2010-08-10
Madam Speaker Aagaard took the Chair at 10 am.
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, we have new microphones in the Chamber. This is the completion of Stage 2 of a three-stage upgrade to the sound and vision system. You would have received an e-mail from the Clerk, and I will remind you of a few things.
The new microphones are fixed in place and do not have a flexible neck. Please do not attempt to adjust the position of the microphone. Testing will take place to ensure the microphone suits the individual member’s speaking voice so it can be recorded and amplified correctly. The positioning of the microphone necessitates members speaking from the standing position at the centre of the desk. This speaking position will ensure you are audible for Hansard purposes. Members who shift in their place significantly while speaking will be inaudible and perhaps not recorded - so, perhaps not the normal theatrics for the first few days anyway.
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, I received from His Honour the Administrator Message No 20 notifying assent to bills passed in the June sitting of the Assembly.
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, I table a letter from the Opposition Whip notifying opposition committee membership changes to parliamentary committees. The letter also advises changes to shadow portfolio responsibilities as follows:
the member for Port Darwin to take responsibility for Treasury; Public Employment; Manager of Opposition Business; and Essential Services.
Mr MILLS (Opposition Leader)(by leave): Madam Speaker, I move that the Assembly ratify the committee membership changes to parliamentary committees as follows:
Privileges Committee: appoint the member for Port Darwin (Mr Elferink) and discharge the member for Drysdale (Mr Bohlin);
Public Accounts Committee: appoint the member for Port Darwin (Mr Elferink) and discharge the member for Goyder (Ms Purick); and
Council of Territory Cooperation: appoint the member for Port Darwin (Mr Elferink) and discharge the member for Fong Lim (Mr Tollner).
Motion agreed to.
Mr ELFERINK (Port Darwin): Madam Speaker, with the agreement of the Leader of Government Business, I seek leave of absence for the member for Drysdale for this sitting week, 10 to 12 August 2010 inclusive.
Motion agreed to.
Mr TOLLNER (Fong Lim)(by leave): Madam Speaker, I present a petition not conforming with standing orders from 633 petitioners relating to the revising of the NT Mining Act to reflect the miners’ rights system of the WA Mining Act. I move that the petition be read.
Motion agreed to; petition read.
Mr TOLLNER (Fong Lim)(by leave): Madam Speaker, I present a petition from 2941 petitioners praying that the Northern Territory Mining Act be revised to reflect the section 20A permit system of the Western Australia Mining Act. The petition is in similar terms to a petition presented on 10 August 2010. I move that the petition be read.
Motion agreed to; petition read:
The CLERK: Madam Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 100A, I inform honourable members that responses to petition Nos 31, 32, 34 and 37 have been received and circulated to honourable members. The text of the responses will be placed on the Legislative Assembly website. A copy of the response will be provided to the member who tabled the petition for distribution to petitioners.
Response:
Response:
Mr VATSKALIS (Children and Families): Madam Speaker, I seek leave to present a bill without notice relating to youth justice.
Leave granted.
Bill presented and read a first time.Mr VATSKALIS: Madam Speaker, I move that the bill be now read a second time.
These amendments are to create certainty and validate decisions made by the Youth Justice Court since its inception in 2006. Recently, the jurisdiction of that court has been cast into doubt following the decision of the Full Court of the Supreme Court in Howie v Youth Justice Court and others.
Many honourable members would be aware of the principles of youth justice this House having held numerous debates with respect to youth crime, antisocial behaviour, families taking responsibility for their children and the transition from the Juvenile Justice Act to the Youth Justice Act 2005-06. The Youth Justice Act is the primary legislation which gives direction for dealing with persons under the age of 18 years who make contact with the criminal justice system.
The Northern Territory Youth Justice Act complies with a number of general and international principles which set out procedures for dealing with youths who make contact with the criminal justice system. It is set out in the beginning of the act in sections 3 and 4, which enunciate the objects and principles for the administration of youth justice in the Northern Territory.
Two critical principles relate directly to the amendments I have introduced today. The first relevant principle is that youths who have been charged with criminal offences should not be treated like other offenders. As far as possible, they should be kept separate from the adult criminal justice system.
The second relevant principle is they should be dealt with by police, the courts and correctional service providers in a manner which is appropriate for their age and level of maturity. Under the Juvenile Justice Act and the Youth Justice Act, this principle was addressed with the establishment of a dedicated Youth Justice Court.
Young people charged with an offence are kept separate from adult offenders through the provision of a dedicated court familiar with the issues affecting young offenders, equipped to deal with their offending behaviour as well as offering rehabilitation programs specifically designed for young people.
In addition to the establishment of a dedicated Youth Justice Court, both acts establish a specific jurisdiction and set of procedures for the disposition of matters involving young people in the criminal justice system.
In accordance with the principle that youths should be kept separate from the adult criminal justice system and be dealt with in a way which is appropriate for their age and maturity, it was intended that young offenders would, in most cases, only appear before a Youth Justice Court. They would not appear before the Supreme Court unless they or their guardian gave consent to the matter being referred to the Supreme Court, or in circumstances where the young person was charged with a serious offence which, if committed by an adult, would carry the maximum penalty of life imprisonment.
In 2006, the Youth Justice Court commenced operation under the Youth Justice Act. Since that time, the Youth Justice Court has exercised its jurisdiction to hear and determine all matters in a summary fashion, except those where the maximum penalty for an adult offender is life imprisonment. In June of this year, the Supreme Court was required to examine the Youth Justice Act in more detail. Following the Supreme Court decision in May 2010 in the matter of Curtis v Eaton, the full court was convened to determine the extent of the jurisdiction of the Youth Justice Court.
When adult offenders are charged with criminal offences, the seriousness of the charge, which is determined by reference to the penalty, determines how the matter can be disposed of and in which court. The Court of Summary Jurisdiction has exclusive jurisdiction for minor criminal matters, those which do not carry a penalty of imprisonment, or for which the maximum penalty is not greater than three years imprisonment.
The Court of Summary Jurisdiction may also, by authorisation under the Justices Act, hear and determine a number of indictable, that is, more serious, matters. Generally these are for offences for which the maximum penalty is no more than 10 years imprisonment, or 14 years for some property offences. For indictable matters where the maximum penalty is greater than 10 years imprisonment, or 14 years for some property offences, the Court of Summary Jurisdiction does not have jurisdiction to hear and determine the matters. Instead, such matters must be dealt with by a justice under the Justices Act by way of preliminary examination of the evidence, also known as a committal hearing. The jurisdiction to hear and determine these more serious indictable matters lies with the Supreme Court, before a judge and jury.
Given the accepted principles that youth are to be kept separate from adult courts and other procedures, it was generally understood that the Youth Justice Court had a much broader power to hear and determine matters than the Court of Summary Jurisdiction. Unlike adult offenders, it was generally understood that the prerequisites for a summary disposal of a criminal matter would always be met for a youth, except in circumstances where the maximum penalty available for an adult offender was life imprisonment.
However, following examination of the wording of the Youth Justice Act, the Full Court of the Supreme Court found the Youth Justice Court did not have the same jurisdiction as its predecessor, the Juvenile Justice Court. The effect of this June 2010 Full Court of the Supreme Court decision is there would be no difference between the way young people and adults would be treated in the criminal justice system, contrary to the principles I outlined earlier. Further, the decision established that, since 2006 when the Youth Justice Act commenced, the Youth Justice Court has proceeded to hear and determine matters in a summary fashion when it had no power to do so under the Youth Justice Act.
The purpose of this bill is twofold. The first purpose is to correct and clarify the extent of the jurisdiction of the Youth Justice Court in the Northern Territory. It has always been the intention of this House to comply with Australia’s international commitments to all areas of child welfare, including criminal justice systems for children. All other jurisdictions in Australia have a dedicated youth justice jurisdiction which comprises a court system, separate police procedures, and detention facilities. Except for the most serious offences, children are entitled to have their matters determined in an exclusive youth jurisdiction. That was the intention of this parliament when the Youth Justice Act was passed and it is something I wish to make perfectly plain through these amendments.
The second purpose of the bill serves to clarify and validate all decisions made by the Youth Justice Court since its inception in 2006. This will establish that the convictions, sentences imposed, or other dispositions determined by the Youth Justice Court, are valid. Youth who have appeared before that court will not be required to appear in court again for the same offence, which may have an unintended effect of disrupting treatment or rehabilitation programs, or the young person’s family and community-based supervision. The validation of those decisions has the added benefit of limiting the resource and cost implications to the court, and prosecuting legal aid agencies, which are spared from having to reopen any matter held by the court since December 2006. The bill seeks to restore certainty in the operation and jurisdiction of the Youth Justice Court and past decisions made by that court.
I extend thanks to the lawyers of the Department of Justice and officers of Parliamentary Counsel for the formulation and drafting of this bill in an extraordinarily short time frame.
Madam Speaker, I commend the bill to honourable members, and table a copy of the explanatory statement.
Debate adjourned.
Continued from 6 May 2010.
Mr ELFERINK (Port Darwin): Madam Speaker, I respond to this bill and say the Country Liberals support this legislative instrument and, therefore, honourable members can go back to sleep. However, having made that observation, it does behove me to make some comments in relation to this, particularly in relation to the nature of COAG and the arrangements that surround it.
I am on the record as being an ardent federalist. At the time our founding fathers put this fine federation together it was a disparate set of colonies. It comes as a surprise to many people that at one stage Western Australia was out of the federation and New Zealand was in the federation. Subsequent referenda put paid to that particular arrangement. It is interesting to note that near the back of the Australian Constitution you still find a reference to ‘Western Australia, should it choose to join,’, and that is because of the disparate nature of the colonies which ultimately formed the Federation which became the Commonwealth of Australia.
In that document, if memory serves me, section 52 - it could be section 51 - outlines some 39-odd areas where the Commonwealth had particular powers. Among those 39 areas were exciting, powerful institutions such as the control of lighthouses. One of those Commonwealth reserve powers was the printing of money, which is largely where this bill starts to come into its own. Whilst this is not about the Constitution, it is about a choice by the states to give away some of their authority in the management of securities to the Commonwealth.
Being an ardent federalist, I am always cautious about giving away states’ rights to the Commonwealth, but for commercial reasons I can well see why this bill is necessary and why the agreement was ratified by COAG.
I am heartened from time-to-time to see, particularly Western Australia but other states as well, Labor or Liberal, it does not much matter, fight for their own rights in COAG and, from time-to-time they have victories for the states. So it is a quid pro quo. There is a little give, a little take and, on this occasion, the give is by the Northern Territory and the take is by the Commonwealth.
This bill seeks to institutionalise the personal properties securities in a national register. When our founding fathers put together our constitutional instrument the idea of Internet and high-speed communication was limited to Morse Code down a telegraph line, and personal property was not something you could take across state borders easily. Nowadays, personal property is very portable. If you drive around Darwin at the moment, every fourth or fifth number plate will be from a jurisdiction other than our own. Consequently, the securitisation of property by way of financial instruments is an issue for the banking institutions and other institutions in our community and throughout our great nation. This instrument seeks to create a federal system by which securities are lodged at a Commonwealth level and no longer lodged at a Territory level.
I am grateful to note land has been excluded from the list, which is sensible considering land is not, at law, transportable.
Madam Speaker, the bill makes sense. It is common sense to do this. It is good that COAG meets and resolves these issues. No major states’ rights flow from it and the Country Liberals support this bill.
Dr BURNS (Public and Affordable Housing): Madam Speaker, this is important legislation in the context of national harmonisation, particularly in reducing red tape. It is a process which has been embarked upon through COAG over the last three to four years and driven, at a federal level, by the government. This bill, once enacted, will harmonise the register of personal securities across Australia. As I understand it, there are up to 40 registers across Australia, each a repository of different information, and amalgamating and consolidating these registers will make the processes regarding personal securities against personal properties much easier to negotiate. For example, people looking for credit or to borrow money, etcetera, might use a motor vehicle as security and it is very important for lending institutions to determine whether there are other interests in that motor vehicle.
This is a very important step in harmonising business regulation and enhancing competition across Australia, which is being implemented under the banner of the drive for a seamless national economy. This is one of the reforms which has been driven by the federal government, and there are many different aspects to it. We have all heard about the national registration system for health practitioners - very important to have a seamless system across Australia. Whilst it might seem a very simple undertaking it is complicated as there are different regulations within each jurisdiction for registering health practitioners. Queensland, given some of the events with the Jayant Patel case, was intent on not reversing the regulations they brought in for screening health professionals after that incident.
Other aspects of delivering a seamless national economy include an Australia-wide trade measurement system; which is very important to have. You would think it would have been done years ago when there was a standard railway line across Australia.
Rail safety legislation is another aspect as are standard business reporting and an electronic conveyancing system. Having participated in SCAG some years ago I know it is very important to have consistency in conveyancing at a national level and to have an electronic system to make it easier. Whilst all jurisdictions have their own priorities sometimes it is very difficult to come to agreement. It sometimes transcends the party or the flag people belong to. Each jurisdiction does have its own history in things like conveyancing, and its own objectives, and sometimes it is difficult to reach agreement around the table. We are moving on this as a nation and it is very important we continue to do so.
Reforms in the not-for-profit sector: an implementation plan; governance structure for a nationally consistent approach to fundraising regulation. We know non-government organisations often fundraise across borders and sometimes there are question marks around the transparency of the use of that money and the governance of those organisations. We need to maintain confidence in areas such as the not-for-profit sector.
Turning to this legislation and quoting from the second reading speech, this act:
The famous Standing Committee of Attorneys-General is very methodical in the way it works through issues. Some would say it is a forum which takes too long, but if you are dealing with national laws and regulations it is very important to get them right.
This was first considered by SCAG as a discussion paper in 2006. It comes to fruition today with the bill being debated, and hopefully, passed. I welcome the opposition’s stance in moving in step with the rest of Australia on this issue. It will mean there will be amendments to the registers which are held at a Territory level; principally, the Registration of Interests in Motor Vehicles and Other Goods Act, the Instruments Act, and the Co-operatives Act. There are some consequential effects on other legislation.
I was also interested to learn this legislation, on a national level, is based on laws which currently operate in North America. I was not previously aware of that.
The bill will provide for closure of Northern Territory registers and those registers will move to a consolidated register at a national level. It also provides for the insertion of provisions in various acts which provide for the issue of statutory licences, and that those statutory licences are not transferable. There is a clarification around those statutory licences as personal property.
This is an important act. It is not going to set the world on fire; it will probably not even be reported in the newspapers. However, it will have an effect on those using property as personal security for loans, so it will have a fairly profound effect. This legislation has been thoroughly worked through. It has been agreed upon by every jurisdiction and now the Northern Territory is amending its legislation to allow this to happen.
Madam Speaker, I commend this bill to the House. I also commend the process of delivering a seamless national economy. There has been much work done in this area and I hope this work continues on a national level, irrespective of who wins the federal election in just over a week-and-a-half’s time.
Ms LAWRIE (Justice and Attorney-General): Madam Speaker, I thank the minister and the opposition for their support of very practical legislation which will increase certainty and consistency, reduce complexity and, all importantly for business, reduce cost.
Providing for uniform laws and rules across the nation is something which often takes a long time to reach fruition. This has quite a history, which I will be stepping through in my wrapping-up contribution today. It is about ensuring we enact a law to ensure the Commonwealth Personal Property Securities Act of 2009, known widely as the PPS Act. We are transferring a whole raft of registries to the Commonwealth. It will ensure there will be a single, nationally accessible, electronic register which will replace a myriad of registers, both electronic and paper-based operating across the states and territories.
To date, only two other jurisdictions - New South Wales and the ACT - have enacted laws, so we are a little ahead of the rest of the pack. I am advised that South Australia and Tasmania are well into preparation of legislation, which has been somewhat delayed by elections in those jurisdictions.
It is envisaged this PPS will come into play in May 2011, so there is plenty of time for the jurisdictions to put their laws in place to allow for this national register. Equally, there is much work being done between the Commonwealth officials, agencies and stakeholders, and state and territory officials, agencies and stakeholders.
Coincidentally, today there is a conference in Darwin between Commonwealth officers from the Attorney-General’s Department in Canberra and a raft of stakeholders in the Top End, which will be attended by representatives from the Department of Justice, banks, legal firms and others with an interest, such as the Motor Trades Association. So, already, we have the first of some comprehensive work being done to ensure everyone is across the change to a national register.
We are looking at the Territory closing its registers which deal with the registration of interests in personal property. They are the registers held under the Registration of Interests in Motor Vehicles and Other Goods Act, the Instruments Act, and the Co-operatives Act.
The bill provides for the migration of this information from the NT registers to the Register of Personal Property Securities, PPS, to establish a national register. It provides for the repeal of the Instruments Act, the Registration of Interests in Motor Vehicles and Other Goods Act, and the Motor Vehicles Hire Car Loan Security Regulations. The bill declares those statutory licences which are to operate outside the national scheme, established under the Commonwealth PPS Act. We are not alone in this. New South Wales, the ACT and others have looked at which particular statutory licences they will exclude.
The bill amends a number of Northern Territory acts to clarify that licences issued under them are not transferable, thus, they are not personal property for the purposes of the PPS Act, and are not capable of being used as security. It also provides for the insertion of provisions into other acts which provide for the issue of transferable statutory licences, that those licences are not to be taken to be personal property for the purposes of the PPS Act, thus maintaining the current situation with regard to dealings in those licences.
The bill also amends the Electricity Reform Act, Energy Pipelines Act, Fisheries Act, Gaming Control Act, Geothermal Energy Act, Liquor Act, Mining Act, Petroleum Act, Petroleum (Submerged Lands) Act, Tobacco Control Act, Totaliser Licensing and Regulation Act, Traffic Act and Water Act so that licences granted under those acts are declared not to be personal property for the purposes of the PPS Act.
The bill provides for transitional matters relating to applications and court proceedings which have commenced but are not finalised at the time when personal property securities cease to be registered under NT law, and are subject to the registration requirements of the PPS Act. It also provides the power to make regulations excluding NT matters from the PPS Act. So we have been very careful in drafting this legislation to ensure we can capture all transitional arrangements and capture anything which might arise through the course of the transition.
This bill started in 2000, when the then Banking Law Association convened a committee to draft a PPS bill. That committee comprised representatives from the major banks and other financial service providers, consumer interests, relevant government departments, infrastructure agencies, and individual lawyers from legal practices and universities in Australia and New Zealand. From that, a draft PPS bill was considered at a workshop at Bond University in April 2002, which ensured it was published in a special edition of the Bond Law Review.
In March 2005, it continued with a meeting of the Standing Committee of Attorneys-General, commonly known as SCAG, where the ministers formed an officers working group to examine the possible options for PPS reform and to develop proposals for the ministers to consider. In May 2006, the Commonwealth government reviewed the law on PPS with a series of seminars held around the nation in major capitals. Following the seminar series, SCAG released an options paper for public consultation in April 2006.
In July 2006, the Commonwealth Attorney-General released a report by Access Economics on the costs and benefits of PPS reform. In July 2006, the Commonwealth government Attorney-General’s Department hosted a policy development workshop on the review of the PPS law. In developing proposals for the national system, four discussion papers have been released on personal property securities reform.
In May 2008, the federal Attorney-General released a consultation draft of the PPS bill as well as commentary and a further Transitional Consequential Amendments Bill. In October 2008, COAG signed an inter-governmental agreement formalising its commitment to the reform of Australia’s personal property securities law and arrangements. Then, on 14 December 2009, the Personal Property Securities Act and the Personal Property Securities Consequential Amendments Act 2009 of the Commonwealth received Royal Assent. Both acts will apply after the registration commencement time, expected to be in May 2011.
Madam Speaker, we introduced our legislation in the April sittings and we are passing it today. It has a history, it has been pored over and raked over, but everyone understands this Personal Property Securities Act will create a single national scheme governing the creation, registration, regulation and enforcement of security interests in personal property. It makes sense and I commend the legislation to the House. I thank the officers of the Department of Justice who have toiled on this for many years. I look forward to them returning to the conference which is occurring today.
Motion agreed to; bill read a second time.
Ms LAWRIE (Justice and Attorney-General)(by leave): Madam Speaker, I move that the bill be now read a third time.
Motion agreed to; bill read a third time.
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, in accordance with the Remuneration Tribunal Determination I table a travel report from me as Speaker and member for Nightcliff, representing the Chief Minister at the City of Peace Marathon in Dili on Sunday, 20 June.
Mr McCARTHY (Construction): Madam Speaker, I wish to highlight the Northern Territory government’s investment and strategic infrastructure projects and the far-reaching impact of the construction industry on the economy of the Northern Territory. The health of the construction industry is key to the health of the Territory’s economy. The industry accounts for more than 5% of gross state product in the Territory.
More than 10 000 Territorians have jobs in the construction industry. Many hundreds of businesses supply goods and services to construction projects, and projects large and small are under way in every major centre and throughout our remote areas. The benefits of construction projects flow through our economy. We have come so far since 2000 and 2001 when you could not get a job in the construction industry. Territorians will remember that in 2000 and 2001, Darwin businesses like the Cool Spot were full of contractors and concreters passing the time because there was no work to be had. The CLP government of the day was not investing in construction and the Territory economy was paying the price. The construction industry was on its knees.
When the Territory’s first Labor government came to office in 2001, we listened to the industry and we acted. We boosted investment in the construction program from $364m in 2000-01, to a record $1.8bn in Budget 2010-11. That is a 399% increase. Since 2001, our construction program has injected $7.7bn into the Territory economy. We are delivering programs across the regions, not just in Darwin, and the projects are staged throughout the year so jobs in the construction industry are no longer merely seasonal.
In Alice Springs, we have upgraded schools such as Ross Park; we have sealed sections of the Mereenie Loop Road, and have invested in recreation infrastructure, including Traeger Park and the Aquatic Centre.
In Tennant Creek, we have upgraded Tennant Creek High School, upgraded roads, and reinvigorated the main street. We have released an action plan for Katherine’s future, invested in its high school, and delivered a Police Beat.
Across Darwin, we have built new fire and police stations, new sporting facilities, developed Leanyer Recreation Park, the Convention Centre and the cruise ship terminal.
Today, Access Economics analysis places the Territory’s economic growth third to the big mining states, Western Australia and Queensland, over the next three years. Access Economics has forecast average annual GSP growth of 3.7% for the five years to 2013-14, above national growth of 3.2%. Access Economics also stated the Territory has some glittering project possibilities ahead which could turbo-charge its growth, and have forecast private investment expenditure to rebound strongly over the next five years.
This government is investing in the future of the Northern Territory. The Territory 2030 Strategic Plan has a clear target for government to:
That is why we are committed to meeting the Territory 2030 target and delivering a record $1.8bn capital works project in 2010-11. That is a 12% increase on the revised 2009-10 program, and more than doubles that of 2008-09.
We are able to deliver this record budget to infrastructure projects as a result of a strong partnership with the federal government. Led by the Chief Minister, the Territory government has built and maintained a strong working partnership with the federal Labor government for the benefit of all Territorians.
The comparison between infrastructure investment into the Territory by the Coalition and the Australian Labor government is staggering. In 2007-08 capital funding to the Northern Territory by the Commonwealth was about $111m. With Damian Hale and Warren Snowdon in Canberra, funding from the Commonwealth has grown to $798m in 2010-11. That is a 619% increase. We make no apology for securing Australian government funding for the Northern Territory. It is a partnership we want to see continue because it means jobs for Territorians and boosts our economy.
The Australian Labor government has committed to five trade training centres in the Territory, with two already operating, Kormilda College and Marrara Christian College. Barkly College at Tennant Creek is under construction. The two centres about to be built at Ngukurr and Darwin High School are at risk if a Coalition government is elected on 21 August. The trade training centres are welcomed by industry; they want more and they want them bigger. Industry is aligned with a model and has guaranteed pathways to employment and options for post-school training.
The trade training centres are central to growing the Territory’s construction industry and capability, particularly to position for the big projects ahead. In partnership with the Commonwealth, we have started the runs on the board with two centres already up and running.
What do these projects and the partnership with the Australian government mean to our economy for Territorians? They are a real investment in our construction industry, delivering projects to benefit all Territorians - projects like the Alan Walker Cancer Centre, and the Tiger Brennan Drive extension. Since 2001, the Territory’s construction industry has injected more than $7.7bn into the Territory economy. Targeted government investment has played a major role in driving the industry forward and delivering projects which will have a lasting benefit for people of the Northern Territory - investments in our school facilities, roads, new police stations and Police Beats, and hospital upgrades. These projects bring opportunities for Territory businesses and jobs for Territorians. Last financial year, the Construction Division awarded more than 950 construction contracts to companies across the Northern Territory. Those contracts represent jobs for Territorians, businesses at work during the global financial crisis, and a flow of money around our economy.
The worst of the global financial crisis may be behind us, but the Henderson government will continue to support the Territory’s construction industry. Budget 2010-11, with its record $1.8bn infrastructure program, will deliver projects across a range of areas vital to our economy including: $725m for housing including the biggest investment in public housing and fast-track land release; $437m for essential services infrastructure; and $331m to seal and upgrade Territory roads.
As the Minister for Lands and Planning, I am proud this government is managing the Territory’s growth by releasing land five times faster than before. At the heart of this land release program is Palmerston, one of Australia’s fastest growing regions. Houses are being constructed at the new suburb of Bellamack, and headworks are progressing at Johnston. These Palmerston East suburbs will house 15 000 Territory families over the next five years.
Government has committed $20m in 2010-11 to fast-track headworks for Zuccoli. Leading international design company, Urbis, has been appointed to research and draft the master plan for Zuccoli. The master plan will cover issues such as open spaces, community facilities, and building for our tropical lifestyle. Expressions of interest close at the end of this week for developers to partner with the Land Development Corporation to develop Zuccoli Stage 1, which will provide approximately 550 new homes. The first Zuccoli lots are expected to be released for sale off the plan before the end of 2010.
The development of Palmerston East will be complemented by Weddell, a tropical, sustainable, liveable city. This year’s budget also provides $1m for the Weddell development master plan, and $950 000 ongoing to implement that master plan. When finished, Weddell will be home for up to 50 000 Territorians.
Land release in Darwin is complemented by targeted action plans for the future development of Tennant Creek, Katherine, and Alice Springs, which include more land release.
The development of Palmerston East is not just about residential land; government is investing in infrastructure to meet the needs of the growing Palmerston community. This government has committed $13.57m this financial year to the construction of the Palmerston water park. It will include a wet play area, toilets, boardwalk, kiosk, and, most importantly, slides.
Tenders are also being prepared for the design and construction of $33m worth of international-standard sporting facilities for the Palmerston region. Palmerston residents will have access to top-notch facilities for AFL, Rugby League, soccer, tennis and netball. The various sporting clubs, visiting teams and spectators, will all benefit from a variety of works including new clubrooms, canteens and lighting for pitches, courts, and fields. These kinds of projects ensure Palmerston families will have ready access to the type of recreational infrastructure which makes a city liveable.
The largest road project in the Territory’s history is also taking shape in Palmerston: the $110m Tiger Brennan Drive extension. Anyone faced with a hard slog to work in peak-hour traffic every morning and a long slow drive in the afternoon will tell you decisions on where to live, work, and send your children to school can be greatly influenced by the amount of time and money you need to spend getting to and from these venues. The $110m Tiger Brennan Drive extension is a great example of what can be achieved for Territorians from a strong partnership between the federal and Northern Territory Labor governments.
The Australian Labor government, with strong support from the member for Solomon, Damian Hale, has contributed $74m to the extension project and is meeting the cost of the overpass. The project is moving ahead, and both the north- and south-bound bridges are now open to traffic. More than 34 000 motorists use the route each day. The Tiger Brennan Drive extension will mean less time on the road and more time enjoying the great Territory lifestyle.
We have a record $331m in the roads budget this year, which includes projects to upgrade and seal additional sections of the Fog Bay, Litchfield and Tanami Roads, and the Sandover Highway. We are investing in the bush roads to improve access to communities, to improve tourism and grow rural business opportunities.
The member for Lingiari, Warren Snowdon, has delivered additional roads funding to the Territory, including a $52m package targeting works on community, beef and mining roads, including $14m to upgrade stream-crossings on the Central Arnhem road, and $10m for Stage 1 of the project to upgrade the Tom Turner Crossing on the Port Keats road. Ongoing programs, such as Roads to Recovery, are funded to the tune of $4.6m to upgrade local roads, improve pavement ride-ability, and flood immunity.
With our community spread over vast distances, this strategic roads program delivers jobs in the regions, access into main centres and services, and benefits to our transport and tourism industries. We are able to deliver such a significant road program as a result of our partnership with federal Labor.
With Dave Tollner and the Coalition in government in Canberra the Territory received $200m under the AusLink roads agreement …
Mr WOOD: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Is it possible to get an updated version of the statement? This is not the same statement I read last night. It would be nice to have the complete statement in front of me.
Madam SPEAKER: Minister, can you confirm this is a slightly different statement? I have not read the statement; I am not aware.
A member: He would not know.
