation at Tindal. For the sake of brevity, please allow me to paraphrase certain parts of that report.
The report acknowledges that Defence and air-med ceased night flights, due to the risk of collision with wallabies. Surprisingly, the report also stated that media claims that the existing fence was responsible for increased risk of accidents were exaggerated. The committee had concerns that any new fence would not adequately prevent wallabies from entering the area.
I will now quote directly from the report for its finding in relation to this matter, which is at paragraph 5.21:
That was in June this year. Why, in light of this report, have night time air-med operations not returned to Katherine? When I met with Pearl Aviation’s Head of Operations in August this year, two months after the Public Works committee report was made available, they had been advised that the wallaby situation was still at a level where Pearl Aviation would not recommence its night operations.
In August this year, Mrs Helen Armstrong of Gilnockie Station, to the south-west of Katherine, e-mailed the Health Minister regarding the air-med issue. She pointed out to the minister that her husband and another worker had been injured in a trampling incident with a number of cattle. One of the men had been knocked unconscious, and both had suspected spinal injuries. After much toing and froing, both patients were air evacuated more than five hours after the incident.
Is it not interesting that Mrs Armstrong could have driven both those patients, if they were capable of being transported by road, to the Darwin hospital from Gilnockie Station in the same time it took them to get a plane? Arguably, this evacuation could have occurred far more quickly if the plane had been based in Katherine on that day. Not only that, but there was an issue about whether the plane could land on the Gilnockie airstrip, and raised the issue that there is no list that is readily available for pilots, about the condition of their strip or, for that matter, other strips in the area.
To add insult to injury, this e-mail, which was dated 20 August 2008 - two months ago - has only received from the minister’s staff the obligatory, ‘We received your e-mail’ response. The Health Minister has not bothered to reply, in any meaningful way, to Mrs Armstrong’s e-mail. Minister, that is no way to treat people from the bush.
I have been told on a number of fronts that there would be a fence and that the expected completion date is December 2008. Is there not a report that says that there is no wallaby problem? So why do we need the fence?
In early September, I wrote to the Minister for Defence, the Honourable Joel Fitzgibbon, and asked him for his take on all of this. After no reply for three weeks, I wrote to him again and, finally, I received a reply from his Parliamentary Secretary explaining that the fence was going to be built with an expected completion date of April 2009. That is 17 months after the effective cancellation of night air operations out of Katherine. Hang on, did not the Standing Committee report say there was no wallaby problem, so why the fence? This whole situation is a complete debacle. The federal minister does not seem to know what his federal committees are saying.
I want to quote one thing from the letter by the Honourable Dr Mike Kelly, who is the Parliamentary Secretary for the Minister for Defence:
The Standing Committee on Public Works and the office of the Minister for Defence has squarely placed responsibility back on the NT Health Minister to take a hands-on approach and show some leadership. In light of the fact that on one hand the federal government says there is no wallaby problem, and on the other hand the federal government sees the fence to keep the wallabies - the ones that are not a problem according to the Standing Committee - half the problem here is passing the buck of responsibility. Pearl says that they cannot conduct night operations because of the wallabies. Defence says there are insufficient wallabies to cause a problem and the services should resume. The Defence Minister says that there is going to be a fence built because of the wallabies, and the Health Minister has largely been absent from the debate thus far. It appears to the population of the NT, and this certainly relates to residents of Katherine, that the minister has been hiding in the background on this issue and failed to show any signs of leadership whatsoever.
If the report says there is no problem, then why has the minister not directed Pearl Aviation to recommence flights out of Katherine? If Pearl Aviation refuses to follow the directions of the minister, then perhaps this minister, this government, should seek the services of a subcontractor that will.
However, it is not all bad news. Just recently a man was airlifted by the Royal Flying Doctor Service, operating out of Alice Springs, from Supplejack, approximately 300 nautical miles from Alice. This was done in approximately two hours, which is quite exceptional - congratulations to them.
The Health Minister is clearly failing Territorians in the Katherine region, in the delivery of remote medical services. It is time to take responsibility and make some decisions, minister, if you can.
Going back to Dr Toyne’s media release, nearly half of the release related to Katherine. Obviously, Dr Toyne thought these services out of Katherine were important. Do you share his views, minister? And why are Katherine locals languishing without proper air-medical services?
Dr BURNS (Health): Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Katherine for bringing on this MPI - even though some of his colleagues were more interested in playing peripheral games - because it is a very important issue.
I commend the member for representing the people of Katherine by bringing this matter into the House, and setting it down as a matter of public importance. You have put a very good case and moved through many of the issues, member for Katherine. I will now respond with what the government has been doing, how to move forward, and to address some of the facts, or alleged facts, raised by yourself and also the member for Greatorex.
I acknowledge that the current arrangements are not ideal. The temporary relocation of air-med planes from Katherine has undeniably affected our ability to facilitate evacuations from remote communities and hospital transfers in the Katherine region. My advice is that the strike of a wallaby on the air-med plane occurred in August 2007, not November - that is a minor point. The front wheel and landing gear were damaged in the strike, but thankfully, the flight was able to land safely in Darwin, albeit with some difficulties. As you pointed out, in November 2007, a Katherine air-med aircraft again flicked a wallaby and sustained minor damage. Pearl Aviation is contracted to operate Top End aeromedical retrievals and following these strikes and other sightings, the company informed the Territory government that the large captive population of wallabies and kangaroos did pose a safety risk and that they would suspend night time flying.
Since that time I have been working closely with the federal government in an attempt to resume the safe operation of services out of Tindal. A large security fence has been constructed around Tindal, and we all understand the reasons for that. However, that fence has acted as a trap and a breeding compound for wallabies, and exacerbated the problems. We have also implemented contingency measures to ensure the safe and urgent medical care of Katherine patients.
This is a difficult and complex issue to resolve. It is not a matter of immediately relocating such services back to Katherine and resuming night time operations, as you suggest in your MPI. A responsible government cannot make empty statements; we need to take action that takes into consideration the needs of remote communities, pastoralists, and the residents of Katherine, without jeopardising the safety of patients, aircrew and medical personnel.
Tindal Airport is a Defence facility. I have written to federal Defence Minister, Joel Fitzgibbon, and I have also spoken to Warren Snowdon, to ensure that the strip is able to be used for aeromedical retrievals as soon as possible. The federal government is responding by repairing the external fence. I was advised last week that the completion of the internal fence is scheduled for early 2009. Defence has also conducted a recent cull on the property, removing 236 wallabies, and is undertaking habitat alteration to drive the animals from certain areas.
Despite this action, Pearl Aviation has recently advised the Department of Health that it still considers the situation too risky to undertake night operations at Tindal. This advice was received last week. At one point you said that we cannot compel Pearl Aviation to undertake these flights and you are right - that is the bottom line. If they do not want to undertake these flights, the government cannot compel them to take these flights. You said that we should remove the contract from Pearl. I do not believe that is the way forward, member for Katherine. I believe we need to negotiate and keep talking with Pearl and we need to make sure that these flights are resumed as soon as possible. If you want to go down to Pearl and tell James Paspaley that the government should take the contract off them - you go and do it, member for Katherine. I am not going to do it, because I am engaged with Pearl Aviation, they are a long-standing Territory company and they are trying to do the right thing. However, they have the responsibility to balance the interests of the safety of their aircrew, the patients, and the medical staff on those planes. In the end, it is their responsibility.
Nonetheless, given the position of Pearl, I have directed the department to rapidly implement contingency plans to reduce retrieval times into and out of Katherine. Pearl Aviation has, during times of extreme necessity, and on a case-by-case basis, flown into Tindal airstrip at night under a medical emergency - med 1 classification - as authorised by the chief pilot, in collaboration with the Northern Territory Aeromedical Service. These types of retrievals are undertaken in conjunction with the Tindal fire department, which sweeps the airstrip to clear it of wildlife just prior to the aircraft landing. Aeromedical Services is also utilising commercial helicopter charters and St John Ambulance for night evacuations of seriously ill patients. Three helicopter companies, along with the Defence helicopter, have entered into an arrangement with the Health department, since the advice was entered into and given by Pearl last week, to provide access on a case-by-case basis in the Katherine region at night.
These helicopters have a 20 minute fit-out time frame and a flying time of 1 hours from Darwin to Katherine, one way. It is estimated that they will conduct one helicopter retrieval per month, on a case-by-case basis. Northern Territory Aeromedical nursing and medical staff are fully trained for the helicopter retrievals and form the medical crew for all retrievals undertaken in the Top End. Of course, helicopters have a much reduced range for retrievals. They can only cover a radius of approximately 250 km. They are also slower and smaller than fixed-wing aircraft and carry less medical equipment and fewer passengers. Therefore, helicopters are not the sole solution to the wallaby problem.
I am advised that since aeromedical retrievals were temporarily relocated away from Katherine, there have been a number of patients requiring urgent medical care who have been stabilised in Katherine before being flown to Darwin. I stress that these problems at Tindal have not compromised patient care. We have worked hard to ensure the level of urgent medical evacuations is maintained in these difficult circumstances by a variety of means.
The member for Katherine mentioned a number of incidents. I believe Diamond Creek was one of them and Gilnockie Station was another. He also mentioned a couple of others. These are also issues that have been raised publicly by the member for Greatorex in the Katherine Times. I have acknowledged publicly that there needs to be an improvement in aeromedical retrievals and services throughout the Territory. I am not resiling from that but I think it is very important to recognise some of the facts of these matters. As you pointed out, people do live very remotely. The incident at Diamond Creek, these people were involved in mustering buffalo. I know, from my own experience of living out in Arnhem Land and buffalo hunting, that a wounded buffalo and one that has been pursued, can turn on quite a large vehicle and do a lot of damage. It is a very dangerous enterprise, to be mustering buffalo.
The member for Greatorex said they were in a car crash - they were not in a car crash. He also said that they could not be collected by commercial helicopter, and I quote from the Katherine Times: ‘presumably, because of insurance and liability issues’. No, that was not the issue.
Mr Conlan: That was why the DMO would not give them permission for a doctor to get into the helicopter.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr Conlan: Read the media release.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Dr BURNS: Madam Speaker, an evacuation helicopter …
Mr Conlan interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Dr BURNS: Let me finish. Let me speak and then you will have your turn, member for Greatorex. In terms of this particular incident, there was no availability of a helicopter, crew or pilot to undertake this particular evacuation. That is the truth of the matter. One thing that has not been emphasised in the Diamond Creek issue, it said the man later died - he went to Katherine hospital and later died. As the member for Katherine pointed out, one man did die tragically, but it was at the scene of the accident and 30 minutes after the accident - a very tragic incident, indeed.
These people were not unattended. I am advised that two registered nurses travelled from Barunga to attend. It did take them over two hours to get there due to the state of the dirt track. Later, a senior medical officer was transported to the scene. It was not as though the people at this scene were without any medical or professional support during this incident …
Mr Conlan interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Member for Greatorex!
Dr BURNS: It was a very tragic circumstance. The man from Diamond Creek did not actually go to Katherine Hospital; he was transported to Darwin Hospital. There are a lot of factual errors in this story, and it is very important to get these facts right.
Regarding Gilnockie Station, the member for Katherine asserted that I had not replied to Mrs Armstrong. I have a letter dated 16 October, that I sent …
Mr Conlan: Just the other day.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Dr BURNS: You can raise your hands in the air, member for Greatorex ...
Mr Conlan interjecting.
Dr BURNS: You can do that, member for Greatorex, but there is an assertion that there was absolutely no reply to this letter, which is not true ...
Mr Conlan: He did not say that, anyway.
Dr BURNS: Yes, he did.
Mr Conlan: No, he did not.
Dr BURNS: He did.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr CONLAN: A point of order, Madam Speaker! No, he did not. He said he did get a reply, it was a typical: ‘Thank you. We have your letter’ reply. Check the Hansard, minister.
Dr BURNS: Madam Speaker …
Mr Conlan interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Member for Greatorex, you will cease interjecting and you are on a warning. Minister, please continue.
Dr BURNS: Thank you, Madam Speaker. We have to get some facts right here. As I outlined in the letter to Mrs Armstrong, that airstrip had not been accessed by Northern Territory Aeromedical Services for the past five years. Member for Katherine, there is a list held by NTAMS regarding airstrips they have accessed in the past five years. Beyond that, they do not have a list.
However, there are lists kept by federal authorities: The South Australia and Northern Territory Country Airstrip Guide, and another called the En Route Supplement Australia, or ERSA. As part of their training, pilots are usually made conversant with these two guides. These two guides are a federal responsibility. They assume that most people who are involved in aviation, or who have aviation coming on a regular basis to their airstrips, would know about these particular lists and publications.
Nonetheless, as I said in my letter to Mrs Armstrong, it is a failing that people - pastoralists and others throughout the remote Northern Territory - are not aware of these lists. Therefore, I have taken it upon myself to contact the federal authorities to ensure people are aware that they need to have their strips assessed by these lists so they can be accessed easily by Northern Territory Aeromedical Services.
There are literally hundreds of strips, private and otherwise, throughout the Territory. The paramount concern of aeromedical services and Pearl Aviation is to ensure the safety of the crew, the medical staff and the patients. If a strip does not appear on the Northern Territory Aeromedical list, they try to ascertain the state of that strip, and they may undertake a flyover, which was part of the delay in the evacuation from Gilnockie Station.
Regarding the Cornish review, as members would be aware, I have acted to address concerns regarding aeromedical flights across the Top End, including the Katherine region. I have been very receptive to concerns raised with me by a number of different groups, including Aboriginal medical services, particularly Katherine West and Sean Heffernan who wrote a letter to me earlier this year regarding his concerns about delays in evacuations of patients at those particular clinics. Also, as members have alluded to here, concerns have been raised by the Cattlemen’s Associations and other members of the public.
In mid-August I moved to commission Mr Cornish, a nationally respected aviation expert who has worked closely with the Royal Flying Doctor Service – he was already undertaking a review of the contractual arrangements between the Northern Territory government and Pearl Aviation - to look at the needs of aeromedical services within the Northern Territory. His review is under way. The government is committed to taking those recommendations by an independent expert, to step up to the plate and put whatever resources or structural changes are required to implement them, to improve our aeromedical services and retrieval services, particularly in the Top End. This is not a matter of sweeping something under the carpet. I have publicly acknowledged that there are gaps and deficiencies that have arisen in the service. It is very important that we get to the bottom of this, that we get an expert, who is completely independent, to advise government on what is required. He is currently finalising his independent investigation and recommendations. There is also a fair bit of detail contained within the report, and I am aware that Mr Cornish is involved in ongoing discussions with the current service provider, Pearl Aviation, on some aspects of this detail.
I have also directed that Mr Cornish and the department receive a short extension on the report’s delivery to government to ensure that all consultations and considerations are taken fully into account. I will reiterate the undertaking that I gave to publicly release the recommendations of the report Mr Cornish makes to government. I intend to have, as quickly as possible, government’s responses to those recommendations - so government is moving quickly. This is large undertaking. It is a crucial undertaking, as the member for Katherine has outlined. There will probably be very substantial resource implications for government, but government will not baulk at that. I have said that publicly. We need to have a comprehensive response to the recommendations put to us by Mr Cornish.
I assure this House that this government takes the provision of medical services, and aeromedical retrieval services in particular, very seriously, and we will be doing whatever is necessary to fix the current system. We need to get it right. The commitment of government is to step up to the plate and act to do what is necessary, based on independent, expert advice from the aviation consultant.
In closing, I thank the member for Katherine for bringing this matter into the parliament. An MPI is a very suitable way for you to put your case and the feedback that you have had from people in your electorate in the region. It is also a suitable way for me to stand up, as Health Minister, to put the government’s position on what it is doing in relation to this matter. I would like to work with the member for Katherine when the Cornish report comes down. I would like to sit down and discuss that and a way forward in terms of the Katherine region in particular.
Madam Speaker, I close on that note and, once again, thank the member for Katherine.
Mr CONLAN (Greatorex): Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Katherine for his MPI. It is a very important issue facing all of the Northern Territory - right across the Territory - not just the northern part or the Top End, you might say that large population basin, but those in the southern part of the NT as well. For population purposes, I guess we can constrain this argument to this northern basin around Katherine and the Top End.
It goes back to the credibility of the Health Minister at the end of the day. We have been through this before, and we do not need to go over it again, however, I do question how you can believe anything the minister says. Listening to him, he does seem to be genuine about the concerns of aeromedical and search and rescue aircraft in the Northern Territory. Let us hope he is.
It is interesting that he mentioned contracted helicopter services; I believe it was three that he said. I would like to know who they are, because according to aviation industry experts, there are not any. There is no helicopter servicing the Northern Territory. We have one in the RAAF at Tindal, but that is on a ‘where available’ service. If the RAAF is not in operational mode in Katherine, if it is out of hours, the pilots are out of hours or not there, if it is in Darwin, or as was the case with the situation at Gilnockie Station - the helicopter was sitting on the deck and could not be used - it is not reliable. I would like to know who these other contractors are, because aviation experts and industry experts in the Territory feel that there is not a helicopter to service the Northern Territory on a full-time basis - three helicopters covering the 24-hour spectrum.
I want to clarify a couple of areas. The minister said I mentioned a car accident - he is splitting hairs. It was a car and it was an accident, so I suggest that it was a car accident.
A member interjecting.
Mr CONLAN: Yes it was. It was a Toyota four-wheel drive and it rolled over. To clarify the situation with the Katherine Times article, the District Medical Officer in Darwin did not allow a doctor to be flown by an experienced commercial helicopter pilot. That is a fact, minister. That is what happened. They phoned the DMO in Darwin. They phoned 000 first, and then they contacted the DMO in Darwin and the DMO said: ‘No, we will not allow a doctor to be picked up from Katherine Hospital and taken for a 20 minute flight to the accident site’. That prompted my media release to suggest that we could have a database of experienced, trained commercial helicopter pilots.
There are many mustering pilots across the Northern Territory. They have their R22s or R44s. We are not suggesting taking a whole swag of search and rescue gear like stretchers and vehicles. We are talking about a doctor with a bag being airlifted into an accident site, particularly like this one, to offer primary health care - control bleeding and administer drugs. I believe, after talking with these people - I have not got the time line with me, perhaps the member for Katherine could help - it was about four or five hours before that particular person was administered any pain relief.
Members interjecting.
Mr CONLAN: It was 14 hours before he got to RDH. It was about four or five hours I believe, and I was talking to John Armstrong Jnr. A doctor could be picked up by an R22 or R44 mustering pilot - a highly-houred, accredited mustering pilot. Even if you had six of them, who passed an accreditation recognised by the Health department, to fly into these areas, pick up someone from Katherine Hospital or wherever and fly them to the accident site. Most helicopters have a range of about 300 km; R22 and R44s have much less. Nevertheless, a 20-minute flight would have been perfect. I believe that is something to consider, while you are wading your way through all this stuff. What are you going to get? A Bell 412, or an $8m aircraft, which is like an aircraft carrier. It is outrageously expensive and totally inappropriate for the Northern Territory. There are better, more cost-effective helicopters available to service this population basin, through Katherine and the Top End. Perhaps, minister, while you are wading your way through that and deciding what you are going to do and when you are going to do it, there could be some sort of database of accredited, commercial pilots in the Northern Territory. When a situation happens and you ring the DMO, the DMO answers: ‘You go with VH, whatever it is – Joe Blow’.
Regarding the situation at Katherine airport and Tindal airbase with the wallabies, I will re-read what the member for Katherine read from the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Works, and I quote:
This is a Commonwealth Standing Committee; they say they are satisfied with the wallaby management plan and Defence considers that it is now safe for the Northern Territory Department of Health to resume emergency medical evacuation flights to and from the base or to and from Katherine Airport.
You are right, minister, and the member for Katherine is right too - you cannot force Pearl Aviation’s hand. If they do not want to do it, they do not have to do it. End of story. However, someone has to do it. Who is going to do it? Who is going to do the night evacuations across the Northern Territory? I wonder how many mums and dads out there realise that we do not have that service available.
If you are out camping at Kakadu or Litchfield or somewhere in that part of the Northern Territory and you get trampled by a bull or a buffalo, or if you come unstuck somehow and you cannot get an ambulance, how are you going to get out? Well, you cannot. Going back to that situation with John Armstrong at Gilnockie Station, they were told if it was not for the Jawoyn Community - the only reason they got that Jet Ranger in there was because they had a relationship with the Jawoyn Aboriginal Association. Through that rapport they were able to talk to those guys and get them in there with that helicopter. If it was not for that relationship, they would still be there. Or quite possibly they would still be there - they waited 14 hours as it was. How long would they have had to wait? That was the advice from the DMO: ‘Well, I am sorry, we cannot do anything about it. Just give up on your mate and try to administer some help to the fellow who is still breathing.’ As a result, one person died.
What is going to happen with night aeromedical services in and out of Katherine? Pearl Aviation is not flying. They are not based there during the day anyway, so there is an extra hour-and-a-half while the aeroplane flies from Darwin to Katherine to retrieve someone, which adds time. If it is night time, there is nothing. That is the question, minister: What is the situation? As you say, you cannot twist Pearl Aviation’s hand on this.
Dr Burns: We talked about the helicopters. If the member had been listening instead of interjecting, you would have heard.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr CONLAN: Thank you, Madam Speaker. I am not sure what sort of signals the minister might be mouthing across the Chamber. I do find it quite interesting that the minister tends to take such exception and looks back on his own behaviour, in the situation with the member for Port Darwin, the former member for Macdonnell, and how ashamed he is of his behaviour and how it has tarnished his parliamentary career and he can hardly live with himself as a result of it. Yet, we look at something like the death of Margaret Winter, guys stuck under bull-catchers for 14 hours and other serious situations, and it is just water off a duck’s back to the minister. That is okay, but ‘Oh my god, I cannot believe the stuff I said about John Elferink, or the member for Port Darwin, I am so ashamed, I have to write a big letter about it’. But when it comes to the death of Margaret Winter, the health crisis, the state of our hospitals and the state of air-med, well, you know, who cares? Not an issue.
Ms Lawrie: You are so wrong.
Mr CONLAN: He is doing it, he said it.
Ms Lawrie: You are disgraceful.
Mr CONLAN: Yes, thank you. Coming from you I take that as a compliment. Thank you very much. Nevertheless, it does not do anything for his standing as the Health Minister. As I said before, you cannot trust anything he says. He has demonstrated that in this House. He is a truth fabricator of the worst kind, an absolute truth fabricator – a serial offender of the truth, a fabricator of the truth.
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! His allegation is completely wrong and it is unparliamentary. Fabrication is really bordering on unacceptable.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Greatorex, I ask you to reword that.
Mr CONLAN: What? Truth fabrication?
Madam SPEAKER: I ask you to reword.
Mr CONLAN: I replace ‘truth fabricator’ with ‘liar’ then, Madam Speaker.
Madam SPEAKER: I ask you to withdraw, Member for Greatorex.
Mr CONLAN: Okay, I withdraw the word ‘liar’ and I will replace it with slippery and slimy and deceitful, perhaps …
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Greatorex, I ask you to withdraw the word ‘deceitful’, thank you.
Mr CONLAN: Okay. There are not too many words left to describe the minister’s behaviour, his past and in the future. Dodgy. There is a whole stack of them, but the fact is, that the minister cannot be trusted. Let us hope that he is getting somewhere with aeromedical services in the Northern Territory.
I am not totally convinced. Neither is the member for Katherine. Neither are the people of the Northern Territory, to be honest. Neither are the aviation experts and those people the minister is meeting with about helicopter services in the Northern Territory.
Mr Knight: Yes, there is not much more than that.
Mr CONLAN: Yes, there is a little more. I thank the member for Katherine for bringing this very important MPI on.
The minister recognises that it is important. Let us hope that he actually does something about it and that he enters into some proactive negotiations with these operators, and that he can get some aeromedical services on the ground in Katherine; that is, those that are based in Katherine, that will also operate at night. Some helicopter pilots in the Territory are licensed to use night vision goggles for medical retrievals, so that is an option. If we had this sort of thing, perhaps we might have been able to locate that fellow who went down near Nhulunbuy. That is not a flippant comment; that is a very serious comment. That is something that helicopter pilots I have met with have suggested to me over the last 48 hours
I thank the member for Katherine for bringing that on. I can only hope, with bated breath. I know the Territory does not have a lot of confidence in the minister. Let us hope that he can get this whole situation with aeromedical services sorted out.
Mr Knight: They have less confidence in you.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr CONLAN: I am not the minister, so that is okay. It is all right, because I am not the minister.
Mr Knight: You are a grub!
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr CONLAN: He is the minister so if they have no confidence in the minister that is a little more serious than whether they have the confidence in the member for Greatorex. I am representing the people as shadow minister for Health, and bringing that to the minister’s attention. I thank the member for Katherine for bringing this on. Go for it, minister, we are all watching.
Mr McCARTHY (Barkly): Madam Speaker, as the member for Barkly, I am honoured to support the Minister for Health regarding the provision of aeromedical services within my electorate.
Aeromedical services play a very important role in the community. It can literally mean the difference between life and death in remote regions of the Territory. These flights are essential to link our remote and regional towns to our major centres and hospitals, as the member for Katherine has pointed out. I am a lot more confident having the Minister for Health handling this situation than the member for Greatorex.
Mr Conlan: Good on you, Gerry. There is a little oomph!
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Member for Greatorex, you will withdraw from the Chamber. You were on a warning.
Mr Conlan: Do you want me to go now?
Madam SPEAKER: Withdraw from the Chamber for one hour, thank you.
Mr McCARTHY: Madam Speaker, I have some personal anecdotes, which I will share with the members on the other side of the House, including the member for Greatorex, of my experiences with aeromedical evacuations. I start with the evacuation of a mother out of Tennant Creek at midnight, under a full moon rising in the east. The patient received an emergency caesarean in Alice Springs Hospital. The mother was fine; the baby was 8 lbs 6 oz, his name was Thomas. The mother was Dawn McCarthy, the baby was Thomas McCarthy, my firstborn son.
I was involved with a second aeromedical evacuation when we went back bush for 20 years, and we were organising many evacuations from remote areas. One of those in particular I remember very well as it was a road evacuation out of Wollogorang Station. The patient, a woman in labour, arrived at Borroloola clinic. The air-med out of Darwin organised the evacuation. The mother did very well; the baby not so well. The baby did not make it. His name was Simon Peter McCarthy, and the mother was Dawn McCarthy. I will leave it up to the members of the House to make their own determinations on the divine issue in relation to that story. However, let me say that the Northern Territory Health Department was excellent in all the circumstances so far.
We had to test it out one more time. That was a three-year-old burns survivor, with full thickness burns to 40% of his body - once again, evacuated from Borroloola by the Northern Territory Health Department. That evacuation turned into the Northern Territory Health Department orchestrating a Boeing 737 removing nine seats and evacuating that burns survivor to Camperdown Children’s Hospital in Sydney, where he underwent many types of medical treatments, and is managed to this day by the Northern Territory Health Department.
I say to the member for Greatorex that if you want some personal experience, then that is it. I say to the members in this House that I am honoured that our Health Minister is in charge of this and that he is managing a staged and researched outcome for Territorians and our health in remote areas.
Let us link that back to remote areas in the Barkly electorate, which services an area of 448 576 km2 and then take into account my parliamentary colleague, the member for Stuart. As neighbouring electorates, we have an absolutely massive area. I am just touching on home base, members. When we talk about servicing areas in the Barkly electorate, travelling from Roper River and Hodgson Downs to Lake Nash in the east, to Neutral Junction in the south, it is an extreme challenge. I am confident that it is in great hands with our Health Minister. The sheer remoteness of these areas and the multitude of stations, outstations and larger communities require access to flexible, robust and reliable aeromedical services, and these must be determined by good research and staged decision making.
My constituents are currently provided services from two areas, Pearl Aviation out of Darwin, and my southern constituents are covered by the Royal Flying Doctor Service out of Alice Springs. Therefore, I noted with interest recent claims, that the service in Central Australia could be improved by allowing remote doctors to authorise medical retrieval flights. While this may sound good in theory, it does have several systematic drawbacks. Once authority is withdrawn from a central point, the most obvious problem which arises is who would be responsible for prioritising competing needs, from possibly more than one location? I am very pleased that the minister has taken the initiative to review, through aviation expert, Mr John Cornish, the Top End area aeromedical system - another example of a well researched, staged and rational approach to this matter of public importance.
I look forward to hearing more about the recommendations of this review and what it might mean for the constituents of Barkly. The minister has been very firm that these recommendations will be implemented quickly, to ensure that medivac services will expand in line with population growth and medical need. Any remote living or working situation needs to have reliable and flexible backup services that can cater for any situations that arise.
I note that the minister will be taking the issue of remote airstrip registration to the federal government and I commend that. I will make sure within my electorate, minister, that the station-owners and the communities are aware of the need for airstrips to be registered.
Madam Speaker, as you and members of the House are aware, in remote areas - on cattle stations and in communities - airstrips are regularly discussed, because they are an extremely important part of life and survival. I will be making sure that they are following the minister’s advice. I commend the minister’s statement to the matter of public importance.
Discussion concluded.
Mr HENDERSON (Chief Minister): Madam Speaker, I move that the Assembly do now adjourn.
Ms SCRYMGOUR (Arafura): Madam Speaker, I will speak tonight about the Gunbalanya Open Day, which is going from strength to strength. This grassroots initiative has been held for just over 20 years and will be known as the Stone Country Festival from next year.
Anthony Murphy, the Injalak Art Centre coordinator, and Andy Ralph worked hard with the Bininj to put on a great day for visitors on 23 August. It started with the dancers, led by Sarah Nabageyo and I was pleased to announce the debut of the Bininj Band, who were joined by their sister band, Wildflower, and my favourite band, Nabarlek, later in the day.
Mr Jimmy Little was a special guest of the Bininj this year. While we watched the dancers, the bush tucker ladies cooked a feast of long neck turtles, with many out of town visitors fascinated by the expert cook, Barbara, and her daughter. The taste is sublime. I must thank traditional owners, Donald Gumurdul and Jacob Nayinggul, for welcoming us all there.
The festival is held on the school grounds on the edge of a large fresh water billabong at the end of the street and there is also the famous Injalak Art Centre. The artists, Wilfred, Graham and Gabrielle, hosted a centre full of bark works, string bags and sculptures. Visitors from the University of the Third Age, led by Yvonne Forrest, reckon that they were having a super day. The old Injalak custodian, Thomas Buntine Nabageyo, was happy with the sales. Dolores the Dinosaur was a big hit with the children. The school held an animated film show and the local gardeners sold out of their pumpkins, rockmelons, and watermelons.
The rock art tours with local Bininj guides had people lined up. St John’s footballers won the festival cup attracting teams from Croker and Jabiru, playing against Gunbalanya’s finest. Some of the proceeds from the day have gone to the school’s enterprise initiatives, one of which is making postcards. Gunbalanya is in the heartland of my electorate of Arafura. Next year, everyone should make some time and go and visit the Bininj at their Stone Country Festival.
I also visited the Tiwi Islands with Maxine McKew, Parliamentary Secretary for Early Childhood Education and Child Care. We visited Pirlangimpi on Wednesday, 8 October. The purpose of the visit was to see the crche and the early childhood classes at Pularumpi School. Maxine McKew gained a useful insight into the importance of early childhood services in remote Aboriginal communities and I look forward to working together with her.
Patricia, from the crche, met with Maxine McKew and was able to discuss the importance of training for Aboriginal staff as crche workers, in order for them to deliver quality programs for young children. Matt Macklin, the teaching principal at Pularumpi School, and Leonie Jones, the Top End Group School Principal, met with Maxine McKew and me, and showed us through the classrooms and discussed early childhood education in remote communities. It was wonderful for Ms McKew to see the classroom full of students hard at work, doing activities around the picture book they were reading. She took time to talk to children and was very impressed that they knew Kevin Rudd was the Prime Minister of Australia.
The parliamentary education work that had been done with the school by our Parliamentary Education Office, Madam Speaker and myself earlier in the year, was obviously successful because she was also surprised when some of the little Tiwi kids looked at her and said: ‘We know who you are’, and mind you, the Tiwi kids had not met Maxine before that and they said: ‘You are the big boss lady that knocked off John Howard’. She was most impressed that these little kids knew exactly what her role was, and it gave Maxine a real delight in knowing that.
We also went and had a look around the Tiwi Islands to see the safe houses, or the wellbeing centres and women’s shelters, which many of the women are now using and expanding with the women’s centres. It was good to see and have the discussion about how we might get the crches with the women’s centres and that alignment through to the school, to particularly target early childhood in many of those remote communities. I believe with the infrastructure that is now going into many of these remote communities that it is possible to try to target early childhood.
It was great to be out there. I am looking forward to going back to Maningrida, after being there last week for a successful meeting with the traditional owners to talk about the long-term leasing of their land for the strategic housing project. I believe this project is a first, particularly given the status of Maningrida and the willingness of traditional owners to come to the table and engage with the government to look at the possibility of long-term leasing, so that those houses can be built.
It was great to get out of Parliament House and out bush. All of us who hold bush seats know the greatness of getting out. When you are a minister and you are stuck in this House all week, to be able to get out for a couple of days to a fantastic electorate is very rewarding. I know all other bush members have great electorates and there is some beauty out in the bush and you are able to take the time to be with the real people - the people who vote for you - and be able to talk to them about the issues confronting them.
I know housing is a major issue and this is a project that I am hoping we can make some ground on, particularly with Maningrida. Maningrida has the second biggest Aboriginal population in the Northern Territory, approximately 2800 people, with 32 outstations that border the main community. It is behind Wadeye, which has a population of approximately 3000. To build the houses that we are planning in Maningrida will be a fantastic achievement.
With the Women’s Centre being built, and the Men’s Wellbeing Centre, Maningrida will be in line to get a crche from the Commonwealth government. If we can get the crche within the boundaries of the school, with the Women’s Centre, all these plans are coming together. Many people, including myself, were quite sceptical about the intervention and some of the measures, but when I look at places like Maningrida, those measures have been fantastic.
I have seen many fantastic benefits come with the policing and the child protection; those measures that have been put in place have turned the community around in a positive way. That is something I support. I have always supported getting those extra resources on the ground. The community is now starting to take some leadership with it.
Going from the Gunbalanya Open Day, to the fantastic development that is happening at Maningrida, and then to the Tiwi Islands where there is much development happening - it is great to have an electorate where we are starting to see the tide turning and some good things happening on the ground. The people are starting to feel empowered and wanting to be engaged in jobs and other activities within the community. That is a good thing and I look forward to getting out again.
Mr MILLS (Blain): Madam Deputy Speaker, I will speak tonight on matters of concern, not just to families who may be enjoying some time together in my own electorate, but in electorates across the Northern Territory.
On 9 August there was an election. People were asked to make a decision and they made a decision that surprised the government. Government felt that they were riding high and that they had done all they could to hold onto power. However, when the decision was made known, when the votes, those individual votes were counted, there had been a colossal shift. On that evening, the Chief Minister, shocked by the decision that had been made by so many Territorians - a judgment that they had passed on the performance of this government - said that he would now listen to the people.
This is the parliament and this parliament is the voice of those people. I was once advised by a colleague on the other side, who will remain unnamed: ‘Please do not take this debate too seriously; after all, it is politics and a game is being played’. I was offended. It happened just over there. I assured that parliamentary colleague that it is not a game to me. I was elected by people who put their trust in us to do the best we can to ensure that the processes of this parliament serve their interests. Some, perhaps, have forgotten that, and so some will be going off now, after exercises in this parliament this evening, with a clear view in their mind because their world view sees this as just some kind of operation that you must pass through. You can play with process, but that is the purpose of the parliament we differ on.
The purpose of the parliament is for the voice of the people to be expressed. You can use process, but what do you use that process for? It is 8.45 pm and, whilst there were attempts to raise awareness of the use or misuse of process to disallow discussion or debate on matters of concern to duly elected members, by the use of numbers, by the use of process, they said: ‘That is it. We, the government, will not permit that level of discussion. We will close down the voices of the people in the parliament’. Then you can go off, and maybe laugh over a wine - if you do get together behind the scenes - and make comment about the proceedings of the parliament, as though it is some joke. It is not. A dangerous precedent has been set and it will not go unnoticed.
Another matter, and perhaps more dangerous, is the issue of unsubstantiated allegations that gain traction in the wider community through the media. If anyone has an interest in preserving some sense of decency - which was a concern - the decency and the integrity of the parliament, if it is a concern and you want to preserve such things and you say the word integrity: ‘I want to see the integrity of this parliament protected’. There have been allegations – sadly, unsubstantiated. I have had involvement in working with communities, and allegations can be made in a community. However, it is beholden on those who want to preserve dignity and the core ethics of the community to have those issues, those allegations, substantiated. We lose our centre of gravity if we make that which is unsubstantiated the fact, and run it off for other purposes, to serve another agenda. We knock this parliament off its centre. That is what has occurred. I urge those who have made such allegations to make them publicly. Attach your name to them so that we can deal with it one way or another.
If we do not do that, if we do not make an effort to preserve the integrity of the parliament, and to protect the processes upon which this parliament is established, we will find ourselves in some difficulty. If someone is concerned about a matter - I was raised this way, I think most people have heard this before - or you are concerned about what someone else had said you need to go to the person and express your concern to that person. You do not go and whisper. You have no interest whatsoever in preserving the strength of this community, this parliament, if you run off to a third party, and then, worst of all, the media without making any effort to speak to the person concerned. You are not the slightest bit interested in strengthening the core of this parliament. So, one way or another, step up and bring it out into the open, so it can be cleared up. I am concerned at the precedent that has been set with this matter.
I could go further with that. However, in the interests of protecting this parliament, I urge consideration, regarding these matters to be addressed, because members need to be protected on both sides. Do not think for a moment, those who are on the other side of the parliament, that if this dangerous precedent is allowed to exist and go unchecked, that it will not move backwards and forwards. Then we will have lawlessness, disorder, chaos, hurt, and harm. So, what is one way? If you cannot stand up for the truth, if someone can whisper something on one side of the mouth and then, if confronted, say, well, is this the case or not, and then they cannot back it up there, if they cannot put their name in the paper, or they cannot come to the person concerned, or they cannot come to someone else and say the same story again, we have a serious problem with integrity. But if we do not have that quality of character in this Chamber, then let us go to the next step.
Government has been persuaded that if you want to bring some order back into your community, you have CCTV. There has been a call for an upgrading of technology in the parliament. Let us protect the members that way. Therefore, if allegations are made in the future, I would expect them to be substantiated, and then they can be dealt with one way or another. If it applies to those I have responsibility for, I will deal with it. However, those who want to run allegations and are happy and comfortable with having them unsubstantiated because they are not the slightest bit interested in dealing with the core issue - they want to inflict harm - then we have a problem. That is a problem as a parliamentarian I have to deal with, but it falls to a different set of shoulders to carry that load.
If you cannot deal with basic character and the courage of your convictions, and if you do not have genuine concern for protecting the parliament, we need to upgrade the television cameras in this Chamber. We need to have the capacity to substantiate that which is alleged. And, if it is unsubstantiated, what does it rest upon? The assertion of one who is not prepared to put their name to it. If so, we have a serious problem. If we are the slightest bit interested in the issue of justice and law and order, it has to start at this House. Let us sort it out. I do not want to go on, again and again, with this business revisiting this parliament because, unchecked, it will come back one way or another.
Today’s paper reveals another aspect of unsubstantiated allegations from weeks before. No one backs it up. There is no one’s name to it, and we are all exposed. Whether it is members of government, members of the opposition, or Independent; we are all exposed.
Madam Deputy Speaker, I place this on the Parliamentary Record because I am genuinely concerned. These matters need to be sorted out, including the dangerous precedent of the Leader of Government Business choosing to close down debate because they can. The Chief Minister has said he will now allow the people of the Territory’s voices to be heard, and no such thing has occurred in this parliament. I assume that a statement brought to this Chamber is important; important to the people of the Territory - not just politically important. Let us get out of the political cycle and onto the business of governing in the best interests of the Northern Territory. I have yet to see that and I remain fixed to this position and I want to see a change.
Mr McCARTHY (Barkly): Madam Deputy Speaker, the privilege of parliament is an important one. Elected members of parliament have the ability and opportunity to commit their words in Hansard, so that their views, arguments, congratulations, and respects, are forever on the public record. I respect – I may not always agree – the views of all members in this House on whatever issue they like to convey their views on, because it is their view, their opinion. Adjournments give all members the opportunity to put on the record the positive things that are happening in their electorate. It is just as important to put on the public record all the other things we do in the House as well.
It is with great disappointment, that on going through Hansard, I have made an alarming discovery. The act of plagiarism is occurring in the House. The dictionary defines plagiarism, and I quote from Dictionary.com:
As a former school teacher it was important for me, as an educator and a role model, to impress and teach my students about the importance of doing your own work and expressing your own views, and if someone before you had said it better, then give that person the credit deserved.
Two of our members unfortunately, do not adhere to that lesson. The member for Katherine and the member for Sanderson, I believe, have plagiarised websites and passed them on as their own views.
The member for Katherine, a former policeman, adjourned on 11 September on the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award. However, instead of expressing his own views on the great work of the Duke’s Awards, he repeated paragraph after paragraph, words lifted straight from the Duke’s website and not a single word acknowledging the source of the comments he was trying to pass off as his own. I also add that the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award website has a copyright policy, which clearly states that any reproduction of material on the site …
Mr STYLES: A point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker! I have not spoken on the Duke of Edinburgh’s Awards in this Chamber. Yet, the member for Barkly is saying that I have made all sorts of statements and have lifted and plagiarised all sorts of things from websites. It is actually misleading the House.
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: What was the date of the speech?
Mr McCARTHY: 11 September.
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: I will confer with the Clerk.
Mr STYLES: A point of order, Madam Speaker! He was clear and he said the member for Sanderson and the member for Katherine.
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: Member for Barkly, I ask you to clarify your point please in regards to the member for Sanderson.
Mr McCARTHY: Totally, Madam Deputy Speaker. I will go back to the paragraph: the member for Katherine, a former policeman, who adjourned and talked about the Duke of Edinburgh’s Awards. I expect the official record will reflect that, with all due respect.
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: Member for Barkly, have you referred to the member for Sanderson?
Members interjecting.
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order!
Mr McCARTHY: Madam Deputy Speaker, I have referred to two of our new members, unfortunately who have never learned that lesson, the member for Katherine and the member for Sanderson. I have outlined the first case in question, regarding the member for Katherine, with due respect.
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: You have the call then, member for Barkly.
Mr McCARTHY: The issue, to reiterate, is plagiarism. The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award website has a copyright policy and it clearly states:
The Duke of Edinburgh’s website also states the Duke’s mission and guiding principles:
I ask the members to make their own decision in terms of inspiring our youth and the members of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Scheme. The members opposite spend a lot of time attacking government with very negative images. I am asking that we continue in the interests of good debate. As I have mentioned, as a school teacher and an educator, that plagiarism is of great concern to me. I am shocked this has occurred in the House, with me as a new member.
The member for Sanderson also plagiarised from a website. Unfortunately, this incident was not from one website but from three websites, which I find quite extraordinary. I was inspired by that adjournment speech, which caused me to do a little research as to whereby the scouts have such a wonderful history. That is when I came to believe that the material, which I had been inspired by, was plagiarised. I do not want to knock the members opposite for adjourning on these great youth programs and organisations, but I want to stress to them, that as leading members of the community people look to them and they must lead by example and that does not mean plagiarism.
Ms PURICK (Goyder): Madam Deputy Speaker, recently I had the pleasure of attending the Humpty Doo Scout Group’s special awards night - which did not come off the Internet. Not only was it an enjoyable time, but it was rewarding to see so many young people enjoying themselves in a family style atmosphere.
2008 marks the Centenary of Scouting in Australia and has been designated by the federal government as the Year of the Scout. A diverse range of activities has taken place throughout the year at national, Territory and local levels. The Internet is a public document - you can use whatever you like from it. Scouting is the largest youth development organisation in Australia and the world and is a leader in this country’s non-formal education sector - I think that means teaching, for the member for Barkly. The scouting program delivered by Scouts Australia prepares young people aged six to 26 for business and community leadership.
In its centenary year, Australian scouting is strong, with around 60 000 male and female members. Scouts Australia operates through the voluntary efforts of 13 000 leaders and countless other supporters, mostly family and friends. An estimated 2 million Australians have been scouts since the movement was established in Australia in 1908. Many of these people have gone on to use the skills and confidence gained through scouts to achieve success in their careers or made other community contributions. Scouts Australia has taught millions of young people resourcefulness, self-reliance, leadership, decision making and concern for their community and environment.
More importantly, I want to briefly talk about the Humpty Doo Scout Group. As early as 1928, the small town of Darwin was introduced to scouting, only 20 years after the movement started in England. Administration during the next six decades of scouting in the Territory mirrored something of the lack of interest that has dogged the Territory generally from the time of its inception.
Scouting arrived in Darwin in about 1928, with the formation of the first Darwin group under the command of Captain Len Samut. At that time, it was controlled from New South Wales - similar to the rest of our history as a Territory. But this changed the next year when control was passed to Queensland.
Alice Springs formed its first official group in 1936, but it is believed the movement had been operating there since 1923 - well before the Darwin group. Our friends at Tennant Creek followed suit in 1941, but it was not until 1957, well after World War II - which had seen scouting go into recess - that the first Katherine group was established, giving the movement a foothold in the main Territory centres of the time.
The war had taken its toll, though, and when scouting control was passed from Queensland back to South Australia in 1955 - again we were moved around the country - only two groups, 2nd Darwin and 1st Alice Springs were registered. 1973 saw the formation of an official NT area. We had scouting to ourselves. But, Cyclone Tracy dealt a blow when it destroyed all the records and most of the memories. The compilation of accurate records for the earlier years is an ongoing exercise, and it is still one of the main tasks faced by the movement in Darwin. There is a standing plea to all people – anyone - for any relevant material to help in the reconstruction of the history in the NT.
1986 finally saw the movement come out of the colonial era when control of its own activities was finally passed over to the NT area. 1986 was also an important year for the movement for another reason; it was not uncommon to see a female leader and girls who had been admitted into Venturer and Rovers, but not in the younger sections. In 1986, girls were allowed to join all sections, and did so in droves, joining Packs and Troops right across the Territory and Australia and into the rural area.
On 1 April 1989, the Northern Territory became a branch which meant that the then Administrator, Commodore Eric Johnston, was sworn in by the then Chief Justice of the NT, Austin Asche, who is in the gallery today. He became the Chief Scout; a tradition that has continued with the Administrators of the Northern Territory.
Scouting continues to grow within the Territory with groups across the Territory – Darwin, Palmerston, Northern Suburbs, Howard Springs, Katherine, Nhulunbuy, Alyangula, Tennant Creek, Alice Springs and, the best one, Humpty Doo.
The Humpty Doo group was established in 1990, by Christine Doidge, with a grand total of three scouts, and today, has over 50 young people involved at all levels from Joeys, who are the little tackers, Cubs, Scouts and Venturers. At this stage, there are no Rovers in the group - these are the people aged between 17 to 26, but we are hopeful.
The boss scout of Humpty Doo is George Kasparek - what a leader and inspiration he is to all the young people and their families. George has been with the group as the leader for just over six years. His commitment and dedication are to be admired. He knows every child by name, knows their families, how long they had been involved, and I am sure if he was asked, would know the names of all their pets. He inspires them along the way, makes them laugh and have fun. It is wholesome and the children and young adults are learning new skills, understanding the word ‘respect’ and preparing themselves for the big wide world, even though at the time they may not know it.
The awards were presented by the biggest of all Scout bosses, Commissioner Christine Doidge, who set up the Humpty Doo group. At the presentation, there were awards for the Grey Wolf, which is the highest award for Cubs. It is no mean feat to get this award and usually takes a couple of years, heaps of involvement and achievement, and small milestones along the way. The awards were given to Adele de Bruyn and Greg Craddack. I congratulate them for the achievement and hope they continue into the Scouts section and do equally well and enjoy themselves.
In the Territory, there have been only three Scout Medallions awarded, which is the highest award for Scouts. The award on the night was achieved by a young fellow, Nick Sheers. I spoke with him at the end of the night and was surprised to find out that he was only a Year 9 student, because he appeared to be very mature and self-composed for his age. I have to admit he was also a very handsome young man. He is destined for more achievements, I am sure, not only in the Scouting movement, but in his studies too.
