2005-03-22
CEREMONIAL OPENING
Alice Springs Regional Sittings
Alice Springs Regional Sittings
Madam Speaker Braham took the Chair at 9 am.
The Serjeant-at-Arms announced distinguished guests.
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, it is my pleasure to welcome you, our distinguished guests, and members of the public in the gallery to these regional sittings of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly in Alice Springs.
Before formal proceedings of the Assembly commence at 9.30 am, it is proposed to mark this occasion by inviting presentations from some of our special guests. Honourable members, I have given permission for the opening ceremony to be broadcast and televised by various media outlets.
I welcome students from Braitling Primary School. On behalf of all honourable members, I extend to you a warm welcome; it is lovely to see you here.
With the concurrence of honourable members, I propose to invite His Honour the Administrator, Her Worship the Mayor and Mr Stevens to take a seat on the floor of the Assembly Chamber. For visitors to the sittings, it is rare that we have non-members on the floor of the Chamber; however, on this special occasion we thought it appropriate.
I now invite Mr Thomas Stevens, the Arrernte traditional owner of Mparntwe, accompanied Ms Karen Liddle, to address the Assembly.
Mr STEVENS: [Spoken in Arrernte]. Madam Speaker, as a traditional owner of Mparntwe Alice Springs, I welcome you for these regional sittings of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly.
Madam SPEAKER: Mr Stevens, on behalf of honourable members, I thank you for your warm welcome to country.
I now invite His Honour the Administrator to address the Assembly.
His Honour the ADMINISTRATOR: Madam Speaker, Chief Minister, Leader of the Opposition, parliamentarians, ladies and gentlemen, thank you for the opportunity to address the gathering this morning. I congratulate everyone connected with the decision to bring parliament to Central Australia. It is wonderful and has created a great level of local interest. I am sure it will finally cause the Berrimah Line to be removed to about 50 km south of Kulgera.
A little history - as my dear friend Josie Petrick is in the audience this morning - that may not be known: the Berrimah Line did not start as a political thing; it was started by a very formidable policeman named Sandy McNab who lived at Berrimah. He drew a line there, and if anyone did not have a job in Darwin within 24 hours of arrival, he would take them out to that line and give them a boot in the backside and head them southwards. Sandy has gone, the Berrimah Line is gone, and I wish all parliamentarians the opportunity to have forthright debate and to make very wise decisions that serve our Territory as well as I believe they will.
Madam SPEAKER: Your Honour, on behalf of all members, I thank you for your address and participation. I call upon the Chief Minister.
Ms MARTIN (Chief Minister): Your Honour, the Mayor, Mr Stevens and Karen - thank you for welcome to country - and to our distinguished community who have joined us here for this special ceremonial opening of parliament in Central Australia, Alice Springs, we are very proud and pleased to be here.
Over the last couple of days, I have given a number of media interviews during which I have been asked: ‘Why have you come back to Alice Springs?’ I have said: ‘We meet in Darwin all the time, and we do not get that many people there to watch us as we engage in our debates and look at the issues of the Territory. When we come to Alice Springs there is such a warm welcome. The community embraces us. It really is a parliamentary celebration’.
On behalf of every parliamentarian we enjoy being in Alice Springs. It is not just about the warm community welcome; it is about having parliament in the second largest urban centre in the Territory. Although we have our 25 members who represent all sections of the Territory, it is important that we not only meet at the top of the Territory, but in Central Australia in the south of the Territory.
It is lovely to be among friends here today, and there are numbers here whom I would call friends; it is terrific. We will enjoy our three days. I am sure you will see some lively debates as we take this opportunity not only to deal with legislation on Territory-wide issues, such as the trans-Territory pipeline or proportionate liability with insurance, but many important issues we are tackling. It gives us an opportunity to focus on Alice Springs and Central Australia and, as government, to be accountable for what has happened over the last three-and-a-half years, to talk about what has been achieved in Central Australia, and our plans for the future. You can expect a concentration on Central Australian issues over these three days.
We also have the opportunity to spend time with the community, and there are many community events. We look forward to meeting various sections of the Central Australian community, from the students who come to the parliament, to tourism service providers and the non-government sector. It will be a most worthwhile time.
On behalf of all 25 parliamentarians, thank you for having us here. Thank you, Madam Speaker, for being one of the drivers in having parliament return to Alice Springs.
Madam SPEAKER: On behalf of honourable members, I thank the Chief Minister for her response. I call on the Leader of the Opposition.
Mr BURKE (Opposition Leader): Madam Speaker, Your Honour the Administrator, Mr Stevens, distinguished guests, fellow parliamentarians, boys and girls from Braitling Primary School, it is a very important occasion to come to Alice Springs for parliament. For the second time, we are having a ceremony to mark the importance of parliament’s sitting. When parliament sits in Darwin, the importance of parliament is only reflected by the officers and the status of the Speaker in the ceremony that we have that only the parliamentarians themselves see, and that is disappointing. It is also disappointing that the general public is generally disengaged with the political process even though what we do affects their lives in everything they do.
It is particularly gratifying that the decision was made to come to Alice Springs; we enjoy being here. However, we take it as an opportunity to work, not for a ceremony, and not to do anything but demonstrate to Territorians what we are here for, what we are paid to do and, hopefully, that we do what they expect of us.
I am called the Leader of the Opposition in this House, but I am the leader of the parliamentary wing of the Country Liberal Party which has its roots deep in the Northern Territory and in Alice Springs. Whilst many of us have not been in parliament all that long compared with the parliamentary careers of those who have gone before us, we bear, as members of the CLP, the obligation and responsibility to carry forward into this parliament those things upon which the CLP was founded. It was, primarily, to do one thing: to stand up only for the aspirations and hopes of Territorians. That is the foundation stone of the Country Liberal Party; that is the responsibility we bear in this Chamber today and I happily bring that into this House.
Over these three days of sittings, my approach - and that of my parliamentary colleagues - is to recognise that these may be the last sittings before we go to the next general election. There may be one other, but certainly, it will be the last time the people of Alice Springs will have an opportunity to gauge not only their parliament but the performance of their government over the last three-and-a-half to four years.
During these three days, the Treasurer will go to Canberra. I understand he will miss out on one day of the sittings. He has to go to Canberra to deal with issues about the GST, the goods and services tax. I intend to raise in this House and remind Territorians that the issues the Labor Party Treasurer will discuss are issues and contractual obligations that I signed on behalf of the Country Liberal Party government and Territorians when the GST was implemented.
That GST required Territorians and Australians to pay a new tax. That GST has resulted in benefits to not only governments in states and territories, but also to the federal government, that are way beyond their own forecasts and expectations. That money is paid by individual Australians - men and women who struggle hard every day.
When we signed the GST, we said that we would give that money back to Australians because it was designed to introduce a new tax, but also to get rid of inefficient state and territory taxes. I will be saying to the Treasurer – as I say it to everyone because my work starts in this House now, not later - that he has a responsibility and contractual obligation to give back to Australians and Territorians what I signed when we introduced and agreed to the GST in Australia.
It is not a time for any state or territory to say: ‘What we have, we will keep’ and to try some political fight with the Commonwealth government. It is money that has come to the Northern Territory out of the pockets of Territorians and other Australians. If we are going to talk about the importance of growing our economy and building a Territory where people want to come to live, we need to ensure that we are, at every opportunity, giving back to Territorians the money that they have given to us through the taxation system.
Those are the issues I want to talk about in this parliament. I want to talk about a whole range of other issues. I want to talk about why it is so difficult to attract skilled workers to the Northern Territory, particularly given the enormous flexibility with financial arrangements that we have. I want to know why the cost of living has not been reduced. I want to know why tourism has not performed by comparison with any other state or territory in Australia. I want to know why teachers are out on strike because they are not valued for their contribution to Territory children and their families. I want to know why nurses are undertaking industrial action and are stressed in their day-to-day work. These are the undertakings that the Labor government gave to Territorians and said that they would improve when they came to government, and they have failed miserably.
I say to you all: we came here to work, and our work starts now. You will not be disappointed.
Madam SPEAKER: On behalf of honourable members, I thank the Leader of the Opposition for his remarks. As we have all stressed, it is Alice Springs, so the most important person I now ask to address the Assembly is Her Worship the Mayor. On behalf of the citizens of Alice Springs, I welcome Your Worship to the podium.
Ms KILGARIFF (Mayor of Alice Springs): Madam Speaker, Your Honour, Mr Stevens, honourable members, people of Alice Springs, first, I would like to acknowledge the Arrernte people, the traditional owners of this land. On behalf of the people of Alice Springs, I am delighted to welcome the parliament of the Northern Territory to Alice Springs for the second time.
Last time, Alice Springs people showed that we were very interested in participation and the processes of parliament. We have come again. I believe you will find we will come again in droves to watch our parliamentarians at work. We are delighted that you have chosen to come here.
Madam Speaker, I thank you for being one of the driving forces. I thank you, Chief Minister, for bringing our parliament here. On behalf of the people of Alice Springs, we welcome you and look forward to seeing how you operate and hearing the issues you discuss.
Madam SPEAKER: Your Worship, on behalf of honourable members, I thank you very much for your remarks.
Honourable members and members of the public, I will now ask the Serjeant-at-Arms to escort distinguished guests from the Chamber floor.
Honourable members, that concludes the opening ceremony of our regional sittings. In accordance with the Routine of Business agreed to by the Assembly pursuant to resolution dated 17 February 2005, we will proceed with the formal business of the Assembly, commencing with prayers.
DISTINGUISHED VISITORS
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, I draw your attention to the presence in the Speaker’s gallery of Hon Warren Snowdon MP, the member for Lingiari in the Northern Territory; Hon Peter Lewis MHA, Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of South Australia; Hon John Cowdell MLC, President of the Legislative Council in Western Australia; Mr Bern Kilgariff, a former member and Speaker of this parliament, former Senator for the Northern Territory and his wife, Mrs Aileen Kilgariff; Mrs Kit McNeill, wife of our Clerk, whom I am pleased to see; and Mr Malcolm Lehman, Deputy Clerk of the House of Assembly of South Australia who is here to see how we are doing this because South Australia is contemplating regional sittings. On behalf of all members, I extend to you a very warm welcome.
Honourable members, we also have in our visiting area the Deputy of the Administrator, Ms Pat Miller, who is accompanied by Barbara Satour. On behalf of honourable members, I extend a warm welcome to you.
Members: Hear, hear!
TABLED PAPER
Commonwealth Day Message
Commonwealth Day Message
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, I table the Commonwealth Day Message 2005 from Her Majesty the Queen. I believe you have that message on the table in front of you.
Commonwealth Day is 14 March 2005 and, with the concurrence of all honourable members, I will have the Commonwealth Day message incorporated in the Parliamentary Record.
A Message from Her Majesty The Queen
Head of the Commonwealth
Head of the Commonwealth
- Of the nearly two billion citizens of the Commonwealth, more than half are under the age of twenty-five. That
provides our association with a strong foundation for the future. Of course, we all face significant challenges.
Some people live in conditions of conflict or insecurity. Others have suffered the impact of natural disasters,
such as flooding or hurricanes, which can cause great damage to their communities and countries. Quite how
destructive this can be became apparent with the hurricane in the Caribbean last September, and of course
the devastating Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami.
Overcoming these global challenges, whether as individuals or nations, depends on human ingenuity and
commitment. It involves young people in particular having the chance to develop their talents and their
abilities – without being held back by inequality. In my lifetime, I have often seen that when people are
encouraged to develop their skills of writing and reasoning, they are well placed to contribute their ideas
and energies towards building a better future.
The key to unlocking human potential, and creating opportunity, is education.
Education is sometimes described as the golden thread that binds the Commonwealth. Our shared use of a
common world language – English – has underpinned a long and rich tradition of educational cooperation.
With our shared practices and similar systems, an extensive network of scholarships, and many examples of
excellence, much has been achieved.
That work continues as the Commonwealth responds to today’s new challenges. In our association, where
around 75 million children lack access to basic education, one clear objective is the UN Millennium
Development Goal of achieving universal primary education by 2015. Another is mitigating the effects
of HIV and AIDS, two-thirds of whose sufferers around the world are Commonwealth citizens, and which
in some member countries each year causes the death of more teachers than can be met by newly qualified
replacements. A third objective is to expand distance education, through bodies such as the Commonwealth
of Learning – based in Canada – which encourages Commonwealth countries to pool their expertise.
Knowledge-based economies are the key to future prosperity, and overcoming technological and other
inequalities will be much in the minds of Commonwealth Heads of Government when they meet in Malta
in November.
For all us, knowledge is a life-long journey. Education is a precious gift which should be available to everyone,
young and old. Not only does it equip us with the skills and the intellect to overcome the problems we face; it
also increases our understanding of – and respect for – other people, whatever our differences may be. Perhaps
Nelson Mandela put it best when he said: ‘Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change
the world’.
To everyone throughout the Commonwealth who is working towards this worthy goal, I extend my heartfelt thanks.
Elizabeth R.
14 March 2005.
PETITION
Alice Springs Public Housing
Alice Springs Public Housing
Ms CARNEY (Araluen)(by leave): Madam Speaker, I present a petition from 136 petitioners relating to public housing in Alice Springs. Madam Speaker, I move that the petition be read.
- Motion agreed to; petition read:
To the Speaker and members of the Legislative Assembly in parliament assembled, the humble petition
of the undersigned citizens of the Northern Territory showeth:
In November 2004, there was a meeting of concerned residents about public housing in Alice Springs,
and the Minister for Housing and the Minister for Central Australia failed to attend. As a result of their
non-attendance, we believe that a message needs to be sent to the government about the problems being
caused by some public housing tenants.
The Housing Minister has not adequately dealt with the negative effects bad public housing tenants have
on property values in Alice Springs, or the lifestyles of law abiding citizens.
Your petitioners therefore pray that the Legislative Assembly call on the Minister for Housing to preserve
the lifestyle and enjoyment of life of those affected by public housing tenants who breach their tenancy
obligations, by forcing the eviction of such tenants.
RESPONSE TO PETITION
The CLERK: Madam Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 100A, I inform honourable members that a response to Petition No 66 has been received and circulated to honourable members. The text will be included in the Parliamentary Record.
- Petition No 66
Date presented: Midwifery Services in NT
Presented by: Mrs Braham
Referred to: Minister for Health
Date response due: 3 May 2005
Date response received: 16 March 2005
Date response presented: 30 November 2004
- Response:
On 18 November 2004 the Northern Territory government announced a maternity services package to be
delivered through the Department of Health and Community Services (DHCS). The package comprises:
an arrangement to enable previously independent practising midwives to engage in authorised
home birth practice through indemnification as departmental employees.
including obstetricians, to assist high risk women.
Since then, two editions of the newsletter Choices – A Home Birth Update have been widely distributed, giving
detailed updates on the progress of the home birth service. An e-mail account homebirth@nt.gov.au has been
established, to provide a further communication channel concerning home birthing services.
SUSPENSION OF STANDING ORDERS
Events in Assembly on 17 February 2005
Events in Assembly on 17 February 2005
Mr BURKE (Opposition Leader): Madam Speaker, I move that so much of standing orders be suspended as would prevent this parliament to debate the events of the last day of last sittings pertaining to provocative comments made by the member for Johnston to the member for Macdonnell. Madam Speaker, there are a number of reasons why …
Madam SPEAKER: Are you going to explain why you wish to move it …
Mr BURKE: Yes.
Madam SPEAKER: … but not debate your motion?
Mr BURKE: I will explain the reasons why I am moving this motion. There are a number of issues that relate to, essentially, unfinished business with regards to what happened in the parliamentary Chamber on 17 February 2005 in the closing hours of debate, where the government moved against the member for Macdonnell because of actions that the government felt occurred in the Chamber. Those events resulted in a number of things happening: first, that the member for Johnston, for calling the member for Macdonnell a ‘poofter’ a number of times …
Madam SPEAKER: Leader of the Opposition, before you go on, have you given us your motion? You have only moved the suspension of standing orders. I do not want you to debate it at the moment; I purely want to hear your motion.
Mr BURKE: Madam Speaker, I am moving a motion to suspend standing orders so that this parliament can debate the events of the last day of the last sittings pertaining to the provocative comments made by the member for Johnston to the member for Macdonnell. That is the motion.
Madam SPEAKER: All right. Let us put that motion first. The question is the suspension of standing orders …
Mr BURKE: May I speak to the reasons for the suspension, Madam Speaker?
Madam SPEAKER: Yes, as long as you do not reflect upon the decision of the parliament.
Mr BURKE: No, I am saying that, and I am sure …
Ms Martin: The Speaker’s decision as well - and the decisions of the Speaker.
Mr BURKE: The Speaker can speak for herself. The reason I am moving this motion, Madam Speaker is, essentially, unfinished business. We are in Alice Springs, about to start three days of sittings, and I have a member of my parliamentary wing, a member of parliament …
Mr STIRLING: A point of order, Madam Speaker. The question should be put whether a suspension of standing orders …
Mr BURKE: No, no one moved …
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: The Clerk has advised me that the Leader of the Opposition should be allowed to speak to his motion, but not to go into the debate. Briefly explain to the Assembly why you are moving this motion and, if it is passed, you will be able to speak to it.
Mr BURKE: If I could finish, Madam Speaker, it is very important that we deal with this unfinished business because, as a result …
Ms Martin: What unfinished business? What a load of rubbish!
Mr BURKE: The Chief Minister says there is no unfinished business.
Mr Henderson: It is finished. It is finished by a resolution of parliament.
Mr BURKE: The unfinished business that we have in this House is, first, the victim, who was called a ‘poofter’ on a number of occasions by the member for Johnston …
Mr HENDERSON: A point of order, Madam Speaker! There is a motion before the Chair to suspend standing orders. The Leader of the Opposition is going into the debate and I urge that he confines his comments to why we need to suspend standing orders without going into debate. If he does not confine his remarks to that, I will be moving a motion very quickly to ensure that this parliament can get on with debate that is on the Notice Paper.
Madam SPEAKER: Leader of the Opposition, I will respond to that point of order. I have asked you to confine your remarks to why you want to suspend standing orders. I do not want you to go into the details of your debate. You will have opportunity later to do so.
Mr BURKE: Madam Speaker, I am trying to get to the point of why there is unfinished business.
Madam SPEAKER: Well, quickly! Quickly!
Mr BURKE: What we have here is the member for Macdonnell, who is a victim not only of child abuse, which he has revealed courageously in this Chamber in the past …
Mr HENDERSON: A point of order Madam Speaker!
Mr BURKE: May I speak, Madam Speaker? Why don’t you sit down?
Madam SPEAKER: No, we have a point of order.
Mr HENDERSON: A point of order, Madam Speaker! It is good to see that the Leader of the Opposition has not lost any of his arrogance. The Leader of the Opposition has moved to suspend standing orders, debate in this House, and is now reflecting on issues relating to the member for Macdonnell.
If the member for Macdonnell wants to make a personal explanation to this House there are processes and procedures under standing orders by which he can so do. I urge the Leader of the Opposition to get to the point as to why we need to suspend standing orders rather than going into debate.
Madam SPEAKER: Yes, I will respond to that point of order. The member for Macdonnell knows that there is opportunity for him to make a personal explanation if he so wishes. What we are saying is that you have moved a motion to suspend standing orders. We do not want a great debate now; we want to know why you want to do it, and if you could do it quickly so we can get on with business.
Mr BURKE: The reason I am asking for debate on this unfinished business is that a personal explanation, even by the perpetrator, the member for Johnston, would be totally inadequate. This is a House of debate, and this House has unfinished business whereby the member for Macdonnell is left with a total and abject lack of apology in any shape or form from the member for Johnston because of the ...
Members interjecting.
Mr BURKE: It is true, Madam Speaker! That is why we need to debate it! It is one thing to go out there as a government and parade to the paper - and you can see in the letters to the editor what the government is doing, suggesting that the member for Johnston was provoked, which is a total fabrication - he was not provoked at all. He was not provoked at all …
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Macdonnell!
Mr BURKE: … where, in fact, he is a member who has form in this House, Madam Speaker
Madam SPEAKER: Leader of the Opposition, cease for a moment. Member for Macdonnell, withdraw and do not make those comments across the Chamber. That might indicate to members of the gallery why you are in this position at the moment by your comments across the floor. Restrain yourself.
Mr STIRLING: Madam Speaker, a point of order! If the Leader of the Opposition really wants to prosecute a case and have this debate now, he should at least stick to the facts. It is untrue and he should withdraw that there was no apology from the member from Johnston. It is on the Parliamentary Record, and he should check his facts.
Mr Dunham: Do you think it was adequate? Do you think the apology was adequate?
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Drysdale, order! Leader of the Opposition, we have asked you not to go into detail. You do know an apology has been given to the parliament by the minister?
Mr BURKE: Well, it has not, Madam Speaker, with respect! If anyone reads the Parliamentary Record …
Madam SPEAKER: With respect, Leader of the Opposition, please be careful.
Mr BURKE: With respect, Madam Speaker, if anyone reads the Parliamentary Record, the member for Johnston - these are the comments that are there for posterity, for history. These are the comments that …
Ms MARTIN: A point of order, Madam Speaker! The Opposition Leader should be very clear. Is he questioning your decisions on that last day in parliament? Does he want to challenge the decisions that you made? He should be very honest about that because, if that is what he is doing, to challenge the decision of the Speaker is a very serious thing to do in this parliament. I challenge the Opposition Leader to say if this is the case.
Mr BURKE: I challenge the Chief Minister to be mature and show some leadership.
Ms Martin: Are you challenging the Speaker’s decisions?
Mr BURKE: What I believe is – I am, frankly, saddened already. We should be delighted to be in Alice Springs, but I am saddened already that this parliament does not have the courage to deal with an issue which everyone knows is a fact.
Mr Henderson: It has been dealt with.
Mr BURKE: It has not been dealt with, and you do not have the courage to deal with it! That is the issue, and a simple motion that says we need to revisit, by debate, the issues that happened in the last day of sittings, the last evening - why is that too hard? Why doesn’t the government want to do that? Are you more interested in a sausage sizzle than to debate the integrity and the worth of the member for Macdonnell, and the fact that this minister …
Mr HENDERSON: A point of order, Madam Speaker!
Mr Burke: You would rather be out sausage sizzling!
Madam SPEAKER: Leader of the Opposition, order!
Mr HENDERSON: Madam Speaker, if the member for Macdonnell believes that his integrity and reputation has somehow been besmirched, he has the capacity under standing orders to make a personal explanation. We do not need to have a parliamentary debate on this issue because there is the capacity under standing orders for any member to make a personal explanation if he feels that he has been aggrieved. Madam Speaker, I move that the motion be put.
The Assembly divided:
Ayes 12 Noes 11
Mrs Aagaard Mr Baldwin
Mr Ah Kit Mr Burke
Mr Bonson Ms Carney
Dr Burns Ms Carter
Mr Henderson Mr Dunham
Mr Kiely Mr Elferink
Ms Lawrie Dr Lim
Ms Martin Mr Maley
Mr McAdam Mrs Miller
Mr Stirling Mr Mills
Dr Toyne Mr Wood
Mr Vatskalis
Motion agreed to.
Madam SPEAKER: The question now is that standing orders be suspended.
Motion negatived.
SUSPENSION OF STANDING ORDERS
Move Motion of Censure
Move Motion of Censure
Mr BURKE (Opposition Leader): Madam Speaker, seeing how we have had a gag placed on what I felt was a debate simply to bring finality to this issue, I have no …
Mr HENDERSON: A point of order, Madam Speaker!
Mr BURKE: I have the floor.
Madam SPEAKER: He has been recognised.
Mr BURKE: I have no option, Madam Speaker, than to move the following motion:
I move - That so much of standing orders be suspended as would prevent this House from censuring the Chief Minister and the member for Johnston for the disgraceful and unapologetic comments made by the member for Johnston insomuch as he repeatedly said the word ‘poofter’ with a clear intention to bring distress to the member for Macdonnell; for the fact that the member for Johnston has, on a prior occasion, made similar inappropriate and sexual innuendo to the member for Macdonnell when making jokes about root vegetables, saying: ‘That is for the member for Macdonnell’; for comments that are deliberately designed to embarrass the member for Macdonnell and rekindle hurtful events that occurred to him during his childhood; for failing to offer any form of personal apology to the member for Macdonnell; and further, censures the Chief Minister for failing to sack the member for Johnston for his actions.
Mr HENDERSON (Leader of Government Business): Madam Speaker, I inform honourable members that the government will not be accepting this censure motion, and there is very good reason …
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr HENDERSON: A very good reason. For the sake of the good citizens of Alice Springs in this gallery, I will outline why. We have had full debate on this issue in the last sittings of parliament.
Mr Dunham: Wrong!
Mr HENDERSON: We have had full debate on this issue in the last sittings of parliament. On the issue of what transpired that night, you, Madam Speaker, have made two rulings: one was to suspend the member for Macdonnell from parliamentary duties for one day, and the other to suspend the member for Johnston for an hour. The issue at hand as far parliamentary business is concerned has been dealt with by your ruling. This motion is a direct challenge to the ruling of the Speaker and we, as a government, are not prepared to reflect on a ruling that you have made.
The motion before us alleges that my colleague, the member for Johnston, has not apologised. He has. Any member of the public can go to the record and to public comments by the member for Johnston who has apologised, unlike the member the Macdonnell.
This motion is nothing to do with business of this House, but to do with concerns that the member for Macdonnell has regarding comments that have been made in this parliament. As I said earlier, the member for Macdonnell, if he feels he has been aggrieved or maligned by any comments made in this parliament, has the capacity to make a personal explanation through the Chair. They are the rules of this parliament: the member for Macdonnell has the capacity to make a personal explanation.
This motion has nothing to do with the parliament and processes of government; this is an issue where the member for Macdonnell may feel he has been aggrieved, and he has the capacity to address that. Parliament has debated this issue, and you have ruled, Madam Speaker. This motion is a direct attack on your ruling. The government will not accept the motion.
Madam Speaker, I move that the motion be put.
Mr Dunham: I smell fear. What is wrong with you? Why don’t we debate it?
Madam SPEAKER: A division is called. Ring the bells. Member for Drysdale, order! Let me warn all members not to interject too often. We are now ringing the bells for a division. Members on the floor, would you stop talking please!
_________________________
Visitors
Visitors
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, Tennant Creek High School is in the gallery with their teachers, Derek McPadden and Chris Rothery. On behalf of all members, I extend a warm welcome to you. Tennant Creek High School participated in the Youth Parliament, which was great to see.
We also have Sadadeen Primary with teachers, Liz Bobos and Dale Magner. On behalf of all honourable members, I extend to you a warm welcome.
Members: Hear, hear!
_________________________
The Assembly divided:
Ayes 12 Noes 10
Mrs Aagaard Mr Baldwin
Mr Ah Kit Mr Burke
Mr Bonson Ms Carney
Dr Burns Ms Carter
Mr Henderson Mr Dunham
Mr Kiely Mr Elferink
Ms Lawrie Dr Lim
Ms Martin Mr Maley
Mr McAdam Mrs Miller
Mr Stirling Mr Mills
Dr Toyne
Mr Vatskalis
Motion agreed to.
Mr DUNHAM: A point of order, Madam Speaker! It is my understanding that the government sought to have members who were included in a motion excluded because of conflict of interest. That was certainly the case with a committee I was involved in. I wonder why the Chief Minister and the member for Johnston were able to vote in that motion.
Madam SPEAKER: That is …
Members interjecting.
Mr DUNHAM: They are your rules; you made them!
Madam SPEAKER: That is not a point of order. This is a procedural motion, not a debate. It is up to each member …
Ms Martin: They can vote on anything.
Madam SPEAKER: … to decide whether they should vote on this motion or not. The question now is that the motion to suspend standing orders be put …
Mr Dunham: It is your rule. You made up the stupid rule …
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Drysdale, I am becoming irritated by your constant interjections; be warned. The question now is that the motion to suspend standing orders be agreed to.
Motion negatived.
MINISTERIAL REPORTS
Initiatives and Programs for Young People in Central Australia
Initiatives and Programs for Young People in Central Australia
Ms MARTIN (Chief Minister): Madam Speaker, welcome to students from Tennant Creek. I hope you enjoyed your two days of Youth Parliament.
Young Territorians are our future, and I am delighted to outline a number of exciting initiatives and programs for young people in Central Australia. My government is committed to listening and communicating with young Territorians, and the Chief Minister’s Youth Round Table allows me to hear opinions and issues directly affecting young people throughout the Territory.
I was delighted to attend this year’s first round table meeting in February, and I am pleased to inform the House that there are four representatives on the round table from Alice Springs. Ranging in age from 16 to 25, they are Jarrad Newman, Felix Allsop, Alana Norton and Dwain Westbrook. Dwain is this year’s Vice-Chair of the round table. During his recent visit to Alice Springs, Prince Charles met these representatives of young people from the Centre.
Alice Springs representative on last year’s round table, Carrie Barlow, set up a youth newspaper called deGener8. This was part of her community-based project with the round table and was written entirely by young people for young people in Alice Springs. The first edition of deGener8 was published in December and had a great reception across the Territory. I commend Carrie and her team on their achievement. Government will encourage agencies at all levels to advertise relevant programs, grants and activities in deGener8.
The Territory’s first Emergency Services School Cadet Unit is another great Alice Springs initiative which was researched and promoted by previous members of the Youth Round Table. The unit was established two years ago at St Philip’s College, supported by NT Emergency Services in Alice Springs. The cadet unit continues to operate and participates in local events, such as the Alice Springs Show and the Anzac Day parade.
Each year, the Young Achievers Awards celebrate achievements of Territory youth and, as the Minister for Young Territorians, I sponsor the Excellence in Youth Leadership Award category. Tracey Clapp from Alice Springs is a finalist in the Career Achievement category in this year’s awards, to be held during National Youth Week. Congratulations to Tracey.
The 2005 National Youth Week will be celebrated from 9 to 17 April, supported through a grants program coordinated by the Office of Youth Affairs. National Youth Week events in Central Australia, funded through Youth Grants, include a Blue Light Disco at The Gap Youth Centre and a drumming workshop organised by Multicultural Community Services, where the young drummers will then get to perform at the Bush Bands Bash.
Music NT is being funded through the Youth Grants program to run the Bush Bands Bash, which will feature bands from Papunya, Santa Teresa, Docker River and Finke River. The bash will also feature football matches and arts activities for those attending.
In other National Youth Week activities, Guides NT Alice Springs branch has been funded to run a Leadership Weekend and InCite Youth Arts has won funding to hold circus workshops for young people in Alice.
Araluen Arts is running the Class Clown program. The program has run for the last two years, and I am delighted to say the Territory has had outstanding results. Two years ago, the Territory Class Clown was highly commended, and last year, the clown from Alice Springs was the national runner-up. We are all looking forward to the outcome of this year’s Class Clown competition.
Let me tell you about BassintheDust concerts. After the initial BassintheGrass in 2003, we renamed the Alice Springs concert BassintheDust and held it in September to better reflect the local flavour and climate of Central Australia. The next BassintheDust is planned for September and organisers are continuing to discuss the venue and line up of local and national acts with local young people.
I also want to highlight how my government is working to make sure that Youth Services are best able to meet the needs of young people in the Centre. In 2004, we increased funding to the Alice Springs Youth Drop-In Centre, which has enabled them to expand their services, and this year’s Youth Initiative funding through the Department of Health and Community Services will provide new youth activities services in Central Australia.
Young people, as we were told yesterday, are not only the future; they are the answer. Madam Speaker, I agree.
Mr BURKE (Opposition Leader): Madam Speaker, in my first opportunity to respond directly to comments by the Chief Minister at these sittings of the Assembly, let me say that it is an extraordinary situation when a gag motion is used on two occasions to stop me trying to bring to this Chamber issues that needed to be resolved. Clearly, the government did not want to talk about it and does not want to bring this matter to an end …
Madam SPEAKER: Leader of the Opposition, keep your remarks relevant to the ministerial report.
Mr BURKE: Madam Speaker, I will. It is my response to the Chief Minister, and I will pick up on the words that I am directly referring to. She said she has a government that is committed to listening and communicating. Well, Territorians just saw a good example of the Labor government when it comes to listening and communicating because the whole purpose of this House is to communicate with each other. In a respectful way, I asked for a motion to be put in this Chamber that could allow us to bring some finality to the events that occurred in a way that have provided lasting hurt and a loss of dignity to my colleague, the member for Macdonnell. The government will not allow us to do it.
Mr HENDERSON: A point of order, Madam Speaker!
Mr BURKE: Let me finish for once!
Mr HENDERSON: Madam Speaker, you have asked that the member keep his comments relevant to the report before us. He is clearly not doing that.
Madam SPEAKER: The Leader of the Opposition knows the report was on Youth Affairs in Alice Springs and I urge him to keep his remarks relevant.
Mr BURKE: Madam Speaker, I note that I have 15 seconds to go. Let me say to the Chief Minister that until this is resolved, the member for Johnston as a minister does not exist in the eyes of the opposition. We do not care what he does, what he says, what authority he thinks he can hold. If he stands to speak in this Chamber, we are not interested in him because he does not exist because he is not a man …
Madam SPEAKER: Your time has expired, Leader of the Opposition.
Mr BURKE: … because a man would have the gumption and courage to stand in this House and provide a clear apology …
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Leader of the Opposition!
Mr BURKE: … because he knows that he is surviving on spin, trying to suggest that what he did somehow had some substance of right, and he is wrong.
Madam SPEAKER: Chief Minister in response.
Ms MARTIN (Chief Minister): There is no response to that, Madam Speaker.
Barkly - Teacher Support Unit
Mr STIRLING (Employment, Education and Training): Madam Speaker, the government is fulfilling its pledge to deliver strong and effective support for teachers across the Territory by a number of means.
Most recently, we have established a Teacher Support Unit in the Barkly region. It was established on a trial basis, and has already proven to be a success based on the activity of the staff involved to date. The unit is designed to overcome issues that arise as a result of isolation. Sometimes, these issues fall outside the day-to-day operations of the department and go to personal issues faced by teachers. For example, teachers living in remote communities frequently have problems dealing with simple banking, financial matters and similar services.
The teacher support officer is there to help that teacher and it means that the sense of isolation is reduced. The officer can attend to teachers’ issues as they emerge, facilitating repairs to teachers’ houses, renewal of a teacher’s motor vehicle insurance, the sorts of things that those of us who live in towns take for granted but can be a source of frustration for teachers living in the bush.
It is intended that the work of the unit will significantly reduce the administrative workload of principals and teachers, enabling them to concentrate on the delivery of quality education to Territory students. It is also designed to operate as a one-stop shop, providing quick access for remote teaching staff to Territory government policies, procedures, forms, resources and entitlements.
The Teacher Support Unit began operating in January this year to support staff in 15 small schools in the Barkly. To date, the officer has visited seven of the 15 schools and responded to over 100 requests for support from staff in these schools. The areas of support include: school housing maintenance issues, human resource issues, and information technology support.
The government is determined to support teachers working in these small remote schools. We have created five assistant principal positions for group schools with the express purpose of alleviating the added administrative burden placed on small school principals. We have committed significant funds to improving equipment in schools and furniture in remote teacher housing. We have also made available $300 000 in small grants for schools that have difficulty fundraising.
We are now implementing the Teacher Support Unit in the Barkly region which will directly support teachers in small remote schools and, in time, we believe student learning outcomes and teacher recruitment and retention will be further improved as a result of our concerted efforts in remote communities.
Dr LIM (Greatorex): Madam Speaker, it is well and good to hear the minister for Education speak about the Barkly support program. I fully support it and I believe it is a good program.
What this minister fails to admit to Territorians is that, for the last three-and-a-half years, he has failed children right across the whole of the Territory. Look at this: ‘School on the brink of collapse’. This is the sort of thing that the minister is not looking after. Kalkarindji School and Maningrida School are both struggling, and this minister sits here and talks about how well he is doing in a small pocket of the Territory.
The teachers have already been saying to you: ‘Look after us, respect us as professionals’, and you could not be bothered with them. There was the hypocrisy of it all on 2 March this year. Let me quote what was said, and I will tell you who said it afterwards:
- We are committed to working cooperatively with trade unions and employees. Our commitment is in stark
contrast with the agenda of our political opponents.
Minister, you said that on 2 March this year. I say to you that you have misled the very people who have been trying to work their hardest to make sure that Territory children get the best possible education. You have failed them miserably. At least meet with them and listen to their concerns. They have tried to tell you that they are underpaid. You have failed in you promise to make them the best paid teachers in the Territory. They have told you their class sizes are too large, and you have not bothered to listen. Your class sizes are well above 30 per class. Minister, if you do not respond, you are going to wear the consequences of those actions.
Mr STIRLING (Employment, Education and Training): Madam Speaker, I thank the member opposite for his support of the support unit, which was the basis of the report.
In relation to Maningrida, one of the proudest days in my three-and-a-half years as minister for Education was to be at Maningrida a couple of weeks ago - the day Cyclone Ingrid passed over Nhulunbuy, in fact - to see four local Maningrida students receive their NTCE in their own community, on the back of Kalkarindji the year before, who were the first indigenous students in the Northern Territory to get their Year 12 in their home community. There were four at Maningrida last year. It was a marvellous ceremony, full of pride from the community for the kids and from the parents themselves. It was just a wonderful day.
In relation to Kalkarindji, we are pulling the resources together there to further back up the Years 11 and 12 numbers of students. The fact that we are having to put in these extra teachers is testament to the fact that we are getting these kids in indigenous communities to school - unlike these blokes ever did in 27 years.
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Visitors
Visitors
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, I acknowledge students from Gillen Primary School accompanied by their teachers, Rachel Sipple, Dawn Wagoner and our volunteer, Morgan Fleet. On behalf of all members, I extend to you a warm welcome.
Members: Hear, hear!
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Alice Springs Hospital - Staffing
Dr TOYNE (Health): Madam Speaker, today I speak about the Alice Springs Hospital’s staffing, an important institution for the Central Australian community. I leave to my colleague, minister Burns, any discussion on rectification work at Alice Springs Hospital. Suffice to say that this government has committed a total of $10m to the project. It is a substantial amount of money that this government is having to commit to fix problems that had their origin under the previous government.
Mr DUNHAM: A point of order, Madam Speaker! The minister has yet to declare the situation with the Alice Springs Hospital in any debate in this parliament. He cannot leave the odium at the feet of the previous government until he has the courage to bring the debate.
Madam SPEAKER: There is no point of order. Please stop raising frivolous points of order.
Dr TOYNE: Madam Speaker, I now turn to news on staffing at the hospital. I want to start by recording my appreciation of the hard work that all staff at the hospital have done, particularly over recent months. We know that staffing levels, particularly nursing staffing levels, rise and fall seasonally. This year was a particularly difficult time at the Alice Springs Hospital, and we recognise this has put a lot of pressure on our nurses.
Industrial meetings were held on three occasions at Alice Springs Hospital. I have met with nurses from the hospital on two occasions to give them my personal assurance that all that can be done to take the pressure off them will be done. I am pleased to say that the nurses have given me good feedback, both formally in resolutions of their meetings, and personally during my meetings with them. They acknowledged that this government has committed funds to increase the number of nurses. We have funded an extra 39 nurses at Alice Springs Hospital. The good news is that the recruitment has now filled vacant nursing positions to pre-Christmas levels. I have requested management to meet regularly with nurses to provide them with information and consult on staffing numbers and recruitment activity. The government has provided the money, the numbers of positions have increased, and the hospital is recruiting to vacant positions.
The department is also negotiating with nursing agencies which supply nurses to the Territory’s public hospitals about hourly rates, placement and separation fees. The negotiations are about restraining costs associated with the use of agency nurses, introducing equity between the salaries of agency nurses and our own nurses, and ensuring that nurses become our employees where possible. I have given a guarantee that the new arrangements will be phased in so there will be no impact on the number of nurses at Alice Springs Hospital. All existing contracts are being honoured.
Elsewhere in the hospital, I am pleased to report that increased resources this government has put into Alice Springs Hospital are paying dividends. There are now more doctors working at the hospital with an occupancy rate of doctor positions over 90%. The current funded medical staffing level is 93 FTE positions, an increase of five FTE from last financial year, and 84 of these positions are filled with permanents. We have filled key medical staff positions in Critical Care. The unit now has four high dependency unit beds, and four intensive care unit beds which are fully equipped and operational.
The medical staff that have been recruited consist of a Consultant Intensivist, Dr Sydney Jacobs, who commenced work on 2 March 2005, and four funded registrar positions. The funds we have allocated will increase the total nursing staff levels to appropriately staff the intensive care-high dependency unit. Elsewhere, we are progressively assessing clinical staffing needs to match renal requirements, and an additional six nursing staff have been recruited to the Renal Unit. Other specialist positions in the hospital include orthopaedics; ophthalmology; ear, nose and throat; general surgery and, importantly, an additional two anaesthetists who are now on-site and working to support both emergency and elective surgery activity.
The people of Alice Springs and Central Australia can be assured this government is committed to further building the quality and capacity of the Alice Springs Hospital. In the last three years, we have increased base spending at the hospital, added extra money to fix redevelopment problems and establish a Level 2 Critical Care Unit. We have recruited extra nurses and employed more doctors.
I do not pretend this means we have a perfect hospital. We know there are times when there will be high pressure on our staff. What we have done, though, is create a better hospital. We have demonstrated our commitment to work with staff to ensure that Alice Springs Hospital remains a place of which we can all be proud.
Ms CARNEY (Araluen): Madam Speaker, what an act of cowardice that the minister, in five minutes, introduces two very different and separate topics: one of the fire safety defects at Alice Springs Hospital; and the other of recruitment and other issues relating to the industrial action.
I have two minutes to reply. Clearly, that is not enough. I invite the minister, if he is fair dinkum about assuring the people of Alice Springs he cares about our hospital, to bring on a ministerial statement.
In relation to issues regarding accreditation, there remain serious questions arising from the minister’s conduct or, in the alternative, the lack of it. The question remains: did the minister act with undue haste to gain accreditation for the hospital? Did he deliberately wait to gain accreditation before announcing some $8m worth of repairs? I note in passing that the minister said in May last year that he had allocated $2m for phase one of the repairs. In reviewing material for these sittings, I noted with interest that the Treasurer, in some political propaganda sent around to nurses and other public servants, said there was $900 000. I do not know whether the Minister for Health is in the business of doubling what the Treasurer comes up with, but even that raises another question as to how much money has, in fact, been allocated.
In relation to recruitment - what at joke! Again, we saw the minister playing pathetic, disgraceful politics at its worst. He refused to meet the nurses. He came up with the most spurious reasons why we would not do it, and then the word got out that we were prepared to meet with the nurses and late on the Thursday or Friday afternoon, the minister said: ‘Whoops, I will meet with the nurses’. If that is not being a chicken, I do not know what is.
Recruitment is one of the biggest jokes doing the rounds. Two-and-a-half years ago, his predecessor said they were working on recruitment. In May last year, the minister said he was working on recruitment. His general manager of the hospital last month said she was happy with the amount of recruitment. On and on it goes. Recruitment efforts have been ad hoc, Madam Speaker. The minister is a disgrace.
Dr TOYNE (Health): Madam Speaker, I hope people in Alice Springs can see how poisonous and personal the member for Araluen can be.
Members interjecting.
Dr TOYNE: This government has made, and kept, a commitment to create 75 new hospital nurse positions in the Territory, including additional positions in the Alice Springs Hospital. Alice Springs Hospital funding has gone up under our government from $57.2m in 2000-01 to $75.5m in 2003-04. That is nearly a 30% rise …
Dr Lim interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Greatorex!
Dr TOYNE: … in the funding we are putting into the hospital. The CLP seems to think that 269 nurses were enough in the hospital. We think that 316 nurses are necessary to provide services to the people of Alice Springs. We have spent $11m building up the Critical Care area of the hospital. We stand on our record: that hospital has more capacity and is a better hospital than when we came to government.
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Members of the opposition, you are interjecting far too much.
Central Australia –Wizard and Imparja Cup Matches
Mr AH KIT (Sport and Recreation): Madam Speaker, today I report on the success of both the Wizard Cup Challenge match and the Imparja Cup in Central Australia.