Mr McCARTHY: I will pick up on that interjection …
Madam SPEAKER: No, no, minister, if you could answer the question: is this a different version of the statement which was circulated?
Mr McCARTHY: Madam Speaker, this is the statement; however, I have been using a little poetic licence.
Madam SPEAKER: All right.
Mr Wood: Madam Speaker, there was nearly a page just read which does not match what I have in front of me.
Madam SPEAKER: Minister, do you have a different version which could be circulated?
Mr McCARTHY: Madam Speaker, I am prepared to provide an updated statement.
Madam SPEAKER: Do you have a copy which can be photocopied and circulated to members, or only the copy you have?
Mr McCARTHY: Yes, but it has some scribble on it.
Madam SPEAKER: One of the ministers can organise that with your office. Thank you, minister.
Mc McCARTHY: Yes.
Mr GILES: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Do we need to suspend standing orders so we can review the statement before we go on? We have not seen …
Madam SPEAKER: No. There is no standing order in relation to what the minister says in a statement; however, as a courtesy, we will ask the minister’s office to provide us with the latest update.
Mr GILES: Should we then pause so we can review the statement before we continue?
Madam SPEAKER: No, I do not think so. The idea is that you hear the member speaking, and then you can respond. Minister, you have the call.
Mr McCARTHY: Thank you, Madam Speaker. Today, funding for Territory roads has more than doubled to $425m over five years. As Territorians, we know our road network is vital, and our partnership with federal Labor is delivering results.
East Arm Port is a vital link in the Territory’s international trade route, connecting our road and rail network with Asia. More than $3bn-worth of cargo is moved through East Arm Wharf annually, supporting 500 industries and thousands of jobs. It is used by a range of industries, including oil and gas, livestock exporters, and mining. These industries need certainty about the facilities on offer at the port and plans for future development.
In June, I launched the East Arm Wharf Facilities Masterplan 2030 Land Use Strategy. The strategy, developed by the Darwin Port Corporation, provides a blueprint for the future development of land and sea-based activities at the wharf. The master plan takes in government’s $150m infrastructure program to upgrade the wharf’s infrastructure to increase trade opportunities and economic development over the next 20 years.
Members would be aware that the $150m project includes a $50m investment from the federal Labor government. After years of neglect of the Territory’s nation building infrastructure by the former Howard government, strong ties between the Henderson government and the federal Labor government secured this investment for the future of the Territory’s trade links.
The infrastructure program at the wharf is under way. We need a larger hardstand area to allow for the growth of the port. The $15m reclamation of Pond F is on track, including work to form access roads to the site in preparation for bulk earthworks. Since work started in April, fill has been sourced from the Tiger Brennan Drive project. Sage Contracting has commenced the $9.5m eastern reclaim area project to create additional hardstand.
Studies are also being undertaken on the most appropriate route and conveyor type for an overland conveyor at the wharf. This $35m project will improve bulk loading operations and environmental standards. I want to stress that this conveyor has nothing to do with loading copper sulphate. Copper is currently loaded by rail in sealed containers into a sealed storage shed and that is the way it will stay. The new bulk loader is about attracting new investment into commodities in the Territory.
Much is said in this House about the necessary investment in infrastructure in our main centres. This is another chapter to our infrastructure story, and as a bush member, I am extremely proud to talk about that new chapter where government, with a clear plan for the future, is addressing years of neglect of infrastructure by the Country Liberal Party. The A Working Future initiative aims to improve outcomes for Indigenous Territorians across key areas of early childhood, schooling, health, economic participation, healthy homes, safe communities, and governance and leadership.
Central to A Working Future is the government’s plans for 20 growth towns which are properly planned and designed with targeted investment in infrastructure and services like those of any other country town. Three of these growth towns, Borroloola, Elliott and Ali Curung are in my electorate of Barkly. It is an ambitious target, but one which this government is committed to meeting with strategic investments and by working in partnership with the communities. Improving services in the bush will make a big difference to the people living in the community, in the surrounding areas and in our main centres.
As part of Budget 2010-11, a record $980m has been allocated to projects in the bush. There is already a vast body of work under way. This is the single largest investment in the bush to meet infrastructure needs across roads, housing, essential services and better schools. More than $11m is being spent on constructing and upgrading health facilities in communities including Wadeye, Minyerri, Alpurrurulam and Milingimbi. Works include mobile dental clinics, hearing booths, and renal facilities. Access to health services in the community will reduce the need for people to leave their families to travel to town for treatment.
Providing a safe community is essential for other outcomes such as improved health and education. $45m has been allocated for police stations in the communities of Numbulwar, Yarralin, Gapuwiyak, Ramingining, Imanpa and Arlparra; and $30m has been allocated to provide infrastructure to improve educational outcomes in communities such as Yuendumu, Gunbalanya, Elliott and Hermannsburg.
A key outcome of the investment in growth towns will be the creation of real jobs in the community. If we can have locals working on local projects it will be a huge boost to the community, creating jobs, income and, most importantly, community leaders. A great example is the $7m project to construct the McArthur River Bridge at Borroloola. The bridge is on track to be completed in October this year and will greatly improve accessibility for the township, particularly in the Wet.
Territory company, Steelcon Constructions, is constructing the bridge and, as the local member, I am very pleased to report that six Indigenous Borroloola residents are working on the project. That was counted on my last visit. These employees are gaining hands-on experience in the construction industry. More than that, they are directly involved in improving their local community. Long after construction is finished, they will be able to take pride in the fact they helped construct an important piece of infrastructure and move on to the next construction project.
In the last few weeks I have travelled extensively throughout the Territory, and it was clear from the people I spoke with there is a positive outlook about the future of the Territory and our remote communities. For decades, the CLP and Coalition governments ignored infrastructure needs in the bush. We are working hard to turn it around. A return to a Liberal government would tear away that positive future. One of the most exciting projects to get under way this year is the construction of the Territory’s first prison camp; $5.1m has been allocated to construct the 50-bed Barkly work camp just outside Tennant Creek. The work camp is part of our new era in Corrections. Its construction will provide job opportunities for Tennant Creek businesses and residents. Once fully operational, the Barkly camp will provide new employment opportunities for 14 people. In the long term, the work camp will also provide a source of workers and training opportunities for the town.
Low security prisoners will undertake vocational training, education, and rehabilitation programs which will help break the cycle of reoffending. These prisoners will work on local community-based projects, giving them real skills which can be translated into job opportunities upon their release. The work camp will link with local businesses to access these projects. Businesses, in turn, will see prisoners giving something back to the community and potentially being able to take up real employment upon their release. This is a great example of strategic investment in infrastructure projects which will benefit the Territory into the future.
Another building project close to my heart is the new Tennant Creek High School multipurpose facility. A contract was recently let to a local contractor, GK Painting Contractors Pty Ltd, with the project due for completion in early 2011. In addition to providing a great space for the students sporting endeavours and performing arts activities, the facility will be available to the community for activities such as public forums, meetings, community celebrations and fundraisers.
This government has a commitment to strengthening and building on what we have already achieved to date - more jobs for Territorians through a growing economy and a robust construction sector. Strategic government investment in infrastructure creates jobs and drives the economy. It also gives the private sector certainty and confidence to invest in the Northern Territory. Projects like INPEX, mining investments, new hotels and tourism infrastructure, and housing developments all benefit Territorians by creating jobs and new facilities for our community. I take immense pride in the construction projects I see in my travels throughout the Territory, be they publicly or privately funded, as they all lead to a stronger future for Territorians.
My last statement, which will not appear in the photocopy, is that as the Minister for Lands and Planning, and Construction and Infrastructure, I am honoured and have enormous pride in working side by side with Territorians to deliver for our future.
Madam Speaker, I move that the Assembly take note of the statement.
Mr GILES (Braitling): Madam Speaker, I am amazed at the timing of this statement. This is another kangaroo court episode. It is the first day of the August sittings, in the middle of a federal election campaign, and only one piece of legislation is debated, which is over by around 10 am, and then we are straight into a statement which seeks to puff up the federal Labor campaign and put down the Coalition plan.
If we are going to be serious in parliament we should be debating real matters, not putting up puff pieces in a statement which is different to what we received the night before. I am amazed.
Minister, at a recent function, you made a speech full of positive spin about the state of Northern Territory construction and development. Representatives of these businesses have told me of their utter disbelief of the spin on your speech. Seeing as we are electioneering, I see no difference with any other Labor minister. These businesses are well aware of the river of federal money for projects such as the Building the Education Revolution, and your government’s priority for growth towns. However, they are equally aware the targets for housing for our Top End families are falling woefully short.
You state projects large and small are under way in every major centre, but delays in infrastructure investment are affecting every corner of the Territory. You state the benefits of construction projects flow through our economy, but our construction companies have been putting staff on long leave over the past months.
You state that a decade ago the Cool Spot was full of concreters and contractors passing time because there was no work to be had. No, they were not. Rather, it was their favourite smoko venue, having started work at 7 am on the projects which were flourishing across Darwin under the Country Liberal government. Today, there are no cranes on the skyline; everyone can see the lack of action. Construction has stalled. Housing targets are falling short of what needs to be achieved. In the 2009-10 budget papers, Treasury stated 1700 dwellings a year were needed. In 2009, only 1200 were actually constructed.
As we speak, the Henderson government is busy playing catch-up, but long-term projects are conspicuous by their absence. There is no investment in public transport to provide options for the bottle necks on the Stuart Highway. You applaud the new fire and police stations. The new Marrara Fire Station opened in June 2007 and the Humpty Doo fire station was opened by Clare Martin in February 2005, but the rural area is still waiting for urgently required ambulances. You applaud the Leanyer Recreation Park which opened on 30 March 2008, but the Darwin Port urgently requires more than $300m to be spent on it now.
Damian Hale’s contribution, courtesy of the federal government, was a paltry $50m on loan –do not even have it yet according to estimates responses. All you can make mention of is the convention centre and the cruise ship terminal, both of which opened in 2008.
We should be looking at major infrastructure for the growth of our Territory. Where are the major projects for the next five to 10 years? If you look at your own Territory 2030 plan it says:
Where is it? Where are your future sources of construction materials, water supplies, and reliable power and water? Reliable power would be good. You budget for two remote police stations but we also need real solutions for our energy crisis. An extra $10m is being spent on the Territory’s beef roads, but the pastoralists urgently need $2bn worth of road upgrades. I wonder where the federal members for Lingiari and Solomon are on those two issues.
The rural area continues to suffer from a lack of basic sewerage infrastructure. Millions of dollars have been poured into SIHIP and nothing has happened.
The 2010-11 budget says strategic issues facing the agency in 2010-11 include establishing the newly-formed department to incorporate additional responsibilities. I note this has meant a 200% increase in staffing - 200% in EO1, 50% in ECO1, 140% in ECO2 and 100% in ECO4.
The minister is very keen to talk things up in light of the federal election and try to promote his hapless colleague, the member for Solomon, in this statement. But, it is interesting that in the March quarter 2010 Economic Brief by this government it says:
Decreased by 42.9%, but the minister is telling us how rosy everything is. The Economic Brief for Construction Work Done for the March quarter 2010 says:
Under Residential Building Work Done it says:
The Engineering Construction Activity Economic Brief for March quarter 2010 - and these are all on your website; you are promoting how things are going backwards - says:
This is your own brief, published by Treasury. In the year to March 2010, engineering and construction work done, in original real terms, in the Territory decreased by 34.2%. I wonder what is happening.
Finance for owner-occupied housing investment is down because of a lack of confidence and higher prices - just 348 commitments in June, the lowest June since 2002. You have to go back to CLP days to find things being better. These are the lowest seasonally adjusted values for finance since February 2003. There were only 252 dwelling unit commencements during the March quarter, well down on the apparent 1500 to 1700 needed to meet population growth.
Under the Country Liberals, if we analyse from the March quarter 1990 to the December quarter 2000, the average was over 370 dwelling commencements per quarter. Labor, from March 2001 to March 2010 quarters, averaged only 290 dwelling commitments per quarter, leaving a gap of about 3000 dwelling units per government over a 10-year period, and we have a bigger population and, apparently, a growing economy, and we have had the rivers of gold of the GST money.
If you want to talk about the CLP I will stand here and defend the CLP, and our history and exactly what we did, because it was the Country Liberals who built the Territory, it is Labor which is sending the Territory back. These figures speak for themselves. I will quote from an advertisement which was placed in the Northern Territory News on Saturday, 9 August 2008, which talks about the difference between the Country Liberal Party, the CLP in this advertisement, and Labor. I will go through some achievements, and I will read from this, in part.
What was achieved under the CLP – the Alice Springs to Darwin railway line, water reticulation in the rural area, the Peter McAulay Centre, East Arm Deep Port Facility, Palmerston satellite city, Bagot Road Overpass, Farrar Medical Centre, Elizabeth River bridge, and forensic laboratories.
Despite the fact it is still being built now, the former member for Solomon, Dave Tollner, did a fantastic job of securing the money for Tiger Brennan Drive. It was the Northern Territory Labor government which was hiding and would not do it and would not put the money towards it, but in 2007 they had nowhere to hide, they had to start turning sods.
We built the export cattle yards, the Ayers Rock Resort at Yulara, Litchfield Park, Berrimah Gaol, Lake Leanyer; the new hospital, the Supreme Court, Lake Alexander, and Marrara Stadium. We built Parliament House, where we are standing now; Cullen Bay Marina; the new power stations which the Minister for Essential Services – Power and Water – the member for Daly, seems unable to manage; the cardiac unit; the emergency unit at RDH; the new laboratories; we invested in schools; initiated the private hospital; the Marrara Oval and stands; the Wickham Point Gas Plant; underground residential power; dual carriageway to Noonamah; 1500 km Palm Valley gas pipeline.
Let us have a look at what Labor has done, apart from not build the houses and apart from trying to claim our achievements with Tiger Brennan Drive and the cancer unit. It brought in speed limits and the road toll has gone up. It brought in demerit points; built the soccer stadium; developed the waterfront; built the ambulance, police and fire station at Humpty Doo, and closed the Palmerston after-hours clinic. This government has broken too many promises - all talk, all spin, no action. That is why on this side of the Chamber, in the Country Liberals, we always say look at what they do, not what they say, because what they say is spin.
What else has Labor done? We have seen an increase in violence in the latest crime statistics. It is not safe. Ministers who refuse to meet with Territorians with concerns. Minimal land release which results in high home prices which people cannot afford. The minister for Affordable Housing – well, that is an oxymoron; it is not affordable housing because people cannot afford it. That is why we have the Prime Minister here giving an election pledge for 1200 homes to try to save the bacon of this government again because of its failures. Higher stamp duty, through skyrocketing rentals, the discontent of teachers, nurses, police, and Indigenous health organisations which are all questioning funding allocations. Children are afraid to go to their local shop for fear of being attacked. Labor always attacks the person not the problem. It is all about spin. As we say, look at what they do, not what they say; they are all talk and no action. They are full of one-liners.
We know about the port. We sat in estimates a month or two ago and I had one question about the port. I did not want to discuss the port. It was a simple question, and I am not quoting here: ’Where is the money for the conveyor belt?’ The government does not even have it. I said to the minister: ‘How are you going to get it?’ ‘Oh, we will go back to Cabinet and get it’. ‘How much is it going to cost?’ The talk was it could cost up to $80m. It has been in the budget for three years for $35m and now it could cost $80m. There is not any money in the budget. ‘Oh, we will just go back to Cabinet’. Do you know what that sounds like? That sounds like federal Labor. We will borrow money and get into debt. That is how it works.
Look at the Construction Division in the Northern Territory government and look at Budget Paper No 3 for 2010-11 and you see how some of the money works in this government. The Construction Division is the little siphon which manages all the projects, and makes money out of managing all the projects, run by the Northern Territory government. The total income for 2009-10 for the Construction Division, a business area of the Northern Territory government is $79m. That is how it works.
Do you want to talk about how much you actually spend? Last financial year’s budget was allegedly the greatest infrastructure budget on record, but look at how much they spent according to Budget Paper No 4 for 2010-11. I know these figures will need to be updated for 30 June, but I am going on what it says in this paper. It says estimated cash expenditure is $748.7m in infrastructure, take out the money they said they were going to spend but did not spend, $842m.
So they have carried over what they spent, plus $100m dollars more. They have spent less than half of what they were supposed to spend. This year the minister’s statement talks about $1.8bn infrastructure budget; they are already estimating to carry over $781m. The remaining money includes some repair and maintenance type items which are standard expenditure.
We can talk about stimulating the economy and building infrastructure, the minister likes to talk about investing in the bush, and he made false claims about the Country Liberals not investing in the regions. The roads in the regions are now the worst they have ever been - drive the Arnhem Highway. There is legislation about dangerous goods before this place. If we are going to talk about dangerous goods, talk about the condition of the Arnhem Highway and the shoulders which are all cut up. If you want to invest money in infrastructure in the Territory, fix the Arnhem Highway; it is a disgrace. No wonder there are accidents. No wonder there are chemical spills on the Arnhem Highway.
Then we look at SIHIP, and the minister says: ‘The Coalition is a threat’, but it was the Coalition which offered $750m for SIHIP in the first place. Federal Labor cut it back to $550m. That is how it works. So now it is cut back, and what we saw for the first two and a bit years of this Territory Labor government, the buddies, was $45m in consultancies.
So far it has spent up to $300m for not many homes, very poor quality homes, homes which are small. People from communities are coming to me talking about the quality of the renovations which are being done in their homes. I am saying: ‘The contractors are working as hard as they can’. Assess why these renovations are of poor quality; the reason is, the contractors have to cut corners because too much money has been spent on consultancies. Too much money has been spent on flak. It was only yesterday, I think, we saw a report in the Northern Territory News about Laramba and the average of $75 000 per house. We do not hear the minister talking about Laramba. He sends poor old Mr Kirkland to front the media about the bad stories, but he goes off about the good stories, where he is trying to attack me. $24 000 a house for refurbishment and they still have to cut corners. This is what is bad about this government, the management. SIHIP in the Northern Territory has to be one of the biggest failures. Labor had a river of gold to build houses and solve problems in the bush and has completely ruined it.
We hear the federal Labor government talking about boarding schools in the bush and the minister talking about infrastructure in schools. Those schools were announced last election; they have done nothing. Do not talk up your infrastructure budget, which is all federal government money and has been propped up to save you, like the 1200 houses the Prime Minister recently announced. Nothing has even been put in the ground for those boarding schools. Listen to what they do not say and forget their spin.
I remember reading an article in the NT News by Nick Calacouras around 18 months ago about kids having to swim through sewage and crocodile infested waters at Palumpa because the crossing is not good enough. It is not raised high enough for the water, the lagoons are high, there are buffalos, and all those other things. The point is, kids have to go through sewage and crocodile infested water to get to school. That is not good enough in anyone’s language.
I was out there a couple of weeks ago. What is there? Nothing has been fixed in 18 months. ‘We are going to fix it; we are going to fix it. We will refer it to SIHIP’. That is what happened, they gave it to the SIHIP project managers and it has gone nowhere. The kids still cannot get to school in the Wet Season for the sake of a bridge eight or 10 m long. It is not tough. The community at Ampilatwatja walked off because the sewerage was not being fixed in their houses. It still has not been fixed. People are still walking off. Banjo and his family are still sitting in the desert in their bush camp. I wonder how this works.
The minister talks about how good his government is, how good the member the Solomon is and how good the member for Lingiari is. They have not done a thing. The member for Lingiari has been there for 20-something years and things have become worse. We often hear the member for Arafura saying that in the old days education was not that good in the bush. She was educated in the bush, but the kids now coming out of school are worse off. There is only one thing common in all that, and that is the member for Lingiari for 20-something years. During his term in office, kids have been born, gone to primary school, gone to secondary school and come out less smart than the kids did before his term in office. It is simple. We have had Labor in power in the Territory for 10 years and people are less educated again. I know the government is trying hard in certain areas of education, and I commend them for trying, but they are not getting it right. Kids are coming out now with an NTCE who cannot even fill out a Centrelink form. That is terrible.
I would encourage people to look at where all the money for the infrastructure the government has spoken about is coming from. Most of it is borrowed dollars from the federal government. You like to talk about having extra money; it is all borrowed. It is our kids who are going to have to pay all this money back.
That is why Tony Abbott and the Coalition have put forward such a tremendous plan to repay the debt. That is what it is about. On this side of the House, we often talk about how recessions or downturns come in cycles. They do. Every time Labor is in power it goes wrong. The Liberals always have to fix it up. In 1996 we had to pay $96bn worth of government debt, and that is what we did. Paid it, started putting it in the bank. What happened in 2007 when Kevin got in - Kevin O’Debt, Kevin O’Lemon? He spent it and he borrowed. That is where this money is coming from which is going into some of these locations in a poorly constructed manner. People should not forget that. People should not forget Damian Hale voted to put this country into debt. People should not forget Labor has not solved any housing problems in the Northern Territory.
‘Labor’ and ‘housing’ are two words which do not go together. It does not matter whether it is Indigenous housing, government employee housing, private housing, or public housing – they cannot get it right. We all know the good member for Johnston will be going out one day; that is why they have him carry the basket case. That is what it is about: he is carrying the dead cat. I feel sorry for him. It is not affordable housing, it is just not housing. He is carrying it.
If you want to talk about what is real, go to the website www.liberal.org.au, and you will see Tony Abbott with a plan of action to bring this country back to normality, to get us out of debt and have a future for our kids. There are policies on that website supporting agriculture: increased funding for research and development in primary production; support for cutting-edge research by Australia’s agricultural scientists; and improved water infrastructure through Waterworks Program. There are policies to support seniors: introducing a seniors’ employment incentive payment to help seniors who want to work and who are out of the workforce to find a job; indexing the Commonwealth Seniors Health Card income thresholds. These are real plans: abolish the superannuation guarantee age limit.
We are talking about regional development - one of my portfolios which I am quite passionate about - one of Tony Abbott’s and the Coalition’s action plan election policies on regional health workforce: double the number of medical rural-bonded scholarships; create scholarships for regional nurse practitioners; and pay $10 000 annual bonus to nurse practitioners who practice in regional towns with no resident medical practitioners.
We need to talk about marine protected areas because the infrastructure in the Northern Territory is very important. We cannot forget that not only is a vote for the Greens a vote for Labor, a vote for the Greens and a vote for Labor is a vote for no fishing in the Northern Territory. You have to go far to find a street in the Top End which does not have a boat in it. Drive from Darwin to Palmerston and find any street which does not have a boat! What is in this preference deal with the Greens and Labor: to get rid of a third of fishing in Australia. You have that, plus you have this government’s failures with the Blue Mud Bay matters. Where are you going to be able to fish? How many Top Enders like to fish in the Northern Territory?
The Coalition is talking about marine protected areas. We have a plan to establish sensible and balanced marine park boundaries and develop management plans in consultation with the industry. We have a plan for sustainability which is not about stopping people from going fishing. Federal Labor wonder why they have trouble in Queensland – they are stopping people from going fishing; it is the simple rights which people enjoy.
Have a look at the ageing policy. The ageing plan of action by Tony Abbott is to establish an aged-care bed incentive program to convert $3000 of allocated bed licences to operational residential aged-care beds. What a sound initiative! No wonder Natasha Griggs is on the Country Liberal side; she has a plan of action. She and the Coalition have a plan of action: provide convalescent care to assist up to 20 000 older people waiting in hospital to return home. Natasha Griggs, Tony Abbott and the Coalition, and Nigel Scullion, have a plan of action.
The Coalition election policy for fighting crime: take strong action against violent gangs; establish a national violent gangs database so law enforcement agencies can better track bikie and other violent gang activities across jurisdictions …
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! The member for Braitling has spun a long way off relevance to this statement on infrastructure.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Braitling, I remind you that the statement is about infrastructure investment. While it is a fairly wide-ranging statement, please keep to it as closely as possible.
Mr GILES: Thank you, Madam Speaker. I must have mixed up some of my notes there. I will come back to the statement.
Madam SPEAKER: Thank you.
Madam Speaker, ports are very important to our infrastructure in the Northern Territory and I get really worried about the security on ports. It is good to hear Territorians can feel safe and secure because Tony Abbott and the Coalition, along with Natasha Griggs, Leo Abbott and Nigel Scullion, will restore Labor’s cuts to cargo screening at ports and airports. The Coalition will restore $58.1m in funding for security at our ports which was cut by the Labor government in the 2009-10 budget for Customs cargo inspection. The Coalition will also increase Customs resources for screening by $35m. Natasha Griggs knows this stuff. She is part of a team of action.
We could look at some other serious issues and talk about the Coalition’s real plan for mental health. That is a real plan - $1.5bn for better mental health, an important step. Twenty early psychosis intervention centres, because if you are wondering about infrastructure in the Northern Territory, you may have to use one of these centres - 800 mental health beds and 60 additional youth headspace sites; that is part of a real action plan by Tony Abbott and Natasha Griggs, Nigel Scullion and the Coalition.
There are plenty of construction workers in infrastructure in the Northern Territory who find it hard to make ends meet making house repayments, paying rent, and being in the housing sector. It affects the future of our population in the Northern Territory which is why we want families to be able to have children. Under Tony Abbott’s Coalition election plan of paid parental leave, families will feel more secure so the husband can continue working or the mother can continue working. That plan will provide the Coalition’s paid parental leave scheme, the Coalition, with Natasha Griggs …
Ms Lawrie: Infrastructure.
Mr GILES: … provides mothers with 26 weeks paid parental leave, at full replacement wage up to a maximum salary of $150 000 per annum, or the federal minimum wage, whichever is greater - what a fantastic initiative.
Dr BURNS: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Relevance.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Braitling, I remind you of the standing order in relation to relevance. We seem to be digressing from the topic. I remind you the statement is on infrastructure and investment. While there is a fair amount of latitude, some of these items do not relate to investment and infrastructure. Member for Braitling, continue, bearing that in mind.
Mr GILES: Thank you, Madam Speaker. I am sorry; I get a little carried away when I am talking about issues as important as Tony Abbott’s direct action plan.
The minister spoke about Indigenous employment at Borroloola on the McArthur River bridge, I think you spoke of six employees. That is fantastic and it would be good to have more. I know it is a difficult situation, I understand that, that is really good.
One area of Indigenous affairs I find very important is the constitutional recognition of Indigenous people in Australia - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Australia. I note that this might seem off-topic, but it is not, because it means so much to many, not all, but many Aboriginal Australians and I think …
Mr ELFERINK: A point of order, Madam Speaker! I move an extension of time pursuant to Standing Order 77.
Motion agreed to.
Mr GILES: Thank you, Madam Speaker. In an effort to encourage Aboriginal Territorians into the workforce, into the construction industry through infrastructure projects, I believe it is important that one of the underlying pillars of supporting Aboriginal Territorians is the constitutional recognition of Aboriginal people as first Australians.
I know Labor promised it in 2008, but now they have reaffirmed they want to set up another committee to do it and think about it by 2013 or 2014. Nigel Scullion, Tony Abbott, Natasha Griggs and Leo Abbott’s plan of action for Australia to have a referendum on this by 2013, after they consult to get the words right, is very important. It will go a long way in giving Indigenous Australians, Aboriginal Territorians, confidence in life, emotional security, and looking for jobs. It will help bring people into part of our economy. It is very important and I commend Tony Abbott for doing that.
However, moving back to where I started, this statement, and the timing of this statement, is a negative for this parliament. Have a debate about infrastructure, delays, times, money, or what you are doing, but do not come in here talking about federal election issues, as it denigrates me to have to respond. I cannot let it go. I have to respond, which is why you do it. That is the bait. That is what you want to do; you have done this early. You have no legislation today apart from one piece which took five minutes. That is what you have done; you have tried to line it up so you would be ready for the television news and the cameras in Question Time. It is false to people of the Northern Territory; it is not right.
We are a jurisdiction on our own, and government should be sanctioned for doing this. Not only sanctioned for giving us a statement last night and a different one today - fair cop, that is not fair. It does not matter how small it is, you should not be able to do that. I would like the Leader of Government Business to look at that for me.
I encourage government and the minister not to electioneer here, otherwise, for the next two weeks, every member of this 25-member Chamber will be electioneering on behalf of people who are not here, when there are only a few listeners on the radio. The people in Braitling have far better things to listen to than electioneering. They hear it enough on their televisions at night, on radio, and see it enough in the pamphlets.
I finish on one very important point. There have been complaints in Alice Springs, Tennant Creek, Katherine, and across the regions, that the seat of Lingiari has not received much attention from federal members of parliament on either side …
A member: And the rural area.
Mr GILES: Sorry, and the rural area …
Ms Lawrie: Electioneering again.
Mr GILES: No, I am bipartisan ...
Ms Lawrie: Oh really?
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Dr Burns: Of course you are.
Mr GILES: Of course I am, member for Johnston.
There has been much concern that the seat of Lingiari has not been focused on by visits from high profile people from either side of the political divide. There have not been many promises or anything like that. There is one reason for that; it is a very safe Labor seat. Until it becomes a marginal seat like the seat of Solomon, we are not going to see those people visiting and making promises. I encourage everyone who votes Labor to vote Country Liberal if you live in Lingiari, because it moves us to a position of a marginal electorate which ensures next election we will have those visits and promises people are calling out for.