While these awards were very specific, George gave special mention to three Scouts. Titan Cass is a young fellow; he is not particularly big, but he has a big heart. He helps out a lot, is always willing to pitch in, and is well liked by all. It is people like Titan who make the Scout time so enjoyable for everyone. Reece Westlund is young also, and he is a very polite young man, a real gentle person, in the true sense. He is a pleasure to have in the group, George says. Mat Young helps with the Cubs and they love him. It is not every 15-year-old boy who is secure enough in himself to work, teach, and lead smaller children with great respect, dignity and care, but this young fellow, Mat, does it well.
In addition to the special awards, proficiency badges were awarded. They included: Venturer Emily Leach, who received her Expressions 1 badge by performing a belly dancing routine three times in public; and Venturer Joanna Pickering, who received her Expressions 1 badge for her performance in the Taminmin High School stage production, Kakadora. There were a couple of Scouts who received their badges for abseiling: Zac Rubock and Grace Craddock. Saysha Ham; Rory Pomroy Miller; Ruby Pomroy Miller; Riley Zammit; and Sharni Souey are proud, new members and were welcomed to the group on the night after taking the pledge.
It was a good night and one that many families present would have agreed with. There was fun and games in the beginning, some food and drinks and the presentations, and then more fun. I extend my congratulations to the Humpty Doo Scout Group and I am sure I will be seeing more of them in the future. It was far from being a chore - it was a pleasure to be there.
Ms CARNEY (Araluen): Madam Deputy Speaker, I will talk about the Masters Games in Alice Springs, provided it is obviously appropriate that I …
A member: A point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker, could we have a ruling on the props?
Ms CARNEY: Whilst you are on your feet you can do it. I will put on the bling - as someone referred to it earlier today, and I am sure members will indulge me. The medals will be coming off my computer and will be back in my office tomorrow. The Masters Games, and how fitting it is, members, that the Mayor of Alice Springs, Mr Damien Ryan, is still in the gallery, thank you, Damien Ryan, because you will get a mention in my speech.
Everyone knows that the Masters Games are a fantastic event for Alice Springs. I notice the minister for Sport and member for Stuart’s media release dated 18 October, from which I will quote:
The minister went on to say:
I thank the minister for his support. I know he is genuinely committed to the Masters Games and, indeed, for the support that the Territory government offers. This government is not unlike its predecessor in government, the CLP. Any government, worth their salt, knows that it is important to back an event such as the Masters Games.
The Masters attracted people from all around Australia. One bloke I knew well, he used to be the chief at Pine Gap, Kevin Keating, came back from the United States to participate in a number of events. He bedded down with some people I know well; they looked after him and they all had a good time. The Masters not only attracts locals, not only attracts people from interstate, but it attracts people from overseas. It really is a sensational event.
The march to Anzac Oval is always an uplifting, exciting experience. There is entertainment provided and most, if not all, of the participants line up to do the march or parade, and this year was no exception. We all went to Anzac Oval. Speeches were made and people partied on into the night.
I congratulate Judith Dixon and her team on yet another successful Masters Games. I know they worked tirelessly. In addition to the team, the volunteers also worked tirelessly. However, the buck stops with Judith and her team and they really did a great job. I am sure all members will join with me in offering our thanks as well as our congratulations. I thought things worked pretty well for members who participated and I will come back to that.
Participating members would have received a questionnaire this morning from the Masters Games asking a range of questions clearly designed to see how things can be improved. Everything can always be improved. I completed my questionnaire and I encourage members to do the same. I thought it worked pretty well. The registration centre at the Convention Centre worked efficiently and there were volunteers there as well. We have to refer to the ambassadors, Daryl Somers and Dawn Fraser. Dawn Fraser took to the pool again and she won a silver medal in the 50 meters freestyle. Of course, Daryl Somers and Dawn Fraser are great draw cards. People love them. Our Dawn is as current now as she was all those years ago when she swam and you would be hard pressed to find people more enthusiastic than Dawn Fraser and Daryl Somers, who is always very funny, entertaining and enthusiastic.
The free shuttle bus worked well for tourists all over town. Being a local you tend to take getting to and from events for granted, but I understand from people, with whom I play golf, that the shuttle bus worked very well. The town lifts when the Masters comes. We, I am happy to say, put a note on my office door, that I do not think was an unusual note. The note went along the lines of: ‘From time to time this week, our office will be closed due to the Masters Games’. I was playing golf, as was the woman I work with, and I was keen to go around town visiting sporting centres to show my support, not only for the volunteers, but for the participants and as a local member.
One of the great honours, and a real buzz in this job, is to make a presentation to people, whether it is to school kids, athletes or so on. It is always a great honour and I know that the other members, particularly those based in Alice Springs, were afforded that honour as well.
The Alice Springs golf course was looking its brilliant best. I believe it is in the top 10 of the best golf courses around the country and it would certainly register on an international scale. The golf course is one of the best kept secrets in Alice Springs. For members who live in the Top End, do yourselves a favour, as Molly Meldrum used to say, and have a look at the Alice Springs golf course. Go to the club house look out, get a drink and look up at the MacDonnell Ranges. You would be hard pressed to see anything more inspiring or more beautiful. They have great food as well, member for Drysdale.
I will come to members shortly, but on the golf club, there are too many people to mention, however, I would like to mention a couple. Al Purdie, Bernie Viklund, Paul Pearson, Cecila Otley, Sandra Clyne, and so many others gave up their time and were at the golf club pretty much all week. Sandra Clyne and a friend, Dale Morgan - Dale and her husband, John, lived in Alice Springs for about 33 years, they now live in Western Australia - came back to play golf for the Masters Games. Every morning when I turned up at the golf club, I saw Sandra and Dale cooking the famous breakfast for the golfers as they were coming through. Thank you to them and thank you also to not only those I have mentioned, but the scores of other people who participated, volunteered at the golf club, gave up their time, who I have not mentioned, but you know who you are. On behalf of all of us, thank you very much for the efforts you have put in.
Members, I am a bit troubled because only one member of government, if am I not mistaken, participated - greatly, fantastically represented, I might say, by the member for Stuart, who is well known for his ability to kick a ball. He was in the winning team for the Darwin/Alice Springs AFL match. My colleague, the member for Fong Lim, obviously had to play in the Darwin team. They were flogged and that was an outstanding result. I am sure the member for Stuart will agree with me. The member for Nelson apparently umpired that game. Thank you for umpiring in what I am sure was a very fair and efficient manner. The member for Drysdale came, the member for Braitling participated in the cricket, and the member for Greatorex played cricket and something else. The member for Fong Lim played footy, basketball and cricket. So members of the Territory Assembly, on both sides of the political fence, participated in the games.
For those of you based in the Top End, thanks for coming to Alice Springs and injecting your enthusiasm and your money into our economy - it is greatly appreciated - as well as, of course, your natural sporting abilities, such as they are. Although, I am yet to see other medals, but I am sure some people got them. In any event, thank you.
To the mayor - and it is fitting that I conclude on this note: the mayor provides leadership to our town and he did it again at this very important event when so many people, not only from town were looking on, but from all over the country. He is always a great source of encouragement to people in town.
I know he went to many sporting events, handed out medals and so on. I suspect that Damien Ryan holds the record for attending more sporting events than probably all of the local members combined. I do not know how you spent your time that week, Damien, but I do not think you would have seen much of your family, because the pace you set of going to various events was extraordinary. In any event, thank you one and all and we look forward to seeing you all again in two years’ time.
Mr ELFERINK (Port Darwin): Madam Deputy Speaker, I will speak about an interjection I heard earlier today from the Leader of Government Business - that we run the agenda.
It is in reference to this government’s continual disregard for the rights of members to stand up in this House and speak on behalf of their electorates. Each member represents an electorate of approximately 4500 people. When they stand in this place, they speak for the voices of those people, or the majority of those people. But they represent them all, and during the debate and the repeated shutdowns of the debates in this House by the government, they are essentially continually silencing the will of the people as representatives in this House.
It may be a surprise to the Leader of Government Business that they are in government because this House acquiesces to them being in government and only just. It is the right of each member in this House to speak in debates. I remember one of the great taglines attached to the old CLP was that they were arrogant and, from time to time, they did use gag motions to silence debates, but often, much more often than not, those debates were allowed to go to their exhaustion.
Even before my time in this House, the former member for Macdonnell, Neil Bell, used to take advantage of that and keep members in this House, not unusually, until 2 am or 3 am and he was allowed, in most instances, to speak his mind. A large majority of government members did not agree with the things that Neil Bell said. Nevertheless, it was respected that he spoke with the voice of the people he represented. He was passionate, he was fiery, he was often belligerent, he was occasionally even disgraceful, but his voice was heard and resonates through the Hansard of this place.
I certainly remember the period of 1997 to 2001 that it was very common to be in this House until 11 pm or midnight. That is because, when ministerial statements were made, the minister recognised the right of the House to debate the policy issue under discussion to its exhaustion. If the government wants to come into a place like this and say: ‘We want to talk about our policy issue; we want to talk about an issue of importance’, then they should enable all members to speak their minds.
I listened with some fascination to the opening lines of the member for Barkly - who, I presume, had the statement shoved in his hand just before he walked in here - because they sold him a pup. He said with a straight face that he believed members in this place had the right to speak and he respected that right. He has participated in more gag motions since entering this parliament seven sitting days ago than most members of parliament do in their whole parliamentary career. He has no respect and no inclination to let members have their say in this House. That reflects the attitude of government.
If the former CLP government was arrogant, then this government has become breathtaking in their capacity to deny the rights of Territorians’ voices to be heard. This lame excuse of ‘We have been speaking for five hours on the issue’ does not wash with me. The fact is that there are many members in this House who wanted to talk on this debate and who have been deprived of the opportunity to do so. There were many members in this House, if you go back through the Notice Paper - which I cannot lay my hands on just at the moment - who wanted to talk on the law and order debate and the policing issues debates from last sittings. It is still sitting on the Notice Paper because the government wants to have their little say and they want to go home and be in bed on time, so they do not have to work late.
Members have a right to speak and have a right to be heard. It is as simple as that. The government does not like the fact that they were actually within a 100 votes, potentially, of losing government. They have become so accustomed to the death grip they have developed over the parliament over the last four years that they now do not want to lose any of the death grip they held on this place. Well, their death grip has been reduced to clinging on by the fingernails. In spite of the media releases that will inevitably go out - and I can tell you what the media release will say now, it will say something like the CLP is a rabble, yada, yada, yada. Yes, we are angry, but we are angry because we have repeatedly been denied the opportunity to represent our electorates.
I spoke to the Leader of Government Business over the phone yesterday. She was fully aware of my concerns as a result of that phone call, and she has been fully aware of our concerns since the last sittings.
We are quite happy to make this place operate smoothly, but we seek a concession from government. The concession that we seek is an acceptance that the opposition party is here in a force which is almost equal to the government’s presence in this House. It takes one by-election, potentially, to throw the whole thing out of kilter again for this government. They are clinging on by their fingernails. To promise Territorians, on the night of the election, that they got the message and they would listen to Territorians and, then, conduct themselves in a fashion where we see this repeated attempt to silence the voice of Territorians - many Territorians - is arrogant in the extreme. It is arrogant beyond words.
We have a right to be heard as parliamentarians, as the Country Liberal Party’s representation in this House, and as the party that represents nearly half of the Northern Territory’s voting population.
All the government members have to do to achieve a parliament which will function normally, is to accept that we are here in numbers. To signify that acceptance, all they have to do is say, yes, we will debate ministerial statements out in full - that is our request.
I am critical of other areas, including that farcical little exercise at 10 am, where we have a debate, without notice, and we put some ridiculous little question on a motion that is not there, so the government can try to punch out a few media releases. That is silly. It is a silly little thing introduced into the Queensland parliament, as I understand it, in the late 1990s. It was adopted here in 2001, because Question Time used to be at 10 am, so there was an assumption that the media gallery would be full, and they started this process of ministerial reports, in such a condition of high farce, where they had three ministers stand up at 10 am and talk about items that were not allowed to be debated.
When they realised that the opposition of the day was just going to stand up and walk out because there was no point being here, there was no item being debated, they said: ‘We will let you debate it, we will give you two minutes’. So every morning, we go through the three-ring circus, where we have a minister come in, without any notice whatsoever, make a five minute speech, to which there has to be an instant response and, if that instant response is not fully informed or fully educated, it is because we are trapped by this ridiculous little exercise. To make matters worse, at the end of it, they get a minute to slap us back.
This is not any sort of debating, any sort of process. It is just entrapment. It is a ridiculous abuse of the very principles which hold the parliament together. It is a bizarre perversion of the parliamentary process. That perversion is now being carried into the general business of the day. I would be more than happy and comfortable to assist government in making the business of this House work in an effective and sensible manner. However, the government’s entrenched desire to keep their hands around the throats of the voices of so many Territorians, in spite of the results of last August’s election, means that they will not negotiate or move on any point. They will continue to try to squeeze the throats of Territorians, and they will continue to try to spin out media releases about the CLP being wrong, and they will continue to try to silence Territorians, and they will ultimately pay the price.
If the tag of arrogance that used to stick to the CLP is going to stick anywhere at the moment, it will stick to the people who fill the government benches, who continue to provide nothing but gags for the members on this side of the House and for the Independent member.
A very notable thing in each of the divisions today, in an attempt to get this House operating in something like a balanced manner, was they were supported by the Independent. This was not done with any prior discussion. I certainly had not spoken to the Independent. However, I know that he is just as frustrated for the people who live in his electorate as I am for the people who live in my electorate, and all the members who fail to get to speak, because of the arrogance and the self-righteousness of a Chief Minister who was not dreaming for one second when he said, in front of all Territorians, that he was prepared to listen, and that he was actually going to listen. He did not think it for one second. He looked like a stunned rabbit that night, and the reason for that is that he got a slap he did not expect.
The government, for some reason, cannot come to a simple position and say, yes, when we bring an issue to this House, which is an expression of our policy position, we will allow it to be debated from the moment the minister stands to his feet to the point where there are no more speakers available to debate the matter out. Yes, it will take a little longer, but we are all paid a lot of money. We work in this place 33 days a year, and we have dinner breaks now, so it is not that taxing.
The fact is that Territorians deserve more from the government that represents them, and they deserve more from the parliament they elected. If the Leader of Government Business thinks that because she is the government, she has the right to hold her hand over the mouths of Territorians, she is wrong.
Ms Lawrie: I do not think that.
Mr ELFERINK: She is completely and utterly wrong.
Ms Lawrie: I do not think that. That is your fantasy.
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order!
Mr ELFERINK: Not true, says the Leader of Government Business. How many gag debates did we have today? How many gags did the minister run today, Madam Deputy Speaker? She ran one after the other. All she has to do is give ground on this one particular issue and this pain that they are suffering at the moment will go away.
I am passionate about my right to speak in this place, as all members should be and the fact that these people hold Territorians in such profound contempt is a condemnation of their pathetic attitude and deep seated fear of facing an opposition which they are not used to facing at all. Get to your feet. Here it is. Run your defence.
Mr KNIGHT (Daly): Madam Deputy Speaker, I recently attended the opening of the Thamarrurr Ranger Base at Wadeye ...
Mr ELFERINK: What was that hand gesture? A point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker! I did not quite make out the hand gesture by the Leader of Government Business. Could you repeat that for the cameras? Was that it? I do not quite see it. This morning we saw, in the newspaper, an attack about hand gestures on this side of the House. I just saw a hand gesture. I am not quite sure what I saw …
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: Thank you. I do not believe there is a point of order. I do not believe it was an offensive gesture.
Mr ELFERINK: I urge you to ask the Leader for Government Business to control herself because this is disgraceful.
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: Please resume your seat, Member for Port Darwin.
Ms LAWRIE: I am happy to speak to the point of order. I raised my hands up in an upright gesture, mimicking exactly the gesture that the member for Port Darwin had done.
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: Thank you. Member for Daly.
Mr KNIGHT: Madam Deputy Speaker, the frustration, I believe, that is felt from this side, by throwing her hands up into the air and thinking, what this madman, the member for Port Darwin, has been doing in this Assembly with his antics today, has been unbelievable. The sheer lunacy of the man.
Mr BOHLIN: A point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker! I ask that the member for Daly withdraw his comment calling the member for Port Darwin a madman. I do not really think he belongs in any form of mental institution. He is here representing his people. The comment that he is a madman is quite absurd and unparliamentary.
Mr KNIGHT: Madam Deputy Speaker, I withdraw that the sheer lunacy of what has happened with the CLP today makes it a ridiculous situation in this House. This parliament has operated like this for many years and it has been the sheer lunacy of certain members on the other side of this House which has caused this problem today.
I draw your attention to events in my electorate. I recently attended the opening of the Thamarrurr Ranger Base at Wadeye, not only representing the Deputy Chief Minister and Minister for Indigenous Policy, but also, very proudly, as the local member for Daly. On behalf of the Northern Territory government, I extend my appreciation to the Commonwealth government and to the Indigenous Land Corporation for funding and their support for the new base and the Thamarrurr Rangers. I was pleased that the federal Minister for Indigenous Affairs, the Honourable Jenny Macklin, was also able to attend the opening.
Looking after country; the land and sea for future generations is a very important role to play. The dedication of the Thamarrurr Rangers provides vital environmental services including spraying of weeds, monitoring and eradicating feral animals and the monitoring of this country for introduced diseases.
The Thamarrurr Marine Rangers are also responsible for the surveillance of 200 km of coastline between Cape Scott and the Fitzmaurice River. The Fisheries and the Marine Police Fisheries Enforcement Section recognise that the Marine Rangers are the eyes and ears of the remote coastal region and provide a highly valued service.
I acknowledge the hard work done by the Thamarrurr Development Corporation in managing the Ranger program and I commend them on the fantastic work that they do. I give special thanks to John Berto for all his hard work as the CEO.
The Thamarrurr Ranger Program is one of the largest employers of Indigenous people in the community and currently employs up to 19 Indigenous permanent full-time rangers. I would like to mention those rangers who attended on that day: Mark Ninnal, Boniface Nemarluk, Maureen Simon, Richard Parmbuk, Stanley Kungul, Bobby Munar and Harold Singh. Others employed as rangers are Ryan Fraser, Dan Secombe, Rod King and Matt Anderson. Matt is the manager of the ranger program and he does a great job.
The rangers are great role models for young people and Wadeye’s first Green Corps team was also recognised at the opening. I congratulate Theresa Mollinjin, Christina Jinjair, Marita Longmair and Roseanne Jinjair. The Green Corps team received their Advanced Certificate of Participation and a Certificate of Attainment focusing on cultural heritage, conservation, land management in the Thamarrurr region, and preparation for future employment. This program is being delivered by the Thamarrurr Development Corporation in partnership with the Thamarrurr Regional Council.
Other rangers who were not able to attend to attend on the day but I will acknowledge are: Cyril Ninnal, Mathew Gumbaduck, Marie Manby, Paul Cumaiyi, Margaret Mardinga and Terence Bunduck and Clara Karui. I congratulate everyone for what they have achieved.
I move on to some student awards. I congratulate Samara Carroll and Jack Campbell from Berry Springs Primary School who received book vouchers, as part of my monthly awards.
I attended the Taminmin Middle School assembly yesterday morning and presented the book voucher for September to Yasmina Lipinski, Year 9. I also announced the students of the month for September: Demi Tinning, Year 7, and Courtney Irlam, Year 8. Lucky recipients of my October awards were: Jenny Do, Year 7; Zoe Owens, Year 8; and Bradley Canniford, Year 9. Congratulations on all your good work. The Taminmin School goes from success to success. Good luck in the last eight weeks of school.
I attended the Adelaide River Primary School celebration on its 50th anniversary and what an exciting event that was. The current school began operations in February 1958 and was officially opened on 29 September 1958. There are currently 53 students enrolled and two teaching staff. Tony Clegg is the teaching principal and congratulations to Tony and his staff for the great work they do at the school. A Northern Territory history grant has helped fund the production of a book about the school’s history and I look forward to the book launch in December.
Three generations of students from the Fawcett family were also part of the celebrations, at the picnic laid out under the school’s grand Noonjook tree, which was planted in the 1960s. The Fawcett family is well known in the area and it was Myrtle Fawcett who lobbied authorities in the 1950s for a school. A small school started in an old army shed in 1953, before moving to its present site in 1958. The celebrations were a perfect opportunity for everyone in the community to enjoy the great afternoon with current and former students, principals and staff. It was a great afternoon and congratulations to everyone on this great milestone.
Members: Hear, hear!
Mr TOLLNER (Fong Lim): Madam Deputy Speaker, on Sunday I was fortunate to be able to attend the Ludmilla Family Fun Day. I took my wife and children and organised a barbeque. The Ludmilla Family Fun Day was organised by a group of people in my electorate called Ludmilla Neighbourhood Connections.
They are an informal neighbourhood group which aims to make Ludmilla, in particular, a more connected, strong and friendly neighbourhood by building social networks. They organise and support a range of activities and events that focus on encouraging the involvement of all residents. Ludmilla Neighbourhood Connections was started in July 2007 by local Ludmilla resident, Gretchen Ennis, who wanted, at the time, to look at ways for people from different cultural backgrounds in the Ludmilla area to get together and get to know each other better. There seemed to be little opportunity outside the local school for people to meet at a local neighbourhood level and to create the valuable social networks that assist people in their day-to-day lives, and also to create a broader sense of community in the Ludmilla area. From several meetings that she had, Gretchen organised a small working group of local people to get together to consider how best to create some new opportunities in the area.
Since that time, almost every organisation in the Ludmilla area has become involved in some way, shape or form. Ludmilla Neighbourhood Connections is now made up of people from the local area with representatives from the Ludmilla Primary School, the Nemarluk School, Corrugated Iron Youth Arts, Bagot Community Council, Anglicare NT, KidSafe NT, SIDS and Kids, and the Ludmilla Landcare Group. They have all been involved in various events and activities along the way.
Gretchen Ennis is now undertaking PhD studies in social networks in the community of Ludmilla. This has enabled her to concentrate further on facilitating the Ludmilla Neighbourhood Connections group via regular neighbourhood meetings and an e-mail list. It has also allowed Ludmilla Neighbourhood Connections to apply for small amounts of funding from the NT government Community Grants Program. This money will be used to start up a network of neighbourhood gardens throughout Ludmilla. They are currently awaiting the outcome of their grant application. I encourage the Northern Territory government to support Ludmilla Neighbourhood Connections because they are such a fantastic group. They are part of the Fong Lim electorate.
On the weekend, I was very much involved with them. They had their Ludmilla Family Fun Day on Sunday, 19 October between 4 pm and 7 pm. There was something like 100 to 120 families who turned up - a range of different people from around the area - to get involved in a whole range of different activities. We had barbecues, rock climbing, music, sport and all that sort of stuff.
Corrugated Iron Youth Arts turned up and trained children in circus skills and circus tricks. They gave demonstrations and encouraged the kids to have a go at learning some circus tricks. Jane Tonkin, Damien Pree, Josh Ingrames, Luke Ingrames and Eli Taylor were there from Corrugated Iron Youth Arts, and they did a fantastic job in providing some entertainment in circus skills.
The NT School of Music provided the sound and the sound system free of charge. Special thanks need to go to Rod Balaam setting up the sound and mixing the band. They had a band turn up which provided some excellent music. The Ludmilla Primary School Choir sang some music they had learned for The Beat. The school students were very inspirational in the way they conducted themselves.
Adam Voigt, the Principal of Ludmilla Primary School was there. He is a big part of Ludmilla Neighbourhood Connections, a great man in the area and a real powerhouse in developing the community in the Ludmilla area.
Nemarluk School put on an art display, coordinated by Meena Baines and Principal, Bert Beekhuizen. They had a fantastic display and the art they produced at Nemarluk School was first rate. Good on Nemarluk School.
Caroline Reynolds provided the rock climbing wall. I am sure members have been around various community events and seen the rock climbing wall. She had a helper with the kids and it was a big hit - kids were up and down it all the time. There was a band called, Country Town Collective, a local band and they played free of charge.
Ludmilla Creek Landcare Group put on an information display about local Landcare projects. I supplied some meat and sausages and the like for the barbecue, but the barbecue would not have happened without the strong support of Anglicare NT, who actually organised it, got out and bought all the goodies. They are hitting me with a bill for that, but ultimately it was the Anglicare NT crew who did the grunt work. The CEO, Ms Coralie Nichols and her partner, Peter; the Executive Officer, Stephanie Bradley and her partner, who, I should say, is a super chef, a fellow called Ronald Manueli, a great bloke, a Fijian who sat there all afternoon in the hot sun, twirled away, did a fantastic job with the sausages, steaks, onions and all the like. Anglicare NT Youth Health Worker, Shellee Fielding was also there. They did a fantastic job. It was a great afternoon.
We tried to get a number of sporting groups to turn up. The AFL Auskick people were involved. They initially said they were going to turn up. Unfortunately, at the time, the Essendon Keilor footy players were in Darwin, and diverted the AFL guys away from our afternoon get together, but the AFL Auskick program fellows did come down with a big swag of footballs and coloured cones for the kids to kick around and kick off, which was very good.
We had invited basketball super coach, Don Sheppard, to turn up and take the kids through some basketball skills and the like. For those members who do not know, Don is a big bear of a man. He called me about half-an-hour before the thing had happened, he had taken a little tumble and he told me that he had a suspected broken foot. For a big bloke like Don, I reckon if he took a tumble, he would have probably a pretty serious injury, so it was unfortunate that Don could not make it, but great that he tried.
The Ludmilla Neighbourhood Connections Group deserves a huge amount of thanks and credit from the whole Ludmilla community. They pulled this thing together, they informed the community by way of letterbox drops and the like, and Gretchen Ennis and the Ludmilla Primary School Council Chairman, Mick Purcell, should be congratulated for the effort they put in. I have only met Mick since being elected as the member for Fong Lim, but he has very much impressed me as a local worker. He is the chairman of the Ludmilla Primary School. He has been on my back now for quite sometime about some promised traffic changes that the Education department and the department of Transport had promised to make around the Ludmilla School. He is very active in the school community and he is also very active with Ludmilla Neighbourhood Connections. He is a bloke who has empathy for the Indigenous people of the area, of Bagot community and Kulaluk, and he really goes out of his way to involve those people in all sorts of neighbourhood activities. He is very keen to see them as part of the community.
It was a great event, and fantastic to be part the activities. I congratulate all of those people that I mentioned for the fine work that they did in pulling it together. They tell me they would have liked a bigger crowd, but I suppose it was a build-up afternoon, a pretty hot afternoon, so I imagine at other times of the year they would get more people. It was a great afternoon. I appreciated being there and I am very keen to be a part of future functions and give them as much support as I possibly can. I encourage this government to support them with any endeavours they try to undertake in the future.
Mr BOHLIN (Drysdale): Madam Deputy Speaker, I will speak on the matter that the member for Katherine had raised regarding the air-med. I was fortunate to be involved in a conversation at the member’s electorate office in Katherine, together with the member for Greatorex.
The accident that happened in September 2008 with Adrian Phillips and his crew of hard-working Central Australian people was a tragic accident. It involved a car and a beast that they were trying to catch. Those men are real tough ringers. They are true ocker Australian men. They have worked across the Top End, the central regions as well and were amazing people to listen to. Their story really hit home. As many of you by now have worked out, I have spent time working in central Australia in extremely remote locations. You do feel that remoteness when you are out there by yourself, or with a few of you. You know that you are isolated. You know that help is not going to come in a hurry.
These strong men thought they had it all worked out. They took as many reasonable precautions as they could. They had satellite phones, a helicopter that was helping in mustering, and several vehicles and many men working. They had chainsaws. They had first aid kits. They knew what they were doing. They were not amateurs. They had personal plans in place with their families so that if they did not turn up by sunset, their families knew to start panicking, to set the alarm off, to get help. That is what they have based much of their life on for a long time - that the help is out there.
We failed them astronomically. It was a disgrace. Coming from an emergency services perspective, I was disgusted to listen to and hear the torment these men have gone through, since that time, because of our failings.
These men did a fantastic job. I have had to resuscitate people too many times; had to deal with too many other things that do not need to be mentioned here. But John Armstrong Jnr, the pilot, from what I can work out, is a very capable pilot. John Armstrong Snr is also a very respected person within the Rotor element of Northern Australia. These men knew what they were doing. An accident happened and they were left stranded. At approximately 4.45 pm, the accident occurred and as a result the men suffered injuries. The helicopter landed very shortly after, very close by and they rang 000. They were not far from Katherine; a 20-minute flight. The cost of the flight was irrelevant. They could not care less. This was about helping their fallen friends who were injured on the ground alongside them and they were left stranded by our system. They deserve an apology from that system because what happened is unacceptable.
The sequence of events should be well recorded as the DMO would have to keep records as part of policy, I would presume. 000 keeps records and the phone conversations will be recorded and could be brought up, if needed, by the coroner. But to ring 000 and get no real response or: ‘Righto, someone will ring you back – someone will ring you back’, and to keep getting this answer is appalling. We now have a man whose mates are fighting for his life – he has lost his ability to fight for his own life. It does not matter how tough you are - that is scary business. It is soul destroying. He will be left with a scar that you cannot erase. The help is there. They always thought it was there but it was not. It was not for them.
Adrian did a fantastic job of trying to coordinate what he had - he offered everything at his disposal. John Armstrong Jnr and his father, John Armstrong Snr, offered everything available they could muster but our system failed them. We were the ones; the government failed them dramatically. There is a time when you have to make a decision on whether resuscitation continues and the DMO is definitely the expert in that field. That decision was made, but it is hard to tell someone who has been friends with someone for a long time, to give up working on that person. You stop resuscitating them because they are gone. The lack of tact that was portrayed, and I can only say portrayed, was poor.
The refusal to allow a doctor or a paramedic from Katherine to fly in a helicopter of a commercial pilot was inexcusable in any circumstances. 000 was called - we are there to rescue, to save peoples lives and we failed. Our police systems in this area have failed to respond to certain instances to protect the public.
They could have flown him there, picked up a paramedic with his paramedic kit, a nice pretty red bag containing a lot of lifesaving equipment, and brought him to the site quite safely to start immediate treatment. Forty minutes could have passed by, let us say, for the sake of this, so by 5.30 pm there could have been a paramedic on-site - worst case scenario. Why was it that no one was sent in that capacity?
I am very grateful to the medical staff who were sent from a nearby community with their community ambulance. They did not know exactly what they were going to. They were going to a very remote area of rugged terrain. The Maranboy police were sent, which was fantastic. I have worked with the Officer-in-Charge of that station, Carney Ganley, and I can guarantee you that man would have given every ounce of his blood and sweat to do his job for the people he went there to help and protect. From what I have been told, that is exactly what he did.
Over the next few hours, the Officer-in-Charge of Maranboy Police Station, Carney Ganley, the medical teams that were sent - and mind you, they did not get there until midnight, they were fairly late on the scene – and the ringers on the site, used all their resources and every ounce of their energy to clear a complete landing site for a dust-off - for a medical evacuation by rotor wing – 50 m by 40 m. I cannot remember the figures. These people - Adrian Phillips and John Armstrong do remember, because their men cleared that site by hand, with trucks and chainsaws. They cleared that site so that the rescue team could land to save these people, help these people, to get them out of pain, to get them out of the peril of a night in the bush. Mind you, the survivor was face down in the dirt for the entire situation - hot Katherine dirt.
Maranboy police have said they had to winch the ambulance into the region; they had to physically fight the rescue truck that did come to give first aid treatment. I commend those officers and the men of Adrian Phillips who helped achieve that feat. They did an amazing job, at great energy and a great emotional cost to them, to achieve that. At 12.25 am or 12.22 am - within a few minutes of that - a man alive, lying on the ground, received his first pain relief. The accident happened at 4.45 pm. That is disgusting. That is unbelievable.
By this stage, from my recollection of the conversation, the Jawoyn people had been contacted, agreements had been loosely struck and they were willing to help. They had a Jet Ranger; they could not fly at night, but they were ready to lift off first thing in the morning. They prepared their craft to fly in, and that is what they did in respect for the people who were on the ground, working the land for them. They flew in with their machine to medivac this man. I highly commend the Jawoyn people for their Australian spirit, for the camaraderie of the people of the bush and for what they were willing to do.
It was amazing, considering that we, as the government, could not do it. They, as the people in that area could do it, but we failed to do it. I do not know where it falls down. I do not know whose failing it is. Hopefully, we can work to resolve such issues.
Something that makes me even angrier is that we did some research with people we know in the industry. We have since been told, from search and rescue’s point of view, CASA based out of Canberra, that if they had gone back to their helicopter, which was working perfectly fine at 4.45 pm, or a couple of minutes after by the time it landed, and flicked their EPIRB, their emergency positioning device, for 15 seconds, and not called 000, they would have had help from Canberra straight away. A little signal bounces to the sky, to the satellite, down and then a team is sent.
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: Member for Drysdale, your time has expired.
Mr WESTRA van HOLTHE (Katherine): Madam Deputy Speaker, first, I would like to thank the member for Barkly for pointing out to me an oversight I apparently made in an Adjournment debate during the last sittings in September.
I was inspired by the visit to this parliament of a number of students from Katherine who were undertaking the Award, formerly known as the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award. I was so inspired by their departure from mediocrity that I included them in my contribution to that debate. I researched the Award and went on to their website, where I found some excellent information about the Award. It was well written and I thought to adapt some of the information into my speech, because I believed I could not significantly improve on the content and wanted to keep the spirit of the information in line with what was on the website.
What I did do at the time was read the information disclaimer on the website, and I took that to mean I could use the content of the website for information and background, which is what it says. I consequently provided this background and information to this parliament, to set a backdrop to acknowledge those youths from Katherine. My transgression, alluded to by the member for Barkly, was not acknowledging that much of the information came from that particular website. This was simply an oversight and I did not seek any gain by quoting from that website. In hindsight, I could, and perhaps should have made that acknowledgement. I can assure the House that I will endeavour that this does not happen again.
I am stunned and somewhat disgusted that the member for Barkly has chosen to engage in this issue and make an issue out of my acknowledgment of a group of young people who are striving to make some real achievements in their lives. The member for Barkly obviously has no idea of the commitment and effort that is required to undertake the Award. I hope his contribution this evening is not construed by those young people as diminishing the Award in any way, or their commitment to making a difference in their lives.
I will now speak on a serious health and welfare issue for Territorians and all Australians. I acknowledge an e-mail dated today from the Drug Advisory Council of Australia for part of the content of my contribution to the debate this evening. This is advice to parents, which they endorse, and I stand alongside them by endorsing this advice also.
Prevention of drug use is the best approach to illicit drug use. Drug use, for the first time, is now lower at 12 years of age, therefore, parents have the best opportunity to turn their children away from use. Early use of alcohol, tobacco or inhalants is a strong predictor of future illicit drug use. Parents must educate themselves on the harms of illicit drugs by accessing reliable web information, publications and meetings. Parents must educate themselves on the culture of illicit drug use from popular music, Internet, magazines and movies. Parents should be active in developing school policies that support drug-free youth.
Parents must let their children know that they will pick them up at any time, from functions where illicit drugs are present, by a simple mobile phone call to remove them from risk. Parents should closely supervise their children, by knowing their movements and the friends they mix with. Parents should request their members of parliament, school officials and community groups to keep them informed about illicit drug issues.
Parents must support initiatives to provide detoxification and rehabilitation programs to those who have used illicit drugs to get them drug free. Children do not stay away from illicit drugs by chance. It takes thoughtful planning, effort and commitment from adults who love them. That source is acknowledged through the Drug Watch International Newsletter of April 2008.
I highly commend the students of the Middle School at St Joseph’s College in Katherine for their drug forum, which took place on 17 October 2008. I was invited to the school to watch a number of presentations, and to share in a delicious lunch. To say that I was impressed is an understatement. In keeping with the principles of education and demystifying illicit drugs, the forum commenced with a welcome by the school captains, followed by explanations of posters created by some of the students. This was followed by a video presentation, which was very humorous, carrying all the right messages about not getting messed up by using drugs. This was followed by a trivia quiz which tested a few of the beliefs I held about drugs, and then a role play which was inspiring and engaging. There was a PowerPoint presentation, distribution of pamphlets and then a farewell to participants by the school captains.
I believe it is important to bring this topic out of the shadows and deal with it in a sensible and mature way. Illicit drug use needs to be spoken about at school, and with parents, to remove the sensationalism that surrounds this horrible scourge on our community.
To the staff and students of St Joseph’s College in Katherine, I offer my congratulations on the conduct of this forum. You should be proud of yourselves, as I am proud of you, for your efforts and the standard of your contribution to the Katherine community.
Motion agreed to; the Assembly adjourned.
CONDOLENCE MOTION
Mr Stephen (Sam) Calder AM OBE DFC
Mr Stephen (Sam) Calder AM OBE DFC
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, it is with deep regret that I advise of the death on 30 September 2008 of Mr Stephen Edward (Sam) Calder, AM OBE DFC, Northern Territory member of the House of Representatives from 1966 until 1980, and a decorated pilot.
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Distinguished Visitors
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, I draw your attention to the presence in the Speaker’s Gallery of friends of the late Mr Calder. I acknowledge that Mr Sam Calder’s relatives were not able to be here, unfortunately, for this occasion. I recognise the Hon Austin Asche AC QC; Mr Ian Watts AM; Mr Chris Rooney and Mrs Rooney; the Hon Grant Tambling; Mr Peter Upton; and Mr Rick Setter, the former member for Jingili and also the acting President of the Australian-American Association. On behalf of honourable members, I extend to you a very warm welcome.
Members: Hear, hear!
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Madam SPEAKER: I call on the Chief Minister.
Mr HENDERSON (Chief Minister): Madam Speaker, I move - That this Assembly express its deep regret at the death of Mr Stephen Edward (Sam) Calder AM OBE DFC, an elected member for the Northern Territory in the House of the Representatives, a World War II war hero, and a great contributor to the constitutional development of the Territory, and tender its profound sympathy to his family and friends.
Madam Speaker, in paying tribute this morning to Sam Calder, we celebrate the life of a man whose life’s work spoke far louder than his nickname of Silent Sam, and whose place in Territory political and constitutional history will not be forgotten. A politician, pastoralist, businessman, aviator and sportsman, Sam Calder was all of these through his long life. However, it is as a Territorian, above all, that we honour him today.
He flew into the Territory and entered the pages of our history in 1939, and left us just a few weeks ago at the age of 92. We honoured him here, 10 days ago, at a State funeral in Darwin, where he lived his last years.
Uniquely, Sam Calder was at the founding of three political parties in the Northern Territory: the Country Party in 1966, just before he successfully ran for the Territory’s House of Representatives seat; the Country Liberal Party in 1974, and the Territory Nationals in 1986. We were reminded of the latter fact at Sam’s State funeral with the presence of Ian Tuxworth, the former Territory Nationals’ leader, as well as one of its most stalwart supporters, James Petrich. Less directly, we were reminded of these links through Grant Tambling, who sat with the Nationals in the Senate and who also spoke eloquently at his funeral.
Sam Calder was the patron of the Territory Nationals, campaigning hard for them, even though he was in his early 70s by that time. A death notice from the Territory Nationals in the papers a couple of weeks ago with its logo, unseen for more than a decade, was an echo of this fascinating period in the Territory’s political development.
Sam Calder was always committed to the bush side of politics. In 1974, the Country Liberal Party was formed from the Country and Liberal Parties, and Sam Calder was there at its birth. According to Sam, Paul Everingham, who later became the Territory’s first Chief Minister and later the Territory’s federal member in Canberra, wanted to call it the Liberal Country Party. Sam said: ‘I said, “no bloody way. I am a Country Party bloke”. So we called it the CLP, and it stayed that way’. His membership of different parties is not to suggest that Sam Calder was a fickle man. He was committed and dedicated to his side of politics and he served it well.
Indeed, one of his great attributes was as a man of principle. Although the philosophies that guided him were quite different from this side of the House, it was as a man of principle that I honour him today. I will speak in a moment of the importance of his principled stands to the development of the Northern Territory, however, I should first acknowledge that he was a great and formidable opponent of the Australian Labor Party and a source of great frustration to our side of politics.
His election to the House of Representatives for the Country Party in 1966 broke the back of Labor representation in the lower federal parliament for 14 years - a seat that we had held since 1949. He was persuaded to stand by Damian Miller, a lifelong friend, with whom he arrived in the Territory in 1939 to work for Eddie Connellan’s new airline. He agreed to stand after a few drinks of Scotch - very expensive drinks for the Labor Party as it turned out! He went on to defeat Labor faithful including John Waters and Ted Robertson.
In later years, recalling his first election by a mere 480 votes, Sam demonstrated his typical dry sense of humour:
- Well, we didn’t have a hell of a lot of money, but I managed to do it with Connellan Airlines which the Labor Party (suspected) – well, it was Connair by then – the Labor Party tried to pin it on the fact that Eddie Connellan was giving me free flights to get around the place - which he did, in fact, but managed to mask somehow! I was also at a bit of a disadvantage because Jim Bowditch was the editor of the NT News - and he was a dead Labor bloke.
However, he was no class warrior and was prepared to tip his hat to some of his opponents, as he said in 1989:
- Labor ran a fellow called Dick Ward, who was a well-known legal bloke and finished up a judge ... He was a lefty. A very nice fellow, but he was known to have organised the Communist Party in Alice Springs and things like that. But he put the Territory before all else – I’ll say this for Dick Ward - himself or any of the political leanings he had. It was always the Territory for Dick.
- I’ve got to speak in this debate otherwise you can chuck this seat out of the window.
In voting with Labor, he found himself sitting with Clyde Cameron, a man he had not liked and whom he had once branded ‘a dingo’ during a debate. ‘We later ended up firm friends,’ he was to say many years later.
Sam Calder makes it sound easy, as he was to relate in 2000, and I quote:
- My party wanted to have nothing to do with this, but I said I have got to do this. I talked to [Ian] Sinclair and [Doug] Anthony and they said, right-o, Sam, you go and do it. So we got the Senate.
The first Labor and CLP Territory Senators, Ted Robertson and Bernie Kilgariff, were direct beneficiaries of the strong principles for the Territory held by Sam Calder.
Since 1922, the Northern Territory representative in federal parliament had been unable to vote on any motion, unless it directly affected the Northern Territory. This led Sam Calder to very forcefully tell the then Country Party leader, ‘Black Jack’ (John) McEwan, that the Territory would be lost to the conservative side of politics if he could not win the vote on all matters in federal parliament as a Territory MHR. He won this right in 1968, and it was announced in an answer to a dorothy dixer from him to the then Prime Minister, John Gorton. It is hard to imagine a parliamentary Question Time of greater import to the Territory’s constitutional development than this.
We all come to politics in different ways, and so it was with Sam Calder. As Sam said, he came from conservative, but inactive parents in a comfortable, middle-class Melbourne environment. He always wanted to go on to the land and, ultimately, achieved that ambition in the Territory, and then became interested in politics. As he said:
- I used to listen to broadcasts of the parliament when I was in the stock camps. I had a little transceiver I would turn onto the broadcasts.
It is hard to imagine anywhere else producing such a prominent politician from such a remote exposure to politics.
However, Sam was other things as well. He was a World War II hero, winning a Distinguished Flying Cross after 120 missions against the Germans, flying in Typhoons and Hurricanes.
Ian Tuxworth rang me the morning after Sam’s death and talked about Sam’s amazing contribution in the Royal Air Force during World War II and the more than 120 missions that he flew. He revealed the fact that Sam Calder never spoke about that time until later in their relationship when he talked about the average life expectancy for a pilot during that time being about 40 missions. When he got to 40, every mission was potentially his last - given the odds. To make that type of contribution, as an individual, for much of the time in that aircraft, with flack flying, thinking you are on borrowed time, would really steel you and mould your character for the rest of your life. After talking to Ian Tuxworth, I can understand how that would happen. It is an amazing history and record that he brought back to the Territory.
He helped found the most important airline in the Territory of the day, flying as chief pilot for Eddie Connellan. He worked hard in the pastoral industry at Argadargada, Narwietooma and Singleton.
Sam was a prominent sportsman as well, after whom cricket’s Calder Shield is named, a match played between Darwin and Alice Springs every year.
I did not know Sam Calder personally - I had only met him on one occasion. However, since his passing, and speaking with prominent Territorians on the other side of politics during the reception we had after the State funeral, I am committed to understanding that he did make a significant contribution to the constitutional development of the Northern Territory during difficult times.
As a man, he made a very significant and personal contribution in World War II - a time of great tragedy around the world, and during his time in the Territory he made a significant contribution in many ways.
Madam Speaker, Sam Calder was a true Territorian. I pay my respects and condolences to Sam’s family.
Mr MILLS (Opposition Leader): Madam Speaker, the opposition certainly supports this motion and acknowledges that the Territory parliament stands, in many ways, as a legacy to the contributions of a man - Sam Calder.
The business that we conduct in this Chamber does not occur by accident, but by the efforts of others who have gone before us. It is in the presence of a legacy that we conduct our business today. It adds another dimension to our deliberations and considerations. It is with that in mind that we make these comments.
It was very fitting that there was a State funeral to honour the contribution made by Sam. The need to identify, recognise, and celebrate the contributions made by citizens of this nature is necessary for all of us because the efforts of individuals, of citizens, as we all are, are informed, strengthened, and encouraged by the examples set by others.
We acknowledge that all of us are born and all of us will die. At the time Sam Calder was born, albeit not in the Northern Territory, the Northern Territory had no representation at all. Between 1911 and 1922, there was no voice whatsoever, no vote, no political representation of any kind. It has changed.
The next stage was the representation, but no voice - a body present in the parliament, but no voice at all. In the next stage of development, there was representation and a voice. The next stage was that the voice could speak on matters, not just pertaining to the Northern Territory, but pertaining to any matter, as a citizen of this nation representing the citizens of the Northern Territory. What a journey those four different stages indicate, and they did not happen by accident. It happened by the representation, principally in this case, of Sam Calder demonstrating the principle of proper representation.
It then led to the next stage: self-government, giving this place in our continent the authority to conduct its own business. The development of self-government was a critical stage in the history of the Northern Territory. It is very humbling to acknowledge that the things we do today and take for granted are a result of the efforts of others, therefore, we must treat them with greater respect. That is why State funerals, condolence motions, and times when we pause to reflect are so important.
Those steps then lead us to the next - to take this one step further. All the way from no representation, when the Territory was an underdeveloped colonial frontier - at the time of Sam’s birth – along the continuum, the development, all the way through to self-government - but not quite where we need to be to take that next step.
As we talk of legacies, it is the time to recognise the legacy of the achievements and reflect on our own capacity to contribute to that next stage. In honour of the legacy that has been achieved, in honour of that which we benefit from today and take it to the next step – Statehood. That we carry on that legacy and we add to it; we are a part of the continuum, as a part of the honouring.
I met Sam on a number of occasions as I joined the Country Liberal Party and he struck me as a quiet man who was on a mission to make sure that his message was delivered. He was a man from the bush, a man of whose extraordinary achievements I had heard, and a man I admired by reputation and when I met him, it was his quietness that struck me. Quietness in the sense that he came to meetings to make clear the need to represent issues particularly regarding the RSL and servicemen, he was a man I knew had to be listened to. There are some who carry that presence and they are my memories of Sam Calder.
Having others speak of his achievements and him not speaking of his achievements, amplifies and strengthens the presence of a man. He was one who stood up for the bush and stood up for principle; as the Chief Minister has referenced, he was identified as a man of principle. My meetings with him and my observations of Sam showed that he was governed by conviction and principle. He was always loyal to his Defence mates and as a private citizen he actively supported the Aviation Museum, the RAAF Officers’ Mess, the Australian-American Association, and the Artillery Museum. He was active in supporting cricket and tennis and he maintained good friendships.
Sam was noted as one who liked to keep fit and walk along the foreshore. I have been struck on a couple of occasions of references to him walking along the foreshore backwards, as an alternative way of keeping fit. I find it the most curious thing, because my father has this strange idea too - that walking backwards is particularly good for you. I never actually saw Sam walking backwards and I will have to do some investigations as to why that might have been.