On 11 March 2005, Alice Springs hosted the second Wizard Regional Challenge Series match under the current Northern Territory government/Australian Football League agreement.
Richmond won this game by two points against Fremantle, and it was a great match. Even close to the end, it really looked as though the Dockers might get up and win. This was an important victory for all Richmond fans, as they were the not-so-proud winners of the wooden spoon award in 2004.
It was also important as the second win for new Richmond coach Terry Wallace, as Richmond defeated Essendon the week before. As anticipated, the people of Alice Springs supported the match with, I am told, a 7500 strong crowd. This followed on from last year’s fixture when Collingwood played Port Adelaide and, from memory, there were almost 11 000 people at the ground. Players like Krakouer, Moore, Pettifer, Chaffey and Tuck scored goals for the winning team, whilst Longmuir, Grover, Carr, Campbell and Duffield scored for Fremantle. Joel Bowden, the local boy, was undoubtedly a popular success, returning home to play for Richmond, and Krakouer found himself embraced by the local community at the end of the game. It was interesting to see that despite concerns about the heat, it was wind and rain that had the potential to affect the game as it was raining one hour before the scheduled start of play.
The playing of this match continues the government’s push to bring top class sport to the Territory. This will continue when the final Wizard Regional Challenge match of the current agreement will be played in Alice Springs early in 2006. Prior to that time, the Western Bulldogs will host Carlton for premiership points in Darwin on 18 June this year, another important game for the Territory that will no doubt trigger another round of negotiations with the AFL to see AFL premiership games being played the in Territory from 2007.
The match in Alice Springs was very nearly lost due to the AFL’s concerns about the surface following on from the Imparja Cup, and the ability of the AFL to source accommodation. A similar situation is occurring with the Pura Milk national four-day cricket final being held at the ‘Gabba in Queensland, with the opening match of the AFL season to be held there this Thursday night.
Negotiations between government and the AFL were able to resolve the situation and the match went ahead, thanks to the Curator from South Australia, Mr Les Burdett and the Alice Springs Town Council, who did a magnificent job in presenting Traeger Park in excellent condition. The respective coaches remarked upon the quality of the surface and I cannot praise his efforts more than that.
I would also like to inform the House about the recent Imparja Cricket Cup competition hosted in Alice Springs from 23 to 27 February this year, proudly a competition now endorsed as a national indigenous cricket tournament by Cricket Australia. The event originated in 1994 from a game of cricket played between Tennant Creek locals and Alice Springs locals. This year, 24 teams competed in the 2005 Imparja Cup. As a result, the competition has had to be divided into four divisions: the Imparja Cup, which is the state team competition; the Imparja Shield, the regional centre competition; and division two, communities and women’s competitions, including indigenous and non-indigenous teams.
The competition saw all states except the ACT participate and the final was contested between Queensland and New South Wales, with Queensland winning the Imparja Cup for the second year. The Imparja Shield competition had all Northern Territory regional centres compete; Alice Springs defeated Darwin in a hotly contested final with Alice Springs retaining the shield for the second year running.
Bathurst Island, Melville Island, Timber Creek, Borroloola, Tangentyere Council and the Centre for Appropriate Technology were among the many teams that competed in division two. There were individual awards presented. Shane Franey Jr received an award for a hat trick in division two. Peter Lake, Adrian McAdam and Lincoln Burke from the NT were named in the Indigenous Honour Team.
Madam SPEAKER: Your time has expired, minister.
Mr ELFERINK (Macdonnell): Madam Speaker, one of the great shames about the way this government has treated parliament is that I have two minutes by the rules of debate to reply to this important issue.
What I would like to impress upon the people of Alice Springs is that this minister’s office was originally telephoned about the Wizard Cup game and asked for assistance when they realised there was trouble. The response from the minister’s office was to say: ‘Yes, we will give you some help’, and then promptly issue a media release that kicked the AFL to death. It was not until members on this side of the House came out publicly and started putting pressure on the minister, saying: ‘For God’s sake, do something’. When he was in the paper kicking the AFL to death, this minister had an opportunity to do something and only did it when he was roundly criticised.
Madam Speaker, if success, as I have said in the past, was a cow, this minister would be the country’s largest cattle tick.
Mr AH KIT (Sport and Recreation): Madam Speaker, members opposite can have their little laugh because, once again, the member for Macdonnell has been proved wrong. I encourage him to bring on a debate about this because I have the records. I was the one who worked hard to put this on. You did nothing, nothing at all. They do not even ask for a briefing. Let us tell the public of Alice Springs about the briefings you seek from ministers about issues that concern you in regards to your portfolio responsibilities. When is the last time you sought briefings? Tell us!
Members interjecting.
Mr AH KIT: You did not turn up for the last briefing that you organised about six months ago, so do not think you know everything about Alice Springs, Central Australia and the sport that happens throughout the Territory. Madam Speaker, they are failures.
Reports noted pursuant to Sessional Order.
LEGAL PRACTITIONERS AMENDMENT BILL
(Serial 279)
(Serial 279)
Continued from 10 February 2005.
Ms CARNEY (Araluen): Madam Speaker, I will be brief. The purpose of the bill is to provide legal certainty about the performance of various financial management and insurance functions under the Legal Practitioners Act and related legislation. The bill arises from amendments to the Commonwealth Corporations Act which, in turn, has raised the possibility of bodies and individuals that are subject to the bill to hold financial services licences.
The effect of the changes means that some individuals and bodies may be acting illegally in their duties and they have sought remedies from the Northern Territory government. The types of people and bodies affected are the Legal Practitioners Trust Committee, the Legal Practitioners Fidelity Fund Committee, the Legal Practitioners Fidelity Fund, the Law Society and the Public Purposes Trust, and employers of those bodies.
The bill provides that these bodies performing statutory functions need not be licensed in order to perform their functions. The purpose of the bill is to disapply the Commonwealth Corporations Act regarding various bodies established by the Legal Practitioners Act and associated legislation, and the activities of those bodies and members.
I have been briefed by the Law Society. I well understand the reasons for this bill. The bill is both reasonable and sensible and, if the CLP were in office, I am confident we would have introduced the same. Therefore, the bill is supported.
Dr TOYNE (Justice and Attorney-General): Madam Speaker, I thank the opposition for their support for this legislation. The bill was ably summarised by the shadow minister. I do not believe there is any need for any further comment on it, so we will move on.
Motion agreed to; bill read a second time.
Dr TOYNE (Justice and Attorney-General) (by leave): Madam Speaker, I move that the bill be now read a third time.
Motion agreed to; bill read a third time.
STANDARD TIME BILL
(Serial 282)
(Serial 282)
Continued from 17 February 2005.
Ms CARNEY (Araluen): Madam Speaker, this is by far the most unusual bill I and the Attorney-General have dealt with. On the face of it, it is not a significant bill. However, as the Attorney-General said in his second reading speech, it is very significant. In fact, it is historic and may take many Territorians by surprise.
As the Attorney-General said in his second reading speech in February this year, the Secretary of the National Time Commission wrote to all relevant ministers in all Australian states and territories and recommended that references to ‘Greenwich Mean Time’ in Australian legislation be replaced with ‘Coordinated Universal Time’. This request was discussed by the Standing Committee of Attorneys-General in November last year, and it was agreed that this request would be met. Therefore, it is a nationally agreed outcome.
For those who wonder why it is that references to ‘Greenwich Mean Time’ need to be replaced I, with respect, quote the Attorney-General’s second reading speech, or part thereof. I say with great respect to the Attorney-General, I suspect the speech was written by someone who was well across the issues and had a more thorough understanding of the nature of time than either one of us. I quote:
Greenwich Mean Time is a solar time scale based on the rotation of the earth. It is measured by the average time
the earth takes to rotate on its axis from noon to noon at a chosen location. It is also technically known as Universal
Time. It is based upon astrological observations and is a mathematical mean defined in terms of the solar second
measured at the former location of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, England.
Madam SPEAKER: I believe they are just arriving.
Ms CARNEY: Members in the gallery will be relieved to know I will not be starting again:
- There are considerable drawbacks to measuring time based on the erratic motion of the earth, the rate of which
fluctuates by a few thousandths of a second per day.
Coordinated Universal Time, on the other hand, is a more accurate time scale maintained by a system of highly
accurate atomic clocks around the world. It is accurate to approximately a nanosecond, or one-billionth of a
second, per day. Although the difference between the two time scales is often too small for humans to notice,
it is very important for computer programs that use high speed data transfers in universal synchronisation
applications.
That, in a nutshell, is why this bill is required. We are, as the Attorney-General said, legislating for computers.
- The line it is drawn
The curse it is cast
The slow one now
Will later be fast
As the present now
Will later be past
The order is
Rapidly fadin'.
And the first one now
Will later be last
For the times they are a-changin'.
Indeed they are, Madam Speaker, and we support the bill.
Madam SPEAKER: I am sorry you did not sing it, member for Araluen. The member for Macdonnell is going to speak to the bill. Is he going to sing for us?
Mr ELFERINK (Macdonnell): No, I would love to, Madam Speaker, but I do not think I have smoked enough in the last couple of years to be able to sound like Bob Dylan. Perhaps a karate chop to the throat might help.
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Visitors
Visitors
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, I acknowledge students in the gallery. We have a group from the Irrkerlantye Learning Centre with their teachers, Jenny Buckley, Tony Carter, Bruce Stein and Carol Turner. On behalf of all members I extend to you a warm welcome. We also have a group from Living Waters accompanied by their teachers, Michael Wyndham and Linda Warner. On behalf of all members, a warm welcome to you. Is that the Linda Warner who took out citizenship at the weekend?
Ms Carney: It is, Madam Speaker.
Madam SPEAKER: Well done!
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Mr ELFERINK: Madam Speaker, it is good to have the school students here, and many other people, because often people think parliament is a battle field. However, 90% of the time, parliamentarians on both sides of the House agree with what each other has to say. This is one of those instances.
I cannot let this debate pass without reflecting on what is happening from an historical sense. Although it looks like a very obtuse bill, there are some important comments to be made when you place the bill in its historic environment. The pursuit of weights and measures is something which goes back to Babylonian times. It was clearly understood very early in history that weights and measures were vitally important, especially in the areas of trade and commerce, and weights and measures were quite diverse.
Most city states had some type of standardised weight and measure system. Some of the earliest tablets which have turned up in the diggings of ancient Mesopotamia and such places, the earliest records of humanity, believe it or not, are weights and measures records. As the world progressed and mankind became increasingly technologically advanced, it became necessary to improve the quality and standards of weights and measures over that time because they were used increasingly in the area of national and, more importantly, international trade and commerce.
It is interesting as a footnote of history that the rocket booster on the space shuttle was set in terms of its physical size by the standard measure of an axle width for a Roman chariot. The reason for this is that the Roman chariot standard axle width was what is now called the old narrow gauge rail system, and railway companies used the standard measure used by Romans and subsequent societies all the way up to steam engines. Consequently, railway carriages could only be of a certain size. Railway tunnels were then of a certain size to accommodate them. The people who make the rocket boosters for the space shuttle live on the other side of a mountain range from Cape Canaveral. Therefore, the standard axle width of a Roman chariot determined the size, because of the tunnel, of the rocket booster on the space shuttle. That is why these things are important. When we set these weights and measures, we are setting standards, which will be relied on for a very long time to come.
Other measures, if you follow the history of science, have been reliant on things such as the transition of Venus across the face of the Sun back in the 1700s. It sounds pretty boring, but it enabled scientists to determine the distance of the planet Earth from the Sun. It was very new science at the time, and expeditions were sent across the world in the late 1700s. In fact, it was one of Captain James Cook’s expeditions that measured this important distance, and the distance they finally calculated, despite the loss of numerous people on these expeditions, was quite accurate in terms of the distance from the Earth to the Sun.
It was not long after that the measure of longitude was considered so important by the British Admiralty that they offered, in the late 1700s if memory serves me correctly, a 20 000 prize to develop a device that could measure longitude.
It is easy to measure latitude: all you have to do is look at the stars on the northern and southern horizons, and if you can see a particular star at a particular time of year, you know exactly where you are regarding heading north or south. However, because the Earth revolves east to west, you cannot use the same measure because the stars are transiting across from horizon to horizon in a 12-hour period.
Finally, a chronograph - a watch, basically - was developed. It started off as a clock and ended up being a watch, but it was accurate enough to be able to calculate exactly the time in London so that wherever you were in the world, you would look at the correct time in London, you could observe the position of the Sun, and if you knew both of those, then you knew where you were in position of longitude. The final chronograph developed was, indeed, a triumph of technology for its day. In fact, it still works. The original three units, it is my understanding, have been restored and still work in London.
Until very recently, we used to rely on a standard metre, which was a platinum rod kept in Paris at a particular temperature at the bottom of a vault at the bottom of a room at a standard distance known from the centre of the Earth so that the effects of gravity on the metre could also be known. All of this was calculated through a mathematical equation, but it would still, of course, by the distance of one or two atoms, contract or expand. That sounds like a totally nominal distance, but so inaccurate has that rod become that they now rely on an equation based on the wavelength of an electron travelling through a vacuum in space.
The standard kilo, believe it or not, is still a lump of metal which is also kept in Paris. Debate rages to this day as to whether they should clean the lump of metal with a chamois from time to time or whether they should allow dust to accumulate on it - and this is true, Madam Speaker. Debate rages about this because, although they keep it in a dust-free environment, there are still particles of dust around and it is unknown as to whether the effect of wiping this metal with a chamois will take metal away from the metal in a greater degree than dust settling in a dust-free environment.
That is how accurate weights and measures are relied upon in trade and commerce: if there is an inaccuracy, it finds it way through millions and millions of kilos and that does make a difference to people in trade and commerce at the end of the line, as much as it is hard to believe.
If the United States Weights and Measures Department wants to check the weight of their standard kilo, I understand that they still have to fly to Paris, go into a vault with the permission of the Parisian authorities and measure their kilo against the kilo which is stored there. That is still the standard measure. I understand that the scientific community is trying its hardest to deal with this very serious problem and are coming up with a mathematical formula that will describe a kilo more successfully than a kilo itself.
There are all sorts of fluctuations in the Earth’s rotation. Recently, there was a very large earthquake near Indonesia which created a wobble in the Earth’s rotation and, therefore, had an effect on the time it takes the Earth to travel around the Sun. We are talking milliseconds or nanoseconds in terms of that revolution but, nevertheless, it does change time slightly inasmuch as the way that we measure it.
Reliance on the old standard time in London is also a problem, so atomic clocks have been developed. It would be fascinating if the Laws of Relativity, which are being tested with atomic clocks, cause the next bill for standard time to come before this House. Atomic clocks are so accurate that relativity can be determined by sticking one in an aeroplane and flying it for several weeks at about 40 000 feet and leaving another one sitting in a laboratory at ground level. As all members are doubtlessly aware, the theory of relativity determines that light slows down in a gravitational environment so that when light is travelling through the upper atmosphere - a plane flying at 40 000 feet - it travels slightly faster than it does near the surface of the Earth. An atomic clock left in an aircraft flying at 40 000 feet for several weeks, indeed, goes slightly faster than one at ground level.
The minister would be aware of this anomaly. I wonder whether there is a determined distance from the core of the Earth to establish the correct time by the atomic clock being used to measure nanoseconds.
Nevertheless, I support the bill because it does provide us with a better way to measure time. In an age when contracts are made with the press of a button across nations, the exact time of when the button was pressed could have a very big effect on determining of the future of a contract. Therefore, although we make light of this and say that it is a strange bill, it is a vitally important bill for trade and commerce into the future. Madam Speaker, I support the bill wholeheartedly because, in the spirit of the history of science, I would like to see this House advance our community and adopt standards being used nationally and internationally.
Mr DUNHAM (Drysdale): Madam Speaker, I farewell a friend: Greenwich Mean Time, a very powerful label that has been used for some time.
I had the good fortune of working for Consumer Affairs where Weights and Measures was once located. They proudly proclaimed to be the second-oldest profession in the world so, although the previous speaker could go right back, given that the oldest profession is obviously prostitution, prostitution is unable to take place unless there was some device to measure what it was worth. That is where the weights and measures boys came in; they knew what a trochus shell, some beads and a haunch of venison was worth. It is a very old profession we are talking about here.
I had the good fortune to go to the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, and it is powerful science. It was predicated to save lives. As the previous speaker pointed out, longitude was not able to be determined because chronometers of the day were pendulum clocks and, as a result of this, they could not be taken to sea and relied upon as accurate.
There were some horrific shipping disasters on the western coast of Africa, the western coast of Australia, and other places where longitude was obviously very important. Therefore, with Royal patronage, a very brave and patient gentleman set out night after night for years to determine the cadastral devices to measure longitude. They needed a chronometer, and that is where it was invented. It is still there today, and if people do not think time is exciting, they should have been in Times Square in New York at the turn of the millennium because millions of people came out to watch a second tick over into a new millennium. In fact, some millions of dollars were spent by a broadcast company to see a ball drop to mark, in Greenwich, the new millennium.
It is important that we also proclaim our heritage in this. Our parliament has a place to play. I am sure the Clerk is able to provide members with details on a plinth in the parliamentary precinct. It is a granite plinth with a line across it, and that is the first place in Australia that longitude was fixed properly. Previous to this, it was described by navigators who came to the colonies and, as a result, each colony had different survey datum, which was okay until you got to a border. A brave soul in Darwin laid on his back in the middle of a tennis court to fix the cadastral, and the British Australia Telegraph Line, the BAT, provided a beep, beep, beep from Greenwich. On that very spot, in our parliamentary precinct, longitude for Australia was fixed. If that plinth was 5 m to the left, every description of every block in Australia would be 5 m to the left.
It is important to farewell Greenwich Mean Time. It came about with not scientific curiosity, but because people wanted to save lives. There were hundreds and hundreds of seamen lost as a result of the inability to measure longitude. We should farewell Greenwich. I do not like the new bland scientific label that has been given. I will continue to call it Greenwich Mean Time, notwithstanding that this bill prohibits me from doing so. Madam Speaker, the bill is supported.
Mr WOOD (Nelson): Madam Speaker, I will be brief in saying a few things about Greenwich Mean Time. I listened to the member for Macdonnell and wondered whether he might be writing a sequel to the Da Vinci Code because he certainly has the elements for a good book.
I look at it from a different point of view. As one who has been in the Territory a long time, since I was 19, and coming to a part of the Territory where one could not hear the radio very well, I became a very great fan of shortwave radio. I still am, although I do not get the opportunity to use it as much. Of course, shortwave radio is disappearing because of digital radio connections these days.
For me, on a lonely night on the Daly River during the Wet Season, to hear: ‘This is the BBC and it is now 1200 Greenwich Mean Time’, was very comforting and familiar. It was not just used on BBC, but our own Radio Australia. Therefore, I have a nostalgic attachment to the words ‘Greenwich Mean Time’. Many people my age who used to use shortwave radio in the bush would also have that attachment. I agree with the member for Drysdale that Coordinated Universal Time does not really cheer me up greatly, but I suppose that is what happens when you deal with straight science.
Greenwich Mean Time to me has been a friend. It has been exactly the same for many other people. It will be sad to see the passing of the term. I wish the new scientists all the best in trying to promote Coordinated Universal Time, but as the member for Drysdale said, I will still think of it as Greenwich Mean Time.
Madam SPEAKER: Minister, closing debate. I must admit to surprise at the number of speakers on a bill of such significance.
Dr TOYNE (Justice and Attorney-General): Madam Speaker, I am absolutely delighted. I never cease to be amazed at how the human brain is wired together, and this debate has been a classic example; we seem to go off into hyperbole at a moment’s notice.
Yes, I agonised about this when I first heard about the one second difference between Greenwich Mean Time and the fact that it was due to the erratic nature of the earth’s rotation. I thought: ‘I do not want to give up Greenwich Mean Time’. I am with the members for Nelson and Drysdale on that point, because I was brought up by an Anglophile mum and we went to Greenwich and did all the right things for Australians of that era. I guess it is like an old shoe that we have had on our foot for a long time.
However, the option of stabilising the earth on its rotation might be a little beyond the Northern Territory budget, so the legislative route seems to be the only one available to us, hence the bill today.
It is a serious bill, despite the trip through history we have just made. It is very important that legal processes throughout this country and, indeed, through the world, have a very clearly agreed scale of time because, as one speaker pointed out, it can be the push of a button to seal a contract or a deal on the stock market or in the world financial markets. The timing of such an act is very important; it can be a matter of nanoseconds. Luckily, we do not have to personally measure time on that scale; we leave that to computers. They are going to take over the world anyway, so this is a bill for them.
I thank members for both their support and contributions. It has been quite an interesting debate. Let us move through and make this bill into law.
Motion agreed to; bill read a second time.
Dr TOYNE (Justice and Attorney-General) (by leave): Madam Speaker, I move that the bill be now read a third time.
Motion agreed to; bill read a third time.
MOTION
Routine of Business
Routine of Business
Mr HENDERSON (Leader of Government Business): Madam Speaker, I move that intervening business be postponed until after consideration of the Routine of Business, Ministerial Statements.
Motion agreed to.
VISITORS
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, I advise you of the presence of students from Areyonga School and, on behalf of all honourable members, I extend a warm welcome to them.
Members: Hear, hear!
MINISTERIAL STATEMENT
Initiatives and Achievements in Central Australia
Initiatives and Achievements in Central Australia
Ms MARTIN (Chief Minister): Madam Speaker, it is just under two years since the Territory parliament held its first historic sittings in Alice Springs. The enthusiasm and support given to those sittings by Territorians from Central Australia was not just a popular endorsement of the democratic process, it marked an important moment in our history. This government made a commitment then, and I re-emphasise it now, that governing for all Territorians means just that: it must unite us.
It recognises that the future of the Territory critically depends on all of us being able to move ahead, and that our focus must be supportive of all the regions, from the deserts of Central Australia to the wetlands of the north.
The remarkable unity of interest which we share as Territorians is something we must embrace, and is something we have seen in the past in times of adversity. Thirty years ago after the devastation of Cyclone Tracy, the rest of the Territory opened their hearts to the people of Darwin. Up and down the track from Pine Creek and Katherine to down here in Alice Springs, Territorians sheltered, fed and supported their fellow Territorians. Similarly, after the Katherine floods of 1998, the people of Darwin reciprocated, as did Territorians from the Centre. Even as I speak, Territorians are working with their fellow citizens on our northern islands in the aftermath of Cyclone Ingrid.
This is no small thing. It acknowledges we share a common commitment to each other’s future. In short, we look to a common future where we can all sustain our unique Territory lifestyle. This is why holding parliamentary sittings in Alice Springs is such an important affirmation of our commitment to our regions, not least, Central Australia. It is for this reason I want to outline to all Territorians the goals we have achieved for Central Australia since parliament last met here, and set a road map for the coming years.
This plan is quite straightforward, and it springs from the fact that, more than any other state or territory in this country, the strength of the Northern Territory relies on its regions. We have a mosaic of regions, each with its own strong identity. We can and do develop our capital city to be a place which all Territorians can be proud of, but much of our economic wealth is generated by our regions. Our unique social fabric, clean environment and laid-back Territory lifestyle all rely on strong, forward-looking regions. Foremost among those is, of course, Central Australia and Alice Springs. This road map for the building of a better future for Alice and the Centre is quite straight forward. It is about having a strong and sustainable economy, not one over reliant on the past patterns of boom when big government projects came along, and bust when they did not.
This has been achieved by supporting our staple industries: tourism, pastoralism and mining, and ensuring they have the necessary infrastructure to succeed. It also includes new industries such as those being developed by Desert Knowledge Australia or the film and new media industries. It is about understanding that one of the current limits to the Centre’s development is the availability of skilled labour, and that the education and training that we provide to Territorians in town and in the bush is as much an investment in our future as any infrastructure. It is recognising that our people are also an asset, requiring care and opportunities for development, just as our physical assets do. Social programs, health care, and community services are being properly planned and developed with the future of the Territory as their goal.
One of the achievements of which I am most proud is the first major release of land in Alice Springs for residential development in a decade, and the first since the Federal Court declared native title existed over most of the non-freehold areas of Alice Springs. I am delighted that Alice now has land for much-needed housing and more work for its construction industry. I am even more proud that this was achieved in a spirit of cooperation and a shared vision for the future. Native title holders, represented through Lhere Artepe, worked with government, developers, the real estate industry and local business people to ensure 40 blocks were released on to the market early this year with a further 45 blocks to come later in the year. Of the first 40 lots, all but 12 were sold by the middle of this month.
The partnership this produced, the goodwill and the sharing of information and experience, is probably as major a contribution to the future of this town as the land release itself. I acknowledge the work of Lhere Artepe, public servants, business people, the CLC and many others who helped bring this about.
Of course, this is the first step of a planned release over the longer term. Preparations for the release of residential land at Mt John Valley are proceeding, with consultants engaged in the design and documentation of headworks to service a stage one land release. Government has provided $1m in the capital works program for the headworks and intends to call tenders for the first phase of headwork construction shortly. Negotiations with the native title owners and the Central Land Council continue to be very encouraging.
When we last sat in this convention centre, Alice Springs was facing an uncertain tourism environment, a construction industry with little more than the railway to rely on due to little other forward planning in the previous five years, and mining exploration that was just beginning to get going again after stalling in bad relations with indigenous landowners. The economic environment was only just starting to move ahead.
Today, we have a more optimistic tourism industry with excellent forward bookings. We have land releases. We have both private and public construction projects under way and we have more mining exploration than has happened for many years. The economy of Central Australia is healthy and has a robust future.
One of the developments that will contribute most to the future of Alice Springs and the Centre is government’s commitment to sealing the Mereenie Loop Road at a cost of $38m. The project includes upgrading and sealing sections of Larapinta Drive through to Kings Canyon and Namatjira Drive, as well as the widening of the narrow sealed section of Larapinta Drive. It is an ambitious and challenging project of some 260 km. Preparing this project for construction has involved much work, including geological investigations and engineering design for gravel resources, heritage and environment and sacred sites clearances, and negotiation for access and road reserves in the Aboriginal trust areas.
These activities have taken longer than we expected, but are being progressed. Tenders have already been called and closed for the first two sections of the work, with tenders for a third section to be called in April. Our plans are to let a contract for that first section in April. As design progresses, contract packages will be awarded over the next three years for completion during the financial year of 2007-08.
When the sealing of this road is completed, it will change the face of tourism in the Centre by linking Alice Springs, Uluru and Kings Canyon, and will open up the probability of new developments along the road, allowing for a whole new way of marketing the Centre.
Our national parks are the core of our tourism industry as well as our great Territory lifestyle and our people. That is why my government is proud that we have settled land claims and native title issues in record time: over 20 national parks in Central Australia at no cost in terms of litigation and without the uncertainty of pending court cases. Once again, our underlying approach to success is partnership. Traditional owners will now have an incentive to support commercial and tourist development, and I envisage a future where both the tourism industry and traditional owners will reap the benefits of this achievement.
To go with these new product development opportunities, Alice Springs will benefit from greater air access and, in particular, international capacity at the airport. This year has seen the further development of international charters from Japan flying directly into Alice Springs, and that happens at the end of April, beginning of May. This will enable some testing of the waters to develop the international market and give the airport owners the business case they need to plan the infrastructure for more regular international charter flights. Since parliament last came to Alice Springs, average weekly capacity is 6% higher than in March 2004 and 27% higher than for March 2003. Virgin Blue has reinstated its previously withdrawn Friday service from Alice Springs and this will commence next week, 1 April.
The Ghan provides increasing opportunities for visitors to the Centre. The operation of three weekly return services, 1000 passengers a week, from Adelaide to Alice Springs in the peak season of May, June and July, provides an opportunity to capture them in the Centre for at least a few days, and GSR has launched a special Red Centre campaign to do just that.
Last week, I met with Tony Braxton-Smith of Great Southern Rail and we discussed plans to better market the service to Alice Springs. In this regard, GSR has released a new brochure advertising additional tour options centred on tourists staying over in Alice Springs for a short break and enjoying local attractions. I made a commitment for the Northern Territory Tourist Commission to work even further with GSR on this initiative.
In the immediate future is Destination Alice, a domestic marketing program that does more than just promote this wonderful town; it gives potential travellers a real Alice insight through story telling. The three-year plan to help Alice Springs stand head and shoulders above its competitors will focus on Alice as an international centre for indigenous art and craft, and a base camp to explore the world famous MacDonnell Ranges and Uluru Kata-Tjuta. Destination Alice will see $1.2m invested over two to three months, promoting Alice Springs as a unique destination within the Territory. This is the first time Alice, rather than the Centre, has been promoted in its own right. This will fit in with the refreshed branding of the Territory: our potential visitors are invited to Share our Story, the heart of which is Territorians.
I am very pleased that the Desert Knowledge project is under way. It is a project that will take some time to establish itself but, when it is fully matured, it will be an important new component in the economy of the Centre. There are three components to Desert Knowledge. One is the Desert Knowledge Cooperative Research Centre which has attracted $93m of cash and in-kind support over seven years. The second is the Desert Peoples Centre which is a cooperative effort between Batchelor Institute and the Centre for Appropriate Technology and, third, is the umbrella body, Desert Knowledge Australia which develops partnerships and new programs. The Desert Knowledge precinct is on a 70 ha greenfield site and is a bold and ambitious plan for a leading-edge knowledge facility in Desert Australia. It will complement the CRC, and involves educational, cultural, tourism, business development and research organisations working cooperatively and sharing facilities. The construction program over the next few years includes headworks and site development, Desert Knowledge Business and Innovation Centre, the Desert Peoples Centre, a shared library and the Living Desert Cultural Centre.
The Desert Peoples Centre brings together two Aboriginal education providers in Batchelor and CAT for a greater focus on post-secondary educational services for indigenous students. The project’s scoping and design has required extensive consultation with all stakeholders to ensure that the services satisfy the unique requirements of two educational services merging.
Stage 1 headworks on the Stuart Highway are complete, and tenders for the next stage, which will involve the construction of power and water mains, sewerage and access roads, will be called for within the next two weeks, with construction to begin in June. The construction program is being finalised for the total project, and a staged implementation and operation is being developed. Tenders for the first building in the Desert Peoples Centre will be called in early May, with a planned construction start in July. Packages will be progressively put to tender after that. It is a most exciting project.
The construction industry is, of course, critical to the economic wellbeing of Alice Springs. Alice has long relied heavily on government spending on infrastructure. Unfortunately, when my government came to power there was nothing in the spending pipeline to take over from the construction of the railway, and no cash at all allocated to new projects. I am happy to say, however, that this lull in projects is now over, and builders and tradespeople are again very busy. Since coming to government, we have invested $100m in infrastructure in the Centre. I have already mentioned the Desert Knowledge Project and the Mereenie Loop Road.
The Northern Territory government allocated $11m in last year’s budget to upgrade the Intensive Care Unit and High Dependency Unit at Alice Springs Hospital. This work is continuing to enhance the capability of the hospital, which serves as a vital health resource for Central Australia and those who live outside the Northern Territory borders. A further $10m will be spent to rectify fire safety defects and airconditioning problems that have been recently identified.
The Territory government is also supporting construction at Charles Darwin University, with $2.5m provided to the establishment of a new higher education facility in Alice Springs on the current Alice Springs campus. The building will include a lecture theatre, laboratories and postgraduate facilities. Detailed plans are being developed, and tenders will be called in the near future, with construction to be completed by 2006.
The new National Pioneer Women’s Hall of Fame at the old Alice Springs Gaol is receiving $200 000 worth of infrastructure works as well as the lease of land, and the Centre for Remote Health, to which the Territory government has provided a contribution of nearly $0.5m to build additional facilities on land we have provided, is again on the old Alice Springs Gaol site.
Bush construction projects, including the upgrade of Papunya School, the recently completed Kintore Police Station, and a state-of-the-art health clinic to serve the needs of Yuendumu for the next five years are also ongoing. Work has commenced on this project, jointly funded by the Commonwealth and Territory governments. IHANT funding for construction of indigenous housing in both Alice and Central Australia for the next financial year is at $14.84m.
Private sector spending is also increasing. At the northern approach to Alice Springs, Australian Property Projects are moving forward with their North Edge Development, converting the former Red Centre Resort into a modern and attractive residential development of 24 two- and three-bedroom units. Approval in principle has also been given by the Development Consent Authority for creation of up to 38 new single and multiple dwelling lots resulting from the subdivision of the land.
The state of Central Australian roads has been the subject of much public discussion for many years. The fact is that parts of our road network are inadequate for the job we expect of it. It is difficult and expensive to maintain, and we constantly lobby the Australian government to do their share. Nevertheless, my government has provided a significant injection of funds. Acknowledging the importance and value of the pastoral industry, government has allocated $3m for works on the Sandover, Finke and Plenty Highways, all primary feeder roads for the pastoral industry, and targeted as important by the Northern Territory Cattlemen’s Association.
The new knowledge economy for the Centre is in its infancy but I am particularly delighted that an important industry for the Territory, mining, is undergoing a resurgence with 832 exploration licences being granted under my government. A significant number of these are in the southern region. Newmont, through its Granites gold mine, currently injects $100m into the Alice Springs economy each year, with 70% of Newmont’s 650 personnel residing in the Territory, and just over 10% of these indigenous Territorians who live in surrounding communities.
Mithril Resources recently announced a nickel joint venture at Barrow Creek with a Canadian company, Falconbridge, the world’s third largest nickel refiner. Mithril view this as a very exciting high-potential project.
The world’s largest deposit of garnet sands is found at Harts Range and is to be mined by Olympia. Water testing is currently being undertaken to ensure that there will be no harm to the Harts Range community. Once this project gets up and running it will be a 20-year project employing 60 people. Increasingly, through the endeavours of the Mining Service Centre, a successful Alice in 10 project, mining and exploration companies now look to Alice Springs to supply their needs. I acknowledge the efforts of DBIRD staff in ensuring that local suppliers and mining companies can work together for the benefit of both.
It is disappointing that the industry which best defines our identity as Territorians, the cattle industry, is suffering the effects of little to no rain for the past nine months. Although it is perhaps our oldest industry since European occupation, it is still a vibrant industry which is projected to grow $70m for the Territory. In order to keep abreast of market trends, it has developed to take advantage of new technologies. Pastoral producers are making use of Internet and satellite communications to access remote markets. This ensures that pastoral operations benchmark well against industry best practice on a national basis. I know that many pastoralists are responding to the drought by removing livestock. I am advised that current market prices are attractive.
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Visitors
Visitors
Madam SPEAKER: Chief Minister, would you mind if we pause for a moment while I acknowledge some people in the gallery?
Ms Martin: Certainly.
Madam SPEAKER: We have some students from Living Waters with their teacher, Alica Ernst. On behalf of all honourable members, I extend to you a warm welcome.
Members: Hear, hear!
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, we also have two very special guests near the Administrator. We have the Chief Minister and the Clerk of the Parliament of the Birds. On behalf of all honourable members, I extend to you a warm welcome.
Members: Hear, hear!
________________________
Ms MARTIN: I am now feeling decidedly old, Madam Speaker.
I turn from talking about our traditional industries, which remain critically important ones, to another area ripe for development in the Centre. I talk of the film, television and new media industries. My government established the Northern Territory Film, Television and New Media Office in Alice Springs last year. This was in recognition of the quality of our local practitioners and the potential of this industry to contribute to the economy. The Territory has some outstanding film makers who are receiving recognition nationally and internationally for the quality of their films.
These films are part of a wave of dramas and documentaries which are coming from the Territory, all contributing to the mapping of Central Australia on the international globe. The film office is working with local industry to build capacity, and to be involved with the projects of Territorians telling our stories, from script development through to investment in production and marketing. This will result in more benefits flowing back to the Territory. These industries bring money to the Territory economy and provide substantial flow-on benefits. Film and television production involves disparate groups of suppliers, and around 30% of most typical production budgets can be attributed to wages, with services another significant component.
I have said publicly before that the arts hold an unusual place in Central Australia. They are more than a cultural overlay; they are actually a significant economic driver. Most obviously, indigenous visual arts is a significant export as well as a major enticer for international tourists to the region, and that is why we have established the Indigenous Arts Development Unit, with $340 000 of its funds going directly into the Alice Springs region. General arts funding for the region has also increased markedly under my government.
The Red Hot Arts Space, which I opened in December 2003, gives nine key arts organisations a space to collaborate, share resources, and move the arts industry ahead through the region. A further three bodies use this space part-time. The Alice Springs Festival, a well patronised community event, provides a forum for local artists to hone their skills. To assist with this very important event, government provided $130 000 for the 2004 calendar year, and has maintained that commitment this year. The Araluen Cultural Precinct is one of the best regional cultural precincts in Australia, and enjoys enormous community support. I extend my congratulations to its staff for their professionalism and enthusiasm.
Alice Springs offers a uniquely Australian lifestyle. The climate promotes healthy outdoor activity, and residents take part in a range of leisure pursuits. My government is committed to preserving the Territory’s great lifestyle. In Central Australia, we have demonstrated this commitment by supporting various upgrades of sporting facilities, developing events, and a number of Alice in 10 projects, such as the Todd River walking and cycling links, which enhance the lifestyle of Alice Springs residents and tourists alike.
In response to the Alice Springs Town Council in keeping with the Traeger Park Master Plan, the government has committed $5.5m to Stage 1 of a new grandstand at Traeger Park to international standards. Completion of the tender document is due this month, and completion of the interim stage of construction is expected by the year’s end. In addition, the government already spent $800 000 three years ago on the hockey field upgrade in time for the 2002 Masters Games, and $1.76m was spent on the main lighting upgrade in time for the pre-season AFL game in March last year. All of this is contributing to focussing the national and, potentially, the international spotlight on Alice Springs for the delivery of quality sport and recreational opportunities. Local sport is benefiting, and the community is enjoying hosting major special events such as AFL matches.
The Finke Desert Race won the Significant Events and Festivals annual Brolga Award for Tourism Excellence in 2004. The Finke Desert Race also received a Highly Commended award at the recent Australian Tourism Awards here at the convention centre. The Finke has built a compelling reputation since the inaugural event was held in 1976, and is regarded as Australia’s most famous desert race. The Finke is run over three days on the Queen’s Birthday long weekend in June, and usually attracts more than 400 competitors on bikes and buggies. The Finke is Alice Springs’ largest annual event. Government has committed $650 000 for the relocation of the start-finish line, including major headworks, and my government also contributes full-time in-kind support and $50 000 funding through Major Events. The event attracts interstate visitors in the thousands, along with national and international media coverage. It is estimated the event contributes $1.7m to the local economy.
The Masters Games continue to provide a major boost to the Alice Springs economy, with the 2004 Masters Games hailed as the most successful to date by competitors and visitors alike. The event attracted a record 4569 participants and 500 volunteers. Independent research estimates that the Masters Games contributed $7.4m to the Central Australian economy in 2002, and indications are that the games last year brought at least $9m in value to the region. The government contributes almost $1m over a two year period for operating expenses.
The third Central Australian Mountain Bike Challenge was held last week. This event does much to position Alice as an adventure destination in the rapidly growing national and international mountain biking community. The event was run in and around Alice Springs over five days and attracted more than 70 competitors from Australia and overseas. This event continues to enjoy strong government support, including a considerable amount of logistical support from government agencies such as Northern Territory Major Events, Police, Fire and Emergency Services - and it is terrific to have a couple of their members here in the House - and the Department of Infrastructure, Planning and Environment.
There is no doubt that Alice Springs has its share of social problems. As a government, we do not pretend we have all the answers, although we are attacking the issue. The hot spots are being addressed and we are reducing antisocial behaviour associated with special events such as major football matches. In particular, police and remote area Night Patrols have been working together to disperse groups quickly and return people to their home communities. Tangentyere Council Day and Night Patrols operate six days a week and there are 16 day and night patrollers who work in teams of three and four who are combating drunkenness and antisocial behaviour.
Alice Springs police are working hard to combat antisocial behaviour and have had strong results in bringing the crime rate down. Territory police have enjoyed a 21% budget increase in the past two budgets alone, with record numbers of new police on the beat. Alice Springs police have received 35 extra recruits this year and they are focussing on what they call intelligence-led, forensic-led and problem solving policing. Policing strategy is determined by data and evidence about what works. Alice Springs now has bike patrols, the trial of horse patrols in the CBD and Todd River, and more hot spot policing. This means they can target recidivist offenders and keep a step ahead of emerging crime trends and patterns. The opening of the Kintore Police Station has seen an increasing patrolling capability for the Western Desert region and Mutitjulu, at the base of Uluru, is also receiving increased police attention.
Over the life of this government, we substantially increased the base funding for Alice Springs Hospital by 30% from $57.2m in 2000-01 to $75.5m in 2003-04, making it one of the best regional hospitals in Australia for a town of this size. We have recruited to key senior medical positions in anaesthetics and intensive care, and allocated $11m over four years to improve the Intensive Care Unit and High Dependency Unit. We have provided an additional 39 nurses to the hospital. This is despite ongoing problems, shared throughout the western world, of attracting and keeping nursing staff. Nevertheless, we do not rest on our laurels and will continue to work at new ways of addressing this difficult situation.
The Alice Springs community can be proud of its hospital. The quality of its services and the dedication of its staff have been independently recognised through accreditation by the Australian Council on Health Care Standards. That same high quality and dedication to service can be found throughout health services in Central Australia. This includes the government’s child health initiative, which has seen increased funding of $2.2m to provide increased services across the Territory. The Territory-wide Child Health Team has eight additional positions for Central Australia. These include new positions in Alice, Yuelamu, Six Mile/Ti Tree, Ali Curung and Tennant Creek. We are also providing extra nurses at previous single-nurse places, improving the safety of nursing staff. We are committed to providing better health outcomes in Central Australia and, through increased funding and expanded programs, we are achieving that goal.
Education has been a primary focus of this government. The Building Better Schools framework is currently being rolled out in Central Australia, and the department expects that this plan, along with other complementary strategies, will improve literacy and numeracy programs across the region. DEET has recently recruited a number of staff to be strategically placed to support the framework, including the Teacher Support Officer at Tennant Creek and the Alternative Education Program Coordinator for Central Australia. We are also supporting small remote schools through the provision of assistant principals in group school arrangements. We are delivering over 100 additional teachers across the Territory, at least 20 of whom will be located in the Centre, and we are putting an additional $42m into secondary education.
On 1 January this year, Charles Darwin University Senior Secondary School became the Centralian Senior Secondary College. In the 2004 National Awards for Quality Schooling, the school won the Best National Achievement in School Improvement by a team or school. The award recognised the school’s improvement in indigenous student outcomes.
Across the Territory, there has been a 1000% increase in school-based apprenticeships to the highest number ever. We recognise that non-attendance has been a major contributor to poor results, particularly for indigenous students, so we now have eight Attendance Officers re-engaging hundreds of children with school, and over 1000 more indigenous students have been enrolled in our schools in the last three years. These are great outcomes.
The availability and management of public housing is a critical social issue for Alice Springs. Research indicates that selling off public housing does not reduce crime and antisocial behaviour. What works is effective social strategies through whole-of-government efforts and integrated collaboration within the community. Government recognises that some tenants in public housing have been involved in antisocial behaviour. We reject antisocial behaviour wherever it occurs and have put in place a number of strategies to deal with these serious issues. These include funding extra security patrols in hot spots, running an advertising program denouncing antisocial behaviour and funding educators to work with new public housing tenants.
Government has put emphasis on initiatives such as Home Territory 2010, which provides direction for increasing the supply and range of affordable housing options. As at the end of February, HomeNorth has supported 71 people and families in Alice Springs to buy new homes, 59 of whom are first home owners. In Tennant Creek, HomeNorth has assisted five applicants to purchase new homes, four being first home owners.
In recognising the importance of short-term accommodation, my government is currently developing Stuart Lodge as a short-term accommodation housing complex.
This government is committed to governing for all Territorians. Bringing parliament to Alice is one part of this commitment. Ensuring that services in health, education and community safety are as good in Central Australia as they are in Darwin is another part. Building economic growth, providing jobs and a better lifestyle for Central Australians is the final crucial element.
