2007-08-29
Madam Speaker Aagaard took the Chair at 10 am.
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, I draw your attention to the presence in the gallery of Year 6/7 Bakewell Primary School students accompanied by Tracy Roberts, and Year 9 Taminmin High School students accompanied by Jean-Marc Balette. On behalf of honourable members, I extend to you a very warm welcome.
Members: Hear, hear!
The CLERK: Madam Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 100A, I inform honourable members that responses to petition Nos 55, 61 and 62 have been received and circulated to honourable members.
Petition No 55
Amalgamation of Litchfield Shire Council
Date presented: 17 April 2007
Presented by: Mr Wood
Referred to: Minister for Local Government
Date response due: 29 August 2007
Date response received: 28 August 2007
Date response presented: 29 August 2007
Response:
Petition No 61
Amalgamation of Litchfield Shire Council
Date presented: 3 May 2007
Presented by: Mr Wood
Referred to: Minister for Local Government
Date response due: 29 August 2007
Date response received: 28 August 2007
Date response presented: 29 August 2007
Response:
Petition No 62
Amalgamation of Litchfield Shire Council
Date presented: 20 June 2007
Presented by: Mr Wood
Referred to: Minister for Local Government
Date response due: 29 August 2007
Date response received: 28 August 2007
Date response presented: 29 August 2007
Response:
Ms SCRYMGOUR (Arts and Museums): Madam Speaker, last Sunday saw the close of another Darwin Festival, and it is difficult to escape the clich – it really was the best on record. I understand the organisers have yet to finalise their figures - they were still bumping out from the Botanic Gardens late yesterday - but all indications suggest record numbers attending a record number of events.
Some, of course, were old favourites such as the Santos opening concert at the Esplanade, or the Australian Central Credit Union’s Teddy Bear Picnic. Others included the amazing new music venue SoCo Cargo on Mitchell Street; what frankly looked like an ugly industrial site from the outside transformed inside to a fabulous venue for live music. The Star Shell was, once again, one of the stars of the festival, and enjoyed a record number of sell-out performances this year. This allowed, in some cases, extra performances to be held. The sell-outs included the bizarrely wonderful Kransky Sisters and Broad, while other shows of note at the Star Shell included the Dili Allstars, Sing Sing and Nabarlek, which went on to great success at the Indigenous Music Awards on the second last night of the festival. Of special note was the performance by Roymackonkey and the Darwin Youth Orchestra. The kids from the DYO were seriously wonderful in meeting the challenges of playing with one of Darwin’s great musical outfits.
The visual arts had a great outing as well, starting with the NATSIA awards. The first weekend saw a total of 22 exhibitions of Aboriginal art, from amazing new works from Papunya to recent paintings and prints from Christine Christopherson, from the huge success of the inaugural Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair to printmakers from Yirrkala at the wonderful Galuku Gallery, and the Tails of the Avians at the Old Wesleyan Church at the gardens.
Once again, we were given an absolute treat by Tracks Dance, this time with You Dance Funny. Also noteworthy was the near sell-out crowd at the AusDance’s Four on the Floor. Nine nights of indigenous dancing saw fabulous performances from White Cockatoo, Kenbi and the Djilpin dance groups. Of course, one of my favourite outings of the festival was to see my own countrywomen from the Strong Women’s Group at Nguiu teaming up with a group of Sydney jazz musicians.
Darwin Festival links with Asia have been steadily growing in recent years. This year included Play Play, Interpositions and The Tangled Gardens. The festival and 24 Hr Art really deserve great praise for developing these important creative connections with our near neighbours. Added to this, of course, were performances as diverse as Carmen by Oz Opera, chanting from the Gyuto monks, Alice Springs Red Dust Theatre’s Barracking, and a double show from the Scared Weird Little Guys.
Madam Speaker, indeed, all members of the Assembly, the great thing about the Darwin Festival is in its diversity. It really reflects what we are here in the Territory and different lives and cultures that we share. Our homegrown creative endeavours stand up well nationally and internationally. By the same token, it was great to see a wide variety of shows from interstate and overseas that we normally would not get to see.
As well as the Festival Board, which is headed up by Ian Prince, I also thank the tireless work of Malcolm Blaylock, the festival artistic director, and the absolutely terrific Anne Dunn. I would see both of them at all hours patrolling and pacing around various gigs and shows, like expectant parents waiting for the successful delivery of scores of creative events. They, along with an estimated 1000 volunteers who worked on various aspects of the Darwin Festival, deserve a really good rest, and they need our applause because without those volunteers many of these festivals would not be successful. Although I know that plans are already afoot for future festivals stretching out until 2010, I am certain members of both sides of the Assembly will congratulate the organisers, the sponsors, and supporters of this year’s Darwin Festival.
Mrs MILLER (Katherine): Madam Speaker, I thank the minister for her report this morning. The Darwin Festival is a great opportunity for Territorians to be able to have the experience of art and culture, especially culture that they may not have been able to ever go somewhere else to see. It is a great opportunity for local talent to be able to demonstrate what we have here. It is also something that is great to have at this time of the year because of visitors to the Northern Territory and to Darwin being able to take part in those festival activities.
A lot was lots happening around the Northern Territory during this time, which probably would have detracted just a little from the Katherine Flying Fox Festival. Everything seemed to be happening at the same time. However, there was something for everybody; you are quite right, minister. It is so nice to have some culture and some wonderful performances in Darwin for people to be able to experience. I thank the minister for her report and I also support what she said about volunteers. Without volunteers assisting in these activities they would never be the success that they are, and their role is extremely important. Volunteers by their hundreds need to be congratulated for the success of this event.
Mrs BRAHAM (Braitling): Madam Speaker, last night I mentioned the Alice Springs Festival that is going to occur in September. Like the Darwin Festival, it will be a smorgasbord of events. That is fantastic. There is a lot of satisfaction, at the end of the day, from the work that has gone into organising these events. Minister, you did not mention the Indigenous Music Awards which were on Saturday ...
Ms Scrymgour: Other report.
Mrs BRAHAM: Okay. Can I just say, Madam Speaker, how disappointed a lot of people were to hear the minister use that as a political platform to talk about the federal intervention into Aboriginal communities. It was most inappropriate. It was meant to be a celebration of the Indigenous Music Awards, with people performing, and a tribute to past members who are deceased. Instead, the minister and the member for Barkly used it as a platform to further the political debate on something that really should not have been raised at this evening. It was most disappointing. It was very disappointing, minister, to a number of people who were at that event to hear you use that venue, that time, to promote government’s point of view on the intervention that the federal government is involved in at the moment. It is disappointing that you did that, minister.
There is a time and a place for us politicians to speak, but that was not the time or the place. There were many who felt that you should have been concentrating on what it was all about; a celebration of indigenous music. Let us be positive, not always bringing the negative. Let us not have this political opportunist spoil the evening.
Ms SCRYMGOUR (Arts and Museums): Madam Speaker, I thank both members for their contribution. I thank the member for Katherine because the Flying Fox Festival and many of our festivals are a great display of our cultures that come together.
Member for Braitling, it was stating the obvious. It was saying yes, this is a night of celebration. I was not saying it was not a night of celebration. There were three very moving events. One was to see Mandawuy and Gurrumul Geoffrey Yunupingu with Mandawuy for the first time. The tribute to GR Burarrawanga, which was only possible with permission from his family, I thought was a very important event. To put the link between that and what is happening between permits and land - I do not think that I was the only person to talk about the era of uncertainty in our community. However, the message was: ‘You can take away our land, but you cannot remove the music’. It was saying: ‘You cannot take away our culture or our music; it is part of our celebration and is still strong’.
Dr BURNS (Health): Madam Speaker, this government promised in 2001 that we would build a high-quality birth centre in Darwin and we are delivering on that promise. I am pleased to report that on Monday, 27 August, the Chief Minister and I opened the state-of-the-art birth centre at Royal Darwin Hospital. This is another milestone in this government’s plan to build and strengthen the services and infrastructure at Royal Darwin Hospital and other hospitals across the Territory.
Just last week, the Chief Minster and I launched an expansion of the hospital with a new Ward 3B. This ward has been opened with fully staffed new beds which we promised in 2005. It will mean the reopening of a ward with 20 fully staffed beds, which was shut down by the previous CLP government and turned into an administrative area.
Furthermore, in the coming month I look forward to making another major announcement relating to the Rapid Admission and Planning Unit.
All these initiatives are coming online to address the increasing demand facing our hospitals. We are equipping the Royal Darwin Hospital with the resources and facilities that our staff need to be able to continue to offer high-quality services to Territorians.
The establishment of the birth centre, at a cost of $2.5m, underlines this government’s commitment to birthing services. The birth centre is a very modern, state-of-the-art facility designed in consultation with stakeholders to provide a high-level of care in a home-like environment. The birth centre includes two low-tech family birthing rooms, with deep water baths for pain relief, consultation rooms, education and training rooms, and an outdoor courtyard where families can relax. It is an expansion to maternity services in the Northern Territory.
The birth centre gives those women who are expected to have an uneventful birth in the Northern Territory another birthing choice. It will provide a great alternative to the delivery suite on the sixth floor at Royal Darwin Hospital.
We estimate that about 225 women each year will be able to access the birth centre through the community midwifery program. The midwives at the birth centre will work in tandem with the existing community midwifery practice located at Trower Road, Casuarina, to provide the best care for women and babies. Pregnant women can access educational material on antenatal information at the centre through their community practice midwife from next week. The birth centre is an extension of the practice in a specialised location. It has a woman-centred family friendly philosophy, where care follows a woman and is focused on her and her family’s needs. It has a friendly environment with an emphasis on midwifery-led care for those who do not need medical intervention during childbirth. It will also meet the needs of the staff and be a pleasant working environment for them.
Local construction company PW Baxter was responsible for the project, which saw the renovation on the ground floor of the Royal Darwin Hospital. I congratulate Paul Baxter and his company for a great job. I was impressed with the quality of work. I am sure that everyone who visits the birth centre will appreciate their good work. We have the infrastructure in place, with state-of-the-art furnishings and equipment, appropriately trained staff, and support for a range of birthing services.
The final step is to ensure that services across the Northern Territory are aligned and meeting the needs of our Territory families. The Department of Health and Community Services has recently commenced a maternity services project to assess the range of maternity services provided in the Northern Territory and recommend an integrated maternity service framework. Services within the scope of this project encompass antenatal, perinatal and postnatal care provided either by specialists or generalist health professionals. As such, it encompasses both home birthing and community midwifery, as well as hospital based services.
The project is being undertaken by a team of consultants with expertise in both obstetrics and midwifery, who are familiar with the breadth of health services in the Northern Territory. To date, they have met with over 30 people to identify and discuss key issues related to the project. An expert reference group has been established for the project and it has met twice. This group provides advice to the consultants and is comprised of people with expert knowledge and skills in the area of maternity services in the Northern Territory.
Madam Speaker, I am confident that the new $2.5m Birth Centre at Royal Darwin Hospital will be appreciated by those women looking to exercise a choice in the delivery of their children.
Mr CONLAN (Greatorex): Madam Speaker, I thank the Minister for Health for his report this morning. The announcement of Monday’s opening of the birthing centre is good news, and I am sure that expecting Territory mothers will welcome the announcement. It is a great job that the midwives do in the Northern Territory.
A concern that I do have, minister, is that the community nurses and the home birthing midwives have access to a vehicle to carry out their duties. The community midwives who deliver at the hospital and will deliver at the new birthing centre do not have a vehicle to carry out their duties. I know they do a follow-up service for about five days or so after the mothers have delivered their baby. It would be great to see them have a vehicle to carry out their duties. I believe they get a petrol allowance and the like. However, I would like to see them have access to a Health Department vehicle.
Again, I thank the minister for his report. It is an important announcement for Territory mothers. I look forward to further briefings from the minister.
Dr BURNS (Health): Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Greatorex for his response. Regarding the maternity services review, the issue of transport is an issue that could be looked at. Currently, I understand they do receive some reimbursement for whatever travel they might have. However, I am sure the maternity services review will look at this issue raised by the member for Greatorex, as well as other issues related to delivery of these services across the Northern Territory.
Mr NATT (Primary Industry and Fisheries): Madam Speaker, I report on what is believed to be a world first: the successful eradication of grapevine leaf rust disease in the Northern Territory. Members will recall that grapevine leaf rust was initially discovered at a residence in the northern suburbs of Darwin in July 2001.
In responding to this detection, a National Grapevine Leaf Rust Eradication Team was established in Darwin by my Department of Primary Industry, Fisheries and Mines. Funding of the National Grapevine Leaf Rust Eradication team was provided under national cost-sharing arrangements. More than $2.6m was provided for research and eradication of the grapevine leaf rust.
Grapevine leaf rust is considered to be a serious threat to Australia’s $4.6bn wine and table grape industries. If the disease had headed south it could have devastated our Ti Tree and Central Australian table grape industry. While the disease is common throughout South-East Asia and other parts of the world, it has never before been detected within Australia.
It was, indeed, a mammoth task to eradicate grapevine leaf rust in the Northern Territory. All grapevines throughout the Darwin region were identified and inspected, and those found to be diseased were removed and destroyed. Controls were also introduced to restrict the movement of grapevines.
Many of the vines belonged to members of our Greek community, who use the leaves to create dolmades, a fantastic savoury Greek dish often used as an entre. A community education program was developed to explain the need to quarantine and eradicate grapevine leaf rust from the Northern Territory before it spread nationally. The message about the threat was broadcast using television, newspaper and Greek community radio, as well as through Greek language schools, the Greek Church, and the then Northern Territory Administrator, Mr John Anictomatis.
Residents in Darwin, Palmerston and regional Darwin welcomed the DPIFM staff members when viewing their properties to identify the spread and extent of the disease. More than 40 000 properties were visited, with a police presence required to undertake the inspection of two properties. Infected vines were removed, and where grapevines were detected, follow-up visits were necessary. An authority on grapevine leaf rust also visited the Northern Territory to provide advice on the disease and possible treatments.
Madam Speaker, I am pleased to report that the Northern Territory was declared free of grapevine leaf rust on 1 July 2007. I wish to acknowledge the dedication and great deal of hard yakka by members of the National Grapevine Leaf Rust Eradication Team, and the tremendous support of the Darwin, Palmerston and outer Darwin community in eradicating this disease. It is yet another example of the Territory being at the leading edge. Whether it is the grapevine leaf rust or the equine influenza, we are well placed to deal with exotic pests and disease incursions.
Mr MILLS (Blain): Madam Speaker, I welcome the report; it is good news. I acknowledge the hard work of all those departmental folk who fought a very well-coordinated campaign to remove this potential problem.
However, once again, I see the stark contrast. We talked about the equine flu yesterday, now we talk about leaf rust today. As an analogy, we see the magnificent coordination and combined effort to produce an excellent result for the horticultural industry or the racing industry; however, do we see the same abandonment of self-interest, power plays and political agendas when it comes to children - children that we declared to be sacred? No, we see a great level of the increased obstructionism and excuse-making hiding your own personal agendas. I believe with this example of a leaf rust eradication and the equine flu response, we should be ashamed when we see the response that we have to little children being sacred.
Mr WOOD (Nelson): Madam Speaker, I thank the minister for his statement. What the grapevine leaf rust issue raises is that there are many threats to the horticultural industries. Diseases can effect such an important industry. The Northern Territory, unfortunately, has been ‘blessed’ with such things as Panama disease, citrus canker, the spiralling white fly, and the grapevine leaf rust as well. There is a whole range of diseases that have caused major problems to the horticultural industry.
We really need to improve our quarantine of materials, and the introduction of even things such as nursery plants into the Northern Territory as a priority. We have a large number of weeds in the Northern Territory which were actually introduced pastoral species. Gamba is a classic example. It is great for cattle, but it is a curse for a lot of other people. Mission grass is the same.
I take up the point the member for Blain made in relation to equine influenza. Look at the effort that is being put into making sure that it does not spread because we have a multimillion dollar industry throughout Australia. However, the horticultural industry sometimes does not quite get that appropriate concentration of government efforts, and we certainly have to.
I used to grow snake beans at Daly River for years and had no problems with any diseases. Now, I believe, we have a snake bean wilt which was never heard of. It had to have come into the Territory somehow. The government really has to look at whether the processes it has to make sure these pests do not come into the Northern Territory are adequate and, if not, it needs to spend more money on ensuring they do not come into the Territory.
Ms Lawrie: We are. Parliamentary committee inquiry into invasive species, perhaps.
Mr WOOD: We have spiralling white fly and Panama disease.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr NATT (Primary Industry and Fisheries): Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Blain for his support, but am very disappointed at his grandstanding and opposition points-scoring on this particular subject. In relation to the member for Nelson, the department is doing a wonderful job trying to control all these diseases. Yes, we do have a problem here and there. In this particular case, it is an airborne disease that could have occurred from someone’s clothes, coming in from overseas. It is just one of those things. However, the support mechanisms are there and we are working with the department to ensure those support mechanisms are supported.
Mr STIRLING (Deputy Chief Minister): Madam Speaker, I inform the House about the continuing success of one of the Territory’s great festivals. The Garma Festival is our most renounced celebration of Yolngu culture. It has done much over the last nine years to bring people together and promote harmony and coexistence. For this reason, we are so pleased to support the festival through the Yothu Yindi Foundation. The aim of Garma is to share knowledge and culture, and the range of activities this year was impressive, and certainly caught the imagination of festival goers.
Highlights included: the traditional Bunggul, the ceremonial performance; the establishment of a healing centre by the women as a long-term project; the sharing of their cultural practices, including field trips for the collection of bush tucker, bush medicine, pandanus leaves and bush dyes for weaving; the Yidaki master class and field trips to collect hollow wood for didgeridoos; and land and sea site expeditions with the focus on bush tucker, spear making and spear throwing. Another highlight this year was the ongoing creation by Aboriginal artist of the Garma panel and print project.
Since 2003, over 100 artists from across the Northern Territory including Tiwi, Arnhem Land, Katherine region, Central Australia, and the Kimberley region of Western Australia participated. The last five years work is now on display at the Yothu Yindi Foundation’s new office in Cavenagh Street and is well worth viewing.
A personal highlight for both me and the Chief Minister over the weekend was the signing of our first Remote Learning Partnership Agreement with Yirrkala community. It marks a new era of cooperation between Aboriginal communities and government of the Northern Territory and will see communities like Yirrkala driving change and creating a brighter future for their children. It is about putting education of the children first, and ensuring they attend school. We want all children in the Territory to get the education they deserve so they have choices down the track. The agreement was the result of extensive consultation with the Yirrkala Community. We see it as the first step in an important journey. It contains realistic targets that the community can aim for; it will get the ball rolling in essence. It says we can all do better, we can all be part of building a positive future for our communities and committing for the long haul and making a real difference in the years ahead.
I take the opportunity to congratulate everyone involved in development negotiations agreement: the Yambirrpa School Councillors for selecting and supporting the local negotiation team; and the members of the local negotiation team - Wali Wunungmurra, Chairperson of the Yambirrpa School Council and head negotiator of this agreement for the community; Nalwarri Ngurruwutthun; Yalmay Yunupingu; Wayilu Wunungmurra; Djuwalpi Marika; Raymattja Marika; Multhara Mununggurr; Mandawuy Yunupingu; Djalinda Ulumari; and Barayuwa Mununggurr. Greg Wearne and Leon White were outstanding from the point of view of their local knowledge as the local community consultants for the Yambirrpa plan; they did a terrific job. The DEET negotiation team and the community engagement team, as well as the independent facilitators, deserve special praise for their professionalism and dedication to the task. Whilst it is unfair to single out individuals within a large department such as DEET, I must make special mention of the efforts of Ken Davies and his CEO, Margaret Banks, for the focus that DEET kept on this engagement process and the results that they came away with. Thank you, Ken; thank you, Margaret.
The Garma Festival was an outstanding success, thanks to Galarrwuy and Mandawuy Yunupingu for their leadership and their belief in this festival. It all started with them, it has all come from them, and it all continues with their efforts. Special thanks to Alan James for the nine successful Garma in a row. He has a nervous breakdown just about every July in preparation for this, but seems to come through the other side with a smile. So, well done, AJ, yet again.
Mr MILLS (Blain): Madam Speaker, I acknowledge the report. I have heard tremendous things about this festival. I apologise to those who organise it, I have not been able to get to it. It is just a difficult time of the year.
Mr Stirling: We will get you there.
Mr MILLS: I would like to get there. I acknowledge the fine efforts of the citizens who make these things happen. The departmental people’s professional contribution is fantastic. It is the life and blood that comes from the hearts of good people, families, which make these events possible. I add to the minister’s comments and pass our congratulations on to those good folk who make these things possible.
Reports noted pursuant to standing orders.
ENVIRONMENT PROTECTION
AUTHORITY BILL
(Serial 114)
Bill presented and read a first time.
Ms LAWRIE (Natural Resources, Environment and Heritage): Madam Speaker, I move that the bill be now read a second time.
This bill delivers an important election promise to establish an independent Environment Protection Authority, and is a significant step towards guaranteeing an ecologically sustainable future for the Territory. For the first time in our history, we will have an EPA that is the right model for the Northern Territory, and which affirms this government’s strong commitment to our environment and lifestyle.
The Territory is in a unique position, one which is very different from the rest of Australia, where we enjoy a healthy environment, yet have a growing economy. We want to protect our precious environmental resources as we enter a new phase in the Territory’s development, so we need new environment protection measures in place.
The approach enshrined in this bill has been developed as the result of wide consultation with the Territory community by eminent independent experts, Professors Gordon Duff and Donna Craig, and Ms Judith King. I take this opportunity on behalf of this government to express my appreciation to the independent interim board members and to the former members of the Sessional Committee on the Environment and Sustainable Development who canvassed many alternatives and established the principles on the which the EPA model has been built.
The members of the interim EPA board have done the Territory a great service. Their recommendations embodied in the report Towards an Environment Protection Authority for the Northern Territory were thoroughly considered by government and have been accepted in full. The board members travelled widely throughout the Territory and took representations from a wide range of interested groups and individuals. I thank members of the public who took such an interest in this very important matter. I know they remain keenly interested in the progress of the bill and in achieving good environmental outcomes for the Territory. I am confident that the new EPA will meet and, indeed, surpass their expectations.
There is a compelling logic …
Mr Wood: Logic?
Ms LAWRIE: … in the model proposed by the interim board and endorsed by government. During its consultations, the interim board asked Territorians to identify where a new EPA should be positioned on a continuum between highly strategic to operational in order to add significant value to the existing environmental protection system …
Mr Wood interjecting.
Ms LAWRIE: Madam Speaker, the member for Nelson keeps interrupting. It is the second reading speech. There is a particular convention for second reading speeches ...
Mr Wood: They all said ‘hear, hear, and I said the opposite, Madam Speaker.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Nelson, I ask you to cease interjecting.
Mr WOOD: Yes, Madam Speaker.
Madam SPEAKER: Thank you, member for Nelson. It is the second reading speech and it is an important debate. I ask you to listen in silence, or continue your conversation elsewhere.
Ms LAWRIE: Thank you, Madam Speaker. Invariably, both business and community groups identified that there was a need to develop and implement consistent and coherent frameworks for articulating and setting standards for environmental outcomes and performance. The consultations indicated that lack of such frameworks hamper the effectiveness of existing regulatory measures. The accepted model positions the EPA to fill this gap at the strategic end and improve the system, rather than duplicating the existing role of government agencies in regulation.
The board argues that the EPA should make advice to government, rather than determinations, as strategic decisions inevitably involve political considerations and are, therefore, most appropriately made by governments which can be held accountable by their electorate.
The new Environment Protection Authority, the EPA, will provide independent, strategic and practical advice to government about ecologically sustainable development in the Northern Territory. Specifically, this will involve the EPA setting clear objectives, rules, standards and processes developed in close consultation with business and the community which reach across sectors, are scientifically defensible, and which promote integration and efficiency.
The EPA will be clearly distinguished from the operational and enforcement aspects of environmental protection and regulation provided by government agencies. These will continue to be the responsibilities of government agencies directly accountable to ministers and, hence, to the parliament and the electorate.
The bill is in several parts. Part 1, Preliminary Matters, deals with the commencement and definitions. Commencement will be on a date fixed by the Administrator in order to allow preliminary administrative matters to be dealt with prior to the authority commencing operations. I anticipate that the EPA will be appointed and fully operational by early 2008.
‘Environment’ is defined in the bill as meaning ‘all aspects of the surroundings of humans, including the physical, biological, economic, cultural and social aspects’. This definition is consistent with existing Territory legislation such as the Environmental Assessment Act, and recognises that an integrated triple bottom line approach is appropriate for dealing with ecologically sustainable developments in the 21st century.
This bill recognises that the EPA will be established as an independent body whose capacity to develop advice and recommendations independent of government direction and influence will be beyond question.
Parts 2 and 3 of the bill provide the legislative underpinnings for this independence. Part 2 of the bill has five divisions. The first division deals with the establishment, functions, powers and independence of the EPA. Clause 4 establishes the Environment Protection Authority. Clause 5 sets out the functions of the authority, which are to give advice and make recommendations to the Northern Territory government, private sector and communities about matters relating to ecologically sustainable development. This gives the EPA authority to consider and report on a wide range of matters.
The authority will accept matters referred to it from the minister on behalf of government, and will also have the power to investigate matters referred on its own initiative, or otherwise referred by anyone else where these meet criteria agreed between the authority and the minister. Triggers for any EPA involvement in investigations will require a case-by-case judgment by members of the EPA. The presumption is that, where existing government systems and processes are in place and working adequately, there is no need for EPA intervention. In the event of a referral from someone other than the minister or the EPA itself, a case will need to be made to the EPA why it should intervene. The EPA will deal only with systemic issues, not whether or not someone likes a particular government decision. To this end, the criteria for accepting a referral other than from the minister should not be seen as a fetter on the independence of the authority to investigate matters as it sees fit. I see them as a means of maintaining the authority’s interest in significant matters rather than being distracted by less significant issues. In any event, the criteria will be publicly available once they have been finalised by the authority.
Clause 5(2) sets out examples of matters on which the EPA may give advice or recommendations. It is clear from this list that government expects the EPA to give advice about best practice environmental policy and management, and to take a lead role in the reform of environmental legislation. The EPA will scrutinise the operations of Northern Territory government agencies and report to government on how well agencies are performing their regulatory functions. Where the EPA identifies systemic problems in the environmental performance or outcomes achieved by the public or private sector, it has the power to bring these to the attention of the government and the public, and to make recommendations on how these problems should be addressed. This overview and audit-like function is only possible because the EPA does not have day-to-day regulatory functions.
In order to effectively undertake its leading role, the authority will be empowered to do all things necessary or convenient to perform its functions, including having powers to conduct inquiries it considers appropriate (clause 6). Public and government confidence in the EPA’s advice requires the EPA to have access to the best possible information. Chief executives of government agencies will, therefore, be required to provide it with information to assist with its inquiries. The EPA will also be able to seek information from the private sector and from government business divisions, and to ask people with special knowledge or experience relevant to a particular inquiry to help it to conduct its inquiry. An essential part of providing good advice is to consult widely. In exercising its powers and performing its functions, the authority will be required to consult appropriately with government agencies, the private sector and the community (clause 7(1)).
The legislation requires that, in performing its functions and exercising its powers, the authority have regard to a series of principles. Chief among these are the principles of ecologically sustainable development - that is, the application of the precautionary principle; inter- and intra-generational equity; conservation of biological diversity; and ecological integrity and improved valuation, pricing and incentive mechanisms; and the application of ‘polluter pays’.
The EPA will need to ensure that any objectives, standards and targets for environmental management are soundly and scientifically based and are consistent with best practice. Its activities will need to promote integration, certainty, and reduce duplication of government processes, and should take into consideration the need to develop a strong, growing and diversified economy with a well-informed and engaged private sector that has an enhanced capacity for protecting the environment. In going about its work, the authority will need to facilitate community involvement in environmental issues, having regard for the diversity of the Northern Territory community and the particular needs of vulnerable and disadvantaged groups; and will need to be transparent in information availability, decision-making, monitoring and reporting.
Clause 8 to the bill is headed ‘Independence’ and states that, in exercising its powers and performing its functions, the EPA is not subject to the minister’s direction and, in particular, is not subject to direction in relation to the preparation and content of any advice or recommendations. This clause mirrors provisions found in EPA legislation in other jurisdictions such as South Australia and Western Australia, and demonstrates this government’s commitment to the EPA being a truly independent body.
Part 2, Division 2 of the bill sets out the composition and appointment provisions for the independent EPA. The authority will operate in accordance with accepted principles of good corporate governance. Clause 9 indicates that the authority will have at lease four, and not more than seven, members. This is the accepted size for effective functioning of boards, giving sufficient diversity of views and not being too unwieldy for reaching agreement. Unless there are good reasons to expand the numbers, I anticipate that the initial authority will be confined to four part-time members, reflecting the advice of the EPA Board.
Consistent with the recommendations of the EPA Board, members will be appointed by the Administrator by notice in the Gazette. Clause 10 indicates that a person can be appointed as members only if the Administrator is satisfied the person holds relevant qualifications or experience. Authority members will be appointed for their expertise rather than representatives of particular interest groups. This is another way of ensuring that the authority provides independent, high-calibre advice.
Clauses 11 to 14 deal with the duration and conditions of appointment of members; indicate that the minister will appoint a chairperson from among the members; and set out the circumstances under which a member ceases to hold office. Authority members and former members are protected from liability if they are acting in good faith (clause 23).
Part 2, Division 3 also deals with governance of the authority. Clauses 15 to 18 relate to the conduct of authority business. They provide for the authority to meet as often as necessary, but at least four times per year; for the chairperson to preside, and for members to appoint another of their number as chair if the chairperson is absent; for the quorum to be a majority of members with decisions by majority and a casting vote for the chairperson; and provisions for disclosure of interest by members. Under clause 21, the chairperson can make guidelines about the authority’s administrative practices and procedures.
Part 2, Division 4 indicates that staff of the authority will be public servants subject to the direction of an authority member in the performance of their duties (clauses 19 and 20). While its exact composition will ultimately be a decision for the authority, I envisage that the EPA will be supported by a small, full-time secretariat comprised of up to four staff members, including an executive officer. While technically public servants, the secretariat staff will be directly responsible to the authority and, as such, will be shielded from government influence. I anticipate that administrative arrangements governing the relationship between the authority and its secretariat will be clearly articulated early in the authority’s operations.
Public servants in the Department of Natural Resources, Environment and the Arts will continue to administer legislation such as the Environmental Assessment Act and the Waste Management and Pollution Control Act, and will remain accountable to me through the chief executive. I expect that they will continue to provide me with the high standard of frank, fearless and rigorously developed advice that I and my ministerial colleagues have come to appreciate. We can all be confident that the EPA will scrutinise this legislation and how it is administered and make any recommendations for improvement. Department staff is providing secretariat services to the interim EPA Board. This arrangement will cease once the new authority is established.
An important part of the independence and accountability of the EPA is the requirements for reporting and transparency. Clause 22 of the bill requires the authority to make an annual report to parliament. Part 3 of the bill is entitled ‘Information Availability’. Consistent with the recommendations from the interim board, clause 24 requires the authority to make its advice or recommendations public unless it is satisfied that there are reasonable grounds for withholding information, such as privacy. The presumption is that advice will be made public and that a case and an active decision made if information is not to be widely available. As a way of building trust between the authority and government, the authority must give government reasonable notice of its intention to make its recommendations or advice public. The minister must respond in writing within a reasonable time once government has made a decision about the advice or recommendations from the authority (clause 25). I anticipate that in keeping with the presumption of transparency, the minister will make the government’s response publicly available.
Part 4 of the bill covers miscellaneous matters. Clause 26 requires the minister to review the operation of the act within five years of its commencing, and for the review to be tabled in the Legislative Assembly. This recognises that the role of the EPA is likely to evolve, and is consistent with the board’s recommendation that the authority regularly evaluates its performance. Clause 27 enables regulations to be made. I do not expect that there will be a need to enact regulations in the near future, but will take advice from the authority once it is operational.
I hope I have made it clear that establishment of the new EPA will usher in a new era on environmental accountability in the Northern Territory. The authority will have wide powers to investigate matters relating to ecologically sustainable development, and will do so in a rigorous, transparent manner. It will have significant powers to scrutinise the performance of both the public and private sectors, and to recommend improvements. In this way, I anticipate that it will lead to significant improvements in environmental performance and to a widespread appreciation that development in the Territory is clean and green. The new EPA will help us all achieve a sustainable future based on our unique Territory lifestyle.
Madam Speaker, I commend the bill to the Assembly.
Debate adjourned.
Continued from 21 June 2007.
Mrs MILLER (Katherine): Madam Speaker, the minister will not have time to get really comfortable in the chair because there is not a lot to say about this legislation. I thank you very much for organising the briefing at relative short notice on Monday. It clarified for me the position that government is taking; that is, of course, to bring the legislation in line with the Commonwealth legislation, which is a sensible move. It will also make entry to leasing, and also the minister’s decision, easier for mining in the Northern Territory.
Of course, the opposition certainly supports that. We do not want any unnecessary obstacles in the way of development. We do not have any objection to this, minister. You will not get very comfortable in that chair because we support the bill.
Mr NATT (Mines and Energy): Madam Speaker, I thank the member for her support and I look forward to the passage of the bill.
Bill read a second time.
Mr NATT (Mines and Energy)(by leave): Madam Speaker, I move that the bill be now read a third time.
Motion agreed to; bill read a third time.
Continued from 23 August 2007.
Mr KIELY (Sanderson): Madam Speaker, I support the Chief Minister’s statement setting out the government’s comprehensive package to close the gap between indigenous and non-indigenous Territorians. I strongly agree with the Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister when they pointed out that this package is not just about improving the lives of indigenous Territorians. This is not a case where resources going into one area mean improvements denied somewhere else. This is a plan that will have a beneficial impact on all sectors of the Territory’s society including in urban electorates such as my own.
As the Chief Minister said, the current drain on police, corrections, health and community service resources is enormous. By tackling the issues head on with the solid commitment to short-, medium- and long-term improvements, we will free up resources and unlock new areas for growth. For too long the potential of indigenous Territorians to take a leading role in our economic and cultural development has been squandered or ignored.
The Territory economy is booming in many areas, and many areas are thriving. However, that progress has bypassed most indigenous communities. That must and will now change. Only by forging a partnership of indigenous Territorians in areas such as education, economic engagement, health and, particularly law and order, can we move forward.
I will touch, in particular, on some aspects of the package outlined by the Chief Minister with her Police hat on, and the Deputy Chief Minister as the Attorney-General. I consider that a community can only function properly and productively when rules are obeyed and enforced. That is my opinion; it is not an opinion shared by the Deputy Leader of the Opposition. Did he not say in the media the other day that he was not following laws when it came to permit systems on communities? When it came to Blue Mud Bay, he would fish; he would not obey the law. It is good to see that some members of this House who are elected to uphold the laws of the Territory will. While I make the statement that I believe that we are here to obey the laws of the Territory, clearly the Leader of the Opposition is on record saying that he does not ...
Dr Burns: The Deputy Leader.
Mr KIELY: The Deputy Leader, I stand corrected.
A cornerstone of civil society is allowing people to be free to go about their business without fear of being assaulted or harmed by others, and having confidence in a justice system to seek recourse when offended against. Shamefully, this is not the case in many parts of the Territory today and has not been for many years.
Recruiting 40 extra police officers and building 12 extra police stations will go a long way towards rectifying this major gap. Of course, police need the legal service to protect women, children and other vulnerable members of remote communities. That is why I consider the complete overhaul of the Domestic Violence Act, as outlined by the Deputy Chief Minister, is such an essential reform.
I particularly support the proposal to allow children to obtain domestic violence orders in their own right. Providing a specific presumption to allow the applicant and those children in her care to remain in their home and community if she so wishes is also a welcome initiative. Of course, these changes will not only benefit indigenous women and children in remote communities who suffer from violence and abuse inflicted by family members. I realise that urban areas are far from immune to this form of violence. I am sure people in my own electorate, indigenous and non-indigenous, will be able to seek greater protection and security from these changes.
We are all aware of the horrendous damage alcohol and other substance abuse has caused in the Territory’s indigenous community. Allocating $10m to specifically tackle the abuse, to complement major legislative changes under way and already in force will, again, go a long way toward ending the scourge and its associated health and crime outcomes.
Most importantly, the government is ensuring indigenous children will be able to enjoy the same protections, safety and support enjoyed by non-indigenous children every day. A massive $79m has been devoted to deal directly with child protection measures. I commend the Chief Minister on this bold statement and the funds to back it up; that the children, their rights and freedoms, must always come first.
There will be an additional 23 specialist FACS staff for the Child Abuse Task Force, another 37 specialist staff into FACS, 10 child protection workers and 10 school counsellors. This is concrete, practical, on-the-ground support and protection for children - something, I suggest, the Commonwealth could learn from and would do well to support with further additional funds and, something I further suggest, the opposition probably will not. I commend the Chief Minister for her courage to tackle this problem head on, but also for her understanding that by making this leap, we will be providing a brighter forward for the entire Territory.
Madam Speaker, in closing, I draw attention to the pathetic outbursts by members of the opposition the other day in their response to the contribution from the member for Millner, saying: ‘We are Territorians’. They should have a closer look and see what being a Territorian really means. I ask each of those members - particularly the new member for Greatorex who, in his maiden speech, wrapped himself up in the shroud of Territorianism and understanding of what goes on in Central Australia - in an adjournment debate to tell us what communities he has visited in this short time regarding the interference by the federal government, or what communities he has visited and done anything in during the time that he has been a Territorian.
I ask the Deputy Leader of the Opposition to give us a quick breakdown of the communities that he has visited. I ask the Leader of the Opposition to give us a list of the communities that she has visited. I ask the member for Katherine also. They are all quick to say: ‘We are Territorians’. How many of them have been out to communities while this is going on? They are quick to get in and say: ‘We understand it all’. Give us a list. They are all putting their hands up ...
Mr Mills: I will give you a list.
Mr KIELY: Come on, Deputy Leader of the Opposition …
Madam SPEAKER: Order, order!
Mr Mills: I will give you a list; I will give you something else!
Madam SPEAKER: Order, order!
Mr KIELY: You are all noise and no substance. You are like a fillet, Leader of the Opposition - no backbone and no guts. That is your problem. I also call on the opposition to table the Cossins’ report. Is it a report into the things that we can be doing or we should be doing, or is it a prcis of the report on paragraph 1 which is not drafted correctly, which seems to be the only defence and the only opposition the Leader of the Opposition ever puts up to anything we put on this Table. I reckon she might have a fine grasp of the English language, and she might know her adjectives from her nouns, but does she know her elbow from any other body part? I highly doubt that, Madam Speaker - I highly doubt that.
I am proud of the work we have done. There is a long way to go. We have been working on this problem for six years. We have been flagging this problem all the time we have been in opposition. We have members on the ground who are working hard to try to get it good out there for these members of our community - this under class. We will keep on working on this without the help of the Northern Territory opposition, without the help of the CLP, who let it get into this dreadful state and turned their back. For four years, I shared this House with the CLP member for Macdonnell. What did I hear him mention about his communities out there? Zip, zilch, nothing. For four years before that, when he was in government, what did we hear coming out of the member for Macdonnell about his communities out there? Zip, zilch, nothing ...
Mr Mills: Give this speech in the bush!
Mr KIELY: If you want the history on this matter, go there and have a look. The member for Blain can sit there and parrot on about this - he can interject as much as he likes. He knows the truth, he has had to look at it in the mirror and face up to it. Stand on your feet then, and tell us what a good effort you have made, member for Blain ...
Mr Mills: I have a better reflection than you, brother, and I am comfortable with what I see and I sleep well at night.
Mr KIELY: You have your opportunity coming up; you can back up everything I have just said. I look forward to your contribution, member for Blain. …
Mr Mills: As though you do!
Madam SPEAKER: Order, order!
Mrs BRAHAM (Braitling): It was not a bad speech when he was reading his notes, but I thought it a bit curly in the end. He lost the plot a little.
Mrs Miller: It was only a moment of pain.
Mr Conlan: He was going well there for a while.
Madam SPEAKER: Order, order!
Mrs BRAHAM: Madam Speaker, when the Wild/Anderson report came out, we really …
Mr Mills: Oh yes, give him a pat on the back; he has done a great job. A disgrace!
Mrs BRAHAM: I guess what the report said was not a lot that we did not already know …
Mr Mills interjecting.
Mrs BRAHAM: … and we were really anxious to see how the Northern Territory government would respond to it ...
Mr Mills interjecting.
Mrs BRAHAM: I believe none of us have been in the Territory a long time and, might I say, it has been 45 years for me this year ...
Mr STIRLING: A point of order, Madam Speaker! I would like to hear the member for Braitling rather than the incoherent rambling and muttering from the member from Blain.
Mr Mills interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Pause please. Member for Blain, cease interjecting so that we can hear the member for Braitling.
Mrs BRAHAM: I was really concerned when nothing came out from the Territory government. The response was too slow, there was no doubt about that. However, then when the federal government intervened and moved very quickly on it, I was really pleased, because I felt, thank goodness someone is doing something at last. However, I was also fairly sickened at federal intervention in Territory affairs. I have been in the House long enough - and I believe there are a couple of others - to remember the euthanasia debate. I supported it. However, members need to realise that that was a private member’s bill that was present to federal parliament by Kevin Andrews that, in fact, changed section 50A of the Northern Territory (Self-Government) Act so that the Northern Territory had no ability to introduce the euthanasia act. Just for the record, in the House of Representatives, it was a conscience vote, and it passed 88 Ayes, 35 Noes, and the Territory member in the House of Representatives at the time was Dondas. He voted no, although the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition voted yes. When it went to the Senate, it was much closer. There where 38 Ayes and 33 Noes, but both the Northern Territory Senators, Tambling and, I believe it was Collins at the time, voted for the bill.
We then had a situation where there was interference in the Territory making laws. However, what we have with this federal intervention is government on government. It is a federal government act overriding and interfering in Territory laws. That is what I do not think we should lose sight of; that this is government on government. Be it for election year or whatever, it is dangerous that the federal government feels it has the ability to introduce legislation at any time, be it good or bad, that overrides ours. The fact that the Liquor Commission now has to report to the federal minister is absurd. Where does that leave our public servants? It really worries me that this move has occurred. It is also disappointing that Senator Trish Crossin voted for it, although I heard her speak publicly against it. It was disappointing that Dave Tollner, the member for Solomon, voted for it even though he admitted that he had not read it. You have to wonder about our federal representation at the moment - both sides, both parties - regarding what they are actually saying for the Territory.
That aside, I believe what they are doing out there on the ground has been received quite well. The feedback I have received – and I spoke to some of the NORFORCE people – is that the communities are keen to find out exactly what it is all about. What is upsetting most of the communities is that it is shrouded in mystery.
I also acknowledge the great work done by the member for Macdonnell. I know she has been out there talking to her people. The strength of what she is saying is: ‘Let us not lose sight of the intent of this legislation, which is to protect young families, young children, mothers, fathers, brothers - families totally’. Let us not lose the sight of that. We get involved in so much of the political debate that we are not here to ensure whatever happens makes it a better life for people out there on communities.
I listened to the member for Stuart in his response. He seems to be onside. However, what he said is that land and permits seem to be an issue. I can say that we had that with the town camps people when they were offered so much money to fix their town camps. They carried on about land and permits - again losing sight of the fact that the land is not a consumable item that is going to get up and walk or be taken away. Again, they have lost sight of it.
It really worries me that the people who demonstrated in Alice Springs are not people who live on communities; they are in well paid jobs, they live in the town, and they have good houses. They are not the people who have to put up with abuse that is occurring in communities. I mentioned those activists in Alice Springs who, in my opinion, are doing a lot of damage. I did hear on the grapevine that they had wanted to go out to Hermannsburg and protest when Howard was there. I also heard on the grapevine that Gus Williams, basically, said: ‘No, you are not welcome; this is our community, and we will receive the Prime Minister and listen to what he has to say’ ...
Mr Bonson: They support permits as well, Loraine, in Hermannsburg. They were on the radio and TV today, and last night supporting permits - the same people you are about to criticise …
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mrs BRAHAM: That is not what I am talking about. You have missed the point again. That is what I keep saying: you are losing what we should be focusing on …
Mr Bonson: Permits have nothing to do with those issues, Loraine. You are missing the point.
Madam SPEAKER: Order, member for Millner!
Mrs BRAHAM: You should not be focusing on what the Prime Minister says, or what the activists say, you should be focusing on what the people out there in the communities say. That is what is important!
We had Closing the Gap. Well, in 2001, we had a Framework for Partnership with Indigenous Territorians; in 2005 an Overarching Agreement on Indigenous Affairs; agenda for action; in 2006 the 20-year plan; and in 2007, Closing the Gap. Come on! You have to admit you are not achieving the results on the ground otherwise you would not be in this bind that you are in at the moment. That is the sad part. We should not have let things get to the stage they are.
I do not care what you say about the CLP government. I was part of them, I admit that; but there were good things happening. However, the abuse of alcohol has escalated over the last, I would say, six to eight to 10 years ...
Ms Scrymgour: No one has disputed that.
Mrs BRAHAM: The abuse has escalated and you only have to look at the statistics to find that out. Have a look at the murders, the stabbings, and the brutality that occurs. School attendance has dropped. Just look at your statistics and you will see that things are not going the way you want. There also seems to be this huge debate about ‘we are putting this $200m into it’. You seem to be getting bogged down again in dollars and cents. You are not looking at what you should be concentrating on.
That is the question I asked the other day in the House: how many of these so-called 232 jobs that you are creating will be held by indigenous people? You are setting up a huge bureaucracy: another committee, for goodness’ sake; and another advisory body. You are getting the deputy CEOs to work together, and now you are creating all these new jobs. However, you are missing the point: you do not need all those to get good things done on the ground. You need to support the programs that are already there and to ensure that the people who are working hard out there get the support they need.
Let me just throw in an example. I was talking to Leo Abbott and he was talking about the program that he and his father have run for so long that has done so well. Why do you not go to this group of good people and ask them: ‘How can we help you to make this program expand and be better and help more people?’ Why are you always fighting, year after year, for funding when you really need to be giving that reassurance that what they are doing is good and that, yes, with additional resources they can make it better? That is an example of how you could make it better. Not all things are bad in the bush. We have said that: not all things are bad, not all communities are bad and not all Aboriginal people are bad, for goodness’ sake. There are good things happening in the bush. I just feel that, perhaps, if you set up this wonderful bureaucracy you are still not going to be talking to the people, and you are still not going to be aiming the dollars at where they should go.
We talk about leadership a lot and about empowering Aboriginal people but, remember, good leadership is not about power. Good leadership is taking people with you, getting people on side, and showing that you can listen and learn. It is not about power, and that is what you have to be careful about. I need to say the young people out there need to become leaders of tomorrow because I believe we have lost a couple of generations of young people. The young men who did not go to school, who do not have jobs, are drinking too much - we need to protect the children out there now so that they can take on what we want them to do.
There are things that have happened that I believe have contributed to this. I am talking about when the Commonwealth stopped funding the women’s centres. Remember that a few years ago? That was a disaster and that was something they should never have done. You should be ensuring that you have those women’s centres and the safe houses back. One of the programs you also let go, which I was a bit disappointed about because I believed it was an extremely good one, was a law and order program at Ali Curung. There were two very good officers who were doing that. I do not know where they are now but they have been taken off that program. That law and order program was an example of how you could engage and give responsibility to community. They set up a number of ways to help their community. They did not just have the safe house and the Night Patrol, but they also had a committee within their community of different people who would deal with people who had transgressed.
I also remember that when I went there the men were saying: ‘Okay, we have this safe house for women and it was important, but what about us? When we come back from Wycliffe Well, or wherever it is we have been drinking, and we go home in to the community and we get into trouble because we abuse our families, perhaps also we need to have a safe house, a house where we can go and sleep it off or whatever and not cause disturbance in the community’. I do not think that idea has ever been taken up. I do not know of any community that has an area for men …
Mr Hampton: Congress.
Mrs BRAHAM: Where?
Mr Hampton: Congress men’s health.
Mrs BRAHAM: Congress men’s health is in town, though. I am talking about out on the communities where the men can, in a way, be protected from themselves, so that they will not do more harm out in the communities.
There are many programs we could introduce or recommence. The Ali Curung program was especially good. They had a good ACPO there. She was chairman of the council at the time, and it was a community that worked together to make their place better. They were showing Lajamanu how they could do it, too. They were going over there, talking to them and saying: ‘This is the way we are doing it’. We continually tend to abandon people who have good programs. We need not to do that. There are good things happening in the bush. Would you make sure that you pick them up and continue the good work of those people who are dedicated?
We have an advisory council, an operational group of deputy CEOs, and these positions, but I can also recall when we had the Indigenous Employment Strategy. I wonder how many indigenous people are employed in the public service at the moment. That is a question I might ask and give a bit of notice about it. It is my understanding that the Indigenous Employment Strategy even in our own public service has not helped indigenous people. If you are a government that is committed to helping indigenous people, surely you should at least be starting it in your own back yard and ensure you do it.
We talk about the bureaucrats and the federal government going out into communities at the moment. Bureaucrats from government departments have been going out in droves into the bush for years. You would sometimes arrive in a community and there would be five or six people from different departments, and no one knew they were coming. As well as that, they did not know each other was going, so there was no coordination. That is a waste of time, resources and money. It needs to be better coordinated if you are going to send these people out to help them. If you are sending someone out from Education, surely they can also look at the other areas that affect education such health, nutrition, sport and recreation - all those things that would make a better place. Let us get away from this idea that, if we send all these people out all the time, we are going to fix things. You walk away and the people say: ‘Okay, another bureaucrat has come and gone’.
That is the frustrating part about talking to these people. They say: ‘What can you do for us?’. To be honest, you cannot do anything; it is government that has to put the programs there. Even the committees that we send around talking to people, what can you do as a committee member? You make a recommendation to parliament or to government. You cannot do anything. I remember the NPY women saying that they have been telling people about this for ages, and they were telling you again. I almost felt as though I should not have been there because there was nothing I could promise and nothing I could do for them. That is where you have to be careful and not give false promises. The federal government should be careful about that also, that there are not false promises given by either government, but there are reality checks - real programs.
We talk about protection and care of our young children being the priority. I know Mal Brough, the federal minister, has used the phrase ‘we need to normalise communities’. I do not know whether we need to do what the Prime Minister has said about mainstreaming everyone because, in any society, there are different groups who have different ideals and ambitions. I wonder what is ‘normal’? Do young children out on some of these communities know what is normal? Do they understand what behaviour is unacceptable and what is acceptable, or are they so brainwashed or abused that they have lost the idea that that is not normal?
We all know that children who have been abused, women who have been bashed, the fathers continue the cycle because they grow up in that sort of environment and they see that as normal behaviour. We need to, somehow or other, teach children and families what is acceptable and what is unacceptable. I agree that we should be getting rid of pornography. I agree we should be tracking down the people who are the grog runners coming in, the people who are bringing in the marijuana and the ice that is prevalent in Central Australia at the moment. We need to do that, and we need to act strongly. The sniffer dogs in Alice Springs have been a great success. They have achieved good results at different places. They could be utilised even more out in the communities or on roads to communities. Let us start talking about proper programs we are really going to implement.
If we are going to bring in all this legislation as the Chief Minister has said she will, can we ensure that it is implemented diligently, and I mean diligently. Just let us not have the talkfest in here where we go against each other but, at the end of the day, let us ensure our public servants and the people out there know they can rely on what we have said in here, and on the legislation we have introduced. Too many times we introduce legislation, and the implementation just seems to be non-existent almost, as though it is part of the game. However, we need to ensure that we do it diligently.
Mr MILLS: Madam Speaker, I move that the member be given an extension of time pursuant to Standing Order 77.
Motion agreed to.
Mrs BRAHAM: Thank you members, I will try not to waffle much more.
How many times have people in this House heard me talk about truancy? How many times have you heard me talk about non-attendance? Okay, so what are you going to do about it? What is in all this legislation or this approach that is going to achieve it? Will the Minister for Employment, Education and Training stand up in 12 months time and say, yes, we have achieved this and that and a bit more?
Can we, instead of punishing parents by taking away their welfare payments, do the opposite? Reward good attendance. I spoke on this the other day. There is nothing harder than being a teacher in the bush, on your own, battling a community that has no interest in education, and has no security of knowing children will turn up. There are good teachers out there who need support. We need to ensure that you are sincere about truancy and about attendance at school. Give them the buses, the nutrition, the extra resources, and the people to go around communities and pick them up. It may seem as though we are hand feeding them but, if that is what is needed to be done, then let us do it. Let us do it. That is important most of all.
Even though the report is concentrated on the abuse of children, there is a lot of abuse of old people in communities. There is a lot of abuse of their finances and their houses, the way they are treated, the way they are neglected. You only have to look at some of the town camps, where you will see aged people living in squalor or in a humpy for the simple reason that their home has been taken over. That is the sad part.
I was at Hettie Perkins not long ago, and they are busting at the seams. They could use a lot more support than they get. One of the things they highlighted to me, which was interesting, was that there are people who are not aged in that hostel; they are brain damaged or severely disabled, and they cannot be managed out on a community in a home. They are now living in an old person’s home, which may not be the best environment. It also happens at the Old Timers, Frontier Services. There is a young lad who was at school with my son who was in a car accident and he is mentally and physically handicapped, and he is still there. We need to think about an establishment for those people - not aged care, but care for those who can no longer look after themselves. I am thinking of the mentally disabled and the physically disabled, and some of them with a combination of both. Do not forget you also have a problem at the other end of the scale, not just with young people.
I told you the story of one of the elderly ladies who had her granddaughter with her. I had taught her kids and, when I asked where the mother was, she said she was out drinking. The elderly Aboriginal woman just said: ‘I just want to walk on my own’. She was getting so tired of looking after her grandchildren. More and more grandmothers have to look after their grandchildren. That is one of the sad things that is happening.
I get frustrated, like everyone else, with the slow response from FACS. I know it is a terrible place to work because you lose so many staff all the time. There is such a shortage of good people to take on the jobs in FACS. I understand why it is hard for people to stay there because of what they deal with. However, concentrate on getting good people to work in FACS, see if you can retain them, and ensure that they end up staying there. How many meetings do we have to have in this world? I get tired of meetings. How often do I ring up with a nasty case and find that they are at a meeting. I say there is a heap of money available at the moment from the NT and the federal governments; let us grab it and spend it where it is needed most.
I say to the town camps in Alice Springs how crazy they were to knock back $60m, because nothing has made their camps or their living conditions any better. They should have grabbed it and sorted out the problems they had regarding leases later. As I said, the land is not going to walk away, it is always going to be there and they are always going to have somewhere live. Isn’t that more important than trying to say: ‘Our land and our leases are more important than our children and our families’? That is the problem that seems to be getting lost in this debate.
Not any one problem is to blame. We cannot categorise and say it is alcohol, it is drugs, it is this, it is that. It is a whole plethora of things. We have to concentrate on making things better for everyone at the grassroots levels. I say to the Chief Minister: cooperate with the federal government. Okay, as we go along there are things that we probably do not always agree with, but let us not knock back what they are offering. It is really important that we have that agreement. You can always query the federal government and question what they are doing. However, you will find people on the ground who are going out - I have only heard of one instance where it did not work well, but I have heard other instances where it has gone so well – that the federal government is sending people who are extremely concerned, professional and want to help. Therefore, let us not say we do not want you out there; let us say yes, we do want them.
Mr Hampton: Communities are working with them.
Mrs BRAHAM: Well, that is important.
Mr Hampton: Congratulate the communities.
Mrs BRAHAM: Yes. Madam Speaker, I have rambled I know. I tend to ramble because I do notes rather than a speech. However, what I am saying to the Chief Minister is that we were disappointed that you took so long to respond. I am not totally sure the way you set out your response is the way to go. I believe the concentration on dollars and bureaucracy may be the undoing of your plan. We need to concentrate on the grassroots levels and ensure we can say, at the end of the day, this government has made a difference. However, the government will not make a difference if it tends to be blinkered in its approach. I just say - and we have said this before to the indigenous members of this parliament - we expect you to speak up strong, we expect you to say strong things. Do it in your caucus meeting, but you should also be telling us that you have spoken up strong. You should be leaders, showing people out there in communities that you were standing up for them. You should be saying that and ensuring you do not get bogged down in this federal versus Territory government intervention.
Mr HENDERSON (Employment, Education and Training): Madam Speaker, I support the Chief Minister’s Closing the Gap statement in response to the Wild/Anderson report on child sexual abuse in the Northern Territory. It has been a very interesting debate. Many speakers on all sides have made a contribution. In listening to the debate in the House, and the debate across the community across Australia, the reality is that we all want the same thing: the abuse of children to stop. The Wild/Anderson report very clearly showed to all of Australia and the world that what is happening in many indigenous communities is just totally unacceptable. I suppose a line in the sand has been drawn in regard to the Commonwealth government’s intervention, and also regarding our response as a government to the report that Rex Wild and Pat Anderson delivered to this government.
I am going to speak this afternoon in relation to my portfolio responsibilities of Education, Employment and Training because we all recognise that, for those children in indigenous communities to be able to achieve in life and make choices in life, unless they have a fundamentally sound education, then they will not have the ability to exercise choices in life that other Australian kids do as a result of having an education.
First, I will comment on the Opposition Leader’s contribution. It was a pretty strange contribution inasmuch as she basically tried to dismantle, I suppose, the recommendations that Pat Anderson and Rex Wild made in their report, virtually recommendation by recommendation. Essentially, she was stating that the report did not go to the issue of child sexual abuse, but just went to discrete issues of housing, health and education. I just do not understand what the Opposition Leader did not pick up from the report because I thought it was clear when I read it. I suppose it has just crystallised what all of us who have lived in the Northern Territory for any length of time know; that is, that child abuse on the scale that Anderson and Wild have pointed to in their report is not perpetrated by discrete individuals in isolation, there just happens to be more of those types of individuals in indigenous communities than in broader society – I think that is where she was coming from. The whole climate of those communities - the influence of alcohol and other illicit drugs, the problems of endemic poor education, virtually negligible employment outcomes, and chronic housing shortages - are all contributing factors to the climate that, ultimately, leads to indigenous kids disproportionately being neglected and abused.
That is a pretty obvious conclusion that Anderson and Wild reached. The Leader of the Opposition basically tried to run a line in her statement, and supported it by this independent analysis from Dr Annie Cossins. I do not know Dr Annie Cossins, nor exactly what she was asked to analyse and the question that was put to her. However, regarding informing consideration in how we move forward - and I trust that the Leader of the Opposition has good motives here – she should put this report out into the public so we can do an analysis of what Dr Annie Cossins has commented on and the context in which she was asked to comment. Until the Leader of the Opposition makes that report public it is pretty hard to determine where she is coming from.
I just do not think there are disproportionately more indigenous males inclined to abuse children as a result of the fact that they are criminally more inclined to do that. Obviously, people, as individuals, are very much formed by the society that they live and grow up in.
It was really quite a bizarre contribution from the Leader of the Opposition. I am not having a political go here. I am saying to her if she wants us, as a parliament, to take her contribution seriously she needs to put that report out into the public domain so we can consider it in the same way that the Pat Anderson/Rex Wild report has been put into the public domain.
In education, we aim to provide children with a good start to life with preschool and early education programs in preparation for school, and access to high quality primary, secondary and tertiary education. In employment and training, we aim to provide adults with opportunities through supporting the provision of local jobs for local people, something that has been spoken about for many years; increasing indigenous employment in the Northern Territory public sector; enhancing literacy, numeracy and vocational skills; and supporting economic activity in the bush. This plan means extra funding of $70.68m over five years for education, including extra teachers, extra classrooms, specialist skills positions and specialist learning centres. The plan also means extra funding of $13m over five years for jobs in the bush, including transition from CDEP to NT public sector jobs and new job creation and training opportunities in infrastructure and other economic development projects.
In education, the approach we have designed has four main themes: starting school early; improving attendance rates; providing high quality teaching; and leaving school later. In five years, we want indigenous primary and secondary students attending school at rates comparable to non-indigenous students. The member for Braitling asked how we are going to do that. The Chief Minister, probably 18 months ago, and I since I became Minister for Employment, Education and Training, and many communities across the Northern Territory that I have visited, have being calling on the federal government to work with us and communities in tying family payments in some way to school attendance. It is certainly a part of the Commonwealth’s plan that we support. It has taken the Commonwealth 18 months to get there from when it was first put to them, but I firmly believe that with a stick and carrot approach and the approach that we are putting in place in remote learning partnerships, we really should be able to achieve that significant improvement in attendance, hopefully, within five years. Five years is the target.
We will continue to roll out the 15 local school and community remote learning partnerships. My colleague, the member for Nhulunbuy, stated that the first one was signed at Yirrkala at the Garma Festival just recently. That is going to be accelerated and there is funding in this package to accelerate the roll-out of the remote learning partnerships. $1.8m will be allocated over five years for a student attendance team to have a real focus on driving improved student attendance in remote communities. The student attendance team will monitor and track students. Many of these students are highly mobile and it is quite extraordinary. Most of us from an urban seat recognise that we send our children to school and they will see out all their primary schooling in one school. Many of these indigenous kids are very transient and we have to be able to better monitor and track those students as they progress through different schools in the Northern Territory. The team will track students moving, and make sure they are going to school as soon as they arrive in their new town or community.
Starting school early: in five years, we want all three- and four-year-old indigenous children having access to quality early learning programs. We are going to fund six additional mobile preschools at $9.5m over five years. It is a highly successful model that is already in place at Katherine and the Sandover regions, and we are going to build on this by moving into six further regions. They work by teachers working with a group of small remote schools. The teachers develop the program and the resources with indigenous teacher assistants, and those indigenous teacher assistants work with parents and carers to deliver the programs in the remote schools. This is really important because it actually gets parents into the schools, into classrooms. They work with parents of these children of a very early age about the importance of those children continuing to go to school on a regular basis.
There is funding in the plan for 26 additional teachers; $12.83m over five years is allocated through the staffing formula. People are asking what if there is a significant increase in the number of kids attending. Of course, additional teachers will be funded. Certainly, in rolling out the welfare reforms linking attendance to welfare payments, we need to do that on a community-by-community basis and monitor this, because everybody knows that teachers are hard to recruit. We cannot wave a magic wand and turn up 100 extra teachers who are prepared to come to the Northern Territory and go out to the bush overnight. There are not only the issues of recruiting the teachers, but the logistic and infrastructure issues of providing additional housing. We need to work with the Commonwealth on that. However, there is funding in the plan for additional teachers.
There is also additional capital for 15 additional learning spaces and modernised infrastructure - $6m over five years. Infrastructure in some schools will need to be upgraded. Community education centres, which provide our secondary schooling in the bush, will need some work to provide for specialist subjects. We are going to upgrade two homeland learning centres to small schools at a cost of $10m. With increases in student numbers, larger homeland learning centres will expand to be fully-fledged schools. Teachers living in the community will be full-time rather than drive/fly, a model that operates in the homelands.
To support the additional teachers and kids in the bush, there is, obviously, going to be an increased need for information technology. That has been funded to the tune of nearly $3m over five years. We need to recruit and train more indigenous teachers. It is critical that a significant part of the solution to the education issues in the bush is more indigenous teachers. We have $0.5m over five years to recruit and train more indigenous teachers. We want to see an additional 40 indigenous teachers teaching in Territory schools in the next four years. We have scholarship programs and bursaries available. I believe we already have something in the realm of 26 indigenous teachers in either Batchelor Institute or Charles Darwin University studying for a teaching degree on sponsorship from the Northern Territory government. I have met many of those trainee teachers, and they are saying they could never have done it without the sponsorship.
Regarding the Early Childhood Centre of Excellence, we are looking to negotiate with the Australian government and Charles Darwin University, along a Menzies-type model, to develop effective interventions to ensure school readiness and maximised learning and development potential for indigenous early childhood students.
We have also recognised that significant results in secondary schooling will only be delivered by better residential boarding school facilities across the Northern Territory. The reality is that not all kids from small communities are going to have high schools immediately available. We have provided nearly $1m for additional subsidies for increased numbers of students to attend regional residential facilities, and are calling on the Commonwealth to meet their responsibilities, in addition to the non-government sector, for boarding facilities across the Northern Territory.
We have funded partnership programs to improve attendance, retention at school, and student wellbeing with $6.6m over five years. This includes the expansion of programs, including mentoring of Year 11 and 12 students, breakfast and other meal programs in schools, and programs that engage students. Very importantly, students are succeeding in achieving their NTCE - 33 last year. We cannot afford to see those kids fail by not getting employment, not moving on to further training or into tertiary education. We need an explicit mentoring program to support those kids into jobs as they graduate from their schools in remote communities with an NTCE.
We have professional development for staff in mandatory reporting for child protection and wellbeing. There is $5.25m over five years for remote indigenous students’ education programs in sexuality and protective behaviours education. This will be achieved through the employment of 10 additional school counsellors in the bush - something that is long overdue.
I can say in good faith that I want to have a partnership approach with the federal Education minister - whoever that is going to be after the election – regarding the education reform, because a blanket ‘baseball bat, one size fits all’ approach to these welfare reforms across the Northern Territory has the capacity to generate a fair degree of chaos. What we have to do is work systematically, in a targeted and prioritised way with the Commonwealth government, the Territory government and communities. I am absolutely convinced that we can lift these attendance levels; therefore, getting these kids into the classrooms, will get better education outcomes. As the Education minister in the Northern Territory, I have goodwill and good faith to work with the Commonwealth government in trying to achieve what we all want - better outcomes.
In employment and training, the approach we have designed has the following elements: adult education and skills training in indigenous communities; identifying and developing local jobs for local indigenous people; and working in partnership with business and industry. That is something that the Commonwealth has not mentioned in all of this. They have talked about transitioning CDEP jobs into Commonwealth government jobs and Territory government jobs. However, we have to bring the private sector into this because the private sector, through the mining industry, the pastoral industry, the tourism industry, the horticultural industry in the Northern Territory, have hundreds, probably thousands of jobs going in the bush. They have to be brought in as part of this solution for their future workforce.
In five years, we want to increase participation by indigenous Territorians in VET qualifications, apprenticeships and traineeships to 50%. In 2004, we committed 10 000 trainee apprenticeship commencements over the following four years. We are on track to meeting that commitment. Currently, we have 3200 Territorians in training. Of these, 710 are indigenous Territorians - 22%. We want to lift that from 22% to 50% over the next five years. I believe if you set a target you have something to work towards.
Jobs Plan 3 committed $21.3m over four years to increase the training and employment for Territorians, with a specific focus on improving training, and matching training to jobs, in remote areas. The specific initiatives include $2m funding for workplace literacy and numeracy, and workplace orientation skills and employment support programs.
Jobs Plan 3 specific initiatives include: Aboriginal Health Worker recruitment programs to address the shortage of Aboriginal Health Workers across the Territory; Indigenous Education Worker traineeship programs to increase the number of indigenous people employed in remote schools; a local jobs for local people strategy; the development of youth employment strategy framework for Alice Springs and Tennant Creek; and the remote learning partnerships I have spoken of previously.
Later this year, we are hoping to hold a forum either in Darwin or Alice Springs, where we will bring in those major employers and work with the employers, the training providers, and the job network providers, to systematically start matching the training to individuals for specific jobs. That is a commitment under Jobs Plan 3.
In five years, we want at least 10% of the public sector to be indigenous Territorians. We will continue with the implementation of the Public Sector Indigenous Employment and Career Development Strategy released by revised paper in late 2007. Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander people represent 28% of the population but, currently, comprise only 5% of the public sector workforce. Indigenous employment in the public sector will be increased through recruitment policies, job redesign, mentoring, support, and skills training. Implementation of this plan means more remote-based community services workers, child protection, sexual assault referral centres, family support services, early childhood and family services. We will also transition CDEP jobs supporting Northern Territory government activities to jobs in the public sector, and $10m has been committed to that particular program.
We are also working to implement indigenous economic development initiatives to the tune of $3m. We will make indigenous employment a focus of government procurement policy by using current and future indigenous housing construction programs to a value of $48m, and capital works programs to facilitate opportunities for training and employment of local indigenous people. The construction of housing, the repair and maintenance of housing is an ongoing source of funding to the bush, and we need to see indigenous people engaged in the workforce through those contracts that government has let in constructing and maintaining infrastructure in remote communities.
Madam Speaker, as I said at the outset, a line in the sand has been drawn as a result of the Wild/Anderson report. All of us in this House want to see better outcomes for indigenous people across the Territory. All of us in this House deplore sexual abuse of children in the Northern Territory, whether they be indigenous or non-indigenous. This report is about remote indigenous communities. With the election climate out of the way, with goodwill and the additional resources the Commonwealth and the Territory government is injecting, in partnership with Aboriginal people, we should see long and lasting change.
Mr MILLS (Blain): Madam Speaker, at the outset I have to say I am not happy with my outburst earlier in such an important debate. I take the business of this Chamber seriously and nothing more seriously than the welfare of the vulnerable. I wish that I had not responded in an angry manner to provocative comments that were made. We do not need that kind of energy brought to bear on such a complex and difficult issue as those who are vulnerable and in need of our assistance and our real leadership.
I acknowledge the words that have been spoken in good faith in this debate. There are good intentions behind all that is being proposed; I do not deny that. I judge them to be good intentions. I look further back and I can also see other good intentions. I see good intentions going back way beyond my time here in this Chamber. No human being, no person, no adult with a heart, could respond in any other way than with an intention to make a difference. Therefore, our question is not the intention; it is the conversion of the intention to action that makes the difference.
I have had a position of responsibility in managing a community. We could have had the best policies of any school anywhere, the best documents, and had promotion nights so everybody was informed, consulted and briefed. If the kids were running amok, I would be ashamed. If I did not have order and cohesion and a sense of joyfully building social capital so we can get ourselves out of the problems that we find ourselves in, I would have failed, no matter how good the documents or the intentions were and how well they were expressed. That is the point. I took pride in being able to build a cohesive community, with a sense of justice and fairness, and do what is right. That is what kept me awake at night.
It is the same here in this Chamber. That is why I was upset, because I cannot see this as a political problem. I cannot, and I refuse to, see it as a political problem. It is a problem that requires a deeper resource than political solutions will provide.
On personal note, yesterday, I celebrated my 25th wedding anniversary ...
Mr Henderson: Congratulations.
Mr MILLS: Thank you very much.
Madam SPEAKER: On behalf of all honourable members, I extend to you our congratulations.
Mr MILLS: Oh, I did not mean to say it to that, but thank you very much. I appreciate that.
In reflecting on that which has been spoken here, and on a partnership that has gone on for 25 years, we know that two cannot walk together unless they fundamentally agree on some deeper principles. There are ups and there are downs and very difficult times, just as there are in this nation. There are two that are brought together. There is no denying that; there is no excusing that. It is a fact: we are here together and we have the responsibility to work it out. Political solutions will not provide adequate resources to break that which binds.
It is time for change, but change not of another program or another policy, well intentioned though it may be. I do not deny that; I do not take that from you. Nor do I take from the federal government that which I judge to be well intentioned. I choose to see it that way for the sake of the kids. I choose to see it that way. I will not commit the terrible indulgence of saying: ‘Yes, but ...’.
As a family man, I could not do that in the face of my own children because my wife and I would not be together today, providing a different level of support to our children who are now grown. It would be a terrible indulgence, at some stage earlier in our time together, either as a married couple or as a nation, that we find the point where politics is the only well we draw our solutions from - and the children suffer.
I do not have faith in policies, plans, statements and programs as solutions. I believe that people make the difference. It is people who break the circle. They are the circuit breakers; people make that difference. Programs, policies, plans, statements, intentions provide us the field of operation, but there is something magical that comes from a person of conviction who steps out of that circle and makes that difference. There is a saying that sums this up well: good leaders can change organisations, but great leaders change people.
It is people who need to be changed, not a new policy. The policy could work or fail not because of the virtue or deficiency of the policy, but because of the quality of the people who respond to it. Do not put your faith in policies; put your faith in the people it is designed to affect. Then you could be called a great leader, someone who makes a difference to people and does not leave a legacy of policies, statements or intentions. The road to hell is paved with good intentions. There have always been good intentions. Good leadership is about doing what is right, but the capacity to discern what is right is the challenge we are faced with.
I would like to see something new happen in this Territory. I would like to see people of good faith begin to come together. I would like the lines to be crossed in the interests of the kids. Some will stay one side because they can only see it, God bless them, in political terms. They can see it as a great ideological battle and they will stay on one side of the line. However, there are people on both sides of parliament, both sides of the political divide, who could come together. Courage is required at this hour. To come together, they may initially be small in number but, because of the quality, the nature and the seriousness of the task, their strength will grow.
It is time to address the deep issue of how we get that which is divided mended and put together. I am not going to spend my time in this Chamber picking fault – and there are faults; policies, plans are a human creation - that would not be doing the kids any favours. I choose to find a way where we can get through this. I have raised some issues of very serious concern with members opposite across the table because I am very concerned at what I have heard. The person who delivered me this information at the Palmerston Markets, just to name a place so you have that reference point, had the intention of causing some mischief with the matter. It is a most serious allegation, but I prefer to raise that allegation in the context of seeking a solution to it that will affect kids, not a political solution which puts a score on my point board and takes one off the other side. I would be ashamed to do that.
Over a year ago, we had a similar debate in this Chamber. In fact, since I have been here, there have been debates of this nature. I am here, you are here, we are here as elected representatives. The lot has been cast, we are here; how do we respond? Reflect on the past, make judgments on the past? Fine, it may bolster your own sense of political relevance. However, it is not going to give you the nourishment you require. As I said, over a year ago we had a debate in the Chamber and, once again, we had that distressing debacle of blame, one side to the other, and it continues. I thought I would refrain. I just did not want to be involved in that kind of debate. When I thought about it, I think there is a way through, and that is to recognise that the challenge we are faced with is so complex and so deep that it cannot be just fixed by folk talking in here.
So I thought, why not? I really thought that this might happen. Why not see if we could organise a bipartisan committee group to develop a plan together. The challenge contained therein was: do we have the capacity to put aside personal and political differences for the sake of the children? Do we have that capacity to put it aside; to still our tongues when it comes time to pour out criticism, and to dredge deep for that which comes from a place that is vitriolic and not nourishing? Do you have that capacity to stop that, to recognise prejudice for what it is and to put it over there, prejudging, and come to a new place where there could be the putting aside of personal and political differences to find an action plan and cut our way through? It is a challenge. If we cannot do that, what hope do we have of effecting change at a place remote from this building? What hope do we have?
I have been to a number of communities. One of the best experiences I have had, and the worst, is being a member of the Substance Abuse Committee. I say it is the best and the worst, because I am beginning to see and understand. It is something I see and attempt to understand and respond to from here. I am not going to be here for a long time, but I want to do something whilst I am here. I heard someone at Wadeye talking - I was a former teacher, and I heard this lady talking - about trying to prepare lessons in her house when she had already spent her energy and only had a little left, trying to wrestle food from the men so that she could give the kids a feed, trying to get the kids to sleep before she could go and prepare her lessons for the next day. To look into the face of that lady and the beautiful women and men who were sitting around her - small in number - affected me. If I cannot do something to honour that effort, there is no point in being here - no point.
I pulled one of the old men aside and said: ‘Why is it that you are fighting this fight?’. There seemed to be few in number. He told me his story. He had made a decision; he had changed an intention to an action and had done something. He had gathered a few around him. Call them a motley crew. I am so heartened that in this substance abuse committee I went around many communities from the top to the Centre. They are everywhere; good people are there - good people who need our support. They need to know we understand; we have sensitivity for their struggle. I say again, it is not a program, a policy, a plan or a statement that is going to fix it - people will. That is the breaking of the cycle; going beyond the prejudice.
I have placed myself in positions in recent times where I am listening to speeches that I find difficult to hear. I have heard myself and all my history being referred to as ‘those who have committed cultural genocide’. I have heard such vitriol and hatred. Do I respond with hatred? I could do; I am deeply hurt by what I hear. However, I recognise that there is a heck of a lot of pain in this society amongst our people. I am talking about our people; I am an Australian. How the heck do we sort that out? There are those who are bringing to bear a solution, but the fuel they have in their tank is hatred and division, and that crosses colour lines. There is hatred on both sides. There is division on both sides. There is prejudice on both sides. There is violence on both sides. There is lies and misrepresentation on both sides.
