2005-02-08
Madam Speaker Braham took the Chair at 10 am.
STATEMENT BY SPEAKER
Chung Wah Society Blessing on Parliament
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, welcome to 2005. I place on record my thanks to the Chung Wah Society for their blessing upon the parliament.
Members: Hear, hear!
Mr BURKE (Opposition Leader): Madam Speaker, yesterday morning, 7 February 2005, I had the honour of being elected leader of the CLP parliamentary wing by my colleagues and, hence, alternative Chief Minister. The member for Greatorex continues in his role as Deputy Leader of the Opposition and the member for Macdonnell is Whip. The member for Macdonnell also takes on the role of Leader of Opposition Business.
Following these changes, the allocation of portfolio and shadow ministries is as follows: I will take responsibility for Treasury; Territory Development; the Railway; Defence Support; Police, Fire and Emergency Services; Business, Industry and Resource Development; and Racing, Gaming and Licensing. The member for Greatorex has Employment, Education and Training; Corporate and Information Services; Communications; Multicultural Affairs; and Central Australia. The member for Macdonnell has Community Development; Regional Development; Housing; Local Government; Sport and Recreation; and Indigenous Affairs. The member for Port Darwin has Family and Community Services; Senior Territorians; Environment and Heritage; Women’s Policy; and Arts and Museums. The member for Araluen has Justice and Attorney-General; and Health. The member for Drysdale has Transport and Infrastructure; Lands and Planning; Parks and Wildlife; and Essential Services. The member for Blain has Tourism; Asian Relations and Trade; and Young Territorians. The member for Katherine has Primary Industry and Fisheries; and Mines and Energy.
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, I draw your attention to the presence in the Speaker’s gallery of members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly: Ms Noreen Hay, member for Wollongong, Ms Marianne Saliba, member for Illawarra and Mr Allan Shearan, member for Londonderry. On behalf of all members, I extend a warm welcome to you.
Members: Hear, hear!
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, we also have our first group of school students visiting us today. The students are from Years 5, 6 and 7 from Alawa Primary School accompanied by their teacher, Ms Tina Mills. On behalf of all honourable members, I extend a warm welcome to you also.
Members: Hear, hear!
Ms MARTIN (Chief Minister): Madam Speaker, it is with deep regret that I advise honourable members of the deaths, on 26 December 2004, of over 300 000 people living around the rim of the Indian Ocean.
I seek leave to move a motion of condolence relating to the death of those many tens of thousands of people who died after the tsunami crashed into surrounding land masses and island groups in South-East Asia, western Asia and the coast of east Africa.
Leave granted.
Ms MARTIN: Madam Speaker, I move that this Assembly express its deep regret at the death of nearly 300 000 people in Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Burma, Sri Lanka, India, the islands of the Maldives, the Seychelles, Somalia, Tanzania and Kenya. I further express, on behalf of all Territorians, the deepest sympathy towards those who lost families and friends and who are now struggling to rebuild their lives.
Territorians’ hearts go out to those who bore the brunt of that tsunami’s impact. It was a natural disaster of unprecedented ferocity, propelled by an offshore earthquake that registered nine on the Richter Scale. The tsunami raced across the Indian Ocean from the earthquake’s epicentre off the coast of Indonesia at a speed estimated at 500 km an hour, striking Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia and Burma first, then smashed into the eastern coast of Sri Lanka, India and, later, Somalia. The tsunami appeared in an area where such events are extremely rare and, without a tsunami warning system, it caught millions of people around the rim of the Indian Ocean by surprise.
The destruction and death due to the sudden repeated walls of seawater is on a scale never before experienced in the Indian Ocean. It is almost incomprehensible to those outside the affected areas to understand the enormity of the devastation, the loss of life, and the millions left homeless. As onlookers, a deep feeling of helplessness prevailed. However, that feeling of emptiness inspired a generous community response around the world with aid pouring in from every corner of the globe.
The Australian government’s $1bn aid package was welcomed by the President of Indonesia and universally praised at home. The package will see Australia’s expertise and technology play an enormous role in the long-term reconstruction of Aceh. Already, Australians have made a huge impact by setting up a water desalination plant, a field hospital treating the associated injuries that took place during the tsunami, removal of tonnes of debris, and victim identification.
Few countries or states gave in greater amounts on a per capita basis than the people of the Northern Territory. The Territory government led the way with an early donation on behalf of all Territorians. In a decision that followed extensive dialogue with health professionals, Cabinet decided, on 29 December, to donate $450 000 on behalf of Territorians to three major aid agencies: Australian Red Cross, World Vision and Care Australia.
As Chief Minister, on behalf of all Territorians, I wrote a letter to His Excellency Dr Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, the President of the Republic of Indonesia, saying:
In response to that letter, the Consul of the Republic of Indonesia forwarded a reply from the President on 27 January. He wrote:
I pay particular credit to Defence Force personnel who are based in the Territory and have left family and loved ones to perform vital emergency work, helping those in need. There was a very emotional farewell to HMAS Kanimbla. Territory Defence families and friends, and all Territorians, can be very proud of the great work that our Defence personnel are performing - everything from water desalination plants to clearing roads, and rebuilding roads. Their work will be greatly appreciated.
The Territory government will continue to work closely with the Commonwealth government and Defence to coordinate ongoing assistance required in the affected area.
Shortly after the disaster was reported, the National Australian Health Disaster Committee met by teleconference, including the Territory’s Chief Health Officer, Dr Tarun Weeramanthri. With news from the affected areas still in short supply, the committee decided to place the Royal Darwin Hospital in a state of readiness to receive Australian national casualties from Thailand, Sri Lanka and Malaysia. RDH would be the first port of reception, playing the same role it did following the Bali bombings.
However, no casualties emerged from the aircraft touching down from the affected areas. The cruel fact became clear that Australians in those areas either died or made it to high ground, receiving very insignificant injuries. Therefore, on 31 December, RDH returned to normal.
The Australian Health Disaster Committee was, however, still very active. The group made preparations to put together civilian medical teams to be sent to the affected areas. This had never before been attempted. Drawn from the large population bases of southern Australia, the first small team was sent to Phuket, then two 15-person teams were sent to Aceh, another 15-person team to the Maldives, and a three-person team to Sri Lanka. Subsequently, a South Australian team was sent, as was a Queensland team with one Territorian involved and, finally, a joint Victorian-Territory team was sent to Aceh, and is still there. Next week, the General Manager of Darwin’s Private Hospital, Peter Beaumont, will travel to Aceh to assess the situation there. The Territory has contributed well to the recovery effort currently under way in Asia.
From across the Territory we have seen appeals of all kinds – from church groups, businesses, private philanthropists, and even a magnificent donation from the Western Desert community of Kintore. The spirit of giving swept the Territory with people not only donating cash, but goods that could be used by those in need. Businesses donated goods and services.
The amazing generosity of Territorians was displayed through relief goods collections in Alice Springs, Katherine, Darwin and Nhulunbuy as part of a massive community effort. Territorians worked hand-in-hand to pack and prepare relief supplies for transportation, and the Territory government was proud to be able to provide an additional $40 000 to purchase shipping containers and assist with the transportation costs associated with these goods. These relief supplies have now been shipped to Indonesia and Sri Lanka for distribution in the affected areas.
Tragically, children in the region were the hardest hit by this disaster. Tim Costello, leading the Australian World Vision aid effort in Aceh, said that so many children died in some areas that schools will not be rebuilt. So many have lost everything. When the scale of a tragedy like this is so enormous, involving millions of people across two continents and many island chains, it is easy to forget that those numbers are made up of personal struggles and individual crisis and trauma that will go on for years to come. However, even though the appeal for international aid was so successful, we must continue to help as the rebuilding process will take years, not months.
I want to let people in the affected areas know that we Territorians will not forget them. There are close ties between Territorians and our neighbours to the north. Through families, sport and cultural exchange, we have shared many experiences together and Territorians can be counted on to help our neighbours in times of need.
Mr BURKE (Opposition Leader): Madam Speaker, 26 December 2004 is a day that will be remembered in history. For many years to come, stories regarding that day and the days following will be told and retold by those who were involved in one way or another. As with 11 September and the other momentous occasions, with the marvels of modern technology, pictures were being beamed around the globe within hours, and many of us sat transfixed to our television sets as around the clock news reporting allowed us to watch the drama unfold. Those news pictures are now part of the historical record and, undoubtedly, will be played and replayed over and over again in documentary and anniversary programs.
Even from the comfort of our lounge rooms, none of us have ever witnessed such loss and pain, as wrought by the tsunami in south Asia. For many Australians - Territorians particularly - we have a special connection with that part of the world through birth, friendships and visits. Some areas, such as Phuket and Penang, were so familiar we gasped as we recognised familiar places amongst the television pictures, for we have walked that street, stayed in that hotel, or shopped at that store. We saw the bodies of so many who, in so many countries, strolled or slept, worked or lazed, minutes before nature showed its awesome power and snuffed out their lives.
In the passing weeks, there has been an outpouring of emotion and compassion globally that has shifted the world’s priorities to a massive effort of aid and assistance. Territorians have responded with a generosity that is unsurprising and magnificent. Perhaps our recent experience with natural disasters such as Cyclone Tracy and the Katherine floods, wakens in many a special compassion for others. All of us are enriched by their efforts, which continue as I speak. Throughout the Territory, individuals and families, businesses large and small, gave generously to the organisations working on the ground in the affected countries. They gave to Red Cross, Red Crescent, World Vision and others, members of which will stay for the long haul, long after the media attention has gone.
Some individuals volunteered their services and are working in various countries now. In my electorate, soldiers from Robertson Barracks - engineers mainly from 1st Combat Engineer Regiment, and others - will be in Aceh for many weeks before their job is done.
The Northern Territory government has been generous and helpful, both directly and indirectly, in providing assistance and supporting the community effort, and I am sure each MLA has been involved in some way.
In this motion the Chief Minister has brought forward, we join with the government in respecting those who lost their lives; pray for strength and courage for those individuals and families who are suffering from this catastrophe; and reflect powerfully on our ability to unite and respond compassionately and practically to others less fortunate. In this way, we express our shared humanity, as fragile creatures sharing the awesome power of nature, our home preserved. The poet John Donne, once wrote:
The continent:
Members: Hear, hear!
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, I draw your attention to the presence in the gallery of the former member for Goyder and Speaker of this parliament, Mr Terry McCarthy. On behalf of all members, I extend to him a warm welcome.
Members: Hear, hear!
Mr STIRLING (Treasurer): Madam Speaker, there are times in our lives when an event of such size and impact leaves us somewhat stunned and dazed. That certainly is the effect that the events of 26 December and, just as importantly, the further information that came through on the days following, had on me and my family.
However, it is an event that has served to unify in a quite magnificent way, all of us as human beings. We have all been moved by the generosity of people right across the world, but by Territorians in particular. Small communities such as my own in Nhulunbuy, very small and quite poor communities such as Kintore, and the bigger centres of Darwin, Katherine, and Palmerston have been overwhelmingly generous. When the Chief Minister contacted me quite quickly after the news of the disaster, I was only too ready to support that initial government contribution of $450 000 on behalf of Territorians to three major aid agencies: Care Australia, the Australian Red Cross and World Vision.
My colleagues and I attended many functions supporting the tsunami appeal effort, and it is quite humbling to see that unity of purpose, commitment and dedication to our neighbours. My admiration to these community groups, and our community overall, is great. I am proud of the nation’s $1bn aid package to Indonesia. It is a donation that has been recognised around the world for its generosity, and particularly welcomed by the Indonesian government which faces enormous reconstruction challenges over the next few years.
This government has also worked with the community. When the tsunami appeal that was kicked off by the Christchurch Anglican Cathedral started on Boxing Day, the organisers thought they might get enough relief goods to fill a container. They ended up filling 11 which included relief goods collected in Nhulunbuy and Katherine. The appeal was a real grassroots effort that saw dozens of Territorians unloading goods, boxing and packing them before they were reloaded into the new containers. It saw businesses give their time and services: Squires Shipping loaded and carried the containers to Asia, dropping off in Jakarta and taking the others free of charge to Singapore; Visy Australia gave hundreds of packing boxes; our Senior Australian of the Year, Tony Milhinhos donated the use of the Darwin Cold Stores to do the work; Steve Sarev of PJ’s Custom Brokers and Darwin Forwarding assisted the organisers with the paperwork; Australian Customs lent a hand; Corporate Express of Darwin donated school and office equipment; Perkins Shipping carried the Nhulunbuy goods to Darwin free of charge; and at the other end, the Lions Club and the Sri Lankan Assembly of God combined to clear the goods and distribute it in the affected areas of Galle and the eastern coast of Sri Lanka. Government paid for the shipment of those goods from Singapore to Colombo in Sri Lanka, and for the containers. The containers themselves are very useful items which can be used for temporary accommodation or, indeed, construction material in those affected areas. Therefore, we are pleased, in that sense, to add to the value overall with those containers. It was a true Territorian effort.
There is one particular individual also worthy of mention. When I was Acting Chief Minister, I had the pleasure of donating the wheelbarrow pushed by Allan Brooks from down the track through to Darwin. He raised over $26 000 pushing that wheelbarrow from Humpty Doo to Darwin. The then Leader of the Opposition and I met Mr Brooks outside parliament towards the end of his journey. It was a simple concept wonderfully carried out. He is a very warm Territorian who really does stand to be congratulated for that fundraising effort.
The government also agreed to match the fundraising efforts of community groups representing countries directly affected by the disaster. These groups included: the Indonesia Australian Association of the Northern Territory; the Darwin Indonesian Community Association; the Thai Lao Australian Association of the NT; the Thai and Australian Friendship Association; the Thai Theravada Association; the Indian Cultural Society of the NT; and the Sri Lanka Australian Friendship Association of the NT. The government will match all funds raised to the end of March 2005 through provision of equal donations to Care Australia, the Australian Red Cross and World Vision. That time frame will allow groups to maximise their fundraising activity.
Territorians know better than most what it is like to lose everything in a natural disaster. Many have had first-hand experience. They know how much that disaster relief is appreciated after losing family, friends and everything they own. If they did not before, the people of the tsunami-affected areas now know that they have friends that they can count on into the future, friends in the Northern Territory.
Dr LIM (Greatorex): Madam Speaker, I join members of this House to express words of condolence for the tsunami disaster. Almost 300 000 people live in an area that is seen by most of us as third world or a developing world, where homes are frail at the best of times. When such a magnitude of water moves through those communities, you can easily imagine the devastation that occurs following such a force. It brings to mind human frailty. All the efforts of humanity come to nothing compared to one short cataclysmic action of nature.
On Sunday, I rang my brothers who live in Penang, having heard that Penang was also affected, hoping that they were not in the surge zone. Fortunately for them, my brothers live on the high side of the road which the waves came over.
Seeing the images on the Internet and on television over the ensuing weeks following the disaster on 26 December, I recognised areas in Penang along Gurney Drive. I sat on a concrete sea wall which was smashed hard by the huge wave. I sat on the concrete wall of a hotel where you saw all that water surging over the concrete wall into the swimming pool just behind the wall. It was a scant 12 months ago that I sat on that wall. We have all visited places in Batu Ferringhi where many people lost their lives there.
We heard the news about the Prime Minister flying over Aceh and how moved he was with the devastation that he saw there. It brings home to me that whatever I do as an individual, when compared to an act of nature, is nothing much. Sometimes, when we start fighting in this Chamber, it brings home to me and I ask what the heck we are doing that for when there are hundreds of thousands of people dead and a million homeless. We need to reflect on our own lives and activities.
The people of the Northern Territory responded very well. Even in Alice Springs, a 1000 miles from any ocean, we felt the impact of the tsunami on our personal lives. It was good that the Crowne Plaza responded on behalf of the community, collecting all sorts of donations: from furniture to tents to swags to clothes to food. I visited the Crowne Plaza with clothes that were too tight to fit me any more, and donated them as well. It also reminded people of Alice Springs of the times that they all pulled together to help the people of Darwin when Cyclone Tracy came through and it brought back community involvement.
With those few words, Madam Speaker, it is time for us to reflect more closely on what has happened with such an international disaster. Whilst we can all applaud our individual and collective efforts and contributions to the tsunami charity, it is more what has happened over there and how people have to cope with their shattered lives, their family losses, the loss of their homes and, for many, even the loss of their own identity in this world where such disasters happen in a split moment.
I wish to convey my condolences to all those people in Malaysia where I was born, to the people in Indonesia and the subcontinent of India and the parts around.
Mr HENDERSON (Police, Fire and Emergency Services): Madam Speaker, all of us speak for all Territorians in saying that the events of the tsunami that were shown on our televisions on Boxing Day affected us in ways that we will never forget, and demonstrates to all of us in the bigger scheme of things of life that a single event can be so devastating. As for every adult Territory with children, trying to explain to them what they were seeing on the television was something that I will never forget. I am absolutely confident that all Territorians are with those countries to our north in the rebuilding effort for the years ahead.
The images of wholesale destruction, death and displacement made many of us feel powerless. Giving generously to charity relief organisations allowed us to make a contribution. However, others endowed with skills that could be of use in the affected areas came forward with the intention of doing more. Territorians have put up their hands and joined relief teams in the field, and they are making a difference. I am proud - as I know the Assembly and all Territorians are proud - of Territorians on the ground in the affected areas who are donating their wealth of experience to helping the survivors begin to build new lives.
Let me talk about some of these remarkable Territorians. NT Police Commissioner Paul White offered the full support of the Northern Territory Police to the Australian Federal Police the day after the Boxing Day tragedy. As a result, the Forensic Major Incident Room in Canberra has requested that Northern Territory Police Sergeant Anne Lade join the Disaster Victim Identification team as the Reconciliation Coordinator in the Information Management Centre in Phuket, Thailand. This posting recognises Sergeant Lade’s experience in DVI procedures as the operation moves into the ante-mortem phase, the collection and analysis of data complying with international standards to correctly identify the deceased. Sergeant Lade said:
Territory Police Senior Sergeant John Moloney is on secondment with the national CrimTrac agency, part of the international police contingent responding to the disaster. He is assisting with the establishment of a fully functioning DVI system in Phuket.
Territory Health staff, many with remote expertise, are also playing a part. Dr Kate Napthali was the first Territorian to go to Aceh and is with the Australian Government Medical Response Team. Dr Napthali is an ICU Registrar at Royal Darwin Hospital and spent five years living, working and studying in East Timor and Indonesia. A good Bahasa speaker, she is doing needs assessment with the Australian government team, travelling to regional areas and identifying exactly what locals need and how best to get it to them.
Ali Nur is the Principal Policy Advisor to the Department of Health and Community Services Age and Disability Program. He volunteered to work for Oxfam in Sri Lanka for three months. Ali worked for Oxfam during the Timor crisis and also following the Gujarat earthquake in India in 2001. He is helping Sri Lankan communities with capacity building which means water, sanitation, shelter and disease control.
Meredith Hansen Knarhoi from the Centre of Disease Control in Darwin volunteered to join international agency Merlin and is currently at Banda Aceh.
Kay Withnall, who is the former Manager of the Microbiology Section at Royal Darwin Hospital is now working as an independent consultant, will be part of team setting up labs in Aceh to help with disease identification and control.
Rhonda Golsby-Smith is a primary care nurse from the Royal Darwin Hospital. Since 1994, Rhonda has alternated between working in remote Aboriginal health and for the Australian Red Cross in Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Sri Lanka and the Sudan. She is an experienced disaster management nurse and has an important role in the Australian team.
We would all know, as local members, of constituents who are participating in the effort. I would like to commend a constituent of mine, an eye specialist at Royal Darwin Hospital, Dr Mahendrara, who is going to Sri Lanka.
All of us should pay tribute to our Defence Force personnel from the Northern Territory who are in Banda Aceh doing an amazing job in the relief effort. All in all, we have had hundreds of Territorians volunteer from government and non-government sectors, all of whom wanted to volunteer their valuable expertise in the aid of others. We are proud of them all; certainly of those on the ground in the affected areas providing their professional skills to those who need it most. We are also proud of all of those who volunteered but were not able to go.
I pay tribute to the federal government. The generosity of the donation on behalf of the Australian people certainly made me very proud to be an Australian, and also the commitment from all Australians to assist Indonesia in the extraordinary rebuilding effort that has to occur. The federal government and all Australians should be very proud of that effort.
I am also proud, on a smaller scale as local member for Wanguri, of the efforts of my constituency. On 22 January, the member for Drysdale and I attended Dolly O’Reilly’s, the pub in Leanyer, where David Thurston, the cook, had recognised he could not contribute a huge amount of money himself; therefore, he organised a fundraising auction. That night, $7000 was raised at that local pub in Leanyer and the generosity of everybody who donated and the people there was very humbling. Later in the evening, a number of us attended a function organised by the Territory’s Sri Lankan and Indian community at the Italian Club. Around $10 000 was raised, of which the government will go $1-for-$1. Again, it was a fantastic evening with 400 to 500 people present. I commend Lalith Ramachandra and Anuja Kulatunga for their work in organising that event very quickly.
Following the Sri Lankan function, we went to a function hosted by the Greek community at the Top End Hotel. The extraordinary generosity of the Greek community that night raised $70 000 for the tsunami relief which was, again, a truly humbling experience. My thanks and congratulations - and I am sure the parliament’s thanks - to Tony Miaoudis, who did an extraordinary amount of work organising that, and for the great generosity of Mr John Halikos, who made a huge and generous contribution that night. We heard about $1bn from the Commonwealth government; however, just on that evening through the generosity of ordinary Territorians, nearly $90 000 was raised in Darwin.
At Leanyer Primary School, the kids on the school council and Principal, Henry Gray, met with the President of the Sri Lankan Association recently. The school want to adopt a school in the Galle region for the next five years to assist a school in that community to recover.
At the World Vision function last week, Dr Tim Costello made an impassioned plea, in a very moving address, for partnerships with the business community to continue the support that is required for many years ahead.
Also, the union movement, nationally and locally supporting the Union Aid Abroad Agency, AFEDA, encouraged employers and employees to go $1-for-$1 for the years ahead.
Madam Speaker, our condolences to all of the countries and people to our north who lost so many tens of thousands of loved ones, and our commitment as Territorians that we are here for the long road ahead.
Mr WOOD (Nelson): Madam Speaker, it is a little unusual to speak on a condolence motion when it is not specific to an individual case or a family where you know the person, or persons, by name. We know their life story: where they were born, who their parents were, where they lived and were educated, where they worked and who their family was. To us, they may have been loved ones, or just friends or acquaintances.
The strange thing here is that we have a tragedy which has taken the lives of so many people in so many countries, but few of us have been personally affected by their passing. We know that these people all had family; all lived and worked in their community, were someone’s son or daughter, and had a history that normally would have been told. Sadly, the size of this tragedy meant that even those who would have told their history also perished in this great natural disaster of our time.
We all saw pictures of the tragedy which will stay in our minds forever – such as the man carrying his dead grandchild across a flooded street and the hundreds of bodies lined up for identification; we recall the stories of those Australians who saw and experienced the tsunami first-hand; or we shed a tear when we looked at the utter grief in the eyes of the wife of the Melbourne footballer who lost his life whilst honeymooning in Thailand.
Our condolence is a collective one which says to our fellow human beings - whether villager or farmer, policeman or soldier, fisherman or vendor, priest or imam, tourist or passing traveller, grandparent or child: we share your grief and sorrow. Australians have shown their condolence in the one way they know how: with a great many donations in cash and goods, and by volunteering their services to help others in need. I also recognise the hard work of Allan Brooks who ran and walked pushing a wheelbarrow all the way from Humpty Doo to Darwin. We have seen the RAAF, Navy and Army working in places like Aceh, helping our neighbours in a time of need. As the member for Nelson, I was privileged to see off the troops from Robertson Barracks on HMAS Kanimbla earlier this month. Approximately 150 of them broke off their holidays to put their hand up to help. In fact, Brigadier John Cantwell said that he had to knock many back who wanted to go. That, I believe, is how we as a nation have shown our condolence: by giving others a hand.
This disaster came quietly and quickly; people’s lives were changed in a flash. One could ask why was it not us? Why those people? Why not thousands of Australians who like to live beside the sea? We are grateful it was not us, and we should count our blessings. At the same time, we should continue to help our neighbours because the physical, economic and emotional scars of the tsunami will not go away for many years to come. Let us today not only remember the dead, but also the living as they try to rebuild their lives. Rest in peace.
Mr MILLS (Blain): Madam Speaker, a single death in a community has a massive effect, as we in the Territory recognise and reflect on as we read today’s NT News. When you consider those 300 000 individual deaths - whether the people were great or small, civic leaders, children, people who have no real significance – and the effect that they have upon the planet, every one had a connection to others and, combined, those deaths had a profound effect on the entire planet. In excess of 12 different nations, each one of those deaths leaves a space that cannot be filled.
There have been many stories told about the tsunami, and ‘atomic bomb’ has been mentioned as a way of helping to understand the force of nature. Someone described the force of this tsunami and the power that was released as being in excess of 1000 atomic bombs exploding in one moment. That release of physical force shifted the planet physically, politically and, at a personal level, affected every person on this planet. Many times, people have reflected on this massive loss, and spoken of the good which has come from this because, for anyone who has stood beside a grave and said farewell to someone, it causes them to reflect in a different way. Therefore, the planet reflects now in a different way, and out of that reflection I trust good comes - it must come.
We have seen a tidal wave of generosity across our nation: physical, giving. What can I give? How can I respond? I would guess that every member in this Chamber has reflected on that question: what can I do? I know there are members in this Chamber who gave. Everyone gave, but some wanted to give more. There are those who put their name forward to physically volunteer: can I go there; can I do something? We just reflect our communities. Everyone in our community, under our responsibility as elected representatives, reflected the same question around dinner tables as they looked at the news with their children: children trying to understand, dads trying to teach their kids what this really meant, mums comforting, community coming to terms with this. It was a massive tidal wave of generosity and we have seen it continuing, wave after wave, function after function - generosity pouring out of the heart of this community. We learnt that, for weeks afterwards, it went beyond putting the hand in the pocket and giving some money. One volunteer a minute was phoning Australian Volunteers International – one Australian every minute phoned to volunteer themselves. That makes me proud both as a human being and as an Australian.
I was on HMAS Kanimbla speaking to those who only days before were on holidays. One fellow was crabbing when he received the call on his mobile phone. They all had stories to tell - some were sitting down to a meal, some were playing sport. Every single one of them responded instantly from all around Australia, and they came aboard the HMAS Kanimbla to take up their duty and represent Australians in that massive response - that proactive and wonderful response of the Australian nation, effected through our Prime Minister. There was no hesitation.
In the midst of that, listening to those stories which are demonstrations of the quality of our nation, I was reminded of something. It was nearly five years ago that a tsunami hit Papua New Guinea. It appears that things like this occur and, once they have moved from our gaze, they disappear and there is no problem anymore. However, I was sobered to recognise that although a relatively small tsunami, five years later that one community in Papua New Guinea is still dislocated socially and economically, and in need of repair and assistance. I was staggered to recognise that this catastrophe that occurred on Boxing Day 2004 will continue to be with us, and our responsibility, for years to come. A couple of days afterwards Kofi Annan said: ‘We are in this as a nation, as a country, as a planet, for years to come’.
There are a couple of examples that bring home the particular response of Territorians, and it has been reflected on by everyone who has spoken. I am sure others here could also speak. I was touched by the response of Christ Church Cathedral when, at that time, there was a spontaneous response of: ‘What can I do, let us give some clothes. Let us give what we can, people of Darwin’. At that time, we thought there were about 10 000 who had lost their lives. By the time the true understanding of what had occurred became known, the date had been set, the contributions consequently were massive and very difficult to manage. There were three wonderful people I will mention - just by their first names, because they did not respond because they wanted their names mentioned - Jan, Jenny and Christo.
Jan and Jenny, as most of us did, were moved by the generosity that we saw. They turned up just like ordinary folk who were on holidays, and they asked the question, as many Australians did, and many Territorians did: ‘Is there anything I can do?’ Sure enough, there was something they could do: ‘Could you please give us a hand because the response of Territorians is far beyond what we can manage, we have not prepared for this level of response’.
Therefore, Jan and Jenny, who were public servants on holidays spending some time with their families, spent the next two weeks at least, with their families, working to manage the aftermath of massive generosity. How did they manage it? They were phoning international agencies, asking how to solve this problem. It was a touching story and it demonstrates the power of generosity. It also shows us the need that we have, as leaders, to respond to the aftermath of this because this will be with us for some time. It will require leadership to manage the after-effects of this tsunami - real leadership.
In our classrooms, it will require teachers to provide leadership in guiding students to an understanding of this event; to understand geography and our physical planet in a different way, and also the relationships of where they are on this globe and what effect these things have on them here in our little classrooms in Palmerston, Alice Springs, or wherever. Teachers and parents must provide that leadership. Community leaders and politicians should provide leadership after that event. I ask that the government consider, at this point - I will do whatever I can - identifying physical projects for our schools to focus on. Just as leadership has been shown by Leanyer Primary School under Henry Gray, our students and wider community need to go to the next stage and see our generosity at work.
There needs to be leadership to ensure that, from the massive flow of AusAID money that comes from this nation to that point of need, particularly in Indonesia, our business community is able to acquit some of that money. Also, that we have now the access and means, through the AusAID budget and the Northern Territory business community, with our particular skills and experience in the region, to be able to utilise some of that revenue stream that flows into the region. That will require real leadership to ensure that it does occur because we have a strategic advantage and a history of connection, and we are not involved on a superficial level; we have an understanding of our region.
I will conclude with two interesting stories that came up through the course of all this. All of us have a story, and if you allow me the indulgence of how I came to learn about the tsunamis. As you know, it was Boxing Day and everything was quiet and we were lying low after a very busy time as politicians. I had made sure that I phoned all my family the day before Christmas so I had a really quiet day on Christmas. On Boxing Day evening, I had a phone call from my brother who is in Geraldton, Western Australia. He phoned with real concerns to see whether I was okay, and I said I was just fine: ‘Why do you ask, David?’ He said that he was at the beach with his two young sons and the tide went out in a most peculiar way. He followed the tide out with his two boys, and it went out farther than they had ever seen it before. They went out and saw the exposed reef with star fish and shells. Then the tide turned dramatically and they ran and got wet on the way back in. It stunned them; they had no idea what this was about. Then the news broadcast said on the west coast, further down at Mandurah in Western Australia, some ships were knocked off their moorings.
Of course, it became clear what had occurred; that this was not just an unusual tide, but an extraordinary event somewhere in the magnitude of what our grandparents had told us about with stories of Krakatoa. This was an almighty event. Then it became clear. My brother told me 10 000 people had lost their lives not far from us in the Territory. I reflected on that for a while and realised that, yes, the Indian Ocean is exposed to this effect but not us here because we are shielded, fortunately.
One final story, which takes me back to the importance of our schools and education, is that of a young primary school student from the UK who was holidaying in Phuket. Just before taking holidays, the teacher, in the last couple of weeks, had focussed on the topic - and teachers raise topics such as volcanoes and earthquakes because they are really quite interesting - of tsunamis and taught the students all about tsunamis and how and where they occur. He must have been a wonderful teacher to capture the imagination of the students because this student took particular interest in it. She was on holidays a couple of weeks later in Phuket and saw the tide going out at a rate of knots. Whereas most people were attracted to the natural phenomena just as my brother and my two young nephews were, she reflected on the lesson that she had been taught in class in the UK only a couple of weeks before and grew alarmed and then informed others that it did not look right. It is reported that her actions, in response to the teaching of a good teacher, saved the lives of over 100 people because it set the alarm bells. People were going in the opposite direction, because most people followed the tide out to wonder what was going on, and to see the fish exposed, etcetera. It just shows the importance of everyone’s contribution and, in this specific instance, things that occur in our schools and with our young people.
There are many challenges that face us. We have seen the generosity, but the larger challenges, I suggest, lie before us, both as Territorians and as Australians and citizens of this planet. Madam Speaker, I support the motion.
Madam SPEAKER: I thank all honourable members for their sincere remarks to this motion and, on behalf of all honourable members and particularly the staff of the Legislative Assembly who responded so well, I too express my deepest sympathy to all those affected by the tsunami tragedy. I ask all members to stand for one minute as a mark of respect and support for the motion.
Members observed one minute’s silence.
The CLERK: Madam Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 100A, I inform honourable members that responses to petitions Nos 67, 68, 69 and 70 have been received and circulated to honourable members. The text of the responses will be included in the Parliamentary Record.
Petition No 67
Construction of Crossing on Larapinta Drive
Date presented: 30 November 2004
Presented by: Ms Carney
Date response received: 18 January 2005
Date response presented: 8 February 2005
Response:
Petition No 68
Petition No 69
Realignment of Girraween Road
Ms MARTIN (Chief Minister): Madam Speaker, the Chief of our Defence Forces, General Peter Cosgrove, will retire on 3 July after more than 40 years dedicated service to the nation, including his last three as Chief of the Defence Force. On behalf of the Northern Territory government and all Territorians, I wish him and his wife Lynne a successful and enjoyable retirement.
General Cosgrove’s contribution during his military service is of particular importance to the Territory. In 1999, he was appointed the commander of INTERFET, the International Forces in East Timor, which was established following the independence ballot. He retained this position until the force was withdrawn in February 2000. He was a frequent visitor to Darwin during this period but, more importantly, on behalf of Australia he established a relationship with the East Timorese people which has been enduring. This relationship is one of friends and neighbours, and is a relationship which the Territory has been able to maintain with our closest neighbour. The establishment of INTERFET saw Darwin used as the United Nation’s base for operations, which provided a short-term but significant boost in defence-related activity and expenditure in the Territory through 1999 and 2000.
General Cosgrove also made a number of visits to the Territory while he was Australian of the Year in 2001.
Of course, General Cosgrove’s relevance to the Territory goes beyond the very significant INTERFET period. During his watch as Chief of the Army from 2000 and, subsequently, as Chief of the Defence Force, Defence activity in the Territory has also been significant. The Australian Defence Force presence has more than doubled here since the early 1990s, with the number of Defence personnel and their families increasing to around 6200 in 1992 to an estimated 12 900 in June last year.
This growth in Defence has provided substantial benefits to the Territory economy, including stronger population growth and industry development opportunities. The value and number of Defence contracts with Territory businesses have increased with the expanded Defence presence, with greater levels of outsourcing of Defence services, and with the increased capacity of Territory businesses to meet Defence requirements. These relationships have provided opportunities for new capacity and capability to be developed, broadening and enhancing the local economy.
The Defence build-up in the Territory has provided the opportunity for significant capital expenditure on a number of major projects over recent years. This will be boosted by infrastructure investment related to the relocation of the 1st Aviation Regiment which will include facilities and working areas within Robertson Barracks for 17 Tiger helicopters and some 400 service personnel, including the relocation of 200 new people. Supply and support contracts for the new Armidale class patrol boat and the Abrams tanks are also likely to provide significant and ongoing benefits to our economy.
Along with the increased Defence personnel in the Territory comes an increased demand for housing. The Defence Housing Authority plans to invest about $70m for around 300 houses over the next few years at the new Lee Point suburban development.
Major Defence operations and exercises such as Pitch Black, Kakadu and Southern Frontier are a regular feature of Defence activity in the Territory and provide a significant boost to the local economy through supply and support contracts and increased visitor numbers.
In addition, there is a continued emphasis by the Australian government on contributing to the security of the immediate neighbourhood, such as Australia’s role in East Timor and the Solomon Islands; greater preparedness for emergency management - for example, the evacuation effort following the Bali bombings; counter-terrorism exercises and training; and increased coastal surveillance and border protection. With this expanding northern Defence role, Defence will remain an integral element of the Territory economy in the future.
A large number of Defence personnel from all three services based in the Territory are serving overseas. They are representing not just their service in Australia, but also the Territory. Territory-based servicemen and women are serving in countries like Afghanistan, East Timor, Singapore, Malaysia, Sumatra - as we have just been talking about - undertaking disaster relief operations, and in Iraq and other middle eastern countries. We acknowledge their efforts and, along with their families, wish them a safe return.
Finally, on the departure of General Cosgrove from the Defence Force, it is with our very best wishes. The man who led the INTERFET action that established order in East Timor without losing a man in violence will be acutely missed by the Australian Defence Force. The Territory government and all Territorians wish him success in all his future endeavours.
Members: Hear, hear!
Mr BURKE (Opposition Leader): Madam Speaker, I agree with the Chief Minister that the Defence Force in general, and the Army in particular, will certainly be saddened by the departure - premature in many people’s minds - of General Peter Cosgrove. I join with the Chief Minister in applauding what he has done as Chief of the Defence Force, and his continuing efforts in the Defence build-up in the Northern Territory. I wish that I had some notice that the Chief Minister was going to talk on General Cosgrove, because I would have prepared something to say, rather than trying it on the fly.
He is a man I have known since I was a Second Lieutenant in the early 1970s, and played rugby with. He was a bloody big second row, I can tell you, if you were in the front row. When he pushed hard, you knew you were getting pushed. There was no trouble with Peter Cosgrove as a second rower. He was always seen, even in those days in the early 1970s, as a stand-out military commander. He had a Military Cross from Vietnam and was always identified as someone who would go to the highest levels in the Defence Force. He has been a personal friend of mine for many years. I have watched his career and, in fact, he has watched mine as well. It is with a great sense of gratification that he has not only risen to the levels he has but, also, even before East Timor and his command of 1 Division and other appointments he has had - he was an ADC to the Governor-General at one stage – he has always been in high profile positions. However, East Timor was the stand-out performance where it needed a particular individual, a certain military commander who, in many ways, had to balance being a politician and a general at the same time. No one now doubts that they could have made a better pick for that particular job than Peter Cosgrove.
Not only was he outstandingly successful in that role, but the challenges that he has had as the Chief of the Defence Force with Australia’s involvement in Afghanistan, the Solomon’s, and the Gulf wars have been enormously challenging. He has taken those in his stride and the Australian people have embraced him. By his stature and demeanour, public profile and words, he has done an enormous amount to promote the Defence Force in general. I congratulate him and wish him all the best in his retirement.
Dr TOYNE (Health): Madam Speaker, I report on the hospice construction and the recruitment of the Director of Palliative Care.
This government made a commitment at the last election to build a hospice within the grounds of the Royal Darwin Hospital during the first term of government. I am pleased to advise the House that we are on track to achieving another of our election commitments, with $4.25m committed to the actual hospice construction project, and recurrent funding of $1.8m allocated for personnel and operational costs.
Jackson Goodman Architects, in association with Build Up Design Architects, were awarded the tender for design, development and documentation on 5 March 2004. Clinical user groups met on a weekly basis to have input into design, development and documentation. The tender for construction was awarded to PTM Homes, a local company, on 15 September 2004. Construction is well under way and anticipated to be completed by late April this year.
The site selected for the hospice is adjacent to the Menzies School of Health Research as this is close to hospital services, yet quiet and away from the main thoroughfare of the hospital. It will be a ground level building, providing up to 12 terminally ill patients with specialised care in a supportive and peaceful environment. The rooms will include individual bathrooms and access to their own private garden area, and will allow patients and their relatives to spend time together in a comfortable and private environment. The hospice design takes into account the advice received from working groups, in particular the cultural needs of Aboriginal patients and families. It has been designed for the tropics with individual climate control and access to the deck area in each room overlooking a garden.
There are a range of interested organisations seeking to donate time, goods and services to the hospice, and the process will include consultation with these groups and individuals. I take this opportunity to thank all individuals and organisations involved.
The department is working with members of the Northern Territory Hospice and Palliative Care Association to ensure that we will have a first-class facility. The staffing will be flexible, appropriate and a safe team of nurses, allied health, medical officers, personal care assistants, and others in conjunction with the existing specialist team. A part-time volunteer coordinator has been identified as a key resource, giving the raised profile of palliative care and the increasing interest of members of the public to be involved in this important initiative.
The hospice is part of a broader restructure of palliative care services, outlined in the government’s Building Healthier Communities framework. Under this restructure, we are examining the adequacy of palliative care services in Central Australia and the rest of the Territory.
I also advise the House of the recruitment to the position of Director of Palliative Care which has now been finalised. I am pleased to announce that Dr Mark Boughey has been appointed to this position. Dr Boughey, formerly Director of Palliative Care at Royal Melbourne Hospital, is a well credentialed and respected specialist whose significant experience will assist in fashioning the future development of palliative care services in the Northern Territory.
In addition to commencing as head of the Palliative Care Unit and the new hospice at Royal Darwin Hospital, Dr Boughey will maintain a role across the Territory and, in conjunction with stakeholders, fashion the future development of services accordingly. The government has put into action a key election promise to give terminally-ill patients a facility appropriate to their needs, and will continue to work to ensure palliative care needs across the Territory are being adequately addressed.
Ms CARNEY (Araluen): Madam Speaker I thank the minister for his first statement of 2005. Territorians will recall that the Labor government went to the 2001 election with this promise and it was only relatively late last year when the minister put his hard hat on and went to the Royal Darwin Hospital site and demonstrated to the world at large that he could drive a bulldozer the three feet that was required to move a chunk of soil from one place to another.
This is long overdue. With the GST monies that have been received by this government since they came to office, they should have done much better. Territorians expect them to do much better!
I understand that the Hospice and Palliative Care Association is dissatisfied with the government’s response to this on a number of fronts, not the least of which is the fact that, as I understand it, they will need to embark on their own fundraising to fit out the hospice. That a community organisation will, as I am advised, need to undertake this sort of fundraising is a disgrace.
I also understand that there are some difficulties with the site. The minister, with his little hard hat on, presumably likes the site. However, he would surely know that some people do not. Therefore, it is too little too late. No doubt, he will put another hard hat on and go there again to convince Territorians that this is a ‘can do’ government. It is a ‘gunna do’ government and it has not done very much at all.
In relation to the reference to Central Australia, I also mention that it is extraordinary this minister dares to make any references to Central Australia, given his mishandling of a number of issues at the Alice Springs Hospital.
I note that he says that he has appointed a doctor in the Palliative Care Unit at the hospital, or to attend to palliative care. Well, that doctor should be aware of the fact that Drs Butcher and Hamilton were recently dumped - for want of a better word - from the Alice Springs Hospital. Therefore, I hope this new bloke plans to stay in the Territory for a long time.
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Do not start shouting, member for Araluen. Your time has expired, so sit down.
Dr TOYNE (Health): Madam Speaker, I can only say that the member for Araluen’s rantings are losing her all credibility out there with people who actually know what is going on. Governments do get a lot of things right and, while always being open to fair criticism if we do not, I can assure members on this issue that the very tangible, real building that is standing taking shape out there is a hell of a lot more useful than anything the CLP put in place on this issue during their time in power. We are getting the job done, as we promised to Territorians. I look forward to opening what will be an excellent facility.
On one of her points while she was carping away over there: the building will be furnished. The support group will take the human things into the environment such as curtains and other things to make it a fit environment for people who are terminally ill.
Mr HENDERSON (Asian Relations and Trade): Madam Speaker, this morning I update the House on some of the success stories of Territory business, and the ongoing practical and financial assistance being delivered by the Martin government’s Trade Support Scheme.
As members would be aware, the Martin government launched the Trade Support Scheme on 1 July 2003 with allocated funding of $336 000. The Trade Support Scheme is structured to provide both financial and practical assistance for Territory exporters, and replaced the outdated Export Marketing Assistance Scheme, to which the then CLP government allocated only $80 000 a year.
The Trade Support Scheme was hugely successful in its first year, with all of its funds allocated to helping more than 70 Territory businesses break into new markets and sectors as diverse as tourism, primary industry, services including health and education, construction and manufacturing, information technology, and the arts.
With such a great start, this government was pleased to increase the budget for the scheme to $358 000 in 2004-05. Just over one-third of the businesses that accessed the scheme in the first year were from the tourism industry, and it was great news when the Tourist Commission threw its weight behind the project with an additional $150 000 in funding, taking funding under TSS to just over $500 000 this year.
With the opening of the AustralAsia Trade Route and the strength of the Territory’s relationship with our Asian neighbours, it is not surprising that the primary focus for exporters who use the Trade Support Scheme is for opportunities in Singapore, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, China and Thailand. Other trade opportunities were explored in the United States, the UK, Europe and New Zealand.
The Trade Support Scheme is open to every Territory business for grants of up to $50 000 on a $1-for-$1 basis - practical financial assistance that is driving economic development and creating new business opportunities. For some, the grant has helped with travel and accommodation; for others, participation in trade shows, travel to specific marketing meetings and the redevelopment of web sites.
In the first six months of this financial year, the government has allocated $168 000 in Trade Support Scheme grants to assist 49 Territory exporters break into new business opportunities in tourism, primary industry, the services sector, construction and manufacturing.
To touch on just a few examples of the very real results delivered with the assistance from this scheme so far, Katherine-based Gecko Canoeing, winners of the 2004 Brolga Award for EcoTourism and Adventure Tourism received a $5700 grant allowing them to participate in the two-day Coast USA Trade Fair which matches US wholesalers with Australian tourism companies. Territory businesses Colton Park Mangoes and the International College of Advanced Education each received a $3000 grant to participate in the Guangzhou Commodities Fair last year. As a result, Colton Park is following up on opportunities to sell mangoes into southern China. ICAE signed a memorandum of understanding with the Man Kui School of Tourism and Hospitality to provide accredited training into the Hong Kong and southern China markets.
There have been so many great many business opportunities developed through the Trade Support Scheme; new business opportunities that may otherwise have been left untapped if it were not for the funding support of the government. However, it is not just about funding. One of the most valuable aspects of the scheme is the free export and trade advice on offer, and I know first time traders, especially, have found this aspect of the Trade Support Scheme invaluable. The advice includes business and export market development planning, and complements the other business and industry development programs available through the department - practical support that is championing small business, backing them to grow.
After its first year in operation, the Trade Support Scheme was reviewed in consultation with clients, industry groups and key stakeholders. Improvements have been made, and it is now even easier for clients to access the scheme and for departmental officers to process applications.
The government is committed to driving economic development because it means jobs for Territorians, and the Trade Support Scheme is delivering real results for Territory business. The Trade Support Scheme is one way the government is moving the Territory ahead, and I encourage all Territory business looking to expand their trade partnership or develop new trade opportunities, to take a close look at how the Trade Support Scheme can support their business.
Mr MILLS (Blain): Madam Speaker, under a CLP government, there will be an entirely different approach to engaging our region. The minister’s portfolio title is Asian Relations and Trade. Relationship builds to and leads to trade. If there was an adequate relationship and a pitch to that focus within the ultimate outcome - being trade as a result - there would have been a greater level of understanding of how Malaysian Airlines worked. In fact, if you had thought that process through before you committed to raise the hopes of the mango industry and have them dashed, that project would have worked.
I went to the meeting on the weekend, and it was spin after spin, painting the government and their actions in a favourable light and putting it back on to Malaysian Airlines and faults within the airline. That is something a CLP Government would never do; they would accept the responsibility and think through the process. You would have understood, minister, if there had have been adequate consultations and taking of responsibility for the decision that you made on behalf of Territorians, not to mention Hai Win.
The very fact that this government has reduced its presence in the region, has no understanding of the very important role of education and cultural links within the region and what part they play in the establishment of relationships - the building of strategic friendships that, ultimately, result in trade - indicates a basic misunderstanding of how we should engage the region. We might have arguments about that, but the fact is there has been little actual result.
I have been to FreightLink, and they said this land bridge which is to connect us to the region may make sense but we are basing it on the premise that domestic freight is making it work. It was never built on that premise. It was built on an engagement with the region that results in trade though effective, strategic relationships. That requires a completely different approach, which we would have under a CLP government.
Madam SPEAKER: Your time has expired, member for Blain.
Mr HENDERSON (Asian Relations and Trade): Madam Speaker, an approach from a potential CLP government - back to the future, back to the past. The fact is there are more Territory businesses exporting today under a Martin Labor government than were exporting under a CLP government: $80 000 was all that was available to Territorian businesses compared to $500 000 today under a Labor government. We are the government with a vision for engagement.
To say that the railway was built with a total commitment to export is blatantly wrong. The private sector investment case for the railway was all about domestic freight to Darwin. The member for Blain, obviously, does not know what he is talking about. The CLP can talk about back to the past, back to their faded dreams of glory; we are getting on with business. More Territory businesses are exporting today. The Northern Territory is leading the nation’s export push.
Mr AH KIT (Sport and Recreation): Madam Speaker, I report on the Swimming Pools in Remote Areas Program, more commonly known as PIRA. The goal of PIRA is to strategically construct swimming pools in remote Northern Territory communities. It is anticipated a range of health, social and educational benefits will result from the long-term use of pools by community residents.
A partnership between the Northern Territory and the Commonwealth has produced $4.5m for the program. Communities are asked to contribute one-third of construction costs, bringing the amount to be spent to $6m.
A parallel evaluation of health benefits will be conducted and will involve the University of Melbourne, the Centre for Disease Control Darwin, the Menzies School of Health, the Centre for Eye Research, and the Vision Cooperative Research Centre.
There are certain conditions that must be satisfied for a community to be considered eligible for funding. The intent is to ensure long-term viability and safety. Pools will represent a significant financial and staffing commitment for communities. It has been said that building the pool is the easy part. Operating a pool in remote communities is not an impossible task.
Mr Burke: They know that at Lake Leanyer; it is always closed.
Mr AH KIT: You said you had changed.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr AH KIT: There are already in operation a number of pools in remote areas such as Ngukurr, Nguiu and Santa Teresa.
Long-term viability is a critical factor in the assessment process; therefore, a comprehensive business plan must accompany all applications. The strength of this business plan is a major factor in determining which communities receive funding. The plan must address the financial, administrative, staffing, training, and any other issues integral to a long-term viability. The intent is that as many pools that meet community needs as possible are built.
Under the program, a typical pool package would include: the pool, concourse, filtration equipment, plant room and associated equipment; a smaller pool for infants; reasonable landscaping; fencing; power, water and sewerage services; lighting; security measures; change rooms/ablution block; admission and staff areas; disabled access; and adequate shade.
Seventeen communities submitted expressions of interest. Operating costs and one-third financial contribution proved difficult for many applicants. Six communities subsequently applied in the first round of funding. Two communities - Maningrida and Yuendumu - have been offered pools. Following further negotiations, more offers will be made. Expressions of interest from companies interested in pool construction will soon be called. The total cost of a pool complex is expected to be between $900 000 and $1.5m. Successful communities will receive comprehensive information and feedback on the health study. Once completed, the pool will be signed over to the local government body, which is then responsible for pool operation. A community partnership agreement will be struck, and DIPE will be appointed as project mangers.
This is a whole-of-government-plus exercise. Groups involved include my department, CDSCA, DIPE, DEET, Department of Health and Community Services, the Commonwealth Office of Indigenous Policy Coordination, the Department of Family and Community Services, the Darwin Centre for Disease Control, LGANT, the Northern Territory Branch of Royal Surf Lifesaving, and the Fred Hollows Foundation.
Ian Thorpe, through Mr Jeff McMullen, has shown considerable interest to the extent of publicly endorsing the program, and hopes to visit the communities for the opening of the pools.
Madam Speaker, it is reasonable to expect that community ownership will extend to community members having increased important roles in pool operation and associated activities such as water safety. It is only through sustained usage that pools will have their intended benefits. PIRA will ensure the long-term sustainability and benefits of these projects for Territorians in remote areas for years to come.
Mr ELFERINK (Macdonnell): Madam Speaker, if good news was a cow, this minister would be the world’s largest cattle tick. He has the audacity to come in here claiming success and that this is all his project when, in actual fact …
Ms MARTIN: A point of order, Madam Speaker! I consider that unparliamentary.
Madam SPEAKER: I was waiting for a response, yes.
Ms MARTIN: It is very low-rent and is unbecoming of this parliament.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Macdonnell, I think it was unparliamentary. Withdraw it.
Mr ELFERINK: Madam Speaker, I withdraw it, but they certainly use it out bush quite a lot. The leech-like approach that this minister has in relation to good news is disgraceful. What he has actually done is pick up an idea that was originally put into place by the former minister, Tim Baldwin, the member for Daly, and has run with it. However, did he put in any money himself? No, actually he withdrew the commitment. He said no when this idea was being floated.
The health effects in remote communities with pools are well known; the minister has outlined them yet again for this House. However, it is curious that, as a footnote to his little speech here today - and merely a footnote - he acknowledged the efforts of the federal government. Well, in actual fact it is the federal government which is initiating and driving this and asking the Territory government to put in a bit of a contribution, which they are doing. Well, bully for them; that contribution has been on the record for a very long time. It is the federal government’s contribution to this that is making this particular project happen.
This minister has priors for leeching onto good news. The Wizard Cup football game in Alice Springs is a classic example. His office was approached months ago and did nothing! The Minister for Central Australia was approached to do something and then, when the CAFL approached the minister in relation to putting out a joint press release, he put out a press release first and kicked the hell out of the CAFL. Now, all of a sudden, like a knight rampant on a Clydesdale, he pretends to be the hero of the day. The fact of the matter is he is way late - way late - in getting there and helping to get this Wizard Cup football game going. This minister’s behaviour is disgraceful! Good news - you can see this minister in the same room but he is never the source of it.
Mr WOOD (Nelson): Madam Speaker, I applaud what the minister has said, from the point of view of the benefits of having swimming pool in a community. Of course, Litchfield Shire is still waiting for a pool! The reason it is waiting for a pool is based on one of the statements that the minister has made; that is, the cost of maintaining pools is extremely high.
There is a danger here, if the minister puts it on to the local government communities to maintain these swimming pools: one has to ask at what cost to other programs the local government is going to carry out? Are they going to have less money for roads? Are they going to have less money for some of the essential services they are required? Or is the government going to upgrade or put up the amount of money that they are going to give those communities to run these pools? That really, minister, is one of the problems that Litchfield Shire has. How much will it cost to maintain the pool, and how much will it cost in, say, 10 years time to replace the tiles on the pool, which is a very high cost.
The idea of improving the health in the communities is a great reason to have pools in communities. It also applies to Litchfield Shire and urban pools. I am interested to know where you stand in relation to developing a pool in the Litchfield Shire because, as you know, minister, you said you thought $1m would be sufficient for a pool that most people in the Litchfield Shire would be satisfied with, yet you just quoted up to $1.5m for a pool in the outback. Where you are going with pools in the Litchfield Shire, and what help will you give local governments in remote communities with the maintenance of those pools from a financial point of view?
Mr AH KIT (Sport and Recreation): Madam Speaker, I first respond to the comments and contribution from the member for Nelson. The $1m was on offer; it was an election commitment. The discussions stalled there. There was a pool committee. I met with Mary Walshe, the President of the Litchfield Shire. The council has chosen not to accept that $1m; they have concerns. Obviously, it is going to cost more to build a pool in remote areas than I suppose it is at Litchfield. It is something that needs to be worked through with them. At the moment, as I understand it, the ball is in their court. How they restructure their priorities of local government services is something they need to sort out with their ratepayers.
In regards to the comments from the member for Macdonnell, one could basically dismiss those as irrelevant. If he wants to have a shot at me about something in reference to a cattle tick, etcetera - fine. What I can say in the last 10 seconds is that he has not sought a briefing; he does not know what is going on. He is lazy and I am sure that, when he brings forward the question on the Wizard Cup in Alice Springs, we will have the debate.
Madam SPEAKER: I remind members that ‘unparliamentary language’ includes personal and degrading remarks against another member.
Reports noted pursuant to Sessional Order.
Continued from 1 December 2004.
Ms CARNEY (Araluen): Madam Speaker, I indicate that the opposition supports this bill. I do not think there is any need for me to restate the long and tumultuous history that, to a large extent, precedes and, arguably, precipitates the introduction of this bill. The history cannot be rewritten by either political party; it is there for all to see.
Put simply, there have been a number of court challenges and much personal angst over a long period of time. I understand that the former government obtained legal advice many years ago and either introduced, or looked to introduce, various amendments. Further amendments to various legislation was ultimately required, and there were more people at Lake Bennett who were unhappy.
This is a very complex series of legal issues, and I certainly do not propose to go into them. There have been court challenges. A lot of people have spent what seems to me to be an awful lot of money over a long period. I suppose it was inevitable that it did take some time, because there are a lot of landowners at Lake Bennett. Under this proposal, all landowners have been approached, and we understand they are all happy with the effects of the bill.
I understand that the member for Nelson has some concerns. I do not propose to deal with those. It is important for all of us to realise that this has, of necessity I suppose, been a long, detailed and complex saga. It appears as though it may come to an end. One never knows, Madam Speaker, what is around the corner, but we certainly hope that this bill achieves the resolution that not only all of the members of this Chamber would like to see, but the people with interests at Lake Bennett.
Mr WOOD (Nelson): Madam Speaker, I do not intend to support this bill as it stands for the following reasons: first, I do not believe that proper compensation was paid to the affected block owners; and second, because the planning scheme has been developed without due process as required under the Planning Act.
There is no doubt that a solution had to be found to fix the long saga about land issues in the Lake Bennett area. We all should know how City Developments became the registered proprietor of the resort in March or April 1997, and that City Developers received a letter on 11 June 1996 from the Manager Rural Planning stating that the absence of any controlled plan applying to locality means that the new development, other than the subdivision, might take place without the need for development consent - and I emphasise the words ‘other than subdivision’.
On 15 January, the Attorney-General approved a condominium development in accordance with the disclosure statement. In 1997, easement holders approached the Ombudsman who, in February of the next year, advised that the Registrar-General had acted illegally by issuing the approvals and permits to City Developments without the consent of the easement holders. In 1998 and 1999, the NT government introduced legislation stating that developers do not need to seek consent of easement holders.
In 2000, City Developers and proprietors took the NT Registrar and four of the landowners to court. The court found that the sites were easements in law. This was appealed and the decision was upheld in favour of the block owners.
In 2001, the Scarton brothers took the NT government to court over four matters. The court found that consent for varying disclosure matters is required from easement holders. In 2002, the resort was sold to Mr Milatos’ brother, Michael. In 2003, Mr Milatos lodged writs to sue the NT government. In 2003, the government started the mediation process and, in 2004, the government introduced the Lake Bennett Land Title Bill after a mediation process.
Minister, that is a very prcised version of a very long and drawn-out saga which, in a nutshell, is about a number of people defending their rights under law, with both the developer and the government of the time trying their best to take those rights away. It is no wonder people are glad to see the end of this. They have been worn down by the emotional and financial strain of just doing what the government should have done in the first place - supported them.
I find it hard to believe that the minister, in his second reading speech, could announce that the mediation has resulted in broad understanding and agreement, without mentioning the fact that many of the landowners were just tired of the whole matter, and the Attorney-General had threatened to change legislation if the government did not get its way. That is mediation under duress. If it was not for the efforts of some of the landowners, which required them to spend considerable sums of money, their rights would have been ignored. They are the ones who should receive adequate compensation for loss of earnings, the stress and the financial costs which, through no fault of their own, they have had to incur.
I do not believe that either government which has dealt with this case can hold their collective heads up and be proud of what has happened. I believe the CLP was too close to the development to look after the little people, and the present government seems too concerned about finding the solution rather than seeing whether justice has taken place and due process carried out. The government has failed in its duty to adequately compensate those people who defended their rights and, who, in some cases, nearly lost their land in the process of trying to defend those rights. We must remember that it was the courts that upheld those rights, but at considerable cost to the block owners.