As a government, we have delivered significant growth in these areas over the last three years, however there is more to be done; we know that. I and other ministers will be out and about this week talking to the people of Central Australia. They are telling us what they want from us as government. We have a strong plan in place, a plan that has been developed together with the people of Alice Springs and Central Australia. It is a plan to ensure that Alice Springs and all of Central Australia keep moving ahead.
Mr Deputy Speaker, I move that the Assembly take note of the statement.
Mr Ah Kit: Hear, hear!
Mr BURKE (Opposition Leader): You had one ‘hear, hear’, Chief Minister. Do you want to try it again? See if you can all do it in unison. Try to show a bit of enthusiasm.
Members: Hear, hear!
Mr BURKE: One ‘Hear, hear!’. That is what the Chief Minister got from her mob over there. This was the exciting manifesto that the Chief Minister has laid out that is going to be her blueprint for the future …
Ms Martin: Try being positive, Denis!
Mr BURKE: And also her …
Ms Martin: Arrogant negativity is very unattractive.
Mr Dunham: Arrogant negativity! What, a bit of self-reflection going on?
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order!
Mr BURKE: Well, if the Chief Minister – I thought I listened quietly all the way, in fact, while the Chief Minister spoke, but if you do not have the courtesy to listen quietly while I speak, that is a problem between you and your colleagues. Certainly, all we can do on this side is show an example that all you have to do is follow; it is not a difficult thing to do.
This statement, for those in the gallery today who may not be familiar with the processes of this parliament is, essentially, going to be the central part of what this parliament debates over the next few days. It is an extensive statement by the Chief Minister. The Chief Minister has now done her bit. She can go to social functions and all those sorts of things, spend the taxpayers’ money in order to try to win votes whilst her colleagues and others respond to this statement, which I reckon will probably be on the parliamentary agenda for the whole of the three days we are sitting here.
This statement has the intent of saying: ‘This is what we have done for the people of Central Australia …’ - and you all heard it; you were listening to it – ‘… and that is why you should elect us in future’. I do not know how you felt listening to it, but all I could hear was millions of dollars going here, there and everywhere - hundreds of millions of dollars in some cases - to the point where one easily recognises that politicians find it easy to talk in hundreds of millions, tens of millions of dollars or millions of dollars.
The people we are trying to communicate with are trying to balance $10. They are trying to figure out whether they will have $10 or $15 next week. When the Chief Minister stands here and says: ‘This is my track record of achievement in the Northern Territory and, in particular, of achievement for you in Central Australia’, I ask you to judge for yourself whether or not you felt excited and whether it hit the issues that you deal with on a day-to-day basis. I noticed that right at the end was antisocial behaviour, law and order issues. A cursory addition, I suggest, where they said: ‘We had better throw in a couple of things at the end’. You will have noticed that there were five or six headings that did not go past three paragraphs.
Of the people I have spoken to since I have been in Alice Springs over the past five days, one lady is in the Chamber today. She came here because she felt it was important to not only hear - and I have never met her before; I met her only yesterday. She took the time to come to my office because she wanted to speak to me. I hope she does not mind me saying that she said: ‘I have voted for Labor all my life, but I want to talk to you, Mr Burke. I want to look you in the eye and find out if what you say is what you really mean because from where I am as a pensioner in Alice Springs, I am continually let down by politicians. So, I want to look into your eyeballs and I want you to tell me that you mean what you say’. What she wanted …
Mr Ah Kit interjecting.
Mr BURKE: Well, I have just taken an interjection. The minister who is responsible for Housing interjects because he does not even want to hear what I am trying to say. The lady’s problem was your housing, minister. The lady’s problem was essentially: ‘Can I just have a peaceful existence in my Housing Commission unit? That is all I ask for’. I told her she would get it. If I am called racist, redneck, or whatever, I do not feel that is …
A member: Dog whistler.
Mr BURKE: Oh, a ‘redneck dog whistler’ is the term that the minister has used in this parliament against a colleague - a ‘redneck dog whistler’. That is what the minister used in response to the member for Araluen who was raising Housing Commission issues.
We will continue to raise issues forcefully because, everywhere we go doorknocking in electorates, people want a quality of life whereby if we say how attractive the Northern Territory is, let the Northern Territory be what it says it is. It is not too much to ask that a person, particularly a pensioner with no partner and no extended family in Alice Springs, can live peacefully and will not be accosted in their Housing Commission unit. There is no good in the Chief Minister saying: ‘We recognise there is a problem. It has been four years since we have been here in this job. We promised you we would fix it all, but we still recognise there is a problem’. There is no good for the minister, when these issues are raised, to call you a ‘redneck dog whistler’ whatever that means, but it is certainly pretty derogatory.
Ms Carney: They are into that sort of thing.
Mr BURKE: Those are the things that people want dealt with. When the Chief Minister …
Ms Martin: Member for Araluen!
Ms Carney: Chief Minister!
Ms Martin: You are the worst offender!
Members interjecting.
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! The Leader of the Opposition has the floor. Order!
Mr BURKE: The Chief Minister presented her statement today and I will ask people here to answer the question themselves: did you feel that addressed your concerns? Did you feel that addressed the issues of paramount importance to you? Did you feel that the Northern Territory is growing in its economy? Do you get a sense of excitement that people are flooding in from other states of Australia to be here because they want to experience the lifestyle, the opportunity and the low cost of living that the Northern Territory Labor government is providing? If that is the case, how come the population statistics show they are going the other way?
The biggest growth industry of the Northern Territory …
Ms Martin: Stop making it up.
Mr BURKE: … is the removals industry.
Ms Martin: Rubbish!
Mr BURKE: If you talk to businesses which are doing well in Alice Springs - and I have spoken to them, and in Darwin - too often you will hear: ‘The removalists are doing well’. If you want to talk about growth in population, let us be honest. Economic predictions for the Northern Territory have predicted economic growth of upwards of 5% for the last five or six years or more, and the achievements of the Territory Labor government in the time they have been in power have been about zero to 0.5% tops.
Let us have a bit of a history lesson. The Chief Minister deserves a history lesson. When …
Ms Martin: Where is your plan, Denis? Where is your plan?
Mr BURKE: When you hear all these stories about …
Mr Henderson: House prices continue to grow. Vacancy rates lowest on record.
Mr BURKE: What is your plan …
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Visitors
Visitors
Members: Hear! Hear!
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Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Thank you, Leader of the Opposition.
Mr BURKE: You note when I raise some of these things that the Leader of Government Business pulls out his reams of papers to refer to media releases that go back 10 years. That is because they have 30 more staff working in the Office of the Chief Minister than my government, and most of those staff are involved in collecting dirt files on Territorians, recording those who are sympathetic to Labor or not, and making sure that if you are not going their way, they will get you.
Let us have a history lesson …
Ms Martin: Why don’t you talk about your plans for the Centre?
Mr BURKE: When the Chief Minister …
A member: What plan?
Ms Martin: What plan? Come on, Denis, your plan. You do not like ours. Where is your plan?
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! Order!
Ms Martin: Where is your plan?
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order!
Mr BURKE: Courtesy, Chief Minister, a little courtesy.
When you hear these hundreds of millions of dollars being rolled out, Territorians, people of Central Australia, the government spent $100m here, $40m there, $12m here; the greatest increase in spending for the hospital that has ever been seen, think about this: do you remember three-and-a-half years ago, they said they were broke? Do you remember they said they had no money, that things were so bad they had to put a $90 rego levy on every Territorian? We were utterly broke, according to the Labor government.
Mr BURKE: Would you listen, please? When we were paying for the railway and the port and other infrastructure projects, it was about $20m. We now have a government that has about $600m. It is a government that was so broke it got an expert in from down south. Remember Professor Percy Allan? Percy Allan said: ‘I predict that the growth in GST revenue for the Northern Territory government will grow …’ - if you can see that graph, the light blue or grey bars - ‘… over that amount in the time that your government is in power and if you do what I tell you, you will have a balanced budget by 2005-06’.
Territorians, in the last budget, this government put off achieving a balanced budget until 2012-13. They put off achieving a balanced budget until 2012-13 and the dark blue graph is the money that has actually flowed to the Northern Territory - money that is far in excess of the predictions of Professor Percy Allan, of the predictions of the Northern Territory Treasury, and of the predictions of the federal Treasury.
That is why the federal Treasurer is now saying: ‘This is obscene. It is obscene that Territorians as one group in Australia should be paying so much money in GST and in inefficient state taxes such as stamp duty and payroll tax, which account for the majority of taxation revenue in the Northern Territory. It is obscene that government should be keeping all of that money from the GST and they should be giving it back to the people of their own jurisdictions’. Do you know what the position of Clare Martin and her Labor government is? If I am wrong the Treasurer can stand up and correct me in this House: it is to keep it all and give nothing back.
When Clare Martin and her government say: ‘We have built the Northern Territory and we have so much money that we can put it here, here and here in the $40m and $50m and hundreds of millions of dollars’, I say that if they have the money to spend, it is thank you, John Howard - or everyone in this House. Give yourselves a handshake because it is coming straight out of your pocket.
If the Labor government of the Northern Territory wants to stand in Central Australia and parade the fact that they have built the economy of Central Australia and the Northern Territory, what do the indicators say? You do not have to be an economist to know that if your revenue is going through the roof exponentially, surely, any amateur would expect that the population would be increasing, that you would be attracting people to come to the Northern Territory to enjoy this land of opportunity, that the cost of living would be decreased, that competition would be such that the cost of living and prices in businesses would be decreasing. The indicators of the Northern Territory are the opposite. Indicators are that revenue is growing exponentially, but we have a government that is wallowing in a sea of indecision, wallowing in a sea of money and cannot give that money back to Territorians, as they deserve.
The test for the government is this: any fool can walk out there and, with a pocket full of money, spend it. Any fool can do that. The measure of this government’s credibility is how wisely they have spent it. It is not good enough to say: ‘We have spent all of this money on Territory Health Services, we have put all of the money into the hospital service in Alice Springs’. Are you somehow suggesting that before Territorians were bitten by the sense of enthusiasm for the Labor government, nurses in the Northern Territory were treated badly? Are you suggesting that somehow we could not attract nurses to the Northern Territory because their wages were uncompetitive? It is not true. It has always been difficult to attract skilled workers. The test of a government that now has the capacity to attract them is that they should be coming through the door, knocking on the door, because you should have the policies and initiatives that are attractive to those people. It is not happening. If it was, you would not have the industrial action that is being acted out at the moment in the Northern Territory, or the stress that continues to be on nurses, or a situation where teachers feel under-valued for the work that they do. You would also not have a Northern Territory that is, frankly, mediocre compared with the rest of Australia. The proof of that is this …
A member interjecting.
Mr BURKE: Well, you could say I talk down the Territory. I will tell the truth. People want to hear the truth; they do not want to hear gloss. The Northern Territory is not performing to the level of other states and territories in Australia. That is a simple fact. The statistics will show you. You can look at State Final Demand in the budget papers, all of those complicated economic indicators, but a simple one that I am sure even the primary school children would understand is that if your revenue is going that way, your population should not be going that way - and it is.
Mr Henderson: It is not.
Mr Ah Kit: It is not, no.
Mr BURKE: ‘It is not’. This is the sort of gloss you get from this lot: ‘It is not’.
Members interjecting.
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order!
Mr BURKE: If we do all the figures together and add it up twice, we think we have achieved 0.5% growth in population in the last year. However, if you are honest with Territorians, you would tell them that it is tax paying Territorians who will go with the removal vans south, and it is Aboriginal birth rates that are going that way. The growth of the Northern Territory in terms of population, sadly, is predominantly a welfare growth. That is the fact of it. The challenge for a government that lays its manifesto down is to tell Territorians what they have actually done or what they will do, and this ministerial statement, I believe, fails completely to do it.
Ms Martin: What is your plan, Denis? Tell Central Australia what your plan is, come on. It is a good opportunity.
Mr BURKE: I might get a vote from the Chief Minister if I keep up. She is really enthused about my plan, a lot more enthused about my plan than you were about your own statement. You could not even read it out with a sense of enthusiasm.
Ms Martin: You have no plan. Where is your plan?
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order!
Mr BURKE: The plan …
Ms Martin: No plan. Oh, so we have to wait for the election to find out. Oh, silly me!
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order!
Mr BURKE: The statistics are pretty sad. The Chief Minister criticises me because I criticise spending blow-outs in departments. I remind you all of Clare Martin and her government’s undertaking to Territorians when they came to government. Remember the words? I can almost quote them exactly: ‘CEO’s will stay within their budgets. The budgets that are set are the budgets that will be maintained. If a CEO does not maintain their budget, they will be sacked’. The Health and Community Services budget in the Northern Territory is blowing so fast no one can keep track of it. It has gone from five ...
Members interjecting.
Mr Henderson: You are going to cut the health budget. Okay. Right.
Mr BURKE: ‘You are going to cut the health budget’! You see, this is why Territorians have no faith in politicians. ‘You are going to cut the health budget’. No, we are not; we are going to get outcomes. If you put money in, that is an input; if you take money out, that is an output, but we want an outcome, and that is the big difference. You cannot demonstrate, Chief Minster, in this statement where you have achieved outcomes for Territorians that has allowed the Northern Territory to get back to the place that, frankly, it was in the past.
Members interjecting.
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order!
Mr BURKE: There was a time in the Northern Territory not so long ago when it came to our tourism product that we were excited and enthused. We had a tourism product that was the envy of the rest of Australia. We had a disposable income in the Northern Territory that attracted people to come here and work because they were paid well for the work they did. It was a disposable income that was very competitive with the rest of Australia. We had businesses that could attract people to the Northern Territory because they could offer a tenure of work, a wage and conditions that were attractive to people in other states of Australia. The sad fact that Territorians have to understand is that the states that are the most attractive in Australia exclude the Northern Territory. That is why the skilled workers are in New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland. Do you know why? Those economies are going gang busters.
If you look at the economy in the Northern Territory over the last three or four years compared with the economies of other states and territories of Australia, we have failed! The buck stops here with the Labor government. We have failed in comparison to other states. One only has to look at the amount of money that has come through with the GST, that has been raised predominantly by other states in Australia and is being dispersed on a model that has always been there, that has allowed this government, whose members have sat on their backsides and done nothing, to have the amount of money they can parade today.
What they should be parading in front of you today is tax cuts. That is what they should be parading: where they have provided tax cuts to the average Territorian; raised real benefits for pensioners in the Northern Territory; provided the incentives for business so they can grow and expand in the Northern Territory; and provided the attraction for skilled workers to come to the Northern Territory. That is my charge against the Northern Territory Labor government. That is the charge on which they stand guilty.
Ms Martin: What is your plan, Denis? Come on.
Mr Dunham: Come and get a briefing. We will tell you. Come and get a briefing!
Ms Martin: Just criticism. No plan.
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order, order!
Mr BURKE: First of all, we are going to give back to Territorians, in tax cuts, the GST. That is not a loose promise. You know what that is? It is called a contractual obligation because that is what the deal was. Chief Minister, you were not there; I was. I signed the deal. That is a simple fact. It is a democracy that you now have charge of the carriage of that implementation, but I know what the contract was. The contract was: get rid of inefficient state and territory taxes. That is what we are going to do.
It is pleasing that the Labor government is so interested in knowing what the CLP is going to do. Territorians will be excited by it because they will see a political party that knows where the priorities for Territorians are. It certainly is not the political party that is wallowing in their money and doing nothing to give it back, even to the most disadvantaged Territorians who are rapidly becoming our seniors living in Housing Commission houses being accosted and threatened every day of the week. It is rapidly being the average family that cannot even use the park because of being abused by itinerants and beggars. Do you want to know what the CLP is going to do? We will not tolerate it any longer. That is what the CLP is going to do. Do you know why? Because Territorians will not tolerate it any longer. You have had four years to deliver what you said you would do. We will not tolerate it any longer, and there will be a zero tolerance approach to those issues, and the police will be given the resources and strengthened in order to do it.
We are going to provide tax cuts right across the board that will really give disposable income back to Territorians in their pockets. The detail of that will come out at the appropriate time. We are also going to provide tax cut incentives to businesses, in particular, so that those businesses realise that they have a government that is giving back to them and making sure that they have the conditions in which to flourish.
I tell you another thing that we are going to do: we might just build a school for a change. Do the people in this Chamber know that this government, with $600m extra in GST, has not built one primary school in nearly four years? When you talk about population and the economy growing, a pretty simple indicator is: any more schools being built? No! Do you know why? Do not need them! You know why? Population is going that way! That is the fact of it. I can tell you over the last few years of the CLP government in the Top End alone we built about four schools almost on a yearly basis.
Mr Vatskalis: Pity you did not spend any money to maintain the existing ones!
Ms Martin: You could put your hand through the wall at Parap Primary!
Mr Vatskalis: You did not spend any money at Nakara and Alawa!
Mr BURKE: Chief Minister, we built schools; we did not crowd kids into demountables. We built schools. We knew how to use money, and our schools and they way we treated our teachers were good.
We have, factually, lost about 6000 people in the Northern Territory. We are going to reverse that in a way that provides real incentives for people to come to the Northern Territory. We are going to provide incentives through housing, not only for first home buyers, but for people who are changing their houses. We want to see every Territorian in a house, whether it is their first, second or third, in a way that is affordable. Certainly, the stamp duty of 15% that is being levied on conveyancing for residential housing - which is the highest in Australia and which this government has had every opportunity to reduce and has done nothing - is going to be reduced under a CLP government. It is going to be reduced in a tangible way so that when people buy houses, they can afford them more easily, and people who are selling houses can find clientele that wants them.
We are going to attract skilled workers to the Northern Territory, families in particular, and we are going to do it with incentives that allow them to get into housing. We are going to focus the recruiting effort for people to come to the Northern Territory on those people with kids who are about to start or have just started primary school so they can see, through housing incentives, through better cost of living and opportunity to get into housing in particular that this is the place …
Ms Martin: How are you going to pay for it? You will have to cut …
Mr BURKE: The Chief Minister says: ‘You are going to have to cut’ …
Ms Martin: … the heart out of education, the police, the hospitals.
Mr BURKE: … to achieve these basic services …
Ms Martin: Yes.
Mr BURKE: … we are going to have to cut money. No, we do not. All we have to do is spend wisely; that is the difference. One thing we know is that if this statement is the most you can point to for what you have done in nearly four years for Central Australia, you have not spent wisely on any measure - not at all. We will produce policies for Territorians, and I am sure colleagues will expand further on this statement in the areas that they have. The policies will be across the board. They will deal particularly with getting our skilled work force in real and tangible ways. They know what the cost is to a young kid to be an apprentice. Hairdressers do not even have a start-up kit for which they need about $300 - we will give them money for that. We will provide real things for real people who are working hard every day to get to work.
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Your time has expired, Leader of the Opposition.
Mr BURKE: Those policies of the CLP will come forward in a way that I am excited to present to Territorians, and they …
Mr Ah Kit: Time, time!
Mr BURKE: They will come forward in a way they will realise …
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Your time has expired, Leader of the Opposition.
Mr BURKE: … that the difference between the CLP and the Labor government is one of action and decision, rather than a government which takes its orders from down south.
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: I may have called you a bit early, there, Leader of the Opposition. It is difficult to read from this clock whether we are coming or going. Perhaps it is on universal time.
Mr STIRLING (Treasurer): Mr Deputy Speaker, I thought it an alarming contribution from the Leader of the Opposition; not so much by the contemptuous manner in which it was delivered, and contemptuous of us as a government, which is not surprising, but contemptuous of our public service and, most alarming, a contempt for what we, as a government, have done for the people of Central Australia. He has criticised and holds this government in contempt for putting resources into the Centre - for putting increased resources into the number of police in the centre of Alice Springs, for putting more resources into education by way of more teachers, for increasing the number of patrols, for putting resources into Alice Springs Hospital, and for putting more nurses into the system. He has attacked us for support for the mining industry. He has attacked us and held us in contempt for the work we have done in property development here in the Centre.
It was an amazing contribution from the Leader of the Opposition whom, I would have thought, would be trying to seek the support of Centralians for the forthcoming election. In all of that diatribe, not a word about his plan for Central Australia - not one word about his plan for the people of the Centre. He is on the record very clearly over the last two weeks saying that we, as a government, spend too much on health, education and police. That is a message Territorians are going to hear over and over and over again from us. He is on the record, very clearly, that this is where he is going to make his big slashes and cuts if he gets to government at the forthcoming election. On behalf of the Northern Territory, I sincerely hope that does not become the case.
We hear much about this GST. ‘What have you done,’ the member for Greatorex said yesterday, ‘with the $600m extra you got out of the GST?’. We hear this $600m extra in GST figure thrown around by the Leader of the Opposition ad nauseam. Whether he understands the truth - I suspect he does not; he is a bit thick when it comes to fiscal and Treasury matters - I will tell him the truth again. I will put it on the Parliamentary Record so that, at some future time - because he will not listen and it will not sink in today - he can go back and read the Parliamentary Record and see the truth about the GST, and can come to debate in parliament in the future with some honesty in his remarks. If he does not, well, we will know he is seeking to be, and continues to be, dishonest, because I will make sure that he is informed once and for all today.
When the GST was introduced, it came with certain guarantees from the Commonwealth. They went to the fact that you would get a guaranteed minimum amount, otherwise you simply would not have had the big states of New South Wales and Victoria signing up to a GST with an unknown quantum in the future unless there were certain guarantees around it. The guaranteed minimum amount meant that every state and territory would continue to get increases regardless of the fact of whether the GST was a big enough pool to pay those increases.
Therefore, even today, those years after the GST has rolled through, we still know what our guaranteed minimum amount would have been under the old system and we know, of course, what we are getting under the GST. The difference between the two is the amount extra accruing to the Northern Territory out of the GST. The guaranteed minimum amount to the Northern Territory in 2002-03 was $1504.6m. The GST had begun to have an effect and we received $1514.5m, an increase and a nett benefit to the Northern Territory of just $9.9m. So, the first year that the GST had an effect for us, it was around $10m. In 2003-04, we had a guaranteed minimum amount of $1570.6m. We received, with GST, $1680.9m. The difference …
Mr Dunham interjecting.
Mr STIRLING: If the member for Drysdale writes this down, he can refer to it in future. The nett benefit, of course, coming out of that to the Northern Territory in GST was $110m. So $10m the first year, $110m the second year and, in 2004-05, the guaranteed minimum amount of $1604.9m with GST revenue of $1724.9m. Difference? I will tell the member for Greatorex because he would not be able to work it out: $120m. If you add those together, member for Drysdale - $9.9m, $110.3m and $120m - lo and behold! - GST revenue to the Northern Territory: $240m.
The member for Greatorex said as recently as yesterday: ‘What have you done with the $600m you got out of the GST?’. Well, for a start, sunshine, it is $240m extra that we have out of the GST. Where has it gone and what have we spent it on? Let us have a look. From the O’Sullivan Review, we knew the police were in strife, that they could not get enough patrols on the ground, that the CLP had frozen their recruitment between 1990 and 1994, there was a dearth of senior experienced sergeants in the system and they were struggling to run a decent police force. What did we do? We commissioned a man called O’Sullivan to have a look at the police force’s resources in the Northern Territory and - lo and behold! - what did he say? ‘You need a few extra coppers because the other mob did not look after them. They need a few extra vehicles …
Mr Dunham: That is a lie!
Mr STIRLING: … they need things like boats. They need things like communication facilities …
Mr HENDERSON: A point of order, Madam Speaker!
Mr STIRLING: … they need things like new police stations …
Mr Dunham: That is a lie.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Drysdale, withdraw that!
Mr Dunham: Madam Speaker …
Madam SPEAKER: Just withdraw.
Mr DUNHAM: I withdraw.
Madam SPEAKER: Thank you.
Mr STIRLING: Madam Speaker, the upshot of O’Sullivan is well known and on the record: $75m over the next few years from this government to bring on an extra 200 police. That is why you see police on the streets of Darwin and, I daresay, on the streets of Alice Springs in far greater numbers that we ever saw before.
Therefore, out of the $240m extra that we have out of the GST - write this down, member for Drysdale - $75m went for coppers because you blokes starved them of resources. We were getting to the point we nearly did not have a police force. We put over $100m into a whole range of areas in health, including the welfare and mental health sides, areas of neglect by our predecessors for many years. We have put $27.5m into tourism. How soon they forget where these figures come from. This, of course, came on the back of a struggling tourism industry following 2001 and …
Dr Lim interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Member for Greatorex.
Mr STIRLING: … the collapse of Ansett, SARS, the Twin Towers …
Mr Dunham interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Member for Drysdale.
Mr STIRLING: … the terrorist attacks in Indonesia, all of which had an effect on the backpacker trade that comes down through Indonesia, Darwin and to the Centre on their travels around Australia. Tourism was struggling shortly after we came to government, and there were tough times, indeed, for those couple of years. That is why we put in, member for Greatorex, $27.5m over three years. Add it up.
Ms Carney interjecting.
Mr STIRLING: You want to know where this $240m is going? If you sit down and listen, I will tell you! There is another $27.5m ..
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order, order!
Mr STIRLING: Madam Speaker, just recently we had the secondary education review. That meant $42m extra into secondary education over the next couple of years; $160m going into registered training organisations, outright support for business to build a skilled, talented and creative work force in the Northern Territory. Well, it does not come without dollars and this government is backing that training to the effect of $160m to the registered training organisations and, on top of that, $7m-plus worth of subsidies to employers to put on trainees and apprentices. Keep adding up.
We slashed the payroll tax when we came in. At 6.5%, it was the highest in the country! When we came to government, we reduced it to 6.2%. He gets up and says: ‘I am going to cut taxes’. Well, this goose was Chief Minister for some time in the Northern Territory, and he had an opportunity to cut the rate …
Dr Lim interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Treasurer, please withdraw that remark. Member for Greatorex, fewer interjections from you.
Mr STIRLING: I withdraw, Madam Speaker. The Leader of the Opposition was, at one point, Chief Minister of this Northern Territory and could have, at any time, reduced that absurdly high rate of 6.5%, as we have, to 6.2%. Most importantly, we have increased the threshold, from 1 July last year, for employers and business in the Northern Territory, from $600 000 to $800 000. Many small businesses across the Northern Territory no longer have to pay payroll taxes. From 1 July this year, guess what? It slips up to $1m. Therefore, if you have a lesser pay bill than $1m, you are out of the payroll tax; you no longer have to pay it under this government. We have the lowest taxing jurisdiction on small and medium sized businesses in the whole of Australia, and we are the lowest by a very long way.
We heard a bit about population. The Northern Territory population increased by 713 persons in the June quarter of 2004. September quarter estimates are due to be released on 23 March. That is a quarterly increase of 0.4%. It sounds a bit modest, but it is the second-highest population increase in Australia, if you don’t mind, as modest as it is. The Territory’s annual growth to June 2004 was 0.7%.
The members for Drysdale and Greatorex probably forget that there is an historic pattern to nett interstate migration, and it was one of consistent nett outflows except for the period of the Defence build-up during 1995 to 1998. Over the past 10 years, nett interstate migration has, on average, subtracted around 955 persons, or 0.5% per annum from Territory population growth.
Dr Lim interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Greatorex, I spoke to you before!
Mr STIRLING: In the year to June 2004, the nett interstate migration loss was much larger at 2108, and subtracted from 1.1%. Nonetheless, that nett interstate migration loss in 2003-04 is a huge improvement on 2002-03 when it was a loss of 3389.
In the year to the June quarter 2004, interstate inflows have increased; outflows have fallen. Following nett overseas migration losses in the December quarter 2002 and the March quarter 2003 - the first nett losses - we are well placed now, on track for a 0.7% increase for the population over this year. We are in about the fifth consecutive quarter for population growth, and still we have the Leader of the Opposition and others tell us that we are losing population. Well, it simply ain’t true.
The last thing I want to go to in relation to the member for Brennan’s comments is this idea that we as the Northern Territory and I as Treasurer have to go down and surrender meekly, fall on my sword in front of Mr Peter Costello, the federal Treasurer and say: ‘Dear Treasurer, here are the taxes back’. Well, he signed the agreement, Madam Speaker …
Members interjecting.
Mr STIRLING: He signed the agreement at the time of the GST and he is too stupid to understand what he signed as Chief Minister of the Northern Territory! God knows the Territory was in a very precarious position when this man was Chief Minister because he simply did not understand what he was signing. His name must be on thousands of documents, and I worry about some of those documents because he does not know what they meant. He does not know what his signature meant on them!
Mr Dunham interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Drysdale, order!
Mr STIRLING: What he agreed to, along with the other states and territory, as Treasurer of the Northern Territory, was that a range of taxes would be subject to review in 2005-06. There is no commitment to remove them. I am not going down there to say: ‘Yes, we are going to take all these taxes off’. There was no commitment. He did not make a commitment to remove them and, if he did, I want to know about it because every other state and territory Treasurer signed up to a review of around five taxes in 2005-06. Those taxes are: non-residential conveyancing, which Mr Costello has had a bit to say about; electronic debits tax; stamp duty on hiring arrangements; stamp duty on unquoted marketable securities; and stamp duty on leases and franchises.
Let us be very clear: as Treasurer of the Northern Territory, I will not be signing up to do away with taxes if they go to the bottom line to put us in unsustainable deficits in future. He might; the CLP might out of deference to their political masters in Canberra, to the federal Liberal Party, and to little Johnny Howard and Peter Costello. Well, I will not. I will not! I daresay that I will be in good company with other state and territory Treasurers around Australia. I daresay Dr Refshauge from New South Wales will not be saying: ‘Yes, I am going to give these taxes up’. The good Treasurer from Queensland, I do not think will be saying: ‘Yes, we are going to be giving these taxes up’.
Again, there is no knowledge in this guy’s head about what it means. He makes all sorts of grandiose promises in the world, such as: ‘You have to go down there and return these taxes’. He does not even know how much they accrue or what effect they will have on the bottom line.
Mr Baldwin interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr STIRLING: Guess what? We know he does not care because he left this place broke in 2001! He left the Northern Territory struggling under a crippling burden of debt that we have had to work our guts off to get out in the interests of the Northern Territory. He is about to plunge the Northern Territory into the red again if he gets half a chance. Part of it is sheer bloody ignorance because he does not understand!
Mr ELFERINK: A point of order, Madam Speaker!
Mr Baldwin: Watch your language!
Madam SPEAKER: Before you call a point of order, I just want to warn the members for Daly and Drysdale that your interjections are far too frequent and becoming disorderly.
Mr ELFERINK: Madam Speaker, the Treasurer’s comments have reflected nothing but common and personal abuse, and he should withdraw the use of expletives.
Madam SPEAKER: Sorry, I did not hear them, but I am sure the Treasurer will withdraw.
Mr STIRLING: Madam Speaker, if members took offence, I do withdraw. The fact is, the claims made by the Leader of the Opposition stem from one of two things …
Mr Baldwin interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Daly, you have been spoken to once.
Mr STIRLING: … sheer ignorance or dishonesty. Take your pick: sheer ignorance on the one hand - and I will accept that, he is pretty thick, we know that - or dishonesty. I will not accept dishonesty. There is no place for dishonesty in here, so we will accept the former; we will say he has difficulty understanding these matters and it does not take much to confuse him, and we will leave it at that.
I support the Chief Minister’s statement on Central Australia. Since coming to government, she and this government have always ensured that Central Australia has been and continues to be an important part of our thinking and plans across the board. As Treasurer, I accept the economic circumstances of the Centre are different from other parts of the Northern Territory though some of the levers behind growth such as construction are the same as elsewhere. I can appreciate these differences because I also represent a part of the Territory where the region has its own particular dynamism and is very self-contained economically. You need to be when you are in remote places of the Territory.
I have always looked closely at what levers the government can pull to develop the existing economy and to progress the economy in new and modern directions. I, therefore, have been a keen supporter of the development of niche industries such as those generated by what can be loosely described as ‘Desert Knowledge’. Combined with the incredible local knowledge of desert people, and the uniqueness of that knowledge in Central Australia, we have a set of conditions which allow us to be world leaders in exporting new technology and innovation to other like arid zones around the earth. As a government, we have tried to develop budgets each year that support the existing industry base, and promote new industries and new economic directions. In Alice Springs, Tennant Creek and Central Australia as a whole, that means strongly supporting construction, the tourism industry, and horticulture at and around Ti Tree. It also means focussing on the delivery of effective services to the region.
Unlike many other parts of Australia, our rate of investment in infrastructure has been significant and stands in stark contrast with that of the previous government. When we came to office, the Burke CLP government had delivered a budget where the re-vote of unstarted and unfinished capital works was higher than the available cash they were able to bring to the program. In other words, the Leader of the Opposition’s infrastructure legacy was a long list of capital works that could not be started for years because it had no cash - no cash to pay for the jobs. It is a funny thing in the construction world: they will not do the job without getting paid. You can do all the design, you can stand up in parliament and announce it; however, if you do not put cash against it, there is no little contractor going to come along and do the job. They still do not understand that. The big design list, the big capital works they announced, did not have any cash and never happened. That was part of the problem, part of the legacy we had in coming to government, and the reason, of course, we well know: he had sent us broke. He had no money to put against capital works.
We did take action. We provided a huge injection of cash into infrastructure and a disciplined budget now in balance and will track a $16m deficit in 2005-06, $9m in 2006-07, $6m in 2007-08, and in to balance by the end of the next four-year cycle. Currently in Central Australia, the construction program consists largely of planned expenditure on education infrastructure associated with the Desert Knowledge and Desert Peoples Centre; an injection of funds to CDU to build new buildings; and an extremely significant strategic roads budget which will deliver major improvements for the tourism and pastoral industries. It is already lifting the mines industry, and we heard testament as to how important the Mereenie Loop Road was at breakfast this morning from the view of CATIA, and what it will mean to tourism in the Centre.
In the Barkly, the roads program should deliver easier movement for people all year round in the fishing and tourism spots around Borroloola. In particular, the bridges program and upgrades to roads in the area will significantly help flood-proof local residents’ travel. I recognise some of these projects are taking a while to get under way; however, unlike the previous government …
Madam SPEAKER: Minister, your time has expired.
Mr HENDERSON: Madam Speaker, I move an extension of five minutes to allow my colleague to conclude his remarks.
Motion agreed to.
Mr STIRLING: Madam Speaker, the commitment is there, the cash is there like it never was before and, if these programs are taking a little while to get started, it is not because of the lack of cash. We have design questions and the like before us. The CLP were in power for 26 years. They never put a seal along the Mereenie Loop Road, nor attempted to extend the seal on the Tanami. They allowed beef roads to deteriorate so that many of them now require major works. The cash that flows from the government’s comprehensive program flows into local coffers. Some 90% of DIPE’s environment contracts go to local Territory companies.
As Treasurer, I have worked to deliver the lowest taxing government in Australia for small business. That is the position we occupy for business of 20 or fewer staff. As of 1 July, the Territory moves to being the lowest taxing government in Australia for businesses of 40 or fewer staff. In Alice Springs and the Barkly, that captures a significant number of businesses.
In the Territory, you do not pay land tax or for fire and emergency services, and car registration has not risen. We have lowered payroll tax by bringing down the rate from 6.5% to 6.2%, and we have increased the threshold from $600 000 to $1m. In fact, the tax applying to small businesses of fewer than 20 staff in the Territory is $6834 on average compared to - the member for Macdonnell should pay attention here - New South Wales, $31 940; Victoria, $32 144; Queensland, $14 320; and South Australia, $25 774. It is a bit of a modest claim to say we are the lowest because you really need to look how much we are the lowest by, and how friendly our tax system is to small business in the Northern Territory.
The Burke Country Liberal Party did not have the vision, the stamina or the cash, sadly, to ever deliver those key reforms when they were in office. They so badly handled the economy, they did not have the flexibility to deliver any of those tax cuts without blowing the roof completely away, which they did anyway - both the deficit and debt.
In our time, we have also reduced the tax burden on families and individuals. When we came to office, a first home buyer in Alice Springs or Tennant Creek would get a stamp duty reduction on the first $80 000 of the purchase of their home. That is now $125 000. When we came to office, residents in Alice Springs and Tennant Creek who bought a home, not their first home, received no rebate from the government. We introduced a principal place of residence reduction that delivers $1500 back to residents when they would buy the home they are going to live in. In three years of those concessions, $16m has been saved by Territorians. So, for the people of Central Australia and the Territory, this has been a tax reforming, tax lowering government.
The racing industry in Alice is about to go into its annual high point at the end of April and early May, the Alice Cup season. I hope to be back here for Ladies Day, Madam Speaker, if not the cup. I am pleased to announce the government has provided $80 000 to the Alice Springs Turf Club for the installation of new starting gates. The Alice Springs club and the Tennant Creek racing industry are now well represented in the new principal club arrangements.
In Employment, Education and Training, we have introduced a Jobs Plan, the first in the Territory’s history, spending more than $160m over the three years of the Jobs Plan in training that is focussed, direct and targeted. We introduced incentives for employers in Alice Springs; 66 incentives have been taken up, with skill shortage trades incentives of $7700 – 16; 44 small business incentives and seven for the council. In Tennant Creek, 10 have been taken up with three being skill shortage incentives, four in small business and three in local government.
In 2004, Charles Darwin University received a total of $41.2m in funding to deliver vocational education programs across the Territory. CDU 2004 data shows 20% of that funded training was delivered in the Alice Springs region. Batchelor Institute was funded a total $9.6m to deliver training in 2004 and 30% of this was delivered in the Alice Springs region.
We have employed an extra 100 teachers since coming to office and will soon add 19 counsellor positions to that tally. Tennant Creek High, ANZAC Hill, Alice Springs and the Centralian Secondary College will all receive a student counsellor above formula. Of the 100 teachers, 28.5 full-time equivalent positions have been allocated to Central Australia: seven in schools to assist students with special education needs at Yuendumu, Ti Tree, Mutitjulu, Alice Springs Group Schools east and west, Barkly School group and Papunya; 3.5 full-time equivalent positions in schools, expansion of accelerated literacy at Alekerange, ANZAC Hill, Tennant Creek, Ti Tree and a multi-school position at Gillen Primary in Alice; three behaviour management positions under the Wellbeing project in Tennant Creek and Alice Springs; two full-time equivalent positions in schools supporting students with English as a Second Language at Gillen, Papunya and Alice Springs School of the Air; one Physical Education and Sport Coordinator working across Desert Oaks and Central Storm; two positions supporting alternative education positions in Tennant Creek and Alice for students disengaged from school; three assistant principals in group schools to support students in remote small schools located at Alice Springs group schools east and west and Barkly group school …
Madam SPEAKER: Minister, your time has expired.
Mr STIRLING: I will accept that, Madam Speaker, thank you.
Debate suspended for luncheon adjournment.
STATEMENT BY SPEAKER
Media Arrangements
Media Arrangements
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, I advise that I have given permission for the media to televise and re-broadcast Question Time today.
LEAVE OF ABSENCE
Member for Arafura
Member for Arafura
Mr HENDERSON (Leader of Government Business): Madam Speaker, I move that leave of absence for this day be granted to the member for Arafura, Ms Scrymgour, for health reasons. Questions relating to the member for Arafura’s portfolios of Family and Community Services and Environment and Heritage are to be directed to the Minister for Resource Development, and questions relating to the member’s portfolio responsibilities of women, seniors and youth are to be directed to the Chief Minister.
Motion agreed to.
VISITORS
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, I advise that we have YMCA Youth Parliament participants in the gallery. They are a combined Darwin team and the Tennant Creek team. On behalf of all members, I extend to you a warm welcome.
Members: Hear, hear!
MOTION
Suspension of Standing Orders to Move Motion of Censure of Chief Minister and Government
Suspension of Standing Orders to Move Motion of Censure of Chief Minister and Government
Mr BURKE (Opposition Leader): Madam Speaker, I move - That so much of standing orders be suspended as would prevent this House from censuring the Chief Minister and the government for lying to this House about the conduct of the member for Macdonnell; for the disgraceful and unapologetic comments made by the member for Johnston inasmuch as he said repeatedly the word ‘poofter’ with a clear intention to bring distress to the member for Macdonnell; for the fact that the member for Johnston has on a prior occasion made similar inappropriate sexual innuendo to the member for Macdonnell when making jokes about root vegetables by saying: ‘That is for the member for Macdonnell’; for comments that are deliberately designed to embarrass the member for Macdonnell and rekindle hurtful events that occurred to him during his childhood; for failing to offer any form of personal apology to the Macdonnell; and, further, this motion censures the Chief Minister for failing to take action to sack the member for Johnston for his actions.
Madam SPEAKER: Question Time has finished and we are into a debate. I ask all camera operators to cease.
A member: I would like to speak to the motion, Madam Speaker.
Madam SPEAKER: The Leader of Government Business has to advise whether the government accepts the motion.
Mr HENDERSON (Leader of Government Business): Madam Speaker, I can advise that the government will not be accepting this censure motion …
Members interjecting.
Mr HENDERSON: … as we did not accept the censure motion that was moved on the same issue this morning. I will reiterate for members opposite why we will not be accepting the motion: this issue has been dealt with. This issue has been resolved …
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Daly, don’t!
Mr HENDERSON: … by debate of this parliament. This matter was resolved during the last sittings of the parliament. It was debated. It was resolved on ruling by yourself when you ruled and your ruling was accepted and agreed to without motions to overturn your ruling. You ruled that the member for Macdonnell be expelled from this parliament for a period of 24 hours, one day, and that the member for Johnston be expelled from the House for a period of one hour.
That was the debate that occurred at the time on this issue. It is a debate that has been had in this parliament. You ruled on the consequences at the time. There was no debate seeking to overturn your ruling. Your ruling was agreed to by the House. This is nothing but a political stunt from a desperate Opposition Leader trying to drag back into this parliament an issue that has already been resolved.
My colleague, the member for Johnston, has already apologised in public for his part in this matter, and if the member for …
Members interjecting.
Mr HENDERSON: If the member for member for Macdonnell feels aggrieved by words that have been uttered in this House, he has the capacity, by way of standing orders, to make a personal explanation and put the matter straight as he sees fit, Madam Speaker.
Mr BURKE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! I have not had a chance to speak to my own motion. The minister is speaking to my motion without me having any opportunity.
Mr HENDERSON: No, I am not.
Mr BURKE: It is clear he is going to put the motion. Surely, I have an opportunity to speak to my own motion?
Madam SPEAKER: It is convention for the Leader of Government Business to indicate whether the government will accept the censure motion or not.
A member: He said no.
Madam SPEAKER: If you have said that you will not accept it, you should put your motion and cease debate. It is not the time to debate when you are telling the House what government intends to do.
Mr HENDERSON: Madam Speaker, I was trying to explain to the House why the government will not be accepting this motion. I have made the explanation, and I move that the motion be put.
Madam SPEAKER: The question is that the motion be put.
The Assembly divided:
Ayes 12 Noes 10
Mrs Aagaard Mr Baldwin
Mr Ah Kit Mr Burke
Mr Bonson Ms Carney
Dr Burns Ms Carter
Mr Henderson Mr Dunham
Mr Kiely Mr Elferink
Ms Lawrie Dr Lim
Mr McAdam Mr Maley
Ms Martin Mrs Miller
Mr Stirling Mr Mills
Dr Toyne
Mr Vatskalis
Motion agreed to.
Madam SPEAKER: The question now is that the motion to suspend standing orders be agreed to.
The Assembly divided:
Ayes 10 Noes 12
Mr Baldwin Mrs Aagaard
Mr Burke Mr Ah Kit
Ms Carney Mr Bonson
Ms Carter Dr Burns
Mr Dunham Mr Henderson
Mr Elferink Mr Kiely
Dr Lim Ms Lawrie
Mr Maley Mr McAdam
Mrs Miller Ms Martin
Mr Mills Mr Stirling
Dr Toyne
Mr Vatskalis
Motion negatived.
MOTION
Note Statement - Initiatives and Achievements in Central Australia
Note Statement - Initiatives and Achievements in Central Australia
Continued from earlier this day.