Alexander Solzhenitsyn said when he first started to look around he thought the line of good and evil passed between the Soviet Bloc and the US. It was easy to judge in those terms. However, he then thought, no, as he came to a new level of thinking. He then shifted that line; he passed between classes of people within his own society. Then he fell into greater troubles with the regime because that line shifted until he recognised that the line of good and evil passed right through the human heart. It does not pass between colours, races; it passes through each person. We have to decide whether we are going to do the right thing or not. That is the challenge. The challenge is discern that line, make your decision.
I am heartened that the substance abuse committee has given me what I see to be the worst of times, but that worst of times has allowed me to see the reality; the best I can see it, at the best of times, because I have looked into the face of beauty. I have seen good people, just as a marriage has endured for 25 years because we stilled our rhetoric, we tightened our tongues, thought again, and looked at our kids. I urge we do the same.
Debate suspended.
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, I draw your attention to the presence in the Speaker’s Gallery of Mr John Cason, Qantas Regional General Manager for the Northern Territory, and participants of the Parliament House public tour program. On behalf of all honourable members, I extend to you a very warm welcome.
Members: Hear, hear!
MOTION
Note Statement – Closing the Gap of Indigenous Disadvantage
Continued from earlier this day.
Mr WOOD (Nelson): Madam Speaker, I start by making the observation that if we are going to close the gap, we have to know how wide your gap is and whether it is still widening. I believe it is a very wide gap and it is still widening. I can compare this with a dentist. A dentist can use methods like filling a gap with a filling, which can fall out, then the matter becomes more serious and we suffer much more pain and, eventually, probably need a new set of teeth.
Over the last few years, we have been putting in a few fillings just to keep the patient happy. Those fillings have fallen out and a serious loss of teeth has occurred. We now have a very wide gap, and we have not really noticed or cared about the big picture until a major crisis occurred, which required a senior dentist to step in put in a new set of teeth. That dentist in charge is the federal government.
Some may say the methods used to fill the gap have been excessive but, overall, even the junior dentist seems to have agreed with the approach, and has brought out some of its own ideas on how to fix the problem. It is some of those ideas on which I will comment today.
It would be hard not to be a little cynical about the NT government’s Closing the Gap policy. Why? Because the NT government has made plans before, has thrown money around and, after six years, not much has really changed. If you read the Wild/Anderson report, you would say no. If you look at the consumption of alcohol and the associated problems abuse of alcohol has brought us, you would say no. If you look at the state of housing and the lack of housing, you would say no. If you look at the low school attendance levels, the low numeracy and literacy levels, the high rates of incarceration of Aboriginal people, you would say no. If you look at the level of violence, especially domestic violence, you would say no. If you look at employment levels, especially in remote communities, you would say no. If you look at the life expectancy of Aboriginal adults, you would say no.
Now you see why I am a little cynical. The government had a framework for partnership with indigenous Territorians in 2001. It looked at strategic areas of action: education, health, housing, unemployment, child and youth services, and initiatives to reduce high incarceration rates. There was a high level task force to be established to address critical and immediate issues. When you look at the Closing the Gap statement, do you not get the feeling we have been down this path before?
Then, of course, in comes the federal government. Has the government just thrown their hands up or brought out the Closing the Gap statement as a smokescreen to say ‘We have found it all a bit too hard and have failed’?
I mentioned yesterday in the debate over the radioactive waste facility, that it was interesting that, when the federal government intervened in the Northern Territory, there was very little noise about the federal government intervening in Northern Territory matters, which is not quite what happened when I argued the same case about the Northern Territory being a repository for the radioactive waste facility.
I was surprised, and actually pleased in some ways, that the Chief Minister, when speaking about the federal government intervention, said, ‘We need to do this as a country, not just as a Territory’. She was also referring to her generational plan. I believe that was a very important statement by the Chief Minister. There are some issues that are of benefit to the country and, certainly, this intervention is one of those. The Chief Minister has put forward some proposals which are either in response to the Wild/Anderson report, or part of this generational plan for action, and I will comment on some of these proposals.
There have always been many things that could be regarded as the clear reasons why we have problems with sexual abuse on our communities. Although we are talking about some of the problems that were cited in the Little Children Are Sacred report which refers, of course, to sexual abuse, I believe that we are also looking at the bigger picture in relation to violence and other issues. My memories go back - and I have said this many times before – to the number of young boys who were in the dormitory at Daly River in the 1970s. They were boys who came off the cattle stations, and half of those died from the effects of alcohol. That is going back 37 years.
I remember visiting the houses at Daly River late at night, seeing a man standing over a woman with a steel bar belting her. I would have been 20 years old and not long out of Melbourne, and that picture still stays in my mind quite vividly. I have seen children at Nguiu whose parents were playing cards or at the club. The reason I knew that was because I used to sell vegetables from the back of my vehicle. I would go around to the houses and there would be children there who did not have any meals, no money and were hungry. That stayed in my mind as well. I believe that, although we are dealing with the very serious issue of sexual abuse, we are dealing with major areas that have been around quite a while. Unfortunately, over the last 37 years or so, I am not sure things have changed dramatically.
Of course, that it is not to say - and we have to be very careful when we highlight some of these matters, that we do not forget the success stories - the communities and people are not doing their best to advance their people. Outsiders looking at the Northern Territory at the moment, if they were to believe all they read in the press, would believe Aboriginal communities were all lost. We need to keep things in perspective and make sure the good stories are told. No matter what solutions we are looking for, we will only be successful if we bring the right Aboriginal people along with us as partners. The reason I say ‘right Aboriginal people’ is because sometimes the leaders are part of the problem. Look who was arrested at Kalumburu recently for child sexual offences – the president of the council and the school truancy officer were two of them.
We need to ensure that, in this partnership, we are talking to the right people. Unfortunately, I have been around long enough to know - and I am not going to name names - certain Aboriginal people seem to rise to the challenge when politicians come knocking on their door and, all of a sudden they become leaders when, in actual fact, they are not leaders; they are putting on two faces. I have seen that a number of times. That is what we have to ensure: that the intervention group that wants to create partnerships find some dinkum people, the people who really know. The other night, I watched the picture of those women at Yuendumu - the lady who ran a safe house - and they were disappointed there were no government funds. I listened to that woman speak, in perfect English, and she just said exactly what the problems were. There is a woman you should be talking to. There was no ‘look at me, look at me’; she was sincere about what she said.
In this whole complex and topsy-turvy political atmosphere we are going through at the moment - and I find it difficult to absorb it all - let us not lose sight of the fact that there are many good Aboriginal people out there. If we are going to achieve some changes, then we must bring those people along.
I refer to people like Sheila Millar. I have been out to her community at Dillinya - nearly had it the wrong way round. It is way out in the back of Woop Woop, down towards Top Springs. She is a tough woman, and does not agree with a lot of her own people, or a lot of the government. However, you know that she is doing something pretty good because she is trying hard to get people to change their ways. Her heart is in the right place and she is doing good things. I have a little article here from The Australian about a lady called Sarah Brown and her little Morris Minor which she uses to ferry patients to and from the purple house Dialysis Centre in Alice Springs. There is another great little story. They are the things we also ought to be telling. We can tell the bad stories and we need to tell them, but we also have to ensure we balance it with the good stories.
I will comment on a couple of the key issues. The issues that the minister pointed out are issues that we have debated in this House from time to time. There is a fair chance you may have heard all this before; it seems that only the name of the programs have changed. Resourcing: any program needs resourcing, but will you be able to fill these positions and will you find competent people to fill these positions? I know from my own experience, when you advertise in the bush, sometimes you get people with a CV about five miles long. They are the only people you can get sometimes, but they are not the people you really need. One of the things we have to look for, working in these communities, is maybe go back a little to the missionary days. I am not saying that is where we are going, but many people worked because they had a zeal, they wanted to help people; it was not about the dough. I know you have to have money to live, but there were people who really wished to help people. You really need people out there who want to help change, who are willing to listen to the people out there, willing to become part of the community, so it is not just about a nine-to-five job because, to work on an Aboriginal community, it is never nine to five.
Is the requirement for government to find 223 extra positions an indictment on what the government has not done? Is it true, for instance, that there is presently only one FACS person to look after remote cases in Central Australia; that is, in the outlying area? You are now employing 60 more staff. What does that say? Why have you only included one Aboriginal and Islander education coordinator? Twelve months from now, when the dust has settled, will we get a report card on if all these positions have been filled and how many indigenous people fill these positions?
Education: there is $70.68m towards education. Money has been thrown at education before, but what difference will this extra money achieve if kids are not going to school? Why is there not a statement like the one from the federal government, making it loud and clear that attendance at school is compulsory? I know that is not easy; I am not saying it is easy. There are many ways that can be achieved but, if the kids are not at school, then the $70.68m is money down the drain. Again, in 12 months will you give this parliament a report card? Education success has been glossed over for too long by the government in indigenous areas.
Take the Chief Minister’s statement where she spoke glowingly of the government take on secondary education. The concept is good and an important step forward, but what subjects are being taught at Year 12 level? How many are doing physics and chemistry or accountancy or business management? Here is the government promoting new local government which involves new shires, covering huge tracts of land, managing the local government affairs of many dissolved council entities, running work programs, lobbying and applying for financial grants, and ensuring local government is operating properly. Where are the indigenous people to take on those jobs? In fact, the bigger and more complex the council, the less likely there will be managerial opportunities. That is one of the downsides of super councils.
The reality is that the number of remote Aboriginal secondary students is very small, and attendance at these schools is still very low. Although it is encouraging to note students are attending high school, the reality is that literacy and numeracy rates are extremely low in remote communities. Again, it is glossed over in the fact sheet when it says that fewer than 40% of indigenous students achieve the reading benchmark. What it should have been highlighting is that, in 2004-05, which was the last time DEET published these figures, only 16% of remote indigenous students in Year 5 achieved national numeracy levels, and only 20% reached national reading levels. You know why they are not publishing these figures; they are a national disgrace.
Of course, there are reasons why this is happening, but has our government had to wait for federal intervention to move? Yes, there have being programs like breakfast and football; there has also been the Collins’ report. However, if those literacy and numerous figures are still so low, are these programs helping things? Are the programs working, but not at every school, or are they funded irregularly?
Batchelor College has been operating for years. How effective is it in delivering education programs? Is it time to analyse the progress? Has it improved literacy and numeracy, and created opportunities for indigenous people in their own or wider community? Batchelor College offers a wide range of subjects and many people have graduated from the college, and graduation days are always a very proud day. In light of the problems we are faced with today, perhaps it is time for an independent report to look at the effectiveness and relativeness of the college to see if it is achieving its goals in the long term, especially again in the light of the issues raised in the Wild/Anderson report.
I will come to unemployment a little later. It seems obvious that, without even a basic education, there is little hope for many for employment. What is missing in the education statement is adult education. If attendances are so low and literacy and numeracy figures are so low, there are, and will be, many adults who will struggle to achieve higher levels of employment - for example, in mining and tourism - without upgrading their basic skills and knowledge. We should place more focus on night classes where those who wish can spend one or two hours in a classroom in the evening learning. Night classes used to be operating years ago but have just disappeared from the scene. I believe that those programs were around years ago, so why not try it again? After all, if there are opportunities to do something more useful than playing cards and drinking, and if some of the measures being introduced to reduce gambling and drinking are successful, then let us provide alternatives for locals such as night school. It is no good banning gambling and reducing drinking if people do not have something else to do, and night school could be one of those options for people to take up.
When it comes to some of the issues related to sexual abuse, I believe boredom is a key factor. Employment should be available for anyone who wants a job. I note in the Wild/Anderson report they put employment as the greatest concern. It says on page 193 under the heading Employment:
There should not be unemployment benefits on remote communities. There is work, and it should not be called Work for the Dole. The federal government should provide sufficient funding for wages, equipment and management to help create employment and call them jobs. Some may say manual work is demeaning but, in fact, if you look at the big picture of picking up rubbish, mowing grass, planting trees, grading roads, repairing houses, repairing fences, and other such work, it is about putting pride back into a community as well as giving people something to do.
Unfortunately, there will be a requirement for jobs that require good numeracy and literacy and, because the numeracy and literacy skills are poor in some areas, there will be many who can never move up the ladder. However, all is not lost, especially if the restrictions on grog and gambling have an effect. I refer back to the issue of having night classes and helping people improve their literacy and numeracy. Sometimes, for many indigenous people, the only chance they have to improve their literacy and numeracy is when they are in gaol, unfortunately. They seem to like to go to the education classes in prison. When I was there, they attended them. It is unfortunate that you have to get an education by going to gaol. These are the options we should be making available in the wider community.
There should also be places at school in communities for students to study, especially if there is an issue of overcrowded houses. I am sure someone trying to study for an exam, or trying to improve their knowledge, is going to find it difficult to study in a house of 15 people with the television and the radio going, the dogs all barking, and the kids have not gone to bed. It is not very conducive to improving one’s educational prospects. I welcome the federal government’s intervention into getting kids to school, but it will be of no use if there are no job opportunities when these kids come out of school.
I will quickly talk about a couple of other things. Housing: of course, it is very difficult to study in overcrowded houses. Houses have been a problem for years but, with a mixture of insufficient funds, expensive designs, poor maintenance, nearly total reliance on government housing and, in some cases, houses abandoned in the bush, something needs to happen. The Northern Territory government has spoken of this and has complained about all these things, and yet we still have a problem. Is Closing the Gap the solution? It certainly does not seem to hold out much hope because they say there will be really no big change for at least 20 years.
A number of people have approached me about cheaper types of housing construction. One said he could put up a three-bedroom house in a week with most of the walls constructed from materials at the community. That particular company is interested in setting up a base at the new Tiwi Secondary College using materials from Melville Island. I do not know what has happened with that; I put that person and company on to the Minister for Local Government and have not heard anything.
We have the workers. We have high unemployment, so we have the workers. Let us get these people into housing construction, but do not have unemployment benefits. You have to say we have the work; if you want to work, we will pay you. Let us accelerate the Own Your Home scheme. If there is a state of emergency, get these module-type houses up and running.
Let us also have programs that teach owners of houses how to maintain these houses, perhaps through the Health department with encouragement awards for best house, best garden - that type of thing. That used to be operating years ago …
Mr NATT: Mr Deputy Speaker, I move that the member be granted an extension of time pursuant to Standing Order 77.
Motion agreed to.
Mr WOOD: Thank you, minister. We should be encouraging awards for best house, best garden and that type of thing. We should make sure the local stores stock hardware items to use in the house for repairs and maintenance. We were talking about food - and that is great; the government is on the right path there - but ensure we have hardware items so people can do things themselves.
We should establish a nursery and encourage people to plant a garden. I had a nursery on Bathurst Island. Every Saturday morning, we took plants down to the community. They could buy them off the back of the vehicle, and they planted them. You encourage people to have pride in the community by ensuring the garden has hoses and irrigation equipment. Also, give Territory Tidy Towns a role to play, as they used to.
Government needs to do an audit of abandoned houses and, if they are portable, move them into places where there are waiting lists. I know a couple of places where houses are abandoned. It is a disgrace that houses can be built in some communities and then people decide that it is not a good place to live. It would be different if it was Sorry Business, but this is not Sorry Business; this is just that they have moved back to town. There are a number of issues I will not have time to completely cover.
We know health is important. Unfortunately, I do not think - and I stand to be corrected – that there is one vegetable and fruit garden on any community any more. There may be some small ones, but, as they used to be, seem to have all disappeared. You must have good food if you want to improve the health of people.
Recreation is just as important. It is an area that was left out of this statement. The Chief Minister should add that in as an addendum. I have been travelling around with the Sessional Committee on Sport and Youth. I am not going to say what they said. All I can say is there are some issues out there. I am not allowed to discuss committee deliberations, but I can talk in general terms. We know there are issues out there. I know how important recreation is in these communities. Why do people play football on dirt ovals at Canteen Creek and Alpurrurulam? Because they love their footy. Or they play basketball with a half-busted basketball ring because they love playing basketball. You have to look at the total picture.
Employment, yes, people go out and work during the day. What are the options at night? Recreation. What are the options on the weekend? Recreation. What are the other options at night? Night classes. We need to look at the total picture.
I could talk for ages on alcohol. A lot has been said but, sometimes, we are still missing the major issue. In broader society, we are not taking on some of the bigger issues. When I go to the football at AFL, I see full strength beer. When I go somewhere else, I am told it is banned and there is no grog at that place, yet there will be drunks at the AFL. I have seen them, young Aboriginal girls - it makes me feel crook because you know they are so drunk they are in danger of being abused. Yet, we do not seem to be honing in on the bigger picture of the amount and the emphasis that alcohol has in our society.
Alcohol and sport, unfortunately, keep going hand-in-hand, and drunkenness is still something we think is okay. From a bloke who does not drink, perhaps I get sick of drunks talking to me because you do not get a lot of sense out of drunks. However, I sometimes think we have made it part of our culture that it is okay to be drunk, even though we say, no, it is not okay for Aboriginals to be that way. For the rest of us, it is all right, it is part of our culture. I believe we need to look at the whole picture. If we are going to change things in our society, then we have to change the way we all look the issues.
My mother sent me up a small cutting the other day – I forgot that it existed. I suppose it is beating my own drum a bit but, in 1981 or 1983, I got a series of television ads made ‘Think before you drink’. We had coasters and we had an ad done at the Vic Hotel on the top floor. We had another ad done where people with big beer bellies were walking around. The reason that was brought up was because there was advertising at that time which, basically, said you had to be a man to drink. For many Aboriginal people, they saw those ads on TV and said: ‘Well, that is the way we have to be’. There was no balance in this whole debate. The power of the breweries, the power of advertising, and the power of sport in this alcohol debate is something that needs to be looked at.
It is good to see pornography being banned. I believe the government really has to look at pornography being banned throughout the Territory. I do not believe I am any different to most adults. I have seen some pornography and, to be honest with you, I would have had more information out of watching animal husbandry at the Taminmin High School - because that is what it is all about.
Members interjecting.
Mr WOOD: That is what it is about. There is no love. However, I know what that effect would have on young people, because that kind of information and that kind of video has had a highly destructive effect on many Aboriginal communities. When I was at Daly River, I remember going around to a house where all the kids were just staring through the window at what was on the television screen – a pornographic movie. There was no control. I do not believe, even with all the controls we try to put on these things – such as being only allowed for people over 18 - the reality is, you can now get it on the web or sent to you from Canberra, and there is not much control at home. I have had parents tell me that they have sent their child to a house for a sleepover, and they said: ‘What did you watch?’ ‘Oh, the kids had this movie on’.
I know we live in a free society and some people argue adults are entitled to watch what they can but, again, we have to look at the big picture. The big picture is, I believe, pornography has been a disaster in some of these communities. I saw that article in the paper that mentioned Charlie King talking about the effects that pornography has had.
I am glad the Wild/Anderson report has raised the issue. The answer in the Chief Minister’s report does not necessarily say that they will ban it throughout the Territory. It, basically, says they will look at it. However, kids are kids, no matter whether they are Aboriginal or not. Some of this material is certainly not the sort of stuff that would give a child a balanced view of what love is about, because pornography is not about love.
The other issue is, in one of the government’s statements, it said it would reduce the number of Aboriginal people in incarceration. That statement was made in 2001. The sad fact is we have prisons that are chockers. We have very high indigenous numbers. I believe the number of juvenile indigenous prisoners is 96%. That is just way out of proportion. We have to do more about alternatives, so I will keep pushing the idea that we need mobile work camps. We need these sorts of options that will give both punishment and education, and kids a reason to live. I believe it is really important. It is sad that Wildman has been closed down.
Just on that idea of having places for people to get education and work, I believe we need those sorts of places for alcohol rehabilitation. I have said before, it is no good putting people in and out of these rehab revolving doors time and time again. If people cannot help themselves, then, through the alcohol courts, there should be a requirement to help these people forcibly, but with a guiding hand that has the long-term intent to change their life around. Why could we not have a place with a garden, a little workshop, a doctor visiting regularly, some literacy and numeracy? They must stay there because the only option is gaol. We should have those alternatives for people who have big problems with alcohol.
We need to work hard on some of these issues. I have argued this case about these alternatives for prison and for alcohol rehabilitation, for years and years. It is only when I saw the headlines of the Katherine Times the other day, I thought: ‘Whoopee, looks like there is a chance for some alternatives’.
In the end, Chief Minister, law and order and culture and responsibility are the foundations for changes. We have the Ali Curung model of law and order, and that is a good basis for some of our work. We should not throw that away with a lot of what is happening today. We need these partnerships, and the partnerships should be in relation to law and order, and management of culture - because I do not say ‘preserve culture’; culture is a moving thing – and about responsibility. In this intervention process, if we do not have those three things as the foundation, as part of a partnership with Aboriginal people, I have a feeling Aboriginal people will feel they are having this process imposed. If that is the feeling they get, they will become more and more isolated.
There are success stories out there, Chief Minister. There are good people out there. We need to sift the bad people from the good people and focus on the good people and move forward. Whilst I basically support what the Chief Minister is trying to do, there is a lot more that could be done. If we can work with the Aboriginal people and the federal government and do what you said, Chief Minister, ‘This is not just for the Territory, this is for the country’, then I support you if that is the basis for us doing it.
Ms MARTIN (Chief Minister): Mr Deputy Speaker, I thank all members who contributed to the debate. I will pick up briefly some of the issues raised by the member for Nelson. On what we do with juveniles in some level of association with the court and criminal justice system, there was an announcement recently that the Justice minister and I are committed to doing a juvenile camp in the Alice Springs region – exactly what you were talking about. What you are saying is not falling on an unreceptive government. We are looking at, particularly for Alice Springs, the issues of juveniles who are not at school, not in training, do not have a job, and the trouble they get into in Alice Springs. There is some really solid work going on there. We are getting the assessment back in a couple of months of where to put such a juvenile camp and what function it will have. We are certainly moving in that direction.
There were a couple of other points raised. The issue of alcohol is a critical one, the Wild/Anderson report raised that as one of the critical ones to tackle. A lot of work is being done, but you raised the issue of full strength beer at the footy. I have raised that with the AFL. Praise to Alice Springs when those big matches have occurred, there was only low and medium strength beer very carefully controlled, and there have been very good outcomes. It is happening in some parts of the Territory to ensure that the kind of things we do see and the behaviour that goes with it stops - particularly drinking full strength beer and, particularly in the afternoons. Like you, it disturbs me to see people who are obviously drunk at say, 4 pm. We have to continue to work with reducing supply on alcohol, getting better education so that we reduce the demand, and reduce the demand on certain products. There is good work happening in Alice Springs, but there is a lot of work to do in the Territory.
Katherine really needs a lot of community involvement in its alcohol management plan, and we are hoping to see that from the community. Katherine, come on down, there is a lot of work to do.
There is the very important issue of jobs and whether the jobs we are talking about will be held by Aboriginal people. You said when you raised that issue that you have to get the people who can do the job. That is going to be our challenge. You cannot just say: ‘You are Aboriginal, you have the job’. You have to have the skills, thereby, holds a whole tale behind it.
I asked the member for Arafura about changes to local government and what is happening, as an example, in the Tiwi Islands. On the Tiwi Islands, with local government, there are four community managers – all Aboriginal. There are 120 jobs in Tiwi Islands local government, and 70 out of those 120 jobs are held by Tiwis, and 10 of those are in full paid management positions. They are all jobs, they are not CDEPs, and 10 of those very significant jobs are held by Tiwis. It is a challenge to see if we can replicate across the Territory what is happening on the Tiwis. We strongly support local government change, and to get better management happening right across the Territory is going to be critical for all the kind of things that the Wild/Anderson report talked about. I certainly congratulate the Tiwis on that. That is a great outcome. When we can do it 100% it will be even better.
Madam Speaker, as every member has recognised, closing the gap on indigenous disadvantage is one of the most important things we, as a government and as an Assembly, are charged to do. The Territory simply cannot afford to have a significant proportion of our population unable to be part of our growing social and economic development. To overcome this gap will take a generation in itself. It is sad to think of that but, if you are looking at sustainable change, it is going to take a generation. As I look around the House, it is not likely that anyone in this House today will still be here when this plan runs its course. Although there might be 20, 30 anyone planning to beat - well who knows? However, by the end of it, we will arrive at a place where every baby born in the Territory, whether they be indigenous or non-indigenous, will have the same opportunity in life and the same chance to make the most of their life in whatever direction they choose - that is, with the good basis of education to have that opportunity, along with future training, to go further in your job.
To pick up a point from the member for Nelson, it is about choice. It is not about saying that you have to have a job that is in your community. It is about getting the skills to have the opportunity for a job and make a choice of what that job might be. We all know with our children growing up here in Darwin that some make the choices to have a job in the Territory, others will move interstate. For parents that is a sad thing, but it is also the opportunity we want for every Aboriginal child growing up in the Territory.
It is a bold ambition but it is a crucial one, and one which I take on with gusto. The first stage of this plan, the first five years, I announced a week-and-a-half ago. Those initiatives will see us build on the efforts to date of this government by injecting an additional $286m over the next five years. Very importantly, it is building on what we, as a government, have done over the past six years. This money will be injected into services such as policing - we have seen enormous increases in the police budget over the last six years; in fact, $90m additional in police - further money into housing and education. When you look at the education budget we have increased the education budget by, in six years, $181m. That is a percentage increase of 38%, an enormous recognition of the demand in the Territory for getting better educational services right across the Territory. Health is certainly the biggest increase, and has increased from $484m in 2001 to $838m going into health across the Territory in 2007. That is a 73% increase in our health.
This announcement through Closing the Gap builds on those key injections of funds in those critical areas, and also works further to support families and improving, importantly, the capacity of communities to participate in the economy of the Territory. I stress that this package builds on the existing efforts of the government, because much has been done over the last six years to address these important issues.
We came to government facing a serious deficit, Madam Speaker. Funds have gone to those critical areas. It is all very well for members of the opposition to stand up and say: ‘What have you done with these increased funds?’ It is obvious; look at the budget papers and at the outcomes we are getting. We are turning the deficits around from 27 years, but it is going to take time. Sadly, it is going to take a generation.
I am very proud of the efforts of this government in the broad field of services to the bush. As I said in the original statement, this is a government which brought proper secondary education to the bush and increased health expenditure by 73%, and has increased police numbers by 200 across the Territory. However, more is needed to be done; there is no doubt about that. More is needed to be done, much more, and Closing the Gap is the first instalment of that.
Closing the Gap takes on the 97 recommendations of the Wild/Anderson report, and takes those recommendations further. The Wild/Anderson report did focus on what government needed to do. What our response does is acknowledge those ideas and recommendations, and take them further. Our response recognises the need for a three-way partnership to deliver real outcomes. That partnership is between the Northern Territory and Australian governments and, most importantly, Aboriginal people themselves.
As I said in the media conference when announcing this plan, the government can put into place a range of mechanisms to get children to school, but unless parents get them up and going, we will not be successful. It is that sort of practical working together that will overcome many of the problems. That is why I was so pleased, on 3 August, to sign the first of the education partnerships between the government and the community of Yirrkala. In this agreement, responsibilities and obligations for both sides were spelt out.
The opposition has made much of this joint responsibility issue - the Deputy Opposition Leader in Question Time last week, for example. The Closing the Gap document and the broad actions of government to date already indicate how seriously we have taken this view. Let me spell it out clearly: we believe that the best and quickest way to overcoming disadvantage is by a strong three-way partnership between governments and the people themselves each taking on clear goals and working towards them.
To achieve that, we have to define the goals and take the lead in laying down the pathway to that achievement. I am not asking anyone to do anything I am not prepared to do myself, and Closing the Gap shows those plans and our seriousness about it. I do thank members for their contributions.
The Opposition Leader, in her response, decided that the Wild/Anderson report was a failure. She is determined to define the how and why abuse occurs in an academic way. Her view is if we can get to the bottom of this how and why, we can change behaviour. The Opposition Leader is particularly concerned that, by ignoring the determinants of child abuse, as she sees it, the report misses the potential for stopping the abuse itself. That is an approach. I do not agree with her. The report has been very useful in making the issue a very live one in indigenous communities. I am aware that discussion of the issue alone has resulted in a greater awareness of the issues.
I do agree that the report did not successfully provide a silver bullet for piercing the veil of silence around reporting and understanding child abuse. To be honest, that is a very difficult task, and we will pick up the cudgels on that and take the issue forward.
My view is that child abuse is an outcome of dysfunction and communal breakdown. To fix that breakdown and dysfunction, better services need to be delivered. I have always had the view that providing sufficient housing to a community to overcome crowding and to give families a decent living area will help overcome some of these issues. I am not alone in that. Respected figures in Australia like Dr Fiona Stanley say housing is critical in overcoming some of the disadvantage and dislocation that Aboriginal communities suffer. Major-General Dave Chalmers, who is with the Prime Minister’s task force on the intervention, says ‘housing’ each time the media asks what the critical issue is we have to address. That was reiterated in the Wild/Anderson report.
I have been criticised for saying that housing is a critical issue, but I do think it is true and so do the experts. That is why we have already put $100m into housing and added in this package $42m-plus. We are also working with the Commonwealth to get real further support from them. We need to build 200 houses a year for the next 20 years, and that is not something that we, as a government, can do alone. I reiterate that this is not only about governance. The Territory government can put so many funds in. The federal government, which has a key responsibility here, can put further funds in. Their ARIA program, their housing program renamed, over the next four years has $1.6bn in it. The Prime Minister gave a fairly strong commitment to say that half of those funds should come to the Territory over the next four years. That would make an enormous difference. We have yet to pin down the federal government on making sure those are not just words, but a real commitment.
Aboriginal organisations also have to invest in housing in the bush. When you look at where things like royalty payments have gone over many years, have they ever gone into housing and community infrastructure? Rarely. The time is now to address this subject and to ensure that, while it is important that investments are wise with some of the significant funds that come to Aboriginal organisations and trusts, there is a balance between investing in immediate infrastructure to assist what governments at both levels are doing. It is something that I am going to take up with the land councils and other organisations. I believe this is the third critical component of investing into housing and infrastructure for the future.
Of the contributions in the House, the opposition did not really offer any real solutions. They have an opinion, and I thank them for that. I thank the member for Nelson for a thoughtful contribution and raising a number of key issues some of which I have responded to. My colleagues provided more practical on-the-ground experience in these communities than was offered by the opposition. I have been very impressed with the determination of my colleagues who hold bush seats to get out to communities, talk these issues through, and deliver the message about changing behaviour and about future partnerships.
When the federal government announced their proposals, my colleagues coordinated a major push through the Territory to discuss the issues with their electorates and to encourage people to cooperate. We did not want rumours and fear being spread. That work has really been done very well, and I thank bush members for that work. My colleagues have literally driven the length and breadth of the Territory to do this. From Kintore to the Tiwi Islands, a Labor member of parliament has been visiting communities, explaining outcomes, walking the community through the thorny issues associated with the intervention, and encouraging people to be part of the process of rebuilding communities. The member for Arafura in particular, has been a leader, not just in her own electorate, but in the Territory and the nation as a whole in handling this very difficult time, and I thank her for her work.
Madam Speaker, I met with the Prime Minister today and we discussed the intervention and Closing the Gap. My fundamental point to him is that the solutions to where there is dysfunction - and you have to make this clear point - not every community is dysfunctional. Sadly, too many are, but we have communities who function well, who have a spirit about what they do, who have community members with jobs, and where attendance at school is good. One of the sad things about what has happened over the last few months is this broad-brush approach that says every community is the same, every community is dysfunctional. It is a real sadness. I do not know how we turn that perception around.
Aboriginal people I talk to, and bush members, know the truth of this. To sit with federal parliamentarians who simply say: ‘It is all dysfunctional out there, you have no health service, you have no this’, it is offensive to all those Territorians, whether they are Aboriginal or non-Aboriginal, who are doing the hard yards in many remote areas of the Territory. I pay tribute to them; they work hard. There are women and men who work so hard in communities to keep those communities functional, who deal with difficult problems. You are just blown away by the commitment they have to their communities. None of us would even envisage that kind of commitment in our own daily lives in an area like Darwin, so I pay tribute to them.
When I talked to the Prime Minister, I said that where there is dysfunction - and no doubt about it, there is dysfunction – we need to have long-term solutions. The way to get people into the mainstream economy is by putting resources into solutions that take time to hold; and those solutions are housing, health and education, and, of course, policing. We need to ensure that we have police more strategically across the Territory. That does not mean setting aside immediate law enforcement to deal with substance abuse and those who neglect and abuse children. That is why I asked the Prime Minister to keep the proposed 50 police in place for five years, and why I have committed to putting 40 more in to make that a real and strong commitment.
I do believe the Prime Minister understands the issues. Equally, I believe that it is well understood by Opposition Leader, Kevin Rudd. I will be raising similar issues with him when we meet shortly.
Madam Speaker, I thank all members for their contribution and I look forward to now putting in place, detail by detail, this government’s Closing the Gap initiatives.
Motion agreed to; statement noted.
Ms MARTIN (Chief Minister): Madam Speaker, this afternoon I will update the House on the progress we have made in Creating Darwin’s Future over the past 11 months, and to advise on a suite of initiatives that I announced yesterday that will change the face of Darwin and make our CBD an even better place to live and work.
Our aim is a bold one, but realistic; that is, to create one of the world’s great harbour cities. We are pretty good now, but we can be better. The work we will undertake over the next two years represents a big step forward in achieving our goals: we will build a World War II museum next to Parliament House commemorating the defence of Darwin; we will develop a ribbon of green around the CBD stretching down to the Botanic Gardens; we will give State Square a makeover to create a focal point for people and visitors in the CBD; we will change our planning scheme to ensure that our CBD has a tropical and people friendly feel to its streets and has a consistency of design; and we will ensure that antisocial behaviour in the CBD is under control.
Together with our rapidly developing and soon completed waterfront project, these initiatives will have a profound impact on how we experience our city. Before I tell you more about these initiatives, let me remind members how we got to this point, and the important role the people of Darwin have played in Creating Darwin’s Future process. Less than a year ago, we began the process of planning and creating one of the world’s great harbour cities. Central to Creating Darwin’s Future was a focus on two separate, yet linked, strategies for the future of our city.
First, we undertook to develop our CBD. We wanted to create a vibrant 24-hour city where residential, commercial and entertainment centres come together in an environment that has a strong tropical focus. We wanted it to be a great place to live and work and an exciting place for our visitors to spend time and, of course, their money.
Equally important to Creating Darwin’s Future is the need to preserve and protect our great lifestyle in the suburbs. There is no better place in Australia to live and raise a family, and our relaxed outdoor way of life is something we all hold dear. Our focus will be on developing safe and peaceful suburbs and neighbourhoods, which will have a strong sense of local community and identity. Later in the year, we will turn our attention to Darwin’s suburbs and will release our Suburban Living Strategy which will lead to a plan of action by early next year.
This is the approach we are taking, along with a committed group of partners, in developing our city in Creating Darwin’s Future. Since the launch of Creating Darwin’s Future in October last year, we have consulted widely on the merits of 93 ideas and initiatives contained in the Creating Darwin’s Future package. We have engaged business and talked to many special interest groups, local organisations and countless Territorians. Both the chief executive of my department and I attended a number of forums targeting these groups which included representatives from the arts, tourism, business sectors, as well as community, professional and heritage groups.
At these meetings, we had the opportunity to present our proposals and receive quality feedback from the participants. The engagement with the public and specialist interest groups will continue in the future. We also undertook months of public displays at major shopping centres and other high-profile events such as the Royal Darwin Show and the Tropical Garden Spectacular. We talked to many Territorians during the consultation phase, all of whom had views on the direction our city should take. We also receive constant feedback via our dedicated website.
While we have studied all the feedback and taken on board many ideas, it was vital that the process produced prompt, decisive action. That is why I established a working group of senior government, council and industry leaders to take account of all the feedback and to develop action plans to progress the agreed initiatives over the next five years. The working group, which is chaired by Paul Tyrrell, Chief Executive of my department comprises Allan McGill, Chief Executive of Darwin City Council; Allan Garraway, President of the Property Council of Australia, Territory Division; Rick Paul, President of Chamber of Commerce; and Rod Applegate, Acting Chief Executive of the Department of Planning and Infrastructure. They meet on a regular basis to ensure all tasks are actioned, and have attended a number of the public forums gaining a first-hand knowledge and understanding of the thoughts and desires of those involved in these discussions. My department is providing secretariat support to the working group, and senior departmental staff are coordinating the implementation of the first suite of initiatives across government and our other partners.
A major task for the working group was to review and analyse the feedback we received on each of the 93 proposals. Their review identified and classified initiatives according to whether they received popular support and were considered a priority going forward; received a good response, but they were not considered a key activity at this stage; were currently under way or completed; and whether the initiative had funds allocated to them in the 2007-08 budget.
Madam Speaker, as a result of this process we moved decisively and committed funding in the 2007-08 Budget to key projects. $250 000 was committed to develop a master plan for State Square, which I will talk more about shortly, and that master plan is due for completion in December. We have also committed $6m for the redevelopment of Myilly Point including Flagstaff Park and the proposed Little Mindil Beach boardwalk. Options of the scope of the development are currently being prepared and will be ready for review and commencement of action by November this year. We have also committed $1m for urban road landscaping on the main arterial roads, the entry points into the CBD. Concept plans have been completed by government on the upgrading of the Tiger Brennan Drive and Daly Street entrances. We also committed $250 000 to conduct a feasibility study into the creation of the new museum, which I will talk about in detail shortly.
Another example of our inclusive approach to the task of creating Darwin’s future was a CBD Urban Planning Forum which was held in April this year. The forum was hosted by the Department of Planning and Infrastructure and Darwin City Council, and brought together over 180 leaders in urban planning, architecture, property, government and other related industries and professions. Following the forum, there were public feedbacks sessions held in Darwin and Casuarina which attracted over 240 people. The theme of the Urban Planning Forum was ‘How should our city function?’, and the main topics for discussion were ‘How do we achieve better building designs?’ and ‘What should our streets, parks and open spaces be like?’.
An Urban Design Advisory Panel was formed early this year and will assist and guide government’s decisions on planning issues. The panel combines local, interstate and international experience and is made up of Professor Rob Adams, Director of Design and Culture for the City of Melbourne; Leonard Lynch, Landscape Architect; Colin Browne from the Royal Australian Institute of Architects; Ross Finocchiaro, representative of the Property Council of Australia; Brendan Dowd from the Darwin City Council; Mark Doonar, who is with Tract Consultants of Brisbane; and Mark Meldrum from the Department of Planning and Infrastructure. Its role is to advise the Capital City Committee on specific matters and projects which will achieve better urban design within the central city area and the Darwin Peninsula. I will talk about the outcomes of their deliberation shortly.
Madam Speaker, as you can see, we have consulted widely and encouraged input and ideas at every stage of the process, but we have also moved decisively to ensure we see action on a number of fronts in the near future.
Let me now turn to yesterday’s announcement. Next door to Parliament House, we will build a World War II museum commemorating the defence of Darwin. Nowhere else in Australia has our World War II experience, and no other city suffered the heavy loss of life that we did. It is a story that we must tell and one we must share. It is a story generations of Australians need to hear. The Australian government of the day shielded Australians from the full extent of the bombings. They did not want fear paralysing our country back in the 1940s. Somehow, that wartime censorship has stood the test of time and, 60 years on, our war history is still a mystery to many Australians young and old. We will change that. We will display a heritage that cannot be ignored, and we will work to ensure that Darwin’s history is an important part of every schoolchild’s learning in the future.
The museum will ensure that the bombing of Darwin, the bravery of our people, and the resilience of our Defence Forces will be forever cemented into the national psyche. The museum will be designed to fit with the landscape and add aesthetic value to the promenade next to this parliament. Along with this iconic structure, we will also develop a World War II heritage trail that will link sites of significance to the defence of Darwin. These include wonderful areas such as East Point with its existing wartime structures, many sites around the CBD, the important airfields along the Stuart Highway, the Adelaide River War Cemetery, and significant areas in Katherine. As I mentioned earlier, $250 000 has already been committed in this year’s budget to develop concepts and designs of what this museum will look like and what it will contain.
We will form a reference group which will represent a cross-section of the community, and interest groups will provide input on the concept and design during the study. We will consider the timing for a start and finish for this project during next year’s budget process. I am sure you will all agree that this is an exciting new addition to the city landscape and one that will recognise a very important part of our history.
I also announced yesterday that we will firmly establish Darwin as the tropical capital by developing a ribbon of green around the CBD. It will expand and further develop existing open spaces such as the Esplanade, along with the development of new park lands and public access areas at Myilly Point parkland and the old hospital site. The Myilly Point park will be a vital part of this green border, and $6m will be spent on its development. Imagine new and accessible parklands at Myilly Point and the old hospital site linked by a foreshore promenade, from Nurses Walk along Mindil Beach and connecting through the Botanic Gardens. There will be co-funding for that by SKYCITY and the Darwin City Council.
Concepts for the future use of the old Darwin Hospital site to provide additional open space for public use are also currently being discussed, and a plan of action will be finalised by the end of this year. We will create new bike paths and parklands through the old tank farms in Stuart Park and final concepts are being prepared for another bike path to run along the existing rail corridor at the back of the tank farm. We plan to commence work on this by November this year.
The Esplanade will form part of the ribbon, with shade trees allowing for sweeping ocean views and tropical breezes while making the most of the open spaces and the wonderful views the Esplanade already offers. Darwin City Council is looking at development options and, along with government, is talking with a range of stakeholders about how to make the Esplanade experience even better. This could include turning the old tank at the end of the Esplanade into a restaurant, offering a unique dining experience for locals and visitors to the city.
We have a great harbour, and we must see more of it. We are also looking at exciting new developments along the Esplanade such as a permanent and safe swimming facility through development of the Lameroo Baths.
We have a new museum going to happen, a revitalised Esplanade, our new waterfront development and a ribbon of green stretching down to the Botanic Gardens. These are significant initiatives that will have a profound impact on how we experience our city. As I said yesterday, it is an experience in need of a focal point, a central point that links the waterfront to the Esplanade and to our retail sector. That is where our plans for State Square come in.
At the moment, the area surrounding Parliament House and the Supreme Court is a random collection of heritage structures, car parks, ageing buildings and parklands. The potential exists to do something special. In keeping with the Darwin City Council’s streetscape strategy, this part of Darwin will become a civic and heritage precinct. It will be developed to have its own look and feel; one that will showcase it as a distinct part of Darwin city. I announced yesterday that the decision has been made to give State Square a complete revamp. It has been talked about for a long time, but now it will happen. The how, why and what will be finalised in the near future, but I can tell you that we want to create a space in this historic part of Darwin, one that will draw people and visitors into the CBD.
We will landscape and develop this area into a precinct that will become Darwin’s signature community meeting space and a focal point of a unique tropical urban experience. Any decision on the removal of the Chan Building will, of course, be based on detailed consultation of the costs involved in relocating equipment and the current data centre housed there to other more appropriate locations.
We have begun the process by providing $250 000 in the last budget to develop a master plan for State Square. An exciting feature of this project will be a magnificent covered walkway linking the waterfront and Smith Street Mall. The walkway will include interpretive signage, and imaginative landscape along the way, and will give people a real sense of the area’s historical and heritage significance. The master plan will be completed by the end of the year, and we plan to move quickly to make this vision for State Square a reality.
To match these changes, I again stress my support for the opening up of the mall. I encourage Darwin City Council to look at the plans that they have had done by Hassell and move on those. They have put the work in; they have the options for opening up the mall. What they need to do is make those decisions.
While we are talking about this end of the city, I am certainly pleased to inform the House that our new convention centre is on track for an early completion, and will be ready for the first booked convention in July 2008. Along with the convention centre, the wave pool is on track to be completed in May next year. The bulk of the parklands surrounding the wave pool will be completed by June next year, with some interface works completed by September. The marine infrastructure and the bulk of the roads and service will be finished by the end of this year, and the public car park completed by June 2008. Works have commenced on the two hotels which will be operational next year, and the first residential and commercial finger will be ready by the first quarter of 2009.
While initiatives such as the ones I have talked about are crucial to developing a tropical city, all this work can be undone unless the buildings that rise out of the ground reflect that we are a modern tropical city. That is why, in addition to these exciting initiatives, we will take measures to firmly guide Darwin’s development in the future. The Urban Design Advisory Panel, which I mentioned earlier, will assist and guide our decisions on planning issues. As a result of the Urban Planning Forum held in April this year, three key referrals have been made to the Urban Design Advisory Panel for consideration as a matter of priority.
Firstly, the panel will look at how a building sits on its plot. This will focus on building height and include areas such as plot ratio, setbacks and open space. The panel will also investigate and advise us on the need to limit the size of the central business zone to maintain vibrant commercial activity. The third of the referrals is for them to explore guidelines to address antisocial behaviour in the CBD through better planning. The panel is active on these issues and will be reporting back to government by the end of the month. In addition, the panel’s advice will also be sought on amendments to ensure specific building design outcomes that focus on performance. These initiatives will lead to smart building designs that make the most of our tropical lifestyle. They will also reduce adverse effects on the environment, including the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions through a smarter use of power and technology.
A unique tropical urban experience also extends to the streets. We will change the Planning Scheme to require new developments within the CBD to offer an active interface with the street or public realm. These changes will be linked to the Darwin City Council’s commitment to its five-year streetscape strategy to commence in July 2008. It will be based on its existing high-level streetscape strategy. The roll-out of this strategy by council will be a crucial part of creating a much improved environment in our city, one that will see more activity extending from private developments into the streets, with more cafs and more glazing to ground level buildings to create light and to avoid blank walls. We will also require all aboveground car parks to be hidden or screened through building design. We will mandate awnings to new buildings in the CBD, a proposal in line with the council’s streetscape strategy, which is designed to improve the overall look and feel of the city.
The proposed amendments to the Northern Territory Planning Scheme will be put on public exhibition and will be advertised in newspapers this Friday. There will then be a period of 28 days for the public to view and comment on the proposed amendments which are that: the Darwin City Council’s streetscape strategy will be a guideline for adjacent building landscaping; active building street interfaces will be mandated; selected streets will have mandated awning requirements for new buildings; and car parks will not be allowed at the street level unless screened.
Depending on the number and complexity of the public submissions, we anticipate the proposed amendments will be passed by November this year. Our aim is to ensure a consistent design style throughout the CBD, and the Minister for Planning and Lands will comment on these matters further.
Council is also looking at areas such as shade and weather protection, traffic management and pedestrian movement, street furniture and signage, public art and water features, infrastructure and services, and lighting and landscaping. We will work with them to achieve strong outcomes in all these areas. These planning changes are absolutely necessary if we are to create the great tropical harbour city we deserve, and if we are to balance the needs of industry and the community in the years ahead.
The issue of antisocial behaviour in the CBD was raised at the Urban Planning Forum. It is a real issue of concern to all of us, and we will release the revised antisocial behaviour strategy by October. It is my hope that this new strategy, together with better planning, will greatly minimise antisocial behaviour in the future.
Yesterday’s announcements will change the face of our CBD and will ensure we develop into one of the world’s great tropical harbour cities. I want to see action on all these initiatives and, as I have outlined, it will be soon. Later in the year, as I said, we will turn our attention to Darwin suburbs and the release of our Suburban Living Strategy will produce a plan of action by early next year. As I said, our goal is to ensure that the great lifestyle we enjoy in the suburbs of Darwin is protected and enhanced. It has a relaxed sense of community and neighbourhood, and our aim is to ensure that we keep that character and enhance it.
It is an exciting time for Darwin and an important moment in the development of this city. In summary, there will be a World War II museum next to Parliament House; a ribbon of green around the CBD; a revamped State Square; new planning amendments; and, new entrances to our city. These are exciting times for Darwin and, as I said yesterday, I invite everyone along for what will be a most exciting ride.
Madam Speaker, I commend the statement to the House, and move that it be noted.
Ms CARNEY (Opposition Leader): Madam Speaker, the thought occurred to me when the Chief Minister was reading her statement - and I will, for the most part, be reading my response - that I would be grateful if the Chief Minister would, in her reply in relation to the museum - and whilst we appreciate that it is on the basis on what we have heard to commemorate the bombing of Darwin and Darwin’s defence in the World War II – advise whether the Chief Minister or her department has given any thought to whether the museum would ensure that there is an acknowledgement of soldiers who have served in other conflicts since World War II in that museum. I put that suggestion in good faith. Whilst it is entirely appropriate to have a museum that celebrates and commemorates the efforts of those in Darwin in World War II, it would be a good idea for it to include other conflicts as well.
I thank the Chief Minister for her statement. It does seem, since coming to office six or so years ago, the government really has not taken planning by the scruff of the neck in the same way that the previous government did. I know people will disagree with that but, increasingly on the representations that I am having to my office from many people who have lived all their lives in Darwin, they are becoming very concerned about the difficulties being presented by this government with planning and no vision to what they consider to be ongoing problems with planning. I am happy to concede that the Chief Minister’s statement, such as it is, is her version of a visionary statement. However, there is a concern. Whilst I am sure the previous CLP governments made some mistakes in planning, I ask government to consider taking the issue of planning by the scruff of the neck. I will come to some of the issues in support of that shortly.
I note that the Chief Minister has allocated $250 000 for a State Square master plan. At the same time, there appears to be quite specific proposals in the museum, the ribbon of green, and the waterfront. It should be stated for the record that there still remains a lack of detailed plans, such as the Darwin Land Use Objectives, from this government. I do not just refer to what has been announced yesterday, but other developments. Often, we see artists’ impressions of one project or another; however, artists’ impressions are not detailed plans. If the experience of the waterfront is any example, those artists’ impressions are very much a moveable feast.
It was not so long ago that the Chief Minister stood in front of, I think it was a Channel 9 camera, and looked like a rabbit caught in a spotlight when she was asked about the height limits on buildings in the Darwin CBD. There have been, as she knows and many other people know, scathing criticism and articles - the one that Nicholas Rothwell wrote springs to mind. It illustrates the growing criticism about planning or, more to the point some would say, the lack of it in relation to the Darwin CBD.
We have the Chief Minister’s statement which, whilst in some areas is good, you have to stand back and say there is a lot of rhetoric but not much detail. Some of it really amounts to a plan for a plan. I would have thought that the Chief Minister and government could and should do better than that. There certainly are some specific details about what street level shopfronts will not be allowed to do and that car parks should be screened - and they are good ideas. However, there is no comment on height restrictions anywhere and, for a statement that described the future of the Darwin CBD, that is surprising. Indeed, the statement itself is remarkably short.
I was expecting a document like the Central Darwin Planning Concepts and Land Use Objectives 1999 which I have brought into the Chamber today. As some of you who were around then will remember, it was prepared by former CLP Planning minister, Tim Baldwin. It is a detailed study - and if you have not seen it you should try to have a look at it - of some key concepts for what Darwin should and could have been into the future. It has never been revoked or decried as a failure. It was full of options and I wonder when we will see a document of this type amongst, or in addition to, the Chief Minister’s rhetoric and media releases.
The document that was produced by former minister, Tim Baldwin, seems to have fallen by the wayside. I commend members to have a look through that document. Areas like Bayview, which was in that plan, is now a reality. Others like Goyder Island will probably never be a reality. One of the crucial aspects of the plan, however, was height restrictions around the perimeter of the CBD. It was designed to achieve what is called the Gotham effect for CBD structures. Limiting the height of buildings along the Esplanade and McMinn Street was intended to force the taller buildings that we are now seeing built on the city rim, in towards the middle of the city. This meant that people living and working in the centre of the city would be able to see over the roofs of those who lived and worked on the fringes of the city. The other effect that would have been achieved is that there would have been a renewal of some of the older buildings in the CBD ...
Members interjecting.
Ms CARNEY: Madam Speaker, if one looks - and I hope the members muttering away in the background do have a chance to or take the opportunity to look – at Figure 4 of the document to which I have referred …
Mr Bonson: Old news, living in the past.
Ms CARNEY: Madam Speaker, he will have his go. Can I ask that I at least be heard in silence or, if he is going to interject, can he do it properly so I can hear him?
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Millner, cease interjecting.
Ms CARNEY: Thank you, Madam Speaker. This document referred to and expressly provided the maximum height restrictions in Darwin: 120 m in the centre of the city and buildings on the fringe were to be limited to 55 m rising to 120 m. Clearly, now, there is a demand to go above 120 m and the CLP has no truck with the buildings like Pandanus and Evolution. Those buildings are within the original 120 m zone contemplated by the 1999 model. Nevertheless, I believe people are becoming increasingly concerned, when these buildings are completed, about the impact they will, nevertheless, have on the city skyline.
The problem with taller buildings on the city fringe is that they tend to suppress investment in the centre of the city. Rather than getting the Gotham effect, which was envisaged and planned for by the previous government, the result is the opposite - it is a donut effect. We are all aware that the Territory has a history of boom/bust cycles, and this boom will, in every likelihood, be no different from those that preceded it.
Now that we have several tall buildings along the Esplanade, it is likely that there will be a reluctance to build behind those taller buildings unless those buildings behind are significantly taller than the buildings in front. If the economy takes a downturn, it will be many years before buildings located in the city centre will be demolished and replaced with something more in keeping with the new Darwin rather than the old, which is more a testimony to fibrous cement, corrugated iron and timber frames than to the modern Darwin of concrete, steel and glass.
Even nostalgic as it may have been, it is not the Darwin of the future. It would be a shame if the middle of the Darwin CBD was not able to shake off some of the ‘country town outpost’ image for what we have become; that is, the modern vibrant commercial hub. Indeed, the Chief Minister expressed her very clear intention to see Darwin become an even better tropical city.
I do not advocate, nor does the opposition, complete renewal - and I am sure the member for Nelson will support that view - because there are many heritage sites that should never be lost. As the Chief Minister said, there does need to be a balance.
One of the issues that the opposition does have with this government’s approach is its determination to allow whatever, whenever and for whomever. Whilst Territorians appreciate that the Development Consent Authority has carriage of approvals, many are, the opposition detects, becoming concerned that the government is not exerting its standards more rigorously. Some of the projects being conducted in the CBD by long-standing developers are consistent with people who care about this city. They have made their money here and they are cautious about what they are doing. There are others, however, who develop, make their money and shoot through. The legacies of the two different approaches are often apparent in what they give to our city.
The government should make rules that are only given exceptions in the most extreme cases. There are several reasons for that. If a block of a particular zoning is passed over by one developer because it restricts heights, for example, and then is taken up by another who gets special permission to exceed zoned heights, it makes the zoning less reliable. The effect is then that any block is seen as a potential high-rise despite the zoning.
This means that nearly every project becomes a special case to be argued before the DCA, and the process then becomes very cutthroat. Further, zoning maps become less reliable and, of course, when special consideration is given to one developer, it becomes difficult to resist the same arguments from other developers. This is why plans like the 1999 Land Use Structure Plan are so necessary. It is not what we are seeing from this government, and we should. Darwinians expect and deserve to see plans such as this.
I now turn to what the Chief Minister’s plan actually promises. It promises $7.5m for a city facelift on the basis of what was reported in today’s paper. For what the aims are of the city facelift, $7.5m arguably is not a lot of money, especially when one considers that the building of the museum appears – and I stress appears – to be included in that figure. It is also not in this year’s budget. We would expect, therefore, to see it in next year’s budget.
To have a flash announcement and a commitment of money that is not even in a budget - and I think I heard the Chief Minister correctly today; she went dangerously close to saying it would be in next year’s budget. We hope so, and we will certainly be watching that with great interest.
The Chief Minister yesterday spoke of some of the things that the plan incorporates, and she spoke of the Chan Building. As with her, I am not wedded to the Chan Building. In fact, looking through the 1999 plans, there are pictures of State Square minus the Chan Building. No doubt, this government will produce its own - and bully for them. The area can be enhanced by removing the Chan Building. However, the plan to demolish the building has, as I understand it, been around for the better part of 10 years, and there are real problems with getting rid of that building, as we all know. The basement houses the brains of the government’s nervous system, and there are real obstacles about removing what is in the basement. I am sure the Chief Minister and I have pretty accurate hunches on the cost of removing what is down there. The cost will be a significant issue.
The next obvious issue is: where would you put it. Where would you put what is over the road, or across the square? Where does it go? It is particularly convenient where it is, given NT House, this building and the Supreme Court. I wish the Chief Minister well in working that out - as I believe the previous government tried to do - demolishing the Chan Building and relocating, in particular, what is under it.
In the Chief Minister’s statement, some pages are dedicated to two issues: the waterfront and the proposed museum. This is an opportunity to repeat the opposition’s suggestion about expanding the museum so that there is an acknowledgement of soldiers who have served in other conflicts. With so much of the Chief Minister’s report dealing with those areas, there is really not much detail in relation to some others.
We are intrigued, nevertheless, about the ribbon of green when its core element, Bicentennial Park, already exists and the Myilly Point park at the moment is vacant land zoned B5 for business. We ask the Chief Minister: is it the whole of Myilly Point that will be made into parkland, including the old hospital site, or is the parkland restricted to the headland site? I suspect that it is restricted to the headland site but, in the absence of a map, we do not know, and Darwin residents do not know either.
Where else, we ask, is the ribbon of green? According to the news last night, it may have formed some part of the old tank farm site. The next logical question is: how much of the old tank farm will form part of the ribbon of green? We suspect not much, but wait with interest. Regarding the Chief Minister’s comments yesterday about the ribbon of green, and earlier comments in relation to her desire to make Darwin look like Singapore, we note with enormous interest the big patch of green next to this building, which is, increasingly - I am sure we have all seen it over the years - being used by Darwinians for a range of purposes. We want a Darwin that has parks and green sites and, yet, there is a certain irony about building on a lovely green patch just next to this very building.
I am not from Adelaide but I have spent a bit of time there over the years. Adelaide has a ribbon of green, to use the Chief Minister’s terminology, that is impressive, and I am sure other members would agree. It is designed to have parks all around it. Adelaide’s CBD is bordered by four terraces, as we know - North, South East and West. For my own part, I am not a huge fan of the simple grid pattern that was chosen by the designers of Adelaide. However, having said that, they were careful to leave room for thousands of acres of parkland on four sides of that city. This is now impossible in Darwin, but more can be done, I believe, than a simple ribbon if it is done well and efficiently.
The Little Mindil site was going to be parkland in Tim Baldwin’s 1999 plan. It is now a hotel development in the waiting. What has been given back for the loss of the ribbon of green, we ask? The headland site at Myilly Point does not represent, necessarily, a major return. That is not to say that the headland site will not make a stunningly beautiful park, because it will, but it is just not as big as Little Mindil.
The other sales plug that we heard from the Chief Minister’s statement, and I understand from comments yesterday, was the waterfront. The waterfront construction site, back in August 2003, was not going to cost the taxpayer any more than $100m in today’s dollars. I pause here for a second to set the record straight about that issue. Recently, I said that the taxpayers’ outlay was going to be $520m for the government’s contribution to the waterfront. The Chief Minister was quick to counter that the taxpayer was only going to pay $135m, and then she flicked out a press saying that I did not know what I was talking about.
The figures that we both relied upon are contained in the Auditor-General’s report from February this year. In that report, the Auditor-General notes that there are two ways to count the figures. The government relies on what is called true value, or today’s dollar terms, to express the value of the project. The same cost is done in nominal dollar terms as well. It is that set of numbers that produces an outlay of $529m, as the Chief Minister and her colleagues well know. The reason I use that figure is because that is how all government expenditure is expressed for all other projects. For example, Closing the Gap money is expressed in nominal dollar terms. There is no allowance for CPI in that spend over five years, despite a Territory CPI rate of 4.4%. The government’s expenditure on Building our Police Force and building middle schools is also in nominal dollar terms, despite the fact that the CPI will diminish the value of the amount over time. The only time that the government seeks to depress the level of spending is when they are spending it on the waterfront, so they use this little phrase, ‘in today’s dollar terms’.
Well, the horse has bolted, and this government really should be more up-front with the people they say they so proudly represent when talking about the costs. We have seen this government consistently juggle the figures and use whatever ones, and whichever methods, suit them for whatever reasons. However, Territorians, Darwinians in particular, will know the value of the project.
For the purposes of my further contribution, I will stay with the government’s own figures so that I can make another point about the waterfront. The waterfront is over budget, overdue and has lost many of the amenities that were promised by this Chief Minister four years ago. Let us look at them. The list of things not included in the current plans for the waterfront that appeared on the original proposal in September 2004, and I propose to list them, are as follows. If the Chief Minister, in response, wants to tell us where these things are, then I would be very grateful, but we cannot find them.
The things that are not there are: art markets; water gardens; sculpture walk; marker tower; food market stalls; amphitheatre including a sound shell; beach Volleyball courts; three swimming pools independent of the wave pool; and the historical and cultural centre. All of these things have disappeared from the waterfront site. The wave pool has gone from a small sized wave pool to a massive structure that will be a user pays structure, as we understand. Gone are all of the free amenities so, if you want to go there, you pay. If people doubt that the amenities are disappearing, then they are not alone because, if you look at the Darwin Waterfront and Convention Centre newsletter Edition 12, 12 to 21 November 2006, it shows the picture of a sound shell facing an amphitheatre. That is now a lawn.
Let us look at time lines. The 2004 Darwin Co-Consortium Draft Master Plan circulated to the public in September 2004 said that, in the first half of 2007 the convention centre would open. We are halfway through 2007 and the convention centre is still under construction. The master plan also said that Stage 1 would be completed by the end of 2007. Current estimates do not have Stage 1 completed until late 2008 and, if current rumours circulating around the traps are correct, then the area probably will not be complete until 2009.
I now turn to costs. On 11 August 2003, a government media release said:
There are two sets of numbers dealing with the real cost of the government commitment. They are real value or today’s dollar terms, and nominal dollar terms. In nominal dollar terms, the government’s outlay is $529m with a $246m return. In real value terms, the government’s outlay is $211.7m with a $112.8m return. That makes the nett cost to the Territory $135m, which is what the Chief Minister quoted in parliament. I pause to point out how elastic the figure has become because, in a recent publication on the waterfront, there is a reference to the figure being $144m and, in another publication on 26 July 2007, the briefing said $149m. That is all in today’s dollar terms.
The original cost estimate of $100m was also expressed in real value terms. That means that the cost of $135m is already more than originally estimated. The government has admitted that they have incurred a $5m or thereabouts blowout in the wave pool. Now, government seems to be saying on the waterfront website that they have a further commitment in Stage 2 and Stage 3 of $63m. Total cost in real value terms is $203m or, put very simply, more than twice the original statement in August 2003.
The waterfront will end up costing Territorians more than twice what the government said it would. It appears, given the absence of things that were there in 2003 and September 2004, that Territorians will get less than what they were promised. I remind members opposite that, although they are members of a caucus and a party, every individual member should question the waterfront. That is not to say that you do not support it. The opposition questions, but we support it - of course, we do. The very thing ...
Mr Henderson: Hated it from day one!
Ms Lawrie: You hate the waterfront! You have run ads damning the waterfront.
Ms CARNEY: Here we go. Oh, that must have been why it was in Timmy Baldwin’s documents - and there is plenty more of these. Of course we support the waterfront; do not be absurd! The defensive, twitchy paranoid – and you are becoming increasingly paranoid …
Mr Henderson: We are very proud of it.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Ms CARNEY: Why don’t you have the ticker to challenge, because you should, as you have the numbers again still ...
Ms Lawrie: Because you are an opposition divided.
Ms CARNEY: And you, my friend, where is your ticker? Kim Beazley and you are good mates - are you? - because you just do not have the bottle. He hung around for years. He should not have; he missed his chance ...
Mr Henderson: At least we have some numbers on this side of the House.
Ms CARNEY: Missed his chance - yeah, yeah, yeah. You thrashed us at the last election. Did you just work that one out? Maybe that is why you are not challenging because you are not as bright as you think you are.
Madam Speaker, members of the Australian Labor Party, given their responsibilities to their constituents, should rightly have a look at the figures. It can be distilled down in a thorough, meaningful way. To question is not to not support. Do all of your spin, issue your releases; that is what you guys do. But whether you like it or not - interestingly, the member for Wanguri should even in his most private thoughts have some appreciation of the need for an opposition to question government. Most governments are notoriously bad at questioning themselves. You lot take the cake. You do not question yourselves. We hear murmurings that some backbenchers put in a few questions here and there, sometimes they even talk amongst themselves and beyond about the difficulties they experience. You should question. That is the role of each and every one of us here.
The processes employed by the Cabinet, in particular, are not beyond question. Any member of Cabinet, who thinks that questioning is wrong really should not be in this parliament. You should be questioned. You are rightly questioned by your constituents. You should be questioned and challenged by your colleagues. You should certainly be questioned by an opposition. That is what we do.
Having made those comments, it will be interesting to see the development of the master plan, to see how the words in the statement can be put into action. We want that to occur. The Chief Minister and, indeed the government generally, talks about consultation. Well, if local government reforms are anything to go by, there has to be some form of question mark about the consultation upon which the government will evidently embark.
It is good that the Chief Minister produced this statement today because this parliament should discuss the future of our capital city - of course, we should. For our part, we will question. I do hope that in her response the Chief Minister can get back to us on the suggestion of the World War II museum acknowledging subsequent conflicts. If she does not want to specifically reply - and I know she does not like to do that at the best of times - then perhaps she could consider it part of her consultation process with her fellow Territorians.
In any event, there are lots of issues there. No doubt, this will not be the last time we talk about this issue in the parliament and, indeed, it should not be. I wish the government well in trying to achieve some of its plans; that is what governments do. Darwin is a great tropical city and the Chief Minister said it can be even better. That is aspirational, that is what we all should be on about. With those comments, Madam Speaker, I look forward to hearing the rest of the debate.
Ms LAWRIE (Planning and Lands): Madam Speaker, I support the Chief Minister’s statement on Creating Darwin’s Future. Territory population growth is the highest in the country and our economy is experiencing record growth. I recently attended the award nights for Engineers Australia and, separately, the Territory Construction Association where I kept hearing a common theme: that the sector is extremely busy; this sector, a key driver of our economy, is going gang busters. You only need to look at Darwin skyline and see the number of cranes operating on our development sites. The Pandanus development is well under way, and Evolution, the tallest building approved in Darwin, is steadily rising.
Since January 2006, 18 residential development projects have been approved in the Darwin CBD zone. That comprises more than 1000 new residential units in the city. That level of development is set to continue with another four projects comprising 70 units still to be considered by the Development Consent Authority. With all the development occurring, it is important to step back and consider how we will like our city to grow and function into the future.
Creating Darwin’s Future provided a great opportunity for the people of Darwin to think about how they wanted to see their city developed into the future. The range of ideas and initiatives contained in Creating Darwin’s Future were aimed at promoting discussion in the community. I stood at various shopping centres with the Creating Darwin’s Future display and, overwhelmingly, there was a very positive reaction to the suggestions contained within Creating Darwin’s Future. There were questions, and certainly people were very keen to talk about our arterial transport routes as well.
In February this year, the new consolidated Northern Territory Planning Scheme was introduced, something that the CLP government did not get its act together and do. This new scheme has rationalised and integrated the many various planning controls into a single coherent document. The NT Planning Scheme is a dynamic document that will need to be amended over time to meet the challenges and change in requirements of land use control.
Since 2003, the government and Darwin City Council have been working together through the Capital City Committee to ensure Darwin’s ongoing social, economic and environmental sustainability. A key focus has been to create a vibrant and active CBD. The government and council hosted the Darwin CBD Urban Planning Forum on 24 April this year under the auspices of the Capital City Committee. This continues the partnership between government and council and underlines the joint commitment to achieve tangible outcomes for the future of Darwin’s CBD. The forum provided an opportunity to review the planning scheme as it applies to our CBD. Key themes of the forum were: how should our city function; how do we achieve building design in the CBD; and what should our streets, parks and other open spaces be like?
The planning forum brought together government, Darwin City Council, a cross-section of residents and users of the Darwin CBD, planners, property developers and the community to develop an action plan for the future of our city. This was an excellent opportunity for the community to have direct input into policies and initiatives that will shape the future of our CBD. It was important that there were tangible outcomes from this forum and that it did not develop into just another talk fest.
In June, the Capital City Committee supported the recommendations from Creating Darwin’s Future, including a draft action plan from the urban planning forum. The action plan includes three types of action: (1) amendments to the planning scheme that can proceed immediately; (2) matters that require further investigation and advice from the Urban Design Advisory Panel; and (3) a capital works project such as the redevelopment of the Myilly Point parkland, otherwise known as Flagstaff Park.
The immediate actions resulting from the forum are four proposed amendments to the NT Planning Scheme. The amendments incorporate into the planning scheme the central Darwin streetscape strategy produced by the council. They provide for 75% of a development’s street frontage to have an active interface such as shops, cafes, arcades and glazing. Ground level car parking will be screened from the street and awnings on new buildings adjoining the footpaths of those streets specified in the central Darwin streetscape strategy as the main pedestrian focus.
The amendments proposed to the NT Planning Scheme will undergo the standard period of public exhibition that is required under the Planning Act. This will give the public the opportunity to comment on the proposed amendments. The first newspaper advertisement will appear in Northern Territory News this Friday, 31 August, and the community will have 28 days in which to consider the proposal and make submissions.
Following the exhibition period, the Development Consent Authority will hold a public hearing to consider the proposed amendments and the submissions received during the exhibition period. The Development Consent Authority will then report to me, as minister, on the outcome of the public hearing and the submissions they have received. I expect to be able to decide whether to proceed with the amendments to the planning scheme before the end of this year.
As the Chief Minister outlined in her statement, the more complex issues such as building heights, site coverage and plot ratios and the actual size of the Darwin CBD have been referred to the Darwin Urban Design Advisory Panel for advice. An early outcome of Creating Darwin’s Future was the establishment of this Urban Design Advisory Panel. The panel was established in April this year and provides a good mix of professionals from various fields with a wealth of local, interstate and international experience. The panel will provide advice to government and the Capital City Committee on specific matters and projects to achieve better urban design in the Darwin CBD and our Darwin Peninsula.
The Chief Minister, in her statement, outlined the make up of the panel and it is as follows:
Professor Rob Adams is its Chair. He is the Director of the City of Melbourne’s Design and Culture Division. Professor Adams was recently honoured with a 2006 Victorian Premier’s Award for Design Leadership;
Mr Mark Doonar is a Brisbane urban planning consultant. Mr Doonar is the director of the consultancy, Tract, landscape architects, urban designers and town planners, and has more than 20 years experience;
Mr Colin Browne, from the Royal Australian Institute of Architects, NT Chapter, is a Director of Jackman Gooden Architects and has experience in a wide and varied range of projects;
Mr Brendan Dowd is the Director of Technical Services at the Darwin City Council. He is a civil engineer with more than 28 years experience;
Mr Leonard Lynch, from the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects (NT Group) is the Managing Director of the leading landscape architectural firm, Clouston Associates;
Mr Ross Finocchiaro is representing the Property Council of Australia, NT Division. He is a well-known local developer and director of the Gaymark Group of Companies; and
Mr Mark Meldrum, the Director of Strategic Planning in the Department of Planning and Infrastructure.
I attended the third meeting of the Urban Design Advisory Panel on Saturday where I was updated on projects referred to the panel as mentioned by the Chief Minster in her statement. This was a very productive meeting, where the panel discussed its first report on the principles necessary for a quality CBD. We discussed issues such as population density of the CBD; connectivity; retaining our heritage; active well-defined streets; lush vegetation; open space; public transport; and the built form.
The Leader of the Opposition was very critical of the fact that the government had not announced its view on the issue of building heights within the CBD, though what we clearly have said is that the building heights issue needs to be tackled at the highest level with the greatest consideration by the Urban Design Advisory Panel. I have seen some initial thoughts from the panel on the issue of heights, but they told me that they wanted their additional meeting to go through it before they further refine it and provide advice back to government. That is absolutely reasonable. What is accepted and understood between me, as minister, and the Developmental Consent Authority Chair is that there will be no use of special merit in this period where we are deciding, ultimately, whether or not to enshrine tools within the Planning Scheme that go to the issue of building heights.
What the Leader of the Opposition did not accept in what she was saying about the role of the Developmental Consent Authority, is that there has always been that tool of special merit which has been used to create building heights within the CBD in excess of what were the accepted norms. I have certainly questioned the Urban Design Advisory Panel, just as I questioned the DCA, on this issue of special merit. Special merit is a very unusual planning tool; it does not exist in most jurisdictions. What we needed to do, as Planning minister, I believe, was put the effort into defining what we wanted our city to look like, including the issue of plot ratios and building heights, and capture the beast before it had bolted out the door. That is what we are doing now, and we are doing it within plenty of time to shape the city in the future of Darwin CBD. We are doing it with a panel which comprises local, interstate and international expertise. I am not aware of any other city that has taken the time and the opportunity, at this stage of its development, to actually embed that significant planning process. I acknowledge the expertise of the Urban Design Advisory Panel, and thank them for taking up the tasks and challenges I have set them. I look forward to seeing their final advice on the issue of building heights and plot ratios.
The discussion at the Urban Design Advisory Panel highlighted how critically important our harbour is in the context of how we view our CBD. As I have said, Darwin, the capital city, sits on a peninsula. When a visitor comes to Darwin, their impression of Darwin inextricably is linked to the fact that we are a picturesque tropical harbour city. Increasingly important within the context of discussing planning for your city, you also need to bring into that context planning for your harbour, how your harbour works, and how you interact from the built and the land form into the harbour form. I see the member for Nelson nodding his head in the affirmative. The beauty of the situation I am in, in my portfolio responsibilities, is that I have a Darwin Harbour Advisory Committee looking at the harbour - the water form if you like - and the surrounding land masses. They are certainly very strong advocates of the Mangrove Conservation Plan that we have put in place.
However, as Planning minister, I am also able to interact with the Darwin Urban Design Advisory Panel. What I will be proposing to the Chair of the Darwin Harbour Advisory Committee when I meet with him shortly, is that the two bodies of expertise come together and have cross-discussions about how they deal with that indirect interface between the harbour and the land and built environment so that, in a holistic planning sense, we embed these very strong elements into our Planning Scheme now to shape our city for the future.
I am on the record as saying that I am more of the view of being prescriptive than not as we are on the verge of our development boom, because we have to change the planning culture that we have been stuck in for decades where it was a bit of a cowboy town, with a sense of, ‘Well, if you have your investors together and you lined up, you could whip it through the DCA and put a building up’. Those days have gone. We have smart developers operating in this city who understand smart design, architectural integrity, and a need to design buildings for the tropical environment. Added to that, we have developers who now understand the issue of sustainability, because that is a core issue in all developments emerging across the jurisdictions. My view is to bed those tools into our urban design sooner rather than wait until that horse has bolted. The horse has not bolted; we have some fantastic developments under way at the moment. I believe we have captured the planning debate at the most appropriate time to enhance our potential for future developments.
It is important that we have marked the time, taken a pause, and had a consultative process of an urban planning forum to bring all of the stakeholders in - community activists, architects, and planners. We have identified key changes to the Planning Scheme that we can proceed with immediately - which we are; it is out on exhibition as of Friday. We can also say there are clear tasks yet to be done in deciding what tools and how prescriptive we are going to be on the issues of heights and plot ratios within the CBD, so that we start to get a better understanding to deal with the issues of setbacks appropriately within our developments.
We will see an evolving change as a result of what actions we have taken. It is not just rhetoric, they are real actions. You do not take a decision to change the Planning Scheme lightly. These are real actions arising from the consultative process in both Creating Darwin’s Future as well as the urban planning forum. We will see better buildings, better building design, those active interfaces at our streetscape level, and a beautification of our city’s streets, particularly our main pedestrian streets - for example Cavenagh, Smith and Mitchell Streets. We will see an opening up and appreciation of our built environment as well as our natural environment.
The example of the Chief Minister’s Creating Darwin’s Future plans for a feasibility study of State Square is exactly that; it is the capturing of how we plan our urban interactive environments better. The Leader of the Opposition seems to have missed the fact that there is a $250 000 commitment in the budget this financial year to deal with the feasibility study of the World War II museum and State Square. The issues of the logistics of demolishing the Chan Building and moving the Northern Territory government’s data centre will be captured within that feasibility study. There will be further input from key stakeholders within that feasibility study.
