2007-04-17
CEREMONIAL OPENING
Alice Springs Regional Sittings
Alice Springs Regional Sittings
Madam Speaker Aagaard took the Chair at 9 am.
The Deputy Serjeant-at-Arms announced distinguished guests.
Madam SPEAKER: I welcome honourable members and distinguished guests to the regional sitting of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly in Alice Springs. Before formal proceedings of the Assembly commence at approximately 9.30 am, it is proposed to mark this occasion by inviting presentations from His Honour the Administrator, Mr Ted Egan AO, Her Worship the Mayor of Alice Springs, Ms Fran Kilgariff, representative of traditional and native title owners of Alice Springs, Lhere Artepe, and part of the Antulye Estate group, Mr Frank Ansell, together with the Chief Minister and the Leader of the Opposition.
With the concurrence of honourable members, I propose to invite His Honour the Administrator, Her Worship the Mayor and Mr Ansell to take a seat on the floor of the Assembly.
I invite Mr Frank Ansell to address the Assembly on behalf of native title holders of Alice Springs.
Mr ANSELL: The honourable Speaker, His Honour the Administrator, Ted Egan, Hon Clare Martin, Chief Minister of the Northern Territory, Jodeen Carney, MLA, Leader of the Opposition, distinguished members of the Legislative Assembly and invited guests, welcome to the country of my ancestors, the Arrernte, first nation people of Central Australia.
I speak to you as a traditional owner and Chairman of Lhere Artepe on behalf of the Arrernte people. May God guide you in your deliberations, give you the courage to make tough decisions and the wisdom to make the right ones.
Madam SPEAKER: On behalf of the honourable members, I thank Mr Ansell for his address. I invite His Honour the Administrator of the Northern Territory to address the Assembly.
His Honour the ADMINISTRATOR: Madam Speaker, Chief Minister, Leader of the Opposition, members of the Assembly, as Administrator of the Northern Territory, I wish to congratulate you on behalf of all Territorians for the initiative of bringing this parliament of the people back to Central Australia again.
I pay tribute to the first Australians of this region, the Arrernte people, and I thank Mr Ansell for his welcome. I know that the debates will be rigorous and healthy, and I wish all members the very best in providing the best possible outcome for Territorians.
Madam SPEAKER: On behalf of all honourable members, I thank His Honour for his address. I now invite the Chief Minister to address the Assembly.
Ms MARTIN (Chief Minister): Madam Speaker, Your Honour, the Mayor, Leader of the Opposition, parliamentarians and, Frank - thank you for that welcome to country. To the many people of Alice Springs and Central Australia who have joined us this morning for this special opening of Parliament, it is great to be in Alice Springs for this regional sitting of the Territory parliament.
This is our third time in Alice Springs, bringing parliament to the people of Central Australia, and it is an event to which we all look forward. It is a great opportunity for Central Australians to experience parliament firsthand, and I am especially pleased that our Parliamentary Relations and Education Unit is visiting schools across the region while we are here this week. The more informed and aware our young people are about our democratic system, I believe - and I think we all agree - the better, so a particular welcome to young Centralians this morning. They are, of course, our future parliamentarians and leaders.
The next few days we will see a focus on Central Australia and our stay here gives us all a chance to meet with old friends - I see many of them here this morning; welcome - make new ones, and get to know people from all corners of Central Australia.
On behalf of all parliamentarians, thank you for having us here. I thank the Speaker of the House, Jane Aagaard and the Department of the Legislative Assembly for all their hard work over the past few months. Without their efforts, this special sitting would not have been possible.
Madam SPEAKER: On behalf of honourable members, I thank the Chief Minister for her address and now invite the Leader of the Opposition to address the Assembly.
Ms CARNEY (Opposition Leader): Madam Speaker, Your Honour, Your Worship the Mayor, Senator Crossin, Chief Minister, parliamentary colleagues, people of Alice Springs, and I make a very special welcome to the students from Bradshaw Primary School in the electorate of Araluen - hello and welcome, it is a great pleasure that I can warmly and enthusiastically welcome everyone to this sitting in Alice Springs.
It provides the people of Alice Springs with an opportunity to see their parliament and politicians in action and, in a broader sense, to provide an opportunity to see the democratic process at work. I have said to people that they should savour and enjoy the experience. A local bloke spoke to me the other day, and said that the sittings in Alice Springs should not happen every two years; he said they should happen every year and that would provide the opportunity for government to demonstrate a more regular concentrated effort on Alice Springs and its people. It is, I think, a worthy suggestion.
I had the pleasure yesterday of addressing the Youth Parliament and I said to those young participants that parliament is a robust institution. Indeed, it is and it should be. I also told them that parliaments are places of passion and that is exactly how it should be. For these sittings, I expect to see, as usual, a great deal of passion. However, unlike other parliamentary sittings, I expect to see it – and, indeed, have seen it - both inside and outside the parliament as we saw this morning.
For my part, I am very troubled that my fellow citizens have deemed it necessary to protest in the way that they have. We are living in difficult and troubled times in our town. I hope that the government, and ministers in particular, listen to our concerns. I have great faith in the people of Alice Springs and their willingness and commitment to tackle problems. I am, to borrow a phrase from a former Labor Prime Minister, a true believer in that regard and a true believer in the people of Alice Springs.
I trust that when government ministers return to Darwin on Friday, they leave us with a greater understanding of the issues we are facing in Alice Springs. Our problems can be solved, and I share with the people of Alice Springs their confidence that they can be solved. What is needed is commitment, determination, resources and passion. I am passionate about Alice Springs and I want to share that passion with everyone here.
I am hopeful that this will be a fruitful parliamentary sitting. I trust that, at the end of it, the government will leave, as I have said, with a greater understanding of us and our issues. That is what I want to see achieved from these sittings and I sincerely hope that these parliamentary sittings meet your expectations most of all.
Madam SPEAKER: On behalf of honourable members, I thank the Leader of the Opposition for her address. I now invite the Mayor of Alice Springs, Her Worship Ms Fran Kilgariff, to address the Assembly.
Ms KILGARIFF (Mayor of Alice Springs): Madam Speaker, Chief Minister, Leader of the Opposition, members of parliament, but most especially, people of Alice Springs, I first recognise Frank Ansell and members of Lhere Artepe, who are the traditional owners of Alice Springs. On behalf of the people of our town, I am pleased to welcome the parliament of the Northern Territory to Alice Springs. It is an opportunity for us not only to be educated but, also on past experience, entertained by the workings of the parliament, and to see and talk to many of you parliamentarians on our own ground and let you know the issues that concern and affect us, our wellbeing and the future of Alice Springs.
Democracy is healthy when people feel that they have the attention of their elected parliamentarians and can hear them debate the issues of the day. I commend the Speaker for this step and Hon Loraine Braham for the two parliaments before her, and hope, like the man who spoke to the Leader of the Opposition, that it will be repeated not just biennially, but every year, so that we can feel that we are truly a part of the Territory’s decision-making process and can have active participation.
The previous parliamentary sitting held in 2005 attracted much interest from people and was well attended by schools and community members, and I am sure this will be exactly the same. It is a unique experience for the people of the community to be able to drop in to the Convention Centre and hear debate on legislation that directly affect our daily lives. In bringing the parliament to Alice Springs, you are truly bringing parliament and democracy to the people.
This parliament is especially significant for Alice Springs as there is a high level of anxiety about issues affecting the town. We look forward to fruitful, passionate and robust debate on those issues that bring some resolution to our concerns.
I thank you, Madam Speaker, Jane Aagaard, for your efforts and those of your staff in bringing parliament here. Thanks also to the Chief Minister, Clare Martin, and members of parliament, for being willing to relocate and bring yourselves to Alice Springs for this sitting of parliament. We look forward to the proceedings over the next three days.
Madam SPEAKER: On behalf of honourable members, I thank Her Worship for her address and our distinguished visitors for their attendance.
I now invite members of the Salvation Army Indigenous Choir to come forward.
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, I thank the choir for their performance and also Drum Atweme.
That concludes the ceremonial opening of the regional sitting. In accordance with the routine of business agreed to by the Assembly pursuant to resolution date of 21 February 2007, it is now proposed to proceed with the formal business of the Assembly, commencing with prayers. I invite all honourable members and guests to stand for prayers.
DISTINGUISHED VISITORS
Madam SPEAKER: I advise honourable members of the presence in the Speaker’s Gallery of His Honour the Administrator, Mr Ted Egan AO and Ms Nerys Evans; Mrs Pat Miller, Deputy of the Administrator of the Northern Territory; Her Worship the Mayor of Alice Springs, Ms Fran Kilgariff; Hon Senator Trish Crossin, Senator for the Northern Territory; Hon Warren Snowdon MP, member for Lingiari in the Northern Territory; native title holders of Alice Springs, member of Lhere Artepe and part of the Antulye Estate Group, Mr Frank Ansell; Mrs Dianne Guise MLA, Deputy Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Western Australia; Ms Gay Thompson MP, Deputy Speaker of the House of Assembly of South Australia; Mr Bern Kilgariff AM, former member and Speaker of this parliament and former Senator for the Northern Territory, and Mrs Aileen Kilgariff; Dr Peter Toyne, former member for Stuart of the Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory; Mr Nigel Lake, Clerk Assistant, Legislative Assembly of Western Australia; and Ms Rachel Callinan, Committee Director, New South Wales Legislative Council. On behalf of honourable members, I extend a warm welcome to our distinguished visitors.
Members: Hear, hear!
VISITORS
Madam SPEAKER: I also advise honourable members of the presence in the gallery of members of the 2007 Youth Parliament; Years 5 and 6 students from Bradshaw Primary School accompanied by Rebecca Hopper; and Years 10, 11 and 12 students from Centralian Senior Secondary College accompanied by Rhonda Herrick.
I acknowledge Years 2, 4, 5 and 6 students from Wallace Rockhole accompanied by Kate Manley. Honourable members, I am very pleased to acknowledge these students who are winners of the parliamentary art competition and whose winning entry graces our parliamentary program. On behalf of honourable members, I extend a warm welcome to our visitors.
Members: Hear, hear!
LEAVE OF ABSENCE
Member for Arnhem
Mr HENDERSON (Leader of Government Business): Madam Speaker, I move that the member for Arnhem be granted leave of absence for these sittings due to a bereavement in the family, and that this Assembly extend our condolences to the member for Arnhem and her family.
Motion agreed to.
MESSAGE FROM ADMINISTRATOR
Message No 16
Message No 16
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, I have received from His Honour the Administrator Message No 16 notifying assent to bills passed in the February sittings of the Assembly.
TABLED PAPER
Commonwealth Day Message
Commonwealth Day Message
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, I have received the Commonwealth Day Message 2007 from Her Majesty the Queen, dated 12 March 2007. With the concurrence of honourable members:
A Message from Her Majesty the Queen, Head of the Commonwealth.
Today's Commonwealth is home to nearly a third of the world's population. Its almost two billion citizens come from so many faiths, races, cultures and traditions.
I think that one of the reasons for the success of this organisation is that it draws not only on certain shared values, but also from the principles and practices of everyday life, which can be observed day after day in the cities, towns and villages of our 53 member countries.
Over thousands of years, the very basis of community life has been the pooling together by individuals of their resources and skills.
Rather than having to be good at everything, people were able to practise their own skill or craft. The lesson of community life is that to flourish we must help each other. To do this, there has to be a sense of fairness, a real understanding of others' needs and aspirations, and a willingness to contribute.
Despite its size and scale, the Commonwealth to me is still at heart a collection of villages. In close-knit communities like these, there are beliefs and values we share and cherish. We know that helping others will lead to greater security and prosperity for ourselves.
Because we feel this way, our governments and peoples aim to work even more closely together. And as individuals, we find that taking part in Commonwealth activities can be inspirational and personally rewarding.
In today's difficult and sometimes divided world, I believe that it is more important than ever to keep trying to respect and understand each other better. Each and every one of us has hopes, needs, and priorities. Each of us is an individual, with ties of emotion and bonds of obligation - to culture, religion, community, country and beyond. In short, each of us is special.
The more we see others in this way, the more we can understand them and their points of view. In what we think and say and do, let us as individuals actively seek out the views of others; let us make the best use of what our beliefs and history teach us; let us have open minds and hearts; and let us, like the Commonwealth, find our diversity a cause for celebration and a source of strength and unity.
This is a thought worth bearing in mind as we gather on Commonwealth Day: we are a thriving community; we value our past; we make the most of our present; and we are working together to build our future. By respecting difference and promoting understanding, that future will be a better one for us all.
Elizabeth R.
12 March 2007
PETITIONS
Open Road Speed Limit
Open Road Speed Limit
Ms CARNEY (Araluen)(by leave): Madam Speaker, I present a petition from 112 petitioners not conforming with standing orders relating to the open road speed limit in the Northern Territory. I move that the petition be read.
Motion agreed to; petition read:
- To the honourable Speaker and members of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly:
This petition of undersigned citizens of the Northern Territory calls on the Northern Territory government to reject Recommendation 6 of the June 2006 NT Road Safety Taskforce Report (the report) that a default speed limit of 110km/h be introduced on Northern Territory open roads.
It is clear from the report that Recommendation 6 is not based on any evidence that driving in excess of 110km/h was the cause of any accidents on NT open roads which currently have no speed limit. Other than making general assertions to the effect that higher speeds increase the risk of accidents and quoting studies from other parts of Australia and the rest of the world, the report does not contain one single piece of evidence that it was speeding a more than 110km/h which was the cause of any accidents on NT open roads (pp. 24-27 of the report). Instead the report admits that there is no such evidence available from NT police crash investigators (p.3 of the reports), but it then goes on to speculate that this is probably because investigators will nominate a non-speed related cause for an accident in order to find the driver culpable.
Citizens of the Northern Territory of Australia are intelligent and civic minded, but they are not prepared to have their rights curtailed by a law which is not based on any relevant evidence. It is therefore completely unacceptable for the Northern Territory government to introduce a law which is based on a flawed and biased report.
We the undersigned therefore call on the Northern Territory government to reject the introduction of any law imposing an open road speed limit in the Northern Territory.
Litchfield Shire Council – Amalgamation
Mr WOOD (Nelson)(by leave): Madam Speaker, I present a petition from 214 petitioners not conforming with standing orders relating to the amalgamation of the Litchfield Shire Council. I move that the petition be read.
Motion agreed to; petition read:
- We, the residents of Litchfield Shire, request that the NT government delay the implementation of its planned amalgamation of the Litchfield Shire Council and the development of a new super council until these changes are fully costed and residents are adequately consulted.
Closure of Farrar Medical Centre
Mr WOOD (Nelson)(by leave): Madam Speaker, I present a petition not conforming with standing orders from 52 petitioners relating to the closure of Farrar Medical Centre. I move that the petition be read.
Motional agreed to; petition read:
- We the undersigned request that the Northern Territory government restore the after-hours bulkbilling service at Farrar Medical Centre, Palmerston.
MINISTERIAL REPORTS
Alice Springs Sitting
Ms MARTIN (Chief Minister): Madam Speaker, parliament in Alice Springs is always a special event and one all of us look forward to. This week, we will be highlighting the work being done by many Central Australians in different areas right across the region; in business and the community, the tourism sector and horticulture - it is a very broad list. It is work that is making a very real difference to the region and will continue to do so in the years ahead. I look forward to sharing these stories with you during the week.
We will also look closely at the significant challenges facing Central Australia and, in particular, Alice Springs. We will be updating members on the work we are doing in the area of alcohol management and the implementation of our strategy. I can say that the first results are encouraging. I am conscious that our plan for the town camps is a critical issue for the future of Alice Springs. Our goal is to improve living conditions in the camps and the social wellbeing of the town as a whole. We will be updating the House on progress of implementing our town camps strategy, including the establishment of short-term accommodation facilities in Alice Springs.
We will also look closely at the issue of law and order in the town, and highlight the work being done on the ground by the Territory police, government agencies and a number of community organisations in Alice.
These are issues with no quick-fix solutions. They will not just disappear overnight, but we are, together with the local community, making headway. I take this opportunity to assure the people of Alice Springs that we share your concerns and that we are taking action.
Today, I will launch Moving Alice Ahead, which represents a big step forward. Moving Alice Ahead is a tangible example of our commitment to building a strong, safe and secure future for the town and those who live here. A number of the Moving Alice Ahead projects deal directly with the issues I have mentioned, as well as other social and economic challenges, and you will hear more about these projects during the week.
While we undoubtedly face some big challenges in Central Australia, the future of the region looks bright, and our tourism sector is leading the way. Tourism is set to be a major contributor to the region’s economy in the years and the decades ahead. The latest national and international visitor surveys show that numbers of people from overseas taking a holiday in Central Australia are growing, and our holidaymakers to the region are staying longer, with the average length of stay increasing from four to five nights.
It is why, last month, we launched the latest Destination Alice campaign - $2m worth of marketing in a partnership between government and industry, just for Alice Springs. That is great news, and I take this opportunity to thank the many professional tourism operators and business people of the region for their dedication and hard work over the past few years. You have done a terrific job.
With initiatives like sealing the Red Centre Way, which was recently named our first National Landscape, we will see even more tourists to the region in the years ahead. The sealing of the Red Centre Way will make our roads safer but, importantly, will also generate economic development opportunities in the region and, in particular, for those communities along the way.
There is a growing confidence in Central Australia that gives us all cause for optimism. Just look at the private sector construction projects happening at the moment. There is the Quest Apartments, the new Imparja building and the redevelopments of the Yeperenye Shopping Centre, the Alice Plaza, CAAAPU and the Topsy Smith Hostel. There is also a good number of smaller but equally important investments by small business that are contributing to maintaining a very buoyant construction industry. Investment like this is a good sign for Alice Springs and for the future of the region.
There are many exciting things happening in Alice Springs. There are an extraordinary number of opportunities; there is good reason to be optimistic. Make no mistake, however, we face significant challenges as I have outlined, and we will not step back from our responsibility.
In these sittings we will outline our plan of how we intend to take the hard decisions that will secure Alice’s future and make the region an even better place to live, to work, and raise a family.
Ms CARNEY (Opposition Leader): Madam Speaker, for the benefit of those in the gallery, ministerial reports is an opportunity for ministers to stand up and read prepared statements with no notice. The opposition has two minutes for a reply without the benefit of a written speech.
Nevertheless, I note the Chief Minister’s comments that she and her government would not step back. This is not about stepping back; this is about stepping up. This is about stepping up to the challenges that you have known about for years, and that you, Chief Minister, through you, Madam Speaker, have simply refused to deal with because when you get back to your Parliament House offices in Darwin, you forget about Alice Springs and its people.
I note, Chief Minister, your reference to the fact that you are looking forward to sharing stories. Well, I do hope that you find the time to listen to stories from the people of Alice Springs that they will share with you about the fear currently being experienced in Alice Springs with rising crime rates. I note also in your reference to yet another government program by the sounds of it: Moving Alice Ahead. It sounds like a few others, Chief Minister; Moving Alice Ahead. I hope, for the people of Alice Springs’ sake, that it is not just another name. I hope that you have the courage and the political wit to step up and deliver outcomes and actions.
For the Chief Minister’s benefit, in the 38 seconds I have left, I remind you of one of the many examples of local members raising issues in the parliament of the Northern Territory regarding Alice Springs. In that regard, I note that on 21 February, I raised a number of important issues regarding Alice Springs: youth crime, the need for CCTV cameras, dissatisfaction with government, fear in the community. I was disgusted, Madam Speaker, to see a government media release the next day accusing me of potentially damaging the tourism industry, talking down the community and how government members needed to leap to the defence of Alice Springs. You might be leaping, but we want you to deliver ...
Madam SPEAKER: Leader of the Opposition your time has expired.
Mrs BRAHAM (Braitling): Madam Speaker, yes, Chief Minister, we do have problems, and yes, you must address them. It is important. This town is vital to the future of the Northern Territory. It is not just Darwin that is important. Alice Springs is the centre of Australia and we need solutions. We do not need rhetoric; we need action. I am looking forward to hearing what you are going to do about since you have made that statement. It is vitally important.
Short-term accommodation to which you referred should not go ahead on the site proposed. That could easily become a commercial venture. There are plenty of commercial sites available that the government could purchase rather than doing something that we all worry will end up becoming another town camp. That is a debate we will have, I am sure, during these sittings. I can see nodding from the minister beside you.
There are positives in this town, remember that. You have to restore faith in the town. You have to restore belief for people that you will listen and act - not just rhetoric, but act. That is the most important thing and I am willing to work with you. I have solutions, and I am willing to work with you to share those solutions in the hope that we can achieve some outcomes for this town.
Do not rely totally on the police. There are other organisations that have a lot to offer this town. There are other organisations that are willing to be part of the solution. Listen to them and get them involved. The police do a great job, but they are stretched. You should involve not just other organisations; you need also to involve the judiciary, the magistrates. I hope they listen to this message. What is the point in the police getting people to court if we keep letting them out on bail? We need a facility in this town to hold those offenders so that they are not bailed to re-offend.
Chief Minister, this is a good town. This is my town. I love it. I have been here a long time. I have raised my family here, and I want to keep living here in a safe environment ...
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Braitling, your time has expired.
Ms MARTIN (Chief Minister): Madam Speaker, in the minute I have, I will contrast the two contributions we have had. We had the Leader of the Opposition, the member for Araluen, and the member for Braitling, Loraine Braham. Loraine Braham talked about her love for Alice Springs, and I know that she does. When it comes to an issue like kids not attending school, I know that the member for Braitling has sat down with Education, worked out how she personally and her community can contribute and work with Education at getting students to school. That is great and I congratulate her.
It starkly contrasts with the whingeing, whining Opposition Leader who never seeks briefings and who never seeks to be part of solutions for Alice Springs.
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Ms MARTIN: I tell everyone here: it is all very well to stand up, whinge and whine and put down Alice Springs, but where are the solutions coming from the opposition? They do not exist. It is well and good to make noise, to bag Alice Springs. I will not do it and I will not put up with the Opposition Leader doing it, either.
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Visitors
Visitors
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, I draw your attention to the presence in the gallery of students from Wallace Rockhole. Unfortunately, they were not here before. They are here with Ms Kate Manley and Mrs Angela Abbott. Would those students stand up? These are the young art students whose art work won the parliamentary art competition.
Members: Hear, hear!
Madam SPEAKER: I also acknowledge students from Araluen Christian School in Years 4, 5 and 6 who are accompanied by Ms Lysbeth Corney and Ms Gemma Spradbrow. May we see hands from those students?
Members: Hear, hear!
Madam SPEAKER: I also welcome St Philip’s College, Year 11, with Tina Lapolambara.
Distinguished Visitor
Madam SPEAKER: I draw the attention of honourable members to the presence in the Speaker’s Gallery of Mr Neville Perkins, former member for Macdonnell of the Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory from 1977 to 1981. On behalf of all honourable members, I extend to you a very warm welcome.
Members: Hear, hear!
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Public Sector – Central Australia
Mr HENDERSON (Public Employment): Madam Speaker, I briefly inform members of the parliament about public sector activity in Central Australia. There are a number of significant events that have occurred in Alice Springs since parliament was last held here in March 2005.
Madam Speaker, we have roughly 3000 full-time equivalent employees in Central Australia and the Barkly region. Approximately 500 of these are working outside of Alice Springs, and about 10% of these are indigenous employees. As employers, we are committed to recognition and reward for our high achieving employees and we are lucky to have some very good people in Central Australia.
Recognition was recently awarded for years of dedicated service and achievement by the Northern Territory government’s senior representative in Central Australia, John Baskerville, who was recognised in this year’s Australia’s Day Honours list. John was awarded a Public Service Medal for outstanding public service to the Central Australian community. John is Executive Director, Southern for the Department of Chief Minister, Executive Director, Regions for the Department of Infrastructure and Planning, is the Chair of the Southern Region Executive Coordination Committee and is a member of the Desert Knowledge Australia Board.
He has been involved in many projects that have helped shape Alice Springs and Central Australia, including the Kings Canyon Resort, the Alice Springs Convention Centre, Alice in 10 and Desert Knowledge. Congratulations, Baskie.
The inaugural Chief Minister’s Public Service Excellence Awards were held in Alice Springs in September 2006. The Chief Minister’s Awards provide an opportunity to publicly recognise and reward those public sector agencies that excel in their efforts to build the social, economic and environmental capacity of the Territory. Awards were made in four categories: Cross-Government Collaboration; Engagement with the Community; Regional and Remote Development; and Indigenous Community Development.
The winner of the Cross-Government Collaboration category was the Department of Justice Court Referral and Evaluation for the Drug Intervention program. They were successful in part because 56% of Alice Springs referrals to the program successfully completed it, which is an outstanding result.
In the Indigenous Community Development category, Parks and Wildlife received a highly commended award for their flexible employment program in southern region parks. Over 150 indigenous people have participated, completing 106 projects with a number progressing to full-time employment, which is a real result.
We have good people in Central Australia and we want to encourage and develop those people. Some of the highlights from the past 12 months include: 22 graduates from Public Sector Management Program; 22 participants commenced the program in Alice Springs in September 2004, with the entire group graduating in May 2006; 10 participants received a Graduate Certificate in Management from Curtin University; five received a Graduate Certificate in Public Sector Leadership from Griffith University; five received a Graduate Certificate in Public Sector Management from Macquarie University; and two received a Graduate Certificate in Management (Public Sector) from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. Congratulations to all of those people. The Highest Academic Achiever Award went to Mac Moyses from the Department of Natural Resources, Environment and the Arts.
Madam Speaker, our remote workforce deserves a lot of support. In 2006, two Revive and Refocus forums were offered to remote employees and their families. The first group of 20 employees and their families from the Barkly/Sandover region, and a further 18 employees and their families from the Western Desert Region attended a three-day forum in Alice Springs.
Central Australia has been well represented in Northern Territory Public Service leadership programs. One Alice Springs participant in the second Kigaruk Indigenous Men’s Leadership Development Program; nine Alice Springs/Tennant Creek women participated in the first Indigenous Women’s Leadership Program, Lookrukin; three Tennant Creek women attended the 2006 Discover Women as Leaders program; and one Tennant Creek woman and one Alice Springs woman are participating in the 2007 program.
Madam Speaker, our young employees are precious to us, and this year we saw 15 trainees and apprentices graduate from the Northern Territory Public Service in Central Australia. We, as the Northern Territory government, appreciate the NTPS workers and their efforts, and celebrate their contribution to building Central Australia and the Territory.
Ms CARNEY (Opposition Leader): Madam Speaker, I thank the minister for his sudden interest in Alice Springs, particularly in relation to public service and public servants, some of whom I see here today. Hello, and welcome.
Minister, I note that you did not refer to the closure of the DCIS payroll office. One wonders how deep your commitment is to public servants. I note that you referred to John Baskerville, a very competent public servant indeed, and one who is truly worthy of the recognition that he has received in relatively recent times.
I would be grateful if, in your reply, you will address what I am told in Alice Springs by public servants - it is a small town; we all talk, whether it is at airport lounges or around the streets of Alice Springs or in Coles or Woolies, they all talk to us - is an increasing level of frustration that senior public servants cannot make decisions in Alice Springs and that, increasingly, the decisions need to go to Darwin.
There is particularly, as I understand it, in Health, and to a lesser extent in other departments, a feeling of being left in the lurch. Public servants are trying their best, but many of them tell me that they are still under-resourced in so many ways but, most importantly, they have a sense that they are not able to make decisions.
I note with some interest, increasingly, that letters I receive from public servants have the words under their names ‘decision-maker’ for the department, ‘decision-maker’ for this, that and the other. Unless I am missing something, I thought that ministers of the Crown were the ones who make the decisions. Maybe public servants are putting ‘decision-maker’ on the bottom of their correspondence because they are gloating to their fellow public servants that they are authorised to make decisions. I would appreciate if you would comment on those matters in your reply.
Mrs BRAHAM (Braitling): Madam Speaker, the public service is a vital part of Alice Springs. It is a concern to us that the Treasurer has said that there will be a reduction in public servant numbers.
I did point out that the government has 83 staff in their offices in Darwin, so it would important to us to show some faith if you also reduce the numbers that you have in your offices up there.
The poor old Independents have one person to share between them, and what a great job she does ...
Mr Mills: Join the party!
Mrs BRAHAM: We know the Leader of the Opposition has nine – is it? – staff in the office. It is important that government recognise those public servants who do a good job. I am going to speak tonight in adjournment about one in particular who retired this year after 45 years involved in education. I refer to Mary Blaiklock, who happens to be in the gallery today. I hope that you acknowledge people like Mary Blaiklock for giving their life to education in the Territory and who have done such a great job.
I also want to talk about Jock McLeod, who is from the Top End, not Central Australia. He is the longest-serving member of the Northern Territory Fire and Rescue Service. He commenced service in 1967 so he has given 40 years. We know the McLeod family in Darwin; what great contributions they have made to the Territory.
This is what we need to have. Unfortunately, whenever I ring the public service these days, I often have the comment: ‘Oh, we have to go through the minister’s office’. I always thought policy was that if it is an operational matter, you can go to the department; if it is a policy matter, you can go through the ministerial office. The public service is becoming more and more gagged and is not able to share information that would normally be so easy to get.
Mr HENDERSON (Public Employment): Madam Speaker, as employers, we are like every employer across the Northern Territory: it is very hard to recruit and keep good people. That is why, as a government, as a public sector, we want to encourage, value and develop our great staff, as I have just demonstrated.
The Leader of the Opposition is feigning empathy for our public service. She does that in Alice Springs, but what does she say on radio when she is up in Darwin? Just recently, on 12 March, she said: ‘We have said that we will get rid of those fat cats in the public service’ - and everybody knows who they are - ‘the fat cats are getting paid extraordinary amounts of money. What we have seen under Labor is an explosion of wages, in particular more fat cats getting more money’. What offensive language by the Leader of the Opposition to our hard-working public servants ...
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr HENDERSON: She cannot come in here and claim empathy for those public servants when she goes on the radio in Darwin, bags them, is offensive to them …
Ms Carney interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr HENDERSON: Bags them and is offensive to them! We support them.
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order, honourable members!
Local Government Reforms - Implementation
Mr McADAM (Local Government): Madam Speaker, I am pleased to report the significant progress being made in implementing the new local government reforms in the Northern Territory. The Martin government is committed to the vital task of improving services for all Territorians. The reform of local government, which will provide full incorporation of the Northern Territory, enhance the professionalism of the third tier of government and improve service delivery, is well under way.
Despite some early reservations about the proposed boundaries and the time frame for implementation of the new system of local government, we are now seeing widespread support for the new structure. There is strong support, particularly in remote communities which have suffered for many years without adequate resources or expertise to deal with the difficulties faced in service delivery in the bush. We could not sit back and let the situation continue.
Many Territorians are now realising the changes at the local community level will initially be minimal, with service delivery still provided by local communities themselves. They are the experts who understand the local needs and how best to address them. The difference will be stronger regional framework through properly resourced shires, with the expertise and administrative capacity to manage local services while offering the economies of a regional structure.
The Local Government Advisory Board recently held its third meeting in Darwin and its fourth will be held in May in Alice Springs. Mr Patrick Dodson, the Chairman of the board, has given me an update of their latest meeting, and it is important to share the outcomes of the work completed by the advisory board thus far.
Current priorities of the Local Government Advisory Board include: finalising negotiations of the new local government shire external boundaries, which I can report are nearing completion; ensuring the active participation of all relevant stakeholders in the implementation process, particularly the land councils, Chamber of Commerce, and the Cattlemen’s Association; and coordinating the activities of the transitional committees in relation to representation and internal ward boundaries.
The Local Government Association of the Northern Territory is assisting the advisory board in providing expert advice on issues such as voting systems and amendments to the Local Government Act. Transitional committees have been established in each shire with representatives of the current councils and significant stakeholder groups.
Each of the nine transitional committees have now held their first round of meetings. These committees will lead the important work in detailing shire plans which will ensure smooth transition of council staff, services and infrastructure to the new shires in July 2008. The transitional committees will also advise on issues of representation within their shires and propose a ward system to reflect the make-up of their communities and regions.
We have recently received a contribution of $4.9m funding from the federal government to employ additional development coordinators to assist the transitional committees in this essential work. This contribution will complement current staff dedicated to the reform process and provide two development coordinators to each shire throughout the transition phase up to mid-2009.
In parallel with the work of the advisory board and transitional committees, my department is also working to establish an integrated planning framework for local government across the municipal and shire councils. The department is providing advice on legislation to support the new framework for local government in the Northern Territory.
I compliment the department for the effective management and planning of the overall implementation process thus far. We all acknowledge we have a lot to do in the next 15 months. These discussions, as you would appreciate, will continue throughout the first half of the year. I encourage all Territorians to take the opportunity to have their say in the future of the wellbeing of their communities.
I also advise that there will be a major community engagement process commencing in July this year. Also, there will be fact sheets distributed throughout the course of the next few months. Madam Speaker, I will endeavour to keep the Assembly updated in respect of matters arising out of this reform.
Dr LIM (Greatorex): Madam Speaker, it is a tragic way for this minister to go about local government reforms. No one disputes that local government reforms are necessary because the government itself admitted that more than 50% of the community government councils in the bush are on the verge of collapse.
Remember four years ago when John Ah Kit, the former minister, said: ‘We will do the right thing by the bush’, and he left, doing nothing? The capacity building that he promised the Aboriginal people in the bush never came to fruition.
Now you are going to do the same thing without consulting anyone. Why is it that the Cattlemen’s Association has walked out of your group? Why is it that Rosie Kunoth Monks …
Ms Martin: You are wrong, Richard. You are wrong.
Dr LIM: You are wrong? Chief Minister, you get your information right. Why has Rosie Kunoth-Monks, only within the last two days, claimed that you have done it wrong and that she is not going to be a part of your new shire reforms?
The Tennant Creek Council was wiped out without any consultation. The Chamber of Commerce has walked out of your group. The Litchfield Council is unhappy, and you should have been there the other day to listen. There was a public debate about it. That is the problem: you ask Territorians to speak up about this issue and what have you got? You have not listened at all when councils, people as senior as Rosie Kunoth-Monks saying: ‘No, it is not on’. You do not listen. Why would Territorians want to believe in you when you say: ‘Come and tell us what you want to see happen’?
The Katherine Town Council is out of the loop. They are out of the loop. I tell you: in your own electorate, the Tennant Creek Town Council is not very happy. I spent two hours with the mayor only last week, and he told me he is not happy with it.
You just continue to walk over Territorians without any regard. That is the trouble with your government; you do not listen. You walk over everyone and that is why you had that demonstration outside where the Chief Minister was booed - unprecedented.
Ms Martin: I can cope, Richard.
Dr LIM: Okay, cope. You look flushed. You look very flushed.
Madam SPEAKER: Order, member for Greatorex!
Ms Martin: At my age, Richard, you get flushed sometimes.
Mr Stirling: You have form on those sorts of comments. I would be a bit careful!
Madam SPEAKER: Order, order!
Mr Stirling: I would be a bit careful, member for Greatorex!
Madam SPEAKER: Order, Deputy Chief Minister!
Dr LIM: You are the one who has gone all red now.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Member for Greatorex.
Mr WOOD (Nelson): Madam Speaker, I would like to deal with the issue of reform of local government in my adjournment because such an important issue needs a lot more than two minutes to discuss.
As I have said before, I support the concept of amalgamation of councils. The theory is good but, in this case, the practice is weak. I have attended five meetings recently about local government amalgamation and the key theme behind all of those is that people have not been consulted. They do not know what is going on. I put the example again that I put at a meeting, which is the case of the government football team already playing the first quarter, 10 goals in front, while the public is just getting on the bus to go to the footy ground. That is exactly what is happening, which is why I feel the government has to slow down this process. It is nearly pig-headed, to some extent, to say: ‘We have to bite the bullet and we will continue this amalgamation according to a set plan that we have devised’.
A classic example is that the boundaries have been fixed. The minister said that there will be nine shire councils, which was not up for consultation. The boundaries were indicative, and the minister said he would allow some small changes, but the timetable said people will be able to talk about this between 31 January and 31 March - eight weeks. I do not recall one public meeting the government has called to talk to people about the boundaries of the proposed shires.
It is all very well to say that this will be taken up by the advisory committee, but that is one clear example of where the public has been left behind. I could point to many others where the public has been left behind, but I will do that at a later date.
I say to the government: slow down. Bring the people with you if you want this to succeed. Otherwise, it will come back to bite you.
Mr McADAM (Local Government): Madam Speaker, I thank both members opposite for their contributions.
The important thing that the government is trying to achieve is to provide the same opportunity and certainty in respect of those communities outside the municipal model we have in the Northern Territory at the moment. There can be no doubt it: both speakers opposite made it very clear that you support these reforms. Okay, you have a different view in respect to how we might arrive at the end point, but the bottom line is that there is absolutely no doubt that we have to take every opportunity to ensure that we provide the same financial opportunities, the same opportunities for people who live outside the urban centres, and we have failed to do that.
I say to both members opposite: please, be engaged right across the Northern Territory. Be constructive, be positive and I believe that we can …
Dr Lim interjecting.
Mr McADAM: Listen! You were here for 25 or 26 years, three to four years as a minister. What did you do? You did nothing! You sat back and allowed communities to disintegrate. Let me say this to you, member for Greatorex: the future waits for no one, and that includes you.
Alice Springs Youth – Antisocial Behaviour
Ms LAWRIE (Family and Community Services): Madam Speaker, I acknowledge the Arrernte people who have a deep and abiding love and concern for their children. It is on children that I want to report to the Chamber this morning.
The government acknowledges that the number and ages of children on the streets of Alice Springs at night is absolutely unacceptable. The level of violence and antisocial behaviour in Alice Springs is far too high. This is the view of the police, the youth service providers, the community and the government. The government shares and understands the frustration of people in Alice Springs. We share the frustration of people who are hassled and intimidated when out at night. We share the frustration of businesses that are affected and targeted by juveniles, and we understand the frustrations of the victims of violence …
Ms Carney interjecting.
Ms LAWRIE: Leader of the Opposition, I know you like to heckle, but we each have a turn in a democracy to have a say.
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Ms LAWRIE: The government has implemented a new after-hours youth strategy for Alice Springs. I have met with the Alice Springs Town Council to brief them on these efforts, and my department has conducted a separate briefing for the council.
This new effort is about police, community patrols and youth service providers all working together. It involves generating more recreational opportunities for young people to keep them both entertained and occupied. More police are very clearly an aspect of our solution. There is a police officer for every 220 people in Alice Springs. This compares with the Australian average of one for every 470 people. The police are using their new mobile police van and are getting out to the hot spots to tackle unacceptable youth behaviour.
Likewise, community patrols and youth service providers now have outreach services that target youths who should not be out at night. Government and non-government agencies have different responses to different situations and different family circumstances. There is no excuse for a young person to commit a crime and, when they do, that is a matter for the police and for the courts.
When a child is out late at night without supervision, then the police, youth patrols and youth workers can and do take them home or to a safe place if home is not safe. They can go to alternative accommodation, such as our funded youth crisis accommodation. Youth service providers work with the individual and the family to identify a long-term plan beyond just this crisis intervention. A case management system for the individual is put in place. The focus is on a transition to less risky behaviour. The government agrees with the advice of the police and youth service providers that a youth curfew will not work. Curfews are indiscriminate by nature.
The police say that youth and gang violence is normally led by a few ringleaders and they want to target their effort and attention to those ringleaders. Police do not want to have to spend their time and resources dealing with young people who are, in fact, not causing the trouble. They want to target their efforts at those who are.
Police already have a range of powers to deal with young people who are causing a public nuisance or a disturbance. The Northbridge curfew in Perth that has been advocated would not work in Alice Springs. Northbridge is a nightclub precinct. The Western Australian government does not consider the Northbridge model appropriate for anything other than a nightclub precinct, and is not considering this model for any of its regional towns.
Government understands the frustration of the people, but no one should take the law into their own hands. Anyone witnessing any young people causing a disturbance should absolutely contact the police. In conjunction with the Alice Springs Town Council and the community, we will both monitor and adapt our responses as appropriate.
I commend the police and the youth service providers who work so hard. We believe that this new initiative of the night youth intervention is a cooperative approach to deal with a challenging issue. We are not going to resolve the deep-seated issues of generational dysfunction quickly, but we will never cease trying. We are providing the necessary resources to our frontline services.
Dr LIM (Greatorex): Madam Speaker, when you listen to the minister and how she pontificates, it is no wonder people in Alice Springs are angry. I am angry. Children in the streets! We should not have 12-year-olds, 8-year-olds out in the streets at 2 am and 3 am. It should not be. There are no programs that seriously deal with that, nor with the parents who have been so irresponsible that these children leave their homes and they do not even care about it.
She says that the Northern Territory government understands and shares its frustration. Hear what happened outside this morning! That is the frustration and anger in the community. Respond to it appropriately. Do not just give well meaning words, a lot of rhetoric that delivers nothing for Alice Springs. What measures have been taken to deal with parents? You said nothing at all. You talk about police and the number of police here. I rang the police less than a week ago and my phone rang out. So I had to ring again and, thankfully, I got a response then. The phones ring out at the police station here. Many people in Alice Springs will tell you that, when you ring the police, many times they do not get an answer ...
A member: That’s the wrong number!
Dr LIM: It does not matter.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Dr LIM: There is the number that is provided. I ring that number and it rings out.
Dr Burns: 321 444
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Dr LIM: That is your problem, you see.
Dr Burns: Stop pulling stunts.
Dr LIM: Pulling stunts, you say. Madam Speaker, the other day when I was walking into the Yeperenye Centre, I saw an indigenous man flat on his back on the pavement. I chose not to walk past that man. I chose to stop to see whether he was either injured, or asleep because he was drunk. I checked him out because, if he was injured, he should have been in the hospital; if he was asleep, he should not be sleeping on the footpath. I made the effort to do that. That was no stunt! That is what I did. What would you have done? Nothing! You would have walked past ...
Madam SPEAKER: The overall time for ministerial reports has expired.
Reports noted pursuant to standing orders.
MOTOR ACCIDENTS (COMPENSATION) AMENDMENT BILL
(Serial 87)
(Serial 87)
Continued from 21 February 2007.
Mr MILLS (Blain): Madam Speaker, this amendment bill is, with some reservation, supported by the Territory CLP opposition. I will explain the reason for that reservation as I proceed.
The Motor Accidents (Compensation) Act, MACA, is the means that allows for compensation to be paid to victims of motor accidents. The insurance is run by TIO and you pay the premium, third party personal insurance, each time you register your vehicle. Traditionally, this was established as a no-fault scheme. The former government, the CLP, was a leader in introducing this system nationally.
The idea of a no-fault system effectively means that the TIO has accepted liability for injury regardless of the circumstances of the injury; essentially, the insurer forgoes certain rights to defend against claims by posturing itself in the position of carte blanche liability. This was changed by the CLP to introduce areas of fault in cases where the person’s conduct negligently contributed to the injury.
The problem, as addressed by the amendment, has meant that from time to time, non-residents of the Territory have motor vehicle accidents in Territory-registered vehicles. As a consequence, the TIO is exposed to them because the no-fault insurance, which is primarily designed to provide for loss of wages, medical care, etcetera, is also exposed to other burdens such as civil actions to compensable damages beyond those reasonable payments. It is an understandable problem addressed by this amendment, which is supported.