Dr LIM (Greatorex): Madam Speaker, two years ago in this parliament, almost to the day, in the electorate of Greatorex where we are now to welcome the parliament into Alice Springs, the Chief Minister presented a statement with a grab bag of offerings for Alice Springs and, essentially, has repeated it in the statement today.
I suppose it is an election year and you have to try to make sure that people in Alice Springs feel good about this government. For three-and-a-half years, she has done nothing for this place - absolutely nothing. That is the reason why Alice Springs has felt so disillusioned with this government. People tell you that they are not going to vote for the government because they have failed to fulfil their promises - broken promises, a litany of them - for the last three-and-a-half years.
This grab bag of offers from the Chief Minister is nothing but window dressing. She talked about the Mereenie Loop Road, the Desert Knowledge Centre, Newmont mining, the Tanami Road, the beef cattle industry and land claims. All of those things she mentioned two years ago in her statement.
When this statement was delivered to the opposition lobby last night, I went on to the Internet to look at the Chief Minister’s statement of two years ago. I highlighted all the issues that were mentioned two years ago and compared them with the paper she presented today. They are nothing different. It is a pity that the Chief Minister says that she is here to unite all of us, to govern for all Territorians when the reality is she is so Darwin focussed that anything south of the Berrimah Line has completely been forgotten. Unite us? What she has done is more divisive than uniting.
Two years ago, she boasted about Virgin Blue Airlines and what it was going to do for Alice Springs. Well, Chief Minister and Minister for Tourism, Virgin Blue Airlines decided to cancel its flights from Sydney to Alice Springs and replace it with the Adelaide to Alice Springs flight. Within a few short months, it decided that flying every day to Alice Springs was not appropriate, and cut it back to three days a week. That is the problem with tourism in Alice Springs; this government has not had the focus and has not been able to provide the support that it has been so keen to provide in Darwin.
We talk about the economy. Alice Springs has been suffering for the last three-and-a-half years. We have been deprived of government services. Our public service authority has been decimated. All the powers of decision-making have been taken to Darwin. Our local officers here are nothing but reporters back to Darwin. That is not the way to govern the Territory. We are too far apart to have all decision-making based in Darwin. Darwin public servants, unfortunately, do not understand the culture of Alice Springs and, for that reason, we must have people here who can make those decisions.
The reality is that the Chief Minister gave us a whole litany of excuses why not one cent has been spent down here. Look at the Mereenie Loop Road. She promised $10m a year for three years to make sure that the Mereenie Loop Road is sealed. She has done that over two years now, $10m a year, and we have hardly seen one metre of bitumen laid on the Mereenie Loop Road. If that is not a broken promise, I do not know what is. Instead of finishing this road by 2006, when she first made a promise in 2003, it is now going to be deferred to 2007-08. Well, let us see how you go.
The Chief Minister talked about Alice Springs Airport and Destination Alice. I understand that the Yulara Airport is considering very seriously getting international status, and has been lobbying this government very intensely to get international status from the federal government. I say to the Chief Minister now: over my dead body! Alice Springs Airport has better facilities and is able to be an international airport for Central Australia. The Northern Territory government owns the airstrip at Yulara and, if the Chief Minister is serious about ensuring that Alice Springs prospers and becomes the focus for Central Australia, she will make sure the federal government gives international airport status to the Alice Springs Airport. That is the way we can then promote tourism as we would like to see it happen in Central Australia.
The Chief Minister was very quiet about the railway. The CLP delivered the railway line for her, all bar the last 100 km, and she could not even get that right. Since the railway line has been operating from Adelaide to Darwin, our cost of living has not gone down, not by one cent. When you ask the Chief Minister why she has not been involved with lobbying FreightLink and others to ensure we prosper in Central Australia from the supposed benefits of the railway line, she says: ‘It is a private concern. I cannot deal with that’. Of course, you can! That is exactly what she is now trying to tell us she is going to do with GSR to ensure that the Great Southern Railway is going to bring in two Ghans a week and promote more tourism for Central Australia. That she understands, but when it comes to business and making freight cheaper for Alice Springs, she does not understand that.
I share the Chief Minister’s enthusiasm for Desert Knowledge; I believe it is one of the sleeping giants for Central Australia, but do you know what? It has stalled for the three-and-a-half years they have been in government. They have had every opportunity to run with it full steam ahead. Unfortunately, all we have now is a short strip of bitumen heading into the patch of ground that is supposed to be the Desert Knowledge Centre, and, as some members have called it, ‘The cul-de-sac of knowledge’. It is a pity. Desert Knowledge could be a huge initiative for Central Australia and we see nothing of it.
In regard to the Desert Peoples Centre, I sincerely trust it goes ahead. Matters have stalled. Recently, I had an inquiry from the federal minister’s office as to the nature of issues surrounding the Desert Peoples Centre and why it is not going ahead. I understand there was a special meeting of the Batchelor college board last week and there are some ramifications arising from that.
Earlier today, two of us were harangued severely by the minister for Education about the money he has been spending and the things he has been trying to do for Central Australia. The teachers of Central Australia and from around the Territory have been writing to me saying they have been very disappointed with this government which, in 2001, went into the election promising they would make them the best paid teachers in the country. Right now, they are the third lowest paid teachers in the country. I have asked for the minister to intervene and he has not even bothered to meet with them. When you try to get the minister to do his sums, he will not trust his own department to do them for him; he got figures done in his Parliament House office and then trots them out as if they are gospel.
I will tell you what the opposition has undertaken to give to teachers when we are in government. The Leader of the Opposition wrote to the Australian Education Union, NT Branch on 19 March, and I quote:
- As leader of the Country Liberal Party, I make this undertaking to the teachers of the Northern Territory:
That, on attaining government in the Northern Territory, the CLP will:
1. Agree to a two-year enterprise bargaining agreement;
education, that is from transition to year three, commencing in transition in the first year of the term
in office, and moving upwards by one year each year of the term of government;
learning ability across all primary schools, based on an annual assessment using the weightings model
to fit students in to a maximum class size of 22 students;
relief teachers; and
of students in a cluster of schools in an area reaches 300 students.
This letter was sent to the AEU and I advise you, Mr Deputy Speaker, that many teachers now have these letters in their hands. Over the last three days, since this letter went out, I have received many letters from around the Territory congratulating us for our tough stance with this government, that our commitment to teachers will make them the best paid in the country and they will stay the best paid in the country. Then we will have good teachers providing good education for all our children.
We had a debate, the minister for Education and I, on radio a couple of days ago - or was it yesterday? He could not tell me that he has lost 1000 students in the last year. I told him that was in his Budget Papers which he, as Treasurer, delivered in this parliament. The Northern Territory has lost population for the last few years. In the year 2000, our population growth was about 1.5% with an unemployment rate of 4.5%. In the last three years of this government, let me tell you what has happened. In 2001, the growth rate was 1.1% and unemployment was 5.6%. That is a jump of 1.1%. In 2002, population growth was 0.1% and unemployment went up again another 1.2% to 6.8%. In 2003, the population growth rate was minus-0.1%, so we went backwards in 2003, and unemployment was 6.4%. Over the last 12 months, yes, the population has increased, in the minister’s own words, because there has been an increase in births in our remote communities.
Alice Springs Expo was held in this very room about two weeks ago. I spoke to a man who had a stand and was selling removal services. He told me that nett per month, he moves three families out of Alice Springs. He moves people in as well, but nett per month, he moves three families out of Alice Springs. That is why we are suffering a population decline. When you have a population decline, you lose not only the adults, the working mums and dads who have gone interstate, but their children. That is why we do not have 1000 school kids in the Northern Territory these last 12 months. That is why this government has not been able to build a school in the last three-and-a-half years. That is why our schools are well staffed these last 12 months: there are fewer students to teach; 1000 children left the Northern Territory! That equates to an average of three large primary schools across the Territory. That is a lot. When you think about 330 students per school, you are looking at significant numbers of teachers. That is why this government has not had to recruit more than 100 teachers this last year.
If you look through the history of the Territory, we recruit about 200 to 250 teachers every year. This year, they only needed to recruit 100. That is why there is a problem. This Territory has struggled to be prominent in its efforts against other states and territories. To sum up why it is all happening, I quote from an interview by Peter Forrest, who writes the heritage articles in the NT News. Back in April, in the NT News, Peter Forrest quoted at length from an interview with Bernie Kilgariff, one of the most important figures in the modern history of the Northern Territory. Bernie said:
- It has seemed to me recently that the old Territory spirit has evaporated. We are too comfortable, too complacent
and we are not fighting for the Territory. The feeling of Territory identity is not so strong any more.
- Because of this, there is a lull. Lethargy seems to hang over everything. That affects the economy because there
is no vitality, no sense of urgent commitment to the Territory. If we can bring back that commitment, we will do
more to energise our economy than the railway and gas put together.
We all need to get behind the Territory again, revitalise our attitudes to it so we can drive it forward.
That is the man who knows the Territory. He is telling this government that they are lethargic, does not know what it is about, does not do anything that is really proactive for the Northern Territory. That is the problem, and it is time that this government wakes up to itself and recognises that their three-and-a-half years have done nothing for the Territory. We have lost population, and our economy is going backwards despite the $600m that they have received extra from GST. In a rough calculation, $600m divided by 200 000 Territorians equates to $3000 per Territorian, man, woman and child, and that is a lot of money. What have we seen for it? Nothing!
When I came here in 1981, I recall, at the turn of self-government, the volumes of money coming to the Northern Territory was equivalent to the volumes of money coming in now. With the money that we had in those early days, we were able to build the Yularas, the Sheratons, the casinos, and all those places that we have. We sealed a double lane highway from Alice Springs to Darwin. We were able to do all those infrastructure things, which this government has done absolutely nothing of.
As I said before, no new schools, the Mereenie Loop Road has had nothing done to it. They promised to fix up the Tanami, there have been a couple of dollars to do the R&M on the road, nothing more than that. That is the tragedy that we are facing at this time. There is $600m in extra money and nothing to show for it. If I were in their shoes now, I would be really concerned that they cannot show Territorians what they have done with it.
When I asked the Treasurer yesterday morning on radio: ‘What have you done with the money?’, he simply could not tell me, except coming into this House today and trying to lambast us for the questions we put to them. It is a real pity and this government needs to be held to account.
Dr TOYNE (Central Australia): Mr Deputy Speaker, before I make my prepared contribution, I would like to rebut a couple of things that the previous speaker said. I wish him all the luck in taking his case out to the electorate because he is certainly going to have the race of his life in the near future.
Dr Lim: You are a dead man walking. You are going to retire.
Dr TOYNE: We will see who the dead man walking is.
First, on the matter of the international airport in Alice Springs, I have met with the airport management. They have shown me quite detailed plans of the modification of that terminal and the budget that they are working on through their corporate processes. The main issue is the federal government coming in with quarantine and other support for the airport at Alice Springs. If the member wants to make it an issue, perhaps he should help round up federal support for making our airport international in Alice Springs. I certainly cannot wait for the day when we see the first international passengers go through a terminal that has been adapted for that purpose.
In education, honestly, it makes me sick to hear the hypocrisy that falls from his mouth. When you look at the $40m we have just committed to get 12- to 16-year-olds outside Alice Springs - at-risk kids, kids who have been out of school in Alice Springs - for 26 years we fought to get your government to take any notice of the needs out bush. There is a whole generation of kids that are your legacy, so the less you say about the coverage of education in Central Australia, the better. You had your chance and you did nothing about it.
A little more than three years ago, the Labor government came to power with a clear agenda to build a better Territory for all Territorians. Our policies and commitments are clear to all. We have:
- built a strong Territory economy with a comprehensive Jobs Plan;
new ways of working with Aboriginal communities;
fiscal strategy;
freedom of information legislation;
young people;
paid more attention to serious issues such as substance abuse and personal violence.
This government promised to govern for all Territorians, to provide a strong economy, first rate services and benefits of our great lifestyle no matter where you live. Living testament to that commitment is the fact we are meeting in Alice Springs right now.
As Minister for Central Australia for the last three years, and with responsibility for both the Justice and Health portfolios, it has been my privilege to contribute my bit to meeting these commitments for the people of Central Australia. It is also my privilege, as part of this government, to support the Chief Minister in presenting to this House a road map for building a better future for Alice and the Centre.
Turning first to justice, the Department of Justice has a substantial presence in Alice Springs, offering customer and client-based services to residents of the town and surrounding communities. It is a presence that this government has been building to better service this area of the Territory. In 2002, there were 176 members of the Department of Justice team in Alice Springs. Today, there are 230. The Department of Justice’s expenditure in Alice Springs has increased from $17.63m in 2000-01 to an anticipated $23.183m in the current year, 2004-05. This represents an increase in spending of more than 30%.
In 2003, I opened the Alice Springs Office of Crime Prevention, established to develop and support crime prevention activities in the community. Recently, the Community Justice Unit was formed within the office. The unit focusses on remote community law and justice issues, and is helping four communities across the Territory form Law and Justice Committees.
The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions provides an Alice Springs-based independent public prosecutions service. In addition, the Witness Assistance Service provides support for victims of crime, witnesses and their families in Alice Springs and surrounding areas. Support can include liaison between victims, witnesses and their families, and police prosecutors and counsellors; referral to counselling services; and assistance with preparation of victim impact statements.
Officers from Consumer and Business Affairs located in Alice Springs keep the local community informed about consumer rights and responsibilities and promote responsible business conduct.
The Department of Justice, through offices such as the Public Trustee and the Registrar-General, provides vital and often overlooked services including will making services, estate management, and registration of land titles and subdivisions, so important to Alice Springs during the first significant residential land release in more than 10 years.
This government has also given the Public Trustee a new and important job: management of restrained and forfeited property under the Criminal Property Forfeiture Act, which sees drug dealers and other criminals deprived of ill-gotten gains of their criminal activity. This is a government that has looked and acted beyond the Berrimah Line. When implementing our election commitments such as our tough on drugs campaign, we have considered the needs of areas beyond Darwin. A full-time court clinician based in Alice Springs manages our new drug courts, which aim to reform offenders addicted to illicit drugs through treatment and rehabilitation.
Turning now to corrections, this government has made a substantial investment in correctional services, with $26.5m committed over four years to reform the Northern Territory’s prison system and to drive down re-offending rates. In late 2003, I commissioned international experts to review Northern Territory prisons, and all 71 recommendations of their review were accepted by this government. The funding commitments we have made to implement these recommendations represent the most significant injection of resources into our prisons for many years. This investment will enable us to turn our prisons and prison officers into a second crime fighting force, building on the $75m Building Our Police Force plan, and the front line law enforcement work of our police. A clear result of Building Our Police Force and our tough new sentencing laws has been a rise in the number of prisoners in NT gaols. To tackle this and, as part of responding to the review recommendations, we are building a new 100-bed, $8m facility in the Darwin prison.
At the Alice Springs Correctional Centre, work has been done to identify new industry and program space, and planning is under way for the transition to living units. We have already increased staffing levels at Alice Springs Correctional Centre, bringing the roster to 152. Last year, we undertook a national advertising campaign for experienced prison officers and for recruits to the Prison Officer in Training Course in Alice Springs Prison. Thirty-five applications were received, 17 from Alice Springs residents. Of the 23 successful applicants due to commence in April this year, 15 were recruited locally from Alice Springs.
Correctional Services also operates Aranda House in Alice Springs, the short-term juvenile holding facility. The facility was upgraded in 2004 at a total cost of $600 000. Detainees are managed on a case-by-case basis, with the capacity to accommodate for longer periods if required.
Turning now to crime prevention and community safety, the community safety initiatives of the Martin government are paying real dividends. Crime and antisocial behaviour were spiralling out of control under the previous government, with Alice Springs bearing the brunt of their policies and neglect. This government was not prepared to accept that nothing could be done about the high rates of drug abuse and its link to property crime. This government was not prepared to accept the devastation of our young people through social isolation, substance abuse and lack of opportunity. The previous government did, but we are certainly not. We promised to tackle crime, the causes of crime, and to build safer communities where all Territorians are, and feel, safe.
The results of our efforts can be seen in the latest crime and justice statistics, which show crime falling across the Territory, particularly in Alice Springs. Over the last year, most categories of offence have fallen. Assaults decreased by 5%, and sexual assaults decreased by 34%. Break-ins to commercial and other premises fell by 10%, and motor vehicle theft and related offences fell by 8%.
The difference between this government and the previous government is stark. In 2001, there were 1051 assaults; in 2004, there were 791, a fall of 24%. In 2001, there were 48 sexual assaults; in 2004, there were 39, a fall of 19%. In 2001, there were 334 house breaks-ins; in 2004, there were 176, a fall of 46%. In 2001, there were 261 commercial break-ins; in 2004, there were 212, a fall of 14%.
Our $400 000 NT Crime Prevention Grant Scheme is helping our community put their crime prevention ideas into action, complementing police and government efforts to reduce crime. The Barkly region’s Safer Communities Committee has received $23 000 under the Northern Territory Crime Prevention Grant Scheme to install better lighting in three areas of town.
A number of Central Australian projects focussing on early intervention with families, children and young people have been funded this year with $15 000 to ASYASS to continue Deadly Treadlies, a bike rebuilding project operating in remote areas and town camps, a fantastic project, and $15 000 to the Laramba Community Incorporated to provide recreational facilities and activities for young people, and to tackle substance abuse.
Crime prevention funds will also help projects based at Hidden Valley and Sadadeen Primary School to strengthen community level responses to crime and safety issues, creating opportunities for positive behaviour to flourish. We have formed strong partnerships, and will continue to work with organisations and individuals across the Centre, finding local crime prevention solutions to local issues.
Turning now to health, I recall the launch of this government’s Building Healthier Communities framework in February 2004. My colleague, the Minister for Family and Community Services, and I spoke of the need to address long-standing health issues in the Territory, and of our commitment to supporting health professionals in building a better health system. We recognised the sound base we had to work from: how the doctors, nurses, health workers and other professionals in the health system provide high quality, effective services, and how the non-government and community controlled organisations are an essential part of our health system. We recognised the need for change and for more resources to deliver better health services to all Territorians.
A year later, we can look back and see some substantial progress along this path. For example, we have increased the Health and Community Services budget by a record $154m since coming to power. We have put an extra 100 nurses in our health system, far exceeding our election commitment of 75 new hospital nurses.
Today, I wish to describe how the people of Alice Springs and Central Australia are benefiting from the improvements and additional resources that this government has put in place. Over the life of this government, we have substantially increased resourcing for Alice Springs Hospital so that today, it is one of the best regional hospitals in Australia for a town of this size. In just three years, base spending at the hospital is up over 30% from $57.2m in 2000-01 to $75.5m in 2003-04.
On top of this, we have committed significant extra funds to Alice Springs Hospital for special purposes. For example, $11m has been provided over four years for additional staff and equipment for the Intensive Care Unit. For the first time, we have Level 2 Intensive Care and High Dependency Units at Alice Springs Hospital. The units now have four High Dependency and four Intensive Care beds that are fully equipped and operational, and we have just recruited intensivists to head up the unit, particularly Sydney Jacobs as the Consultant Intensivist.
In addition, we have put in $10m to rectify problems with the hospital redevelopment project set up under the previous government. This will be a challenging process, and I thank staff in advance for their cooperation while these works are being carried out. In the end, though, we will have a better hospital for the people of Alice Springs and Central Australia.
The extra resources this government has already put in will not make a perfect hospital. We know that there is a great deal of demand for hospital services and that, from time to time, our hospital staff have to work under a lot of pressure. Nurses, in particular, have been under pressure in recent months and that is one of the reasons the community holds them in such high esteem. However, the extra resources we have allocated have allowed us to employ more nurses and doctors and deliver better health services for the community. For example, from 277 nurses in the hospital in 2000, we have 316 counting mental health and the community health service areas.
We have delivered on an EBA that makes our nurses amongst the best paid with the best conditions in Australia. We have put in place professional development and training opportunities and public recognition and acknowledgement through the Nursing and Midwifery Awards. We also committed the department to working with them to address workplace issues they face.
We have increased the number of doctors working in the hospital and filled key medical staff positions in anaesthetics and critical care against a background of over 90% occupancy of doctor positions. These are substantial achievements in light of the situation of national and international shortages of these professions.
The hospital has achieved accreditation under the Australian Council of Health Care Standards. This means we have been independently assessed as meeting national benchmarks for service delivery. This recognises the effects of our hospital staff in the delivery of great care. Incidentally, it is the first time all of our five hospitals have met the national standards, something that was never achieved in the past.
We are setting up other services that will reduce pressure on the hospital, particularly the Emergency Department and the new Health Direct call centre, which started today, and will enable community members from Alice Springs to get free health advice over the telephone 24 hours a day, seven days a week. This will assist them to make informed decisions about whether they need to attend Accident and Emergency, a GP, or other local health service. Through the call centre, our emergency department will be helping those who need it most.
Protecting and nurturing our children is fundamental to making the next generation of Territorians healthier than this one. We now know that what happens to babies before they are born and in the first few years of life is critically important for their health throughout their lives. What we do now for the children, delivering better health services, supporting families and working to overcome disadvantage, will have positive effects not just now, but for generations to come. This government is acting to give kids a better start in life, and our Child Health Initiative is delivering particular benefits to the children of Central Australia. Under this initiative, an additional $2.2m will be spent every year on child health services. The new NT-wide Child Health Team includes eight additional full-time equivalent positions for Central Australia, and will provide program support, training and practical assistance to health centres and communities.
Initial priorities include universal child health monitoring through growth assessment and action programs, and a roll-out of the Healthy School-Aged Kids program in collaboration with the Department of Employment, Education and Training. The new positions include a child health coordinator and two child health nurses in Alice Springs; part-time community-based child workers at Yuelamu, Six Mile/Ti Tree and Ali Curung; a child health nurse at Tennant Creek; and a part-time community child worker for Elliott/Marlinja, also based in Tennant Creek. Recruitment of part-time community child workers for several other communities is in progress.
We are also working with the Commonwealth and our partners in the Aboriginal community, particularly AMSANT, the Aboriginal Medical Services Alliance of the Northern Territory, to deliver more resources for primary health care in Central Australia. This has seen funding flow into five priority health zones to increase resourcing for primary health care and a more focussed public health approach, particularly to the management of chronic illness. There is also good news in this government’s $1.4m commitment to eliminate single nurse posts in the Northern Territory. In Central Australia, Kings Canyon and Titjikala have already received their extra nurse to ensure better health care for residents as well as tourists.
The Territory faces unique health challenges, not least being the small population spread over a vast area. This has meant that addressing health issues in regional centres such as Tennant Creek is not always easy. Nevertheless, the last three years have seen an increased health effort in that town. For example, when mosquitoes with the potential to spread dengue fever were detected in Tennant Creek, an immediate and well coordinated response was carried out. After intense lobbying with the Commonwealth, the Northern Territory has secured $1m funding for dengue mosquito eradication in the town.
The hospital is also being upgraded, with $750 000 for fire safety upgrades, and the purchase of a new infant warmer, defibrillator, humidicrib and chemical pathology machine. Tennant Creek Hospital has also received independent accreditation this year, and I congratulate them on that. Most significant, perhaps, is the construction of a $1.5m eight-chair renal unit with ancillary services for patients, staff and public.
It is fair to say that we are not only taking care of the needs of Alice Springs …
Mr ELFERINK: A point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker! I move an extension of time such that the minister may conclude his remarks.
Motion agreed to.
Dr TOYNE: I appreciate that. Thank you, member for Macdonnell, that is very civilised - for once. I will not be too long.
Two midwives and an infant health nurse are to commence at Tennant Creek Hospital in April. A women’s health position has recently been filled. Speech therapy, physiotherapy and dentistry will be provided by visiting professionals until these positions can be recruited to local tenure. We will continue to work hard to fill these important positions to ensure that the people of Tennant Creek continue to have access to a high quality health service. We are also assisting the town to attract a private general practitioner by offering a government building free of charge for a surgery.
Looking back over the three-and-a-half years of the Martin Labor government, we can see significant improvements in our health system in Central Australia. We have put more money into the system than ever before, and we remain committed to work through the operational, resource and policy issues with people in Central Australia to build a better health system even than now into the future.
Mr ELFERINK (Macdonnell): Mr Deputy Speaker, I thank the honourable minister for his comments.
As I have been listening to this debate, and having read the statement given this morning by the Chief Minister, I turn my mind to the way ministers are delivering their statements, and the way the opposition is dealing with some issues in the statements. It gives me the impression, after I read and listen for a while, that there are two flavours to what is being presented to the people of Alice Springs today.
The first flavour is in the form of the ministerial statement. As we listened to what the Chief Minister and other ministers have had to say, what permeates is the fairly clinical presentation of numbers, figures, dollar amounts, percentages, percentile points and all of those wonderfully expressive things that governments tend to use to demonstrate their points. What is missing is the human aspect to these statements. The human aspect is worth investigating.
Perhaps the case in point is the Mereenie Loop Road, which was announced with great fanfare two years ago here, which was going to be built over 10 years. Then they realised, of course, that the CLP commitment prior to that had been three years. They were going to build a road to improve the delivery of services and tourism services in Central Australia. It is a road which was supported by both sides of the House.
The human aspect, however, is that after you listened to comments being made by ministers the last time around - notably the then minister for Infrastructure who described the need to build the road as ‘urgent’ - and quiz the same minister in the estimates process - where he then said that substantial input had been made to make the Mereenie Loop Road a goer - it is very hard to reconcile that with the very human experience of driving along the Mereenie Loop Road, as I did only a few days ago to see how work was progressing. Driving along this new, smooth highway, which was promised two years ago, the rattling in my vehicle was so bad that the airconditioning vents fell off the dashboard.
The human aspect of this is that for all of the promises made and assurances given by government, there are still people who have their airconditioning vents falling off their dashboards because with all the numbers, statistics and assurances we hear, and suggestions of work having been done, the truth of the matter is that in length, not a single inch of bitumen has been added to the Mereenie Loop Road.
Another human aspect I experienced recently was the Santa Teresa Road, which is not that long. It is only 70 km and runs from here to Santa Teresa. I was driving that road quite recently. The annual funding for that road, I was advised by a very good source, had been cut from $90 000 to $30 000. Let us talk about that in human terms. The human term is that the front tyre of my vehicle picked up a rock from the road surface. That rock, which was about a foot long, tumbled end over end and punched a hole, probably about the size of a jam jar lid, straight through my rear tyre, ripping the tread off the tyre. The human aspect of that experience of Northern Territory government roads is at 42C or 43C in the shade, with flies crawling in your ears, eyes and nose, having to climb under a car, find a place where the bulldust is not so deep that you cannot get a jack into place, wind up the jack and change a tyre in very unpleasant circumstances. I can tell you that your language and temper seriously decline over the 20 minutes or so it takes to replace a 4-wheel drive tyre. By the time you get it back into the car, you are of a mind to send the rock, the tyre and some of the bulldust to the Chief Minister.
Indeed, I did send the rock, the tyre and the bulldust to the Chief Minister. I said to the Chief Minister in a letter that I sent her: ‘This is your rock, this is the remnant of my tyre, and the little bag of bulldust will help you to identify NT government’s roads policy’. My experience of Territory roads does not reflect the promise held up in this very good statement in numbers, percentile points and non-human aspects.
The same experience could be levelled at the Plenty Highway, which is a matter of great concern to the residents there. I have been written to and lobbied by residents. I am not only talking about the cattle industry - it is primarily constructed as a beef road - but I am also referring to the residents of places like Harts Range, who are not people rolling in dough, and as they drive on these roads, the only song they can hear on their car sound system is Shake, Rattle and Roll. Unfortunately, it is not a cover version of any form, I can tell you that.
The minister also tells us, in his statistical terms and with dollar estimates and projections into the next few years, about the work being done on the Desert Knowledge Precinct. This is a precinct I support wholly and completely, and have loudly cheered both past and this government for advancing. The human aspect, sadly, is that you turn on the radio and two radio announcers, very young fellows just in the industry of 18 or 19, are having a good old laugh about the Avenue of Knowledge. What they are saying about the Avenue of Knowledge is that it is the ‘Cul-de-sac of Knowledge’, which is exactly how the joke has been perpetuated in this community; people refer to that piece of dirt as the ‘Cul-de-sac of Knowledge’. So sensitive was the government about it - and it is not, sadly, mentioned in the minister’s statement, thus giving the statement a human element – they have seen fit to remove the street signs that say ‘Avenue of Knowledge’. The reason they have done that is because, clearly, they understand the matter is being held up as an issue of great ridicule.
These promises were made two years ago. The problem we have with this government is that they are very long on rhetoric. I have a statement in my hand, 24 pages long, which was circulated earlier. They are very long on rhetoric, but very short on delivery. This statement is, by way of its numbers, percentile points and projected costs, rhetoric. Where are the bricks and mortar? Where is the bitumen? This statement could have been given just as effectively two years ago. In fact, the statement was effectively given two years ago, and not that much has changed, I am sad to say.
What I would like to know from this government is when are we going to stop hearing rhetoric and start seeing bitumen on dirt? When are we going to start seeing mortar between bricks? That is what makes the difference.
I listened to the Minister for Health talking about what is happening at the Alice Springs Hospital. I am not going to visit the Alice Springs Hospital issues at length, suffice to say this: in a very clinical and numbered way, suggesting percentile points, numbers of positions created, how much work they have been doing, and how much more money they have been spending - there is no shortage of comments about money - if the job that is being done by this government is so glorious and something that has to be laurelled and hailed, why, I ask - a simple question - are the nurses engaging in industrial action at the hospital?
Ms Carney: Now, there is a question.
Mr ELFERINK: Now, there is an interesting question. The minister says: ‘Everything is sweetness and light, and is going wonderfully, and has improved so much since we came to government. That wretched, dreadful bunch of CLP so-and-so’s were not able to run the hospital effectively. It was not until we, the great hospital administrators, came along that everything was sweetness and light’. If we are being asked to believe that, let us look at the evidence. The evidence of nurses engaged in industrial action is there for all to see. The minister can say what he likes, but I know what is happening out there: nurses ain’t that happy, minister. It is incongruous to listen to a minister say on radio: ‘I have just finished having a meeting with the nurses and they are really happy’. Then, the very next moment, a spokesman for the ANF Alice Springs Branch goes on the radio and says: ‘No, minister, we are not that bloody happy. We are actually quite unhappy’.
The same could be said of teachers. Once again, we hear what great work is being done in the area of education and the efforts being made by this government to project repair works on buildings and ‘No, we are not going to build any more schools, but we are going to fix those ones we have. We are going to do so much work to make the teachers happy, and we are going to deliver better services, better education, and bums on seats’. The question, of course, that begs, when looking at the human aspect of it, is: why are the teachers striking as we speak? Why are the teachers in the minister’s own electorate, as I understand it, today saying they are going to go out for three days? Why is it that teachers in Alice Springs tomorrow are going out on strike and coming down, I presume, to this parliament to impress upon the minister their position? Why is it that teachers in Darwin yesterday, as I saw on ABC news last night, were saying: ‘Don’t vote for this government’?
We look at the human aspect of this, which is anger, frustration and disappointment. The human aspect is shattered expectations, not projections, not percentages, not capital works programs for next year and that sort of thing. The human aspect is the physical experience of what government does.
What has government done? There is no new Mereenie Loop Road as promised two years ago; there is no Desert Knowledge Centre; the nurses are engaged in work-to-rule programs; teachers are out on strike as we speak; and, according to the Chief Minister and other ministers we have heard today, because of the numbers they have been given, everything is sweetness and light. There seems to be a growing void between what I am experiencing in reality and what this government is achieving or saying in public and in this House because the real experience, the human experience, is quite different from the Chief Minister’s statement.
Another classic example of this sort of thing was the great fanfare with which the Minister for Community Development some years ago now, announced the Economic Regional Development Committees. I think there were six areas, if memory serves me correctly, that were going to be identified in the Northern Territory which were going to have advice and input into the economic processes that will drive the Northern Territory forward. Since that time, the experience has been a couple of meetings and not much else. Where are the projects, where are the suggestions, where are the reports to parliament? Where are all of those things that were promised that were going to drive the Territory forward?
What the ministers of this government have to realise is that, when you are a minister, it is not the public servants who set the agenda, it is the minister who sets the agenda. When the ministers create something like these economic development committees, they have to drive them. They have to become actively involved and that requires effort and time …
Mr Ah Kit interjecting.
Mr ELFERINK: This is one of the great challenges for this government because whilst they receive all of these very clinical reports and statements from all manner of public servants about how swimmingly things are going, the fact is that they are not driving their own policies through their departments. Sir Humphrey Appleby used to say: ‘The most important thing to do as a bureaucrat is to get your minister house trained’.
It is interesting to hear that the Minister for Housing chortles and laughs as I speak as well as the Minister for Community Development - he is one and the same man.
Mr Ah Kit interjecting.
Mr ELFERINK: Mr Deputy Speaker, the Minister for Housing is a classic example as to how the system works. He has, on several occasions, referred to a report on which all Northern Territory government housing policies have been based. I am curious to know whether the minister has read the report. It is not that long, only 107 pages. The minister would know, had he read the report upon which all of his presumptions about housing are based, that those reports are based on research done in different areas in major urban centres, not in communities such as Alice Springs or Darwin, for that matter. Darwin would probably fit the report’s structure more effectively than Alice Springs, but the fact is that the people studied in those reports upon which the minister bases so much of his assumptions and advice to this parliament do not include people from regional communities of a different cultural background.
There is a profound difference between some of the problems being experienced in this town than were being experienced by those residents who were reported on in that report. It is part of the process by which the minister has not allowed himself to drive his policies, but he has his policies handed to him. Therefore, what we finally have is a minister who finds himself in a situation where he is no longer in charge of his department, but he makes a few comments in the public arena and then, finally, he goes about relying on public servants to fill in the gaps. The minister has to take control.
The minister’s approach in relation to these issues is also evidenced by his approach to local government. The minister has painted himself into a dreadful corner because, when he became the Minister for Community Development, which is Local Government and comes under that umbrella, he made an announcement which got him onto the front page of The Australian newspaper. He was going to, by virtue of his position, finally take Aboriginal issues by the scruff of the neck. He was going to solve them, and he was going to be the man. Two things are required to achieve that: one is the grunt behind the vision; and the second thing is an appropriate vehicle. The appropriate vehicle to which the minister turns is, effectively, local government. So by increasing the screws on local governments, increasing the pressure on local governments by changing the Local Government Act and taking the Department of Local Government from being an advisory, consultative body to a policing, regulatory body, what he has done is upset not only a lot of people in local government - and I am talking about the people who live in the communities around the traps – but he has also tried to use a vehicle that is inappropriate for the task that he set.
The task that he set for himself was to change the way Aboriginal people live in remote communities in the Northern Territory. That is a mammoth trailer to tow. The vehicle he has available to him is the vehicle of local government. Effectively, what he is trying to do is tow a road train with a Hyundai. It is not within local government’s capacity to pull social change through the Northern Territory. They have small budgets and their job is to pick up rubbish, sweep streets and do some minor stuff around communities. That is what local governments do. They fill in that bottom tier of government, Mr Deputy Speaker, as you are well aware.
The minister now finds himself painted into a corner and, sadly, for all the pontificating that we heard three years ago when he took over this role, I see no change in communities. The human experience of the minister’s projections, numbers, statistics, projected spending, all that sort of thing, is many angry people at a local government level, who feel like they are being …
Ms CARTER: Mr Deputy Speaker, I move an extension of time such that my colleague may conclude his remarks.
Motion agreed to.
Mr ELFERINK: Thank you to honourable members for their indulgence. The minister finds himself towing this road train with his Hyundai and he is surprised that he is not getting results. The human experience is that people are frustrated, angry, disappointed, and their expectations have not been realised. One of the worst things that government can do, at a federal, state or local level, is to become distant from the issues and the human experiences that are being felt by the people on the ground.
Crime: we talk about crime statistics, and we heard the Attorney-General say we have crime rates falling and our statistics say this and that. I wonder how much comfort the people I spoke to over the weekend whose daughter was sexually assaulted recently, whose son is sporting a black eye because he got punched in the face at school, will take from the minister’s statistics. This is the problem that we have, again: the human experience is a black eye and a daughter being sexually assaulted. The minister’s response is: ‘Well, the numbers are looking good’. Great comfort for a parent, I have to say. It is important that we, as parliamentarians, and these people, as a government, understand the human aspect.
There is one other issue on which I want to touch. In fact, there are dozens of issues that I have noted down. However, I find it curious that this Attorney-General can proudly say that he has more Aboriginal people in custody than ever before in the Northern Territory, so much so that he proudly says that he is glad to be building another 150-bed facility for our gaols. This government came to power with the promise that they would fix these sorts of problems. What they have delivered is exactly the opposite, and specifically, the member for Stuart, the Attorney-General …
Mr Stirling: You blokes are going to bring back mandatory sentencing. That will be a big help.
Mr ELFERINK: That is exactly the interjection I was waiting for, and I thank the Treasurer for his interjection. Fewer Aboriginal people were in custody under the mandatory sentencing regime than you have in custody now!
Mr Stirling: Oh, it worked really well!
Mr ELFERINK: I tell you something, Treasurer: that is something that is being understood out there. It is a great shame on this government that, for all of their promises, their solution is to lock up Aboriginal people. That is what they are doing, and what we heard the Attorney-General say. Sadly, he is not clearly heard over these microphones, and I can imagine why he would choose to mumble his way through that part of his contribution to the debate today. They have more people in custody because their programs did not try to frighten people away from crime or act as a deterrent. All they care about is throwing people in the clink and, despite their promises, what did they deliver? More Aboriginal people in custody than ever before.
We talk about issues such as the economy. This government came to office on a projected growth rate of 5% over five years. They have managed 0.3%. The problem with this is that when you read the mini-budget of 2000-01, where they fabricated the black hole - and I will tell you exactly how they did this. The budget of that year, delivered by the former Treasurer Mike Reed said: ‘We are going to have a $12m deficit’. That was what was projected as a deficit. We knew that that was going to be a deficit as a result of that budget. That is palatable when you are experiencing times of growth. They then got Professor Percy Allan in, who immediately made two comments or decisions. He said: ‘One, you are not going to sell off NT Fleet valued at $50m’. The sale of NT Fleet was factored into the budget prior, so it was the decision of Professor Percy Allan to …
Mr Stirling: It was fraud!
Mr ELFERINK: … blow-out, deliberately, the budget by not selling that asset. I tell you it is now valued at much more than $50m. In fact, at the time, it was valued at $54m, so the deficit would only have been $8m according to these numbers.
The next thing that he said is: ‘You do not have any sort of contingent liability’, and pulls a figure out of the air and applies that. All of a sudden, that is not factored in, so that must be part of the blow-out, on which he put the figure of $40m. Add to that the $12m, that is $102m. Guess what they came up with a figure for the black hole? $107m. So, they found a couple of little other areas where they could fabricate the blow-out. Why did they need to do this? So that they could deceive Territorians into saying that there was this big black hole, and everyone swallowed it hook, line and sinker. It was their fabrication.
How does this affect us on a personal level? The fact is that people in the Northern Territory desperately need straightforward information. Information is the oxygen of good decisions. What we have seen consistently from this government is information, both fiscal and like this statement today, which deprive people of that oxygen. The real oxygen that they will have in making their decisions and understanding what is happening around them is asking themselves these questions: why are local government authorities so angry; why are nurses on industrial action; why are teachers on strike; why are people still getting their kids coming home from school complaining of sexual assault and having their faces belted in; why are people not able to drive roads without their cars vibrating to bits or their tyres falling apart?
Those are the human aspects of government, and I know what I trust more in terms of experience. Do I trust what I see on a human level or what I read in terms of projections, percentile points and future capital works programs?
Mr AH KIT (Community Development): Mr Deputy Speaker, what a fascinating performance from the member for Macdonnell. He is so good he should be putting his hand up for Who Wants to be a Millionaire? He appears to know everything. It seems to be that everything was rosy in his books before the August 2001 election. I am here to remind him that we accept responsibility since then; however, there is a lot of hard work to be done to fix up a lot of the concerns that were around for 26 years prior to August 2001.
It was with great pride two years ago that I stood in this place as the Territory’s first Alice Springs-born parliamentarian to speak at the first Alice Springs sittings of the Legislative Assembly. This afternoon, and I count my blessings, I have hit the quinella in doing it a second time, not to mention getting the chance to speak about the importance to the future of the Territory of my Central Australian birthplace.
Much is said about what a unique place the Northern Territory is, and the sheer statistics tell the story. We occupy one-sixth of the nation’s land mass, yet we have its smallest population. Despite the smallness of this population, it is arguably the most culturally diverse of any jurisdiction in Australia. From the islands, escarpments and pristine wetlands of the north, through to the spinifex and mulga of the country that surrounds these sittings of the Legislative Assembly, our ecological diversity is second to none. In all this diversity of people and landscape, we are one Northern Territory.
For example, while I was here last year for the most successful Alice Springs Masters Games on record, I was continually amazed by how many people I would meet from the rest of the Territory - from Groote Eylandt, Nhulunbuy, Darwin, the Tiwi Islands, Katherine and Tennant Creek, to name a few - and the extent to which these participants all saw themselves as part of a broader community of Territorians. Despite their diversity, all saw themselves as sharing a great Territory lifestyle. In similar fashion in six weeks time, the same will be true of the people who come to Darwin for the Arafura Games. They will no doubt be younger and fitter, but they represent the future of the Territory.
Yet, for too many years, the regions of the Northern Territory, including my and the member for Braitling’s home town of Alice, have been on the backburner of social, cultural and economic development. Despite the enormous wealth that comes to the Territory from the mining, tourism and pastoral industries of the regions, previous governments have taken the regions for granted and allowed them to fall behind. For reasons I do not understand, and this government rejects, previous regimes have been disinterested in moving the regions ahead and have seemed happy to let them languish.
We on this side of the House are not prepared to leave our fellow Territorians behind. It just is not on. In tackling the problems that are faced by the regions, we must not pretend there are any quick fixes. In the last three years, there have been significant advances in the regions, but much remains to be done. There is much we have to achieve together as Territorians so, in support of the Chief Minister’s statement to the House, let me tell you how things have changed in the last three years and the ways in which we must continue to move the Territory ahead.
In regards to regional development, at the heart of this government’s approach is that regional development is the core business for the whole-of-government. Regional development is not an afterthought or something to which we pay lip service. It is something that government, the community and the private sector must work on together. This means that we see regional development as travelling way past the nuts and bolts of bricks and mortar or bridges and roads.
Regional development encompasses seeking ways in which we look to enhancing opportunities for Territorians in social and cultural spheres as well as economic development. It recognises that our health and wellbeing, our educational and job prospects, the environment around us, and what we do in our spare time are all inter-related. It recognises that life in the Territory is not just reckoned by the bean counters; it is reflected in a socially just and inclusive society in which quality of life is a primary objective. It is for this reason that we have established Regional Development Boards whose task it is to be community-based and regionally-focussed advisory groups to government as well as taking on the responsibility of developing, implementing and monitoring regional development plans.
The Regional Development Board of Central Australia, chaired by Fran Kilgariff, is made up of a group of dedicated Central Australians from the private, public and community sectors. The primary focus of this group has been to develop a series of regional priorities that they see as fundamental to growth in their region, and these are:
- moving towards the creation of a solar region to provide for more efficient use of resources and
more affordable services;
through cross-government and inter-sectoral approaches to regional development; and finally
enterprise, providing opportunities to Territory-wide and cross-border initiatives.
The Central Australian Regional Development Board is not about creating pie-in-the-sky wish lists; it is basing its work on careful research and planning to develop a realistic structural and integrated road map for the future. Current initiatives in this area include:
- 1. a baseline data collection project gathering socioeconomic data from the region to assist in ongoing regional
planning and a baseline against which regional progress can be measured;
roads;
energy, desert architecture, bush foods and tourism - with five Australian desert regions of Port Augusta, Broken
Hill, Kalgoorlie, Mt Isa and Alice Springs southern region.
What we are witnessing in Central Australia is a consolidation of what were previously seen as divergent and competing interests in the realisation that the region can only exploit its competitive advantages under a regime of convergence and cooperation.