The Leader of the Opposition posed the question of whether the Myilly Point parkland referred to in the ribbon of green within Creating Darwin’s Future was simply just the headland of Flagstaff Park? She clearly was not listening to the statement properly. The Chief Minister is consistently on the record in the past few days, in announcing Creating Darwin’s Future, boldly saying that, indeed, the old hospital site - that which the CLP wanted to develop commercially, and which they had zoned B5 for commercial development – will, in fact, be handed over to the people of Darwin. It will become open space. It will become a parkland. It will become part of the ring of parklands surrounding our city. That is a bold announcement by any government, and I congratulate the government both as the Environment minister but, also, as someone born and raised in Darwin. I was born on that old piece of dirt called the old hospital site when there was a beautiful old hospital on that site. It is a bold statement, embedding green open space for the residents of Darwin into the future, as are the statements and commitments regarding the old tank farm sites - the tank farms that the CLP never forced to move. It was the Martin Labor government which forced those tank farms to move out of our CBD zone, out of the Stuart Park area, opening up that land for the potential of parkland. That potential is realised in the commitment of Creating Darwin’s Future.
It is an incredibly exciting time for a resident of Darwin to see that a government, instead of grasping for the commercial dollar and selling off what little open space we have left around our city - such as the CLP did under minister Tim Baldwin and other CLP planning ministers - and taking the quick dollar, we are opening up green open space, interactive open space, open space that can be used by cyclists, pedestrians, and families around our city. It is a bold, visionary statement and a significant commitment in maintaining an interactive and healthy environment for the people of Darwin.
I also congratulate the Chief Minister for her commitment to heritage. There are too few heritage buildings left in our city. World War II destroyed a significant amount of our heritage. Cyclone Tracy did significant damage to our heritage buildings as well. We know that the majestic Hotel Darwin did not survive the CLP bulldozers which went in at midnight and destroyed it. In stark contrast, we have been a government that protects our heritage. My predecessor, minister Scrymgour, has heritage listed the Sue Wah Chin Building, one of the few heritage buildings left in the Darwin CBD. We will protect our heritage, but we will also recognise our heritage trail as announced by the Chief Minister in Creating Darwin’s Future, link that heritage trail to a World War II museum, and really embrace the real history of Darwin - a history that is a magnificent story to tell both visitors and locals alike.
Madam Speaker, I congratulate the Chief Minister for Creating Darwin’s Future. There are a range of bold commitments within Creating Darwin’s Future - commitments that have been met with funding and very clear timelines. It is not just some drawings on a paper that will sit on the shelf and not be implemented. Creating Darwin’s Future is a very real series of significant commitments that very boldly will create the opportunities for both development, but protecting what is our unique lifestyle to enjoy and cherish: the tropical city, and the beautiful interaction with our harbour. The jewel in there is the pearl of the waterfront which the CLP continues to bag. They hate it; they cannot accept it. I cannot wait for it to be opened because we, as the citizens of Darwin, will get so much enjoyment from it.
Mr WOOD (Nelson): Madam Speaker, I welcome the Chief Minister’s statement on Creating Darwin’s Future. I believe there are many good things in that statement. However, I say at the outset that there is a danger with dealing exclusively with the CBD if we do not look at the bigger picture now.
The Minister for Planning and Lands spoke about the rest of the harbour. People know that I have complained bitterly about the Middle Arm Peninsula being used as industrial. It is not because it is industrial that I am concerned, it is because it will look industrial, because we will have in the middle of our harbour an industrial precinct. You have to look at an alternative to that. Perhaps develop it into housing. Do not develop the middle of the harbour into industrial. At least if you put housing estates there - and I know they would be fairly close to mangroves, but no one seems to be bothered living at Bayview canal these days; your back garden is mangroves in some places there.
I put to the government seriously that they look at alternative places for industrial development. Use the middle of the harbour as it has been scraped as, perhaps, a housing estate. Also look at developing the land between the 11 Mile and Berrimah right through to East Arm port as the industrial hub. I put that to you as a serious suggestion because, if you are going to look at Darwin CBD, and talk about what you will look out on, please do not let us look out on industrial precincts.
The other thing the Chief Minister needs to look at is that we are developing a high-density peninsula city, and with that comes large problems and a number of issues. Do we want to keep developing the CBD into a large residential area? That is what we are doing with high-rise residential units. Should we be looking at relocating some of our government departments back out into areas like Casuarina? The Commonwealth has a large structure at Casuarina. I think the Department of Education, Science and Training is there. The member for Casuarina would know other departments that are out there. Have we looked at trying to take some of the requirements for people who work in town away and closer to where they live? This is a concept that has been around for some time. Highway House, for instance, was built at Palmerston. The idea was that people would work closer to where they live. Has there been any significant move by the government to put more government departments in areas like Palmerston and Casuarina?
Have we allowed for more high-rise units to be placed in places like Casuarina CBD and Palmerston CBD? If you go to places like Sydney - I am not saying we want to look like Sydney - you will find that some of these developments are not in the CBD. One of the issues the Chief Minister missed here is that, if Darwin is going to be a high density population, how are people going to get in and out of the city? I would have thought that, with good planning, Creating Darwin’s Future would have contained something about transportation, especially public transport and, of course, would have to have something about private transport in and out of the city.
I have seen plans drawn up before about the possibility of different road layouts. I have to ask: where in this document is that? Where in this document is something about what is going to be future public transport into the city? If you do not consider those things in light of what you are trying to look at, you are not taking in the whole picture. That is an area which is deficient in this document.
I looked at this last night and the first thing that stood out was the height of buildings. I do not have a problem with high buildings, but the problem I have is there is no open space around them. I have seen the CEO of the Department of Planning and Infrastructure give talks to various groups in town, showing us a 3D model of how there is plenty of space around and that buildings can fit in the CBD - no problem. What it does not show is that if everyone was allowed to build tall buildings in Darwin, you would have wall-to-wall buildings.
If the government wants to allow high-rise development in Darwin, there should be a requirement that there be X amount of open space around that building and, if you do not have that room, then you cannot build a tall building. A classic example is the Defence units near the Northern Territory News. They are spaced out, they have open space, and they have car parking around them. Whether they are the greatest architectural structures in the Northern Territory, I do not know, but at least they have some space; they do give you a feeling of tropical design. There is room for breezes, which is important, and they do not give you the feeling we are so short of land we have to cram everything in. That is exactly the impression that is already happening.
Whilst I welcome what the Chief Minister is saying, it is to some extent catch-up. We have some buildings that are being built now which have car parks on to one of the main streets in Darwin - just car parks. We have another building which is so big, it actually goes over the footpath; it takes more than the land that it actually occupies. That is the one on the corner of Knuckey and McMinn Streets. You will see that it comes out over the footpath, so the plot ratio there is more like a 105% rather than 100%. We have lost that ability, even though some of us argued for a long time that those buildings needed to be refined and should not have been approved by the Development Consent Authority until they would come up with a better plan.
In relation to tall buildings, I know the Chief Minister spoke about car parking, which is a major issue. I would rather see, if there is no other way for tall buildings, car parking underground. Unless you can screen them so that they have some architectural merit, I suggest car parking be underground. The developer for the Commonwealth Bank building is doing exactly that; he is putting the car parking underground. He is preserving the bank and he is putting an interface with the public with shops and cafs and the like along the front. I believe that, if we are going to have tall buildings, that is the way it should be. However, if we are having tall buildings, I believe there should be a requirement, the higher you go, the more open space should be surrounding that building. We do not want wall-to-wall tall buildings in Darwin. That will certainly ruin the tropical feel the Chief Minister is talking about as one of her aims in this whole exercise.
I move on to a couple of other issues that the Chief Minister raised. I am glad she spoke about the World War II trail. Wayne Zerbe, with a few others, and I were part of a little group that was trying to push for a World War II trail from down the track, picking up all the World War II sites, including the airstrips, so people who came into Darwin would eventually end up in Darwin where we will have a museum.
My concerns about the museum is that when you look at this map that the Chief Minister has issued, or the picture of the Parliament House, Parliament House now is, to some extent, symmetrical. On one side it has lawn, on the other side is lawn, and that gives the building balance. If we are to fill up the gap, as people might call it, with a World War II museum, I believe we should be very careful that we do not lose the balance that this building has at the present time. If anyone was to look at that aerial photograph, that building looks well balanced and in proportion to where it has been built. Anything that is built nearby will take away that balance.
I believe we should seriously look at an alternative site for the World War II museum. I am not against it. I just think we should be careful where we put it, because it could ruin the architectural merit of another building. If the Chief Minister is saying there is a feasibility study about State Square - terrific, include in the feasibility study where the World War II building should go, because that lawn over there should be part of the State Square. I say, let us not make this a fait accompli.
I will give you a different point of view about where the World War II site should go. Perhaps it should go at the end of Mitchell Street on the old hospital site so that there is some vision going down Mitchell Street. It is not the greatest vision in the world, and perhaps we need to do up Mitchell Street, but at least it was there. That was the site that was originally picked out for a possible Parliament House site. I believe there is an opportunity there, you are not far from the Larrakeyah Barracks, so you still have some connection with the World War II heritage in the area. There is a possibility that that would be a good site, which would help spread out some of the tourism that flows through the CBD, so we do not shove everybody into one bit of it, and people can spread out. Perhaps we should be looking at some sort of – I know it is fanciful and has been spoken about before - rail system within the CBD that can take people around. It might be just a circle going round and round all day from one side of the CBD to the other, dropping people off. I believe it would help the distribution of people in the CBD, as well as visitors to the CBD.
I am not against the concept, although there is an architectural proposal for the World War II museum. I say that is not the place to go. Anything that goes near this building, and near the State Square, must match it otherwise, again, I believe that will stick out like a sore thumb. That is why I say we should reconsider the idea of where this museum is going. State Square and this building complement one another. That building, which is an artist’s impression, certainly does not complement either building. I would seriously consider that we think twice about what we are going to do in relation to this precinct.
I say that as constructive criticism. I am not opposed to the World War II site, but you should have other options. One of those should be the old hospital site.
There are many things in here which I actually feel part of, to some extent. The Chief Minister has spoken about active interfaces and smart building designs. I went to the forum. I have been to many a DCA meeting on some of these issues and said for so long that if we, as people who are now in charge of planning, cannot make the right decisions about what our city will look like, then our legacy will be something that is – I do not know - something we will not be proud of. We have the opportunity to leave a city about which in the future people will say: ‘Our forefathers actually had the vision to make sure our city looked good’.
I look at Palmerston as a classic example; it is a hotchpotch. Any CBD that has a mixture of Hungry Jacks, the cinema, Bunnings, a basketball court, Goyder Building, Coles and Target – it is like: ‘What were we really trying to prove here?’ I am not saying they are not important, but Palmerston’s vision, unfortunately, was somewhere else. If we are looking at Weddell, we should be now looking at what Weddell is going to look like. We should have a competition - international, national, and we should be doing that now – for a three-dimensional plan for Weddell. Let us not go down the path of Palmerston because, unfortunately, it does not have a vision. It is not saying that it is a bad city; people like living there. However, from a city developed point of view, it is poor.
The other issue, of course, is the interaction between people who live out of Darwin and in the northern suburbs. I have mentioned the issue of public transport and transport to the city. That is a big issue. Anyone who has travelled from the rural area to Darwin at 7.30 am says lots of bad things about the government because, around about the 11 Mile, you are sitting in a great line of traffic that does not seem to go anywhere. Has anyone checked the number of prangs in that area of late, in the morning and the afternoon? How many times have people heard: ‘Oh, we have a big hold-up of traffic at the 11 Mile because there has been an accident’? That has been occurring quite regularly lately. I received an e-mail the other day from someone saying this is just terrible. I know there is a move on the Tiger Brennan Drive, but I hasten to add that just changing a couple of lanes on Wishart Road and Berrimah Road is just tinkering. We need to get Tiger Brennan Drive through, across Roystonea and onto the Stuart Highway so that traffic can get into Darwin more freely.
These are part of the bigger issues we should be looking at. I know the minister is going to say that they are going to talk about the northern suburbs and the Palmerston and rural areas later. However, you cannot actually look at those things in isolation. The reality is that a lot of people in the northern suburbs, Palmerston and the rural area work in Darwin. We have looked at Creating Darwin’s Future, but we have not looked at some of the bigger issues such as transport, and the policy of whether we want to keep putting thousands of people into Darwin. If we are going to put thousands of people into Darwin, what are we doing to encourage commercial development in the form of shops? It is a dead area. Has the government gone out and said: ‘We need David Jones and Myers. We need some big development in this area’. Again, it is no good just having all these people living here if we are not providing some attraction for commercial development.
The mall, to me, is not the Smith Street I knew when I came here. I do not feel there is any great heritage in the mall except, maybe, for the Vic; the heritage area is between Cavenagh Street and the Smith Street mall. The government should be talking to landowners and the council to see if they need to do something major in that area. Do we need a major development to attract commercial people into that area, especially major shopping franchises? The reality is, I know people say they go out to Casuarina to shop. One of the reasons they go to Casuarina to shop is because they shop in airconditioned comfort. I think I borrowed that from somebody’s advertising slogan. You do not do that in Darwin. I do not have a problem with walking around shops but, if it is October or November, people go to Casuarina because it is out of the rain, you can get underground parking, it is free, and it is fairly comfortable to shop all under the one roof. That cannot happen in Darwin. Again, if we are looking at creating Darwin’s future, we should have been talking about future commercial development.
There are mnay good things in this statement from the minister. I am a little worried that we might have too many little groups operating. We have the working group which is chaired by Paul Tyrrell, with Allan McGill, Allan Garraway, Rick Paul and Rod Applegate – fine people. Then we turn over the page and we have the Urban Design Advisory Panel which has Professor Rob Adams, Leonard Lynch, Colin Browne, Ross Finocchiaro, Brendan Dowd, Mark Doonar, and Mark Meldrum - fine people. Then we also have the Capital City Committee. There are three committees. Should we get a little rationalisation here? We do not need to be drowned in advisory committees. Let us have one group that does it. I believe the Urban Advisory Panel seems to have some pretty good people on it. I do note - and I am interested to know why - the government’s architect is not on this. Perhaps we have some fresh blood in here and that is exactly what it needed. Some of these people did speak at the forum. I know one particular gentleman from Brisbane was certainly a live wire, and it was refreshing to hear what he had to say about some of the matters that Darwin should take into account.
On the ribbons of green, unfortunately, we lost a bit of that. It was partly in the days of the CLP when you had all that development near the Darwin City Council. It has all been developed. That is where your ribbons of green have been lost to some extent. That escarpment should have been kept green and it should have been kept low as well.
You could develop the Myilly Point headland into a nice friendly walking area using the beaches and the cliff face. I know there has been a lot of discussion about the Little Mindil. If this will still allow the public to use that area and enjoy it, I am all for it.
We have heard about city entry points. We have heard about multistorey buildings connected with walkways across the top. I am not sure that is what I want to see as my entry point. I want to see something that is tropical, looks nice and that we can distinctively say is ours.
If there is the one thing that we missed out on the waterfront - and I am not knocking the waterfront; there are some issues about the way it was done. I believe it needed to be developed. The government took a risk and, whether people support it totally or not, is another matter. Something needed to be done and, in the end, it will probably work out well. However, you missed an opportunity to make a Darwin statement. That building is not something to write home about. It looks like a very large industrial shed with a round roof, I am sorry to say. When I look at things like the hotel in Dubai, I know where that one is. I know where the Sydney Opera House is. I know what the art centre in Melbourne is like. What do I say for Darwin? We do not have that thing that says, ‘That is Darwin’. Unfortunately, that building, whilst it might be functional and a great attribute to Darwin, does not say that. We missed an opportunity there.
All in all, there are some very good things in it. I am glad the Chief Minister is listening. The reality is that, in the end, we will not know whether this is going to happen until we see it happen. I would like a report back from the minister in 12 months to say: ‘This is what is actually happening’.
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Member for Nelson, your time has expired.
Dr BURNS (Health): Mr Deputy Speaker, I support the Chief Minister’s statement on Creating Darwin’s Future. I know a lot of people in my electorate of Johnston who have contributed to the consultative process of Creating Darwin’s Future. People I have spoken to in my electorate are excited about Creating Darwin’s Future and its initiatives. My experience has been that when the Creating Darwin’s Future display has been taken to places like the Rapid Creek markets on Sunday, shopping centres and this year’s Darwin Show, it highlighted just how passionate people are about their city. The people of Darwin love their city’s great tropical lifestyle. They are genuinely interested in what the look of the CBD and our suburbs might be in the future.
We have a wonderful tropical city built on a magnificent harbour, and it is up to us to make the most of these assets. We also have to ensure we retain our suburbs as safe and peaceful places, where we can bring up our children and enjoy our leisure time with our friends and families. I know we will hear more about the plan of action for our suburban living strategy later this year.
Yesterday, the Chief Minister announced the first phase of Creating Darwin’s Future which focuses on the CBD. The headline items are Myilly Point headland including Flagstaff Park, city planning, State Square, rivers of green, city entry points, streetscape precincts and a Defence of Darwin World War II museum.
There has been widespread consultation on the 93 initiatives contained in Creating Darwin’s Future since it was announced in October last year. Now it is time to make the concept a reality, and that is what we will be doing over the next two years. Judging from the conversations I have had with people in my electorate, I know they want to see Darwin take full advantage of its tropical roots. People want a properly coordinated plan that will allow Darwin to highlight its assets such as our tropical location, its beautiful harbour and our unique history and culture. Creating Darwin’s Future will help us shape our city in a coordinated and planned way that will draw on represented themes such as those I have just mentioned previously.
Something Darwin has been missing for years has been a focal point that tells the comprehensive story of Darwin’s unique wartime history. There is no city in Australia with a wartime history like ours. As we know, 240 people lost their lives in the first air raid on 19 February 1942, and Parliament House is built on the site of the old Darwin Post Office where a Japanese bomb tragically killed 10 people in that first attack. This was the first of 64 enemy air raids on Darwin. This project excites me on a personal level because my father and father-in-law were stationed in Darwin with the RAAF during the war. My father was here on 19 February 1942. The Chief Minister mentioned yesterday the war time censorship. The federal government, in a war situation, obviously did not want panic spreading throughout Australia, and they applied very heavy censorship on what had happened in Darwin.
As the Chief Minister said, basically, for whatever reason, that censorship - that blanket of silence if you like - has endured to the present day. I know, in the case of my own father, who also served in New Guinea, he did not actually like talking about the war much. Like many of his generation, when they came back from the war, they wanted to put it behind them, get ahead, raise a family, build a house, and build a life. He never spoke to me about what he experienced in that first attack in Darwin, but he did tell my mother that it was a terrible day. He, with others, was pulling the dead and injured out of the harbour. Whilst there was bravery and courage shown by people involved in the defence of Darwin, for some of the airmen, including some from overseas, people manning the anti-aircraft batteries, and all those who were involved, it also was a day of pain and suffering. I hope that the wartime museum will show all aspects of that bombing of Darwin, the courage and initiative the people showed, but also the devastation and the tragic loss of life that ensued, and the pain of what war brings.
At a personal level, that museum will be important to me and my family. I talked about my father’s war record here today, and I acknowledge that he was one of many here on that tragic day. His attitudes toward it are probably the same as many others who were here. I am not saying he did anything special, but he was part of it. It is an important thing for Darwin to really impress on the rest of Australia what actually happened on that day in February 1942, because a lot of Australians, unfortunately, are not aware of what happened here. It is important that we do make them aware. I have every confidence that, if this museum is built the right way with the right sort of exhibits and atmosphere, it will have a big effect on Australians visiting the Northern Territory, and Darwin in particular.
On the subject of war memorials, if you have been to the War Memorial in Canberra, you will realise that Darwin’s wartime story, which is a critical piece of Australian history, is represented by a fairly limited display. We understand why that is. The Canberra memorial really has to reflect two World Wars and others. However, this is an opportunity for Darwin to have a museum that really represents what happened in telling our wartime story.
Apart from the museum, there will also be a World War II heritage trail. There are so many sites of significance in and around Darwin, such as the old gun placements, the site of the submarine net at East Point and the old oil storage tunnels under the city, not to mention the hangar at Parap, which is an important part of our history.
The wartime defence of Darwin is an integral part of the city’s identity and something we must commemorate in an appropriate way. I am very much looking forward to the opening of the wartime museum.
Over the years, there has been plenty of debate about what we should be doing in a horticultural sense to best represent Darwin as a capital city of the Northern Territory. The general feeling is that past efforts in landscaping have been patchy and lacking in coordination. It has generally been agreed that we must develop a city with a genuine tropical feel, but the city’s landscaping has to be better coordinated than in the past. The planned ribbons of green around Darwin City Peninsula will be an important step in this direction. Part of the ribbons of green proposal will see a $6m makeover of the Myilly Point headland and Flagstaff Park. The old hospital site and Myilly Point on the edge of the CBD have been crying out for attention for years now. It used to be the home of some of the old houses that best represented Darwin’s tropical architectural heritage.
Unfortunately, previous governments, through lack of foresight, bulldozed many of those Myilly Point houses. Apart from the devastation of war and natural disaster, I believe it was a great loss of our architectural heritage. Like thousands of Darwin people, I was horrified by the destruction of the Hotel Darwin by a previous government. We have discussed that a number of times here. Without labouring that point any more, I believe it was an act of vandalism. It would be great to have the Hotel Darwin still on that site – a lot of history gone.
Anyway, we are now going to do something to enhance the area on which those old houses once stood. We will spend $6m to redevelop this prime foreshore area into parkland for the people of Darwin. The Myilly Point/Flagstaff Park upgrade will be connected by the promenade to Little Mindil Beach, and we will also landscape Little Mindil. This will give us a significant properly developed park area right on the edge of the CBD. Given the recent residential developments in Mitchell and Smith Streets, this parkland will be a prized asset for local residents, along with others in the CBD and, as our city grows, this public open space on the edge of the CBD will be a valuable asset for the future. Most great cities have open major spaces near the CBD. Darwin residents, now and into the future, deserve the same if we are to become one of the world’s great tropical cities.
At the other end of the central business district, the waterfront development will add a new and vibrant element to Darwin, and the CBD in particular. The waterfront will be linked by a covered pedestrian walkway to the Smith Street Mall and the CBD. This walkway will include landscaping and signage, reflecting the wonderful history and heritage of the waterfront area. The waterfront, with its convention centre, wave pool and two hotels, and residential and commercial buildings, is going to give the CBD one of its greatest boosts in years.
If you are so inclined in the future, Mr Deputy Speaker, you will be able to walk from the waterfront, along the upgraded Esplanade to Myilly Point, Mindil Beach and through to East Point. The green belts will also link through to the Botanic Gardens and the old tank farm area.
In addition, State Square and the Parliament precinct will get a real facelift. This will include the removal of the Chan Building. As I recall, the Chan Building was earmarked for removal as part of the original State Square concept. Some $250 000 will be spent on developing a State Square master plan. Opening up the area around State Square will provide a strong focal point between the CBD, the World War II museum and the waterfront development. Additionally, entry points to the city such as Daly Street and the intersection of Tiger Brennan Drive and McMinn Street will also be landscaped.
It will be vital for government to work closely with Darwin City Council as part of our plans to make the central business district a better place to live, work and do business. The Chief Minister said at the launch yesterday that she is exhorting Darwin City Council to really become part of this. She challenged Darwin City Council on a number of matters, including opening up the mall. I know it is a contentious issue. There are probably polarised views on both sides of that, but I know many of the property owners and retailers in the area want that to happen.
I understand that Darwin City Council will begin implementing a five-year streetscape strategy from July next year. The enhancement of our streetscapes was a major outcome of the consultation surrounding Darwin’s future. The appearance and functionality of our streets has been a central theme to all of the public debates over the years in relation to providing a facelift for our city. As I have said, cooperation with Darwin City Council will be vital.
The council, of course, is responsible for the Smith Street mall and most would agree it is not a vibrant area. The council has agreed to an option for the upgrade of the mall, but this is currently on hold. I believe this option is worth some $15m - and I appreciate that it is a significant amount of money - and council has to ensure that they get any development right. I hope council will make a decision on the way forward for the mall soon. The appropriate development of the mall is a vital part of the overall effort to make Darwin a world-class tropical city that we want it to become. My concern is, if council waits too long, the mall could be left behind. As a city, Darwin cannot afford that. We need a vibrant mall that actually attracts people into the city centre.
As part of the effort to develop Darwin, we have brought together an Urban Design Advisory Panel. The panel will advise on improved building design for the Darwin Peninsula area, and this advice will relate to design matters such as appropriate heights and setbacks in open spaces.
I will digress for a minute. When I was Planning minister, I took a trip with a group of architects who wanted to show me their visions and views about designs in the CBD and closely surrounding areas. It was interesting to go on a bus ride with them, so they could point out certain buildings that they believed did not reflect good design principles. Some of those buildings are around Carey Street. Most people agree that some of those buildings leave a lot to be desired, both in their placement, the way they overlook into other people’s units. Some of the buildings, in a very short time, have streaks on the walls and some of the patios have algae growing on them, etcetera. The architects explained to me that, by spending just a little more money and better designed principles that some of these elements could be averted. It was also interesting to hear them comment on some architect-designed buildings. Some of those came in for a bit of criticism as well.
Also, the architects were very keen on parking allocations for buildings etcetera - some of it controversial, some of it I know that the general populous would not agree with. Some of them wanted a big decrease in the number of parking places per unit in these developments. I suppose my philosophy was, as Planning minister, that we need to be careful with our parking because we see, particularly at the bottom end of Smith Street where there has been a lot of development, parking is at a premium. In some cases, it is very hard for the service vehicles to get through for rubbish collection, etcetera. We just need to be careful in relation to parking and other issues. It was good. It was something that I enjoyed, as Planning minister, to hear differing views. There is no doubt that people have differing views in relation to taste. We just cannot legislate in relation to taste but, as the Chief Minister has outlined, we can set guidelines in design.
The Chief Minister announced a number of planning changes for the CBD yesterday. One of those planning changes was to mandate awnings for all new buildings in the CBD. Given the extremes of weather here in Darwin, that is something that is long overdue for buildings in our central business area. Some of those areas along Mitchell Street, where people can sit and have a coffee and meal, have a lot of ambience and there are other areas of our CBD that lack that. That is something that attention needs to be given to, to give some vitality into other areas of our CBD.
Another of those changes, which I believe is important for the CBD, is that all new developments in the CBD will have to have parking; I have mentioned that. It will also be a requirement that these parking areas will have to be hidden from view at ground level. That has also been a major criticism about some of the developments in the CBD. As a former Planning minister, I am certainly aware of what a vexed issue planning is.
As the member for Karama said, we do have the capacity and the potential. The gate has not been closed; there is a lot we can do in our CBD. It is very important. I will relay this story: a cousin of mine came to visit. He was on a cruise ship earlier this year, with a friend or friends from the United States. This cousin has travelled fairly extensively around the world. I took them on a cruise of Darwin and the CBD and other sites. Their response to me was that they really enjoyed the architecture and feel of Darwin. I have to say it was during the Wet Season and everything was lush and green and had that feel about it. I took that on board. When a lot of people visit this place, they are impressed with what we have here now.
However, there is no doubt we can improve on that into the future. I believe the Chief Minister’s statement about Creating Darwin’s Future gives us a framework to move forward and create a wonderful CBD for Darwin. I really look forward to the next stage which is actually looking at the suburbs of Darwin and making those areas more liveable, with better design, and really building up the lifestyle for people living in this great city of Darwin.
Mr MILLS (Blain): Mr Deputy Speaker, I support the statement and acknowledge that it is a framework. We must have frameworks in order to allow us to lay our lines in the right places to build for that which is over the horizon.
There has been criticism made. There will not be much contained by the way of criticism, or critical analysis, from members of the government. You get a bit wary of saying anything critical from this side because you get attacked for daring to question. I know, in fact, that that attitude does - I digress, but that attitude does exist in other sectors in our community. You either are an avid supporter, enthusiastically endorsing - or you get out of the way, and you can be leant upon. I have experienced that, as others have.
We will not go there other than I have looked at the contribution of the Opposition Leader. I take on board many of the comments that were made by the member for Nelson - some very good points. The member for Johnston - some very good points too in that, central to this, is this idea that it is a creative process. When you get artists and architects together, they all have very different and very passionately held views - sometimes in conflict with one another. That is why this is quite a serious business. It is not for the faint-hearted to walk into the area of design. That is what concerns me: the area of design is an area of creativity, and you have to be strong; you have to strike a line. You cannot go down the road of trying to please as many people as possible and set up a structure where as many people as possible can agree on the central idea, which is the vision. A vision, by definition, is something that cannot be seen but, then, bit by bit, is able to be seen as you hold your line. If you develop a vision by committee, you end up with something I fear will be compromised.
That aside, the framework itself has many good attributes. Governments will come and go, just as frameworks will come and go. It is about time there is a discussion like this, that decisions are made and that the foundations are laid in better places than they have been. There are criticisms, and members opposite will get pretty excited talking about things that happened before Labor came to office, and that will whip them into a frenzy. However, that has happened. I can see that myself. We all can. In the time that you have had responsibility, there have been some problems, too. There have been, particularly as it has taken some time to get a framework in place.
It is centrally deficient in the sense that the idea of creative vision has not been grasped by those who are elected to lead and we have developed a culture of timidity, being more interested in public relations management than cutting a path. Cutting a path is not easy in the now, but it leaves a legacy in the future; you know where you are going. You only have to look at the Opera House. If someone rose in parliament and said: ‘This is what I imagine we will do’, they would have been howled down. The man who built it has never been back to look at it because of the fierce criticism that was levelled at creative process and adherence to a vision, but it has come to pass and it is a magnificent building.
The same with the Sydney Harbour Bridge. That is what vision is about. You see something and you fight through it. You do not organise committees to try to minimise the public problems that you may have as a result of having a visionary idea. You settle on the visionary plan, and you cut it through and make it happen. As a result: Sydney Harbour Bridge. If that was constructed as a result of, say, three separate broad-based committees and political leadership that was risk-averse, I do not know what we would have today – certainly nothing as spectacular as the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
In Western Australia, the vision was CY O’Connor bringing water from Mundaring Weir to the goldfields in Kalgoorlie. He saw it and he made it happen. We celebrate it now, but look past too quickly the terrible cost, the political fighting, the battles that were fought that resulted in him taking his own life because of the fierce pressure and opposition and personal criticism and attacks.
Of those three examples – the Sydney Harbour Bridge, the Opera House and the pipeline from the Mundaring Weir to the goldfields – you have three examples of a vision that was born and had to cut through incredible, unimaginable opposition. The designer of the Opera House still bears the scars. CY O’Connor left this earth early as a result of carrying a vision.
I would like to see that kind of personal commitment to this process evident somewhere. I do not see it. What we have is a framework, and I suppose it is the best we can do and we will work with it. However, as we have already heard from the member for Johnston, there will undoubtedly be, when you get the architects together, those who have a creative gift, and who will be in passionate conflict with one another. That is just an indication of the strength you need, (1) to grasp a vision and, (2) to make it happen. That is missing, because a vision can polarise. It can inspire as well. It is a framework, and maybe they will have to find that inspirational element. I will do the best I can to find that which inspires, and that which allows us to cut through and leave something that is really satisfying.
However, in the six years this government has had the opportunity and responsibility to lay those foundations, a lot has happened that has not been in accord with a clear plan or a vision, and those frameworks have been a little weak at times. As a result, we have things which have occurred under this watch that should not. However, that has occurred and we have the framework. I am happy to work with it.
I will make a couple of contributions. One point that I will visit now, and I am sure I will be revisiting, is the war memorial. The member for Johnston talked about what would be in this war memorial. Of course, a focus on the bombing of Darwin is fitting and should be central to a World War II display. He also made reference that, in Canberra, there is only a smaller reflection of what happened in the Battle for Australia as it visited these shores and our capital city - understandably so. That is a good point, and there should be a place where we can focus on the place in the city where it occurred. However, take the Canberra point. If those living near Parliament House thought: ‘Let us have it nice and close to us’ - you have been to Canberra; the lines have been drawn out with broad vision. You stand at one place and the line stretches, and you see the War Memorial way before you. Then you stand at the War Memorial and you look up and see Parliament House. You have this generous use of space, and it widens your sense of that place within a big plan that was expansive at the time. It was just a farm. When we are talking about the War Memorial, how symmetrical those lines are.
What we are going to have here, though, is not the generous use of space. I find it uncomfortable that it is going to be sitting next to this building. It is like ‘We have dreamt up something in this building and let us have close to this building’. That is short-sighted, particularly …
Mr Warren: Two signs of democracy, I would have thought – side by side, two signs of democracy.
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order, member for Goyder!
Mr MILLS: I know it is at variance with what has been declared to be the authentic vision, but it is just another idea, mate - calm down.
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Member for Blain, if you would direct your comments through the Chair. Member for Goyder, please stop interjecting.
Mr MILLS: Get up and inspire us with your grand vision. You need to pipe down ...
Members interjecting.
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! Member for Blain.
Mr MILLS: Just because I dare step across the line and say something …
Mr Stirling: If you cannot handle being in this place, leave.
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! Member for Nhulunbuy, please stop interjecting. Member for Blain …
Mr MILLS: I just like people to think before they speak.
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: … cease the conversation with the member for Nhulunbuy and direct your comments through the Chair.
Mr MILLS: Happy to. Anyway, the War Memorial. We could think a little more broadly and see this as a city, not as a building with something placed beside it and see the reference point just at the waterfront. I believe the argument to having it close to this building is short-sighted. When we look at the breadth of the war experience as it affected the Northern Territory and Darwin, it is not just the bombing of Darwin. Of course, that impacts families and still lives within the memory of families here, but it is much broader than that. The best place to demonstrate that and to widen the vision would have to be East Arm. There are still the gun emplacements at East Arm. It takes us from one place to another. The centre here - if all comes into place as is being planned, the waterfront is going to be an attractive development. Then there will be another place where people can drive from and go to East Arm where they will see the Timor Sea, the gun emplacements, and what was, in fact, the frontline. There are a number of artefacts that are already there in place.
You broaden out your sense of vision rather than having it close. Imagine Canberra if you had the War Memorial right up against the parliament? You are not using your space properly, or stretching out your vision. I argue that that memorial should not just focus on the bombing. It should be central to it, but there are other things that Darwin was the hub for during the World War II experience. At the same time as the bombing of Darwin, another was the Timor conflict. The same factors that brought concealment to what was happening in the Northern Territory, also brought concealment to what was happening in Timor. That was a very significant conflict where divisions, particularly from Tasmania and West Australia, were cut off in Timor at about the same time as the bombing of Darwin occurred. They did some of their training here, they left from here, they were supplied from here, and returned to here - as well as some refugees from the Dutch East Indies.
You have that conflict which has been largely forgotten, but remembered by some of the veterans, which can be given some life here. I know the veterans’ families would appreciate that. It also allows us to open the window on the Timorese themselves - our near neighbours, West and East Timor. That memorial could reflect on the role that the Timorese played in supporting Australian soldiers. It could also reflect on the prisoners of war. Many of the prisoners of war who were repatriated came back through Darwin. Darwin was the first place where they placed their foot back on Australian soil. It would be fitting to acknowledge that they came back here and to honour them. It is not just about us, it is about our place in the world at a very important time and in a strategic place.
Of course, there was the presence of the Americans and the Dutch here. We could even include the Vietnam War with the boat people and so on. We could also look at the Japanese. We have many Japanese tourists. Wherever you go where there were conflicts - and I have been to Timor on a few occasions - you often meet the Japanese who are there looking at places where their forebears lost their lives. It would be fitting to acknowledge the stories of the Japanese, particularly Lieutenant-Commander Fuchida who led the squadron bombing of Darwin, and also led the bombing of Pearl Harbour. It is a very fascinating story. I argue that we should expand our vision and put it at East Arm, and reflect other aspects of the World War II conflict to broaden it. Issues of connectivity must really be properly addressed; they were referred to. We will continue to watch those.
I am a supporter of opening the mall to traffic. The mall needs to be opened up so we can have life flowing through that mall. I like the idea of the Lameroo Baths. That would help us make better use of this Esplanade. I am also a supporter of ensuring that that Esplanade allows us to gain better access to a sight of the ocean. There are just too many trees there.
There are many points that can be made, and they have already been made. Generally, I take the view that this is a framework that has been laid out and it will be worked through and watched carefully; comment will be made, suggestions, perhaps arguments will be had of differing points of view.
Hopefully, in the end, we will leave something that is of benefit to those that come after us. With those comments and in that tone I support the statement.
Mr VATSKALIS (Business and Economic Development): Mr Deputy Speaker, as you are well aware, I was born overseas in Greece and grew up there, in one of the oldest cities in the world that has been continuously inhabited - Athens.
A member: A little village.
Mr VATSKALIS: It was not in a village. Originally, it was a little village but it evolved to be a city of four million people with an area of 300 km with not much space to expand, so the only way was up. That is why my little village, or the city where I grew up, Athens, is one of the most densely inhabited capital cities in Greece, with all its problems, of course - traffic, small streets. I recall when I was young that my family home was in the foothills of the mountains in north-west of Athens city. We used to wake up in the morning and look down at the city. It was like a big basin in front of us. The only thing we could see was the top of the Parthenon because everything else was covered in grey haze. Athens is so densely populated and it has one of the smallest percentage of green space in Europe - less than 1%.
In 1983, I came to Perth. Perth was a town of 800 000 people with an area of 750 km, a city which was mainly single- to two-storey houses with the biggest civic development in St. George’s Terrace. Some of the most beautiful places in Perth are in the old town of Fremantle. If you go away from the central business district of Perth, or the places where the old buildings are, it is exactly the same as any other Australian city. Most of the houses are not designed by architects. They are designed by draftsmen who worked for a building company that used to sell land and house packages, and they all look the same.
In 1992, I applied for a job in Darwin and I came here for an interview. I was fortunate, because the person who interviewed me gave me a government car and asked me to go around Darwin to have a look at the city, to I make up my mind if I liked the place or not. That was not very difficult. Mind you, I was living in Port Hedland at the time, which is not the prettiest place in Australia. The first thing that had an impact on me, as it was December, was the humidity. It was the most tropical place I had been in Australia. The second was the number of trees, and the third was that all the buildings were new. It did not take long to find out why after I visited the museum and had a look at the Cyclone Tracy video. I realised that it was, obviously, an urban renewal program in 1974 called Cyclone Tracy which did not leave much of the old Darwin. Most of the old Darwin existed now in photographs in the museum.
I have to tell you, of all the cities in Australia that I have visited, Darwin is the one place that I call home. I call it home because it is a city that has been built for people. It is a city that has not been built for cars, like the highways in Perth or Melbourne. It is a place where you can actually walk in the city. You can drive your car. Very often, as part of my portfolios, when I go to different conferences and make a presentation about the Northern Territory, I have this big photograph of Darwin. I highlight where parliament is, and then I show at the top of the photo where Nightcliff is because that is where I live. I tell them that it takes me about 15 minutes from my place to work. On the way, I drop my son at the high school and it will take me only 15 minutes. Of course, a lot of people laugh because it will take them up to 45 minutes to drive to work in Perth or Sydney.
Darwin is unique – it history, its location, the way it has been built, and the way it has maintained a tropical atmosphere. It is one of the very few places around Australia where you still find elevated houses. Even modern houses built in some of the new suburbs are elevated or semi-elevated. People like and enjoy this tropical character of the houses. However, what people like - and what they are very passionate about Darwin, and I know people talk what is happening in Darwin - is how Darwin is changing. The reality is that things will change. Things will not stay the same. The old Darwin has gone. Most of it was gone in 1974.
The new Darwin that has emerged is a beautiful, cosmopolitan, tropical, modern city. When people come from interstate, they are surprised how pretty and functional it is, and how it is built for people.
I am pleased to support the Chief Minister’s statement. What interested me yesterday was that in the gallery were a lot of people who were investors, builders, architects and people who have property. The comments I heard after the Chief Minister presented the vision ranged from: ‘This is fantastic’ to ‘It will change our image’, ‘It will bring more people to Darwin’, ‘A State Square to be proud of’, ‘We now have a focus for business and investment in the city’ and ‘We have for visitors and locals alike something new and fresh’.
When you go to a place as a tourist, you go because it is something that you want to see. It is something that attracts you. You walk around, you go shopping, you see all the things you want to see: the museums, the buildings. One place I always enjoy is Singapore. The difference between Singapore and Australian cities is the CBD in Singapore and the suburbs in Singapore are high-rise because they do not have much space. However, what they have managed to do is maintain a lot of green parks. Our similarity is that we are both in a tropical environment. Our difference is that our climate is more defined than Singapore’s. We have six seasons, according to indigenous Territorians or, what we define as the Wet, the Dry and the Build-Up. In Singapore, they have the Wet, and the Bit Less Wet because during their Dry, it rains and that helps to maintain their green belts around town. In Darwin, it is quite different.
We want to create a city that will have a focus on recreation and lifestyle, tourism and heritage, and development. These are inter-linked and relate to a number of my portfolios, Business and Economic Development, Defence Support, Sport and Recreation and Essential Services. What we want in Darwin, is not only tourism, but for people who come to stay and to make Darwin a place to live, work and play.
Darwin needs a vision, one that the business community can be proud to invest in; that they can plan for and know what the development should be like to give Darwin its own character and atmosphere. The new visitor attractions will benefit small businesses in the mall and surrounding areas, and will give them more to see and do and more to experience. It will give locals pride in their capital city.
The announcement for the commencement of the development of the Defence of Darwin with a new World War II museum is exciting, and I am very passionate about it. Darwin’s role in World War II has been a long-held secret. We have to fight hard to have the damage to Darwin and the sacrifice of so many lives recognised, not only by the federal government but by the wider Australian public. Today, people down south do not know or understand that Darwin was bombed 46 times. People down south do not know that Japanese aircraft went as far south as Onslow. They do not know that hundreds of women and children from the Dutch East Indies were killed while they were still in aircraft when they landed in Broome to refuel. During that time, a Japanese Zero caught them like sitting ducks. If you go to Broome, you can still see the frames and propellers of the airplanes rising from the mud when the tide is really low. People do not know that Katherine was bombed. People do not know that Port Hedland was bombed. A lot of history about Darwin is totally unknown down south.
The location of the museum will generate discussion, but its location next to Parliament House is ideal and symbolic. Let us not forget that the people fought in World War II to maintain our ideas and principles of freedom and democracy. It happened in Europe, and in the Asia Pacific. To commemorate these people and their sacrifice by building a museum next to parliament is an excellent idea.
The member for Blain said it should be built at East Point because this is where the gun emplacements are. I remind him, since he comes from Western Australia, that the gun emplacements in Perth were at Rottnest Island. The cannon could fire a missile from 50 km away. I have been there. I have seen the embankment, with the camps where the underground headquarters were. However, the museum for World War II in Perth is not on Rottnest Island, it is in Perth, on the mainland. While the East Point is the place where the cannons were installed, I do not believe it is the ideal place. After all, let us not forget the bombing of Darwin took place in the 1940s, and most of the people were killed and most casualties occurred in Darwin Harbour. Most of the American and allied ships were sunk in Darwin Harbour. From the museum, you will be able to see this harbour where so many people lost their lives and so many ships were sunk during the dreadful days of World War II.
The visitors who will come to the Top End will be able to visit our museum, our Parliament House, our library and the CBD, and it will be a natural connection between the CBD and the Waterfront. Talking about the CBD, I strongly endorse the Chief Minister’s call for the Darwin City Council to at last open the Mall. If you go there after 5 pm, you can walk down the mall and not meet anybody. Yet, 100 m up the road, in Mitchell Street, the whole place is buzzing. The mall needs to open. We have to find a way to bring people back to the mall. The best way to do that is to open the mall, develop boulevard-style footpaths where people can open their restaurants and their cafes to bring people back to the city, especially with the new developments with the units. People are coming back to the city, and they want to go out in the afternoons when they finish work. They want to go somewhere to have a coffee, a drink, or a meal. That is the ideal place to do it.
Apart from the war museum, what we need in Darwin is an immigration museum. Darwin has been built by people who came from somewhere else. From the beginning of the 18th century to date, there were the Chinese, Indonesians, Italians, Greeks, and Vietnamese. From the 18th century to 1975, with the Vietnamese, people from other countries came and have made Darwin their home. We should consider an immigration museum, very similar to what they have in Melbourne.
On top of that, we probably should have something to commemorate the person who gave our city its name – Darwin. As we know, the boat that took Charles Darwin to the Galapagos Islands visited Darwin. However, what mnay people do not know is that that boat lost two anchors at the Victoria River. When it was sailing up the river, it lost two of its anchors. They sank in the mud, and they lost a length of the chain and the anchors. They are approximately 3.5 m tall. The survey carried out in 1994, like many surveys, had discovered two magnetic anomalies in Victoria River. Knowing that these anchors had fallen into the river, and were covered by mud, it ismost likely that these anchors are still lying there. It will only be a matter of time before we decide for somebody to do a better survey and uncover them. I believe they will look fantastic in front of the convention centre, plus, it will mark Darwin as a place where Charles Darwin’s boat visited when it sailed to Australia. Of course, the initiative to raise the anchors will place Darwin well and truly on the map of Australia.
Our planning and development is vital to maintain the wellbeing of our city, towns and our people. The ribbons of green concept is another part of the plan that excites me. This will see the potential expansion of green zones around Darwin, and will be very important to the Darwin Tropical Harbour inner city image. Green zones are well known to add value to the community’s lifestyle and wellbeing. I welcome the ribbons of green for Darwin, along with the plans for the Myilly Point headland and Flagstaff Park. I do not believe there will be anything better than to be able to walk from the waterfront and along the harbour, Fannie Bay, all the way to East Point. Of course, you can do the round of the city, either riding a bike or walking. Darwin is a place for people, and a green ribbon around Darwin will make it a place that we can enjoy walking or riding a bike, moving easily and freely.
As Minister for Business and Economic Development, I am constantly pleased to see how much pride people have in their business and in their town, and how much they want to be part of growing and developing with an economic future. When I visit local businesses, they talk to me about the need to encourage more people to come and work here to fill the skill shortages they have been experiencing for a long time. We do not only like the tourists who visit us, but we want people to come here to make Darwin a place to buy a house, raise a family, work and, of course, to play.
The linkages between the waterfront and the mall will rejuvenate the mall and surrounding areas. It will provide a unique experience for locals and visitors, and encourage others to be part of this drive and initiative. Of course, the natural flow of people from the suburbs to the city, as their family circumstances change, bring more people to the city who will need the services in the city and, in the afternoon, will make the city alive. Not like, let us say, in Perth in St George’s Terrace. After 5 pm or 6 pm when the last bus departs, taking the last office workers away from the city to the suburbs, there is nothing there; it is just an absolute desert. If you go to other places, you can see where the people are brought back into the city and the place is buzzing until early in the morning.
My Department of Business, Economic and Regional Development will ensure that local businesses have an opportunity to be involved in building and developing the new projects that have been outlined by the Chief Minister through managing local industry participation plans. We will also continue to support the small business sector of Darwin: the retail shops, the clubs, the hotels, the restaurants, the tourism providers and souvenir shops – the lifeblood of the city – through a diverse range of services and programs offered by my department. Our government is committed to assist local businesses, as a strong small business sector in Darwin is a powerful agent for development, growth and creating Darwin’s future.
My department has also been working to enhance the experiences of overseas visitors who come to the Darwin Harbour on the many yachts that ply our waters. The waterfront development is being watched quite keenly by owners and crews of the super yachts and the maxi yachts that come to Darwin. A few years ago, there were actually six super yacht visits a year. Last year, we had in excess of 250 visits. Darwin now has become a destination for leisure, resupply, repairs and maintenance, and a place they can use as a base to explore the northern Australian waters, and we will continue to do so.
With some new proposed developments by local businesses, super yachts will be coming more frequently to Darwin, together with the cruise ships of which there were 68 visits last year - the Orion is based here in Darwin and is bringing people to or taking them from Darwin. These people come to board the Orion and go to the Kimberleys, or are brought here by the Orion or other cruise ships. They experience a fantastic, tropical city - the most tropical city and the closest we have to an Asian city in Australia. My department has been meeting the owners and crews of these magnificent yachts and they find that Darwin is a port of call for them by choice. They are increasingly impressed with Darwin and the growth of quality services for them. They speak highly of the harbour and Darwin. They have expressed their interest in the improvements being made to the waterfront and promise to be back. This is great news for us, and great news for Darwin’s future.
The response from the business and wider community yesterday saw the great willingness to participate in this great project. I congratulate the Chief Minister on this vision, creating a bright and vibrant future for Darwin and the Territory. I join her in thanking all of the community and the business sector who have contributed to creating this image for the future of Darwin.
The impression I got when I came here in 1992 was of one of the prettiest cities I have seen in Australia, and I have travelled all around Australia and seen many cities. It still remains so. Darwin is a place that I have made my home and call home, and I will continue to call home in the future. I would like to see Darwin becoming, not necessarily bigger, that will be a natural progression, but certainly better. The new vision, as presented to the public yesterday by the Chief Minister, will ensure that Darwin will become a beautiful and better place.
Ms SACILOTTO (Port Darwin): Mr Deputy Speaker, after a 12-month consultation process, the Chief Minister yesterday announced the first round of key projects to make Darwin an even better place to live, play, work and do business. My electorate of Port Darwin is the most vibrant community in the Northern Territory. It is the Port Darwin electorate, the heart of Darwin, which is the big winner in these latest announcements.
The $1.1bn waterfront project will be iconic and will generate a huge boost to the already buoyant Darwin economy, with most of the contracts being picked up by local or locally-based companies. It is an important project and a major boost for everyone in the Northern Territory, as people coming to the Northern Territory for our convention centre and our newest tourist attractions will filter throughout the rest of the Territory. While they are here, they will stop and visit other places that they may not have normally gone to.
With the upgrading of the Myilly Point headland, including Flagstaff Park, a $6m commitment to these areas means they will be upgraded and linked to other parkland areas as a part of the ribbon of green vision. This has been welcomed by many constituents of Port Darwin already, only 24 hours after the announcement. These beautiful areas embrace so many people locally, nationally, and internationally. They are enjoyed by hundreds of people every week, walking around these areas, and using them as pathways to get to many attractions. Parklands and green space is of great concern to residents of Port Darwin. I have had many conversations with residents in relation to the old hospital site. Many have provided their suggestions and opinions. These will be expanded upon, collated and relayed to the Chief Minister as important information for the future plans for this site.
Many residents have talked about preserving what we have in the way of green space and open areas. The electorate of Port Darwin encompasses Larrakeyah, Cullen Bay, Darwin city, Tipperary Waters, the waterfront precinct, and approximately half of my home suburb of Stuart Park. Darwin is approximately a 3 km area and parks cover about 6% of that area. Larrakeyah is approximately 1 km and about 1% of that area is parks. Stuart Park is a little over 2 km, and parks cover approximately 2%. Let us not kid ourselves; this dirt is expensive dirt. However, this is certainly a necessity to maintain what we have, add on to it strategically, and develop sensibly, lively and multifunctional community areas which thought and concern for the high-density population, visitors, and businesses alike.
The commitment of $6m to develop the new family friendly parklands at Myilly Point is welcomed by residents. Nurses Walk is a particularly significant heritage area which is regularly used by residents and visitors. The renovation and preservation of this area, including the installation of a foreshore promenade which links Nurses Walk to Mindil Beach, should be a highlight to enhance this rich heritage precinct.
I am pleased that $250 000 has been dedicated to develop a master plan for a new State Square Precinct. The plan will include heritage sites, civic buildings, and community space. State Square is an important place. Not only is it the current day site of lawmakers and enforcers of the Northern Territory, it is a significant World War II site, and also a memorial site of 10 victims of the bombing of Darwin.
Tragedy again struck at this site during the construction of this building, when Mr Peter Mounstead and Mr Andrew Snow were killed when a crane collapsed during the early construction phase in March 1991. The fountain on Speaker’s Green is dedicated to these fine men, both of whom were known to me and my family.
There are also many intriguing heritage significant sites surrounding this area - Palmerston Town Hall ruins, the Administrator’s Offices, and the Administrator’s Residence - which all deserve to be showcased to the best of our ability. It is truly a heritage-rich area, which makes the CBD the perfect location to position a World War II, or war museum. This will be a great drawcard to the city and will increase the vibrancy of our CBD. It will be beneficial to businesses and will boost tourism to the city centre. The link between the waterfront and the CBD is going to be an important component to the overall project.
It is not a straightforward project, as it must encompass ideas and consideration from all stakeholders to ensure the best outcome, including heritage, Darwin City Council, waterfront developers, residents of Port Darwin, and Property Council in representing commercial property owners, etcetera. There are many considerations in relation to this important link; however, it must be the right link. These parties have been working through the issues and ideas, and I am confident all involved are intent on getting the best possible product at the end which will provide a flow from the waterfront to the city, and from the city to the waterfront.
This fluidity of movement is essential, and has been a concern reported to me, as local member, by most constituents who hold an interest in this project. Clearly, the Chief Minister has shown great leadership in these first announcements about Creating Darwin’s Future.
I look forward to seeing the relationship between Darwin City Council, in partnership with business, take the same step up and show leadership on their part in developing Darwin’s future. This is, after all, a partnership. The lifeblood of the city is business. How so? Where do Darwinites eat out, socialise, have a cuppa and shop? Close to home, normally. Darwin city has a fantastic array of specialty shops such as those in the Vic complex which include but are not limited to Classy Glass, Earth Collection, Vanilla hair studios and the fabulous Elements day spa.
The specialty shops in the CBD are wide-ranging and stimulate the imagination of both our locals and visitors alike. I look forward to relationships being built between government, Darwin City Council and traders, and grow and nurture into a partnership for the betterment of all residents, both commercial and residential. Darwin City Council needs to step up and support residential and commercial ratepayers and those who pay rents to the ratepayers.
It is with the Darwin City Council’s assistance and cooperation that we can make a truly unique tropical harbour city that is going to pave the way for generations of the future. It does not take a day to plan a city, although we have had a second go at it after Cyclone Tracy. There needs to be careful consideration to ensure that what we are planning today is going to stand the test of time in the future.
The other areas that are very interesting, particularly for some of the people in my electorate, are the city planning amendments. In such a growing electorate, there is always room for improvement. Some of those have been brought out in the planning forum that has been held by the Minister for Planning and Lands recently.
The ribbons of green are a great consideration for people who live in Port Darwin because a great number of them live in apartments which have limited amounts of green space within the complex. Therefore, the parks we do have are very important and need to be maintained to a high standard. They can also be used more efficiently to become places for night use with the right planning, lighting and activities so they do not just close down when it is dark. They can be used by families, people exercising and enjoying them all through the night.
There is $1m for landscaping city entry points where Daly Street and Tiger Brennan Drive intersect with McMinn Street. There is a need for a nice entry statement into Darwin, and I look forward to the plans that the committee produces on how that can be achieved.
Regarding streetscapes precincts in the Darwin city, I have always thought that there should be a greater mix of commercial, residential and office accommodation. I do not think a commercial building on its own is viable for the middle of the city. It needs to have some sort of interaction, be that coffee or speciality shops, for use at times other than the normal working day. These shops encourage a busy, bustling city. There is no greater deterrent for antisocial behaviour than to have a busy, bustling city area.
Al fresco dining up and down the mall would be fantastic. Some life in the mall after closing down at 5 pm would be great. The weekends are quiet in the mall. There are a few shops open, but many are not. It certainly does not feel like it is embracing the tourists who want to have a cup of coffee or have breakfast in the city area. There is a great opportunity for businesses, with assistance and with support from council. I believe there is a lot of opportunity that has not been scratched yet. I believe that that needs to be investigated further, because it will encourage people to stay in the city.
I attended six Creating Darwin’s Future advisory stalls, listening to what the public was saying, with the ideas that were flagged just to stimulate some conversation. Out of six, there was really only one person who had some negative comments. When that person spoke to me further, they were from Melbourne, so I thought, ‘It is not Melbourne, is it?’. However, the other people who spoke to me were so positive, and many of those were long-term Darwin people. One man had lived in Darwin for 18 years. He had gone away to Brisbane and come back because of family commitments. He thought that it was a fantastic idea, a mix of the new and the old, stimulating thoughts on the Larrakeyah baths and other things that were there in the past and had been forgotten. We need to do that combination of new and old, which I believe will be a winning combination.
I commend the Chief Minister’s announcement. I look forward to lots more coming out of the Creating Darwin’s Future, a tropical harbour city program, because there are some fantastic ideas. The public have been really interactive. They have come up with some really great ideas. I am really looking forward to some more of those being investigated. Obviously, everything cannot be done in one minute, or one batch. It needs to be planned and structured. However, as we can see by the Chief Minister’s announcement yesterday, this is not a talkfest; there are actually outcomes from that. I am sure everybody is pleased to see that there is action happening. It is certainly going to benefit my constituents of Port Darwin, and also the businesses in the CBD. I am very happy to endorse the Chief Minister’s latest announcement.
Mr KIELY (Sanderson): Mr Deputy Speaker, it is with great pleasure that I respond tonight to the Chief Minister’s statement on building a better Darwin. The speakers before all had some good points about it. Like the member for Port Darwin, I also had the pleasure of standing on the public advisory stands at Casuarina Square, at my own Northlakes Shopping Centre, and at Hibiscus with various members of parliament here. It was tremendous to see the interaction with the community and getting the ideas and the concerns when talking to people about what we were hoping to do.
I would like to pick up on the point that I believe the Leader of the Opposition was making, which was leadership. Even today, over all the different areas we have been covering, the Leader of the Opposition has been talking about leadership. The Chief Minister, on this call, is showing real leadership. She is showing the leadership that is required for our city into the future. It is a fantastic vision of hers, one that has 100% of my support. I am confident that it will have 100% support of the people of the electorate that I represent.
Today, the Chief Minister announced quite a number of initiatives, such as the World War II museum next to the Parliament House, a ribbon of green around the CBD, a revamped State Square, new planning amendments and new entrances to our city. As well as that, she flagged looking at the Lameroo baths site, perhaps developing that, along with a revitalised Esplanade.
She also mentioned Creating Darwin’s Future is not only about the city, but it is also about preserving and protecting our great lifestyle in the suburbs and that, in the future, we will be looking at what is happening out in the suburban living areas.
I will come back to the World War II museum, because there have been some good ideas for it. I support the member for Blain when he was talking about the content, and that the Darwin museum commemorating World War II should not just be on the Darwin area. I am not fully across the member for Blain’s thinking about Timor and the role that should play on the internal display. However, I am in accord with him when he mentioned the forces which left here during the war for overseas service - some never to return - particularly to Timor. They might have been Sparrow Force; I am not sure whether Sparrow was Timor or Ambon. We had troops leave here for Timor, and nearly all of those were captured. We had troops who left for Ambon. We had a huge American Air Force presence. We had submarines and our own aircraft presence. Australia was a fortress in those days, and it was virtually a top secret installation, given what it meant. We provided a jump-off point for many bombers, etcetera, going into South-East Asia. We played a part in the capture of the Indonesian Archipelago.
I believe all that information can be incorporated. I also think that, while this commemorates World War II, this is not a war museum. This is to commemorate the role Darwin played in those very dark days in Australia. The civilian population was left here helping on the railway or in the town. There were not many families here in those days; most were evacuated. There was a civilian force here and they should be recognised. The architecture of the time should also be recognised because Darwin is unique in Australia in that we have risen like a phoenix every 50 years or so. Just about every 50 years, Darwin has either been blown out or bombed out of existence. We can capture that period in this museum.
We should not forget to commemorate the role that Darwin played with the servicemen who flew out and who crashed in Arnhem Land and were rescued by the civilian countrymen. I am not talking about the countrymen who were in NORFORCE or - I forget the colloquial name for it at the moment, but I am sure it will come back to me. There were civilians in places like Maningrida. I have heard the stories and seen the photographs of American servicemen who wandered out in Arnhem Land near Maningrida and were rescued by people out there and brought into the mission station and looked after. That also has a special place in our history and needs to be captured.
The cost of this building is probably insignificant compared to what it will cost to get the displays in. We should start work now on getting together the displays for the museum. I do not necessarily think that we need aeroplanes because we have a great Aviation Museum at the airport, which is a tremendous facility and a credit to Peter Radtke and all the people who have done marvellous work there. We have some good World War II displays, so I do not necessarily think we have to get a P35 - I think it is - plane or a Spitfire there.
I do not think we necessarily have to bring artillery and armoured pieces in because we have great armoured and artillery displays at East Point. However, we can put in all sorts of dioramas. I have been to the community museum in Cowra. The 3D hologram that they have is fantastic. That is in the hands of the experts and the curators. We need to think now about getting a curating team together. Building the facility is only one part of the job; assembling the information and displays is the other.
I do not see this facility as having to be overly huge. The Chief Minister mentioned it being linked to everything, and so it will be. It will be the hub for what we have around. I have maintained for many years that, for too long, we have ignored our World War II heritage and our place at that particular time in Australia’s history. It is a good chance for us to capitalise on it but, also, it is our obligation to ensure that we create something fine for all of Australia. While it is here in Darwin, it will be fantastic, but this is for all Australians, and we should not lose sight of that. When we do get on to the building and the design, let us remember that we are building a national iconic piece here in the Territory. This is something that we should always keep in our forethought.
Regarding its position next to Parliament House, I have heard some criticism from the Leader of the Opposition saying it is a beautiful patch of grass out there. I have had a look at the usage out there. I have noticed over the years a couple of touch footy games and perhaps a backpacker or two getting a suntan. I do not see too much more than that. Let us not forget that it is an artificially created site as such. It was left as a paddock when this place was built. However, that site looks over to the Cenotaph. What was the Cenotaph? That was a World War II anti-aircraft site. It looks out and you get the harbour views.
Regarding the height, the construction, we are entering into a whole new age of building design and architecture - a very exciting age. I am sure there will be many concepts put forward. I am sure that, given the place it will have in Darwin’s future, and I am sure it will hold in the Australian architectural future, it will be a quality building and it will attract worldwide attention.
Mr Deputy Speaker, I look forward to that museum or memorial building and for what it can do for us. I do not see it as a shrine of remembrance. I do not see it a national war memorial-type building because, as I said, with drawing in those elements from East Point, the Aviation Museum, our airfields up and down the Stuart Highway – you go out to Mandorah and out the back there is just a load of history all just around the place – it is the hub. I view it as the hub, and to have people look at it that way.
I like the notion of improving the Esplanade. When I arrived in Darwin in 1985 the Esplanade was pretty well an overgrown strip of land, neglected, with lots of long grassers. It was not until 1988, in the bicentennial year, that the wall was put in there and some effort was made to make the Esplanade a pleasant site. It was still rather flat and neglected until there was development along the Esplanade. The same can also be said for Mitchell Street. Until Doug Gamble and others had the vision to fix up Mitchell Street it was a rather dormant and neglected area. The nightlife was in Smith Street and Cavenagh Street.
I draw those pictures into my statement here tonight because, time and again, you see letters to the editor about Darwin not being what it used to be. Darwin is changing. The Esplanade and Mitchell Street have changed for the better. Cities are organic creatures. They grow, they live, some parts withdraw, and other parts flourish. It is up to us - and I am glad to see the Chief Minister leading the way on this - to breathe life in, and to keep the sustainable life in it.
These plans for the ribbons of green, giving the green spaces that we need, fixing up the entrance ways and the beautification, are making the city a far more pleasant place to be. They will bring more people in and, in itself, bring in more private enterprise which will come on board for private development. They will build quality buildings. The influx of people, of tourists and of residents - let us not believe that this is all about tourism; this is about making our city a living thing. If we bring more people into the city to live and to work, we will see Smith Street reach its full potential. When we start getting those new apartment blocks such as Evolution and Pandanus - and there are apartment blocks going up all around the place - let us not forget they are apartment blocks. These people will be coming into the city for their dinners, coffees and to the clubs, and that will be fine.
We are reaching a new stage in our industrial base in the Territory and we are getting many clean types of industries. There will be more ICT-type businesses coming into the city. We will have the capacity to house those. These new buildings will be able to accommodate new technologies. The whole living, working, eating, dining experience in Darwin city is going to be fantastic.
The walkways along the Esplanade through Flagstaff Park, down Nurses Walk along Mindil Beach and over to the Botanic Gardens is a fantastic idea. It is what the city needs. It is about improving the life of the city and attracting more people.
What really excites me about all this is that it is not just a city project, as the Chief Minister has said. When we start looking at this suburban living strategy, we have started enhancing the lifestyle of the people of the northern suburbs in areas at Wulagi, who are having great parties near the shops sponsored by Neighbourhood Watch, which gets everyone in the community behind it. The local school gets behind it. At Anula Park, we have one concert a year with the Darwin City Brass Band. That is fantastic. We have all the local clubs in the area getting behind plans for updating their premises or improving their facilities. Work is going on at the Marrara Sporting Complex to make that a premier recreational and sporting facility in the Territory in the Northern suburbs - all these things bring life.
I would like to see improved facilities around our local boat ramps. There is room for that. I would like to see improvements to our bike and walking tracks and making those into fitness points. There is a whole range of strategies and ideas that will come under the suburban living strategy so people will have choice. Not everyone wants that quarter acre, 800 m or 900 m block in the suburbs. Many people want to live in units and they like that lifestyle. They are busy people. They do not want to get into the garden; they do not have the time. They are not pet focused; they are not particularly interested in having large dogs.
However, there is a whole range of people who like living in the suburbs, and I am one of those. In the words of Dave Warner, I am just a suburban boy. My future lies out in the suburbs and I am going to work hard to ensure that our suburbs are great places to live; that they retain the ambience the minister for Education spoke about which is apparent in town. It is just as apparent out there.
I see a great future for our small urban shopping centres. I see a move away from the local supermarkets and hairdresser in those shops. I can see little precincts of fine restaurants and specialist shops around the place. Perhaps Anula might become a prime food hub, a bit like Parap. Malak might become a hub for lifestyle premises. There is a great little theatre group there, and gyms. All sorts of things are happening in our suburbs that we can pull together to ensure our lifestyle in the suburbs goes ahead at pace with the CBD.
It is an exciting time. I place on the record my thanks to the Chief Minister for bringing this statement on. I also place on the record my thanks to every member on the government side for getting behind this initiative.
I am a bit disappointed, but not surprised, that once again we saw the Leader of the Opposition bagging an initiative for Darwin – she had a go at the waterfront. The Leader of the Opposition needs to have a good look at what she said during the last by-election for Greatorex. She was trying to invoke this Berrimah Line-type concept but what, in fact, she was doing was creating a great wall around Alice Springs. Her view of the world does not extend beyond that, and she thinks that everything external is hostile and should be treated with disdain. Well, it is not the case. The Leader of the Opposition should know that Darwin is the capital city of the Northern Territory; that Darwin needs to build and go ahead like this. We need the opposition’s support. We need the members for Araluen, Greatorex, Blain, and Katherine to get on board and help us with this. This is going to be the jewel in the Territory.
Mr WARREN (Goyder): Mr Acting Deputy Speaker, I support the Chief Minister’s statement on Creating Darwin’s Future. It is particularly important that we are talking about moving Darwin ahead, because Darwin is a place that is at the top of Australia. It should continue to grow in a manner which reflects the fact that we are the top of Australia.
I came to Darwin in 1978, in the aftermath of Cyclone Tracy. Darwin was a city which was given an opportunity, the greater Darwin area included, to be reborn. Over the past few years, Darwin has certainly changed. It has grown and been reborn and revitalised. It was considerably damaged, as we all know, particularly in the northern suburbs. There were major parts of the urban area which were devastated. It has had a history of being damaged over the periods from the historical earlier cyclones, to the World War II bombing episodes. Also, some of the more recent cyclones have affected much of Darwin. The Chief Minister’s vision of Creating Darwin’s Future is a good time to look at that again, because we need to have something that reflects our lifestyle, the balance in our social and environmental priorities, which will take us well into the future.
I came here in 1978, as I said, and Darwin has grown from there. However, there were periods where much of the development here under the previous government was t ad hoc. I am not going to be overly critical, because they did have the task of rebuilding Darwin. However, it was ad hoc and it is a good time to look at our vision for a modern city for the 21st century.
Darwin should be a modern city - and will be a modern city if you have a balance, and you balance all those things in peoples’ lives which are important. The three principle triple bottom line aspects of development are the economic, social and environmental priorities. If you do not get them right, then the leading aspect of a city’s development does not occur. If you do not get those aspects in balance, and do not have the people who can sustain themselves here, in a financial and social aspect, you do not have the environment that is unique and a very critical part of the harbour. We are on a peninsula which is part of that harbour and, currently, you do not have all the social aspects which people expect, such as the lifestyle and things that are important to them in this modern world; that keep and sustain them here and make Darwin city a draw point for not just the residents of Darwin but, equally as important, the many thousands of tourists we are expecting to visit Darwin.
That is why I like the Chief Minister’s vision for Creating Darwin’s Future. There are some important aspects of it which I will come to, but I also want to talk about the process the Martin Labor government has undertaken in arriving at the launch yesterday; that is, the consultative process with the community. That has been occurring since October 2006, where the Northern Territory government has undertaken wide-ranging and extensive consultations with the community; something which was not a hallmark of the previous government. Other members have mentioned dark-of–the-night demolition jobs on some of the most historical aspects of Darwin which, sadly, are no longer with us.
Unlike the previous government, this government is a consultative one. We have established a working group of senior public sector, industry, and council representatives, which has been the steering committee for the process. It has been one of engagement as it is not just the local community, but the tourists you need to engage. That process is important because the vision, as expressed by the Chief Minister yesterday, is one whereby we will be attracting tourists, and making Darwin the city for the top of Australia, as well as creating an environment where people in the urban areas can feel comfortable. They can come to town and feel part of it, as if this is ‘our’ city which we can come to and be part of.
It is a city where tourists can come, and people can mingle in an environment which overlooks one of the most beautiful harbours in the world, particularly when it has the aquamarine blue colour during the Dry Season. It also has the vision for the parklands, and ribbons of green around the harbour. That is the nature of the environment. It is a situation where you have the central and active part being Darwin, but you also have a buffer between the harbour and the city of ribbons of green protecting and expanding green open spaces surrounding Darwin. That is part of the vision of this plan. It is clearly well thought out, and was engaging with the community. It also has had a direction and purpose, which was to ensure there was sufficient concept in the plan to grow and become a modern 21st century city, without compromising our unique situation on the Darwin Peninsula next to the Darwin Harbour.
When I came here in 1978, there was an ad hoc building process. It is now time, when we are in this sustainable economic boom due to the promotion by the Martin Labor government, to reflect this in our modern northern city.
I have spent some time in Cairns. That city went through of metamorphosis several years ago. It is a tropical city. The creators of Darwin’s future have looked at places such as Cairns, Townsville, and tropical north Queensland, and have seen the benefits of the visions of those places. They are very proud of that city now. Cairns was once a north Queensland backwater, but now it is a vibrant city. Darwin is moving ahead that way. This vision will take it ahead. You only have to go to Mitchell Street, or any other place, to see that it is becoming a hub for tourists. It is a stopover and gateway to Asia, so it is important we keep the visitation numbers up in Darwin as long as we can, not only for our economic benefit, but to leave lasting impressions on them. Darwin’s future, moving ahead, is all part of that.
I am really pleased that some of the keynote features of this development include the Myilly Point headland with the $6m redevelopment to the new family-friendly parklands at Myilly Point, and the fact that they are linked to the foreshore promenade from the Nurses Walk to Mindil Beach. That is an historical aspect, particularly if you are talking about the old Darwin Hospital. Let us remember back to those days. What is great about this whole concept is that it continually refers to our history here - not so much our long-distant past, which is a critical element when we talk about things like the indigenous cultural centre - but our more recent past and things that have happened and affected us here in Darwin.
We are talking about the Defence of Darwin World War II Museum. It is great that it is going to be placed next to Parliament House. It is a great site and, unlike the member for Blain, I believe it is the most appropriate place for it. You are talking about something historically linked to our democracy under the Westminster system here in the Parliament House, and the fact that that is a very symbolic element of our democracy. You are also talking about the very aspect where men and women, not only Australian but from many nations, fought. It is a symbolic feature of our defence of Darwin, the defence of our democracy.
Having those two key elements of our democracy side by side is most appropriate. I was really saddened to hear the member for Blain complaining about the fact that the two buildings were going to be side by side. His arguments ring a bit hollow in my ears. He talked about Canberra, the ACT, and the fact that their War Museum is not sitting close to Parliament House. Let me remind the House that the War Museum is located in the ACT precinct. The reason it was put there was because again, parliament is a symbol of our democracy, and it is most appropriate that our main War Memorial, which is a symbol of our fight for freedom during past conflicts, should be located in that same city as well.
I do not have a problem, and I do not think most people on our side of the House have a problem. They applaud the fact that the World War II museum will be placed next to Parliament House. I will be campaigning to have many visitors to that particular facility. It is an engaging process and a concept design study we are talking about at this stage. There will be more opportunities for the people of Darwin, visitors, and those who have a historical connection with World War II through their direct families and contacts, to have an input into this process. It will be an evolving process.
We want a vibrant, modern 24-hour city. One of the things that I am often hearing is that, even though Darwin is a great place to live, the city is ordinary, somewhat devoid of a true heart and nightlife other than the nightclubs. We are talking about something for families, where people can feel comfortable, feel it is their city - a 24-hour city. That is why we are talking about making a vibrant, modern 24-hour CBD the heart of our whole Darwin extended area. It will be an even better place to live, work and visit. The symbolic welcome to the residents and those who visit through our city entry points is a critical element of this whole scheme, and that has been very well thought out.
The State Square redevelopment master plan will be active and make it a focal point between the CBD, waterfront, the city entry points and streetscape precincts - which is a tongue twister. Working with Darwin City Council to implement a structural design in the Darwin CBD across the four unique precincts is probably as good an element of the plan as can be considered.
Mr Acting Deputy Speaker, I will wrap up at that point. I could talk on here for hours ...
Mr ACTING DEPUTY SPEAKER: No, you could not.
Mr WARREN: I am sure you would engage with me, but I have said my piece as have the members who have spoken before me. I commend them on what they have said. I thank the Chief Minister for such a visionary plan as Creating Darwin’s Future, which is helping us to move ahead.
Mr BONSON (Millner): Mr Acting Deputy Speaker, I support one of the most important statements this House has had presented in the last 25 years. It is a generational statement. Creating Darwin’s Future is about moving ahead our tropical harbour city.
This statement is will address issues that the Labor Party is very keen to protect, look after and encourage to flourish. We are protecting the history of Darwin, recognising its present place, and planning for the future. It is about the government consulting all Darwinites about the type of lifestyle they want at present and in the future, and what type of family spaces and environments they want for their children.
It is about recognising that we need to develop our tourism industry and to make Darwin a place that people want to visit. It is also about recognising our heritage. This consultation process is, possibly, the greatest achievement of this government. We are talking about development, ribbons of green, planning a world-class tropical city, looking at streetscapes and precincts, and what Darwin will be in not only five, 10, and 20 years, but in 100 years.
Unfortunately, the CLP members, from the few contributions we have heard so far, are very negative about our great lifestyle. They have no plans for the future and they live in the past. They are against the waterfront development for reasons known only to themselves, when it is, possibly, the greatest opportunity to create economic benefit and enhance the lifestyle of all Darwinites.
I welcome the Chief Minister’s statement for a number of reasons. I love the lifestyle and recreational opportunities I enjoyed as I grew up in the Territory, and those my family has enjoyed for the past 100 years in Darwin. I look forward to being part of this consultation process, to protect Darwin, its lifestyle, and what it stands for so that future generations can enjoy the same.
I welcome the $6m to develop new family-friendly parklands at Myilly Point, linked by a foreshore promenade from Nurses Walk to Mindil Beach. I am interested in being involved in that development and putting my suggestions about what part of history should be recognised, so that future generations can learn from the past and continue the great lifestyle that we enjoy.
I welcome the $1m for landscaping entry points to the city, where Daly Street and Tiger Brennan Drive intersect with McMinn Street. I look forward to construction of the wave lagoon at the waterfront, and I welcome earth works for residential and commercial developments now commencing and continuing into the future.
The concept of a pedestrian link between the waterfront and the mall is a fantastic idea. I welcome the 16 new initiatives outlined by the Chief Minister, including changes to the NT Planning Scheme to include CBD streetscapes and building design. I look forward to the implementation of the Darwin City Council’s streetscape strategy over the next five years. Planning has already commenced to create ribbons of green on the Darwin City Peninsula.
I look forward to the $250 000 scoping concept to design and look at different designs for the Defence of Darwin World War II Museum, which is a fantastic idea, and the $250 000 for the master plan for our civic heritage and community meeting space, a focal point between the CBD and the waterfront.