Imagine if it was a very marginal electorate, like McEwen in Victoria - 36 votes - we might have been able to seal the Outback Highway in this campaign. There are many things which could have happened. We could have sealed the road to Wadeye. For the sake of the Territory’s future it is very important all people who live in the seat of Lingiari vote Country Liberal, because we will have much better infrastructure in the future, and much better programs. A marginal electorate will really help the people of Alice Springs and Central Australia. Those swinging voters who are unsure do not need to look far into it to become a marginal electorate. Vote for Country Liberals, vote for Abbott, and that will be right.
Ms LAWRIE (Treasurer): Madam Speaker, I have heard some hypocrisy in this Chamber over the years, but that took the cake. The member for Braitling said: ‘I will not be electioneering. Labor over there and government, they are purely electioneering and we do not electioneer’. Then he used his entire contribution to electioneer.
I pick up the last point he made of how sometimes in positions in federal parliament you have the opportunity to deliver infrastructure into a jurisdiction. Brian Harradine is a classic example; when he held the balance of power Tasmania benefited significantly in infrastructure funding from Canberra into Tasmania. One of the greatest shames of the CLP is they had an opportunity once. They had the opportunity when Senator Scullion held the balance of power in the Senate under the former Howard government. If you like, we had our Harradine moment. We had our moment in the sun where one senator could cast their vote holding the balance of power. What did Senator Scullion do for the people of Lingiari during that time? Nothing! Not one cent came from Canberra into infrastructure in the Territory.
The CLP failed Territorians miserably when it failed to use the balance of power in the Senate to deliver infrastructure into the Territory. I say shame. Anyone from the Territory who is ever in the position of holding the balance of power in the Senate ought to stand up for Territorians and deliver critical infrastructure into the Territory. Why? Because we have a massive need in infrastructure which goes through decades and through governments of any political colour. Scullion failed Territorians miserably. Why? Because of his own personal ambition. He wanted to be a minister. He wanted to be fawned upon as minister Scullion. He failed to exercise the balance of power and negotiate and deliver for Territorians. His own ego, his own personal ambition got in the way of delivering for Territorians and history will record that. Our Harradine moment, which could have been the Scullion moment, did not happen.
Under a decade of Howard government, infrastructure was not their issue. It shirked its responsibility. No, no, that is the responsibility of the state and territory governments. No, no, the Commonwealth does not have to deliver infrastructure; it is not their responsibility - duck, weave and hide in the space of infrastructure. What we saw over a decade of the Howard government was infrastructure becoming increasingly run down with state and territory governments around our great nation increasingly carrying the burden of major capital funding which is required to bring infrastructure up to par.
In stark contrast, a federal Labor government stepped up where the previous decade of neglect had failed Australians, and particularly Territorians in infrastructure delivery. They created Infrastructure Australia, creating the opportunity for state and territory governments to fight for significant infrastructure. We fought for and secured a commitment for port funding, which I will talk more on later.
We also have record infrastructure investment from the Commonwealth in Territory roads which the Commonwealth had previously never put a single cent into. Yes, under the national highways which is an existing funding arrangement, the Commonwealth will contribute to the national highways, but for Territory roads …
Mr Elferink: A bit of a change of position there.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Member for Port Darwin, cease interjecting!
Mr Elferink: Madam Speaker, she needs to be honest with this House
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Port Darwin, cease interjecting!
Ms LAWRIE: For Territory roads, roads which are the responsibility of the Territory government, there has not been one cent of funding under the Howard government. Yes, it did fund national highways; it had to. That is its responsibility and it always has been. The Howard government tried to get out of funding them, and Tiger Brennan drive is a classic example of how it would dodge, weave and duck to avoid funding what is its responsibility. Under the national highways agreement there was a 50/50 funding arrangement for Tiger Brennan Drive: 50% from the Territory and 50% from the Commonwealth. The Commonwealth stumped up a measly $13.5m for a project worth around $110m.
By any stretch of the imagination, $13.5m is not 50% of $110m. What would happen then? It would run out little Jimmy Lloyd and he would say: ‘No, no, it is cost escalations’. Every road project in the nation has cost escalations; they run at between 7% and 12%. There are always arguments about the percentage of escalations between the Commonwealth and the state and territories. Then Mark Vaile would say: ‘But there is no scope and design’. It was scoped and designed, and I took the design, down to the detailed culverts, to Vaile, put it on his desk at a meeting, and said: ‘There we are. Stop the nonsense and stump up the funding. We will meet our half and we are ready to go with this project. We will hit the green light’. Nothing, they would not budge from their $13.5m until - guess what happened? - Damian Hale delivered an election commitment to meet all of the requirements of Tiger Brennan Drive, $70m, including the Commonwealth funding the grade separations, which are the overpasses which make it the most amazing road project in the history of the Territory.
The hypocrisy which dripped from the member for Braitling was appalling. He spins so tightly into little concentric circles that he almost believes his own spin and rhetoric.
We will stand on a strong record of delivering infrastructure dollars, projects, and results across the Territory because there is a partnership with federal Labor which has the resource capacity we do not have. Whoever is in government in the Territory needs to have a constructive working relationship with the government of the day in Canberra. We have had quite a few years in the sunshine here. So much so, we now have a record $1.8bn infrastructure budget in the Territory. That is double the budget of just two years ago. What that does, and what it has been doing, is support the construction sector in the Territory, the pulse of our economy. It delivers jobs in the construction sector.
If the opposition in Canberra had their way and had blocked the BER stimulus expenditure, we would have seen hundreds of thousands of Australians out of work. We would have seen decimation of the construction sector in the Territory. Ask the subcontractors what they think of the stimulus funding in infrastructure, and they will all say: ‘Thank God, because it saved our jobs’. The stimulus dollars from the Commonwealth, backed up by the record levels of funding for infrastructure from the Territory government, has kept subcontractors in work. As a result our construction sector is strong. We had to keep it strong and buoyant ahead of the major projects on the horizon, which even Access Economics recognises are looking extremely positive for the Territory.
When you put record levels of dollars into infrastructure as we have been, you also have to pay attention to the all-important area of training. That is why it is beyond belief the opposition in Canberra would strip away and tear down the trade training centres we need in the Territory to supply the construction workforce of the future for those major projects. It is beyond belief that they would go to a federal election with that policy.
There was a rewriting of history by the member for Braitling, who was not even in the Territory at the time of the 2000-01 construction downturn. He said the subcontractors were heading to the Cool Spot for smoko. Well, there are many subcontractors who live and work in my electorate of Karama, and I doorknocked very heavily in the lead-up to 2001. I started doorknocking in 2000. There were young Territorians, born and raised, who were leaving the Territory because they were unemployed. They were in the construction sector and could not find a job. The construction sector was on its knees.
In our first budget, the 2001 mini-budget, our government recognised that we needed to lift the sector off its knees, so we put significant funding into the minor new works. We listened to the sector and reviewed the way we rolled-out our construction program so that we had a rolling program which gave them certainty in work coming through, which was critical for the sector. We recognised we had to do that to lift and stimulate the economy, and we followed through with strong record increases in infrastructure investment in consecutive Territory budgets. Since 2001, our construction program has injected some $7.7bn into the Territory economy. We have grown the infrastructure program substantially.
Investing in infrastructure is investing in jobs. It also provides the legacy infrastructure we need to be a prosperous Territory, growing socially through health system infrastructure such as health clinics and the oncology unit, and through school infrastructure. You also need the infrastructure for economic drivers such as ports and roads. In 2001-02, the construction program was $364m, which is about what we are spending on roads today. We are spending $322m alone on roads. The entire program this year is $1.8bn; that is a 399% increase. Put the rhetoric of the member for Braitling aside; the fact is there is a 399% increase in infrastructure spending under Labor in the Territory, delivering school facilities, health facilities, roads, port improvements, all of which are critical to the social and economic prosperity of the Territory.
Roads are integral to our economic growth, and we are progressively addressing a legacy of an unsealed road network. Only about 23% of the Territory’s road network is sealed. That has a significant impact on regional and remote Territorians who rely on a substandard network to travel throughout the Territory. It also has an impact on economic prosperity in regional economic development. We have been doing a significant amount of work in this area. This is largely due to a Labor government in Canberra which had the foresight to say they would partner with the Territory government and spend on key roads which are not their responsibility - they are not national highways. It sees the economic and social benefits of that.
This is included in the program of progressively sealing the Mereenie Loop Road, the Sandover Highway, Tanami Road, the Fog Bay Road, and other key highways. We have done much in this area and there is much more to do. If the tired old duck, weave and hide Coalition returns to government in Canberra it would wipe its hands of Territory roads once again and stick to funding the national highways. Not one cent has ever been delivered by a Coalition government into a Territory road network; it only funds national highways in the Territory. It ducks, weaves and hides on the critical issue of funding for Territory roads on the Territory road network.
It will fund the national highways, but it is required to under the old AusLink agreement, and now under the Nation Building Program, but what about the key arterial Territory roads? The Coalition does not want to know about them. It says that is the Territory’s responsibility, ignoring the deficit from the decades of Commonwealth sovereignty in the Territory when roads should have been built up and sealed.
I say shame to the member for Braitling for his electioneering. If he truly wants to understand the critical importance of infrastructure, particularly in roads across the bush, he will understand the importance of Territory roads as well as national highways in improving social and economic outcomes for Territorians. It took a Labor government in Canberra to deliver hundreds of millions of dollars into Territory’s roads, as well as significantly boosting funding for our national highways.
Social infrastructure is critical to support the improvement of lives of Territorians. We have seen dramatic improvements in infrastructure spending from the Commonwealth, supporting the Territory’s commitment to a new emergency department at Royal Darwin Hospital and opening many new wards, new police and fire stations across the northern suburbs, upgrading every primary school across the Territory, and building key infrastructure at our high schools.
Lifestyle is very important to Territorians and our construction program has reflected the importance of lifestyle. Improving lifestyle opportunities helps to attract skilled workers to the Territory and improves the liveability and enjoyment of the Territory for Territorians. That is why we have provided a fantastic recreation facility at Leanyer Recreation Park and are currently designing and will commence construction of a similar facility in Palmerston. That is why we have put significant dollars into the aquatic centre in Alice Springs. That is why we have built a wave pool and the magnificent waterfront development. We have also upgraded Traeger Park and Marrara, and built new facilities for netball and soccer. We have built new schools at Rosebery, a new Palmerston library, and a recreation centre. We are building new suburbs at Bellamack and Johnston, with works to commence in Zuccoli. More is set to be invested in sporting infrastructure in the important growth area of Palmerston, supporting families and the growing sporting clubs of Palmerston.
The convention centre at the waterfront has been a fantastic investment in infrastructure. It is delivering a boom in tourism, a boom in the economic spend in the Top End.
We are expanding our port to cater for future growth in bulk minerals. We have hardstand construction under way; the Pond F reclamation is on track; and there are design works for the conveyor belt. Guess what you do not do? You do not be a fool like the member for Braitling would have you be and construct something before it is ready to be used. When those mines start to receive final investment decisions and are ready to go, we can flick the switch on construction of the conveyor belt because its construction will take approximately the same amount of time as the construction of the mines. The fool for Braitling would not get that, simply does not understand that …
Mr GILES: A point of order, Madam Speaker!
Madam SPEAKER: Minister, please withdraw that.
Ms LAWRIE: I withdraw ‘fool’. The clown who parades as the member for Braitling …
Mr GILES: A point of order, Madam Speaker! She has to withdraw that comment too.
Ms LAWRIE: He is sensitive today.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Braitling, are you offended by that comment?
Ms LAWRIE: I withdraw if he is offended.
Madam SPEAKER: Thank you. Please just withdraw.
Ms LAWRIE: I withdraw.
The single largest investment in the bush is contained within the Territory government’s infrastructure budget. We are spending some $980m, a record spend in the bush - otherwise known as the seat of Lingiari to the member for Braitling. We refer to it as the bush, but he is focused on the seat of Lingiari because …
Dr BURNS: A point of order, Madam Speaker! I move the Treasurer be given an extension of time pursuant to Standing Order 77.
Madam SPEAKER: Bearing in mind it is midday and we will be going for luncheon break, the question is the motion agreed to.
Motion agreed to.
Madam SPEAKER: Treasurer, are you willing to complete this after Question Time?
Ms LAWRIE: I am happy to continue my remarks after Question Time.
Debate suspended.
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, before suspending for lunch, I received an interstate travel report for 25 to 27 June 2010 from the member for Macdonnell. I table that document.
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, I table a travel report from the member for Araluen for travel interstate to the Commonwealth Women’s Parliamentary Conference in June/July.
Mr TOLLNER (Fong Lim): Madam Speaker, I have a question for you if you would take it.
Madam SPEAKER: Is it a point of order?
Mr TOLLNER: No, just a quick question. I noticed your new car in the garage this morning, a very nice car and I congratulate you on that. I am curious as to what entitlement that car would have been …
Dr BURNS: Madam Speaker, this is completely out of order.
Madam SPEAKER: Please pause, Leader of Government Business. I am very curious, although it is completely out of order.
Mr TOLLNER: Madam Speaker, the reason I ask is I have been given a list of cars, a bunch of little buzz boxes, and I would like to renew the Kluger I have but I am informed by members of the Legislative Assembly that is not possible. I am curious as to …
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Fong Lim, Question Time has finished. Given you have asked me such an impudent question, I would like to say I have taken a loan and purchased the car. It is my car, my family car, thank you very much.
Ms Lawrie: You idiot.
Mr TOLLNER: A point of order, Madam Speaker!
Ms Scrymgour: You are a fool, an absolute fool.
Madam SPEAKER: I would like you to withdraw that comment over there whoever it was, thank you very much.
Mr TOLLNER: Madam Speaker, there was a range of unparliamentary comments.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Fong Lim, you need to resume your seat, thank you.
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: The comment has been withdrawn, thank you very much. The Treasurer has the continuation.
Continued from earlier this day.
Ms LAWRIE (Treasurer): Madam Speaker, that was another example of the member for Fong Lim leading with his chin - no information, lack of knowledge and fumbling around in the dark. We know what a bottom dweller the member for Fong Lim is, and we know he lurks in the dirty, murky, bottom dwelling depths of his grubby little mind. We saw an example of that just then. He has brought this Chamber to a low I have never seen in the history of the Legislative Assembly. His leader cannot take him outside and have a talk with him; they hardly talk because the member for Fong Lim is busy trying to knife the member for Blain for leadership. He cannot quite get the numbers because all his colleagues understand he is way too grubby.
I digress; I was talking about the largest investment in the bush to address decades of neglect in infrastructure. Commitment in the 2010-11 budget is $980m which will be directed to roads, housing, essential services - that is power, water and sewerage – and, critically important, better schools. $354m will be spent on housing under SIHIP; $236m for land servicing and related essential services, building the important new suburbs for the houses; $46m to upgrade roads; $7.5m for airstrip upgrades; $6.2m over three years to upgrade barge landings; $17.6m for children and family centres at Yuendumu, Gunbalanya, Maningrida and Ngukurr; and $5m to upgrade schools.
If you look across the Territory now it is so clear we are far better off under Damian Hale and federal Labor than we have ever been. The significant investment is delivering dividends for Territorians across our schools, housing, and road infrastructure. In stark comparison, the Coalition has an appalling record of failure. They failed to fund the critical infrastructure of our nation, the critical infrastructure the Territory required. If you look at the 2007-08 capital funding to the NT by the Commonwealth government during the federal Howard years, the last Commonwealth injection in capital funding was $111m. Compare that to funding under Labor. In 2010-11, it has grown to $798m, a 619% increase in funding from the federal government, compared to Johnny Howard and the Coalition, with his mate Tony Abbot in the pack.
Australians are far better off under a Labor government. We make no apology for securing this funding from federal Labor for the Territory. As much as the opposition say: ‘No, we vote against it; we would not want that stimulus funding, we would not want the infrastructure funding. No, no, no’, they want to build a wall around the Territory and say: ‘We do not want that. Do not go into debt to keep people in jobs, and do not put any investment into infrastructure of roads, schools and housing’. That is the stupidity of the opposition.
Darwin and Palmerston residents are seeing the fruits of the partnership between a federal Labor and the Territory government. Look at the results! The $110m Tiger Brennan Drive project will transform the traffic flow from the rural area through Palmerston to Darwin, with around 200 jobs delivered through the project. It took Damian Hale and a federal Labor government to deliver this project with the Territory Labor government. Damian delivered $74m for the project. Well done, Damian Hale! In stark comparison, the member for Fong Lim, the man who only knows how to deliver flag poles, could not secure any more than $13.5m for that project.
There are significant funding boosts for roads under federal Labor. The total Territory roads program has been boosted under federal Labor. The Commonwealth funding for roads is now $425m over five years. Compare that to $200m delivered by the Coalition under the former AusLink program - $200m with the Liberals and Johnny Howard compared to $425m under a federal Labor government. Under the Coalition, during their decade of neglect, we received just 2% of the AusLink funding although we had 15% of our nation’s road network. So we got 2% of the funding for 15% of the nation’s road network. That was under Johnny Howard. Labor came in and doubled the funding in roads to the Territory. That $52m spent over four years on the community, beef and mining roads is critical to economic growth in regional Territory.
We also have a raft of strategic road projects which I do not have time to talk about, but just look at the stimulus package, the Building the Education Revolution program and the tax breaks for small business. These are all significant initiatives by the Commonwealth which the Coalition would have voted against; in fact, they tried to block them through their sycophant in the Senate, Senator Scullion. Listen to the Master Builders Association when it talks about the benefits of the stimulus pack in the Territory! In a recent television interview, Graham Kemp of the Master Builders Association said: ‘We have been able to hold the construction industry intact in the Northern Territory to be ready for the bigger projects when they come on’. That is not what the government is saying; that is what industry is saying.
Industry understands the importance of the stimulus package, the spending from the Commonwealth backed up by the stimulus from the Territory government. We are seeing a legacy of improved education facilities, supporting our students with library, science and language facilities, and critical school community infrastructure, across the Territory. Important minor new works upgrades like shade facilities, painting, all of those jobs which support our small subbies and improve our schools. The program has worked hand-in-hand with our commitment to upgrade every Territory primary and group school across the Territory, which is under way.
$14.87m has already been paid to Territory schools for minor upgrades under the National School Pride program. One hundred and twenty three schools have completed their works. We have 40 schools across the Territory enjoying new classrooms, multipurpose halls, libraries and resource centres; 95 major school works are at various stages of construction around the Territory. None of this, if the Coalition had their way, would have occurred. If the Coalition is elected on 21 August, 101 projects will be at risk. The federal Opposition Leader has said he will pull the plug on the Building the Education Revolution programs, so we risk losing 101 school projects across the Territory.
We understand that if it had not been for the swift and decisive intervention of the federal Labor government, we would be in recession and our economy would have taken a much bigger hit than what it did. Not only do we understand that, last week the world’s top economist, the Nobel Prize Laureate and professor at New York’s Columbia University, Joseph Stiglitz said Australia had:
If you listen to the former Reserve Bank Governor, Bernie Fraser he said:
He also said the Coalition’s vote against the stimulus package:
The Coalition has no economic credibility when it comes to the mining tax either. This tax would significantly benefit infrastructure in the Territory. We would look receiving about 10% of the important infrastructure fund which Tony Abbott says he would scrap. What he is saying is he would scrap in the vicinity of $600m to $700m flowing through to the Territory for critical infrastructure such as roads and the port. Federal Labor has invested in the Territory; the Coalition would rip the guts out of infrastructure.
Ms PURICK (Goyder): Madam Deputy Speaker, if this statement is the best that can be done, heaven help you and heaven help the Territory. Throughout the statement there are many quotes of programs, but no indication of cash and how these programs have been funded or will be funded. There is mention of allocation, but what exactly does this mean? Presumably, you will cost projects whenever you get around to them, but given the time frame of projects and subdivision developments and housing developments being pushed out years, then that will probably be never.
In the Territory 2030 Strategic Plan, you state clear targets but nothing could be more obtuse than 2030. It is full of generic spin and makeup. Today I saw a copy of the latest 2030 newsletter, which reads:
We would all love to see the master plans from the Department of Construction and Infrastructure for those ferry and transport terminals. Someone is thinking or dreaming about them, but they are not in any plans we are aware of. Your government has been talking about Weddell for years, which was previously brought forward by a Country Liberal government, and plans for the expansion of the Darwin peninsula, but where are the plans for this city of Weddell? There is mention of the 50 000 Territorians who will live there but there is no master plan, so how can you quantify this figure of 50 000 people?
I know there is a forum in September, which government is great at putting on to gather ideas as it is bereft of any ideas of its own. I have registered for this forum to have input, as a Territorian, into the future development of the rural area as I agree with my colleague, the member for Nelson, that the rural area is grossly under-resourced in a range of services and infrastructure.
In the statement there is mention of projects funded by the federal government, which I can sum up as the perfect partnership - their money and your mismanagement - as we have seen so clearly with SIHIP. Federal money, Territory government to manage it, and they have managed it abysmally, to the detriment of people in the remote and outback communities.
The statement says the government has awarded more than 950 construction contracts, but where is the information regarding the value of these contracts? What are the contracts? Across which agencies? Where in the Territory have these 950 construction contracts been let?
Minister, you say you are drafting a master plan for Zuccoli, but where are the defined time lines? How can you quote figures for Zuccoli before the master plan has been drafted? You mentioned the $110m Tiger Brennan Drive partnership; again, it is Commonwealth money and your spin. The member for Fong Lim was responsible for securing that commitment from the Commonwealth government.
You paid $0.5m in December 2008 for a greater Darwin infrastructure report. Where is it? On the ANZ website I found a wonderful definition: the word ‘budget’ originally meant a bag containing papers. That is what we have here: a bag full of papers titled ‘Maybe’.
The Country Liberals asked under FOI for details of infrastructure issues. This was the response:
We have seen how this Labor government runs government business divisions, just as it runs government owned corporations. The Power and Water Corporation leaps to mind. It saddles them with debt, operates them at a loss to protect votes, and expects taxpayers to bail them out when things go wrong; and over the last two years things have gone dramatically wrong.
In the statement there is mention of the East Arm Port master plan. This plan only covers one wharf and an adjoining area. Why is construction of the urgently required marine support base and Defence hardstand at East Arm nowhere near starting, despite the need for these facilities to be developed as soon as possible? Why do we read a press statement on the Channel News Asia, Singapore Business News website which reads:
The details are, minister, 36 ha of seafront land, an initial lease period of 10 years with an option for up to 50 years at monthly rental rates with construction to be completed in 12 months, and I quote:
Why do we not have details of this second marine base?
I ask the minister, where in this statement is the vision for Darwin Harbour becoming a clean harbour given the problems we have had recently regarding our beaches and harbour surrounds? Where will the phosphate export sail from? Where is the port for the future? Territory growth towns - what is needed is real planning for real jobs on land which has real value, not suffering from lease issues outlined by our NT Coordinator-General.
You repeatedly throw stones over your shoulders to accuse the Country Liberals of inaction, but the Country Liberals are well aware of the importance of infrastructure projects during economic downturns. The building we are standing in is a prime example of our initiative. The foundation stone of this Parliament House was laid by the then Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, Hon Nick Dondas, on 2 August 1990, and it was this Parliament House construction project which saved the construction industry at that time.
We are also well aware of an aspect of infrastructure the minister conveniently leaves out of his report – building certification. On 9 March 2009, the then Minister for Planning and Infrastructure, Hon Delia Lawrie, announced a range of measures including identifying and resolving the number of outstanding certificates of occupancy relating to government owned and leased buildings by June 2010. There were 2172 of these, of which, by 20 May 2010, only 25.2% had been resolved, leaving 1624. The government has failed to deliver yet again.
We know we currently have issues with the building industry. We have seen spectacular failures of home building companies. I know government is not responsible for these financial collapses; however, they have not adequately prepared and provided protection or support for the dozens and dozens of families who have suffered as a consequence of these companies going broke.
Let me share some of the details of the staffing of this department as of 29 April 2010, and I quote from the response to estimates questions:
Best of all, in charge of this whole caboodle is the new Chief Executive, Mr Alan Wagner, whose last post was as Queensland’s Education Deputy Director-General in charge of Infrastructure Services and Building the Education Revolution.
When The Australian reported that consultant and contingency fees are chewing up one-fifth of the $2.1bn in taxpayer funds intended for new buildings in Queensland’s state schools, the response quoted in The Australian read:
Heaven help us all, again.
In his report the minister proudly mentioned the McArthur River bridge and that six Indigenous Borroloola residents are working on the project. Next door to where this bridge is being constructed a private enterprise, McArthur River Mine, has won an award for Innovation in the Workforce Development Category for their enhanced Indigenous Training Strategy. Real jobs and real training, despite the fact you and your government stood in the way of the McArthur River development which secured jobs for the local people for the next 25 years. You built the Barkly work camp at a cost of $100 000 per prisoner. Where is the certificate-level education provider to ensure you can deliver a wide variety of courses in a sustainable manner instead of noting afterwards, as with Alice Springs correctional programs: ‘But we could not find qualified staff’?
I can see this statement is your effort to try to help and prop up Damian Hale but, frankly, it is abysmal and is as transparent as ice ...
Mr Elferink: Ice is not transparent.
Ms Carney: Glass?
Ms PURICK: Glass – clean glass, clean ice. I digress.
If there was robust construction in the Northern Territory now, our contractors would be knee deep in government-funded work, but you are so far behind the eight ball, it is not funny.
You finished with the claim that new hotels benefit Territorians. What hotels? Where are they? I have not heard of, or seen, any plans, announcements, or anything in any business papers from any companies. There may be new hotels on the drawing board and new apartments with smaller units which are desperately needed, but are badly affected by the car parking fiasco in city centres.
Where is the resolution which is desperately needed for car parking in the CBD? Submissions have not been acknowledged, let alone answered. The Chinatown project and the waterfront project are among those wondering where on earth the leadership is. It is the same situation for the introduction of volumetric control on new buildings, which has left this city conspicuously without any new projects. Infrastructure is not something you can lay out like a carpet when a new apartment is complete; it comes first, second and third.
I want to point out some blatant untruths in the minister’s statement. On page 2, he says the construction program has injected $7.7bn into the Territory’s economy. That is not Northern Territory money; it is SIHIP and Building the Education Revolution money. A large part of it is from the waterfront, the Rio Tinto Alcan upgrade, the McArthur River Mine expansion and the ConocoPhillips project - which is all private money; it is not Northern Territory government investment. Also on page 2, it says:
That is untrue. You did not deliver the Police Beat; it was a joint project between the Chamber of Commerce and the community. The NT government did not deliver it.
He talks about sporting facilities and fire stations, which are all very good, but I see no reference to expanding the Police, Fire and Emergency Services and ambulance infrastructure into the rural area. I see no reference to the infrastructure for the recreational swimming pool for the rural area. Good on Palmerston getting their water park, good on the northern suburbs with their water park. Where is the commitment? Minister, you and I know a pool and a recreational water facility in the rural area will cost upwards of $6m to $7m. Where is your commitment to the people in the rural area?
I quote page 3:
Fine:
That is code for ‘we support a super profit mining tax’, and that is outrageous. It is all very well for the mines minister to say we only have three or four companies which pay mineral royalties in the Territory so it is not going to affect them; that is untrue and wrong. I have had exploration companies and mining companies make representations to me, and it is going to affect them, and it will affect their investment decisions.
On page 4 he talks about the training centres. It was your government, the Labor government, which shut down the Australian Technical Colleges. You talk about expanding colleges in the rural areas, like Barkly or the remote areas, good. I have written to the ministers, I have written to the government in regard to Taminmin College and its library which is grossly undersized for the size and expansion of the college, yet there is no commitment to expand the infrastructure to service the growing rural area.
On page 6 he talks long and hard about the growth of Palmerston and building Bellamack, Johnston and Zuccoli, yet we know the registration scheme for builders is not robust enough. Minister, we spoke about this in estimates and we will be making representations about this. We know you are not dealing with the certification debacle. I could go on and on.
On pages 3 and 6 you say you delivered a record $1.8bn state capital budget, which is a healthy dose of federal money and is not the cash amount which will be expended. In addition, $842m is left over from the previous year and some $800m may be left over at the end of this budget.
On page 10 he talked about the East Arm Wharf facilities master plan, but there is no planning. There is no indication of infrastructure funding is going support phosphate exports.
On page 11 there is a small point which concerns me greatly and it shows the minister does not understand his portfolio and is not paying attention to his electorate. I am a little surprised, given his background in the education system: we are not exporting copper sulphate, we are exporting copper sulphide. Copper sulphate is used in chemical processing and is an oxidising agent. If you knew your electorate you would know it was recently spilt on the Barkly Highway. Copper sulphate concentrate is an ore mineral. That is what is in the containers and that is what is being exported. It is used to produce copper metal …
Mr McCarthy: That is what I said.
Ms PURICK: You did not. Your statement says copper sulphate. That is embarrassing for you as an educator.