I ask the Labor government, as the supporter of just causes, to ask themselves whether these people received just compensation for what they have been through. I believe not. Until they are, I have no intention of supporting a bill based on a mediation process underwritten with the answer to a question I gave in parliament on 13 August 2003 regarding Lake Bennett, were the minister said:
Let us look at the other problem with this bill: the Land Use Planning Scheme for Lake Bennett. How are planning schemes meant to be developed? Well, just check the Planning Act. Has this been done according to proper process? No, it has been done according to expediency and secret processes. This planning scheme for Lake Bennett has been presented by the Attorney-General, not the minister for planning, minister Burns. It was part of a confidential mediation process where the senior Solicitor for the Northern Territory said in an e-mail to block owners on 1 March 2004:
Therefore, we have a planning scheme which normally requires at least 28 days public exhibition, the local council to be notified, and free and open discussion in the public arena, including the press, being secretly developed and avoiding all the proper, open and transparent requirements of the Planning Act - the same supposedly open and transparent process that is espoused by the government. Nothing more highlights this dereliction of due process where, in the second reading speech the minister said:
That says it all. The Coomalie Council did not have a say in the planning scheme, neither did the public or interested politicians, and the people at Lake Bennett could only discuss it between themselves.
I also make note of a landowner, Sean Davis, who bought land in late October last year but was not told about the changes to the Planning Act. Of course, if the Planning Act had been public and had gone through the normal process, he would have been told.
The only time this planning scheme hit the light of day was when it was introduced to parliament. The farce continues, because the confidential mediation process has required block owners to sign an agreement which includes signing up to the planning scheme. This means that if anyone in parliament today tried to move substantial amendment to this bill, it would have no chance of being supported, regardless of the merits of the changes, as those changes would affect the signed agreement with the block owners. I do not intend to present those substantial amendments; however, I do intend to move an amendment that this planning scheme section of the bill be deleted and publicly exhibited as required under the Planning Act. This would allow the public, the council, and other interested parties to discuss the proposal, as should have been done under the Planning Act.
Of course, the government has tried to legitimise this process using Part 3 of the new bill, which says that the planning minister must, as soon as practicable after the commencement date, publish notice in the Gazette of the amendment and, on publication of the notice, the amendment is taken to have been made under the Planning Act. If you then read sections 16 and 17 of the Planning Act, you will see that means that the planning amendment must be exhibited and the local council informed. If this does not take place, I believe the planning scheme is illegal.
Minister, whatever your answer to that may be, the whole thing revolves around the process that the end justifies the means. The government will achieve what it has set out to achieve; that is, the solution to what has been, and will continue to be, a long tortuous task of fixing up a mess that originally was not of their making. However, that is not an excuse for taking shortcuts or not adequately compensating those who have struggled to have their rights recognised. I have told the block owners of Lake Bennett that I am sure the government will proceed with this bill regardless of how good an argument I put for a fair solution based on fairness and proper process. I have told them I will at least make sure to highlight the failings of the bill. I also told them of the story of Pontius Pilot.
Dr TOYNE (Justice and Attorney-General): Madam Speaker, at the outset I thank the opposition for their support for what I believe is a good outcome for the property holders and developers who have an interest in Lake Bennett. I need to deal with some issues that the member for Nelson has raised; therefore, I will confine most of my comments to that end.
First of all, I point out that this has been on the table for two months. For the member for Nelson to be coming in here in the highest forum that any public matter can be taken to in the Northern Territory when it has been on the table for two months - which is plenty of time to go out and check with the stakeholders, and I presume you have – is a bit rich suddenly saying it is all terrible. The fact of the matter is that this bill stands on two years of intensive work with the stakeholders who, from the outset of the work we have been doing, had no certainty regarding their rights or the details of the overall development. They had inherited a Raffety’s Rules from pre-planning ear where things were done as a private set of arrangements with no sense of relationship to the planning framework. Therefore, we did not have a very good starting point.
As you know, there has been a very long history of conflicting interests in this, where people have lived at the time. The point I am trying to make is that, while you can talk about the purity of planning processes, the reality in the world out there is that, first of all, we have a whole mosaic of existing situations, some of which have been handled under current planning frameworks and others have pre-dated, as this particular situation does.
The other thing is that you should be well aware of this, because I know of your deep interest in planning issues. I do not challenge your sincerity on that for one moment, but planning is a process in a human community and you are not going to be able to apply cast-iron protocols to every single situation. This is a unique situation and it required a unique process to bring it back to an outcome that we are now presenting today. What does this outcome give those stakeholders? Surely, you would have to agree that the key stakeholders - the most important stakeholders - in this are the people who, in good faith, invested their time, some of their lifestyles, and their business interests into this Lake Bennett development only to find that, through a series of challenges, court decisions, and the actions by the authorities of the day, that there was no certainty as to their rights or to the overall shape that this development would take into the future.
It came down to very personal things. I can see Ted Field up there. For Ted, there are very specific things he wants out of that investment in his land. I do not see how, first of all, you can displace those specific and very personal interests in the thing with a broader planning process as you are suggesting. There is certainly no doubt that, over a two-year period of mediation and negotiation, all the stakeholders have had ample opportunity to put forward their views about this. When you look at the bill, there are a number of very specific things that have been done in response to stakeholders’ concerns such as section 1254, which is an outflow creek which I had the pleasure of canoeing through when we were there on Budget Cabinet a year ago. That is a specific feature of Lake Bennett which has now passed into the structuring of the land use issues.
I do not know where you can go to in a world where, for some reason, you want to first of all ignore those specifics that have already gone in from the stakeholders during this protracted negotiation, and open it up to other stakeholders who have nowhere near the same interest or direct concern. I do not accept that for a minute. I believe here we have gone with goodwill and a lot of persistence to find the best possible outcome for the land-holders and their interests in this case. I would not stand here if I felt that we had not done that thoroughly and listened very attentively to the land-holders’ concerns and tried to respond to them in this solution.
The other part of it I find plain insulting; to be suggesting that we are bullying land-holders and browbeating them into signing off on a conversation which is, and will remain, confidential regarding the agreements that have been reached. Land-holders are adult people who can look after their own interests. It is very insulting to be standing there and taking a moral high ground on it and saying: ‘I know better than that. I know they did not get their interests fully responded to’. I do not believe that and it is insulting both to the land-holders and the people who have put a lot of very competent work into the mediation process and its outcomes. I believe that, by signing their individual agreements, as adults they have taken the view that, in an imperfect world, this is okay by them as a way of settling this and going into the future.
Ultimately, the key interests of the land-holders, all of those things - whether they be a developer who may want to complete the further development as allowed in this solution; people who have holdings who simply want to enjoy that environment as they first intended; the government, which needs to balance the interests there and make sure that the overall amenity of the Lake Bennett area is being respected - I believe, are in this outcome. Nothing is more important than that.
You believe that there are some issues of process that should result in this being dismantled and go back to – what? - two more years of planning process, bringing in all sorts of new stakeholders? This has been so difficult in itself because of the long history that you have acknowledged. I simply reject the position you are taking and believe that, whatever you might say about the effectiveness of the process we followed, we have an outcome that everyone has accepted. Beyond that, there are remedies available to people through the court system if they feel that there was some unresolved issue.
Although the bill closes off on this as a solution, it defines in great detail what is going to happen in that environment into the future. Most of all, it gives certainty to everyone, and allows us to leave this sorry history behind and use Lake Bennett as I think each of the stakeholders intended to see it used. That is all I want to say at this stage, Madam Speaker.
Motion agreed to; bill read a second time.
In committee:
Madam DEPUTY CHAIR: The committee has before it the Lake Bennett (Land Title) Bill 2004 (Serial 267) together with Schedule of Amendments No 93 circulated by the Minister for Justice and Attorney-General.
Clauses 1 to 7, by leave, taken together and agreed to.
Clause 8:
Dr TOYNE: Madam Deputy Chair, I move amendment 93.1. The bill provides for the creation of various easements. Ordinarily, easements need to be signed by the affected parties prior to registration at the Land Titles Office. Clause 8 of the bill allows the minister to sign the instruments. This will facilitate the registration of all necessary documents. It will also avoid imposing a time-consuming and expensive burden on the parties.
However, as drafted, the clause leaves open a doubt as to whether the minister, in signing on behalf of a person, must have the consent of that person. As it is not intended that such consent be necessary, this committee stage amendment will clarify that the minister signs in place of the affected party and, hence, does not require the authority or consent of the affected parties to sign the instruments.
Amendment agreed to.
Clause 8, as amended, agreed to.
Clauses 9 to 18, by leave, taken together and agreed to.
Clause 19:
However, I still have difficulty understanding why the Attorney-General would present a planning amendment scheme that could have been brought forward by the minister for planning under the Planning Act. What difference would that have made to this process if it had gone through the normal process? As I see it, you have now set up a precedent where a minister can tell another minister that he is to introduce the planning scheme and place into that bill a requirement as is mentioned under clause 19:
The question I ask is: what power do you, as the Attorney-General using this bill, have to tell another minister how to - you might say - run his business under the Planning Act?
Dr TOYNE: You have to understand that, while ministers might operate in portfolios, government acts through Cabinet. The Lake Bennett issue came to Cabinet as an issue of how to resolve it, and what was the best way to take the stakeholder interest and progress the matter to resolution. At the point it came to Cabinet - and still at the point we are at now - there have been legal processes running through this alongside anything you might want to say about planning issues.
It was Cabinet’s view that the best way to attempt a resolution of the Lake Bennett matter was to attempt a mediation which encompassed, or drew back, some of the issues that stakeholders were seeking legal remedies to. It was really to establish a process that addressed the actions which you refer to in your contribution. There have been a number of occasions where stakeholders have sought a legal remedy to an issue that they felt aggrieved about. As it was set up by Cabinet, this has come back to Cabinet, as all matters - and certainly all bills - do before they go before parliament, and are approved by Cabinet as a whole. It was the decision of Cabinet that I will present this bill because our agency had been carrying the mediation and would also have to address any legal matters arising out of the Lake Bennett situation.
Mr WOOD: I hope to discuss the actual planning scheme when we get to that section. However, the difficulty I have here is - and I take the point that the Cabinet might have agreed to take this on – is that planning amendments come under the Planning Act. I am simply trying to find out why the planning side of this mediation process was not dealt with by the planning minister under the Planning Act.
The other part of that question is: if clause 19(3) requires a minister to publish the notice so the amendment is taken to have been made under the Planning Act, does that not say to him that he, therefore, then needs to carry out the requirements of sections 16 of the Planning Act, which is to notify a local government in a council area about the proposal; and section 17, that the proposal must be exhibited for at least 28 days? If that is so, is that going to take place?
Dr TOYNE: It gets down to what the essence of good government is: to solve problems, not to maintain boundaries between the formal portfolio responsibilities of ministers.
In this case, we had a unique situation which pre-dates the current planning provisions, a number of matters which had gone into legal processes, and the availability of a unique process to find a solution. Cabinet took the view that, rather than passing this back to a standard planning process, our best chance of getting a solution was to tailor-make the process to the needs and interests of the stakeholders. The proof of the pudding is that we are here today with an effective solution to the problem.
If, by one means or another, you manage to dismantle this today - and I foreshadow that we are sticking to our guns on it - I do not think you would get too many thanks from the stakeholders who have put two years work into seeking the balances that are now represented in this solution. To me, we have given a group of Territorians a solution to a long-standing problem where they now have certainty, and where each of their interests has been reflected in the solution. Is that not the most important thing?
Dr BURNS: I concur with what the Minister for Justice and Attorney-General has said. I have taken an interest in this matter from when I came into parliament before I was planning minister, and since I have become planning minister. To concur completely with what the Minister for Justice and Attorney-General has said: yes, member for Nelson, there are planning dimensions to this issue. However, primarily, there are legal concerns which have arisen through various court cases, and the solution was a mediated legal solution.
I commend the minister and all those who were involved in the process because, as the minister pointed out, people came from conflicting sides and there were differences of opinion. There is now agreement through this process, which was the aim. I fully commend the minister and all the stakeholders involved.
I can see what the member for Nelson is trying to say; however, at the end of the day as the minister said, it was government’s responsibility to find a solution to this. It happened at the executive level, and I pleased with the job which the minister has done and that a solution has been found.
Mr WOOD: I get a strong impression that the end does justify the means. That is what concerns me. You have set a precedent that, if you do not wish to go down the normal path of planning, the government can decide to go down a path which is not the normal process - to achieve an outcome which I agree with. I do not disagree with what is in the bill; I disagree with the manner in which it has been done and I question why it had to go to this process. It was confidential. How can it be discussed? How can a planning amendment scheme be discussed if it is confidential? It could not be. I have a letter from your senior solicitor:
Dr TOYNE: The essence of this is the process that we felt gave the best chance to go through to a successful solution. That process was mediation, which was a process that was surrounded, over the history of this, by potential or actual litigation seeking legal remedies by one or another of the parties. Not only was it appropriate to keep confidentiality to that process, but it was probably vital to the final resolution that was achieved. It may have became a public process where there were wider and wider circles of stakeholders, where media was involved with its well-known agenda which does not necessarily match and often is not geared to the interests of the stakeholders but to selling newspapers, or getting people’s attention on television or radio, so it was very important to keep the mediation secure from the buffeting from the outside world. I believe that was a strategic decision of the mediation. I totally agree with it; it was appropriate and, in fact, vital to now achieving this solution.
Mr WOOD: I will probably overlap what I was going to say when we get to Schedule 5. However, as the minister has raised some issues there, I have to ask what is so secretive in a planning amendment scheme that it has to be part of a confidential mediation process? If you look at the planning scheme, it is no different than any other planning scheme in the Northern Territory. Why should the public, the media, or the local government, not be involved in the development of a planning scheme? How would the people who were affected by this planning scheme be able to discuss it with people outside of Lake Bennett because this was made confidential - a scheme that would normally never be made confidential? I just do not understand why it has been made confidential; it is just a planning scheme. I have trouble understanding why this has been made confidential.
Dr TOYNE: I have made it clear why confidentiality was attached to this process. I have made it equally clear that the Lake Bennett situation had many unique aspects. This is not the way that government would go about finding solutions that are purely of a planning nature; this is a solution to an amalgam of planning issues, legal issues, history, and pre-planning history. It is a unique set of issues that we had to address. I probably have little else I can add because we are clearly not going to agree. We are saying the government is there to find solutions and we do not believe this compromises the overall conduct of planning processes around the Northern Territory.
This is a unique situation. It is not one that we would find widely around the Territory to address the process. However, I believe that people will very soon lose faith in a government which puts processes ahead of solutions in every case. We have to show, as all governments do, that we are competent at finding solutions for the people for whom we bear responsibility, which are the people of the Northern Territory. There is a group of Territorians who are now getting a solution to a problem that has gone on for more than a decade and, far from feeling uneasy about that, I am actually pretty happy to be bringing this into the House today.
Mr WOOD: Minister, I do not think you have answered my question, so maybe I will ask the question in a different form.
Madam DEPUTY CHAIR: Member for Nelson, I seek your forbearance here. I just might cut in. Conscious of the sittings of the Assembly, what I propose to do at this point, if you agree, is suspend and resume at this point following Question Time. Is that acceptable to you? I know you have very valid questions to ask the minister and I would like to give due time to that. However, there is a public expectation that Question Time will be at 2 pm. Do you agree with that?
Mr WOOD: Does the minister agree to that?
Madam DEPUTY CHAIR: I am asking you first.
Mr WOOD: Yes.
Madam DEPUTY CHAIR: Minister, are you okay with that? Members of the opposition?
Dr TOYNE: Yes.
Mr ELFERINK: Yes, no problem, Madam Deputy Chair.
The committee suspended until after Question Time.
Continued from earlier this day.
In committee:
Clause 19 continued:
Mr WOOD: Minister, I would like to continue for a short while on Part 3, clause 19. I will finish my questions on that and it will probably save me asking other questions when we get to Schedule 5.
What I have difficulty understanding is why the planning scheme had to be part of the confidential mediation. In other words, could you not have had the confidential agreement - which involved compensation - separate from what, basically, is a planning scheme? After all, the planning scheme, which helped take the place of some of the covenants, deals with what you can and cannot do on the land; such as car parking requirements, height control, subdivisions, home occupation, pontoons, all those sorts of things which are standard clauses in any Planning Act scheme.
Why could the goal of the government not be achieved - that is, a settlement which included compensation - without having the Lake Bennett Planning Scheme involved in the bill before us today?
Dr TOYNE: I really do not have much more to add to the debate from prior to the luncheon adjournment, member for Nelson.
We are going to have to agree to disagree on the process that the government followed to get to this resolution. I certainly welcome your comments that the outcome is fine. Your concerns are about the process. I have made it very clear what was in the government’s mind and why we installed that process. There is little more to add. I suggest that we agree to disagree.
Mr WOOD: It is not so much a matter of agreeing or disagreeing. I am trying to understand if the government has made a process which is not the normal process, it must have had a reason for doing it. I cannot understand the reason you did not just go down the normal path for a planning scheme, which is to advertise, exhibit, let everyone know and do what you normally do under the Planning Act. What made this mediation process have to have a planning scheme as part of it? That is all I am asking: why did it have to belong to it? Could you not have achieved the goal you were trying to achieve without putting the planning scheme into the system?
Dr TOYNE: I have nothing more to add. If you read Hansard, I have given reasons to all of the concerns that the member is raising. Again, I believe these are simply the same points we have dealt with.
Mr WOOD: I am disappointed. All I have been told is that, because Cabinet decided this was the process, this was the process. What I want to understand is why we have ignored the normal process. I support the achievement, but why has the government followed a process which, to me, bends the rules, and says the end justifies the means. If someone can tell me that is good governance, I will eat my hat. I do not think it is good governance and I believe it is worth asking the government why it has done something which is not the normal process. I do not think there is anything wrong with that. I support what they are doing, but I do not support the principle or the way in which they have gone about it. That is simply the case.
I will ask the minister one other question. Does he believe that, by doing this planning scheme under this process, the government has created a precedent which could be used in other cases where they do not particularly want the broader community to know what is going on at that particular stage? Do you think you have now created a precedent for developing planning schemes in such a manner?
Dr TOYNE: Along with the other issues raised since we resumed, I have answered that question and there is nothing more to be said.
Clauses 19 to 30, by leave, taken together and agreed to.
Schedules 1 to 4, by leave, taken together and agreed to.
Schedule 5:
Dr TOYNE: Madam Deputy Chair, I move amendment 93.2. Clause 23 of the bill provides that the lake and undeveloped part of the foreshore remain undeveloped other than for complying pontoons or the provision of services such as power and water. However, as currently drafted, clause 14(2) in Schedule 5 of the amendments to the planning scheme contained in the bill prohibits all further development. This committee stage amendment omits and replaces clause 14(2) of Schedule 5 with the consequence being that the planning scheme will reflect section 23 of the act.
Amendment agreed to.
Schedule 5, as amended, agreed to.
Remainder of bill, by leave, taken as a whole and agreed to.
Bill reported; report adopted.
Dr TOYNE (Justice and Attorney-General): Madam Speaker, I move that the bill be now read a third time.
Mr WOOD (Nelson): Madam Speaker, I realise the government may claim that I am attempting to hold up this particular act and, of course, that would upset residents of Lake Bennett. I had a number of meetings with Lake Bennett people and they understand where I am coming from. I am very disappointed that the government has gone down this path, not because of what it is trying to do, but because I believe that the way it has been done is not fitting of a government which supports proper governance.
When I spoke before and said that I felt there was not adequate compensation, I believe the minister did not understand what I was exactly getting at. There are a number of residents of Lake Bennett who have spent large sums of money and a lot of sweat and tears defending their rights through the courts. City Developments took some of these people to court; they then appealed; they were taken to court again. The Northern Territory government tried to pass legislation, and they also took them to court. Eventually, we reached the stage of mediation and compensation.
My belief is that those people who defended their rights that no one else defended - no government stood up for those people’s rights - should be adequately compensated. Some of those people were nearly taken to the wall because of the costs involved in those court cases. In some cases, I believe, when the costs were awarded to the person who lost the case, then the lawyers asked for their money. Of course, the costs had not been received by some of the block owners and that put them in extremely difficult financial positions. In some cases, I believe, bailiffs were knocking on the door because they wanted money.
Therefore, I am saying that if the government believes in justice, it should look at the overall picture - not just the legal picture from the point of view of compensation because of loss of easement rights, but because these people, through no fault of their own, had to fight all the way to achieve what was their right: to have a say in the development of Lake Bennett. Whether you agree this is a good or bad right is irrelevant; that right was defined in law as the courts upheld. I am saying that the government should have moved away from what you might say is its legal framework, its legal rights to compensate people, and look at the bigger picture over all those years to see whether those people should have been compensated adequately. That is why I am saying I do not believe those people were compensated adequately. It is a shame that we look at the law just from a formula point of view. In this case, we needed to look at the bigger picture.
The government, by passing this law, has set a bad precedent. It is worked on the principle of the end justifies the means. It does not seem to have a problem with bending the rules in special cases, when it did not need to do anything like that. I am flabbergasted that this parliament cannot even blink an eyelid that we can adjust things to suit circumstances when we really should not be doing that. The laws and the rules were put in place. I believe if we had followed the normal rules of planning, there would have been no problem, because this mediation process started in 2003 and there was certainly adequate time for a planning scheme amendment to be put to the public. If I was a member of Coomalie Council, I would be fairly ashamed that the government would not have at least notified them of what they were doing.
As I said, I do not want to stop a solution being found to this problem. However, I will say to the end that for a government to try and achieve this goal by not going through the proper processes, and to not adequately compensation people for all the pain and suffering, stress and financial problems that a lot of those people had to endure, highlights the fact that we have the case here of an act being passed which history will say: ‘Yes, we have found a solution to the Lake Bennett land issues; however, we could not put up our hand as being proud of the manner in which it was done’.
Dr TOYNE (Justice and Attorney-General): Madam Speaker, I want to put on the public record that, far from seeing the member for Nelson as a block or making mischief with this bill, it is apparent to all of us in here over the last four years that the member has a sincere and laudable commitment to seeing planning processes properly debated. I commend him for that. I do not take lightly any contribution from members to legislation debate in this House. I welcome whatever comments made, good or bad, to our interests.
It has been clear from the debate that the government has adopted a particular course of action to find this solution. We agree that the solution has been found. I understand the points you are making regarding planning processes, just as I hope you understand the points we have made about the history of this affair, and the fact that we do not see this as, in any way, compromising the overall integrity of planning processes in the Northern Territory. We had to take the circumstances as we found them in this case and find the most likely route to a final solution.
Finally, regarding the land-holders and other people who hold interest in Lake Bennett, sometimes all of us in politics see people who have not been able to resolve an issue, or a stage of their life. We see them in all our political offices, where the lack of resolution consumes their whole life. It can be quite a tragic thing to happen. I am very aware that everyone who went to Lake Bennett looked at it as doing something positive with their lives. They wanted a recreation haven for themselves and their families or to follow commercial opportunities in that location, whether it be development of their condominiums, or the resort development.
It is incredibly important that all of those stakeholders who have taken their interests in this, and suffered a real setback in their general life to a greater or lesser degree, move on from this - get closure and start enjoying Lake Bennett for the original purposes for which they went there, or whatever else they want to do with their interest in that location. That is the most important outcome of all. Ultimately, it is not about dollars and cents; it is about closure and bringing back the integrity of their relationship to that location and the activities that they went there to follow in their lives.
This bill gives that closure and allows all of the stakeholders to move on and start a constructive process with Lake Bennett again, and leave that part of a very sorry episode behind in many of their lives. I believe that is absolutely vital, and is something the government was very aware we should try to get out of our action to try to resolve this.
Madam Speaker, I am happy that, in this case, regardless of the process issues which we have debated, the outcome has been very good for these people, and there is now a group of Territorians who can enjoy their lives at Lake Bennett.
Motion agreed to; bill read a third time.
Continued from 2 December 2004.
Mr BURKE (Opposition Leader): Madam Speaker, I received a briefing from the police minister and his staff on this legislation, and I thank the minister for that briefing.
Whilst the amending legislation to the Police Administration Act is fairly bulky at first blush, it really sets out to achieve a primary measure that results from a private member’s bill sponsored by the member for Macdonnell. I know he is going to talk, probably in some detail, about the effect of these amendments.
I have spoken to him, and the spirit of the private member’s bill that he has introduced has been picked up by the government’s legislation which, in itself, stems essentially from New South Wales legislation. As I understand it, in the original Police Administration Act, there were two problematic areas: one was the ability for a person to bring a charge of misconduct and/or including punitive damages against a member of the police force directly. The member for Macdonnell, in his private member’s bill, sought to rectify that. The government has done that, even though the Police Administration Act does say that a plaintiff only has two months in which to lodge a claim.
The convention and interpretation of the courts in the way they have interpreted the original sections 162 and 163 has allowed them to essentially say: ‘We will need to see the evidence before we can make a decision as to whether or not there is a case’. That, in itself, is a stressful situation for individuals who are caught up in that environment. That was the mischief that the member for Macdonnell wanted to rectify. The amending act before us now, on my understanding, and I am confident about it, does exactly that. In fact, not only does it prevent a member of the public from bringing a charge of misconduct against a member of the police force directly; they can now only bring it against the Crown, and that is certain. They can only bring a charge against a member of the police force within two months if the Crown itself acknowledges no vicarious liability. Therefore, the amending legislation, to my mind, attends to the concerns that the member for Macdonnell had.
The amending legislation has a number of other elements that the government has taken the opportunity to insert into the Police Administration Act, including extending the commissioner’s power of delegation to amend search warrant powers under Part 7 of the act; to amend section 16A to allow the commissioner to alter a probationary constable’s period of probation; to amend the search warrant provisions to include a train; to amend the powers of the Disciplinary Appeal Board under section 94(6)(b); to amend section 144 to allow a member of the police force to search a person in lawful custody; and extend the definition of dangerous drug to include precursor chemicals and drug manufacturing equipment.
The second reading speech explained the reasons for those amendments quite clearly. I certainly have no issue with the amendments; they seem practical and a matter of common sense. There is one concern that will always be there, and that is extending the commissioner’s powers of delegation. Of course, with that liberty, it is dependent on the Police Commissioner of the day how liberally and responsibly he exercises that delegation. I have no doubt that it will be exercised properly; I simply make the point that only time will tell as to how that is used.
The amendments to allow the commissioner to alter a probationary constable’s period of probation are straightforward and make sense, considering the fact that many probationary constables enter our police force with varying degrees of experience based on their previous professional life and/or police experience. It is only right and proper that there is greater flexibility in that regard.
The search warrant provisions are really tidying up the powers to search, and the powers of the police force against individuals or a group in conducting that search.
Whilst the legislation itself, as I said, is quite bulky in its presentation, what it seeks to achieve is supported by the opposition and we thank the government for bringing forward these amendments.
Mr ELFERINK (Macdonnell): Madam Speaker, I apologise for my late arrival in the Chamber. I was actually trying to find my second reading speech from the last time this issue came up and I am having trouble with my office computer. Apologies to members, and I appreciate their indulgence, Madam Speaker, as I do yours.
This is a very heartening bill to see in many respects, as it captures exactly what I was trying to capture with my bill. It is curious that this government allows the opposition an ability to assist in governing the Northern Territory by rejecting opposition bills regularly, and then taking them on as their own policies - a criticism I am sure the minister was completely expecting, because it is becoming a very common feature of this government’s approach. This government, sadly, has had to rely on pilfering the ideas of members of the opposition on repeated occasions to sustain their credibility in the population.
The classic example is the penalties for setting fires. The member for Araluen, the shadow Attorney-General, suggested an amount which was far greater than the standard amount in the legislation. ‘Oh no …’ said the then minister with carriage of this particular, ‘… that is not good enough. If you are going to go to $20 000 we will up you to $25 000’. It was a little like watching a game of poker. ‘This is how we are going to differentiate ourselves; we are going to change a figure’, said the government. Then, of course, the bill the member for Araluen brought before this House in relation to witness protection, which miraculously reappeared after it had been pulled off as being silly and stupid, has suddenly reappeared as a new government bill and, all of a sudden, it is law. I draw members’ attention to certain child protection legislation as well that went through the same process of being killed off by the government, only to have life breathed into again a short time later.
It was not so long ago that I introduced a bill into this House to suggest that we should protect emergency workers. The government said: ‘No, that is ridiculous. What a strange and quite weird and wonderful thing that you are trying to do’. Now, miraculously, the Attorney-General has come into this House and said: ‘Hallelujah, road to Damascus, I was Saul, now I am Paul. Guess what? I am coming in with a new piece of legislation, and you did not think of it, we did’. It is getting very sad.
I brought a bill into this House, and guess what? The bill was written off as being ineffectual, not a good idea and all those sorts of things and - lo and behold! – resurrected. In the next government bill from the minister for police is the protection which will prevent individual police officers from being held civilly liable for their actions in the course of their duties. Well, hallelujah! This does have a familiar ring to it. I am glad the government has decided to adopt the CLP’s policy in relation to this. They have worked it into this bill, and I believe that they have done a good job. Their drafting seems to be - and I am not a lawyer - very effective.
There is one area that strikes me as being curious, and was basically covered in the second reading speech by the minister. Perhaps the minister would like to illuminate this House in relation to the issue itself, which is not major. It seems to be more a coverall thing. It is the protection that is written into this piece of legislation to prevent the liability of, and I quote the minister:
This, basically, says that a police officer subject to a punitive damages action is also covered from liability. I am curious to know why the minister has chosen to go down that path of protecting members from punitive liabilities. I construct my argument in the following terms.
Primarily, a punitive damage as opposed to normal damages or nominal damages, is a form of court punishment if you like – its very name suggests that it is punitive in its nature. These are damages which are issued or given by a court when the court is intending to actually do something punitive against an individual. Bearing in mind that the minister has clearly argued before this House that a situation with vicarious liability of the police department is said to exist as a result of this piece of legislation, I would like to know from the minister in what circumstances does he expect to see a person being the subject of punitive damages whilst the police are still being vicariously liable?
The reason that I ask that question is that, under vicarious liability, an employer is not liable if he can demonstrate that the employee is acting on a ‘frolic of his own’, I think is the term. If an employee is acting on a frolic of his own and it is demonstrable in court on the part of the defendant - namely the police force in this instance - then that is the sort of thing that would attract punitive damages. I am uncertain - and I have yet to see it demonstrated - that a person who is not engaging in a frolic of his own would actually attract punitive damages. I cannot understand why a court would seek to punish a person who is acting in the course of their duty, albeit negligently under the normal common law. I understand to cover punitive damages you have covered this particular area, so it is, perhaps, just a nicety. However, if an employer is vicariously liable, as the employee is not acting on a frolic of their own, then I am curious to know under what circumstances the minister would envisage that a punitive damage would be given where the employer is still vicariously liable? I would like some illumination on that particular issue from the minister.
Other than that, the bill gives me comfort. The other thing that gives me some comfort is that it is retrospective for actions which have not been started at this point, which means that those officers who have done their duty, and tried to do their duty effectively, are covered if actions have not been started.
The problem is that, while the government sits there and plays the political game of stealing the opposition’s ideas – well, that is politics; you live with that - the truth of the matter is that, for several months, members have been exposed to the potential of actions which this bill is intending to cover and, indeed, my bill was intending to cover. In that window period, it is quite possible that members and their families would have been subjected to the stress of a civil action whilst this government played politics, and that is sad. However, the government has chosen to go down this path, which I support.
Madam Speaker, I really hope and wish that the government would make the necessary acknowledgments when a genuine bill is brought before this House by members on this side - just amend them on the day or talk to us, or get briefings so that we can work out some amendments which suit the government so we can get the bill through and on time, rather than having to play this game of ‘rejecting your bill and introducing our own in a weeks time’. That means that there is a lag time of three to six months before a good idea becomes law.
Mr HENDERSON (Police, Fire and Emergency Services): Madam Speaker, I thank honourable members for their contribution to this debate and the opposition for the support for the bill. Picking up on the member for Brennan, the Leader of the Opposition’s comments, at first glance this does look like a fairly bulky and significant legislative change. However, when you work through it, there are key outcomes that are addressed by the amendments. I am always pleased, as minister, to not only offer the official shadow spokesperson of the day opportunities for briefing on legislation, but any member of this House who requires a briefing on legislation that is sitting on the Notice Paper.
To pick up the member for Macdonnell’s comments, certainly, we have picked up your sentiments and the initiatives contained in your legislation. As I said at the time when your legislation was debated, it was not matter area of me, as minister, or the government, seeming to be churlish to deny the passage of your legislation. The advice that I received from my department was that the changes that you sought and the outcomes that you proposed in your legislation would still see, potentially, individual officers required to be named in proceedings brought by a complainant. That was the advice of the department and, I said at the time, government supports the intent of what you were trying to do. We consulted with the Police Commissioner and the police association, and were pleased to support the intent of the initiative that you brought to the parliament. I said at the time that I am quite happy to pay recognition to that today in my wrap-up of the second reading debate.
However, it did have to go back and be reworked by my department and Parliamentary Counsel. The intent of what you sought to bring in here has been picked up in this amendment to the Police Administration Act, along with a number of other amendments to various parts of the act to vary police powers and the Commissioner’s powers of delegation.
In regard to whether we are playing games, deliberately voting down opposition legislation to bring it back as our own - certainly not. In all of the debates we have had here when you have rattled off a number of instances, we have come back and said: ‘Yes, the reason we are voting this legislation down is for whatever reason. We are going to bring it back and enhance it and pay testament to the member who brought it in’.
To say in regard to the protection for emergency services that the government stood up when the opposition introduced that bill and said: ‘This is a terrible idea and we will not do it’, you are really gilding the lily and doing your own credibility no good at all. We did not say that, we said that it was good idea and that we were going to further look at the legislation to strengthen it. Therefore, do not come in here, member for Macdonnell, and put words into people’s mouths and attribute sentiments to members that are blatantly false. Any reading of the Parliamentary Record will show that I am right and you are wrong on this particular issue.
The government does believe that police exercise delegated powers under legislation in often extreme, dangerous and difficult circumstances. A lot of policing is, by its very nature, a judgment call based on the circumstances of the particular case and, most times - in the vast majority of times - our police officers get it right and do a great job. On some occasions they might make a mistake, but there have only been two cases, I think, in Territory history where punitive damages were awarded directly against officers. This is a fantastic record inasmuch as our police officers do carry out their duties in the Northern Territory without fear or favour, applying discretion and judgment when it is called for and, for the most part, do that well. The courts have recognised that.
This legislation further protects police officers from vexatious actions that may be brought against individual officers; that the Crown will be the party from the outset and. Regarding the qualification that the member wanted in regards to section 163(3), as the second reading states, it enshrines the public policy view that the Crown is not liable to pay damages in the nature of punitive damages, as the court will only award those damages to punish or deter the defendant for their conduct. The amendment is to pick up and enshrine that public policy view.
The reason to pick this up is to prevent multiple applications: one against the Territory and one further suit against the member. The court can still apply punitive damages in the event that it does find extreme negligence; however, there have only been two cases. The amendment was to ensure that a complainant could not bring multiple applications against the Crown and the member; therefore, striking the amendments in the legislation essentially as non-effective. That is my explanation, as a non-legal person, why that section has been changed.
Like the previous legislation introduced by my colleague the Minister for Justice and Attorney-General in relation to Lake Bennett, all members accept that the outcomes of the legislation are supported by this parliament, and that is fantastic. We had debate about the process but, at the end of the day, this legislation does further protect police officers from potentially vexatious claims and puts officers’ minds at rest that, in the event that actions are brought against officers as a result of their actions in the course of their duty, they will be protected.
Madam Speaker, further amendments to various parts of the act essentially bring the act up to date in respect of modern police practices. I thank all members for their participation in the debate.
Motion agreed to; bill read a second time.
Mr HENDERSON (Police, Fire and Emergency Services)(by leave): Madam Speaker, I move that the bill be now read a third time.
Motion agreed to; bill read a third time.
Mr STIRLING (Employment, Education and Training): Madam Speaker, the government was elected to office with a strong commitment to improving education and training for Territorians.
Since August 2001, we have taken significant steps to implement this commitment. We have employed 100 above-formula specialist teachers and support staff. These teachers have bought a focus to literacy programs, school sports, special education, behaviour management, alternative provision and many other areas. Eight new attendance officers are re-engaging hundreds of children with the education system. We have provided significant support to the regions, with additional teaching resources provided to cluster groups.
We implemented the Learning Lessons report, something that was not done prior to coming to office. For the first time ever, the government has funded a roll-out of genuine secondary education to the bush. Three students at Kalkarindji became the first ever students to graduate in their own community in 2003.
We introduced the Territory’s first Jobs Plan, which has resulted in the highest ever intake of apprentices and trainees in the Territory’s history. In 2004, the Territory had 3000 people in either apprenticeships or traineeships, a 30% increase on previous years and a significant step towards resolving skill shortages. All of these initiatives and many others have been at the core of government’s priorities.
Today, I provide even more initiatives, reinforcing the government’s focus on education. I am proud to deliver Building Better Schools, the government’s plan for secondary education, a $42m program over four years, that puts it place the most significant improvements ever delivered to secondary education.
We made this commitment because we believe young Territorians must have the best possible opportunity to achieve in our community. The future of the Territory relies on our young people developing the necessary skills at school, especially secondary school, to prepare them for work and life in the Territory. The focus of these enhancement and investment is on students. Building Better Schools places the support of students and their improved results first, foremost and at the centre of its ambitions.
These plans have their genesis in the review of secondary education headed by Dr Gregor Ramsey and have been refined by the extensive public consultation of the SOCOM group and the department throughout 2004. Never before have so many parents, teachers and community members had so much input into educational decision-making.
The Martin government will implement most of the original review’s 52 recommendations. While we have adopted some key underlying principles, we believe further work has to be done on these principles. At the outset, let me say that the government will not close the Northern Territory Open Education Centre. We have chosen to enhance its worth. Nor will we introduce a quality services agency, and we will not introduce learning precincts. We believe that these would inevitably lead to greater layers of administration and not more effective outcomes for students.
The government has accepted the principle that 11- to 14-year-olds need particular attention to keep them engaged in their education. We have, therefore, adopted the principles of a middle years educational approach - an approach which has significant research support. We will work with the community on how best to provide that support throughout 2005, when extensive Territory-wide community consultation will occur on this issue. How this leading edge approach will be implemented is in the hands of the school community.
One of the benefits of living in the Territory is quality primary schools in our local areas, and we are strongly committed to the future of these schools. All existing schools will remain; there will be no school closures.
I will now detail the government’s plans. Investing in students: the government will spend an additional $15.37m over the next four years on supporting students and learning in secondary education. Government will ensure that each secondary school has a counsellor attached to it, and that the opportunity exists for counsellors to be available for the bush. We have allocated $500 000 this financial year, and a total of $1.85m, approximately, ongoing to implement this policy. We will free up resources for schools to focus on career advisors. We have already commenced the process of recruiting new counsellors for schools.
In this financial year, the government will invest an additional $475 000 in vocational education training programs. Over the next few years, that commitment will grow to an additional $1.2m per annum. We have a strong record on VET. We have provided a very positive public profile of VET courses, and our school-based apprenticeships program now sees 150 students undertaking skills development in this way. That figure is up from 18 students in 2001. The decision to further fund these programs demonstrates our commitment to overcoming international skill shortages by growing our own talent, something which has already resulted in a lift of 30% in the number of apprentices and trainees in the Territory.
The government believes that strong teachers provide strong education, as fundamental research around the world shows that good teachers improve outcomes of all students. We are proud of the effort put in every day by teachers right across the Territory; our aim is to support that effort. Government will, therefore, introduce a Teaching and Learning Framework document to support teachers by outlining features of good teaching and learning practice.
The government will also invest in an expansion of the curriculum, especially for senior students. Greater choice provides a better opportunity for students to succeed. Assistance will be provided to schools to develop individual learning profiles for each student. These profiles will enable teachers to quickly get an understanding of where an individual students is at, allowing them more ability to focus on the needs of that student. This individual focus on students underpins the middle years philosophy and is the rationale behind the government’s plans to provide mentors and pathway programs for senior students.
Building Better Schools also provides a significant focus on support for teachers. Over the next four years, the government will invest an additional $5.41m in support for Territory teachers. Government will support the development of professional learning communities. These communities, which can be geographic or virtual, will allow teachers across the Territory to support and learn from each other, for better teaching and learning to improve educational outcomes. This approach has become a feature of professional work across North America in health as well as education. These communities can provide a focussed approach to critical issues facing the Territory education system from the people who work and live in it every day.
The government will invest an additional $4.81m in professional development for teachers. The money will be focussed on improving the quality and relevance of professional development, providing professional development for pathway mentors, and in supporting middle years educational philosophy and practice. We have chosen to invest in the teacher’s professional development rather than in the bureaucratic processes of a quality services agency. Over recent years, the agency has been developing a more strategic approach to recruitment and exploring innovative ways of retaining and valuing teachers. We will continue this work. Pre-service training for teachers will be improved, and programs aimed at bringing parents and teachers closer together, working on their students’ needs, will also receive additional funding.
The government will improve the staffing formula - counsellors are just one aspect of this - and equitable arrangements will be put in place between the bush and urban areas. Students and teachers in the bush will receive the same formula as their counterparts in town for the first time ever. This will be the base of support from which we will add further resources. Additional money will be provided to completing work on the most appropriate staffing formulae across the system.
In addition to providing equity in staffing formulae, the government will provide a pool of specialist teachers based around cluster groups in regional areas. This will mean that specialist support staff, working in cooperation with face-to-face teachers and distance delivery modes, will provide a strong focus of support to students in the bush. Focus is critical. For too long, indigenous education has not received this necessary attention. Government has demonstrated our commitment through the implementation of the Learning Lessons report. This now takes that program a step forward with more specific attention placed on secondary education.
It is our intention to see more and more indigenous students graduating through Year 12 in their own communities. In aiming to achieve this, we will provide mentorship programs specifically designed for indigenous secondary students. Most importantly, the government will continue its very successful program of rolling out secondary education into the bush. Already, five schools have been provided with secondary programs; this will continue throughout the Territory. The total additional investment in indigenous education over the next four years is $15.84m.
The initial review of secondary education recommended a new approach to the provision of distance education which included the closure of the Northern Territory Open Education Centre. I always had concerns about this recommendation. The SOCOM report identified that there were very real issues in distance education, but recommended that this be fixed by enhancing the Open Education Centre and bringing all distance providers into a closer working relationship. The government is happy to accept these views and reject the initial recommendation. The government will now bring closely together the NTOEC, Alice Springs School of the Air and the Katherine School of the Air, operating under an agreed distance education policy.
What we envisage for distance education is quite clear: education to remote communities will be delivered in mixed mode. It is the government’s intention to roll out secondary education so more face-to-face teachers are available. Specialists will be pooled into clusters; however, completing that picture will be distance providers. In some cases, they will take classes directly with the support of locally-based teachers; in other cases these roles will be reversed. In yet further instances, distance delivery mode will be used to support teachers directly in their needs. It is a new and exciting dawn for the NTOEC, the Alice Springs and Katherine Schools of the Air, and one which is overdue. The government will back these intentions with the provision of a new interactive distance learning studio at Katherine. The total additional investment immediately in distance education will be $1.87m.
A number of fundamental relationships make up a school community: one between teachers and parents, the other between teachers and students. The relationships between teachers and between neighbouring schools are also very important. In the government’s view, these relationships are in need of stronger support. The initial review sought to evolve that relationship into a precinct model. This has been rejected by the community and is rejected by the government. The government will invest $3.19m over four years in strengthening existing relationships rather than altering them with potentially more bureaucracy. These funds will be invested in programs to bring parents and teachers together, and in allowing students a greater role in educational forums and decision-making. Already, the chief executive has begun holding forums with students across the Territory, and I commend him for it. Funds will also be put into place to better position the agency as a support for teachers and school communities to overcome any perceptions and barriers between them.
Improving data collection analysis and reports to school communities will also be funded. We have already spent considerable funds drilling down into key outcomes into education. This is allowing us to focus resources on specific issues as needs arise. Without this data, educational analysis and action is less accurate. We will also continue and build on strategies to improve school attendance and provide funding to assist in the transition from school to work.
I believe the announcements made yesterday by the government will see a significant enhancement of secondary education that is an important step forward for the Territory. I genuinely believe that, in the future, these improvements and enhancements will be seen as giving the Territory a leading edge in Australia in the delivery of secondary education, and in the outcomes achieved by students.
I acknowledge that not all decisions have been made; there is more to be done and still much to discuss with the community. The government embarked on the program because of our belief in the need to build better secondary education for students. Along the way, we and the school community have learned a lot more about where we can take the Territory and how we can move the Territory ahead. There are many people to thank for the work. I wish to thank the initial review team headed up by Dr Gregor Ramsey, and the reference committee which monitored its progress. I wish to thank the priority education team in DEET headed up Rita Henry until recently. They have been a tower of strength and commitment, and Rita Henry really is a remarkable person. I also wish to thank and praise the efforts of chief executive, Peter Plummer. He has focussed his considerable skills on bringing the program to fruition.
I look forward to hearing the discussion on these proposals and I hope that it is focussed on what is best for the Territory students. Madam Speaker, I commend the statement to the House, and move that the Assembly take note of the statement.
Dr LIM (Greatorex): Madam Speaker, what a dreadful day to see a minister who gets up to read a statement and his body language tells me that he did not even believe the statement that he has put out today. He does not believe what he is telling us; that he is going to spend $42m to bring about some changes over the next four years. Here he is, asking Territorians to swallow that bitter pill.
In this document that he handed out today in the package, he talked of $42m and that the government is going to accept most of the review’s 52 recommendations. Yes, they have knocked three. They have knocked out the recommendation to close the NT Open Education Centre. They had to be dragged kicking and screaming to accept that.
The opposition came out as early as May of last year saying: ‘Do not do it’. In fact, we issued a media release saying that the CLP would provide resources to enhance the services of the Open Education Centre. At long last, the government saw the light of day and decided, yes, they would follow suit. I thank the government for following the thoughts of not only just the opposition, but also the staff, parents and students from the Open Education Centre to ensure its continued existence will be enhanced to ensure that distance education is much better provided across the Territory.
The government also agreed to knock out learning precincts. That issue was very strongly articulated by the community; they did not want learning precincts. However, right through that so-called push polling ‘consultation’ that they did, they were pushing so hard for learning precincts and, again, community resistance was such that they had to bail out from it. It was a way of hiding the government’s intention to remove the strength and powers that school councils have had over the years to manage their own school communities. The CLP has always supported that, and will continue to support the empowerment of school councils to manage their own school communities. I am glad to see that the government has again recognised that, and now will provide resources to school councils. We will soon be articulating our education policy and the government can then learn from us how we will empower school councils.
The minister then talked about the rejection of the recommendation to develop a quality service agency that my colleague, the member for Blain, will be speaking about shortly. I will reserve my time for other matters.
However, before I embark on the opposition’s response to the minister’s statement which he delivered in a scant few minutes, let me just bring in other commentators’ remarks about this plan of the government. Yesterday, the AEU NT sent out a media release, and I quote the words of Ms Nadine Williams:
She goes on further:
Finally, she said:
The unions are not happy with the government’s very glossy window dressing that they are trying to get Territorians to swallow just before an election. Again, on a radio interview this morning, Nadine said the Australian Education Union says it has been under-whelmed by the Northern Territory government response to the secondary education review and that government funding will not stretch far. The news item said:
When you work it out, $42m over four years is about $10.5m per year. It is suspiciously similar to the amount of increase that the Department of Employment, Education and Training received from this government in this year’s budget. It went up by about $10.2m. Is this new money? Nowhere in the minister’s speech did he say: ‘This is brand new money’.
Mr Stirling: Of course it is new, you goose!
Dr LIM: I pick up on the minister’s interjection. He said: ‘Of course it is …’ Where does it come from? Where does the money come from? Is this a Treasurer’s Advance? I do not know; he did not tell us. The money has suddenly come out of the air. Where is the money from - from a hollow log where this government has been hoarding all these years with all the GST funding they have been getting? They have received $500m above what they would normally get because of GST largesse. They have been stashing it away. Now, suddenly, all this money is appearing. We would like to know where this money comes from. The Minister for Employment, Education and Training is also the Treasurer. I suppose maybe he has lots of money in his hip pocket. We would like to know where it comes from. He will not tell us. It is very suspicious that somehow, from somewhere, money now appears. If you look at $10.5m a year for this plan, it is no more than your annual increase in the budget for DEET. What are you doing? You need to look at how you get the money and how you are going to spend it.
I will quote an interview on radio this morning by Daryl Manzie with Alan Perrin, Secretary of the AEU. It is amazing what he had to say; he was very scathing of the government. He is a man who once, I would say, supported the Labor government totally and now says that this government has really walked away from education and has not done the right thing by his members. It is not a very long interview, so I might read it in total.
So there you are. The union, very scathing of the government, was telling the government that it has not done the right thing by all the students in the Territory.
I turn to the body of the minister’s statement this afternoon. He made an overall statement on how well the attendance officers have done in the Territory in being able to bring hundred of students back into the system. I commend the hard work that the attendance officers have done. I believe they have done a fantastic job rekindling the interest of students to come back to school, to be re-engaged in education. However, the minister, consistently, has applauded the efforts of the attendance officers - and I join him in that – but he has to tell us how well his educational system has been able to re-engage those students who have been brought back by the attendance officers. What is the attrition rate of these students who have been brought back to school? He has not said a word about that at all. It leads me to think he might be bringing them back through the front door and they are walking out through the back door because your education system is not re-engaging those students. You have to start thinking how you are going to do that.
You talked about Learning Lessons. That is for the history books in the sense that it has been here for a long time. In fact, some of the recommendations were commenced by the CLP government. It is unfortunate that we did not have the time to continue to progress the recommendations that were in Learning Lessons.
The minister then claimed they had three students at Kalkarindji who became the first students ever to graduate in their own community in 2003. I applaud those students. However, the minister takes credit that those students, somehow, managed to get their HSC under their own efforts. The Northern Territory Open Education Centre contributed significantly to the success of those three students. Thank God that the NTOEC was there to ensure that secondary education was delivered to those students. It was for that and many other reasons why the NTOEC was so strongly supported by the community and the opposition to be retained.
I come back to the $42m again. The minister said it is new money which is good - about $10.5m per year. That is going to do a whole raft of things. I read out some of the things that the minister said he was going to be able to produce out of that $10.5m each year. He is going to use that money to cover initiatives such as a wider commitment for late and middle schools; expand vocational educational training and enterprise learning; increase professional development; increase face-to-face teaching; visiting specialist teachers for remote schools; and improve school infrastructure and teacher housing. Also, he is going to bring in school counsellors who are extra to the teacher staffing allocation. All of that for $10m a year. I will do the mathematics in a little while.
According to Budget Paper No 3 of this year’s budget, there are at least 60 secondary schools, or at least 60 schools delivering secondary education - whichever way you are going to play with words. If you divide that up into $10m a year, it works out to be around $170 000 to $180 000 per school per year to implement all those programs. Stop to think: 60 secondary schools, each one with a student counsellor. How much are you going to pay a school counsellor - $50 000, $60 000, $70 000? If you add on your add-on costs, you are looking at nearly $100 000 for a school counsellor. Are you going to be able to provide a school counsellor and all the other things you are going to do with $175 000 per school per year? Remember that this secondary review and its recommendations impact not only on secondary schools but, in fact, on primary schools. The minister did say - or was it at a briefing at the minister’s office; I cannot remember now – that the student counsellors will not only service the high schools, but also the primary schools that feed into the high schools. Therefore, now we are starting to look at resources being stretched, not only through the 60 secondary schools, but through the other 140 primary schools across the Territory. If you are sharing the $10.5m across the Territory on high schools and primary schools, you are looking at nearly 200 schools. Suddenly, per school per year, you are down to about $52 000.
Window dressing! Glossy hand-outs, beautiful pieces of paper but, at the end of the day, it is all window dressing for a lead-up to a general election. That is what it is. If the government was really honest with itself, and the minister believed in his own statement, he would have done a lot better job convincing Territorians that is what he is doing. Every commentator - the media, the unions – and if you talk to the schools out there, they say that this is just not true; what the minister wants to do cannot be done with the resources he is going to provide.
I need the minister to explain to me what he means by that. He does not have the mandate to implement the recommendations? Let us find out what he is doing. Let him, in his response, tell me why he needs to seek a further mandate from the people? I am not saying he should or he should not; he has explained himself.
Regarding school counsellors, in the minister’s statement, he said he has allocated $500 000 this financial year for school counsellors. At a briefing, I was told you are going to have 19 school counsellors appointed this year. Well, 19 is very short of one school counsellor per secondary school across the Territory when there are, in fact, 60 secondary schools according to the Territory’s budget. Therefore, at 16 schools with one counsellor each at $0.5m – well, let us say 19 for now, at $0.5m. That works out to be about $26 000 per counsellor. What are you buying? Somebody who got his or her counsellor’s degree out of a Weetbix box? What are you getting? That $26 000 will not buy you a school counsellor. What sort of figures are you playing with? Then, to say the total will be approximately $1.85m ongoing to implement this policy - $1.85m for 60 counsellors works out to be $30 000 each. Well, minister, you do not even pay your most junior, most recent graduate, teacher $30 000 to come to work for you. And you want somebody to come to your schools, be there full-time to service not only the secondary school but also your primary school, dealing in the most critical issues the young people suffer from. No wonder the unions slag at you for trying to mislead Territorians. If this is not promulgating a lie, I do not know what it is.
Mr STIRLING: A point of order, Madam Acting Deputy Speaker!
Dr LIM: I did not say you were lying. I am just saying that this is promulgating a lie.
Mr STIRLING: I ask you to withdraw.
Madam ACTING DEPUTY SPEAKER: Excuse me. A point of order! I would ask you to withdraw, member for Greatorex.
Mr STIRLING: You could not name one initiative. You claimed you implemented Collins. You could not name one, you liar!
Madam ACTING DEPUTY SPEAKER: Minister, resume your seat.
Dr LIM: The minister just called me a liar, Madam Acting Deputy Speaker.
Madam ACTING DEPUTY SPEAKER: Withdraw that comment please, minister.
Mr STIRLING: I am waiting for his withdrawal, Madam Acting Deputy Speaker.
Madam ACTING DEPUTY SPEAKER: Yes, I have asked the member …
Dr Lim: All right …
Madam ACTING DEPUTY SPEAKER: Excuse me! Excuse me, I am speaking at the moment! Member for Greatorex, I asked you withdraw first.
Dr LIM: Yes, speaking to the point of order …
Madam ACTING DEPUTY SPEAKER: No! Excuse me! I have asked you to withdraw.
Dr LIM: I will withdraw the phrase ‘propagating a lie’, yes.
Madam ACTING DEPUTY SPEAKER: Thank you. And, minister, you have withdrawn?
Mr STIRLING: Absolutely.
Madam ACTING DEPUTY SPEAKER: Thank you. Continue.
Dr LIM: Let us come now to the minister saying he is going to put this money to good use, bring about good teaching and learning practice, and provide assistance to schools to develop individual learning profiles for each student. Are you going to use SAMS? Do you know what SAMS is, minister? Just in case you do not, it is the Student Administration and Management Support system. Are you going to give more money to develop SAMS so that it can do all it can do, or are you going to start with a new system?
Talking about SAMS - funny that: Nightcliff High School has been taken off SAMS. I wonder why? If SAMS were to look across the board at how students and schools are performing, why is Nightcliff off? Maybe Madam Acting Deputy Speaker will know what it is all about and will explain when her chance comes. I wonder if the member for Nightcliff knows that Nightcliff High School has, somehow, been excluded from the whole school system. Funny, that.
Minister, you have read 25 pages over 15 minutes with no conviction in your voice whatsoever. You say that you are going to do this $42m plan which, for all intents and purposes, is nothing but window dressing. Territorians recognise it; the unions that used to support you recognise it; commentators outside recognise it; the media recognises it. When I was doing media interviews yesterday, commentators were saying to me: ‘Isn’t it terrible? This is really window dressing’. They made the suggestion to me.
There are a few issues for you to respond to. Tell us what you are really going to do. Where is the money coming from? If it is a Treasurer’s Advance, tell us. I would like to know that you have done it from there. For 14 months you have sat on this report. You have been literally paralysed by the recommendations in it. You came out yesterday and said: ‘Oh, we will do this for $42m, but the first cab off the rank will be 19 student counsellors’. Really, that is it; there is nothing else. As Alan Perrin said, the rest are on the backburner. No one knows when they will come forward. At the briefing, one of your officers said: ‘We do not know whether this particular program will be implemented because it depends on staffing numbers and facilities available’. Therefore, it is all gammon; smoke and mirrors.
This is so glossy and so lovely to look at, and it smells nice. However, really, what substance does it have? I am sure that there will be members of the backbench applauding how well the government has done but, if they really look into it - and I suggest the member for Nightcliff tell us what she knows about Nightcliff High School and what is happening out there because, when a school is supposed to be part of the whole education system and, suddenly, comes off-line, you think: ‘Oh, gee, something is happening that is not allowing staff to interrogate SAMS to find out how many students there are’. There are conflicting reports of how many students are at Nightcliff. A staff list cannot be obtained because SAMS is not available.
Minister, I am very disappointed with this. The money that you committed is not truly transparent. The processes you are going through are not transparent enough for us to understand where you are getting to. Worst of all, we do not know where the money is coming from in the first instance. If you have that much money to spend, you should spend it well, transparently, with the support of the industry, teachers and parents to ensure that we have the best student outcomes in the Territory. Instead, you are so hung up on processes in the department that the teachers are spending more time processing than they are delivering good education for students. That is where I believe you have gone wrong, instead of making sure that our students get good education outcomes so that they can get on with achieving careers - whether in trades or in professions. That is what we want to do and you have not achieved that with - and now with this additional budget of $10m, now $550m - that you have in the total DEET budget. $550m! That is a humungous amount of money, and I am sad to say that we have not seen very much for it.
Minister, in your closing statement, come back with something more substantial than you have so far.
Dr TOYNE (Justice and Attorney-General): Madam Acting Deputy Speaker, I unreservedly welcome the minister’s statement and, more importantly, the initiative that stands behind it. I do that not only as a member of government and a member of this House, but as a teacher of 20 years standing, both in urban high schools …
Dr Lim: When school attendances dropped back! When you were there!
Dr TOYNE: … and remote communities.
Madam ACTING DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order!
Dr TOYNE: If I can continue beyond the carping that is going on over the other side there, I know how much this is going to mean to teachers. I can be very specific about this. We have issues that still have to be taken through the school communities in our urban centres - very valid issues and issues that need to be handled in a very careful and democratic way. The minister is to be commended that he has not just gone bull at a gate, as the member for Greatorex seems to think he needs to do. He is going to continue to work with those issues regarding our urban secondary programs.
However, it is out in the bush that this package is so, and I can certainly say not the bush in general. I was at Yuelamu, Laramba, Yuendumu and Kalkarindji schools in the past three to six months. This is not theory, this the actual reality that this is going to impact on. You have teachers in those schools that I have named who, because of their professional commitment and their sensitivity to what their school communities are asking them to prioritise within the school programs, have put an enormous amount of effort into getting some level of secondary offering going in those bush communities. That is not new. In my time at Yuendumu, there was secondary delivery set up through to Year 10 using distance education components. I am certainly aware of similar programs at Papunya, Kintore school at one stage, Haasts Bluff school which is just within Central Australia, and Ti Tree school.
Teachers right through the bush know what the parents have been asking for and that it cannot wait any longer to get these programs up and running. Often, in the past, that has been anything but encouraged. In fact, under the previous regime, despite the hypocritical remarks in today’s debate, teachers were often stamped on for showing that sort of loyalty and professional commitment to their students and to the community. This is what is so important about this initiative that our minister announced yesterday and talked about in the House: the teachers are now being told: ‘Go ahead, your government is behind you. Let us get these programs going. Let us pick up 3000 or so 12– to 16-year-olds out there who have not had a proper secondary program with any equity at all offered to them in the past’. That is a huge call for any government and minister to make; to take on that challenge to extend our secondary delivery into one of the hardest contexts in which you can choose to deliver those types of educational programs, against a whole history of earlier attempts which had built up a heritage - or an inheritance, I guess - amongst bush teachers of distrust for what the government’s intentions were in the past; what the department’s intentions were expressing those government preferences.