In regards to local and regional governance, into this mix the people of Central Australia, in partnership with government, are looking to innovative and creative approaches to local and regional governance. The flexibilities made possible through the Community Government Council Scheme developed through the 1980s has, ultimately, been unsuccessful in most parts of the Territory for a variety of reasons; not least because of poor or non-existent capacity at the level of small communities, a lack of economies of scale, and a failure to utilise regional strengths and capacity. For this reason, there is a growing movement towards varying forms of regional governance.
In Central Australia, there has been a growing interest in the formation of regional authorities. In the past three years, we have seen the beginning of a 12-month process in the Alyawarra region following a desire expressed by traditional owners of the region to develop an Alyawarra regional governance structure.
Second, flowing from the development of the Anmatjere Regional Development Plan in 2003, there are now moves to build on identified regional strengths to position Anmatjere as key regional centre in the Territory, established on a sound economic and social base. This will include a reworking of the role of the Anmatjere Council, which is already based on a number of different population centres, with the possibility of working towards a regional authority structure.
Third, four communities from the West MacDonnells – Kintore, Papunya, Ikunji and Mt Liebig in the Pintubi-Luritja region - have been discussing regional approaches to service delivery in their region under the umbrella of Wangka Wilurrara. A range of options for such an approach will be considered by these communities next month.
In other jurisdictions of Australia, moves towards achieving reforms in local and regional governance have too often been based on coercion and the wielding of big bureaucratic sticks. This is not the way we see it. Progress will be slow and uneven, perhaps, at times, frustratingly so, but the key to the future is our approach to building viable, legitimate, local and regional governance is through approaching community change and consolidation from a community development and community capacity-building standpoint. Again, governance at the local and regional level is not something that occurs in a vacuum. The work of the regional development boards in data collection and community mapping identifies issues of governance as an important element of building social capital in Central Australia.
In respect of housing, I have spoken in many forums over the past three years about the dire problems faced in housing throughout remote areas of the Northern Territory as well as in urban areas such as those administered in Central Australia through Tangentyere and Julalikari. The size of the unmet need is staggering, with chronic overcrowding contributing directly to poor physical and mental health outcomes, low educational and employment opportunities, drug and alcohol abuse, and violence.
I cannot pretend to the Legislative Assembly, let alone to those people I visit out in the communities, that these problems are going to be solved unless and until the Commonwealth government takes greater responsibility in this area. Frankly, unless Canberra bites the bullet, we will be looking at even greater problems down the track, both out bush and in our towns and cities.
However, amidst this ongoing tragedy, Central Australia has pointed to new ways of approaching housing on indigenous communities, in particular, the IHANT model for linking building and construction with training and employment needs to be rolled out in other areas of the Northern Territory after the steady success we have seen in communities in the Centre. This program, which provides accredited and consistent training programs for indigenous building teams, holds the real prospect for establishing permanent employment in remote areas, something that just has not been possible before.
In regards to indigenous essential services, for too many years essential infrastructure in remote indigenous communities had been allowed to decay, often to the point of presenting physical danger to many Territorians. Increasingly ageing infrastructure such as power generators and bores are so far beyond their use-by date that maintenance costs have exceeded replacement cost. In the life of this government, we have seen the largest program of renewal and replacement of essential services in the history of the Northern Territory. In addition, we have been exploring new technologies and management methods to produce far better financial as well as physical outcomes for regions such as Central Australia.
In conjunction with the Desert Knowledge Cooperative Research Centre, we have been working to achieve increased durability and life for remote area housing, determining best practice management strategies for essential service infrastructure, and enhancing the liveability of housing through a better understanding of heating and cooling. Additionally, we have been working with the private sector to introduce solar energy generation to boost power supplies at Hermannsburg, Yuendumu and Lajamanu. Yes, our bush communities will be a part of reducing greenhouse gases.
The state of remote area airstrips in Central Australia has been a running sore for many years. It has not just been an issue of all-weather air transport access for issues like medical evacuation, but the deteriorating state of our airstrips has also been a break to commercial operations such as tourism and mining. In the last two years, the Kintore airstrip was sealed at a cost of $759 000; the Yuendumu airstrip resealed at a cost of $208 000; Papunya upgraded at a cost of $458 000; and Kaltukatjara upgraded for $141 000. In the cases of Kintore and Kaltukatjara, the local communities carried out auxiliary works valued at $40 000 each.
In regard to the Community Harmony projects, we on this side of the House are the last to deny the costs of antisocial behaviour in the Northern Territory are too high. They cost the community in policing and incarceration; they cost us in social cohesion and the right we all have to enjoy a safe and peaceful environment. Anyone who thinks this is a problem that has come upon us overnight like a bolt from the blue is a liar, a fool, or both. Those who choose to exploit such behaviour for short-term, cheap political ends have no interest in community harmony and every interest in community conflict.
It is a problem that has been growing for many years. Indeed, the Tangentyere Council warned us all about 20 years ago of the problems that affect us now. The fact that this cancer has been allowed to grow unchecked condemns those who have chosen to ignore the issue for so long. The government, through its community-led and community-based Community Harmony project, is about achieving long-term, sustainable solutions. What we are not about is knee-jerk, punitive responses to deep-seated social problems. They never have worked, they never will work and, as I have suggested, anyone who thinks otherwise is a liar, a fool, or both. In the last three years, the Community Harmony project has laid the foundations for long-term solutions and not the mirage of quick fixes. No, the problems have not gone away. We never said they would, as the member for Brennan incorrectly claimed at the last sittings in this place.
In Alice Springs, Community Harmony is working in conjunction with the Central Australian Quality of Life Project. Both strategies aim to work together to address the issue in a unified fashion. In 2003-04, we committed $800 000 to community harmony in Alice Springs, and a further $2.4m over 2004-05 and 2005-06. These allocations have included the acquisition, redesign and fit out of Stuart Lodge as a short-term accommodation facility. Tenders for this project will be let this month, and work is expected to be completed in October this year. It should be noted that this project has widespread support from both the commercial and community sectors. No objections were lodged when this project was put to the Development Consent Authority.
Ms CARNEY: Mr Deputy Speaker, I move that an extension of time be granted for the minister to complete his remarks.
Motion agreed to.
Mr AH KIT: Thank you Mr Deputy Speaker, and thank you, member for Araluen. I will only be another two minutes.
No objections were lodged when this project was put to the Development Consent Authority. A transport study has been carried out which recommends: a land-based Return to Country program to mirror the success of similar programs in the Top End; an Elders Program in conjunction with Lhere Artepe which seeks to finalise appropriate cultural protocols for Alice Springs similar to the Larakia in Darwin and Palmerston; the establishment of an Inhalant Diversion Program through the Central Australian Youth Linkup Service; funding of an Amoonguna Art and Cultural program as a diversion from substance abuse and engagement with the justice system; an extension to the Drug and Alcohol Shelter Associations Withdrawal Service; funding and approval of Alice Springs Youth Accommodation Support Services Refuge and development, with the same organisation, of a Life Skills model to be finalised next month; a joint project with Tangentyere and Lhere Artepe for an ID, that is identification and referral centre; and, finally, special event strategies and guidelines which were successfully instituted for the recent Wizard Cup game in Alice Springs. A feature of this was the great work carried out by 14 remote area Night Patrols that travelled to Alice Springs for this event. I met most of them, and I thought there were somewhere in the vicinity of 50 patrol people. The service they provided on the night was excellent.
The long-term success of Community Harmony has been, and will be, based on its support from a diverse group of private enterprise, government and community groups and organisations. Much work remains to be done, particularly in the area of accommodation and treatment of substance abuse. In a broader sense, Community Harmony is what regional development is about. Strengthening the regional economy from Alice Springs to the bush is a key to improving the kinds of social outcomes that all Central Australians are looking to, and the long-term key to overcoming the antisocial behaviour problems with which we are familiar.
Mr Deputy Speaker, during the Masters Games last year, I ran into people from all over the Territory. A bloke I had met at Westies, now called the Gillen Club, who was from Katherine, was telling me how much of a good time he was having in Alice Springs at the Masters Games. He said: ‘The best thing about a town like Alice is that it is a town like us’. I could not put it better, and it sums up why we are holding Legislative Assembly sittings here. I would go one step further: a place like the Territory is a place where there is territory enough for all of us, and that is the kind of Territory we, in government, are committed to.
Ms CARNEY (Araluen): Mr Deputy Speaker, I was not surprised by the Chief Minister presenting this statement, but when I saw its title, Government Initiatives and Achievements in Central Australia, I thought: ‘This will not be a long statement’. I do not think the government has any significant achievements in Alice Springs. I live here and I am saddened by that. Frankly, I do not care what political colour the government is; I want any government to improve things in the town in which I live, and I want any government, regardless of its political colour, to ensure that people come here to live and that they stay here for as long as they possibly can. Sadly, that does not appear to be the case under the Labor government.
I was interested in what the member for Macdonnell had to say. He commented on ministers reading, albeit very well, their prepared statements. The word the member for Macdonnell did not use was ‘passion’. I did not pick up any passion whatsoever from anything anyone said on the government’s side. Perhaps, with the exception of the member for Stuart, it is because they do not live here.
I would like to assure the Assembly that I am very passionate about the town in which I live and, given that the Australian Labor Party has recently announced its candidates for the forthcoming election, I had cause to reflect on former candidates. People may remember names like Mike Bowden, Peter Cavanagh and Peter Brook. They have all left town. Naturally, I want my colleague, the member for Greatorex, to win his seat. I do not know how difficult that might make it for Fran in the event that she is not successful. It may be the case that, like so many other Labor candidates before her, she and others who are unsuccessful may also leave town.
I make this point because it speaks volumes about the difference between the CLP and the ALP when it comes to how passionately they feel about Alice Springs. This was the birth place of the party to which I belong. We are always passionate about Alice Springs and we have been passionate for close to 30 years. In my capacity as the member for Araluen, I am pleased to say that I will continue the long line of CLP passion for Alice Springs. So it is sad that we did not see any passion. All we heard was reading from prepared statements. As I said, it speaks volumes.
In any event, returning to the statement, the list of achievements - which is difficult to take seriously but I will try - I will go through some areas and then perhaps spend more time on some others. I was aghast when the Chief Minister talked about tourism, saying how well things were going. What she did not say was that she wrote the cheques. She was the Treasurer for two-and-a-half years or thereabouts after the catastrophes of 11 September and 14 September; that is, the World Trade Centre and Ansett respectively, in 2001. Members will recall – and, if they are honest, members from the Labor Party will recall - that then I was shadow Tourism minister, I called repeatedly, until I was literally blue in the face, for the government to step in and to become proactive. We called repeatedly for government to start investing in tourism, saving the tourism industry and saving many of its members. I remember going on ABC radio a good couple of years ago and telling the story of how I took a call from a woman tourism operator in Alice Springs who was in tears. That invoked anger as well as passion in me to further and more loudly lobby and beg this Northern Territory government to come up with the goods, to get off its backside and invest in our tourism industry.
Some two-and-a-half years later, the Chief Minister - I think it was her predecessor, the other Tourism Minister, and we are now to a total of four - announced $27m of funding over four years. Why did it take two-and-a-half years? Why did people have to go bust in the process? That is an indictment on the Australian Labor Party and they should be ashamed of themselves.
Members will remember that the Top End had Virgin Blue flying in. To those of us who were living in the Centre, some 25 000 or 30 000 of us, we did not have Virgin Blue. Again, we lobbied and screamed repeatedly for the government to get off its collective backside to do whatever it took to get Virgin Blue into the Centre. Some six or 12 months later, I think it was, Virgin Blue eventually came here.
I am probably only up to page 6 of this lengthy statement, and it is clear that the government does not have clean hands; that it needs to be dragged, kicking and screaming, to do just about anything.
Much has been said about Desert Knowledge. I hope I can take the Chief Minister at her word from what she said early today: that something will happen. I believe the Desert Knowledge precinct is very exciting, but I am not convinced, frankly, that the government regards it in the same way.
There was a reference to the Alice Springs Hospital early on in the statement: $11m provided for ICU. The health budget is $650m. If any government, regardless of its political colour, had a health budget of that volume for a population the size of the Northern Territory, one would expect - wouldn’t we, Mr Deputy Speaker? - significant spending in health. If a government, regardless of its political colour, picked up around $600m extra in GST revenue, we would expect additional spending in health, but we would also expect outcomes, not just outputs. I will come to that later, time permitting.
I also note the reference to film, television and arts. This is a pet subject for the Chief Minister. It seems to me that she, albeit from a distance, seems to be courting in a Paul Keating sort of a way, the arts community. The people who come to see me tell me a different story. Certainly, they tell me that she is courting them, but they tell me of the difficulties they have. There is a very well known film maker in Alice Springs who has seen me repeatedly about not being able to get a cracker from the Northern Territory government. Eventually, he got some money, but it fell well short of what he needed. I was saddened to hear him say that he was contemplating moving from the Northern Territory because his product is world-class, which had huge potential for all of us in the Northern Territory. This bloke makes films that are sold all around the world. That is another indictment on the Labor government.
I am not at all surprised by the reference to the Finke. That has been going for 30 years. I am not sure that the government can take a great amount of cachet from the Finke Desert Race. It has gone on for 30 years, mainly with the assistance and the hard work of the many volunteers involved in it. In relation to the Masters Games, again, I was not surprised to see the reference, but that has been going for many years, again, with the help, commitment, dedication and passion of the very hardworking and committed, dedicated volunteers.
The Chief Minister also talked about social problems and, in my view, gave them lip service. She fell short of saying: ‘We recognise it and then we put it away’. I do not know why it is that the Chief Minister and her colleagues go weak at the knees when we start talking about social problems in Alice Springs. I am a regular doorknocker. As I have said before, I believe I am as well in touch with my electorate as many of the best members here. They tell me that antisocial behaviour in Alice Springs makes them want to leave town. They have had a gutful. It is as simple as that. I have not, nor have those who talk to me, seen any improvements.
I will get to the crime statistics shortly because the Attorney-General referred to them. I was not specifically going to deal with them, but I will, albeit briefly. When one thinks about antisocial behaviour, we also think about vandalism. Ask anyone and they will tell you that Labor ignores vandalism and antisocial behaviour. They should, with the greatest of respect to her, tell their new Labor candidate in Alice Springs, who is the Mayor of Alice Springs, because the Alice Springs Town Council clearly is so desperate to do something in the absence of any activity from government that it even places advertisements in the Centralian Advocate offering a $500 reward to anyone who reports an act of wanton vandalism against council property leading to the prosecution and conviction of the perpetrator. Perhaps it is the case that the Mayor of Alice Springs has a different view from government. That may be because she lives here. However, Labor best rein in its newly pre-selected candidate because it is clear that she is at odds with government. Clearly, she is of the view that there are antisocial behaviour and vandalism problems in Alice Springs. I will monitor any future comments she makes with interest. No doubt she will be required to toe the party line.
The people who live in my electorate are not able to place advertisements in the Centralian Advocate offering a $500 reward for the people who smash their windows, smash their cars, syphon petrol from their cars and throw rocks at them when they are driving or at their homes. I would have thought that any government worth its salt would address these problems. I am not surprised, however, that the government steadfastly refuses to do so. That is a great shame.
The Attorney-General referred to some figures. I can do the same thing. I will match him, figure for figure, any day of the week. Here are some figures for sexual assault in the Northern Territory: a 100% increase in Alice Springs from the last quarter according to the crime stats that were released only a week or so ago; a 25% increase from the same quarter in the previous year in Alice Springs. Of course, we should not confine ourselves to the most recent crime stats. Let us look at the March quarter for 2004. In Alice Springs, sexual assaults were up 75% from the previous quarter and, around the Northern Territory, up 28% from the same quarter in the previous year. Let us go back even further. In the September quarter of 2003, sexual assaults were up 180% compared to the same quarter in the previous year. In the September quarter of 2004, sexual assault in Palmerston was up by 220% and Katherine up by 200%. The figures go on.
There are no figures for domestic violence in the crime statistics. That is disgraceful. I have written to the Chief Minister about this, got some puffy letter back that, as I understood it, meant that it was too hard. If any government, regardless of its political colour, does not take domestic violence seriously, that government should be ashamed of itself. If you want your crime stats to be taken very seriously, you should include figures for domestic violence; it is not that hard. You should certainly give it some attention, and we will.
In relation to housing - I wish I had hours left; unfortunately, I do not, although I can indicate to my colleagues that I will probably be asking for an extension of time. The Housing Minister and I are actually quite fond of each other in a funny sort of a way, Mr Deputy Speaker. I am quite fond of him in a personal sense. However, we have come to blows when we have debated this issue in the past and, no doubt, we will do so again.
It is hard to know where to start, so I thought I would simply extract some letters I have received as a local member of parliament in Alice Springs, written to me for the most part by constituents and, in one instance, from someone who lives in the electorate of Braitling. I am happy to table some. In any event, I will read some extracts. The minister, I am sure, will be interested in one I received recently. The person says that neither she nor her husband got more than two hours sleep; they were subjected again to the stress of domestic violence. She takes the view that Territory Housing is putting unsuitable tenants into their properties. We are talking about not all public housing tenants, we are talking about appalling public housing tenants, and some are. This person said and I quote:
- Mr Ah Kit, you are here in Alice Springs at the moment. I invite you to come and spend your nights trying to sleep
in our spare room, not some fancy hotel room, and see how productive you are in parliament during the day without
a decent night’s sleep. Come take a drive around Larapinta and see how some of the tenants of your homes are
looking after your properties.
I wonder whether I should indicate to the author of this e-mail that the minister may well take the view she is ‘a redneck dog whistler’, which is what the minister called me …
Mr AH KIT: A point of order Madam Speaker! I ask that the member table the document she is reading from.
Ms CARNEY: Happy to.
Madam SPEAKER: You are happy to table the document when you have finished speaking?
Ms CARNEY: Yes, happy to, minister. In fact, I have finished with it. I hope the minister does not refer to the author of this letter, who lives in your electorate, Madam Speaker, as a ‘redneck dog whistler’. That is an extraordinarily offensive term for anyone making a complaint, but then again, when I look around this room, I know that many have used extraordinarily offensive terms in the past.
Here is another letter. This time it is from a constituent. I have blacked out the names for obvious reasons, although I believe some of these letters have made their way to your department, minister. This is a young family I met. She wrote a letter and it says:
- Here are my concerns: excessive consumption of alcohol; litter thrown on to the road, including smashed
glass; rock throwing at passing vehicles and people; street lights being broken; extremely aggressive
behaviour/fights; indecent language and verbal abuse; loud music into the early hours.
This is a house which has a big sign out the front that says ‘No grog’. The people nearby want to sell their house; I wonder what their chances are.
The same person wrote to Territory Housing. She complained about the noise level having an obvious detrimental impact on the surrounding neighbourhood. She said they had a rock thrown at their property, and that up until now they had the benefit of enjoying a peaceful and pleasant atmosphere at their home. This person says she is appalled with the nonsense that they have to put up with. They considered leaving town; however, they realise that no one in their right mind would consider buying a property next door to the one the subject of the complaints.
Here is another letter. The noise includes:
- … banging things, slamming doors, yelling and screaming, spraying water on the side steel fence, honking
car horns, littering the yard, bags of rubbish piled up and left. The flies are bad enough this summer
without having to encourage them. There are so many that our dog’s ears are bleeding from fly bites.
Minister, I received another one which was faxed to my office late yesterday afternoon, and I picked it up this morning. I do not know this person directly, however the list goes on and on and on.
Here is an extract from the government’s housing policy, and what a giggle it is. It is called Good Neighbour and I quote from it:
- … public housing tenants should not repeatedly cause or permit an interference with the reasonable peace
or privacy of another person who resides in the immediate vicinity of the premises.
That is the sort of stuff happening in Alice Springs, minister, and which concerns my constituents. I do not compose these letters; people send them to me. I want to know, first, whether you think …
Mr ELFERINK: Madam Speaker, I move an extension of time for the member for Araluen.
Motion agreed to.
Ms CARNEY: Thank you, Madam Speaker, and my colleague, the member for Macdonnell.
I want to know in the first instance, whether anyone who dares write a letter either to the minister’s office or to Territory Housing is, to use the minister’s own terminology, ‘a redneck dog whistler’. I want to know whether anyone who makes a complaint to the minister or to …
Mr Ah Kit interjecting.
Ms CARNEY: The minister is laughing. It is interesting that he is because this will be placed on the Parliamentary Record. Naturally, I will be sending this debate to the constituents who have an interest in this area …
Mr Ah Kit interjecting.
Ms CARNEY: I cannot really hear what the member is gibbering on about. I note that I listened to him in silence, Madam Speaker, and I would ask that he afford me the same courtesy.
In any event, point one: are people who dare to complain ‘redneck dog whistlers’? Point two: what are you going to do about it? Do you, minister, take the view that is just what it is like in Alice Springs? We do not. In the CLP, we do not think that people in Alice Springs deserve to put up with the sort of rubbish they are putting up with under your stewardship of Housing. It is a damning indictment, minister, and fond of you though I am, you should be ashamed of yourself.
We have Health, and what an area of interest this is! So much to say, so little time. There are two main issues with Health in Alice Springs in relation to the Alice Springs Hospital at present. One is the ongoing industrial action that nurses are undertaking and the second is accreditation. Members will recall at the last sittings, I had a lot to say about the accreditation. I have reviewed the minister’s reply in parliament and all his media interviews. I am not satisfied that we have anything that vaguely resembles a sensible explanation as to his conduct since he became aware of the fire safety and other defects at Alice Spring Hospital.
Again, given what the minister knew about the serious safety issues, he must tell us whether the team that undertook the accreditation of the Alice Springs Hospital was given the same information. It does appear that the minister may have acted with undue haste to gain accreditation or that he may have deliberately waited until accreditation was gained before announcing $8m for repairs. Members will recall that the miraculous announcement of $8m was made some three weeks after the media release saying: ‘Aren’t we wonderful? All of our hospitals, including Alice Springs, have national accreditation’. I smell something fishy. That is the first issue, and I would not be surprised if we dealt with that at length during these sittings.
Let us now turn to the industrial action. For those members of this Assembly who reside in Darwin and do not have the pleasure and delight of reading the Centralian Advocate, they would not have seen the advertisement that was placed there in mid-February, and I think it was about the 18th. Nurses put an advertisement in the paper. It was quite a big ad, and it said that they were sick of working excessive overloads arising out of continuing staff shortages and I am quoting:
Nurses are exhausted and now recognise that their own goodwill is not going to solve the long-term staffing
problems at Alice Springs.
That was only a few weeks ago. It is interesting that in May 2004, the Treasurer, as I mentioned earlier today, sent a letter, which a cynic would say amounts to propaganda, to nurses and, I think, other public servants in the Northern Territory. One of its pages said:
Nurses play a particularly valuable role in our hospitals and clinics, often working in difficult circumstances
to deliver crucial health services to Territorians.
The Treasurer went on to write:
We also want to recruit and retain quality nursing staff in the Northern Territory. That is why they’re a focus
of Budget 2004.
Well, you would not know it. Nurses at the Alice Springs Hospital have been working double and triple shifts for months and months and it is, again, a very said indictment on the Minister for Health that he has failed to address this issue. His predecessor was on the record in 2002 as saying that lots of things were going to happen with recruitment, there were initiatives and so on. Well, it did not happen. In March last year, the Minister for Health reassured all of us that he was on to recruitment and retention, he was working hard on it and ‘There, there; never mind’. Of course, as we know, when he announced his most recent new recruitment campaign, there was a tender document involved. In other words, government was seeking expressions of interest or tenderers to undertake this recruitment campaign.
We obtained the tender document - not surprisingly, we always do. It said:
Although DHCS efforts to recruit have been ongoing, there has been no consistent coordinated and strategic
approach to recruitment. Recruitment efforts have been ad hoc.
That is the government. That is a government department saying that it has not been good. For years, members of the Australian Labor Party have been saying: ‘Do not worry about it, Jodes, we are on to it’. You were not on to it; you have failed. You have had two Health ministers, each, arguably, as bad as the other, and yet you as a group, and the minister himself, have the audacity to say: ‘The job is right’. If the job was right, there would not be ongoing industrial action at the Alice Springs Hospital.
Let us look at some other things; waiting lists. Members from Labor who live in Darwin, how many people do you think we have on the elective surgery list – 200, 300, 400, 500? No, 1600 people are waiting to get their knees, hips, hernias, or eyes operated on. You do not have that problem in Darwin. There has been an escalation of the waiting list in Alice Springs and you should all be absolutely ashamed of yourselves.
In relation to nursing issues generally, the minister is in denial. He is in denial about the waiting lists and about the inadequate nursing staffing numbers in Alice Springs. Interestingly, in fact, in a radio interview the week of 24 February, less than a month ago, he said: ‘Nurses are not a problem in terms of numbers’. He went on to say in the same interview that the numbers were up to scratch. If that is not denial, I do not know what is.
We have a situation at the Alice Springs Hospital where elective surgery is sporadic, having been cancelled on regular occasions last year. It is the same again this year, as I understand it. On again, off again, on again, off again. If you need an operation where you are required to be in the hospital overnight - forget it; you are lucky if you can get one. It is day surgery at best.
There is a shortage of doctors in Alice Springs. What did the minister do? You can use the words ‘sacked’, ‘dumped’, ‘moved sideways’ or whatever, but the services of Dr Charles Butcher and one of his colleagues, David Hamilton, were no longer required. What did the president of AMA Northern Territory Branch have to say? He said it was crazy. He went on to say:
- It is absolutely ludicrous. We need to find out how this has happened at a time when we are
desperately trying to find doctors.
That was only last month; extraordinary stuff! Absolutely extraordinary!
When we moved to censure the Minister for Health in June last year, do you know what he said in the course of his reply? He said - and if ever there was a classic quote, this is it: ‘It is a great time for health in the Northern Territory’. Tell the 1600 people on the waiting list that it is a great time for health in the Northern Territory. It is not a great time for health in Alice Springs. I know that for a fact. The nurses at the hospital know that for a fact. They are dedicated, hardworking people who are putting their heart and soul into that hospital and working under outrageously offensive conditions. The worst condition that they are working under is that their minister is in denial. He should not be in denial. He is a disgraceful minister. I could go on; I will not. However, at least we have another couple of days in Alice Springs, and I look forward to talking about the Alice Springs Hospital further.
Dr BURNS (Transport and Infrastructure): Madam Speaker, a number of members attended a breakfast this morning at a Chamber of Commerce, where the Chief Minister and the Minister for Business and Industry, who is also the Police minister, addressed the meeting and highlighted many of the achievements of the government over the last three years.
There was a very positive mood, and it was significant that the Chief Minister and the Minister for Business and Industry both acknowledged that, although much work had been done, there is still a lot more to do. No one is saying things are perfect, but through these sittings and through meetings with industry and other groups, the people of Alice Springs will hear the true story of the government’s achievements and see through the negativity of the opposition.
Earlier today, I spoke about land developments in respect of the Lhere Artepe and the Larapinta Stage 4 subdivision. That is a very important and significant step for Alice Springs. I have already put on the record that there are 85 blocks. Government is about to go through an agent and auction the lease for that land. On the government’s side, that are 45 lots and there are many people in Alice Springs who will be very pleased with that development. We underwrote that, if you like, with capital works funding of $1.5m for the construction of power, water, sewerage and road works in Larapinta. As I said earlier, a Northern Territory developer, Asland, is doing the Lhere Artepe side of the equation, and that is to be commended.
There are also preparations for the release of land at Mt John Valley adjacent to the existing development along Stephens Road, and these preparations are well advanced. In August 2004, I approved the department commencing negotiations with Lhere Artepe Aboriginal Corporation towards an indigenous land use agreement covering residential development in the Mt John locality. Lhere Artepe is currently consulting with senior native title holders to identify areas of cultural significance. Negotiations with the native title owners and the Central Land Council are well advanced and continue to be very positive. With Larapinta Stage 4 going ahead, people now understand what is involved. With Mt John Valley, there will be issues to work through, but there is a greater understanding of this sort of development. It is a ground breaking development, one of which this government can be justly proud.
Consultants to the project, Qantec McWilliam, are engaged by the department to design headworks to service the Stage 1 land release. Government has approved $1m in the capital works program for Mt John Valley headworks, and the department intends to call tenders for the first phase of headworks construction in the near future. Stormwater drainage for the whole of the Mt John Valley area is also being undertaken by Qantec, and this will provide a drainage and an open space master plan to guide future releases of land in that area.
There are going to be several hundred lots that will be released in the Mt John Valley locality subject to the negotiations that I have already spoken about. Once again, this is a very significant development for Alice Springs.
I have heard members opposite talking about removalists doing a roaring trade in the Northern Territory. What I have heard from builders, contractors, carpenters and the like is that there have been quite a number of people with those skills who have had to leave town under the previous government because there was no land released and there was very little work for them to be doing, particularly in residential housing. There were some small subdivisions being developed, but now, those who are resident here with those skills can take confidence in the future because it is very bright despite what members opposite would like people to believe.
The private sector is also contributing strongly to the development of urban residential land in Alice Springs. At the northern approach to the town, Australian Property Projects are moving forward with its North Edge Development, proposing to convert the former Red Centre Resort into a modern and attractive residential development. There has been an amendment to the Northern Territory Planning Scheme, and that has been granted to permit this development to proceed. The Development Consent Authority recently approved the conversion of the former 75-unit motel complex into 24 two- and three-bedroom units. I understand that conversion of the hotel units is now under way. Approval in principle has also been given by the Development Consent Authority for the creation of up to 38 new single and multiple dwelling lots resulting from the subdivision of land occupied by the former resort.
The land identified in the structure plan for rural and residential development south of the MacDonnell Range is also privately owned. After many years of little development there, there are 40 new lots in the Emily Hills locality. Earlier this month, the Development Consent Authority approved the proposal from Southside Property Developments to subdivide lots 2406 and 729 on Ragonesi Road. Again, this will be a very significant development.
These choices for people wanting to build residential homes in Alice Springs have not been available for a very long time. The 1999 structure plans for Alice Springs are due for review, and earlier this year, the Assembly passed the Planning Amendment Bill in line with the government’s election commitments. Work can now commence on developing the new Northern Territory Planning Scheme which has being held in abeyance awaiting amendments to the act. It will be in the context of the new planning scheme that the Alice Springs structure plan will be reviewed with whatever changes deemed necessary embodied in the new scheme.
I can assure this House and the people of Alice Springs that there will be full public consultation in the development of that scheme. We welcome public input, and we know Alice Springs people are very passionate about planning and development issues, so we want to engage with them in the development of that and for them to have input.
Tenders for headworks at the Desert Knowledge Centre will be called in coming weeks, and major capital works will be invested in the precinct as this project proceeds. Close to the Desert Knowledge Centre at the site of the old drive-in, Fox Management Pty Ltd is progressing towards final approval for its proposal for a solar holiday village with a motel and service station. This represents a further $20m investment in the future of Alice Springs.
Also before the Development Consent Authority is a proposed $5m upgrade of the Alice Plaza complex in the Todd Mall. This will include additional retail and office space in the plaza, a major facelift for the food court and improvements to parking arrangements. Once again, the private sector has a lot of confidence in Alice Springs and is investing heavily. Similarly, a $4.5m expansion of the Yeperenye complex is also before the Development Consent Authority, with construction planned to commence once approval is finalised.
I will leave for another time some of the things happening at the National Road Transport Hall of Fame, but this is something else that the government has been supporting. Credit to that group; they are self-supporting and have much private sponsorship. They are a very active and vital group, and it is always a pleasure for me to go through their Road Transport Hall of Fame. There are such fantastic exhibits, and it is a great tourist attraction.
A scope of works for the relocation for the Pioneer Women’s Hall of Fame into the old Alice Springs Gaol is currently being drawn up by a steering committee, and government has agreed to provide the site for the project subject to an acceptable proposal. We have committed $200 000 for services and other works at the old gaol to support this project.
Government has also agreed to provide $495 000 to build additional facilities on land adjacent to the recently completed Centre for Remote Health. This will enable the creation of a remote health precinct on land provided by government at the old gaol site.
Construction of the Traeger Park grandstand, a $3m project funded by this government, will also commence in the coming months once tender documentation is ready. People in Alice Springs love their sport; there is all sorts of stuff going on in Alice Springs related to sport. This government is supporting it with infrastructure, and I commend the minister for Sport. He is doing a great job despite some of the negativity of members opposite, and I know the people of Alice Springs appreciate his efforts to bring top class sport here and his support for local sport in Alice Springs.
The estimated value of Alice Springs building work for which approvals were issued in 2004 total more than $40m. This represents only the value of work requiring approvals under the Building Act and does not include building infrastructure for those projects that are still in developmental approval stage. There is a lot of work going on in Alice Springs, some by government, and some by the private sector.
I move now to Territory roads. Our election commitment of $6m expenditure on upgrading the Tanami Road is well under way. This program is targeting upgrades to flood immunity by upgrading and sealing. The capital works program for this road has been $3m over the past two years. The sealing of the section from 141 km to 151 km has now been completed. The contract value is $1.2m and was awarded to Central Desert Enterprises Pty Ltd. The contract for the section from 151 km to 157 km was awarded to Charmplan Pty Ltd for $850 000. The contract for manufacture and supply of road base materials was awarded to Yuendumu Mining Company for $760 000 and crushing is in progress. This contract will provide all the material to complete the construction work to Tilmouth Well.
It is pleasing to note that most of these contracts are going to local businesses. Of the total contracts awarded by the Department of Infrastructure, Planning and Environment, 95% of them, by value, are going to Territory businesses. That is a great achievement and shows that our businesses are competing with interstate businesses. More to the point, in the Alice Springs region, it is further pleasing to note that 80% of the value of contracts are awarded to companies that are based in the region so that is also something to note and be proud of. Infrastructure spending by this government in the Alice Springs region was 30% higher last financial year than it was in the last year of the CLP Burke-led administration. We are on track for another record year of expenditure in the current financial year.
The Department of Infrastructure, Planning and Environment is undertaking a detailed assessment of the Tanami Highway to ensure future road works achieve maximum improvement accessibility for users of the road. This will include consultation with ATANT, Newmont Mining and Tanami Gold.
One road that has been of interest to everyone, particularly the tourism industry is the West MacDonnell Ranges tourist loop roads, and we did hear this morning at the breakfast from the tourism industry just how fantastic this project is and how it will fundamentally change the nature of tourism within Central Australia. I would like to report now on progress with that road.
It is a $38m program over three years. The approved program for 2004-05 is $10m with a cash allocation of $4m in the current year. In respect of the Larapinta Drive seal widening from 54 km to 81 km, tenders are currently being assessed with the target of awarding a contract this month or early next month. For the Larapinta Drive 126 km to 134 km, tenders are also currently being assessed. Design of Larapinta Drive from 134 km to 169 km is being undertaken by consultants Kellogg, Brown and Root or KBR. Design is currently in progress and due for completion on 25 March. This section will be tendered in early 2005-06.
The design of Larapinta Drive from 307 km to 321 km has been completed by consultants Gutteridge, Haskins and Davey. Construction tenders are to be advertised by the end of this month. The design of Namatjira Drive from 86 km to 141 km is a single design and documentation contract. The consultant contract was awarded to KBR on 22 November 2004 and is due for completion in mid-May 2005. This section will be tendered in early 2005-06.
To reiterate the point made by the Chief Minister: this is a very large project involving a lot of design and engineering work, access to Aboriginal land and getting rock and crushing facilities on Aboriginal land. There have been undertakings given about sacred site clearance and access to that land, and I am very confident that this project is going well. It is not going as fast as we would like, but progress is being made.
The Plenty Highway, of course, is a major beef road and this item was added to the 2003-04 Capital Works Program with a provision of $2m. The estimated expenditure will be $1.5m in 2004-05. Design is complete with works targeting selected sections between 460 km and 484 km. It is planned to have these works completed by June 2005.
We talk a lot about roads in this Chamber, but one of the clouds on the horizon is really about Commonwealth funding under the AusLink program. It is still not settled. We passed a unanimous motion in this House calling on the Commonwealth to redress funding issues in our roads, particularly our unincorporated roads. I have had a number of discussions with Jim Lloyd, who is the federal Roads minister. He is very attuned to the Territory. He is a very open person and he listens carefully. I have asked him for the $16m that was promised during the federal election campaign. I will certainly be pursuing Jim for that $16m to address some of our issues on unincorporated roads. I will also be pursuing the Commonwealth for the $20m of catch-up that we missed out in the preceding four years under the former AusLink program. I am not going to give up lobbying. I know the Leader of the Opposition and the member for Macdonnell have talked a lot about this. I hope that they continue to lobby on this very important issue.
I now turn to parks, which is part of my portfolio. I had very positive feedback at the breakfast this morning on the way we have been able to remove cattle from the West MacDonnell National Park. It has been a major issue, one of safety. A couple of tourists have been attacked by rogue beasts in that area. Some of the cattle are quite aggressive and wild. It was one of the issues placed on my plate both as Tourism minister and as Parks minister. I am proud to announce that there have been negotiations with the landowners. In February 2005, one of the two neighbouring pastoralists carried out a muster of an area in the West MacDonnell National Park between Redbank Gorge and Ormiston Gorge and successfully removed just over 250 cattle. That was done in full consultation with Parks staff who assisted with the muster.
Mr HENDERSON: Madam Speaker, I move for an extension of time to allow my colleague to conclude his remarks.
Motion agreed to.
Dr BURNS: I thank honourable members. This has been a long-standing issue. It goes right back to the formation of the West MacDonnell National Park, with some arguments between the pastoralists and government. It has been good to solve that issue. There are now issues related to fencing to ensure safety and control cattle movements in that area. There are feral animal control measures in Central Australia, which is a problem within our parks. It is an issue we have to look at to protect our biodiversity.
I commend parks staff. Since I have been Parks minister, I have met many of our parks staff. They do a fantastic job. They have been under-resourced for some time, and I am fighting hard within the budget process to make sure they receive more funding, which is their due.
In that light, as members would be aware, there is a preliminary draft of the Parks and Conservation Master Plan prepared following an extensive period of analysis and consultation. There have been many stakeholders identified including cattlemen and environmental groups. What we are interested to do with our Parks and Conservation Master Plan is to engage those interested parties and get support so that we can protect biodiversity within our wonderful Northern Territory.
I know I have limited time, but now turn to my responsibilities as Minister for Essential Services. Power augmentation in Alice Springs has certainly been an issue. Government has been stepping up to the plate, along with the Power and Water Corporation, to look at that issue. I inspected two mobile gas turbines that are currently operating. It was my pleasure to go to the power house and look at these new gas turbines. They are portable and are on the backs of semitrailers. They are very powerful gas turbines and are augmenting the power supply for Alice Springs. A new 12 MW gas turbine has also arrived in Alice Springs, and is being commissioner on diesel fuel up to 8 MW. Full commissioning on gas fuel is expected to be completed by the middle of April 2005. There is a need for augmentation. My information is that more and more people in Alice Springs are moving away from the old style of airconditioners towards compression and refrigerated models which, of course, use a lot more power. That is part of the reason why we are augmenting power.
As I mentioned previously, there is much residential development happening here in Alice Springs with hundreds of blocks coming on to the market in the next five years. We will have to support those with power and water services.
In Tennant Creek, total generating capacity of 14.3 MW is well in excess of the maximum peak demand. The majority of the plant is 1970s vintage, and only 4.7 MW of the spark ignition plant is relatively new. I have inspected that power house also. The Caterpillars there are spark ignition and they do not function well. The do not have a lot of spinning capacity in reserve, and it is a concern for Tennant Creek. We will be sending the two mobile gas turbine generators, which will be relocated from Alice Springs in mid-2005 to replace older and less reliable plant. This will provide full capacity operations in Tennant Creek.
In summary, Madam Speaker, this is a government that has really taken on board the issues and problems of Central Australia. We have put funding in to a whole range of areas that ministers have talked about. We are not saying that all the problems are solved.
An issue that has been raised here today is antisocial behaviour and itinerancy. That is a serious issue throughout the Territory. As a government, we are committed to finding a way through the issue with some dignity. I heard some of the comments made by the Opposition Leader. It is going to be very interesting to see what the policy position of the CLP is going to be on this issue and whether they are going to go back to the Shane Stone days of ‘stomp them and monster them’. We are a government that tries to work with people. We recognise that there are problems and we will work through those problems. We are a government that is moving the Territory ahead.
Debate adjourned.
MOTION
Routine of Business
Routine of Business
Mr HENDERSON (Leader of Government Business): Madam Speaker, I move that Government Business, Orders of the Day number 3, Building on the Territory’s Diversity Ministerial Statement be brought on forthwith.
Motion agreed to.
MOTION
Note Statement – Building on the Territory’s Diversity
Note Statement – Building on the Territory’s Diversity
Continued from 10 February 2005.
Dr LIM (Greatorex): Madam Speaker, I would like to share some thoughts with members about multiculturalism in Australia and the Northern Territory.
The minister delivered his statement at last sittings and, along with it, decided to drop his glossy brochure Building on the Territory’s Diversity. On opening the document, he led with a furphy in his first sentence when he said he has brought down the first multicultural policy for migrant and ethnic Territorians. What a laugh! The Northern Territory has had huge populations of various ethnic groups since European settlement. Long before either the minister or myself landed here, there were many migrant groups living, working and making their homes in the Northern Territory. The CLP, since the first day of self-government, has fostered a very strong multicultural, cosmopolitan society in the Northern Territory. For years, minister after minister in the CLP government spoke about the ethnic diversity of the Territory. As recently as 2001, the then Leader of the Government Business, Mr Palmer, the member for Karama, spoke at length about our multicultural society and the way we continue to promote that in our Territory lifestyle.
The minister said he has a statement on multicultural affairs and started with a furphy in the very first sentence. That belies the whole problem with how this government behaves. When you go through the detail of the document, you start to question the veracity of some of the information in there. I take the minister to page 18, if he has a look at it, at Appendix A, it deals with the top 10 overseas countries of birth of NTPS employees. He lists the countries of birth: England, New Zealand, Philippines, Scotland, India, UK - hang on, England, Scotland, UK – and then he goes on to add Germany, Malaysia, and Ireland! I would have thought the UK included England, Scotland and Ireland, surely, or do you classify them as a different race or ethnic group all together, minister? How correct are your figures when you cannot even get simple geography correct? I will come back to this document shortly. I am going to show you the few things that you have wrong.
The minister, in his statement, spoke about the multicultural nature of Australia and how it came about, conveniently leaving out many of the historical facts that did not suit him. I went into the federal government’s web site and looked at some detailed information about multiculturalism and how it developed in Australia. It makes fascinating reading. One of the most fascinating things for me was the abolition of the White Australia policy. It went through quite a detailed history. Do you know what? It was introduced by a Labor Prime Minister and continued to be reinforced by various Labor ministers for immigration. It is worth reading and I will do that for the record:
- The origins of the ‘White Australia’ policy can be traced to the 1850s. White miners’ resentment towards
industrious Chinese diggers culminated in violence on the Buckland River in Victoria, and at Lambing Flat
(now Young) in New South Wales. The governments of these two colonies introduced restrictions on Chinese
immigration.
Later, it was the turn of hardworking indentured labourers from the South Sea Islands of the Pacific (known as
‘kanakas’) in northern Queensland. Factory workers in the south became vehemently opposed to all forms of
immigration, which might threaten their jobs - particularly by non-white people who they though would accept
a lower standard of living and work for lower wages.
That was in the 1850s. Does it not ring a bell with something happened recently? The ACTU said we must not bring in overseas people to fill our skills shortages. Why? Is the ACTU a part of the Labor movement? Are they again trying to introduce this racist policy because they are concerned about ethnic groups coming to Australia to take up jobs that no Australians can fill because we do not have the skills in this country?
