2005-03-24
Madam Speaker Braham took the Chair at 9.30 am.
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, I draw to your attention the presence in the gallery of a class from Braitling Primary School with their teachers, Sarah North and Alistair Shariff. This class was part of the Parliament of the Birds. On behalf of honourable members, I extend to you a warm welcome, and thank you for your participation in the Parliament of the Birds.
The other class we have is from Larapinta, with their teacher, Bernie Ryan. On behalf of honourable members, I thank the Larapinta students for attending today.
In the Speaker’s Gallery is a principal of an Alice Springs school, Mary Blaiklock, who was born in the Territory. Her parents were mining in Hatches Creek at the time, and she was born in Tennant Creek. She was the first student from ANZAC Hill High School to achieve tertiary education. Mary is retiring very shortly. On behalf of honourable members, I offer you a warm welcome.
Members: Hear, hear!
Dr TOYNE (Stuart)(by leave): Madam Speaker, I present a petition from 410 petitioners relating to funding for recruitment and retention of Northern Territory teachers and educators. The petition does not conform with standing orders. Madam Speaker, I move that the petition be read.
Motion agreed to; petition read:
Mrs MILLER (Katherine)(by leave): Madam Speaker, I present a petition from 36 petitioners relating to teacher enterprise bargaining agreement negotiations. The petition does not conform with standing orders. In addition, I seek leave to table a letter in relation to that petition.
Leave granted.
Mrs MILLER: Madam Speaker, I move that the petition be read.
Motion agreed to; petition read:
The flights are to be operated by Japan Airlines (JAL), and the marketing has been strongly supported by our Tourist Commission in Japan and Tourism Australia. The Tourist Commission has contributed $100 000 towards marketing the flights. The flights are part of a worldwide charter program for 2005 to be operated by NTA and JAL, and are part of Nippon’s 100-year anniversary celebrations.
The charters follow on from successful charters last year, and indicate a growing interest among the Japanese in exploring our iconic attractions and their surrounds. The visitors from Osaka and Tokyo will experience Alice Springs, Kings Canyon, and Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park on this visit. The flights will operate on Jumbo 747 400 aircraft, and mark the inaugural flight for JAL to Alice Springs. The total number of passengers is 740, which is 370 per flight.
These two charter flights are operating in a traditionally busy period, Golden Week, 30 April to 6 May, which is Japan’s longest holiday period for outbound travel. Advertising commenced in Japan on 29 January this year, and the flights sold out within a month. The most popular itinerary includes a three night stay in Central Australia, which involves one night at Uluru, one night at Kings Canyon, and one night in Alice Springs. Ooraminna Homestead will host a farewell party venue for both charters. These two charters will inject over $500 000 into the Alice Springs economy.
Plans and negotiations are also under way with three wholesalers to bring further charter flights into the Territory in July and August of this year.
Madam Speaker, there are encouraging signs of recovery in the Japanese market. Central Australia is well positioned to capitalise on this trend with the promotion of products such as these charter flights with Japanese travellers.
Mr MILLS (Blain): Madam Speaker, this is welcome news for the tourism industry, and everyone who is connected to the tourism industry. As the slogan goes: ‘It is everybody’s business here in Central Australia’. The opposition sincerely welcomes this news as do, I am sure, those involved in the tourism industry. It is a wonderful relief.
I would like to hear from the Chief Minister regarding the extent of the lobbying and support for the elevation of the Alice Springs Airport to international status. The position which has been maintained by the opposition, and those in Alice Springs, is that we ensure the status of Alice Spring Airport is raised to receive international flights on a regular basis.
Underscoring this, Chief Minister, you would be aware that the resilient nature of the tourism industry has had to suffer in Alice Springs under the time of your tenure, with 102 000 less visitors to the Centre. That equates, according to your own figures, a loss of $62m, at least, to the economy of Central Australia. They have been having very difficult times here, therefore, this news you have announced today will be most welcome.
Ms MARTIN (Chief Minister): Madam Speaker, this government is very supportive of international airport status for Alice Springs; this is exactly why we are encouraging the charters. Once you start establishing charters with an international component here, we can build on that. It is a step-by-step process, one we are firmly behind.
These charters have not happened by accident. We brought five of the major wholesalers from Japan last November through the Territory. They went to Cairns, to Yulara, into Alice Springs and by the train to Katherine where they visited the gorge, then into Darwin, to Kakadu, and, in five days, had a tremendous experience. That holiday is now being packaged in Japan.
We are actively promoting the Japanese market. We are building new experiences because there is no doubt that the Japanese know about the Rock, but they need to know about the rest of the Territory as well. We are doing it.
Mr STIRLING (Employment, Education and Training): Madam Speaker, training has been a critical issue for the Territory. It remains so, and one in which we have played an active role as government. Across the Territory, the introduction of the Jobs Plan, focussing our training effort through the Workplace Training Strategy and the anticipation of future needs through the workplace report has made our use of the training dollar specific and very targeted. It is because of this that the Territory has record numbers of people in training; the second highest proportion of apprentices in Australia training in traditional trades.
Central Australia has been an important part of that focus. We now have more than 3040 Territorians in apprenticeships and traineeships, up 35% on the 2211 in 2001. Of that 3040, 557 are in Alice Springs, and 84 are located in Tennant Creek. We are seeing success with the Indigenous Employment Strategy: 752 of the 3040 are indigenous trainees and apprentices, with 133 indigenous trainees in Alice Springs and 36 in Tennant Creek.
I am also pleased to provide the House with a breakdown of the training dollars delivered in the Alice Springs region in 2004. Charles Darwin University received a total of $41.2m funding from the government to deliver vocational education programs. CDU data shows: 20% of the funded training was delivered in the Alice Springs region for general training; there were 446 000 actual hours of training; apprenticeship training was 109 000 actual hours of training; VET in Schools was 18 600 actual hours; Training for Remote Youth was 7600 hours; and flexible response funding was 6060 actual hours of training. I am advised that CDU also delivered around 25 500 actual hours of training-in-fee for service training.
Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education was funded a total of $9.6m to deliver training in 2004. Data shows that 28.8% of this was delivered in the Alice Springs region over a range of programs, including general recurrent, Training for Remote Youth, Australians Working Together, flexible response funding and apprenticeship training.
Over $6.3m for funding was injected into the Alice Springs region for direct training. Private training organisations in Central Australia also accessed funding of well over $1.24m to deliver training in Central Australia. It is a priority of this government. Central Australia has always had an important focus within that priority, and we will continue our efforts on training.
Dr LIM (Greatorex): Madam Speaker, the minister rattles off a list of figures, but the reality is that there is a continuing large degree of skills shortage in the Northern Territory. All the jobs that he is talking about have no bodies to fill them. Industry is saying: ‘We need people now’ and you cannot fill those jobs. We have to ask you: what are you doing? You train all these students, you are putting people in there, but – do you know what? - a student can work for McDonalds or Woolworths and get more money than they can get doing a traineeship.
That is the problem. You have to have more innovative ideas so that you can encourage students to take up those trainee jobs at a level where they can be paid as well as they can if they were working for Woolworths, Coles, K-Mart and the like. Until you do that, you are not going to encourage a lot of kids to go into training. Right at this moment, you need to start producing the qualified people in the Territory so that people out there can say: ‘Look, we want to have employees’. Otherwise, what will happen is you are going to have all this industry supposedly blooming in your economy, and no one to do the jobs. You are really caught between those two: you create the jobs, you say, but you have no one to take up the jobs. Therefore, what is happening at the end of the day?
Members interjecting.
Dr LIM: Minister, there are students sitting here in the gallery listening to you. They want to be able to get the right jobs at the right salary scale, and your Jobs Plan is not doing that.
Mr STIRLING (Employment, Education and Training): Madam Speaker, we may have been somewhat protected from the current skills shortage around Australia if this mob over here had done something about apprenticeship training in all the years they were in government. The fact is, there were 2000 trainees when we came into office, and now there are 3040 - and he has the hide to get up and say we are not pulling our weight!
The marketing campaign now has over 1200 contacts through that marketing campaign with over three-quarters of them are traditional trades. Therefore, in answer to the member for Greatorex: there are over 900 contacts so far through the marketing campaign to pick up those jobs. Last sittings, this bloke was saying you do not have any jobs; these sittings it is all about skills shortages. You blokes need to get your story consistent and your act together.
Dr BURNS (Lands and Planning): Madam Speaker, I take the opportunity to inform the House of the history of planning applications relating to Lot 7573 Cavenagh Crescent in the Town of Alice Springs and, in particular, the recent decision I have made in relation to the lot. Lot 7573 has an area of 2.2 ha and is zoned RL2 under the Alice Springs Town Plan. The RL2 zoning provides for rural living, dispersed settlement, on minimum lot sizes of 2 ha. This zoning permits construction of a single dwelling on the lot.
In April 2003, the owners applied to amend the Planning Scheme to rezone the site to Specific Use Zone to permit subdivision and the development to create a maximum of 11 lots and dwellings. Exhibition of the proposal generated considerable opposition from numerous residents of the area and from the Eastside Residents Association. On the basis of recommendations from the Development Consent Authority and the department, and taking into consideration the submissions received, I decided not to allow the rezoning of the lot under that application. My reasons for refusal, at that time, included that the applicant did not satisfactorily address a number of relevant concerns raised in the submissions, demonstrate the land suitability for the development, and demonstrate how the land would be serviced.
In August 2004, an application was lodged for an exceptional development permit to develop the site for 12 multiple dwellings. The applicants considered that they had demonstrated the land’s suitability for the development, and also how the land could be satisfactorily serviced. I understand the owner engaged a design professional to address my original reasons for refusal under the previous Planning Scheme amendment and objections raised by the public. I agreed to exhibit the most recent application on the basis that it, firstly, had attempted to address my reasons for refusal of the rezoning application, and secondly and very importantly, would provide the public with the opportunity to comment on the merits of the proposal. The proposal, once again, generated considerable opposition from some residents in the locality and the Eastside Residents Association, and the proposal attracted over 60 objections from residents who saw it as a threat to the amenity of the area. The Development Consent Authority held a public meeting on my behalf in November 2004.
After considering all the issues and comments provided from the public, the relevant service authorities and reports received from the Development Consent Authority, I determined to refuse the application. My reasons for refusing the application are as follows: firstly, the proposal did not demonstrate sufficient merit to outweigh the community’s reasonable expectation and expressed views that the development of the site should be in accordance with the current zoning and relevant development provisions; secondly, the proposed number of dwellings represents a significant and unsupportable departure from the density provisions (clause 17.3) of the RL2 zone in the Alice Springs Town Plan of 1992.
In its report to me, the Development Consent Authority indicated that it supported the proposal, and I value very highly the advice provided to me by the consent authority. However, members will be aware that, under the Planning Act, I must take into consideration a range of matters, including the reports provided by the authority, before making a determination. Any objective analysis of the record will show that, in the majority of cases, I do endorse recommendations to me by the authority. In the last 12 months, I have received eight applications from Alice Springs’ residents to rezone their R1, low density residential properties, to RO, low to medium density residential, to allow the development of another development on these properties. In all but one case, I accepted the advice provided to me by the Development Consent Authority.
In the case of the Cavenagh Crescent application, I accepted the overwhelming community view that the land should be developed in accordance with the current zoning and relevant development provisions. Whilst I respect the efforts made by the prospective developer to address the concerns, I have decided to retain the current zoning of the area. Madam Speaker, it is going to be interesting to hear the opposition’s position on this very important planning matter within Alice Springs.
Mr VATSKALIS (Mines and Energy): Madam Speaker, today I provide the House with an update on the Northern Territory Minerals Exploration Australian Road Show 2005.
The road show was developed to promote the government’s Building the Territory’s Resource Base, an investment attraction initiative - a $15m program to expand and promote the Territory’s petroleum and mineral potential to the mining and exploration industries. The road show is part of an overall business development strategy to bring new exploration investment dollars.
The main objective of the road show is to meet with over 500 senior executives from Australia’s exploration sector to promote the Northern Territory’s mineral potential and business opportunities; projects requiring finance and companies requiring joint venture partners; the Northern Territory government support services within the Department of Business Industry and Resource Development which has been enhanced through the investment initiative; and to encourage, of course, companies and explorers to invest in exploration in the Territory.
The road show is planned for five Australian cities: Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney. It consists of a number of scheduled events to meet face-to-face with the target audience - the primary target audience being exploration and mining companies, and the secondary target audience being private and institutional investors.
A number of industry and private sector partners have been sourced to host the events, to provide speakers and client lists, and to organise logistics. These organisations include KPMG, Clayton Utz, Sydney Mining Club, the Association of Mining Exploration Companies, and the Gold Council. The delegation, led by me, includes Neville Henwood from the Northern Territory Mineral Council, Trevor Tennant, Managing Director of Bootu Creek Resources, Rod Elvish, Technical Director of Compass Resources, Richard Brescianini, Director of Northern Territory Geological Survey and Jerry Whitfield, Director of Titles. The road show commenced in Brisbane and Sydney from 2 to 4 March. Three events and two individual company meetings were scheduled over three days. These included two private briefings with the clients of KPMG and Clayton Utz, a presentation to the Sydney Mining Club, and private meetings conducted with Goldsearch Limited and Renison Consolidated.
In order to effectively sell the benefits of exploration in the Northern Territory, a marketing campaign was developed, titled The Top End Secret. The campaign includes a media strategy, supporting sales and presentation materials, and web presence. The campaign objective is to provide information on the mineral and business opportunities of the Territory, and to encourage the target audience to use our services to achieve the exploration objectives. Our ultimate message for the road show is that exploration business in the Territory is mission possible.
For the first phase of the road show, invitations were sent to leading mining executives to attend events and presentations in Brisbane and Sydney, and over 200 executives attended the three events. The next destination is Perth, where we will conduct five events over four days and meet with over 300 executives. Following this, Adelaide and Melbourne will be scheduled. The DBIRD team is currently evaluating the road show attendance in Brisbane and Sydney, and will be taking a proactive approach to develop business. They will be identifying companies that have the potential to bring investment dollars to the Territory, and will be actively pursuing a closer working relationship in order to bring in new business.
So far, the road show campaign, The Top End Secret, has been extremely effective in communicating the Northern Territory’s competitive advantage over other Australian states and international competitors; attracting investor attention to the undeveloped mineral opportunities in the Territory; helping industry, Northern Territory junior exploration clients, to profile their business and attract interest in joint venture partnerships in the Territory through the development of a promotional CD; and challenging market perceptions that land access in the Territory is a deal breaker.
I look forward to providing a full report on the road show following the completion of the Perth component.
Mrs MILLER (Katherine): Madam Speaker, before I reply to the minister, I want to say to the previous speaker, the Minister for Lands and Planning, that we will not be replying to anything he has to say until there is a new Minister for Lands and Planning …
Madam SPEAKER: That is not why you are on your feet.
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Make your remarks relevant, please.
Mrs MILLER: Madam Speaker, I welcome the Minister for Mines and Energy’s report …
Mr BURKE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! I am having problems understanding what the opposition can or cannot say when they get to their feet. Surely, the shadow can make a statement.
Madam SPEAKER: She is responding to a ministerial report, Leader of the Opposition. It is as simple as that.
Mrs Miller: I was responding to the previous one as well.
Mr BURKE: She can respond in a way that she sees fit, Madam Speaker.
Madam SPEAKER: To the report that has just been given.
Mrs MILLER: Minister for Mines and Energy, I support fully the report that you have just released. I know you have been jumping out of your skin all week busting to tell us something that was good news - and it is good news.
You had better combine The Top End Secret program road show around Australia with the Chief Minister’s Share Our Story, as the two of combined can only make good things for our Top End. I am sure The Top End Secret will be far more beneficial than Share Our Story at this stage, as I do not like the sound of that campaign at all.
I congratulate you for putting this together. It can only be beneficial to the Northern Territory. I look forward to hearing your report upon your return from your road show.
Mr VATSKALIS (Mines and Energy): Madam Speaker, I thank the member for her support. However, the CLP should never be proud of their record on the mining industry. It was the CLP that was in power when mines were closed and mineral exploration went downhill.
Let us talk about mineral exploration licences. In 1997-98, the CLP government granted 39 mineral exploration licences; 57 in 1998-99; 18 in 1999-2000: and 121 in 2000-01. In four years, they granted 235 licences. In three years, this government has issued 830 mineral exploration licences, and there are 663 pending approvals as at the end of February. The numbers speak for themselves. I do not have to tell you what this government is doing.
As for the native title, how come it works with this government, and never worked with the CLP?
Reports noted pursuant to Sessional Order.
VISITORS
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, I acknowledge the presence in the gallery of a class from Gillen Primary School accompanied by their Principal, John Morgan, and teachers, Kym Urquart and Lyndsay Thomas. There is also a class from Larapinta Primary School with their teacher, Kylie Hanson. On behalf of honourable members, I extend to you a warm welcome.
Members: Hear, hear!
SUSPENSION OF STANDING ORDERS
Statement by Treasurer
Mr HENDERSON (Leader of Government Business): Madam Speaker, I move that so much of standing orders be suspended as would prevent the Treasurer making a statement to the Assembly relating to the outcomes of his meeting in Canberra yesterday with the federal Treasurer, and Treasurers from other jurisdictions.
Motion agreed to.
Mr STIRLING (Treasurer): Madam Speaker, I deliver to the House the outcomes of the Ministerial Council of Australian Government Treasurers held yesterday in Canberra - probably one of the more important Treasurers’ Conferences in recent years from the Territory’s point of view. It was brought together in an atmosphere of pre-conference theatrics from the federal Treasurer. The public debate prior to conference centred around two core issues: the way in which the states and territories spend the GST money we receive, and the review of state taxes. We also had to consider the 2005 Commonwealth Grants Commission update. This relativities update in 2004 administered a $48m ongoing cut to the Territory.
While the intergovernmental agreement does not allow the Commonwealth to tell the states and territories how to spend GST revenue, the Commonwealth Treasurer was determined to raise these issues at the conference. He has publicly lambasted the states for failing to spend on improving infrastructure and service delivery. In the Territory, we note the federal Treasurer’s comments were supported by members opposite.
In the case of the Territory, the federal Treasurer and his sidekicks on the opposition benches could not be more wrong. Expenditure on infrastructure since the Martin Labor government came to office has skyrocketed - with real cash against the program, I might add. We have delivered three record infrastructure budgets. Our expenditure on infrastructure has grown faster than the equivalent growth in all Commonwealth payments to the Territory, whether it is SBPs or GST revenue. From 2001-02 to June 2005, our expenditure on infrastructure will total approximately $1.757bn. Infrastructure as a proportion of the budget has grown from 14% to 16%. The government’s infrastructure program has gone to funding strategic infrastructure aimed at levering private sector investment and to stimulate the economy. It has also gone to rebuilding infrastructure that was left to crumble by the Burke CLP government, particularly beef roads, schools in both the urban and remote areas, and health clinic infrastructure …
Members interjecting.
Mr STIRLING: That is good. They do not want to hear the news, Madam Speaker; that is fine.
Our commitment to improved service delivery also makes a mockery of the federal government’s calls to spend more on improving these services. In this argument, the federal Treasurer is not supported by the CLP because he has told us very loudly and clearly that we spend too much on education, health and police.
I ensured the Treasurers’ Conference heard the Territory’s case on how we have spent GST revenue. The Commonwealth has estimated that the Territory will receive GST revenue payments of $1832m in 2005-06. It is a preliminary figure. It has been adjusted from earlier predictions because of the increase in Territory population. This government’s economic policies and population strategies are bearing fruit. We also know the national economy has slowed since then, and it is possible that these forecasts will not be achieved. Unfortunately, the Commonwealth will not update its estimates until its 2005-06 budget. It is heartening to see that Commonwealth estimates of population for December 2004 are stronger than previously anticipated. The September 2004 estimates are being released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics and we hope these will confirm the Commonwealth’s projections.
At last year’s Treasurers’ Conference, the five-yearly review of relativities was discussed. These relativities determine the Territory’s share of national GST revenue collections. That review dealt us a considerable blow by removing $48m ongoing from our funding. I wrote to Treasurer Costello on the matter and met separately with him in Canberra last year. He encouraged us to present our arguments to the Commonwealth Grants Commission to have this re-examined. The recommendations from the Commonwealth Grants Commission in the 2005 update are disappointing. They acknowledge some small technical changes, but they fail to correct the problems, with capital assessments that bedevilled us last year. The Commonwealth Grants Commission will review the methodology again in the context of its next major review. The Territory will continue to fight for the necessary changes.
The ongoing $48m reduction put a major dent in our finances, resulting in a very tight set of budget numbers. The formal conference agenda contained discussion on the terms of reference for a simplification review of the Commonwealth Grants Commission methodology for distributing the GST monies to the states and territories. It was the subject of keen debate at the last Treasurers’ Conference, with Treasurers agreeing that a review that went to simplifying the process might be appropriate at the time.
Importantly, the principles of horizontal fiscal equalisation were not to be touched. As members would be aware, horizontal fiscal equalisation gives the Territory a level of funding that allows us to deliver standards of services that other Australians, (1) expect and (2) take for granted. It acknowledges that the cost of delivering education services to Borroloola or Kintore are more expensive than delivering the same to Parramatta, and it compensates the Territory accordingly. The determination of the terms of reference for the next major review of relativities has been a struggle, with the larger states trying to make the simplification review broader than was intended by challenging the concept and principles of horizontal fiscal equalisation. Territory Treasury, this government, along with the other smaller states, have fought to ensure the terms of reference do not go to the underlying principles of HFE and that fight has been won. The Territory will remain vigilant during the next review to prevent any efforts to undermine our relativities and future finances.
The focus of the conference turned on a very vigorous debate about the 1999 intergovernmental agreement to review other state taxes. I went to Canberra with the view that more tax reform could be achieved, but also determined to ensure that the Territory was not placed in a financial position where we would have to cut services or infrastructure expenditure to pay for it.
With no warning, the Commonwealth Treasurer delivered a dud offer, a $330m hollow promise - money that the states were already owed - in return for abolishing over $8bn of state revenue. Not one cent of that $330m would have gone to the Territory.
States and territories made it clear to the federal Treasurer that we had clearly met our obligations under the intergovernmental agreement, and we were all committed to further tax reform. States and territories insisted that a further meeting be held in four to six weeks to hammer out a future tax reform package acceptable to all. Irrespective of this meeting, the Territory will continue its own tax reform agenda in the forthcoming budget to further stimulate the economy and reduce the tax burden on Territorians.
As members are aware, we are one of the most tax reforming governments in the Territory’s history. We have reduced payroll tax from 6.5% to 6.2%. We have lifted the threshold rate for payment of payroll tax to $1m, effective 1 July 2005. Some 127 Territory-based companies will no longer pay the tax as a result of this decision. The Territory government also has the lowest taxing environment for small business anywhere in Australia. This applies to companies with 20 or fewer staff and, from 1 July 2005, to companies with 40 or fewer staff.
Other tax reforms have included:
That record is significant.
The end results of the Treasurers’ Conference is that we have protected the Territory. However, with the continued impact of the $48m loss and a commitment to further tax reform, we have a budget position that can only be described as extremely tight. It will get tighter into the future, which presents us all with a serious challenge. That challenge is critical to the Territory’s financial future. It is a challenge made even more stark by the reality of reducing growth in the GST, an interest rate hike, and the slowing of the national economy. The challenge is to ensure that our expenditure as a government remains tight, highly focussed and within tight boundaries. Our expenditure must remain within the parameters we set in last year’s budget. Those parameters see the Territory in deficit to $16m in 2005-06, a deficit of $9m in 2006-07, a deficit of $6m in 2007-08, returning to balance in 2008-09.
If we blow that expenditure out now, we will return to the problems of the Burke government. He had a huge and spiralling deficit, not enough cash to inject into the capital works program, and not enough budget flexibility to repair significant service delivery problems in health, education and police. The member for Drysdale might recall the bit of fraudulent behaviour he indulged in, in and around the health budget. I do not want to go to that in this speech, but he is the one that slipped in the budget papers …
Mr Dunham interjecting.
Mr STIRLING: … ‘for presentation purposes only’, Madam Speaker. Every time he opens his mouth he needs to be reminded of the fraudulent behaviour that he conducted …
Mr DUNHAM: A point of order, Madam Speaker! There is a Parliamentary Record that shows that the appellation ‘presentation purposes’ came from the Under Treasurer, a public servant. I do not believe he should be defamed in this way, particularly as he cannot defend himself. Neither should he reflect on a report of a committee of this parliament.
Madam SPEAKER: I note your comments, member for Drysdale.
Mr STIRLING: If the minister does not have the guts to take responsibility ...
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order, thank you!
Mr STIRLING: … for his own budget papers, I cannot help him.
The challenge I issue the opposition today is to endorse the fiscal targets I have just described, based on the current GST parameters set by the government last year. I challenge the opposition to agree to return the budget to balance by the end of the next four-year government cycle. I challenge the Leader the Opposition to accept the deficit targets of $16m, $9m, $6m and $0 in 2008-09. To keep this process honest, I challenge the Leader of the Opposition to have his policies costed by Treasury to ensure that there is an agreed cost, done by a reputable group of people. I challenge him and his team to have his program costed reputably, and I give him the opportunity to tell us how he is going to make it fit within the parameters now set. He spent a lot of time telling us how he is going to spend money and no time telling us how he is going to pay for it; he must step up to the mark.
The government is happy to take up the same challenge. We commit to those targets and we will commit to Treasury-costed election commitments. The Financial Integrity and Transparency Act requires Treasury to publish forward estimates. The government will publicly stick to a discipline created by this legislation, and we will publish our election promise costs as well.
If the Leader of the Opposition does not take up this challenge, the only conclusion that can be drawn is that he intends to go back to where he began - perhaps where he belongs - with an economic spiral out of control. To date, the Leader of the Opposition has shown no discipline; some of his pledges have been extremely expensive. He must tell us how he will pay for those pledges. We have had some hints to date. Recently, in a press conference, and repeatedly in the House, he has said we spend too much on health, education and police. Therefore, we know he is going to make cuts there; he just needs to tell us how deep. If the Opposition Leader refuses this challenge, Territorians will demand to know just how he intends to pay for those promises, and public servants and Territorians who rely on government services should demand to know just what his intentions are. I look forward to hearing his response.
Madam Speaker, I move that the Assembly take note of the statement.
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, I acknowledge the children in the gallery from Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Traeger Park Campus, along with their teachers, Michael Evans and Rosemarie Keir. Also, the Mayor of Tennant Creek, Mr Rob Swanson, is sitting in the galley. On behalf of all honourable members, I extend to you a warm welcome.
Members: Hear, hear!
Mr BURKE (Opposition Leader): Madam Speaker, in response to the first challenge, I will not be tabling these, Treasurer. However, just so we can put to bed the allegations that policies have not been costed, first of all, these are the policies that the CLP will bring to the next election - all done, all completed. Second, these are the costings, by line item, that are going through their final assessment now by independent auditors. They include all the costings and promises that I have made. Therefore, when you stand up here, Treasurer, and say I am a goose and cannot cost, we do not know and we are going to leave the Northern Territory broke - these will be there when you ...
A member interjecting.
Mr BURKE: All I am saying to now, Treasurer …
Mr Stirling: Table them now.
Mr BURKE: No, you are not getting them now!
Mr Stirling: Send it over to Treasury for a look.
Mr BURKE: You do not get them now! Why would I give them to you now?
Mr Stirling: Because you wrote to Treasury last time …
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr BURKE: When you call the election, as the Leader of the Opposition did at the time, all of these things will come out with all the detail that you need. However, what I will say - and I will give the same comment that the Leader of the Opposition did at the time: they will be fully detailed and costed. I can tell you that the costings are there. Therefore, when you stand up in this Chamber and start saying that the CLP has no ideas, and what promises that we have made to leave the Territory broke - just slowly, slowly, catchee monkey. The monkey is going to be you, Treasurer; the monkey will be you.
It was a script written by the Treasurer as he came back on the plane from an important meeting with the Commonwealth Treasurer and, I would have thought for most people listening, reasonably complicated in the way he was explaining why the Northern Territory government has refused to move forward with tax relief, as was the strategy of both the Commonwealth and all the states and territories when the new agreement on taxes came in, in 2001.
So as people know the background of where the Commonwealth Treasurer is coming from, I put on the record in the adjournment debate, in what I believe to be every person’s layman terms, what this whole debate is all about. It is sad, Treasurer, when you talk about how the opposition should be supporting you in what you are doing to fight the Commonwealth government. I believe what you should be saying is that we should be working together as Australians to reap the benefit of the GST that has come from every Australian’s pocket to pay for the largesse that not only – well, the Commonwealth has not received $1 from the GST and I hope all Territorians understand that, when you beat up on the Commonwealth Treasurer. The Commonwealth government has not received $1 of GST. All GST money goes to the states and territories - a simple fact. When the GST was brought in, it was done on a broad base, and it was intended that, if the GST came in to tax Australians as a goods and services tax, a whole range of inefficient taxes would be wiped out. It was intended, in 2001, that all stamp duty would be wiped out ...
Mr Henderson: No, it was not.
Mr BURKE: In 2001, it was intended that stamp duty would be wiped out - certainly stamp duty on conveyancing.
Ms Martin: That is very different from all stamp duties, isn’t it?
Mr BURKE: I do not have a bureaucratic script to read from. I am speaking from …
Members interjecting.
Mr Stirling: You are the one who signed the document; it has your name on it.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Members of the government, order!
Mr BURKE: I am trying to speak in a way that mum and dad can understand; not bureaucratic gobbledegook …
Mr Stirling: You cannot remember what you signed.
Mr BURKE: It was intended, at the time, to be a broad-based tax that would reduce a whole range of inefficient state taxes - primarily stamp duty. The Senate, controlled by Labor and the Independents at the time, would not allow the GST to go through in the form it was intended, and narrowed its base. In narrowing the base of the GST, it was agreed that some state and territories taxes would not go off immediately as the Commonwealth, the states and territories, could not estimate what amount of GST money would flow through under this new reduced base. The only reason these inefficient state and territories inefficient taxes were left there, was that the Commonwealth and the states and territories could not predict at the time how much money would come through from the GST. Inherent in that was that there may not be enough money coming through from the GST to compensate the states and territories for what they had been receiving in the past. That is the simple logic as to why those taxes were left on.
It is in that context, in 2005, that the federal Treasurer now says: ‘Let us look at how much money the states and territories have received’. There is no point in the Treasurer talking about all of these things which the government is doing and, therefore, we cannot take these inefficient taxes off. The reality is, the whole intent of the GST - the whole reason why Australians go to a checkout now at Coles and everywhere they buy something and get clocked another 10% - is that these taxes would go, starting with a range of taxes which were earmarked to go in 2005-06. The Commonwealth Treasurer is becoming angry, and the reason is because …
Mr Stirling: Your mate.
Mr BURKE: My mate?
Mr Stirling: Yes.
Ms Martin: Mr Costello says: ‘Jump, Denis!’, and you say: ‘How high?’
Mr BURKE: I know the CLP can point to a pretty strong record of independent action when it comes to dealing with the Commonwealth, so do not try that line. I will tell you: where respected effort is due, let us be fair. If we are all Australians, not just bickering children, let us be fair. Under the Howard-Costello leadership, Australia has established the most stable economic period in Australia’s history of the lowest interest rates and highest employment. Australians are not only benefiting from that, Australia has endorsed that leadership as recently as the last election - overwhelmingly endorsed that leadership.
Australians are pretty comfortable and the last election evidenced that. The Treasurer is delivering on what he promised with the GST because, if you look at the money that has come through to the Northern Territory government under GST payments from the Commonwealth, it is an interesting story. For the Northern Territory, when my government left office …
Mr Stirling: Left?
Mr BURKE: Well, when we were voted out; whatever you like. I am trying to get the average mum and dad to understand just what double dealing is going on here. When my government left office, in 2000-01, the GST revenue to the Northern Territory was $1.225.6bn; in 2001-02, it was $1.289.8bn; in 2002-03, it was $1.514.5bn; in 2003-04 it was $1.680.9bn; and in 2004-05 it is $1.732.7bn. That is $600m more in revenue that has come to this Labor government since they came to government. It is actually 49% more in revenue than my government received when it was in government. That is an average annual increase of 8.4%.
It is in that context that the Commonwealth Treasurer is saying to the Labor states - and the issue here is the Northern Territory is a Labor state: ‘How about giving a bit of it back? The deal was if we gave you the amount of money that was forecast, you would give it back’. What he has actually delivered to you is not only the money forecast, but money far in excess of that forecast.
If one turns to the Auditor-General’s report - which I wonder if you have the courage to debate in this Alice Springs Chamber - the Auditor-General reports that in 2003-04, the Northern Territory Treasury received $166m more in GST than was planned. Not only that, the Northern Territory Treasurer, reported by the Auditor-General, received $88m more than his own Treasury forecast. The Auditor-General said, right at the front of his report, that:
That is what the federal Treasurer is saying: the money that is coming into the Northern Territory is coming through in spades, in buckets full, far in excess of what was predicted. The Commonwealth Treasurer is simply saying: ‘Why don’t you give some of this money back?’ You are trying to suggest that, in an atmosphere of money far in excess of your own Treasury predictions, you are too broke, too constrained, and that you cannot even meet the commitments that were made in 2001. You also have the gall to suggest that the opposition should join you in a fiscal strategy to be achieved over the next four years, when you failed miserably in the fiscal strategy that was set for you over this term. You are going to an election now and saying: ‘Join with us in a fiscal strategy that will see us in a balanced situation in four years time’, when your own Treasury experts that you brought in when you won the election told you that you should achieve a fiscal strategy in 2005-06, and you have failed miserably. You have put off a balanced budget until 2012-13.
You had the gall, Treasurer, this morning to say that you cannot give any money back to Territorians because you have a commitment to infrastructure. That commitment has not seen one primary school built in the Northern Territory in the last four years - that is the commitment to infrastructure. A commitment to infrastructure where, when I said to the Chief Minister: ‘Name me one major infrastructure project you have started and completed in your term of government’, and she was lost for words.
You have the gall to talk about the failures of the CLP, but you can see a railroad running straight through this place that came here under my government. You can see a modern port to link the Northern Territory as a gateway to Asia, that links us for the first time as a potential port, and you have the gall to say that we failed as a government. The simple truth is this: that your Labor government has been in a position to really put the Northern Territory to the forefront of Australia. You have been given an opportunity that has never been given to an Australian or Northern Territory government in the past. You have been given an opportunity that you failed miserably to achieve: to strengthen and grow the economic base of the Northern Territory. You have been given the potential to lower the cost of living in the Northern Territory by virtue of the railway infrastructure that we brought in, to name one. You have been given the potential to lower the cost of living of every Territorian by the enormous amount of GST money that you have given by virtue of every taxpayer’s pocket, and you cannot point to one thing. You cannot point to one thing of substance that you can praise yourself for.
When you say that Burke is critical of the costs of departmental services, read your own Auditor-General’s report. It is a report that gives a warning. It says:
That is an Auditor-General warning you as well. He is saying to you that you should be using the GST, primarily, for infrastructure and to grow the economic base of the Northern Territory. Those are the sorts of things that we will do with our policy …
Ms Martin interjecting.
Mr BURKE: … with the costings that we have …
Ms Martin: You are opposed to the waterfront. What are you going to build?
Mr BURKE: You have not even laid a brick on the waterfront …
Ms Martin: How are you going to build the waterfront?
Mr Stirling: Costings are one thing, how are you going to pay for them?
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Members of government.
Mr BURKE: It is a great sadness that, when given the opportunity to go down to a meeting that was always intended to achieve tax breaks for Territorians and Australians - a tax break that in the Northern Territory would have cost about $16m in the first year. In fact, the Commonwealth Treasurer said: ‘If it costs you any money in real terms, we will actually compensate you for it’. You would not even do that! He was actually going to compensate the states if, in the earlier years, there was a real reduction in that money. But the Labor Party was greedy - well, first of all, so hypocritical, it opposed the GST, saying how much it would hurt Territorians and Australians’ pockets – it has now embraced the GST. Every state and territory Labor government has embraced the GST with a relish. They are sitting there counting their money every day in their bank vaults and saying: ‘How can we spend it next?’. However, when it comes to: ‘Will you give any of that money back to Territorians or do anything in a substantive way to lower the cost of living? Will you do anything in a real sense to make our businesses in the Northern Territory competitive so they can grow? Will you do anything to ensure that Territory kids go to school here, stay here, work here and settle here because the incentives in the Northern Territory to work are excellent for Territory kids?’ – you do nothing.
You would rather play political games with Australians’ money, and the only reason you can do it is because all the Labor states are clubbing together and you can see a political advantage out of it. The reality is that Australians and Territorians suffer while you play those political games, and the Northern Territory slides backwards, Chief Minister, under your leadership.
I look forward to the time when we can bring forward the policies that we will for the next election. I look forward to showing Territorians that those policies have been fully costed, and that a CLP government will really put the Territory back on its feet again. We will bring forward policies that will show how you can use the enormous money from the GST, the enormous capacity that Territorians have, to lower the cost of living, to get businesses to expand, to keep families and children in the Territory, working in the Northern Territory, to attract people from interstate with real, tangible benefits, to do more than just having contacts from people who want to come the Northern Territory, but to have real incentives to lay out as a government. I look forward to that day, and I am happy to take you on, Treasurer, and you, Chief Minister.
Mr HENDERSON (Leader of Government Business): Madam Speaker, I move that the debate be adjourned.
Mr DUNHAM: A point of order, Madam Speaker! I was under the mistaken impression this was the most important, pressing business for this House, and we have suspended standing orders to talk about it. I would like to make a contribution.
Mr Burke: How come it is not one on one? What is the point?
Madam SPEAKER: I have no idea. It is up to your Whips to do this …
Mr DUNHAM: I am surprised the government is gagging its own debate. They brought a debate on and they have gagged it after one speaker.
Madam SPEAKER: I am purely guided by what happens.
Mr Burke: Why won’t you let us debate it? You brought it on as an important debate, and you will not even have it.
Madam SPEAKER: It has now been passed. I believe we have adjourned the debate.
Madam SPEAKER: I acknowledge the presence in the gallery of the Year 7 group from Traeger Park OLSH Campus with their teachers Bernie O’Grady, Jasmeet Sukhija and Joan Drew. On behalf of all honourable members, I extend to you a warm welcome.
Members: Hear, hear!
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, I am only guided by what I am told. I have presumed that was what …
Mr Burke: Madam Speaker, we have not voted on the motion.
Ms Martin: Yes, we have.
Mr Henderson: We have - put and passed.
Members interjecting.
Mr Burke: No, we have not. You just moved it; we never voted. You did not make a call, Madam Speaker.
Madam SPEAKER: I am sorry. I thought we had a motion to adjourn the debate.
Mr Burke: He moved it, Madam Speaker; you did not call.
Mr Elferink: Madam Speaker, may I speak to the motion?
Madam SPEAKER: No. I put the question.
Mr Dunham: No, I then put a point of order.
Madam SPEAKER: Yes, I did it on voices. No one called …
Mr ELFERINK: A point of order, Madam Speaker!
Madam SPEAKER: No, you cannot; it has already been passed. I put the motion that debate be adjourned; it was on the voices, and that was it.
Debate adjourned.
Mr McADAM (Barkly): Madam Speaker, I move that the terms of reference of the Northern Territory Statehood Steering Committee adopted on 17 August 2004 be amended by inserting the following new clause 5A –
Members will be aware of the work being undertaken to establish the Northern Territory Statehood Steering Committee in accordance with terms of reference endorsed by the Assembly on 17 August last year. In making final preparation for the formation of the Statehood Steering Committee, it has come to the attention of the Standing Committee of Legal and Constitutional Affairs there exists an impediment to the ongoing work we anticipate the Statehood Steering Committee will shortly be undertaking.
Some time between now and the end of this year, an election will be called and the Assembly will be prorogued pursuant to section 22(1) of the Northern Territory (Self-Government) Act 1978. Under clause 4 of the terms of reference, the life of the Statehood Steering Committee will come to an end once the Assembly is prorogued. Whilst it is important for this Assembly to have ultimate control over the activities and membership of the Statehood Steering Committee it is important to understand that, once the committee is finalised, it will be an unwelcome interruption to have its works cease almost immediately for what may be a period of, perhaps, two or more months. Once the Assembly is prorogued, it will be some time before the Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs meets again, and before the Statehood Steering Committee could be re-established. The proposed changes to the terms of reference permits ongoing work and activities by the Statehood Steering Committee.
The Statehood Steering Committee will soon be consulting broadly across the Territory on issues relevant to statehood and to interrupt these activities would be counterproductive. I assure members that nothing in this proposed change to the terms of reference would prevent a future dissolution of the Statehood Steering Committee should that be required. Rather, the proposed amendment assures that the committee acts akin to a public sector agency during the caretaker period of government. The committee will continue its work, outlined broadly in the terms of reference, and its plan of work considered by the standing committee; however, it would not undertake activities which would limit or inhibit an incoming government in any way. The Northern Territory community will continue to be involved in an inclusive, transparent and democratic process to achieve statehood, notwithstanding an election being called.
Madam Speaker, as I stated in the Assembly last year, the time line for the Statehood Steering Committee is designed for maximum flexibility to fit in with the wishes of the community in the Northern Territory. To initiate that process, and to keep the momentum going, this amendment to the terms of reference is essential. Ongoing activity of the statehood issues sends the right message to Territorians that this committee is, to an extent, outside the political process and it should not be required to cease work in the event of an election being called.
Mr ELFERINK (Macdonnell): Madam Speaker, the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee is one of the stranger creatures in this parliament. I think I am the longest-serving member on the current committee and my service, if my memory serves me, goes back to when I entered parliament in 1997. When I joined the committee names such as John Bailey, Steve Hatton and others of that ilk and era were attached to it.
One of the things I was informed of when they dragged me into the committee for the first time, was that it is not like any other committee of the parliament and, indeed, it is not like parliament itself in as much as that never, in the history of the committee, has anything gone to the vote. Yes, there have been robust debates, arguments, and conflicts; however, they have always been resolved through a process of great care to not put things to a vote. The reason that has occurred is quite simple. When we talk about issues of statehood and you have conflict, people get nervous. The last statehood referendum is probably the most poignant lesson in that particular argument.
I have to commend the current Chairman of the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee as he understands that implicitly, and has demonstrated a level of communication and of effort to try and make sure that those principles in the committee are upheld. I am grateful to him for those reasons.
The subcommittee, if you like, which we have been forming, and of which the motion is about today, has been built very carefully with a lot of consultation on both sides - including yourself, Madam Speaker, as the Independent member of that committee - to advance a committee of non-politicians to help pursue the goal of statehood. The work has been done and, as we approach the next Northern Territory election, because of the nature and structure of the committee itself, without this amendment to the establishment of the committee, all that work would be wasted. Therefore, what we are doing now is rescuing a whole lot of work from being wasted, and that is the intent of this motion. It is the spirit of this motion and is, consequently, supported by this side of House.
Motion agreed to.
Continued from 15 February 2005.
Dr TOYNE (Justice and Attorney-General): Madam Speaker, the Auditor-General made reference to the One Staff rostering system, which is used in the Department of Justice to track the pays required for rostered work, particularly in Correctional Services.
In his findings on this, essentially, he said that an audit identified an inconsistent approach between the selected agencies as to the adoption of fraud control arrangements, from no fraud control arrangements at some agencies to detailed arrangements consistent with the Commonwealth Government Fraud Control Guidelines at one agency. A few instances of fraud had been identified at selected agencies and they are detailed in the Auditor-General’s report - at very low levels, I might say.
In 2002-03, there was one allegation of fraud and two frauds to a total of $187 000 - this is whole-of-government - and two recoveries resulting from investigations of that small number of frauds. In 2003-04, there was one allegation, four frauds with no dollar value against it - I am not sure why - and $10 000 recovered.
The recommendation from the Auditor-General was that agencies should follow the example provided by the Department of Corporate and Information Services in the documenting of fraud prevention and control policies and procedures.
Turning to my agency, considering the complexity, inherent delays and likelihood of errors in calculating payments for employees working rostered shifts, there is a need for systems which expedite payments and decrease the need for duplicate recording and administration. The One Staff system is used for the management of rosters, shift changes, leave, higher duties and so on, and they all recorded within One Staff as they are worked. Salary payments can then be calculated from the roster without having to prepare time sheets. Systems like this, which are used to pay significant amounts of public funds, require a high level of security and control. The Auditor-General found that the key general computer and application controls tested with the One Staff rostering system computer environment were found to be effective.
Further to that finding, my agency, in its response to the Auditor-General’s recommendations, has commented:
Madam Speaker, my agency has properly and fully responded to the Auditor-General’s recommendation.
Dr BURNS (Lands and Planning): Madam Speaker, it is my pleasure to respond to the Auditor-General’s report. I say at the outset that, as a government, we value the role of the Auditor-General and the issues raised by him.
The departments that we are responsible for are intent on addressing the comments made by the Auditor-General in his report. That is in stark contrast to the situation when we came to office. In fact, the previous Auditor-General commented, in one of his first briefings to the Public Accounts Committee, on his disappointment both with the lack of response by government departments, and also the lack of referencing to the Public Accounts Committee from his reports. That is not something that has been duplicated under this government.
I now turn to responding to the Auditor-General’s report. There was an issue on page 39 of the Auditor-General’s report: Department of Infrastructure, Planning and Environment Fraud Control Arrangements 2004. The Auditor-General has reported that an audit of a range of agencies identified an inconsistent approach between agencies in relation to this issue. The Department of Infrastructure, Planning and Environment was included in the audit. The Auditor-General has recommended that agencies should follow the example provided by the Department of Corporate and Information Services, or DCIS, in documenting procedures for fraud prevention and control policy.
The Department of Infrastructure, Planning and Environment conducted a series of compulsory staff seminars in 2003-04 entitled Doing the Right Thing. The seminars reinforced the requirements of the Northern Territory Public Service Code of Conduct and Principles as issued by the Office of the Commissioner for Public Employment, including particular issues of fraud and ethical behaviour. The department is reviewing the applicability of DCIS documentation, policy and procedures in relation to fraud control, with a view to improving current fraud control arrangements. It is my hope that the Auditor-General, in future reports, will be able to comment that these issues have been addressed satisfactorily.
Turning to the second issue, on page 52: Analysis of 30 June 2004 Audited Financial Statements of Government Business Divisions, or GBDs, the Construction Division. At 30 June 2004, the division’s total liabilities exceeded its total assets with the result that it exhibited negative nett worth. The Auditor-General has reported that there was a material breakdown in this division’s processes and controls, in that expenses incurred were not invoiced to client agencies. In other words, this particular GBD carries out matters related to construction on behalf of other agencies.
The department formed a view – internally, I might add - that the Construction Division would no longer be a GBD as at 30 June 2004, but would become another operational arm of the department. This contributed to a focus on project delivery to the neglect of the commercial business side of the Construction Division’s operations. This is very important because, as members would be aware, this is a government which, over the past three years has delivered record capital works budgets, with record cash. There has been much pressure within the department to deliver on those capital works projects - deliver to Territorians in infrastructure, deliver to the construction industry and, most importantly, to the people who do the construction, from the large contractors right down to the smaller subcontractors who paint and do various works around schools. Basically, there has been a lot of pressure there. I am laying on the record that my information is that the division did lose its focus on the commercial side and focussed on project delivery. I believe most of the people in business in the Territory which benefited from this record capital works expenditure would understand.
It is pleasing to advise that the Construction Division of the department has recently completed an extensive planning process. This will provide a strong focus and direction for the future. It has been confirmed that the Construction Division will remain a GBD, and this has been communicated to all staff.
Another key outcome is the appointment of a business manager to manage business processes at the Construction Division, allowing operational managers to continue to focus on the delivery of government works programs. Once again, it is record capital works expenditure and cash, in stark contrast to the opposition in their final year of government, when their revote actually exceeded their cash. They did not even have enough money for the projects that had been staged over a couple of years, or had been carried over for one year to another - not even enough money for that, let alone any new projects. This of appointing a business manager will ensure the monitoring of expenditure and revenue, and that those costs are being recovered.
Realistic and achievable budgets are being established in consultation with cost centre managers to improve accountability and financial controls. Processes for the provision of appropriate and timely reports are also being strengthened.
I turn to page 78 of the Auditor-General’s report: Analysis at 30 June 2004, Audited Financial Statements of Government Business Divisions, or GBDs, Territory Wildlife Parks. The Auditor-General reports that a valuation of all the buildings and infrastructure assets has been carried out by the Australian Valuation Office. The Auditor-General also reports that the work done over the last two years means that the GBD now has a record of assets that are current and reflect present-day values. Most members will recall that, with the change to accrual accounting from cash accounting, the identification and costing of assets was a very important part of that process. It was always envisaged that this would take some time. I recall the previous Auditor-General and Treasury officials briefing the Public Accounts Committee on this issue and making it very clear that, particularly with assets, this would be an ongoing process and, probably, take a couple of years to bed down. The work that has been carried out on the revaluation of assets has been extensive, and now means that the GBD has a firm financial base on which to proceed in the future.
The GBD has done particularly well in the 2003-04 year to increase visitation to the Alice Springs Desert Park by leveraging off the commencement of The Ghan services through to Darwin. This, combined with tight financial controls, has enabled the GBD to return a better than expected result for the year. Management continues to seek innovative ways of increasing visitation.
I will now turn to page 100 of the Auditor-General’s report, which is the Analysis of the 30 June 2004 Audited Financial Statements of the Cobourg Peninsula Sanctuary and Marine Park Board. The Cobourg Peninsula Sanctuary and Marine Park Board recorded a surplus from ordinary activities of $88 000, compared to the 2002-03 financial year where there was a deficit of $69 000. The improvement in the operating results of the board is primarily due to a change in the way the liability to traditional owners is recognised within the accounts.
Signed financial statements were not provided to the office of the Auditor-General until November 2004. This does not meet the requirements of the Cobourg Peninsula Aboriginal Land, Sanctuary and Marine Park Act which requires that financial statements must be lodged within three months. The Department of Infrastructure, Planning and Environment for which I am responsible provides administrative support to the board and, as a part of that service, the department prepares annual financial statements for presentation to the Auditor-General. The majority of audit work on the statement actually occurs prior to the delivery of the signed statements to the Auditor-General, and this was the case for the 2004 accounts. The department continues to seek ways of improving the timeliness of financial reporting to the board.
Finally, I turn to the issue identified on page 58 of the Auditor-General’s report: Analysis of 30 June 2004 Audited Financial Statements of GBDs, the Darwin Port Corporation. The Auditor-General has commented that, as has been the case ever since the commencement of works on the East Arm Wharf, the transaction with the most significant impact on the financial report was the revaluation decrement relating to the construction of new assets in the port. The Auditor-General also comments that the revaluation decrement of these assets does not affect the service potential of these assets.
The Auditor-General also reports that an amount of $745 000 was recorded as an equity injection from DIPE, relating to the cost of works on the roll-on roll-off facility. The Auditor-General has also commented that the $60 000 annual rental from Defence has not been paid, and this has been the subject of comment in the last sittings of this Assembly.
The works undertaken by DIPE on the roll-on roll-off facility, or RO/RO, amounted to $745 000, as I have said previously. The value of these works has been transferred to the Darwin Port Corporation’s accounts. The potential loss of income that the Auditor-General has referred to relates to the annual maintenance levy that is payable by the Department of Defence. Under the agreement of annual maintenance levy payable by Defence, in the first term the specified sum is $60 000, which is indexed against CPI, and $30 000 per year in the second five years of the agreement, which is also CPI indexed.
For the 2003-04 year, the Darwin Port Corporation owes Defence $578, being half of the rental income on the RO/RO, and Darwin Port Corporation are waiting for Defence to issue a tax invoice to enable this payment to be made. Subsequently, on receipt of that, the Department of Defence owes the Darwin Port Corporation $60 000, plus GST rental, and the Darwin Port Corporation is awaiting a reply from Defence on this issue. The Darwin Port Corporation has, again, invoiced Defence for the outstanding amount.
Madam Speaker, I have comprehensively addressed the issues. The Auditor-General has been forthright, and the department and the Port Corporation have tried to address the issues which the Auditor-General has raised, as well as providing solutions to those issues.
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, I draw your attention to the presence in the gallery of Years 10 and 11 Business and Legal Studies students from OLSH, accompanied by their teacher, Malakay Tawake. On behalf of honourable members, I extend to you a warm welcome.
Members: Hear, hear!
Mr BURKE (Opposition Leader): Madam Speaker, primarily for the students from Our Lady of Sacred Heart who are watching and listening intently to what is going on, we are now debating the Auditor-General’s report. The Auditor-General looks at the performance of government over a year. The Auditor-General is an independent person and, essentially, looks at how government is doing business and puts out a report. This report, by an independent officer, allows us to analyse how government is going in the Northern Territory. The report for 2003-04 is what is being debated now.
I want to pick up the point made by the minister in regards to the Construction Division first so I do not forget it. The minister put a good spin on the fact that the Construction Division received a very critical report from the Auditor-General. This is the division that supervises all the government spending on infrastructure work, and is critically involved in supervising how well work is going, for example, at Alice Springs Hospital. Primarily, it is the division charged with making sure that work is happening, and performing in the way the government intends.
The Auditor-General, in his comments regarding the Construction Division, basically said the division does not know what it is doing. Under this Labor government, it is supposed to be a government business division; that is, where it does work it charges for that work, and receives revenue for the work it does. It sends out project officers, architects, and supervisors of works, planners, etcetera, and, where they do that work on behalf of government departments, the government departments pay them for it. For example, Territory Health Services and Alice Springs Hospital would be paying that department for the supervisory work it does.
Do you know what that department has been doing for the whole of 2003-04? Charging no one! It did not know it had to charge anyone for the work it was doing. The reason for that is it did not know what it was. It did not know what part of government it was in and, therefore, that it should be invoicing people. According to the Auditor-General, it has probably lost about $3m or $4m in straight revenue in that year alone, that he could calculate.
When the government says it really has the place swinging well and all the government departments are performing satisfactorily, all focussed on their job and doing well - and, in the case of Alice Springs Hospital, the Labor government has done everything properly - the mob that were doing it did not even know they had to charge people. That is how much knowledge the department itself had of what its own responsibilities were. Therefore, when we say there are things that are worrying about the Alice Springs Hospital refurbishment, we worry that the government seems to be blaming everyone else except their own efforts. They should have been there in supervising things well. It is funny that the Auditor-General, for 2003-04, said that the people who should be doing the supervising did not know what they were supposed to be doing. They certainly did not know that they were supposed to be charging people.
Not only that, the government departments get money in the budget that is required for them to pay departments for work that they do. The Construction Division should charge Territory Health Services for the work that it does. The Construction Division forgot to charge Territory Health Services. There is no money from Territory Health Services that has gone back to the Construction Division, so what is Territory Health Services doing with the money? Where is the $3m or $4m, at least in that year, that should have been acquitted from agencies for work done? Someone has it.
The Auditor-General is simply saying that when it comes to that government department, it is pretty sloppy work, and not only in regards to the Construction Division. It raises the question of what the government has done about getting the money back from those departments which received money for nothing and did not pay the Construction Division. That is worse because, if you look at those departments, all of their budgets have blown out over the year. Not only are they holding money that they should not be holding, they are spending money far in excess of what they have been budgeted so they have had to go to government and ask for more.
For the year 2003-04, there are some pretty telling comments in this Auditor-General’s report as to how this government is performing. Because of restructuring into mega-departments, departmental agencies do not know who they are, what they are, and whether they are business divisions or just government agencies.
The Auditor-General points to the fact that the economy of the Northern Territory is now, essentially, being run by a thing called the GST. He says that 80% of the money coming into the Northern Territory is from the GST. That is what you pay when you get a GST cost of 10% on all those items that you buy at Target and elsewhere. All of that money is being used to then put money back to the states and territories so that they can deliver services.
What has happened is that the money has grown enormously because no one could predict how much the GST would be. The reason the money has grown enormously above what was predicted is that the economies of states like Queensland - in particular, that is going gang busters with retirees and Territorians moving to Queensland – Victoria and New South Wales predominantly, have been going so strongly that they have grown the GST cake, because the GST is paid on things like stamp duty and housing and all those things you buy. It swells the cake, and the Northern Territory gets a slice of that cake.
The Auditor-General is pointing out in this report that the way the government has used the GST money is quite alarming. He is saying the GST money is, primarily, being spent on recurrent operational costs. If you are paying money on recurrent operational costs, you are paying money to pay wages. That is fine when you have the money to pay wages, but what happens when your money starts to shrink?
What the Auditor-General is saying is the economy of Australia is starting to slow down. The housing boom is over ...
Mr Henderson: Not in the Northern Territory, it isn’t.
Mr BURKE: The minister says the housing boom has not slowed down the Northern Territory. I put the premise to you that the Northern Territory has, essentially, missed out on the economic boom that has gripped the rest of Australia over the last five or six years. That is a clear indictment on the lack of performance of this government, which has had carriage of the economy of the Northern Territory during the most stable economic period in Australia’s history and has blown it completely. To find the reason you have blown it, you only have to look at the tourism figures, the way the other states are performing down south, and the indicators that said what the projections of economic growth in the Northern Territory should be and what they are actually achieving. The Northern Territory is lagging behind other states economically.
What is happening as well now is that, not only is the Northern Territory government spending that GST on, essentially, recurrent expenses, when the GST pie starts to shrink something has to give. The Auditor-General is saying that the GST pie is going to start to shrink over the next few years and the Northern Territory government does not have any strategy or position in place regarding how they are going to deal with it, because they have not done anything to grow the economic base of the Northern Territory in order to get some sort of economic activity going in a real sense, other than relying on other states to give us GST money. That is the bottom line.
That is the indictment of three-and-a-half years of Labor government, which was given the opportunity to bring forward - by their own economic experts - a budget that would be in balance in 2005-06. They were given GST money far and above the projections that anyone made, and are swimming in money and cannot even balance their budget, as they projected themselves. They abandoned their own fiscal strategy in the last budget, and have now put in a fiscal strategy to get a balanced budget by 2012-13. And you expect Australians and Territorians to say you are going well? You are an absolute disaster! I ask the question: what have you actually done? How about naming me one school? If you have a strong and growing economy in the Northern Territory, wouldn’t you think people would be coming here? Wouldn’t you think the population would be growing? Wouldn’t you think families would be moving here for jobs? Wouldn’t you think there would be a need for more schools?
There certainly was over the last few years before you come to power. I can recall four schools that were built in the Northern Territory in about six years, before you came to power. The most the Labor government can point to is a few demountables - not one primary school. You do not have to be an economic expert to know that if your revenue is going up and your population is going down, you are, essentially, sliding backwards.
That is what is happening in the Northern Territory, and the indictment is that it has not happened in difficult times. If these were difficult times, one could say, okay, they are struggling on in an economic period that is extremely difficult for everyone. However, the opposite has been the case. The other states in Australia are going gang busters, and that is the simple truth of it. The Australian economy is the most stable environment it has been for years, and this government has been given the flexibility with financial capacity that it has never been given before - $600m more in their revenue base …
Mr Henderson: $240 m.
Mr BURKE: No, not $240m, $600m more in your revenue base than my government had when it left government. That is the simple fact of it: $600m more in your revenue base, $230m-odd more than you ever predicted. In a year-by-year basis, millions of dollars that you cannot even predict in your budget papers - it is all there to see and read - and you cannot point to anything you have done, in a real sense, to improve the Northern Territory.
The Minister for Housing came in here last night and pointed to a great law and order situation in the lifestyle of the Northern Territory, where he has security guards around the clock in streets, and that is supposed to be something we are proud of. Well, go to Karama, and to Millner. I am going to go to them and say: ‘Guess what? In Alice Springs, they have security guards around the streets’. How about we have a few security guards around the clock in my street in Gray, too, because that is what we need? I can tell the people of Alice Springs those security guards will be gone the day after the election, because all they are there for, along with cleaning up the houses and the streets is until they can get through the next election. You can forget the security guards after that.
When you point to the efforts of this Labor government, the Chief Minister, who should have clout and capacity, has lost 100 000 tourists coming to the Northern Territory, many of them to Central Australia. That is her proud record. The minister for Education cannot point to a single school he has built. The Minister for Lands and Planning has a Construction Division that does not know what it is, and does not know who to charge. What a track record! That is the track record of this Labor government …
Dr Burns: Spending money. More money than you ever spent on public works.
Mr BURKE: … and it is a track record that I … Yes, you have! The minister said: ‘We have spent more money than you ever spent!’ With $600m less than you have, we built a railway and a modern port, just to name two - and about four schools in four years! I can name them. That is the way you can spend money well. That is the way you put in facilities for Territory families. What can you point to? Nothing! You can point to the fact that you can sit in this parliament and call one of my colleagues a poofter - and that is about the only capability the minister for Infrastructure, Planning and Environment has …
Members interjecting.
Mr BURKE: … and you do not have the gall, the manliness or the courage to stand on your feet and make an apology to him! I have never seen …
Members interjecting
Mr Kiely interjecting.
Mr BURKE: … in my 10 years in parliament …
Madam SPEAKER: Order, order! Member for Sanderson! Order! I do not want to go down that debate, thank you.
Mr BURKE: They talk about what they have achieved, Madam Speaker. I can tell you, in my 10 years in parliament I have never seen - ever - the achievement of the minister for Infrastructure, Planning and Environment where he used the sexual abuse history of a member of this parliament to, somehow, allege that the man was homosexual. It is an absolute disgrace! There has been no natural justice done ...
Madam SPEAKER: Leader of the Opposition!
Mr BURKE: There has been a spin put on this whole effort to say that, somehow, he was provoked and the minister does not have the manliness or the gall to stand on his feet and make an apology like any man would make ...
Madam SPEAKER: Leader of the Opposition! Let us get back to the Auditor-General’s report.
Mr BURKE: Back to this report, Madam Speaker. I hope that anyone who reads it can see that what I have said is true: that the Northern Territory government is swimming in money but it has a warning from the Auditor-General that that money will slow down; and the spending of that money is being poorly focussed. When it comes to the efforts and targeting of strategies for this government over the last four years, in this report you cannot point to anything that can show that this economy has strengthened and become competitive in comparison to the rest of Australia.
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, I welcome the group of students from the Illawarra School at Stirling, accompanied by their teacher Rissa Marlowe, and the Year 9 OLSH Sadadeen Campus students accompanied by Anthony Bindle and Andrew Damon. On behalf of all honourable members, I extend to you all a warm welcome!
Members: Hear, hear!
Mr HENDERSON (Police, Fire and Emergency Services): Madam Speaker, it is always a pleasure to follow on from the Leader of the Opposition, the member for Brennan, because we really must live in two different worlds. You would believe, hearing the Leader of the Opposition’s contribution to debate on the Auditor-General’s report, that the Territory economy is going backwards at a rate of knots. If you believed his rantings in regard to this report, the economy is going backwards at a rate of knots, people are leaving the Territory in droves, crime is out of control and, somehow, the Territory, as he said yesterday, is a very mediocre place. Well, that is not the Northern Territory that I live in, and certainly not the Territory that I believe most Territorians believe they live in. The Territory is going ahead. It is going ahead at a rate of knots, and we see in economic growth forecasts by independent forecasters - not by some fantasy by the Leader of the Opposition - that the economy of the Northern Territory is booming at the moment. The biggest issue facing the Northern Territory economy is lack of skilled workers to meet the demand.