I joined the Labor Party and am part of this Northern Territory government because I am all about the development side of things - jobs, lifestyle, and Territorians working. There are going to be at least 1500 new apartments in the city centre such as the Saville, Pandanus, Evolution, at the Darwin waterfront and other developments and, as they are built, people are working and earning money and feeding their families. We are looking forward to people moving into the city area, but we need a plan for the future. This project, Creating Darwin’s Future, offers that.
We are seeing another 2300 new lots in places like Lyons, Muirhead and Bellamack. We know there is planning under way for Palmerston east, Weddell and residential in-fill sites. That is fantastic. We know there are continued discussions on major new gas-based manufacturing projects, including a helium plant, a condensate processing facility, and an extension of the LNG plant. I look forward to the development of a 60 ha Defence Force hub near Robertson Barracks, and the new classified goods facilities at Hidden Valley, where construction will commence at the end of 2007. The fantastic new shipping links with China and Indonesia have been established, and increased freight distribution through the East Arm port and Darwin Business Park is going to have unforeseen benefits for the Northern Territory.
There are a number of things I will recognise, quickly, in the short time I have to contribute. One is the many families I know who have been part of the history of the Northern Territory; I have no doubt their children will be also be part of the future: Hazelbane, Durack, Chin, Christopherson, Abala, Kemp, Sarib, Ludwig, Yee, Seller, Roe, Larkin, Geddes, Muir, Bonson, Cooper, Damaso, Lew Fatt, Stroud, Daby, Kantilla, Kennon, Smith, Ahmatt, Clarke, Austin, Dempsey, Nickels, Tye, Brimson, Jurek, Collins, Ravenswood, Sinclair, Conroy, Koulouriotis, Bowditch, Dunn-Sceney, Bannan, Parker, Wiese, Quinnell, McGufficke, Kelly, Sullivan, Baxter, Anderson, Halprin, McLean, Quinlan, Long, Peris, Voukolos, Cooper, Vowles, Dienelt, Hickman, Palazzi, Bates, Fong, and Owen. They, along with other well-known Territory families, have contributed to the Territory. To those I have not mentioned, you are in my thoughts and I hope that you participate in how your great city will look into the future.
I welcome every member’s contribution tonight. I believe the Chief Minister has undertaken a fabulous plan for really engaging the whole of the Territory. We are a government that governs for all. We are government that is interested in the history of the Territory, in particular in this project, Darwin’s present and future. We have a plan. It is about consultation, lifestyle, protecting family values, working on tourism, recognising our heritage, and developing Darwin in a way that we can enjoy through the ribbons of green, the planning of the world-class tropical city and the streetscape precincts.
Mr Deputy Speaker, like many of the members, I am disappointed but not surprised by the negative attitudes of the CLP to this great plan. I encourage them to participate and learn the history of Darwin and really get behind what this program is about and what this government is trying to achieve.
Mr HENDERSON (Leader of Government Business): Mr Deputy Speaker, I close debate on behalf of the Chief Minister as she is at the farewell service for Bishop Ted Collins, and the inauguration of the new Catholic Bishop of Darwin.
As Minister for Tourism, speaking in support of the Creating Darwin’s Future plan released by the Chief Minister yesterday lunchtime to a very large number of the Darwin business and investment community is a privilege because it is a fantastic plan - a plan that is going to lead to significantly improved outcomes for the tourism industry in the Northern Territory. It is not only great for tourism, but for Territorians because tourists spend money here and they create jobs for Territorians.
I had just been to a function upstairs for the ’07 Cruise Down Under Conference. It is a conference attended by representatives of all the major ship cruising companies who are either cruising in Australian waters or looking to visit Australian waters for the first time attend. There are 90 delegates from around the world and Australia. Many of them who have been here for the first time are absolutely blown away by our wonderful city. The excitement about Darwin as a cruising destination is going to continue to grow. This year, in 12 months, we will see 23 000 visitors to Darwin off cruise ships and 10 000 crew; all of those people spend money in our economy. They are very excited about the developments of the new waterfront - the new $4.5m cruising facility that is going to be at the waterfront development complementing the investment being driven by the private sector in spite of what the opposition tries to put about. That the waterfront is continuing to develop opportunities for increasing visitor numbers and the stay of visitor numbers through Creating Darwin’s Future is fantastic.
As I am closing debate on behalf of the Chief Minister, I want to comment on the Leader of the Opposition’s statement. She really did not comment very much on the initiatives in the statement. She did not take the opportunity. If she wanted to, she had the opportunity to portray her own vision on how to improve the city. Essentially, it was a trip down memory lane, looking back at history, going back to the CLP plan that was released in 1999. It was not a visionary, forward-looking contribution at all.
I accept that previous governments had plans for the development of Darwin. I am not going to say that previous governments did not do anything good. I have lived in the city for 24 years - more than half of my life now. I absolutely love the place; I would not live anywhere else. The city has evolved and grown. I believe it is a much better place in which to live than it was when I came in 1983. To go back to a Tim Baldwin document of 1999 and hold that up as the blueprint for the future is certainly neglecting what has happened here since 1999 and the way this city has evolved, grown, developed and, in tourism, is very much now getting on the map nationally and internationally.
She also went on, once again, to stick the boots into the waterfront development, being critical at every opportunity of the waterfront development and, then, right at the end said: ‘We we support it’. You cannot run that line, Leader of the Opposition, when it was not long ago - probably only four to six months ago - I remember some pretty scary television ads that included the Leader of the Opposition. I forgot what the issue was but, basically, it was pointing to some perceived failure on behalf of government. With the waterfront in the background and the Leader of the Opposition in the foreground looking down the barrel of the lens, she said something along the lines of ‘You cannot have extra police or extra teachers or nurses …’, or whatever it was. ‘… because the government is spending all of this money on the waterfront’. She has form. TV ads have been aired saying that we should not be spending money on the waterfront. She cannot speak out of both sides of her mouth and say she supports it on one hand, but consistently denigrates it and points to it as a waste of money on the other hand.
The line that the government is spending over $0.5bn on the waterfront is patently wrong. The Auditor-General, in his report, has totally refuted that claim. The overall cost to government over the life of the development is around $149m. What that has leveraged is a private sector investment of over $1.1bn, the creation of thousands of long-term sustainable jobs, and a convention centre which is going add to the attraction of the Northern Territory for many years to come. It goes to show that the Leader of the Opposition has absolutely no understanding of how budget works, or how the economy works, and she would be a dangerous Chief Minister to have her hands on the levers of the economy when she is so critical about an investment which has leveraged such a significant contribution from the private.
She also talked about height limits in the CBD and how it is so terrible we have tall buildings. I point out that there are many fabulous tropical cities around the world. You could take all of the major cities in Asia which are held up as fabulous tropical cities, and they all have tall buildings. If the market did not want tall buildings, developers would not build them. The issue is the planning regime around them, and the minister for Planning and Infrastructure talked about how we would better manage that into the future.
It is very disappointing the Leader of the Opposition does not have a vision for Darwin. The only vision she can point to is one which was trotted out in 1999. I wish she would stop being critical of the waterfront. If you talk to anybody who lives in Darwin they are all excited about it. There are probably over 1000 people directly employed by it, and the amount of business which is being generated for our private sector in the construction of the waterfront goes to show how far out of touch the CLP is with the business community of Darwin when they continue to bag it.
Speaking as Tourism Minister to the Chief Minister’s statement, the centrepiece of the plan, the World War II museum to commemorate the defence of Darwin, is a much-needed tourist attraction. It has long been identified as a point of difference for our capital city, and one which will increase travel and the length of stay. Early tourism research has indicated an increasing desire amongst visitors and local alike to know more about the bombing and defence of our capital city. We are seeing the rising popularity of military heritage, the increasing attendance at Bombing of Darwin commemorations and Anzac Day marches, not just in Darwin, but all over Australia. It is not just amongst older visitors, but also the young.
As Education minister, I see our World War II museum will be a focal point for visiting school groups which will come to Darwin specifically, as they go to Canberra to see our World War II museum. We will have generations of Australian children growing up with a better knowledge of what happened here, and the sacrifices made during World War II. We have a story to share with our visitors, and we are going to do that.
A new contemporary World War II museum for Darwin has the potential to become a major tourist attraction. I met recently with Major General Steve Gower, Director of the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, to get a better understanding of this market and how the Territory can take advantage of our position. I thank Major General Gower as he is very enthusiastic to work with us, whatever the government’s arrangements may be, and to share artifacts and collections held in Canberra regarding the bombing of Darwin. He spoke about possibly broadening the museum to tell the story of the role Darwin played in the Pacific theatre, particularly in East Timor, Ambon, and Papua New Guinea.
The terms of reference for the group which is going to be pulled together by the Chief Minister, to develop this theme and these concepts, can go on any number of different tangents. I am sure there will be a lot of interest around Australia in helping us get that right.
The tourism sector stands to benefit greatly from many of the initiatives under Creating Darwin’s Future. These will encourage longer stays and a better experience for our visitors. It is going to generate additional activity in the CBD, which will feed through to increased visitor nights in our hotels, increased opportunities in the hospitality sector, and increased discretionary expenditure in the retail sector.
The museum is going to be a fabulous asset in the tourism product stock. There has been a bit of debate about whether the museum should have gone out to East Point where the gun turrets are, but the majority of people to whom I have spoken have locked in that it is better in Darwin itself, complementing the things to do in our CBD. To have the museum next door to us at Parliament House, as a key feature in the new State Square vision, is going to present what happened here in the highest profile way to visitors to the city. This will meet demand for a facility that highlights and informs visitors and Territorians on the role that Darwin played in the war.
The natural consequence of low-cost carriers such as Tiger Airways, JetStar and Virgin Blue is that passengers will take more frequent and shorter trips to destinations, and with it, the demand by visitors for more things to see and do in Darwin. The conference and convention market will benefit greatly.
I have spoken about the opportunities that are coming our way with the increasing growth globally in the cruising market. Many of the people I met upstairs earlier this evening are significantly ordering new ships to put on the water to cater for the growing demand for a cruising holiday.
This is a significant investment in infrastructure, building on our investment in the waterfront development: the convention centre, more hotels, the new cruise ship terminal, and a fabulous wave lagoon, which is going to provide a wonderful recreational opportunity for Territory families, people from interstate and overseas.
As I said in my comments during Question Time earlier this week, Creating Darwin’s Future is not just about the future of Darwin; it is about the future of the Northern Territory because this is our capital city, one which all Territorians should rightly feel proud. They should have ownership of the city because virtually all Territorians visit Darwin at least once, and many on a regular basis. We are building, with the business community and private sector, a better Darwin for our future. Given that it is our capital city, it is the major centre of business activity. With growth in the economy and increasing confidence to invest here, that bodes well for our revenue capacity which enables us to deliver better services for all Territorians, no matter where they live.
As Minister for Tourism, this is a fantastic initiative. I look forward to playing my part in our government’s roll-out of this plan. I congratulate the Chief Minister on her statement.
Motion agreed to; statement noted.
Mr HENDERSON (Leader of Government Business): Mr Acting Deputy Speaker, on behalf of the Chief Minister, I move that so much of standing orders be suspended as would prevent Wednesday, 10 October 2007, as the next day on which precedence will be given to General Business.
General Business Day falls due on the Tuesday but, Tuesday being the first day of a two-week sitting of the Assembly, would make it difficult for members to give notice of business. They would have to do so tomorrow. As Leader of Government Business, I have acceded to members’ requests to nominate Wednesday.
Motion agreed to.
Mr HENDERSON (Leader of Government Business): Mr Acting Deputy Speaker, I move that Government Business Order of the Day relating to the Assembly taking note of the report of the Inquiry into the Protection of Aboriginal Children From Sexual Abuse be discharged as the Chief Minister has included this in a major ministerial statement that has been completed earlier this day.
Motion agreed to.
Mr STIRLING (Treasurer): Mr Acting Deputy Speaker, I move that the Assembly do now adjourn.
A large crowd witnessed a great and tough fought GAFL grand final on Saturday between Nhulunbuy team Saints and Yirrkala-based team Baywara. The Saints kept coming all day, but Baywara, under their captain and the local league best and fairest, Daniel Bromot, went on to win the flag. It was a pretty close contest, although they did lead all day in just their first year in the competition, so it is a huge effort for Baywara to knock off the premiership in their very first year.
I congratulate and give thanks to Gove Australian Football League President, Des O’Sullivan. Des does a tireless job. His love of the game and the way he works with the game is Sheedy-like in his respect and love for it ...
Mr Kiely: Big wrap.
Mr STIRLING: It is a big wrap, but that is the sort of work that Des and his committee put in. I congratulate them for another great year.
I also want to thank Vibe Australia 3 on 3, particularly Claude Williams, who was the coach of Sydney Kings; Dwayne Cross, a champion basketballer in his own right; dance champion, Isaac; and the whole team for bringing 3 on 3 back to Yirrkala. It is their third visit to Yirrkala. They have been going for eight years now. They carry very important drug-free and healthy lifestyle messages, but they are contained within a quite dazzling array of basketball skills, physical skills, dance, and music. It really actively engages the young people over the two days, and I look forward to their next visit.
What this young dance champion, Isaac, could do with his body was just amazing. Of course, the local Yolngu youth have very much of that innate lithe ability to physically express themselves in dance amazingly well - a cross between dance and athletics. Isaac’s view was that many of them should be at AIS now, so we look forward to them coming back.
In July, my son, Scott, came to Gove in his Toyota Kluger, with his fianc and her parents. On the way back, he was carrying one spare and he did that. He did his second spare just past the intersection between Mainoru Station on the Central Arnhem Road, probably some 80 km past Bulman, I would think. He went back to the Mainoru Service Station with the two tyres, but they were unable to help him. They suggested he keep going back to Bulman, so he left his fianc and parents in the car. I received a phone call about 4 pm. By then, he was back in Bulman, and a guy from Gove had picked him up and taken him back there.
I want to put on the record what these people, Dirk Swagerman and his wife Joy, and Gavin Bell, who is the Essential Services Officer at Bulman, did because it is the traditional and typical, old-style Territory hospitality that travellers in trouble really need that they expressed on this occasion. Scott rang me about 4 pm, as I said, and I was able to purchase the tyres required in Gove by about 5 pm. However, there was little point in hitting the track then, as it is probably a six-hour run down there from Gove. To get there in the middle of the night was not going to be much use to anybody. Dirk took Scott the 85 km back to his vehicle, which was, of course, jacked up on the side of the road, brought his fianc, family and everything they had in the vehicle back to Bulman, put them up in the unit underneath his place, and treated them to a barbecue and a couple of beers. That is just exceptional hospitality, and I thank Dirk and really appreciate his efforts.
The next morning, we got there about 7.45 am, and it was Gavin Bell’s last day at work. He was leaving for Perth that afternoon. He is the Essential Services Officer there, but he carries two trades. I think he was a carpenter and he might have been a plumber as well. I have to say he is no mean hand in a bush workshop with a couple of tyres. Of course, both valve inserts had been lost. They had already searched the community for any tyres that might fit this Kluger. They are unique - and these are things that happen in the bush – with a wheel fitting that no other tyre would go on and no rim would fit that particular type of vehicle. However, Gavin got these tyres back on. As shoddy as that workshop looked, he could probably rebuild a V8 engine, given this bloke’s skill.
Between Dirk and Gavin, they got the tyres right and they took Scott and family back to the vehicle. They put the tyres on and drove carefully back into Katherine and had those tyres checked before they went on the road back to Darwin. They really went out of their way for a young couple, and Asha’s parents, who were in strife. You are a long way from nowhere when you are just past the Mainoru Station intersection. They were probably about 30 km from Mainoru Station, and there is probably 35 km, 45 km on to Mountain Valley the other way. As I said, it is a long way back to Bulman, and an awful long way to Beswick. Thank you to those people. They are outstanding folk who, when you are in strife and you need someone, are the sort of people you want to run into to: Dirk and Joy Swagerman and Gavin Bell.
I express condolences to the family and friends of Jack Larcombe OAM, who passed away recently after a long battle with illness. Jack was the very first head of Correctional Services in the Territory and the Deputy Secretary of the then Department of Community Development. By all accounts, he was very innovative; a forward thinker and extremely well regarded by colleagues and officers under his charge. He understood local conditions and situations. He was always up for laugh.
I welcomed the group of new graduates into the Northern Territory Correctional Services just last Friday and I hope that they can carry on the sort of good work that Jack had inspired in everyone he worked with.
He was heavily involved in the NTFL. He was a life member of the St Mary’s Football Club. He was a great sportsman himself. He played professional football in Western Australia, cricket in India during the war, and Rugby as well. On top of Jack’s valiant service during the World War II, and receiving numerous decorations during his time in uniform, he did lead the way for Territory Correctional Services in those very early days. I thank him, on behalf of the department, the governments then and over time, for his service to the Territory community. He will be missed.
Mrs MILLER (Katherine): It is all right, member for Braitling, I will not be very long.
Mr Acting Deputy Speaker, I want to talk tonight about a lady from Katherine called Christine Clarence. Christine has been undertaking some remarkable expeditions in the last couple of years. Her reasons and motivations for undertaking these were just to show that women over 50 years of age are perfectly capable of doing and achieving whatever they want to achieve. Christine is over 50 and lives in the tropics, of course, in Katherine, which is not really the ideal background of a mountain climber. She certainly believes in challenging herself, and to be a good role model for other Territorian women, particularly those over 50. She said: ‘We can do it’.
Over the last couple of years, from February to March in 2006, Christine was a volunteer at the annual Iditarod Dog Sled Race in Anchorage, Alaska. She was assistant to the race starter, so helped out at the start line and met all the competitors and their dogs. After assisting in the days before the race and at the start of the race, she spent five weeks dog sledding and cross-country skiing in Alaska and the Yukon. That is quite some feat for somebody who lives in the tropics to attempt such a wonderful expedition.
From January to April 2007, she was seconded to the United Nations (UNICEF) to work in Nepal. She was working with the Maoist Army on reunification and reintegration of child soldiers with their families and communities. She found that very interesting and rewarding work, she said, ‘when it all went to plan’.
In July 2007, Christine joined the expedition team for the first Australian ascent of Chamser Kangri, a 6622 m mountain in the Ladakh area of the Himalayas. This mountain had not been climbed by any European team and has now been taken off the Mountaineering Federation climbing list as it is logistically difficult to access and support expeditions. Therefore, it will remain unclimbed for the foreseeable future. Christine found it very hard physically, and emotionally to some degree, as working at altitude for weeks on end is very draining on all your resources. She successfully reached the summit on Saturday, 28 July, at 12.25 local time. The summit day was 10 hours of very hard work with a seemingly endless 500 m near-vertical scree wall. It took five hours to climb that 500 m wall. However, when she reached the top, she was very proud - the first Territorian to have achieved it. She took photos taken with the Northern Territory flag which was given to her by minister Vatskalis and said it is now proudly flying from the cairn on the summit at 6622 m. As I said, one of her main motivations for undertaking that was to say: ‘You can’. And she did.
From September 2007 until April 2008, Christine has been asked to return to Nepal with UNICEF, to continue the work she was undertaking earlier in the year with the Maoist Army and reintegration of child soldiers.
Quite an absolute turnaround of career changes for Christine. She is inspired by both of those challenges, first of all the dog sledding and then climbing a mountain in Nepal. I congratulate her. Yes, she has shown us that anybody of any age, if you have the will and the determination, can do it. I wish Christine all the best and I know that her adventures have only just begun. She has had a good taste of it now and I wish her all the very best.
Ms SACILOTTO (Port Darwin): Mr Acting Deputy Speaker, important things are happening around Port Darwin. The exciting announcements by the Chief Minister in relation to Creating Darwin’s Future, a tropical harbour city, mainly focus around the Port Darwin electorate, including the World War II museum, the State Square precinct revamp, the ribbon of green around the city, and the $6m dedicated for the Myilly Point headlands. These are all great. I cannot wait for the waterfront project and the wave pool. I have heard those investors who have pre-purchased property at the wharf have already made money on their investment, even before the foundations have been laid. The convention centre is going to be great with conferences already starting to mount up and interest strong for more bookings. Malu Barrios, the convention centre manager, is doing a remarkable job promoting the new jewel in Darwin’s crown.
The $19.5m middle school being built at Bullocky Point is zooming ahead. I am very proud to say that the Larrakeyah Primary School Council is largely responsible for the concept of an education hub on this picturesque spot. The contractors, Halikos Brothers, and all of the contractors are doing a great job and should be congratulated. I commend the work of the interim school council and the principal, Mr Marcus Dixon, who are all working very hard to ensure that the school is ready for our kids to walk into on the first day of school, Term I, 2008.
Along with the commitment of $19.5m for the middle school, there is also a $4.33m complementary roads project being committed to this learning precinct. The works are under way. I add that the motorists using this area have been very patient and are working around the area well. I have had one comment from a constituent, a mum of a girl in grade 6 who will attend the middle school next year. She said: ‘It has to be done. It is a bit of a pain, but it will make it safer at the end for our kids’. I have to agree.
I am very pleased that, as a government, we are not doing a half-hearted job. We have thought about and are delivering the whole package, not just the wrapping. The CLP Opposition Leader issued a media release on 22 July saying they were disappointed with the new roads project and another swag of great initiatives by this government. I love Darwin and my constituents have nothing but praise for this important project - both the new $19.5m middle school and the complementary and essential road safety project.
There is much happening in areas other than the city in my electorate. Tipperary Waters shopping precinct has a newly opened shop called The Chook Shed. I wish them well. They are doing a roaring trade so far, and I am proud to say it has brightened up the shopping centre. I am waiting for a coffee shop because I like to walk around and have a coffee. If there are any people out there who would like to open a coffee shop, that would be a great spot. It is a vibrant little shopping precinct. I commend the hard work of Carol and George Valles and all of their staff from Best Foods supermarket. They do a great job and a roaring little trade down there, mainly due to personalised customer service. They are always there with a smile and a friendly greeting every morning when you pop in to grab your iced coffee, mocha or newspaper - whatever you grab in the morning. They are always very friendly and welcoming.
I also thank Warren Allen, a brave man who was my dance partner at Portrait of a Senior Territorian recently. He had a tough job, as I had never danced before and being at the end of the line when poise and grace were given out, it was a tricky job. Warren did well and has graciously offered to teach me more, which I certainly need.
There was a great turnout. I acknowledge my good friend who was the subject of a portrait, Mrs Mena Nicolakis, and her husband, Con Nicolakis. Mena has been like a second mother to me and I have known her since I was a young girl. Mena is a long-term Darwin resident from a Greek background. She has a very vibrant personality and anyone who has met her will remember it fondly. Her heart is as big as her laugh or her smile. She has two daughters, Libby and Eftimia, who are a fantastic testament to their parents.
Last Saturday was the Darwin National Seniors Race Day at Fannie Bay Racecourse. This is the third annual race day I have attended and the third that National Seniors have organised. I was a bit concerned that we might not have any horses because, of the two previous race meetings, we only had horses at one. It would have been unfortunate to have had three race meetings and only had runners in one of the meetings.
It was a great day. There were many supporters there. National Seniors do a fantastic job in the Territory, and I thank Mr Cyril Young, or Young Cyril as he likes to be known, and Mrs Pauline Young for their hard work for National Seniors and making sure it was a fantastic day. Cyril does not sit still; he races around and is such a hard worker for National Seniors and other organisations. He is a true gem and a blessing for our community and, in particular, for National Seniors. The seniors there had a great time, some of whom had never been to the races, so it was a good experience for them. We had a lovely lunch.
Cyril organised much of the sponsorship for the day. One sponsor was Trevor Tschirpig from Tschirpig Conveyancing, which has been a sponsor for the last three years. They are enthusiastic and ensure that they come along and support the day as well as providing financial support.
I will make mention of some of the other sponsors. I would like to mention the rest of them in another adjournment during the week. I thank Fernwood, and FreeSpirit Resort. George is a fantastic supporter of the National Seniors. He supported with raffle prizes and his attendance. There is also Bunnings. There were a lot of prizes donated. I donated a small prize myself, because it is such a good job they do, and I am more than happy to support them in any way.
It is one of the events that Cyril and Pauline, on behalf of National Seniors, organise. Some of the other events have been the Christmas in July event, which was a bit strange, walking around the city with a Christmas hat on in the middle of July. We had a great time; we sang Australiana Christmas carols and it was a fantastic night. They had a cordoned-off area at the Mindil Beach markets - not last Sunday, but the previous two Sundays in a row - that was a dedicated area with a gold coin donation towards National Seniors. There were many seniors from interstate who sat with us, and many Territorians as well. It was nice to sit down and have a bit of a chat with people. I thoroughly enjoyed that day at the markets.
Those people at National Seniors really need some recognition and some assistance. I know that National Seniors are looking for some more sponsors for next year’s race day. It is a great opportunity for businesses to get behind senior Territorians who have so much to offer the Territory and, most certainly, are vital contributors to our Northern Territory economy. I urge any businesses out there that would like to sponsor the race day to contact Mr Cyril Young and offer their pledge of support.
I would like to reiterate how excited I am, particularly being the member for Port Darwin, about these recent announcements by our Chief Minister in relation to Creating Darwin’s Future. I believe it is going to be a fantastic positive for our already vibrant and growing area.
Mrs BRAHAM (Braitling): Mr Acting Deputy Speaker, I cannot believe it, but Larapinta Primary School is celebrating their 10th birthday on Friday. I cannot believe that it was 10 years ago we opened that school. It is going to be a great day of celebration for the primary school. It is very much a community-based school. It has a lot of interaction with the Desert Park, which is quite close to it, as well as many of the community groups. All the classrooms are going to take part in a big assembly, welcoming the visitors. The school band and choir will entertain, and there will be the usual speeches from the principal, the school council chairman and representatives from DEET.
There is going to be a special presentation to the inaugural principal, Ellen Varley, who has returned to Alice Springs for the occasion. Ellen Varley is remembered with great fondness by the community of Larapinta because she was a very experienced teacher who opened the school in 1997 and really wanted to make that school convey a culture of caring for the children.
The school had an initial enrolment of 210 students, but has grown steadily and the numbers have gone up and down. Now, there are around 300 students from preschool to Year 6. I imagine that number is going to increase again with the opening of the next stage of the Larapinta subdivision. I guess the school will be affected by that, when many young families, hopefully, move in.
The principal, Stewart Moyses said the celebrations will reflect the participation and importance the school has on community values. The school is very much now part of the Larapinta and the broader Alice Springs community. Its strengths lie in the professionalism and stability of the school staff - and that is great, that so many of the staff have been there for so long - and the very strong and supportive school council, which has always been totally committed to the welfare of all its students. Mr Moyses said the school council had helped to create an environment where all families are valued, and the focus is on the individual needs of students as well as the needs of the whole school body.
The success of the school is underpinned by a culture of respect for one another and acceptance of the differing needs of families which make up our school community. Their slogan is: ‘Larapinta Primary - Every Child a Success’, and that is what they try to achieve.
It has taken on a number of significant roles in its short history. In 2003, it was identified as one of the Northern Territory’s Lighthouse Schools in the Southern Region, and the two-year project cemented Larapinta’s reputation as a school which used the benefit of technology as an important resource for teachers. The school still upholds that model of teaching and learning practices, using information communication technology as a vehicle for whole school and systemic change. Recent additions to all the classrooms from Transition to Year 4 are interactive whiteboards, which offer teachers and students a level of teaching interactivity and engagement never before available – and something I have to admit is well beyond what I ever used. Mine was mainly chalk and talk.
A major undertaking this year for staff has been the responsibility of being one of the 10 DEET schools across the Territory to be designated as a teaching school. This is a great program and the minister should be proud of it. A significant partnership with Charles Darwin University sees pre-service teachers spending one day a week throughout the year at a school. The internship, if you want to call it that, has great benefits for the students and recognises the commitment and quality of teaching staff. Larapinta is pleased with the role and responsibility it has in not only teaching children, but also in training the teachers of tomorrow. That sort of internship teaches young students to teach. It is one of the best forms of hands-on training you can get.
Congratulations to Larapinta Primary School. It is a school which has established a high reputation amongst parents and the community, and the staff are so genuine in their approach. Stewart Moyses can be justly proud of what they have achieved in their 10 years, along with Ellen Varley, the previous principal. I wish them all the best for their 10th birthday.
I want to comment about 8CCC, which is our community FM radio. It has been seeking funding from the minister for some time. I want to give some background on it, and if any members of government who are in the House who could give their support to 8CCC, it would be appreciated.
It initially commenced broadcasting in 1981 from the ANZAC Hill High School. It was relocated to the campus of the Centralian College, with the college as the broadcast licence holder. Transmission from Tennant Creek - and the member for Barkly is interested in this - began in the 1990s. After the merger of Centralian College and Charles Darwin University in 2004, the broadcast licence held by Centralian College was no longer valid, and the Australian Communications and Media Authority advertised nationally for suitable applicants for a permanent licence.
They have since issued a temporary broadcast licence to 8CCC; however, this expires in November 2007. Their deliberations will hinge upon the economic viability of the station, of which Northern Territory government support is a vital component. Unfortunately, after protracted negotiations with CDU proved fruitless, it was no longer tenable for them to operate from the new campus, mainly due to some unrealistic and restrictive conditions placed on them by the university. Therefore, they vacated those premises in December 2005 and, for the past 12 months, have had to fully fund their operation. This is no easy task for a community radio.
It provides great benefits to the community. For instance, it provides a complete broadcast to Tennant Creek and Alice Springs of the Question Time of this parliament. No other station does that through Central Australia, so it is a valuable way of people hearing what is going on in their parliament. It also offers a valuable service to government and the public. They provide multilingual broadcasts of news and music, which specifically target Latin American, French, Spanish, Filipino, and Maori groups. Research shows they are the major language groups in Central Australia, along with the Aboriginal components.
They have forged partnerships with several other volunteer organisations, and they include the production and broadcast of information packages for organisations such as the National Association for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect, Hepatitis C Awareness Week promotions, and support for community fundraising activities such as the tsunami appeal.
In August 2006, 8CCC won the National Australia Bank Best Volunteer Organisation for the Northern Territory. This award judges the effective management, training and development of volunteers of an organisation, and 8CCC can be justly proud of achieving that. They went on to win the National Best Volunteer Organisation which also carried a nice prize of $10 000 for them.
The support for this station is extremely high in Alice Springs. Community radio in the NT averages a listener-ship of over 40% which is the highest in Australia. 8CCC have approximately 190 registered volunteers and supporters. All the supporters pay an annual membership and the level of community support is approximately about 1% of the entire population, so it demonstrates the commitment of the local community to the station. Of these 190 registered supporters, approximately 100 provide volunteer service from announcing on some of the programs down to even cleaning. The station manager estimates the value of these services at about $90 000 per year if you cost them about $15 an hour but, of course, they are volunteers so that is an in-kind cost.
There are many costs associated with running a program such as this. The station’s income from sponsorship, membership, and grants is approximately $24 000 a year. It is hoping that they can increase that over the next 12 months. At the moment, they are seeking funding from the Northern Territory government of $65 000 per year for the next three years, just so they will have stability. That is not a lot of money to keep a community radio such as 8CCC going. I call on the government to provide that funding so that we do not see the demise of this particular station. It is community access to broadcasting at the local level. They have an excellent support base. It provides services to government and the community at large, and it includes the promotion of activities and events that the mainstream radio stations may not want to even bother about.
We see mass media ownership and control falling into the hands of a few players in Australia so it is really important that there is an independent local media that hears what the community wants and says it. It is even more important that Central Australia maintains its social identity and there is community input into a radio station. 8CCC has a long and proud history of doing just that. With the Northern Territory government giving financial support and assistance, it can carry on in years to come; without that support it will struggle to stay open.
I say to the minister, it is not just for Alice Springs, it is for Central Australia and Tennant Creek. It is really important that you get behind 8CCC and let them know where they stand. Their funding does run out in November. If they are to plan ahead, they need to know they are going to get some funding from the government; remembering that they do a lot of self-funding. However, a small station like that in a town of 26 000 people needs the support of this government, and I urge the government to do so.
Ms SCRYMGOUR (Arafura): Mr Acting Deputy Speaker, I will speak in my adjournment about an important Territorian and someone I have known since a little child growing up in The Narrows. I quote from his eulogy:
In my electorate:
Whom I have known for a long time:
Who runs Madigans Restaurant at the Desert Park in Alice Springs:
Who are spread all over Australia. There are some in Brisbane, Port Macquarie, Canberra, Darwin and Alice Springs. My condolences to them. Farewell, Mick Ivory.
Mr MILLS (Blain): Mr Acting Deputy Speaker, tonight I continue some comments with regards to Taiwan. However, prior to doing so, I would like to advise the House of significant achievements of two sporting teams in the Northern Territory - quite outstanding achievements at the Australian Secondary Schools Rugby League Under 15 Championships in Adelaide 2007. The Rugby League representative calendar for 2007 is one that both Rugby League, the Northern Territory and all participants can feel immensely proud of.
Both the Under 15 and Under 18 representative teams made the trek interstate to compete against the best and came away with the spoils of victory, undefeated. That does not often happen in the Northern Territory where those who represent the Territory come away with such a result.
A report on the Under 15 team: they competed in the Australian Secondary Schools Rugby League Under 15 Championships in Adelaide, and they were a part of the sporting program within School Sport NT. Players were selected from the school system and will also play their respective Rugby League clubs in Darwin, Katherine and Alice Springs. They had trial matches in Gove in April, where teams from all across the Territory ventured to represent their teams and attract the eye of the NT selectors. With so much talent and ability within the playing ranks, the selectors’ role becomes difficult in selecting players whom they believe are capable of facing the opposing states, and it is a great position for the league to be in.
Once those selections were announced, the NT team went into a training camp at Richardson Park for three days under the watchful eye of coach, Brett Holmes. Brett also coached the team in 2006 and, with the team, achieved the team’s written goal of being placed second, which they did. Brett is a man who is well respected by players, and has the full support and admiration of their parents. He is a part-time school teacher, and also a fireman. He and his wife are permanent residents of Darwin, and live in Palmerston. They are currently undertaking to adopt a child from overseas. Brett is a great asset to Rugby League, and is a qualified coach. He has won the respect and support of Rugby League officials at a high level, who have identified his skills and ability and his manner with young players in all areas of the game. The team’s written goal was to win the Pool B championship.
At the conclusion of the training camp, all Northern Territory players attended an official function at Darwin Rugby League Club where they were presented with their playing jumpers for the forthcoming championships. Parents were in attendance to see their sons accept their highest sporting achievement to date. All players were photographed as a group, with the Northern Territory flag proudly displayed by the team captain, Bradley Hansen, and other team members. The Northern Territory ochre jumper is one that is respected by opposing interstate teams, and the players wear with pride.
Northern Territory Rugby League made a cash contribution of $6000 to the team, along with the supply of the complete playing strip, which was purchased in Darwin as a means of supporting the local economy. The contribution was made by the players by means of a levy.
The Northern Territory Under 15 team results in Adelaide were as follows: Game 1 - Northern Territory 26 versus Western Australia 10; Game 2 - Northern Territory 26 versus Victoria 6; and Game 3 - Northern Territory 28 versus South Australia zero. The final was Northern Territory 22 versus Western Australia zero. Player of the Pool B Championship was No 7, Sam Irwin from Darwin High School. The Northern Territory won the John Allen Trophy for the third time, (1998 and 2000), and were also joint winners with Western Australia in 2001.
The NTRL Under 15 team which competed in the national championship in Adelaide in June swept all before them. They were an absolute credit to themselves, and great ambassadors both on and off the field. Society in this day and age offers many options to young people in how to use their time. We were delighted that a team of young men have chosen Rugby League as their sport, and elected to participate in something which has the potential to offer greater opportunities in the game at a higher level.
Seven Northern Territory players were selected for the Australian Affiliated States Merit team. This is the first time in history that such a number from the Northern Territory, at any one time, have won selection together and earned a national jumper. Those players were: Kruise Nicholls, Dripstone High School; Matt Bennett, Kormilda College; Sam Irwin, Darwin High School; Ben Tonkin, Dripstone High School; Bradley Hansen, Darwin High School; and Reece Coleman, Taminmin High School. Four Northern Territory players have been targeted by East’s Rugby League Club in Brisbane with formal proposals, and they are the feeder clubs for South’s in the NRL competition. It is great to know Territorians have been recognised at such a high level. In 2008, the Northern Territory will defend the trophy at the championship to be played in Brisbane. The Northern Territory team can be proud of their achievement.
However, that is not all. The Under 18s ventured interstate as well. The NTRL Secondary Schools competition was held in Townsville from 7 to 14 July. I have a list of players and officials which I seek leave to have incorporated in to the Parliamentary Record rather than read it out.
Leave granted.
NTU Under 18 Rugby League Team:
1. Sean Rich, Nightcliff RLFC (Darwin)
2. Jerome Lacco, University RLFC (Darwin)
3. Keith Dowling, Palmerston RLFC (Darwin)
4. Eric Warria, Central Memorial RLFC (Alice Springs)
5. Gavin Brown, Litchfield RLFC (Darwin)
6. Jac Ralph, Litchfield RLFC (Darwin)
7. Daniel Good, Brothers RLFC (Darwin)
8. Jason Tomes, Litchfield RLFC (Darwin)
9. Bryce Richards, Litchfield RLFC (Darwin)
10. Jim Sullivan, Central Memorial RLFC (Alice Springs)
11. Jeromie Edwards, Palmerston RLFC (Darwin)
12. Tyler Malone, Palmerston RLFC (Darwin)
13. Tom Turnball, Central Memorial RLFC (Alice Springs)
14. Willie May, Nightcliff RLFC (Darwin)
15. Sean Shanahan, Litchfield RLFC (Darwin)
16. Rhys Booth, Wests Tigers (Katherine JRL)
17. John O’Donohoe, Wests RLFC (Alice Springs)
18. Jason Gebbert, Palmerston RLFC (Darwin)
19. Arlo Fry, Wests Tigers (Katherine JRL)
20. Matthew Johnson, Palmerston RLFC (Darwin)
Mr MILLS: Thank you. The NTRL Under 18 representative team is a sporting team which can be proud of their feats both on and off the sporting field in 2007. They compete annually in the Australian Secondary Schools Rugby League National Championships against opposing affiliated state teams. It was a pleasure to see them off at the airport. I just happened to be there to see these young men whom I have seen as young lads around town, all geared up with their Territory gear, go off into battle to Queensland. They were in Pool B, and the championships are played at different venues across Australia each year. This year, the championships were played in Townsville, North Queensland.
The appointed Under 18 coach is Michael Rawiri, who is the Rugby League head coach at the Northern Territory Institute of Sport. Michael is in his second four-year term as the NTIS Rugby League coach, and his background is New Zealand Rugby League.
The players were selected from Darwin, Katherine, and Alice Springs, and were watched by a team of selectors after trial matches were played in Darwin. The NT Rugby League incorporates support of the team by providing the entire playing strip, training gear, dress gear, along with the travel and accommodation in full. This was very costly exercise, as many parents in the Territory will know. The children selected made a contribution as well. Like the Under 15s, they made a player contribution of $900 to assist with this expenditure. They appreciated the support they received from their families, and off they went to represent the Territory.
They were accommodated at James Cook University in Townsville and all players and officials were treated to their own rooms. Player welfare is extremely important, and the team was assisted by a strong management team which accompanied the team during the championships.
The results speak for themselves: Game 1 - NT 30, Victoria 8; Game 2 - NT 52 West Australia 14; Game 3 - NT 50, South Australia 12; and Championship Final - NT 34, Victoria 6. The NT was awarded the Sam Davey Trophy as ASSRL Pool B Champions 2007. The player of the finals was Eric Warria from Alice Springs. Eric has since been selected to join Cairns Rugby League as they move towards playing in the Wizard Queensland Cup. Player of the Championship was Jac Ralph from Litchfield Rugby League Football Club. Jac was team captain, who led by example with a great boot. All his kicking feats were superb. He is an inspirational leader in all departments. He is now playing A Grade with the Litchfield Bears in the Darwin Rugby League competition.
This is the second time in three years that NT have one Pool B championships. The trophy first came to Darwin after NT won the final played in Wagga in 2005, again undefeated.
In the Under 18 team, Man of the Match awards were given to three Palmerston Raiders players: Tyler Malone, Jeromie Edwards and Mathew Johnson. That is an extraordinary event for those to be given Man of the Match, but also all coming from the Territory Palmerston Raiders Club. All these were only 15-years-olds competing at the Under 18 year levels. That adds even more to their significant achievement. It was a convincing display of talent that otherwise might be untapped and wasted if it was not for sport. I commend all those who were involved. It is just a shame that we do not have ticker-tape parades and parties here at Parliament House for such a significant achievement as young lads going away and achieving so well for the Northern Territory. Good on you.
Now to continue my contribution with regards to Taiwan. Tonight, I will talk a little about the historical overview of Taiwan and the country itself. Tomorrow night, I propose to look more at some of the political complexities surrounding Taiwan and its interaction with mainland China, and what role we can play, both as a nation and as a Territory, in that interaction, being a participant in some of the solutions to the very complex issues that are surrounding the cross-straight matters that have been in existence since Chiang Kai-shek - in fact, before - fled across the strait with the communists hot in pursuit.
It is a small country. It is about half the size of Tasmania, yet its population is about the same size as Australia. You would expect, therefore, to find it completely congested. It is not. It is beautiful. It was called Formosa by the Portuguese in the 15th century. Formosa is a word that means beautiful. Beautiful island was the full name and it is a beautiful place. The cities are well planned and orderly. Many people live there, but there is also a lot of mountainous area.
The languages spoken there are Mandarin, Minnanese which is a Taiwanese language, Hakka, and a range of indigenous languages are spoken by the 10 to 12 identified indigenous groups who live there. They have a currency called the New Taiwan dollar, and they had very significant trade with Australia in 2005-06 of $10.4bn. It is a very good story with the economic progress and strength within the region and good links with Australia.
The history goes back about 30 000 years. The Aboriginal inhabitants, ethnically related to Malays and Polynesians, arrived about 4000 years ago. First Chinese contact occurred in the 15th century, though Chinese records indicate it may have been earlier than this. As I have mentioned, Portuguese sailors sighted the island in the 15th century and called it Formosa or ‘beautiful island’. The Dutch then built a commercial base there in 1624, using Chinese labour from Fujian. However, their occupation did not last long and, in 1662, a Naval force led by Ming Dynasty loyalist Cheng Ch’eng-kung, expelled the Dutch and then used Taiwan as their base. From there, the mainland was raided where the new Qing Dynasty was consolidating power. Then, the Qing Dynasty formally annexed Taiwan in 1683 following Cheng’s death.
Taiwan became a province in its own right in 1887, but, within a decade, was ceded to Japan when China lost the first Sino-Japanese War in 1894-95. Japan modernised the island, using it as a model colony. With Japan’s defeat in 1945, the island was occupied by the Kuomintang or the Nationalist Party forces. In 1947, tension between local Taiwanese and recent mainland arrivals that came across with Chiang Kai-shek flared into civil unrest which the Kuomintang security forces brutally suppressed. It was referred to when I went over there. There was a bloody crackdown on 28 February, now known as the 2-28 Incident. It became a symbol of opposition to the Kuomintang rule.
On the mainland, the Kuomintang, under the leadership of Chiang Kai-shek, continued their unfinished civil war with the Chinese Communist Party led by Mao Zedong, and they fled to Taiwan for refuge in 1949, taking with them nearly a million refugees. To be continued.
Mr KIELY (Sanderson): Mr Deputy Speaker, tonight I will talk about some events that have been happening at my local schools and, if time permits, I will draw the Assembly’s attention to some wonderful work that the Darwin Toy Library is doing.
On 14 June, I attended Sanderson High School Assembly, with my colleague, the member for Karama, Delia Lawrie. It was a great assembly led by the Principal, Russell Legg, who is doing a great job there. I was specifically asked to present the Literacy Awards which I am happy to sponsor, and the member for Karama was there to present the citizenship awards which she sponsors.
The recipients of the Sanderson High School Literacy Awards in Term 2 were Jed Anderson, Jeffrey Lay and Belinda Schmidt, and the recipients of the Community Citizenship Awards were Shanese Friel, Cordelia Mac, and Shaquille Wright.
While I was there, the winner was announced of students who had submitted designs for the Sanderson High School logo competition. As you know, Sanderson High School is moving into a middle school next year. It means a whole new logo for Sanderson Middle School, and the students submitted some really great designs. The winning design was a bit like a tag, so it is a very contemporary design, indeed. The chap who designed it was Dylan Chieng. It is a fantastic design. You will see it on all their clothing and books. Dylan received $100 for his efforts and he will go down in Sanderson Middle School history as the designer of the SMS logo.
The other students who submitted designs, for the competition – which were all great - all deserve a mention. They are Kelsey Anstee, Lee Berthelson, Rowina Chan, Jessica Lindsay, Floyd McDonald, Lestari Morlanes, Nadia Tchong, Jacinta Walters, Danielle Barra-Raymond, Leenika Blitner, Telena Gless, Jack Long, Cadence McMillan, Tarissa Pitt, Caitlin Tiernan, Jordan Wilson, Melissa Bell, Rita Boding, Christi Hamon, Maria Magoulias, Rebecca McSkimming, Maighdlin Simpson, and Roxanne Voulanas. They are great students, quite a number of whom I know through the various schools in the area, and have seen grow up.
Also at the assembly, the National Geographic Channel Australian Geography Competition Awards were given out to a number of students. The competition that the students entered comprised a series of questions relating to aspects of geography, and each student had to answer 30 questions in 30 minutes to gain a pass, 35 questions in 30 minutes to gain a credit, or 40 questions in 30 minutes to gain a distinction. Each student chose the entry level to try at. You have to admit, it is a fantastic effort that all the students were successful in gaining certificates. I particularly mention, for distinctions were Rebecca McSkimming and Aimee Capitaine; credits went to Ryan Langley, Shannyn Vergo and Tameka Borton; and passes for participation went to Jaylene Bonson, Apara Brewster, Zara Geraghty, Julie Jones, Irene Kute, Maria Magoulias, Teana Mangion, Dustin McGregor, Tiani Abbott and Jake Collins.
Also on 14 June, a little after the assembly, the Minister for Employment, Education and Training, the member for Wanguri, Paul Henderson, came to the school and launched The Middle Years of Schooling: Guide for Planning, Teaching, Assessing and Reporting Learning. It is a fantastic thing. The school’s ethos in keeping students interested in school is one of the key benefits of middle schools, according to the principal, Mr Legg. The approach at Sanderson High School focuses on learning the students need by changing what they learn and the way they learn in school. There are more opportunities for hands-on learning and, at the same time, there is a strong focus on individual student’s needs, and a great emphasis on literacy on numeracy.
I was very involved and very well represented in the Student Handbook 2008, which has just been launched by the principal. I, along with a couple of other parents who are members of the school committee, D’elise Keitaanpaa and Denise Thomas, had a look at this book from a parent’s point of view. It was a draft. Looking at it as a parent, I was pretty impressed with the content and structure. I found it a really good guide to go through, and would be able to pick out a syllabus with my child. I found it a very good book from a parent’s point of view. However, as a member of the Martin government, I found it an exceptional piece of work by the school to get that together, and the way that they presented it through their school council, got all the input from all the teachers and the school council, and many parents, before the launch. That was a job well done. Full congratulations to Mr Legg and his staff, and the school council for getting that book together and launched. Well done.
In Sanderson, the kids are a pretty active lot, particularly at Wulagi Primary School. There are a couple of champs there. The two champs I wish to mention tonight are Jimmy Anderson and Teneale Ah Mat, who are Year 7 students at Wulagi Primary School. Jimmy Anderson played for the Northern Suburbs Power-Stars AFL team in the recent AFL exchange held in Gove. The team were undefeated in the round robin and Pool A games. It was a fabulous effort. Both the manager, Glenda Kennedy, and coach, Rod McLean, were impressed with the players’ behaviour - great sportsmanship and teamwork.
Teneale Ah Mat played for the Northern Territory Under 14 basketball team in China and Singapore over the semester break. Teneale wrote about that, and I will read into Hansard what she said:
Fantastic effort, Teneale. Well done.
The principal of Wulagi Primary School, Sue Fisher, described Jimmy and Teneale as not only having excellent sporting abilities, but also a pleasure to teach, and fantastic students to represent Wulagi School in the wider community. That is fantastic.
Also on the Under 14s basketball team, I was pleased to hear that another young person I know in Sanderson, Audrey Badley, who I have seen grow up, also went away on the school cluster basketball exchange to Cairns. There were 15 girls in that team who were selected to represent their schools in the northern suburbs. The team came fifth in the competition – a great effort from these girls. They deserve to be recognised in the Parliamentary Record.
The basketball exchange girls were: Demi Cubillo from Karama Primary School; Ashley Fitzpatrick from OLSH; Rickelle Parfitt from Karama Primary School; Teneale Ah Mat, who I mentioned before, from Wulagi Primary School; Tishaila Abala from ANZAC Hill High School; Michelle Friel from Karama Primary School; Petra Bohnning from ANZAC Hill High; Tahlee Fereday from Holy Family Primary; Lauren Flannagen from Nightcliff Primary; Audrey Badley, as I mentioned who goes to Alawa Primary; Corby Weetra from Karama Primary; Melissa Morgado from Karama Primary; Shannon Ponter, Karama Primary - I have worked with Shannon’s grandmother and I know Shannon and the Ponter family is a great family; Rebecca Smith from Stuart Park Primary; and Kia Bond from Nightcliff Primary.
These are the connections that you always get in Darwin and it is a great thing. Kia is the daughter of a teacher at Anula Primary School. Great work by the girls, and great work by the parents to get them there. It says a lot for the parents of the Territory and the kids of the northern suburbs. The coach of the side, I should mention was Phillip Preece; and the manager was Sue Tremble. Well done for the coach and manager for a superb effort from the Under 14s schools cluster basketball exchange for Cairns.
Finally, I want to give a quick wrap on the Darwin Toy Library. As everyone would know, the Darwin Toy Library is on McMillans Road - a wonderful little institution. The Darwin Toy Library celebrates its 29th birthday on 27 September. I was fortunate to be there for the 20th birthday celebrations, I think it was. My wife was on the committee at that stage, and that was my first big break into sausage sizzles. I remember that I borrowed the Shane Stone electorate sausage wagon, and had that all set up and cooked up a whole host of sausages at the Water Gardens. It was a fantastic day.
Next year, of course, is the 30th anniversary. I hope to be there, perhaps in the Len Kiely sausage wagon. I will certainly be there cooking sausages for the Darwin Toy Library because they are a fantastic mob. The CEO of the toy library, Kathie Snowball, does a fantastic job with the committee. She has been there for quite a number of years now and has a really steady hand on the tiller. However, she can only do a good as job by being supported by the management committee. She has a great committee there that she serves. The president is Nicolle Shoobridge, the treasurer is Rachel Kroes, the secretary is Sheree Chandler, and the general committee members are Bronwyn Graham, Thea Shoyer, Kirsten Kelly and Tamara Bhatnagar.
Any not-for-profit volunteer organisation does it hard, and they can only succeed when they get the support of a good management committee. The management committee can only do a good job with the support of their members. They are always on the lookout for new members, so if there is anyone out there who wants to lend a hand, the management committee meetings are currently held on the second Monday of each month at 7.30 pm at the toy library. So, get along; you are more than welcome. It is a great little library. They work hard. I have helped them with their applications to the Community Benefit Fund and, I am happy to say, we have been successful on a number of occasions. However, they work hard off their own bat to raise money. Just recently, they had a kitchen raffle. That is a kid’s kitchen we are talking about. They did really well. It was a side-by-side kitchen raffle. They made a profit of $400 on the ticket sales. The winner of that was Kate Eadie, a member of the toy library. That is just another way that you can get in and help; by purchasing the tickets in the raffle. Well done, Kate.
Another person who was lucky enough to win a raffle run by the toy library to raise money was Sankham Hornby, who won the family portraits raffle. That was a great fundraiser based around family portraits, which you expect with something like the toy library. They raised $510 from the $10 that everyone - it was not a raffle, I am sorry; it was buying the portraits. They raised $510 from the $10 that everyone paid. That is just a marvellous effort. Once again, it shows different ways that people can get behind
The Darwin Toy Library is releasing its Christmas catalogue where you can select all sorts of toys and get a 20% discount. The orders have to be in by Saturday, 22 September 2007. Even if you are not a member of the toy library, get along; think about joining it, and have a look at their catalogue. You get a great discount of 20%, but orders have to be in by Saturday, 22 September 2007.
Mr Deputy Speaker, I have time to cover one more aspect which deserves a mention. On 16 and 17 August 2007, I attended the Northern Suburbs Cluster Schools’ athletic carnival at the Arafura Track and Field Stadium, Abala Road, Marrara. I give special thanks to Ms Paulina Motlop, the Physical Education Coordinator of the Northern Suburbs Cluster, for her efforts in organising a fantastic event. Wulagi Primary students represented their school in several track and field events. Thank you also needs to go to Mr Cameron Carmichael, Mrs Taniel McKellar - and congratulations on her recent marriage - and Mrs Edele Musco, for accompanying the students on the day.
Anula were there the following day, and they were led by Mrs Lee-Anne Wilson who is a fantastic and hard-working teacher at Anula. It was a fantastic effort for Lee-Anne and all the teachers and parent helpers to get their kids there.
At the end of the athletics carnival, Delia Lawrie and I presented shields, which is one of the blessings about being there. The Perpetual Shield went to Manunda Terrace, and the Delia Lawrie Shield for the aggregate schools also went to Manunda.
Congratulations to everyone.
Mr KNIGHT (Daly): Mr Acting Deputy Speaker, I want to acknowledge some fabulous students in my electorate.
Each month, I sponsor achievement awards throughout the 21 schools in my electorate. I want to recognise some of the excellent students in the Timber Creek area. Students at Timber Creek School have had some awards presented to them over the last few months. I acknowledge the great work of Aston Baxter; Jazlyn Little; Simon MacDonald; Renita Harrington; Mikey Smiler; Ryan Hector; Peter Harrington; Bradley Hector; and Hayden Hector. It is a fabulous school and I know the kids work very hard. They come from the various communities around Timber Creek. I encourage them to keep up the good work, and to work hard in their efforts. I look forward to hearing about further students at that school excelling.
One thing which has happened in the Timber Creek was an exhibition of photographs taken by students. There were five students from the Timber Creek who presented some photographs. These students were Jamie Roberts; Marcella Jones; Hayden Walker; Jake Blitner; and Carol Roberts. I had a look at the exhibition at 24HR Art in Parap, and it was fabulous to see the efforts of the children.
The Timber Creek Lens exhibition was an extension of the Launch by Lens Youth Week photography project held in April 2007. This involved the youth from Timber Creek, which is 290 km west of Katherine, also children from Jilkminggan which is south of Katherine, and Year 8 classes from Katherine High School.
Katherine photographer and project coordinator, Toni Tapp-Coutts travelled to the communities and held workshops with the kids, teaching them basic photography and camera use. Participants were then handed a disposable camera to use for the week, to take photographs of their family and community. Eighty cameras were handed out, and 50 were returned, so 30 have gone missing somewhere. This involved a long process of sorting and selecting from the 1200 photos, with 190 photos from the three groups being exhibited in Katherine during Youth Week in April. There was a display in the main street, and there were some marvellous photos. The Timber Creek kids were chosen for a Darwin exhibition because of their remoteness, commitment and enthusiasm for the project. Fifteen of 17 participants in Timber Creek returned their cameras, so it was a great result.
I thank the Office of Youth Affairs in Katherine, Katherine Regional Arts Incorporated, plus 24HR Art, and students and teachers at Timber Creek School for all their efforts and commitment to the projects. It is great to see the kids having a go and using their artistic ability.
I acknowledge Jeremy Ah Fat. He attends Woolianna School, and he won the student monthly award in June. Jeremy was chosen for his positive attitude towards learning. He is an enthusiastic student who enjoys all school activities, both academic and sporting. He is a quiet achiever who is always willing to help those around him and is an excellent role model who sets positive examples for his peers in Year 2. That is great work from Jeremy in that fabulous little school.
In August, an award went to Mikayla Green for her desire to strive to learn. Mikayla tries extremely hard and does not give up when she is challenged. She helps make lunches for the younger students and looks after their wellbeing. Mikayla is both conscientious and reliable and does not hesitate to offer her assistance when the need arises. She is a great young lady.
Woolianna is a very tight school; it has a great deal of school spirit. I congratulate the principal, Petrina Reardon, who is doing a great job in a small school, which I know is excelling.
I will finish on another note. I would like to respond to an e-mail I received today from Lynne Culpan. Lynne lives in the rural area at Berrimah and has some concerns about local government reform. I know the reform is creating a great deal of anxiety, but it certainly is not my wish or that of the minister or this government to place any additional financial burden on people or a reduction in services people currently enjoy. We are trying to achieve an outcome which benefits your lifestyle in the rural area. I know it is very difficult to understand, and there is a lot that needs to be considered. There are many people involved in the decision-making process. However, the key aim is to provide everyone with a better lifestyle without financially burdening them.
Lynne, I take on board your comments, which were fairly straight and stern. I will work very hard to achieve the goal of looking after you and other people in the rural area to ensure that, through this reform, you get a great result which will see your lifestyle enhanced for the future – and protected. I know it is a great way of life in the rural area, and there is no way that we want to take anything away from that.
I ask Lynne to hang with us; we are getting there. There should be some answers and certainty in the next few weeks. I hope you make use of the information that is provided. I have a great deal of dialogue with the minister about people in the rural area and this reform. I will restate my goal and the minister’s goal: we want to ensure that your lifestyle is protected and, for the future, enhanced. I thank you for your e-mail and look forward to providing you with more information as it comes to hand about a positive future.
Mr NATT (Drysdale): Mr Acting Deputy Speaker, on the weekend, I was pleased to be at the launch of the Palmerston City schools initiative and the Palmerston Middle School’s open day at Palmerston High School. I attended with the minister for Education and the member for Brennan.
It was great to see so many of Palmerston’s educators joining in on the day. Many of the school principals, teachers and DEET advisors were there, along with local government representatives including the Mayor of Palmerston, Mr Robert McLeod. It was great to see a number of parents and many school-aged children attend.
This launch will see one of the most significant changes in education delivery in policy in the Northern Territory for many years out there. It is a credit to the Palmerston City Schools Committee for taking the initiative to redress the city schooling initiatives, to move forward a seamless education process for preschool right through to Year 12. I am pleased to say that the Palmerston High School is the focal point of the whole concept, but ably supported by the primary schools in the area: Gray Primary School, Durack Primary School, Bakewell Primary School, Driver Primary School, Woodroofe Primary School and Moulden Primary School.
The Northern Territory government, with DEET, has been consulting with the community through the Palmerston Infrastructure Advisory Group and community forums over the last few weeks about the services that are needed in Palmerston. The Northern Territory government has committed - I believe it has been said several times in the House - $12.86m for the Palmerston High School capital works upgrade to assist many of these services. It offers Palmerston students a quality education all the way through to their senior school.
Education leaders and school communities from the six primary schools and the high school have worked tirelessly for some time to ensure that this initiative will meet local needs and expectations. The new Palmerston City Schools logo, which utilises the Palmerston City colours, is a symbol of the close relationship established with the wider community. Their logo insignia bears the words ‘Respect, Learning and Innovation’. I guess they are the words that paint a picture for the future of the kids in Palmerston.
I commend everyone who has had a part in the development of the Palmerston City Schools, and I wish all the students well in their future studies. I am certain that primary school students and their families enjoyed touring the middle school classrooms and will learn a lot more about the middle school process in the years to come.
I also attended Kormilda College with the Minister for Employment, Education and Training a little while ago. Kormilda is expanding their school grounds to assist with the shortage of skills in the key trade areas. They will be offering a number of VET subjects through various registered training organisations in the not-too-distant future. To assist these courses, they are going to invest in infrastructure which will be starting in the next couple of weeks, I understand. The $2.7m spend by the school has been generously supported with a capital grant and interest subsidies to fund, in part, the construction of the new VET facility at Kormilda College by the government. There will be four new classrooms and an upgrade to a further 12 classrooms. The courses are expected to start in the second semester of 2008.
I congratulate Nathan Pritchard, his staff and the school committee for this innovative foresight to ensure that further technical and trade training is carried on through these VET programs with the students at the school because, let us face it, the lack of skill in a lot of trades is quite outstanding. To have this sort of facility set up at Kormilda college to assist students with their training as apprentices while they are working towards a Northern Territory Certificate of Education is a terrific foresight. I congratulate the school for their initiative.
Last Sunday, in my capacity as Minister for Mines and Energy, I had the pleasure of attending the 2007 Mine Rescue Competition, which was undertaken at the showgrounds. There were six companies involved in the competitions. There were four from the Northern Territory and two from Western Australia. Energy Resources of Australia, Ranger Mine, was represented along with McArthur River Mine, Newmont Tanami operations and Alcan Gove, and we had two visiting teams from Argyle Diamond Mine and the Kimberly Nickel mine.
These teams undertook a number of sessions over a period of, I think, about three days. It was seen as a terrific team-building exercise for the teams and, obviously, enhanced personal confidence. Most importantly, I guess, it enhanced and improved mine rescue safety and training. It is imperative in mine sites that safety is a No 1 factor. It is important that workers do go to work and return home safely. To have volunteers such as these individuals undertaking these competitions to ensure that they keep their skills up and learn a lot more as they go along from other instructors, is a credit to everyone involved.
It promotes a bit of pride. You could see the pride in each of the teams and the effort they went through to ensure that they undertook each of their individual tasks professionally. You could see that they took pride in what they were doing and they also had a lot of pride in the ethics of the mine safety area. The camaraderie between the teams was terrific. It, obviously, encouraged and promoted occupational health and safety through all of the operations that they undertook. I congratulate all of the teams that took part.
The competition was set up by the Northern Territory Minerals Council, and I congratulate them for their initiative. There were a number of marshals, patients and scene restorers who helped out through the day, and I thank them for participating and helping out. I understand there was about 50 in total. For them to give up their weekend to help out these teams work through their skill drills was a fantastic effort. I congratulate Mr Bob Peake, Chairman of the Mine Rescue Committee, and Steve Ellis who did a lot of organisation for these games. They were terrific.
I had the opportunity to see the river rescue and also a chemical hazard situation. Both the teams I saw did a fantastic job. To know you have these capable people working behind the scenes at each of the mine sites is, I am sure, a comfort to the people working at the site and to the companies that employ these people.
I also thank the companies for allowing their workers to undertake these games. I understand because they work different shifts, they have to come together to get their skill level up for about a week or so before the games. The companies facilitated this and gave them the time to participate in the games.
It was a terrific effort by everyone all round and well supported by many sponsors. There were about 25 sponsors in all. As I said, the Minerals Council, the companies involved and, most of all, the people who undertook the games did a marvellous job. I can see nothing but better things coming for these games. I can see them improving and getting bigger. As other mines come onto the horizon, I am sure their safety teams will want to become involved in the games as well. Congratulations to them as well.
I had the pleasure last Friday of attending a Palmerston Australia Day Council meeting. They had a couple of guests at the meeting that day at Palmerston - the 2007 Senior Australian of the Year and the Australian Local Hero of the Year. I congratulate Judy Joyce and the Palmerston Australia Day Committee for organising this. Approximately 20 attended the afternoon. It was terrific to sit down, have a cup of coffee and listen to two amazing people.
The 2007 Senior Australian of the Year is a gentleman by the name of Phil Herreen. I know Phil quite well, and was unaware that he was the Australian of the Year. He is a South Australian. He was a former speed car driver in South Australia. I can still remember Rowley Park days. I am showing my age here. Rowley Park was the speedway in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. It closed in the early 1980s and moved out to Virginia. Phil Herreen was a sprint car champion and a general, all-round, great guy who really supported the sport. Unfortunately, Phil was involved in a speedway accident in 1993 at Virginia. In this horrific accident, he severed his T6 and 7 spinal cord area which has confined him to a wheelchair. That has been a life-changing exercise for Phil.
After many months of hospitalisation and rehabilitation, he has again become involved and now helps people rebuilding their lives. He is a volunteer peer support advocate and works side-by-side with injured people giving them encouragement, inspiration and hints on life in a wheelchair. He is a mentor to many sports people who have become disabled through accidents. He is a volunteer facilitator helping youth in trouble for driving and other offences. It has been a big challenge for him and, to see him come through it and take on this mantle of a volunteer helping other people in the same situation that he is in, is a great credit to him.
It was terrific to catch up with him again, have a cup of coffee and a bit of a yap. I hope that when I get the opportunity to return to Adelaide at some stage to give him a ring and we can sit down and have a real good chatter about the old days. It was terrific to see him on the day and great to see him undertaking the work that he is undertaking at the moment.
The other gentleman was the Australian Local Hero of the Year. This is an amazing young man by the name Shanaka Fernando. Shanaka is a Sri Lankan. He is getting on towards 40 years of age. He came to Australia in 1989 and set up a not-for-profit restaurant chain called Lentil as Anything. He now has four restaurants and he employees over 80 young people and, also in these restaurants, he provides space for artists and writers. The unusual thing about these restaurants is that he does not set prices for the dishes. You can go in and have a dish and you pay what you think it is worth. The amazing thing about these restaurants that he has is that you can walk in, buy your meal, sit down, and you could be sitting with a street nomad or a street tramp who might want to pay $1 for a meal, who could be sitting next to a High Court Judge. It is an amazing concept.
Last year, he donated $2m to charity. It is just a wonderful set-up. In his words:
He has definitely done that. He is an amazing young man. He is very open and has great aspirations for his life and is doing some wonderful work in Melbourne.
I congratulate him and Phil on the work that they are doing.
Mr BONSON (Millner): Mr Deputy Speaker, tonight I will talk about two prominent Territorians, one of whom I spoke about last week. I would like to place on the record, with the assistance of the family, the official eulogy of Anthony John Wills.
Mr BONSON: I withdraw the words. I will use another term ‘kaka’.
I will not have an opportunity at this time to finish the eulogy. However, I give notice to the family and friends of John Wills that I will continue at a later time to complete the eulogy of Anthony John ‘Bungy’ Wills.
Motion agreed to; the Assembly adjourned.
VISITORS
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, I draw your attention to the presence in the gallery of Year 6/7 Bakewell Primary School students accompanied by Tracy Roberts, and Year 9 Taminmin High School students accompanied by Jean-Marc Balette. On behalf of honourable members, I extend to you a very warm welcome.
Members: Hear, hear!
RESPONSES TO PETITIONS
The CLERK: Madam Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 100A, I inform honourable members that responses to petition Nos 55, 61 and 62 have been received and circulated to honourable members.
Petition No 55
Amalgamation of Litchfield Shire Council
Date presented: 17 April 2007
Presented by: Mr Wood
Referred to: Minister for Local Government
Date response due: 29 August 2007
Date response received: 28 August 2007
Date response presented: 29 August 2007
Response:
- The reform of local government in the Northern Territory is a significant step in improving the accountability, efficiency and transparency of local councils. It is a large and complex exercise.
This government made a considered decision with regard to reform of local government in the Northern Territory. The decision was based on financial sustainability reports of local government both nationally and internationally, as well as analyses prepared by the Department of Local Government, Housing and Sport, the Local Government Association of the Northern Territory, and expert advice on local government obtained from outside the department.
This government has assigned 18 months to the process and is well on track with the implementation plan. Detailed shire plans will be finalised by the end of the year for further public scrutiny.
Communication of the process of local government reform is important. During the next few months, there will be continued implementation of a heightened strategy in this regard with various mediums conveying information to the public.
In its present form, local government in the Territory is unsustainable. In addition, many residents are not receiving a fair and equitable standard of services. The decision to implement new local government in the Northern Territory has been made with the best available advice and will provide the long-term foundation for better services to be delivered across the regions.
Petition No 61
Amalgamation of Litchfield Shire Council
Date presented: 3 May 2007
Presented by: Mr Wood
Referred to: Minister for Local Government
Date response due: 29 August 2007
Date response received: 28 August 2007
Date response presented: 29 August 2007
Response:
- The reform of local government in the Northern Territory is a significant step in improving the accountability, efficiency and transparency of local councils. It is a large and complex exercise.
This government made a considered decision with regard to reform of local government in the Northern Territory. The decision was based on financial sustainability reports of local government both nationally and internationally, as well as analyses prepared by the Department of Local Government, Housing and Sport, the Local Government Association of the Northern Territory, and expert advice on local government obtained from outside the department.
This government has assigned 18 months to the process and is well on track with the implementation plan. Detailed shire plans will be finalised by the end of the year for further public scrutiny.
Communication of the process of local government reform is important. During the next few months, there will be continued implementation of a heightened strategy in this regard with various mediums conveying information to the public.
In its present form, local government in the Territory is unsustainable. In addition, many residents are not receiving a fair and equitable standard of services. The decision to implement new local government in the Northern Territory has been made with the best available advice and will provide the long-term foundation for better services to be delivered across the regions.
Petition No 62
Amalgamation of Litchfield Shire Council
Date presented: 20 June 2007
Presented by: Mr Wood
Referred to: Minister for Local Government
Date response due: 29 August 2007
Date response received: 28 August 2007
Date response presented: 29 August 2007
Response:
- The reform of local government in the Northern Territory is a significant step in improving the accountability, efficiency and transparency of local councils. It is a large and complex exercise.
This government made a considered decision with regard to reform of local government in the Northern Territory. The decision was based on financial sustainability reports of local government both nationally and internationally, as well as analyses prepared by the Department of Local Government, Housing and Sport, the Local Government Association of the Northern Territory, and expert advice on local government obtained from outside the department.
This government has assigned 18 months to the process and is well on track with the implementation plan. Detailed shire plans will be finalised by the end of the year for further public scrutiny.
Communication of the process of local government reform is important. During the next few months, there will be continued implementation of a heightened strategy in this regard with various mediums conveying information to the public.
In its present form, local government in the Territory is unsustainable. In addition, many residents are not receiving a fair and equitable standard of services. The decision to implement new local government in the Northern Territory has been made with the best available advice and will provide the long-term foundation for better services to be delivered across the regions.
MINISTERIAL REPORTS
Darwin Festival
Darwin Festival
Ms SCRYMGOUR (Arts and Museums): Madam Speaker, last Sunday saw the close of another Darwin Festival, and it is difficult to escape the clich – it really was the best on record. I understand the organisers have yet to finalise their figures - they were still bumping out from the Botanic Gardens late yesterday - but all indications suggest record numbers attending a record number of events.
Some, of course, were old favourites such as the Santos opening concert at the Esplanade, or the Australian Central Credit Union’s Teddy Bear Picnic. Others included the amazing new music venue SoCo Cargo on Mitchell Street; what frankly looked like an ugly industrial site from the outside transformed inside to a fabulous venue for live music. The Star Shell was, once again, one of the stars of the festival, and enjoyed a record number of sell-out performances this year. This allowed, in some cases, extra performances to be held. The sell-outs included the bizarrely wonderful Kransky Sisters and Broad, while other shows of note at the Star Shell included the Dili Allstars, Sing Sing and Nabarlek, which went on to great success at the Indigenous Music Awards on the second last night of the festival. Of special note was the performance by Roymackonkey and the Darwin Youth Orchestra. The kids from the DYO were seriously wonderful in meeting the challenges of playing with one of Darwin’s great musical outfits.
The visual arts had a great outing as well, starting with the NATSIA awards. The first weekend saw a total of 22 exhibitions of Aboriginal art, from amazing new works from Papunya to recent paintings and prints from Christine Christopherson, from the huge success of the inaugural Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair to printmakers from Yirrkala at the wonderful Galuku Gallery, and the Tails of the Avians at the Old Wesleyan Church at the gardens.
Once again, we were given an absolute treat by Tracks Dance, this time with You Dance Funny. Also noteworthy was the near sell-out crowd at the AusDance’s Four on the Floor. Nine nights of indigenous dancing saw fabulous performances from White Cockatoo, Kenbi and the Djilpin dance groups. Of course, one of my favourite outings of the festival was to see my own countrywomen from the Strong Women’s Group at Nguiu teaming up with a group of Sydney jazz musicians.
Darwin Festival links with Asia have been steadily growing in recent years. This year included Play Play, Interpositions and The Tangled Gardens. The festival and 24 Hr Art really deserve great praise for developing these important creative connections with our near neighbours. Added to this, of course, were performances as diverse as Carmen by Oz Opera, chanting from the Gyuto monks, Alice Springs Red Dust Theatre’s Barracking, and a double show from the Scared Weird Little Guys.
Madam Speaker, indeed, all members of the Assembly, the great thing about the Darwin Festival is in its diversity. It really reflects what we are here in the Territory and different lives and cultures that we share. Our homegrown creative endeavours stand up well nationally and internationally. By the same token, it was great to see a wide variety of shows from interstate and overseas that we normally would not get to see.
As well as the Festival Board, which is headed up by Ian Prince, I also thank the tireless work of Malcolm Blaylock, the festival artistic director, and the absolutely terrific Anne Dunn. I would see both of them at all hours patrolling and pacing around various gigs and shows, like expectant parents waiting for the successful delivery of scores of creative events. They, along with an estimated 1000 volunteers who worked on various aspects of the Darwin Festival, deserve a really good rest, and they need our applause because without those volunteers many of these festivals would not be successful. Although I know that plans are already afoot for future festivals stretching out until 2010, I am certain members of both sides of the Assembly will congratulate the organisers, the sponsors, and supporters of this year’s Darwin Festival.
Mrs MILLER (Katherine): Madam Speaker, I thank the minister for her report this morning. The Darwin Festival is a great opportunity for Territorians to be able to have the experience of art and culture, especially culture that they may not have been able to ever go somewhere else to see. It is a great opportunity for local talent to be able to demonstrate what we have here. It is also something that is great to have at this time of the year because of visitors to the Northern Territory and to Darwin being able to take part in those festival activities.
A lot was lots happening around the Northern Territory during this time, which probably would have detracted just a little from the Katherine Flying Fox Festival. Everything seemed to be happening at the same time. However, there was something for everybody; you are quite right, minister. It is so nice to have some culture and some wonderful performances in Darwin for people to be able to experience. I thank the minister for her report and I also support what she said about volunteers. Without volunteers assisting in these activities they would never be the success that they are, and their role is extremely important. Volunteers by their hundreds need to be congratulated for the success of this event.
Mrs BRAHAM (Braitling): Madam Speaker, last night I mentioned the Alice Springs Festival that is going to occur in September. Like the Darwin Festival, it will be a smorgasbord of events. That is fantastic. There is a lot of satisfaction, at the end of the day, from the work that has gone into organising these events. Minister, you did not mention the Indigenous Music Awards which were on Saturday ...
Ms Scrymgour: Other report.
Mrs BRAHAM: Okay. Can I just say, Madam Speaker, how disappointed a lot of people were to hear the minister use that as a political platform to talk about the federal intervention into Aboriginal communities. It was most inappropriate. It was meant to be a celebration of the Indigenous Music Awards, with people performing, and a tribute to past members who are deceased. Instead, the minister and the member for Barkly used it as a platform to further the political debate on something that really should not have been raised at this evening. It was most disappointing. It was very disappointing, minister, to a number of people who were at that event to hear you use that venue, that time, to promote government’s point of view on the intervention that the federal government is involved in at the moment. It is disappointing that you did that, minister.
There is a time and a place for us politicians to speak, but that was not the time or the place. There were many who felt that you should have been concentrating on what it was all about; a celebration of indigenous music. Let us be positive, not always bringing the negative. Let us not have this political opportunist spoil the evening.
Ms SCRYMGOUR (Arts and Museums): Madam Speaker, I thank both members for their contribution. I thank the member for Katherine because the Flying Fox Festival and many of our festivals are a great display of our cultures that come together.
Member for Braitling, it was stating the obvious. It was saying yes, this is a night of celebration. I was not saying it was not a night of celebration. There were three very moving events. One was to see Mandawuy and Gurrumul Geoffrey Yunupingu with Mandawuy for the first time. The tribute to GR Burarrawanga, which was only possible with permission from his family, I thought was a very important event. To put the link between that and what is happening between permits and land - I do not think that I was the only person to talk about the era of uncertainty in our community. However, the message was: ‘You can take away our land, but you cannot remove the music’. It was saying: ‘You cannot take away our culture or our music; it is part of our celebration and is still strong’.
Royal Darwin Hospital Birth Centre
Dr BURNS (Health): Madam Speaker, this government promised in 2001 that we would build a high-quality birth centre in Darwin and we are delivering on that promise. I am pleased to report that on Monday, 27 August, the Chief Minister and I opened the state-of-the-art birth centre at Royal Darwin Hospital. This is another milestone in this government’s plan to build and strengthen the services and infrastructure at Royal Darwin Hospital and other hospitals across the Territory.