He was known and acknowledged, and the fact that others spoke of his achievements amplifies the need for us to stop and reflect on his contribution. I will use some of the words that I presented at the State funeral, so that they are recorded in Hansard. I was considering that legacy and that those who achieve provide us with an opportunity to take it to the next step.
The Chief Minister referred to the Typhoons, and Sam wanted, I understand, to fly Spitfires. They developed the Typhoon which was quite a heavy and difficult plane to master, and with the capacity to carry a large bombload. I have read the account of those early stages of the development of a new plane, which resulted in an extraordinary number of fatalities of those who were mastering this colossal plane: ‘as he is learning to master this new plane, 23 young pilots’, the same age as my son, ‘were killed before him in mastering that plane.’ One after the other, these airmen would get into these planes, which had a number of technical difficulties, to endeavour to master them.
Not only did he master the Typhoon, he carried out over 120 missions, which is absolutely phenomenal. When we put in it in the context of young men in their twenties, it is awesome. Even to stop there and consider our young people today and to reflect on the contribution made by a citizen who has left us and recognise the message and the example that is set by those who have gone before us, such as Sam.
Ahead of the 1944 D-Day invasion, Sam Calder was ordered to fly solo from Britain to Normandy across the Channel. Sam was unaccustomed to flying solo and did not like flying solo in these events. The purpose of the mission was to check if the weather on the other side of the Channel was okay before the Allied invasion. While flying across the Channel, he had to avoid being shot down by those on the other side, and on the way back he did not know if he was going to be shot down by those who were poised to invade. He refers to the decisions he had to make on that flight. Sam saw the battlefield from the cockpit of his Typhoon ahead of a very historic battle.
Sam assessed many different battlefields and fought with honour throughout his whole life. In some ways he looked from his position as a citizen to battles to be fought in the Northern Territory. As a pioneer aviator, Sam Calder fought the tyranny of distance and delivered mail, medical services and passengers throughout the Northern Territory. As a pastoralist, Sam Calder fought the elements to carve out a living from Territory soil. From the cockpit of a mail plane or the cab of a truck, he saw the Territory.
From the centre to the north, Sam saw what the Territory could be, but together with many other Territorians he saw what it was. He saw the political battlefield ahead of the battle for Territory rights. In the postwar years, Australians living in the Territory were barely seen and rarely heard. Although the representative of the people of the Northern Territory was permitted to sit in the parliament, he was refused the right to speak unless the debate directly related to the Northern Territory.
A new and unfamiliar battleground began to form - politics. Country Party leader, John McEwan, invited Sam to join the battle in Canberra. However, it was fellow Territorians from Alice Springs, Tennant Creek, Katherine, and Darwin who strengthened Sam for this new battle - the fight to provide a voice and recognition for Territorians.
In the 1996 federal election, Sam Calder entered the new world of politics. It was in this new battleground that Sam Calder, in my view, arguably won his greatest battles. Sam was there in 1974, when two parties merged to form a new and successful political force - the Country Liberal Party - a model admired by others which has taken Queenslanders 35 years to try. I was pleased to go to a meeting in Queensland two weeks ago and to make reference to the achievements of Sam Calder, and to welcome them to a new and exciting era.
Sam’s legacy stands as a monument today. A monument carved in the political rights earned for Territorians by the persuasion of this quiet, but not so silent, Territory treasure. A voice for Territorians in Canberra not just to speak on matters relating to the Territory but on matters affecting us as Australian citizens who live in Australia’s Northern Territory. We assemble in our parliament because we were granted self-government. This grant was a concession by Canberra and a gallant victory for Sam Calder, and others, who fought for years to achieve this for Territorians. It is a monument complete, yet incomplete.
Statehood is the next step – the final victory. Sam Calder commenced the battle for Territory rights in 1996 and it would be an honouring of the efforts and achievements of this distinguished Territorian to continue until Statehood is secured. When Territorians stand with constitutional rights equal to any other Australian living in one of the other states, then Sam’s work will be complete.
Stephen (Sam) Calder AM OBE DFC leaves what we all dream of – an enduring legacy; a legacy that lifts those who are left with the ability to see new possibilities. Sir Isaac Newton described this when he said:
- If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.
Sam Calder, in my view, was a giant who served with distinction. This man, whose quietness and confidence was his strength, is a giant upon whose shoulders Territorians can stand today to reach further still. Thank you for the legacy, Sam.
Members: Hear, hear!
Ms PURICK (Goyder): Madam Speaker, Sam Calder was a man among men. He lived a life many of us could only dream about. He lived a full and long life, and was blessed with a large circle of friends and loved ones. His life was filled with achievements which stand as a testament to him. He was a humble man who went about his business in a quiet, but determined way and throughout maintained a sense of high purpose and dignity.
Since his passing, there have been many comments and stories about Sam’s political career and his dedication to the Territory, his cattle and pastoral work, including opening up remote parts of the Territory with his young family; his sporting prowess in cricket and tennis; and aviation work in peaceful times. Sam’s heart was in Central Australia but he travelled widely, particularly throughout Australia.
What I find the most remarkable part of Sam’s life is his flying career during Word War II. Not to detract from Sam’s work and life before and after the war, I believe it to be the highest calling in life for a person to pledge their life and, possibly lose their life, so others may live. That is what Sam Calder did, and he did it with quiet determination and a strong spirit.
Sam’s flying career is what legends are made of and is an inspiration to us all. He flew over 120 missions, when it was the average for an airman to survive perhaps 15. Over half of Sam’s squadron were killed in action, which would have weighed heavily on his mind each time he took off on another mission, not knowing if it was going to be his last. No doubt he lost many a good friend and possibly many friends from his younger days in Melbourne.
Sam flew the Typhoon fighter planes which, at the time, were still in development stages. It was a large plane with only one engine, and pilots had to be very good not only to get them off the ground but to fly them successfully - and not too high as they were not good at high levels. Some of the issues that were recorded about the planes were as follows:
- The hull was crap. Due to the lack of ventilation, pilots needed to permanently keep their gas mask on. The hand used for the landing gears was the same used for the broomstick, giving bad time to the pilots when taking off.
Not only did pilots like Sam have to deal with the difficulties of the aeroplane they also had to deal with the difficulties of being under enemy fire. Given that many of the planes were in the development stages, many of them failed to return or even take off properly, losing many airmen. Pilots needed to be extremely well skilled and, obviously, Sam was one of those people. He was the pilots’ pilot.
Sam was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for gallantry during active service, operations under enemy fire, and for acts of valour, courage and devotion to duty. In flying the Typhoons, Sam and his squadron were largely responsible for paving the Allies path into Germany’s demise, a fact that is not well recorded in aviation history from the war.
Sam Calder was part of that history, and we thank him for our country being safe and prosperous today. Sam Calder will be missed by all, not the least his family. I extend my personal condolences to Sam’s family. I also pass on the condolences of my mother, Noel Padgham, who knew Sam well and always enjoyed talking with him and sharing stories.
Vale, Sam Calder.
Mr TOLLNER (Fong Lim): Madam Speaker, it is a great privilege for me to pay tribute to Stephen (Sam) Calder. He was a great Territorian, a man who should be respected and paid tribute to by all Territorians.
It is fantastic to see so many of his friends and both sides of parliament joining in this motion. I particularly thank the Chief Minister for extending the State funeral for Sam Calder. I am disappointed that the federal parliament did not acknowledge the contribution of Sam Calder in the same manner. I suppose that is a matter for the federal parliament. I take my hat off to the Chief Minister for extending the State funeral to Sam.
The Territory has changed significantly in recent years. When I say ‘recent years’, I speak about the last 50 or so years. It was a completely different place in the years that Sam Calder became a war hero, a sporting ambassador, and his many other roles.
In 1922, the federal parliament first enacted special legislation that allowed the Territory to send a representative to the Canberra parliament, although that person did not have a vote or much of a right to speak. In 1936, the federal parliament first allowed that member to vote in the Chamber, although that member could only vote on matters specifically relating to ordinances of the Northern Territory. In 1958, the elected member for the Northern Territory was allowed to vote on any proposed law or matter relating solely or principally to the Northern Territory.
We heard today that Sam was elected to the federal parliament in 1966, so this is the atmosphere that Sam Calder was elected to in 1966. Territorians, and I am sure most people in this Chamber today, are concerned about our lack of Statehood, our representation federally, and our rights as Australian citizens. Just imagine how it was back in 1966 when the member for the Northern Territory was only allowed to vote on matters particularly affecting the Northern Territory – they could not have a say in anything else.
In 1968, that all changed - largely due to the work of Sam Calder - and the Northern Territory member was granted full voting rights and the right to speak on any matter that he deemed fit and worthy. This was a monumental step in the constitutional development of the Northern Territory. In 1974, Sam was again instrumental in allowing the Northern Territory, and the ACT for that matter, to send two Senators from the Northern Territory – fairly recent history.
People talk about ‘silent Sam’, because he was a quiet and humble man, but I believe it was a badge that Sam wore proudly, acknowledging the fact that, prior to 1968, he was not allowed to speak and he was forced into silence. He wore that moniker as an identification of the fact that Territorians were classed in a different category from the rest of Australians.
In 1978, the Northern Territory was granted self-government. Sam Calder played a leading role in that as well. Irrespective of what a person’s political allegiances are or where they stand, we have to acknowledge greatness when we see it. I agree with the Leader of the Opposition, that Sam Calder was a giant amongst men. I have talked to some of the old faithful, rusted-on Country Liberals, and Sam was a great mentor. I was talking to our former federal Senator, Grant Tambling, who told me that he was Sam Calder’s immediate successor in the federal parliament when he was first elected to the House of Representatives, and Sam was a strong mentor. In relation to the Country Liberal Party, there is no doubt that the Party would not exist the way it does today without the strong influence and input of Sam Calder.
It is incumbent that we, as a parliament, acknowledge the work of Sam Calder, because the Territory would not be the place it is today without him. He was a war hero, a sporting ambassador and a pastoralist. However, as parliamentarians, I believe, we owe a great debt to Sam Calder. May he rest in peace.
Mr ELFERINK (Port Darwin): Madam Speaker, I pass on my condolences to the family of Sam Calder.
If there is any accusation I am worried about in my life, it is that the accusation would be levelled at me that I did not live my life to the fullest.
Sam Calder can be accused of many things in his life, but he will never be accused of having wasted his life, or that he did not take life by the throat in such a way to have lived it completely in the most extraordinary way. He was a man who lived in extraordinary times. I have often been moved by the stories about him flying his Typhoon over Normandy immediately prior to the operation, which was called ‘Overlord’, better known as the D-Day landings.
General Eisenhower was terrified when putting the operation together because the weather reports were awful. Many an invasion in history has been scuttled because the gods determined that the weather on a particular day would mean that the invasion could not be completed. The Japanese have a word for it – kamikaze - which comes from the time when the Chinese were sweeping through the Korean Peninsula, attempting to invade Japan, and the weather, the typhoons that were sweeping through the straits of Japan were called kamikaze - the literal translation is the ‘divine wind’.
It is no accident of history that a Typhoon was sent out to check the beaches at Normandy to determine whether a landing was possible because of the weather conditions. There were five beaches designated to become killing fields a short time after he made his flight. It would have been a wet day and he would have climbed into the cockpit of his Typhoon well before sun-up, started up his 24-cylinder engine and then, with the droning sound of aircraft of that period, set out across the English Channel. He would have flown over the five beaches, from memory, Gold, Juno, Omaha, Sword, and Utah, and he would have looked down at a place where human history was about to change in a few days time. Fortunately, the resistance on four of those beaches was not as bad as it could have been. If anybody has ever seen the opening scenes of the film Saving Private Ryan, you get an appreciation of what was faced by those soldiers as they landed on Omaha Beach.
To be involved, perhaps only in hindsight, in history of such moment in the way that he was, being the eyes and ears of General Eisenhower, would have been a monumental thing in its own right - something that I would proudly hang my hat on as I lived the rest of my life, regaling my grandchildren with the stories of what I saw immediately prior to history being made and human history being changed irrevocably as a result. Not so with Sam. He returned to Australia and continued to develop and live his life in a way that I jealously admire. He worked in the pastoral industry and the federal parliament, and I am not going to relive that.
I was reminded of another epitaph. In St Paul’s Cathedral in London is the grave of Sir Christopher Wren with a headstone which his son organised. It was not actually a headstone; it was a black granite cover over the top of the grave, and it has inscribed on it: ‘Lector, si monumentum requiris, Circumspice’, which literally translates as: ‘Reader, if you seek his monument, look around you.’
Madam Speaker, I was set in mind of that, because of the work that Sam Calder did and the efforts that he put in on the constitutional development of the Northern Territory, and I say to honourable members: Si monumentum requiris, Circumspice.
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, I add my condolences to the family of Mr Calder. I spoke to Mr Calder’s daughter, Erika Woodgate, last week and expressed my regret at his passing. I know that Erika and her husband, David, were very sorry that they were unable to be here today.
I knew Mr Calder a little, as a constituent who lived in Casuarina Drive in Nightcliff. Leader of the Opposition, I have also heard those stories about Sam walking backwards on the foreshore but I never saw him doing that. As his local member, I had the good fortune to speak with him several times, most often at commemorative services, such as Anzac Day, Remembrance Day, Victory in the Pacific Day, and the Commemoration of the Bombing of Darwin, where he was a regular attendee.
The last time I saw him was at the Commemoration of the Bombing of Darwin at the USS Peary memorial some years ago. He had been an active member of the Australian-American Association and he was a very strong supporter of the alliance between Australia and the United States. On that occasion he was already very frail and ill, but he attended as he did every year to recognise the fallen heroes who had died so many years before. He was a great patriot and Australian. He will be sadly missed. May he rest in peace.
Honourable members, after I put the question I ask members to stand for one minute’s silence as a mark of respect.
Motion agreed to.
Members stood in their place in silence for one minute.
RESPONSE TO PETITION
The CLERK: Madam Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 100A, I inform honourable members that a response to Petition No 1 has been received and circulated to members. A copy of the response will be provided to the member who tabled the petition for distribution to petitioners.
- Petition No 1
Palmerston - After Hours Bulkbilling Service
Date Presented: 10 September 2008
Presented by: Mr Mills
Referred to: Minister for Health
Date response due: 26 November 2008
Date response received: 14 October 2008
Response:
Thank you for your letter dated 10 September 2008, enclosing Petition No 1 presented by Mr Terry Mills MLA, Member for Blain, in the Legislative Assembly on that day. Petition No 1 requested that the NT government reinstate funding for after hours bulkbilling medical services in Palmerston.
The Northern Territory government is working with the Australian government to develop an urgent care after hours medical service for Palmerston, which will bulkbill clients requiring urgent care.
The Australian government has committed up to $10m for the development of the Palmerston Super Clinic, an integrated primary health care service. The urgent care after-hours service will be the first stage in the delivery of a comprehensive range of primary health care services for Palmerston and Litchfield residents. It is expected that the urgent care after-hours service at Palmerston will be operating in the next few months.
In addition to the urgent care after-hours, the Health Direct Australia telephone advice service continues to operate and can be accessed for free by all Northern Territory residents. This service provides professional health assessment, information and advice 24-hours a day. Experienced registered nurses, specifically trained in telephone-based health care, provide callers with information about the acuity of their health issue and direct them to the appropriate level of care whilst also providing information about self-care. This service has now been operating for three years and has proven popular.
The NT government recognises that residents across the NT, including those in Palmerston, may encounter problems in accessing timely and affordable GP services. I will continue to work with the Australian government and the General Practice Network Northern Territory to advocate for improved GP access for NT residents through sustainable and equitable strategies and models.
I trust that this response will reassure you that the provision of medical services for Palmerston and surrounding districts is important to government and that we are taking steps to implement coordinated care closer to home.
MINISTERIAL REPORTS
Global Economy and Effect on the Territory
Global Economy and Effect on the Territory
Ms LAWRIE (Treasurer): Madam Speaker, I report to members today on the serious issues affecting the global economy and the implications for the Northern Territory. The global financial system is currently facing one of its greatest crises of confidence with markets experiencing elevated levels of volatility not seen since the 1930s. The Prime Minister has made several statements recently indicating that while Australia will undoubtedly be affected by the downturn, the country remains well placed to deal with it. This is also true of the Northern Territory.
We will not be immune, but our current economic strength and sound financial position places us in a good position. INPEX coming to Darwin helps us firewall ourselves against the downturn. The loss of confidence in the international financial system will impact on the economy. The International Monetary Fund is forecasting growth for Australia to moderate from 4.2% in 2007 to 2.2% in 2009. However, you need to consider this alongside the fact that, in the Northern Territory, the INPEX project is forecast by ACIL Tasman to increase growth by 19.9% by 2015.
Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures and we have seen an unprecedented response from governments around the world. The Prime Minister acted swiftly and announced a package which included guaranteeing specific banking deposits for three years - a $10.4bn economic stimulus package which provides for increased expenditure on pensioners, families, housing, and training. This is in addition to the Reserve Bank of Australia’s decision to prevent a rapid slowing in the economy by reducing the cash rate by 1%. Similarly, the Northern Territory government continues to guarantee all deposits and insurance policies held by the Territory Insurance Office, the TIO, as we have done since its establishment almost 30 years ago.
The Territory’s economy is not immune to capital market volatility and declines in economic activity. If the Australian economy slows significantly we will feel the effects in the Territory. There is potential for a reduction in GST revenue, as well as own source revenue such as payroll tax, mining royalties, and stamp duty. However, our strong economic position will hold us in good stead and our position is further strengthened by the INPEX project.
While the Territory has exposure to financial markets it has no direct exposure to failed financial institutions and has not experienced any defaults on its investments. The Territory invests in equities primarily through the Conditions of Service Reserve, or COSR, which exists to meet long-term liabilities such as superannuation. The COSR has generated a long-term return of 9.48% on average over the past five years, with a negative return in the most recent year, in line with comparable funds. Following consultation with fund advisers, COSR has not changed its underlying investment strategy as it reflects the funds long-term objectives, although an increased reliance on more defensive assets has been adopted. As at 30 September 2008, the nett value of the Territory’s investments have notionally fallen by $11.8m, reflecting the current market.
The Territory Insurance Office is also involved in financial markets. TIO is financially sound. Its overall liquidity and capital reserves remain strong and are above the levels set by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority, APRA. As outlined, while the Territory is not immune, our strong economy and this government’s sound financial management place the Territory in a solid and sustainable economic position to ride out the volatility.
The Chief Minister went after INPEX with such vigour because he knew that it would underline the Territory’s economy for decades to come. In light of recent global events, his decision was all the more prudent. The INPEX project will help firewall the Northern Territory economy against the effects of the global crisis. INPEX themselves have made statements that they will not be adversely affected by the global downturn. Under the Henderson government, the Northern Territory is now placed as best as it can be to ride out an uncertain global economic future.
Mr ELFERINK (Port Darwin): Madam Speaker, one of my great disappointments about ministerial reports is that there is an issue as important as this and I get two minutes to respond and that is the end of the debate. This is not a debate; ministerial reports are a three-ring circus.
There are numerous issues facing the Northern Territory as a result of the current global economic conditions. Whilst I acknowledge that the Territory and Australia is well positioned, largely due to Australia’s good financial management over the past decade, it is worthwhile visiting the issues that the Northern Territory may face. Whilst I take comfort from the reassurances by the Treasurer that both the Territory Insurance Office and the Conditions of Service Reserve are somewhat protected and insulated against the international environment, it needs a great deal more investigation, than simply a few reassuring words from the Treasurer.
The Conditions of Service Reserve is where we put money aside to look after the superannuation liability that the Territory has. That money has not been placed into investments like bonds; that money has gone onto the stock market. As the minister was very quick to qualify, she continually referred to – or several times referred to - comparable funds. Non-comparable funds are not performing in the way that the comparable funds are operating, when you consider the condition of the Conditions of Service Reserve.
Woe betide this government, if in its depleted state - as it has currently lost money two years running - it now touches the Conditions of Service Reserve for infrastructure development. I suspect, from their response to recent statements in the public, that is exactly what they are intending to do. What sort of Treasurer goes on holidays in the middle of a financial crisis?
Mr WOOD (Nelson): Madam Speaker, I thank the minister for her report. I am interested in the minister’s comments regarding the effect a downturn in countries like China, for instance, has on growth. I heard on the radio today that China has moved from double-digit growth to single-digit growth. As the Territory is a large exporter, especially of minerals, I would like to know what effect a downturn in places like China and other countries will have on the Territory’s economy, particularly exports.
We depend on our export industry in the Territory, especially mining. I am interested to know what the government thinks the effect will be with the downturn in growth in those countries, especially China.
Ms LAWRIE (Treasurer): Madam Speaker, I welcome the contribution by the member for Nelson. Discussion was held amongst Treasurers, with a report from Ken Henry, the head of the federal Treasury, looking at the impact that the downturn or the slight moderation in China, would have on the national economy, particularly in the resources base.
Whilst there is a downturn, we do see some fairly decisive action occurring in China to ensure that growth will be provided. We are expecting a slight moderation as a result of the downturn in China. However, China still requires resources for its growth. In addition, the Indian subcontinent and Japan are very keen on our resources. There is still very good, strong news in our resources base. We are predicting some impact, potentially flowing through into our own source revenue, such as mining royalties.
We are taking into account the situation in China and as a government, together with the federal government, we are watching it closely. We had our resources tied up …
Madam SPEAKER: Treasurer, your time has expired.
Alice Springs – Emergency Services Response to Severe Storm
Mr HENDERSON (Chief Minister): Madam Speaker, on Monday, 22 September, a severe storm hit Alice Springs with little warning. The storm lasted only 20 minutes, however, it was characterised by heavy rain, and wind gusts reaching up to 120 km/h. The result saw localised flash flooding, property damage, and trees and power lines torn down, causing widespread power failure, with up to 85% of Alice losing electricity supply.
I pay tribute to the local heroes who rallied together to restore normality to the community in an efficient and effective manner. The storm hit Alice Springs with little notice. The Bureau of Meteorology issued a severe thunderstorm warning just before 1 pm and the storm front arrived at 1.15 pm.
I travelled to Alice Springs the next day to see the impact of storm. It was remarkable to see the destruction that a 20 minute storm, equivalent to a category 1 cyclone, had on the town. While some locations within Alice were more affected than others, there were a few areas that were spared damage. Amazingly, despite the level of physical property damage, there were no presentations to the Alice Springs Hospital as a result of the storm. Most of the physical damage was caused by falling trees. I visited several sites where trees fell across power lines, cutting electricity to local areas. I visited residents on the east side, north side, and near the town centre, to see the damage to their homes, caused mostly by fallen trees.
Despite the inconvenience of having no power, and the trauma associated with damage to their homes, people were philosophical and patient. I have no doubt that the patience and cooperation demonstrated by Alice residents was a reflection of the great effort put in by our Police, Fire and Northern Territory Emergency Services staff and volunteers. Personnel from Power and Water, staff and volunteers from Bushfires NT, members from Correctional Services, workers from the Alice Springs Town Council, and private contractors enlisted to assist with the recovery effort.
Following the onset of the storm, incident operation centres were immediately established at Police, Fire and Rescue Services and NT Emergency Services. Police Commander Bert Hofer took overall control of the situation, while Tom Konieczny, from Fire Services and Rob Romaldi, from Emergency Services managed service logistics and operations from their respective incident operation centres. To manage the response efficiently and in a coordinated manner, calls for assistance to Police and Fire Services were diverted to the Joint Emergency Services Communications Centre in Darwin. A communications protocol was put in place between Police and Emergency Services, and I am advised that Emergency Services responded to 91 calls for assistance over the next three days.
I saw the amazing work of NTES staff and volunteers as they secured and pruned trees and branches, sandbagged areas subject to flash flooding, and put tarpaulins on roofs. I am told that NTES staff and 20 volunteers put in over 600 cumulative hours of work over the four days of the clean up. It was truly a magnificent effort. I am advised that Fire and Rescue Services responded to approximately 32 calls from the public and automated fire systems. Police were deployed throughout the town to manage traffic at intersections in areas where power lines and trees had fallen.
The overwhelming impact of the storm was the widespread loss of power throughout Alice Springs. At one point, over 6800 homes were without power. I understand that by Thursday power had been restored to all residences. The preparedness of the Power and Water personnel to work around the clock to restore power to Alice businesses and residences was exceptional. Line crew numbers were augmented by a crew from Darwin, who flew down on the Police aircraft, as well as crews who drove down from Katherine and Tennant Creek.
There are always lessons that can be learned from these types of incidents. There is no better training ground and no better way of improving how we respond to situations than live exercises. This storm was no exception.
The Alice Springs Counter Disaster Committee will make recommendations about future operations and we will ensure that those recommendations are acted upon. I am personally grateful for the manner in which everyone involved in this emergency responded, as no doubt are the residents of Alice Springs. The positive way our communities respond cooperatively to challenges is a great trait of Territorians and the Alice Springs response to this storm is no exception. Madam Speaker, I commend this report to the House.
Ms CARNEY (Araluen): Madam Speaker, I thank the Chief Minister for his report. This is a good report to make on the first sitting day since the storm. I also thank you, Chief Minister, for coming to Alice Springs so quickly. The Minister for Central Australia was apparently missing in action. However, your presence was appreciated by many.
The storm was truly a remarkable event. I was having lunch in the mall and saw tables and chairs flying and I thought for a moment I would see animals flying through the air. I had never seen anything like this before. A number of businesses and many homeowners around Alice Springs were affected. In my own case, we spent most of the night without power and had some storm damage.
I will give TIO a plug here – they really stepped up to the plate, as we would expect for damage like this in the Territory. My experience in having something replaced was terrific. I note that their staff worked around the clock and people insured with TIO have done quite well with their insurance claims. Thank you, TIO.
I also thank the ABC. In times of emergencies or crises in this country, the ABC comes through every single time, as it did on this occasion. They were the communications centre for those not involved in the Police, Fire or Emergency Services and, like everyone else, I was tuned to the ABC for days. I also thank Mayor Damien Ryan, Alan White from Power and Water, Police Commander Bert Hofer, and Rob Romaldi from Emergency Services – they all did a fabulous job. People stepped up to the plate - I saw civilians conducting traffic - and everyone was helping each other. The day after the storm I went to work in casual clothes and drove around the electorate because I thought some people might want my help with removing debris.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Araluen, your time has expired.
Ms CARNEY: It was a great community effort and thank you, Chief Minister, for making the report.
Mr WOOD (Nelson): Madam Speaker, I would not normally speak about this, however, I have just come back from the Masters, where I had expected to see a town with trees still lying all over the place and roofs still blown off, but I did not. It shows how much work the people of Alice Springs did in getting their town back to normal.
There were many comments from people at the Masters saying: ‘We heard there was a storm, and there were many trees down, yet Alice looks as beautiful as ever’. It was great to hear those responses from people. It is obvious that many people did a lot of work to bring Alice back to the stage where the Masters could operate. I stayed with a friend who lives in Memorial Drive and he had a large peppercorn tree with a huge trunk that fell down and it missed landing on his roof because he had a weights press nearby and the tree rested on that. It made a mess of the weights press but his house was saved.
His comments, and sometimes he is a fairly cynical fellow, were that TIO did a great job in sorting out insurance issues. He is not a great lover of the local council or local government, but he was very appreciative of the quick work that the council did in collecting many of the trees that had been chopped up by private operators and left on the verges. He had some encouraging words for the council saying that they had done a great job.
For all those who visited Alice Springs for the Masters Games …
Ms Carney: Did someone mention the Masters?
Mr WOOD: … and the Masters is one of those key events for Alice, they also appreciate the great work that the council has done.
I notice the member for Araluen is showing off her medal. I assume that is for golf. Some of us actually participated in real sports like athletics …
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Nelson your time has expired.
Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu – ARIA Awards
Ms SCRYMGOUR (Arts and Museums): Madam Speaker, it is an absolute pleasure to report on the national success enjoyed by one of the Territory’s leading artists, singer/songwriter, Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu.
On Sunday night, Gurrumul won his second ARIA Award for the Best Independent Release, after also being a finalist in the Best Male Singer and Best Album Awards. This followed last month’s ARIA Award for Best World Music Album.
Simultaneously, Gurrumul learnt that his self-titled album, Gurrumul, had gone gold – a fantastic achievement for him personally, and a real feather in the cap for the Territory’s Indigenous music scene. This follows the four awards the album picked up at this year’s Northern Territory Indigenous Music Awards in Darwin for the Act of the Year, Song of the Year, Album of the Year and Artwork Design. Last month, Gurrumul blitzed the Deadly Awards in Sydney with Best Singer, Best Album and Best Artist Awards.
Gurrumul, who is 37 years of age, is no newcomer to the music scene, both here and abroad. As one of the original members of Yothu Yindi, Gurrumul toured with the ground-breaking band, before branching off and establishing Saltwater Band based in Galiwinku.
Earlier this year, I had the great honour to be at the media launch of Gurrumul’s debut solo album. As I described it then, it is a recording I had for some months and was pretty much wearing it out by playing it so often. When I was listening to it with one of my Tiwi mothers, she described Gurrumul as having the voice of an angel. I also said that its importance lay in the sheer beauty of the languages in which it is sung. Time has not proved me wrong, with over 30 000 copies now sold. It is fabulous to see the success Gurrumul is enjoying.
As Ben Langford wrote in the current issue of Rolling Stone, he is a musician who has well and truly paid his dues in the industry. Yet, wonderfully, it is to his aunties that he gives tribute for his work and success; the same aunties who helped grow him up at Galiwinku. As Gamritj Gurruwiwi, who would sing to this little blind boy in local languages, told Ben Langford:
- It was our time to sing to him then, it’s his time now to sing to us’.
It is, indeed, his turn to sing, Madam Speaker.
The success he is enjoying is owed to Darwin-based Skinnyfish Music, which also supports a number of other Aboriginal bands in the Territory. Mark Grose and Michael Hohnen, and their crew at Skinnyfish, deserve our congratulations. It is a model built on promoting our musicians at the community level, and internationally through hard copy and online music sales.
The Northern Territory Indigenous contemporary music scene has a great history with early bands such as the Yugul Band at Ngukurr, Letterstick Band at Maningrida, and Soft Sands at Galiwinku, to the more recent successes of the Warumpi Band, Yothu Yindi and Yilila, and soloists such as Shellie Morris, Leah Flanagan and Warren H. Williams. There are many more that could be named here. We want to see these successes consolidate and expand into the future, and as any of these musicians will tell you, making a living from music is a very hard task.
While a strategy is being finalised through the Department of Business and Employment, we have recently embarked on funding an Indigenous Music Touring Circuit in the Territory. Music NT, our peak body for contemporary music, has already coordinated meetings of the music sector in Alice Springs and Darwin to design what that circuit might look like. They will submit a three-year plan to Arts NT and me in the new year and the circuit will start in the next financial year.
Gurrumul’s success is another in a series of ground-breaking successes by Indigenous artists in the Territory. Congratulations Geoffrey, may you and many others in the Indigenous music industry, see greater successes in the future.
Mr BOHLIN (Drysdale): Madam Speaker, I thank the Minister for Arts and Museums. I also congratulate Geoffrey for his fantastic results. It is great to see Territorians getting up and mixing it with, not only local people, but national and international artists. It shows the Territory has a great depth of talent, whether it is sporting prowess in the Masters Games, or our fantastic artists and musicians.
I have been very blessed to hear many young singers, who are in their early high school years, sing beautifully. It is inspiring to think they have the strength to stand in front of large audiences and do so without any disability. Therefore, when we see great people get up and do fantastic things for their people and their country which they believe in so much, is truly inspirational.
I was lucky enough to see Shellie Morris when she sang at Songs of Liberty. I admire people with the strength to stand for their beliefs and make great paths for the Territory and for this nation. I look forward to seeing the career of Geoffrey continue, and I am sure he will continue because he is very good at what he does.
Ms SCRYMGOUR (Arts and Museums): Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Drysdale for his comments. We have much talent and I cannot list every musician, but I would like to acknowledge Drum Atweme which is a fantastic group of young kids in Central Australia, and also Nokturnal.
I have mentioned Skinnyfish in the Top End, but I emphasise the work and the contribution that CAAMA Music and Warlpiri Media play in Central Australia by promoting those bands at the grassroots, community level. I have seen the benefits of music, particularly in schools, and how it can be used as a means of encouraging kids’ attendance.
I thank Paul Djolpa McKenzie, who won the Outstanding Achievement in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Education Award at the Deadly Awards. Paul works with young Indigenous men in Maningrida to divert them from other activities, to go back to school and to learn, using music as a medium. To Paul, and many other unsung heroes in the Territory, it is great …
Madam SPEAKER: Minister, your time has expired.
The question is that ministerial reports be noted.
Mr ELFERINK: A point of order, Madam Speaker! There is no question before the House. I have long been critical of these ministerial reports as a three-ring circus. We are about to put a question that has not been put before the House. As far as I am concerned, we, as this House, should not dignify this ministerial reports process by pretending that there is a question before the House. Just to drive the point home, if the question is put, I will divide the House.
Madam SPEAKER: Thank you very much, member for Port Darwin. It is the custom, as you would be aware, and part of our standing orders in relation to what we do in the day ...
Mr ELFERINK: A point of order, Madam Speaker! I seek direction to the standing order that shows me that custom ...
Mr Henderson: Are you questioning the Speaker?
Mr ELFERINK: Yes, I am.
Mr Henderson: Are you challenging the Speaker?
Mr ELFERINK: Yes, I am questioning …
Madam SPEAKER: Please pause. Order!
Mr Henderson: Do it by way of substantive motion.
Mr ELFERINK: … the processes that you abuse in this House on a daily basis.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Sit down, please. I will seek advice. The question is that ministerial reports be noted.
The Assembly divided:
Ayes 13 Noes 11
Ms Anderson Mr Bohlin
Dr Burns Ms Carney
Mr Gunner Mr Chandler
Mr Hampton Mr Conlan
Mr Henderson Mr Elferink
Mr Knight Mr Giles
Ms Lawrie Mr Mills
Mr McCarthy Ms Purick
Ms McCarthy Mr Styles
Ms Scrymgour Mr Tollner
Mr Vatskalis Mr Westra van Holthe
Ms Walker
Mr Wood
Motion agreed to.
MINISTERIAL STATEMENT
Casuarina Zone Substation and Power Outages
Casuarina Zone Substation and Power Outages
Mr KNIGHT (Essential Services): Madam Speaker, I will provide details to the House on the issues and events at the Casuarina Zone Substation and the power outages that have affected residences and businesses in Darwin’s northern suburban areas during September and October.
I wish to repeat what I said at the time to the community: the level of outages, and the duration of these outages, during September and October is totally unacceptable. I understand the annoyance, anger and concern this has caused residents and businesses, and I apologise on behalf of the government. In a modern capital city such as Darwin, this is unacceptable and, as the Minister for Essential Services, I accept full responsibility.
I will take members through the background to the events and the issues that have subsequently arisen. Electricity for Darwin and Palmerston is generated at Channel Island and Weddell Power Stations. It is then sent through transmission lines to zone substations at 132 000 volts and 66 000 volts. At the zone substations, electricity is stepped down through large transformers to 11 000 volts. The voltage then goes to an 11 000 volt switchboard where a busbar is housed. It is then distributed on 11 000 volt feeders to the distribution substations found in many streets. These distribution substations then step down the voltage to 415 and 240 volts, and then sent to customers.
Zone substations have what is called N-1 capacity. This is an electrical term used in utilities around the world, and it means that if one piece of apparatus faults, such as a circuit breaker or a transformer going out of service, customers should not be affected. The whole network is protected by complex protection systems. If there is a fault anywhere in the network, the affected component is instantly isolated. Some circuit breakers use oil as an insulating medium. They are referred to as bulk-oil breakers.
The first and most serious power outage took place on Friday, 19 September. By 4 pm, the total load on the Casuarina Zone Substation was about 35 mW, reflecting a high level of airconditioning load. Two of the three transformers at the substation were in service and running in parallel. The third transformer was energised and on standby, or N-1. Each of the loaded transformers was operating at about 50% of its rated capacity to cover for the losses. At about 4.30 pm, the 11 000 volt bulk-oil circuit breaker connecting Transformer No 1 to the 11 000 volt busbar failed. This quickly escalated to a ‘three phase to earth current fault’, indicating a catastrophic mechanical failure. The explosion caused a fire in the switch room, automatically releasing CO2 into the room to extinguish the fire. 15 000 customers lost supply immediately.
The 11 000 volt switchboard has three sections and the section containing the defaulted circuit breaker was isolated by remote control. The Northern Territory Fire and Rescue Service checked the Casuarina Zone Substation for approximately one hour and deemed it safe to access. Work commenced on checking the condition of the remaining equipment in the switch room, in particular the circuit breaker that caused the major outage. The busbar was checked and tested to ensure that the remaining equipment was safe to put back into service. Extensive cleaning was needed to ensure that any carbon residues did not lead to further faults.
At the same time, field operators were involved in switching customers to alternative supply. Wagaman was re-energised at approximately 9 pm; Jingili at approximately 9.50 pm; and the Royal Darwin Hospital restored at around 11.30 pm. Power and Water Corporation crews worked throughout the night and power was restored to most homes by midnight. Brinkin and Tiwi were restored at 1 am, and Casuarina Shopping Centre at 6.45 am.
The fault occurred after hours and the call centre, which normally closes at 5.30 pm, received calls until midnight. System Control took calls from residents and power crews after that.
At approximately 11.30 am the following day, Saturday, 20 September, an underground high voltage cable fault occurred, affecting the Casuarina Shopping Centre - power was restored at 2.15 pm. This high voltage cable was not at the Casuarina Zone Substation.
The next serious outage occurred at approximately 11.15 pm. It was due to a flashover which occurred in 11kV cable termination box within Casuarina Zone Substation. A flashover occurs when insulation fails. The protection system operated correctly and identified it as a fault to the metal frame of the switchboard isolating all HV feeders to that section of the switchboard. Five thousand, one hundred and thirty two customers lost power, but all customers, except Charles Darwin University, were back on supply within one-and-a-half-hours.
A further flashover occurred in an 11kV termination box within Casuarina Zone Substation at 8.23 pm on Thursday, 2 October. Again, the protection system operated correctly and identified a fault to the metal frame of the switchboard and disconnected all feeds to that section of the board. Approximately 7000 customers lost their power.
As a result, it was necessary to carry out extensive tests to identify any further problems. Given previous faults, it was no longer considered safe for Power and Water workers to work next to this energised switchgear. For that reason, the substation had to be de-energised and a further 7000 customers were affected. Efforts were made to transfer the load to other feeders, as the Royal Darwin Hospital and Darwin Private Hospital are on that section of the 11kV busbar. Work commenced to clean busbar No 3 and it was completed at 4 am. After extensive testing and field switching taking place, the 11 000 high voltage busbar was deemed safe and was re-energised at 7 am, with residences and businesses connected immediately.
The government and Power and Water were seriously concerned about this outage. It became clear that we had a situation, where in a three-busbar substation, one busbar was disabled and another serious fault, which could not be explained, occurred in an unrelated section of the equipment. There was no certainty that further failures, possibly major failures, would not occur. Of great concern was that if a further major failure occurred and disabled another section of the busbar, that supply could not be guaranteed, and it was unknown how long an outage of that type would be.
We decided that given the potential threat, we needed to put measures in place which would ensure a more reliable supply. In recognition of the seriousness of the situation, the Chief Minister asked the Counter Disaster Council to convene. The Counter Disaster Council met on Saturday, 4 October and directed the Region 1 Counter Disaster Committee be called together to put in place a plan of action against the worst case scenario. That was the correct and responsible action to take. That evening I spoke to the Leader of the Opposition and offered him a briefing on this subject.
The plan aimed to minimise disruption to the affected northern suburbs if an extended power outage occurred again at the Casuarina Zone Substation. The plan included: securing backup power generation capacity from interstate and overseas for the northern suburbs; strengthening contingency plans for Royal Darwin Hospital’s emergency backup power generation; identifying health and aged care facilities at risk during a potential extended power outage and developing contingency plans; identifying high priority traffic light intersections for installation of lighting; notifying Telstra and Optus communications to put in place contingency plans to ensure fixed and mobile phone availability; working with the public health group to develop fact sheets and information on a wide range of matters, including food storage, heat stress, and swimming pool hygiene; developing public information about home and business safety and security issues; devising a property safety plan for the affected area; reviewing policies for schools, staff and student welfare and security; working with welfare groups to put in place plans and measures for assisting vulnerable people in the community; and liaising with major retail stores to consolidate their contingency plans for backup power.
It was important to prepare against the possibility of a major power outage and to be open with the public about what we were doing and why. We undertook a public advice campaign equilvent to what would occur in preparing the public for a cyclone. While this caused considerable public comment, this was the most appropriate thing to do.
Since 19 September and through October there have been a number of major outages in the northern suburbs. On Tuesday, 7 October, there was an unrelated power outage when an underground HV cable failed in Casuarina Village; up to 2000 customers were affected for periods of up to three hours. On Sunday, 12 October, another underground HV cable faulted which resulted in 2600 customers being affected for up to one hour. These were not related to the Casuarina Zone Substation.
While the failures caused a heightened sense of concern, these subsequent outages had resulted from more common causes of outages, such as cable faults, trees falling on power lines, tripped feeders, etcetera. They were not related to any further problems at Casuarina Zone Substation.
To assist Power and Water to determine the reasons for these outages and possible solutions, an expert on switchgear, Mr John Hardwick, is assisting investigations into the incident. He is a senior engineerer with one of Australia’s largest power network firms, Energy Australia. Energy Australia has in service hundreds of the same brand and type of circuit breaker as the one that failed at Casuarina Zone Substation. What we have seen over the past weeks is unacceptable and must be addressed.
As the Minister for Essential Services, I ordered an independent inquiry into these incidents, headed by Mr Mervyn Davies, one of Australia’s foremost leaders in electrical distribution systems. He holds a Bachelor of Engineering, a Masters in Engineering Science, and a Bachelor of Commerce, and has extensive experience in managing both the financial and technical performance in electricity distribution businesses. Mr Davies has been in the utilities industry for more than 40 years and has held senior management positions within the industry. He has acted for periods of time as the Managing Director of Energy Australia, Australia’s largest electricity distribution company. His specific electricity distribution experience includes managing system control, system planning, and regional operations, logistics and contracts.
I table the terms of reference of Mr Davies’ investigation, for the information of members. Members will note the comprehensive nature of these terms of reference. Mr Davies will report on the precise technical causes of the fault. He will also examine Power and Water’s maintenance practices before the fault and their performance after the events. He will also recommend the necessary actions to prevent its re-occurrence.
This investigation will be a warts-and-all examination of these events and the causal factors. The preliminary report will be available by the end of this month. We expect this report to focus on the technicalities of the event; exactly what failed, and how the system responded. The draft report is expected five weeks after the preliminary report and will go to the wider matters such as maintenance. Mr Davies will provide his final report two weeks after that. Government will respond to the recommendations put forward by Mr Davies as they arise, where appropriate.
Over the past couple of weeks, Power and Water staff worked tirelessly, day and night, in response to the power outages in the northern suburbs. They continue to work around the clock to implement power generation contingency plans, as well as develop longer-term plans for the Casuarina Zone Substation.
Most staff across the corporation have been involved in some way, including, electricians; linesmen; technicians; water service workers, overseeing contingency operations at water pumping stations; customer service staff, dealing with the large volume of inquiries to the call centre; and media and communications personnel in getting information and messages out to the residences and businesses through daily media briefings, press ads, letterbox drops to residents, and updates to the Power and Water website. These staff are dedicated to their work, and I sincerely thank each one of them. I also thank the Electrical Trades Union which has played an important role in assisting us through these issues.
I wish to deal with some of the issues that have been the subject of public debate as a result of these power outages. Much has been made of payment of dividends to the government by the Power and Water Corporation over the last six years. To ensure that members are fully aware of Power and Water funding issues, I provide the following three tables: Table 1 shows the payments made from Power and Water Corporation to government since 1995–96; Table 2 shows the contribution and payments made by government to Power and Water Corporation since 1995–96; and Table 3, a summary showing contributions versus payments. These tables, that my office put together, are based on figures provided by Power and Water and confirmed by Treasury. They tell an interesting tale.
The opposition has made much of the use of Power and Water Corporation dividends by government. Figures show the CLP removed approximately the same amount in dividend payments in their last six years of office as the government has in their first six years. It should be noted, that the government last year decided that the Power and Water Corporation should receive a dividend holiday for the financial year 2007–08 and 2008-09. The figures also show that the total government contribution by the Labor government to the corporation in our first six years was $393.6m, compared $92.7m in the last six years of the CLP government. The Labor government’s contribution to the corporation has been 420% higher than the previous CLP government contribution.
The difference between the total level of receipts, including taxation, paid to government compared to payments made to the corporation was $14.3m, during the CLP government’s final six years and, for the same time period, the Labor government’s contribution was $246m.
Members interjecting.
Mr KNIGHT: But wait, there is more! For three financial years, the CLP government slashed and ripped out more funding than it placed into the Power and Water Corporation. The Labor government has never done this. These figures are made worse by the actions undertaken by the CLP government in the years 1998, 1999, and 2000. In 1998, the CLP commissioned Merrill Lynch and Fay, Richwhite to review the financial performance and commercial value of the then Power and Water Authority.
That report, which has never been made public, resulted in recommendations that included the removal of 300 staff from the organisation. In response to this report, the CLP government introduced measures designed to remove 150 staff and reduce funding to Power and Water Authority by $30m per year for three years and, then to maintain this saving at the achieved levels.
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order, order!
Mr KNIGHT: They proceeded to undertake a ruthless slashing and burning of staff throughout the entire organisation. The then Minister for Essential Services, Mr Barry Coulter, told parliament in 1999 the aim was to axe 150 jobs, saying:
- We believe the Power and Water Authority will be in great shape in the very near future.
Between 1 July 1998 and 1 July 2001, the CLP government reduced numbers drastically, slashing 114 jobs, from 821 to 707 staff.
Mr Tollner: Just open the window.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr KNIGHT: In 2000, the staff numbers fell to 690. The following jobs were slashed by the CLP: 31 technical staff; 22 professional staff; and 78 service workers.
Today, there are approximately 814 staff, including 174 technical staff - 21 above the 2001 levels, and 86 professional staff – up from 45 in 2001. Service workers staff numbers are now 233, enhanced by significant contractor numbers. During the same period, apprentice numbers have also grown from 23 to more than 50, another great initiative by this government to grow our own.
Allegations have also been made regarding expenditure on repairs and maintenance. As part of his terms of reference, Mr Davies is responsible for providing the government with his view on repairs and maintenance expenditure. I will not speculate on what this report might say, however, significant increases in the expenditure on repairs and maintenance have occurred in the last six years. I table a document called Table 4, Capital and Repairs and Maintenance expenditure of Power and Water. This table shows that the government spent $245.2m on repairs and maintenance in the six years to 2007-08, and $736.3m in total capital and repairs and maintenance in those six years.
For the first term of this government, we were focused on restarting the economy of the Northern Territory, which had ground to a halt under the CLP. In 2006, the Blanch report drew a line in the sand for Power and Water. It was a bare-all report, which exposed a ‘run to fail’ culture and decades of underfunding.
This government responded immediately, announcing a five-year major program of repairs and maintenance and capital investment. In May 2007, the government and Power and Water announced an initial commitment of $814m over five years, a commitment that grew quickly to $1bn, with detailed costings and price and content escalation. $200m was expended in the 2007-08 year, and the program will continue through until 2011-12. The program will be added to and move forward beyond those five years.
In broad terms, the five-year $1bn program can be broken down as follows: $214m approximate for generation; $273m approximate for network projects; $91m approximate for water projects; $101m approximate for sewerage projects; $84m approximate for other projects; and $243m approximate for repairs and maintenance.
The $1bn will be allocated over five years in the following way in rounded terms:
2007-08 - $156.13m on capital, and $41.25m on repairs and maintenance;
2008-09 - $166.5m on capital, and $50.15m on repairs and maintenance;
2009-10 - $150.6m on capital, and $50.4m on repairs and maintenance;
2010-11 - $160.2m on capital, and $50.8m on repairs and maintenance; and
2011-12 - $134.1m capital, and $49.98m on repairs and maintenance.