We all know the incident of some 10 years ago that led to a $10m payout. Since 1998, there have been 18 payouts that have secured the claimants over $1m each. These payments represent more than three times the amount of money paid to Territorians because of its no-fault claims. Such claims in a small jurisdiction represent a serious burden to the insurer, a situation understood by the opposition.
Currently, the act does not allow for limited claims against the insurer, but the limitations have not been enough to prevent further expensive claims being made against MACA by non-residents. This legislation is seeking to halt the capacity of such litigants from making these damages claims against the scheme and restricting payments to what is outlined in the act, and by government policy. The restrictions to prevent actions in damages will apply to residents and non-residents alike. This is the first issue of concern. We need to be mindful of the retreat of support for non-residents. We understand the arguments, but it appears that what started as a generous scheme has now become less so for residents.
The government is also seeking to limit the cost of meeting the standards of the National Attendant Care Scheme. This scheme sets the benchmarks for after-accident care. However, the government is reluctant to provide these services at that standard because the insurer would be demanding an extra $73 per year per vehicle to insure to these benchmarks. However, it begs the question: is the argument used to choose not to go down this path based upon benchmarks that have already been calculated with the current exposure in mind or not?
If the amendment is passed, those benchmarks would be different, so I ask the question: how much would the attendant care scheme benchmarks cost if the exposure to non-resident litigation was removed? Are those benchmarks established prior to or after this amendment?
Therefore, this amendment will allow for slightly different benchmarks to be met. Once again, the problem appears to be a product of a small insurer carrying a large risk. The answer has been to restrict attendant care to 12 months with a review after that time to support people with ongoing and demonstrable injuries who will continue to need attendant care.
The bottom line of this is that, as a result of these amendments, TIO will be in a better financial position. The purpose of insurance and the reason why Territorians fought to save TIO and have it remain in Territory hands was to ensure that we had a unique scheme that benefited Territorians. This is the point: the result of these amendments will result in a strengthened commercial position for TIO. Please convince me, Treasurer, that you still do not have any plans embedded within this path to put the TIO in a position where it is further prepared for sale.
I see within this the preparation for making TIO just any insurer that is becoming far more prepared to cover commercial risks and less care for Territory residents. That is why Territorians fought to retain TIO; so we have a unique facility to look after the needs of Territorians. If there is, therefore, an improvement in the bottom line, an improvement of the profitability of TIO, will that be passed on to TIO, or will there be a capacity to release that benefit to Territorians? That is the bottom line. Will the improved position as a result of this amendment benefit TIO, which could then present it for likely sale at some later stage or in some other form, or will that increase be passed on to Territorians? That is the reservation in the position argued by the CLP.
We understand the arguments that have been presented, and it is supported, but with that reservation. Is this another step to pursue commercial interests at the expense of Territorians who fought to retain TIO? They had to make that fight clear to government, and government backed down because there was something special and inherent within TIO. I fear that the amendment is going to result in further strengthening of the commercial prospects of TIO, making it perhaps a more saleable item, and that benefit will not be passed on to Territorians.
Mr WOOD (Nelson): Madam Speaker, heaven help us if they want to sell TIO again. I will have to put all those posters back up ...
Mr Stirling: You did not throw them out, did you?
Mr WOOD: No, there is still one sitting there at the Newcastle Waters cattle grid on the Stuart Highway and I hope it stays there for a long time.
Mr Stirling: I can tell you that you can get rid of it. You will not need it.
Mr WOOD: Thanks, minister. The member for Blain raised some good points. He covered some of the ground about the importance of not only TIO being a profitable organisation, but balancing that with the rights of people to receive adequate compensation in times of accident. It is a good point that government needs to keep in mind whenever it is looking at changes to the MACA scheme.
I note the minister has given us an amendment to the bill, and I might raise some questions at the committee stage when that comes up. Overall, I believe that the improvements and changes seem to be pretty sensible. Most people would agree that if you are driving a vehicle that is unregistered or unlicensed, you should not receive all the benefits; you should have been legally on the road and legally driving the car.
Commonsense has come into it to allow for a vehicle being unregistered for three months. This affects people out bush, or people who just forgot, threw away their renewal form and forgot their car was not registered. You have to take into account that it could have been accidental non-registration of a vehicle. The same applies to a licence. Sometimes people forget to renew their licence. You can renew your licence for up to about 10 years now, so it can be fairly easy to forget that it is due for renewal.
They are sensible things the government has put in place. They are saying, yes, you will lose some of your benefits if you have an accident if you are unlicensed and unregistered, but there are clauses that allow for that and clauses which allow for people to drive in cases of an emergency.
I thank the minister for the briefing. I raised the issue of overseas visitors during that briefing. I gather in some countries, if you have an accident and you are an overseas visitor, if you wish to go home, then you lose all entitlement to compensation. That is a bit rough if you have just arrived in Alice Springs and you are the passenger in a vehicle involved in a serious accident which might make you permanently incapacitated. You would like to go home to your family, which is natural, but if you do then you would not receive any compensation. There is, in this amending bill, a clause which will allow a lump sum payment to be given to those people.
This is not a matter of whether a person is from overseas, interstate or otherwise. If they are injured and they are permanently or partially incapacitated, they should receive some compensation for that, especially if it is not their fault at all.
I ask the minister to look at a couple of areas of concern. During the briefing, I raised the issue that you can be excluded partially from benefits because you were not wearing a seatbelt or a helmet. That is not necessarily being reckless. Reckless is driving very fast or under the influence. In the case of someone who is on a push bike, it seems that they are not covered if they are not wearing a helmet, because they do not come under the Motor Vehicles Act. There is a bit of …
Mr Stirling: 25% loss.
Mr WOOD: Sorry, minister?
Mr Stirling: 25% loss for a motor bike.
Mr WOOD: That is right, but on a push bike if you are not wearing a helmet, I do not believe that is covered under the Motor Vehicles Act, which is the basis on which you have made those changes of partial exclusion from benefits. If the person riding a push bike does not fall within the Motor Vehicles Act and is not wearing a helmet, it seems that would be a reason for partial exclusion from benefits. Even though it is another law that says you must wear a helmet, it does not fall under the Motor Vehicles Act. If someone is not wearing a helmet on a push bike, are they not included in section 11? It seems that there is an anomaly. Fair enough if the person on the push bike is drunk; they are doing something that is silly and putting themselves at risk. By not having a helmet, you are not necessarily driving in a manner to cause an accident. That is an area that, if it cannot be clarified today, needs to be looked at so that you do not have that exemption.
The other area was clause 10 of the amending bill, which is exclusion from all benefits. This relates to a person unlawfully using a vehicle. It says no benefits are payable under the act for a person’s injury or death in or as a result of a motor accident. If the person pinched the car, they are trying to get away from the police, they have been using the car for an indictable offence, etcetera, they are excluded from all payments. What needs to be explained is if you are a passenger, are you necessarily as culpable? You may not have known the car was pinched. There might be all sorts of reasons why a person may have been in that vehicle without knowing what was actually going on.
I do not know whether there is a clause which would allow some judgment to be made about a passenger in a vehicle that was being used illegally regarding whether they were equally as culpable or only partially, or whether they were innocent in the whole process. They are queries the minister might be able to answer.
As I said earlier, the minister has given us an amendment to the bill and I would like him to comment on that during the committee stage.
Mr STIRLING (Treasurer): Madam Speaker, I thank the members for Blain and Nelson for their generally supportive comments of what the government is seeking to do in relation to the MACA scheme.
The member for Blain made a curious comment in the sense that is was less generous for residents. In fact, the bill does considerably strengthen benefits for residents involved in motor vehicle accidents. He said by bringing non-Territorians and Territorians all under the same rights, we might be removing common law rights to sue for non-residents. However, the fact is Territorians have not had that right since this act came into place in 1979. The Territorians who paid the premiums, increasingly higher as a result of massive payouts for non-residents - 18 of which were in excess of $1m between 1988 and the present - were paying those high premiums to cover people involved in accidents on common law payouts which they themselves could not entertain because they were tied under the benefit scheme of MACA. This is a level playing field for all.
It was grossly unfair on Territorians for the duration of the scheme that non-residents, in fact, had more entitlement than Territorians themselves whose back pockets were paying for the scheme through their premiums. That is the first point I make in relation to strengthening it. One of those multi-million dollar payouts was in excess of $12m and, as I said, 18 were in excess of $1m between 1988 and the present. If you take out those rocky big bits that can come along from time to time, with unimaginable multimillion dollar payouts, you are going to get much greater stability around the pricing of the scheme. You are going to get much greater comfort from the reinsurers when TIO goes overseas to get reinsurance against the potential liabilities that they have insured. Those insurance companies can look at this and say: ‘Good! We can see that the future is a much more level one. Everyone is going to come under the MACA benefits as they are, and we will not be exposed to massive multimillion dollar payouts. That is good. We are going to reduce your reinsurance’. If they do that into the future, it gives much greater stability to premiums and the ability of MACA to cover its own way.
MACA has done very well over the last two or three years; there is no doubt about that. It has been returning a profit, but that is on the back of very strong equity markets and, touch wood those equity markets remain strong into the future. The signs are good, but you can never be sure. It is only three years - and the members for Blain and Nelson would well remember when MACA was that close to the wind that government had to inject $10m into it in order to keep the scheme alive. That is the situation we have been living with. Insurers and TIO will take a deep breath because there will be much more certainty going forward.
In relation to some of those increased benefits that I mentioned, this classification ‘catastrophically injured’ is currently at 85%. That ‘catastrophically injured’ category means quadriplegic. You are very seriously injured indeed at the moment in order to be classified as ‘catastrophically injured’. We have reduced that to 60% injured, which is still a pretty high benchmark. However, it does bring that back down to paraplegic level in order to be classified as ‘catastrophically injured’. We have increased the attendant care services from 28 to 32 hours a week. This is something we are going to monitor closely over the next year or so. We were aware that the scheme, with movement in other states over the years, was not as generous as it ought to be in this area. It is still not as generous as it ought to be, but it is something that we will watch very closely over the next year. It is a modest improvement at the moment; there is probably scope to move in a year or so again.
The member for Nelson picked up the point about the person going overseas to live. They are not cut off; they do have their benefits. Whatever benefits they are on at that moment are negotiated and commuted to a cash payout. They are not cut off, but there are difficulties, if someone goes to live anywhere in the world, with TIO being able to monitor and manage ongoing medical treatment. You have no idea of the costs that the person might be up for, depending on where they are living in the world or going to live. So it is fair; no one is the loser here. There has to be a negotiated lump sum payout and a separation from the scheme if a person is going overseas to live permanently. That makes sense.
The attendant care benefits also have been widened in relation to what the person can get. That includes respite care and some domestic services, R&M around the house, garden services and the like, which may well be beyond the injured person.
There is a new benefit of $4000 to family members who have to travel more than 1000 km to visit injured relatives. The insurer has a greater capacity to be involved in the treatment plan earlier than they can at the moment.
The member for Nelson also raised the point - and I think he agreed - about more than three months for vehicle registration. We think that is a fair call. People should have picked up on it by then, if not on their own, usually with the help of police. If you are running around in an unregistered vehicle for too long, police will be pick you up.
In respect of drivers not wearing seat belts, we touched on that in relation to losing 25% of their non-medical benefits.
With these amendments, MACA will remain one of the most supportive schemes in Australia. You cannot call it a comprehensive, 100% no-fault scheme now because we do have these exclusions and contributing factors. Some of them were already in there; for example, drink driving, and rightly so. It remains at heart largely a no-fault scheme. I think the member for Blain said the CLP was at the forefront of this type of legislation when it was introduced, and I agree. MACA is one item of legislation that the government of the day, way back in 1978-79, in the very early days of self-government, did get right. It is a scheme that has served Territorians well. It has served non-Territorians even better. However, we will now bring that back to a much more level playing field.
On the question of the helmet or the lack of a helmet, all the research will say that the lack of a helmet will likely contribute to the severity of the injury received in the case of a cyclist. Of course, the greater the trauma, the greater the severity of injury, the greater the costs involved. There is the clause of no helmet and its potential to contribute to the severity of injury. There may be some cost to the accident victim. It is not great; it is a 25% loss of non-medical. All medical, of course, in these categories are preserved, but it is the non-medical area that is affected.
We do have a committee stage amendment. It goes to the inclusion into the scheme of the non-public road accident situation which was not covered. At the moment, for example, a pastoral property and the like is not a public road, so benefits did not accrue. That is an anomaly that needs to be addressed, and we did that by way of the amendments to the scheme. However, having then brought them in, we found that the exclusions that we introduced did not apply. That is the nett clause of the committee stage amendments that I will be moving shortly when we go into the committee stage; that is, in overcoming one anomaly, we actually created another. Of course, we need to have the same set of rules apply on the non-public road, the pastoral property accident, as applies on the public road. Unless we have that committee stage amendment in serving to strengthen the accident victim on the non-public road, they will actually have stronger rights where before they had no rights. We want everyone to have the same rights, whether the accident is on a major highway or on a non-public road.
I thank members for Blain and Nelson for their supportive comments, and look forward to the committee stage.
Motion agreed to; bill read a second time.
In committee:
Clauses 1 to 8, by leave, taken together and agreed to.
Clause 9:
Mr STIRLING: Mr Chairman, I move amendment 17.1. Clause 9 is the first of the amendments required to overcome the anomaly I was just talking about. Proposed section 9(1)(b) is to omit the current clause in the bill and substitute:
- (b) the person was under the influence of alcohol or a drug to such an extent that the person:
(i) was, by driving a motor vehicle, committing an offence against relevant laws regulating road traffic; or
(ii) would have been committing such an offence if the person had been driving the motor vehicle in a public street or public place; and
Mr WOOD: Minister, I have some concerns about how this would apply. I raised the issue of pastoral properties at the briefing, but it also applies to private land. Do you have to be licensed to drive a vehicle within the boundary of, say, a pastoral property or on private land? One of the conditions for exclusion of certain benefits is that you were not licensed for three months or more. I presume someone can ride a bike or quad bike or drive a vehicle on private property without a licence. However, if we are trying to have a level playing field, would that mean that anyone who wants to drive a vehicle anywhere in the Northern Territory on any parcel of land must be licensed? That is the first question.
I realise that this would have to apply to a registered vehicle otherwise you would not fall under the MACA scheme and, therefore, that is certainly a requirement, but is it illegal to drive a registered vehicle on private land without your seat belt or, if you are riding a quad bike or a motorbike, without a helmet? Is that a requirement? What I am getting at is: are we shifting the rules of when you have to have your seatbelt, when you have to have your helmet, when you have to be licensed to private land?
Mr STIRLING: Mr Chairman, the rationale behind the amendment is, as I said, to regularise the scheme irrespective of whether it occurs on a public road, a pastoral property or a non-public road. The same rules apply. The question from the member for Nelson was: what is they are not licensed? If they are not licensed, they would not be eligible for those non-medical benefits in the same way as would occur on a public road. That is the first rule.
The second point was about the seat belt and helmet. We have discussed those exclusions, or we know those exclusions that apply for the victim of an accident not wearing a seat belt or not wearing a helmet in the public sense, so this would be the same. The effect of these is to make it the same as on the public road. So the rules are the same.
Mr WOOD: Thank you, minister. I get to the crux of the matter - and I do not have the information in front of me. However, do the laws say that if we drive a car anywhere, we must be licensed, we must wear a seat belt or we must wear a helmet?
Mr STIRLING: The effect of the amendments, Mr Chairman, as I think I have explained, is to have the status quo. Before, there were no benefits at all for the non-public road accident victim. We moved to bring them in to the MACA scheme as they always should have been. Then we realised that they, in fact, got stronger benefit because they were not subject to the exclusions that we have bought in by way of the other amendments. Therefore, this amendment is to bring that back to a level playing field. The only way I can explain it is that what occurs on a public road and the requirements are on a public road in relation to exclusion of non-medical benefits reads the same on the non-public road. We need to be very clear that when I am talking about these exclusions, they relate to non-medical benefits.
Mr WOOD: Thank you, minister.
Dr LIM: If I may add to this, Mr Chairman? Obviously, when someone is driving on private property, you can do that now without a driver’s licence, but if you want to be covered under MACA, you need to demonstrate competence in the skill of driving a vehicle. If you do not have the competence to drive a vehicle, you should not be driving, whether it is on private property or not if you want to insure yourself against the risk of injury.
Therefore, if you want to be insured against the risk of injury, you need to demonstrate competence in the skill of driving. Therefore, if you are on private property, you need to have a driver’s licence if you choose to claim insurance protection in the event of an injury. If you choose not to claim, that is not an issue, but if you want to be covered by MACA, you need to demonstrate competence in driving. That is how I would see it.
Mr STIRLING: Mr Chairman, I thank the member for Greatorex for that insight. That is exactly what was envisaged here and that is the intent of the amendment.
Mr WOOD: Thank you, member for Greatorex. What I am also trying to get at is that we are changing something and perhaps the public does not have enough realisation of the risk. Many people on farms, private land and pastoral properties drive without a licence. The kids drive the tractor around and you get young blokes just out of school who do not have a licence, and they are learning to be ringers and they are driving around. My daughter used to work out on cattle stations. They do not put seat belts on. They do not wear helmets on motor bikes when they should.
If the government is going to change - and that is what is going to happen here - and people will lose benefits, it would be proper for the government to make sure that this is a well publicised fact for people who work in these areas. In my electorate, many young people drive quad bikes and motor bikes on the road reserves without helmets, without licences, without registration because they are heading out bush somewhere where they think they are safe. However, in actual fact, this is saying to people that no matter whether they are on Crown land - which is where all the young people go to have a bit of a muck about in the bush up and down some old sand mining areas - they will lose some of their entitlements if they have a bad accident or they have an accident with a car, if they do not ensure their vehicles are licensed and registered, the user of the vehicle is licensed and they are wearing appropriate safety equipment. I understand what you are getting at, but this needs some advertising in the community to tell people what it means.
Mr STIRLING: Mr Chairman, the member for Nelson has made his point, but he focuses on this loss or partial exclusion of benefit whereas, in fact, these people had no benefits before. Now they do, but they are subject to the same sanctions and partial loss of non-medical benefits if they have not followed the rules. Seat belts, drunk, no licence, unregistered - all those sorts of exclusions are already there.
In relation to communication, that is a valid point. Once the bill is through and has assent and is law, there will be a need for a communications exercise, particularly in remote and indigenous communities where these sorts of non-public roads are, and the entire pastoral industry, so that might be conducted a number of ways. It is not always easy to communicate with and get the message across to all those remote communities throughout the Territory, but that would be a role for TIO as operator/manager of the scheme to ensure that the message gets across.
We ought not focus on the partial loss of benefits. We are strengthening the scheme. We are bringing in to the scheme and under coverage of the scheme large numbers of people who never were eligible for benefits before.
The final point I will make is in relation to the ‘for sale’ sign going up or trying to sell TIO. The member for Blain was trying to suggest a broader agenda; that this is somehow strengthening MACA in order to sell TIO. We are on the record, loud and clear, that there will be no consideration of a sale of TIO, MACA or any part of the operation, insurance or banking or otherwise, during the life of this government. That commitment remains firm.
MACA in itself, in terms of a sale, is a non-profit making scheme, so what are you selling? What are you selling really? You would be selling the management rights to what will always be a government run, controlled scheme. That is the way it has to run. It is only the management of that scheme that is in the hands of TIO. That could be in the hands of anyone, but it is not, as an insurance or banking business, required or expected to make vast sums of money. We want the premiums to be as low as possible on Territorians, but at a level that ensures that the taxpayer overall is not going to the bank and having to drop $10m, $15m, $20m to keep the scheme alive as occurred three years ago.
The member for Blain is barking up the wrong tree, Mr Chairman. There is no intention whatsoever to sell, divest or change anything in relation to TIO, TIO Insurance, TIO Banking or MACA because we are very happy with the way TIO is operating.
Amendment agreed to.
Clause 9, as amended, agreed to.
Clause 10:
Mr WOOD: Mr Chairman, looking at the profits that TIO made this year, I believe that all that voluntary advertising we did in trying to save TIO worked out very well, and the future of TIO is very sound.
I mentioned this in my comments on the bill as a whole, and it relates to people who are legally using a motor vehicle. Obviously, people who have sold the vehicle or have committed an indictable offence, are running away from the law, or trying to kill themselves, are not covered; no benefit is payable.
My question is: what happens to a passenger who might of being conned into getting into the vehicle as kids do sometimes? Are they also totally excluded from all grounds because they were in a vehicle falling under this clause?
Mr STIRLING: Mr Chairman, I will go to clause 10, Exclusion from all benefits:
(1) No benefits are payable under this Act for a person’s injury or death in, or as a result of, a motor accident if the person:
(a) was, under a law of the Territory or another jurisdiction, criminally responsible for the theft or unlawful use of a motor vehicle involved in the accident (whether or not the person’s guilt has been established in criminal proceedings); or
This goes to, in the old times, the bank heist and the robber trying to clear out of the scene and being involved in an accident; the vehicle is being used in a criminal offence against a law of the Territory, so no benefits apply. The question around others in the car who are possibly innocent, not knowing that the car was stolen or that the satchel in the back was containing $25 000 with which the bloke just ran out of the bank and threw in the back - it could be possible ...
Mr Mills: I’ve seen that movie.
Mr STIRLING: Yes, I did, too. In that situation, it becomes a legal question and a court of law would have to decide. The innocent party caught up in this and injured in the ensuing car accident who is suddenly facing total exclusion of benefits because of the activities of the driver would have to explain that case through legal proceedings in a court of law and establish their bona fides as to their innocence and eligibility for benefits under the act.
Mr WOOD: I understand that, minister. The only thing that worries me, looking at it from the other point of view, whether ‘was using a motor vehicle’ which is used in (b), (c) and (d), actually means the driver only when it says ‘was using a motor vehicle’, or does it exclude the passenger by saying that?
Mr STIRLING: Use of a motor vehicle would extend beyond the definition of just the driver in the narrow sense. A passenger is using the vehicle or any other occupant of the vehicle is using the vehicle. The pillion passenger on the back of a motorcycle is using the vehicle, not just the rider.
Mr WOOD: Thank you, minister.
Clause 10 agreed to.
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Visitors
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Member for Nelson, just before you start, I acknowledge students from Alice Springs High School, Years 8 and 9, with teachers Jan Martin, Trent Vaughan, Charlie Larkins and Margaret McHugh. On behalf of all honourable members, welcome to the proceedings.
Members: Hear, hear!
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Clause 11:
Mr WOOD: Minister, we touched on this earlier in relation to partial exclusion from benefits. I am going over this section again simply because I am a bit unsure about the validity of what you said.
At the briefing, I asked the question about what would happen for someone on a push bike without a helmet being included in the partial exclusion from benefits. My understanding was that it is because a person on a push bike, similar to scooters and things like powered wheelchairs, are not covered under the Motor Vehicles Act. That would not apply if a person did not have a safety helmet. In other words, the partial exclusion would not apply when a person not wearing a safety helmet on a push bike, as would happen if they were on a motor bike.
Mr STIRLING: Mr Chairman, the advice I have is that regardless of what is in the Traffic Act, the wearing of the helmet is a safety device designed to reduce trauma or injury to the head in the event of an accident. The non-wearing of a helmet may expose the victim to a loss of 25% of non-medical benefits.
Mr WOOD: I realise that. Section 11 basically says first, if a person was not wearing a seat belt or safety helmet as required under the Traffic Act, any statutory benefits payable to or in relation to the person other than compensation for the cost of medical and rehabilitation services are reduced by 25% of the amount otherwise payable. My understanding from the briefing is that cannot apply to a person on a push bike not wearing a safety helmet because it does not come under the Traffic Act.
I stand to be corrected, but that was my understanding. I am concerned that you could have someone on a motor bike having a partial exclusion for not wearing the safety helmet, and that is right because they are doing something illegal under the Traffic Act. However, it seems an anomaly if you can ride a push bike on the road without a safety helmet, even though it is illegal, which does not come under the Traffic Act. Again I stand corrected if I am wrong there, and this clause does not apply. There seems to be an anomaly there.
Mr STIRLING: Let me just check, Mr Chairman. It is my advice and understanding that the 25% exclusion of non-medical benefits does apply - it does apply. I am pretty sure that is the advice that the member for Nelson would have received as well. If we are talking about, in the case of a bicycle, the non-wearing of a helmet notwithstanding whether it is in the Traffic Act or not.
Mr WOOD: But, minister, it says in clause 11(c) ‘under the Traffic Act’. It does not say ‘or any other act’. That is what worries me because the situation is not an uncommon scenario. I see people on the road without a helmet. I know they should have them, but if it is not part of the Traffic Act then I would be concerned that this would not apply. In effect, you would have two different rules for those cases. I am happy to come back at another stage, if I am wrong there, minister, to have a look at it again.
Mr STIRLING: One of us should be right. I hope we are not both wrong. It would be a legal question in the sense that if someone wanted to challenge or come from that view point, but my advice is that they could be exposed to that loss of 25% of non-medical benefits.
Mr WOOD: Thank you.
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[Editor’s Note: The following explanation was made following the motion of censure later this day.]
Personal Explanation
Treasurer
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, I have given my leave to the Deputy Chief Minister and Treasurer to make a personal explanation. The matter about which the Deputy Chief Minister is going to speak relates to the bill that was debated earlier in the day. As a consequence of that, I will be organising for Hansard to have the Deputy Chief Minister’s comments incorporated into Hansard directly adjacent to the bill’s debate.
Mr STIRLING (Treasurer): Madam Speaker, I thank members for the opportunity of a point of clarification arising from an issue raised by the member for Nelson regarding a proposed partial exclusion from the benefits provisions contained in the Motor Accidents (Compensation) Amendment Bill.
Clause 11 of the bill reduces non-medical benefits by 25% in cases where the claimant is above 16 years of age and is not wearing a seat belt or safety helmet as required by the provisions of the Traffic Act at the time of accident.
The member for Nelson queried whether this provision captures a cyclist not wearing a helmet. On receipt of further advice, I can advise that the law says it is not a requirement if you are over the age of 17 years, and you are riding a bicycle or being carried on a bicycle in a public place on a bicycle or shared path, or in a helmet-free area as determined by the minister. Therefore, under clause 11 of the bill, no reduction in non-medical benefits would occur in these instances.
The partial benefit exclusion will apply in full to motor cyclists. In simple terms, where you are required by law to wear a helmet while riding a bicycle, you suffer the loss of 25% of non-medical benefits if you do not wear a helmet. If a claimant is not required to wear a helmet, the benefit reduction does not apply. Therefore, where you are not required to wear a helmet, the full benefits apply.
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Clause 11 agreed to.
Clauses 12 to 14, by leave, taken together and agreed to.
Clause 15:
Mr STIRLING: Mr Chairman, I move amendment 17,2. This is the second part of the amendment we dealt with earlier in relation to equalising the ground rules between the injured person in an accident on a public road and one on a non-public road. At 20A(1)(b), omit and substitute:
- (b) the qualifying person was under the influence of alcohol or drug to such an extent that the person:
- (i) was by driving by motor vehicle, committing an offence against relevant laws regulating road traffic; or
(ii) would have been committing such an offence that if the person had been driving the motor vehicle in a public street or public place; and
This gives us exactly the same situation of the non-public road and the public road.
Mr WOOD: Just a point of clarification, minister: we have been talking about pastoral properties, but what happens on Crown land? Do the same laws apply or do you have problems like people being on Crown land without permission? Does that complicate matters?
Mr STIRLING: My advice is the same ground rules under which we are operating now would operate on Crown land.
Mr WOOD: So if someone did not have permission to be on that Crown land or did not have permission to be on a pastoral property or private land, even though they were registered, licensed, etcetera, would being on land without permission nullify some of what has been discussed today in relation to benefits?
Mr STIRLING: No, I do not think trespass or whatever type law would invoke that potential 25% loss of non-medical.
Mr WOOD: So it is part of the no-fault philosophy behind that.
Mr STIRLING: It is a non-contributing element, I would have thought, unless we go to the clause that deals with criminal activity.
Mr WOOD: You could have a case, minister, where you are in a mining area. You obviously should not be there. There are some big holes. You are riding your motor bike and the accident happens in a mining pit. You have been told not to be there. Even though you are licensed, have a helmet, are registered, you should not have been there, you fell down a hole and injured yourself permanently, would MACA still cover you?
Mr STIRLING: The court would look at it from the point of view of contributory negligence to the injuries received, and not having permission is possibly not a contributor. However, no permission in the scenario you just developed means there are a whole lot of safety reasons why you ought not be there, and it is sign posted and everyone knows. In that instance, the court would likely read that as you have bought about your own demise to the extent of at least 25%.
Mr WOOD: Thank you.
Amendment agreed to.
Clause 15, as amended, agreed to.
Remainder of bill taken as a whole and agreed to.
Bill reported with amendments; report adopted.
Mr STIRLING (Treasurer): Madam Speaker, I move that the bill be now read a third time.
I thank the member for Nelson for his probing in and around the rights and entitlements of this. TIO does have a job, a communications exercise in explaining this in terms of the people who were not covered before now being eligible. If they do not know they are eligible, they are never going to claim. There is an issue. There is also an issue in making sure people understand those exclusions, and that if you have, in some part, contributed to the extent of the injury suffered in the accident, then you may well suffer a 25% loss of compensable payment in relation to non-medical benefits.
I would like to thank Craig Graham from Treasury, and Treasury officials who worked closely with TIO and MACA over the last couple of years. We started this exercise, the review of MACA, back in April 2005. As I said before, it is a well devised scheme that has stood the test of time and served Territorians very well indeed. However, it had never been properly scrutinised. There had never been a proper review until 2005.
The issue of non-Territorians was one that TIO was very strong on because of the unpredictable and large scale payouts that can occur, and the effect that has when TIO go on an annual basis to meet with the reinsurers, outline the year ahead and see what sort of premiums they are up for. That process is going to be markedly easier for TIO in the future because we have ruled a line under those large scale payments that occur from time to time.
I thank Treasury. I thank TIO for their efforts in working so closely with the lawyers and Treasury to get a result that means increased benefits for Territorians, no increase to premiums, and a pretty strong and rosy future for MACA. I also thank the member for Blain for his general support.
Motion agreed to; bill read a third time.
MOTION
Note Paper - Auditor-General’s February 2007 Report to the Legislative Assembly
Note Paper - Auditor-General’s February 2007 Report to the Legislative Assembly
Continued from 21 February 2007.
Ms CARNEY (Opposition Leader): Madam Speaker, I acknowledge and welcome the students from Alice Springs High School. It is nice to see you. I am not sure that the Auditor-General’s report is going to be especially interesting to you, and I note some parliamentary colleagues nodding and laughing in agreement with me. However, we do hope that you can come back at perhaps another more interesting time, not that the Auditor-General’s report is not interesting to me or the opposition.
Madam Speaker, as you know, but perhaps our audience does not know, the Auditor-General of the Northern Territory annually reviews the performance of government. He publishes this report, which is publicly available for all Territorians to read. I do not suggest that too many Territorians actually read it; however I certainly encourage them to do so.
This review of the Auditor-General hit the table in the February sitting of parliament. Over recent years, the Auditor-General has moved to randomly select various departments for investigation, and then go through them in some detail. This report is no exception. I propose to deal in some detail with various parts of the report.
One of the items that clearly becomes evident in relation to the budget generally is the amount of income that continues to pour into the Northern Territory. At page 28 of the Auditor-General’s report, he compares the last two financial years 2004-05 with 2005-06. It shows why this government continues to return surpluses. The first bullet point on the page shows that the GST revenue has gone up by $179.8m and own source revenue, such as stamp duty, payroll tax etcetera, has gone up by $75.3m. Expenses went up by 8.5% in that 12-month period, and that exceeds CPI both nationally and in the Territory.
The problem for the government is that the GST revenue stream will eventually plateau. Knowing this, spending increases are going to have to be limited and the government is making some moves in this direction. It is for this reason, one suspects, that expenditure at the Royal Darwin Hospital is falling, and it is why there has been a tight squeeze on the nurses during the pay dispute negotiations.
Another reason as to why there has been a squeeze on the nurses can be found in the growing employee-related debts that the government is facing. The Auditor-General pointed out in the 2006 report that the government had a 12% blowout on its wages bill for public servants. This is clearly something of which the government is mindful because of its resistance to increasing wages expenditure with which it continues to struggle. This is why we have seen a recent leaking of the fact that this government is going to cut the public service.
Page 30 of the Auditor-General’s report does, to a large extent, reflect this struggle. Superannuation liabilities crept up by a further $11.7m to $1.77bn. Other employee provisions also crept up by a further $22.7m. These provisions are mostly long service leave expenses. It is interesting to note that on page 30 of the report, the nett debt situation has improved from $1.196bn at 30 June 2005 to $1.145bn at 30 June 2006. The Treasurer has made much of this in the past. However, it is due to the shift in the value of the NT’s asset base more than anything to do with retirement of government debt, as is often claimed by the Treasurer.
Indeed, it is interesting to note that in the past few budgets cycles, this government has increased borrowings more than their alleged surpluses. To draw a parallel with a household budget, the Treasury is saying that every week, he has more money left in the bank, but what he does not say is that every week, his credit card borrowings have gone up more than the cash left in the bank. It is worth asking how the overall nett debt is going down when the credit card bill is rising. This is occurring for a couple of reasons. The greatest reason is that the asset base of the Northern Territory is worth more. When you link the credit card bill with the price of the house and a household then, put simply, as long as the credit card bill goes up more slowly than the value of the house, the overall debt situation is improved. What people forget is that all of this is happening while the Treasurer keeps getting an annual rise. It is not good management; it is luck.
The NT housing stock, government buildings, and other assets have simply gone up with changes in values of land and real estate prices. For example, at page 65 of the Auditor-General’s report, the asset value of the housing stock has shifted up by $20m for no reason other than:
- The increase in the nett assets is predominately represented by the $21.9m re-evaluation for land and buildings.
There is nothing new in that: the higher the value of the government assets, the lower the nett debt. There has been another shift in asset values. It could be considered, when read in the overall context of the Territory budget, to be clever or artistic bookkeeping elevated to somewhat new heights.
For example, the Darwin Port Corporation, at page 56, was classified as ‘a profit seeking organisation’. Under that classification, there is a write-down in the asset value on an annual basis. Then, suddenly in 2005-06, the classification changes to, in a sense, a not-for-profit organisation. This means that the write-down of assets is treated completely differently and the asset value of the Darwin Port Authority jumps by $120m. They are the same sheds and assets valued in a different fashion. This then reduces the nett debt from the Territory.
The Treasurer claims to have reduced nett debt by $51.3m at page 30. That is with the assistance of the $120m shift in the Darwin Port Corporation’s asset base. The improved nett debt looks more like smoke and mirrors than an actual decline in the Territory’s nett debt levels.
I now move to the problem of the superannuation liability. Page 35 of the Auditor-General’s report shows that there is growth in superannuation liabilities. Nett debt superannuation liabilities have grown beyond government expectations. The reasons these liabilities are hard to control can be tracked back to several areas. Every time there is an increase in wages - for example, police wages went up by 9.5% as is highlighted at page 28 of the report - there is a corresponding increase in the superannuation liability at the other end. Schemes like the old Commonwealth Superannuation Scheme also have a pension component built into them which means that people will be drawing down larger pensions based on a CPI link to real wages growth. Also, people are living longer which places a great weight on the schemes run by government, indeed any government. It is for this reason that the superannuation liability has grown so profoundly as well as being extended out to the future even further.
The actuarial reviews that have been applied to the superannuation schemes have revealed that this government has an increasing problem in this area and that those liabilities will not peak until about 2012-13. This peak may even occur later if there is a review of longevity that finds people will live longer, even beyond current expectations. This peak is much later then government was saying would be the case only a couple of years ago.
I now move to why it is that the Treasurer manages a surplus in spite of record spending. I refer in that regard to page 34 of the Auditor-General’s report. On that page there is a comparison between what the Appropriation Bill, that is the budget, allowed for and what was actually spent. Labor’s Financial Management Act allows a 5% grace to the Treasurer to reach into the Central Holding Authority and take out extra money. This means that as long as the Treasurer does not blow the budget by more than 5% he does not have to come back to parliament through an Appropriation Bill or a budget and ask the parliament for more money.
This is very significant and it is very clever bookkeeping. When a budget is passed, part of the appropriation is money set aside for what is known as a Treasurer’s Advance. This is, in a sense, the biscuit tin that the Treasurer can reach into for, by government standards, petty cash because of the inevitable variations in a budgetary cycle. Similar to a household budget which suffers from an occasional spurt of extra expenses, the Treasurer asks that an amount be set aside each year for such items.
Last year, the Treasurer asked parliament for and received $30m. This, essentially, is the contingent liability that Professor Percy Allan said was needed in a budget on an annual basis. Nevertheless, using the 5% rule, the Treasurer not only spent the extra $30m, he then reached into the Central Holding Authority, known by many Territorians as consolidated revenue in the old days, and took out another $64.8m. This is $64.8m on top of the $30m grace given to him by the parliament. That is why we see a variance between the budget and the outcome with $64.8m and that was a variance in the wrong direction.
In an ideal world, the $30m should never have been touched because of tight fiscal control. In actual fact, the government spent $94.8m more than it budgeted for. After that expenditure, one could reasonably expect that there should have been a deficit for that year. The reason that there was not a deficit is because the government’s revenue went up enormously, thanks to good old Mr GST and good old Mr Stamp Duty. They saved the day for the Treasurer. This only goes to prove that the Treasurer and his government are not good financial managers, but they are passengers riding in the back of a bus of good fortune, which is the GST revenue.
I now move to the Commonwealth Grants Commission. The Grants Commission may well soon bring pain to bear for the Territory government. The reason for that is in the growth of the Territory’s ability to generate wealth from its own sources. The Auditor-General has pointed out at page 12 of the report that there is a real chance that horizontal fiscal equalisation referred to frequently by the Treasurer will see a revision in the relativities downward from where the Territory currently stands. In short and put very simply, this means that we may well receive less from the grants commission in future because local earning capacity has increased. This has the potential to be something of a double whammy in the sense that if the GST pool sees similar declines with the winding back of the relativities as they relate to the Territory, there will not be the amount of money at the government’s disposal as there presently is.
I now move to Power and Water. This section needs, in so many ways, to be read to be believed, and I refer members to pages 80 to 86. There is a lot of material about Power and Water in the Auditor-General’s report. Special attention should be given to the bullet points on pages 83 and 84, because on those pages, the Auditor-General noted the following:
- The absence of a supportable basis for the calculation for the provision of obsolete stock.
This means that Power and Water has a capacity to overstate the value of stock. In the annual report, the Auditor-General pointed out that the overstated value was $38.045m. General ledger balances in respect of inventories were not supported by the annual stock take results, requiring adjustments of $1.74m to financial records.
The next bullet point refers to disclosures regarding property, plant and equipment within the financial statements as being inconsistent with the information contained in the Power and Water Corporation’s general ledger and were not able to be reconciled with the prior year’s financial information. Put simply, they had trouble balancing the books. The Auditor-General also referred to difficulties encountered when reconciling databases and, hence, the unit consumption of power, water, sewerage with the value of reported revenues. In other words, there is no measurable link between service consumption and billing.
The Auditor-General touched upon the need to ensure that customers were allocated to correct tariff classes. People may be receiving incorrect power bills, and I often ask myself whether I am when I see mine.
The Auditor-General went on to refer to inventory listings that suggested a possibility that over 8500 inventory items had no recorded value. In this regard I note that, recently, a worker from Power and Water was charged with stealing $100 000 worth of portable assets. What was very concerning was that no one noticed and he was only picked up, as I understand it, when another worker visited his house, not because of any regular or rigorous auditing practices.
The Auditor-General went on to refer to unreconciled items totalling $284 000 between the general ledger and the accounts payable subsidiary ledger. In another respect, the Auditor-General referred to a delay of approximately five years in billing one major customer. Should we be concerned? Of course we should.
The Auditor-General talked about the need to ensure that high value purchase orders are reviewed independently. That is, of course, important because it ensures integrity in various processes. The Auditor-General referred to the need to approve changes to the supplier master file prior to loading for payment to reduce the risk of inappropriate alterations to supplier details. In other words and put very simply, so it is not possible to change Uncle Steve’s details before the audits take place.
Madam Speaker, to my knowledge, this is an unprecedented list of criticism in the Auditor-General’s report, the bloke who is charged with the responsibility of monitoring, assessing and auditing – hence his title - government departments and agencies. I cannot remember a list of criticism in respect of a government agency this detailed and this concerning. It is fair to say, it is a staggering list of criticism that demonstrates that Power and Water’s management practices are not what they could be and certainly are not what they should be. As a corporation, Power and Water is answerable to its shareholder, the Treasurer, for its conduct. I am very interested to know what ASIC would say if a shareholder asked for a corporations audit of the management practices of the company the shareholder owns. This, of course, is happening on the Treasurer’s watch.
There has been debate this morning about TIO and MACA. I will make a brief comment. TIO and MACA made increased profits last year of $51m. TIO made a $19m profit, up from $15m in 2005, and I refer members to page 95 of the Auditor-General’s report. No wonder they were keen to sell it 18 months or so ago, and thank goodness the community rallied and persuaded the Labor government to change its mind.
I now move to NT Build, referred to in the Auditor-General’s report. NT Build is the organisation that has to deal with the transportable long service leave arrangements in the building industry. How the system works is that when an employer takes on a worker, they pay a levy to NT Build for long service leave. Because long service leave is not a liability that can be easily transported in a highly mobile workforce, the idea is that levies go into the trust account held by NT Build and it can be tapped into when a worker finally completes his or her 10 years or part thereof, so that he or she can take his or her long service leave.
This may just as easily be called the Treasurer’s folly because, as the Auditor-General points out in his report, and NT Build agrees, it is very difficult to track the movement of workers in the building industry. A guesstimate has been provided by an actuary, however the guesstimate:
- … must be considered to lie within a wide range of uncertainty.
In other words, there may be more claimants than there is money in the future; then again, there may not. The problem is that the number of future claimants cannot effectively be ascertained. If that is the case, it could well have implications for Territorians because they are the ones who will have to pick up the tab. The government, with its own superannuation liability, may well be setting up future Territorians to a greater level of superannuation liabilities to supplement this scheme.
In any instance, the system is not essentially functional and there are many question marks surrounding its effectiveness. I urge government to review this and report back to parliament as soon as possible so that all Territorians can be assured that the concerns expressed in the Auditor-General’s report of February this year can be adequately dealt with.
____________________
Visitors
Visitors
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, I draw your attention to the presence in the gallery of students from the Larapinta Primary School in Years 5 and 6, and their teachers Kylie Hanson, Samantha Stevens, Candy Kerr, Cathy Bridges and Mel Phillips; and students from the Steiner School accompanied by teacher, Christopher Brocklebank. On behalf of all honourable members, I extend to you a very warm welcome.
Members: Hear, hear!