We can no longer go forward in the Northern Territory by saying: ‘Oh, this is all too hard if one school out bush can successfully run secondary programs. Look at all the problems it is going to cause, because the expectation will be there for the whole of the Northern Territory’. Well, that expectation has now arrived. With this statement today, we are saying every kid in the Northern Territory of that age group has the right to realistic access to secondary education. Why do you reckon that is a good thing to do? Because it is going to have a huge number of beneficial effects in our education system as a whole.
The primary education out bush has been running into difficulties, simply because there is no articulation up to secondary. The parents are not stupid and nor are the kids. They have been through plenty of cycles out there now where they have supported their kids going through primary programs only to find that they have reached a dead end - that there is no articulation into secondary or into employment under what was seen as good enough or near enough in the past.
Our minister and our government have now put the flag up the pole. We are saying that, until we get seriously into secondary delivery out in the communities, we are not going to find the revitalisation of primary education, or of indigenous participation in employment. If that is not the future of the Territory, the alternative is almost unthinkable. We are going to put generation after generation of those oncoming young people through a school education process that leaves them unemployable and unsocialised to the general Territory community, and with a very low self-esteem because they know that they have not made it into mainstream viability in our community. People are not stupid; they know exactly where they sit in the community that they belong to. That is a recipe going into the future for further and further expenditure on law and order issues, health issues and on welfare support for people who cannot get and hold a job. These are really crucial issues that we are talking about today.
I cast back to where I was in those remote schools. Going to Kalkarindji last year and attending the presentation of the Year 12 certificates to four bush-based students was an absolute highlight in my life as an educator. In that school, there were some fantastically committed teachers who had found a way to do it and do it well, because those kids have now gone on to university studies, and they are not only employable, but they will have plenty of choices in the job market when they come back to the Territory and resume life here. Those people are precious to the future of those communities; they are huge role models for other kids in that age group throughout the Territory.
We cannot leave those teachers, those communities, and those students in any doubt whatsoever as to the support that they are going to get into the future to consolidate those programs and make it so that it is a standard thing that kids in remote communities go through to at least the end of Year 10 and, preferably, in good numbers up to Year 11 and 12. It is not easy though; we know the issues you have to get over if you are going to have a successful program based in a remote community. We know you have to have distance education input; that is allowed for in the initiative that the minister has announced. We know that you have to have home teacher support and very active support from host school arrangements within the main urban centres. We have to get these kids so that they can live life in whatever context they choose to go to in our great community here in the Northern Territory. If they go into town, they have to be viable, employable and part of the community, and feel that they are part of the community, just as much as they feel they are part of the community sitting on their traditional country with all their heritage and the support that gives their identities. All of that is embodied in this program.
There will be, initially, subject teachers appointed and coordination appointed to develop these bush programs. They will occur in a clustered arrangement with schools so that we have enough students in each delivery arrangement to make a viable secondary program. We can use distance education to bring expertise and elements of the program in, either from town-based teachers or by cross-delivering between the program delivery points. All of that has been tried out bush somewhere or other over time; and is known to be workable.
I can tell you that, despite the member for Greatorex’s assertions that not one living person in the world thinks that the government has done a good job here, that is not my experience - that is not my experience at all. The teachers in those remote schools cannot wait to see this start to happen. We will have some completely supported delivery going on before the end of this academic year, so it is not years away. We are picking up the areas of education delivery that are already out there; that have been put there by the white knuckle effort by the teachers who have just simply said: ‘I do not care if we have to teach science classes in a chicken coop’, which happened in the early days at Kalkarindji – not now, thank goodness, because we have built a really good secondary facility now to recognise the effort. That just shows the commitment there. They are not going to let anything stop them. They have got to where they were trying to get those kids and they did it because of their professional commitment to those students and that community.
I want to commend the teachers out there, right now, who are getting these programs going for the next academic year. They are unsung heroes in this, and this government initiative has come at a time when, at last, they can turn around and say: ‘Great, someone has noticed; someone has recognised the huge equity issues in this’. However, even more importantly, they have recognised that the common interest of the Territory community is vitally bound up with the success of these programs into the future.
What do we want? Do we want a future of clearing up the results of under-performance in a significant part of our community, or do we want a vibrant Territory society which is spread right over the whole land mass of the Territory and not all clustered in a few urban centres, and interacting within one economy, one society, so that we can fully exploit the whole richness and diversity of what the Territory community is right now, and will become, even more so into the future? That is the challenge in this package. This is the start of a huge campaign that is going to be needed to establish a full, completed secondary education system in the Northern Territory. You do not have one at the moment. We have not had one for – ever since I have been involved here, and probably long before that.
We have to say that every single 12- to 16-year-old, no matter where they choose to live in the Territory or where they are starting from now, are going to have adequate and realistic access to secondary education. If we can do that, we are going to move the community and the Territory forward in a quantum leap from where we are now. I tell you that, as Health Minister and as Justice minister, I cannot wait for that to happen because all of the clean up and compensating activities that we have to do at the moment because things are not working in that basic service area, will have pressure taken off them.
That is why I am very happy today to support this. In fact, having seen 10 or 15 years of wanting to see this happen out bush and contributing where I could, it is just a fantastic day today to see this happening. I congratulate the minister. I am proud to be part of this government that has finally taken up this challenge. We are going to make this work, and I would like to see every member of this House getting behind it.
Mr MILLS (Blain): Madam Acting Deputy Speaker, I initially support and recognise the hard work of teachers right across the Northern Territory. The students have gone home, but most of them would either be preparing lessons for tomorrow or marking work from today’s lessons. Our teachers do work hard and our community does recognise, and is increasingly aware of, the value that our teachers have in our community. Our teachers need support; they need to be respected and appreciated for the contribution they make. It is not an easy job and, more and more, people are understanding that.
The point here is that we have had a secondary education review. Those hardworking teachers who attend to the challenges that each day brings expected the full and proactive support of this government. The expectations were raised, with much fanfare, that there would be a comprehensive review into secondary education. In the euphoria of the moment, I sincerely welcomed the commissioning of a review into secondary education. An honest, forthright, well-considered and well-resourced education review was timely and fully supported.
That was commissioned in early 2003. There was understandable excitement within the education fraternity, and it filtered out to the school councils that there would be stimulation of debate on education in our community. There was optimism and excitement about the possibility to now discuss important issues about education; about the changing face of secondary education, particularly in middle schooling. There are many issues that could be discussed. It is good to have a community start to talk about education. It is good to talk about how to measure schools and if we know whether our schools are going well or not. Those good people who work on school councils to support education wanted to have their say, as did a range of government and non-government organisations.
In the atmosphere of excitement and optimism, with the opportunity to debate and discuss education, away we went until, towards the end of 2003, we learnt that the review was to be concluded. Optimism was still there. Excitement faded as we waited for all this work to be responded to by the Martin Labor government. It was a bit like the excitement of a big trip to explore a new and exciting land: it is all very well to have the trumpet and fanfare as they go off but, when they come back, you set your pigeons off to fly; they come home. Now, the review came back. Oh, dear. Now it was time for consideration and analysis, the time for decisions: 52 recommendations.
The optimism seemed to fade a little, because it took some time. We went into school holidays and the deadline was extended. In terms of history, it is important to remind members of this aspect of the review. On 23 March, the shadow minister for Employment, Education and Training issued a media release headed ‘What is the Martin Labor government hiding in the secondary education review?’ On 15 April 2004 another said: ‘Government sits on secondary education report for four months and now wants another three months’. My goodness!
We made a statement about what we will do. Then, we came to 26 August 2004. The community was starting to get angry. We wanted some kind of feedback to this review. We contributed to this review last year. We had an honest expectation there would be a decision or some kind of action, some kind of result, some kind of conclusion - but none. They started to become jaded, confused and disappointed that they had their expectations raised and no result. Government still sat and waited. On 17 September 2004: ‘Minister continues to procrastinate on Secondary Education Review’. On 21 September: ‘Secondary Education Review falling apart’ - apparently. Nobody really knew.
Nothing seemed to be happening, except strange messages going out to those who were actively involved in education that raised their concern even further. Once there was optimism, active debate, a confidence in what changes this government may address in education. It seemed to be falling right off the rails with the wind going out of the sails. On 5 January: ‘Another $1m wasted by Martin government education’. ‘Education review put on hold because of an election’. Oh dear, the inevitable! ‘There is an election coming, my goodness, what are we going to do’. On 11 January, ‘Student numbers had dropped off’, but that is an aside. That is the end of the story.
Now we have the response. This government has been painted into a corner, and what they do best is to spin and paint in glossy colours a decision that has been so long in the making. The true story here is that, those hardworking teachers the honourable members before me spoke of - those ones who work so hard, whether it is in a chicken coup or wherever - by sheer will and commitment to education, make it happen. Those are the teachers who have been let down through this whole process. It is a disappointment, minister, and an indictment on this government’s inability to actually make the hard decisions. That settles out there; teachers are going to accept what you have given them. They are going to ask the questions, but you have missed an opportunity and there is a level of disappointment. There once was optimism, enthusiasm and active involvement in debate on education.
However, we move on. What the community really wants to know is, how strong the Northern Territory education system is. Before members opposite rise to attack what I am about to say, as though I am blaming this government for recent results that have come out in the Productivity Commissioner’s 2005 Report, nothing could be further from the truth – it is more important than that. We, as a community, want to know how strong our education system is, and how effective our government and our non-government system is. They are the fundamental questions that need to be answered, and it was with that spirit that the community engaged in the review and the consultation.
The point is, the answer to that question has been provided by those who are in government and have the opportunity to respond proactively in the best interests of education. That question has, traditionally in Australia, been met by a debate about teacher numbers. Obviously, we will have a stronger system if we increase the number of teachers in our system. That seems to be a response to that question, though there is considerable thought that that may not match the outcome; there may not be, in fact, a strengthened system just by increasing numbers. Class sizes are often cited as a way of strengthening and improving the education system. That concept is also challenged by international study, with not necessarily a direct correlation between class sizes and strengthened outcome in education.
The conventional debate in Australia and the Northern Territory has been that we can measure how well we are doing in education by how much we spend on education. These are the traditional Australian responses to that question. Other systems internationally have begun to ask deeper questions. Are these fair measures of a good system, because the real answer must lie within this area: does our effort increase student learning?
That is where it becomes difficult and where one of these recommendations has slipped out. There will be a certain amount of spin, gloss, hype, covering up, and an assertion that things are going okay in terms of data collection and so on. However, this is really the bottom line: all the effort that we as legislators, those in government, and those who work hard in the system make should be able to measurably increase student learning. If that is unable to be ascertained, we are left with unreliable measures like ‘Let us increase the spending; therefore, it will improve. Let us reduce the class sizes; therefore, it will improve’. These are not necessarily so.
This is where this debate over this review raised the expectation that there would be the capacity to take some of the harder decisions that other nations, other education systems - even within our own country Victoria has made some very interesting moves in the last couple of years - would be taken on. But no, we have had procrastination upon procrastination and, rather than make a decision in the first instance, the decision after a delay was: ‘Decision; we will ask the community what do they think’. The community said: ‘For goodness sake, you have just asked us so that we could actually contribute to this review which threw up the recommendations’. Now they have thrown the recommendations back at the community again, and the community said: ‘Oh, my goodness, so this is what you think?’ ‘No, no, it is not what we are thinking, it is what you might be thinking. No, after you’. ‘Hang on, I thought we elected you to lead us’. ‘No, no, you tell us what you want us to do’. On it went. Then it has come back after almost another year and $1m. Now we have a couple of more difficult recommendations: ‘Oh, they have all been accepted except a couple of difficult ones’.
When I heard the nice little talk at the briefing the other day, which I do appreciate, I thought there is not a lot of detail here. ‘No, no, we can get you anything you like’. Well, I appreciate that and I am sure it will come, but I do not know how many parents are going to ask for the details; they have had enough!
However, the interesting thing is the difficult ones like middle schooling - guess what? It is: ‘We are going to ask the community again’. Again, who is in charge here? You have been elected to lead. Take a courageous decision, for goodness sake! Bring some closure to the issue and let us move on so that the parents can work out what on earth is going on! This is just a never-ending process, until you gather the courage to know that the majority is standing with you and it is safe to proceed. That is not leadership; that is not what you were elected for!
Anyway, the bottom line in my and any thinking person’s book is that whatever effort we make in education must increase and improve student learning. However, that is very difficult because there are very few effective measures within our education system - not only in the Northern Territory but nationally - that allow us to measure how students are actually learning. Oh yes, we have the maths test. Well, come on! Those of you who have children and have had the maths test results come home know it does not really help in understanding how your child is actually going. A bit of information comes back, and most of it is in what is termed ‘edu babble’. You do not understand really what this language is. They try their best with a few graphs and things like that. It gives you a bit of encouragement, but you are left wanting more. We have reports. Well, most reports, if you are honest - have a look at those reports - do not really tell you how your kid is going. Mums and dads want to know whether their children are learning; how they going at school.
I am not even loath to this idea - and I reckon psychologically kids would actually respond to this: when you have a sports carnival, how do you reckon you would go with a sports carnival? Let us just amplify it to the Olympic Games. How useful and interesting would the Olympic Games be if everybody did okay, no one really competed against anybody else, and you all got a certificate for being in it, and little badges and things like that? You got to feel okay. You got a report at the end of it to say you participated in it, you are achieving at your level and all these strange words. You would walk away and think: ‘I think I have a gold medal; I am not sure. I participated in the games. I have done okay. I am not really sure how I went. How did you go?’ ‘Oh I am a winner’. ‘Yes, but we are all winners’. The games would not work.
Really, deep down, kids want to know. They know anyway whether they are going okay at school or not. However, they get conned because the reports do not give a clear indication how they are travelling. They all sort of know. Mums and dads do not have information that really helps them know so that they can actually address the education needs of their kids before it is too late. We do need to be able to have a clear idea of how kids are going at school. Anyone here with primary schools students and secondary school kids will know that this is the case. You have a sense, but you do not really know. Parents want clear information of how their kids are going.
That is the sort of stuff we expected from the review, and that is one of the recommendations that has been dropped out because it is too difficult and it takes a bit of courage to implement something like that because it is going to change the system. If you are going to have clear reporting, you are going to have to have outcomes that are measurable - which means a change to the curriculum. We have a curriculum at the moment - not just in the Territory but nationally - that is a mile wide and an inch deep, and everyone has a good old time splashing around but there is not sufficient depth to it - a concentrated and deepened curriculum so kids can actually match themselves against clear performance and know whether they are progressing or not.
They are the types of issues that needed to be addressed in education, and they are just glossed over in this. It is a great hype and gloss show, but it is not going to make a significant difference in education. Here was your opportunity to do that; not just to tinker around and spruce the boat up and let it sail off and think: ‘Oh gee, it is looking pretty flash, it has a new crew, they have changed their rig and all that gear’. Change tack completely! Do something with the lessons that have been taught to us by other education systems that are outstripping us. Yes, we have an opportunity here that has gone missed.
We operate within our education system where all students learn at different rates - accepted. Everybody learns at different rates so we accept that as a premise. We then have no clear standards set in education. There are no clear standards set in education because everybody is achieving at their own level and they are all doing jolly well. The report comes home and it has words in it like ‘emerging learner’, ‘consolidating’, and all this sort of stuff. Parents say: ‘How are you going at school?’ ‘Good, I think’. Because everyone is learning at their own level and being reinforced - ‘Oh you are doing okay. You can hardly read, but it is okay. It is all right; it is at your own level, your own pace’ – they never fail. They never get a sense whether they are actually making progress or not. You, sort of, innately know.
The poor old teachers are struggling to make these programs up that cover a multitude of abilities within that sort of paradigm. If you have no clear standards, you do not have an opportunity to measure, and have no clear reporting on student progress. Deep down, everybody knows that something is not right - even the teacher. They do not have a clear curriculum that is easy to teach. They spend most of their time preparing lessons to cater to this plethora of ability within a class, and less time to actually teach students.
The only time a student gets clear information back, in their 13 years of education, is in Year 12. It is the only time they face a rigorous test. In all those other years, we do not really know. The students are not actually prepared for that kind of competitive regime. Then they enter university and it is a whole new system.
Madam ACTING DEPUTY SPEAKER: Member for Blain, your time has expired.
Mr VATSKALIS (Mines and Energy): Madam Acting Deputy Speaker, I support my colleague, the Minister for Employment, Education and Training, and congratulate him for his initiative.
I say that because I am a very strong supporter of education. To me, education is everything. I am very proud that I had parents who pushed me hard to be educated, not only by finishing primary and high school, but to work harder and harder. I follow this legacy and push my children to be educated.
A friend of mine with whom I worked in Western Australia was Vietnamese and had studied in France. He had to escape Vietnam in a leaking boat to come to Australia. I recall asking what he managed to bring with him to Australia, thinking perhaps gold, jewels or money. He said he picked up his degrees because money can be lost, jewels and gold can be stolen by pirates, but his degrees and education would always remain with him and, wherever he goes, he is guaranteed of a job. That story has remained with me over the years.
In my culture, education is very important and teachers are very highly respected professionals. An ancient Greek saying is that my parents have given me life, but my teachers have given me a good life. That illustrates the importance of teachers and education.
I am very disappointed and somewhat perplexed by the hypocrisy of members opposite who have the audacity to complain about the delay in presenting the secondary education package to the public by 14 months when they did very little for 27 years; or nothing at all. To give you an example, the CLP neglected education not only in the bush, but also in the big towns. We have never had the results we have now from the bush. We never had the number of graduates from high schools in the bush. We never had schools of the standard we see in other jurisdictions out in the bush. Not only did it not happen in Kalkarindji, Maningrida or Kintore, it did not happen in the northern suburbs of Darwin.
Nakara Primary School was built 35 years ago and they never, ever spent serious money to upgrade it. Before the last election, I made a promise to lobby the government for $2.5m to upgrade Nakara and Alawa schools. When the study was done and the engineers went through the schools, the bill for Nakara was more than $5m for an upgrade. For Alawa, it was nearly $7m. There was never serious planning in those two schools, only in Darwin in their electorates!
Another example is the caretaker facilities at Alawa school. The caretaker was there for 20 years and, in that time, he did not have a toilet facility. He had to use the children’s or teachers’ toilets late at night and during the day time. A couple of years ago, he came to see me and said that he had a medical problem and he could no longer rush in the middle of the night to go to the toilet. He wanted to have a toilet near his house. I lobbied the government and secured a grant of $20 000 to construct a toilet facility for the caretaker. That was the level of support the CLP provided for the education system.
The CLP did not put real money into teachers, teaching or students. I know that well because my wife is a high school teacher. She taught at Taminmin, Sanderson, and is now at Dripstone. I recall her coming home and saying that she had to teach numeracy and literacy to kids in Year 8 and 9 before she was able to teach them science. There must be something seriously wrong when children in Years 8 and 9 come out of primary schools not being able to read and write, or do simple calculations. That was very disappointing.
What about support for teachers? Everyone has said we are supporting teachers. Of course, we are; they are very hardworking professionals. However, where was the support from the CLP for teachers, especially in the bush? As a health professional, I had to condemn houses under the Public Health Act - houses for teachers and policemen - as unfit for human habitation. They never put money to repair houses. They never put money into new houses. As for equipment such as beds and mattresses and other things, well, if you were lucky, you might get a second- or third-hand one left by the previous teacher. Most of the time, you had to get your own.
Literacy, especially in the bush, is a very big problem. I believe it is a social bomb, ticking away, and if we do not address this problem today, we are going to have a bigger problem tomorrow. There is going to be a whole generation of people growing up without numeracy and literacy skills, professional skills or vocational skills. These people are going to see the society around them doing very well, with other people owning cars, houses, and televisions. They are going to be feeling neglected and left out. These people will demand the things we have and take for granted in the society we have today and, of course, this will lead to more social problems. Then we will wonder why these people are actually hooked on heroin, other drugs, or are alcoholics. Without actually trying to resolve the problem today, we are going to face a bigger problem tomorrow.
Since we came to government, we have shown a commitment to education. We have shown a commitment to resolve some of these problems. We have provided 100 additional specialist teaching positions. We have appointed eight attendance officers, who have managed to bring back to school nearly 1000 students. We have provided laptops for our teachers. We have provided housing and furniture for teachers in remote communities. We have results such as three students graduating at Kalkarindji in 2003 and 12 in Maningrida in 2004. That is the first time ever in the Territory that we have had such a number of indigenous students graduating from high schools in the bush, and we are very proud of this. We are very proud and we can congratulate the teachers, the students, their parents and, certainly, the people of the Education Department who made this a reality. I would like to see more indigenous students graduating from these schools. I would like to see these indigenous students become teachers at indigenous schools, or in mainstream schools. I would like them to be nurses, doctors, engineers - anything that we take for granted in the mainstream society.
We have provided funding for schools, not only in the northern suburbs in Alawa and Nakara, but also in remote communities. Providing money for colleges has been neglected for years in Darwin. Nungalinya College is one. I had to go to the government to get $185 000 fence and landscape the area around Nungalinya. I tell you, when I opened the facility last week, the students and teachers were absolutely thrilled that money had at last been spent on Nungalinya, because it made it look attractive. I am astounded by the comment of one person who told me that, until the sign went up there, he did not know that there was a college in Casuarina. People did not know what the facility was. Now, they have become aware and are very proud of it.
The government’s plan Building Better Schools is supported by a huge amount of money - $42m over four years. Of course, I was really disappointed to hear the member for Greatorex, but I am really used to it. In the three-and-a-half years that I have been in this parliament, I cannot recall one day when the member for Greatorex did not support the government, but at least be fair, and acknowledge that this government was doing something good. It is always gloom and doom.
Going back to my education times, from the history lessons that I learned, I recall very well that there was a person in Troy, the sister of Paris, who actually stole Helen of Troy, and took her to her city. That person was the Princess Cassandra. The god Apollo fell in love with her, but she rejected his advances, so Apollo punished her. He gave her a cursed gift. The gift was that she could tell the future. The curse was that she would only tell the bad things that would happen in the future and nobody would believe her. The member for Greatorex is like Cassandra. He always foretells doom and gloom that will happen in the future but, unlike Cassandra, I suppose he cannot see what will really happen in the future, only what he wants to see. As with Cassandra, nobody believes him, because the truth is out there; people know we are trying, and we are trying really hard.
We have had some wins and some achievements. These achievements can be seen every day in the streets and in the schools. They can see the new teachers. I went to Dripstone High School last week with my colleague, the member for Wanguri, and we saw five new teachers - young kids just out of university recently and appointed to Dripstone High School. I went to Alawa Primary School and saw new teachers there. I went to Nakara Primary School and saw new teachers there. I talked to the principals, because I do not only say I support teachers, I support teachers by being in the classroom, the school grounds, by talking to the principals and teachers. I tell you that the comments I received from the principals are very encouraging. They are very thankful that we have addressed the vacancies at the school, and that now they do not have to juggle with teachers regarding who is going where and who is doing what, or how they are going to combine classes so they can actually address the lack of teachers. Now, they have an appropriate number of teachers in appropriate sized classroom to educate our children.
Young Territorians must have the best opportunity to achieve in our community, and we owe it to them. We are the adults, the legislators, who provide all the abilities, the capabilities, the funding - the things that they need to actually achieve in our community. The review of the secondary education was absolutely necessary. Yes, it took time, but I would rather do something properly and take time, than jump to conclusions and do something very quickly just to satisfy part of the community or the opposition and, to tell you the truth, stuff it up.
Yes, there was extensive complete public consultation, and this public consultation resulted in 52 recommendations. The member for Blain said this government could not make a decision and that there were recommendations in the review and the government should sit down and make a decision about the recommendations. Can I remind him that, in 26 years in the Territory, the CLP had two different standards of secondary education? In Central Australia, Years 7, 8 and 9 are in high school. In the Top End, Year 7 is in primary school; Years 8, 9 and 10 are in junior high school. Why? Well, I cannot see an explanation for that. Why is there such a difference between Central Australia and the Top End? Anywhere in Australia, junior high school is Years 7, 8, 9, and senior is Years 10, 11, and 12. Why did the Top End have to be different? Not only that, things became more complicated when we had an influx of Defence personnel from down south, from a different system, and they had a child in Year 7 who was supposed to be going to high school, who came to Darwin or Katherine and had to go to primary school. Therefore, about decisions: when you live in glass houses, you have to be careful what you throw around.
There were 52 recommendations. Some of them we decided not to implement, and quite rightly so. The recommendation was to close the Open Education Centre. We said: ‘No, we are not, we are going to enhance it, put money into it, and provide more facilities to coordinate their operation between Darwin, Katherine and Alice Springs to make it more effective’.
The quality service agency and the learning precincts will not be introduced. We believe that it would result in more administration, and the effective outcomes for the students are not going to be significant.
Students are our focus. We believe that students - 11-year-olds to 14-year-olds - need particular attention. I have to tell you that I have a vested interest Madam Acting Deputy Speaker - like you, probably. We have children who are 10 years old, so they are about to go to Year 7, and we have children a bit older who just came out of the Year 9 or Year 10. From my personal experience, it is a very difficult time. In Year 7, they are neither here or there; they are really not in primary school; some are mature enough to go to high school. However, we have to actually come out and speak to the community, we cannot just barge in and make a decision that is going to affect thousands of children, parents, and teachers. We have to be very careful about it and proceed with caution.
I commend my colleague, the member for Nhulunbuy, for taking this approach. I do not care if he is going to take another six months; we have to get it right. We play here with the future of young Territorians. If we make a mistake, they are going to pay for our mistake, and it is totally unfair. I commend the member for Nhulunbuy for his decision to support teachers at school by providing counsellors, and for providing $15m for these. Being a student today is probably more complex than for us; things are different, life is more complicated, the demands have increased significantly. We ask young people to make decisions that are going to affect the rest of their lives. Children 16 years old are finishing high school, and we ask them to make a decision that is going to have a result in their lives for the next 80 to 90 years, and is going to have a significant effect upon them. They have to make a decision so they either go to university, technical school, become professionals, trade people. Whatever choices they are going to make are very important.
Providing counsellors at schools to provide assistance to not only to the students but also the teachers, will remove a significant workload from the teachers. Sometimes teachers act as counsellors who are totally unqualified but, because of the years of experience, they act as counsellors providing the best advice they can. However, I believe it is most appropriate that these people are trained and are experienced, and are equipped with a knowledge to assist the students.
Supporting teachers is very important. There is $5m to support teachers by establishing professional learning communities so that teachers can learn from each other; support each other. Teachers can form groups that will actually provide support to young teachers, new teachers, and teachers who are moving from one area to another.
Vocational Education Training Programs are very important. We have seen, in the past few years, a significant lack of skills and tradespeople in the community. We now have an economy in the Territory that is booming. We have significant projects taking place in the Territory and we cannot find enough people. For your information, we have to import 20 Filipino oil rig specialists from the Middle East to work here at the LNG plant because we cannot find people in the Territory, or in Australia.
Providing $15m to indigenous communities is very important. We need to upgrade the facilities at indigenous communities. We need to provide the teachers and the specialists who know how to teach indigenous people. We have to attract the indigenous kids back to school. I know in some communities, people have different ideas about education. In some communities, people are asking why they should go to school when, if they finish school, there is nothing for them ...
Ms Scrymgour: No jobs.
Mr VATSKALIS: There are no jobs in place. There are some communities where parents do not know the value of education and do not force the kids to be educated. I have had grandmothers coming to me and saying they grew up in the mission and could read and write better than our children who have grown up in the city - either Darwin, Katherine, or in communities where they have teachers. We have to make sure that these kids are coming back to school, are educated, and have the skills for the future. Otherwise, we are going to create a significant problem and a huge division between urban, rural or bush Northern Territory. People in Kintore are going to be totally alienated from mainstream people in Alice Springs or Darwin. I am not talking about white people in Alice Springs and Darwin, but even indigenous people who live in Alice Springs and in Darwin who value education and see education in a different way. We have to provide the equipment, the facilities, the teachers, the support staff, and this money will go a long way.
Distance education has been given $1.87m. Distance education caters not only for kids out in the bush, but for kids on big cattle stations. It caters for some kids who, for one reason or another, do not want or cannot go to the mainstream high schools in the cities. That is very important. By providing that money, we provide better facilities for Open Education Centres to provide a better education for these young Territorians.
Every dollar we spend on education is a dollar we invest in our future as Territorians. It is a dollar we invest in the cities and the bush, and we are going to reap the rewards of in the future. If we actually do not provide this money today we might save a few million dollars, but the social cost and impact of our inaction today is going to be enormous.
I congratulate my colleague, the member for Nhulunbuy for his persistence and his assistance to continue with this secondary education review. I fully support him and will continue to support him in anything he has to do with education. I believe education is very important. I will continue to support teachers and the education professionals. I would like to see much more happening in the Northern Territory in the urban environment and the bush to improve education to improve the skills that the Territorians have to be equipped with in the future to have a better life – and not only a better life with regards to salary and wages, because education also leads to better health, better family life, and better family lifestyles in the Territory.
Mrs BRAHAM (Braitling): Madam Acting Deputy Speaker, I welcome the statement by the minister, although I must say that I do not have many details of what is planned, so I am restricted to my reaction after reading the speech. I have not had time to solicit feedback from teachers or schools about it, but there are some good points in it.
Some of the things I am glad about it were things that the minister dropped, which indicates that he was listening to the community. They were the three things that most people were concerned about.
When we are talking about 11- to 14-year-olds, we are talking about a different type of child than we had years ago. As the minister knows, once a teacher, always a chalkie; you cannot get away from it. You have heard teachers speak in this House …
Mr Dunham: Who’s been a naughty boy, then?
Mrs BRAHAM: Yes! I wonder who has been a naughty boy, member for Drysdale.
What we see going into our high schools these days are often students who cannot read to the standard to which the Minister for Multicultural Affairs referred. Our 11- to 14-year-olds really need skilled teachers to look after them - teachers who are skilled professionally. Secondary teachers of today are being asked to teach in a way they were never expected to teach before. That has been a great challenge for them. When we talk about professional development, it is important that we provide them with that essential training, or else we become more creative. Who says Year 7s must stay in a high school situation all day? Is there any reason why they cannot go one morning back to a primary teacher who can teach them the essential skills they need?
The underlying focus of this statement is really on indigenous education and looking at the way we can provide secondary education to that sector. Wherever possible, we should have face-to-face teaching, because that is what will make students learn more rapidly than correspondence or distance education. In addition, we need to think more creatively. For instance, we have a July break when our urban schools are empty. Why do we not become flexible in the way we structure holidays, and say to students: ‘You have your holidays in May’ or ‘You have it in August, but in that June/July break, you come into town and spend the four weeks in the science lab’ or whatever lab they need to. I believe Sanderson High School runs a complete unit of work in just two weeks, full-time on that subject. What is wrong with taking students from remote communities and bringing them in to spend two or four weeks full-time on an area that they particularly need?
We must be more flexible and creative in the way we do things. For instance, there is no reason not to give teachers some incentive to teach over the stand-down period, whether they are contract or relief teachers. It is additional pay for them and they may be interested in it. It also means that our resources are better used and not sitting idle, our students who do not ordinarily have access to those resources have an opportunity to do so, and we are giving them face-to-face, hands-on experience that they need.
Indigenous education is difficult for primary teachers; how much more difficult will it be for secondary teachers? I hope the member for Barkly tells us about Warrego; it must be the best example of how we should make it happen. The students attend school 100% doing hairdressing. What is wrong with saying to students from Papunya: ‘Let us bring you into town and do two weeks full-time hairdressing?’, or taking the teachers out there to do it full-time? Who says that learning must be staggered over 12 months; that you must do one subject over a long period in a year? What is wrong with doing a subject intensively?
I encourage the minister to encourage schools to think creatively and flexibly, because I am quite sure that this statement is the starting point for some good things to happen. We should not say one size fits all. I have said this before, but just because Anzac Hill runs their school like that does not mean that what happens at Nhulunbuy or Casuarina is the same. It certainly is not. You do not need one model across the Territory. You need schools to be able to be creative and flexible and get the best out of the resources, the teachers and the students they have.
The minister talked about a new staffing formula, and I can honestly say: about time! You are no longer talking about the secondary students of yesteryear. You are talking about 11-to 14-year-olds who need far more intensive teaching than they did a long time ago, as I said. Also, schools are so much different in the way operate. Tennant Creek Primary School would be quite different to Darwin High. So, let us get on with that staffing formula.
The minister also talked about VET. All I can say to him is yes, yes, yes, get VET into schools. You only have to go into the work force to hear the business people who actually have students doing part-time VET at school and part-time in their workplace, to know they are so enthusiastic about it. However, would the minister tell me how many VET students we have in Aboriginal communities? There is no reason why you cannot have them at Yuendumu, where you have essential service personnel, accountants, child-care workers, and nurses - no reason why we should not be expanding that program to go into the remote communities. I know it is hard; I know the psyche of trying to make Aboriginal children understand this is a benefit for them for the future has to be instilled some way, but it is possible. This is why I keep saying yes to VET. Let us do it, because it is certainly one of the essential components.
Too often I hear that we do not have skilled workers: ‘I cannot get a plumber, I cannot get an electrician’. I have a power point at the moment that I am seriously thinking of trying to change myself, but I do not know whether that is a good idea. However, it is those sorts of things that we need …
Mr Dunham: No, go for it.
Mrs BRAHAM: Perhaps the member for Drysdale could come and do it for me. We would be a couple of old sparks together.
The minister also talked about strong communities. I am not sure exactly what he means, but I can only presume that he is talking about remote communities, because our town schools - be they primary, secondary or upper secondary - have that strength of character and purpose. I guess every member in this House went to an end-of-year presentation night and was staggered at the performance, the quality, the leadership that the students show – all those things that make you so proud as a parent.
I said the other night at the Board of Studies presentation that teaching is very hard. You never get instant results. If you go out and plant some seeds in the garden, you end up picking the flowers or vegetables. A teacher in Years 1, 2 or 3 never sees the result of all that hard work. They really do not see it until Year 12 students and can say: ‘Wow, look at what I have achieved’. So it is not one of those professions where you get instant results. It is a very difficult one, so we need to give teachers the support they need to make them feel also they are valued.
I worry about just throwing money at schools. I am not quite sure what has happened to the DEST money - that is the Department of Education, Science and Technology - and I would be interested to know that. Some of the feedback I have is that that has gone. We used to run very good ASSPA programs on that, but some of the Aboriginal people are no longer employed; some of the breakfast and lunchtime programs are no longer in place; the support for kids in the classroom is no longer there; and there is not the incentive for people to go on excursions. I am not sure. However, that DEST money which came from the federal government was quite considerable, and I am wondering whether the minister can, in fact, tap into that for some of the projects that would be so valuable in this statement. Let us not just lose it. Get back to the federal government and say we need that money for these things. Yes, I have said before - and I will probably keep on saying it - that pouring money is often not a solution, or saying it is not enough money or you need more money. It is the quality of the program that we are after. We are after quality learning, quality teachers and quality projects.
I ask the minister to think about something: primary education in many very remote schools is simply not working. We all know the learning outcomes for Aboriginal students, in many cases, is far below the average. It is just not working. Therefore, if you want to make it better for them at secondary level, you need also to make it better at primary level. You need to get the communities on your side. You need the community leaders to show leadership and you need the parents, the students and teachers.
If I am a parent in a town school, what do I do with my son or my daughter? Well, I make sure that they do not go to school hungry, for one thing. I make sure they are well fed. I make sure they get to bed at a reasonable time and that they are not subject to very late disturbances. I make sure that they go regularly; I do not let them opt out of going to school. I ask them about their homework: do you have homework tonight? What is wrong with someone in the community school saying they will supervise homework in the school if they cannot supervise at home? As a parent, I used to get involved in school activities. Did you go on excursions with your students when they went with you child? Did you go on their sporting activities? Were you an umpire? All those things that we take for granted as students, I do not think are happening in bush schools. Most of all, we instilled in our children a sense of pride and learning. We read to them almost from the age they opened their eyes. We made them understand that learning was a good thing, something to be proud of and, when they did something good, they were acknowledged for it.
I believe community schools need to take this approach as well. It is no more than we are asking of our parents in town schools; to ask parents in remote communities to take on these responsibilities. Before we do pour more money into these schools, let us see if we can get some agreement. Let us see if we can get a school like Warrego to stand up and say yes. I come back to the fact that we have always had good schools in the bush but, unfortunately, we do not often praise them enough and make the teachers and the kids feel good. That is what we need to do.
Education is a funny job, a funny area. It often puts itself down. It is criticised by the general public because the results are so visibly. People keep saying: ‘This is not a good school; look at your results’. Those results are probably not a reflection on the school itself; it is a reflection on many things that contribute. Therefore, I say to the minister: be creative, be flexible, do not just throw in your money; make sure you know exactly what you want from those schools. Before you start throwing secondary education at some of the remote communities, make sure your primary area is running properly because, if the base is not stable, the whole building will fall down. We need to start at that base area and build on, and make that strong before we build the tower even higher and higher.
There are many students who struggle, even in our urban schools. Teaching is not easy. Learning is not easy and often does not come well to students. Teachers in urban schools today have a really hard job. I have to say the inclusion policy that we have for our primary and secondary schools makes their job harder than ever, because they have students who have very profound learning difficulties. A teacher has enough on their plate dealing with 30 average kids, without dealing with 25 average and five really dysfunctional kids. It is not an easy task. That is why it is good, minister, that you talked about professional development of teachers, because there is nothing better than a group of teachers who are teaching a similar subject or at similar levels, to get together and share ideas. We know there are good programs happening out there in the schools. It really is a great stimulus, and people often come away quite invigorated and go back to their school with a sense of ‘Yes, I can do this, I can keep going’. That is very important.
I will be interested in getting more details on what is happening. It is interesting, isn’t it? We have never really put this focus on 11- to 14-year-olds before. We have concentrated on preschool education. I was part of a group that introduced the Transition class into primary schools. We have concentrated on getting our senior secondary schools going and making sure we have a good system there. I am not quite sure why these 11- to 14-year-olds attract so much attention. Is it because they are the little mischief-makers of our town? Are they the ones who skip school, break into houses, and just cause mischief because they think they are bigger and they can do it now? They have left primary school, but they are not as big as the big kids across the way.
It really is a little like the chicken and the egg, isn’t it? Let us get these middle secondary students ready for senior secondary school, and make sure that we can deliver them an education to make them feel good about themselves when they are successful. However, let us not also topple them so the egg rolls away. Let us keep doing it in a way that teachers see will work.
Minister, I will be interested in trying to get some feedback from schools. My initial reaction is that I am glad you have put this out at last. Providing secondary education into remote schools is never going to be easy. I would suggest that you make sure you do it face-to-face because that is the way that teaching is most successful. I just hope that if the dollars you have put into it are not enough, more will be found.
Mr DUNHAM (Drysdale): Mr Acting Deputy Speaker, I shall be fairly brief. The previous speaker said that many people who are old chalkies have stood up and spoken in this debate. I stand as a consumer. I have never had the want, the need or the urge to be a teacher, and I probably never will. However, my grandmother was educated here as were my mother, I, five of my children and now, one little grandchild. I just did some sums, and that is 59 years of education that my family has been associated with some 12 schools in the Territory - in Katherine, Tennant Creek, Alice Springs and Darwin. It is something that, when we bring these debates to this parliament, all of us can speak on. It is really important that some of the consumers do speak.
I went to Katherine Primary School for my entire primary schooling and I am able to see, from that vantage point, just what has happened with education in this place, and it has been a really good thing.
I also would like to put early on the record the fact that I believe that this minister is genuine in his attempts to improve education. I know he has an education background and, along with his CEO, they are making valiant attempts to try to address problems. Therefore, I thought he would have come up with a better statement. I know he is trying hard and I know he has the cash, also being the Treasurer, but the statement falls short.
For starters, I do not think we should be talking about building better schools. It is a nonsense to talk about building better schools. We should be building better scholars. Whenever we have these debates, we have to remember that the whole purpose of a government intervention, whatever it is, is to improve the lot of Territorians. The reason we educate our children and our adults - but predominantly our children - is to prepare them for life and, particularly, employment. The main focus and reason we send our kids to school is to acquire lots of knowledge about equipping them for a future life out in the big wide world and, predominantly, a job - predominantly employment. That focus gets lost sometimes, and there are occasions where there is a dearth of jobs. We should be looking at making sure that, in that eventuality, we are equipping young kids - and this is in remote communities obviously - for the impacts of life; for what life will bring them in those remote communities in the event that there are not many jobs.
Sure we have to be putting a lot of effort into our children to equip them for employment. I was pleased, therefore, to see the minister did mention VET. He had a couple of comments on it. The first is that he claimed that we have the first-ever Territory Jobs Plan and then, later, he proudly talked about how VET is going to be a pretty important thing, how he has a strong record, and we have a lot of apprentices.
This statement is a bit deficient because we talk about a fellow called Ramsey who, years ago, produced a report. The report has been through various machines that have turned it into a statement, and the question we had today - the question was nearly as long as the statement. However, essentially, what we have is a report that had to be hatched and here it is, on our tables, hatched.
The trouble with that is there are some elements of obsolescence, the major one of which is we have a federal government that wants us to look at Australian technical colleges. Indeed, we had a minister, whose name is the Hon Gary Hardgrave MP, who came to this place only last week. I would have thought that this statement would have been awash with issues relating to VET, employment, the Commonwealth’s initiative with Australian Technical Colleges, and fundamental issue affecting our remote Aboriginal communities, which is equipping young people for jobs. This statement has missed. This statement looks like it has been written by a chalkie for chalkies.
This does not have a consumer focus, or an orientation towards people who want the education system to turn out something at the end - which is a productive young adult in our society who is yearning and hunting for a job. I, therefore, ask the minister to please re-focus that, because it would seem that this is a report had to be tabled eventually because it was becoming a source of embarrassment and, dare I say it, there are a lot of platitudes that, basically, just say: ‘We have a report, we are good people, we love apprenticeships and VET, we think students are very important and here we go’.
For starters, focus on building better scholars, please. Schools are an incidental; they are just a piece of kit, a piece of machinery, in which to do that and, in some places, they are not even necessary. That is certainly true with the NT Open College which, belatedly, this government has allowed to survive.
At the end of Question Time, the education minister yelled across the table for a list of achievements from the previous government, given that the Chief Minister was unable to cite even one thing that this government had commenced and finished. There are three I would like to mention. The first is the Northern Territory University, which is now the Charles Darwin University. When I went to school at Katherine High School, if somebody went off and did Year 12, they were considered to be a genius. If they even studied physics, let alone passed it, they were considered to be someone akin to Albert Einstein. To actually go to uni – well, you would not dream of it if you lived in Katherine; to pursue careers that required a tertiary education.
Now, after 10 years of the Northern Territory University, there were 10 000 degrees and diplomas awarded. That is an incredible number. I can recall debates in this House, and people like Bob Collins asking: ‘Why would you set up a micky mouse university? There are only half a dozen kids going away to university, why would you set one up here? It is never going to work’. I can recall the federal Labor minister at the time, Susan Ryan, fighting with us. I can recall the Northern Territory Education minister, Tom Harris, saying that we will do it alone, and funding it alone in the face of Commonwealth churliness about funding.
That university has done a great thing for us. It has told young Aboriginal kids and young kids in places like Katherine: ‘If you want to be a doctor, a school teacher, no worries; you can do it here. You can train here’. That has been great thing because it has enabled those young people who have sat in communities and saw planes drop itinerant workers off and after a two-year term, take them back to Sydney, Newcastle or wherever they came from; and then another plane would drop them off. It has seen kids aspire to those jobs say: ‘Well I will give it a burl; I will give it a shot’. What happened Kalkarindji with those graduates is a great thing, and I applaud the minister for that. It should be in his speech because they are the bona fides I am talking about: educating kids for jobs.
We are quite happy to claim credit for the university, and we are quite happy to say that we did in the face of opposition from mainly Labor parties, both federally and locally.
Teacher training occurs in our university, so young people - and my daughter is one of them - can say: ‘I aspire to be a teacher and I want to go and work in classrooms’. That is a great thing. However, there is something that I would like to bring to the minister’s attention that I hope he pursues. I do not know whether it is true, so I will say it in general terms and he can pursue it. Young graduates from NTU are being discriminated against in favour of interstate recruits. We know there are lots of teachers now, so the shortage of teachers has passed to a large extent, and we are able to get lots of teachers out of other places coming up here because they need a job. Our local graduates are captive, because they live here. Therefore, they can be put on tap; they can be put out there as temporary and part-time teachers. I would like to know how many of our graduates from last year have full-time employment in the Northern Territory’s Education Department? I would like to know that in the rejoinder. When we are training our own kids and when we are saying: ‘Get out there; learn how to be a teacher; we have a career for you’, I want to know how many of them graduated last year and now have permanent jobs - not jobs on a list where they get called in, or where they are on some sort of probationary period. I want to know how many of those young people have permanent jobs.
The other thing I would like to talk about which was also talked about this morning is pools because, when we were the government that helped Daly River, Ngukurr and Port Keats build a pool, we had a very firm policy. The minister announced today that Menzies, Communicable Diseases, Fred Hollows, Uncle Tom Cobbling and all, were all going to be looking at the health outcomes. However, there is a basic fundamental outcome with pools because they are such attractive places for young people to go; that is, no school, no pool. The ‘no school no pool’ policy is a great policy because it is carrots and sticks. I believe it is really good to educate our teachers to be among the best in the world, and to put in good classrooms.
I know the ablutions facilities were a worry for the member for Casuarina, so we now have clean toilets and cupboards full of phenyl and all that sort of stuff. However, I knew a teacher - and I will not mention her name because it will probably embarrass her - who was a strong Catholic lady in a Catholic school, who said that Jesus Christ himself could stand in front of this classroom and he would not be able to educate these children, because they are not there. There is a bad problem with attendance. We can build our better schools, but we have to build better scholars, and attendance is a fundamental issue for us still.
Bob Collins put some of the issues into a paper that he prepared for the previous government. This government has said they will take it on in its entirety. That report now should be fully addressed, because this government has had longer than we had in our last years to address all of those issues. I want to see some of the data of those issues so that we can see whether the kids are now coming to school, whether initiatives to get them to school are working, whether all these well-qualified teachers and all this access to the Internet and wonderful facilities and all the rest of it are good. However, the fundamental issue is still attendance. That is the fundamental issue the previous speaker spoke about when she talked about the poor educational outcomes among many of our primary students in remote communities. They have to get to school.
I will leave it there, but I would suggest that the minister, in his rejoinder, at least allude to the Commonwealth government’s initiative for Australian Technical College, particularly insofar as it relates to VET and how the Territory might take advantaged of this …
Dr Lim: He was not there you know, he was not there.
Mr DUNHAM: I know he is absent, but in his rejoinder, I would hope that he would cover some of the issues relating to how his policies might articulate with what seems to be fairly well defined and advanced policies from the Commonwealth. They seem to come with money attached to them, so I would like to see us get hold of some of that money.
On the business of the great pride of the Territory’s Jobs Plan, it is probably worth reciting that the Labor government claimed to have a Jobs Plan before the election. They then, after the election, said they would have to construct one. They engaged a southern university to write their Jobs Plan for them, and I would encourage them to rewrite it because the current Jobs Plan would seem to have more unemployed people. I know it is ABS, and that worries the minister, but he was quite happy to cite ABS this morning in one of his answers. ABS says we have less jobs, higher unemployment, and an exodus of workers. I would like the minister to please have another look at this Jobs Plan. Whichever southern university looked at it, they left a couple of the fundamental variables out of the equation and we have ended up with a Jobs Plan that has a negative at the end of it instead of a positive. Please go back, readvertise the thing and, before the next election, do not say: ‘We have a Jobs Plan’, say: ‘We have Jobs Plan that works, and we know it works because here is the data’.
I know I started out praising the minister and I do no resile from that. Generally, he does have a good go. He is a very busy man and, out of that pack, he is probably the one who is among the more diligent of them. I know he has a great passion for education and a background in it. I will give him all of that. I know he has very strong and motivated staff because some of my family members are amongst them. I know, also, that his CEO is a man in whom I have great trust and admiration; that is, Peter Plummer. I will put that on the public record and am quite happy to say it.
However, dear minister, you have miscued. Do not build any more better schools; build more scholars. If that requires some better facilities along the way - go for it. Your Jobs Plan is a farce. Some of the things that we did as a government are proudly on the record and should be shouted from the rooftops, particularly the Northern Territory University, now Charles Darwin University, with the capacity to train local people - I hope they are being given a leg up into jobs and I will be upset if they are not - and issues relating to initiatives to get young people to attend school.
Ms SCRYMGOUR (Family and Community Services): Mr Acting Deputy Speaker, I support the minister’s statement on education. For many years, secondary education in more remote regions of the Northern Territory was more or less ignored or placed in the too-hard basket. Students who were able to complete primary school found themselves stranded in the limbo world of post-primary education. There they would linger until the lack of meaningful education purpose caused them to lose heart and wander off into lives that were, for all too many, defined by boredom and, most of all, unemployment. In many instances, the sense of having been effectively discarded by the educational system contributed to substance abuse, poor health and antisocial behaviour, to the detriment not just of the student but also the Territory community as a whole. The cost of such lost opportunities, and even lost lives, impoverished us all.
Steps are now finally being taken to replace the dead-end policy concept of post-primary education with a set of new programs. These are programs that are firmly focussed on qualifying and equipping students in remote indigenous communities to successfully complete Year 12 and, thereby, take the new big step into tertiary education. It may well be that numbers of matriculating students will be modest for some time yet. However, the two most important points to bear in mind are, first, that the education system is unequivocally and wholeheartedly dedicated to mainstream matriculation outcomes whether students are from urban or remote communities and; second, that even those students who do not initially succeed in travelling the full secondary education distance will have been exposed to and influenced by the experience of working towards a mainstream educational goal.
Having understood the intrinsic and vocational value of passing Year 12, there is always a good chance that they will try again in later years. The new programs that are outlined in the minister’s statement include measures that are designed to assist and facilitate second attempts. This government and minister have taken up the challenge to include all our indigenous students in programs that respond to their needs in particular. I want to cover some of those. Over 1000 more indigenous students are enrolled to attend school. For the first time in Territory history, remote indigenous students have completed their Northern Territory Certificate of Education. We can recap on those three fine young role models from Kalkarindji/Daguragu who are now studying at Flinders and Charles Darwin Universities. As well as at Kalkarindji/Daguragu, secondary school education is the day-to-day reality at Maningrida, Shepparton College, Wadeye and Yirrkala, with more schools being progressively added to the list.
MAP results in the bush are improving, encouragingly, with more indigenous students reaching national benchmarks in the last two years than ever before. There is very significant evidence that the Accelerated Literacy Program is getting excellent results in remote community schools, with more good news expected from this wonderful, innovative program soon.
For the first time, Aboriginal and Islander education workers have been fully funded. It has taken many years for the roles and responsibilities of many Aboriginal and Islander workers to be taken seriously and utilised effectively. Where these roles have been integrated and seen as an important role in indigenous education outcomes, there have been many positive steps forward in educational outcomes, student enrolments and attendance outcomes.
There are many AIEWs that I could take some time to mention, as they all play a vital role, but one in particular I would like to mention is Mrs Margaret Anstess. She has worked tirelessly for many years, dedicated to indigenous student outcomes for attendance and striving for educational excellence. Mrs Anstess is an example of a person who sets a benchmark of standards in her own personal life. One only needs to look at her own children and their individual achievements to see that she is entitled to feel very proud of and applies this in her commitment to the important role that she undertakes as an AIEW at Sanderson High School.
Recently, significant funding was also allocated to upgrade furniture and teachers’ housing in remote communities, and funding was allocated to keep bush schools’ equipment up to date. The 2004-05 budget provided further funding support to this initiative.
Over $2000 has been allocated to the indigenous music project which has huge potential to kick-start the entry of some our great young bands from across the Territory into the music industry mainstream, but also in seeing the outcomes of music and the bridging of music and education.
By the end of this year, we will have created 100 additional teaching positions including English as a Second Language support positions.
We have established alternative secondary education sites across the Territory in Darwin, Palmerston, Katherine, Tennant Creek and Alice Springs.
Ten new attendance officers are in place across the Territory and are achieving excellent results. In particular, all of us have seen the results that Cyndia Henty-Roberts is achieving and the fantastic job she is undertaking in Katherine.
A teachers’ support unit is being trialled in the Barkly with great hopes for its longer-term future. The member for Braitling talked about the school of Warrego before, which shows that, to be creative and to do it differently will show those results.
These are only few examples of what this government has achieved in a comparatively short time. Today’ statement by the minister makes further announcements that will benefit remote indigenous secondary students. It is great news that, for the first time there will be equity in respect to staffing formulae, as between urban and remote school. This will lead to a more secure staffing and funding base for bush schools, enabling greater choice in what has been offered to students by way of curriculum.
It is well know in education circles that a good mentoring program is vital to the success of indigenous students in secondary education. I am delighted that the minister’s statement refers to the development of a mentor program specifically for indigenous secondary students. The development of a pool of specialist teachers working with face-to-face teachers, and better distance delivery modes, will provide the support that bush teachers and students desperately need. The development of a new distance education policy - a first for the Territory - is long overdue and will, I am sure, give a new lease of life to the Northern Territory Open Education Centre, as well as to the Katherine and Alice Springs School of the Air.
There are many problems associated with the delivery of secondary education to remote parts of the Northern Territory. Despite the best efforts of many teachers, parents and other members of the Northern Territory education communities and, in particular students, there remains much to be done. Previous speakers talked about school attendance. I know the struggle that is going on amongst my own people on the Tiwi Islands. At a meeting that I was attending last week, I found, for the first time on the Tiwi Islands, a lot of people are confronted with an understanding that, unless they get their children to stay in the primary schools in the education system - because I agree with the member for Braitling that yes, we should not stop at secondary education. We should make sure that we build the systems that support secondary education. However, it has come about that communities are finally realising that they have to build and take responsibility for getting their children to school and to stay in school.
Mr Acting Deputy Speaker, there remains much to be done. The tunnel is still dark, but there are glimpses of some sunlight at the end of it. I commend the minister’s passion and his commitment to fixing this most important area; that is, the future education of our children.
Mrs AAGAARD (Nightcliff): Mr Acting Deputy Speaker, I support the Minister for Employment, Education and Training and the Building Better Schools strategy - an important strategy that helps us to move the Territory ahead.
Education, along with good health and a strong family, is often cited as the best indicators for a satisfying and successful future for our children. Today’s statement builds on the improvements in education in the Territory we have seen over the past few years, and offers a new emphasis on outcomes, ensuring that our kids get the best start in life - an emphasis that will be well received by parents, teachers and students alike.
It is pleasing to see that the government has met its election commitment of employing 100 teachers above formula; specialist teachers and support staff who have brought a focus to literacy programs, sport, special education, behaviour management, alternative provision and many other areas.
The statement outlined the government’s plan to inject $42m over four years, and puts in place the most significant improvements ever delivered in secondary education. This is a detailed program based on the review of secondary education by Dr Gregor Ramsey and the extensive consultation of the SOCOM group and the department in 2004.
I would like to concentrate on just a few aspects of the statement, particularly those relating to my electorate and urban areas in the Territory. First, I was pleased that the statement emphasised the outcomes for kids in its emphasis on the middle schooling approach. Education research has identified a clear stage of schooling known as ‘the middle years’ where students from 11 to 14 years of age need an approach to teaching and learning that better meets their social and academic needs. The essential features of a middle years approach are:
The focus in the middle years approach is on students and their learning, rather than structures. Structural reorganisation can provide the platform for the development of successful programs in the later middle years; however, it needs to be accompanied by changes to curriculum and teaching and learning practices.
The Northern Territory is not alone in wanting to improve education in the middle years. Education departments in other jurisdictions - Victoria, South Australia and Queensland - as well as internationally in the UK, US, Singapore and New Zealand, are engaged in various levels of reform around education for students in the middle years. There is a range of schools, both independent and Catholic as well as public, in every state and territory and in every sector, which are engaged in middle years’ reform. In Australia, the driving force has been the desire to address the specific challenges of teaching and learning for young adolescents, as research has shown that learning slows down or stagnates in the middle years.
In the Northern Territory, the development of middle schooling practices has been, in part, due to changing demographics and a desire to better meet the social and learning needs of students from ages 11 to 14. Many teachers told the secondary education review that the middle years were an educational wasteland. Several government and non-government schools have adopted, or are trialling, middle school approaches. I understand that the Essington School has a well-developed middle school program, and that Taminmin, Palmerston and St John’s College have also introduced programs for the middle schooling years that have been very successful.
There is evidence of some very positive teaching and learning in these settings. There was strong support for middle schooling approaches in the secondary education report, and consultations with the community about the report’s recommendations about this issue noted that the principle of offering middle schooling received overwhelming support, and is conditional upon relevant changes in the pedagogy teaching practices in schools. This is at SOCOM 2004, page 82.
The secondary education report found that, if secondary schools in the Territory are to provide the curriculum, teaching and learning practices required in the middle years, they will need to be different organisations from those we currently have in the Territory. That was Ramsey, 2003, at page 104. This is supported by the community consultation on the secondary education report, stating that the community is firm in their view that a restructure of the years needs to be supported by the appropriate changes within the school: the SOCOM report 2004, page 82. Further work needs to be done, and the government is investing in support for teachers to trial and document best practice in the middle years. Government supports the principle that more focus needs to be placed on the engaging of 11- to 14-year-olds in education, but recognises that further consultation must be done within the community on how to best implement a middle years approach in the school system.
I totally agree with this approach, knowing that in my own community of Nightcliff there is considerable debate about the Year 7/8 entry program into high schools. It is quite a diverse opinion, and I have to say that there certainly needs to be considerable consultation over the next year to decide what kind of approach is best. I believe that the general thrust of this - that middle schooling is a worthwhile activity and something which we need to be moving to - is accepted, certainly within my community.
One of the things I would like to congratulate the minister on is rejecting the recommendation to close the NTOEC. The NTOEC is in my electorate of Nightcliff, and I was approached by a large number of teachers and parents who were associated with the NTOEC over the past year. I have spent a lot of time, as the minister would recall, having many conversations with him and in correspondence regarding the NTOEC. Distance education is something that is very important to the Northern Territory, being one of the most remote parts of Australia. Many of our students are in very remote parts of Australia. The move now to link the Schools of the Air with the NTOEC and to, generally, enhance the program that is being offered is clearly an excellent thing for the Northern Territory. I look forward to seeing the future excellence coming out of this area of the NTOEC, building on what we already have at the moment. Thank you very much, minister, for listening to those of us who have been talking to people at the NTOEC, students and parents, and for taking this particular issue on board.
In relation to this statement, I also congratulate the minister on the moves in relation to teachers. Teachers are an amazing group of people. I have a large number of teachers in my electorate, and also a large number of schools. I am always amazed by the dedication of those teachers and the parents. This program for secondary education talks about how we can assist those teachers. It puts money behind just words, and it looks at practical things in development for our teachers; things which will increase the things we have already offered as a government - for example, the laptops that we introduced in this financial year. I congratulate the minister on that move. I know that teachers in my electorate will be very pleased with the things that have been announced already in relation to teachers.