I will pick up on the first comments of the Leader of the Opposition which really go to show where I believe the opposition is struggling for any political identity at all. He talks about the economy running only because of the GST. This is a CLP opposition which believes that the only role in an economy is government expenditure. That is not the case. The economy is booming in the Northern Territory at the moment primarily because of private sector investment.
Mr Dunham: It had nothing to do with government - that is correct.
Mr HENDERSON: Not once did we hear the … I will pick up on the interjection from the member for Drysdale because, yesterday, he said he was a bush economist and he proves it again today. He is a very bad bush economist because, in the economy system that we are working in at the moment, the role should always be for the private sector to lead the way in investment, as the only way a government can spend money is to tax people. Therefore, here we have a recipe from the member for Drysdale, for the CLP to take the lead in building the economy of the Northern Territory. They can only do that by expending money. He asks what have we built. I can say that we have fixed a whole heap of things up …
Mr Dunham: Tell me!
Mr HENDERSON: Our roads network was crumbling and falling to pieces; our schools were falling apart; public housing across the Northern Territory had not been painted for about 20 years, police stations, health clinics and hospitals across the Northern Territory were falling apart, and there was hardly any staff in those facilities. We are seeing services improve for Territorians.
For the member for Drysdale to say the government is not doing anything, I would point to the private sector as it has the confidence to invest, and is confident it will get a return on that investment. We can see record levels of investment in the Northern Territory at the moment across all sections of the economy. In the resources section, we can see the LNG plant in Darwin moving ahead; massive expansion of the Alcan mine at Gove as a result of increase in prices for natural resources; mining taking off across the Northern Territory; record levels of mineral exploration leases being granted - they are not being granted to nobody; they are being granted to companies who want to invest in the Northern Territory and exploration. There was a 44% increase last year on exploration expenditure in the Northern Territory by the private sector as a result of this government working constructively with the native title process, as opposed to playing politics and stifling investment, which was the CLP’s policy for many years.
We have a consortium wanting to invest $1bn in the Northern Territory in the waterfront development in Darwin; something that the opposition would scratch and somehow use the taxpayers’ money to make that development happen. That will not happen under this government. We want to see the private sector invest, not tax Territorians to build the waterfront. Yesterday in the House, I highlighted from the Centralian Advocate a story of a $20m tourism project going up in Alice Springs - one of many where the private sector has confidence to invest in the economy. Economic growth is not just about government expenditure, as the opposition would have us believe; it is about creating a fiscal climate and a taxation regime where the private sector has confidence to invest and get a return on that investment. We can see private sector investment in the Northern Territory across all areas, and the economy booming. I urge the opposition to get out more and talk to people to see what is actually happening out there.
Regarding the GST revenues, yes, they have increased faster than was predicted, but certainly not to the extent of an additional $600m. My colleague, the Treasurer, quite clearly explained yesterday how this whole process was to work. In the Commonwealth forward estimates, there were guaranteed minimum payments forecast to the states and, over the four years, the additional amount the Territory has received has been $240m, not $600m as the opposition would have us believe. That money has been used in providing Territory companies with record tax cuts. We are now the lowest taxing jurisdiction in Australia for employers who have 20 employees or less …
Mr Dunham: That is not true.
Mr HENDERSON: It is true, and I can provide the independent statistics to prove it. I challenge the member for Drysdale to refute that. As of 1 July next year …
Mr DUNHAM: A point of order, Madam Speaker! I take up the challenge.
Madam SPEAKER: No, you can do it when you speak.
Mr Dunham: You are wrong. Your budget papers say you are wrong.
Mr HENDERSON: As of 1 July, for companies that employ 40 or fewer staff, we will be the lowest taxing jurisdiction in Australia. They are record tax cuts. We have the most affordable housing in the Northern Territory, and the rest of the additional revenue we have received via the GST process has been committed to improving police services, health services, educational services, and correctional services to Territorians.
It is going to be interesting to see these costed policies from the opposition. The challenge was given to the member for Brennan today to say who has costed these policies. We want them costed by Treasury, not some CLP mate. If you are going to give the teachers a 15% pay rise over two years, no school to have over 300 kids in it, and reduce class sizes, well, our calculations to date has costed that mix of policies at around $60m. If you are going to abolish payroll tax and stamp duties, payroll tax is running at about $100m. I do not have the figure for stamp duties in front of me, but it would be of a similar or probably growing ilk. Where is the money going to come from?
The money can only come from plunging the Territory into debt or cutting services and sacking public servants. The time will come when the blow torch will be applied to the magic pudding economics that the member for Brennan is brandishing around at the moment. Territorians and public servants should be very fearful about where the opposition will get this money to be able to abolish all of these taxes and give everyone the pay rise that they want, because something has to give, unless he is going to do something like introduce a land tax for all businesses in the Northern Territory.
At the moment, as of 1 July, only businesses with a payroll of over $1m a year will pay payroll tax. Our calculations are that is the vast majority of small businesses in the Territory will not pay that tax. Unless he is going to replace the payroll tax with a land tax that will apply to all businesses, where will he get the money?
The only way he can get that money, unless he is going to plunge the Territory into deficit again, is to sack public servants. They have a track record of doing that. Who can forget the ERC cuts in the early 1990s when thousands of people lost their jobs? They have a track record and we will be reminding Territorians of that track record.
You cannot abolish taxes, and you cannot give people every cent of the pay rise they want without either increasing taxes in other areas or slashing expenditure. It is going to be interesting to see these costed policies that the Leader of the Opposition has talked about, because we are going to require those policies to be costed by Treasury to see where this money is coming from. Again, the rhetoric from the opposition that people are leaving the Territory in droves, that the population is declining - what absolute rot! I will keep saying it over and over again …
Mr Dunham: ABS is lying, is it?
Mr HENDERSON: Member for Drysdale, the ABS figures come out at about 11 o’clock. In fact, they have been out for 20 minutes. I have not seen them yet.
As well as the ABS figures, I will quote again from the real estate local monitor, the analysis of the real estate market. This is a barometer that I believe because the real estate market is one of the most fundamental barometers of population in the Northern Territory. I quote from the latest report, December 2004:
Under the CLP government, we had vacancy rates in the property market across the Northern Territory running at 12%. In the latest quarter under the Labor government, they are down to 3.8%. It goes on to say:
Not only do we have a quarter of the rental market actually vacant at the moment, we have increased housing come on to the market since then:
How does that stack up with the rhetoric from the opposition that people are leaving in droves and the Territory is going backwards? It just does not make sense. They can spin this as hard as they like, but anyone who is investing in property in the Northern Territory knows that they can get a tenant who is paying a good rent. Anyone who owns a home in the Northern Territory at the moment knows that the equity they have in that home has increased around 25% in the last 12 months. People who want to buy into the market via the HomeNorth scheme can get access to the most affordable housing in Australia. Also, in Central Australia in Alice Springs, we have seen the first land release in 10 years, with more to come. That is not an indication of a Territory economy going backwards at a rate of knots and the population declining in droves. The member for Brennan really does need to get out more. The Territory is not a mediocre place. Territorians are wonderfully optimistic, and people with great capabilities to punch above their weight, and this economy is going very strongly at the moment.
As Business minister, I am committed to keeping the Northern Territory the lowest taxing jurisdiction for small business in Australia, and I commend my Cabinet colleagues for approving those initiatives. We are seeing private sector investment in the Territory economy at record levels at the moment - not just government expenditure, tax and spend, that the CLP opposition rhetoric would have us believe.
This is going to be a contest of ideas coming into the next election. However, if the opposition believe that they can get out there and pretend that the Territory is going backwards, nothing is happening, people are leaving at a rate of knots, well, I do not believe Territorians are going to buy that.
I commend the Auditor-General on his report. I would like to comment in regards to my department of DCIS and a key finding about security issues of the government mainframe area and computer controls. I will quote from the key finding from the Auditor-General’s report:
I will not go through all of the issues here, but there have been issues identified regarding access to the IJIS system, which is the Integrated Justice Information System which is accessed by Justice and police. There were issues in regards to passwords and the approvals for granting passwords and access to various components of the system. I am pleased to see that my agency of Police, Fire and Emergency Services has taken those comments on board and processes have been changed.
The Auditor-General does play a vital role in our system of government in providing an independent analysis of agency financial performance. I commend him for his report. As ministers in this government - and I am sure in previous governments - we all look to the Auditor-General’s comments in relation to our agency and make sure that they are addressed, Madam Speaker.
Mr AH KIT (Housing): Madam Speaker, today I respond to the Auditor-General’s Report to the Legislative Assembly tabled on 15 February 2005. There are a number of matters arising from audits described in that report that relate to my department. In each case - Housing Business Services, Territory Motor Sports Board and the Jabiru Town Development Authority - the Auditor-General noted we have received an unqualified audit for the period ended 30 June 2004, which is a credit to the public servants who manage or oversee these agencies.
Housing Business Services refers to the government business division of Territory Housing. The Auditor-General notes that the Housing Business Services has incurred significant levels of operating loss, primarily because revenues have not been sufficient to cover depreciation charges and interest payments. Territory Housing has worked hard to reverse this trend and, since last year has, in fact, reduced losses from $14.8m to $12.8m. This reduced deficit was possible because of an increase in revenue of $7.7m, partially offset by a $5.6m increase in expenses. When looking at the increase in expenses, this is largely due to the boost in spending on repairs and maintenance from $17.7m to $20.1m, an appropriate response given the history of neglect. The other factor in the increase in expenses of $2.5m is due to the Community Harmony strategy, an appropriate response to the Territory’s commitment to improving access and accommodation options for indigenous people living in urban areas. The Community Harmony strategy is a critical whole-of-government strategy that has important housing components as a part of its response. It is perfectly appropriate that Territory Housing contribute funding towards this strategy.
Housing Business Services is reviewing the methodology of costing its community service obligations in conjunction with Treasury which will have an impact on the division’s profitability. The Auditor-General recommends that, in a bid to continue reducing losses, policies and procedures for remote and urban dwellings and shared equity properties should be reviewed. Territory Housing agrees and has commenced reviewing these policies. This review will be completed by the end of this financial year.
The Auditor-General’s report also made note of Territory Housing’s longer-term business sustainability and debtor collection processes. The Auditor-General, quite rightly, noted that the current level of financial performance cannot be sustained indefinitely. I heartily agree, and that is why I have supported Territory Housing in its rigorous consideration of new initiatives that will improve operating performance. This includes reviewing processes around debtors’ collection which will have a positive impact by 2005-06. In variances between the tenancy management system and the GAS general ledger, systematic solutions are currently being investigated to resolve this longstanding issue. As the Auditor-General acknowledges, Housing Business Services, or Territory Housing, is a complex organisation and I know that it has a tough job to do. However, Territory Housing has put in place a five-year financial plan detailing performance and strategies for improving performance by business line. I have asked for regular updates and expect to see that, next year, the situation will have improved yet again.
In regard to the Territory Motor Sports Board, the Auditor-General audited the Territory Motor Sports Board’s books for the first time. This is appropriate accountability, given that the Territory Motor Sports Board Ltd is a government-owned company. The Auditor-General provided a clean audit. When the previous government acquired the land and assets, created a company and placed ownership with that company, of which the then Minister for Sport and Recreation was a director, the value of the land and assets was not recognised in the accounts. In 2004, company accounts, for the first time, recognised the assets at fair value, resulting in assets being shown at around $14m, plus land at $1.5m, compared with around only $0.5m in previous years. The majority of structures acquired did not meet Australian Business Standards. Current proper attribution of value means that the task of recognising the need for adequate maintenance is now easier.
The resignation of the former chief executive officer and payout of accrued entitlements caused a cash flow problem with the Motor Sports Board Ltd during 2003-04. This was resolved by my department underwriting costs of the current general manager and also other costs to the tune of $77 000.
The new board of the Territory Motor Sports Board Ltd has implemented a much-improved collection of charges from user clubs. Notwithstanding this better billing and debt collection, the Motor Sports Board Ltd’s financial circumstances remain tight. The overall book loss of $173 996 is noted; however, the operational cash shortfall for the year ended 30 June 2004 was funded from a reduction in cash at bank from $52 000 to $35 000 and a reduction in receivables from $326 000 to $131 000. This is slightly balanced by the reduction in current liabilities from $188 000 to $129 000.
In regards to the Jabiru Town Development Authority, the Auditor-General commented on the following major matters: the inability of the Jabiru Town Development Authority to generate sufficient cash flows in the future to repay the Northern Territory government loan; and also recovery of outstanding contributions under the cost-sharing agreement of 1983. The Jabiru Town Development Authority operates pursuant to the Jabiru Town Development Act. The JTDA is a statutory authority responsible to the minister. Its two principal members are representatives of the Northern Territory government and Energy Resources of Australia, who are the operators of the Ranger Uranium Mine. In the course of the establishment of Jabiru, the Northern Territory government provided loan funds to the Jabiru Town Development Authority to fund over-designed services - mainly water supply and sewerage services which were constructed to meet the expected population needs of the town. The expectation, at the time, was that the Northern Territory would recoup its investment as further development occurred in the Kakadu region.
As the Auditor-General rightly notes, the Jabiru Town Development Authority is unable to repay the loan on the basis of its current income from the sale of subleases, nor is it able to fund interest payments. In 1986, the government granted the Jabiru Town Development Authority a moratorium on the repayment of the loan and interest payments. This government has continued that previous government’s policy. Whilst the Jabiru Town Development Authority is technically insolvent, it remains capable of operating and performing its functions in the administration and development of Jabiru while the government maintains a moratorium on the repayment of the loan. There are no current plans to change this situation. There is no financial advantage to the government in the writing-off of the loan to the Jabiru Town Development Authority. If the town does enjoy a further development stage in the future, then government may retrieve some of its investment. This possibility is removed by the writing-off of the loan. The value of any development leading to greater income will also flow to Energy Resources of Australia as the other principal partner.
Madam Speaker, I commend the Auditor-General on his report.
Mr WOOD (Nelson): Madam Speaker, it has been said that some of us are bush accountants, or bush treasurers, and I am no exception. I am one who gets bamboozled by the mountains of documents we get when the budget, the half-yearly reports, and the different Auditor-General’s reports, are presented. Consequently, I will keep this as a reflection of what most people think with budgets - they like to have a clear understanding of where we are going; not in the terms of the Department of Treasury, but in layman’s terms. I looked at the Auditor-General’s report and marked a few areas, particularly those regarding the amount of income we receive. As has been stated earlier here, the initial statement says:
There are two sides to that statement. One is we receive lots of extra money from the government - I think $166.4m extra this year - in GST funding, and the other is that the Auditor-General is saying that there could be some future risk.
I listened to the Minister for Police, Fire and Emergency Services say today that the Territory is going ahead at a rate of knots; the economy is booming; the private sector should drive the economy; and the private sector is booming at the present time. If that is the case - and I am not challenging the minister on that statement - then GST revenue certainly will rise. For instance, if private housing continues to boom, as it is in some parts of the Darwin region at Palmerston, and we know that steel prices have gone up 50% to 100% in the last two years, and that concrete cost has gone up quite considerably as well then, surely, GST revenue is also increasing.
Whether one could say on one hand that we are getting more money from the GST but there are risks involved in the future and we have to be careful where we spend our money and, then, on the other hand say that the economy is booming, then you have a conflict in the debate.
We are getting enough money to reduce taxes. The risk - if you believe the government, and they are the ones who are saying it - of a downfall in that GST is low because the economy is booming. As the minister said, the economy is going ahead at a rate of knots. If you accept that there is not much risk of us losing GST revenue in the future, why are we not looking at reducing our taxes? As I said before, the average Joe Blow picks up his TIO insurance tax invoice and he reads - and it will vary naturally, of course - that it is a $175 premium, $17 GST – that is 10%, - stamp is $19, which is 10% of the GST and the premium, and he pays $212. For the ordinary person on the street, he believes he is getting slugged twice, and I believe he is.
It may have been the case a few years ago that the government could have argued: ‘We needed our stamp duty because there were not sufficient GST funds to match it’. However, I believe there is. If you can go through the document that the Auditor-General has presented, he says a number of times:
If you go further, it says on page 16 of the Auditor-General’s report:
I know the government has, to some extent, budgeted for some of that $166m. If you look at the summary given to us by the Auditor-General from the Central Holding Authority, you will notice that part of that extra $166m went in loan repayments of $54m.
Without going into detail about this bill, the simple fact is that we receive $27.3m extra cash, and it is written here. The Central Holding Authority received a $24m better than budgeted cash surplus. Why is not that cash surplus - and we are not talking about the $166m here because the government says they will be putting that into schools and hospitals and all that sorts of thing, and I am not asking them to cut that back. However, looking at this in a very simplistic manner, you might say, we know that above all that, you received $27m free cash - not budgeted for, not even forecast for. You got that $27m. Yet, we have the statement that we are raising taxes of $22.2m. If we are receiving $27.4m from the Commonwealth extra than we even believed we would get, surely just that amount is enough to take out stamp duties? If the economy is booming, as the Minister for Police, Fire and Emergency Services said, then we know we will expect to get this sort of money, plus, next year. Therefore, what is the risk? I do not believe that there is a risk. I feel we have ‘taxaholics’.
I remember when Senator Harradine, who had the balance of power, was debating the GST. At that time he, basically, had the power to say whether the GST would come into play or not. He voted against it. I believe one of the reasons he voted against it was because he could see that it is a growth tax - every time prices go up so does the GST. Perhaps what he saw is that there would still be taxes in the states; that people would be double-taxed –pensioners and our young families. I sometimes think, and I said the other day, that we are forgetting the average family, the pensioner, the average person in the street.
We talk about these grand projects that are important. We talk about increasing education. We talk about Mereenie Loop Road. They are all great. However, we are making it so hard for people that they have trouble buying their own house. In a place as big as Australia, as big as the Northern Territory with so much land, why should it be that young people and families cannot afford a house of their own? It just beats me. This is not Hong Kong or Singapore, where you may have an excuse for saying: ‘We have to live on the 47th floor’. We do not have that excuse. We have some issues that we have to deal with, and we know how to deal fairly with those issues today. I believe we are losing sight of the people we, as a government, should be looking after. If we are hitting Joe Blow twice just for insurance on his house, why can we not do something about it? Are we so attached to the tax that we cannot let go of it? I am sure we will find some reason to spend it! I know that.
The government has to take a good hard look at itself and ask whether it just wants to be seen as a government that has done these marvellous things for the economy, that can say: ‘Look, we have done this and this and this’, and yet people paying mortgages are still struggling. People trying to send their kids to school have to pay for school uniforms, the fee to take their kids on a school camp - all those little things that people have to pay for. I sometimes think we are all on a pretty good wicket. Sometimes, we probably think we are not on as good a wicket as other people, and there are certainly people paid a lot more money than me. I sometimes think we need to just keep our feet on the ground and see what the average person in Darwin, Palmerston and the rural area actually earns. In many cases, people do not earn a lot of money. I have seen people going down to play soccer or football, and they have to fork out $150 for the insurance for the kid to play soccer, for the uniform and, if they have three or four children wanting to play soccer, that is a lot of money. We need to help those people. We want to encourage families to look after their children well. We want them to have a good lifestyle in the Territory
If we are talking about growing the Territory, we have to make it attractive. It is all right to say, ‘We are the lowest taxing’, but that is nearly a clich because that is not the issue. The issue really is: are we taxing people too much? I do not want to be the lowest taxing. I do not want to be compared to different places. There might be other reasons why those states tax people that way.
We should look at our own taxes as we are, and see where we can cut those taxes, knowing full well that the people we are cutting the taxes for are paying the taxes. They are paying GST on a bottle of Coke every time they go to McDonalds, the cinema ticket, the spare tyre - they are paying GST. Surely, if we have $27m surplus - forget the other arguments about the $166m. The Auditor-General has said $27m extra. I reckon, if the economy is booming, we will have no problem getting next year. We should just make a statement in the next budget that we will wipe stamp duty because we know we have the same amount of money coming from the federal government. I say to the Treasurer and the government: do something for the average person, for families. Here is your opportunity. You will not blow your budget, you will just do something good for the Territory.
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, I acknowledge the presence in the gallery of the Alice Springs Steiner School and their teacher, Christopher Brocklebank, and the OLSH Year 9 students from Saddadeen with their teachers, Meredith Pierson and Bill Pendlebury. On behalf of all honourable members I extend to you a warm welcome.
Members: Hear, hear!
Debate suspended for luncheon adjournment.
Mrs BRAHAM (Braitling): Mr Deputy Speaker, I wish to correct a statement I made last night in regards to the composition of a selection panel for the position of General Manager of the Alice Springs Hospital.
I advised the House that there were only two people on the panel who interviewed the candidate, and that both were referees. I have, since then, been further advised that there were, in fact, three members on the panel, none of whom were referees.
I apologise to this House for the misleading statement and to the Darwin-based panel members concerned.
Mr HENDERSON (Leader of Government Business): Mr Deputy Speaker, I move that leave of absence be granted to the member for Arafura for health reasons. Questions in relation to the minister’s portfolios of Family and Community Services and Environment and Heritage are to be directed to the Minister for Mines and Energy. Questions in regards to the minister’s responsibilities for Seniors, Women and Youth Affairs are to be directed to the Chief Minister.
Motion agreed to.
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, I acknowledge the presence in the gallery today of students from Larapinta School with their teacher, Mel Phillips. These are students who participated in Parliament of the Birds. We also have St Philip’s College and John Glasscock, their teacher.
Also in the gallery are a number of members of the U3A and seniors who attended the luncheon. On behalf of all honourable members, I extend to you a warm welcome to you all.
Members: Hear, hear!
Mr BURKE (Opposition Leader): Madam Speaker, I accept the challenge from the Treasurer during Question Time and, therefore, move for suspension of standing orders so we can either do one of two things: bring on the debate which you gagged this morning, or I move a motion that so much of standing orders be suspended as would prevent this House from censoring the Chief Minister and her Labor government for failing Territorians by not using the enormous benefit that has been provided by GST funding from the Commonwealth, totalling $600m over the term of this Labor government.
Mr HENDERSON (Leader of Government Business): Madam Speaker, for the advice of the Assembly and Central Australians, the government accepts this censure motion. It is the most serious motion that is brought before parliament and takes precedence over all other business. The government will debate the motion.
Madam SPEAKER: For the visitors in the gallery, Question Time now ceases. You are welcome to stay and listen to the censure motion, but there will be no more questions now.
Mr BURKE (Opposition Leader): Madam Speaker, I certainly hope that the visitors to the gallery do stay, because it is important they hear this debate. It is important they hear a debate which the government did not want them to hear today. This debate was brought on this morning by the Treasurer. He gave his version, allowed one speaker from the opposition, and then gagged the debate. He now has the gall to come here and challenge the CLP to debate what he did this morning.
Madam Speaker, I move that this Assembly censure the Chief Minister and her Labor government for
Ms Martin: Can we get a copy of that?
Madam SPEAKER: Whip, can we have a copy?
Ms Martin: Is it based on facts, or have you just made it up?
Mr BURKE: The only reason this censure debate is on is because we were gagged this morning. Territorians who watched Question Time would know already that Question Time gives the opposition very limited ability to say anything. We can ask a question and the government can speak for as long as it likes with the answer. However, the question that the Chief Minister …
Ms Martin interjecting.
Mr BURKE: Chief Minister, I have listened to your patronising comments for the last three days. Will you please give me the courtesy of hearing me in silence? I am not asking for too much.
Madam SPEAKER: Leader of the Opposition, turn my way a little, or do you want to speak from the lectern?
Mr BURKE: Madam Speaker, I am referring through you.
Madam SPEAKER: Do not turn your back totally to me, okay?
Mr BURKE: I do not mean to, Madam Speaker.
Madam SPEAKER: A little bit of each.
Mr BURKE: Do you want me to stand up there?
Madam SPEAKER: That would be fine, if you want to stand there.
Mr BURKE: Then I have my back to all the children, so I prefer to be here.
Madam SPEAKER: All right.
Mr BURKE: The issue the Treasurer raised this morning by suspending standing orders was that the meeting he went to in Canberra was one of the most important meetings that a Treasurer of the Northern Territory could attend. That is why he flew to Canberra; it was a very important meeting. These were the Treasurer’s own words. It was so important that this morning, he suspended standing orders, and gave his version of events in Canberra. I gave my response, and then he gagged debate. What we have not heard is what his Chief Minister believes are the issues.
I lay the challenge that I will tell Territorians what the CLP believes and thinks, as the leader of the CLP, and the Chief Minister has to respond to me, and not send her bovver boys out to do the work for her.
Ms Martin: He is the Treasurer!
Mr BURKE: You are the leader. You stand up and talk … The Chief Minister says: ‘He is the Treasurer. I do not want to talk about the economy; I am just the leader. My Treasurer does all that’. Well, I am the leader of the CLP and I will talk about the economy of the Northern Territory and about your performance. I would have thought any leader worth their salt would get up and respond, but if you do not want to do it, Chief Minister, that is your business, not mine. However, I challenge you to do it.
The meeting in Canberra was a very important meeting because we have had GST, a goods and services tax, that has been enforced on Australians for the last four years. In 2001, it came in. A whole new tax system was introduced to Australians. When that happened, the Commonwealth and the states and territories did not know how much money would be raised through the GST. The states and territories were a bit wary about whether or not we should sign up to the GST, because we felt that the Commonwealth would dud us in the amount of money we got over the years.
Therefore, when the Commonwealth introduced the GST, there were a few guarantees to the states and territories, and that is why every state and territory signed up. I might also add that Labor states signed up at the time – New South Wales, for one – even though federally, the Labor position was to oppose the GST.
Because the Commonwealth government could not guarantee how much money would flow to the states in GST, they had to give some guarantees. In the case of the Northern Territory, we received the same guarantees, which were: ‘We will ensure that the money you get from the GST does not fall below the amount of money you should have expected to get under the old system, and we will guarantee that for a number of years. However, we want to come back in 2005 and have a look at it because, if there is not enough money flowing, obviously we are going to have to figure out what we do with the GST to get more money flowing or, if there is far more money flowing than we expected, we are going to have to do something about it because Australians are being double-dipped. We are going to have to get rid of a few of these taxes so that we can give it back to the people who are contributing’.
That is why the Treasurer went to the meeting yesterday: to look at the GST over the last four years and to do an assessment as to whether it was time to put more money in or give back some money to Australians. The federal Treasurer said prior to the meeting - and I agree with him - that on any analysis, the Northern Territory government is wallowing in GST. There is so much money coming in under GST, it is scandalous. An extra $600m has come to the Northern Territory through the goods and services tax - more than came to my government in 2001 when we lost office. Territorians, I tell you: $600m is an enormous amount of new money to have flexibility to spend as a Northern Territory government. When we put the budget down for 2001, we did all our recurrent spending costs that we could not touch - things like teachers, schools and wages, etcetera. We had about $20m left and also, I might add, had added costs for the railway and the port. We had about $20m left, flexible money, to spend on new initiatives. This mob have had $600m more from the federal government.
In 2001, remember they made all these promises to Territorians for when they got to government? When they got to government, what was the first thing they did? ‘Oh, we have opened the books and we are broke. We are so broke we are going to have to cut back on spending in a whole range of areas. We will not be able to give the teachers the pay rise they wanted. We are going to have to take international tourism marketing off the shelf because we cannot afford it’. We said to the government at the time it took international tourism marketing off the shelf that it was like putting a packet of Weet-Bix and a packet of Nutri-Grain on the shelf and then taking the Weet-Bix off. The punters are going to buy Nutri-Grain. What this government did was take the Territory product off the international market to cut costs. And you wonder why 100 000 tourists have dropped off coming to the Northern Territory? That is one reason. We told the government at the time not to stop spending on those items because the money will flow from the GST. The money has flowed - and flowed in spades - from the GST.
The Auditor-General is the independent arbiter who audits the Territory accounts; that is, after the Treasurer and his Treasury puts down their story, the independent Auditor-General goes through the books, and he says how much what the Treasurer says weighs up with what is the truth. For 2003-04, the Auditor-General has said that this mob received $166m more in GST than they received the year before, and - guess what? - $88m more than they even projected in their budget papers. This Treasurer stood here 10 minutes ago and said: ‘Finances are really tight and we are working our way through it’. The Auditor-General says your interest rates have gone up by 50%. If mum and dad Territorian put their money in the bank, and the amount of money they are getting back on interest goes up by 50% in one year, what does that tell you? That tells you that the bank account is pretty full, doesn’t it? Do you agree with that? So this business of ‘we have no money’ is garbage.
This government has received so much money from the GST, in line with other Labor governments around Australia, that the Commonwealth Treasurer is saying: ‘This is scandalous, because Australians are being double-dipped every day of the week in what they pay in GST. It is about time you states and territories give some of that money back’. This mob is now saying to the feds: ‘No, you give some of yours back. You are getting more money through other stuff, why don’t you give yours back first and then we will give ours back?’. What a way to treat Australians. Australians are trying to struggle with the cost of living, and the truth that everyone should understand is this: for every dollar that is raised in GST, not one penny of that goes to the Commonwealth. Every dollar is raised in GST; every time you go to the Target store and buy something, you pay GST. Every time GST is paid, part of that money goes straight to this government here. It goes through on a model called horizontal fiscal equalisation. Well, they got the terminology right at least: horizontal fiscal equalisation. That funds the states and territories according to need, and that means, in funding the Northern Territory for its needs, the Territory has received $600m more since GST was introduced than my government received and, by the Treasurer’s statements yesterday and the day before, at least $240m more than he even expected to receive. That is the money that is coming through on the GST.
The argument I have with the Labor government is this: when you are funded by the Commonwealth, you are funded under a horizontal fiscal equalisation model that expects you to deliver the same services to the same standards as are enjoyed in other states and territories in Australia. The HFE model expects you to grow your economy, given the money and capability that the average taxpayer is giving you through GST and other means. It expects you, as a government, to strengthen your economy, provide a cost of living benefit to your own people, put in education facilities, pay your teachers, and make sure your nurses are not under stress in a way that meets the standards that are being reached all around Australia. The indictment to this Labor government over three-and-a-half years is that they have squandered their opportunity. That is the premise of my argument: you have squandered your opportunity!
Worse than that, when you were given the opportunity yesterday to give just a little back - just a little back - to Australians and Territorians, you would not even do that. The federal Treasurer yesterday said: ‘Will you just give a little back? Just give a little back in a few state taxes that you all agreed were inefficient and should go. You have to give it back because you are getting far more than we ever expected you would ever get, so you have a moral obligation to give it back’. This lot snubbed them. Every one of them said: ‘We are going home, see you later. We are not paying $1 back to Territorians’ pockets’. That is scandalous! The real issue for Australians and Territorians, particularly here, is that it is a high cost of living area. We all love the Territory. None of us …
Ms Martin: No, you do not; you think it is mediocre.
Mr BURKE: The Chief Minister is now an expert on whether you love the place or not. You are an expert on everything, but …
Ms Martin: No, you told us that it is mediocre.
Mr BURKE: The Chief Minister says I said it was mediocre. I said that, under the leadership of Clare Martin and the Labor government, given the opportunities that the federal government and you, as taxpayers, have given them, your performance is woeful and the Territory is mediocre under your leadership. It is about time we got a government in place that understands the needs of the average Territorian and how to spend the money in a way that strengthens our economy, grows our business base, lowers the cost of living and, most importantly, gets the taxman of their back. That is all I am asking for: get the taxman off Territory businesses’ and people’s backs. I do not think that is a big ask. If you look at the budget papers and the money, it is easy to say: ‘We are committed to do this and that, and we are planning this and that’. However, the reality is the Territory Treasurer’s money is enormous. He must sit in the vault room of a night and look at all the notes. It is incredible! It is about time you gave some of it back to Territorians.
Do you know what the federal Treasurer asked you to do? Out of the $600m he gave you, he only asked you to give $16m back - $16m – rising to, at most, Treasurer, maybe about $25m over the four years. Do you know what he did as well? Because he was dealing with a bunch of Labor thugs, the federal Treasurer said: ‘I will put in another sweetener, because I want to get this through. I will even compensate you in the first year. So, if you are worse off in the first year, I will compensate you for it’. They said: ‘No, no way’, and all walked out the door. The great sadness is that this is simple politics being played at the expense of Australians and Territorians. These are Labor states clubbing together against a Liberal government to score a political point. Guess who the loser is? Everyone in the stands; you are the losers.
That is my charge against this government. You cannot make a decision for yourself; you are led by the big states in New South Wales and Victoria and the federal Labor Party. Why can’t you stand up for Territorians and give some of the dollars back? This government has received $600m extra in GST funding - $230m to $240m more than they even predicted. Any of the budget papers show that the GST revenue coming to this government on a year-by-year basis is more than they could even predict in their budget papers. The federal Treasurer’s prediction for the next four years is to see a GST growth rate in excess of the $600m, of about $130m to $140m per year. This mob says the economy is going gang busters, and whether you believe it is up to you. If it is, why can you not give some tax back? If you are getting more revenue through, if the economy is growing because you are such a wonderful government, if every other Australian is tipping into the GST bucket, why can you not give a dollar or so back?
If you cannot, you do not know how to govern. You do not know how to run this Northern Territory. We have challenges here which require a government that knows where it is going. The Chief Minister said today: ‘We are really proud that our population base has reached 200 000’, with the inference being that it has been the efforts of the Labor government. If anyone reads the ABS statistics, they will tell you that the population outflow of the Northern Territory over the last four years has been as bad as Cyclone Tracy; those trends have not been seen since then. She did not tell you that. The other thing is it is just starting to grow a bit, and one of the reasons for that is, mainly, births because we are a young population and we have many babies born here. However, babies do not pay income tax or GST. The ones who are going south and leaving the Northern Territory, which is reflected in those ABS figures, are the people who pay tax. Do you know where they are going? They are going to settle on the Gold Coast, or places along the east coast of Australia. Do you know why? They reckon the cost of living is cheaper, and the quality of life is better. That would not be so bad if this mob had no money to play with, but they have the capacity of the Commonwealth to have done something with our economy and grown it in a way that Territorians expect. That is my indictment; that is my charge.
If we want to get right down to causes, I have said to the Treasurer and the Chief Minister answer me this: why have you not built one primary school in four years? You would think that if the population was growing, if people were coming here because they were attracted to live in the Northern Territory, you were attracting workers to come and work here because of this buoyant economy, that you would need more schools? I can tell you what the case was during my term in government: we built Durack Primary School, Girraween Primary School, Bakewell Primary School and, just before I came in, Bees Creek Primary School. This mob, in three-and-a-half years, has not laid one brick to one school. You do not have to be an economist, or someone reading from papers and confusing the average people with figures to say we are doing well. I just ask you to go to the baseline. Not one primary school has been built and that gives you a pretty good reflection of where you are actually going in competing with the rest of Australia to attract people here.
Has the cost of living gone down? Do people feel that the Territory is now a less expensive place to be? I know what we did. We spent a lot of taxpayers’ money to put a railway through to here - and it has been built – and we put more than $200m into a modern port. All we asked the Labor government to do was cut the ribbon and stick the railway stations in the right spot, and they could not even do that. And guess what? In three-and-a-half years, the people who are committed to that railway are leaving it in droves. One of the biggest growth businesses in the Northern Territory now is the road transport industry as companies are going back to using road trains. A railway, which had as one of its objectives to get goods through to the Northern Territory from southern ports to lower the cost of living so transport costs would not be so high, is failing miserably.
The stewardship of that failure lies with Clare Martin and her team, as does the stewardship of ensuring that other areas in the Northern Territory were improved, such as lowering the cost of electricity. Everywhere you talk to people and ask them what them what the major impost is in regards to the cost of living, right up there is the cost of electricity …
Ms Martin: It has been frozen for four years. What are you talking about?
Mr BURKE: You have frozen domestic prices. That means you have not come up with anything unique or different than we did over about three budgets. What you should …
Ms Martin: Do not make it up, Denis. Come on.
Mr BURKE: You have frozen domestic prices. We did that for about three budgets straight. What you should be doing is saying what you are going to do to extend the electricity grid, and to get cheap energy so that Territorians can benefit from it. I know that Alice Springs people get sick to death of hearing about gas onshore because it does not affect them.
Ms Martin: Yes, it does.
Mr BURKE: The reality is - directly.
Ms Martin interjecting.
Mr BURKE: Would you listen? The reality is that gas onshore was a major factor in lowering the cost of electricity, lowering the cost of energy. We worked determinedly for many years to clear native title, to get Phillips to Wickham Point, to get taxation arrangements in place so that Bayu-Undan gas, which is 1.5 trillion cubic feet of gas …
Ms Martin: Tell the truth!
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr BURKE: The Chief Minister does not like listening. She is good at lecturing. She is good at patronising comments, but she does not like listening.
For all of that gas that came onshore to the Northern Territory, there was an enormous amount of work to get the Phillips consortium there, an LNG plant built in Darwin. The work had one objective - amongst many – to get some of that gas reserve for domestic use so that we would not have to pay the highest price for gas in Australia.
Do you know how many molecules of gas have been reserved for Territory use under this government? Zero! Every molecule is going to Japan - every molecule. That contract sucks that resource dry and is in place for the next 20 years. The Chief Minister says: ‘We are looking at other opportunities’. Well, you lost the first one.
I respond easily to that challenge the Treasurer asked me to respond to. He asked me today: ‘Where are your policies and do you have them costed?’ I showed him the policies and they are costed …
Ms Martin: By whom?
Mr Stirling: Waved a bit of paper around in the air and then dropped them on the floor.
Mr BURKE: I also took it to the press and gave them a look at it, too. People who are listening in the gallery would understand, I hope, that I would not show the Labor Party my policies and costings before the election until I am ready. I hope you understand that. I can assure you they are there, they are costed and, when this government runs mistruths out there and says: ‘The only way the CLP can fund things like meeting a teacher’s wage or tax cuts that really mean money in people’s pockets is to cut services on health, education and police’, my answer to that is this: they have so much money in the bank they cannot even count it. They have so much interest coming in from GST they cannot even calculate it. The Auditor-General has to come in and double the assessment when he has a look at it 12 months later.
The money for Territorians is there. The flexibility to really make this Territory stand on its hind legs again and be the envy of the rest of Australia is there, and has been there for three-and-a-half years. We will ensure that that is the situation we have. I will give you a commitment now: I am going to put as much of that GST back into Territorians’ pockets as is absolutely possible.
If economists say to me: ‘You should be running a balanced budget over the next four years’, I will say to them: ‘Territorians’ pockets are far more important than a balanced budget for four years. This generation should not have to pay for the debts of future generations’. Responsible debt levels are something we have always done in the Northern Territory and will continue to do.
Members interjecting.
Mr BURKE: I doubt if the average Territorian has ever been bothered in the hip pocket by the debt levels that CLP governments have run.
They have seen Yulara, Alice Springs Airport and the tourism product that we put here. We would not be having this parliament here if not for the convention centre we built in Alice Springs. They have seen that the Territory was seen in the past as a place that had a higher disposable income and more opportunity for jobs than anywhere else in Australia, if you went there. They have seen a place where people have said: ‘Go there. It is the land opportunity’.
The Chief Minister, today, used the same tag line that I had in my government that she said was nothing but politicking. I had, in my tag line, ‘the difference is opportunity’. The Chief Minister uses that same tag line; the difference is that the opportunity under this government has gone. The CLP will put that opportunity back. We will do it by making sure that our first priority is to lower the cost of living, and we will use the enormous amounts of money from the GST to make real inroads in lowering the cost of living for Territorians in their daily lives.
We are going to ensure that Territory children who go to school here stay here, because it is too often accepted that the opportunities for too many children lie outside the Northern Territory. We want to ensure that children who go to university, or do traineeships or apprenticeships in the Northern Territory, get value for the cost of those apprenticeships, and the employers are properly reimbursed. Also, that students get things like start-up kits so that, if you are an apprentice hairdresser, you could get a basic start-up kit that is provided by the government which gives you the opportunity to at least start your first day at work with a set of tools - whatever they be - that you do not have to pay for. We will putting in incentives so that if you do training in the Northern Territory that costs you, you will be reimbursed for that training for the tenure that you stay in the Northern Territory.
We will be making sure that, when it comes to home ownership in the Northern Territory it is not only first home owners that benefit, it is people who either come to the Northern Territory and want to rent and buy, or people who are moving from their homes in the Northern Territory. They will be real incentives so that people can see that this is a place of opportunity, not only to work, but a place of opportunity for their kids, and kids can see real support in their work force.
We are going to go right through the procurement system. We are going to make sure that, if your firm tenders for a job in the Northern Territory, you have to demonstrate to us what your commitment is to Territory apprentices before we even look at you. It is not a matter of them saying: ‘How many apprentices do we need so that we can demonstrate, as a firm that has just registered in the Northern Territory, that we have Territory apprentices? Go to Group Training and get four or five apprentices, and when the tender is finished, dump them back into Group Training’. Those days will be over, finished. We will be looking at firms. If they want to get Territory contracts, they have to demonstrate an ongoing commitment to apprentices before they get a look in the door. We will get back to supporting Territory companies that have put their investment here in the past, continue to grow our apprenticeship pool, and they will be the ones that are favoured by a CLP government. If that breaches National Competition Policy, too bad! I will go down and fight the Prime Minister and the Treasurer on it! If we have to lose some money, too bad! What we will be doing is supporting kids and people who get in the work force, and giving those firms that are committed to them a real advantage in getting product from us.
The Housing Minister came in here today and, on the subject of law and order, which we get on the door every day, proudly boasts that he has security running almost 24 hours a day in streets in Alice Springs! Well, good God! If that is your approach to law and order, where are we going? We will make sure that the police force is given the resources to deal with public order under the Summary Offences Act, to clean itinerants and scum off the streets, so that people who come here see a Territory that they can feel is attractive, rather than avoiding drunks and panhandlers everywhere they go. That is not racist, it is simply saying that we have had enough - if you want to live in this place, you live by one law, and that law applies to everyone.
I could speak about a lot of other things, Madam Speaker, but, unfortunately, time is running out. I would like to go on. The challenge was laid and you would not have had this censure if you had treated the opposition maturely this morning. You laid a challenge to try to score a point here at Question Time. Here is the debate. Now, Chief Minister, you get up and tell us what you are going to do.
Ms MARTIN (Chief Minister): Madam Speaker, I am very pleased to speak. There was some implication from the Leader of the Opposition that I did not want to talk about budgets. I love talking about budgets. It just so happens that, this morning, quite appropriately, the Treasurer reported on his Treasurers’ Conference yesterday in Canberra. There is a line that the previous Country Liberal Party government used to use, which is one that, after listening to the Opposition Leader, comes to mind - it is whinging, whining, carping Burke. We have just listened to half an hour of an Opposition Leader who does not have one good thing to say about the Territory. He does not have one good thing to say about our Northern Territory that we are so proud of, and proud to live here. Yet, here is an Opposition Leader who does not have one good thing to say.
Let us do a comparison with what this man, when he was Chief Minister, left and what we inherited and where we have moved. You will find that, if you take away the absolute negativity that you hear from the Opposition Leader, we have a terrific place to live now, where things are certainly getting better and there are opportunities for Territorians, and our economy is really starting to lift. It is all very well for the Opposition Leader to say: ‘The economy is all gloom and doom’. It is not all gloom and doom! There are positive signs in our economy; we have businesses that are growing and getting good profits back to their businesses. Yet, we have an Opposition Leader who cannot make one acknowledgement of the positive things that are happening right across our wonderful Territory. I find that very sad because, if the opposition has to bag and carp on everything, they are not doing their job. An opposition’s job is to propose initiatives, take a government to task but, certainly, to recognise where things are working.
Let us go back to 2001. Let us go back to some of the myths that the Opposition Leader tried to perpetrate in this censure debate. In August 2001, when we came to government, the picture was not rosy for the Territory. We had had a year before that where there was no growth in the Territory. The poor old ABS could not find even 0.1% of growth in the Territory. We had no growth. What does that mean for business? That means a contraction of opportunity, and that people were leaving the Territory. Yet, we have from the Opposition Leader some sense that, when the CLP left office three-and-a-half years ago, all was in a fine state in the Territory. It was not!
The budget that came down in that 2001-02 year said that we would only be overspending for 2001-02 by $9m. They said: ‘We have things in hand here. It is like having a little on the credit card. We have only overspent by $9m’. In the first few days of government, I was shocked to find that it was 12 times higher. They had actually diddled the budget books. They had diddled the budget books with little phrases like ‘for presentational purposes’ meaning: ‘We have just fiddled the words here so that we have not represented the true budget situation’. We picked up parts of the capital works budget for what was going to be built for the year 2001-02, where there were all these wonderful proposals and no money to do it with. No money to do it with! As a new government, we scraped around and found what money we could so that, in those important capital works areas, we could continue so that the small businesses of the Territory would have work. This is the budget situation the CLP left us: we were going broke. We were going broke as a Territory, and what was happening in the budget was real fantasy land.
I am proud of what we have done; we have pulled our budget back into reality. I am proud that we have used additional GST revenue - and I make no bones about it; we have additional GST revenue. We have our ordinary growth money. Every year, governments get additional money. The cost of living goes up, CPI goes up - of course, you get additional money. That does total, over three-and-a-half years, an additional $600m. However, only $240m of that is actually money we did not expect. I can say to Territorians we have spent that wisely for Territorians.
The Opposition Leader, who is their Treasury spokesperson, seems to think that my Treasurer has some kind of vault where he keeps all this extra money, where goes and says: ‘Oh, look what Peter Costello’s given me; I have all these extra dollars’, and sits there counting $100 notes at night. If this is the best the opposition can do to understand the budgetary process then we, obviously, have some remedial work to do. It is not the case. We have had, over the last three-and-a-half years, courtesy of the GST, $240m additional. I am going to talk about what we have done with that money, because I am proud of that.
Again, let me take you to 2001. We had property crime at very high levels right throughout the Territory. One of the things I found when I doorknocked my constituents, as did other members, was first up, when you got to their door and asked: ‘What are your biggest issues?’, people would say: ‘I have been broken into’, or ‘My neighbour has been broken into’, or ‘Someone down the street has been broken into’. We had a government that had some fanciful policies, but was not working to deal with one of the major issues for our community: property crime. Education was under-funded, and there were very low attendances at many schools across the Territory. Health was under-funded, and services were struggling.
We have wisely spent on those key areas of police, health and education. Much of that additional money we received from the federal government. When the Opposition Leader says: ‘I am going to take those extra dollars and give them to Territorians’, I can tell him they have already been given to Territorians. Right now, Territorians across the Territory are reaping the benefits of those additional dollars. We committed to 100 extra teachers. We have done that, and it cost some of those dollars. We committed to 100 extra nurses in our health system. We have done that.
It makes a difference to every hospital and clinic that you actually have nurses who are the heartbeat of our health system. We have 100 additional nurses in our system. Health was struggling, and we have put in an additional $154m because it needed it. We know that we have still not satisfied all the needs in Health, but we are doing pretty well along the way. However, there is still more to do. I am not pretending everything is perfect in the health system, but we have moved a heck of long way in three-and-a-half years. That is thanks to those additional dollars we received through the GST, and wisely spent on services for Territorians.
In education, we committed to 100 extra teachers, and we are starting to see the results of that through our school system: more kids going to school across the Territory and achieving better results. There is secondary education in the bush for the first time ever in the Territory’s history. We have never had secondary education in the bush, and now have kids in communities like Kalkarindji and Maningrida reaching Year 12 in their communities. This cost dollars. This is where some of the additional money has gone. Yet, the Opposition Leader is saying that, somehow, we have it in a vault and are not spending it on Territorians. Tell me how getting four kids in Maningrida to Year 12 is not spending it on Territorians. Tell me how getting three kids …
Mr Burke: Four kids!
Ms MARTIN: It is more than you ever got! … three kids at Kalkarindji to Year 12 is not spending it on Territorians. There is more to come. We had to turn around the deficit in bush education; it was an absolute disgrace! We are proud of how we have spent that money on priorities for Territorians.
We are the youngest part of Australia. The Opposition Leader bags the fact that we have a lot of births here. I am proud of it. As the rest of Australia struggles with an ageing population, we have the challenges of a young population. What does that young population need? They need good health services and, more than anything else, they need good education and training - and that is where we have spent the money. We have spent the money from the GST on training more apprentices in the system. We have better results coming through the primary school system and, rest assured, we are going to get better results in our secondary education system. We have committed $42m over the next four years to improving our standards throughout our whole secondary education system.
We have committed to 200 additional police. We wondered why there was so much property crime, and why the police were not out there catching the criminals. We talked to them when we got into office. We then talked to Bill O’Sullivan, the former Police Commissioner from Queensland, and said: ‘Look, Bill, will you give us an idea of why it is that we do not seem to have the resources to keep up with the problems we have?’ It did not take him long. He did a great report for us. We were under-resourced; the police simply did not have the resources to do the job. Try as they might, there were not enough numbers for patrols - they did not have the cars, the officers, and a whole range of resources right across the Territory.
We committed $75m over four year to increase the resources of our police. If you now go around the streets of Alice Springs, Darwin, Katherine or Tennant Creek - right around the Territory - what do you see? Police officers! They are wonderful and they are doing a great job for us. We have reduced property crime in Alice Springs alone by 43%. They are not made-up figures; it is a reality and is reflected right across the Territory. Again, I am not pretending that we have done the job. We have more work to do in the personal crime and sexual assault area - a lot more work. However, we have the resources and the commitment to do it, and that is where those additional dollars have gone.
Let me take you back to capital works. The Territory is a place that must grow, and that needs infrastructure. As I said, in parts of our infrastructure budget when we came to government, there was nothing - there were no dollars. It is all very well to have plans but, unless you have a few dollars to carry them out, you cannot do a thing. We have had record capital works budgets. We are growing this Territory. The Opposition Leader said: ‘You have not built an additional school’. We found schools that were falling down! We have had to fix up schools all around the Territory. In the electorate of Fannie Bay, for example, the prize school is Parap Primary School. You could put your hand through the wall of Parap primary classrooms. When it rained, the water poured in through the floor. This was the fine legacy of educational institutions that the previous government left us. There was a reason for building the schools that the Opposition Leader talked about: we had the growth from the Defence build-up and those schools being built were a direct response to that. Yet, other schools were totally ignored. Darwin High School, the biggest school in the Territory, still had science blocks that looked like the ones that I used when I went to school; something out of the 1960s. We are putting a significant amount of funds in rebuilding and extending our schools, and we are proud of that.
It is not just schools in our urban centres; it is schools right across the Territory. We are determined to get kids in the bush communities to school, and we have seen 1000 additional indigenous students in our schools. We are very proud of that as well. Take a community like Port Keats, Wadeye, in the Top End. When we first visited Wadeye in government, there were 47 children in that school. At the beginning of this year - and I pay tribute to the community of Wadeye - 600 students were in that school. The parents, the community, Commonwealth and Territory governments got together and said: ‘What is the key priority for this very young community?’ It was agreed it was education. That community got those kids to school and we are supporting them. What a wonderful embarrassment! What a wonderful embarrassment to have 600 students. We are getting demountables there and additional teachers. We will meet that need because what a challenge and what a tribute to the community of Port Keats, Wadeye is.
We inherited a very poor situation from the previous government. Yes, we have had additional dollars, and yes, we are quite up-front about it - $240m. We are spending them wisely. When you move a censure in this House, it is important to go through the different elements of the censure. The first one is failing Territorians by not using the enormous benefit of those GST funds. In the area I have just talked about, we are using those dollars. We are using them for Territorians. The Treasurer does not have them in the vault; he does not count it at night. Those dollars are in our community and they are reaping rewards for Territorians.
What do Territorians ask of government? They ask that we provide those important resources in education, health and keeping our community safe. We are building the economy of the Territory by wisely using those record capital works budgets that we have put in place: roads across the Territory, schools and clinics.
In Darwin, we have a major project, the Darwin waterfront redevelopment. We have been inspired by this terrific convention centre in Alice Springs and the benefits it brings to this community, and we are going to build a convention and exhibition centre in Darwin. That is a major project for the Top End and we are proud of that. That is what we are doing with some of these additional GST dollars.
We are building and strengthening our economy, an economy that was really on its knees three-and-a-half years ago. The biggest complaint from our businesses is that they cannot get enough workers with the skills they need. We have programs in place and are working with business to do that. The economy of the Territory is certainly not on its knees. We have more building to do and that is great. We want to see greater activity in our business sector. Businesses are not saying, as they were three years ago: ‘Where is the work?’ They are saying: ‘We have too much work; where are the workers?’
The second point of the censure is that we have fallen behind the rest of the country and are missing out on the economic boom. How do you tackle an issue like that? Perhaps it is best to go back to an initiative I had, which is the Business Round Table. We have 10 Business Round Table meetings every year. They are held all around the Territory. I get individual businesses together and they talk to me about what their greatest needs are. The last one was in Darwin just a couple of weeks ago where businesses said. ‘We cannot get the workers. We have all the jobs we need. We can actually pick and choose what we want to do, and pick the ones that most appeal to us in terms of work. We just need more workers’. These businesses were coming up with creative ways of getting workers in from overseas, working with us in our advertising to get workers in from around the country and New Zealand. The second problem was how we are going to house those workers because the vacancy rate in properties right across the Territory is so low.
I ask the Opposition Leader: how are we missing out, with the boom that is happening? We have Access Economics saying that the Territory is growing faster than most other areas in Australia - 4.5%. That is what people with the credibility of Access Economics are telling us.
Members interjecting.
Ms MARTIN: I have not made the figure up. Access Economics is saying that, based on the major projects in place - private sector investment and strategic public sector investment - the Territory is growing, and that an economy that was really crawling three-and-a-half years ago has great prospects. We are not missing out on any economic boom, and so that second point of the censure is simply nonsensical. There is no basis for saying that the Territory is missing out; we are part of that. If the Opposition Leader thinks that to bag our economic future is somehow the job of the opposition, it is not. Work with us, we can do it together.
The third point was that we are being censured for levying the highest ever tax on Territorians at the same time as receiving this GST money. Let us look at what the tax situation is in the Territory. For small businesses with fewer than 20 employees, they pay, right now, the lowest taxes of any business of that size in the country …
A member interjecting.
Ms MARTIN: They do. I am not making up the figure; that is a fact. Because of the initiatives we have taken in the tax system, small businesses with fewer than 20 employees pay less tax in the Territory than in any part of the country. Come 1 July, you can double that. Businesses with fewer than 40 employees will pay the lowest taxes of any business in the country. How are we a high taxing government, I ask? If the Opposition Leader can demonstrate that we are imposing more taxes on our businesses than any other state, then demonstrate it. I talk to businesses. Dispute this, opposition; you are the one moving the censure. Dispute it. Go and talk to businesses about how they fare comparatively.
Talk to businesses and compare them with the problems businesses have with land taxes in Victoria at the moment. We do not pay land taxes or fire services levies, and we have one of the most attractive payroll tax regimes in the country. Therefore, for our businesses, we are giving them a free hand. We are saying: ‘Get on and develop the Territory. We have taken the tax impost from you more than any other government in Australia’. We are proud of this, and we are going to work further with our businesses.
When the Opposition Leader says we will not work to remove those other taxes that were discussed at the Treasurers’ Conference yesterday - we will. We are just not going to work to the Peter Costello time frame that is driven by politics. We are not going to have Territorians disadvantaged and me having to say: ‘I put 100 additional nurses on, but I had better take them off now. I will have to take 15 off so we can meet these taxes’. I am not going to do it, and neither is the Treasurer.
Let us look at housing. We increased, two or three years ago, the first home owner’s stamp duty concession from just over $2000 to $3500. We raised the threshold from $80 000, which is the sum we inherited, to $120 000 for first home owners. For those who already owned their home, we introduced a principal place of residence reduction, which also gave them an advantage. If you are moving from one home to another, you get a reduction in stamp duty as well. We are looking after those. We also have a terrific HomeNorth program. All you have to do is scratch the minister responsible, the Minister for Community Development, and he will tell you about all those who have accessed the new HomeNorth program and how, when you have a 2% deposit that you have to meet, suddenly it means you can buy that first home. Many Territorians, particularly in Alice Springs, have taken up the opportunity. In taxes, we are looking after families and businesses, and we are proud of the low taxing regime we have established here in the Territory. The third point is rubbish.
The fourth point is failing to put in place one significant piece of infrastructure to strengthen the economy. We have put in infrastructure right across this Territory. We have put additional money into our roads. Our beef roads were struggling, and they will still continue to struggle because they were starved of funds under the CLP - absolutely starved. We have put additional funds into those beef roads and community roads. Over the last two years, in addition to the budget that we were putting in, we added $10m as well. The CLP proudly stood for the Territory once, but we did not realise that they had starved all those roads of repairs and maintenance to such an extent that they needed significant capital works on them. We have to rebuild those thousands of kilometres of road because they were ignored.
We are building this Territory. We do not have fanciful budgets that have big zeroes next to any of the projects. We are building this Territory and have projects in place that will stimulate private sector investment. Those projects are ones like sealing the Mereenie Loop Road. It is going to cost us the best part of $38m or $40m, but isn’t it worth it? We will see tourism opportunities realised that we cannot see realised now. We will have further private sector investment into accommodation and new product around that Mereenie Loop Road which will create an important link between Alice Springs and Uluru. That is what we want to see for the Centre, not this competition between Alice and the Rock. We want to see them working together to realise the opportunities.
Mr Deputy Speaker, I reject this censure seriously on behalf of all Territorians, because it is not the truth. It is important for the opposition to tell the truth about what is happening in our Territory. I would accept a censure if it had reality in it. This censure has no reality. This censure comes from an Opposition Leader who told this House on Tuesday that the Territory, frankly, was mediocre ...
A member: Under your government!
Ms MARTIN: He is now trying to say under my leadership. He did not say that at all. He said: ‘Frankly, this Territory is mediocre ...
Members interjecting.
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order!
Ms MARTIN: This Territory is not mediocre; this Territory is full of Territorians who are inspirational …
Dr Lim interjecting.
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Member for Greatorex, order!
Ms MARTIN: … and who are committed to our Territory. This Territory is a place to be proud of, and I am very sorry that we have an opposition which does not share that confidence in our future and does not have that commitment to our future.
I can tell Territorians with straightforwardness and a commitment that we have spent those additional GST dollars on the important services which Territorians need; on health, education …
Dr Lim: There are 1600 people waiting on the list for surgery in Alice Springs.
Mr Deputy SPEAKER: Member for Greatorex!
Ms MARTIN: … on community safety, building tourism, reducing taxes for our businesses, and on a whole range of areas …
Dr Lim: Except tax breaks.
Mr Deputy SPEAKER: Order!
Ms MARTIN: … and what we have from the opposition is that we are spending too much money on health; we are spending too much money on education …
Mr Baldwin interjecting.
Mr Deputy SPEAKER: Member for Daly!
Ms MARTIN: … we are spending too much money on police. The challenge for this Opposition Leader is to not wave his policies around and say: ‘We have them costed’. It is to hand them to Treasury ...
Mr Burke: You have not called the election yet.
Members interjecting.
Ms MARTIN: I do not trust this Opposition Leader …
Mr Baldwin: We do not trust Treasury’s numbers.
Ms MARTIN: This Opposition Leader left us nearly broke last time …
Mr Baldwin: Rubbish!
Ms MARTIN: … and we cannot afford to go broke again.
Mr Deputy SPEAKER: Order! There are too many interjections.
Mr ELFERINK (Macdonnell): Mr Deputy Speaker, I will start with what is at issue here; which is the integrity of this government and the Chief Minister regarding the package they are trying to sell to Territorians. A classic case was just given to us when the Chief Minister said that the Leader of the Opposition called the Territory ‘mediocre’. Then there was an interjection that it was ‘under her government’. To which she said: ‘No, that was not the qualification that the member gave’. I direct honourable members to page 26 of the Daily Hansard of last Tuesday, where it said:
Then he said:
I am sick of hearing from this government: ‘Oh, how dreadful the budgetary situation was when we came into government. That is the reason that we are not going to do so many of the things that we promised to do’. This black hole they referred to - and I am sure nearly every person in this room has heard about the black hole - was a fabrication of this government - they made it up! I can demonstrate it to you, as they dragged in the honourable Mr Percy Allan from down south and asked him to do a review. When the budget was handed down in 2000-01, the Chief Minister, quite correctly, pointed out that there was a proposed $12m deficit budgeted for. Yes, we were going to put $12m on the bankcard of a $3bn budget - not such an unreasonable condition.
However, what Mr Percy Allan did then was cut some of those things which were going to earn money. Anyone who runs a household budget and is planning to sell a car, for instance, factors in that they are going to make an earning on that car. If I sell my Ford Falcon for $10 000, I then factor in that I am going to have $10 000 in the bank. What Mr Percy Allan did was remove the sale of NT Fleet out of that budget which had a $12m deficit, which was worth $50m to that budget. Mr Percy Allan revised up the deficit as a result of that. Then, Mr Percy Allan said: ‘Where is your contingent liability?’. The contingent liability is a fund that you have tucked away in case there is a flood or an earthquake. I checked with the then Treasurer, Mike Reed, and he told me he did not have an accurate way to predict an earthquake, or when the next blizzard was going to cause havoc in Alice Springs, or when there would be the next flood. That is part of the risk of running a government.
However, then Mr Allan added a contingent liability of $40m. Automatically, he punched out a hole of $50m for NT Fleet. He has also punched in a hole of $90m. These are decisions that were relied upon by the government when they were in office. They actually changed those budgetary figures. If you add to that the $12m that we have accepted as part of the deficit that we were going to create, you are getting to $102m. How big was the black hole? - $107m. This black hole was a fabrication of this government and that is all it was.
We all have debt. We hear this complaint about debt. I wonder how many people in this room carry a home loan. I suggest that most do. I certainly do. It is a borrowing against the future, but what you get out of it is a physical structure that you can live in, that your wife and your children will be able to live in. That is one of the reasons we have debt: so that we can build schools, infrastructure and those things that are necessary for the future betterment of the Northern Territory. That is why we engage in debt. We do it on a personal level and governments do it.
The Chief Minister, at some length, insisted on saying there is no vault in which the Treasurer keeps the money. What is the Central Holding Authority? It is the Central Holding Authority of the cash. That is where the money goes. When we pass legislation called the budget in this House to take the money out of the Central Holding Authority, it is where the Treasurer goes to get the money.
Income on interest has gone up by $4m. That means that there must be some money in the bank. The last time I checked, those people who provide that interest income are not registered charities. The money comes from the fact that there is extra money in the bank. If the interest rate at the moment is in the order of – I do not know what the official rates is; probably about 5% - if we get an increase annually of $4m, imagine how much money is sitting in the bank earning that interest - how much money extra is sitting in the bank earning that money. I bet it is part of $600m that has been advanced to the Northern Territory as a direct result of the introduction of the goods and services tax. The GST has made this government wealthier than any other government in the past. Guess what? These people resisted it. They called it all sorts of names, and I do not hear them calling it those names any more.
One of the proposed ideas in the goods and services tax was to get rid of state taxes which were representative of burden: payroll tax, stamp duties, those sorts of things. The states have not removed those taxes. The absurd situation that we find ourselves in now under this government is that when I re-register my car, not only do I pay the GST component, I then pay tax on the tax paid. Therefore, I get the privilege of paying tax for paying a tax. That is what we are saying is wrong, wrong, wrong. It is absolutely wrong! It is offensive to the people of the Northern Territory that they have to continue to pay an extra $200 a head in taxation than it was when these people came to government.