____________________
Ms CARNEY: Madam Speaker, I now move to the Jabiru Town Development Authority. This is referred to at page 104 of the report. It is fair to say that this has been a running sore for government for quite a few years. It is established under its own legislation, namely the Jabiru Town Development Act. Two years ago, the council was effectively sacked. It runs on a reasonably small budget and has a nett debt of $8.8m, which is a government loan that dates back to the mid-1980s. There is a moratorium on the repayment of this debt. However, it is the opposition’s view that there is no conceivable way, unless the council enters Tattslotto on a regular basis and wins, that the debt will be repaid. The only function of the debt of $8.8m at the moment is that it is treated as an asset on the Territory government’s books and, therefore, pushes nett debt down slightly.
It is smokes and mirrors that are at the heart of the media releases issued by the Treasurer and his fellow ministers creating the illusion that they are really good financial managers. The facts speak for themselves. Certainly, with the very wide-ranging level of concerns that the Auditor-General has, I hope, at the very least, that this acts as a wake up call for government.
I now move to the Darwin Waterfront Development. For the benefit of students who are present, that is a big waterfront development in Darwin that is going to have a wave pool. If you are lucky enough one day to get up to Darwin, you will be able to play in it. The government’s spin machine was quick to latch on to this Auditor-General’s report to say that all was well and healthy with the waterfront and the Auditor-General gave the project a big thumbs up. That was taken by the NT News at face value as a good news story.
All that the Auditor-General does is to tick off the money trail and say that the government is doing what it said it was going to do. That much is correct. The Auditor-General, somewhat interestingly in the opposition’s view, does not offer an opinion as to whether the money is well spent because that is a policy decision of the government. The government has still exposed Territory taxpayers to a level of risk in what is a speculative property development. All property development is speculative. No one needs to be a rocket scientist to work that out. The government, like so many property developers, thinks that it can make a handsome profit by turning off units in Darwin. Not surprisingly, opinions vary as to the ongoing life of the unit property development boom in Darwin.
What is clear is that the government’s reliance on the qualification that we hear consistently - that is, in today’s dollar terms - is a product of the government’s inability to project their exposure over the 30 years of the commitment to the convention centre and the rest of the project. In today’s dollar terms, the government is spending $211.7m for the convention centre and the other infrastructure around it. It is hoping to return $112.8m from the deal in property sales. The government will then incur a further $36.3m in other costs such as engineering expenses. In nominal dollar terms - that is, dollars that will actually be spent over the life of the project - the government’s exposure is $529.87m. That is a lot of money for a wave pool, convention centre and waterfront development in anyone’s language. I am sure our young visitors agree with me, Madam Speaker.
The government expects to make about half of it back on property sales. The point we are making is that, with any investor in a private property development, they have to put up the cash first. The issue is that while the government is doing all of this, it is not fixing health and education problems in remote communities. I know the minister for Education feels like standing up and saying that is wrong, but where are the outcomes? There is a general perception that the waterfront is soaking up a lot of money. People in Alice Springs think that; people in Darwin think that; even public servants think that. How do we know? Because they tell us. Some of them know, to the extent that anyone does, exactly how much it is going to consume.
The return will occur when the project is completed, but we do hope that the government adheres to at least its election mantra of being an open, accountable, transparent government when it comes to exposing or opening the books for all Territorians, particularly the opposition.
The government has exposed itself on the waterfront, and the Auditor-General’s report demonstrates the level of exposure. This may well luck out, but they, the government and in turn all Territorians may be damaged in the process unless the government can recognise its returns. It is about $528m in real terms that is going to be spent. Gee, that is a lot of money. The problem for the government is that they will have to pay their waterfront bill before they pay for a policeman, a teacher or a nurse because money has to be provided for the bills. It is a shift from the core business of a government. If crime issues of Alice Springs are any yardstick, then I understand why the people of Alice Springs, in particular, and indeed in other regional and remote areas of the Northern Territory, are somewhat frustrated and angry.
There is an awful lot of information in the Auditor-General’s report. As I said at the outset, it is certainly comprehensive. However, in relation to the Power and Water Corporation, I hope that the Treasurer in due course can assure Territorians that the Power and Water Corporation is going to address these issues. Government cannot say: ‘No, that is not us’, although it seeks to do so on a not infrequent basis. There is a responsibility and the Treasurer of the Northern Territory is a shareholder.
As usual, the Auditor-General has provided a very comprehensive report and I encourage Territorians to read the report. This is the bloke charged with making sure that government is doing the right thing. His job is to identify problems in programs and spending in relation to programs and other issues for government agencies. It is actually quite an interesting read for anyone who cares about where our money is going and whether what the government says is happening is, in fact, actually going to happen.
I wondered, to the extent that I need to, but to the extent that this is a report card on government, I thought that I would give it a C. It is a C report and I am sure that students here know what a C is: not real bad, not real good; more work to do. We encourage the government to address all of the issues. Of course, I have not gone through all of them. There are more, but I do hope that the government will address some of the issues we have highlighted.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Greatorex, I ask you to remove the flag from your desk, please.
Dr Lim: It is an Alice Springs flag.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Greatorex, you aware of the standing orders.
Mr HENDERSON (Employment, Education and Training): Madam Speaker, I, too, would like to thank the Auditor-General for a very comprehensive report that was tabled in parliament in February.
Before I get on to responding to comments made in relation to portfolio responsibilities that I have, I must correct the record for people who heard the Leader of the Opposition’s nonsensical comments about the waterfront project in Darwin. She said that it is a speculative property development. Nothing could be further from the truth. It is an investment by government with the private sector in transforming it, like all old waterfronts around Australia, from an operational working waterfront into something that is going to benefit all of the people of the Northern Territory.
There was a full tender process for this. Probity auditors have signed off, the Auditor-General has signed off on the project. For the Leader of the Opposition to say it is a speculative property development and the good people of the Northern Territory are at financial risk and ruin as a result of this commitment, it detracts from any faith that the once proud Country Liberal Party have in the capacity of the private sector to make good decisions about where they are going to invest.
What the Leader of the Opposition did not say is that the private sector is investing around $800m. The vast bulk, about 90% of the overall funding going into this project, is being invested by the private sector. The private sector does not put up that sort of money without doing due diligence, without really understanding what the commercial risks are, and they want a return on that capital, on that risk. The once proud Country Liberal Party that used to stand up for the private sector, that used to support the private sector, that used to have confidence in the private sector’s capacity to invest in the Northern Territory, talks the economy down at every single turn.
We do not. We have confidence in the Northern Territory. We have confidence in the growth figures that show that our economy is going to out-perform all of the other states over the next few years. Access Economics has just come out with another report to that effect. In Darwin, return on investment from the public sector - and the Leader of the Opposition did not mention it because she runs one line here in Alice Springs and other lines in Darwin - is about a 1500-seat convention centre. It will create and sustain thousands of jobs into the future. Additional tourists will travel through the Northern Territory as a result of attending conventions in Darwin. The convention centre in Alice Springs as been a massive boost to the economy here. The same will happen in the capital city of Darwin, which will generate more revenue for the Northern Territory government, and that revenue we will be able to spend on providing services throughout the Northern Territory.
By bagging the economy, bagging the private sector, bagging the judgment of a major investment by the private sector, all the Leader of the Opposition does is talk the Territory down. We are not going to be a part of that. We will continue to build the Territory.
Moving onto issues in my portfolio areas, the Auditor-General made specific comments in relation to the NT Build scheme. To remind honourable members about the scheme and what it hopes to achieve, Northern Territory Build began operation on 1 July 2005 with the commencement of the Construction Industry Long Service Leave and Benefits Act. The purpose of the act is to provide for long service leave and long service leave benefits for construction workers across the Northern Territory. The act gives building and construction industry workers in the Territory access to long service leave benefits commensurate with those enjoyed by workers in all other states. Portability of the scheme means that workers qualify for long service leave based on their service to the industry rather than service to one employer. It was a significant reform. It was a significant commitment made by this government to the many thousands of Territorians who work in the construction industry, most of them as subcontractors. There was no one in the construction industry working for one employer for 10 years to get access to long service leave. Construction industry workers who move from job to job, site to site, employee or subcontractor arrangements can now access long service leave.
Also, the fact that we did not have this scheme open in the Northern Territory meant that it was very hard to recruit construction workers who had access to the scheme interstate to come to the Northern Territory. Why would they come to the Northern Territory and work without having access to long service leave like they did in other states? It was a significant reform and there are many workers in our industry now taking advantage of the scheme.
The key findings of the Auditor-General related to completeness of long service levy income. The Auditor-General noted his concern that there is significant uncertainty regarding the ability of NT Build to capture all building projects which fall within the scope of the long service levy. That levy is calculated at a range of 0.5% of the cost of construction projects over $200 000 in value, excluding single detached residential dwellings. The scheme is not levied on people building their homes; it is levied on commercial construction projects. The Auditor-General, therefore, advised he is unable to satisfy himself that the amount of income from the levy payers, $3 219 927, disclosed in NT Build’s financial statements is complete.
There is an issue in regards to the current building approval process as identified by the Auditor-General as a contributing factor. He said the NT Build Board, which operates this scheme; it is not run by a government department:
- … should pursue the issue of changing the current building approval regime to include the payment of the levy.
At the moment, it is basically an honour system whereby developers pay into the fund. It is not part of the approval process of the project. The Auditor-General is suggesting that it should be tied into the formal approval process so that we do not have leakages where developers - either deliberately or through genuine omission - fail to meet their obligations of paying into the fund. The board is currently investigating whether amendments to the building legislation approval process would strengthen NT Build’s ability to maximise compliance.
The Auditor-General also noted in respect of long service benefit liability his agreement with no liability amount being reported in NT Build’s balance sheets, accepting
- … that there is inadequate information at hand to be able to reasonably estimate the level of accrued liability.
Given that the scheme has not been operating for two years yet, it is hard to have strong actuarial analysis as to the liability of the fund. The Auditor-General accepted the estimate provided by the actuary:
- … to lie within a wide range of uncertainty.
The board acknowledges that there is a liability for the scheme as at 30 June 2006, and agrees with the comments and recommendations of both the actuary and the Auditor-General. The board supports the common view. As there is no established historical data, it is difficult for an accurate assessment of the scheme’s liability to be reliably made for the first year of operation and that NT Build may not have reliable data for two to three years. It is going through some growing pains at the moment, but everyone recognises we need better actuarial data on the liability of the scheme.
A range of factors affecting the measurement of the scheme’s liability includes: work exempt from paying the levy; expenses estimated in administering the scheme; level of worker registrations and service turnover; range of non-levied activity for which worker benefit liability will still apply; and a funding period of 10 years for non-levied activity.
Although still in its infancy, the scheme achieved a great deal in the first year. It has business premises in Stuart Park and celebrated the achievement of the milestone of 2000 registered workers. That is 2000 registered construction workers across the Northern Territory, including here in Central Australia, who have access to long service leave and who previously did not have access to long service leave in the Northern Territory. That is a very significant achievement and great recognition of our construction industry workers. The scheme has also achieved inclusion of the Northern Territory Build scheme in the national reciprocal agreement, making long service leave for construction workers truly portable throughout Australia.
We all know how hard it is to recruit and keep professional, capable, qualified people in the Northern Territory. What was once a barrier to those workers coming to the Northern Territory is no longer a barrier because they can continue to accrue long service leave whilst working in the Northern Territory.
I will make some comments about the Auditor-General’s report in relation to Tourism NT and Territory Discoveries, also a part of my portfolio responsibilities. In relation to Tourism NT, the Auditor-General noted that regular reconciliations to the general ledger were not performed, however no significant differences were noted and, at the time of the audit, Tourism NT already commenced the introduction of procedures to improve the processes of reconciliation.
Madam Speaker and our students, this might sound very dry, but accounting for public money is the cornerstone of responsibilities of ministers of departments. We should never forget that the money spent by agencies is allocated from the taxpayer, and being absolutely diligent in processes and procedures around that is very important. That is why the Auditor-General is such an important institution in the checks and balances in the Westminster system of government.
The Auditor-General also noted the need for high level management review of the draft financial statements before they are presented for audit. Tourism NT accepts that this was a timing issue in the current year due to delays in the turnaround of externally prepared financial information from DCIS. As significant adjustments were still required to complete the financial statements by Tourism NT, this severely limited the time available to perform a high-level management review as well as meet the deadline for the commencement of the audit. It is important to note that no audit adjustments were required at the time of the audit. However, in order to ensure the timely preparation of financial statements to allow sufficient time for management review as well as meeting audit time lines, Tourism NT will undertake the preparation of financial statements in-house from 2006-07.
The Auditor-General noted the need for review of the annual report prior to publication. I can confirm that my agency has put in place procedures to improve the review process.
Further, the Auditor-General noted the need for Tourism NT to adhere to its accounting and policy manual to ensure that official documents are used for the requisition of goods and services and for the purchase of goods. Processes have been revised to ensure adherence with the accounting and policy manual requirements related to official documentation for the requisition and purchase of goods and services. It all sounds a bit dry, but the reality is that agencies and ministers should see the Auditor-General’s comments not as a threat or criticism, but as a real opportunity to improve processes and procedures. That is the approach Tourism NT is taking.
Territory Discoveries is the commercial arm of Tourism NT. In relation to Territory Discoveries, the irregularities referred to in the Auditor-General’s report relate to employee fraud. It is unfortunate that from time to time, employees of Northern Territory government agencies - and thankfully it is a very rare occurrence - like people in the private sector, on occasion, are bad apples who commit fraud on agency accounts. This occurred in relation to Territory Discoveries last year. As soon as the fraud was discovered, the employee was suspended from duty. Tourism NT informed the police, and engaged Merit Partners who reviewed internal control mechanisms as a matter of urgency. The Auditor-General was formally advised of the situation. When Territory Discoveries did uncover a potential fraud, they did the right thing: they informed the police, engaged an external auditing company to come in immediately and review the control mechanisms, and formally advised the Auditor-General of the situation.
The employee had manipulated Territory Discoveries’ online booking system, enabling money to be refunded from Territory Discoveries’ bank account to a series of credit cards over two years. No tourism operator or consumer has suffered a loss as a result. In March this year, the employee was charged and sentenced to serve four years imprisonment with a non-parole period of two years. It was a very unfortunate event in Territory Discoveries. It is good to see that the agency acted swiftly and with due diligence. I am certainly convinced that the checks, balances and controls in Territory Discoveries’ internal financial control mechanisms would not allow the capacity to undertake a similar type of fraudulent exercise to be perpetrated on Territory Discoveries again. Our system of justice has worked in that someone has been charged, found guilty and sentenced. They are currently serving time in gaol in Darwin.
Again, I recognise the important work that the Auditor-General does on behalf of the people of the Northern Territory in looking after the financial investment that the government makes on their behalf in providing infrastructure and services to the Northern Territory. I commend the Auditor-General on his report.
Debate suspended.
DISTINGUISHED VISITOR
Dr Peter Toyne
Dr Peter Toyne
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, I draw your attention to the presence in the public gallery of the former member for Stuart, Dr Peter Toyne. On behalf of all honourable members, I extend to you a warm welcome.
Members: Hear, hear!
MOTION
Proposed Censure of the Chief Minister
and Minister for Police, Fire
and Emergency Services
Proposed Censure of the Chief Minister
and Minister for Police, Fire
and Emergency Services
Ms CARNEY (Opposition Leader): Madam Speaker, I move that that this Assembly censure the Chief Minister and the minister for Police for:
1. ignoring the pleas of the people of Alice Springs to make their town safe;
3. failing to meet the primary responsibility of government to ensure the safety of its citizens;
4. failing to have practical plans to make Alice Springs safe for its citizens; and
5. failing to provide support for sensible and much-needed initiatives including CCTV cameras in and around Todd Mall until today, and a youth curfew.
Ms Martin interjecting.
Ms CARNEY: The Chief Minister hates Alice Springs, she hates the people of Alice Springs, but whether she likes it or not, she will have to participate in this censure motion which, if ever a censure motion was deserved, it is today. The conduct of the Chief Minister and, indeed her colleagues, particularly the minister for Police is staggering - absolutely staggering. Barely feigning an interest in Alice Springs or its people, the Chief Minister and her colleagues operate pretty much on a fly-in/fly-out basis ...
Ms Martin interjecting.
Ms CARNEY: I hear the Chief Minister interjecting. Come in, spinner. The Chief Minister travels a lot. She goes to Canberra, she goes all around the Top End, but rarely does she call in to Alice Springs. The Chief Minister is on the public record in a sense declaring her undying her love to the people of Alice Springs, but she is caught out.
In a media interview with ABC on 9 March 2006, the Chief Minister was a bit wordy. The Chief Minister said that she was going to spend the better part of one week a quarter in Alice Springs. I doubt whether that has happened. March must be a reasonable month for the Chief Minister when it comes to talking about Alice Springs, because in March of this year, she was asked on ABC radio, the following question:
Reporter: ‘There is concern among some residents about the image of Alice Springs. Is it hard to sell Alice Springs, the town, to tourists?’
What about the image? What do residents tell you? What are the concerns?’
That was in very recent weeks and demonstrates very clearly that the Chief Minister ignores Alice Springs in almost every respect. Certainly, given this censure motion, it is clear that she has ignored the pleas of the people of Alice Springs. That is why we saw 400 or 500 people, business owners prepared to close their business - I cannot remember a time that happened - mums and dads, workers coming along to the parliamentary precinct today. It is a sad day that people in Alice Springs need to leave their places of employment to come to protest against the government. It was an opportunity to at least see the Chief Minister. The people of Alice Springs were frustrated and they have every right to be, and I know that they would be very supportive of this censure against the Chief Minister and the minister for Police.
Some time ago, the issue of security CCTV cameras was resolved. The Alice Springs Town Council picked up on it as well; they wanted it. A delegation went to council and said: ‘We reckon we need CCTV cameras’. The government remained silent. Ultimately, there was no support. We tabled a petition on behalf of Alice Springs residents calling for CCTV cameras. The minister for Police said, as I said in Question Time, that there was no demonstrated need. To be so profoundly ignorant of what happens in Alice Springs is in and of itself a damning indictment. That was just one example of ignoring the pleas of the people of Alice Springs to make their town safe.
The issue of a youth curfew has been talked about for some time now. The Alice Springs Town Council voted in support of a youth curfew based on the Northbridge model. The thinking person’s curfew is the Northbridge model. I have been to Northbridge; I have been briefed on the Northbridge model. I was briefed on it some time ago and it is a good model. It was interesting to hear the Leader of Government Business talk about football, and what was happening in Western Australia was really good and we could do it here. Minister Lawrie said today in relation to the curfew: ‘Well, that is Western Australia. You cannot have it here’. One wonders if even government members might on occasion be embarrassed by their collective inconsistency.
As a local member of parliament, as a person who lives in this town, I go to Darwin and raise issues in parliament. I also raise them out of parliament. They fall on deaf ears. I remember receiving, in relatively recent times, a letter that I regarded as offensive from one of the ministers in relation to a letter I wrote. I also regarded the letter that the Police minister sent to me as offensive when I asked him very specific questions, and I was so specific that I said in the letter: ‘I ask this on behalf of constituents’. In the letter, I asked questions such as: how many times has the mobile police van been around and has it been staffed?
In the last parliamentary sittings, I told the story, which was regarded as very funny by government members, of when a colleague and I were walking in Todd Mall and – lo and behold - we managed to see the ever elusive police van, although certainly in the last couple of weeks in the lead up to parliament, I have seen it a bit more often. Several months ago I saw the police van. I was so shocked, I went up to the police van and I knocked on the door because I thought: ‘Wow! Is this real or am I dreaming?’ I knocked on the door. Nothing, Madam Speaker.
Do I want to know how often the police van has been in Todd Mall? Yes. Do I want to know whether it is just parked there with no one in it on a regular basis? Yes. I will bet you, minister, London to a brick, that my constituents are very interested in that issue as well, particularly given the rising rate of crime, particularly violence, in recent times.
I raise these issues and then what do I see from government? Typical or illustrative of the fact that the boss, the captain of the ship, and her colleagues ignore the pleas of the town. When I raise these issues in parliament, here is the media release dated 21 February and I will quote parts of it:
- Territory government members have jumped to the defence of Alice Springs following potentially damaging claims by Opposition Leader Jodeen Carney.
I will tell you what I was talking about: I was talking about the need for CCTV cameras, the need for a youth curfew and how arrogantly and dismissively minister Lawrie jumped on the idea, counted it out completely ...
Mr HENDERSON: A point of order, Madam Speaker!
Ms CARNEY: The member for Karama. I withdraw, sorry. The member for Karama, Madam Speaker.
What do we see here? They say that it was diatribe, the Opposition Leader continues to talk down her community and, basically, they are discourteous to point of being profoundly rude about me as a local member exercising my democratic right to express my views and, indeed, those of the people of Alice Springs. I would be a pretty bad parliamentarian if I did not speak my mind in the parliament of the Northern Territory.
We work hard, we raise these issues. What do we hear from government? Nothing but childish abuse. Even a bad government - and I believe this is a bad government - owes the opposition and the people they represent much more than that.
I was appalled when I heard the minister for Police say on 8HA radio on 1 March when he was asked when was he last here, he said last year. This was 1 March this year. We do not know when last year, but it was at some point last year. The minister for Police is also the Minister for Health. I understand he probably has a couple of other portfolios. Alice Springs has some serious health issues and, indeed, some serious at crisis level law and order issues, but the minister for Police and Minister for Health had not been here since last year. That is disgraceful. You should be ashamed of yourself.
I am so sorry I only have 20 minutes. There is a lot of work to do here, Madam Speaker. I was looking through the Saturday edition of the NT News on 10 March, and if you could sum something up of the Chief Minister’s distance in every sense from Alice Springs and what I regard pretty much all the time as a contempt for the people of Alice Springs, I was amazed in that context to see an advertisement that said ‘Careers in Government’ - the Northern Territory government. It is the Department of the Chief Minister, and I will read the following extract. It says, and the people of Alice Springs will really appreciate this:
- There’s nowhere in the world like the Northern Territory, particularly for professionals who want to make a difference. With Australia’s best lifestyle and plenty to enjoy in the tropical outdoors, the Territory is a great option for people who want to live, work and play to the fullest.
The Territory is the tropical outdoors. We have a desert here. We are in the desert. Not according to this Chief Minister. She reckons that all of the Territory is in the tropics. I am amazed to hear any Chief Minister say something like that.
There can be no doubt, when one considers CCTV cameras, curfews, lack of action by this government and police under-resourcing - the phones do not even work most of the time. Almost daily constituents come in to me and say that there is some drama in their street with their family. They are concerned. They ring. If they are lucky enough, they will get through to Darwin. Occasionally, it is true that the – well, more than occasionally – the police at the Alice Springs Police Station pick up the phone. But when people keep coming into my office and the office of my colleague, the member for Greatorex, and say they rang six or seven times last night and could not get through, I would have thought that any Police minister worth his salt would have immediately acted.
I remember in about November last year asking the question about Harry Osborne. I saw Harry. Harry Osborne. Remember that one? Remember the bloke who actually did ring the Alice Springs Police Station six or seven times? He tried Darwin, could not get through. Then he rang my home and said: ‘I cannot get through’. At that time, minister, you were asked a question. You indicated in a subsequent answer that you would get on to it. As recently as yesterday, I heard from another constituent that they cannot get through to the police station. We know about the answering machine, because we saw that article in the Centralian Advocate. I am not sure that an answering machine does the trick. However, I understand there are ongoing problems. The issue, minister, is that you should have fixed these problems in November last year. When you reply, you are going to rave on and say: ‘It is an ongoing issue. It has nothing to do with me; it is something to do with Telstra’. The buck stops with you, minister.
So, Madam Speaker, have I successfully made the case that both the Chief Minister and the minister for Police ignore the pleas of the people of Alice Springs? Yes. I do not think there can be any doubt.
Let us talk now about overseeing a deterioration in safety in Alice Springs, which the mayor has described as ‘a town in crisis’. A bit late coming to the party is our mayor; however, at least she has said that we have an issue in Alice Springs. I note yesterday there was a media report where she was talking about more police. Contrast that from a year or so ago, again on ABC: ‘Mayor, do we need more police?’ Do you know what her answer was? No. But at least she has caught up. Whereas ministers of the Crown, the Chief Minister of the Northern Territory in particular, have not quite got on to it. In fact, they are a long way from it, so far from it that 400 or 500 people have to come and demonstrate to (a) lay eyes on you, and (b) heckle and boo you - and you deserved it. How do they feel, minister? How do they feel, Chief Minister? Their mayor, a leader in the community, says that the town is in crisis.
You guys have been playing this down for too long. You took your eye off the ball in the first three years. You came late to this issue in February 2006. We have the transcripts. It is as obvious as the nose on your face. February 2006, you all started to say something was wrong in Alice Springs. Did you do anything about it? No. You do not even get here very often. As a minister of the Crown, minister for Police, Minister for Health, you have failed in your duties and never before have you deserved – and you have copped a few in your time and they were all deserved – a censure as much as this.
This government has failed to meet the primary responsibility of any government; that is, to ensure the safety of its citizens. Ensuring the safety of its citizens has to be right up there because you say it at election time. At election time, you say you are going to do this and you are going to do that. Well, words do not really matter when the people of Alice Springs are subjected to what they have been for the last couple of years and, in my view, the last 12 to 15 months in particular.
The crime figures speak for themselves - not our figures; your figures. Government ministers, through you Madam Speaker, can do a quarter-on-quarter analysis, but you are all on the record as having said before that in order to make a thoughtful analysis, you need to trend over a longer period of time. Over a longer period of time, the figures are going up in Alice Springs. I suspect when the minister for Police has his say, he will, as he does with the police figures, just tweak it a bit, do the smoke and mirrors stuff and will have some people scratching their heads.
The bottom line is that people in Alice Springs do not believe you. Do you know what was a hoot? Can you get that photo in the plastic bag? I will come back to the photo, as the member for Katherine is assisting me. We are not used, in Darwin, to being so far away from our desk.
I digress, but it is worth the digression. I had a broken toe recently; I was on crutches for about six weeks. I spent a bit of time at the Alice Springs Hospital. It is pretty good to go to the Alice Springs Hospital and not be tailed by a pile of government staffers. There I was talking to public servants about my toe and a couple of other things. You know what? You might not know this, minister, but as you walk in to our hospital, you walk through the foyer and there is a big sign up which has ‘Building Healthier Communities: a Framework for Health and Community Services 2004 to 2009’. It was good that Peter Toyne was here before. I am sorry he is not here now, because I reckon he would have enjoyed this: you have the former Minister for Health’s photo there. How long have you been minister? How long have you been the Minister for Health? You have not even twigged that it is the last bloke’s photo up on the wall. Do not say that it does not all boil down to photos because you are good at putting your pearly whites on all sorts of pictures and disseminating them to the people of Alice Springs in your endeavours to spread what can only be considered propaganda.
An editorial in the Centralian Advocate in very recent times, on 3 April, said much. I have not seen an editorial like this in my memory. Others may have; I have not. It was a damning indictment on this government. The heading said: ‘Time to tap into mood for change’. I will not read it all and I know that most people in the gallery have read it, but this extract is interesting:
- The Territory government’s curt refusal to consider a proposal for a youth curfew suggests that the Martin ministry is out of touch with life on the streets of Alice Springs.
That says it in a nutshell.
Whether it is a photo at the hospital, you not being here, minister for Police, as you acknowledged in March since last year, the Chief Minister promising in March last year that she would be here at least for the better part of the week every quarter, which she has not done, it does not matter. On any basis, you have failed the people of Alice Springs. You have failed them in so many ways. Oh, to have more time, but you have failed them because you have not ensured their safety. When I receive calls from constituents and others and they are crying, talking about their kids being beaten up and wanting their town made safe, I feel for them. I feel for them, I get sad with them, I shed tears with them because no one wants to see that happen to another human being. What we hear from government is invariably nothing. When government ministers do open their mouths, it is spin, spin, spin.
I had an e-mail on the weekend from a woman who lives in my electorate in the Gap. She bought a house. She is a young woman. I have not met her. I have talked to her on the phone once since the e-mail, and we have been exchanging e-mails since. Her e-mail rocked me. It said there were drinkers in the street the other day, less than 2 km, I might add, from the Gap Hotel, fighting, arguing and so on. She feared for her safety to such an extent that she took her young child to go and stay with a friend elsewhere in Alice Springs. This is a woman who owns her home. She feels set upon. A young woman with a young child cannot even stay in her house. We see media stories, we hear talkback radio increasingly. There are numerous examples I could cite.
Does that person in my electorate reckon that government has failed in its primary responsibility to protect her and her child? Too right, she does. Do many of my constituents think that you have failed in your responsibility to protect them and their families? Too right, they do. Once again, the case is prosecuted that the government has failed to meet the primary responsibility of a government to ensure the safety of its citizens.
The government has failed to have any practical plans to make Alice Springs safe and that is a further damning indictment. I remember when the community was, to the extent that I could gauge it, in uproar and very angry about what was happening here in Alice Springs, I did my best to assist. We started a group called Alice in Five. Alice in Five was started because the community felt so strongly, they wanted to do it themselves. I am like the government. I have a belief and confidence in the people of Alice Springs and their willingness to tackle the problems. What they need is commitment, determination, resources and passion, something that government members do not have.
The Chief Minister accused Alice in Five, and I am quoting here, Madam Speaker. I was surprised at the language, the Chief Minister said:
- Alice in Five, basically is a smart-arse comment.
That is what you said. Let us talk about Advance Alice. Let us talk about another group that formed because the Chief Minister, the Police minister and their little friends were not doing enough. This is why groups form: things get so bad that they look to their government for leadership, there is none; they are looking for ideas, there are none, and so people form groups. The Chief Minister and others accuse me of whingeing. To be an effective voice, I reflect the wishes, aspirations and concerns of my electorate. So you can call me whatever you like, and you usually do, but you should think about the people I represent and those who live in the town in which I am a member.
Don’t you dare accuse the people who I represent of whingeing. Don’t you dare accuse the people who I represent of being smart arses. Don’t you dare accuse the people I represent of talking down their town when they have the good sense and determination, partly because they are desperate, to form their own groups. The spin from the fifth floor of Parliament House all the way up there in Darwin is that Advance Alice was a vigilante group. If ever something was offensive, that was it. To call those decent, good citizens vigilantes is offensive. I do not know the politics of Advance Alice. I never ask people their politics because I take the view it is none of my business. However, my best guess is that members of Advance Alice would probably be in the middle of the road politically speaking. No doubt in every group, you get both ends of the spectrum, but I think for the most part, my hunch is that they are middle of the road.
If ever the Chief Minister lost a potential vote, it was when her government accused these people of being vigilantes. Nothing could be further from the truth. Nothing in their view or, indeed in mine, is based on any level of truth. Again, it is illustrative of the distance, geographical and other, that this government has from Alice Springs.
Then we see the government coming to Alice Springs, spreading the love around, telling the people of Alice Springs that they care, getting the glossy brochures up - big ones - saying here is what we are doing, people of Alice Springs. Now we have the Police minister being overridden by the boss. We know about the Leader of Government Business over there because we read in The Australian last year about the leadership struggle. We know that he is going to make his bid and we are reading all sorts of interesting things that are coming out of Cabinet in recent times, I can tell you. When is he going to make his move? I tell you what: the people of Alice Springs would vote for you because they have no confidence in this woman. They would back you in that contest. Come the next election, I reckon they might back me but, between you two, I reckon the people of Alice Springs would be between the devil and the deep blue sea. However, she has failed so maybe you would have a go.
In any event, you have been overruled by your boss. I wonder if she told you. I wonder if she came up to you and said: ‘Burnsie, you know how you have been saying the CCTV cameras are a crock, we are going to have to do something because we are here in Alice Springs spreading the love, and we need to say that we are doing something. May as well give it a go. We are going to announce CCTV cameras’. But you are the one who said: ‘No, we are not doing it’. Good luck in your deliberations. I know we are all out the back pretty close together. We might put our ears to the wall and see how much love you are spreading in your own group.
Let us go to youth curfews. The Alice Springs Town Council has supported youth curfews. The council, in mid-March I think, had a vote of no confidence in this government. I cannot remember a council in Alice Springs doing that. Others might; I cannot. A council having a vote of no confidence in government speaks volumes. That is yet another example of the way Alice Springs people feel. We are jumping up and down saying: ‘Listen to us! We have some ideas. Do not berate us’. Berate me because that is your style; I accept that. I do not like it, but I accept it because you berate me or my colleague the member for Greatorex so much that no work would be done if we cared too much about it. However, do not berate the people we represent. Do not berate the people of Alice Springs.
Our mayor has said the town is in crisis. She probably still is your friend. She was the Labor candidate. She has come late to the party, but now, even the mayor is saying we need some action. Do you know why the Crime Summit was called? Because you blokes were not doing anything - nothing. You get back to Darwin and you say: ‘Alice what?’ Let us make this abundantly clear, and I should talk slowly because I do not want to lose you on this one, minister: Alice Springs is in the bottom part of the Northern Territory, not the top of South Australia. It would be wonderful if you would acknowledge that fact. Get your photo up at the Alice Springs Hospital.
This is a bundle of media reports from the Centralian Advocate and, invariably, good publication though it is, it speaks of what is happening in Alice Springs. I know that you can buy the Centralian Advocate in Darwin because I go to the shop and buy it. Do you know why? Because I am actually interested in what is happening here. It is available in Darwin. I suggest that you purchase copies on a regular basis so that if your staff are not telling you and if you do not want to come here very often, at least read the paper and see what you can deduce from this community and what is happening in it.
There is so much to say, but in so many ways, the letter from Mr Trevor Filmer to Alice Springs business owners probably says it all. Trevor Filmer was one of the men who organised today’s demonstration. The letter was dated 11 April and said:
- The future safety of our families, staff and the town is currently in the balance and without some positive action, the future is bleak.
They are not Jodeen Carney’s words; they are Trevor Filmer’s words. I raise these issues in parliament, as does the member for Greatorex. We talk about them in and out of the parliament. Why do we talk about them? Because if we do not talk about them, nothing is going to be done. Politicians are human beings and, like human beings, sometimes things have to get really bad before they will act. It is unfortunate that things in Alice Springs are so bad before we see any government action, and the action I have seen so far is: ‘Yes, we will help with the CCTV cameras’. Good, but we really would like to see much more.
Both the Chief Minister and the minister for Police thoroughly deserve this censure. I would be derelict in my duty - and I know the member for Greatorex feels the same - if I did not censure you today. I am sure everyone was expecting it. I am sure even you guys were expecting it.
You do ignore the people of Alice Springs. You have overseen the deterioration in safety in Alice Springs which the mayor has called a crisis. You have failed to meet the primary responsibility of government, which is ensuring the safety of its citizens. You have failed to provide practical plans to make Alice Springs safe for its citizens - not three years from now, but now. You should have done it three or four years ago, but you had your eye off the ball. Do it now. Long-term strategies, two- or three-year strategies, are not what the mums and dads out there want. Deliver some practical plans and give us some police numbers over and above establishment, and you might like to reconsider what is an appropriate establishment because we need more. You have failed to support any sensible measures by me and others, including the council.
Madam Speaker, I commend the motion.
Ms MARTIN (Chief Minister): Madam Speaker, I reject this censure, and I reject it on very sound grounds. In so rejecting the censure, I am not rejecting the voice of the people of Alice Springs, but it was a censure based on lack of facts, on the usual hyperbole of the Opposition Leader and her usual offence. You do not hear it every day in Alice Springs, but let me tell you when parliament sits in Darwin, we hear the offence every day. While we would like to have a parliament that does not deal in offence, we have become used to the Alice Springs Opposition Leader who works on that basis.
We reject this censure but do not reject the fact that, for Alice Springs residents, there have been, over the last years, unacceptably high levels of antisocial behaviour and crime in the town from time to time. This government is determined to tackle that.
Just to deal with some of the things that were said by the Opposition Leader; to offend ministers in the government by claiming they feign interest in Alice Springs is simply wrong – it is simply wrong. To accuse ministers of using Alice Springs to fly in and fly out is one of the more ridiculous things I have ever heard. If you look around this Chamber, you will see that there are members here who represent parts of the Territory. There is the member for Port Darwin, who lives in Port Darwin. There is the member for Brennan, who lives in the electorate the Brennan. There is the Chief Minister, who lives in the electorate of Fannie Bay, quite appropriately. To say that there is some kind of lack of interest in Alice Springs because of where we live, and that we do fly in and fly out, is simply ridiculous. It indicates that the Opposition Leader clutches at straws when she is trying to cause offence because the fact is that we live in the electorates we represent. To cover the Territory, inevitably we fly in and we fly out. It really indicates the level of desperation the Opposition Leader is clutching at to try to form the basis of this censure.
Give us facts. Fine - we love facts! The Opposition Leader’s hyperbole, her ridiculous assertions of people flying in and flying out when they are doing their jobs because they live in their electorates is simply absurd. She accused me of not doing my job by flying to Canberra. Goodness gracious! Her mate, the Prime Minister, calls COAG, the Council of Australian Governments, and do you know what? I go. I go representing the Territory’s interests, fighting for Territory causes. Certainly, at the last COAG, $200m has gone down for an issue of key concern to the Territory; that is, dealing with diabetes. The states got the Prime Minister to put $100m on the table - thank you, Prime Minister - and we are going to match it. Is this an issue for Central Australia? Is this an issue for Alice Springs? Yes, accuse me of going to Canberra, accuse me of doing my job as leader of the Territory and being part of COAG, but there are great results for Alice Springs and Central Australia.
The issue of how you deal with Alice Springs is an important one. I am committed to Alice Springs. I do not make any bones about that. I am proud to be committed to Alice Springs. No, I do not live here. I am the member for Fannie Bay, so I appropriately live in my electorate, as I have done for the time I have lived in the Territory. It is the comments you use about Alice Springs, perhaps when you are not in Alice Springs, that are very telling. This Leader of the Opposition is very demeaning of Alice Springs. She thinks it is the job of opposition so she is very negative about Alice Springs, she never talks up the good things about Alice Springs. She bungy jumps into all the difficult issues that we know are here in Alice Springs. Do you ever hear a positive word? You do not! You do not hear a positive word.
Even though I do not live in Alice Springs, I get transcripts of what you say on 8HA and other media outlets in the Alice. We read what you say, the negativity you express. It is a wonder that the residents of Alice Springs are not knocking on your door calling for you to be positive, to address the issues that are working in Alice Springs - but never! I read these transcripts of what the Opposition Leader has said, and it is as though she wants to put Alice Springs down. She wants to be negative about Alice Springs, she wants to see if she can gain political points by condemning the people of Alice Springs, by condemning what is happening here.
Do you hear the positive things that are happening in Alice Springs? She even knocked the Clontarf Academy, which is a Western Australian initiative that is tackling that issue …
Ms CARNEY: No, I did not. A point of order, Madam Speaker!
Ms MARTIN: No, no. There is no point of order. Sit down.
Madam SPEAKER: What is your point of order, Leader of the Opposition?
Ms CARNEY: The Chief Minister has told a lie. She said that I knocked the Clontarf …
Madam SPEAKER: Leader of the Opposition, I ask you to withdraw.
Ms CARNEY: Sorry, I withdraw ‘lie’.
Madam SPEAKER: Did you withdraw?
Ms CARNEY: Yes, I did, Madam Speaker.
Madam SPEAKER: Leader of the Opposition, it is a censure motion, but that does not allow the Leader of the Opposition or any other member to make comments relating to lies or …
Ms CARNEY: Yes, I withdrew, Madam Speaker.
Madam SPEAKER: I would like to go through this because the censure debate must, in fact, relate to what you have in your motion. If you have in the motion that there were lies, then you can make a comment like that, but you cannot otherwise.
Ms CARNEY: I rephrase the point of order, Madam Speaker. The Chief Minister suggested that I knocked Clontarf. Nothing could be further from the truth and the Parliamentary Record will reflect it. I know that the Chief Minister struggles with being honest, but I ask that she accurately represents what I have said in this parliament. It was certainly not the case.
Madam SPEAKER: Leader of the Opposition, there is no point of order. Resume your seat.
Mr Henderson: You can give it, but you cannot take it
Ms Carney: Well, tell the truth!
Ms MARTIN: No, it is interesting …
Ms Carney: Try it! It feels good!
Madam SPEAKER: Order, Leader of the Opposition!
Ms MARTIN: One of the initiatives the Opposition Leader said was somehow or other proof of her supporting Alice Springs was Alice in Five. The reason that the Opposition Leader created Alice in Five was in contrast to the government’s Alice in 10, which we inherited from the previous government and we thought was a good idea. I cannot quote her accurately because I do not have the transcript, but the Opposition Leader said she would not support Alice in 10, which was a community-based Alice Springs initiative, because she did not believe in the future of the town so she could only believe in Alice in Five ...
Ms Carney interjecting.
Ms MARTIN: If you are going to call anything smart arse, that deserves to be called smart arse. I do not back off my comments. I do not back off my comments at all.
We have an Opposition Leader who lives in Alice Springs and represents the people of Alice Springs and yet cannot bring herself to utter anything positive about Alice Springs.
The Leader of the Opposition is an important person in this parliament. She is one of the most senior people in parliament. In fact, the pecking order goes Speaker, Chief Minster, Leader of the Opposition. It is a very important position, so you would expect leadership. You would expect leadership, particularly in an area like Alice Springs. You would expect ideas, policies and an insider’s knowledge of how to tackle some of the issues in Alice Springs. Do you ever hear that? No. All you hear are negative comments; the carping, the whingeing, the whining. She thinks that is the job of opposition. In fact, the job of a local member is to look at how you move your community ahead. We do not hear that from the Opposition Leader.
You would expect her to be building on the positives of this community, supporting good initiatives, to bring together some initiatives for government, to work with us about an important area like Alice Springs and Central Australia. Yet we have a glaring lack of interest because, on the key initiatives the government has put into place like the task force on town camps - which has had a lot of detailed work with the federal government and $80m committed to changing town camps from what we see now to important parts of the Alice Springs suburbs - has she sought a briefing? No. Has she sought to even be involved? This could be bipartisan; her mates in Canberra are part of it …
Ms Carney interjecting.
Ms MARTIN: Has she even sought a briefing? No. Has she sought to be part of it? No.
Ms Carney: No. This is the …
Ms MARTIN: This is an Opposition Leader, the member for Araluen, who has no interest in being constructive about Alice Springs and wants to stay on the outside, carp and be negative. Has she sought a briefing about the alcohol strategies that we have been working through with the community? Has she even sought to be involved in the alcohol task force that I put in place with Aboriginal leadership, town council, and the business community over 12 months ago? No. Has she sought even a briefing on what we are doing? Again, Madam Speaker, it is a no - it is a no.
This is a censure of the Police minister. I have checked with the Police minister. Has the Opposition Leader sought a briefing about what police are doing in Central Australia and Alice Springs? Has she sought a briefing? Again, Madam Speaker, no. Has she sought a briefing to find out what strategies are in place? Has she put her own ideas forward about what police could do? Has she represented the community? Again, no. It is all very well to come in here and say: ‘I am going to censure the government for this, that and whatever’, but has she ever sought to be part of the solution? No, Madam Speaker. No, no, no. Her lack of interest is stark ...
Ms Carney interjecting.