I pick up on some of the comments made by the member for Greatorex in relation to Nightcliff High School. In relation to what the member for Greatorex was saying about SAMS not being available at Nightcliff High School, when I moved from the Chair, I asked staff members of the minister for Education about it. The advice from the minister’s office is, in fact, that SAMS is operational at Nightcliff High School. I wonder if this is a further move by the CLP to try to denigrate a good community school. Last year, we saw considerable negative comments from the CLP about a school that is trying to reform itself. I cannot begin to imagine why the CLP would want to alienate all those parents, teachers and students who go to that school. Every time the CLP says anything about Nightcliff High School, I get so many phone calls and e-mails asking what the CLP is on about. Parents, students and teachers at Nightcliff High School need to be supported, not denigrated at every moment. It is very disappointing that, here again, we have someone saying that SAMS is not operational at the Nightcliff High School. I have been advised, through the minister’s office, that it is. It was not raised at all at the Nightcliff High School Council meeting, which was only 10 days ago, so I am not at all sure what is going on there.
I would like to thank the Principal of the Nightcliff High School, Mr Paul Atkinson, for all his hard work over the last few years. It has been a very hard few years for him and all the teachers at Nightcliff High School, and also the school councillors. Sometimes, it is very depressing going to a school council meeting where there has been yet another negative story about Nightcliff High School in the paper. This is a school which needs all of our support, not just of members of government, but of the CLP as well. It is terrible when a particular school is targeted, for whatever reason, and those people who are associated with the school are made to feel terrible. I encourage members on both sides of this House to get behind this school because there are quite a lot of families involved, and some great kids who need you to be part of their success for the future.
I would like to make some comments regarding the comments made about the numbers of students at this school. I do not know what the numbers are, but I was very pleased to know that this year almost all of the Year 9 students who started the Innovate Program last year - which was very much a trial program and, in fact, follows the middle schooling program - have continued this year. They have said: ‘I want to stay at Nightcliff High School; I am happy with this program’. That is a wonderful thing for the school; that those kids have continued on. One of the kids is, in fact, my son. He has loved being at Nightcliff High School and appears to be doing very well. He actually enjoys going to school. What I have noticed about Nightcliff High School in this Year 8/9 is that the curriculum is so interesting that it is not difficult to get kids to go to school. My son gets up much earlier than he ever did when he was in primary school, and he is off to school really early and walks to school with his friends. This seems to be a common denominator amongst kids who are continuing in what is now that Year 9 program. I congratulate Nightcliff High School for that.
Mr Acting Deputy Speaker, there are many things in this report which I am happy to talk about. I particularly thank the minister for his commitment to indigenous education. It is very easy for those of us who live in urban areas to forget that there are many people living those areas who are much worse off than we are. We see our own schools, the outcomes for our own schools, and the MAP testing in our own schools. In my area, the MAP testing in our primary schools is excellent. What we need to be remembering is that we are all Territorians, and we need to be ensuring that every Territorian has equal opportunity for education. I commend him for the work that he is putting into this, and for the effort that we are going to be putting into secondary education in the bush. Thank you very much, minister, and I look forward to hearing reports on the successful outcomes of this plan.
Mr BONSON (Millner): Mr Acting Deputy Speaker, I congratulate the Minister for Employment, Education and Training on his statement, and for the fantastic initiatives in the government’s plan for secondary education Building Better Schools.
It is well known that for 27 years under the CLP, public education in the Northern Territory was not a priority. The further you travelled from the cities and towns along the Stuart Highway, the poorer the quality of education service delivery was. Finally, we have a government that takes public education seriously, which is great news, particularly for your Territorians.
Building Better Schools is a $42m plan to improve secondary education, and contains some great initiatives that will benefit both primary and secondary students in the Northern Territory for many years to come. In the lead-up to this major piece of work, the Martin Labor government, in just over three years, has moved education ahead unlike any other government in the history of the Territory. It has created 100 additional teaching positions in a whole range of crucial areas including behavioural management, special education, assistant principals for small remote schools, accelerated literacy, and sport and physical education. The government has created eight attendance officer positions, which have helped increase the enrolment of nearly 1000 additional students. It has provided every teacher with a laptop computer. Teachers in remote areas have been supported with additional funds for decent furniture in their houses. These are just a few of the commitments the Martin government has made to students and teachers in the past three years.
Yesterday’s announcement of an additional $42m over four years is an outstanding effort to continue to build an improved education system. Again, I have to emphasise the fact that our children are our most precious resource. This $42m will surely prove to be an excellent investment in the future of the Northern Territory. For example, the establishment of 19 new student counsellor positions above school formula will be a great resource for many teenagers who face new challenges in a rapidly changing world. In the first place, that will make an additional 19 teaching positions available in schools but, more importantly, having properly qualified counsellors who are able to work with young teenagers and their families will see a reduction in the number of young people dropping out of school, and more completing their education through to Year 12.
We all know that the Territory has very strong and successful primary schools. In my own electorate, Millner and Ludmilla are great schools. They have the full confidence of the parents. The minister refers in his statement to the age group of the 11 to 14 years as a group of students who need most attention. I agree with this totally. These are the young people who are just starting to go through adolescence. They are just starting to find themselves between being kids and having to take responsibility for their own actions. The transition from primary school, where they have the same teacher all day every day, to high school where, all of a sudden, they have six or seven different teachers, comes as a shock. The result is often that they disengage or even drop out of school altogether.
I strongly believe that we need to address these middle years in a special way. Many of my constituents have different ideas about how best to provide education to middle year students. Therefore, it is important that the minister has decided to hear what the community has to say to develop the model of what the community wants. If this process takes another six months or another year, then so be it. The future of our children is sufficient reason for us to take our time with this and get it right. I fully support the minister’s decision to go back to the community on this issue.
An area of education that has been seriously neglected for more than a generation is indigenous education in remote communities. Until this government decided to do something about it, not one remote student had passed the NTCE while studying in their own community. In 2003, these students from Kalkarindji received their NTCE, and more Year 12 students from Maningrida have made the grade in 2004. At an event held at Kalkarindji, I was able to meet these students who graduated. They are definitely the pride of the community and the community really looks forward to having more students study for Year 12 at Kalkarindji.
The Gurindji people have played a huge part in the history of the Northern Territory for thousands of years. Many would also recall the walk-off at Wave Hill. I am often reminded of this by a Paul Kelly song about the walk-off where, in a line in his song, he talks about ‘out of small things big things grow’. Being of Gurindji descent, I have pride in the fact that Kalkarindji, again, was a place where something special began. This is great news and something we must make every effort to sustain and build on.
Building Better Schools will go a long way to developing the capacity of remote communities to deliver secondary education. The combined effect of making the staffing formula more equitable, creating pools of specialist teachers in regions, and building a new distance education service will see more and more indigenous students in remote schools staying on to Year 12 and gaining their NTCE. This is great news for the Northern Territory and a great investment for the future.
In closing, Madam Acting Deputy Speaker, I congratulate the minister for the excellent vision contained in the plan, and also the Priority Education Team within DEET who have worked so hard for so long in putting the plan together. The beneficiaries are, of course, the current and future generations of secondary students, and I believe that this is the turning point in the provision of quality primary and secondary education in the Territory. Again, I congratulate the minister on his statement.
Mr WOOD (Nelson): Madam Acting Deputy Speaker, I will not say too much on the statement. I welcome the statement and thank the minister for a briefing yesterday afternoon. I am grateful that the briefing provided a book that was a lot smaller than the Ramsey report.
I have not had sufficient time to provide an in-depth response to the statement. I will need time to talk to teachers in secondary schools of Taminmin High and Marrara Christian School, which is now in my electorate. I would prefer to make a statement after I have discussed some of the matters that the government has raised with those people.
I welcome that the government has changed its mind on the open education college and the learning precincts. There were a number of people who came to see me regularly, telling me of their concerns about the possible closure of the Open Education Centre. They will be very pleased to hear that it is not going to be closed. They were not of the mind that it should necessarily stay as it is now, but they did not want it closed all together. Learning precincts also was a concern for people in the rural area. I have said in the House before that a learning precinct may have the effect of dragging people away from Taminmin High School and into Palmerston. It may still happen, of course, if we build a senior high school at Palmerston, but it is good to know that it is not on the cards at present. Taminmin High School people will be pleased.
The government said it has not closed any schools, but it has not opened any. I look forward to one day when there might be finance available to build a Catholic high school on Lambrick Avenue in Palmerston. I have mentioned this every year that I have been a member of parliament, but one day there may be some money available for that school.
I am pleased to see that the government has put counsellors into all the secondary schools. I am sure that most schools will be very appreciative of that and regard it as an important contribution. I will plug for a music teacher in all those schools one day because it is an area that needs full-time teaching throughout our schools.
I do not see, in my brief reading of the documents, much mention of the future of Palmerston Senior High School. That is something that has been mooted in this parliament for quite a while. I would be interested to hear what the minister has to say about its future: where we are going with that, and whether there would be any connection of effect on a possible Australian Technical College being established in the Palmerston region. It may not be established there, but it might have an effect on future planning for a senior high school.
A few speakers have mentioned the importance of secondary education for indigenous people. There is no doubt in anyone’s mind that is a key feature for the advancement of Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory. I am concerned, sometimes, that what is classed as secondary education is not always what I consider secondary education should be. Are we giving students the range of subjects that they would have in a northern suburbs high school? Can they learn physics, chemistry, mathematics and the subjects that will lead people to become doctors and lawyers? I know we have to crawl before we walk, but I hope we do not tell kids they are having a secondary education and, when they hit the big smoke, they find it was secondary education that was not quite up to the standard that most kids have in the urban environment.
The other side of education for indigenous people is that, whilst education is important, I believe if we do not have some place for educated people to go when they have finished their school, a lot of that education can be wasted. Therefore, employment surely must be a key partner in the development of education in remote areas. Not only must it match the work that is available, it must also be the type of education that can create opportunities in those communities. We must encourage work opportunities even if, sometimes, those work opportunities are, you might say, artificial, as they require Commonwealth government funds to get them off the ground. So be it. I have always been concerned that you educate people and then there are no jobs. A classic example used to be the boys school at Bathurst Island, where you could train 20 people to do welding. Well, there certainly was never enough work for 20 welders on Bathurst Island – maybe, if you were lucky, two. We have to keep that in mind. Education for education’s sake is not the way to go. Education so that people can find future employment is where we should be heading.
I welcome the statement, minister. As I said, I would rather talk to some of the people who know more about education than I. I probably put myself in the same category as the member for Drysdale, who says he is a client. My two grandchildren have just now headed off to Sacred Heart, Palmerston, so I am starting to be reborn into the education system again. The clients do have to have a look at where the system is going as well. We talk about the teachers and the pupils. We also ought to look at the bigger picture of what the public think about our education system and whether it is performing.
I have said here a number of times how my wife went to a mission school, was taught under the old system of education and can read and write well. Yet, many Aboriginal people today, after 30 years of change with new techniques and new methods of teaching, are at a lower standard than my wife’s education was. That alarms me: whether we have used people as experiments and all we have is, to some extent, failures. We have thrown out old systems, basically because people thought that that system was not suitable anymore, and we have come up with low levels of literacy and numeracy. I still wonder whether we should at least take some notice of systems of the past because, although they may not fit into the categories that a lot of educationalists may think is appropriate today, at least they did work and people from that era were able to read and write. We really have to think about where we are heading in the way we teach all of our children - but especially Aboriginal children - literacy and numeracy.
I would also like to thank the member for Blain. Perhaps it is because it might be a bit of a load off his shoulders, but I thought his speech about education was excellent. I know it is an area in which he has a good background. Regardless of whether the minister agrees or disagrees with him, I thought it brought in a different focus on education that perhaps we do not debate enough. I take notice of his comments about curriculum - five miles wide and one inch deep - because our curricula are so broad in the way that we have gone these days, that you can just about learn anything. That may be good, but whether the cirriculums are so broad that we do not have any focus on where we are going with education sometimes, I do not know. Certainly, in the old days when I went to school, the curriculum I learnt was the same as the school up the road. That would have been specified what you had to learn and a teacher would have had to deliver that. Today, as far as I know, of course, it is much broader than that and teachers have a vast opportunity to teach curriculum A, B, C, D, E, and onwards. Again, I thought that the member for Blain raised some good issues that I believe are worthy of debate.
Madam Speaker, I thank the minister for his statement. I certainly will be going around talking to the principals of the schools and some of the teachers I know, asking what they think of the statement. I may also be going to talk to the coach of the Southern Districts football team. I am sure he will give me a teacher’s union point of view about the statement as well.
Mr McADAM (Barkly): Madam Speaker, I extend my congratulations and applaud the minister for Education for what I believe is a very sincere and genuine attempt to address the needs of secondary education, particularly in the bush. It is a very courageous direction that the Martin Labor government is leading. Given the fact of the previous CLP government’s commitment in respect to education in the bush, the minister’s statement is in stark contract to what I perceive to be a very negative, whingeing, whining, and carping response to a very serious issue. Perhaps it is indicative of how the CLP, in the past, made attempts to address education. Minister, I applaud you in respect of the action you have taken on behalf of the Martin Labor government in making a very sincere attempt of addressing secondary education in the bush.
Previous speakers in this debate have referred to Warrego school, which is in my electorate. It is, indeed, a very innovative school. It is a school that takes into consideration the needs of the students and, most importantly, allows the community members to be participants. Mr Baker has been there for the last three-and-a-half years, I believe, and has developed a very innovative approach in respect to getting children to attend school. He has also been able to develop a collaborative relationship with Wogayela School. Both those schools combined to involve their students in horse riding and swimming classes. It is all centered around literacy and numeracy, and providing young children with life skills, with the capacity to be able to expose themselves to matters quite outside their community. Too often in the past, we have been a little blinkered and isolated thinking that indigenous education in the bush means that kids just go to school, go home and that is it. However, there are teachers I have just referred to like Mr Baker who, basically, has developed the very innovative approach and I applaud him for that. I also applaud the Education Department for providing that support to him.
The other interesting development in respect to the school at Warrego is the fact that they have been able to develop a relationship with the private sector, and I refer to Giant’s Reef. Giant’s Reef and the Department of Education have jointly funded, I think $11 000 each, to enhance their swimming and riding component of the school curriculum.
I went to Alpurrurulam last year, and spoke to the principal there. He was very keen to develop secondary education - he is already doing it. I know, again, that is a program that has the total support of the Alpurrurulam community. The two examples I have just described is precisely where the minister wants to go by allowing our communities, parents, mothers, grandmothers, grandfathers, and uncles to be part of a process of educating their children.
Equally, the same applies at Robinson River where I was late last year. I had the opportunity to speak to the principal only last week. She advised me that there was something in excess of 53 children attending that school, and there were - if I can recall correctly – 11 young indigenous people who wished to access secondary education. I honestly believe that this statement by the minister of this initiative of the Martin Labor government allows that teacher, the school community and the community itself, to develop a program of secondary education which is going to be applicable and appropriate to that community.
There are other parts of this statement which are very important. I am glad that the minister has addressed the need to involve communities in education. That is something that has been lacking, sadly, in the past.
Equally, the opportunity is supplied to teachers. I know how teachers work and operate in the bush. They are very hardworking. They perform duties quite outside their own professional duties in the context of assisting communities with applications, submissions and a whole host of other things that are required in those communities. As the Minister for Sport and Recreation indicated, they work very long hours. It is for that reason that extra dollars in professional development is very important, as this allows teachers to expose themselves to new, innovative methods or mechanisms that are applying in the community. However, also, the most important thing is that we will also allow these teachers to be able to visit other schools and share and exchange ideas. I know that, quite possibly, the principal from Robinson River will be wanting to visit Lake Nash and vice versa because, if you can develop partnership relationships between schools, no matter how far they might be apart, it all adds to and enhances the secondary education of people in the bush.
In conclusion, Madam Speaker, I applaud the minister’s statement. It is a very sincere and genuine attempt to come to grips with what is a very serious issue in the bush; inhibiting the capacity of indigenous people to get jobs, to be part of the broader community. I trust that it is only the beginning in the context of allowing people in the bush – teachers, indigenous students, parents and communities - the same opportunities in respect to education that can be expected in places like Darwin and Alice Springs.
Ms LAWRIE (Karama): Madam Speaker, conscious of the time that this debate has gone on for and the matters still to come before the Assembly, I will be brief in my congratulations to our minister for Education. It is a critically important statement that the minister has presented. It is a statement that provides a very sound foundation for learning for our students into the future in the Territory. $42m is not an insignificant sum of money to find at this time of a budget cycle, and the enormity of the funding that is being committed by the government to Building Better Schools really does show the great importance that we place on education. To have already put in 100 above formula specialists teachers and support staff and to build on that with this additional $42m is a phenomenal effort by the government.
I know that Sanderson High has already benefited from the efforts undertaken under this minister, with a new attendance officer at the school. That is flowing through and working with our primary schools in the electorate. We are also lucky enough to have a wellbeing officer attached to a couple of the primary schools - Malak school has one as does Karama. In working with the school community, I have seen just how this enhances the wellbeing of the broader school community. They do not just focus on the students; they work with the teachers and also with parents. We know that education is only successful when parents are working with teachers for the benefit of their children.
I congratulate the government for recognising the need to have counsellors as part of the remunerated positions in our senior secondary schools. I have the experience of having good contact with quite a few high school students throughout my electorate, and I know that it is becoming increasingly difficult for them to make those very important decisions about what courses they should be taking through Years 11 and 12. Those decisions start to form in their minds around Year 8, so the emphasis on counsellors to be there to be an added listener in their life and to give advice, is critical to them having the confidence to proceed through their schooling. I congratulate the minister for taking the bold decision to put those counsellors into the school system to support the schools in their role in giving critically important advice to our students.
I know that we call this a focus on secondary schools, but with the focus that has been given in this statement to middle years schooling to try to engage and keep our 11- to 16-year-olds in education - which is critically important to the future of the Territory and our skills base - it is important and impacting now upon those students who are in the primary school system.
It is a matter that has sparked a great deal of debate amongst primary school communities, certainly in my electorate. In previous debates in this Chamber, I have thanked our school communities for participating with an open mind in the education debate, and I want to put it on record again today. Manunda Terrace Primary School, Karama School, and Malak School have taken the opportunity that they saw in the Gregor Ramsey report into secondary education, and gave back into the consultation process some very valuable advice and feedback, which I am pleased to say has been taken up by our government in the decisions made about which of the recommendations to adopt, which to reject and which need more work.
Middle years schooling is such a critical aspect of schooling that it is appropriate that we go into further consultation with the school communities. It is highly appropriate for it to be done by geographical area; for example, the needs that you might find in Karama would be quite different, I dare say, from the needs in Kalkarindji. Therefore, it really should be done at the grassroots level. The minister is affording the community the opportunity to have those discussions. I look forward to working with my school communities in a continued way to see what advantages there are in shaping a renewed focus on the middle years of school. I congratulate the minister for giving us all the opportunity to continue to look at how we can enhance our education system.
I congratulate Gregor Ramsey and his team for their hard work, and Sheila O’Sullivan and her team. They each had unenviable tasks and acquitted themselves with great professionalism. I congratulate the minister and his staff who have worked very hard for a long time to ensure that this process was fair and equitable one, delivering our education needs into the future.
As I said, I thank my school communities for participating in the process, and for having the faith that they might actually be listened to in the consultation process, as opposed to consultation in name only that used to occur under the previous government. I am delighted that the community has been listened to and that there are clear markers about how secondary education will progress with this critical $42m funding over four years, and that we have the opportunity to continue discussing middle years of school. This is being increasingly recognised internationally as important. If you get your middle years of schooling right, you will provide the skills base that underpins a growing economy such as we have in the Territory.
Minister, it is a subject that I could speak about for a long time, but I do wish to be brief tonight. I thank you for the statement. It is comprehensive and provides a very good platform for the Territory’s future.
Mr STIRLING (Employment, Education and Training): Madam Speaker, I managed to get most points raised by members in debate. I thank all members who contributed because it shows that people are interested and genuinely concerned about education. I thank them for that interest.
I want to make it clear to the member for Greatorex that the government did not listen to nor follow the Country Liberal Party on the question of the future of NTOEC. We did listen very closely to the community’s voice throughout the consultative process and made our decision accordingly.
He mentioned a couple of concerns coming from the Australian Education Union. The first was whether ongoing funding was going to be there and, second, the cost of the process. Of course the funding will be ongoing. Does the member for Greatorex actually think that we are going to take the time to go out and recruit and place 19 qualified counsellors in our high school, and then take the money away next year and sack them? I think not, Madam Speaker.
In relation to the $3m alleged to have been spent on the process, it is a bit rich. Dr Ramsey’s review cost - and it is publicly known - around $309 000 and the consultative process cost around $1.1 or $1.2m. Therefore, all up, we are looking at around $1.5m. However, in the costing of that, the department diligently costed the time out of every member of the department that worked with the Priority Education team, including the salary of one Rita Henry and all of the people down the line. Therefore, that figure includes anybody from within the department who had anything to do with this project. They are departmental employees, they have a job to do, and they were inside the education budget anyway, but they have costed that out, so that is where we get that $1.5m all up.
The original cost of $74m mentioned in the review could only have been a best guess at that time. The costing in the report was never put to Treasury, never tested in any way, and nor, of course, were all the recommendations arising out of the Ramsey report accepted in any case, including the precincts and the quality services agencies. There would have, potentially, been quite significant costs in there, building up to that $74m. However, it was only ever a best guess.
Far from being paralysed by these recommendations, as the member alleged, we consciously took the report and the recommendations out to the community for fulsome debate with parents, business, teachers and students. We make no apology for the length of time that process took, because we believe we have a much stronger outcome in what we have finished with as a result of those consultations.
Nineteen counsellors in a full year at $1.85m – I work that out to be around $97 000 a head. I do not know how the member for Greatorex gets to $26 000. That $97 000 would, presumably, include all of the on-costs, including those going into rural and remote areas. The 19 go to our high schools, plus those community schools that are running full secondary programs. In answer to the question of where the funding comes from, it is $3.5m for the balance of the 2004-05 financial year, rising to $9.6m in 2005-06, and $11.5m in 2006-07.
Dr Lim: Counsellors for 60 secondary schools; if it is one counsellor per school.
Mr STIRLING: You have had your go. You have wasted your 30 minutes when you were up there before, do not try and get a second go.
The $3.5m in this 2004-05 financial year will come from Treasurer’s Advance. There ought be no secret about that. Where else does government get money from …
Dr Lim: For 60 schools, it is one per school.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Greatorex, order!
Mr STIRLING: Where else does government get money from when they are in between budget cycles? Clearly, that $3.5m comes out of the Treasurer’s Advance, and the out year’s costings go into forward estimates as of now, and they will appear in the budget papers accordingly.
I am advised that Nightcliff High is linked to and operating on SAMS, so I do not know what the member for Greatorex is on about here. I was taken with the remarks by the member for Nightcliff, who seemed to suggest that there is an element of mischief-making here to try to destroy this school. I do not know what that is about because, as the opposition spokesman on Education, he has a responsibility to uphold the system, not drag it down. If he comes in here with these lies, as he has here again tonight, he ought to check his facts before be gets here.
Dr Lim: Oh, Madam Speaker, there he goes again. How can you say I lied? Come on, fair is fair.
Madam SPEAKER: You cannot accuse him of lying.
Mr STIRLING: These untruths, Madam Speaker, about whether the system is up and running in that school.
Dr Lim: Have you found out about it?
Mr STIRLING: Check your facts before you come in here with this malicious mischief-making. Come on. You came in here at the end of last year about complaints about Charles Darwin University. You ran it out on the ABC, in the NT News, and in here, and there was no substance to the story at any time - just trash and rubbish that you had made up in your head, and you got out and spread it. You have a responsibility to tell the truth like the rest of us. You are getting caught out. You are getting a record for it, and you have form. We will watch you, and I will watch you very closely. Therefore, do not come in here with these muckraking, mischievous comments that have no substance - no basis in fact whatsoever.
Dr Lim: Ask them and see what they tell you.
Mr STIRLING: No basis in fact whatsoever. Madam Speaker, enough on the member for Greatorex; his contribution was warmly appreciated.
The member for Stuart does recognise the strength of the package for the bush. He has a great background of experience as a principal in bush areas. He knows the deficiencies that were in indigenous education that were left unaddressed by our predecessors. He is a passionate advocate of Learning Lessons. He repeatedly questioned the CLP, Question Time after Question Time. He would harangue us in the Caucus room upstairs: ‘I have to have one or two questions on Learning Lessons’. I asked: ‘You asked them yesterday’. He said: ‘I have another two’. He would insist on asking the minister of the day one or two questions about the implementation of Learning Lessons. Do you know what the answer was? Not one of those initiatives was ever introduced; the report was shelved. The responses from the then ministers for Education throughout that time are in the Parliamentary Record.
The member for Greatorex cannot come in here and claim that they ran out of time in implementing Learning Lessons. I asked him to name one initiative that they have introduced – not one! Nor could the last minister for Education for the CLP, or the minister before him, ever name one because they were asked repeatedly by the member for Stuart: ‘Tell us what you have done about Learning Lessons’. They could never put one initiative on the table. Again, an untruth here from the member for Greatorex who said: ‘We started it but we ran out of time’. Well, you never did! You put it on the shelf and you forgot about it, and it was gathering dust when we came to government in August 2001.
In any case, beyond that, the CLP had a deliberate policy which was not to deliver secondary education to indigenous students in the bush. They have the gall to come in here …
Dr LIM: A point of order, Madam Speaker!
Mr STIRLING: … and criticise this government for trying to strengthen and roll out secondary education. They had 26 years to do it - 26 years to do it, you hypocrite!
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Dr LIM: A point or order, Madam Speaker!
Mr STIRLING: You smiling, little hypocrite!
Madam SPEAKER: Order, minister! Minister, withdraw that, thank you.
Dr LIM: Madam Speaker, I believe it is about time the minister started behaving himself in the Chamber.
Madam SPEAKER: Minister, withdraw that last remark.
Mr STIRLING: I withdraw ‘hypocrite’, Madam Speaker. However, it is true: 26 years to do something about education in the bush, and they had a deliberate policy not to put secondary education into the bush ...
Dr LIM: I have asked for a point of order, Madam Speaker! The minister continues to rave on like that. I will not call him any names in here; it would not be worth my while. Madam Speaker, you know that members should not attribute motives, particularly in the way the minister has been attributing motives …
Mr Stirling: It is not a motive; it is a fact.
Dr LIM: … to the CLP not wanting to provide secondary education to Aboriginal children in remote Northern Territory. That is not right and that is attributing to the opposition.
Madam SPEAKER: There is no point of order.
Mr STIRLING: It was a fact that it was a deliberate policy not to engage secondary education to indigenous students in rural remote areas.
The member for Stuart has been a great support for me, at an individual level, through pulling this package together to strengthen secondary education, particularly for indigenous students in rural and remote communities. I thank him for it. As long as he is a member of this Assembly, I will have some confidence that issues in and around indigenous education will always be to the front of members’ minds, because he will not have it any other way.
I agree with the member for Blain in part. It is good to have the community engaged in discussion about education, but it should be an ongoing process and it ought not be just at any time there is a particular review. That is something that we are going to continue to work on, because I do not think you can engage a community in anything more important than the future of education and the future of our kids, as it is so closely tied to the future of the Northern Territory.
He had some concerns around reporting of parents - many would agree with him. In fact, tracking students’ progress and improving the data collection within the system will, in turn, lead to improvements in reporting to parents. Parents are entitled to objective and accurate reporting on their children’s progress. The initiatives contained in this package will help the system deliver that.
However, if you read between the lines of what he was saying, the member for Blain was really advocating a ‘winner take all’ approach in our schools. In his view, our schools should only concentrate on the strong and successful; those that prove that they are up to the mark. Well, we have a different view. We willingly acknowledge and celebrate success and excellence within our schools and with our awards. However, we also want to ensure that as many as possible share a quality outcome in their journey through education. It seemed to me what was only important to him was the premium, the top of the class, the cream, that you concentrated on and to hell with the rest. Well, we have a very different view.
The member for Casuarina has been a strong support. He was an active member in the review and its outcomes. I thank him for his interest and support. Education in the Vatskalis household is a constant topic of course, because of their children and following the children’s progress closely. Kon’s wife is a teacher so these issues are a common topic for conversation in that household.
The member for Braitling is right about some of the differences with our 11- to 14-year-olds compared to, perhaps, our time, probably, since we were in secondary school, which is going back a fair way for some of us now. However, we do need to continue the process here of engaging with the community in and around this group.
The member’s comments that rural and remote indigenous students require face-to-face contact for effective learning is borne out by both the original report and the consultative process. Flexibility in the system, with innovative and creative responses to our use of schools and the expensive infrastructure which they represent, and flexibility in stand-down times to meet community social patterns have been considered as we go forward. The member’s support for Vocational Education Training is appreciated. It is part in that whole VET area of how we want to expand opportunities for students as broadly as possible.
Strong communities is very much about rural and remote communities. As the member for Braitling suggested, there is an absolute compelling need for our schools to move more closely to engage with the communities in which they are located. Networking across the clusters will help that, and will also help strengthen opportunities for teachers to learn from each other and present stronger opportunities for professional development.
In relation to the federal department of DEST, I am speaking with Dr Nelson. In fact, I was to speak with him this afternoon and we were in here debating this when that opportunity came and went. However, I will be speaking with Dr Nelson in the near future. He is aware of our review and has been a supporter of the process. I will be advising him of our response to date. He is a strong advocate - a very strong advocate - of indigenous education and a passionate supporter of VET as well. I know he will be interested in progress to date, and we will be seeking his continued interest and support.
I thank the member for Braitling for her supportive and intuitive comments. The member for Braitling is a living example of the old truism that you can take the teacher out of the classroom, but you are never really going to get the classroom out of the teacher.
I appreciated the member for Drysdale’s comments as to genuine intent to improve educational outcomes. His point about building better scholars is apt. Building Better Schools is exactly our view about that; Building Better Schools will mean better scholars will emerge from them. However, as is usual, his positivism was relatively short lived. We have grown to expect from the member for Drysdale over the years.
Whatever happens with the technical schools commitment from the federal government will not detract from the review or the implementation of the recommendations. There is a fair bit of water to go under the bridge yet before any decisions are made by the community or the federal government about what forms Commonwealth initiative will take.
I am happy to acknowledge the CLP’s support in getting the university up and running. My challenge to the member for Greatorex was not what initiative the CLP ever brought to education; it was to name just one initiative from Learning Lessons out of the 157 recommendations that were listed in that report - just one that they did initiate because he told me that they began that process but they ran out of time. Of course, he failed to recall one.
The member asked how many teachers graduated last year from CDU and how many got permanent jobs. I will certainly get that information for him. Attendance is critical, as he suggests. Attendance officers are achieving in the role of re-engagement. I have asked for a comprehensive brief on all outcomes to date from the attendance officers, and will report accordingly and provide him with that information.
The Jobs Plan is under review, notwithstanding its success to date. We do want to ensure we hit the mark regarding the needs out there as strategically as we possibly can.
Generally though, it was a positive contribution from the member for Drysdale which is a little out form for him but I appreciated the general thrust of his comment.
I thank the member for Arafura for her support. As a member of a rural electorate, she sees as clearly as I do first-hand the costs of a less than successful indigenous education over the years. She has seen, for many years, inequitable staffing ratios to rural remote schools compared to the urban situation. She knows, as I do, that we are beginning to have an impact on indigenous education, and these initiatives will serve to deepen and strengthen those gradual improvements that we are bringing in.
The member for Nightcliff takes an active interest in the schools within her electorate. She is very actively involved in the process of her own children’s education. She has a broad view of education and the system of schooling. I have appreciated her inputs throughout the task of putting government’s together, and her support for the open college throughout. I also thank her for her continued strong support for Nightcliff High School.
I thank the member for Millner for his support. Of all the members in here, he is the most recent, I believe, of any of us to have attended high school. I welcome his views and support on the government’s initiatives.
I look forward to the member for Nelson’s discussion with teachers throughout his electorate and, more importantly, learning the outcome of those discussions. I am happy for my office to provide him with any further information or advice that he seeks in relation to this package in his discussion with those teachers in his electorate.
He says we have not opened any schools. We have only built secondary facilities at Kalkarindji, Minyerri, and Maningrida. We are in the process of building secondary facilities at Shepherdson and will be building new schools at Emu Point and Manyallaluk as soon as the country dries out enough to get in there. Therefore, it is a bit rich to say that we have never opened any schools. We have an active policy of pushing secondary education. There are four or five schools where we have opened, or are about to open, secondary facilities.
Palmerston High School is undergoing design. It is not likely, I would not think, to be affected by the Commonwealth’s technical college proposal. My discussion with the federal minister last week indicated that the Commonwealth was not likely to be constructing a building - bricks and mortar - in itself, but more likely coming to how they can enhance the current system of skills and job training up here. The Commonwealth will continue to work with the community over the next six months or so to bring more detail to their proposal than exists at the moment. When I met with the minister, the members for Greatorex and Blain were just leaving, so I expect that they would have had a similar picture as me about the Commonwealth’s views.
I thank the member for Barkly for his support. As I said, our members from bush electorates are familiar with our schools and the long-term outstanding needs they have. He recognises we have made a good start today. His comments about Warrego are informative. It is a great little school based on an extremely strong relationship with the students and their community. The school and the principal shows that there is more than one way to skin a cat. In this case, it is a program around a mutual love of horses, horse riding and care for the animals. That is the way that school program is based, but it leads to outcomes in attendance, literacy and numeracy that we are looking for. I congratulate the principal there and the innovative way in which he goes about his work.
The member for Karama understands the value of what the government is undertaking here. We will continue to strengthen the system of education outcomes for our students as far as we possibly can. The member for Karama is a strong supporter of schools within her electorate, and I welcome her input to the process.
Finally, I put on record my thanks to Sheila O’Sullivan and her staff from SOCOM who carried out the public consultation process. The SOCOM report is an exceptional piece of work, only made possible, of course, by the quality of the consultative process in the first place. It very clearly represents the voice of the community. We owe a debt of thanks to SOCOM for being able to so clearly hear the voice of the community for that report. Thanks, Sheila.
Motion agreed to; statement noted.
Mr VATSKALIS (Mines and Energy): Madam Speaker, I move that the Assembly do now adjourn.
Tonight, I would like to speak about some events that have taken place in my electorate, particularly at the schools. Lyn Elphinstone, the Principal of Dripstone High School, has advised that the year has started smoothly for the school, with student enrolments of approximately 760 at the school. Over the holiday period, the school continued its maintenance to ensure a safe and healthy environment.
Dripstone High School is very proud of the achievements of present and past students. Congratulations to Danielle Andrews on her Australia Day Student Citizenship Award. In addition, two former students have gained cadetships with the Northern Territory government. Simone Liddy is the Territory’s first indigenous student to receive a Pharmacy cadetship from the Department of Health and Community Services; and Susan Farquhar is the Territory’s first Earth Science and Geology Cadet with the Department of Mines and Energy. The latter cadetship was one of my dreams that was conceived at a dinner with the Geology Society of the Northern Territory when members were complaining that they cannot get enough geologists in the Northern Territory. I promised that I would establish a cadetship program within the department.
I am pleased to say that the first cadet in the program is Susan Farquhar, a young lady who is 19 years old, who worked as an Admin Officer at CDU and decided to change her career. Susan will receive $12 000 a year for the next three years to study and, during holiday periods, she will have employment with the department or with one of the mining companies. This program will run for three years, after which it will be evaluated. My suspicion is that we will continue with it.
Additionally, we want to promote science and geology, so I will be writing to secondary schools in the Northern Territory offering a grant in order to acquire equipment, books or other material, to encourage students to study Earth Science and Geology.
I met with the Alawa Primary School Principal, Sharon Reeves, who is excited about her school’s excellent start to 2005, with an increased number of students enrolled in primary and preschool. The Alawa School Council had a look at the Stage 1 renovation plans last week, and was very impressed. They approved them proudly.
I am very pleased, because I see $1.8m allocated for renovations in Alawa, that will be well spent. The plans I have seen for the renovations of the school are very impressive. The Alawa school is also trialling a Friendly School and Families program, and will also continue with the early age of entry trial. There are a lot of very committed teachers working very hard. I would like to welcome a new teacher, Mrs Jill Luchjenbroers, who came from Wanguri and is now teaching at Alawa.
I visited another school in my area, Nakara Primary School, last week and inspected all the work there with the Principal, Mr Barry Griffin. Some of the work was finished during the holidays, including the covered walkway from the kids’ drop-in area so that, in the rain, the children can walk in without getting wet. The well protected walkway leads the kids from the kids’ drop-in area to their classrooms. All the internal children’s toilets have been renovated, upgraded and the ventilation improved enormously. The caretaker’s facilities, including a new toilet, have been constructed. In the next few weeks, I expect there will be advertisements in the newspaper for the construction of the renovations of the Alawa School, and certainly a number of other works to be undertaken at Nakara Primary School.
I was also very proud launch the fencing and landscaping project at Nungalinya - or, as I should say, the end of the landscaping and fencing project at Nungalinya. The college, which is located at the corner of Goodman Street and Dripstone Road in Casuarina, has been there since 1973. However, the landscaping was non-existent and there was no fencing. A lot of people complained to me about the looks of the college, and students and teaching staff complained to me about the lack of privacy and security. I lobbied the government successfully, and Nungalinya College was allocated $210 000. A fantastic fence has been erected surrounding the property of Nungalinya College, and it has been nicely landscaped and new beautiful signs indicate to the people that this is a significant college. I say significant because the college teaches indigenous people about early childhood, how to look after children, a lot of textile work, and a lot of skills that they can acquire in order to improve their conditions and their lifestyle.
I have to say I was very disappointed that quite a few people told me that they only realised that Nungalinya was there after the signs went up, the landscaping done and the fence was erected. All these years, people were driving past and had no idea what was there. Now it looks fantastic, very pretty. People are very proud and say that the new look not only provides security and privacy for the people at Nungalinya, but has beautified their neighbourhood.
The last item I would like to talk about is the community partnership. I am happy to advise that the community partnership is definitely working very well in my electorate. I would like to thank the Community Harmony Project, Mission Australia, Darwin City Council and the police - in particular Senior Sergeant Mick Reid of the Casuarina Police Station and his constables. All the above organisations have been working very well together in order to address some of the issues with itinerants. There is some itinerant activity in the area; it has increased in the past few weeks. However, we are on top of it.
The police, Mission Australia and Community Harmony Project people are working very closely together with translators and interpreters on this and other issues. I am very pleased to say the response from the Darwin City Council was absolutely fantastic. After a few phone calls, council workers came to the Alawa park to clean the park and mow the lawn and clean the area surrounding it, and it looks really nice. They move people from there so they cannot be in these areas creating problems. Mission Australia is attending, unfortunately, late night drinking and fighting sessions that happen so often. I know that it is not going to be resolved immediately, today, but we are working very hard, all together, in order to address these issues.
I would like to conclude by extending to all members of the Chinese community in Darwin Casuarina my best wishes for a Happy Chinese New Year – Gong Xi Fa Cai. This year is the Year of the Rooster, a fantastic year. I am very pleased that one of the gifts I gave today was a grant to the Chung Wah Society of $110 000, the first instalment of a grant of $245 000 to go towards the extension of their hall. I was very impressed when they came and saw me a few years ago with the plans of the extension and renovation of the hall. I was very impressed because they did not ask for all the money to be provided by the government, but promised that they would raise $1-for-$1 and only asked for $250 000 to renovate their hall. The total renovation cost is about $0.5m, which is excellent. I am very proud to be able to help the Chinese community.
The Chinese community has been in the Territory since the 18th century and has enriched the life of the Territory. A lot of Chinese traditions and customs now are familiar to Territorians, and we are very happy to celebrate Chinese New Year with our Chinese-descent Territorians. We not only celebrate by seeing the lion blessing the Chamber, but also by having the lions blessing our houses and our offices. I am looking forward to the next two weeks when the Chinese lions will come to our offices to bless them, particularly because I was very pleased to provide an extra grant for the Chung Wah Society to acquire new lions and renovate some of the lions that were getting a bit old, tired and dated. However, as you have seen today, they are fantastic: sparkling, loud and absolutely wonderful.
Dr LIM (Greatorex): Mr Deputy Speaker, as usual for my first adjournment of the year, I speak about Chinese New Year. This is the 11th - or maybe the 10th, I cannot remember exactly. I hope that I will be in the Chamber to be able to complete and speak about each animal that is related to the year for the full cycle of 12 animals in the Chinese New Year calendar.
As you saw this morning at the commencement of sittings, the Chung Wah Society lion dance blessed the Chamber. It truly is multiculturalism in practice. It is the only parliament in the whole of Australia - I am not even certain whether any other parliament around the world is blessed by the Chinese lion dance prior to commencement of sittings. It is definitely a demonstration of multiculturalism as it is practised in the Northern Territory; the way it is practised, not just words and platitudes and lots of people saying the right things, but really putting their welcome of multiculturalism into real practice.
As of tomorrow, or tonight is the eve of the Year of the Rooster, the last day of the Year of the Monkey. I have said in previous adjournments people born tomorrow, or midnight tonight, will be born into the Year of the Rooster, and 12 years back from tomorrow’s date, that person would be 12 years, 24 years, 36 years, or 48 years of age and so on, come the first day of the Chinese New Year. People who were born, say, at the end of the Chinese New Year cycle, in December or January, would turn two years old on the first day of Chinese New Year, if they were born just prior to the turn of the year.
What does the Year of the Rooster mean to people? I quote from this book, of which I have bought many copies over the last many years that I have been making this adjournment speech. It is a book written by Neil Somerville entitled Your Chinese Horoscope 2005. I will read the first couple of lines:
It says the Year of the Rooster is the year for hardworking people; people who are diligent, committed to work, who have good organisational skills, who are efficient in their work and who pay great attention to detail. These are the people who would do well. It is important this year that you pay attention to those attributes and is also necessary, when you work, to pay attention to these qualities. For those who slacken, this Year of the Rooster is going to be a bad year for them. Therefore, no more slackness this year; everybody has to work hard because the Rooster year can be very unforgiving. Actions that are a little suspect, a bit illegal, maybe a lack of respect for authority, are the actions that will suffer from the Rooster. Therefore, do not stray outside the boundaries; you have to behave very well to make sure that your life stays well.
When I was reading this book - and I read this book within a couple of weeks of Christmas, so this book would have been published well before December, even November - this paragraph really sent chills down me. I quote these three or four lines:
I thought about the tsunami and the tragedy that the tsunami caused in the Indian subcontinent, the Malaysian Peninsula and Indonesia, especially in the province of Aceh, and the way that many governments, many nations across the world, came together in a very strong and considered effort to help the devastated countries the tsunami affected. Therefore, it is uncanny that sometimes - I do not know if it is a superstition, whatever - when you read these sort of books, it reflects an element of truth in the things that you have personally experienced.
It says that:
Therefore, if you are still in the chicken business, make sure that you do your eggs well.
For the individual, this is the interesting bit, which says that:
Maybe our Deputy Clerk will start his aerobic classes again and encourage all people working in this building to take part in the classes the he holds in the gym. Health awareness will be a major feature this year.
I said before that this year will favour the dedicated and those who put in a major effort. With diligence comes wealth. So there you go. In summing up it says:
This book also contains year-by-year, the impact of this year on people born on particular animal years. For instance, the Leader of the Opposition is born in the Year of the Rat and, in this book, his fortunes are coming to a peak this year.
Today, as I said, the lion dance came to bless the Chamber, and this Saturday there will be the traditional Chung Wah Society banquet at the casino. I believe that the Hakka Association and the other Chinese community organisations are also having their own Chinese New Year celebrations over the weekend.
The following morning, very bright and early, 10 of the Chung Wah Society Lion Dance Troupe will be travelling to Alice Springs to bring Chinese New Year celebrations to the community. It will start at around 11 am with a blessing in Todd Mall under the sails, after which it will be blessing the Todd Mall markets. Each year, many of the stallholders participate in the blessings and the lion will be moving around amongst the crowd which gathers to watch the performances during the morning. Then, through Sunday, Monday and Tuesday morning, the Lion Dance Troupe will be blessing offices, homes and shopping centres in Alice Springs.
The visit by the Chung Wah Society Lion Dance Troupe to Alice Springs would not have been possible if it had not been for the very generous donations of accommodation and meals. Lasseter’s Casino provides accommodation and has done so for the last seven lion dance visits into Alice Springs. This will be the eighth one into Alice Springs without a break. The casino provides accommodation and breakfast for the troupe; the Chinese restaurants - the Hong Kong, the Oriental Gourmet and the Golden Inn - all provide dinners; and the takeaway Chinese restaurants, both at the Alice Springs Plaza and the Yeperenye Shopping Centre, provide lunches.
It is a very strong community event with community support and contribution. For instance, Thrifty Rent-a-Car provides us with a vehicle to drive the Lion Dance Troupe with all the paraphernalia - the drums, the lion, and gongs - around town to perform the blessings.
Normally, the Northern Territory Office of Ethnic Affairs, now called Multicultural Affairs, contributes money to the Chung Wah Society to allow them to fly the troupe to Alice Springs. Money is usually provided to the Chung Wah Society at least a month or six weeks before the event, which will allow them to buy cheap plane tickets through group bookings with the airlines. This year, repeated requests were made to the Office of Multicultural Affairs and we were continually told the minister had not signed off on it, or the minister was away on holidays. We could not get any guarantee that the money was going to be made available until within the last couple of days. If you are going to make group bookings to try and capitalise on the savings, then this government has to respond in an appropriate time and it has not done that. That is really inconsiderate. This is a community organisation that has to find the money itself.
Fortunately, we have been able to secure some donations from business in Alice Springs. Jetset Alice Springs has contributed $500 towards the air fares and carried the risk of not getting any government funding to pay for the tickets. The Chung Wah Society itself also undertook the risk and said: ‘Let us book the tickets now. It will save us a lot of money and, if the money does not come from the government, we just have to go ahead anyway because we have been doing it for the last seven years. The community has supported us so strongly, so let us keep going with it’.
From my perspective as the local organiser for all the blessings, - I organise it all because I live in Alice Springs and I have the network of people that I can call upon, and I am probably the only member of the Chung Wah Society living in Alice Springs - it made more sense that I did all the local organisation of the visit. I know that the Office of Central Australia will be blessed by the lion also, and I hope they make the lion most welcome when they visit that office.
Chinese New Year is very important for, obviously, Chinese all over the world. In many parts of Asia, tomorrow is a public holiday and there are lots of visits of people to their relatives. There are family gatherings, where great-grandparents and great-grandchildren can all get together. Red packets of hong baos are exchanged, the adults giving to the children. The children are, obviously, desperate to get some red packets because there is money in them. Chinese New Year becomes a day of great fun and gift exchanging, with money to spend buying fireworks and any other new year paraphernalia. On New Year’s Day, every child puts on brand new clothes, from shoes right through to even a brand new hair cut. It is part of the whole deal.
Happy New Year: Gong Xi Fa Cai.
Mrs MILLER (Katherine): Mr Deputy Speaker, tonight I would like to speak about the effort that was conducted in Katherine in relation to the tsunami appeal. The tsunami, obviously, is the worst disaster that I have ever had the misfortune to witness on telly – it was like watching a horror movie. One wondered if, maybe, it was science fiction or something that was made up. Nobody could realise the enormity of what was happening so close to our shores. However, as the days went by and more viewing became possible on television, it was certainly brought home to us just how dreadful and horrific the incident was. It was probably brought home to the people of Katherine a little more, because we had gone through a flood in 1998. The flood paled into insignificance in comparison to the tsunami that had affected Indonesia and those surrounding countries.
It was as a result of what the people had gone through in 1998 that they rallied together, mainly under the guise of our Katherine mayor, Anne Shepherd, who was also a victim of the floods in 1998, who called together a group of people and launched an appeal for the tsunami victims, and a bushfire appeal for the bushfires, of course, that happened down south on Eyre Peninsula in January. The Katherine Town Council have had a very good relationship, over the years, with the Indonesian Consulate and, as a result, it was even more important for us to do something to help, even though we are only a small town.
The Katherine Town Council organised a collection point. Toni Coutts, who works for the Katherine Town Council, was instrumental in organising that. Once the appeal had been announced over the local community radio and the radio for the Territory, and also through the Katherine Times, volunteers poured into the Katherine Town Council, which was just wonderful, because it was an inconvenient time of the year. Disasters never happen at convenient times. It was Christmas/New Year, with a lot of people away, but they still had at least 20 volunteers who worked non-stop over two weeks at the Katherine Town Council and collected all sorts of non-perishable foods, clothing and items that would have been suitable to be sent to the victims of the tsunami.
Altogether, there were 250 cartons bundled up at Katherine Town Council, and they were very generously carted to Darwin by Nighthawk Couriers free of charge. They were flown on to Indonesia in three separate shipments.
During that time, also, Katherine Hospital organised the donation of the use of their kitchen so that they could make dinners to be sold to raise money towards the tsunami appeal. The local butchers, and Town and Country Butchery and Jones Meat Mart, donated the meat to make over 270 curry dishes which were frozen in the hospital’s kitchen, and then sold for lunches during that week. As a result of that, $1270 was raised for the tsunami appeal.
On a particular day – and I do not remember the date - a group of young people got together and decided they wanted to do something about helping these people as well. I take my hat off to this group. There was Greg Dowling and Ben Coutts from a group called 20/12, which was a band of young blokes who got together at high school and formed a band. They have not played together for about 10 years as a band, but they got together to organise a concert at the Katherine Tick Market site. Another couple pitched in - Barnsey and Lionel as they are called - Mick Barnes and Lionel Cole, along with a guy called Johnno from Wounded Dog. These guys organised, on their own bat without any assistance from anybody else, a free concert on the Saturday night. With the assistance from many people in the community, they were able to raise well over $3000.
I am going to mention some of the businesses that contributed to that because there was no money that had to be paid out by these young people to organise this night. This was all donations, and there were a lot of them. I will mention them because it was important. Parmalat donated ice coffees and water, all of which was handled by the Lions Club. The Lions donated their time, of course, and sold the drinks in the area of the Tick Market. The money, of course, was part of the $3000-odd that went to the tsunami appeal. Jones Meat Mart again, Gambles Meats and also Town and Country Butchery, donated meat for toasted sandwiches, steak sandwiches and sausages, for the usual sausage sizzles to be done by the Rotary Club of Katherine. They were all volunteers who gave up their time to do the cooking. There were onions, of course, to make up the steak sandwiches that came from Katherine Fresh Fruit and Vegie Market. Top End Sounds provided the sound equipment. The stage was on the back of a trailer from Pandion Haulage that was donated. Imparja Television advertised for nothing. Parker Signs put signs all around Katherine to advertise the concert on that Saturday night. Some of the other businesses that helped were Dollars and Cents; Katherine Office Supplies; Kalano Sport and Rec; B & D Distributors who also donated soft drinks; Elders Katherine; Watts Electrics; Tandy; Top News newsagency; Katherine Ice Supplies who supplied all the ice for the cool drinks; Wastemaster who collected all rubbish; Katherine Oasis and Woolworths Ltd: Terrace Emporium; Ben’s Mowing who made sure that the area was lovely, neat and tidy before we could start the concert; Mix 104.9; Hot 100; the Paint Spot; Tim Baldwin who loaned his tent in case we had some rain that night and, fortunately we did not; Bushfires Council; Katherine Town Council; Rotary; Katherine Times; 8KTR Katherine; Chubb Security; and I paid for the hire of the area for the night.
It was an absolutely outstanding effort. There were a lot of people at the function and, out of that function, came the opportunity of maybe running this type of function, perhaps once a month. We had some very interesting people who organised this type of thing before on a regular basis in Queensland, who have just arrived in Katherine and were quite intrigued and interested to know that we had so much talent, which was very good. That highlighted something else; something good came out of something not so good.
Whilst I wanted to talk about the tsunami, I also wanted to address the bushfire appeal because we included that in that concert that night. I am talking about the bushfire area because that is my hometown area, and it also affected many people whom I knew. Of the nine people who died, I knew four of them. I knew most of the people who lost their properties and all their livestock etcetera. Therefore, it has been a pretty traumatic start to the year with the tsunami on one side caused by the ocean and, on that side, the absolute devastation of the bushfires in South Australia.
The Northern Territory has responded unbelievably well to the tsunami, as has the rest of Australia. Of course, our efforts in Katherine were shared between the tsunami and the bushfire victims in South Australia. I am continuing to support those people who are in South Australia who have lost so much. I really think that it is terrible things that happen, and natural disasters, which bring out the best in people. I have seen the best come out of people within the Northern Territory and throughout Australia following these disasters, and it would be lovely to think that it could continue. It would be really nice to think people cared enough about each other to go ahead and do nice things to assist their fellow man, rather than try to tear them down.
Mr Deputy Speaker, I congratulate the people of Katherine for the effort they have made in addressing the natural disasters we have had the misfortune to have early in this 2005.
Motion agreed to; the Assembly adjourned.
STATEMENT BY SPEAKER
Chung Wah Society Blessing on Parliament
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, welcome to 2005. I place on record my thanks to the Chung Wah Society for their blessing upon the parliament.
Members: Hear, hear!
OPPOSITION OFFICE HOLDERS
Mr BURKE (Opposition Leader): Madam Speaker, yesterday morning, 7 February 2005, I had the honour of being elected leader of the CLP parliamentary wing by my colleagues and, hence, alternative Chief Minister. The member for Greatorex continues in his role as Deputy Leader of the Opposition and the member for Macdonnell is Whip. The member for Macdonnell also takes on the role of Leader of Opposition Business.
Following these changes, the allocation of portfolio and shadow ministries is as follows: I will take responsibility for Treasury; Territory Development; the Railway; Defence Support; Police, Fire and Emergency Services; Business, Industry and Resource Development; and Racing, Gaming and Licensing. The member for Greatorex has Employment, Education and Training; Corporate and Information Services; Communications; Multicultural Affairs; and Central Australia. The member for Macdonnell has Community Development; Regional Development; Housing; Local Government; Sport and Recreation; and Indigenous Affairs. The member for Port Darwin has Family and Community Services; Senior Territorians; Environment and Heritage; Women’s Policy; and Arts and Museums. The member for Araluen has Justice and Attorney-General; and Health. The member for Drysdale has Transport and Infrastructure; Lands and Planning; Parks and Wildlife; and Essential Services. The member for Blain has Tourism; Asian Relations and Trade; and Young Territorians. The member for Katherine has Primary Industry and Fisheries; and Mines and Energy.
DISTINGUISHED VISITORS
New South Wales Legislative Assembly Members
New South Wales Legislative Assembly Members
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, I draw your attention to the presence in the Speaker’s gallery of members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly: Ms Noreen Hay, member for Wollongong, Ms Marianne Saliba, member for Illawarra and Mr Allan Shearan, member for Londonderry. On behalf of all members, I extend a warm welcome to you.
Members: Hear, hear!
VISITORS
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, we also have our first group of school students visiting us today. The students are from Years 5, 6 and 7 from Alawa Primary School accompanied by their teacher, Ms Tina Mills. On behalf of all honourable members, I extend a warm welcome to you also.
Members: Hear, hear!
CONDOLENCE MOTION
Asian Tsunami Disaster
Asian Tsunami Disaster
Ms MARTIN (Chief Minister): Madam Speaker, it is with deep regret that I advise honourable members of the deaths, on 26 December 2004, of over 300 000 people living around the rim of the Indian Ocean.
I seek leave to move a motion of condolence relating to the death of those many tens of thousands of people who died after the tsunami crashed into surrounding land masses and island groups in South-East Asia, western Asia and the coast of east Africa.
Leave granted.
Ms MARTIN: Madam Speaker, I move that this Assembly express its deep regret at the death of nearly 300 000 people in Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Burma, Sri Lanka, India, the islands of the Maldives, the Seychelles, Somalia, Tanzania and Kenya. I further express, on behalf of all Territorians, the deepest sympathy towards those who lost families and friends and who are now struggling to rebuild their lives.
Territorians’ hearts go out to those who bore the brunt of that tsunami’s impact. It was a natural disaster of unprecedented ferocity, propelled by an offshore earthquake that registered nine on the Richter Scale. The tsunami raced across the Indian Ocean from the earthquake’s epicentre off the coast of Indonesia at a speed estimated at 500 km an hour, striking Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia and Burma first, then smashed into the eastern coast of Sri Lanka, India and, later, Somalia. The tsunami appeared in an area where such events are extremely rare and, without a tsunami warning system, it caught millions of people around the rim of the Indian Ocean by surprise.
The destruction and death due to the sudden repeated walls of seawater is on a scale never before experienced in the Indian Ocean. It is almost incomprehensible to those outside the affected areas to understand the enormity of the devastation, the loss of life, and the millions left homeless. As onlookers, a deep feeling of helplessness prevailed. However, that feeling of emptiness inspired a generous community response around the world with aid pouring in from every corner of the globe.
The Australian government’s $1bn aid package was welcomed by the President of Indonesia and universally praised at home. The package will see Australia’s expertise and technology play an enormous role in the long-term reconstruction of Aceh. Already, Australians have made a huge impact by setting up a water desalination plant, a field hospital treating the associated injuries that took place during the tsunami, removal of tonnes of debris, and victim identification.
Few countries or states gave in greater amounts on a per capita basis than the people of the Northern Territory. The Territory government led the way with an early donation on behalf of all Territorians. In a decision that followed extensive dialogue with health professionals, Cabinet decided, on 29 December, to donate $450 000 on behalf of Territorians to three major aid agencies: Australian Red Cross, World Vision and Care Australia.
As Chief Minister, on behalf of all Territorians, I wrote a letter to His Excellency Dr Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, the President of the Republic of Indonesia, saying:
It is with much regret and sadness that I write to you at this time in my capacity as Chief Minister of the
Northern Territory of Australia. Please accept my deepest condolences for the significant loss your country
has endured during the recent tsunami disaster.
- The Territory and Indonesia share a strong and close relationship, both socially and economically, and there
is great sense of mourning for the loss that has occurred.
My government will contribute both financial and in-kind assistance to aid agencies working in the region
to provide medical and logistical support as required.
Once the immediate crisis is past, my government will be willing to assist, where possible in rebuilding the
province of Aceh.
Once again, please accept my sincerest condolences during this time of grief.
In response to that letter, the Consul of the Republic of Indonesia forwarded a reply from the President on 27 January. He wrote:
- Dear Madam,
I am deeply grateful for your thoughtful message of sympathy and support extended to me on the recent
massive earthquake and tidal waves which hit Aceh in northern Sumatra claiming thousands of lives and
creating extensive damage to property.
We highly appreciate your comforting words of solace and the valuable assistance provided by the government
and people of the Northern Territory of Australia, and I am convinced they will serve to assuage the grief of
families of the victims of this tragic calamity.
With my special consideration and best wishes for your personal wellbeing,
Dr Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono
President of the Republic of Indonesia
I pay particular credit to Defence Force personnel who are based in the Territory and have left family and loved ones to perform vital emergency work, helping those in need. There was a very emotional farewell to HMAS Kanimbla. Territory Defence families and friends, and all Territorians, can be very proud of the great work that our Defence personnel are performing - everything from water desalination plants to clearing roads, and rebuilding roads. Their work will be greatly appreciated.
The Territory government will continue to work closely with the Commonwealth government and Defence to coordinate ongoing assistance required in the affected area.
Shortly after the disaster was reported, the National Australian Health Disaster Committee met by teleconference, including the Territory’s Chief Health Officer, Dr Tarun Weeramanthri. With news from the affected areas still in short supply, the committee decided to place the Royal Darwin Hospital in a state of readiness to receive Australian national casualties from Thailand, Sri Lanka and Malaysia. RDH would be the first port of reception, playing the same role it did following the Bali bombings.
However, no casualties emerged from the aircraft touching down from the affected areas. The cruel fact became clear that Australians in those areas either died or made it to high ground, receiving very insignificant injuries. Therefore, on 31 December, RDH returned to normal.