The history of multiculturalism in Australia has been one of a very slow, long, difficult birth. It took many governments through a lot of international pressure for eventual recognition that multiculturalism is indeed good for a country. One of the things that really caught my interest, I suppose, when it happened to me was that one of the early criteria to allow people to come to Australia was they had to be of good character, etcetera, and one of the tests was the dictation test. It was used to exclude certain applicants by requiring them to pass a written test in a language with which they were not necessarily familiar and which was nominated by the Immigration Officer. For instance, if you were a Spanish speaking person and there was a desire not to let you into the country, they could give you a language test in Chinese and if you could not pass the test, you were out, and vice versa. If you were a person of Asian origin and you wanted to come to Australia back in those days, you had to sit for a language test and they gave you a test in Serbian or Croatian or another obscure or unknown European language. If you did not pass the test, you could not come into Australia.
Worse was the audacity of the then Labor Prime Minister, Billy Hughes, in 1919 who hailed it as: ‘the greatest thing we have achieved.’ Then came Arthur Caldwell, the well-known man whose name lives forever in South-East Asia. I will not stoop to use his words, but he was the one who cemented the whole matter of the White Australia policy. It took many years for his attitude to slowly be diluted by each wave of new government, but it was not until 1966 when there was the watershed in the abolition of the White Australia policy and non-European migration began to increase. Annually, non-European settler arrivals rose from 746 in 1966 to over 2500 in 1971.
Whitlam was given the honour or recognition that he was the one who removed the White Australia policy. Yes, the White Australia policy was removed in 1973 and that was the time when Whitlam came to power, but the reality was that under his Prime Ministership, there was a significant reduction in the number of migrants who were allowed from non-European countries so that the nett effect was there was no significant change until Fraser came to government. From then on, the numbers of migrants from non-European countries started to increase.
This Labor government really has very little to be proud of in their history. Australia has about one in four of its 20 million people born overseas. In the Northern Territory, it is a little less than that, but let us hope that over time, with broader-mindedness in our system, that more communities will be encouraged to emigrate to the Northern Territory. Our skills shortage should be used as one of the strongest incentives for us to promote more skilled people to come to the Territory. In Alice Springs where I live, through many years of CLP policy, we aggressively encouraged overseas doctors, nurses and other professionals to come and live, work and become citizens in the Northern Territory. Had it not been for overseas doctors - whether it be from Burma, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and from European countries - we would have much trouble filling positions at the hospital. They were competent professionals who wanted to live in Alice Springs, bought their own homes and became part of the community.
Unfortunately, over the least three years, they seemed not to be as strongly fostered any more. The way they perform their work, while they try to do their best, they feel now that they are being exploited because of their tenuous positions in the Northern Territory, where their immigration or visa status is not secure, where they are here at the pleasure of the Northern Territory government. Because of that, they seem to not to have the good working conditions that they had under the CLP.
It is important to understand that multiculturalism is something that is in the mind rather than external manifestations of it. If you are of a mind that you will accept anyone with respect and not tolerance - definitely not tolerance. Why would I have to be tolerated? Ask any immigrant: why should that person be subjected to tolerance from the community? The word ‘tolerance’ implies that there is something wrong with that person. Multiculturalism is about respect. You respect everyone in the community, whether they are from overseas or local people from the Northern Territory, be they indigenous or non-indigenous. We respect each other. We respect the right of each other to occupy the space that we occupy. We respect each other for the things that we contribute to our communities. Some of us work, some of us do not; we should respect each other for that, and make sure that we then can get on in a better society.
The minister talked about integration of diversity. Obviously, it seems that integration is no longer a dirty word. There was a time when talk about integration of the community was definitely a no-no; it was politically incorrect. You could not use that word because it means one group is drawing in or assimilating another group. I keep saying: who is assimilating whom? We all aspire to the same thing. We all aspire to have a better home, enough finances to purchase food and clothing, able to travel from point A to point B in reasonable comfort at reasonable price, we want our families to grow strong and healthy, our children to be well educated and to have a better life than ourselves. We all want that. It does not really matter what group is the dominant or the non-dominant group. If we all aspire and work for the same thing and are integrated into a single society with our cultural differences adding strength to that society, then it is a good thing.
In his response when he closes debate, the minister needs to talk about what the ACTU is doing at the moment. Why is it objecting so strongly against the Howard government’s desire to bring about immigration of skilled labour into Australia? We need to do that because of the skill shortage that we have. If it is a national shortage, you are not going to create skilled people out of nothing. Therefore, to bring them in is the right thing to do. The attitude of change that I am observing in the Howard government now, with allowing people who have been incarcerated for the last few years to now come into the community, is a very positive move and I look forward to more.
With regard to multiculturalism in the Northern Territory, an interpreter service is, obviously, very important. Many people who do not speak English as their first language or, where English is not a primary language, need an interpreter service. While the interpreter service through the TIS and the Northern Territory Interpreter and Translator Service is adequate in many languages, I know that this government has continued to cut back on Aboriginal interpreter services. The funding has been cut. You cannot tell me that every indigenous person in the Territory can communicate at a level where they can discuss their health, welfare or education issues. They need interpreters, and this government has not fulfilled the promise to ensure that interpreter services are going to be made available to everyone.
On page 18 of the booklet are listed the top 10 languages spoken other than English. The minister’s department should ensure that these statistics are correct. The languages recorded on this chart are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages, German, Greek, Italian, Croatian, Dutch, Chinese, Macedonian, Cantonese and Spanish. Chinese? Is he talking about Mandarin, Hakka, or Fuchien? What are you talking about? You have Chinese. If it is Chinese, then Cantonese is Chinese. Understand what you are talking about. You have people working in the department who have no idea about multiculturalism, cosmopolitanism and no sense of correctness. If these officers of your department are supposed to be pushing the issue of multiculturalism in the Northern Territory, then get them right. These people are responsible for ruddy nonsense. You have to write down: if it is Chinese, then it includes all groups, or it is Mandarin, or if it is Fuchien or Hakka. It is important to know that. Then, when you talk about interpreting or translating, you have interpreting in Cantonese and Mandarin, and then translating is in Chinese. You are mixing terms; they are not interchangeable.
The member for Karama keeps interjecting saying: ‘Oh, it is Chinese, it is Mandarin’ because she lived in Hong Kong for a couple of years and because of that, thinks that she is the expert in Chinese matters, I can tell her that she is not an expert in Chinese matters. I have grown up a Chinese, but I do not claim to be an expert in Chinese matters. I have lived in Australia for over 40 years, longer than many members sitting across the Chamber. I would not expect anyone to believe that I am an expert on Australia, either. We are all citizens of the world; we have our own contribution to make. For us to say that I have lived in this country, therefore I am an expert, is just foolhardy. When you wake up in the morning and you think that you have lived in this country a couple of years and know about it, you really do not know about it because you can always buy an aeroplane ticket and fly out of this country. It is when you wake up in the morning and say: ‘This is my life; I have nowhere else to go’, then you have lived a life and at least you can say: ‘I know a little about this because I have lived this life’. Until you do that, do not presume that you are such a knowledgeable person that you know everything about the race or the group that you lived with just because you happen to spend overnight there.
Ms Lawrie: Overnight?
Dr LIM: That is not what it is all about. A couple of years is, in fact, overnight in terms of the years …
Ms Lawrie: Four-and-a-half years.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Dr LIM: Four-and-a-half! I have lived in Australia for over 40 years. That is what you are talking about.
Dr TOYNE (Justice and Attorney-General): Madam Speaker, having listened to the debate to date, the issues as regards multiculturalism in our urban centres have certainly been …
Madam SPEAKER: Minister, if I could just interrupt for a moment. You might be better of speaking at the lectern where your voice will go into the two microphones, rather than the single one where you keep turning and you are sometimes hard to hear. Do you mind? Thank you.
Dr TOYNE: Is that better?
Madam SPEAKER: Much better.
Dr TOYNE: Right. To being again, the debate to date has given a good canvassing of the multicultural issues that pertain in our urban centres. I thought, having listened to the somewhat clinical presentation of the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, that we might get some people into this, some feeling about what it means. I started thinking about Yuendumu, which was my home town for 15 years of permanent living there - and I still get there fairly often - and what sort of cultural diversity you would see in a place like Yuendumu. I immediately thought of Frank Baada.
Frank was a Dutchman who grew up in Argentina. He worked as a geologist at the Alaskan oil fields and has now spent nearly 30 years at Yuendumu. Frank is like a multicultural society in the one body. There are quite a few stories of Frank. He is well-known to travellers coming through the area because he is a man who can converse with anyone in one language or another, or by one means or another. One incident was when Sapphire, the talking dog, arrived in town. It was a travelling show and featured, as the name would suggests, Sapphire the talking dog. Frank took that up as a challenge. He decided he wanted to get a response from the dog. He spoke to it in Dutch and got no reaction, switched to Spanish, and then on to English and Warlpiri. The dog was completely unresponsive to the whole lot. Frank went to the owner of the dog who was touring the show, and said: ‘This dog is a fraud. He cannot speak any one of my four languages’. The owner said: ‘Well, he has been a bit hard of hearing lately’. That is one of Frank’s stories.
Another one involved Bruce Farrands at Rabbit Flat. Bruce sees a passing parade of people through the Tanami Desert and he radioed Frank – it was before the days of telephones – and said: ‘Hey Frank, there is an Arab on a pushbike who has just left here. He will probably be down your way in about four days or so’. Frank took that on board, but, as a rider to it, Bruce said: ‘Oh, but he is not really an Arab; he is a New Zealander’. I am not sure why that was important, however, a New Zealander in an Arab outfit could not be more multicultural.
This is also a true story of a transvestite who lived in inland Queensland and - the Leader of Government Business is sitting up very suddenly …
Mr Henderson: Yes! It is interesting.
Dr TOYNE: He had a pang of conscience about his lifestyle and decided he wanted to have a major change in his life. He decided to give up transvestism, and then he was faced with the question of: where do you give it up? He got a map of Australia, put a blindfold on, and stuck a pin in it. It turned out to be the Tanami Desert, just near Rabbit Flat. He took off in his car and drove all the way to the Tanami Desert, dumped all the clothes in the sand dunes there, set fire to them, got back in his car and drove back to Queensland. Of course, a passing traveller noticed all the smoke coming up from the sand dunes and saw women’s clothing on fire and decided it was murder, bloody murder. This huge investigation ensued and one of the police investigating rang Bruce and asked if anyone unusual had come through Rabbit Flat lately, and he said: ‘Well, this sad looking cove came through here and he did not have a beer’. That was the basis of tracing this guy back to Queensland and checking that he was okay.
This is cultural diversity bush style and, of all the places I have lived, Yuendumu has certainly more diversity than anything I have seen. When you look at what is brought together there, there are people from all over Australia and the world. The Warlpiri people, whose home it is, not only have their own rich traditions and cultural ceremonies, many of which I have been to over the years I lived there, they have this passing parade of other cultural events and exchanges. It is quite extraordinary when you think of a community in its heyday with probably 700 to 800 people. However, these days, sadly, it is a lot less with the loss of life through ill health and other causes.
We have had the tail end of the grand old country and western shows that went through on an annual basis. People used to turn up and would all sing along with the old country and western songs. We have had Slim Dusty there, Buddy Holly, and Brian who was quite a long way back and I cannot remember his name. We had Yothu Yindi present a complete concert there - a major, stage-managed concert. That was just spectacular to be out in a bush community watching Yothu Yindi perform. We have had video conferencing links between Yuendumu and Barrow, Alaska to talk to the Inuit people about culture, language, contemporary economic issues regarding the indigenous lands, preservation of language, substance abuse, all sorts of issues. Similarly, with the Sami in Central Sweden and the Little Red River Cree Nation in Alberta, Canada. There is this supposedly sleepy little backwater out bush and they are in absolutely lively dialogue with people all around the world.
We had a bumpy start with Warlukurlangu Artists. In the first four weeks of production out there, the first art dealer who arrived was buying up original indigenous art around Central Australia, taking it over to India, having it mass-produced by very low paid labour and then selling it on the Gold Coast. The interface can contain everything from shonky to shining.
Our first really important dealer came from Melbourne and the Warlpiri immediately nicknamed her Big Hair because she had a bouffant kind of hairdo and wore a silk pants suit. I remember taking her through the West Camp at Yuendumu in the evening, which is typically when people settle or vent their frustrations and differences for the day, so there was a bit of a forthright debate going on between some of the women and part of the debating procedure was to lift their skirts and display to each other. I was walking through the middle of all that with Big Hair the bouffant hairdo. That was the diversity of this amazing superimposing of one lifestyle, one background, on another. There are no rules to that. You just flow through it and everyone takes whatever meaning they can away from it. God knows what she thought of it; I have no idea.
We had a musicologist who had been playing classic western music all around the world and he had almost finished his thesis when he came out to Yuendumu, pulled out the piano and started playing. He was full concert style pianist that bounced up and down on the chair with flourishing arm movements and the Warlpiri actually thought he had some sort of dreaded disease. They all started laughing at the bits where everywhere else in the world, people had been going into a very sombre, contemplative mood. I think that probably single-handedly destroyed his thesis and he was a broken man after that.
That is the heart of the way multiculturalism works in the Territory, Madam Speaker. It is wild and woolly and hard to take meaning from at times, but it is very personable and it is very tolerant. That is the heart of our process in the Territory. I hope, whether it is politics or any of our public processes that we preserve, respect and strengthen that at all costs: the tolerance of each other, the tolerance of our diversity.
Mr ELFERINK (Macdonnell): Madam Speaker, with all due respect to the people who put this document together and the statement introduced by the minister to expand on the principles of cultural diversity or multiculturalism in the Northern Territory, it is a bit of an anathema to me. I grew up in a place called Darwin. When my father emigrated, I was a little more than a babe in arms in 1969 and we landed in Darwin, and the Darwin community is what we were introduced to.
The Darwin community was already a polyglot of all manner of people from all manner of cultural backgrounds. Despite the fact that the federal government, at that stage, had a policy called the White Australia policy which was still running at that time, Darwinites had quite missed the point of the White Australia policy or had just not cared to worry about it because it elected itself a Chinese mayor at the time, who later went on to participate in this Assembly. That was Harry Chan. There was never an issue of cultural or race problems in Darwin in my experience. We had people from all over the world. The local Aboriginal community were well respected participants in the community. We have had Aboriginal participants in this Assembly very early on in the piece. I am often curious as to why we need these sorts of policies when the whole thing seems to be working swimmingly anyway. The other fact is that if there is any evidence of racial discrimination in the Northern Territory, it would be covered by the Anti-Discrimination Act.
This policy strikes me as being a fairly colourful document, nice and glossy; it has the minister’s name on it. However, why do we need it? All of the principles embodied in this document already exist. I have gone through the minister’s statement, and he shows no evidence to demonstrate why we need to intervene in this area because there are no complaints or examples of entrenched and institutionalised racism in the Northern Territory government. One of the principles behind this document is to be a guide to government as to how to apply multicultural policies. Frankly, with the introduction of anti-discrimination legislation in the Northern Territory, this is just gloss enamel on the substance of legislation that already exists and, as far as I am aware, is rarely, if ever at all, used.
The Darwin I grew up in was a Darwin that was remarkably indifferent to people’s cultural diversity in the sense that it never became an ‘anti’ as a person proceeded through their lives in the community in which they lived. It is curious that there is a Mosque right next to a Christian church on Vanderlin Drive and, although there is a slightly higher fence around the Mosque now, which is, I think, about five feet high, those two buildings next to each other have never caused an issue, so much so that, more often then not when I point it out to members of the public in Darwin, their response is not: ‘Oh yes, we are very proud of our cultural diversity’. Most people say something like: ‘Oh yes, never noticed that before’. That is because it is just not on the radar. It is just not a major issue for people who live in Darwin. That has also been my experience in the rest of the Northern Territory
The question then begs: why are we making such a play of a new multicultural policy, Building on the Territory’s Diversity, in this parliament and why are we introducing this policy that already operates inside the Territory’s public service? The obvious answer is about halfway through the statement where the minister starts talking about how much he is spending on the ethnic communities facility development program, which cost $1.5m. There are other sponsorships and funding worth $717 000. It starts to look very quickly like a platform by which the minister can be seen to be doing something, and announcing spending, which probably would have occurred anyhow in grants to various multicultural communities, dressed up to be: ‘Aren’t I a good, little old minister; I am doing such a wonderful job as the Minister for Multicultural Affairs’. Frankly, Multicultural Affairs is not a difficult portfolio in the Northern Territory. It certainly should not be, especially in places like Darwin, because it has been happening for a very long time indeed.
The principles to which this policy dedicates itself are principles you can find both in the policy document and the minister’s statement. It talks about valuing diversity, fair access, encouraging participation and mutual respect. If you read the document and go to Principle 1, ‘Valuing diversity’, it says:
- The cultural linguistic resources and skills of Territorians are valued as a social and economic asset and are
recognised for the significant benefits diversity brings to the Territory as a whole.
My question to the minister is: what’s new? It has been going on for a very long time. Then it asks self-answering questions such as: ‘What does this mean for the Northern Territory?’ It goes on:
- … continuing to benefit from contributions of our diverse community and all facets of Territory life, economically,
socially, culturally and politically.
What is new? This policy does not give us anything new or does not develop anything new; it simply continues to support principles that have been so ingrained into the Territory psyche over the years that it defies, really, having to be written down anywhere.
I am unaware, through my time in the public service, of examples of entrenched racism which would prevent someone from a particular cultural or social background from getting a job. When I started living in the Northern Territory many years ago, I think at that stage there was no such thing as a woman police officer. However, through the change in gender laws over the time and attitudes to gender differences, those issues were dealt with largely in the 1970s. After I joined the police force in 1983, gender was never a barrier for a person entering the job, nor was race, religion, political belief or sexuality. I am a little surprised that we find ourselves with a policy that really does not do anything to add to the protocols that already exist.
If you follow the logic of a policy like this, there needs to be a policy that says something like: ‘We will have a homosexual policy and a building on the Territory’s political diversity policy’. We could have one on any number of areas of difference between people. The Territory has long accepted difference, long before other states in this federation and other places in the world had accepted some of these differences. We have gotten on with it in a fashion that largely sees it ignored as an issue. Surely, that is what we want to achieve in a society where difference is something that we recognise but, in how we get along with each other, it is just not on the radar. I am not entirely sure that we need to elevate it or put it on the radar, to point out people’s differences, only to come up with a cure for it.
I had a sense of a little discomfort, if you like, about this policy hitting the table because I thought: ‘This is what we have always done’. It is for that reason that I started thinking to myself that what we are doing is exactly that: creating a policy to address an issue that does not exist. We might just as easily invent a gravity policy so that all people involved in the public service in the Northern Territory shall obey the laws of gravity. It already exists; we already obey the laws of gravity. We do not really need a piece of dressage to make it happen any more effectively every day.
The people who put this document together, and the minister himself, are faintly aware of this cultural attitude in the Northern Territory, which is why the document was put together in a fashion that looks a little slapdash. Obviously, the minister did not read it too well because - and I know it has already been pointed out but it is worth pointing out again - 21.9% of the Territory’s public service employees who were born overseas were from England and, of course, 5.4% of those were from Scotland. The surprising thing is that a little further down the chart, only 3.6% were from the United Kingdom. I am not across English history in a profound way, and my geographic knowledge of England is limited to only a couple of visits there - I think five in total - but, gee whiz, I know that England is part of the United Kingdom and that Scotland, much to the chagrin of many Scots including people like Sean Connery, is also part of that United Kingdom.
We have here a document which is a launch vehicle for some spending announcements by the minister, saying: ‘Oh, what a good boy am I’. In the process, he has drawn attention to an issue which does not require much attention because it ain’t an issue. I have no problem with the policy document per se, suffice to say it reiterates something we already know, a creed we already live by. As far as I am concerned, fine! It is a very nice policy; it looks good, and has nice pictures of people of different cultural backgrounds on the back, the label of the Northern Territory government also on the back, the minister’s big smiling photo on page 1, and a nice message from the minister saying everything is sweetness and light. Bully for the minister. The Territory will continue operating in the same fashion, whether this document exists or not.
Mr KIELY (Sanderson): Madam Speaker, it is with pleasure that I support the statement made by my colleague, the Minister for Multicultural Affairs, following the launch of the Northern Territory’s first multicultural policy last month entitled Building on the Territory’s Diversity.
We do need this policy, and we always need to be on the lookout to make sure we foster a society that values multiculturalism. I accept the points that the member for Macdonnell made, who said it is already going swimmingly in the Territory. It is to a degree, but multiculturalism did not just happen; it took a lot of hard work by the community and, as the government, it is incumbent on us to keep up that hard work and to work with the community and in our workplace. We are a significant employer within the community and we have to make sure that the assumptions the member for Macdonnell says everyone holds are actually embedded within our employment practices in the workplace.
In a previous life, I was an equity officer in the public sector and there are cases where there is entrenched disadvantage to people who are from non-English backgrounds. I believe it is so, and even for our indigenous work force. When you have a look that 30%-odd of our community is of indigenous heritage, where do they fit in the workplace? How many are actually employed, and in what jobs? The same can be said for those Australians from non-English speaking backgrounds. Where do we find these people in the employment stream? We find them a lot of times in employment ghettos; they cannot get out because of entrenched racism. It is systemic, and we have to be on our guard and ever vigilant to ensure we do work to make our community one of greater equity and harmony.
We do not have to do that by an homogenisation of the community, and that is what the multiculturalism statement is all about. It is not saying we have to homogenise everything; it is saying that we value the difference and let us all share and join in, and grow and be enriched as a community from it. There could be no greater examples than from Friday of last weekend. I will give you a quick run-through of my weekend. It started on Friday with a Harmony Day function in Parliament House. There would have been in the vicinity of 200 or 300 people from just about from every corner of the globe. They were all from Darwin and Katherine, and there were also some Alice Springs people, all residents of the Territory, all Australians from various cultural backgrounds. There was a real vibe in the room, and it was tremendous to see everyone getting around, having a good time talking to each other. It was a good feeling of community in that hall. Then I was off to the Greek Independence celebrations. Once again, I was talking to the Honorary Greek Consul, the Honorary Danish Consul, and a whole range of people from different backgrounds, all living in the Territory, getting on, and having a fabulous time. Earlier, I had been to the farewell function for the Consul for the Republic of Indonesia, Mr Zacharias Manongga and Mrs Murni Manongga. He has been a great consul, and we will miss him. In that setting, there were people from all corners of the globe once again, who live and reside in the Territory
On Sunday night I was at a Harmony Day function here in Alice Springs. I was getting around talking to people who were Swiss, Kenyan, Italian – it just goes on and on. It was fantastic. Everyone was in the marquee together and it was a really good event to celebrate Harmony Day.
At the function last night, I was introduced to a great Italian couple who have been in this town since 1959, Mr and Mrs Delgiacco. They are a credit to the community. They have been doing the hard yards for a long time. They have many different businesses within this town and the Italian community in Alice Springs is very well represented and has been contributing strongly to the flavour of Alice Springs. They have helped set the character and the tone for Alice, which is wonderful.
Let me mention also when we talk about multiculturalism, the Tiwi Grand Final on the weekend. How is that for a celebration of multiculturalism? That is a fantastic event. That is the other richness that the Territory has. Not only does it have Australians from different countries, we have within our community the indigenous people. Their languages we are picking up into our own mainstream languages up here and the richness that they bring to our everyday life is fantastic. I am really proud, pleased and gob-smacked at times to be part of the Northern Territory community and the multiculturalism of it.
It applies in my own electorate. I will give you a quick rundown of the groups that use the community room in my electorate office. We have the Africa-Australia Friendship Association, with the President Charles Pittia and the Secretary Mr Mark Chawala. They have some great functions at the Italian Club and the Portuguese-Timorese Club. That is the sort of place and the sort of multiculturalism we have.
We have the Australia-China Friendship Society with the President, Dr Fred Mitchell, and Secretary Mrs Val Van Der Veen and they meet at the Sanderson office. We have the International Women’s Day group with Emma Sullivan, an Australian of Samoan heritage. We have the Sri Lanka-Australia Friendship Association with the president Mr Chandra Seneviratne meeting at the office. The Chinese-Timorese group meets in my office every week, and they teach English for beginners led by a volunteer, Mrs Teng Marie. They are events that happen in my own community in respect of multiculturalism.
I have to say that about one of the best Harmony Day functions was hosted by the Filipino-Australian Association of the Northern Territory. I will give you a quick run down from the program. We had the Master of Ceremonies, Betchay Mondragon and Estelle Quindara, and John Rivas, whom everyone knows. Minister Vatskalis made an opening speech at that event. There was the Moil Primary School German Choir, the Holy Spirit Primary School Choir, Casuarina Senior College dancers, Darwin School of Ballet, Jessica Mauboy, Darwin Children’s Youth Choir, Debbie and Diana Micairan and Irish dancing. It goes on and on and on.
This is what this multiculturalism policy is all about. It is making sure that what we take for granted and assume will always be there, will be there. We must always be on our guard in this society to make sure that we do all that we possibly can to stop the ugly head of racism. The multiculturalism policy as outlined by the minister and introduced in parliament is an attempt to do that, starting in the workplace and working out.
Yes, we do need a multiculturalism policy. This is the first formal one that we have had in the parliament. I am happy to be part of it. I thank the minister for his efforts. I do not think members should be so negative or nave as to say: ‘It is right now and it will keep being right in the future’ because it is up to us to make sure that we do have a future of which we can be proud.
Mr BURKE (Opposition Leader): Madam Speaker, I wanted to say a few words in my capacity as Leader of the Opposition with regards to this statement whilst it is still open for debate and, essentially, to pick up the comments of the member for Sanderson whom, I believe, echoed my sentiments. That is too often we take for granted the multicultural nature of the Northern Territory.
Those comments that were positive, constructive and fair by members reflect, without me having to repeat it, that the history of the Northern Territory has been, essentially, built by the efforts of those who have come from other countries. Many came because others would not and because it was the only opportunity open for them. In trying to take up that opportunity, they experienced incredible hardship, not only because of the nature of the work that they conducted and the environment that they worked in, but also the simple fact that they were seen and treated as alien. It was only by perseverance and hard work that, for many, I am sure in they lives, they never experienced the openness and welcome that is now evident in Northern Territory society.
However, that is something that they and their children forged over time and from which their grandchildren and great-grandchildren benefit today. That background to the multicultural nature of the Northern Territory is clear, and I am sure no one would argue with it.
The point that the member for Sanderson made is a good one: we have to recognise that we need to be continually aware that, whilst the opportunities may be there for those who are more confident, there are many who very much lack confidence. I know just in the short time I have been in Alice Springs on this trip, I have seen some of the new arrivals from Sudan. I was at Mass on Sunday and there were a number of Sudanese who have recently arrived in Alice Springs. I could not help noticing one girl who was about 16 years old. I tried to speak to her, but she left straight after Mass. She was a lovely girl. I noticed that during the whole time she was there, she never spoke to anyone and, when people were mingling after the Mass, she stood on her own and had a quiet glass of water and then walked off on her own. I asked someone if she had family here and they said: ‘Yes’. I make no comment as to whether or not she is happy; I am sure she is. However, it struck me that the girl was still experiencing the fact that she is in a foreign country and she was quite different in herself.
If there is anything that we can do, not only as a community but as a government, to make things easier and improve the construct that we put on words like ‘fair access’, ‘respecting diversity’, ‘encouraging participation’ and ‘having a mutual respect for each other’ through strategies such as those that are being introduced with this multicultural policy, that is a good thing and I support it entirely.
Notwithstanding the comments of some in this debate, the CLP has a proud record of valuing diversity. In fact, if one looks at the manifesto of the CLP, the words that are in this statement such as ‘fair access’, ‘mutual respect’ and ‘value and diversity’ are written in that manifesto. Whilst we all strive to achieve those in a 100% way, there may be times when, either as individuals or collectively, we do not do as well as we would like. That does not mean that we should not continue to try.
The minister has not only presented a strategy that the CLP will continue to support and, where necessary, improve, but it appears that he has put in place structures to ensure that the outcomes of this strategy are measured, and I entirely support him in that endeavour. So, minister, thank you for the statement, and thank you to those who have been involved in developing this statement. I note also that it draws from the experience of other states in Australia, and that is good because we should always learn from what they have done, and what we can do to improve it. I can give an undertaking from the CLP that we will maintain and improve that strategy not only in government, but in our comments in this House today.
We can do more as a Territory. Either side of parliament can point to the things that we see around us, the participation that we have with peoples of various backgrounds who work and live in the Northern Territory. However, there are still issues out there and they have to be addressed. As the member for Sanderson rightly pointed out, there are still many in the Northern Territory who work in occupations that are the only occupations that they can find. That is because they are probably not as aware of the support that they should be receiving from employers, whether they be private or public, they are limited by their own language capability, by their education and knowledge of the Australian system and the supports that exist in our community. They need to be helped individually, through their families. Certainly, employers need instruction, guidance and greater awareness of the rights of these people and the obligations on themselves as employers. Those issues need to be well and truly reinforced, promulgated and strengthened. Where efforts need to be made to discipline people who do not follow those guidelines, I am sure the minister will have in place procedures for dealing with those matters.
We easily talk about how well we integrate and relate to people from other countries. However, any of us who have lived overseas for any amount of time know that without language, one is incredibly limited no matter how intelligent one might be. I am always struck by my wife’s capability, as a linguist who speaks a number of languages, some fluently, when we travel overseas compared with me. I, essentially, walk along carrying the bags and wait for her to do the talking. One says to oneself: ‘How would you like to be in a country trying to find employment, get yourself a house, get yourself established?’ Put on top of that kids and, in some cases, people such as these Sudanese who have come from awful backgrounds with the scars of war, and all we can do is have an immense amount of admiration for them personally, and for the efforts that they make. The least we can do as a society is to support them in every way we can. This strategy is one such way, and I thank the minister for it.
Debate suspended for dinner adjournment.
MOTION
Note Statement – Building on the Territory’s Diversity
Note Statement – Building on the Territory’s Diversity
Continued from earlier this day.
Mr VATSKALIS (Multicultural Affairs): Madam Speaker, I sincerely thank members for their contributions and the Leader of the Opposition for his very constructive comments. I was very impressed that he, in contrast with his colleagues, identified the benefits of the policy; that it is not an empty policy but has structures in place to make sure that what we say in the policy will translate into reality.
Of course, some of the members of the opposition could not resist the opportunity to criticise. I thank, first, the member for Drysdale for pointing out to us some inconsistencies in page 18 of the policy document. I advise the House that the problem relates to historical changes made to the database which resulted in discrepancies with previous databases being left in the information base and providing an overlap in categories. There were some difficulties in changing the database to remove this problem. These problems have now been fixed. The data was required to be presented with its anomalies to ensure all data was presented. The version in the policy document was slightly changed from the original data source, which said UK and Ireland as well as providing a separate descriptor for Ireland. In discussion with OCPE, it was agreed to change the first descriptors to UK as it was broad enough to encompass Ireland.
I come to the comments made by the member for Greatorex who criticised the policy and insisted that it is not the Territory’s first multicultural policy, that the CLP always liked multiculturalism. The reality is they liked migrants and migrant groups, but they never presented a policy to parliament. They never presented a document to make sure that multiculturalism is recognised, that people from non-English speaking backgrounds will not do the menial jobs that they usually do because their skills are not recognised, and that they will be promoted in different positions in the public service.
The Northern Territory, if it is not the most multicultural society in Australia, is one of the most multicultural societies in Australia. We have people from a variety of backgrounds, English and non-English speaking. We are talking about 100 different countries of origin with 120 languages being spoken in the Territory. One in four people speak a language other than English at home and we are proud because we are living together peacefully.
The members for Greatorex and Drysdale referred to the White Australia policy that was an Australian Labor Party policy. Yes, it was, but it was an 1850s policy and we cannot try to relate the policy of any particular party in the 1850s or the 19th century with the policies of today. I am pretty sure if we look very closely, we might find some interesting policies of the Liberal Party that today would be totally inappropriate, but at the time sounded very reasonable. Let us not forget that some European governments that were considered to be centrist or leftist supported fascism in Italy or Nazism in Germany.
The CLP might say that they promoted multiculturalism. They always promoted it, but the CLP was the only party in the Territory ever that supported an openly racist party. They preferred to give preferences to One Nation in August 2001, to the one party that was clearly identified as an anti-immigration, anti-black, anti-Asian, pro-gun, pro-death penalty, pro-corporal punishment and aggressively nationalist. In August 2001, the then Chief Minister said, and I quote:
- What we don’t intend to do in the Northern Territory is to allow the Labor Party to use One Nation to flop
over the line and either win government or win a minority government. We are not that stupid.
I beg your pardon? You were! This was criticised not only by the Labor Party, not only by the ethnic communities, but by ex-Chief Minister Shane Stone who, on 20 August 2001, spoke on the ABC morning program and said to Fred McCue:
- That decision to preference One Nation in the way they did was wrong. I made a particular point of view known
at the time and I want to assure Territorians that I have the credentials to do it, and in particular those in the
ethnic communities of the Northern Territory, that this is not the position of the Prime Minister or of the Liberal
Party.
Certainly, it was not the policy of the Prime Minister or the Liberal Party because John Howard said, on Tuesday, 21 August, on the ABC morning news:
- It was a mistake by the CLP to appear to do and give a preference to One Nation over other parties.
Suzanne Cavenagh said it was a mistake. I have to admit, to his credit, the Leader of the Opposition, Denis Burke, also said that it was a mistake to preference One Nation ahead of Labor on its How to Vote card. They might say that the CLP always supported multiculturalism, but I am really disappointed in particular with the member for Greatorex who sat there quietly and did not protest. He did not say anything when he knew very well what One Nation was because it was anti-immigration and, clearly, anti-Asian.
On 10 September 1996, Pauline Hanson made the following observations about Asians and multiculturalism:
- Immigration and multiculturalism are issues that this government is trying to address, but for far too long
ordinary Australians have been kept out of any debate by the major parties. I and most Australians want
our immigration policy radically reviewed and that of multiculturalism abolished. I believe we are in
danger of being swamped by Asians …
In a statement she made as part of her policy on 2 July 1998, she said:
- 70% of our immigration program is from Asian countries. Consequently, Australia will be 27% Asian within
25 years, and as migrants congregate in our major cities, the effect of Asianisation will be more concentrated
there. This will lead to the bizarre situation of largely Asian cities on our coasts that will be culturally and
racially different from the traditional Australian nature of the rest of the country …
Multiculturalism is alive and well in the Territory. I am really passionate about multiculturalism and the reason for that is because I come from a region where the old countries, especially the Soviet bloc countries, have disintegrated into chaos because they will never accept multiculturalism. If you take Yugoslavia, it has been divided into so many countries with some terrible wars between the Croatians, Bosnians and the Serbs. That was an artificially created country, and had artificially imposed multiculturalism that never meant anything to them. They did not learn anything from each other; any traditions or cultures.
If you look at Bulgaria, where they had a significant Muslim population of Turkish descent, when the trouble started the then communist government gave them a one-way passport so most of them had to migrate to Turkey. So they got rid of the problem, but what happened? Bulgaria is one of the poorest countries, and even poorer culturally, because they lost a significant number of their population.
In the ex-Soviet Union, if you look today at the democracies, they are fighting amongst each other. I reckon that is an example we have to learn from and avoid. Australia was a lucky country, accepting many people who came here for a better life, to avoid war, civil war or escaping the horrors of the Nazi holocaust. We have lived together and we have all helped to create the Australia we know today.
The Territory, as the Leader of the Opposition said, was created by people who came from somewhere else, either of their own free will or because they were forced, and they worked very hard and very well. Today, we see a society that is very cohesive. I reckon we are the only society in the world that, after the traditional New Year, the western New Year, we continue celebrating with the Chinese New Year, we celebrate Catholic Easter followed by Greek Easter, we go to the Greek Glenti, India at Mindil, and so on and so on.
As I said before, I was very impressed when I came to the Territory and found the people very accepting. I lived in Perth, and I recall near my neighbourhood there was an enclave of Chinese families. I woke up one morning and there was spray painting on their fences that said ‘Asians out’. In Darwin, we do not see things like that. I was never called ‘a wog’ in Darwin – never - and no one calls people names in Darwin.
Mr Burke: Some do.
Mr VATSKALIS: My son goes to Darwin High School and it is like going to a United Nations class. Their surnames are from everywhere in the world, and they all live together in peace.
The Leader of the Opposition said some people call other people these kinds of names. If people call other people ‘wogs’, it is very unfortunate. These people should be condemned and I would be the first to condemn them.
We should celebrate the multicultural character of the Territory. I believe we live in a paradise, in a real heaven. Irrespective of where people come from, the shape of their eyes, the colour of their skin, we are accepting of each other, we learn from each other, we share our customs, traditions and food, and we live in a place that is a true multicultural Territory.
Motion agreed to; statement noted.
ADJOURNMENT
Mr VATSKALIS (Mines and Energy): Madam Speaker, I move that the Assembly do now adjourn.
I would like to congratulate a young Territorian, 17-year-old Hayley McKinnon who is the first Territorian to be an Australian Champion in lifesaving. She is the first Territorian to win a gold medal, and she did it very recently, on 20 March, at the Gold Coast in Queensland.
Hayley McKinnon and her brother are fantastic swimmers. Their father, Gary McKinnon, is the President of the Darwin Surf Life Saving Club, of which I am a patron, and was awarded Life Membership recently in recognition of his efforts and commitment to the club. Gary has served the club for many years and has three children; one of whom is a ballet dancer here in Alice Springs, while Hayley and her brother live and study in Darwin and are absolutely wonderful swimmers. Hayley does not swim in the water; she glides on top of it. She is a great swimmer and I congratulate her publicly for her fantastic efforts, her commitment and, of course, the gold medal she won.
I have a number of educational institutions in my electorate, and make special mention of Nungalinya College. Nungalinya College is supported by the Anglican, Uniting and Catholic churches, and teaches mainly indigenous people about family and children’s services, theology and a number of other significant subjects. I was very pleased recently to lobby for Nungalinya College so that they managed to acquire a new fence and landscape their grounds. Following completion of the fence, I had people telling me that they never knew there was college there. Nungalinya College does a fantastic job and, at the AGM last Thursday, I was very privileged and honoured to be invited to be the inaugural college patron for this year, and accepted with great love and affection.
Turning to Neighbourhood Watch in Casuarina, Mr Bill Rainbird, who was the very hardworking coordinator, had to resign because of ill health. We have a new regional coordinator, Ms Pat King. I met with Pat recently in my office, together with the officer-in-charge, Geoff Mosel, and Geoff Pickering. I offered my office and the secretarial services of my office to Neighbourhood Watch, and I advised Pat that any time, she is welcome to visit and use the computers, the fax and photocopy machines, and I was very pleased that she accepted. It is a fantastic initiative and has my personal support and the support of the community.
There are two childcare centres in my area. The Dripstone Childcare Centre in Ellengowan Drive recently received $7290 from the government to install a new soft area and shade over outdoor play area for the children. This will allow the children to be protected from the sun and to enjoy the outdoors, which are a big part of the Territory lifestyle. It was terrific to visit the childcare centre recently, and inspect the area with the director, Robbie McDonald. The CDU Childcare Centre in Alawa received $2000 for the construction of an outdoor shed, which will commence very soon now that the Wet Season is almost over, a dry Wet in Darwin. This will provide safe storage for the children’s equipment and give the children more room to move inside.
Madam Speaker, I close on a very sad note. Recently, there was a spate of accidents in Darwin. In one of the accidents, two young men died an horrific death, and I extend my condolences to the Glynatsis family in Tiwi for the loss of their son, George, a young boy just 23 years old. It was very shocking. It gives rise to the memory that my son has asked for a car. Of course, young boys, cars and, sometimes, inexperience can have terrible results. I visited the family to pass on my condolences. It was tragic because George was a very loved boy and full of life. What is even worse is that his friend, Zino, who was in the car and was killed, came recently from Cyprus to visit his brother. They were going to go to Greece and Cyprus together next week to visit their relatives but, unfortunately, they never made it. Their last breath was taken near the duck pond here in Darwin in a very tragic accident. I urge everyone, especially now during the Easter break, to take care and have a safe Easter with your family. Please do not drink and drive; drive carefully and use seatbelts.
Mr ELFERINK (Macdonnell): Madam Acting Deputy Speaker, I rise to discuss a matter which was raised in Question Time on several occasions during the last few sittings. Sadly, the government has sidestepped, avoided and tried their hardest not to answer questions on the issue. I find myself obliged to take the steps I am taking tonight to pursue the issue through the only avenue left available to me; that is, through the adjournment debate in this House.
It deals, of course, with the issue of the prominent Territorian who seems to have received some sort of special attention by this government. The Chief Minister’s communication with the Commissioner of Police on the strength of a rumour is concern enough, and that is clearly an area where the concern of this parliament should have its attention drawn. The rumourmonger has not in any way been dealt with, to our knowledge, by the Chief Minister. If I was the Chief Minister and had a leak coming out of a case, which is probably going to be one of the more high profile cases in Territory history, I would drill into any leaks as a matter of urgency rather than act on a leak quite inappropriately and outside the normal protocols of government.
The opposition came into possession last year of page 2 of a letter signed by the now deceased Superintendent Gary Smith of the Northern Territory Police Force. It was not particularly strong evidence, but worrying nevertheless, because on that page, the superintendent had alleged interference into the investigation of a prominent Territorian by the government of the day.
This was a matter of great concern and, after a brief discussion in our parliamentary wing, it was agreed this was something to which the Police Commissioner should be alerted very quickly. Through the office of the minister of Police, on 16 August a letter was sent to the commissioner, and a briefing was sought in relation to that letter and the allegations it raised. That briefing was held, if memory serves me correctly, on 21 August. During the briefing, I asked a question of the Commissioner of Police, and I remember this exchange quite distinctly. It was whether the briefing we were receiving was the same one as the Chief Minister and minister for Police were receiving. The commissioner’s reply was that it was, substantially, the same information with some omissions.
I thought that was fine, and I was not particularly worried about it at that stage. It was not until the last sittings of parliament when the Chief Minister denied receiving any form of briefing from police other than the one she had sought from the commissioner directly outside the normal processes of protocol. Clearly, this raised a question in my mind, and I then wrote a letter to the Commissioner of Police directly, asking him to clarify the situation. The commissioner notified me by way of e-mail - I had sent him a copy of the letter by e-mail - very succinctly and briefly that he was going to reply through the minister’s office.
Consequently, I received, a letter signed on 24 February by the minister for Police, Paul Henderson. In that is an extract of the response the commissioner gave to the minister’s office, and he then quoted that extract in his letter. I place that letter, with the permission of the parliament - in fact, all of these letters, Madam Acting Deputy Speaker, I will table during the course …
Madam ACTING DEPUTY SPEAKER: Seek leave.
Mr ELFERINK: I seek leave, if that is all right, Madam Acting Deputy Speaker.
Leave granted.
Mr ELFERINK: Madam Acting Deputy Speaker, the minister for Police then quoted the Commissioner for Police, and the quote is:
- The Opposition Leader, Mr Terry Mills, Ms Jodeen Carney MLA, and Mr Elferink attended my office on
24 August 2004. Also present at the meeting was Superintendent Jeanette Kerr, and Mr Mark Nelson of
your office. Although Mr Elferink’s letter refers to an October meeting, my records indicate the meeting
was held on 24 August.
That is correct and was an error on my part.
- In essence, Mr Elferink’s letter has asked me to clarify whether or not I said at the meeting that I had
provided a briefing to the Chief Minister. I can confirm that I did not say that I had provided a briefing
to the Chief Minister.
That is actually not the question I put to the Commissioner of Police. The question I put was whether the Chief Minister and the minister for Police had received the same briefing that we were receiving. As a consequence of that, I have taken it upon myself to write to the Ombudsman, Mr Peter Boyce, in relation to this matter. The issue that I raise is, basically, covered in the following paragraphs, and I will quote them into the Parliamentary Record:
- Mr Henderson wrote to me on 24 February 2005 and quoted a reply that he’d received from the Commission
of Police. In that, the commissioner said:
- In essence, Mr Elferink’s letter has asked me to clarify whether or not I said at the meeting that I had
provided a briefing to the Chief Minister. I can confirm that I did not say that I had provided a briefing
to the Chief Minister
- That answer is not satisfactory as that is not the question I have asked. I have clearly asked whether or not
the Chief Minister was briefed rather than whether the commissioner conducted the briefing.