Just last week, the Chief Minster and I launched an expansion of the hospital with a new Ward 3B. This ward has been opened with fully staffed new beds which we promised in 2005. It will mean the reopening of a ward with 20 fully staffed beds, which was shut down by the previous CLP government and turned into an administrative area.
Furthermore, in the coming month I look forward to making another major announcement relating to the Rapid Admission and Planning Unit.
All these initiatives are coming online to address the increasing demand facing our hospitals. We are equipping the Royal Darwin Hospital with the resources and facilities that our staff need to be able to continue to offer high-quality services to Territorians.
The establishment of the birth centre, at a cost of $2.5m, underlines this government’s commitment to birthing services. The birth centre is a very modern, state-of-the-art facility designed in consultation with stakeholders to provide a high-level of care in a home-like environment. The birth centre includes two low-tech family birthing rooms, with deep water baths for pain relief, consultation rooms, education and training rooms, and an outdoor courtyard where families can relax. It is an expansion to maternity services in the Northern Territory.
The birth centre gives those women who are expected to have an uneventful birth in the Northern Territory another birthing choice. It will provide a great alternative to the delivery suite on the sixth floor at Royal Darwin Hospital.
We estimate that about 225 women each year will be able to access the birth centre through the community midwifery program. The midwives at the birth centre will work in tandem with the existing community midwifery practice located at Trower Road, Casuarina, to provide the best care for women and babies. Pregnant women can access educational material on antenatal information at the centre through their community practice midwife from next week. The birth centre is an extension of the practice in a specialised location. It has a woman-centred family friendly philosophy, where care follows a woman and is focused on her and her family’s needs. It has a friendly environment with an emphasis on midwifery-led care for those who do not need medical intervention during childbirth. It will also meet the needs of the staff and be a pleasant working environment for them.
Local construction company PW Baxter was responsible for the project, which saw the renovation on the ground floor of the Royal Darwin Hospital. I congratulate Paul Baxter and his company for a great job. I was impressed with the quality of work. I am sure that everyone who visits the birth centre will appreciate their good work. We have the infrastructure in place, with state-of-the-art furnishings and equipment, appropriately trained staff, and support for a range of birthing services.
The final step is to ensure that services across the Northern Territory are aligned and meeting the needs of our Territory families. The Department of Health and Community Services has recently commenced a maternity services project to assess the range of maternity services provided in the Northern Territory and recommend an integrated maternity service framework. Services within the scope of this project encompass antenatal, perinatal and postnatal care provided either by specialists or generalist health professionals. As such, it encompasses both home birthing and community midwifery, as well as hospital based services.
The project is being undertaken by a team of consultants with expertise in both obstetrics and midwifery, who are familiar with the breadth of health services in the Northern Territory. To date, they have met with over 30 people to identify and discuss key issues related to the project. An expert reference group has been established for the project and it has met twice. This group provides advice to the consultants and is comprised of people with expert knowledge and skills in the area of maternity services in the Northern Territory.
Madam Speaker, I am confident that the new $2.5m Birth Centre at Royal Darwin Hospital will be appreciated by those women looking to exercise a choice in the delivery of their children.
Mr CONLAN (Greatorex): Madam Speaker, I thank the Minister for Health for his report this morning. The announcement of Monday’s opening of the birthing centre is good news, and I am sure that expecting Territory mothers will welcome the announcement. It is a great job that the midwives do in the Northern Territory.
A concern that I do have, minister, is that the community nurses and the home birthing midwives have access to a vehicle to carry out their duties. The community midwives who deliver at the hospital and will deliver at the new birthing centre do not have a vehicle to carry out their duties. I know they do a follow-up service for about five days or so after the mothers have delivered their baby. It would be great to see them have a vehicle to carry out their duties. I believe they get a petrol allowance and the like. However, I would like to see them have access to a Health Department vehicle.
Again, I thank the minister for his report. It is an important announcement for Territory mothers. I look forward to further briefings from the minister.
Dr BURNS (Health): Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Greatorex for his response. Regarding the maternity services review, the issue of transport is an issue that could be looked at. Currently, I understand they do receive some reimbursement for whatever travel they might have. However, I am sure the maternity services review will look at this issue raised by the member for Greatorex, as well as other issues related to delivery of these services across the Northern Territory.
Eradication of Grapevine Leaf Rust
Mr NATT (Primary Industry and Fisheries): Madam Speaker, I report on what is believed to be a world first: the successful eradication of grapevine leaf rust disease in the Northern Territory. Members will recall that grapevine leaf rust was initially discovered at a residence in the northern suburbs of Darwin in July 2001.
In responding to this detection, a National Grapevine Leaf Rust Eradication Team was established in Darwin by my Department of Primary Industry, Fisheries and Mines. Funding of the National Grapevine Leaf Rust Eradication team was provided under national cost-sharing arrangements. More than $2.6m was provided for research and eradication of the grapevine leaf rust.
Grapevine leaf rust is considered to be a serious threat to Australia’s $4.6bn wine and table grape industries. If the disease had headed south it could have devastated our Ti Tree and Central Australian table grape industry. While the disease is common throughout South-East Asia and other parts of the world, it has never before been detected within Australia.
It was, indeed, a mammoth task to eradicate grapevine leaf rust in the Northern Territory. All grapevines throughout the Darwin region were identified and inspected, and those found to be diseased were removed and destroyed. Controls were also introduced to restrict the movement of grapevines.
Many of the vines belonged to members of our Greek community, who use the leaves to create dolmades, a fantastic savoury Greek dish often used as an entre. A community education program was developed to explain the need to quarantine and eradicate grapevine leaf rust from the Northern Territory before it spread nationally. The message about the threat was broadcast using television, newspaper and Greek community radio, as well as through Greek language schools, the Greek Church, and the then Northern Territory Administrator, Mr John Anictomatis.
Residents in Darwin, Palmerston and regional Darwin welcomed the DPIFM staff members when viewing their properties to identify the spread and extent of the disease. More than 40 000 properties were visited, with a police presence required to undertake the inspection of two properties. Infected vines were removed, and where grapevines were detected, follow-up visits were necessary. An authority on grapevine leaf rust also visited the Northern Territory to provide advice on the disease and possible treatments.
Madam Speaker, I am pleased to report that the Northern Territory was declared free of grapevine leaf rust on 1 July 2007. I wish to acknowledge the dedication and great deal of hard yakka by members of the National Grapevine Leaf Rust Eradication Team, and the tremendous support of the Darwin, Palmerston and outer Darwin community in eradicating this disease. It is yet another example of the Territory being at the leading edge. Whether it is the grapevine leaf rust or the equine influenza, we are well placed to deal with exotic pests and disease incursions.
Mr MILLS (Blain): Madam Speaker, I welcome the report; it is good news. I acknowledge the hard work of all those departmental folk who fought a very well-coordinated campaign to remove this potential problem.
However, once again, I see the stark contrast. We talked about the equine flu yesterday, now we talk about leaf rust today. As an analogy, we see the magnificent coordination and combined effort to produce an excellent result for the horticultural industry or the racing industry; however, do we see the same abandonment of self-interest, power plays and political agendas when it comes to children - children that we declared to be sacred? No, we see a great level of the increased obstructionism and excuse-making hiding your own personal agendas. I believe with this example of a leaf rust eradication and the equine flu response, we should be ashamed when we see the response that we have to little children being sacred.
Mr WOOD (Nelson): Madam Speaker, I thank the minister for his statement. What the grapevine leaf rust issue raises is that there are many threats to the horticultural industries. Diseases can effect such an important industry. The Northern Territory, unfortunately, has been ‘blessed’ with such things as Panama disease, citrus canker, the spiralling white fly, and the grapevine leaf rust as well. There is a whole range of diseases that have caused major problems to the horticultural industry.
We really need to improve our quarantine of materials, and the introduction of even things such as nursery plants into the Northern Territory as a priority. We have a large number of weeds in the Northern Territory which were actually introduced pastoral species. Gamba is a classic example. It is great for cattle, but it is a curse for a lot of other people. Mission grass is the same.
I take up the point the member for Blain made in relation to equine influenza. Look at the effort that is being put into making sure that it does not spread because we have a multimillion dollar industry throughout Australia. However, the horticultural industry sometimes does not quite get that appropriate concentration of government efforts, and we certainly have to.
I used to grow snake beans at Daly River for years and had no problems with any diseases. Now, I believe, we have a snake bean wilt which was never heard of. It had to have come into the Territory somehow. The government really has to look at whether the processes it has to make sure these pests do not come into the Northern Territory are adequate and, if not, it needs to spend more money on ensuring they do not come into the Territory.
Ms Lawrie: We are. Parliamentary committee inquiry into invasive species, perhaps.
Mr WOOD: We have spiralling white fly and Panama disease.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr NATT (Primary Industry and Fisheries): Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Blain for his support, but am very disappointed at his grandstanding and opposition points-scoring on this particular subject. In relation to the member for Nelson, the department is doing a wonderful job trying to control all these diseases. Yes, we do have a problem here and there. In this particular case, it is an airborne disease that could have occurred from someone’s clothes, coming in from overseas. It is just one of those things. However, the support mechanisms are there and we are working with the department to ensure those support mechanisms are supported.
Garma Festival
Mr STIRLING (Deputy Chief Minister): Madam Speaker, I inform the House about the continuing success of one of the Territory’s great festivals. The Garma Festival is our most renounced celebration of Yolngu culture. It has done much over the last nine years to bring people together and promote harmony and coexistence. For this reason, we are so pleased to support the festival through the Yothu Yindi Foundation. The aim of Garma is to share knowledge and culture, and the range of activities this year was impressive, and certainly caught the imagination of festival goers.
Highlights included: the traditional Bunggul, the ceremonial performance; the establishment of a healing centre by the women as a long-term project; the sharing of their cultural practices, including field trips for the collection of bush tucker, bush medicine, pandanus leaves and bush dyes for weaving; the Yidaki master class and field trips to collect hollow wood for didgeridoos; and land and sea site expeditions with the focus on bush tucker, spear making and spear throwing. Another highlight this year was the ongoing creation by Aboriginal artist of the Garma panel and print project.
Since 2003, over 100 artists from across the Northern Territory including Tiwi, Arnhem Land, Katherine region, Central Australia, and the Kimberley region of Western Australia participated. The last five years work is now on display at the Yothu Yindi Foundation’s new office in Cavenagh Street and is well worth viewing.
A personal highlight for both me and the Chief Minister over the weekend was the signing of our first Remote Learning Partnership Agreement with Yirrkala community. It marks a new era of cooperation between Aboriginal communities and government of the Northern Territory and will see communities like Yirrkala driving change and creating a brighter future for their children. It is about putting education of the children first, and ensuring they attend school. We want all children in the Territory to get the education they deserve so they have choices down the track. The agreement was the result of extensive consultation with the Yirrkala Community. We see it as the first step in an important journey. It contains realistic targets that the community can aim for; it will get the ball rolling in essence. It says we can all do better, we can all be part of building a positive future for our communities and committing for the long haul and making a real difference in the years ahead.
I take the opportunity to congratulate everyone involved in development negotiations agreement: the Yambirrpa School Councillors for selecting and supporting the local negotiation team; and the members of the local negotiation team - Wali Wunungmurra, Chairperson of the Yambirrpa School Council and head negotiator of this agreement for the community; Nalwarri Ngurruwutthun; Yalmay Yunupingu; Wayilu Wunungmurra; Djuwalpi Marika; Raymattja Marika; Multhara Mununggurr; Mandawuy Yunupingu; Djalinda Ulumari; and Barayuwa Mununggurr. Greg Wearne and Leon White were outstanding from the point of view of their local knowledge as the local community consultants for the Yambirrpa plan; they did a terrific job. The DEET negotiation team and the community engagement team, as well as the independent facilitators, deserve special praise for their professionalism and dedication to the task. Whilst it is unfair to single out individuals within a large department such as DEET, I must make special mention of the efforts of Ken Davies and his CEO, Margaret Banks, for the focus that DEET kept on this engagement process and the results that they came away with. Thank you, Ken; thank you, Margaret.
The Garma Festival was an outstanding success, thanks to Galarrwuy and Mandawuy Yunupingu for their leadership and their belief in this festival. It all started with them, it has all come from them, and it all continues with their efforts. Special thanks to Alan James for the nine successful Garma in a row. He has a nervous breakdown just about every July in preparation for this, but seems to come through the other side with a smile. So, well done, AJ, yet again.
Mr MILLS (Blain): Madam Speaker, I acknowledge the report. I have heard tremendous things about this festival. I apologise to those who organise it, I have not been able to get to it. It is just a difficult time of the year.
Mr Stirling: We will get you there.
Mr MILLS: I would like to get there. I acknowledge the fine efforts of the citizens who make these things happen. The departmental people’s professional contribution is fantastic. It is the life and blood that comes from the hearts of good people, families, which make these events possible. I add to the minister’s comments and pass our congratulations on to those good folk who make these things possible.
Reports noted pursuant to standing orders.
ENVIRONMENT PROTECTION
AUTHORITY BILL
(Serial 114)
Bill presented and read a first time.
Ms LAWRIE (Natural Resources, Environment and Heritage): Madam Speaker, I move that the bill be now read a second time.
This bill delivers an important election promise to establish an independent Environment Protection Authority, and is a significant step towards guaranteeing an ecologically sustainable future for the Territory. For the first time in our history, we will have an EPA that is the right model for the Northern Territory, and which affirms this government’s strong commitment to our environment and lifestyle.
The Territory is in a unique position, one which is very different from the rest of Australia, where we enjoy a healthy environment, yet have a growing economy. We want to protect our precious environmental resources as we enter a new phase in the Territory’s development, so we need new environment protection measures in place.
The approach enshrined in this bill has been developed as the result of wide consultation with the Territory community by eminent independent experts, Professors Gordon Duff and Donna Craig, and Ms Judith King. I take this opportunity on behalf of this government to express my appreciation to the independent interim board members and to the former members of the Sessional Committee on the Environment and Sustainable Development who canvassed many alternatives and established the principles on the which the EPA model has been built.
The members of the interim EPA board have done the Territory a great service. Their recommendations embodied in the report Towards an Environment Protection Authority for the Northern Territory were thoroughly considered by government and have been accepted in full. The board members travelled widely throughout the Territory and took representations from a wide range of interested groups and individuals. I thank members of the public who took such an interest in this very important matter. I know they remain keenly interested in the progress of the bill and in achieving good environmental outcomes for the Territory. I am confident that the new EPA will meet and, indeed, surpass their expectations.
There is a compelling logic …
Mr Wood: Logic?
Ms LAWRIE: … in the model proposed by the interim board and endorsed by government. During its consultations, the interim board asked Territorians to identify where a new EPA should be positioned on a continuum between highly strategic to operational in order to add significant value to the existing environmental protection system …
Mr Wood interjecting.
Ms LAWRIE: Madam Speaker, the member for Nelson keeps interrupting. It is the second reading speech. There is a particular convention for second reading speeches ...
Mr Wood: They all said ‘hear, hear, and I said the opposite, Madam Speaker.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Nelson, I ask you to cease interjecting.
Mr WOOD: Yes, Madam Speaker.
Madam SPEAKER: Thank you, member for Nelson. It is the second reading speech and it is an important debate. I ask you to listen in silence, or continue your conversation elsewhere.
Ms LAWRIE: Thank you, Madam Speaker. Invariably, both business and community groups identified that there was a need to develop and implement consistent and coherent frameworks for articulating and setting standards for environmental outcomes and performance. The consultations indicated that lack of such frameworks hamper the effectiveness of existing regulatory measures. The accepted model positions the EPA to fill this gap at the strategic end and improve the system, rather than duplicating the existing role of government agencies in regulation.
The board argues that the EPA should make advice to government, rather than determinations, as strategic decisions inevitably involve political considerations and are, therefore, most appropriately made by governments which can be held accountable by their electorate.
The new Environment Protection Authority, the EPA, will provide independent, strategic and practical advice to government about ecologically sustainable development in the Northern Territory. Specifically, this will involve the EPA setting clear objectives, rules, standards and processes developed in close consultation with business and the community which reach across sectors, are scientifically defensible, and which promote integration and efficiency.
The EPA will be clearly distinguished from the operational and enforcement aspects of environmental protection and regulation provided by government agencies. These will continue to be the responsibilities of government agencies directly accountable to ministers and, hence, to the parliament and the electorate.
The bill is in several parts. Part 1, Preliminary Matters, deals with the commencement and definitions. Commencement will be on a date fixed by the Administrator in order to allow preliminary administrative matters to be dealt with prior to the authority commencing operations. I anticipate that the EPA will be appointed and fully operational by early 2008.
‘Environment’ is defined in the bill as meaning ‘all aspects of the surroundings of humans, including the physical, biological, economic, cultural and social aspects’. This definition is consistent with existing Territory legislation such as the Environmental Assessment Act, and recognises that an integrated triple bottom line approach is appropriate for dealing with ecologically sustainable developments in the 21st century.
This bill recognises that the EPA will be established as an independent body whose capacity to develop advice and recommendations independent of government direction and influence will be beyond question.
Parts 2 and 3 of the bill provide the legislative underpinnings for this independence. Part 2 of the bill has five divisions. The first division deals with the establishment, functions, powers and independence of the EPA. Clause 4 establishes the Environment Protection Authority. Clause 5 sets out the functions of the authority, which are to give advice and make recommendations to the Northern Territory government, private sector and communities about matters relating to ecologically sustainable development. This gives the EPA authority to consider and report on a wide range of matters.
The authority will accept matters referred to it from the minister on behalf of government, and will also have the power to investigate matters referred on its own initiative, or otherwise referred by anyone else where these meet criteria agreed between the authority and the minister. Triggers for any EPA involvement in investigations will require a case-by-case judgment by members of the EPA. The presumption is that, where existing government systems and processes are in place and working adequately, there is no need for EPA intervention. In the event of a referral from someone other than the minister or the EPA itself, a case will need to be made to the EPA why it should intervene. The EPA will deal only with systemic issues, not whether or not someone likes a particular government decision. To this end, the criteria for accepting a referral other than from the minister should not be seen as a fetter on the independence of the authority to investigate matters as it sees fit. I see them as a means of maintaining the authority’s interest in significant matters rather than being distracted by less significant issues. In any event, the criteria will be publicly available once they have been finalised by the authority.
Clause 5(2) sets out examples of matters on which the EPA may give advice or recommendations. It is clear from this list that government expects the EPA to give advice about best practice environmental policy and management, and to take a lead role in the reform of environmental legislation. The EPA will scrutinise the operations of Northern Territory government agencies and report to government on how well agencies are performing their regulatory functions. Where the EPA identifies systemic problems in the environmental performance or outcomes achieved by the public or private sector, it has the power to bring these to the attention of the government and the public, and to make recommendations on how these problems should be addressed. This overview and audit-like function is only possible because the EPA does not have day-to-day regulatory functions.
In order to effectively undertake its leading role, the authority will be empowered to do all things necessary or convenient to perform its functions, including having powers to conduct inquiries it considers appropriate (clause 6). Public and government confidence in the EPA’s advice requires the EPA to have access to the best possible information. Chief executives of government agencies will, therefore, be required to provide it with information to assist with its inquiries. The EPA will also be able to seek information from the private sector and from government business divisions, and to ask people with special knowledge or experience relevant to a particular inquiry to help it to conduct its inquiry. An essential part of providing good advice is to consult widely. In exercising its powers and performing its functions, the authority will be required to consult appropriately with government agencies, the private sector and the community (clause 7(1)).
The legislation requires that, in performing its functions and exercising its powers, the authority have regard to a series of principles. Chief among these are the principles of ecologically sustainable development - that is, the application of the precautionary principle; inter- and intra-generational equity; conservation of biological diversity; and ecological integrity and improved valuation, pricing and incentive mechanisms; and the application of ‘polluter pays’.
The EPA will need to ensure that any objectives, standards and targets for environmental management are soundly and scientifically based and are consistent with best practice. Its activities will need to promote integration, certainty, and reduce duplication of government processes, and should take into consideration the need to develop a strong, growing and diversified economy with a well-informed and engaged private sector that has an enhanced capacity for protecting the environment. In going about its work, the authority will need to facilitate community involvement in environmental issues, having regard for the diversity of the Northern Territory community and the particular needs of vulnerable and disadvantaged groups; and will need to be transparent in information availability, decision-making, monitoring and reporting.
Clause 8 to the bill is headed ‘Independence’ and states that, in exercising its powers and performing its functions, the EPA is not subject to the minister’s direction and, in particular, is not subject to direction in relation to the preparation and content of any advice or recommendations. This clause mirrors provisions found in EPA legislation in other jurisdictions such as South Australia and Western Australia, and demonstrates this government’s commitment to the EPA being a truly independent body.
Part 2, Division 2 of the bill sets out the composition and appointment provisions for the independent EPA. The authority will operate in accordance with accepted principles of good corporate governance. Clause 9 indicates that the authority will have at lease four, and not more than seven, members. This is the accepted size for effective functioning of boards, giving sufficient diversity of views and not being too unwieldy for reaching agreement. Unless there are good reasons to expand the numbers, I anticipate that the initial authority will be confined to four part-time members, reflecting the advice of the EPA Board.
Consistent with the recommendations of the EPA Board, members will be appointed by the Administrator by notice in the Gazette. Clause 10 indicates that a person can be appointed as members only if the Administrator is satisfied the person holds relevant qualifications or experience. Authority members will be appointed for their expertise rather than representatives of particular interest groups. This is another way of ensuring that the authority provides independent, high-calibre advice.
Clauses 11 to 14 deal with the duration and conditions of appointment of members; indicate that the minister will appoint a chairperson from among the members; and set out the circumstances under which a member ceases to hold office. Authority members and former members are protected from liability if they are acting in good faith (clause 23).
Part 2, Division 3 also deals with governance of the authority. Clauses 15 to 18 relate to the conduct of authority business. They provide for the authority to meet as often as necessary, but at least four times per year; for the chairperson to preside, and for members to appoint another of their number as chair if the chairperson is absent; for the quorum to be a majority of members with decisions by majority and a casting vote for the chairperson; and provisions for disclosure of interest by members. Under clause 21, the chairperson can make guidelines about the authority’s administrative practices and procedures.
Part 2, Division 4 indicates that staff of the authority will be public servants subject to the direction of an authority member in the performance of their duties (clauses 19 and 20). While its exact composition will ultimately be a decision for the authority, I envisage that the EPA will be supported by a small, full-time secretariat comprised of up to four staff members, including an executive officer. While technically public servants, the secretariat staff will be directly responsible to the authority and, as such, will be shielded from government influence. I anticipate that administrative arrangements governing the relationship between the authority and its secretariat will be clearly articulated early in the authority’s operations.
Public servants in the Department of Natural Resources, Environment and the Arts will continue to administer legislation such as the Environmental Assessment Act and the Waste Management and Pollution Control Act, and will remain accountable to me through the chief executive. I expect that they will continue to provide me with the high standard of frank, fearless and rigorously developed advice that I and my ministerial colleagues have come to appreciate. We can all be confident that the EPA will scrutinise this legislation and how it is administered and make any recommendations for improvement. Department staff is providing secretariat services to the interim EPA Board. This arrangement will cease once the new authority is established.
An important part of the independence and accountability of the EPA is the requirements for reporting and transparency. Clause 22 of the bill requires the authority to make an annual report to parliament. Part 3 of the bill is entitled ‘Information Availability’. Consistent with the recommendations from the interim board, clause 24 requires the authority to make its advice or recommendations public unless it is satisfied that there are reasonable grounds for withholding information, such as privacy. The presumption is that advice will be made public and that a case and an active decision made if information is not to be widely available. As a way of building trust between the authority and government, the authority must give government reasonable notice of its intention to make its recommendations or advice public. The minister must respond in writing within a reasonable time once government has made a decision about the advice or recommendations from the authority (clause 25). I anticipate that in keeping with the presumption of transparency, the minister will make the government’s response publicly available.
Part 4 of the bill covers miscellaneous matters. Clause 26 requires the minister to review the operation of the act within five years of its commencing, and for the review to be tabled in the Legislative Assembly. This recognises that the role of the EPA is likely to evolve, and is consistent with the board’s recommendation that the authority regularly evaluates its performance. Clause 27 enables regulations to be made. I do not expect that there will be a need to enact regulations in the near future, but will take advice from the authority once it is operational.
I hope I have made it clear that establishment of the new EPA will usher in a new era on environmental accountability in the Northern Territory. The authority will have wide powers to investigate matters relating to ecologically sustainable development, and will do so in a rigorous, transparent manner. It will have significant powers to scrutinise the performance of both the public and private sectors, and to recommend improvements. In this way, I anticipate that it will lead to significant improvements in environmental performance and to a widespread appreciation that development in the Territory is clean and green. The new EPA will help us all achieve a sustainable future based on our unique Territory lifestyle.
Madam Speaker, I commend the bill to the Assembly.
Debate adjourned.
MINING AND PETROLEUM (ABORIGINAL LAND RIGHTS) AMENDMENT BILL
(Serial 104)
(Serial 104)
Continued from 21 June 2007.
Mrs MILLER (Katherine): Madam Speaker, the minister will not have time to get really comfortable in the chair because there is not a lot to say about this legislation. I thank you very much for organising the briefing at relative short notice on Monday. It clarified for me the position that government is taking; that is, of course, to bring the legislation in line with the Commonwealth legislation, which is a sensible move. It will also make entry to leasing, and also the minister’s decision, easier for mining in the Northern Territory.
Of course, the opposition certainly supports that. We do not want any unnecessary obstacles in the way of development. We do not have any objection to this, minister. You will not get very comfortable in that chair because we support the bill.
Mr NATT (Mines and Energy): Madam Speaker, I thank the member for her support and I look forward to the passage of the bill.
Bill read a second time.
Mr NATT (Mines and Energy)(by leave): Madam Speaker, I move that the bill be now read a third time.
Motion agreed to; bill read a third time.
MOTION
Note Statement - Closing the Gap of Indigenous Disadvantage
Note Statement - Closing the Gap of Indigenous Disadvantage
Continued from 23 August 2007.
Mr KIELY (Sanderson): Madam Speaker, I support the Chief Minister’s statement setting out the government’s comprehensive package to close the gap between indigenous and non-indigenous Territorians. I strongly agree with the Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister when they pointed out that this package is not just about improving the lives of indigenous Territorians. This is not a case where resources going into one area mean improvements denied somewhere else. This is a plan that will have a beneficial impact on all sectors of the Territory’s society including in urban electorates such as my own.
As the Chief Minister said, the current drain on police, corrections, health and community service resources is enormous. By tackling the issues head on with the solid commitment to short-, medium- and long-term improvements, we will free up resources and unlock new areas for growth. For too long the potential of indigenous Territorians to take a leading role in our economic and cultural development has been squandered or ignored.
The Territory economy is booming in many areas, and many areas are thriving. However, that progress has bypassed most indigenous communities. That must and will now change. Only by forging a partnership of indigenous Territorians in areas such as education, economic engagement, health and, particularly law and order, can we move forward.
I will touch, in particular, on some aspects of the package outlined by the Chief Minister with her Police hat on, and the Deputy Chief Minister as the Attorney-General. I consider that a community can only function properly and productively when rules are obeyed and enforced. That is my opinion; it is not an opinion shared by the Deputy Leader of the Opposition. Did he not say in the media the other day that he was not following laws when it came to permit systems on communities? When it came to Blue Mud Bay, he would fish; he would not obey the law. It is good to see that some members of this House who are elected to uphold the laws of the Territory will. While I make the statement that I believe that we are here to obey the laws of the Territory, clearly the Leader of the Opposition is on record saying that he does not ...
Dr Burns: The Deputy Leader.
Mr KIELY: The Deputy Leader, I stand corrected.
A cornerstone of civil society is allowing people to be free to go about their business without fear of being assaulted or harmed by others, and having confidence in a justice system to seek recourse when offended against. Shamefully, this is not the case in many parts of the Territory today and has not been for many years.
Recruiting 40 extra police officers and building 12 extra police stations will go a long way towards rectifying this major gap. Of course, police need the legal service to protect women, children and other vulnerable members of remote communities. That is why I consider the complete overhaul of the Domestic Violence Act, as outlined by the Deputy Chief Minister, is such an essential reform.
I particularly support the proposal to allow children to obtain domestic violence orders in their own right. Providing a specific presumption to allow the applicant and those children in her care to remain in their home and community if she so wishes is also a welcome initiative. Of course, these changes will not only benefit indigenous women and children in remote communities who suffer from violence and abuse inflicted by family members. I realise that urban areas are far from immune to this form of violence. I am sure people in my own electorate, indigenous and non-indigenous, will be able to seek greater protection and security from these changes.
We are all aware of the horrendous damage alcohol and other substance abuse has caused in the Territory’s indigenous community. Allocating $10m to specifically tackle the abuse, to complement major legislative changes under way and already in force will, again, go a long way toward ending the scourge and its associated health and crime outcomes.
Most importantly, the government is ensuring indigenous children will be able to enjoy the same protections, safety and support enjoyed by non-indigenous children every day. A massive $79m has been devoted to deal directly with child protection measures. I commend the Chief Minister on this bold statement and the funds to back it up; that the children, their rights and freedoms, must always come first.
There will be an additional 23 specialist FACS staff for the Child Abuse Task Force, another 37 specialist staff into FACS, 10 child protection workers and 10 school counsellors. This is concrete, practical, on-the-ground support and protection for children - something, I suggest, the Commonwealth could learn from and would do well to support with further additional funds and, something I further suggest, the opposition probably will not. I commend the Chief Minister for her courage to tackle this problem head on, but also for her understanding that by making this leap, we will be providing a brighter forward for the entire Territory.
Madam Speaker, in closing, I draw attention to the pathetic outbursts by members of the opposition the other day in their response to the contribution from the member for Millner, saying: ‘We are Territorians’. They should have a closer look and see what being a Territorian really means. I ask each of those members - particularly the new member for Greatorex who, in his maiden speech, wrapped himself up in the shroud of Territorianism and understanding of what goes on in Central Australia - in an adjournment debate to tell us what communities he has visited in this short time regarding the interference by the federal government, or what communities he has visited and done anything in during the time that he has been a Territorian.
I ask the Deputy Leader of the Opposition to give us a quick breakdown of the communities that he has visited. I ask the Leader of the Opposition to give us a list of the communities that she has visited. I ask the member for Katherine also. They are all quick to say: ‘We are Territorians’. How many of them have been out to communities while this is going on? They are quick to get in and say: ‘We understand it all’. Give us a list. They are all putting their hands up ...
Mr Mills: I will give you a list.
Mr KIELY: Come on, Deputy Leader of the Opposition …
Madam SPEAKER: Order, order!
Mr Mills: I will give you a list; I will give you something else!
Madam SPEAKER: Order, order!
Mr KIELY: You are all noise and no substance. You are like a fillet, Leader of the Opposition - no backbone and no guts. That is your problem. I also call on the opposition to table the Cossins’ report. Is it a report into the things that we can be doing or we should be doing, or is it a prcis of the report on paragraph 1 which is not drafted correctly, which seems to be the only defence and the only opposition the Leader of the Opposition ever puts up to anything we put on this Table. I reckon she might have a fine grasp of the English language, and she might know her adjectives from her nouns, but does she know her elbow from any other body part? I highly doubt that, Madam Speaker - I highly doubt that.
I am proud of the work we have done. There is a long way to go. We have been working on this problem for six years. We have been flagging this problem all the time we have been in opposition. We have members on the ground who are working hard to try to get it good out there for these members of our community - this under class. We will keep on working on this without the help of the Northern Territory opposition, without the help of the CLP, who let it get into this dreadful state and turned their back. For four years, I shared this House with the CLP member for Macdonnell. What did I hear him mention about his communities out there? Zip, zilch, nothing. For four years before that, when he was in government, what did we hear coming out of the member for Macdonnell about his communities out there? Zip, zilch, nothing ...
Mr Mills: Give this speech in the bush!
Mr KIELY: If you want the history on this matter, go there and have a look. The member for Blain can sit there and parrot on about this - he can interject as much as he likes. He knows the truth, he has had to look at it in the mirror and face up to it. Stand on your feet then, and tell us what a good effort you have made, member for Blain ...
Mr Mills: I have a better reflection than you, brother, and I am comfortable with what I see and I sleep well at night.
Mr KIELY: You have your opportunity coming up; you can back up everything I have just said. I look forward to your contribution, member for Blain. …
Mr Mills: As though you do!
Madam SPEAKER: Order, order!
Mrs BRAHAM (Braitling): It was not a bad speech when he was reading his notes, but I thought it a bit curly in the end. He lost the plot a little.
Mrs Miller: It was only a moment of pain.
Mr Conlan: He was going well there for a while.
Madam SPEAKER: Order, order!
Mrs BRAHAM: Madam Speaker, when the Wild/Anderson report came out, we really …
Mr Mills: Oh yes, give him a pat on the back; he has done a great job. A disgrace!
Mrs BRAHAM: I guess what the report said was not a lot that we did not already know …
Mr Mills interjecting.
Mrs BRAHAM: … and we were really anxious to see how the Northern Territory government would respond to it ...
Mr Mills interjecting.
Mrs BRAHAM: I believe none of us have been in the Territory a long time and, might I say, it has been 45 years for me this year ...
Mr STIRLING: A point of order, Madam Speaker! I would like to hear the member for Braitling rather than the incoherent rambling and muttering from the member from Blain.
Mr Mills interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Pause please. Member for Blain, cease interjecting so that we can hear the member for Braitling.
Mrs BRAHAM: I was really concerned when nothing came out from the Territory government. The response was too slow, there was no doubt about that. However, then when the federal government intervened and moved very quickly on it, I was really pleased, because I felt, thank goodness someone is doing something at last. However, I was also fairly sickened at federal intervention in Territory affairs. I have been in the House long enough - and I believe there are a couple of others - to remember the euthanasia debate. I supported it. However, members need to realise that that was a private member’s bill that was present to federal parliament by Kevin Andrews that, in fact, changed section 50A of the Northern Territory (Self-Government) Act so that the Northern Territory had no ability to introduce the euthanasia act. Just for the record, in the House of Representatives, it was a conscience vote, and it passed 88 Ayes, 35 Noes, and the Territory member in the House of Representatives at the time was Dondas. He voted no, although the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition voted yes. When it went to the Senate, it was much closer. There where 38 Ayes and 33 Noes, but both the Northern Territory Senators, Tambling and, I believe it was Collins at the time, voted for the bill.
We then had a situation where there was interference in the Territory making laws. However, what we have with this federal intervention is government on government. It is a federal government act overriding and interfering in Territory laws. That is what I do not think we should lose sight of; that this is government on government. Be it for election year or whatever, it is dangerous that the federal government feels it has the ability to introduce legislation at any time, be it good or bad, that overrides ours. The fact that the Liquor Commission now has to report to the federal minister is absurd. Where does that leave our public servants? It really worries me that this move has occurred. It is also disappointing that Senator Trish Crossin voted for it, although I heard her speak publicly against it. It was disappointing that Dave Tollner, the member for Solomon, voted for it even though he admitted that he had not read it. You have to wonder about our federal representation at the moment - both sides, both parties - regarding what they are actually saying for the Territory.
That aside, I believe what they are doing out there on the ground has been received quite well. The feedback I have received – and I spoke to some of the NORFORCE people – is that the communities are keen to find out exactly what it is all about. What is upsetting most of the communities is that it is shrouded in mystery.
I also acknowledge the great work done by the member for Macdonnell. I know she has been out there talking to her people. The strength of what she is saying is: ‘Let us not lose sight of the intent of this legislation, which is to protect young families, young children, mothers, fathers, brothers - families totally’. Let us not lose the sight of that. We get involved in so much of the political debate that we are not here to ensure whatever happens makes it a better life for people out there on communities.
I listened to the member for Stuart in his response. He seems to be onside. However, what he said is that land and permits seem to be an issue. I can say that we had that with the town camps people when they were offered so much money to fix their town camps. They carried on about land and permits - again losing sight of the fact that the land is not a consumable item that is going to get up and walk or be taken away. Again, they have lost sight of it.
It really worries me that the people who demonstrated in Alice Springs are not people who live on communities; they are in well paid jobs, they live in the town, and they have good houses. They are not the people who have to put up with abuse that is occurring in communities. I mentioned those activists in Alice Springs who, in my opinion, are doing a lot of damage. I did hear on the grapevine that they had wanted to go out to Hermannsburg and protest when Howard was there. I also heard on the grapevine that Gus Williams, basically, said: ‘No, you are not welcome; this is our community, and we will receive the Prime Minister and listen to what he has to say’ ...
Mr Bonson: They support permits as well, Loraine, in Hermannsburg. They were on the radio and TV today, and last night supporting permits - the same people you are about to criticise …
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mrs BRAHAM: That is not what I am talking about. You have missed the point again. That is what I keep saying: you are losing what we should be focusing on …
Mr Bonson: Permits have nothing to do with those issues, Loraine. You are missing the point.
Madam SPEAKER: Order, member for Millner!
Mrs BRAHAM: You should not be focusing on what the Prime Minister says, or what the activists say, you should be focusing on what the people out there in the communities say. That is what is important!
We had Closing the Gap. Well, in 2001, we had a Framework for Partnership with Indigenous Territorians; in 2005 an Overarching Agreement on Indigenous Affairs; agenda for action; in 2006 the 20-year plan; and in 2007, Closing the Gap. Come on! You have to admit you are not achieving the results on the ground otherwise you would not be in this bind that you are in at the moment. That is the sad part. We should not have let things get to the stage they are.
I do not care what you say about the CLP government. I was part of them, I admit that; but there were good things happening. However, the abuse of alcohol has escalated over the last, I would say, six to eight to 10 years ...
Ms Scrymgour: No one has disputed that.
Mrs BRAHAM: The abuse has escalated and you only have to look at the statistics to find that out. Have a look at the murders, the stabbings, and the brutality that occurs. School attendance has dropped. Just look at your statistics and you will see that things are not going the way you want. There also seems to be this huge debate about ‘we are putting this $200m into it’. You seem to be getting bogged down again in dollars and cents. You are not looking at what you should be concentrating on.
That is the question I asked the other day in the House: how many of these so-called 232 jobs that you are creating will be held by indigenous people? You are setting up a huge bureaucracy: another committee, for goodness’ sake; and another advisory body. You are getting the deputy CEOs to work together, and now you are creating all these new jobs. However, you are missing the point: you do not need all those to get good things done on the ground. You need to support the programs that are already there and to ensure that the people who are working hard out there get the support they need.
Let me just throw in an example. I was talking to Leo Abbott and he was talking about the program that he and his father have run for so long that has done so well. Why do you not go to this group of good people and ask them: ‘How can we help you to make this program expand and be better and help more people?’ Why are you always fighting, year after year, for funding when you really need to be giving that reassurance that what they are doing is good and that, yes, with additional resources they can make it better? That is an example of how you could make it better. Not all things are bad in the bush. We have said that: not all things are bad, not all communities are bad and not all Aboriginal people are bad, for goodness’ sake. There are good things happening in the bush. I just feel that, perhaps, if you set up this wonderful bureaucracy you are still not going to be talking to the people, and you are still not going to be aiming the dollars at where they should go.
We talk about leadership a lot and about empowering Aboriginal people but, remember, good leadership is not about power. Good leadership is taking people with you, getting people on side, and showing that you can listen and learn. It is not about power, and that is what you have to be careful about. I need to say the young people out there need to become leaders of tomorrow because I believe we have lost a couple of generations of young people. The young men who did not go to school, who do not have jobs, are drinking too much - we need to protect the children out there now so that they can take on what we want them to do.
There are things that have happened that I believe have contributed to this. I am talking about when the Commonwealth stopped funding the women’s centres. Remember that a few years ago? That was a disaster and that was something they should never have done. You should be ensuring that you have those women’s centres and the safe houses back. One of the programs you also let go, which I was a bit disappointed about because I believed it was an extremely good one, was a law and order program at Ali Curung. There were two very good officers who were doing that. I do not know where they are now but they have been taken off that program. That law and order program was an example of how you could engage and give responsibility to community. They set up a number of ways to help their community. They did not just have the safe house and the Night Patrol, but they also had a committee within their community of different people who would deal with people who had transgressed.
I also remember that when I went there the men were saying: ‘Okay, we have this safe house for women and it was important, but what about us? When we come back from Wycliffe Well, or wherever it is we have been drinking, and we go home in to the community and we get into trouble because we abuse our families, perhaps also we need to have a safe house, a house where we can go and sleep it off or whatever and not cause disturbance in the community’. I do not think that idea has ever been taken up. I do not know of any community that has an area for men …
Mr Hampton: Congress.
Mrs BRAHAM: Where?
Mr Hampton: Congress men’s health.
Mrs BRAHAM: Congress men’s health is in town, though. I am talking about out on the communities where the men can, in a way, be protected from themselves, so that they will not do more harm out in the communities.
There are many programs we could introduce or recommence. The Ali Curung program was especially good. They had a good ACPO there. She was chairman of the council at the time, and it was a community that worked together to make their place better. They were showing Lajamanu how they could do it, too. They were going over there, talking to them and saying: ‘This is the way we are doing it’. We continually tend to abandon people who have good programs. We need not to do that. There are good things happening in the bush. Would you make sure that you pick them up and continue the good work of those people who are dedicated?
We have an advisory council, an operational group of deputy CEOs, and these positions, but I can also recall when we had the Indigenous Employment Strategy. I wonder how many indigenous people are employed in the public service at the moment. That is a question I might ask and give a bit of notice about it. It is my understanding that the Indigenous Employment Strategy even in our own public service has not helped indigenous people. If you are a government that is committed to helping indigenous people, surely you should at least be starting it in your own back yard and ensure you do it.
We talk about the bureaucrats and the federal government going out into communities at the moment. Bureaucrats from government departments have been going out in droves into the bush for years. You would sometimes arrive in a community and there would be five or six people from different departments, and no one knew they were coming. As well as that, they did not know each other was going, so there was no coordination. That is a waste of time, resources and money. It needs to be better coordinated if you are going to send these people out to help them. If you are sending someone out from Education, surely they can also look at the other areas that affect education such health, nutrition, sport and recreation - all those things that would make a better place. Let us get away from this idea that, if we send all these people out all the time, we are going to fix things. You walk away and the people say: ‘Okay, another bureaucrat has come and gone’.
That is the frustrating part about talking to these people. They say: ‘What can you do for us?’. To be honest, you cannot do anything; it is government that has to put the programs there. Even the committees that we send around talking to people, what can you do as a committee member? You make a recommendation to parliament or to government. You cannot do anything. I remember the NPY women saying that they have been telling people about this for ages, and they were telling you again. I almost felt as though I should not have been there because there was nothing I could promise and nothing I could do for them. That is where you have to be careful and not give false promises. The federal government should be careful about that also, that there are not false promises given by either government, but there are reality checks - real programs.
We talk about protection and care of our young children being the priority. I know Mal Brough, the federal minister, has used the phrase ‘we need to normalise communities’. I do not know whether we need to do what the Prime Minister has said about mainstreaming everyone because, in any society, there are different groups who have different ideals and ambitions. I wonder what is ‘normal’? Do young children out on some of these communities know what is normal? Do they understand what behaviour is unacceptable and what is acceptable, or are they so brainwashed or abused that they have lost the idea that that is not normal?
We all know that children who have been abused, women who have been bashed, the fathers continue the cycle because they grow up in that sort of environment and they see that as normal behaviour. We need to, somehow or other, teach children and families what is acceptable and what is unacceptable. I agree that we should be getting rid of pornography. I agree we should be tracking down the people who are the grog runners coming in, the people who are bringing in the marijuana and the ice that is prevalent in Central Australia at the moment. We need to do that, and we need to act strongly. The sniffer dogs in Alice Springs have been a great success. They have achieved good results at different places. They could be utilised even more out in the communities or on roads to communities. Let us start talking about proper programs we are really going to implement.
If we are going to bring in all this legislation as the Chief Minister has said she will, can we ensure that it is implemented diligently, and I mean diligently. Just let us not have the talkfest in here where we go against each other but, at the end of the day, let us ensure our public servants and the people out there know they can rely on what we have said in here, and on the legislation we have introduced. Too many times we introduce legislation, and the implementation just seems to be non-existent almost, as though it is part of the game. However, we need to ensure that we do it diligently.
Mr MILLS: Madam Speaker, I move that the member be given an extension of time pursuant to Standing Order 77.
Motion agreed to.
Mrs BRAHAM: Thank you members, I will try not to waffle much more.
How many times have people in this House heard me talk about truancy? How many times have you heard me talk about non-attendance? Okay, so what are you going to do about it? What is in all this legislation or this approach that is going to achieve it? Will the Minister for Employment, Education and Training stand up in 12 months time and say, yes, we have achieved this and that and a bit more?
Can we, instead of punishing parents by taking away their welfare payments, do the opposite? Reward good attendance. I spoke on this the other day. There is nothing harder than being a teacher in the bush, on your own, battling a community that has no interest in education, and has no security of knowing children will turn up. There are good teachers out there who need support. We need to ensure that you are sincere about truancy and about attendance at school. Give them the buses, the nutrition, the extra resources, and the people to go around communities and pick them up. It may seem as though we are hand feeding them but, if that is what is needed to be done, then let us do it. Let us do it. That is important most of all.
Even though the report is concentrated on the abuse of children, there is a lot of abuse of old people in communities. There is a lot of abuse of their finances and their houses, the way they are treated, the way they are neglected. You only have to look at some of the town camps, where you will see aged people living in squalor or in a humpy for the simple reason that their home has been taken over. That is the sad part.
I was at Hettie Perkins not long ago, and they are busting at the seams. They could use a lot more support than they get. One of the things they highlighted to me, which was interesting, was that there are people who are not aged in that hostel; they are brain damaged or severely disabled, and they cannot be managed out on a community in a home. They are now living in an old person’s home, which may not be the best environment. It also happens at the Old Timers, Frontier Services. There is a young lad who was at school with my son who was in a car accident and he is mentally and physically handicapped, and he is still there. We need to think about an establishment for those people - not aged care, but care for those who can no longer look after themselves. I am thinking of the mentally disabled and the physically disabled, and some of them with a combination of both. Do not forget you also have a problem at the other end of the scale, not just with young people.
I told you the story of one of the elderly ladies who had her granddaughter with her. I had taught her kids and, when I asked where the mother was, she said she was out drinking. The elderly Aboriginal woman just said: ‘I just want to walk on my own’. She was getting so tired of looking after her grandchildren. More and more grandmothers have to look after their grandchildren. That is one of the sad things that is happening.
I get frustrated, like everyone else, with the slow response from FACS. I know it is a terrible place to work because you lose so many staff all the time. There is such a shortage of good people to take on the jobs in FACS. I understand why it is hard for people to stay there because of what they deal with. However, concentrate on getting good people to work in FACS, see if you can retain them, and ensure that they end up staying there. How many meetings do we have to have in this world? I get tired of meetings. How often do I ring up with a nasty case and find that they are at a meeting. I say there is a heap of money available at the moment from the NT and the federal governments; let us grab it and spend it where it is needed most.
I say to the town camps in Alice Springs how crazy they were to knock back $60m, because nothing has made their camps or their living conditions any better. They should have grabbed it and sorted out the problems they had regarding leases later. As I said, the land is not going to walk away, it is always going to be there and they are always going to have somewhere live. Isn’t that more important than trying to say: ‘Our land and our leases are more important than our children and our families’? That is the problem that seems to be getting lost in this debate.
Not any one problem is to blame. We cannot categorise and say it is alcohol, it is drugs, it is this, it is that. It is a whole plethora of things. We have to concentrate on making things better for everyone at the grassroots levels. I say to the Chief Minister: cooperate with the federal government. Okay, as we go along there are things that we probably do not always agree with, but let us not knock back what they are offering. It is really important that we have that agreement. You can always query the federal government and question what they are doing. However, you will find people on the ground who are going out - I have only heard of one instance where it did not work well, but I have heard other instances where it has gone so well – that the federal government is sending people who are extremely concerned, professional and want to help. Therefore, let us not say we do not want you out there; let us say yes, we do want them.
Mr Hampton: Communities are working with them.
Mrs BRAHAM: Well, that is important.
Mr Hampton: Congratulate the communities.
Mrs BRAHAM: Yes. Madam Speaker, I have rambled I know. I tend to ramble because I do notes rather than a speech. However, what I am saying to the Chief Minister is that we were disappointed that you took so long to respond. I am not totally sure the way you set out your response is the way to go. I believe the concentration on dollars and bureaucracy may be the undoing of your plan. We need to concentrate on the grassroots levels and ensure we can say, at the end of the day, this government has made a difference. However, the government will not make a difference if it tends to be blinkered in its approach. I just say - and we have said this before to the indigenous members of this parliament - we expect you to speak up strong, we expect you to say strong things. Do it in your caucus meeting, but you should also be telling us that you have spoken up strong. You should be leaders, showing people out there in communities that you were standing up for them. You should be saying that and ensuring you do not get bogged down in this federal versus Territory government intervention.
Mr HENDERSON (Employment, Education and Training): Madam Speaker, I support the Chief Minister’s Closing the Gap statement in response to the Wild/Anderson report on child sexual abuse in the Northern Territory. It has been a very interesting debate. Many speakers on all sides have made a contribution. In listening to the debate in the House, and the debate across the community across Australia, the reality is that we all want the same thing: the abuse of children to stop. The Wild/Anderson report very clearly showed to all of Australia and the world that what is happening in many indigenous communities is just totally unacceptable. I suppose a line in the sand has been drawn in regard to the Commonwealth government’s intervention, and also regarding our response as a government to the report that Rex Wild and Pat Anderson delivered to this government.
I am going to speak this afternoon in relation to my portfolio responsibilities of Education, Employment and Training because we all recognise that, for those children in indigenous communities to be able to achieve in life and make choices in life, unless they have a fundamentally sound education, then they will not have the ability to exercise choices in life that other Australian kids do as a result of having an education.
First, I will comment on the Opposition Leader’s contribution. It was a pretty strange contribution inasmuch as she basically tried to dismantle, I suppose, the recommendations that Pat Anderson and Rex Wild made in their report, virtually recommendation by recommendation. Essentially, she was stating that the report did not go to the issue of child sexual abuse, but just went to discrete issues of housing, health and education. I just do not understand what the Opposition Leader did not pick up from the report because I thought it was clear when I read it. I suppose it has just crystallised what all of us who have lived in the Northern Territory for any length of time know; that is, that child abuse on the scale that Anderson and Wild have pointed to in their report is not perpetrated by discrete individuals in isolation, there just happens to be more of those types of individuals in indigenous communities than in broader society – I think that is where she was coming from. The whole climate of those communities - the influence of alcohol and other illicit drugs, the problems of endemic poor education, virtually negligible employment outcomes, and chronic housing shortages - are all contributing factors to the climate that, ultimately, leads to indigenous kids disproportionately being neglected and abused.
That is a pretty obvious conclusion that Anderson and Wild reached. The Leader of the Opposition basically tried to run a line in her statement, and supported it by this independent analysis from Dr Annie Cossins. I do not know Dr Annie Cossins, nor exactly what she was asked to analyse and the question that was put to her. However, regarding informing consideration in how we move forward - and I trust that the Leader of the Opposition has good motives here – she should put this report out into the public so we can do an analysis of what Dr Annie Cossins has commented on and the context in which she was asked to comment. Until the Leader of the Opposition makes that report public it is pretty hard to determine where she is coming from.
I just do not think there are disproportionately more indigenous males inclined to abuse children as a result of the fact that they are criminally more inclined to do that. Obviously, people, as individuals, are very much formed by the society that they live and grow up in.
It was really quite a bizarre contribution from the Leader of the Opposition. I am not having a political go here. I am saying to her if she wants us, as a parliament, to take her contribution seriously she needs to put that report out into the public domain so we can consider it in the same way that the Pat Anderson/Rex Wild report has been put into the public domain.
In education, we aim to provide children with a good start to life with preschool and early education programs in preparation for school, and access to high quality primary, secondary and tertiary education. In employment and training, we aim to provide adults with opportunities through supporting the provision of local jobs for local people, something that has been spoken about for many years; increasing indigenous employment in the Northern Territory public sector; enhancing literacy, numeracy and vocational skills; and supporting economic activity in the bush. This plan means extra funding of $70.68m over five years for education, including extra teachers, extra classrooms, specialist skills positions and specialist learning centres. The plan also means extra funding of $13m over five years for jobs in the bush, including transition from CDEP to NT public sector jobs and new job creation and training opportunities in infrastructure and other economic development projects.
In education, the approach we have designed has four main themes: starting school early; improving attendance rates; providing high quality teaching; and leaving school later. In five years, we want indigenous primary and secondary students attending school at rates comparable to non-indigenous students. The member for Braitling asked how we are going to do that. The Chief Minister, probably 18 months ago, and I since I became Minister for Employment, Education and Training, and many communities across the Northern Territory that I have visited, have being calling on the federal government to work with us and communities in tying family payments in some way to school attendance. It is certainly a part of the Commonwealth’s plan that we support. It has taken the Commonwealth 18 months to get there from when it was first put to them, but I firmly believe that with a stick and carrot approach and the approach that we are putting in place in remote learning partnerships, we really should be able to achieve that significant improvement in attendance, hopefully, within five years. Five years is the target.
We will continue to roll out the 15 local school and community remote learning partnerships. My colleague, the member for Nhulunbuy, stated that the first one was signed at Yirrkala at the Garma Festival just recently. That is going to be accelerated and there is funding in this package to accelerate the roll-out of the remote learning partnerships. $1.8m will be allocated over five years for a student attendance team to have a real focus on driving improved student attendance in remote communities. The student attendance team will monitor and track students. Many of these students are highly mobile and it is quite extraordinary. Most of us from an urban seat recognise that we send our children to school and they will see out all their primary schooling in one school. Many of these indigenous kids are very transient and we have to be able to better monitor and track those students as they progress through different schools in the Northern Territory. The team will track students moving, and make sure they are going to school as soon as they arrive in their new town or community.
Starting school early: in five years, we want all three- and four-year-old indigenous children having access to quality early learning programs. We are going to fund six additional mobile preschools at $9.5m over five years. It is a highly successful model that is already in place at Katherine and the Sandover regions, and we are going to build on this by moving into six further regions. They work by teachers working with a group of small remote schools. The teachers develop the program and the resources with indigenous teacher assistants, and those indigenous teacher assistants work with parents and carers to deliver the programs in the remote schools. This is really important because it actually gets parents into the schools, into classrooms. They work with parents of these children of a very early age about the importance of those children continuing to go to school on a regular basis.
There is funding in the plan for 26 additional teachers; $12.83m over five years is allocated through the staffing formula. People are asking what if there is a significant increase in the number of kids attending. Of course, additional teachers will be funded. Certainly, in rolling out the welfare reforms linking attendance to welfare payments, we need to do that on a community-by-community basis and monitor this, because everybody knows that teachers are hard to recruit. We cannot wave a magic wand and turn up 100 extra teachers who are prepared to come to the Northern Territory and go out to the bush overnight. There are not only the issues of recruiting the teachers, but the logistic and infrastructure issues of providing additional housing. We need to work with the Commonwealth on that. However, there is funding in the plan for additional teachers.
There is also additional capital for 15 additional learning spaces and modernised infrastructure - $6m over five years. Infrastructure in some schools will need to be upgraded. Community education centres, which provide our secondary schooling in the bush, will need some work to provide for specialist subjects. We are going to upgrade two homeland learning centres to small schools at a cost of $10m. With increases in student numbers, larger homeland learning centres will expand to be fully-fledged schools. Teachers living in the community will be full-time rather than drive/fly, a model that operates in the homelands.
To support the additional teachers and kids in the bush, there is, obviously, going to be an increased need for information technology. That has been funded to the tune of nearly $3m over five years. We need to recruit and train more indigenous teachers. It is critical that a significant part of the solution to the education issues in the bush is more indigenous teachers. We have $0.5m over five years to recruit and train more indigenous teachers. We want to see an additional 40 indigenous teachers teaching in Territory schools in the next four years. We have scholarship programs and bursaries available. I believe we already have something in the realm of 26 indigenous teachers in either Batchelor Institute or Charles Darwin University studying for a teaching degree on sponsorship from the Northern Territory government. I have met many of those trainee teachers, and they are saying they could never have done it without the sponsorship.
Regarding the Early Childhood Centre of Excellence, we are looking to negotiate with the Australian government and Charles Darwin University, along a Menzies-type model, to develop effective interventions to ensure school readiness and maximised learning and development potential for indigenous early childhood students.
We have also recognised that significant results in secondary schooling will only be delivered by better residential boarding school facilities across the Northern Territory. The reality is that not all kids from small communities are going to have high schools immediately available. We have provided nearly $1m for additional subsidies for increased numbers of students to attend regional residential facilities, and are calling on the Commonwealth to meet their responsibilities, in addition to the non-government sector, for boarding facilities across the Northern Territory.
We have funded partnership programs to improve attendance, retention at school, and student wellbeing with $6.6m over five years. This includes the expansion of programs, including mentoring of Year 11 and 12 students, breakfast and other meal programs in schools, and programs that engage students. Very importantly, students are succeeding in achieving their NTCE - 33 last year. We cannot afford to see those kids fail by not getting employment, not moving on to further training or into tertiary education. We need an explicit mentoring program to support those kids into jobs as they graduate from their schools in remote communities with an NTCE.
We have professional development for staff in mandatory reporting for child protection and wellbeing. There is $5.25m over five years for remote indigenous students’ education programs in sexuality and protective behaviours education. This will be achieved through the employment of 10 additional school counsellors in the bush - something that is long overdue.
I can say in good faith that I want to have a partnership approach with the federal Education minister - whoever that is going to be after the election – regarding the education reform, because a blanket ‘baseball bat, one size fits all’ approach to these welfare reforms across the Northern Territory has the capacity to generate a fair degree of chaos. What we have to do is work systematically, in a targeted and prioritised way with the Commonwealth government, the Territory government and communities. I am absolutely convinced that we can lift these attendance levels; therefore, getting these kids into the classrooms, will get better education outcomes. As the Education minister in the Northern Territory, I have goodwill and good faith to work with the Commonwealth government in trying to achieve what we all want - better outcomes.
In employment and training, the approach we have designed has the following elements: adult education and skills training in indigenous communities; identifying and developing local jobs for local indigenous people; and working in partnership with business and industry. That is something that the Commonwealth has not mentioned in all of this. They have talked about transitioning CDEP jobs into Commonwealth government jobs and Territory government jobs. However, we have to bring the private sector into this because the private sector, through the mining industry, the pastoral industry, the tourism industry, the horticultural industry in the Northern Territory, have hundreds, probably thousands of jobs going in the bush. They have to be brought in as part of this solution for their future workforce.
In five years, we want to increase participation by indigenous Territorians in VET qualifications, apprenticeships and traineeships to 50%. In 2004, we committed 10 000 trainee apprenticeship commencements over the following four years. We are on track to meeting that commitment. Currently, we have 3200 Territorians in training. Of these, 710 are indigenous Territorians - 22%. We want to lift that from 22% to 50% over the next five years. I believe if you set a target you have something to work towards.
Jobs Plan 3 committed $21.3m over four years to increase the training and employment for Territorians, with a specific focus on improving training, and matching training to jobs, in remote areas. The specific initiatives include $2m funding for workplace literacy and numeracy, and workplace orientation skills and employment support programs.
Jobs Plan 3 specific initiatives include: Aboriginal Health Worker recruitment programs to address the shortage of Aboriginal Health Workers across the Territory; Indigenous Education Worker traineeship programs to increase the number of indigenous people employed in remote schools; a local jobs for local people strategy; the development of youth employment strategy framework for Alice Springs and Tennant Creek; and the remote learning partnerships I have spoken of previously.
Later this year, we are hoping to hold a forum either in Darwin or Alice Springs, where we will bring in those major employers and work with the employers, the training providers, and the job network providers, to systematically start matching the training to individuals for specific jobs. That is a commitment under Jobs Plan 3.
In five years, we want at least 10% of the public sector to be indigenous Territorians. We will continue with the implementation of the Public Sector Indigenous Employment and Career Development Strategy released by revised paper in late 2007. Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander people represent 28% of the population but, currently, comprise only 5% of the public sector workforce. Indigenous employment in the public sector will be increased through recruitment policies, job redesign, mentoring, support, and skills training. Implementation of this plan means more remote-based community services workers, child protection, sexual assault referral centres, family support services, early childhood and family services. We will also transition CDEP jobs supporting Northern Territory government activities to jobs in the public sector, and $10m has been committed to that particular program.
We are also working to implement indigenous economic development initiatives to the tune of $3m. We will make indigenous employment a focus of government procurement policy by using current and future indigenous housing construction programs to a value of $48m, and capital works programs to facilitate opportunities for training and employment of local indigenous people. The construction of housing, the repair and maintenance of housing is an ongoing source of funding to the bush, and we need to see indigenous people engaged in the workforce through those contracts that government has let in constructing and maintaining infrastructure in remote communities.
Madam Speaker, as I said at the outset, a line in the sand has been drawn as a result of the Wild/Anderson report. All of us in this House want to see better outcomes for indigenous people across the Territory. All of us in this House deplore sexual abuse of children in the Northern Territory, whether they be indigenous or non-indigenous. This report is about remote indigenous communities. With the election climate out of the way, with goodwill and the additional resources the Commonwealth and the Territory government is injecting, in partnership with Aboriginal people, we should see long and lasting change.
Mr MILLS (Blain): Madam Speaker, at the outset I have to say I am not happy with my outburst earlier in such an important debate. I take the business of this Chamber seriously and nothing more seriously than the welfare of the vulnerable. I wish that I had not responded in an angry manner to provocative comments that were made. We do not need that kind of energy brought to bear on such a complex and difficult issue as those who are vulnerable and in need of our assistance and our real leadership.
I acknowledge the words that have been spoken in good faith in this debate. There are good intentions behind all that is being proposed; I do not deny that. I judge them to be good intentions. I look further back and I can also see other good intentions. I see good intentions going back way beyond my time here in this Chamber. No human being, no person, no adult with a heart, could respond in any other way than with an intention to make a difference. Therefore, our question is not the intention; it is the conversion of the intention to action that makes the difference.
I have had a position of responsibility in managing a community. We could have had the best policies of any school anywhere, the best documents, and had promotion nights so everybody was informed, consulted and briefed. If the kids were running amok, I would be ashamed. If I did not have order and cohesion and a sense of joyfully building social capital so we can get ourselves out of the problems that we find ourselves in, I would have failed, no matter how good the documents or the intentions were and how well they were expressed. That is the point. I took pride in being able to build a cohesive community, with a sense of justice and fairness, and do what is right. That is what kept me awake at night.
It is the same here in this Chamber. That is why I was upset, because I cannot see this as a political problem. I cannot, and I refuse to, see it as a political problem. It is a problem that requires a deeper resource than political solutions will provide.
On personal note, yesterday, I celebrated my 25th wedding anniversary ...
Mr Henderson: Congratulations.
Mr MILLS: Thank you very much.
Madam SPEAKER: On behalf of all honourable members, I extend to you our congratulations.
Mr MILLS: Oh, I did not mean to say it to that, but thank you very much. I appreciate that.
In reflecting on that which has been spoken here, and on a partnership that has gone on for 25 years, we know that two cannot walk together unless they fundamentally agree on some deeper principles. There are ups and there are downs and very difficult times, just as there are in this nation. There are two that are brought together. There is no denying that; there is no excusing that. It is a fact: we are here together and we have the responsibility to work it out. Political solutions will not provide adequate resources to break that which binds.
It is time for change, but change not of another program or another policy, well intentioned though it may be. I do not deny that; I do not take that from you. Nor do I take from the federal government that which I judge to be well intentioned. I choose to see it that way for the sake of the kids. I choose to see it that way. I will not commit the terrible indulgence of saying: ‘Yes, but ...’.
As a family man, I could not do that in the face of my own children because my wife and I would not be together today, providing a different level of support to our children who are now grown. It would be a terrible indulgence, at some stage earlier in our time together, either as a married couple or as a nation, that we find the point where politics is the only well we draw our solutions from - and the children suffer.
I do not have faith in policies, plans, statements and programs as solutions. I believe that people make the difference. It is people who break the circle. They are the circuit breakers; people make that difference. Programs, policies, plans, statements, intentions provide us the field of operation, but there is something magical that comes from a person of conviction who steps out of that circle and makes that difference. There is a saying that sums this up well: good leaders can change organisations, but great leaders change people.
It is people who need to be changed, not a new policy. The policy could work or fail not because of the virtue or deficiency of the policy, but because of the quality of the people who respond to it. Do not put your faith in policies; put your faith in the people it is designed to affect. Then you could be called a great leader, someone who makes a difference to people and does not leave a legacy of policies, statements or intentions. The road to hell is paved with good intentions. There have always been good intentions. Good leadership is about doing what is right, but the capacity to discern what is right is the challenge we are faced with.
I would like to see something new happen in this Territory. I would like to see people of good faith begin to come together. I would like the lines to be crossed in the interests of the kids. Some will stay one side because they can only see it, God bless them, in political terms. They can see it as a great ideological battle and they will stay on one side of the line. However, there are people on both sides of parliament, both sides of the political divide, who could come together. Courage is required at this hour. To come together, they may initially be small in number but, because of the quality, the nature and the seriousness of the task, their strength will grow.
It is time to address the deep issue of how we get that which is divided mended and put together. I am not going to spend my time in this Chamber picking fault – and there are faults; policies, plans are a human creation - that would not be doing the kids any favours. I choose to find a way where we can get through this. I have raised some issues of very serious concern with members opposite across the table because I am very concerned at what I have heard. The person who delivered me this information at the Palmerston Markets, just to name a place so you have that reference point, had the intention of causing some mischief with the matter. It is a most serious allegation, but I prefer to raise that allegation in the context of seeking a solution to it that will affect kids, not a political solution which puts a score on my point board and takes one off the other side. I would be ashamed to do that.
Over a year ago, we had a similar debate in this Chamber. In fact, since I have been here, there have been debates of this nature. I am here, you are here, we are here as elected representatives. The lot has been cast, we are here; how do we respond? Reflect on the past, make judgments on the past? Fine, it may bolster your own sense of political relevance. However, it is not going to give you the nourishment you require. As I said, over a year ago we had a debate in the Chamber and, once again, we had that distressing debacle of blame, one side to the other, and it continues. I thought I would refrain. I just did not want to be involved in that kind of debate. When I thought about it, I think there is a way through, and that is to recognise that the challenge we are faced with is so complex and so deep that it cannot be just fixed by folk talking in here.
So I thought, why not? I really thought that this might happen. Why not see if we could organise a bipartisan committee group to develop a plan together. The challenge contained therein was: do we have the capacity to put aside personal and political differences for the sake of the children? Do we have that capacity to put it aside; to still our tongues when it comes time to pour out criticism, and to dredge deep for that which comes from a place that is vitriolic and not nourishing? Do you have that capacity to stop that, to recognise prejudice for what it is and to put it over there, prejudging, and come to a new place where there could be the putting aside of personal and political differences to find an action plan and cut our way through? It is a challenge. If we cannot do that, what hope do we have of effecting change at a place remote from this building? What hope do we have?
I have been to a number of communities. One of the best experiences I have had, and the worst, is being a member of the Substance Abuse Committee. I say it is the best and the worst, because I am beginning to see and understand. It is something I see and attempt to understand and respond to from here. I am not going to be here for a long time, but I want to do something whilst I am here. I heard someone at Wadeye talking - I was a former teacher, and I heard this lady talking - about trying to prepare lessons in her house when she had already spent her energy and only had a little left, trying to wrestle food from the men so that she could give the kids a feed, trying to get the kids to sleep before she could go and prepare her lessons for the next day. To look into the face of that lady and the beautiful women and men who were sitting around her - small in number - affected me. If I cannot do something to honour that effort, there is no point in being here - no point.
I pulled one of the old men aside and said: ‘Why is it that you are fighting this fight?’. There seemed to be few in number. He told me his story. He had made a decision; he had changed an intention to an action and had done something. He had gathered a few around him. Call them a motley crew. I am so heartened that in this substance abuse committee I went around many communities from the top to the Centre. They are everywhere; good people are there - good people who need our support. They need to know we understand; we have sensitivity for their struggle. I say again, it is not a program, a policy, a plan or a statement that is going to fix it - people will. That is the breaking of the cycle; going beyond the prejudice.
I have placed myself in positions in recent times where I am listening to speeches that I find difficult to hear. I have heard myself and all my history being referred to as ‘those who have committed cultural genocide’. I have heard such vitriol and hatred. Do I respond with hatred? I could do; I am deeply hurt by what I hear. However, I recognise that there is a heck of a lot of pain in this society amongst our people. I am talking about our people; I am an Australian. How the heck do we sort that out? There are those who are bringing to bear a solution, but the fuel they have in their tank is hatred and division, and that crosses colour lines. There is hatred on both sides. There is division on both sides. There is prejudice on both sides. There is violence on both sides. There is lies and misrepresentation on both sides.
Alexander Solzhenitsyn said when he first started to look around he thought the line of good and evil passed between the Soviet Bloc and the US. It was easy to judge in those terms. However, he then thought, no, as he came to a new level of thinking. He then shifted that line; he passed between classes of people within his own society. Then he fell into greater troubles with the regime because that line shifted until he recognised that the line of good and evil passed right through the human heart. It does not pass between colours, races; it passes through each person. We have to decide whether we are going to do the right thing or not. That is the challenge. The challenge is discern that line, make your decision.
I am heartened that the substance abuse committee has given me what I see to be the worst of times, but that worst of times has allowed me to see the reality; the best I can see it, at the best of times, because I have looked into the face of beauty. I have seen good people, just as a marriage has endured for 25 years because we stilled our rhetoric, we tightened our tongues, thought again, and looked at our kids. I urge we do the same.
Debate suspended.
VISITORS
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, I draw your attention to the presence in the Speaker’s Gallery of Mr John Cason, Qantas Regional General Manager for the Northern Territory, and participants of the Parliament House public tour program. On behalf of all honourable members, I extend to you a very warm welcome.
Members: Hear, hear!
MOTION
Note Statement – Closing the Gap of Indigenous Disadvantage
Continued from earlier this day.
Mr WOOD (Nelson): Madam Speaker, I start by making the observation that if we are going to close the gap, we have to know how wide your gap is and whether it is still widening. I believe it is a very wide gap and it is still widening. I can compare this with a dentist. A dentist can use methods like filling a gap with a filling, which can fall out, then the matter becomes more serious and we suffer much more pain and, eventually, probably need a new set of teeth.
Over the last few years, we have been putting in a few fillings just to keep the patient happy. Those fillings have fallen out and a serious loss of teeth has occurred. We now have a very wide gap, and we have not really noticed or cared about the big picture until a major crisis occurred, which required a senior dentist to step in put in a new set of teeth. That dentist in charge is the federal government.
Some may say the methods used to fill the gap have been excessive but, overall, even the junior dentist seems to have agreed with the approach, and has brought out some of its own ideas on how to fix the problem. It is some of those ideas on which I will comment today.
It would be hard not to be a little cynical about the NT government’s Closing the Gap policy. Why? Because the NT government has made plans before, has thrown money around and, after six years, not much has really changed. If you read the Wild/Anderson report, you would say no. If you look at the consumption of alcohol and the associated problems abuse of alcohol has brought us, you would say no. If you look at the state of housing and the lack of housing, you would say no. If you look at the low school attendance levels, the low numeracy and literacy levels, the high rates of incarceration of Aboriginal people, you would say no. If you look at the level of violence, especially domestic violence, you would say no. If you look at employment levels, especially in remote communities, you would say no. If you look at the life expectancy of Aboriginal adults, you would say no.
Now you see why I am a little cynical. The government had a framework for partnership with indigenous Territorians in 2001. It looked at strategic areas of action: education, health, housing, unemployment, child and youth services, and initiatives to reduce high incarceration rates. There was a high level task force to be established to address critical and immediate issues. When you look at the Closing the Gap statement, do you not get the feeling we have been down this path before?
Then, of course, in comes the federal government. Has the government just thrown their hands up or brought out the Closing the Gap statement as a smokescreen to say ‘We have found it all a bit too hard and have failed’?
I mentioned yesterday in the debate over the radioactive waste facility, that it was interesting that, when the federal government intervened in the Northern Territory, there was very little noise about the federal government intervening in Northern Territory matters, which is not quite what happened when I argued the same case about the Northern Territory being a repository for the radioactive waste facility.
I was surprised, and actually pleased in some ways, that the Chief Minister, when speaking about the federal government intervention, said, ‘We need to do this as a country, not just as a Territory’. She was also referring to her generational plan. I believe that was a very important statement by the Chief Minister. There are some issues that are of benefit to the country and, certainly, this intervention is one of those. The Chief Minister has put forward some proposals which are either in response to the Wild/Anderson report, or part of this generational plan for action, and I will comment on some of these proposals.
There have always been many things that could be regarded as the clear reasons why we have problems with sexual abuse on our communities. Although we are talking about some of the problems that were cited in the Little Children Are Sacred report which refers, of course, to sexual abuse, I believe that we are also looking at the bigger picture in relation to violence and other issues. My memories go back - and I have said this many times before – to the number of young boys who were in the dormitory at Daly River in the 1970s. They were boys who came off the cattle stations, and half of those died from the effects of alcohol. That is going back 37 years.
I remember visiting the houses at Daly River late at night, seeing a man standing over a woman with a steel bar belting her. I would have been 20 years old and not long out of Melbourne, and that picture still stays in my mind quite vividly. I have seen children at Nguiu whose parents were playing cards or at the club. The reason I knew that was because I used to sell vegetables from the back of my vehicle. I would go around to the houses and there would be children there who did not have any meals, no money and were hungry. That stayed in my mind as well. I believe that, although we are dealing with the very serious issue of sexual abuse, we are dealing with major areas that have been around quite a while. Unfortunately, over the last 37 years or so, I am not sure things have changed dramatically.
Of course, that it is not to say - and we have to be very careful when we highlight some of these matters, that we do not forget the success stories - the communities and people are not doing their best to advance their people. Outsiders looking at the Northern Territory at the moment, if they were to believe all they read in the press, would believe Aboriginal communities were all lost. We need to keep things in perspective and make sure the good stories are told. No matter what solutions we are looking for, we will only be successful if we bring the right Aboriginal people along with us as partners. The reason I say ‘right Aboriginal people’ is because sometimes the leaders are part of the problem. Look who was arrested at Kalumburu recently for child sexual offences – the president of the council and the school truancy officer were two of them.
We need to ensure that, in this partnership, we are talking to the right people. Unfortunately, I have been around long enough to know - and I am not going to name names - certain Aboriginal people seem to rise to the challenge when politicians come knocking on their door and, all of a sudden they become leaders when, in actual fact, they are not leaders; they are putting on two faces. I have seen that a number of times. That is what we have to ensure: that the intervention group that wants to create partnerships find some dinkum people, the people who really know. The other night, I watched the picture of those women at Yuendumu - the lady who ran a safe house - and they were disappointed there were no government funds. I listened to that woman speak, in perfect English, and she just said exactly what the problems were. There is a woman you should be talking to. There was no ‘look at me, look at me’; she was sincere about what she said.
In this whole complex and topsy-turvy political atmosphere we are going through at the moment - and I find it difficult to absorb it all - let us not lose sight of the fact that there are many good Aboriginal people out there. If we are going to achieve some changes, then we must bring those people along.
I refer to people like Sheila Millar. I have been out to her community at Dillinya - nearly had it the wrong way round. It is way out in the back of Woop Woop, down towards Top Springs. She is a tough woman, and does not agree with a lot of her own people, or a lot of the government. However, you know that she is doing something pretty good because she is trying hard to get people to change their ways. Her heart is in the right place and she is doing good things. I have a little article here from The Australian about a lady called Sarah Brown and her little Morris Minor which she uses to ferry patients to and from the purple house Dialysis Centre in Alice Springs. There is another great little story. They are the things we also ought to be telling. We can tell the bad stories and we need to tell them, but we also have to ensure we balance it with the good stories.