The statement is deficient in many ways. A work camp in the Barkly region is discussed on page 14. That may be fine and it is a new era in corrections, however in 2008 we were told we were going to get a new $300m gaol. It is now mid-2011 and we still have not had an announcement as to where we need a gaol.
Members: Ten, 2010.
Ms PURICK: Eleven.
A member: Ten.
Ms PURICK: Ten. Again, it is like all their projects; they get pushed out and pushed out. It says a bigger gaol in Darwin is the best solution. Our gaol should be getting smaller. We need to keep people out of gaol by stopping them from offending or re-offending. At the heart of the deficiency of this statement and the deficiencies of the government is that they cannot plan and their infrastructure program and plans are abysmal.
Mr WOOD (Nelson): Madam Deputy Speaker, I thank the minister for his statement, however, at the end I was waiting for ‘written and authorised by Mr G McCarthy for the Australian Labor Party’. The member for Greatorex could make a similar addition to the end of his speech.
A member: Braitling.
Mr WOOD: Sorry yes, Braitling. Sorry, member for Greatorex.
I say that because this statement is not so much about the importance of infrastructure to the Northern Territory but more a chance for the minister to join the federal election campaign. Reading the statement, I noticed there are many references in the 16 pages to the wonders of a particular federal candidate, the wonders of the federal government, and how useless the other mob are, or were. I know things do not change that much each time there is a federal election, as this House joins the fray, but it does get a little predictable and I am sure it will come from both sides.
I was hoping for a spinless approach to the matter of infrastructure in this statement, but it is more like my dog, a bitser. There is some good stuff, some bad stuff, and no mention of the rural area. The bad stuff is the part which seems to be caused by the federal election. I am not here to say the CLP was perfect in its time. I had arguments with them then and I have a few now. However, to give the impression that the CLP did nothing in regard to infrastructure belies reasonable objectivity.
There is no doubt that without infrastructure spending by the CLP since self-government we would not be in a strong position with infrastructure today. I have been around for a while - when the first public buildings went up in Palmerston, for example Highway House and the water tower; when the Stuart Highway was duplicated to the Arnhem Highway and then on to Noonamah; when the port was built and the railway started; when Marrara stadium was constructed; when there were new bridges built over the Elizabeth River and the Edith River; when the Supreme Court and Parliament House were built; when the wildlife park and the desert park were developed, and when the infrastructure was developed at Nitmiluk. We should not forget it was the federal government which set aside the funds for the Victoria Highway bridge. These are just a few things the CLP did in its day. To not recognise that is to deliberately rewrite history for political purposes. That is why I despair.
I worry when I hear the truth bent or dismissed deliberately by all sides just to win a political point. I have seen that in some comments about SIHIP lately. Are we selling cars or are we trusted members of parliament? Minister, by all means, make a statement about infrastructure, but tell it how it is or was, not what you want those with short memories to believe.
There is no doubt infrastructure is what will drive the economy of the Northern Territory. I have always said good roads, electricity and water will open the Territory. I can say from a rural perspective that both sides of politics have really forgotten the rural area when it comes to infrastructure. The CLP did build the bicycle path from Darwin to Palmerston along the old North Australian Railway line. That was something the Litchfield Shire Council asked for; however it stopped at Palmerston and for the last 15 years has never grown a centimetre, which is unlikely to change until the government reaches an agreement with the local member. Now it looks like the rural area may get its bike path. We may get a swimming pool, but in 2001 both parties promised a miserly total of $1m to build a pool, which reflected their commitment to the rural area. There has been a contribution to infrastructure at Freds Pass Reserve, for which I am very grateful, but if you compare it to what the minister brags Palmerston has received, the rural area has received little in comparison. Palmerston has received $43.5m for sporting and aquatic facilities. Freds Pass has received $3.6m over three years.
How much infrastructure has been built at the Humpty Doo District Centre since the government came to power? There has been a bus interchange, that is, a bitumen hardstand area, not a Palmerston Interchange with lots of shelter. The sewage ponds have been expanded. Taminmin College has expanded, which is the only big input into infrastructure, and you would wonder if that would have happened without Tony Considine as the principal. There have been no new roads or extension of the water or sewerage in the Humpty Doo District Centre for nearly 20 years. A public housing duplex has just been completed; the last one was built about 20 years ago. We are supposed to have a shortage of land for affordable housing, but land which should have been made available in Humpty Doo has sat idle with all the facilities nearby. There are three schools, a childcare centre, chemist, doctor, shopping centre, and quite a number of other facilities, but the government has not expanded the residential infrastructure to build up the Humpty Doo District Centre. It has quite happily spent money on burying power lines in the northern suburbs which already have power.
There is no more industrial land available on Spencely Road at Humpy Doo. All the land next door is zoned for industry; however, the government still has not released more land. I am not talking about light industry; I am talking about heavy industry such as block making, tyre recycling, water tank production, those sorts of facilities.
There is no development, when we have a desperate need for affordable, industrial land in the rural area. We have land along both sides of the Arnhem Highway which could potentially be developed into 1 ha lots which would increase the number of blocks of land available for rural living.
There is no water, and Power and Water are not in the business of installing infrastructure unless someone else pays for it. This means some land cannot be developed because of the requirements of Power and Water which make the cost of infrastructure needed for developing and opening these areas astronomical, and growth is stymied.
One of the biggest and continuing complaints I receive from people is the high cost Power and Water charge for infrastructure. Recently, residents of MacLeod Road were told if they wanted town water they would have to pay $38 000 per block. An average block in the rural area has 100 m frontage. Power and Water is saying a person with a block with 100 m frontage will have to pay $38 000 to get water to their block. That is equivalent to the price of two bores. It is not surprising no one took up the offer. Where did that price come from and what was the basis of the price? Possibly a pipeline design for a theoretical subdivision sometime in the next 50 years where lot sizes might have been smaller, but it is not based on what the land is zoned for now, which is rural.
There is a small district centre which could be developed at Girraween. It has been on planning documents for over 10 years. It would be a suitable place for a shop, some medium-density housing, a community hall and an early learning centre, but where is the infrastructure?
There is a school which has sewerage, and that is all there is. Power and Water do not seem to want to know about it, and the landowner has been told he has to build the treatment plant. Did the government ask everyone in Humpty Doo to build the sewage ponds? I do not think so, so why the different rules? Girraween District Centre sits idle except for the school because there is no infrastructure: a lost chance for development.
Freds Pass district centre is not much better. It has been on the plans for even longer. Except for the infrastructure at Bees Creek Primary School, the Litchfield Christian School and the ABC Childcare Centre, there is no other infrastructure in place in that area. You can see the difference when you look at Coolalinga – why has it boomed? Because the infrastructure for development, power, water and roads goes right past the door. Does that not say something?
The government may be putting up infrastructure elsewhere and good luck to those people who are getting it, but when it comes to the rural area we are missing out. I remind the government, there are at least 20000 people between the outskirts of Palmerston through to Dundee, Douglas Daly and out to Marrakai. That community of rural people is sometimes forgotten.
It is time for the government to shake a leg and do something. Infrastructure is the foundation of our economy, and the rural economy is still waiting. There has been a report on a possible extension of sewer infrastructure from Coolalinga, Howard Springs District Centre and the proposed INPEX workers village, to Palmerston. If that is to happen it will require input from private and government funds. Will the government contribute to that important infrastructure? We will have to wait and see.
It is obvious we cannot rely on Power and Water to deliver the infrastructure needed, so the government needs to be more involved in assisting with the headworks in the delivery of major infrastructure if we want small business to grow and land to be released at affordable prices.
It is also time to look how infrastructure costs are paid. Presently, all costs have to be paid up-front. Why not spread the cost over 30 or 40 years so the burden is not on the first person who buys. We need to keep infrastructure costs down, and I would like to hear the minister’s views on that.
The government can talk about the new suburbs being developed in Palmerston. Whilst that is good, it has to be balanced with the knowledge the government let the ball drop some years ago. We fell behind with land release and we have still not caught up.
It is great to see Weddell getting some traction at last. It was only a few years ago at a Property Council meeting your department said it was 10 to 15 years away from development. Thankfully, we will not be waiting that length of time - at least we better not be.
The concept of growth towns is that they are areas where Indigenous people have the opportunity to get ‘real jobs’, which is the terminology used, to develop industries and to move forward - where have I heard that before - but what do we do? We do not deliver broadband to them; we give them the second system; we give them satellite. If satellite is good for the growth towns then it should be good for the whole Territory. If broadband is good for the Territory because it will bring the Northern Territory up to an equivalent IT level with the rest of Australia, then let us take broadband into the growth towns.
If you say you support growth towns, and this is the new way forward, and you are - all these clichs – ‘closing the gap’, then you give them a satellite Internet network, then I say you are not fair dinkum. I urge this government to go to the federal government and say the growth towns should have broadband.
There is already optical fibre from Katherine to Nhulunbuy, but I am not sure it connects anywhere on the way. I think it goes straight to Nhulunbuy. Ask some of the people in the Laynhapuy homelands. They are not connected to it. If we are really going to try to change things we have to put our money where our mouth is.
It is natural for the government to talk about what it has done and that is fine, however it also needs to say what it has not done yet and what it is going to do about it. Please do not rewrite history. People like me do have memories. I do know what happened in the Northern Territory before I was in this Assembly. By all means criticise the government, but do it truthfully. I lived out bush for a long time, I saw Palmerston grow, and the CLP put much effort and much money into developing the Northern Territory.
When I read your statement last night minister I noted that Mr Hale has plenty of mentions. He does not represent the rural area. The rural area is in Lingiari and is suffering from the reverse Berrimah Line and the Alice line. I thought, there is a need for a new library at the biggest high school in the Territory, Taminmin College, which has 1240 pupils, and maybe someone could have come up with funding for a performing arts centre at Humpty Doo. That would be nice.
Then I thought, why did you not mention the other federal member. Today I received a new statement which mentions the other federal member, which is good to see. I have not heard much from many of the candidates in Lingiari, in an area which is equivalent to 20% of the total voting population of Lingiari. The area outside Darwin is not well looked after from a Commonwealth point of view because we are at the wrong end of the electorate.
This statement has missed an opportunity to look at new ideas for the delivery of infrastructure: expansion of the electricity grid; expansion of gas delivery to replace diesel; expansion of solar and wind generation; possible tidal power at Clarence Strait; better roads for the pastoral industry; expansion of new industrial land for future gas and heavy industry, perhaps at Glyde Point; expansion of rail to Mt Isa; the outback highway is not mentioned; electricity into the Douglas Daly area; a new barge landing at Yirrkala to break the monopoly of the barge landing at Gove; a light rail corridor into Darwin from Palmerston and beyond; more emphasis on public transport; new ways to recycle sewage; and perhaps an abattoir.
Minister, if we are to grow we need vision and this statement should have been more about that. Unfortunately, as I predicted when I heard the election is going to be on 21 August, the statement was sidetracked with some one-eyed history lessons and a federal political campaign. Minister, if this was your Year 12 assignment I would give you a C.
Dr BURNS (Public and Affordable Housing): Madam Deputy Speaker, I have a prepared speech, but I will touch on some of the issues raised by the member for Nelson and, the member for Braitling, and others. In politics, a fair amount of reinventing of history does occur. I would like to place on the Parliamentary Record that I acknowledge the CLP contributed in a mighty way to infrastructure in the Territory and building the Territory. That is irrefutable in many respects.
We can criticise what they did and did not do out bush, however there is no doubt that Barry Coulter made, and continues to make, a magnificent contribution to the Northern Territory. Barry Coulter was a visionary and a prime mover who really stuck to the concepts of a north/south rail link, a bridge into Asia, and the port. When I had my time as Port minister I always commended Barry for his vision and his prime role in building the port. I acknowledge those things.
There were issues with the construction and the tie rods at the port, which arose while I was minister, however I never blamed anyone. All I wanted to do was fix it and build the port infrastructure. Under this government we have continued the work of building infrastructure at the port. We have tried to link in with the railway, particularly with bulk commodities, etcetera. I acknowledge there have been some magnificent contributions from past governments, individuals and ministers. I have singled out Barry Coulter for special mention. To a large extent the CLP lost their way when they gained Denis Burke and lost Barry Coulter. That is a political debate and it is probably better had within the CLP ranks, but that is my view.
When we came to government in 2001 the economy was flatlining and people, particularly contractors, were desperate for work. There is no doubt we had good fortune, however we also worked hard and brought in strategies for economic development and skills development, etcetera.
If I could comment on this business of reinventing history, I was quite alarmed and angry when I was speaking to a member of the CLP a couple of weeks ago. This person said to me: ‘I really get sick and tired when I see Hendo and hear Hendo claiming credit for what the CLP and John Howard did’. I said: ‘What do you mean?’ and this person said: ‘Claiming credit for the radiation oncology unit and Tiger Brennan Drive’. I was amazed and dumbfounded because I was the minister at the time. I have placed it on the record in this House time and time again.
In relation to Tiger Brennan Drive, the then federal government led by John Howard had a succession of Transport ministers, but towards the end, Warren Truss, someone I respect and have a lot of time for, was the senior minister, and Jim Lloyd, an incredibly likeable bloke, very affable and good to deal with, was the junior minister to some degree. I remember that other jurisdictions were in the same position as the Territory. The federal government refused to fund any cost escalations for building highways and essential infrastructure. The agreement was, as the Treasurer has pointed out, that it was going to be 50/50. For example, Tiger Brennan Drive was originally a total of approximately $27m. Warren Truss, John Anderson before him, and others said: ‘We have put up $13.5m; if there is cost escalation or design changes you are going to have to meet the extra’.
And at that stage, when I was minister, it had gone up to about $42m or $45m. That was for a basic Tiger Brennan Drive without grade separation, and as someone who has crusaded against traffic lights, I wanted to see a few traffic lights removed from the intersection at Roystonea Avenue. I campaigned for that and that campaign was taken up by my successor in that portfolio, the member for Karama and, more lately, the member for Barkly. The then Commonwealth government stood firm. We had one of the most marginal seats in Australia, which was Solomon, and the member for Fong Lim was the incumbent. I know he tried hard to gain funding for Tiger Brennan Drive and he pushed Jim Lloyd into a space where Jim said at a news conference that they would fund half the escalated value. Then the message: ‘No we are not doing that’, quickly came from Canberra. There was a very clear policy directive from the then Treasurer that the Commonwealth government was not going to fund any cost escalations or any changes to the design.
During the election campaign in 2007, Damian Hale, with Martin Ferguson, promised $70m, or thereabouts, for the Tiger Brennan project, which included graded separation at the Roystonea Avenue end. Very late in the piece, John Howard, I think he was in Darwin at the time, said at a public meeting that the Commonwealth government would escalate their contribution to Tiger Brennan Drive from $13.7m to approximately, from memory, $34m, which was not going to cut it considering the project will cost $110m.
That is an important fact to put on the record. I become a little hot under the collar when someone says to me Dave Tollner secured the money, John Howard provided the money and Hendo is claiming all the credit. That is not true. I have told the facts of the matter as I recall them. People need to be honest about these things.
Tony Abbott put up $13m for the radiation oncology unit. It went out to tender twice. It was a combined tender where the builder would also be the operator. In other words, medical specialists in oncology were supposed to somehow become builders and build this quite complex building, oversee the project and then become the service providers. They would also have to provide the linear accelerators for the unit, which were at least $6m in value.
When Nicola Roxon became federal Health minister, one of the first things I did was approach her and explain the situation. She came up with an extra $6m for the project. We also put the project to tender in a different way. The tender was given to the Northern Territory government and I thank Paul Tyrrell for supporting this project. His advice was that we should go to a combined tender - separate tenders to build and to operate. That is what happened and the radiation oncology unit is now operational. Those are the facts of those matters and people should leave political spin and reinventing history behind for those two projects.
I know the member for Fong Lim knew, during the election campaign in 2007, that the second tender process had failed. He had to have known. Tony Abbott would have known. Yet they withheld that information from Territorians and pretended the project was on track. That was not the case; it was completely off track. That is all I have to say about those issues.
I will turn to my prepared speech. I commend the minister. He has been a strong advocate for investment in infrastructure, and we know why -investment in infrastructure delivers jobs and provides training and career opportunities. As the Treasurer pointed out, Budget 2010-11 delivers a record $1.8bn for infrastructure. As a government, we have also supported the $574m allocated to the Territory under the stimulus package, which was opposed by the Coalition in Canberra.
The Territory’s allocation included $205m to build or upgrade infrastructure in government schools, and a further $65m for non-government schools. It is interesting that members opposite are always critical of the BER project unless it is in their electorate. It was great to see the member for Fong Lim at the opening of the BER project at Ludmilla Primary School on Friday. It is evil everywhere else in the universe apart from their electorate. I said at a function on Friday night, I am not aware of any significant complaint against the BER project in the Northern Territory. It is an example of a well managed project, managed by government through traditional procurement mechanisms. I believe we can hold our heads high with the BER and its delivery in the Northern Territory.
The Chief Minister alluded to $60m, or thereabouts, allocated to the Territory to build new homes for public and social housing. This is delivering over 200 new places to house people in need. The Coalition nationally did not support this measure by the federal Labor government, and one can only assume the local CLP does not support it either. As a government we have invested over $540m in school infrastructure since 2001. The list is too long for me to itemise here, but I will outline some of the highlights. We delivered secondary education to remote communities. That was a passion of Syd Stirling and I commend him for that. We supported secondary education facilities at Minyerri, Kalkarindji, Maningrida, Shepherdson College, Yirrkala and Wadeye.
In almost 30 years under the CLP there were no secondary schools in remote communities. As I said previously, there is much for the CLP to be proud of in their contribution to the Territory infrastructure over many years, however their record in secondary schools is something they should be thinking long and hard about. The government will also build new schools at Emu Point, Manyallaluk and Wugularr.
A new special education annex has been built at the Humpty Doo school, and we rebuilt Mamaruni School on Croker Island. I visited Croker Island after Cyclone Ingrid and the school and some of the housing for the teachers was wrecked, so that was a great thing to do.
Our current program of works in education involves $246m in school infrastructure upgrades, which began in 2008 and will be completed in 2012. It is the Territory’s largest school infrastructure program ever and it will deliver better facilities to our students and teachers across the Territory. Work is continuing on the $54.5m Rosebery primary and middle schools in Palmerston. These schools will cater for 1450 students when they open at the beginning of next year. I have inspected that infrastructure and they are wonderful schools and will be great assets for Palmerston. Seventy-four government primary schools and large group schools will receive $300 000 to upgrade their school facilities. The program will see primary, middle and senior schools; community education centres; and homeland centres, receive significant upgrades.
There will be major investments in upgrades in our remote and urban middle and secondary schools, including $6.8m this financial year to upgrade Acacia, Henbury and Nemarluk special schools as part of our four year $30m investment in special schools. This investment will include a new school to be built in Bellamack; $6.4m to upgrade Centralian Middle School in Gillen, and establish a youth hub at ANZAC Hill; $5m to upgrade Casuarina Senior College; $3m to upgrade Dripstone Middle School; $3 to upgrade Tennant Creek High School; $1m to upgrade Sanderson Middle School; $6m to convert homeland centres to schools; $2m for the expansion of the Yirrkala CEC; $1.5m for upgrades at Maningrida CEC; $1.5m for Kalkaringi CEC; $1.25m for upgrades at Shepherdson College; $1.25m for upgrades at Gunbalanya CEC; and $1.25m each for Gapuwiyak, Angurugu, Numbulwar, Milingimbi and Lajamanu.
Housing for teachers is a key component of A Smart Territory Remote Schools Attraction and Retention Strategy. $18.2m from the Territory and Australian governments has been pooled to provide 48 dwellings in 14 priority remote locations in keeping with the 20 growth towns strategy.
The Australian government’s Building the Education Revolution has proved to be a boon for education and industry alike. Primary Schools for the 21st Century, National School Pride, and Science Language Centres for the 21st Century Secondary Schools have delivered $205m worth of infrastructure to Northern Territory government school communities, and $65m to non-government schools. I am pleased to say the Northern Territory has done an excellent job of implementing the program. I have read the report which was published nationally last week. It is not just about bricks and mortar; it is about better educational outcomes for our Territory students.
It is also about businesses, and I commend those Territory businesses which have delivered the BER projects across the length and breadth of the Northern Territory. I noted in the report the per square metre cost was at the upper end of the scale …
Mr Elferink: Huh!
Dr BURNS: Well, you can scoff, member for Port Darwin. That is all about the delivery of projects in very remote areas – possibly more remote than other areas of Australia. I believe our businesses have delivered value for money. I am only aware of one complaint which was from the member for Braitling about the Larrakeyah Primary School; however I will leave that for another day. I did copy you into that letter, member for Port Darwin, where he compared the job at Larrakeyah Primary School to a McDonald’s. I am sure you have had feedback from the school council about that. We will talk about that another day.
Honourable members will recall this year’s budget delivered a record $695m for affordable housing and new upgraded public and remote housing across the Territory. The building and construction sector is vital to creating and maintaining a strong economy.
The ABS has estimated that every dollar committed to building and construction programs generates $2.73 in economic activity. On this basis, government’s $695m will result in nearly $1.9bn of economic activity in the Territory. It is about jobs for those involved in direct building construction and supply sectors, as well as ancillary support and administration services for those buildings.
Despite the challenges of the GFC, the Territory will continue to experience strong economic and population growth. ABS figures released this week show an 11% increase in the number of residential building approvals in the Territory for June. Our strong economic growth has generated increasing demand for public and private services across a range of sectors but, equally, in the vital area of housing.
In 2010, $49m has been committed to build 150 new homes over three years, including 76 homes across three seniors’ villages in Malak, Bellamack and Central Australia. This is in addition to work currently under way to build a new $10m, 40-unit Bellamack seniors’ village …
Mr GUNNER: A point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker! I move an extension of time, pursuant to Standing Order 77.
Motion agreed to.
Dr BURNS: Thank you, members. Twelve one-bedroom and 28 two-bedroom units are being constructed in the Bellamack seniors’ village. $10m has been jointly funded by the Northern Territory and Australian governments for the project. Local contractor, Norbuilt, has been awarded the contract and construction has commenced. Work will begin on an 18-unit seniors’ village in Alice Springs later this year to accommodate more senior Territorians. That project is well under way.
Approximately $30m has been allocated for the repair and maintenance of public housing in 2010-11, with $15.1m being allocated to repair and refurbish existing public housing dwellings vacated in 2010-11. I can say with some authority, as a local member and as a candidate in 2001, not a great deal of money had been spent on public housing repairs and maintenance in quite some time; some of those houses were in quite bad shape. I commend the former member for Arnhem, Jack Ah Kit, who was the Housing minister. He spent a great deal of money on repairs, maintenance and security for public housing, which was greatly appreciated by the tenants.
The Chief Minister alluded to the Social Housing Initiative under this stimulus package. I will not repeat what he said today, but it is $60m of good investment to try to support those who are less fortunate. Two hundred and eight are being built across the Territory and existing public housing properties are being refurbished. A number of those are complete, a number are under way, and there should be substantial completion of those by the end of this calendar year. A total of 298 dwellings have been refurbished or repaired under the stimulus funding. The initial target of 136 dwellings was exceeded by more than 200%. This is about efficiency. This is about the Northern Territory government working with the federal government to deliver for people living in the dwellings which were refurbished or repaired under the stimulus package.
The budget delivered $2.7m to operate five new, short-term accommodation facilities in Alice Springs and Darwin to house visitors from remote communities and outlying areas as part of the Alice Springs Transformation Plan and the Australian government’s stimulus package. I am sure the member for Stuart will detail that when he speaks on this statement later on.
Everyone in this House would be aware of the challenges posed for service delivery by the Territory’s unique geography and demography. Government housing for staff such as teachers, nurses and health workers, for example, is vital to essential service delivery throughout the Territory. The Government Employee Housing scheme is one element of the government’s strategy to address those issues. A total of 10 new dwellings, five replacement dwellings, and 94 upgraded dwellings were completed for government employees in the 2009-10 year. Budget 2010-11 has committed $15.3m to construct 15 new, and upgrade 60 existing government employee houses in remote areas. A further $7.8m has been committed for teacher housing as part of the Australian government’s 200 extra teachers initiative.
The Territory government has allocated $3.8m to construct six two-bedroom units onsite at Gove District Hospital in Nhulunbuy. Design and documentation is well under way - Madam Deputy Speaker, I know you are interested in this - with completion anticipated by June 2011.
Closing the Gap is another Territory-funded program aimed at providing accommodation to employees including hospital staff, health workers and teachers in remote areas. From July 2007 to June 2010, 39 dwellings have been completed under Closing the Gap. More vital infrastructure and jobs will be created in the Territory under a Commonwealth government program which provides accommodation for Territory health workers in remote areas. Through Budget 2010-11, a value of $9.88m has been committed for refurbishment and new construction across the regions. So far, 18 new units of accommodation and two refurbished existing dwellings are scheduled for completion in this financial year.
The historic $1.7bn National Partnership Agreement on Remote Indigenous Housing, of which the Strategic Indigenous Housing Infrastructure Program is part, will deliver vital housing infrastructure and economic growth and jobs to the Northern Territory. The program is a vital building block, and I have said publicly on a number of occasions, SIHIP is not going to magically solve the Indigenous housing shortage in Indigenous communities. It is going to take a sustained effort. This is a significant first step, $1.7bn over 10 years.
I challenge the member for Braitling and Tony Abbott to spell out what their intentions are for Indigenous housing and whether they will sustain that spending of $1.7bn over 10 years. I notice in an article in the Centralian Advocate that the member for Braitling did partly address my challenge; however I have not heard what Tony Abbott or Nigel Scullion have to say. I will be listening very carefully to their commitment because it is not only about $1.7bn over 10 years as part of the national partnership agreement; it is going to take decades of activity and building to address this issue.
I acknowledge that SIHIP has had its difficulties; however, I believe, along with the Auditor-General for the Northern Territory, that the program is now on track. The target for this calendar year is 150 new houses and 1000 rebuilds and refurbishments. As I have travelled around the Territory between the last sitting and this sitting, I have seen quite a number of new houses, rebuilds and refurbishments taking shape across the length and breadth of the Territory. We are very focused on hitting our SIHIP targets.
Sixty-seven new houses have been completed, there are over 50 houses under way, 381 refurbishments and rebuilds have been completed, and another 75 are under way. The Alliances are committed to reaching the rebuild and refurbishment targets and they are geared up to deliver them.
In Nguiu, 90 new houses will be constructed by the Territory Alliances, 19 new houses are completed and tenanted, work continues on the construction of another three houses, 69 rebuilds and refurbishments are complete, and work is continuing on another 19.
In Wadeye, 105 new houses will be constructed by New Future Alliance; 17 new houses are being completed and tenanted; work is under way on the construction of another 23; and 13 refurbishments have been completed at Palumpa and Wadeye with work continuing on another six.
That is just a snapshot of SIHIP. This is a government which can hold its head high in terms of infrastructure and the development of infrastructure. Since 2001, we have increased funding for infrastructure programs across the Territory, whether it be for roads, schools, health clinics or police stations. A range of necessary infrastructure has been delivered, particularly in the bush, but also in the major centres. Neighbouring my electorate, I can see a new fire station, police station and so on. There has been much activity in building infrastructure under this government and we will can look back on what we have provided and look forward to what we will provide for the Northern Territory.
Madam Deputy Speaker, let us stop the political spin and take a reality check. Let us make criticisms which are valid, valuable and constructive. Let us not get into the negativity of one side against the other, and let us call a spade a spade. I commend the minister’s statement to the House.
Mr WESTRA van HOLTHE (Katherine): Madam Deputy Speaker, I do not expect I will take too long to contribute to the debate on the minister’s infrastructure statement. I acknowledge and thank both the member for Nelson and the member for Johnston for detailing some of the real history of the Northern Territory and the contribution which was made, over the 27 years of the CLP government prior to 2001, to growing the Territory into what it is today. We should not let that pass without ensuring it is recorded well and understood well, not only by everyone in this House, but everyone in the Northern Territory.
There are a few parts of this statement I would like to speak to. Much of this has been covered already by others in this House, my colleagues, as well as the member for Nelson. I read through this statement last night and I felt a little embarrassed for the minister, realising he would have to stand here and regurgitate bile, which often comes from that side of the House. The first paragraph I was drawn to is on page 2. The second paragraph talks about this so-called record $1.8bn spend on infrastructure in the Northern Territory in Budget 2010-11. I have canvassed this issue already, and I want to do it again so history is recorded correctly. This $1.8bn budget, supposedly a record, is a lie.
A large portion of it - from my recollection, $825m of it was revoted work from the previous financial year. This is an example of the spin which comes from the Labor government. It needs to be spoken about often, and it needs to be spoken about long and loud so the people of the Northern Territory are not duped and fooled into believing this government is applying record budgets to everything, when they are simply plucking figures from the previous year, rubberising them and pushing them into 2010-11.
The next thing I was drawn to is on the same page. There is a two-line paragraph about an action plan for Katherine’s future which says this government has invested in the high school and delivered a Police Beat.