That is the essence of my inquiry with the Ombudsman.
I am deeply concerned that there are still unanswered questions in relation to this. Despite several attempts today to find out what exactly the level of communication between government ministers, the Chief Minister and government departments such as the police and the Department of Justice have been, we find ourselves still dissatisfied with it.
There may well not be anything in this, but the government is not making any effort to make clear at all whether or not there is anything in it. That is the area of greatest concern. This government needs to at least allow for a clear explanation to be made to Territorians and to this House about exactly what their relationship between the police, the Department of Justice and this government has been. I would like to read one more paragraph into the record, and this is where the nub of this issue is going to come out:
- It is my understanding that there was a meeting a few days, (probably two), prior to …
And I refer to a certain incident:
- The meeting was probably held at Parliament House in Darwin. Present at the meeting was the Chief Minister,
the Police minister and two staffers, one probably Adele Young, the Chief Minister’s Chief of Staff. The briefing
was conducted either by Commander Owen or Supt Gwynne or both.
This information has come to me and it is a matter of grave concern the Chief Minister has told this House that she has had no other briefing, yet I have a reliable source of information that suggests to me that such a briefing did occur. The government needs to allow, at this point, an inquiry into the relationship between government, the police and the Department of Justice on this issue. The government must allow this inquiry to be run independently and completely, allowing for enough room for the inquiry to call such witnesses as it sees fit for the purposes of determining exactly what briefings were had with which ministers and why those briefings were held.
The Chief Minister has assured this House that other than the briefing she received outside of normal protocol, all other information she received in relation to this was read in the newspapers like everyone else. I am dissatisfied with that answer simply because there are too many other unanswered questions. I urge government to clarify exactly what is going on - either that, or make allowances so that an independent arbiter can come in and investigate the relationship between government and government departments on this issue because the odour is not going away.
Ms MARTIN (Fannie Bay): Madam Acting Deputy Speaker, on 8 March, we celebrated International Women’s Day. Three years ago, on International Women’s Day, government initiated the Chief Minister’s Tribute to Northern Territory Women to give Territorians an opportunity to honour the achievements of outstanding Northern Territory women.
At a reception at Parliament House in Darwin last week, I was very happy to announce the five recipients of this year’s awards. Guests and tribute women had braved Cyclone Ingrid to attend, and some had flown in from as far as Adelaide and Sydney. It was a very special occasion. Madam Acting Deputy Speaker, indeed, you were there.
Madam ACTING DEPUTY SPEAKER: Indeed.
Ms MARTIN: I would like now to share with my parliamentary colleagues the winners of the 2005 Tribute to Territory Women. First, someone who I am surprised we did not include earlier, and that is Nan Giese. Nan’s tribute was for her contribution to education and to the arts. Nan arrived in Darwin in 1954 with her husband, Harry, and her two children. She soon became involved in organisations concerned with early childhood education. From 1968, her community involvement extended to tertiary education, which included 17 years with the Darwin Community College and 10 years as Chancellor at the Northern Territory University. Nan has also been active in a wide range of Territory and national arts organisations. She has been a board member of the Museums and Art Galleries of the Territory and President of the Territory Arts Council. Nan’s contribution has been widely recognised. She received an OBE and has an entry in Who Who’s Australia. It was terrific to be able to include her in the Tribute to Territory Women.
Second for this year was Sylvia Wolf for her contribution to the tourism industry. Sylvia moved to Katherine in 1970 and soon began what became a life long promotion of the Territory tourism industry. She was instrumental in the formation of the Katherine Regional Tourism Association and she served as its President for seven years. She is currently the President of Tourism Top End. In 2001, she was awarded a Brolga Award for her outstanding lifetime contribution to the Territory industry. Her contribution to the community also involved establishing the first local newspaper in Katherine, setting up an employment agency and starting a women’s refuge. She is certainly well deserving of being on the Tribute.
Next is Janie Mason for her contribution to nursing and the union movement. Janie was born in Melbourne and arrived in the Top End in 1964. She worked as a nurse in various settings, including Aboriginal communities and urban community health clinics. Janie then commenced work in education, initially in our hospital nursing school, and finally at the Charles Darwin University where she is a Senior Lecturer in Health Sciences. She is former Chair of the University’s Academic Board and a current member. She is also a former member of the university council. Janie began her commitment to the union movement through her involvement with the Royal Australian Nursing Federation and the Territory Trades and Labour Council. Janie became the first woman President of the Territory’s TLC in 2000. In 2003, she was awarded a Centenary Medal for service to Australian society and union leadership. She has also been an active participant in many voluntary activities, often taking on executive positions in the organisations involved.
Helena Rioli was recognised for services to her community on the Tiwi Islands. Helena was born in 1935 into the Mosquito tribe on Melville Island. A member of the Stolen Generation, she was taken to Garden Point Catholic Mission at a young age. It was there at Garden Point that she met and married Cyril Rioli and gave birth to 10 children. With Cyril’s work taking him away for months at a time, Helena was left at home to raise her children. Despite these difficulties, Helena opened her doors, physically and emotionally, to other children who were members of the Stolen Generation. She dedicated her life to caring for and encouraging these children for whom she became the elder stateswoman, a strong role model and teacher.
Helena was actively involved in the community, assisting in establishing the Women’s Centre at Pularumpi, and proudly supporting the local Imalu Football Club, the Tigers. Her son, Maurice, became a VFL football star at Richmond and later, as we know, the member for Arafura in 1992. Even now in retirement, Helena continues to be a leader, not only among the Tiwi people but for all Territorians to follow. Helena could not make it to the tribute because it was just a couple of days after Cyclone Ingrid hit the Tiwi Islands. Pularumpi at Garden Point was one of those communities that took a fair bit of the brunt from the cyclone, but Helena was represented at the awards by her granddaughter, Karen, who was very gracious.
The fifth awardee for this year is Margery Harris for her contribution to the community. Margery arrived in Alice Springs in 1947 at the age of 23 and started work as a nursing aide at the Alice Springs Hospital. Margery became involved in sporting activities when she realised that there was no team sports for women in the Alice. She initiated both the first women’s basketball and netball teams, and the Alice Springs Hockey Association. Margery assumed the responsibility for all aspects of these sporting bodies including coaching, refereeing, accessing equipment and establishing suitable venues. She volunteered many hours coaching the young women of Alice Springs and was successful in enabling the teams to compete at a national level.
Margery was instrumental in forming the Federal Sports Club, which was the first Territory sporting club to cater for both men and women. Her consistent involvement with the community also includes establishing the Alice Springs Home Help Association and being a torch bearer for the 2000 Olympics. Margery received the Chief Minister’s Award for Women in 2001.
It was a lovely evening and the awardees were delighted to be included in the tribute. I thank the Director of the Office of Women’s Policy, Kim Johnstone, Senior Policy Officer, Anne Coleman, and Sarah O’Rourke for all the hours they put in to this year’s tribute.
I now want talk specifically about Central Australia and the success of Alice Springs and its screen industries. Central Australian film makers are receiving recognition nationally and internationally for the outstanding quality of their films. These films are important for all Territorians, as stories bring a fresh Territory identity to the world.
Warwick Thornton, cinematographer, writer and director, began his career at CAAMA as a teenager making video programs. He studied cinematography at the Australian Film, Television and Radio School in Sydney from 1993 to 1995. Since then, he has developed a reputation for a strong cinema style, filming and videoing dramatic feature films and documentaries. In 1998, he was director of photography on Rachel Perkins’ debut feature Radiance. Warwick has also made a number of documentaries and dramas as a director. Most recently, his documentary Rosalie’s Story about Central Australian Rosalie Kunoth-Monks’ life before and after staring in Jedda, received critical acclaim at international film festivals. Greenbush is a half-hour drama written and directed by Warwick Thornton filmed around Alice Springs, which screened at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival in January and took out the short film prize at the Berlin Film Festival in February.
Beck Cole was a guest of the Sundance Film Festival with her short drama Plains Empty, which was filmed in Coober Pedy and post-produced in Alice Springs.
Allan Collins also attended the Sundance Film Festival with Tom Murray and their film Dhakkiya v The King, winner of the Dendy Rouben Mamoulian Award at the Sydney Film Festival last year. These films are part of a wave of exciting dramas and documentaries that are coming from Central Australian film makers.
The Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association, CAAMA, is celebrating 25 years in May this year. CAAMA was set up by Fred Glynn, Phillip Batty and John Macumba to give indigenous Australians an authentic voice. CAAMA is the largest indigenous owned and operated multimedia organisation in Australia. CAAMA was recently presented with the Stanley Hawes Award by Film Australia at the Australian International Documentary Conference in Adelaide in February for its contribution to documentary in Australia. CAAMA has nurtured the talents of a growing number of indigenous and non-indigenous film makers over the past 25 years. It has been at the forefront of indigenous media for 25 years, promoting indigenous culture, language, dance and music while focussing on the positive achievement of indigenous people, countering the negativity often portrayed in the mainstream media. CAAMA is a critical incubator for indigenous trainees who have then gone on to receive national and international recognition by their peers in the film and broadcasting industry.
Beyond Sorry, a documentary directed by David Vadivaloo was selected for the Margaret Mead Festival in the US. Cold Turkey, a 50-minute drama directed by Steven MacGregor, filmed and post-produced in Alice Springs, was nominated for the 2003 Australian Film Institute Award for Best Screen Play in a Short Film, and won Best NT Film and Best Cinematography.
PY Media is based in Alice Springs and achieved much over the past 12 months, including winner of Best Broadcasting for Remote Aboriginal Communities Scheme, BRACS, BRACS video production at the 6th BRACS festival held in Alice Springs last year.
Indigenous Community Television or ICTV broadcast on Imparja has been coordinated through PY Media, including 12 months continuous production of The Rikina Video Show, a youth orientated magazine style program, and Tjina Irititja - Old Tracks, a traditional song and dance program for ICTV. Video workshops have been held across the APY Lands and four Northern Territory communities: Docker River, Mutitjulu, Imanpa and Finke. Programs produced in the workshops appear on The Rikina Video Show.
The recent Adelaide Film Festival saw the launch of a new multimedia project called UsMob, co-written by David Vadiveloo and Danielle MacLean. UsMob consists of seven short films, each of which looks at a particular theme through the eyes of a young guide or narrator for which there are different possible outcomes. There is a web site www.usmob.com.au with stories, games hub, information access point, and a place where young people can upload their own stories. A review in The Australian by Lawrie Zion on Wednesday, 9 March this year, called UsMob ‘one of the high points of the fortnight’ and ‘providing a portrait of black Australian youth that is refreshingly different from those traditionally presented on the screen’.
Congratulations to all the talented artists and film makers in the Centre on what has been an extraordinary number of recent achievements.
Mrs BRAHAM (Braitling): Madam Acting Deputy Speaker, it is nearly the end of the first day of parliament in Alice Springs, and I want to say thank you to everyone for all the contributions we have had.
We had approximately 400 students attend from schools across the Territory and, obviously, it is a great opportunity for them. I must admit that some of their remarks have been quite interesting from: ‘That was really cool’, ‘How do they remember all the rules?’, ‘That was exciting, we did not want to leave’, ‘Members of parliament must have to do a lot of homework to be able to talk about all the things they deal with in parliament’ to: ‘How much do they earn?’ We have this feedback from the students and that has been most positive. We have also had approximately 400 adults attend, which was a figure given to me earlier. Having 800 people through the doors has really been worthwhile, and I hope that tomorrow, we have even more.
It has been a week of parliaments for me. We had Parliament of the Birds last week, which was for primary school students. We had students from Larapinta Primary School with their teacher Mel Phillips, and Braitling Primary School with their teacher Sara North. They performed at the Desert Park. They debated the bill that all bird nests be built in trees for the safety of the eggs. It was a great topic and a great debate. The Clerk of the Parliament of the Birds, Banjo Woods, and the Chief Minister of the Parliament of the Birds, Mitchell Hattan, decided they would like to meet with the Clerk of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly to discuss their roles. Banjo and Mitchell turned up today and, after the morning session, they met with our Clerk, Mr Ian McNeill. Might I say they were most impressed with the real Mace, the symbol of power and authority, by comparison to the mace they have, which is the Beak and Claw used by their Speaker.
Those young students had many questions of the Clerk, and compared their roles and their responsibilities. They discussed the best parts of the job, with the Clerk informing them that he enjoyed helping members to make laws. They questioned the Clerk on what learning he needed to become the Clerk, and which other positions were available.
After a morning watching the big parliament, Mitchell and Banjo thought the behaviour of the members of the Parliament of the Birds was much better than our behaviour. They also asked the Clerk where he was born and when, but the most important question, they left until last: ‘How much do you earn?’ they asked. ‘My wife tells me “not enough”,’ was the answer. Whether Banjo and Mitchell continue along this career path remains to be seen.
I say that as a lighthearted conclusion to today, Madam Acting Deputy Speaker, because we have had some rather torrid times in the House and we need, now and again, to have a reality check and realise that life goes on regardless of what is said in this House.
Also tonight, I want to raise a few other matters about education. We have many children in our schools who have developmental delay problems and they cause enormous problems for our classes. We have an inclusion policy for children with these problems and that means they are placed in a classroom with 20 to 30 other students and given some hours of an ISA to work with them.
Philosophically, the inclusion policy is to be applauded but, unfortunately, it often brings with it many problems, not just financial, but also for the teachers and students in those classes. We have a number of children in our schools in Alice Springs - and numbers seem to be growing - who have developmental problems such as autism, ADHD, and hearing and visual impairment problems.
There was a program researched by the Department of Education’s Student Services, which they felt - and I agree with them - would have been a great proposal to assist teachers, parents and students who are having these problems and coping with the system as it is now. You have to remember that some students may survive on five hours assistance a week; other students need 25 hours. That is very costly to the department and to schools, but if we are going to have an inclusion policy, as is the policy of the department and the government, obviously we are going to have to fund it. This proposal, which was the Early Childhood Development Classroom, was an educational option for families with children who had developmental disabilities and delays in Alice Springs and it was based on the best practice model of not just inclusion, but access to services and special programs for mild to moderate disabilities.
It has been enthusiastically endorsed by parents and teachers but, unfortunately, nothing seems to have happened to implement this most worthwhile project.
In Alice Springs, the options for children with developmental disabilities are limited. We have Acacia Hill Special School for students with multiple disabilities and intellectual disability but, to be honest, most parents with children who are autistic do not see Acacia Hill as being the right place for their children. Mainstream classes in school also are an option, but only with a great deal of support. Integration of young children with disabilities is their right. That means it is the responsibility of educators to provide families with the most effective models and options for integration.
Classes of 20 to 30 are far too great because of the distractions, demands and the number of children at different learning levels for teachers to cope with. A smaller class size with a maximum, perhaps, of 12 would obviously be the best option for children with mild disabilities. The program that was suggested was that there would be a maximum number of children of about 12, perhaps even seven to eight, with assistance. Perhaps they may have two sessions each day; or just single sessions in the morning or afternoon and, as they grow older, it may extend to a full day. However, there is nothing to say the rules should not be flexible enough to allow children to have better opportunities for learning within our school system.
I would like to know what happened to the program that was developed and put up as a proposal. There was talk of it being implemented at Ross Park Primary School, and that would be a place where children with these particular disabilities would be able to go to learn in the smaller classroom and take shorter, smaller steps into full integration. That is one of the questions I will be asking the minister for Education this week: when will we see this early childhood development program that we really need for children with these mild disabilities with whom schools have difficulty coping with at the moment?
The other subject I wish to raise is school holidays. In my electorate, I have a school that surveyed parents and received 240 responses. That is quite a large number compared with another school that received very few responses. These 240 parents said they were in favour of changing the holiday systems and 10 only were against, and the school council is going to pursue this further. What they see is that at the end of first term, as we are approaching now, one week is fine because you have the additional holidays such as Easter. However, they are asking that the mid-year break be shortened to three weeks, and that the break in September then becomes a two-week break before the heavy last term when there are reports and testing and all the other demands such as end of year presentations that fall upon schools.
They believe that if there is a three-week period in July, that will be sufficient, particularly if any family wants to go away from Alice Springs for holidays. It is a fairly expensive exercise to do that, but it gives them enough time for travel, and if they can have the extra couple of weeks in September at the end of third term, it will allow them to reinvigorate and prepare for the very heavy fourth term.
It is something that has been around for a while, I know, and there seems to be a growing perception in Alice Springs that we should be looking at this more seriously. I have written to the minister but, to date, the reply from the department has been that they could not possibly change the dates until 2008. I believe we need to think about changing the dates for holidays a lot sooner.
It has also been suggested to me that if we wish to make the change we should canvass a number of schools for their support so, obviously, the option would be that all schools in Alice Springs should take on the change of dates. I am quite sure teachers in the bush would also support it because the one-week break at the end of their term often is gobbled up in travelling time, readjusting and things like that. Two weeks gives them the breathing space they really need, particularly when they live a long way from the centres.
Again, this is something on which I will be seeking answers from the minister for Education. If it makes our education system and the outcomes for our students better, our teachers feel more comfortable - and teachers in schools I have contacted indicated that they would really like a serious rethink of this - I think we should do it, and we should do it fairly quickly. We should not keep saying that we cannot change the dates until 2008 or 2009. I am sure we would be able to introduce it in the middle of next year or perhaps beginning of 2007. It is something that will not go away, and it is something that the schools would like the minister to take very seriously.
Mr BURKE (Brennan): Madam Acting Deputy Speaker, I note that the Treasurer is going to the Treasurers’ Conference to discuss the Intergovernmental Agreement on the Reform of Commonwealth-State Financial Arrangements tomorrow and will be missing from this House.
I raised in debate today the fact that Territorians should be aware that this government, in GST revenue and windfall GST revenue above that calculated in the intergovernmental agreement, has benefited to the tune of almost $600m from that GST, and it is time to give something back to Territorians. I cannot understand why the Northern Territory government and other state Labor governments in Australia refuse to cooperate under the terms of the original intergovernmental agreement.
The Treasurer stood in the House today and, first of all, tried to dispute the figures, and only rolled out his own figures, which are, essentially, the windfall amounts that the Northern Territory government has received. The reality is that in additional funding to the Northern Territory over and above that given to my government when we left office in 2001, totals around $600m. Part of that $600m is windfall revenue that was not calculated as coming to the Northern Territory when that intergovernmental agreement was signed. In fact, there were concerns about the amount of money that would flow such that the Commonwealth introduced a budget balancing allowance to ensure they could get the agreement signed, and to ensure that no states or territories were disadvantaged, such was the lack of clarity on monies that would flow.
I would like the House to recall that, under the terms of the original Intergovernmental Agreement on Reform of Commonwealth-State Financial Arrangements, the IGA, which was signed by all states and territories in April 1999, the intention was that all stamp duties listed were to be abolished by 1 July 2001 with the exception of stamp duty on non-residential conveyances of real property. This stamp duty was to cease to apply from a date to be determined by the Ministerial Council on the basis that no state or territory would be worse off.
When it became clear that the Senate would not pass the legislation without narrowing the base of the GST, it followed that GST revenue would not be sufficient to abolish these taxes from 1 July 2001. As a result, the IGA was amended to provide that in 2005, the Ministerial Council would review the need to retain these stamp duties. The reason for agreeing to review the stamp duties in 2005 was the uncertainty about whether GST receipts arising from the narrower base would be sufficient by 2005 to abolish these taxes.
The intent was that if GST revenue proved to be sufficient at the time of the review, states would abolish these stamp duties. It was never the intention that these stamp duties would continue once the GST revenue was sufficient to abolish them. I want to put that clearly on the record in contradiction of what the Treasurer said today. These stamp duties were recognised and continued to be recognised by state and territory governments and the Australian government as undesirable on both efficiency and equity grounds and, given the huge windfall gains that the state and territories are projected to receive from the GST, these taxes should be abolished.
It is in that context that the Northern Territory government is going to discuss, as it was intended, the review of these inefficient taxes. What the Treasurer did not say today was it is not the Commonwealth that is simply saying: ‘You will remove these taxes’, but the Commonwealth saying: ‘In accordance with the fact that you have received windfall revenue over and above that projected, you have an obligation to your own taxpayers to do what we all agreed; that is, get rid of inefficient state taxes’. More than that, tomorrow, when the Treasurer attends that meeting, the Commonwealth will also put a proposal that I intend to put to this House tonight so that everyone knows what is going on. This is the Australian government proposal that will be put tomorrow:
- The following state taxes listed in the intergovernmental agreement are abolished on 1 July 2006: …
And they are:
- stamp duty on non-quotable marketable securities;
arrangements; and
- Further, stamp duty on business conveyances other than real property is abolished on 1 July 2007. This would
include the components of business conveyances (such as goodwill, supply rights of a business and intellectual
property) listed at Clause A3(ii) of the original Intergovernmental Agreement, signed by all States and territories
in April 1999.
Stamp duty on business conveyances of real property will cease to apply by a date to be determined by the
Ministerial Council on the basis that no State or Territory will be worse off in any year. This could be
reviewed at future Ministerial Councils.
The Commonwealth has proposed that budget balancing assistance will be provided for any state and territory to:
- … extend the transitional period beyond 30 June 2006 to 30 June 2008, so that any State or Territory
which has a shortfall between its GST revenue provision and its Guaranteed Minimum Amount after the
implementation of the Australian Government’s proposal would be compensated through BBA.
It is estimated that if the states and territories agree with the Australian government proposal, the Australian government will provide over $330m in budget balancing assistance in 2006-07 and 2007-08 and the states and territories would, in turn, in accordance with the objectives of the IGA, abolish $8.5bn of inefficient stamp duties for the benefit of Australian families and business over the four years commencing on 1 July 2006.
The Commonwealth calculations on windfall revenue to the Northern Territory over and above that which it has already received is: for 2005-06 - $137.1m; for 2006-07 - $134.6m; for 2007-08 - $134.4m; 2008-09 - $129.6m; and 2009-10 - $147.2m. If the Northern Territory government agrees with the Commonwealth proposal, it will cost the Northern Territory government $16.2m in 2006-07, $26.4m in 2007-08, $28.2m in 2008-09 and $29.7m in 2009-10. If the Northern Territory government agrees to these proposals with the budget balancing assistance that the Commonwealth guarantees to provide if this agreement is reached tomorrow, the gains for the Northern Territory from this tax reform after implementation of this proposal will be: for 2005-06 - additional GST of $137.1m; in 2006-07 - $118.3m; in 2007-08 - $107.9m; in 2008-09 - $101.4m; and in 2009-10 - $117.5m.
I put that on the Parliamentary Record so that Territorians are well and truly aware that it is not the Commonwealth that is demanding that the Northern Territory somehow disadvantage itself in agreeing to these proposals. The Commonwealth is simply saying to the Northern Territory that it is time to give back to Territorians the money that has been taken from them by the GST, the money that has been provided to the Northern Territory government by virtue of the GST and that additional money provided to the Northern Territory by virtue of the windfall gains that have come from the GST.
The Commonwealth is also recognising - and I cannot understand why our Treasurer cannot recognise it - that the windfall GST money comes because of double dipping by states and territories, including this greedy Northern Territory government that is quite happy to double dip on business costs as a relation of GST on stamp duty and other business costs. It is quite happy to see Territorians who contribute to the GST every day of the week and in almost every purchase that they make - and let us not forget that when the Treasurer stands in this House and talks about the greedy Commonwealth government, the reality is that the Northern Territory and the other states receive every dollar that the GST generates - every dollar. That is in the agreement. The Commonwealth gives the lot, the Territory government, among other state Labor governments who opposed the GST at its introduction, have benefited in the time that the GST has been introduced. They have benefited to an extent that the windfall gains are absolutely enormous.
In the Northern Territory to date, as I have stated, there is something like $600m that has been provided in GST revenue, windfall GST revenue and additional revenue by virtue, essentially, of the GST. All the Commonwealth Treasurer is asking them tomorrow is to give some of it back. He is also saying: ‘If you give some of it back, I will ensure that you are no worse off, certainly in the earlier years’. All of the predictions are there that not only will the Northern Territory not be worse off, they will continue to gain enormously in the hundreds of millions of dollars for the forward year estimates that are predicted by Commonwealth Treasury, and they are rarely wrong.
It is in that context that I, first, say to the Treasurer you can be bellicose in this Chamber and say that the Commonwealth is at fault, but the figures are there for everyone to see. Strike the agreement tomorrow. Do the right thing by Territorians: give some of that GST back. If you want to truly stand up for Territorians then split with your Labor mates down south, and give some of these taxes back to Territorians. If the Treasurer cannot come back and do that, he has failed Territory business and Territorians, and he is another indication of the failure of this Labor government.
Dr TOYNE (Stuart): Madam Acting Deputy Speaker, I want to acknowledge some of the things going on in my electorate tonight. First, the award winners of the Territory Tidy Towns competition. The Aherrenge Store at Ampilatwatja won the category of Best Store. Levina and Virginia Morton are two women who have worked in the store and take great pride in what they do. They have recently completed a Certificate II in Retail Operations through CDU and are continuing with their nutrition work with NT Health, studying food preparation and general nutrition in communities. It is through their efforts and the efforts of the store managers, Alex and Jo Sherrin, that the community people experience such good health. Congratulations on focussing on such an important aspect of community life, and one which is very close to my heart: the health and wellbeing of children and adults.
I also pay tribute to another innovation that the Ampilatwatja community has come up with - the decorated car competition. As part of their sports weekend, which is in April, they invite all community members to deck out their cars with the colours of their favourite AFL team. Last year, in the inaugural competition, 20 cars turned up and were amazingly decorated. Sadly, a Port Adelaide decorated car won the competition, so I put up a $200 sponsorship for someone to turn up with the Brisbane Lions colours and do it properly. We will see what happens in this year’s competition.
Second, I would like to move on to recipients of the major prize for Territory Tidy Towns, also from my electorate, and that is the Lynch family from Black Tank community, situated 90 km north of Alice Springs. My first encounter with Pamela Lynch was when she was living in Laramba some years ago. The effect that she had over the community in those days was astounding. A huge vegetable garden was planted which fed the whole community. You could always tell where Pamela lived because you had only to look for the most colourful, shady and attractive house. She and her family applied the same strategies to Black Tank as they did to Laramba: recycling materials, using solar power, extensive planting of trees, bushes and edible gardens, but most of all, the sense of welcome one has whenever visiting Black Tank. I congratulate both of those recipients and wish them the best of luck for the national titles in Adelaide next month.
On another matter, a very old Jampijinpa from Yuendumu passed away on the 14th of this month, a day after his 100th birthday celebrations at Hetty Perkins Aged Care Centre. Over the many years I had known him, he stood out as being a very special man who lived in both the Warlpiri and mainstream domains very comfortably. He put great efforts into keeping traditional culture strong and involved the community at large in a very active way.
Like so many old men of his age, he spoke a language of a bygone era, not easily understood by the younger generation. When I was Principal at Yuendumu School, this old Jampijinpa instructed the students on olden time things like fire making, bush toys, resin made from spinifex grass, spinning hair string and demonstrating its many uses, collecting plant down and processing it for ceremonial body decorations, stripping plant fibre and processing it for rope and head bands, and the list goes on.
Probably my best recollections of him were as a teacher and participant during ceremonies, one in particular for which he was kirda or owner, and that was the Jardiwanpa or fire ceremony. It is an epic that is performed every five years with hundreds of participants and an equal number of onlookers. Its inception is at a place called Winparrku, which is south-east of Mt Liebig and concludes somewhere near the Top End’s oceans. The purpose of this important ceremony is to bring families close together by solving problems and disputes. It is a ceremony of atonement, enabling widows to remarry, separated couples to come back together again – a traditional form of law and justice, if you like. He was also a dab hand at performing Manyu, which are play ceremonies, which are fun and intended to entertain.
My heartfelt condolences go to his many friends and family. We will always remember him as a tireless teacher and a fantastic role model for many generations who have come under his tutelage.
I would also like to mention my constituents in the Victoria River area who have had a bit of a harrowing time over the last few days, probably the latest excitement coming from Cyclone Ingrid, which crossed the coast at Karratha and then brought very heavy rains into the Victoria River area. At one stage, the Pigeon Hole community were camped up on the hill to get away from the area where their community is based, which is the river bank of the Victoria River. Thankfully, the peak of the flood passed without damage to or flooding the community. Similarly, at Yarralin, I think we reached 13.9 m in the Wickham River. A level of 15 m brings it straight into the town, so they had 1.1 m to spare and again, thankfully, the fact that we have had such a dry summer prevented flooding because the rivers were pretty empty when the rain hit. Like all things, there is a silver lining. People are very grateful that we had a Wet Season, notwithstanding it was so late in the year.
In mentioning Yarralin, Tony McCorkell and BP, Brian Pedwell, who is from the council, have developed the community’s own supermarket. They took an old council storage shed - a very large shed that had been used for storing essential service parts and equipment - and have completely lined the shed up to the standard of a town supermarket. It is not like a bush store. You walk in and it is very beautifully set up. It has enormous storage capacity for fresh and frozen foods. There is full EFTPOS and ATM capacity in the store. They have extended the range of goods in the store beyond the normal offering in a remote store to really good nutritional foods as an alternative to the usual run of store foods, furniture, white goods, car parts, you name it. They are stocking it and doing a very good job for the community. Every single nail, screw, nut or bolt that has gone into that job has been done by the local community through their CDEP and other workers. It is a fantastic effort, and many communities can learn from the work they have done at Yarralin. It is great to see.
The last thing I would like to mention again goes to my interest in health issues in my electorate. I was at Kalkarindji-Daguragu talking to Ros Frith about the aged care program and was taken to have a look at a trailer that the community have set up. From what I gather, it cost $5500 to set it up. It is an ordinary box trailer with canopy over the top. In that trailer is a high pressure hose, an adequate range of cleaning equipment with very clear, easy to read instructions built into the storage arrangements in the trailer. That is hired out to households throughout Kalkarindji and Daguragu. They can then use that equipment and the cleaning agents to get rid of things that are making their kids and old people sick. We are going to see a real impact on the health profiles appearing in the Kalkarindji clinic if that service is maintained.
Older and disabled people receive the service free. It is provided by CDEP and aged care programs. The housing association is modifying all the houses: lifting furnishings up off tiled floors, putting stainless steel preparation areas in the kitchens, so you can actually blast the whole place out with this pressure hose once people have moved their bedding and other belongings out of the house. If people do that once a week, we are going to see an enormous impact on the environment that those kids and mums and aged people are living in. I hope we can see that appear in many other communities; $5500 is pin money. If we can get that adopted by the communities and used widely, housing will, for the first time, benefit people who are living in it rather than create an environment that is causing harm.
Mr WOOD (Nelson): Madam Acting Deputy Speaker, I concur with what the Leader of the Opposition said about the GST and the stamp duties. It is time we get rid of some of those taxes; they are a burden on families. Families pay GST on one hand every time they go to the shops, and they have to pay stamp duty on goods that already have GST on them. People find that very difficult to understand.
I did not rise to talk about that; I wanted to talk about something on which I spoke at the last sittings, and that is hot rocks.
Dr Lim: I read it from last time, your speech.
Mr WOOD: Again! Well, I will give you an update. As I said when I spoke about it last time, it is a possible new energy source for Australia. It is geothermal energy derived from hot fractured rock. We call this hot rock energy. It is a pollution-free source of energy capable of generating not toy electricity that you get from wind and solar, but energy to supply large quantities of electricity for domestic and industrial requirements for our big cities.
As reported in the NT News this year, I visited Brisbane in January and had a meeting with a company called Geodynamics Limited. This is a leading company in Australia which is developing hot rock energy. I was invited by the Managing Director, Bertus de Graff to come to Brisbane to receive a briefing on the subject, and it was well worth it.
Geodynamics is doing its hot work at Innamincka in the north-east corner of South Australia. This is a region where there has been a large amount of drilling by petroleum and gas companies. It is not far from the Moomba gas fields. Using knowledge obtained from these drilling sites, Geodynamics was able to map an area of granite 4 km to 5 km below the surface. This rock has fractures in it and is termed HFR or hot fractured rock. The hot geothermal energy is extracted by developing an underground heat exchanger in buried hot granites, 250C to 300C through opening those fractures by hydraulic pressure. That hydraulic pressure is developed by first drilling a hole into the hot rocks, and then forcing water down into the cracks at very high pressure. The rocks move 1 mm to 2 mm, enabling a vast reservoir of hot water to be held under the ground.
The first hole was drilled in 2003 to a depth of 4.4 km, with temperatures found at around 250C to 270C. This well is called Habenaro 1 named, naturally, after the hottest chilli. Habenaro 2 was started in July 2004 and completed late last year. This well was sited 500 m from Habenaro 1. The purpose of this well is to take the hot water back to the surface at pressures of up to 5000 psi. Geodynamics had to get special valves from the nuclear industry to deal with these high pressures. The two wells are linked at the surface so that a cycle of superheated water can operate in a closed loop system with no emissions. In other words, water travels from the hot rocks to the surface and back to the hot rocks to be reheated.
Testing is now about to occur on this stage. When these tests are completed, there will be, hopefully, the construction of a power plant to service the Moomba gas field operations 30 km away. To convert the heat from the superheated water, a system of energy exchange is used called the Kalina Cycle. Geodynamics has the rights to this technology in Australia and New Zealand.
I quote from the 2004 Annual Report of Geodynamics:
The Kalina cycle is a novel and highly efficient thermodynamic cycle. It takes heat energy from
mid-temperature sources such as geothermal (conventional and HFR) and industrial processes.
Kalina power plants can range from 2 MW up to 50 MW and potentially larger with single
turbine units. Kalina power plants use conventional heat recovery vapour generators (HRSG’s),
turbines, generators and heat exchangers. What sets Kalina generation apart from conventional
(Rankine cycle) plants is the use of an ammonia-water mixture as the working fluid. Ammonia-water
mixtures have entirely different thermodynamic properties which are harnessed to deliver higher
efficiency.
In effect, this high efficiency means that Kalina plants can produce more power per unit of input than
competing cycles. The Kalina benefit increases with lower temperatures, opening a significant market
opportunity not previously capable of being exploited with older technology.
The Kalina cycles are patented and have been proven in four plants overseas. Second generation Kalina
power plants incorporate new intellectual property and are being applied to geothermal and waste heat
recovery processes.
With its higher efficiency and ability to exploit otherwise waste heat, Kalina power plants offer power
utilities and industrial and mining companies a profitable solution to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
- The energy stored at a depth of less than 5 km … within Geodynamics’ two geothermal Exploration
Licences totalling 985 km2, is equivalent to 50 billion barrels of oil. By comparison, the proved oil
reserves in the USA are estimated at about 30 billion barrels, and in Australia, 3.5 billion barrels.
The success of the project does not depend on new technology, but on the economic extraction of heat
from the hot granite rocks.
This is exciting stuff: an energy source that could supply Australia with electricity for many years. How is that of interest to the Northern Territory? Simply, if there are similar hot rock regions in the Territory, we may be able to tap into that source of energy. We know that the Eromanga Basin includes the Simpson Desert, so would it be possible to supply Alice Springs and the region from such a source?
Studies by the ANU also show the possibility of hot rock around Mataranka, parts of Arnhem Land, and over towards Timber Creek. I have a map printed from the ANU web site which shows all the bright red areas as potential hot rock areas. Of course, a lot of work has to go into discovering whether there are hot granites under that because to drill one of these exploration bores down four kilometres is fairly expensive. However, the return, of course, if you can obtain energy from these hot rocks, is that you, basically, have a free source of energy. It is pollution free and will last many years. In fact, just from the Innamincka site, you are looking at about 70 years worth of electricity. I restate that they estimate that the amount of energy that can be taken out of that Cooper Basin site is equivalent to 50 billion barrels of oil, which is nearly double the amount of oil the United States has in its own reserves, and Australia has approximately three billion barrels of oil in reserve. Here we have the equivalent of 50 billion barrels of oil.
Our government needs to look at this source of energy. I know, minister, you have written me a letter about possible changes to legislation. Queensland has done a lot of work. They have changed their legislation. If someone thinks I am just a nutter following a strange source of energy, read the Queensland Hansard and legislation, and look at how both parties in the Queensland parliament supported exploration for these types of rocks. In fact, Mr Beattie last year said Queensland would be the ‘capital’ of hot rock technology. The Northern Territory has a chance to also go down that path. We talk gas, gas, gas; we should talk rock, rock, rock or hot, hot, hot. There is the potential for a terrific source of energy.
There was a media release issued recently about the Birdsville plant, which has just been closed down. The Birdsville plant was running on artesian water, probably operating about 90C, using the Rankine cycle, which is not as efficient as the Kalina cycle, and it has been producing fuel for Birdsville for 13 years. Sadly, the only reason it has been closed down, I believe, is because the plant is getting old. It is a wonder that the Queensland government did not keep it going because, in Mr Beattie’s statement about how great Queensland was in being the hot rock capital of Australia, he cited the Birdsville electricity process that used artesian bore water and, sadly, now they have closed it down.
We really need to look at this. It is all very well to talk about gas being a clean source of energy. It is a cleaner source of energy than coal. It is a cleaner source of energy than diesel, but it is not necessarily that clean. When you compare it with hot rock energy - you cannot. In fact, they believe that we will be able to produce hot rock energy at the equivalent cost of fossil fuels quite soon, so it has great potential for Australia for the Northern Territory.
I did not realise until I saw the minister’s media release today that the annual Geoscience Conference is being held at the Crowne Plaza at present. I spent some time there during the evening break to have a talk with a few of the locals and see what they were discussing. It was a good time to go there and talk to people about hot rocks as well.
Finally, while I have a couple of minutes, I wish to comment on the PowerPoint slides on the screens here. I do not often see my name in that size font - that is bigger than 12 point; I reckon it is about 112 points - but it is nice to see this technology being used in parliament. I have written a letter to one of the committees asking why we do not use this technology in our parliament. We should make sure that when people come to our parliament, they understand what is going on, and what better way than to use technology?
I just showed members a nice, coloured map. I could have put that on disc and given it to one of our great technology people at the back, and they could have projected it on the screen and you would have seen it much better than you did by me holding up this piece of paper. It is time that we look at technology to help people understand the process, to make it easier for people who come here and people who have to work and debate here, to know what is going on when people hold up those great big graphs for the cameras, to tell them whether the economy is up, down or sideways. They can project it on to a screen.
When we have Question Time, there is nothing wrong with having the person asking the question - maybe you could even arrange to have your question ready to go on the screen so that people understand what is going on. It is high time we looked at using this sort of technology in Parliament House because it would be beneficial to all those people who want to learn more about how we are governed. That is a good objective.
Mr MALEY (Goyder): Madam Acting Deputy Speaker, in my electorate, there are a couple of significant events coming up and worthy of comment.
The Freds Pass Show is scheduled for 21 May. It is a huge event in the rural area. The history of Freds Pass Show is probably not well known to many people, so I thought it appropriate tonight to touch briefly upon the fact that it is on and what brought it about. The Freds Pass Show was originally a bit of a fete that started at the Howard Springs Primary School, my old school. It got bigger and bigger and, before rural people knew it, at the Howard Springs Fete there were washing machines, tractors, mowers and the space available for the fete clearly was not enough. A number of enterprising rural people decided that there was some land on the other side of the highway at Freds Pass to try to expand the fete into a small rural show.
That small rural show has expanded to one of the significant shows on the Northern Territory show calendar. I believe it is the third biggest, with about 25 000 people pouring through the gates. It is not only an agricultural show, but a whole heap of other wares and trades are available. It used to be run ostensibly by the Apex Club. The Board of Trustees took it over for a period of time, and now it is so big that it is a self-funding incorporated association, which has a number of paid employees and a number of volunteers who assist in the enormous task of putting it together.
The place it is located, Freds Pass, is well known to many rural people and to many Territorians. It is an enormous area. In fact, it is three times and one acre larger than the entire area of the old Royal Easter Show in Sydney. It is a place where there are a number of churches. Indeed, in the old days when one hall stood there, there were three denominations that regularly held church services there. As well, the local football club had their presentations. I remember going there as a good Catholic boy, and the priest on the Sunday morning had to remove a couple of the lads who were sleeping on the altar after a fairly big session at the football club the night before.
In any event, Freds Pass is certainly the jewel in the rural area. There are a number of other smaller reserves, but Freds Pass, by a long way, takes the cake. It is a tragedy that this radical left wing Labor government has neglected Freds Pass. They have neglected Freds Pass for three-and-a-half years. We have seen very little in terms of significant infrastructure improvement. There have been a few little tweaks here and there but, at the end of the day, the Board of Trustees, I imagine, would be fairly critical about the support they have received from the current government.
Freds Pass is also the home of numerous sporting and other non-profit organisations. There has been a volley of AGMs in recent times. I attended as many as I could. The Freds Pass Kennel and Obedience Club had an important annual general meeting recently which was very well supported by the community with many people there and they are going from strength to strength. The Northern Territory Polocrosse Association had their AGM on Sunday just passed. I attended that as, once again, did a huge number of supporters. It was great to see the two CLP candidates for the electorate of Nelson, Chris Lugg, and the electorate of Goyder, Keith Phasey, who gave his apology and arrived a tad late. Chris Lugg acted as Returning Officer. It is great to see them supporting a very influential group of rural people in the form of the Northern Territory Polocrosse Association.
The adjournment debate is open slather for members to get up and talk on any subject they choose. It is probably not the time to go into an enormous amount of detail given the time constraints, but there are a couple of issues on which I wish to touch. One I am just going to plant in the Parliamentary Record. It will probably disappear into the ether and be lost forever. However, for what it is worth, given there is a slim chance this may be the last parliamentary sittings before a general election and probably the last opportunity I will have to articulate a couple of ideas, I take the opportunity, for what it is worth, and look forward to seeing whether one day they are picked up.
There is one idea which both political parties might like to consider, one which will have an enormous impact for all Territory people, and that is the establishment on an energy institute. We heard the member for Nelson give a very well researched and articulate summary about hot rocks. We have Sunrise, the gas plant at Wickham Point and all this secondary industry, talking about oil and gas, the jobs and prosperity which flow. There is no doubt that the prosperity of future generations of Territorians will depend upon how these enormous resources are managed.
Ownership of those resources is something that is going to have to be revisited by government; whether they are extracted through private enterprise and those resources utilised through licence, ownership or temporary grants. It is a complicated and important issue, and a government that genuinely has the interests of Territorians at the forefront of its mind should at least be looking into developing a system, an entity that will become an energy institute, something that may be attached to the university or it may be a separate legal entity. However, that energy institute will be owned by all people through parliament. It will manage, in a responsible way, those very important resources. Coupled with that, a technology hub, which is inextricably linked to that sort of industry, would flow. The political party that seizes upon and crystallises that type of initiative will earn the respect of Territorians and will lead the Territory community for a long time. I have some material on an energy institute. I know now is probably not the time to trawl through it, but I am more than happy to provide it to anyone who is remotely interested.
Rural people - and I make no apology for saying this - are genuinely different. There is absolutely no doubt about that. It has been a privilege to be involved with them each and every day that I have been an elected member. The rural schools, of which there are 12, I visit for the end-of-year assemblies and do the hard yards, as most politicians do. Quite frankly, it is not the hard yards because I actually started to relax a little. There is an enormous amount of feedback you can get from these people. They genuinely embrace their local members in the rural area. It is not just a matter of putting them on a list to invite them along. At the recent Middle Point School presentation, they were all giving me a hard time saying: ‘Oh, you are not standing, Maley. What are you doing?’ I said: ‘Well, this is one of those times where there is no doubt that what I say now you can believe because I am not trying to persuade you’. They liked that, and I spoke frankly and candidly to them. The feedback you get is absolutely amazing. I do not have any kids, none at school, and I had very little to do with school councils or the school community. I have, over the years, built a fairly significant and solid tie with a number of these groups. It has been a privilege to be involved with them, and the fact that they are staying in contact with me now and want to stay in contact and still invite me to things is testament to that relationship.