Three-and-a-half years ago, tax per capita for the Northern Territory was $1122. For a family of two adults and two children, $1122 is not an insignificant amount of money when you multiply that by four. You are looking in the order of $4500 of taxation for a family. Under this government, it has gone up to $1326, which means that this government is slugging every individual in that household an extra $200 each. Therefore, $800 more tax is paid under this mob than was paid under a former CLP government.
The problem this government has in front of it is that it does not engage in appropriate spending policies. One of the greatest issues that we suffer under this government is an unending stream of promises and no substance. We have heard two examples which the Chief Minister has offered to us as examples of her government’s achievements.
It comes back to inspiration and perspiration because, two years ago in this House, I was promised, as were all Central Australians, a sealing of the Mereenie Loop Road. I took the time out last week to drive around the Mereenie Loop Road, a fair distance of some 250 km, as well as the section from Glen Helen to Tnorala (Gosse Bluff) Conservation Reserve. Guess what? In the last two years, not one centimetre of extra bitumen has been added to the Mereenie Loop Road, despite the fact that the minister had told this parliament that substantial works were being undertaken, and despite the fact that we were told three years ago that there was $3m in the budget for this work. That money did not see the light of day. I am wondering where it was squirrelled away if it was not spent.
Desert Knowledge is another classic example of how this government is not spending money. They tell us that there is $20m of federal and local money earmarked for the purposes of building the Desert Knowledge Precinct. They told us that two years ago. They have done some roadworks between Alice Springs and the airport, put up a sign that said, ‘Avenue of Knowledge’ and, two weeks or a month later, took it down when the local community called that avenue ‘the cul-de-sac of knowledge’. Where does it go? To a small paddock with some buffel grass in it. Those commitments of two years ago have amounted to nothing. The government talks of achievement and infrastructure projects – where are they?
I was forced to send a rock about a foot long to the Chief Minister a couple of weeks ago, because it had punched through my tyre. I thought to myself: ‘Here is something for you, Clare’. Chief Minister, I sent you the rock that is yours which went through the tyre that is mine on one of your roads. I also enclosed a small amount of bulldust so the minister could observe some Northern Territory roads policy while she was there as well.
What are they spending the money on? If it is not infrastructure, the Mereenie Loop Road, or new schools, what are they spending the money on? Well, this is where we see one of the major differences. They have 70-odd staffers on the fifth floor of Parliament House, pumping out enormous amounts of propaganda about what a wonderful job, using verbiage to the point that it becomes sickening. When we hear ‘surges in population’ the wordsmiths are at it again. Is 0.07%, 0.7%, a surge? No, it is an increase, that is all - an increase. A surge is something that spirals upward. The point is that they rely on wordsmiths and smoke and mirrors but, when you drill into this stuff, where is the substance? Where is the tar that I was supposed to be driving on last week on the Mereenie Loop Road? Where is the Desert Knowledge Precinct?
The point that they happily and proudly make is that they say: ‘We spend money on services. You guys never did; you guys just spent money on infrastructure’. Well, we believe in an infrastructure driven economy. If you have a growing population, you build infrastructure to accommodate it: schools, roads, hospitals. If you then get extra people here, as your population grows because you are building infrastructure and putting some of that money into the economy, you get a better outcome in getting tradesmen up here. We all know about the local, as well as national, trade shortages.
The services we see coming out of the current government is a commitment, over the last three years, to $5m worth of spending on itinerants, which means that the services in Alice Springs and Darwin for itinerants has improved, notably evidenced by the fact that the police were forced to arrest 19 000 Territorians last year for being intoxicated in public. Three years ago, that figure was 13 000. If you improve the quality of services for itinerants, they will come - and they have been coming in droves. What is the response from government now? ‘We will spend $2.2m on Stuart Lodge to accommodate them even further’. How is this going to attract carpenters, plumbers, electricians, hairdressers and all of those other trades to Alice Springs? It drives them away because, eventually, you have itinerants congregating in places like relations’ houses. Who is providing those relations’ houses? The taxpayers. And where are those houses notably, in Alice Springs? Go out to Larapinta Drive or open the Centralian Advocate on any given day, and you will discover where they are, because there are people complaining loudly and bitterly that they have to hide in their houses as if they were bunkers. You read that that bunker mentality does not make them safe when people are being attacked in their own homes. Therefore, by increasing service delivery in this area you attract the very element you are trying to deal with. I would rather spend money on projects which create jobs and attract people here who want to work. Service spending in the way that this government believes needs to be done is not effective.
I am sorry that I only have 20 minutes to speak on this because I could stand on my feet for quite a time longer. I heard the Chief Minister proudly announce what a wonderful job the government is doing for the Northern Territory business environment. Yet, when she was defending her $1.2m promo for tourism operators, under the headline ‘Tourism operators knock $1.2m promo’, Rex Neindorf said:
Is this a one-off? I am not so sure.
If I look at attitudes to Northern Territory government policy long-term trends, there are several squiggly lines. The squiggly line that I would like to point out to members here is the big, fat, blue one, because the big, fat, blue one shows that, when there was a change of government, in long-term trends of how business felt about government, it went straight into the negative and has remained there ever since. Therefore, from positive, positive, positive, positive, positive - bloop – negative, negative, negative, negative. Where was the change? Well - lo and behold! - about July/August 2001, when this mob came to power.
The other thing which is fascinating is the comment by the Chief Minister some time ago – in fact, when she was in opposition - that two quarters of negative growth - which means shrinkage and is a nice little economic term I love; negative growth - produces for you a recession. If you look at the state final demand from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, in the last three quarters the Northern Territory has registered negative growth. By the Chief Minister’s own words we are in, and have been for a least one quarter, a recession …
Mr Henderson: Rubbish! Get out more!
Mr ELFERINK: This community is suffering … The minister says ‘Rubbish’. This is the same minister who said that the business community is going gang busters. Minister, if the community is going gang busters, why are tourism operators saying in the Centralian Advocate that they are dying? The silence is deafening.
This government stands condemned for its economic management. It has more money in the kick than it has ever had - than any government has ever had - and yet, business is dying as has been clearly demonstrated here; business is struggling. We are in a recession, by the Chief Minister’s own use of the term. We see negative business opinions of this government. As we are doing challenges here today - and we have to remember Question Time was cut short because we are doing challenges - here is a challenge for the Chief Minister: Chief Minister, will you give Territorians your solemn promise you will allow your budget books to be examined, and questioned on behalf of Territorians, in three months at the June estimates sitting of parliament, before you call the next Territory election? I would be very curious to see if the Chief Minister has the courage to rise to that particular challenge.
Mr WOOD (Nelson): Madam Acting Deputy Speaker, I take up the comment the member for Macdonnell made regarding the cutting short of Question Time, which I must admit I am not a great fan of. However, I was a little annoyed as the member for Braitling had a wonderful question about the Indian and turtle dove eradication program, and her next question was going to be about the Taste Down Under program. I thought how appropriate. Perhaps it was her way of eradicating the Indian and turtle doves from Central Australia. However, I digress.
Madam ACTING DEPUTY SPEAKER: You do.
Mr WOOD: I do. I realise I did speak on this before the lunch break; however, it is such an important issue it needs a good, solid debate in parliament. I was disappointed we could not have had a full debate on the Treasurer’s statement where everybody could have taken part, as this is a real issue for Territorians.
I am not going to bag the government for spending money on more teachers, nurses, and police; I believe that is great. I am going to try to keep this in a simple format. Treasurers, economists and all those people who write books can confuse us with science and statistics, and most people - and I count myself as one of them - struggle with the mountainous volumes of books you get at budget time and halfway through the year: the Auditor-General’s reports and such like.
The one good thing about an Auditor-General’s report is that it tends to break things down into a more succinct language for the lay person. When you look at the Auditor-General’s report, it does tell you a few things that, at least, need an answer from the government as the Auditor-General himself has said these things. Having read them, the government does need to look at where it is going with taxes in the Northern Territory.
As the Minister for Police, Fire and Emergency Services said earlier, the economy is booming; it is travelling at a rate of knots. I am not here to argue the whys and wherefores of that. The Chief Minister also said the same thing in this debate. We know that if the economy is booming, we are going to get more GST. If that is what the government is saying, then there is no risk …
Mr Henderson: It does not quite work like that.
Mr WOOD: That may be what you think, and I hope you respond to that when you have your moment. My understanding of a booming economy is that housing and construction go up. Where do you pay GST? You pay it on the steel, concrete and the furniture in your house. Therefore, if the economy is booming, the Territory is putting more GST back into the Commonwealth coffers. If you believe what the Leader of the Opposition and the federal Treasurer say, all the GST comes back to the Territory. Also, if the economy is growing, you are getting a larger population which will continue to spend. For sure, a house is static; once it is built, it is built, except for repairs and maintenance. However, if you are getting more people into the Territory - as the Treasurer and Leader of the Opposition have said, we have an extra 1000 coming - they eat and drink and need to be clothed, so they are all paying extra GST.
I have said this before and it is not always the most popular subject, but there are at least 1000 people who do not always see the light of day in the Northern Territory. I wonder, sometimes, whether this government should not be at least a little proactive in trying to make sure there are more people born in this Territory. If you want to take it from a purely economic point of view, there is money by having more births in the Territory.
When you put it down to the simple equation of whether we get more money from the Commonwealth, the simple case is that the Auditor-General says we do - we get $166.4m more than we expected. I realise that this government has spent some of that money on paying debt. Fair enough! It is obvious that they expected more money than they budgeted for. Not only that, they got more money that they even thought they would get. All I am saying to the minister is that, when it comes to stamp duty, which is something with which we are all burdened - and the member for Macdonnell talked about car insurance, how you all pay a stamp duty on GST and the premium. I have mentioned house insurance where you are paying stamp duty on the GST plus the premium. We know from the figures in the Auditor-General’s report that taxation revenues raised under Territory legislation rose by $17.2m, and the greatest contributor to that was stamp duty, which increased by $22.2m. Therefore, you have had an increase of $22m. In fact, if you look further in the report, under the General Government Sector, the variance between budget and the actual nett operating balances, it shows a $10m variation in taxation revenue between what was budgeted for and what they actually received.
Putting it in simplistic terms, we know that we received $27.4m better than budgeted, and that is in the Central Holding Authority. We might call it, as the nursery rhyme goes, the counting house. I ask the king to go into the counting house and take out this $27.4m and release Territorian families and pensioners from having to pay stamp duty. At least lower the stamp duty because you have an increase in $22.2m in stamp duty over the last year, and you have received money that you did not expect. This is not money that you say will cut down schools, cut down on police, cut down on health because you have already spent that. This is free money that can be used straightaway to give tax relief to Territorians.
Minister, according to the ABC today, our Treasurer has said that he is prepared to cut taxes such as stamp duty. Further, he said that a two-year deadline for the tax cuts is unsustainable. He said the taxes can be cut, but not immediately. What I am asking the Treasurer to do is to bring on tax cuts immediately because we do have money to spare; that will not affect the number of police, nurses or teachers. You have spare money here.
Surely, with the next budget coming - and I probably should say that if I was in government and it was an election year: what a great sweetener! However, it is not the sort of sweetener that is going to hurt you because you have this money from GST and you can take some of the burden off the ordinary Territorian. As I said before, we sometimes forget the average Joe Blow out there in the community who has all these costs that they have, regardless of whether we build the Mereenie Loop Road or whether we have more nurses - as much as that is great, I am not knocking that - more police or more teachers. You will still have to pay a mortgage, uniforms for the kids, the soccer boots, the insurance on the house, the extra for fuel with fuel prices going through the roof - which, of course, has more GST coming back to the Territory because it is a gross tax. All those costs that hit the average person are hurting.
We can say the economy is booming and land prices are great, and we can quote the Real Estate Institute, which, of course, loves to see higher prices because it is in the business of making a percentage of those higher prices. Therefore, why shouldn’t it go: ‘Yippee, I can buy a block of land in the rural area for $200 000, that is great’? It is not great news for the average Joe Blow trying to find their way with their first home. Sometimes, our balance is a little skew-whiff.
Yes, a marvellous economy it might be, and we need jobs and we need growth, but we have to remember that the ordinary person is still struggling to pay their way. It is good to say that HomeNorth will help you with a home loan, but if that home loan is costing you $340 000 upwards, well, what kind of home loan is that? Yes, you might be able to get 2% deposit through HomeNorth, but you will probably be paying that for the rest of your life, especially if you are on a low income.
I ask the government to use some of the money - the money that will not affect the budget or those things that they are talking about that they have put money into in the Northern Territory. I do not have a problem with that. We have asked for more police. The opposition has always said that there was not enough money spent on police. We wanted more teachers, for sure. However, we have done that and we still have $27.4m hanging around here that could be used for tax relief right now. I say to the Treasurer: ‘Give people a mid-term present in the next budget. Cut those stamp duties for the people’. I do not believe people can understand why we have to pay, on a domestic insurance package from TIO, stamp duty on top of GST, on top of the premium.
People think that is very unfair, especially when they know they are paying continually in everything they buy, perhaps except cold chickens and a bit of food from the supermarket shelves. You can pay GST on bottled water. There is not much that you touch these days on which you are not paying GST. Every time the price of Coke goes up, or flavoured milk, you are paying an increase in the GST. People are paying their fair share of taxes. I do not care about what other states pay, it is a matter of what we think is fair for our society, what will make it more attractive for people to come here, what will make it more attractive for our families to have more children, and what will make it more attractive for people to build their lives in the Territory, build their homes and let the economy grow. Minister, I once again say to you: at the next budget, please cut stamp tax. You have the money. Let us do something for Territorians.
Mr STIRLING (Treasurer): Madam Speaker, I commend the member for Nelson for his comments. I always enjoy his contribution to these debates. It is not often he speaks in an economic debate, but I always take to heart what he has to say. Of course, with the forthcoming budget, I am unable to make any statements about what might or might not be in the budget, but can I just assure him that his views are taken into account.
The Leader of the Opposition began this censure motion from the premise that the Territory is struggling; that we have somehow missed out on the good times and the strong economic conditions enjoyed by the rest of Australia. It is all doom and gloom, and rack and ruin out there and, in addition to that, we have somehow squandered the increased revenue from the Commonwealth.
Well, in relation to how the Territory is travelling, let us look at a range of economic indicators, beginning with retail turnover to the year to December 2004. Household goods are up 10.2%, food turnover up 8%, recreation goods up 10%, and hospitality up 3.4%. For year-on-year January 2004 to January 2005, new motor vehicle sales growth for the Northern Territory is 14.2%, the second highest ever increase in the Northern Territory and the highest in Australia by a long way, against a national average of about 5%.
Dwelling commencements to September 2004 is up 35.2%. What does it mean in relation to the rest of Australia? The highest in Australia by a long way. Residential building approvals, December year-to-year increase is 34.8%. Where does that sit? The highest in Australia, by a long way. For housing finance for owner-occupation to calendar year 2004, Territory finance commitments increased 24%. That is not a bad snapshot just in relation to housing and the construction industry.
However, let us look across the bay from Darwin Harbour at Bechtel and the LNG plant. There are over 1000 workers out there now, building to 1600 workers at its peak, and over 700 workers on the G3 project at Nhulunbuy, building to a peak of 1700 mid-next year. They are pretty impressive projects - well over billions of dollars worth of infrastructure spend on each project on top of, of course, that growth in housing. And the Leader of the Opposition says we have somehow missed out on the rest of Australia! Well, if this is how you miss out, I want to miss out every time, because we are clearly well at the forefront when it comes to massive projects like that! Of course, the waterfront is still to come, with well over $1bn over the next 11 to 12 years.
It was a recurring theme that has become almost an obsession with the Leader of the Opposition: ‘You have not built a primary school in the three-and-a-half years you have been in government’. Well, there have not been fairly strong levels of spare capacity across those classrooms in the northern suburbs of Darwin for a start, so why would you - for the sake of wanting to be on the books - build a new primary school? I cannot think of a bigger waste of infrastructure dollars and much-needed dollars than to build infrastructure you do not need. If you look at the Lee Point housing project to come on, there is capacity in the schools in the northern suburbs that will pick those kids up. We welcome those kids into the system; they will grow the system. What he does not ask - and he is clever enough to say: ‘You have not built a primary school’. Why the qualification? Why is it primary school that is up his nose and he is so obsessed about?
He never asks about secondary because he has a guilt complex when it comes to secondary facilities. We have built new secondary facilities …
Mr Burke: Which ones?
Mr STIRLING: At Minyerri. We have built new secondary facilities at Shepherdson College on Elcho Island. I believe he went there once with a committee many years ago - about the only visit he has ever made there. We have built new secondary facilities at Maningrida. I was there on the day of Cyclone Ingrid to see four kids get their Year 12 certificates. We have built secondary facilities at Kalkarindji. You might ask why this government has gone on a bit of a splurge building secondary facilities all in remote, indigenous communities. I will tell you why it has been necessary to do that: because the CLP did not deliver secondary education to remote-living indigenous students.
Dr Burns: Shame!
Mr STIRLING: An absolute shame and it stands against them as a blot on their copybook forever. They did not deliver secondary education to remote communities.
In 2003, three students - the first ever in the Northern Territory – received their NTCE in their home community of Kalkarindji. Last year, there were four students, and I was at a wonderful, warm ceremony the other week at Maningrida to commend those students and be part of the awards ceremony. We expect, and certainly hope, that there will be many more in 2005. It is all about strengthening education and picking up the gaps that were left after 27 years of Country Liberal Party rule here.
In relation to the use of the GST and what we have done with it, the member for Greatorex was on about this the other day: ‘What have you done with the $600m extra?’ For a start, the Chief Minister has qualified the actual level of the GST at about $240m in our time in government. What we have done? There are 100 extra teachers into the system - 100 extra teachers, an election commitment already fulfilled. There are 100 teachers in the system in the Northern Territory going about their work - specialist positions, English as Second Language teachers, behavioural management specialists, special needs teachers, and information technology teachers. They are all working to support our classroom teachers and our students in the classroom.
We are injecting $42m over the next few years into further strengthening secondary education, and we will be accelerating the roll-out of secondary education into remote areas. It is not much wonder you blokes got a bit of a rough deal when you went out to talk to the teachers yesterday, because they know your record. They know you did not do anything about bush education.
The 200 extra police - why was that necessary? Why was it necessary to come up with $75m over three-and-a-bit years to put into police? I will tell you why; because it was run down by the Country Liberal Party. O’Sullivan found clearly that the recruitment freeze from 1990 to 1994, because they did not have any money, meant the structure of the police force and the actual numbers on the ground was in a mess following all those years of the Country Liberal Party. Therefore, $75m went into police over three-and-a-half years. You can see the effects in the figures put forward by the Attorney-General, and also when you see the police vehicles and the police on the streets of our towns.
In tourism, we spent $27.5m over three years after the setbacks of 2001-2002.
In capital works, there were three record spends in infrastructure in each of our budgets including to the extent of $487m in 2004-05, and a total of $1.75bn in capital works infrastructure since coming to office in August 2001. That is not a bad record considering that the CLP could always talk in parliament about their capital works programs, design lists, and what was coming forward but, of course, they did not have the cash to put against the program to get that work done.
In health, there have been hospital upgrades and 100 extra nurses – over $100m extra into areas long neglected. Important areas such as mental health and child protection services had languished on the backburner under our predecessors.
I mention these areas as they are three that have been highlighted by the Leader of the Opposition as areas on which this government spends too much money - too much money on police, education and health. He needs to tell Territorians how much we do overspend, and how much he is going to take off them.
In relation to tax reform, it is quite clear the Leader of Opposition and the CLP are prepared to have the Commonwealth Treasurer - his boss, I guess - tell him what he should spend the GST on. We have cut taxes in our time in government, and will continue to do so; however, we going to do it at a pace and in a manner which is manageable in the context of what is, already, a very tight budgetary situation. It is frightening to me - and I dare say to all Territorians - that the Leader of the Opposition says he does not care about deficits. We know that! He does not have to go on the Parliamentary Record and tell us because he has form.
They told us there was a $12m deficit in the 2001-02 budget: quite manageable, not too bad. The truth was, of course, as we found out within three or four weeks of being in government, that the deficit or hole was about $126m. There was no money for capital works, for the teachers’ EBA at the time, or for growth in the system. All the CLP could do in those latter years in government was add further to debt by staggering from one deficit budgetary year to the next. Recurrent expenditure was going on the bankcard and, of course, loading up future Territorians with mountains of debt; there forever to be paid off. That, of course, was restricting the ability of future governments to bring any new initiatives forward. The Leader of the Opposition does not care about deficits; he has made that clear. He does not care about squandering the future of the Territory and its future generations. He does not care, apparently, about its credit rating which, as it slumps, interest rates go up, and the more you borrow the more you have to pay, and your credit rating goes down. It becomes a bit of a frightening scenario all round. Again, it was a government that would plunge the Territory into ever more debt to the extent that they would have to begin to cut vital services.
Let us look at this highest ever tax on Territorians and what we have done. We put in a range of tax cuts which were necessary because of the high level of some taxation rates. I wonder who would have left those very high levels of taxation in place. I wonder who brought those taxes in, in the first place. Well, there was only ever one government before us, and it was those blokes opposite. On 1 July 2002, the payroll tax rate was reduced from an incredibly high 6.5% to 6.3% - $2.8m ongoing. We increased the hiring duty exemption threshold from receipts of $12 000 per annum to $36 000. We removed stamp duty on wet hires. We increased the first home owners stamp duty concession from $2096 to $3640. We introduced a $1500 principal place of residence rebate; and we amended the duty applying to franchises from conveyance rates to lease rates. We introduced a stamp duty corporate reconstruction exemption that cost $3m in a year ongoing – not a bad figure. We then tweaked the payroll tax rate down again from 6.3% to 6.2% at a cost of $1.5m ongoing. We introduced stamp duty exemption for leases and franchises with average annual rent franchise fees under $30 000. We increased hiring duty exemption threshold from receipts of $36 000 per annum to $90 000 per annum. In July 2004, we pushed the payroll tax exemption up to $800 000 - $4m out of the budget in tax cuts, ongoing.
Debits tax is to be abolished on 1 July 2005 at a cost of $6.2m, $6.5m ongoing. The payroll tax exemption threshold from 1 July 2005 goes up to $1m at a cost of $3.2m, ongoing. There is over $7m just in payroll tax.
Let us have a look at the comparison state by state, and the most recent comparison that the ABS has out was the 2002-03 financial year. We will start at the top: On an individual - this is per capita state taxes and council rates paid in each state and territory for 2002-03: New South Wales - $2477; Victoria - $2267; Queensland - $1867; Western Australia - $2136; South Australia - $2101; Tasmania - $1556; and ACT - $2123. The Territory, proudly, comes in at the lowest at $1493.
We hear how we have to take off these taxes for business, and we agree. The next round of taxes coming out of that intergovernmental agreement are all corporate taxes; they do not go to the individuals. We will take them off, but we will take them off in a timely manner that we work out, that we are comfortable with, and not because Mr Costello says: ‘Okay, guys, here is the game plan; this is what you have to do’. He ain’t our boss! He might be the boss for the Country Liberal Party and the people opposite, but he is not ours.
The recurrent taxes for a business with 20 staff: in New South Wales - $31 900; Victoria, top of the pop - $32 200; Queensland - $14 000; Western Australia - $11 000; South Australia - $25 000; Tasmania - $17 700; and ACT - $16 000. The lowest there is Western Australia with $11 000. The Northern Territory, again - and we are proud to say it and we never get sick of saying it - comes in at $6836 in recurrent taxes on a business with 20 staff. At the top, of course, is Victoria at $32 200. There is a bit of difference: $32 000 on a small business with 20 staff in Victoria and $6836 here. We are, clearly, by a long way, the lowest taxing jurisdiction, for a business with 20 staff and, come 1 July 2005, we will be the lowest on a business with 40 staff as well. Of course, that will be many Territory businesses that are benefiting as a result of that low taxation regime.
One senses the reason for this censure motion is to deflect a bit of attention from the Leader of the Opposition with the challenge that I put to him this morning. He will not declare his policies; he will not have them costed. Apparently, he went out to the media and said: ‘Here are the costings! He said it here this morning: ‘Here they are; they are all here!’, and then he threw them on the floor. He threw them on the floor! What use was that? Someone in the media said: ‘I did not even see what the heading was, let alone anything about the costings’. He said: ‘Here are the costings; it is all done’, and then he tucked it back in his pocket. Well, it is not good enough. Territorians need more than a little flash like that. They need more than a little peeky-boo at the front page. What they want to see is the full costings and they want to see someone reputable to have done it. Access Economics will do. We used Access Economics; it worked for us, it might work for you. However, they come at a cost. I do not know about Treasury. We could get Treasury to cost them. You will get a good job done. I do not think we would charge you. I do not know, I think we would do that for free. Treasury would do that for free, and you can trust Treasury.
However, policy is one thing, costing is another. He still has to tell us how he is going to pay for them. He has given us two leads on how he might pay for them. He says we spend too much on police, education and health - absolute vital services that Territorians deserve and expect. He does need to tell us and tell Territorians just how much he is going to cut police, health and education. How many police are going to disappear out of the stations, out of the patrols and off the street? How many teachers are going to disappear from our classrooms? How many nurses are going to disappear from our hospitals? That is the first part, because we know they have form with police. They consistently under-resourced police the whole time they were in government, and they are about to wield the knife again.
The second lead the Opposition Leader has given us this afternoon is this reckless statement that he just simply does not care about deficits and debt. We should not be surprised by that; he did not care before, and he apparently cares less now. The opposition is on notice to come clean, despite this slight diversionary tactic of the censure today. We are going to keep the pressure up, on him and the opposition, to put out your policies, put out your costings, and tell us who did the costings and tell Territorians, most importantly, how you are going to pay for them. There is no substance to this rag tag of a censure motion. The leader of the government really only took it on out of decency and courtesy. It has not been a good week for the opposition down here, and I do not think their cause has been helped with this nonsense this afternoon. We are transparent …
Ms Carney: How many turned up for your barbecue, Syd?
Mr STIRLING: Great numbers, great numbers!
Ms Carney interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Araluen, order!
Mr STIRLING: Do not let me digress. It was terrific function. I would love to do that every week.
We are transparent, Madam Speaker. We have put forward our budget parameters. Territorians will clearly know what capacity we have as a government to take the Territory forward. They will see that in the dollars available. They have seen, of course, the carelessness, the recklessness, the deceit and the fraudulent budget preparation by the Leader of the Opposition and his gang before, and they rejected it in August 2001.
I believe the Leader of the Opposition is absolutely begging to be rejected again unless he puts forward clear, costed policies and a demonstration of how he is going to pay for them. Territorians expect no less; they deserve no less. My message would be: once bitten, twice shy.
Madam Speaker, I move that the question be put.
Motion agreed to.
Madam SPEAKER: The question now is that the censure motion be agreed to.
Motion negatived.
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, the Minister for Health has approached me and asked to make a personal explanation which I have given him permission to do.
Dr TOYNE (Health): Madam Speaker, I wish to correct a fact in my contribution to the debate on the Alice Springs Hospital yesterday. I ascribed the fire audit of the safety for patients and staff to Paul Herrick, the local head of fire services where, in fact, it came in under the signature of Bruce Mouatt, the Director of NT Fire and Rescue Services.
Continued from earlier this day.
Mr ELFERINK (Macdonnell): Madam Speaker, I listened carefully and intently to the Minister for Community Development’s response in relation to the Auditor-General’s report. He almost quoted word for word one of the key findings of the Auditor-General’s report. The key finding he quoted I will requote for those people who were not here at the time:
The Auditor-General notes that the revenues have gone up by $7.7m, and I can only presume that means that in the Territory housing stock, to a large degree, that that has been an increase in rents. That is fair enough.
We then go on to the next key finding:
Since I have been learning to read budget books coming into this House, one thing I know about is that you just do not read in isolated years. One of the great pitfalls and traps in reading in isolated years is that you look at how much we spent last year and then how much was spent this year and, if the figure goes up, it is an increase. That is the way the government will always put a spin on it. However, if you then take the same budget book - for argument’s sake, Budget Paper No 3 - and go back over three or four years, you start to notice some interesting trends.
In the year that this government came to power, which means that the budget was, effectively, set by the government prior to this one leading up to the mini-budget, the estimate from that budget book of three years ago was a spend of $23m on repairs and maintenance of Territory Housing stock. It is interesting that the next year it dropped to $18m and then blew out; the year after that it dropped to $17.7m and blew out to $20.1m; and now, all of a sudden, we hear from the minister that we will see in this year’s budget books, no doubt, an increase, which means that they are going to spend more than they did last year. The fact is that it will be still be $3m less than it was three years ago.
I am not even factoring in the effects of inflation or prices going up for labour and those sorts of things; this is just cold hard cash of three years ago and this year. Which means if you factor in things like a CPI of about 3% over those three years, that is a 9% change in those figures. This means that, in reality, the amount of buying power you get out of your dollars - the amount of money that has been sucked out of the repairs and maintenance budgets of the Housing Business Services - is not insubstantial at all. I would guesstimate, without having crunched the figures, that it would be somewhere in the order of about $6m less this year than it was three years ago.
The other thing that comes out of these figures is a very unusual practice by this government and something that Housing Business Services rail against - clearly outlined also by the Auditor-General because he has made it one of the fundamental aspects of his key findings. That was the use of the Community Harmony project which has added $2.5m to Housing Business Services’ annual expenses. A government business division, which Housing Business Services is, is supposed to run at least at break-even, if not actually making some money. That is why these business divisions are created. These business divisions are supposed to operate as businesses. The government said: ‘With Housing a GBD, I am now going to push it over there, a little away from me, and I am going to make it operate as a business’.
This particular business has lost money repeatedly over the last few years, and it needs to be propped up by government. You can see that clearly in the budget paperwork from year to year. However, their ability to earn money – revenue - is seriously undermined by a shrinking repair and maintenance budget. If you look at the vacancy rates, there is rent lost. On page 66 of the Auditor-General’s report, it says:
Part of the reason you are going to see a change in the ability for houses to generate money for this government business division is when the housing stock is excessively damaged. You cannot, as determined by the Residential Tenancies Act, give a substandard tenancy to a tenant. Therefore, you have to make sure that your housing stock is up to scratch. This minister is cutting the repairs and maintenance budget; therefore, his housing stock cannot be effectively let, and the ability for that housing stock to generate money is less effective than it was. There is more and more vacant housing stock, which is evidenced by the Auditor-General’s report and, therefore, you start to build a housing shortage for lower income workers. That is plain old mismanagement. It is up to the minister to drive this stuff.
Here we have a housing business division that is trying its hardest to do its job but, because of the policies and the lack of repairs and maintenance funding being set by this government, it is running that housing stock down. That housing stock is then being used to house people who are not necessarily the problem. However, if you look at Alice Springs and the Larapinta area, you know that, because of cultural determinants and responsibilities, large numbers of family people put pressure on housing stock when they visit town. I am talking about groups of 20, 30, or 40 people sleeping on the back and front lawns. There is only so much work a toilet can do or building suffer before it starts to deteriorate. Therefore, you must anticipate when these cultural determinants are in high profile, as they are in the Larapinta area, that you are going to get a depletion of your housing stock. How do I know this? Not only do I rely on the Auditor-General, I jump in my car, drive out to the Larapinta area and walk around. And guess what? I go past a lot of housing stock which is vacant at the moment.
I decided to go and see my old flat. When I was a copper, they provided housing for me which was NT Housing stock, and paid the bills. I used to have a little old flat there, and that flat is uninhabitable. Why? Because it and the flat next door were nearly burned to the ground, and the smoke damage rendered them uninhabitable. The problem, in this instance, is that the money required to repair this housing stock is no longer available, which means it will sit vacant longer. All this, from a minister who perpetually bleats about housing shortages in the Northern Territory. He is not prepared to commit funds to repair his own housing stock. He is more than happy to blame the federal government, but he is not prepared to take on the responsibility of maintaining his own housing stock - to do his bit for the housing problems in the Northern Territory.
The ongoing funds are then slugged with an extra $2.5m. Here is the government business division, and this minister says: ‘Although you are operating like a business, I am going to reach into the heart of your business, your ability to raise money, and I am going to pull out $2.5m, and spend it over there’. This means he is effectively applying a $2.5m tax to a budget of $17.7m so he can then run the Community Harmony project. If you go through the budget paperwork, Community Harmony projects are not funded from other sources; they are funded from Housing. This is the minister’s logic: ‘I am going to allow my housing stock to become depleted, and allow the vacancy rates to be driven up by damage to it. I will lower my repairs and maintenance budget, and then I will spend $2.5m of that budget on an entirely unrelated project’. Once again, the ability for the housing stock to be dealt with in a responsible way is even further challenged. Clearly, we have a major problem with the situation in Alice Springs, and it is not much different in the Top End.
The minister must go to budget Cabinet the next time - I doubt we will ever get to go through the estimates process because, clearly, these will be amongst the questions that I ask. The minister must go to budget Cabinet - they had it recently, didn’t they? Yes, they did; that is right. I wonder if the minister went to budget Cabinet and was able to extract from the Treasurer an amount of money sufficient to look after his rapidly deteriorating housing stock, and also an amount sufficient to run his Community Harmony project from a source of funds other than Housing Business Services. I will bet London to a brick that the minister has, as he has every year for the last three years, failed - gone from $23m to $18m to $17m, which to blew out to $20m. I will be very curious to see what this year’s R&M budget is going to look like. I do not hold high hopes, looking at his track record.
Mr DUNHAM (Drysdale): Madam Speaker, it is very difficult to talk about budgets and economics because, when you talk about numbers and rates it, basically, leaves people cold for starters and, second, it is very difficult to present a graphic picture of what is going on.
The speakers opposite would have us believe that the data they give us is so good and tested that it cannot be disputed. I am going to dispute some of them with some of the documents they have. The difficulty we have with the great offer we had from the Treasurer to go to Treasury because they are so good at this stuff, is that many of the Treasury numbers in these books differ from book to book - and they differ in pretty big lumps. You can only assume that the government does not have control of the numbers or, if it does, it is perpetrating a giant con job on Territorians.
The business minister, for instance, is very keen to show the figures of the Real Estate Institute of the Northern Territory. A good mob they are and they are probably pretty good figures. However, one wonders why he did not go to his own budget papers and provide us with the wisdom that they – hang on; I need one more. When he tells us how buoyant the property market is, he could go to the figures provided by the Real Estate Institute of the Northern Territory, or he could have gone to his own budget papers because they deal with that stuff, too.
I was interested when the Treasurer dropped this on the Table. For the benefit of Hansard, this is Budget Paper No 2, Fiscal and Economic Outlook 2004-05, which said:
I was more interested, though, in some of the things the Treasurer has said in this very House in Alice Springs recently. He has made some pretty big statements that would appear to be in vast conflict with his own budget papers. The one I believe is probably a - and I know I cannot use the word starting with ‘L’, Madam Speaker. However, it would appear there is a lack of veracity with this statement. This was on Tuesday, 22 March at page 33 of the Daily Hansard:
Territory taxation revenue in the 2002-03 budget papers - which is three years back now - said that they anticipated collecting, in that year, $1098 per head. Every Territorian would pay $1098. That is what they reckon they were going to aim for. We were a bit worried about that because, on that same page, Treasury said:
They were saying there that we were undertaxed, and there was scope to raise additional revenue. Okay, so we are aiming at $1098. This Treasurer said, quite proudly, he is of the belief that, if you go to the budget papers now, you will see that his effort has shown a reduction in tax.
That is far from the truth because, not only is he taxing more than the $1098, he is, indeed, on the increase - big time. His hand is in our pocket with his taxes. This is not Mr Costello; this is the man we have with us. Taxation per revenue in the current year’s budget, 2004-05 is - let me see now, in the Northern Territory, we expect to raise $1326 this year. That has blown out again in the mid-year budget papers, but that is a fair bit you would think. Every Territorian is paying an extra $300 in tax. If you are paying an extra $300 in tax, and you are sitting in the gallery saying: ‘But the Treasurer told us he had reduced the tax burden on families and individuals’, how can you reconcile those two things? How can the Treasurer tell us that we are paying less in tax when we know his budget papers say we are paying an extra $200? I say it is because we are only getting a part of the story from this Under Treasurer.
The tax take has gone up incredibly. The current Treasurer has the dubious mantle of being the highest taxing Treasurer we have had. We have never had anybody …
Mr Henderson: Are you talking about Peter Costello?
Mr DUNHAM: The current Treasurer is the member for Nhulunbuy, whose name is Sydney James Stirling, and is the highest taxing Treasurer we have ever had. There ain’t nobody gone anywhere near him! No one has gone near him ...
Ms Lawrie: That is a bit of a spin.
Mr DUNHAM: Somebody has claimed that that is a spin. I take you to the budget papers, because it is quite easy to verify. You may well not believe me; however, I assume that this budget paper carries the endorsement of the Under Treasurer – let us see, what is here name? - Jennifer Prince. If it is a spin, one wonders why Jennifer Prince has put an authorisation on this saying that this book is tickety-boo and shows that taxes under this Treasurer are at all time high levels. The interesting thing about that is that we had a spin document pulled out, which was called Less Tax, More Jobs, Great Lifestyle. More tax, not less tax! Everyone knows it is more tax; you are collecting more. Payroll tax is one of your great claims. There is a great claim that payroll tax …
A member: The economy is going well.
Mr DUNHAM: Pardon?
A member: The economy is going well.
Mr DUNHAM: The economy is going well. Okay, we could look at that. Let us look at economic growth. Economic growth, for instance, was anticipated - in the same books, if you go back two or three years. You will see that economic growth for last year was estimated to be 5%. We came in at 0.3%. The economy is going well? Our estimate of 5% came in at 0.3%. I do not know how you can say that. These are your numbers; they come out of your budget papers. I can source them for you; I can tell you the page number. The economy is going well at 0.3%! You anticipated 5%.
There is no way you can sustain an argument that the king has no clothes, because this Treasurer is the highest taxing Treasurer. He has received more subventions from Commonwealth coffers than anybody else. The economy is performing abysmally, as evidenced by his budget papers from last year. We get a constant diatribe of ‘but if you do it differently you are going to sack nurses and police’. The question I ask is: what if we cut health by $6m, what would that do? The cry from the other side of the room would be: ‘If you cut it by $6m there are going to be nurses without jobs and whatever’. We have had a paper tabled in this parliament the day before yesterday that says Treasury has taken $6m out of health. I do not know what that means. What does that mean? Are you going to cut researchers? Are you going to close a ward? How are you going to take $6m out of Health? There is a paper that is being circulated about transfers between divisions, and it pulls $6m out of the very department you say cannot be touched.
Health is interesting, because the Chief Minister told us at these sittings here the funding to hospitals has gone up 30%. Funding to hospitals has gone up 30%. This is, indeed, an old Labor trick: to describe what you are putting in and being very quiet about what comes out. With hospitals, one would think if it went up 30%, there are many more people being seen, there are many more doctors and nurses walking around, there are people with stethoscopes around their necks pushing little trolleys. We can measure that because, in the budget papers, the government has said: ‘We will tell you what our performance measures are. We will tell you about admitted patient services’. Ah, that is hospitals – right? Okay.
We will go to 2002-03 and there is a measurement here with the quaint name of ‘Weighted inlier equivalent separations’ – that is the number of people seen, pretty much – 45 000 in 2002-03. This year, they expect to see 43 600. How can that be? What you are saying to us is you have dropped 4% in your activities - your outputs - 4% less work is being done in our hospitals, and you are giving them 30% more money. I cannot work this out. If what you are saying is there are fewer people being seen so we need less money maybe that is why you took the $6m off them this week, because we know for a fact you have ripped $6m out of the health system. Therefore, when you want to tell us that all this money is so sacred, and for anybody to argue that it cannot be moved or touched, it really defies belief, and it certainly defies your actions that are on the record here.
Interestingly, the business minister likes to parade the idea that government is a bystander and ‘If the private sector thinks up something good, we will try to get into action with them, and that is how we will drive the economy’. It is also a very convenient way you can describe how good the economy is going by talking about Blacktip, what is happening with Alcan, Wickham Point and other places that have nothing to do, pretty much, with you guys. You say: ‘We have gone hand-in-hand with business and have some wonderful ideas to drive the economy’. Well, the one I want described is how providing awnings to the bloke who owns the Hibiscus Shopping Town is helpful. I am sure he and the people who park their car in the shade instead of in the sun are happy. However, in terms of growing the economy, how do the shady car parks provided by the government at Hibiscus Shopping Town help the economy?
Mr Henderson: Wrong. No, he is doing that with his own money.
Mr DUNHAM: It is his own money?
Mr Henderson: Absolutely.
Mr DUNHAM: Okay, if he is doing that. Let us go to another one that you have boasted about in your budget papers, called Chinatown. Chinatown featured largely in budgets for the last couple of years. The government was going to give them a little leg up. They were going to provide some accommodation at the right rate and these people would, therefore, be able to make the economic thing that was Chinatown work. We have seen some black plastic around it, a big machine turned up and dug up concrete and put it in piles, there were bits of dirt pushed up and a bit of noise and clatter, and that is going back about 18 months, two years. Okay, so two years ago, we played a game called Chinatown where we pretended that the government budgets would help the economy by providing a building.
I will tell you what worries us. That is a proposal of - I do not know - $6m or $7m. We think at the waterfront, we are going to get that same trick. We are going to get the black plastic, a few front-end loaders, a couple of trucks, lots of noise, bits of dirt being pushed around, and the government is going to say: ‘Coming to you from your friendly Clare Martin Labor team’, in your normal colours and: ‘Here is the waterfront and we will all live happily ever after’. We worry because we judge on how you do the little jobs like Chinatown. If you muck-up that, how are you going to do the billion dollar job at the waterfront?
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Members of the government, order!
Mr DUNHAM: If you cannot get that going, how are you going to go with the other one? We worry about your managerial and economic credentials, the fact that the guesstimates you put in this book turn out to be abysmally wrong, and that you do not quote these numbers. It is all very well quoting from the Real Estate Institute of the Northern Territory - and I believe their numbers are better than yours, anyway - but why would you not quote from your paper?
When you talked population, minister, you went again to the Real Estate Institute of the Northern Territory. Why wouldn’t you go to the ABS? Why wouldn’t the Australian Bureau of Statistics numbers …
Ms Martin: Because they are from last September.
Mr DUNHAM: They are from last September!
Ms Martin: They are good news!
Mr DUNHAM: They are from last September! The reason you do not use ABS is because they are from last September! Okay, from last September, or whatever caveat you want to put on them …
Ms Martin interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Chief Minister and members of the government, cease! Let the member finish his speech.
Mr DUNHAM: If you want to come to parliament in Alice Springs and harangue us about not being Alice Springs-centric, and then talk about a population without including Alice Springs, you might have something to hide. Let us have a look at these numbers in Alice.
There are two statistical divisions here: one is called Alice Springs Ross, and one is called Alice Springs Larapinta. We have lost 160 people from Alice Springs Ross, and 120 from Alice Springs Larapinta. That is 280 people; a decline of 2.1% in one of them, and 1.1% in the other. Why would you not mention that? It is bad news, that is why, and it does not go with this talk about the economy going gang busters, people coming into the place, every flat has been rented, and we do that because the Real Estate Institute tells us. Use ABS.
The long and short of this is that the Treasurer is awash with cash. We know that because the report we are debating right here tells us. The report tells us …
A member: Because he sits in that room and bathes in it.
A point was well put by the member for Macdonnell and is worth revisiting quickly; that is, if your interest income earnings go up $4m, in six months you have a fair bit in the bank. The Auditor-General also talked about some cash used in investing activities at page 17 in this report. In 2003-04, it was $254.4m. That is a pretty significant amount to be used for investing activities. It certainly would appear to be tucked away somewhere.
The most interesting thing about the Auditor-General’s report, though, is what is not in it. The report falls into two sections. In the first section, he audits the Treasurer’s mid-year report, which was tabled on 1 December 2004. He tells us that he has had a good look at it and can tell us the issues that are in it. What he cannot tell us about are the things which were tabled this month. This month, we know $48m worth of money has been floating around the ether in various government departments, and the Auditor-General has not been able to look at it. You would think if you are going to make changes outside the Auditor-General’s purview, the best way to do it would be to table something like this, this week - and that is what our Treasurer has done! He is a ripper! He has given $48m to various departments. We do not know which ones. We assume some of it was to remedy the Alice Springs Hospital, and we found out yesterday that that is going to be spent over three years. These matters have not been debated in here. We have absolutely no idea what the impact of them is. One of the government members might like to tell us in rejoinder what the impact of a deletion of $6.274m will have on the Health Department. If the Health Department is going to be dropped by $6.2m - in six months, mind you, which is $1m per month they are taking off them - I would like to know what the impact is. Strictly speaking, it does not fall within the debate we are having before us, as I said before, because of the cunning device the Treasurer has used.
I would like to talk about some of the issues with departments that are raised in the Auditor-General’s report. Regarding the department with the unfortunate acronym of DOJ, being a legal department, the minister stood up and said: ‘Yes, we are looking at it’. The problem you had, minister, was unauthorised access into that very sensitive data that is held within the Justice Department by people who had left the public service. You had a government business division sponsoring political government programs like the Harmony Project. You have a Construction Division that is almost technically trading insolvent, which did not know it was a government business division. You have a litany of problems throughout areas of the public service that have not been adequately addressed in this debate. If you really want to talk about your managerial credentials, you have to go to each one of these issues here.
I do not believe that the minister adequately addressed the matters relating to the uncollected monies from the Defence Department, and I do not believe that the flippant way that the Construction Division decided it would just call itself something else and not levy any money can be glossed over in the way that it has. These are significant issues for government - significant issues of mismanagement - and, in some places, they are tantamount to the word ‘misappropriation’. Certainly, in the case of the Community Harmony project, it would seem to be getting pretty close to that.
Members interjecting.
Mr DUNHAM: Ridiculous?
Ms Lawrie: Yes.
Mr DUNHAM: The harmony project - and if people were listening, they would know - is nothing to do with the business activities of the government business division. It is interesting that the Auditor-General said that it was a decision not made by internal management. A government business division should have its own autonomy and independence. If there are people making …
Mr ELFERINK: A point of order, Madam Speaker. I move for an extension of 10 minutes such that the member for Drysdale may conclude his remarks.
Motion negatived.
Ms MARTIN (Chief Minister): Madam Speaker, I thank members for their contribution to the report from the Auditor-General for February. There were many issues raised by the opposition that I was going to deal with specifically in my response but, because we had the censure over the economy and the GST, many of the issues dealt with in that were raised in the Auditor-General’s debate. I will not go through those same issues.
I am disappointed in the response from the opposition to this debate with the same negativity we heard in the censure, the same putting down of our economy, the same underpinning of conspiracy theories about everything that happens in the Northern Territory. It is not only belittling to the Territory, but belittling to the opposition.
I thank government ministers for their contribution. The Auditor-General does important work for the Territory. That ministers respond individually to issues raised by the Auditor-General is very important. I thank the Auditor-General for his work. I look forward to his next report, because the issues that he looks at in regarding accountability and appropriate use of funds are very important and taken very seriously by this government.
I thank members for their different levels of contribution, and the Auditor-General, Frank McGuiness, for his work for the Territory.
Motion agreed to; paper noted.
MOTION
Note paper - Ombudsman’s Annual Report 2003-04
Continued from 15 February 2005.
Mr BURKE (Opposition Leader): Madam Speaker, in responding to the tabling of the Ombudsman’s report, I will begin by noting the contribution of Peter Boyce during his two terms in the role. I put on the record my personal appreciation for the job he has done on behalf of all Territorians. Whilst I have not always necessarily agreed with the decisions or conclusions of the Ombudsman, I have always held the position in the highest regard and respected the role played by the Ombudsman.
In farewelling Peter Boyce from this position, I cannot help but reflect on the nature of his departure and the role played by the current government. Peter Boyce, it would appear, has made the fatal mistake of criticising the actions of the current government, and he now finds that he has been restructured out of a job.
That criticism, essentially, appears in the report that we are considering today, where the key comments raised by the Ombudsman’s report include: a lack of resourcing for the Office of the Ombudsman, and a scathing report criticising the government’s decision to award a substantial contract to a Western Australian company which, subsequently, went into voluntary administration, over a Territory one.
In the review of the legislation concerning the new Ombudsman (Northern Territory) Act, if ever there was evidence required of this government’s desire to create an environment of secrecy and unaccountability for itself, one only has to read this latest Annual Report of the Ombudsman tabled at the last sittings. In particular, I am referring to his comments in regard to the review of existing legislation and development of a new Ombudsman (Northern Territory) Act. This does not bode well for the future of Territorians and their confidence that concerns raised about government will be adequately addressed by the Ombudsman. What better person, one would have to ask, than the current Ombudsman? The government, in their public comments, have not indicated any lack of faith in him to give sound advice on the future of the Ombudsman (Northern Territory) Act. His office has been conducting their affairs under the auspices of the act for the past 10 years.
Amongst his key concerns in the development of the new act, the Ombudsman raises the issues of secrecy and lack of transparency, the spirit in which the review was conducted, and the contestability of the advice that was given.
With regards to secrecy and lack of transparency, the Ombudsman cites a number of examples of how the process has been far short of open and accountable. The Ombudsman expressed his surprise that, at the time of writing his report, the review had not been made public. This is a sad indictment on a government claiming to be open and accountable. He is highly critical of the consultation process by which a so-called discussion draft was released for comment in what many believed was an inadequate time frame. He stated in his report at page 28:
He talked about the spirit in which the review was conducted. Peter Boyce highlights a number of examples where it would appear obvious that the government did not want his advice or input, and that the department was determined to act in a hostile fashion towards him. Tactics such as stalling, withholding information and limited communication were employed to stymie any genuine input from Peter Boyce. The Ombudsman stated, on page 26 of the report:
On page 25, he cited that a draft of the bill was given to his office to review and return comment on, with the unrealistic time frame of only nine days. This is an office which is heavily overworked. If one looks at the report, one can see the increase in complaints, coupled with his concern about lack of resources to show that it was heavily overworked. One can only draw the conclusion that the Ombudsman drew; that was, to give him only nine days to comment on the draft legislation was intended to purposely stop him from giving any substantive comment.
The other thing that he makes note of was that it was well known by the government that he was overseas on official business when this particular window was opened. He said in the report:
He then talked about the contestability of the advice that was given. In contrast to the systematic denial of the Ombudsman to participate properly in the development of the act, departments and government agencies were given generous opportunities to give feedback and generate changes. The problem that arises is the fact that all of these groups will be covered by the act in the future, which also gives rise to a potential conflict. It is most definitely in their best interests to ensure that the reach and power of the Ombudsman is limited in certain situations. That is not to say that they should have been denied the opportunity to take part; however, any contributions from those covered by the act should rightly have this advice tested by someone other than the Chief Minister’s own department, as was the case.
The Ombudsman, in this area, commented:
I do not believe that you really have to go any further into the Ombudsman’s report than that. Sadly, a professional officer who has served the Territory for the past 10 years has been treated by this government as totally irrelevant and has been drawn in this report and, sadly, in media comment, to basically express a point of view. Whether you agree with him or disagree with him, it is sad to see that, after 10 years, he feels that way about a Labor government that is so-called open, honest and transparent, and purports to the general pubic that they are vitally interested in and will strengthen the agencies that are independent and there to serve the taxpayer to oversee the business of government and departments. Some of these department’s actions directly involve the public on a day-to-day basis. They are departments that need to be held accountable by independent arbitrators. The Ombudsman has stood the test of time in Australia and all over the world in the Westminster system, and has been the ideal mechanism to do that.
Mr Deputy Speaker, for that particular individual to be treated in such a way, and to leave this Territory after 10 years of service, I believe is, once more, a telling indictment of the sort of government and operators we have in charge of the Northern Territory at the moment.
Mr HENDERSON (Business and Industry): Mr Deputy Speaker, before I commence my comments, I also thank the current Ombudsman for his years of service to the Northern Territory. I suppose it is disappointing to see his final report to this parliament be so critical of the review process that is being undertaken.
The review came about as a commitment to review the Ombudsman (Northern Territory) Act. However, there is more than one person who is a stakeholder in this review process. It has been a public review process. The public was invited to make contributions and many bodies and organisations did. It is an important part of the overseeing of government that the statutory office of the Ombudsman does have the capacity to investigate complaints without fear or favour in regard to decisions made by government authorities that affect individuals; to ensure that those decisions are made without fear and favour, that they are open and transparent; and people are accorded due process in regards to how decisions are made that may affect them as individuals.
The tenor of the Ombudsman’s report is that he feels aggrieved about the process. However, as a member of this parliament, I say that there is more than one stakeholder whose needs are to be taken into account in regards to this review, which is ongoing and has not been concluded.
Having made those initial comments, I speak now as minister for Police in the Northern Territory. Any observer, I suppose, of public comment would certainly see that, unfortunately, there is tension, and criticism has been applied to the Ombudsman’s Office by the Police Association of the Northern Territory. Those comments have been on the public record and they have been unfortunate. As minister for Police, obviously, I have role in this process around the Cabinet table to take input of proposed legislative reform. Cabinet documents and legislation gets circulated and my agency comments on those. I have a responsibility, as Police minister, to take those comments to the Cabinet room for debate. It is unfortunate that we have not been able to see eye-to-eye. However, I do believe progress is still being made.
The police have to be accountable. It is absolutely vital that police are accountable to the people of the Northern Territory. I pay tribute tonight to the fantastic work that the police do. Over the years - and I am sure the member for Macdonnell would agree with me here - having a father-in-law who is a police officer for the Northern Territory who served for 32 years, I know the level of accountability that our current police officers face today in judgments that they make on a day-to-day basis in their work throughout the Northern Territory, is far in excess of what it was five, 10, 15 years ago. I suppose there is debate about whether it is necessary. Most people would say that it probably is. However, it does make the judgment calls that police officers make in very difficult circumstances, on a day-to-day basis, even harder.
In the complaints process against police, any complaint against a police officer is very thoroughly investigated. Our new Police Commissioner, Mr Paul White, who has been here for three years now, has overhauled the police complaints process with the new Professional Responsibility Division in place. If you look at the number of cases the Ombudsman comments on in his particular report that we are discussing here today, there are 35 examples. There are many hundreds of complaints against police every year, and the resources and time that goes into investigating those complaints takes a lot of time and chews up a lot of resources within the police service. The Professional Responsibility Division is overseen by the Joint Review Committee which also contains the Ombudsman, and he has input.
We also have to remember that not only are there genuine complaints made against police. As I have said before, police are in a very difficult position every day regarding the judgment calls that they have to make. Part of the Police Oath is to show good sense - I forget the words - but when to relax and enforce the law. Police have to make those judgments every day. As well as occasionally making mistakes that lead to complaints, or being slightly over-enthusiastic on occasions in the work that they do, one has to remember that there are people out there who, very quickly and readily, for whatever there motives are, make malicious and vexatious complaints against individual police officers in the course of their duty, for the sole reason of diverting their efforts away from continuing on with their investigations and being tied up in a complaints process.
In any system of investigation of complaint against police officers, there is a balance of genuine complaints against officers in the course of their duty, mixed in with malicious and vexatious complaints that are made against individual police officers for very ulterior motives. It is a very sensitive area.
The Ombudsman, I believe, is on the public record, and I will certainly put it on the public record that, when I met with the Ombudsmen to discuss the review, I asked our Ombudsman whether we had in the Northern Territory a problem with corruption in our police force. The Ombudsman looked at me squarely in the eye and said: ‘No, we do not’. Each and every one of us in this parliament would agree with that. The Territory is too small a place. It is not New South Wales or Victoria. Our police force is not a huge organisation whereby individual officers can go off on their merry way and behave totally inappropriately and get away with it for many years. The Territory is too small a place for institutionalised corruption to be a problem in our police force. The Ombudsman has stated that is not the case.
In respect to the powers that should be granted to the Ombudsman by the review of this act, we have to be mindful of the fact that the Ombudsman’s powers in other jurisdictions have been increased specifically as a result of a significant problems of institutionalised corruption within police forces in other states. The Ombudsman has had his powers, in those states, extended as a result of corruption that has been determined in those police forces.
We do not have that problem in the Northern Territory. I am sure that the members for Brennan and Macdonnell have spoken to the Police Association and have been lobbied. That association does a great job in lobbying. Their concerns were that the Ombudsman would be granted powers similar to those granted to the Ombudsman in other states, and they believed the perception that would give to the people of the Northern Territory is that the Ombudsman has been granted those powers as a result of a problem that does not exist.
We are caught in a fine line in this debate. I believe that we can work through it. The institution of the Ombudsman and the powers that he has to do his job as a statutory office holder are vitally important. However, there are other stakeholders here, and we do not need to use a sledge hammer to crack a nut. We have reached an impasse. That is obvious in the Ombudsman’s comments in his report.
However, I believe, fundamentally and absolutely, that we have a fantastic police force in the Northern Territory that is not afflicted at all by any sense of institutionalised corruption. People do make complaints against police. Many of those complaints are genuine and there are any number of examples in the Ombudsman’s individual accounts where police have been either disciplined or cautioned as a result of overreaching their powers. However, I am also aware that there are many complaints that are made against police officers that are malicious or vexatious, and we have to be very careful in those balances in legislation.
Mr Deputy Speaker, I thank the Ombudsman. He has done a magnificent job over 10 years. We will continue to work through the review of this legislation to make sure that we have legislation that does meet the needs of the Northern Territory community. That process continues, and I wish the Ombudsman well in his future endeavours.
Dr BURNS (Transport and Infrastructure): Mr Deputy Speaker, I also place on the record my appreciation for the work of the Ombudsman. It is a difficult task. I know, as a local member, there are a number of issues and people who have come through my electorate office who have been to see the Ombudsman. Sometimes, people feel that the Ombudsman takes a bit longer than they would like to resolve or work through the issues, but I know that the Ombudsman does a very thorough job in what he does.
I join with other members in wishing him well. He has done a good job for the Territory. It is a difficult job, because we get issues that come through our offices, and often we will direct them towards the Ombudsman. Some of those issues are quite insoluble to some degree, and the Ombudsman has to make sense of those and pursue them. It is a very difficult job.
On another matter, the issue of the ITS contract and litigation on-put was raised again in the House today and in the media. That was an issue investigated by the Ombudsman. I have laid it on the record, as Essential Services Minister that, because the conflict is between ITS and Power and Water, I have a conflict of interest in relation to that matter because the principals of ITS are my two brothers-in-law and their mother and father - my wife’s two brothers and her mother and father. My family has no pecuniary interest. However, I did feel it was a conflict of interest. I stepped aside regarding that particular issue. Unfortunately, the matter seems to have broken down and gone to the courts. I want to place it on the record that in no way am I connected to that particular issue.
In summary, I wish the Ombudsman well. It is a difficult job. I suppose we will be welcoming the new replacement Ombudsman in due course.
Ms MARTIN (Chief Minister): Mr Deputy Speaker, I thank everyone for their contribution to this debate. The Ombudsman’s report goes through many different areas, and reports on what has happened over the previous 12 months in areas right across government. Some of those are very small issues that the Ombudsman’s Office has to deal with; some are much larger and more significant.
The report spends considerable time on the review of the legislation. The Ombudsman does not pull any punches about how he feels that review has gone. Let me assure the House that it has been a well-consulted review, and that stakeholders have had significant opportunities to put their ideas into the review of the legislation. I do not believe what we currently have is bad legislation, but it has been there for some considerable years and it was time to review the legislation in light of where other Ombudsman’s legislations around the country had gone.
The review of the legislation had proved more difficult than we hoped, particularly with some of the opposing views on what might change between the Ombudsman’s Office and our police. My Department of the Chief Minster has spent a long time in the review, being the facilitator for trying to reach agreement with all stakeholders about what the future might be. I can say that we have not reached that yet, and I am determined to do that. We have to have Ombudsman’s legislation that is supported, that is appropriate in a Territory context, and recognises where we are. When you look around the country, Ombudsman’s legislation has been reviewed and changed to deal with very specific and concerning circumstances. I do not believe those circumstances are in the Territory, and that we need to have legislation that is reflective of our current circumstances and is appropriate to them.
While we are still having difficulties, I respect the right of the Ombudsman to have his say about what he thinks about that. However, I can assure this House that we are working through the issues …
Mr Dunham interjecting.
Ms MARTIN: If the member for Drysdale would just be quiet. … we are working through these issues and we will resolve them. I thank all those who have had input into the legislation at this stage. I am confident, over the next few months, we will see new, refreshed, revised legislation - probably not substantially different legislation - come to the House for debate.
I thank our Ombudsman for his 10 years as Ombudsman. He has served the Territory well. As the member for Johnston said, often the role of the Ombudsman is one that we, as local members, get quite a lot of feedback on. Some of the responses you get are complimentary; some express much frustration. Often, if you are looking to the Ombudsman to find your solution on some issues, some of them are going to be impossible. You often have people expressing that frustration of impossibility to resolve. Others can be resolved. It is an important office for the Territory. I know that the Ombudsman’s Office, in many cases, tackles very difficult and, sometimes, unsolvable issues. Probably those unsolvable issues is what reflects some of the discontent that we hear throughout the Territory and, particularly, as local members when constituents come in to give you an earful about what they think.
Mr Deputy Speaker, I thank the Ombudsman. I wish him well in his future, and thank him for this report for the 2003-04 year.
Motion agreed to; paper noted.
Continued from 9 February 2005.
Mr ELFERINK (Macdonnell): Mr Deputy Speaker, I make a few points about the bill, and indicate at the outset that the opposition will be supporting it. It is not a difficult bill to understand regarding what is required and the changes that are proposed. However, it is worth visiting some of the issues that surround the bill.
It was not that long ago in this parliament, when the then minister for Infrastructure said on the 30 April 2003 that he could understand the plight of home buyers, as he remembered when he had to buy his own home his bank said to him:
This was during a debate, if memory serves me correctly, when we were talking about house and land prices in Alice Springs. I was being called a ‘doomsayer’ and all sorts of things at that time because I had the audacity to suggest that land prices in Alice Springs, because of the squeeze on the place, would start to creep up towards the $100 000 mark. I continued to be called a ‘doomsayer’ when land prices flopped over the $100 000 mark and hit $103 000 for the average block price. I was assured at the time that the release of Larapinta Stage 4 would plateau everything out and everything would be sweetness and light and we would live in the land of milk and honey. Before you end up in the land of milk and honey, you have to spend 40 years in the desert wandering. We do live in the desert and, clearly, the prices which are being asked for blocks at Larapinta at the moment are somewhere in the order of a $120 000 to $140 000.
I do not know if you have ever been to the top of Mt Gillen, but if you ever do take the opportunity to do so, you can see about a 100 km east, west, north, and south. Yet, we find ourselves struggling with a land squeeze in Alice Springs, which brings Alice Springs to a fairly precarious position.
The minister was lauding the success of his government today when noting that occupancy rates in this town were very much down, and that land and housing prices were crawling up. Well, that is what I have been saying is a matter of great concern to me. I own a property in this town and, from that perspective, I am delighted to hear that my land prices are going up.
However, the purpose of HomeNorth as an idea was to try to assist those people who needed to borrow money to get into the housing market young, early, first home buyers, that sort of thing. That is how it started as a system. Now what the minister is asking for is the power to not come back repeatedly to the parliament of the Northern Territory but, rather, to allow his CEO, under his signature, the ability to adjust the HomeNorth scheme for an environment which now changes so rapidly in land prices that it is cumbersome to go through the legislative process, and you will have to rely on the ability of the minister and his CEO to sign off on it.