Ms MARTIN: That is interesting. The Opposition Leader asked what planet I am on. I am asking reasonable questions about what you would expect a local member to do, what you would expect the Opposition Leader to do, and she has done none of those things. When you consider that the major factor in what we are dealing with in Alice Springs is abuse of alcohol, over-consumption of alcohol, it reflects on everything we do here. We have hospital services that were drowning 12 months ago in the impact of those who were injured because of violence associated with alcohol, and those who were doing damage, disease-wise, because of alcohol. Would you expect the Opposition Leader to be interested in a major initiative that we were taking across this community, with strong community support on reducing demand, supply and harm from alcohol? Yes, you would, but she has not been. She has not at all. Yet it is such a critical part of dealing with the antisocial behaviour we see in Alice Springs. She has not asked to have a briefing on that. She has not asked to be part of the strategy and, yet, town council is, the business community is, and Aboriginal leadership is. The combined Aboriginal organisations elected two people to come and be part of that task force. They made a great contribution. It was great to have one of those members here before in the Deputy of the Administrator, Pat Miller. Neville Perkins was here briefly this morning, too. We have key members of the Alice Springs community concerned about the future of the Alice Springs community taking hard decisions on behalf of the Alice Springs community, and where is the Opposition Leader? She is missing in action.
Madam Speaker, government firmly rejects the opposition’s censure motion. There is no doubt - and I have made this point again and again - that there is an unacceptable level of antisocial behaviour and violence in Alice Springs and, meeting with the delegation from the protest group this morning, we recognised that. There was never any attempt to say it is not happening, but it was important to explain that initiatives had been put in place, particularly with police, to start tackling those immediately. The delegation understood that government had to be working on two levels; the immediate and the long-term strategies. Long-term strategies are in place, and it is going to take time, but we have to be more effective with the short-term ones, and that is what we agreed on this morning.
We will continue to work with the people of Alice Springs, the business community, community organisations, Aboriginal leadership, and other tiers of government to address the important issue of antisocial behaviour and violence, and crime in the streets of Alice Springs.
While acknowledging there is still a lot of work to do here to make it an even safer place to live, it is important to reflect on the steps that we have taken. This work has included positive partnerships with the Australian government, the Alice Springs Town Council, as well as the broader Central Australia community. As a result of our continuing work with the community through the Alcohol and Town Camp Task Force, we have established, as I have mentioned, alcohol supply restrictions through our Alice Springs alcohol management plan. We have established the alcohol courts, which include rehabilitation services. We have put in place dry area legislation. The Alice Springs Town Council has been the first one to take advantage of that legislation, and has put an application through which is currently being heard, and sitting with the Liquor Commissioner. We are very hopeful that that will be agreed to. These are just some of the initiatives aimed at reducing violence, crime and antisocial behaviour. I will be addressing more of these later today in my statement on Central Australia.
We must remain focused on the fact that dealing with alcohol-fuelled violence is a major challenge for us in the region. That did not just emerge over the last 12 months; it has emerged over decades. Our alcohol management plan is producing some very encouraging results. We have only really had the first three months. The Alcohol Management Strategy started in October of last year, but in the first three months, which shows that we are going in the right direction, there was an 11% decrease in takeaway sales of pure alcohol. That is a significant start in the three months since the plan was put in place. There was a 31% reduction in admissions to the sobering-up shelter. The police told us that there were 50% fewer apprehensions without arrest, so that was good from a policing point of view. There was a 12% drop in selected offences against property and persons. Importantly for the hospital, there were fewer hospital admissions for alcohol-related conditions.
I will not pretend that in three months we have made anything more than a small start, but we are determined to keep working on it because it will decrease the level of antisocial behaviour taking place in Alice Springs.
An important part of what we area doing, as I said, is the Alice Springs town camp strategy, which is to take the camps, as we know them now, which are a disgrace in many ways, to being part of suburban Alice Springs. It will help us tackle poor living conditions, antisocial behaviour and the violence that erupts daily in those camps.
Together with funding from the Australian government, around $80m will be spent on infrastructure and housing, building other accommodation in and around Alice Springs. That will make a substantial difference. Discussions with the federal government have happened. We are in the final stages of those, and we will start seeing some changes to the infrastructure in those town camps. They will look like part of suburban Alice Springs. There will be proper roads, lighting, a proper arrangement for subleases of houses, and some of those town camp residents will be able to eventually buy their homes. We will stop calling them town camps. If people are living in government owned houses, they will be public housing tenants. We are going to see big changes.
Part of the changes to town camps is establishing more short-term accommodation. Properly managed temporary visitor accommodation is important. I know that it has caused controversy, but if we are going to have visitors coming to town and we are going to stop them staying in camps and causing further overcrowding or sleeping in public places, we need to have more short-term accommodation. I do not back away from that. I know it has caused controversy, but we are going to insist with the federal government, whose initiative it is with the two sites of Len Kittle Drive and Dalgety Road, that these are properly managed. If they are not properly managed, the minister for Planning will withdraw permission for it to happen. These are important part of dealing with antisocial behaviour in Alice Springs.
In policing, the recent recruitment of 15 additional officers to Alice Springs means that the police presence is at full strength. The police believe they now have the resources to do what is a very important job for Alice Springs, and have refocused their efforts on social order. From talking to the delegation this morning, the last two weeks have seen a real change in what is happening on the streets, particularly when you look at one of the key features, which is City Safe. As government, we give a commitment to keep that focus there and to work with police to make sure it is happening.
We have also introduced a number of related measures that will assist in tackling antisocial behaviour, and they include the capacity for mandatory treatment orders, enhanced adult and child treatment and rehabilitation services, clinical and education interventions and giving communities the ability to develop their own volatile substance abuse management plans. Nine of these plans are now being developed across Central Australia because petrol sniffing has been a significant factor in contributing to antisocial behaviour and causes real damage to those who are petrol sniffers. It is great to see that it is now a minor problem in Alice Springs and Central Australia.
We have introduced gang legislation, which gives police the power to intervene and break up gangs and, earlier this year, we unveiled a new youth strategy, which was developed in consultation with police, the youth sector, patrol services, Alice Springs recreational services, and not the opposition. The strategy will focus on young people at risk of harm to themselves or others. Through initiatives like the youth drop-in service and youth workers working in hot spots around town it will, I am confident, reduce the number of unsupervised children on the streets at night. Importantly, there will be much closer liaison between youth service providers and police to quickly respond to potential trouble. This aims to make the streets and the community safer for everyone.
Another important initiative in this raft is something that the Opposition Leader says she now embraces warmly, and that is the Clontarf program, which is about getting kids off the streets and into school programs by linking sport and school.
While there are a number of significant steps that have been taken, there is still a lot of work to be done. We are listening carefully to the community. We share the community’s concerns. I will be at the mayor’s meeting on Friday, looking at what initiatives the community would like to see in place. The summit in late May, once we see the outcome of the public dry areas legislation which includes broader Central Australia, is really critical. One of the key issues about why antisocial behaviour is unacceptable in the streets of Alice Springs is the number of visitors who come into Alice Springs and behave badly. One of the alcohol task force members said we have to stop the running amok in the streets of Alice Springs. Dead true - absolutely dead true.
While Alice Springs, as a major service centre, welcomes visitors from the 264-odd communities that are in the Central Australian region - some of them in Western Australia, some of them in South Australia - they have to behave well. They have to accept restrictions on what alcohol they drink, where they drink it, and those are going to get tougher. It is important when we have the summit, which will be in late May, leaders of Central Australian communities are part of it so they understand that this community will accept people who behave well, who do not get drunk in public places, who do not misbehave, who do not engage in antisocial behaviour, and who are not exacerbating domestic violence. We will need to spell out very clearly all those issues.
That summit will be held at the end of May. It will look at what we are doing currently, and it will get this important leadership group across our community to ask: do we need to take further action? Do we need to, as I indicated in Question Time, have further alcohol restrictions? What do we need to do further about young people, about kids at school? Some of the things we may look at are whether we get much more directive with the federal government about how they might better deliver welfare support; that is a key issue.
Aboriginal women across the Territory are saying: ‘Link financial assistance payments to attendance at school’. I put that on Mal Brough’s desk and I have yet to hear anything back from the federal government. However, when Aboriginal communities are saying let us make that link, why are we not doing it? Why is the federal government, which likes to talk about issues affecting the Territory, not taking real initiatives when they are put on the table from the Territory and have widespread support?
There is a lot to do in Central Australia, but I certainly reject the Opposition Leader’s main point that we ignore Alice Springs. This government does not ignore Alice Springs. The fact that so many of us live elsewhere does not mean that we ignore Alice Springs. I am the Minister for Major Projects, as I said in Question Time, and one of my major projects, important as any other major project I have, is Alice Springs. I am proud of it, and I am proud to come down and I meet regularly with people here. I meet regularly with the heads of government here, I meet regularly with the business community, with the Aboriginal leadership, and I will continue to do that. What I would like is for the Opposition Leader to stop carping, to stop focusing on the negatives and to look at solutions.
This is a wonderful community. If you look at tourism, the tourist numbers are building well in Alice Springs and the Centre. That is a great delight to me. I was the Tourism Minister for three years, and they were tough times for Alice Springs. Tourism NT has spent a lot of money marketing Alice Springs and, only recently, I was delighted to be here to launch a $2m campaign just for Alice Springs.
The Opposition Leader can carp, but part of that money came from the business community to work with government to market Alice Springs. When I opened The Weekend Australian magazine this weekend, there it was: ‘Adventure NT’. It was fantastic. There were two big ads in The Weekend Australian magazine. I believe in the future of Alice Springs. I know we have some tough issues to deal with, but the business sector is spending money; businesses are doing well in Alice Springs. There is a lot of construction money being spent both by government and the private sector, and this place has a great future. There are some tough issues to tackle on the way, but, as a government, we believe in Alice Springs. It is a pity the opposition does not.
Dr LIM (Greatorex): Madam Speaker, I do not propose to read everything I have here, but I want to demonstrate that in a few scant months, I have collected these from newspapers in Alice Springs and some from the Northern Territory News about law and order issues in Alice Springs. That is a tragedy that, in a few short months, I have collected three reams of photocopies of news articles about how this government has failed on law and order issues in Central Australia …
Members interjecting.
Dr LIM: I hear the minister for Environment and Heritage saying: ‘Table it.’ Obviously, she has not read the papers; that is why she does not know.
Let us come to the motion, which says that this government, under the Chief Minister and the Police minister, has overseen a deterioration in safety in Alice Springs, a town which the mayor has described as ‘a town in crisis’. Four years ago, I remember the mayor standing out there saying: ‘I feel safe’. She held up a placard saying: ‘Everything is fine’ ...
Mrs Braham: No, that was me.
Dr LIM: And you, too, member for Braitling. They said that and suddenly they have changed their tune, the mayor and the member for Braitling.
Mrs Braham: No, I have not changed my tune.
Dr LIM: There are problems in this town. Everyone living in Central Australia has an expectation that they can live their daily lives without any intrusion by lawless people. The Chief Minister wants us to praise her for doing that. That is what we expect in our normal lives: having a normal environment where their safety is a daily expectation for which she, the Chief Minister, should not expect praise.
We are bringing the message to her, and her Police minister, saying that there is a problem in this town and they have to listen. As members of parliament, as members of the opposition, yes, we do complain but, unless we complain, the message does not get through. It took 500 people outside parliament this morning to demonstrate to this government that there is a huge law and order problem in this town. Only then did the Chief Minister take notice, and only then did she say: ‘Okay, I will give you the money for the CCTV’. Until this morning, CCTV was off the government’s agenda.
The minister for Police, in his response to a petition that I tabled a few months ago in parliament, said that CCTV was not needed; it was not going to be of any use in Alice Springs. I wonder what he says now. He has the audacity to say that the Alice Springs Town Council scoped the CCTV project. They found it to be not useful and rejected the idea. It was 10 years ago when the Alice Springs Town Council rejected the Chief Minister’s offer to fund CCTV in the Todd Mall. Law and order has deteriorated and become much worse in the last 10 years.
Of the last two weeks, the Chief Minister said: ‘Oh, things are better’. At Easter, this minister for Police finally got his act together and got a full complement of police officers in Alice Springs. Finally, there are 15 new police officers to complete the establishment numbers. He had the audacity to mislead the media and the people of Alice Springs by suggesting that he has 15 extra police in town. There were never 15 extra police; he just got the numbers up to scratch. That is what he did; nothing more than that. It was the problem that this town has suffered this last six years that caused the problems of law and order in this town.
They have overseen the deterioration in safety when you have people suffering unprovoked attacks down the mall. They are just going about their normal daily business, and they are attacked. Shopkeepers tell me that groups of youths and adults walk into their shops and take their goods in front of their very eyes, knowing full well that when the shopkeeper calls for the police, they take a long time to respond. By the time the police get there, the perpetrator has long gone with the goods. There is nothing they can do. There is blatant law breaking in this town.
Just a little more than 12 months ago, I said there was anarchy in the streets in Alice Springs, and I was howled down because they were strong words. In the last 14 months since I made that speech, things have become worse. In every newspaper you open every week in Alice Springs or in Darwin, you read about the lawlessness in Alice Springs. When I made the speech about anarchy in the streets in February last year, there had been some eight killings within six months at that time. Recently, we have had stabbings. There was one on the ABC just recently where you saw bloody hand print smears on the wall. That is something you might see on CSI on television, but this was Alice Springs! There is no wonder people in Alice Springs feel they have been abandoned by this government.
That is why the motion says in the first point: ‘ignoring the pleas of the people of Alice Springs to make their town safe’. When you see imagines like that on television, when you read newspaper articles, over and over again, that there are issues in this town, there is no wonder people are concerned for their safety. People are saying they cannot tolerate this sort of lawlessness in this town; they are leaving town. Week after week, you see people writing letters to the editor saying they are leaving town. Talk to the removalists; they are moving more people out of Alice Springs than they are moving in. Five going out, and one coming in ...
Mr Henderson: So why are house prices going up?
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Dr LIM: Madam Speaker, I will not pick up that interjection because we are focused on censuring the Chief Minister and the Police minister. When we come to the debate on planning for Alice Springs that the Chief Minister will bring up, I will raise all those issues.
The government’s primary responsibility is to ensure the safety of citizens. Unless we all feel safe, whether we are black, while or brindle, we do not have time to be worried about whether we are going to get good education and health. You want to be safe. That is your first priority. Once that occurs, we can focus on any other issue about normal life. This government has failed Alice Springs and has failed it miserably.
When it comes to practical plans for Alice Springs, they have failed to achieve any of the practical plans that have been suggested by the people of Alice Springs. I remember the member for Casuarina saying: ‘You Alice Springs people, give us ideas. Tell us what you want and we will support you’. We asked for CCTV, we asked for a youth curfew. What does the government say? ‘No, you do not need it. We are not going to fund you for it’. This was out of hand by this government.
Coming back to the motion, it is very pertinent. This government has failed to provide Alice Springs with a safe environment. It has seen a deterioration of the safety in this town. I am asking this government to seriously reconsider. One step has been made that the Northern Territory government is going to pick up on the shortfall in funding for CCTV, but that is not enough. We need to have more visible police on the beat in Alice Springs.
Since Easter, knowing that many Darwin-based politicians would be in Alice Springs, knowing that parliament is going to be sitting here this week, things have improved. I agree that things have improved. They have improved because you are all here. Otherwise, we would still be struggling with the youth gangs rampaging down the streets, we would have people stabbed. These two weeks cannot be taken into any calculation that the Northern Territory government’s law and order activities in Alice Springs have worked so far. If the last two weeks carries on for the next many years, then I will take off my hat to the Chief Minister and her Police minister and say yes, well done, you have done it. I know for a fact that it will not happen. I know because I have lived here for 26 years and I have seen the pattern over and over again. Whenever Community Cabinet comes to town, everything gets cleaned up, but the moment Community Cabinet leaves, it goes back to absolutely zero ...
Ms Scrymgour interjecting.
Dr LIM: If the member for Arafura wants to contribute, I ask her to come forward and talk. If not, she could pull her head in and shut up for a little.
It is important that a youth curfew that the town council requested should be seriously considered. As the minister for Community Services said, it was the Northbridge example in Perth and it was for the pub strip where teenagers obviously roam and roll the drunks as they fall out of nightclubs. What do you think Gap Road, Todd Street and Todd Mall are in Alice Springs? They are the streets where the main social activity takes place. The minister said it does not work. Sorry! Come down to Alice Springs, spend a few days here and have a look for yourself what Gap Road, Todd Street and Todd Mall are about.
There is a litany of antisocial behaviour reported in the newspapers on a very regular basis. I am glad to see over the last few weeks, the Northern Territory News is starting to publish articles about Alice Springs showing people in Darwin what we in Alice Springs have to live with. We had a 39-year-old Alice man stabbed, and an editorial in the NT News saying in its headlines ‘Alice Needs Crime Action’. That was written less than two weeks ago, ‘Alice Springs Needs Crime Action’. It not just the opposition calling for this. It is the editorial in the Centralian Advocate, the detailed articles published in the Alice Springs News. The Northern Territory News is saying in its first line:
- There is something seriously wrong in Alice Springs.
Two decades ago, not very long, two decades ago, under the CLP if I can add those words:
- Two decades ago, it was a quaint, peaceful town, the kind of place where people could leave their front doors unlocked at night.
That is what we want to see for our town ...
Mr Stirling: Very selective memory. I remember brawls in the Todd.
Dr LIM: Here you have members of government interjecting, making inane comments about something that is written by the Editor of the Northern Territory News ...
Mr Stirling: Yes, well they are romanticising.
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order!
Dr LIM: I just hope the Deputy Chief Minister will also contribute to this censure debate and allow all of us in opposition to share with him the concerns that we have not only for Alice Springs, but for Tennant Creek, Katherine and Palmerston. We can tell them all about it.
The editorial also said:
- … but, if we are brutally honest, it is in danger of losing that most precious of things: the collective peace of mind.
That is what we are complaining about. We have been saying that we are losing this and the Northern Territory government does not listen, and that is what led to this censure motion. Censure motions are very serious indeed, and they are not taken lightly by the parliament.
The government’s own police statistics show very clearly that personal crime has increased in Alice Springs by over 10% when you compare 2005 with 2006. When you see property offences, break-ins of houses, commercial premises and motor vehicles and other theft, you have to ask: how do I feel safe in my own home? My house was broken into in September 2005. My next door neighbour was broken into about three weeks ago - he worked as a corrections officer - and the house on my left-hand side was broken into three weeks ago. We should not live in an environment in which houses are broken into. The house that was broken into three weeks ago was a fully security screened home, but the perpetrators threw a rock through the glass window, broke it and accessed the house. Why should this person, who lives on her own, suffer the ignominy of having her house broken into? What security will she have from now on? How can she feel secure in her own home, when she lives on her own? Will she have to stay up all night worrying whether the next rock is going to come through the glass window?
This pattern of percentage increase in crime of 10.6% in Alice Springs is replicated in Tennant Creek. Tennant Creek has a 37% increase, Katherine 9.5% increase, Palmerston 10.68% increase, Darwin 12.5% increase. Do you understand why we are all screaming out saying that the Northern Territory government has to deal with this law and order issue properly? Since the days when this government first came to power, in 2001, within a few months they removed mandatory sentencing and then, less than a few months ago, they reintroduced some of that. They removed the move on laws that were introduced by the CLP government and then recently reintroduced them as gang laws. These are laws that were successful under the CLP being reintroduced by this government because, foolishly, four or five years ago, they threw out the baby with the bath water.
Chief Minister, and the minister for Police, you have failed Alice Springs. You have failed to listen. You have allowed deterioration of safety in this town. That is the reason why 500 people demonstrated today. It was a very angry crowd and, if you do not listen to that crowd, then you are going to be in for a very nasty two or three years to come. Alice Springs is fed up to the back teeth with the way you have treated it. You have ignored all the concerns expressed to government, but when you start to ignore that, people get angry and that is when you then get the crowds that you saw outside. This government must understand that when people march down the street, it is to demonstrate their frustration. They are not vigilantes. They are there to say: ‘Government, we have to do this because you have failed us’.
I remember eight or nine years ago when indigenous women around Central Australia marched through the streets of Alice Springs to reclaim the night. The government, then in opposition, thought it was a fantastic thing for the women to reclaim the night. They marched down the street and said: ‘This is ours. No one should commit domestic violence against us’. Well, the people of Alice Springs, through Advance Alice, are doing the same thing. They are marching down the street to say ‘This is our town, enough is enough; we want safety back in our streets’. They are reclaiming their town. That is what it is. They are reclaiming the town and you, as government, must listen.
I know the CLP represents the urban electorates in the Territory, and maybe that is why you all choose to ignore the pleas of Alice Springs. I recall a minister who sits in this room saying to a group of business people in Alice Springs at a Christmas function at Limericks: ‘You guys did not vote for us, so you guys can suffer’ …
Members interjecting.
Dr LIM: That comment was repeated only about a week ago by a ministerial minder. That comment was repeated by a ministerial minder just one week ago …
Members interjecting.
Dr LIM: The ministers are interjecting at us with a smile on their face, so they know who it is. If they do not know, they should go and ask their minders, shouldn’t they? They should be asking their minders: ‘Who is the minder who repeated, less than two weeks ago, that we will not look after Alice Springs because they did not vote for us?’ That is the worst kind of government, a government that is represented by the Chief Minister who says: ‘We will govern for all Territorians’. What rubbish! You do not govern for all Territorians, and that is the greatest disgrace of the lot ...
Mr Henderson: Who? Come on, you have parliamentary privilege. Which minister said that?
Dr LIM: Find out.
Mr Henderson: You are a gutless coward!
Dr LIM: A point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker! I ask the minister to withdraw that comment, please.
Mr HENDERSON: I withdraw that comment, Mr Deputy Speaker. However, the shadow minister has an obligation. If he is going to cast slurs in this parliament, slurs against nine ministers of this parliament, he could use parliamentary privilege and name the minister who is supposed to have said that. If not, he is just making it up.
Members interjecting.
Mrs BRAHAM (Braitling): Mr Deputy Speaker, I do not usually talk in censure motions, but it is an issue that is dear to our hearts, and something that we need to resolve in Alice Springs.
There is no doubt there have been a number of incidents that have occurred over the last 18 months that have had a bad effect on business and the morale of the town. I have to admit that I have not been personally affected at all, but there are many people who have. We should feel for those who had personal attacks on their businesses, their families or their young people.
I ask the government if they are aware of the sense of dismay the community feels when police take offenders into custody, they go to court, only to be released on bail and only to re-offend the following night. Will you consult with magistrates and courts? They also have a responsibility to this community and the young people they allow to re-offend. At the moment, the only detention centre in the Territory for young people is Don Dale in the Top End. We have a holding centre at Aranda House that has three rooms, so you could probably hold three juveniles to each room. It has been fairly busy lately, but it is not for any length of time. We need to have some sort of centre - and I do not care whether you call it a boot camp or a wilderness camp - whereby magistrates at least have the option to put some of these young offenders into a program that might at least help change their lives.
Too many times I see young people go along with a group and, through peer pressure, do something they would not normally do on their own. Let us face it: young people are like that; they are easily influenced by each other. The young people who went through the mall the other night, skylarking at the beginning but then inflicting serious injury on people, were probably egged on by each other.
We also have to think about our women. Just the other night, there was group of young girls. I think they would have been about the age of 10, 12 to 14. One of the youth workers told me how worried he was that something would happen to those young girls. They had a fairly good time skylarking around at night, and he was going to try to find out who they were, where they belong and why they were out on the street behaving this way and, in fact, putting themselves at risk.
It is not just our homes, our properties, our families that are at risk. It is also the young people of Alice Springs who should be our future. Somehow or other, we have to stop the rot. We need to be able to get the message through to them. I am quite sure, at the moment, they go into court and are released on bail just to re-offend, as I said, the next night, and do not have any respect for law and order.
There is a young lad who lives in Larapinta who was the cause of great nuisance in the neighbourhood who went to Don Dale. He has been part of the group that has been causing problems because he has been let out. He did not find Don Dale Juvenile Detention Centre a deterrent. In fact, I would imagine putting him in with some of the people who are there was the worst thing for him.
We have to look at options for these young people, particularly those who are on the fringes of doing the wrong things, and those who are at risk. It is easy to stand in parliament and blast each other. I have listened to the Leader of the Opposition and the member for Greatorex, and I have not heard them come up with anything really constructive. It disturbs me that I am hearing this continual bleating; everyone trying to put the worst spin on what is happening.
I am going to the summit on Friday. I have a list of ideas. We have to start being constructive and we have to start working together. I am as upset as anyone. Yes, I had my home broken into years ago. Yes, I have had my home barraged a few times. It need not be like that. Parliament should be showing respect. Look at the public galleries. I spent some time out there with people who are saying: ‘What is a censure motion? What point is there in having it? What will it achieve?’ There is a sense of: ‘So what? I thought parliament was here to get things done. We thought parliament was here to be constructive, and to get things working, find solutions’. There is a bit of disappointment. I look around these galleries now and feel that here was an opportunity for Alice Springs people to hear this debate, but they did not bother, they have walked away, because they could not see that it was in any way constructive.
Police minister, when you reply, will you talk to me about how you will provide a program for young people? That way, the community at least see that they are being taken seriously, that the courts are taking what is happening to our town seriously. I know there is meant to be this separation of powers, as we have heard so many times. Every time I criticise anything that happens in the courts, I usually get a letter from someone in the legal profession bagging me, but we have to do something. That is what I am saying. It is easy to stand up and knock, knock, knock, but for goodness sake, let us get on with it. We need to identify these young people who are causing problems.
My grapevine says there is a house in one of the town camps that houses a number of young people, and I need to get one of the youth workers into that camp to find out where those young people are coming from, why they are congregating like that and why are they being encouraged. Are they from town, are they from broken homes, are they from camps, are they from out bush? We need to find out and we need to talk to them. I bet if you went to ASHS and talked to some of the young kids in the playground, they would probably tell you who they are. They would probably know the kids who are walking up the street causing trouble. Go into the town camps. Which houses are they hiding in? Which houses are encouraging them to get out? It is not very nice to go home if there is nothing there for them.
I was appalled to receive another notice today of an incident that happened in Elder Street where windows were broken and our brand new restaurant, QC, again having a window smashed and grog stolen. That is not acceptable. Business people have the right to feel angry and offended, but we are not going to get anywhere if we keep talking. We have talked enough. We need to hear the solutions.
I would like to the government to enact legislation that says parents should be responsible for the damage their children have done. Let us get that message through. If your kid breaks this window, you are going to pay for it. We have the legislation, but very rarely do courts use it. Even though you are going to say these people cannot afford it, they can afford to buy grog and cars. Let us start making them give recompense for the damage their kids have done. If that starts getting through, let us go to the federal government and say: ‘Will you take it out of their payments? Let us do it my direct debit’. I can already hear the wailing about why it cannot be done, but we can do it in a way that they will take responsibility for it. To be honest, these young people are out of control and they have no respect for their parents, no respect for law and order, no respect for me, no respect for you. We have to get that message back to them, most of all.
We need to take a stronger message to the offenders that we will not tolerant their behaviour but, most of all, we need to recognise that they are in grave danger themselves. Where is this behaviour going to take them? It is going to take them into the courts. It is going to take them into incarceration. What is their future? Probably very grim. We need to make sure that we stop this downward spiral of our young people. We need to see something happen.
I have heard many stories from residents e-mailing or ringing me, talking about their frustrations, talking about the disturbance that occurs in their neighbourhood. Yes, I could go on and on and list them, but I do not think I need to do that because you know exactly what I am talking about. One of the biggest problems we have at the moment is the grog restrictions in Alice Springs. Regardless of what the Chief Minister sees as the good points of what is happening, it has, in fact, created new problems and more policing problems. Ask the police. Go for a walk on the North Side at six o’clock. You can then buy your litres of wine. You can disappear down the creek where you cannot be seen and you cause a problem. You either come back to the area to get more grog or you bash whoever has some. They may have made some inroads into crime, but they have created lots of problems for us. I have said many times, and I will say it again: Aboriginal people deserve the right to drink in their own back yards, and that is why many of them come into town. They get into a cycle and they cannot escape.
Government has to start seriously looking at this. You cannot say the only place these people can drink is in our town. You have to start talking to them about setting up social clubs. Go to DASA and look at the people who are going through that sobering-up shelter. The majority of them are from Hermannsburg and Santa Teresa. Why do you not go out to Santa Teresa and Hermannsburg and talk to them? Ask what we can do to stop them coming into town and getting into this terrible spiral.
I am not suggesting that you open up grog outlets on communities or takeaways or anything like that, but let us make life better and, yes, let us, in time, introduce grog in a controlled manner. If they want to drink, they have the right to drink as every other Australian has, and the cause of the problem that many people get into in town is grog. It is as simple as that.
They also need transport when they come into town. At the recent AFL match, we had about 11 000 people here and the bussing service that was provided for those people to make sure they got home was amazing, and they went home. They had activities out on their communities on the Saturday and Sunday so they would go home. They wanted to go home.
When I go away, no matter where it is, I have a great sense of relief when I get home. I love to come home. I am so pleased to get home. Would a person living in a creek want to go home when there is not much there? That is what I say: home is important to us all and we must make our homes a good place to live. I ask the government to start putting some of their funding into making communities a better place to live. I heard from some of the Docker River people the other day. What a turnaround for them. It is fantastic: the school, the attendance, the social and recreational workers, the aged care people are being looked after. There are models out there where it is working well, but we need to make sure we put the money into these communities to make sure life is better for them.
I will not dwell on short-term accommodation because I am hoping I can ask a question today about them because I do not believe it is the answer. You had to be at the meeting to hear Lindsay Bookie from Bonya saying: ‘Why are you putting these dollars in town? My people need them out bush; I do not want my people coming to town’. We have heard that repeatedly from people in communities: ‘Give us the dongas out in the communities; we do not need our people coming into town to get into trouble’. Unfortunately, the short-term accommodation only offers that alternative.
The downside of the trouble we have in town at the moment always take away from the good things that are happening. We have to be careful that we do not paint such a bad picture of this town that we damage it. That is what worries me most of all. Do you remember your grandmother or mother saying you don’t air your dirty linen in public; keep it in-house. We should be keeping in-house, we should be keeping it in this town. We should not be going to Today Tonight, Lateline and all those programs that will blow it out of proportion. We need to ensure we work together to solve this problem.
Do not knock the police. I have regular contact with Mark Coffey and Sean Parnell. They do well with the resources they have but, as they say, there is always another job they have to go to. I also spend a lot of time speaking with youth groups. They need our support. They need us to get behind them. Many of them have good solutions. Yes, it is going to cost dollars, but is that not why government is here? Is not government here for all Territorians, not just those who voted for them? I ask this government to think about that. I do not knock someone and say: ‘Sorry, you are not in my electorate. I cannot help you there’. I take on anyone who walks in the door and you should do the same. You are here not just for a few Territorians, but for all, and if there is a need here at the moment, it is important that you come armed with good solutions and be prepared to work with us.
The member for Greatorex loves to knock me, because at the last demonstration, I did say I love this town and still say that continually. It is a great town. It is only a small group of people who are making life lousy for us. Let us remember that. The majority of people in this town are wonderful people. They are good businessmen, they are good family, they are good public servants, they are good providers in every way. I worry that if we concentrate so much on the bad things without addressing them, it will backfire on the town.
I will continue to support anyone who has a suggestion to get things off the ground. I am already working with some groups trying to make good things happen for our young people. This town has been good for me; the Territory has been good for me. This town has been good for my family; the Territory has been good for my family. Can we really say that about all people in the Territory? Can we really say that about all those young people who wander our streets at night looking for somewhere to stay, looking for a feed, looking for transport home? They are the three measures that Drop-in Centre staff tell us is why the young people come there - just those three simple things. If they cannot get back, the next thing is to march off with their mates and get into mischief.
Mr Deputy Speaker, I will not be voting on this motion because I do not think it is a censure motion. A censure motion is supposed to shame government, bring governments down. We are debating what is happening in our town at the moment. I am happy to join in the debate and put my point of view, and to share with you where I am coming from, but this is not a censure motion in its pure form. That is why the two Independents will not be voting on this motion.
Dr BURNS (Health): Mr Deputy Speaker, to some degree, this censure debate really should have ended with the last speaker because the member for Braitling was very constructive in her contribution. She highlighted issues, not only what is wrong, but ways to put it right. I will go to some of what the member for Braitling said. She talked about a sense of dismay among people in Alice Springs. Government recognises that. We recognise that people are concerned about their safety, their family’s safety, being safe in their homes, in the streets and as they walk through the mall at night. Those are real feelings on which government must act. Government must redress those issues. That is something that is very real, member for Braitling.
You also talked about youth in Alice Springs and the dangers for some youth in Alice Springs, and some of the positive ways forward in which government could engage to address those issues. Carrying on from what you said, one of the police that we spoke with this morning, along with the representatives from the group outside, said: ‘Let us never lose sight of the fact that there are a lot of good kids out there. Let us not brand all the kids in Alice Springs, even those who might be just walking around at night, with the same brand as those who are causing trouble. There are 10% or so who are causing 90% of the trouble’. That is important for us to recognise, and I know the member for Braitling recognised it.
The member for Braitling also asked a very important question about this revolving door with offenders being apprehended, particularly youth, going into court, being granted bail and re-offending. I can tell you, member for Braitling, it is something that I am very concerned about. I have had discussions with the Commissioner for Police and with my ministerial colleagues about it. I can tell you that government is looking for ways to address the issue because, once again, there is a very small group who are engaging in this behaviour. Police are very concerned about it; I am concerned about it. I am looking for a way forward on the issue.
She talked about alcohol being the root cause of a lot of these problems. Because I am Minister for Health and Minister for Racing, Gaming and Licensing, I am committed to trying to reduce the harmful rates of consumption of alcohol. There is not going to be any one magic bullet, or one strategy that is going to do it, but we need to look at new ways on which we can cooperate to address the issue.
The Chief Minister talked about Alice Springs’ dry town application being before the Liquor Commission at present. That will be assessed and a decision made. Similarly, with ID systems, trying to limit the consumption of certain alcohol products and people who are subject to prohibition orders. We need to work together in all facets in reducing the problem for Alice Springs.
Member for Braitling, your contribution was very positive and you did suggest to the opposition that they need to come forward with solutions. They need to come forward with remedies on these issues. It just not enough to criticise and surf along on the top of criticism. You need to come up with alternative strategies …
Ms Carney: We have, but …
Dr BURNS: I do not believe you have because I have not heard too much more about Alice in Five. Where is it? Where is the detail? You seem to be in conflict amongst yourselves about the dongas at Dalgety Road. The member for Greatorex has his view. The Leader of the Opposition seems to have her view. We need some unanimity among the opposition on issues. They need to have a united front and tell us exactly where they are going to go.
The Country Liberal Party had this policy statement A Stronger, Safer Territory: Safe Streets Policy. Nowhere in that policy is there any mention of closed circuit television. It does not deal with curfew. It does deal with extra police. It did address permanent kiosks in trouble spots. Well, I favour mobile police stations that can move to where the trouble is and address the issues there. This is what government has done.
During Question Time, the Leader of the Opposition was critical of the mobile police post. I told parliament at the time that when I asked police about what they had before these $100 000 mobile police stations, which are all fitted out with state-of-the-art technology and communication systems, the answer was: ‘Oh well, we used to have a HiAce van’. They were not resourced in the same way. This is a government that has resourced our police in many different ways.
The member for Greatorex talked about police numbers and bringing them up to establishment, etcetera. Look at the O’Sullivan Report, and I will quote, dealing specifically with Alice Springs, what it said:
- Visits and discussions at Alice Springs confirm that General Duties resources were only 50% available.
What that means is for years and years, the number of General Duties police available in Alice Springs was 50% of the establishment. Over the past four years since the O’Sullivan Report was commissioned, and Jim O’Sullivan made his report about 200 extra police, the $75m invested, we have been building the numbers of police in Alice Springs. It is true that this week, when the extra recruits who recently graduated from the police college come to Alice Springs, we will be at full establishment in General Duties police.
I also outlined during Question Time the undertaking given by police about flexibility in response. They have already shown flexibility in the Safe City initiative, but they have also said that they are prepared to mobilise uniformed police from other areas in Alice Springs. That is a flexible response by police and I commend them for it. Today I have heard, not directly, that there have been aspersions cast on the police by the Leader of the Opposition, who was very critical of police. She was very critical of police in the way that they have operated the mobile police van …
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Ms Carney: You are a liar, and that is why you deserve a censure.
Mr HENDERSON: A point of order, Madam Speaker!
Madam SPEAKER: Leader of the Opposition, I ask you to withdraw.
Ms Carney: I withdraw liar, Madam Speaker, but it is a censure motion …
Madam SPEAKER: Leader of the Opposition, as I have said, debate on the motion must address the body of the motion.
Dr BURNS: Madam Speaker, there has also been some assertion that I do not come to Alice Springs and I have been rubbished because of that. I inform the House that since I have become Police minister, including this visit, I have been to Alice Springs seven times. I have a lot of contacts in Alice Springs, and I am informed of what goes on in Alice Springs. I am concerned about what is happening in Alice Springs, and government is taking appropriate action to redress it.
During Question Time, the Leader of the Opposition also questioned how many times these new anti-gang laws have been used. I am advised that in Alice Springs, they have been used 45 times since 1 January. These are laws that are being used by police ...
Members interjecting.
Dr BURNS: I am just telling you what I have been advised. Contrary to what the member for Greatorex said, they are part of the arsenal of tools the police have to address youth issues and they are being used.
The member for Greatorex seemed to go back to the halcyon days of the CLP and how great mandatory sentencing was. I remember that property crime was well out of control before and as we came to power. Through the strategies of this government on a number of fronts, we have reduced property crime very significantly across the Territory. It concerns me when I hear that property crime is bouncing up again. It is something about which we need continual vigilance. However, the member for Greatorex’s assertion that everything was rosy under the CLP and nothing was wrong and mandatory sentencing was the answer to everything is wrong.
I am not going to engage with the member for Greatorex. He had a folder full of newspaper clippings, but if you go back in time to the Alice Springs News of 12 March 1997, there is ‘Todd Mall war zone’, ’Teenager with knife holds up mini-mart’, ‘Night of terror at Alice units’ and ‘Rock showers baby in car with glass’. These are all 1997. Here is another one: ‘Gang violence: call for inquiry, Alice police lock up 250’ and so on and so forth. ‘Ken’s nightmare life in a wrecked unit’, ‘Tension in Alice shocks top cop’ and so on. ‘All girl gangs hit Alice homes’, ‘White bashing, Alice street terror’. Unfortunately, there is a history in Alice Springs and, as government, we have to get on top of it and will get on top of it.
The member for Greatorex talked about crime statistics. It is true that property offences are up in Alice Springs, 11% from the same quarter in 2005 compared with 2006, and I think it is the last quarter. Yes, property crime is up and police need to be vigilant on that. They are coming off a fairly low base, but in Alice Springs offences against the person are down 17% from the same quarter in 2005 and 16% down from the last quarter in 2000 when the CLP was in power. Over the same six years, assault is down 18%, total offences against the person are down 16%, unlawful entry with intent is down 15%, motor vehicle theft is down 22% and other theft is down 13%. If you are looking at property offences, in that last quarter, they were down a massive 23% from the same quarter in 2000.
As did the Chief Minister, I am not saying everything is rosy here. Every crime is one crime too many, but we need to look at things in an historical perspective and we need to frame what we do with what have learnt from history and, in a cooperative way, work with others. The member for Braitling had some very constructive suggestions and, as minister, I am willing to work with people who have goodwill, good intentions and constructive ideas. I did not hear too much of that from the Leader of the Opposition, unfortunately.
Closed circuit television has been proposed a number of times. The first was 1995. There was a review by police following a request for closed circuit television from Alice Springs Town Council. Again it was proposed in 1997, so the CLP government did not stump up these closed circuit television cameras in the mall.
Let us just get another thing clear: The member for Greatorex seemed to assert that I had ruled out closed circuit TV in my response to the Clerk. I will read the last paragraph of what was said:
- Should such an initiative prove to be viable in the future, police will willingly consider how it might be used to identify offenders and reduce crime.
I have never ruled out closed circuit television, and neither has the government, but our position has always been that the foundation funding should come from the Alice Springs Town Council, as it does in similar situations all over Australia. The town council stumps up the foundation money and other governments and organisations may assist. I gave the undertaking during Question Time that police will work very closely with the town council to ensure that the closed circuit televisions are used to maximum effect to ensure law and order and safety within the CBD of Alice Springs. That is my undertaking.
There was some talk about a youth curfew and, during the meeting the Chief Minister and I had with police and the leaders of the group who demonstrated this morning, one of the police was very clear that it is not good to lump up all kids with any strategy that you might have, and a youth curfew would do that. It would criminalise behaviour that might not necessarily be criminal in young people. It is indiscriminate. The Northbridge model that the Leader of the Opposition talked about applies to a nightclub precinct, which is quite different from what we are talking about in the mall in Alice Springs and the problems with youth.
I have already spoken about some of the things that the Leader of the Opposition has placed on the record. The Chief Minister spoke next, and outlined what this government has already done, its commitment to Alice Springs and its continuing commitment to ensure that people feel safe and secure within this community. It is not only about policing. As I said before, the O’Sullivan Report was commissioned. We invested money and, with time, we have put on 200 extra police in the Northern Territory. That is a significant achievement. What we now want to see is those police do their job. I am sure they will; they are highly trained, dedicated people and they will do the job of reducing antisocial behaviour and dealing with youth issues.
However, as the Chief Minister outlined, this requires more than just police. This is about engaging communities, not just at an Alice Springs level but, as the Chief Minister alluded to, we need a regional strategy. The fact of the matter is Alice Springs is a substantial town in a region that is predominantly populated by Aboriginal people, and it has always been a service centre for Aboriginal people in health and other services, but they also …
Dr Lim interjecting
Dr BURNS: Well, they also spend a significant amount of money in this place, member for Greatorex. In fact, you might not like what I am saying. They contribute significantly to the economy of Alice Springs. What we have to do, as the Chief Minister said, is ensure that when people come here, their behaviour is appropriate. We do not want people behaving inappropriately, but at the bottom of that are issues related to grog. When you look at the history, Alice Springs has moved along the path of considering a whole lot of measures in relation to the consumption of alcohol, and I commend the Alice Springs community for that. People might not have always agreed, and still may not agree, with some of those strategies, but they are thinking about them and discussing them.
As Minister for Racing, Gaming and Licensing, I am interested in engaging with the community about constructive ways to reduce the harmful consumption of alcohol. The dry town application is being considered at present by the Licensing Commission. There is also a lot of talk about an ID system which might exclude those subject to prohibition orders from consuming alcohol and regulating the supply of certain products. They are very important. This is a constructive way forward which we all need to embrace and work together on. Community engagement is very important and the Chief Minister spoke to a large extent about that.
Recently I visited Cairns and looked at some of their strategies. The one thing that impressed me is that there is a lot of community engagement, a lot of participation by a whole range of agencies, not only the state government, but also the local council and the federal government through Centrelink, which is a pivotal part of what we are talking about. It is Centrelink benefits and people’s mobility and use of those Centrelink benefits as people move around that is a very important consideration, particularly in getting people home when they are in town. There is a whole range of things in relation to people’s income on which Centrelink needs to be involved.