An item by item breakdown is not provided, because it is the subject of contract negotiations and commercial-in-confidence discussions. The government does not want to prejudice contract prices in advance.
However, there have been some very clear public statements about the elements contained within these works. Projects are planned right across the Territory and will go across all elements of the Power and Water Corporation.
Projects include: a new power station at Weddell; a new power station in Alice Springs; new substations at East Arm, Archer, Alice Springs, inner city, Snell, and Lee Point, with major rebuilds at the Edith River zone; major augmentation to the Katherine and Tennant Creek Power Stations; major upgrades to the Channel Island Power Station; improved zone station capacitor banks; upgraded switch stations; and more.
The Blanch Report, with Power and Water’s own internal assessment, played an important role in the decision to lift capital and maintenance expenditure to the planned levels. Power and Water Corporation has been diligent in responding to the issues raised by the Blanch Report; it was dealt with seriously and immediately.
I welcome comments made by Mr Steve Blanch on ABC radio earlier this month, and I quote:
- And I need to commend the management and the minister for energy to have the courage to spend that sort of money, it’s a big chunk of money in Northern Territory’s accounts, but it certainly was needed.
Power outages are unacceptable. Not to act or inform the public would have been even more unacceptable. The government and Power and Water have acted to ensure that if a further major event was to occur, supply for hospital, priority patients, residents, schools, and businesses can be provided. We have launched independent investigations into the issues at this zone substation, other zone substations, and the repairs and maintenance regime. We have provided ongoing advice to everyone throughout this whole period – nothing has been kept behind closed doors.
Prior to this event, we had already started a $1bn program to boost essential services across the Territory. Approximately $200m has already been spent to date. We will recalibrate that spending, if needed, to respond to issues raised by the Davies and Hardwick investigations. We will continue to act to build our power supply’s reliability into the future.
Madam Speaker, I commend the statement to the House, and I move that the Assembly take note of the statement.
Mr ELFERINK (Port Darwin): Madam Speaker, can you smell the fear from the people opposite? Can you smell the fear …
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr ELFERINK: … pumping through the veins of this government? Can you imagine how much time they spent in front of the altars to various gods and powers to ensure that this farce did not occur in the middle of the recent election campaign?
I have enjoyed listening to this statement, because I highlighted on the statement, which was circulated last night - I remind the minister - four fateful words: ‘I accept full responsibility’. If this statement is an expression of accepting full responsibility, then I am a monkey’s uncle. I cannot imagine that you would walk into this place and say: ‘I accept full responsibility’ and then spend the next 20 minutes bleating about how it is not your fault and how it is all the fault of the ancient CLP government and, my god, I am surprised you did not blame ancient Rome in the mix.
All we have heard from this minister is an explanation as to what physically went wrong and then an attempt to blame somebody else, other than himself, in spite of ‘I accept full responsibility’, and then used the same tired old line and the same mistake that this government has made again and again: the mistake of assuming that the simple expenditure of money is a result. It is not.
Spending money is an input. It is what you put into a process in an effort to obtain a result. Let us examine this. The government has told us how much extra they have put into health since 2001. However, do we see the results that we would hope from that expenditure in 2001? No, we do not. The government has made so much of all the extra money that they have put into our police force. Yet, are Territorians safer at night? Can we walk down the street at 4 am in Mitchell Street and feel completely safe? No, we cannot.
Ms Lawrie: Yes, I can.
Mr ELFERINK: I did not see you out there at 5 am on Friday or Saturday. Were you tucked away in bed again?
Can we take comfort that our education system, after receiving so much extra money, is providing outcomes for Territory students? Do parents feel comfortable that their kids are achieving the results that they want them to achieve? The claim that spending money alone is the solution to all of these problems is a fallacy. You have to do more than simply spend money. We have heard the Minister for Health run this line: I do nothing in terms of policy. All I do is make sure that the department has sufficient funds so that they can do what they have to do. That was the defence when the health crisis started not so long ago. It would pay ministers to ask further questions as to what happens inside the departments after they give them the money.
I grabbed the Centralian Advocate the other day and on the front cover there was a story about $4.5m being spent on electrical cabling, two thirds of which is now redundant, because it is no longer needed for the $20m power station which has to be shipped from the Ron Goodin Power Station to the Owen Springs facility. There was the purchase of two generators, the Titan and the Taurus, which were too noisy for the Ron Goodin Power Station because they were almost in the middle of Alice Springs. The question that begs from those two examples alone is the $20m spent to build a new power station, which would not be necessary because we bought a set of loud generator sets. We then have to replace that power station with another which has to be cabled, however we have two thirds too much cable because the plans have changed. That does not strike me as particularly good planning. That strikes me as a lot of spending. It does not strike me as a particularly useful outcome.
In the Territory at the moment we are building a pipeline 270 km long to hook up with the existing pipeline between Darwin and Alice Springs. That pipeline goes from Blacktip to Wadeye; Blacktip is the gas field and Wadeye is the community. Then the government takes over and it goes all the way to the existing north-south pipeline, so we can get gas to the Channel Island Power Station built by the CLP - that dreadful pack of irresponsible so and so’s - at a cost of, what? $170m at last count. I could be corrected on that, but a substantial amount of money.
I still find it difficult to comprehend how you can spend that sort of money building a pipeline which is going to carry gas 500 km, when one of the largest gas supplies in the southern hemisphere is within visual distance of the Channel Island Power Station. That is all part of the money rolled into this $1bn package. Is that an excellent outcome for the Territory taxpayer? I think not.
A much better result would have been an effective negotiation to secure gas through commercial arrangements. I have heard the former Chief Minister say: ‘It is not obvious, there is something else behind the scene, but we are not going to tell you what it is’, which is the problem in relation to that negotiation. It has never been explained, to any level of credibility, why that gas was never secured through normal commercial operations from a gas supply 3 km from Darwin’s power station.
A lot of money is being spent - I believe I am up to $200m already - and we still have not had an outcome which I consider particularly good for Territorians. Yet, this government says it again and again: ‘We are spending money, we are spending money’. We know you are spending money. You have had a capacity to spend money given to you, which has fallen into your lap like …
Mr Tollner: Manna from heaven.
Mr ELFERINK: … manna from heaven, yes. There is the ALP coming out of Egypt, looking for food, walking around the Sinai Desert, and there is the manna from heaven given to them by God. I never considered John Howard to be so divine that I would call him God, however, they received huge amounts of GST revenue, much more GST than they ever expected.
It is an interesting exercise to go back through the last Budget Paper No 2, back to 2002, and compare the prediction for the GST revenue and then go to the Treasurer’s Annual Financial Report, year-on-year, to see how much they actually got. I did that exercise to the last financial year - $1.2bn. Let us pause here for a moment. This is money beyond their expectations. If you read the budget forecast - and Treasuries are often very careful to be conservative in their forecasts - as to what they expected the GST rise was going to be, it is already a substantial amount of money. Yet, at the end of each financial year, you whack on this great wad on top of it and, lo and behold, that is a hell of a windfall. $1.2bn over five years, six years, is more than they ever expected to get. Beyond the forecasts - more money than we ever expected to get. Did we squirrel it away? Yes, some in the Conditions of Service Reserve, which is apparently not doing so well - a little. But, where has the rest of it gone?
This government reached into the Treasurer’s Advance last year and extracted all the money that they could lawfully take, without coming back into this parliament and asking for more - within $1000. The Financial Management Act of the Northern Territory says that we will allow a little flexibility in the budgetary process, because we know that ups and downs of the budgetary process occur. However, if you have to get more money out of the Central Holding Authority, you funnel it into the Treasurer’s Advance, and then have the Administrator sign off on that.
The Treasurer came into this House and said: ‘This is the money I am going to need to run the Northern Territory. I am then going to create a little kick on the side’. It is called the Treasurer’s Advance, and you will find it in Budget Paper No 3 under the Central Holding Authority. ‘I am going to put $40m in there, in case something goes wrong’. They put the $40m in it – it is contingent liability – and then, if we really need to, we can go back to the Central Holding Authority and blow the budget by as much as 5%, before you have to come in …
Ms Lawrie: It is called initiatives between budgets.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr ELFERINK: … to this House and ask for more money. Guess what? They made it to September or October last year before the contingent liability was gone. In December, they were already touching the Treasurer’s Advance for a further $95m and, by June last financial year - I am only talking a few months ago - they had gone to within $1000 of having to come back into this parliament asking for more money. This is a government which has, doubtlessly, a capacity to spend. I have never doubted the Labor Party’s capacity to spend. It is the issue of getting bang for bucks, so that when a Territorian goes to the light switch and flicks, oh, my goodness, the lights come on – shock, horror. What is this government’s response? Go buy a generator.
Members interjecting.
Mr ELFERINK: It is the CLP’s responsibility. There is no way that any credible minister can walk in here and say: ‘I accept full responsibility’, and then point at the other side of the House and say: ‘But it is all your fault, it is all your fault’.
I will provide another example from this statement. I wonder if the minister, in his haste to attack former minister, Barry Coulter - who I am not defending in any way in this place - could pick up the phone and talk to him. That is what I did. I was curious. When I saw that in the newspaper, I thought I had better find out what was going on. So I rang and said: ‘Barry, mate, what are you doing, sacking all these people?’ He said: ‘There was a time when we were living in the period of the recession we had to have, and those sorts of things, but, yes, we decided to get rid of some staff, which were not technical staff at that stage’.
I notice that the minister says 31 technical staff, the newspaper today says 100 technical staff, and Mr Coulter said no technical staff. Without going into that …
Ms Lawrie: Do not mislead the House.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr ELFERINK: ... he made sure that some of those people who – I will rephrase that – they offered packages to some of those people who provided service workers. These are the people who go around and lop the trees around the power lines and that sort of thing. Those people, with their packages, started new businesses - which still exist in this town today - and do the same work as the service worker staff which Power and Water hired.
We now have the situation where service workers left the Power and Water Authority, formed their own company and have now returned to provide those services to the Power and Water Authority. The minister says we now have 233 service workers working in the Power and Water Corporation, and they are enhanced by a significant number of contract workers. That is right - we have now doubled up. We have twice as many people doing the same job. Talk about expenditure and thinking about how you spend money.
There is an undeniable problem that this government cannot get their head around; that they are actually responsible for supplying power to the people of the Northern Territory. I invite members to look at page 19 of the Blanch Report. During the report, I heard the minister say: ‘Oh, the CLP sat on the report’. The only reason the Blanch Report is public is because it was leaked. This minister is happy to criticise other ministers. I do not remember a December 2006 ministerial report in parliament, where this report, which we have just received, was placed on the table. If the minister is going to accuse the CLP of sitting on reports, I urge him to look to his own house first.
Page 19 of this report highlights a deteriorating problem of SAIDI events and SAIFI events. These events are basically the duration and frequency of power cuts to PAWA customers. There are two charts, and although the actual occasions of those power cuts are all over the place, the trend lines are quite clear. The trend lines demonstrate, between 2003 and 2005-06, an increasing trend.
The minister is trying to make out that the CLP would not have spent money on repairs and maintenance and would not have built new generation sets. We built the infrastructure when it was required when we were in power - or the CLP of that day, it was not me and it was not us - the CLP of that day built the infrastructure when it was required. Stokes Hill to Channel Island - much improved. What he admits to in his own statement is this: he actually kept the repairs and maintenance budget depressed at the same level year in, year out, until this financial year.
When the government came to power they were very quick to readjust the Northern Territory budget. They created a mini-budget and re-established and reiterated their spending priorities. I ask members to go to page 13 of Budget Paper No 2 of that budget, where this government said that they were going to spend less on infrastructure and they were going to spend that money on the other functional areas of government - whatever that means.
Resonating through the following budgets, and bear in mind that infrastructure includes the repairs and maintenance budgets, you can track that they sat on the repairs and maintenance budget. In spite of a 4% CPI, and that materiel and personnel were becoming more expensive year in, year out, if you go through each Budget Paper No 4 between 2002 and last financial year it tracked around $40m - slightly under in most instances. In real terms, if you allow for the changes in materiel, wages and conditions, and the CPI effect, it is a cut every year.
This government does it; they call it an efficiency dividend. They do it to the public service every year. The efficiency dividend in the budget for this year is approximately 3%, not including health, education and police, but it applies to every other department. By depressing the money in this fashion, it is an even more rapacious efficiency dividend. I acknowledge that you spend money. I acknowledge that the government has spent money on further infrastructure, but in doing that you have to raise the repairs and maintenance budget, otherwise you will be stretching the maintenance budget beyond capacity and finally rifts start to appear. Those rifts started to appear in a very big way recently.
I also acknowledge that in this year’s Budget Paper No 4, there is an increase of about $10m; the first increase for the repairs and maintenance budget in six years. It increases to $50m. This is where I am now genuinely concerned. I will go through the minister’s own words: in 2008-09 - repairs and maintenance of $50.15m; in 2009-10 - repairs and maintenance of $50.4m; in 2010-11 - repairs and maintenance of $50.8m; 2011-12 - repairs and maintenance of $49.98m.
Those of us who ignore the lessons of history are doomed to repeat them. Surely he would have figured out that after sitting on the repairs and maintenance budget for six years at $40m, by now committing himself to sit on the repairs and maintenance budget for a further five years, whilst increasing the size of the infrastructure, he is going to bring upon himself exactly the same issues that we are currently facing. He will, and for that he will be utterly responsible - not just in some churlish way, but in a complete way.
It is up to this minister to go into the next Budget Cabinet and to extract a repairs and maintenance increase which reflects the needs of the network and of the generation capacity. If he fails to do so, there will be no Barry Coulter to blame, there will be no CLP to blame, and there will be no fall back position or capacity to spin his way out of it. However, with the rate that these folk change ministries, it will not be his problem.
Territorians have every right to expect that there is going to be a light when you turn on the switch. No matter who you try to blame and how much you try to shift the blame, the Power and Water Authority is responsible for delivering a service which is reliable. I cannot lay my hands on the statement in their annual report, but it is actually part of their mission statement.
I am also concerned about the way the government tries to spin these things. I draw honourable members’ attention to media releases which were released by both the Power and Water Authority and the government, that the provision of power in Alice Springs is going to be supplemented or augmented by a couple of generators, which will be able to pump out 10.6 mW, I believe it was, of electricity into the network in Alice Springs. I was surprised to read in a recent Gazette, and I noticed it again in Power and Water’s annual report on page 12, that the new 8 mW generating set at Owen Springs Power Station is expected to be installed and commissioned by the end of November 2008.
Why would you go out into the public arena and say you are going to push out a 10 mW generation system when the actual generation capacity is 8 mW? I asked Andrew Macrides this particular question during a briefing. He said: ‘That is the label on the machine itself, but most machines are capable of generating more capacity than what they rated and what the compliance plate on the machine says’. However, if you buy an 8 mW generator, and you tell Territorians it is a 10 mW generator, you can well imagine and understand why government is not trusted. By saying one thing and doing another, you are really betraying the trust of Territorians, and before too long, that trust wears very thin, as mine has.
The attempts of the minister today to shift responsibility for this problem to somewhere other than himself, in spite of dressing himself up in a cloak of responsibility, is reprehensible. This was a good statement when he started. I thought: ‘Good. He has pulled on the mantle of responsibility, and he is saying: “I am taking it on myself”’. He then went on to carefully explain what the issues were in the power system at the Casuarina Substation, and he then failed to live up to the promise that he made at the beginning of the statement.
In the country of my birth, we have a series of dikes in certain parts of Holland that keep the North Sea at bay. There is a major dike which has a masculine name of some sort. There is a second dike called The Maiden. There is a third dike and it is called The Sleeper. When the North Sea is washing up against The Sleeper, you are just buying time. On those occasions when the North Sea has washed up against The Sleeper, as a couple of dikes have broken in Dutch history, that was all The Sleeper ever did: buy time.
That was all the last part of the busbar was able to do in Darwin at the Casuarina Substation – buy time. I am not a technical expert at all, but fortunately, the briefing I received was drawn in large bits of crayon and simple pictures, but I do recall that part. Fortunately, PAWA has been able to restore a part of the busbar and although there was a cascading failure through the system, they have actually come back from the brink a little.
I note that the response by government was to create a counter disaster response, and whilst I understand that, I think to myself that a counter disaster committee against the government of the Northern Territory might be a useful thing for many Territorians.
There is no way that this government can shift responsibility anywhere else other than to take it upon their own shoulders. When you hear stories that babies are being resuscitated in the hospital under torch light because the UPS has failed in the hospital, and then you hear that the UPS has not been fired up recently and run through its normal maintenance cycle because there are issues in getting parts for a system that dates back to the 1970s, you know there are problems.
I acknowledge that this government is trying to fix the problems and is addressing them. However, it is only doing it through the vehicle of spin. It is now saying: ‘We are spending $1bn on repairs to Power and Water’, but it is very careful about how it separates out power and water, when talking about issues such as: ‘The water system is fine, the sewerage system is fine, the power system needs to be fixed, but we are spending $1bn on Power and Water’. In that step, they are neglecting to say that the expenditure is over the whole of the Power and Water infrastructure network. It is over five years, which the minister has pointed out ...
Ms Lawrie: Not neglected to say it. We said it when we announced it.
Mr ELFERINK: Beg your pardon?
Ms Lawrie: We are not neglecting to say it. It was very clearly articulated at the announcement of the $1bn investment.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr ELFERINK: No, not articulated when the newspaper ran it. They want to give Territorians the impression that they are spending $1bn on their power system. No, they are not. The $1bn also includes the normal funding that would have occurred under any arrangements. I noticed that he added into that list $250m for repairs and maintenance, however, if you stretch that over five years, it returns to the issue I was raising before.
Madam Speaker, government must do better than they are doing. They must stop using mere expenditure as an outcome in its own right, and start governing the Northern Territory. The facts are that the lights do not go on when you throw the switches; there is a monumental problem in the Territory’s MAP testing for education; we are not safe on our streets, as we used to be; and our health system is in crisis. Surely, government should start governing, not by simply quoting amounts of money, but actually doing something.
Debate suspended.
DISTINGUISHED VISITOR
Mr Neville Perkins OAM
Mr Neville Perkins OAM
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, I draw your attention to the presence in the Speaker’s Gallery of Mr Neville Perkins OAM, a former member for Macdonnell. On behalf of honourable members, I extend to you a very warm welcome.
Members: Hear, hear!
VISITORS
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, I also draw your attention to the presence in the galleries of visitors as part of the Parliament House public tour program. On behalf of honourable members, I extend to you a very warm welcome.
Members: Hear, hear!
MOTION
Proposed Censure of the Government – Failure to Provide Basic Essential Services
Proposed Censure of the Government – Failure to Provide Basic Essential Services
Mr ELFERINK (Port Darwin): Madam Speaker, I move – That the government be censured for its monumental failure to supply the basic services of power, water and sewerage to the people of the Northern Territory and then lying to them about the provision of such services.
I table the signed censure motion.
I have been astonished listening today to the minister in this House, as well as to other members trying to deflect responsibility and doing none of what they promised in the opening lines of the statement delivered. The minister said he would take full responsibility. I have been convinced, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that he has no intention of taking full responsibility for the debacle that Power and Water has become under their governance. We learned today in Question Time a most important fact; that Power and Water will be made to pay for this debacle. There is no way that Power and Water can afford to pay for the generators, fuel, and all those other items that they will have to pay for, without passing the costs on.
Members of this House know that the tariffs for the Power and Water Corporation are set by government, and this government tied those tariffs to CPI. Any elevation of those tariffs beyond CPI in the near future will be a direct result of this crisis. For some reason, this government is under the impression that they are not responsible for the decay in Power and Water facilities. It was their mini-budget. Their very first act in government was to come into this place and introduce a budget paper, which said, amongst other things - and the citation is page 13, Budget Paper No 2 of the 2001 mini-budget, straight after the 2001 election - that they were going to spend less on infrastructure. I invite members to go to that budget paper and read that paragraph. They were true to their word.
Ms Lawrie: We have had one record infrastructure spend after the other since then - since we climbed out of the black hole that you left us in.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr ELFERINK: True to their word. You will notice it is this slippery government that in the statistics they dropped on the table today, they certainly did not include the 2001 mini-budget. They said: ‘Oh, no, that was a shared thing between us and the CLP’. Codswallop - absolute codswallop!
They were – when was the election in 2001? August, September?
A member: August.
Mr ELFERINK: … a couple of months into the financial year. They came along and introduced their own budget and in that budget - the one that ran for the rest of the financial year - they promised to cut infrastructure, and they did.
However, inside the infrastructure budget there is the repairs and maintenance budget. Whilst I acknowledge the interjections from the Treasurer, that spending has increased on infrastructure - and I will refer to that shortly, the repairs and maintenance did not go up. If you track it through Budget Papers No 4 each year between 2002 and until the current year, the budget for repairs and maintenance for the Power and Water Corporation did not go up. It tracked at around $40m.
Mr Knight: That is a lie! That is a lie!
Mr ELFERINK: Check the budget papers. He is the one who is being accused of lying. If he wants to bring a censure motion about me, I am happy.
They did not, until last financial year, track up. If you allow for CPI, the cost of materials and wages, it was probably in the area, close to, or possibly even more, a 20% cut over time. What does the minister do? He says, in the year 2008-09, the current financial year: ‘I am going to add some more money to the repairs and maintenance budget’. This year we see that finally, after that reprehensible bleeding-off from repairs and maintenance, there is a jump from $40m to $50m in one year.
This takes them roughly to the position they were in when they inherited government. What has the minister announced today? He announced in his statement a freeze of the repairs and maintenance budget, which will continue to track at approximately $50m for the next …
Ms Lawrie: Not true. He did not announce a freeze at all. It is your fantasy.
Mr ELFERINK: I pick up on the Treasurer’s interjection, ‘did not announce a freeze at all’, and I invite the Treasurer to go to page 15 of the circulated statement. If this is not a freeze, I do not know what is.
Ms Lawrie: Do you know what estimates are?
Mr ELFERINK: Repairs and maintenance from the year 2008-09 will be $50.15m.
Ms Lawrie: Forward estimates.
Mr ELFERINK: For the year 2009-10, it will be $50.4m; for the year 2010-11, it will be $50.8m and, after tracking along at $50m a year, in the year 2011-12, it will drop back down to $49.98m. The Treasurer says: ‘These are just forward estimates’. What on earth am I supposed to do with budget papers if the Treasurer says I cannot trust them? What a load of rot! ‘I cannot trust them’, she says, ‘they are just forward estimates’.
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Keep the volume down. It is very difficult to hear, to be quite honest. Member for Port Darwin, cease interjecting, please.
Mr ELFERINK: Madam Speaker, I am sorry, I cannot help the Treasurer’s loudness.
Madam Speaker, it is inherit on government to be honest. We have seen it from the minister in the last week alone, where she was embarrassed, in a most extraordinary way, because of the very unseemly public spat that developed as a result of her dishonesty. This percolates throughout government.
A media release from Power and Water - and I know that there was a matching government media release - that said they were commissioning the installation of 10.9 mW diesel/gas generators. This is the media release - this is what goes out to the media to see - ‘However, although we publish the Government Gazette in the Northern Territory, it is not quite as well read as the Northern Territory News and some media releases’. If you read the Government Gazette, which deals with that particular contract, it is an 8 mW generator with 30% less capacity than what was promised. I am aware of the excuse that there is a little compliance plate that says there is an 8 mW capacity on this generator but you can run it harder. However, if you are buying an 8 mW generator, then you do not go out and say that there is a 10.9 mW generator in the works.
A member: You cannot run something at 120%.
Mr ELFERINK: I pick up on the interjection from my immediate left. That is right. You do not run your assets as hard as they can possibly go and more, and not expect failures as a result. The Blanch report, which was delivered in 2006 and buried by this government, outlines on page 19, that power outages - under this government, with a maintenance program that was frozen at $40m a year - were increasing in both frequency and duration for the people of the Northern Territory. I remain fascinated beyond measure, that a government, in all seriousness, can come into a place like this and say that it is not their responsibility, when they have been in power for eight years.
I will put this environment of repairs and maintenance freezes into context. Back in the late 1980s this country suffered from a recession that we had to have, as I recall, and then we did do well for a few years. Then some evil people flew an aeroplane into the side of a building in New York City and that also caused tough financial times. The Northern Territory government of the day managed the way well through those tough financial times and were still able to decrease the frequency and duration of power cuts in the Northern Territory.
Over the past seven years, this government has been the recipient and the beneficiary of more taxation then they ever dared to dream, from both the local and federal levels. In spite of a Treasurer who seems to bind herself to the misguided belief that it is Commonwealth coffers that fill up with GST revenue, the fact is that the GST has actually been flowing directly to the states and territories, within the principles of the agreements made between the states and the Commonwealth government in the late 1990s. Under the process of horizontal fiscal equalisation, the Territory has done particularly well out of the GST.
Honourable members may not be aware that our GST revenue is currently tracking at about 450 in the dollar; when the Australian average is $1, we are getting $4.50. Some of the larger states are getting 80 and 90. New South Wales and Victoria are not happy about it. Fortunately, the agreements and arrangements in place mean that we do well. Not only has the GST gone up but it has gone up beyond expectation.
Therefore, it is important to do two specific things when we talk about GST revenues. The first is that the Treasury each year predicts the increase in GST revenue. It sits down and asks: how much is the GST going to increase? We think it is about that much; we will shave a little off the top because we have to be conservative, and that is going to be the GST result for the year. That expressed prediction - a forward estimate, which we cannot rely on according to the Treasurer - is put into Budget Paper No 2 and you see how the forward estimates work in that process.
It is an interesting exercise to go to Budget Paper No 2, where it shows the estimate of the GST and SPP, then to the Treasurer’s annual report at the end of that financial year where you see what they actually received. What you discover is that every year, not only do they get their increase as predicted, they get more and the little parts they did not expect, if you add them up over the financial years 2002-03 through to last financial year, it is approximately $1.2bn. This is money they did not even expect to get. They could have turned that money, or rolled that money into savings and into infrastructure, and they did, to a degree.
We do see the construction of certain Power and Water infrastructure. The construction of that Power and Water infrastructure had to happen because it was necessary.
By some strange implication, the government seems to be suggesting that if the CLP, or Country Liberals, had retained government they would have done nothing to augment the Power and Water infrastructure. What arrant nonsense. You are so full of it, guys, it is absolutely amazing. The suggestion that we would not do it is rubbish.
Not one member of this side of the House now was in Cabinet during the period of the last government. I have never had any intention of selling PAWA and the Cabinet of the day did not ask me either. Talk about creating furphys and trying to lie to Territorians about obfuscating the real issue.
This policy of obnubilation is no longer carrying any weight amongst the people of the Northern Territory and they are quickly becoming weary of the fact that they get a very nice media cycle but they do not get lights, cold freezers, or a hospital UPS that does the job so people are not resuscitating babies under torch light. That is what this issue is about - not trying to better the media cycle.
Members interjecting.
Mr ELFERINK: I pick up on the interjection by the Chief Minister: scaring Territorians. Territorians have a right to be afraid. Territorians have a right to be afraid that they cannot be guaranteed electrical power when they switch on their lights and it cannot even be guaranteed in the hospitals. You think that is not something to be afraid of. When the Chief Minister is so worried about what he can stick in his next press release, rather than actually deliver services that matter, then Territorians have a right to be very afraid, and unlike space, even in the dark in the Territory, Territorians can be heard screaming. They are very angry indeed.
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Order! Member for Port Darwin, have you finished?
Mr ELFERINK: No, Madam Speaker, I was just waiting for the courtesy of silence from the members opposite.
Let us talk about where that extra spending has gone. We are in the surprising situation in the Northern Territory currently, where we are building a pipeline - a much acclaimed pipeline, according to government - but there is an underlying principle which has been forgotten, that I will cover now.
The pipeline being built from the Blacktip field to go through Wadeye is now going through 270 km of Territory bush to hook up with an existing pipeline. The existing pipeline goes from the Mereenie fields in Central Australia to Darwin and Alice Springs to run the gas powered turbines. The Mereenie fields have been running out of gas for some time, so the Blacktip field will augment the Mereenie field and supply gas to the power stations in the Northern Territory, including the one at Channel Island.
It remains unexplained by this government why we are spending $170m of the $1bn on building a pipeline to a power station which is within rifle shot of one of the largest gas supplies in the southern hemisphere. This is an extraordinary situation. If I stand on the roof of the Channel Island Power Station, I can quite clearly see the tip of the ConocoPhillips gas tank in Darwin Harbour. For some reason, to fire the gas turbines on our generator sets, we have to pipe gas 500 km. Surely, in the realms of good government, someone must have thought: ‘Wow, if we need to spend $170m of that money, we should try to negotiate a better outcome, even though it might be expensive - as they are the only gas supplier around - with ConocoPhillips. Let us talk to them.’ It remains utterly unexplained to this day why those deals were never done. There is $170m gone from the $1bn.
This government would have led Territorians to believe that they were spending $1bn on power. That is also not true, because they are spending $1bn over the five-year period, as required by their deteriorating infrastructure, not only on power generation, but also the supply of water and fixing our sewerage system. It is about one Olympic-sized pool of raw sewage a day pumped into Darwin Harbour, 500m from the beach outside this House. That is not a good outcome. This government has been promising for a long time, ad nauseum, to fix it, and slowly, ever so slowly, they are getting around to it.
The other aspect of this arrangement is water. What is the government’s solution, for one of the fastest growing cities in Australia, to provide water? There are three proposed dam sites in the Darwin area: the Bennett Dam across the Finniss River, and two potential dams, which could exist simultaneously, over the Adelaide River, the Wirra and the Marrakai Dam.
I believe the most advanced of these is the Wirra Dam which is near the Adelaide River township. Do we see an allocation in the budget for bringing on water so we can augment the water supply to the fastest growing city in Australia? No. We find an allocation in the budget that we are going to make the existing dam wall higher, which will provide about 20% extra water.
Okay, I accept that. That is probably not so bad. However, the other aspect of this is to spend $50m on augmenting Manton Dam which was built around the end of the World War II. There are problems with Manton Dam, because the water that comes out of there needs to be purified. That is not the case for the Darwin River Dam at the moment. The Darwin River Dam provides water straight from dam to tap, after some chlorination and filtering, as I understand. The water that comes out of Manton Dam is a lot dirtier than the water that comes out of the Darwin River Dam.
We are relying, in our ultra-modern city with increasing building sizes and growth, on a piece of infrastructure that dates back to World War II, and produces dirty water. That is the solution. That is part of the $1bn fix we are being told about. This is not giving me much comfort at all. We have a government entirely predisposed to telling Territorians that everything is sweetness and light, with many media releases going out. We have no end of comfort for Territorians, except in one important way - that their airconditioners will not work. The solution for government, so far, has been to tell Territorians: ‘Go and buy a generator’.
Mr Henderson: No, we did not say that; Mr Macrides said that.
Mr ELFERINK: I believe that the member for Casuarina has followed his own government’s advice and bought a generator. I would also like to know if there is any truth in the rumour that staffers on the fifth floor have been sleeping in their offices during the power cuts.
Mr Henderson: Oh rubbish! Only rumours that you put around.
Mr ELFERINK: I heard a rumour; that is all. I did not start it, but I heard the rumour …
Mr Henderson: Yes, spread rumours …
Mr ELFERINK: Is it true …
Mr Henderson: Spread rumours.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr ELFERINK: Is it true? That is the question that I ask.
Mr Henderson: We do not repeat them in here.
Madam SPEAKER: Order, order!
Mr Tollner: They should claim bed tax.
Madam SPEAKER: Order, order! Member for Port Darwin, you have the call.
Mr ELFERINK: There comes a time, when a government has to take responsibility for the decisions it makes. This government has not, in any way, decided to take responsibility for the decisions it makes. We know how cute they can be. We heard it five minutes ago when we had to extract out of the minister a very important comment. I want him to return to this as a matter of priority. He said that Power and Water is going to pick up the cost of this exercise. He said they will not pass on this cost to the consumer through tariff increases. This government sets the tariffs and, as a matter of policy, has said those tariffs will be set at CPI.
This minister needs to tell Territorians, without equivocation, without trying to dodge it or in any way dress it up, that power and water prices will not go up beyond the CPI promise that they have made. If he can do that, he might be able to claw back some credibility. However, with the way he was ducking and weaving during Question Time, I very much doubt that he is prepared to make that promise, because I do not believe that they are capable of keeping it.
The Treasurer alluded that GST might actually go down, in an answer during Question Time. For the first time since this government has been in power, they are actually going to have to manage a tight budget. That means they are going to have to find other sources of income, and will have to restrain themselves from the reckless spending that we saw, even as early as last financial year. They pushed their appropriation boundaries to the very limit last financial year. They got $333m extra out of all of their sources of revenue, and they managed to spend it all. They also increased their appropriations to within $1000 of the allowable limit. A $3.5bn budget and they went to the very edge of their allowable limit by $1000. That is not good budgetary control; that is not good budgetary command.
Dr Burns: It is like the black hole that Percy found, $130m.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr ELFERINK: If the minister, and the government, intends to keep the promise made during Question Time and during his ministerial statement earlier today, to be honest with Territorians, they have not demonstrated any capacity to do so. They have deliberately gone out of their way to obfuscate the real facts. The fact that matters most to Territorians is that when they go to their fridge, the meat is not going to be rotten in the freezer; that when they go to turn their swimming pool filters on, the filters are going to work; and when they try to turn an airconditioner or a light switch on, that they are going to get electricity.
There is no such faith amongst Territorians at the moment and, frankly, I can see a lot of Territorians will be relying on these into the future.
This government stands condemned …
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Greatorex, please put that under your table.
Mr Conlan: Sorry, Madam Speaker, I am just having trouble reading.
Mr ELFERINK: This government stands condemned for its monumental failure to provide even the most basic services. Whilst they continue to believe that the mere expenditure of money is the solution to problems, they will always fail. It is the reason that they have failed in health, education, and law and order. We are not safer, our kids are not better educated, and we are certainly not healthier. Yet, what is the fall back position of government every time? ‘But we are spending more’. And now all we hear from government is: ‘But we are spending more’.
They are spending more on fixing things, like the Alice Springs Power Station, which has now had to be moved as a result of the Taurus and the Titan being too loud, which is what? A $20m to $30m exercise? They buy some cable so the new Alice Springs Power Station can supply power to the people of Alice Springs. Guess what? You bought two-thirds too much cable. What is he going to do with the rest of it, sunshine?
Ms Carney: Darwin people really enjoyed the Masters Games because the power was on all the time.
Madam SPEAKER: Order, member for Araluen!
Mr ELFERINK: Spending is not an outcome in its own right. What you do with the money is what counts and this government …
Mr HENDERSON: A point of order, Madam Speaker! I believe that you advised Florence Nightingale to take his stupid prop off his table earlier in the day, and it has reappeared. It just goes to show the hilarity and mirth that he has shown for this whole subject.
Mr CONLAN: A point of order, Madam Speaker!
Madam SPEAKER: I was listening to this point of order, thank you, member for Greatorex. What is your point of order?
Mr CONLAN: The Chief Minister referred to the member for Araluen as Florence Nightingale …
Ms Carney: No, it is him. He is Florence Nightingale.
Mr CONLAN: The member for Port Darwin is Florence Nightingale. Either way, it does not really matter. It is unparliamentary and I ask that he withdraw that comment.
Madam SPEAKER: Please pause. I have already ruled that if props are relevant to the debate and it is the member who has the call, they can have them. The member has the call, please continue.
Mr ELFERINK: Madam Speaker, I will be happy to give them this particular candle, because it will be the brightest thing on that side of the House.
This government has a duty to do the basics before it does all the other things it wants to do. The basic things, such as making sure we are safe, healthy, educated, and that the lights go on. They have failed in all of those areas, and this has been the most monumental disaster that has befallen the Territory since they came into power.
This government deserves to be censured, and should be censured, for failing Territorians, and they went to an election early to avoid what they knew was coming.
Madam Speaker, I cannot believe the cynicism of a government that would do something in such a reprehensible fashion. Censured for their failures and censured at the next election by the people of the Northern Territory.
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Member for Port Darwin, I ask you to put the candle down now, thank you.
Mr Elferink: All right, Madam Speaker.
Mr KNIGHT (Essential Services): Madam Speaker, a few things happened today. We had Question Time, which the CLP cut short. There was more time available to ask questions. We also had a ministerial statement that we put forward on this subject. I have been out there nearly every day in front of the media, answering questions and providing information about this very subject. The CLP is being deceitful, telling lies to Territorians …
Mr ELFERINK: A point of order, Madam Speaker! If he wants to bring on a censure motion he can, but he is the one being censured, not us.
A member: This is a censure motion, you klutz.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Minister, I ask you to withdraw. In a censure motion, while there is somewhat more latitude, the matters that relate to the censure motion, if for example in the censure motion it mentions something that you have suggested, then that is fine, otherwise it is not. I ask you to withdraw those comments.
Mr HENDERSON: Madam Speaker, a point of order! Just on a point of clarification and I am not detracting from your ruling. The minister said that the CLP had been out there lying to Territorians. He did not name an individual member. Standing orders relate to individual members, not to organisations. I seek a point of clarification regarding explicitly what the minister said.
Madam SPEAKER: I will seek some advice. I ask you to withdraw, minister. We have usually ruled that a collective use of a term is the same as for an individual if a member draws it to the attention of the Speaker at the time. I ask you to withdraw that comment, please.
Mr KNIGHT: I withdraw, Madam Speaker. The CLP has been deceitful to Territorians about the truth. We have been out there every day, talking about this subject, providing reports and solid information, and the member for Port Darwin has been deceitful.
He has provided information to the Leader of Opposition, who has taken that information on face value - more fool him. I have only been in this parliament three years, however, I have seen several instances where the former member for Greatorex, in particular, has trundled into this parliament with these great little graphs, supplied by the former advisor, the member for Port Darwin. The member for Greatorex would then put on a great show about these graphs and it turned out these graphs were actually false. They had false information in them and bits of numbers were pulled out of the air. Maybe the member for Port Darwin took them down to the childcare centre in Mitchell Street and gave them to the three-year-olds and said: ‘Come on, you can have a bit of a play with this. Draw some graphs, put some numbers together’. I would not believe anything that the member for Port Darwin has put up.
We have been up-front about what we have been doing with this utility since 2001, and it is a record that we will standby and highlight. However, we have not had in this parliament the CLP putting their hand up for their time in government. Not one time have they put their hand up for their time in government. Not one time have they seen the legacy that was left to this government with Power and Water. You had an organisation that for several years was on a downward spiral. They were stripping it out, gutting profit, gutting staff, preparing it for a fire sale, selling an asset of the Territory which belongs to Territorians. They were going to sell this utility for whatever price they could get for it.
When this government came to office it pumped money into Power and Water. I will quote some figures for the member for Port Darwin - his creativity with figures. In the last six years of the CLP government, the repairs and maintenance expenditure averaged $25m. In the first six years of the Labor government, we spent $39m on average. That is a 55% difference in repairs and maintenance alone. We have been totally up-front with this House and with Territorians about our capital works expenditure as well. We are rebuilding this organisation, across all the services within Power and Water, including the water supply and the sewerage.
I will pick up on a few comments from the member for Port Darwin regarding the dam. We are looking into the future for building the capacity of water supply, securing water supplies for Darwin, in particular, and also around the Territory. The current dam, the member for Port Darwin highlighted, where we are raising the wall, which will give us increased capacity. That capacity will give us the demand requirements for the Darwin area for 15 to 35 years. In that time, we will be working on commissioning a new dam. He identified it - however, he got the name wrong. He obviously does not know the local Aboriginal tribe there - the Warrai. It is the Warrai Dam, member for Port Darwin, outside Adelaide River. We have looked at those dams and they will be properly costed, designs will be done, and we have 15 to 35 years to do that work. We have identified and secured the land at Marrakai for the dam. The member for Port Darwin is deceiving Territorians with the facts.
We have a little history on the Larrakeyah outfall. I believe the outfall was commissioned approximately 40 years ago. Tom Harris, as the member for Port Darwin from 1978 for several years, did he or the CLP government of the day do anything about it? No. Did the former Chief Minister, Shane Stone, member for Port Darwin, bring anything into Cabinet about doing something about it? No, he did not. Did the next member for Port Darwin do anything about this issue? No, she did not. Then we get a local Labor member in that seat and we put in $35m to fix the problem. Here we get a good strong Labor member in that seat, who raises the issue and gets some results. We have been up-front; we respond and fix the problems.
Members interjecting.
Mr KNIGHT: This is a very serious subject. I have been up-front through countless briefings and media conferences. I have not talked about going out and buying your own generators. This was a comment made by the CEO of Power and Water. In this tropical environment people need to make their own arrangements, as has been the case for decades. I do not know how long you have been here, member for Fong Lim, but the power goes out. It went out under the CLP on a regular basis …
Members interjecting.
Mr KNIGHT: Member for Fong Lim, for decades you could set your watch to when the power was going to go out under the CLP government. We have been investing in this utility because it needed investment. Over the years that we have had responsibility for it, we have put in substantial dollars. In 2001, the CLP had $26m allocated for repairs and maintenance. We increased that to $31m in 2001-02. We increased that budget quite significantly, and the budget has risen increasingly over the years. This is a commitment of this government. We did not hear about $1bn expenditure, or significant capital investment into this utility, by the CLP. No, it was strip the assets, strip the profit out of it, cut the expenditure by cutting staff. It is little wonder we are in this situation today. It does not take long to strip out assets and to get rid of staff, but it takes a long time to rebuild a utility such as this.
We had skilled workers in that organisation, and the CLP government got rid of them ...
Mr Tollner: No, they outsourced.
Mr KNIGHT: We talked about approximately 90 essential staff taken out of that organisation …
Mr Tollner: Do not say they got rid of them; they never did. You are misleading the parliament again.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr KNIGHT: We had a retort from the member for Port Darwin. He gave Bazza a call and got an explanation about how this 90 became contractors. That was their answer. Only four of those staff actually went out – you got rid of over 100 and only four became contractors. What sort of excuse is that? You slashed this organisation.
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order, order!
Mr KNIGHT: We are building a strong utility. We are putting money into all areas of Power and Water because it is much needed. We will rebuild this organisation. We have the strong elements, we have money going in and we have strong management. I have great faith in Andrew Macrides, and so does the Electrical Trades Union. I thank all the workers, especially the unionised workers. Trevor Gauld has done a great job working alongside Andrew Macrides in this particular crisis. It is …
Mr Tollner: Hear, hear, the comrades!
Mr KNIGHT: Exactly, member for Fong Lim. They do a great job. It is a great union and it shows you, on the conservative side of politics, what a great union does …
Mr Tollner: They are that good, you employed the previous boss.
Mr KNIGHT: It is all about Hopper.
Mr Tollner: It is all about Hopper.
Mr KNIGHT: That is right. The CLP seem a bit indignant that we have some very skilled and knowledgeable personnel working for us at the moment. I guess they are a bit fearful about that because there is great history in the staff, and they know where the bodies are buried, I guess, in the time of the CLP.
Madam Speaker, I reject this censure motion. It is simply a case where the CLP are fearful themselves. The member for Port Darwin responded earlier today to my statement about Power and Water, which outlined the facts of exactly what happened, and he talked about this side being fearful. We have no fear because we have been totally honest. The fear exists on the other side, when the member for Port Darwin got a copy of the Blanch report, which talked about the culture of run to failure within this organisation for decades. If he had a copy of the Merrill Lynch report - which he probably has, because it is not widely out there – which looked at ...
Mr Elferink: Table it.
Mr KNIGHT: I do not have a copy.
Mr Elferink: How do you know what is in it if you do not have a copy, you wally? How can you possibly criticise a report you have not read?
Madam SPEAKER: Order, order!
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Minister, would you please direct your comments through the Chair.
Mr KNIGHT: Madam Speaker, I am sure there is great fear on the other side of this parliament, because they know that they are responsible, to a degree, of where we are now. All I ask them is to take responsibility for what they did. We will take responsibility for what we did and what we are going to do …
Mr Conlan: Full responsibility. That means 100%.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr KNIGHT: I do. I have stated that publicly and in this House. However, you have never taken any responsibility for what you have done to this organisation - what was left to us. The Blanch report clearly highlights exactly why this organisation got to the state it was in. The Merrill Lynch report, apparently, goes to the fact that this organisation was being prepared for sale. It was being stripped down …
Mr Conlan: Is that a report you read in the NT News?
Mr KNIGHT: Are you saying that the NT News does not report correctly?
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order, order!
Mr KNIGHT: The CLP is laughing at the NT News reporting.
Mr ELFERINK: A point of order; Madam Speaker! The NT News has got it wrong in the past, and they may well have it wrong on this particular issue. This minister cannot know whether they are right or wrong, because he is referring to a report he has never seen.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Port Darwin, there is no point of order. Resume your seat. Minister, please continue.
Mr KNIGHT: They are still in denial. They do not want to accept the findings of a report that they commissioned, when the member for Port Darwin and the Leader of the Opposition was in the parliament, which said: ‘Sell it off, strip it back and sell it off’.
Mr Elferink: You do not know that. You do not know what is in the report, you wally, you have not read the copy.
Madam SPEAKER: Order, order!
Mr Elferink: You are an idiot. I cannot believe you are going back to this.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Port Darwin, cease interjecting. Minister, please continue and direct your comments through the Chair.
Mr KNIGHT: We have seen where they are coming from - strip back this organisation and flog it off. There has been a lot said about the reliability of the corporation, and about the SAIDI and the SAIFI - about the duration and the frequency. The member for Port Darwin is creatively, with a bit of deception going on - lying to Territorians.
Ms CARNEY: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Earlier on, we had the question of the allegation of lying. He should lengthen his tie. He looks like a schoolboy, just like Gerry.
Madam SPEAKER: I think that is enough, thank you, member for Araluen. Minister, please continue.
Mr KNIGHT: What he failed to mention earlier are some quotes which I will quote now:
- It is to be noted that the upward trend is almost identical across the three separate regions, indicating an underlying root cause which is related to asset ageing and lack of maintenance over the past years.
He was making an assertion that these assets have suddenly given up the ghost, that they were having both interruptions and the duration of them. However, this report, which he failed to mention - he is being deceptive to Territorians - clearly highlights that the cause of this was ageing, indicating that these assets had not been replaced and that they had not been maintained. The organisation that the CLP ran had a culture of run to failure; a culture exacerbated by the lack of investment.
The report also highlights that in the last 12 years of the CLP government, nine of those 12 years, they spent less in capital expenditure than the depreciation. That is shameful. However, there was no mention, no putting your hand up, taking responsibility, for what you did whilst you were in government. We are putting our hand up for what we have done, and what we are going to do with this organisation, but the CLP refused to take any responsibility whatsoever.
In the first six years of the Labor government there has only been one year that we spent less in capital than depreciation - that was in the first year. Since then, that figure has been growing, and this only goes up to 2006-07. 2007-08 and 2008-09 will probably be off the chart, because we have shown confidence in this organisation and we have invested the money.
I reject this politics that the CLP is trying to play. We go by our record; the figures are out there. The CLP are worried about those figures. They will not go to the facts. They want to go to the politics of it, and that is not good for Territorians, because Territorians deserve a reliable power supply. It is this government which is rebuilding Power and Water.
Where would Territorians and the Power and Water Corporation be, if the CLP was still in government? They were moving down a track of slashing 300 staff out of the organisation. They got to 114, so there was another …
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Order!
Mr KNIGHT: You need to wake up in this parliament and read the newspaper. You are supposed to be a politician. There were 114 staff stripped out of the organisation up to 2001 and there were another 300 to go. Then there was the attempt to sell the organisation. Goodness knows where we would be with the CLP. There was lack of investment, asset stripping, cutting of wages, and staff in the organisation. It would be in a very poor state.
We stand by our record with Power and Water. We will rebuild this organisation and we will have a strong and reliable power, water, and sewerage utility for Territorians.
Mr TOLLNER (Fong Lim): Madam Speaker, it gives me great pleasure to speak on this Censure Motion because the government clearly deserves censure.