To give you an idea of the impact of land prices in Alice Springs, I did a quick search on Real Estate Australia for LJ Hooker and looked up vacant land under the general heading of Sydney. Although there are some very expensive blocks in the Sydney area, there are also, in places like Marsden Park, South Bowenfels, Blacktown, Bowenfels again, and St Mary’s – well, I will not rely on the St Mary’s one, that is $7.5m worth. The ones in the Marsden Park and Bowenfels areas, which are on the fringes of Sydney as I understand it, are all in the order of $120 000 to $140 000. The message we can get from that is that you can buy on the fringes of Sydney for the same price that you can buy in Alice Springs. What will make Alice Springs attractive to young families who are seeking new places to live and make their way in life? Clearly, land prices ain’t going to be it!
The requirement of this minister is quite straightforward; it is easy to understand and clearly explained in the second reading speech. The bill is not difficult to read and, as I said at the outset, we intend to support the bill. I do, however, have one request to put to the minister. I have already indicated it to him and he has indicated his assent, and I am sure he will put it on the Parliamentary Record. The concern is that this is still public money we are dealing with and, as such, it needs to have some review process attached to it away from the minister’s hand or the hand of the CEO. Consequently, I have asked the minister if he were to sign off on a change recommended by his CEO of the HomeNorth scheme, that he will report that change to this House in one form or another so that this House can review the changes made to the scheme - I assume they will be values more than anything else – so we could uphold our end of the bargain which is, of course, reviewing the expenditure of taxpayers’ dollars for the good purposes and welfare of all Territorians.
Mr AH KIT (Housing): Madam Acting Deputy Speaker, I thank the shadow spokesman for his comments. It is fairly straightforward, but I will just run through it quickly to remind members what the bill is about.
The Housing Amendment Bill 2004 proposes to amend section 24 of the Housing Act and make consequential amendments to regulations and the Stamp Duty Act. The proposed amendment to the Housing Act will remove the requirement for home purchase assistance schemes to be prescribed by regulation and will, instead, allow the Chief Executive Officer Housing to approve such schemes following endorsement by the Minister for Housing.
The bill will significantly increase the administrative flexibility of home purchase assistance schemes and ensure that new and existing schemes can be more readily targeted and kept in line with market conditions. The maximum purchase price, income, and loan amount under the schemes will be reviewed annually, and Cabinet will be consulted before any changes are implemented.
A consequential amendment with retrospective effect to 1 July 2004 is required to the Stamp Duty Act to ensure that stamp duty concessions and rebates are available to those who purchased on a shared equity basis with government from 1 July 2004.
A further amendment will be required to the Housing Loans Act to allow loans governed under this act to benefit from the flexibility of the new schemes.
Government is bound by the Uniform Consumer Credit Code to notify consumers of any changes to rates and repayments. In line with the Uniform Consumer Credit Code, to ensure that Territorians are well informed by Territory Housing, loan recipients are always given at least 20 days notice of any change to rates. The Housing Amendment Bill simply enables good and responsive business practices for Territory Housing, and ensures that loans are relevant to borrowers’ needs.
In conclusion, yes, regarding a review, I have agreed that I will report to parliament when a review is undertaken. There are also briefings that I can offer to the shadow minister. We also have available the estimates process.
Mr Deputy Speaker, I commend the bill to the House.
Motion agreed to; bill read a second time.
Mr AH KIT (Housing)(by leave): Mr Deputy Speaker, I move that the bill be now read a third time.
Motion agreed to; bill read a third time.
Ms MARTIN (Chief Minister): Mr Deputy Speaker, I present the Report of the Ombudsman for the Northern Territory Relating to Administrative Actions of Government Authorities.
Ms MARTIN (Chief Minister): Mr Deputy Speaker, I move that the Report of the Ombudsman for the Northern Territory Relating to Administrative Actions of Government Authorities be printed.
Motion agreed to.
Ms MARTIN (Chief Minister): Mr Deputy Speaker, I move that the Assembly take note of the report. This report was presented to me by the Ombudsman pursuant to section 28 of the Ombudsman (Northern Territory) Act, regarding an investigation into the adequacy of the administrative actions taken by certain government authorities in relation to the granting and acceptance of a special purpose grant. In accordance with that act, I am required to lay the report before the Assembly within three sitting days.
During the debate on the Ombudsman’s annual report, we considered the importance of this statutory office holder in ensuring that there is open, transparent and accountable government. One of the Ombudsman’s main functions is to make recommendations to approve the administrative action of government agencies and local government councils which are within his jurisdiction.
In the report to hand, the Ombudsman has conducted an investigation into the administrative conduct of the Department of Community Development, Sport and Cultural Affairs and a local government council. To protect the privacy of individuals, the Ombudsman has determined not to name the local government council or individuals. I will also respect the privacy of individuals and the council in question.
The Ombudsman has investigated a complaint and found that the facts of the matter are, basically, that a grant of $35 000 was made to a council for a vehicle to monitor sacred sites and country. The council realised it had no budget provision to operate and maintain the vehicle and, therefore, it gifted it; that is, gave the vehicle to traditional owners. The gifting was only carried out after seeking the advice of the department, which incorrectly advised the council that it had the power to gift the vehicle.
The Ombudsman’s report epitomises why we have an office known as the Ombudsman. A member of the public made a complaint to the Office of the Ombudsman, the Ombudsman investigated and found the administrative practices of the department and the local government council were less than desirable and has made recommendations to improve them.
The department has accepted, in their entirety, the Ombudsman’s recommendations, and has already commenced a process of improving the administrative policies and procedures surrounding grant applications and approvals. The department, in carrying out the Ombudsman’s recommendations, will also facilitate ongoing training for local government council employees and members on the requirements and obligations of the Local Government Act.
The Ombudsman has also made recommendations to the local government council regarding the policy on the management of conflict of interest situations and a number of other good governance practices.
One of the Ombudsman’s recommendations is that a copy of the report be provided to the Auditor-General for his consideration. I have done this, in line with the Ombudsman’s recommendation. I hereby table the Ombudsman’s report in this matter.
Mr ELFERINK (Macdonnell): Mr Deputy Speaker, I will make a few comments now and then ask that the debate be adjourned to a later date to allow me to complete my comments.
As with all reports, you get a little suspicious when they hit the table on a Thursday on the last day of sittings. On a very cursory examination of the report that has only just this moment hit the table …
Ms Martin: It is standard procedure.
Mr ELFERINK: I am starting to get very curious about the role of the minister in this particular issue …
Members interjecting.
Mr ELFERINK: Well, let us talk about standard procedures. My understanding, in relation to standard procedures, is that they should be followed by government, and there is a clear indication that this is not the case in this instance.
It would be lovely to be able to review something like this so we can have these debates properly. This hits the table on a Thursday evening. It is going to be a report, doubtlessly, very critical of the minister in relation to how he has conducted himself in this particular incident. I am going to be reading this report carefully.
Mr Deputy Speaker, on Thursday evening, the last day of Alice Springs’ sittings, just before adjournment debate, this report hits the table. I seek leave to continue my remarks at a later date.
Leave granted.
Debate adjourned.
Mr HENDERSON (Leader of Government Business): Madam Speaker, I move that the Assembly, at its rising, adjourn until Tuesday, 3 May 2005 at 10 am and/or such other time and/or date as may be set by Madam Speaker pursuant to sessional order.
Motion agreed to.
Mr HENDERSON (Leader of Government Business): Madam Speaker, I move that the Assembly do now adjourn.
Madam Speaker, I would like to make some comments on the magnificent response by police, other authorities, communities and businesses in the wake of Cyclone Ingrid. We all remember the week that Cyclone Ingrid threatened the northern coastal communities of Queensland, Northern Territory and Western Australia. This afternoon, I take the opportunity to acknowledge and thank the tireless work of the many police officers in different communities, the volunteers and staff of Emergency Services, and the Bureau of Meteorology, as Ingrid lashed our coastline. I also acknowledge and thank the many businesses, community organisations and government agencies in their efforts to assist communities.
Ingrid first challenged the residents of Nhulunbuy, Elcho Island and the neighbouring communities during the early hours of Saturday, 12 March. All of us who followed Ingrid’s path on the Bureau of Meteorology web site were very concerned for the citizens of Nhulunbuy and Elcho Island, given that it was a Category 5 cyclone and something that was deeply concerning to all Territorians. Ingrid continued along the Top End coast, tormenting the communities of Maningrida, Goulburn Island, Croker Island, Cobourg and Cape Don, just to mention a few, before hitting the Tiwi Islands and finally leaving our coastline. Following the path of Ingrid on that Bureau of Meteorology web site, it was concerning for Nhulunbuy. The forecast showed Ingrid moving only 40 km to the north of Nhulunbuy. It was a tight and condensed cyclone. Fortunately, Nhulunbuy was spared the eye of the cyclone. I called my colleague, the member for Nhulunbuy, the next morning - the mobile phones were still functioning - and the member for Nhulunbuy and good friend, Syd Stirling said: ‘Gee, it was a pretty hairy night, and everybody is just glad to be alive’. It is chance, really, when these cyclones come through, whether you are going to score a direct hit or have a very close escape. For the good communities of Nhulunbuy and Elcho Island, it was a close escape.
The recovery process, led by the Counter Disaster Management Plan, was quick to start in Nhulunbuy with power connected to most homes late on Saturday. Nearly 150 service lines to houses, 19 high voltage supply lines, and three towers were repaired in a joint effort by electrical staff from Alcan, DXH Electrical and CJ Mansfield, within 48 hours. Debris and fallen trees were cleared from roads and houses with the assistance of staff from various organisations, and was continued during the week by crews from the Nhulunbuy Corporation.
Charter flights with supplies were despatched to Croker Island taking to the community blankets, bottled water, tarpaulins, generators and a team of Emergency Service volunteers with chainsaws, and the Arnhem Land Progress Association quickly responded with the coordination of food supplies. The Chief Minister and I flew in to the community of Minjilang on Croker just a couple of days after the cyclone to be greeted by some very relieved residents who had copped the full brunt of the cyclone. It was amazing that nobody was killed, and even more amazing that nobody was injured by that very nasty cyclone.
Very quickly, I also pay tribute tonight to Telstra which, within hours of daylight on the Saturday morning, flew a helicopter into Croker Island to Minjilang and quickly established telephone contact with the outside world. The residents were certainly very impressed with how quickly Telstra came to their aid to get communication back. Power and Water staff also arrived to repair fallen powerlines and restore power to the community, and a team from Health and Community Services arrived to assess the need for mattresses, whitegoods and other essential household items. Health staff educated the community on melioidosis and other health issues and provided footwear to chronic disease patients.
A Perkins shipping barge left Darwin last Sunday for Croker with supplies and specialty equipment urgently required for the safe removal of asbestos. There was some media comment a couple of days ago, I recall, of concern that some asbestos fibres from houses and the school that were destroyed, might have got into the atmosphere. However, I believe that the response effort was organised as quickly as it could be, and most of that asbestos should be cleared by now.
Three NT Emergency Services teams and commercial contractors worked on removing debris and fallen trees. The Darwin City Council also provided a team of plant and chainsaw operators for the communities of Milikapiti and Pirlangimpi to assist with the debris removal. Congratulations to those Emergency Services workers who very quickly were there to put their hands up to volunteer to go to Croker and the Tiwis to assist with removing fallen material from houses and streets. It was great to see those orange uniforms in Minjilang and Milikapiti, with people volunteering their time to assist their fellow Territorians to clean up after the cyclone. Paradise Landscaping assisted the communities of Milikapiti and Pirlangimpi with debris removal as well. Mobile Electrics was on-site at Pirlangimpi and also in Cape Don, working into the night, repairing, testing and certifying power connections.
Late Monday, water was operational and power had been restored to all homes at Croker, with more work to be completed at the school. It is hoped that the students from Croker will be able to continue their studies in demountables in Term 2. Homes have been assessed and measured for roof and other repairs. The removal of debris continues. In Milikapiti, Pirlangimpi and Nguiu, power, water and sewerage have been restored and are now operational; students have returned to school; assessment and repairs of homes continues; as does the removal of debris. The communities of Yirrkala, Elcho Island, Goulburn, Millingimbi, and Maningrida are also up and running with power, water and sewerage, schools and the health clinics back open for business. Repairs and assessment to homes continues.
The government’s ongoing response is now being led by Lyle Campbell from DIPE. Travelling around the communities with Lyle as I did with the Chief Minister, 10 days or so ago, I am sure that Lyle and his crew will do a great job.
It was quite amazing to see so many people up and about so quickly to restore those communities. Congratulations and thank you to everybody. I have only mentioned a few of the many businesses and community organisations that responded to the needs of our community. However, before I close, I also acknowledge Airnorth, which endorsed and provided the plane to evacuate seven people from Truscott, west of Darwin near Kalumburu in Western Australia, known to most people as a historic World War II air base and forward supply base for the oil and gas fields to the north. Pilots Wayne Seckhold and Ryan Baker, together with cabin attendant, Bindi Kerkhoff, flew to the tiny airstrip and evacuated the remaining people to Darwin. Truscott does not have a cyclone shelter suitable for seven people, and Ingrid certainly left her mark with repairs required to the airstrip following Ingrid’s visit.
As Police minister, I had the opportunity to attend a Counter Disaster Council meeting to see first-hand how all of the agencies swing into action when a cyclone warning is in place. I was very impressed with the organisation and commitment from senior public servants and other public servants down the line putting their cyclone plans in place. Thankfully for the good citizens of Darwin, we did not have to batten down and bear the full brunt of a Category 5 cyclone. However, some of those smaller communities did. The fact that everybody is alive and well, with no injuries that I am aware of, is certainly testament to people in those communities following their cyclone disaster plans. Congratulations to everybody and let us hope that we do not ever have a Category 5 cyclone hit Darwin. From what I have seen and witnessed first-hand as Police minister this time, I believe we are as prepared as we can be.
Mrs AAGAARD (Nightcliff): Madam Acting Deputy Speaker, it is good to jump quickly. First, let me wish all honourable members a happy Easter and those members who have travelled to these sittings a safe return to their families. I also extend a happy Easter to all staff members of the Legislative Assembly and staff who are working for the government and for the opposition.
I wish to continue tonight with recognition of the schools in my electorate, which I started last night. The Essington School in Darwin has recently announced its school captains and student representative council. It was my pleasure to present the leadership badges to students at a special assembly on Friday, 18 March. Leadership is something that is important that we encourage in young people, and I offer my sincere congratulations to the rotating girl’s school captain and vice captains, Rose McMeel, Grace Ness and Rachael Pen-Dennis; and the rotating boy’s school captain and vice captains, Alex Bleakley, Hayden Meyers and Zac Ramjan. I also offer my congratulations to all members of the SRC and house leaders and wish them success throughout the year. I seek leave to incorporate the names of students in the SRC and house captaincy.
Leave granted.
Mrs AAGAARD: I would like to add that this year, the house system at the Essington School in Darwin has changed. Traditionally, the school had three houses with Northern Territory reptiles as their mascots: frilled necked lizards, geckos and skinks. This year, the houses will adopt the name of a Territory early explorer or a pioneer, but retain their reptile mascot and colour. Frillies will be known as Gunn House after Jeannie Gunn, the famous Territorian author of We of the Never Never; and geckos will be known as Flynn House after the Reverend John Flynn of the Australian Inland Mission. I was delighted to hear this; Reverend Flynn is a distant relative of mine, being my great-grandmother’s first cousin. This is a closer relationship than it seems, as the Reverend Flynn had no siblings and no children of his own. I guess I will be barracking for Flynn at the Essington School’s sports carnival this year. Skinks has become Wickham House and is named after one of the first European exploring sailors, John Wickham, who was a First Lieutenant on the Beagle from 1831 to 1836, on its famous voyage with Charles Darwin in the 1830s.
Students at the Essington School have competed annually in swimming and athletics. In 2004, this competition was expanded to include soccer and softball in their house competition. In 2005, it is planned that further expansion of inter-house activities will take place in the sporting, performing arts and community service areas.
While I was at the assembly, the school was celebrating Harmony Day and I would like recognise the students and teachers of the school who produced beautiful posters based on the Harmony Day theme of YOU + ME = US. The Transition students’ posters where of particular note, and I encourage them to continue their artistic endeavours and to continue to live out Harmony Day every day in the school community.
I would like to recognise the students who are showing real leadership at St Paul’s Catholic School at Rapid Creek. This is a very small Catholic school, ably led by the Principal, Mrs Mary Cutjar, and the many able teachers at St Paul’s Primary School. The school has recently announced its school captains and house captains and I congratulate them all and wish them success over the coming year. The school captains are Rachel Zagorskis and Alex O’Regan. The house captains for Henshke, which is red, are Mitchell Edwards and Jessica Ross; for Chevalier, which is blue, are Adrian Quan and Sarah Santamaria; for Hartzer, which is green, Kyle MacKenzie and Annelise Lelli; and for Hargreaves, which is gold, Dan Kohlman and Sarah Coburn. Best wishes to all of those students.
I have yet another school in my electorate, the Milkwood Steiner School, which opened in the Scout Hall in Bauhinia Street in 2004 with 24 students. This year, the school has opened with 55 students and three teachers, a tremendous effort for such a small school and an indication of the high educational standard at the school. It has been a pleasure to get to know the parents, teachers and students at this delightful school and I congratulate them on reaching the goals of Steiner education: to produce individuals who are able in and of themselves to impart meaning to their lives.
This is a school where parent involvement is absolutely essential to the success of the school, and I congratulate all parents of the school and, particularly, the school council members: chairperson, Mr Michael Wells; secretary, Ms Naomi Rea; treasurer, Dominique Lynch; public officer, Ms Deidre Edward; and councillors Dr Tarun Weeramanthri, Kylie Andropov, Laureen Ward, Kelvin Leitch, Jen Taylor and Peter Hand.
It was also my pleasure to visit the Milkwood Steiner School in late February during the weekly Milkwood Caf, which happens at 2.30 every Friday, to see the renovations completed at the school over the Christmas holidays. I was very pleased to see - and I am sure the minister for Education will be pleased to hear - that the $4400 grant for airconditioning from the Department of Employment, Education and Training had been put to very good use and formed part of the renovations for a special area for the school. This is the only airconditioned part of the school. The children and parents are very happy with that new area and a new office. Congratulations to the parents and the whole team at the Milkwood Steiner School.
Mr MILLS (Blain): Madam Acting Deputy Speaker, first I wish to acknowledge all of those who have worked behind the scenes to make this sitting in Central Australia so successful and memorable. I particularly acknowledge the fine people who have opened the door for me every time I have approached it. I am wondering how I am going to cope back in Darwin and Palmerston having to open my own doors.
I pay particular tribute to the security staff. They have been superb in their professionalism and I take this opportunity to acknowledge them. I will read their names out. Thank you, I am sure on behalf of all honourable members, to: Rod Fraser, Stash Struginski, Steve Rodgers, Andrew Milner, Andrew Bak, Stefan Cocheau, Liam Fraser, Tim Wines, Donelle Stockwell, Nathan James and Robert Warfe. There are also members of the Lasseters Hotel Casino surveillance staff. They have done an outstanding job and it is a delight to see this level of professionalism representing the security staff. Behind them are those who have worked within this casino, from the different agencies represented, from the police, and from the Legislative Assembly. It has been tremendous for each of us who are representatives of our own communities to have this level of professionalism to support us in our endeavours.
Like all Australians, Territorians want a fair deal. This demand for fairness and, in this case, a fair deal from Canberra, gave birth to an entirely new political organisation, the Country Liberal Party, over 30 years ago here in Alice Springs. The forging of two political parties into a single unit could only be achieved by pragmatic Territorians who were united in a demand of a fair deal from those who live far from us in Canberra. The formation of this unique political organisation occurred just over 30 years ago here in Alice Springs.
At that time, Territorians demanded two things, and only one of these central planks have been achieved: self-government; the right for Territorians to decide on matters that affect them, remote from the control of Canberra. The other one is statehood and, as yet remains outstanding. This parliament held in the Centre demonstrates the achievement of self-government. It is an achievement, perhaps taken for granted. I note the numbers that attended the parliamentary sittings in 2003 were in excess of those that have attended the sittings here in 2005. I predict that, if we continually hold our sittings here, perhaps fewer and fewer people would come and we would begin to take it for granted. I accept that. Nonetheless, this is an historic event, borne out of the aspirations and the fight of Territorians well over 30 years ago and brought to culmination here in the Centre. It was a fight that was brought by Territorians united beneath a central idea: a fair deal for Territorians.
Just one matter remains undelivered, and that is statehood. Territorians want equal status with our cousins in the Commonwealth of Australia. We may argue that the CLP was the political force that united Territorians in the battle for proper representation for Australians citizens living in the Northern Territory. Yes, it was the CLP, but the CLP is people - ordinary Territorians united around a central idea. In fact, it is not organisations that make a difference, it is people. It is those people who work together in this organisation called the CLP that made that difference and delivered self-government for Territorians.
One of those people was Bernie Kilgariff, a man of the land and a fighter for the families of the Territory who has made a difference. Bernie, the fight for the Territory is not over. The founders of the CLP wanted Territorians to have rights equal of any Australian. This is unfinished business and we have a duty to maintain the fight for equal rights for Territorians, and that means statehood.
Bernie, I thank you for your support and your contribution to the party, and for your donation to the party to support that fight to achieve statehood for Territorians. I understand, as a family man, that blood is thicker than water, and I judge your comments of support for a Labor candidate as words of support from a father to a daughter. I also love my daughter. Bernie, your contribution to the Territory remains undiminished, and the foundations established by you and those who toiled beside you will be built on as we fight for the Territory through the party born here in Central Australia - a fight that will ultimately deliver equal rights to Australian citizens who live in the Northern Territory.
Another issue that needs to be addressed by our community is to raise our appreciation for the value of trade and technical skills. We have to change the way we view and value these skills in education. We speak of a skills shortage. Everyone seems to talk of a skills shortage these days. There were those who spoke of these skills shortages a year or two ago and predicted it would become a significant issue that required innovative policy of a significant nature. Now everyone is saying the same thing. A skills shortage becomes pronounced when we have an economy that is growing. That is when we really notice that we have fallen short in addressing a core issue: ensuring that our young people are connected in a meaningful way to be able to contribute to the growth of their community and society. When the economy grows, that is when we notice the work that we should have done earlier. There are many figures that indicate the nature of this shortage, but everyone will agree that it has a profound effect and demands a strong policy response from government.
The underlying problem is, in fact, the education system itself. I do not want to separate anyone’s view of the education system one way or another; we are all involved in the business of education. However, our education system itself does not value, and has been unable to value adequately, trade and technical skills. In one way or another, we have all been involved in that; we all celebrate those who succeed academically. There is an element of academic snobbery within education and our society; we all like to know that our kids are going off to university. This has prevailed in Australia for too many years: that the child who does an apprenticeship is inferior to the one who goes to university. That must cease! In fact, economic forces are demanding that change in any event.
I have two children. One has gone to university and one is on the land. I value them both highly and, in fact, the contribution they both make is equal in completely different spheres. I have spoken to too many young apprentices who feel that they have limped out of the education system unendorsed and unvalued. That must change. As a society, we must value those who take that alternative path.
One way of demonstrating this is to ensure that the technical studies facilities in our high schools are elevated into meaningful operation. Too many of our technical studies facilities in our schools are the repository of broken furniture, and are the spare room of our high schools. That must end. If we, as a society, are going to change the way education delivers on a primary objective - that is, to elevate the value of trade and technical skills and to allow our young citizens to participate in a growing economy - we have to have our tech studies rooms working as one of the main rooms within our schools.
We have had computer facilities that have been elevated, and we think a school is fantastic because it has great IT facilities or a great science lab. Well, schools will be viewed as great in the eyes of the community in time to come when they have trade and technical facilities that are second to none. We do not want to have the debate whether this one or that one is appropriate. Kids need to get their hands on making something - whether it is plastics, woodwork, metalwork or a range of skills such as welding - that they have an encounter with a trade and a technical skill, and then it can lead onto other things. Many of our boys, in particular, need to have that connection with what education is actually about.
There are many ways that we can approach this problem. There are two ways that I have already addressed: one is that we have to elevate trade and technical facilities in our schools - the tech rooms have to be dusted off and elevated and deemed as valuable within our education operation - and the other one is, as a community, we have to value those who leave our education system and go to apprenticeships. They have to be brought front and centre within our communities and recognised for their achievements and endorsed as successes.
Once we have elevated our trade and technical facilities within in our schools, we can then use them after hours. There are many within our community who would like to get their hands involved in how a metal lathe works or learn how to do a bit of welding. These facilities do not have to stop at 3 pm; they can go on after hours. Many can come back into the schools. Many of those who work in industry who are, perhaps, retired can be brought back into these facilities to strengthen our skills base within our community. Many people like to learn these things, and there are many people out there with skills who would like to pass them on. I know any number of young lads who wander around at a loose end who would like to have that sense of achievement of knowing how to strip a small motor and put it back together again.
Is there a demand for such courses? I reckon as a community, if we start to think differently and reprioritise, there will be a demand. Already, there is demand for such skills acquisition that could be taken up by juvenile justice and diversionary programs. If we had facilities like that, our young ones could be connected to some meaningful engagement and walk around feeling a little better about themselves, because they now know how to do something. They understand how a carburettor works, for example, or how to cut something with a metal saw. They end up with some skills that make them feel that they have a contribution to make. They are the sorts of things that I would like to see changed, and we can do that.
Qualified staff will be a problem. Yes, there will be a range of problems that people will raise, but every problem has a solution if we have a will to make a difference. There are plenty of people who currently work in industry and, with the right incentives and value placed on this kind of education, we can address these problems and overcome them. I propose one that I believe would be a fair target, and many would join this fight. The multinationals that come and occupy certain space within our labour market and our economy often resort to fly-in and fly-out. In the case of one multinational in the Top End, they are taking every molecule of gas from offshore, bringing it onshore, and every single molecule leaves. Not only does every molecule of gas leave the Northern Territory, but they have a significant effect on the labour force within the Northern Territory. I believe it is time that, as communities, we rise up and say: ‘You are having an effect on our labour force; you are drawing a benefit’. There is some short-term benefit that flows into our community, but it is time to make a contribution to the growth of skills acquisition within our community - a levy or contribution made of some kind. A contribution to such training should be mandatory and we, as a community and a parliament, should be able to make decisions like that to ensure that that occurs. There is a moral authority that would be behind such a position. That is the sort of position that people expect from people who sit in these chairs - and I notice they are all sitting here at the moment and agreeing with everything I say; that those sorts of arguments would be supported.
They are the sorts of things that our community wants to see these parliaments do: put pressure on those multinationals which draw immense benefit and could pass much more on to the local host community by way of an investment in training and skills acquisition. That is one of the problems that could be overcome.
As I said, every problem has a solution. If we do not have enough money - notwithstanding $600m extra in GST revenue – to elevate the trade and technical skills facilities in our high schools, I reckon that we could mount a strong argument to the multinationals to make a contribution to elevate those facilities.
Madam Acting Deputy Speaker, I look forward to being in Alice Springs in a couple of years’ time.
Mr KIELY (Sanderson): Madam Acting Deputy Speaker, I enjoy being a parliamentarian. It is great to participate in debates in this House. However, I guess one of the downsides is that you cannot get away to all the community events that are in one’s electorate because of obligations within the House. It is to this that I turn my attention to tonight because, while we were here at the sittings, there was a great event at my local primary school Anula to celebrate Harmony Day.
I have been to other previous Harmony Day functions at Anula School which were fantastic and colourful. Anula School has an Intensive English Unit. Children who come to Australia requiring English skills go to Anula School. There are about eight teachers now working with these students. When they reach a certain proficiency, they are then able to go out into mainstream classrooms, either in Anula School or into schools closer to where they live. You can imagine that Harmony Day at Anula School is something special and fantastic. So it was on Wednesday 23rd that they had their celebrations while we were here in Alice.
I would like to read you the welcoming speech that the principal gave, because this is the best way that I can get across the feeling and the strength of commitment to harmony that is shared by the whole school community. I am quoting principal, Maree Garrigan’s speech:
Thanks also to Mr Mark Pearce, classroom teacher, for the sound system. I believe he is going to be featuring in Guys and Dolls coming up soon. Mark is a very talented musician and a very good – I do not know what you would call him …
Mr Wood: An Actor.
Mr KIELY: An actor; a very good actor. Yes, I have seen him in many shows.
Thanks to Ms Linda Joy, classroom teacher, for assisting in the development of the application for funding from the Office of Multicultural Affairs and the Chief Minister’s Department. Some of us might recall that Linda was caught up in the tsunami. She was in Thailand, and she helped out. She is still very impassioned about the plight of the people who were all affected by the tsunami, but particularly those in Thailand and Indonesia. She has an ongoing commitment to working with those communities to help alleviate their distress and creating a better future for them wherever she can.
Thanks to Mr Mark Bunnett, performing arts teacher, for his work with many classes which performed, and Mrs Elizabeth Andrade, classroom teacher, for working with all the classes to screen print the Balinese flags. That was the purpose of the grant from the Office of Multicultural Affairs; they made Balinese prayer flags. That is a commendable effort by the Anula School.
They had a great range of Australians from different heritages and nationalities. I assume that, at the start and end of the ceremony, they had people come out and speak their different languages as a great demonstration of the difference. There were speakers who said ‘Lemonzat Afandim’, which is Turkish for ‘hello’; ‘Marhada Beik’ which is Arabic for ‘how are you?’; ‘Kalimera’ Greek for ‘good morning’ and, of course, the member for Casuarina would know that word quite well; ‘Guten morgen’, from our German Australians; ‘Maligayang Bati’, which is Filipino for ‘welcome’; ‘Como estas’, which is Portuguese for ‘how are you?’; ‘Kwa Heri’, which is ‘goodbye’ in Kiswahili, and one which also demonstrates the multiculturalism of the Territory ‘Mummuk’, which is ‘goodbye’ in Pitjantjatjara.
As I said, Sanderson is a multicultural and diverse community. It is really not too much different from the rest of the Territory, to tell you the truth. It always strikes me as fantastic. I also get behind some organisations which have a very multicultural flavour. I have been a keen supporter of the International Women’s Day movement. I sponsored a banner, have contributed to their spreads in the paper, and I get to their events.
The Women United for Peace 3rd Annual International Women’s Day market was held on Sunday, 5 March, in the Smith Street mall. The event was officially open by Ali Mills and the guest speaker was Dr Chamari Jayawardina. Her opening message was very strong and sent positive messages to all women. The highlights of the event were great dance performances from the different cultural and ethnic backgrounds such as the Philippines, Samoa, New Guinea, Ireland and India, along with groups such as the Senior Chinese Choir, the Kiribati Dancers, the Tifa of the South Seas, Rince na Eireann Irish dancers who were very busy this past St Patrick’s Day, Sunameke, Thai dancers, Cambodian dancers, Midnight Oasis, Penina Ole Pacifika Samoan Dancing, Frangipannis Church Choir and the SIK Group performing the hip hop dance. Each group was proud to show off their unique style of dancing for everyone to enjoy.
There was also a great performance by the Telstra Country Wide country music winner, Jessica Mauboy. I have known Jessica for quite some years now. She is a student of Sanderson High. She is quite a credit to her family, her school, and to the community. That young lady has a beautiful voice, and I am sure she has a great future ahead of her.
There were also some cultural exhibits and information stalls, and children’s activities and food tasting which were provided by the African community. There were activities for the children, who participated in the circus workshop and face painting activities which were set up by the Amazing Deb of Kidz Fun Biz. I have known Miss Deb for quite some years. My kids have been going off to Fun Bus and all the different things Darwin City Council put on around the place for years now, along with many families in Darwin. Miss Deb and Chantelle the Fairy have always been there. Miss Deb has a real great heart for kids. She is fantastic on a unicycle. For those who might recall, there was a photo of her in the Northern Territory News bungee jumping on a unicycle. That was quite a feat. I dare say, not too many people have done it. She certainly did.
The Women United for Peace 3rd Annual Women’s Day could not have been held unless it had the support of the Multicultural Council of the NT, the Community Benefit Fund and, of course, the great work by the Darwin City Council, which is right behind it 100%. Congratulations to all those groups, particularly Darwin City Council. There are also individuals who should be thanked and acknowledged. These are Emma Sullivan, Nadja Reiter, Therla Fowlestone, Emmy Koenig, Judith Ventic, Leelamani Gunaratham, Thyra Ou, Beena Vaikyl, Myrna Smith, Michelle Scott, Di Fuamoli, Fatuma Ahmad and Fatuma Muhudin. These women all put in a great effort for a spectacular day. There were around 200 to 300 people there, I believe. I was there for hours, and it was a little hot. I hope we can work with Darwin City Council next year for perhaps a little more shade, or maybe have it in Raintree Park. It might have just been the day, it has been an exceptional Wet Season and the days have been a little hotter that people expect. Perhaps it was a bit of a weather condition that made everyone feel a little overheated on the day.
In closing, I also thank all the staff at the convention centre for the work and effort they put in to make all of us welcome. I particularly thank members of the Legislative Assembly for their time and effort in making this such a success. I extend my thanks to the people of Alice Springs for the interest they have shown in their parliament here; it is fantastic. I look forward, all things being equal, to being able to return here. I am sure Alice Springs will want us back again. I must say that I get here whenever I can; Alice Springs is a great place.
While I am here, I would like to say good luck to the candidates we have picked in the seats: John Gaynor is a great family man who has great talents - his kids go to school here; he has deep roots in the community now - Sue West; Alison Anderson, a hardworking country woman who is doing a fantastic job for her community; and Fran Kilgariff are all well known. I have known all these people for many years. They are all well known within the community. I will not go into giving them each big wrap-ups, just to say good luck to you, enjoy the experience, you have my support and my parliamentary party’s support. We hope to see you after the election in the first session of the new parliament.
Dr LIM (Greatorex): Madam Acting Deputy Speaker, I have a couple of issues to raise tonight in relation to this document that was tabled by the government some time ago – in fact, in October last year. It is entitled The Assessment of Organisational Effectiveness, Human Resource and Management Systems within DEET Central Australian Office, or colloquially called the grievance report.
There are continuing issues with the office of DEET, and there are two particular people I want to mention who have had grievances with the department for quite some time. The minister is aware of these instances, the department up to the very top is aware of these problems, and they do not seem to be able to get to any resolution.
The first one - and I will mention her name because she is happy for me to mention it - is Sue Crowe, the current Principal of Ross Park Primary School. She has been the principal of that school for almost five years now. In those five years, she has not been offered a contract of employment by DEET and she does not know why. She has approached the CEO and all levels in between. She has approached the minister through her own school council and she is not getting any response. She has no idea why she is not being offered a contract, whereas other principals in all our schools have contracts with DEET. She does not and it is time for the minister to respond to that. I have written to the minister in relation to this person, and I hope the minister will respond fairly quickly so that we can put Ms Sue Crowe’s issues to rest. She is a very effective principal, and has made Ross Park School grow significantly these last five years. It is now, probably, the biggest primary school I have in my electorate, if not across Alice Springs, with over 300 students in the school. She has been a very effect principal; the school council supports her totally and would like to see some resolution to her problems.
The other person who has a problem is a man by the name of Antonio Setas-Martins, who now lives in Victoria. He wrote a letter to the minister for Education on 6 January this year. My last communication with Mr Setas-Martins was only about two weeks ago. Up to that point, he had still not had a response from the minister. I want to read much of the letter he wrote to the minister:
I will not use the name of the officer except to use the words ‘the officer’:
This is where, perhaps, the department’s and Mr Antonio Setas-Martins’ view might deviate. I go on with the letter:
So, he was in Tennant Creek from Melbourne, on his own, early in the year:
So, it was the middle of the year, rather than earlier in the year; the middle of July last year:
That letter was written to the minister in January this year. To date, he has had no response from this minister. Well, minister whether this man’s story is exactly 100% accurate, I have no way of finding out. However, I say to the minister: at least respond to this man; he is waiting for resolution to his difficulties. If you are genuine about taking on the recommendations in this grievance report and trying to resolve staff grievances with management, then deal with this. Do not sit back and hide in your ivory tower in Darwin and ignore this poor man who is struggling to come to terms with his life. He needs closure.
In the closing minutes, I also congratulate the staff of the Legislative Assembly for these wonderful parliamentary sittings in Alice Springs. While we recognise that there are fewer people who have attended in this last three days - it may be because they are busy and have no time to get here - those who did, enjoyed it.
I believe the school students all enjoyed the experience, but were sometimes a little bewildered by what was happening on the floor. However, all the same, they did enjoy it. I believe the staff of the Parliamentary Liaison and Information Unit have worked very well and had the students well briefed prior to entering the Chamber. When I went up to the benches to talk to them, many of the students seemed to understand what was going on.
Thanks to those who worked so hard in the Legislative Assembly from the Clerk to every member of the staff. I do not want to name names because I bet my bottom dollar I will miss out someone. Thank you all for the hard work that you have done. We cannot forget the volunteers. There were many people from Alice Springs who volunteered to assist. They were wearing the green T-shirts with the Legislative Assembly emblem on it. There were many of them around the building. Good on you, Alice Springs, for helping out. This is a great thing and I am glad to see them sharing in the experience of parliament in Alice Springs.
Thanks to the IT staff. IT worked very well this time around. Yes, we had a bit of a glitch yesterday afternoon, but it took about half-an-hour to an hour and things were sorted out and returned to normal again. IT worked well. However, it would be lovely to get the IT into the Chamber, Mr Deputy Clerk, if it is possible. That would be great. It worked well. It also made parliamentarians think a little harder about what they wanted to say because they did not have the computers to fall back on. They had to get their notes together prior to coming to Chamber. Really, this is the traditional way of parliamentary debate; where you have notes and then you proceed with your debate rather than having all your speeches written out fully and just read them. Obviously, some people did that, but others relied on memory and notes.
The Group 4 security staff, who have been working with the security screening machines at the front door, did a great job and were very friendly. I am sure that no one felt inconvenienced at all by having to go through the magnetic sensors. The member for Blain commented that the casino staff were opening doors for us. I am sure that they built up a very good, strong arm doing that. Thank you to all for their courtesy and sharing in the whole experience.
The people who came as visitors were the ones who made this experience worthwhile. As a local member in Alice Springs - this is Greatorex, this is where you are, where this place is located. Seeing people from Greatorex sitting in the gallery, your performance does lift because they are there watching you, so you try to do a better job.
Over the last week, I was really running flat out, going to many schools in the electorate talking to the schools students about what was going to happen here, the layout of the room, the significance of the Mace, the Despatch Boxes and the like. I believe they found it interesting. I went to schools such as Living Waters, OLSH Sadadeen and Traeger, Sadadeen Primary School and Ross Park School, where I spoke to all the students. I believe they all enjoyed my presentation; I made it as light as possible. When they came in here I thought they then appreciated the significance of parliament sitting in Alice Springs.
The CLP has undertaken that we will continue this program when we are in government, and Alice Springs can be assured that this will continue into the ever distant future.
Madam ACTING DEPUTY SPEAKER: Member for Greatorex, your time is up. I would like to remind the member for Greatorex that we were going fine with IT until you mentioned it!
Mr WOOD (Nelson): We have not finished yet, there are surprises coming, Madam Acting Deputy Speaker. I concur with the members for Greatorex, Blain and Sanderson in thanking all the casino staff, police, security people and volunteers. I am sure I am going to forget somebody, but if I do not remember Madam Speaker, Kathy, Caroline and Robyn, I will be in a lot of trouble, because I know they did a lot of work. Madam Speaker and slaves is, I believe, what they have been known as lately. I know they did heaps of work and certainly helped.
The convention centre has been a wonderful place to stay. You could not get a nicer view from this convention centre; it is very good. The caterers, yes, I can guarantee they make some really nice pavlova. I will remember that pavlova for a long time. However, I digress.
I thank everybody for all the work they have done in making this a successful parliamentary sittings.
I have a slightly more serious issue I was going to raise during Question Time. Unfortunately, Question Time was halved today. I know people in Litchfield Shire are going to be fairly concerned that their rates may go up quite substantially because there is a fairly strong rumour around that the government is intending to not re-license the Humpty Doo landfill site. This means, unless they get another site, they will have to transfer all their rubbish to the Shoal Bay dump, which belongs to Darwin City Council and is under contract to Henry and Walker - at least, as far as I know, it is still contracted to them. This will put quite a substantial increase into the cost of getting rid of waste from Litchfield Shire.
I was going to ask the government today: is it their intention to close the tip at Humpty Doo? Why have they not looked at a new site in the Litchfield Shire? Litchfield Shire is 3100 km2 and, if we cannot find another site, I will go he - instead of having to take it all the way into Darwin. I actually believe that, to some extent, Litchfield council has been singled out for special attention. I would like to know how many tips in the Northern Territory under the control of the Department of Environment and Heritage have been licensed? It is all very well to say Litchfield is a big place, but I do not think it matters whether you have a big tip or a little tip; if those tips are not environmentally friendly, close them down as well. I have the feeling that there have been some complaints about the Humpty Doo tip. The government has decided enough is enough, and that is it. I do not believe that the Humpty Doo landfill site is in the best place, but at least give them an alternative, otherwise ratepayers are certainly going to have to pay a lot more money to shift their rubbish.
What other council in the Northern Territory has to cover its green waste as required by the Department of Environment and Heritage? It is an enormous amount of money on what I believe is a total waste of money and time. If you are worried about burning it, let us put up a bigger fence around it or something. However, to have to cover your green waste, to me, is just an extraordinary waste of resources, time and money. I believe the government should review that decision they have made because it is just costing ratepayers a lot of money.
On a couple of local lighter items, some people might have seen an article in the paper about a young boy called William Robson who has a rare form of cancer. He is only three years old and he has a cancer, I think, that forms on his liver. He has to get continual treatment in Darwin and Brisbane.
A young lady called Romena who works for Territory Kidz at Bees Creek decided to organise a concert to raise money to help this little boy. This was some concert, and also an auction. We had masses of gifts for the auction, and people – some of the best singers in the Territory - gave up their time. We actually got a free concert. If you did not want to go to the auction and pay any money, you still got a beautiful concert. We had some terrific people give up their time: Shelly Morris, Susan Bisset and Colleen singing harmonies, Jessica Mauboy who has already been to Tamworth and is bringing out her new CD - she has a voice like silk; Mandy Garling who has also been to Tamworth and back; some dancers from Sanderson High School - Larah and Ceah; and from Africa we had Samiria, Sadia and Nadine - two girls from, I think, Ghana and one from the Congo all gave their time dancing; Natalie Leysley, who is the sister of Romena and is a talented dancer. She is an Aboriginal woman who has done quite a bit of work in Sydney. She lives in Darwin and is also in Guys and Dolls along with Mark Pearce. She also performed. We also had David Spry and Mark Hoffman who is a didgeridoo player. He played a didgeridoo that was up for auction which brought in quite a considerable amount of money.
We raised well over $10 000 that night just from things that were auctioned off and the barbecue. There was a great crowd there. The concert was held at the Litchfield Bears Club House at Freds Pass. It just shows you that, even though people think rural people are a bit insulated - they like to sit on their five-acre block and forget their neighbours - when there is someone in need they come to the party. Everybody got together for this top concert. If you talk about Harmony Day, this was a perfect example of Harmony Day. There was a great cross-section of races of people there. It was a fantastic day. I was the MC and some people said it must have been hard work. It was not hard work; it was great fun. You are privileged to be asked to do those things.
I must mention my shirt. The NT News had a nice photograph of my shirt a few months ago. Madam Speaker was shocked and horrified by me wearing that particular shirt into parliament on the first anniversary of my election. That shirt cost me $180 to keep. It is now worth $230. I have told Ed Harry how expensive their shirts are. I am hoping one day to see whether, once again, I can wear it in parliament.
The other fundraising evening we had was at the Howard Springs Tavern. That was for the Leukaemia Foundation. As people know, just recently it was Shave or Colour Your Hair Day. We got together a great lot of people in the pub. Again, I was lucky enough to be the MC. If I have another job in life, I am going to be a professional MC.
I do not know whether people know Waldo, who is the local bush poet. He has a long beard and a fair bit of hair. Anyway, he turned up for the night. They took off all the hair on the top of his head and painted his beard red and split it in half. He looked like Yosemite Sam – just the spitting image of him. There were all sorts of people there. This was organised by Jenny Mijota who comes from NT Stockfeeds. The girls from the Shearing Shed cut hair, and Carolyn Wilkinson did the face painting. I have to thank Jim and Tracey from the Howard Springs Tavern. Howard Springs Tavern was taken over by Jim and Tracey, who originally owned the Elliott Hotel. They moved to Howard Springs and that tavern has never looked back. They are very supportive of community events; we have many events in that place, and they are very generous. They helped with $600 worth of meals that night. The takings from the meals went straight to the Leukaemia Foundation.
It was funny that a bloke called James from the Salvation Army was doing the rounds as they do on Friday nights at the pub. He was coming around collecting money while we were trying to raise money by people getting their hair cut. He eventually gave up and went and sat on the chair and had his hair cut. He enjoyed getting his haircut. He reckons it made him look a finer bloke. I promised everybody that everyone at the pub would be at church on Sunday.
It was a great night. I just thought I would give you some idea what a great night it was. Normally, we ask for leave to table documents. Madam Acting Deputy Speaker, I am going to ask leave to see whether we could actually table documents via IT, just as proof that we can use IT in the Chamber. Can you take it away there, IT staff? There! Look at that! Instantly: photo! If I had used that technology the other night, I could have shown you where all the hot rocks in the Territory were. That is three fathers in Howard Springs, at the tavern, who decided to get Mohawks and match the same colour hair as their children. I thought that was a great picture of a bunch of happy people, with the dads all raising money. The girl at the back is a hairdresser from the Shearing Shed. The other fellows are just locals from the Howard Springs area. It just shows you what a great night we had.
Thank you, IT people, we know now we can do it. Therefore, there is no more holding up graphs, tables and pictures. We can do it! At least there is someone in the gallery who has witnessed that.
Finally, because I know Madam Speaker would like to speak, I cannot forget Guys and Dolls. Guys and Dolls, for those who do not know, is a musical comedy. It will be a bigger musical comedy when you see the people who are in it. Guys and Dolls is running at the Darwin Performing Arts Centre. I suppose if anyone in the Alice Springs region is going up that way, it is on from 6 to 9 April and 13 to 16 April. Tickets will be $40. It is a big show; there are many people in it. The member for Sanderson mentioned Mark Pearce, who has one of the starring roles as Sky Masterson. He has a terrific voice; he is one of the great singers around the Darwin region. There are plenty of girls in it and I have to say that they are good looking girls, because that is what this show is about. It is about dance and song, jazzy costumes, jazzy people and plenty of fun.
Guys and Dolls was originally performed in about 1951, so there are probably many people who have not seen it. I actually have not seen it, even though I am going to have a small part in it as Harry the Horse. Do not ask me which part of Harry the Horse I am. If you see a bloke in a green pinstriped suit, you might recognise him. It will be a great night for Darwin. It is run by Superstars Productions, which is a group of people who get together: the Cavenagh Theatre Company, the Darwin Theatre Company, the Darwin Chorale, and the Darwin Performing Arts Centre. They have put on several performances. They put on Les Miserables and Fiddler on the Roof. They do this every second year. This year, they have a director who has come all the way from New York. He is an Australian and has been involved in the New York Arts Festival which he actually ran, I believe. His name is Kris Stewart. We have great people doing costumes, scenery, and choreography. If you want a night of song, dance, a great script and a great night out, I ask people to come along. I wish everyone a happy Easter, and by tomorrow I can get stuck in to the hot cross buns.
Mrs BRAHAM (Braitling): Madam Acting Deputy Speaker, I take the opportunity to place on the record my thanks and comments about what I consider to be a very successful regional sitting of the Northern Territory parliament. Although, as people have said, some of our figures were down, we estimate that we had 2700 students and adults passing through the doors. We also had 25 volunteers who helped with the briefing and the movement of students. Eight of the 25 were retired teachers, and 17 work for the Department of Education. We had 30 classes of students from different schools, a total of 1250 students and 50 teachers or teacher’s assistants accompanying them. It was great that schools have given such support for the sittings.
I must place on record my thanks to Loraine Caldwell, Anna-Marie Socci and Jan Sporn. The feedback on the briefings and everything associated with the students coming in has been great. Some of their comments were quite cute, I suppose. One asked her mother why I was wearing the bib, reminded her mother that she wore a bib once upon a time, and asked whether I dribble! That was her impression of the Speaker in her gown. The response of people who attended made it all worthwhile. Their comments have been great. Some have not visited before, some have. Obviously, some of them had their political fix because they came every day.
We had two rallies - a heritage rally and a teachers rally - all done in a very orderly way. Question Time again attracted the most visitors. We had 15 questions the first day, 19 the second and seven on the third, which, in fact, is down compared to an average of 19 for our February sittings. However, I know that Question Time is always the time that people enjoy listening to the impromptu answers.
We had a week of parliament before this. The primary school Parliament of the Birds performances by Larapinta and Braitling Primary Schools attracted a large number of visitors and parents, and it was very strongly supported. I have made comment about this before so I will not go on a great deal about it. However, I want to thank the schools involved.
The YMCA Youth Parliament was held in Alice Springs from 18 to 21 March. The youth parliamentarians came from Centralian Senior Secondary College, Our Lady of the Sacred Heart College, St Philip’s College, Tennant Creek High School, and a combined team from Darwin. The six-day camp was designed to develop self-esteem and confidence while familiarising them with parliamentary process and procedures.
The final two days of the camp saw the students putting their training into practice. They debated four bills and two MPIs. The bills reflected a range of issues: drugs, murder, depression and airconditioning. They passed the Random Breath Testing Bill to include party drugs, the Compulsory Airconditioning in All Schools Bill, and they amended the NT Criminal Code regarding murder convictions. Interestingly, the one bill that was not passed dealt with preventative measures for youth mental health problems. The two MPIs made for interesting debate and reflected the maturity of the students. They dealt with education and the youth of the NT, and bullying and harassment.
During the adjournment debate, several of the students reflected on the fact that participating in Youth Parliament has allowed them to meet interesting people and make new friends. We again had an adjournment on a teddy bear.
The following awards were presented: the Best Speaker was Mr Corey McCann from Darwin; Most Improved, Asta Hill; and the Whip’s Award, an award that recognises participants who selflessly help others with speech writing and ideas and encourages them to speak when they might not feel confident enough, was awarded to Megan Bobos. My thanks to all those involved in the YMCA Youth Parliament. It certainly went well. The final farewells that the young students gave to each other were very touching. They had bonded extremely well, and there will be friendships for many years.
I want to commend Hansard. It was amazing that each day Hansard was delivered to members before 10 am. It is a combination of the people in IT, Hansard in Darwin and our Table Office here that makes that all happen. It is a credit to them.
We thanked many, and not just convention centre staff for their efficiency and assistance. I thank Steve Davidson and his staff from Top End Sounds who have worked tirelessly with the IT people and Derek Stafford to make sure that everything works. They have enhanced some of the services they provided last time, including, as the last speaker mentioned, the screen on the left-hand side of the wall.
You have to be very careful when you are saying thanks that you do not miss some people. However, we all need to say thank you to Bill Comley from Alice Coffee Services and his ‘Bar Amor’ for his excellent coffee, and also the convention centre bistro for such good, reasonably priced meals.
Special thanks also to Group 4, the convention centre security staff, and the NT Police, who all ensured a secure environment in a pleasant way that was not intrusive.
I estimate it costs the Legislative Assembly an extra $160 000 to put on sittings here in Alice Springs. Final figures will not be known for a while. However, as far as I am concerned, it is certainly worth the cost.
A big thank you for the superb organisation by the staff of the Legislative Assembly, under the stewardship of the Clerk, Mr Ian McNeill, and the Deputy Clerk, Mr David Horton. A special thanks to Derek Stafford, who came down early last week and has been working tirelessly with the staff of the convention centre and many others to ensure that we all had chairs, tables or whatever else we needed. I also need to thank all those personal assistants around the place - the slaves, as someone called them - who have been persistent and consistent in making sure we are at the right place at the right time.
To the people on the Information Desk, and the people who have been like little beavers, making sure we know that we are presenting to the general public an image of the Legislative Assembly and a very professional organisation. That is what is so pleasing; that members of the public realise that this is a very professional team, and to bring and duplicate the parliament in Alice Springs is no small feat. In fact, it is a very large feat and I congratulate them all on it.
In closing, I thank my parliamentary colleagues also for their input into debates over the last three days. It is always different. At first, I felt there was some tension in the air but, as people relaxed, the debates became quite fluid and interesting. I guess all we can say is that, tonight at 6.25 pm, the debates have become very relaxed, indeed. Thank you once again to everyone, and let us hope we can do it again one other time.
Mrs MILLER (Katherine): Mr Deputy Speaker, I am not going to talk for very long, but there is no way I could leave this Assembly in Alice Springs without saying thank you as well. I am very remiss because Madam Speaker had the names of everybody. However, there is no way that I am going to mention a lot of names because I will forget and I do not want to miss anybody. I thank the staff of the convention centre for setting this up so magnificently. I must confess, it is my first time here and I was pleasantly surprised that it was so professional. I was not quite sure what to expect, but I feel as if we have just moved one big room from Darwin to here. A big pat on the back to the convention centre staff for all they have done. The logistics of setting this up must have been absolutely enormous.
I thank the security staff, who have been absolutely wonderful. There have been a couple of times when I have walked out that door and gone to push on it, and they have opened the door. It is like – wow! I am a bit like the member for Blain; I am probably going to hit my nose on the door at home because I will be expecting the door to be opened for me. I have been a bit spoiled.
I would especially like to thank the police for their attendance here. I thought it was a little amusing; I did not notice them until after the Leader of the Opposition said that we had the good and the bad and the ugly. I thought perhaps they had come along to control the ugly. Thank goodness we do not have to resort to that.
I also thank the people in the Parliamentary Liaison and Information Unit, who have done an absolutely amazing job this week. I know they have been pressed, in the last day at least, with sickness. I know Loraine has been very busy today. Loraine, Anna-Maria and the rest of the staff have worked hard to give the right impression to those students who have come to visit us. I believe that is very important, because we do need them to understand how parliament works. A great job by those people.
The Youth Parliament on Monday was a wonderful experience. I congratulate all of those students who took part, but a special congratulations to the country kids from Tennant Creek who travelled to Alice Springs. The experience would have been great for them to be part of such an official occasion.
I thank Madam Speaker and her staff for the wonderful effort they have put in; they must all be absolutely exhausted. I thank the caterers, who have spoilt us rotten with homemade biscuits and beautiful coffee and tea in our lobbies, as well as the caterers outside, who have done an enormous job this week packing up every night and starting again every morning.
A very big special thank you to the people of Alice Springs who have come along to support these sittings. I know many of those people would not have had the opportunity to ever witness parliament before. Some would have come along two years ago to witness it. It is really great to see them coming along.
The IT people here have not been able to speak all this week. They have been whispering away because they have not been behind glass. They have done a great job. Everybody who has been involved with this week’s sittings should be immensely proud, and go away and have the most wonderful Easter and a well-deserved rest. Thank you very much, Alice Springs.
Mr ACTING DEPUTY SPEAKER: Thank you. I wish Anna-Maria all the best. I gather she is in hospital quite ill at the moment. On behalf of everyone, we wish her all the best and hope it is not too serious.
Motion agreed to; the Assembly adjourned.
VISITORS
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, I draw to your attention the presence in the gallery of a class from Braitling Primary School with their teachers, Sarah North and Alistair Shariff. This class was part of the Parliament of the Birds. On behalf of honourable members, I extend to you a warm welcome, and thank you for your participation in the Parliament of the Birds.
The other class we have is from Larapinta, with their teacher, Bernie Ryan. On behalf of honourable members, I thank the Larapinta students for attending today.
In the Speaker’s Gallery is a principal of an Alice Springs school, Mary Blaiklock, who was born in the Territory. Her parents were mining in Hatches Creek at the time, and she was born in Tennant Creek. She was the first student from ANZAC Hill High School to achieve tertiary education. Mary is retiring very shortly. On behalf of honourable members, I offer you a warm welcome.
Members: Hear, hear!
PETITIONS
Adequate Funding for Recruitment and Retention of Teachers and Educators
Adequate Funding for Recruitment and Retention of Teachers and Educators
Dr TOYNE (Stuart)(by leave): Madam Speaker, I present a petition from 410 petitioners relating to funding for recruitment and retention of Northern Territory teachers and educators. The petition does not conform with standing orders. Madam Speaker, I move that the petition be read.
Motion agreed to; petition read:
- To the honourable Speaker and members of the Legislative Assembly, we the undersigned respectfully
showeth that we bring concerns of teachers and educators employed under the Public Sector
Employment and Management Act. The grave concerns are that pay and conditions under which they
are employed are less favourable than their interstate counterparts, and that recruitment and retention
of teachers and educators to the Northern Territory will be seriously jeopardised during the proposed
duration of the currently negotiated enterprise bargaining agreement. Your petitioners, therefore,
humbly pray that members will ensure that education is adequately funded to ensure recruitment and
retention of teachers and educators to the Northern Territory is paramount. Your petitioners, as in duty
bound, will ever pray
Teacher EBA Negotiations
Mrs MILLER (Katherine)(by leave): Madam Speaker, I present a petition from 36 petitioners relating to teacher enterprise bargaining agreement negotiations. The petition does not conform with standing orders. In addition, I seek leave to table a letter in relation to that petition.
Leave granted.
Mrs MILLER: Madam Speaker, I move that the petition be read.
Motion agreed to; petition read:
- The Katherine High School Sub-Branch of the AEU-NT wishes to express our disappointment in the
government’s response to our current EBA negotiations. We believe that their attempts to stall
negotiations are politically motivated given the impending NT elections. Further, the pay offer of
11% over three years will have a detrimental impact on the Katherine regions ability to recruit
and retain quality teachers. We, the undersigned, support this in its entirety.
MINISTERIAL REPORTS
Central Australia - Charter Flights from Japan
Ms MARTIN (Chief Minister): Madam Speaker, I inform the House of the successful negotiations that have been undertaken with one of the oldest and most respected Japanese wholesalers, Nippon Travel Agency. Nippon has confirmed two direct charter flights from Tokyo and Osaka to Alice Springs on 29 April and 2 May. Central Australia was the only Australian destination to be chosen for this round of charter flights. It is a tribute to the people of Alice Springs and local tourism operators that they have clearly captured the hearts of the Japanese traveller.Central Australia - Charter Flights from Japan
The flights are to be operated by Japan Airlines (JAL), and the marketing has been strongly supported by our Tourist Commission in Japan and Tourism Australia. The Tourist Commission has contributed $100 000 towards marketing the flights. The flights are part of a worldwide charter program for 2005 to be operated by NTA and JAL, and are part of Nippon’s 100-year anniversary celebrations.
The charters follow on from successful charters last year, and indicate a growing interest among the Japanese in exploring our iconic attractions and their surrounds. The visitors from Osaka and Tokyo will experience Alice Springs, Kings Canyon, and Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park on this visit. The flights will operate on Jumbo 747 400 aircraft, and mark the inaugural flight for JAL to Alice Springs. The total number of passengers is 740, which is 370 per flight.
These two charter flights are operating in a traditionally busy period, Golden Week, 30 April to 6 May, which is Japan’s longest holiday period for outbound travel. Advertising commenced in Japan on 29 January this year, and the flights sold out within a month. The most popular itinerary includes a three night stay in Central Australia, which involves one night at Uluru, one night at Kings Canyon, and one night in Alice Springs. Ooraminna Homestead will host a farewell party venue for both charters. These two charters will inject over $500 000 into the Alice Springs economy.
Plans and negotiations are also under way with three wholesalers to bring further charter flights into the Territory in July and August of this year.
Madam Speaker, there are encouraging signs of recovery in the Japanese market. Central Australia is well positioned to capitalise on this trend with the promotion of products such as these charter flights with Japanese travellers.
Mr MILLS (Blain): Madam Speaker, this is welcome news for the tourism industry, and everyone who is connected to the tourism industry. As the slogan goes: ‘It is everybody’s business here in Central Australia’. The opposition sincerely welcomes this news as do, I am sure, those involved in the tourism industry. It is a wonderful relief.
I would like to hear from the Chief Minister regarding the extent of the lobbying and support for the elevation of the Alice Springs Airport to international status. The position which has been maintained by the opposition, and those in Alice Springs, is that we ensure the status of Alice Spring Airport is raised to receive international flights on a regular basis.
Underscoring this, Chief Minister, you would be aware that the resilient nature of the tourism industry has had to suffer in Alice Springs under the time of your tenure, with 102 000 less visitors to the Centre. That equates, according to your own figures, a loss of $62m, at least, to the economy of Central Australia. They have been having very difficult times here, therefore, this news you have announced today will be most welcome.
Ms MARTIN (Chief Minister): Madam Speaker, this government is very supportive of international airport status for Alice Springs; this is exactly why we are encouraging the charters. Once you start establishing charters with an international component here, we can build on that. It is a step-by-step process, one we are firmly behind.
These charters have not happened by accident. We brought five of the major wholesalers from Japan last November through the Territory. They went to Cairns, to Yulara, into Alice Springs and by the train to Katherine where they visited the gorge, then into Darwin, to Kakadu, and, in five days, had a tremendous experience. That holiday is now being packaged in Japan.
We are actively promoting the Japanese market. We are building new experiences because there is no doubt that the Japanese know about the Rock, but they need to know about the rest of the Territory as well. We are doing it.
Central Australia - Employment and Training Strategies
Mr STIRLING (Employment, Education and Training): Madam Speaker, training has been a critical issue for the Territory. It remains so, and one in which we have played an active role as government. Across the Territory, the introduction of the Jobs Plan, focussing our training effort through the Workplace Training Strategy and the anticipation of future needs through the workplace report has made our use of the training dollar specific and very targeted. It is because of this that the Territory has record numbers of people in training; the second highest proportion of apprentices in Australia training in traditional trades.
Central Australia has been an important part of that focus. We now have more than 3040 Territorians in apprenticeships and traineeships, up 35% on the 2211 in 2001. Of that 3040, 557 are in Alice Springs, and 84 are located in Tennant Creek. We are seeing success with the Indigenous Employment Strategy: 752 of the 3040 are indigenous trainees and apprentices, with 133 indigenous trainees in Alice Springs and 36 in Tennant Creek.
I am also pleased to provide the House with a breakdown of the training dollars delivered in the Alice Springs region in 2004. Charles Darwin University received a total of $41.2m funding from the government to deliver vocational education programs. CDU data shows: 20% of the funded training was delivered in the Alice Springs region for general training; there were 446 000 actual hours of training; apprenticeship training was 109 000 actual hours of training; VET in Schools was 18 600 actual hours; Training for Remote Youth was 7600 hours; and flexible response funding was 6060 actual hours of training. I am advised that CDU also delivered around 25 500 actual hours of training-in-fee for service training.
Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education was funded a total of $9.6m to deliver training in 2004. Data shows that 28.8% of this was delivered in the Alice Springs region over a range of programs, including general recurrent, Training for Remote Youth, Australians Working Together, flexible response funding and apprenticeship training.
Over $6.3m for funding was injected into the Alice Springs region for direct training. Private training organisations in Central Australia also accessed funding of well over $1.24m to deliver training in Central Australia. It is a priority of this government. Central Australia has always had an important focus within that priority, and we will continue our efforts on training.