Madam Speaker, in conclusion, I do not believe the opposition has proven its case. This government is aware of the problems in Alice Springs. We are doing something about it, and we are willing to engage with the Alice Springs community to find solutions - real constructive solutions. I urge the opposition to get on board and be positive.
Motion negatived.
PERSONAL EXPLANATION
Treasurer
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, I have given my leave to the Deputy Chief Minister and Treasurer to make a personal explanation. The matter about which the Deputy Chief Minister is going to speak relates to the bill that was debated earlier in the day. As a consequence of that, I will be organising for Hansard to have the Deputy Chief Minister’s comments incorporated into Hansard directly adjacent to the bill’s debate.
Mr STIRLING (Treasurer): Madam Speaker, I thank members for the opportunity of a point of clarification arising from an issue raised by the member for Nelson regarding a proposed partial exclusion from the benefits provisions contained in the Motor Accidents (Compensation) Amendment Bill.
Clause 11 of the bill reduces non-medical benefits by 25% in cases where the claimant is above 16 years of age and is not wearing a seat belt or safety helmet as required by the provisions of the Traffic Act at the time of accident.
The member for Nelson queried whether this provision captures a cyclist not wearing a helmet. On receipt of further advice, I can advise that the law says it is not a requirement if you are over the age of 17 years, and you are riding a bicycle or being carried on a bicycle in a public place on a bicycle or shared path, or in a helmet-free area as determined by the minister. Therefore, under clause 11 of the bill, no reduction in non-medical benefits would occur in these instances.
The partial benefit exclusion will apply in full to motor cyclists. In simple terms, where you are required by law to wear a helmet while riding a bicycle, you suffer the loss of 25% of non-medical benefits if you do not wear a helmet. If a claimant is not required to wear a helmet, the benefit reduction does not apply. Therefore, where you are not required to wear a helmet, the full benefits apply.
MOTION
Note Paper – Auditor-General’s February 2007 Report to the Legislative Assembly
Continued from earlier this day.
Mr VATSKALIS (Business and Economic Development): Madam Speaker, today I comment on the Auditor-General’s report of February 2007. The report touched on two areas within my portfolio: Power and Water and Desert Knowledge.
With regard to Power and Water, analysis of the 30 June 2006 audited financial statements of the Power and Water Corporation by the Auditor-General were tabled in February. The Auditor-General issued a qualified audit opinion in relation to Power and Water’s 30 June 2005 financial reports, and this has carried over for the comparative information included in the current year’s reports.
In relation to the financial reports for the year ended 30 June 2006, the Auditor-General feels that Power and Water has not complied fully with accounting standard AASB 136. The accounting standards are international standards used by all utilities across Australia. This is the first financial year the standards have been implemented. The adoption by Australia of International Financial Reporting Standards from the 2005-06 financial year introduced significant changes to the ways in which assets are measured for financial reporting.
Standard AASB 136 relates to ‘impairment of assets’. In relation to the corporation’s water assets, the auditor believes the discount rate used by the corporation in modelling the future cash flows from these assets is too low, and that as a result the corporation should have recognised an impairment loss on these assets.
Standard AASB 136 needs to be applied to determine asset values annually as at 30 June. As a consequence, asset values are likely to fluctuate up or down as a result of the operation of this standard. Power and Water’s Board and management have considered this issue carefully and both are satisfied that there is no material impairment of the corporation’s water and sewerage assets, aside from the $31m asset write-down processed as at 1 July 2004 as a result of the first-time adoption of the Australian International Financial Reporting Standards.
Power and Water’s interpretation of Standard AASB 136, which is supported by independent advice from Ernst & Young, is that it requires the corporation to determine the present value of the future cash flows expected to be derived from the water assets respectively, the ‘value in use’.
In calculating the ‘value in use’, Standard AASB 136 requires consideration to be given to uncertainty and risk associated with the amount or timing of the cash flows, as well as uncertainty inherent in the assets themselves and other market factors. Uncertainty and risk factors can either be reflected as adjustments to the future cash flows or as adjustments to the discount rate.
In forming his view regarding the appropriateness of the discount rate to be used in this model, Power and Water believe that the Auditor-General should show more regard to the inherent conservatism built into Power and Water’s cash flow model.
The corporation has carried out a sensitivity analysis on the model used to calculate the ‘value in use’ of these assets and is satisfied that there is no material impairment of the corporation’s water assets as of 30 June 2006.
Power and Water’s nett asset position as of 30 June 2005 has decreased by $36.2m from that reported in the prior year due to the first-time adoption of Australian equivalents to International Financial Reporting Standards.
The Auditor-General’s report also made reference to items raised in his Management Letter to the board. Management Letters are a normal component of the audit of financial statements and deal with a raft of matters arising from an audit. These matters are not material and simply aim to provide advice on process improvements. It should be remembered that in the course of the year, there are tens of thousands of transactions that pass through Power and Water’s accounting systems.
The corporation has several departments working to develop stock ageing reports. The reports will provide a basis for the amount held as a provision for obsolescence against stock.
The reference to the $1.74m is relating to an ‘overall write up to inventory as a result of the stock take’. A paper was presented to the Audit and Compliance Committee on 30 August 2006 explaining the reason for the write-up. In reference to the write-up to inventory as a result of the annual stock take, monthly reconciliations for each business unit general ledger balance has now been introduced. Other controls have also been introduced to sight and investigate the unusual stock transactions that occur during the month.
Misclassifications between categories and cost and accumulated depreciation regarding property, plant and equipment will be investigated and rectified in the June 2007 financial statement, and prior year comparatives will be restated.
Consumption units and revenue reported in the Retail Management System Sales Report and Datamart reports do not agree. Substantial work has been undertaken to reconcile the units and dollars. The corporation is reviewing all reports to ensure they are accurate.
The issue raised by the Auditor-General relating to the disposal of plant and equipment will be addressed within the audit of the financial statements for the year ending 30 June 2007.
Another audit issue referring to the misclassification of expenditure relating to depreciation and asset write-off of rotable stock is being addressed and will be rectified in the June 2007 financial statement and prior year comparatives will be restated.
The treatment and recognition of intangible assets will be changed as a result of the review. Some costs associated with software have been capitalised as plant and equipment rather than intangible assets. Renewable energy credits will also be classified as intangible assets.
More than 8500 items were identified under inventory but not valued. The matter is under investigation.
The original set up of the subsidiary ledger within accounts payable has led to a balance of unreconciled items totalling $284 000. Rectification of the issues surrounding this is continuing, with resolution expected by 30 June 2007.
The Auditor-General noted an incorrect electricity tariff against one customer in the ‘charitable’ category. A full review of concessions is being undertaken to ensure correct tariffs are applied.
One non-standard customer has accrued a debt from 2001 in relation to use of Power and Water’s infrastructure such as poles and water tanks as well as service provision. The matter has been identified and is now addressed.
The Auditor-General has an important role and Power and Water work cooperatively with him. Our government is open and transparent. I note that the opposition shadow spokesperson for Essential Services has commented publicly on the Auditor-General’s report. I am happy to provide him a briefing if he asks for one. His comments to date indicate a lack of understanding of how Power and Water operates and the intent behind a government owned corporation.
As people listening will realise, Power and Water has worked sensibly through these issues with the Auditor-General. I thank both the Auditor-General and Power and Water for their work.
The audit of the Desert Knowledge Australia, DKA, for the year ended 30 June 2006 resulted in the issue of an unqualified independent audit opinion on 25 October 2006. While no matters of significance were raised as a result of the audit, a number of minor matters were brought to the attention of the board.
The Chair of Desert Knowledge Australia was quoted in the Auditor-General’s report of February 2007 as having commented:
- … during the audit process, Desert Knowledge Australia accepted the auditor’s findings and upon determining the issues were minor, resolved to implement the recommendations … which are under way.
I will detail minor matters brought to the attention of the DKA Board by the Auditor-General. Each item has been updated by the CEO of DKA to determine progress of implementation. The items are:
to review retrospectively the actions taken by the Chief Executive Officer for the period March 2005 until 9 February 2006 during which no board of DKA existed, which now is complete;
Madam Speaker, I thank the Auditor-General and Desert Knowledge staff for their work.
Mr STIRLING (Treasurer): Madam Speaker, the Auditor-General has provided an audit opinion on the Treasurer’s Annual Financial Statement. In relation to the Treasurer’s Annual Financial Statement’s compliance with the format prescribed by the legislation, he has provided an unqualified opinion. That is, he is satisfied the financial statement was prepared in accordance with Australian Accounting Standards and other mandatory requirements.
He has issued a qualified opinion on the extent to which the Treasurer’s Annual Financial Statement complied with Australian Accounting Standard AAS31, Financial Reporting by Governments. He did so noting that while the government financial statistics format is inconsistent with AAS31, it is more appropriate in the public sector context.
The Auditor-General also issued a qualification in respect of carrying amounts of utility assets flowing from Power and Water Corporation’s accounting, as he was unable to accept values placed by the corporation on its water assets.
The Auditor-General found that the operating results and financial performance of the general government sector improved in 2005-06. The nett operating balance was $27.4m compared with a deficit of $25.5m in 2004-05 and an original budgeted result for 2005-06 of $33.7m.
The audit of the trust of the Legislative Assembly members super trust for the year ended 30 June 2006 resulted in an unqualified independent audit opinion that did not identify any matters of consequence. The estimated value of vested benefits was $46.077m.
The audit of the Northern Territory Government and Public Authorities Employee Superannuation Fund for the year ended 30 June 2006 resulted in an unqualified independent audit opinion. The unfunded liability of the scheme at that date, after taking into account assets held, was $650.1m compared with $622.2m at 30 June 2005. While the audit does not identify matters of consequence, it did note the need for timely reconciliations between the superannuation SUPERB system and GAS, but that other controls help to ensure data integrity.
In the Northern Territory Police Supplementary Benefit Scheme, the audit resulted for the year ended 30 June 2006 in an unqualified independent audit opinion. No matters of significance were raised.
The Territory Insurance Office audit result for the year ended 30 June 2006 was an unqualified independent audit opinion. No matters of significance were raised. Territory Insurance Office nett loss/profit before tax was $19m compared with $15m in 2005. Incorporating MACA, the total of $51m compared with $42m in 2005.
For the Northern Territory Treasury Corporation, the audit result for the year 30 June 2006 was an unqualified independent audit opinion. No key issues were identified.
For the Northern Territory Legal Aid Commission, the audit result for the year ended 30 June 2006 was an unqualified independent audit opinion. No significant issues were found. Note, however, that the commission generated a surplus of almost $400 000 last financial year following the Northern Territory grant funding increase of 28%. The Northern Territory government provides funding to the Legal Aid Commission for matters arising only under Northern Territory law. The Australian government also provides funding for matters arising only under Commonwealth law; for example, family law.
In 2004, the commission entered into a new three-year funding arrangement with both the Territory and Australian governments. Funding from the Territory government increased in 2005-06 from $2.33m to $3.055m, an increase of 28%. Funding from the Australian government also increased for this period. The Auditor-General’s Report shows a profit on page 97 of nearly $400 000. The term ‘profit’ may be misleading in the sense that the same figure was shown as a surplus in the commission’s 2005-06 annual report and refers to the overall financial situation of the commission for the year taking into account all funding. When each funded program is considered separately, there is a deficit of approximately $400 000 in the Territory program and a surplus of approximately $688 000 in the Commonwealth program. That is, all of the money provided to the commission by the Territory government in 2005-06 was, in fact, spent during the year, assisting people with legal matters arising under Territory law. The commission also receives other income for specific purposes; for example, funding for the Domestic Violence Legal Service, immigration assistance and community legal education activities.
I thank the Auditor-General for his report this year, Madam Speaker. I am always comforted by the fact that we have in Frank McGuiness an outstanding Auditor-General. As Treasurer, we do draw a lot of comfort from the fact that, whatever agencies do, they are subject at the end of the day to the very fine tooth comb approach adopted by our Auditor-General. He is to be commended for that and I hope he is with us for a long time.
Mr McADAM (Local Government): Madam Speaker, I welcome the February 2007 Report of the Auditor-General for the Northern Territory.
In the main, this report demonstrates the sound fiscal management being undertaken by the Northern Territory government. In particular, a number of my portfolio areas demonstrate the dividends being provided by modern management and accounting techniques in the various agencies within my ministry. I take this opportunity to thank the hard-working officials from these agencies.
The efficient and effective use of technologies and systems has enabled DCIS to substantially reduce its 2006 budget. The awarding of the telecommunications and desktop contract has simultaneously provided for an increase in the level of service whilst achieving a decrease in the cost of these services for the Territory government. The report at page 40 states:
- Nothing came to my attention that would indicate that the processes in place and used to award the Desktop and Helpdesk Services contract were not based on sound economic and financial reasons, and that DCIS compliance management processes will not be able to actively manage Fujitsu with reference to performance and service delivery standards.
The department is also using a number of systems and process improvements to reduce the overall cost to government of administration. These include: an upgrade of the government accounting system with enhanced functionality; a proposal to raise the tender threshold for procurement to facilitate more efficient procurement processes; introduction of streamlined processes for recruiting to entry level positions to the NTPS; increased adoption and use of online systems such as myHR and TRIM; and increased use of government credit cards to reduce transaction processing costs.
The report notes at page 43 that the processes around the GAS upgrade benefit realisation were informal. As is also noted in the report at page 44, an implementation review has been undertaken by DCIS.
There are no key findings for the Data Centre Services and this GBD continues to operate in an efficient manner.
There were no matters of significance raised with respect to the Government Printing Office, although the report at page 67 drew attention to the undesirability of pre-invoicing clients before work is performed, and it is noted at page 69 that this practice has ceased.
There were no key findings with respect to NT Fleet. The Auditor-General did note the decline in the value of six-cylinder vehicles. NT Fleet has commenced a deliberate effort to move from six-cylinder to four-cylinder vehicles. In April 2006, four-cylinder and hybrid vehicles represented 40% of the fleet. That figure has now risen to 45%. A target of 50% has been set for 31 December 2007, and I am advised that this target is within our reach. A revision of policy shall bring about an increase in the take-up of four-cylinder vehicles. This has an environmental benefit as well as being good financial management. Executive Officer Levels and Executive Teachers will transition from six-cylinder to four-cylinder vehicles over the next two years.
Territory Housing made a $1.1m nett surplus on the strength of a $6.5m positive variance for 2005-06. Page 62 of the report notes this surplus. Territory Housing is a government business division that delivers social housing imperatives on a financially sustainable basis. As a GBD, it raises revenue through a combination of commercial activities, and Territory Housing has worked vigorously under this government to achieve a break-even operating result.
The year 2005-06 is the first that Territory Housing has achieved a nett surplus, which can largely be attributed to: increased profit due to the revaluation of the government’s share of investment and shared equity arrangements; additional interest received from higher than anticipated cash balances and growth of the HomeNorth loan portfolio; more effective management of debt and turnaround times in public housing; increased revenue from arrangements with external organisations to provide government employee housing for health personnel in remote areas; and increased profit from the sale of dwellings, all off which has been reinvested in public housing. I would like to highlight that a significant proportion of those sales were made to public housing tenants.
Territory Housing’s operating results for 2005-06 reflects an improvement in management by Territory Housing over several years. Territory Housing is geared to deliver government’s key social objectives balanced with sound commercial practices, and the nett surplus is testament to the success of this government’s commitment to creating a sustainable social housing system. The operating result also demonstrates that Territory Housing is well positioned to deliver and invest in new public housing initiatives for indigenous people into the future.
The circumstances of the Jabiru Town Development Authority have been well known for some years. The Northern Territory government provided a moratorium on the loan in the mid-1980s. The Auditor-General’s reports since that time have noted that the future of the JTDA depends on the continuing moratorium for the loan. The Northern Territory government is currently considering the longer term future of Jabiru which will, of course, take into account the ongoing measures of assets, tenure and development issues.
In conclusion, Madam Speaker, I thank the Auditor-General for his report. We thank him for his discipline and rigour in respect of governance of agencies under the Northern Territory government, and for his outstanding contributions throughout the course of the year.
Ms MARTIN (Chief Minister): Madam Speaker, I thank all members for their contributions to this important debate. I, like others, thank the Auditor-General for his report to the Legislative Assembly on matters arising from audits conducted during the six months ending 31 December last year.
My ministerial colleagues and I valued the work of the Auditor-General in assisting the process of accountability by providing independent analysis of financial results, and by drawing parliament’s attention, importantly, to matters of interest.
In the six months to December last year, the Auditor-General completed 31 separate reports, most of which deal with the outcomes of auditors and financial analyses of agencies and entities. Of this number, only three reports had audit qualifications for 2005-06: one in respect of the Treasurer’s Annual Financial Statement; one in respect of the Power and Water Corporation; and one in respect of NT Build.
Each minister has dealt with those issues in quite a lot of detail, but I will stress that the Treasurer’s Annual Financial Statement is a technical qualification, which will be resolved when the Australian Accounting Standards are harmonised with the currently used Government Finance Statistics Reporting Framework.
The qualification for the Power and Water Corporation is a difference of opinion with the Auditor-General on the appropriate discount rates to be applied when determining the present value of certain classes of assets. The Auditor-General is confident that this difference of opinion will be resolved in the current financial year.
In the case of NT Build, the Auditor-General was unable to satisfy himself that all revenues due to NT Build under the long service levy had been captured. The board is well aware of the problem and is examining options to rectify the matter.
I thank the Auditor-General for his thorough review of the Darwin waterfront and convention centre development. I provided a comprehensive answer to a question on the Auditor-General’s report on the review of the waterfront project in the House in the last sitting. In summary, I am pleased to say the review confirms the waterfront project was undertaken based on comprehensive economic and financial analysis and confirms the partnership arrangement as a cost-effective way to manage risk and to deliver the project. The review highlights the legal and risk-sharing framework. It also identifies in present day dollars the nett cost to the Territory of $135.2m, the returns to the Territory of $112.8m, and the wider economic benefit of $350m.
The Auditor-General has calculated that based on sales to November last year, total returns from Stages 1 and 2 could be expected to be in the order of $233m in future dollars or, if you translate them to November 2006 dollars, $112.8m. If you go back 18 months, it compares with the $62m in 2005 prices that we expected at financial close. This is a significant increase in returns to the Territory since that financial close. Importantly, the review by the Auditor-General finds the framework to deliver the project and manage it in the future is sound and capable of ensuring a successful outcome for the project.
The Auditor-General provided an unqualified independent audit opinion for the financial statements of the Northern Territory Major Events Company, illustrating that our major events promotion and coordination are in sound financial hands.
Madam Speaker, on behalf of my colleagues, I extend my gratitude to the Auditor-General for his report. I fully support his continued work in upholding the highest standards of governance and accountability for the parliament, and to the agency and entity executives.
Motion agreed to; paper noted.
MINISTERIAL STATEMENT
Government Initiatives and Achievements
in Central Australia
Government Initiatives and Achievements
in Central Australia
Ms MARTIN (Chief Minister): Madam Speaker, Central Australia is a great place to live, work and raise a family. Living in Central Australia offers people the chance to enjoy a unique outback lifestyle in one of the most beautiful places in the world.
The region is developing and moving ahead at a rate of knots. Construction activity in and around Alice Springs and the increasing number of visitors to the region are proof of that. While there is a real sense of optimism about the future- and I will talk more about the economy shortly - there is no running away from significant and complex challenges facing Central Australia, challenges that cannot be remedied overnight. Alcohol abuse, antisocial behaviour and town camps are major issues for Central Australians, ones we are determined to tackle in partnership with the local community.
Strong regions are critical to the social, cultural and economic fabric of the Northern Territory, and we are committed to strengthening the capacity of Central Australia. This region is undergoing significant demographic change. This change has produced urban drift, a population dynamic common in larger regional settings across Australia, and Alice Springs and Tennant Creek have borne the brunt of this urban drift. We know, for example, through the Town Camp Task Force, that Alice Springs is the service centre for around 264 remote communities across South Australia, Western Australia and the Northern Territory. This growing demand for services will inevitably place strain on the town and its community and is already doing so.
Change is happening and the key is to plan for the future. That is what we are doing. We are working with the local community to create a safer, healthier and more prosperous future for Central Australians. Moving Alice Ahead is a big part of our collaborative approach to addressing key issues and strengthening the capacity and economic development of the region. The goal is to make Alice an even better place to live, work and raise a family. Moving Alice Ahead, which I will be launching tomorrow, will not replicate existing work and programs, but continue to build on the work that is happening right across this region. I will speak in more detail about Moving Alice Ahead projects shortly.
A major priority for us is to ensure that Central Australians and the people of Alice Springs feel safe and secure in their communities and homes, and our No 1 priority is alcohol management. Alcohol plays a major role in crime, antisocial behaviour, family dysfunction, personal injury and illness, and places a great deal of stress on the health system, the police, the emergency services and the justice system. We have begun to address this problem. With the support of the Alice Springs Town Council, the Chamber of Commerce, the Central Australian Tourism Industry Association, health services providers, licensees, Aboriginal leaders and the public service, we have introduced the broadest set of alcohol initiatives seen in the Territory.
The Alice Springs alcohol management plan is starting to make a difference, with positive reports from the police and from Alice Springs hospital. The first three months of alcohol restrictions have seen an 11% decrease in the takeaway sales of pure alcohol and a drop in the sales of high alcohol cask and fortified wines. We have also seen a decrease in a number of serious assault charges laid by police, and this is corroborated by a decrease also in the number of people with assault-related injuries presenting at Alice Springs Hospital.
Alcohol restrictions are just one part of the alcohol management plan. We have placed a moratorium on the approval of new takeaway liquor licences and we have removed the capacity of supermarkets being granted liquor licences in the future. We have also introduced alcohol courts, providing the judiciary with the capacity to impose mandatory treatment and rehabilitation orders and prohibition orders for problem drinkers.
Legislation has been put in place so that individuals or organisations can apply for the declaration of both private and public dry areas, and we are in the process of improving the functional effectiveness of community patrols as a prevention and intervention service, including greater use of the sobering-up shelter. Options are also being investigated for an introduction of an ID-Eye system in Alice Springs. ID-Eye will enable licensees, the police and the justice system to better manage problem drinkers.
While I am pleased with progress so far, there have been some unintended consequences of the alcohol restrictions. With the availability of cask and fortified wine now limited, there has been shift to lower alcohol products such as beer and pre-mixed spirits. The unintended consequence of this is an increase in the amount of litter and glass around Alice Springs. One initiative has been to increase the level of activity undertaken by Correctional Services work gangs. The Alice council has purchased a new path sweeper, and appropriately designed skip bins will be located in problem areas, although I must say in my walk around the Todd this morning, I was very pleased to see very little litter. There were some cans, but there was no glass that I saw in my walk of well over half-an-hour.
The alcohol restrictions have also produced a change to the buying patterns of some drinkers, resulting in pressure being placed on supermarkets and shopping hubs outside the CBD. In particular, businesses and residents in the north side of town are having to deal with increased levels of antisocial behaviour. Police are acutely aware of this hot spot and are deploying additional personnel as well as the mobile police station during critical times to minimise disruptions to those businesses and their customers. We will continue to work closely with police, patrol services, residents and businesses to find workable solutions to this problem.
As I have said, alcohol management is an important factor in improving community safety. Housing is another important issue. We have established the Town Camp Task Force to reduce the demand and stress on the town camp housing and to improve the lives of permanent residents in these areas. With increasing mobility between communities and the recognised lack of short-term accommodation in Alice Springs, the impact on the lives of people living in town camps can be severe, and social dislocation has resulted in increased criminal activity and antisocial behaviour. This behaviour often spills out into the residential areas of Alice Springs and the CBD.
We have, in partnership with the federal government, made the most significant capital commitment ever to improve infrastructure and housing in town camps. We intend to redevelop these areas so they can become accessible rateable suburbs of Alice Springs. Home ownership will become a reality for those residents who wish to enter the housing market. Other accommodation will be managed by Territory Housing, with leasing conditions and responsibilities that are consistent with mainstream public housing and private rental housing conditions. Municipal services provided to these areas will also be equivalent to those received by any other Alice Springs resident.
We have also committed to increasing the supply of short-term accommodation in Alice Springs through the redevelopment of Stuart Lodge and the expansion of Yeperenye Hostel, and we are supporting the federal government’s proposal to develop short-term accommodation on Len Kittle Drive and Dalgety Road. These managed accommodation models will provide alternative, safe and secure options for visitors to Alice Springs. They will reduce demand and overcrowding in town camps, and provide people with the support they need to maintain successful tenancies across other housing tenures. This will, of course, improve the lives and wellbeing of town camp residents.
In the broader community, we have provided Territory Housing with new public housing management arrangements for tenants, including the introduction of Acceptable Behaviour Agreements, and the restricted premises and case management of at-risk households.
We have also made a commitment to fund remote housing at record levels. We have committed to an extra $100m over the next five years, and we are negotiating with the federal government to increase their contribution, based on a series of housing and land tenure reforms. We have made good progress in this area, but there is still a great deal more to be done.
It is a basic right of people to be able enjoy a peaceful existence in their own homes. Our work in the areas of alcohol management and housing are intended to improve the amenity and protect the lifestyles of all people living in Alice Springs. A key platform for protecting our community and lifestyle is policing. When we came to power in 2001, the police force in the Northern Territory was labouring under the CLP’s recruitment inertia. In 2003, following the handing down of recommendations from the O’Sullivan Report, we committed to rebuilding our police force with an additional $75m commitment over four years. Our aim was to recruit an additional 200 police, and I am pleased to say that we have exceeded our target.
Right now in the Territory, we have by far the highest proportion of police per capita of any Australian state or territory. We average one police officer for every 246 people; almost double the national average of one officer for every 478 people. In Alice Springs, the number is even better. Based on ABS data for a 2006 population estimate for Alice Springs, there is one police officer for every 213 people. We will have another 15 new police on board this month; eight recently graduated constables and seven experienced officers we are pleased to have recruited from interstate. I am confident that our committed police force, in partnership with government and the community, can make a real difference in Alice Springs in the future.
We have also increased police numbers in Tennant Creek and other remote communities throughout Central Australia. We have developed collaborative arrangements with interstate and federal police agencies to improve cross-border policing, dramatically improve our capacity for intelligence policing and created the Drug Detector Dog Squad. In addition, we have funded the mobile police station, which enables police to quickly respond to critical situations and set up a police command post. To demonstrate its versatility, this resource has been used successfully in the CBD in recent months, as well as during the cyanide spill cleanup on the Stuart Highway in February.
We have introduced a raft of new road safety initiatives aimed at curbing our alarming road statistics, including the reintroduction of Traffic Police, a unit disbanded by the previous CLP government. In the Territory, we are more than twice as likely to be killed in a motor vehicle accident than in any other state or territory. The cost to the taxpayer for injuries associated with motor vehicle accidents runs into the hundreds of millions each year. The cost in human suffering and the damage to families is incalculable. With statistics like this, something had to be done, and we have responded. However, there is still much more to do. We will continue to provide the police with the resources they need to provide a safe community.
Tackling crime and antisocial behaviour is a vital issue for Alice Springs. It has many in this community concerned and speaking out. Of course, they have every right to do this, but not to take action on the streets of Alice Springs themselves. That is the job of police and community patrols. Our police are well trained and well equipped to deal with antisocial behaviour in Alice Springs. We have increased police funding by 55% since coming to office, and provided the police with the tools to deal with inappropriate behaviour.
We have introduced volatile substance abuse legislation, the strongest in the country, to deal with petrol sniffing and other inhalant abuse, and police now have the capacity to detain sniffers. We have introduced the capacity for mandatory treatment orders, enhanced adult and child treatment and rehabilitation services, clinical and education interventions and given communities the ability to develop their own volatile substance abuse management plans. I am pleased to report there are currently nine of these management plans being developed across Central Australia.
We have also introduced new gang legislation. This legislation gives police the power to intervene and break up gangs and to prohibit known gang members from associating with each other. We have heard calls from some sections of the community for a youth curfew. What we know from research around the world is that youth curfews, particularly those across such a large area as Alice Springs, do not work. Let me reassure those who are concerned about this issue that we are serious about dealing with youth in the streets.
Earlier this year, we unveiled a new youth strategy, one that was developed in consultation with police, the youth sector, patrol services and Alice Springs recreation services. It was also discussed with aldermen of the Alice Springs Town Council on two occasions during its development. While some members of the council still support the idea of a youth curfew, there was a general agreement from council that the model was good and needed to be given a go. The youth strategy will focus on young people at risk of harm to themselves or others. It aims to reduce the number of those young people on the streets at night and improve the safety of everyone in this community. The strategy is underpinned by a youth drop-in service, a safe place that will provide support, advice and, where appropriate, case management for young people at risk. It will involve youth workers working at hot spots around the town where young people congregate. Importantly, there will be much closer liaison between youth service providers and police to quickly respond to potential trouble. There is only so much that government and the community can do. Ultimately, it is up to parents and guardians of young people to know what their children are doing and take responsibility for their behaviour. This is an issue that requires support and cooperation right across the community.
We are also acutely aware of the need to protect the most vulnerable in our community, our children. That is why I announced an inquiry into sexual abuse of indigenous children in the Northern Territory. This far-reaching inquiry, overseen by Pat Anderson and Rex Wild, is expected to report in coming weeks. Make no mistake; we will take decisive action on the report’s finding to ensure the safety of our children.
Developing a reliable, accessible and sustainable public health system is a major priority. Since coming to office, we have increased spending on our health system by around 65%. We have created over 270 additional nursing positions and more than 100 new positions for doctors. We have continued to invest in the development of the Alice Springs Hospital with increased staffing and an $11m upgrade to the Intensive Care Unit. We have created a new renal dialysis ward with an additional 15 beds.
Yesterday, we met our election promise to commit $6m for a major upgrade; in fact, a new Emergency Department. In addition, we funded a renal dialysis unit in Tennant Creek, are currently upgrading the renal unit in Alice Springs, and have financially supported the community-driven Western Desert Renal Dialysis Project. We will continue to develop our health workforce and infrastructure. We are committed to ensuring that our public health system is one where any Central Australian can receive a quality, timely service when required.
A focus for the government is to protect and enhance the great Central Australian lifestyle. We are a proud supporter and major sponsor of elite sporting events like the AFL Challenge Cup and the NRL. These events are important to Alice Springs because they bring some of Australia’s best athletes to our back yard. We are very proud to have invested over $5m in the redevelopment of Traeger Park. That means the continuation of AFL matches here. The fabulous new grandstand, lighting and the ground improvements mean visiting sporting teams enjoy first-class facilities and, of course, Traeger Park is used by local clubs and athletes all year round.
The wonderful performances of the Socceroos at last year’s World Cup have seen thousands of kids around the nation kicking a round ball and dreaming of becoming the next Mark Viduka or Harry Kewell, and we want some of these future stars to come from Central Australia. We have provided $500 000 to the NT Soccer Federation to create a new home for soccer in Alice Springs. Planning for this facility is well advanced under the guidance of the Alice Springs Town Council.
For those who prefer swinging a club to kicking a ball, we have invested a $130 000 to re-turf the course of the Alice Springs Golf Club with salt resistant grass. That is on top of the $95 000 provided for a new pump house and ablution block.
We have invested over $800 000 for a new drag strip in Alice Springs, and work on the strip is going very well. We will continue to support major sporting events such as the iconic Finke Desert Race, the Central Australian Masters Games, the Alice Springs Cup Carnival, and the growing Central Australian Bike Challenge. From a very modest start, it has grown well.
It is sporting events like these that have helped make Alice Springs a great place to live and so, too, are our festivals. The Alice Springs Desert Festival is quickly developing a national reputation, and the Alice Springs Beanie Festival has put the art of making beanies on the map. The dedicated volunteers, who work tirelessly throughout the year to make these events a reality, are true community heroes and we will continue to support their work. I formally thank and congratulate all those Centralians who invest so much of their time and energy in organising community events like this.
Since coming to office in 2001, it has been a priority for us to build on the unique desert lifestyle of the region. The Urban Enhancement Program has seen the continued development of bike paths around Alice Springs, the redevelopment of the Todd River bank along Leichhardt Terrace, and the re-channelling of the Todd River to lessen the impact of flooding. We have committed $330 000 to the Railway Discovery Walkway and work is due to begin shortly. We have also upgraded the railway station in partnership with Great Southern Rail and we are undertaking the Railway Terrace fencing project shortly. In a major lifestyle investment for Alice Springs, we have given the Alice Springs Town Council $8.1m to build an indoor aquatic centre and we are looking forward to work on that centre starting soon.
As you know, we supported the Alice Springs Solar City bid and what great news we had yesterday when it was announced that Alice Springs will become the nation’s fourth solar city and Australia’s solar centre. Our commitment to this ground-breaking project is $4.9m, plus in-kind support over the life of the project, a quarter of the total value of the project. The federal government and diverse group of stakeholders will also contribute. My congratulations to the Alice Springs Town Council as the leaders of the bid, the Centre for Appropriate Technology, the Arid Lands Environment Centre, Charles Darwin University, Power and Water Corporation, the Chamber of Commerce, Tangentyere Council and Desert Knowledge Cooperative Research Centre, and to all the departments of the Territory government which contributed to the bid - my warmest thanks.
In addition, late last year we also announced federal funding of $2.55m to build a solar demonstration facility at the Desert Knowledge precinct. This facility will contribute to the energy needs of the precinct itself and provide the public with tangible examples of how solar energy can be harnessed for the benefit of the community and the environment. The Desert Knowledge Cooperative Research Centre continues to produce high-quality research which allows us to better understand sustainable arid living and capitalise on the economic benefits of knowledge collateral. Ongoing research into areas like 21st century pastoralism, bush foods production and tourism networking will reap benefits for Alice Springs and Central Australia in the future.
At a time when water resources are the topic of a national debate, we have invested $10.4m in developing a world’s best practice water re-use project that will eventually see up to 3000 million litres of waste water recycled each year. Treated water will be used to irrigate up to 300 ha of high-yielding horticultural crops on the doorstep of Alice Springs. The project will have the added environmental benefit of stopping dry weather overflows into Ilparpa Swamp and radically reducing mosquito numbers in the area.
There has been a lot of discussion in recent times about the noise from the Ron Goodin Power Station. Clearly, it is making an impact on the lifestyles of people living near the power station, and that has been backed up by independent consultants. Our $20m investment to relocate the Titan and Taurus generators and to secure Alice Springs’ future power supply needs at Brewer Estate was great news for Golf Course Estate and East Side residents.
The measures we have taken to protect our community and lifestyle are the core business of government. Equally, it is also our role to foster an environment that promotes business confidence and a strong economy. Our strong financial management, strategic investment and key infrastructure and low taxing policies have resulted in a strong and growing economy.
The Territory’s construction industry is buoyant and has been growing steadily since we came to office in 2001. Under the former CLP government, the economy was in significant decline, but I am pleased to report that through our careful, managed major capital works program, the construction industry has bounced back. Alice Springs construction companies are reaping the rewards and the flow-on effects to other trades and suppliers is significant, as anyone in Alice Springs can tell you. In the December quarter of last year, there was approximately $91.5m worth of major capital works being undertaken in Alice Springs. Just over $58m of that was investment by the Territory government while just over $33m was private sector investment. These statistics underline not only our commitment to Alice Springs, but also the growing confidence we are seeing in this town.
Private sector projects, including the Yeperenye and Alice Plaza shopping centres, the Imparja studio and the Quest Serviced Apartments, are either very well advanced or nearing completion. Our investment in the Desert Knowledge Precinct is taking shape and the Business and Innovation Centre will soon be completed. The first sod of the Desert Peoples Centre was turned last Thursday. Headworks for the future stages of the precinct continue and provide an indicator of the expansive nature of our $30m commitment. The contracts for this project were awarded to local construction companies and many local trades and suppliers have benefited; companies like Sitzler, NBY Constructions, Araluen Plumbing, Neata Glass, Air Temp and Murray Pest Control.
As we are all aware, tourism is vital to the region’s future prosperity and a key to the economic sustainability of many communities across Central Australia. On 22 March, I was pleased to launch the Destination Alice Springs marketing campaign. This is a $2.1m campaign promoting Alice Springs as the adventure capital of the Territory. It is aimed at motivating spirited travellers to visit this wonderful part of the Territory for their next holiday.
Our commitment to sealing the Red Centre Way will have short- and long-term benefits for Alice Springs and the communities along the way. Connecting Uluru with the West MacDonnell National Park via a double lane sealed road provides enormous tourism potential for the region. With initiatives like the Red Centre Way, recently named as our first National Landscape, we will see even more tourists to the region in the years ahead. It will give our visitors a world-class driving experience. The most recent $13.4m contract to seal a 48 km stretch of the drive from Glen Helen to the southern boundary of the West MacDonnell National Park was our largest single road contract in around 20 years.
Our commitment to pursue World Heritage listing for the West MacDonnells is well advanced. We have committed over $4m towards enhancing visitor experience with the construction of visitor centres at both the eastern and western ends of the Red Centre Way. Planning for cutting edge interpretation is also making good progress.
Tourism NT is working with local Aboriginal communities to explore and plan tourism opportunities in the region. Parks and Wildlife have been working closely with the Central Land Council and traditional owners to identify joint park management opportunities. The Minister for Tourism will talk more about the Red Centre Way and the local tourism sector shortly.
We are embarking upon the single most important and comprehensive local government reform since the Territory gained self-government. The creation of nine shire councils throughout the Territory will provide a foundation for improved governance, better strategic planning, more efficient administration and management and, importantly, a more effective way to target funding to areas of greatest need. No longer will small community councils have to struggle to maintain their viability. The shire councils will provide the framework for small communities to achieve critical mass, to be competitive in tendering processes, and to justifiably receive increased financial and other assistance from both the federal and Territory governments.
We want to engage our communities in Central Australia in economic development and participation, and ensure that Aboriginal people are well placed to capitalise on economic activity. This will be supported by the development of regional economic committees throughout the Centre, made up of local people influencing local development and strategic planning.
We will continue to explore land needs and negotiate land release here in Alice Springs. Residents have moved into new homes at Stirling Heights, the first public release of land in around 10 years in Alice Springs. Headworks at Stage 2 of the Larapinta land release have been completed and negotiations for development of that parcel of land are continuing. Negotiations for the lease of land at Mt John Valley are also progressing, and we are looking at available land options for the expansion of the commercial and industrial sectors.
Whilst skills shortages loom large for all sectors of the Australian economy, we recognise the development of a locally grown workforce is a priority. That is why we have embarked upon the most significant secondary school reform program ever seen in the Northern Territory, and that is being complemented by the largest educational infrastructure spend in the Territory’s history. Our middle school program is aimed at dramatically improving school attendance and retention, and providing employers with a locally developed workforce.
In Alice Springs, we have invested heavily in supporting two dedicated middle schools at ANZAC Hill and Alice Springs High School. This support has been enhanced by the introduction of the Clontarf Football Academy program at both sites. It is an exciting concept and will encourage school attendance and improve achievement by Aboriginal male students. This program will also be introduced to Centralian College in 2008. At Centralian, we have invested over $1m in a new Year 10 Study Centre and, in partnership with Centrecorp, DEST and the Polly Framer Foundation, we will shortly be introducing a tailored tutoring homework and vocational education program for young Aboriginal students. This is an initiative of the Indigenous Education Employment Task Force.
The success of the middle schools transition has been, in large part, due to dedicated teachers at these schools, along with the support of school councils, parents and the students themselves. My sincere thanks to them all for their hard work and support.
In addition to middle schools, we have undertaken an education project aimed at increasing school attendance among primary school aged students living in town camps. This initiative was a recommendation of the Town Camp Task Force and is being managed by the Department of Employment, Education and Training. It is focused on schools close to town camps developing strong relationships with town camp families, and providing appropriate support and learning environments for children. We will keep the House updated on progress in this area in the coming months.
Workforce development has been and will continue to be a key economic priority for us. In the last year, we have helped create more than 6000 new jobs in the Northern Territory, 2000 of which have been new apprenticeships and traineeships. A number of these opportunities have been Northern Territory Public Service apprenticeships, giving our young people a chance to use their talents to serve the Territory.
Education is the key to developing a skilled and sustainable workforce, and to creating a healthy and prosperous community. I referred earlier to our plan for the future of Alice, and tomorrow I will launch Moving Alice Ahead. However, I would like to briefly outline some of what we plan to pursue.
Moving Alice Ahead commits the Territory government and its community partners to progressing key economic, social and community issues. A raft of different projects is under way, with the overall aim of building a strong, safe and secure future for the town. Alice will become a safer and more integrated town. As I have previously stated, we are committed to:
implementing a responsible alcohol management plan to reduce the incidence of alcohol-related harm in Alice;
developing infrastructure and strategies to capitalise on the unique lifestyle that will make Alice an even better town to live, and this includes enhancement of the CBD;
Alice Springs is undergoing some big changes, and change is always challenging. I am proud to say we are stepping up to meet those challenges. The Territory government does not shy away from the problems facing the community in Alice. We are here to face the difficulties and work with the community to tackle them, and listening with an open mind to peoples’ concerns is our starting point for that work always.
Alice Springs is also a great community, a great place to live and work, and a great place to raise a family. We acknowledge the problems and commit ourselves to solving them, but we should not make the mistake of allowing negatives to cloud our view of the many qualities and bright prospects that Alice has in plenty: a strong economy, booming construction activity, vibrant and growing tourism industries and a whole raft of Territory government initiatives and investments to foster this strength and growth. Our government will continue to working together in partnership with the people of Alice to move this town forward.
Madam Speaker, I move that the Assembly take note of the statement.
Ms CARNEY (Opposition Leader): Madam Speaker, I thank the Chief Minister for talking about Alice Springs. It certainly is the case that she has talked throughout her statement of some of the positive things that are happening in Alice Springs.
Much as it offends the Chief Minister, who was in opposition for so long, I am going to nevertheless challenge her on some of the assertions that she has made. I know the Chief Minister would much prefer if the opposition simply sat and said: ‘Yes, you are wonderful, Chief Minister; we love all that you are doing’. However, for as long as I am alive and well doing this job, I will not be simply nodding my head to everything the government says, and in particular what the Chief Minister says.
The Chief Minister said in Question Time today, and I do not have the exact quote, ‘words are fine, but action is what we are after’ or something like that. Indeed, that is the case. This is a 38-page statement; there are a lot of words in this. We do want to see more action. To some extent, I guess I would be going back to some of the matters referred to in today’s censure motion; however, there will be others. My colleagues, no doubt, over the course of the next couple of days, will address matters in their portfolio areas. It is not my intention to talk about everything in the statement.