For the benefit of the minister, he should understand that this crisis could have been prevented. Do you know what would have prevented this crisis? Maintenance could have prevented this crisis. Maintenance is not something that should have happened eight years ago, 10 years ago, 15 years ago – it is ongoing – it should happen on an ongoing basis. For the minister to stand up here and try to deflect attention from his own and the government’s shortcomings, and to suggest that it was problems eight years ago that led to a lack of maintenance over recent years, I believe flies in the face of absolute reason.
I look at this crisis - we call it a crisis because 15 000 houses in the northern suburbs went without power. I recall the previous member for Sanderson standing in this Chamber and saying after a blackout: ‘Just open a window. You do not need power in the Territory. Just open a window.’ I think this government learnt from the former member for Sanderson’s tactic, probably discovered it was a bad tactic, so they do not go down that line these days. They do not tell people to open a window. What they tell people is: ‘Buy a generator’. They have moved into the new age now. They are encouraging people to get out there and buy a generator. It is good to see the Minister for Business and Employment is leading by example and telling everybody he has bought a generator.
I am sure there will be more members on the other side of the Chamber who will be running out and buying a generator, because they understand there are things that this government cannot supply. The minister told this Chamber earlier, that you cannot expect a reasonable supply of power in the Northern Territory - this is something we should not expect. We should all have generators on hand, ready for when the power goes out because the minister cannot guarantee supply of electricity.
You do not have to preach that message too loudly, because the 15 000 households in the northern suburbs have come to the realisation that this government is not prepared to guarantee anything. We are not talking about a Wet Season power outage - as the minister quite often refers to - when lightning strikes or trees fall and knock down a power line and a few houses go out. We are talking about something that has happened smack bang in the middle of the Dry Season, resulting in 15 000 houses without power.
I cannot recall in the 20 years that I have been in the Northern Territory - I know there are people here who have been here much longer. The member for Goyder has spent a lifetime in the Northern Territory; I do not know if she is aware of times when 15 000 houses have gone without power …
Ms Purick: Never.
Mr TOLLNER: ...in the middle of the Dry Season. Evidently, the minister tries to tell us this is something that happens. I have a particular interest in what this impact means to business. I was out with my wife at Casuarina Shopping Square where we were buying some stuff for our house and …
A member: A generator.
Mr TOLLNER: No. I do not think you can get too many generators at Casuarina Shopping Square. We were not buying generators, we were buying something else. We walked into one shop and the lady there was reading a notice that had just come through from Power and Water. A line caught her attention and she said to me: ‘Have a look at this.’ It was this short paragraph in the middle of this notice, and I quote:
- They also would not cover all affected customers. We can generate enough power to cover residents, the hospitals, schools and small businesses but not large businesses such as Casuarina Square. We are working with Government to source other options.
No explanation is given to shopkeepers or business owners at Casuarina Square, about what is being done to sort out problems for them. In fact, some shopkeepers got a letter from Centre Management, saying that:
- Some of our tenants provide their own generators to ensure continuity of trade and to prevent the loss of refrigerated stock. These are not installed or maintained by the centre, but rather the tenants themselves.
The amount of power required to provide air-conditioning to a centre of our size is well beyond that which can be functionally and economically provided by back up generators.
The power goes off at Casuarina Shopping Square and local small businesses close down. They close the doors of their shops and walk out. I asked this lady and a couple of other businesses how that would affect their business. Some of those businesses, which are part of large national chains, said the costs would be picked up through their chains and would be borne by those businesses nationally. Fine, they could get over such a problem.
What about the small Territory businesses, like the florist, the baker, or the butcher? The rents and leases at Casuarina Shopping Square are enormous. If the lights go out, the rents do not stop and the wages bills do not stop coming in. These businesses inform me they will have nothing to do but close the doors of the shop and walk away from that business. We are sacrificing Territory small business when the power goes out at Casuarina Shopping Square. The minister and the member for Casuarina should be aware of that. They should be working 24 hours a day to ensure that there is effort made to guarantee supply of power to Casuarina Shopping Square.
Mr Vatskalis: I was at a meeting with the businesses; I did not see you there.
Mr TOLLNER: It is a big place, Kon. Do not think for a second that I do not get around Casuarina Shopping Square and talk to some of the businesses.
The other thing that was raised in Question Time today was the issue of McArthur River Mine and the generators that went out there. They are Power and Water generators. They are, as the Treasurer said, outsourced, and the maintenance and upkeep is directed to a company that is outside of Power and Water. However, they are ultimately the responsibility of the Power and Water Corporation.
Mr Vatskalis: You got it wrong again.
Mr TOLLNER: In April, they had three generators. In April, the first generator went down, and they were informed it would take four months to fix the generator. They started bringing in generators and diesel from interstate. In June, the second generator went out, and in September, the third Power and Water generator went out. There was no electricity service being supplied by the Power and Water Corporation in September. I am told that the first generator that went out has only recently been fixed. To this stage, McArthur River Mine has been bringing in diesel and generators to supply their power needs. You may ask: what does a business like that really matter; they are a big business? The pipeline, which I believe was built in 1995, cost Territorians approximately $40m. This is now a stranded asset until the generators are fixed; it is not serving any purpose at all …
Ms Lawrie: It is not stranded.
Mr TOLLNER: As the Treasurer said in response in Question Time, the royalties that the McArthur River Mine pay to the Territory are paid as a percentage of profits, and those royalties are paid in advance. They are paid on an estimation of income and profits.
The last few months have been particularly hard for Xstrata Zinc. I note today, looking at the Internet, that the international price for zinc is approximately $US0.51 per pound. That has fallen from approximately $US1.30 per pound eight months ago. The company is having some problems of their own due to the world financial crisis. To top it off, they have lost power. They now have to bring in their own generators and diesel to supply their own electricity. What does the Chief Minister say about it? Well, he does not know anything about it - he has not been briefed. He said in Question Time: ‘Sorry, I know nothing about that’, and sat down.
You can understand that if Bob’s Pies from around the corner goes broke, the Chief Minister is not going to know about it. I can understand that. However, we are talking about McArthur River Mine which supplies more than 5% of the gross state product of the Northern Territory. McArthur River Mine underpins the Territory budget, supplies income to more than 500 households in the Northern Territory, and supports the Borroloola township. If the McArthur River Mine closed, you can safely bet that the Borroloola township would close. The Chief Minister knows nothing about it. He cannot answer that question, he says. This has been happening since April. The Chief Minister is not across it.
I am sure the McArthur River Mine will be asking for a refund of the royalties they have paid to the Territory government, and the Chief Minister knows nothing about it. How much are the royalties that have been paid to the Territory government? The Treasurer would not answer that question. Is it $1m, $5m, or $10m - how much is it? What are we talking about? The Chief Minister does not know. The Treasurer refuses to answer the question. The whole mine site could shut down because the global financial crisis has put its viability somewhat at risk. However, you have to wonder - if you cannot get power there, if the Territory government is buying up every generator available in Australia - how does McArthur River Mine hope to keep generating power? It is an appalling situation.
You have to ask if they knew this crisis was coming. Some fictitious report said that we did not foresee problems at the Casuarina substation. Then I walk across and I see my old mate, Alan Paton, who was the boss of the Electrical Trades Union – he did a good job, representing the workers in the electrical trades industry – and miraculously ends up with a job, just a month or two before the Territory election, in the Chief Minister’s office. I wondered, what is this white knight of whatever is right doing suddenly appearing in the Chief Minister’s office a couple of months out from an election? The Chief Minister gets up and says: ‘It has nothing to do with me calling the election’. Sure, pull the other one.
Answer the question: why is the former boss of the Electrical Trades Union hanging around your office a couple of months before an election campaign, if you did not know a crisis was looming? What else did they do? What is the other response of the Territory government? John Howard was out of the question, so you cannot blame him. Let us blame Barry Coulter - he gave a bit of grief over a few years. They turn up and they say: Barry Coulter had this planned - to strip 300 jobs. A plan, for what? A plan from a report that no one has actually seen, apart from the comrades at the NT News.
So the comrades blame the Country Liberals, blame Barry Coulter, and the minister jumps straight on it, like it is the gospel - the gospel according to Nigel Adlam or Nick Calacouras. They have seen this report - it must be right. They refuse to acknowledge that those jobs were outsourced.
The power crisis did not happen seven years ago, or six years ago, you could explain that away. You could blame the Country Liberals if it happened five or six years ago. However, the government has been sitting there for eight long years. They had eight long years to fix this problem. If it was a maintenance problem in the first place, the government had the ability to fix it.
It is maintenance, something that is done regularly if you have a budget for it. As the member for Port Darwin explained, you have frozen the budget for the next five years. You still refuse to acknowledge that there is a problem.
What else do you do? You start to make up funny little stories to deflect attention from the government. Like my good friend, the member for Greatorex, coming in and mouthing something – he just made it up - then ran it by the comrades at the NT News, they will print it. Then I pick up today’s paper and there is another little story about, what, somebody doing this? It is terrible that this sort of stuff happens. It is terrible, but it is a good diversion. Let us run a bit of interference, let us get the message off Power and Water. Let us come into Question Time and rattle on about INPEX, not answer a question and not take any responsibility for anything.
This government is absolutely appalling. The Chief Minister has the audacity to stand up in Question Time and say: ‘I do not know what the Opposition Leader is talking about’, in relation to McArthur River. Then the Treasurer gets up and gives a glib response: ‘No, it is an outsourced company of Power and Water that look after that’.
Ms Lawrie: I did not say that. Do not mislead.
Mr TOLLNER: It is an outsourced company of Power and Water. You and I know it is. Everybody knows it is. It is the responsibility of Power and Water and by extension, the responsibility of the minister and the Chief Minister, where the blame sits.
Members: Hear, hear!
Mr TOLLNER: Absolutely disgusting. I have never seen a government in my life that refuses to stand up and take their licks when they are coming. Absolutely appalling. When it comes to Labor, do not listen to what they say; look at what they do. They have done absolutely nothing. They have been putting all the ducks in line in the lead up to the election, to make sure that they got this election out of the way before the rot set in. They knew this was coming and they deceived Territorians the whole way through. They went in to an election campaign on the most flimsy of arguments and this is the result. An absolutely do nothing government, that takes no responsibility for any actions that they do not take.
Mr HENDERSON (Chief Minister): Madam Speaker, what an amazingly inept, loud performance by the member for Fong Lim.
Much has been said in this debate and before responding to some of the assertions and allegations made by the members for Port Darwin and for Fong Lim. I say, as I said at the media conference today, there can be lots of argy-bargy about who funded what, when, but what the people of the northern suburbs want to know is when is their electricity supply going to be restored to normal and the Casuarina Substation rebuilt, and we have a plan to do that. That plan is in place.
We have the opposition with a lot of mirth in Question Time today and cute little stunts with candles, trying to make fun of the problems that Power and Water have had. We have been diligent, serious, open, and honest with Territorians in dealing with the problem, as Territorians would expect the government and the power provider to do.
The genesis of this problem was not created overnight. To identify the precise cause of the outages at Casuarina Zone Substation, we have brought in the best experts in Australia to provide advice on what went wrong and to give advice to Power and Water and to the government about what needs to be put in place to ensure that we do not have a recurrence. That is what Territorians would want their government to do and that is what we have done. I expect that the opposition would come in here and huff and puff about this particular issue, but you would think that the way they have carried on in Question Time today, and in this Censure Motion this afternoon, that there was never a single power cut when the CLP were in government - that the lights and the airconditioning was on all the time, and there was never an interruption to power. That is not the case.
We do live in the tropics. We have a lot of our residential homes connected by above ground power lines and we are in a program of putting those underground - something the CLP have opposed from the day we started that program. Territorians have suffered power outages of one extreme or another from the day Power and Water, and prior to that NTEC, was created.
To create this illusion that there were never any power outages under the CLP belies the truth. I recall very well, in the same area of the northern suburbs, in 1999 I believe, many thousands of homes around the Tiwi, Anula, Nakara area, through to Casuarina, were out for up to 13 hours. This was a similar outage that occurred in the northern suburbs. What was the response of the government of the day? Did they come in and bring in the best experts in Australia to advise on what went wrong? Did they offer to make that report available to the public, or engage the unions at Power and Water to be part of the investigation into that matter? No, they did not. They barrelled on with their plan, conceived in 1998, to rip up to 300 workers out of Power and Water, and slashed their budget by $30m a year, to enable them to put Power and Water onto the marketplace with a set of books and accounts that looked as though the company was making money. So, even with a significant outage over 13 hours in the same area back in 1999, they barrelled on with their plan to continue to sack workers at Power and Water and to strip the budget.
All of that is ancient history for the residents in the northern suburbs who have been affected. They want to see a plan to restore the system to robust stability and that is what we are doing. However, they come in here and create a type of nirvana, that when they were in government, there was never a power outage, we never had any problems, and everything was hunky-dory. We have the responsibility to put the record straight and we are taking this issue very seriously.
I will address some of the allegations that have been made by the member for Port Darwin. He is the shadow treasurer and he is trying to make an impression. That is all well and good. He needs to understand a little more when he talks about the GST and windfall payments to the Northern Territory that we never anticipated. He says we have lived in bloody lotus land – pardon, I withdraw the adjective, Madam Speaker - that we have lived in lotus land, as a result of this unexpected money that has come to the Northern Territory. He shows that he does not understand the Commonwealth/state financial relationships, and the structure of the GST agreements.
When the states signed up to the GST, they signed up to revenue growing over time. The agreement contained ‘guaranteed minimum payments’ that the states signed up to. The member for Port Darwin talks about a $1.2bn windfall. The amount we would have received under the old system in guaranteed minimum payments - and he talks about $1.2bn - the amount of money we have received in excess of what we would have received with the same growth rates, or the same revenue inflows into the Commonwealth government under the old system, is around $163m. When you amortise that over five or six years, it is approximately 1% of the Northern Territory government’s budget that we have received, over and above what we would have received under guaranteed minimum payments without the GST coming in.
So, there has been no windfall to the Northern Territory government. We have received what is rightly our share in Commonwealth payments under the Grants Commission and the agreements signed for the GST. We have received only 1% more than we would have had under the old system with guaranteed minimum payments. There has been no windfall ...
Mr Elferink: Not true.
Mr HENDERSON: If the member for Port Darwin wants to continue with that allegation, he will only make himself look more stupid, because it is not true. We are receiving what we are entitled to receive, what we should receive, given the costs and complexities of providing services to the people of the Northern Territory.
We have been criticised for placing generators in the suburbs. We had the theatrical performance by the member for Fong Lim, carrying on about buying up all the generators around Australia and what a terrible thing it is, because the poor company at McArthur River cannot get its hands on a generator. We have a responsibility to those consumers in the northern suburbs, whilst we know the Casuarina Substation is vulnerable, to ensure they receive a power supply, in the event of another significant outage.
That is what a responsible government does. That is what the minister and I did when we were briefed a day or so after the second outage and Power and Water could not guarantee that there would not be another significant outage, which would, potentially, leave consumers without power for a number of days. I immediately said to Power and Water: ‘We have to bring in generating capacity as a backup in case that occurs’. We have to plan for the worst. Given that Power and Water could not put any risk analysis on the substation being significantly impacted again, as they did not know what caused the outage, we, quite prudently, went out and sourced the generating capacity.
However, we have been roundly criticised by the opposition for this. We have had scaremongering from the member for Port Darwin saying: ‘This is going to cost tens of millions of dollars and it is going to be passed through to every Territorian’s electricity bill’. That is not the case ...
Mr Elferink: I did not put a figure on it; I asked you to put a figure on it.
Mr HENDERSON: … $6m and if he had bothered to listen, and to read the statements from Power and Water, the queries have been answered by Andrew Macrides. Power and Water have made statements, indicating that they would pick up this contingency and it would be covered within their budget …
Mr ELFERINK: A point of order, Madam Speaker! This censure goes to honesty. I have not put a figure on what this is going to cost. I have asked the question. If the minister is going to allege that I have said it will cost tens of millions of dollars, I would like him to find me the quote, so I can see it. It is about being honest in this House; it is as simple as that. It is outrageous.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Port Darwin, there is no point of order.
Mr HENDERSON: Thank you, Madam Speaker. He did not listen to Andrew Macrides or the minister, who said $6m at the time. He continues to run the scare campaign that every Territorian will have to pay increased power prices as a result of putting the generators in the northern suburbs. Nothing could be further from the truth. This is a responsible government, looking at a risk management plan, to ensure that customers’ power stays on in the event there is another significant outage.
I also instructed the Counter Disaster Council be called to put contingencies and plans in place, in the event of a significant outage which could go on for a number of days. That is what you do in government when you are faced with unexpected circumstances - you make the tough decisions.
We are determined to get to the bottom of why this outage has occurred at this substation, and to ensure the substation is rectified. We will also audit all our other substations throughout the network, to make sure it does not happen anywhere else. Can we guarantee the power will never go out again in the Northern Territory? No. No power company in the world can guarantee there will not be outages, either intermittent or significant. That is the nature of the business they are in. It is the responsibility of government, whilst the power entity is still government owned, to ensure that they have the financial capacity to deliver the services Territorians rightly expect them to deliver - and that is what we are doing.
We also had the theatrics of the member for Fong Lim about the McArthur River Mine. I will provide some history – I know the CLP does not like history. The contracts for McArthur River Mine go back to the initial contracts that were put in place by the then CLP government - the terms, conditions, and the structures of those contracts - that Power and Water continue to honour.
Power and Water supply gas to a company called EDL, which operates and owns the generators there. Power and Water buy this power from EDL and supply it to the mine. The contracts, put together when the CLP were in power, were on low rates. Advice I have received, is that because the electricity rates were so low under the terms of the contract, there are no guarantees of power within the contract the CLP put in place.
I am advised that EDL have a rotor problem in their generator that they are trying to rectify. This has absolutely nothing to do with allegations that the government has neglected to spend money on maintenance, and therefore, the mining company cannot do what it has to do. This is about the terms and conditions of a contract put in place by the CLP, with some fairly tricky contractual relationships, and the company called EDL, which owns and operates the generators. Power and Water supplies gas to them, then takes the electricity from them and sells it to the mine. I do not know why the contract was structured like that. Ask the ministers of the day who put those contracts together. But do not say that the problems being experienced at the McArthur River Mine are tied to the problems that Power and Water have experienced in delivering power to the northern suburbs, because it is not the case.
The member for Fong Lim should get some facts together before he comes in with a big spray and theatrics. There is no history or facts in the rot that he comes into this parliament with. The great conspiracy theory that I had information and knowledge that the substation was about to blow up and we better hurry up and rush off to the electorate - you have to do a bit better than that. Next, they will be saying that we deliberately sabotaged it or something. It is nonsense to come in here …
Members interjecting.
Mr HENDERSON: Well, it is. It detracts from parliamentary debate and the esteem with which this institution should be held by Territorians. This is a very serious issue which has affected thousands of Territorians. We take responsibility for identifying and fixing the problem. But to come in and say - without any evidence at all - that I knew it was about to blow up, and that I called an early election - is absolute nonsense. To have this paraded as a conspiracy theory in Question Time, and then this Censure Motion, with no evidence - if this is the game that the opposition are going to play over the next few years, goodness knows where we are going to head.
We should not be talking about good, hard-working Territorians, who work in ministerial offices or in offices of the Opposition Leader. These are Territorians who have been offered a job and are working for ministers or for the Leader of the Opposition. To trawl names around and drag people into the political bear pit - the CLP are doing it time and time again – dragging public servants through the mud. I urge them not to go down the path of attacking ministerial staff – because I will not. They have drawn a very long bow - that I have someone working in my office, connected to the union movement, therefore, I had some secret information that the substation was about to blow up. They have to do a lot better than that, because it really is a long bow.
I remind people opposite that we are the Labor Party and we do have links to the union movement. We also have people working for the government with strong links to the business community, the health profession, the education profession, and the mining community. We have people working for us with strong links to the union movement - it is about the community of the Northern Territory, and that should be expected.
We have gone through the whole story of funding for Power and Water over the years. The facts are there for all to see. Any assessment of funding for Power and Water and the budgets for repairs, maintenance, and capital, and the contributions of governments over the years through CSO payments, tax receipts, and dividends from the company - any way you chop those figures up - will show that this government has significantly increased the budget of Power and Water in every area.. It was run to the bone by the previous government in an attempt to improve the balance sheet, so they could put it on the market, flog it off and not have a problem. That is the truth.
Territorians want the problem fixed and that is what we are doing. That is why we have the backup generators in place. I will say …
Members interjecting.
Mr HENDERSON: Outside the argy-bargy of the political debate, as Chief Minister, I give my thanks and appreciation to the very hard-working crews of Power and Water, who have busted the proverbial gut over many weeks in response to this. These are Territorian men and women, with families - I know numbers of people have been pulled off leave – who are there to resolve this problem. I say thank you to those people, the blue collar and the white collar workers, and the executives of Power and Water; everyone has pulled together as a team, to try to resolve these problems affecting Territorians. I am sure both sides of the House want to thank those workers for their contribution.
Members: Hear, hear!
Mr HENDERSON: Madam Speaker, I move that the question be now put.
The Assembly divided:
Ayes 12 Noes 11
Ms Anderson Mr Bohlin
Dr Burns Ms Carney
Mr Gunner Mr Chandler
Mr Hampton Mr Conlan
Mr Henderson Mr Elferink
Mr Knight Mr Giles
Ms Lawrie Mr Mills
Mr McCarthy Ms Purick
Ms McCarthy Mr Styles
Ms Scrymgour Mr Tollner
Mr Vatskalis Mr Westra van Holthe
Ms Walker
Motion agreed to.
Madam SPEAKER: The question now is that the Censure Motion be agreed to.
The Assembly divided:
Ayes 11 Noes 12
Mr Bohlin Ms Anderson
Ms Carney Dr Burns
Mr Chandler Mr Gunner
Mr Conlan Mr Hampton
Mr Elferink Mr Henderson
Mr Giles Mr Knight
Mr Mills Ms Lawrie
Ms Purick Mr McCarthy
Mr Styles Ms McCarthy
Mr Tollner Ms Scrymgour
Mr Westra van Holthe Mr Vatskalis
Ms Walker
Motion negatived.
MOTION
Note Statement - Casuarina Zone Substation and Power Outages
Note Statement - Casuarina Zone Substation and Power Outages
Continued from earlier this day.
Ms LAWRIE (Leader of Government Business): Madam Speaker, we have been continuing to debate the issue of Power and Water which was a subject of Ministerial Statement on the Casuarina Zone Substation.
Madam Speaker, I move that the question be now put.
Mr ELFERINK (Port Darwin): Madam Speaker, I wish to speak to the motion. We have an extraordinary situation where we have a minister of the Crown coming into this place, moving that the statement be noted and giving the most superfluous explanation of why that should occur. It is the right of every parliamentarian in the Northern Territory to speak on debates.
In the last sittings in this House, we had the government gag debate on several occasions and we now have an effective gag yet again. This government comes into this House and expects to introduce a ministerial statement, discuss the issues, and then they expect to shut that down after there have been a couple of speakers.
The argument - the very spurious argument - put by the Leader of Government Business, is that all the issues have been canvassed. I have not heard from other members of this House, other than the member for Fong Lim, the minister responsible, the Chief Minister, and myself. What if some other members wanted to talk on this particular statement which is before the House at the moment? There are a whole bunch of angles that we do not know about. The government just voted in a Censure Motion that the motion be put. So, they allow two speakers each – well, that is a normal thing that we are allowed …
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr ELFERINK: We appreciate that there is a standing convention that there are only two speakers on a Censure Motion, but it is still a motion of this House that the censure debate was gagged after two key speakers on each side. It is a convention that I am starting to have some reservations about. However, to say that: ‘Four members have spoken, we can now ignore the issue and hope it goes away’, what about the issues that the member for Macdonnell might want to raise? She may well have issues, to speak in support of the Northern Territory government or not. What about the member for Barkly? What about the member for Casuarina, who may want to speak in support of the government? After all, he is a man who has bought a generator as a result of this. What about the member for Goyder? What about the Independent member for Nelson? What about all the members on this side of the House who want to debate this particular issue?
It is an outrage that debate after debate in this House is truncated by a government that does not want to be responsible for the actions of governance. This government is trying to truncate debate for one simple reason only; they want to be in bed on time.
Members interjecting.
Mr ELFERINK: We work a 33-day year in parliament.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Port Darwin, resume your seat. I am trying to clarify what the motion is that the Leader of Government Business has put because there was already a motion before the Chair that the ministerial statement be noted. Leader of Government Business, was it your intention to say that the motion be put?
Ms LAWRIE: Yes, Madam Speaker.
Madam SPEAKER: The question is that the motion be now put.
The Assembly divided:
Ayes 13 Noes 12
Mrs Aagaard Mr Bohlin
Ms Anderson Ms Carney
Dr Burns Mr Chandler
Mr Gunner Mr Conlan
Mr Hampton Mr Elferink
Mr Henderson Mr Giles
Mr Knight Mr Mills
Ms Lawrie Ms Purick
Mr McCarthy Mr Styles
Ms McCarthy Mr Tollner
Ms Scrymgour Mr Westra van Holthe
Mr Vatskalis Mr Wood
Ms Walker
Motion agreed to.
Mr Elferink: Outrageous!
Ms Carney: I have never seen that. You have not done that before, on your own statement.
Mr Elferink: This is the fourth time, folks in the public galleries, in four days, that they have …
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr Elferink: … absolutely prevented us from talking about any issues.
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! The question is that the motion be now agreed to.
Mr ELFERINK: We will divide again, Madam Speaker, and we will now bog you down in process, so you are here until midnight every night.
Madam SPEAKER: Is the division supported?
Ms Carney: The division is supported, Madam Speaker.
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! I remind members that this is a motion that the ministerial statement be now noted.
The Assembly divided:
Ayes 13 Noes 12
Mrs Aagaard Mr Bohlin
Ms Anderson Ms Carney
Dr Burns Mr Chandler
Mr Gunner Mr Conlan
Mr Hampton Mr Elferink
Mr Henderson Mr Giles
Mr Knight Mr Mills
Ms Lawrie Ms Purick
Mr McCarthy Mr Styles
Ms McCarthy Mr Tollner
Ms Scrymgour Mr Westra van Holthe
Mr Vatskalis Mr Wood
Ms Walker
Motion agreed to.
MINISTERIAL STATEMENT
Ichthys Joint Venture
Ichthys Joint Venture
Mr HENDERSON (Chief Minister): Madam Speaker, on 26 September 2008, the Ichthys Joint Venture announced that Darwin had been selected as the preferred onshore location for development of LNG facilities for the project. This was an historic announcement for the Territory and one which could help secure our future for decades to come.
We have managed to capture the prize of preferred option for the largest single resource investment in Australian history. We achieved this result by a sustained campaign, one I am very proud of, that saw us convince INPEX and Total that Darwin is the place to be for LNG industry development, and that the Territory could provide the certainty the joint venture required to invest in the project. This is a major coup for the Northern Territory.
Despite the celebration, we do not pretend that all we do now is sit back and reap the rewards. The Ichthys team has a long way to go before a final investment decision by the joint venture commits this $US20bn project to investment. Equally, the Northern Territory government, in partnership with a broad range of local stakeholders, faces a number of challenges and opportunities to realise the potential this project has to offer the Territory, its business and its people. We also face a number of challenges to grow our infrastructure and services. I know that INPEX is keen to engage on these issues and I have put in place a number of initiatives to deal with these challenges.
I will step back at this point and share with this Assembly some of the history of this project. It shows a dedicated and personal effort by the government to secure this multibillion dollar investment for the Territory. Our engagement with INPEX arguably has its roots in the participation by INPEX as an equity partner in the highly successful developments by the Bayu-Undan and Darwin LNG joint venturers. INPEX is very pleased with its investment in Bayu-Undan and Darwin LNG, and we should not underestimate the value of this project, along with other resource projects in our recent history, in establishing the Territory’s credibility as a location for major resource development in the eyes of global companies and global financiers.
In late January and early February 2007, former Chief Minister, Clare Martin, led a mission to Tokyo and Osaka to meet with senior Japanese government energy officials and Japanese companies with a stake in Timor Sea gas and LNG. INPEX was one of those companies. Over a lunch engagement, the former Chief Minister struck up a relationship with the Chairman and President of INPEX, Mr Kunihiko Matsuo and Mr Naoki Kuroda. Ichthys was acknowledged as an important company priority, but there was no suggestion at the time that Darwin was a potential onshore LNG location for the field. Two months later, the INPEX hierarchy sent a small team to visit Darwin to assess the potential for Darwin as an alternative site for the Ichthys project.
Initial impressions from this reconnaissance visit were favourable, but there was a lot of work to be done and plenty of doubters in the INPEX camp. After another two months, in late May 2007, the INPEX team again visited, this time for a more intensive round of fact finding and a probing of the issues. Again, the report card on the Territory was looking good. We were starting to win over a few INPEX people in the Perth office, but the majority were still focused on the Maret Islands. Following this meeting, however, the engagement with INPEX intensified. Meetings become more frequent and consultants were engaged to conduct analysis of critical project development issues. Generally, those from the INPEX team who actually visited Darwin left with growing enthusiasm for the site.
This set the stage for the former Chief Minister to lead a mission to Japan from 20 to 22 September 2007, specifically to present the case for Darwin as a site for Ichthys LNG onshore facilities and demonstrate the Northern Territory government’s support for the project. The INPEX hierarchy were impressed, but still held strong reservations, despite internal advice that issues and uncertainties surrounding the Maret Islands site were mounting. Nevertheless, they were prepared to commit increasing resources to the assessment of Darwin. In the weeks that followed, discussions and studies continue to firm up the viability of Blaydin Point on Middle Arm Peninsula as a strong alternative site to the Maret Islands. There were visits by a growing number of progressively more senior members of the INPEX and Total team.
In November 2007, the then Chief Executive of the Department of the Chief Minister, Paul Tyrrell, flew to Paris to put the case of Darwin to senior executives of Total. Mr Tyrrell had established a solid working relationship with many senior INPEX representatives in both Perth and Japan. When I became Chief Minister in November 2007, I was given a briefing on the status of the project and our campaign to secure it for Darwin. I gave this project my all out commitment, ensuring that it was the key development priority for me and my staff.
In December 2007, our lobbying efforts resulted in commitment by INPEX and Total to $US30m in site related studies to bring Darwin up to the same stage of technical understanding as the Maret Islands. We were getting close to a level playing field.
To guide the intensifying engagement between INPEX, Total, and the Territory government, and to publicly demonstrate the commitment of both parties to the serious consideration of Darwin as the alternative site, a project facilitation agreement was signed on 27 February 2008. This agreement represented a new phase in the project development and was marked by a ramp-up of activities and the establishment of a high level steering group, consisting of senior executives from key NT government agencies, as well as senior Australian representatives of INPEX. The Maret Islands was still the preferred development site for INPEX, but Darwin was publicly acknowledged as the alternative site. This is the point at which we thought we really had a shot at winning the project.
On 14 March 2008, I visited Mr Matsuo, the Chairman of INPEX, and Mr Kuroda, the President of INPEX in Tokyo, to put the case for Darwin to win the Ichthys LNG project. I also met with potential customers for the LNG project, demonstrating to these customers the certainty the government was prepared to offer INPEX. These customers included Osaka Gas Company, Tokyo Gas, and Tokyo Electric Power Company. We also met with Mr Masashi Nakano, a senior Vice Minister for the Economy, Trade and Industry. The visit was also an opportunity to demonstrate at the highest level, the commitment of the Northern Territory to the project.
The level of activity from this point on was so great that I cannot do it justice here, however, I will describe the highlights. In the months following March, there was a range of high level meetings involving myself, other ministers, our Onshore Gas Taskforce, and senior representatives of INPEX and Total, both in Darwin and Perth. This culminated in a mission to Paris in early June, where I presented the case for Darwin to senior Paris-based representatives of Total. I met with Mr Charles Mattenet, Mr Eric Ferron, Mr Hugues Montmayeur, and Mr Yves Louis Darricarrere.
On 18 July 2008, the Northern Territory government and the Ichthys Joint Venture partners signed a Project Development Agreement, to provide a legally binding framework in relation to providing secure bankable title and sufficient long-term tenure for the land on offer. It was another critical element in our bid to provide certainty to the partners of this project.
Another important step towards providing that certainty was the Territory election which I called on 9 August. Only Labor supported the project from the beginning and was 100% behind it. Thankfully, we won the election and that certainty was locked in place for the next four years. By this stage, we had done everything we could to attract the project. We had argued our case, showed the company what we had to offer, and provided the certainty needed for such a massive investment. All we could do was wait.
Late on Thursday, 25 September, I met informally with Mr Kuroda, Chairman of INPEX, and other senior executives of INPEX and Total, including Mr Jiro Okada and Mrs Okada, Mr Okawa, Mr Sakamoto, and Mr Sean Kildare. Mr Kuroda advised me that he would be announcing that Darwin was the preferred site for their LNG project.
We are only part way through this long journey, but given the enormity of this part of the journey it is appropriate to recognise it in this Assembly today. It is also appropriate to recognise the enormous effort undertaken to get this decision in place.
I thank Mr Paul Tyrrell, Chairman of the Onshore Gas Taskforce, for his incredible efforts. In an industry which relies on the development of solid working relationships, Mr Tyrrell established comfortable and close relationships with INPEX and Total which meant our bid would be heard fairly. Being heard gave us the opportunity to impress.
I thank my department and the team of public servants across several agencies who have worked diligently to bring the project to this stage.
Looking forward, the next step for the joint venture is the engineering and design stage examinations. This is expected sometime before the end of the year and will launch an estimated $250m in engineering design and related studies which will last for approximately one year. It will lead to a final investment decision in early 2010.
At the same time, this project will be subject to the most rigorous and detailed environmental and planning assessments. The environmental assessment of the project within the NT jurisdiction is under way and will enter the consultation and public review stage in 2009.
Given a favourable outcome to these assessments, construction could start in 2010 and continue to 2014. Construction of the two 4.2 million tonne per annum LNG trains will be staggered by about 12 months, with the first LNG shipment from Train 1 estimated to take place in late 2014 or early 2015.
The Ichthys LNG project promises to deliver a transformation to the Territory economy with an additional 2000-plus workforce on-site and potentially a further 2000 or more jobs elsewhere in the community, supplying goods and services to the project directly or indirectly, or created by virtue of expenditure generated by the project’s workforce in additional indirect employment.
Alongside increased employment, there will be a significant boost in business activity to supply goods and services and for off-site fabrication of components for the projects. A similar boost in business activity will be driven by expenditure boosted indirectly by the project. Not only will the onshore project boost employment and business, the construction of the offshore pipeline and the construction and commissioning of offshore facilities at the Ichthys field will impact on our economy.
Training is expected to feature heavily as one of the benefits delivered to the local workforce, as well as those workers from interstate and overseas. Similarly, we expect to see improved business capability from existing businesses increasing their scale of operation, bringing in new equipment and technology and otherwise improving their ability to participate in projects of this nature.
We foresee business capability will be strengthened by local businesses forming new alliances with strategic partners. The addition of two LNG trains to the existing Darwin LNG will create a critical mass for the establishment of new businesses that might otherwise have supplied goods and services remotely from Perth or Singapore.
We are heartened by the success achieved and reputations built by Darwin businesses during construction of Darwin LNG and know that they will be launching into the Ichthys LNG project from a higher level of readiness, understanding and capability. This expansion, in all its forms, will be enhanced by the staggered construction of two trains over a period of five years this time, compared to three years for Darwin LNG.
The Territory government is making sure that the Territory and Territorians can seize the opportunities presented by this project on several fronts. We are working with INPEX and the local Northern Territory Industry Capability Network to ensure that jobs and business opportunities stay local where possible. Like other major projects, the government has asked INPEX to develop a local industry participation plan that will provide full, fair and reasonable opportunity for local business to participate in the project during the pre-construction, construction and operational phases.
The government will invest $200 000 to hold a series of forums across the Territory to ensure businesses know how to tap into the numerous opportunities over the coming years. I have great confidence the experience of Territory business through the Darwin LNG construction, Alcan G3 expansion and a range of other major resource projects in the Territory and interstate will hold us in good stead for winning contracts in the Ichthys LNG project.
On the employment and training front, the Territory government is preparing for the rising demand for skilled workers when construction begins in 2010. The government has delivered on the commencement of 10 000 apprenticeships and traineeships over the last four years and we have committed to an additional $1m to deliver another 10 000 trainees and apprentices over the next four years. At present we have a record number of VET students at Territory schools and training organisations - 22 000.
We encourage all employers to take on trainees or apprentices. The economic security the INPEX project will provide means there will be no better time to train someone in a trade or a profession. Training for major resource construction projects is not just about increasing the number of skilled workers. A significant element of the training effort is directed towards increasing the skills of the existing workforce. Workers on the project will be trained and accredited for new competencies.
The government has committed to additional resources, almost doubling the efforts to upskill workers through the Build Skills program. This will enable workers to be employed longer on the site across a range of skilled activities, and enable skills gaps to be plugged. I assure this House that there will be a comprehensive range of education and training activities to maximise the employment of Territorians on the project during pre-construction, construction, and operations.
A project this size will have a major impact on the Territory, particularly in the greater Darwin region. While the workforce may be of similar size to that employed on Darwin LNG, it will come at a time when there is significantly less spare capacity in our economy than existed prior to the commencement of construction at Wickham Point.
Since 2003, the Territory economy has been powering along, with the construction of Darwin LNG, followed by the Alcan G3 expansion, development in the mining sector driven by the commodity boom, construction of the waterfront and high-rise residential buildings, and increasing activities in both the tourism and Defence sectors.
The consequences of our rapidly expanding economy are growing pains in our skilled workforce, housing and a range of infrastructure. We are not alone in this regard. The government is taking action immediately on some issues, and putting into place effective planning in response to other issues. I have already spoken of the training we are putting in place to ensure that there are enough skilled workers in the economy.
The government is also increasing the effort we put in to attracting people to work in the Territory. Additional staff members are being put into place in a Workforce Growth NT unit in the Department of Business and Employment. Worker road shows are being conducted and we are pushing into potential worker supply across the world.
To coordinate planning process across the government, I recently formed a Territory Growth Planning Unit within my department. One aspect of the work they are doing is undertaking an initiative called Managing Darwin’s Growth. This project will provide a solid, evidence-based analysis of service needs that will need to be fulfilled by the government over the short, medium and long term.
Availability and price of land and rental accommodation is foremost in the minds of many Territorians. This is a problem we have right here and now. The government will establish four new suburbs around Palmerston: Bellamack, Johnston, Zuccoli, and Mitchell. Three thousand seven hundred blocks of land will be released. This will provide housing for around 15 000 people. The successful developer for the first release of 700 lots at Bellamack is a consortium of Urban Pacific and Brierty. To support this development, a tender for $5.7m to construct headworks for the suburb has been awarded to Wolpers Grahl. The first blocks at Bellamack are expected to be on the market in 2009. The suburb of Johnston will provide approximately 850 blocks, with 50 to 200 lots released in late 2009, utilising existing utilities infrastructure. The suburb of Zuccoli will produce up to 1750 lots and will become one of the biggest suburbs in Palmerston, with first lots expected on sale in 2010. Mitchell will be the final of the four suburbs, with around 400 lots entering the market from 2012.
The Defence Housing Authority is also developing land at Lyons and Muirhead. At Lyons, the development of approximately 700 lots is approaching the halfway mark, with 400 lots in total expected to be released to the public. At Muirhead, there is 152 ha with the potential for approximately 1000 blocks. Plans for this release are now well established.
To facilitate land release for residential development, government has created a dedicated Land Release Unit within the Department of Planning and Infrastructure, and that department has been working closely with the councils and industry to ensure quality and timely outcomes.
The Ichthys LNG project will require additional accommodation. That is why the project will develop workers’ villages. It is expected the construction village will be in or around Palmerston or Litchfield, so it is close to the construction site. Indirect employment generated by the project will require housing in the community and other developments outside the INPEX construction village.
We are also investing in additional police, building a new primary school and middle school at Palmerston, and increasing health services. The tender for the provision of after-hours medical services at the Palmerston super clinic has been advertised. Over a short period of time, this super clinic will significantly lift the services available to residents in the Palmerston and rural areas. We are also committed to increasing ambulance services in the area.
We are on the verge of a new and historic era in the evolution of the Territory’s economy. We have just notched up a critical milestone on the road to securing the largest single resource investment in Australia’s history: a $US20bn project with a five-year construction time frame and an expected operational life of 40 years. It is expected to inject $50bn over the next two decades alone; to employ over 2000 people on-site during construction and a similar number directly and indirectly elsewhere in the community; with potential for future expansion on this site and at Wickham Point; that will build capability and diversity in our workforce, skill base and our industry; that will supply Japan and Asia with a clean fuel source and will reduce greenhouse emissions relative to alternative fuels; and supplying it from a location with a stable political environment.
We are winning this project because Darwin had some great characteristics for major resource development, such as: massive gas resources in our region; a natural deep-water harbour; access to modern infrastructure including our port at East Arm, the Darwin Business Park, the AustralAsia Railway, a 24-hour international airport; and our connection to the national highway system. We have the services and social amenities of a capital city, including education and health services, access to world-class tourist icons, recreational opportunities, entertainment, and after hours activities.
We have major project experience, including delivery of an LNG plant, the Alcan G3 expansion, the port, the railway, the convention centre, and a host of mining and mineral processing projects. We have land zoned for industrial development and with secure tenure. We have a defined and rigorous environmental process. We have a can-do government, a can-do workforce, and an industrial base with a can-do attitude and experience. These are all features that place us well to maximise the benefits that will be delivered by the Ichthys LNG project, and to deliver future investment from other major projects.
Madam Speaker, I move that the Assembly take note of the statement.
Mr MILLS (Opposition Leader): Madam Deputy Speaker, I acknowledge and welcome the statement. It is an important statement. Without a doubt, this is a project of significance for the Northern Territory.
That positions were taken to achieve a political end were not reflected in this discussion when INPEX was being considered, or the Territory was being considered and INPEX was being pursued. The scope and the nature of such projects are significant and are welcome, and INPEX was never the issue. That matter has been discussed time and again.
I acknowledge the contribution of the former Chief Minister, Clare Martin. I remember when this matter was first raised. I was surprised, as were many others as it was presented, at the audacious nature of the pitch. Clearly, there are those who watch these things and the former Chief Minister received some good advice from a very senior public servant who has been involved over an extended period of time, both for this government and previous governments. Whoever that is, most likely Mr Tyrrell, I commend Mr Tyrrell for that advice which the former Chief Minister acted on. The baton was passed to the current Chief Minister, Mr Paul Henderson, who has continued with the initiative which will have profound consequences in the Northern Territory – both economic and social.
I also acknowledge the contribution made by INPEX, and particularly Sean Kildare. I attended the briefings and the discussions over an extended period of time, and they have assisted the opposition to understand the scope of the project, and to make our way through the difficult period when games were being played. We need to go through some layers regarding this decision, because government will probably - they have, in fact - jumped over a few parts of this story.
I have touched on the preliminary ones by acknowledging the contribution made by the former Chief Minister, the current Chief Minister, senior public servants, Sean Kildare, and INPEX, and the range of briefings that have been received across the board.
The next part of it starts with a comment that was made by Ms Margaret Clinch, a well known Darwin citizen, at a public meeting recently. She said: ‘The Chief Minister went to the election saying this election is about providing certainty for INPEX, but what about certainty for Territorians on a range of issues that matter’, and at a large public meeting that resonated very deeply. There is concern within the Territory community that issues that matter are not being provided the proper consideration from government in all their enthusiasm and excitement for a major project. I am not saying that the project should not occur but there is concern about the capacity and the attitude of government to make sure that the things that matter are properly attended to.
To reinforce the uncertainty that exists in our community, the Chief Minister makes a tactical decision in the lead up to the election - on the eve of the election - to advise his own community that he phoned Tokyo before he advised the Territory community that he was making the decision to go the polls 11 months early. That was a tactical error and a very disrespectful thing, in my view, to do to the Territory community.
The next phase which further reinforced the concern that exists within the community was bringing INPEX, a foreign national company, into the election debate and discussion. Anyone who has done any work in a cross-cultural context working with management and business, particularly those in our region, it is quite offensive to those who are in business, particularly those in senior levels in a Japanese company, to be brought in this way to be used as a political tool. The Chief Minister would no doubt be aware, as many others and those who are accustomed to these things, of the level of offence that was committed by bringing a Japanese company into the election campaign. They learned from that and when you look at the Western Australian campaign, they completely withdrew. That kind of attitude and behaviour by a government reinforces the uncertainty that exists within the community.
Further to that, in the seat of Fannie Bay, I have copies of glossy brochures that were circulated with the assertion that if Terry Mills is elected then INPEX will not come; that was being circulated through the community. That is a lie - but that does not matter. Games were being played, and in the interest of acquiring power you can misuse the truth, you can offend a Japanese company, you can offend your community by phoning Tokyo before you advise your community that you are taking them to an early election - no wonder the community is requiring attention on matters that are of concern to them.
No wonder, within the space of a week, there have been two significant public meetings; good meetings of good citizens who want a range of issues addressed. The first one was held by the NT Chamber of Commerce discussing planning matters. By the change of positions that we have seen emerge over the last couple of years by this government, it is clear that there has been practically no direction, there is no clear vision, plan or purpose; it is reactive and it is causing confusion. People do not know where we are going. There are certain decisions being made that are leading to an unsettled community. Announcements are being made for the effect rather than the result. We need to have those matters of direction established.
Little wonder there was a well attended meeting organised by the NT Chamber of Commerce and within the week there was another meeting organised by the Environment Centre of the Northern Territory, and for those who attended it was a good meeting. They are citizens with a range of views and concerns and it was a balanced meeting. There were members from here present: the member for Drysdale and the Deputy Opposition Leader attended. There were no government members in attendance at that meeting.
There were many citizens who expressed concern on a range of issues. They need to be listened to. If we are going to take the notion of leadership seriously, you have to recognise the concerns citizens have and respond to those. In the meeting run by the NT Chamber of Commerce, what stimulates these meetings is the recognition that a significant event is occurring in the Northern Territory that will have a profound economic impact. Without a doubt, it will have a profound social impact, positive and negative. There will be negative consequences economically - these things are not black and white. The citizens require a leadership role from government, not a spin role, not one that is just caught up with enthusiasm about this great big thing that is going to happen and it is really good. You have to go further than that.
To illustrate that most clearly, I turn to what has occurred in Palmerston recently. It was two years ago and the member for Karama was responsible for Planning, as she still is. When issues of great concern were being raised by families who could not find a place to live, let alone consider a future in the Territory to put down roots and raise a family, the hysterical response again and again from the member for Karama was that the property market would be completely destroyed if we had a flooding of the market – an exaggerated response. All that was required was a recognition that you need to have places for people to live. This is one of the effects of significant development of this kind.
There was a holding of the position, a denial of the need to release land. Pressure increased, but there was an ideological position and a line being run again and again, and reinforced by other members who are still here. Then the penny dropped. They realised, obviously by doing some polling, that the problem was serious and they needed to react so they fast-tracked Bellamack. They changed their language significantly. Once there was great alarm about releasing land; now there was a desperate need to release land. What happened to the previous argument? Was it just to hold a position? Are you serving the interests of the community or serving your own interests and holding your own position? Or working it through and providing leadership?
Then Bellamack is described and there are press releases and glossy brochures. I live in Palmerston and I have received plenty of them. The dates keep moving. Now it is 2010 before we have people living out there. But do not worry, the pressure has now increased and the position of 2007 is completely abandoned. We now need to increase the release of land because there are things happening, so what we will do is make further announcements. We have had announcements to assure people there is more land coming on stream. I have heard the minister for Planning say we have the most extensive, or some sort of hyperbole like that, land release program in the nation. Wow! We have had these statements made but there still has not been anything to show for it in Bellamack. Now we have other suburbs being announced.
People will say: ‘There you go, there is a grand announcement, we can all breathe easy’. Not unless you go and talk to people and find the pressure is ratcheted up to such a degree it is going to have a colossal social impact on the Northern Territory. There are people at middle management level who you may need for economic growth in the Territory, but they cannot afford to live here - right now. However, we are waiting until 2010 before there is some space created in the market. Nonetheless, they have talked about all these houses which are going to be built because that is a clear reaction to the concern that is in the community because INPEX is coming and there is going to be this expansion. But they have not thought it through, nor have they have assured citizens that they are providing real leadership. We have seen no action to alleviate this concern whatsoever, and the pressure is increasing.