This Northern Territory government did not deliver a Police Beat for Katherine. Nothing could be further from the truth. The Chamber of Commerce and local community residents delivered the Police Beat for Katherine. A Police Beat in Katherine was not even on the Northern Territory Labor government’s radar, let alone it being anywhere on the path towards delivering it. For them to come into this House and continually assert they have delivered a Police Beat in Katherine is hogwash; it is total rubbish. The only thing they have provided for a Police Beat - and the member for Arafura interjected with it before - is police staffing. Police have been provided for the Police Beat in Katherine, however, there are no additional staff. It has been staffed with the normal, operational staff and personnel of the Katherine Police Station. The Northern Territory government, apart from maybe putting a computer and phone line in, has contributed little to the Police Beat. I was quite surprised when the Chief Minister had the audacity to turn up to the opening of the Police Beat for which he had no responsibility.
That paragraph talked about an action plan for Katherine’s future, which was something I had not seen until this morning. I finally managed to track it down on the Internet. It relates to the outcome of the Katherine Planning for the Future Forum, which was held in November 2008. I stood in this House in an adjournment debate on 28 April 2010, around 18 months after that forum was held in Katherine, and said the Northern Territory government could not be bothered updating a web page, providing a report, or providing any feedback to the people of Katherine after they attended that forum. I read into the Hansard of this parliament a letter to the editor of The Katherine Times which talked about the report which was supposed to have arisen from that Planning for the Future Forum.
It is nice to see that I, as the local member, can have some influence over the actions of the Northern Territory government. It is very pleasing and gratifying for me to now see an action plan for Katherine. It is detailed in a document called Urban Planning Forum: Long Term Planning in the NT. If I flick through there are a couple of pages which talk about Katherine.
This will impress you, Madam Deputy Speaker; this is the strategic plan. There are two dot points. The first dot point:
Sensational! Dot point 2:
I am grateful some land has been released in Katherine. Lord knows no other land has been released in the previous nine years of the Northern Territory Labor government. It is quite pleasing to see something coming out of it. Sadly, it takes an opposition member to stand up in this House and berate the government before they will do something.
A paragraph on page 7 talks about targeted action plans, including land release, for Tennant Creek, Katherine, and Alice Springs. If you look through some older documents you will find that when the CLP government was in, prior to 2001, a great deal of planning for land release in and around Katherine was done. There is a swathe of land in Katherine East which has been theoretically subdivided and planned out, and has been sitting in those documents for many years. The government’s plan is to develop a residential land release strategy. Much of that has been done, and I do not know why they have to reinvent the wheel.
It will be nice if we can have some more land released in and around the town. I do not know if anyone from the government has bothered to talk to real estate agents in Katherine about the requirements for land release based on the housing pressure we have there. Most of them will tell you we need 20 or 25 blocks a year so Katherine can start growing. We have not had any of that. We are in the middle of subdivision now which will help, but we need more than that if we are to grow our town.
The situation became quite apparent and was put in perspective recently when the proponents of the revitalised Katherine abattoir started talking to me about what the requirements would be to have that facility up and running. One of the first things I said to them was: ‘Where are you going to house all these workers? There is nowhere in Katherine for you to do it.’ When an industry wants to come to a small town, whether it be a new mine which would operate nearby, an abattoir or some other industry, we would be constrained as there has been no land released. You would find this to be common across the Northern Territory.
I cannot believe it has taken this government nearly 10 years to start to take action to release land. They have effectively stymied the growth of small regional areas particularly, and it is really noticeable in small areas. Katherine has maintained the same population for the last 10 years, despite a few seasonable fluctuations and a few things which occurred after the 1998 floods. All we can do is keep asking the Northern Territory government to progress things like land release and hope we will be able to get some reasonable outcomes from it.
There is a paragraph in the minister’s statement about the Tiger Brennan Drive extension. I know it has been touched on already. What did come out of the debate today, I think it was during Question Time, was a shot across the bow of the member for Drysdale, who was critical of some aspects of the Tiger Brennan Drive extension. He was quite right to be critical. There are some issues with the roadworks which have occurred there. There is the little bridge, the bicycle bridge or foot bridge, which is going to impede the flow of heavy machinery and large loads through that area. I am going to encourage the minister to go to the bridge, or send someone there, with a measuring tape and measure whether that bridge is 6.5 m above the roadway. I do not want to steal the member for Drysdale’s thunder because I know he wants to talk about this, he is passionate about it, but measure and see if it is 6.5 m.
You should also look at the camber on the new part which goes off Stuart Highway where you go to Katherine, the one lane that connects Darwin to the rest of the Territory. Maybe you should talk to some truck drivers who travel on that road and ask them about the difficulties they are experiencing there. I am sure the member for Drysdale will talk about that further.
Most of this has been covered by the other members. There is very little which talks about anything south of Palmerston. The member for Nelson summed it up nicely when he said there is virtually nothing in here for the whole electorate of Lingiari, which covers 95% of the Territory’s land mass and holds 20% of the population.
Enough said as there are other members who want to speak about this. There is so little on the parliamentary list today; the members opposite obviously want to have an early knock off and I will not hold them up.
Mr VATSKALIS (Health): Madam Speaker, I have to say the CLP did a lot of work in the Territory after self-government. A government which was 27 years in power should have done something. I have to acknowledge, looking back at the CLP in the old days, and I do not have to share their ideology, that in some ways that CLP was more socialist than the Labor Party today. Some of the ideas they had controlled by the state reminded me of the old Soviet state where everything was centrally planned and controlled. It was a sign of the times. It had to be done by government and the idea at the time was that the government developed the infrastructure - plan and construct roads, bridges, hospitals, swimming pools. The only difference was where it was done.
A government which governs for all Territorians does things throughout the Territory instead of concentrating in certain areas, for example, the northern suburbs. We should not only have Royal Darwin Hospital and Alice Springs Hospital we should have hospitals in other areas like Tennant Creek.
With regard to some of the land release, land was released and abandoned. A very good example was Tennant Creek where we discovered a very full subdivision which was done in the 1980s and was abandoned. We revitalised it with 58 blocks to go to auction very soon.
Land was released in Katherine but it was released in the rural area. The first land release in an urban area happened under our own government only a few years ago, and you now have some more new blocks in Katherine.
The CLP is talking about the housing crisis. I recall very well headlines in the newspaper in 1999 and 2000: ‘20% vacancy rate in units in Darwin during the Wet and the build-up’.
Madam SPEAKER: Minister for Health, would you mind addressing your comments to the Chair rather than to the audience.
Mr VATSKALIS: Thank you, Madam Speaker. The reason for the vacancy rate was there were no jobs and people left the Territory to go to other states. One of the reasons there were no waiting lists for public housing was the rents were low because there was such a huge vacancy rate and people could afford to rent in the private market.
A combination of an economy which grew and grew after the Liberal government came to power and 2100 houses from the public store being sold by the CLP in the last few years of their regime, created the problem with the rental market. When you have a growing economy you have an influx of workers and they rent units. If you have a growing market the salaries and wages increase, people can afford to pay higher rates - supply and demand.
If you have a unit and there are 20 people trying to rent it, you are going to get the highest price. Natasha Griggs could give us a few lessons in that. She has 14 houses, she is a very good landlord as she tells us, so she must have done really well out of it. Well done to her. I do not blame her.
The role of the government is to provide infrastructure for all Territorians, not only for people who live in the northern suburbs or Alice Springs. We have put health infrastructure in place for all Territorians. The health infrastructure is not only to assist our strong economic growth through increased productivity of a healthy population but also to provide health services to all Territorians. We have worked very hard with the Commonwealth government since the new federal government was elected. Tony Abbott’s claim to fame was that he took $1bn out of the health budget throughout Australia. That put Australia’s health system miles back.
We did not have new doctors. We did not train new doctors. In the Territory we have half the number of GPs per 100 000 people that they have in Sydney. As a result, it is very difficult to see a GP. People who want to see a doctor will finish up at the emergency department with the associated pressures and delays.
One very good example of the infrastructure we put in place, and I spoke about it at Question Time, is the Alan Walker Cancer Care Centre - $26.5m in infrastructure, building and equipment, and $6m a year to operate it. We promised it in 2001 but we had to battle with the federal Howard government to secure money to build the oncology unit. They offered us $30m, which was not enough, and the two tenders they put out failed, one just before the election in 2007. Damian Hale was elected, and he advocated with the new Rudd federal government, and was allocated an increased amount of money to build the Alan Walker centre. I am very pleased to say it is the most modern cancer centre in Australia. It has no waiting list and has already treated 111 Territorians.
The centre was constructed by a local Territory company, Halikos Group, which delivered the facility in accordance with our time lines. Halikos Group is a multi-award winning Territory company, deserving of its solid reputation for delivering innovative projects. I am pleased to advise the House that last week, at the Master Builders Northern Territory awards the Alan Walker Cancer Care Centre won the Commercial Construction category for properties in the range of $11m to $20m, as well as the President’s Award, an award for the best overall building in the Territory, both commercial and residential. One thing not many people know is the design of the bunker for the centre has been copied throughout Australia, and throughout the world. It is an innovative design for this kind of facility, because it is constructed in such a way it will not allow radiation to escape; at the same time it is probably solid enough to withstand a nuclear explosion. This construction provided jobs for 70 Territorians during the peak of the construction phase.
It is not only construction jobs which have been created which contribute to economic growth. The Alan Walker centre now has 22 staff, some from overseas, some local, and some from other states. It is treating people, so it is saving people’s lives. Territorians do not have to travel anymore; they can come to Darwin and be treated.
I was at the post office in Nightcliff recently and someone tapped the window of my car. I opened my window and he said to me: ‘Are you the Minister for Health?’ I very reluctantly admitted I was, because when you hear that in public it is not usually good news. The person said to me; ‘Well, you have many troubles in your job, but I give you congratulations, because the Barbara James hospice is fantastic’. The man’s wife had incurable cancer, they went to Townsville for treatment, she was operated on but the tumour is growing again. She has been given two years to live. He told me they went to Townsville, but he could not afford to stay there with the family; only his wife could stay. Now they are in Darwin and the family is at the Barbara James centre where people can stay during the treatment. He was very impressed with the quality of the facility and that he did not have to pay anything because it was covered by PATS.
It is not only the infrastructure in bricks and mortar; it is infrastructure in human capital. From June 2001 to 2010 we had 729 more nurses and 237 more doctors working in the Northern Territory. That is based on the Department of Health and Families payroll reports. This represents 87% more doctors and 57% more nurses than ever before, under our Labor government.
The new $42m emergency department and critical care wing was opened in 2002, we constructed an award winning $4.5m hospice in 2005 and a $3m birthing centre and a $7.8m rapid admission unit opened in 2007. The 24-bed rapid admission unit is one of the initiatives developed following extensive input from clinicians to help fast-track patient care and ease pressure on hospitals and emergency departments. Further improvements are planned for the emergency department with the Australian Labor government funding $2.3m to expand the triage and fast-track unit, with work commencing this year.
The Royal Darwin Hospital elective surgery capacity was significantly increased in 2009 with the opening of two additional operating theatres and a procedure room dedicated to scope works such as endoscopy and colonoscopy. This work was enabled by a grant from the Australian government.
The Royal Darwin Hospital infrastructure has been expanded in facilities and staffing resources with its establishment as the National Critical Care and Trauma Response Centre. In 2004, the Australian government committed $63m over a four-year period to develop RDH with renovation and infrastructure; specialist medical equipment, including trauma trolleys, wound vacuum system equipment, ultrasound equipment, pathology and laboratory equipment including microscopes, biochemical and haematology analysers, plasma fridges and towers; staffing including a $3.2m four-year training agreement between the trauma centre and Brisbane’s Princess Alexandra Hospital, which ensures a wider range of clinical staff are trained to deal with the major response scenarios.
An additional $57m is anticipated for the period of the next arrangements and the next agreement for 2009-10 to 2012-13. The trauma centre’s priorities include focusing on preparedness activities and returning experience and learning into the Australian health disaster management framework. There are currently 11 doctors, 10 nurses and 19 allied health positions attached to the trauma centre which augment the readiness capacity in daily operations of the Royal Darwin Hospital.
The trauma centre has responded to several disaster emergencies since 2005, including the SIEV36 boat blast off Ashmore Reef and the TIO bombing.
We are about to embark on the establishment of a pensioner accommodation precinct at the Royal Darwin Hospital campus. A 50-unit patient accommodation hostel has been planned by the Australian government, which is committing $18.6m to construct the facility. That hostel will provide affordable, safe and culturally appropriate accommodation for up to 12 weeks at a time for remote and regional patients accessing medical services in Darwin. The hostel is expected to be completed by the end of 2011.
Better accommodation for staff on campus has been on the capital works program over recent years to assist with recruitment and retention initiatives for a stable workforce. My government has allocated $6m over three years to refurbish all staff accommodation at RDH. The upgrading program includes 156 single-bedroom flats and bedsits, 12 two-bedroom flats, 12 three-bedroom houses, and two four-bedroom houses. We are going to repaint them, upgrade the air-conditioning, renovate the kitchens, put in new furniture, upgrade the IT infrastructure and remove louvers for modern style windows.
We have also looked at the other facilities at Royal Darwin Hospital. We have committed $14.3m to deliver more efficient air-conditioning systems; create more robust back-up power in emergencies; replace ageing, essential equipment; and reduce the hospital’s greenhouse emissions by an estimated 8.2%.
We are going to install three 3 MW diesel generators in a system reconfiguration to provide emergency power to all circuits on campus; a major high voltage system to greatly improve reliability, safety and capacity; and three new 4000 kW air-conditioner chillers and associated equipment. Royal Darwin Hospital is a major hospital in Darwin and in the case of a disaster would be the only hospital we would be able to access for a period of time. It has to be fully operational and accommodate, in comfort, people who may be injured following a cyclone or other natural disaster.
It does not stop at Royal Darwin Hospital. Major upgrades are planned for Alice Springs Hospital. Following the disaster contract awarded by the CLP government, many things were not done to standard and now we have to rectify them. The original $9.5m program has been completed with a clinical management wing, day procedure unit, paediatrics ward, and kitchen upgrade.
The current rectification program of $32.9m has been approved during 2009-10. The next area of rectification is the operating theatres, and this commenced in February 2010. The administration ward will be converted to an addition of the Cowdy Ward to reduce the time and cost to complete the overall program of rectification. In addition, the emergency power, water reticulation, and electrical system are being upgraded, and the current program is for $11.7m, which will run straight into the Alice Springs economy. We are constructing a new, $19.6m state-of-the-art emergency department at the front of the Alice Springs Hospital.
The CLP always believed that Alice Springs was their base. That is where the CLP first emerged. Did they ever put this kind of money into Alice Springs Hospital, or into Alice Springs? No, they did not, because they took for granted that the Alice Springs people would always vote for them because the CLP meant Alice Springs. They did not spend money in Alice Springs, they spent it everywhere else. They spent it in the northern suburbs, and quite well, but Alice Springs was forgotten. It is our government which has spent significant money to upgrade facilities in Alice Springs.
Alice Springs is not only serving people in the Territory. Because we have done such good work we have people from other states coming to access some of the services in Alice Springs. People with renal disease are coming from South Australia and Western Australia to receive treatment in Alice Springs. The renal service expanded to meet the demand, with $2.27m of works at Flynn Drive, in addition to the new 12-station facility on Gap Road operated by NephroCare.
The Tennant Creek Hospital has also had major reconstruction upgrades with $3.45m for fire safety works. Stage 1 was completed in 2006-07 and Stage 3 is nearing completion. In addition, the Tennant Creek Hospital renal unit will be expanded with a $2.3m program due to commence this year. We have done such a good job with the renal programs that the life span of people with renal disease in Central Australia matches that of people with the same condition in Sydney, Melbourne or Perth. Their life span has increased by seven years; before, 66% of people died before they reached the life span of people treated in other capital cities.
The $10m Palmerston super clinic is nearly complete. This super clinic was promised by a Labor government, but Tony Abbott has promised he will close it down. Four of his members are advocating having a super clinic in their electorates. Tony Abbott’s Liberal members want super clinics; Tony Abbott does not want super clinics. He does not like them and he has promised he will not progress any more, and if possible he will close them. The super clinic will provide services to people in Palmerston. It will not only provide after hours service, but will provide a comprehensive health service with a number of specialists treating the people in Palmerston.
For the first time, the Territory will have its own full medical school. This is an investment by the federal Labor government. This school will be operated by Flinders University in partnership with Charles Darwin University. Flinders University will provide the services in the super clinic, providing training for the doctors who will graduate from our medical school. The medical school will cost only $27.8m at the CDU campus and will be funded by the Australian Labor government in recognition of the importance of growing your own workforce. We know very well, if we train people here, they will stay here. It happened with engineers, pharmacists and nurses. Now we are repeating that with medical students.
New health services have been constructed in Milikapiti, Yuendumu, Daly River, Minjilang and Kalkarindji: a $2m to $3m investment in each community. In Wadeye, the healthcare project has been allocated $7.6m to include the addition of a new, large wing and a refurbishment of the old building is now under way.
It is not spending money. You can line up our figures and make money. We will gain benefits from this expenditure: benefits not only for local economies, or for Territorians who will construct these facilities, but also the benefits we will derive by having these facilities operating throughout the Territory, providing health benefits to all Territorians.
Infrastructure is vital, and the role of the government is to provide the necessary infrastructure, where possible, throughout the Territory, not in selective areas where we can gain maximum votes because we put facilities and infrastructure there.
Every Territorian deserves to receive the same service whether they live in Palmerston, Darwin, Alice Springs, Milikapiti, Yuendumu or Gove. The role of our government is to ensure all Territorians receive the same kind of service wherever they live, be it in education, health or roads. We understand the difficulties in the Territory; the tyranny of distance is significant. I felt very proud of my Health portfolio when I travelled to Perth and met with the Western Australian Minister for Health who told me he would like people from the Kimberleys to be treated in Darwin, and people from east of Warburton to be treated with renal dialysis machines in Alice Springs. That shows that even the Liberal Minister for Health in Western Australia recognises the inroads we have made in health, in improving services to the Territory, and is prepared to send his citizens to our jurisdiction to receive appropriate, and very good, medical treatment.
Mr STYLES (Sanderson): Madam Speaker, before I respond to this ministerial statement on infrastructure investment, I will acknowledge a number of things the member for Johnston said. I commend the member for Johnston when he made the statement about stopping the spin. That was a good idea; I only ask that some of his colleagues heed his advice. I also acknowledge that he said the CLP did something, as opposed to the member for Karama who said the CLP did nothing and has neglected the Territory.
This is the sort of spin where the current government tries to rewrite history. I agree with the minister in relation to statements where people try to rewrite history. I ask that members opposite listen to the member for Johnston, who said some fine things in his presentation on this ministerial statement.
I read the statement and have about three days worth of material here to speak on. Given the shortness of time available I will try to address some of the major issues.
A member: Three days worth.
Mr STYLES: Three days worth, it is very easy to find that sort of material in this statement. On page 1 it says:
I recall being in the Territory at that time and you could get a construction job. Perhaps what the minister and the Treasurer were talking about was that growth had slowed and there was a global downturn at that time. Jobs were available. It may not have been a huge growth period, but they were available. With statements like this, from the first page you have to put up with constant statements which say this did not happen and that did not happen.
I will address some of those issues. Currently we have good growth in the Territory. There are all sorts of private industry infrastructure projects happening. In about September/October last year, I spoke to a number of refrigeration mechanics who were leaving town because they could not find suitable accommodation. They could not find affordable accommodation and the way they were living, with about six of them sharing a home, was unacceptable. They informed me they were leaving the Territory because of the housing issues.
Infrastructure investment involves the timely release of land, and I will come to that shortly. I was at the markets on Sunday and I spoke to a person who is an employer. This person enlightened me as to some rather interesting facts. They run businesses in the central business district of Darwin. They are in the entertainment industry and cannot get employees. They said there are some employees out there, some of whom are not suitable. This person is flying people in from Queensland to work in the entertainment industry and then they have to fly them back. It is cheaper for them to fly people across for short periods of time than it is to find them accommodation. This person has been forced to buy accommodation so their employees have somewhere to live. Due to award wages and the fact that AWAs have gone out, they cannot negotiate. The employers cannot pay what they would like to pay them; therefore, these people leave because it is too expensive to live. One of the greatest contributions to that expense is the cost of housing.
I found that very interesting and it is a common thing I hear as I move around my electorate and the community and talk with people, when I go to functions and talk to key people in the community. They have this problem where they cannot get good staff because good staff will not stay here as they cannot afford to live. All the advertising promotions in the world about lifestyle and what a great place the Territory is – I agree it is a great place, it is what brought me here and what has kept me here, yet people, especially young people, are struggling to pay the rent, let alone live and enjoy the fabulous lifestyle we used to have. Unfortunately, it is now declining because of the untimely release of land and a number of other things.
It says here:
I am sure if you go to the Cool Spot now, perhaps it is a little late in the evening now, you will find the Cool Spot is full of contractors. You cannot find a park in Keith Lane due to contractor’s vehicles. They are almost two deep at this point in time, with contractors and concreters passing the time.
Those people have expressed concerns to me; builders have expressed concerns to me. There are builders who, when you say ‘I want a house please’, the first thing they ask is ‘Do you have a block of land?’ If the answer is no, it is ’Sorry, too bad, too sad’. They cannot get enough land. It has been said to me that the demise of a couple of builders around Darwin - and I speak about Darwin as opposed to Alice Springs, occurred because they could not get land to build houses on. Approvals for residential developments are down. This is a common problem, it is a common theme you find when you walk around the community and talk to people.
On page 2 of the statement it says:
Either the Chief Minister or the member for Johnston put up a graph earlier which showed the level of funding under the former Howard Coalition government and what happened when Labor got in. The Treasurer might have a careful look at it because the former Howard government was paying off $96bn in debt inherited from Labor in 1996. We should not rewrite history but remember history very clearly and ask why it is the federal government does not have the money? Because the federal Labor government spent, overspent, and continued to spend other people’s money, put it on the Bankcard and hoped when it was out of government someone else would pay it off, as is the case.
If I am correct, in July 2007 the then Treasurer, Peter Costello, in the former Howard government announced it had paid off Labor’s $96bn debt and the Australian government did not owe any money – a good place to be! When it lost government in November 2007, my understanding is it had $26bn in the bank; it had a Future Fund, and much money stashed away for a rainy day. I do not know whether it has been raining - we have had record drought in the country. It seems to have been raining in Canberra because they have taken all the money and spent it, plus they have borrowed much more putting us in debt.
We can all debate stimulus packages; they are good, however it is how you spend the stimulus, where you spend it, and if you waste it or not. Most people would agree there will be some stimulus needed, but it should be spent wisely. The problem the federal government has is that it has not spent it wisely. We have the minister praising the federal Labor member for Solomon, Damian Hale, saying what a fantastic job - I have more to say on that as time progresses.
The other thing that occurs to me when people try to rewrite history is, in 2001 we started the GST. Up until then we did not have the rivers of gold flowing in from the GST. The Treasurer likes to point out that the CLP did nothing, did not achieve anything and did not spend any money. It is interesting because the current government has had more money than it ever thought it would yet it still has problems balancing the books. It continues to spend money and run us into debt. The latest debt figure is about $1.61bn, projected to be doubled to $3.2bn in about four years.
As we move on, we look at the criticism by the member for Karama of the previous Country Liberal government. I ask the members opposite to look at the building we are standing in. I recall the years from 1983 to 1996 when there was a federal Labor government. There was a statement made in this House today - I think by the Chief Minister - if the Coalition government gets in, they will do over the Territory. Let me tell you, if you have not been around and have not looked at the history books of the Territory, we got done over, right royally, in 1991 when we had the recession we had to have, thanks to Mr Keating.
The figure was about $256m out of a $1.2bn budget for the Northern Territory, which equates to somewhere between 20% and 25% of our budget, slashed at the stroke of a pen. We had struggles in those days. I recall the newspaper articles, the discussion of the day. We struggled to get through those years because a federal Labor government, with the stroke of a pen, took away 20% or 25% of our budget.
If you took 25% of the weekly or fortnightly budget of families, and people who are struggling to provide all sorts of things these days, you would find them struggling to maintain anything. That is exactly what the federal Labor government did to the Territory. When the Chief Minister says the Coalition will do over the Territory that is only an assumption. History shows that the federal Labor government has severely and right royally done over the Territory in the past.
The statement lists a range of achievements they claim. I agree with what the member for Katherine said about feeling a little embarrassed for the minister because the minister has to read this and justify the statements contained therein. We are a compassionate lot on this side of the House, albeit members opposite may not agree.
I was talking to some tourists at the markets who came through Tennant Creek. I will not repeat in this Chamber the words they used to describe Tennant Creek. Tennant Creek is full of wonderful people. Unfortunately, there are a few issues in Tennant Creek, and these people expressed their concerns to me in some very colourful language. I did not agree with them. These are tourists who are driving through the Territory and raising these issues with someone on a political stand. I do not know whether they spoke to the member for Johnston whose office is at the Rapid Creek shopping centre. I hope they did. I hope the member for Johnston takes note of what those fine tourists who come here and spend their money in the Territory are saying and what message they may be taking back with them.
On a side issue, they also spoke about roadside stops, toilet areas, sewage dumping areas, and a raft of things they said the Territory needs to get its act together on. Those upstairs listening to this may like to make a note of that.
I move on to where it says:
Look at who built the original sporting facilities at Marrara. If you listen to the way some members of the current government speak, you would think that in 27 years the CLP did nothing because that is what they say. Yet, from scratch and on a restricted budget without the rivers of GST, Marrara was built and sporting grounds were built. These are the things which keep people with families here. When you are transiting from a town which people used to come to for two years, do their stint and then go back down south, when you are trying to build the fabric of a community, you need sporting facilities, so of course there are sporting facilities to be built. They were built and they are testament to the futuristic thoughts of a number of previous members of this House.
It is good to see that any government continues to build facilities for its nation, but that was all done on a reduced budget compared with what we have today.
The member for Johnston spoke about retirement homes and things like that. I will look at some housing issues. It says on page 3:
Let us talk about ageing public housing infrastructure and the replacement of public housing. I have stood in this House before and quoted figures. Recently, I had some figures fired back at me which do not agree with the public figures. This is from the Regional Statistics, Northern Territory, Australian Bureau of Statistics. I have quoted from these sheets before and it seems that people still are not getting the message:
This is from the ABS Regional Statistics, Northern Territory page 83.
I will move to the answer to Written Question No 76 from the member for Goyder. This answer was given on 1 April 2010. In Table 1 it says there were 5062 public housing dwellings in the Northern Territory. So we are still going down. Unless someone has built many houses recently, the figure is probably very similar. I note they say we are building 14 houses here and the member for Johnston mentioned some figures in relation to Malak, Bellamack and other areas. But we still dropped over 300; we are still going backwards.
Infrastructure goes across the board. We have young families, people who are too scared to live in particular unit blocks because of the violence and the fear which goes with wandering around the place in the evening, and the kids not wanting to go outside and play because they are scared. It is an appalling situation.
Mr CHANDLER: A point of order, Madam Speaker! I move an extension of time pursuant to Standing Order 77.
Motion agreed to.
Mr STYLES: Thank you very much, Madam Speaker, and I thank the member for Brennan for his indulgence.
We are going down and I pulled this out, it is only to 2009, but my understanding is it has not gone down substantially, but as you can see from this chart in 2004 there were about 1800 people on the waiting list. In 2009; there were about 3550. As of a couple of days ago, the seniors’ waiting list was 59 months. That is almost five years. People come into my office and say: ‘Well, it is really good because you have to be a senior before you can put your name on the seniors’ list. You cannot go in there five years before, while you are still working, and make plans.’ These people are in dire straights because, when they lose their income and start to receive their pension or superannuation, they cannot afford the high rents.
This means we will start losing seniors, and anyone who stops work, from our community. We will lose them because they cannot pay the rents. Why can they not pay the rents? Because house prices have skyrocketed, and people have to get a return on their investment so the whole system goes into overdrive and prices go through the roof, both rents and sale prices.
Where do we go from here? We do not see an enormous infrastructure build for seniors. We do not see an enormous infrastructure build locally. Most commentators and the average people I talk to, think SIHIP is a joke. Eleven homes have been built under SIHIP.
A member: Rubbish!
Mr STYLES: I am happy to be corrected. If the minister sitting on the other side would like to, I would welcome a figure of completed homes under SIHIP.
Moving on, it says here:
I also see much borrowed money. Further on and it says:
You may put much of that money into SIHIP; Building the Education Revolution; the intervention. Much money has flowed into the Territory as a result of activity. If you look at the intervention alone, who started that? It was the former Coalition government. The Labor government, the Rudd government, picked it up and has continued it, and there are some benefits in that program.
I talk to people about what is happening with the Building the Education Revolution and there is one story which immediately comes to mind. There is a community where the school is falling to bits. The kitchen facilities are poor. They are trying to encourage the locals to come to school. They are trying to prepare food. They are trying to do a range of things. The building is falling to bits, it is below standard, it needs a lot of money spent on it. I am sure governments on both sides will need to spend that money. However, along comes the Building the Education Revolution and tells them you have to spend on something outside.