I note with interest, before getting into the statement in any detail, the Chief Minister’s pride in coming to Alice Springs and launching Destination Alice Springs. That is noteworthy, given the Chief Minister’s comments in parliament earlier today. Again, there is an hypocrisy and inconstancy, and it is this: the Chief Minister said that there is a pecking order in parliament; that is, the Speaker, Chief Minister, and Leader of the Opposition. It is, therefore, perplexing, not to mention rude in the extreme, that, as Leader of the Opposition and a local member of parliament in Alice Springs, I did not receive, as is usual, an invitation to this launch. I make the point that it is good manners to invite local members. It used to happen; it does not happen any more. I know why that it is. They want to exclude members of the opposition from as many things as possible, particularly me when it comes to Alice Springs matters. It is not for me to give advice to the government, but I indicate to government members that it is not in your interests, because I received a number of phone calls after that launch asking me where I was. I said I was sitting in my office in Alice Springs. They were absolutely appalled that I, as a local member and Leader of the Opposition, was not invited to something that the Chief Minister claims in her statement is very important. Indeed, it was.
If the Chief Minister is minded to follow what is protocol, and certainly good manners, I suggest that she starts inviting me again to local functions because it is not good form and it does her a great disservice not to include me, particularly when she says that it is really something significant and when she referred to the so-called pecking order herself in parliament today.
Page 1 of the Chief Minister’s statement reads:
- Living in Central Australia offers the people the chance to enjoy unique outback lifestyle in one of the most beautiful places in the world.
Indeed, it does. That is why we came here. That is why we live here. That is why so many people in Alice Springs are so desperately concerned and that is why they turned up to the protest this morning. We know what a great place this is to live and it saddens us beyond belief to see the neglect of this government.
It is interesting that they have an office here; it used to be called the Office of Central Australia. They had a paint change and it is now called the Office of the Chief Minister, creating the illusion that the Chief Minister is here a little more often. The name change does not really matter. She does, however, have some staff in Alice Springs and one wonders how keyed in they are. The Chief Minister, I thought, seemed genuinely surprised at the extent of the protest this morning. I share the comments she made during the censure motion. I agree it must not be much fun to go to a protest and be booed, and I am sure it was not, but I cannot believe that the Chief Minister was surprised. If she was, and I think she was, she should not have been, and that demonstrates that the Chief Minister in particular does not have Alice Springs as important on the list of priorities as it should be.
In Question Time, the Chief Minister said that that Alice Springs is a ‘major project’. Alice Springs is not a major project; it is a town. It is a town of lots of people: young and old, black and white, male and female, the list goes on. It is not a major project. It is a town and people want the town to achieve its potential. I think people were amazed when the Chief Minister referred to it as a ‘major project’. That speaks volumes of the Chief Minister’s lack of commitment.
Another interesting part of the statement, was the reference to Moving Alice Ahead. The statement said at page 3:
- Moving Alice Ahead is a big part of our collaborative approach to addressing key issues and strengthening the capacity and economic development of the region.
I ask: since when? I gather from what the Chief Minister has said that she is going to be launching something tomorrow called Moving Alice Ahead. It is in that light that I refer to a document circulated in about March last year, I think. Certainly, the Chief Minister referred to it in an interview in March last year. This was Alice in 10. Interestingly, the Chief Minister has not talked about how this thing called Moving Alice Ahead will fit in with Alice in 10, but we will leave that for another day. In the interview in March last year on the ABC, she said that a questionnaire had been sent out to Alice Springs’ residents asking for their input. This is the questionnaire, I assume, and it refers to something else. It is not called Moving Alice Ahead. This one is called ‘Moving the Centre Ahead … Have your Say’. So we have Moving the Centre Ahead, Moving Alice Ahead; and one wonders whether this is simply a name change and how recently the Moving Alice Ahead project was devised. I note that we did not get the statement until very late last night. I ask the question: was it because you were still quibbling over the name and because you were still making up things as you were going along? I do not know. I look forward to the Chief Minister commenting on that in her reply.
The Chief Minister said that Moving Alice Ahead will not replicate existing work and programs. I hope it does not because we need something in Alice Springs that does advance our interests, that ensures the safety of the people of Alice Springs.
At page 4 of the statement, the Chief Minister said:
- A major priority for us is to ensure that Central Australians and the people of Alice Springs feel safe and secure in their communities and in their homes.
Well, you would not know it from the way the Chief Minister and her ministerial colleagues have approached Alice Springs,. It was demonstrated today in many of the things that were noted during the course of the censure debate.
The Chief Minister talks much about alcohol. She had a bit of a go and said I had not written a letter to her. Given some of the offensive letters I had been receiving from government ministers lately, I am not sure why I am bothering to write at all. I asked the minister for Police for instance, a number of very specific questions about the mobile police van, got nowhere then, got a very juvenile response from the member for Casuarina, a government minister, some time ago. I sent one back to him that almost matched his, expressing, however, disappointment on the way that he stooped to such juvenile levels.
In any case, let us talk about alcohol. I note that the Chief Minister never invited me to any of the forums or task force meetings to which she referred. Alcohol, of course, plays a major role in crime and antisocial behaviour in any community. Certainly, that is the case in Alice Springs. We do want to see better outcomes, but Labor is re-writing some history. The dry town proposal, for instance, was not supported initially by the Mayor of Alice Springs, the former Labor candidate. I do not believe it was initially supported by government. Government came to it late in the piece. Why? Because the community wanted it and, like the CCTV security cameras, government was dragged to it kicking and screaming.
A concern that has been expressed to me from several well-informed people is that the Chief Minister is placing a great deal of emphasis on alcohol. There seems to be a consequent argument that if we can deal with the alcohol problems, there will be no more violence. The people who have spoken to me question that assumption. It is beholden on me to ask the question: will, for instance, violent Aboriginal men stop beating their women and children if they do not drink? I know, and any lawyer in Alice Springs, any social worker, anyone at the hospital will know, that Aboriginal women and children in particular are beaten up and raped and so on by men who are drunk and sober. We go back to the comments of May last year of Dr Nanette Rogers about the culture of violence that exists in some of these communities. Even if we take the alcohol away, does it necessary follow that some of these abhorrent crimes will stop? Of course, we all hope it does, let us make no mistake about that, but one wonders about the extent to which the Chief Minister is relying on reduction in alcohol reducing violence. Of course, we hope it does. However, the point needs to be made: will it actually mean that violent Aboriginal will stop beating women and children? How will it impact on the culture of violence?
I now move to other matters in the statement. Again, with respect to alcohol, the Chief Minister has given what would appear to be some encouraging figures. I ask her in reply, however, to advise whether or not it is true that the figures at the hospital show that the number of men presenting with injuries has decreased but that the number of women presenting with alcohol-related injuries has not decreased but has, in fact, increased? That is a very specific question to which I would like the answer.
There is still a concern that the underlying factors for excessive alcohol consumption have not been addressed. You have minimised the hours and substituted the type of alcohol, but look around the streets of Alice Springs; people are still drinking. I was passing the Gap Hotel the other day at 2.15 pm. It is in my electorate. I drove down some streets and I was appalled at what I saw. Lots of people are still doing lots of drinking. Clearly, there is much more work that needs to be done on this matter and it is really not enough for government to say: ‘We are doing a few things with respect to alcohol’ and leave it at that. It does need to be closely monitored and the Chief Minister needs to report to the House on a very regular basis.
The Chief Minister talked about the mobile police station being used to minimise disruption to businesses and their customers. I refer again to the very specific letter I wrote to the minister for Police asking him how many times it had been in Todd Mall, for how long it had been there, whether it always staffed and if, not, when, and a number of other questions. I received what can only be described as an incredibly insulting letter. However, the letter of reply, insulting though it was, spoke volumes because the minister - and he confirmed it again in Question Time today - did not want to answer the questions. Those of us who live here know how infrequently the police van has been spotted. This is not an attack on police, as the government spin doctors would have the people of Alice Springs believe; it is a series of honest questions. How often has the mobile police station been in hot spots? By hot spots, we mean in and around Todd Mall. I have friends who work at the Alice Springs Court House and they tell me that, until recently, the police van was in the police compound car park an awful lot, and they could see it.
Occasionally, they would ring me to tell me that it had gone out. It is concerning that it is only really come out in the last couple of weeks. It is no coincidence, in my view, that it has something to do with these parliamentary sittings. The fact is that it is a resourcing issue. When the Police minister talks about establishment numbers and so on, I urge him to reassess what is an adequate establishment number.
I do not believe there can be any doubt that we need more police in Alice Springs and, of course, that is evidenced by the motion that was passed at council last night to go to the AFP. What is my position on that? Read the media release I issued yesterday, minister. We think the buck stops with government. In fact, even the mayor has said the buck stops with government or words to that effect. The government has promised so much and delivered so little. The least it can do is get the mobile police van out and about. How do they do that? They employ more police officers and then, and only then, will our very hard-working and dedicated police officers be able to do the jobs that they want to do. They are very enthusiastic, our police officers. They want a government that supports them. They want lots of colleagues to work with, not just a couple of patrols on a busy night.
There was a reference by the Chief Minister on page 7 to business and residents on the north side of town having to deal with increased levels of antisocial behaviour. It does make one wonder why it was that the member for Karama approved the Dalgety Road site as a short-term accommodation site for the demountables. The Chief Minister, on the one hand, said: ‘Yes, there is lots of antisocial behaviour going on up there’. No wonder the residents of that area in Braitling with whom I have met are so angry. They know what they are experiencing, they do not need to read it in the Chief Minister’s report. They know the problems they are having and that is why they are so angry and stunned at minister Lawrie’s decision.
Moving on to housing, on page 10, the Chief Minister talked about Territory Housing. She said that new public housing management arrangements for tenants have been introduced, including the introduction of Acceptable Behaviour Agreements. I referred in the censure motion to an e-mail I received from a woman in my electorate, and I think I said that I was rocked to receive it. I have extracted the relevant part from it. This is what she is experiencing and this was only sent to me seven or eight days ago. I will read the relevant part:
- Last night, there were around 20 people drinking up and down the street. I called security and the police. I felt unsafe to stay in my home and stayed overnight with a friend. This is enormously disruptive to my child’s and my own life.
On my return home this morning, the whole street was covered with cans and broken glass. A long-term resident of the street was cleaning up the debris. I feel like I am in a war zone.
I know that Territory Housing is doing what they can, and I have been dealing with them about this issue. I understand that the residents in that street will sign an Acceptable Behaviour Agreement. It should not have to come to that. There is a long history of what the tenants of this street area have been doing; they are terrorising the street and it is disgraceful. Territory Housing needs to be provided with more resources so they can monitor some of their tenants more regularly. In addition, this government should not shy away from taking a hard line with people who do not respect their neighbours and, in fact, in some cases, terrorise them. There should be a zero tolerance approach when it comes to these sorts of tenants. They are public housing tenants. If they behave as disgracefully as these people have, and this is but one example, they should be evicted and it should be as simple as that.
I am somewhat cynical about the inclusion of references to Acceptable Behaviour Agreements in a statement such as this. I am not sure whether the Chief Minister knows what they are, but I do wonder whether she thinks it is enough. In other words, are terrible tenants to be rewarded by chance after chance, or is it better for the people of Alice Springs for a government to have a hard line approach when it comes to tenants who are not doing the right thing? As I said in this case, as in others, there is a long list of recalcitrant behaviour, offensive behaviour and, in some cases, behaviour that is very violent.
Page 10 of the Chief Minister’s statement is interesting:
- It is a basic right of people to be able to enjoy a peaceful existence in their own homes.
Indeed, it is. Try telling this - and I will extract it and send it to this constituent. I am not sure the person will believe the Chief Minister’s words.
Also in this statement, the Chief Minister said:
A key platform for protecting our community and lifestyle is policing.
What was curious on page 12 of the statement was the Chief Minister’s comment:
We average one police officer for every 246 people, almost double the national average of one officer for every 478 people.
This is not a badge of honour. You should not be proud of this. What makes it even sadder is that we need more. We have almost double the national average of police officers. Does that not concern you? Why do we need double the national average of police officers in Alice Springs? It is because you lot are not addressing crime; you are not dealing with crime. That is why we have more than double the national average of one officer for every 478 people. Under Labor, it is going to have to be more so that more police officers can deal with the high levels of crime that are going on. I say again: it is not a badge of honour.
The Chief Minister said, and the minister of Police touched upon in a radio interview last week, that there are going to be 15 new police on board this month. I ask the Chief Minister and perhaps the Police minister in reply to confirm whether or not it is the case that five police officers left Alice Springs either on the weekend or last week. I understand that to be the case. So of the 15, presumably five will fill the positions of the ones who have left. I invite the Police minister to confirm that the police are under establishment in any event. Where will those 10 officers go? Will they fill the gap? When the Chief Minister is talking about new police, with typical Labor government spin, they try to create the illusion that there really are extras. I suspect, minister for Police, that they are filling the gap. I look forward to your detailed comments in this regard although I am not confident that you will be detailed because we know that this is a government that does not like to work in detail; it likes to work on sweeping statements, propaganda and spin.
The phones are a terrible issue at the Alice Springs Police Station. It is an ongoing issue. The minister knew since, I think, November last year and he did not do anything about it apparently. I say ‘apparently’ because he certainly, to my knowledge, has not made any public statement about tackling the issue. The calls keep coming to my office because I am there to answer the phone. The Police minister seems to think it is a great joke. Well, it is not a great joke when people are fearing for their safety in Alice Springs.
The Chief Minister talked about how the mobile police van was used during the cyanide spill cleanup on the north Stuart Highway in February. Bully for you! Good. I would have thought that the business owners in Todd Mall would like to have seen it, perhaps in addition to the cyanide spill, in and around the Todd Mall. The Chief Minister and the Police minister will not tell us how many times the police van has been in Todd Mall, but they make the point of saying it was used in the cyanide spill. As I said, bully for you.
Let us talk about tackling crime and antisocial behaviour. The Chief Minister said it is vital. Oh, yes, it is. She talked about gang legislation. The minister said today that it has been used 41 times. Well, again, bully for you. One has to wonder how successful it has been in any event, given the spate of gang violence we have had in Alice Springs. We never used to have gang violence; it was a Darwin thing.
As an Alice Springs member, I used to go to Darwin and think: ‘They have youths gang up here. We do not have them in Alice’. Now we have them in Alice. Is this a concern? Oh, yes, it is. Youth curfews: you never know, there might be a backflip on that one, too. We welcome the government’s backflip when it comes to CCTV cameras. You never know, as I said, there might be one with respect to the youth curfew.
On page 17, the Chief Minister addressed the sexual abuse inquiry. She said:
- We are acutely aware of the need to protect the most vulnerable in our community, our children. That is why I announced an inquiry into sexual abuse of indigenous children in the Northern Territory.
No, it is not. The Chief Minister announced the inquiry because she embarrassed herself and her party in the Northern Territory, with her mishandling of matters after the interview involving Dr Nanette Rogers in May last year. It led to a well-published and publicised memo from the member for Millner saying that the Chief Minister’s inaction and incompetence was causing widespread hatred in the community. The Chief Minister did not actually have a choice. About that time, there was also the issue of the Mutitjulu memo; that is, that she knew what was going on then but failed to address the problem. If you are going to make a statement, you should at least be honest about it.
I suppose there are no surprises in flowery words and spin used by the Chief Minister. It is in the statement. We see it almost every day. Every time she speaks, she would have people believe, perhaps those who have not known her form, that she is doing the right thing and that she is trying this, that and the other, she is committed, etcetera, that she has a deep and abiding affection for the people of Alice Springs.
Those who have seen her work will know that is just not true. We see all these words from the Chief Minister, herself having said today that words are good but action is better. Action is better. If you are going to use the words, can you at least get them right? Can you at least put them in some sort of order that does not rewrite history, that does not give the impression that the Chief Minister or, indeed the government as a collective, borders on being delusional? Yes, Alice Springs is a fantastic place to live. Why do I know that? Because I live here and have done for many years. I want to keep living here, like so many other people. It is a sad day when I hear that people are leaving town. For my part, I am going to do all that I can to ensure they stay here. I, however, am not Chief Minister. Clare Martin is, and she should act.
Debate suspended.
MOTION
Note Statement – Government Initiatives and Achievements in Central Australia
Note Statement – Government Initiatives and Achievements in Central Australia
Continued from earlier this day.
Mr STIRLING (Treasurer): Mr Deputy Speaker, the Chief Minister’s statement on Central Australia showed today a government that is engaged in the major issues of this community, and I can assure members of the Chief Minister’s determination to ensure that we, as ministers in the Cabinet, do engage, and that determination is absolutely legendary with us. She is right because Central Australia, Alice Springs and surrounding regions are the heart of this nation and the core of a significant part of the Northern Territory. I am not one of those who subscribe to the theory that Alice Springs is somehow at a crossroads. It is an easy phrase to toss around, but it does not mean a lot if you try to analyse it.
Like every other community anywhere in Australia, Alice Springs has tremendous strengths, but it faces challenges. Like every other community, sometimes it is the challenges and the difficulties that are highlighted and not the strengths that have forged to make this town what it is. It has been here for a very long time. Indigenous settlement goes back some 40 000 years; European settlement from around the 1880s. Over that time, the town’s development, the direction of economic growth and social issues generated by people living cheek by jowl in close urban contact, has been an issue that has tested the town’s tenacity time and again. It is doing so now, and I can assure everyone that it will do so again in the future.
What can be easily overlooked when you have challenges and difficulties are the reasons why 27 000 people choose to live here in the first place. For a start, this is one of the most physically beautiful inland towns in the whole of Australia - we know the ranges, the colours, the arid zone and the beauty of the landscape are just one reason. In the second place, it has a depth of intellectual vibrancy that is not often found, and I believe it is connected somehow with living in the wide open spaces of the desert.
The art which is generated in this community is outstanding in the fields of indigenous art, European art and craft, literature and modern cultural means such as the multimedia. Alice Springs contributes in all of these fields in a depth and measure way beyond its population. We well know of its climatic tenacity, and that is a tenacity matched by the residents in the way that they approach the heat, the desert and the enormous open spaces.
Speaking as Treasurer, it is a town with great potential as a service centre for major mining and pastoral ventures. It has the capacity to provide employment opportunities from quite complex engineering jobs in the minerals sector through to high-level government and statutory authority administration. Perhaps most importantly, one of the challenges and difficulties is also its greatest resource: young people.
Young people in this country are an increasingly scarce commodity. I have said often enough to different groups, but it bears repeating: Australia today provides around 170 000 new entrants to the workforce each year. By 2020, that figure will be around 180 000 to 200 000 for the whole decade through to 2030; 18- to 20-year-olds will be scarce. There is only one jurisdiction in Australia where the number of young people is growing, and that is the Northern Territory. It is a tremendous advantage we have over everywhere else. In Alice Springs, the young ones we are talking about in 2020 are now being born or are in primary school, and they will be the basis of the progress of this town over the next 20 years.
They are some of the immediate strengths I see when I consider Alice Springs. I see challenges as well, and the Chief Minister has articulated them. Clearly, there is a depth to an alcohol problem which have yet to get to the bottom of. The abuse of alcohol in all of its forms, on the street or behind closed doors, is an evil we have to get on top of. The Minister of Racing, Gaming and Licensing will speak about this in more detail, but the Chief Minister said tackling alcohol is one of the 11 major priorities to be achieved as part of Moving Alice Ahead.
If we look at history, alcohol in Alice Springs has been an issue since around 1880 when white people moved in. Outcomes from the abuse of alcohol appear to have worsened in recent times. There is no doubt that the level of violence experienced has been fuelled by excessive use of alcohol. In the recently released crime figures, alcohol-fuelled violence accounts for over 60% of the violence in Alice Springs. Alcohol problems have not appeared overnight, nor are they new; they have been a problem for some time. It was made worse years ago by a policy of allowing unmitigated proliferation of alcohol licences through the 1970s, 1980s and the 1990s. Alcohol is sold from delicatessens and shops, a service station, and even a hairdresser has a licence, albeit not a takeaway.
There has been a proliferation of licences in this town which has facilitated access to alcohol and has undoubtedly promoted drinking, and for 20 years, nothing was done. In fact, those who advocated against the proliferation of licences over that time were shouted down as being anti-business. People who have been in politics for a while would well remember the women’s marches in Alice Springs in the early to mid-1990s when Aboriginal women came from around the Centre to protest the abuse of alcohol. My colleague, the member for Macdonnell, will tell you of the pleading by Aboriginal women in the 1990s for action against violence and drunken abuse. They were ignored by the government of the day.
When this government came to office, the negligent attitude towards proliferation of licences came to a halt, and the Chief Minister played a strong leadership role in bringing together the agencies of Alice Springs to combat alcohol abuse in a combined fashion. My predecessor, the Attorney-General and member for Stuart, Peter Toyne, worked tirelessly in government to have effective alcohol restrictions put in place. I instituted the Alcohol Framework and implemented widely unpopular measures to curb the abuse of alcohol. I stood on the steps of parliament and criticised the Licensing Commission for their support of a licence for a hairdresser. We placed a moratorium on any new licences, and we have banned takeaway licences in shops ever more in the Territory. My colleague, the Minister for Racing, Gaming and Licensing, has been active in promoting restrictions on wine casks and other form of alcohol, and managing strong alcohol restrictions.
They are working. They have shown reductions both in pure alcohol sold but, most importantly, in alcohol-related hospital admissions and in the severity of presentations to the Emergency Department. Much more needs to be done. I am aware that violence, especially quite recently, has been a particular problem, but we are putting in place long-term solutions that will turn these issues around over the long term. In the short term, police numbers are an all-time high. They are now at full establishment, something that the Alice Springs station has rarely had, and certainly under our predecessors never achieved. Of course, full resourcing to establishment allows the police management in Alice Springs the absolute maximum discretion in deployment of those officers.
I recently authorised publication of the December Quarter Crime Statistics. We do not collect these statistics for the fun of it; they are collected to assist in policy creation and to inform government of issues we need to address. They are published in a table that shows a five-year level, an annual comparison figure and quarterly figures. They are volatile over the quarter because of the size and the sample in each of our towns. However, what they show about Alice Springs gives us a benchmark, factual data that we use in policy creation. They show that in the very broad category of ‘offences against the person’, comparing 2002 with 2006, there has been an increase of around 9% or 84 offences from 1034 in 2002 to 1118 in 2006. Robbery, sexual assault, homicide and related offences are down. Assaults are up, and we know that is largely alcohol-fuelled domestic violence. There is no doubt that reporting of violence to police is tremendously strong - stronger now than five and 10 years ago; particularly more recently under the terms of the domestic violence strategy.
If you take it in the context of much stronger reporting, that increase of just 84 a year is modest, but the government response in cracking down on alcohol is the correct response. The statistical information tells us that and it is what we have to do to effectively tackle crime. Police practices, of course, of taking on more assault charges also drives the increase in figures, but the presence of alcohol is at the base of it.
In property offences from 2002-06, the overall number is down by 5%; which is around 178 fewer offences. Contained within those figures are good results in motor vehicle theft, which is down 19%, and other property offences, which are down by 32%. It is legitimate for the government to say that the policies of cracking down on drugs, increasing police numbers, using modern technology, particularly in operations like Genesweep, has borne fruit in the war on crime.
Taking statistics and the use of them to determine policy approaches and the attention paid to them by police shows that this government is taking the problem seriously and acting on them. Clear crime statistics were never before collected in this comprehensive way by any previous government. My colleague, the minister for Police, will remind members of the additional resources that have been put into police to enable them to address these issues. There is no question that these issues are challenges, but they are not being ignored and they are not going unanswered, as some would have us believe.
In relation to Community Corrections and recent announcement I made, it is a sad fact that 46% of those who offend in the Northern Territory and go to gaol offend again and return to gaol. This recidivism, this turnaround rate, is something in which we have to intervene and reduce, and we are focusing effort on that. An additional 15 Community Corrections officers have been employed to help break that re-offending cycle. Three of them will be based in Alice Springs and one additional officer will be based in Tennant Creek.
Community Corrections officers within Alice Springs supervise a caseload of around 470 adult and juvenile offenders on community-based orders. The Alice Springs-based officers cover a huge Territory stretching from the South Australia border to the Barrow Creek and from the Western Australia border to Queensland. Four Community Corrections officers are based at Tennant Creek, servicing clients in that region. These Community Corrections officers also provide assessments and assistance to the court and referrals to drug and alcohol support services.
In total, 199 Department of Justice staff are based in Central Australia. Other services offered by Justice are Court Support Service. There are three full-time magistrates and 15 court staff permanently based in Alice Springs. A judge visits from Darwin with support staff for up to 30 weeks per year. The Alice-based magistrates also provide the bush court service. Credit NT, the drug court, has been operating successfully in Alice since 2003. The alcohol court commenced operation in 2006 with qualified clinicians based at the court house, providing a service for all diversion programs.
Recent improvements to the Alice Springs Court House will allow a greater use of facilities by the prosecution, victims of crime, and defence. In particular, vulnerable witnesses will now be able to give evidence in a safe, secure and comfortable environment following an upgrade of facilities at the Alice Springs Magistrates Court.
The Community Justice Centre provides a free and confidential mediation services to Alice Springs residents, with mediators travelling from Darwin as the need arises. In the future, the Community Justice Centre will be conducting a conflict management training course at Yuendumu and participants will include Night Patrol workers and young people from the Mt Theo Youth Leadership Program. The three-day program will be tailored to meet the needs of these people.
The Alice Springs Correctional Centre provides a custodial environment for up to 300 prisoners. The prison employs a total of 141 staff. Correctional Services also provides a juvenile holding facility, Aranda House, which can accommodate up to 10 detainees.
Offices of the Registrar-General and Public Trustee provide secure, timely and effective land titles, births, deaths and marriages registration and related services to clients in Central Australia. An agent for the Public Trustee provides a will-making service. There are three staff members in that office.
In addition, the Alice Springs office of the Director of Public Prosecutions provides an independent public prosecution service. That office’s Witness Assistance Service provides support to victims of crime, witnesses and their families in Alice Springs and surrounding areas. Fourteen staff are employed at the DPP in Alice Springs.
At Consumer Affairs, one project officer provides advice to the Alice Springs general public. One Trade Measurement Officer assists Alice business, industry and consumers with advice and information about correct trade measurement practices.
Community Safe is a new program that brings together the former Community Harmony program, the Office of Crime Prevention and the Office of Alcohol Policy. Two officers based in Alice Springs and one in Tennant Creek will provide advice and support to regional advisory committees to develop integrated safety plans focusing on crime, antisocial behaviour and alcohol-related harm problems. A particular focus of the office in the Central Australian region will be to collaborate with police and other government and non-government agencies and people in communities to resolve long-running disputes in the region.
In relation to the Central Australian economy, since coming to office in 2001, we have focused on providing high levels of cash for infrastructure throughout the Territory. Central Australia has received its share of these funds. In 2005-06, $100m of actual cash was spent on infrastructure in Central Australia, not including the Barkly. That was 20% of the total cash expenditure in capital works infrastructure in 2005-06.
In the first eight months of this financial year, government spent actual cash of around $50m on infrastructure. We expect that figure will eventually match, and probably surpass, last year’s level. On a rough calculation, every $110 000 spent sustains one job directly, so around 900 jobs have been directly sustained by the government’s spend alone, and that does not include the jobs indirectly created from the flow-on effect of this expenditure.
Mr Deputy Speaker, I strongly support the Chief Minister’s statement.
Dr LIM (Greatorex): Mr Deputy Speaker, I was very disappointed with what the Chief Minister had to say about her initiatives in Central Australia. This morning’s message by the 500-strong demonstration outside the parliamentary precinct should have made the Chief Minister revise the statement to show that she had, indeed, heard what the community had to say.
While she might tough it out in parliament trying to put on a brave front, she was shaken. I know that when she spoke to the delegation, she accepted that she had misread Alice Springs. For her to deliver this statement without recognising the many issues that need to be addressed by government is just beyond belief.
She talked about development in Alice Springs. In respect of the capital works occurring in Alice Springs, had it not been for public enterprise, there would be hardly anything. Had it not been for the Commonwealth government’s significant capital contribution for things like the Desert Knowledge Centre, there would not be much at all that the Northern Territory government has delivered into Alice Springs.
The government saying that it is committed to strengthening its capacity in Central Australia rings so hollow, especially when a minister and several minders have commented to people in Alice Springs that they are not interested in this town because the people had not voted for the Labor Party. That is most …
Dr BURNS: A point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker! The member for Greatorex is casting aspersions on ministers, reflecting on their character. He has been asked before to state who this person is and who these minders are. He has not, yet he continues to cast aspersions.
Dr LIM: Speaking to the point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker, I believe there is no point of order. Quote me the clause that says that I cannot say that, or seek advice from the Clerk. I have not nominated or named any minister …
Dr Burns: Well, that is the whole point!
Dr LIM: I am making an assertion …
Dr Burns interjecting.
Dr LIM: If they do not know – it is not a matter of whether to believe it or not …
A member: You have to be accountable.
Dr LIM: You do not want to believe it. You know it. The people of Alice Springs know it. They have heard it.
Mr Stirling: Just because you said it does not make it true.
Dr LIM: Because your minsters have said it. That is why. Ask among your nine ministers. You should know.
Mr Henderson: Why will you not name them? Come on, you have parliamentary privilege. What is the problem with using it?
Dr Burns: A bit like some of the other things you have been saying in this parliament.
Members interjecting.
Dr LIM: Will you stop the clock, please, Mr Deputy Clerk?
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: There is no point of order, however, you are certainly weakening your case by not naming anyone. At this stage, I am happy …
Dr LIM: Thank you very much for your advice, Mr Deputy Speaker. I would say the same to the ministers who have accused me of creating a lie. They should go outside this Chamber and call me a liar and see where they get. All right? I put that challenge to the ministers.
Regarding the alcohol program that this government has attempted to bring into this town, at times, I think they are trying to do something, but when you look at the ever-changing position that the Licensing Commission takes with alcohol supply and availability in this town, more and more the community feels that they have been penalised by the Licensing Commission at the behest of the Northern Territory government. It is causing more and more difficulties with our tourism industry and with our population on a fixed income. They cannot access alcohol at a cheap rate when they choose to, or when they find it convenient to purchase bulk alcohol on their way through the town on their holidays.
I am glad to see, though, that the Chief Minister is talking about the ID-Eye system because that focuses alcohol control on the user - the problem drinkers in this town who cause problems. The ID-Eye system will identify the problem drinkers and enable management of those drinkers. The Treasurer said I am wrong, except the Chief Minister said that ID-Eye will enable licensees, the police and the justice system to better manage problem drinks …
Mr Stirling: We did not say you were wrong.
Dr LIM: So is the Chief Minister wrong? Wrong, well ...
Mr Stirling: We do it in Gove! I have been pushing it.
Dr LIM: Well, I am glad the Treasurer is pushing it. I hope he will ensure that the system is taken up in Alice Springs so that those problem drunks can be addressed.
Let me come now to the Town Camp Task Force. While I applaud what the Town Camp Task Force is trying to do, it has not addressed the issue quickly enough. We are still waiting to see the first town camp refurbished, the streets fixed up. Let us do it soon ...
Ms Martin: Go and talk to Mal Brough.
Dr LIM: The Chief Minister said talk to Mal Brough. In fact, it was Mal Brough who delivered, first of all, $20m. He dragged the Chief Minister, kicking and screaming, to deliver her $10m over two years. Where did she get the $10m? It was from indigenous housing; that is where she got the $10m. Indigenous housing out bush did not …
Ms Martin interjecting.
Dr LIM: They now do not have the funds to build houses out bush. I thank the Howard government and Mal Brough, the minister for Indigenous Affairs, for delivering $50m more when he recognised that the Northern Territory government has failed in its duty to provide for indigenous people in Alice Springs.
We know there is increased mobility of indigenous people and, obviously, they are going to seek refuge in Alice Springs where there are facilities and services available to them. What is a real indictment of this government is that they have failed to provide adequate housing out in the bush. The CLP in government left them with a legacy of significant numbers of homes out bush for indigenous people. In the figures released by the ABS today, it says, and I quote this from page 6, chapter 2:
- The Northern Territory recorded the largest decrease in permanent dwellings managed, down by 267 from 6715 in 2001 to 6448 in 2006.
That is this government’s record. Over the last five years, out there, there are fewer homes. It is no wonder people are moving into the urban areas; they have no homes to live in. This is the Chief Minister who said:
- Better housing leads to better health and better education outcomes for kids and removal of many of the stresses that lead to domestic violence.
In other words, this Martin government has effectively contributed to the worsening health and educational outcomes of indigenous people. That is what you have done. You have fewer houses out there. You are the ones who said we need more houses and better housing will lead to better health and education, but have done less …
Ms Martin: What did you do?
Dr LIM: We left you with a legacy of more homes and, in the five years of your government, there are 267 fewer homes. You now that, and you say ‘I am putting in $100m for indigenous housing,’ as if that $100m is going to do anything! It will just catch up with the number of houses that have come down: 267 at $500 000 each. You would need $134m just to catch up to the figures of 2001. $100m will not get anywhere near there.
As regards the way Territory Housing has managed homes in the urban areas in particular, it has to do better. The problems of neighbours from hell continues to plague us in Alice Springs and, as recently as two or three weeks ago, I had to forward an e-mail from a constituent who has suffered for months and months because of a family that continues to abuse the privilege of having a Territory Housing home. It was only then that the minister acted. It took over 12 months from the time the constituent first contacted me and the time he sent e-mails to Territory Housing for anything to occur. There is no wonder people in Alice Springs disbelieve what this government says it wants to do. It fobs off people. When people say: ‘We have a problem’, they say: ‘You do not’, or ‘Hang on, you are talking down the town; you are always whingeing and carping’. It is the opposition’s role is to make sure the government gets the message.
With regard to police numbers, the government’s mantra is that recruitment of police stopped during the latter years of the CLP. This was on advice of the then Commissioner of Police, Mr Palmer, who is the same man this government employed to run their programs. When they say they had an additional 200 police in the Territory, and they have finally put in 15 new police in Alice Springs, the reality is that they have just managed to catch up to establishment numbers. That is all it is.
Today, I heard that five more police have left the force in Alice Springs, so you are forever trying to do a catch-up. When the Chief Minister says we have another 15 more police, that is not true. Yes, they are new in having been recruited, done the training and recently graduated. In that way they are new, but they are not extra numbers of police for Alice Springs. For the last many months, we have been understaffed and saying there are not enough police in Alice Springs. You keep denying that, but here in your own words, you have finally managed to catch up to establishment numbers.
Then, as you heard on the ABC news tonight, Vince Kelly said that the government wants the police from, say, the Domestic Violence Division transferred to do general work. What is going to happen to DV? Are we going to have more domestic violence casualties when the police are dragged away to General Duties? That is not the way to run a police department. You need a stable force who will concentrate on the work they are doing without knowing from day to day whether they are doing one job or another.
In Tennant Creek, they are always short; I think from six to 10 at any time ...
A member: Police will not go there.
Dr LIM: Well, isn’t it a shame that the police will not go there? You are the government, you are the manager and, obviously, you do not know how or you cannot manage. If you cannot, you should be moving out of the area.
Regarding the youth curfew, this town has been saying to government: ‘This is the way to go’. No child between eight and 16 should be out on the streets in the middle of the night; they should be home in bed between the hours of, say, 11 or 12 midnight to six in the morning at least. No kids should be running in the mall or in Todd Street at 2 am. Not only are they running wild, they are attacking people, they are rolling drunk, and that is not the way the town should be.
The council has debated that at great length. They have listened to community demands and have recommended to government that a youth curfew should prevail. I ask the government to listen to the community and allow a youth curfew to occur. Reasonable, law-abiding youth would not be penalised because they would normally be home in bed. It is only those who are out creating antisocial behaviour who will be told to get back to bed.
Regarding the Alice Springs Hospital Emergency Department, an election promise of two years ago was re-announced yesterday. I am not sure whether it is for $6m or $7.5m. The minister, in his response in Question Time today, talked about $6m for the ED. In newspapers, it says $6m for the ED, yet the Chief Minister said $7.5m. I would prefer to have $7.5m for Alice Springs; that will be great. However, Chief Minister, do you know the figure? Is it $6m or is it $7.5m? You do not know ...
Ms Martin interjecting.
Dr LIM: Your statement is wrong then. The Chief Minister should correct the figures.
Ms Martin You should have been listening to my statement.
Dr LIM: You should be correcting your statements.
Members interjecting.
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order, order!
Dr LIM: Mr Deputy Speaker, in my final minutes, while I applaud what is happening at the Desert Knowledge Centre, and construction of the centre and the academic work that the centre has done, it was a very good initiative they came out of Alice in 10, which started way back in 1998, if you recall, and has progressed over these last nine years with what, I believe, will be world-leading intellectual property and developments in arid zone living.
What I find unfortunately slow is the issue of water conservation or, as the Chief Minister calls it, world’s best practice water re-use project. We aspire to try to save 3000 million litres of waste water each year, but it is four years in the making and each year, the minister for Environment and Heritage provides Power and Water with a permit to further delay the project for 12 months. It has been a long time coming; Alice Springs wants it to happen, but we cannot see it happening. The Chief Minister says we have done all these things, and they are going to happen, but they have not happened yet.
The plan to relocate the Titan and Taurus generators! The Chief Minister, in her big colourful pamphlet, said they have listened. They have not listened to the noise, obviously. People have put up with that noise for the last almost two years and this government has still not made any firm plans to move the noisy turbines. I know there is money put aside to have another turbine installed, this time at the Brewer Estate. That will probably happen some time at the end of this year or early next year. I suggest to the government that, at the same time, the two troublesome turbines, the Titan and Taurus generators, should also be moved to Brewer Estate. If you do that, at least the people who are now being affected by the noise will have an end point to look forward to. Otherwise, it is going to be a forever thing. The government has not made that promise. It says it will do it, but there is no time line. Everyone is saying: ‘Give us a time line’. Even Labor voters living in that area are asking for a time line and they deserve a better answer than saying: ‘We will do it when we do it’.
I do not have much time left, but that is all right. It is unfortunate that the Chief Minister, despite all the noise that was made this morning by some 500 people, has continued not to listen. She has lots of platitudes, lots of motherhood statements, but the reality is nothing will be done in Alice Springs. That is the great tragedy of it all.
____________________
Visitor
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Honourable members, I acknowledge the presence in the gallery of the President of the Northern Territory Cattlemen’s Association, Mr Roy Chisholm. On behalf of all honourable members, I extend a warm welcome to you.
Members: Hear, hear!
___________________
Mr HENDERSON (Employment, Education and Training): Mr Deputy Speaker, I enthusiastically support the Chief Minister’s statement on Central Australia and Alice Springs.
In relation to my portfolios of Tourism and Employment, Education and Training, I have a very strong focus on moving things ahead in Central Australia and Alice Springs, and there is some significant good news to tell in relation to my areas of government responsibility.
Tourism is worth approximately $1.5bn to our economy, directly employs 8000 Territorians and indirectly accounts for more than 14 000 jobs. Tourism contributes 7.2%, or $658.7m to the Northern Territory gross state product compared with 3.9% for Australia. Therefore, proportionally, tourism is worth twice as much to our economy as it is to the broader Australian economy. As the Chief Minister stated, for Central Australia, tourism is vital to the region’s future prosperity.
I would like to share some further figures with the House with regard to Central Australia. The total number of holiday visitors to Central Australia has remained relatively steady during 2006 compared with 2005. However, it is pleasing to note that we have seen a substantial increase in the number of nights holidaymakers spend in the Centre - up a massive 16% or an extra 329 000 nights. That is a huge improvement; 329 000 extra nights in Central Australia. That is extra nights in hotel beds in terms of money to the accommodation sector and additional spending in the Centralian region. It is a very significant improvement and really goes to show that our tourists do love Central Australia and are staying here for even longer ...
Ms Martin: And the marketing is working.
Mr HENDERSON: And the marketing is working, Chief Minister. This has resulted in an increase in the average length of stay from four nights to five nights compared with 2005. We all know, if you get around and talk to operators in the tourism industry, keeping people in Central Australia for longer has been a key cry from the industry for many years. At last, we are starting to achieve that.
Most importantly, the visitor spend has increased by 17.6%, injecting $333m into the Central Australian economy. That is a very significant amount of money. Internationally, the Centre has achieved a 6% increase for the year ending December 2006. That is 17 000 more international visitors compared with 2005. Again, that is a very significant increase and improvement. Despite all the doom and gloom that you hear from the members for Araluen and Greatorex, they are obviously not getting out there talking to people in the tourism industry because those numbers show that people are still coming to the Centre in greater numbers and are staying even longer.
That is great news, particularly as future growth in the Territory is likely to come mostly from international markets. Anecdotal evidence from tourism associations suggest that the tourism season ahead for the Centre is looking promising. CATIA has reported strong bookings throughout Central Australia, particularly from the second week of June, and there are good booking patterns through to November. There is evidence of a strong international market presence and the drive market remains strong. This is despite the rising cost of fuel. Hire companies appear to be up 10% on last year. Just yesterday, Phil Walcott of the Rainbow Connection said that he experienced his best November and December ever with good growth in the January/February period and good forward bookings. Phil also said that the branding and profile of Central Australia as a safe and experiential destination is strong and building.
Barkly Tourism has also reported a strong drive market and numbers within the visitor information centre are up between 30% and 40%. Promising also is support shown by outside investors, with recent purchases of the Three Ways Roadhouse and the Outback Caravan Park. The Northern Territory Holiday Centre of Territory Discoveries located in Alice and employing over 22 staff has reported an increase in their gross revenue from bookings across the Territory up 12% over the previous October to March period.
As the Chief Minister said, a strong new marketing campaign was introduced two years ago despite some people in the industry and members of the opposition saying it was a great step backward. They said it would never work and we had to continue to appeal to mass markets, that our focus on niche markets for a real destination experience appealing to independent travellers would never work. The proof of the pudding is certainly there in those figures.
The Red Centre Way creates a fantastic new traveller experience, connecting Alice Springs through to the Western MacDonnells, Kings Canyon through to Uluru through magnificent country rich in cultural history and experience. Considerable tourism development endeavour has been made in preparation for the ongoing significant government investment in sealing the Red Centre Way. Key activities undertaken by Tourism NT in partnership with other stakeholders are:
a declaration of the Red Centre Way as Australia’s first National Landscape. That is a huge coup for Central Australia, and the Alice Springs region, being recognised as Australia’s first National Landscape. Yesterday, Alice Springs was recognised as a solar city. The Leader of the Opposition is all doom and gloom about the town, and we have all spoken today about the significant problems here, but nationally, people are recognising what a great town this is and are making significant commitments and statements about the town;
collaboration with Hermannsburg and the key Western Arrernte communities to produce a tourism development plan is currently in the final stages. I look forward to launching that plan with the member for Macdonnell. I know there has been a lot of work done on the Hermannsburg Tourism Development Plan;
incorporation of the Larapinta Trail and the Western MacDonnells into the current $2.1m Destination Alice Springs marketing campaign. Again, until the new marketing strategy was introduced, there had never been a specific destination marketing campaign with significant dollars attached to it to promote Alice Springs. Just one month into that $2.1m campaign, as the Chief Minister said, all of us who read the national broad sheet newspapers, magazines like The Bulletin, can see the power of that advertising spend;
application to the federal government for signage is to be developed along the Red Centre Way;
development of four-wheel drive tracks to enhance the visitor experience for the adventurous traveller whilst protecting the fragile environment; and
funding of $360 000 to build shelters along the Larapinta Trail of Finke and Jay Creek, which will go out to tender in early May and $20 000 for the Ormiston Gorge Ghost Gum Walk.