Dr LIM (Greatorex): Madam Speaker, the minister rattles off a list of figures, but the reality is that there is a continuing large degree of skills shortage in the Northern Territory. All the jobs that he is talking about have no bodies to fill them. Industry is saying: ‘We need people now’ and you cannot fill those jobs. We have to ask you: what are you doing? You train all these students, you are putting people in there, but – do you know what? - a student can work for McDonalds or Woolworths and get more money than they can get doing a traineeship.
That is the problem. You have to have more innovative ideas so that you can encourage students to take up those trainee jobs at a level where they can be paid as well as they can if they were working for Woolworths, Coles, K-Mart and the like. Until you do that, you are not going to encourage a lot of kids to go into training. Right at this moment, you need to start producing the qualified people in the Territory so that people out there can say: ‘Look, we want to have employees’. Otherwise, what will happen is you are going to have all this industry supposedly blooming in your economy, and no one to do the jobs. You are really caught between those two: you create the jobs, you say, but you have no one to take up the jobs. Therefore, what is happening at the end of the day?
Members interjecting.
Dr LIM: Minister, there are students sitting here in the gallery listening to you. They want to be able to get the right jobs at the right salary scale, and your Jobs Plan is not doing that.
Mr STIRLING (Employment, Education and Training): Madam Speaker, we may have been somewhat protected from the current skills shortage around Australia if this mob over here had done something about apprenticeship training in all the years they were in government. The fact is, there were 2000 trainees when we came into office, and now there are 3040 - and he has the hide to get up and say we are not pulling our weight!
The marketing campaign now has over 1200 contacts through that marketing campaign with over three-quarters of them are traditional trades. Therefore, in answer to the member for Greatorex: there are over 900 contacts so far through the marketing campaign to pick up those jobs. Last sittings, this bloke was saying you do not have any jobs; these sittings it is all about skills shortages. You blokes need to get your story consistent and your act together.
Alice Springs – Cavenagh Crescent Planning Applications
Dr BURNS (Lands and Planning): Madam Speaker, I take the opportunity to inform the House of the history of planning applications relating to Lot 7573 Cavenagh Crescent in the Town of Alice Springs and, in particular, the recent decision I have made in relation to the lot. Lot 7573 has an area of 2.2 ha and is zoned RL2 under the Alice Springs Town Plan. The RL2 zoning provides for rural living, dispersed settlement, on minimum lot sizes of 2 ha. This zoning permits construction of a single dwelling on the lot.
In April 2003, the owners applied to amend the Planning Scheme to rezone the site to Specific Use Zone to permit subdivision and the development to create a maximum of 11 lots and dwellings. Exhibition of the proposal generated considerable opposition from numerous residents of the area and from the Eastside Residents Association. On the basis of recommendations from the Development Consent Authority and the department, and taking into consideration the submissions received, I decided not to allow the rezoning of the lot under that application. My reasons for refusal, at that time, included that the applicant did not satisfactorily address a number of relevant concerns raised in the submissions, demonstrate the land suitability for the development, and demonstrate how the land would be serviced.
In August 2004, an application was lodged for an exceptional development permit to develop the site for 12 multiple dwellings. The applicants considered that they had demonstrated the land’s suitability for the development, and also how the land could be satisfactorily serviced. I understand the owner engaged a design professional to address my original reasons for refusal under the previous Planning Scheme amendment and objections raised by the public. I agreed to exhibit the most recent application on the basis that it, firstly, had attempted to address my reasons for refusal of the rezoning application, and secondly and very importantly, would provide the public with the opportunity to comment on the merits of the proposal. The proposal, once again, generated considerable opposition from some residents in the locality and the Eastside Residents Association, and the proposal attracted over 60 objections from residents who saw it as a threat to the amenity of the area. The Development Consent Authority held a public meeting on my behalf in November 2004.
After considering all the issues and comments provided from the public, the relevant service authorities and reports received from the Development Consent Authority, I determined to refuse the application. My reasons for refusing the application are as follows: firstly, the proposal did not demonstrate sufficient merit to outweigh the community’s reasonable expectation and expressed views that the development of the site should be in accordance with the current zoning and relevant development provisions; secondly, the proposed number of dwellings represents a significant and unsupportable departure from the density provisions (clause 17.3) of the RL2 zone in the Alice Springs Town Plan of 1992.
In its report to me, the Development Consent Authority indicated that it supported the proposal, and I value very highly the advice provided to me by the consent authority. However, members will be aware that, under the Planning Act, I must take into consideration a range of matters, including the reports provided by the authority, before making a determination. Any objective analysis of the record will show that, in the majority of cases, I do endorse recommendations to me by the authority. In the last 12 months, I have received eight applications from Alice Springs’ residents to rezone their R1, low density residential properties, to RO, low to medium density residential, to allow the development of another development on these properties. In all but one case, I accepted the advice provided to me by the Development Consent Authority.
In the case of the Cavenagh Crescent application, I accepted the overwhelming community view that the land should be developed in accordance with the current zoning and relevant development provisions. Whilst I respect the efforts made by the prospective developer to address the concerns, I have decided to retain the current zoning of the area. Madam Speaker, it is going to be interesting to hear the opposition’s position on this very important planning matter within Alice Springs.
Minerals and Exploration Australian Road Show
Mr VATSKALIS (Mines and Energy): Madam Speaker, today I provide the House with an update on the Northern Territory Minerals Exploration Australian Road Show 2005.
The road show was developed to promote the government’s Building the Territory’s Resource Base, an investment attraction initiative - a $15m program to expand and promote the Territory’s petroleum and mineral potential to the mining and exploration industries. The road show is part of an overall business development strategy to bring new exploration investment dollars.
The main objective of the road show is to meet with over 500 senior executives from Australia’s exploration sector to promote the Northern Territory’s mineral potential and business opportunities; projects requiring finance and companies requiring joint venture partners; the Northern Territory government support services within the Department of Business Industry and Resource Development which has been enhanced through the investment initiative; and to encourage, of course, companies and explorers to invest in exploration in the Territory.
The road show is planned for five Australian cities: Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney. It consists of a number of scheduled events to meet face-to-face with the target audience - the primary target audience being exploration and mining companies, and the secondary target audience being private and institutional investors.
A number of industry and private sector partners have been sourced to host the events, to provide speakers and client lists, and to organise logistics. These organisations include KPMG, Clayton Utz, Sydney Mining Club, the Association of Mining Exploration Companies, and the Gold Council. The delegation, led by me, includes Neville Henwood from the Northern Territory Mineral Council, Trevor Tennant, Managing Director of Bootu Creek Resources, Rod Elvish, Technical Director of Compass Resources, Richard Brescianini, Director of Northern Territory Geological Survey and Jerry Whitfield, Director of Titles. The road show commenced in Brisbane and Sydney from 2 to 4 March. Three events and two individual company meetings were scheduled over three days. These included two private briefings with the clients of KPMG and Clayton Utz, a presentation to the Sydney Mining Club, and private meetings conducted with Goldsearch Limited and Renison Consolidated.
In order to effectively sell the benefits of exploration in the Northern Territory, a marketing campaign was developed, titled The Top End Secret. The campaign includes a media strategy, supporting sales and presentation materials, and web presence. The campaign objective is to provide information on the mineral and business opportunities of the Territory, and to encourage the target audience to use our services to achieve the exploration objectives. Our ultimate message for the road show is that exploration business in the Territory is mission possible.
For the first phase of the road show, invitations were sent to leading mining executives to attend events and presentations in Brisbane and Sydney, and over 200 executives attended the three events. The next destination is Perth, where we will conduct five events over four days and meet with over 300 executives. Following this, Adelaide and Melbourne will be scheduled. The DBIRD team is currently evaluating the road show attendance in Brisbane and Sydney, and will be taking a proactive approach to develop business. They will be identifying companies that have the potential to bring investment dollars to the Territory, and will be actively pursuing a closer working relationship in order to bring in new business.
So far, the road show campaign, The Top End Secret, has been extremely effective in communicating the Northern Territory’s competitive advantage over other Australian states and international competitors; attracting investor attention to the undeveloped mineral opportunities in the Territory; helping industry, Northern Territory junior exploration clients, to profile their business and attract interest in joint venture partnerships in the Territory through the development of a promotional CD; and challenging market perceptions that land access in the Territory is a deal breaker.
I look forward to providing a full report on the road show following the completion of the Perth component.
Mrs MILLER (Katherine): Madam Speaker, before I reply to the minister, I want to say to the previous speaker, the Minister for Lands and Planning, that we will not be replying to anything he has to say until there is a new Minister for Lands and Planning …
Madam SPEAKER: That is not why you are on your feet.
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Make your remarks relevant, please.
Mrs MILLER: Madam Speaker, I welcome the Minister for Mines and Energy’s report …
Mr BURKE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! I am having problems understanding what the opposition can or cannot say when they get to their feet. Surely, the shadow can make a statement.
Madam SPEAKER: She is responding to a ministerial report, Leader of the Opposition. It is as simple as that.
Mrs Miller: I was responding to the previous one as well.
Mr BURKE: She can respond in a way that she sees fit, Madam Speaker.
Madam SPEAKER: To the report that has just been given.
Mrs MILLER: Minister for Mines and Energy, I support fully the report that you have just released. I know you have been jumping out of your skin all week busting to tell us something that was good news - and it is good news.
You had better combine The Top End Secret program road show around Australia with the Chief Minister’s Share Our Story, as the two of combined can only make good things for our Top End. I am sure The Top End Secret will be far more beneficial than Share Our Story at this stage, as I do not like the sound of that campaign at all.
I congratulate you for putting this together. It can only be beneficial to the Northern Territory. I look forward to hearing your report upon your return from your road show.
Mr VATSKALIS (Mines and Energy): Madam Speaker, I thank the member for her support. However, the CLP should never be proud of their record on the mining industry. It was the CLP that was in power when mines were closed and mineral exploration went downhill.
Let us talk about mineral exploration licences. In 1997-98, the CLP government granted 39 mineral exploration licences; 57 in 1998-99; 18 in 1999-2000: and 121 in 2000-01. In four years, they granted 235 licences. In three years, this government has issued 830 mineral exploration licences, and there are 663 pending approvals as at the end of February. The numbers speak for themselves. I do not have to tell you what this government is doing.
As for the native title, how come it works with this government, and never worked with the CLP?
Reports noted pursuant to Sessional Order.
VISITORS
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, I acknowledge the presence in the gallery of a class from Gillen Primary School accompanied by their Principal, John Morgan, and teachers, Kym Urquart and Lyndsay Thomas. There is also a class from Larapinta Primary School with their teacher, Kylie Hanson. On behalf of honourable members, I extend to you a warm welcome.
Members: Hear, hear!
SUSPENSION OF STANDING ORDERS
Statement by Treasurer
Mr HENDERSON (Leader of Government Business): Madam Speaker, I move that so much of standing orders be suspended as would prevent the Treasurer making a statement to the Assembly relating to the outcomes of his meeting in Canberra yesterday with the federal Treasurer, and Treasurers from other jurisdictions.
Motion agreed to.
MINISTERIAL STATEMENT
Ministerial Council of Australian Treasurers
Ministerial Council of Australian Treasurers
Mr STIRLING (Treasurer): Madam Speaker, I deliver to the House the outcomes of the Ministerial Council of Australian Government Treasurers held yesterday in Canberra - probably one of the more important Treasurers’ Conferences in recent years from the Territory’s point of view. It was brought together in an atmosphere of pre-conference theatrics from the federal Treasurer. The public debate prior to conference centred around two core issues: the way in which the states and territories spend the GST money we receive, and the review of state taxes. We also had to consider the 2005 Commonwealth Grants Commission update. This relativities update in 2004 administered a $48m ongoing cut to the Territory.
While the intergovernmental agreement does not allow the Commonwealth to tell the states and territories how to spend GST revenue, the Commonwealth Treasurer was determined to raise these issues at the conference. He has publicly lambasted the states for failing to spend on improving infrastructure and service delivery. In the Territory, we note the federal Treasurer’s comments were supported by members opposite.
In the case of the Territory, the federal Treasurer and his sidekicks on the opposition benches could not be more wrong. Expenditure on infrastructure since the Martin Labor government came to office has skyrocketed - with real cash against the program, I might add. We have delivered three record infrastructure budgets. Our expenditure on infrastructure has grown faster than the equivalent growth in all Commonwealth payments to the Territory, whether it is SBPs or GST revenue. From 2001-02 to June 2005, our expenditure on infrastructure will total approximately $1.757bn. Infrastructure as a proportion of the budget has grown from 14% to 16%. The government’s infrastructure program has gone to funding strategic infrastructure aimed at levering private sector investment and to stimulate the economy. It has also gone to rebuilding infrastructure that was left to crumble by the Burke CLP government, particularly beef roads, schools in both the urban and remote areas, and health clinic infrastructure …
Members interjecting.
Mr STIRLING: That is good. They do not want to hear the news, Madam Speaker; that is fine.
Our commitment to improved service delivery also makes a mockery of the federal government’s calls to spend more on improving these services. In this argument, the federal Treasurer is not supported by the CLP because he has told us very loudly and clearly that we spend too much on education, health and police.
I ensured the Treasurers’ Conference heard the Territory’s case on how we have spent GST revenue. The Commonwealth has estimated that the Territory will receive GST revenue payments of $1832m in 2005-06. It is a preliminary figure. It has been adjusted from earlier predictions because of the increase in Territory population. This government’s economic policies and population strategies are bearing fruit. We also know the national economy has slowed since then, and it is possible that these forecasts will not be achieved. Unfortunately, the Commonwealth will not update its estimates until its 2005-06 budget. It is heartening to see that Commonwealth estimates of population for December 2004 are stronger than previously anticipated. The September 2004 estimates are being released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics and we hope these will confirm the Commonwealth’s projections.
At last year’s Treasurers’ Conference, the five-yearly review of relativities was discussed. These relativities determine the Territory’s share of national GST revenue collections. That review dealt us a considerable blow by removing $48m ongoing from our funding. I wrote to Treasurer Costello on the matter and met separately with him in Canberra last year. He encouraged us to present our arguments to the Commonwealth Grants Commission to have this re-examined. The recommendations from the Commonwealth Grants Commission in the 2005 update are disappointing. They acknowledge some small technical changes, but they fail to correct the problems, with capital assessments that bedevilled us last year. The Commonwealth Grants Commission will review the methodology again in the context of its next major review. The Territory will continue to fight for the necessary changes.
The ongoing $48m reduction put a major dent in our finances, resulting in a very tight set of budget numbers. The formal conference agenda contained discussion on the terms of reference for a simplification review of the Commonwealth Grants Commission methodology for distributing the GST monies to the states and territories. It was the subject of keen debate at the last Treasurers’ Conference, with Treasurers agreeing that a review that went to simplifying the process might be appropriate at the time.
Importantly, the principles of horizontal fiscal equalisation were not to be touched. As members would be aware, horizontal fiscal equalisation gives the Territory a level of funding that allows us to deliver standards of services that other Australians, (1) expect and (2) take for granted. It acknowledges that the cost of delivering education services to Borroloola or Kintore are more expensive than delivering the same to Parramatta, and it compensates the Territory accordingly. The determination of the terms of reference for the next major review of relativities has been a struggle, with the larger states trying to make the simplification review broader than was intended by challenging the concept and principles of horizontal fiscal equalisation. Territory Treasury, this government, along with the other smaller states, have fought to ensure the terms of reference do not go to the underlying principles of HFE and that fight has been won. The Territory will remain vigilant during the next review to prevent any efforts to undermine our relativities and future finances.
The focus of the conference turned on a very vigorous debate about the 1999 intergovernmental agreement to review other state taxes. I went to Canberra with the view that more tax reform could be achieved, but also determined to ensure that the Territory was not placed in a financial position where we would have to cut services or infrastructure expenditure to pay for it.
With no warning, the Commonwealth Treasurer delivered a dud offer, a $330m hollow promise - money that the states were already owed - in return for abolishing over $8bn of state revenue. Not one cent of that $330m would have gone to the Territory.
States and territories made it clear to the federal Treasurer that we had clearly met our obligations under the intergovernmental agreement, and we were all committed to further tax reform. States and territories insisted that a further meeting be held in four to six weeks to hammer out a future tax reform package acceptable to all. Irrespective of this meeting, the Territory will continue its own tax reform agenda in the forthcoming budget to further stimulate the economy and reduce the tax burden on Territorians.
As members are aware, we are one of the most tax reforming governments in the Territory’s history. We have reduced payroll tax from 6.5% to 6.2%. We have lifted the threshold rate for payment of payroll tax to $1m, effective 1 July 2005. Some 127 Territory-based companies will no longer pay the tax as a result of this decision. The Territory government also has the lowest taxing environment for small business anywhere in Australia. This applies to companies with 20 or fewer staff and, from 1 July 2005, to companies with 40 or fewer staff.
Other tax reforms have included:
- on 1 July 2002, the payroll tax coming down from 6.5% to 6.3% at a cost of $2.8m ongoing;
and increased hiring duty exemption threshold from receipts of $12 000 per annum to $36 000
per annum.
on 20 August 2002, we increased the first home owner stamp duty concession from $2096 to $3640.
We introduced a $1500 principal place of residence rebate at an ongoing cost of $2.3m. We amended
duty applying to franchises from conveyance rates to lease rates.
on 10 October 2002, we introduced a stamp duty corporate reconstruction exemption at a cost of $3m
ongoing.
on 1 July 2003, the payroll tax rate was reduced from 6.3% to 6.2% at a cost of $1.5m ongoing and we
introduced stamp duty exemption for leases and franchises with average annual rent/franchise fees under
$30 000. We increased hiring duty exemption threshold from receipts of $36 000 per annum to $90 000
per annum.
exemption threshold will be increased to $1m, at a cost of $3.2m ongoing.
That record is significant.
The end results of the Treasurers’ Conference is that we have protected the Territory. However, with the continued impact of the $48m loss and a commitment to further tax reform, we have a budget position that can only be described as extremely tight. It will get tighter into the future, which presents us all with a serious challenge. That challenge is critical to the Territory’s financial future. It is a challenge made even more stark by the reality of reducing growth in the GST, an interest rate hike, and the slowing of the national economy. The challenge is to ensure that our expenditure as a government remains tight, highly focussed and within tight boundaries. Our expenditure must remain within the parameters we set in last year’s budget. Those parameters see the Territory in deficit to $16m in 2005-06, a deficit of $9m in 2006-07, a deficit of $6m in 2007-08, returning to balance in 2008-09.
If we blow that expenditure out now, we will return to the problems of the Burke government. He had a huge and spiralling deficit, not enough cash to inject into the capital works program, and not enough budget flexibility to repair significant service delivery problems in health, education and police. The member for Drysdale might recall the bit of fraudulent behaviour he indulged in, in and around the health budget. I do not want to go to that in this speech, but he is the one that slipped in the budget papers …
Mr Dunham interjecting.
Mr STIRLING: … ‘for presentation purposes only’, Madam Speaker. Every time he opens his mouth he needs to be reminded of the fraudulent behaviour that he conducted …
Mr DUNHAM: A point of order, Madam Speaker! There is a Parliamentary Record that shows that the appellation ‘presentation purposes’ came from the Under Treasurer, a public servant. I do not believe he should be defamed in this way, particularly as he cannot defend himself. Neither should he reflect on a report of a committee of this parliament.
Madam SPEAKER: I note your comments, member for Drysdale.
Mr STIRLING: If the minister does not have the guts to take responsibility ...
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order, thank you!
Mr STIRLING: … for his own budget papers, I cannot help him.
The challenge I issue the opposition today is to endorse the fiscal targets I have just described, based on the current GST parameters set by the government last year. I challenge the opposition to agree to return the budget to balance by the end of the next four-year government cycle. I challenge the Leader the Opposition to accept the deficit targets of $16m, $9m, $6m and $0 in 2008-09. To keep this process honest, I challenge the Leader of the Opposition to have his policies costed by Treasury to ensure that there is an agreed cost, done by a reputable group of people. I challenge him and his team to have his program costed reputably, and I give him the opportunity to tell us how he is going to make it fit within the parameters now set. He spent a lot of time telling us how he is going to spend money and no time telling us how he is going to pay for it; he must step up to the mark.
The government is happy to take up the same challenge. We commit to those targets and we will commit to Treasury-costed election commitments. The Financial Integrity and Transparency Act requires Treasury to publish forward estimates. The government will publicly stick to a discipline created by this legislation, and we will publish our election promise costs as well.
If the Leader of the Opposition does not take up this challenge, the only conclusion that can be drawn is that he intends to go back to where he began - perhaps where he belongs - with an economic spiral out of control. To date, the Leader of the Opposition has shown no discipline; some of his pledges have been extremely expensive. He must tell us how he will pay for those pledges. We have had some hints to date. Recently, in a press conference, and repeatedly in the House, he has said we spend too much on health, education and police. Therefore, we know he is going to make cuts there; he just needs to tell us how deep. If the Opposition Leader refuses this challenge, Territorians will demand to know just how he intends to pay for those promises, and public servants and Territorians who rely on government services should demand to know just what his intentions are. I look forward to hearing his response.
Madam Speaker, I move that the Assembly take note of the statement.
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Visitors
Visitors
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, I acknowledge the children in the gallery from Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Traeger Park Campus, along with their teachers, Michael Evans and Rosemarie Keir. Also, the Mayor of Tennant Creek, Mr Rob Swanson, is sitting in the galley. On behalf of all honourable members, I extend to you a warm welcome.
Members: Hear, hear!
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Mr BURKE (Opposition Leader): Madam Speaker, in response to the first challenge, I will not be tabling these, Treasurer. However, just so we can put to bed the allegations that policies have not been costed, first of all, these are the policies that the CLP will bring to the next election - all done, all completed. Second, these are the costings, by line item, that are going through their final assessment now by independent auditors. They include all the costings and promises that I have made. Therefore, when you stand up here, Treasurer, and say I am a goose and cannot cost, we do not know and we are going to leave the Northern Territory broke - these will be there when you ...
A member interjecting.
Mr BURKE: All I am saying to now, Treasurer …
Mr Stirling: Table them now.
Mr BURKE: No, you are not getting them now!
Mr Stirling: Send it over to Treasury for a look.
Mr BURKE: You do not get them now! Why would I give them to you now?
Mr Stirling: Because you wrote to Treasury last time …
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr BURKE: When you call the election, as the Leader of the Opposition did at the time, all of these things will come out with all the detail that you need. However, what I will say - and I will give the same comment that the Leader of the Opposition did at the time: they will be fully detailed and costed. I can tell you that the costings are there. Therefore, when you stand up in this Chamber and start saying that the CLP has no ideas, and what promises that we have made to leave the Territory broke - just slowly, slowly, catchee monkey. The monkey is going to be you, Treasurer; the monkey will be you.
It was a script written by the Treasurer as he came back on the plane from an important meeting with the Commonwealth Treasurer and, I would have thought for most people listening, reasonably complicated in the way he was explaining why the Northern Territory government has refused to move forward with tax relief, as was the strategy of both the Commonwealth and all the states and territories when the new agreement on taxes came in, in 2001.
So as people know the background of where the Commonwealth Treasurer is coming from, I put on the record in the adjournment debate, in what I believe to be every person’s layman terms, what this whole debate is all about. It is sad, Treasurer, when you talk about how the opposition should be supporting you in what you are doing to fight the Commonwealth government. I believe what you should be saying is that we should be working together as Australians to reap the benefit of the GST that has come from every Australian’s pocket to pay for the largesse that not only – well, the Commonwealth has not received $1 from the GST and I hope all Territorians understand that, when you beat up on the Commonwealth Treasurer. The Commonwealth government has not received $1 of GST. All GST money goes to the states and territories - a simple fact. When the GST was brought in, it was done on a broad base, and it was intended that, if the GST came in to tax Australians as a goods and services tax, a whole range of inefficient taxes would be wiped out. It was intended, in 2001, that all stamp duty would be wiped out ...
Mr Henderson: No, it was not.
Mr BURKE: In 2001, it was intended that stamp duty would be wiped out - certainly stamp duty on conveyancing.
Ms Martin: That is very different from all stamp duties, isn’t it?
Mr BURKE: I do not have a bureaucratic script to read from. I am speaking from …
Members interjecting.
Mr Stirling: You are the one who signed the document; it has your name on it.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Members of the government, order!
Mr BURKE: I am trying to speak in a way that mum and dad can understand; not bureaucratic gobbledegook …
Mr Stirling: You cannot remember what you signed.
Mr BURKE: It was intended, at the time, to be a broad-based tax that would reduce a whole range of inefficient state taxes - primarily stamp duty. The Senate, controlled by Labor and the Independents at the time, would not allow the GST to go through in the form it was intended, and narrowed its base. In narrowing the base of the GST, it was agreed that some state and territories taxes would not go off immediately as the Commonwealth, the states and territories, could not estimate what amount of GST money would flow through under this new reduced base. The only reason these inefficient state and territories inefficient taxes were left there, was that the Commonwealth and the states and territories could not predict at the time how much money would come through from the GST. Inherent in that was that there may not be enough money coming through from the GST to compensate the states and territories for what they had been receiving in the past. That is the simple logic as to why those taxes were left on.
It is in that context, in 2005, that the federal Treasurer now says: ‘Let us look at how much money the states and territories have received’. There is no point in the Treasurer talking about all of these things which the government is doing and, therefore, we cannot take these inefficient taxes off. The reality is, the whole intent of the GST - the whole reason why Australians go to a checkout now at Coles and everywhere they buy something and get clocked another 10% - is that these taxes would go, starting with a range of taxes which were earmarked to go in 2005-06. The Commonwealth Treasurer is becoming angry, and the reason is because …
Mr Stirling: Your mate.
Mr BURKE: My mate?
Mr Stirling: Yes.
Ms Martin: Mr Costello says: ‘Jump, Denis!’, and you say: ‘How high?’
Mr BURKE: I know the CLP can point to a pretty strong record of independent action when it comes to dealing with the Commonwealth, so do not try that line. I will tell you: where respected effort is due, let us be fair. If we are all Australians, not just bickering children, let us be fair. Under the Howard-Costello leadership, Australia has established the most stable economic period in Australia’s history of the lowest interest rates and highest employment. Australians are not only benefiting from that, Australia has endorsed that leadership as recently as the last election - overwhelmingly endorsed that leadership.
Australians are pretty comfortable and the last election evidenced that. The Treasurer is delivering on what he promised with the GST because, if you look at the money that has come through to the Northern Territory government under GST payments from the Commonwealth, it is an interesting story. For the Northern Territory, when my government left office …
Mr Stirling: Left?
Mr BURKE: Well, when we were voted out; whatever you like. I am trying to get the average mum and dad to understand just what double dealing is going on here. When my government left office, in 2000-01, the GST revenue to the Northern Territory was $1.225.6bn; in 2001-02, it was $1.289.8bn; in 2002-03, it was $1.514.5bn; in 2003-04 it was $1.680.9bn; and in 2004-05 it is $1.732.7bn. That is $600m more in revenue that has come to this Labor government since they came to government. It is actually 49% more in revenue than my government received when it was in government. That is an average annual increase of 8.4%.
It is in that context that the Commonwealth Treasurer is saying to the Labor states - and the issue here is the Northern Territory is a Labor state: ‘How about giving a bit of it back? The deal was if we gave you the amount of money that was forecast, you would give it back’. What he has actually delivered to you is not only the money forecast, but money far in excess of that forecast.
If one turns to the Auditor-General’s report - which I wonder if you have the courage to debate in this Alice Springs Chamber - the Auditor-General reports that in 2003-04, the Northern Territory Treasury received $166m more in GST than was planned. Not only that, the Northern Territory Treasurer, reported by the Auditor-General, received $88m more than his own Treasury forecast. The Auditor-General said, right at the front of his report, that:
- … the Treasurer’s annual financial results paint a picture of a public sector that achieved a sound financial
result for the 2003-04 year. However, this should be tempered by the knowledge that a significant contributor
to that result was the increase in GST grants received from the Commonwealth.
That is what the federal Treasurer is saying: the money that is coming into the Northern Territory is coming through in spades, in buckets full, far in excess of what was predicted. The Commonwealth Treasurer is simply saying: ‘Why don’t you give some of this money back?’ You are trying to suggest that, in an atmosphere of money far in excess of your own Treasury predictions, you are too broke, too constrained, and that you cannot even meet the commitments that were made in 2001. You also have the gall to suggest that the opposition should join you in a fiscal strategy to be achieved over the next four years, when you failed miserably in the fiscal strategy that was set for you over this term. You are going to an election now and saying: ‘Join with us in a fiscal strategy that will see us in a balanced situation in four years time’, when your own Treasury experts that you brought in when you won the election told you that you should achieve a fiscal strategy in 2005-06, and you have failed miserably. You have put off a balanced budget until 2012-13.
You had the gall, Treasurer, this morning to say that you cannot give any money back to Territorians because you have a commitment to infrastructure. That commitment has not seen one primary school built in the Northern Territory in the last four years - that is the commitment to infrastructure. A commitment to infrastructure where, when I said to the Chief Minister: ‘Name me one major infrastructure project you have started and completed in your term of government’, and she was lost for words.
You have the gall to talk about the failures of the CLP, but you can see a railroad running straight through this place that came here under my government. You can see a modern port to link the Northern Territory as a gateway to Asia, that links us for the first time as a potential port, and you have the gall to say that we failed as a government. The simple truth is this: that your Labor government has been in a position to really put the Northern Territory to the forefront of Australia. You have been given an opportunity that has never been given to an Australian or Northern Territory government in the past. You have been given an opportunity that you failed miserably to achieve: to strengthen and grow the economic base of the Northern Territory. You have been given the potential to lower the cost of living in the Northern Territory by virtue of the railway infrastructure that we brought in, to name one. You have been given the potential to lower the cost of living of every Territorian by the enormous amount of GST money that you have given by virtue of every taxpayer’s pocket, and you cannot point to one thing. You cannot point to one thing of substance that you can praise yourself for.
When you say that Burke is critical of the costs of departmental services, read your own Auditor-General’s report. It is a report that gives a warning. It says:
- Expenses increased markedly during the year with the greatest increases being for employee expenses.
That is an Auditor-General warning you as well. He is saying to you that you should be using the GST, primarily, for infrastructure and to grow the economic base of the Northern Territory. Those are the sorts of things that we will do with our policy …
Ms Martin interjecting.
Mr BURKE: … with the costings that we have …
Ms Martin: You are opposed to the waterfront. What are you going to build?
Mr BURKE: You have not even laid a brick on the waterfront …
Ms Martin: How are you going to build the waterfront?
Mr Stirling: Costings are one thing, how are you going to pay for them?
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Members of government.
Mr BURKE: It is a great sadness that, when given the opportunity to go down to a meeting that was always intended to achieve tax breaks for Territorians and Australians - a tax break that in the Northern Territory would have cost about $16m in the first year. In fact, the Commonwealth Treasurer said: ‘If it costs you any money in real terms, we will actually compensate you for it’. You would not even do that! He was actually going to compensate the states if, in the earlier years, there was a real reduction in that money. But the Labor Party was greedy - well, first of all, so hypocritical, it opposed the GST, saying how much it would hurt Territorians and Australians’ pockets – it has now embraced the GST. Every state and territory Labor government has embraced the GST with a relish. They are sitting there counting their money every day in their bank vaults and saying: ‘How can we spend it next?’. However, when it comes to: ‘Will you give any of that money back to Territorians or do anything in a substantive way to lower the cost of living? Will you do anything in a real sense to make our businesses in the Northern Territory competitive so they can grow? Will you do anything to ensure that Territory kids go to school here, stay here, work here and settle here because the incentives in the Northern Territory to work are excellent for Territory kids?’ – you do nothing.
You would rather play political games with Australians’ money, and the only reason you can do it is because all the Labor states are clubbing together and you can see a political advantage out of it. The reality is that Australians and Territorians suffer while you play those political games, and the Northern Territory slides backwards, Chief Minister, under your leadership.
I look forward to the time when we can bring forward the policies that we will for the next election. I look forward to showing Territorians that those policies have been fully costed, and that a CLP government will really put the Territory back on its feet again. We will bring forward policies that will show how you can use the enormous money from the GST, the enormous capacity that Territorians have, to lower the cost of living, to get businesses to expand, to keep families and children in the Territory, working in the Northern Territory, to attract people from interstate with real, tangible benefits, to do more than just having contacts from people who want to come the Northern Territory, but to have real incentives to lay out as a government. I look forward to that day, and I am happy to take you on, Treasurer, and you, Chief Minister.
Mr HENDERSON (Leader of Government Business): Madam Speaker, I move that the debate be adjourned.
Mr DUNHAM: A point of order, Madam Speaker! I was under the mistaken impression this was the most important, pressing business for this House, and we have suspended standing orders to talk about it. I would like to make a contribution.
Mr Burke: How come it is not one on one? What is the point?
Madam SPEAKER: I have no idea. It is up to your Whips to do this …
Mr DUNHAM: I am surprised the government is gagging its own debate. They brought a debate on and they have gagged it after one speaker.
Madam SPEAKER: I am purely guided by what happens.
Mr Burke: Why won’t you let us debate it? You brought it on as an important debate, and you will not even have it.
Madam SPEAKER: It has now been passed. I believe we have adjourned the debate.
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Visitors
Visitors
Madam SPEAKER: I acknowledge the presence in the gallery of the Year 7 group from Traeger Park OLSH Campus with their teachers Bernie O’Grady, Jasmeet Sukhija and Joan Drew. On behalf of all honourable members, I extend to you a warm welcome.
Members: Hear, hear!
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Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, I am only guided by what I am told. I have presumed that was what …
Mr Burke: Madam Speaker, we have not voted on the motion.
Ms Martin: Yes, we have.
Mr Henderson: We have - put and passed.
Members interjecting.
Mr Burke: No, we have not. You just moved it; we never voted. You did not make a call, Madam Speaker.
Madam SPEAKER: I am sorry. I thought we had a motion to adjourn the debate.
Mr Burke: He moved it, Madam Speaker; you did not call.
Mr Elferink: Madam Speaker, may I speak to the motion?
Madam SPEAKER: No. I put the question.
Mr Dunham: No, I then put a point of order.
Madam SPEAKER: Yes, I did it on voices. No one called …
Mr ELFERINK: A point of order, Madam Speaker!
Madam SPEAKER: No, you cannot; it has already been passed. I put the motion that debate be adjourned; it was on the voices, and that was it.
Debate adjourned.
MOTION
Amendment to the Terms of Reference of the Northern Territory Statehood Steering Committee
Amendment to the Terms of Reference of the Northern Territory Statehood Steering Committee
Mr McADAM (Barkly): Madam Speaker, I move that the terms of reference of the Northern Territory Statehood Steering Committee adopted on 17 August 2004 be amended by inserting the following new clause 5A –
- 5A Continuance of Administrative Function
- (1) Despite Clauses 4 and 5, members of the Statehood Steering Committee who are not members
of the Legislative Assembly continue in office until the Assembly first meets following prorogation
of the Assembly.
of the Statehood Steering Committee and any other activities of the Statehood Steering Committee
previously authorised by the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee but must no carry out any
other functions or activities.
Members will be aware of the work being undertaken to establish the Northern Territory Statehood Steering Committee in accordance with terms of reference endorsed by the Assembly on 17 August last year. In making final preparation for the formation of the Statehood Steering Committee, it has come to the attention of the Standing Committee of Legal and Constitutional Affairs there exists an impediment to the ongoing work we anticipate the Statehood Steering Committee will shortly be undertaking.
Some time between now and the end of this year, an election will be called and the Assembly will be prorogued pursuant to section 22(1) of the Northern Territory (Self-Government) Act 1978. Under clause 4 of the terms of reference, the life of the Statehood Steering Committee will come to an end once the Assembly is prorogued. Whilst it is important for this Assembly to have ultimate control over the activities and membership of the Statehood Steering Committee it is important to understand that, once the committee is finalised, it will be an unwelcome interruption to have its works cease almost immediately for what may be a period of, perhaps, two or more months. Once the Assembly is prorogued, it will be some time before the Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs meets again, and before the Statehood Steering Committee could be re-established. The proposed changes to the terms of reference permits ongoing work and activities by the Statehood Steering Committee.
The Statehood Steering Committee will soon be consulting broadly across the Territory on issues relevant to statehood and to interrupt these activities would be counterproductive. I assure members that nothing in this proposed change to the terms of reference would prevent a future dissolution of the Statehood Steering Committee should that be required. Rather, the proposed amendment assures that the committee acts akin to a public sector agency during the caretaker period of government. The committee will continue its work, outlined broadly in the terms of reference, and its plan of work considered by the standing committee; however, it would not undertake activities which would limit or inhibit an incoming government in any way. The Northern Territory community will continue to be involved in an inclusive, transparent and democratic process to achieve statehood, notwithstanding an election being called.
Madam Speaker, as I stated in the Assembly last year, the time line for the Statehood Steering Committee is designed for maximum flexibility to fit in with the wishes of the community in the Northern Territory. To initiate that process, and to keep the momentum going, this amendment to the terms of reference is essential. Ongoing activity of the statehood issues sends the right message to Territorians that this committee is, to an extent, outside the political process and it should not be required to cease work in the event of an election being called.
Mr ELFERINK (Macdonnell): Madam Speaker, the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee is one of the stranger creatures in this parliament. I think I am the longest-serving member on the current committee and my service, if my memory serves me, goes back to when I entered parliament in 1997. When I joined the committee names such as John Bailey, Steve Hatton and others of that ilk and era were attached to it.
One of the things I was informed of when they dragged me into the committee for the first time, was that it is not like any other committee of the parliament and, indeed, it is not like parliament itself in as much as that never, in the history of the committee, has anything gone to the vote. Yes, there have been robust debates, arguments, and conflicts; however, they have always been resolved through a process of great care to not put things to a vote. The reason that has occurred is quite simple. When we talk about issues of statehood and you have conflict, people get nervous. The last statehood referendum is probably the most poignant lesson in that particular argument.
I have to commend the current Chairman of the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee as he understands that implicitly, and has demonstrated a level of communication and of effort to try and make sure that those principles in the committee are upheld. I am grateful to him for those reasons.
The subcommittee, if you like, which we have been forming, and of which the motion is about today, has been built very carefully with a lot of consultation on both sides - including yourself, Madam Speaker, as the Independent member of that committee - to advance a committee of non-politicians to help pursue the goal of statehood. The work has been done and, as we approach the next Northern Territory election, because of the nature and structure of the committee itself, without this amendment to the establishment of the committee, all that work would be wasted. Therefore, what we are doing now is rescuing a whole lot of work from being wasted, and that is the intent of this motion. It is the spirit of this motion and is, consequently, supported by this side of House.
Motion agreed to.
MOTION
Note Paper – Auditor-General’s February 2005 Report to the Legislative Assembly
Note Paper – Auditor-General’s February 2005 Report to the Legislative Assembly
Continued from 15 February 2005.
Dr TOYNE (Justice and Attorney-General): Madam Speaker, the Auditor-General made reference to the One Staff rostering system, which is used in the Department of Justice to track the pays required for rostered work, particularly in Correctional Services.
In his findings on this, essentially, he said that an audit identified an inconsistent approach between the selected agencies as to the adoption of fraud control arrangements, from no fraud control arrangements at some agencies to detailed arrangements consistent with the Commonwealth Government Fraud Control Guidelines at one agency. A few instances of fraud had been identified at selected agencies and they are detailed in the Auditor-General’s report - at very low levels, I might say.
In 2002-03, there was one allegation of fraud and two frauds to a total of $187 000 - this is whole-of-government - and two recoveries resulting from investigations of that small number of frauds. In 2003-04, there was one allegation, four frauds with no dollar value against it - I am not sure why - and $10 000 recovered.
The recommendation from the Auditor-General was that agencies should follow the example provided by the Department of Corporate and Information Services in the documenting of fraud prevention and control policies and procedures.
Turning to my agency, considering the complexity, inherent delays and likelihood of errors in calculating payments for employees working rostered shifts, there is a need for systems which expedite payments and decrease the need for duplicate recording and administration. The One Staff system is used for the management of rosters, shift changes, leave, higher duties and so on, and they all recorded within One Staff as they are worked. Salary payments can then be calculated from the roster without having to prepare time sheets. Systems like this, which are used to pay significant amounts of public funds, require a high level of security and control. The Auditor-General found that the key general computer and application controls tested with the One Staff rostering system computer environment were found to be effective.
Further to that finding, my agency, in its response to the Auditor-General’s recommendations, has commented:
- The Department of Justice agrees with your recommendation and has already adopted the Department
of Corporate and Information Services’ model of fraud prevention and control policy and procedures.
The Fraud and Dishonesty Control Policy has been published in the DOJ Accounting and Property
Manual and is also available on the DOJ Intranet. Implementation of the policy is progressing.
Madam Speaker, my agency has properly and fully responded to the Auditor-General’s recommendation.
Dr BURNS (Lands and Planning): Madam Speaker, it is my pleasure to respond to the Auditor-General’s report. I say at the outset that, as a government, we value the role of the Auditor-General and the issues raised by him.
The departments that we are responsible for are intent on addressing the comments made by the Auditor-General in his report. That is in stark contrast to the situation when we came to office. In fact, the previous Auditor-General commented, in one of his first briefings to the Public Accounts Committee, on his disappointment both with the lack of response by government departments, and also the lack of referencing to the Public Accounts Committee from his reports. That is not something that has been duplicated under this government.
I now turn to responding to the Auditor-General’s report. There was an issue on page 39 of the Auditor-General’s report: Department of Infrastructure, Planning and Environment Fraud Control Arrangements 2004. The Auditor-General has reported that an audit of a range of agencies identified an inconsistent approach between agencies in relation to this issue. The Department of Infrastructure, Planning and Environment was included in the audit. The Auditor-General has recommended that agencies should follow the example provided by the Department of Corporate and Information Services, or DCIS, in documenting procedures for fraud prevention and control policy.
The Department of Infrastructure, Planning and Environment conducted a series of compulsory staff seminars in 2003-04 entitled Doing the Right Thing. The seminars reinforced the requirements of the Northern Territory Public Service Code of Conduct and Principles as issued by the Office of the Commissioner for Public Employment, including particular issues of fraud and ethical behaviour. The department is reviewing the applicability of DCIS documentation, policy and procedures in relation to fraud control, with a view to improving current fraud control arrangements. It is my hope that the Auditor-General, in future reports, will be able to comment that these issues have been addressed satisfactorily.
Turning to the second issue, on page 52: Analysis of 30 June 2004 Audited Financial Statements of Government Business Divisions, or GBDs, the Construction Division. At 30 June 2004, the division’s total liabilities exceeded its total assets with the result that it exhibited negative nett worth. The Auditor-General has reported that there was a material breakdown in this division’s processes and controls, in that expenses incurred were not invoiced to client agencies. In other words, this particular GBD carries out matters related to construction on behalf of other agencies.
The department formed a view – internally, I might add - that the Construction Division would no longer be a GBD as at 30 June 2004, but would become another operational arm of the department. This contributed to a focus on project delivery to the neglect of the commercial business side of the Construction Division’s operations. This is very important because, as members would be aware, this is a government which, over the past three years has delivered record capital works budgets, with record cash. There has been much pressure within the department to deliver on those capital works projects - deliver to Territorians in infrastructure, deliver to the construction industry and, most importantly, to the people who do the construction, from the large contractors right down to the smaller subcontractors who paint and do various works around schools. Basically, there has been a lot of pressure there. I am laying on the record that my information is that the division did lose its focus on the commercial side and focussed on project delivery. I believe most of the people in business in the Territory which benefited from this record capital works expenditure would understand.
It is pleasing to advise that the Construction Division of the department has recently completed an extensive planning process. This will provide a strong focus and direction for the future. It has been confirmed that the Construction Division will remain a GBD, and this has been communicated to all staff.
Another key outcome is the appointment of a business manager to manage business processes at the Construction Division, allowing operational managers to continue to focus on the delivery of government works programs. Once again, it is record capital works expenditure and cash, in stark contrast to the opposition in their final year of government, when their revote actually exceeded their cash. They did not even have enough money for the projects that had been staged over a couple of years, or had been carried over for one year to another - not even enough money for that, let alone any new projects. This of appointing a business manager will ensure the monitoring of expenditure and revenue, and that those costs are being recovered.
Realistic and achievable budgets are being established in consultation with cost centre managers to improve accountability and financial controls. Processes for the provision of appropriate and timely reports are also being strengthened.
I turn to page 78 of the Auditor-General’s report: Analysis at 30 June 2004, Audited Financial Statements of Government Business Divisions, or GBDs, Territory Wildlife Parks. The Auditor-General reports that a valuation of all the buildings and infrastructure assets has been carried out by the Australian Valuation Office. The Auditor-General also reports that the work done over the last two years means that the GBD now has a record of assets that are current and reflect present-day values. Most members will recall that, with the change to accrual accounting from cash accounting, the identification and costing of assets was a very important part of that process. It was always envisaged that this would take some time. I recall the previous Auditor-General and Treasury officials briefing the Public Accounts Committee on this issue and making it very clear that, particularly with assets, this would be an ongoing process and, probably, take a couple of years to bed down. The work that has been carried out on the revaluation of assets has been extensive, and now means that the GBD has a firm financial base on which to proceed in the future.
The GBD has done particularly well in the 2003-04 year to increase visitation to the Alice Springs Desert Park by leveraging off the commencement of The Ghan services through to Darwin. This, combined with tight financial controls, has enabled the GBD to return a better than expected result for the year. Management continues to seek innovative ways of increasing visitation.
I will now turn to page 100 of the Auditor-General’s report, which is the Analysis of the 30 June 2004 Audited Financial Statements of the Cobourg Peninsula Sanctuary and Marine Park Board. The Cobourg Peninsula Sanctuary and Marine Park Board recorded a surplus from ordinary activities of $88 000, compared to the 2002-03 financial year where there was a deficit of $69 000. The improvement in the operating results of the board is primarily due to a change in the way the liability to traditional owners is recognised within the accounts.
Signed financial statements were not provided to the office of the Auditor-General until November 2004. This does not meet the requirements of the Cobourg Peninsula Aboriginal Land, Sanctuary and Marine Park Act which requires that financial statements must be lodged within three months. The Department of Infrastructure, Planning and Environment for which I am responsible provides administrative support to the board and, as a part of that service, the department prepares annual financial statements for presentation to the Auditor-General. The majority of audit work on the statement actually occurs prior to the delivery of the signed statements to the Auditor-General, and this was the case for the 2004 accounts. The department continues to seek ways of improving the timeliness of financial reporting to the board.
Finally, I turn to the issue identified on page 58 of the Auditor-General’s report: Analysis of 30 June 2004 Audited Financial Statements of GBDs, the Darwin Port Corporation. The Auditor-General has commented that, as has been the case ever since the commencement of works on the East Arm Wharf, the transaction with the most significant impact on the financial report was the revaluation decrement relating to the construction of new assets in the port. The Auditor-General also comments that the revaluation decrement of these assets does not affect the service potential of these assets.
The Auditor-General also reports that an amount of $745 000 was recorded as an equity injection from DIPE, relating to the cost of works on the roll-on roll-off facility. The Auditor-General has also commented that the $60 000 annual rental from Defence has not been paid, and this has been the subject of comment in the last sittings of this Assembly.
The works undertaken by DIPE on the roll-on roll-off facility, or RO/RO, amounted to $745 000, as I have said previously. The value of these works has been transferred to the Darwin Port Corporation’s accounts. The potential loss of income that the Auditor-General has referred to relates to the annual maintenance levy that is payable by the Department of Defence. Under the agreement of annual maintenance levy payable by Defence, in the first term the specified sum is $60 000, which is indexed against CPI, and $30 000 per year in the second five years of the agreement, which is also CPI indexed.
For the 2003-04 year, the Darwin Port Corporation owes Defence $578, being half of the rental income on the RO/RO, and Darwin Port Corporation are waiting for Defence to issue a tax invoice to enable this payment to be made. Subsequently, on receipt of that, the Department of Defence owes the Darwin Port Corporation $60 000, plus GST rental, and the Darwin Port Corporation is awaiting a reply from Defence on this issue. The Darwin Port Corporation has, again, invoiced Defence for the outstanding amount.
Madam Speaker, I have comprehensively addressed the issues. The Auditor-General has been forthright, and the department and the Port Corporation have tried to address the issues which the Auditor-General has raised, as well as providing solutions to those issues.
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Visitors
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, I draw your attention to the presence in the gallery of Years 10 and 11 Business and Legal Studies students from OLSH, accompanied by their teacher, Malakay Tawake. On behalf of honourable members, I extend to you a warm welcome.
Members: Hear, hear!
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Mr BURKE (Opposition Leader): Madam Speaker, primarily for the students from Our Lady of Sacred Heart who are watching and listening intently to what is going on, we are now debating the Auditor-General’s report. The Auditor-General looks at the performance of government over a year. The Auditor-General is an independent person and, essentially, looks at how government is doing business and puts out a report. This report, by an independent officer, allows us to analyse how government is going in the Northern Territory. The report for 2003-04 is what is being debated now.
I want to pick up the point made by the minister in regards to the Construction Division first so I do not forget it. The minister put a good spin on the fact that the Construction Division received a very critical report from the Auditor-General. This is the division that supervises all the government spending on infrastructure work, and is critically involved in supervising how well work is going, for example, at Alice Springs Hospital. Primarily, it is the division charged with making sure that work is happening, and performing in the way the government intends.
The Auditor-General, in his comments regarding the Construction Division, basically said the division does not know what it is doing. Under this Labor government, it is supposed to be a government business division; that is, where it does work it charges for that work, and receives revenue for the work it does. It sends out project officers, architects, and supervisors of works, planners, etcetera, and, where they do that work on behalf of government departments, the government departments pay them for it. For example, Territory Health Services and Alice Springs Hospital would be paying that department for the supervisory work it does.
Do you know what that department has been doing for the whole of 2003-04? Charging no one! It did not know it had to charge anyone for the work it was doing. The reason for that is it did not know what it was. It did not know what part of government it was in and, therefore, that it should be invoicing people. According to the Auditor-General, it has probably lost about $3m or $4m in straight revenue in that year alone, that he could calculate.
When the government says it really has the place swinging well and all the government departments are performing satisfactorily, all focussed on their job and doing well - and, in the case of Alice Springs Hospital, the Labor government has done everything properly - the mob that were doing it did not even know they had to charge people. That is how much knowledge the department itself had of what its own responsibilities were. Therefore, when we say there are things that are worrying about the Alice Springs Hospital refurbishment, we worry that the government seems to be blaming everyone else except their own efforts. They should have been there in supervising things well. It is funny that the Auditor-General, for 2003-04, said that the people who should be doing the supervising did not know what they were supposed to be doing. They certainly did not know that they were supposed to be charging people.
Not only that, the government departments get money in the budget that is required for them to pay departments for work that they do. The Construction Division should charge Territory Health Services for the work that it does. The Construction Division forgot to charge Territory Health Services. There is no money from Territory Health Services that has gone back to the Construction Division, so what is Territory Health Services doing with the money? Where is the $3m or $4m, at least in that year, that should have been acquitted from agencies for work done? Someone has it.
The Auditor-General is simply saying that when it comes to that government department, it is pretty sloppy work, and not only in regards to the Construction Division. It raises the question of what the government has done about getting the money back from those departments which received money for nothing and did not pay the Construction Division. That is worse because, if you look at those departments, all of their budgets have blown out over the year. Not only are they holding money that they should not be holding, they are spending money far in excess of what they have been budgeted so they have had to go to government and ask for more.
For the year 2003-04, there are some pretty telling comments in this Auditor-General’s report as to how this government is performing. Because of restructuring into mega-departments, departmental agencies do not know who they are, what they are, and whether they are business divisions or just government agencies.
The Auditor-General points to the fact that the economy of the Northern Territory is now, essentially, being run by a thing called the GST. He says that 80% of the money coming into the Northern Territory is from the GST. That is what you pay when you get a GST cost of 10% on all those items that you buy at Target and elsewhere. All of that money is being used to then put money back to the states and territories so that they can deliver services.
What has happened is that the money has grown enormously because no one could predict how much the GST would be. The reason the money has grown enormously above what was predicted is that the economies of states like Queensland - in particular, that is going gang busters with retirees and Territorians moving to Queensland – Victoria and New South Wales predominantly, have been going so strongly that they have grown the GST cake, because the GST is paid on things like stamp duty and housing and all those things you buy. It swells the cake, and the Northern Territory gets a slice of that cake.
The Auditor-General is pointing out in this report that the way the government has used the GST money is quite alarming. He is saying the GST money is, primarily, being spent on recurrent operational costs. If you are paying money on recurrent operational costs, you are paying money to pay wages. That is fine when you have the money to pay wages, but what happens when your money starts to shrink?
What the Auditor-General is saying is the economy of Australia is starting to slow down. The housing boom is over ...
Mr Henderson: Not in the Northern Territory, it isn’t.
Mr BURKE: The minister says the housing boom has not slowed down the Northern Territory. I put the premise to you that the Northern Territory has, essentially, missed out on the economic boom that has gripped the rest of Australia over the last five or six years. That is a clear indictment on the lack of performance of this government, which has had carriage of the economy of the Northern Territory during the most stable economic period in Australia’s history and has blown it completely. To find the reason you have blown it, you only have to look at the tourism figures, the way the other states are performing down south, and the indicators that said what the projections of economic growth in the Northern Territory should be and what they are actually achieving. The Northern Territory is lagging behind other states economically.
What is happening as well now is that, not only is the Northern Territory government spending that GST on, essentially, recurrent expenses, when the GST pie starts to shrink something has to give. The Auditor-General is saying that the GST pie is going to start to shrink over the next few years and the Northern Territory government does not have any strategy or position in place regarding how they are going to deal with it, because they have not done anything to grow the economic base of the Northern Territory in order to get some sort of economic activity going in a real sense, other than relying on other states to give us GST money. That is the bottom line.
That is the indictment of three-and-a-half years of Labor government, which was given the opportunity to bring forward - by their own economic experts - a budget that would be in balance in 2005-06. They were given GST money far and above the projections that anyone made, and are swimming in money and cannot even balance their budget, as they projected themselves. They abandoned their own fiscal strategy in the last budget, and have now put in a fiscal strategy to get a balanced budget by 2012-13. And you expect Australians and Territorians to say you are going well? You are an absolute disaster! I ask the question: what have you actually done? How about naming me one school? If you have a strong and growing economy in the Northern Territory, wouldn’t you think people would be coming here? Wouldn’t you think the population would be growing? Wouldn’t you think families would be moving here for jobs? Wouldn’t you think there would be a need for more schools?
There certainly was over the last few years before you come to power. I can recall four schools that were built in the Northern Territory in about six years, before you came to power. The most the Labor government can point to is a few demountables - not one primary school. You do not have to be an economic expert to know that if your revenue is going up and your population is going down, you are, essentially, sliding backwards.
That is what is happening in the Northern Territory, and the indictment is that it has not happened in difficult times. If these were difficult times, one could say, okay, they are struggling on in an economic period that is extremely difficult for everyone. However, the opposite has been the case. The other states in Australia are going gang busters, and that is the simple truth of it. The Australian economy is the most stable environment it has been for years, and this government has been given the flexibility with financial capacity that it has never been given before - $600m more in their revenue base …
Mr Henderson: $240 m.
Mr BURKE: No, not $240m, $600m more in your revenue base than my government had when it left government. That is the simple fact of it: $600m more in your revenue base, $230m-odd more than you ever predicted. In a year-by-year basis, millions of dollars that you cannot even predict in your budget papers - it is all there to see and read - and you cannot point to anything you have done, in a real sense, to improve the Northern Territory.
The Minister for Housing came in here last night and pointed to a great law and order situation in the lifestyle of the Northern Territory, where he has security guards around the clock in streets, and that is supposed to be something we are proud of. Well, go to Karama, and to Millner. I am going to go to them and say: ‘Guess what? In Alice Springs, they have security guards around the streets’. How about we have a few security guards around the clock in my street in Gray, too, because that is what we need? I can tell the people of Alice Springs those security guards will be gone the day after the election, because all they are there for, along with cleaning up the houses and the streets is until they can get through the next election. You can forget the security guards after that.
When you point to the efforts of this Labor government, the Chief Minister, who should have clout and capacity, has lost 100 000 tourists coming to the Northern Territory, many of them to Central Australia. That is her proud record. The minister for Education cannot point to a single school he has built. The Minister for Lands and Planning has a Construction Division that does not know what it is, and does not know who to charge. What a track record! That is the track record of this Labor government …
Dr Burns: Spending money. More money than you ever spent on public works.
Mr BURKE: … and it is a track record that I … Yes, you have! The minister said: ‘We have spent more money than you ever spent!’ With $600m less than you have, we built a railway and a modern port, just to name two - and about four schools in four years! I can name them. That is the way you can spend money well. That is the way you put in facilities for Territory families. What can you point to? Nothing! You can point to the fact that you can sit in this parliament and call one of my colleagues a poofter - and that is about the only capability the minister for Infrastructure, Planning and Environment has …
Members interjecting.
Mr BURKE: … and you do not have the gall, the manliness or the courage to stand on your feet and make an apology to him! I have never seen …
Members interjecting
Mr Kiely interjecting.
Mr BURKE: … in my 10 years in parliament …
Madam SPEAKER: Order, order! Member for Sanderson! Order! I do not want to go down that debate, thank you.
Mr BURKE: They talk about what they have achieved, Madam Speaker. I can tell you, in my 10 years in parliament I have never seen - ever - the achievement of the minister for Infrastructure, Planning and Environment where he used the sexual abuse history of a member of this parliament to, somehow, allege that the man was homosexual. It is an absolute disgrace! There has been no natural justice done ...
Madam SPEAKER: Leader of the Opposition!
Mr BURKE: There has been a spin put on this whole effort to say that, somehow, he was provoked and the minister does not have the manliness or the gall to stand on his feet and make an apology like any man would make ...
Madam SPEAKER: Leader of the Opposition! Let us get back to the Auditor-General’s report.
Mr BURKE: Back to this report, Madam Speaker. I hope that anyone who reads it can see that what I have said is true: that the Northern Territory government is swimming in money but it has a warning from the Auditor-General that that money will slow down; and the spending of that money is being poorly focussed. When it comes to the efforts and targeting of strategies for this government over the last four years, in this report you cannot point to anything that can show that this economy has strengthened and become competitive in comparison to the rest of Australia.
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Visitors
Visitors
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, I welcome the group of students from the Illawarra School at Stirling, accompanied by their teacher Rissa Marlowe, and the Year 9 OLSH Sadadeen Campus students accompanied by Anthony Bindle and Andrew Damon. On behalf of all honourable members, I extend to you all a warm welcome!
Members: Hear, hear!
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Mr HENDERSON (Police, Fire and Emergency Services): Madam Speaker, it is always a pleasure to follow on from the Leader of the Opposition, the member for Brennan, because we really must live in two different worlds. You would believe, hearing the Leader of the Opposition’s contribution to debate on the Auditor-General’s report, that the Territory economy is going backwards at a rate of knots. If you believed his rantings in regard to this report, the economy is going backwards at a rate of knots, people are leaving the Territory in droves, crime is out of control and, somehow, the Territory, as he said yesterday, is a very mediocre place. Well, that is not the Northern Territory that I live in, and certainly not the Territory that I believe most Territorians believe they live in. The Territory is going ahead. It is going ahead at a rate of knots, and we see in economic growth forecasts by independent forecasters - not by some fantasy by the Leader of the Opposition - that the economy of the Northern Territory is booming at the moment. The biggest issue facing the Northern Territory economy is lack of skilled workers to meet the demand.
I will pick up on the first comments of the Leader of the Opposition which really go to show where I believe the opposition is struggling for any political identity at all. He talks about the economy running only because of the GST. This is a CLP opposition which believes that the only role in an economy is government expenditure. That is not the case. The economy is booming in the Northern Territory at the moment primarily because of private sector investment.
Mr Dunham: It had nothing to do with government - that is correct.
Mr HENDERSON: Not once did we hear the … I will pick up on the interjection from the member for Drysdale because, yesterday, he said he was a bush economist and he proves it again today. He is a very bad bush economist because, in the economy system that we are working in at the moment, the role should always be for the private sector to lead the way in investment, as the only way a government can spend money is to tax people. Therefore, here we have a recipe from the member for Drysdale, for the CLP to take the lead in building the economy of the Northern Territory. They can only do that by expending money. He asks what have we built. I can say that we have fixed a whole heap of things up …
Mr Dunham: Tell me!
Mr HENDERSON: Our roads network was crumbling and falling to pieces; our schools were falling apart; public housing across the Northern Territory had not been painted for about 20 years, police stations, health clinics and hospitals across the Northern Territory were falling apart, and there was hardly any staff in those facilities. We are seeing services improve for Territorians.
For the member for Drysdale to say the government is not doing anything, I would point to the private sector as it has the confidence to invest, and is confident it will get a return on that investment. We can see record levels of investment in the Northern Territory at the moment across all sections of the economy. In the resources section, we can see the LNG plant in Darwin moving ahead; massive expansion of the Alcan mine at Gove as a result of increase in prices for natural resources; mining taking off across the Northern Territory; record levels of mineral exploration leases being granted - they are not being granted to nobody; they are being granted to companies who want to invest in the Northern Territory and exploration. There was a 44% increase last year on exploration expenditure in the Northern Territory by the private sector as a result of this government working constructively with the native title process, as opposed to playing politics and stifling investment, which was the CLP’s policy for many years.
We have a consortium wanting to invest $1bn in the Northern Territory in the waterfront development in Darwin; something that the opposition would scratch and somehow use the taxpayers’ money to make that development happen. That will not happen under this government. We want to see the private sector invest, not tax Territorians to build the waterfront. Yesterday in the House, I highlighted from the Centralian Advocate a story of a $20m tourism project going up in Alice Springs - one of many where the private sector has confidence to invest in the economy. Economic growth is not just about government expenditure, as the opposition would have us believe; it is about creating a fiscal climate and a taxation regime where the private sector has confidence to invest and get a return on that investment. We can see private sector investment in the Northern Territory across all areas, and the economy booming. I urge the opposition to get out more and talk to people to see what is actually happening out there.
Regarding the GST revenues, yes, they have increased faster than was predicted, but certainly not to the extent of an additional $600m. My colleague, the Treasurer, quite clearly explained yesterday how this whole process was to work. In the Commonwealth forward estimates, there were guaranteed minimum payments forecast to the states and, over the four years, the additional amount the Territory has received has been $240m, not $600m as the opposition would have us believe. That money has been used in providing Territory companies with record tax cuts. We are now the lowest taxing jurisdiction in Australia for employers who have 20 employees or less …
Mr Dunham: That is not true.
Mr HENDERSON: It is true, and I can provide the independent statistics to prove it. I challenge the member for Drysdale to refute that. As of 1 July next year …
Mr DUNHAM: A point of order, Madam Speaker! I take up the challenge.
Madam SPEAKER: No, you can do it when you speak.
Mr Dunham: You are wrong. Your budget papers say you are wrong.
Mr HENDERSON: As of 1 July, for companies that employ 40 or fewer staff, we will be the lowest taxing jurisdiction in Australia. They are record tax cuts. We have the most affordable housing in the Northern Territory, and the rest of the additional revenue we have received via the GST process has been committed to improving police services, health services, educational services, and correctional services to Territorians.
It is going to be interesting to see these costed policies from the opposition. The challenge was given to the member for Brennan today to say who has costed these policies. We want them costed by Treasury, not some CLP mate. If you are going to give the teachers a 15% pay rise over two years, no school to have over 300 kids in it, and reduce class sizes, well, our calculations to date has costed that mix of policies at around $60m. If you are going to abolish payroll tax and stamp duties, payroll tax is running at about $100m. I do not have the figure for stamp duties in front of me, but it would be of a similar or probably growing ilk. Where is the money going to come from?