The Australian Health Disaster Committee was, however, still very active. The group made preparations to put together civilian medical teams to be sent to the affected areas. This had never before been attempted. Drawn from the large population bases of southern Australia, the first small team was sent to Phuket, then two 15-person teams were sent to Aceh, another 15-person team to the Maldives, and a three-person team to Sri Lanka. Subsequently, a South Australian team was sent, as was a Queensland team with one Territorian involved and, finally, a joint Victorian-Territory team was sent to Aceh, and is still there. Next week, the General Manager of Darwin’s Private Hospital, Peter Beaumont, will travel to Aceh to assess the situation there. The Territory has contributed well to the recovery effort currently under way in Asia.
From across the Territory we have seen appeals of all kinds – from church groups, businesses, private philanthropists, and even a magnificent donation from the Western Desert community of Kintore. The spirit of giving swept the Territory with people not only donating cash, but goods that could be used by those in need. Businesses donated goods and services.
The amazing generosity of Territorians was displayed through relief goods collections in Alice Springs, Katherine, Darwin and Nhulunbuy as part of a massive community effort. Territorians worked hand-in-hand to pack and prepare relief supplies for transportation, and the Territory government was proud to be able to provide an additional $40 000 to purchase shipping containers and assist with the transportation costs associated with these goods. These relief supplies have now been shipped to Indonesia and Sri Lanka for distribution in the affected areas.
Tragically, children in the region were the hardest hit by this disaster. Tim Costello, leading the Australian World Vision aid effort in Aceh, said that so many children died in some areas that schools will not be rebuilt. So many have lost everything. When the scale of a tragedy like this is so enormous, involving millions of people across two continents and many island chains, it is easy to forget that those numbers are made up of personal struggles and individual crisis and trauma that will go on for years to come. However, even though the appeal for international aid was so successful, we must continue to help as the rebuilding process will take years, not months.
I want to let people in the affected areas know that we Territorians will not forget them. There are close ties between Territorians and our neighbours to the north. Through families, sport and cultural exchange, we have shared many experiences together and Territorians can be counted on to help our neighbours in times of need.
Mr BURKE (Opposition Leader): Madam Speaker, 26 December 2004 is a day that will be remembered in history. For many years to come, stories regarding that day and the days following will be told and retold by those who were involved in one way or another. As with 11 September and the other momentous occasions, with the marvels of modern technology, pictures were being beamed around the globe within hours, and many of us sat transfixed to our television sets as around the clock news reporting allowed us to watch the drama unfold. Those news pictures are now part of the historical record and, undoubtedly, will be played and replayed over and over again in documentary and anniversary programs.
Even from the comfort of our lounge rooms, none of us have ever witnessed such loss and pain, as wrought by the tsunami in south Asia. For many Australians - Territorians particularly - we have a special connection with that part of the world through birth, friendships and visits. Some areas, such as Phuket and Penang, were so familiar we gasped as we recognised familiar places amongst the television pictures, for we have walked that street, stayed in that hotel, or shopped at that store. We saw the bodies of so many who, in so many countries, strolled or slept, worked or lazed, minutes before nature showed its awesome power and snuffed out their lives.
In the passing weeks, there has been an outpouring of emotion and compassion globally that has shifted the world’s priorities to a massive effort of aid and assistance. Territorians have responded with a generosity that is unsurprising and magnificent. Perhaps our recent experience with natural disasters such as Cyclone Tracy and the Katherine floods, wakens in many a special compassion for others. All of us are enriched by their efforts, which continue as I speak. Throughout the Territory, individuals and families, businesses large and small, gave generously to the organisations working on the ground in the affected countries. They gave to Red Cross, Red Crescent, World Vision and others, members of which will stay for the long haul, long after the media attention has gone.
Some individuals volunteered their services and are working in various countries now. In my electorate, soldiers from Robertson Barracks - engineers mainly from 1st Combat Engineer Regiment, and others - will be in Aceh for many weeks before their job is done.
The Northern Territory government has been generous and helpful, both directly and indirectly, in providing assistance and supporting the community effort, and I am sure each MLA has been involved in some way.
In this motion the Chief Minister has brought forward, we join with the government in respecting those who lost their lives; pray for strength and courage for those individuals and families who are suffering from this catastrophe; and reflect powerfully on our ability to unite and respond compassionately and practically to others less fortunate. In this way, we express our shared humanity, as fragile creatures sharing the awesome power of nature, our home preserved. The poet John Donne, once wrote:
No man is an island entire in itself;
every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main;
if a clod be washed away by the sea …
The continent:
- … is the less, as well as if a promontory were,
as well as if a manor of thy friend’s or thine own were;
any man’s death diminishes me because I am involved with mankind,
and therefore never seem to know for whom the bell tolls.
It tolls for thee.
Members: Hear, hear!
___________________________________
Distinguished Visitor
Mr Terry McCarthy
Distinguished Visitor
Mr Terry McCarthy
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, I draw your attention to the presence in the gallery of the former member for Goyder and Speaker of this parliament, Mr Terry McCarthy. On behalf of all members, I extend to him a warm welcome.
Members: Hear, hear!
___________________________________
Mr STIRLING (Treasurer): Madam Speaker, there are times in our lives when an event of such size and impact leaves us somewhat stunned and dazed. That certainly is the effect that the events of 26 December and, just as importantly, the further information that came through on the days following, had on me and my family.
However, it is an event that has served to unify in a quite magnificent way, all of us as human beings. We have all been moved by the generosity of people right across the world, but by Territorians in particular. Small communities such as my own in Nhulunbuy, very small and quite poor communities such as Kintore, and the bigger centres of Darwin, Katherine, and Palmerston have been overwhelmingly generous. When the Chief Minister contacted me quite quickly after the news of the disaster, I was only too ready to support that initial government contribution of $450 000 on behalf of Territorians to three major aid agencies: Care Australia, the Australian Red Cross and World Vision.
My colleagues and I attended many functions supporting the tsunami appeal effort, and it is quite humbling to see that unity of purpose, commitment and dedication to our neighbours. My admiration to these community groups, and our community overall, is great. I am proud of the nation’s $1bn aid package to Indonesia. It is a donation that has been recognised around the world for its generosity, and particularly welcomed by the Indonesian government which faces enormous reconstruction challenges over the next few years.
This government has also worked with the community. When the tsunami appeal that was kicked off by the Christchurch Anglican Cathedral started on Boxing Day, the organisers thought they might get enough relief goods to fill a container. They ended up filling 11 which included relief goods collected in Nhulunbuy and Katherine. The appeal was a real grassroots effort that saw dozens of Territorians unloading goods, boxing and packing them before they were reloaded into the new containers. It saw businesses give their time and services: Squires Shipping loaded and carried the containers to Asia, dropping off in Jakarta and taking the others free of charge to Singapore; Visy Australia gave hundreds of packing boxes; our Senior Australian of the Year, Tony Milhinhos donated the use of the Darwin Cold Stores to do the work; Steve Sarev of PJ’s Custom Brokers and Darwin Forwarding assisted the organisers with the paperwork; Australian Customs lent a hand; Corporate Express of Darwin donated school and office equipment; Perkins Shipping carried the Nhulunbuy goods to Darwin free of charge; and at the other end, the Lions Club and the Sri Lankan Assembly of God combined to clear the goods and distribute it in the affected areas of Galle and the eastern coast of Sri Lanka. Government paid for the shipment of those goods from Singapore to Colombo in Sri Lanka, and for the containers. The containers themselves are very useful items which can be used for temporary accommodation or, indeed, construction material in those affected areas. Therefore, we are pleased, in that sense, to add to the value overall with those containers. It was a true Territorian effort.
There is one particular individual also worthy of mention. When I was Acting Chief Minister, I had the pleasure of donating the wheelbarrow pushed by Allan Brooks from down the track through to Darwin. He raised over $26 000 pushing that wheelbarrow from Humpty Doo to Darwin. The then Leader of the Opposition and I met Mr Brooks outside parliament towards the end of his journey. It was a simple concept wonderfully carried out. He is a very warm Territorian who really does stand to be congratulated for that fundraising effort.
The government also agreed to match the fundraising efforts of community groups representing countries directly affected by the disaster. These groups included: the Indonesia Australian Association of the Northern Territory; the Darwin Indonesian Community Association; the Thai Lao Australian Association of the NT; the Thai and Australian Friendship Association; the Thai Theravada Association; the Indian Cultural Society of the NT; and the Sri Lanka Australian Friendship Association of the NT. The government will match all funds raised to the end of March 2005 through provision of equal donations to Care Australia, the Australian Red Cross and World Vision. That time frame will allow groups to maximise their fundraising activity.
Territorians know better than most what it is like to lose everything in a natural disaster. Many have had first-hand experience. They know how much that disaster relief is appreciated after losing family, friends and everything they own. If they did not before, the people of the tsunami-affected areas now know that they have friends that they can count on into the future, friends in the Northern Territory.
Dr LIM (Greatorex): Madam Speaker, I join members of this House to express words of condolence for the tsunami disaster. Almost 300 000 people live in an area that is seen by most of us as third world or a developing world, where homes are frail at the best of times. When such a magnitude of water moves through those communities, you can easily imagine the devastation that occurs following such a force. It brings to mind human frailty. All the efforts of humanity come to nothing compared to one short cataclysmic action of nature.
On Sunday, I rang my brothers who live in Penang, having heard that Penang was also affected, hoping that they were not in the surge zone. Fortunately for them, my brothers live on the high side of the road which the waves came over.
Seeing the images on the Internet and on television over the ensuing weeks following the disaster on 26 December, I recognised areas in Penang along Gurney Drive. I sat on a concrete sea wall which was smashed hard by the huge wave. I sat on the concrete wall of a hotel where you saw all that water surging over the concrete wall into the swimming pool just behind the wall. It was a scant 12 months ago that I sat on that wall. We have all visited places in Batu Ferringhi where many people lost their lives there.
We heard the news about the Prime Minister flying over Aceh and how moved he was with the devastation that he saw there. It brings home to me that whatever I do as an individual, when compared to an act of nature, is nothing much. Sometimes, when we start fighting in this Chamber, it brings home to me and I ask what the heck we are doing that for when there are hundreds of thousands of people dead and a million homeless. We need to reflect on our own lives and activities.
The people of the Northern Territory responded very well. Even in Alice Springs, a 1000 miles from any ocean, we felt the impact of the tsunami on our personal lives. It was good that the Crowne Plaza responded on behalf of the community, collecting all sorts of donations: from furniture to tents to swags to clothes to food. I visited the Crowne Plaza with clothes that were too tight to fit me any more, and donated them as well. It also reminded people of Alice Springs of the times that they all pulled together to help the people of Darwin when Cyclone Tracy came through and it brought back community involvement.
With those few words, Madam Speaker, it is time for us to reflect more closely on what has happened with such an international disaster. Whilst we can all applaud our individual and collective efforts and contributions to the tsunami charity, it is more what has happened over there and how people have to cope with their shattered lives, their family losses, the loss of their homes and, for many, even the loss of their own identity in this world where such disasters happen in a split moment.
I wish to convey my condolences to all those people in Malaysia where I was born, to the people in Indonesia and the subcontinent of India and the parts around.
Mr HENDERSON (Police, Fire and Emergency Services): Madam Speaker, all of us speak for all Territorians in saying that the events of the tsunami that were shown on our televisions on Boxing Day affected us in ways that we will never forget, and demonstrates to all of us in the bigger scheme of things of life that a single event can be so devastating. As for every adult Territory with children, trying to explain to them what they were seeing on the television was something that I will never forget. I am absolutely confident that all Territorians are with those countries to our north in the rebuilding effort for the years ahead.
The images of wholesale destruction, death and displacement made many of us feel powerless. Giving generously to charity relief organisations allowed us to make a contribution. However, others endowed with skills that could be of use in the affected areas came forward with the intention of doing more. Territorians have put up their hands and joined relief teams in the field, and they are making a difference. I am proud - as I know the Assembly and all Territorians are proud - of Territorians on the ground in the affected areas who are donating their wealth of experience to helping the survivors begin to build new lives.
Let me talk about some of these remarkable Territorians. NT Police Commissioner Paul White offered the full support of the Northern Territory Police to the Australian Federal Police the day after the Boxing Day tragedy. As a result, the Forensic Major Incident Room in Canberra has requested that Northern Territory Police Sergeant Anne Lade join the Disaster Victim Identification team as the Reconciliation Coordinator in the Information Management Centre in Phuket, Thailand. This posting recognises Sergeant Lade’s experience in DVI procedures as the operation moves into the ante-mortem phase, the collection and analysis of data complying with international standards to correctly identify the deceased. Sergeant Lade said:
- Whilst the job of confirming the identity of a victim is not pleasant, I will be proud to play a role in the
important DVI process, to allow families and friends to bring some closure to the loss of a loved one.
Territory Police Senior Sergeant John Moloney is on secondment with the national CrimTrac agency, part of the international police contingent responding to the disaster. He is assisting with the establishment of a fully functioning DVI system in Phuket.
Territory Health staff, many with remote expertise, are also playing a part. Dr Kate Napthali was the first Territorian to go to Aceh and is with the Australian Government Medical Response Team. Dr Napthali is an ICU Registrar at Royal Darwin Hospital and spent five years living, working and studying in East Timor and Indonesia. A good Bahasa speaker, she is doing needs assessment with the Australian government team, travelling to regional areas and identifying exactly what locals need and how best to get it to them.
Ali Nur is the Principal Policy Advisor to the Department of Health and Community Services Age and Disability Program. He volunteered to work for Oxfam in Sri Lanka for three months. Ali worked for Oxfam during the Timor crisis and also following the Gujarat earthquake in India in 2001. He is helping Sri Lankan communities with capacity building which means water, sanitation, shelter and disease control.
Meredith Hansen Knarhoi from the Centre of Disease Control in Darwin volunteered to join international agency Merlin and is currently at Banda Aceh.
Kay Withnall, who is the former Manager of the Microbiology Section at Royal Darwin Hospital is now working as an independent consultant, will be part of team setting up labs in Aceh to help with disease identification and control.
Rhonda Golsby-Smith is a primary care nurse from the Royal Darwin Hospital. Since 1994, Rhonda has alternated between working in remote Aboriginal health and for the Australian Red Cross in Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Sri Lanka and the Sudan. She is an experienced disaster management nurse and has an important role in the Australian team.
We would all know, as local members, of constituents who are participating in the effort. I would like to commend a constituent of mine, an eye specialist at Royal Darwin Hospital, Dr Mahendrara, who is going to Sri Lanka.
All of us should pay tribute to our Defence Force personnel from the Northern Territory who are in Banda Aceh doing an amazing job in the relief effort. All in all, we have had hundreds of Territorians volunteer from government and non-government sectors, all of whom wanted to volunteer their valuable expertise in the aid of others. We are proud of them all; certainly of those on the ground in the affected areas providing their professional skills to those who need it most. We are also proud of all of those who volunteered but were not able to go.
I pay tribute to the federal government. The generosity of the donation on behalf of the Australian people certainly made me very proud to be an Australian, and also the commitment from all Australians to assist Indonesia in the extraordinary rebuilding effort that has to occur. The federal government and all Australians should be very proud of that effort.
I am also proud, on a smaller scale as local member for Wanguri, of the efforts of my constituency. On 22 January, the member for Drysdale and I attended Dolly O’Reilly’s, the pub in Leanyer, where David Thurston, the cook, had recognised he could not contribute a huge amount of money himself; therefore, he organised a fundraising auction. That night, $7000 was raised at that local pub in Leanyer and the generosity of everybody who donated and the people there was very humbling. Later in the evening, a number of us attended a function organised by the Territory’s Sri Lankan and Indian community at the Italian Club. Around $10 000 was raised, of which the government will go $1-for-$1. Again, it was a fantastic evening with 400 to 500 people present. I commend Lalith Ramachandra and Anuja Kulatunga for their work in organising that event very quickly.
Following the Sri Lankan function, we went to a function hosted by the Greek community at the Top End Hotel. The extraordinary generosity of the Greek community that night raised $70 000 for the tsunami relief which was, again, a truly humbling experience. My thanks and congratulations - and I am sure the parliament’s thanks - to Tony Miaoudis, who did an extraordinary amount of work organising that, and for the great generosity of Mr John Halikos, who made a huge and generous contribution that night. We heard about $1bn from the Commonwealth government; however, just on that evening through the generosity of ordinary Territorians, nearly $90 000 was raised in Darwin.
At Leanyer Primary School, the kids on the school council and Principal, Henry Gray, met with the President of the Sri Lankan Association recently. The school want to adopt a school in the Galle region for the next five years to assist a school in that community to recover.
At the World Vision function last week, Dr Tim Costello made an impassioned plea, in a very moving address, for partnerships with the business community to continue the support that is required for many years ahead.
Also, the union movement, nationally and locally supporting the Union Aid Abroad Agency, AFEDA, encouraged employers and employees to go $1-for-$1 for the years ahead.
Madam Speaker, our condolences to all of the countries and people to our north who lost so many tens of thousands of loved ones, and our commitment as Territorians that we are here for the long road ahead.
Mr WOOD (Nelson): Madam Speaker, it is a little unusual to speak on a condolence motion when it is not specific to an individual case or a family where you know the person, or persons, by name. We know their life story: where they were born, who their parents were, where they lived and were educated, where they worked and who their family was. To us, they may have been loved ones, or just friends or acquaintances.
The strange thing here is that we have a tragedy which has taken the lives of so many people in so many countries, but few of us have been personally affected by their passing. We know that these people all had family; all lived and worked in their community, were someone’s son or daughter, and had a history that normally would have been told. Sadly, the size of this tragedy meant that even those who would have told their history also perished in this great natural disaster of our time.
We all saw pictures of the tragedy which will stay in our minds forever – such as the man carrying his dead grandchild across a flooded street and the hundreds of bodies lined up for identification; we recall the stories of those Australians who saw and experienced the tsunami first-hand; or we shed a tear when we looked at the utter grief in the eyes of the wife of the Melbourne footballer who lost his life whilst honeymooning in Thailand.
Our condolence is a collective one which says to our fellow human beings - whether villager or farmer, policeman or soldier, fisherman or vendor, priest or imam, tourist or passing traveller, grandparent or child: we share your grief and sorrow. Australians have shown their condolence in the one way they know how: with a great many donations in cash and goods, and by volunteering their services to help others in need. I also recognise the hard work of Allan Brooks who ran and walked pushing a wheelbarrow all the way from Humpty Doo to Darwin. We have seen the RAAF, Navy and Army working in places like Aceh, helping our neighbours in a time of need. As the member for Nelson, I was privileged to see off the troops from Robertson Barracks on HMAS Kanimbla earlier this month. Approximately 150 of them broke off their holidays to put their hand up to help. In fact, Brigadier John Cantwell said that he had to knock many back who wanted to go. That, I believe, is how we as a nation have shown our condolence: by giving others a hand.
This disaster came quietly and quickly; people’s lives were changed in a flash. One could ask why was it not us? Why those people? Why not thousands of Australians who like to live beside the sea? We are grateful it was not us, and we should count our blessings. At the same time, we should continue to help our neighbours because the physical, economic and emotional scars of the tsunami will not go away for many years to come. Let us today not only remember the dead, but also the living as they try to rebuild their lives. Rest in peace.
Mr MILLS (Blain): Madam Speaker, a single death in a community has a massive effect, as we in the Territory recognise and reflect on as we read today’s NT News. When you consider those 300 000 individual deaths - whether the people were great or small, civic leaders, children, people who have no real significance – and the effect that they have upon the planet, every one had a connection to others and, combined, those deaths had a profound effect on the entire planet. In excess of 12 different nations, each one of those deaths leaves a space that cannot be filled.
There have been many stories told about the tsunami, and ‘atomic bomb’ has been mentioned as a way of helping to understand the force of nature. Someone described the force of this tsunami and the power that was released as being in excess of 1000 atomic bombs exploding in one moment. That release of physical force shifted the planet physically, politically and, at a personal level, affected every person on this planet. Many times, people have reflected on this massive loss, and spoken of the good which has come from this because, for anyone who has stood beside a grave and said farewell to someone, it causes them to reflect in a different way. Therefore, the planet reflects now in a different way, and out of that reflection I trust good comes - it must come.
We have seen a tidal wave of generosity across our nation: physical, giving. What can I give? How can I respond? I would guess that every member in this Chamber has reflected on that question: what can I do? I know there are members in this Chamber who gave. Everyone gave, but some wanted to give more. There are those who put their name forward to physically volunteer: can I go there; can I do something? We just reflect our communities. Everyone in our community, under our responsibility as elected representatives, reflected the same question around dinner tables as they looked at the news with their children: children trying to understand, dads trying to teach their kids what this really meant, mums comforting, community coming to terms with this. It was a massive tidal wave of generosity and we have seen it continuing, wave after wave, function after function - generosity pouring out of the heart of this community. We learnt that, for weeks afterwards, it went beyond putting the hand in the pocket and giving some money. One volunteer a minute was phoning Australian Volunteers International – one Australian every minute phoned to volunteer themselves. That makes me proud both as a human being and as an Australian.
I was on HMAS Kanimbla speaking to those who only days before were on holidays. One fellow was crabbing when he received the call on his mobile phone. They all had stories to tell - some were sitting down to a meal, some were playing sport. Every single one of them responded instantly from all around Australia, and they came aboard the HMAS Kanimbla to take up their duty and represent Australians in that massive response - that proactive and wonderful response of the Australian nation, effected through our Prime Minister. There was no hesitation.
In the midst of that, listening to those stories which are demonstrations of the quality of our nation, I was reminded of something. It was nearly five years ago that a tsunami hit Papua New Guinea. It appears that things like this occur and, once they have moved from our gaze, they disappear and there is no problem anymore. However, I was sobered to recognise that although a relatively small tsunami, five years later that one community in Papua New Guinea is still dislocated socially and economically, and in need of repair and assistance. I was staggered to recognise that this catastrophe that occurred on Boxing Day 2004 will continue to be with us, and our responsibility, for years to come. A couple of days afterwards Kofi Annan said: ‘We are in this as a nation, as a country, as a planet, for years to come’.
There are a couple of examples that bring home the particular response of Territorians, and it has been reflected on by everyone who has spoken. I am sure others here could also speak. I was touched by the response of Christ Church Cathedral when, at that time, there was a spontaneous response of: ‘What can I do, let us give some clothes. Let us give what we can, people of Darwin’. At that time, we thought there were about 10 000 who had lost their lives. By the time the true understanding of what had occurred became known, the date had been set, the contributions consequently were massive and very difficult to manage. There were three wonderful people I will mention - just by their first names, because they did not respond because they wanted their names mentioned - Jan, Jenny and Christo.
Jan and Jenny, as most of us did, were moved by the generosity that we saw. They turned up just like ordinary folk who were on holidays, and they asked the question, as many Australians did, and many Territorians did: ‘Is there anything I can do?’ Sure enough, there was something they could do: ‘Could you please give us a hand because the response of Territorians is far beyond what we can manage, we have not prepared for this level of response’.
Therefore, Jan and Jenny, who were public servants on holidays spending some time with their families, spent the next two weeks at least, with their families, working to manage the aftermath of massive generosity. How did they manage it? They were phoning international agencies, asking how to solve this problem. It was a touching story and it demonstrates the power of generosity. It also shows us the need that we have, as leaders, to respond to the aftermath of this because this will be with us for some time. It will require leadership to manage the after-effects of this tsunami - real leadership.
In our classrooms, it will require teachers to provide leadership in guiding students to an understanding of this event; to understand geography and our physical planet in a different way, and also the relationships of where they are on this globe and what effect these things have on them here in our little classrooms in Palmerston, Alice Springs, or wherever. Teachers and parents must provide that leadership. Community leaders and politicians should provide leadership after that event. I ask that the government consider, at this point - I will do whatever I can - identifying physical projects for our schools to focus on. Just as leadership has been shown by Leanyer Primary School under Henry Gray, our students and wider community need to go to the next stage and see our generosity at work.
There needs to be leadership to ensure that, from the massive flow of AusAID money that comes from this nation to that point of need, particularly in Indonesia, our business community is able to acquit some of that money. Also, that we have now the access and means, through the AusAID budget and the Northern Territory business community, with our particular skills and experience in the region, to be able to utilise some of that revenue stream that flows into the region. That will require real leadership to ensure that it does occur because we have a strategic advantage and a history of connection, and we are not involved on a superficial level; we have an understanding of our region.
I will conclude with two interesting stories that came up through the course of all this. All of us have a story, and if you allow me the indulgence of how I came to learn about the tsunamis. As you know, it was Boxing Day and everything was quiet and we were lying low after a very busy time as politicians. I had made sure that I phoned all my family the day before Christmas so I had a really quiet day on Christmas. On Boxing Day evening, I had a phone call from my brother who is in Geraldton, Western Australia. He phoned with real concerns to see whether I was okay, and I said I was just fine: ‘Why do you ask, David?’ He said that he was at the beach with his two young sons and the tide went out in a most peculiar way. He followed the tide out with his two boys, and it went out farther than they had ever seen it before. They went out and saw the exposed reef with star fish and shells. Then the tide turned dramatically and they ran and got wet on the way back in. It stunned them; they had no idea what this was about. Then the news broadcast said on the west coast, further down at Mandurah in Western Australia, some ships were knocked off their moorings.
Of course, it became clear what had occurred; that this was not just an unusual tide, but an extraordinary event somewhere in the magnitude of what our grandparents had told us about with stories of Krakatoa. This was an almighty event. Then it became clear. My brother told me 10 000 people had lost their lives not far from us in the Territory. I reflected on that for a while and realised that, yes, the Indian Ocean is exposed to this effect but not us here because we are shielded, fortunately.
One final story, which takes me back to the importance of our schools and education, is that of a young primary school student from the UK who was holidaying in Phuket. Just before taking holidays, the teacher, in the last couple of weeks, had focussed on the topic - and teachers raise topics such as volcanoes and earthquakes because they are really quite interesting - of tsunamis and taught the students all about tsunamis and how and where they occur. He must have been a wonderful teacher to capture the imagination of the students because this student took particular interest in it. She was on holidays a couple of weeks later in Phuket and saw the tide going out at a rate of knots. Whereas most people were attracted to the natural phenomena just as my brother and my two young nephews were, she reflected on the lesson that she had been taught in class in the UK only a couple of weeks before and grew alarmed and then informed others that it did not look right. It is reported that her actions, in response to the teaching of a good teacher, saved the lives of over 100 people because it set the alarm bells. People were going in the opposite direction, because most people followed the tide out to wonder what was going on, and to see the fish exposed, etcetera. It just shows the importance of everyone’s contribution and, in this specific instance, things that occur in our schools and with our young people.
There are many challenges that face us. We have seen the generosity, but the larger challenges, I suggest, lie before us, both as Territorians and as Australians and citizens of this planet. Madam Speaker, I support the motion.
Madam SPEAKER: I thank all honourable members for their sincere remarks to this motion and, on behalf of all honourable members and particularly the staff of the Legislative Assembly who responded so well, I too express my deepest sympathy to all those affected by the tsunami tragedy. I ask all members to stand for one minute as a mark of respect and support for the motion.
Members observed one minute’s silence.
RESPONSE TO PETITIONS
The CLERK: Madam Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 100A, I inform honourable members that responses to petitions Nos 67, 68, 69 and 70 have been received and circulated to honourable members. The text of the responses will be included in the Parliamentary Record.
Petition No 67
Construction of Crossing on Larapinta Drive
Date presented: 30 November 2004
Presented by: Ms Carney
- Referred to: Minister for Transport and Infrastructure
Date response received: 18 January 2005
Date response presented: 8 February 2005
Response:
- My Department of Infrastructure, Planning and Environment undertook a pedestrian survey which covered
the Bradshaw Drive to Taylor Road section of Larapinta Drive. The survey was undertaken as a matter of
priority to enable an informed decision on a suitable traffic management option for the area.
The pedestrian and vehicle conflict data obtained from the survey was analysed against the Australian
Standards criteria which identified that there is insufficient justification for installing any formal
pedestrian crossing facility.
This section of Larapinta Drive is a 60 km/h gazetted speed zone. Site observations confirm that available
unobstructed sight distance to and from oncoming vehicles allows for appropriate driver reaction equivalent
to a vehicle travelling speed of 100 km/h.
The dual carriageway arrangement offers pedestrians a relatively simple crossing task, by permitting them to
cross the two directions of traffic in two separate movements, with a safe refuge between them.
Because of the intense local concern for appropriate child road safety, meetings were arranged with
representatives of Araluen Christian School and the Living Waters Lutheran School.
Discussion with both parties suggested a staged approach to the local problem that would enable the
feasibility of further treatment to be assessed. These discussions suggested treatments already in use in
other sections of the NT urban road network which have similar pedestrian issues.
It is proposed to replace existing speed signs with conspicuous larger sized speed signs on entry to the
Blain Street dual carriageway section of Larapinta Drive, with repeater signs through the area. In addition
to the speed signs, all existing pedestrian signs will be removed and replaced with high visibility pedestrian
warning signs on approach to, and throughout the Blain Street section of Larapinta Drive, as per Attachment A.
This strategy is consistent with current signage practice and will be completed prior to the 2005 school year. The
Chair of the Alice Springs Regional Road Safety Committee has supported this department’s approach to enhancing
safety on Larapinta Drive.
My department is confident that the proposed actions will assist in alleviating local concerns, and is committed to
monitoring the site for further assessment and action if necessary.
Petition No 68
- Rezoning of Myilly Point Headland and Little Mindil
Date presented: 1 December 2004
Presented by: Mr Mills
Referred to: Minister for Lands and Planning
Date response due: 4 May 2005
Date response received: 3 February 2005
Date response presented: 8 February 2005
- Response:
- The government has undertaken an extensive public consultation process to determine the future development
of both the headland and Little Mindil site in the Myilly Point Precinct. Following consideration of the report on
the findings of the public consultation process, the government announced that it has followed the prevailing
community views expressed in the survey and decided that:
a park will be created on the headland site at Myilly Point; and
the Little Mindil site will retain its current B5 zoning, with any future development of the site being
low rise. Public access to the beach will be guaranteed and the beach and foreshore will remain in
public ownership.
Petition No 69
Realignment of Girraween Road
- Date presented: 1 December 2004
Presented by: Mr Wood
Referred to: Minister for Transport and Infrastructure
Date response due: 4 May 2005
Date response received: 3 February 2005
Date response presented: 8 February 2005
- Response:
- The Department of Infrastructure, Planning and Environment has been undertaking a review of
traffic management arrangements in the Coolalinga area over recent years, and this review included
options to address the Girraween Road/Stuart Highway intersection. The accident history of the area was a
major factor in assessing future traffic management solutions for the area. This process involved extensive
public consultation with the community, including public displays of the options.
The option to realign Girraween Road to connect to Henning Road/Stuart Highway rather than constructing
another set of traffic signals at the existing intersection has been adopted.
The department is currently finalising layouts for the new intersection and the realignment of Girraween Road.
The proposed realignment will impact on freehold land and, after completion of the detail development,
negotiations will commence with the affected landowners to finalise the necessary land acquisition.
The project has no status on current capital works programs for early implementation, but will be considered
relative to other government priorities on future programs.
- Petition No 70
Heritage status of Rieff Building in
Alice Springs
Date presented: 1 December 2004
Presented by: Mrs Braham
Referred to: Minister for Environment and Heritage
Date response due: 4 May 2005
Date response received: 1 February 2005
Date response presented: 8 February 2005
- Response:
- Thank you for referring this petition to me for formal reply. As I stated in the Legislative Assembly on
1 December 2004, my decision not to add the Rieff Building to the Northern Territory Heritage Register
was a difficult decision and one not taken lightly.
The nomination of the Rieff Building occurred after a development application had been received for the site
and put forward for public comment. In these circumstances, it is always difficult to resolve the situation to
everyone’s satisfaction.
Notwithstanding these difficulties, the provisions of the Heritage Conservation Act were rigorously applied to
the nomination of the Rieff Building. Once the building was nominated, the Heritage Advisory Council (HAC)
prepared an assessment report and submissions from the public were sought and advertised for. The government
received five submissions.
The HAC then provided advice to government supporting heritage declaration. The advice also made it clear that
the two Sidney Williams huts forming a large part of the building complex had been substantially modified in a way
that compromised their integrity compared to other similar buildings in town. The structure designed by Beni Burnett
in the 1950s was clearly the building of greatest relevance.
I considered the HAC recommendation very carefully, noting the heritage significance of the building and the benefits
of the Yeperenye development proposal. I made several visits to the site and had the heritage values explained to me.
Before making my decision, I explored every possible avenue to secure the conservation of the Rieff Building in a
manner that would also allow development to occur on the site - this is why my decision took six months.
Unfortunately, the negotiations with the building owners were unsuccessful and I was left with a difficult decision.
After carefully considering the issues, I was not convinced that the heritage value of the place outweighed the
broader benefits to the Alice Springs community deriving from redevelopment of the site, and I made my
determination not to proceed with heritage listing.
Redevelopment of the site will create a number of jobs in the construction phase and a number of longer term jobs
as a result of heightened economic activity in Alice Springs. Alice Springs is a town in need of improved shopping
facilities and this project will provide those facilities in the town.
My decision not to heritage list the Rieff Building does not indicate that I believe the HAC was mistaken in its
finding of heritage significance. The work of the HAC is invaluable and much appreciated by government.
However, the HAC provides advice to government solely on the heritage significance of a place. The
council is not constituted and empowered to make decisions on whether a place should be heritage listed and
I will do so in the overall best interest of the community. This means listening to all interested parties and taking
all issues into account. I stress that I am committed to protecting the Territory’s valuable heritage when and
wherever prudent and feasible. However, in some cases, the greater economic and social good for the majority
of the population overrides the need to protect individual heritage places.
Finally, in the case of the Rieff Building, the Northern Territory government pursued a policy of open and honest
consultation in all phases of the heritage assessment process. Consultations were held with as many parties as
possible over a six-month period. I respect the views of the petitioners who have voiced their opposition to the
proposed development. I am not seeking to change their minds on this issue, but rather to impart an understanding
of the complexity of the decision that I made, and the fact that it was made in the interests of the wider
Alice Springs community.
MINISTERIAL REPORTS
General Peter Cosgrove - Retirement
General Peter Cosgrove - Retirement
Ms MARTIN (Chief Minister): Madam Speaker, the Chief of our Defence Forces, General Peter Cosgrove, will retire on 3 July after more than 40 years dedicated service to the nation, including his last three as Chief of the Defence Force. On behalf of the Northern Territory government and all Territorians, I wish him and his wife Lynne a successful and enjoyable retirement.
General Cosgrove’s contribution during his military service is of particular importance to the Territory. In 1999, he was appointed the commander of INTERFET, the International Forces in East Timor, which was established following the independence ballot. He retained this position until the force was withdrawn in February 2000. He was a frequent visitor to Darwin during this period but, more importantly, on behalf of Australia he established a relationship with the East Timorese people which has been enduring. This relationship is one of friends and neighbours, and is a relationship which the Territory has been able to maintain with our closest neighbour. The establishment of INTERFET saw Darwin used as the United Nation’s base for operations, which provided a short-term but significant boost in defence-related activity and expenditure in the Territory through 1999 and 2000.
General Cosgrove also made a number of visits to the Territory while he was Australian of the Year in 2001.
Of course, General Cosgrove’s relevance to the Territory goes beyond the very significant INTERFET period. During his watch as Chief of the Army from 2000 and, subsequently, as Chief of the Defence Force, Defence activity in the Territory has also been significant. The Australian Defence Force presence has more than doubled here since the early 1990s, with the number of Defence personnel and their families increasing to around 6200 in 1992 to an estimated 12 900 in June last year.
This growth in Defence has provided substantial benefits to the Territory economy, including stronger population growth and industry development opportunities. The value and number of Defence contracts with Territory businesses have increased with the expanded Defence presence, with greater levels of outsourcing of Defence services, and with the increased capacity of Territory businesses to meet Defence requirements. These relationships have provided opportunities for new capacity and capability to be developed, broadening and enhancing the local economy.
The Defence build-up in the Territory has provided the opportunity for significant capital expenditure on a number of major projects over recent years. This will be boosted by infrastructure investment related to the relocation of the 1st Aviation Regiment which will include facilities and working areas within Robertson Barracks for 17 Tiger helicopters and some 400 service personnel, including the relocation of 200 new people. Supply and support contracts for the new Armidale class patrol boat and the Abrams tanks are also likely to provide significant and ongoing benefits to our economy.
Along with the increased Defence personnel in the Territory comes an increased demand for housing. The Defence Housing Authority plans to invest about $70m for around 300 houses over the next few years at the new Lee Point suburban development.
Major Defence operations and exercises such as Pitch Black, Kakadu and Southern Frontier are a regular feature of Defence activity in the Territory and provide a significant boost to the local economy through supply and support contracts and increased visitor numbers.
In addition, there is a continued emphasis by the Australian government on contributing to the security of the immediate neighbourhood, such as Australia’s role in East Timor and the Solomon Islands; greater preparedness for emergency management - for example, the evacuation effort following the Bali bombings; counter-terrorism exercises and training; and increased coastal surveillance and border protection. With this expanding northern Defence role, Defence will remain an integral element of the Territory economy in the future.
A large number of Defence personnel from all three services based in the Territory are serving overseas. They are representing not just their service in Australia, but also the Territory. Territory-based servicemen and women are serving in countries like Afghanistan, East Timor, Singapore, Malaysia, Sumatra - as we have just been talking about - undertaking disaster relief operations, and in Iraq and other middle eastern countries. We acknowledge their efforts and, along with their families, wish them a safe return.
Finally, on the departure of General Cosgrove from the Defence Force, it is with our very best wishes. The man who led the INTERFET action that established order in East Timor without losing a man in violence will be acutely missed by the Australian Defence Force. The Territory government and all Territorians wish him success in all his future endeavours.
Members: Hear, hear!
Mr BURKE (Opposition Leader): Madam Speaker, I agree with the Chief Minister that the Defence Force in general, and the Army in particular, will certainly be saddened by the departure - premature in many people’s minds - of General Peter Cosgrove. I join with the Chief Minister in applauding what he has done as Chief of the Defence Force, and his continuing efforts in the Defence build-up in the Northern Territory. I wish that I had some notice that the Chief Minister was going to talk on General Cosgrove, because I would have prepared something to say, rather than trying it on the fly.
He is a man I have known since I was a Second Lieutenant in the early 1970s, and played rugby with. He was a bloody big second row, I can tell you, if you were in the front row. When he pushed hard, you knew you were getting pushed. There was no trouble with Peter Cosgrove as a second rower. He was always seen, even in those days in the early 1970s, as a stand-out military commander. He had a Military Cross from Vietnam and was always identified as someone who would go to the highest levels in the Defence Force. He has been a personal friend of mine for many years. I have watched his career and, in fact, he has watched mine as well. It is with a great sense of gratification that he has not only risen to the levels he has but, also, even before East Timor and his command of 1 Division and other appointments he has had - he was an ADC to the Governor-General at one stage – he has always been in high profile positions. However, East Timor was the stand-out performance where it needed a particular individual, a certain military commander who, in many ways, had to balance being a politician and a general at the same time. No one now doubts that they could have made a better pick for that particular job than Peter Cosgrove.
Not only was he outstandingly successful in that role, but the challenges that he has had as the Chief of the Defence Force with Australia’s involvement in Afghanistan, the Solomon’s, and the Gulf wars have been enormously challenging. He has taken those in his stride and the Australian people have embraced him. By his stature and demeanour, public profile and words, he has done an enormous amount to promote the Defence Force in general. I congratulate him and wish him all the best in his retirement.
Hospice Construction - Darwin
Dr TOYNE (Health): Madam Speaker, I report on the hospice construction and the recruitment of the Director of Palliative Care.
This government made a commitment at the last election to build a hospice within the grounds of the Royal Darwin Hospital during the first term of government. I am pleased to advise the House that we are on track to achieving another of our election commitments, with $4.25m committed to the actual hospice construction project, and recurrent funding of $1.8m allocated for personnel and operational costs.
Jackson Goodman Architects, in association with Build Up Design Architects, were awarded the tender for design, development and documentation on 5 March 2004. Clinical user groups met on a weekly basis to have input into design, development and documentation. The tender for construction was awarded to PTM Homes, a local company, on 15 September 2004. Construction is well under way and anticipated to be completed by late April this year.
The site selected for the hospice is adjacent to the Menzies School of Health Research as this is close to hospital services, yet quiet and away from the main thoroughfare of the hospital. It will be a ground level building, providing up to 12 terminally ill patients with specialised care in a supportive and peaceful environment. The rooms will include individual bathrooms and access to their own private garden area, and will allow patients and their relatives to spend time together in a comfortable and private environment. The hospice design takes into account the advice received from working groups, in particular the cultural needs of Aboriginal patients and families. It has been designed for the tropics with individual climate control and access to the deck area in each room overlooking a garden.
There are a range of interested organisations seeking to donate time, goods and services to the hospice, and the process will include consultation with these groups and individuals. I take this opportunity to thank all individuals and organisations involved.
The department is working with members of the Northern Territory Hospice and Palliative Care Association to ensure that we will have a first-class facility. The staffing will be flexible, appropriate and a safe team of nurses, allied health, medical officers, personal care assistants, and others in conjunction with the existing specialist team. A part-time volunteer coordinator has been identified as a key resource, giving the raised profile of palliative care and the increasing interest of members of the public to be involved in this important initiative.
The hospice is part of a broader restructure of palliative care services, outlined in the government’s Building Healthier Communities framework. Under this restructure, we are examining the adequacy of palliative care services in Central Australia and the rest of the Territory.
I also advise the House of the recruitment to the position of Director of Palliative Care which has now been finalised. I am pleased to announce that Dr Mark Boughey has been appointed to this position. Dr Boughey, formerly Director of Palliative Care at Royal Melbourne Hospital, is a well credentialed and respected specialist whose significant experience will assist in fashioning the future development of palliative care services in the Northern Territory.
In addition to commencing as head of the Palliative Care Unit and the new hospice at Royal Darwin Hospital, Dr Boughey will maintain a role across the Territory and, in conjunction with stakeholders, fashion the future development of services accordingly. The government has put into action a key election promise to give terminally-ill patients a facility appropriate to their needs, and will continue to work to ensure palliative care needs across the Territory are being adequately addressed.
Ms CARNEY (Araluen): Madam Speaker I thank the minister for his first statement of 2005. Territorians will recall that the Labor government went to the 2001 election with this promise and it was only relatively late last year when the minister put his hard hat on and went to the Royal Darwin Hospital site and demonstrated to the world at large that he could drive a bulldozer the three feet that was required to move a chunk of soil from one place to another.
This is long overdue. With the GST monies that have been received by this government since they came to office, they should have done much better. Territorians expect them to do much better!
I understand that the Hospice and Palliative Care Association is dissatisfied with the government’s response to this on a number of fronts, not the least of which is the fact that, as I understand it, they will need to embark on their own fundraising to fit out the hospice. That a community organisation will, as I am advised, need to undertake this sort of fundraising is a disgrace.
I also understand that there are some difficulties with the site. The minister, with his little hard hat on, presumably likes the site. However, he would surely know that some people do not. Therefore, it is too little too late. No doubt, he will put another hard hat on and go there again to convince Territorians that this is a ‘can do’ government. It is a ‘gunna do’ government and it has not done very much at all.
In relation to the reference to Central Australia, I also mention that it is extraordinary this minister dares to make any references to Central Australia, given his mishandling of a number of issues at the Alice Springs Hospital.
I note that he says that he has appointed a doctor in the Palliative Care Unit at the hospital, or to attend to palliative care. Well, that doctor should be aware of the fact that Drs Butcher and Hamilton were recently dumped - for want of a better word - from the Alice Springs Hospital. Therefore, I hope this new bloke plans to stay in the Territory for a long time.
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Do not start shouting, member for Araluen. Your time has expired, so sit down.
Dr TOYNE (Health): Madam Speaker, I can only say that the member for Araluen’s rantings are losing her all credibility out there with people who actually know what is going on. Governments do get a lot of things right and, while always being open to fair criticism if we do not, I can assure members on this issue that the very tangible, real building that is standing taking shape out there is a hell of a lot more useful than anything the CLP put in place on this issue during their time in power. We are getting the job done, as we promised to Territorians. I look forward to opening what will be an excellent facility.
On one of her points while she was carping away over there: the building will be furnished. The support group will take the human things into the environment such as curtains and other things to make it a fit environment for people who are terminally ill.
Trade Support Scheme
Mr HENDERSON (Asian Relations and Trade): Madam Speaker, this morning I update the House on some of the success stories of Territory business, and the ongoing practical and financial assistance being delivered by the Martin government’s Trade Support Scheme.
As members would be aware, the Martin government launched the Trade Support Scheme on 1 July 2003 with allocated funding of $336 000. The Trade Support Scheme is structured to provide both financial and practical assistance for Territory exporters, and replaced the outdated Export Marketing Assistance Scheme, to which the then CLP government allocated only $80 000 a year.
The Trade Support Scheme was hugely successful in its first year, with all of its funds allocated to helping more than 70 Territory businesses break into new markets and sectors as diverse as tourism, primary industry, services including health and education, construction and manufacturing, information technology, and the arts.
With such a great start, this government was pleased to increase the budget for the scheme to $358 000 in 2004-05. Just over one-third of the businesses that accessed the scheme in the first year were from the tourism industry, and it was great news when the Tourist Commission threw its weight behind the project with an additional $150 000 in funding, taking funding under TSS to just over $500 000 this year.
With the opening of the AustralAsia Trade Route and the strength of the Territory’s relationship with our Asian neighbours, it is not surprising that the primary focus for exporters who use the Trade Support Scheme is for opportunities in Singapore, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, China and Thailand. Other trade opportunities were explored in the United States, the UK, Europe and New Zealand.
The Trade Support Scheme is open to every Territory business for grants of up to $50 000 on a $1-for-$1 basis - practical financial assistance that is driving economic development and creating new business opportunities. For some, the grant has helped with travel and accommodation; for others, participation in trade shows, travel to specific marketing meetings and the redevelopment of web sites.
In the first six months of this financial year, the government has allocated $168 000 in Trade Support Scheme grants to assist 49 Territory exporters break into new business opportunities in tourism, primary industry, the services sector, construction and manufacturing.
To touch on just a few examples of the very real results delivered with the assistance from this scheme so far, Katherine-based Gecko Canoeing, winners of the 2004 Brolga Award for EcoTourism and Adventure Tourism received a $5700 grant allowing them to participate in the two-day Coast USA Trade Fair which matches US wholesalers with Australian tourism companies. Territory businesses Colton Park Mangoes and the International College of Advanced Education each received a $3000 grant to participate in the Guangzhou Commodities Fair last year. As a result, Colton Park is following up on opportunities to sell mangoes into southern China. ICAE signed a memorandum of understanding with the Man Kui School of Tourism and Hospitality to provide accredited training into the Hong Kong and southern China markets.
There have been so many great many business opportunities developed through the Trade Support Scheme; new business opportunities that may otherwise have been left untapped if it were not for the funding support of the government. However, it is not just about funding. One of the most valuable aspects of the scheme is the free export and trade advice on offer, and I know first time traders, especially, have found this aspect of the Trade Support Scheme invaluable. The advice includes business and export market development planning, and complements the other business and industry development programs available through the department - practical support that is championing small business, backing them to grow.
After its first year in operation, the Trade Support Scheme was reviewed in consultation with clients, industry groups and key stakeholders. Improvements have been made, and it is now even easier for clients to access the scheme and for departmental officers to process applications.
The government is committed to driving economic development because it means jobs for Territorians, and the Trade Support Scheme is delivering real results for Territory business. The Trade Support Scheme is one way the government is moving the Territory ahead, and I encourage all Territory business looking to expand their trade partnership or develop new trade opportunities, to take a close look at how the Trade Support Scheme can support their business.
Mr MILLS (Blain): Madam Speaker, under a CLP government, there will be an entirely different approach to engaging our region. The minister’s portfolio title is Asian Relations and Trade. Relationship builds to and leads to trade. If there was an adequate relationship and a pitch to that focus within the ultimate outcome - being trade as a result - there would have been a greater level of understanding of how Malaysian Airlines worked. In fact, if you had thought that process through before you committed to raise the hopes of the mango industry and have them dashed, that project would have worked.
I went to the meeting on the weekend, and it was spin after spin, painting the government and their actions in a favourable light and putting it back on to Malaysian Airlines and faults within the airline. That is something a CLP Government would never do; they would accept the responsibility and think through the process. You would have understood, minister, if there had have been adequate consultations and taking of responsibility for the decision that you made on behalf of Territorians, not to mention Hai Win.
The very fact that this government has reduced its presence in the region, has no understanding of the very important role of education and cultural links within the region and what part they play in the establishment of relationships - the building of strategic friendships that, ultimately, result in trade - indicates a basic misunderstanding of how we should engage the region. We might have arguments about that, but the fact is there has been little actual result.
I have been to FreightLink, and they said this land bridge which is to connect us to the region may make sense but we are basing it on the premise that domestic freight is making it work. It was never built on that premise. It was built on an engagement with the region that results in trade though effective, strategic relationships. That requires a completely different approach, which we would have under a CLP government.
Madam SPEAKER: Your time has expired, member for Blain.
Mr HENDERSON (Asian Relations and Trade): Madam Speaker, an approach from a potential CLP government - back to the future, back to the past. The fact is there are more Territory businesses exporting today under a Martin Labor government than were exporting under a CLP government: $80 000 was all that was available to Territorian businesses compared to $500 000 today under a Labor government. We are the government with a vision for engagement.
To say that the railway was built with a total commitment to export is blatantly wrong. The private sector investment case for the railway was all about domestic freight to Darwin. The member for Blain, obviously, does not know what he is talking about. The CLP can talk about back to the past, back to their faded dreams of glory; we are getting on with business. More Territory businesses are exporting today. The Northern Territory is leading the nation’s export push.
Swimming Pools in Remote Areas Program
Mr AH KIT (Sport and Recreation): Madam Speaker, I report on the Swimming Pools in Remote Areas Program, more commonly known as PIRA. The goal of PIRA is to strategically construct swimming pools in remote Northern Territory communities. It is anticipated a range of health, social and educational benefits will result from the long-term use of pools by community residents.
A partnership between the Northern Territory and the Commonwealth has produced $4.5m for the program. Communities are asked to contribute one-third of construction costs, bringing the amount to be spent to $6m.
A parallel evaluation of health benefits will be conducted and will involve the University of Melbourne, the Centre for Disease Control Darwin, the Menzies School of Health, the Centre for Eye Research, and the Vision Cooperative Research Centre.
There are certain conditions that must be satisfied for a community to be considered eligible for funding. The intent is to ensure long-term viability and safety. Pools will represent a significant financial and staffing commitment for communities. It has been said that building the pool is the easy part. Operating a pool in remote communities is not an impossible task.
Mr Burke: They know that at Lake Leanyer; it is always closed.
Mr AH KIT: You said you had changed.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mr AH KIT: There are already in operation a number of pools in remote areas such as Ngukurr, Nguiu and Santa Teresa.
Long-term viability is a critical factor in the assessment process; therefore, a comprehensive business plan must accompany all applications. The strength of this business plan is a major factor in determining which communities receive funding. The plan must address the financial, administrative, staffing, training, and any other issues integral to a long-term viability. The intent is that as many pools that meet community needs as possible are built.
Under the program, a typical pool package would include: the pool, concourse, filtration equipment, plant room and associated equipment; a smaller pool for infants; reasonable landscaping; fencing; power, water and sewerage services; lighting; security measures; change rooms/ablution block; admission and staff areas; disabled access; and adequate shade.
Seventeen communities submitted expressions of interest. Operating costs and one-third financial contribution proved difficult for many applicants. Six communities subsequently applied in the first round of funding. Two communities - Maningrida and Yuendumu - have been offered pools. Following further negotiations, more offers will be made. Expressions of interest from companies interested in pool construction will soon be called. The total cost of a pool complex is expected to be between $900 000 and $1.5m. Successful communities will receive comprehensive information and feedback on the health study. Once completed, the pool will be signed over to the local government body, which is then responsible for pool operation. A community partnership agreement will be struck, and DIPE will be appointed as project mangers.
This is a whole-of-government-plus exercise. Groups involved include my department, CDSCA, DIPE, DEET, Department of Health and Community Services, the Commonwealth Office of Indigenous Policy Coordination, the Department of Family and Community Services, the Darwin Centre for Disease Control, LGANT, the Northern Territory Branch of Royal Surf Lifesaving, and the Fred Hollows Foundation.
Ian Thorpe, through Mr Jeff McMullen, has shown considerable interest to the extent of publicly endorsing the program, and hopes to visit the communities for the opening of the pools.
Madam Speaker, it is reasonable to expect that community ownership will extend to community members having increased important roles in pool operation and associated activities such as water safety. It is only through sustained usage that pools will have their intended benefits. PIRA will ensure the long-term sustainability and benefits of these projects for Territorians in remote areas for years to come.
Mr ELFERINK (Macdonnell): Madam Speaker, if good news was a cow, this minister would be the world’s largest cattle tick. He has the audacity to come in here claiming success and that this is all his project when, in actual fact …
Ms MARTIN: A point of order, Madam Speaker! I consider that unparliamentary.
Madam SPEAKER: I was waiting for a response, yes.
Ms MARTIN: It is very low-rent and is unbecoming of this parliament.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Macdonnell, I think it was unparliamentary. Withdraw it.
Mr ELFERINK: Madam Speaker, I withdraw it, but they certainly use it out bush quite a lot. The leech-like approach that this minister has in relation to good news is disgraceful. What he has actually done is pick up an idea that was originally put into place by the former minister, Tim Baldwin, the member for Daly, and has run with it. However, did he put in any money himself? No, actually he withdrew the commitment. He said no when this idea was being floated.
The health effects in remote communities with pools are well known; the minister has outlined them yet again for this House. However, it is curious that, as a footnote to his little speech here today - and merely a footnote - he acknowledged the efforts of the federal government. Well, in actual fact it is the federal government which is initiating and driving this and asking the Territory government to put in a bit of a contribution, which they are doing. Well, bully for them; that contribution has been on the record for a very long time. It is the federal government’s contribution to this that is making this particular project happen.
This minister has priors for leeching onto good news. The Wizard Cup football game in Alice Springs is a classic example. His office was approached months ago and did nothing! The Minister for Central Australia was approached to do something and then, when the CAFL approached the minister in relation to putting out a joint press release, he put out a press release first and kicked the hell out of the CAFL. Now, all of a sudden, like a knight rampant on a Clydesdale, he pretends to be the hero of the day. The fact of the matter is he is way late - way late - in getting there and helping to get this Wizard Cup football game going. This minister’s behaviour is disgraceful! Good news - you can see this minister in the same room but he is never the source of it.
Mr WOOD (Nelson): Madam Speaker, I applaud what the minister has said, from the point of view of the benefits of having swimming pool in a community. Of course, Litchfield Shire is still waiting for a pool! The reason it is waiting for a pool is based on one of the statements that the minister has made; that is, the cost of maintaining pools is extremely high.
There is a danger here, if the minister puts it on to the local government communities to maintain these swimming pools: one has to ask at what cost to other programs the local government is going to carry out? Are they going to have less money for roads? Are they going to have less money for some of the essential services they are required? Or is the government going to upgrade or put up the amount of money that they are going to give those communities to run these pools? That really, minister, is one of the problems that Litchfield Shire has. How much will it cost to maintain the pool, and how much will it cost in, say, 10 years time to replace the tiles on the pool, which is a very high cost.
The idea of improving the health in the communities is a great reason to have pools in communities. It also applies to Litchfield Shire and urban pools. I am interested to know where you stand in relation to developing a pool in the Litchfield Shire because, as you know, minister, you said you thought $1m would be sufficient for a pool that most people in the Litchfield Shire would be satisfied with, yet you just quoted up to $1.5m for a pool in the outback. Where you are going with pools in the Litchfield Shire, and what help will you give local governments in remote communities with the maintenance of those pools from a financial point of view?
Mr AH KIT (Sport and Recreation): Madam Speaker, I first respond to the comments and contribution from the member for Nelson. The $1m was on offer; it was an election commitment. The discussions stalled there. There was a pool committee. I met with Mary Walshe, the President of the Litchfield Shire. The council has chosen not to accept that $1m; they have concerns. Obviously, it is going to cost more to build a pool in remote areas than I suppose it is at Litchfield. It is something that needs to be worked through with them. At the moment, as I understand it, the ball is in their court. How they restructure their priorities of local government services is something they need to sort out with their ratepayers.
In regards to the comments from the member for Macdonnell, one could basically dismiss those as irrelevant. If he wants to have a shot at me about something in reference to a cattle tick, etcetera - fine. What I can say in the last 10 seconds is that he has not sought a briefing; he does not know what is going on. He is lazy and I am sure that, when he brings forward the question on the Wizard Cup in Alice Springs, we will have the debate.
Madam SPEAKER: I remind members that ‘unparliamentary language’ includes personal and degrading remarks against another member.
Reports noted pursuant to Sessional Order.
LAKE BENNETT (LAND TITLE) BILL
(Serial 267)
(Serial 267)
Continued from 1 December 2004.
Ms CARNEY (Araluen): Madam Speaker, I indicate that the opposition supports this bill. I do not think there is any need for me to restate the long and tumultuous history that, to a large extent, precedes and, arguably, precipitates the introduction of this bill. The history cannot be rewritten by either political party; it is there for all to see.
Put simply, there have been a number of court challenges and much personal angst over a long period of time. I understand that the former government obtained legal advice many years ago and either introduced, or looked to introduce, various amendments. Further amendments to various legislation was ultimately required, and there were more people at Lake Bennett who were unhappy.
This is a very complex series of legal issues, and I certainly do not propose to go into them. There have been court challenges. A lot of people have spent what seems to me to be an awful lot of money over a long period. I suppose it was inevitable that it did take some time, because there are a lot of landowners at Lake Bennett. Under this proposal, all landowners have been approached, and we understand they are all happy with the effects of the bill.
I understand that the member for Nelson has some concerns. I do not propose to deal with those. It is important for all of us to realise that this has, of necessity I suppose, been a long, detailed and complex saga. It appears as though it may come to an end. One never knows, Madam Speaker, what is around the corner, but we certainly hope that this bill achieves the resolution that not only all of the members of this Chamber would like to see, but the people with interests at Lake Bennett.
Mr WOOD (Nelson): Madam Speaker, I do not intend to support this bill as it stands for the following reasons: first, I do not believe that proper compensation was paid to the affected block owners; and second, because the planning scheme has been developed without due process as required under the Planning Act.
There is no doubt that a solution had to be found to fix the long saga about land issues in the Lake Bennett area. We all should know how City Developments became the registered proprietor of the resort in March or April 1997, and that City Developers received a letter on 11 June 1996 from the Manager Rural Planning stating that the absence of any controlled plan applying to locality means that the new development, other than the subdivision, might take place without the need for development consent - and I emphasise the words ‘other than subdivision’.
On 15 January, the Attorney-General approved a condominium development in accordance with the disclosure statement. In 1997, easement holders approached the Ombudsman who, in February of the next year, advised that the Registrar-General had acted illegally by issuing the approvals and permits to City Developments without the consent of the easement holders. In 1998 and 1999, the NT government introduced legislation stating that developers do not need to seek consent of easement holders.
In 2000, City Developers and proprietors took the NT Registrar and four of the landowners to court. The court found that the sites were easements in law. This was appealed and the decision was upheld in favour of the block owners.
In 2001, the Scarton brothers took the NT government to court over four matters. The court found that consent for varying disclosure matters is required from easement holders. In 2002, the resort was sold to Mr Milatos’ brother, Michael. In 2003, Mr Milatos lodged writs to sue the NT government. In 2003, the government started the mediation process and, in 2004, the government introduced the Lake Bennett Land Title Bill after a mediation process.