I will comment on a couple of the key issues. The issues that the minister pointed out are issues that we have debated in this House from time to time. There is a fair chance you may have heard all this before; it seems that only the name of the programs have changed. Resourcing: any program needs resourcing, but will you be able to fill these positions and will you find competent people to fill these positions? I know from my own experience, when you advertise in the bush, sometimes you get people with a CV about five miles long. They are the only people you can get sometimes, but they are not the people you really need. One of the things we have to look for, working in these communities, is maybe go back a little to the missionary days. I am not saying that is where we are going, but many people worked because they had a zeal, they wanted to help people; it was not about the dough. I know you have to have money to live, but there were people who really wished to help people. You really need people out there who want to help change, who are willing to listen to the people out there, willing to become part of the community, so it is not just about a nine-to-five job because, to work on an Aboriginal community, it is never nine to five.
Is the requirement for government to find 223 extra positions an indictment on what the government has not done? Is it true, for instance, that there is presently only one FACS person to look after remote cases in Central Australia; that is, in the outlying area? You are now employing 60 more staff. What does that say? Why have you only included one Aboriginal and Islander education coordinator? Twelve months from now, when the dust has settled, will we get a report card on if all these positions have been filled and how many indigenous people fill these positions?
Education: there is $70.68m towards education. Money has been thrown at education before, but what difference will this extra money achieve if kids are not going to school? Why is there not a statement like the one from the federal government, making it loud and clear that attendance at school is compulsory? I know that is not easy; I am not saying it is easy. There are many ways that can be achieved but, if the kids are not at school, then the $70.68m is money down the drain. Again, in 12 months will you give this parliament a report card? Education success has been glossed over for too long by the government in indigenous areas.
Take the Chief Minister’s statement where she spoke glowingly of the government take on secondary education. The concept is good and an important step forward, but what subjects are being taught at Year 12 level? How many are doing physics and chemistry or accountancy or business management? Here is the government promoting new local government which involves new shires, covering huge tracts of land, managing the local government affairs of many dissolved council entities, running work programs, lobbying and applying for financial grants, and ensuring local government is operating properly. Where are the indigenous people to take on those jobs? In fact, the bigger and more complex the council, the less likely there will be managerial opportunities. That is one of the downsides of super councils.
The reality is that the number of remote Aboriginal secondary students is very small, and attendance at these schools is still very low. Although it is encouraging to note students are attending high school, the reality is that literacy and numeracy rates are extremely low in remote communities. Again, it is glossed over in the fact sheet when it says that fewer than 40% of indigenous students achieve the reading benchmark. What it should have been highlighting is that, in 2004-05, which was the last time DEET published these figures, only 16% of remote indigenous students in Year 5 achieved national numeracy levels, and only 20% reached national reading levels. You know why they are not publishing these figures; they are a national disgrace.
Of course, there are reasons why this is happening, but has our government had to wait for federal intervention to move? Yes, there have being programs like breakfast and football; there has also been the Collins’ report. However, if those literacy and numerous figures are still so low, are these programs helping things? Are the programs working, but not at every school, or are they funded irregularly?
Batchelor College has been operating for years. How effective is it in delivering education programs? Is it time to analyse the progress? Has it improved literacy and numeracy, and created opportunities for indigenous people in their own or wider community? Batchelor College offers a wide range of subjects and many people have graduated from the college, and graduation days are always a very proud day. In light of the problems we are faced with today, perhaps it is time for an independent report to look at the effectiveness and relativeness of the college to see if it is achieving its goals in the long term, especially again in the light of the issues raised in the Wild/Anderson report.
I will come to unemployment a little later. It seems obvious that, without even a basic education, there is little hope for many for employment. What is missing in the education statement is adult education. If attendances are so low and literacy and numeracy figures are so low, there are, and will be, many adults who will struggle to achieve higher levels of employment - for example, in mining and tourism - without upgrading their basic skills and knowledge. We should place more focus on night classes where those who wish can spend one or two hours in a classroom in the evening learning. Night classes used to be operating years ago but have just disappeared from the scene. I believe that those programs were around years ago, so why not try it again? After all, if there are opportunities to do something more useful than playing cards and drinking, and if some of the measures being introduced to reduce gambling and drinking are successful, then let us provide alternatives for locals such as night school. It is no good banning gambling and reducing drinking if people do not have something else to do, and night school could be one of those options for people to take up.
When it comes to some of the issues related to sexual abuse, I believe boredom is a key factor. Employment should be available for anyone who wants a job. I note in the Wild/Anderson report they put employment as the greatest concern. It says on page 193 under the heading Employment:
- Of greatest concern is the contribution unemployment makes to the general malaise and hopelessness experienced by indigenous people in some communities.
There should not be unemployment benefits on remote communities. There is work, and it should not be called Work for the Dole. The federal government should provide sufficient funding for wages, equipment and management to help create employment and call them jobs. Some may say manual work is demeaning but, in fact, if you look at the big picture of picking up rubbish, mowing grass, planting trees, grading roads, repairing houses, repairing fences, and other such work, it is about putting pride back into a community as well as giving people something to do.
Unfortunately, there will be a requirement for jobs that require good numeracy and literacy and, because the numeracy and literacy skills are poor in some areas, there will be many who can never move up the ladder. However, all is not lost, especially if the restrictions on grog and gambling have an effect. I refer back to the issue of having night classes and helping people improve their literacy and numeracy. Sometimes, for many indigenous people, the only chance they have to improve their literacy and numeracy is when they are in gaol, unfortunately. They seem to like to go to the education classes in prison. When I was there, they attended them. It is unfortunate that you have to get an education by going to gaol. These are the options we should be making available in the wider community.
There should also be places at school in communities for students to study, especially if there is an issue of overcrowded houses. I am sure someone trying to study for an exam, or trying to improve their knowledge, is going to find it difficult to study in a house of 15 people with the television and the radio going, the dogs all barking, and the kids have not gone to bed. It is not very conducive to improving one’s educational prospects. I welcome the federal government’s intervention into getting kids to school, but it will be of no use if there are no job opportunities when these kids come out of school.
I will quickly talk about a couple of other things. Housing: of course, it is very difficult to study in overcrowded houses. Houses have been a problem for years but, with a mixture of insufficient funds, expensive designs, poor maintenance, nearly total reliance on government housing and, in some cases, houses abandoned in the bush, something needs to happen. The Northern Territory government has spoken of this and has complained about all these things, and yet we still have a problem. Is Closing the Gap the solution? It certainly does not seem to hold out much hope because they say there will be really no big change for at least 20 years.
A number of people have approached me about cheaper types of housing construction. One said he could put up a three-bedroom house in a week with most of the walls constructed from materials at the community. That particular company is interested in setting up a base at the new Tiwi Secondary College using materials from Melville Island. I do not know what has happened with that; I put that person and company on to the Minister for Local Government and have not heard anything.
We have the workers. We have high unemployment, so we have the workers. Let us get these people into housing construction, but do not have unemployment benefits. You have to say we have the work; if you want to work, we will pay you. Let us accelerate the Own Your Home scheme. If there is a state of emergency, get these module-type houses up and running.
Let us also have programs that teach owners of houses how to maintain these houses, perhaps through the Health department with encouragement awards for best house, best garden - that type of thing. That used to be operating years ago …
Mr NATT: Mr Deputy Speaker, I move that the member be granted an extension of time pursuant to Standing Order 77.
Motion agreed to.
Mr WOOD: Thank you, minister. We should be encouraging awards for best house, best garden and that type of thing. We should make sure the local stores stock hardware items to use in the house for repairs and maintenance. We were talking about food - and that is great; the government is on the right path there - but ensure we have hardware items so people can do things themselves.
We should establish a nursery and encourage people to plant a garden. I had a nursery on Bathurst Island. Every Saturday morning, we took plants down to the community. They could buy them off the back of the vehicle, and they planted them. You encourage people to have pride in the community by ensuring the garden has hoses and irrigation equipment. Also, give Territory Tidy Towns a role to play, as they used to.
Government needs to do an audit of abandoned houses and, if they are portable, move them into places where there are waiting lists. I know a couple of places where houses are abandoned. It is a disgrace that houses can be built in some communities and then people decide that it is not a good place to live. It would be different if it was Sorry Business, but this is not Sorry Business; this is just that they have moved back to town. There are a number of issues I will not have time to completely cover.
We know health is important. Unfortunately, I do not think - and I stand to be corrected – that there is one vegetable and fruit garden on any community any more. There may be some small ones, but, as they used to be, seem to have all disappeared. You must have good food if you want to improve the health of people.
Recreation is just as important. It is an area that was left out of this statement. The Chief Minister should add that in as an addendum. I have been travelling around with the Sessional Committee on Sport and Youth. I am not going to say what they said. All I can say is there are some issues out there. I am not allowed to discuss committee deliberations, but I can talk in general terms. We know there are issues out there. I know how important recreation is in these communities. Why do people play football on dirt ovals at Canteen Creek and Alpurrurulam? Because they love their footy. Or they play basketball with a half-busted basketball ring because they love playing basketball. You have to look at the total picture.
Employment, yes, people go out and work during the day. What are the options at night? Recreation. What are the options on the weekend? Recreation. What are the other options at night? Night classes. We need to look at the total picture.
I could talk for ages on alcohol. A lot has been said but, sometimes, we are still missing the major issue. In broader society, we are not taking on some of the bigger issues. When I go to the football at AFL, I see full strength beer. When I go somewhere else, I am told it is banned and there is no grog at that place, yet there will be drunks at the AFL. I have seen them, young Aboriginal girls - it makes me feel crook because you know they are so drunk they are in danger of being abused. Yet, we do not seem to be honing in on the bigger picture of the amount and the emphasis that alcohol has in our society.
Alcohol and sport, unfortunately, keep going hand-in-hand, and drunkenness is still something we think is okay. From a bloke who does not drink, perhaps I get sick of drunks talking to me because you do not get a lot of sense out of drunks. However, I sometimes think we have made it part of our culture that it is okay to be drunk, even though we say, no, it is not okay for Aboriginals to be that way. For the rest of us, it is all right, it is part of our culture. I believe we need to look at the whole picture. If we are going to change things in our society, then we have to change the way we all look the issues.
My mother sent me up a small cutting the other day – I forgot that it existed. I suppose it is beating my own drum a bit but, in 1981 or 1983, I got a series of television ads made ‘Think before you drink’. We had coasters and we had an ad done at the Vic Hotel on the top floor. We had another ad done where people with big beer bellies were walking around. The reason that was brought up was because there was advertising at that time which, basically, said you had to be a man to drink. For many Aboriginal people, they saw those ads on TV and said: ‘Well, that is the way we have to be’. There was no balance in this whole debate. The power of the breweries, the power of advertising, and the power of sport in this alcohol debate is something that needs to be looked at.
It is good to see pornography being banned. I believe the government really has to look at pornography being banned throughout the Territory. I do not believe I am any different to most adults. I have seen some pornography and, to be honest with you, I would have had more information out of watching animal husbandry at the Taminmin High School - because that is what it is all about.
Members interjecting.
Mr WOOD: That is what it is about. There is no love. However, I know what that effect would have on young people, because that kind of information and that kind of video has had a highly destructive effect on many Aboriginal communities. When I was at Daly River, I remember going around to a house where all the kids were just staring through the window at what was on the television screen – a pornographic movie. There was no control. I do not believe, even with all the controls we try to put on these things – such as being only allowed for people over 18 - the reality is, you can now get it on the web or sent to you from Canberra, and there is not much control at home. I have had parents tell me that they have sent their child to a house for a sleepover, and they said: ‘What did you watch?’ ‘Oh, the kids had this movie on’.
I know we live in a free society and some people argue adults are entitled to watch what they can but, again, we have to look at the big picture. The big picture is, I believe, pornography has been a disaster in some of these communities. I saw that article in the paper that mentioned Charlie King talking about the effects that pornography has had.
I am glad the Wild/Anderson report has raised the issue. The answer in the Chief Minister’s report does not necessarily say that they will ban it throughout the Territory. It, basically, says they will look at it. However, kids are kids, no matter whether they are Aboriginal or not. Some of this material is certainly not the sort of stuff that would give a child a balanced view of what love is about, because pornography is not about love.
The other issue is, in one of the government’s statements, it said it would reduce the number of Aboriginal people in incarceration. That statement was made in 2001. The sad fact is we have prisons that are chockers. We have very high indigenous numbers. I believe the number of juvenile indigenous prisoners is 96%. That is just way out of proportion. We have to do more about alternatives, so I will keep pushing the idea that we need mobile work camps. We need these sorts of options that will give both punishment and education, and kids a reason to live. I believe it is really important. It is sad that Wildman has been closed down.
Just on that idea of having places for people to get education and work, I believe we need those sorts of places for alcohol rehabilitation. I have said before, it is no good putting people in and out of these rehab revolving doors time and time again. If people cannot help themselves, then, through the alcohol courts, there should be a requirement to help these people forcibly, but with a guiding hand that has the long-term intent to change their life around. Why could we not have a place with a garden, a little workshop, a doctor visiting regularly, some literacy and numeracy? They must stay there because the only option is gaol. We should have those alternatives for people who have big problems with alcohol.
We need to work hard on some of these issues. I have argued this case about these alternatives for prison and for alcohol rehabilitation, for years and years. It is only when I saw the headlines of the Katherine Times the other day, I thought: ‘Whoopee, looks like there is a chance for some alternatives’.
In the end, Chief Minister, law and order and culture and responsibility are the foundations for changes. We have the Ali Curung model of law and order, and that is a good basis for some of our work. We should not throw that away with a lot of what is happening today. We need these partnerships, and the partnerships should be in relation to law and order, and management of culture - because I do not say ‘preserve culture’; culture is a moving thing – and about responsibility. In this intervention process, if we do not have those three things as the foundation, as part of a partnership with Aboriginal people, I have a feeling Aboriginal people will feel they are having this process imposed. If that is the feeling they get, they will become more and more isolated.
There are success stories out there, Chief Minister. There are good people out there. We need to sift the bad people from the good people and focus on the good people and move forward. Whilst I basically support what the Chief Minister is trying to do, there is a lot more that could be done. If we can work with the Aboriginal people and the federal government and do what you said, Chief Minister, ‘This is not just for the Territory, this is for the country’, then I support you if that is the basis for us doing it.
Ms MARTIN (Chief Minister): Mr Deputy Speaker, I thank all members who contributed to the debate. I will pick up briefly some of the issues raised by the member for Nelson. On what we do with juveniles in some level of association with the court and criminal justice system, there was an announcement recently that the Justice minister and I are committed to doing a juvenile camp in the Alice Springs region – exactly what you were talking about. What you are saying is not falling on an unreceptive government. We are looking at, particularly for Alice Springs, the issues of juveniles who are not at school, not in training, do not have a job, and the trouble they get into in Alice Springs. There is some really solid work going on there. We are getting the assessment back in a couple of months of where to put such a juvenile camp and what function it will have. We are certainly moving in that direction.
There were a couple of other points raised. The issue of alcohol is a critical one, the Wild/Anderson report raised that as one of the critical ones to tackle. A lot of work is being done, but you raised the issue of full strength beer at the footy. I have raised that with the AFL. Praise to Alice Springs when those big matches have occurred, there was only low and medium strength beer very carefully controlled, and there have been very good outcomes. It is happening in some parts of the Territory to ensure that the kind of things we do see and the behaviour that goes with it stops - particularly drinking full strength beer and, particularly in the afternoons. Like you, it disturbs me to see people who are obviously drunk at say, 4 pm. We have to continue to work with reducing supply on alcohol, getting better education so that we reduce the demand, and reduce the demand on certain products. There is good work happening in Alice Springs, but there is a lot of work to do in the Territory.
Katherine really needs a lot of community involvement in its alcohol management plan, and we are hoping to see that from the community. Katherine, come on down, there is a lot of work to do.
There is the very important issue of jobs and whether the jobs we are talking about will be held by Aboriginal people. You said when you raised that issue that you have to get the people who can do the job. That is going to be our challenge. You cannot just say: ‘You are Aboriginal, you have the job’. You have to have the skills, thereby, holds a whole tale behind it.
I asked the member for Arafura about changes to local government and what is happening, as an example, in the Tiwi Islands. On the Tiwi Islands, with local government, there are four community managers – all Aboriginal. There are 120 jobs in Tiwi Islands local government, and 70 out of those 120 jobs are held by Tiwis, and 10 of those are in full paid management positions. They are all jobs, they are not CDEPs, and 10 of those very significant jobs are held by Tiwis. It is a challenge to see if we can replicate across the Territory what is happening on the Tiwis. We strongly support local government change, and to get better management happening right across the Territory is going to be critical for all the kind of things that the Wild/Anderson report talked about. I certainly congratulate the Tiwis on that. That is a great outcome. When we can do it 100% it will be even better.
Madam Speaker, as every member has recognised, closing the gap on indigenous disadvantage is one of the most important things we, as a government and as an Assembly, are charged to do. The Territory simply cannot afford to have a significant proportion of our population unable to be part of our growing social and economic development. To overcome this gap will take a generation in itself. It is sad to think of that but, if you are looking at sustainable change, it is going to take a generation. As I look around the House, it is not likely that anyone in this House today will still be here when this plan runs its course. Although there might be 20, 30 anyone planning to beat - well who knows? However, by the end of it, we will arrive at a place where every baby born in the Territory, whether they be indigenous or non-indigenous, will have the same opportunity in life and the same chance to make the most of their life in whatever direction they choose - that is, with the good basis of education to have that opportunity, along with future training, to go further in your job.
To pick up a point from the member for Nelson, it is about choice. It is not about saying that you have to have a job that is in your community. It is about getting the skills to have the opportunity for a job and make a choice of what that job might be. We all know with our children growing up here in Darwin that some make the choices to have a job in the Territory, others will move interstate. For parents that is a sad thing, but it is also the opportunity we want for every Aboriginal child growing up in the Territory.
It is a bold ambition but it is a crucial one, and one which I take on with gusto. The first stage of this plan, the first five years, I announced a week-and-a-half ago. Those initiatives will see us build on the efforts to date of this government by injecting an additional $286m over the next five years. Very importantly, it is building on what we, as a government, have done over the past six years. This money will be injected into services such as policing - we have seen enormous increases in the police budget over the last six years; in fact, $90m additional in police - further money into housing and education. When you look at the education budget we have increased the education budget by, in six years, $181m. That is a percentage increase of 38%, an enormous recognition of the demand in the Territory for getting better educational services right across the Territory. Health is certainly the biggest increase, and has increased from $484m in 2001 to $838m going into health across the Territory in 2007. That is a 73% increase in our health.
This announcement through Closing the Gap builds on those key injections of funds in those critical areas, and also works further to support families and improving, importantly, the capacity of communities to participate in the economy of the Territory. I stress that this package builds on the existing efforts of the government, because much has been done over the last six years to address these important issues.
We came to government facing a serious deficit, Madam Speaker. Funds have gone to those critical areas. It is all very well for members of the opposition to stand up and say: ‘What have you done with these increased funds?’ It is obvious; look at the budget papers and at the outcomes we are getting. We are turning the deficits around from 27 years, but it is going to take time. Sadly, it is going to take a generation.
I am very proud of the efforts of this government in the broad field of services to the bush. As I said in the original statement, this is a government which brought proper secondary education to the bush and increased health expenditure by 73%, and has increased police numbers by 200 across the Territory. However, more is needed to be done; there is no doubt about that. More is needed to be done, much more, and Closing the Gap is the first instalment of that.
Closing the Gap takes on the 97 recommendations of the Wild/Anderson report, and takes those recommendations further. The Wild/Anderson report did focus on what government needed to do. What our response does is acknowledge those ideas and recommendations, and take them further. Our response recognises the need for a three-way partnership to deliver real outcomes. That partnership is between the Northern Territory and Australian governments and, most importantly, Aboriginal people themselves.
As I said in the media conference when announcing this plan, the government can put into place a range of mechanisms to get children to school, but unless parents get them up and going, we will not be successful. It is that sort of practical working together that will overcome many of the problems. That is why I was so pleased, on 3 August, to sign the first of the education partnerships between the government and the community of Yirrkala. In this agreement, responsibilities and obligations for both sides were spelt out.
The opposition has made much of this joint responsibility issue - the Deputy Opposition Leader in Question Time last week, for example. The Closing the Gap document and the broad actions of government to date already indicate how seriously we have taken this view. Let me spell it out clearly: we believe that the best and quickest way to overcoming disadvantage is by a strong three-way partnership between governments and the people themselves each taking on clear goals and working towards them.
To achieve that, we have to define the goals and take the lead in laying down the pathway to that achievement. I am not asking anyone to do anything I am not prepared to do myself, and Closing the Gap shows those plans and our seriousness about it. I do thank members for their contributions.
The Opposition Leader, in her response, decided that the Wild/Anderson report was a failure. She is determined to define the how and why abuse occurs in an academic way. Her view is if we can get to the bottom of this how and why, we can change behaviour. The Opposition Leader is particularly concerned that, by ignoring the determinants of child abuse, as she sees it, the report misses the potential for stopping the abuse itself. That is an approach. I do not agree with her. The report has been very useful in making the issue a very live one in indigenous communities. I am aware that discussion of the issue alone has resulted in a greater awareness of the issues.
I do agree that the report did not successfully provide a silver bullet for piercing the veil of silence around reporting and understanding child abuse. To be honest, that is a very difficult task, and we will pick up the cudgels on that and take the issue forward.
My view is that child abuse is an outcome of dysfunction and communal breakdown. To fix that breakdown and dysfunction, better services need to be delivered. I have always had the view that providing sufficient housing to a community to overcome crowding and to give families a decent living area will help overcome some of these issues. I am not alone in that. Respected figures in Australia like Dr Fiona Stanley say housing is critical in overcoming some of the disadvantage and dislocation that Aboriginal communities suffer. Major-General Dave Chalmers, who is with the Prime Minister’s task force on the intervention, says ‘housing’ each time the media asks what the critical issue is we have to address. That was reiterated in the Wild/Anderson report.
I have been criticised for saying that housing is a critical issue, but I do think it is true and so do the experts. That is why we have already put $100m into housing and added in this package $42m-plus. We are also working with the Commonwealth to get real further support from them. We need to build 200 houses a year for the next 20 years, and that is not something that we, as a government, can do alone. I reiterate that this is not only about governance. The Territory government can put so many funds in. The federal government, which has a key responsibility here, can put further funds in. Their ARIA program, their housing program renamed, over the next four years has $1.6bn in it. The Prime Minister gave a fairly strong commitment to say that half of those funds should come to the Territory over the next four years. That would make an enormous difference. We have yet to pin down the federal government on making sure those are not just words, but a real commitment.
Aboriginal organisations also have to invest in housing in the bush. When you look at where things like royalty payments have gone over many years, have they ever gone into housing and community infrastructure? Rarely. The time is now to address this subject and to ensure that, while it is important that investments are wise with some of the significant funds that come to Aboriginal organisations and trusts, there is a balance between investing in immediate infrastructure to assist what governments at both levels are doing. It is something that I am going to take up with the land councils and other organisations. I believe this is the third critical component of investing into housing and infrastructure for the future.
Of the contributions in the House, the opposition did not really offer any real solutions. They have an opinion, and I thank them for that. I thank the member for Nelson for a thoughtful contribution and raising a number of key issues some of which I have responded to. My colleagues provided more practical on-the-ground experience in these communities than was offered by the opposition. I have been very impressed with the determination of my colleagues who hold bush seats to get out to communities, talk these issues through, and deliver the message about changing behaviour and about future partnerships.
When the federal government announced their proposals, my colleagues coordinated a major push through the Territory to discuss the issues with their electorates and to encourage people to cooperate. We did not want rumours and fear being spread. That work has really been done very well, and I thank bush members for that work. My colleagues have literally driven the length and breadth of the Territory to do this. From Kintore to the Tiwi Islands, a Labor member of parliament has been visiting communities, explaining outcomes, walking the community through the thorny issues associated with the intervention, and encouraging people to be part of the process of rebuilding communities. The member for Arafura in particular, has been a leader, not just in her own electorate, but in the Territory and the nation as a whole in handling this very difficult time, and I thank her for her work.
Madam Speaker, I met with the Prime Minister today and we discussed the intervention and Closing the Gap. My fundamental point to him is that the solutions to where there is dysfunction - and you have to make this clear point - not every community is dysfunctional. Sadly, too many are, but we have communities who function well, who have a spirit about what they do, who have community members with jobs, and where attendance at school is good. One of the sad things about what has happened over the last few months is this broad-brush approach that says every community is the same, every community is dysfunctional. It is a real sadness. I do not know how we turn that perception around.
Aboriginal people I talk to, and bush members, know the truth of this. To sit with federal parliamentarians who simply say: ‘It is all dysfunctional out there, you have no health service, you have no this’, it is offensive to all those Territorians, whether they are Aboriginal or non-Aboriginal, who are doing the hard yards in many remote areas of the Territory. I pay tribute to them; they work hard. There are women and men who work so hard in communities to keep those communities functional, who deal with difficult problems. You are just blown away by the commitment they have to their communities. None of us would even envisage that kind of commitment in our own daily lives in an area like Darwin, so I pay tribute to them.
When I talked to the Prime Minister, I said that where there is dysfunction - and no doubt about it, there is dysfunction – we need to have long-term solutions. The way to get people into the mainstream economy is by putting resources into solutions that take time to hold; and those solutions are housing, health and education, and, of course, policing. We need to ensure that we have police more strategically across the Territory. That does not mean setting aside immediate law enforcement to deal with substance abuse and those who neglect and abuse children. That is why I asked the Prime Minister to keep the proposed 50 police in place for five years, and why I have committed to putting 40 more in to make that a real and strong commitment.
I do believe the Prime Minister understands the issues. Equally, I believe that it is well understood by Opposition Leader, Kevin Rudd. I will be raising similar issues with him when we meet shortly.
Madam Speaker, I thank all members for their contribution and I look forward to now putting in place, detail by detail, this government’s Closing the Gap initiatives.
Motion agreed to; statement noted.
MINISTERIAL STATEMENT
Creating Darwin’s Future – Progress Report
Creating Darwin’s Future – Progress Report
Ms MARTIN (Chief Minister): Madam Speaker, this afternoon I will update the House on the progress we have made in Creating Darwin’s Future over the past 11 months, and to advise on a suite of initiatives that I announced yesterday that will change the face of Darwin and make our CBD an even better place to live and work.
Our aim is a bold one, but realistic; that is, to create one of the world’s great harbour cities. We are pretty good now, but we can be better. The work we will undertake over the next two years represents a big step forward in achieving our goals: we will build a World War II museum next to Parliament House commemorating the defence of Darwin; we will develop a ribbon of green around the CBD stretching down to the Botanic Gardens; we will give State Square a makeover to create a focal point for people and visitors in the CBD; we will change our planning scheme to ensure that our CBD has a tropical and people friendly feel to its streets and has a consistency of design; and we will ensure that antisocial behaviour in the CBD is under control.
Together with our rapidly developing and soon completed waterfront project, these initiatives will have a profound impact on how we experience our city. Before I tell you more about these initiatives, let me remind members how we got to this point, and the important role the people of Darwin have played in Creating Darwin’s Future process. Less than a year ago, we began the process of planning and creating one of the world’s great harbour cities. Central to Creating Darwin’s Future was a focus on two separate, yet linked, strategies for the future of our city.
First, we undertook to develop our CBD. We wanted to create a vibrant 24-hour city where residential, commercial and entertainment centres come together in an environment that has a strong tropical focus. We wanted it to be a great place to live and work and an exciting place for our visitors to spend time and, of course, their money.
Equally important to Creating Darwin’s Future is the need to preserve and protect our great lifestyle in the suburbs. There is no better place in Australia to live and raise a family, and our relaxed outdoor way of life is something we all hold dear. Our focus will be on developing safe and peaceful suburbs and neighbourhoods, which will have a strong sense of local community and identity. Later in the year, we will turn our attention to Darwin’s suburbs and will release our Suburban Living Strategy which will lead to a plan of action by early next year.
This is the approach we are taking, along with a committed group of partners, in developing our city in Creating Darwin’s Future. Since the launch of Creating Darwin’s Future in October last year, we have consulted widely on the merits of 93 ideas and initiatives contained in the Creating Darwin’s Future package. We have engaged business and talked to many special interest groups, local organisations and countless Territorians. Both the chief executive of my department and I attended a number of forums targeting these groups which included representatives from the arts, tourism, business sectors, as well as community, professional and heritage groups.
At these meetings, we had the opportunity to present our proposals and receive quality feedback from the participants. The engagement with the public and specialist interest groups will continue in the future. We also undertook months of public displays at major shopping centres and other high-profile events such as the Royal Darwin Show and the Tropical Garden Spectacular. We talked to many Territorians during the consultation phase, all of whom had views on the direction our city should take. We also receive constant feedback via our dedicated website.
While we have studied all the feedback and taken on board many ideas, it was vital that the process produced prompt, decisive action. That is why I established a working group of senior government, council and industry leaders to take account of all the feedback and to develop action plans to progress the agreed initiatives over the next five years. The working group, which is chaired by Paul Tyrrell, Chief Executive of my department comprises Allan McGill, Chief Executive of Darwin City Council; Allan Garraway, President of the Property Council of Australia, Territory Division; Rick Paul, President of Chamber of Commerce; and Rod Applegate, Acting Chief Executive of the Department of Planning and Infrastructure. They meet on a regular basis to ensure all tasks are actioned, and have attended a number of the public forums gaining a first-hand knowledge and understanding of the thoughts and desires of those involved in these discussions. My department is providing secretariat support to the working group, and senior departmental staff are coordinating the implementation of the first suite of initiatives across government and our other partners.
A major task for the working group was to review and analyse the feedback we received on each of the 93 proposals. Their review identified and classified initiatives according to whether they received popular support and were considered a priority going forward; received a good response, but they were not considered a key activity at this stage; were currently under way or completed; and whether the initiative had funds allocated to them in the 2007-08 budget.
Madam Speaker, as a result of this process we moved decisively and committed funding in the 2007-08 Budget to key projects. $250 000 was committed to develop a master plan for State Square, which I will talk more about shortly, and that master plan is due for completion in December. We have also committed $6m for the redevelopment of Myilly Point including Flagstaff Park and the proposed Little Mindil Beach boardwalk. Options of the scope of the development are currently being prepared and will be ready for review and commencement of action by November this year. We have also committed $1m for urban road landscaping on the main arterial roads, the entry points into the CBD. Concept plans have been completed by government on the upgrading of the Tiger Brennan Drive and Daly Street entrances. We also committed $250 000 to conduct a feasibility study into the creation of the new museum, which I will talk about in detail shortly.
Another example of our inclusive approach to the task of creating Darwin’s future was a CBD Urban Planning Forum which was held in April this year. The forum was hosted by the Department of Planning and Infrastructure and Darwin City Council, and brought together over 180 leaders in urban planning, architecture, property, government and other related industries and professions. Following the forum, there were public feedbacks sessions held in Darwin and Casuarina which attracted over 240 people. The theme of the Urban Planning Forum was ‘How should our city function?’, and the main topics for discussion were ‘How do we achieve better building designs?’ and ‘What should our streets, parks and open spaces be like?’.
An Urban Design Advisory Panel was formed early this year and will assist and guide government’s decisions on planning issues. The panel combines local, interstate and international experience and is made up of Professor Rob Adams, Director of Design and Culture for the City of Melbourne; Leonard Lynch, Landscape Architect; Colin Browne from the Royal Australian Institute of Architects; Ross Finocchiaro, representative of the Property Council of Australia; Brendan Dowd from the Darwin City Council; Mark Doonar, who is with Tract Consultants of Brisbane; and Mark Meldrum from the Department of Planning and Infrastructure. Its role is to advise the Capital City Committee on specific matters and projects which will achieve better urban design within the central city area and the Darwin Peninsula. I will talk about the outcomes of their deliberation shortly.
Madam Speaker, as you can see, we have consulted widely and encouraged input and ideas at every stage of the process, but we have also moved decisively to ensure we see action on a number of fronts in the near future.
Let me now turn to yesterday’s announcement. Next door to Parliament House, we will build a World War II museum commemorating the defence of Darwin. Nowhere else in Australia has our World War II experience, and no other city suffered the heavy loss of life that we did. It is a story that we must tell and one we must share. It is a story generations of Australians need to hear. The Australian government of the day shielded Australians from the full extent of the bombings. They did not want fear paralysing our country back in the 1940s. Somehow, that wartime censorship has stood the test of time and, 60 years on, our war history is still a mystery to many Australians young and old. We will change that. We will display a heritage that cannot be ignored, and we will work to ensure that Darwin’s history is an important part of every schoolchild’s learning in the future.
The museum will ensure that the bombing of Darwin, the bravery of our people, and the resilience of our Defence Forces will be forever cemented into the national psyche. The museum will be designed to fit with the landscape and add aesthetic value to the promenade next to this parliament. Along with this iconic structure, we will also develop a World War II heritage trail that will link sites of significance to the defence of Darwin. These include wonderful areas such as East Point with its existing wartime structures, many sites around the CBD, the important airfields along the Stuart Highway, the Adelaide River War Cemetery, and significant areas in Katherine. As I mentioned earlier, $250 000 has already been committed in this year’s budget to develop concepts and designs of what this museum will look like and what it will contain.
We will form a reference group which will represent a cross-section of the community, and interest groups will provide input on the concept and design during the study. We will consider the timing for a start and finish for this project during next year’s budget process. I am sure you will all agree that this is an exciting new addition to the city landscape and one that will recognise a very important part of our history.
I also announced yesterday that we will firmly establish Darwin as the tropical capital by developing a ribbon of green around the CBD. It will expand and further develop existing open spaces such as the Esplanade, along with the development of new park lands and public access areas at Myilly Point parkland and the old hospital site. The Myilly Point park will be a vital part of this green border, and $6m will be spent on its development. Imagine new and accessible parklands at Myilly Point and the old hospital site linked by a foreshore promenade, from Nurses Walk along Mindil Beach and connecting through the Botanic Gardens. There will be co-funding for that by SKYCITY and the Darwin City Council.
Concepts for the future use of the old Darwin Hospital site to provide additional open space for public use are also currently being discussed, and a plan of action will be finalised by the end of this year. We will create new bike paths and parklands through the old tank farms in Stuart Park and final concepts are being prepared for another bike path to run along the existing rail corridor at the back of the tank farm. We plan to commence work on this by November this year.
The Esplanade will form part of the ribbon, with shade trees allowing for sweeping ocean views and tropical breezes while making the most of the open spaces and the wonderful views the Esplanade already offers. Darwin City Council is looking at development options and, along with government, is talking with a range of stakeholders about how to make the Esplanade experience even better. This could include turning the old tank at the end of the Esplanade into a restaurant, offering a unique dining experience for locals and visitors to the city.
We have a great harbour, and we must see more of it. We are also looking at exciting new developments along the Esplanade such as a permanent and safe swimming facility through development of the Lameroo Baths.
We have a new museum going to happen, a revitalised Esplanade, our new waterfront development and a ribbon of green stretching down to the Botanic Gardens. These are significant initiatives that will have a profound impact on how we experience our city. As I said yesterday, it is an experience in need of a focal point, a central point that links the waterfront to the Esplanade and to our retail sector. That is where our plans for State Square come in.
At the moment, the area surrounding Parliament House and the Supreme Court is a random collection of heritage structures, car parks, ageing buildings and parklands. The potential exists to do something special. In keeping with the Darwin City Council’s streetscape strategy, this part of Darwin will become a civic and heritage precinct. It will be developed to have its own look and feel; one that will showcase it as a distinct part of Darwin city. I announced yesterday that the decision has been made to give State Square a complete revamp. It has been talked about for a long time, but now it will happen. The how, why and what will be finalised in the near future, but I can tell you that we want to create a space in this historic part of Darwin, one that will draw people and visitors into the CBD.
We will landscape and develop this area into a precinct that will become Darwin’s signature community meeting space and a focal point of a unique tropical urban experience. Any decision on the removal of the Chan Building will, of course, be based on detailed consultation of the costs involved in relocating equipment and the current data centre housed there to other more appropriate locations.
We have begun the process by providing $250 000 in the last budget to develop a master plan for State Square. An exciting feature of this project will be a magnificent covered walkway linking the waterfront and Smith Street Mall. The walkway will include interpretive signage, and imaginative landscape along the way, and will give people a real sense of the area’s historical and heritage significance. The master plan will be completed by the end of the year, and we plan to move quickly to make this vision for State Square a reality.
To match these changes, I again stress my support for the opening up of the mall. I encourage Darwin City Council to look at the plans that they have had done by Hassell and move on those. They have put the work in; they have the options for opening up the mall. What they need to do is make those decisions.
While we are talking about this end of the city, I am certainly pleased to inform the House that our new convention centre is on track for an early completion, and will be ready for the first booked convention in July 2008. Along with the convention centre, the wave pool is on track to be completed in May next year. The bulk of the parklands surrounding the wave pool will be completed by June next year, with some interface works completed by September. The marine infrastructure and the bulk of the roads and service will be finished by the end of this year, and the public car park completed by June 2008. Works have commenced on the two hotels which will be operational next year, and the first residential and commercial finger will be ready by the first quarter of 2009.
While initiatives such as the ones I have talked about are crucial to developing a tropical city, all this work can be undone unless the buildings that rise out of the ground reflect that we are a modern tropical city. That is why, in addition to these exciting initiatives, we will take measures to firmly guide Darwin’s development in the future. The Urban Design Advisory Panel, which I mentioned earlier, will assist and guide our decisions on planning issues. As a result of the Urban Planning Forum held in April this year, three key referrals have been made to the Urban Design Advisory Panel for consideration as a matter of priority.
Firstly, the panel will look at how a building sits on its plot. This will focus on building height and include areas such as plot ratio, setbacks and open space. The panel will also investigate and advise us on the need to limit the size of the central business zone to maintain vibrant commercial activity. The third of the referrals is for them to explore guidelines to address antisocial behaviour in the CBD through better planning. The panel is active on these issues and will be reporting back to government by the end of the month. In addition, the panel’s advice will also be sought on amendments to ensure specific building design outcomes that focus on performance. These initiatives will lead to smart building designs that make the most of our tropical lifestyle. They will also reduce adverse effects on the environment, including the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions through a smarter use of power and technology.
A unique tropical urban experience also extends to the streets. We will change the Planning Scheme to require new developments within the CBD to offer an active interface with the street or public realm. These changes will be linked to the Darwin City Council’s commitment to its five-year streetscape strategy to commence in July 2008. It will be based on its existing high-level streetscape strategy. The roll-out of this strategy by council will be a crucial part of creating a much improved environment in our city, one that will see more activity extending from private developments into the streets, with more cafs and more glazing to ground level buildings to create light and to avoid blank walls. We will also require all aboveground car parks to be hidden or screened through building design. We will mandate awnings to new buildings in the CBD, a proposal in line with the council’s streetscape strategy, which is designed to improve the overall look and feel of the city.
The proposed amendments to the Northern Territory Planning Scheme will be put on public exhibition and will be advertised in newspapers this Friday. There will then be a period of 28 days for the public to view and comment on the proposed amendments which are that: the Darwin City Council’s streetscape strategy will be a guideline for adjacent building landscaping; active building street interfaces will be mandated; selected streets will have mandated awning requirements for new buildings; and car parks will not be allowed at the street level unless screened.
Depending on the number and complexity of the public submissions, we anticipate the proposed amendments will be passed by November this year. Our aim is to ensure a consistent design style throughout the CBD, and the Minister for Planning and Lands will comment on these matters further.
Council is also looking at areas such as shade and weather protection, traffic management and pedestrian movement, street furniture and signage, public art and water features, infrastructure and services, and lighting and landscaping. We will work with them to achieve strong outcomes in all these areas. These planning changes are absolutely necessary if we are to create the great tropical harbour city we deserve, and if we are to balance the needs of industry and the community in the years ahead.
The issue of antisocial behaviour in the CBD was raised at the Urban Planning Forum. It is a real issue of concern to all of us, and we will release the revised antisocial behaviour strategy by October. It is my hope that this new strategy, together with better planning, will greatly minimise antisocial behaviour in the future.
Yesterday’s announcements will change the face of our CBD and will ensure we develop into one of the world’s great tropical harbour cities. I want to see action on all these initiatives and, as I have outlined, it will be soon. Later in the year, as I said, we will turn our attention to Darwin suburbs and the release of our Suburban Living Strategy will produce a plan of action by early next year. As I said, our goal is to ensure that the great lifestyle we enjoy in the suburbs of Darwin is protected and enhanced. It has a relaxed sense of community and neighbourhood, and our aim is to ensure that we keep that character and enhance it.
It is an exciting time for Darwin and an important moment in the development of this city. In summary, there will be a World War II museum next to Parliament House; a ribbon of green around the CBD; a revamped State Square; new planning amendments; and, new entrances to our city. These are exciting times for Darwin and, as I said yesterday, I invite everyone along for what will be a most exciting ride.
Madam Speaker, I commend the statement to the House, and move that it be noted.
Ms CARNEY (Opposition Leader): Madam Speaker, the thought occurred to me when the Chief Minister was reading her statement - and I will, for the most part, be reading my response - that I would be grateful if the Chief Minister would, in her reply in relation to the museum - and whilst we appreciate that it is on the basis on what we have heard to commemorate the bombing of Darwin and Darwin’s defence in the World War II – advise whether the Chief Minister or her department has given any thought to whether the museum would ensure that there is an acknowledgement of soldiers who have served in other conflicts since World War II in that museum. I put that suggestion in good faith. Whilst it is entirely appropriate to have a museum that celebrates and commemorates the efforts of those in Darwin in World War II, it would be a good idea for it to include other conflicts as well.
I thank the Chief Minister for her statement. It does seem, since coming to office six or so years ago, the government really has not taken planning by the scruff of the neck in the same way that the previous government did. I know people will disagree with that but, increasingly on the representations that I am having to my office from many people who have lived all their lives in Darwin, they are becoming very concerned about the difficulties being presented by this government with planning and no vision to what they consider to be ongoing problems with planning. I am happy to concede that the Chief Minister’s statement, such as it is, is her version of a visionary statement. However, there is a concern. Whilst I am sure the previous CLP governments made some mistakes in planning, I ask government to consider taking the issue of planning by the scruff of the neck. I will come to some of the issues in support of that shortly.
I note that the Chief Minister has allocated $250 000 for a State Square master plan. At the same time, there appears to be quite specific proposals in the museum, the ribbon of green, and the waterfront. It should be stated for the record that there still remains a lack of detailed plans, such as the Darwin Land Use Objectives, from this government. I do not just refer to what has been announced yesterday, but other developments. Often, we see artists’ impressions of one project or another; however, artists’ impressions are not detailed plans. If the experience of the waterfront is any example, those artists’ impressions are very much a moveable feast.
It was not so long ago that the Chief Minister stood in front of, I think it was a Channel 9 camera, and looked like a rabbit caught in a spotlight when she was asked about the height limits on buildings in the Darwin CBD. There have been, as she knows and many other people know, scathing criticism and articles - the one that Nicholas Rothwell wrote springs to mind. It illustrates the growing criticism about planning or, more to the point some would say, the lack of it in relation to the Darwin CBD.
We have the Chief Minister’s statement which, whilst in some areas is good, you have to stand back and say there is a lot of rhetoric but not much detail. Some of it really amounts to a plan for a plan. I would have thought that the Chief Minister and government could and should do better than that. There certainly are some specific details about what street level shopfronts will not be allowed to do and that car parks should be screened - and they are good ideas. However, there is no comment on height restrictions anywhere and, for a statement that described the future of the Darwin CBD, that is surprising. Indeed, the statement itself is remarkably short.
I was expecting a document like the Central Darwin Planning Concepts and Land Use Objectives 1999 which I have brought into the Chamber today. As some of you who were around then will remember, it was prepared by former CLP Planning minister, Tim Baldwin. It is a detailed study - and if you have not seen it you should try to have a look at it - of some key concepts for what Darwin should and could have been into the future. It has never been revoked or decried as a failure. It was full of options and I wonder when we will see a document of this type amongst, or in addition to, the Chief Minister’s rhetoric and media releases.
The document that was produced by former minister, Tim Baldwin, seems to have fallen by the wayside. I commend members to have a look through that document. Areas like Bayview, which was in that plan, is now a reality. Others like Goyder Island will probably never be a reality. One of the crucial aspects of the plan, however, was height restrictions around the perimeter of the CBD. It was designed to achieve what is called the Gotham effect for CBD structures. Limiting the height of buildings along the Esplanade and McMinn Street was intended to force the taller buildings that we are now seeing built on the city rim, in towards the middle of the city. This meant that people living and working in the centre of the city would be able to see over the roofs of those who lived and worked on the fringes of the city. The other effect that would have been achieved is that there would have been a renewal of some of the older buildings in the CBD ...
Members interjecting.
Ms CARNEY: Madam Speaker, if one looks - and I hope the members muttering away in the background do have a chance to or take the opportunity to look – at Figure 4 of the document to which I have referred …
Mr Bonson: Old news, living in the past.
Ms CARNEY: Madam Speaker, he will have his go. Can I ask that I at least be heard in silence or, if he is going to interject, can he do it properly so I can hear him?
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Millner, cease interjecting.
Ms CARNEY: Thank you, Madam Speaker. This document referred to and expressly provided the maximum height restrictions in Darwin: 120 m in the centre of the city and buildings on the fringe were to be limited to 55 m rising to 120 m. Clearly, now, there is a demand to go above 120 m and the CLP has no truck with the buildings like Pandanus and Evolution. Those buildings are within the original 120 m zone contemplated by the 1999 model. Nevertheless, I believe people are becoming increasingly concerned, when these buildings are completed, about the impact they will, nevertheless, have on the city skyline.
The problem with taller buildings on the city fringe is that they tend to suppress investment in the centre of the city. Rather than getting the Gotham effect, which was envisaged and planned for by the previous government, the result is the opposite - it is a donut effect. We are all aware that the Territory has a history of boom/bust cycles, and this boom will, in every likelihood, be no different from those that preceded it.
Now that we have several tall buildings along the Esplanade, it is likely that there will be a reluctance to build behind those taller buildings unless those buildings behind are significantly taller than the buildings in front. If the economy takes a downturn, it will be many years before buildings located in the city centre will be demolished and replaced with something more in keeping with the new Darwin rather than the old, which is more a testimony to fibrous cement, corrugated iron and timber frames than to the modern Darwin of concrete, steel and glass.
Even nostalgic as it may have been, it is not the Darwin of the future. It would be a shame if the middle of the Darwin CBD was not able to shake off some of the ‘country town outpost’ image for what we have become; that is, the modern vibrant commercial hub. Indeed, the Chief Minister expressed her very clear intention to see Darwin become an even better tropical city.
I do not advocate, nor does the opposition, complete renewal - and I am sure the member for Nelson will support that view - because there are many heritage sites that should never be lost. As the Chief Minister said, there does need to be a balance.
One of the issues that the opposition does have with this government’s approach is its determination to allow whatever, whenever and for whomever. Whilst Territorians appreciate that the Development Consent Authority has carriage of approvals, many are, the opposition detects, becoming concerned that the government is not exerting its standards more rigorously. Some of the projects being conducted in the CBD by long-standing developers are consistent with people who care about this city. They have made their money here and they are cautious about what they are doing. There are others, however, who develop, make their money and shoot through. The legacies of the two different approaches are often apparent in what they give to our city.
The government should make rules that are only given exceptions in the most extreme cases. There are several reasons for that. If a block of a particular zoning is passed over by one developer because it restricts heights, for example, and then is taken up by another who gets special permission to exceed zoned heights, it makes the zoning less reliable. The effect is then that any block is seen as a potential high-rise despite the zoning.
This means that nearly every project becomes a special case to be argued before the DCA, and the process then becomes very cutthroat. Further, zoning maps become less reliable and, of course, when special consideration is given to one developer, it becomes difficult to resist the same arguments from other developers. This is why plans like the 1999 Land Use Structure Plan are so necessary. It is not what we are seeing from this government, and we should. Darwinians expect and deserve to see plans such as this.
I now turn to what the Chief Minister’s plan actually promises. It promises $7.5m for a city facelift on the basis of what was reported in today’s paper. For what the aims are of the city facelift, $7.5m arguably is not a lot of money, especially when one considers that the building of the museum appears – and I stress appears – to be included in that figure. It is also not in this year’s budget. We would expect, therefore, to see it in next year’s budget.
To have a flash announcement and a commitment of money that is not even in a budget - and I think I heard the Chief Minister correctly today; she went dangerously close to saying it would be in next year’s budget. We hope so, and we will certainly be watching that with great interest.
The Chief Minister yesterday spoke of some of the things that the plan incorporates, and she spoke of the Chan Building. As with her, I am not wedded to the Chan Building. In fact, looking through the 1999 plans, there are pictures of State Square minus the Chan Building. No doubt, this government will produce its own - and bully for them. The area can be enhanced by removing the Chan Building. However, the plan to demolish the building has, as I understand it, been around for the better part of 10 years, and there are real problems with getting rid of that building, as we all know. The basement houses the brains of the government’s nervous system, and there are real obstacles about removing what is in the basement. I am sure the Chief Minister and I have pretty accurate hunches on the cost of removing what is down there. The cost will be a significant issue.
The next obvious issue is: where would you put it. Where would you put what is over the road, or across the square? Where does it go? It is particularly convenient where it is, given NT House, this building and the Supreme Court. I wish the Chief Minister well in working that out - as I believe the previous government tried to do - demolishing the Chan Building and relocating, in particular, what is under it.
In the Chief Minister’s statement, some pages are dedicated to two issues: the waterfront and the proposed museum. This is an opportunity to repeat the opposition’s suggestion about expanding the museum so that there is an acknowledgement of soldiers who have served in other conflicts. With so much of the Chief Minister’s report dealing with those areas, there is really not much detail in relation to some others.
We are intrigued, nevertheless, about the ribbon of green when its core element, Bicentennial Park, already exists and the Myilly Point park at the moment is vacant land zoned B5 for business. We ask the Chief Minister: is it the whole of Myilly Point that will be made into parkland, including the old hospital site, or is the parkland restricted to the headland site? I suspect that it is restricted to the headland site but, in the absence of a map, we do not know, and Darwin residents do not know either.
Where else, we ask, is the ribbon of green? According to the news last night, it may have formed some part of the old tank farm site. The next logical question is: how much of the old tank farm will form part of the ribbon of green? We suspect not much, but wait with interest. Regarding the Chief Minister’s comments yesterday about the ribbon of green, and earlier comments in relation to her desire to make Darwin look like Singapore, we note with enormous interest the big patch of green next to this building, which is, increasingly - I am sure we have all seen it over the years - being used by Darwinians for a range of purposes. We want a Darwin that has parks and green sites and, yet, there is a certain irony about building on a lovely green patch just next to this very building.
I am not from Adelaide but I have spent a bit of time there over the years. Adelaide has a ribbon of green, to use the Chief Minister’s terminology, that is impressive, and I am sure other members would agree. It is designed to have parks all around it. Adelaide’s CBD is bordered by four terraces, as we know - North, South East and West. For my own part, I am not a huge fan of the simple grid pattern that was chosen by the designers of Adelaide. However, having said that, they were careful to leave room for thousands of acres of parkland on four sides of that city. This is now impossible in Darwin, but more can be done, I believe, than a simple ribbon if it is done well and efficiently.
The Little Mindil site was going to be parkland in Tim Baldwin’s 1999 plan. It is now a hotel development in the waiting. What has been given back for the loss of the ribbon of green, we ask? The headland site at Myilly Point does not represent, necessarily, a major return. That is not to say that the headland site will not make a stunningly beautiful park, because it will, but it is just not as big as Little Mindil.
The other sales plug that we heard from the Chief Minister’s statement, and I understand from comments yesterday, was the waterfront. The waterfront construction site, back in August 2003, was not going to cost the taxpayer any more than $100m in today’s dollars. I pause here for a second to set the record straight about that issue. Recently, I said that the taxpayers’ outlay was going to be $520m for the government’s contribution to the waterfront. The Chief Minister was quick to counter that the taxpayer was only going to pay $135m, and then she flicked out a press saying that I did not know what I was talking about.
The figures that we both relied upon are contained in the Auditor-General’s report from February this year. In that report, the Auditor-General notes that there are two ways to count the figures. The government relies on what is called true value, or today’s dollar terms, to express the value of the project. The same cost is done in nominal dollar terms as well. It is that set of numbers that produces an outlay of $529m, as the Chief Minister and her colleagues well know. The reason I use that figure is because that is how all government expenditure is expressed for all other projects. For example, Closing the Gap money is expressed in nominal dollar terms. There is no allowance for CPI in that spend over five years, despite a Territory CPI rate of 4.4%. The government’s expenditure on Building our Police Force and building middle schools is also in nominal dollar terms, despite the fact that the CPI will diminish the value of the amount over time. The only time that the government seeks to depress the level of spending is when they are spending it on the waterfront, so they use this little phrase, ‘in today’s dollar terms’.
Well, the horse has bolted, and this government really should be more up-front with the people they say they so proudly represent when talking about the costs. We have seen this government consistently juggle the figures and use whatever ones, and whichever methods, suit them for whatever reasons. However, Territorians, Darwinians in particular, will know the value of the project.
For the purposes of my further contribution, I will stay with the government’s own figures so that I can make another point about the waterfront. The waterfront is over budget, overdue and has lost many of the amenities that were promised by this Chief Minister four years ago. Let us look at them. The list of things not included in the current plans for the waterfront that appeared on the original proposal in September 2004, and I propose to list them, are as follows. If the Chief Minister, in response, wants to tell us where these things are, then I would be very grateful, but we cannot find them.
The things that are not there are: art markets; water gardens; sculpture walk; marker tower; food market stalls; amphitheatre including a sound shell; beach Volleyball courts; three swimming pools independent of the wave pool; and the historical and cultural centre. All of these things have disappeared from the waterfront site. The wave pool has gone from a small sized wave pool to a massive structure that will be a user pays structure, as we understand. Gone are all of the free amenities so, if you want to go there, you pay. If people doubt that the amenities are disappearing, then they are not alone because, if you look at the Darwin Waterfront and Convention Centre newsletter Edition 12, 12 to 21 November 2006, it shows the picture of a sound shell facing an amphitheatre. That is now a lawn.
Let us look at time lines. The 2004 Darwin Co-Consortium Draft Master Plan circulated to the public in September 2004 said that, in the first half of 2007 the convention centre would open. We are halfway through 2007 and the convention centre is still under construction. The master plan also said that Stage 1 would be completed by the end of 2007. Current estimates do not have Stage 1 completed until late 2008 and, if current rumours circulating around the traps are correct, then the area probably will not be complete until 2009.
I now turn to costs. On 11 August 2003, a government media release said:
- The government’s $100m commitment will go towards building the convention centre and some other infrastructure costs such as headworks, land improvement, remediation of contaminated areas, coastal protection and readying the entire site for development. The project will cover a 25-ha site already zoned in the central business district (CBD), and will include mixed-use development with residential, commercial and recreational use, plus a convention centre.
There are two sets of numbers dealing with the real cost of the government commitment. They are real value or today’s dollar terms, and nominal dollar terms. In nominal dollar terms, the government’s outlay is $529m with a $246m return. In real value terms, the government’s outlay is $211.7m with a $112.8m return. That makes the nett cost to the Territory $135m, which is what the Chief Minister quoted in parliament. I pause to point out how elastic the figure has become because, in a recent publication on the waterfront, there is a reference to the figure being $144m and, in another publication on 26 July 2007, the briefing said $149m. That is all in today’s dollar terms.
The original cost estimate of $100m was also expressed in real value terms. That means that the cost of $135m is already more than originally estimated. The government has admitted that they have incurred a $5m or thereabouts blowout in the wave pool. Now, government seems to be saying on the waterfront website that they have a further commitment in Stage 2 and Stage 3 of $63m. Total cost in real value terms is $203m or, put very simply, more than twice the original statement in August 2003.
The waterfront will end up costing Territorians more than twice what the government said it would. It appears, given the absence of things that were there in 2003 and September 2004, that Territorians will get less than what they were promised. I remind members opposite that, although they are members of a caucus and a party, every individual member should question the waterfront. That is not to say that you do not support it. The opposition questions, but we support it - of course, we do. The very thing ...
Mr Henderson: Hated it from day one!
Ms Lawrie: You hate the waterfront! You have run ads damning the waterfront.
Ms CARNEY: Here we go. Oh, that must have been why it was in Timmy Baldwin’s documents - and there is plenty more of these. Of course we support the waterfront; do not be absurd! The defensive, twitchy paranoid – and you are becoming increasingly paranoid …
Mr Henderson: We are very proud of it.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Ms CARNEY: Why don’t you have the ticker to challenge, because you should, as you have the numbers again still ...
Ms Lawrie: Because you are an opposition divided.
Ms CARNEY: And you, my friend, where is your ticker? Kim Beazley and you are good mates - are you? - because you just do not have the bottle. He hung around for years. He should not have; he missed his chance ...
Mr Henderson: At least we have some numbers on this side of the House.
Ms CARNEY: Missed his chance - yeah, yeah, yeah. You thrashed us at the last election. Did you just work that one out? Maybe that is why you are not challenging because you are not as bright as you think you are.
Madam Speaker, members of the Australian Labor Party, given their responsibilities to their constituents, should rightly have a look at the figures. It can be distilled down in a thorough, meaningful way. To question is not to not support. Do all of your spin, issue your releases; that is what you guys do. But whether you like it or not - interestingly, the member for Wanguri should even in his most private thoughts have some appreciation of the need for an opposition to question government. Most governments are notoriously bad at questioning themselves. You lot take the cake. You do not question yourselves. We hear murmurings that some backbenchers put in a few questions here and there, sometimes they even talk amongst themselves and beyond about the difficulties they experience. You should question. That is the role of each and every one of us here.
The processes employed by the Cabinet, in particular, are not beyond question. Any member of Cabinet, who thinks that questioning is wrong really should not be in this parliament. You should be questioned. You are rightly questioned by your constituents. You should be questioned and challenged by your colleagues. You should certainly be questioned by an opposition. That is what we do.
Having made those comments, it will be interesting to see the development of the master plan, to see how the words in the statement can be put into action. We want that to occur. The Chief Minister and, indeed the government generally, talks about consultation. Well, if local government reforms are anything to go by, there has to be some form of question mark about the consultation upon which the government will evidently embark.
It is good that the Chief Minister produced this statement today because this parliament should discuss the future of our capital city - of course, we should. For our part, we will question. I do hope that in her response the Chief Minister can get back to us on the suggestion of the World War II museum acknowledging subsequent conflicts. If she does not want to specifically reply - and I know she does not like to do that at the best of times - then perhaps she could consider it part of her consultation process with her fellow Territorians.
In any event, there are lots of issues there. No doubt, this will not be the last time we talk about this issue in the parliament and, indeed, it should not be. I wish the government well in trying to achieve some of its plans; that is what governments do. Darwin is a great tropical city and the Chief Minister said it can be even better. That is aspirational, that is what we all should be on about. With those comments, Madam Speaker, I look forward to hearing the rest of the debate.
Ms LAWRIE (Planning and Lands): Madam Speaker, I support the Chief Minister’s statement on Creating Darwin’s Future. Territory population growth is the highest in the country and our economy is experiencing record growth. I recently attended the award nights for Engineers Australia and, separately, the Territory Construction Association where I kept hearing a common theme: that the sector is extremely busy; this sector, a key driver of our economy, is going gang busters. You only need to look at Darwin skyline and see the number of cranes operating on our development sites. The Pandanus development is well under way, and Evolution, the tallest building approved in Darwin, is steadily rising.
Since January 2006, 18 residential development projects have been approved in the Darwin CBD zone. That comprises more than 1000 new residential units in the city. That level of development is set to continue with another four projects comprising 70 units still to be considered by the Development Consent Authority. With all the development occurring, it is important to step back and consider how we will like our city to grow and function into the future.
Creating Darwin’s Future provided a great opportunity for the people of Darwin to think about how they wanted to see their city developed into the future. The range of ideas and initiatives contained in Creating Darwin’s Future were aimed at promoting discussion in the community. I stood at various shopping centres with the Creating Darwin’s Future display and, overwhelmingly, there was a very positive reaction to the suggestions contained within Creating Darwin’s Future. There were questions, and certainly people were very keen to talk about our arterial transport routes as well.
In February this year, the new consolidated Northern Territory Planning Scheme was introduced, something that the CLP government did not get its act together and do. This new scheme has rationalised and integrated the many various planning controls into a single coherent document. The NT Planning Scheme is a dynamic document that will need to be amended over time to meet the challenges and change in requirements of land use control.
Since 2003, the government and Darwin City Council have been working together through the Capital City Committee to ensure Darwin’s ongoing social, economic and environmental sustainability. A key focus has been to create a vibrant and active CBD. The government and council hosted the Darwin CBD Urban Planning Forum on 24 April this year under the auspices of the Capital City Committee. This continues the partnership between government and council and underlines the joint commitment to achieve tangible outcomes for the future of Darwin’s CBD. The forum provided an opportunity to review the planning scheme as it applies to our CBD. Key themes of the forum were: how should our city function; how do we achieve building design in the CBD; and what should our streets, parks and other open spaces be like?
The planning forum brought together government, Darwin City Council, a cross-section of residents and users of the Darwin CBD, planners, property developers and the community to develop an action plan for the future of our city. This was an excellent opportunity for the community to have direct input into policies and initiatives that will shape the future of our CBD. It was important that there were tangible outcomes from this forum and that it did not develop into just another talk fest.
In June, the Capital City Committee supported the recommendations from Creating Darwin’s Future, including a draft action plan from the urban planning forum. The action plan includes three types of action: (1) amendments to the planning scheme that can proceed immediately; (2) matters that require further investigation and advice from the Urban Design Advisory Panel; and (3) a capital works project such as the redevelopment of the Myilly Point parkland, otherwise known as Flagstaff Park.
The immediate actions resulting from the forum are four proposed amendments to the NT Planning Scheme. The amendments incorporate into the planning scheme the central Darwin streetscape strategy produced by the council. They provide for 75% of a development’s street frontage to have an active interface such as shops, cafes, arcades and glazing. Ground level car parking will be screened from the street and awnings on new buildings adjoining the footpaths of those streets specified in the central Darwin streetscape strategy as the main pedestrian focus.
The amendments proposed to the NT Planning Scheme will undergo the standard period of public exhibition that is required under the Planning Act. This will give the public the opportunity to comment on the proposed amendments. The first newspaper advertisement will appear in Northern Territory News this Friday, 31 August, and the community will have 28 days in which to consider the proposal and make submissions.
Following the exhibition period, the Development Consent Authority will hold a public hearing to consider the proposed amendments and the submissions received during the exhibition period. The Development Consent Authority will then report to me, as minister, on the outcome of the public hearing and the submissions they have received. I expect to be able to decide whether to proceed with the amendments to the planning scheme before the end of this year.
As the Chief Minister outlined in her statement, the more complex issues such as building heights, site coverage and plot ratios and the actual size of the Darwin CBD have been referred to the Darwin Urban Design Advisory Panel for advice. An early outcome of Creating Darwin’s Future was the establishment of this Urban Design Advisory Panel. The panel was established in April this year and provides a good mix of professionals from various fields with a wealth of local, interstate and international experience. The panel will provide advice to government and the Capital City Committee on specific matters and projects to achieve better urban design in the Darwin CBD and our Darwin Peninsula.
The Chief Minister, in her statement, outlined the make up of the panel and it is as follows:
Professor Rob Adams is its Chair. He is the Director of the City of Melbourne’s Design and Culture Division. Professor Adams was recently honoured with a 2006 Victorian Premier’s Award for Design Leadership;
Mr Mark Doonar is a Brisbane urban planning consultant. Mr Doonar is the director of the consultancy, Tract, landscape architects, urban designers and town planners, and has more than 20 years experience;
Mr Colin Browne, from the Royal Australian Institute of Architects, NT Chapter, is a Director of Jackman Gooden Architects and has experience in a wide and varied range of projects;
Mr Brendan Dowd is the Director of Technical Services at the Darwin City Council. He is a civil engineer with more than 28 years experience;
Mr Leonard Lynch, from the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects (NT Group) is the Managing Director of the leading landscape architectural firm, Clouston Associates;
Mr Ross Finocchiaro is representing the Property Council of Australia, NT Division. He is a well-known local developer and director of the Gaymark Group of Companies; and
Mr Mark Meldrum, the Director of Strategic Planning in the Department of Planning and Infrastructure.
I attended the third meeting of the Urban Design Advisory Panel on Saturday where I was updated on projects referred to the panel as mentioned by the Chief Minster in her statement. This was a very productive meeting, where the panel discussed its first report on the principles necessary for a quality CBD. We discussed issues such as population density of the CBD; connectivity; retaining our heritage; active well-defined streets; lush vegetation; open space; public transport; and the built form.
The Leader of the Opposition was very critical of the fact that the government had not announced its view on the issue of building heights within the CBD, though what we clearly have said is that the building heights issue needs to be tackled at the highest level with the greatest consideration by the Urban Design Advisory Panel. I have seen some initial thoughts from the panel on the issue of heights, but they told me that they wanted their additional meeting to go through it before they further refine it and provide advice back to government. That is absolutely reasonable. What is accepted and understood between me, as minister, and the Developmental Consent Authority Chair is that there will be no use of special merit in this period where we are deciding, ultimately, whether or not to enshrine tools within the Planning Scheme that go to the issue of building heights.
What the Leader of the Opposition did not accept in what she was saying about the role of the Developmental Consent Authority, is that there has always been that tool of special merit which has been used to create building heights within the CBD in excess of what were the accepted norms. I have certainly questioned the Urban Design Advisory Panel, just as I questioned the DCA, on this issue of special merit. Special merit is a very unusual planning tool; it does not exist in most jurisdictions. What we needed to do, as Planning minister, I believe, was put the effort into defining what we wanted our city to look like, including the issue of plot ratios and building heights, and capture the beast before it had bolted out the door. That is what we are doing now, and we are doing it within plenty of time to shape the city in the future of Darwin CBD. We are doing it with a panel which comprises local, interstate and international expertise. I am not aware of any other city that has taken the time and the opportunity, at this stage of its development, to actually embed that significant planning process. I acknowledge the expertise of the Urban Design Advisory Panel, and thank them for taking up the tasks and challenges I have set them. I look forward to seeing their final advice on the issue of building heights and plot ratios.
The discussion at the Urban Design Advisory Panel highlighted how critically important our harbour is in the context of how we view our CBD. As I have said, Darwin, the capital city, sits on a peninsula. When a visitor comes to Darwin, their impression of Darwin inextricably is linked to the fact that we are a picturesque tropical harbour city. Increasingly important within the context of discussing planning for your city, you also need to bring into that context planning for your harbour, how your harbour works, and how you interact from the built and the land form into the harbour form. I see the member for Nelson nodding his head in the affirmative. The beauty of the situation I am in, in my portfolio responsibilities, is that I have a Darwin Harbour Advisory Committee looking at the harbour - the water form if you like - and the surrounding land masses. They are certainly very strong advocates of the Mangrove Conservation Plan that we have put in place.
However, as Planning minister, I am also able to interact with the Darwin Urban Design Advisory Panel. What I will be proposing to the Chair of the Darwin Harbour Advisory Committee when I meet with him shortly, is that the two bodies of expertise come together and have cross-discussions about how they deal with that indirect interface between the harbour and the land and built environment so that, in a holistic planning sense, we embed these very strong elements into our Planning Scheme now to shape our city for the future.
I am on the record as saying that I am more of the view of being prescriptive than not as we are on the verge of our development boom, because we have to change the planning culture that we have been stuck in for decades where it was a bit of a cowboy town, with a sense of, ‘Well, if you have your investors together and you lined up, you could whip it through the DCA and put a building up’. Those days have gone. We have smart developers operating in this city who understand smart design, architectural integrity, and a need to design buildings for the tropical environment. Added to that, we have developers who now understand the issue of sustainability, because that is a core issue in all developments emerging across the jurisdictions. My view is to bed those tools into our urban design sooner rather than wait until that horse has bolted. The horse has not bolted; we have some fantastic developments under way at the moment. I believe we have captured the planning debate at the most appropriate time to enhance our potential for future developments.
It is important that we have marked the time, taken a pause, and had a consultative process of an urban planning forum to bring all of the stakeholders in - community activists, architects, and planners. We have identified key changes to the Planning Scheme that we can proceed with immediately - which we are; it is out on exhibition as of Friday. We can also say there are clear tasks yet to be done in deciding what tools and how prescriptive we are going to be on the issues of heights and plot ratios within the CBD, so that we start to get a better understanding to deal with the issues of setbacks appropriately within our developments.
We will see an evolving change as a result of what actions we have taken. It is not just rhetoric, they are real actions. You do not take a decision to change the Planning Scheme lightly. These are real actions arising from the consultative process in both Creating Darwin’s Future as well as the urban planning forum. We will see better buildings, better building design, those active interfaces at our streetscape level, and a beautification of our city’s streets, particularly our main pedestrian streets - for example Cavenagh, Smith and Mitchell Streets. We will see an opening up and appreciation of our built environment as well as our natural environment.
The example of the Chief Minister’s Creating Darwin’s Future plans for a feasibility study of State Square is exactly that; it is the capturing of how we plan our urban interactive environments better. The Leader of the Opposition seems to have missed the fact that there is a $250 000 commitment in the budget this financial year to deal with the feasibility study of the World War II museum and State Square. The issues of the logistics of demolishing the Chan Building and moving the Northern Territory government’s data centre will be captured within that feasibility study. There will be further input from key stakeholders within that feasibility study.
The Leader of the Opposition posed the question of whether the Myilly Point parkland referred to in the ribbon of green within Creating Darwin’s Future was simply just the headland of Flagstaff Park? She clearly was not listening to the statement properly. The Chief Minister is consistently on the record in the past few days, in announcing Creating Darwin’s Future, boldly saying that, indeed, the old hospital site - that which the CLP wanted to develop commercially, and which they had zoned B5 for commercial development – will, in fact, be handed over to the people of Darwin. It will become open space. It will become a parkland. It will become part of the ring of parklands surrounding our city. That is a bold announcement by any government, and I congratulate the government both as the Environment minister but, also, as someone born and raised in Darwin. I was born on that old piece of dirt called the old hospital site when there was a beautiful old hospital on that site. It is a bold statement, embedding green open space for the residents of Darwin into the future, as are the statements and commitments regarding the old tank farm sites - the tank farms that the CLP never forced to move. It was the Martin Labor government which forced those tank farms to move out of our CBD zone, out of the Stuart Park area, opening up that land for the potential of parkland. That potential is realised in the commitment of Creating Darwin’s Future.
It is an incredibly exciting time for a resident of Darwin to see that a government, instead of grasping for the commercial dollar and selling off what little open space we have left around our city - such as the CLP did under minister Tim Baldwin and other CLP planning ministers - and taking the quick dollar, we are opening up green open space, interactive open space, open space that can be used by cyclists, pedestrians, and families around our city. It is a bold, visionary statement and a significant commitment in maintaining an interactive and healthy environment for the people of Darwin.
I also congratulate the Chief Minister for her commitment to heritage. There are too few heritage buildings left in our city. World War II destroyed a significant amount of our heritage. Cyclone Tracy did significant damage to our heritage buildings as well. We know that the majestic Hotel Darwin did not survive the CLP bulldozers which went in at midnight and destroyed it. In stark contrast, we have been a government that protects our heritage. My predecessor, minister Scrymgour, has heritage listed the Sue Wah Chin Building, one of the few heritage buildings left in the Darwin CBD. We will protect our heritage, but we will also recognise our heritage trail as announced by the Chief Minister in Creating Darwin’s Future, link that heritage trail to a World War II museum, and really embrace the real history of Darwin - a history that is a magnificent story to tell both visitors and locals alike.
Madam Speaker, I congratulate the Chief Minister for Creating Darwin’s Future. There are a range of bold commitments within Creating Darwin’s Future - commitments that have been met with funding and very clear timelines. It is not just some drawings on a paper that will sit on the shelf and not be implemented. Creating Darwin’s Future is a very real series of significant commitments that very boldly will create the opportunities for both development, but protecting what is our unique lifestyle to enjoy and cherish: the tropical city, and the beautiful interaction with our harbour. The jewel in there is the pearl of the waterfront which the CLP continues to bag. They hate it; they cannot accept it. I cannot wait for it to be opened because we, as the citizens of Darwin, will get so much enjoyment from it.
Mr WOOD (Nelson): Madam Speaker, I welcome the Chief Minister’s statement on Creating Darwin’s Future. I believe there are many good things in that statement. However, I say at the outset that there is a danger with dealing exclusively with the CBD if we do not look at the bigger picture now.
The Minister for Planning and Lands spoke about the rest of the harbour. People know that I have complained bitterly about the Middle Arm Peninsula being used as industrial. It is not because it is industrial that I am concerned, it is because it will look industrial, because we will have in the middle of our harbour an industrial precinct. You have to look at an alternative to that. Perhaps develop it into housing. Do not develop the middle of the harbour into industrial. At least if you put housing estates there - and I know they would be fairly close to mangroves, but no one seems to be bothered living at Bayview canal these days; your back garden is mangroves in some places there.
I put to the government seriously that they look at alternative places for industrial development. Use the middle of the harbour as it has been scraped as, perhaps, a housing estate. Also look at developing the land between the 11 Mile and Berrimah right through to East Arm port as the industrial hub. I put that to you as a serious suggestion because, if you are going to look at Darwin CBD, and talk about what you will look out on, please do not let us look out on industrial precincts.
The other thing the Chief Minister needs to look at is that we are developing a high-density peninsula city, and with that comes large problems and a number of issues. Do we want to keep developing the CBD into a large residential area? That is what we are doing with high-rise residential units. Should we be looking at relocating some of our government departments back out into areas like Casuarina? The Commonwealth has a large structure at Casuarina. I think the Department of Education, Science and Training is there. The member for Casuarina would know other departments that are out there. Have we looked at trying to take some of the requirements for people who work in town away and closer to where they live? This is a concept that has been around for some time. Highway House, for instance, was built at Palmerston. The idea was that people would work closer to where they live. Has there been any significant move by the government to put more government departments in areas like Palmerston and Casuarina?
Have we allowed for more high-rise units to be placed in places like Casuarina CBD and Palmerston CBD? If you go to places like Sydney - I am not saying we want to look like Sydney - you will find that some of these developments are not in the CBD. One of the issues the Chief Minister missed here is that, if Darwin is going to be a high density population, how are people going to get in and out of the city? I would have thought that, with good planning, Creating Darwin’s Future would have contained something about transportation, especially public transport and, of course, would have to have something about private transport in and out of the city.
I have seen plans drawn up before about the possibility of different road layouts. I have to ask: where in this document is that? Where in this document is something about what is going to be future public transport into the city? If you do not consider those things in light of what you are trying to look at, you are not taking in the whole picture. That is an area which is deficient in this document.
I looked at this last night and the first thing that stood out was the height of buildings. I do not have a problem with high buildings, but the problem I have is there is no open space around them. I have seen the CEO of the Department of Planning and Infrastructure give talks to various groups in town, showing us a 3D model of how there is plenty of space around and that buildings can fit in the CBD - no problem. What it does not show is that if everyone was allowed to build tall buildings in Darwin, you would have wall-to-wall buildings.
If the government wants to allow high-rise development in Darwin, there should be a requirement that there be X amount of open space around that building and, if you do not have that room, then you cannot build a tall building. A classic example is the Defence units near the Northern Territory News. They are spaced out, they have open space, and they have car parking around them. Whether they are the greatest architectural structures in the Northern Territory, I do not know, but at least they have some space; they do give you a feeling of tropical design. There is room for breezes, which is important, and they do not give you the feeling we are so short of land we have to cram everything in. That is exactly the impression that is already happening.
Whilst I welcome what the Chief Minister is saying, it is to some extent catch-up. We have some buildings that are being built now which have car parks on to one of the main streets in Darwin - just car parks. We have another building which is so big, it actually goes over the footpath; it takes more than the land that it actually occupies. That is the one on the corner of Knuckey and McMinn Streets. You will see that it comes out over the footpath, so the plot ratio there is more like a 105% rather than 100%. We have lost that ability, even though some of us argued for a long time that those buildings needed to be refined and should not have been approved by the Development Consent Authority until they would come up with a better plan.
In relation to tall buildings, I know the Chief Minister spoke about car parking, which is a major issue. I would rather see, if there is no other way for tall buildings, car parking underground. Unless you can screen them so that they have some architectural merit, I suggest car parking be underground. The developer for the Commonwealth Bank building is doing exactly that; he is putting the car parking underground. He is preserving the bank and he is putting an interface with the public with shops and cafs and the like along the front. I believe that, if we are going to have tall buildings, that is the way it should be. However, if we are having tall buildings, I believe there should be a requirement, the higher you go, the more open space should be surrounding that building. We do not want wall-to-wall tall buildings in Darwin. That will certainly ruin the tropical feel the Chief Minister is talking about as one of her aims in this whole exercise.