There needs to be a different tack taken by government rather than the reaction and spin. Unless some of these members reflect on the course of their decision-making, are they going to be here to inherit the consequences of these decisions? There are people who are leaving now because they cannot afford to stay. It is a serious concern. The Chief Minister knows that the issues are not contained to the challenges and opportunities of INPEX, because ConocoPhillips, at the same time, is likely to expand significantly. That is also going to enlarge the economic and social impact on the Territory.
We talk about economic development but speak little of our requirement to lead in the area of law and order and the provision of basic services. That is the real business of a government. You can get away with it for some time, talking about all the great things that are happening, but if the citizens are increasingly unhappy about the issues and matters that concern them being unattended, they will not appreciate the things that are occurring that government says: ‘We are doing for you’, such as great big plants coming. You have to manage this in a far better way.
Anyone who has been to Port Hedland will see significant investment and development. However, there is another side to that story. If you exit the position of leadership, both in the social and economic sense, you end up with a serious problem. There are many citizens concerned that there has been an absence of proper leadership on the things that matter when it comes to this kind of development. If any member has a chance to look at the Four Corners program regarding the impact in places like Port Hedland, you should. It is not just a matter of big announcements and big things happening and getting yourself caught up in this; you are going to be held accountable for other things - the things that matter to ordinary Territorians.
Why have we not heard, with all these announcements of extra blocks of land in Palmerston, about the plan for the hospital? You need a hospital; you need that kind of social infrastructure. Where are the extra schools being planned now? Where is the enlarged capacity for power and water, right here and now? I believe that if you were talking of matters of vision and direction, you would attend to the basic social infrastructure. It is very easy to describe sections of land that have been on a drawing board since well before you came, and announce them as if it will magically assemble.
Think of Palmerston for an example. Do you think what happened in Palmerston was that a minister said: ‘Let us start Palmerston and we are going to release all this land’? What happened first was the infrastructure was put in place. A water tower was built. That sort of business needs to be attended to and you do not see that; you just see the announcement that land is going to be released. However, no reference to crossings and major arterials so kids can get from one place to the other. Is there going to be a need for a hospital? Absolutely, there is a need for a regional hospital – without a doubt – to service the growing rural area and Palmerston ...
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Distinguished Visitor
Distinguished Visitor
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: Forgive the interruption, Leader of the Opposition. I wish to advise members of the presence in the gallery of Mr Damien Ryan, the Mayor of Alice Springs. On behalf of honorable members, I extend a warm welcome.
Members: Hear, hear!
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Mr MILLS: Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. With all the talk going on, I have to ask, what about Alice Springs? What direct effect will this have on our regional communities? Has that been thought through? Will it flow through to improve our road system? What sort of story are we telling our citizens about that?
That is where we need to unlock this and say: this is exciting - about as exciting as the former Chief Minister putting her head out of the window of a train and riding into town with a big grin on her face as though she had achieved this. Well, it did not happen like that. Much more went into that. To get there and cut the ribbon when INPEX starts, and to say: ‘I have achieved this’ - it did not happen like that. There is much more to the story. You are unlocking something that will have a profound effect across the Territory, and unless you attend to that sort of stuff, you are going to have citizens meeting again and again, as we have already had the Environment Centre and the Chamber of Commerce - well attended meetings - good citizens came and spoke up.
The Planning minister left the Chamber of Commerce meeting early. No government member attended the Environment Centre meeting. So what is this about? You are probably out crafting up your next glossy brochure, or cutting your next advertisement with the reassuring tones of the Chief Minister to come out of the radio saying: ‘Hi there, INPEX is going to be great everyone, and I am the bloke that did it’, and funded by Territory taxpayers. ‘Are you all happy with that?’ ‘Oh yeah, this is great’.
I am getting phone calls about the problems people are having: people who cannot get into a house, people who cannot control bad behaviour in the streets, and the police who cannot attend. This all part of the issue. I have heard this Chief Minister describe, at a planning meeting that was held in this Chamber - I believe it was the second Economic Summit - using profound words which I thought meant something - that we do not live in an economy, we live in a community, we live in a society - the economy is a part of it.
It seems that this Labor government has got themselves all caught up and thought, this Japanese company, I helped get it here, I am really good - we will be in power forever. But that is not what it is about. That is not what we say at the beginning of parliament. That is not what our debates are about. That is not what the process of this Chamber is about. That is not what we spoke about this morning when we were talking about Sam Calder, and the contribution that he made and the legacy that he has left. It is not just about a gas plant and cutting ads and glossy brochures. It is much more than that. I cannot see anything to reassure Territorians that the things that matter are being attended to.
Therefore, I will bat it away when the opposition calls for a Territory development task force, to work it through as a community. Of course, they will bat it away. They are not interested in that sort of stuff, because they have a little unit in the office somewhere and they are pulling all that stuff together - you do not need anyone else. You do not need the opposition; they are irrelevant, cut them out. We do not need these other folk, because we have something going on of our own, we do not need to work through these things. We do not need to attend the community meetings. We do not need to front. We do not have to hold ourselves accountable. We can just pass off responsibility for these things to other people because, after all, the nature of the game is to stay in power. Well, not for the people who live in the northern suburbs, and you bat them away. Poor old Barry Coulter has copped responsibility for the power going out in Casuarina the other day. There are issues that are front and centre here.
Chief Minister, though I welcome the statement and I acknowledge that you have touched on these things, I believe the problem is going to remain because of the lack of leadership with regard to the things that concern Territorians – and a failure to attend to those matters in an imaginative and energetic way. Those issues will remain whilst you play your games on your computer.
Madam Speaker, I acknowledge the statement. I welcome the statement. I heard the words that have been spoken. I acknowledge the reference to things, such as infrastructure, but we will wait to see whether the citizens will start to be reassured that it not just INPEX that will be given certainty, but that Territorians will be given certainty over things that matter.
Mr WOOD (Nelson): Madam Speaker, at least I get a chance to speak in this House. I should start off by saying I am exceptionally disappointed with what happened before. Censure Motions have nothing to do with me; they are to do with the party that puts them in. With the statement that came up earlier, I should have been entitled, I believe, like any other speaker, to speak on that statement. However, I digress from the subject we are talking about today, which is very important. I hope this statement can go through to the end because we were given two statements tonight, they are both very weighty and important subjects and it should be a requirement of government not to worry about what time we knock off, but allow these statements to continue until everyone has had a chance to have a say. If they feel that these statements are too long, then only have one per day, but let us not have just a few people speak on them. These are important issues and the people of the Northern Territory want to hear what their local members have to say about them.
Members: Hear, hear!
Mr WOOD: That is why I am speaking now on the INPEX statement. I have called the INPEX statement a ‘tale of spin’, because there is no doubt that Darwin is growing and there will be many benefits from the arrival of INPEX and the Chief Minister has certainly said that. Most of the statement is about the benefits and how he and his predecessor and other ministers were able to win INPEX over to Darwin. That is a good story and I am not knocking it. However, if you only tell that side of the story, you are only telling half of it. You can always say: ‘What a wonderful thing this is for the Territory’, but the government should not be working on the principle that the end justifies the means.
That is what has concerned me ever since the government decided to try to attract INPEX to Darwin Harbour. We need to keep things in perspective. We know that INPEX is a company that will sell our gas to Japan and none of it will be set aside for us. I ask the government: is that how they convinced INPEX to come here? Was it not only that we had infrastructure here - airports, roads, electricity, and schools - but that the key factor was that we did not ask for any gas to be retained in the Northern Territory? I believe the Western Australian government actually asked for gas. I would like to know the detail of the agreements made between the Northern Territory government and INPEX. That is a key factor we should have knowledge about.
I do think that LNG has a future for industry in the Northern Territory, not the gas that is coming from Blacktip, but LNG. I cite the boss of Wesfarmers in Western Australia who has set up a plant in Western Australia to distribute LNG because he believes it is the future energy source for transport and power in Western Australia. I believe that we should have left ourselves that possibility as well. It is our gas. It is Australian energy. It is beholden on us as a nation to retain some of our energy for ourselves. We already do not have a steel industry in Australia because we closed it down and sold it to China. The steel picket that might have cost $1.50 20 years ago probably costs us $3 now because we send all our coal to China and they produce our steel pickets and send them back to us. We have lost our ability, I believe, to control our future. By not retaining the gas that we produce we are doing future generations a disservice.
This is short-sightedness based more on political expediency. There are more votes in saying: ‘We won the gas’, but the hard questions we really need to ask are: how did you win the gas? Did you actually leave the future of our country out of the equation just so that you would be able to say: ‘We won the gas, but we are not going to tell you how we did it?’
I am concerned that the Chief Minister may have a little of his mother country in him when he delights in the fact that Darwin Harbour will become an industrial harbour. That is a crying shame. We had an opportunity to have a harbour that was so special, that did not destroy its natural beauty, and that put its heavy industry elsewhere. We could have done something that many other cities today would be envious of. There are many cities today which have tried to move their industry away from the sea, yet here we are doing exactly the opposite.
I have lived in the Territory for nearly 39 years. I love the Territory and the bush. That does not mean I will not chop a tree down or I will not clear some land, but I will do it with some sense of sadness, because I love the bush. However, I realise that if I am going to eat something, I have to clear some land. If we are to develop the city, like we developed Palmerston, you clear some land. So, we do destroy some of our environment but I believe we do not have to destroy it when we do not need to. That is what we are going to do with our beautiful harbour.
My other concern is how this whole debate about bringing INPEX also avoids the process that got it here and it is to some extent more spin. It started when the government promised - in a letter written to the Environment Centre in 2006 - that it would do an Environmental Impact Statement for Glyde Point; the proposed site for future heavy industry. It did not do that. It was not completed. I battled my way through the freedom of information system to obtain a copy of that EIS, which does exist, but its completion was withdrawn by the government when it decided that they were not going to go any further. I was told it would cost me $1000 to get a copy of that. Freedom of information is a wonderful thing the government talks about, but you can always be stopped by the cost. I am not going to pay $1000 for a copy of the Environmental Impact Statement. Instead I have settled for the Executive Summary, which is probably much easier to read and will give me all the information I need. I can guarantee it will be a lot cheaper. I am waiting for that because I am interested to see what that impact statement says.
The government decided to reject the use of Glyde Point based on objections from the Environment Centre, The Australian Conservation Foundation, and the Amateur Fishing Association of the Northern Territory - none of whom could be said to be independent scientific bodies. They might have concerns about science, about fishing, but none of them would be regarded as independent or truly scientific. They were used to cover-up the excuse or the spin that they were not going to use Glyde Point. You have to remember that Glyde Point was always out of the equation from the government’s point of view once INPEX was in sight because they knew they could not get Glyde Point ready. So, they had to make way for INPEX to come to the harbour.
To add to that, the government then decided to rezone Glyde Point to Open Recreation - not Conservation, even though they had been telling us how wonderfully important it was to retain this area. They said they were protecting Leeders Creek, which was already zoned Conservation. When that excuse started to get a little hard to believe, the Chief Minister said it was too costly to build at Glyde Point, it would cost $500m in infrastructure. When I see the figures bandied about how much money this company is going to spend, $20bn, the $500m for infrastructure looks quite small. The government could have recovered a lot of that $500m of infrastructure by building the township of Murrumujuck, which has always been planned for Shoal Bay, and by getting contributions from other industries that were going to go to Glyde Point. That was not discussed. You can put out the spin, it is going to cost too much money - $500m - but did we get a chance to analyse that? No. It was the spin. People thought, we cannot afford that, however, we could have if we had done some planning. So Glyde Point is out of the way.
What is the next problem? We have to put INPEX in the middle of the harbour. Therefore, we had to change the NT Planning Scheme, because until late last year there was to be no LNG in the middle of the harbour and no heavy industries such as smelters. The government just decided to advertise it was going to scrap that section of the Planning Act and had a public meeting. And you know what public meetings are like. The Chairman of the Development Consent Authority sits there, hears what people have to say, he does not debate it or discuss it. He collects all that information and sends it off to the Minister for Planning and Lands, who had decided to get rid of this section of the NT Planning Scheme and then made the decision based on these submissions, regardless of what they said - and I know what they said because I was at the meetings. They all said they did not want the planning scheme to change. The minister changed the planning scheme which meant that LNG and heavy industry could now be in the harbour.
The thing that annoys me so much is that then you get this brochure that the minister puts out - I do not know how much money it has cost. We all know about INPEX - it is on the radio and in the newspaper. A little more of taxpayers’ money to cool yourself down in the hot weather; we had these before the election, now we have them after the election. This annoys me so much - the spin – the Chief Minister says in his brochure: ‘Where will it be built? On designated industrial land at Blaydin Point on Middle Arm Peninsula’. Yes, it is. But, the bit that he does not tell - and this is the omission, this is the bit that I do not like – is that it was not designated for LNG until late last year, when they changed the rules. It was designated for light industrial, similar to Winnellie.
I did not agree with that either. I fought the CLP and I am still fighting about putting light industrial in the middle of the harbour. You can put light industrial anywhere. They changed the rules. What you are doing continually - and it was noted at the Chamber of Commerce meeting - was that the land was always industrial. Correct, again. The public out there do not know the full story so they accept it - yes, it was already industrial. Well, analyse it, look at it carefully. The government is not quite telling the truth. It was light industrial; they changed the rules to make sure INPEX went there. That is what annoys me. That is what is not coming out in the debate.
Then, what normally happens, because Middle Arm is in the Litchfield Shire Council, there is the independent Development Consent Authority, which is made up of five people who independently decide on whether a planning application should go ahead, be deferred, or be rejected. They make that decision independent of government. Well, to make sure this happens, the government decided it would scrap the independent Development Consent Authority. I heard the Chief Minister say - or it might have been the minister for Planning – during a response to a question, because they were all about INPEX today: ‘We have had no short cuts in the development of INPEX’. Well, this is the classic shortcut. They got rid of the independent Development Consent Authority, and the Minister for Planning and Lands is now the Development Consent Authority - herself only. That is the short cut. The short cut now is that, when any decision is made, the minister will make the decision about the future of INPEX. I find it most difficult to believe that this is a fair, open and independent process, because the minister is part of the Cabinet.
The minister has agreed, through the Cabinet, that this is where this development will go on Blaydin Point. Otherwise, they would not be there. She will make a decision when it goes to the Development Consent Authority - which is the minister - to decide whether this development should go there. What a conflict of interest! There has to be a conflict of interest. That is why the independent five-person Development Consent Authority of Litchfield should have been retained; so that it was at arm’s length from the minister having to make a decision over this. That did not happen.
The Chief Minister has also said: ‘We will have full environmental impact statements done about this’. I have no doubt there will be. There has to be. The minister for the Environment has said that today. Again, is there not a conflict? That is why I asked where the EPA was. The minister is also part of Cabinet, the same Cabinet which has agreed for this to go on Blaydin Point. I would love to know what happens if the EIS comes back and says dredging 300 000 m3 of mud out of Darwin Harbour would be a major environmental impact on the harbour, and there are doubts about whether this should go ahead. Will the minister be brave enough to put her head on the chopping block and say it will not happen? She is already part of the Cabinet process which says it will happen.
I would like those questions answered because people find it difficult to understand how that system works. This is a classic example of where an independent EPA should have been able to make that decision. It is a classic example of where an independent Development Consent Authority should have made the decision. There is no problem with the government supporting it. There is no problem with the government backing it. There is no problem with the government saying all the good things about it. However, the process needs to be right, and the process has been corrupted. I am not saying the minister or anyone is corrupt. I am using that term to indicate that the process has been changed, conveniently, to make sure that INPEX goes to Blaydin Point. It will probably go there, with the right processes - but the government could not take that risk and is making sure the rules are changed to make sure it goes there.
That is the spin I do not like. That is the story people do not understand. Yes, INPEX will bring benefits to the Territory. There is no doubt about that - employment. I should not just harp on the history - and it is not all history yet, because we have not been through an EIS or the development consent stage - but I believe the government has to answer some other difficult questions that I believe many people are not clear on.
We already know that Arafura Resources is going to come to town, or hopes to come to town. We know that it has an agreement with Incitec Pivot, a fertiliser and chemical company. The two need to go together. We have already heard from Dow Chemicals on ABC radio saying - even though the Chief Minister said we have not had any formal approach from them - there is only one place for them to operate from if they come to Darwin – the middle of the harbour. Therefore, we are going to turn our city - our beautiful centre of the harbour - into an industrial estate. If that happens, it happens, there is nothing much I can do about that, although I still say it was a wrong decision. You can have those industries, but in the right place.
What will happen when the centre of the harbour is full? Where is the future planning for the continuation of this industry? I have not heard of anything, and that worries me. We have made a short-term decision to get INPEX here, because we did not do the planning we needed to do. I ask the government: where is Incitec Pivot? Where is Arafura Resources going to go? Where is Dow Chemicals going to go? I have not heard anything from the government about that.
The government is talking about how it is going to help develop a workers’ camp. I put it to the government: why not build a suburb? I was at the Chamber of Commerce meeting, minister - I sat next to you - and I heard you say that, and I thought, gee, it is the same day I had asked why not look at building a suburb? I spoke to Sean Kildare from INPEX, and he did not think it was such a bad idea. He did not say he would accept it, but he certainly thought it was an idea worth talking about. But the government had already made up its mind that it was going to build a workers’ camp. If we spend all that money on a workers’ camp, why not add a bit more - like value adding? We have the apple, now let us make apple pie. We have a workers’ camp, why not make a suburb? We can then sell that suburb to people on low incomes, to first homeowners, or to people who cannot get into the market. We could start it at Weddell, which is close to Blaydin Point. But, no, that idea did not come from the government, so we cannot give that a tick. At least put it forward as a possibility. I hope the minister might give it some thought, because I think it has some value. Anyway, we try.
There are certainly lots of issues, and the member for Blain mentioned some. The effect of INPEX on rent – we already have people living in sheds. There has been a debate about people living in sheds, and I know that some of that pressure has been taken off. There were some very officious people – they were doing their job, and I am not knocking them for doing that – however people are living in sheds simply because life is tough for many people. They do not have the money to build a house, and I would rather they live in a shed than on the street, or in a tent somewhere, or on a piece of Crown land in an old wrecked car. I would rather give people the chance to get off the ground by living in a shed. Why are people living in sheds? They do not have the money to buy land or housing. They probably have problems paying the rent. I recently saw a statement saying that ‘rents may have gone down in all other capitals, but not the Territory – they have increased by 7%’, I believe it was, it might have been 14%, but it had certainly gone up.
The real question that should have been debated today by the Chief Minister - Madam Speaker, am I allowed an extension of time in this debate?
Mr ELFERINK: Madam Speaker, I move that the member for Nelson be granted an extension of time, pursuant to Standing Order 77.
Motion agreed to.
Mr WOOD: Madam Speaker, what should have been added to this discussion is the social effects of INPEX coming. We do not want to gloss over them. It is very nice to say the great benefits that will come. The minister talked about extra training. He talked about helping existing small industries and the benefit of a couple of hundred extra people per week going to the movies is an extra $6000 per day or something like that. So, small industry will benefit. It was put to me recently that, in relation to small business, our economy is going pretty well flat chat at the moment - you try to get someone to do work for you. I saw the headlines of a little seminar that the Property Council has coming up. It said ‘boom or bust’ and that was very clever.
A member: Boom or burst.
Mr WOOD: Boom or burst. I believe they are saying that our economy is travelling along at full steam in many cases, and we come in with this whopping project. What will be the effects? Not only on rent and housing; what are the effects on schools? What are the effects on public housing - we are already short on public housing? It is a debate we really need to have. We are selling and knocking down public housing. If you read the NT Shelter newsletters lately - we have many homeless people. There are many people who cannot afford housing, yet we seem to be reducing the number of houses for those people. There are also the broad issues of integrating a large workforce temporarily into our community. We should have enough experience with ConocoPhillips to cover that.
It is a bit like when the Defence Forces first came to Darwin. We set up structures to make sure that those people who came were settled into the community, that they did not disrupt the community too much and that they fitted in. We need to make sure that those things are being put in place as well. It is not just about the dollars and cents. We are dealing with humans, many of them, coming to Darwin and there are social implications in that.
Chief Minister, I understand there are great benefits in having the gas come onshore. I am disappointed - and I will keep saying that we should retain a percentage of the gas. I ask the Chief Minister to tell us what the agreement was in relation to the retention of any gas for the Territory. We are entitled to have the opportunity to have some of that gas for the benefit of Territorians. I would like to believe that INPEX, as a good corporate citizen, could build a suburb in Weddell and leave that as its legacy. It is going to spend $20bn; it can leave something permanent, put something back into our society. And if there is something that is needed more than anything, it is housing.
A member: Give them the land. They will probably make a few quid on the way.
Mr WOOD: Well, they could make a quid on the land. However, regardless of how that is done, it would be a good legacy for a company.
People should be reminded that the reason INPEX is in the middle of the harbour, those nine concrete tanks - that is what could happen - which will be sitting in our harbour, and if they are as big as what ConocoPhillips has - you will not miss them. There is one thing I believe the Chief Minister either avoids on purpose, or he just does not want to hear, he keeps saying that INPEX will not affect the environment. That is possibly right. I do not believe that ConocoPhillips has had any major effect on the harbour however, there is a major effect on the atmosphere, as it pushes out heaps of carbon dioxide. We will have nine of these tanks and huge trains, and we are going to affect the atmosphere - we will affect the environment. I do not know how we are going to offset this project by a reduction in burning, because we might not have any Territory left for them to reduce burning.
We are going to have these nine big tanks, and the Chief Minister has forgotten the aesthetics of our harbour. If you read the NT Planning Scheme for Darwin Harbour, the aesthetic values of Darwin Harbour must be taken into account in the planning process - not maybe - must. Now, if someone can convince me that nine big concrete tanks sitting in our harbour, unless they are painted all prettily with lovely flowers and colours, are going to be aesthetically pleasing to the majority of people who love our harbour, I will go he.
I have never received a response from the Chief Minister. He keeps saying that the environment will be protected. I am not talking about that. I am talking about what the planning scheme says: the aesthetics. That is the bit that I have always been concerned about. We lose the beauty of our harbour and we turn it into an Altona, or a Botany Bay - you name it. We do not have to do that.
I stand here today, not because I am opposed to INPEX coming to the Northern Territory, or because I am opposed to development because I believe the Territory has to stand on its own feet eventually and not be dependent on the nearly 80% of government Commonwealth funds that comes to the Territory to keep us going, we need to develop our own industries. I say that I will always believe this should never have occurred in Darwin Harbour. It is a beautiful harbour and if you talk to the Aboriginal people who go hunting in this harbour, you will find that it is a rich harbour. Unfortunately, the harbour has been scraped for gravel. I understand that and I believe that was also a bad mistake. We had so much potential in the centre of our harbour for the community, for development around the harbour and the middle of the harbour for nature, environment, places to fish, places to walk, places to enjoy the beauty. It would have been an ideal place to have a useable national park. But we did not go with that vision. We went with the vision of short-term expediency and lack of planning.
It might sound corny. It is not necessarily anti-INPEX. But when I look at Darwin Harbour in years to come, I will say ‘rest in peace’.
Madam SPEAKER: In accordance with sessional order, I suspend the sittings until 6.45 pm for the dinner break.
Debate suspended.
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The sitting suspended.
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MOTION
Note Statement – Ichthys Joint Venture
Note Statement – Ichthys Joint Venture
Continued from earlier this day.
Ms PURICK (Goyder): Madam Speaker, I thank the Chief Minister for his statement. I have done a little research and have looked at the word ‘Ichthys’. The definition that I have received is ‘Jesus Christ, God’s son, Saviour’. It is an ancient and classical Greek word for fish. In English, it refers to a symbol consisting of two intersecting arcs, the ends of the right side extending beyond the meeting point to resemble the profile of a fish. It was said to have been used as a secret Christian symbol, and is now known as the Jesus fish, which many of us will see on car stickers.
This project uses a similar fish symbol which may be prophetic as the company has been blessed with multiplication of its assets and prosperity and has flourished. I hope that it does flourish with the project proposed for Darwin, despite Labor’s woeful handling of planning issues, particularly with Middle Arm.
On page 3 of the Chief Minister’s statement, he talked about infrastructure and how the government intends to grow our infrastructure. I am not sure what ‘grow our infrastructure’ means. I thought you grew plants, but growing infrastructure is a little new to me. I question how government is going to do this in the time frame required for this project to really be successful, given that much of our roads infrastructure is coming to the end of their economic life. The shoulders of our roads are badly damaged, particularly our highways. What are they going to do regarding the delivery of water supplies to this project? Of course, we have power needs which are under incredible strain at the moment, and there are sewerage needs.
This project will need a lot of water for its operation and establishment, more so than the ConocoPhillips plant uses. Where will government get this water from? The Darwin River Dam, as good a dam as it is, will soon outgrow its life. The dam was developed and planned in the 1960s and opened in the late 1960s. I went to the opening of this dam. The planning of the Darwin River Dam took 10 to 15 years, and we should be planning right now to have the opening of a new dam somewhere in the near future - not just sometime down the track.
Page 5 of this report talked about a report card. It talked about the ‘report card on the Territory was looking good’. I question what this report card really did show to the INPEX people from Perth, because the report card of this government does not look good. It must be a different report to what I have. We have issues with power. We have issues with our health system and, in particular, Darwin Hospital and Alice Springs Hospital. We have issues with law and order, schooling, education, land availability and affordable land. I do not think the report card is going that well.
The other key issue regarding a project of this standing is the labour force. There is no mention here about the labour force that will be required, other than its 2000 new jobs and, possibly, 2000 indirect jobs. One of the issues that is not mentioned is that the federal government has put a freeze, supposedly temporary, on 457 visas intake, until revision is done. The revision will be downwards for the number of people who are allowed to come into this country. We need 457 visas, whether they are tradespeople, semi-skilled, professionals, or people of that nature. There is already pressure on our Darwin labour market. It is a key economic issue.
Darwin still has an issue with the bumped up salaries and wages from the ConocoPhillips plant. Let us not kid ourselves. That plant did bump up wages, and good on the people who secured jobs there. I have heard stories of people who were working in mechanical workshops who became storemen at the ConocoPhillips plant and doubled their salary - and good on them. However, it has left a legacy of our salary and wages being higher than what business can sometimes sustain. This INPEX plant will most likely have a similar situation: it will bump up salaries and wages, which will impact across business and industry in Darwin and the rural area.
One of the things that government does not talk about regarding a major project of this scale, is that a business or a project of this size will affect the periodic contracts with government by contractors. These contractors will have to pay more for their skilled staff, they will have to pay more for their salaried staff to keep them in their projects, and this will be passed on to the government in their periodical contracts. That means more cost to you and me, the taxpayer.
INPEX is also a flagship project. It is a big project, and no doubt it will be a good project. We accept that and we have supported that. However, I ask the question, what concessions, what has the government given away, what will it give away to ensure that this project comes to fruition in the immediate future? The statement claims that we have massive gas resources. We know we have massive gas resources, but they are not entirely ours. The offshore oil and gas industry is controlled by the Commonwealth and they get the bulk of the proceeds of this industry. If this government was serious about trying to get the proceeds from the offshore oil and gas industry, they would be negotiating more seriously than they are regarding moving towards statehood so that we can get the full benefits of the offshore oil and gas industry.
Yes, we do have a deep water port. As my colleague, the member for Blain, explained previously, there are some serious concerns from the community regarding this project being located within the precinct of the Darwin Harbour and all that may come from this project in downstream processing.
The Chief Minister’s statement also talks about the modern infrastructure that we have. I do not think this modern infrastructure includes our road system. It definitely does not include our power system. Our water supply will be put under pressure. Darwin River Dam will be put under pressure in the very near future, if this project goes ahead, which I hope it does. If the subdivisions in the Palmerston and Lee Point areas go ahead, there will be enormous pressure placed upon our water supply.
The government does not talk about it much, but the bores in the Girraween aquifer area are also drawing down on our water supplies at a large rate. Each bore is pumping about 60 litres a second, and they are pumping that more than 15 hours per day. There are more than 12 bores. This water complements the water from Darwin River Dam, but this water, for those who do not know, is reasonably acidic and the water coming out of the bore fields is alkaline. They mix them together to get a good water mix, which is then delivered to the town people of Darwin. Do not worry about the people in the rural area with bores that are linked to this aquifer, as long as we have water that is supplied to the town people.
A member: Yes, northern suburbs.
Ms PURICK: The northern suburbs, well they do not have power, so they should have good water. Water is a finite resource, we know that, but there does not seem to be any real planning in regard to this project’s consumption and use of water, and any downstream gas industries that may also need a lot of water.
The statement talks about environmental assessment - that it should be well defined and rigorous. I hope it is, and I would expect that it should be, given the size and the scope of the project. I hope that government has their department and the EPA well organised and in order, such that we do not see the monumental muck up that we saw with the McArthur River environmental assessment. I hope that government has learned from that experience. You need to be very diligent in how you go about environmental assessment, regardless of the commodity and regardless of the companies involved.
The statement is fairly lengthy. It is a little high on the gloss and not that good on the substance, as to how it will directly impact on the Northern Territory, Darwin in particular, apart from 2000 jobs and 2000 indirect jobs. I believe we need to see a little more detail regarding planning and infrastructure and also to take into consideration the social and community impacts of such a large-scale project.
It will change the face of Darwin and Darwin Harbour. It was disappointing that there were no members from government at the Environment Centre-coordinated public meeting at the waterfront. It was disappointing that there were not too many members at the Chamber of Commerce’s Top End forum, apart from the minister who was there. Whilst I welcome and congratulate INPEX and their joint venture partner, Total - which was one of the co-owners of the Koongarra Uranium project - I hope that the government is embracing Total now - as they should have done at that time, given that they had a strong interest then, and probably do still now, on uranium as an energy source.
A member: You want Koongarra mines, is that what you are saying?
Ms PURICK: Total is involved with Koongarra Mining.
Whilst the statement was reasonably lengthy, I believe it needs, to use an expression, to drill down deeper to see what it really means for the Northern Territory and also for people in the Top End. It is a little light regarding exactly how it will impact on our economy and how government is going to be able to support such a project, so that it brings benefits to every Territorian and the Territory in the future, and not just be a project that the Chief Minister takes credit for, when really the credit is not his. It was the former Chief Minister - she was the one who started it. She obviously had the vision and this Chief Minister has come along as a Johnny-come-lately, taking credit, when credit is due somewhere else. That is typical of this government, taking credit for things that they actually did not start.
I wish the proponents well and I hope that they engage well with the community and engage with industry and business. They will probably be successful, despite the government, not because of the government.
Ms LAWRIE (Treasurer): Madam Speaker, I sincerely congratulated the Chief Minister earlier today, on the heist of the century, in convincing the boards of INPEX and Total to look at Darwin seriously.
We do not have the foreign investment decision. However, for them to say that their preferred location is Darwin has been a significant step forward. There has been a great amount of work undertaken by the Labor government. The shadow minister just said that you have taken credit for something you did not start – well, this Labor government did start that. We have always acknowledged the role played by the former Chief Minister, Clare Martin. I have heard on several occasions the Chief Minister acknowledging the role of the former Chief Minister. Congratulations to the Chief Minister for consistently, persistently and aggressively pursuing this significant project for the Territory. In the uncertain economic times we are in, the INPEX project does set up the Territory’s economy for decades. This major project is of critical importance to our economy.
The Chief Minister travelled to Japan and Paris and spent hours putting together, with the best expertise available to our government, the best case Darwin could present to the companies. He had to deal, at that time, with an opposition that was doing everything they could to scuttle the project, including the Leader of the Opposition writing to Territorians saying that the project belonged in the 19th century. This is the project that he now claims he supports and apparently this project has advanced 200 years, from the 19th century to the 21st century, in just a couple of months.
Most disturbingly, at one stage we had the Leader of the Opposition saying that INPEX would not mind if the project was not located at Middle Arm. INPEX was then forced to come out publicly and set the record straight, pointing out that they had made it very clear that the project had to be at Middle Arm where the infrastructure exists. That was extremely problematic, with confusion coming from the Leader of the Opposition regarding this project and putting out this strange take about INPEX being anywhere but Middle Arm. It was proven to be highly irresponsible at the time.
The $12bn-plus project comes at a time when we already have an economy that is extremely strong. We have the lowest unemployment on record in the nation, at 2.6%; the highest population growth in years, at 2.4%; very strong retail, consumer and business confidence; our international trade surplus has increased by $913m over the last year to a record surplus of over $2bn. It is these settings into which the INPEX program is coming.
However, we cannot be complacent. The history of the Territory has been marked by these periods of boom and bust. That is something the Labor government has articulated that we wanted to change; we wanted to bring major projects that would consistently underpin our economy, without the boom and bust cycles. INPEX is about the long-term sustainability of our economy. In the midst of this global financial crisis, we believe it helps to firewall our economy. It is a significant insurance policy against the very significant impact of the global financial crisis.
ACIL Tasman, as we have heard, conducted a report into its economic benefits. Some of the findings was that injection of $50m into the Territory economy over the decades as a result of the project, by 2015 the Territory Gross State Product increasing by approximately 19.9% and the Australian Gross Domestic Product by about 0.47%. That is a significant 0.5% increase to the entire Australian economy. International trade is forecast to boost by around $9bn once production hits full swing – that is an increase of 179%.
There is potential for inflationary pressure, however, past experience in the Territory suggests the inflationary pressure may not be as high as the value of the investment project might at first imply. For example, inflationary pressure resulting from ConocoPhillips and the Alcan G3 projects was not significant. The ACIL Tasman report outlines the benefits to local business. Importantly, the report says, and I quote:
- The high level of involvement of Northern Territory businesses in the ConocoPhillips DLNG project and Alcan G3 project demonstrated that local business can develop the capacity to participate in major projects.
…
The ability of local business and labour to service both construction and operation phases of large scale projects helps to make Darwin a competitive location relative to the more remote areas of Western Australia.
In the last few months I have had the opportunity to meet with many business people and attend various functions and I have found that, by and large, the entire business community is very supportive of this project. They wanted this government to attract INPEX to Darwin. The ACIL Tasman report noted that the LNG plant will create considerable demand for new infrastructure which brings me to my portfolios of Infrastructure and Planning.
We never shied away from the fact that, whilst INPEX will be a huge boost to our economy, it will bring its challenges. The Chief Minister has established the Territory Growth Planning Unit, to have a whole-of-government approach to undertake these planning challenges. These challenges come in many forms, for example, the matters raised by the member for Nelson, regarding where the construction workers will live, where the permanent workers will live, and what the options are. We are looking at those options. As Planning minister, I am not ruling anything out, including the member for Nelson’s suggestion that there be some opportunity for permanent accommodation for the INPEX project. I believe it provides opportunity for a mix across the range. You cannot get away from the need for a worker’s camp; a temporary boost in workers does require a camp. However, there are options that could deliver some permanent housing through the project. None of that has been ruled out and government has everything on the table under consideration. The mix of housing covers the permanent housing options through to the workers’ camp.
However, in understanding the broader effect on the growth of our community, we have identified land to develop for residential, as well as light industrial. As there are some economic spin-offs from a project of this size we will need additional light industrial land as well as the residential opportunities that it brings.
Approximately 7000 new homes are within the package of new residential land that the government is pursuing to turn-off into the marketplace. Where is that land? Predominantly, it is at Palmerston. Where does Palmerston sit in context to Middle Arm? Obviously, it is very accessible to Middle Arm and it makes a lot of sense for much of that growth to be in Palmerston. For the Bellamack, Johnston, Zuccoli and Mitchell suburbs, we have brought forward funding commitments to turn them off for availability of land. We are looking at those lots being turned into the marketplace in 2009, in Bellamack and some lots in Johnston.
The government has clearly said that we will keep an eye on the social implications of this. We do not resile from the need to provide the social and the economic infrastructure. For example, we are funding the construction of two new schools in Rosebery - a primary school and a middle school. We have a commitment to fund and build a water park, like Leanyer Recreation Park, in Palmerston. We are also committed to fund and build - and we will do it – state-of-the-art sporting complexes for Palmerston.
These social needs come with the growth that we see through job opportunities and people coming to work, live and enjoy the great Territory lifestyle that we all enjoy, particularly in that growth zone of Palmerston. Will the existing Palmerston residents benefit from this growth? The answer is yes. They will get two new state-of-the-art significant schools in Rosebery, a primary and a middle school, which will free up the existing Palmerston High School to be a senior school. Importantly, they will get the recreation opportunities they need and deserve. We have had a very strong commitment for an after-hours medical service in Palmerston, which is proceeding. There has been a call for tenders in the paper, so that will be an established practice by the time we see this additional growth in Palmerston.
In the areas of education, health, and social recreation infrastructure, the government has not only planned for all of those things to occur but it has the funding available in the budgets to proceed. It has been factored into our forward estimates in recurrent funding. It is not just that that we are saying we will do it, we have resourced into the departments to deliver those projects – this is important when you are looking at actions as well as the conversation about the subject.
In addition to the really strong growth in Palmerston, we are committed to proceeding with Berrimah Farm as both residential and light industrial and, ultimately, the Berrimah corridor, including the Berrimah prison farm site, because we will be building a new prison and getting rid of the old infrastructure of the prison at Berrimah.
With all these developments, we have said we will ensure there is 15% affordable and social housing within that, because we recognise that we need to continue to expand our public housing stock. There needs to be a range of public housing stock, from one-bedroom to two-bedroom unit complexes, as well as housing stock of three- and four-bedrooms. This is a range of public housing stock - not just one type. It is peppered throughout the entire development as good planning would require us to do. We have not had this in the past, which is why we have areas of our community that are ghettoes of high concentrations of public housing, which should never have occurred. They occurred in the past, however, our government has a very different policy setting and we will place public housing across our community.
It would be remiss of me if I did not mention the significant development at Muirhead. Yes, it is Defence Housing, but I have been in a series of very positive discussions with the Defence Housing Authority - they are a joy to work with. We are looking at opportunities in affordable and social housing, because people will want to live in a range of locations.
We cannot ignore the growth of apartments within the CBD, and that is extra stock. Predominantly, it provides for investment opportunities and provides the rental stock that we are looking for, but the action of cutting stamp duty rates across the board in my first budget was to encourage investors into the marketplace when I knew it was a tough time for those investors because of the high interest rates. I am hoping that with the Rudd government’s economic stimulus we will attract investors back into the marketplace with stamp duty cuts. We are seeing the interest rates drop and we will see a continued increase in rental stock, which we need, as well as the opportunities for first homebuyers to get into the marketplace.
As Planning minister, I will talk about the development approval process the member for Nelson, quite appropriately, raises whenever he talks about the INPEX project. Middle Arm Peninsula has been identified for many years for industrial development, going back to the Darwin Regional Structure Plan in 1984 and in the Darwin Regional Land Use Structure Plan of 1990 both identifying Middle Arm as industrial.
The Litchfield Area Plan of 1992, zoned Middle Arm to future use, and this government rezoned the peninsula from future use to development. Approximately 1200 ha of land is available for industrial development at Middle Arm. I will put that in context. The area is roughly equivalent to the size of the northern suburbs of Darwin. Much of that land is what they call inner land, it is not harbour frontage land, so there is a lot of land in that industrial zone on Middle Arm. Under this Labor government, we have seen 20 years of plans for development which were sitting on the shelves, turned into reality when the ConocoPhillips facility at Wickham Point was constructed and operating.
The conventional development assessment process will apply for those proposals on Middle Arm, similar to what applies for other divisions of the Development Consent Authority. A development application will go on public exhibition and the public will have the opportunity to comment through public hearings.
Mr Wood: Oh, come on, it will not make any difference. You will make the decisions.
Ms LAWRIE: The government intends to maintain control over the development at Middle Arm because of its strategic importance to the Territory, and for this reason …
Mr Wood: Oh, do not trust your own independence.
Ms LAWRIE: … I am the consent authority for all those development proposals.
Mr Wood: Then you have a conflict of interest.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Ms LAWRIE: This is no different to the process that the CLP put in place at East Arm.
Mr Wood: I am not worried about the CLP.
Ms LAWRIE: The CLP called this process reminiscent of Queen Victoria, however, it is exactly what they did at East Arm Port.
Members interjecting.
Ms LAWRIE: They cannot help but descend into a rabble knocking everything and whinging every time the Territory moves further ahead.
The INPEX project is a terrific project that will set up the Territory for decades to come. I congratulate the Chief Minister again on his statement, and for his efforts in, what many considered at the time impossible, bringing this project to Darwin. This government is committed to working with INPEX and our local businesses, through to the final investment decision and beyond. We are not only planning for growth, we are aggressively pursuing resource projects that provide the stimulus for growth, significantly, the resource projects that provide the revenue for this government to deliver those critical areas of human service delivery, and if you look at the size of the human service delivery areas in our budget, you will see just how significant these economic drivers are to that.
I make no apology for being a Treasurer and Planning and Lands Minister who recognises that to continue to improve the service delivery right across the Territory we need to land these big projects in the Territory. The opportunity of INPEX was seen, pursued, and delivered, against the odds, to Darwin to the stage at which it is today, where they are undertaking a great deal of work. I look forward to working with the government, as part of the government, to do what we can to ensure the final investment decision is a positive one for Darwin and for our economic future for decades to come.
We do recognise the challenges that come with a project of this size. I have not discussed the areas of essential services, but the Minister for Essential Services spoke during the debate earlier today about the work that Power and Water is doing and the discussions with INPEX about their needs. We recognise that there are significant challenges, not just the ones that I talked about such as residential, light industrial, education, and housing. I also talked about the recreation that we will be delivering for the beautiful city of Palmerston.
With these challenges there are fantastic opportunities for Territorians to have jobs, to have the comfort of a bright future in the Top End, or the Territory. I believe that the opportunities from this project will assist our government to deliver for Territorians right across the Territory, not just in the Top End where this major project will be located. I commend the Chief Minister on his statement.
Dr BURNS: Madam Speaker, I move that the statement be adjourned.
Madam SPEAKER: The question is that the debate be now adjourned.
Mr Elferink: Madam Speaker, I am on my feet.
Madam SPEAKER: I am sorry, I called the minister.
Mr ELFERINK: Madam Speaker, I am on my feet. He just moved a motion. A point of order, Madam Speaker!
Madam SPEAKER: There is no point of order. I called the Attorney-General. It is up to the Chair to call the member, not you, member for Port Darwin.
Mr ELFERINK: Are you telling me that I do not have a right to speak in this House?
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Port Darwin, I called the Attorney-General who has adjourned the debate.
Mr ELFERINK: Yes, and I am speaking to the motion that he has just put. What is this, a gag motion, Madam Speaker?
Madam SPEAKER: It is not a gag motion.
Mr ELFERINK: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Can I have this explained to me, because it is getting out of hand the way this government operates?
A member: We want to get on with your business.
Ms Lawrie: There is a matter of public importance coming up.
Mr ELFERINK: Why do you guys not finish the bloody statements you bring into this place?
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Order! Member for Port Darwin! Standing Order 71(1)(g): on the question that the debate be adjourned, there is no debate permitted.
Mr ELFERINK: Madam Speaker, this government is outrageous and the way they have conducted themselves in this place is way over the top.
The Assembly divided:
Ayes 13 Noes 12
Mrs Aagaard Mr Bohlin
Ms Anderson Ms Carney
Dr Burns Mr Chandler
Mr Gunner Mr Conlan
Mr Hampton Mr Elferink
Mr Henderson Mr Giles
Mr Knight Mr Mills
Ms Lawrie Ms Purick
Mr McCarthy Mr Styles
Ms McCarthy Mr Tollner
Ms Scrymgour Mr Westra van Holthe
Mr Vatskalis Mr Wood
Ms Walker
Motion agreed to; debate adjourned.
MOTION
Suspension of Standing Orders – Move Proposed Motion of Censure
Suspension of Standing Orders – Move Proposed Motion of Censure
Mr ELFERINK (Port Darwin): Madam Speaker, I move - That so much of standing orders be suspended as would prevent this House from censuring the government for stifling democracy and gagging the voice of democracy in the Northern Territory.
I find myself dismayed, yet again, at the repeated use and abuse of standing orders in this place to stifle the voice of the members elected into this House. Every member in this House represents approximately 4700 Territorians.
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! The government will not be taking the censure motion. This is simply grandstanding by someone who is so arrogant that he thinks ...
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr Elferink: I want to represent my electorate. I want the right to speak in this place.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Order! Member for Port Darwin, resume your seat.
Ms LAWRIE: … the opposition controls the government business of the Chamber. Well, they simply do not. They have a matter of public importance which they want to debate. We are bringing it on. Let us debate the matter of public importance.
Mr Elferink: What have you got against working for a living?
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Member for Port Darwin, you will cease interjecting.
Ms LAWRIE: We are working for a living. I have no issue whatsoever.
Madam SPEAKER: Leader of Government Business, resume your seat.
Member for Port Darwin, you have been extremely rude. You are on a warning. You have been extremely rude to me and you are on a warning. One more interjection and I will be asking you to withdraw from the Chamber. Leader of Government Business.
Ms LAWRIE: The government will not be accepting the censure motion. We have a matter of public importance that the opposition thought was so important yesterday that they wrote to identify the matter of public importance, according to the standing orders. Bring it on. We are ready to debate the matter of public importance.
The government runs government business …
Ms Carney: You delivered two statements last night and you do not want finish either of them.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Member for Araluen, cease interjecting.
Ms LAWRIE: … just as on General Business Day the opposition runs that day. They are so arrogant that they will not accept …
Mr TOLLNER: A point of order, Madam Speaker! The Leader of Government Business rose on a point of order. She has talked for two and half minutes now and we still do not know what the point of order is …
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Fong Lim, resume your seat. The Leader of Government Business has the call.
Ms LAWRIE: Madam Speaker, I move that the question be now put.
The Assembly divided:
Ayes 13 Noes 12
Mrs Aagaard Mr Bohlin
Ms Anderson Ms Carney
Dr Burns Mr Chandler
Mr Gunner Mr Conlan
Mr Hampton Mr Elferink
Mr Henderson Mr Giles
Mr Knight Mr Mills
Ms Lawrie Ms Purick
Mr McCarthy Mr Styles
Ms McCarthy Mr Tollner
Ms Scrymgour Mr Westra van Holthe
Mr Vatskalis Mr Wood
Ms Walker
Motion agreed to.
Madam SPEAKER: The question now is that the motion to suspend standing orders be now agreed to.
The Assembly divided:
Ayes 12 Noes 13
Mr Bohlin Mrs Aagaard
Ms Carney Ms Anderson
Mr Chandler Dr Burns
Mr Conlan Mr Gunner
Mr Elferink Mr Hampton
Mr Giles Mr Henderson
Mr Mills Mr Knight
Ms Purick Ms Lawrie
Mr Styles Mr McCarthy
Mr Tollner Ms McCarthy
Mr Westra van Holthe Ms Scrymgour
Mr Wood Mr Vatskalis
Ms Walker
Motion negatived.
MOTION
Suspension of Standing Orders - Proposed Censure of Leader of Government Business
Suspension of Standing Orders - Proposed Censure of Leader of Government Business
Mr TOLLNER (Fong Lim): Madam Speaker, I move - That so much of standing orders be suspended as would prevent this House from censuring the Leader of Government Business for stifling debate.
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Ms LAWRIE (Leader of Government Business): Madam Speaker, the arrogance and the grandstanding continues. It just goes to show the extent of the churlishness, and the contempt for the proceedings in this parliament.
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Ms LAWRIE: There is a matter of such importance which the opposition deemed so important that they called it on as a matter of public importance. We are ready to debate their matter of public importance. What they will not and cannot accept, is that we are the government and we are running government business ...
Mr Elferink: What you cannot accept is that you nearly were not.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Port Darwin, I ask you to withdraw from the Chamber.
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Ms LAWRIE: Madam Speaker, I move that the question be now put.
Madam SPEAKER: Is the division supported? It is supported. Ring the bells. The member for Port Darwin is allowed to come in during the division.