Minister, that is a very prcised version of a very long and drawn-out saga which, in a nutshell, is about a number of people defending their rights under law, with both the developer and the government of the time trying their best to take those rights away. It is no wonder people are glad to see the end of this. They have been worn down by the emotional and financial strain of just doing what the government should have done in the first place - supported them.
I find it hard to believe that the minister, in his second reading speech, could announce that the mediation has resulted in broad understanding and agreement, without mentioning the fact that many of the landowners were just tired of the whole matter, and the Attorney-General had threatened to change legislation if the government did not get its way. That is mediation under duress. If it was not for the efforts of some of the landowners, which required them to spend considerable sums of money, their rights would have been ignored. They are the ones who should receive adequate compensation for loss of earnings, the stress and the financial costs which, through no fault of their own, they have had to incur.
I do not believe that either government which has dealt with this case can hold their collective heads up and be proud of what has happened. I believe the CLP was too close to the development to look after the little people, and the present government seems too concerned about finding the solution rather than seeing whether justice has taken place and due process carried out. The government has failed in its duty to adequately compensate those people who defended their rights and, who, in some cases, nearly lost their land in the process of trying to defend those rights. We must remember that it was the courts that upheld those rights, but at considerable cost to the block owners.
I ask the Labor government, as the supporter of just causes, to ask themselves whether these people received just compensation for what they have been through. I believe not. Until they are, I have no intention of supporting a bill based on a mediation process underwritten with the answer to a question I gave in parliament on 13 August 2003 regarding Lake Bennett, were the minister said:
However, I will repeat that, if it is necessary to legislate to finally put this matter to rest, we are prepared to do that.
Let us look at the other problem with this bill: the Land Use Planning Scheme for Lake Bennett. How are planning schemes meant to be developed? Well, just check the Planning Act. Has this been done according to proper process? No, it has been done according to expediency and secret processes. This planning scheme for Lake Bennett has been presented by the Attorney-General, not the minister for planning, minister Burns. It was part of a confidential mediation process where the senior Solicitor for the Northern Territory said in an e-mail to block owners on 1 March 2004:
I am authorised to release this bill for discussion purposes but ask that you treat it as confidential. It is not
a public document.
Therefore, we have a planning scheme which normally requires at least 28 days public exhibition, the local council to be notified, and free and open discussion in the public arena, including the press, being secretly developed and avoiding all the proper, open and transparent requirements of the Planning Act - the same supposedly open and transparent process that is espoused by the government. Nothing more highlights this dereliction of due process where, in the second reading speech the minister said:
- This planning regime has not been developed in accordance with the specific requirements of the Planning Act.
That says it all. The Coomalie Council did not have a say in the planning scheme, neither did the public or interested politicians, and the people at Lake Bennett could only discuss it between themselves.
I also make note of a landowner, Sean Davis, who bought land in late October last year but was not told about the changes to the Planning Act. Of course, if the Planning Act had been public and had gone through the normal process, he would have been told.
The only time this planning scheme hit the light of day was when it was introduced to parliament. The farce continues, because the confidential mediation process has required block owners to sign an agreement which includes signing up to the planning scheme. This means that if anyone in parliament today tried to move substantial amendment to this bill, it would have no chance of being supported, regardless of the merits of the changes, as those changes would affect the signed agreement with the block owners. I do not intend to present those substantial amendments; however, I do intend to move an amendment that this planning scheme section of the bill be deleted and publicly exhibited as required under the Planning Act. This would allow the public, the council, and other interested parties to discuss the proposal, as should have been done under the Planning Act.
Of course, the government has tried to legitimise this process using Part 3 of the new bill, which says that the planning minister must, as soon as practicable after the commencement date, publish notice in the Gazette of the amendment and, on publication of the notice, the amendment is taken to have been made under the Planning Act. If you then read sections 16 and 17 of the Planning Act, you will see that means that the planning amendment must be exhibited and the local council informed. If this does not take place, I believe the planning scheme is illegal.
Minister, whatever your answer to that may be, the whole thing revolves around the process that the end justifies the means. The government will achieve what it has set out to achieve; that is, the solution to what has been, and will continue to be, a long tortuous task of fixing up a mess that originally was not of their making. However, that is not an excuse for taking shortcuts or not adequately compensating those who have struggled to have their rights recognised. I have told the block owners of Lake Bennett that I am sure the government will proceed with this bill regardless of how good an argument I put for a fair solution based on fairness and proper process. I have told them I will at least make sure to highlight the failings of the bill. I also told them of the story of Pontius Pilot.
Dr TOYNE (Justice and Attorney-General): Madam Speaker, at the outset I thank the opposition for their support for what I believe is a good outcome for the property holders and developers who have an interest in Lake Bennett. I need to deal with some issues that the member for Nelson has raised; therefore, I will confine most of my comments to that end.
First of all, I point out that this has been on the table for two months. For the member for Nelson to be coming in here in the highest forum that any public matter can be taken to in the Northern Territory when it has been on the table for two months - which is plenty of time to go out and check with the stakeholders, and I presume you have – is a bit rich suddenly saying it is all terrible. The fact of the matter is that this bill stands on two years of intensive work with the stakeholders who, from the outset of the work we have been doing, had no certainty regarding their rights or the details of the overall development. They had inherited a Raffety’s Rules from pre-planning ear where things were done as a private set of arrangements with no sense of relationship to the planning framework. Therefore, we did not have a very good starting point.
As you know, there has been a very long history of conflicting interests in this, where people have lived at the time. The point I am trying to make is that, while you can talk about the purity of planning processes, the reality in the world out there is that, first of all, we have a whole mosaic of existing situations, some of which have been handled under current planning frameworks and others have pre-dated, as this particular situation does.
The other thing is that you should be well aware of this, because I know of your deep interest in planning issues. I do not challenge your sincerity on that for one moment, but planning is a process in a human community and you are not going to be able to apply cast-iron protocols to every single situation. This is a unique situation and it required a unique process to bring it back to an outcome that we are now presenting today. What does this outcome give those stakeholders? Surely, you would have to agree that the key stakeholders - the most important stakeholders - in this are the people who, in good faith, invested their time, some of their lifestyles, and their business interests into this Lake Bennett development only to find that, through a series of challenges, court decisions, and the actions by the authorities of the day, that there was no certainty as to their rights or to the overall shape that this development would take into the future.
It came down to very personal things. I can see Ted Field up there. For Ted, there are very specific things he wants out of that investment in his land. I do not see how, first of all, you can displace those specific and very personal interests in the thing with a broader planning process as you are suggesting. There is certainly no doubt that, over a two-year period of mediation and negotiation, all the stakeholders have had ample opportunity to put forward their views about this. When you look at the bill, there are a number of very specific things that have been done in response to stakeholders’ concerns such as section 1254, which is an outflow creek which I had the pleasure of canoeing through when we were there on Budget Cabinet a year ago. That is a specific feature of Lake Bennett which has now passed into the structuring of the land use issues.
I do not know where you can go to in a world where, for some reason, you want to first of all ignore those specifics that have already gone in from the stakeholders during this protracted negotiation, and open it up to other stakeholders who have nowhere near the same interest or direct concern. I do not accept that for a minute. I believe here we have gone with goodwill and a lot of persistence to find the best possible outcome for the land-holders and their interests in this case. I would not stand here if I felt that we had not done that thoroughly and listened very attentively to the land-holders’ concerns and tried to respond to them in this solution.
The other part of it I find plain insulting; to be suggesting that we are bullying land-holders and browbeating them into signing off on a conversation which is, and will remain, confidential regarding the agreements that have been reached. Land-holders are adult people who can look after their own interests. It is very insulting to be standing there and taking a moral high ground on it and saying: ‘I know better than that. I know they did not get their interests fully responded to’. I do not believe that and it is insulting both to the land-holders and the people who have put a lot of very competent work into the mediation process and its outcomes. I believe that, by signing their individual agreements, as adults they have taken the view that, in an imperfect world, this is okay by them as a way of settling this and going into the future.
Ultimately, the key interests of the land-holders, all of those things - whether they be a developer who may want to complete the further development as allowed in this solution; people who have holdings who simply want to enjoy that environment as they first intended; the government, which needs to balance the interests there and make sure that the overall amenity of the Lake Bennett area is being respected - I believe, are in this outcome. Nothing is more important than that.
You believe that there are some issues of process that should result in this being dismantled and go back to – what? - two more years of planning process, bringing in all sorts of new stakeholders? This has been so difficult in itself because of the long history that you have acknowledged. I simply reject the position you are taking and believe that, whatever you might say about the effectiveness of the process we followed, we have an outcome that everyone has accepted. Beyond that, there are remedies available to people through the court system if they feel that there was some unresolved issue.
Although the bill closes off on this as a solution, it defines in great detail what is going to happen in that environment into the future. Most of all, it gives certainty to everyone, and allows us to leave this sorry history behind and use Lake Bennett as I think each of the stakeholders intended to see it used. That is all I want to say at this stage, Madam Speaker.
Motion agreed to; bill read a second time.
In committee:
Madam DEPUTY CHAIR: The committee has before it the Lake Bennett (Land Title) Bill 2004 (Serial 267) together with Schedule of Amendments No 93 circulated by the Minister for Justice and Attorney-General.
Clauses 1 to 7, by leave, taken together and agreed to.
Clause 8:
Dr TOYNE: Madam Deputy Chair, I move amendment 93.1. The bill provides for the creation of various easements. Ordinarily, easements need to be signed by the affected parties prior to registration at the Land Titles Office. Clause 8 of the bill allows the minister to sign the instruments. This will facilitate the registration of all necessary documents. It will also avoid imposing a time-consuming and expensive burden on the parties.
However, as drafted, the clause leaves open a doubt as to whether the minister, in signing on behalf of a person, must have the consent of that person. As it is not intended that such consent be necessary, this committee stage amendment will clarify that the minister signs in place of the affected party and, hence, does not require the authority or consent of the affected parties to sign the instruments.
Amendment agreed to.
Clause 8, as amended, agreed to.
Clauses 9 to 18, by leave, taken together and agreed to.
Clause 19:
However, I still have difficulty understanding why the Attorney-General would present a planning amendment scheme that could have been brought forward by the minister for planning under the Planning Act. What difference would that have made to this process if it had gone through the normal process? As I see it, you have now set up a precedent where a minister can tell another minister that he is to introduce the planning scheme and place into that bill a requirement as is mentioned under clause 19:
- (2) The Planning Minister must, as soon as practicable after commencement date, publish notice in the
Gazette of the amendment.
- (3) On publication of the notice, the amendment is taken to have been made under the Planning Act.
The question I ask is: what power do you, as the Attorney-General using this bill, have to tell another minister how to - you might say - run his business under the Planning Act?
Dr TOYNE: You have to understand that, while ministers might operate in portfolios, government acts through Cabinet. The Lake Bennett issue came to Cabinet as an issue of how to resolve it, and what was the best way to take the stakeholder interest and progress the matter to resolution. At the point it came to Cabinet - and still at the point we are at now - there have been legal processes running through this alongside anything you might want to say about planning issues.
It was Cabinet’s view that the best way to attempt a resolution of the Lake Bennett matter was to attempt a mediation which encompassed, or drew back, some of the issues that stakeholders were seeking legal remedies to. It was really to establish a process that addressed the actions which you refer to in your contribution. There have been a number of occasions where stakeholders have sought a legal remedy to an issue that they felt aggrieved about. As it was set up by Cabinet, this has come back to Cabinet, as all matters - and certainly all bills - do before they go before parliament, and are approved by Cabinet as a whole. It was the decision of Cabinet that I will present this bill because our agency had been carrying the mediation and would also have to address any legal matters arising out of the Lake Bennett situation.
Mr WOOD: I hope to discuss the actual planning scheme when we get to that section. However, the difficulty I have here is - and I take the point that the Cabinet might have agreed to take this on – is that planning amendments come under the Planning Act. I am simply trying to find out why the planning side of this mediation process was not dealt with by the planning minister under the Planning Act.
The other part of that question is: if clause 19(3) requires a minister to publish the notice so the amendment is taken to have been made under the Planning Act, does that not say to him that he, therefore, then needs to carry out the requirements of sections 16 of the Planning Act, which is to notify a local government in a council area about the proposal; and section 17, that the proposal must be exhibited for at least 28 days? If that is so, is that going to take place?
Dr TOYNE: It gets down to what the essence of good government is: to solve problems, not to maintain boundaries between the formal portfolio responsibilities of ministers.
In this case, we had a unique situation which pre-dates the current planning provisions, a number of matters which had gone into legal processes, and the availability of a unique process to find a solution. Cabinet took the view that, rather than passing this back to a standard planning process, our best chance of getting a solution was to tailor-make the process to the needs and interests of the stakeholders. The proof of the pudding is that we are here today with an effective solution to the problem.
If, by one means or another, you manage to dismantle this today - and I foreshadow that we are sticking to our guns on it - I do not think you would get too many thanks from the stakeholders who have put two years work into seeking the balances that are now represented in this solution. To me, we have given a group of Territorians a solution to a long-standing problem where they now have certainty, and where each of their interests has been reflected in the solution. Is that not the most important thing?
Dr BURNS: I concur with what the Minister for Justice and Attorney-General has said. I have taken an interest in this matter from when I came into parliament before I was planning minister, and since I have become planning minister. To concur completely with what the Minister for Justice and Attorney-General has said: yes, member for Nelson, there are planning dimensions to this issue. However, primarily, there are legal concerns which have arisen through various court cases, and the solution was a mediated legal solution.
I commend the minister and all those who were involved in the process because, as the minister pointed out, people came from conflicting sides and there were differences of opinion. There is now agreement through this process, which was the aim. I fully commend the minister and all the stakeholders involved.
I can see what the member for Nelson is trying to say; however, at the end of the day as the minister said, it was government’s responsibility to find a solution to this. It happened at the executive level, and I pleased with the job which the minister has done and that a solution has been found.
Mr WOOD: I get a strong impression that the end does justify the means. That is what concerns me. You have set a precedent that, if you do not wish to go down the normal path of planning, the government can decide to go down a path which is not the normal process - to achieve an outcome which I agree with. I do not disagree with what is in the bill; I disagree with the manner in which it has been done and I question why it had to go to this process. It was confidential. How can it be discussed? How can a planning amendment scheme be discussed if it is confidential? It could not be. I have a letter from your senior solicitor:
I now attach a copy of the draft Lake Bennett Land Title Bill for your consideration and comment. I am
authorised to release this bill for discussion purposes, but ask that you treat it as confidential. It is not a
public document.
Dr TOYNE: The essence of this is the process that we felt gave the best chance to go through to a successful solution. That process was mediation, which was a process that was surrounded, over the history of this, by potential or actual litigation seeking legal remedies by one or another of the parties. Not only was it appropriate to keep confidentiality to that process, but it was probably vital to the final resolution that was achieved. It may have became a public process where there were wider and wider circles of stakeholders, where media was involved with its well-known agenda which does not necessarily match and often is not geared to the interests of the stakeholders but to selling newspapers, or getting people’s attention on television or radio, so it was very important to keep the mediation secure from the buffeting from the outside world. I believe that was a strategic decision of the mediation. I totally agree with it; it was appropriate and, in fact, vital to now achieving this solution.
Mr WOOD: I will probably overlap what I was going to say when we get to Schedule 5. However, as the minister has raised some issues there, I have to ask what is so secretive in a planning amendment scheme that it has to be part of a confidential mediation process? If you look at the planning scheme, it is no different than any other planning scheme in the Northern Territory. Why should the public, the media, or the local government, not be involved in the development of a planning scheme? How would the people who were affected by this planning scheme be able to discuss it with people outside of Lake Bennett because this was made confidential - a scheme that would normally never be made confidential? I just do not understand why it has been made confidential; it is just a planning scheme. I have trouble understanding why this has been made confidential.
Dr TOYNE: I have made it clear why confidentiality was attached to this process. I have made it equally clear that the Lake Bennett situation had many unique aspects. This is not the way that government would go about finding solutions that are purely of a planning nature; this is a solution to an amalgam of planning issues, legal issues, history, and pre-planning history. It is a unique set of issues that we had to address. I probably have little else I can add because we are clearly not going to agree. We are saying the government is there to find solutions and we do not believe this compromises the overall conduct of planning processes around the Northern Territory.
This is a unique situation. It is not one that we would find widely around the Territory to address the process. However, I believe that people will very soon lose faith in a government which puts processes ahead of solutions in every case. We have to show, as all governments do, that we are competent at finding solutions for the people for whom we bear responsibility, which are the people of the Northern Territory. There is a group of Territorians who are now getting a solution to a problem that has gone on for more than a decade and, far from feeling uneasy about that, I am actually pretty happy to be bringing this into the House today.
Mr WOOD: Minister, I do not think you have answered my question, so maybe I will ask the question in a different form.
Madam DEPUTY CHAIR: Member for Nelson, I seek your forbearance here. I just might cut in. Conscious of the sittings of the Assembly, what I propose to do at this point, if you agree, is suspend and resume at this point following Question Time. Is that acceptable to you? I know you have very valid questions to ask the minister and I would like to give due time to that. However, there is a public expectation that Question Time will be at 2 pm. Do you agree with that?
Mr WOOD: Does the minister agree to that?
Madam DEPUTY CHAIR: I am asking you first.
Mr WOOD: Yes.
Madam DEPUTY CHAIR: Minister, are you okay with that? Members of the opposition?
Dr TOYNE: Yes.
Mr ELFERINK: Yes, no problem, Madam Deputy Chair.
The committee suspended until after Question Time.
LAKE BENNETT (LAND TITLE) BILL
(Serial 267)
(Serial 267)
Continued from earlier this day.
In committee:
Clause 19 continued:
Mr WOOD: Minister, I would like to continue for a short while on Part 3, clause 19. I will finish my questions on that and it will probably save me asking other questions when we get to Schedule 5.
What I have difficulty understanding is why the planning scheme had to be part of the confidential mediation. In other words, could you not have had the confidential agreement - which involved compensation - separate from what, basically, is a planning scheme? After all, the planning scheme, which helped take the place of some of the covenants, deals with what you can and cannot do on the land; such as car parking requirements, height control, subdivisions, home occupation, pontoons, all those sorts of things which are standard clauses in any Planning Act scheme.
Why could the goal of the government not be achieved - that is, a settlement which included compensation - without having the Lake Bennett Planning Scheme involved in the bill before us today?
Dr TOYNE: I really do not have much more to add to the debate from prior to the luncheon adjournment, member for Nelson.
We are going to have to agree to disagree on the process that the government followed to get to this resolution. I certainly welcome your comments that the outcome is fine. Your concerns are about the process. I have made it very clear what was in the government’s mind and why we installed that process. There is little more to add. I suggest that we agree to disagree.
Mr WOOD: It is not so much a matter of agreeing or disagreeing. I am trying to understand if the government has made a process which is not the normal process, it must have had a reason for doing it. I cannot understand the reason you did not just go down the normal path for a planning scheme, which is to advertise, exhibit, let everyone know and do what you normally do under the Planning Act. What made this mediation process have to have a planning scheme as part of it? That is all I am asking: why did it have to belong to it? Could you not have achieved the goal you were trying to achieve without putting the planning scheme into the system?
Dr TOYNE: I have nothing more to add. If you read Hansard, I have given reasons to all of the concerns that the member is raising. Again, I believe these are simply the same points we have dealt with.
Mr WOOD: I am disappointed. All I have been told is that, because Cabinet decided this was the process, this was the process. What I want to understand is why we have ignored the normal process. I support the achievement, but why has the government followed a process which, to me, bends the rules, and says the end justifies the means. If someone can tell me that is good governance, I will eat my hat. I do not think it is good governance and I believe it is worth asking the government why it has done something which is not the normal process. I do not think there is anything wrong with that. I support what they are doing, but I do not support the principle or the way in which they have gone about it. That is simply the case.
I will ask the minister one other question. Does he believe that, by doing this planning scheme under this process, the government has created a precedent which could be used in other cases where they do not particularly want the broader community to know what is going on at that particular stage? Do you think you have now created a precedent for developing planning schemes in such a manner?
Dr TOYNE: Along with the other issues raised since we resumed, I have answered that question and there is nothing more to be said.
Clauses 19 to 30, by leave, taken together and agreed to.
Schedules 1 to 4, by leave, taken together and agreed to.
Schedule 5:
Dr TOYNE: Madam Deputy Chair, I move amendment 93.2. Clause 23 of the bill provides that the lake and undeveloped part of the foreshore remain undeveloped other than for complying pontoons or the provision of services such as power and water. However, as currently drafted, clause 14(2) in Schedule 5 of the amendments to the planning scheme contained in the bill prohibits all further development. This committee stage amendment omits and replaces clause 14(2) of Schedule 5 with the consequence being that the planning scheme will reflect section 23 of the act.
Amendment agreed to.
Schedule 5, as amended, agreed to.
Remainder of bill, by leave, taken as a whole and agreed to.
Bill reported; report adopted.
Dr TOYNE (Justice and Attorney-General): Madam Speaker, I move that the bill be now read a third time.
Mr WOOD (Nelson): Madam Speaker, I realise the government may claim that I am attempting to hold up this particular act and, of course, that would upset residents of Lake Bennett. I had a number of meetings with Lake Bennett people and they understand where I am coming from. I am very disappointed that the government has gone down this path, not because of what it is trying to do, but because I believe that the way it has been done is not fitting of a government which supports proper governance.
When I spoke before and said that I felt there was not adequate compensation, I believe the minister did not understand what I was exactly getting at. There are a number of residents of Lake Bennett who have spent large sums of money and a lot of sweat and tears defending their rights through the courts. City Developments took some of these people to court; they then appealed; they were taken to court again. The Northern Territory government tried to pass legislation, and they also took them to court. Eventually, we reached the stage of mediation and compensation.
My belief is that those people who defended their rights that no one else defended - no government stood up for those people’s rights - should be adequately compensated. Some of those people were nearly taken to the wall because of the costs involved in those court cases. In some cases, I believe, when the costs were awarded to the person who lost the case, then the lawyers asked for their money. Of course, the costs had not been received by some of the block owners and that put them in extremely difficult financial positions. In some cases, I believe, bailiffs were knocking on the door because they wanted money.
Therefore, I am saying that if the government believes in justice, it should look at the overall picture - not just the legal picture from the point of view of compensation because of loss of easement rights, but because these people, through no fault of their own, had to fight all the way to achieve what was their right: to have a say in the development of Lake Bennett. Whether you agree this is a good or bad right is irrelevant; that right was defined in law as the courts upheld. I am saying that the government should have moved away from what you might say is its legal framework, its legal rights to compensate people, and look at the bigger picture over all those years to see whether those people should have been compensated adequately. That is why I am saying I do not believe those people were compensated adequately. It is a shame that we look at the law just from a formula point of view. In this case, we needed to look at the bigger picture.
The government, by passing this law, has set a bad precedent. It is worked on the principle of the end justifies the means. It does not seem to have a problem with bending the rules in special cases, when it did not need to do anything like that. I am flabbergasted that this parliament cannot even blink an eyelid that we can adjust things to suit circumstances when we really should not be doing that. The laws and the rules were put in place. I believe if we had followed the normal rules of planning, there would have been no problem, because this mediation process started in 2003 and there was certainly adequate time for a planning scheme amendment to be put to the public. If I was a member of Coomalie Council, I would be fairly ashamed that the government would not have at least notified them of what they were doing.
As I said, I do not want to stop a solution being found to this problem. However, I will say to the end that for a government to try and achieve this goal by not going through the proper processes, and to not adequately compensation people for all the pain and suffering, stress and financial problems that a lot of those people had to endure, highlights the fact that we have the case here of an act being passed which history will say: ‘Yes, we have found a solution to the Lake Bennett land issues; however, we could not put up our hand as being proud of the manner in which it was done’.
Dr TOYNE (Justice and Attorney-General): Madam Speaker, I want to put on the public record that, far from seeing the member for Nelson as a block or making mischief with this bill, it is apparent to all of us in here over the last four years that the member has a sincere and laudable commitment to seeing planning processes properly debated. I commend him for that. I do not take lightly any contribution from members to legislation debate in this House. I welcome whatever comments made, good or bad, to our interests.
It has been clear from the debate that the government has adopted a particular course of action to find this solution. We agree that the solution has been found. I understand the points you are making regarding planning processes, just as I hope you understand the points we have made about the history of this affair, and the fact that we do not see this as, in any way, compromising the overall integrity of planning processes in the Northern Territory. We had to take the circumstances as we found them in this case and find the most likely route to a final solution.
Finally, regarding the land-holders and other people who hold interest in Lake Bennett, sometimes all of us in politics see people who have not been able to resolve an issue, or a stage of their life. We see them in all our political offices, where the lack of resolution consumes their whole life. It can be quite a tragic thing to happen. I am very aware that everyone who went to Lake Bennett looked at it as doing something positive with their lives. They wanted a recreation haven for themselves and their families or to follow commercial opportunities in that location, whether it be development of their condominiums, or the resort development.
It is incredibly important that all of those stakeholders who have taken their interests in this, and suffered a real setback in their general life to a greater or lesser degree, move on from this - get closure and start enjoying Lake Bennett for the original purposes for which they went there, or whatever else they want to do with their interest in that location. That is the most important outcome of all. Ultimately, it is not about dollars and cents; it is about closure and bringing back the integrity of their relationship to that location and the activities that they went there to follow in their lives.
This bill gives that closure and allows all of the stakeholders to move on and start a constructive process with Lake Bennett again, and leave that part of a very sorry episode behind in many of their lives. I believe that is absolutely vital, and is something the government was very aware we should try to get out of our action to try to resolve this.
Madam Speaker, I am happy that, in this case, regardless of the process issues which we have debated, the outcome has been very good for these people, and there is now a group of Territorians who can enjoy their lives at Lake Bennett.
Motion agreed to; bill read a third time.
POLICE ADMINISTRATION AMENDMENT (POWERS AND LIABILITY) BILL
(Serial 268)
(Serial 268)
Continued from 2 December 2004.
Mr BURKE (Opposition Leader): Madam Speaker, I received a briefing from the police minister and his staff on this legislation, and I thank the minister for that briefing.
Whilst the amending legislation to the Police Administration Act is fairly bulky at first blush, it really sets out to achieve a primary measure that results from a private member’s bill sponsored by the member for Macdonnell. I know he is going to talk, probably in some detail, about the effect of these amendments.
I have spoken to him, and the spirit of the private member’s bill that he has introduced has been picked up by the government’s legislation which, in itself, stems essentially from New South Wales legislation. As I understand it, in the original Police Administration Act, there were two problematic areas: one was the ability for a person to bring a charge of misconduct and/or including punitive damages against a member of the police force directly. The member for Macdonnell, in his private member’s bill, sought to rectify that. The government has done that, even though the Police Administration Act does say that a plaintiff only has two months in which to lodge a claim.
The convention and interpretation of the courts in the way they have interpreted the original sections 162 and 163 has allowed them to essentially say: ‘We will need to see the evidence before we can make a decision as to whether or not there is a case’. That, in itself, is a stressful situation for individuals who are caught up in that environment. That was the mischief that the member for Macdonnell wanted to rectify. The amending act before us now, on my understanding, and I am confident about it, does exactly that. In fact, not only does it prevent a member of the public from bringing a charge of misconduct against a member of the police force directly; they can now only bring it against the Crown, and that is certain. They can only bring a charge against a member of the police force within two months if the Crown itself acknowledges no vicarious liability. Therefore, the amending legislation, to my mind, attends to the concerns that the member for Macdonnell had.
The amending legislation has a number of other elements that the government has taken the opportunity to insert into the Police Administration Act, including extending the commissioner’s power of delegation to amend search warrant powers under Part 7 of the act; to amend section 16A to allow the commissioner to alter a probationary constable’s period of probation; to amend the search warrant provisions to include a train; to amend the powers of the Disciplinary Appeal Board under section 94(6)(b); to amend section 144 to allow a member of the police force to search a person in lawful custody; and extend the definition of dangerous drug to include precursor chemicals and drug manufacturing equipment.
The second reading speech explained the reasons for those amendments quite clearly. I certainly have no issue with the amendments; they seem practical and a matter of common sense. There is one concern that will always be there, and that is extending the commissioner’s powers of delegation. Of course, with that liberty, it is dependent on the Police Commissioner of the day how liberally and responsibly he exercises that delegation. I have no doubt that it will be exercised properly; I simply make the point that only time will tell as to how that is used.
The amendments to allow the commissioner to alter a probationary constable’s period of probation are straightforward and make sense, considering the fact that many probationary constables enter our police force with varying degrees of experience based on their previous professional life and/or police experience. It is only right and proper that there is greater flexibility in that regard.
The search warrant provisions are really tidying up the powers to search, and the powers of the police force against individuals or a group in conducting that search.
Whilst the legislation itself, as I said, is quite bulky in its presentation, what it seeks to achieve is supported by the opposition and we thank the government for bringing forward these amendments.
Mr ELFERINK (Macdonnell): Madam Speaker, I apologise for my late arrival in the Chamber. I was actually trying to find my second reading speech from the last time this issue came up and I am having trouble with my office computer. Apologies to members, and I appreciate their indulgence, Madam Speaker, as I do yours.
This is a very heartening bill to see in many respects, as it captures exactly what I was trying to capture with my bill. It is curious that this government allows the opposition an ability to assist in governing the Northern Territory by rejecting opposition bills regularly, and then taking them on as their own policies - a criticism I am sure the minister was completely expecting, because it is becoming a very common feature of this government’s approach. This government, sadly, has had to rely on pilfering the ideas of members of the opposition on repeated occasions to sustain their credibility in the population.
The classic example is the penalties for setting fires. The member for Araluen, the shadow Attorney-General, suggested an amount which was far greater than the standard amount in the legislation. ‘Oh no …’ said the then minister with carriage of this particular, ‘… that is not good enough. If you are going to go to $20 000 we will up you to $25 000’. It was a little like watching a game of poker. ‘This is how we are going to differentiate ourselves; we are going to change a figure’, said the government. Then, of course, the bill the member for Araluen brought before this House in relation to witness protection, which miraculously reappeared after it had been pulled off as being silly and stupid, has suddenly reappeared as a new government bill and, all of a sudden, it is law. I draw members’ attention to certain child protection legislation as well that went through the same process of being killed off by the government, only to have life breathed into again a short time later.
It was not so long ago that I introduced a bill into this House to suggest that we should protect emergency workers. The government said: ‘No, that is ridiculous. What a strange and quite weird and wonderful thing that you are trying to do’. Now, miraculously, the Attorney-General has come into this House and said: ‘Hallelujah, road to Damascus, I was Saul, now I am Paul. Guess what? I am coming in with a new piece of legislation, and you did not think of it, we did’. It is getting very sad.
I brought a bill into this House, and guess what? The bill was written off as being ineffectual, not a good idea and all those sorts of things and - lo and behold! – resurrected. In the next government bill from the minister for police is the protection which will prevent individual police officers from being held civilly liable for their actions in the course of their duties. Well, hallelujah! This does have a familiar ring to it. I am glad the government has decided to adopt the CLP’s policy in relation to this. They have worked it into this bill, and I believe that they have done a good job. Their drafting seems to be - and I am not a lawyer - very effective.
There is one area that strikes me as being curious, and was basically covered in the second reading speech by the minister. Perhaps the minister would like to illuminate this House in relation to the issue itself, which is not major. It seems to be more a coverall thing. It is the protection that is written into this piece of legislation to prevent the liability of, and I quote the minister:
A police tort claim means a claim for damages, including punitive damages for a tort allegedly committed
by a member or former member in the purported performance of their duty.
This, basically, says that a police officer subject to a punitive damages action is also covered from liability. I am curious to know why the minister has chosen to go down that path of protecting members from punitive liabilities. I construct my argument in the following terms.
Primarily, a punitive damage as opposed to normal damages or nominal damages, is a form of court punishment if you like – its very name suggests that it is punitive in its nature. These are damages which are issued or given by a court when the court is intending to actually do something punitive against an individual. Bearing in mind that the minister has clearly argued before this House that a situation with vicarious liability of the police department is said to exist as a result of this piece of legislation, I would like to know from the minister in what circumstances does he expect to see a person being the subject of punitive damages whilst the police are still being vicariously liable?
The reason that I ask that question is that, under vicarious liability, an employer is not liable if he can demonstrate that the employee is acting on a ‘frolic of his own’, I think is the term. If an employee is acting on a frolic of his own and it is demonstrable in court on the part of the defendant - namely the police force in this instance - then that is the sort of thing that would attract punitive damages. I am uncertain - and I have yet to see it demonstrated - that a person who is not engaging in a frolic of his own would actually attract punitive damages. I cannot understand why a court would seek to punish a person who is acting in the course of their duty, albeit negligently under the normal common law. I understand to cover punitive damages you have covered this particular area, so it is, perhaps, just a nicety. However, if an employer is vicariously liable, as the employee is not acting on a frolic of their own, then I am curious to know under what circumstances the minister would envisage that a punitive damage would be given where the employer is still vicariously liable? I would like some illumination on that particular issue from the minister.
Other than that, the bill gives me comfort. The other thing that gives me some comfort is that it is retrospective for actions which have not been started at this point, which means that those officers who have done their duty, and tried to do their duty effectively, are covered if actions have not been started.
The problem is that, while the government sits there and plays the political game of stealing the opposition’s ideas – well, that is politics; you live with that - the truth of the matter is that, for several months, members have been exposed to the potential of actions which this bill is intending to cover and, indeed, my bill was intending to cover. In that window period, it is quite possible that members and their families would have been subjected to the stress of a civil action whilst this government played politics, and that is sad. However, the government has chosen to go down this path, which I support.
Madam Speaker, I really hope and wish that the government would make the necessary acknowledgments when a genuine bill is brought before this House by members on this side - just amend them on the day or talk to us, or get briefings so that we can work out some amendments which suit the government so we can get the bill through and on time, rather than having to play this game of ‘rejecting your bill and introducing our own in a weeks time’. That means that there is a lag time of three to six months before a good idea becomes law.
Mr HENDERSON (Police, Fire and Emergency Services): Madam Speaker, I thank honourable members for their contribution to this debate and the opposition for the support for the bill. Picking up on the member for Brennan, the Leader of the Opposition’s comments, at first glance this does look like a fairly bulky and significant legislative change. However, when you work through it, there are key outcomes that are addressed by the amendments. I am always pleased, as minister, to not only offer the official shadow spokesperson of the day opportunities for briefing on legislation, but any member of this House who requires a briefing on legislation that is sitting on the Notice Paper.
To pick up the member for Macdonnell’s comments, certainly, we have picked up your sentiments and the initiatives contained in your legislation. As I said at the time when your legislation was debated, it was not matter area of me, as minister, or the government, seeming to be churlish to deny the passage of your legislation. The advice that I received from my department was that the changes that you sought and the outcomes that you proposed in your legislation would still see, potentially, individual officers required to be named in proceedings brought by a complainant. That was the advice of the department and, I said at the time, government supports the intent of what you were trying to do. We consulted with the Police Commissioner and the police association, and were pleased to support the intent of the initiative that you brought to the parliament. I said at the time that I am quite happy to pay recognition to that today in my wrap-up of the second reading debate.
However, it did have to go back and be reworked by my department and Parliamentary Counsel. The intent of what you sought to bring in here has been picked up in this amendment to the Police Administration Act, along with a number of other amendments to various parts of the act to vary police powers and the Commissioner’s powers of delegation.
In regard to whether we are playing games, deliberately voting down opposition legislation to bring it back as our own - certainly not. In all of the debates we have had here when you have rattled off a number of instances, we have come back and said: ‘Yes, the reason we are voting this legislation down is for whatever reason. We are going to bring it back and enhance it and pay testament to the member who brought it in’.
To say in regard to the protection for emergency services that the government stood up when the opposition introduced that bill and said: ‘This is a terrible idea and we will not do it’, you are really gilding the lily and doing your own credibility no good at all. We did not say that, we said that it was good idea and that we were going to further look at the legislation to strengthen it. Therefore, do not come in here, member for Macdonnell, and put words into people’s mouths and attribute sentiments to members that are blatantly false. Any reading of the Parliamentary Record will show that I am right and you are wrong on this particular issue.
The government does believe that police exercise delegated powers under legislation in often extreme, dangerous and difficult circumstances. A lot of policing is, by its very nature, a judgment call based on the circumstances of the particular case and, most times - in the vast majority of times - our police officers get it right and do a great job. On some occasions they might make a mistake, but there have only been two cases, I think, in Territory history where punitive damages were awarded directly against officers. This is a fantastic record inasmuch as our police officers do carry out their duties in the Northern Territory without fear or favour, applying discretion and judgment when it is called for and, for the most part, do that well. The courts have recognised that.
This legislation further protects police officers from vexatious actions that may be brought against individual officers; that the Crown will be the party from the outset and. Regarding the qualification that the member wanted in regards to section 163(3), as the second reading states, it enshrines the public policy view that the Crown is not liable to pay damages in the nature of punitive damages, as the court will only award those damages to punish or deter the defendant for their conduct. The amendment is to pick up and enshrine that public policy view.
The reason to pick this up is to prevent multiple applications: one against the Territory and one further suit against the member. The court can still apply punitive damages in the event that it does find extreme negligence; however, there have only been two cases. The amendment was to ensure that a complainant could not bring multiple applications against the Crown and the member; therefore, striking the amendments in the legislation essentially as non-effective. That is my explanation, as a non-legal person, why that section has been changed.
Like the previous legislation introduced by my colleague the Minister for Justice and Attorney-General in relation to Lake Bennett, all members accept that the outcomes of the legislation are supported by this parliament, and that is fantastic. We had debate about the process but, at the end of the day, this legislation does further protect police officers from potentially vexatious claims and puts officers’ minds at rest that, in the event that actions are brought against officers as a result of their actions in the course of their duty, they will be protected.
Madam Speaker, further amendments to various parts of the act essentially bring the act up to date in respect of modern police practices. I thank all members for their participation in the debate.
Motion agreed to; bill read a second time.
Mr HENDERSON (Police, Fire and Emergency Services)(by leave): Madam Speaker, I move that the bill be now read a third time.
Motion agreed to; bill read a third time.
MINISTERIAL STATEMENT
Building Better Schools
Building Better Schools
Mr STIRLING (Employment, Education and Training): Madam Speaker, the government was elected to office with a strong commitment to improving education and training for Territorians.
Since August 2001, we have taken significant steps to implement this commitment. We have employed 100 above-formula specialist teachers and support staff. These teachers have bought a focus to literacy programs, school sports, special education, behaviour management, alternative provision and many other areas. Eight new attendance officers are re-engaging hundreds of children with the education system. We have provided significant support to the regions, with additional teaching resources provided to cluster groups.
We implemented the Learning Lessons report, something that was not done prior to coming to office. For the first time ever, the government has funded a roll-out of genuine secondary education to the bush. Three students at Kalkarindji became the first ever students to graduate in their own community in 2003.
We introduced the Territory’s first Jobs Plan, which has resulted in the highest ever intake of apprentices and trainees in the Territory’s history. In 2004, the Territory had 3000 people in either apprenticeships or traineeships, a 30% increase on previous years and a significant step towards resolving skill shortages. All of these initiatives and many others have been at the core of government’s priorities.
Today, I provide even more initiatives, reinforcing the government’s focus on education. I am proud to deliver Building Better Schools, the government’s plan for secondary education, a $42m program over four years, that puts it place the most significant improvements ever delivered to secondary education.
We made this commitment because we believe young Territorians must have the best possible opportunity to achieve in our community. The future of the Territory relies on our young people developing the necessary skills at school, especially secondary school, to prepare them for work and life in the Territory. The focus of these enhancement and investment is on students. Building Better Schools places the support of students and their improved results first, foremost and at the centre of its ambitions.
These plans have their genesis in the review of secondary education headed by Dr Gregor Ramsey and have been refined by the extensive public consultation of the SOCOM group and the department throughout 2004. Never before have so many parents, teachers and community members had so much input into educational decision-making.
The Martin government will implement most of the original review’s 52 recommendations. While we have adopted some key underlying principles, we believe further work has to be done on these principles. At the outset, let me say that the government will not close the Northern Territory Open Education Centre. We have chosen to enhance its worth. Nor will we introduce a quality services agency, and we will not introduce learning precincts. We believe that these would inevitably lead to greater layers of administration and not more effective outcomes for students.
The government has accepted the principle that 11- to 14-year-olds need particular attention to keep them engaged in their education. We have, therefore, adopted the principles of a middle years educational approach - an approach which has significant research support. We will work with the community on how best to provide that support throughout 2005, when extensive Territory-wide community consultation will occur on this issue. How this leading edge approach will be implemented is in the hands of the school community.
One of the benefits of living in the Territory is quality primary schools in our local areas, and we are strongly committed to the future of these schools. All existing schools will remain; there will be no school closures.
I will now detail the government’s plans. Investing in students: the government will spend an additional $15.37m over the next four years on supporting students and learning in secondary education. Government will ensure that each secondary school has a counsellor attached to it, and that the opportunity exists for counsellors to be available for the bush. We have allocated $500 000 this financial year, and a total of $1.85m, approximately, ongoing to implement this policy. We will free up resources for schools to focus on career advisors. We have already commenced the process of recruiting new counsellors for schools.
In this financial year, the government will invest an additional $475 000 in vocational education training programs. Over the next few years, that commitment will grow to an additional $1.2m per annum. We have a strong record on VET. We have provided a very positive public profile of VET courses, and our school-based apprenticeships program now sees 150 students undertaking skills development in this way. That figure is up from 18 students in 2001. The decision to further fund these programs demonstrates our commitment to overcoming international skill shortages by growing our own talent, something which has already resulted in a lift of 30% in the number of apprentices and trainees in the Territory.
The government believes that strong teachers provide strong education, as fundamental research around the world shows that good teachers improve outcomes of all students. We are proud of the effort put in every day by teachers right across the Territory; our aim is to support that effort. Government will, therefore, introduce a Teaching and Learning Framework document to support teachers by outlining features of good teaching and learning practice.
The government will also invest in an expansion of the curriculum, especially for senior students. Greater choice provides a better opportunity for students to succeed. Assistance will be provided to schools to develop individual learning profiles for each student. These profiles will enable teachers to quickly get an understanding of where an individual students is at, allowing them more ability to focus on the needs of that student. This individual focus on students underpins the middle years philosophy and is the rationale behind the government’s plans to provide mentors and pathway programs for senior students.
Building Better Schools also provides a significant focus on support for teachers. Over the next four years, the government will invest an additional $5.41m in support for Territory teachers. Government will support the development of professional learning communities. These communities, which can be geographic or virtual, will allow teachers across the Territory to support and learn from each other, for better teaching and learning to improve educational outcomes. This approach has become a feature of professional work across North America in health as well as education. These communities can provide a focussed approach to critical issues facing the Territory education system from the people who work and live in it every day.
The government will invest an additional $4.81m in professional development for teachers. The money will be focussed on improving the quality and relevance of professional development, providing professional development for pathway mentors, and in supporting middle years educational philosophy and practice. We have chosen to invest in the teacher’s professional development rather than in the bureaucratic processes of a quality services agency. Over recent years, the agency has been developing a more strategic approach to recruitment and exploring innovative ways of retaining and valuing teachers. We will continue this work. Pre-service training for teachers will be improved, and programs aimed at bringing parents and teachers closer together, working on their students’ needs, will also receive additional funding.
The government will improve the staffing formula - counsellors are just one aspect of this - and equitable arrangements will be put in place between the bush and urban areas. Students and teachers in the bush will receive the same formula as their counterparts in town for the first time ever. This will be the base of support from which we will add further resources. Additional money will be provided to completing work on the most appropriate staffing formulae across the system.
In addition to providing equity in staffing formulae, the government will provide a pool of specialist teachers based around cluster groups in regional areas. This will mean that specialist support staff, working in cooperation with face-to-face teachers and distance delivery modes, will provide a strong focus of support to students in the bush. Focus is critical. For too long, indigenous education has not received this necessary attention. Government has demonstrated our commitment through the implementation of the Learning Lessons report. This now takes that program a step forward with more specific attention placed on secondary education.
It is our intention to see more and more indigenous students graduating through Year 12 in their own communities. In aiming to achieve this, we will provide mentorship programs specifically designed for indigenous secondary students. Most importantly, the government will continue its very successful program of rolling out secondary education into the bush. Already, five schools have been provided with secondary programs; this will continue throughout the Territory. The total additional investment in indigenous education over the next four years is $15.84m.
The initial review of secondary education recommended a new approach to the provision of distance education which included the closure of the Northern Territory Open Education Centre. I always had concerns about this recommendation. The SOCOM report identified that there were very real issues in distance education, but recommended that this be fixed by enhancing the Open Education Centre and bringing all distance providers into a closer working relationship. The government is happy to accept these views and reject the initial recommendation. The government will now bring closely together the NTOEC, Alice Springs School of the Air and the Katherine School of the Air, operating under an agreed distance education policy.
What we envisage for distance education is quite clear: education to remote communities will be delivered in mixed mode. It is the government’s intention to roll out secondary education so more face-to-face teachers are available. Specialists will be pooled into clusters; however, completing that picture will be distance providers. In some cases, they will take classes directly with the support of locally-based teachers; in other cases these roles will be reversed. In yet further instances, distance delivery mode will be used to support teachers directly in their needs. It is a new and exciting dawn for the NTOEC, the Alice Springs and Katherine Schools of the Air, and one which is overdue. The government will back these intentions with the provision of a new interactive distance learning studio at Katherine. The total additional investment immediately in distance education will be $1.87m.
A number of fundamental relationships make up a school community: one between teachers and parents, the other between teachers and students. The relationships between teachers and between neighbouring schools are also very important. In the government’s view, these relationships are in need of stronger support. The initial review sought to evolve that relationship into a precinct model. This has been rejected by the community and is rejected by the government. The government will invest $3.19m over four years in strengthening existing relationships rather than altering them with potentially more bureaucracy. These funds will be invested in programs to bring parents and teachers together, and in allowing students a greater role in educational forums and decision-making. Already, the chief executive has begun holding forums with students across the Territory, and I commend him for it. Funds will also be put into place to better position the agency as a support for teachers and school communities to overcome any perceptions and barriers between them.
Improving data collection analysis and reports to school communities will also be funded. We have already spent considerable funds drilling down into key outcomes into education. This is allowing us to focus resources on specific issues as needs arise. Without this data, educational analysis and action is less accurate. We will also continue and build on strategies to improve school attendance and provide funding to assist in the transition from school to work.
I believe the announcements made yesterday by the government will see a significant enhancement of secondary education that is an important step forward for the Territory. I genuinely believe that, in the future, these improvements and enhancements will be seen as giving the Territory a leading edge in Australia in the delivery of secondary education, and in the outcomes achieved by students.
I acknowledge that not all decisions have been made; there is more to be done and still much to discuss with the community. The government embarked on the program because of our belief in the need to build better secondary education for students. Along the way, we and the school community have learned a lot more about where we can take the Territory and how we can move the Territory ahead. There are many people to thank for the work. I wish to thank the initial review team headed up by Dr Gregor Ramsey, and the reference committee which monitored its progress. I wish to thank the priority education team in DEET headed up Rita Henry until recently. They have been a tower of strength and commitment, and Rita Henry really is a remarkable person. I also wish to thank and praise the efforts of chief executive, Peter Plummer. He has focussed his considerable skills on bringing the program to fruition.
I look forward to hearing the discussion on these proposals and I hope that it is focussed on what is best for the Territory students. Madam Speaker, I commend the statement to the House, and move that the Assembly take note of the statement.
Dr LIM (Greatorex): Madam Speaker, what a dreadful day to see a minister who gets up to read a statement and his body language tells me that he did not even believe the statement that he has put out today. He does not believe what he is telling us; that he is going to spend $42m to bring about some changes over the next four years. Here he is, asking Territorians to swallow that bitter pill.
In this document that he handed out today in the package, he talked of $42m and that the government is going to accept most of the review’s 52 recommendations. Yes, they have knocked three. They have knocked out the recommendation to close the NT Open Education Centre. They had to be dragged kicking and screaming to accept that.
The opposition came out as early as May of last year saying: ‘Do not do it’. In fact, we issued a media release saying that the CLP would provide resources to enhance the services of the Open Education Centre. At long last, the government saw the light of day and decided, yes, they would follow suit. I thank the government for following the thoughts of not only just the opposition, but also the staff, parents and students from the Open Education Centre to ensure its continued existence will be enhanced to ensure that distance education is much better provided across the Territory.
The government also agreed to knock out learning precincts. That issue was very strongly articulated by the community; they did not want learning precincts. However, right through that so-called push polling ‘consultation’ that they did, they were pushing so hard for learning precincts and, again, community resistance was such that they had to bail out from it. It was a way of hiding the government’s intention to remove the strength and powers that school councils have had over the years to manage their own school communities. The CLP has always supported that, and will continue to support the empowerment of school councils to manage their own school communities. I am glad to see that the government has again recognised that, and now will provide resources to school councils. We will soon be articulating our education policy and the government can then learn from us how we will empower school councils.
The minister then talked about the rejection of the recommendation to develop a quality service agency that my colleague, the member for Blain, will be speaking about shortly. I will reserve my time for other matters.
However, before I embark on the opposition’s response to the minister’s statement which he delivered in a scant few minutes, let me just bring in other commentators’ remarks about this plan of the government. Yesterday, the AEU NT sent out a media release, and I quote the words of Ms Nadine Williams:
Unfortunately, this amount of money only goes so far, and no time lines are indicated as to whether this funding
is in the next budget and, clearly, is only just meeting the existing demand for increased staffing of secondary
provision in regional and remote schools in the Territory.
She goes on further:
Why are we two years down the track and almost $3m spent with no substantial outcomes for students or
educators in the most need?
Finally, she said:
The amount being given to address the important priorities of middle years, that is 11 to 14 years old across
the system, indigenous secondary programs where there are none, and building schools, falls far short of the
up-front $74m identified in the original secondary review as required to meet the basic recommendations
that improve education for the most disadvantaged.
The unions are not happy with the government’s very glossy window dressing that they are trying to get Territorians to swallow just before an election. Again, on a radio interview this morning, Nadine said the Australian Education Union says it has been under-whelmed by the Northern Territory government response to the secondary education review and that government funding will not stretch far. The news item said:
- The Australian Education Union says that Territory schools have not got value for money from a long and
expensive review into secondary education and the government is expecting unrealistic results from the
$42m spending package over four years announced yesterday.
When you work it out, $42m over four years is about $10.5m per year. It is suspiciously similar to the amount of increase that the Department of Employment, Education and Training received from this government in this year’s budget. It went up by about $10.2m. Is this new money? Nowhere in the minister’s speech did he say: ‘This is brand new money’.
Mr Stirling: Of course it is new, you goose!
Dr LIM: I pick up on the minister’s interjection. He said: ‘Of course it is …’ Where does it come from? Where does the money come from? Is this a Treasurer’s Advance? I do not know; he did not tell us. The money has suddenly come out of the air. Where is the money from - from a hollow log where this government has been hoarding all these years with all the GST funding they have been getting? They have received $500m above what they would normally get because of GST largesse. They have been stashing it away. Now, suddenly, all this money is appearing. We would like to know where this money comes from. The Minister for Employment, Education and Training is also the Treasurer. I suppose maybe he has lots of money in his hip pocket. We would like to know where it comes from. He will not tell us. It is very suspicious that somehow, from somewhere, money now appears. If you look at $10.5m a year for this plan, it is no more than your annual increase in the budget for DEET. What are you doing? You need to look at how you get the money and how you are going to spend it.
I will quote an interview on radio this morning by Daryl Manzie with Alan Perrin, Secretary of the AEU. It is amazing what he had to say; he was very scathing of the government. He is a man who once, I would say, supported the Labor government totally and now says that this government has really walked away from education and has not done the right thing by his members. It is not a very long interview, so I might read it in total.
Daryl Manzie: What does the education union think? Do they think that the $42m will only meet demand?
Alan Perrin: We should make it very clear that it’s not just the union; it’s also the Ramsey report that identified
many of the problems associated with secondary education in the Northern Territory. The major focus of that
is the indigenous outcomes in secondary education, both in remote and non-remote areas. So, when you look at
this and say $42m is being put in, you have to ask if this will address the major criteria and the major problems
identified not only by Ramsey, but by many other people, that these issues exist.
Syd Stirling’s statement that there is money going to indigenous education: yes, it is very difficult to build
a secondary school in remote locations, but the reality is, we do not want people to give lip service to this;
we want them to actually do things that will improve the most important outcome from the review, which
is secondary outcomes for indigenous students.
Daryl Manzie: You say there is no money going in. The $74m was required in the original review. Do you
think any major changes as a result of the government’s announcements?
Alan Perrin: No, I do not think there will be. I think that a lot of things are on the backburner and, if I was
being cynical, I would probably wonder when things would be brought to the front burner. But I am really
concerned that there has been a lot of money spent on the implementation of the recommendations, on the
actual development of the recommendations of the review, the public consultation and the Ramsey report itself.
The amount of man hours and dollars is huge and one wonders, when we consider the number of schools and the
number of students in the NT, if that money could have been better spent just listening to organisations such as
ours, which have identified this problem for ever.
To give you an example of that, they are talking about changing the staffing formula. Now, that formula for
secondary students is not applicable in the bush. If we are going to work down these pathways, we need a
little bit of transparency. I have grave concerns about this staffing drafting formula.
Daryl Manzie: You just would not get teachers, especially in the secondary education area, into the bush.
Alan Perrin: You cannot, but the formula says that you will; but they do not. So, it is not that they do not get
the teachers, the government department do not staff according to the formula that they actually have got.
Daryl Manzie: Now, you have been critical of the management of the department in the past. Is that something
that has been left alone in addressing some of the issues of concern to the education people?
Alan Perrin: Possibly left alone, and is something that has been dormant for quite some time. It has been efficient.
They do not know what their financial status is, but it seems efficient. I think the reality is that we may have lost sight
of the bean counters’ need to realise that we need education outcomes and the talk of national testing outcomes for
Year 12, when you start to compare them, then they will ABS stats and here are the results, the NT will plummet and
then our education outcomes will look even worse.
I think we need to be very careful that we do not just keep pouring money in and make positions better in an
urban environment when the clear and identified problem is educational outcomes for students in remote areas
that needs to be addressed - and it needs to be addressed with some finality. I am looking forward to the day
when any government, of any persuasion - well, we do have this problem and we need to address it and put up
with a think tank and try and work out how to address it. Ramsey tried, but he did not recommend.
So there you are. The union, very scathing of the government, was telling the government that it has not done the right thing by all the students in the Territory.
I turn to the body of the minister’s statement this afternoon. He made an overall statement on how well the attendance officers have done in the Territory in being able to bring hundred of students back into the system. I commend the hard work that the attendance officers have done. I believe they have done a fantastic job rekindling the interest of students to come back to school, to be re-engaged in education. However, the minister, consistently, has applauded the efforts of the attendance officers - and I join him in that – but he has to tell us how well his educational system has been able to re-engage those students who have been brought back by the attendance officers. What is the attrition rate of these students who have been brought back to school? He has not said a word about that at all. It leads me to think he might be bringing them back through the front door and they are walking out through the back door because your education system is not re-engaging those students. You have to start thinking how you are going to do that.
You talked about Learning Lessons. That is for the history books in the sense that it has been here for a long time. In fact, some of the recommendations were commenced by the CLP government. It is unfortunate that we did not have the time to continue to progress the recommendations that were in Learning Lessons.
The minister then claimed they had three students at Kalkarindji who became the first students ever to graduate in their own community in 2003. I applaud those students. However, the minister takes credit that those students, somehow, managed to get their HSC under their own efforts. The Northern Territory Open Education Centre contributed significantly to the success of those three students. Thank God that the NTOEC was there to ensure that secondary education was delivered to those students. It was for that and many other reasons why the NTOEC was so strongly supported by the community and the opposition to be retained.
I come back to the $42m again. The minister said it is new money which is good - about $10.5m per year. That is going to do a whole raft of things. I read out some of the things that the minister said he was going to be able to produce out of that $10.5m each year. He is going to use that money to cover initiatives such as a wider commitment for late and middle schools; expand vocational educational training and enterprise learning; increase professional development; increase face-to-face teaching; visiting specialist teachers for remote schools; and improve school infrastructure and teacher housing. Also, he is going to bring in school counsellors who are extra to the teacher staffing allocation. All of that for $10m a year. I will do the mathematics in a little while.
According to Budget Paper No 3 of this year’s budget, there are at least 60 secondary schools, or at least 60 schools delivering secondary education - whichever way you are going to play with words. If you divide that up into $10m a year, it works out to be around $170 000 to $180 000 per school per year to implement all those programs. Stop to think: 60 secondary schools, each one with a student counsellor. How much are you going to pay a school counsellor - $50 000, $60 000, $70 000? If you add on your add-on costs, you are looking at nearly $100 000 for a school counsellor. Are you going to be able to provide a school counsellor and all the other things you are going to do with $175 000 per school per year? Remember that this secondary review and its recommendations impact not only on secondary schools but, in fact, on primary schools. The minister did say - or was it at a briefing at the minister’s office; I cannot remember now – that the student counsellors will not only service the high schools, but also the primary schools that feed into the high schools. Therefore, now we are starting to look at resources being stretched, not only through the 60 secondary schools, but through the other 140 primary schools across the Territory. If you are sharing the $10.5m across the Territory on high schools and primary schools, you are looking at nearly 200 schools. Suddenly, per school per year, you are down to about $52 000.
Window dressing! Glossy hand-outs, beautiful pieces of paper but, at the end of the day, it is all window dressing for a lead-up to a general election. That is what it is. If the government was really honest with itself, and the minister believed in his own statement, he would have done a lot better job convincing Territorians that is what he is doing. Every commentator - the media, the unions – and if you talk to the schools out there, they say that this is just not true; what the minister wants to do cannot be done with the resources he is going to provide.
I need the minister to explain to me what he means by that. He does not have the mandate to implement the recommendations? Let us find out what he is doing. Let him, in his response, tell me why he needs to seek a further mandate from the people? I am not saying he should or he should not; he has explained himself.
Regarding school counsellors, in the minister’s statement, he said he has allocated $500 000 this financial year for school counsellors. At a briefing, I was told you are going to have 19 school counsellors appointed this year. Well, 19 is very short of one school counsellor per secondary school across the Territory when there are, in fact, 60 secondary schools according to the Territory’s budget. Therefore, at 16 schools with one counsellor each at $0.5m – well, let us say 19 for now, at $0.5m. That works out to be about $26 000 per counsellor. What are you buying? Somebody who got his or her counsellor’s degree out of a Weetbix box? What are you getting? That $26 000 will not buy you a school counsellor. What sort of figures are you playing with? Then, to say the total will be approximately $1.85m ongoing to implement this policy - $1.85m for 60 counsellors works out to be $30 000 each. Well, minister, you do not even pay your most junior, most recent graduate, teacher $30 000 to come to work for you. And you want somebody to come to your schools, be there full-time to service not only the secondary school but also your primary school, dealing in the most critical issues the young people suffer from. No wonder the unions slag at you for trying to mislead Territorians. If this is not promulgating a lie, I do not know what it is.
Mr STIRLING: A point of order, Madam Acting Deputy Speaker!
Dr LIM: I did not say you were lying. I am just saying that this is promulgating a lie.
Mr STIRLING: I ask you to withdraw.
Madam ACTING DEPUTY SPEAKER: Excuse me. A point of order! I would ask you to withdraw, member for Greatorex.
Mr STIRLING: You could not name one initiative. You claimed you implemented Collins. You could not name one, you liar!
Madam ACTING DEPUTY SPEAKER: Minister, resume your seat.