One of the things that will become an issue in the rural area in time to come is something both political parties should have a long hard look at: distances that people who live in remote and rural areas have to travel are significant. I know there are quite legitimate and logical arguments as to why public transport, in many cases, is just not feasible. I am not saying give up on that but, if that is the case, we have to look at other options to assist people such as rural rego. They have it in other jurisdictions; that is, for the second vehicle that you generally have to have in a rural area, there is a reduced registration fee or it is free.
There are things we can do for our seniors, and there are not an enormous number of seniors in the rural area. These are little things; they are not budget killers. Why should those senior members of our community who have chosen to stay with their friends and family in the rural area not have that support? Why should they pay for registration for their two vehicles? Why can’t we give them the little leg up, which is not only a sign of respect but will encourage them to stay amongst their friends and family, where they belong, for longer?
Madam Acting Deputy Speaker, I know that my time is coming to an end, but I look forward to participating in the Alice Springs sittings of the Legislative Assembly and making contribution during the course of debates. It is a pleasure to be here.
Mr AH KIT (Arnhem): Madam Acting Deputy Speaker, it is with great pleasure that tonight I speak to the House about an Aboriginal woman from the community of Wugularr, Martha Bennett, who is the motivating factor towards a remote nutrition program that has bettered the health of residents at the Wugularr community.
For her efforts and hard work, on 24 February 2005, Martha was presented the Tattersall’s Award for Enterprise and Achievement, which recognises community-initiated programs. Previous awards in the Territory had gone to the Tiwi Islands and Gove. The monthly awards are spread across Tattersall’s jurisdictions of the Northern Territory, Australian Capital Territory, Tasmania and Victoria. As part of the Tattersall’s Awards, the Wugularr Women’s Centre received $15 000 for their centre and Mrs Bennett received $5000.
Martha Bennett is a strong community member with a great deal of responsibility and commitment to ensuring her fellow community members understand the importance of healthy living, nutritious food and good hygiene, which contributes to greater health and wellbeing. Martha’s involvement with the health and nutrition program began through the Women’s Centre, which she joined as an assistant. She became enthusiastic about nutritious food and quickly noticed the benefits derived from providing nourishing and balanced meals with the feeding program, particularly at a time when, in the majority of remote Aboriginal communities, there can be habits of utilising pre-packaged and often highly refined processed foods.
Through her hard work and dedication, Martha is now the Coordinator of the Women’s Centre. With the assistance of her sisters and external agencies such as Sunrise Health Service and the Fred Hollows Foundation, Martha has been instrumental in creating changes in eating habits among the youth of her community, especially young mothers and infants in their early years of development. Martha and her team provide breakfast and lunch for the school, meals for the aged and meals for at-risk children aged between zero and five years. The reason this program is such a success is because it is community-initiated, fully funded and sustained through $30 fortnightly deductions from Centrelink and CDEP participants. This equates to $2 a day.
An employee of the Fred Hollows Foundation, Mr Nick Di Candilo, shared a story with me: one day, no one turned up for work at the Women’s Centre and Nick asked Martha: ‘What do we do since no one has turned up for work?’ Martha’s response was: ‘The kids and old people still need to be fed’. This shows the dedication and commitment Martha has for her community and the families who live at Wugularr.
Along with representatives of the Fred Hollows Foundation and Tattersall’s NT, I go further to acknowledge the Mayor of Katherine, Anne Shepherd who, with these representatives, travelled to Wugularr to make the presentation to Martha. The reason this is so significant is because this is the first time a Mayor of Katherine has been involved in making a presentation to the people of the Wugularr community. The Mayor advised me that when she travelled to Wugularr, and I quote:
- I was overwhelmed and thought it was wonderful, just wonderful as the whole community came out for the
presentation. There were kids everywhere with smiles and I was so impressed with Martha and her sisters,
as it was such a good news story for our region.
We talk about partnerships, relationships and reconciliation, but this is what it is really about. Thank you to the Mayor of Katherine, Anne Shepherd, Tattersall’s and the Fred Hollows Foundation for walking the walk and talking the talk.
In August this year, Tattersall’s will celebrate the 25th year of the awards, where an overall winner will be chosen from the past 12 months, and they will receive an additional $15 000 personal prize, and their chosen beneficiary will receive $75 000. I hope Martha and Wugularr win the big one.
I would like to pay tribute to another strong Aboriginal woman who lives in my electorate. She resides on Groote Eylandt and her name is Linda Williams. She took out the Outstanding Individual Achievement CDEP Award held in Alice Springs on Monday, 21 February 2005. When Groote Eylandt teenager Linda Williams started work at the island’s only print shop at the age of 18, she was shy and would not talk to anyone. Eight years later, through learning and against considerable odds, Linda changed her life. Not only has she completed an apprenticeship to become a qualified printer, she is now also mother to a three-year-old daughter, Loretta. To cap off her success, Linda has taken over as manager of the print shop where she once worked. The once-shy girl is now a confident, skilled, creative and conscientious young woman whose leadership qualities are immediately obvious to those with whom she works.
Linda is the only qualified printer on Groote Eylandt. Angurugu CDEP owns the indigenous-run print shop where Linda has shown her true potential. The CDEP Coordinator, Andrew Clarke, said:
- Since Linda completed her apprenticeship, the community has seen the benefits of having skilled and
qualified people in the community and are signing up for another seven new apprentices in various fields.
Andrew Clarke went on to say he believes that Linda has made a important contribution to cultural maintenance for her community by showing that their culture is not only the past, but is the future as well, and if they try hard, they can achieve what she has done.
Under Linda’s leadership, the CDEP print shop handles all printing on Groote Eylandt, from the simplest of order forms to full colour work, as well as the island’s only newspaper, The Echo. So the wheel has turned full circle, with Linda Williams now passing on her hard-earned skills to a new print shop apprentice.
To finish, I share with you Linda’s words:
- I completed my printing apprenticeship with the help of CDEP. I travelled from Groote Eylandt to Brisbane
a few times a year to attend classes at the TAFE. I am the only qualified printer on Groote Eylandt.
Congratulations to both Martha and Linda on their achievements.
As Minister for Sport and Recreation, I was privileged to visit Nguiu last weekend for the 2005 Tiwi Grand Final and, equally, I was privileged to attend an extradionarily important opening, important for Aboriginal and Tiwi art and for Aboriginal enterprises. Everyone knows that the Tiwi Islanders are great football players, but what is perhaps less well known is that Tiwi islanders are also great artists. In Bede Tungatalum, we have a real Tiwi champion. Bede, along with Giovanni Tipungwuti, established Tiwi Designs back in 1970. Beginning with single-colour wood cuts, Tiwi Designs expanded to work in silk screen printing on fabric.
Tiwi Designs has become, over the years, the most significant exponent of Aboriginal art on fabric in the nation and, with a history spanning 35 years, is one of the longest running Aboriginal art enterprises in Australia. Arguably, the work of Tiwi Designs has become one of the most recognisable in the world, and Bede has matched that. He has been a practising professional artist for all of those 35 years. As an individual artist, as well as a member of Tiwi Designs, Bede has been at the forefront of developments in modern Tiwi art, blending and expanding on traditional designs to create works of great originality and strength.
He has worked as an artist not just here in the Top End, but interstate and overseas. His work has been collected by major public collections in every state of the country as well as the National Gallery and many private collections. Bede’s latest enterprise is perhaps his most significant: Bede is the first Aboriginal visual artist in Australia to undertake the establishment of a fully private one-man gallery on an Aboriginal community.
The Purrikikini Gallery is an individual enterprise of great significance to the development of Aboriginal art, but it is also a great tribute to Bede himself. His work has always been deeply embedded in Tiwi tradition. His genuine courage in undertaking this new enterprise is something that deserves the highest praise. I joined everyone on that day in wishing Bede the very best and had the great honour to open Bede’s Purrikikini Gallery.
After the opening of the gallery, I journeyed over to the Stan Tipiloura Oval. About a week earlier, I was asked by Tony Shaw, a well-known Top End identity who coached football sides like St Mary’s, played a lot of football himself with the South Adelaide Football Club back in his early days and was involved with Bridge Autos for many years, and is still tied up with businesses of some sort in Darwin, to do him a favour while I was on the island for the grand final. He could not be there; he was away on business down south. I was asked, and was privileged, to present a special award to the daughter of the legendary David ‘Soapy’ Kantilla. The 1960s Tiwi Islands Australian Rules Football trailblazer David Kantilla was honoured through me with his posthumous induction into the South Adelaide Football Club’s Hall of Fame at a ceremony prior to the grand final match. I presented the award to David Kantilla’s daughter, Marie Clare Pilakui. As I said last Sunday, this was a wonderful and significant gesture by the South Adelaide Football Club and will be a great source of pride not just to his family, but to the Tiwi Islands and Territory football generally.
David Kantilla’s playing prowess woke the footy world to the wealth of untapped indigenous sporting talent up here. He really led the way for the Territory. He was playing decades before the advent of the AFL and would undoubtedly have made the grade in the nation’s national league if the opportunities he pioneered were then available for Territory players. Since then, of course, many indigenous Territorians have played at the elite level of AFL and as many as that again are currently playing in the national competition.
David Kantilla was recruited to South Adelaide from St Mary’s in 1961 and went on, as a ruckman and full forward, to kick 106 goals in 113 games until 1966. He kicked six goals in his first game with the Panthers, and went on to achieve the unequalled record of winning the Knuckey’s Best and Fairest Cup in his first two years with the Panthers. He played state football for the South Australian premiership side of 1964, a match in which he was awarded Best on Ground. He is remembered at South Adelaide for his unassuming nature, his courage on the field and his soaring, fingertip marks. In elevating David Kantilla to their Hall of Fame, South Adelaide has honoured a great Tiwi man and I sincerely thank them for recognising his contribution to the club.
In conclusion, the Tiwi Islands Grand Final last Sunday was a great game. Despite the huge hardships faced by the Milikapiti team, Muluwurri, they really took the fight to Tuyu Buffaloes. They had to play a delayed preliminary final, courtesy of Cyclone Ingrid, and then face an undefeated Buffaloes in the grand final three days later. It was an incredibly hot afternoon with a lot less shade for spectators, thanks to Ingrid. The players on both sides have to be congratulated for excelling at the fast running, courageous game that makes Tiwi footy shine so strongly.
As it turned out, the Magpie Geese failed to beat the Buffaloes despite a brave fight back in the last quarter. It seems the Buffaloes can only win these days on the islands, that is the Tiwi Islands, which, of course, I regret for personal reasons, but I am thankful Tuyu was victorious in 2005.
Dr LIM (Greatorex): Madam Acting Deputy Speaker, first, I welcome all members to my electorate of Greatorex where this convention centre sits and where our parliament is sitting tonight. On behalf of all constituents in the electorate of Greatorex, have a wonderful stay in Alice Springs and show that you support all of us in Alice Springs with the government’s supposed support of the economy.
Tonight, I would like to talk about a building in Alice Springs. It is a building for which Heritage Alice Springs Incorporated has been fighting for quite some time. At the outset, let me advise this House that I am a financial member of Heritage Alice Springs Incorporated, and have been a member since its inception. They wrote me a letter on 1 March this year. While I have been talking to members of Heritage Alice Springs Incorporated for quite some time, this was a formal letter from which I will read extracts. It starts:
Dear Richard,
- As you know, Heritage Alice Springs Inc has not given up on its campaign to save the Reiff Building from
being demolished by the Yeperenye Corporation.
In fact, today some 50 people arrived at the steps of convention centre to demonstrate to government that they want this building saved. I continue:
- Our representatives have had meetings with both the Minister for the Environment and Heritage,
Ms Marion Scrymgour, and the Minister for Central Australia, Dr Peter Toyne, in which both ministers
stated that there would be ‘no change’ in the government’s decision of late last year not to heritage list
the building under the NT Heritage Act.
We believe that the ministers, and Yeperenye for that matter, cannot ignore the fact that the building was
assessed to be of heritage significance by the Heritage Advisory Council, whose recommendation to heritage
list the building has been overridden by the minister in favour of some unsubstantiated broader benefits
that the redevelopment will bring to town.
- To date the ministers and the NT Labor government have not been swayed by
- 1. the many letters of concern sent to the Chief Minister from Alice Springs citizens and Territorian
organisations including the National Trust and the Royal Australian Institute of Architects;
2. a motion passed unanimously by its own local branch in favour of incorporating the building in
to the redevelopment …
3. the express wishes of over 600 local residents who signed a petition organised by Heritage
Alice Springs Inc in late November last year asking for the minister to rescind her decision.
I cannot locate any evidence to support her claim, but such a suspect statement from the minister does not
surprise me following her mistaken assertion in parliamentary debate late last year (1 December 2004) that
the old Alice Springs Gaol had been demolished by the former CLP government.
- In fact, as I remember it, the former CLP government reversed its minister’s intention to demolish the old gaol
buildings and, the last time I looked, the buildings were still there.
- We would also like the minister to reveal what analytical process, if any, she followed in reaching her decision
that the heritage values of the place did not outweigh the broader benefits to the Alice Springs community and
that the Yeperenye redevelopment would bring.
Skipping a couple of paragraphs, I continue with the letter:
- Our association also questions the NT Labor government’s ‘commitment’ to the protection of the Territory’s
heritage, noting that almost all of the places heritage listed by the minister in Central Australia represent
‘easy declarations, which is to say places either owned or managed by the government or conveniently not
of economic interest.
Skipping a couple of paragraphs, I come to the last three paragraphs:
- The $1m so-called ‘dedicated fund’ is only for the many government owned properties spread throughout the
Territory, and it does not go anywhere near far enough, and her suggestion that this funding is new ignores
that the CLP included maintenance of heritage listed properties under its general maintenance programs for
assets.
That the government’s annual heritage grants program is at about $200 000 to cover the whole of the Territory
is just laughable: $200 000 does not even build a single new house these days.
It is this association’s greatest disappointment that the election of the Clare Martin Labor government does not
appear to have brought any improved hope for the heritage of our town. Our association believes that the
imminent destruction of the Reiff Building by Yeperenye represents nothing less than a failure of the government
to protect our town’s heritage for the benefit of future generations.
The Reiff Building has been in this town for 50 or so years and was designed by one of the Territory’s most celebrated architects, Beni Burnett, and built with contribution from Aboriginal people such as the Aboriginal brick maker, Mr Noonie. Mr Noonie’s name is also used in a park in Rieff Court, which is also part of my electorate. The Reiff Building has been assessed by the government’s own advisory committee, which recommended to the government that this building is worth saving on heritage grounds. For the minister to then say: ‘No, I am not going to save this building; it is not worth saving’ is just laughable.
Let me read to you part of what the minister said when she made a ministerial report in December last year. She talked about the building itself, where it is located, currently painted in the range of different colours as if that were an issue in the heritage listing of the building. I will come back to that in a minute. What she said here is most significant, which I do not believe anyone has picked up. She said in her report:
- Every effort was made by me and my department to broker a compromise to retain the building and integrate
it into the redevelopment.
In other words, the minister and her department believed that the building should be saved; that is why she tried to broker a compromise. However, when the going got tough, the minister crumbled; absolutely rolled over and decided to go the other way was the easy way.
Let me tell you this: today, outside the convention centre, 50 people told the government in no uncertain terms that they believe the Reiff Building ought to be saved. The group asked me the question: ‘Richard Lim, what do you think of it?’ My response was: ‘Perhaps it is my background. I come from a heritage many thousands of years old. Had my forebears not saved many of the things that were built thousands upon thousands of years ago, we would have nothing today to show for it’. I cite perhaps an extreme example: ‘If 50 years after the completion of the building of the Great Wall of China, someone decided to bring a steamroller and flatten the whole wall, what would we have today?’.
Alice Springs is a young town, barely 50 to 60 years old in terms of white settlement. We have buildings such as the Telegraph Station, original buildings in Alice Springs. We have buildings in the Old East Side and in the CBD that are there to show us the living history of this town, where this town started, where it has progressed, one stage at a time. The Reiff Building is one of those buildings that need to be in Alice Springs to show people what it has been like in the last 50 to 60 years.
We all say that this is a tourism town; we depend on tourists for our livelihood. Tourists come for a positive cultural experience, black and white, natural and built. That is why they come: to see for themselves what is here, what is different about Alice Springs. Go to Singapore, Sydney, Kuala Lumpur, Amsterdam – really, if you went to the CBD, they all look the same! They have high rise, airconditioning, bitumen roads, glass walls and all sorts of things that are similar in every city. It is when you go outside to the areas that are yet to be developed, or retained for heritage purposes, that the cultural experience comes about.
I say to the government: you have to save the Reiff Building. Do not worry about the colours that are there now. Sure, you have grey, green, pink and all sorts of garish colours. That is probably because it is not aesthetically done, and that is a problem. However, if the developer was serious and prepared to spend some resources looking at it, incorporate the facade into its new development, it would do very well. The Reiff Building, in fact, is one of the better tenanted buildings in this town. I know: I own property in this town, and I rarely see the Reiff Building empty.
Commercial factors are what is making the owners want to knock it down. Think about it: if the building was so bad, why would all the tenants be there paying good rent? Maybe it is not very expensive, but it is good rent and every tenancy there, I know, is occupied. If the developer were to consider seriously that there is value in keeping that building, not demolishing what is really our whitefella-built heritage, there is nothing wrong with that. Save it. This government has to look at it again. Rescind the decision. There is nothing wrong with that. If you are wrong, you are wrong; admit you are wrong and do something that is right.
The CLP did that with the Alice Springs Gaol. I fought for it, but he minister of the day said: ‘No, we are going to knock it down’. But we fought and fought and the town fought hard. We saved the old gaol. Now is the time for the government to act decisively. It is not too late because the building is still standing. Let us do something about it, do it positively and save this building for not only Alice Springs, but for the Territory and the rest of Australia. It is our duty to do so.
Mr KIELY (Sanderson): Madam Acting Deputy Speaker, in my electorate, we have many social, sporting and licensed clubs. We have the North Darwin RSL, Darwin Golf Club, PINT Club, Italian Club, the Kalymnian Brotherhood, Portuguese-Timorese Club, and it just seems to be …
Mr Dunham: Do you know where your boundaries are, mate?
Madam ACTING DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order!
Mr KIELY: I will pick up on the interjection. The adjournment debates are when we want to get on with the business, but we have constant interjections from the member for Drysdale who seems to wish to torment all the time. He has little relevance and little to contribute. He is a bit of a spoiler, but we will get on with it.
Madam Acting Deputy Speaker, we are very fortunate in Sanderson to have such well frequented clubs by people from all over the Darwin area. For many years, clubs around town have been doing it pretty tough.
Mr Dunham: The last three years!
Mr KIELY: The Darwin Club, which was a fine institution and had travelled for many years, no longer exists. It was a bit more than three years ago, but some members seem to have selective memories about what really went on. I will not dwell on it too much.
To say that clubs are experiencing difficulties would be a bit of an understatement. Even in the area of Sanderson of late, the Darwin Golf Club has experienced difficulties. I would like to tell members that they are working hard on the business plan. They are looking hard at ways of rectifying their financial difficulties and looking at a forward plan to see how they can trade out of it. The same situation applies to the North Darwin RSL. They have experienced some difficulties, members had to chip in and see what we could do to get them over the line with their insurance; we did that. They have a new committee and they are confident that they will be able trade out.
We have a similar situation at the PINT Club, and it is to that club that I draw the House’s attention. I received a letter from the Manager of the PINT Club which is pretty uplifting, and it is one that I would like to read in Hansard, if I may, Madam Acting Deputy Speaker. It says:
- Dear Len,
Just thought I’d inform you of some good news for a change.
This time last year as manager of the PINT Club Inc, I thought we were heading for trouble. With a downturn
in trade and insurances etc all going up it became a tight squeeze.
As I did not want to let it slip too far I approached Business Affairs, they were extremely helpful and encouraged
me to tighten up in a few areas and to lease out our Bistro. They were impressed with what we had done up to
then and their encouragement gave me what I needed to steer us in the right direction.
They also asked me to write to the minister for sports and to you. This I did, and whilst we could not expect a
hand out of monies, the Darwin Buffaloes were encouraged to come and talk with the PINT Club Committee.
As they did not have a home base and we did not have an AFL side, between us we decided we could help each
other.
We have done that successfully, and now the PINT Club is the home of the Darwin Buffaloes, and we are both
happy. They have been a great group and they really enjoy having a home base.
The club is also about to post a profit for our financial year, which ends 31 March, something we have not done
for two years, our black hole has now closed up and we can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Our poker
machines will be paid for this year.
With so many clubs having difficulties I thought you would appreciate a good news story for a change and to
encourage other clubs that with careful management and spending wisely they too can achieve a good result.
The committee is now looking at employing a board of management, this is a more professional approach to the
business and takes the load off the volunteer committee.
I would like to thank yourself, Jack Ah Kit and Business Affairs and NT Treasury Licensing and Gaming division
for all their help over the last two years.
Yours sincerely,
Janine O’Toole
Manager
PINT Club Inc.
This is indeed a good news story, one of perseverance and preparedness to trade out of difficulties and look outside the square at new initiatives by which they can raise a profit and sustain the club and the atmosphere of the club. I do not believe that the way through for a lot of clubs is to be flashing around a lot of cash, making false promises of hope and throwing dollar after dollar in the clubs without working with them so that they can get their affairs in order and look for a way to sustain their clubs into the future. Giving cash straight out does not work and has not worked for clubs in the past.
We are aware of the difficulties that Palmerston Golf Club is facing. They were bailed out by the previous government to the tune of something like $120 000 just before the last election, and they are no better off for it today. I do not advocate throwing money with very little accountability and without looking at the situation when clubs are having difficulty with cash flows and not addressing it. I say to all clubs who are in areas of financial difficulty: look at your club, your resources, work with your membership base and look for solutions within your club. I reckon you will find them because, if people want their club, they will work hard for it. The solution is not to inject cash for no other reason except to attract votes. I would caution any club that is thinking that way to think very hard about its future.
Mr DUNHAM (Drysdale): Madam Acting Deputy Speaker, I was sworn into this House on 4 December 1997. They gave me this book. For the benefit of Hansard, I will read the title. It is called the Holy Bible, and it is the King James version, which is a bit foreign to us Catholics. They gave me another book, and it was this one here, which, for the benefit of Hansard, I will also read the frontispiece of. It is called the Standing Orders. These are both books of rules. Standing Orders adopted 29 August 1985, as amended. We were told that with these two books of rules, these principles could guide us as law makers. We could look to these laws, make laws and abide by the laws that come from these precepts.
It is unfortunate that we have not been given the opportunity to speak about the matters in the Assembly last time we sat. It offends me personally because there are a number of issues that have weighed heavily on me during the intervening time, several weeks. I would like the opportunity to talk about them. The opportunities that have been afforded in this House are very limited, and I must take this opportunity now in adjournment debate.
I will start with some quotes from these books of rules. The best one might be to go to the Book of Exodus, where you will find in chapter 20, verse 16 some rules where the God that was believed by these people to hand down rules, said this:
- Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.
That is a pretty important rule: thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour. It is reflected in our standing orders, because you are not supposed to defame or tell lies about people in this parliament. We are not supposed to use the vast privileges we have to tell lies and to defame our colleagues. Indeed, if you go to the standing orders, they show you that there are an enormous number of rules about the conduct of debate and defaming our colleagues.
I am disappointed, therefore, that these matters have not been canvassed in this parliament because they are significantly unfinished business. There is the perpetration of lies to this day. Indeed, there appears to have been a deliberate campaign to continue with the campaign in the wider community to put a spin, if you like, on the matters that occurred, unfortunately, on Thursday, 17 February, when my colleague, John Elferink, was called ‘poofter, poofter’. There are a number of reasons why this parliament should talk about this. There is significant unfinished business.
The first unfinished business is the belief that matters have been adequately and totally handled. That is not true - that is patently not true. I have received correspondence since that sitting describing the fact that our standing orders are a little unclear, and that the member for Macdonnell was allowed to attend these sittings from immediately this morning. That is one matter that was certainly in dispute at the close of last sittings and has been discussed in the intervening period. It does leave an enormous loophole because, the way I read it is that on Wednesday night, several of us could run amok and be suspended for one hour or one day and come back into parliament immediately the next sittings in May. This is a matter that has to be clarified.
The matter of the apology is the most important thing, though. I am able to read the apology that was proffered by the member for Johnston into the Parliamentary Record because there are some who believe he has offered a full and adequate apology. I do not believe that to be the case. The member for Johnston saying to the Dean of the Anglican Church and others that he has offered an apology does him no good. The apology is from debates of Thursday, 17 February 2005.
- Dr BURNS: Madam Speaker, I did antagonise the member for Macdonnell.
So, we have an admission of guilt; that is handy:
- It was a mutual antagonism …
That is actually false:
- The member for Macdonnell may have misunderstood what I said.
That was also false and was withdrawn later by the honourable doctor:
- I apologise to the member for Macdonnell.
That is not my idea of an apology. That is vastly short of what is adequate, given the significant offence that this man caused my colleague. The offence of being called ‘poofter, poofter’ is probably not something most Australians would find to be a name they would like to have bandied around about them.
As we know, my colleague, with great courage, stood in this House and described events that caused him immense pain. For that wound to be gouged in this way is tantamount to the worst behaviour I have ever seen inside or outside of a parliament. It is something that requires attention by the member for Johnston and the Chief Minister. A full apology should be offered, and that apology should not be: ‘Sorry because I am in trouble’. That is not an apology. Neither should it have various little weasel word clauses on it saying: ‘I think he misunderstood me’ or a letter writing campaign saying there were some disgusting words that had been mouthed by the member for Macdonnell to which he was retaliating because they are falsehoods. The apology should be a full, humble and contrite apology that goes to the matter of the offence that was caused, the level of the offence and an offer of some remediation. I do not know what that might be, but if I were in the shoes of the member for Macdonnell, nothing less than him standing down as a minister would be sufficient - nothing less than that.
We all know that the appellation ‘honourable’ attends the title of a minister. In the case of this minister, that appellation is not deserved. My leader this morning alerted the parliament to the fact that we would have great difficulty accepting the fact that this person should be holding that high office. We have great difficulty with the fact that no apology has been offered, that the various spins in this parliament about it being adequately handled and that the matter has been put to bed are patently untrue. They are not true. I, for one, need to speak about this matter. I need to contribute in a debate on the Parliamentary Record about this matter. It has caused me some grief.
I can tell you the person who normally occupies your chair, Madam Acting Deputy Speaker, has difficulty reciting the Lord’s Prayer. She has that difficulty, and I can understand it - I am not making any negative commentary about that - because it invokes memories that are painful to her. I cannot understand, therefore, that this parliament can be so misunderstanding of the member for Macdonnell’s pain when this matter is used in such a way to inflict such grief on him. When he stood and described his circumstances as a child, I recall having two emotions: one was respect at his courage; and the other a sense of fear about whether he should divulge such matters so openly about himself because, of course, they could be used against him, and they have been.
John Elferink, the member for Macdonnell, has shown immense courage, self-restraint and honour. The appellation ‘honourable’ rests easily with this man. I was a witness to all of the events. I was on my feet, I was recognised by the Speaker as the person with the capacity to speak in the debate at that time, and his self-restraint was admirable. This is a man who is capable of tearing the head from the body of the member for Johnston, and chose to go over and speak with him as two gentlemen. I can assure you that had he been given to violence, the member for Johnston probably would not be walking this earth at the moment, so I admire his self-restraint.
There is a letter writing campaign. There have been two people writing letters. If that is the strategy that is going to be employed - ‘Let us gag debate, let us not speak about it, it will all go away, let us get some of our people to write letters and say it is really all John Elferink’s fault in any event’ - it is a poor campaign. The correct campaign is for us to speak about it in here as mature, honourable members of parliament.
I respect also and I bestow the title of ‘honourable’ on the person occupying the Chair at the time, the Deputy Speaker, the member for Nelson, because not only did he restore order and have the calm of the House with the exception of the Deputy Leader, but he accepted a massive vote of confidence in the parliament choosing to dismiss him from this Chamber to go and call the Speaker and have her handle the matter at which she was not present. The offence that was caused to the member for Nelson in that want of confidence is something we should also discuss.
There are a number of issues that do not just go to the matter of whether one Australian male should call another Australian male ‘a poofter’. They are matters that go to how we conduct ourselves. They are matters that go to the significant number of standing orders that have been offended. This parliament has a duty to ‘prevent quarrels’, not to punish those involved in them; to see them coming, to take steps to make sure that those quarrels are not carried on in this place and we failed. We failed because that quarrel was evident from early on. I have spoken to several of my colleagues opposite about the strident level of debate that was occurring in this parliament.
If we want to forge those new areas where anything goes, where you can say anything, and where the greatest amount of pain can be inflicted, I caution this House because I do not think it is in the best interest of the parliament or the people we are here to serve. In the case for the member for Macdonnell, I do not think it is in the interest of people who are of homosexual leaning because, despite the platitudes that come from those opposite, I am sure great umbrage and offence was taken by those people.
Most importantly, to use the history of a man who was abused as a child in this way is absolutely obscene - absolutely obscene. There are significant numbers of deaths in Australia because people who have been abused, particularly young boys who have been abused as children, later find a misplaced sense of guilt from these incidents and the tag of ‘homosexual’ or ‘poofter’ is often enough to drive them to take their lives. This is an immensely serious situation.
In the news recently we have seen an international footballer who called someone a ‘black c---’ which is a vulgar word for female genitalia, absolutely devastated that he could use those words and they could be described as racist. Whether they were racist or not, I do not know. I do not think that the word ‘black’ is necessarily racist. We have seen the president of a football club call a person ‘a cheat’ and cop a fine. We think that sporting people should be bound by various codes and we are bound by a much higher code - much, much higher. We have to make sure that matters like this …
Madam ACTING DEPUTY SPEAKER: Member for Drysdale, your time has expired.
Mr DUNHAM: I have a minute. I have a minute, Madam Acting Deputy Speaker.
Madam ACTING DEPUTY SPEAKER: No, I am sorry, member for Drysdale, by the clock here, it has expired.
Mr DUNHAM: Well, not on my clock and I am going from 15 minutes, Madam Acting Deputy Speaker.
Madam ACTING DEPUTY SPEAKER: Your time has expired, member for Drysdale.
Mr DUNHAM: I shall close now. I shall close on the 14 minute mark, Madam Acting Deputy Speaker, and I would ask that this matter …
Madam ACTING DEPUTY SPEAKER: Excuse me, Member for Drysdale. Your time has expired on the clock we are using here.
Mr DUNHAM: Yes, righto. We have two of them.
Mr HENDERSON (Wanguri): Madam Acting Deputy Speaker, tonight I speak on the long-term and valuable contribution to the work of the Northern Territory government that Mr Herbert Lyons has made over a period of close to 38 years.
Mr Lyons will retire from his Contract and Procurement Services Team Leader position in DCIS on 30 March 2005. He commenced with the Commonwealth Public Service in Darwin in 1968, his first job after leaving school the previous year. Initially, Mr Lyons was employed as a drafting assistant with the Department of Transport and Works, but transferred to a clerical administration position after 18 months. In this position, he worked at the 2 Mile store in the area of furniture removals.
During Cyclone Tracy, he remained on the job in the role of acting supervisor. Like many others, he suffered a great deal of personal hardship, including the loss of his family home. Shortly after the cyclone, Mr Lyons transferred to the Department of Aboriginal Affairs in the role of Internal Auditor. He remained in this position until self-government in 1978, when he transferred to the new NT Public Service. Initially, Mr Lyons was employed with the Department of Community Development where he acted as a project officer assisting in the administration of grants to communities in the days before they became responsible for their own budgets.
In the early 1980s, Mr Lyons chose a voluntary redundancy following a significant restructure of community government, rather than accepting an out-posted position. He was quickly offered a new position with NT Property Management where he remained until 1999. During this time, Mr Lyons gained considerable experience in the establishment and administration of service contracts associated with government properties.
When DCIS was established in 1998, procurements in excess of $10 000, which is subject to a tendering and contract award process, was included in the list of shared services to be provided by the Contract and Procurement Services branch of the new department. Mr Lyons transferred to the newly-established branch located at Enterprise House in 1999 and helped to establish operations. He remained at Contract and Procurement Services since that time, his last role being Team Leader, Period Contract Services. The experience brought to DCIS from his many years of experience in contract administration was an important factor in the successful establishment of DCIS as the essential service provider for government tendering and contracting. In addition, he has provided training and assistance to many younger employees who have established rewarding careers in the public service. His particular expertise in the many service contracts has been of great value to many government agencies. Setting up and administering complex arrangements for cleaning, ground maintenance, security and so forth can be difficult and frustrating.
Mr Lyons’ assistance has been invaluable, not only in simplifying the process, but ensuring value for money outcomes. I would like to - as I am sure all members of this House would - thank Mr Lyons for his important contribution to the Northern Territory and to the public service. I am sure that all honourable members will join me in wishing him well in his retirement.
I would also like to speak on the long-term contribution to the work of the government that Mrs Debbie Webb has made over a period of close to 28 years. Mrs Webb resigned from her Travel Officer position in DCIS Nhulunbuy on 11 March 2005. She has worked for the Territory since leaving school, and her first position was a dental assistant in Royal Darwin Hospital. This was followed by various positions in Territory Health Services in administration areas such as medical records and payroll. In 1992, she relocated to Nhulunbuy with her husband, Trevor, and their family. There she joined the salaries cell of Territory Health Services as payroll officer.
In 1993, the salaries cell was relocated to Darwin and Debbie then worked in various positions with Health, providing administrative assistance in patient services, finance, public health and Alcohol and Other Drugs before joining the HR unit providing recruitment and HR services. In October 1998, she became an inaugural member of the DCIS office in Nhulunbuy, where she became proficient in staff travel and accounts payable, and honed her skills in recruitment and customer service to clients from all government departments in Nhulunbuy and their surrounding remote communities. With the skills and confidence acquired through her experience in government, she took the big step of applying for a position in the private sector with Qantas in which she was successful. While her skills may be lost to the government sector, they are still being utilised within the Northern Territory community.
I thank Debbie for her contribution to the Northern Territory and to the Territory public service over 28 years, and wish her well in her new career. Again, I am sure all honourable members will join with me in thanking Debbie for her service.
I will conclude tonight with some comments in regard to the outrageous and false allegations made by the member for Macdonnell in the adjournment debate tonight, that the Police Commissioner had misled him and the Northern Territory Police Force had acted in a corrupt fashion in regards to briefings that, on the opposition’s own request, the member for Macdonnell received.
The allegations that he made in this House tonight were false in every respect, and making them in this fashion is an appalling breach of parliamentary privilege. Not only is the member for Macdonnell accusing the Police Commissioner of misleading a member of parliament, he also introduced into the House today the names of two other respected and serving police officers and made an allegation that these police officers provided a briefing to the Chief Minister, me, and other members of staff. They are absolutely false, misleading and outrageous allegations, false in every respect.
I am advised that, at their request, the Commissioner of Police provided a briefing to Mr Elferink and his two colleagues some six months ago. At that briefing, at which a member of my staff was taking notes, the commissioner answered each and every one of the questions posed. At the time, there were no further questions. Territory police have a tough job to do, which they do outstandingly. To be dragged into political debate over a case that is currently before the courts, making allegations that the Commissioner of Police …
Mr Elferink interjecting.
Madam ACTING DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! Member for Macdonnell!
Mr HENDERSON: … has misled a member of this parliament is absolutely outrageous!
To make the same allegations to an independent statutory office holder, the Ombudsman, without any evidence to substantiate those outrageous claims is totally dishonourable.
We have had the usual pious claptrap from the member for Drysdale tonight, talking about the word ‘honourable’ that is attached to ministers of this House. He has attached that epithet to the member for Macdonnell. I can certainly say that I have every regard for each and every one of the hardworking members of our Northern Territory Police Force and the Police Commissioner who has done a magnificent job since he came to the Northern Territory for the take over the running of this force …
We know that some work is planned. Frankly, I am not convinced that the works, to the extent that I understand them, are going to solve all of the problems and neither are my constituents. However, we would like to see some activity, and we have not seen any yet. With government ministers in town, I invite them to have a look at that section of road, the intersection of Stephens Road and South Terrace. They might even like to sit there for a couple of hours and see the speed with which the vehicles round the bend.
Second, I would like to raise the issue of the school crossing on Larapinta Drive. For members of government not familiar with Larapinta Drive and the western part of it, there are a number of primary schools - and I stress primary schools because we are talking about little kids, not big kids - trying to make their way to school and many of them need to cross that road. It is a very busy road by Alice Springs standards, particularly at about 8 am and 3 pm. There are a number of primary schools in that area. I live in that area and, as I am coming out of my street, I see kids looking very anxious about crossing the road. I also see parents following kids on their bikes and on foot, assisting them trying to cross the road.
The Minister for Transport and Infrastructure and I have exchanged some letters on this. From memory, he instructed his department to undertake a survey. I am advised that the survey took all of one day. I saw people parked in the relevant area. Constituents confirmed to me that they were there only for a day. Constituents told me that they were very concerned about them only being there for one day because a more fulsome study should have been undertaken. It is also the case that because parents and children are fearful of crossing the road, there appears to have been no consideration given to the fact that a number of children are not crossing the road and, therefore, are not counted in any sort of survey.
Some temporary - or what we hope are temporary - measures have been installed; that of fluorescent signs indicating to motorists that there are schools in the area and to slow down. I have asked people in the electorate and close by the relevant area whether they think the new signs are adequate. Feedback to date suggests that those signs are not adequate. I call on the minister, or the Chief Minister in particular, to instruct her spokesman for Transport and Infrastructure to get on with what he is supposed to do, and that is make the place a better place for the people of Alice Springs, and ensure the safety of parents and children, particularly young children on their way to school.
I have said publicly before that a crossing like the one we have on Telegraph Terrace near the fire station is suitable. It should only disrupt traffic at peak times. A button that kids can press to stop the traffic to cross the road is, it seems to me - and, most importantly, others - the only way to solve this problem. I urge all ministers with an interest in this area - although I doubt that there are many - to drive up Larapinta Drive not at midday or 2 pm, but try at 8.15 am and 3 pm onwards. I am sure they will be horrified by the looks on the children’s faces as they try to cross the road. The bottom line is this: fluorescent signs are unlikely, in the view of the people to whom I have spoken, to avoid a fatality.
The third issue I would like to speak about also concerns roads. It is the intersection of Lovegrove and Larapinta Drives. This section of road has been described as a nightmare at peak times. Again, it is near where I live. I drive past it and I see the difficulties all motorists endure if they are seeking to turn right from Lovegrove Drive on to Larapinta Drive. There has been some discussion of a roundabout in the area. I understand there was some serious discussion some time ago and even some costings done. If I am wrong, I invite government to correct me, as I have just heard this information around the traps, but there was some discussion, and I think $5m was the figure, about a fairly significant roundabout at that intersection. I urge government to proceed with the roundabout. We had a statement today by the Chief Minister called Initiatives and Achievements in Central Australia. I would have thought a great initiative and, ultimately, a great achievement would be to erect a roundabout at this intersection.
This is the sort of stuff that makes the difference to the people of Alice Springs. This is the sort of stuff that makes their lives easier, and any government worth its salt, given the increase in complaints that I and, I believe, the member for Braitling has also received, would have thought this is something that government could look at. If, however, this brings on a pre-election announcement, I will cop that, although the government should have acted earlier. I do not think the people in my electorate nor, for that matter, the member for Braitling’s electorate, will forget the government has sat by and not responded to the difficulties that motorists have endured.
The fourth matter is the Ilparpa Road railway crossing. The relevant minister will recall that probably a year or so ago I tabled some photographs of various railway crossings in Central Australia that did not have the number of vehicles crossing them anywhere near as high as those crossing Ilparpa Road to get onto the Stuart Highway. At a number of those crossings, there were lights, coloured signs and so on. The people who live in Ilparpa, which is part of my electorate, have not been afforded the courtesy of lights, gates or anything else.
After stirring it up and requesting the minister take action, as I understand it, a group was formed. Government people were there, and the wash-up was that the area would be cleaned up. That is not good enough, minister. The people want a crossing. I know because I surveyed them. Again I ask - and I will keep asking for it until it happens - the minister to do the right thing and put in a proper, highlighted crossing, lights warning people about the dangers of trains. It is ironic that we have had in recent times an education campaign around the Northern Territory warning people of trains crossing roads in the Northern Territory where there might be some danger - 1600 vehicles a day, as I understand it, cross the Ilparpa Road intersection. The reason given by the minister was, in essence, that simply was not enough. I do not think the 1600 people who cross that road would worry much about that. I would have thought they, like so many of us, really want to ensure that they and their families are safe. Any government worth its salt would, I would have thought, get on with the job and provide the crossing.
The final matter came to me by way of an e-mail last week from a constituent. It is regarding the Taffy Pick crossing. I am not sure that too many people from the Top End would know about the Taffy Pick crossing, but I am hopeful that the Minister for Transport and Infrastructure does. I will quote the e-mail:
- Dear Ms Carney,
I am writing to you as a member of your electorate and asking you to please speak out during the coming
parliamentary sittings in Alice Springs.
The current NT government has constructed a weir across the Todd River. The expert opinion of Peter Lockett
from DIPE was well presented and offered with every courtesy, but his opinion is contrary to everything I have
seen over 25 years in Alice. A good half of that time was spent bush and I have watched more than a few of our
rivers come down.
This new foot bridge will maximise flooding in The Gap area when the next flood arrives. Even a quick visual
inspection will serve to confirm this opinion.
Please speak out now before we all get our feet wet.
I have had cause in recent days to cross that causeway more often than I do ordinarily and, visually, it is a troubling piece of infrastructure. I looked at it and my immediate response was: ‘Oh, God! When the Todd flows, what is going to happen?’. I would like the minister or, in the alternative, the Chief Minister or, in the alternative, the Minister for Central Australia to assure me, this parliament and the people of Alice Springs, that what was constructed is not going to bugger things up for those of us who live in Alice Springs when the Todd flows.
The Gap area in particular is prone to flooding after a good rain and if what has been constructed has not improved the situation or, indeed, makes it worse, that is not a good outcome. I refer again to the Chief Minister’s statement in parliament earlier today about initiatives and outcomes in Alice Springs. Surely, it is not a good outcome if that part of The Gap area floods as a result of questionable construction. I am not an engineer. I say again that I have just looked at it and it does look odd. I would welcome, as would this particular constituent and no doubt others, an assurance that all is well. We probably will regard any assurance with some sort of suspicion, nevertheless, we ask that the government provide us with some assurance that in case the Todd flows, The Gap will not flood.
Madam Acting Deputy Speaker, they were some of the matters that I wanted to discuss in relation to the electorate.
In the few minutes I have left, I would like to join with the member for Drysdale in relation to his comments regarding the offensive, outrageous and scandalous comments and conduct of the member for Johnston, a minister of the Crown, at the last sittings.
I think I was the only member on the night who had something to say about his outrageous conduct when he called the member for Macdonnell ‘poofter, poofter, poofter’. The comments I made, I thought, were fairly measured. I suppose I did intend to shame all members of government into feeling utterly ashamed of their position, given the member for Johnston’s comments, so it was more in sorrow than in anger.
When I came home from those sittings, I had an expectation that the Chief Minister might do the decent thing and sack the member for Johnston from the Cabinet. He is not worthy of being a government minister.
What I should have said I forgot to do so, so I will take the opportunity of saying it tonight. When we had the gay law reform debate, most of the colleagues on my side disagreed with the position I took. That is fine; at least they were honest. The men and women who sit on my side of the House are better men and women than the men and women on that side of the House, many of whom did not even have the guts to stand up and talk in that gay law reform debate. We note that the member for Johnston did not.
To the Attorney-General’s great credit, he introduced the legislation, and it was a source of sadness that we heard so little from other members of government. It says a great deal about this government. It is a hypocritical government. It is a government that speaks with forked tongue. It received a great deal of cachet in certain quarters for introducing that legislation, and yet they have one of their own, and by implication, all of them, believe that young boys who were sexually abused as children are homosexuals. That is offensive and outrageous …
Madam ACTING DEPUTY SPEAKER: Member for Araluen, your time has expired.
Motion agreed to; the Assembly adjourned.
Last updated: 04 Aug 2016