When this person told me this I was shocked. They have a nice basketball court with no shade. They have another basketball court with some shade over it. They have another basketball court with good shade over it. Guess what they have now? Another basketball court! They have four basketball courts and a school building which is falling to bits.
There have been some benefits from the Building the Education Revolution, but it needed to be a little more flexible. While you stand up and say this is fabulous, this is what we have, you still have people in communities begging for basic infrastructure to be fixed but, no, they have to have four basketball courts.
We talk about various things that have happened and the facilities in the northern suburbs which were built by the previous CLP government. I heard the member for Casuarina talk about spending $27m to establish a medical school at Charles Darwin University. I ask the member for Casuarina if he remembers who started that university. It was not the federal government. It was the Northern Territory government. There was a federal Labor government in 1987-88, when the Northern Territory University first kicked off, and it was not the federal government which put the money in. It was the Northern Territory government which built and started the Northern Territory University. Today we have a university in the Territory, started by a government which took the initiative and cared enough about keeping young people in the Territory, keeping our children here so they can complete their university education in the Territory.
Time does not permit me to discuss some of the infrastructure which should be there, which would mean a number of people I am in touch with not having to go south to do courses. That is something we all have to work on as a community.
It says here:
$725m for housing - first you have to have land to build these houses on. What we do not see is the timely release of sufficient blocks of land. We have not seen that for quite some time, which has led to the housing crisis we have. It is all very well to say $725m for housing, including the biggest investment in public housing and fast-tracked land release. I cannot believe that statement, and it is misleading. We have figures which show we are going backwards in public housing, and they say they are going to spend this much money and fast-track land release.
You have builders who say they cannot get land, and land is so expensive that young people cannot afford to buy a house. They cannot afford the packages, so where are they? Living with mum and dad and overcrowding them. They are with their kids, living with mum and dad and there are a number of issues in relation to people not being able to do other jobs in the community because they have to look after their kids and grandkids.
The next dot point in that paragraph says:
I wonder if someone from the other side could tell me if that is the borrowings of the bail-out of the Power and Water Authority. What about the generator where they sent off-specification gas down the line, and who authorised that? That is an interesting question. I have heard rumours, but I am not working on rumours. I suspect the person who authorised that would be very embarrassed to say: ‘Yes, it was me’. We have a generator which had to go back to its manufacturer in the United States to be repaired, probably at the cost of the taxpayer of the Northern Territory.
Then you look at the power system infrastructure. Recently I was talking to a person who used to work for companies which did maintenance. I can only go on what he says: maintenance is down and he believes there is a run-to-fail maintenance program where you wait until it breaks, which is what happened at Casuarina when we had the little explosion. This person showed me some photos and said: ’This is what has happened; I know because I was one of the people who used to maintain these switches. That is what happened because they are not maintaining them’.
My understanding is the government needs $300m for the port facility. It received $50m from the federal government through Infrastructure Australia. It is an appalling situation. Mr Hale says: ‘Yes, I have all this money’. The total bucket of money was enormous for Infrastructure Australia, but what do we receive? We receive $50m.
There are so many issues which affect the lives and future of Territorians, and affect the future of young people and having them stay here. The government should have a close look at this statement. As I said before, I really feel for the poor minister who had to give this statement ,..
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Sanderson, your time has expired.
Mr KNIGHT (Business and Employment): Madam Speaker, it is scary to think this gentleman used to carry a gun. He is so thick. I do not know how many times public housing has been explained to him in this House. It has been explained to him that the CLP sold off, in its last six years in power, 2100 houses. That is shameful. The Leader of the Opposition …
Mr Giles: ABS figures.
Dr Burns: Read the footnote, mate.
Mr KNIGHT: Read the footnote. He just does not get it over there, and it is scary. He used to work with children; he used to carry a gun around. Oh, my God. It is lucky no one was shot because he is a very scary individual. He does not get it - 2100 homes were sold off. There were about 700 sold in Alice Springs. The member for Braitling, quite rightly, is concerned about public housing in Alice Springs. What he fails to realise is his own administration, the conservatives on the other side of the House, sold some 700 homes in Alice Springs ...
Ms Lawrie: Shame.
Mr KNIGHT: It is shameful. Can you imagine what Alice Springs would be like if there were another 700 homes there? There would be a negligible waiting list there but for the CLP trying to raise money, flogging off 2100 homes across the Territory in its last six years in government. It is an absolute disgrace.
The member for Sanderson continually gets it wrong. I suggest, and I am sure the minister for Housing would oblige, we sit you down with a departmental official, or even Treasury officials, to show you the footnote and explain to you the figures you are quoting. You are either being a little mischievous or you are just unintelligent. It could be both. That is the answer with respect to that. It is confusing when you say: ‘Debt is bad. Oh now, wait a sec, we need to spend more money on this’. How do you do that? Do you say: ‘Oh, we cannot spend the money but we need to spend the money’?
With respect to Power and Water, you talked about run to failure. You got that terminology from the Mervyn Davies report which highlighted decades of neglect of Power and Water by the CLP. They were his words, not some half-beat failed copper on the other side. Mervyn Davies, an expert with 40 years experience in the power industry, said a policy of the CLP administration of Power and Water was run to failure. They were not putting any money into Power and Water. Our administration, the Labor government, is putting in $1.5bn. You were going to sell it off; we are going to rebuild Power and Water.
We have some of the lowest power, water, and sewerage prices in the country - the lowest residential water supply prices in the country, the third lowest power prices in the country, and the third lowest sewerage prices in the country. Yet, you are saying: ‘Do not spend any more money on Power and Water. Do not go into any more debt. The government should not …
Mr Giles interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Member for Braitling! Minister, please direct your comments through the Chair.
Mr KNIGHT: I was trying to, Madam Speaker. They are very confused on the other side about what their message is: spend more money but do not spend more money.
We are going to invest in vital infrastructure in the Northern Territory. I will …
Mr Giles: Will the real Rob Knight please stand up.
Mr KNIGHT: I did not hear the comment. The member for Katherine talked about the record $1.8bn infrastructure spend in this year’s budget. The difference is we have cash for it. When the CLP was last in office, they had no cash for the infrastructure. You could not pay for the revote. That is what the difference was. There was a huge black hole in the budget. There is $1.8bn going into infrastructure, going to businesses across the Northern Territory, not only supporting jobs but developing vital infrastructure for the future of the Northern Territory, investing in the future productivity of the Northern Territory, an investment in schools so we have skilled workers for the future in the Northern Territory. That is what is happening.
The member for Katherine also talked about the Police Beat. I am glad he is proud of the Police Beat because his leader wants to close them down. These Police Beats were an initiative of the Labor government, and it is great to see the Katherine community picked up on a Labor government idea and wanted it in Katherine. I acknowledge the work which went on there. The member for Katherine does not highlight it is CLP policy to close the Police Beats down. It is an interesting conversation he is going to have with his community because the Leader of the Opposition is committed to closing them down.
I will comment on the minister for infrastructure’s statement. I commend him for the statement. The Northern Territory economy is in a position of strength. There is a very positive outlook for growth. The Territory’s strong economic performance, in spite of the global financial crisis, is no accident. It is a direct result of the Northern Territory government’s infrastructure spending program, in conjunction with the Australian government’s stimulus package.
We have had a number of big projects happening around the Territory, the Darwin LNG and Rio Tinto Alcan, but we are between major projects. We have been working on the next project coming along and we have our fingers crossed with INPEX. This government is a responsible government. It recognises there needs to be added stimulus and investment to keep the economy ticking over. This is in stark contrast to Tony Abbott and the Liberals. They will slash infrastructure expenditure, and that will hurt businesses. They will have to lay off staff and it is an absolute disgrace. That is where a conservative government is going - to harm businesses, lose jobs.
The Northern Territory’s unemployment rate is at a record low, 2.8% last month, according to the ABS. We also had the country’s highest participation rate. While we welcome the continuing fall in the unemployment rate, we should not just rely on month to month comparisons. When we look at the broader year to year figures, the Territory’s unemployment decreased from 3.7% to 3.4% between the 2008-09 years to 2009-10. Over the same period, the Territory’s population increased by 4374 persons. Employment increased by 3340 persons and the number of unemployed persons decreased by 303.
A record infrastructure investment in 2009 stimulated the economy, helping to create 6000 new jobs across the Northern Territory. Our businesses are very confident about the future and the Northern Territory government is delivering a suite of programs to assist businesses. These programs will assist local businesses to keep up with, and ahead of, emerging technology and practices and will support the professional growth of businesses. This will be placed at risk if major infrastructure programs are scuttled by Tony Abbott and the Liberal Party.
The Northern Territory has the highest per capita gross state product at $73 516 in the 2008-09 year. The nearest jurisdictions are the ACT and Western Australia, at just over $71 000. The national average is $55000, so you can see that the Northern Territory’s GSP is significantly higher than most other jurisdictions across Australia.
Construction, mining, and public sector investment were vital in driving the Northern Territory economy in the last financial year. Budget 2010 delivers a record $1.8bn for capital works, minor new works, and repairs and maintenance. This is an investment in the Territory’s future and will support vital jobs across every area of the Northern Territory.
I am pleased to say Northern Territory companies have received the lion’s share of the Northern Territory government’s tender since July 2009. Our procurement policies have recognised local businesses and the benefits which flow directly into the Northern Territory economy while ensuring we receive value for money for these contracts. This does not happen by chance or good luck; we support local businesses to compete for government contracts.
In the last financial year, 83% of government contracts were awarded to local companies. That is a great result. Sixty-three percent of these were top level, tier 4 and tier 5 contracts, valued at just under $745m. The construction sector is particularly important to the Territory economy. It accounts for 5.1% of our economy and made a nett value added contribution of $838m in 2008-09.
Construction sector activities have increased considerably over the last 10 years and have provided considerable stimulus to the economy. The construction sector is also a significant employer in the Northern Territory. Almost 10% of the resident workforce is employed within this industry; that is more than 10 000 people across the Territory. The Northern Territory Treasury estimates that since 2001, the construction activity in real terms, or value of work done, has increased at an average of approximately $2.5bn a year. Large construction projects such as Defence Force infrastructure, the Darwin LNG plant, Alcan G3 expansion and the Darwin Waterfront development can have a significant impact on the total value of work done in any year. This sector has been supercharged by these major projects which, on completion, have seen the construction market returning to a trend which shows strong, positive growth in this sector.
The Northern Territory government is supporting this sector with a number of employment and training initiatives. The sector has deep and strong links with other sectors in the economy because of the input required for construction activity and the supply of construction products such as houses, factories and roads. The wages of construction workers support other sectors in the economy such as retail and business services. For every dollar spent on construction another dollar is generated and fed back into the economy. That is why it is so important.
Budget 2010 delivers a record $1.8bn for infrastructure. This includes $995m for the capital works program; $437m for the Power and Water Corporation’s infrastructure program; $198m for the repairs and maintenance program; and $179m for capital repairs and maintenance grants. The key components of the construction sector include residential, non-residential and engineering construction activities. Non-residential and engineering works tend to vary over time and depend on the major projects I have mentioned. The recent global financial crisis did cause construction work to slow down, particularly in the private sector, in the Territory and across the nation. Action was needed and taken by government to protect Territory jobs and Territory businesses.
The Australian government’s economic stimulus package and the Northern Territory government’s capital works program have boosted and stimulated the sector, helping to keep the Territory economy strong and protect jobs. I remember attending a forum in this building with the Chief Minister and business leaders from Darwin to look at ways the Northern Territory government could help with its spend, reach all these businesses and protect jobs. The Northern Territory government has a robust procurement system which was streamlined in 2009 to ensure effective and efficient delivery of the stimulus program, including the Australian government’s Building the Education Revolution program.
Primary Schools for the 21st Century is about building new facilities, such as libraries, multipurpose halls and classrooms, in primary schools across Australia. A program of $173.1m has been allocated to 144 projects in 134 government primary schools across the Territory. Science and Language Centres for the 21st Century Secondary Schools provides new laboratories and language centres for secondary schools across Australia. $15.8m has been provided to eight government secondary schools in the Territory. The National School Pride Program provides funding for primary and secondary schools to undertake small scale construction and refurbishment projects. A total of $15.8m has been allocated to 150 government schools in the Territory. Non-government primary and secondary schools have been allocated $63.9m for 91 projects through the NT Block Grant Authority.
Jobs have been created as a result of the BER. Thirty-nine Indigenous apprentices, 119 non-Indigenous apprentices, 74 Indigenous workers and 474 non-Indigenous workers were employed. That is a great result. Those hundreds of jobs would not have been created and maintained without the BER. It is quite simple: Labor was for the BER and the CLP would have had these jobs go. Six hundred people would not have had a job through this very difficult economic time.
The success rate of the BER in the Territory was 91%, second only to Western Australia where 93% of total BER funds were allocated to building, works and services and unique project costs. There were only two non-procurement complaints about BER activities in the Northern Territory, which have been resolved. This great result shows that the Northern Territory government handled the BER very well. It stimulated jobs, completed projects, and was value for money.
Tony Abbott and the Liberal Party opposed this stimulus package. They opposed spending on these vital activities and they continue to oppose the stimulus measures. Members opposite do not support it, and they do not support the school upgrades in their own electorates. They have said the stimulus package should not have happened. We should not have gone into debt; we should not have borrowed money to pay companies to build schools and employ people. That is the difference between the parties. We are for stimulating the economy, creating jobs and investing in vital infrastructure during one of the biggest downturns in the world economy for many decades.
With the gradual recovery of the global economy, Territory construction activities are forecast to increase by 10% in 2010-11.
Mr McCARTHY: A point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker! I move an extension of time pursuant to Standing Order 77.
Motion agreed to.
Mr KNIGHT: Unemployment across the Northern Territory is expected to remain low in the foreseeable future, with forecast annual rates of 2.7% in 2010-11, 2.9% in 2011-12 and 3.1% in 2012-13, according to Access Economics. The number of employed people in Northern Territory in June 2010 was 119 500, unchanged from May 2010: full-time employment was 95 500, and part-time employment was 24 000. Nationally, employment increased by 45 900 people during the same period, with full-time employment increasing by 18 400, and part-time employment increasing by 27 500.
The Northern Territory government Jobs NT 2010 to 2012 employment strategy identifies the projected employment needs for the Territory’s economic future and strategies for meeting these needs. It is about growing the Territory to ensure we have the required labour force in the future, to overcome the constraints on our growing economy. It is about ensuring we plan for the future to avoid skills shortages which will hold back economic growth. Jobs NT identified three priority groups: business and employers; young people; and Indigenous Territorians. The strategies will work towards having these priority groups participating in learning, developing skills, and maximising their opportunities to share in the economic and social benefits of a growing economy. It is about providing opportunities for all Territorians. By creating real jobs, you create real opportunities.
The Northern Territory small to medium enterprises gave strong support to the Northern Territory government, which recorded the largest increase in confidence of any state or territory during the past quarter. That means we are one of the most popular governments in Australia with the business community. In the June 2010 Sensis Business Index, the Northern Territory recorded a nett balance of 57% compared to the national average of 31%. This balance was the equal highest of all jurisdictions, along with the ACT. NT businesses are expecting softening conditions during the next quarter. However, the NT recorded the nation’s strongest expectation for sales, profitability, employment, wages, and capital expenditure. Overall, business confidence across the NT remains high; businesses remain supportive of the Northern Territory government and its effort to improve business conditions across the Territory. This positive outlook is linked to our robust economy.
When it comes to trade training for Territorians, there is a very clear choice. Under the federal Labor government, you will see five trade training centres in the Territory. In contrast, Tony Abbot and the Liberals will pull the plug on trade training centres in the Territory, at a time when we need skilled workers and tradespeople. We have some big projects coming to the Northern Territory and we need that skilled workforce. The Liberal opposition wants to cut these vital centres. These centres will produce young tradespeople for many projects which will come to the Northern Territory in the future, so it is vital these trade training centres stay open.
The minister’s statement is very good; it highlights how we will support businesses and jobs. This Labor Territory government has seen downturn between projects, has faced the global financial crisis, and has come through it. It is no time to start pulling money out of the Northern Territory, which a federal Liberal government would do on Day 1. Tony Abbot talked about Day 1, Week 1. Within the first week many of the BER projects would be shut down. Many schools and communities across the Northern Territory would see projects pulled: projects which are due to them, to invest in their communities and provide vital infrastructure for our booming economy. There is a stark contrast between the parties: Labor is investing in the future and the Liberals will destroy the future economic opportunities for the Northern Territory.
Madam Deputy Speaker, I thank the minister for his statement and I commend it to the House.
Mr CONLAN (Greatorex): Madam Deputy Speaker, what I resent more than anything else is having to come into this House, be away from my home town of Alice Springs, my family, my constituents, and sit here enduring a propaganda, self-pontificating, holier than thou, puff piece by the government, which came on at 10.30 am.
We had no legislation; well, we passed one piece this morning. We have a Notice Paper with nine things on it, yet we go to another puff piece to pump up the government to make them feel good. Another he said, she said, they said, we do better than them, they are not as good as us sort of statement at 10.30 am and it is now 6 pm
I ask the Chief Minister, through you Madam Deputy Speaker, do you consider this to be a productive day? Surely you would prefer to be in your office, getting on with the job of being Chief Minister. Surely the Minister for Transport, rather than being stuck here having to trawl through e-mails and endure what is supposed to be the parliament, would rather be in his office getting on with the job of being Transport minister for the Northern Territory. Or, better still, would not you rather be in the beautiful Barkly region at this wonderful time of year? Twenty two or 23 degrees, sunny, blue skies. The place is green. I drove there a couple of weeks ago. It is like Wales. It is a magnificent time of year to be there.
Yet, here you are, stuck here in this Chamber doing nothing. We are doing absolutely nothing, and this came on at 10.30 am today. Goodness knows what is coming on tomorrow. I know I would rather be in Alice Springs spending time with my young family, or on the street shaking hands and talking to constituents.
I am sure the member for Arnhem would rather be in the beautiful Arnhem area. What a wonderful time of year to be in her four-wheel drive, exploring the Northern Territory, driving along the roads of the NT in her electorate, talking to her constituents, helping to solve some of their issues. God forbid she could bring some of those issues to the parliament, because we never address them.
In a roundabout way we move to adjourn the House, which is all we are doing, at 10.30 am this morning and move to another puff piece pontificating about how great the government is and how bad the CLP is.
I am sure the member for Stuart would much rather be out in his electorate. It covers nearly two-thirds of the Northern Territory. I would much rather be doing that. In a four-wheel drive on the beautiful bush roads, exploring some of the wonderful scenery and communities we have in the Northern Territory. I am sure the member for Stuart would much rather be doing that at this wonderful time of year: not too hot, no flies around, beautiful sunny skies, top of 23 or 24 degrees. It does not get much better than that, yet we are stuck in here.
I would say the same for the member for Katherine. It would be nice being at Katherine Gorge now. Would that not be a better place to be: at Katherine Gorge, talking to some of the tourists who visit at this time of year? It is peak tourist season; they are spending a great deal of money through the Katherine region. As the local member, it would be fantastic to be meeting these people, talking about some of their issues and selling the wonderful virtues of the Katherine region.
I am sure the member for Daly would much rather be fishing on the Daly River. It would be fantastic, yet we are stuck in here, and have been since 10.30 am, reading a statement which has just been recycled from a previous statement and a previous statement and a previous statement. It is always: ‘The CLP should burn in hell now. How dare they stay in government for 27 years. It is a black mark on society and on all Westminster parliaments that the CLP managed to stay in power for that long because they did absolutely nothing’. Thank goodness, as has been put to this parliament before by members of this side of the House, in August 2001 the dark clouds dispersed and the Labor Party came to power and solved all the problems. They should all go to heaven now and we should burn in hell. It is the same sort of stuff, just tweaked a little with some fancy words. In fact, some not so fancy words.
The Chief Minister says we have never been better off in the Northern Territory than under an ALP federal government. What a load of rubbish! We have heard some examples highlighted today through some of the responses to this puff piece.
When the Territory was handed self-government in 1978, and you do not have to be a genius or a long-term Territorian to know this, it is a simple fact, we were handed no infrastructure whatsoever in the bush. The CLP had to build all the houses in the bush. The new government of the Northern Territory had to build the entire infrastructure and the Commonwealth government sold things such as all the public housing and the power stations. They sold them back to the Northern Territory. They did not give them to the Northern Territory, we had to buy them.
The Commonwealth government applied a special formula to the Northern Territory which allowed it more money than the rest of the states were given, so it could close the gap on the infrastructure required to bring us in line with the rest of the states, and help us deal with our circumstances and the task ahead. However, in 1984 under the Hawke/Keating government, Finance minister, Peter Walsh said: ‘That is enough. No more extra money to the Northern Territory. That is it’. So now the same formula is applied to all the states and territories.
The Northern Territory receives no extra money, as it once did under the Fraser government, which was a smart move by the Fraser government. They recognised that building and creating the Northern Territory would be an enormous task. The Finance minister, Peter Walsh, from the Hawke/Keating government, cancelled that arrangement in 1984. It lasted six years.
A member: Shameful.
Mr CONLAN: And we have really never been able to catch up.
A member: Funny, they did not raise that.
Mr CONLAN: Oh no, because the Chief Minister likes to rewrite history and would rather sit here listening to these propaganda puff pieces than be in his office running the Northern Territory. He is clearly quite proud of them. He likes to rewrite history and say the Northern Territory is always better off under an ALP federal government. That is rubbish and I have just highlighted an example as to why. We have heard a stack of examples today.
He accuses the opposition of being lazy and incompetent. Today he said something about a lazy and incompetent policy, whatever that was. None of our policies are lazy and incompetent. The only thing lazy and incompetent is this Northern Territory Labor government. Look at them! We are hardly capturing the imagination of your own members, let alone the people in the gallery. We had half a dozen people sitting there before and they do not know what is going on. It is time wasting and it is an extraordinary waste of money to fly in members from all over the Northern Territory to be here. Five members from central Australia have to be here for two weeks. You have members from the Barkly region, Nhulunbuy and Katherine, travelling from all corners of the Northern Territory to spend two weeks in this parliament and all we do is read a regurgitated propaganda puff piece which pontificates the government’s position. Once again, he said, she said, you are better than us and you are not as good as us.
It is pathetic and I have just about had a gutful. We should suspend standing orders to seek leave to pass a motion to suspend parliament until we can start addressing the Notice Paper. What is the point in being here? Chief Minister, can you ask yourself, what is the point of this? Member for Fannie Bay, can you ask yourself, what is the point of this? I resent it. I despise having to be here when we are not doing anything. We are responding to this rubbish, which we have heard hundreds and hundreds of times before, about how great you are at spending money. Say it to your heart’s content. Convince the community you are wonderful infrastructure investors. If you can convince the community, more power to you. You do not convince us, you will not convince us; we do not believe you. We have to sit here and endure two weeks of this self-aggrandising rubbish.
I have to ask you, Madam Deputy Speaker, travelling all the way from Nhulunbuy, your home and your family, how do you feel about being here? Would you not rather be doing something else? I would much rather be on the beautiful pristine beaches of the northeast coast of the Northern Territory than here debating how great the Northern Territory government is at infrastructure. Maybe you could bring to parliament a visionary project which would inspire us - maybe even Territory 2030.
We have all these items on the Notice Paper - I do not understand. I have been in this Chamber for three years and I am slowly grasping how it works. I do not understand why we are not getting through the items on the Notice Paper; the Mineral Titles bill; the Environmental Offences and Penalties Amendment Bill; the Statute Law Revision Bill; the SIHIP report; personal property, justice legislation, and lo and behold there is another statement to come. All 25 members spending 20 minutes speaking on this will take up the rest of today and probably some of tomorrow. Then we will just move to Growing International Trade, which was adjourned on 10 June by the member for Johnston.
Thank goodness we have a General Business Day, and thank goodness it has been moved to every Wednesday because it will give us a chance to put some meat on the bone in this parliament tomorrow. It has been stripped bare. It is appalling. I am thankful there are no visitors in this Chamber now and I hope we do not have thousands of Territorians listening to us on the radio. What would they think of what we are doing in this Chamber?
Question Time gets a little robust, and we have now installed new audio and video to keep things under control, however it is the highlight of the day. If it was not for that we would just be reading self aggrandising statements by the government which are churned out ad nauseam on the fifth floor. Some whiz kid up there is pumping these things out, handing them to the relevant ministers who read them verbatim, and everyone is expected to contribute. If we did not we would be finished by 3 pm, but then we would probably move to the other one because God forbid we start debating legislation.
Tomorrow there are 10 items of business for the opposition to debate. That comes on at 5.30 pm. Thank goodness the opposition has some legislation and some meat on the bone, so to speak, because this parliament is becoming a vacuum. It is devoid of anything substantial. A large amount of money is spent to keep this place operational, for what? Who wants to be here? Under these circumstances, under the status quo, I do not. I would much rather be home in beautiful Alice Springs where it is 23 degrees, fine and sunny, where my wife and family, constituents and friends are. Where I have a much better ability to address their needs face-to-face and take their phone calls than I do stuck here, because there is a requirement to be here, debating nothing at all.
I have just been given notice a statement will be circulated on education shortly. So now, we have three. We have this one; I am not sure where this is going, it may be adjourned or closed tonight, we have the statement on growing international trade, and we now have one on education.
It is appalling. It is an extraordinary waste of everyone’s time. We have some important people in this place. We have the Chief Minister of the Northern Territory, for crying out loud, who is stuck here and has to listen to this rubbish. I would much rather the Chief Minister of the Northern Territory was upstairs working or out in the public shaking hands, talking to people, doing what he is supposed to be doing. In the last 12 to 18 months it has become an ever-increasing trend to drop the legislation - we either do not bring it in or we do not debate it – and bring in statements. As a result of that, the Chief Minister of the Northern Territory is sitting here having to endure this pontificating rubbish.
We have another minister of the Crown sitting over there, the Minister for Transport, who would much rather be in the beautiful Barkly region. I would much rather he was there, solving and addressing the issues and concerns of the people, doing what he is supposed to be doing, or in his office discussing issues and concerns with his department. He is stuck here having to listen to rubbish about how great the ALP is and how terrible the CLP is. All the ministers over there are stuck in this Parliament House because it is a requirement. There are plenty of better things for them to do. No one begrudges the requirement of parliament; it is part of the job. Sometimes, it is fun and is a very important part of the job. What we are doing right now is not an important part of the job; it is irrelevant.
We know you think you are fantastic and we are not. You do not have to convince us how great and how wonderful you are, and tell us how terrible we have been in the hope we may roll over and say: ‘Gee you know what? You are right. You finally convinced us we are not that good. Thanks very much. Okay, guys, let us all join hands’. You know that will not happen. That will never happen because we do not believe it. What are we doing besides wasting taxpayers’ money, our own time, and the time of our constituents, who would much rather be knocking on our doors, ringing our telephones and having meetings with us in the hope we can address some of their issues? But, no, we are here. I, for one, resent that and I am sure there are many others. If you look deep into yourselves, you will probably find you feel the same way. You have to ask yourself: what the hell is all this about? It is about nothing, except self-aggrandising, back-slapping, more power to us stuff.
I do not commend this statement to the House. I condemn this stuff. I will continue to condemn it until we see something that is serious, visionary, and we get through some legislation and start doing what is right for the Northern Territory.
Members: Hear, hear!
Mr HENDERSON (Chief Minister): Madam Deputy Speaker, I agree with what the member for Greatorex said about having to sit here and listen to rubbish. I have never heard such rubbish from anyone in this parliament as has just been spoken by the member for Greatorex. It is obvious he is losing his appetite for the job. He has not been here for three years yet and already he does not want to be here at all. I wonder whether he will put his hand up and go around next time if that is how he feels about the business of parliament and the work that we do here. I have a word of advice for the member for Greatorex: I have been in this parliament much longer than he has and I spent two years in this Chamber in opposition as shadow Health spokesperson, a position he now holds. This parliament we are sitting in is no different from the parliament which was convened under a CLP government where, quite appropriately, ministers brought statements to the House on issues of importance to the Northern Territory, and they debated them. The same procedures and processes used today were used for 27 years under the CLP government and are used by all parliaments which use the Westminster system.
To say ministerial statements have no importance shows that (a) he has no understanding of the Westminster parliamentary system and how it works; and (b) he has contempt for the people of the Northern Territory. There are constituent groups and interest groups who look at debates in this House over issues of importance, and if the member for Greatorex thinks debating education is not an important issue to …
Mr Conlan: It is not a debate. It is a statement.
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order!
Mr HENDERSON: … to debate. I will pick up on the member for Greatorex’s comment. It is a ministerial statement which is then open for debate in this House. The member for Greatorex, the shock jock from Alice Springs, speaks with contempt about Darwin and having to come here where he does not have any friends, family, or constituents. Member for Greatorex, Darwin is part of the Northern Territory. It is where the parliament is located. I am sorry if you are inconvenienced by having to attend parliament where you do not have any family or friends …
Mr Conlan: Well get on with the job of governing the Northern Territory.