The money can only come from plunging the Territory into debt or cutting services and sacking public servants. The time will come when the blow torch will be applied to the magic pudding economics that the member for Brennan is brandishing around at the moment. Territorians and public servants should be very fearful about where the opposition will get this money to be able to abolish all of these taxes and give everyone the pay rise that they want, because something has to give, unless he is going to do something like introduce a land tax for all businesses in the Northern Territory.
At the moment, as of 1 July, only businesses with a payroll of over $1m a year will pay payroll tax. Our calculations are that is the vast majority of small businesses in the Territory will not pay that tax. Unless he is going to replace the payroll tax with a land tax that will apply to all businesses, where will he get the money?
The only way he can get that money, unless he is going to plunge the Territory into deficit again, is to sack public servants. They have a track record of doing that. Who can forget the ERC cuts in the early 1990s when thousands of people lost their jobs? They have a track record and we will be reminding Territorians of that track record.
You cannot abolish taxes, and you cannot give people every cent of the pay rise they want without either increasing taxes in other areas or slashing expenditure. It is going to be interesting to see these costed policies that the Leader of the Opposition has talked about, because we are going to require those policies to be costed by Treasury to see where this money is coming from. Again, the rhetoric from the opposition that people are leaving the Territory in droves, that the population is declining - what absolute rot! I will keep saying it over and over again …
Mr Dunham: ABS is lying, is it?
Mr HENDERSON: Member for Drysdale, the ABS figures come out at about 11 o’clock. In fact, they have been out for 20 minutes. I have not seen them yet.
As well as the ABS figures, I will quote again from the real estate local monitor, the analysis of the real estate market. This is a barometer that I believe because the real estate market is one of the most fundamental barometers of population in the Northern Territory. I quote from the latest report, December 2004:
- While vacancy rates increased from the September ’04 quarter of 3.8% to 4.1% in the December ’04 quarter,
this is a reduction of 2.5% from the December ’03 period of 6.6%. This is indeed heartening when compared
with the December ’01 quarter, when vacancy rates reached 12.7%.
Under the CLP government, we had vacancy rates in the property market across the Northern Territory running at 12%. In the latest quarter under the Labor government, they are down to 3.8%. It goes on to say:
Couple this with the abundance of rental stock that have come onto the market since 2001 …
Not only do we have a quarter of the rental market actually vacant at the moment, we have increased housing come on to the market since then:
- … and REINT would suggest that this is another indication that the economic climate in the Northern Territory
continues to be strong.
House Prices Continue to Grow, Vacancy Rates Lowest on Record …
How does that stack up with the rhetoric from the opposition that people are leaving in droves and the Territory is going backwards? It just does not make sense. They can spin this as hard as they like, but anyone who is investing in property in the Northern Territory knows that they can get a tenant who is paying a good rent. Anyone who owns a home in the Northern Territory at the moment knows that the equity they have in that home has increased around 25% in the last 12 months. People who want to buy into the market via the HomeNorth scheme can get access to the most affordable housing in Australia. Also, in Central Australia in Alice Springs, we have seen the first land release in 10 years, with more to come. That is not an indication of a Territory economy going backwards at a rate of knots and the population declining in droves. The member for Brennan really does need to get out more. The Territory is not a mediocre place. Territorians are wonderfully optimistic, and people with great capabilities to punch above their weight, and this economy is going very strongly at the moment.
As Business minister, I am committed to keeping the Northern Territory the lowest taxing jurisdiction for small business in Australia, and I commend my Cabinet colleagues for approving those initiatives. We are seeing private sector investment in the Territory economy at record levels at the moment - not just government expenditure, tax and spend, that the CLP opposition rhetoric would have us believe.
This is going to be a contest of ideas coming into the next election. However, if the opposition believe that they can get out there and pretend that the Territory is going backwards, nothing is happening, people are leaving at a rate of knots, well, I do not believe Territorians are going to buy that.
I commend the Auditor-General on his report. I would like to comment in regards to my department of DCIS and a key finding about security issues of the government mainframe area and computer controls. I will quote from the key finding from the Auditor-General’s report:
- Key general computer controls over the IJIS system were found to be effective. Significant application
management issues were identified in the areas of user access maintenance, strategic planning and data
quality monitoring.
I will not go through all of the issues here, but there have been issues identified regarding access to the IJIS system, which is the Integrated Justice Information System which is accessed by Justice and police. There were issues in regards to passwords and the approvals for granting passwords and access to various components of the system. I am pleased to see that my agency of Police, Fire and Emergency Services has taken those comments on board and processes have been changed.
The Auditor-General does play a vital role in our system of government in providing an independent analysis of agency financial performance. I commend him for his report. As ministers in this government - and I am sure in previous governments - we all look to the Auditor-General’s comments in relation to our agency and make sure that they are addressed, Madam Speaker.
Mr AH KIT (Housing): Madam Speaker, today I respond to the Auditor-General’s Report to the Legislative Assembly tabled on 15 February 2005. There are a number of matters arising from audits described in that report that relate to my department. In each case - Housing Business Services, Territory Motor Sports Board and the Jabiru Town Development Authority - the Auditor-General noted we have received an unqualified audit for the period ended 30 June 2004, which is a credit to the public servants who manage or oversee these agencies.
Housing Business Services refers to the government business division of Territory Housing. The Auditor-General notes that the Housing Business Services has incurred significant levels of operating loss, primarily because revenues have not been sufficient to cover depreciation charges and interest payments. Territory Housing has worked hard to reverse this trend and, since last year has, in fact, reduced losses from $14.8m to $12.8m. This reduced deficit was possible because of an increase in revenue of $7.7m, partially offset by a $5.6m increase in expenses. When looking at the increase in expenses, this is largely due to the boost in spending on repairs and maintenance from $17.7m to $20.1m, an appropriate response given the history of neglect. The other factor in the increase in expenses of $2.5m is due to the Community Harmony strategy, an appropriate response to the Territory’s commitment to improving access and accommodation options for indigenous people living in urban areas. The Community Harmony strategy is a critical whole-of-government strategy that has important housing components as a part of its response. It is perfectly appropriate that Territory Housing contribute funding towards this strategy.
Housing Business Services is reviewing the methodology of costing its community service obligations in conjunction with Treasury which will have an impact on the division’s profitability. The Auditor-General recommends that, in a bid to continue reducing losses, policies and procedures for remote and urban dwellings and shared equity properties should be reviewed. Territory Housing agrees and has commenced reviewing these policies. This review will be completed by the end of this financial year.
The Auditor-General’s report also made note of Territory Housing’s longer-term business sustainability and debtor collection processes. The Auditor-General, quite rightly, noted that the current level of financial performance cannot be sustained indefinitely. I heartily agree, and that is why I have supported Territory Housing in its rigorous consideration of new initiatives that will improve operating performance. This includes reviewing processes around debtors’ collection which will have a positive impact by 2005-06. In variances between the tenancy management system and the GAS general ledger, systematic solutions are currently being investigated to resolve this longstanding issue. As the Auditor-General acknowledges, Housing Business Services, or Territory Housing, is a complex organisation and I know that it has a tough job to do. However, Territory Housing has put in place a five-year financial plan detailing performance and strategies for improving performance by business line. I have asked for regular updates and expect to see that, next year, the situation will have improved yet again.
In regard to the Territory Motor Sports Board, the Auditor-General audited the Territory Motor Sports Board’s books for the first time. This is appropriate accountability, given that the Territory Motor Sports Board Ltd is a government-owned company. The Auditor-General provided a clean audit. When the previous government acquired the land and assets, created a company and placed ownership with that company, of which the then Minister for Sport and Recreation was a director, the value of the land and assets was not recognised in the accounts. In 2004, company accounts, for the first time, recognised the assets at fair value, resulting in assets being shown at around $14m, plus land at $1.5m, compared with around only $0.5m in previous years. The majority of structures acquired did not meet Australian Business Standards. Current proper attribution of value means that the task of recognising the need for adequate maintenance is now easier.
The resignation of the former chief executive officer and payout of accrued entitlements caused a cash flow problem with the Motor Sports Board Ltd during 2003-04. This was resolved by my department underwriting costs of the current general manager and also other costs to the tune of $77 000.
The new board of the Territory Motor Sports Board Ltd has implemented a much-improved collection of charges from user clubs. Notwithstanding this better billing and debt collection, the Motor Sports Board Ltd’s financial circumstances remain tight. The overall book loss of $173 996 is noted; however, the operational cash shortfall for the year ended 30 June 2004 was funded from a reduction in cash at bank from $52 000 to $35 000 and a reduction in receivables from $326 000 to $131 000. This is slightly balanced by the reduction in current liabilities from $188 000 to $129 000.
In regards to the Jabiru Town Development Authority, the Auditor-General commented on the following major matters: the inability of the Jabiru Town Development Authority to generate sufficient cash flows in the future to repay the Northern Territory government loan; and also recovery of outstanding contributions under the cost-sharing agreement of 1983. The Jabiru Town Development Authority operates pursuant to the Jabiru Town Development Act. The JTDA is a statutory authority responsible to the minister. Its two principal members are representatives of the Northern Territory government and Energy Resources of Australia, who are the operators of the Ranger Uranium Mine. In the course of the establishment of Jabiru, the Northern Territory government provided loan funds to the Jabiru Town Development Authority to fund over-designed services - mainly water supply and sewerage services which were constructed to meet the expected population needs of the town. The expectation, at the time, was that the Northern Territory would recoup its investment as further development occurred in the Kakadu region.
As the Auditor-General rightly notes, the Jabiru Town Development Authority is unable to repay the loan on the basis of its current income from the sale of subleases, nor is it able to fund interest payments. In 1986, the government granted the Jabiru Town Development Authority a moratorium on the repayment of the loan and interest payments. This government has continued that previous government’s policy. Whilst the Jabiru Town Development Authority is technically insolvent, it remains capable of operating and performing its functions in the administration and development of Jabiru while the government maintains a moratorium on the repayment of the loan. There are no current plans to change this situation. There is no financial advantage to the government in the writing-off of the loan to the Jabiru Town Development Authority. If the town does enjoy a further development stage in the future, then government may retrieve some of its investment. This possibility is removed by the writing-off of the loan. The value of any development leading to greater income will also flow to Energy Resources of Australia as the other principal partner.
Madam Speaker, I commend the Auditor-General on his report.
Mr WOOD (Nelson): Madam Speaker, it has been said that some of us are bush accountants, or bush treasurers, and I am no exception. I am one who gets bamboozled by the mountains of documents we get when the budget, the half-yearly reports, and the different Auditor-General’s reports, are presented. Consequently, I will keep this as a reflection of what most people think with budgets - they like to have a clear understanding of where we are going; not in the terms of the Department of Treasury, but in layman’s terms. I looked at the Auditor-General’s report and marked a few areas, particularly those regarding the amount of income we receive. As has been stated earlier here, the initial statement says:
- The introduction of the GST has benefited the Territory, but the heavy dependence by the Territory upon
Commonwealth grants leaves it exposed to a greater degree of risk than is the case in other jurisdictions.
There are two sides to that statement. One is we receive lots of extra money from the government - I think $166.4m extra this year - in GST funding, and the other is that the Auditor-General is saying that there could be some future risk.
I listened to the Minister for Police, Fire and Emergency Services say today that the Territory is going ahead at a rate of knots; the economy is booming; the private sector should drive the economy; and the private sector is booming at the present time. If that is the case - and I am not challenging the minister on that statement - then GST revenue certainly will rise. For instance, if private housing continues to boom, as it is in some parts of the Darwin region at Palmerston, and we know that steel prices have gone up 50% to 100% in the last two years, and that concrete cost has gone up quite considerably as well then, surely, GST revenue is also increasing.
Whether one could say on one hand that we are getting more money from the GST but there are risks involved in the future and we have to be careful where we spend our money and, then, on the other hand say that the economy is booming, then you have a conflict in the debate.
We are getting enough money to reduce taxes. The risk - if you believe the government, and they are the ones who are saying it - of a downfall in that GST is low because the economy is booming. As the minister said, the economy is going ahead at a rate of knots. If you accept that there is not much risk of us losing GST revenue in the future, why are we not looking at reducing our taxes? As I said before, the average Joe Blow picks up his TIO insurance tax invoice and he reads - and it will vary naturally, of course - that it is a $175 premium, $17 GST – that is 10%, - stamp is $19, which is 10% of the GST and the premium, and he pays $212. For the ordinary person on the street, he believes he is getting slugged twice, and I believe he is.
It may have been the case a few years ago that the government could have argued: ‘We needed our stamp duty because there were not sufficient GST funds to match it’. However, I believe there is. If you can go through the document that the Auditor-General has presented, he says a number of times:
- The revenues of the total public sector exceeded those earned in 2002-03 and also exceeded those included in
the budget for 2003-04. A significant factor in the increased revenues of the total public sector for 2003-04 was
an increase of $166.4m in the value of GST grants received from the Commonwealth by the general government
sector.
If you go further, it says on page 16 of the Auditor-General’s report:
- Total public sector financial performance was characterised by strong growth of 9.1% in total revenues, offset by
growth of 7.9% in operating expenses. The growth in revenues was underpinned by significant increase in revenues
from the Commonwealth. These rose by $197.2m, or 10.8%, for the year, and of this, the largest component was
GST revenues which increased by $166.4m for the year.
contributor to that growth was stamp duties …
… which increased by $22.2m or 45.3%. That increase largely reflects the effects of a buoyant property market
and is partly offset by a decline in payroll taxes of $3.1m, and the effects of the removal of the …
… Budget Improvement Levy, which resulted in a decline in vehicle registration fees of $4.8m.
I know the government has, to some extent, budgeted for some of that $166m. If you look at the summary given to us by the Auditor-General from the Central Holding Authority, you will notice that part of that extra $166m went in loan repayments of $54m.
Without going into detail about this bill, the simple fact is that we receive $27.3m extra cash, and it is written here. The Central Holding Authority received a $24m better than budgeted cash surplus. Why is not that cash surplus - and we are not talking about the $166m here because the government says they will be putting that into schools and hospitals and all that sorts of thing, and I am not asking them to cut that back. However, looking at this in a very simplistic manner, you might say, we know that above all that, you received $27m free cash - not budgeted for, not even forecast for. You got that $27m. Yet, we have the statement that we are raising taxes of $22.2m. If we are receiving $27.4m from the Commonwealth extra than we even believed we would get, surely just that amount is enough to take out stamp duties? If the economy is booming, as the Minister for Police, Fire and Emergency Services said, then we know we will expect to get this sort of money, plus, next year. Therefore, what is the risk? I do not believe that there is a risk. I feel we have ‘taxaholics’.
I remember when Senator Harradine, who had the balance of power, was debating the GST. At that time he, basically, had the power to say whether the GST would come into play or not. He voted against it. I believe one of the reasons he voted against it was because he could see that it is a growth tax - every time prices go up so does the GST. Perhaps what he saw is that there would still be taxes in the states; that people would be double-taxed –pensioners and our young families. I sometimes think, and I said the other day, that we are forgetting the average family, the pensioner, the average person in the street.
We talk about these grand projects that are important. We talk about increasing education. We talk about Mereenie Loop Road. They are all great. However, we are making it so hard for people that they have trouble buying their own house. In a place as big as Australia, as big as the Northern Territory with so much land, why should it be that young people and families cannot afford a house of their own? It just beats me. This is not Hong Kong or Singapore, where you may have an excuse for saying: ‘We have to live on the 47th floor’. We do not have that excuse. We have some issues that we have to deal with, and we know how to deal fairly with those issues today. I believe we are losing sight of the people we, as a government, should be looking after. If we are hitting Joe Blow twice just for insurance on his house, why can we not do something about it? Are we so attached to the tax that we cannot let go of it? I am sure we will find some reason to spend it! I know that.
The government has to take a good hard look at itself and ask whether it just wants to be seen as a government that has done these marvellous things for the economy, that can say: ‘Look, we have done this and this and this’, and yet people paying mortgages are still struggling. People trying to send their kids to school have to pay for school uniforms, the fee to take their kids on a school camp - all those little things that people have to pay for. I sometimes think we are all on a pretty good wicket. Sometimes, we probably think we are not on as good a wicket as other people, and there are certainly people paid a lot more money than me. I sometimes think we need to just keep our feet on the ground and see what the average person in Darwin, Palmerston and the rural area actually earns. In many cases, people do not earn a lot of money. I have seen people going down to play soccer or football, and they have to fork out $150 for the insurance for the kid to play soccer, for the uniform and, if they have three or four children wanting to play soccer, that is a lot of money. We need to help those people. We want to encourage families to look after their children well. We want them to have a good lifestyle in the Territory
If we are talking about growing the Territory, we have to make it attractive. It is all right to say, ‘We are the lowest taxing’, but that is nearly a clich because that is not the issue. The issue really is: are we taxing people too much? I do not want to be the lowest taxing. I do not want to be compared to different places. There might be other reasons why those states tax people that way.
We should look at our own taxes as we are, and see where we can cut those taxes, knowing full well that the people we are cutting the taxes for are paying the taxes. They are paying GST on a bottle of Coke every time they go to McDonalds, the cinema ticket, the spare tyre - they are paying GST. Surely, if we have $27m surplus - forget the other arguments about the $166m. The Auditor-General has said $27m extra. I reckon, if the economy is booming, we will have no problem getting next year. We should just make a statement in the next budget that we will wipe stamp duty because we know we have the same amount of money coming from the federal government. I say to the Treasurer and the government: do something for the average person, for families. Here is your opportunity. You will not blow your budget, you will just do something good for the Territory.
________________
Visitors
Visitors
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, I acknowledge the presence in the gallery of the Alice Springs Steiner School and their teacher, Christopher Brocklebank, and the OLSH Year 9 students from Saddadeen with their teachers, Meredith Pierson and Bill Pendlebury. On behalf of all honourable members I extend to you a warm welcome.
Members: Hear, hear!
________________
Debate suspended for luncheon adjournment.
PERSONAL EXPLANATION
Member for Braitling
Member for Braitling
Mrs BRAHAM (Braitling): Mr Deputy Speaker, I wish to correct a statement I made last night in regards to the composition of a selection panel for the position of General Manager of the Alice Springs Hospital.
I advised the House that there were only two people on the panel who interviewed the candidate, and that both were referees. I have, since then, been further advised that there were, in fact, three members on the panel, none of whom were referees.
I apologise to this House for the misleading statement and to the Darwin-based panel members concerned.
LEAVE OF ABSENCE
Member for Arafura
Member for Arafura
Mr HENDERSON (Leader of Government Business): Mr Deputy Speaker, I move that leave of absence be granted to the member for Arafura for health reasons. Questions in relation to the minister’s portfolios of Family and Community Services and Environment and Heritage are to be directed to the Minister for Mines and Energy. Questions in regards to the minister’s responsibilities for Seniors, Women and Youth Affairs are to be directed to the Chief Minister.
Motion agreed to.
VISITORS
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, I acknowledge the presence in the gallery today of students from Larapinta School with their teacher, Mel Phillips. These are students who participated in Parliament of the Birds. We also have St Philip’s College and John Glasscock, their teacher.
Also in the gallery are a number of members of the U3A and seniors who attended the luncheon. On behalf of all honourable members, I extend to you a warm welcome to you all.
Members: Hear, hear!
SUSPENSION OF STANDING ORDERS
Move Motion of Censure
Move Motion of Censure
Mr BURKE (Opposition Leader): Madam Speaker, I accept the challenge from the Treasurer during Question Time and, therefore, move for suspension of standing orders so we can either do one of two things: bring on the debate which you gagged this morning, or I move a motion that so much of standing orders be suspended as would prevent this House from censoring the Chief Minister and her Labor government for failing Territorians by not using the enormous benefit that has been provided by GST funding from the Commonwealth, totalling $600m over the term of this Labor government.
Mr HENDERSON (Leader of Government Business): Madam Speaker, for the advice of the Assembly and Central Australians, the government accepts this censure motion. It is the most serious motion that is brought before parliament and takes precedence over all other business. The government will debate the motion.
Madam SPEAKER: For the visitors in the gallery, Question Time now ceases. You are welcome to stay and listen to the censure motion, but there will be no more questions now.
MOTION
Proposed Censure of Chief Minister and NT Government
Proposed Censure of Chief Minister and NT Government
Mr BURKE (Opposition Leader): Madam Speaker, I certainly hope that the visitors to the gallery do stay, because it is important they hear this debate. It is important they hear a debate which the government did not want them to hear today. This debate was brought on this morning by the Treasurer. He gave his version, allowed one speaker from the opposition, and then gagged the debate. He now has the gall to come here and challenge the CLP to debate what he did this morning.
Madam Speaker, I move that this Assembly censure the Chief Minister and her Labor government for
- (a) failing Territorians by not using the enormous benefit that has been provided by the GST funding from
the Commonwealth, totalling $600m over the term of this Labor government, to strengthen and build the
economy of the Northern Territory;
out on the economic boom that has been enjoyed by the rest of the nation;
(c) for levying the highest ever tax on Territorians at the same time as receiving the GST money that was intended
to relieve the inefficient state tax burdens that every Territorian carries; and
(d) for failing to put in place one significant piece of infrastructure to strengthen the economy of the
Northern Territory, including not even building one school during the term of office.
Ms Martin: Can we get a copy of that?
Madam SPEAKER: Whip, can we have a copy?
Ms Martin: Is it based on facts, or have you just made it up?
Mr BURKE: The only reason this censure debate is on is because we were gagged this morning. Territorians who watched Question Time would know already that Question Time gives the opposition very limited ability to say anything. We can ask a question and the government can speak for as long as it likes with the answer. However, the question that the Chief Minister …
Ms Martin interjecting.
Mr BURKE: Chief Minister, I have listened to your patronising comments for the last three days. Will you please give me the courtesy of hearing me in silence? I am not asking for too much.
Madam SPEAKER: Leader of the Opposition, turn my way a little, or do you want to speak from the lectern?
Mr BURKE: Madam Speaker, I am referring through you.
Madam SPEAKER: Do not turn your back totally to me, okay?
Mr BURKE: I do not mean to, Madam Speaker.
Madam SPEAKER: A little bit of each.
Mr BURKE: Do you want me to stand up there?
Madam SPEAKER: That would be fine, if you want to stand there.
Mr BURKE: Then I have my back to all the children, so I prefer to be here.
Madam SPEAKER: All right.
Mr BURKE: The issue the Treasurer raised this morning by suspending standing orders was that the meeting he went to in Canberra was one of the most important meetings that a Treasurer of the Northern Territory could attend. That is why he flew to Canberra; it was a very important meeting. These were the Treasurer’s own words. It was so important that this morning, he suspended standing orders, and gave his version of events in Canberra. I gave my response, and then he gagged debate. What we have not heard is what his Chief Minister believes are the issues.
I lay the challenge that I will tell Territorians what the CLP believes and thinks, as the leader of the CLP, and the Chief Minister has to respond to me, and not send her bovver boys out to do the work for her.
Ms Martin: He is the Treasurer!
Mr BURKE: You are the leader. You stand up and talk … The Chief Minister says: ‘He is the Treasurer. I do not want to talk about the economy; I am just the leader. My Treasurer does all that’. Well, I am the leader of the CLP and I will talk about the economy of the Northern Territory and about your performance. I would have thought any leader worth their salt would get up and respond, but if you do not want to do it, Chief Minister, that is your business, not mine. However, I challenge you to do it.
The meeting in Canberra was a very important meeting because we have had GST, a goods and services tax, that has been enforced on Australians for the last four years. In 2001, it came in. A whole new tax system was introduced to Australians. When that happened, the Commonwealth and the states and territories did not know how much money would be raised through the GST. The states and territories were a bit wary about whether or not we should sign up to the GST, because we felt that the Commonwealth would dud us in the amount of money we got over the years.
Therefore, when the Commonwealth introduced the GST, there were a few guarantees to the states and territories, and that is why every state and territory signed up. I might also add that Labor states signed up at the time – New South Wales, for one – even though federally, the Labor position was to oppose the GST.
Because the Commonwealth government could not guarantee how much money would flow to the states in GST, they had to give some guarantees. In the case of the Northern Territory, we received the same guarantees, which were: ‘We will ensure that the money you get from the GST does not fall below the amount of money you should have expected to get under the old system, and we will guarantee that for a number of years. However, we want to come back in 2005 and have a look at it because, if there is not enough money flowing, obviously we are going to have to figure out what we do with the GST to get more money flowing or, if there is far more money flowing than we expected, we are going to have to do something about it because Australians are being double-dipped. We are going to have to get rid of a few of these taxes so that we can give it back to the people who are contributing’.
That is why the Treasurer went to the meeting yesterday: to look at the GST over the last four years and to do an assessment as to whether it was time to put more money in or give back some money to Australians. The federal Treasurer said prior to the meeting - and I agree with him - that on any analysis, the Northern Territory government is wallowing in GST. There is so much money coming in under GST, it is scandalous. An extra $600m has come to the Northern Territory through the goods and services tax - more than came to my government in 2001 when we lost office. Territorians, I tell you: $600m is an enormous amount of new money to have flexibility to spend as a Northern Territory government. When we put the budget down for 2001, we did all our recurrent spending costs that we could not touch - things like teachers, schools and wages, etcetera. We had about $20m left and also, I might add, had added costs for the railway and the port. We had about $20m left, flexible money, to spend on new initiatives. This mob have had $600m more from the federal government.
In 2001, remember they made all these promises to Territorians for when they got to government? When they got to government, what was the first thing they did? ‘Oh, we have opened the books and we are broke. We are so broke we are going to have to cut back on spending in a whole range of areas. We will not be able to give the teachers the pay rise they wanted. We are going to have to take international tourism marketing off the shelf because we cannot afford it’. We said to the government at the time it took international tourism marketing off the shelf that it was like putting a packet of Weet-Bix and a packet of Nutri-Grain on the shelf and then taking the Weet-Bix off. The punters are going to buy Nutri-Grain. What this government did was take the Territory product off the international market to cut costs. And you wonder why 100 000 tourists have dropped off coming to the Northern Territory? That is one reason. We told the government at the time not to stop spending on those items because the money will flow from the GST. The money has flowed - and flowed in spades - from the GST.
The Auditor-General is the independent arbiter who audits the Territory accounts; that is, after the Treasurer and his Treasury puts down their story, the independent Auditor-General goes through the books, and he says how much what the Treasurer says weighs up with what is the truth. For 2003-04, the Auditor-General has said that this mob received $166m more in GST than they received the year before, and - guess what? - $88m more than they even projected in their budget papers. This Treasurer stood here 10 minutes ago and said: ‘Finances are really tight and we are working our way through it’. The Auditor-General says your interest rates have gone up by 50%. If mum and dad Territorian put their money in the bank, and the amount of money they are getting back on interest goes up by 50% in one year, what does that tell you? That tells you that the bank account is pretty full, doesn’t it? Do you agree with that? So this business of ‘we have no money’ is garbage.
This government has received so much money from the GST, in line with other Labor governments around Australia, that the Commonwealth Treasurer is saying: ‘This is scandalous, because Australians are being double-dipped every day of the week in what they pay in GST. It is about time you states and territories give some of that money back’. This mob is now saying to the feds: ‘No, you give some of yours back. You are getting more money through other stuff, why don’t you give yours back first and then we will give ours back?’. What a way to treat Australians. Australians are trying to struggle with the cost of living, and the truth that everyone should understand is this: for every dollar that is raised in GST, not one penny of that goes to the Commonwealth. Every dollar is raised in GST; every time you go to the Target store and buy something, you pay GST. Every time GST is paid, part of that money goes straight to this government here. It goes through on a model called horizontal fiscal equalisation. Well, they got the terminology right at least: horizontal fiscal equalisation. That funds the states and territories according to need, and that means, in funding the Northern Territory for its needs, the Territory has received $600m more since GST was introduced than my government received and, by the Treasurer’s statements yesterday and the day before, at least $240m more than he even expected to receive. That is the money that is coming through on the GST.
The argument I have with the Labor government is this: when you are funded by the Commonwealth, you are funded under a horizontal fiscal equalisation model that expects you to deliver the same services to the same standards as are enjoyed in other states and territories in Australia. The HFE model expects you to grow your economy, given the money and capability that the average taxpayer is giving you through GST and other means. It expects you, as a government, to strengthen your economy, provide a cost of living benefit to your own people, put in education facilities, pay your teachers, and make sure your nurses are not under stress in a way that meets the standards that are being reached all around Australia. The indictment to this Labor government over three-and-a-half years is that they have squandered their opportunity. That is the premise of my argument: you have squandered your opportunity!
Worse than that, when you were given the opportunity yesterday to give just a little back - just a little back - to Australians and Territorians, you would not even do that. The federal Treasurer yesterday said: ‘Will you just give a little back? Just give a little back in a few state taxes that you all agreed were inefficient and should go. You have to give it back because you are getting far more than we ever expected you would ever get, so you have a moral obligation to give it back’. This lot snubbed them. Every one of them said: ‘We are going home, see you later. We are not paying $1 back to Territorians’ pockets’. That is scandalous! The real issue for Australians and Territorians, particularly here, is that it is a high cost of living area. We all love the Territory. None of us …
Ms Martin: No, you do not; you think it is mediocre.
Mr BURKE: The Chief Minister is now an expert on whether you love the place or not. You are an expert on everything, but …
Ms Martin: No, you told us that it is mediocre.
Mr BURKE: The Chief Minister says I said it was mediocre. I said that, under the leadership of Clare Martin and the Labor government, given the opportunities that the federal government and you, as taxpayers, have given them, your performance is woeful and the Territory is mediocre under your leadership. It is about time we got a government in place that understands the needs of the average Territorian and how to spend the money in a way that strengthens our economy, grows our business base, lowers the cost of living and, most importantly, gets the taxman of their back. That is all I am asking for: get the taxman off Territory businesses’ and people’s backs. I do not think that is a big ask. If you look at the budget papers and the money, it is easy to say: ‘We are committed to do this and that, and we are planning this and that’. However, the reality is the Territory Treasurer’s money is enormous. He must sit in the vault room of a night and look at all the notes. It is incredible! It is about time you gave some of it back to Territorians.
Do you know what the federal Treasurer asked you to do? Out of the $600m he gave you, he only asked you to give $16m back - $16m – rising to, at most, Treasurer, maybe about $25m over the four years. Do you know what he did as well? Because he was dealing with a bunch of Labor thugs, the federal Treasurer said: ‘I will put in another sweetener, because I want to get this through. I will even compensate you in the first year. So, if you are worse off in the first year, I will compensate you for it’. They said: ‘No, no way’, and all walked out the door. The great sadness is that this is simple politics being played at the expense of Australians and Territorians. These are Labor states clubbing together against a Liberal government to score a political point. Guess who the loser is? Everyone in the stands; you are the losers.
That is my charge against this government. You cannot make a decision for yourself; you are led by the big states in New South Wales and Victoria and the federal Labor Party. Why can’t you stand up for Territorians and give some of the dollars back? This government has received $600m extra in GST funding - $230m to $240m more than they even predicted. Any of the budget papers show that the GST revenue coming to this government on a year-by-year basis is more than they could even predict in their budget papers. The federal Treasurer’s prediction for the next four years is to see a GST growth rate in excess of the $600m, of about $130m to $140m per year. This mob says the economy is going gang busters, and whether you believe it is up to you. If it is, why can you not give some tax back? If you are getting more revenue through, if the economy is growing because you are such a wonderful government, if every other Australian is tipping into the GST bucket, why can you not give a dollar or so back?
If you cannot, you do not know how to govern. You do not know how to run this Northern Territory. We have challenges here which require a government that knows where it is going. The Chief Minister said today: ‘We are really proud that our population base has reached 200 000’, with the inference being that it has been the efforts of the Labor government. If anyone reads the ABS statistics, they will tell you that the population outflow of the Northern Territory over the last four years has been as bad as Cyclone Tracy; those trends have not been seen since then. She did not tell you that. The other thing is it is just starting to grow a bit, and one of the reasons for that is, mainly, births because we are a young population and we have many babies born here. However, babies do not pay income tax or GST. The ones who are going south and leaving the Northern Territory, which is reflected in those ABS figures, are the people who pay tax. Do you know where they are going? They are going to settle on the Gold Coast, or places along the east coast of Australia. Do you know why? They reckon the cost of living is cheaper, and the quality of life is better. That would not be so bad if this mob had no money to play with, but they have the capacity of the Commonwealth to have done something with our economy and grown it in a way that Territorians expect. That is my indictment; that is my charge.
If we want to get right down to causes, I have said to the Treasurer and the Chief Minister answer me this: why have you not built one primary school in four years? You would think that if the population was growing, if people were coming here because they were attracted to live in the Northern Territory, you were attracting workers to come and work here because of this buoyant economy, that you would need more schools? I can tell you what the case was during my term in government: we built Durack Primary School, Girraween Primary School, Bakewell Primary School and, just before I came in, Bees Creek Primary School. This mob, in three-and-a-half years, has not laid one brick to one school. You do not have to be an economist, or someone reading from papers and confusing the average people with figures to say we are doing well. I just ask you to go to the baseline. Not one primary school has been built and that gives you a pretty good reflection of where you are actually going in competing with the rest of Australia to attract people here.
Has the cost of living gone down? Do people feel that the Territory is now a less expensive place to be? I know what we did. We spent a lot of taxpayers’ money to put a railway through to here - and it has been built – and we put more than $200m into a modern port. All we asked the Labor government to do was cut the ribbon and stick the railway stations in the right spot, and they could not even do that. And guess what? In three-and-a-half years, the people who are committed to that railway are leaving it in droves. One of the biggest growth businesses in the Northern Territory now is the road transport industry as companies are going back to using road trains. A railway, which had as one of its objectives to get goods through to the Northern Territory from southern ports to lower the cost of living so transport costs would not be so high, is failing miserably.
The stewardship of that failure lies with Clare Martin and her team, as does the stewardship of ensuring that other areas in the Northern Territory were improved, such as lowering the cost of electricity. Everywhere you talk to people and ask them what them what the major impost is in regards to the cost of living, right up there is the cost of electricity …
Ms Martin: It has been frozen for four years. What are you talking about?
Mr BURKE: You have frozen domestic prices. That means you have not come up with anything unique or different than we did over about three budgets. What you should …
Ms Martin: Do not make it up, Denis. Come on.
Mr BURKE: You have frozen domestic prices. We did that for about three budgets straight. What you should be doing is saying what you are going to do to extend the electricity grid, and to get cheap energy so that Territorians can benefit from it. I know that Alice Springs people get sick to death of hearing about gas onshore because it does not affect them.
Ms Martin: Yes, it does.
Mr BURKE: The reality is - directly.
Ms Martin interjecting.
Mr BURKE: Would you listen? The reality is that gas onshore was a major factor in lowering the cost of electricity, lowering the cost of energy. We worked determinedly for many years to clear native title, to get Phillips to Wickham Point, to get taxation arrangements in place so that Bayu-Undan gas, which is 1.5 trillion cubic feet of gas …
Ms Martin: Tell the truth!
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr BURKE: The Chief Minister does not like listening. She is good at lecturing. She is good at patronising comments, but she does not like listening.
For all of that gas that came onshore to the Northern Territory, there was an enormous amount of work to get the Phillips consortium there, an LNG plant built in Darwin. The work had one objective - amongst many – to get some of that gas reserve for domestic use so that we would not have to pay the highest price for gas in Australia.
Do you know how many molecules of gas have been reserved for Territory use under this government? Zero! Every molecule is going to Japan - every molecule. That contract sucks that resource dry and is in place for the next 20 years. The Chief Minister says: ‘We are looking at other opportunities’. Well, you lost the first one.
I respond easily to that challenge the Treasurer asked me to respond to. He asked me today: ‘Where are your policies and do you have them costed?’ I showed him the policies and they are costed …
Ms Martin: By whom?
Mr Stirling: Waved a bit of paper around in the air and then dropped them on the floor.
Mr BURKE: I also took it to the press and gave them a look at it, too. People who are listening in the gallery would understand, I hope, that I would not show the Labor Party my policies and costings before the election until I am ready. I hope you understand that. I can assure you they are there, they are costed and, when this government runs mistruths out there and says: ‘The only way the CLP can fund things like meeting a teacher’s wage or tax cuts that really mean money in people’s pockets is to cut services on health, education and police’, my answer to that is this: they have so much money in the bank they cannot even count it. They have so much interest coming in from GST they cannot even calculate it. The Auditor-General has to come in and double the assessment when he has a look at it 12 months later.
The money for Territorians is there. The flexibility to really make this Territory stand on its hind legs again and be the envy of the rest of Australia is there, and has been there for three-and-a-half years. We will ensure that that is the situation we have. I will give you a commitment now: I am going to put as much of that GST back into Territorians’ pockets as is absolutely possible.
If economists say to me: ‘You should be running a balanced budget over the next four years’, I will say to them: ‘Territorians’ pockets are far more important than a balanced budget for four years. This generation should not have to pay for the debts of future generations’. Responsible debt levels are something we have always done in the Northern Territory and will continue to do.
Members interjecting.
Mr BURKE: I doubt if the average Territorian has ever been bothered in the hip pocket by the debt levels that CLP governments have run.
They have seen Yulara, Alice Springs Airport and the tourism product that we put here. We would not be having this parliament here if not for the convention centre we built in Alice Springs. They have seen that the Territory was seen in the past as a place that had a higher disposable income and more opportunity for jobs than anywhere else in Australia, if you went there. They have seen a place where people have said: ‘Go there. It is the land opportunity’.
The Chief Minister, today, used the same tag line that I had in my government that she said was nothing but politicking. I had, in my tag line, ‘the difference is opportunity’. The Chief Minister uses that same tag line; the difference is that the opportunity under this government has gone. The CLP will put that opportunity back. We will do it by making sure that our first priority is to lower the cost of living, and we will use the enormous amounts of money from the GST to make real inroads in lowering the cost of living for Territorians in their daily lives.
We are going to ensure that Territory children who go to school here stay here, because it is too often accepted that the opportunities for too many children lie outside the Northern Territory. We want to ensure that children who go to university, or do traineeships or apprenticeships in the Northern Territory, get value for the cost of those apprenticeships, and the employers are properly reimbursed. Also, that students get things like start-up kits so that, if you are an apprentice hairdresser, you could get a basic start-up kit that is provided by the government which gives you the opportunity to at least start your first day at work with a set of tools - whatever they be - that you do not have to pay for. We will putting in incentives so that if you do training in the Northern Territory that costs you, you will be reimbursed for that training for the tenure that you stay in the Northern Territory.
We will be making sure that, when it comes to home ownership in the Northern Territory it is not only first home owners that benefit, it is people who either come to the Northern Territory and want to rent and buy, or people who are moving from their homes in the Northern Territory. They will be real incentives so that people can see that this is a place of opportunity, not only to work, but a place of opportunity for their kids, and kids can see real support in their work force.
We are going to go right through the procurement system. We are going to make sure that, if your firm tenders for a job in the Northern Territory, you have to demonstrate to us what your commitment is to Territory apprentices before we even look at you. It is not a matter of them saying: ‘How many apprentices do we need so that we can demonstrate, as a firm that has just registered in the Northern Territory, that we have Territory apprentices? Go to Group Training and get four or five apprentices, and when the tender is finished, dump them back into Group Training’. Those days will be over, finished. We will be looking at firms. If they want to get Territory contracts, they have to demonstrate an ongoing commitment to apprentices before they get a look in the door. We will get back to supporting Territory companies that have put their investment here in the past, continue to grow our apprenticeship pool, and they will be the ones that are favoured by a CLP government. If that breaches National Competition Policy, too bad! I will go down and fight the Prime Minister and the Treasurer on it! If we have to lose some money, too bad! What we will be doing is supporting kids and people who get in the work force, and giving those firms that are committed to them a real advantage in getting product from us.
The Housing Minister came in here today and, on the subject of law and order, which we get on the door every day, proudly boasts that he has security running almost 24 hours a day in streets in Alice Springs! Well, good God! If that is your approach to law and order, where are we going? We will make sure that the police force is given the resources to deal with public order under the Summary Offences Act, to clean itinerants and scum off the streets, so that people who come here see a Territory that they can feel is attractive, rather than avoiding drunks and panhandlers everywhere they go. That is not racist, it is simply saying that we have had enough - if you want to live in this place, you live by one law, and that law applies to everyone.
I could speak about a lot of other things, Madam Speaker, but, unfortunately, time is running out. I would like to go on. The challenge was laid and you would not have had this censure if you had treated the opposition maturely this morning. You laid a challenge to try to score a point here at Question Time. Here is the debate. Now, Chief Minister, you get up and tell us what you are going to do.
Ms MARTIN (Chief Minister): Madam Speaker, I am very pleased to speak. There was some implication from the Leader of the Opposition that I did not want to talk about budgets. I love talking about budgets. It just so happens that, this morning, quite appropriately, the Treasurer reported on his Treasurers’ Conference yesterday in Canberra. There is a line that the previous Country Liberal Party government used to use, which is one that, after listening to the Opposition Leader, comes to mind - it is whinging, whining, carping Burke. We have just listened to half an hour of an Opposition Leader who does not have one good thing to say about the Territory. He does not have one good thing to say about our Northern Territory that we are so proud of, and proud to live here. Yet, here is an Opposition Leader who does not have one good thing to say.
Let us do a comparison with what this man, when he was Chief Minister, left and what we inherited and where we have moved. You will find that, if you take away the absolute negativity that you hear from the Opposition Leader, we have a terrific place to live now, where things are certainly getting better and there are opportunities for Territorians, and our economy is really starting to lift. It is all very well for the Opposition Leader to say: ‘The economy is all gloom and doom’. It is not all gloom and doom! There are positive signs in our economy; we have businesses that are growing and getting good profits back to their businesses. Yet, we have an Opposition Leader who cannot make one acknowledgement of the positive things that are happening right across our wonderful Territory. I find that very sad because, if the opposition has to bag and carp on everything, they are not doing their job. An opposition’s job is to propose initiatives, take a government to task but, certainly, to recognise where things are working.
Let us go back to 2001. Let us go back to some of the myths that the Opposition Leader tried to perpetrate in this censure debate. In August 2001, when we came to government, the picture was not rosy for the Territory. We had had a year before that where there was no growth in the Territory. The poor old ABS could not find even 0.1% of growth in the Territory. We had no growth. What does that mean for business? That means a contraction of opportunity, and that people were leaving the Territory. Yet, we have from the Opposition Leader some sense that, when the CLP left office three-and-a-half years ago, all was in a fine state in the Territory. It was not!
The budget that came down in that 2001-02 year said that we would only be overspending for 2001-02 by $9m. They said: ‘We have things in hand here. It is like having a little on the credit card. We have only overspent by $9m’. In the first few days of government, I was shocked to find that it was 12 times higher. They had actually diddled the budget books. They had diddled the budget books with little phrases like ‘for presentational purposes’ meaning: ‘We have just fiddled the words here so that we have not represented the true budget situation’. We picked up parts of the capital works budget for what was going to be built for the year 2001-02, where there were all these wonderful proposals and no money to do it with. No money to do it with! As a new government, we scraped around and found what money we could so that, in those important capital works areas, we could continue so that the small businesses of the Territory would have work. This is the budget situation the CLP left us: we were going broke. We were going broke as a Territory, and what was happening in the budget was real fantasy land.
I am proud of what we have done; we have pulled our budget back into reality. I am proud that we have used additional GST revenue - and I make no bones about it; we have additional GST revenue. We have our ordinary growth money. Every year, governments get additional money. The cost of living goes up, CPI goes up - of course, you get additional money. That does total, over three-and-a-half years, an additional $600m. However, only $240m of that is actually money we did not expect. I can say to Territorians we have spent that wisely for Territorians.
The Opposition Leader, who is their Treasury spokesperson, seems to think that my Treasurer has some kind of vault where he keeps all this extra money, where goes and says: ‘Oh, look what Peter Costello’s given me; I have all these extra dollars’, and sits there counting $100 notes at night. If this is the best the opposition can do to understand the budgetary process then we, obviously, have some remedial work to do. It is not the case. We have had, over the last three-and-a-half years, courtesy of the GST, $240m additional. I am going to talk about what we have done with that money, because I am proud of that.
Again, let me take you to 2001. We had property crime at very high levels right throughout the Territory. One of the things I found when I doorknocked my constituents, as did other members, was first up, when you got to their door and asked: ‘What are your biggest issues?’, people would say: ‘I have been broken into’, or ‘My neighbour has been broken into’, or ‘Someone down the street has been broken into’. We had a government that had some fanciful policies, but was not working to deal with one of the major issues for our community: property crime. Education was under-funded, and there were very low attendances at many schools across the Territory. Health was under-funded, and services were struggling.
We have wisely spent on those key areas of police, health and education. Much of that additional money we received from the federal government. When the Opposition Leader says: ‘I am going to take those extra dollars and give them to Territorians’, I can tell him they have already been given to Territorians. Right now, Territorians across the Territory are reaping the benefits of those additional dollars. We committed to 100 extra teachers. We have done that, and it cost some of those dollars. We committed to 100 extra nurses in our health system. We have done that.
It makes a difference to every hospital and clinic that you actually have nurses who are the heartbeat of our health system. We have 100 additional nurses in our system. Health was struggling, and we have put in an additional $154m because it needed it. We know that we have still not satisfied all the needs in Health, but we are doing pretty well along the way. However, there is still more to do. I am not pretending everything is perfect in the health system, but we have moved a heck of long way in three-and-a-half years. That is thanks to those additional dollars we received through the GST, and wisely spent on services for Territorians.
In education, we committed to 100 extra teachers, and we are starting to see the results of that through our school system: more kids going to school across the Territory and achieving better results. There is secondary education in the bush for the first time ever in the Territory’s history. We have never had secondary education in the bush, and now have kids in communities like Kalkarindji and Maningrida reaching Year 12 in their communities. This cost dollars. This is where some of the additional money has gone. Yet, the Opposition Leader is saying that, somehow, we have it in a vault and are not spending it on Territorians. Tell me how getting four kids in Maningrida to Year 12 is not spending it on Territorians. Tell me how getting three kids …
Mr Burke: Four kids!
Ms MARTIN: It is more than you ever got! … three kids at Kalkarindji to Year 12 is not spending it on Territorians. There is more to come. We had to turn around the deficit in bush education; it was an absolute disgrace! We are proud of how we have spent that money on priorities for Territorians.
We are the youngest part of Australia. The Opposition Leader bags the fact that we have a lot of births here. I am proud of it. As the rest of Australia struggles with an ageing population, we have the challenges of a young population. What does that young population need? They need good health services and, more than anything else, they need good education and training - and that is where we have spent the money. We have spent the money from the GST on training more apprentices in the system. We have better results coming through the primary school system and, rest assured, we are going to get better results in our secondary education system. We have committed $42m over the next four years to improving our standards throughout our whole secondary education system.
We have committed to 200 additional police. We wondered why there was so much property crime, and why the police were not out there catching the criminals. We talked to them when we got into office. We then talked to Bill O’Sullivan, the former Police Commissioner from Queensland, and said: ‘Look, Bill, will you give us an idea of why it is that we do not seem to have the resources to keep up with the problems we have?’ It did not take him long. He did a great report for us. We were under-resourced; the police simply did not have the resources to do the job. Try as they might, there were not enough numbers for patrols - they did not have the cars, the officers, and a whole range of resources right across the Territory.
We committed $75m over four year to increase the resources of our police. If you now go around the streets of Alice Springs, Darwin, Katherine or Tennant Creek - right around the Territory - what do you see? Police officers! They are wonderful and they are doing a great job for us. We have reduced property crime in Alice Springs alone by 43%. They are not made-up figures; it is a reality and is reflected right across the Territory. Again, I am not pretending that we have done the job. We have more work to do in the personal crime and sexual assault area - a lot more work. However, we have the resources and the commitment to do it, and that is where those additional dollars have gone.
Let me take you back to capital works. The Territory is a place that must grow, and that needs infrastructure. As I said, in parts of our infrastructure budget when we came to government, there was nothing - there were no dollars. It is all very well to have plans but, unless you have a few dollars to carry them out, you cannot do a thing. We have had record capital works budgets. We are growing this Territory. The Opposition Leader said: ‘You have not built an additional school’. We found schools that were falling down! We have had to fix up schools all around the Territory. In the electorate of Fannie Bay, for example, the prize school is Parap Primary School. You could put your hand through the wall of Parap primary classrooms. When it rained, the water poured in through the floor. This was the fine legacy of educational institutions that the previous government left us. There was a reason for building the schools that the Opposition Leader talked about: we had the growth from the Defence build-up and those schools being built were a direct response to that. Yet, other schools were totally ignored. Darwin High School, the biggest school in the Territory, still had science blocks that looked like the ones that I used when I went to school; something out of the 1960s. We are putting a significant amount of funds in rebuilding and extending our schools, and we are proud of that.
It is not just schools in our urban centres; it is schools right across the Territory. We are determined to get kids in the bush communities to school, and we have seen 1000 additional indigenous students in our schools. We are very proud of that as well. Take a community like Port Keats, Wadeye, in the Top End. When we first visited Wadeye in government, there were 47 children in that school. At the beginning of this year - and I pay tribute to the community of Wadeye - 600 students were in that school. The parents, the community, Commonwealth and Territory governments got together and said: ‘What is the key priority for this very young community?’ It was agreed it was education. That community got those kids to school and we are supporting them. What a wonderful embarrassment! What a wonderful embarrassment to have 600 students. We are getting demountables there and additional teachers. We will meet that need because what a challenge and what a tribute to the community of Port Keats, Wadeye is.
We inherited a very poor situation from the previous government. Yes, we have had additional dollars, and yes, we are quite up-front about it - $240m. We are spending them wisely. When you move a censure in this House, it is important to go through the different elements of the censure. The first one is failing Territorians by not using the enormous benefit of those GST funds. In the area I have just talked about, we are using those dollars. We are using them for Territorians. The Treasurer does not have them in the vault; he does not count it at night. Those dollars are in our community and they are reaping rewards for Territorians.
What do Territorians ask of government? They ask that we provide those important resources in education, health and keeping our community safe. We are building the economy of the Territory by wisely using those record capital works budgets that we have put in place: roads across the Territory, schools and clinics.
In Darwin, we have a major project, the Darwin waterfront redevelopment. We have been inspired by this terrific convention centre in Alice Springs and the benefits it brings to this community, and we are going to build a convention and exhibition centre in Darwin. That is a major project for the Top End and we are proud of that. That is what we are doing with some of these additional GST dollars.
We are building and strengthening our economy, an economy that was really on its knees three-and-a-half years ago. The biggest complaint from our businesses is that they cannot get enough workers with the skills they need. We have programs in place and are working with business to do that. The economy of the Territory is certainly not on its knees. We have more building to do and that is great. We want to see greater activity in our business sector. Businesses are not saying, as they were three years ago: ‘Where is the work?’ They are saying: ‘We have too much work; where are the workers?’
The second point of the censure is that we have fallen behind the rest of the country and are missing out on the economic boom. How do you tackle an issue like that? Perhaps it is best to go back to an initiative I had, which is the Business Round Table. We have 10 Business Round Table meetings every year. They are held all around the Territory. I get individual businesses together and they talk to me about what their greatest needs are. The last one was in Darwin just a couple of weeks ago where businesses said. ‘We cannot get the workers. We have all the jobs we need. We can actually pick and choose what we want to do, and pick the ones that most appeal to us in terms of work. We just need more workers’. These businesses were coming up with creative ways of getting workers in from overseas, working with us in our advertising to get workers in from around the country and New Zealand. The second problem was how we are going to house those workers because the vacancy rate in properties right across the Territory is so low.
I ask the Opposition Leader: how are we missing out, with the boom that is happening? We have Access Economics saying that the Territory is growing faster than most other areas in Australia - 4.5%. That is what people with the credibility of Access Economics are telling us.
Members interjecting.
Ms MARTIN: I have not made the figure up. Access Economics is saying that, based on the major projects in place - private sector investment and strategic public sector investment - the Territory is growing, and that an economy that was really crawling three-and-a-half years ago has great prospects. We are not missing out on any economic boom, and so that second point of the censure is simply nonsensical. There is no basis for saying that the Territory is missing out; we are part of that. If the Opposition Leader thinks that to bag our economic future is somehow the job of the opposition, it is not. Work with us, we can do it together.
The third point was that we are being censured for levying the highest ever tax on Territorians at the same time as receiving this GST money. Let us look at what the tax situation is in the Territory. For small businesses with fewer than 20 employees, they pay, right now, the lowest taxes of any business of that size in the country …
A member interjecting.
Ms MARTIN: They do. I am not making up the figure; that is a fact. Because of the initiatives we have taken in the tax system, small businesses with fewer than 20 employees pay less tax in the Territory than in any part of the country. Come 1 July, you can double that. Businesses with fewer than 40 employees will pay the lowest taxes of any business in the country. How are we a high taxing government, I ask? If the Opposition Leader can demonstrate that we are imposing more taxes on our businesses than any other state, then demonstrate it. I talk to businesses. Dispute this, opposition; you are the one moving the censure. Dispute it. Go and talk to businesses about how they fare comparatively.
Talk to businesses and compare them with the problems businesses have with land taxes in Victoria at the moment. We do not pay land taxes or fire services levies, and we have one of the most attractive payroll tax regimes in the country. Therefore, for our businesses, we are giving them a free hand. We are saying: ‘Get on and develop the Territory. We have taken the tax impost from you more than any other government in Australia’. We are proud of this, and we are going to work further with our businesses.
When the Opposition Leader says we will not work to remove those other taxes that were discussed at the Treasurers’ Conference yesterday - we will. We are just not going to work to the Peter Costello time frame that is driven by politics. We are not going to have Territorians disadvantaged and me having to say: ‘I put 100 additional nurses on, but I had better take them off now. I will have to take 15 off so we can meet these taxes’. I am not going to do it, and neither is the Treasurer.
Let us look at housing. We increased, two or three years ago, the first home owner’s stamp duty concession from just over $2000 to $3500. We raised the threshold from $80 000, which is the sum we inherited, to $120 000 for first home owners. For those who already owned their home, we introduced a principal place of residence reduction, which also gave them an advantage. If you are moving from one home to another, you get a reduction in stamp duty as well. We are looking after those. We also have a terrific HomeNorth program. All you have to do is scratch the minister responsible, the Minister for Community Development, and he will tell you about all those who have accessed the new HomeNorth program and how, when you have a 2% deposit that you have to meet, suddenly it means you can buy that first home. Many Territorians, particularly in Alice Springs, have taken up the opportunity. In taxes, we are looking after families and businesses, and we are proud of the low taxing regime we have established here in the Territory. The third point is rubbish.
The fourth point is failing to put in place one significant piece of infrastructure to strengthen the economy. We have put in infrastructure right across this Territory. We have put additional money into our roads. Our beef roads were struggling, and they will still continue to struggle because they were starved of funds under the CLP - absolutely starved. We have put additional funds into those beef roads and community roads. Over the last two years, in addition to the budget that we were putting in, we added $10m as well. The CLP proudly stood for the Territory once, but we did not realise that they had starved all those roads of repairs and maintenance to such an extent that they needed significant capital works on them. We have to rebuild those thousands of kilometres of road because they were ignored.
We are building this Territory. We do not have fanciful budgets that have big zeroes next to any of the projects. We are building this Territory and have projects in place that will stimulate private sector investment. Those projects are ones like sealing the Mereenie Loop Road. It is going to cost us the best part of $38m or $40m, but isn’t it worth it? We will see tourism opportunities realised that we cannot see realised now. We will have further private sector investment into accommodation and new product around that Mereenie Loop Road which will create an important link between Alice Springs and Uluru. That is what we want to see for the Centre, not this competition between Alice and the Rock. We want to see them working together to realise the opportunities.
Mr Deputy Speaker, I reject this censure seriously on behalf of all Territorians, because it is not the truth. It is important for the opposition to tell the truth about what is happening in our Territory. I would accept a censure if it had reality in it. This censure has no reality. This censure comes from an Opposition Leader who told this House on Tuesday that the Territory, frankly, was mediocre ...
A member: Under your government!
Ms MARTIN: He is now trying to say under my leadership. He did not say that at all. He said: ‘Frankly, this Territory is mediocre ...
Members interjecting.
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order!
Ms MARTIN: This Territory is not mediocre; this Territory is full of Territorians who are inspirational …
Dr Lim interjecting.
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Member for Greatorex, order!
Ms MARTIN: … and who are committed to our Territory. This Territory is a place to be proud of, and I am very sorry that we have an opposition which does not share that confidence in our future and does not have that commitment to our future.
I can tell Territorians with straightforwardness and a commitment that we have spent those additional GST dollars on the important services which Territorians need; on health, education …
Dr Lim: There are 1600 people waiting on the list for surgery in Alice Springs.
Mr Deputy SPEAKER: Member for Greatorex!
Ms MARTIN: … on community safety, building tourism, reducing taxes for our businesses, and on a whole range of areas …
Dr Lim: Except tax breaks.
Mr Deputy SPEAKER: Order!
Ms MARTIN: … and what we have from the opposition is that we are spending too much money on health; we are spending too much money on education …
Mr Baldwin interjecting.
Mr Deputy SPEAKER: Member for Daly!
Ms MARTIN: … we are spending too much money on police. The challenge for this Opposition Leader is to not wave his policies around and say: ‘We have them costed’. It is to hand them to Treasury ...
Mr Burke: You have not called the election yet.
Members interjecting.
Ms MARTIN: I do not trust this Opposition Leader …
Mr Baldwin: We do not trust Treasury’s numbers.
Ms MARTIN: This Opposition Leader left us nearly broke last time …
Mr Baldwin: Rubbish!
Ms MARTIN: … and we cannot afford to go broke again.
Mr Deputy SPEAKER: Order! There are too many interjections.
Mr ELFERINK (Macdonnell): Mr Deputy Speaker, I will start with what is at issue here; which is the integrity of this government and the Chief Minister regarding the package they are trying to sell to Territorians. A classic case was just given to us when the Chief Minister said that the Leader of the Opposition called the Territory ‘mediocre’. Then there was an interjection that it was ‘under her government’. To which she said: ‘No, that was not the qualification that the member gave’. I direct honourable members to page 26 of the Daily Hansard of last Tuesday, where it said:
- The test for the government … this government’s credibility … the sense of enthusiasm for the Labor government …
the test for the government that now has …
Then he said:
- … under that government … mediocre …
I am sick of hearing from this government: ‘Oh, how dreadful the budgetary situation was when we came into government. That is the reason that we are not going to do so many of the things that we promised to do’. This black hole they referred to - and I am sure nearly every person in this room has heard about the black hole - was a fabrication of this government - they made it up! I can demonstrate it to you, as they dragged in the honourable Mr Percy Allan from down south and asked him to do a review. When the budget was handed down in 2000-01, the Chief Minister, quite correctly, pointed out that there was a proposed $12m deficit budgeted for. Yes, we were going to put $12m on the bankcard of a $3bn budget - not such an unreasonable condition.
However, what Mr Percy Allan did then was cut some of those things which were going to earn money. Anyone who runs a household budget and is planning to sell a car, for instance, factors in that they are going to make an earning on that car. If I sell my Ford Falcon for $10 000, I then factor in that I am going to have $10 000 in the bank. What Mr Percy Allan did was remove the sale of NT Fleet out of that budget which had a $12m deficit, which was worth $50m to that budget. Mr Percy Allan revised up the deficit as a result of that. Then, Mr Percy Allan said: ‘Where is your contingent liability?’. The contingent liability is a fund that you have tucked away in case there is a flood or an earthquake. I checked with the then Treasurer, Mike Reed, and he told me he did not have an accurate way to predict an earthquake, or when the next blizzard was going to cause havoc in Alice Springs, or when there would be the next flood. That is part of the risk of running a government.
However, then Mr Allan added a contingent liability of $40m. Automatically, he punched out a hole of $50m for NT Fleet. He has also punched in a hole of $90m. These are decisions that were relied upon by the government when they were in office. They actually changed those budgetary figures. If you add to that the $12m that we have accepted as part of the deficit that we were going to create, you are getting to $102m. How big was the black hole? - $107m. This black hole was a fabrication of this government and that is all it was.
We all have debt. We hear this complaint about debt. I wonder how many people in this room carry a home loan. I suggest that most do. I certainly do. It is a borrowing against the future, but what you get out of it is a physical structure that you can live in, that your wife and your children will be able to live in. That is one of the reasons we have debt: so that we can build schools, infrastructure and those things that are necessary for the future betterment of the Northern Territory. That is why we engage in debt. We do it on a personal level and governments do it.
The Chief Minister, at some length, insisted on saying there is no vault in which the Treasurer keeps the money. What is the Central Holding Authority? It is the Central Holding Authority of the cash. That is where the money goes. When we pass legislation called the budget in this House to take the money out of the Central Holding Authority, it is where the Treasurer goes to get the money.
Income on interest has gone up by $4m. That means that there must be some money in the bank. The last time I checked, those people who provide that interest income are not registered charities. The money comes from the fact that there is extra money in the bank. If the interest rate at the moment is in the order of – I do not know what the official rates is; probably about 5% - if we get an increase annually of $4m, imagine how much money is sitting in the bank earning that interest - how much money extra is sitting in the bank earning that money. I bet it is part of $600m that has been advanced to the Northern Territory as a direct result of the introduction of the goods and services tax. The GST has made this government wealthier than any other government in the past. Guess what? These people resisted it. They called it all sorts of names, and I do not hear them calling it those names any more.
One of the proposed ideas in the goods and services tax was to get rid of state taxes which were representative of burden: payroll tax, stamp duties, those sorts of things. The states have not removed those taxes. The absurd situation that we find ourselves in now under this government is that when I re-register my car, not only do I pay the GST component, I then pay tax on the tax paid. Therefore, I get the privilege of paying tax for paying a tax. That is what we are saying is wrong, wrong, wrong. It is absolutely wrong! It is offensive to the people of the Northern Territory that they have to continue to pay an extra $200 a head in taxation than it was when these people came to government.
Three-and-a-half years ago, tax per capita for the Northern Territory was $1122. For a family of two adults and two children, $1122 is not an insignificant amount of money when you multiply that by four. You are looking in the order of $4500 of taxation for a family. Under this government, it has gone up to $1326, which means that this government is slugging every individual in that household an extra $200 each. Therefore, $800 more tax is paid under this mob than was paid under a former CLP government.
The problem this government has in front of it is that it does not engage in appropriate spending policies. One of the greatest issues that we suffer under this government is an unending stream of promises and no substance. We have heard two examples which the Chief Minister has offered to us as examples of her government’s achievements.
It comes back to inspiration and perspiration because, two years ago in this House, I was promised, as were all Central Australians, a sealing of the Mereenie Loop Road. I took the time out last week to drive around the Mereenie Loop Road, a fair distance of some 250 km, as well as the section from Glen Helen to Tnorala (Gosse Bluff) Conservation Reserve. Guess what? In the last two years, not one centimetre of extra bitumen has been added to the Mereenie Loop Road, despite the fact that the minister had told this parliament that substantial works were being undertaken, and despite the fact that we were told three years ago that there was $3m in the budget for this work. That money did not see the light of day. I am wondering where it was squirrelled away if it was not spent.