Dr LIM: The minister just called me a liar, Madam Acting Deputy Speaker.
Madam ACTING DEPUTY SPEAKER: Withdraw that comment please, minister.
Mr STIRLING: I am waiting for his withdrawal, Madam Acting Deputy Speaker.
Madam ACTING DEPUTY SPEAKER: Yes, I have asked the member …
Dr Lim: All right …
Madam ACTING DEPUTY SPEAKER: Excuse me! Excuse me, I am speaking at the moment! Member for Greatorex, I asked you withdraw first.
Dr LIM: Yes, speaking to the point of order …
Madam ACTING DEPUTY SPEAKER: No! Excuse me! I have asked you to withdraw.
Dr LIM: I will withdraw the phrase ‘propagating a lie’, yes.
Madam ACTING DEPUTY SPEAKER: Thank you. And, minister, you have withdrawn?
Mr STIRLING: Absolutely.
Madam ACTING DEPUTY SPEAKER: Thank you. Continue.
Dr LIM: Let us come now to the minister saying he is going to put this money to good use, bring about good teaching and learning practice, and provide assistance to schools to develop individual learning profiles for each student. Are you going to use SAMS? Do you know what SAMS is, minister? Just in case you do not, it is the Student Administration and Management Support system. Are you going to give more money to develop SAMS so that it can do all it can do, or are you going to start with a new system?
Talking about SAMS - funny that: Nightcliff High School has been taken off SAMS. I wonder why? If SAMS were to look across the board at how students and schools are performing, why is Nightcliff off? Maybe Madam Acting Deputy Speaker will know what it is all about and will explain when her chance comes. I wonder if the member for Nightcliff knows that Nightcliff High School has, somehow, been excluded from the whole school system. Funny, that.
Minister, you have read 25 pages over 15 minutes with no conviction in your voice whatsoever. You say that you are going to do this $42m plan which, for all intents and purposes, is nothing but window dressing. Territorians recognise it; the unions that used to support you recognise it; commentators outside recognise it; the media recognises it. When I was doing media interviews yesterday, commentators were saying to me: ‘Isn’t it terrible? This is really window dressing’. They made the suggestion to me.
There are a few issues for you to respond to. Tell us what you are really going to do. Where is the money coming from? If it is a Treasurer’s Advance, tell us. I would like to know that you have done it from there. For 14 months you have sat on this report. You have been literally paralysed by the recommendations in it. You came out yesterday and said: ‘Oh, we will do this for $42m, but the first cab off the rank will be 19 student counsellors’. Really, that is it; there is nothing else. As Alan Perrin said, the rest are on the backburner. No one knows when they will come forward. At the briefing, one of your officers said: ‘We do not know whether this particular program will be implemented because it depends on staffing numbers and facilities available’. Therefore, it is all gammon; smoke and mirrors.
This is so glossy and so lovely to look at, and it smells nice. However, really, what substance does it have? I am sure that there will be members of the backbench applauding how well the government has done but, if they really look into it - and I suggest the member for Nightcliff tell us what she knows about Nightcliff High School and what is happening out there because, when a school is supposed to be part of the whole education system and, suddenly, comes off-line, you think: ‘Oh, gee, something is happening that is not allowing staff to interrogate SAMS to find out how many students there are’. There are conflicting reports of how many students are at Nightcliff. A staff list cannot be obtained because SAMS is not available.
Minister, I am very disappointed with this. The money that you committed is not truly transparent. The processes you are going through are not transparent enough for us to understand where you are getting to. Worst of all, we do not know where the money is coming from in the first instance. If you have that much money to spend, you should spend it well, transparently, with the support of the industry, teachers and parents to ensure that we have the best student outcomes in the Territory. Instead, you are so hung up on processes in the department that the teachers are spending more time processing than they are delivering good education for students. That is where I believe you have gone wrong, instead of making sure that our students get good education outcomes so that they can get on with achieving careers - whether in trades or in professions. That is what we want to do and you have not achieved that with - and now with this additional budget of $10m, now $550m - that you have in the total DEET budget. $550m! That is a humungous amount of money, and I am sad to say that we have not seen very much for it.
Minister, in your closing statement, come back with something more substantial than you have so far.
Dr TOYNE (Justice and Attorney-General): Madam Acting Deputy Speaker, I unreservedly welcome the minister’s statement and, more importantly, the initiative that stands behind it. I do that not only as a member of government and a member of this House, but as a teacher of 20 years standing, both in urban high schools …
Dr Lim: When school attendances dropped back! When you were there!
Dr TOYNE: … and remote communities.
Madam ACTING DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order!
Dr TOYNE: If I can continue beyond the carping that is going on over the other side there, I know how much this is going to mean to teachers. I can be very specific about this. We have issues that still have to be taken through the school communities in our urban centres - very valid issues and issues that need to be handled in a very careful and democratic way. The minister is to be commended that he has not just gone bull at a gate, as the member for Greatorex seems to think he needs to do. He is going to continue to work with those issues regarding our urban secondary programs.
However, it is out in the bush that this package is so, and I can certainly say not the bush in general. I was at Yuelamu, Laramba, Yuendumu and Kalkarindji schools in the past three to six months. This is not theory, this the actual reality that this is going to impact on. You have teachers in those schools that I have named who, because of their professional commitment and their sensitivity to what their school communities are asking them to prioritise within the school programs, have put an enormous amount of effort into getting some level of secondary offering going in those bush communities. That is not new. In my time at Yuendumu, there was secondary delivery set up through to Year 10 using distance education components. I am certainly aware of similar programs at Papunya, Kintore school at one stage, Haasts Bluff school which is just within Central Australia, and Ti Tree school.
Teachers right through the bush know what the parents have been asking for and that it cannot wait any longer to get these programs up and running. Often, in the past, that has been anything but encouraged. In fact, under the previous regime, despite the hypocritical remarks in today’s debate, teachers were often stamped on for showing that sort of loyalty and professional commitment to their students and to the community. This is what is so important about this initiative that our minister announced yesterday and talked about in the House: the teachers are now being told: ‘Go ahead, your government is behind you. Let us get these programs going. Let us pick up 3000 or so 12– to 16-year-olds out there who have not had a proper secondary program with any equity at all offered to them in the past’. That is a huge call for any government and minister to make; to take on that challenge to extend our secondary delivery into one of the hardest contexts in which you can choose to deliver those types of educational programs, against a whole history of earlier attempts which had built up a heritage - or an inheritance, I guess - amongst bush teachers of distrust for what the government’s intentions were in the past; what the department’s intentions were expressing those government preferences.
We can no longer go forward in the Northern Territory by saying: ‘Oh, this is all too hard if one school out bush can successfully run secondary programs. Look at all the problems it is going to cause, because the expectation will be there for the whole of the Northern Territory’. Well, that expectation has now arrived. With this statement today, we are saying every kid in the Northern Territory of that age group has the right to realistic access to secondary education. Why do you reckon that is a good thing to do? Because it is going to have a huge number of beneficial effects in our education system as a whole.
The primary education out bush has been running into difficulties, simply because there is no articulation up to secondary. The parents are not stupid and nor are the kids. They have been through plenty of cycles out there now where they have supported their kids going through primary programs only to find that they have reached a dead end - that there is no articulation into secondary or into employment under what was seen as good enough or near enough in the past.
Our minister and our government have now put the flag up the pole. We are saying that, until we get seriously into secondary delivery out in the communities, we are not going to find the revitalisation of primary education, or of indigenous participation in employment. If that is not the future of the Territory, the alternative is almost unthinkable. We are going to put generation after generation of those oncoming young people through a school education process that leaves them unemployable and unsocialised to the general Territory community, and with a very low self-esteem because they know that they have not made it into mainstream viability in our community. People are not stupid; they know exactly where they sit in the community that they belong to. That is a recipe going into the future for further and further expenditure on law and order issues, health issues and on welfare support for people who cannot get and hold a job. These are really crucial issues that we are talking about today.
I cast back to where I was in those remote schools. Going to Kalkarindji last year and attending the presentation of the Year 12 certificates to four bush-based students was an absolute highlight in my life as an educator. In that school, there were some fantastically committed teachers who had found a way to do it and do it well, because those kids have now gone on to university studies, and they are not only employable, but they will have plenty of choices in the job market when they come back to the Territory and resume life here. Those people are precious to the future of those communities; they are huge role models for other kids in that age group throughout the Territory.
We cannot leave those teachers, those communities, and those students in any doubt whatsoever as to the support that they are going to get into the future to consolidate those programs and make it so that it is a standard thing that kids in remote communities go through to at least the end of Year 10 and, preferably, in good numbers up to Year 11 and 12. It is not easy though; we know the issues you have to get over if you are going to have a successful program based in a remote community. We know you have to have distance education input; that is allowed for in the initiative that the minister has announced. We know that you have to have home teacher support and very active support from host school arrangements within the main urban centres. We have to get these kids so that they can live life in whatever context they choose to go to in our great community here in the Northern Territory. If they go into town, they have to be viable, employable and part of the community, and feel that they are part of the community, just as much as they feel they are part of the community sitting on their traditional country with all their heritage and the support that gives their identities. All of that is embodied in this program.
There will be, initially, subject teachers appointed and coordination appointed to develop these bush programs. They will occur in a clustered arrangement with schools so that we have enough students in each delivery arrangement to make a viable secondary program. We can use distance education to bring expertise and elements of the program in, either from town-based teachers or by cross-delivering between the program delivery points. All of that has been tried out bush somewhere or other over time; and is known to be workable.
I can tell you that, despite the member for Greatorex’s assertions that not one living person in the world thinks that the government has done a good job here, that is not my experience - that is not my experience at all. The teachers in those remote schools cannot wait to see this start to happen. We will have some completely supported delivery going on before the end of this academic year, so it is not years away. We are picking up the areas of education delivery that are already out there; that have been put there by the white knuckle effort by the teachers who have just simply said: ‘I do not care if we have to teach science classes in a chicken coop’, which happened in the early days at Kalkarindji – not now, thank goodness, because we have built a really good secondary facility now to recognise the effort. That just shows the commitment there. They are not going to let anything stop them. They have got to where they were trying to get those kids and they did it because of their professional commitment to those students and that community.
I want to commend the teachers out there, right now, who are getting these programs going for the next academic year. They are unsung heroes in this, and this government initiative has come at a time when, at last, they can turn around and say: ‘Great, someone has noticed; someone has recognised the huge equity issues in this’. However, even more importantly, they have recognised that the common interest of the Territory community is vitally bound up with the success of these programs into the future.
What do we want? Do we want a future of clearing up the results of under-performance in a significant part of our community, or do we want a vibrant Territory society which is spread right over the whole land mass of the Territory and not all clustered in a few urban centres, and interacting within one economy, one society, so that we can fully exploit the whole richness and diversity of what the Territory community is right now, and will become, even more so into the future? That is the challenge in this package. This is the start of a huge campaign that is going to be needed to establish a full, completed secondary education system in the Northern Territory. You do not have one at the moment. We have not had one for – ever since I have been involved here, and probably long before that.
We have to say that every single 12- to 16-year-old, no matter where they choose to live in the Territory or where they are starting from now, are going to have adequate and realistic access to secondary education. If we can do that, we are going to move the community and the Territory forward in a quantum leap from where we are now. I tell you that, as Health Minister and as Justice minister, I cannot wait for that to happen because all of the clean up and compensating activities that we have to do at the moment because things are not working in that basic service area, will have pressure taken off them.
That is why I am very happy today to support this. In fact, having seen 10 or 15 years of wanting to see this happen out bush and contributing where I could, it is just a fantastic day today to see this happening. I congratulate the minister. I am proud to be part of this government that has finally taken up this challenge. We are going to make this work, and I would like to see every member of this House getting behind it.
Mr MILLS (Blain): Madam Acting Deputy Speaker, I initially support and recognise the hard work of teachers right across the Northern Territory. The students have gone home, but most of them would either be preparing lessons for tomorrow or marking work from today’s lessons. Our teachers do work hard and our community does recognise, and is increasingly aware of, the value that our teachers have in our community. Our teachers need support; they need to be respected and appreciated for the contribution they make. It is not an easy job and, more and more, people are understanding that.
The point here is that we have had a secondary education review. Those hardworking teachers who attend to the challenges that each day brings expected the full and proactive support of this government. The expectations were raised, with much fanfare, that there would be a comprehensive review into secondary education. In the euphoria of the moment, I sincerely welcomed the commissioning of a review into secondary education. An honest, forthright, well-considered and well-resourced education review was timely and fully supported.
That was commissioned in early 2003. There was understandable excitement within the education fraternity, and it filtered out to the school councils that there would be stimulation of debate on education in our community. There was optimism and excitement about the possibility to now discuss important issues about education; about the changing face of secondary education, particularly in middle schooling. There are many issues that could be discussed. It is good to have a community start to talk about education. It is good to talk about how to measure schools and if we know whether our schools are going well or not. Those good people who work on school councils to support education wanted to have their say, as did a range of government and non-government organisations.
In the atmosphere of excitement and optimism, with the opportunity to debate and discuss education, away we went until, towards the end of 2003, we learnt that the review was to be concluded. Optimism was still there. Excitement faded as we waited for all this work to be responded to by the Martin Labor government. It was a bit like the excitement of a big trip to explore a new and exciting land: it is all very well to have the trumpet and fanfare as they go off but, when they come back, you set your pigeons off to fly; they come home. Now, the review came back. Oh, dear. Now it was time for consideration and analysis, the time for decisions: 52 recommendations.
The optimism seemed to fade a little, because it took some time. We went into school holidays and the deadline was extended. In terms of history, it is important to remind members of this aspect of the review. On 23 March, the shadow minister for Employment, Education and Training issued a media release headed ‘What is the Martin Labor government hiding in the secondary education review?’ On 15 April 2004 another said: ‘Government sits on secondary education report for four months and now wants another three months’. My goodness!
We made a statement about what we will do. Then, we came to 26 August 2004. The community was starting to get angry. We wanted some kind of feedback to this review. We contributed to this review last year. We had an honest expectation there would be a decision or some kind of action, some kind of result, some kind of conclusion - but none. They started to become jaded, confused and disappointed that they had their expectations raised and no result. Government still sat and waited. On 17 September 2004: ‘Minister continues to procrastinate on Secondary Education Review’. On 21 September: ‘Secondary Education Review falling apart’ - apparently. Nobody really knew.
Nothing seemed to be happening, except strange messages going out to those who were actively involved in education that raised their concern even further. Once there was optimism, active debate, a confidence in what changes this government may address in education. It seemed to be falling right off the rails with the wind going out of the sails. On 5 January: ‘Another $1m wasted by Martin government education’. ‘Education review put on hold because of an election’. Oh dear, the inevitable! ‘There is an election coming, my goodness, what are we going to do’. On 11 January, ‘Student numbers had dropped off’, but that is an aside. That is the end of the story.
Now we have the response. This government has been painted into a corner, and what they do best is to spin and paint in glossy colours a decision that has been so long in the making. The true story here is that, those hardworking teachers the honourable members before me spoke of - those ones who work so hard, whether it is in a chicken coup or wherever - by sheer will and commitment to education, make it happen. Those are the teachers who have been let down through this whole process. It is a disappointment, minister, and an indictment on this government’s inability to actually make the hard decisions. That settles out there; teachers are going to accept what you have given them. They are going to ask the questions, but you have missed an opportunity and there is a level of disappointment. There once was optimism, enthusiasm and active involvement in debate on education.
However, we move on. What the community really wants to know is, how strong the Northern Territory education system is. Before members opposite rise to attack what I am about to say, as though I am blaming this government for recent results that have come out in the Productivity Commissioner’s 2005 Report, nothing could be further from the truth – it is more important than that. We, as a community, want to know how strong our education system is, and how effective our government and our non-government system is. They are the fundamental questions that need to be answered, and it was with that spirit that the community engaged in the review and the consultation.
The point is, the answer to that question has been provided by those who are in government and have the opportunity to respond proactively in the best interests of education. That question has, traditionally in Australia, been met by a debate about teacher numbers. Obviously, we will have a stronger system if we increase the number of teachers in our system. That seems to be a response to that question, though there is considerable thought that that may not match the outcome; there may not be, in fact, a strengthened system just by increasing numbers. Class sizes are often cited as a way of strengthening and improving the education system. That concept is also challenged by international study, with not necessarily a direct correlation between class sizes and strengthened outcome in education.
The conventional debate in Australia and the Northern Territory has been that we can measure how well we are doing in education by how much we spend on education. These are the traditional Australian responses to that question. Other systems internationally have begun to ask deeper questions. Are these fair measures of a good system, because the real answer must lie within this area: does our effort increase student learning?
That is where it becomes difficult and where one of these recommendations has slipped out. There will be a certain amount of spin, gloss, hype, covering up, and an assertion that things are going okay in terms of data collection and so on. However, this is really the bottom line: all the effort that we as legislators, those in government, and those who work hard in the system make should be able to measurably increase student learning. If that is unable to be ascertained, we are left with unreliable measures like ‘Let us increase the spending; therefore, it will improve. Let us reduce the class sizes; therefore, it will improve’. These are not necessarily so.
This is where this debate over this review raised the expectation that there would be the capacity to take some of the harder decisions that other nations, other education systems - even within our own country Victoria has made some very interesting moves in the last couple of years - would be taken on. But no, we have had procrastination upon procrastination and, rather than make a decision in the first instance, the decision after a delay was: ‘Decision; we will ask the community what do they think’. The community said: ‘For goodness sake, you have just asked us so that we could actually contribute to this review which threw up the recommendations’. Now they have thrown the recommendations back at the community again, and the community said: ‘Oh, my goodness, so this is what you think?’ ‘No, no, it is not what we are thinking, it is what you might be thinking. No, after you’. ‘Hang on, I thought we elected you to lead us’. ‘No, no, you tell us what you want us to do’. On it went. Then it has come back after almost another year and $1m. Now we have a couple of more difficult recommendations: ‘Oh, they have all been accepted except a couple of difficult ones’.
When I heard the nice little talk at the briefing the other day, which I do appreciate, I thought there is not a lot of detail here. ‘No, no, we can get you anything you like’. Well, I appreciate that and I am sure it will come, but I do not know how many parents are going to ask for the details; they have had enough!
However, the interesting thing is the difficult ones like middle schooling - guess what? It is: ‘We are going to ask the community again’. Again, who is in charge here? You have been elected to lead. Take a courageous decision, for goodness sake! Bring some closure to the issue and let us move on so that the parents can work out what on earth is going on! This is just a never-ending process, until you gather the courage to know that the majority is standing with you and it is safe to proceed. That is not leadership; that is not what you were elected for!
Anyway, the bottom line in my and any thinking person’s book is that whatever effort we make in education must increase and improve student learning. However, that is very difficult because there are very few effective measures within our education system - not only in the Northern Territory but nationally - that allow us to measure how students are actually learning. Oh yes, we have the maths test. Well, come on! Those of you who have children and have had the maths test results come home know it does not really help in understanding how your child is actually going. A bit of information comes back, and most of it is in what is termed ‘edu babble’. You do not understand really what this language is. They try their best with a few graphs and things like that. It gives you a bit of encouragement, but you are left wanting more. We have reports. Well, most reports, if you are honest - have a look at those reports - do not really tell you how your kid is going. Mums and dads want to know whether their children are learning; how they going at school.
I am not even loath to this idea - and I reckon psychologically kids would actually respond to this: when you have a sports carnival, how do you reckon you would go with a sports carnival? Let us just amplify it to the Olympic Games. How useful and interesting would the Olympic Games be if everybody did okay, no one really competed against anybody else, and you all got a certificate for being in it, and little badges and things like that? You got to feel okay. You got a report at the end of it to say you participated in it, you are achieving at your level and all these strange words. You would walk away and think: ‘I think I have a gold medal; I am not sure. I participated in the games. I have done okay. I am not really sure how I went. How did you go?’ ‘Oh I am a winner’. ‘Yes, but we are all winners’. The games would not work.
Really, deep down, kids want to know. They know anyway whether they are going okay at school or not. However, they get conned because the reports do not give a clear indication how they are travelling. They all sort of know. Mums and dads do not have information that really helps them know so that they can actually address the education needs of their kids before it is too late. We do need to be able to have a clear idea of how kids are going at school. Anyone here with primary schools students and secondary school kids will know that this is the case. You have a sense, but you do not really know. Parents want clear information of how their kids are going.
That is the sort of stuff we expected from the review, and that is one of the recommendations that has been dropped out because it is too difficult and it takes a bit of courage to implement something like that because it is going to change the system. If you are going to have clear reporting, you are going to have to have outcomes that are measurable - which means a change to the curriculum. We have a curriculum at the moment - not just in the Territory but nationally - that is a mile wide and an inch deep, and everyone has a good old time splashing around but there is not sufficient depth to it - a concentrated and deepened curriculum so kids can actually match themselves against clear performance and know whether they are progressing or not.
They are the types of issues that needed to be addressed in education, and they are just glossed over in this. It is a great hype and gloss show, but it is not going to make a significant difference in education. Here was your opportunity to do that; not just to tinker around and spruce the boat up and let it sail off and think: ‘Oh gee, it is looking pretty flash, it has a new crew, they have changed their rig and all that gear’. Change tack completely! Do something with the lessons that have been taught to us by other education systems that are outstripping us. Yes, we have an opportunity here that has gone missed.
We operate within our education system where all students learn at different rates - accepted. Everybody learns at different rates so we accept that as a premise. We then have no clear standards set in education. There are no clear standards set in education because everybody is achieving at their own level and they are all doing jolly well. The report comes home and it has words in it like ‘emerging learner’, ‘consolidating’, and all this sort of stuff. Parents say: ‘How are you going at school?’ ‘Good, I think’. Because everyone is learning at their own level and being reinforced - ‘Oh you are doing okay. You can hardly read, but it is okay. It is all right; it is at your own level, your own pace’ – they never fail. They never get a sense whether they are actually making progress or not. You, sort of, innately know.
The poor old teachers are struggling to make these programs up that cover a multitude of abilities within that sort of paradigm. If you have no clear standards, you do not have an opportunity to measure, and have no clear reporting on student progress. Deep down, everybody knows that something is not right - even the teacher. They do not have a clear curriculum that is easy to teach. They spend most of their time preparing lessons to cater to this plethora of ability within a class, and less time to actually teach students.
The only time a student gets clear information back, in their 13 years of education, is in Year 12. It is the only time they face a rigorous test. In all those other years, we do not really know. The students are not actually prepared for that kind of competitive regime. Then they enter university and it is a whole new system.
Madam ACTING DEPUTY SPEAKER: Member for Blain, your time has expired.
Mr VATSKALIS (Mines and Energy): Madam Acting Deputy Speaker, I support my colleague, the Minister for Employment, Education and Training, and congratulate him for his initiative.
I say that because I am a very strong supporter of education. To me, education is everything. I am very proud that I had parents who pushed me hard to be educated, not only by finishing primary and high school, but to work harder and harder. I follow this legacy and push my children to be educated.
A friend of mine with whom I worked in Western Australia was Vietnamese and had studied in France. He had to escape Vietnam in a leaking boat to come to Australia. I recall asking what he managed to bring with him to Australia, thinking perhaps gold, jewels or money. He said he picked up his degrees because money can be lost, jewels and gold can be stolen by pirates, but his degrees and education would always remain with him and, wherever he goes, he is guaranteed of a job. That story has remained with me over the years.
In my culture, education is very important and teachers are very highly respected professionals. An ancient Greek saying is that my parents have given me life, but my teachers have given me a good life. That illustrates the importance of teachers and education.
I am very disappointed and somewhat perplexed by the hypocrisy of members opposite who have the audacity to complain about the delay in presenting the secondary education package to the public by 14 months when they did very little for 27 years; or nothing at all. To give you an example, the CLP neglected education not only in the bush, but also in the big towns. We have never had the results we have now from the bush. We never had the number of graduates from high schools in the bush. We never had schools of the standard we see in other jurisdictions out in the bush. Not only did it not happen in Kalkarindji, Maningrida or Kintore, it did not happen in the northern suburbs of Darwin.
Nakara Primary School was built 35 years ago and they never, ever spent serious money to upgrade it. Before the last election, I made a promise to lobby the government for $2.5m to upgrade Nakara and Alawa schools. When the study was done and the engineers went through the schools, the bill for Nakara was more than $5m for an upgrade. For Alawa, it was nearly $7m. There was never serious planning in those two schools, only in Darwin in their electorates!
Another example is the caretaker facilities at Alawa school. The caretaker was there for 20 years and, in that time, he did not have a toilet facility. He had to use the children’s or teachers’ toilets late at night and during the day time. A couple of years ago, he came to see me and said that he had a medical problem and he could no longer rush in the middle of the night to go to the toilet. He wanted to have a toilet near his house. I lobbied the government and secured a grant of $20 000 to construct a toilet facility for the caretaker. That was the level of support the CLP provided for the education system.
The CLP did not put real money into teachers, teaching or students. I know that well because my wife is a high school teacher. She taught at Taminmin, Sanderson, and is now at Dripstone. I recall her coming home and saying that she had to teach numeracy and literacy to kids in Year 8 and 9 before she was able to teach them science. There must be something seriously wrong when children in Years 8 and 9 come out of primary schools not being able to read and write, or do simple calculations. That was very disappointing.
What about support for teachers? Everyone has said we are supporting teachers. Of course, we are; they are very hardworking professionals. However, where was the support from the CLP for teachers, especially in the bush? As a health professional, I had to condemn houses under the Public Health Act - houses for teachers and policemen - as unfit for human habitation. They never put money to repair houses. They never put money into new houses. As for equipment such as beds and mattresses and other things, well, if you were lucky, you might get a second- or third-hand one left by the previous teacher. Most of the time, you had to get your own.
Literacy, especially in the bush, is a very big problem. I believe it is a social bomb, ticking away, and if we do not address this problem today, we are going to have a bigger problem tomorrow. There is going to be a whole generation of people growing up without numeracy and literacy skills, professional skills or vocational skills. These people are going to see the society around them doing very well, with other people owning cars, houses, and televisions. They are going to be feeling neglected and left out. These people will demand the things we have and take for granted in the society we have today and, of course, this will lead to more social problems. Then we will wonder why these people are actually hooked on heroin, other drugs, or are alcoholics. Without actually trying to resolve the problem today, we are going to face a bigger problem tomorrow.
Since we came to government, we have shown a commitment to education. We have shown a commitment to resolve some of these problems. We have provided 100 additional specialist teaching positions. We have appointed eight attendance officers, who have managed to bring back to school nearly 1000 students. We have provided laptops for our teachers. We have provided housing and furniture for teachers in remote communities. We have results such as three students graduating at Kalkarindji in 2003 and 12 in Maningrida in 2004. That is the first time ever in the Territory that we have had such a number of indigenous students graduating from high schools in the bush, and we are very proud of this. We are very proud and we can congratulate the teachers, the students, their parents and, certainly, the people of the Education Department who made this a reality. I would like to see more indigenous students graduating from these schools. I would like to see these indigenous students become teachers at indigenous schools, or in mainstream schools. I would like them to be nurses, doctors, engineers - anything that we take for granted in the mainstream society.
We have provided funding for schools, not only in the northern suburbs in Alawa and Nakara, but also in remote communities. Providing money for colleges has been neglected for years in Darwin. Nungalinya College is one. I had to go to the government to get $185 000 fence and landscape the area around Nungalinya. I tell you, when I opened the facility last week, the students and teachers were absolutely thrilled that money had at last been spent on Nungalinya, because it made it look attractive. I am astounded by the comment of one person who told me that, until the sign went up there, he did not know that there was a college in Casuarina. People did not know what the facility was. Now, they have become aware and are very proud of it.
The government’s plan Building Better Schools is supported by a huge amount of money - $42m over four years. Of course, I was really disappointed to hear the member for Greatorex, but I am really used to it. In the three-and-a-half years that I have been in this parliament, I cannot recall one day when the member for Greatorex did not support the government, but at least be fair, and acknowledge that this government was doing something good. It is always gloom and doom.
Going back to my education times, from the history lessons that I learned, I recall very well that there was a person in Troy, the sister of Paris, who actually stole Helen of Troy, and took her to her city. That person was the Princess Cassandra. The god Apollo fell in love with her, but she rejected his advances, so Apollo punished her. He gave her a cursed gift. The gift was that she could tell the future. The curse was that she would only tell the bad things that would happen in the future and nobody would believe her. The member for Greatorex is like Cassandra. He always foretells doom and gloom that will happen in the future but, unlike Cassandra, I suppose he cannot see what will really happen in the future, only what he wants to see. As with Cassandra, nobody believes him, because the truth is out there; people know we are trying, and we are trying really hard.
We have had some wins and some achievements. These achievements can be seen every day in the streets and in the schools. They can see the new teachers. I went to Dripstone High School last week with my colleague, the member for Wanguri, and we saw five new teachers - young kids just out of university recently and appointed to Dripstone High School. I went to Alawa Primary School and saw new teachers there. I went to Nakara Primary School and saw new teachers there. I talked to the principals, because I do not only say I support teachers, I support teachers by being in the classroom, the school grounds, by talking to the principals and teachers. I tell you that the comments I received from the principals are very encouraging. They are very thankful that we have addressed the vacancies at the school, and that now they do not have to juggle with teachers regarding who is going where and who is doing what, or how they are going to combine classes so they can actually address the lack of teachers. Now, they have an appropriate number of teachers in appropriate sized classroom to educate our children.
Young Territorians must have the best opportunity to achieve in our community, and we owe it to them. We are the adults, the legislators, who provide all the abilities, the capabilities, the funding - the things that they need to actually achieve in our community. The review of the secondary education was absolutely necessary. Yes, it took time, but I would rather do something properly and take time, than jump to conclusions and do something very quickly just to satisfy part of the community or the opposition and, to tell you the truth, stuff it up.
Yes, there was extensive complete public consultation, and this public consultation resulted in 52 recommendations. The member for Blain said this government could not make a decision and that there were recommendations in the review and the government should sit down and make a decision about the recommendations. Can I remind him that, in 26 years in the Territory, the CLP had two different standards of secondary education? In Central Australia, Years 7, 8 and 9 are in high school. In the Top End, Year 7 is in primary school; Years 8, 9 and 10 are in junior high school. Why? Well, I cannot see an explanation for that. Why is there such a difference between Central Australia and the Top End? Anywhere in Australia, junior high school is Years 7, 8, 9, and senior is Years 10, 11, and 12. Why did the Top End have to be different? Not only that, things became more complicated when we had an influx of Defence personnel from down south, from a different system, and they had a child in Year 7 who was supposed to be going to high school, who came to Darwin or Katherine and had to go to primary school. Therefore, about decisions: when you live in glass houses, you have to be careful what you throw around.
There were 52 recommendations. Some of them we decided not to implement, and quite rightly so. The recommendation was to close the Open Education Centre. We said: ‘No, we are not, we are going to enhance it, put money into it, and provide more facilities to coordinate their operation between Darwin, Katherine and Alice Springs to make it more effective’.
The quality service agency and the learning precincts will not be introduced. We believe that it would result in more administration, and the effective outcomes for the students are not going to be significant.
Students are our focus. We believe that students - 11-year-olds to 14-year-olds - need particular attention. I have to tell you that I have a vested interest Madam Acting Deputy Speaker - like you, probably. We have children who are 10 years old, so they are about to go to Year 7, and we have children a bit older who just came out of the Year 9 or Year 10. From my personal experience, it is a very difficult time. In Year 7, they are neither here or there; they are really not in primary school; some are mature enough to go to high school. However, we have to actually come out and speak to the community, we cannot just barge in and make a decision that is going to affect thousands of children, parents, and teachers. We have to be very careful about it and proceed with caution.
I commend my colleague, the member for Nhulunbuy, for taking this approach. I do not care if he is going to take another six months; we have to get it right. We play here with the future of young Territorians. If we make a mistake, they are going to pay for our mistake, and it is totally unfair. I commend the member for Nhulunbuy for his decision to support teachers at school by providing counsellors, and for providing $15m for these. Being a student today is probably more complex than for us; things are different, life is more complicated, the demands have increased significantly. We ask young people to make decisions that are going to affect the rest of their lives. Children 16 years old are finishing high school, and we ask them to make a decision that is going to have a result in their lives for the next 80 to 90 years, and is going to have a significant effect upon them. They have to make a decision so they either go to university, technical school, become professionals, trade people. Whatever choices they are going to make are very important.
Providing counsellors at schools to provide assistance to not only to the students but also the teachers, will remove a significant workload from the teachers. Sometimes teachers act as counsellors who are totally unqualified but, because of the years of experience, they act as counsellors providing the best advice they can. However, I believe it is most appropriate that these people are trained and are experienced, and are equipped with a knowledge to assist the students.
Supporting teachers is very important. There is $5m to support teachers by establishing professional learning communities so that teachers can learn from each other; support each other. Teachers can form groups that will actually provide support to young teachers, new teachers, and teachers who are moving from one area to another.
Vocational Education Training Programs are very important. We have seen, in the past few years, a significant lack of skills and tradespeople in the community. We now have an economy in the Territory that is booming. We have significant projects taking place in the Territory and we cannot find enough people. For your information, we have to import 20 Filipino oil rig specialists from the Middle East to work here at the LNG plant because we cannot find people in the Territory, or in Australia.
Providing $15m to indigenous communities is very important. We need to upgrade the facilities at indigenous communities. We need to provide the teachers and the specialists who know how to teach indigenous people. We have to attract the indigenous kids back to school. I know in some communities, people have different ideas about education. In some communities, people are asking why they should go to school when, if they finish school, there is nothing for them ...
Ms Scrymgour: No jobs.
Mr VATSKALIS: There are no jobs in place. There are some communities where parents do not know the value of education and do not force the kids to be educated. I have had grandmothers coming to me and saying they grew up in the mission and could read and write better than our children who have grown up in the city - either Darwin, Katherine, or in communities where they have teachers. We have to make sure that these kids are coming back to school, are educated, and have the skills for the future. Otherwise, we are going to create a significant problem and a huge division between urban, rural or bush Northern Territory. People in Kintore are going to be totally alienated from mainstream people in Alice Springs or Darwin. I am not talking about white people in Alice Springs and Darwin, but even indigenous people who live in Alice Springs and in Darwin who value education and see education in a different way. We have to provide the equipment, the facilities, the teachers, the support staff, and this money will go a long way.
Distance education has been given $1.87m. Distance education caters not only for kids out in the bush, but for kids on big cattle stations. It caters for some kids who, for one reason or another, do not want or cannot go to the mainstream high schools in the cities. That is very important. By providing that money, we provide better facilities for Open Education Centres to provide a better education for these young Territorians.
Every dollar we spend on education is a dollar we invest in our future as Territorians. It is a dollar we invest in the cities and the bush, and we are going to reap the rewards of in the future. If we actually do not provide this money today we might save a few million dollars, but the social cost and impact of our inaction today is going to be enormous.
I congratulate my colleague, the member for Nhulunbuy for his persistence and his assistance to continue with this secondary education review. I fully support him and will continue to support him in anything he has to do with education. I believe education is very important. I will continue to support teachers and the education professionals. I would like to see much more happening in the Northern Territory in the urban environment and the bush to improve education to improve the skills that the Territorians have to be equipped with in the future to have a better life – and not only a better life with regards to salary and wages, because education also leads to better health, better family life, and better family lifestyles in the Territory.
Mrs BRAHAM (Braitling): Madam Acting Deputy Speaker, I welcome the statement by the minister, although I must say that I do not have many details of what is planned, so I am restricted to my reaction after reading the speech. I have not had time to solicit feedback from teachers or schools about it, but there are some good points in it.
Some of the things I am glad about it were things that the minister dropped, which indicates that he was listening to the community. They were the three things that most people were concerned about.
When we are talking about 11- to 14-year-olds, we are talking about a different type of child than we had years ago. As the minister knows, once a teacher, always a chalkie; you cannot get away from it. You have heard teachers speak in this House …
Mr Dunham: Who’s been a naughty boy, then?
Mrs BRAHAM: Yes! I wonder who has been a naughty boy, member for Drysdale.
What we see going into our high schools these days are often students who cannot read to the standard to which the Minister for Multicultural Affairs referred. Our 11- to 14-year-olds really need skilled teachers to look after them - teachers who are skilled professionally. Secondary teachers of today are being asked to teach in a way they were never expected to teach before. That has been a great challenge for them. When we talk about professional development, it is important that we provide them with that essential training, or else we become more creative. Who says Year 7s must stay in a high school situation all day? Is there any reason why they cannot go one morning back to a primary teacher who can teach them the essential skills they need?
The underlying focus of this statement is really on indigenous education and looking at the way we can provide secondary education to that sector. Wherever possible, we should have face-to-face teaching, because that is what will make students learn more rapidly than correspondence or distance education. In addition, we need to think more creatively. For instance, we have a July break when our urban schools are empty. Why do we not become flexible in the way we structure holidays, and say to students: ‘You have your holidays in May’ or ‘You have it in August, but in that June/July break, you come into town and spend the four weeks in the science lab’ or whatever lab they need to. I believe Sanderson High School runs a complete unit of work in just two weeks, full-time on that subject. What is wrong with taking students from remote communities and bringing them in to spend two or four weeks full-time on an area that they particularly need?
We must be more flexible and creative in the way we do things. For instance, there is no reason not to give teachers some incentive to teach over the stand-down period, whether they are contract or relief teachers. It is additional pay for them and they may be interested in it. It also means that our resources are better used and not sitting idle, our students who do not ordinarily have access to those resources have an opportunity to do so, and we are giving them face-to-face, hands-on experience that they need.
Indigenous education is difficult for primary teachers; how much more difficult will it be for secondary teachers? I hope the member for Barkly tells us about Warrego; it must be the best example of how we should make it happen. The students attend school 100% doing hairdressing. What is wrong with saying to students from Papunya: ‘Let us bring you into town and do two weeks full-time hairdressing?’, or taking the teachers out there to do it full-time? Who says that learning must be staggered over 12 months; that you must do one subject over a long period in a year? What is wrong with doing a subject intensively?
I encourage the minister to encourage schools to think creatively and flexibly, because I am quite sure that this statement is the starting point for some good things to happen. We should not say one size fits all. I have said this before, but just because Anzac Hill runs their school like that does not mean that what happens at Nhulunbuy or Casuarina is the same. It certainly is not. You do not need one model across the Territory. You need schools to be able to be creative and flexible and get the best out of the resources, the teachers and the students they have.
The minister talked about a new staffing formula, and I can honestly say: about time! You are no longer talking about the secondary students of yesteryear. You are talking about 11-to 14-year-olds who need far more intensive teaching than they did a long time ago, as I said. Also, schools are so much different in the way operate. Tennant Creek Primary School would be quite different to Darwin High. So, let us get on with that staffing formula.
The minister also talked about VET. All I can say to him is yes, yes, yes, get VET into schools. You only have to go into the work force to hear the business people who actually have students doing part-time VET at school and part-time in their workplace, to know they are so enthusiastic about it. However, would the minister tell me how many VET students we have in Aboriginal communities? There is no reason why you cannot have them at Yuendumu, where you have essential service personnel, accountants, child-care workers, and nurses - no reason why we should not be expanding that program to go into the remote communities. I know it is hard; I know the psyche of trying to make Aboriginal children understand this is a benefit for them for the future has to be instilled some way, but it is possible. This is why I keep saying yes to VET. Let us do it, because it is certainly one of the essential components.
Too often I hear that we do not have skilled workers: ‘I cannot get a plumber, I cannot get an electrician’. I have a power point at the moment that I am seriously thinking of trying to change myself, but I do not know whether that is a good idea. However, it is those sorts of things that we need …
Mr Dunham: No, go for it.
Mrs BRAHAM: Perhaps the member for Drysdale could come and do it for me. We would be a couple of old sparks together.
The minister also talked about strong communities. I am not sure exactly what he means, but I can only presume that he is talking about remote communities, because our town schools - be they primary, secondary or upper secondary - have that strength of character and purpose. I guess every member in this House went to an end-of-year presentation night and was staggered at the performance, the quality, the leadership that the students show – all those things that make you so proud as a parent.
I said the other night at the Board of Studies presentation that teaching is very hard. You never get instant results. If you go out and plant some seeds in the garden, you end up picking the flowers or vegetables. A teacher in Years 1, 2 or 3 never sees the result of all that hard work. They really do not see it until Year 12 students and can say: ‘Wow, look at what I have achieved’. So it is not one of those professions where you get instant results. It is a very difficult one, so we need to give teachers the support they need to make them feel also they are valued.
I worry about just throwing money at schools. I am not quite sure what has happened to the DEST money - that is the Department of Education, Science and Technology - and I would be interested to know that. Some of the feedback I have is that that has gone. We used to run very good ASSPA programs on that, but some of the Aboriginal people are no longer employed; some of the breakfast and lunchtime programs are no longer in place; the support for kids in the classroom is no longer there; and there is not the incentive for people to go on excursions. I am not sure. However, that DEST money which came from the federal government was quite considerable, and I am wondering whether the minister can, in fact, tap into that for some of the projects that would be so valuable in this statement. Let us not just lose it. Get back to the federal government and say we need that money for these things. Yes, I have said before - and I will probably keep on saying it - that pouring money is often not a solution, or saying it is not enough money or you need more money. It is the quality of the program that we are after. We are after quality learning, quality teachers and quality projects.
I ask the minister to think about something: primary education in many very remote schools is simply not working. We all know the learning outcomes for Aboriginal students, in many cases, is far below the average. It is just not working. Therefore, if you want to make it better for them at secondary level, you need also to make it better at primary level. You need to get the communities on your side. You need the community leaders to show leadership and you need the parents, the students and teachers.
If I am a parent in a town school, what do I do with my son or my daughter? Well, I make sure that they do not go to school hungry, for one thing. I make sure they are well fed. I make sure they get to bed at a reasonable time and that they are not subject to very late disturbances. I make sure that they go regularly; I do not let them opt out of going to school. I ask them about their homework: do you have homework tonight? What is wrong with someone in the community school saying they will supervise homework in the school if they cannot supervise at home? As a parent, I used to get involved in school activities. Did you go on excursions with your students when they went with you child? Did you go on their sporting activities? Were you an umpire? All those things that we take for granted as students, I do not think are happening in bush schools. Most of all, we instilled in our children a sense of pride and learning. We read to them almost from the age they opened their eyes. We made them understand that learning was a good thing, something to be proud of and, when they did something good, they were acknowledged for it.
I believe community schools need to take this approach as well. It is no more than we are asking of our parents in town schools; to ask parents in remote communities to take on these responsibilities. Before we do pour more money into these schools, let us see if we can get some agreement. Let us see if we can get a school like Warrego to stand up and say yes. I come back to the fact that we have always had good schools in the bush but, unfortunately, we do not often praise them enough and make the teachers and the kids feel good. That is what we need to do.
Education is a funny job, a funny area. It often puts itself down. It is criticised by the general public because the results are so visibly. People keep saying: ‘This is not a good school; look at your results’. Those results are probably not a reflection on the school itself; it is a reflection on many things that contribute. Therefore, I say to the minister: be creative, be flexible, do not just throw in your money; make sure you know exactly what you want from those schools. Before you start throwing secondary education at some of the remote communities, make sure your primary area is running properly because, if the base is not stable, the whole building will fall down. We need to start at that base area and build on, and make that strong before we build the tower even higher and higher.
There are many students who struggle, even in our urban schools. Teaching is not easy. Learning is not easy and often does not come well to students. Teachers in urban schools today have a really hard job. I have to say the inclusion policy that we have for our primary and secondary schools makes their job harder than ever, because they have students who have very profound learning difficulties. A teacher has enough on their plate dealing with 30 average kids, without dealing with 25 average and five really dysfunctional kids. It is not an easy task. That is why it is good, minister, that you talked about professional development of teachers, because there is nothing better than a group of teachers who are teaching a similar subject or at similar levels, to get together and share ideas. We know there are good programs happening out there in the schools. It really is a great stimulus, and people often come away quite invigorated and go back to their school with a sense of ‘Yes, I can do this, I can keep going’. That is very important.
I will be interested in getting more details on what is happening. It is interesting, isn’t it? We have never really put this focus on 11- to 14-year-olds before. We have concentrated on preschool education. I was part of a group that introduced the Transition class into primary schools. We have concentrated on getting our senior secondary schools going and making sure we have a good system there. I am not quite sure why these 11- to 14-year-olds attract so much attention. Is it because they are the little mischief-makers of our town? Are they the ones who skip school, break into houses, and just cause mischief because they think they are bigger and they can do it now? They have left primary school, but they are not as big as the big kids across the way.
It really is a little like the chicken and the egg, isn’t it? Let us get these middle secondary students ready for senior secondary school, and make sure that we can deliver them an education to make them feel good about themselves when they are successful. However, let us not also topple them so the egg rolls away. Let us keep doing it in a way that teachers see will work.
Minister, I will be interested in trying to get some feedback from schools. My initial reaction is that I am glad you have put this out at last. Providing secondary education into remote schools is never going to be easy. I would suggest that you make sure you do it face-to-face because that is the way that teaching is most successful. I just hope that if the dollars you have put into it are not enough, more will be found.
Mr DUNHAM (Drysdale): Mr Acting Deputy Speaker, I shall be fairly brief. The previous speaker said that many people who are old chalkies have stood up and spoken in this debate. I stand as a consumer. I have never had the want, the need or the urge to be a teacher, and I probably never will. However, my grandmother was educated here as were my mother, I, five of my children and now, one little grandchild. I just did some sums, and that is 59 years of education that my family has been associated with some 12 schools in the Territory - in Katherine, Tennant Creek, Alice Springs and Darwin. It is something that, when we bring these debates to this parliament, all of us can speak on. It is really important that some of the consumers do speak.
I went to Katherine Primary School for my entire primary schooling and I am able to see, from that vantage point, just what has happened with education in this place, and it has been a really good thing.
I also would like to put early on the record the fact that I believe that this minister is genuine in his attempts to improve education. I know he has an education background and, along with his CEO, they are making valiant attempts to try to address problems. Therefore, I thought he would have come up with a better statement. I know he is trying hard and I know he has the cash, also being the Treasurer, but the statement falls short.
For starters, I do not think we should be talking about building better schools. It is a nonsense to talk about building better schools. We should be building better scholars. Whenever we have these debates, we have to remember that the whole purpose of a government intervention, whatever it is, is to improve the lot of Territorians. The reason we educate our children and our adults - but predominantly our children - is to prepare them for life and, particularly, employment. The main focus and reason we send our kids to school is to acquire lots of knowledge about equipping them for a future life out in the big wide world and, predominantly, a job - predominantly employment. That focus gets lost sometimes, and there are occasions where there is a dearth of jobs. We should be looking at making sure that, in that eventuality, we are equipping young kids - and this is in remote communities obviously - for the impacts of life; for what life will bring them in those remote communities in the event that there are not many jobs.
Sure we have to be putting a lot of effort into our children to equip them for employment. I was pleased, therefore, to see the minister did mention VET. He had a couple of comments on it. The first is that he claimed that we have the first-ever Territory Jobs Plan and then, later, he proudly talked about how VET is going to be a pretty important thing, how he has a strong record, and we have a lot of apprentices.
This statement is a bit deficient because we talk about a fellow called Ramsey who, years ago, produced a report. The report has been through various machines that have turned it into a statement, and the question we had today - the question was nearly as long as the statement. However, essentially, what we have is a report that had to be hatched and here it is, on our tables, hatched.
The trouble with that is there are some elements of obsolescence, the major one of which is we have a federal government that wants us to look at Australian technical colleges. Indeed, we had a minister, whose name is the Hon Gary Hardgrave MP, who came to this place only last week. I would have thought that this statement would have been awash with issues relating to VET, employment, the Commonwealth’s initiative with Australian Technical Colleges, and fundamental issue affecting our remote Aboriginal communities, which is equipping young people for jobs. This statement has missed. This statement looks like it has been written by a chalkie for chalkies.
This does not have a consumer focus, or an orientation towards people who want the education system to turn out something at the end - which is a productive young adult in our society who is yearning and hunting for a job. I, therefore, ask the minister to please re-focus that, because it would seem that this is a report had to be tabled eventually because it was becoming a source of embarrassment and, dare I say it, there are a lot of platitudes that, basically, just say: ‘We have a report, we are good people, we love apprenticeships and VET, we think students are very important and here we go’.
For starters, focus on building better scholars, please. Schools are an incidental; they are just a piece of kit, a piece of machinery, in which to do that and, in some places, they are not even necessary. That is certainly true with the NT Open College which, belatedly, this government has allowed to survive.
At the end of Question Time, the education minister yelled across the table for a list of achievements from the previous government, given that the Chief Minister was unable to cite even one thing that this government had commenced and finished. There are three I would like to mention. The first is the Northern Territory University, which is now the Charles Darwin University. When I went to school at Katherine High School, if somebody went off and did Year 12, they were considered to be a genius. If they even studied physics, let alone passed it, they were considered to be someone akin to Albert Einstein. To actually go to uni – well, you would not dream of it if you lived in Katherine; to pursue careers that required a tertiary education.
Now, after 10 years of the Northern Territory University, there were 10 000 degrees and diplomas awarded. That is an incredible number. I can recall debates in this House, and people like Bob Collins asking: ‘Why would you set up a micky mouse university? There are only half a dozen kids going away to university, why would you set one up here? It is never going to work’. I can recall the federal Labor minister at the time, Susan Ryan, fighting with us. I can recall the Northern Territory Education minister, Tom Harris, saying that we will do it alone, and funding it alone in the face of Commonwealth churliness about funding.
That university has done a great thing for us. It has told young Aboriginal kids and young kids in places like Katherine: ‘If you want to be a doctor, a school teacher, no worries; you can do it here. You can train here’. That has been great thing because it has enabled those young people who have sat in communities and saw planes drop itinerant workers off and after a two-year term, take them back to Sydney, Newcastle or wherever they came from; and then another plane would drop them off. It has seen kids aspire to those jobs say: ‘Well I will give it a burl; I will give it a shot’. What happened Kalkarindji with those graduates is a great thing, and I applaud the minister for that. It should be in his speech because they are the bona fides I am talking about: educating kids for jobs.
We are quite happy to claim credit for the university, and we are quite happy to say that we did in the face of opposition from mainly Labor parties, both federally and locally.
Teacher training occurs in our university, so young people - and my daughter is one of them - can say: ‘I aspire to be a teacher and I want to go and work in classrooms’. That is a great thing. However, there is something that I would like to bring to the minister’s attention that I hope he pursues. I do not know whether it is true, so I will say it in general terms and he can pursue it. Young graduates from NTU are being discriminated against in favour of interstate recruits. We know there are lots of teachers now, so the shortage of teachers has passed to a large extent, and we are able to get lots of teachers out of other places coming up here because they need a job. Our local graduates are captive, because they live here. Therefore, they can be put on tap; they can be put out there as temporary and part-time teachers. I would like to know how many of our graduates from last year have full-time employment in the Northern Territory’s Education Department? I would like to know that in the rejoinder. When we are training our own kids and when we are saying: ‘Get out there; learn how to be a teacher; we have a career for you’, I want to know how many of them graduated last year and now have permanent jobs - not jobs on a list where they get called in, or where they are on some sort of probationary period. I want to know how many of those young people have permanent jobs.
The other thing I would like to talk about which was also talked about this morning is pools because, when we were the government that helped Daly River, Ngukurr and Port Keats build a pool, we had a very firm policy. The minister announced today that Menzies, Communicable Diseases, Fred Hollows, Uncle Tom Cobbling and all, were all going to be looking at the health outcomes. However, there is a basic fundamental outcome with pools because they are such attractive places for young people to go; that is, no school, no pool. The ‘no school no pool’ policy is a great policy because it is carrots and sticks. I believe it is really good to educate our teachers to be among the best in the world, and to put in good classrooms.
I know the ablutions facilities were a worry for the member for Casuarina, so we now have clean toilets and cupboards full of phenyl and all that sort of stuff. However, I knew a teacher - and I will not mention her name because it will probably embarrass her - who was a strong Catholic lady in a Catholic school, who said that Jesus Christ himself could stand in front of this classroom and he would not be able to educate these children, because they are not there. There is a bad problem with attendance. We can build our better schools, but we have to build better scholars, and attendance is a fundamental issue for us still.
Bob Collins put some of the issues into a paper that he prepared for the previous government. This government has said they will take it on in its entirety. That report now should be fully addressed, because this government has had longer than we had in our last years to address all of those issues. I want to see some of the data of those issues so that we can see whether the kids are now coming to school, whether initiatives to get them to school are working, whether all these well-qualified teachers and all this access to the Internet and wonderful facilities and all the rest of it are good. However, the fundamental issue is still attendance. That is the fundamental issue the previous speaker spoke about when she talked about the poor educational outcomes among many of our primary students in remote communities. They have to get to school.
I will leave it there, but I would suggest that the minister, in his rejoinder, at least allude to the Commonwealth government’s initiative for Australian Technical College, particularly insofar as it relates to VET and how the Territory might take advantaged of this …
Dr Lim: He was not there you know, he was not there.
Mr DUNHAM: I know he is absent, but in his rejoinder, I would hope that he would cover some of the issues relating to how his policies might articulate with what seems to be fairly well defined and advanced policies from the Commonwealth. They seem to come with money attached to them, so I would like to see us get hold of some of that money.
On the business of the great pride of the Territory’s Jobs Plan, it is probably worth reciting that the Labor government claimed to have a Jobs Plan before the election. They then, after the election, said they would have to construct one. They engaged a southern university to write their Jobs Plan for them, and I would encourage them to rewrite it because the current Jobs Plan would seem to have more unemployed people. I know it is ABS, and that worries the minister, but he was quite happy to cite ABS this morning in one of his answers. ABS says we have less jobs, higher unemployment, and an exodus of workers. I would like the minister to please have another look at this Jobs Plan. Whichever southern university looked at it, they left a couple of the fundamental variables out of the equation and we have ended up with a Jobs Plan that has a negative at the end of it instead of a positive. Please go back, readvertise the thing and, before the next election, do not say: ‘We have a Jobs Plan’, say: ‘We have Jobs Plan that works, and we know it works because here is the data’.
I know I started out praising the minister and I do no resile from that. Generally, he does have a good go. He is a very busy man and, out of that pack, he is probably the one who is among the more diligent of them. I know he has a great passion for education and a background in it. I will give him all of that. I know he has very strong and motivated staff because some of my family members are amongst them. I know, also, that his CEO is a man in whom I have great trust and admiration; that is, Peter Plummer. I will put that on the public record and am quite happy to say it.
However, dear minister, you have miscued. Do not build any more better schools; build more scholars. If that requires some better facilities along the way - go for it. Your Jobs Plan is a farce. Some of the things that we did as a government are proudly on the record and should be shouted from the rooftops, particularly the Northern Territory University, now Charles Darwin University, with the capacity to train local people - I hope they are being given a leg up into jobs and I will be upset if they are not - and issues relating to initiatives to get young people to attend school.
Ms SCRYMGOUR (Family and Community Services): Mr Acting Deputy Speaker, I support the minister’s statement on education. For many years, secondary education in more remote regions of the Northern Territory was more or less ignored or placed in the too-hard basket. Students who were able to complete primary school found themselves stranded in the limbo world of post-primary education. There they would linger until the lack of meaningful education purpose caused them to lose heart and wander off into lives that were, for all too many, defined by boredom and, most of all, unemployment. In many instances, the sense of having been effectively discarded by the educational system contributed to substance abuse, poor health and antisocial behaviour, to the detriment not just of the student but also the Territory community as a whole. The cost of such lost opportunities, and even lost lives, impoverished us all.
Steps are now finally being taken to replace the dead-end policy concept of post-primary education with a set of new programs. These are programs that are firmly focussed on qualifying and equipping students in remote indigenous communities to successfully complete Year 12 and, thereby, take the new big step into tertiary education. It may well be that numbers of matriculating students will be modest for some time yet. However, the two most important points to bear in mind are, first, that the education system is unequivocally and wholeheartedly dedicated to mainstream matriculation outcomes whether students are from urban or remote communities and; second, that even those students who do not initially succeed in travelling the full secondary education distance will have been exposed to and influenced by the experience of working towards a mainstream educational goal.
Having understood the intrinsic and vocational value of passing Year 12, there is always a good chance that they will try again in later years. The new programs that are outlined in the minister’s statement include measures that are designed to assist and facilitate second attempts. This government and minister have taken up the challenge to include all our indigenous students in programs that respond to their needs in particular. I want to cover some of those. Over 1000 more indigenous students are enrolled to attend school. For the first time in Territory history, remote indigenous students have completed their Northern Territory Certificate of Education. We can recap on those three fine young role models from Kalkarindji/Daguragu who are now studying at Flinders and Charles Darwin Universities. As well as at Kalkarindji/Daguragu, secondary school education is the day-to-day reality at Maningrida, Shepparton College, Wadeye and Yirrkala, with more schools being progressively added to the list.
MAP results in the bush are improving, encouragingly, with more indigenous students reaching national benchmarks in the last two years than ever before. There is very significant evidence that the Accelerated Literacy Program is getting excellent results in remote community schools, with more good news expected from this wonderful, innovative program soon.
For the first time, Aboriginal and Islander education workers have been fully funded. It has taken many years for the roles and responsibilities of many Aboriginal and Islander workers to be taken seriously and utilised effectively. Where these roles have been integrated and seen as an important role in indigenous education outcomes, there have been many positive steps forward in educational outcomes, student enrolments and attendance outcomes.
There are many AIEWs that I could take some time to mention, as they all play a vital role, but one in particular I would like to mention is Mrs Margaret Anstess. She has worked tirelessly for many years, dedicated to indigenous student outcomes for attendance and striving for educational excellence. Mrs Anstess is an example of a person who sets a benchmark of standards in her own personal life. One only needs to look at her own children and their individual achievements to see that she is entitled to feel very proud of and applies this in her commitment to the important role that she undertakes as an AIEW at Sanderson High School.
Recently, significant funding was also allocated to upgrade furniture and teachers’ housing in remote communities, and funding was allocated to keep bush schools’ equipment up to date. The 2004-05 budget provided further funding support to this initiative.
Over $2000 has been allocated to the indigenous music project which has huge potential to kick-start the entry of some our great young bands from across the Territory into the music industry mainstream, but also in seeing the outcomes of music and the bridging of music and education.
By the end of this year, we will have created 100 additional teaching positions including English as a Second Language support positions.
We have established alternative secondary education sites across the Territory in Darwin, Palmerston, Katherine, Tennant Creek and Alice Springs.
Ten new attendance officers are in place across the Territory and are achieving excellent results. In particular, all of us have seen the results that Cyndia Henty-Roberts is achieving and the fantastic job she is undertaking in Katherine.
A teachers’ support unit is being trialled in the Barkly with great hopes for its longer-term future. The member for Braitling talked about the school of Warrego before, which shows that, to be creative and to do it differently will show those results.
These are only few examples of what this government has achieved in a comparatively short time. Today’ statement by the minister makes further announcements that will benefit remote indigenous secondary students. It is great news that, for the first time there will be equity in respect to staffing formulae, as between urban and remote school. This will lead to a more secure staffing and funding base for bush schools, enabling greater choice in what has been offered to students by way of curriculum.
It is well know in education circles that a good mentoring program is vital to the success of indigenous students in secondary education. I am delighted that the minister’s statement refers to the development of a mentor program specifically for indigenous secondary students. The development of a pool of specialist teachers working with face-to-face teachers, and better distance delivery modes, will provide the support that bush teachers and students desperately need. The development of a new distance education policy - a first for the Territory - is long overdue and will, I am sure, give a new lease of life to the Northern Territory Open Education Centre, as well as to the Katherine and Alice Springs School of the Air.