The Red Centre Way project will provide benefits such as improved visitor access to this part of the Centre, increased safety for all road users, better connectivity between Alice and Uluru and, importantly, the creation of a world-class tourism drive experience. This important project for the Centre will revitalise existing and encourage new tourism opportunities, business opportunities, and will boost employment, training and economic activity in the region.
When the Leader of the Opposition said the Chief Minister does not care, the government does not care, no one cares about Alice Springs, she is countered by this direct engagement where there are real opportunities to build the social and economic capital of Central Australia. The Red Centre Way project demonstrates that the Leader of the Opposition is good at theatrics but she really does not know what is going on in her own town.
Over 200 German-speaking travel agents and 100 Australian tour operators will converge on Alice Springs for the Discover Australia event between 16 and 20 May 2007, a month’s time. Tourism NT, supported by Tourism Australia, secured the right to host the event, which offers the Territory an unprecedented opportunity to showcase Central Australia to the growing German market. I met a number of those travel agents and tour operators when I was in Berlin recently. They were really excited about coming to Alice Springs. The growing German market is a core international market for us, and it will raise the awareness, image and excitement of Alice Springs as a travel destination. This event will create an interactive and informative forum which will allow Australian operators to train frontline sellers and retail travel agents on their products. Product training workshops will be held at various venues around Alice Springs, ensuring the German agents experience many of Alice Springs’ attractions and unique experiences.
I congratulate Action Enterprises, an Alice Springs-based event management company which has been appointed to manage the logistics of this event using their extensive local knowledge and networks. This contract is valued at just under $50 000. Our investment to host this event is in the order of $150 000, again a sign that this government certainly does care about growing the tourism industry here and create jobs for Centralians in tourism. I urge all Central Australian operators to participate in this and get behind what is a very significant coup for Alice Springs in attracting these people here.
I hope I have outlined just briefly tonight some of the work that is going on in tourism to further drive improvement in the figures I have spoken about.
In respect of my portfolio responsibilities of education, as I said in Question Time today, there is no greater priority for this government than to continue to drive improvements to education in the Northern Territory. We have made significant additional financial investment; 100 extra teachers deployed across our system, many of those in remote parts of the Northern Territory; massive reform with the introduction of middle schools; a real focus on improving outcomes in our senior high schools through our Building Better Schools program. It will be a couple of years before we start to see the real return on that investment, but we are already seeing signs of significant improvement.
In Alice Springs, yes, we have our issues. This town did go through a pretty intense debate last year, particularly around the closure of the Irrkerlantye Learning Centre and the transfer of students to Bradshaw School. We have debated that up hill and down dale, but the motivation of the government was to say that these students deserve the same opportunities as other students in Alice Springs. We are starting to see significant results ...
Mrs Braham interjecting.
Mr HENDERSON: We certainly will, and we have debated this before, member for Braitling, and I know your heart is in the right place. We have different opinions on what is happening. When we, as members of parliament, have a commitment to improving outcomes, we are going to disagree on the detail from time to time. Those kids are doing well at the moment.
DEET has an Indigenous Priority Projects Unit based in Alice Springs and Tennant Creek. That unit is developing strategies to improve the enrolment and attendance of town camp children as part of the Town Camps Education Program. It is unacceptable that we have students in and around Alice Springs not attending school. We have spoken about that before. There is now a focused effort. DEET has enhanced the student administration management system to include an identifier for town camp students. This will enable schools to monitor and report on enrolment, attendance and achievements for these students. This information was never captured before; we did not know who these kids were, where they were enrolled or if they were enrolled at all. There is an old saying: if you do not measure it, you cannot manage it. It is a significant step forward.
Members of the DEET executive and the Priority Projects Unit have met with the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations and Tangentyere Council to form a partnership supporting school attendance for town camp children. DEET is negotiating with DEWR and Tangentyere Council to provide community development program-funded positions for town camp residents. The proposal involves the employment of one male and one female worker from each participating town camp. What do we want these people to do? To make sure that those kids on those town camps get on the bus and get to school. It is a body of work that is long overdue. The proposed role of the workers includes advocating to parents and families not only the importance but the absolute legal requirement to send their kids to school; identifying all school-aged children in the town camps. As I said, we have never known! We have never known who these kids are, where they come from, whether they are enrolled, whether they have ever been enrolled. This has never been done before. It is now being done.
Their jobs also include liaising closely with the staff from the school. I will talk about the teachers at Bradshaw School. I just had a ceremony at which I recognised 19 teachers with over 510 years service in teaching in the Northern Territory. The teachers at Bradshaw School are working with the Irrkerlantye kids at 7.30 am, getting them on the bus. The teachers are driving the bus, going to the camps, picking up the kids and getting them to school. That is real dedication and I congratulate those teachers. That is not in their duty statements; that is in the other part that says ‘any other duties are directed’. However, I do not think they are directed to do it; they want to do it, and they are doing a great job.
Providing advice to schools and DEET about issues and strategies to be addressed, and working with parents and families to identify ways for them to play a role in the governance of the local school is a further duty for these officers. One of the key issues I find as I go around remote communities in the Northern Territory - and it would be the same in the town camps - is that in a lot of instances, these remote communities do not feel that they own the school. They should feel they own the school; it is their school. It is not the government’s school. It should be an institution that is embraced and owned, and that is something on which I would like to see a lot more work done. It is important, too, that these workers in town camps act as role models to illustrate the importance of education in giving these kids opportunities in life that other kids take for granted.
An important component will be that the workers themselves act as role models, as I said. They have to act as role models by enrolling in appropriate programs through the Batchelor Institute of Technology, Charles Darwin University or other registered training organisations. We want to see these people get Certificates I through to IV in areas of Education and Community Services. Ongoing support for these workers will be facilitated by DEET. DEET staff are also preparing promotional materials of our schooling options aimed at town camp families.
This is a concerted effort and there will be tragedy and triumph along the way, but we are not ignoring the fact that these kids on the fringes of Alice Springs have to go to school, and we have to leave no stone unturned in getting them there ...
Mrs Braham interjecting.
Mr HENDERSON: I am keeping a close eye on it, member for Braitling.
In employment and training in the Alice Springs region, another important role, as we said earlier, the government made the commitment of 10 000 new apprentices and trainees across the Northern Territory. We are on track and, as the Treasurer said earlier, we have seen about a 40% increase in the number of people in full-time training or apprenticeships across the Northern Territory since we came to government.
Organisational restructure is occurring in Central Australia in my department and has led to the upgrading to a regional coordination position to ensure we are more focused in getting people into training and jobs. The position is in the process of being filled. In 2006, $661 000 was committed to training programs in the region under Flexible Response funding and Community Response programs.
Training was delivered in 18 communities and covered driver licensing; heavy machinery; horticulture; textiles and crafts; cooking and housekeeping; first aid; automotive repairs; maintenance; construction; administration; and computing. Over 600 indigenous participants enrolled in training programs. At Yuelamu, people enrolled in training and developed a civil works team, allowing them to undertake the local contract. What a great result: training led to people getting qualifications which allowed them to undertake local contracts at Yuelamu. That is a fantastic result.
At Aputula, they trained large groups of men and women in horticulture, leading to the establishment of market gardens and grape vines with produce for local and commercial consumption. Also at Aputula, there was a variety of skill sets including cooking, driving, and truck licensing which targeted town camp residents and workers employed through Tangentyere Council.
We have a lot more work to do and, as Minister for Employment, Education and Training, I will be proud to release Jobs Plan 3 as part of the budget. However, we have to be much more focused in the training we deliver to the bush and ensuring that such training leads to a job. In the past, there has been a lot of training and a lot of people have ended up with certificates, but there has not been real focus on where the training is leading to, what jobs are available in the region and the community, and making sure the training is fixed to the jobs.
Mr Deputy Speaker, 20 minutes is a short time to talk about a lot of good work which is happening, but I hope I have shown the people of Central Australia in my contribution that the government is not ignoring the needs of Central Australia, of Alice Springs, and we are moving ahead in a big way. As we have said, there is a lot more to do.
Debate adjourned.
ADJOURNMENT
Ms MARTIN (Chief Minister): Mr Deputy Speaker, I move that the Assembly do now adjourn.
Mr Deputy Speaker, it is with great sadness this evening that I talk about the late Sue Hanson, a well-known and respected Alice Springs resident and businesswoman.
Let me take the House back a few years. Sue started out as a nurse in Queensland, but her love of science soon saw her enrolled and studying at university. She completed a Bachelor of Applied Science and went on to complete her Honours year, completing her thesis on The Wild Dog Gold, Silver, Copper and Tellurium Deposit in Papua New Guinea. During her career as an exploration petrologist, she worked at MIM in Queensland, the Geological Survey of Victoria in Queensland, the Queensland Metals Corporation and Austra Electric.
In the late 1990s, Sue decided to take a different career path, and moved into teaching. Her early experiences with Aboriginal people in Mt Isa and migrants in Brisbane led her to set up Hanson Training Services in 1997. When it first started, Hanson Training Services was a one-woman show, with Sue providing specialist tutoring for adults and children. Sue undertook further study to help her with tutoring work, including courses in adult literacy and teaching English to students of other languages. In 1999, she began a Graduate Diploma in Further Education and Training, specialising in Adolescent Education.
Seven years ago, she came to the Territory and fell in love with Alice Springs. What started out as a six-month break from the business soon turned into an opportunity to open another branch of Hanson Training Services. In March 2001, the headquarters of Hanson Training Services officially opened at 79 Bath Street. Hanson Training Services quickly became a registered training organisation, offering nationally accredited training services throughout the Territory and south-east Queensland. Sue was a woman with great business acumen and her business was nominated for a number of prestigious national awards. In 2004, Sue won the Australian Government Micro Business Award for the Northern Territory and, in 2006, she was the Northern Territory Finalist for the Telstra Business Woman Awards.
Her comprehensive knowledge of the training and education industry also led to her sitting on a number of important Territory and Australian committees. In particular, Sue was a member of the Alice Springs Economic Development Committee, and her opinions and ideas on the economic future of Alice Springs were highly valued.
In 2005, Sue met Raymond Bauer while at Laramba. She was conducting a Christmas holiday program for kids and he was building the childcare centre. They had many plans, including joining forces at Hanson Training Services and marrying in Anchorage later this year following the completion of Sue’s PhD.
The Territory and Alice Springs lost a talented business woman and a committed community member. The sheer number of condolence advertisements in the newspaper showed just how well Sue was respected throughout the community. On behalf of all members of the House, I extend deepest sympathy to Raymond and to Sue’s family, friends and colleagues.
I would like to inform members about two winners of the 2007 Chief Minister’s Study Award for Women. The study award was one of the first programs we introduced to increase women’s participation in employment and training after coming to office in 2001. It is valued at $20 000; $14 000 going to a Territory woman for tertiary studies, and $6000 to a Territory woman for vocational study.
The 2007 award was widely promoted in regional newspapers and via women’s groups and associations, academic institutions and indigenous organisations. We received applications from far and wide, including Palmerston, the Litchfield Shire, Katherine, Tennant Creek, Alice Springs, Groote Eylandt and Darwin. These applicants included mature-aged women looking to gain professional qualifications after raising children, women working in a variety of different jobs, and women returning to study after a long time away from formal education.
The study award winners are decided by an independent panel, and I take this opportunity to personally thank them. They are: Professor Don Zoellner, Pro Vice-Chancellor, Community and Access, Charles Darwin University Centralian Campus; Margaret Banks, Chief Executive Officer of the Department of Employment, Education and Training; and Professor Lesley Barclay Co-Director, Graduate School of Health Practice, Institute of Advance Studies at CDU. In considering the applications, the panel paid particular attention to issues relating to social disadvantage, the potential of the applicant to succeed in the nominated study program, fields of study under-represented by women, skill areas of particular importance to the Territory and, of course, the applicant’s commitment to the Territory.
The field of candidates was of a very high standard, and the top applicants for both the tertiary and vocational study awards were closely ranked - so close, in fact, that the panel recommend that the applicants who were short-listed should also be acknowledged. They are: Dianne Wayne and Pam Johnson. Both these women submitted impressive applications, and I wish them all the best in their studies.
Let me tell you about our winners. Michelle Clark is the recipient of the vocational award, and will enrol in Certificate IV Alcohol and Other Drugs through CDU. Michelle lives and works on Groote Eylandt. She is currently employed by the Angurugu Community Government Council, and is involved in substance awareness and prevention activities as well as working with petrol sniffers. The panel felt her ongoing commitment to reduce the impact of alcohol and other drugs should be encouraged, and will result in a healthier and safer community.
Barbara Morgan won the tertiary award and will study a Bachelor of Environmental Science at Charles Darwin University. Barbara is a sole parent from Katherine who stayed at home to raise her two children when they were young, re-entered the workforce when they started school, and is studying environmental science part-time while continuing to support her family. With a background in the education field - Barbara was a Library Assistant – her aim is to become a ranger and teach schoolchildren and the wider community about the importance of protecting our natural surroundings. On completing her studies, Barbara intends to lobby for the study of nature to be implemented in the schools’ curriculum, and encourage schools to bring nature into science classes.
Congratulations to both Michelle and Barbara. I wish them both every success in their studies and their careers.
I would like to speak finally tonight about the important role the school council plays at Stuart Park Primary School in my electorate. Whilst Stuart Park Primary School continues to function very well under the leadership of Principal, Bernie Bree, and his APs, Richard Woodside and Chris Makepeace, the council also plays a significant role in ensuring the smooth running of the school. The council held its AGM in February, and it was notable for the retirement of council Chair, Ian O’Reilly. I acknowledge Ian’s contribution during his time at the helm, and to especially thank him for ensuring smoothly run meetings, which can sometimes be no easy task. His experience at chairing meetings is to be valued. Although Ian would hate this, I would recommend him to organisations as Chair. He did a fantastic job.
Nea Harrison and Sally Frawley also retired from the council at that meeting. I thank them both for their significant contribution to Stuart Park Primary. Council welcomed both new and continuing members to the team at the AGM: Rosa Lines, Philomena Smith, Barbara White, Paula Powell-Bradley, Leonie Cramer, Alexandra Mullins, Danielle Stafford, Leonie Warburton and Carol Metcalfe. I wish the new Chair, Leonie Warburton, and Secretary, Barbara White all the best in their new roles. I also wish Carol Metcalfe well for yet another year in her role as Treasurer.
Ms CARNEY (Araluen): Madam Speaker, tonight on the first day of the sitting in Alice Springs, I would like to talk about a couple of schools in Alice Springs. One is in my electorate; the other is not.
As we know, schools are a vitally important component in our community, and these schools really are a part of our community. It is always my pleasure to attend schools and participate where I can in their enthusiasm, generosity and free spirit.
I attended Braitling Primary School in March and had the honour of presenting the SRC badges and Sport House Captains badges. There is much energy at Braitling Primary School and I was really chuffed to receive the invitation. It was a long assembly but a good assembly and it was clear to me that the children at Braitling Primary School are a great bunch of kids. In addition, it is clear that the staff are hard-working and committed; Mrs Crowe, Principal, and Belinda Pearson in particular, a senior teacher I know, are just two obvious examples.
Madam Speaker, I ask that the list of the names and their houses be incorporated into the Parliamentary Record, and seek leave to do so.
Leave granted.
- Student Representative Council
Lauren Smith , President, 5/6 Anderson
Kaitlyn Blain, Vice President, 5/6 McLean
Chelsea Gordon, Secretary, 5/6 Anderson
Tara James, Liaison Officer, 5/6 Sheriff
Mackenszie Smart, Treasurer, 5/6 Anderson
Adrian Shaw, SRC Rep, 5/6 Sheriff
Mikalya Lockyer, SRC Rep, 5/6 McLean
Elizabeth O’Conner, SRC Rep, 5/6 Sheriff
Jasmine Anderson, SRC Rep, 4 Ansell
Monique Willis, SRC Rep, 4 Heironymus
Jedd Organ, SRC Rep, 4 Heironymus
Abbey Davis, SRC Rep, Heironymus
Mahkayla Smith, SRC Rep, 4 Heironymus
Coordinator: Mr Alastair Sheriff
Sports House Captains:
Captains Vice Captains
Hale:
Chrae Tawhai Michael Axten
Jordan Manu-Preston Michaela Peckham
Sandover:
Chris Harris Tyler Organ
Ebony Jenkins Melissa James
Lander:
Brodie Rosier Scott Cullenane
Tara Poulton Catherine Driver
Hugh:
Mitch Hattam Jake Nieuwenhoven
Ellie Price Ainsleigh Bilato
Coordinator: Mrs Lucy Winwood-Smith
Ms CARNEY: Thank you.
I would also like to talk about Bradshaw Primary School. On 21 March, I had the pleasure of attending the Bradshaw Primary School Harmony Day assembly. The assembly hall was a sea of orange as the children dressed to celebrate and commemorate Harmony Day. In addition to award presentations and regular assembly business, Grade 1/2 Carmichaelgot the day off to a great start by singing a lively rendition of Absolutely Everybody and 5/6Barney highlighted just how diverse our community is. In that class alone of 25 students, they have students from at least 12 different countries and cultures, which is fantastic.
I add that three 5/6 composite classes from Bradshaw - 5/6 Barney, 5/6 Hoben and 5/6 Hopper - with teaching support, Mrs Cheryl Hooten, and Principal, Mrs Ursula Balfour, were in the Legislative Assembly at Alice Springs this morning to experience firsthand the commencement of our parliament in our town. It was a pleasure to see the sea of Bradshaw Primary uniforms.
Bradshaw Primary School is a great example of a school that embraces multiculturalism. There are 127 indigenous students in the mainstream classes at Bradshaw who share classes with 205 other students from a variety of cultural backgrounds, ethnic groups, and nationalities. The school actively promotes mutual respect and harmony and fosters an educational and social environment which thrives among cultural understanding and change.
Bradshaw Primary School celebrated Harmony Day this year to promote and celebrate the diversity of the school and the community. Harmony Day was celebrated to coincide with the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination on 21 March each year.
In the lead up to Harmony Day, classes discussed a variety of issues focused around diversity, respect and team work. This learning complemented ongoing class work on the importance of working together and valuing each other’s skills and talents. Teachers planned and worked with students every day to encourage student friendships and cooperative learning strategies in classrooms. Harmony Day was an opportunity to link this learning to the wider community.
This year, Harmony Day had a special focus on sport in schools, encouraging young Australians to understand and respect leadership, team work, rights and responsibilities. At lunchtime on the day, students and staff from Bradshaw participated in a cricket match as part of Australia’s Biggest Cricket Match, with schools around Australia all playing cricket at the same time. To add to the fun, students and staff were interviewed by ABC local radio during the cricket match about the meaning of Harmony Day. In the lead up to the match, Bradshaw Primary School used part of their grant funds to purchase the Cric Kids Resource as it provides a curriculum unit for Australian schools designed to promote the Living in Harmony message. The Bradshaw Primary School Students versus Teacher Cric Kids Match ended in an harmonious draw. Well done, everyone!
To add further value to the Harmony Day theme, Bradshaw Primary School staff decided to combine their Term 1 reporting evening with a multicultural evening, combining international food tasting and entertainment. Many students attended the evening with their family and friends. The multicultural evening proved to be a great success with many parents volunteering to donate and/or prepare food for the evening as well assisting on food stalls. Food tasting was available from many cultures including Japan, China, India, Thailand, America, Italy, and bush tucker.
A great display of talent was drawn from within the school community and included the school choir, which, even though they had only been practising for a few weeks, sang beautifully and a thirty-something strong group of Maori and New Zealand parents, students and staff performed action songs and the Haka finale to the evening. All in all, the multicultural evening was a wonderful event which brought the whole school together and showcased great talent.
From Harmony Day assembly to the Cric Kids game and the multicultural evening, Bradshaw Primary School embraced Harmony Day and it was an enjoyable and heart-warming day-long celebration. To the credit of everyone involved - students, teachers, family and friends - Harmony Day was a fabulous day which looks set to become an annual event at Bradshaw Primary School. Well done, everyone. Bradshaw Primary School deserves recognition in the Northern Territory parliament tonight.
I would like to talk about another organisation in my electorate, namely Territory Craft. Territory Craft is committed to the development, promotion and growth of the craft industry in the Northern Territory. On 8 March, I had the pleasure of officially opening Colours, an exhibition of craft by women incorporating the colours of International Women’s Day and celebrating International Women’s Day. The colours originated in the United Kingdom in 1908 and each colour was chosen for its individual significance. The great exhibition by local crafts people covered the full spectrum of international day colours, with individual artists exploring their personal symbolism of colour. Exhibits included enamel ware, jewellery, textiles including quilts and scarves, baskets, stained glass, mirrors and other functional items. Spending time looking at the exhibition and talking to the dedicated crafts people was a personal reinforcement of the talent that lies within our much treasured community and how lucky we are to have such talent on our doorstep. I take this opportunity in the parliament of the Northern Territory to congratulate all of the craftspeople involved in Alice Springs; you are an inspiration to everyone.
Having spent time at Territory Craft, I was interested to note that the Crafts Council in Alice Springs had its beginnings with an organisation known as the Crafts Council of Central Australia which was formed in the early 1970s under the initiative of the late June Marriot, a member of the Royal Guild of Embroiderers, who saw the need for such an association to bring together the interests and expertise of many craftspeople living in Alice Springs at the time.
I understand that a similar association was formed in Darwin around the same time and was known as the Crafts Association of Northern Australia. In 1978, we saw the amalgamation of both entities into the body now known as the Crafts Council of the Northern Territory Incorporated and, in due course, divisions were formed in Katherine and Tennant Creek as well as Alice Springs. The Alice Springs division has had a varied life in premises to operate and its exhibitions. However, it has continued an unbroken history of providing for its members by way of craft workshops, premises, materials, exhibitions and professional development opportunities since its beginnings in 1973.
In 1985, with the opening of the Araluen Centre for Arts and Entertainment, including a large, airy and well lit craft studio, the Alice Springs division of the Crafts Council of the Northern Territory at last found a permanent home. Situated in what is now known as the Cultural Precinct just a short drive from town, Territory Craft, as they are known today, possesses well appointed studio spaces catering for a range of diverse disciplines.
Territory Craft is one of many fascinating attractions at the Alice Springs Cultural Precinct. Territory Craft is a membership-based organisation that aims to advance the cause of craft and craftspeople throughout the Northern Territory. Territory Craft offers members support, encouragement, resources and opportunities to assist them in their craft endeavours. Later this year, it is hoped that the Alice Springs and Barkly branches of Territory Craft will merge in some capacity to capitalise on skills and knowledge and utilise economies of scale.
Territory Craft maintains a well equipped jewellery studio, kiln room, dark room, both wet and dry fabric areas, large print tables and a comprehensive pottery studio. They also offer for sale filtered terracotta clay, a range of raw materials for glazes, and a small range of fabrics including silk, calico and muslin.
Since finding permanent premises, Territory Craft has opened its doors not only to members and potential members, but also to various indigenous organisations, multicultural and disabled groups in an effort to service the wider community with crafts. Territory Craft is keen to foster partnerships with schools, indigenous organisations and interested men and women to maximise the exchange of craft skills and experiences. For example, Territory Craft has forged a relationship with Titjikala and is sharing information and techniques in felting and weaving. To this end, artists are encouraged to work and then utilise the space at Territory Craft to have an exhibition.
Territory Craft Alice Springs holds regular meetings for specialist craftspeople including: the Central Australian Lace Makers whose aim is to make lace and have fun; the Central Australian Gem and Mineral Club where you can learn to facet your gems, and go on field trips to fossick for gems; the Alice Springs Amateur Jewellers; the Alice Springs Quilting Club; the Spinning Group; and the newly-formed Felting Group.
Territory Craft is a volunteer-based organisation. It employs one person on a half-time basis and has a core of volunteers who keep the shop open seven days a week and are called on to do all sorts of tasks ranging from curating exhibitions and helping set up exhibitions. Remember that the Territory Craft Gift Shop is a fabulous place to source unique Alice Springs craft gifts ideal for anyone. I urge government members from the Top End, while you are here, do yourself a favour and go to the Territory Craft Shop, inject some cash into Alice Springs and go home with something special. The shop is important as it allows Territory Craft members to sell items and, for some, it might be the first step in taking a great interest in craft and perhaps even attempting to do some.
Territory Craft Alice Springs has an artist-in-residence program which is open to all visiting craftspeople who wish to work for a time in a studio. Territory Craft look for practitioners in any craft media who are willing to come to Alice Springs for a minimum of three months to undertake workshops and hold exhibitions. The membership for Territory Craft in 2006 was, as I understand it, close to 150 people, and this year it is hoped that membership will reach similar levels, if not more. Individuals, families and groups can all join the organisation. The 2007 Executive is: Chair is Tara Ellis, a specialist in corsetery; Vice-Chair is Leigh Child, a textile specialist; Secretary is Bronwyn Beasley, jewellery maker, silk pastel and water colour painter; and Treasurer is John Tobias. Throughout the year, Territory Craft will host several exhibitions. Throughout the Beanie Festival, which is in June, Territory Craft will conduct workshops at the studio and teach people how to weave and all sorts of other interesting things, and will also host a craft market where members are able to sell their craft.
Territory Craft’s major exhibition of the year is the Alice Springs Craft Acquisition, which is held in July. It is a national event with over 121 entries representing craft in a range of areas. This year’s will be the 30th Acquisition exhibition and Territory Craft utilises the great Araluen Gallery to showcase the exhibition. The Acquisition, as the name suggests, is an exciting way for Territory Craft to acquire amazing craft pieces that can be utilised in future craft exhibitions. To date, in excess of 140 pieces have been acquired to form a permanent collection of contemporary craft to enable local craftspeople to gain inspiration and encouragement for their own work.
In October, Territory Craft will host the Members Exhibition, which showcases members’ learning throughout the year. It is the goal of Territory Craft to have this exhibition in Tennant Creek. Then, in November, we see the long awaiting return of the Corkwood Festival and, of course, that is a place where so many of the town’s craftspeople display their wares. I look forward to being there.
Territory Craft is a not-for-profit organisation promoting Territory craft and craftspeople, encouraging excellence in crafts and craftsmanship, and encouraging active participation in crafts at all levels. Territory Craft, its people and its history are as rich as the crafts they produce. They are a very talented bunch of people, and I really do urge Top End members of this parliament to find the time to go into the shop and see if you can take home something special. I can assure you that there will be something for you, your friends and your families.
Mr NATT (Drysdale): Madam Speaker, on 16 March, I was lucky enough to meet with Mr Ian Walker and Mr Paul Goggin. Paul is the CEO and Ian is the Business Manager of HPA Incorporated, which is the Handicapped Persons Association. HPA Incorporated is a non-government, not-for-profit Territory-based organisation which provides services and options to people with disabilities in Darwin and the Palmerston area.
The organisation has grown since 1963 when the association began, and it is now a corporation which manufactures quality products for registered businesses. HPA assists 57 people with intellectual disabilities and mental illnesses through the provision of employment and training options. HPA also provides accommodation and support services for over 40 people with intellectual disabilities. The organisation has a staff of 20 full-time employees, and 20 casuals.
The manufacturing arms of HPA are Super Tube, Ausdesign and Kokoda Industries. Super Tube Outdoor Furniture manufactures PVC outdoor furniture, marketing signs, pet beds, and sells a range of hardwood outdoor furniture assembled at the workshop and retail outlet in Bishop Street. Ausdesign is a new industrial sewing company which specialises in the design and manufacture of eye-catching handbags, conference satchels and tourist gifts. Kokoda Industries Winnellie is a carpentry workshop which manufactures a wide range of timber products including pallets, survey pegs, lattice, and gardening edging. Kokoda Industries at Palmerston manufactures aluminium and timber outdoor furniture.
HPA is looking for more business for their employees. They are finding that the work they are producing is starting to stack up and they are looking for other options, which is the reason they met with me. I have seen their craftsmanship and they do exceptional work. I ask all businesses in the Territory to consider HPA if they are looking for work to be undertaken. Given that the construction industry is booming at the moment, I urge all companies to have a look at HPA and use their services in the future.
Palmlesstonnes is now in its fourth week and has over 160 registered participants who have signed up for a 10-week program. It is a community weight loss program that aims to lose close to a tonne in weight between the collective participants, and is supportive of the social environment in and around Palmerston. The program is in its second year with an aim of motivating people in and around Palmerston to lose weight and maintain a healthy lifestyle. It was initiated by the Palmerston City Council and the Palmerston Sun newspaper last year.
Some of the events which have been running are evening and morning fitness walks, Pilates sessions, education forums, gym open days, family fun days, and the list goes on. It is pleasing to see that these activities will continue over the 10-week program.
I acknowledge Brooke Kimberley, the Palmlesstonnes Coordinator, for the work she has been doing, ably supported by Sandy Smyles, Community Coordinator for the Palmerston City Council. As we all know, a healthy lifestyle underpins the management of all preventable chronic diseases so to decrease risk factors, people need to maintain and manage their levels of fitness. I congratulate all those involved in coordinating the program and, most of all, those participating.
I was pleased to be asked by the Palmerston Golf Club, as their Patron, to play in their opening of the season Club Ambrose Championships late in March. I was lucky enough to play with Club Captain Peter Wright’s group, and we were pleased with the final outcome when we finished second. I can assure members that our fine position was not through my contribution of shots. Peter’s group was very handy and I was pleased to be involved with them. They are very handy golfers, indeed. I thank Peter for the invitation and congratulate the club on a wonderful day. It was a terrific day of banter and we had a lot of fun and a few beers afterwards to celebrate running second.
As a follow-up from that, the club held the Palmerston Open weekend on 7 and 8 April with 115 participants vying for the mantle of club champion over those two days. The club champion, based on a gross score, was Adam Temple, a young gentleman who manages the pro shop. He has a great future. The men’s winner in the nett section was Darren Moulds. In the ladies, Val Smith was the gross winner and June Wills was the winner of the nett section.
Durack Primary School is one of the schools in my area and I attended their assembly a couple of weeks ago. It was the week of the World’s Greatest Shave and the Shave for a Cure. Mrs Doherty, a teacher at the school, participated in the shave off; she had a Number 2 or it could have been a Number 3. In any event, she had her head shaved. It was terrific for her to do that because, unfortunately, Mrs Doherty lost her husband earlier in the year to cancer. I congratulate her on her courage and commitment to raise money for the cause and to raise awareness of children, parents and teachers at the school that morning. Mrs Doherty undertook the task in front of the entire school assembly and raised the fantastic sum of $1275. A number of students also supported Mrs Doherty and had their heads shaved or hair coloured.
Earlier that morning, I attended the Driver Primary School assembly and in my usual role, I get up on stage with Mr Presswell to present the certificates. On this particular morning, they sat me down on a chair with a number of other teachers and we, too, had our hair painted. I had mine coloured yellow. I am pleased to say that I hosted a number of meetings that afternoon in my ministerial office with yellow hair, which drew startled looks from some of the people who met with me. It was a fun morning and I congratulate everyone involved.
Kormilda College is another wonderful school in my electorate. I congratulate Millicent Crowe, a Year 12 student, who has been selected as a regional finalist in the Lions Youth of the Year Award. Millicent participated this week in the Youth Parliament. She is a very clever young lady and has a bright future. Of the five students nominated in the Northern Territory, four were from Kormilda College, which is evidence in itself of the depth of their student body. The other three students were Richard Faveere, Melissa Davies, and Adam Pulford. We wish Millicent well in the next selection round.
The students at Kormilda College are preparing to present A Midsummer’s Night Dreamtime. It is the tale of four young lovers, dazed by the summer heat in their quest to find true love. This will be an Australian version of the classic Shakespearean tale with, I am told, a very Kormilda twist. The show premieres on 27 and 28 April. I am looking forward to attending on 27 April.
Student leaders play an important role at Good Shepherd Lutheran College, which is also in my electorate. These students have been elected by their peers to represent their views in a range of forums across the college. These students are to be examples to other students in all facets of school life, attitudes to work, college rules and policies, and the care and support of their fellow students. The College captains for 2007 are Emi-Lee Minerds and Aaron Simpson, and congratulations also to Jasmine Christie and Michael Abram who have been selected as inaugural ambassadors for the primary school.
The Palmerston High School, on 4 April, had their Palmerston’s Future Charter signing ceremony. It was pleasing to see that all of the Year 10 students committed themselves to a full year of education, or a full year of training or employment up until January 2008. The signing was attended by parents, teachers and guests from local businesses and the Education department. I sincerely thank everyone involved with the Palmerston’s Future Charter signing. It gives the students at the school an aim to dedicate themselves to their school work or their training over the period of 12 months and for their working life in the future. I thank the sponsors including the Group Training NT, the Beacon Foundation, Charles Darwin University, SignTech, Advanced Training, CMax Cinemas and General Dynamics.
Mrs BRAHAM (Braitling): Madam Acting Deputy Speaker, I thought the opening today of parliament was unique and very good. I love the tones and the sounds of the Aboriginal women and the singing, but most of all I love the vitality of the young people who play the drums, the Drum Atweme people. I want to make a few comments about those groups of children.
Sixty-three of them have been playing on and off over the last three years; 63 Aboriginal children have gone through that program. The remarkable thing about it is that 60 of those students are still in full-time education so it is an activity that has grabbed them and they know if they do not go to school, they do not get to rehearse, and they do not get to play. I do not know if you realise, but Peter Lowson, the guy who looks after them, was saying to them ‘Shh! Shh!’ because they were playing so enthusiastically; they were not really meant to play quite that loudly. There is one young fellow, Ringo, who has a beautiful smile and he wants to be a drummer when he grows up. They are such great kids.
Their uniforms have just been purchased. They fund their own clothing, food and excursions from their performance fees. They even busk in the mall. They are all self-funded and it is fantastic. They did 47 shows last year; 47 times they played their drums. As they do it more and more, they become more confident. You can see it, their enthusiasm and confidence. It is a mixture of boys and girls. Sometimes Peter will say to me: ‘I have to be careful, the girls are taking over’ or ‘I must not forget the little kids’. It is a great combination.
They contribute to the community in Alice Springs, offering their services for community events and they are great role models for young people in this town. This is what we keep saying. There are so many good things going on in this town that we must recognise. Those Drum Atweme kids who came here today to help celebrate the opening of this parliament deserve our support and recognition. They are great. They have great rhythm and I know they enjoy playing for us. I thank them very much.
The Alice Springs Rotary Club has embarked upon a project. It is at the Old Alice Springs Cemetery along Memorial Drive. Dave Mortimer is the spearhead behind this. He has been doing it for quite a while. They went to the grave of Albert Namatjira and found that it had not been cared for as it should have been. When they were planting ghost gums and putting a seat at the foot of Albert Namatjira’s grave, David also noticed another grave, a marked grave, which seemed to be far away from the normal burial section in the cemetery. He investigated and found out the grave was one of 48 of mainly stillborn children buried between July 1948 and December 1960. The area surrounding that one marked grave, although as I said there are 48, had become a service road and it seemed that no one really knew of the existence of these graves.
The Rotary Club of Alice Springs decided to make application to the Alice Springs Town Council to create a peace garden surrounding the area and to mark the rows of graves with plot numbers. They contacted as many parents as they could because there was a register. Some people did not want the names of their children recorded; others did in which case they were recorded on a commemorative plaque. In fact, David was saying it became quite emotional for some parents to be reminded that their child, stillborn or otherwise, had been buried in this part of the cemetery so long ago.
Chris Bird, a landscape architect designed the garden and the council approved it. The Rotary Club of Alice Springs ran a fundraiser radio appeal, and local members will remember it, in November 2005 and sufficient funds were raised to proceed. To date, the decorative cement areas, the irrigation system, the planting of 140 native plants and the marking of plots have been accomplished. This project has been supported not just by the Rotary Club, but by the community of Alice Springs and by Austar.
The remaining work to be achieved is interpretive signage, seating and a feature sculpture. If we think about those times, marking graves was not as important to people when they lost a small child. The grief would make thinking about commemoration very difficult. It is something that has given life, in an unusual way, to the cemetery in memory of these children. The aims of the project were to identify the rows and maintain the heritage value, to incorporate burial plots in this garden setting for the Peace Garden, provide a very tranquil, intimate seating area so people can sit, contemplate and remember, provide signage and interpretation and provide a sculpture feature, the theme of which is: what might have been.
I commend Dave Mortimer and the Rotary Club. This is a great project. The parents, if they could all be contacted, would love to know that someone has taken it upon themselves to remember and mount a commemorative plaque there for their child, which is a great service to the community.
Getting away from Alice Springs, which has certainly been my theme, I want to talk about Senior Station Officer Jock McLeod who completed 40 years of continuous service in the Northern Territory Fire and Rescue Service in March this year. The minister for Education acknowledged teachers tonight who had given 20 or 30 years of service. The Police, Fire and Emergency Services, because it is a service, automatically acknowledges people when they achieve these milestones. Jock McLeod has probably received his medal. We all know the family; they are long-term Territorians. Someone said they remember playing against Jock in football. Jock is a very unassuming person, and even though the Northern Territory News wanted to do an article about him, his memories of the service and what he had contributed, he did not want that to happen. He is a fairly unassuming guy so I thought it appropriate that I should include some comments about him that have been given to me. I quote;
- Senior Station Officer (SSO) Jock McLeod is the longest service member of the Northern Territory Fire and Rescue Service. SSO McLeod joined the NTFRS on 20 March 1967. After completing his recruit training SSO McLeod was posted to the Operations Division in Darwin where he served at the Daly Street, Nightcliff, Winnellie and Casuarina fire stations.
SSO McLeod was promoted to Senior Firefighter in 1976 and was posted to Katherine in 1978. In September 1982, he was promoted to Station Officer. During his time in Katherine, he gained promotion to the rank of Senior Station Officer and took over as the Officer in Charge of that facility in 1984.
He transferred back to Darwin in 1985, where he worked in the Training Division from 1985 to 1987. In 1987, he transferred back to Operations where he took up the position of Watch Commander on B Watch where he was in charge of the three Darwin stations.
- In 1993, after an Award restructuring and a change to the Fire Service rank structure, SSO McLeod took up the position of Operations Administration and shortly after was appointed as the OIC of the Palmerston Fire station.
Since 1996, SSO McLeod has served as the OIC of the Technical Service section in Darwin where he has been responsible for equipment maintenance and purchasing new equipment such as fire fighting vehicles and breathing apparatus equipment. In 2000, he was awarded the Australian Fire Service Medal for services to the fire industry.
SSO McLeod has had a long and distinguished career in the Fire and Rescue Service and is highly regarded and respected amongst his peers, not only in the Northern Territory but also throughout Australia. Senior Station Officer Jock McLeod is the first NTFRS member to achieve 40 years of continuous service.
Mr McADAM (Barkly): Madam Acting Deputy Speaker, I am honoured to speak at this Alice Springs sitting of the Legislative Assembly about a significant time line with the history of Aboriginal Health Workers, Aboriginal Community Workers and Aboriginal health issues from 1870 through until 2007. The time line is a unique piece of Northern Territory community history. Originating from Central Australia, the site from which so many community health self-determination initiatives have begun, this time line has been developed by Kathy Abbott and Rosie Elliott arising from their collaboration with the Central Australian and Barkly Aboriginal Health Workers Association in 1995 and 1997.
Kathy Abbott is a Central Arrernte woman. Kathy has worked in Aboriginal health since 1970 in primary health care, medical services to education, management, policy and then back to remote clinical practice. Kathy worked with the Central Australian Aboriginal Congress from 1970 until 1980 where she gained her clinical skills and her passion for advocacy. Kathy graduated as one of the first 10 Central Australian Basic Skills Aboriginal Health Workers in 1970. In 1980, she became the first Aboriginal Health Worker Training Manager for the Department of Health and Community Services where she developed her strong links with Aboriginal health workers right across the region. She later moved to mentoring in health worker pathways in hospitals, drug and alcohol, mental health and used her networks to look at making services more community friendly.
Over the years, Kathy has been involved in the Aboriginal Ethics Committee and the Aboriginal Health Worker Registration Board, and was a key player in the establishment of the Central Australian and Barkly Aboriginal Health Worker Association which, incidentally, was the first Aboriginal Health Workers Association in Australia. She was President of the Aboriginal Health Workers Association until a lack of funding caused the association to end, and was co-author of Rhetoric and Reality, looking at the roles of Aboriginal Health Workers.
Kathy today is engaged in promoting traditional practices to work alongside mainstream health services, and has been recently working with Tangentyere Council providing training in the Alice Springs Correctional Centre in domestic violence and family wellbeing.
Kathy said many people have contributed to this time line, telling their stories so that we can reflect on the past. I hope this time line will be a tool by which Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal staff can talk over issues and develop understanding and reconciliation, and better partnerships and services.
Like Kathy, Rosie Elliott has a lifetime of work as a health advocate and journalist/researcher, working in woman’s reproductive health, in traditional Chinese medicine, and Aboriginal health and wellbeing. She has lived in the Northern Territory since 1990, working variously with the Central Australian Aboriginal Health Workers Association, the Remote Health Workforce Agency, AMSANT and, most recently, the Department of Health and Community Services developing the excellent Kids Tracks newsletter and network.
I am sad to say that Rosie left the Territory for Melbourne earlier this month to work with the Secretariat for National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care, otherwise known as SNAICC. I am sure that her connections across the Territory will continue, and her work on building the time line will also continue.
The time line holds together the major events in community controlled health services, departmental services, Aboriginal Affairs and national political movements. It shows how Aboriginal health workers move from health assistants to Aboriginal health workers in their own right, with their own registration, councils, managers and association, and formal qualifications and training, and how many other Aboriginal community workers developed alongside.
I am glad to note that Central Australia played a major role in the development of the Aboriginal health worker program. It is a fact that the very first graduation ceremony for Aboriginal health workers was held in Alice Springs. As the member for Barkly, I would particularly like to mention Pat Braun from Tennant Creek, whose name appears three times on this history and who was one of the first students to graduate in Central Australia as an Aboriginal Health Worker.
This time line is a unique piece of the Territory’s history, originating from Central Australia, the site from which so many community health self-determination initiatives began.
The authors’ aims were to build community and workforce capacity through people telling their own stories and to retrieve a history which has been largely unrecognised. It honours these workers and will be a resource to educate new workers and managers about those events shaping our future, from the early colonisation years until today.
This is a fantastic work in progress. Many names are there, and many names are still waiting to be written up. When Rosie first showed me the line, I looked up the Nganampa Health Council in 1983 and there were all the names; people such as the late Dr Cutter, Paul Torzillo, Yami Lester, John Tregenza, Robert Stevens and Kwarki Thompson. I also put on record that my partner, Barb Shaw, was the first Aboriginal enrolled nurse manager in 1973.
I encourage everyone to look at the line and see where their names are or could be, or the names of family members or friends who played a part in this great story. Together, we can build a really big story and an honour roll for our health and community service workers, and a wonderful workforce strengthening as well.
I encourage community centres across the Northern Territory to display this poster proudly and show the achievements of so many of our people working in partnership across the Territory. One thousand copies have been distributed this week to coincide with the official launch by the Minister for Health on 19 April. Copies have been posted free to health services, school councils, women’s centres, children services, educational organisations and policy makers. All this knowledge has developed out of the memories of the workers involved. It is not academic; it is a people’s history, a wonderful project monitored and developed by many of the key players who are also pleased to see these tales being told.