The Assembly divided:
Ayes 13 Noes 12
Mrs Aagaard Mr Bohlin
Ms Anderson Ms Carney
Dr Burns Mr Chandler
Mr Gunner Mr Conlan
Mr Hampton Mr Elferink
Mr Henderson Mr Giles
Mr Knight Mr Mills
Ms Lawrie Ms Purick
Mr McCarthy Mr Styles
Ms McCarthy Mr Tollner
Ms Scrymgour Mr Westra van Holthe
Mr Vatskalis Mr Wood
Ms Walker
Motion agreed to.
Madam SPEAKER: The question now is that the suspension of standing orders be now agreed to.
The Assembly divided:
Ayes 12 Noes 13
Mr Bohlin Mrs Aagaard
Ms Carney Ms Anderson
Mr Chandler Dr Burns
Mr Conlan Mr Gunner
Mr Elferink Mr Hampton
Mr Giles Mr Henderson
Mr Mills Mr Knight
Ms Purick Ms Lawrie
Mr Styles Mr McCarthy
Mr Tollner Ms McCarthy
Mr Westra van Holthe Ms Scrymgour
Mr Wood Mr Vatskalis
Ms Walker
Motion negatived.
MATTER OF PUBLIC IMPORTANCE
Relocation of Aeromedical Services to Katherine
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, I have received the following letter from the member for Katherine:
- Madam Speaker
For discussion this day, the following definite Matter of Public Importance:
The need to immediately relocate Air Med services back to Katherine and recommence night-time Air Med flights from Katherine and take all steps to provide the safety conditions necessary to allow for these flights.
Yours sincerely
Member for Katherine
Is the matter of public importance supported?
Ms CARNEY: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Sorry, but we have not resumed our seats. We were not afforded an opportunity in the event that we were minded to do so.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Araluen, resume your seat please, I am speaking.
Ms Carney: We have not resumed ours, Madam Speaker.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Katherine, is it supported?
Mr WESTRA van HOLTHE: Yes, Madam Speaker.
Madam SPEAKER: Can I have members to show it is supported. Thank you very much.
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order, order! Member for Katherine, you have the call.
Mr WESTRA van HOLTHE (Katherine): Madam Speaker, on 21 July 2004, the then NT Minister for Health, Dr Peter Toyne, issued a media release titled: ‘Health Contract Takes Off’. He was referring to an upgraded and enhanced aeromedical service, at the start of the 10-year service contract with Pearl Aviation. I wonder if Dr Toyne would be surprised to know that a quarter of his health contract, touted as having taken off, is now effectively grounded largely due to inaction and an uncaring attitude by both the Northern Territory and federal Labor governments.
The issue of aeromedical services in the NT is of great importance to the residents of Katherine and its regional areas. It is also of great importance to everyone in the Northern Territory. I believe it would take a fool to deny the importance of this as a significant issue to Territorians. Our population is quite mobile. We like to travel around our great Territory and our travels take us into remote parts. Likewise, we have hundreds of thousands of visitors to the NT each year, many of whom travel by road from west, south, and east. By the very nature of our major road system, many people will find themselves in remote localities, even when they are travelling on our major highways.
Our remote areas away from main roads are, to a degree, buzzing with activity. The burgeoning tourism industry and the horticultural and agricultural industries take many people into places that are not easily accessible by land vehicles. Inevitably, and by the very nature of the activities undertaken in many of these remote locales, accidents happen and sometimes they result in death or serious injury. Residents of the NT and visitors to our Territory should be scared, in fact, they should be petrified and incensed that their lives are so at risk, should an accident befall them anywhere outside a major centre.
It is the government’s responsibility to provide essential health services to remote, as well as regional and urban centres. Without doubt, this Labor government has been sitting on its hands in providing health services to all Territorians. The scale of the problem is enormous and widespread. One only has to look at the RDH debacle, the shortage of doctors in Katherine and other hospitals, and that Katherine has lost its night capability for air-med evacuations and that there is no rotary wing rescue capability for remote areas of the NT.
The Tindal Airbase is 15 km south of Katherine. The airstrip facilities are shared with private and commercial services and the civilian terminal on the opposite side of the airstrip. This side of the airstrip is where the air-med services operate from. Over the last couple of years, the Department of Defence erected a rather substantial security fence around the perimeter of the defence area. Unfortunately, and possibly through a lack of foresight, or because of a lack of knowledge, the fence trapped a population of agile wallabies, along with nailtail wallabies and euros. This basically formed a trapped population with nothing to do apart from eat, sleep and breed. Soon enough, the population of macropods reached to a point where they severely impinged on the airstrip, causing hazards for arriving and departing aircraft.
I am advised that military aircraft have, in the past, collided with wallabies during hours of darkness. This had apparently caused a cessation of night time operations for a period of time. Unfortunately, the King Air aircraft, operated by Pearl Aviation, also collided with a wallaby in November, 2007. Pearl Aviation, the sub-contractors for air-med services in the top end of the Territory, quite rightly, based on considerations on the safety of their crew, of their medical personnel and patients and the aircraft, decided to suspend night time operations.
It has become apparent that there was a culling or relocation plan put into operation by Defence and anecdotally, the macropod population was reduced to a point where Pearl recommenced night time flights. This continued for a period of time before a near miss with a wallaby caused the cessation of night flights once again. Since the collision in November 2007, there have virtually been no night medical evacuations and no night operations from Katherine to remote areas. This is almost one full year without this vital service and it is not going to get any better in the short-term. The air-med problems are not limited to fixed wing evacuations.
In October 2006, Adrian Phillips, a pastoralist from the Katherine region, had a bull-catcher accident at Conways Outstation, which is about 200 km south-east of Katherine, on the Central Arnhem Road. Mr Phillips had a bull-catcher roll over him; the rollbar crushed his chest and he had suspected spinal injuries. The vehicle came to rest on his foot and ankle, virtually de-gloving his foot. Mr Phillips was operating with a helicopter in the area and a call was put out for a proper air evacuation. It was a call that went unfilled by a DMO operating from goodness knows where. Mr Phillips waited several hours for an ambulance and he was finally moved along 120 km of rough dirt road. I ask: would you or your family endure a ride like that in those conditions? Perhaps the Health Minister would like to ride the ambulance under those conditions. Mr Phillips endured that ride only because he was given eight injections of morphine in the space of two-and-a-half hours to deal with the pain from his injuries. Where was the rotary wing aircraft in this situation? A helicopter flight would have taken somewhere in the vicinity of 40 minutes from Katherine; a properly equipped and staffed machine would have been a more desirable method of transporting Mr Phillips.
Last month there was another bull-catcher accident, this time just out past Barunga, on the Central Arnhem Road and about 20 minutes flying time from Katherine. In this incident, the bull-catcher rolled and a man was killed, although I am led to believe not immediately. Another man had a bull-catcher roll on him and he also had suspected spinal injuries. Ironically, these two men were working for the same Mr Phillips who was involved in that accident back in 2006. A helicopter was working with these men and landed to provide assistance. Thank goodness for satellite phones. A 000 call was put in to report the incident. That was at about 4.45 pm. At the time, it was explained that the location of the accident precluded evacuation by wheeled transport and a request was put in for a helicopter to attend as this was the only way to reach these men.
I will whip through the time line from that point. Mr Phillips spoke to the 000 operator and he explained the situation. He was told that an ambulance would be sent. He called 000 again and was told the DMO would call him back regarding his request for a helicopter. He again explained the situation in relation to the helicopter rescue and was told he would be called back. After half-an-hour when no call was received from the DMO, Mr Phillips again called 000 and was finally put through to RDH and spoke to the DMO. He requested a helicopter and was told that there was either none available or there were no pilots to fly out of Darwin. He gave the exact latitude and longitude, offered the use of his Robinson 22, which was onsite, to fly back to Katherine and pick up a doctor to go back to the scene to provide medical support. His offer was refused.
I need to paint a picture here. This is not a political stunt or a statement. There is a real human side to this tragedy. There is a rolled-over bull-catcher in the scrub. One man lies dying and the other is, potentially, seriously injured with suspected spinal problems, the roll-bar having rolled on top of him. The injured man is lying in the bush and cannot be moved. The dying man is still breathing at that stage and after about 15 minutes, stops breathing. The helicopter pilot now begins to give CPR to the dying man. One man injured and one man being given CPR by a friend and work colleague. He continues with the CPR, expecting to hear from Mr Phillips that help is coming. However, no help was coming.
I will quote from Mr John Armstrong Jnr, the person giving CPR. He told me:
- We commenced CPR some 15 minutes after the accident when the man stopped breathing. We continued until we were told no one was coming. Then we had to let the man die.
I go now to the fixed-wing situation. Without trying too hard, one can come up with a number of incidents where night medical evacuations have not taken place in circumstances where they should have. Earlier this year, a man died at Lajamanu of kidney failure. The man was a renal patient who checked himself out of the hospital, and it was many hours before a plane could come from Darwin to pick him up. Arguably, a flight from a Katherine-based aircraft might have reached him sooner and he might have survived.
Just two months ago, a teenager in Katherine broke his femur in a motorcycle accident. This is a life-threatening injury. The femur is the bone at the top of a person’s leg, which carries about a litre of blood. A broken bone can, potentially, sever or damage a femoral artery, which is almost a certain death sentence. He was unable to be airlifted to Darwin because this accident happened in the late afternoon and a plane coming from Darwin could not have landed in Katherine before dark.
In another incident reported on the ABC’s Country Hour in March this year - and I quote from the article:
- ‘Our daughter was involved in a car rollover accident coming back to Katherine and had to be admitted to Katherine Hospital, but because of her injuries needed to be airlifted to Darwin that night.
The plane is no longer based in Katherine due to the wallaby problem, so we had to wait until the morning, when we still couldn’t be guaranteed that a plane would be available.
We couldn’t be guaranteed a plane because the plane is based in Darwin. There are only two and they need to service the whole of the Top End. There was no guarantee that something else might have come up overnight and the plane diverted there’.
Now comes the time to try to sort out the mess, associated with why these essential services are not in Katherine right now. It would be easy to blame Pearl Aviation because, ultimately, the decision to land or take off after dark lies with their pilots and senior staff. However, there is much in the background that needs to be examined.
This problem seems to have had a beginning in November 2007 when Pearl Aviation withdrew its night operations. Since that time, the Defence department has undertaken some programs for culling and/or relocation of macropods in the affected area. This has not worked - or has it? I now refer to a report of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Works which is dated June 2008. At pages 27 and 28 of the report, reference is made to the wallaby situation at Tindal. For the sake of brevity, please allow me to paraphrase certain parts of that report.
The report acknowledges that Defence and air-med ceased night flights, due to the risk of collision with wallabies. Surprisingly, the report also stated that media claims that the existing fence was responsible for increased risk of accidents were exaggerated. The committee had concerns that any new fence would not adequately prevent wallabies from entering the area.
I will now quote directly from the report for its finding in relation to this matter, which is at paragraph 5.21:
- The Committee is satisfied with the wallaby management plan at the Base and considers that the wallaby population does not pose a significant issue for the proposed extension of the perimeter fence. Further, Defence considers that it is now safe for the Northern Territory Department of Health to resume emergency medical evacuation flights to and from the Base.
That was in June this year. Why, in light of this report, have night time air-med operations not returned to Katherine? When I met with Pearl Aviation’s Head of Operations in August this year, two months after the Public Works committee report was made available, they had been advised that the wallaby situation was still at a level where Pearl Aviation would not recommence its night operations.
In August this year, Mrs Helen Armstrong of Gilnockie Station, to the south-west of Katherine, e-mailed the Health Minister regarding the air-med issue. She pointed out to the minister that her husband and another worker had been injured in a trampling incident with a number of cattle. One of the men had been knocked unconscious, and both had suspected spinal injuries. After much toing and froing, both patients were air evacuated more than five hours after the incident.
Is it not interesting that Mrs Armstrong could have driven both those patients, if they were capable of being transported by road, to the Darwin hospital from Gilnockie Station in the same time it took them to get a plane? Arguably, this evacuation could have occurred far more quickly if the plane had been based in Katherine on that day. Not only that, but there was an issue about whether the plane could land on the Gilnockie airstrip, and raised the issue that there is no list that is readily available for pilots, about the condition of their strip or, for that matter, other strips in the area.
To add insult to injury, this e-mail, which was dated 20 August 2008 - two months ago - has only received from the minister’s staff the obligatory, ‘We received your e-mail’ response. The Health Minister has not bothered to reply, in any meaningful way, to Mrs Armstrong’s e-mail. Minister, that is no way to treat people from the bush.
I have been told on a number of fronts that there would be a fence and that the expected completion date is December 2008. Is there not a report that says that there is no wallaby problem? So why do we need the fence?
In early September, I wrote to the Minister for Defence, the Honourable Joel Fitzgibbon, and asked him for his take on all of this. After no reply for three weeks, I wrote to him again and, finally, I received a reply from his Parliamentary Secretary explaining that the fence was going to be built with an expected completion date of April 2009. That is 17 months after the effective cancellation of night air operations out of Katherine. Hang on, did not the Standing Committee report say there was no wallaby problem, so why the fence? This whole situation is a complete debacle. The federal minister does not seem to know what his federal committees are saying.
I want to quote one thing from the letter by the Honourable Dr Mike Kelly, who is the Parliamentary Secretary for the Minister for Defence:
- The decision to resume fixed-wing night aero medical services at RAAF Tindal remains with the Department of Health and Families in consultation with their subcontractor Pearl Aviation.
The Standing Committee on Public Works and the office of the Minister for Defence has squarely placed responsibility back on the NT Health Minister to take a hands-on approach and show some leadership. In light of the fact that on one hand the federal government says there is no wallaby problem, and on the other hand the federal government sees the fence to keep the wallabies - the ones that are not a problem according to the Standing Committee - half the problem here is passing the buck of responsibility. Pearl says that they cannot conduct night operations because of the wallabies. Defence says there are insufficient wallabies to cause a problem and the services should resume. The Defence Minister says that there is going to be a fence built because of the wallabies, and the Health Minister has largely been absent from the debate thus far. It appears to the population of the NT, and this certainly relates to residents of Katherine, that the minister has been hiding in the background on this issue and failed to show any signs of leadership whatsoever.
If the report says there is no problem, then why has the minister not directed Pearl Aviation to recommence flights out of Katherine? If Pearl Aviation refuses to follow the directions of the minister, then perhaps this minister, this government, should seek the services of a subcontractor that will.
However, it is not all bad news. Just recently a man was airlifted by the Royal Flying Doctor Service, operating out of Alice Springs, from Supplejack, approximately 300 nautical miles from Alice. This was done in approximately two hours, which is quite exceptional - congratulations to them.
The Health Minister is clearly failing Territorians in the Katherine region, in the delivery of remote medical services. It is time to take responsibility and make some decisions, minister, if you can.
Going back to Dr Toyne’s media release, nearly half of the release related to Katherine. Obviously, Dr Toyne thought these services out of Katherine were important. Do you share his views, minister? And why are Katherine locals languishing without proper air-medical services?
Dr BURNS (Health): Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Katherine for bringing on this MPI - even though some of his colleagues were more interested in playing peripheral games - because it is a very important issue.
I commend the member for representing the people of Katherine by bringing this matter into the House, and setting it down as a matter of public importance. You have put a very good case and moved through many of the issues, member for Katherine. I will now respond with what the government has been doing, how to move forward, and to address some of the facts, or alleged facts, raised by yourself and also the member for Greatorex.
I acknowledge that the current arrangements are not ideal. The temporary relocation of air-med planes from Katherine has undeniably affected our ability to facilitate evacuations from remote communities and hospital transfers in the Katherine region. My advice is that the strike of a wallaby on the air-med plane occurred in August 2007, not November - that is a minor point. The front wheel and landing gear were damaged in the strike, but thankfully, the flight was able to land safely in Darwin, albeit with some difficulties. As you pointed out, in November 2007, a Katherine air-med aircraft again flicked a wallaby and sustained minor damage. Pearl Aviation is contracted to operate Top End aeromedical retrievals and following these strikes and other sightings, the company informed the Territory government that the large captive population of wallabies and kangaroos did pose a safety risk and that they would suspend night time flying.
Since that time I have been working closely with the federal government in an attempt to resume the safe operation of services out of Tindal. A large security fence has been constructed around Tindal, and we all understand the reasons for that. However, that fence has acted as a trap and a breeding compound for wallabies, and exacerbated the problems. We have also implemented contingency measures to ensure the safe and urgent medical care of Katherine patients.
This is a difficult and complex issue to resolve. It is not a matter of immediately relocating such services back to Katherine and resuming night time operations, as you suggest in your MPI. A responsible government cannot make empty statements; we need to take action that takes into consideration the needs of remote communities, pastoralists, and the residents of Katherine, without jeopardising the safety of patients, aircrew and medical personnel.
Tindal Airport is a Defence facility. I have written to federal Defence Minister, Joel Fitzgibbon, and I have also spoken to Warren Snowdon, to ensure that the strip is able to be used for aeromedical retrievals as soon as possible. The federal government is responding by repairing the external fence. I was advised last week that the completion of the internal fence is scheduled for early 2009. Defence has also conducted a recent cull on the property, removing 236 wallabies, and is undertaking habitat alteration to drive the animals from certain areas.
Despite this action, Pearl Aviation has recently advised the Department of Health that it still considers the situation too risky to undertake night operations at Tindal. This advice was received last week. At one point you said that we cannot compel Pearl Aviation to undertake these flights and you are right - that is the bottom line. If they do not want to undertake these flights, the government cannot compel them to take these flights. You said that we should remove the contract from Pearl. I do not believe that is the way forward, member for Katherine. I believe we need to negotiate and keep talking with Pearl and we need to make sure that these flights are resumed as soon as possible. If you want to go down to Pearl and tell James Paspaley that the government should take the contract off them - you go and do it, member for Katherine. I am not going to do it, because I am engaged with Pearl Aviation, they are a long-standing Territory company and they are trying to do the right thing. However, they have the responsibility to balance the interests of the safety of their aircrew, the patients, and the medical staff on those planes. In the end, it is their responsibility.
Nonetheless, given the position of Pearl, I have directed the department to rapidly implement contingency plans to reduce retrieval times into and out of Katherine. Pearl Aviation has, during times of extreme necessity, and on a case-by-case basis, flown into Tindal airstrip at night under a medical emergency - med 1 classification - as authorised by the chief pilot, in collaboration with the Northern Territory Aeromedical Service. These types of retrievals are undertaken in conjunction with the Tindal fire department, which sweeps the airstrip to clear it of wildlife just prior to the aircraft landing. Aeromedical Services is also utilising commercial helicopter charters and St John Ambulance for night evacuations of seriously ill patients. Three helicopter companies, along with the Defence helicopter, have entered into an arrangement with the Health department, since the advice was entered into and given by Pearl last week, to provide access on a case-by-case basis in the Katherine region at night.
These helicopters have a 20 minute fit-out time frame and a flying time of 1 hours from Darwin to Katherine, one way. It is estimated that they will conduct one helicopter retrieval per month, on a case-by-case basis. Northern Territory Aeromedical nursing and medical staff are fully trained for the helicopter retrievals and form the medical crew for all retrievals undertaken in the Top End. Of course, helicopters have a much reduced range for retrievals. They can only cover a radius of approximately 250 km. They are also slower and smaller than fixed-wing aircraft and carry less medical equipment and fewer passengers. Therefore, helicopters are not the sole solution to the wallaby problem.
I am advised that since aeromedical retrievals were temporarily relocated away from Katherine, there have been a number of patients requiring urgent medical care who have been stabilised in Katherine before being flown to Darwin. I stress that these problems at Tindal have not compromised patient care. We have worked hard to ensure the level of urgent medical evacuations is maintained in these difficult circumstances by a variety of means.
The member for Katherine mentioned a number of incidents. I believe Diamond Creek was one of them and Gilnockie Station was another. He also mentioned a couple of others. These are also issues that have been raised publicly by the member for Greatorex in the Katherine Times. I have acknowledged publicly that there needs to be an improvement in aeromedical retrievals and services throughout the Territory. I am not resiling from that but I think it is very important to recognise some of the facts of these matters. As you pointed out, people do live very remotely. The incident at Diamond Creek, these people were involved in mustering buffalo. I know, from my own experience of living out in Arnhem Land and buffalo hunting, that a wounded buffalo and one that has been pursued, can turn on quite a large vehicle and do a lot of damage. It is a very dangerous enterprise, to be mustering buffalo.
The member for Greatorex said they were in a car crash - they were not in a car crash. He also said that they could not be collected by commercial helicopter, and I quote from the Katherine Times: ‘presumably, because of insurance and liability issues’. No, that was not the issue.
Mr Conlan: That was why the DMO would not give them permission for a doctor to get into the helicopter.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr Conlan: Read the media release.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Dr BURNS: Madam Speaker, an evacuation helicopter …
Mr Conlan interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Dr BURNS: Let me finish. Let me speak and then you will have your turn, member for Greatorex. In terms of this particular incident, there was no availability of a helicopter, crew or pilot to undertake this particular evacuation. That is the truth of the matter. One thing that has not been emphasised in the Diamond Creek issue, it said the man later died - he went to Katherine hospital and later died. As the member for Katherine pointed out, one man did die tragically, but it was at the scene of the accident and 30 minutes after the accident - a very tragic incident, indeed.
These people were not unattended. I am advised that two registered nurses travelled from Barunga to attend. It did take them over two hours to get there due to the state of the dirt track. Later, a senior medical officer was transported to the scene. It was not as though the people at this scene were without any medical or professional support during this incident …
Mr Conlan interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Member for Greatorex!
Dr BURNS: It was a very tragic circumstance. The man from Diamond Creek did not actually go to Katherine Hospital; he was transported to Darwin Hospital. There are a lot of factual errors in this story, and it is very important to get these facts right.
Regarding Gilnockie Station, the member for Katherine asserted that I had not replied to Mrs Armstrong. I have a letter dated 16 October, that I sent …
Mr Conlan: Just the other day.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Dr BURNS: You can raise your hands in the air, member for Greatorex ...
Mr Conlan interjecting.
Dr BURNS: You can do that, member for Greatorex, but there is an assertion that there was absolutely no reply to this letter, which is not true ...
Mr Conlan: He did not say that, anyway.
Dr BURNS: Yes, he did.
Mr Conlan: No, he did not.
Dr BURNS: He did.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr CONLAN: A point of order, Madam Speaker! No, he did not. He said he did get a reply, it was a typical: ‘Thank you. We have your letter’ reply. Check the Hansard, minister.
Dr BURNS: Madam Speaker …
Mr Conlan interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Member for Greatorex, you will cease interjecting and you are on a warning. Minister, please continue.
Dr BURNS: Thank you, Madam Speaker. We have to get some facts right here. As I outlined in the letter to Mrs Armstrong, that airstrip had not been accessed by Northern Territory Aeromedical Services for the past five years. Member for Katherine, there is a list held by NTAMS regarding airstrips they have accessed in the past five years. Beyond that, they do not have a list.
However, there are lists kept by federal authorities: The South Australia and Northern Territory Country Airstrip Guide, and another called the En Route Supplement Australia, or ERSA. As part of their training, pilots are usually made conversant with these two guides. These two guides are a federal responsibility. They assume that most people who are involved in aviation, or who have aviation coming on a regular basis to their airstrips, would know about these particular lists and publications.
Nonetheless, as I said in my letter to Mrs Armstrong, it is a failing that people - pastoralists and others throughout the remote Northern Territory - are not aware of these lists. Therefore, I have taken it upon myself to contact the federal authorities to ensure people are aware that they need to have their strips assessed by these lists so they can be accessed easily by Northern Territory Aeromedical Services.
There are literally hundreds of strips, private and otherwise, throughout the Territory. The paramount concern of aeromedical services and Pearl Aviation is to ensure the safety of the crew, the medical staff and the patients. If a strip does not appear on the Northern Territory Aeromedical list, they try to ascertain the state of that strip, and they may undertake a flyover, which was part of the delay in the evacuation from Gilnockie Station.
Regarding the Cornish review, as members would be aware, I have acted to address concerns regarding aeromedical flights across the Top End, including the Katherine region. I have been very receptive to concerns raised with me by a number of different groups, including Aboriginal medical services, particularly Katherine West and Sean Heffernan who wrote a letter to me earlier this year regarding his concerns about delays in evacuations of patients at those particular clinics. Also, as members have alluded to here, concerns have been raised by the Cattlemen’s Associations and other members of the public.
In mid-August I moved to commission Mr Cornish, a nationally respected aviation expert who has worked closely with the Royal Flying Doctor Service – he was already undertaking a review of the contractual arrangements between the Northern Territory government and Pearl Aviation - to look at the needs of aeromedical services within the Northern Territory. His review is under way. The government is committed to taking those recommendations by an independent expert, to step up to the plate and put whatever resources or structural changes are required to implement them, to improve our aeromedical services and retrieval services, particularly in the Top End. This is not a matter of sweeping something under the carpet. I have publicly acknowledged that there are gaps and deficiencies that have arisen in the service. It is very important that we get to the bottom of this, that we get an expert, who is completely independent, to advise government on what is required. He is currently finalising his independent investigation and recommendations. There is also a fair bit of detail contained within the report, and I am aware that Mr Cornish is involved in ongoing discussions with the current service provider, Pearl Aviation, on some aspects of this detail.
I have also directed that Mr Cornish and the department receive a short extension on the report’s delivery to government to ensure that all consultations and considerations are taken fully into account. I will reiterate the undertaking that I gave to publicly release the recommendations of the report Mr Cornish makes to government. I intend to have, as quickly as possible, government’s responses to those recommendations - so government is moving quickly. This is large undertaking. It is a crucial undertaking, as the member for Katherine has outlined. There will probably be very substantial resource implications for government, but government will not baulk at that. I have said that publicly. We need to have a comprehensive response to the recommendations put to us by Mr Cornish.
I assure this House that this government takes the provision of medical services, and aeromedical retrieval services in particular, very seriously, and we will be doing whatever is necessary to fix the current system. We need to get it right. The commitment of government is to step up to the plate and act to do what is necessary, based on independent, expert advice from the aviation consultant.
In closing, I thank the member for Katherine for bringing this matter into the parliament. An MPI is a very suitable way for you to put your case and the feedback that you have had from people in your electorate in the region. It is also a suitable way for me to stand up, as Health Minister, to put the government’s position on what it is doing in relation to this matter. I would like to work with the member for Katherine when the Cornish report comes down. I would like to sit down and discuss that and a way forward in terms of the Katherine region in particular.
Madam Speaker, I close on that note and, once again, thank the member for Katherine.
Mr CONLAN (Greatorex): Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Katherine for his MPI. It is a very important issue facing all of the Northern Territory - right across the Territory - not just the northern part or the Top End, you might say that large population basin, but those in the southern part of the NT as well. For population purposes, I guess we can constrain this argument to this northern basin around Katherine and the Top End.
It goes back to the credibility of the Health Minister at the end of the day. We have been through this before, and we do not need to go over it again, however, I do question how you can believe anything the minister says. Listening to him, he does seem to be genuine about the concerns of aeromedical and search and rescue aircraft in the Northern Territory. Let us hope he is.
It is interesting that he mentioned contracted helicopter services; I believe it was three that he said. I would like to know who they are, because according to aviation industry experts, there are not any. There is no helicopter servicing the Northern Territory. We have one in the RAAF at Tindal, but that is on a ‘where available’ service. If the RAAF is not in operational mode in Katherine, if it is out of hours, the pilots are out of hours or not there, if it is in Darwin, or as was the case with the situation at Gilnockie Station - the helicopter was sitting on the deck and could not be used - it is not reliable. I would like to know who these other contractors are, because aviation experts and industry experts in the Territory feel that there is not a helicopter to service the Northern Territory on a full-time basis - three helicopters covering the 24-hour spectrum.
I want to clarify a couple of areas. The minister said I mentioned a car accident - he is splitting hairs. It was a car and it was an accident, so I suggest that it was a car accident.
A member interjecting.
Mr CONLAN: Yes it was. It was a Toyota four-wheel drive and it rolled over. To clarify the situation with the Katherine Times article, the District Medical Officer in Darwin did not allow a doctor to be flown by an experienced commercial helicopter pilot. That is a fact, minister. That is what happened. They phoned the DMO in Darwin. They phoned 000 first, and then they contacted the DMO in Darwin and the DMO said: ‘No, we will not allow a doctor to be picked up from Katherine Hospital and taken for a 20 minute flight to the accident site’. That prompted my media release to suggest that we could have a database of experienced, trained commercial helicopter pilots.
There are many mustering pilots across the Northern Territory. They have their R22s or R44s. We are not suggesting taking a whole swag of search and rescue gear like stretchers and vehicles. We are talking about a doctor with a bag being airlifted into an accident site, particularly like this one, to offer primary health care - control bleeding and administer drugs. I believe, after talking with these people - I have not got the time line with me, perhaps the member for Katherine could help - it was about four or five hours before that particular person was administered any pain relief.
Members interjecting.
Mr CONLAN: It was 14 hours before he got to RDH. It was about four or five hours I believe, and I was talking to John Armstrong Jnr. A doctor could be picked up by an R22 or R44 mustering pilot - a highly-houred, accredited mustering pilot. Even if you had six of them, who passed an accreditation recognised by the Health department, to fly into these areas, pick up someone from Katherine Hospital or wherever and fly them to the accident site. Most helicopters have a range of about 300 km; R22 and R44s have much less. Nevertheless, a 20-minute flight would have been perfect. I believe that is something to consider, while you are wading your way through all this stuff. What are you going to get? A Bell 412, or an $8m aircraft, which is like an aircraft carrier. It is outrageously expensive and totally inappropriate for the Northern Territory. There are better, more cost-effective helicopters available to service this population basin, through Katherine and the Top End. Perhaps, minister, while you are wading your way through that and deciding what you are going to do and when you are going to do it, there could be some sort of database of accredited, commercial pilots in the Northern Territory. When a situation happens and you ring the DMO, the DMO answers: ‘You go with VH, whatever it is – Joe Blow’.
Regarding the situation at Katherine airport and Tindal airbase with the wallabies, I will re-read what the member for Katherine read from the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Works, and I quote:
- The Committee is satisfied with the wallaby management plan at the Base and considers that the wallaby population does not pose a significant issue for the proposed extension of the perimeter fence.
This is a Commonwealth Standing Committee; they say they are satisfied with the wallaby management plan and Defence considers that it is now safe for the Northern Territory Department of Health to resume emergency medical evacuation flights to and from the base or to and from Katherine Airport.
You are right, minister, and the member for Katherine is right too - you cannot force Pearl Aviation’s hand. If they do not want to do it, they do not have to do it. End of story. However, someone has to do it. Who is going to do it? Who is going to do the night evacuations across the Northern Territory? I wonder how many mums and dads out there realise that we do not have that service available.
If you are out camping at Kakadu or Litchfield or somewhere in that part of the Northern Territory and you get trampled by a bull or a buffalo, or if you come unstuck somehow and you cannot get an ambulance, how are you going to get out? Well, you cannot. Going back to that situation with John Armstrong at Gilnockie Station, they were told if it was not for the Jawoyn Community - the only reason they got that Jet Ranger in there was because they had a relationship with the Jawoyn Aboriginal Association. Through that rapport they were able to talk to those guys and get them in there with that helicopter. If it was not for that relationship, they would still be there. Or quite possibly they would still be there - they waited 14 hours as it was. How long would they have had to wait? That was the advice from the DMO: ‘Well, I am sorry, we cannot do anything about it. Just give up on your mate and try to administer some help to the fellow who is still breathing.’ As a result, one person died.
What is going to happen with night aeromedical services in and out of Katherine? Pearl Aviation is not flying. They are not based there during the day anyway, so there is an extra hour-and-a-half while the aeroplane flies from Darwin to Katherine to retrieve someone, which adds time. If it is night time, there is nothing. That is the question, minister: What is the situation? As you say, you cannot twist Pearl Aviation’s hand on this.
Dr Burns: We talked about the helicopters. If the member had been listening instead of interjecting, you would have heard.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr CONLAN: Thank you, Madam Speaker. I am not sure what sort of signals the minister might be mouthing across the Chamber. I do find it quite interesting that the minister tends to take such exception and looks back on his own behaviour, in the situation with the member for Port Darwin, the former member for Macdonnell, and how ashamed he is of his behaviour and how it has tarnished his parliamentary career and he can hardly live with himself as a result of it. Yet, we look at something like the death of Margaret Winter, guys stuck under bull-catchers for 14 hours and other serious situations, and it is just water off a duck’s back to the minister. That is okay, but ‘Oh my god, I cannot believe the stuff I said about John Elferink, or the member for Port Darwin, I am so ashamed, I have to write a big letter about it’. But when it comes to the death of Margaret Winter, the health crisis, the state of our hospitals and the state of air-med, well, you know, who cares? Not an issue.
Ms Lawrie: You are so wrong.
Mr CONLAN: He is doing it, he said it.
Ms Lawrie: You are disgraceful.
Mr CONLAN: Yes, thank you. Coming from you I take that as a compliment. Thank you very much. Nevertheless, it does not do anything for his standing as the Health Minister. As I said before, you cannot trust anything he says. He has demonstrated that in this House. He is a truth fabricator of the worst kind, an absolute truth fabricator – a serial offender of the truth, a fabricator of the truth.
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! His allegation is completely wrong and it is unparliamentary. Fabrication is really bordering on unacceptable.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Greatorex, I ask you to reword that.
Mr CONLAN: What? Truth fabrication?
Madam SPEAKER: I ask you to reword.
Mr CONLAN: I replace ‘truth fabricator’ with ‘liar’ then, Madam Speaker.
Madam SPEAKER: I ask you to withdraw, Member for Greatorex.
Mr CONLAN: Okay, I withdraw the word ‘liar’ and I will replace it with slippery and slimy and deceitful, perhaps …
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Greatorex, I ask you to withdraw the word ‘deceitful’, thank you.
Mr CONLAN: Okay. There are not too many words left to describe the minister’s behaviour, his past and in the future. Dodgy. There is a whole stack of them, but the fact is, that the minister cannot be trusted. Let us hope that he is getting somewhere with aeromedical services in the Northern Territory.
I am not totally convinced. Neither is the member for Katherine. Neither are the people of the Northern Territory, to be honest. Neither are the aviation experts and those people the minister is meeting with about helicopter services in the Northern Territory.
Mr Knight: Yes, there is not much more than that.
Mr CONLAN: Yes, there is a little more. I thank the member for Katherine for bringing this very important MPI on.
The minister recognises that it is important. Let us hope that he actually does something about it and that he enters into some proactive negotiations with these operators, and that he can get some aeromedical services on the ground in Katherine; that is, those that are based in Katherine, that will also operate at night. Some helicopter pilots in the Territory are licensed to use night vision goggles for medical retrievals, so that is an option. If we had this sort of thing, perhaps we might have been able to locate that fellow who went down near Nhulunbuy. That is not a flippant comment; that is a very serious comment. That is something that helicopter pilots I have met with have suggested to me over the last 48 hours
I thank the member for Katherine for bringing that on. I can only hope, with bated breath. I know the Territory does not have a lot of confidence in the minister. Let us hope that he can get this whole situation with aeromedical services sorted out.
Mr Knight: They have less confidence in you.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr CONLAN: I am not the minister, so that is okay. It is all right, because I am not the minister.
Mr Knight: You are a grub!
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr CONLAN: He is the minister so if they have no confidence in the minister that is a little more serious than whether they have the confidence in the member for Greatorex. I am representing the people as shadow minister for Health, and bringing that to the minister’s attention. I thank the member for Katherine for bringing this on. Go for it, minister, we are all watching.
Mr McCARTHY (Barkly): Madam Speaker, as the member for Barkly, I am honoured to support the Minister for Health regarding the provision of aeromedical services within my electorate.
Aeromedical services play a very important role in the community. It can literally mean the difference between life and death in remote regions of the Territory. These flights are essential to link our remote and regional towns to our major centres and hospitals, as the member for Katherine has pointed out. I am a lot more confident having the Minister for Health handling this situation than the member for Greatorex.
Mr Conlan: Good on you, Gerry. There is a little oomph!
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Member for Greatorex, you will withdraw from the Chamber. You were on a warning.
Mr Conlan: Do you want me to go now?
Madam SPEAKER: Withdraw from the Chamber for one hour, thank you.
Mr McCARTHY: Madam Speaker, I have some personal anecdotes, which I will share with the members on the other side of the House, including the member for Greatorex, of my experiences with aeromedical evacuations. I start with the evacuation of a mother out of Tennant Creek at midnight, under a full moon rising in the east. The patient received an emergency caesarean in Alice Springs Hospital. The mother was fine; the baby was 8 lbs 6 oz, his name was Thomas. The mother was Dawn McCarthy, the baby was Thomas McCarthy, my firstborn son.
I was involved with a second aeromedical evacuation when we went back bush for 20 years, and we were organising many evacuations from remote areas. One of those in particular I remember very well as it was a road evacuation out of Wollogorang Station. The patient, a woman in labour, arrived at Borroloola clinic. The air-med out of Darwin organised the evacuation. The mother did very well; the baby not so well. The baby did not make it. His name was Simon Peter McCarthy, and the mother was Dawn McCarthy. I will leave it up to the members of the House to make their own determinations on the divine issue in relation to that story. However, let me say that the Northern Territory Health Department was excellent in all the circumstances so far.
We had to test it out one more time. That was a three-year-old burns survivor, with full thickness burns to 40% of his body - once again, evacuated from Borroloola by the Northern Territory Health Department. That evacuation turned into the Northern Territory Health Department orchestrating a Boeing 737 removing nine seats and evacuating that burns survivor to Camperdown Children’s Hospital in Sydney, where he underwent many types of medical treatments, and is managed to this day by the Northern Territory Health Department.
I say to the member for Greatorex that if you want some personal experience, then that is it. I say to the members in this House that I am honoured that our Health Minister is in charge of this and that he is managing a staged and researched outcome for Territorians and our health in remote areas.
Let us link that back to remote areas in the Barkly electorate, which services an area of 448 576 km2 and then take into account my parliamentary colleague, the member for Stuart. As neighbouring electorates, we have an absolutely massive area. I am just touching on home base, members. When we talk about servicing areas in the Barkly electorate, travelling from Roper River and Hodgson Downs to Lake Nash in the east, to Neutral Junction in the south, it is an extreme challenge. I am confident that it is in great hands with our Health Minister. The sheer remoteness of these areas and the multitude of stations, outstations and larger communities require access to flexible, robust and reliable aeromedical services, and these must be determined by good research and staged decision making.
My constituents are currently provided services from two areas, Pearl Aviation out of Darwin, and my southern constituents are covered by the Royal Flying Doctor Service out of Alice Springs. Therefore, I noted with interest recent claims, that the service in Central Australia could be improved by allowing remote doctors to authorise medical retrieval flights. While this may sound good in theory, it does have several systematic drawbacks. Once authority is withdrawn from a central point, the most obvious problem which arises is who would be responsible for prioritising competing needs, from possibly more than one location? I am very pleased that the minister has taken the initiative to review, through aviation expert, Mr John Cornish, the Top End area aeromedical system - another example of a well researched, staged and rational approach to this matter of public importance.
I look forward to hearing more about the recommendations of this review and what it might mean for the constituents of Barkly. The minister has been very firm that these recommendations will be implemented quickly, to ensure that medivac services will expand in line with population growth and medical need. Any remote living or working situation needs to have reliable and flexible backup services that can cater for any situations that arise.
I note that the minister will be taking the issue of remote airstrip registration to the federal government and I commend that. I will make sure within my electorate, minister, that the station-owners and the communities are aware of the need for airstrips to be registered.
Madam Speaker, as you and members of the House are aware, in remote areas - on cattle stations and in communities - airstrips are regularly discussed, because they are an extremely important part of life and survival. I will be making sure that they are following the minister’s advice. I commend the minister’s statement to the matter of public importance.
Discussion concluded.
ADJOURNMENT
Mr HENDERSON (Chief Minister): Madam Speaker, I move that the Assembly do now adjourn.
Ms SCRYMGOUR (Arafura): Madam Speaker, I will speak tonight about the Gunbalanya Open Day, which is going from strength to strength. This grassroots initiative has been held for just over 20 years and will be known as the Stone Country Festival from next year.
Anthony Murphy, the Injalak Art Centre coordinator, and Andy Ralph worked hard with the Bininj to put on a great day for visitors on 23 August. It started with the dancers, led by Sarah Nabageyo and I was pleased to announce the debut of the Bininj Band, who were joined by their sister band, Wildflower, and my favourite band, Nabarlek, later in the day.
Mr Jimmy Little was a special guest of the Bininj this year. While we watched the dancers, the bush tucker ladies cooked a feast of long neck turtles, with many out of town visitors fascinated by the expert cook, Barbara, and her daughter. The taste is sublime. I must thank traditional owners, Donald Gumurdul and Jacob Nayinggul, for welcoming us all there.
The festival is held on the school grounds on the edge of a large fresh water billabong at the end of the street and there is also the famous Injalak Art Centre. The artists, Wilfred, Graham and Gabrielle, hosted a centre full of bark works, string bags and sculptures. Visitors from the University of the Third Age, led by Yvonne Forrest, reckon that they were having a super day. The old Injalak custodian, Thomas Buntine Nabageyo, was happy with the sales. Dolores the Dinosaur was a big hit with the children. The school held an animated film show and the local gardeners sold out of their pumpkins, rockmelons, and watermelons.
The rock art tours with local Bininj guides had people lined up. St John’s footballers won the festival cup attracting teams from Croker and Jabiru, playing against Gunbalanya’s finest. Some of the proceeds from the day have gone to the school’s enterprise initiatives, one of which is making postcards. Gunbalanya is in the heartland of my electorate of Arafura. Next year, everyone should make some time and go and visit the Bininj at their Stone Country Festival.
I also visited the Tiwi Islands with Maxine McKew, Parliamentary Secretary for Early Childhood Education and Child Care. We visited Pirlangimpi on Wednesday, 8 October. The purpose of the visit was to see the crche and the early childhood classes at Pularumpi School. Maxine McKew gained a useful insight into the importance of early childhood services in remote Aboriginal communities and I look forward to working together with her.
Patricia, from the crche, met with Maxine McKew and was able to discuss the importance of training for Aboriginal staff as crche workers, in order for them to deliver quality programs for young children. Matt Macklin, the teaching principal at Pularumpi School, and Leonie Jones, the Top End Group School Principal, met with Maxine McKew and me, and showed us through the classrooms and discussed early childhood education in remote communities. It was wonderful for Ms McKew to see the classroom full of students hard at work, doing activities around the picture book they were reading. She took time to talk to children and was very impressed that they knew Kevin Rudd was the Prime Minister of Australia.
The parliamentary education work that had been done with the school by our Parliamentary Education Office, Madam Speaker and myself earlier in the year, was obviously successful because she was also surprised when some of the little Tiwi kids looked at her and said: ‘We know who you are’, and mind you, the Tiwi kids had not met Maxine before that and they said: ‘You are the big boss lady that knocked off John Howard’. She was most impressed that these little kids knew exactly what her role was, and it gave Maxine a real delight in knowing that.
We also went and had a look around the Tiwi Islands to see the safe houses, or the wellbeing centres and women’s shelters, which many of the women are now using and expanding with the women’s centres. It was good to see and have the discussion about how we might get the crches with the women’s centres and that alignment through to the school, to particularly target early childhood in many of those remote communities. I believe with the infrastructure that is now going into many of these remote communities that it is possible to try to target early childhood.
It was great to be out there. I am looking forward to going back to Maningrida, after being there last week for a successful meeting with the traditional owners to talk about the long-term leasing of their land for the strategic housing project. I believe this project is a first, particularly given the status of Maningrida and the willingness of traditional owners to come to the table and engage with the government to look at the possibility of long-term leasing, so that those houses can be built.
It was great to get out of Parliament House and out bush. All of us who hold bush seats know the greatness of getting out. When you are a minister and you are stuck in this House all week, to be able to get out for a couple of days to a fantastic electorate is very rewarding. I know all other bush members have great electorates and there is some beauty out in the bush and you are able to take the time to be with the real people - the people who vote for you - and be able to talk to them about the issues confronting them.
I know housing is a major issue and this is a project that I am hoping we can make some ground on, particularly with Maningrida. Maningrida has the second biggest Aboriginal population in the Northern Territory, approximately 2800 people, with 32 outstations that border the main community. It is behind Wadeye, which has a population of approximately 3000. To build the houses that we are planning in Maningrida will be a fantastic achievement.
With the Women’s Centre being built, and the Men’s Wellbeing Centre, Maningrida will be in line to get a crche from the Commonwealth government. If we can get the crche within the boundaries of the school, with the Women’s Centre, all these plans are coming together. Many people, including myself, were quite sceptical about the intervention and some of the measures, but when I look at places like Maningrida, those measures have been fantastic.
I have seen many fantastic benefits come with the policing and the child protection; those measures that have been put in place have turned the community around in a positive way. That is something I support. I have always supported getting those extra resources on the ground. The community is now starting to take some leadership with it.
Going from the Gunbalanya Open Day, to the fantastic development that is happening at Maningrida, and then to the Tiwi Islands where there is much development happening - it is great to have an electorate where we are starting to see the tide turning and some good things happening on the ground. The people are starting to feel empowered and wanting to be engaged in jobs and other activities within the community. That is a good thing and I look forward to getting out again.
Mr MILLS (Blain): Madam Deputy Speaker, I will speak tonight on matters of concern, not just to families who may be enjoying some time together in my own electorate, but in electorates across the Northern Territory.
On 9 August there was an election. People were asked to make a decision and they made a decision that surprised the government. Government felt that they were riding high and that they had done all they could to hold onto power. However, when the decision was made known, when the votes, those individual votes were counted, there had been a colossal shift. On that evening, the Chief Minister, shocked by the decision that had been made by so many Territorians - a judgment that they had passed on the performance of this government - said that he would now listen to the people.
This is the parliament and this parliament is the voice of those people. I was once advised by a colleague on the other side, who will remain unnamed: ‘Please do not take this debate too seriously; after all, it is politics and a game is being played’. I was offended. It happened just over there. I assured that parliamentary colleague that it is not a game to me. I was elected by people who put their trust in us to do the best we can to ensure that the processes of this parliament serve their interests. Some, perhaps, have forgotten that, and so some will be going off now, after exercises in this parliament this evening, with a clear view in their mind because their world view sees this as just some kind of operation that you must pass through. You can play with process, but that is the purpose of the parliament we differ on.
The purpose of the parliament is for the voice of the people to be expressed. You can use process, but what do you use that process for? It is 8.45 pm and, whilst there were attempts to raise awareness of the use or misuse of process to disallow discussion or debate on matters of concern to duly elected members, by the use of numbers, by the use of process, they said: ‘That is it. We, the government, will not permit that level of discussion. We will close down the voices of the people in the parliament’. Then you can go off, and maybe laugh over a wine - if you do get together behind the scenes - and make comment about the proceedings of the parliament, as though it is some joke. It is not. A dangerous precedent has been set and it will not go unnoticed.
Another matter, and perhaps more dangerous, is the issue of unsubstantiated allegations that gain traction in the wider community through the media. If anyone has an interest in preserving some sense of decency - which was a concern - the decency and the integrity of the parliament, if it is a concern and you want to preserve such things and you say the word integrity: ‘I want to see the integrity of this parliament protected’. There have been allegations – sadly, unsubstantiated. I have had involvement in working with communities, and allegations can be made in a community. However, it is beholden on those who want to preserve dignity and the core ethics of the community to have those issues, those allegations, substantiated. We lose our centre of gravity if we make that which is unsubstantiated the fact, and run it off for other purposes, to serve another agenda. We knock this parliament off its centre. That is what has occurred. I urge those who have made such allegations to make them publicly. Attach your name to them so that we can deal with it one way or another.
If we do not do that, if we do not make an effort to preserve the integrity of the parliament, and to protect the processes upon which this parliament is established, we will find ourselves in some difficulty. If someone is concerned about a matter - I was raised this way, I think most people have heard this before - or you are concerned about what someone else had said you need to go to the person and express your concern to that person. You do not go and whisper. You have no interest whatsoever in preserving the strength of this community, this parliament, if you run off to a third party, and then, worst of all, the media without making any effort to speak to the person concerned. You are not the slightest bit interested in strengthening the core of this parliament. So, one way or another, step up and bring it out into the open, so it can be cleared up. I am concerned at the precedent that has been set with this matter.