There are many problems associated with the delivery of secondary education to remote parts of the Northern Territory. Despite the best efforts of many teachers, parents and other members of the Northern Territory education communities and, in particular students, there remains much to be done. Previous speakers talked about school attendance. I know the struggle that is going on amongst my own people on the Tiwi Islands. At a meeting that I was attending last week, I found, for the first time on the Tiwi Islands, a lot of people are confronted with an understanding that, unless they get their children to stay in the primary schools in the education system - because I agree with the member for Braitling that yes, we should not stop at secondary education. We should make sure that we build the systems that support secondary education. However, it has come about that communities are finally realising that they have to build and take responsibility for getting their children to school and to stay in school.
Mr Acting Deputy Speaker, there remains much to be done. The tunnel is still dark, but there are glimpses of some sunlight at the end of it. I commend the minister’s passion and his commitment to fixing this most important area; that is, the future education of our children.
Mrs AAGAARD (Nightcliff): Mr Acting Deputy Speaker, I support the Minister for Employment, Education and Training and the Building Better Schools strategy - an important strategy that helps us to move the Territory ahead.
Education, along with good health and a strong family, is often cited as the best indicators for a satisfying and successful future for our children. Today’s statement builds on the improvements in education in the Territory we have seen over the past few years, and offers a new emphasis on outcomes, ensuring that our kids get the best start in life - an emphasis that will be well received by parents, teachers and students alike.
It is pleasing to see that the government has met its election commitment of employing 100 teachers above formula; specialist teachers and support staff who have brought a focus to literacy programs, sport, special education, behaviour management, alternative provision and many other areas.
The statement outlined the government’s plan to inject $42m over four years, and puts in place the most significant improvements ever delivered in secondary education. This is a detailed program based on the review of secondary education by Dr Gregor Ramsey and the extensive consultation of the SOCOM group and the department in 2004.
I would like to concentrate on just a few aspects of the statement, particularly those relating to my electorate and urban areas in the Territory. First, I was pleased that the statement emphasised the outcomes for kids in its emphasis on the middle schooling approach. Education research has identified a clear stage of schooling known as ‘the middle years’ where students from 11 to 14 years of age need an approach to teaching and learning that better meets their social and academic needs. The essential features of a middle years approach are:
- inter-disciplinary teaching teams who work together to plan and present units of work;
woodwork, design, PE;
The focus in the middle years approach is on students and their learning, rather than structures. Structural reorganisation can provide the platform for the development of successful programs in the later middle years; however, it needs to be accompanied by changes to curriculum and teaching and learning practices.
The Northern Territory is not alone in wanting to improve education in the middle years. Education departments in other jurisdictions - Victoria, South Australia and Queensland - as well as internationally in the UK, US, Singapore and New Zealand, are engaged in various levels of reform around education for students in the middle years. There is a range of schools, both independent and Catholic as well as public, in every state and territory and in every sector, which are engaged in middle years’ reform. In Australia, the driving force has been the desire to address the specific challenges of teaching and learning for young adolescents, as research has shown that learning slows down or stagnates in the middle years.
In the Northern Territory, the development of middle schooling practices has been, in part, due to changing demographics and a desire to better meet the social and learning needs of students from ages 11 to 14. Many teachers told the secondary education review that the middle years were an educational wasteland. Several government and non-government schools have adopted, or are trialling, middle school approaches. I understand that the Essington School has a well-developed middle school program, and that Taminmin, Palmerston and St John’s College have also introduced programs for the middle schooling years that have been very successful.
There is evidence of some very positive teaching and learning in these settings. There was strong support for middle schooling approaches in the secondary education report, and consultations with the community about the report’s recommendations about this issue noted that the principle of offering middle schooling received overwhelming support, and is conditional upon relevant changes in the pedagogy teaching practices in schools. This is at SOCOM 2004, page 82.
The secondary education report found that, if secondary schools in the Territory are to provide the curriculum, teaching and learning practices required in the middle years, they will need to be different organisations from those we currently have in the Territory. That was Ramsey, 2003, at page 104. This is supported by the community consultation on the secondary education report, stating that the community is firm in their view that a restructure of the years needs to be supported by the appropriate changes within the school: the SOCOM report 2004, page 82. Further work needs to be done, and the government is investing in support for teachers to trial and document best practice in the middle years. Government supports the principle that more focus needs to be placed on the engaging of 11- to 14-year-olds in education, but recognises that further consultation must be done within the community on how to best implement a middle years approach in the school system.
I totally agree with this approach, knowing that in my own community of Nightcliff there is considerable debate about the Year 7/8 entry program into high schools. It is quite a diverse opinion, and I have to say that there certainly needs to be considerable consultation over the next year to decide what kind of approach is best. I believe that the general thrust of this - that middle schooling is a worthwhile activity and something which we need to be moving to - is accepted, certainly within my community.
One of the things I would like to congratulate the minister on is rejecting the recommendation to close the NTOEC. The NTOEC is in my electorate of Nightcliff, and I was approached by a large number of teachers and parents who were associated with the NTOEC over the past year. I have spent a lot of time, as the minister would recall, having many conversations with him and in correspondence regarding the NTOEC. Distance education is something that is very important to the Northern Territory, being one of the most remote parts of Australia. Many of our students are in very remote parts of Australia. The move now to link the Schools of the Air with the NTOEC and to, generally, enhance the program that is being offered is clearly an excellent thing for the Northern Territory. I look forward to seeing the future excellence coming out of this area of the NTOEC, building on what we already have at the moment. Thank you very much, minister, for listening to those of us who have been talking to people at the NTOEC, students and parents, and for taking this particular issue on board.
In relation to this statement, I also congratulate the minister on the moves in relation to teachers. Teachers are an amazing group of people. I have a large number of teachers in my electorate, and also a large number of schools. I am always amazed by the dedication of those teachers and the parents. This program for secondary education talks about how we can assist those teachers. It puts money behind just words, and it looks at practical things in development for our teachers; things which will increase the things we have already offered as a government - for example, the laptops that we introduced in this financial year. I congratulate the minister on that move. I know that teachers in my electorate will be very pleased with the things that have been announced already in relation to teachers.
I pick up on some of the comments made by the member for Greatorex in relation to Nightcliff High School. In relation to what the member for Greatorex was saying about SAMS not being available at Nightcliff High School, when I moved from the Chair, I asked staff members of the minister for Education about it. The advice from the minister’s office is, in fact, that SAMS is operational at Nightcliff High School. I wonder if this is a further move by the CLP to try to denigrate a good community school. Last year, we saw considerable negative comments from the CLP about a school that is trying to reform itself. I cannot begin to imagine why the CLP would want to alienate all those parents, teachers and students who go to that school. Every time the CLP says anything about Nightcliff High School, I get so many phone calls and e-mails asking what the CLP is on about. Parents, students and teachers at Nightcliff High School need to be supported, not denigrated at every moment. It is very disappointing that, here again, we have someone saying that SAMS is not operational at the Nightcliff High School. I have been advised, through the minister’s office, that it is. It was not raised at all at the Nightcliff High School Council meeting, which was only 10 days ago, so I am not at all sure what is going on there.
I would like to thank the Principal of the Nightcliff High School, Mr Paul Atkinson, for all his hard work over the last few years. It has been a very hard few years for him and all the teachers at Nightcliff High School, and also the school councillors. Sometimes, it is very depressing going to a school council meeting where there has been yet another negative story about Nightcliff High School in the paper. This is a school which needs all of our support, not just of members of government, but of the CLP as well. It is terrible when a particular school is targeted, for whatever reason, and those people who are associated with the school are made to feel terrible. I encourage members on both sides of this House to get behind this school because there are quite a lot of families involved, and some great kids who need you to be part of their success for the future.
I would like to make some comments regarding the comments made about the numbers of students at this school. I do not know what the numbers are, but I was very pleased to know that this year almost all of the Year 9 students who started the Innovate Program last year - which was very much a trial program and, in fact, follows the middle schooling program - have continued this year. They have said: ‘I want to stay at Nightcliff High School; I am happy with this program’. That is a wonderful thing for the school; that those kids have continued on. One of the kids is, in fact, my son. He has loved being at Nightcliff High School and appears to be doing very well. He actually enjoys going to school. What I have noticed about Nightcliff High School in this Year 8/9 is that the curriculum is so interesting that it is not difficult to get kids to go to school. My son gets up much earlier than he ever did when he was in primary school, and he is off to school really early and walks to school with his friends. This seems to be a common denominator amongst kids who are continuing in what is now that Year 9 program. I congratulate Nightcliff High School for that.
Mr Acting Deputy Speaker, there are many things in this report which I am happy to talk about. I particularly thank the minister for his commitment to indigenous education. It is very easy for those of us who live in urban areas to forget that there are many people living those areas who are much worse off than we are. We see our own schools, the outcomes for our own schools, and the MAP testing in our own schools. In my area, the MAP testing in our primary schools is excellent. What we need to be remembering is that we are all Territorians, and we need to be ensuring that every Territorian has equal opportunity for education. I commend him for the work that he is putting into this, and for the effort that we are going to be putting into secondary education in the bush. Thank you very much, minister, and I look forward to hearing reports on the successful outcomes of this plan.
Mr BONSON (Millner): Mr Acting Deputy Speaker, I congratulate the Minister for Employment, Education and Training on his statement, and for the fantastic initiatives in the government’s plan for secondary education Building Better Schools.
It is well known that for 27 years under the CLP, public education in the Northern Territory was not a priority. The further you travelled from the cities and towns along the Stuart Highway, the poorer the quality of education service delivery was. Finally, we have a government that takes public education seriously, which is great news, particularly for your Territorians.
Building Better Schools is a $42m plan to improve secondary education, and contains some great initiatives that will benefit both primary and secondary students in the Northern Territory for many years to come. In the lead-up to this major piece of work, the Martin Labor government, in just over three years, has moved education ahead unlike any other government in the history of the Territory. It has created 100 additional teaching positions in a whole range of crucial areas including behavioural management, special education, assistant principals for small remote schools, accelerated literacy, and sport and physical education. The government has created eight attendance officer positions, which have helped increase the enrolment of nearly 1000 additional students. It has provided every teacher with a laptop computer. Teachers in remote areas have been supported with additional funds for decent furniture in their houses. These are just a few of the commitments the Martin government has made to students and teachers in the past three years.
Yesterday’s announcement of an additional $42m over four years is an outstanding effort to continue to build an improved education system. Again, I have to emphasise the fact that our children are our most precious resource. This $42m will surely prove to be an excellent investment in the future of the Northern Territory. For example, the establishment of 19 new student counsellor positions above school formula will be a great resource for many teenagers who face new challenges in a rapidly changing world. In the first place, that will make an additional 19 teaching positions available in schools but, more importantly, having properly qualified counsellors who are able to work with young teenagers and their families will see a reduction in the number of young people dropping out of school, and more completing their education through to Year 12.
We all know that the Territory has very strong and successful primary schools. In my own electorate, Millner and Ludmilla are great schools. They have the full confidence of the parents. The minister refers in his statement to the age group of the 11 to 14 years as a group of students who need most attention. I agree with this totally. These are the young people who are just starting to go through adolescence. They are just starting to find themselves between being kids and having to take responsibility for their own actions. The transition from primary school, where they have the same teacher all day every day, to high school where, all of a sudden, they have six or seven different teachers, comes as a shock. The result is often that they disengage or even drop out of school altogether.
I strongly believe that we need to address these middle years in a special way. Many of my constituents have different ideas about how best to provide education to middle year students. Therefore, it is important that the minister has decided to hear what the community has to say to develop the model of what the community wants. If this process takes another six months or another year, then so be it. The future of our children is sufficient reason for us to take our time with this and get it right. I fully support the minister’s decision to go back to the community on this issue.
An area of education that has been seriously neglected for more than a generation is indigenous education in remote communities. Until this government decided to do something about it, not one remote student had passed the NTCE while studying in their own community. In 2003, these students from Kalkarindji received their NTCE, and more Year 12 students from Maningrida have made the grade in 2004. At an event held at Kalkarindji, I was able to meet these students who graduated. They are definitely the pride of the community and the community really looks forward to having more students study for Year 12 at Kalkarindji.
The Gurindji people have played a huge part in the history of the Northern Territory for thousands of years. Many would also recall the walk-off at Wave Hill. I am often reminded of this by a Paul Kelly song about the walk-off where, in a line in his song, he talks about ‘out of small things big things grow’. Being of Gurindji descent, I have pride in the fact that Kalkarindji, again, was a place where something special began. This is great news and something we must make every effort to sustain and build on.
Building Better Schools will go a long way to developing the capacity of remote communities to deliver secondary education. The combined effect of making the staffing formula more equitable, creating pools of specialist teachers in regions, and building a new distance education service will see more and more indigenous students in remote schools staying on to Year 12 and gaining their NTCE. This is great news for the Northern Territory and a great investment for the future.
In closing, Madam Acting Deputy Speaker, I congratulate the minister for the excellent vision contained in the plan, and also the Priority Education Team within DEET who have worked so hard for so long in putting the plan together. The beneficiaries are, of course, the current and future generations of secondary students, and I believe that this is the turning point in the provision of quality primary and secondary education in the Territory. Again, I congratulate the minister on his statement.
Mr WOOD (Nelson): Madam Acting Deputy Speaker, I will not say too much on the statement. I welcome the statement and thank the minister for a briefing yesterday afternoon. I am grateful that the briefing provided a book that was a lot smaller than the Ramsey report.
I have not had sufficient time to provide an in-depth response to the statement. I will need time to talk to teachers in secondary schools of Taminmin High and Marrara Christian School, which is now in my electorate. I would prefer to make a statement after I have discussed some of the matters that the government has raised with those people.
I welcome that the government has changed its mind on the open education college and the learning precincts. There were a number of people who came to see me regularly, telling me of their concerns about the possible closure of the Open Education Centre. They will be very pleased to hear that it is not going to be closed. They were not of the mind that it should necessarily stay as it is now, but they did not want it closed all together. Learning precincts also was a concern for people in the rural area. I have said in the House before that a learning precinct may have the effect of dragging people away from Taminmin High School and into Palmerston. It may still happen, of course, if we build a senior high school at Palmerston, but it is good to know that it is not on the cards at present. Taminmin High School people will be pleased.
The government said it has not closed any schools, but it has not opened any. I look forward to one day when there might be finance available to build a Catholic high school on Lambrick Avenue in Palmerston. I have mentioned this every year that I have been a member of parliament, but one day there may be some money available for that school.
I am pleased to see that the government has put counsellors into all the secondary schools. I am sure that most schools will be very appreciative of that and regard it as an important contribution. I will plug for a music teacher in all those schools one day because it is an area that needs full-time teaching throughout our schools.
I do not see, in my brief reading of the documents, much mention of the future of Palmerston Senior High School. That is something that has been mooted in this parliament for quite a while. I would be interested to hear what the minister has to say about its future: where we are going with that, and whether there would be any connection of effect on a possible Australian Technical College being established in the Palmerston region. It may not be established there, but it might have an effect on future planning for a senior high school.
A few speakers have mentioned the importance of secondary education for indigenous people. There is no doubt in anyone’s mind that is a key feature for the advancement of Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory. I am concerned, sometimes, that what is classed as secondary education is not always what I consider secondary education should be. Are we giving students the range of subjects that they would have in a northern suburbs high school? Can they learn physics, chemistry, mathematics and the subjects that will lead people to become doctors and lawyers? I know we have to crawl before we walk, but I hope we do not tell kids they are having a secondary education and, when they hit the big smoke, they find it was secondary education that was not quite up to the standard that most kids have in the urban environment.
The other side of education for indigenous people is that, whilst education is important, I believe if we do not have some place for educated people to go when they have finished their school, a lot of that education can be wasted. Therefore, employment surely must be a key partner in the development of education in remote areas. Not only must it match the work that is available, it must also be the type of education that can create opportunities in those communities. We must encourage work opportunities even if, sometimes, those work opportunities are, you might say, artificial, as they require Commonwealth government funds to get them off the ground. So be it. I have always been concerned that you educate people and then there are no jobs. A classic example used to be the boys school at Bathurst Island, where you could train 20 people to do welding. Well, there certainly was never enough work for 20 welders on Bathurst Island – maybe, if you were lucky, two. We have to keep that in mind. Education for education’s sake is not the way to go. Education so that people can find future employment is where we should be heading.
I welcome the statement, minister. As I said, I would rather talk to some of the people who know more about education than I. I probably put myself in the same category as the member for Drysdale, who says he is a client. My two grandchildren have just now headed off to Sacred Heart, Palmerston, so I am starting to be reborn into the education system again. The clients do have to have a look at where the system is going as well. We talk about the teachers and the pupils. We also ought to look at the bigger picture of what the public think about our education system and whether it is performing.
I have said here a number of times how my wife went to a mission school, was taught under the old system of education and can read and write well. Yet, many Aboriginal people today, after 30 years of change with new techniques and new methods of teaching, are at a lower standard than my wife’s education was. That alarms me: whether we have used people as experiments and all we have is, to some extent, failures. We have thrown out old systems, basically because people thought that that system was not suitable anymore, and we have come up with low levels of literacy and numeracy. I still wonder whether we should at least take some notice of systems of the past because, although they may not fit into the categories that a lot of educationalists may think is appropriate today, at least they did work and people from that era were able to read and write. We really have to think about where we are heading in the way we teach all of our children - but especially Aboriginal children - literacy and numeracy.
I would also like to thank the member for Blain. Perhaps it is because it might be a bit of a load off his shoulders, but I thought his speech about education was excellent. I know it is an area in which he has a good background. Regardless of whether the minister agrees or disagrees with him, I thought it brought in a different focus on education that perhaps we do not debate enough. I take notice of his comments about curriculum - five miles wide and one inch deep - because our curricula are so broad in the way that we have gone these days, that you can just about learn anything. That may be good, but whether the cirriculums are so broad that we do not have any focus on where we are going with education sometimes, I do not know. Certainly, in the old days when I went to school, the curriculum I learnt was the same as the school up the road. That would have been specified what you had to learn and a teacher would have had to deliver that. Today, as far as I know, of course, it is much broader than that and teachers have a vast opportunity to teach curriculum A, B, C, D, E, and onwards. Again, I thought that the member for Blain raised some good issues that I believe are worthy of debate.
Madam Speaker, I thank the minister for his statement. I certainly will be going around talking to the principals of the schools and some of the teachers I know, asking what they think of the statement. I may also be going to talk to the coach of the Southern Districts football team. I am sure he will give me a teacher’s union point of view about the statement as well.
Mr McADAM (Barkly): Madam Speaker, I extend my congratulations and applaud the minister for Education for what I believe is a very sincere and genuine attempt to address the needs of secondary education, particularly in the bush. It is a very courageous direction that the Martin Labor government is leading. Given the fact of the previous CLP government’s commitment in respect to education in the bush, the minister’s statement is in stark contract to what I perceive to be a very negative, whingeing, whining, and carping response to a very serious issue. Perhaps it is indicative of how the CLP, in the past, made attempts to address education. Minister, I applaud you in respect of the action you have taken on behalf of the Martin Labor government in making a very sincere attempt of addressing secondary education in the bush.
Previous speakers in this debate have referred to Warrego school, which is in my electorate. It is, indeed, a very innovative school. It is a school that takes into consideration the needs of the students and, most importantly, allows the community members to be participants. Mr Baker has been there for the last three-and-a-half years, I believe, and has developed a very innovative approach in respect to getting children to attend school. He has also been able to develop a collaborative relationship with Wogayela School. Both those schools combined to involve their students in horse riding and swimming classes. It is all centered around literacy and numeracy, and providing young children with life skills, with the capacity to be able to expose themselves to matters quite outside their community. Too often in the past, we have been a little blinkered and isolated thinking that indigenous education in the bush means that kids just go to school, go home and that is it. However, there are teachers I have just referred to like Mr Baker who, basically, has developed the very innovative approach and I applaud him for that. I also applaud the Education Department for providing that support to him.
The other interesting development in respect to the school at Warrego is the fact that they have been able to develop a relationship with the private sector, and I refer to Giant’s Reef. Giant’s Reef and the Department of Education have jointly funded, I think $11 000 each, to enhance their swimming and riding component of the school curriculum.
I went to Alpurrurulam last year, and spoke to the principal there. He was very keen to develop secondary education - he is already doing it. I know, again, that is a program that has the total support of the Alpurrurulam community. The two examples I have just described is precisely where the minister wants to go by allowing our communities, parents, mothers, grandmothers, grandfathers, and uncles to be part of a process of educating their children.
Equally, the same applies at Robinson River where I was late last year. I had the opportunity to speak to the principal only last week. She advised me that there was something in excess of 53 children attending that school, and there were - if I can recall correctly – 11 young indigenous people who wished to access secondary education. I honestly believe that this statement by the minister of this initiative of the Martin Labor government allows that teacher, the school community and the community itself, to develop a program of secondary education which is going to be applicable and appropriate to that community.
There are other parts of this statement which are very important. I am glad that the minister has addressed the need to involve communities in education. That is something that has been lacking, sadly, in the past.
Equally, the opportunity is supplied to teachers. I know how teachers work and operate in the bush. They are very hardworking. They perform duties quite outside their own professional duties in the context of assisting communities with applications, submissions and a whole host of other things that are required in those communities. As the Minister for Sport and Recreation indicated, they work very long hours. It is for that reason that extra dollars in professional development is very important, as this allows teachers to expose themselves to new, innovative methods or mechanisms that are applying in the community. However, also, the most important thing is that we will also allow these teachers to be able to visit other schools and share and exchange ideas. I know that, quite possibly, the principal from Robinson River will be wanting to visit Lake Nash and vice versa because, if you can develop partnership relationships between schools, no matter how far they might be apart, it all adds to and enhances the secondary education of people in the bush.
In conclusion, Madam Speaker, I applaud the minister’s statement. It is a very sincere and genuine attempt to come to grips with what is a very serious issue in the bush; inhibiting the capacity of indigenous people to get jobs, to be part of the broader community. I trust that it is only the beginning in the context of allowing people in the bush – teachers, indigenous students, parents and communities - the same opportunities in respect to education that can be expected in places like Darwin and Alice Springs.
Ms LAWRIE (Karama): Madam Speaker, conscious of the time that this debate has gone on for and the matters still to come before the Assembly, I will be brief in my congratulations to our minister for Education. It is a critically important statement that the minister has presented. It is a statement that provides a very sound foundation for learning for our students into the future in the Territory. $42m is not an insignificant sum of money to find at this time of a budget cycle, and the enormity of the funding that is being committed by the government to Building Better Schools really does show the great importance that we place on education. To have already put in 100 above formula specialists teachers and support staff and to build on that with this additional $42m is a phenomenal effort by the government.
I know that Sanderson High has already benefited from the efforts undertaken under this minister, with a new attendance officer at the school. That is flowing through and working with our primary schools in the electorate. We are also lucky enough to have a wellbeing officer attached to a couple of the primary schools - Malak school has one as does Karama. In working with the school community, I have seen just how this enhances the wellbeing of the broader school community. They do not just focus on the students; they work with the teachers and also with parents. We know that education is only successful when parents are working with teachers for the benefit of their children.
I congratulate the government for recognising the need to have counsellors as part of the remunerated positions in our senior secondary schools. I have the experience of having good contact with quite a few high school students throughout my electorate, and I know that it is becoming increasingly difficult for them to make those very important decisions about what courses they should be taking through Years 11 and 12. Those decisions start to form in their minds around Year 8, so the emphasis on counsellors to be there to be an added listener in their life and to give advice, is critical to them having the confidence to proceed through their schooling. I congratulate the minister for taking the bold decision to put those counsellors into the school system to support the schools in their role in giving critically important advice to our students.
I know that we call this a focus on secondary schools, but with the focus that has been given in this statement to middle years schooling to try to engage and keep our 11- to 16-year-olds in education - which is critically important to the future of the Territory and our skills base - it is important and impacting now upon those students who are in the primary school system.
It is a matter that has sparked a great deal of debate amongst primary school communities, certainly in my electorate. In previous debates in this Chamber, I have thanked our school communities for participating with an open mind in the education debate, and I want to put it on record again today. Manunda Terrace Primary School, Karama School, and Malak School have taken the opportunity that they saw in the Gregor Ramsey report into secondary education, and gave back into the consultation process some very valuable advice and feedback, which I am pleased to say has been taken up by our government in the decisions made about which of the recommendations to adopt, which to reject and which need more work.
Middle years schooling is such a critical aspect of schooling that it is appropriate that we go into further consultation with the school communities. It is highly appropriate for it to be done by geographical area; for example, the needs that you might find in Karama would be quite different, I dare say, from the needs in Kalkarindji. Therefore, it really should be done at the grassroots level. The minister is affording the community the opportunity to have those discussions. I look forward to working with my school communities in a continued way to see what advantages there are in shaping a renewed focus on the middle years of school. I congratulate the minister for giving us all the opportunity to continue to look at how we can enhance our education system.
I congratulate Gregor Ramsey and his team for their hard work, and Sheila O’Sullivan and her team. They each had unenviable tasks and acquitted themselves with great professionalism. I congratulate the minister and his staff who have worked very hard for a long time to ensure that this process was fair and equitable one, delivering our education needs into the future.
As I said, I thank my school communities for participating in the process, and for having the faith that they might actually be listened to in the consultation process, as opposed to consultation in name only that used to occur under the previous government. I am delighted that the community has been listened to and that there are clear markers about how secondary education will progress with this critical $42m funding over four years, and that we have the opportunity to continue discussing middle years of school. This is being increasingly recognised internationally as important. If you get your middle years of schooling right, you will provide the skills base that underpins a growing economy such as we have in the Territory.
Minister, it is a subject that I could speak about for a long time, but I do wish to be brief tonight. I thank you for the statement. It is comprehensive and provides a very good platform for the Territory’s future.
Mr STIRLING (Employment, Education and Training): Madam Speaker, I managed to get most points raised by members in debate. I thank all members who contributed because it shows that people are interested and genuinely concerned about education. I thank them for that interest.
I want to make it clear to the member for Greatorex that the government did not listen to nor follow the Country Liberal Party on the question of the future of NTOEC. We did listen very closely to the community’s voice throughout the consultative process and made our decision accordingly.
He mentioned a couple of concerns coming from the Australian Education Union. The first was whether ongoing funding was going to be there and, second, the cost of the process. Of course the funding will be ongoing. Does the member for Greatorex actually think that we are going to take the time to go out and recruit and place 19 qualified counsellors in our high school, and then take the money away next year and sack them? I think not, Madam Speaker.
In relation to the $3m alleged to have been spent on the process, it is a bit rich. Dr Ramsey’s review cost - and it is publicly known - around $309 000 and the consultative process cost around $1.1 or $1.2m. Therefore, all up, we are looking at around $1.5m. However, in the costing of that, the department diligently costed the time out of every member of the department that worked with the Priority Education team, including the salary of one Rita Henry and all of the people down the line. Therefore, that figure includes anybody from within the department who had anything to do with this project. They are departmental employees, they have a job to do, and they were inside the education budget anyway, but they have costed that out, so that is where we get that $1.5m all up.
The original cost of $74m mentioned in the review could only have been a best guess at that time. The costing in the report was never put to Treasury, never tested in any way, and nor, of course, were all the recommendations arising out of the Ramsey report accepted in any case, including the precincts and the quality services agencies. There would have, potentially, been quite significant costs in there, building up to that $74m. However, it was only ever a best guess.
Far from being paralysed by these recommendations, as the member alleged, we consciously took the report and the recommendations out to the community for fulsome debate with parents, business, teachers and students. We make no apology for the length of time that process took, because we believe we have a much stronger outcome in what we have finished with as a result of those consultations.
Nineteen counsellors in a full year at $1.85m – I work that out to be around $97 000 a head. I do not know how the member for Greatorex gets to $26 000. That $97 000 would, presumably, include all of the on-costs, including those going into rural and remote areas. The 19 go to our high schools, plus those community schools that are running full secondary programs. In answer to the question of where the funding comes from, it is $3.5m for the balance of the 2004-05 financial year, rising to $9.6m in 2005-06, and $11.5m in 2006-07.
Dr Lim: Counsellors for 60 secondary schools; if it is one counsellor per school.
Mr STIRLING: You have had your go. You have wasted your 30 minutes when you were up there before, do not try and get a second go.
The $3.5m in this 2004-05 financial year will come from Treasurer’s Advance. There ought be no secret about that. Where else does government get money from …
Dr Lim: For 60 schools, it is one per school.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Greatorex, order!
Mr STIRLING: Where else does government get money from when they are in between budget cycles? Clearly, that $3.5m comes out of the Treasurer’s Advance, and the out year’s costings go into forward estimates as of now, and they will appear in the budget papers accordingly.
I am advised that Nightcliff High is linked to and operating on SAMS, so I do not know what the member for Greatorex is on about here. I was taken with the remarks by the member for Nightcliff, who seemed to suggest that there is an element of mischief-making here to try to destroy this school. I do not know what that is about because, as the opposition spokesman on Education, he has a responsibility to uphold the system, not drag it down. If he comes in here with these lies, as he has here again tonight, he ought to check his facts before be gets here.
Dr Lim: Oh, Madam Speaker, there he goes again. How can you say I lied? Come on, fair is fair.
Madam SPEAKER: You cannot accuse him of lying.
Mr STIRLING: These untruths, Madam Speaker, about whether the system is up and running in that school.
Dr Lim: Have you found out about it?
Mr STIRLING: Check your facts before you come in here with this malicious mischief-making. Come on. You came in here at the end of last year about complaints about Charles Darwin University. You ran it out on the ABC, in the NT News, and in here, and there was no substance to the story at any time - just trash and rubbish that you had made up in your head, and you got out and spread it. You have a responsibility to tell the truth like the rest of us. You are getting caught out. You are getting a record for it, and you have form. We will watch you, and I will watch you very closely. Therefore, do not come in here with these muckraking, mischievous comments that have no substance - no basis in fact whatsoever.
Dr Lim: Ask them and see what they tell you.
Mr STIRLING: No basis in fact whatsoever. Madam Speaker, enough on the member for Greatorex; his contribution was warmly appreciated.
The member for Stuart does recognise the strength of the package for the bush. He has a great background of experience as a principal in bush areas. He knows the deficiencies that were in indigenous education that were left unaddressed by our predecessors. He is a passionate advocate of Learning Lessons. He repeatedly questioned the CLP, Question Time after Question Time. He would harangue us in the Caucus room upstairs: ‘I have to have one or two questions on Learning Lessons’. I asked: ‘You asked them yesterday’. He said: ‘I have another two’. He would insist on asking the minister of the day one or two questions about the implementation of Learning Lessons. Do you know what the answer was? Not one of those initiatives was ever introduced; the report was shelved. The responses from the then ministers for Education throughout that time are in the Parliamentary Record.
The member for Greatorex cannot come in here and claim that they ran out of time in implementing Learning Lessons. I asked him to name one initiative that they have introduced – not one! Nor could the last minister for Education for the CLP, or the minister before him, ever name one because they were asked repeatedly by the member for Stuart: ‘Tell us what you have done about Learning Lessons’. They could never put one initiative on the table. Again, an untruth here from the member for Greatorex who said: ‘We started it but we ran out of time’. Well, you never did! You put it on the shelf and you forgot about it, and it was gathering dust when we came to government in August 2001.
In any case, beyond that, the CLP had a deliberate policy which was not to deliver secondary education to indigenous students in the bush. They have the gall to come in here …
Dr LIM: A point of order, Madam Speaker!
Mr STIRLING: … and criticise this government for trying to strengthen and roll out secondary education. They had 26 years to do it - 26 years to do it, you hypocrite!
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Dr LIM: A point or order, Madam Speaker!
Mr STIRLING: You smiling, little hypocrite!
Madam SPEAKER: Order, minister! Minister, withdraw that, thank you.
Dr LIM: Madam Speaker, I believe it is about time the minister started behaving himself in the Chamber.
Madam SPEAKER: Minister, withdraw that last remark.
Mr STIRLING: I withdraw ‘hypocrite’, Madam Speaker. However, it is true: 26 years to do something about education in the bush, and they had a deliberate policy not to put secondary education into the bush ...
Dr LIM: I have asked for a point of order, Madam Speaker! The minister continues to rave on like that. I will not call him any names in here; it would not be worth my while. Madam Speaker, you know that members should not attribute motives, particularly in the way the minister has been attributing motives …
Mr Stirling: It is not a motive; it is a fact.
Dr LIM: … to the CLP not wanting to provide secondary education to Aboriginal children in remote Northern Territory. That is not right and that is attributing to the opposition.
Madam SPEAKER: There is no point of order.
Mr STIRLING: It was a fact that it was a deliberate policy not to engage secondary education to indigenous students in rural remote areas.
The member for Stuart has been a great support for me, at an individual level, through pulling this package together to strengthen secondary education, particularly for indigenous students in rural and remote communities. I thank him for it. As long as he is a member of this Assembly, I will have some confidence that issues in and around indigenous education will always be to the front of members’ minds, because he will not have it any other way.
I agree with the member for Blain in part. It is good to have the community engaged in discussion about education, but it should be an ongoing process and it ought not be just at any time there is a particular review. That is something that we are going to continue to work on, because I do not think you can engage a community in anything more important than the future of education and the future of our kids, as it is so closely tied to the future of the Northern Territory.
He had some concerns around reporting of parents - many would agree with him. In fact, tracking students’ progress and improving the data collection within the system will, in turn, lead to improvements in reporting to parents. Parents are entitled to objective and accurate reporting on their children’s progress. The initiatives contained in this package will help the system deliver that.
However, if you read between the lines of what he was saying, the member for Blain was really advocating a ‘winner take all’ approach in our schools. In his view, our schools should only concentrate on the strong and successful; those that prove that they are up to the mark. Well, we have a different view. We willingly acknowledge and celebrate success and excellence within our schools and with our awards. However, we also want to ensure that as many as possible share a quality outcome in their journey through education. It seemed to me what was only important to him was the premium, the top of the class, the cream, that you concentrated on and to hell with the rest. Well, we have a very different view.
The member for Casuarina has been a strong support. He was an active member in the review and its outcomes. I thank him for his interest and support. Education in the Vatskalis household is a constant topic of course, because of their children and following the children’s progress closely. Kon’s wife is a teacher so these issues are a common topic for conversation in that household.
The member for Braitling is right about some of the differences with our 11- to 14-year-olds compared to, perhaps, our time, probably, since we were in secondary school, which is going back a fair way for some of us now. However, we do need to continue the process here of engaging with the community in and around this group.
The member’s comments that rural and remote indigenous students require face-to-face contact for effective learning is borne out by both the original report and the consultative process. Flexibility in the system, with innovative and creative responses to our use of schools and the expensive infrastructure which they represent, and flexibility in stand-down times to meet community social patterns have been considered as we go forward. The member’s support for Vocational Education Training is appreciated. It is part in that whole VET area of how we want to expand opportunities for students as broadly as possible.
Strong communities is very much about rural and remote communities. As the member for Braitling suggested, there is an absolute compelling need for our schools to move more closely to engage with the communities in which they are located. Networking across the clusters will help that, and will also help strengthen opportunities for teachers to learn from each other and present stronger opportunities for professional development.
In relation to the federal department of DEST, I am speaking with Dr Nelson. In fact, I was to speak with him this afternoon and we were in here debating this when that opportunity came and went. However, I will be speaking with Dr Nelson in the near future. He is aware of our review and has been a supporter of the process. I will be advising him of our response to date. He is a strong advocate - a very strong advocate - of indigenous education and a passionate supporter of VET as well. I know he will be interested in progress to date, and we will be seeking his continued interest and support.
I thank the member for Braitling for her supportive and intuitive comments. The member for Braitling is a living example of the old truism that you can take the teacher out of the classroom, but you are never really going to get the classroom out of the teacher.
I appreciated the member for Drysdale’s comments as to genuine intent to improve educational outcomes. His point about building better scholars is apt. Building Better Schools is exactly our view about that; Building Better Schools will mean better scholars will emerge from them. However, as is usual, his positivism was relatively short lived. We have grown to expect from the member for Drysdale over the years.
Whatever happens with the technical schools commitment from the federal government will not detract from the review or the implementation of the recommendations. There is a fair bit of water to go under the bridge yet before any decisions are made by the community or the federal government about what forms Commonwealth initiative will take.
I am happy to acknowledge the CLP’s support in getting the university up and running. My challenge to the member for Greatorex was not what initiative the CLP ever brought to education; it was to name just one initiative from Learning Lessons out of the 157 recommendations that were listed in that report - just one that they did initiate because he told me that they began that process but they ran out of time. Of course, he failed to recall one.
The member asked how many teachers graduated last year from CDU and how many got permanent jobs. I will certainly get that information for him. Attendance is critical, as he suggests. Attendance officers are achieving in the role of re-engagement. I have asked for a comprehensive brief on all outcomes to date from the attendance officers, and will report accordingly and provide him with that information.
The Jobs Plan is under review, notwithstanding its success to date. We do want to ensure we hit the mark regarding the needs out there as strategically as we possibly can.
Generally though, it was a positive contribution from the member for Drysdale which is a little out form for him but I appreciated the general thrust of his comment.
I thank the member for Arafura for her support. As a member of a rural electorate, she sees as clearly as I do first-hand the costs of a less than successful indigenous education over the years. She has seen, for many years, inequitable staffing ratios to rural remote schools compared to the urban situation. She knows, as I do, that we are beginning to have an impact on indigenous education, and these initiatives will serve to deepen and strengthen those gradual improvements that we are bringing in.
The member for Nightcliff takes an active interest in the schools within her electorate. She is very actively involved in the process of her own children’s education. She has a broad view of education and the system of schooling. I have appreciated her inputs throughout the task of putting government’s together, and her support for the open college throughout. I also thank her for her continued strong support for Nightcliff High School.
I thank the member for Millner for his support. Of all the members in here, he is the most recent, I believe, of any of us to have attended high school. I welcome his views and support on the government’s initiatives.
I look forward to the member for Nelson’s discussion with teachers throughout his electorate and, more importantly, learning the outcome of those discussions. I am happy for my office to provide him with any further information or advice that he seeks in relation to this package in his discussion with those teachers in his electorate.
He says we have not opened any schools. We have only built secondary facilities at Kalkarindji, Minyerri, and Maningrida. We are in the process of building secondary facilities at Shepherdson and will be building new schools at Emu Point and Manyallaluk as soon as the country dries out enough to get in there. Therefore, it is a bit rich to say that we have never opened any schools. We have an active policy of pushing secondary education. There are four or five schools where we have opened, or are about to open, secondary facilities.
Palmerston High School is undergoing design. It is not likely, I would not think, to be affected by the Commonwealth’s technical college proposal. My discussion with the federal minister last week indicated that the Commonwealth was not likely to be constructing a building - bricks and mortar - in itself, but more likely coming to how they can enhance the current system of skills and job training up here. The Commonwealth will continue to work with the community over the next six months or so to bring more detail to their proposal than exists at the moment. When I met with the minister, the members for Greatorex and Blain were just leaving, so I expect that they would have had a similar picture as me about the Commonwealth’s views.
I thank the member for Barkly for his support. As I said, our members from bush electorates are familiar with our schools and the long-term outstanding needs they have. He recognises we have made a good start today. His comments about Warrego are informative. It is a great little school based on an extremely strong relationship with the students and their community. The school and the principal shows that there is more than one way to skin a cat. In this case, it is a program around a mutual love of horses, horse riding and care for the animals. That is the way that school program is based, but it leads to outcomes in attendance, literacy and numeracy that we are looking for. I congratulate the principal there and the innovative way in which he goes about his work.
The member for Karama understands the value of what the government is undertaking here. We will continue to strengthen the system of education outcomes for our students as far as we possibly can. The member for Karama is a strong supporter of schools within her electorate, and I welcome her input to the process.
Finally, I put on record my thanks to Sheila O’Sullivan and her staff from SOCOM who carried out the public consultation process. The SOCOM report is an exceptional piece of work, only made possible, of course, by the quality of the consultative process in the first place. It very clearly represents the voice of the community. We owe a debt of thanks to SOCOM for being able to so clearly hear the voice of the community for that report. Thanks, Sheila.
Motion agreed to; statement noted.
ADJOURNMENT
Mr VATSKALIS (Mines and Energy): Madam Speaker, I move that the Assembly do now adjourn.
Tonight, I would like to speak about some events that have taken place in my electorate, particularly at the schools. Lyn Elphinstone, the Principal of Dripstone High School, has advised that the year has started smoothly for the school, with student enrolments of approximately 760 at the school. Over the holiday period, the school continued its maintenance to ensure a safe and healthy environment.
Dripstone High School is very proud of the achievements of present and past students. Congratulations to Danielle Andrews on her Australia Day Student Citizenship Award. In addition, two former students have gained cadetships with the Northern Territory government. Simone Liddy is the Territory’s first indigenous student to receive a Pharmacy cadetship from the Department of Health and Community Services; and Susan Farquhar is the Territory’s first Earth Science and Geology Cadet with the Department of Mines and Energy. The latter cadetship was one of my dreams that was conceived at a dinner with the Geology Society of the Northern Territory when members were complaining that they cannot get enough geologists in the Northern Territory. I promised that I would establish a cadetship program within the department.
I am pleased to say that the first cadet in the program is Susan Farquhar, a young lady who is 19 years old, who worked as an Admin Officer at CDU and decided to change her career. Susan will receive $12 000 a year for the next three years to study and, during holiday periods, she will have employment with the department or with one of the mining companies. This program will run for three years, after which it will be evaluated. My suspicion is that we will continue with it.
Additionally, we want to promote science and geology, so I will be writing to secondary schools in the Northern Territory offering a grant in order to acquire equipment, books or other material, to encourage students to study Earth Science and Geology.
I met with the Alawa Primary School Principal, Sharon Reeves, who is excited about her school’s excellent start to 2005, with an increased number of students enrolled in primary and preschool. The Alawa School Council had a look at the Stage 1 renovation plans last week, and was very impressed. They approved them proudly.
I am very pleased, because I see $1.8m allocated for renovations in Alawa, that will be well spent. The plans I have seen for the renovations of the school are very impressive. The Alawa school is also trialling a Friendly School and Families program, and will also continue with the early age of entry trial. There are a lot of very committed teachers working very hard. I would like to welcome a new teacher, Mrs Jill Luchjenbroers, who came from Wanguri and is now teaching at Alawa.
I visited another school in my area, Nakara Primary School, last week and inspected all the work there with the Principal, Mr Barry Griffin. Some of the work was finished during the holidays, including the covered walkway from the kids’ drop-in area so that, in the rain, the children can walk in without getting wet. The well protected walkway leads the kids from the kids’ drop-in area to their classrooms. All the internal children’s toilets have been renovated, upgraded and the ventilation improved enormously. The caretaker’s facilities, including a new toilet, have been constructed. In the next few weeks, I expect there will be advertisements in the newspaper for the construction of the renovations of the Alawa School, and certainly a number of other works to be undertaken at Nakara Primary School.
I was also very proud launch the fencing and landscaping project at Nungalinya - or, as I should say, the end of the landscaping and fencing project at Nungalinya. The college, which is located at the corner of Goodman Street and Dripstone Road in Casuarina, has been there since 1973. However, the landscaping was non-existent and there was no fencing. A lot of people complained to me about the looks of the college, and students and teaching staff complained to me about the lack of privacy and security. I lobbied the government successfully, and Nungalinya College was allocated $210 000. A fantastic fence has been erected surrounding the property of Nungalinya College, and it has been nicely landscaped and new beautiful signs indicate to the people that this is a significant college. I say significant because the college teaches indigenous people about early childhood, how to look after children, a lot of textile work, and a lot of skills that they can acquire in order to improve their conditions and their lifestyle.
I have to say I was very disappointed that quite a few people told me that they only realised that Nungalinya was there after the signs went up, the landscaping done and the fence was erected. All these years, people were driving past and had no idea what was there. Now it looks fantastic, very pretty. People are very proud and say that the new look not only provides security and privacy for the people at Nungalinya, but has beautified their neighbourhood.
The last item I would like to talk about is the community partnership. I am happy to advise that the community partnership is definitely working very well in my electorate. I would like to thank the Community Harmony Project, Mission Australia, Darwin City Council and the police - in particular Senior Sergeant Mick Reid of the Casuarina Police Station and his constables. All the above organisations have been working very well together in order to address some of the issues with itinerants. There is some itinerant activity in the area; it has increased in the past few weeks. However, we are on top of it.
The police, Mission Australia and Community Harmony Project people are working very closely together with translators and interpreters on this and other issues. I am very pleased to say the response from the Darwin City Council was absolutely fantastic. After a few phone calls, council workers came to the Alawa park to clean the park and mow the lawn and clean the area surrounding it, and it looks really nice. They move people from there so they cannot be in these areas creating problems. Mission Australia is attending, unfortunately, late night drinking and fighting sessions that happen so often. I know that it is not going to be resolved immediately, today, but we are working very hard, all together, in order to address these issues.
I would like to conclude by extending to all members of the Chinese community in Darwin Casuarina my best wishes for a Happy Chinese New Year – Gong Xi Fa Cai. This year is the Year of the Rooster, a fantastic year. I am very pleased that one of the gifts I gave today was a grant to the Chung Wah Society of $110 000, the first instalment of a grant of $245 000 to go towards the extension of their hall. I was very impressed when they came and saw me a few years ago with the plans of the extension and renovation of the hall. I was very impressed because they did not ask for all the money to be provided by the government, but promised that they would raise $1-for-$1 and only asked for $250 000 to renovate their hall. The total renovation cost is about $0.5m, which is excellent. I am very proud to be able to help the Chinese community.
The Chinese community has been in the Territory since the 18th century and has enriched the life of the Territory. A lot of Chinese traditions and customs now are familiar to Territorians, and we are very happy to celebrate Chinese New Year with our Chinese-descent Territorians. We not only celebrate by seeing the lion blessing the Chamber, but also by having the lions blessing our houses and our offices. I am looking forward to the next two weeks when the Chinese lions will come to our offices to bless them, particularly because I was very pleased to provide an extra grant for the Chung Wah Society to acquire new lions and renovate some of the lions that were getting a bit old, tired and dated. However, as you have seen today, they are fantastic: sparkling, loud and absolutely wonderful.
Dr LIM (Greatorex): Mr Deputy Speaker, as usual for my first adjournment of the year, I speak about Chinese New Year. This is the 11th - or maybe the 10th, I cannot remember exactly. I hope that I will be in the Chamber to be able to complete and speak about each animal that is related to the year for the full cycle of 12 animals in the Chinese New Year calendar.
As you saw this morning at the commencement of sittings, the Chung Wah Society lion dance blessed the Chamber. It truly is multiculturalism in practice. It is the only parliament in the whole of Australia - I am not even certain whether any other parliament around the world is blessed by the Chinese lion dance prior to commencement of sittings. It is definitely a demonstration of multiculturalism as it is practised in the Northern Territory; the way it is practised, not just words and platitudes and lots of people saying the right things, but really putting their welcome of multiculturalism into real practice.
As of tomorrow, or tonight is the eve of the Year of the Rooster, the last day of the Year of the Monkey. I have said in previous adjournments people born tomorrow, or midnight tonight, will be born into the Year of the Rooster, and 12 years back from tomorrow’s date, that person would be 12 years, 24 years, 36 years, or 48 years of age and so on, come the first day of the Chinese New Year. People who were born, say, at the end of the Chinese New Year cycle, in December or January, would turn two years old on the first day of Chinese New Year, if they were born just prior to the turn of the year.
What does the Year of the Rooster mean to people? I quote from this book, of which I have bought many copies over the last many years that I have been making this adjournment speech. It is a book written by Neil Somerville entitled Your Chinese Horoscope 2005. I will read the first couple of lines:
With his shrill cockle-doodle-doo the Rooster heralds the start of many a morn and, having woken everybody
up, this busy bird struts around his territory surveying everything, his beady eyes ever alert. The Rooster has
commanding presence and his year, too, will be a dramatic one.
It says the Year of the Rooster is the year for hardworking people; people who are diligent, committed to work, who have good organisational skills, who are efficient in their work and who pay great attention to detail. These are the people who would do well. It is important this year that you pay attention to those attributes and is also necessary, when you work, to pay attention to these qualities. For those who slacken, this Year of the Rooster is going to be a bad year for them. Therefore, no more slackness this year; everybody has to work hard because the Rooster year can be very unforgiving. Actions that are a little suspect, a bit illegal, maybe a lack of respect for authority, are the actions that will suffer from the Rooster. Therefore, do not stray outside the boundaries; you have to behave very well to make sure that your life stays well.
When I was reading this book - and I read this book within a couple of weeks of Christmas, so this book would have been published well before December, even November - this paragraph really sent chills down me. I quote these three or four lines:
The year will also see the coming together of leading nations and organisations in an attempt to bring peace
to troubled areas, as well as for general economic benefit. Significant meetings and summits will be held
throughout the year, sometimes leading to landmark agreements.
I thought about the tsunami and the tragedy that the tsunami caused in the Indian subcontinent, the Malaysian Peninsula and Indonesia, especially in the province of Aceh, and the way that many governments, many nations across the world, came together in a very strong and considered effort to help the devastated countries the tsunami affected. Therefore, it is uncanny that sometimes - I do not know if it is a superstition, whatever - when you read these sort of books, it reflects an element of truth in the things that you have personally experienced.
It says that:
… economically the Year of the Rooster will be one of steady but slow growth with market conditions
most favouring companies which are sleek, efficient and producing quality goods and services.
Therefore, if you are still in the chicken business, make sure that you do your eggs well.
For the individual, this is the interesting bit, which says that:
… people are more likely to pay attention to their lifestyle, their own health and wellbeing for the year,
and exercise, aerobics, tai chi, yoga will be more on the increase.
Maybe our Deputy Clerk will start his aerobic classes again and encourage all people working in this building to take part in the classes the he holds in the gym. Health awareness will be a major feature this year.
I said before that this year will favour the dedicated and those who put in a major effort. With diligence comes wealth. So there you go. In summing up it says:
It is a time for positive action and commitment rather than for letting talents, ideas and opportunities
go to waste.
This book also contains year-by-year, the impact of this year on people born on particular animal years. For instance, the Leader of the Opposition is born in the Year of the Rat and, in this book, his fortunes are coming to a peak this year.
Today, as I said, the lion dance came to bless the Chamber, and this Saturday there will be the traditional Chung Wah Society banquet at the casino. I believe that the Hakka Association and the other Chinese community organisations are also having their own Chinese New Year celebrations over the weekend.
The following morning, very bright and early, 10 of the Chung Wah Society Lion Dance Troupe will be travelling to Alice Springs to bring Chinese New Year celebrations to the community. It will start at around 11 am with a blessing in Todd Mall under the sails, after which it will be blessing the Todd Mall markets. Each year, many of the stallholders participate in the blessings and the lion will be moving around amongst the crowd which gathers to watch the performances during the morning. Then, through Sunday, Monday and Tuesday morning, the Lion Dance Troupe will be blessing offices, homes and shopping centres in Alice Springs.
The visit by the Chung Wah Society Lion Dance Troupe to Alice Springs would not have been possible if it had not been for the very generous donations of accommodation and meals. Lasseter’s Casino provides accommodation and has done so for the last seven lion dance visits into Alice Springs. This will be the eighth one into Alice Springs without a break. The casino provides accommodation and breakfast for the troupe; the Chinese restaurants - the Hong Kong, the Oriental Gourmet and the Golden Inn - all provide dinners; and the takeaway Chinese restaurants, both at the Alice Springs Plaza and the Yeperenye Shopping Centre, provide lunches.
It is a very strong community event with community support and contribution. For instance, Thrifty Rent-a-Car provides us with a vehicle to drive the Lion Dance Troupe with all the paraphernalia - the drums, the lion, and gongs - around town to perform the blessings.
Normally, the Northern Territory Office of Ethnic Affairs, now called Multicultural Affairs, contributes money to the Chung Wah Society to allow them to fly the troupe to Alice Springs. Money is usually provided to the Chung Wah Society at least a month or six weeks before the event, which will allow them to buy cheap plane tickets through group bookings with the airlines. This year, repeated requests were made to the Office of Multicultural Affairs and we were continually told the minister had not signed off on it, or the minister was away on holidays. We could not get any guarantee that the money was going to be made available until within the last couple of days. If you are going to make group bookings to try and capitalise on the savings, then this government has to respond in an appropriate time and it has not done that. That is really inconsiderate. This is a community organisation that has to find the money itself.
Fortunately, we have been able to secure some donations from business in Alice Springs. Jetset Alice Springs has contributed $500 towards the air fares and carried the risk of not getting any government funding to pay for the tickets. The Chung Wah Society itself also undertook the risk and said: ‘Let us book the tickets now. It will save us a lot of money and, if the money does not come from the government, we just have to go ahead anyway because we have been doing it for the last seven years. The community has supported us so strongly, so let us keep going with it’.
From my perspective as the local organiser for all the blessings, - I organise it all because I live in Alice Springs and I have the network of people that I can call upon, and I am probably the only member of the Chung Wah Society living in Alice Springs - it made more sense that I did all the local organisation of the visit. I know that the Office of Central Australia will be blessed by the lion also, and I hope they make the lion most welcome when they visit that office.
Chinese New Year is very important for, obviously, Chinese all over the world. In many parts of Asia, tomorrow is a public holiday and there are lots of visits of people to their relatives. There are family gatherings, where great-grandparents and great-grandchildren can all get together. Red packets of hong baos are exchanged, the adults giving to the children. The children are, obviously, desperate to get some red packets because there is money in them. Chinese New Year becomes a day of great fun and gift exchanging, with money to spend buying fireworks and any other new year paraphernalia. On New Year’s Day, every child puts on brand new clothes, from shoes right through to even a brand new hair cut. It is part of the whole deal.
Happy New Year: Gong Xi Fa Cai.
Mrs MILLER (Katherine): Mr Deputy Speaker, tonight I would like to speak about the effort that was conducted in Katherine in relation to the tsunami appeal. The tsunami, obviously, is the worst disaster that I have ever had the misfortune to witness on telly – it was like watching a horror movie. One wondered if, maybe, it was science fiction or something that was made up. Nobody could realise the enormity of what was happening so close to our shores. However, as the days went by and more viewing became possible on television, it was certainly brought home to us just how dreadful and horrific the incident was. It was probably brought home to the people of Katherine a little more, because we had gone through a flood in 1998. The flood paled into insignificance in comparison to the tsunami that had affected Indonesia and those surrounding countries.
It was as a result of what the people had gone through in 1998 that they rallied together, mainly under the guise of our Katherine mayor, Anne Shepherd, who was also a victim of the floods in 1998, who called together a group of people and launched an appeal for the tsunami victims, and a bushfire appeal for the bushfires, of course, that happened down south on Eyre Peninsula in January. The Katherine Town Council have had a very good relationship, over the years, with the Indonesian Consulate and, as a result, it was even more important for us to do something to help, even though we are only a small town.
The Katherine Town Council organised a collection point. Toni Coutts, who works for the Katherine Town Council, was instrumental in organising that. Once the appeal had been announced over the local community radio and the radio for the Territory, and also through the Katherine Times, volunteers poured into the Katherine Town Council, which was just wonderful, because it was an inconvenient time of the year. Disasters never happen at convenient times. It was Christmas/New Year, with a lot of people away, but they still had at least 20 volunteers who worked non-stop over two weeks at the Katherine Town Council and collected all sorts of non-perishable foods, clothing and items that would have been suitable to be sent to the victims of the tsunami.
Altogether, there were 250 cartons bundled up at Katherine Town Council, and they were very generously carted to Darwin by Nighthawk Couriers free of charge. They were flown on to Indonesia in three separate shipments.
During that time, also, Katherine Hospital organised the donation of the use of their kitchen so that they could make dinners to be sold to raise money towards the tsunami appeal. The local butchers, and Town and Country Butchery and Jones Meat Mart, donated the meat to make over 270 curry dishes which were frozen in the hospital’s kitchen, and then sold for lunches during that week. As a result of that, $1270 was raised for the tsunami appeal.
On a particular day – and I do not remember the date - a group of young people got together and decided they wanted to do something about helping these people as well. I take my hat off to this group. There was Greg Dowling and Ben Coutts from a group called 20/12, which was a band of young blokes who got together at high school and formed a band. They have not played together for about 10 years as a band, but they got together to organise a concert at the Katherine Tick Market site. Another couple pitched in - Barnsey and Lionel as they are called - Mick Barnes and Lionel Cole, along with a guy called Johnno from Wounded Dog. These guys organised, on their own bat without any assistance from anybody else, a free concert on the Saturday night. With the assistance from many people in the community, they were able to raise well over $3000.
I am going to mention some of the businesses that contributed to that because there was no money that had to be paid out by these young people to organise this night. This was all donations, and there were a lot of them. I will mention them because it was important. Parmalat donated ice coffees and water, all of which was handled by the Lions Club. The Lions donated their time, of course, and sold the drinks in the area of the Tick Market. The money, of course, was part of the $3000-odd that went to the tsunami appeal. Jones Meat Mart again, Gambles Meats and also Town and Country Butchery, donated meat for toasted sandwiches, steak sandwiches and sausages, for the usual sausage sizzles to be done by the Rotary Club of Katherine. They were all volunteers who gave up their time to do the cooking. There were onions, of course, to make up the steak sandwiches that came from Katherine Fresh Fruit and Vegie Market. Top End Sounds provided the sound equipment. The stage was on the back of a trailer from Pandion Haulage that was donated. Imparja Television advertised for nothing. Parker Signs put signs all around Katherine to advertise the concert on that Saturday night. Some of the other businesses that helped were Dollars and Cents; Katherine Office Supplies; Kalano Sport and Rec; B & D Distributors who also donated soft drinks; Elders Katherine; Watts Electrics; Tandy; Top News newsagency; Katherine Ice Supplies who supplied all the ice for the cool drinks; Wastemaster who collected all rubbish; Katherine Oasis and Woolworths Ltd: Terrace Emporium; Ben’s Mowing who made sure that the area was lovely, neat and tidy before we could start the concert; Mix 104.9; Hot 100; the Paint Spot; Tim Baldwin who loaned his tent in case we had some rain that night and, fortunately we did not; Bushfires Council; Katherine Town Council; Rotary; Katherine Times; 8KTR Katherine; Chubb Security; and I paid for the hire of the area for the night.
It was an absolutely outstanding effort. There were a lot of people at the function and, out of that function, came the opportunity of maybe running this type of function, perhaps once a month. We had some very interesting people who organised this type of thing before on a regular basis in Queensland, who have just arrived in Katherine and were quite intrigued and interested to know that we had so much talent, which was very good. That highlighted something else; something good came out of something not so good.
Whilst I wanted to talk about the tsunami, I also wanted to address the bushfire appeal because we included that in that concert that night. I am talking about the bushfire area because that is my hometown area, and it also affected many people whom I knew. Of the nine people who died, I knew four of them. I knew most of the people who lost their properties and all their livestock etcetera. Therefore, it has been a pretty traumatic start to the year with the tsunami on one side caused by the ocean and, on that side, the absolute devastation of the bushfires in South Australia.
The Northern Territory has responded unbelievably well to the tsunami, as has the rest of Australia. Of course, our efforts in Katherine were shared between the tsunami and the bushfire victims in South Australia. I am continuing to support those people who are in South Australia who have lost so much. I really think that it is terrible things that happen, and natural disasters, which bring out the best in people. I have seen the best come out of people within the Northern Territory and throughout Australia following these disasters, and it would be lovely to think that it could continue. It would be really nice to think people cared enough about each other to go ahead and do nice things to assist their fellow man, rather than try to tear them down.
Mr Deputy Speaker, I congratulate the people of Katherine for the effort they have made in addressing the natural disasters we have had the misfortune to have early in this 2005.
Motion agreed to; the Assembly adjourned.
Last updated: 04 Aug 2016