Madam Acting Deputy Speaker, I congratulate all those people involved. Obviously, it is something I urge all people in Central Australia and, indeed, right throughout the Northern Territory to have a look at. It is a poster, but it displays some of historical events throughout the Northern Territory, particularly in respect of the health area.
In conclusion, Kathy and Rosie have also asked me to thank the many contributors, in particular Dr Dayalan Devanesen AM, and Esther-Rose Seaton, Aboriginal Health Worker.
Dr LIM (Greatorex): Madam Acting Deputy Speaker, I have a couple of issues to raise: one about Alice Springs; and the other follows a recent trip to Tennant Creek.
I thought I ought to go to Tennant Creek for a couple of days to see how the town is doing in preparation for the sittings this week. A couple of things were highlighted. Talking to people in Tennant Creek, I was told that the police complement is never at its peak. Frequently, they need staff from Darwin or Alice Springs as relieving officers. The Treasurer interjected today and said that no one wants to go to Tennant Creek. It appears that the reason why officers do not like to be transferred from the major centres to regional centres, or out bush, is because in the past they used to get travel allowance when relocated from their home on a temporary basis. I was surprised to discover this. I thought that when people travel to another area for work under direction by management, they would at least be covered by travel allowance. It is no wonder, as the Treasurer said, people do not want to go to Tennant Creek. Maybe the Police minister could look into this and determine the cause. If that is the reason, he needs to address the issue accordingly.
A couple of very interesting issues arose when I spoke to the Mayor of Tennant Creek and when I visited the Women’s Refuge Centre. I spent some two hours discussing quite a few matters with the mayor, and the biggest difficulty he has is the coming demise of the Tennant Creek Town Council. He was most upset that the Minister for Local Government proceeded with this policy without prior consultation with the Tennant Creek Town Council. There was no warning or discussion of any kind.
It is not too late for the minister to recant on the dissolution on the Tennant Creek Town Council. If indeed the minister is interested in creating a shire-type organisation based around Tennant Creek, he can still do that by allowing Tennant Creek, for instance, to provide services for places such as Ali Curung or Elliott over the next 12 months until 30 June 2008. That will prove that the town council can perform within the parameters set by the minister, and then the Tennant Creek Town Council could take on places like Alpurrurulam and surrounding community centres. That would allow the Tennant Creek Town Council to retain its integrity as a municipal council, and able to provide services to the surrounding community council areas. That would also allow the government to proceed on an amalgamation of sorts of community councils in the Barkly region.
The mayor pointed to some of the arguments that the minister has been making, such as securing roads funding in the order of $20m if shire councils are formed. That figure is projected. There is no surety that it will happen and the government has still not explained how that $20m will be distributed. I recall the current member for Lingiari during the Hawke-Keating government very actively encouraging distribution of roads grants from the Commonwealth to be broken up into small allocations for each of the community government councils, hence the current problem with maintenance of bush roads. Those small amounts given to community government councils were not large enough to enable any of those community government councils to do the work required to maintain those roads.
On the issue of retention of services to the bush, once these shire councils are formed, there is no certainty that it will happen. There are no economies of scale possible because many of the shires, once formed, may have fewer than 10 000 people. Such small populations may not be viable. Will it be economies of scale or dis-economies of scale once this shire policy is implemented? It is important to ensure, as the government has said, that there will be no loss of jobs. Obviously, some people are going to be either demoted or promoted laterally. You cannot have 63 or 58 CEOs because some of them will no longer have councils to manage so there will be job losses. I wonder how many real jobs will be created. If the minister is hoping that CDEP will pick up, that does not represent real jobs and will be an issue for the government to explain.
I am not sure how the minister can guarantee that revenue raised in the region will stay in the region or how he can legislate for it. If you promise someone in Alpurrurulam or Ali Curung that whatever revenue is raised there will not be spent at Elliott, Tennant Creek or elsewhere, how will you enforce it? I will wait to see how the minister is going to deliver on this promise because I do not think it will come through.
At the time I spoke with the director of the women’s refuge, I was surprised that they had not yet had an audience with the member for Barkly. I urge the member for Barkly, if he has not had an audience with them since my visit, that he does ...
Mr McAdam interjecting.
Dr LIM: If the member for Barkly has, that is good because I encouraged the women’s refuge to see him and explain their situation. I understand that the women’s refuge, through 11 years of hard work, good management and by dint of careful savings, has accumulated something in the order of $67 000. They explained to me that the Northern Territory government is currently reviewing that $67 000 saving.
The Minister for Family and Community Services said on radio yesterday or this morning, that they will not take the money away from them but will review what will happen to the $67 000. If you are reviewing it, then obviously it is going to be taken it away or they will be directed by the government to spend it in particular ways rather than allowing the women’s refuge to spend it the way they want ...
Mr McAdam: It is all fixed.
Dr LIM: If, as the member for Barkly interjected, it is all fixed, that is great. I am glad that I raised the issue, brought it to a head and forced things to happen. That is great.
In the remaining time I have, Mr Deputy Speaker, I come to a letter from the Minister for Parks and Wildlife to me in response to my letter to her of 2 February. I received her response on 27 February. It is in relation to the Baby Kangaroo Rescue Centre. I showed her letter to the Baby Kangaroo Rescue Centre because when I read the letter from the minister, I expressed my disappointment to the Baby Kangaroo Rescue Centre, saying that the information they provided to me was erroneous and made it difficult for me to intercede on their behalf if they did not provide me with accurate information on the basis that I believed what the minister signed off in her letter was absolutely accurate.
When the Baby Kangaroo Rescue Centre read the minister’s letter, they were outraged and said that the letter was inaccurate and contained many errors. First, the minister said that the proprietor of the Baby Kangaroo Rescue Centre did not notify the Parks and Wildlife Commission of his change of location of operations, which was a clear breach of his permit conditions. The proprietor of the Baby Kangaroo Rescue Centre assured me that he had informed a Parks and Wildlife officer of the move to Alice Springs and, at the time when he advised the officer - and remember that, in his permit, he had 21 days to advise of his move - he also issued him with a business card that contained his new address.
I received two affidavits provided by people who were present at the time the proprietor of the Baby Kangaroo Rescue Centre spoke with the officer from Parks and Wildlife. So that is an error in the minister’s letter, and the minister should correct it. The proprietor of the Baby Kangaroo Rescue Centre did not breach the terms of his permit. In fact, he did everything right in the presence of witnesses and obviously the advice the minister received when she wrote to me was incorrect.
The minister, in her letter to me, said, and I quote:
- An inspection by the Conservation Officers revealed that patrons of the Baby Kangaroo Rescue Centre were being allowed to cuddle the joeys and pass them from one person to the next while photographs were taken by the patrons.
The Baby Kangaroo Rescue Centre response was, and I quote:
- In defence to ‘an inspection by conservation officers revealed that patrons of the “baby kangaroo rescue centre” were being allowed to cuddle the joeys’, yes holding of the joeys in Chris’ care has been allowed although the Parks and Wildlife NT officers implied, were aware from the beginning and verbally allowed the centre to run accordingly.
The problem is when I asked the proprietor of the Baby Kangaroo Rescue Centre whether he has written instructions as to what he is and is not allowed to do, he said: ‘All I have is the permit with those instructions. Then, on top of that I get verbal advice to comply with certain things’. I said: ‘Why don’t you get it in writing?’ He was never able to get any additional demands or requests or advice from the officer involved in writing. What happened is that the goal post keeps changing all the time. It is a pity that this man, who is trying to do the right thing, has been getting his directions at the whim of the officer who is in charge.
Finally, the issue that really brought it all to a head was that Discovery Channel wanted to film the operations of the Baby Kangaroo Rescue Centre. At that time, the officer said no because, according to the minister’s letter, it was not going to be done except to promote conservation of the species and its habitat; he was not supposed to be making money out of this enterprise. Discovery Channel was never ever going to pay for the filming of this enterprise; it was just going to provide it with a lot of national and international cover through subscription on Discovery Channel. There was all it was, and he was denied that.
I ask the minister to check on your information. Perhaps you might like to talk to the person at the Baby Kangaroo Rescue Centre directly to get the right information.
Mr HAMPTON (Stuart): Mr Acting Deputy Speaker, it gives me great pleasure to speak about some achievements and events in my electorate over the past couple of months.
Stuart is a diverse and very interesting electorate, from the communities to the pastoral properties and various industries that are beginning to make a significant contribution to the Territory economy and way of life. I would like to start tonight’s adjournment by focusing on probably the most geographically challenging but interesting part of my electorate, and that is the Victoria River district, including Lajamanu, Kalkarindji, Daguragu, Pigeon Hole, and Yarralin.
On Friday, 23 February, I attended the opening of the new extensions to the Kalkarindji Supermarket at Kalkarindji. The Chief Minister officially opened the store, together with the chairperson of the Arnhem Land Progress Association, the Reverend Dr Djiniyini Gondarra OAM. It was a great event, and I make special mention of those members of the Kalkarindji and Daguragu community who did a commendable job in organising the event. To Ros Frith and old man Nutwood who are co-chairpersons of the store committee, and Maurie Ryan who is the President of the Daguragu Community Government Council, you were all fantastic contributors to the whole day and the event. I was very impressed with extensions that reminded me of a smaller Woolworths or Coles that we see in Katherine and Alice Springs. The supermarket was well stocked and prices are very affordable.
There are few things that really impressed me during the tour of the new extensions, and they are worthy of mention in the Assembly. The first was the new rotational self-cooking centre near the take-away section. The cooking centre is a big oven that uses steam to cook things like dim sims, chips and pies. It uses no oil and there are no fats that can lead to health problems later on in life. Another surprise was the Jackeroo flour and bread, which had been produced specifically for indigenous communities, with the bread having a higher fibre content and the flour being fortified with iron folate and thiamine.
The greatest achievement to date is the number of locals who are now employed and being trained at the supermarket, and I believe it is around 15. The Arnhem Land Progress Association is a registered training organisation, so they deliver their own training programs on the communities where their stores are operating. I look forward to my next visit to Kalkarindji and Daguragu and visiting the great new supermarket and meeting the many locals who are working there.
It was great to be able to get up to Katherine for the annual Northern Territory Cattlemen’s conference and dinner. The conference started on Friday morning bright and early, with the federal Minister for Primary Industries, the Honourable Peter McGauran officially opening the 23rd annual Northern Territory Cattlemen’s Conference. The expo area outside the conference room had a great range of industry information ranging from the National Livestock Identification Scheme to Telstra. Around 350 delegates were in attendance to take advantage of the wide range of speakers from as far afield as the USA and South-East Asia. Congratulations to Roy Chisholm from Napperby Station in my electorate who was re-elected as President of the Cattlemen’s Association. Roy spoke about some of the challenges facing the industry, including the drought facing the Alice Springs area, roads, environmental management, local government reforms and feral animals.
A lively open panel session, which included David Crombie from the National Federated Farmers; Don Heatley from Meat and Livestock Australia; Ronan Sullivan, a local producer; Cameron Hall from Live Corp; Bill Bray from the Cattle Council of Australia; and my colleague, Hon Chris Natt, proved to be an interesting forum, with questions from the floor covering such topics as the Indigenous Pastoral Program, exports, roads and the problems the primary industries have in attracting young people to the industry and keeping them in it. All in all, it was a well-organised and well-sponsored event.
The day finished with a dinner at the Katherine YMCA where tasty beef dishes highlighted the menu. Entertainment was provided by a stand-up comedian, a Trivial Pursuit game, singer Harmony James and a great local band, Fusion. There was range of lucky door prizes. Congratulations must go to Mitch Underwood from Riveren Station for winning the ride-on mower, which he was able to demonstrate on the night, and to John Dyer from Hayfield Station for taking out the Paspaley pearl prize. I also acknowledge the attendance of the Independent member, Gerry Wood who certainly gave us some good answers in the Trivial Pursuit game.
My trip to Katherine also gave me the chance to catch up with some of the organisations that service my electorate in the north of Stuart. I was pleased to meet Graham Newhouse, Regional Director of Planning and Infrastructure. It gave me the opportunity to get across some of the infrastructure issues happening at Lajamanu, Yarralin, Pigeon Hole and Kalkarindji. It is at this stage I must thank the members from Lajamanu Community Government Council who took the time to accompany me to some of these meetings: Geoffrey Barnes, Peter Jigili and Robert George. It was great to get their input and local knowledge which made for a spirited and rewarding discussion with some positive outcomes.
A meeting with Rick Fletcher from the Kalano Community Council was also positive. Rick and the 16 members of the Kalano Board and staff work hard to supply alcohol rehabilitation, aged care, homework centres and CDEP, just some of the 14 different programs they administer to the Katherine community.
I also met with Mike Freeman, the deputy manager at ICC, with Geoffrey, Peter and Robert from Lajamanu joining me once again. We discussed new infrastructure currently being proposed for Lajamanu and the region. The proposal for a new evacuation and resource centre to be built out of the flood-prone areas of the Pigeon Hole community on higher ground, which will provide security for the residents of Pigeon Hole community, is certainly a top priority that I will continue to work on with them. Sports facility upgrades and water issues were also up for discussion.
I met with Peter Egan from local government and Sean Heffernan from the Katherine West Health Board and was updated on their issues. It was also good to meet Dr Andrew Bell and Cienwen Grose also from the Katherine West Health Board.
A visit to the Katherine School of the Air was most rewarding, and the enthusiasm of Jen Coad, the Principal, and some of her highly skilled team of 22 teachers was encouraging. Faye Hickey met us at the reception and provided a tour of the school that gave me a glimpse of how the new interactive distance learning studio works and the benefits this new technology is providing to remote students and their families.
The school has embraced the middle school approach this year, giving families an opportunity to keep their children close at home and still have access to a comprehensive education, giving families more choice. With the first middle school residential held at the Rural College as I visited, there was great excitement that it had been a resounding success.
Katherine School of the Air is achieving some great educational outcomes and the visible dedication of Jen, the school staff, including Helen Harding, a present member of the Katherine School of the Air Committee and Roxie Holzwart, a past committee member, parents and indeed students to the education of their children is a credit to them and the school. All in all, it was great to get up to Katherine and to meet so many new people. Katherine is truly a vibrant part of the Territory, and I look forward to my next trip up that way very soon to visit many more organisations and people.
Speaking of education, I would like to acknowledge some award winners from various schools in my electorate and in my home town of Alice Springs. First, I acknowledge the high achievement in my electorate of the community of Yarralin. Reginald King, or Reggie, as he is better known, recently won the Indigenous Apprentice of the Year award at the Group Training Awards in Perth. Reggie is already a qualified chef by trade and, due to family commitments, moved to his wife’s traditional homeland of Yarralin, which is approximately 1100 km south-west of Darwin. Given the remoteness of Reggie’s home, to even consider an apprenticeship is ambitious, but with extraordinary commitment, he was able to complete Certificate II in Electro-technology. It must also be acknowledged that because of the joint initiative between Group Training Northern Territory, the local council and Power and Water, this Certificate II in Electro-technology was developed to create real jobs in the bush.
I congratulate Vanessa Bernard and Amanda Vincent, two young women who passed their NTCE certificate at the end of 2006. Kalkarindji has a growing reputation of producing young achievers through its secondary education program, and I must say this is a credit to the strong leadership of the community members and the Principal June Loke and her staff.
I would especially like to mention Donna Poetschka, a long-serving teacher at Daguragu, who, after 14 years’ service with an 18 month break at the Katherine School of the Air, has moved on. To serve for this amount of time in a remote Northern Territory community is a commendable achievement and I am sure one that Donna will remember. I know Donna is well respected by the community and will be sorely missed. To Donna and her family, I wish you all the best for the future, particularly during maternity leave and, as the local member of parliament, I thank you for your service to the community of Kalkarindji-Daguragu.
Thanks also to the Lajamanu Community Education Centre, Frank Atkinson, the Principal and staff. On their behalf, I would like to mention some award winners from Lajamanu. Congratulations to Natalie Ross for academic achievement and Ananias Tasman for consistency.
I would like to mention a couple of young fellows from Lajamanu who recently participated in the curtain raiser game for the Tiwi Islands grand final: Liam Kelly and Dean Jigili, Kassim Ross and Marcus Ross also from Kalkarindji, were selected to play for the AFL Katherine team because of their good attendance and behaviour at school.
I cannot, or maybe I should say I should not, go past mentioning the Wulaign Football Club from Lajamanu and their great win in the Central Australian Football Carnival held over the Easter weekend at Traeger Park in Alice Springs. In a great grand final against Papunya Eagles, Wulaign was able to hold on and win a closely fought game. Congratulations to all the players, particularly Liam Petrick and Tristan Tasman for playing some excellent footy over the weekend.
I know that there is something special about the football teams in Stuart, and I would like to quickly mention the great win that Yuelamu or the Mt Allan community had in taking out the Division 2 grand final at the same carnival over the weekend. They defeated the team from Epenarra.
I look forward to this year’s local competition in Alice Springs and feel it is necessary to recognise that this year is the 60th anniversary of football in Central Australia, the three founding clubs being Pioneer, the Mighty Eagles, which is my team; Rovers, the Double Blues; and Federals, the Demons are all celebrating this special achievement. I will be speaking further about their 60th anniversaries throughout the year and urge all local members to support the local game during the season, as I will be.
Moving on to Pigeon Hole, I want to mention a couple of students who have recently won awards: Regilda Anzac for reading and writing; and Brittany Williams in all subjects who is doing a great job so far this year.
Over to Yarralin, the Principal Sonia Svirak is thrilled with the increase in student attendance. There has been a great improvement this year and many attendance awards have been handed out to date. I look forward to getting up there soon and meeting all the achievers.
I have visited Braitling Primary School in Alice Springs on quite a few occasions over the past six months. Braitling School, through Principal Sue Crowe and her staff, has a dedicated unit for assisting many town camp children to access education. Many of these students are residents of town camps in my electorate, and I have seen firsthand the staff of this unit putting much energy into their work. I congratulate Sue and her staff on their recent Dare to Lead Award which recognised their efforts.
On a recent visit to the Acacia Hills School in Alice Springs, I was advised by staff that they had made it into the final three for the Parliamentary Art Award. I was not surprised to hear this because of the great art you see as you walk around Acacia Hills. It was fantastic to hear at the community concert on Sunday that they had won third prize for their painting One and All. As we can all appreciate, the paintings are on display in the foyer of the convention centre, with the first and second prize winners. The painting by Devona Palmer, Sarita Morrison, Taylor Greenfield, Sharna-Lee Wallace and Nikita Peters really sums up the community spirit for which Alice Springs is well renowned.
This morning, my office rang the school and congratulated them on their third prize and, let me tell you, they were over the moon with the result. All three finalists in the art award were of a very high standard, indeed.
Mr WOOD (Nelson): Mr Acting Deputy Speaker, the member for Stuart has a big electorate to get around and, compared with mine, there is certainly a lot of work on the road. He forgot to mention the Araluen bush weekend. Last weekend, I happened to be travelling to Alice visiting caravan parks and I dropped in there. It was a great weekend and it was a pity I could not stay all weekend, but I was there long enough to get the smell of some cattlemen and their dust as they fell to the ground trying to control great big bulls.
I would like to talk about local government, with an emphasis on the proposed super council in the Litchfield Shire. I have attended five meetings since the government announced the proposed changes, and I note that none of these meetings were organised by the government. The five meetings were the Cattlemen’s Association meeting in Katherine on 28 March; the community meeting at Wagait Beach organised by the Cox Peninsula Community Government Council on 20 March; a community meeting at the Corroboree Park Tavern organised by Rose Christie on 22 March; the Katherine Town Council meeting on 26 March; and, of course, the Girraween Primary School meeting in the Litchfield Shire organised by the member for Blain and me on 3 April. I did try to attend a sixth meeting organised by the government, which was the shire transition meeting on 26 March, but was not allowed to attend.
This highlights two main problems with the approach by the government in convincing the community that amalgamation is going to be to their benefit. First, the government, as I said earlier today, has left the public football team behind in the amalgamation football match. The first quarter has gone, the government team has kicked 10 goals and the public team have just got on the bus. This could be no more clearly seen than in the government’s announcement that there will be nine shires. There was no consultation about that. The government knew best, that will be the number of shires, and that is it.
Councils such as Tennant Creek and Litchfield Shire had no idea that they were to be dissolved. There was no consultation. The government issued a timetable showing the rigid program it had set to put the amalgamations in place.
The minister keeps saying, when I talk about the community consultation period in relation to boundary changes, that he has extended the deadline to May, but the reality is even if it has been extended, there has been very little public consultation or even advertising that the community can put their points of view about these boundary changes to the government. I am not even sure where they would put those points of view.
Instead of taking the community along, the government has stuck to its guns and decided to keep moving regardless. That is why people are cranky. They do not know what is going on and, when they have meetings, if they do not get the answers they need to make an informed decision, they get crankier.
At the Girraween meeting, a list of about 30 prepared questions was sent to the government before the meeting so that government representatives could tell people what was going to happen to their council and what would be the consequences of changes. I wrote up those questions and I made sure the government had those 24 hours before the meeting. While some questions had answers, some where very general and some could not be answered at all. It was said some would be up to the new council to decide but, by then, it will be too late. Some questions, such as what core functions councils will be required to take on, were not answered, and you wonder why not. People were annoyed that they had to organise the meetings to find out what was going on, when it should have been the government leading the way. Instead, it was the opposite.
Most people accept that there will be change, even though they do not like it. The resolution of the meeting at Girraween School sums it up best when it said that the people strongly urge the government to delay the local government changes until those changes are fully costed and residents adequately consulted. Surely that is a fair thing. It is one thing to accept that amalgamation might be necessary, but it is another to show that it really will work. That is what people are worried about. Amalgamations do not necessarily mean that we will have better local government. What the government has to do is prove that will happen, not just make sweeping statements that it will occur.
The second issue is the closed nature of the shire transition meetings. Unfortunately, even though I had permission from the minister’s office to attend the transition meeting on 26 March at the Litchfield Shire Council offices, I was not allowed to attend. I am told that could have been a breach of the Legislative Assembly (Powers and Privileges) Act, but I have not gone down that path. I can tell you I was not very happy.
A question raised at the recent Girraween meeting was: should the transition meetings be open to the public? The answer given by the government was no, although there was a statement which said the minutes would be made public. To my knowledge, that has not yet happened.
The government has said that members of the transition meetings will be putting the concerns of residents. How they know what those concerns are worries me as, except for Rose Christie, who is a member of the Transition Committee and comes from Marrakai, all the other meetings have been organised by the community. They have not been organised by the members of the Transition Committee. How do we know what our representatives on these Transition Committees are saying at those meetings if they are closed? Who knows unless one can attend, at least as an observer?
All the time I was on Litchfield Shire Council, we made sure that meetings were open to the public except on very rare occasions. Here we have a government Transition Committee discussing issues about local government and it is not open to the public. That, to me, is a major failing of the system. Surely, there is nothing in these meetings that will affect the security of Australia. I wonder what people in remote areas know about what is going on. If people in the more built-up areas do not know what is happening, what chance do the communities out bush have? The meetings are held during the day, so how can working councillors or the public attend if they were allowed? The transition meetings should be open to the public.
On a similar note, the minutes of the advisory board should be available to the public, as the government will not allow these meetings to be open to the public.
The government wants support for its proposals and I support the concept, but I will not support it until I know the consequences of the reforms. I will say now that if, for instance, wards are established with an unequal numbers, if the flat rate based on how much it costs to provide local government services is replaced by UCV land tax, if core functions are forced on council that are not necessary or are the NT government’s responsibility, if there is no guarantee that road funding will decrease for the existing Litchfield Shire, if the number of councillors is an even number – it has been mooted that there will be 10 or 12 councillors; why you do not have seven, nine or 11 beats me; you need an odd number of councillors so you do not have a tied vote - if the shire president is elected by the councillors not the people, if there is no establishment package, on those issues alone, I will not be supporting the changes. I certainly do not, as has been mooted, support the idea of councillors electing the mayor or president; that should be done by the people.
If there are no public forums except those organised by the community, where will some of these issues that I have just raised be debated? Behind closed doors is not good enough. There are two sides to local government; they are the economic and the political. If either of these does not stack up, then I will not support the changes. The money side is important and so are the democratic principles on which local government is founded. Local government is not an experiment of the Northern Territory government to play around with. By not following sound principles, communities will be no better off than they are now and may even be worse. I ask the Territory government not to hurry the process for the sake of a timetable. The community has a right to know and to consider the changes. If you do not do that, these reforms will come back and bite you.
I congratulate the minister on his announcement today that the government will invest $9.9m in the amalgamation process as well as announcing there will be extra money from the Commonwealth, but I have no doubt that more money will be required. I believe rates will have to rise if the government does not develop establishment packages; it will bring unincorporated areas up to a standard that a council can take over without having to find a large amount of money.
Mr Deputy Speaker, I know much more will happen in the coming months, and I hope the government will heed what the people at the Girraween Council meeting said, and that is: ‘slow down’. The minister said there has been plenty of time for these amalgamations to occur over the years, but most of that was in-house; it was not bringing the community along. This is the first time that the community has actually known that there is going to be amalgamation. You need the community. They are the ones who will pay in the end if this goes wrong. If there is not enough money to provide services, they will pay through their rates and I can imagine they will not be very happy.
It will be a wiser way to go I know, and I am especially talking about the Litchfield Shire area, which will be six times bigger when these amalgamation plans are finished. I ask the minister to make sure government tells people what is happening and what will be the consequences of these changes.
Another issue that was partly raised today is the issue of fishing permits. This has certainly been a hot topic in recent times with the decision by the Federal Court of Australia which basically says that if people wish to fish in the intertidal zone, they will require a permit. I had been doing my best to understand it by reading the Gumana v the Northern Territory of Australia case in the Federal Court of Australia. It is no easy document to read, although it has enlightened me on certain aspects. One of the areas about which I have concerns - and, from my point of view, is a philosophical issue although this decision deals with whether there are any precedents - is for people who just want to go fishing or put their boat in the water maintaining that right. I am not talking about professional fishing or tour operators who make their money from fishing. I am talking about the average person who wants to put their boat in the water, even if they are not fishing. They are now not allowed to have their boat in the intertidal zone. There needs to be a balance of rights and those rights may not be backed by our laws.
The rights of Aboriginal people, according to this decision of the Federal Court, are that they own the waters in the intertidal zone. I do not have a problem with those people using the resources in that area. I do not have a problem with parts of the areas being removed from general fishing, for instance around sacred sites, around some communities. There might be ‘no fish zones’ for environmental purposes.
We are all citizens of this country. Why don’t both black and white people have the basic right to say: ‘We can catch a fish’ subject to those restrictions I mentioned and things like bag limits? Surely that is something that, as a citizen of this country, I and all other people have the right to do. There might not be any legal basis for me to argue that and, reading through the judgment, it is an issue with which the court has struggled.
We need to look at this. I know it is going back on appeal. I know the Territory government said it is not happy with the court decision. There are times when the law gets in the road of commonsense, even the issue of what is the low water mark. I will give you a classic example, and some people may say I am being pedantic, but from what I read, for waters between Bathurst and Melville Islands - that is for the areas inside the low water mark - you will now require a permit to sail. If you were to sail down Apsley Strait at high tide - if someone could officially tell me where the low water mark will be at high tide in the Apsley Strait when I might be an international visitor coming through with my yacht or I might be just having a weekend out on my yacht. I say that is just about impossible.
Some people might say I am being pedantic, but the reality is that the decision has been made by the court that you require a permit to be in that intertidal zone. If it went to court, you would require details as to where you were. That would be very difficult. I hope commonsense applies and we hear more in this parliament about what the government intends to do.
Mr BURKE (Brennan): Mr Acting Deputy Speaker, I start this evening by acknowledging the Arrernte people as the traditional owners as well as the Lhere Artepe native title representative body. I also thank the community of Alice Springs for having parliament in their town and for the hospitality they have shown me personally. I am sure that is endorsed by all members of the Assembly. I thank them very much for the time they have taken to talk to me about some of the issues they see facing their town.
I take this opportunity to extend my condolences to the member for Arnhem and her family. It is a sudden and terrible loss to the entire community, the Yanyuwa, all the families and clans at Borroloola. The deceased person was a great advocate for the rights of people in that region, a strong person who had the respect of the entire community. I am saddened by their loss and extend my best wishes to everyone at this difficult time.
I contrast that and move on to a more pleasant note of congratulating Stacey Carvolth, a Palmerston High School student who this year won the Simpson Prize in the Northern Territory. The Simpson Prize is offered across all states and territories and is open to Year 9 and 10 students. The winners are taken to Gallipoli for the Anzac Day service and to visit important historical sites, not just the Gallipoli site. Stacey wrote an essay that linked her father’s peacekeeping role in East Timor to the ideals of the first Anzacs, and I believe excerpts of it were read in Parliament House in Canberra. Congratulations, Stacey. I look forward to hearing your account of the trip.
A major event for Palmerston, of course, was the official opening of the Palmerston Recreation Centre by minister Kon Vatskalis. It was a very well attended opening and it was great to see so many people there, having a look at the new basketball courts, gym and rec room. It is going to be a fantastic facility and will be able to be used for discos and that sort of thing. The first event held was Dancing with Sports Stars, which I understand was a fantastic success. It is a great asset for the community and I am sure it will be well utilised by the young people of Palmerston as well as those who are young at heart.
I recently doorknocked a large portion of the suburb of Gunn, which is in my electorate, to talk to people as I like to do, and to raise funds for Red Cross as a part of the Red Cross Calling appeal. I place on record my thanks to the people of the streets I doorknocked who generously donated a little over $515.00. This money goes to a number of different Red Cross programs such as the Good Start Breakfast Club at a number of schools, including Gray Primary School where I am proud and honoured to be able to assist on Thursday mornings, getting some good breakfast into the kids before they head off into class.
March was a busy time with Clean Up Australia Day. I went to the Gateway Baptist Church and assisted there. Once we were finished picking up rubbish, we cooked up a feed on the barbecue trailer I have. It was great to meet the people there and we had a wonderful time despite being rained upon for a good part of the time we were out collecting rubbish.
Another activity I was pleased to be part of was to volunteer my time to the ladies who put together the Top Ender magazine. Some members may not be aware that the Top Ender magazine is the main Defence publication for families in the Top End region. It is put together on a totally volunteer basis. In fact, last year there was an interesting decision by the federal department to cut funding, which would have threatened the production of the magazine. I was glad to play my part, with the member for Drysdale and Senator Trish Crossin, in writing to the federal minister. In the end, that decision was reversed - a great decision, I have to say. It was good to assist with ensuring that the latest edition of the Top Ender got out.
I was invited to tour HPA Incorporated with CEO, Paul Goggin, and General Manager, Ian Walker. This is an enterprise which employs people with disabilities in meaningful work. I congratulate them on their record of maintaining their business, having a business plan to ensure that it remains open. They will be expanding their premises at Yarrawonga, which is part of my electorate. They are a very committed bunch of people, and it was good to talk to some of the men and ladies who worked there and put together some of the fine art works and turning them into products such as bags, table cloths, tea towels and the like. They also make a range of outdoor furniture including bus shelters. I will be talking to the minister about whether it is possible to look at having them supply some bus shelters because they are a great company with a great social conscience and initiative in employing those people within our society who live with disabilities.
I was invited to the opening of the Darwin soccer season, which saw the Palmerston Women’s Soccer Club play Hellenic in the opening game of the women’s season. These two teams were at the top of the ladder last year and competed greatly with each other. Unfortunately, it was a bit one sided on this day, with Hellenic overwhelming an under-strength Palmerston side. The ladies played with great heart and it was good to be part of the opening of the soccer season. Having been part of the soccer scene in the Top End myself, it is good to see it keep going, providing an outlet for so many people and so many juniors. I think I am correct in saying that soccer is the biggest sport in the Territory at a junior level, certainly not at a senior level. A great many kids, not just in Palmerston and Darwin, but I am sure here in Alice Springs as well, take part on the weekend.
Of course, the other great football code is Aussie Rules. Auskick had its registration day recently in Palmerston. The oval was a sea of faces; there were so many of our children there, both boys and girls, wanting to learn how to play Aussie Rules. I pay tribute to them and the AFL for the effort they put in, and the parents, again tireless with self-sacrifice getting the kids to play the game, volunteering their time on occasions when they perhaps were not expecting to. That is another great community event happening in Palmerston.
There is always much happening in my electorate and the town of Palmerston. I was happy to organise a meeting recently of business owners and various community stakeholders to talk about tackling some of the issues in Palmerston to deal with alcohol abuse, antisocial behaviour, public drunkenness, issues with which we are all very familiar. It was wonderful that a number of initiatives came out of that. There are some positive things. I thank Des Greene from the Palmerston station of the Northern Territory Police and also Ross Bennett from Larrakia Nation who came down to work through some of these issues. We also had representatives from the various government departments. Unfortunately, representatives of Palmerston City Council were not there. They were invited, but were unable to attend. Therefore, we did not have the benefit of their input in the process of what they were doing. It was great community on-the-ground, grassroots action, and I am sure the business owners got something out of that meeting.
I was once told that politics is a marathon and not a sprint, and today’s sitting has probably been a marathon. I thank you, Mr Acting Deputy Speaker, and members for their kind attention.
Mrs MILLER (Katherine): Mr Acting Deputy Speaker, tonight I place on the Parliamentary Record some information about the life of Kurt Olesen of Katherine who passed from this life on 30 March this year. Kurt was of a quiet nature and a well respected member of the community. He was a very slim built man and was he was always distinguishable by his yellow cap and his work vehicle, which was a work of art with absolutely every tool and piece of equipment that Kurt needed, very neatly secured in its proper place at all times.
I remember first meeting Kurt when I was working for Semrite Constructions in 1990 and he was always a man who did not mess around. He got the job done efficiently and promptly. Kurt was not only a long time employee of Power Projects in Katherine, he was also a very dear friend of his employer, John Leo and his wife, Di, and their family. I know they are deeply saddened by Kurt’s death. He touched the lives of many through his involvement with Cubs and Scouts, and his volunteer work with Emergency Services. The impact he had on the lives of many young people through Cubs and Scouts was evident from the people who travelled from Nhulunbuy to attend his funeral in Katherine and who spoke of their respect for Kurt.
Greg Wright from Katherine read the eulogy at Kurt’s funeral and I would like to read into the Parliamentary Record what he said:
Kurt was born in Denmark on 8 April 1931.
Quite by coincidence, Mr Acting Deputy Speaker, that is also my birthday.
- He passed away peacefully in his sleep at Darwin Private Hospital on 30 March this year. We did not know much about his childhood, only that his mother died early and his father remarried and had one more child.
He did his instrument fitter/electrical apprenticeship and then National Service in the Army before leaving Denmark.
Kurt started with the Scouts as a teenager and was totally involved in all facets of Cubs and Scouts. He attended jamborees all over the world and has many mementos of these trips.
Kurt came to Australia in his early twenties and worked for his uncle in Melbourne as a labourer. In the early 1950s, Kurt went to work at Mary Kathleen Mine just outside of Mt Isa. He stayed there until the end of stage one. At this stage, he had just bought a new motor bike and decided to pack up and move to Canada. Not wanting to give up the bike, he had it shipped over with him and worked there for approximately three years and returned to Australia by sea via Japan.
Kurt found work at Biloela and there met Ian Hutcheon who gave him a job with Nabalco at Nhulunbuy. Whilst in Nhulunbuy, he was a founding member of the Nhulunbuy Scout Group. Some of these boys are here today.
He was also involved with the Arnhemland 4WD club and, with many others, was instrumental in forming the Gove Land Sea Communication Organisation, known as GLSCO, and erecting a tower on Mt Saunders.
Kurt stayed there until 1983 when he took the gold watch and moved to Katherine. During that time he worked for L&R Electricalthen Power Projects until his retirement at 4 pm on the last day of the 20th century.
Kurt’s two loves were the scouting movement and the Northern Territory Emergency Services where he made many friends Australia-wide and the Emergency Service members are here today.
- Kurt earned the name of Mr Gadget because he was very handy at fixing anything. If you couldn’t buy it, he would make it and it would work better than the bought one. He always wore his tool belt and had everything in it, and I mean everything.
Kurt made several overseas trips to Denmark and Canada, and the last one being to Nepal on a Rotary Overseas Aid Fund project as a volunteer tradesman.
He used to take off on driving holidays and covered most of Australia, calling in on his circle of friends far and wide.
Kurt spent his retirement years on John and Di’s rural block with his little dog, Skipper, and loved to see friends drive from various parts of Australia. He was always ready with a cold beer or a whiskey for the weary traveller. Kurt will be sadly missed by all.
Greg’s wife, Darilyn Wright, and Di Leo then read a letter that had been forwarded by the Thomson family of Nhulunbuy who were unable to be present at the funeral, and I quote:
- Good afternoon, all.
It is with great sadness that the Thomson family of Nhulunbuy has learned of the death of our mate, Kurt Olesen. We are very sorry that we cannot be with you all today. We were comforted by the fact that Kurt’s passing came relatively quickly following his recent illness, and that he was able to have some friends and loved ones near him at the end.
We thank Di and John for their love and great care of Kurt during his latter years. Kurt may have been a pretty quiet bloke in the past few years, but we know he has a lot of friends and there are a great many people in the Territory who respected him enormously.
Terry and Robyn Thomson have been close friends of Kurt for more than three decades.
We first met him when he worked for Nabalco in Nhulunbuy. Our boys Peter, Greg and Chris were first Cubs, then Scouts, and later Venturers during Kurt’s many years as a Scout Leader. Our boys remember great times camping as Scouts and spending a lot of time with Kurt and the other Scout Leaders. Scouts helped our family enjoy the best of an outdoor lifestyle that Nhulunbuy offered.
We would have him around for dinner now and then, too, and he was a great story teller. Kurt was a terrific leader of these boys and young men, and while he may not have had children of his own, he showed great leadership and understanding of young people. Along with other top leaders like John Price, Kurt was critical in ensuring a very successful era in the Scouting movement in Nhulunbuy.
Many people forged lifelong friendships with Kurt during this time. When Kurt left Nhulunbuy, Terry and Robyn paid frequent visits to Kurt, often en route by road from Nhulunbuy to southern parts for annual holidays. He was always very welcoming. Terry and Robyn recently retired from Nhulunbuy and are travelling this week with their caravan in New South Wales.
Our family has another strong and everlasting connection with Kurt through his country of birth, Denmark. Terry and Robyn’s daughter, Serena, the youngest of the four kids, travelled to Denmark in 2000 to visit Kurt’s nephew, Jan. It was during this overseas holiday that Jan introduced Serena to his good friend, Jonas Larsen. Jonas and Serena soon fell in love, later married, and Jonas has since left Denmark for Australia where the couple now live in Brisbane. Serena and Jonas are expecting their first child next month. They will also be returning to visit the extended family in Denmark in July.
Kurt has helped to introduce Jonas to our family in Australia, and this is a cherished memory for us. Our family will long remember Kurt and we hope he’ll get to enjoy a drop of his whiskey coffee, made with cold water mind you, in heaven.
Rest in peace, our good mate.
This was from Terry and Robyn Thomson and their children; Peter and Taryn Thomson and their children, Warren and Tamarah; Greg and Lee-Anne Thomsonand their children Harry and Grace;Chris and Kate Thomson and their children, Lucy, Oscar and Matilda; and Jonas and Serena Larsen and a baby due ever so soon.
Too often, we do not realise how much of an impact some people have on others’ lives until they are no longer here. It is obvious that Kurt had a very interesting and enjoyable life, and that he contributed positively to others. We will miss Kurt, especially John and Di Leo and the staff of Power Projects in Katherine. May he rest in peace.
I also want to talk about the voluntary work being carried out by some dedicated people in Katherine who are making a difference in many young people’s lives. Those young people are not only from Katherine, but from surrounding regions for several hundred kilometres.
Too often in this Assembly, we hear of the negativity of young people, especially young men, and the trouble they get into. What is happening with these young blokes is a positive step in changing and developing positive attitudes. There are several men leading the way in developing these attitudes.
I pay particular attention to Fred Murphy,Lindsay Turner in Katherine, and Owen Turner from Ngukurr who are committed to ensuring the best outcomes for these young fellows through AFL. Along the way they have been supported by Lewis Fammartinofrom Katherine andJakeQuinlivanfrom Minyerri.
Fred and his team work towards developing leadership in remote communities and Katherine to provide opportunities for boys aged between 14 and 17 who are at risk of being influenced to do the wrong thing. Recently, a freshwater challenge was organised for the young men to aim towards. The end result and reward was a trip to the Tiwi Island Grand Final of AFL. Boys from Katherine, Beswick, Barunga, Ngukurr, Minyerri, Bulman, Lajamanu and Kalkarindji communities participated for selection for the team. Selection was based on school attendance, and the boys with the highest school attendance had first preference. The average attendance was around 60% to 75% since the start of the school year. The boys were also chosen for their behaviour in school and their community and were looked upon to be good leaders in their schools.
I had the pleasure of watching these young men have their first practice session together the night before they left for Darwin and the Tiwi Islands. As you can imagine, they were a bit shy and fairly quiet when they first started training, but with the support and encouragement of Fred, Lindsay and Owen, not to mention the other supporters who came out to watch, they were soon relaxing and working with each other as a team. It started raining while they were training, and they continued on their merry way, getting more relaxed as time went by. I thought it was very appropriate that there were two magnificent rainbows in the background as these young fellows were training and getting to know one another. They got along really well with each other and there were no bad feelings. Fred said that continued throughout the trip.
What an adventure they had for this weekend. Even though they did not win their football match against the Tiwi Island Under 17s, they had an excellent time. For most of these boys, it was the first time they had left home, let alone flown in an aeroplane. Most importantly, it was the first time the whole group had been to the Tiwi Island Grand Final. One of the locals took the group out fishing and looking for mud crabs. They were treated to some traditional dancing, visited the Tiwi Island Art Centre, spent time talking with the Tiwi boys at the recreational hall, the Tiwi Island Bomber captain for the NTFL side, and local elders spoke to the boys about life.
While I do not know the names of all the young men who were selected for the team to travel to the Tiwis, I can say that there were two from Lajamanu, two from Kalkarindji, four from Ngukurr, three from Minyerri, one from Bulman, two from Barunga, four from Beswick and six from Katherine.
Fred told me the trip was a huge success because of a number of things. Boys from seven different communities in Katherine mixed together for the first time and loved it. It was the first time many of the boys had touched salt water, and it was the first time many of the boys had been on a plane and boat. Fred told me that the behaviour of the boys was outstanding. His hopes for the future are that the opportunity is there for these boys to do great things in their community.
He and his supporters want to provide more opportunities by promoting the same values through good school attendance and behaviour to give some more young men the chance to experience an event they may never have had the chance to do. To quote Fred: ‘The future lies with our kids, no matter where they come from and who they are’.
Mr Acting Deputy Speaker, its people like Fred, Lindsay, Owen, Lewis and Jake and many others who need support to continue to expand and develop their success in showing young men they have the ability to be the leaders of the future in their communities.
Motion agreed to; the Assembly adjourned.
Last updated: 04 Aug 2016