I could go further with that. However, in the interests of protecting this parliament, I urge consideration, regarding these matters to be addressed, because members need to be protected on both sides. Do not think for a moment, those who are on the other side of the parliament, that if this dangerous precedent is allowed to exist and go unchecked, that it will not move backwards and forwards. Then we will have lawlessness, disorder, chaos, hurt, and harm. So, what is one way? If you cannot stand up for the truth, if someone can whisper something on one side of the mouth and then, if confronted, say, well, is this the case or not, and then they cannot back it up there, if they cannot put their name in the paper, or they cannot come to the person concerned, or they cannot come to someone else and say the same story again, we have a serious problem with integrity. But if we do not have that quality of character in this Chamber, then let us go to the next step.
Government has been persuaded that if you want to bring some order back into your community, you have CCTV. There has been a call for an upgrading of technology in the parliament. Let us protect the members that way. Therefore, if allegations are made in the future, I would expect them to be substantiated, and then they can be dealt with one way or another. If it applies to those I have responsibility for, I will deal with it. However, those who want to run allegations and are happy and comfortable with having them unsubstantiated because they are not the slightest bit interested in dealing with the core issue - they want to inflict harm - then we have a problem. That is a problem as a parliamentarian I have to deal with, but it falls to a different set of shoulders to carry that load.
If you cannot deal with basic character and the courage of your convictions, and if you do not have genuine concern for protecting the parliament, we need to upgrade the television cameras in this Chamber. We need to have the capacity to substantiate that which is alleged. And, if it is unsubstantiated, what does it rest upon? The assertion of one who is not prepared to put their name to it. If so, we have a serious problem. If we are the slightest bit interested in the issue of justice and law and order, it has to start at this House. Let us sort it out. I do not want to go on, again and again, with this business revisiting this parliament because, unchecked, it will come back one way or another.
Today’s paper reveals another aspect of unsubstantiated allegations from weeks before. No one backs it up. There is no one’s name to it, and we are all exposed. Whether it is members of government, members of the opposition, or Independent; we are all exposed.
Madam Deputy Speaker, I place this on the Parliamentary Record because I am genuinely concerned. These matters need to be sorted out, including the dangerous precedent of the Leader of Government Business choosing to close down debate because they can. The Chief Minister has said he will now allow the people of the Territory’s voices to be heard, and no such thing has occurred in this parliament. I assume that a statement brought to this Chamber is important; important to the people of the Territory - not just politically important. Let us get out of the political cycle and onto the business of governing in the best interests of the Northern Territory. I have yet to see that and I remain fixed to this position and I want to see a change.
Mr McCARTHY (Barkly): Madam Deputy Speaker, the privilege of parliament is an important one. Elected members of parliament have the ability and opportunity to commit their words in Hansard, so that their views, arguments, congratulations, and respects, are forever on the public record. I respect – I may not always agree – the views of all members in this House on whatever issue they like to convey their views on, because it is their view, their opinion. Adjournments give all members the opportunity to put on the record the positive things that are happening in their electorate. It is just as important to put on the public record all the other things we do in the House as well.
It is with great disappointment, that on going through Hansard, I have made an alarming discovery. The act of plagiarism is occurring in the House. The dictionary defines plagiarism, and I quote from Dictionary.com:
- the unauthorised use or close imitation of the language and thoughts of another author and the representation of them as one’s own original work.
As a former school teacher it was important for me, as an educator and a role model, to impress and teach my students about the importance of doing your own work and expressing your own views, and if someone before you had said it better, then give that person the credit deserved.
Two of our members unfortunately, do not adhere to that lesson. The member for Katherine and the member for Sanderson, I believe, have plagiarised websites and passed them on as their own views.
The member for Katherine, a former policeman, adjourned on 11 September on the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award. However, instead of expressing his own views on the great work of the Duke’s Awards, he repeated paragraph after paragraph, words lifted straight from the Duke’s website and not a single word acknowledging the source of the comments he was trying to pass off as his own. I also add that the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award website has a copyright policy, which clearly states that any reproduction of material on the site …
Mr STYLES: A point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker! I have not spoken on the Duke of Edinburgh’s Awards in this Chamber. Yet, the member for Barkly is saying that I have made all sorts of statements and have lifted and plagiarised all sorts of things from websites. It is actually misleading the House.
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: What was the date of the speech?
Mr McCARTHY: 11 September.
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: I will confer with the Clerk.
Mr STYLES: A point of order, Madam Speaker! He was clear and he said the member for Sanderson and the member for Katherine.
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: Member for Barkly, I ask you to clarify your point please in regards to the member for Sanderson.
Mr McCARTHY: Totally, Madam Deputy Speaker. I will go back to the paragraph: the member for Katherine, a former policeman, who adjourned and talked about the Duke of Edinburgh’s Awards. I expect the official record will reflect that, with all due respect.
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: Member for Barkly, have you referred to the member for Sanderson?
Members interjecting.
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order!
Mr McCARTHY: Madam Deputy Speaker, I have referred to two of our new members, unfortunately who have never learned that lesson, the member for Katherine and the member for Sanderson. I have outlined the first case in question, regarding the member for Katherine, with due respect.
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: You have the call then, member for Barkly.
Mr McCARTHY: The issue, to reiterate, is plagiarism. The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award website has a copyright policy and it clearly states:
- … for the purposes of viewing the Site, or making a singular paper hard copy to assist the user in research.
The Duke of Edinburgh’s website also states the Duke’s mission and guiding principles:
- To inspire, guide and support young people in their self development and recognise their achievement.
I ask the members to make their own decision in terms of inspiring our youth and the members of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Scheme. The members opposite spend a lot of time attacking government with very negative images. I am asking that we continue in the interests of good debate. As I have mentioned, as a school teacher and an educator, that plagiarism is of great concern to me. I am shocked this has occurred in the House, with me as a new member.
The member for Sanderson also plagiarised from a website. Unfortunately, this incident was not from one website but from three websites, which I find quite extraordinary. I was inspired by that adjournment speech, which caused me to do a little research as to whereby the scouts have such a wonderful history. That is when I came to believe that the material, which I had been inspired by, was plagiarised. I do not want to knock the members opposite for adjourning on these great youth programs and organisations, but I want to stress to them, that as leading members of the community people look to them and they must lead by example and that does not mean plagiarism.
Ms PURICK (Goyder): Madam Deputy Speaker, recently I had the pleasure of attending the Humpty Doo Scout Group’s special awards night - which did not come off the Internet. Not only was it an enjoyable time, but it was rewarding to see so many young people enjoying themselves in a family style atmosphere.
2008 marks the Centenary of Scouting in Australia and has been designated by the federal government as the Year of the Scout. A diverse range of activities has taken place throughout the year at national, Territory and local levels. The Internet is a public document - you can use whatever you like from it. Scouting is the largest youth development organisation in Australia and the world and is a leader in this country’s non-formal education sector - I think that means teaching, for the member for Barkly. The scouting program delivered by Scouts Australia prepares young people aged six to 26 for business and community leadership.
In its centenary year, Australian scouting is strong, with around 60 000 male and female members. Scouts Australia operates through the voluntary efforts of 13 000 leaders and countless other supporters, mostly family and friends. An estimated 2 million Australians have been scouts since the movement was established in Australia in 1908. Many of these people have gone on to use the skills and confidence gained through scouts to achieve success in their careers or made other community contributions. Scouts Australia has taught millions of young people resourcefulness, self-reliance, leadership, decision making and concern for their community and environment.
More importantly, I want to briefly talk about the Humpty Doo Scout Group. As early as 1928, the small town of Darwin was introduced to scouting, only 20 years after the movement started in England. Administration during the next six decades of scouting in the Territory mirrored something of the lack of interest that has dogged the Territory generally from the time of its inception.
Scouting arrived in Darwin in about 1928, with the formation of the first Darwin group under the command of Captain Len Samut. At that time, it was controlled from New South Wales - similar to the rest of our history as a Territory. But this changed the next year when control was passed to Queensland.
Alice Springs formed its first official group in 1936, but it is believed the movement had been operating there since 1923 - well before the Darwin group. Our friends at Tennant Creek followed suit in 1941, but it was not until 1957, well after World War II - which had seen scouting go into recess - that the first Katherine group was established, giving the movement a foothold in the main Territory centres of the time.
The war had taken its toll, though, and when scouting control was passed from Queensland back to South Australia in 1955 - again we were moved around the country - only two groups, 2nd Darwin and 1st Alice Springs were registered. 1973 saw the formation of an official NT area. We had scouting to ourselves. But, Cyclone Tracy dealt a blow when it destroyed all the records and most of the memories. The compilation of accurate records for the earlier years is an ongoing exercise, and it is still one of the main tasks faced by the movement in Darwin. There is a standing plea to all people – anyone - for any relevant material to help in the reconstruction of the history in the NT.
1986 finally saw the movement come out of the colonial era when control of its own activities was finally passed over to the NT area. 1986 was also an important year for the movement for another reason; it was not uncommon to see a female leader and girls who had been admitted into Venturer and Rovers, but not in the younger sections. In 1986, girls were allowed to join all sections, and did so in droves, joining Packs and Troops right across the Territory and Australia and into the rural area.
On 1 April 1989, the Northern Territory became a branch which meant that the then Administrator, Commodore Eric Johnston, was sworn in by the then Chief Justice of the NT, Austin Asche, who is in the gallery today. He became the Chief Scout; a tradition that has continued with the Administrators of the Northern Territory.
Scouting continues to grow within the Territory with groups across the Territory – Darwin, Palmerston, Northern Suburbs, Howard Springs, Katherine, Nhulunbuy, Alyangula, Tennant Creek, Alice Springs and, the best one, Humpty Doo.
The Humpty Doo group was established in 1990, by Christine Doidge, with a grand total of three scouts, and today, has over 50 young people involved at all levels from Joeys, who are the little tackers, Cubs, Scouts and Venturers. At this stage, there are no Rovers in the group - these are the people aged between 17 to 26, but we are hopeful.
The boss scout of Humpty Doo is George Kasparek - what a leader and inspiration he is to all the young people and their families. George has been with the group as the leader for just over six years. His commitment and dedication are to be admired. He knows every child by name, knows their families, how long they had been involved, and I am sure if he was asked, would know the names of all their pets. He inspires them along the way, makes them laugh and have fun. It is wholesome and the children and young adults are learning new skills, understanding the word ‘respect’ and preparing themselves for the big wide world, even though at the time they may not know it.
The awards were presented by the biggest of all Scout bosses, Commissioner Christine Doidge, who set up the Humpty Doo group. At the presentation, there were awards for the Grey Wolf, which is the highest award for Cubs. It is no mean feat to get this award and usually takes a couple of years, heaps of involvement and achievement, and small milestones along the way. The awards were given to Adele de Bruyn and Greg Craddack. I congratulate them for the achievement and hope they continue into the Scouts section and do equally well and enjoy themselves.
In the Territory, there have been only three Scout Medallions awarded, which is the highest award for Scouts. The award on the night was achieved by a young fellow, Nick Sheers. I spoke with him at the end of the night and was surprised to find out that he was only a Year 9 student, because he appeared to be very mature and self-composed for his age. I have to admit he was also a very handsome young man. He is destined for more achievements, I am sure, not only in the Scouting movement, but in his studies too.
While these awards were very specific, George gave special mention to three Scouts. Titan Cass is a young fellow; he is not particularly big, but he has a big heart. He helps out a lot, is always willing to pitch in, and is well liked by all. It is people like Titan who make the Scout time so enjoyable for everyone. Reece Westlund is young also, and he is a very polite young man, a real gentle person, in the true sense. He is a pleasure to have in the group, George says. Mat Young helps with the Cubs and they love him. It is not every 15-year-old boy who is secure enough in himself to work, teach, and lead smaller children with great respect, dignity and care, but this young fellow, Mat, does it well.
In addition to the special awards, proficiency badges were awarded. They included: Venturer Emily Leach, who received her Expressions 1 badge by performing a belly dancing routine three times in public; and Venturer Joanna Pickering, who received her Expressions 1 badge for her performance in the Taminmin High School stage production, Kakadora. There were a couple of Scouts who received their badges for abseiling: Zac Rubock and Grace Craddock. Saysha Ham; Rory Pomroy Miller; Ruby Pomroy Miller; Riley Zammit; and Sharni Souey are proud, new members and were welcomed to the group on the night after taking the pledge.
It was a good night and one that many families present would have agreed with. There was fun and games in the beginning, some food and drinks and the presentations, and then more fun. I extend my congratulations to the Humpty Doo Scout Group and I am sure I will be seeing more of them in the future. It was far from being a chore - it was a pleasure to be there.
Ms CARNEY (Araluen): Madam Deputy Speaker, I will talk about the Masters Games in Alice Springs, provided it is obviously appropriate that I …
A member: A point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker, could we have a ruling on the props?
Ms CARNEY: Whilst you are on your feet you can do it. I will put on the bling - as someone referred to it earlier today, and I am sure members will indulge me. The medals will be coming off my computer and will be back in my office tomorrow. The Masters Games, and how fitting it is, members, that the Mayor of Alice Springs, Mr Damien Ryan, is still in the gallery, thank you, Damien Ryan, because you will get a mention in my speech.
Everyone knows that the Masters Games are a fantastic event for Alice Springs. I notice the minister for Sport and member for Stuart’s media release dated 18 October, from which I will quote:
- Over 4000 athletes ranging in age from a ‘young’ 26 through to a ‘youngish’ 97 years of age have participated in more than 30 sports.
The minister went on to say:
- It was great to see so many locals and visitors alike having a great time and a special thanks must go to the more than 500 volunteers who give up their time to ensure the Games go off without a hitch.
I thank the minister for his support. I know he is genuinely committed to the Masters Games and, indeed, for the support that the Territory government offers. This government is not unlike its predecessor in government, the CLP. Any government, worth their salt, knows that it is important to back an event such as the Masters Games.
The Masters attracted people from all around Australia. One bloke I knew well, he used to be the chief at Pine Gap, Kevin Keating, came back from the United States to participate in a number of events. He bedded down with some people I know well; they looked after him and they all had a good time. The Masters not only attracts locals, not only attracts people from interstate, but it attracts people from overseas. It really is a sensational event.
The march to Anzac Oval is always an uplifting, exciting experience. There is entertainment provided and most, if not all, of the participants line up to do the march or parade, and this year was no exception. We all went to Anzac Oval. Speeches were made and people partied on into the night.
I congratulate Judith Dixon and her team on yet another successful Masters Games. I know they worked tirelessly. In addition to the team, the volunteers also worked tirelessly. However, the buck stops with Judith and her team and they really did a great job. I am sure all members will join with me in offering our thanks as well as our congratulations. I thought things worked pretty well for members who participated and I will come back to that.
Participating members would have received a questionnaire this morning from the Masters Games asking a range of questions clearly designed to see how things can be improved. Everything can always be improved. I completed my questionnaire and I encourage members to do the same. I thought it worked pretty well. The registration centre at the Convention Centre worked efficiently and there were volunteers there as well. We have to refer to the ambassadors, Daryl Somers and Dawn Fraser. Dawn Fraser took to the pool again and she won a silver medal in the 50 meters freestyle. Of course, Daryl Somers and Dawn Fraser are great draw cards. People love them. Our Dawn is as current now as she was all those years ago when she swam and you would be hard pressed to find people more enthusiastic than Dawn Fraser and Daryl Somers, who is always very funny, entertaining and enthusiastic.
The free shuttle bus worked well for tourists all over town. Being a local you tend to take getting to and from events for granted, but I understand from people, with whom I play golf, that the shuttle bus worked very well. The town lifts when the Masters comes. We, I am happy to say, put a note on my office door, that I do not think was an unusual note. The note went along the lines of: ‘From time to time this week, our office will be closed due to the Masters Games’. I was playing golf, as was the woman I work with, and I was keen to go around town visiting sporting centres to show my support, not only for the volunteers, but for the participants and as a local member.
One of the great honours, and a real buzz in this job, is to make a presentation to people, whether it is to school kids, athletes or so on. It is always a great honour and I know that the other members, particularly those based in Alice Springs, were afforded that honour as well.
The Alice Springs golf course was looking its brilliant best. I believe it is in the top 10 of the best golf courses around the country and it would certainly register on an international scale. The golf course is one of the best kept secrets in Alice Springs. For members who live in the Top End, do yourselves a favour, as Molly Meldrum used to say, and have a look at the Alice Springs golf course. Go to the club house look out, get a drink and look up at the MacDonnell Ranges. You would be hard pressed to see anything more inspiring or more beautiful. They have great food as well, member for Drysdale.
I will come to members shortly, but on the golf club, there are too many people to mention, however, I would like to mention a couple. Al Purdie, Bernie Viklund, Paul Pearson, Cecila Otley, Sandra Clyne, and so many others gave up their time and were at the golf club pretty much all week. Sandra Clyne and a friend, Dale Morgan - Dale and her husband, John, lived in Alice Springs for about 33 years, they now live in Western Australia - came back to play golf for the Masters Games. Every morning when I turned up at the golf club, I saw Sandra and Dale cooking the famous breakfast for the golfers as they were coming through. Thank you to them and thank you also to not only those I have mentioned, but the scores of other people who participated, volunteered at the golf club, gave up their time, who I have not mentioned, but you know who you are. On behalf of all of us, thank you very much for the efforts you have put in.
Members, I am a bit troubled because only one member of government, if am I not mistaken, participated - greatly, fantastically represented, I might say, by the member for Stuart, who is well known for his ability to kick a ball. He was in the winning team for the Darwin/Alice Springs AFL match. My colleague, the member for Fong Lim, obviously had to play in the Darwin team. They were flogged and that was an outstanding result. I am sure the member for Stuart will agree with me. The member for Nelson apparently umpired that game. Thank you for umpiring in what I am sure was a very fair and efficient manner. The member for Drysdale came, the member for Braitling participated in the cricket, and the member for Greatorex played cricket and something else. The member for Fong Lim played footy, basketball and cricket. So members of the Territory Assembly, on both sides of the political fence, participated in the games.
For those of you based in the Top End, thanks for coming to Alice Springs and injecting your enthusiasm and your money into our economy - it is greatly appreciated - as well as, of course, your natural sporting abilities, such as they are. Although, I am yet to see other medals, but I am sure some people got them. In any event, thank you.
To the mayor - and it is fitting that I conclude on this note: the mayor provides leadership to our town and he did it again at this very important event when so many people, not only from town were looking on, but from all over the country. He is always a great source of encouragement to people in town.
I know he went to many sporting events, handed out medals and so on. I suspect that Damien Ryan holds the record for attending more sporting events than probably all of the local members combined. I do not know how you spent your time that week, Damien, but I do not think you would have seen much of your family, because the pace you set of going to various events was extraordinary. In any event, thank you one and all and we look forward to seeing you all again in two years’ time.
Mr ELFERINK (Port Darwin): Madam Deputy Speaker, I will speak about an interjection I heard earlier today from the Leader of Government Business - that we run the agenda.
It is in reference to this government’s continual disregard for the rights of members to stand up in this House and speak on behalf of their electorates. Each member represents an electorate of approximately 4500 people. When they stand in this place, they speak for the voices of those people, or the majority of those people. But they represent them all, and during the debate and the repeated shutdowns of the debates in this House by the government, they are essentially continually silencing the will of the people as representatives in this House.
It may be a surprise to the Leader of Government Business that they are in government because this House acquiesces to them being in government and only just. It is the right of each member in this House to speak in debates. I remember one of the great taglines attached to the old CLP was that they were arrogant and, from time to time, they did use gag motions to silence debates, but often, much more often than not, those debates were allowed to go to their exhaustion.
Even before my time in this House, the former member for Macdonnell, Neil Bell, used to take advantage of that and keep members in this House, not unusually, until 2 am or 3 am and he was allowed, in most instances, to speak his mind. A large majority of government members did not agree with the things that Neil Bell said. Nevertheless, it was respected that he spoke with the voice of the people he represented. He was passionate, he was fiery, he was often belligerent, he was occasionally even disgraceful, but his voice was heard and resonates through the Hansard of this place.
I certainly remember the period of 1997 to 2001 that it was very common to be in this House until 11 pm or midnight. That is because, when ministerial statements were made, the minister recognised the right of the House to debate the policy issue under discussion to its exhaustion. If the government wants to come into a place like this and say: ‘We want to talk about our policy issue; we want to talk about an issue of importance’, then they should enable all members to speak their minds.
I listened with some fascination to the opening lines of the member for Barkly - who, I presume, had the statement shoved in his hand just before he walked in here - because they sold him a pup. He said with a straight face that he believed members in this place had the right to speak and he respected that right. He has participated in more gag motions since entering this parliament seven sitting days ago than most members of parliament do in their whole parliamentary career. He has no respect and no inclination to let members have their say in this House. That reflects the attitude of government.
If the former CLP government was arrogant, then this government has become breathtaking in their capacity to deny the rights of Territorians’ voices to be heard. This lame excuse of ‘We have been speaking for five hours on the issue’ does not wash with me. The fact is that there are many members in this House who wanted to talk on this debate and who have been deprived of the opportunity to do so. There were many members in this House, if you go back through the Notice Paper - which I cannot lay my hands on just at the moment - who wanted to talk on the law and order debate and the policing issues debates from last sittings. It is still sitting on the Notice Paper because the government wants to have their little say and they want to go home and be in bed on time, so they do not have to work late.
Members have a right to speak and have a right to be heard. It is as simple as that. The government does not like the fact that they were actually within a 100 votes, potentially, of losing government. They have become so accustomed to the death grip they have developed over the parliament over the last four years that they now do not want to lose any of the death grip they held on this place. Well, their death grip has been reduced to clinging on by the fingernails. In spite of the media releases that will inevitably go out - and I can tell you what the media release will say now, it will say something like the CLP is a rabble, yada, yada, yada. Yes, we are angry, but we are angry because we have repeatedly been denied the opportunity to represent our electorates.
I spoke to the Leader of Government Business over the phone yesterday. She was fully aware of my concerns as a result of that phone call, and she has been fully aware of our concerns since the last sittings.
We are quite happy to make this place operate smoothly, but we seek a concession from government. The concession that we seek is an acceptance that the opposition party is here in a force which is almost equal to the government’s presence in this House. It takes one by-election, potentially, to throw the whole thing out of kilter again for this government. They are clinging on by their fingernails. To promise Territorians, on the night of the election, that they got the message and they would listen to Territorians and, then, conduct themselves in a fashion where we see this repeated attempt to silence the voice of Territorians - many Territorians - is arrogant in the extreme. It is arrogant beyond words.
We have a right to be heard as parliamentarians, as the Country Liberal Party’s representation in this House, and as the party that represents nearly half of the Northern Territory’s voting population.
All the government members have to do to achieve a parliament which will function normally, is to accept that we are here in numbers. To signify that acceptance, all they have to do is say, yes, we will debate ministerial statements out in full - that is our request.
I am critical of other areas, including that farcical little exercise at 10 am, where we have a debate, without notice, and we put some ridiculous little question on a motion that is not there, so the government can try to punch out a few media releases. That is silly. It is a silly little thing introduced into the Queensland parliament, as I understand it, in the late 1990s. It was adopted here in 2001, because Question Time used to be at 10 am, so there was an assumption that the media gallery would be full, and they started this process of ministerial reports, in such a condition of high farce, where they had three ministers stand up at 10 am and talk about items that were not allowed to be debated.
When they realised that the opposition of the day was just going to stand up and walk out because there was no point being here, there was no item being debated, they said: ‘We will let you debate it, we will give you two minutes’. So every morning, we go through the three-ring circus, where we have a minister come in, without any notice whatsoever, make a five minute speech, to which there has to be an instant response and, if that instant response is not fully informed or fully educated, it is because we are trapped by this ridiculous little exercise. To make matters worse, at the end of it, they get a minute to slap us back.
This is not any sort of debating, any sort of process. It is just entrapment. It is a ridiculous abuse of the very principles which hold the parliament together. It is a bizarre perversion of the parliamentary process. That perversion is now being carried into the general business of the day. I would be more than happy and comfortable to assist government in making the business of this House work in an effective and sensible manner. However, the government’s entrenched desire to keep their hands around the throats of the voices of so many Territorians, in spite of the results of last August’s election, means that they will not negotiate or move on any point. They will continue to try to squeeze the throats of Territorians, and they will continue to try to spin out media releases about the CLP being wrong, and they will continue to try to silence Territorians, and they will ultimately pay the price.
If the tag of arrogance that used to stick to the CLP is going to stick anywhere at the moment, it will stick to the people who fill the government benches, who continue to provide nothing but gags for the members on this side of the House and for the Independent member.
A very notable thing in each of the divisions today, in an attempt to get this House operating in something like a balanced manner, was they were supported by the Independent. This was not done with any prior discussion. I certainly had not spoken to the Independent. However, I know that he is just as frustrated for the people who live in his electorate as I am for the people who live in my electorate, and all the members who fail to get to speak, because of the arrogance and the self-righteousness of a Chief Minister who was not dreaming for one second when he said, in front of all Territorians, that he was prepared to listen, and that he was actually going to listen. He did not think it for one second. He looked like a stunned rabbit that night, and the reason for that is that he got a slap he did not expect.
The government, for some reason, cannot come to a simple position and say, yes, when we bring an issue to this House, which is an expression of our policy position, we will allow it to be debated from the moment the minister stands to his feet to the point where there are no more speakers available to debate the matter out. Yes, it will take a little longer, but we are all paid a lot of money. We work in this place 33 days a year, and we have dinner breaks now, so it is not that taxing.
The fact is that Territorians deserve more from the government that represents them, and they deserve more from the parliament they elected. If the Leader of Government Business thinks that because she is the government, she has the right to hold her hand over the mouths of Territorians, she is wrong.
Ms Lawrie: I do not think that.
Mr ELFERINK: She is completely and utterly wrong.
Ms Lawrie: I do not think that. That is your fantasy.
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order!
Mr ELFERINK: Not true, says the Leader of Government Business. How many gag debates did we have today? How many gags did the minister run today, Madam Deputy Speaker? She ran one after the other. All she has to do is give ground on this one particular issue and this pain that they are suffering at the moment will go away.
I am passionate about my right to speak in this place, as all members should be and the fact that these people hold Territorians in such profound contempt is a condemnation of their pathetic attitude and deep seated fear of facing an opposition which they are not used to facing at all. Get to your feet. Here it is. Run your defence.
Mr KNIGHT (Daly): Madam Deputy Speaker, I recently attended the opening of the Thamarrurr Ranger Base at Wadeye ...
Mr ELFERINK: What was that hand gesture? A point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker! I did not quite make out the hand gesture by the Leader of Government Business. Could you repeat that for the cameras? Was that it? I do not quite see it. This morning we saw, in the newspaper, an attack about hand gestures on this side of the House. I just saw a hand gesture. I am not quite sure what I saw …
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: Thank you. I do not believe there is a point of order. I do not believe it was an offensive gesture.
Mr ELFERINK: I urge you to ask the Leader for Government Business to control herself because this is disgraceful.
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: Please resume your seat, Member for Port Darwin.
Ms LAWRIE: I am happy to speak to the point of order. I raised my hands up in an upright gesture, mimicking exactly the gesture that the member for Port Darwin had done.
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: Thank you. Member for Daly.
Mr KNIGHT: Madam Deputy Speaker, the frustration, I believe, that is felt from this side, by throwing her hands up into the air and thinking, what this madman, the member for Port Darwin, has been doing in this Assembly with his antics today, has been unbelievable. The sheer lunacy of the man.
Mr BOHLIN: A point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker! I ask that the member for Daly withdraw his comment calling the member for Port Darwin a madman. I do not really think he belongs in any form of mental institution. He is here representing his people. The comment that he is a madman is quite absurd and unparliamentary.
Mr KNIGHT: Madam Deputy Speaker, I withdraw that the sheer lunacy of what has happened with the CLP today makes it a ridiculous situation in this House. This parliament has operated like this for many years and it has been the sheer lunacy of certain members on the other side of this House which has caused this problem today.
I draw your attention to events in my electorate. I recently attended the opening of the Thamarrurr Ranger Base at Wadeye, not only representing the Deputy Chief Minister and Minister for Indigenous Policy, but also, very proudly, as the local member for Daly. On behalf of the Northern Territory government, I extend my appreciation to the Commonwealth government and to the Indigenous Land Corporation for funding and their support for the new base and the Thamarrurr Rangers. I was pleased that the federal Minister for Indigenous Affairs, the Honourable Jenny Macklin, was also able to attend the opening.
Looking after country; the land and sea for future generations is a very important role to play. The dedication of the Thamarrurr Rangers provides vital environmental services including spraying of weeds, monitoring and eradicating feral animals and the monitoring of this country for introduced diseases.
The Thamarrurr Marine Rangers are also responsible for the surveillance of 200 km of coastline between Cape Scott and the Fitzmaurice River. The Fisheries and the Marine Police Fisheries Enforcement Section recognise that the Marine Rangers are the eyes and ears of the remote coastal region and provide a highly valued service.
I acknowledge the hard work done by the Thamarrurr Development Corporation in managing the Ranger program and I commend them on the fantastic work that they do. I give special thanks to John Berto for all his hard work as the CEO.
The Thamarrurr Ranger Program is one of the largest employers of Indigenous people in the community and currently employs up to 19 Indigenous permanent full-time rangers. I would like to mention those rangers who attended on that day: Mark Ninnal, Boniface Nemarluk, Maureen Simon, Richard Parmbuk, Stanley Kungul, Bobby Munar and Harold Singh. Others employed as rangers are Ryan Fraser, Dan Secombe, Rod King and Matt Anderson. Matt is the manager of the ranger program and he does a great job.
The rangers are great role models for young people and Wadeye’s first Green Corps team was also recognised at the opening. I congratulate Theresa Mollinjin, Christina Jinjair, Marita Longmair and Roseanne Jinjair. The Green Corps team received their Advanced Certificate of Participation and a Certificate of Attainment focusing on cultural heritage, conservation, land management in the Thamarrurr region, and preparation for future employment. This program is being delivered by the Thamarrurr Development Corporation in partnership with the Thamarrurr Regional Council.
Other rangers who were not able to attend to attend on the day but I will acknowledge are: Cyril Ninnal, Mathew Gumbaduck, Marie Manby, Paul Cumaiyi, Margaret Mardinga and Terence Bunduck and Clara Karui. I congratulate everyone for what they have achieved.
I move on to some student awards. I congratulate Samara Carroll and Jack Campbell from Berry Springs Primary School who received book vouchers, as part of my monthly awards.
I attended the Taminmin Middle School assembly yesterday morning and presented the book voucher for September to Yasmina Lipinski, Year 9. I also announced the students of the month for September: Demi Tinning, Year 7, and Courtney Irlam, Year 8. Lucky recipients of my October awards were: Jenny Do, Year 7; Zoe Owens, Year 8; and Bradley Canniford, Year 9. Congratulations on all your good work. The Taminmin School goes from success to success. Good luck in the last eight weeks of school.
I attended the Adelaide River Primary School celebration on its 50th anniversary and what an exciting event that was. The current school began operations in February 1958 and was officially opened on 29 September 1958. There are currently 53 students enrolled and two teaching staff. Tony Clegg is the teaching principal and congratulations to Tony and his staff for the great work they do at the school. A Northern Territory history grant has helped fund the production of a book about the school’s history and I look forward to the book launch in December.
Three generations of students from the Fawcett family were also part of the celebrations, at the picnic laid out under the school’s grand Noonjook tree, which was planted in the 1960s. The Fawcett family is well known in the area and it was Myrtle Fawcett who lobbied authorities in the 1950s for a school. A small school started in an old army shed in 1953, before moving to its present site in 1958. The celebrations were a perfect opportunity for everyone in the community to enjoy the great afternoon with current and former students, principals and staff. It was a great afternoon and congratulations to everyone on this great milestone.
Members: Hear, hear!
Mr TOLLNER (Fong Lim): Madam Deputy Speaker, on Sunday I was fortunate to be able to attend the Ludmilla Family Fun Day. I took my wife and children and organised a barbeque. The Ludmilla Family Fun Day was organised by a group of people in my electorate called Ludmilla Neighbourhood Connections.
They are an informal neighbourhood group which aims to make Ludmilla, in particular, a more connected, strong and friendly neighbourhood by building social networks. They organise and support a range of activities and events that focus on encouraging the involvement of all residents. Ludmilla Neighbourhood Connections was started in July 2007 by local Ludmilla resident, Gretchen Ennis, who wanted, at the time, to look at ways for people from different cultural backgrounds in the Ludmilla area to get together and get to know each other better. There seemed to be little opportunity outside the local school for people to meet at a local neighbourhood level and to create the valuable social networks that assist people in their day-to-day lives, and also to create a broader sense of community in the Ludmilla area. From several meetings that she had, Gretchen organised a small working group of local people to get together to consider how best to create some new opportunities in the area.
Since that time, almost every organisation in the Ludmilla area has become involved in some way, shape or form. Ludmilla Neighbourhood Connections is now made up of people from the local area with representatives from the Ludmilla Primary School, the Nemarluk School, Corrugated Iron Youth Arts, Bagot Community Council, Anglicare NT, KidSafe NT, SIDS and Kids, and the Ludmilla Landcare Group. They have all been involved in various events and activities along the way.
Gretchen Ennis is now undertaking PhD studies in social networks in the community of Ludmilla. This has enabled her to concentrate further on facilitating the Ludmilla Neighbourhood Connections group via regular neighbourhood meetings and an e-mail list. It has also allowed Ludmilla Neighbourhood Connections to apply for small amounts of funding from the NT government Community Grants Program. This money will be used to start up a network of neighbourhood gardens throughout Ludmilla. They are currently awaiting the outcome of their grant application. I encourage the Northern Territory government to support Ludmilla Neighbourhood Connections because they are such a fantastic group. They are part of the Fong Lim electorate.
On the weekend, I was very much involved with them. They had their Ludmilla Family Fun Day on Sunday, 19 October between 4 pm and 7 pm. There was something like 100 to 120 families who turned up - a range of different people from around the area - to get involved in a whole range of different activities. We had barbecues, rock climbing, music, sport and all that sort of stuff.
Corrugated Iron Youth Arts turned up and trained children in circus skills and circus tricks. They gave demonstrations and encouraged the kids to have a go at learning some circus tricks. Jane Tonkin, Damien Pree, Josh Ingrames, Luke Ingrames and Eli Taylor were there from Corrugated Iron Youth Arts, and they did a fantastic job in providing some entertainment in circus skills.
The NT School of Music provided the sound and the sound system free of charge. Special thanks need to go to Rod Balaam setting up the sound and mixing the band. They had a band turn up which provided some excellent music. The Ludmilla Primary School Choir sang some music they had learned for The Beat. The school students were very inspirational in the way they conducted themselves.
Adam Voigt, the Principal of Ludmilla Primary School was there. He is a big part of Ludmilla Neighbourhood Connections, a great man in the area and a real powerhouse in developing the community in the Ludmilla area.
Nemarluk School put on an art display, coordinated by Meena Baines and Principal, Bert Beekhuizen. They had a fantastic display and the art they produced at Nemarluk School was first rate. Good on Nemarluk School.
Caroline Reynolds provided the rock climbing wall. I am sure members have been around various community events and seen the rock climbing wall. She had a helper with the kids and it was a big hit - kids were up and down it all the time. There was a band called, Country Town Collective, a local band and they played free of charge.
Ludmilla Creek Landcare Group put on an information display about local Landcare projects. I supplied some meat and sausages and the like for the barbecue, but the barbecue would not have happened without the strong support of Anglicare NT, who actually organised it, got out and bought all the goodies. They are hitting me with a bill for that, but ultimately it was the Anglicare NT crew who did the grunt work. The CEO, Ms Coralie Nichols and her partner, Peter; the Executive Officer, Stephanie Bradley and her partner, who, I should say, is a super chef, a fellow called Ronald Manueli, a great bloke, a Fijian who sat there all afternoon in the hot sun, twirled away, did a fantastic job with the sausages, steaks, onions and all the like. Anglicare NT Youth Health Worker, Shellee Fielding was also there. They did a fantastic job. It was a great afternoon.
We tried to get a number of sporting groups to turn up. The AFL Auskick people were involved. They initially said they were going to turn up. Unfortunately, at the time, the Essendon Keilor footy players were in Darwin, and diverted the AFL guys away from our afternoon get together, but the AFL Auskick program fellows did come down with a big swag of footballs and coloured cones for the kids to kick around and kick off, which was very good.
We had invited basketball super coach, Don Sheppard, to turn up and take the kids through some basketball skills and the like. For those members who do not know, Don is a big bear of a man. He called me about half-an-hour before the thing had happened, he had taken a little tumble and he told me that he had a suspected broken foot. For a big bloke like Don, I reckon if he took a tumble, he would have probably a pretty serious injury, so it was unfortunate that Don could not make it, but great that he tried.
The Ludmilla Neighbourhood Connections Group deserves a huge amount of thanks and credit from the whole Ludmilla community. They pulled this thing together, they informed the community by way of letterbox drops and the like, and Gretchen Ennis and the Ludmilla Primary School Council Chairman, Mick Purcell, should be congratulated for the effort they put in. I have only met Mick since being elected as the member for Fong Lim, but he has very much impressed me as a local worker. He is the chairman of the Ludmilla Primary School. He has been on my back now for quite sometime about some promised traffic changes that the Education department and the department of Transport had promised to make around the Ludmilla School. He is very active in the school community and he is also very active with Ludmilla Neighbourhood Connections. He is a bloke who has empathy for the Indigenous people of the area, of Bagot community and Kulaluk, and he really goes out of his way to involve those people in all sorts of neighbourhood activities. He is very keen to see them as part of the community.
It was a great event, and fantastic to be part the activities. I congratulate all of those people that I mentioned for the fine work that they did in pulling it together. They tell me they would have liked a bigger crowd, but I suppose it was a build-up afternoon, a pretty hot afternoon, so I imagine at other times of the year they would get more people. It was a great afternoon. I appreciated being there and I am very keen to be a part of future functions and give them as much support as I possibly can. I encourage this government to support them with any endeavours they try to undertake in the future.
Mr BOHLIN (Drysdale): Madam Deputy Speaker, I will speak on the matter that the member for Katherine had raised regarding the air-med. I was fortunate to be involved in a conversation at the member’s electorate office in Katherine, together with the member for Greatorex.
The accident that happened in September 2008 with Adrian Phillips and his crew of hard-working Central Australian people was a tragic accident. It involved a car and a beast that they were trying to catch. Those men are real tough ringers. They are true ocker Australian men. They have worked across the Top End, the central regions as well and were amazing people to listen to. Their story really hit home. As many of you by now have worked out, I have spent time working in central Australia in extremely remote locations. You do feel that remoteness when you are out there by yourself, or with a few of you. You know that you are isolated. You know that help is not going to come in a hurry.
These strong men thought they had it all worked out. They took as many reasonable precautions as they could. They had satellite phones, a helicopter that was helping in mustering, and several vehicles and many men working. They had chainsaws. They had first aid kits. They knew what they were doing. They were not amateurs. They had personal plans in place with their families so that if they did not turn up by sunset, their families knew to start panicking, to set the alarm off, to get help. That is what they have based much of their life on for a long time - that the help is out there.
We failed them astronomically. It was a disgrace. Coming from an emergency services perspective, I was disgusted to listen to and hear the torment these men have gone through, since that time, because of our failings.
These men did a fantastic job. I have had to resuscitate people too many times; had to deal with too many other things that do not need to be mentioned here. But John Armstrong Jnr, the pilot, from what I can work out, is a very capable pilot. John Armstrong Snr is also a very respected person within the Rotor element of Northern Australia. These men knew what they were doing. An accident happened and they were left stranded. At approximately 4.45 pm, the accident occurred and as a result the men suffered injuries. The helicopter landed very shortly after, very close by and they rang 000. They were not far from Katherine; a 20-minute flight. The cost of the flight was irrelevant. They could not care less. This was about helping their fallen friends who were injured on the ground alongside them and they were left stranded by our system. They deserve an apology from that system because what happened is unacceptable.
The sequence of events should be well recorded as the DMO would have to keep records as part of policy, I would presume. 000 keeps records and the phone conversations will be recorded and could be brought up, if needed, by the coroner. But to ring 000 and get no real response or: ‘Righto, someone will ring you back – someone will ring you back’, and to keep getting this answer is appalling. We now have a man whose mates are fighting for his life – he has lost his ability to fight for his own life. It does not matter how tough you are - that is scary business. It is soul destroying. He will be left with a scar that you cannot erase. The help is there. They always thought it was there but it was not. It was not for them.
Adrian did a fantastic job of trying to coordinate what he had - he offered everything at his disposal. John Armstrong Jnr and his father, John Armstrong Snr, offered everything available they could muster but our system failed them. We were the ones; the government failed them dramatically. There is a time when you have to make a decision on whether resuscitation continues and the DMO is definitely the expert in that field. That decision was made, but it is hard to tell someone who has been friends with someone for a long time, to give up working on that person. You stop resuscitating them because they are gone. The lack of tact that was portrayed, and I can only say portrayed, was poor.
The refusal to allow a doctor or a paramedic from Katherine to fly in a helicopter of a commercial pilot was inexcusable in any circumstances. 000 was called - we are there to rescue, to save peoples lives and we failed. Our police systems in this area have failed to respond to certain instances to protect the public.
They could have flown him there, picked up a paramedic with his paramedic kit, a nice pretty red bag containing a lot of lifesaving equipment, and brought him to the site quite safely to start immediate treatment. Forty minutes could have passed by, let us say, for the sake of this, so by 5.30 pm there could have been a paramedic on-site - worst case scenario. Why was it that no one was sent in that capacity?
I am very grateful to the medical staff who were sent from a nearby community with their community ambulance. They did not know exactly what they were going to. They were going to a very remote area of rugged terrain. The Maranboy police were sent, which was fantastic. I have worked with the Officer-in-Charge of that station, Carney Ganley, and I can guarantee you that man would have given every ounce of his blood and sweat to do his job for the people he went there to help and protect. From what I have been told, that is exactly what he did.
Over the next few hours, the Officer-in-Charge of Maranboy Police Station, Carney Ganley, the medical teams that were sent - and mind you, they did not get there until midnight, they were fairly late on the scene – and the ringers on the site, used all their resources and every ounce of their energy to clear a complete landing site for a dust-off - for a medical evacuation by rotor wing – 50 m by 40 m. I cannot remember the figures. These people - Adrian Phillips and John Armstrong do remember, because their men cleared that site by hand, with trucks and chainsaws. They cleared that site so that the rescue team could land to save these people, help these people, to get them out of pain, to get them out of the peril of a night in the bush. Mind you, the survivor was face down in the dirt for the entire situation - hot Katherine dirt.
Maranboy police have said they had to winch the ambulance into the region; they had to physically fight the rescue truck that did come to give first aid treatment. I commend those officers and the men of Adrian Phillips who helped achieve that feat. They did an amazing job, at great energy and a great emotional cost to them, to achieve that. At 12.25 am or 12.22 am - within a few minutes of that - a man alive, lying on the ground, received his first pain relief. The accident happened at 4.45 pm. That is disgusting. That is unbelievable.
By this stage, from my recollection of the conversation, the Jawoyn people had been contacted, agreements had been loosely struck and they were willing to help. They had a Jet Ranger; they could not fly at night, but they were ready to lift off first thing in the morning. They prepared their craft to fly in, and that is what they did in respect for the people who were on the ground, working the land for them. They flew in with their machine to medivac this man. I highly commend the Jawoyn people for their Australian spirit, for the camaraderie of the people of the bush and for what they were willing to do.
It was amazing, considering that we, as the government, could not do it. They, as the people in that area could do it, but we failed to do it. I do not know where it falls down. I do not know whose failing it is. Hopefully, we can work to resolve such issues.
Something that makes me even angrier is that we did some research with people we know in the industry. We have since been told, from search and rescue’s point of view, CASA based out of Canberra, that if they had gone back to their helicopter, which was working perfectly fine at 4.45 pm, or a couple of minutes after by the time it landed, and flicked their EPIRB, their emergency positioning device, for 15 seconds, and not called 000, they would have had help from Canberra straight away. A little signal bounces to the sky, to the satellite, down and then a team is sent.
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: Member for Drysdale, your time has expired.
Mr WESTRA van HOLTHE (Katherine): Madam Deputy Speaker, first, I would like to thank the member for Barkly for pointing out to me an oversight I apparently made in an Adjournment debate during the last sittings in September.
I was inspired by the visit to this parliament of a number of students from Katherine who were undertaking the Award, formerly known as the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award. I was so inspired by their departure from mediocrity that I included them in my contribution to that debate. I researched the Award and went on to their website, where I found some excellent information about the Award. It was well written and I thought to adapt some of the information into my speech, because I believed I could not significantly improve on the content and wanted to keep the spirit of the information in line with what was on the website.
What I did do at the time was read the information disclaimer on the website, and I took that to mean I could use the content of the website for information and background, which is what it says. I consequently provided this background and information to this parliament, to set a backdrop to acknowledge those youths from Katherine. My transgression, alluded to by the member for Barkly, was not acknowledging that much of the information came from that particular website. This was simply an oversight and I did not seek any gain by quoting from that website. In hindsight, I could, and perhaps should have made that acknowledgement. I can assure the House that I will endeavour that this does not happen again.
I am stunned and somewhat disgusted that the member for Barkly has chosen to engage in this issue and make an issue out of my acknowledgment of a group of young people who are striving to make some real achievements in their lives. The member for Barkly obviously has no idea of the commitment and effort that is required to undertake the Award. I hope his contribution this evening is not construed by those young people as diminishing the Award in any way, or their commitment to making a difference in their lives.
I will now speak on a serious health and welfare issue for Territorians and all Australians. I acknowledge an e-mail dated today from the Drug Advisory Council of Australia for part of the content of my contribution to the debate this evening. This is advice to parents, which they endorse, and I stand alongside them by endorsing this advice also.
Prevention of drug use is the best approach to illicit drug use. Drug use, for the first time, is now lower at 12 years of age, therefore, parents have the best opportunity to turn their children away from use. Early use of alcohol, tobacco or inhalants is a strong predictor of future illicit drug use. Parents must educate themselves on the harms of illicit drugs by accessing reliable web information, publications and meetings. Parents must educate themselves on the culture of illicit drug use from popular music, Internet, magazines and movies. Parents should be active in developing school policies that support drug-free youth.
Parents must let their children know that they will pick them up at any time, from functions where illicit drugs are present, by a simple mobile phone call to remove them from risk. Parents should closely supervise their children, by knowing their movements and the friends they mix with. Parents should request their members of parliament, school officials and community groups to keep them informed about illicit drug issues.
Parents must support initiatives to provide detoxification and rehabilitation programs to those who have used illicit drugs to get them drug free. Children do not stay away from illicit drugs by chance. It takes thoughtful planning, effort and commitment from adults who love them. That source is acknowledged through the Drug Watch International Newsletter of April 2008.
I highly commend the students of the Middle School at St Joseph’s College in Katherine for their drug forum, which took place on 17 October 2008. I was invited to the school to watch a number of presentations, and to share in a delicious lunch. To say that I was impressed is an understatement. In keeping with the principles of education and demystifying illicit drugs, the forum commenced with a welcome by the school captains, followed by explanations of posters created by some of the students. This was followed by a video presentation, which was very humorous, carrying all the right messages about not getting messed up by using drugs. This was followed by a trivia quiz which tested a few of the beliefs I held about drugs, and then a role play which was inspiring and engaging. There was a PowerPoint presentation, distribution of pamphlets and then a farewell to participants by the school captains.
I believe it is important to bring this topic out of the shadows and deal with it in a sensible and mature way. Illicit drug use needs to be spoken about at school, and with parents, to remove the sensationalism that surrounds this horrible scourge on our community.
To the staff and students of St Joseph’s College in Katherine, I offer my congratulations on the conduct of this forum. You should be proud of yourselves, as I am proud of you, for your efforts and the standard of your contribution to the Katherine community.
Motion agreed to; the Assembly adjourned.
Last updated: 04 Aug 2016