Desert Knowledge is another classic example of how this government is not spending money. They tell us that there is $20m of federal and local money earmarked for the purposes of building the Desert Knowledge Precinct. They told us that two years ago. They have done some roadworks between Alice Springs and the airport, put up a sign that said, ‘Avenue of Knowledge’ and, two weeks or a month later, took it down when the local community called that avenue ‘the cul-de-sac of knowledge’. Where does it go? To a small paddock with some buffel grass in it. Those commitments of two years ago have amounted to nothing. The government talks of achievement and infrastructure projects – where are they?
I was forced to send a rock about a foot long to the Chief Minister a couple of weeks ago, because it had punched through my tyre. I thought to myself: ‘Here is something for you, Clare’. Chief Minister, I sent you the rock that is yours which went through the tyre that is mine on one of your roads. I also enclosed a small amount of bulldust so the minister could observe some Northern Territory roads policy while she was there as well.
What are they spending the money on? If it is not infrastructure, the Mereenie Loop Road, or new schools, what are they spending the money on? Well, this is where we see one of the major differences. They have 70-odd staffers on the fifth floor of Parliament House, pumping out enormous amounts of propaganda about what a wonderful job, using verbiage to the point that it becomes sickening. When we hear ‘surges in population’ the wordsmiths are at it again. Is 0.07%, 0.7%, a surge? No, it is an increase, that is all - an increase. A surge is something that spirals upward. The point is that they rely on wordsmiths and smoke and mirrors but, when you drill into this stuff, where is the substance? Where is the tar that I was supposed to be driving on last week on the Mereenie Loop Road? Where is the Desert Knowledge Precinct?
The point that they happily and proudly make is that they say: ‘We spend money on services. You guys never did; you guys just spent money on infrastructure’. Well, we believe in an infrastructure driven economy. If you have a growing population, you build infrastructure to accommodate it: schools, roads, hospitals. If you then get extra people here, as your population grows because you are building infrastructure and putting some of that money into the economy, you get a better outcome in getting tradesmen up here. We all know about the local, as well as national, trade shortages.
The services we see coming out of the current government is a commitment, over the last three years, to $5m worth of spending on itinerants, which means that the services in Alice Springs and Darwin for itinerants has improved, notably evidenced by the fact that the police were forced to arrest 19 000 Territorians last year for being intoxicated in public. Three years ago, that figure was 13 000. If you improve the quality of services for itinerants, they will come - and they have been coming in droves. What is the response from government now? ‘We will spend $2.2m on Stuart Lodge to accommodate them even further’. How is this going to attract carpenters, plumbers, electricians, hairdressers and all of those other trades to Alice Springs? It drives them away because, eventually, you have itinerants congregating in places like relations’ houses. Who is providing those relations’ houses? The taxpayers. And where are those houses notably, in Alice Springs? Go out to Larapinta Drive or open the Centralian Advocate on any given day, and you will discover where they are, because there are people complaining loudly and bitterly that they have to hide in their houses as if they were bunkers. You read that that bunker mentality does not make them safe when people are being attacked in their own homes. Therefore, by increasing service delivery in this area you attract the very element you are trying to deal with. I would rather spend money on projects which create jobs and attract people here who want to work. Service spending in the way that this government believes needs to be done is not effective.
I am sorry that I only have 20 minutes to speak on this because I could stand on my feet for quite a time longer. I heard the Chief Minister proudly announce what a wonderful job the government is doing for the Northern Territory business environment. Yet, when she was defending her $1.2m promo for tourism operators, under the headline ‘Tourism operators knock $1.2m promo’, Rex Neindorf said:
- We are the ones who are going to live or die by it and at the moment we are dying.
Is this a one-off? I am not so sure.
If I look at attitudes to Northern Territory government policy long-term trends, there are several squiggly lines. The squiggly line that I would like to point out to members here is the big, fat, blue one, because the big, fat, blue one shows that, when there was a change of government, in long-term trends of how business felt about government, it went straight into the negative and has remained there ever since. Therefore, from positive, positive, positive, positive, positive - bloop – negative, negative, negative, negative. Where was the change? Well - lo and behold! - about July/August 2001, when this mob came to power.
The other thing which is fascinating is the comment by the Chief Minister some time ago – in fact, when she was in opposition - that two quarters of negative growth - which means shrinkage and is a nice little economic term I love; negative growth - produces for you a recession. If you look at the state final demand from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, in the last three quarters the Northern Territory has registered negative growth. By the Chief Minister’s own words we are in, and have been for a least one quarter, a recession …
Mr Henderson: Rubbish! Get out more!
Mr ELFERINK: This community is suffering … The minister says ‘Rubbish’. This is the same minister who said that the business community is going gang busters. Minister, if the community is going gang busters, why are tourism operators saying in the Centralian Advocate that they are dying? The silence is deafening.
This government stands condemned for its economic management. It has more money in the kick than it has ever had - than any government has ever had - and yet, business is dying as has been clearly demonstrated here; business is struggling. We are in a recession, by the Chief Minister’s own use of the term. We see negative business opinions of this government. As we are doing challenges here today - and we have to remember Question Time was cut short because we are doing challenges - here is a challenge for the Chief Minister: Chief Minister, will you give Territorians your solemn promise you will allow your budget books to be examined, and questioned on behalf of Territorians, in three months at the June estimates sitting of parliament, before you call the next Territory election? I would be very curious to see if the Chief Minister has the courage to rise to that particular challenge.
Mr WOOD (Nelson): Madam Acting Deputy Speaker, I take up the comment the member for Macdonnell made regarding the cutting short of Question Time, which I must admit I am not a great fan of. However, I was a little annoyed as the member for Braitling had a wonderful question about the Indian and turtle dove eradication program, and her next question was going to be about the Taste Down Under program. I thought how appropriate. Perhaps it was her way of eradicating the Indian and turtle doves from Central Australia. However, I digress.
Madam ACTING DEPUTY SPEAKER: You do.
Mr WOOD: I do. I realise I did speak on this before the lunch break; however, it is such an important issue it needs a good, solid debate in parliament. I was disappointed we could not have had a full debate on the Treasurer’s statement where everybody could have taken part, as this is a real issue for Territorians.
I am not going to bag the government for spending money on more teachers, nurses, and police; I believe that is great. I am going to try to keep this in a simple format. Treasurers, economists and all those people who write books can confuse us with science and statistics, and most people - and I count myself as one of them - struggle with the mountainous volumes of books you get at budget time and halfway through the year: the Auditor-General’s reports and such like.
The one good thing about an Auditor-General’s report is that it tends to break things down into a more succinct language for the lay person. When you look at the Auditor-General’s report, it does tell you a few things that, at least, need an answer from the government as the Auditor-General himself has said these things. Having read them, the government does need to look at where it is going with taxes in the Northern Territory.
As the Minister for Police, Fire and Emergency Services said earlier, the economy is booming; it is travelling at a rate of knots. I am not here to argue the whys and wherefores of that. The Chief Minister also said the same thing in this debate. We know that if the economy is booming, we are going to get more GST. If that is what the government is saying, then there is no risk …
Mr Henderson: It does not quite work like that.
Mr WOOD: That may be what you think, and I hope you respond to that when you have your moment. My understanding of a booming economy is that housing and construction go up. Where do you pay GST? You pay it on the steel, concrete and the furniture in your house. Therefore, if the economy is booming, the Territory is putting more GST back into the Commonwealth coffers. If you believe what the Leader of the Opposition and the federal Treasurer say, all the GST comes back to the Territory. Also, if the economy is growing, you are getting a larger population which will continue to spend. For sure, a house is static; once it is built, it is built, except for repairs and maintenance. However, if you are getting more people into the Territory - as the Treasurer and Leader of the Opposition have said, we have an extra 1000 coming - they eat and drink and need to be clothed, so they are all paying extra GST.
I have said this before and it is not always the most popular subject, but there are at least 1000 people who do not always see the light of day in the Northern Territory. I wonder, sometimes, whether this government should not be at least a little proactive in trying to make sure there are more people born in this Territory. If you want to take it from a purely economic point of view, there is money by having more births in the Territory.
When you put it down to the simple equation of whether we get more money from the Commonwealth, the simple case is that the Auditor-General says we do - we get $166.4m more than we expected. I realise that this government has spent some of that money on paying debt. Fair enough! It is obvious that they expected more money than they budgeted for. Not only that, they got more money that they even thought they would get. All I am saying to the minister is that, when it comes to stamp duty, which is something with which we are all burdened - and the member for Macdonnell talked about car insurance, how you all pay a stamp duty on GST and the premium. I have mentioned house insurance where you are paying stamp duty on the GST plus the premium. We know from the figures in the Auditor-General’s report that taxation revenues raised under Territory legislation rose by $17.2m, and the greatest contributor to that was stamp duty, which increased by $22.2m. Therefore, you have had an increase of $22m. In fact, if you look further in the report, under the General Government Sector, the variance between budget and the actual nett operating balances, it shows a $10m variation in taxation revenue between what was budgeted for and what they actually received.
Putting it in simplistic terms, we know that we received $27.4m better than budgeted, and that is in the Central Holding Authority. We might call it, as the nursery rhyme goes, the counting house. I ask the king to go into the counting house and take out this $27.4m and release Territorian families and pensioners from having to pay stamp duty. At least lower the stamp duty because you have an increase in $22.2m in stamp duty over the last year, and you have received money that you did not expect. This is not money that you say will cut down schools, cut down on police, cut down on health because you have already spent that. This is free money that can be used straightaway to give tax relief to Territorians.
Minister, according to the ABC today, our Treasurer has said that he is prepared to cut taxes such as stamp duty. Further, he said that a two-year deadline for the tax cuts is unsustainable. He said the taxes can be cut, but not immediately. What I am asking the Treasurer to do is to bring on tax cuts immediately because we do have money to spare; that will not affect the number of police, nurses or teachers. You have spare money here.
Surely, with the next budget coming - and I probably should say that if I was in government and it was an election year: what a great sweetener! However, it is not the sort of sweetener that is going to hurt you because you have this money from GST and you can take some of the burden off the ordinary Territorian. As I said before, we sometimes forget the average Joe Blow out there in the community who has all these costs that they have, regardless of whether we build the Mereenie Loop Road or whether we have more nurses - as much as that is great, I am not knocking that - more police or more teachers. You will still have to pay a mortgage, uniforms for the kids, the soccer boots, the insurance on the house, the extra for fuel with fuel prices going through the roof - which, of course, has more GST coming back to the Territory because it is a gross tax. All those costs that hit the average person are hurting.
We can say the economy is booming and land prices are great, and we can quote the Real Estate Institute, which, of course, loves to see higher prices because it is in the business of making a percentage of those higher prices. Therefore, why shouldn’t it go: ‘Yippee, I can buy a block of land in the rural area for $200 000, that is great’? It is not great news for the average Joe Blow trying to find their way with their first home. Sometimes, our balance is a little skew-whiff.
Yes, a marvellous economy it might be, and we need jobs and we need growth, but we have to remember that the ordinary person is still struggling to pay their way. It is good to say that HomeNorth will help you with a home loan, but if that home loan is costing you $340 000 upwards, well, what kind of home loan is that? Yes, you might be able to get 2% deposit through HomeNorth, but you will probably be paying that for the rest of your life, especially if you are on a low income.
I ask the government to use some of the money - the money that will not affect the budget or those things that they are talking about that they have put money into in the Northern Territory. I do not have a problem with that. We have asked for more police. The opposition has always said that there was not enough money spent on police. We wanted more teachers, for sure. However, we have done that and we still have $27.4m hanging around here that could be used for tax relief right now. I say to the Treasurer: ‘Give people a mid-term present in the next budget. Cut those stamp duties for the people’. I do not believe people can understand why we have to pay, on a domestic insurance package from TIO, stamp duty on top of GST, on top of the premium.
People think that is very unfair, especially when they know they are paying continually in everything they buy, perhaps except cold chickens and a bit of food from the supermarket shelves. You can pay GST on bottled water. There is not much that you touch these days on which you are not paying GST. Every time the price of Coke goes up, or flavoured milk, you are paying an increase in the GST. People are paying their fair share of taxes. I do not care about what other states pay, it is a matter of what we think is fair for our society, what will make it more attractive for people to come here, what will make it more attractive for our families to have more children, and what will make it more attractive for people to build their lives in the Territory, build their homes and let the economy grow. Minister, I once again say to you: at the next budget, please cut stamp tax. You have the money. Let us do something for Territorians.
Mr STIRLING (Treasurer): Madam Speaker, I commend the member for Nelson for his comments. I always enjoy his contribution to these debates. It is not often he speaks in an economic debate, but I always take to heart what he has to say. Of course, with the forthcoming budget, I am unable to make any statements about what might or might not be in the budget, but can I just assure him that his views are taken into account.
The Leader of the Opposition began this censure motion from the premise that the Territory is struggling; that we have somehow missed out on the good times and the strong economic conditions enjoyed by the rest of Australia. It is all doom and gloom, and rack and ruin out there and, in addition to that, we have somehow squandered the increased revenue from the Commonwealth.
Well, in relation to how the Territory is travelling, let us look at a range of economic indicators, beginning with retail turnover to the year to December 2004. Household goods are up 10.2%, food turnover up 8%, recreation goods up 10%, and hospitality up 3.4%. For year-on-year January 2004 to January 2005, new motor vehicle sales growth for the Northern Territory is 14.2%, the second highest ever increase in the Northern Territory and the highest in Australia by a long way, against a national average of about 5%.
Dwelling commencements to September 2004 is up 35.2%. What does it mean in relation to the rest of Australia? The highest in Australia by a long way. Residential building approvals, December year-to-year increase is 34.8%. Where does that sit? The highest in Australia, by a long way. For housing finance for owner-occupation to calendar year 2004, Territory finance commitments increased 24%. That is not a bad snapshot just in relation to housing and the construction industry.
However, let us look across the bay from Darwin Harbour at Bechtel and the LNG plant. There are over 1000 workers out there now, building to 1600 workers at its peak, and over 700 workers on the G3 project at Nhulunbuy, building to a peak of 1700 mid-next year. They are pretty impressive projects - well over billions of dollars worth of infrastructure spend on each project on top of, of course, that growth in housing. And the Leader of the Opposition says we have somehow missed out on the rest of Australia! Well, if this is how you miss out, I want to miss out every time, because we are clearly well at the forefront when it comes to massive projects like that! Of course, the waterfront is still to come, with well over $1bn over the next 11 to 12 years.
It was a recurring theme that has become almost an obsession with the Leader of the Opposition: ‘You have not built a primary school in the three-and-a-half years you have been in government’. Well, there have not been fairly strong levels of spare capacity across those classrooms in the northern suburbs of Darwin for a start, so why would you - for the sake of wanting to be on the books - build a new primary school? I cannot think of a bigger waste of infrastructure dollars and much-needed dollars than to build infrastructure you do not need. If you look at the Lee Point housing project to come on, there is capacity in the schools in the northern suburbs that will pick those kids up. We welcome those kids into the system; they will grow the system. What he does not ask - and he is clever enough to say: ‘You have not built a primary school’. Why the qualification? Why is it primary school that is up his nose and he is so obsessed about?
He never asks about secondary because he has a guilt complex when it comes to secondary facilities. We have built new secondary facilities …
Mr Burke: Which ones?
Mr STIRLING: At Minyerri. We have built new secondary facilities at Shepherdson College on Elcho Island. I believe he went there once with a committee many years ago - about the only visit he has ever made there. We have built new secondary facilities at Maningrida. I was there on the day of Cyclone Ingrid to see four kids get their Year 12 certificates. We have built secondary facilities at Kalkarindji. You might ask why this government has gone on a bit of a splurge building secondary facilities all in remote, indigenous communities. I will tell you why it has been necessary to do that: because the CLP did not deliver secondary education to remote-living indigenous students.
Dr Burns: Shame!
Mr STIRLING: An absolute shame and it stands against them as a blot on their copybook forever. They did not deliver secondary education to remote communities.
In 2003, three students - the first ever in the Northern Territory – received their NTCE in their home community of Kalkarindji. Last year, there were four students, and I was at a wonderful, warm ceremony the other week at Maningrida to commend those students and be part of the awards ceremony. We expect, and certainly hope, that there will be many more in 2005. It is all about strengthening education and picking up the gaps that were left after 27 years of Country Liberal Party rule here.
In relation to the use of the GST and what we have done with it, the member for Greatorex was on about this the other day: ‘What have you done with the $600m extra?’ For a start, the Chief Minister has qualified the actual level of the GST at about $240m in our time in government. What we have done? There are 100 extra teachers into the system - 100 extra teachers, an election commitment already fulfilled. There are 100 teachers in the system in the Northern Territory going about their work - specialist positions, English as Second Language teachers, behavioural management specialists, special needs teachers, and information technology teachers. They are all working to support our classroom teachers and our students in the classroom.
We are injecting $42m over the next few years into further strengthening secondary education, and we will be accelerating the roll-out of secondary education into remote areas. It is not much wonder you blokes got a bit of a rough deal when you went out to talk to the teachers yesterday, because they know your record. They know you did not do anything about bush education.
The 200 extra police - why was that necessary? Why was it necessary to come up with $75m over three-and-a-bit years to put into police? I will tell you why; because it was run down by the Country Liberal Party. O’Sullivan found clearly that the recruitment freeze from 1990 to 1994, because they did not have any money, meant the structure of the police force and the actual numbers on the ground was in a mess following all those years of the Country Liberal Party. Therefore, $75m went into police over three-and-a-half years. You can see the effects in the figures put forward by the Attorney-General, and also when you see the police vehicles and the police on the streets of our towns.
In tourism, we spent $27.5m over three years after the setbacks of 2001-2002.
In capital works, there were three record spends in infrastructure in each of our budgets including to the extent of $487m in 2004-05, and a total of $1.75bn in capital works infrastructure since coming to office in August 2001. That is not a bad record considering that the CLP could always talk in parliament about their capital works programs, design lists, and what was coming forward but, of course, they did not have the cash to put against the program to get that work done.
In health, there have been hospital upgrades and 100 extra nurses – over $100m extra into areas long neglected. Important areas such as mental health and child protection services had languished on the backburner under our predecessors.
I mention these areas as they are three that have been highlighted by the Leader of the Opposition as areas on which this government spends too much money - too much money on police, education and health. He needs to tell Territorians how much we do overspend, and how much he is going to take off them.
In relation to tax reform, it is quite clear the Leader of Opposition and the CLP are prepared to have the Commonwealth Treasurer - his boss, I guess - tell him what he should spend the GST on. We have cut taxes in our time in government, and will continue to do so; however, we going to do it at a pace and in a manner which is manageable in the context of what is, already, a very tight budgetary situation. It is frightening to me - and I dare say to all Territorians - that the Leader of the Opposition says he does not care about deficits. We know that! He does not have to go on the Parliamentary Record and tell us because he has form.
They told us there was a $12m deficit in the 2001-02 budget: quite manageable, not too bad. The truth was, of course, as we found out within three or four weeks of being in government, that the deficit or hole was about $126m. There was no money for capital works, for the teachers’ EBA at the time, or for growth in the system. All the CLP could do in those latter years in government was add further to debt by staggering from one deficit budgetary year to the next. Recurrent expenditure was going on the bankcard and, of course, loading up future Territorians with mountains of debt; there forever to be paid off. That, of course, was restricting the ability of future governments to bring any new initiatives forward. The Leader of the Opposition does not care about deficits; he has made that clear. He does not care about squandering the future of the Territory and its future generations. He does not care, apparently, about its credit rating which, as it slumps, interest rates go up, and the more you borrow the more you have to pay, and your credit rating goes down. It becomes a bit of a frightening scenario all round. Again, it was a government that would plunge the Territory into ever more debt to the extent that they would have to begin to cut vital services.
Let us look at this highest ever tax on Territorians and what we have done. We put in a range of tax cuts which were necessary because of the high level of some taxation rates. I wonder who would have left those very high levels of taxation in place. I wonder who brought those taxes in, in the first place. Well, there was only ever one government before us, and it was those blokes opposite. On 1 July 2002, the payroll tax rate was reduced from an incredibly high 6.5% to 6.3% - $2.8m ongoing. We increased the hiring duty exemption threshold from receipts of $12 000 per annum to $36 000. We removed stamp duty on wet hires. We increased the first home owners stamp duty concession from $2096 to $3640. We introduced a $1500 principal place of residence rebate; and we amended the duty applying to franchises from conveyance rates to lease rates. We introduced a stamp duty corporate reconstruction exemption that cost $3m in a year ongoing – not a bad figure. We then tweaked the payroll tax rate down again from 6.3% to 6.2% at a cost of $1.5m ongoing. We introduced stamp duty exemption for leases and franchises with average annual rent franchise fees under $30 000. We increased hiring duty exemption threshold from receipts of $36 000 per annum to $90 000 per annum. In July 2004, we pushed the payroll tax exemption up to $800 000 - $4m out of the budget in tax cuts, ongoing.
Debits tax is to be abolished on 1 July 2005 at a cost of $6.2m, $6.5m ongoing. The payroll tax exemption threshold from 1 July 2005 goes up to $1m at a cost of $3.2m, ongoing. There is over $7m just in payroll tax.
Let us have a look at the comparison state by state, and the most recent comparison that the ABS has out was the 2002-03 financial year. We will start at the top: On an individual - this is per capita state taxes and council rates paid in each state and territory for 2002-03: New South Wales - $2477; Victoria - $2267; Queensland - $1867; Western Australia - $2136; South Australia - $2101; Tasmania - $1556; and ACT - $2123. The Territory, proudly, comes in at the lowest at $1493.
We hear how we have to take off these taxes for business, and we agree. The next round of taxes coming out of that intergovernmental agreement are all corporate taxes; they do not go to the individuals. We will take them off, but we will take them off in a timely manner that we work out, that we are comfortable with, and not because Mr Costello says: ‘Okay, guys, here is the game plan; this is what you have to do’. He ain’t our boss! He might be the boss for the Country Liberal Party and the people opposite, but he is not ours.
The recurrent taxes for a business with 20 staff: in New South Wales - $31 900; Victoria, top of the pop - $32 200; Queensland - $14 000; Western Australia - $11 000; South Australia - $25 000; Tasmania - $17 700; and ACT - $16 000. The lowest there is Western Australia with $11 000. The Northern Territory, again - and we are proud to say it and we never get sick of saying it - comes in at $6836 in recurrent taxes on a business with 20 staff. At the top, of course, is Victoria at $32 200. There is a bit of difference: $32 000 on a small business with 20 staff in Victoria and $6836 here. We are, clearly, by a long way, the lowest taxing jurisdiction, for a business with 20 staff and, come 1 July 2005, we will be the lowest on a business with 40 staff as well. Of course, that will be many Territory businesses that are benefiting as a result of that low taxation regime.
One senses the reason for this censure motion is to deflect a bit of attention from the Leader of the Opposition with the challenge that I put to him this morning. He will not declare his policies; he will not have them costed. Apparently, he went out to the media and said: ‘Here are the costings! He said it here this morning: ‘Here they are; they are all here!’, and then he threw them on the floor. He threw them on the floor! What use was that? Someone in the media said: ‘I did not even see what the heading was, let alone anything about the costings’. He said: ‘Here are the costings; it is all done’, and then he tucked it back in his pocket. Well, it is not good enough. Territorians need more than a little flash like that. They need more than a little peeky-boo at the front page. What they want to see is the full costings and they want to see someone reputable to have done it. Access Economics will do. We used Access Economics; it worked for us, it might work for you. However, they come at a cost. I do not know about Treasury. We could get Treasury to cost them. You will get a good job done. I do not think we would charge you. I do not know, I think we would do that for free. Treasury would do that for free, and you can trust Treasury.
However, policy is one thing, costing is another. He still has to tell us how he is going to pay for them. He has given us two leads on how he might pay for them. He says we spend too much on police, education and health - absolute vital services that Territorians deserve and expect. He does need to tell us and tell Territorians just how much he is going to cut police, health and education. How many police are going to disappear out of the stations, out of the patrols and off the street? How many teachers are going to disappear from our classrooms? How many nurses are going to disappear from our hospitals? That is the first part, because we know they have form with police. They consistently under-resourced police the whole time they were in government, and they are about to wield the knife again.
The second lead the Opposition Leader has given us this afternoon is this reckless statement that he just simply does not care about deficits and debt. We should not be surprised by that; he did not care before, and he apparently cares less now. The opposition is on notice to come clean, despite this slight diversionary tactic of the censure today. We are going to keep the pressure up, on him and the opposition, to put out your policies, put out your costings, and tell us who did the costings and tell Territorians, most importantly, how you are going to pay for them. There is no substance to this rag tag of a censure motion. The leader of the government really only took it on out of decency and courtesy. It has not been a good week for the opposition down here, and I do not think their cause has been helped with this nonsense this afternoon. We are transparent …
Ms Carney: How many turned up for your barbecue, Syd?
Mr STIRLING: Great numbers, great numbers!
Ms Carney interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Araluen, order!
Mr STIRLING: Do not let me digress. It was terrific function. I would love to do that every week.
We are transparent, Madam Speaker. We have put forward our budget parameters. Territorians will clearly know what capacity we have as a government to take the Territory forward. They will see that in the dollars available. They have seen, of course, the carelessness, the recklessness, the deceit and the fraudulent budget preparation by the Leader of the Opposition and his gang before, and they rejected it in August 2001.
I believe the Leader of the Opposition is absolutely begging to be rejected again unless he puts forward clear, costed policies and a demonstration of how he is going to pay for them. Territorians expect no less; they deserve no less. My message would be: once bitten, twice shy.
Madam Speaker, I move that the question be put.
Motion agreed to.
Madam SPEAKER: The question now is that the censure motion be agreed to.
Motion negatived.
PERSONAL EXPLANATION
Minister for Health
Minister for Health
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, the Minister for Health has approached me and asked to make a personal explanation which I have given him permission to do.
Dr TOYNE (Health): Madam Speaker, I wish to correct a fact in my contribution to the debate on the Alice Springs Hospital yesterday. I ascribed the fire audit of the safety for patients and staff to Paul Herrick, the local head of fire services where, in fact, it came in under the signature of Bruce Mouatt, the Director of NT Fire and Rescue Services.
MOTION
Note Paper – Auditor-General’s February 2005 Report to the Legislative Assembly
Note Paper – Auditor-General’s February 2005 Report to the Legislative Assembly
Continued from earlier this day.
Mr ELFERINK (Macdonnell): Madam Speaker, I listened carefully and intently to the Minister for Community Development’s response in relation to the Auditor-General’s report. He almost quoted word for word one of the key findings of the Auditor-General’s report. The key finding he quoted I will requote for those people who were not here at the time:
- The reduced deficit is as a result of an overall increase in revenues of $7.7m, although this was partly offset
by a $5.6m increase on expenses.
The Auditor-General notes that the revenues have gone up by $7.7m, and I can only presume that means that in the Territory housing stock, to a large degree, that that has been an increase in rents. That is fair enough.
We then go on to the next key finding:
- The increase in expenses is largely due to increased activity in repairing and maintaining the existing housing
stock, leading to an increase in spending from $17.7m to $20.1m, as well as the effect of the Community Harmony
project which has added $2.5m to the Housing Business Services’ annual expenses.
Since I have been learning to read budget books coming into this House, one thing I know about is that you just do not read in isolated years. One of the great pitfalls and traps in reading in isolated years is that you look at how much we spent last year and then how much was spent this year and, if the figure goes up, it is an increase. That is the way the government will always put a spin on it. However, if you then take the same budget book - for argument’s sake, Budget Paper No 3 - and go back over three or four years, you start to notice some interesting trends.
In the year that this government came to power, which means that the budget was, effectively, set by the government prior to this one leading up to the mini-budget, the estimate from that budget book of three years ago was a spend of $23m on repairs and maintenance of Territory Housing stock. It is interesting that the next year it dropped to $18m and then blew out; the year after that it dropped to $17.7m and blew out to $20.1m; and now, all of a sudden, we hear from the minister that we will see in this year’s budget books, no doubt, an increase, which means that they are going to spend more than they did last year. The fact is that it will be still be $3m less than it was three years ago.
I am not even factoring in the effects of inflation or prices going up for labour and those sorts of things; this is just cold hard cash of three years ago and this year. Which means if you factor in things like a CPI of about 3% over those three years, that is a 9% change in those figures. This means that, in reality, the amount of buying power you get out of your dollars - the amount of money that has been sucked out of the repairs and maintenance budgets of the Housing Business Services - is not insubstantial at all. I would guesstimate, without having crunched the figures, that it would be somewhere in the order of about $6m less this year than it was three years ago.
The other thing that comes out of these figures is a very unusual practice by this government and something that Housing Business Services rail against - clearly outlined also by the Auditor-General because he has made it one of the fundamental aspects of his key findings. That was the use of the Community Harmony project which has added $2.5m to Housing Business Services’ annual expenses. A government business division, which Housing Business Services is, is supposed to run at least at break-even, if not actually making some money. That is why these business divisions are created. These business divisions are supposed to operate as businesses. The government said: ‘With Housing a GBD, I am now going to push it over there, a little away from me, and I am going to make it operate as a business’.
This particular business has lost money repeatedly over the last few years, and it needs to be propped up by government. You can see that clearly in the budget paperwork from year to year. However, their ability to earn money – revenue - is seriously undermined by a shrinking repair and maintenance budget. If you look at the vacancy rates, there is rent lost. On page 66 of the Auditor-General’s report, it says:
- … there has been a $0.7m increase of rent lost due to vacant public housing properties, with void rates
increasing 4.4% to 6%.
Part of the reason you are going to see a change in the ability for houses to generate money for this government business division is when the housing stock is excessively damaged. You cannot, as determined by the Residential Tenancies Act, give a substandard tenancy to a tenant. Therefore, you have to make sure that your housing stock is up to scratch. This minister is cutting the repairs and maintenance budget; therefore, his housing stock cannot be effectively let, and the ability for that housing stock to generate money is less effective than it was. There is more and more vacant housing stock, which is evidenced by the Auditor-General’s report and, therefore, you start to build a housing shortage for lower income workers. That is plain old mismanagement. It is up to the minister to drive this stuff.
Here we have a housing business division that is trying its hardest to do its job but, because of the policies and the lack of repairs and maintenance funding being set by this government, it is running that housing stock down. That housing stock is then being used to house people who are not necessarily the problem. However, if you look at Alice Springs and the Larapinta area, you know that, because of cultural determinants and responsibilities, large numbers of family people put pressure on housing stock when they visit town. I am talking about groups of 20, 30, or 40 people sleeping on the back and front lawns. There is only so much work a toilet can do or building suffer before it starts to deteriorate. Therefore, you must anticipate when these cultural determinants are in high profile, as they are in the Larapinta area, that you are going to get a depletion of your housing stock. How do I know this? Not only do I rely on the Auditor-General, I jump in my car, drive out to the Larapinta area and walk around. And guess what? I go past a lot of housing stock which is vacant at the moment.
I decided to go and see my old flat. When I was a copper, they provided housing for me which was NT Housing stock, and paid the bills. I used to have a little old flat there, and that flat is uninhabitable. Why? Because it and the flat next door were nearly burned to the ground, and the smoke damage rendered them uninhabitable. The problem, in this instance, is that the money required to repair this housing stock is no longer available, which means it will sit vacant longer. All this, from a minister who perpetually bleats about housing shortages in the Northern Territory. He is not prepared to commit funds to repair his own housing stock. He is more than happy to blame the federal government, but he is not prepared to take on the responsibility of maintaining his own housing stock - to do his bit for the housing problems in the Northern Territory.
The ongoing funds are then slugged with an extra $2.5m. Here is the government business division, and this minister says: ‘Although you are operating like a business, I am going to reach into the heart of your business, your ability to raise money, and I am going to pull out $2.5m, and spend it over there’. This means he is effectively applying a $2.5m tax to a budget of $17.7m so he can then run the Community Harmony project. If you go through the budget paperwork, Community Harmony projects are not funded from other sources; they are funded from Housing. This is the minister’s logic: ‘I am going to allow my housing stock to become depleted, and allow the vacancy rates to be driven up by damage to it. I will lower my repairs and maintenance budget, and then I will spend $2.5m of that budget on an entirely unrelated project’. Once again, the ability for the housing stock to be dealt with in a responsible way is even further challenged. Clearly, we have a major problem with the situation in Alice Springs, and it is not much different in the Top End.
The minister must go to budget Cabinet the next time - I doubt we will ever get to go through the estimates process because, clearly, these will be amongst the questions that I ask. The minister must go to budget Cabinet - they had it recently, didn’t they? Yes, they did; that is right. I wonder if the minister went to budget Cabinet and was able to extract from the Treasurer an amount of money sufficient to look after his rapidly deteriorating housing stock, and also an amount sufficient to run his Community Harmony project from a source of funds other than Housing Business Services. I will bet London to a brick that the minister has, as he has every year for the last three years, failed - gone from $23m to $18m to $17m, which to blew out to $20m. I will be very curious to see what this year’s R&M budget is going to look like. I do not hold high hopes, looking at his track record.
Mr DUNHAM (Drysdale): Madam Speaker, it is very difficult to talk about budgets and economics because, when you talk about numbers and rates it, basically, leaves people cold for starters and, second, it is very difficult to present a graphic picture of what is going on.
The speakers opposite would have us believe that the data they give us is so good and tested that it cannot be disputed. I am going to dispute some of them with some of the documents they have. The difficulty we have with the great offer we had from the Treasurer to go to Treasury because they are so good at this stuff, is that many of the Treasury numbers in these books differ from book to book - and they differ in pretty big lumps. You can only assume that the government does not have control of the numbers or, if it does, it is perpetrating a giant con job on Territorians.
The business minister, for instance, is very keen to show the figures of the Real Estate Institute of the Northern Territory. A good mob they are and they are probably pretty good figures. However, one wonders why he did not go to his own budget papers and provide us with the wisdom that they – hang on; I need one more. When he tells us how buoyant the property market is, he could go to the figures provided by the Real Estate Institute of the Northern Territory, or he could have gone to his own budget papers because they deal with that stuff, too.
I was interested when the Treasurer dropped this on the Table. For the benefit of Hansard, this is Budget Paper No 2, Fiscal and Economic Outlook 2004-05, which said:
- It is considered that the unusually high activity in the property market experienced in 2003-04 …
… will not be sustained throughout 2004-05; however the extent and timing of any drop in activity is difficult
to predict and could have a significant impact on conveyance stamp duty ...
I was more interested, though, in some of the things the Treasurer has said in this very House in Alice Springs recently. He has made some pretty big statements that would appear to be in vast conflict with his own budget papers. The one I believe is probably a - and I know I cannot use the word starting with ‘L’, Madam Speaker. However, it would appear there is a lack of veracity with this statement. This was on Tuesday, 22 March at page 33 of the Daily Hansard:
- In our time, we have also reduced the tax burden on families and individuals.
Territory taxation revenue in the 2002-03 budget papers - which is three years back now - said that they anticipated collecting, in that year, $1098 per head. Every Territorian would pay $1098. That is what they reckon they were going to aim for. We were a bit worried about that because, on that same page, Treasury said:
- This would suggest that the Territory has scope to raise additional revenue without exceeding the average effort
of all states and territories …
They were saying there that we were undertaxed, and there was scope to raise additional revenue. Okay, so we are aiming at $1098. This Treasurer said, quite proudly, he is of the belief that, if you go to the budget papers now, you will see that his effort has shown a reduction in tax.
That is far from the truth because, not only is he taxing more than the $1098, he is, indeed, on the increase - big time. His hand is in our pocket with his taxes. This is not Mr Costello; this is the man we have with us. Taxation per revenue in the current year’s budget, 2004-05 is - let me see now, in the Northern Territory, we expect to raise $1326 this year. That has blown out again in the mid-year budget papers, but that is a fair bit you would think. Every Territorian is paying an extra $300 in tax. If you are paying an extra $300 in tax, and you are sitting in the gallery saying: ‘But the Treasurer told us he had reduced the tax burden on families and individuals’, how can you reconcile those two things? How can the Treasurer tell us that we are paying less in tax when we know his budget papers say we are paying an extra $200? I say it is because we are only getting a part of the story from this Under Treasurer.
The tax take has gone up incredibly. The current Treasurer has the dubious mantle of being the highest taxing Treasurer we have had. We have never had anybody …
Mr Henderson: Are you talking about Peter Costello?
Mr DUNHAM: The current Treasurer is the member for Nhulunbuy, whose name is Sydney James Stirling, and is the highest taxing Treasurer we have ever had. There ain’t nobody gone anywhere near him! No one has gone near him ...
Ms Lawrie: That is a bit of a spin.
Mr DUNHAM: Somebody has claimed that that is a spin. I take you to the budget papers, because it is quite easy to verify. You may well not believe me; however, I assume that this budget paper carries the endorsement of the Under Treasurer – let us see, what is here name? - Jennifer Prince. If it is a spin, one wonders why Jennifer Prince has put an authorisation on this saying that this book is tickety-boo and shows that taxes under this Treasurer are at all time high levels. The interesting thing about that is that we had a spin document pulled out, which was called Less Tax, More Jobs, Great Lifestyle. More tax, not less tax! Everyone knows it is more tax; you are collecting more. Payroll tax is one of your great claims. There is a great claim that payroll tax …
A member: The economy is going well.
Mr DUNHAM: Pardon?
A member: The economy is going well.
Mr DUNHAM: The economy is going well. Okay, we could look at that. Let us look at economic growth. Economic growth, for instance, was anticipated - in the same books, if you go back two or three years. You will see that economic growth for last year was estimated to be 5%. We came in at 0.3%. The economy is going well? Our estimate of 5% came in at 0.3%. I do not know how you can say that. These are your numbers; they come out of your budget papers. I can source them for you; I can tell you the page number. The economy is going well at 0.3%! You anticipated 5%.
There is no way you can sustain an argument that the king has no clothes, because this Treasurer is the highest taxing Treasurer. He has received more subventions from Commonwealth coffers than anybody else. The economy is performing abysmally, as evidenced by his budget papers from last year. We get a constant diatribe of ‘but if you do it differently you are going to sack nurses and police’. The question I ask is: what if we cut health by $6m, what would that do? The cry from the other side of the room would be: ‘If you cut it by $6m there are going to be nurses without jobs and whatever’. We have had a paper tabled in this parliament the day before yesterday that says Treasury has taken $6m out of health. I do not know what that means. What does that mean? Are you going to cut researchers? Are you going to close a ward? How are you going to take $6m out of Health? There is a paper that is being circulated about transfers between divisions, and it pulls $6m out of the very department you say cannot be touched.
Health is interesting, because the Chief Minister told us at these sittings here the funding to hospitals has gone up 30%. Funding to hospitals has gone up 30%. This is, indeed, an old Labor trick: to describe what you are putting in and being very quiet about what comes out. With hospitals, one would think if it went up 30%, there are many more people being seen, there are many more doctors and nurses walking around, there are people with stethoscopes around their necks pushing little trolleys. We can measure that because, in the budget papers, the government has said: ‘We will tell you what our performance measures are. We will tell you about admitted patient services’. Ah, that is hospitals – right? Okay.
We will go to 2002-03 and there is a measurement here with the quaint name of ‘Weighted inlier equivalent separations’ – that is the number of people seen, pretty much – 45 000 in 2002-03. This year, they expect to see 43 600. How can that be? What you are saying to us is you have dropped 4% in your activities - your outputs - 4% less work is being done in our hospitals, and you are giving them 30% more money. I cannot work this out. If what you are saying is there are fewer people being seen so we need less money maybe that is why you took the $6m off them this week, because we know for a fact you have ripped $6m out of the health system. Therefore, when you want to tell us that all this money is so sacred, and for anybody to argue that it cannot be moved or touched, it really defies belief, and it certainly defies your actions that are on the record here.
Interestingly, the business minister likes to parade the idea that government is a bystander and ‘If the private sector thinks up something good, we will try to get into action with them, and that is how we will drive the economy’. It is also a very convenient way you can describe how good the economy is going by talking about Blacktip, what is happening with Alcan, Wickham Point and other places that have nothing to do, pretty much, with you guys. You say: ‘We have gone hand-in-hand with business and have some wonderful ideas to drive the economy’. Well, the one I want described is how providing awnings to the bloke who owns the Hibiscus Shopping Town is helpful. I am sure he and the people who park their car in the shade instead of in the sun are happy. However, in terms of growing the economy, how do the shady car parks provided by the government at Hibiscus Shopping Town help the economy?
Mr Henderson: Wrong. No, he is doing that with his own money.
Mr DUNHAM: It is his own money?
Mr Henderson: Absolutely.
Mr DUNHAM: Okay, if he is doing that. Let us go to another one that you have boasted about in your budget papers, called Chinatown. Chinatown featured largely in budgets for the last couple of years. The government was going to give them a little leg up. They were going to provide some accommodation at the right rate and these people would, therefore, be able to make the economic thing that was Chinatown work. We have seen some black plastic around it, a big machine turned up and dug up concrete and put it in piles, there were bits of dirt pushed up and a bit of noise and clatter, and that is going back about 18 months, two years. Okay, so two years ago, we played a game called Chinatown where we pretended that the government budgets would help the economy by providing a building.
I will tell you what worries us. That is a proposal of - I do not know - $6m or $7m. We think at the waterfront, we are going to get that same trick. We are going to get the black plastic, a few front-end loaders, a couple of trucks, lots of noise, bits of dirt being pushed around, and the government is going to say: ‘Coming to you from your friendly Clare Martin Labor team’, in your normal colours and: ‘Here is the waterfront and we will all live happily ever after’. We worry because we judge on how you do the little jobs like Chinatown. If you muck-up that, how are you going to do the billion dollar job at the waterfront?
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Members of the government, order!
Mr DUNHAM: If you cannot get that going, how are you going to go with the other one? We worry about your managerial and economic credentials, the fact that the guesstimates you put in this book turn out to be abysmally wrong, and that you do not quote these numbers. It is all very well quoting from the Real Estate Institute of the Northern Territory - and I believe their numbers are better than yours, anyway - but why would you not quote from your paper?
When you talked population, minister, you went again to the Real Estate Institute of the Northern Territory. Why wouldn’t you go to the ABS? Why wouldn’t the Australian Bureau of Statistics numbers …
Ms Martin: Because they are from last September.
Mr DUNHAM: They are from last September!
Ms Martin: They are good news!
Mr DUNHAM: They are from last September! The reason you do not use ABS is because they are from last September! Okay, from last September, or whatever caveat you want to put on them …
Ms Martin interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Chief Minister and members of the government, cease! Let the member finish his speech.
Mr DUNHAM: If you want to come to parliament in Alice Springs and harangue us about not being Alice Springs-centric, and then talk about a population without including Alice Springs, you might have something to hide. Let us have a look at these numbers in Alice.
There are two statistical divisions here: one is called Alice Springs Ross, and one is called Alice Springs Larapinta. We have lost 160 people from Alice Springs Ross, and 120 from Alice Springs Larapinta. That is 280 people; a decline of 2.1% in one of them, and 1.1% in the other. Why would you not mention that? It is bad news, that is why, and it does not go with this talk about the economy going gang busters, people coming into the place, every flat has been rented, and we do that because the Real Estate Institute tells us. Use ABS.
The long and short of this is that the Treasurer is awash with cash. We know that because the report we are debating right here tells us. The report tells us …
A member: Because he sits in that room and bathes in it.
- Mr DUNHAM: Pardon?
A point was well put by the member for Macdonnell and is worth revisiting quickly; that is, if your interest income earnings go up $4m, in six months you have a fair bit in the bank. The Auditor-General also talked about some cash used in investing activities at page 17 in this report. In 2003-04, it was $254.4m. That is a pretty significant amount to be used for investing activities. It certainly would appear to be tucked away somewhere.
The most interesting thing about the Auditor-General’s report, though, is what is not in it. The report falls into two sections. In the first section, he audits the Treasurer’s mid-year report, which was tabled on 1 December 2004. He tells us that he has had a good look at it and can tell us the issues that are in it. What he cannot tell us about are the things which were tabled this month. This month, we know $48m worth of money has been floating around the ether in various government departments, and the Auditor-General has not been able to look at it. You would think if you are going to make changes outside the Auditor-General’s purview, the best way to do it would be to table something like this, this week - and that is what our Treasurer has done! He is a ripper! He has given $48m to various departments. We do not know which ones. We assume some of it was to remedy the Alice Springs Hospital, and we found out yesterday that that is going to be spent over three years. These matters have not been debated in here. We have absolutely no idea what the impact of them is. One of the government members might like to tell us in rejoinder what the impact of a deletion of $6.274m will have on the Health Department. If the Health Department is going to be dropped by $6.2m - in six months, mind you, which is $1m per month they are taking off them - I would like to know what the impact is. Strictly speaking, it does not fall within the debate we are having before us, as I said before, because of the cunning device the Treasurer has used.
I would like to talk about some of the issues with departments that are raised in the Auditor-General’s report. Regarding the department with the unfortunate acronym of DOJ, being a legal department, the minister stood up and said: ‘Yes, we are looking at it’. The problem you had, minister, was unauthorised access into that very sensitive data that is held within the Justice Department by people who had left the public service. You had a government business division sponsoring political government programs like the Harmony Project. You have a Construction Division that is almost technically trading insolvent, which did not know it was a government business division. You have a litany of problems throughout areas of the public service that have not been adequately addressed in this debate. If you really want to talk about your managerial credentials, you have to go to each one of these issues here.
I do not believe that the minister adequately addressed the matters relating to the uncollected monies from the Defence Department, and I do not believe that the flippant way that the Construction Division decided it would just call itself something else and not levy any money can be glossed over in the way that it has. These are significant issues for government - significant issues of mismanagement - and, in some places, they are tantamount to the word ‘misappropriation’. Certainly, in the case of the Community Harmony project, it would seem to be getting pretty close to that.
Members interjecting.
Mr DUNHAM: Ridiculous?
Ms Lawrie: Yes.
Mr DUNHAM: The harmony project - and if people were listening, they would know - is nothing to do with the business activities of the government business division. It is interesting that the Auditor-General said that it was a decision not made by internal management. A government business division should have its own autonomy and independence. If there are people making …
Mr ELFERINK: A point of order, Madam Speaker. I move for an extension of 10 minutes such that the member for Drysdale may conclude his remarks.
Motion negatived.
Ms MARTIN (Chief Minister): Madam Speaker, I thank members for their contribution to the report from the Auditor-General for February. There were many issues raised by the opposition that I was going to deal with specifically in my response but, because we had the censure over the economy and the GST, many of the issues dealt with in that were raised in the Auditor-General’s debate. I will not go through those same issues.
I am disappointed in the response from the opposition to this debate with the same negativity we heard in the censure, the same putting down of our economy, the same underpinning of conspiracy theories about everything that happens in the Northern Territory. It is not only belittling to the Territory, but belittling to the opposition.
I thank government ministers for their contribution. The Auditor-General does important work for the Territory. That ministers respond individually to issues raised by the Auditor-General is very important. I thank the Auditor-General for his work. I look forward to his next report, because the issues that he looks at in regarding accountability and appropriate use of funds are very important and taken very seriously by this government.
I thank members for their different levels of contribution, and the Auditor-General, Frank McGuiness, for his work for the Territory.
Motion agreed to; paper noted.
MOTION
Note paper - Ombudsman’s Annual Report 2003-04
Continued from 15 February 2005.
Mr BURKE (Opposition Leader): Madam Speaker, in responding to the tabling of the Ombudsman’s report, I will begin by noting the contribution of Peter Boyce during his two terms in the role. I put on the record my personal appreciation for the job he has done on behalf of all Territorians. Whilst I have not always necessarily agreed with the decisions or conclusions of the Ombudsman, I have always held the position in the highest regard and respected the role played by the Ombudsman.
In farewelling Peter Boyce from this position, I cannot help but reflect on the nature of his departure and the role played by the current government. Peter Boyce, it would appear, has made the fatal mistake of criticising the actions of the current government, and he now finds that he has been restructured out of a job.
That criticism, essentially, appears in the report that we are considering today, where the key comments raised by the Ombudsman’s report include: a lack of resourcing for the Office of the Ombudsman, and a scathing report criticising the government’s decision to award a substantial contract to a Western Australian company which, subsequently, went into voluntary administration, over a Territory one.
In the review of the legislation concerning the new Ombudsman (Northern Territory) Act, if ever there was evidence required of this government’s desire to create an environment of secrecy and unaccountability for itself, one only has to read this latest Annual Report of the Ombudsman tabled at the last sittings. In particular, I am referring to his comments in regard to the review of existing legislation and development of a new Ombudsman (Northern Territory) Act. This does not bode well for the future of Territorians and their confidence that concerns raised about government will be adequately addressed by the Ombudsman. What better person, one would have to ask, than the current Ombudsman? The government, in their public comments, have not indicated any lack of faith in him to give sound advice on the future of the Ombudsman (Northern Territory) Act. His office has been conducting their affairs under the auspices of the act for the past 10 years.
Amongst his key concerns in the development of the new act, the Ombudsman raises the issues of secrecy and lack of transparency, the spirit in which the review was conducted, and the contestability of the advice that was given.
With regards to secrecy and lack of transparency, the Ombudsman cites a number of examples of how the process has been far short of open and accountable. The Ombudsman expressed his surprise that, at the time of writing his report, the review had not been made public. This is a sad indictment on a government claiming to be open and accountable. He is highly critical of the consultation process by which a so-called discussion draft was released for comment in what many believed was an inadequate time frame. He stated in his report at page 28:
- In my view no government can assert to be giving effect to the principles of open, transparent and accountable
government in the true democratic sense if it does not provide for an open and transparent process for the
development of legislation pertaining to an independent statutory officer such as the Ombudsman. I am gravely
concerned that this has not been the case.
He talked about the spirit in which the review was conducted. Peter Boyce highlights a number of examples where it would appear obvious that the government did not want his advice or input, and that the department was determined to act in a hostile fashion towards him. Tactics such as stalling, withholding information and limited communication were employed to stymie any genuine input from Peter Boyce. The Ombudsman stated, on page 26 of the report:
- I was particularly perturbed to note that the draft report had in fact been circulated to a number of government
agencies for comment, yet it had not been considered proper for the Ombudsman to consider the report in its
draft format.
To say the process for the development of new legislation has been problematic is to understate the case. The
process has lacked structure and fairness, in my view, particularly in regard to participation by my office.
The process that has been followed has been unnecessarily acrimonious and adversarial in its nature.
On page 25, he cited that a draft of the bill was given to his office to review and return comment on, with the unrealistic time frame of only nine days. This is an office which is heavily overworked. If one looks at the report, one can see the increase in complaints, coupled with his concern about lack of resources to show that it was heavily overworked. One can only draw the conclusion that the Ombudsman drew; that was, to give him only nine days to comment on the draft legislation was intended to purposely stop him from giving any substantive comment.
The other thing that he makes note of was that it was well known by the government that he was overseas on official business when this particular window was opened. He said in the report:
- Given the expertise and practical experience of my office in administering the current legislation, I was
somewhat surprised …
- … I was somewhat surprised that the Department of the Chief Minister did not actively consult with me in regard
to the preparation of draft instructions for a new bill. Indeed, we were given no information whatsoever in regard
to the drafting of the new bill.
On 6 September 2004 a draft bill, which in fact had been prepared in July 2004, was made available to my office
(at this time I was overseas attending a conference). The Department of the Chief Minister advised that comments
were required on this initial draft bill by no later than 15 September 2004. I was very surprised at this state of
affairs occurring as it was common knowledge that I was absent overseas and was not in a position to attend to
the relevant comments myself.
He then talked about the contestability of the advice that was given. In contrast to the systematic denial of the Ombudsman to participate properly in the development of the act, departments and government agencies were given generous opportunities to give feedback and generate changes. The problem that arises is the fact that all of these groups will be covered by the act in the future, which also gives rise to a potential conflict. It is most definitely in their best interests to ensure that the reach and power of the Ombudsman is limited in certain situations. That is not to say that they should have been denied the opportunity to take part; however, any contributions from those covered by the act should rightly have this advice tested by someone other than the Chief Minister’s own department, as was the case.
The Ombudsman, in this area, commented:
- What concerned me in regard to this process was that these changes were conflicted in that they were from
agencies over which the new bill would be operating. It is therefore not surprising that some agencies
sought to make submissions that would limit the effectiveness and the scope of the Ombudsman in some
situations. The fact that these submissions were made, and generated changes in draft bills, without any
consideration, discussion, debate or assessment of any contrary view my office might have, as to whether
it was appropriate or not, was both frustrating and, in my view, disrespectful to the Ombudsman.
I do not believe that you really have to go any further into the Ombudsman’s report than that. Sadly, a professional officer who has served the Territory for the past 10 years has been treated by this government as totally irrelevant and has been drawn in this report and, sadly, in media comment, to basically express a point of view. Whether you agree with him or disagree with him, it is sad to see that, after 10 years, he feels that way about a Labor government that is so-called open, honest and transparent, and purports to the general pubic that they are vitally interested in and will strengthen the agencies that are independent and there to serve the taxpayer to oversee the business of government and departments. Some of these department’s actions directly involve the public on a day-to-day basis. They are departments that need to be held accountable by independent arbitrators. The Ombudsman has stood the test of time in Australia and all over the world in the Westminster system, and has been the ideal mechanism to do that.
Mr Deputy Speaker, for that particular individual to be treated in such a way, and to leave this Territory after 10 years of service, I believe is, once more, a telling indictment of the sort of government and operators we have in charge of the Northern Territory at the moment.
Mr HENDERSON (Business and Industry): Mr Deputy Speaker, before I commence my comments, I also thank the current Ombudsman for his years of service to the Northern Territory. I suppose it is disappointing to see his final report to this parliament be so critical of the review process that is being undertaken.
The review came about as a commitment to review the Ombudsman (Northern Territory) Act. However, there is more than one person who is a stakeholder in this review process. It has been a public review process. The public was invited to make contributions and many bodies and organisations did. It is an important part of the overseeing of government that the statutory office of the Ombudsman does have the capacity to investigate complaints without fear or favour in regard to decisions made by government authorities that affect individuals; to ensure that those decisions are made without fear and favour, that they are open and transparent; and people are accorded due process in regards to how decisions are made that may affect them as individuals.
The tenor of the Ombudsman’s report is that he feels aggrieved about the process. However, as a member of this parliament, I say that there is more than one stakeholder whose needs are to be taken into account in regards to this review, which is ongoing and has not been concluded.
Having made those initial comments, I speak now as minister for Police in the Northern Territory. Any observer, I suppose, of public comment would certainly see that, unfortunately, there is tension, and criticism has been applied to the Ombudsman’s Office by the Police Association of the Northern Territory. Those comments have been on the public record and they have been unfortunate. As minister for Police, obviously, I have role in this process around the Cabinet table to take input of proposed legislative reform. Cabinet documents and legislation gets circulated and my agency comments on those. I have a responsibility, as Police minister, to take those comments to the Cabinet room for debate. It is unfortunate that we have not been able to see eye-to-eye. However, I do believe progress is still being made.
The police have to be accountable. It is absolutely vital that police are accountable to the people of the Northern Territory. I pay tribute tonight to the fantastic work that the police do. Over the years - and I am sure the member for Macdonnell would agree with me here - having a father-in-law who is a police officer for the Northern Territory who served for 32 years, I know the level of accountability that our current police officers face today in judgments that they make on a day-to-day basis in their work throughout the Northern Territory, is far in excess of what it was five, 10, 15 years ago. I suppose there is debate about whether it is necessary. Most people would say that it probably is. However, it does make the judgment calls that police officers make in very difficult circumstances, on a day-to-day basis, even harder.
In the complaints process against police, any complaint against a police officer is very thoroughly investigated. Our new Police Commissioner, Mr Paul White, who has been here for three years now, has overhauled the police complaints process with the new Professional Responsibility Division in place. If you look at the number of cases the Ombudsman comments on in his particular report that we are discussing here today, there are 35 examples. There are many hundreds of complaints against police every year, and the resources and time that goes into investigating those complaints takes a lot of time and chews up a lot of resources within the police service. The Professional Responsibility Division is overseen by the Joint Review Committee which also contains the Ombudsman, and he has input.
We also have to remember that not only are there genuine complaints made against police. As I have said before, police are in a very difficult position every day regarding the judgment calls that they have to make. Part of the Police Oath is to show good sense - I forget the words - but when to relax and enforce the law. Police have to make those judgments every day. As well as occasionally making mistakes that lead to complaints, or being slightly over-enthusiastic on occasions in the work that they do, one has to remember that there are people out there who, very quickly and readily, for whatever there motives are, make malicious and vexatious complaints against individual police officers in the course of their duty, for the sole reason of diverting their efforts away from continuing on with their investigations and being tied up in a complaints process.
In any system of investigation of complaint against police officers, there is a balance of genuine complaints against officers in the course of their duty, mixed in with malicious and vexatious complaints that are made against individual police officers for very ulterior motives. It is a very sensitive area.
The Ombudsman, I believe, is on the public record, and I will certainly put it on the public record that, when I met with the Ombudsmen to discuss the review, I asked our Ombudsman whether we had in the Northern Territory a problem with corruption in our police force. The Ombudsman looked at me squarely in the eye and said: ‘No, we do not’. Each and every one of us in this parliament would agree with that. The Territory is too small a place. It is not New South Wales or Victoria. Our police force is not a huge organisation whereby individual officers can go off on their merry way and behave totally inappropriately and get away with it for many years. The Territory is too small a place for institutionalised corruption to be a problem in our police force. The Ombudsman has stated that is not the case.
In respect to the powers that should be granted to the Ombudsman by the review of this act, we have to be mindful of the fact that the Ombudsman’s powers in other jurisdictions have been increased specifically as a result of a significant problems of institutionalised corruption within police forces in other states. The Ombudsman has had his powers, in those states, extended as a result of corruption that has been determined in those police forces.
We do not have that problem in the Northern Territory. I am sure that the members for Brennan and Macdonnell have spoken to the Police Association and have been lobbied. That association does a great job in lobbying. Their concerns were that the Ombudsman would be granted powers similar to those granted to the Ombudsman in other states, and they believed the perception that would give to the people of the Northern Territory is that the Ombudsman has been granted those powers as a result of a problem that does not exist.
We are caught in a fine line in this debate. I believe that we can work through it. The institution of the Ombudsman and the powers that he has to do his job as a statutory office holder are vitally important. However, there are other stakeholders here, and we do not need to use a sledge hammer to crack a nut. We have reached an impasse. That is obvious in the Ombudsman’s comments in his report.
However, I believe, fundamentally and absolutely, that we have a fantastic police force in the Northern Territory that is not afflicted at all by any sense of institutionalised corruption. People do make complaints against police. Many of those complaints are genuine and there are any number of examples in the Ombudsman’s individual accounts where police have been either disciplined or cautioned as a result of overreaching their powers. However, I am also aware that there are many complaints that are made against police officers that are malicious or vexatious, and we have to be very careful in those balances in legislation.
Mr Deputy Speaker, I thank the Ombudsman. He has done a magnificent job over 10 years. We will continue to work through the review of this legislation to make sure that we have legislation that does meet the needs of the Northern Territory community. That process continues, and I wish the Ombudsman well in his future endeavours.
Dr BURNS (Transport and Infrastructure): Mr Deputy Speaker, I also place on the record my appreciation for the work of the Ombudsman. It is a difficult task. I know, as a local member, there are a number of issues and people who have come through my electorate office who have been to see the Ombudsman. Sometimes, people feel that the Ombudsman takes a bit longer than they would like to resolve or work through the issues, but I know that the Ombudsman does a very thorough job in what he does.
I join with other members in wishing him well. He has done a good job for the Territory. It is a difficult job, because we get issues that come through our offices, and often we will direct them towards the Ombudsman. Some of those issues are quite insoluble to some degree, and the Ombudsman has to make sense of those and pursue them. It is a very difficult job.
On another matter, the issue of the ITS contract and litigation on-put was raised again in the House today and in the media. That was an issue investigated by the Ombudsman. I have laid it on the record, as Essential Services Minister that, because the conflict is between ITS and Power and Water, I have a conflict of interest in relation to that matter because the principals of ITS are my two brothers-in-law and their mother and father - my wife’s two brothers and her mother and father. My family has no pecuniary interest. However, I did feel it was a conflict of interest. I stepped aside regarding that particular issue. Unfortunately, the matter seems to have broken down and gone to the courts. I want to place it on the record that in no way am I connected to that particular issue.
In summary, I wish the Ombudsman well. It is a difficult job. I suppose we will be welcoming the new replacement Ombudsman in due course.
Ms MARTIN (Chief Minister): Mr Deputy Speaker, I thank everyone for their contribution to this debate. The Ombudsman’s report goes through many different areas, and reports on what has happened over the previous 12 months in areas right across government. Some of those are very small issues that the Ombudsman’s Office has to deal with; some are much larger and more significant.
The report spends considerable time on the review of the legislation. The Ombudsman does not pull any punches about how he feels that review has gone. Let me assure the House that it has been a well-consulted review, and that stakeholders have had significant opportunities to put their ideas into the review of the legislation. I do not believe what we currently have is bad legislation, but it has been there for some considerable years and it was time to review the legislation in light of where other Ombudsman’s legislations around the country had gone.
The review of the legislation had proved more difficult than we hoped, particularly with some of the opposing views on what might change between the Ombudsman’s Office and our police. My Department of the Chief Minster has spent a long time in the review, being the facilitator for trying to reach agreement with all stakeholders about what the future might be. I can say that we have not reached that yet, and I am determined to do that. We have to have Ombudsman’s legislation that is supported, that is appropriate in a Territory context, and recognises where we are. When you look around the country, Ombudsman’s legislation has been reviewed and changed to deal with very specific and concerning circumstances. I do not believe those circumstances are in the Territory, and that we need to have legislation that is reflective of our current circumstances and is appropriate to them.
While we are still having difficulties, I respect the right of the Ombudsman to have his say about what he thinks about that. However, I can assure this House that we are working through the issues …
Mr Dunham interjecting.
Ms MARTIN: If the member for Drysdale would just be quiet. … we are working through these issues and we will resolve them. I thank all those who have had input into the legislation at this stage. I am confident, over the next few months, we will see new, refreshed, revised legislation - probably not substantially different legislation - come to the House for debate.
I thank our Ombudsman for his 10 years as Ombudsman. He has served the Territory well. As the member for Johnston said, often the role of the Ombudsman is one that we, as local members, get quite a lot of feedback on. Some of the responses you get are complimentary; some express much frustration. Often, if you are looking to the Ombudsman to find your solution on some issues, some of them are going to be impossible. You often have people expressing that frustration of impossibility to resolve. Others can be resolved. It is an important office for the Territory. I know that the Ombudsman’s Office, in many cases, tackles very difficult and, sometimes, unsolvable issues. Probably those unsolvable issues is what reflects some of the discontent that we hear throughout the Territory and, particularly, as local members when constituents come in to give you an earful about what they think.
Mr Deputy Speaker, I thank the Ombudsman. I wish him well in his future, and thank him for this report for the 2003-04 year.
Motion agreed to; paper noted.
HOUSING AMENDMENT BILL
(Serial 277)
(Serial 277)
Continued from 9 February 2005.
Mr ELFERINK (Macdonnell): Mr Deputy Speaker, I make a few points about the bill, and indicate at the outset that the opposition will be supporting it. It is not a difficult bill to understand regarding what is required and the changes that are proposed. However, it is worth visiting some of the issues that surround the bill.