I move on to a couple of other issues that the Chief Minister raised. I am glad she spoke about the World War II trail. Wayne Zerbe, with a few others, and I were part of a little group that was trying to push for a World War II trail from down the track, picking up all the World War II sites, including the airstrips, so people who came into Darwin would eventually end up in Darwin where we will have a museum.
My concerns about the museum is that when you look at this map that the Chief Minister has issued, or the picture of the Parliament House, Parliament House now is, to some extent, symmetrical. On one side it has lawn, on the other side is lawn, and that gives the building balance. If we are to fill up the gap, as people might call it, with a World War II museum, I believe we should be very careful that we do not lose the balance that this building has at the present time. If anyone was to look at that aerial photograph, that building looks well balanced and in proportion to where it has been built. Anything that is built nearby will take away that balance.
I believe we should seriously look at an alternative site for the World War II museum. I am not against it. I just think we should be careful where we put it, because it could ruin the architectural merit of another building. If the Chief Minister is saying there is a feasibility study about State Square - terrific, include in the feasibility study where the World War II building should go, because that lawn over there should be part of the State Square. I say, let us not make this a fait accompli.
I will give you a different point of view about where the World War II site should go. Perhaps it should go at the end of Mitchell Street on the old hospital site so that there is some vision going down Mitchell Street. It is not the greatest vision in the world, and perhaps we need to do up Mitchell Street, but at least it was there. That was the site that was originally picked out for a possible Parliament House site. I believe there is an opportunity there, you are not far from the Larrakeyah Barracks, so you still have some connection with the World War II heritage in the area. There is a possibility that that would be a good site, which would help spread out some of the tourism that flows through the CBD, so we do not shove everybody into one bit of it, and people can spread out. Perhaps we should be looking at some sort of – I know it is fanciful and has been spoken about before - rail system within the CBD that can take people around. It might be just a circle going round and round all day from one side of the CBD to the other, dropping people off. I believe it would help the distribution of people in the CBD, as well as visitors to the CBD.
I am not against the concept, although there is an architectural proposal for the World War II museum. I say that is not the place to go. Anything that goes near this building, and near the State Square, must match it otherwise, again, I believe that will stick out like a sore thumb. That is why I say we should reconsider the idea of where this museum is going. State Square and this building complement one another. That building, which is an artist’s impression, certainly does not complement either building. I would seriously consider that we think twice about what we are going to do in relation to this precinct.
I say that as constructive criticism. I am not opposed to the World War II site, but you should have other options. One of those should be the old hospital site.
There are many things in here which I actually feel part of, to some extent. The Chief Minister has spoken about active interfaces and smart building designs. I went to the forum. I have been to many a DCA meeting on some of these issues and said for so long that if we, as people who are now in charge of planning, cannot make the right decisions about what our city will look like, then our legacy will be something that is – I do not know - something we will not be proud of. We have the opportunity to leave a city about which in the future people will say: ‘Our forefathers actually had the vision to make sure our city looked good’.
I look at Palmerston as a classic example; it is a hotchpotch. Any CBD that has a mixture of Hungry Jacks, the cinema, Bunnings, a basketball court, Goyder Building, Coles and Target – it is like: ‘What were we really trying to prove here?’ I am not saying they are not important, but Palmerston’s vision, unfortunately, was somewhere else. If we are looking at Weddell, we should be now looking at what Weddell is going to look like. We should have a competition - international, national, and we should be doing that now – for a three-dimensional plan for Weddell. Let us not go down the path of Palmerston because, unfortunately, it does not have a vision. It is not saying that it is a bad city; people like living there. However, from a city developed point of view, it is poor.
The other issue, of course, is the interaction between people who live out of Darwin and in the northern suburbs. I have mentioned the issue of public transport and transport to the city. That is a big issue. Anyone who has travelled from the rural area to Darwin at 7.30 am says lots of bad things about the government because, around about the 11 Mile, you are sitting in a great line of traffic that does not seem to go anywhere. Has anyone checked the number of prangs in that area of late, in the morning and the afternoon? How many times have people heard: ‘Oh, we have a big hold-up of traffic at the 11 Mile because there has been an accident’? That has been occurring quite regularly lately. I received an e-mail the other day from someone saying this is just terrible. I know there is a move on the Tiger Brennan Drive, but I hasten to add that just changing a couple of lanes on Wishart Road and Berrimah Road is just tinkering. We need to get Tiger Brennan Drive through, across Roystonea and onto the Stuart Highway so that traffic can get into Darwin more freely.
These are part of the bigger issues we should be looking at. I know the minister is going to say that they are going to talk about the northern suburbs and the Palmerston and rural areas later. However, you cannot actually look at those things in isolation. The reality is that a lot of people in the northern suburbs, Palmerston and the rural area work in Darwin. We have looked at Creating Darwin’s Future, but we have not looked at some of the bigger issues such as transport, and the policy of whether we want to keep putting thousands of people into Darwin. If we are going to put thousands of people into Darwin, what are we doing to encourage commercial development in the form of shops? It is a dead area. Has the government gone out and said: ‘We need David Jones and Myers. We need some big development in this area’. Again, it is no good just having all these people living here if we are not providing some attraction for commercial development.
The mall, to me, is not the Smith Street I knew when I came here. I do not feel there is any great heritage in the mall except, maybe, for the Vic; the heritage area is between Cavenagh Street and the Smith Street mall. The government should be talking to landowners and the council to see if they need to do something major in that area. Do we need a major development to attract commercial people into that area, especially major shopping franchises? The reality is, I know people say they go out to Casuarina to shop. One of the reasons they go to Casuarina to shop is because they shop in airconditioned comfort. I think I borrowed that from somebody’s advertising slogan. You do not do that in Darwin. I do not have a problem with walking around shops but, if it is October or November, people go to Casuarina because it is out of the rain, you can get underground parking, it is free, and it is fairly comfortable to shop all under the one roof. That cannot happen in Darwin. Again, if we are looking at creating Darwin’s future, we should have been talking about future commercial development.
There are mnay good things in this statement from the minister. I am a little worried that we might have too many little groups operating. We have the working group which is chaired by Paul Tyrrell, with Allan McGill, Allan Garraway, Rick Paul and Rod Applegate – fine people. Then we turn over the page and we have the Urban Design Advisory Panel which has Professor Rob Adams, Leonard Lynch, Colin Browne, Ross Finocchiaro, Brendan Dowd, Mark Doonar, and Mark Meldrum - fine people. Then we also have the Capital City Committee. There are three committees. Should we get a little rationalisation here? We do not need to be drowned in advisory committees. Let us have one group that does it. I believe the Urban Advisory Panel seems to have some pretty good people on it. I do note - and I am interested to know why - the government’s architect is not on this. Perhaps we have some fresh blood in here and that is exactly what it needed. Some of these people did speak at the forum. I know one particular gentleman from Brisbane was certainly a live wire, and it was refreshing to hear what he had to say about some of the matters that Darwin should take into account.
On the ribbons of green, unfortunately, we lost a bit of that. It was partly in the days of the CLP when you had all that development near the Darwin City Council. It has all been developed. That is where your ribbons of green have been lost to some extent. That escarpment should have been kept green and it should have been kept low as well.
You could develop the Myilly Point headland into a nice friendly walking area using the beaches and the cliff face. I know there has been a lot of discussion about the Little Mindil. If this will still allow the public to use that area and enjoy it, I am all for it.
We have heard about city entry points. We have heard about multistorey buildings connected with walkways across the top. I am not sure that is what I want to see as my entry point. I want to see something that is tropical, looks nice and that we can distinctively say is ours.
If there is the one thing that we missed out on the waterfront - and I am not knocking the waterfront; there are some issues about the way it was done. I believe it needed to be developed. The government took a risk and, whether people support it totally or not, is another matter. Something needed to be done and, in the end, it will probably work out well. However, you missed an opportunity to make a Darwin statement. That building is not something to write home about. It looks like a very large industrial shed with a round roof, I am sorry to say. When I look at things like the hotel in Dubai, I know where that one is. I know where the Sydney Opera House is. I know what the art centre in Melbourne is like. What do I say for Darwin? We do not have that thing that says, ‘That is Darwin’. Unfortunately, that building, whilst it might be functional and a great attribute to Darwin, does not say that. We missed an opportunity there.
All in all, there are some very good things in it. I am glad the Chief Minister is listening. The reality is that, in the end, we will not know whether this is going to happen until we see it happen. I would like a report back from the minister in 12 months to say: ‘This is what is actually happening’.
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Member for Nelson, your time has expired.
Dr BURNS (Health): Mr Deputy Speaker, I support the Chief Minister’s statement on Creating Darwin’s Future. I know a lot of people in my electorate of Johnston who have contributed to the consultative process of Creating Darwin’s Future. People I have spoken to in my electorate are excited about Creating Darwin’s Future and its initiatives. My experience has been that when the Creating Darwin’s Future display has been taken to places like the Rapid Creek markets on Sunday, shopping centres and this year’s Darwin Show, it highlighted just how passionate people are about their city. The people of Darwin love their city’s great tropical lifestyle. They are genuinely interested in what the look of the CBD and our suburbs might be in the future.
We have a wonderful tropical city built on a magnificent harbour, and it is up to us to make the most of these assets. We also have to ensure we retain our suburbs as safe and peaceful places, where we can bring up our children and enjoy our leisure time with our friends and families. I know we will hear more about the plan of action for our suburban living strategy later this year.
Yesterday, the Chief Minister announced the first phase of Creating Darwin’s Future which focuses on the CBD. The headline items are Myilly Point headland including Flagstaff Park, city planning, State Square, rivers of green, city entry points, streetscape precincts and a Defence of Darwin World War II museum.
There has been widespread consultation on the 93 initiatives contained in Creating Darwin’s Future since it was announced in October last year. Now it is time to make the concept a reality, and that is what we will be doing over the next two years. Judging from the conversations I have had with people in my electorate, I know they want to see Darwin take full advantage of its tropical roots. People want a properly coordinated plan that will allow Darwin to highlight its assets such as our tropical location, its beautiful harbour and our unique history and culture. Creating Darwin’s Future will help us shape our city in a coordinated and planned way that will draw on represented themes such as those I have just mentioned previously.
Something Darwin has been missing for years has been a focal point that tells the comprehensive story of Darwin’s unique wartime history. There is no city in Australia with a wartime history like ours. As we know, 240 people lost their lives in the first air raid on 19 February 1942, and Parliament House is built on the site of the old Darwin Post Office where a Japanese bomb tragically killed 10 people in that first attack. This was the first of 64 enemy air raids on Darwin. This project excites me on a personal level because my father and father-in-law were stationed in Darwin with the RAAF during the war. My father was here on 19 February 1942. The Chief Minister mentioned yesterday the war time censorship. The federal government, in a war situation, obviously did not want panic spreading throughout Australia, and they applied very heavy censorship on what had happened in Darwin.
As the Chief Minister said, basically, for whatever reason, that censorship - that blanket of silence if you like - has endured to the present day. I know, in the case of my own father, who also served in New Guinea, he did not actually like talking about the war much. Like many of his generation, when they came back from the war, they wanted to put it behind them, get ahead, raise a family, build a house, and build a life. He never spoke to me about what he experienced in that first attack in Darwin, but he did tell my mother that it was a terrible day. He, with others, was pulling the dead and injured out of the harbour. Whilst there was bravery and courage shown by people involved in the defence of Darwin, for some of the airmen, including some from overseas, people manning the anti-aircraft batteries, and all those who were involved, it also was a day of pain and suffering. I hope that the wartime museum will show all aspects of that bombing of Darwin, the courage and initiative the people showed, but also the devastation and the tragic loss of life that ensued, and the pain of what war brings.
At a personal level, that museum will be important to me and my family. I talked about my father’s war record here today, and I acknowledge that he was one of many here on that tragic day. His attitudes toward it are probably the same as many others who were here. I am not saying he did anything special, but he was part of it. It is an important thing for Darwin to really impress on the rest of Australia what actually happened on that day in February 1942, because a lot of Australians, unfortunately, are not aware of what happened here. It is important that we do make them aware. I have every confidence that, if this museum is built the right way with the right sort of exhibits and atmosphere, it will have a big effect on Australians visiting the Northern Territory, and Darwin in particular.
On the subject of war memorials, if you have been to the War Memorial in Canberra, you will realise that Darwin’s wartime story, which is a critical piece of Australian history, is represented by a fairly limited display. We understand why that is. The Canberra memorial really has to reflect two World Wars and others. However, this is an opportunity for Darwin to have a museum that really represents what happened in telling our wartime story.
Apart from the museum, there will also be a World War II heritage trail. There are so many sites of significance in and around Darwin, such as the old gun placements, the site of the submarine net at East Point and the old oil storage tunnels under the city, not to mention the hangar at Parap, which is an important part of our history.
The wartime defence of Darwin is an integral part of the city’s identity and something we must commemorate in an appropriate way. I am very much looking forward to the opening of the wartime museum.
Over the years, there has been plenty of debate about what we should be doing in a horticultural sense to best represent Darwin as a capital city of the Northern Territory. The general feeling is that past efforts in landscaping have been patchy and lacking in coordination. It has generally been agreed that we must develop a city with a genuine tropical feel, but the city’s landscaping has to be better coordinated than in the past. The planned ribbons of green around Darwin City Peninsula will be an important step in this direction. Part of the ribbons of green proposal will see a $6m makeover of the Myilly Point headland and Flagstaff Park. The old hospital site and Myilly Point on the edge of the CBD have been crying out for attention for years now. It used to be the home of some of the old houses that best represented Darwin’s tropical architectural heritage.
Unfortunately, previous governments, through lack of foresight, bulldozed many of those Myilly Point houses. Apart from the devastation of war and natural disaster, I believe it was a great loss of our architectural heritage. Like thousands of Darwin people, I was horrified by the destruction of the Hotel Darwin by a previous government. We have discussed that a number of times here. Without labouring that point any more, I believe it was an act of vandalism. It would be great to have the Hotel Darwin still on that site – a lot of history gone.
Anyway, we are now going to do something to enhance the area on which those old houses once stood. We will spend $6m to redevelop this prime foreshore area into parkland for the people of Darwin. The Myilly Point/Flagstaff Park upgrade will be connected by the promenade to Little Mindil Beach, and we will also landscape Little Mindil. This will give us a significant properly developed park area right on the edge of the CBD. Given the recent residential developments in Mitchell and Smith Streets, this parkland will be a prized asset for local residents, along with others in the CBD and, as our city grows, this public open space on the edge of the CBD will be a valuable asset for the future. Most great cities have open major spaces near the CBD. Darwin residents, now and into the future, deserve the same if we are to become one of the world’s great tropical cities.
At the other end of the central business district, the waterfront development will add a new and vibrant element to Darwin, and the CBD in particular. The waterfront will be linked by a covered pedestrian walkway to the Smith Street Mall and the CBD. This walkway will include landscaping and signage, reflecting the wonderful history and heritage of the waterfront area. The waterfront, with its convention centre, wave pool and two hotels, and residential and commercial buildings, is going to give the CBD one of its greatest boosts in years.
If you are so inclined in the future, Mr Deputy Speaker, you will be able to walk from the waterfront, along the upgraded Esplanade to Myilly Point, Mindil Beach and through to East Point. The green belts will also link through to the Botanic Gardens and the old tank farm area.
In addition, State Square and the Parliament precinct will get a real facelift. This will include the removal of the Chan Building. As I recall, the Chan Building was earmarked for removal as part of the original State Square concept. Some $250 000 will be spent on developing a State Square master plan. Opening up the area around State Square will provide a strong focal point between the CBD, the World War II museum and the waterfront development. Additionally, entry points to the city such as Daly Street and the intersection of Tiger Brennan Drive and McMinn Street will also be landscaped.
It will be vital for government to work closely with Darwin City Council as part of our plans to make the central business district a better place to live, work and do business. The Chief Minister said at the launch yesterday that she is exhorting Darwin City Council to really become part of this. She challenged Darwin City Council on a number of matters, including opening up the mall. I know it is a contentious issue. There are probably polarised views on both sides of that, but I know many of the property owners and retailers in the area want that to happen.
I understand that Darwin City Council will begin implementing a five-year streetscape strategy from July next year. The enhancement of our streetscapes was a major outcome of the consultation surrounding Darwin’s future. The appearance and functionality of our streets has been a central theme to all of the public debates over the years in relation to providing a facelift for our city. As I have said, cooperation with Darwin City Council will be vital.
The council, of course, is responsible for the Smith Street mall and most would agree it is not a vibrant area. The council has agreed to an option for the upgrade of the mall, but this is currently on hold. I believe this option is worth some $15m - and I appreciate that it is a significant amount of money - and council has to ensure that they get any development right. I hope council will make a decision on the way forward for the mall soon. The appropriate development of the mall is a vital part of the overall effort to make Darwin a world-class tropical city that we want it to become. My concern is, if council waits too long, the mall could be left behind. As a city, Darwin cannot afford that. We need a vibrant mall that actually attracts people into the city centre.
As part of the effort to develop Darwin, we have brought together an Urban Design Advisory Panel. The panel will advise on improved building design for the Darwin Peninsula area, and this advice will relate to design matters such as appropriate heights and setbacks in open spaces.
I will digress for a minute. When I was Planning minister, I took a trip with a group of architects who wanted to show me their visions and views about designs in the CBD and closely surrounding areas. It was interesting to go on a bus ride with them, so they could point out certain buildings that they believed did not reflect good design principles. Some of those buildings are around Carey Street. Most people agree that some of those buildings leave a lot to be desired, both in their placement, the way they overlook into other people’s units. Some of the buildings, in a very short time, have streaks on the walls and some of the patios have algae growing on them, etcetera. The architects explained to me that, by spending just a little more money and better designed principles that some of these elements could be averted. It was also interesting to hear them comment on some architect-designed buildings. Some of those came in for a bit of criticism as well.
Also, the architects were very keen on parking allocations for buildings etcetera - some of it controversial, some of it I know that the general populous would not agree with. Some of them wanted a big decrease in the number of parking places per unit in these developments. I suppose my philosophy was, as Planning minister, that we need to be careful with our parking because we see, particularly at the bottom end of Smith Street where there has been a lot of development, parking is at a premium. In some cases, it is very hard for the service vehicles to get through for rubbish collection, etcetera. We just need to be careful in relation to parking and other issues. It was good. It was something that I enjoyed, as Planning minister, to hear differing views. There is no doubt that people have differing views in relation to taste. We just cannot legislate in relation to taste but, as the Chief Minister has outlined, we can set guidelines in design.
The Chief Minister announced a number of planning changes for the CBD yesterday. One of those planning changes was to mandate awnings for all new buildings in the CBD. Given the extremes of weather here in Darwin, that is something that is long overdue for buildings in our central business area. Some of those areas along Mitchell Street, where people can sit and have a coffee and meal, have a lot of ambience and there are other areas of our CBD that lack that. That is something that attention needs to be given to, to give some vitality into other areas of our CBD.
Another of those changes, which I believe is important for the CBD, is that all new developments in the CBD will have to have parking; I have mentioned that. It will also be a requirement that these parking areas will have to be hidden from view at ground level. That has also been a major criticism about some of the developments in the CBD. As a former Planning minister, I am certainly aware of what a vexed issue planning is.
As the member for Karama said, we do have the capacity and the potential. The gate has not been closed; there is a lot we can do in our CBD. It is very important. I will relay this story: a cousin of mine came to visit. He was on a cruise ship earlier this year, with a friend or friends from the United States. This cousin has travelled fairly extensively around the world. I took them on a cruise of Darwin and the CBD and other sites. Their response to me was that they really enjoyed the architecture and feel of Darwin. I have to say it was during the Wet Season and everything was lush and green and had that feel about it. I took that on board. When a lot of people visit this place, they are impressed with what we have here now.
However, there is no doubt we can improve on that into the future. I believe the Chief Minister’s statement about Creating Darwin’s Future gives us a framework to move forward and create a wonderful CBD for Darwin. I really look forward to the next stage which is actually looking at the suburbs of Darwin and making those areas more liveable, with better design, and really building up the lifestyle for people living in this great city of Darwin.
Mr MILLS (Blain): Mr Deputy Speaker, I support the statement and acknowledge that it is a framework. We must have frameworks in order to allow us to lay our lines in the right places to build for that which is over the horizon.
There has been criticism made. There will not be much contained by the way of criticism, or critical analysis, from members of the government. You get a bit wary of saying anything critical from this side because you get attacked for daring to question. I know, in fact, that that attitude does - I digress, but that attitude does exist in other sectors in our community. You either are an avid supporter, enthusiastically endorsing - or you get out of the way, and you can be leant upon. I have experienced that, as others have.
We will not go there other than I have looked at the contribution of the Opposition Leader. I take on board many of the comments that were made by the member for Nelson - some very good points. The member for Johnston - some very good points too in that, central to this, is this idea that it is a creative process. When you get artists and architects together, they all have very different and very passionately held views - sometimes in conflict with one another. That is why this is quite a serious business. It is not for the faint-hearted to walk into the area of design. That is what concerns me: the area of design is an area of creativity, and you have to be strong; you have to strike a line. You cannot go down the road of trying to please as many people as possible and set up a structure where as many people as possible can agree on the central idea, which is the vision. A vision, by definition, is something that cannot be seen but, then, bit by bit, is able to be seen as you hold your line. If you develop a vision by committee, you end up with something I fear will be compromised.
That aside, the framework itself has many good attributes. Governments will come and go, just as frameworks will come and go. It is about time there is a discussion like this, that decisions are made and that the foundations are laid in better places than they have been. There are criticisms, and members opposite will get pretty excited talking about things that happened before Labor came to office, and that will whip them into a frenzy. However, that has happened. I can see that myself. We all can. In the time that you have had responsibility, there have been some problems, too. There have been, particularly as it has taken some time to get a framework in place.
It is centrally deficient in the sense that the idea of creative vision has not been grasped by those who are elected to lead and we have developed a culture of timidity, being more interested in public relations management than cutting a path. Cutting a path is not easy in the now, but it leaves a legacy in the future; you know where you are going. You only have to look at the Opera House. If someone rose in parliament and said: ‘This is what I imagine we will do’, they would have been howled down. The man who built it has never been back to look at it because of the fierce criticism that was levelled at creative process and adherence to a vision, but it has come to pass and it is a magnificent building.
The same with the Sydney Harbour Bridge. That is what vision is about. You see something and you fight through it. You do not organise committees to try to minimise the public problems that you may have as a result of having a visionary idea. You settle on the visionary plan, and you cut it through and make it happen. As a result: Sydney Harbour Bridge. If that was constructed as a result of, say, three separate broad-based committees and political leadership that was risk-averse, I do not know what we would have today – certainly nothing as spectacular as the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
In Western Australia, the vision was CY O’Connor bringing water from Mundaring Weir to the goldfields in Kalgoorlie. He saw it and he made it happen. We celebrate it now, but look past too quickly the terrible cost, the political fighting, the battles that were fought that resulted in him taking his own life because of the fierce pressure and opposition and personal criticism and attacks.
Of those three examples – the Sydney Harbour Bridge, the Opera House and the pipeline from the Mundaring Weir to the goldfields – you have three examples of a vision that was born and had to cut through incredible, unimaginable opposition. The designer of the Opera House still bears the scars. CY O’Connor left this earth early as a result of carrying a vision.
I would like to see that kind of personal commitment to this process evident somewhere. I do not see it. What we have is a framework, and I suppose it is the best we can do and we will work with it. However, as we have already heard from the member for Johnston, there will undoubtedly be, when you get the architects together, those who have a creative gift, and who will be in passionate conflict with one another. That is just an indication of the strength you need, (1) to grasp a vision and, (2) to make it happen. That is missing, because a vision can polarise. It can inspire as well. It is a framework, and maybe they will have to find that inspirational element. I will do the best I can to find that which inspires, and that which allows us to cut through and leave something that is really satisfying.
However, in the six years this government has had the opportunity and responsibility to lay those foundations, a lot has happened that has not been in accord with a clear plan or a vision, and those frameworks have been a little weak at times. As a result, we have things which have occurred under this watch that should not. However, that has occurred and we have the framework. I am happy to work with it.
I will make a couple of contributions. One point that I will visit now, and I am sure I will be revisiting, is the war memorial. The member for Johnston talked about what would be in this war memorial. Of course, a focus on the bombing of Darwin is fitting and should be central to a World War II display. He also made reference that, in Canberra, there is only a smaller reflection of what happened in the Battle for Australia as it visited these shores and our capital city - understandably so. That is a good point, and there should be a place where we can focus on the place in the city where it occurred. However, take the Canberra point. If those living near Parliament House thought: ‘Let us have it nice and close to us’ - you have been to Canberra; the lines have been drawn out with broad vision. You stand at one place and the line stretches, and you see the War Memorial way before you. Then you stand at the War Memorial and you look up and see Parliament House. You have this generous use of space, and it widens your sense of that place within a big plan that was expansive at the time. It was just a farm. When we are talking about the War Memorial, how symmetrical those lines are.
What we are going to have here, though, is not the generous use of space. I find it uncomfortable that it is going to be sitting next to this building. It is like ‘We have dreamt up something in this building and let us have close to this building’. That is short-sighted, particularly …
Mr Warren: Two signs of democracy, I would have thought – side by side, two signs of democracy.
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order, member for Goyder!
Mr MILLS: I know it is at variance with what has been declared to be the authentic vision, but it is just another idea, mate - calm down.
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Member for Blain, if you would direct your comments through the Chair. Member for Goyder, please stop interjecting.
Mr MILLS: Get up and inspire us with your grand vision. You need to pipe down ...
Members interjecting.
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! Member for Blain.
Mr MILLS: Just because I dare step across the line and say something …
Mr Stirling: If you cannot handle being in this place, leave.
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! Member for Nhulunbuy, please stop interjecting. Member for Blain …
Mr MILLS: I just like people to think before they speak.
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: … cease the conversation with the member for Nhulunbuy and direct your comments through the Chair.
Mr MILLS: Happy to. Anyway, the War Memorial. We could think a little more broadly and see this as a city, not as a building with something placed beside it and see the reference point just at the waterfront. I believe the argument to having it close to this building is short-sighted. When we look at the breadth of the war experience as it affected the Northern Territory and Darwin, it is not just the bombing of Darwin. Of course, that impacts families and still lives within the memory of families here, but it is much broader than that. The best place to demonstrate that and to widen the vision would have to be East Arm. There are still the gun emplacements at East Arm. It takes us from one place to another. The centre here - if all comes into place as is being planned, the waterfront is going to be an attractive development. Then there will be another place where people can drive from and go to East Arm where they will see the Timor Sea, the gun emplacements, and what was, in fact, the frontline. There are a number of artefacts that are already there in place.
You broaden out your sense of vision rather than having it close. Imagine Canberra if you had the War Memorial right up against the parliament? You are not using your space properly, or stretching out your vision. I argue that that memorial should not just focus on the bombing. It should be central to it, but there are other things that Darwin was the hub for during the World War II experience. At the same time as the bombing of Darwin, another was the Timor conflict. The same factors that brought concealment to what was happening in the Northern Territory, also brought concealment to what was happening in Timor. That was a very significant conflict where divisions, particularly from Tasmania and West Australia, were cut off in Timor at about the same time as the bombing of Darwin occurred. They did some of their training here, they left from here, they were supplied from here, and returned to here - as well as some refugees from the Dutch East Indies.
You have that conflict which has been largely forgotten, but remembered by some of the veterans, which can be given some life here. I know the veterans’ families would appreciate that. It also allows us to open the window on the Timorese themselves - our near neighbours, West and East Timor. That memorial could reflect on the role that the Timorese played in supporting Australian soldiers. It could also reflect on the prisoners of war. Many of the prisoners of war who were repatriated came back through Darwin. Darwin was the first place where they placed their foot back on Australian soil. It would be fitting to acknowledge that they came back here and to honour them. It is not just about us, it is about our place in the world at a very important time and in a strategic place.
Of course, there was the presence of the Americans and the Dutch here. We could even include the Vietnam War with the boat people and so on. We could also look at the Japanese. We have many Japanese tourists. Wherever you go where there were conflicts - and I have been to Timor on a few occasions - you often meet the Japanese who are there looking at places where their forebears lost their lives. It would be fitting to acknowledge the stories of the Japanese, particularly Lieutenant-Commander Fuchida who led the squadron bombing of Darwin, and also led the bombing of Pearl Harbour. It is a very fascinating story. I argue that we should expand our vision and put it at East Arm, and reflect other aspects of the World War II conflict to broaden it. Issues of connectivity must really be properly addressed; they were referred to. We will continue to watch those.
I am a supporter of opening the mall to traffic. The mall needs to be opened up so we can have life flowing through that mall. I like the idea of the Lameroo Baths. That would help us make better use of this Esplanade. I am also a supporter of ensuring that that Esplanade allows us to gain better access to a sight of the ocean. There are just too many trees there.
There are many points that can be made, and they have already been made. Generally, I take the view that this is a framework that has been laid out and it will be worked through and watched carefully; comment will be made, suggestions, perhaps arguments will be had of differing points of view.
Hopefully, in the end, we will leave something that is of benefit to those that come after us. With those comments and in that tone I support the statement.
Mr VATSKALIS (Business and Economic Development): Mr Deputy Speaker, as you are well aware, I was born overseas in Greece and grew up there, in one of the oldest cities in the world that has been continuously inhabited - Athens.
A member: A little village.
Mr VATSKALIS: It was not in a village. Originally, it was a little village but it evolved to be a city of four million people with an area of 300 km with not much space to expand, so the only way was up. That is why my little village, or the city where I grew up, Athens, is one of the most densely inhabited capital cities in Greece, with all its problems, of course - traffic, small streets. I recall when I was young that my family home was in the foothills of the mountains in north-west of Athens city. We used to wake up in the morning and look down at the city. It was like a big basin in front of us. The only thing we could see was the top of the Parthenon because everything else was covered in grey haze. Athens is so densely populated and it has one of the smallest percentage of green space in Europe - less than 1%.
In 1983, I came to Perth. Perth was a town of 800 000 people with an area of 750 km, a city which was mainly single- to two-storey houses with the biggest civic development in St. George’s Terrace. Some of the most beautiful places in Perth are in the old town of Fremantle. If you go away from the central business district of Perth, or the places where the old buildings are, it is exactly the same as any other Australian city. Most of the houses are not designed by architects. They are designed by draftsmen who worked for a building company that used to sell land and house packages, and they all look the same.
In 1992, I applied for a job in Darwin and I came here for an interview. I was fortunate, because the person who interviewed me gave me a government car and asked me to go around Darwin to have a look at the city, to I make up my mind if I liked the place or not. That was not very difficult. Mind you, I was living in Port Hedland at the time, which is not the prettiest place in Australia. The first thing that had an impact on me, as it was December, was the humidity. It was the most tropical place I had been in Australia. The second was the number of trees, and the third was that all the buildings were new. It did not take long to find out why after I visited the museum and had a look at the Cyclone Tracy video. I realised that it was, obviously, an urban renewal program in 1974 called Cyclone Tracy which did not leave much of the old Darwin. Most of the old Darwin existed now in photographs in the museum.
I have to tell you, of all the cities in Australia that I have visited, Darwin is the one place that I call home. I call it home because it is a city that has been built for people. It is a city that has not been built for cars, like the highways in Perth or Melbourne. It is a place where you can actually walk in the city. You can drive your car. Very often, as part of my portfolios, when I go to different conferences and make a presentation about the Northern Territory, I have this big photograph of Darwin. I highlight where parliament is, and then I show at the top of the photo where Nightcliff is because that is where I live. I tell them that it takes me about 15 minutes from my place to work. On the way, I drop my son at the high school and it will take me only 15 minutes. Of course, a lot of people laugh because it will take them up to 45 minutes to drive to work in Perth or Sydney.
Darwin is unique – it history, its location, the way it has been built, and the way it has maintained a tropical atmosphere. It is one of the very few places around Australia where you still find elevated houses. Even modern houses built in some of the new suburbs are elevated or semi-elevated. People like and enjoy this tropical character of the houses. However, what people like - and what they are very passionate about Darwin, and I know people talk what is happening in Darwin - is how Darwin is changing. The reality is that things will change. Things will not stay the same. The old Darwin has gone. Most of it was gone in 1974.
The new Darwin that has emerged is a beautiful, cosmopolitan, tropical, modern city. When people come from interstate, they are surprised how pretty and functional it is, and how it is built for people.
I am pleased to support the Chief Minister’s statement. What interested me yesterday was that in the gallery were a lot of people who were investors, builders, architects and people who have property. The comments I heard after the Chief Minister presented the vision ranged from: ‘This is fantastic’ to ‘It will change our image’, ‘It will bring more people to Darwin’, ‘A State Square to be proud of’, ‘We now have a focus for business and investment in the city’ and ‘We have for visitors and locals alike something new and fresh’.
When you go to a place as a tourist, you go because it is something that you want to see. It is something that attracts you. You walk around, you go shopping, you see all the things you want to see: the museums, the buildings. One place I always enjoy is Singapore. The difference between Singapore and Australian cities is the CBD in Singapore and the suburbs in Singapore are high-rise because they do not have much space. However, what they have managed to do is maintain a lot of green parks. Our similarity is that we are both in a tropical environment. Our difference is that our climate is more defined than Singapore’s. We have six seasons, according to indigenous Territorians or, what we define as the Wet, the Dry and the Build-Up. In Singapore, they have the Wet, and the Bit Less Wet because during their Dry, it rains and that helps to maintain their green belts around town. In Darwin, it is quite different.
We want to create a city that will have a focus on recreation and lifestyle, tourism and heritage, and development. These are inter-linked and relate to a number of my portfolios, Business and Economic Development, Defence Support, Sport and Recreation and Essential Services. What we want in Darwin, is not only tourism, but for people who come to stay and to make Darwin a place to live, work and play.
Darwin needs a vision, one that the business community can be proud to invest in; that they can plan for and know what the development should be like to give Darwin its own character and atmosphere. The new visitor attractions will benefit small businesses in the mall and surrounding areas, and will give them more to see and do and more to experience. It will give locals pride in their capital city.
The announcement for the commencement of the development of the Defence of Darwin with a new World War II museum is exciting, and I am very passionate about it. Darwin’s role in World War II has been a long-held secret. We have to fight hard to have the damage to Darwin and the sacrifice of so many lives recognised, not only by the federal government but by the wider Australian public. Today, people down south do not know or understand that Darwin was bombed 46 times. People down south do not know that Japanese aircraft went as far south as Onslow. They do not know that hundreds of women and children from the Dutch East Indies were killed while they were still in aircraft when they landed in Broome to refuel. During that time, a Japanese Zero caught them like sitting ducks. If you go to Broome, you can still see the frames and propellers of the airplanes rising from the mud when the tide is really low. People do not know that Katherine was bombed. People do not know that Port Hedland was bombed. A lot of history about Darwin is totally unknown down south.
The location of the museum will generate discussion, but its location next to Parliament House is ideal and symbolic. Let us not forget that the people fought in World War II to maintain our ideas and principles of freedom and democracy. It happened in Europe, and in the Asia Pacific. To commemorate these people and their sacrifice by building a museum next to parliament is an excellent idea.
The member for Blain said it should be built at East Point because this is where the gun emplacements are. I remind him, since he comes from Western Australia, that the gun emplacements in Perth were at Rottnest Island. The cannon could fire a missile from 50 km away. I have been there. I have seen the embankment, with the camps where the underground headquarters were. However, the museum for World War II in Perth is not on Rottnest Island, it is in Perth, on the mainland. While the East Point is the place where the cannons were installed, I do not believe it is the ideal place. After all, let us not forget the bombing of Darwin took place in the 1940s, and most of the people were killed and most casualties occurred in Darwin Harbour. Most of the American and allied ships were sunk in Darwin Harbour. From the museum, you will be able to see this harbour where so many people lost their lives and so many ships were sunk during the dreadful days of World War II.
The visitors who will come to the Top End will be able to visit our museum, our Parliament House, our library and the CBD, and it will be a natural connection between the CBD and the Waterfront. Talking about the CBD, I strongly endorse the Chief Minister’s call for the Darwin City Council to at last open the Mall. If you go there after 5 pm, you can walk down the mall and not meet anybody. Yet, 100 m up the road, in Mitchell Street, the whole place is buzzing. The mall needs to open. We have to find a way to bring people back to the mall. The best way to do that is to open the mall, develop boulevard-style footpaths where people can open their restaurants and their cafes to bring people back to the city, especially with the new developments with the units. People are coming back to the city, and they want to go out in the afternoons when they finish work. They want to go somewhere to have a coffee, a drink, or a meal. That is the ideal place to do it.
Apart from the war museum, what we need in Darwin is an immigration museum. Darwin has been built by people who came from somewhere else. From the beginning of the 18th century to date, there were the Chinese, Indonesians, Italians, Greeks, and Vietnamese. From the 18th century to 1975, with the Vietnamese, people from other countries came and have made Darwin their home. We should consider an immigration museum, very similar to what they have in Melbourne.
On top of that, we probably should have something to commemorate the person who gave our city its name – Darwin. As we know, the boat that took Charles Darwin to the Galapagos Islands visited Darwin. However, what mnay people do not know is that that boat lost two anchors at the Victoria River. When it was sailing up the river, it lost two of its anchors. They sank in the mud, and they lost a length of the chain and the anchors. They are approximately 3.5 m tall. The survey carried out in 1994, like many surveys, had discovered two magnetic anomalies in Victoria River. Knowing that these anchors had fallen into the river, and were covered by mud, it ismost likely that these anchors are still lying there. It will only be a matter of time before we decide for somebody to do a better survey and uncover them. I believe they will look fantastic in front of the convention centre, plus, it will mark Darwin as a place where Charles Darwin’s boat visited when it sailed to Australia. Of course, the initiative to raise the anchors will place Darwin well and truly on the map of Australia.
Our planning and development is vital to maintain the wellbeing of our city, towns and our people. The ribbons of green concept is another part of the plan that excites me. This will see the potential expansion of green zones around Darwin, and will be very important to the Darwin Tropical Harbour inner city image. Green zones are well known to add value to the community’s lifestyle and wellbeing. I welcome the ribbons of green for Darwin, along with the plans for the Myilly Point headland and Flagstaff Park. I do not believe there will be anything better than to be able to walk from the waterfront and along the harbour, Fannie Bay, all the way to East Point. Of course, you can do the round of the city, either riding a bike or walking. Darwin is a place for people, and a green ribbon around Darwin will make it a place that we can enjoy walking or riding a bike, moving easily and freely.
As Minister for Business and Economic Development, I am constantly pleased to see how much pride people have in their business and in their town, and how much they want to be part of growing and developing with an economic future. When I visit local businesses, they talk to me about the need to encourage more people to come and work here to fill the skill shortages they have been experiencing for a long time. We do not only like the tourists who visit us, but we want people to come here to make Darwin a place to buy a house, raise a family, work and, of course, to play.
The linkages between the waterfront and the mall will rejuvenate the mall and surrounding areas. It will provide a unique experience for locals and visitors, and encourage others to be part of this drive and initiative. Of course, the natural flow of people from the suburbs to the city, as their family circumstances change, bring more people to the city who will need the services in the city and, in the afternoon, will make the city alive. Not like, let us say, in Perth in St George’s Terrace. After 5 pm or 6 pm when the last bus departs, taking the last office workers away from the city to the suburbs, there is nothing there; it is just an absolute desert. If you go to other places, you can see where the people are brought back into the city and the place is buzzing until early in the morning.
My Department of Business, Economic and Regional Development will ensure that local businesses have an opportunity to be involved in building and developing the new projects that have been outlined by the Chief Minister through managing local industry participation plans. We will also continue to support the small business sector of Darwin: the retail shops, the clubs, the hotels, the restaurants, the tourism providers and souvenir shops – the lifeblood of the city – through a diverse range of services and programs offered by my department. Our government is committed to assist local businesses, as a strong small business sector in Darwin is a powerful agent for development, growth and creating Darwin’s future.
My department has also been working to enhance the experiences of overseas visitors who come to the Darwin Harbour on the many yachts that ply our waters. The waterfront development is being watched quite keenly by owners and crews of the super yachts and the maxi yachts that come to Darwin. A few years ago, there were actually six super yacht visits a year. Last year, we had in excess of 250 visits. Darwin now has become a destination for leisure, resupply, repairs and maintenance, and a place they can use as a base to explore the northern Australian waters, and we will continue to do so.
With some new proposed developments by local businesses, super yachts will be coming more frequently to Darwin, together with the cruise ships of which there were 68 visits last year - the Orion is based here in Darwin and is bringing people to or taking them from Darwin. These people come to board the Orion and go to the Kimberleys, or are brought here by the Orion or other cruise ships. They experience a fantastic, tropical city - the most tropical city and the closest we have to an Asian city in Australia. My department has been meeting the owners and crews of these magnificent yachts and they find that Darwin is a port of call for them by choice. They are increasingly impressed with Darwin and the growth of quality services for them. They speak highly of the harbour and Darwin. They have expressed their interest in the improvements being made to the waterfront and promise to be back. This is great news for us, and great news for Darwin’s future.
The response from the business and wider community yesterday saw the great willingness to participate in this great project. I congratulate the Chief Minister on this vision, creating a bright and vibrant future for Darwin and the Territory. I join her in thanking all of the community and the business sector who have contributed to creating this image for the future of Darwin.
The impression I got when I came here in 1992 was of one of the prettiest cities I have seen in Australia, and I have travelled all around Australia and seen many cities. It still remains so. Darwin is a place that I have made my home and call home, and I will continue to call home in the future. I would like to see Darwin becoming, not necessarily bigger, that will be a natural progression, but certainly better. The new vision, as presented to the public yesterday by the Chief Minister, will ensure that Darwin will become a beautiful and better place.
Ms SACILOTTO (Port Darwin): Mr Deputy Speaker, after a 12-month consultation process, the Chief Minister yesterday announced the first round of key projects to make Darwin an even better place to live, play, work and do business. My electorate of Port Darwin is the most vibrant community in the Northern Territory. It is the Port Darwin electorate, the heart of Darwin, which is the big winner in these latest announcements.
The $1.1bn waterfront project will be iconic and will generate a huge boost to the already buoyant Darwin economy, with most of the contracts being picked up by local or locally-based companies. It is an important project and a major boost for everyone in the Northern Territory, as people coming to the Northern Territory for our convention centre and our newest tourist attractions will filter throughout the rest of the Territory. While they are here, they will stop and visit other places that they may not have normally gone to.
With the upgrading of the Myilly Point headland, including Flagstaff Park, a $6m commitment to these areas means they will be upgraded and linked to other parkland areas as a part of the ribbon of green vision. This has been welcomed by many constituents of Port Darwin already, only 24 hours after the announcement. These beautiful areas embrace so many people locally, nationally, and internationally. They are enjoyed by hundreds of people every week, walking around these areas, and using them as pathways to get to many attractions. Parklands and green space is of great concern to residents of Port Darwin. I have had many conversations with residents in relation to the old hospital site. Many have provided their suggestions and opinions. These will be expanded upon, collated and relayed to the Chief Minister as important information for the future plans for this site.
Many residents have talked about preserving what we have in the way of green space and open areas. The electorate of Port Darwin encompasses Larrakeyah, Cullen Bay, Darwin city, Tipperary Waters, the waterfront precinct, and approximately half of my home suburb of Stuart Park. Darwin is approximately a 3 km area and parks cover about 6% of that area. Larrakeyah is approximately 1 km and about 1% of that area is parks. Stuart Park is a little over 2 km, and parks cover approximately 2%. Let us not kid ourselves; this dirt is expensive dirt. However, this is certainly a necessity to maintain what we have, add on to it strategically, and develop sensibly, lively and multifunctional community areas which thought and concern for the high-density population, visitors, and businesses alike.
The commitment of $6m to develop the new family friendly parklands at Myilly Point is welcomed by residents. Nurses Walk is a particularly significant heritage area which is regularly used by residents and visitors. The renovation and preservation of this area, including the installation of a foreshore promenade which links Nurses Walk to Mindil Beach, should be a highlight to enhance this rich heritage precinct.
I am pleased that $250 000 has been dedicated to develop a master plan for a new State Square Precinct. The plan will include heritage sites, civic buildings, and community space. State Square is an important place. Not only is it the current day site of lawmakers and enforcers of the Northern Territory, it is a significant World War II site, and also a memorial site of 10 victims of the bombing of Darwin.
Tragedy again struck at this site during the construction of this building, when Mr Peter Mounstead and Mr Andrew Snow were killed when a crane collapsed during the early construction phase in March 1991. The fountain on Speaker’s Green is dedicated to these fine men, both of whom were known to me and my family.
There are also many intriguing heritage significant sites surrounding this area - Palmerston Town Hall ruins, the Administrator’s Offices, and the Administrator’s Residence - which all deserve to be showcased to the best of our ability. It is truly a heritage-rich area, which makes the CBD the perfect location to position a World War II, or war museum. This will be a great drawcard to the city and will increase the vibrancy of our CBD. It will be beneficial to businesses and will boost tourism to the city centre. The link between the waterfront and the CBD is going to be an important component to the overall project.
It is not a straightforward project, as it must encompass ideas and consideration from all stakeholders to ensure the best outcome, including heritage, Darwin City Council, waterfront developers, residents of Port Darwin, and Property Council in representing commercial property owners, etcetera. There are many considerations in relation to this important link; however, it must be the right link. These parties have been working through the issues and ideas, and I am confident all involved are intent on getting the best possible product at the end which will provide a flow from the waterfront to the city, and from the city to the waterfront.
This fluidity of movement is essential, and has been a concern reported to me, as local member, by most constituents who hold an interest in this project. Clearly, the Chief Minister has shown great leadership in these first announcements about Creating Darwin’s Future.
I look forward to seeing the relationship between Darwin City Council, in partnership with business, take the same step up and show leadership on their part in developing Darwin’s future. This is, after all, a partnership. The lifeblood of the city is business. How so? Where do Darwinites eat out, socialise, have a cuppa and shop? Close to home, normally. Darwin city has a fantastic array of specialty shops such as those in the Vic complex which include but are not limited to Classy Glass, Earth Collection, Vanilla hair studios and the fabulous Elements day spa.
The specialty shops in the CBD are wide-ranging and stimulate the imagination of both our locals and visitors alike. I look forward to relationships being built between government, Darwin City Council and traders, and grow and nurture into a partnership for the betterment of all residents, both commercial and residential. Darwin City Council needs to step up and support residential and commercial ratepayers and those who pay rents to the ratepayers.
It is with the Darwin City Council’s assistance and cooperation that we can make a truly unique tropical harbour city that is going to pave the way for generations of the future. It does not take a day to plan a city, although we have had a second go at it after Cyclone Tracy. There needs to be careful consideration to ensure that what we are planning today is going to stand the test of time in the future.
The other areas that are very interesting, particularly for some of the people in my electorate, are the city planning amendments. In such a growing electorate, there is always room for improvement. Some of those have been brought out in the planning forum that has been held by the Minister for Planning and Lands recently.
The ribbons of green are a great consideration for people who live in Port Darwin because a great number of them live in apartments which have limited amounts of green space within the complex. Therefore, the parks we do have are very important and need to be maintained to a high standard. They can also be used more efficiently to become places for night use with the right planning, lighting and activities so they do not just close down when it is dark. They can be used by families, people exercising and enjoying them all through the night.
There is $1m for landscaping city entry points where Daly Street and Tiger Brennan Drive intersect with McMinn Street. There is a need for a nice entry statement into Darwin, and I look forward to the plans that the committee produces on how that can be achieved.
Regarding streetscapes precincts in the Darwin city, I have always thought that there should be a greater mix of commercial, residential and office accommodation. I do not think a commercial building on its own is viable for the middle of the city. It needs to have some sort of interaction, be that coffee or speciality shops, for use at times other than the normal working day. These shops encourage a busy, bustling city. There is no greater deterrent for antisocial behaviour than to have a busy, bustling city area.
Al fresco dining up and down the mall would be fantastic. Some life in the mall after closing down at 5 pm would be great. The weekends are quiet in the mall. There are a few shops open, but many are not. It certainly does not feel like it is embracing the tourists who want to have a cup of coffee or have breakfast in the city area. There is a great opportunity for businesses, with assistance and with support from council. I believe there is a lot of opportunity that has not been scratched yet. I believe that that needs to be investigated further, because it will encourage people to stay in the city.
I attended six Creating Darwin’s Future advisory stalls, listening to what the public was saying, with the ideas that were flagged just to stimulate some conversation. Out of six, there was really only one person who had some negative comments. When that person spoke to me further, they were from Melbourne, so I thought, ‘It is not Melbourne, is it?’. However, the other people who spoke to me were so positive, and many of those were long-term Darwin people. One man had lived in Darwin for 18 years. He had gone away to Brisbane and come back because of family commitments. He thought that it was a fantastic idea, a mix of the new and the old, stimulating thoughts on the Larrakeyah baths and other things that were there in the past and had been forgotten. We need to do that combination of new and old, which I believe will be a winning combination.
I commend the Chief Minister’s announcement. I look forward to lots more coming out of the Creating Darwin’s Future, a tropical harbour city program, because there are some fantastic ideas. The public have been really interactive. They have come up with some really great ideas. I am really looking forward to some more of those being investigated. Obviously, everything cannot be done in one minute, or one batch. It needs to be planned and structured. However, as we can see by the Chief Minister’s announcement yesterday, this is not a talkfest; there are actually outcomes from that. I am sure everybody is pleased to see that there is action happening. It is certainly going to benefit my constituents of Port Darwin, and also the businesses in the CBD. I am very happy to endorse the Chief Minister’s latest announcement.
Mr KIELY (Sanderson): Mr Deputy Speaker, it is with great pleasure that I respond tonight to the Chief Minister’s statement on building a better Darwin. The speakers before all had some good points about it. Like the member for Port Darwin, I also had the pleasure of standing on the public advisory stands at Casuarina Square, at my own Northlakes Shopping Centre, and at Hibiscus with various members of parliament here. It was tremendous to see the interaction with the community and getting the ideas and the concerns when talking to people about what we were hoping to do.
I would like to pick up on the point that I believe the Leader of the Opposition was making, which was leadership. Even today, over all the different areas we have been covering, the Leader of the Opposition has been talking about leadership. The Chief Minister, on this call, is showing real leadership. She is showing the leadership that is required for our city into the future. It is a fantastic vision of hers, one that has 100% of my support. I am confident that it will have 100% support of the people of the electorate that I represent.
Today, the Chief Minister announced quite a number of initiatives, such as the World War II museum next to the Parliament House, a ribbon of green around the CBD, a revamped State Square, new planning amendments and new entrances to our city. As well as that, she flagged looking at the Lameroo baths site, perhaps developing that, along with a revitalised Esplanade.
She also mentioned Creating Darwin’s Future is not only about the city, but it is also about preserving and protecting our great lifestyle in the suburbs and that, in the future, we will be looking at what is happening out in the suburban living areas.
I will come back to the World War II museum, because there have been some good ideas for it. I support the member for Blain when he was talking about the content, and that the Darwin museum commemorating World War II should not just be on the Darwin area. I am not fully across the member for Blain’s thinking about Timor and the role that should play on the internal display. However, I am in accord with him when he mentioned the forces which left here during the war for overseas service - some never to return - particularly to Timor. They might have been Sparrow Force; I am not sure whether Sparrow was Timor or Ambon. We had troops leave here for Timor, and nearly all of those were captured. We had troops who left for Ambon. We had a huge American Air Force presence. We had submarines and our own aircraft presence. Australia was a fortress in those days, and it was virtually a top secret installation, given what it meant. We provided a jump-off point for many bombers, etcetera, going into South-East Asia. We played a part in the capture of the Indonesian Archipelago.
I believe all that information can be incorporated. I also think that, while this commemorates World War II, this is not a war museum. This is to commemorate the role Darwin played in those very dark days in Australia. The civilian population was left here helping on the railway or in the town. There were not many families here in those days; most were evacuated. There was a civilian force here and they should be recognised. The architecture of the time should also be recognised because Darwin is unique in Australia in that we have risen like a phoenix every 50 years or so. Just about every 50 years, Darwin has either been blown out or bombed out of existence. We can capture that period in this museum.
We should not forget to commemorate the role that Darwin played with the servicemen who flew out and who crashed in Arnhem Land and were rescued by the civilian countrymen. I am not talking about the countrymen who were in NORFORCE or - I forget the colloquial name for it at the moment, but I am sure it will come back to me. There were civilians in places like Maningrida. I have heard the stories and seen the photographs of American servicemen who wandered out in Arnhem Land near Maningrida and were rescued by people out there and brought into the mission station and looked after. That also has a special place in our history and needs to be captured.
The cost of this building is probably insignificant compared to what it will cost to get the displays in. We should start work now on getting together the displays for the museum. I do not necessarily think that we need aeroplanes because we have a great Aviation Museum at the airport, which is a tremendous facility and a credit to Peter Radtke and all the people who have done marvellous work there. We have some good World War II displays, so I do not necessarily think we have to get a P35 - I think it is - plane or a Spitfire there.
I do not think we necessarily have to bring artillery and armoured pieces in because we have great armoured and artillery displays at East Point. However, we can put in all sorts of dioramas. I have been to the community museum in Cowra. The 3D hologram that they have is fantastic. That is in the hands of the experts and the curators. We need to think now about getting a curating team together. Building the facility is only one part of the job; assembling the information and displays is the other.
I do not see this facility as having to be overly huge. The Chief Minister mentioned it being linked to everything, and so it will be. It will be the hub for what we have around. I have maintained for many years that, for too long, we have ignored our World War II heritage and our place at that particular time in Australia’s history. It is a good chance for us to capitalise on it but, also, it is our obligation to ensure that we create something fine for all of Australia. While it is here in Darwin, it will be fantastic, but this is for all Australians, and we should not lose sight of that. When we do get on to the building and the design, let us remember that we are building a national iconic piece here in the Territory. This is something that we should always keep in our forethought.
Regarding its position next to Parliament House, I have heard some criticism from the Leader of the Opposition saying it is a beautiful patch of grass out there. I have had a look at the usage out there. I have noticed over the years a couple of touch footy games and perhaps a backpacker or two getting a suntan. I do not see too much more than that. Let us not forget that it is an artificially created site as such. It was left as a paddock when this place was built. However, that site looks over to the Cenotaph. What was the Cenotaph? That was a World War II anti-aircraft site. It looks out and you get the harbour views.
Regarding the height, the construction, we are entering into a whole new age of building design and architecture - a very exciting age. I am sure there will be many concepts put forward. I am sure that, given the place it will have in Darwin’s future, and I am sure it will hold in the Australian architectural future, it will be a quality building and it will attract worldwide attention.
Mr Deputy Speaker, I look forward to that museum or memorial building and for what it can do for us. I do not see it as a shrine of remembrance. I do not see it a national war memorial-type building because, as I said, with drawing in those elements from East Point, the Aviation Museum, our airfields up and down the Stuart Highway – you go out to Mandorah and out the back there is just a load of history all just around the place – it is the hub. I view it as the hub, and to have people look at it that way.
I like the notion of improving the Esplanade. When I arrived in Darwin in 1985 the Esplanade was pretty well an overgrown strip of land, neglected, with lots of long grassers. It was not until 1988, in the bicentennial year, that the wall was put in there and some effort was made to make the Esplanade a pleasant site. It was still rather flat and neglected until there was development along the Esplanade. The same can also be said for Mitchell Street. Until Doug Gamble and others had the vision to fix up Mitchell Street it was a rather dormant and neglected area. The nightlife was in Smith Street and Cavenagh Street.
I draw those pictures into my statement here tonight because, time and again, you see letters to the editor about Darwin not being what it used to be. Darwin is changing. The Esplanade and Mitchell Street have changed for the better. Cities are organic creatures. They grow, they live, some parts withdraw, and other parts flourish. It is up to us - and I am glad to see the Chief Minister leading the way on this - to breathe life in, and to keep the sustainable life in it.
These plans for the ribbons of green, giving the green spaces that we need, fixing up the entrance ways and the beautification, are making the city a far more pleasant place to be. They will bring more people in and, in itself, bring in more private enterprise which will come on board for private development. They will build quality buildings. The influx of people, of tourists and of residents - let us not believe that this is all about tourism; this is about making our city a living thing. If we bring more people into the city to live and to work, we will see Smith Street reach its full potential. When we start getting those new apartment blocks such as Evolution and Pandanus - and there are apartment blocks going up all around the place - let us not forget they are apartment blocks. These people will be coming into the city for their dinners, coffees and to the clubs, and that will be fine.
We are reaching a new stage in our industrial base in the Territory and we are getting many clean types of industries. There will be more ICT-type businesses coming into the city. We will have the capacity to house those. These new buildings will be able to accommodate new technologies. The whole living, working, eating, dining experience in Darwin city is going to be fantastic.
The walkways along the Esplanade through Flagstaff Park, down Nurses Walk along Mindil Beach and over to the Botanic Gardens is a fantastic idea. It is what the city needs. It is about improving the life of the city and attracting more people.
What really excites me about all this is that it is not just a city project, as the Chief Minister has said. When we start looking at this suburban living strategy, we have started enhancing the lifestyle of the people of the northern suburbs in areas at Wulagi, who are having great parties near the shops sponsored by Neighbourhood Watch, which gets everyone in the community behind it. The local school gets behind it. At Anula Park, we have one concert a year with the Darwin City Brass Band. That is fantastic. We have all the local clubs in the area getting behind plans for updating their premises or improving their facilities. Work is going on at the Marrara Sporting Complex to make that a premier recreational and sporting facility in the Territory in the Northern suburbs - all these things bring life.
I would like to see improved facilities around our local boat ramps. There is room for that. I would like to see improvements to our bike and walking tracks and making those into fitness points. There is a whole range of strategies and ideas that will come under the suburban living strategy so people will have choice. Not everyone wants that quarter acre, 800 m or 900 m block in the suburbs. Many people want to live in units and they like that lifestyle. They are busy people. They do not want to get into the garden; they do not have the time. They are not pet focused; they are not particularly interested in having large dogs.
However, there is a whole range of people who like living in the suburbs, and I am one of those. In the words of Dave Warner, I am just a suburban boy. My future lies out in the suburbs and I am going to work hard to ensure that our suburbs are great places to live; that they retain the ambience the minister for Education spoke about which is apparent in town. It is just as apparent out there.
I see a great future for our small urban shopping centres. I see a move away from the local supermarkets and hairdresser in those shops. I can see little precincts of fine restaurants and specialist shops around the place. Perhaps Anula might become a prime food hub, a bit like Parap. Malak might become a hub for lifestyle premises. There is a great little theatre group there, and gyms. All sorts of things are happening in our suburbs that we can pull together to ensure our lifestyle in the suburbs goes ahead at pace with the CBD.
It is an exciting time. I place on the record my thanks to the Chief Minister for bringing this statement on. I also place on the record my thanks to every member on the government side for getting behind this initiative.
I am a bit disappointed, but not surprised, that once again we saw the Leader of the Opposition bagging an initiative for Darwin – she had a go at the waterfront. The Leader of the Opposition needs to have a good look at what she said during the last by-election for Greatorex. She was trying to invoke this Berrimah Line-type concept but what, in fact, she was doing was creating a great wall around Alice Springs. Her view of the world does not extend beyond that, and she thinks that everything external is hostile and should be treated with disdain. Well, it is not the case. The Leader of the Opposition should know that Darwin is the capital city of the Northern Territory; that Darwin needs to build and go ahead like this. We need the opposition’s support. We need the members for Araluen, Greatorex, Blain, and Katherine to get on board and help us with this. This is going to be the jewel in the Territory.
Mr WARREN (Goyder): Mr Acting Deputy Speaker, I support the Chief Minister’s statement on Creating Darwin’s Future. It is particularly important that we are talking about moving Darwin ahead, because Darwin is a place that is at the top of Australia. It should continue to grow in a manner which reflects the fact that we are the top of Australia.
I came to Darwin in 1978, in the aftermath of Cyclone Tracy. Darwin was a city which was given an opportunity, the greater Darwin area included, to be reborn. Over the past few years, Darwin has certainly changed. It has grown and been reborn and revitalised. It was considerably damaged, as we all know, particularly in the northern suburbs. There were major parts of the urban area which were devastated. It has had a history of being damaged over the periods from the historical earlier cyclones, to the World War II bombing episodes. Also, some of the more recent cyclones have affected much of Darwin. The Chief Minister’s vision of Creating Darwin’s Future is a good time to look at that again, because we need to have something that reflects our lifestyle, the balance in our social and environmental priorities, which will take us well into the future.
I came here in 1978, as I said, and Darwin has grown from there. However, there were periods where much of the development here under the previous government was t ad hoc. I am not going to be overly critical, because they did have the task of rebuilding Darwin. However, it was ad hoc and it is a good time to look at our vision for a modern city for the 21st century.
Darwin should be a modern city - and will be a modern city if you have a balance, and you balance all those things in peoples’ lives which are important. The three principle triple bottom line aspects of development are the economic, social and environmental priorities. If you do not get them right, then the leading aspect of a city’s development does not occur. If you do not get those aspects in balance, and do not have the people who can sustain themselves here, in a financial and social aspect, you do not have the environment that is unique and a very critical part of the harbour. We are on a peninsula which is part of that harbour and, currently, you do not have all the social aspects which people expect, such as the lifestyle and things that are important to them in this modern world; that keep and sustain them here and make Darwin city a draw point for not just the residents of Darwin but, equally as important, the many thousands of tourists we are expecting to visit Darwin.
That is why I like the Chief Minister’s vision for Creating Darwin’s Future. There are some important aspects of it which I will come to, but I also want to talk about the process the Martin Labor government has undertaken in arriving at the launch yesterday; that is, the consultative process with the community. That has been occurring since October 2006, where the Northern Territory government has undertaken wide-ranging and extensive consultations with the community; something which was not a hallmark of the previous government. Other members have mentioned dark-of–the-night demolition jobs on some of the most historical aspects of Darwin which, sadly, are no longer with us.
Unlike the previous government, this government is a consultative one. We have established a working group of senior public sector, industry, and council representatives, which has been the steering committee for the process. It has been one of engagement as it is not just the local community, but the tourists you need to engage. That process is important because the vision, as expressed by the Chief Minister yesterday, is one whereby we will be attracting tourists, and making Darwin the city for the top of Australia, as well as creating an environment where people in the urban areas can feel comfortable. They can come to town and feel part of it, as if this is ‘our’ city which we can come to and be part of.
It is a city where tourists can come, and people can mingle in an environment which overlooks one of the most beautiful harbours in the world, particularly when it has the aquamarine blue colour during the Dry Season. It also has the vision for the parklands, and ribbons of green around the harbour. That is the nature of the environment. It is a situation where you have the central and active part being Darwin, but you also have a buffer between the harbour and the city of ribbons of green protecting and expanding green open spaces surrounding Darwin. That is part of the vision of this plan. It is clearly well thought out, and was engaging with the community. It also has had a direction and purpose, which was to ensure there was sufficient concept in the plan to grow and become a modern 21st century city, without compromising our unique situation on the Darwin Peninsula next to the Darwin Harbour.
When I came here in 1978, there was an ad hoc building process. It is now time, when we are in this sustainable economic boom due to the promotion by the Martin Labor government, to reflect this in our modern northern city.
I have spent some time in Cairns. That city went through of metamorphosis several years ago. It is a tropical city. The creators of Darwin’s future have looked at places such as Cairns, Townsville, and tropical north Queensland, and have seen the benefits of the visions of those places. They are very proud of that city now. Cairns was once a north Queensland backwater, but now it is a vibrant city. Darwin is moving ahead that way. This vision will take it ahead. You only have to go to Mitchell Street, or any other place, to see that it is becoming a hub for tourists. It is a stopover and gateway to Asia, so it is important we keep the visitation numbers up in Darwin as long as we can, not only for our economic benefit, but to leave lasting impressions on them. Darwin’s future, moving ahead, is all part of that.
I am really pleased that some of the keynote features of this development include the Myilly Point headland with the $6m redevelopment to the new family-friendly parklands at Myilly Point, and the fact that they are linked to the foreshore promenade from the Nurses Walk to Mindil Beach. That is an historical aspect, particularly if you are talking about the old Darwin Hospital. Let us remember back to those days. What is great about this whole concept is that it continually refers to our history here - not so much our long-distant past, which is a critical element when we talk about things like the indigenous cultural centre - but our more recent past and things that have happened and affected us here in Darwin.
We are talking about the Defence of Darwin World War II Museum. It is great that it is going to be placed next to Parliament House. It is a great site and, unlike the member for Blain, I believe it is the most appropriate place for it. You are talking about something historically linked to our democracy under the Westminster system here in the Parliament House, and the fact that that is a very symbolic element of our democracy. You are also talking about the very aspect where men and women, not only Australian but from many nations, fought. It is a symbolic feature of our defence of Darwin, the defence of our democracy.
Having those two key elements of our democracy side by side is most appropriate. I was really saddened to hear the member for Blain complaining about the fact that the two buildings were going to be side by side. His arguments ring a bit hollow in my ears. He talked about Canberra, the ACT, and the fact that their War Museum is not sitting close to Parliament House. Let me remind the House that the War Museum is located in the ACT precinct. The reason it was put there was because again, parliament is a symbol of our democracy, and it is most appropriate that our main War Memorial, which is a symbol of our fight for freedom during past conflicts, should be located in that same city as well.
I do not have a problem, and I do not think most people on our side of the House have a problem. They applaud the fact that the World War II museum will be placed next to Parliament House. I will be campaigning to have many visitors to that particular facility. It is an engaging process and a concept design study we are talking about at this stage. There will be more opportunities for the people of Darwin, visitors, and those who have a historical connection with World War II through their direct families and contacts, to have an input into this process. It will be an evolving process.
We want a vibrant, modern 24-hour city. One of the things that I am often hearing is that, even though Darwin is a great place to live, the city is ordinary, somewhat devoid of a true heart and nightlife other than the nightclubs. We are talking about something for families, where people can feel comfortable, feel it is their city - a 24-hour city. That is why we are talking about making a vibrant, modern 24-hour CBD the heart of our whole Darwin extended area. It will be an even better place to live, work and visit. The symbolic welcome to the residents and those who visit through our city entry points is a critical element of this whole scheme, and that has been very well thought out.
The State Square redevelopment master plan will be active and make it a focal point between the CBD, waterfront, the city entry points and streetscape precincts - which is a tongue twister. Working with Darwin City Council to implement a structural design in the Darwin CBD across the four unique precincts is probably as good an element of the plan as can be considered.
Mr Acting Deputy Speaker, I will wrap up at that point. I could talk on here for hours ...
Mr ACTING DEPUTY SPEAKER: No, you could not.
Mr WARREN: I am sure you would engage with me, but I have said my piece as have the members who have spoken before me. I commend them on what they have said. I thank the Chief Minister for such a visionary plan as Creating Darwin’s Future, which is helping us to move ahead.
Mr BONSON (Millner): Mr Acting Deputy Speaker, I support one of the most important statements this House has had presented in the last 25 years. It is a generational statement. Creating Darwin’s Future is about moving ahead our tropical harbour city.
This statement is will address issues that the Labor Party is very keen to protect, look after and encourage to flourish. We are protecting the history of Darwin, recognising its present place, and planning for the future. It is about the government consulting all Darwinites about the type of lifestyle they want at present and in the future, and what type of family spaces and environments they want for their children.
It is about recognising that we need to develop our tourism industry and to make Darwin a place that people want to visit. It is also about recognising our heritage. This consultation process is, possibly, the greatest achievement of this government. We are talking about development, ribbons of green, planning a world-class tropical city, looking at streetscapes and precincts, and what Darwin will be in not only five, 10, and 20 years, but in 100 years.
Unfortunately, the CLP members, from the few contributions we have heard so far, are very negative about our great lifestyle. They have no plans for the future and they live in the past. They are against the waterfront development for reasons known only to themselves, when it is, possibly, the greatest opportunity to create economic benefit and enhance the lifestyle of all Darwinites.
I welcome the Chief Minister’s statement for a number of reasons. I love the lifestyle and recreational opportunities I enjoyed as I grew up in the Territory, and those my family has enjoyed for the past 100 years in Darwin. I look forward to being part of this consultation process, to protect Darwin, its lifestyle, and what it stands for so that future generations can enjoy the same.
I welcome the $6m to develop new family-friendly parklands at Myilly Point, linked by a foreshore promenade from Nurses Walk to Mindil Beach. I am interested in being involved in that development and putting my suggestions about what part of history should be recognised, so that future generations can learn from the past and continue the great lifestyle that we enjoy.
I welcome the $1m for landscaping entry points to the city, where Daly Street and Tiger Brennan Drive intersect with McMinn Street. I look forward to construction of the wave lagoon at the waterfront, and I welcome earth works for residential and commercial developments now commencing and continuing into the future.
The concept of a pedestrian link between the waterfront and the mall is a fantastic idea. I welcome the 16 new initiatives outlined by the Chief Minister, including changes to the NT Planning Scheme to include CBD streetscapes and building design. I look forward to the implementation of the Darwin City Council’s streetscape strategy over the next five years. Planning has already commenced to create ribbons of green on the Darwin City Peninsula.
I look forward to the $250 000 scoping concept to design and look at different designs for the Defence of Darwin World War II Museum, which is a fantastic idea, and the $250 000 for the master plan for our civic heritage and community meeting space, a focal point between the CBD and the waterfront.
I joined the Labor Party and am part of this Northern Territory government because I am all about the development side of things - jobs, lifestyle, and Territorians working. There are going to be at least 1500 new apartments in the city centre such as the Saville, Pandanus, Evolution, at the Darwin waterfront and other developments and, as they are built, people are working and earning money and feeding their families. We are looking forward to people moving into the city area, but we need a plan for the future. This project, Creating Darwin’s Future, offers that.
We are seeing another 2300 new lots in places like Lyons, Muirhead and Bellamack. We know there is planning under way for Palmerston east, Weddell and residential in-fill sites. That is fantastic. We know there are continued discussions on major new gas-based manufacturing projects, including a helium plant, a condensate processing facility, and an extension of the LNG plant. I look forward to the development of a 60 ha Defence Force hub near Robertson Barracks, and the new classified goods facilities at Hidden Valley, where construction will commence at the end of 2007. The fantastic new shipping links with China and Indonesia have been established, and increased freight distribution through the East Arm port and Darwin Business Park is going to have unforeseen benefits for the Northern Territory.
There are a number of things I will recognise, quickly, in the short time I have to contribute. One is the many families I know who have been part of the history of the Northern Territory; I have no doubt their children will be also be part of the future: Hazelbane, Durack, Chin, Christopherson, Abala, Kemp, Sarib, Ludwig, Yee, Seller, Roe, Larkin, Geddes, Muir, Bonson, Cooper, Damaso, Lew Fatt, Stroud, Daby, Kantilla, Kennon, Smith, Ahmatt, Clarke, Austin, Dempsey, Nickels, Tye, Brimson, Jurek, Collins, Ravenswood, Sinclair, Conroy, Koulouriotis, Bowditch, Dunn-Sceney, Bannan, Parker, Wiese, Quinnell, McGufficke, Kelly, Sullivan, Baxter, Anderson, Halprin, McLean, Quinlan, Long, Peris, Voukolos, Cooper, Vowles, Dienelt, Hickman, Palazzi, Bates, Fong, and Owen. They, along with other well-known Territory families, have contributed to the Territory. To those I have not mentioned, you are in my thoughts and I hope that you participate in how your great city will look into the future.
I welcome every member’s contribution tonight. I believe the Chief Minister has undertaken a fabulous plan for really engaging the whole of the Territory. We are a government that governs for all. We are government that is interested in the history of the Territory, in particular in this project, Darwin’s present and future. We have a plan. It is about consultation, lifestyle, protecting family values, working on tourism, recognising our heritage, and developing Darwin in a way that we can enjoy through the ribbons of green, the planning of the world-class tropical city and the streetscape precincts.
Mr Deputy Speaker, like many of the members, I am disappointed but not surprised by the negative attitudes of the CLP to this great plan. I encourage them to participate and learn the history of Darwin and really get behind what this program is about and what this government is trying to achieve.
Mr HENDERSON (Leader of Government Business): Mr Deputy Speaker, I close debate on behalf of the Chief Minister as she is at the farewell service for Bishop Ted Collins, and the inauguration of the new Catholic Bishop of Darwin.
As Minister for Tourism, speaking in support of the Creating Darwin’s Future plan released by the Chief Minister yesterday lunchtime to a very large number of the Darwin business and investment community is a privilege because it is a fantastic plan - a plan that is going to lead to significantly improved outcomes for the tourism industry in the Northern Territory. It is not only great for tourism, but for Territorians because tourists spend money here and they create jobs for Territorians.
I had just been to a function upstairs for the ’07 Cruise Down Under Conference. It is a conference attended by representatives of all the major ship cruising companies who are either cruising in Australian waters or looking to visit Australian waters for the first time attend. There are 90 delegates from around the world and Australia. Many of them who have been here for the first time are absolutely blown away by our wonderful city. The excitement about Darwin as a cruising destination is going to continue to grow. This year, in 12 months, we will see 23 000 visitors to Darwin off cruise ships and 10 000 crew; all of those people spend money in our economy. They are very excited about the developments of the new waterfront - the new $4.5m cruising facility that is going to be at the waterfront development complementing the investment being driven by the private sector in spite of what the opposition tries to put about. That the waterfront is continuing to develop opportunities for increasing visitor numbers and the stay of visitor numbers through Creating Darwin’s Future is fantastic.
As I am closing debate on behalf of the Chief Minister, I want to comment on the Leader of the Opposition’s statement. She really did not comment very much on the initiatives in the statement. She did not take the opportunity. If she wanted to, she had the opportunity to portray her own vision on how to improve the city. Essentially, it was a trip down memory lane, looking back at history, going back to the CLP plan that was released in 1999. It was not a visionary, forward-looking contribution at all.
I accept that previous governments had plans for the development of Darwin. I am not going to say that previous governments did not do anything good. I have lived in the city for 24 years - more than half of my life now. I absolutely love the place; I would not live anywhere else. The city has evolved and grown. I believe it is a much better place in which to live than it was when I came in 1983. To go back to a Tim Baldwin document of 1999 and hold that up as the blueprint for the future is certainly neglecting what has happened here since 1999 and the way this city has evolved, grown, developed and, in tourism, is very much now getting on the map nationally and internationally.
She also went on, once again, to stick the boots into the waterfront development, being critical at every opportunity of the waterfront development and, then, right at the end said: ‘We we support it’. You cannot run that line, Leader of the Opposition, when it was not long ago - probably only four to six months ago - I remember some pretty scary television ads that included the Leader of the Opposition. I forgot what the issue was but, basically, it was pointing to some perceived failure on behalf of government. With the waterfront in the background and the Leader of the Opposition in the foreground looking down the barrel of the lens, she said something along the lines of ‘You cannot have extra police or extra teachers or nurses …’, or whatever it was. ‘… because the government is spending all of this money on the waterfront’. She has form. TV ads have been aired saying that we should not be spending money on the waterfront. She cannot speak out of both sides of her mouth and say she supports it on one hand, but consistently denigrates it and points to it as a waste of money on the other hand.
The line that the government is spending over $0.5bn on the waterfront is patently wrong. The Auditor-General, in his report, has totally refuted that claim. The overall cost to government over the life of the development is around $149m. What that has leveraged is a private sector investment of over $1.1bn, the creation of thousands of long-term sustainable jobs, and a convention centre which is going add to the attraction of the Northern Territory for many years to come. It goes to show that the Leader of the Opposition has absolutely no understanding of how budget works, or how the economy works, and she would be a dangerous Chief Minister to have her hands on the levers of the economy when she is so critical about an investment which has leveraged such a significant contribution from the private.
She also talked about height limits in the CBD and how it is so terrible we have tall buildings. I point out that there are many fabulous tropical cities around the world. You could take all of the major cities in Asia which are held up as fabulous tropical cities, and they all have tall buildings. If the market did not want tall buildings, developers would not build them. The issue is the planning regime around them, and the minister for Planning and Infrastructure talked about how we would better manage that into the future.