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order!
Mr HENDERSON: You do not have any friends and you have contempt for the people of Darwin. That is your position.
I would also like to pick up on the comments about the funding for the Northern Territory. It is the Commonwealth Grants Commission which allocates funding, based on relativities and horizontal and vertical fiscal equalisation. He needs to understand those principles of Commonwealth funding to understand how the Territory is funded and has been funded for many years. In the 20 minutes he spoke he did not address infrastructure - just bile, tripe and rubbish for the full 20 minutes. If he believes addressing the issue of the infrastructure needs of the Territory is not important, he is a politician after all, then he needs to realise we are in the midst of federal election campaigns and Territorians have to make a very important decision on how they vote on 21 August. He should recognise the parliament is now broadcast live over the Internet, so there will be people, not thousands of people, but there will be people who will watch or listen to parliaments on the Internet and infrastructure is an issue where Territorians have to make a choice in this election.
There was an opportunity for the member for Greatorex to explain what the Coalition parties’ infrastructure commitments are to the Territory. Obviously he does not think it is important to talk about the importance of the Commonwealth’s contribution to infrastructure in the Territory. It is important, whoever is in government, to have a good understanding of, and a good working relationship with, the Commonwealth government of the day because it funds 80% of our budget. For the member for Greatorex to think the debate in the public arena is not an important debate for this parliament to have on behalf of all Territorians in the lead-up to a federal election shows how nave he is.
When Territorians make their choice on 21 August they should look at the infrastructure record of the last two-and-a-half years and compare it to the 10 years which preceded it. Under the Howard government, under the then member for Solomon, there was very little funding committed for infrastructure in the Northern Territory. It is the philosophy of coalition governments that infrastructure belongs to the states. It has nothing to do with the Commonwealth government. We would go back to that position under a Tony Abbott prime ministership.
There have not been any infrastructure commitments from the Liberal coalition during this campaign. All it has talked about are the things it would cut and the things they will not do in the Northern Territory; the BER; our trade training centre investments; funding for social housing programs; the broadband network; funding for computers in schools; and funding for electronic health records would all be scrapped. The electronic health records have been such a great success in the Northern Territory. Over 20 000 Territorians have taken the opportunity to have an electronic health record. The member for Greatorex is the shadow health spokesperson. I wonder if he has spoken to the doctors leading that project team, as I have, about the important and significant benefits to Indigenous health outcomes this electronic medical record is providing to clinicians, doctors and allied health service providers across the Northern Territory.
Mr CONLAN: A point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker! Seeing that the government is so interested and this is so important to all Territorians, according to the Chief Minister, who likes to use this parliament to electioneer, rather than address legislation …
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: What is your point of order, member for Greatorex?
Mr CONLAN: I call your attention to the state of the House.
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: Thank you. Ring the bells.
A member: It is so important, isn’t it?
Mr HENDERSON: All you guys want to do is scrap things. Why would you want to be in government to do nothing?
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: We have a quorum. Thank you.
Mr HENDERSON: Why would you want to be in government federally not to do things? The whole campaign from the Coalition in the Northern Territory is to stop doing things, not to start doing things. I do not know what the point of being in government is if you are going to do nothing. The electronic medical health record is another initiative which would be scrapped. All of these issues are of great importance to the people of the Northern Territory. For the member for Greatorex to think that, during a federal election campaign, this parliament should debate issues which are of great importance to the Northern Territory in regard to who takes the Treasury benches in Canberra after 21 August, shows what a nave individual he is.
Nothing provides more proof of the opposition’s intention to cut funding to the states than the Opposition Leader’s commitment to cut $1.8bn from the state infrastructure fund and his comments about cutting programs to reduce the deficit at a faster rate than the Labor government. Regardless of how the member for Greatorex wants to paint it, these are the facts: in their last full year in office, the Howard government, of which the Leader of the Opposition, Mr Abbott, was a Cabinet minister, allocated around $57m to infrastructure in the Territory. It paid for a few flagpoles, but not much else.
In 2009-10, the federal Labor government allocated $467m to infrastructure, in 2010-11 the allocation is budgeted to be $798m; 14 times more than the last full year of the Liberal National Party government in Canberra. The member for Greatorex does not think that is information people in the Northern Territory might find interesting when deciding how to cast their vote on 21 August. Do they understand an Abbott-led Coalition government in Canberra would go back to its DNA, its roots, its philosophical commitment that infrastructure is not the realm of the Australian Commonwealth government; it is the realm of the states. That is the philosophical position of the Liberal Coalition CLP team going to this election, and it has demonstrated 10 years of commitment to it.
The member for Greatorex pointed out the Territory was a young jurisdiction with an underdeveloped infrastructure, both economic and social and we need Commonwealth assistance. That is what the debate is about this evening, the fact that on the table is an ongoing commitment to infrastructure versus an opposition which would walk away from the field and any requirement to fund infrastructure.
$798m is a large amount of money. Where does it go? It is directed at roads, which are important for our regions and urban centres; health infrastructure, which is vitally needed across the Northern Territory; and education infrastructure: our vital works which are helping to manage the growth of the Territory. Members opposite will be attending opening functions for new facilities in schools in their electorates which have been funded through the BER program. The member for Fong Lim was at Ludmilla Primary School recently celebrating the great infrastructure there. He said that infrastructure is okay; it is the infrastructure in the other schools he is not happy with. The hypocrisy is breathtaking.
Under the federal Labor government, funding has been significantly lifted funding for programs in education, an additional 200 teachers for the Northern Territory and primary health programs designed to close the gap on Indigenous disadvantage. These programs are funded through National Partnership Agreements, partnerships between the states and the Commonwealth with clear goals and objectives. They would disappear under a Liberal government, along with the massive injection of funding, both capital and recurrent.
Anyone who understands the Northern Territory knows our economy works in cycles. The member for Greatorex should know the private sector invests based on confidence, and if it does not have confidence in the Northern Territory, the direction of the Northern Territory and the future of the Northern Territory, it does not invest. The global financial crisis wobbled the world’s financial markets significantly. We were not immune to that in Australia and it was the responsibility of governments to step in early and keep businesses and jobs going. Now we are having an election debate based on economic management and economic competence. Tony Abbott admits they would not have spent as much on stimulus measures as the Labor government did.
In its election campaign, the Labor government is promising bigger tax cuts to businesses than the Coalition. The Coalition is going to tax businesses in Australia more if they are elected on 21 August. Under a Coalition government, with Tony Abbott as Prime Minister, businesses will pay a percentage point more in company tax than under Labor. Big businesses will pay 2% more in company tax because those big companies will be funding the Coalition’s maternity scheme. It is incredible that we are in an election climate where the opposition is going to tax business more, in the event they win the election, than the current Labor government. That is bad news for business because every dollar paid in tax to the Commonwealth government is a dollar less which can be reinvested in the business. That is an important issue.
The member for Greatorex did not explain why businesses in the Territory will be better off under a Coalition government by paying more tax. I would have liked to have heard him explain why he thinks his constituents in Alice Springs who are running small businesses should pay more tax. The debate is too hard for him to handle; the issues are too complex for him to grapple with. His capacity to engage in a debate of the issues is so slim all he can do is say how much he hates his job, hates being in Darwin, hates being in parliament, and what a waste of time it all is, instead of rising to the challenge of debating the issues. All we got was: ‘Poor bugger me, I do not want to be here. This is all horrible. I am missing my family and friends and I want to be home in Alice Springs’. What an appalling contribution.
Infrastructure, tax, investing in the Northern Territory, growing the Territory economy and the social fabric of the Northern Territory, the federal election in two weeks time where Territorians will play their part in choosing the next federal government, none of those things are important. We should not be debating those issues in the parliament in the next two weeks.
I ask the member for Greatorex, if the federal election is not important and this parliament should not be debating issues related to the federal election over the next two weeks, why did the Leader of the Opposition spend the entire Question Time campaigning on behalf of the candidate for Solomon on the issue of RAAF Base houses? I do not know whether he is part of the parliamentary tactics team; if he is then his voice was obviously not heard in the tactics room in the Opposition Leader’s office in regard to their performance in Question Time today. He cannot have it both ways.
What I see in the member for Greatorex is someone who has decided this is not the job for him; he is not keen on this job. He has had a taste of it; he does not really like it. That is fair enough; it is not for everyone. He would rather be home in Alice Springs, and that is fair enough as well. He cannot debate the issues because his heart is not in it.
The question which is really important here is: should the Commonwealth be investing in infrastructure? This side of the parliament says yes, we do have massive and significant needs in the Northern Territory …
Mr CONLAN: A point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker! Seeing the Chief Minister has dedicated the last 20 minutes of his speech to me, I would like to offer him another 10 minutes because I am flattered my speech has affected him so much. I move an extension of time pursuant to Standing Order 77.
Motion agreed to.
Mr HENDERSON: I thank the member for Greatorex for his generosity because it is important we understand the role the Commonwealth has played over the last two-and-a-half years in investing in infrastructure in the Northern Territory. It has been significant; it has benefited the Northern Territory, and as the Chief Minister, I want to see this commitment to infrastructure continue to benefit people of the Northern Territory after the next election.
The opposition has an opportunity in debate on this statement to state their view and policies. They are campaigning in this election. They have candidates running under the CLP banner in Lingiari and Solomon and in the Senate. Territorians want to hear what their position is on infrastructure funding from the Commonwealth government. Territorians interested in the debate will either be watching it, listening to it over the Internet, or will access it on Hansard. There may only be a handful of people, there may only be a few hundred people, but the ones who look at it are interested. They want to know what the Labor position is, what the Country Liberal Party position is and the positions of the Independents.
That is the debate we are having tonight, and I am disappointed the member for Greatorex felt he could not contribute. It is an important debate for the Northern Territory and I commend the minister on his statement.
Mr CHANDLER (Brennan): Madam Deputy Speaker, I was not going to speak on this, however some of the things I have heard tonight compelled me to. I agree with the member for Greatorex that there are very important things we should be doing in this House. Whilst it is important that we debate matters, perhaps there are more important things at the coalface, on the street, that we should be dealing with now.
During an election campaign both sides of government, all parties, become hypocritical at some stage. After listening today I can understand more why the average person on the street is cynical about politicians: cynical about what we do, how much it costs and what we are trying to achieve. We have a Labor Party which is willing to say and do anything to stay in power, and the goal of any opposition is to win enough votes to take government. What happens is a sad reality where we have this 24-hour cycle of media attention-grabbing lines, and I wonder when we are ever going to start fixing some of the problems.
Prior to being a local member I was an everyday Joe, like most of us in this House. We too were, perhaps, cynical of both sides of politics in the Northern Territory for many years, yet we come into this House and throw mud at each other in an effort to score political ground. That is the game we play.
I first arrived in Darwin in 1985 as a member of the Air Force. My wife and I were married in late 1987 and we moved into one of the houses on the RAAF Base. Those houses had just been renovated. They were stripped back to skeletons, then new floors, walls, roofs, hot water systems, and so on, were installed. When we moved into this house at 1 Coolaroo Street on the RAAF Base it was like moving into a brand new home. It was the first home where my wife and I set up and started our life together in the Northern Territory.
Those homes are good homes; houses we turned into homes. In later years, being a member of DHA, it became my charge to look after those homes and the people who moved in and out of Darwin each year - very important members of our community, members of the Defence Force. Those houses are perhaps far better than many other people have in the Northern Territory today, particularly people living in our communities.
I do become cynical, like members of our community, when we come into this House. The government’s job is to manage the Northern Territory. In opposition, our job is to hold you to account. That is the law of what we do. The average person is cynical of what we do because we do seem to spend a great deal of time dealing with the issues which really affect people on the street.
As a local member I am saddened by the number of people who come into my office time and time again and talk about the issues they have with law and order, social infrastructure, health, and issues they have when they cannot find a home to rent, build or buy.
These are the things government should be focusing on today. While I have been in this House I have continually been reminded of the bad things of the old CLP days, which this government continues to attack even though they have been in government for nearly 10 years. We have all grown up in 10 years. Much has happened in all of our lives in 10 years. However, this government still blames the previous CLP government for everything which appears to be bad today. I do not subscribe to that argument and I do not think the members on the other side subscribe to that argument. The game we play is for political point-scoring. It is time we started to take our focus off political point-scoring, do what is right for Territorians, and deal with some of the issues of the day. Many of the issues of today are the fault of bad planning.
It is great to see the graders in places like Bellamack and Johnston; however, it is as though the government has gone into panic mode in the last couple of years. I remember crossing the border on the Barkly Highway when I first arrived in the Northern Territory in 1985. The stretch of road from Camooweal to the border was atrocious. It was like a goat track and I recall the advice my father gave to me as a young person: ‘On the way up there, mate, when you see those big road-trains, you stop. You pull off the road. Let them stay on the road’. This piece of bitumen was perhaps no wider than seven or eight feet, so when the road-trains came along, you did stop, get off the road and let the trucks go by.
When I reached the Northern Territory border, I stopped and took photos like most people do when they see the sign, ‘Welcome to the Northern Territory’. What stood out was the contrast between the road on the Queensland side and the road on the Northern Territory side. The road on the Northern Territory side was absolutely beautiful. It was wide, the edges were maintained and, after some of the roads I had driven on in Queensland, it was an absolute pleasure to make it to the Northern Territory.
My first night in the Northern Territory was in Elliott and I distinctly recall the room I stayed in. I opened the front door and it hit the back wall, it was so small. It said it had an en-suite, but sitting on the toilet my knees were in the lounge room, so it was a pretty small room. That was my welcome to the Northern Territory. I distinctly remember it because there was a rather famous singer playing at the pub that night. Slim Dusty was in town and it was a big night for Elliott.
Moving on, I arrived in Darwin, started to become involved in the community and played football. Driving out of the RAAF Base, you turned right onto Stuart Highway, down the road and turned right under what is known as the overpass onto Bagot Road. Driving down Bagot Road, I thought: ‘Wow, this place is amazing!’ There were three lanes going towards Casuarina, three lanes coming into the city, and not many cars on the road. When I reached Casuarina and looked at the infrastructure at the time, and this was a very small jurisdiction, I was blown away that there was a bus service in a town the size of Darwin. I had the feeling the place had been planned for the future. Looking at McMillans Road and the available land on either side of the road; someone had vision, someone had planned for the future.
One of the reasons I entered politics was I felt, a few years ago, the ball had been dropped, particularly in regard to planning. At the time, I was chairperson of a local primary school in Palmerston and I was finding it very difficult to deal with this government.
There was a time when there was a primary school in each suburb; one suburb, one primary school. In Palmerston we had Bakewell School and we had the suburb of Bakewell. Along came the suburbs of Farrar, Rosebery and Gunn and still we had only one school. We fought very hard and in the end we had approval from this government, I will give it credit, to build the Rosebery primary and middle schools. It was only after a sustained attack from the community that the government finally made a decision. There was no planning for the future. It was more or less forced on them. They felt they were forced into a corner and had no choice, so they decided to build the schools. That is not good planning. It is not good only to do something because you are forced into a corner.
The Minister for Transport talks about visions, a new era. I implore this government and the minister to look at the future of Darwin; the future of our regions and rather than talk about doing these things, plan. I looked at Territory 2030, the vision you have, and I have no problem with a vision, however there does not appear to be a plan of how to achieve that vision. Someone came into my office recently and said they were a Labor supporter. They were able to discuss the Territory 2030 plan and how they felt it was the best thing the Territory had ever had. I said the only problem I had with it was the lack of structure and framework to achieve the goals.
They did not understand what I meant, so I put it in terms of that person and I driving to Melbourne. I said: ‘Tomorrow we have to drive to Melbourne what do we do?’ We know the destination, but how are we going to get there?’ He said: ‘I am not sure I know what you mean’. I said: ‘What are some of the basic things we would do? We know the destination is Melbourne, so what are we going to do, we choose to drive there. What are we going to need; we are going to need fuel, we are going to need a vehicle, and we are going to need a road map, or are we going to look at signs along the way’. You put together a plan to reach the destination. That is the only problem I have with the Territory 2030 vision. There are many remarkable goals within that vision. There are probably things which would be supported on this side of the House as well. However, there is no plan within that vision; there is no framework, no structure.
A member: No road map.
Mr CHANDLER: No road map, exactly. That is where the government, in recent years, has taken the wrong fork in the road. We had years where we had governments, and we could be critical of governments on both sides when it came to planning, however years ago there appeared to be a vision and it was open, it was visible; you could see it. The government of the time had a vision for a railway, which was openly canned by the Labor government for years and years. They built universities. As has been mentioned by the member for Sanderson, they built the building we are in today, the Supreme Court, roads and bridges.
There was a plan for Palmerston. Palmerston today is the most vibrant place in the Northern Territory, and one day will takes its place as the centre of existence for the Northern Territory. I say that with a smile on my face.
There were people with vision, but there was a distinct difference - there was a plan to deliver the vision. When you look at some of the infrastructure which was put in place, it was put in place at a time when there was nowhere near the amount of funding which has come into the Northern Territory in recent years. I am certainly no academic. I only have one certificate on the wall, and it is a certificate of common sense. If it is wrong, it is wrong. In recent years, this government has failed to plan, which is the reason we have the mortgage stress and high rents we have today. Our planning and our provision of infrastructure has not kept up with the growth …
A member: Was there planning around elections?
Mr CHANDLER: I pick up on the interjection. It is true, politics is a strange game. I am still getting used to it. However, we have to move away from this 24-hour media cycle. We have to move away from looking at just three-year plans. We have to look at the longer term; not only look at the longer term with a vision, but provide structure to achieve those goals. Businesses, most CEOs of government departments, will create five-year plans. You need to have a five-year plan. Those five-year plans have a level of structure within them which helps to achieve the goals. Only a couple of years ago, this government started to realise: ‘Holy hell, we have taken our eye off the ball, the place is crumbling around us. We had better get out there and do some things’. That is why today you see graders working day and night in Bellamack and Johnston, and we will see that in Zuccoli.
However, I worry about what has been happening in the harbour recently; the high levels of E. coli. This government continues to deny that effluent pumped into the harbour has any contributing effect. As with an alcoholic, you have to admit you have a problem before you can solve it. The government cannot have it both ways. The government cannot say, on one hand, effluent pumped into the harbour is not contributing to the problem but, on the other hand, spend tens of millions of dollars to turn off the poo shooter and upgrade the Ludmilla Treatment Plant. Why would you spend all that money if there was no problem in the first place?
I worry about Palmerston and the information published recently which showed eight days out of 10 Power and Water was exceeding its limits under its licence conditions. I worry about many things such as what the consequences are for Power and Water. What is the government planning in regard to infrastructure to ensure a plant which is not coping today will cope with Johnston, Bellamack, and Zuccoli? We need to start to plan for the future and provide the infrastructure to get us there. If we do not do it today, if we cannot handle a city with a population of 120 000, what is it going to be like in 10, 20, 30, 50 years from now? We will have a population of one million people. It will not be in my lifetime, but it will happen. It will not affect any of us in this room. But if we plan for the future now, put the corridors aside, plan a second airport, ensure adequate infrastructure is in place, then there will be people sitting in this Chamber in 10, 20, 30, 40 years from now, taking their hats off to the planners of the day who had the vision and the foresight to put a structure in place and plan for the future.
What I have seen today I understand - this is where the cynical side of me comes out - this is an exercise to support a federal election. I understand that. But, as the member for Greatorex said, we need to use the time in this place to work at dealing with some of the issues the mums, dads and young people are experiencing and which our next generations will experience. We should be taking time to fix those problems.
Ms McCARTHY (Regional Development): Madam Deputy Speaker, I support the minister’s statement on infrastructure and the economy. Infrastructure investment is the key to economic growth in the Northern Territory, especially for the 20 identified growth towns as a key part of our A Working Future policy. Through A Working Future, the Henderson government is working hard to reduce Indigenous disadvantage. A critical component of this work is targeted and properly sequenced investments in infrastructure development in our growth towns.
Our vision for Territory growth towns includes the objective that our growth towns have all the services and opportunities of comparable towns in rural Australia. In partnership with the Commonwealth and local governments we need to plan and deliver: improved communications networks; regional transport services, whether road, rail or sea; improved internal roads, including kerbing and guttering; adequate water, sewerage and power; and we need to work with local people to develop town plans which meet current needs and provide for future growth.
We are also engendering an investment environment, working with land councils, the business community and local people to streamline leasing arrangements and encourage and develop local economies, creating training opportunities and jobs for our young people. We understand the importance of working with business and industry to build their businesses in regional communities, adding value to our infrastructure investments. Private and commercial business and industry can contribute significantly to regional communities by employing local people, encouraging economic development, increasing the quality of service and, potentially, reducing costs.
Our investment in infrastructure is targeted and properly sequenced to ensure change for Territorians living across our regions. We have the targets and sequence right by working with local people in the development of each growth town’s local implementation plan. It is on this point the Henderson government and the opposition differ markedly.
The Country Liberals say they intend to establish a body called the Northern Territory Planning Commission, which will be responsible for guiding development in urban, industrial and agricultural sectors in towns, cities and the bush. I take it the bush refers to our growth towns. The 12-member planning commission of the CLP will supposedly be independent of government and take over responsibility for planning objectives and the provision of plans for land use across the Northern Territory. For those of us who represent rural and remote electorates, the alarm bells are already ringing. To think an all-powerful commission, based in Darwin and answerable to no one, will decide where housing will be and where businesses will operate at Ngukurr, Milingimbi or Borroloola is beyond comprehension. This is central planning gone mad and the Country Liberals are marketing it as a policy initiative.
In contrast, the Henderson Labor government is working with local people, NGOs, business, industry, land councils and local government to develop local implementation plans. In this way we are ensuring our investment in infrastructure is targeted and properly sequenced to bring change for Territorians living across our regions. We have also identified gaps in services and service standards for each of our growth towns, something no previous government in the history of the Northern Territory has dealt with properly. I am pleased to say this work is well advanced. As I travel around the Territory, people in every community I visit want to talk about and know more about A Working Future, the optimism for the future, and what it provides for all families.
In 2008, the Henderson government launched our A Working Future policy, and Budget 2010-11 provides a record $980m plan of action across all program areas. $354m is provided for remote Indigenous housing; $236m towards land servicing and essential services; $125m for housing upgrades and $3.6m to survey all new and existing houses in growth towns.
For the first time in the history of the Territory, remote towns were fully incorporated into the budget process. To consolidate this initiative, the Chief Minister and the Treasurer recently visited many of our growth towns, 14 so far, to give residents the same opportunity that residents and the business community of Darwin, Alice Springs, Tennant Creek and Katherine are given each year. This initiative of bringing the budget to rural and remote Territorians is now locked in and is part of our blueprint for future budgets. To complement the visits by the Chief Minister and Treasurer, specific budget information was provided to each town, which was relevant to its needs and concerns. It is a work in progress. It is a first and we will improve each year.
One of the biggest issues in our remote towns is their lack of capacity, whether it is water, electricity or sewerage, there is no extra capacity. With this in mind, Budget 2010-11 provides $32m to upgrade essential services and give these remote towns the opportunity to grow in a targeted and properly sequenced manner, free from the constraints of under-capacity.
Barge landings are another essential service on our remote northern coastline. $6.2m has been identified in this year’s budget to improve freight handling and storage so freight can be unloaded day or night and be protected from the elements. Work to improve these essential services will commence soon at Nguiu, Gapuwiyak, Ramingining, Maningrida and Galiwinku.
The Commonwealth government made a $50m commitment towards upgrading the river crossings at Victoria River. This was a massive undertaking which took more than 18 months to complete. The task involved raising a number of crossings by as much as 7.5 m. Major infrastructure work was undertaken at the Victoria River crossing as well as Joe, Lost and Sandy Creeks. While this huge investment has not made the road to Western Australia flood-proof, it has reduced downtime considerably and made the Victoria Highway almost flood free.
I will highlight some important infrastructure projects in my own electorate of Arnhem. The central Arnhem Highway links Katherine to Nhulunbuy and, since 2005, the Labor government has invested in upgrades at the Wilton and Weemol crossings which were completed in 2005 and 2007 respectively. In 2009-10, work commenced on the Goyder, Mainoru and Donydji crossings and is expected to be completed in 2011-12. By the time these projects are completed, over $21m will have been spent on bridges and crossings in the last seven years.
The road between Alyangula and Umbakumba has been a topic of conversation for many years and I am happy to inform this House that $20m will now be put towards sealing that road. This work is being done in partnership with the Australian government and the local Anindilyakwa Land Council. It is an example of government responding to local priorities and working in partnership with local people, as well as an example of what happens when you have an understanding government in Canberra.
Perhaps the biggest investment undertaken by government since coming to power in 2001 is the development of the Waterfront Precinct. It has been an outstanding success and we should be very proud of what it has achieved. The Convention Centre is the crowning achievement and is proving to be an important drawcard. This project has driven other investment in the tourism sector as businesses have upgraded their facilities to keep in step as new products enter the market. The Darwin Waterfront Precinct is a wonderful addition to our already impressive range of options available throughout the Territory and it is bringing in businesses which we may have missed otherwise.
We are fortunate to already have an impressive list of quality accommodation, houses, hotels, bars and restaurants to choose from and enjoy, as well as numerous entertainment options. As this precinct grows, so too will competition and the options available for locals and visitors, which must be a good thing for consumers and business. The impact of this type of investment cannot be measured in financial terms alone. Investment in infrastructure creates opportunity. It engenders an investment environment which creates business confidence, training opportunities and jobs. The Northern Territory enjoys an enviable economic record. This has not happened by accident, rather by careful planning and the federal and Northern Territory governments taking a strong strategic approach.
While the rest of the world recovers from debt levels never seen before, high unemployment and negative growth, the Territory is well positioned. I was interested in the potential of the state infrastructure fund to develop a new opportunity to help address years of neglect, as a key opportunity for us working with the Gillard Labor government. Working together, we could have made progress in meeting our shared objective of addressing infrastructure gaps in the Territory and engendering an investment environment and employment opportunities for all Territorians, especially Indigenous Territorians.
However, all of that is at risk as part of Tony Abbott’s slash and burn approach to federal Labor government initiatives. Tony Abbott’s support, or otherwise, for new investments and infrastructure development in our regions is something I ask all Territorians to consider in the lead-up to the election on 21 August.
I will finish by noting an article in The Australian on 31 May 2010. This piece by Emma-Kate Symons, based in Paris, describes in some detail the French fascination with Australia and its economic success. Symons quotes a headline from French newspaper, Le Monde:
but because of:
These comments provide further evidence that the Australian Labor Party understands the Australian economy, and will provide a safe path through these fragile economic times.
Mr McCARTHY (Construction): Madam Deputy Speaker, I am fulfilled. I brought this statement to the House this morning and I have created a wonderful debate. I would like to touch on the responses from different members in this debate. Some may be pleased; some not so pleased.
Mr TOLLNER: Madam Deputy Speaker, the member for Barkly is so interesting we should have more people listening to him, and I call your attention to the state of the House.
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: Ring the bells. We have a quorum.
Mr McCARTHY: As I said, I am fulfilled because this was a very good debate for many reasons. Like South Sydney and St George, like Carlton and Collingwood, like the Blues and the Maroons, we have separate teams. It is so important to have this debate today, in such a critical time in Australian political history. The debate over recent years has been about there being no difference between Labor and Liberal. Well, in this election there is incredible diversity, and it is critical to tell this story. It is about telling stories, and this side of the House has told some diverse and incredible stories today. It was wonderful to hear the member for Arnhem finish the debate with a holistic picture of the Northern Territory and infrastructure development, and a vision for the future of all Territorians.
There are incredible things happening, which our infrastructure statement supports. Unfortunately some things never change in this House. The Labor government is investing in the future of the Territory and building a strong future. The Country Liberals are still stuck in the past and talking down the Territory. We had a great example of that with the contribution from the member for Braitling - such a young fellow with so much potential. We have to learn not to look back. To have no plans is not a good look. Move forward young man, and you will see the fruits of your labour.
No one denies the early CLP governments delivered some significant infrastructure. Give credit where credit is due. Infrastructure projects mentioned were Parliament House and the Yulara resort. When the government of the day was developing infrastructure at Yulara, my students were coming to school from behind pieces of corrugated iron in the town of Tennant Creek. That is why I first became involved in politics. I challenged the issue then, and I still challenge it now. That is why I am with a Labor team, aligned with the Australian federal Labor government which delivers.
The debate goes on. The member for Braitling calls it a ‘bate’. I will correct him. It is not a ‘bate’, it is a ‘debate’. It is a debate where the essence revolves around a fiscal strategy, a stimulus strategy. The member for Braitling talked about the Cool Spot and a smoko stop. What I saw, looking at the fiscal strategy of the day, was that the Country Liberals dropped the ball, the construction industry deserted them, and they lost government. More importantly, the economy was failing.