It was not that long ago in this parliament, when the then minister for Infrastructure said on the 30 April 2003 that he could understand the plight of home buyers, as he remembered when he had to buy his own home his bank said to him:
- ‘You cannot afford to pay $80 000 for a block and $100 000 on top of it for a house’. I do not think many
bank managers would give you that money, especially if you have just started your life.
This was during a debate, if memory serves me correctly, when we were talking about house and land prices in Alice Springs. I was being called a ‘doomsayer’ and all sorts of things at that time because I had the audacity to suggest that land prices in Alice Springs, because of the squeeze on the place, would start to creep up towards the $100 000 mark. I continued to be called a ‘doomsayer’ when land prices flopped over the $100 000 mark and hit $103 000 for the average block price. I was assured at the time that the release of Larapinta Stage 4 would plateau everything out and everything would be sweetness and light and we would live in the land of milk and honey. Before you end up in the land of milk and honey, you have to spend 40 years in the desert wandering. We do live in the desert and, clearly, the prices which are being asked for blocks at Larapinta at the moment are somewhere in the order of a $120 000 to $140 000.
I do not know if you have ever been to the top of Mt Gillen, but if you ever do take the opportunity to do so, you can see about a 100 km east, west, north, and south. Yet, we find ourselves struggling with a land squeeze in Alice Springs, which brings Alice Springs to a fairly precarious position.
The minister was lauding the success of his government today when noting that occupancy rates in this town were very much down, and that land and housing prices were crawling up. Well, that is what I have been saying is a matter of great concern to me. I own a property in this town and, from that perspective, I am delighted to hear that my land prices are going up.
However, the purpose of HomeNorth as an idea was to try to assist those people who needed to borrow money to get into the housing market young, early, first home buyers, that sort of thing. That is how it started as a system. Now what the minister is asking for is the power to not come back repeatedly to the parliament of the Northern Territory but, rather, to allow his CEO, under his signature, the ability to adjust the HomeNorth scheme for an environment which now changes so rapidly in land prices that it is cumbersome to go through the legislative process, and you will have to rely on the ability of the minister and his CEO to sign off on it.
To give you an idea of the impact of land prices in Alice Springs, I did a quick search on Real Estate Australia for LJ Hooker and looked up vacant land under the general heading of Sydney. Although there are some very expensive blocks in the Sydney area, there are also, in places like Marsden Park, South Bowenfels, Blacktown, Bowenfels again, and St Mary’s – well, I will not rely on the St Mary’s one, that is $7.5m worth. The ones in the Marsden Park and Bowenfels areas, which are on the fringes of Sydney as I understand it, are all in the order of $120 000 to $140 000. The message we can get from that is that you can buy on the fringes of Sydney for the same price that you can buy in Alice Springs. What will make Alice Springs attractive to young families who are seeking new places to live and make their way in life? Clearly, land prices ain’t going to be it!
The requirement of this minister is quite straightforward; it is easy to understand and clearly explained in the second reading speech. The bill is not difficult to read and, as I said at the outset, we intend to support the bill. I do, however, have one request to put to the minister. I have already indicated it to him and he has indicated his assent, and I am sure he will put it on the Parliamentary Record. The concern is that this is still public money we are dealing with and, as such, it needs to have some review process attached to it away from the minister’s hand or the hand of the CEO. Consequently, I have asked the minister if he were to sign off on a change recommended by his CEO of the HomeNorth scheme, that he will report that change to this House in one form or another so that this House can review the changes made to the scheme - I assume they will be values more than anything else – so we could uphold our end of the bargain which is, of course, reviewing the expenditure of taxpayers’ dollars for the good purposes and welfare of all Territorians.
Mr AH KIT (Housing): Madam Acting Deputy Speaker, I thank the shadow spokesman for his comments. It is fairly straightforward, but I will just run through it quickly to remind members what the bill is about.
The Housing Amendment Bill 2004 proposes to amend section 24 of the Housing Act and make consequential amendments to regulations and the Stamp Duty Act. The proposed amendment to the Housing Act will remove the requirement for home purchase assistance schemes to be prescribed by regulation and will, instead, allow the Chief Executive Officer Housing to approve such schemes following endorsement by the Minister for Housing.
The bill will significantly increase the administrative flexibility of home purchase assistance schemes and ensure that new and existing schemes can be more readily targeted and kept in line with market conditions. The maximum purchase price, income, and loan amount under the schemes will be reviewed annually, and Cabinet will be consulted before any changes are implemented.
A consequential amendment with retrospective effect to 1 July 2004 is required to the Stamp Duty Act to ensure that stamp duty concessions and rebates are available to those who purchased on a shared equity basis with government from 1 July 2004.
A further amendment will be required to the Housing Loans Act to allow loans governed under this act to benefit from the flexibility of the new schemes.
Government is bound by the Uniform Consumer Credit Code to notify consumers of any changes to rates and repayments. In line with the Uniform Consumer Credit Code, to ensure that Territorians are well informed by Territory Housing, loan recipients are always given at least 20 days notice of any change to rates. The Housing Amendment Bill simply enables good and responsive business practices for Territory Housing, and ensures that loans are relevant to borrowers’ needs.
In conclusion, yes, regarding a review, I have agreed that I will report to parliament when a review is undertaken. There are also briefings that I can offer to the shadow minister. We also have available the estimates process.
Mr Deputy Speaker, I commend the bill to the House.
Motion agreed to; bill read a second time.
Mr AH KIT (Housing)(by leave): Mr Deputy Speaker, I move that the bill be now read a third time.
Motion agreed to; bill read a third time.
TABLED PAPER
Ombudsman - Report on Administrative Actions of Government Authorities
Ombudsman - Report on Administrative Actions of Government Authorities
Ms MARTIN (Chief Minister): Mr Deputy Speaker, I present the Report of the Ombudsman for the Northern Territory Relating to Administrative Actions of Government Authorities.
MOTION
Print Paper - Ombudsman, Report on Administrative Actions of
Government Authorities
Print Paper - Ombudsman, Report on Administrative Actions of
Government Authorities
Ms MARTIN (Chief Minister): Mr Deputy Speaker, I move that the Report of the Ombudsman for the Northern Territory Relating to Administrative Actions of Government Authorities be printed.
Motion agreed to.
MOTION
Note Paper – Ombudsman, Report on Administrative Actions of Government Authorities
Note Paper – Ombudsman, Report on Administrative Actions of Government Authorities
Ms MARTIN (Chief Minister): Mr Deputy Speaker, I move that the Assembly take note of the report. This report was presented to me by the Ombudsman pursuant to section 28 of the Ombudsman (Northern Territory) Act, regarding an investigation into the adequacy of the administrative actions taken by certain government authorities in relation to the granting and acceptance of a special purpose grant. In accordance with that act, I am required to lay the report before the Assembly within three sitting days.
During the debate on the Ombudsman’s annual report, we considered the importance of this statutory office holder in ensuring that there is open, transparent and accountable government. One of the Ombudsman’s main functions is to make recommendations to approve the administrative action of government agencies and local government councils which are within his jurisdiction.
In the report to hand, the Ombudsman has conducted an investigation into the administrative conduct of the Department of Community Development, Sport and Cultural Affairs and a local government council. To protect the privacy of individuals, the Ombudsman has determined not to name the local government council or individuals. I will also respect the privacy of individuals and the council in question.
The Ombudsman has investigated a complaint and found that the facts of the matter are, basically, that a grant of $35 000 was made to a council for a vehicle to monitor sacred sites and country. The council realised it had no budget provision to operate and maintain the vehicle and, therefore, it gifted it; that is, gave the vehicle to traditional owners. The gifting was only carried out after seeking the advice of the department, which incorrectly advised the council that it had the power to gift the vehicle.
The Ombudsman’s report epitomises why we have an office known as the Ombudsman. A member of the public made a complaint to the Office of the Ombudsman, the Ombudsman investigated and found the administrative practices of the department and the local government council were less than desirable and has made recommendations to improve them.
The department has accepted, in their entirety, the Ombudsman’s recommendations, and has already commenced a process of improving the administrative policies and procedures surrounding grant applications and approvals. The department, in carrying out the Ombudsman’s recommendations, will also facilitate ongoing training for local government council employees and members on the requirements and obligations of the Local Government Act.
The Ombudsman has also made recommendations to the local government council regarding the policy on the management of conflict of interest situations and a number of other good governance practices.
One of the Ombudsman’s recommendations is that a copy of the report be provided to the Auditor-General for his consideration. I have done this, in line with the Ombudsman’s recommendation. I hereby table the Ombudsman’s report in this matter.
Mr ELFERINK (Macdonnell): Mr Deputy Speaker, I will make a few comments now and then ask that the debate be adjourned to a later date to allow me to complete my comments.
As with all reports, you get a little suspicious when they hit the table on a Thursday on the last day of sittings. On a very cursory examination of the report that has only just this moment hit the table …
Ms Martin: It is standard procedure.
Mr ELFERINK: I am starting to get very curious about the role of the minister in this particular issue …
Members interjecting.
Mr ELFERINK: Well, let us talk about standard procedures. My understanding, in relation to standard procedures, is that they should be followed by government, and there is a clear indication that this is not the case in this instance.
It would be lovely to be able to review something like this so we can have these debates properly. This hits the table on a Thursday evening. It is going to be a report, doubtlessly, very critical of the minister in relation to how he has conducted himself in this particular incident. I am going to be reading this report carefully.
Mr Deputy Speaker, on Thursday evening, the last day of Alice Springs’ sittings, just before adjournment debate, this report hits the table. I seek leave to continue my remarks at a later date.
Leave granted.
Debate adjourned.
SPECIAL ADJOURNMENT
Mr HENDERSON (Leader of Government Business): Madam Speaker, I move that the Assembly, at its rising, adjourn until Tuesday, 3 May 2005 at 10 am and/or such other time and/or date as may be set by Madam Speaker pursuant to sessional order.
Motion agreed to.
ADJOURNMENT
Mr HENDERSON (Leader of Government Business): Madam Speaker, I move that the Assembly do now adjourn.
Madam Speaker, I would like to make some comments on the magnificent response by police, other authorities, communities and businesses in the wake of Cyclone Ingrid. We all remember the week that Cyclone Ingrid threatened the northern coastal communities of Queensland, Northern Territory and Western Australia. This afternoon, I take the opportunity to acknowledge and thank the tireless work of the many police officers in different communities, the volunteers and staff of Emergency Services, and the Bureau of Meteorology, as Ingrid lashed our coastline. I also acknowledge and thank the many businesses, community organisations and government agencies in their efforts to assist communities.
Ingrid first challenged the residents of Nhulunbuy, Elcho Island and the neighbouring communities during the early hours of Saturday, 12 March. All of us who followed Ingrid’s path on the Bureau of Meteorology web site were very concerned for the citizens of Nhulunbuy and Elcho Island, given that it was a Category 5 cyclone and something that was deeply concerning to all Territorians. Ingrid continued along the Top End coast, tormenting the communities of Maningrida, Goulburn Island, Croker Island, Cobourg and Cape Don, just to mention a few, before hitting the Tiwi Islands and finally leaving our coastline. Following the path of Ingrid on that Bureau of Meteorology web site, it was concerning for Nhulunbuy. The forecast showed Ingrid moving only 40 km to the north of Nhulunbuy. It was a tight and condensed cyclone. Fortunately, Nhulunbuy was spared the eye of the cyclone. I called my colleague, the member for Nhulunbuy, the next morning - the mobile phones were still functioning - and the member for Nhulunbuy and good friend, Syd Stirling said: ‘Gee, it was a pretty hairy night, and everybody is just glad to be alive’. It is chance, really, when these cyclones come through, whether you are going to score a direct hit or have a very close escape. For the good communities of Nhulunbuy and Elcho Island, it was a close escape.
The recovery process, led by the Counter Disaster Management Plan, was quick to start in Nhulunbuy with power connected to most homes late on Saturday. Nearly 150 service lines to houses, 19 high voltage supply lines, and three towers were repaired in a joint effort by electrical staff from Alcan, DXH Electrical and CJ Mansfield, within 48 hours. Debris and fallen trees were cleared from roads and houses with the assistance of staff from various organisations, and was continued during the week by crews from the Nhulunbuy Corporation.
Charter flights with supplies were despatched to Croker Island taking to the community blankets, bottled water, tarpaulins, generators and a team of Emergency Service volunteers with chainsaws, and the Arnhem Land Progress Association quickly responded with the coordination of food supplies. The Chief Minister and I flew in to the community of Minjilang on Croker just a couple of days after the cyclone to be greeted by some very relieved residents who had copped the full brunt of the cyclone. It was amazing that nobody was killed, and even more amazing that nobody was injured by that very nasty cyclone.
Very quickly, I also pay tribute tonight to Telstra which, within hours of daylight on the Saturday morning, flew a helicopter into Croker Island to Minjilang and quickly established telephone contact with the outside world. The residents were certainly very impressed with how quickly Telstra came to their aid to get communication back. Power and Water staff also arrived to repair fallen powerlines and restore power to the community, and a team from Health and Community Services arrived to assess the need for mattresses, whitegoods and other essential household items. Health staff educated the community on melioidosis and other health issues and provided footwear to chronic disease patients.
A Perkins shipping barge left Darwin last Sunday for Croker with supplies and specialty equipment urgently required for the safe removal of asbestos. There was some media comment a couple of days ago, I recall, of concern that some asbestos fibres from houses and the school that were destroyed, might have got into the atmosphere. However, I believe that the response effort was organised as quickly as it could be, and most of that asbestos should be cleared by now.
Three NT Emergency Services teams and commercial contractors worked on removing debris and fallen trees. The Darwin City Council also provided a team of plant and chainsaw operators for the communities of Milikapiti and Pirlangimpi to assist with the debris removal. Congratulations to those Emergency Services workers who very quickly were there to put their hands up to volunteer to go to Croker and the Tiwis to assist with removing fallen material from houses and streets. It was great to see those orange uniforms in Minjilang and Milikapiti, with people volunteering their time to assist their fellow Territorians to clean up after the cyclone. Paradise Landscaping assisted the communities of Milikapiti and Pirlangimpi with debris removal as well. Mobile Electrics was on-site at Pirlangimpi and also in Cape Don, working into the night, repairing, testing and certifying power connections.
Late Monday, water was operational and power had been restored to all homes at Croker, with more work to be completed at the school. It is hoped that the students from Croker will be able to continue their studies in demountables in Term 2. Homes have been assessed and measured for roof and other repairs. The removal of debris continues. In Milikapiti, Pirlangimpi and Nguiu, power, water and sewerage have been restored and are now operational; students have returned to school; assessment and repairs of homes continues; as does the removal of debris. The communities of Yirrkala, Elcho Island, Goulburn, Millingimbi, and Maningrida are also up and running with power, water and sewerage, schools and the health clinics back open for business. Repairs and assessment to homes continues.
The government’s ongoing response is now being led by Lyle Campbell from DIPE. Travelling around the communities with Lyle as I did with the Chief Minister, 10 days or so ago, I am sure that Lyle and his crew will do a great job.
It was quite amazing to see so many people up and about so quickly to restore those communities. Congratulations and thank you to everybody. I have only mentioned a few of the many businesses and community organisations that responded to the needs of our community. However, before I close, I also acknowledge Airnorth, which endorsed and provided the plane to evacuate seven people from Truscott, west of Darwin near Kalumburu in Western Australia, known to most people as a historic World War II air base and forward supply base for the oil and gas fields to the north. Pilots Wayne Seckhold and Ryan Baker, together with cabin attendant, Bindi Kerkhoff, flew to the tiny airstrip and evacuated the remaining people to Darwin. Truscott does not have a cyclone shelter suitable for seven people, and Ingrid certainly left her mark with repairs required to the airstrip following Ingrid’s visit.
As Police minister, I had the opportunity to attend a Counter Disaster Council meeting to see first-hand how all of the agencies swing into action when a cyclone warning is in place. I was very impressed with the organisation and commitment from senior public servants and other public servants down the line putting their cyclone plans in place. Thankfully for the good citizens of Darwin, we did not have to batten down and bear the full brunt of a Category 5 cyclone. However, some of those smaller communities did. The fact that everybody is alive and well, with no injuries that I am aware of, is certainly testament to people in those communities following their cyclone disaster plans. Congratulations to everybody and let us hope that we do not ever have a Category 5 cyclone hit Darwin. From what I have seen and witnessed first-hand as Police minister this time, I believe we are as prepared as we can be.
Mrs AAGAARD (Nightcliff): Madam Acting Deputy Speaker, it is good to jump quickly. First, let me wish all honourable members a happy Easter and those members who have travelled to these sittings a safe return to their families. I also extend a happy Easter to all staff members of the Legislative Assembly and staff who are working for the government and for the opposition.
I wish to continue tonight with recognition of the schools in my electorate, which I started last night. The Essington School in Darwin has recently announced its school captains and student representative council. It was my pleasure to present the leadership badges to students at a special assembly on Friday, 18 March. Leadership is something that is important that we encourage in young people, and I offer my sincere congratulations to the rotating girl’s school captain and vice captains, Rose McMeel, Grace Ness and Rachael Pen-Dennis; and the rotating boy’s school captain and vice captains, Alex Bleakley, Hayden Meyers and Zac Ramjan. I also offer my congratulations to all members of the SRC and house leaders and wish them success throughout the year. I seek leave to incorporate the names of students in the SRC and house captaincy.
Leave granted.
- SRC Executive rotating girl school captain and vice-captains: Rose McMeel, Grace Ness and Rachael Pen-Dennis;
rotating boy school captain and vice-captains: Alex Bleakley, Hayden Meyers and Zac Ramjan.
Wickham House (Skinks) captains: Alex Bleakley, Helen Dockrell; vice-captains: Jonathon Hood, Kim Watkinson;
junior vice-captains: Alistair Donohoe, Maddison McCourt.
Flynn House (Geckos) captains: Hayden Meyers, Emily Ebrey; vice-captains: Michael Woods, Kane Anderson,
Grace Ness; junior vice-captains: Asher Nicholls, Sarah Day.
Gunn House (Frillies) captains: Ronan Buckley, Heidi Fitt; vice-captains: Stefan Plej, Juanita Costa;
junior vice-captains: Patrick Pisel, Sophie Jovanovich.
Mrs AAGAARD: I would like to add that this year, the house system at the Essington School in Darwin has changed. Traditionally, the school had three houses with Northern Territory reptiles as their mascots: frilled necked lizards, geckos and skinks. This year, the houses will adopt the name of a Territory early explorer or a pioneer, but retain their reptile mascot and colour. Frillies will be known as Gunn House after Jeannie Gunn, the famous Territorian author of We of the Never Never; and geckos will be known as Flynn House after the Reverend John Flynn of the Australian Inland Mission. I was delighted to hear this; Reverend Flynn is a distant relative of mine, being my great-grandmother’s first cousin. This is a closer relationship than it seems, as the Reverend Flynn had no siblings and no children of his own. I guess I will be barracking for Flynn at the Essington School’s sports carnival this year. Skinks has become Wickham House and is named after one of the first European exploring sailors, John Wickham, who was a First Lieutenant on the Beagle from 1831 to 1836, on its famous voyage with Charles Darwin in the 1830s.
Students at the Essington School have competed annually in swimming and athletics. In 2004, this competition was expanded to include soccer and softball in their house competition. In 2005, it is planned that further expansion of inter-house activities will take place in the sporting, performing arts and community service areas.
While I was at the assembly, the school was celebrating Harmony Day and I would like recognise the students and teachers of the school who produced beautiful posters based on the Harmony Day theme of YOU + ME = US. The Transition students’ posters where of particular note, and I encourage them to continue their artistic endeavours and to continue to live out Harmony Day every day in the school community.
I would like to recognise the students who are showing real leadership at St Paul’s Catholic School at Rapid Creek. This is a very small Catholic school, ably led by the Principal, Mrs Mary Cutjar, and the many able teachers at St Paul’s Primary School. The school has recently announced its school captains and house captains and I congratulate them all and wish them success over the coming year. The school captains are Rachel Zagorskis and Alex O’Regan. The house captains for Henshke, which is red, are Mitchell Edwards and Jessica Ross; for Chevalier, which is blue, are Adrian Quan and Sarah Santamaria; for Hartzer, which is green, Kyle MacKenzie and Annelise Lelli; and for Hargreaves, which is gold, Dan Kohlman and Sarah Coburn. Best wishes to all of those students.
I have yet another school in my electorate, the Milkwood Steiner School, which opened in the Scout Hall in Bauhinia Street in 2004 with 24 students. This year, the school has opened with 55 students and three teachers, a tremendous effort for such a small school and an indication of the high educational standard at the school. It has been a pleasure to get to know the parents, teachers and students at this delightful school and I congratulate them on reaching the goals of Steiner education: to produce individuals who are able in and of themselves to impart meaning to their lives.
This is a school where parent involvement is absolutely essential to the success of the school, and I congratulate all parents of the school and, particularly, the school council members: chairperson, Mr Michael Wells; secretary, Ms Naomi Rea; treasurer, Dominique Lynch; public officer, Ms Deidre Edward; and councillors Dr Tarun Weeramanthri, Kylie Andropov, Laureen Ward, Kelvin Leitch, Jen Taylor and Peter Hand.
It was also my pleasure to visit the Milkwood Steiner School in late February during the weekly Milkwood Caf, which happens at 2.30 every Friday, to see the renovations completed at the school over the Christmas holidays. I was very pleased to see - and I am sure the minister for Education will be pleased to hear - that the $4400 grant for airconditioning from the Department of Employment, Education and Training had been put to very good use and formed part of the renovations for a special area for the school. This is the only airconditioned part of the school. The children and parents are very happy with that new area and a new office. Congratulations to the parents and the whole team at the Milkwood Steiner School.
Mr MILLS (Blain): Madam Acting Deputy Speaker, first I wish to acknowledge all of those who have worked behind the scenes to make this sitting in Central Australia so successful and memorable. I particularly acknowledge the fine people who have opened the door for me every time I have approached it. I am wondering how I am going to cope back in Darwin and Palmerston having to open my own doors.
I pay particular tribute to the security staff. They have been superb in their professionalism and I take this opportunity to acknowledge them. I will read their names out. Thank you, I am sure on behalf of all honourable members, to: Rod Fraser, Stash Struginski, Steve Rodgers, Andrew Milner, Andrew Bak, Stefan Cocheau, Liam Fraser, Tim Wines, Donelle Stockwell, Nathan James and Robert Warfe. There are also members of the Lasseters Hotel Casino surveillance staff. They have done an outstanding job and it is a delight to see this level of professionalism representing the security staff. Behind them are those who have worked within this casino, from the different agencies represented, from the police, and from the Legislative Assembly. It has been tremendous for each of us who are representatives of our own communities to have this level of professionalism to support us in our endeavours.
Like all Australians, Territorians want a fair deal. This demand for fairness and, in this case, a fair deal from Canberra, gave birth to an entirely new political organisation, the Country Liberal Party, over 30 years ago here in Alice Springs. The forging of two political parties into a single unit could only be achieved by pragmatic Territorians who were united in a demand of a fair deal from those who live far from us in Canberra. The formation of this unique political organisation occurred just over 30 years ago here in Alice Springs.
At that time, Territorians demanded two things, and only one of these central planks have been achieved: self-government; the right for Territorians to decide on matters that affect them, remote from the control of Canberra. The other one is statehood and, as yet remains outstanding. This parliament held in the Centre demonstrates the achievement of self-government. It is an achievement, perhaps taken for granted. I note the numbers that attended the parliamentary sittings in 2003 were in excess of those that have attended the sittings here in 2005. I predict that, if we continually hold our sittings here, perhaps fewer and fewer people would come and we would begin to take it for granted. I accept that. Nonetheless, this is an historic event, borne out of the aspirations and the fight of Territorians well over 30 years ago and brought to culmination here in the Centre. It was a fight that was brought by Territorians united beneath a central idea: a fair deal for Territorians.
Just one matter remains undelivered, and that is statehood. Territorians want equal status with our cousins in the Commonwealth of Australia. We may argue that the CLP was the political force that united Territorians in the battle for proper representation for Australians citizens living in the Northern Territory. Yes, it was the CLP, but the CLP is people - ordinary Territorians united around a central idea. In fact, it is not organisations that make a difference, it is people. It is those people who work together in this organisation called the CLP that made that difference and delivered self-government for Territorians.
One of those people was Bernie Kilgariff, a man of the land and a fighter for the families of the Territory who has made a difference. Bernie, the fight for the Territory is not over. The founders of the CLP wanted Territorians to have rights equal of any Australian. This is unfinished business and we have a duty to maintain the fight for equal rights for Territorians, and that means statehood.
Bernie, I thank you for your support and your contribution to the party, and for your donation to the party to support that fight to achieve statehood for Territorians. I understand, as a family man, that blood is thicker than water, and I judge your comments of support for a Labor candidate as words of support from a father to a daughter. I also love my daughter. Bernie, your contribution to the Territory remains undiminished, and the foundations established by you and those who toiled beside you will be built on as we fight for the Territory through the party born here in Central Australia - a fight that will ultimately deliver equal rights to Australian citizens who live in the Northern Territory.
Another issue that needs to be addressed by our community is to raise our appreciation for the value of trade and technical skills. We have to change the way we view and value these skills in education. We speak of a skills shortage. Everyone seems to talk of a skills shortage these days. There were those who spoke of these skills shortages a year or two ago and predicted it would become a significant issue that required innovative policy of a significant nature. Now everyone is saying the same thing. A skills shortage becomes pronounced when we have an economy that is growing. That is when we really notice that we have fallen short in addressing a core issue: ensuring that our young people are connected in a meaningful way to be able to contribute to the growth of their community and society. When the economy grows, that is when we notice the work that we should have done earlier. There are many figures that indicate the nature of this shortage, but everyone will agree that it has a profound effect and demands a strong policy response from government.
The underlying problem is, in fact, the education system itself. I do not want to separate anyone’s view of the education system one way or another; we are all involved in the business of education. However, our education system itself does not value, and has been unable to value adequately, trade and technical skills. In one way or another, we have all been involved in that; we all celebrate those who succeed academically. There is an element of academic snobbery within education and our society; we all like to know that our kids are going off to university. This has prevailed in Australia for too many years: that the child who does an apprenticeship is inferior to the one who goes to university. That must cease! In fact, economic forces are demanding that change in any event.
I have two children. One has gone to university and one is on the land. I value them both highly and, in fact, the contribution they both make is equal in completely different spheres. I have spoken to too many young apprentices who feel that they have limped out of the education system unendorsed and unvalued. That must change. As a society, we must value those who take that alternative path.
One way of demonstrating this is to ensure that the technical studies facilities in our high schools are elevated into meaningful operation. Too many of our technical studies facilities in our schools are the repository of broken furniture, and are the spare room of our high schools. That must end. If we, as a society, are going to change the way education delivers on a primary objective - that is, to elevate the value of trade and technical skills and to allow our young citizens to participate in a growing economy - we have to have our tech studies rooms working as one of the main rooms within our schools.
We have had computer facilities that have been elevated, and we think a school is fantastic because it has great IT facilities or a great science lab. Well, schools will be viewed as great in the eyes of the community in time to come when they have trade and technical facilities that are second to none. We do not want to have the debate whether this one or that one is appropriate. Kids need to get their hands on making something - whether it is plastics, woodwork, metalwork or a range of skills such as welding - that they have an encounter with a trade and a technical skill, and then it can lead onto other things. Many of our boys, in particular, need to have that connection with what education is actually about.
There are many ways that we can approach this problem. There are two ways that I have already addressed: one is that we have to elevate trade and technical facilities in our schools - the tech rooms have to be dusted off and elevated and deemed as valuable within our education operation - and the other one is, as a community, we have to value those who leave our education system and go to apprenticeships. They have to be brought front and centre within our communities and recognised for their achievements and endorsed as successes.
Once we have elevated our trade and technical facilities within in our schools, we can then use them after hours. There are many within our community who would like to get their hands involved in how a metal lathe works or learn how to do a bit of welding. These facilities do not have to stop at 3 pm; they can go on after hours. Many can come back into the schools. Many of those who work in industry who are, perhaps, retired can be brought back into these facilities to strengthen our skills base within our community. Many people like to learn these things, and there are many people out there with skills who would like to pass them on. I know any number of young lads who wander around at a loose end who would like to have that sense of achievement of knowing how to strip a small motor and put it back together again.
Is there a demand for such courses? I reckon as a community, if we start to think differently and reprioritise, there will be a demand. Already, there is demand for such skills acquisition that could be taken up by juvenile justice and diversionary programs. If we had facilities like that, our young ones could be connected to some meaningful engagement and walk around feeling a little better about themselves, because they now know how to do something. They understand how a carburettor works, for example, or how to cut something with a metal saw. They end up with some skills that make them feel that they have a contribution to make. They are the sorts of things that I would like to see changed, and we can do that.
Qualified staff will be a problem. Yes, there will be a range of problems that people will raise, but every problem has a solution if we have a will to make a difference. There are plenty of people who currently work in industry and, with the right incentives and value placed on this kind of education, we can address these problems and overcome them. I propose one that I believe would be a fair target, and many would join this fight. The multinationals that come and occupy certain space within our labour market and our economy often resort to fly-in and fly-out. In the case of one multinational in the Top End, they are taking every molecule of gas from offshore, bringing it onshore, and every single molecule leaves. Not only does every molecule of gas leave the Northern Territory, but they have a significant effect on the labour force within the Northern Territory. I believe it is time that, as communities, we rise up and say: ‘You are having an effect on our labour force; you are drawing a benefit’. There is some short-term benefit that flows into our community, but it is time to make a contribution to the growth of skills acquisition within our community - a levy or contribution made of some kind. A contribution to such training should be mandatory and we, as a community and a parliament, should be able to make decisions like that to ensure that that occurs. There is a moral authority that would be behind such a position. That is the sort of position that people expect from people who sit in these chairs - and I notice they are all sitting here at the moment and agreeing with everything I say; that those sorts of arguments would be supported.
They are the sorts of things that our community wants to see these parliaments do: put pressure on those multinationals which draw immense benefit and could pass much more on to the local host community by way of an investment in training and skills acquisition. That is one of the problems that could be overcome.
As I said, every problem has a solution. If we do not have enough money - notwithstanding $600m extra in GST revenue – to elevate the trade and technical skills facilities in our high schools, I reckon that we could mount a strong argument to the multinationals to make a contribution to elevate those facilities.
Madam Acting Deputy Speaker, I look forward to being in Alice Springs in a couple of years’ time.
Mr KIELY (Sanderson): Madam Acting Deputy Speaker, I enjoy being a parliamentarian. It is great to participate in debates in this House. However, I guess one of the downsides is that you cannot get away to all the community events that are in one’s electorate because of obligations within the House. It is to this that I turn my attention to tonight because, while we were here at the sittings, there was a great event at my local primary school Anula to celebrate Harmony Day.
I have been to other previous Harmony Day functions at Anula School which were fantastic and colourful. Anula School has an Intensive English Unit. Children who come to Australia requiring English skills go to Anula School. There are about eight teachers now working with these students. When they reach a certain proficiency, they are then able to go out into mainstream classrooms, either in Anula School or into schools closer to where they live. You can imagine that Harmony Day at Anula School is something special and fantastic. So it was on Wednesday 23rd that they had their celebrations while we were here in Alice.
I would like to read you the welcoming speech that the principal gave, because this is the best way that I can get across the feeling and the strength of commitment to harmony that is shared by the whole school community. I am quoting principal, Maree Garrigan’s speech:
- Welcome to Anula Primary School Harmony Day celebrations, with the theme of ‘Say no to racism’.
Our school is very multicultural and we work hard to promote, and for the students to learn about, our
school values. One of those values is respect for others.
We are all different people, not just because we have different coloured skin, a different religion or come
from a different country. We are different because we are individuals and we all have something special
about us.
We live in the same communities and work alongside one another in classrooms. We are lucky to have such
a diverse community, where we have the opportunity to learn about so many cultures different from our own.
How can we work to keep that community free from racism? Respect for others can be shown in so many ways -
how we listen to others, how we play in the playground, how we deal with conflict and how we speak and interact
with others in our school and community. Harmony is about friendship, equality and a fair go for all.
Anula School students, you can be the leaders in saying no to racism. You can let people know that what they are
saying or doing is racist - you can say: ‘Stop, I don’t like it when you do that; stop, I don’t like it when you say that’.
How do we know when something is racist? When others make unkind or derogatory comments about people’s skin,
the country they come from, their religion, their family, sometimes their friends.
Together we can live in harmony and without racism, but we all have to work on it. Let’s enjoy this celebration today,
to help remind us that different is okay. Let’s remind ourselves about respect for others and celebrate our diversity
as we continue on our journey for a racism free and harmonious community.
Thanks also to Mr Mark Pearce, classroom teacher, for the sound system. I believe he is going to be featuring in Guys and Dolls coming up soon. Mark is a very talented musician and a very good – I do not know what you would call him …
Mr Wood: An Actor.
Mr KIELY: An actor; a very good actor. Yes, I have seen him in many shows.
Thanks to Ms Linda Joy, classroom teacher, for assisting in the development of the application for funding from the Office of Multicultural Affairs and the Chief Minister’s Department. Some of us might recall that Linda was caught up in the tsunami. She was in Thailand, and she helped out. She is still very impassioned about the plight of the people who were all affected by the tsunami, but particularly those in Thailand and Indonesia. She has an ongoing commitment to working with those communities to help alleviate their distress and creating a better future for them wherever she can.
Thanks to Mr Mark Bunnett, performing arts teacher, for his work with many classes which performed, and Mrs Elizabeth Andrade, classroom teacher, for working with all the classes to screen print the Balinese flags. That was the purpose of the grant from the Office of Multicultural Affairs; they made Balinese prayer flags. That is a commendable effort by the Anula School.
They had a great range of Australians from different heritages and nationalities. I assume that, at the start and end of the ceremony, they had people come out and speak their different languages as a great demonstration of the difference. There were speakers who said ‘Lemonzat Afandim’, which is Turkish for ‘hello’; ‘Marhada Beik’ which is Arabic for ‘how are you?’; ‘Kalimera’ Greek for ‘good morning’ and, of course, the member for Casuarina would know that word quite well; ‘Guten morgen’, from our German Australians; ‘Maligayang Bati’, which is Filipino for ‘welcome’; ‘Como estas’, which is Portuguese for ‘how are you?’; ‘Kwa Heri’, which is ‘goodbye’ in Kiswahili, and one which also demonstrates the multiculturalism of the Territory ‘Mummuk’, which is ‘goodbye’ in Pitjantjatjara.
As I said, Sanderson is a multicultural and diverse community. It is really not too much different from the rest of the Territory, to tell you the truth. It always strikes me as fantastic. I also get behind some organisations which have a very multicultural flavour. I have been a keen supporter of the International Women’s Day movement. I sponsored a banner, have contributed to their spreads in the paper, and I get to their events.
The Women United for Peace 3rd Annual International Women’s Day market was held on Sunday, 5 March, in the Smith Street mall. The event was officially open by Ali Mills and the guest speaker was Dr Chamari Jayawardina. Her opening message was very strong and sent positive messages to all women. The highlights of the event were great dance performances from the different cultural and ethnic backgrounds such as the Philippines, Samoa, New Guinea, Ireland and India, along with groups such as the Senior Chinese Choir, the Kiribati Dancers, the Tifa of the South Seas, Rince na Eireann Irish dancers who were very busy this past St Patrick’s Day, Sunameke, Thai dancers, Cambodian dancers, Midnight Oasis, Penina Ole Pacifika Samoan Dancing, Frangipannis Church Choir and the SIK Group performing the hip hop dance. Each group was proud to show off their unique style of dancing for everyone to enjoy.
There was also a great performance by the Telstra Country Wide country music winner, Jessica Mauboy. I have known Jessica for quite some years now. She is a student of Sanderson High. She is quite a credit to her family, her school, and to the community. That young lady has a beautiful voice, and I am sure she has a great future ahead of her.
There were also some cultural exhibits and information stalls, and children’s activities and food tasting which were provided by the African community. There were activities for the children, who participated in the circus workshop and face painting activities which were set up by the Amazing Deb of Kidz Fun Biz. I have known Miss Deb for quite some years. My kids have been going off to Fun Bus and all the different things Darwin City Council put on around the place for years now, along with many families in Darwin. Miss Deb and Chantelle the Fairy have always been there. Miss Deb has a real great heart for kids. She is fantastic on a unicycle. For those who might recall, there was a photo of her in the Northern Territory News bungee jumping on a unicycle. That was quite a feat. I dare say, not too many people have done it. She certainly did.
The Women United for Peace 3rd Annual Women’s Day could not have been held unless it had the support of the Multicultural Council of the NT, the Community Benefit Fund and, of course, the great work by the Darwin City Council, which is right behind it 100%. Congratulations to all those groups, particularly Darwin City Council. There are also individuals who should be thanked and acknowledged. These are Emma Sullivan, Nadja Reiter, Therla Fowlestone, Emmy Koenig, Judith Ventic, Leelamani Gunaratham, Thyra Ou, Beena Vaikyl, Myrna Smith, Michelle Scott, Di Fuamoli, Fatuma Ahmad and Fatuma Muhudin. These women all put in a great effort for a spectacular day. There were around 200 to 300 people there, I believe. I was there for hours, and it was a little hot. I hope we can work with Darwin City Council next year for perhaps a little more shade, or maybe have it in Raintree Park. It might have just been the day, it has been an exceptional Wet Season and the days have been a little hotter that people expect. Perhaps it was a bit of a weather condition that made everyone feel a little overheated on the day.
In closing, I also thank all the staff at the convention centre for the work and effort they put in to make all of us welcome. I particularly thank members of the Legislative Assembly for their time and effort in making this such a success. I extend my thanks to the people of Alice Springs for the interest they have shown in their parliament here; it is fantastic. I look forward, all things being equal, to being able to return here. I am sure Alice Springs will want us back again. I must say that I get here whenever I can; Alice Springs is a great place.
While I am here, I would like to say good luck to the candidates we have picked in the seats: John Gaynor is a great family man who has great talents - his kids go to school here; he has deep roots in the community now - Sue West; Alison Anderson, a hardworking country woman who is doing a fantastic job for her community; and Fran Kilgariff are all well known. I have known all these people for many years. They are all well known within the community. I will not go into giving them each big wrap-ups, just to say good luck to you, enjoy the experience, you have my support and my parliamentary party’s support. We hope to see you after the election in the first session of the new parliament.
Dr LIM (Greatorex): Madam Acting Deputy Speaker, I have a couple of issues to raise tonight in relation to this document that was tabled by the government some time ago – in fact, in October last year. It is entitled The Assessment of Organisational Effectiveness, Human Resource and Management Systems within DEET Central Australian Office, or colloquially called the grievance report.
There are continuing issues with the office of DEET, and there are two particular people I want to mention who have had grievances with the department for quite some time. The minister is aware of these instances, the department up to the very top is aware of these problems, and they do not seem to be able to get to any resolution.
The first one - and I will mention her name because she is happy for me to mention it - is Sue Crowe, the current Principal of Ross Park Primary School. She has been the principal of that school for almost five years now. In those five years, she has not been offered a contract of employment by DEET and she does not know why. She has approached the CEO and all levels in between. She has approached the minister through her own school council and she is not getting any response. She has no idea why she is not being offered a contract, whereas other principals in all our schools have contracts with DEET. She does not and it is time for the minister to respond to that. I have written to the minister in relation to this person, and I hope the minister will respond fairly quickly so that we can put Ms Sue Crowe’s issues to rest. She is a very effective principal, and has made Ross Park School grow significantly these last five years. It is now, probably, the biggest primary school I have in my electorate, if not across Alice Springs, with over 300 students in the school. She has been a very effect principal; the school council supports her totally and would like to see some resolution to her problems.
The other person who has a problem is a man by the name of Antonio Setas-Martins, who now lives in Victoria. He wrote a letter to the minister for Education on 6 January this year. My last communication with Mr Setas-Martins was only about two weeks ago. Up to that point, he had still not had a response from the minister. I want to read much of the letter he wrote to the minister:
- Dear Minister
I had the pleasure of meeting you at the orientation course on 18 July in Darwin 2004. At the time, I was looking
forward to teaching in the Territory.
However, today I am writing to you to complain about the situation I was put through by the NT Education
Department.
On 2 June 2004, I was offered a permanent full-time IT teacher/coordinator position at Tennant Creek High School
by the Teacher Recruitment Manager for Central Australia …
I will not use the name of the officer except to use the words ‘the officer’:
- On 21 June 2004, [the officer] mailed me another letter to sign as acceptance of the employment. However, that
letter was an offer of a temporary position at the abovementioned school.
I inquired of [the officer] as to the change in job description of the initial and current offers. [The officer] assured
me that the previous offer stands good and that the signature of acceptance on the latter letter was just a matter
of technicality.
This is where, perhaps, the department’s and Mr Antonio Setas-Martins’ view might deviate. I go on with the letter:
- I signed the paper and soon I was in Tennant Creek, leaving my girlfriend behind. My personal effects from
Melbourne arrived not long after.
So, he was in Tennant Creek from Melbourne, on his own, early in the year:
- On 12 August 2004, I signed a contract of employment for a temporary (13 July …
So, it was the middle of the year, rather than earlier in the year; the middle of July last year:
- … I signed a contract of employment for a temporary (13 July 2004 to 22 July 2005) teacher position appointment.
I sought clarification from … [another officer who is the school principal] of my role status and was advised to speak
to the department’s human resources personnel.
I rang [the first officer] on 13 August 2004 about the initial job description offer and was told that she had nothing
to do with the matter and to speak to the school principal. I spoke to my senior [a teacher] about the unfair deal and
he told me not to create problems with management or I could find myself in an extremely difficult situation.
A colleague at the school suggested that I join the union to enable me to seek legal advice on the issue, which I did.
During the term break I went to Darwin. I spoke to [another officer] (Human Resources manager) on 28 September.
She said that [the first officer] was no longer handling the case and she would look into it. I also met with …
- … Mr Alan Perrin … on 29 September 2004. I exposed my situation to him and was assured the issue would
be resolved.
On 11 November 2004, Mr Perrin met me at Tennant Creek High School to discuss re my job offer frustrations
and ask how I would like to be compensated. I asked to be transferred to any school in Darwin or the surrounding
region because by this time I felt animosity towards me by the principal and her preferred staff. Mr Perrin said:
‘This is a legitimate case and you can consider it done’ as he would sort out the matter with [the officer in Darwin]
when he returns to Darwin.
Time flew by and I heard from no one. I became restless and confused. I contacted Mr Perrin and he suggested that
I go on stress leave. On 26 October I visited the doctor who issued a medical certificate effective from that date
to 26 December. On 29 October, I filled in a work compo claim as advised by the union.
I went to the school to hand in the medical certificate. … (the school admin assistant) told me that she was directed
by the principal not to speak to me and said that this instruction applied to all the staff too. [Another teacher] …
was horrified when I dropped in at her house to ask her for my loaned resources. She said: ‘If they see me talking
to you I can lose my job’.
I visited my doctor again on 1 November due to the stress of being ostracised by my colleagues. The doctor advised
that I should leave Tennant Creek ASAP. I rang the department and spoke to [another officer] … and she confirmed
that I was appointed as IT teacher/coordinator at Tennant Creek High School. However, two days later when I
contacted this same officer to ask her to send me my job description, I was told that she was instructed not to
communicate with me any more. I left Tennant Creek on 11 November 2004.
On 7 December I applied for a transfer as directed by the union rep. The response I received was that there
were no positions available. I also applied to Batchelor Area School. The Batchelor school principal said he
was unable to accept me due to the negative reference he got from the Tennant Creek High School principal.
AEU rep Mr Alan Perrin advised me to resign. By 9 December, I faxed a resignation letter via Mr Perrin to the
department.
I have been through the run-around for far too long. Thanking you for you attention I hope these discrepancies
will be ironed out.
Yours sincerely,
Antonio Setas-Martins.
That letter was written to the minister in January this year. To date, he has had no response from this minister. Well, minister whether this man’s story is exactly 100% accurate, I have no way of finding out. However, I say to the minister: at least respond to this man; he is waiting for resolution to his difficulties. If you are genuine about taking on the recommendations in this grievance report and trying to resolve staff grievances with management, then deal with this. Do not sit back and hide in your ivory tower in Darwin and ignore this poor man who is struggling to come to terms with his life. He needs closure.
In the closing minutes, I also congratulate the staff of the Legislative Assembly for these wonderful parliamentary sittings in Alice Springs. While we recognise that there are fewer people who have attended in this last three days - it may be because they are busy and have no time to get here - those who did, enjoyed it.
I believe the school students all enjoyed the experience, but were sometimes a little bewildered by what was happening on the floor. However, all the same, they did enjoy it. I believe the staff of the Parliamentary Liaison and Information Unit have worked very well and had the students well briefed prior to entering the Chamber. When I went up to the benches to talk to them, many of the students seemed to understand what was going on.
Thanks to those who worked so hard in the Legislative Assembly from the Clerk to every member of the staff. I do not want to name names because I bet my bottom dollar I will miss out someone. Thank you all for the hard work that you have done. We cannot forget the volunteers. There were many people from Alice Springs who volunteered to assist. They were wearing the green T-shirts with the Legislative Assembly emblem on it. There were many of them around the building. Good on you, Alice Springs, for helping out. This is a great thing and I am glad to see them sharing in the experience of parliament in Alice Springs.
Thanks to the IT staff. IT worked very well this time around. Yes, we had a bit of a glitch yesterday afternoon, but it took about half-an-hour to an hour and things were sorted out and returned to normal again. IT worked well. However, it would be lovely to get the IT into the Chamber, Mr Deputy Clerk, if it is possible. That would be great. It worked well. It also made parliamentarians think a little harder about what they wanted to say because they did not have the computers to fall back on. They had to get their notes together prior to coming to Chamber. Really, this is the traditional way of parliamentary debate; where you have notes and then you proceed with your debate rather than having all your speeches written out fully and just read them. Obviously, some people did that, but others relied on memory and notes.
The Group 4 security staff, who have been working with the security screening machines at the front door, did a great job and were very friendly. I am sure that no one felt inconvenienced at all by having to go through the magnetic sensors. The member for Blain commented that the casino staff were opening doors for us. I am sure that they built up a very good, strong arm doing that. Thank you to all for their courtesy and sharing in the whole experience.
The people who came as visitors were the ones who made this experience worthwhile. As a local member in Alice Springs - this is Greatorex, this is where you are, where this place is located. Seeing people from Greatorex sitting in the gallery, your performance does lift because they are there watching you, so you try to do a better job.
Over the last week, I was really running flat out, going to many schools in the electorate talking to the schools students about what was going to happen here, the layout of the room, the significance of the Mace, the Despatch Boxes and the like. I believe they found it interesting. I went to schools such as Living Waters, OLSH Sadadeen and Traeger, Sadadeen Primary School and Ross Park School, where I spoke to all the students. I believe they all enjoyed my presentation; I made it as light as possible. When they came in here I thought they then appreciated the significance of parliament sitting in Alice Springs.
The CLP has undertaken that we will continue this program when we are in government, and Alice Springs can be assured that this will continue into the ever distant future.
Madam ACTING DEPUTY SPEAKER: Member for Greatorex, your time is up. I would like to remind the member for Greatorex that we were going fine with IT until you mentioned it!
Mr WOOD (Nelson): We have not finished yet, there are surprises coming, Madam Acting Deputy Speaker. I concur with the members for Greatorex, Blain and Sanderson in thanking all the casino staff, police, security people and volunteers. I am sure I am going to forget somebody, but if I do not remember Madam Speaker, Kathy, Caroline and Robyn, I will be in a lot of trouble, because I know they did a lot of work. Madam Speaker and slaves is, I believe, what they have been known as lately. I know they did heaps of work and certainly helped.
The convention centre has been a wonderful place to stay. You could not get a nicer view from this convention centre; it is very good. The caterers, yes, I can guarantee they make some really nice pavlova. I will remember that pavlova for a long time. However, I digress.
I thank everybody for all the work they have done in making this a successful parliamentary sittings.
I have a slightly more serious issue I was going to raise during Question Time. Unfortunately, Question Time was halved today. I know people in Litchfield Shire are going to be fairly concerned that their rates may go up quite substantially because there is a fairly strong rumour around that the government is intending to not re-license the Humpty Doo landfill site. This means, unless they get another site, they will have to transfer all their rubbish to the Shoal Bay dump, which belongs to Darwin City Council and is under contract to Henry and Walker - at least, as far as I know, it is still contracted to them. This will put quite a substantial increase into the cost of getting rid of waste from Litchfield Shire.
I was going to ask the government today: is it their intention to close the tip at Humpty Doo? Why have they not looked at a new site in the Litchfield Shire? Litchfield Shire is 3100 km2 and, if we cannot find another site, I will go he - instead of having to take it all the way into Darwin. I actually believe that, to some extent, Litchfield council has been singled out for special attention. I would like to know how many tips in the Northern Territory under the control of the Department of Environment and Heritage have been licensed? It is all very well to say Litchfield is a big place, but I do not think it matters whether you have a big tip or a little tip; if those tips are not environmentally friendly, close them down as well. I have the feeling that there have been some complaints about the Humpty Doo tip. The government has decided enough is enough, and that is it. I do not believe that the Humpty Doo landfill site is in the best place, but at least give them an alternative, otherwise ratepayers are certainly going to have to pay a lot more money to shift their rubbish.
What other council in the Northern Territory has to cover its green waste as required by the Department of Environment and Heritage? It is an enormous amount of money on what I believe is a total waste of money and time. If you are worried about burning it, let us put up a bigger fence around it or something. However, to have to cover your green waste, to me, is just an extraordinary waste of resources, time and money. I believe the government should review that decision they have made because it is just costing ratepayers a lot of money.
On a couple of local lighter items, some people might have seen an article in the paper about a young boy called William Robson who has a rare form of cancer. He is only three years old and he has a cancer, I think, that forms on his liver. He has to get continual treatment in Darwin and Brisbane.
A young lady called Romena who works for Territory Kidz at Bees Creek decided to organise a concert to raise money to help this little boy. This was some concert, and also an auction. We had masses of gifts for the auction, and people – some of the best singers in the Territory - gave up their time. We actually got a free concert. If you did not want to go to the auction and pay any money, you still got a beautiful concert. We had some terrific people give up their time: Shelly Morris, Susan Bisset and Colleen singing harmonies, Jessica Mauboy who has already been to Tamworth and is bringing out her new CD - she has a voice like silk; Mandy Garling who has also been to Tamworth and back; some dancers from Sanderson High School - Larah and Ceah; and from Africa we had Samiria, Sadia and Nadine - two girls from, I think, Ghana and one from the Congo all gave their time dancing; Natalie Leysley, who is the sister of Romena and is a talented dancer. She is an Aboriginal woman who has done quite a bit of work in Sydney. She lives in Darwin and is also in Guys and Dolls along with Mark Pearce. She also performed. We also had David Spry and Mark Hoffman who is a didgeridoo player. He played a didgeridoo that was up for auction which brought in quite a considerable amount of money.
We raised well over $10 000 that night just from things that were auctioned off and the barbecue. There was a great crowd there. The concert was held at the Litchfield Bears Club House at Freds Pass. It just shows you that, even though people think rural people are a bit insulated - they like to sit on their five-acre block and forget their neighbours - when there is someone in need they come to the party. Everybody got together for this top concert. If you talk about Harmony Day, this was a perfect example of Harmony Day. There was a great cross-section of races of people there. It was a fantastic day. I was the MC and some people said it must have been hard work. It was not hard work; it was great fun. You are privileged to be asked to do those things.
I must mention my shirt. The NT News had a nice photograph of my shirt a few months ago. Madam Speaker was shocked and horrified by me wearing that particular shirt into parliament on the first anniversary of my election. That shirt cost me $180 to keep. It is now worth $230. I have told Ed Harry how expensive their shirts are. I am hoping one day to see whether, once again, I can wear it in parliament.
The other fundraising evening we had was at the Howard Springs Tavern. That was for the Leukaemia Foundation. As people know, just recently it was Shave or Colour Your Hair Day. We got together a great lot of people in the pub. Again, I was lucky enough to be the MC. If I have another job in life, I am going to be a professional MC.
I do not know whether people know Waldo, who is the local bush poet. He has a long beard and a fair bit of hair. Anyway, he turned up for the night. They took off all the hair on the top of his head and painted his beard red and split it in half. He looked like Yosemite Sam – just the spitting image of him. There were all sorts of people there. This was organised by Jenny Mijota who comes from NT Stockfeeds. The girls from the Shearing Shed cut hair, and Carolyn Wilkinson did the face painting. I have to thank Jim and Tracey from the Howard Springs Tavern. Howard Springs Tavern was taken over by Jim and Tracey, who originally owned the Elliott Hotel. They moved to Howard Springs and that tavern has never looked back. They are very supportive of community events; we have many events in that place, and they are very generous. They helped with $600 worth of meals that night. The takings from the meals went straight to the Leukaemia Foundation.
It was funny that a bloke called James from the Salvation Army was doing the rounds as they do on Friday nights at the pub. He was coming around collecting money while we were trying to raise money by people getting their hair cut. He eventually gave up and went and sat on the chair and had his hair cut. He enjoyed getting his haircut. He reckons it made him look a finer bloke. I promised everybody that everyone at the pub would be at church on Sunday.
It was a great night. I just thought I would give you some idea what a great night it was. Normally, we ask for leave to table documents. Madam Acting Deputy Speaker, I am going to ask leave to see whether we could actually table documents via IT, just as proof that we can use IT in the Chamber. Can you take it away there, IT staff? There! Look at that! Instantly: photo! If I had used that technology the other night, I could have shown you where all the hot rocks in the Territory were. That is three fathers in Howard Springs, at the tavern, who decided to get Mohawks and match the same colour hair as their children. I thought that was a great picture of a bunch of happy people, with the dads all raising money. The girl at the back is a hairdresser from the Shearing Shed. The other fellows are just locals from the Howard Springs area. It just shows you what a great night we had.
Thank you, IT people, we know now we can do it. Therefore, there is no more holding up graphs, tables and pictures. We can do it! At least there is someone in the gallery who has witnessed that.
Finally, because I know Madam Speaker would like to speak, I cannot forget Guys and Dolls. Guys and Dolls, for those who do not know, is a musical comedy. It will be a bigger musical comedy when you see the people who are in it. Guys and Dolls is running at the Darwin Performing Arts Centre. I suppose if anyone in the Alice Springs region is going up that way, it is on from 6 to 9 April and 13 to 16 April. Tickets will be $40. It is a big show; there are many people in it. The member for Sanderson mentioned Mark Pearce, who has one of the starring roles as Sky Masterson. He has a terrific voice; he is one of the great singers around the Darwin region. There are plenty of girls in it and I have to say that they are good looking girls, because that is what this show is about. It is about dance and song, jazzy costumes, jazzy people and plenty of fun.
Guys and Dolls was originally performed in about 1951, so there are probably many people who have not seen it. I actually have not seen it, even though I am going to have a small part in it as Harry the Horse. Do not ask me which part of Harry the Horse I am. If you see a bloke in a green pinstriped suit, you might recognise him. It will be a great night for Darwin. It is run by Superstars Productions, which is a group of people who get together: the Cavenagh Theatre Company, the Darwin Theatre Company, the Darwin Chorale, and the Darwin Performing Arts Centre. They have put on several performances. They put on Les Miserables and Fiddler on the Roof. They do this every second year. This year, they have a director who has come all the way from New York. He is an Australian and has been involved in the New York Arts Festival which he actually ran, I believe. His name is Kris Stewart. We have great people doing costumes, scenery, and choreography. If you want a night of song, dance, a great script and a great night out, I ask people to come along. I wish everyone a happy Easter, and by tomorrow I can get stuck in to the hot cross buns.
Mrs BRAHAM (Braitling): Madam Acting Deputy Speaker, I take the opportunity to place on the record my thanks and comments about what I consider to be a very successful regional sitting of the Northern Territory parliament. Although, as people have said, some of our figures were down, we estimate that we had 2700 students and adults passing through the doors. We also had 25 volunteers who helped with the briefing and the movement of students. Eight of the 25 were retired teachers, and 17 work for the Department of Education. We had 30 classes of students from different schools, a total of 1250 students and 50 teachers or teacher’s assistants accompanying them. It was great that schools have given such support for the sittings.
I must place on record my thanks to Loraine Caldwell, Anna-Marie Socci and Jan Sporn. The feedback on the briefings and everything associated with the students coming in has been great. Some of their comments were quite cute, I suppose. One asked her mother why I was wearing the bib, reminded her mother that she wore a bib once upon a time, and asked whether I dribble! That was her impression of the Speaker in her gown. The response of people who attended made it all worthwhile. Their comments have been great. Some have not visited before, some have. Obviously, some of them had their political fix because they came every day.
We had two rallies - a heritage rally and a teachers rally - all done in a very orderly way. Question Time again attracted the most visitors. We had 15 questions the first day, 19 the second and seven on the third, which, in fact, is down compared to an average of 19 for our February sittings. However, I know that Question Time is always the time that people enjoy listening to the impromptu answers.
We had a week of parliament before this. The primary school Parliament of the Birds performances by Larapinta and Braitling Primary Schools attracted a large number of visitors and parents, and it was very strongly supported. I have made comment about this before so I will not go on a great deal about it. However, I want to thank the schools involved.
The YMCA Youth Parliament was held in Alice Springs from 18 to 21 March. The youth parliamentarians came from Centralian Senior Secondary College, Our Lady of the Sacred Heart College, St Philip’s College, Tennant Creek High School, and a combined team from Darwin. The six-day camp was designed to develop self-esteem and confidence while familiarising them with parliamentary process and procedures.
The final two days of the camp saw the students putting their training into practice. They debated four bills and two MPIs. The bills reflected a range of issues: drugs, murder, depression and airconditioning. They passed the Random Breath Testing Bill to include party drugs, the Compulsory Airconditioning in All Schools Bill, and they amended the NT Criminal Code regarding murder convictions. Interestingly, the one bill that was not passed dealt with preventative measures for youth mental health problems. The two MPIs made for interesting debate and reflected the maturity of the students. They dealt with education and the youth of the NT, and bullying and harassment.
During the adjournment debate, several of the students reflected on the fact that participating in Youth Parliament has allowed them to meet interesting people and make new friends. We again had an adjournment on a teddy bear.
The following awards were presented: the Best Speaker was Mr Corey McCann from Darwin; Most Improved, Asta Hill; and the Whip’s Award, an award that recognises participants who selflessly help others with speech writing and ideas and encourages them to speak when they might not feel confident enough, was awarded to Megan Bobos. My thanks to all those involved in the YMCA Youth Parliament. It certainly went well. The final farewells that the young students gave to each other were very touching. They had bonded extremely well, and there will be friendships for many years.
I want to commend Hansard. It was amazing that each day Hansard was delivered to members before 10 am. It is a combination of the people in IT, Hansard in Darwin and our Table Office here that makes that all happen. It is a credit to them.
We thanked many, and not just convention centre staff for their efficiency and assistance. I thank Steve Davidson and his staff from Top End Sounds who have worked tirelessly with the IT people and Derek Stafford to make sure that everything works. They have enhanced some of the services they provided last time, including, as the last speaker mentioned, the screen on the left-hand side of the wall.
You have to be very careful when you are saying thanks that you do not miss some people. However, we all need to say thank you to Bill Comley from Alice Coffee Services and his ‘Bar Amor’ for his excellent coffee, and also the convention centre bistro for such good, reasonably priced meals.
Special thanks also to Group 4, the convention centre security staff, and the NT Police, who all ensured a secure environment in a pleasant way that was not intrusive.
I estimate it costs the Legislative Assembly an extra $160 000 to put on sittings here in Alice Springs. Final figures will not be known for a while. However, as far as I am concerned, it is certainly worth the cost.
A big thank you for the superb organisation by the staff of the Legislative Assembly, under the stewardship of the Clerk, Mr Ian McNeill, and the Deputy Clerk, Mr David Horton. A special thanks to Derek Stafford, who came down early last week and has been working tirelessly with the staff of the convention centre and many others to ensure that we all had chairs, tables or whatever else we needed. I also need to thank all those personal assistants around the place - the slaves, as someone called them - who have been persistent and consistent in making sure we are at the right place at the right time.
To the people on the Information Desk, and the people who have been like little beavers, making sure we know that we are presenting to the general public an image of the Legislative Assembly and a very professional organisation. That is what is so pleasing; that members of the public realise that this is a very professional team, and to bring and duplicate the parliament in Alice Springs is no small feat. In fact, it is a very large feat and I congratulate them all on it.
In closing, I thank my parliamentary colleagues also for their input into debates over the last three days. It is always different. At first, I felt there was some tension in the air but, as people relaxed, the debates became quite fluid and interesting. I guess all we can say is that, tonight at 6.25 pm, the debates have become very relaxed, indeed. Thank you once again to everyone, and let us hope we can do it again one other time.
Mrs MILLER (Katherine): Mr Deputy Speaker, I am not going to talk for very long, but there is no way I could leave this Assembly in Alice Springs without saying thank you as well. I am very remiss because Madam Speaker had the names of everybody. However, there is no way that I am going to mention a lot of names because I will forget and I do not want to miss anybody. I thank the staff of the convention centre for setting this up so magnificently. I must confess, it is my first time here and I was pleasantly surprised that it was so professional. I was not quite sure what to expect, but I feel as if we have just moved one big room from Darwin to here. A big pat on the back to the convention centre staff for all they have done. The logistics of setting this up must have been absolutely enormous.
I thank the security staff, who have been absolutely wonderful. There have been a couple of times when I have walked out that door and gone to push on it, and they have opened the door. It is like – wow! I am a bit like the member for Blain; I am probably going to hit my nose on the door at home because I will be expecting the door to be opened for me. I have been a bit spoiled.
I would especially like to thank the police for their attendance here. I thought it was a little amusing; I did not notice them until after the Leader of the Opposition said that we had the good and the bad and the ugly. I thought perhaps they had come along to control the ugly. Thank goodness we do not have to resort to that.
I also thank the people in the Parliamentary Liaison and Information Unit, who have done an absolutely amazing job this week. I know they have been pressed, in the last day at least, with sickness. I know Loraine has been very busy today. Loraine, Anna-Maria and the rest of the staff have worked hard to give the right impression to those students who have come to visit us. I believe that is very important, because we do need them to understand how parliament works. A great job by those people.
The Youth Parliament on Monday was a wonderful experience. I congratulate all of those students who took part, but a special congratulations to the country kids from Tennant Creek who travelled to Alice Springs. The experience would have been great for them to be part of such an official occasion.
I thank Madam Speaker and her staff for the wonderful effort they have put in; they must all be absolutely exhausted. I thank the caterers, who have spoilt us rotten with homemade biscuits and beautiful coffee and tea in our lobbies, as well as the caterers outside, who have done an enormous job this week packing up every night and starting again every morning.
A very big special thank you to the people of Alice Springs who have come along to support these sittings. I know many of those people would not have had the opportunity to ever witness parliament before. Some would have come along two years ago to witness it. It is really great to see them coming along.
The IT people here have not been able to speak all this week. They have been whispering away because they have not been behind glass. They have done a great job. Everybody who has been involved with this week’s sittings should be immensely proud, and go away and have the most wonderful Easter and a well-deserved rest. Thank you very much, Alice Springs.
Mr ACTING DEPUTY SPEAKER: Thank you. I wish Anna-Maria all the best. I gather she is in hospital quite ill at the moment. On behalf of everyone, we wish her all the best and hope it is not too serious.
Motion agreed to; the Assembly adjourned.
Last updated: 04 Aug 2016