It is very disappointing the Leader of the Opposition does not have a vision for Darwin. The only vision she can point to is one which was trotted out in 1999. I wish she would stop being critical of the waterfront. If you talk to anybody who lives in Darwin they are all excited about it. There are probably over 1000 people directly employed by it, and the amount of business which is being generated for our private sector in the construction of the waterfront goes to show how far out of touch the CLP is with the business community of Darwin when they continue to bag it.
Speaking as Tourism Minister to the Chief Minister’s statement, the centrepiece of the plan, the World War II museum to commemorate the defence of Darwin, is a much-needed tourist attraction. It has long been identified as a point of difference for our capital city, and one which will increase travel and the length of stay. Early tourism research has indicated an increasing desire amongst visitors and local alike to know more about the bombing and defence of our capital city. We are seeing the rising popularity of military heritage, the increasing attendance at Bombing of Darwin commemorations and Anzac Day marches, not just in Darwin, but all over Australia. It is not just amongst older visitors, but also the young.
As Education minister, I see our World War II museum will be a focal point for visiting school groups which will come to Darwin specifically, as they go to Canberra to see our World War II museum. We will have generations of Australian children growing up with a better knowledge of what happened here, and the sacrifices made during World War II. We have a story to share with our visitors, and we are going to do that.
A new contemporary World War II museum for Darwin has the potential to become a major tourist attraction. I met recently with Major General Steve Gower, Director of the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, to get a better understanding of this market and how the Territory can take advantage of our position. I thank Major General Gower as he is very enthusiastic to work with us, whatever the government’s arrangements may be, and to share artifacts and collections held in Canberra regarding the bombing of Darwin. He spoke about possibly broadening the museum to tell the story of the role Darwin played in the Pacific theatre, particularly in East Timor, Ambon, and Papua New Guinea.
The terms of reference for the group which is going to be pulled together by the Chief Minister, to develop this theme and these concepts, can go on any number of different tangents. I am sure there will be a lot of interest around Australia in helping us get that right.
The tourism sector stands to benefit greatly from many of the initiatives under Creating Darwin’s Future. These will encourage longer stays and a better experience for our visitors. It is going to generate additional activity in the CBD, which will feed through to increased visitor nights in our hotels, increased opportunities in the hospitality sector, and increased discretionary expenditure in the retail sector.
The museum is going to be a fabulous asset in the tourism product stock. There has been a bit of debate about whether the museum should have gone out to East Point where the gun turrets are, but the majority of people to whom I have spoken have locked in that it is better in Darwin itself, complementing the things to do in our CBD. To have the museum next door to us at Parliament House, as a key feature in the new State Square vision, is going to present what happened here in the highest profile way to visitors to the city. This will meet demand for a facility that highlights and informs visitors and Territorians on the role that Darwin played in the war.
The natural consequence of low-cost carriers such as Tiger Airways, JetStar and Virgin Blue is that passengers will take more frequent and shorter trips to destinations, and with it, the demand by visitors for more things to see and do in Darwin. The conference and convention market will benefit greatly.
I have spoken about the opportunities that are coming our way with the increasing growth globally in the cruising market. Many of the people I met upstairs earlier this evening are significantly ordering new ships to put on the water to cater for the growing demand for a cruising holiday.
This is a significant investment in infrastructure, building on our investment in the waterfront development: the convention centre, more hotels, the new cruise ship terminal, and a fabulous wave lagoon, which is going to provide a wonderful recreational opportunity for Territory families, people from interstate and overseas.
As I said in my comments during Question Time earlier this week, Creating Darwin’s Future is not just about the future of Darwin; it is about the future of the Northern Territory because this is our capital city, one which all Territorians should rightly feel proud. They should have ownership of the city because virtually all Territorians visit Darwin at least once, and many on a regular basis. We are building, with the business community and private sector, a better Darwin for our future. Given that it is our capital city, it is the major centre of business activity. With growth in the economy and increasing confidence to invest here, that bodes well for our revenue capacity which enables us to deliver better services for all Territorians, no matter where they live.
As Minister for Tourism, this is a fantastic initiative. I look forward to playing my part in our government’s roll-out of this plan. I congratulate the Chief Minister on her statement.
Motion agreed to; statement noted.
GENERAL BUSINESS DAY
Nomination
Nomination
Mr HENDERSON (Leader of Government Business): Mr Acting Deputy Speaker, on behalf of the Chief Minister, I move that so much of standing orders be suspended as would prevent Wednesday, 10 October 2007, as the next day on which precedence will be given to General Business.
General Business Day falls due on the Tuesday but, Tuesday being the first day of a two-week sitting of the Assembly, would make it difficult for members to give notice of business. They would have to do so tomorrow. As Leader of Government Business, I have acceded to members’ requests to nominate Wednesday.
Motion agreed to.
DISCHARGE OF BUSINESS
Notice Paper No 10
Notice Paper No 10
Mr HENDERSON (Leader of Government Business): Mr Acting Deputy Speaker, I move that Government Business Order of the Day relating to the Assembly taking note of the report of the Inquiry into the Protection of Aboriginal Children From Sexual Abuse be discharged as the Chief Minister has included this in a major ministerial statement that has been completed earlier this day.
Motion agreed to.
ADJOURNMENT
Mr STIRLING (Treasurer): Mr Acting Deputy Speaker, I move that the Assembly do now adjourn.
A large crowd witnessed a great and tough fought GAFL grand final on Saturday between Nhulunbuy team Saints and Yirrkala-based team Baywara. The Saints kept coming all day, but Baywara, under their captain and the local league best and fairest, Daniel Bromot, went on to win the flag. It was a pretty close contest, although they did lead all day in just their first year in the competition, so it is a huge effort for Baywara to knock off the premiership in their very first year.
I congratulate and give thanks to Gove Australian Football League President, Des O’Sullivan. Des does a tireless job. His love of the game and the way he works with the game is Sheedy-like in his respect and love for it ...
Mr Kiely: Big wrap.
Mr STIRLING: It is a big wrap, but that is the sort of work that Des and his committee put in. I congratulate them for another great year.
I also want to thank Vibe Australia 3 on 3, particularly Claude Williams, who was the coach of Sydney Kings; Dwayne Cross, a champion basketballer in his own right; dance champion, Isaac; and the whole team for bringing 3 on 3 back to Yirrkala. It is their third visit to Yirrkala. They have been going for eight years now. They carry very important drug-free and healthy lifestyle messages, but they are contained within a quite dazzling array of basketball skills, physical skills, dance, and music. It really actively engages the young people over the two days, and I look forward to their next visit.
What this young dance champion, Isaac, could do with his body was just amazing. Of course, the local Yolngu youth have very much of that innate lithe ability to physically express themselves in dance amazingly well - a cross between dance and athletics. Isaac’s view was that many of them should be at AIS now, so we look forward to them coming back.
In July, my son, Scott, came to Gove in his Toyota Kluger, with his fianc and her parents. On the way back, he was carrying one spare and he did that. He did his second spare just past the intersection between Mainoru Station on the Central Arnhem Road, probably some 80 km past Bulman, I would think. He went back to the Mainoru Service Station with the two tyres, but they were unable to help him. They suggested he keep going back to Bulman, so he left his fianc and parents in the car. I received a phone call about 4 pm. By then, he was back in Bulman, and a guy from Gove had picked him up and taken him back there.
I want to put on the record what these people, Dirk Swagerman and his wife Joy, and Gavin Bell, who is the Essential Services Officer at Bulman, did because it is the traditional and typical, old-style Territory hospitality that travellers in trouble really need that they expressed on this occasion. Scott rang me about 4 pm, as I said, and I was able to purchase the tyres required in Gove by about 5 pm. However, there was little point in hitting the track then, as it is probably a six-hour run down there from Gove. To get there in the middle of the night was not going to be much use to anybody. Dirk took Scott the 85 km back to his vehicle, which was, of course, jacked up on the side of the road, brought his fianc, family and everything they had in the vehicle back to Bulman, put them up in the unit underneath his place, and treated them to a barbecue and a couple of beers. That is just exceptional hospitality, and I thank Dirk and really appreciate his efforts.
The next morning, we got there about 7.45 am, and it was Gavin Bell’s last day at work. He was leaving for Perth that afternoon. He is the Essential Services Officer there, but he carries two trades. I think he was a carpenter and he might have been a plumber as well. I have to say he is no mean hand in a bush workshop with a couple of tyres. Of course, both valve inserts had been lost. They had already searched the community for any tyres that might fit this Kluger. They are unique - and these are things that happen in the bush – with a wheel fitting that no other tyre would go on and no rim would fit that particular type of vehicle. However, Gavin got these tyres back on. As shoddy as that workshop looked, he could probably rebuild a V8 engine, given this bloke’s skill.
Between Dirk and Gavin, they got the tyres right and they took Scott and family back to the vehicle. They put the tyres on and drove carefully back into Katherine and had those tyres checked before they went on the road back to Darwin. They really went out of their way for a young couple, and Asha’s parents, who were in strife. You are a long way from nowhere when you are just past the Mainoru Station intersection. They were probably about 30 km from Mainoru Station, and there is probably 35 km, 45 km on to Mountain Valley the other way. As I said, it is a long way back to Bulman, and an awful long way to Beswick. Thank you to those people. They are outstanding folk who, when you are in strife and you need someone, are the sort of people you want to run into to: Dirk and Joy Swagerman and Gavin Bell.
I express condolences to the family and friends of Jack Larcombe OAM, who passed away recently after a long battle with illness. Jack was the very first head of Correctional Services in the Territory and the Deputy Secretary of the then Department of Community Development. By all accounts, he was very innovative; a forward thinker and extremely well regarded by colleagues and officers under his charge. He understood local conditions and situations. He was always up for laugh.
I welcomed the group of new graduates into the Northern Territory Correctional Services just last Friday and I hope that they can carry on the sort of good work that Jack had inspired in everyone he worked with.
He was heavily involved in the NTFL. He was a life member of the St Mary’s Football Club. He was a great sportsman himself. He played professional football in Western Australia, cricket in India during the war, and Rugby as well. On top of Jack’s valiant service during the World War II, and receiving numerous decorations during his time in uniform, he did lead the way for Territory Correctional Services in those very early days. I thank him, on behalf of the department, the governments then and over time, for his service to the Territory community. He will be missed.
Mrs MILLER (Katherine): It is all right, member for Braitling, I will not be very long.
Mr Acting Deputy Speaker, I want to talk tonight about a lady from Katherine called Christine Clarence. Christine has been undertaking some remarkable expeditions in the last couple of years. Her reasons and motivations for undertaking these were just to show that women over 50 years of age are perfectly capable of doing and achieving whatever they want to achieve. Christine is over 50 and lives in the tropics, of course, in Katherine, which is not really the ideal background of a mountain climber. She certainly believes in challenging herself, and to be a good role model for other Territorian women, particularly those over 50. She said: ‘We can do it’.
Over the last couple of years, from February to March in 2006, Christine was a volunteer at the annual Iditarod Dog Sled Race in Anchorage, Alaska. She was assistant to the race starter, so helped out at the start line and met all the competitors and their dogs. After assisting in the days before the race and at the start of the race, she spent five weeks dog sledding and cross-country skiing in Alaska and the Yukon. That is quite some feat for somebody who lives in the tropics to attempt such a wonderful expedition.
From January to April 2007, she was seconded to the United Nations (UNICEF) to work in Nepal. She was working with the Maoist Army on reunification and reintegration of child soldiers with their families and communities. She found that very interesting and rewarding work, she said, ‘when it all went to plan’.
In July 2007, Christine joined the expedition team for the first Australian ascent of Chamser Kangri, a 6622 m mountain in the Ladakh area of the Himalayas. This mountain had not been climbed by any European team and has now been taken off the Mountaineering Federation climbing list as it is logistically difficult to access and support expeditions. Therefore, it will remain unclimbed for the foreseeable future. Christine found it very hard physically, and emotionally to some degree, as working at altitude for weeks on end is very draining on all your resources. She successfully reached the summit on Saturday, 28 July, at 12.25 local time. The summit day was 10 hours of very hard work with a seemingly endless 500 m near-vertical scree wall. It took five hours to climb that 500 m wall. However, when she reached the top, she was very proud - the first Territorian to have achieved it. She took photos taken with the Northern Territory flag which was given to her by minister Vatskalis and said it is now proudly flying from the cairn on the summit at 6622 m. As I said, one of her main motivations for undertaking that was to say: ‘You can’. And she did.
From September 2007 until April 2008, Christine has been asked to return to Nepal with UNICEF, to continue the work she was undertaking earlier in the year with the Maoist Army and reintegration of child soldiers.
Quite an absolute turnaround of career changes for Christine. She is inspired by both of those challenges, first of all the dog sledding and then climbing a mountain in Nepal. I congratulate her. Yes, she has shown us that anybody of any age, if you have the will and the determination, can do it. I wish Christine all the best and I know that her adventures have only just begun. She has had a good taste of it now and I wish her all the very best.
Ms SACILOTTO (Port Darwin): Mr Acting Deputy Speaker, important things are happening around Port Darwin. The exciting announcements by the Chief Minister in relation to Creating Darwin’s Future, a tropical harbour city, mainly focus around the Port Darwin electorate, including the World War II museum, the State Square precinct revamp, the ribbon of green around the city, and the $6m dedicated for the Myilly Point headlands. These are all great. I cannot wait for the waterfront project and the wave pool. I have heard those investors who have pre-purchased property at the wharf have already made money on their investment, even before the foundations have been laid. The convention centre is going to be great with conferences already starting to mount up and interest strong for more bookings. Malu Barrios, the convention centre manager, is doing a remarkable job promoting the new jewel in Darwin’s crown.
The $19.5m middle school being built at Bullocky Point is zooming ahead. I am very proud to say that the Larrakeyah Primary School Council is largely responsible for the concept of an education hub on this picturesque spot. The contractors, Halikos Brothers, and all of the contractors are doing a great job and should be congratulated. I commend the work of the interim school council and the principal, Mr Marcus Dixon, who are all working very hard to ensure that the school is ready for our kids to walk into on the first day of school, Term I, 2008.
Along with the commitment of $19.5m for the middle school, there is also a $4.33m complementary roads project being committed to this learning precinct. The works are under way. I add that the motorists using this area have been very patient and are working around the area well. I have had one comment from a constituent, a mum of a girl in grade 6 who will attend the middle school next year. She said: ‘It has to be done. It is a bit of a pain, but it will make it safer at the end for our kids’. I have to agree.
I am very pleased that, as a government, we are not doing a half-hearted job. We have thought about and are delivering the whole package, not just the wrapping. The CLP Opposition Leader issued a media release on 22 July saying they were disappointed with the new roads project and another swag of great initiatives by this government. I love Darwin and my constituents have nothing but praise for this important project - both the new $19.5m middle school and the complementary and essential road safety project.
There is much happening in areas other than the city in my electorate. Tipperary Waters shopping precinct has a newly opened shop called The Chook Shed. I wish them well. They are doing a roaring trade so far, and I am proud to say it has brightened up the shopping centre. I am waiting for a coffee shop because I like to walk around and have a coffee. If there are any people out there who would like to open a coffee shop, that would be a great spot. It is a vibrant little shopping precinct. I commend the hard work of Carol and George Valles and all of their staff from Best Foods supermarket. They do a great job and a roaring little trade down there, mainly due to personalised customer service. They are always there with a smile and a friendly greeting every morning when you pop in to grab your iced coffee, mocha or newspaper - whatever you grab in the morning. They are always very friendly and welcoming.
I also thank Warren Allen, a brave man who was my dance partner at Portrait of a Senior Territorian recently. He had a tough job, as I had never danced before and being at the end of the line when poise and grace were given out, it was a tricky job. Warren did well and has graciously offered to teach me more, which I certainly need.
There was a great turnout. I acknowledge my good friend who was the subject of a portrait, Mrs Mena Nicolakis, and her husband, Con Nicolakis. Mena has been like a second mother to me and I have known her since I was a young girl. Mena is a long-term Darwin resident from a Greek background. She has a very vibrant personality and anyone who has met her will remember it fondly. Her heart is as big as her laugh or her smile. She has two daughters, Libby and Eftimia, who are a fantastic testament to their parents.
Last Saturday was the Darwin National Seniors Race Day at Fannie Bay Racecourse. This is the third annual race day I have attended and the third that National Seniors have organised. I was a bit concerned that we might not have any horses because, of the two previous race meetings, we only had horses at one. It would have been unfortunate to have had three race meetings and only had runners in one of the meetings.
It was a great day. There were many supporters there. National Seniors do a fantastic job in the Territory, and I thank Mr Cyril Young, or Young Cyril as he likes to be known, and Mrs Pauline Young for their hard work for National Seniors and making sure it was a fantastic day. Cyril does not sit still; he races around and is such a hard worker for National Seniors and other organisations. He is a true gem and a blessing for our community and, in particular, for National Seniors. The seniors there had a great time, some of whom had never been to the races, so it was a good experience for them. We had a lovely lunch.
Cyril organised much of the sponsorship for the day. One sponsor was Trevor Tschirpig from Tschirpig Conveyancing, which has been a sponsor for the last three years. They are enthusiastic and ensure that they come along and support the day as well as providing financial support.
I will make mention of some of the other sponsors. I would like to mention the rest of them in another adjournment during the week. I thank Fernwood, and FreeSpirit Resort. George is a fantastic supporter of the National Seniors. He supported with raffle prizes and his attendance. There is also Bunnings. There were a lot of prizes donated. I donated a small prize myself, because it is such a good job they do, and I am more than happy to support them in any way.
It is one of the events that Cyril and Pauline, on behalf of National Seniors, organise. Some of the other events have been the Christmas in July event, which was a bit strange, walking around the city with a Christmas hat on in the middle of July. We had a great time; we sang Australiana Christmas carols and it was a fantastic night. They had a cordoned-off area at the Mindil Beach markets - not last Sunday, but the previous two Sundays in a row - that was a dedicated area with a gold coin donation towards National Seniors. There were many seniors from interstate who sat with us, and many Territorians as well. It was nice to sit down and have a bit of a chat with people. I thoroughly enjoyed that day at the markets.
Those people at National Seniors really need some recognition and some assistance. I know that National Seniors are looking for some more sponsors for next year’s race day. It is a great opportunity for businesses to get behind senior Territorians who have so much to offer the Territory and, most certainly, are vital contributors to our Northern Territory economy. I urge any businesses out there that would like to sponsor the race day to contact Mr Cyril Young and offer their pledge of support.
I would like to reiterate how excited I am, particularly being the member for Port Darwin, about these recent announcements by our Chief Minister in relation to Creating Darwin’s Future. I believe it is going to be a fantastic positive for our already vibrant and growing area.
Mrs BRAHAM (Braitling): Mr Acting Deputy Speaker, I cannot believe it, but Larapinta Primary School is celebrating their 10th birthday on Friday. I cannot believe that it was 10 years ago we opened that school. It is going to be a great day of celebration for the primary school. It is very much a community-based school. It has a lot of interaction with the Desert Park, which is quite close to it, as well as many of the community groups. All the classrooms are going to take part in a big assembly, welcoming the visitors. The school band and choir will entertain, and there will be the usual speeches from the principal, the school council chairman and representatives from DEET.
There is going to be a special presentation to the inaugural principal, Ellen Varley, who has returned to Alice Springs for the occasion. Ellen Varley is remembered with great fondness by the community of Larapinta because she was a very experienced teacher who opened the school in 1997 and really wanted to make that school convey a culture of caring for the children.
The school had an initial enrolment of 210 students, but has grown steadily and the numbers have gone up and down. Now, there are around 300 students from preschool to Year 6. I imagine that number is going to increase again with the opening of the next stage of the Larapinta subdivision. I guess the school will be affected by that, when many young families, hopefully, move in.
The principal, Stewart Moyses said the celebrations will reflect the participation and importance the school has on community values. The school is very much now part of the Larapinta and the broader Alice Springs community. Its strengths lie in the professionalism and stability of the school staff - and that is great, that so many of the staff have been there for so long - and the very strong and supportive school council, which has always been totally committed to the welfare of all its students. Mr Moyses said the school council had helped to create an environment where all families are valued, and the focus is on the individual needs of students as well as the needs of the whole school body.
The success of the school is underpinned by a culture of respect for one another and acceptance of the differing needs of families which make up our school community. Their slogan is: ‘Larapinta Primary - Every Child a Success’, and that is what they try to achieve.
It has taken on a number of significant roles in its short history. In 2003, it was identified as one of the Northern Territory’s Lighthouse Schools in the Southern Region, and the two-year project cemented Larapinta’s reputation as a school which used the benefit of technology as an important resource for teachers. The school still upholds that model of teaching and learning practices, using information communication technology as a vehicle for whole school and systemic change. Recent additions to all the classrooms from Transition to Year 4 are interactive whiteboards, which offer teachers and students a level of teaching interactivity and engagement never before available – and something I have to admit is well beyond what I ever used. Mine was mainly chalk and talk.
A major undertaking this year for staff has been the responsibility of being one of the 10 DEET schools across the Territory to be designated as a teaching school. This is a great program and the minister should be proud of it. A significant partnership with Charles Darwin University sees pre-service teachers spending one day a week throughout the year at a school. The internship, if you want to call it that, has great benefits for the students and recognises the commitment and quality of teaching staff. Larapinta is pleased with the role and responsibility it has in not only teaching children, but also in training the teachers of tomorrow. That sort of internship teaches young students to teach. It is one of the best forms of hands-on training you can get.
Congratulations to Larapinta Primary School. It is a school which has established a high reputation amongst parents and the community, and the staff are so genuine in their approach. Stewart Moyses can be justly proud of what they have achieved in their 10 years, along with Ellen Varley, the previous principal. I wish them all the best for their 10th birthday.
I want to comment about 8CCC, which is our community FM radio. It has been seeking funding from the minister for some time. I want to give some background on it, and if any members of government who are in the House who could give their support to 8CCC, it would be appreciated.
It initially commenced broadcasting in 1981 from the ANZAC Hill High School. It was relocated to the campus of the Centralian College, with the college as the broadcast licence holder. Transmission from Tennant Creek - and the member for Barkly is interested in this - began in the 1990s. After the merger of Centralian College and Charles Darwin University in 2004, the broadcast licence held by Centralian College was no longer valid, and the Australian Communications and Media Authority advertised nationally for suitable applicants for a permanent licence.
They have since issued a temporary broadcast licence to 8CCC; however, this expires in November 2007. Their deliberations will hinge upon the economic viability of the station, of which Northern Territory government support is a vital component. Unfortunately, after protracted negotiations with CDU proved fruitless, it was no longer tenable for them to operate from the new campus, mainly due to some unrealistic and restrictive conditions placed on them by the university. Therefore, they vacated those premises in December 2005 and, for the past 12 months, have had to fully fund their operation. This is no easy task for a community radio.
It provides great benefits to the community. For instance, it provides a complete broadcast to Tennant Creek and Alice Springs of the Question Time of this parliament. No other station does that through Central Australia, so it is a valuable way of people hearing what is going on in their parliament. It also offers a valuable service to government and the public. They provide multilingual broadcasts of news and music, which specifically target Latin American, French, Spanish, Filipino, and Maori groups. Research shows they are the major language groups in Central Australia, along with the Aboriginal components.
They have forged partnerships with several other volunteer organisations, and they include the production and broadcast of information packages for organisations such as the National Association for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect, Hepatitis C Awareness Week promotions, and support for community fundraising activities such as the tsunami appeal.
In August 2006, 8CCC won the National Australia Bank Best Volunteer Organisation for the Northern Territory. This award judges the effective management, training and development of volunteers of an organisation, and 8CCC can be justly proud of achieving that. They went on to win the National Best Volunteer Organisation which also carried a nice prize of $10 000 for them.
The support for this station is extremely high in Alice Springs. Community radio in the NT averages a listener-ship of over 40% which is the highest in Australia. 8CCC have approximately 190 registered volunteers and supporters. All the supporters pay an annual membership and the level of community support is approximately about 1% of the entire population, so it demonstrates the commitment of the local community to the station. Of these 190 registered supporters, approximately 100 provide volunteer service from announcing on some of the programs down to even cleaning. The station manager estimates the value of these services at about $90 000 per year if you cost them about $15 an hour but, of course, they are volunteers so that is an in-kind cost.
There are many costs associated with running a program such as this. The station’s income from sponsorship, membership, and grants is approximately $24 000 a year. It is hoping that they can increase that over the next 12 months. At the moment, they are seeking funding from the Northern Territory government of $65 000 per year for the next three years, just so they will have stability. That is not a lot of money to keep a community radio such as 8CCC going. I call on the government to provide that funding so that we do not see the demise of this particular station. It is community access to broadcasting at the local level. They have an excellent support base. It provides services to government and the community at large, and it includes the promotion of activities and events that the mainstream radio stations may not want to even bother about.
We see mass media ownership and control falling into the hands of a few players in Australia so it is really important that there is an independent local media that hears what the community wants and says it. It is even more important that Central Australia maintains its social identity and there is community input into a radio station. 8CCC has a long and proud history of doing just that. With the Northern Territory government giving financial support and assistance, it can carry on in years to come; without that support it will struggle to stay open.
I say to the minister, it is not just for Alice Springs, it is for Central Australia and Tennant Creek. It is really important that you get behind 8CCC and let them know where they stand. Their funding does run out in November. If they are to plan ahead, they need to know they are going to get some funding from the government; remembering that they do a lot of self-funding. However, a small station like that in a town of 26 000 people needs the support of this government, and I urge the government to do so.
Ms SCRYMGOUR (Arafura): Mr Acting Deputy Speaker, I will speak in my adjournment about an important Territorian and someone I have known since a little child growing up in The Narrows. I quote from his eulogy:
- Mick Ivory was born in Townsville in 1926. His father, William, worked as a stockman and later as a labourer. His mother, Violet, had a small ice-cream shop at the front of the house where the family lived. Mick had three sisters, Jessie, Mary and Joan.
As a youth, Mick began an apprenticeship as a projectionist at the picture theatre in Townsville. He often rode his pushbike to work without lights because at the time there were restrictions due to the threat of Japanese night attacks. Mick attended the Townsville Grammar School.
He later joined the Royal Australian Air Force as a wireless air gunner, reaching the rank of Sergeant. He trained in Canada, occasionally visiting the United States. The trips to and from Australia to Canada were precarious due to enemy attack, and the ship they were on had to travel a southerly course. In 1944, his air squadron was transferred back to Australia, where they operated in the Pacific region.
When World War II finished, Mick joined the Royal Australian Navy and trained as a radio technician, eventually reaching the rank of Chief Petty Officer. He trained at the University of South Australia and later at HMAS Watson in Sydney. He then went to sea.
In 1951, Mick met Audrey (through his sister, Mary, who was Audrey’s fellow nursing sister), and they married in 1951. Mick and Audrey had a son, Bill, in 1953. It was in 1953, while stationed at HMAS Belconnen in Canberra, that Mick visited Darwin for the first time. He then served on HMAS Swan, eventually deciding that he had spent enough time away from his family, and sought a discharge. A daughter, Toni, was born in 1955.
Mick then applied for and gained a job with the Northern Territory Administration Welfare Branch in 1957. Another son, Peter, was born in Darwin in 1959, and the family lived in Clancy Street, Parap. During this time, Mick also worked as a projectionist at the old Star Theatre in Darwin.
- Mick was accepted as a Patrol Officer in Training in 1960 and commenced training at the Australian School of Pacific Administration in Sydney. Mick studied various subjects, including law and anthropology. His anthropology Lecturer was the eminent Professor Elkin. Patrol Officers were responsible for Aboriginal welfare in all parts of the Northern Territory. The training at ASOPA lasted 12 months and, on return, Mick and his family were transferred to Maningrida …
In my electorate:
- … in Arnhem Land. Life at Maningrida was fairly basic and very isolated. It was a settlement that had only been established for four years. There were a number of tribal groups all living in the same area, and disputes were frequent. Many of the people in those days had leprosy, then known as Hanson’s disease.
One of the highlights for Mick during the days at Maningrida was when the Kaprys, a pearling lugger captained by the late Curly Bell, would drop off supplies at the settlement. Mick would often spend considerable time with Curly on the boat, discussing the state of play and having several drinks as Aboriginal men paddling canoes ferried supplies ashore.
- Mick was mentioned in David Attenborough’s book, Quest Under Capricorn, published in 1963, for his exploits in the Maningrida region. Attenborough wrote about one particular altercation when Mick’s ‘intervention looked a hazardous act, and one carried out with extreme coolness and total authority’. Mick later admitted in an interview that, on many occasions, despite his cool outward demeanour, he was actually petrified! Maningrida people, 30 years on, still often ask about Mick, or ‘Mick-ibry’, as they call him.
- In 1963, the family returned to Darwin, living at Bagot, where Natalie was born in 1964. Mick recalled that, because a lot of Aboriginal people living at Bagot faithfully worked for the Army during the war, they were invited to join the CMF. However, when the authorities found out that they were not citizens, they were discharged! He always believed this to be very unfair.
- Mick managed Essington House for youths at Myilly Point in Darwin for some time. Even years after the event, in Alice Springs, boys he used to look after would drop around for a yarn. He treated them with respect, and some of these relationships were lifelong.
In 1966, Mick began work in the Katherine area as the District Welfare Officer. He began a close working relationship with the Gurindji people and others from the Victoria River District who, at this time, had walked off Wave Hill Station. He gained a considerable reputation in the area, including with the station owners and managers. Mick worked in this region for three years before transferring to duties in the wider Darwin region.
- Mick returned to his younger days of bike racing during the late 1960s and early 1970s. He was the President of the Darwin Amateur Cycling Club and was instrumental in establishing the Darwin Velodrome. He was a lifelong, very vocal supporter of the Wanderers Football Club and was, at one stage, its President.
- In 1974, Cyclone Tracy hit Darwin, and Mick and his family were living in Narrows Road. They sheltered the night under some mattresses while the storm raged. Three-quarters of the house was demolished and everyone sheltered in the school down the road until Audrey and the kids were evacuated. He only had intermittent contact with them for the next three months. During this time, Mick went back to work in the office in town. When his son, Bill, arrived from Alice Springs, Mick was mowing both his lawn and the neighbour’s, seemingly oblivious to the fact that his house had been almost demolished.
- Some time after, Mick and family were transferred to Alice Springs where he and Audrey stayed until 2006. Mick worked as a senior official for the Department of Aboriginal Affairs in Alice Springs and made many friends during these times. He barracked for the Pioneers Australian Rules Club, the team that his son, Bill, and good friend and work colleague, Neville Jones, had played for during the 1970s.
- There are many ‘Mick’ stories, including the time he decided, with his son-in-law, Neil, to install a heavy garage roller door at the house on Van Senden Avenue. The door came adrift halfway through the exercise and chased him down the drive.
- Mick was the bane of the Alice Springs Council when he later retired. He advocated for a vacant block in the area to be made into a park and, during the initial stages, began working on it and clearing it himself. The park stands there today.
- Mick became ill in late 2006, and it was then that Audrey and the family shifted him to Brisbane to the Beth Eden Nursing Home. He passed away in Princess Alexandra Hospital in August 2007.
Mick can best be described as a larger-than-life character who had no problems with grabbing a bull by the horns. He loved a good argument and he was often loud and gregarious. He had a good sense of humour but a dark temper when upset. He loved sport, especially cricket, Australian Rules football and Rugby. He was a hard-working person who loved a challenge. He always helped the battler who helped themselves, and had a particular affiliation and respect for many Aboriginal people with whom he worked for over 40 years.
- Mick will be fondly remembered by his family and many of the people he worked with and came into contact with.
Mick is survived by his loving wife, Audrey and sons and daughters. My condolences go out to his wife, Audrey and all his sons and daughters, in particular, Bill …
Whom I have known for a long time:
- … Toni, Peter …
Who runs Madigans Restaurant at the Desert Park in Alice Springs:
- … and Nat and their families, as well as his 12 grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren …
Who are spread all over Australia. There are some in Brisbane, Port Macquarie, Canberra, Darwin and Alice Springs. My condolences to them. Farewell, Mick Ivory.
Mr MILLS (Blain): Mr Acting Deputy Speaker, tonight I continue some comments with regards to Taiwan. However, prior to doing so, I would like to advise the House of significant achievements of two sporting teams in the Northern Territory - quite outstanding achievements at the Australian Secondary Schools Rugby League Under 15 Championships in Adelaide 2007. The Rugby League representative calendar for 2007 is one that both Rugby League, the Northern Territory and all participants can feel immensely proud of.
Both the Under 15 and Under 18 representative teams made the trek interstate to compete against the best and came away with the spoils of victory, undefeated. That does not often happen in the Northern Territory where those who represent the Territory come away with such a result.
A report on the Under 15 team: they competed in the Australian Secondary Schools Rugby League Under 15 Championships in Adelaide, and they were a part of the sporting program within School Sport NT. Players were selected from the school system and will also play their respective Rugby League clubs in Darwin, Katherine and Alice Springs. They had trial matches in Gove in April, where teams from all across the Territory ventured to represent their teams and attract the eye of the NT selectors. With so much talent and ability within the playing ranks, the selectors’ role becomes difficult in selecting players whom they believe are capable of facing the opposing states, and it is a great position for the league to be in.
Once those selections were announced, the NT team went into a training camp at Richardson Park for three days under the watchful eye of coach, Brett Holmes. Brett also coached the team in 2006 and, with the team, achieved the team’s written goal of being placed second, which they did. Brett is a man who is well respected by players, and has the full support and admiration of their parents. He is a part-time school teacher, and also a fireman. He and his wife are permanent residents of Darwin, and live in Palmerston. They are currently undertaking to adopt a child from overseas. Brett is a great asset to Rugby League, and is a qualified coach. He has won the respect and support of Rugby League officials at a high level, who have identified his skills and ability and his manner with young players in all areas of the game. The team’s written goal was to win the Pool B championship.
At the conclusion of the training camp, all Northern Territory players attended an official function at Darwin Rugby League Club where they were presented with their playing jumpers for the forthcoming championships. Parents were in attendance to see their sons accept their highest sporting achievement to date. All players were photographed as a group, with the Northern Territory flag proudly displayed by the team captain, Bradley Hansen, and other team members. The Northern Territory ochre jumper is one that is respected by opposing interstate teams, and the players wear with pride.
Northern Territory Rugby League made a cash contribution of $6000 to the team, along with the supply of the complete playing strip, which was purchased in Darwin as a means of supporting the local economy. The contribution was made by the players by means of a levy.
The Northern Territory Under 15 team results in Adelaide were as follows: Game 1 - Northern Territory 26 versus Western Australia 10; Game 2 - Northern Territory 26 versus Victoria 6; and Game 3 - Northern Territory 28 versus South Australia zero. The final was Northern Territory 22 versus Western Australia zero. Player of the Pool B Championship was No 7, Sam Irwin from Darwin High School. The Northern Territory won the John Allen Trophy for the third time, (1998 and 2000), and were also joint winners with Western Australia in 2001.
The NTRL Under 15 team which competed in the national championship in Adelaide in June swept all before them. They were an absolute credit to themselves, and great ambassadors both on and off the field. Society in this day and age offers many options to young people in how to use their time. We were delighted that a team of young men have chosen Rugby League as their sport, and elected to participate in something which has the potential to offer greater opportunities in the game at a higher level.
Seven Northern Territory players were selected for the Australian Affiliated States Merit team. This is the first time in history that such a number from the Northern Territory, at any one time, have won selection together and earned a national jumper. Those players were: Kruise Nicholls, Dripstone High School; Matt Bennett, Kormilda College; Sam Irwin, Darwin High School; Ben Tonkin, Dripstone High School; Bradley Hansen, Darwin High School; and Reece Coleman, Taminmin High School. Four Northern Territory players have been targeted by East’s Rugby League Club in Brisbane with formal proposals, and they are the feeder clubs for South’s in the NRL competition. It is great to know Territorians have been recognised at such a high level. In 2008, the Northern Territory will defend the trophy at the championship to be played in Brisbane. The Northern Territory team can be proud of their achievement.
However, that is not all. The Under 18s ventured interstate as well. The NTRL Secondary Schools competition was held in Townsville from 7 to 14 July. I have a list of players and officials which I seek leave to have incorporated in to the Parliamentary Record rather than read it out.
Leave granted.
NTU Under 18 Rugby League Team:
1. Sean Rich, Nightcliff RLFC (Darwin)
2. Jerome Lacco, University RLFC (Darwin)
3. Keith Dowling, Palmerston RLFC (Darwin)
4. Eric Warria, Central Memorial RLFC (Alice Springs)
5. Gavin Brown, Litchfield RLFC (Darwin)
6. Jac Ralph, Litchfield RLFC (Darwin)
7. Daniel Good, Brothers RLFC (Darwin)
8. Jason Tomes, Litchfield RLFC (Darwin)
9. Bryce Richards, Litchfield RLFC (Darwin)
10. Jim Sullivan, Central Memorial RLFC (Alice Springs)
11. Jeromie Edwards, Palmerston RLFC (Darwin)
12. Tyler Malone, Palmerston RLFC (Darwin)
13. Tom Turnball, Central Memorial RLFC (Alice Springs)
14. Willie May, Nightcliff RLFC (Darwin)
15. Sean Shanahan, Litchfield RLFC (Darwin)
16. Rhys Booth, Wests Tigers (Katherine JRL)
17. John O’Donohoe, Wests RLFC (Alice Springs)
18. Jason Gebbert, Palmerston RLFC (Darwin)
19. Arlo Fry, Wests Tigers (Katherine JRL)
20. Matthew Johnson, Palmerston RLFC (Darwin)
- Officials:
Team Coach, Michael Rawiri
Team Manager, John Adams
Sports Trainer, Mark Nolen
Runner/Strapper, Warren Collits
ASSRL NT Delegate, Alice McDonald
Mr MILLS: Thank you. The NTRL Under 18 representative team is a sporting team which can be proud of their feats both on and off the sporting field in 2007. They compete annually in the Australian Secondary Schools Rugby League National Championships against opposing affiliated state teams. It was a pleasure to see them off at the airport. I just happened to be there to see these young men whom I have seen as young lads around town, all geared up with their Territory gear, go off into battle to Queensland. They were in Pool B, and the championships are played at different venues across Australia each year. This year, the championships were played in Townsville, North Queensland.
The appointed Under 18 coach is Michael Rawiri, who is the Rugby League head coach at the Northern Territory Institute of Sport. Michael is in his second four-year term as the NTIS Rugby League coach, and his background is New Zealand Rugby League.
The players were selected from Darwin, Katherine, and Alice Springs, and were watched by a team of selectors after trial matches were played in Darwin. The NT Rugby League incorporates support of the team by providing the entire playing strip, training gear, dress gear, along with the travel and accommodation in full. This was very costly exercise, as many parents in the Territory will know. The children selected made a contribution as well. Like the Under 15s, they made a player contribution of $900 to assist with this expenditure. They appreciated the support they received from their families, and off they went to represent the Territory.
They were accommodated at James Cook University in Townsville and all players and officials were treated to their own rooms. Player welfare is extremely important, and the team was assisted by a strong management team which accompanied the team during the championships.
The results speak for themselves: Game 1 - NT 30, Victoria 8; Game 2 - NT 52 West Australia 14; Game 3 - NT 50, South Australia 12; and Championship Final - NT 34, Victoria 6. The NT was awarded the Sam Davey Trophy as ASSRL Pool B Champions 2007. The player of the finals was Eric Warria from Alice Springs. Eric has since been selected to join Cairns Rugby League as they move towards playing in the Wizard Queensland Cup. Player of the Championship was Jac Ralph from Litchfield Rugby League Football Club. Jac was team captain, who led by example with a great boot. All his kicking feats were superb. He is an inspirational leader in all departments. He is now playing A Grade with the Litchfield Bears in the Darwin Rugby League competition.
This is the second time in three years that NT have one Pool B championships. The trophy first came to Darwin after NT won the final played in Wagga in 2005, again undefeated.
In the Under 18 team, Man of the Match awards were given to three Palmerston Raiders players: Tyler Malone, Jeromie Edwards and Mathew Johnson. That is an extraordinary event for those to be given Man of the Match, but also all coming from the Territory Palmerston Raiders Club. All these were only 15-years-olds competing at the Under 18 year levels. That adds even more to their significant achievement. It was a convincing display of talent that otherwise might be untapped and wasted if it was not for sport. I commend all those who were involved. It is just a shame that we do not have ticker-tape parades and parties here at Parliament House for such a significant achievement as young lads going away and achieving so well for the Northern Territory. Good on you.
Now to continue my contribution with regards to Taiwan. Tonight, I will talk a little about the historical overview of Taiwan and the country itself. Tomorrow night, I propose to look more at some of the political complexities surrounding Taiwan and its interaction with mainland China, and what role we can play, both as a nation and as a Territory, in that interaction, being a participant in some of the solutions to the very complex issues that are surrounding the cross-straight matters that have been in existence since Chiang Kai-shek - in fact, before - fled across the strait with the communists hot in pursuit.
It is a small country. It is about half the size of Tasmania, yet its population is about the same size as Australia. You would expect, therefore, to find it completely congested. It is not. It is beautiful. It was called Formosa by the Portuguese in the 15th century. Formosa is a word that means beautiful. Beautiful island was the full name and it is a beautiful place. The cities are well planned and orderly. Many people live there, but there is also a lot of mountainous area.
The languages spoken there are Mandarin, Minnanese which is a Taiwanese language, Hakka, and a range of indigenous languages are spoken by the 10 to 12 identified indigenous groups who live there. They have a currency called the New Taiwan dollar, and they had very significant trade with Australia in 2005-06 of $10.4bn. It is a very good story with the economic progress and strength within the region and good links with Australia.
The history goes back about 30 000 years. The Aboriginal inhabitants, ethnically related to Malays and Polynesians, arrived about 4000 years ago. First Chinese contact occurred in the 15th century, though Chinese records indicate it may have been earlier than this. As I have mentioned, Portuguese sailors sighted the island in the 15th century and called it Formosa or ‘beautiful island’. The Dutch then built a commercial base there in 1624, using Chinese labour from Fujian. However, their occupation did not last long and, in 1662, a Naval force led by Ming Dynasty loyalist Cheng Ch’eng-kung, expelled the Dutch and then used Taiwan as their base. From there, the mainland was raided where the new Qing Dynasty was consolidating power. Then, the Qing Dynasty formally annexed Taiwan in 1683 following Cheng’s death.
Taiwan became a province in its own right in 1887, but, within a decade, was ceded to Japan when China lost the first Sino-Japanese War in 1894-95. Japan modernised the island, using it as a model colony. With Japan’s defeat in 1945, the island was occupied by the Kuomintang or the Nationalist Party forces. In 1947, tension between local Taiwanese and recent mainland arrivals that came across with Chiang Kai-shek flared into civil unrest which the Kuomintang security forces brutally suppressed. It was referred to when I went over there. There was a bloody crackdown on 28 February, now known as the 2-28 Incident. It became a symbol of opposition to the Kuomintang rule.
On the mainland, the Kuomintang, under the leadership of Chiang Kai-shek, continued their unfinished civil war with the Chinese Communist Party led by Mao Zedong, and they fled to Taiwan for refuge in 1949, taking with them nearly a million refugees. To be continued.
Mr KIELY (Sanderson): Mr Deputy Speaker, tonight I will talk about some events that have been happening at my local schools and, if time permits, I will draw the Assembly’s attention to some wonderful work that the Darwin Toy Library is doing.
On 14 June, I attended Sanderson High School Assembly, with my colleague, the member for Karama, Delia Lawrie. It was a great assembly led by the Principal, Russell Legg, who is doing a great job there. I was specifically asked to present the Literacy Awards which I am happy to sponsor, and the member for Karama was there to present the citizenship awards which she sponsors.
The recipients of the Sanderson High School Literacy Awards in Term 2 were Jed Anderson, Jeffrey Lay and Belinda Schmidt, and the recipients of the Community Citizenship Awards were Shanese Friel, Cordelia Mac, and Shaquille Wright.
While I was there, the winner was announced of students who had submitted designs for the Sanderson High School logo competition. As you know, Sanderson High School is moving into a middle school next year. It means a whole new logo for Sanderson Middle School, and the students submitted some really great designs. The winning design was a bit like a tag, so it is a very contemporary design, indeed. The chap who designed it was Dylan Chieng. It is a fantastic design. You will see it on all their clothing and books. Dylan received $100 for his efforts and he will go down in Sanderson Middle School history as the designer of the SMS logo.
The other students who submitted designs, for the competition – which were all great - all deserve a mention. They are Kelsey Anstee, Lee Berthelson, Rowina Chan, Jessica Lindsay, Floyd McDonald, Lestari Morlanes, Nadia Tchong, Jacinta Walters, Danielle Barra-Raymond, Leenika Blitner, Telena Gless, Jack Long, Cadence McMillan, Tarissa Pitt, Caitlin Tiernan, Jordan Wilson, Melissa Bell, Rita Boding, Christi Hamon, Maria Magoulias, Rebecca McSkimming, Maighdlin Simpson, and Roxanne Voulanas. They are great students, quite a number of whom I know through the various schools in the area, and have seen grow up.
Also at the assembly, the National Geographic Channel Australian Geography Competition Awards were given out to a number of students. The competition that the students entered comprised a series of questions relating to aspects of geography, and each student had to answer 30 questions in 30 minutes to gain a pass, 35 questions in 30 minutes to gain a credit, or 40 questions in 30 minutes to gain a distinction. Each student chose the entry level to try at. You have to admit, it is a fantastic effort that all the students were successful in gaining certificates. I particularly mention, for distinctions were Rebecca McSkimming and Aimee Capitaine; credits went to Ryan Langley, Shannyn Vergo and Tameka Borton; and passes for participation went to Jaylene Bonson, Apara Brewster, Zara Geraghty, Julie Jones, Irene Kute, Maria Magoulias, Teana Mangion, Dustin McGregor, Tiani Abbott and Jake Collins.
Also on 14 June, a little after the assembly, the Minister for Employment, Education and Training, the member for Wanguri, Paul Henderson, came to the school and launched The Middle Years of Schooling: Guide for Planning, Teaching, Assessing and Reporting Learning. It is a fantastic thing. The school’s ethos in keeping students interested in school is one of the key benefits of middle schools, according to the principal, Mr Legg. The approach at Sanderson High School focuses on learning the students need by changing what they learn and the way they learn in school. There are more opportunities for hands-on learning and, at the same time, there is a strong focus on individual student’s needs, and a great emphasis on literacy on numeracy.
I was very involved and very well represented in the Student Handbook 2008, which has just been launched by the principal. I, along with a couple of other parents who are members of the school committee, D’elise Keitaanpaa and Denise Thomas, had a look at this book from a parent’s point of view. It was a draft. Looking at it as a parent, I was pretty impressed with the content and structure. I found it a really good guide to go through, and would be able to pick out a syllabus with my child. I found it a very good book from a parent’s point of view. However, as a member of the Martin government, I found it an exceptional piece of work by the school to get that together, and the way that they presented it through their school council, got all the input from all the teachers and the school council, and many parents, before the launch. That was a job well done. Full congratulations to Mr Legg and his staff, and the school council for getting that book together and launched. Well done.
In Sanderson, the kids are a pretty active lot, particularly at Wulagi Primary School. There are a couple of champs there. The two champs I wish to mention tonight are Jimmy Anderson and Teneale Ah Mat, who are Year 7 students at Wulagi Primary School. Jimmy Anderson played for the Northern Suburbs Power-Stars AFL team in the recent AFL exchange held in Gove. The team were undefeated in the round robin and Pool A games. It was a fabulous effort. Both the manager, Glenda Kennedy, and coach, Rod McLean, were impressed with the players’ behaviour - great sportsmanship and teamwork.
Teneale Ah Mat played for the Northern Territory Under 14 basketball team in China and Singapore over the semester break. Teneale wrote about that, and I will read into Hansard what she said:
- I recently travelled to China and Singapore as a member of the NT Under 14’s Basketball Team. It was an experience I will never forget – it was really amazing. We played six games in total – three in Chine and three in Singapore. We won four out of the six games.
Fantastic effort, Teneale. Well done.
The principal of Wulagi Primary School, Sue Fisher, described Jimmy and Teneale as not only having excellent sporting abilities, but also a pleasure to teach, and fantastic students to represent Wulagi School in the wider community. That is fantastic.
Also on the Under 14s basketball team, I was pleased to hear that another young person I know in Sanderson, Audrey Badley, who I have seen grow up, also went away on the school cluster basketball exchange to Cairns. There were 15 girls in that team who were selected to represent their schools in the northern suburbs. The team came fifth in the competition – a great effort from these girls. They deserve to be recognised in the Parliamentary Record.
The basketball exchange girls were: Demi Cubillo from Karama Primary School; Ashley Fitzpatrick from OLSH; Rickelle Parfitt from Karama Primary School; Teneale Ah Mat, who I mentioned before, from Wulagi Primary School; Tishaila Abala from ANZAC Hill High School; Michelle Friel from Karama Primary School; Petra Bohnning from ANZAC Hill High; Tahlee Fereday from Holy Family Primary; Lauren Flannagen from Nightcliff Primary; Audrey Badley, as I mentioned who goes to Alawa Primary; Corby Weetra from Karama Primary; Melissa Morgado from Karama Primary; Shannon Ponter, Karama Primary - I have worked with Shannon’s grandmother and I know Shannon and the Ponter family is a great family; Rebecca Smith from Stuart Park Primary; and Kia Bond from Nightcliff Primary.
These are the connections that you always get in Darwin and it is a great thing. Kia is the daughter of a teacher at Anula Primary School. Great work by the girls, and great work by the parents to get them there. It says a lot for the parents of the Territory and the kids of the northern suburbs. The coach of the side, I should mention was Phillip Preece; and the manager was Sue Tremble. Well done for the coach and manager for a superb effort from the Under 14s schools cluster basketball exchange for Cairns.
Finally, I want to give a quick wrap on the Darwin Toy Library. As everyone would know, the Darwin Toy Library is on McMillans Road - a wonderful little institution. The Darwin Toy Library celebrates its 29th birthday on 27 September. I was fortunate to be there for the 20th birthday celebrations, I think it was. My wife was on the committee at that stage, and that was my first big break into sausage sizzles. I remember that I borrowed the Shane Stone electorate sausage wagon, and had that all set up and cooked up a whole host of sausages at the Water Gardens. It was a fantastic day.
Next year, of course, is the 30th anniversary. I hope to be there, perhaps in the Len Kiely sausage wagon. I will certainly be there cooking sausages for the Darwin Toy Library because they are a fantastic mob. The CEO of the toy library, Kathie Snowball, does a fantastic job with the committee. She has been there for quite a number of years now and has a really steady hand on the tiller. However, she can only do a good as job by being supported by the management committee. She has a great committee there that she serves. The president is Nicolle Shoobridge, the treasurer is Rachel Kroes, the secretary is Sheree Chandler, and the general committee members are Bronwyn Graham, Thea Shoyer, Kirsten Kelly and Tamara Bhatnagar.
Any not-for-profit volunteer organisation does it hard, and they can only succeed when they get the support of a good management committee. The management committee can only do a good job with the support of their members. They are always on the lookout for new members, so if there is anyone out there who wants to lend a hand, the management committee meetings are currently held on the second Monday of each month at 7.30 pm at the toy library. So, get along; you are more than welcome. It is a great little library. They work hard. I have helped them with their applications to the Community Benefit Fund and, I am happy to say, we have been successful on a number of occasions. However, they work hard off their own bat to raise money. Just recently, they had a kitchen raffle. That is a kid’s kitchen we are talking about. They did really well. It was a side-by-side kitchen raffle. They made a profit of $400 on the ticket sales. The winner of that was Kate Eadie, a member of the toy library. That is just another way that you can get in and help; by purchasing the tickets in the raffle. Well done, Kate.
Another person who was lucky enough to win a raffle run by the toy library to raise money was Sankham Hornby, who won the family portraits raffle. That was a great fundraiser based around family portraits, which you expect with something like the toy library. They raised $510 from the $10 that everyone - it was not a raffle, I am sorry; it was buying the portraits. They raised $510 from the $10 that everyone paid. That is just a marvellous effort. Once again, it shows different ways that people can get behind
The Darwin Toy Library is releasing its Christmas catalogue where you can select all sorts of toys and get a 20% discount. The orders have to be in by Saturday, 22 September 2007. Even if you are not a member of the toy library, get along; think about joining it, and have a look at their catalogue. You get a great discount of 20%, but orders have to be in by Saturday, 22 September 2007.
Mr Deputy Speaker, I have time to cover one more aspect which deserves a mention. On 16 and 17 August 2007, I attended the Northern Suburbs Cluster Schools’ athletic carnival at the Arafura Track and Field Stadium, Abala Road, Marrara. I give special thanks to Ms Paulina Motlop, the Physical Education Coordinator of the Northern Suburbs Cluster, for her efforts in organising a fantastic event. Wulagi Primary students represented their school in several track and field events. Thank you also needs to go to Mr Cameron Carmichael, Mrs Taniel McKellar - and congratulations on her recent marriage - and Mrs Edele Musco, for accompanying the students on the day.
Anula were there the following day, and they were led by Mrs Lee-Anne Wilson who is a fantastic and hard-working teacher at Anula. It was a fantastic effort for Lee-Anne and all the teachers and parent helpers to get their kids there.
At the end of the athletics carnival, Delia Lawrie and I presented shields, which is one of the blessings about being there. The Perpetual Shield went to Manunda Terrace, and the Delia Lawrie Shield for the aggregate schools also went to Manunda.
Congratulations to everyone.
Mr KNIGHT (Daly): Mr Acting Deputy Speaker, I want to acknowledge some fabulous students in my electorate.
Each month, I sponsor achievement awards throughout the 21 schools in my electorate. I want to recognise some of the excellent students in the Timber Creek area. Students at Timber Creek School have had some awards presented to them over the last few months. I acknowledge the great work of Aston Baxter; Jazlyn Little; Simon MacDonald; Renita Harrington; Mikey Smiler; Ryan Hector; Peter Harrington; Bradley Hector; and Hayden Hector. It is a fabulous school and I know the kids work very hard. They come from the various communities around Timber Creek. I encourage them to keep up the good work, and to work hard in their efforts. I look forward to hearing about further students at that school excelling.
One thing which has happened in the Timber Creek was an exhibition of photographs taken by students. There were five students from the Timber Creek who presented some photographs. These students were Jamie Roberts; Marcella Jones; Hayden Walker; Jake Blitner; and Carol Roberts. I had a look at the exhibition at 24HR Art in Parap, and it was fabulous to see the efforts of the children.
The Timber Creek Lens exhibition was an extension of the Launch by Lens Youth Week photography project held in April 2007. This involved the youth from Timber Creek, which is 290 km west of Katherine, also children from Jilkminggan which is south of Katherine, and Year 8 classes from Katherine High School.
Katherine photographer and project coordinator, Toni Tapp-Coutts travelled to the communities and held workshops with the kids, teaching them basic photography and camera use. Participants were then handed a disposable camera to use for the week, to take photographs of their family and community. Eighty cameras were handed out, and 50 were returned, so 30 have gone missing somewhere. This involved a long process of sorting and selecting from the 1200 photos, with 190 photos from the three groups being exhibited in Katherine during Youth Week in April. There was a display in the main street, and there were some marvellous photos. The Timber Creek kids were chosen for a Darwin exhibition because of their remoteness, commitment and enthusiasm for the project. Fifteen of 17 participants in Timber Creek returned their cameras, so it was a great result.
I thank the Office of Youth Affairs in Katherine, Katherine Regional Arts Incorporated, plus 24HR Art, and students and teachers at Timber Creek School for all their efforts and commitment to the projects. It is great to see the kids having a go and using their artistic ability.
I acknowledge Jeremy Ah Fat. He attends Woolianna School, and he won the student monthly award in June. Jeremy was chosen for his positive attitude towards learning. He is an enthusiastic student who enjoys all school activities, both academic and sporting. He is a quiet achiever who is always willing to help those around him and is an excellent role model who sets positive examples for his peers in Year 2. That is great work from Jeremy in that fabulous little school.
In August, an award went to Mikayla Green for her desire to strive to learn. Mikayla tries extremely hard and does not give up when she is challenged. She helps make lunches for the younger students and looks after their wellbeing. Mikayla is both conscientious and reliable and does not hesitate to offer her assistance when the need arises. She is a great young lady.
Woolianna is a very tight school; it has a great deal of school spirit. I congratulate the principal, Petrina Reardon, who is doing a great job in a small school, which I know is excelling.
I will finish on another note. I would like to respond to an e-mail I received today from Lynne Culpan. Lynne lives in the rural area at Berrimah and has some concerns about local government reform. I know the reform is creating a great deal of anxiety, but it certainly is not my wish or that of the minister or this government to place any additional financial burden on people or a reduction in services people currently enjoy. We are trying to achieve an outcome which benefits your lifestyle in the rural area. I know it is very difficult to understand, and there is a lot that needs to be considered. There are many people involved in the decision-making process. However, the key aim is to provide everyone with a better lifestyle without financially burdening them.
Lynne, I take on board your comments, which were fairly straight and stern. I will work very hard to achieve the goal of looking after you and other people in the rural area to ensure that, through this reform, you get a great result which will see your lifestyle enhanced for the future – and protected. I know it is a great way of life in the rural area, and there is no way that we want to take anything away from that.
I ask Lynne to hang with us; we are getting there. There should be some answers and certainty in the next few weeks. I hope you make use of the information that is provided. I have a great deal of dialogue with the minister about people in the rural area and this reform. I will restate my goal and the minister’s goal: we want to ensure that your lifestyle is protected and, for the future, enhanced. I thank you for your e-mail and look forward to providing you with more information as it comes to hand about a positive future.
Mr NATT (Drysdale): Mr Acting Deputy Speaker, on the weekend, I was pleased to be at the launch of the Palmerston City schools initiative and the Palmerston Middle School’s open day at Palmerston High School. I attended with the minister for Education and the member for Brennan.
It was great to see so many of Palmerston’s educators joining in on the day. Many of the school principals, teachers and DEET advisors were there, along with local government representatives including the Mayor of Palmerston, Mr Robert McLeod. It was great to see a number of parents and many school-aged children attend.
This launch will see one of the most significant changes in education delivery in policy in the Northern Territory for many years out there. It is a credit to the Palmerston City Schools Committee for taking the initiative to redress the city schooling initiatives, to move forward a seamless education process for preschool right through to Year 12. I am pleased to say that the Palmerston High School is the focal point of the whole concept, but ably supported by the primary schools in the area: Gray Primary School, Durack Primary School, Bakewell Primary School, Driver Primary School, Woodroofe Primary School and Moulden Primary School.
The Northern Territory government, with DEET, has been consulting with the community through the Palmerston Infrastructure Advisory Group and community forums over the last few weeks about the services that are needed in Palmerston. The Northern Territory government has committed - I believe it has been said several times in the House - $12.86m for the Palmerston High School capital works upgrade to assist many of these services. It offers Palmerston students a quality education all the way through to their senior school.
Education leaders and school communities from the six primary schools and the high school have worked tirelessly for some time to ensure that this initiative will meet local needs and expectations. The new Palmerston City Schools logo, which utilises the Palmerston City colours, is a symbol of the close relationship established with the wider community. Their logo insignia bears the words ‘Respect, Learning and Innovation’. I guess they are the words that paint a picture for the future of the kids in Palmerston.
I commend everyone who has had a part in the development of the Palmerston City Schools, and I wish all the students well in their future studies. I am certain that primary school students and their families enjoyed touring the middle school classrooms and will learn a lot more about the middle school process in the years to come.
I also attended Kormilda College with the Minister for Employment, Education and Training a little while ago. Kormilda is expanding their school grounds to assist with the shortage of skills in the key trade areas. They will be offering a number of VET subjects through various registered training organisations in the not-too-distant future. To assist these courses, they are going to invest in infrastructure which will be starting in the next couple of weeks, I understand. The $2.7m spend by the school has been generously supported with a capital grant and interest subsidies to fund, in part, the construction of the new VET facility at Kormilda College by the government. There will be four new classrooms and an upgrade to a further 12 classrooms. The courses are expected to start in the second semester of 2008.
I congratulate Nathan Pritchard, his staff and the school committee for this innovative foresight to ensure that further technical and trade training is carried on through these VET programs with the students at the school because, let us face it, the lack of skill in a lot of trades is quite outstanding. To have this sort of facility set up at Kormilda college to assist students with their training as apprentices while they are working towards a Northern Territory Certificate of Education is a terrific foresight. I congratulate the school for their initiative.
Last Sunday, in my capacity as Minister for Mines and Energy, I had the pleasure of attending the 2007 Mine Rescue Competition, which was undertaken at the showgrounds. There were six companies involved in the competitions. There were four from the Northern Territory and two from Western Australia. Energy Resources of Australia, Ranger Mine, was represented along with McArthur River Mine, Newmont Tanami operations and Alcan Gove, and we had two visiting teams from Argyle Diamond Mine and the Kimberly Nickel mine.
These teams undertook a number of sessions over a period of, I think, about three days. It was seen as a terrific team-building exercise for the teams and, obviously, enhanced personal confidence. Most importantly, I guess, it enhanced and improved mine rescue safety and training. It is imperative in mine sites that safety is a No 1 factor. It is important that workers do go to work and return home safely. To have volunteers such as these individuals undertaking these competitions to ensure that they keep their skills up and learn a lot more as they go along from other instructors, is a credit to everyone involved.
It promotes a bit of pride. You could see the pride in each of the teams and the effort they went through to ensure that they undertook each of their individual tasks professionally. You could see that they took pride in what they were doing and they also had a lot of pride in the ethics of the mine safety area. The camaraderie between the teams was terrific. It, obviously, encouraged and promoted occupational health and safety through all of the operations that they undertook. I congratulate all of the teams that took part.
The competition was set up by the Northern Territory Minerals Council, and I congratulate them for their initiative. There were a number of marshals, patients and scene restorers who helped out through the day, and I thank them for participating and helping out. I understand there was about 50 in total. For them to give up their weekend to help out these teams work through their skill drills was a fantastic effort. I congratulate Mr Bob Peake, Chairman of the Mine Rescue Committee, and Steve Ellis who did a lot of organisation for these games. They were terrific.
I had the opportunity to see the river rescue and also a chemical hazard situation. Both the teams I saw did a fantastic job. To know you have these capable people working behind the scenes at each of the mine sites is, I am sure, a comfort to the people working at the site and to the companies that employ these people.
I also thank the companies for allowing their workers to undertake these games. I understand because they work different shifts, they have to come together to get their skill level up for about a week or so before the games. The companies facilitated this and gave them the time to participate in the games.
It was a terrific effort by everyone all round and well supported by many sponsors. There were about 25 sponsors in all. As I said, the Minerals Council, the companies involved and, most of all, the people who undertook the games did a marvellous job. I can see nothing but better things coming for these games. I can see them improving and getting bigger. As other mines come onto the horizon, I am sure their safety teams will want to become involved in the games as well. Congratulations to them as well.
I had the pleasure last Friday of attending a Palmerston Australia Day Council meeting. They had a couple of guests at the meeting that day at Palmerston - the 2007 Senior Australian of the Year and the Australian Local Hero of the Year. I congratulate Judy Joyce and the Palmerston Australia Day Committee for organising this. Approximately 20 attended the afternoon. It was terrific to sit down, have a cup of coffee and listen to two amazing people.
The 2007 Senior Australian of the Year is a gentleman by the name of Phil Herreen. I know Phil quite well, and was unaware that he was the Australian of the Year. He is a South Australian. He was a former speed car driver in South Australia. I can still remember Rowley Park days. I am showing my age here. Rowley Park was the speedway in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. It closed in the early 1980s and moved out to Virginia. Phil Herreen was a sprint car champion and a general, all-round, great guy who really supported the sport. Unfortunately, Phil was involved in a speedway accident in 1993 at Virginia. In this horrific accident, he severed his T6 and 7 spinal cord area which has confined him to a wheelchair. That has been a life-changing exercise for Phil.
After many months of hospitalisation and rehabilitation, he has again become involved and now helps people rebuilding their lives. He is a volunteer peer support advocate and works side-by-side with injured people giving them encouragement, inspiration and hints on life in a wheelchair. He is a mentor to many sports people who have become disabled through accidents. He is a volunteer facilitator helping youth in trouble for driving and other offences. It has been a big challenge for him and, to see him come through it and take on this mantle of a volunteer helping other people in the same situation that he is in, is a great credit to him.
It was terrific to catch up with him again, have a cup of coffee and a bit of a yap. I hope that when I get the opportunity to return to Adelaide at some stage to give him a ring and we can sit down and have a real good chatter about the old days. It was terrific to see him on the day and great to see him undertaking the work that he is undertaking at the moment.
The other gentleman was the Australian Local Hero of the Year. This is an amazing young man by the name Shanaka Fernando. Shanaka is a Sri Lankan. He is getting on towards 40 years of age. He came to Australia in 1989 and set up a not-for-profit restaurant chain called Lentil as Anything. He now has four restaurants and he employees over 80 young people and, also in these restaurants, he provides space for artists and writers. The unusual thing about these restaurants is that he does not set prices for the dishes. You can go in and have a dish and you pay what you think it is worth. The amazing thing about these restaurants that he has is that you can walk in, buy your meal, sit down, and you could be sitting with a street nomad or a street tramp who might want to pay $1 for a meal, who could be sitting next to a High Court Judge. It is an amazing concept.
Last year, he donated $2m to charity. It is just a wonderful set-up. In his words:
- I hope this award will inspire other migrants and anyone in the community who may have ideas that might not seem normal and which have no prior format to go ahead and try these ideas and follow your heart.
He has definitely done that. He is an amazing young man. He is very open and has great aspirations for his life and is doing some wonderful work in Melbourne.
I congratulate him and Phil on the work that they are doing.
Mr BONSON (Millner): Mr Deputy Speaker, tonight I will talk about two prominent Territorians, one of whom I spoke about last week. I would like to place on the record, with the assistance of the family, the official eulogy of Anthony John Wills.
- Anthony John Wills was born on 13 August 1941 at the old Darwin Hospital site Myilly Point. John was the second son to Anthony and Thora Wills.
Four months after John was born his family, which included his mother, father, older brother Bob, and aunties were evacuated from Darwin based on concerns of a pending war. The family travelled by ship to Bowen and then by train to Brisbane. Not long after their arrival in Brisbane, John’s father, Anthony deserted the family and John would never see his father ever again. John’s respected grandfather, (Pop) Bob Antony, a long-time union man and founding member of the Labor Party in the Northern Territory, remained in Darwin.
In 1943, Pop Antony brought the family from Brisbane to Mt Isa where John’s mother, Thora, found work at the local hospital. It was not a good time for John as he sustained third degree burns in a house fire which left him permanently disfigured on his left side of his body from his waist to his calf. This injury would plague John for the rest of his life with ongoing complications.
In 1945, the family ventured on to Pine Creek. John’s brother, Bob, remembers that John copped a piece of wood in his head standing too close while his Pop was chopping and ended up in old Army Hospital.
In 1946, the family finally returned home to Darwin. Bob recalls John as a troublesome child but to put it bluntly he was a cheeky little mongrel. He would give cheek to his family and then hide under the slightly elevated house so that they couldn’t get him.
- John’s Aunty Eileen remembers John as a real little stirrer. On one occasion, John and his younger brother Frank observed John’s step-father Jack Kelly kill a snake. Both John and Frank decided that they would conspire to trap their other brother Laurie. They lured Laurie into the chook pen, then threw the snake in and locked the gate behind him to watch him squeal.
Bob recalls that ill-fated day in 1949 when John was blinded in one eye after a freak air rifle accident. John and his brother were playing in the back yard at the time when a misguided slug, which could have gone anywhere, found its way directly into John’s eye. To this day, Bob cannot comprehend how unlucky John was that day. The doctor’s advised Thora that dad should not play contact sport, in fear he may injure his remaining eye. Did I mention that John was stubborn? There was no way this would stop John playing for the footy club that his Pop had founded, the almighty Darwin Buffaloes.
Five generations later, John’s grandsons continue the tradition today. John used to tell his sons the story of how he got his nickname. Dad arrived at school with a patch on his eye and was approached by Retta Dixon school mate Bill Dempsey, who said: ‘Hey, John, what’s wrong with your eye?’. John told him he got shot in the eye with a rifle. Bill then asked: ‘Does it work, or is it bung?’. John’s nickname was born and most people would call John Bungy Wills for the rest of his life.
John worked for a short time as a telegram delivery boy and then with Miller’s and Sandover’s where he acquired a plant operator’s certificate.
In 1959, John decided to go on holiday to Cairns by car with Jacko Mayo, Denis Raymond and Tony Tarton. Jacko had organised that they would stay at his Aunty Leah and Uncle Phil (Condy) Canuto’s place. Unbeknown to John at the time, this plan would ultimately his change forever. Whilst in Cairns, the car in which they travelled was written off in an accident ... there would be a delay in getting back home!
Glenda Canuto was 17 years of age and was one of 12 children of Phil and Leah Canuto (nee Ahmat). Glenda’s sisters would say Bungy would ‘SUOMI’ for Glenda. John would need to get approval from Phil if he were to pursue Glenda. John would tell his sons the story that Phil had given approval for him to take their mum to the movies. On arrival to pick Glenda up, dad noticed several children waiting. John and Glenda went to the movies accompanied by sisters, brothers, nephews and nieces. It was a first date to remember, but highlighted that Phil and Leah were very protective of Glenda. John and Glenda married in 1963 with the blessing of Leah and Phil who trusted that John would love and care for Glenda.
John had a soft pot for Glenda’s two youngest siblings, Lenore and Peter. John would tell the family stories of taking both of them to the Cairns Show. They would give both Peter and Lenore money. Peter would spend his money in an hour and Lenore would come home with the money they gave her.
John loved and respected Glenda’s family, in particular Leah and Phil. There are plenty of great stories John would tell, and he would often finish a sentence with: ‘They were hard times … but they were also the best times’.
John worked with Glenda’s brother, Condy and brother-in-law Clifford at Shirley’s fertilizer factory, which was not only hard work, but would result in John being covered in fertilizer from head to toe. Work was hard to find in Cairns, and to John’s disappointment, Queensland did not recognise his operator’s certificate because he was blind in one eye.
In 1964, John and Glenda had their first son, Nathan.
In 1965, Thora and John’s step-father Jack Kelly visited Cairns and suggested that John, Glenda and bub return to Darwin where there would be better work opportunities, which they did to start a new life as a family.
John worked for Water Resources in 1965 for five months, but decided that there was too much travel away from home, especially as Glenda was expecting their second child. In 1966, John took up working with the Darwin City Council, which would last over 30 years. John commenced in a labourer position, moving into a supervisory positions in engineering, Parks and Gardens. At one stage, John was responsible for parks for all of Darwin, including the cemeteries. This was no mean feat, given John only completed education to Grade 7.
In 1966, John was given an award in recognition of 30 years dedicated service at a council meeting in which the late Lord Mayor of Darwin City Council, George Brown gave a speech. ‘John Wills told me “George, you should stand for Lord Mayor, you’ll shit it in” … and I did. So those of you who don’t like me, blame John’.
Mr BONSON: I withdraw the words. I will use another term ‘kaka’.
- Both John and Glenda were both humbled and embarrassed to say the least.
John and Glenda’s sons Russell, Peter and Morris were born in 1966, 1967 and 1968. John had a lot of friends over the years, but none more so than his dearest and closest friend, Henry Chin. John respected and cherished his 40-year friendship with Henry, especially the dedication to helping his family.
On Christmas eve 1974, John prepared a place for his sons to sleep in the front lounge of the house under the metal frame vinyl couch. So that in the event the roof fell through, they would be protected. John mentioned to Glenda that the wind was stronger but also the direction of the wind had changed. A split second later, John grabbed all four boys and turned to the bathroom. A few seconds later, an explosion of glass came through the front windows. The family huddled in the bathroom trying to hold down the roof of the house by the curtain rail. As soon as the wind would subside, John would dart out of the bathroom to open up windows and salvage furniture. It was a terrifying experience but with John by their side the family always felt safe. After Cyclone Tracy, John picked up relatives and brought them back home to live with his family. John remained to clean up and rebuild Darwin while his family was evacuated to Cairns for some time.
John’s family would often go fishing with Henry and other relatives. They were great times for the family. John and his sons would get the boat ready, Glenda would get the food together and off they’ll go. John taught his sons to catch crabs using fishing line. They would attach a piece of meat on the hook and throw the line in the water. Once they felt something heavy, they would pull the line up slowly. John would have the scoop ready as the crab came closer to the boat. On one particular occasion, a crab ended under the seat of the boat. As John tried to grab the crab, it got John on the finger. As you can imagine, John was in a lot of pain. He called out to Glenda to get the knife. Glenda picked up the knife and John would say ‘lever it’. Glenda would put it down. John was in extreme pain at this stage and said: ‘Get the knife, now lever it’. Glenda would put the knife back down. At this particular time, John was close to fainting as the claw was now in to the bone in his finger. John yelled: ‘Get that knife and lever it’. Glenda yelled back at him: ‘Make up your mind, do you want the knife or you want me to leave it’? John would tell everyone that story.
John would throw net for hours getting live bait for the fishing lines and helping the family pull in the big fish. John would take the family drag netting often, getting his sons and their friends in the deep water. When there was nothing interesting happening, John would pack up the car and take the family night fishing down the wharf.
John was a family man. He would take the family by car every year to Cairns during school holidays to catch up with Glenda’s family. These regular trips to Cairns lasted for 15 years. They were long trips but the adventure and anticipation of catching up with family was a wonderful time. There were always plenty of family celebrations, and his sons got to know and appreciate the value of John’s experience with the Canuto family.
In Darwin, John would take the family in the car every Sunday to visit his three brothers and their families.
John was a hard man who never took a backward step if he felt he was right. John was hard on his kids but fair. That’s one thing you can say about John; you knew where you stood. Both John and Glenda made a lot of sacrifices for their children so that they would not do without. John supported his children with sport and coached junior soccer and basketball, taking his children and all their friends to sporting matches and watching them play. Some of his sons’ friends would form a strong bond with John over many years. John particularly enjoyed a chat and laugh with Ingvar Dyrting and Tony Fuller, two guys dad respected. Whilst hard on his sons, John let his grandchildren get away with murder.
John loved his garden. He had hand-planted grass at his place and also at his sons’ places. He planted many beautiful trees at his place in Stuart Park. John, however, also had an affection for the chainsaw and would cut down these beautiful trees. But that was okay, he would plant some more and then cut them down later as the cycle would continue. The grass had to be mowed a certain way. If it wasn’t, there was trouble. John liked order, a trait he got from his mother. He would wake up at 5.30 every morning, had his pens, spectacles and handkerchief on the dresser ready for work.
John hated his kids messing up the shed and especially not putting his tools back in the right place. John was a handyman. He built house extensions and verandas at his place and his sons’. Whilst not formerly trained as a tradesman, John would have a go at anything. John did not want to spend money if he could avoid it. John was a stubborn and grumpy, which are two things combined to make a fiery exchange, and he was best left alone in these situations …
John liked white coffee, having a bet, and cigarettes. John disliked white sauce, tripe, rice, bully beef, and mashed potatoes.
Over the last 10 years, John endured poor health, having skin cancers removed from his burnt leg, heart problems, and several strokes. John travelled to Brisbane and Adelaide on several occasions to have operations. In 2004, John had a severe stroke which put him in a wheelchair and, not long after, he lost his sight altogether. Through this period of bad health, John had great care from Dr Gavin Chin and other rehabilitation staff at Royal Darwin Hospital. In the same year, John’s mother, Thora, passed away. In 2005, John lost his brother, Frank. John would often say to Glenda: ‘Why Frank, he’s the youngest?’ John was overwhelmed with grief, as was all his family.
John’s health was deteriorating further, which was difficult for John and the family, in particular Glenda, who took on responsibility as John’s carer. Earlier this year, Glenda got a carer’s package to assist with John. Whilst the family was tentative at first, John received wonderful assistance from his carers. In particular, the family would like to thank Robyn, Sheila, and Gail for their dedication to John’s health and wellbeing.
In July this year, John was diagnosed with bone marrow cancer. Whilst John’s initial response to chemotherapy was positive, a severe infection finally took its toll. In hospital, John would often call for family members to take him back to bed, and they would say, ‘Dad, you are in bed’, to which John would reply: ‘Take me back to my own bed’.
- There are three things which come to mind about John ...
I will not have an opportunity at this time to finish the eulogy. However, I give notice to the family and friends of John Wills that I will continue at a later time to complete the eulogy of Anthony John ‘Bungy’ Wills.
Motion agreed to; the Assembly adjourned.
Last updated: 04 Aug 2016