Feed the construction and infrastructure sector and you feed the families of the Northern Territory. That represents the stimulus fiscal strategy which we have rubbed shoulders with the federal Labor government for, and that is what we are delivering. We are saving NT jobs, and we are positioning the Territory for the onset of major project development. One piece of advice for the member for Braitling: if you lose the construction industry, you not only lose their support, you lose them physically from the Territory. If they leave our borders and travel elsewhere we are left severely lacking when the big projects come online.
It is clear the member for Braitling does not understand the importance of a strong relationship with the federal government. The federal Labor government has been an advantage for the Territory which we hope continues. We hope it is re-elected on 21 August.
When we talk about the member for Fong Lim and the previous Prime Minister, John Howard, not committing anywhere near the project resources needed for the Tiger Brennan Drive, we are talking about risking project development and being in uncertain times. I was able to speak about Damian Hale today and his delivery of $74m from federal Labor. That is what we are talking about with partnerships and going forward.
It was great to hear the member for Goyder in the debate but it is very disappointing for me when a long-term Territorian talks down the Territory, and continually knocks our hard-working businesses. I was very disappointed when I heard the member for Goyder mount a personal attack on the new Chief Executive Officer for the Department of Construction and Infrastructure. This person is new to the Territory, brings a wealth of experience, is a respected senior public servant, and an international engineer with a strong record in delivering major projects. I can only think that this is threatening to our public sector, and I am disappointed that a member of this House would choose this line of attack in such an important debate. It is unacceptable, it is vexatious, and the member for Goyder should apologise.
The member for Goyder made claims there has been no investment in police and fire services in the rural area. In my travels around the rural area, researching and learning about this new jurisdiction for me as a minister, the Humpty Doo Police and Fire Complex stood out. It was built by this government and opened in February 2005, ending a 20-year wait for residents in the rural area.
I am quite shocked the member for Goyder did not seem to know about our major hotel development in the heart of Palmerston. It is almost complete. I was there last week, it looks fantastic. Government chose the land, and local developer, the Tomazos Group, is putting the finishing touches on a 46 unit Quest Apartments with a new restaurant on the ground floor - fantastic for our city, Palmerston and the Territory.
The member for Brennan talked about vision and a bipartisan stand. Well, Weddell is a subject we need to be united on, our new tropical, sustainable and liveable city. There is an incredible amount of work happening, and will continue to happen over the next couple of months, in planning and design of Weddell. We want positives in this debate, we want new ideas, and I encourage the member for Goyder to take part in the opportunities to contribute to the ideas, design and development of the Territory’s new city. What an exciting project to be involved with.
I was very pleased with the contribution from the member for Katherine and his welcoming the action plan for Katherine’s future. He is a good, hard-working, local member. The Northern Territory government worked with the Katherine Town Council and Mayor Anne Shepherd on developing the plan, and I am looking forward to continuing to work with the Katherine community on exciting projects like the Katherine Regional Cultural Precinct.
The Police Beat would not have happened without support from government, in particular the Chief Minister. That needs to be acknowledged. The Chief Minister brought forward the roll-out of the Police Beat program and listened to the people of Katherine. That is leadership: listening to the community and delivering for the community. When we talk about planning and vision, we talk about delivery. Without leadership and vision there is nothing to plan for. I pay tribute to the Katherine community, the town council, the Chamber of Commerce, Superintendent Jeanette Kerr, the NT Police and, the Minister for Police, Fire and Emergency Services, who combined to deliver this wonderful initiative for the town of Katherine. The member gives me the impression it is very much recognised and supported.
The member for Sanderson made an interesting contribution and made many good points, because he was reading from my statement. It was a very good contribution, however, the member for Sanderson failed to grasp many of the concepts, and he was negative. We need to focus on the positives. The CLP has had quite a number of achievements, and we recognise that. However, since 2001, the acceleration has been considerable and the Territory has been undergoing incredible economic growth. There have been challenges in the Territory which have never been seen before. This government has its shoulder to the wheel, which the member for Sanderson needs to acknowledge.
The member made a good point about the lack of seniors’ accommodation. Government is working to address this shortage through projects like the Bellamack Gardens seniors’ village. I can assure the member for Sanderson that the minister for Housing, the member for Johnston, has a hard-worn track to my door. He stands up for seniors in the Northern Territory. He and his colleague, the minister for Senior Territorians, are demanding that all our rapid land release programs accommodate senior Territorians.
The issue of Tiger Brennan Drive dimensions is simple. Work on a four-lane highway is proceeding well and is on track for completion before the end of this year. Thirty-four thousand Territorians will spend less time behind the wheel every day and it will be a major piece of road transport infrastructure to support traffic efficiency and safety. The bridges and the pedestrian overpass are 6.5 m high. That is well above the Australian standard which requires 5.5 m for bridges which provide access to our ports.
What a contribution from the member for Greatorex! I picked up on the interjection he started the negative cycle with when he asked if the statement I was reading was the same as that distributed to members. I was using some poetic licence as I was inspired by the opportunity to present a statement. That caused the member for Nelson some confusion, but the member for Greatorex said: ‘Well, do not ask him, he does not know,’ insinuating I had no part in preparing the speech. Not only did I play a part in preparing the speech, I have spent the last six or more months working shoulder to shoulder with some incredible Territorians to deliver a statement which tells the Territory what is happening, and building the Territory from the ground up. I am very proud of that and I encourage the member for Greatorex to come on board.
He did say something which was interesting to me: ’puff piece’, which the member for Braitling uses regularly. I like that and I will use it somewhere. That was a great contribution to the debate. What I liked better was when he said: ‘The member for Barkly should be out in the Territory driving on beautiful roads’. He described our bush roads as beautiful, and talked about the wonderful time of the year. He is dead right, they are beautiful bush roads. We have $331m going into developing more beautiful Territory roads. Thank you very much to the member for Greatorex. I know he would rather be on the beach, but there is too much work to be done.
Member for Greatorex, remember all Territorians are listening to this debate. You should think clearly about the contribution from the Country Liberals as, not only are people listening, but Hansard will reflect your time in this House. Our time is limited and one would want to focus on doing the best they can. The member for Greatorex is not really interested so I will not go any further, but without knowing it, he participated in the debate. Once again, that debate was down to fiscal strategy and why we need to have this political debate today to continue growing the Territory.
I will comment on what the members for Nelson and Johnston said about infrastructure and rewriting history. We are not trying to rewrite history. We are living the history, and the combined knowledge in this House would mount to hundreds of years if we looked at our families. In some cases in this House, 40 000 to 60 000 years’ worth of Territory knowledge is brought to the debate. There is much history to talk about if we want to talk about history.
When we talk about history let us talk about hardcore politics and infrastructure development in our education sector. In 1981 I was working with contractors to establish silver bullet caravans on the banks of the Frew River for the first Epenarra school. That community worked tirelessly, and their first reward was an increase of one to their school staff: it went from one teacher to two. The government of the day provided a second silver bullet, which was very welcome. We went from one silver bullet to two silver bullets, and we put a verandah between them. That was the infrastructure of the day; that is the history of the day.
We hear the member for Johnston, the minister for Education, outline the BER project. You see incredible infrastructure growing in front of your eyes at those schools - a new library and classroom, a specialist area at Robinson River School, growing out of the ground. I went to Minyerri School a couple of weeks ago and saw a new early childhood learning centre, open learning area, stage, storage area and driveway. That is infrastructure which is growing Territorians; you cannot put a price on that infrastructure.
When you see a school which had in excess of 90% attendance for the last seven years, put on an assembly to open their new BER project, stand together and sing the National Anthem in recognition of the federal government, side by side with the Northern Territory government, which delivered the infrastructure, it is scary to think Tony Abbott will stop the process. Minyerri will go on, but there are many other school communities which are living in fear. That is another reason we needed to have this debate today and needed to tell that story. This is critical infrastructure which we have not seen in for bush for a long time. From the silver bullet to thriving community schools, to secondary education in the bush, to a government which is determined to grow our own.
The member for Arnhem summed up my response to the member for Brennan. When we talk about vision, we talk about policy development. This government has bitten off some of the biggest policy development the Territory has ever seen. Now it is time to put a framework around that policy, develop it, and then deliver. When the member for Arnhem talked about A Working Future and our growth towns’ policy, the member for Brennan should have been satisfied that this is serious work ahead, this is historic work, and this has never been done before. This is a massive piece of work, and this is a government which is determined to deliver in partnership with the Territory, which means the private sector.
Last week, I heard the Mayor of Ipswich, Paul Pisasale, talk. He has left us a clear message. His main message: promote your city and your state, grow confidence in your local area, because confidence will grow investment. Investment will improve the lives of Territorians.
Madam Speaker, infrastructure and construction are the heartbeat of our economy; we are delivering 10 000 Territory jobs with boosted infrastructure; investment. We will continue to invest in strategic infrastructure.
Motion agreed to; statement noted.
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, as required under the RTD, I table two travel reports relating to interstate travel, one from the member for Port Darwin and the other from the member for Fong Lim.
Dr BURNS (Leader of Government Business): Madam Speaker, I move that the Assembly do now adjourn.
Mr WESTRA van HOLTHE (Katherine): Madam Speaker, I acknowledge some quotes and some information taken from the Internet, in particular, some details and words taken from the Condolence Motion moved by Senator John Faulkner in the Australian Senate on 23 June this year.
I would like to record in the Hansard of this parliament my deepest sorrow on the tragic loss of Private Scott Palmer, who, with his colleagues, Private Timothy Aplin and Private Benjamin Chuck, died on 21 June, 2010.
I am sure I would be joined by all members in this House in extending condolences to the families of our brave young soldiers who were killed in a helicopter crash whilst on combat operations in Afghanistan. I extend my deepest sympathy to the families of those men.
The helicopter crash took the lives of these commandos and wounded seven of their fellow soldiers. These men were part of a special operations task force drawn from the Sydney-based 2nd Commando Regiment.
I am very lucky for I have not lost a close loved one, therefore, I can only imagine the feelings of grief and devastation felt by those mourning the loss of a beloved son, brother, father or friend. However, I am touched more and more by people around me, friends, acquaintances and constituents who have lost loved ones and have to bear the burden of that loss.
Most recently, I have been touched by the loss of Scott Palmer through his family who live in Katherine: Ray Palmer, Scott’s father, Pam, Scott’s mother, and Adam, Scott’s brother, are now without their son and brother as a result of this tragic accident which occurred while Scott was doing his sworn duty in a foreign land. The Palmer family members are what I guess you would call ordinary folk - mum and dad raising the kids in a small town. In their own way, they have made, and continue to make, a significant contribution to the social fabric of the town. Ray works in a local store and Pam runs one of our local travel agencies.
I did not know Scott personally, but what I have learned is that he was a bit of a larrikin. He was loved by his family and friends, and was highly respected for his prowess on the football field. There are some words which have come from Ray and Pam which very nicely describe Scott. I take these quotes from the NT News online:
Private Scott Palmer enlisted in the Australian Army in 2001. He successfully undertook commando selection and training in 2006, and joined the commandos of the 4th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment in November 2006. Scott was awarded the Australian Active Service Medal with the Iraq, East Timor, and ICAT clasps, the Iraq Campaign Medal, the Australian Defence Medal, the Australian Service Medal with Timor-Leste clasp, the Afghanistan Campaign Medal, and the NATO ISAF Medal. Private Palmer was also awarded the Infantry Combat Badge and the Return from Active Service Badge from a previous deployment. He was deployed to East Timor in 2003 and in 2007; to the Middle East as a part of Operation Catalyst in 2005; and to Afghanistan as part of Operation Slipper in 2007, 2009 and 2010.
I was deeply and truly honoured to receive a personal invitation from Scott’s family to attend his funeral service at the Anglican church and then at Robertson Barracks in Darwin on 10 July. Both services were solemn, very touching and well attended, with the Prime Minister, the federal Leader of the Opposition, and many other dignitaries present. There was not a dry eye in the house when the Australian flag and Scott’s accoutrements were handed to the family.
The work of our dedicated military personnel is very much part of the protection of Australia and the Australian community. The work is difficult and dangerous. I support the soldiers, the men and women who do this dangerous work. They are protecting our way of life, the Australian way of life. When I hear jets flying over my house I hear the roar of jet engines, but there is something else I hear: the sound of freedom, and the sound of safety from terror and a much darker way of life.
I thank the former and currently serving men and women for their dedication, for the sacrifices they make, and the risks they face for all of us. I thank the families of the men and women in uniform serving overseas, for the sacrifices they make and the support they give to their loved ones.
Our fallen soldiers and their families have paid an unthinkably high price for their dedication. Sadly, sometimes we have to bury our sons as part of that price.
Bless the Palmer family. Lest We Forget.
Mr KNIGHT (Daly): Madam Deputy Speaker, I am honoured to place on the record my congratulations to a constituent of mine, Anna Reynolds from Batchelor. Anna was named the 2010 Northern Territory winner of the Qantas Foundation Encouragement of Australian Contemporary Art Award, and received her award with other state and territory finalists at the Art Gallery of New South Wales last month. Anna has also received a Bronze Award in the EPSON International Pano Awards for 2010 - a fantastic achievement. I was very pleased to attend a function held in Anna’s honour, hosted by the wonderful Batchelor Butterfly Farm and Tropical Retreat.
The exhibition, Mangroves in the Butterfly Farm was launched to start the Lingalonga Festival and officially opened the inaugural arts exhibition. Anna has an incredible eye for photography and was part of the design team with, Judy McGinn, for the Bods of Batchelor Calendar 2010, which raised money through sales for the annual Lingalonga Festival. The calendar was launched late last year, also at the Butterfly Farm. I congratulate Anna on those awards and for kicking off this annual art exhibition as an opener for the Lingalonga Festival. I thank the people who run the Butterfly Farm. It was a great evening.
This brings me to the Lingalonga Festival. Around 1200 people attended what was a fantastic, family-friendly festival. There were many local stalls, Indigenous art, music, the Great Green Ideas exhibition of pottery by Gillian Hunter, lots of free activities, live entertainment from Mel Devine, Mo Blues, June Mills, and Donny McGuiness. Tanya Ham came with her great girls from the Taminmin College Choir and the Shimmy All Over Belly Dancers were there. The belly dancers have taken over the rural area and they came to give another performance.
It was a hive of activity and a day of buzzing excitement. The theme for this year was A Bug Day Out. They had face painting and a range of activities. The grand parade was a very colourful and was led by a giant caterpillar made from 44 gallon drums. The big bug dance was performed beautifully by all the Coomalie kids. They were all dressed up from doing activities, building bug outfits, and doing face painting during the day.
Another highlight of the day was the 100 m Rum Jungle Dash, with a $1000 first prize in each category, kindly donated by D & M Enterprises. Dave, from D & M Enterprises also contributed $2000 towards the second and third prizes in each category. Dave is the partner of Marilyn, who organised the event. It was great for Dave to put on those runs. It was very well contested. Many young blokes, who never would get up in public usually, saw the $1000 as an opportunity to get some cash. A great effort was made by all the runners. The first place cash prize went to Carolyn Nyhouse in the women’s 17- to 29-year-old category; Kamarra Hiko in the women’s 30-plus category; Brian Fisher in the men’s 17- to 29-year-old category; and Dean Peachey in the men’s 30-plus category. It was a great event. Everyone turned their attention to it when it came on. The kids were also winners with prizes sponsored by Jimmy’s Gifts given to all race participants.
Many hours were dedicated to meetings, preparing and finalising the events to make this such a successful day. Although the weather tried to rain on their parade and, unfortunately, washed out the evening events, I congratulate the committee on their hard work.
Prior to the main event the festival committee, in conjunction with the Coomalie Community Government Council School Holiday program, held a week-long series of workshops at Batchelor Area School. Approximately 60 school-age kids from Batchelor and Adelaide River attended to create the 80 to 90 canvasses which were on show at the festival. This was a job well done by the festival director, Marilyn Reeves. I also acknowledge some of the committee members: Jan Thompson, a stalwart of the Batchelor community; Rachel Chambers; Sue Donnelly; Anna Reynolds; Lauren Mills; Hilary Brett; John Hughes, the CEO of the Coomalie Shire Council, had his slow cooking meals going most of the day; Danielle Hamilton; Dave Grey; Therese Balanzategui; Kristy Williams; Bob Lloyd from the mine, it was great to see those guys there; Narelle Verzeleti; Victoria Edmonds; and the many others behind the scenes who contributed. It is a community which comes together and gives much joy and entertainment to everyone through the time they volunteer.
I also acknowledge some of the generous sponsors of the event, without which festivals and community events like Lingalonga cannot go ahead: Future Visions, HAR, D & M Enterprises, Rum Jungle Tavern, the Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education and the Coomalie Community Government Council. I thank the minister for the $20 000 in funding from the Northern Territory government; it went to great use. I look forward to the Lingalonga Festival next year. This year had the biggest crowd I have ever seen since its inception. I am sure that off the back of this year they will go on to greater things. Unfortunately, Marilyn will not be there next year, she is travelling, but I am sure there will be many people who were there this year who will take up that effort. Congratulations to everyone! It was a great day and a great day for the community.
Ms PURICK (Goyder): Madam Deputy Speaker, I will speak on a serious issue and will not use names. I will be writing to the Chief Minister, as the minister for Police, about this matter. When the mandatory domestic reporting legislation was coming through I expressed concerns as to how it would work. I will relay a story told to me, not by a constituent but by a person I have known for many years, and her family.
In March this year, this woman’s second daughter was in a domestic situation which she was trying to leave. She had been sharing the house for five years with the father of her youngest child, who is four. Although they were living together, they had separated. He was knocking her around, mostly verbally, but also physically. He also regularly stole her ATM card from her wallet, used it for online gambling and cleaned her out every time she saved enough money to get away and set up in a unit or house with her children.
On a Saturday morning in March this year she left her three girls with him while she went flat hunting with another girlfriend so she could get away from him. The girls are aged 10, seven and four, with the four-year-old being his daughter. When they returned the girls came running from the back yard in hysterics. This man had locked them out when she left and when the seven-year-old tried to get back in the house he grabbed her by the throat and held her over the balcony. The other two siblings tried to stop him and he pushed them down the stairs. The older one said her sister was trying to hook her legs into the balcony to save herself. She was held there until she was vomiting. It is amazing she did not have her neck snapped as she is so tiny – the same size as a four-year-old.
This perpetrator tore her dress and severely bruised her throat. The woman rang her mother, my long-time friend, and the police were called. By the time they arrived he had left the house. The police came, spoke to the daughter and the seven-year-old, and said they had to find the perpetrator.
The woman and her children were removed from the house instantly. They did not hear anything from the police, and when they contacted the Casuarina Police Station they were advised he said he had tried to put the child on the naughty spot, had slipped and that is why she had red marks on her neck. The family then sought medical attention and got a doctor’s report saying she had soft tissue damage to her neck and shoulders. The police advised they believed the man’s story. They did not question the other children, one of whom is 10 and was a witness to the situation.
As a result, a domestic violence order was not upheld as the police did not press charges. The woman had a temporary order for one week which did not cover the children. I am not certain of this, however this woman has said fathers and stepfathers have rights even though it is the children he allegedly assaulted. She has told me that this person is flaunting the law; he thinks it is funny he got away with it. He has been going to the school where the woman works because he can. No one can do anything about it because the police believed his side of the story and not hers.
This is a very serious matter, and I am very concerned. The woman has advised me her grandchildren are traumatised, as you would expect. They have lost faith in the police, believing the police were there to protect them and their mother, and now believe the stepfather can do whatever he likes. The child held over the balcony is now having major behavioural issues, and her nightmares have been filmed for weeks after the alleged assault. She is a traumatised and upset young child.
The law says you must report domestic violence, but they were not believed and it was not followed up. I will be asking the minister for Police and the Chief Minister why it can be ignored and more power given to the offender, in the eyes of this family, than the people who are being hurt and damaged.
I asked this woman’s mother to put this information to me in writing in mid-June this year. She followed up with further contact, and I have spoken to this family on the phone. The family have been woken up on a number of occasions at 5.30 am or thereabouts. One time was by the police wrestling the man to the ground outside a bedroom window of this family’s home. The neighbours called the police and they attended. They believed this gentleman may have been doing this for some time because there were many cigarette butts and much rubbish in the area. The family is very concerned that whilst they have laid complaints, they do not appear to be taken seriously. This family has lost faith in this government’s legislation on reporting domestic violence because they did report domestic violence on children.
I checked these children; they are a happy, well-established family. It is a long-standing Territory family. They are not known to FACS, there is nothing wrong with the way the mother is raising them. The woman is trying to get away from this fellow and set up a life where she and her children are safe, happy and healthy and have no threats hanging over them. If this fellow keeps turning up and standing outside their bedroom window that is not good. I will be writing to the Chief Minister this week and will be able to supply him with full details and the exact dates of these alleged assaults. He can check the details, and I am sure he will. How the police handled it and what happens when domestic violence is reported is a serious matter. What is happening with the unit in the NT Police which handles these situations?
This family received no support from the NT Police in regard to the situation. They believed the fellow without talking to the 10-year-old, which is disappointing. I understand there are issues with young children giving evidence. I urge the Chief Minister to investigate the matter quickly and seriously, and try to give this family some confidence in his legislation on reporting domestic violence.
Mr ELFERINK (Port Darwin): Madam Deputy Speaker, tonight I speak of a matter which concerns me as a legislator in this place. I make reference to a list of papers tabled today. Amongst those papers were the Darwin Waterfront Corporation By-laws. The reason I am concerned about these by-laws is based on my role as a legislator. I am aware there are other by-laws in the Northern Territory which have similar provisions and I have to raise issues about those provisions as they exist in other by-laws as well.
The schedule at the back of the act makes a breach of clause 68 of the by-laws an offence of one penalty unit. If the corporation chooses not to issue an on-the-spot fine but pursues the matter through a court then the maximum penalty for the abandonment of a shopping trolley in the Darwin Waterfront Precinct is $13 000. I recall, in this place and in the media, there was some criticism levelled at the Northern Territory government for making the offence of panhandling, or begging I suspect was the title of the offence, a $6000 fine.
One hundred penalty units is the value of breaching clause 68 of the by-laws:
Shopping trolleys left in public place
or $13 000.
An offence against clause 68 of these by-laws is a regulatory offence. A regulatory offence removes from the capacity of the person accused of committing such an offence, the usual provisions of justification and excuse under the Criminal Code, and only allows the provisions under section 26 of the Criminal Code to be relied upon. In other words, most of the normal defences available to a person accused of a crime or a criminal offence are removed. That means you do not really have a capacity to argue against an allegation made against you because it has been declared by the minister to be a regulatory offence and, supposedly, goes through a review of this House.
I feel uncomfortable about making the abandonment of a shopping trolley a penalty of $13 000 and then depriving a person accused of a $13 000 offence any excuse provisions. So, if you abandon a shopping trolley, no matter what the circumstances are, we are not going to let you make an excuse; you will be fined up to a maximum of $13 000.
I invite members to read clause 25 of these by-laws:
If an authorised person …
which is a person authorised under this legislation:
namely, the abandonment of a shopping trolley:
Subsection (2):
Penalty: $13 000.
If I go to the Darwin waterfront, according to the minister and this government, and I abandon my trolley, I commit a crime for which this government feels the maximum penalty should be $13 000. If I then refuse to give my name to the authorised person, then I am committing another crime for which a further fine of $13 000 could be imposed. So, by the time I say to the inspector ‘Get nicked, I am not telling you my name because I left my shopping trolley in the front of this shop’, this government believes I should be culpable to the tune of $26 000.
It goes on. If you read the act, the Waterfront Corporation Regulations point out what the precinct looks like, and these by-laws refer to the precinct. I draw members’ attention to the schedule at the back of the regulations, and I seek leave to table the regulations.
Leave granted.
Mr ELFERINK: There is a nice little map on page 2 of the Waterfront Corporation Regulations, which shows you the precinct. Included in the precinct are the houses, flats and units which the Toga Group of Companies sells to the public - these are private premises. I read these by-laws in the following way, clause 26:
Power to enter premises.
The definition of premises being:
Private premises, I presume, are included:
It goes through some purposes and then it says:
So, I, as a legislator of the Northern Territory, now understand what is going on. I have authorised an authorised person, who is authorised under the act. The definition of authorised person is:
By-law 22 says:
Anyone - there are no training requirements or anything - this person can stop me, demand to know why I have abandoned a trolley, deprive me of the capacity to render an excuse before a court of law, stand me in front of that court of law for a potential fine of $13 000, demand my name from me and, if they do not believe me, demand identification - failure to comply with that, a further $13 000. Should I, as a resident of the waterfront, seek the succour of my own private dwelling, the authorised person has the power to - without warrant, one would presume - enter the premises and pursue the prosecution under these by-laws.
Joseph Goebbels would be proud! He would be saying to himself: ‘My goodness, gracious me, pity we did not have this in the Warsaw ghetto’. I know, in the real world, this would not happen, but the point is somewhere a minister - Chief Minister, perhaps, having carriage of this - has been told we need some by-laws. ‘That is fine’, he says, ‘Let us do the by-laws, draft something up, we will just rubber stamp and drop them into the parliament’. I struggle, as a legislator, to feel comfortable with being a person responsible for rubber stamping an instrumentality of this nature.
My conscience cannot allow me to do anything other than to have this matter referred to the Subordinate Legislation committee to have the issues of regulatory offences revisited, considering the onerous nature of the maximum penalties, as well as what appears to be an astonishing power of entry to pursue trolley offences. The Subordinate Legislation committee may turn their mind to this issue so we can at least start producing regulatory instruments in by-laws which pretend to occupy that cherished space called common sense.
Mr GILES (Braitling): Madam Deputy Speaker, finally today, we get to debate something which is important. I was going to talk about these by-laws but the member for Port Darwin beat me to it. The member for Port Darwin did leave a couple of things out and one thing which I thought was quite interesting. It is not only that you can be fined $13 000 for leaving a shopping trolley at the waterfront or, if you do not have your ID on you or do not give your name and address you could be fined $13 000. We knew the Rudd/Gillard government was in a large amount of debt but this is a long way to go to try to repay the debt through shopping trolley fines for $13 000. But under section 28(1)(c), that authorised person is allowed to destroy your dog. I think you missed that part. There are many more funny things in there that we may pull apart tomorrow and it would be great if we had a debate rather than an election campaign in parliament.
A member interjecting.
Mr GILES: I was just responding to the statement. I did not want to. I have to. You have to go to such depths. I am happy to go again.
I also wish to talk about and pay gratitude to a resident of Alice Springs and the electorate of Braitling, someone who is fairly well known in Alice Springs, Murray Stewart. Murray Stewart is an alderman on the Alice Springs Town Council. He had a vision some time ago in the interests of families of young sports people who were finding it financially difficult to send their kids away for sport. Quite often kids have to go to Darwin. I am sure, Madam Deputy Speaker, you are always putting your hand in your pocket for your kids in Nhulunbuy. Local members always try to support kids’ travel to Darwin and places further afield for sporting ventures.
Murray came up with an idea to set up a sports foundation, which local clubs could contribute money towards, so kids who had an opportunity to travel for sports would be able to access financial assistance through that foundation. He gathered together a group of like-minded community members who headed up local sporting groups and recreational clubs around Alice Springs and put together what is now known as the League of Champions. It is a fantastic idea and invention which he has driven for a long time. He has been on it since November 2009, annoying as many people as possible to get this up and running.
There will be a number of fundraising ventures to try to ensure the League of Champions foundation has enough money to support as many people as possible. The foundation was officially launched on 7 August at the Alice Springs Memorial Club. Ten sports individuals will be identified each year and inducted into the League of Champions Hall of Fame until 2019, and in 2020 up to 20 ‘teams of all time’ for Alice Springs and Central Australia will be inducted. It is a fantastic initiative, for which Murray and his assistants should be commended.
Thank you very much to the co-founding members and the organising committee of the wonderful League of Champions foundation: Murray Stewart, the president - he was president of the Alice Springs Athletics Club but now is the president of the foundation; Dave Douglas, the owner/manager of Dave Douglas Tyre City and participant in the Variety Club; Warren Collits, former Central Australian Rugby League development officer; John Boyle, radio broadcaster; Andrea Sullivan, manager of the Alice Springs Memorial Club; Nick Prus, manager of the Alice Springs Golf Club - thanks for a wonderful golf day on Friday, Nick; Alan Rowe, manager of the Gillen Club and a fine cricketer for Westies Masters Cricket; Kevin Rockemer, vice-president of Alice Springs RSL Club who did a fine job on Anzac Day this year; and Lucie Davison, Centrelink emergency response person.
The League of Champions has a selection panel which will identify the 10 inductees into the hall of fame each year. The chair of the panel is Steve Menzies, a sports journalist at The Centralian Advocate in Alice Springs, a multi-sports administrator, a fantastic man and a well renowned person in the sporting field in Alice Springs. The deputy chair is Paul Fitzsimmons , or Fizzer to many of us. He was an ABC sports commentator, does much work in his paid position at the university, and is a great local bloke. The record keeper is Pat Miller, who is a former hockey great and the current Deputy of the Administrator.
The other members of the panel are: Dick Kimber, a former AFL great and town historian; Mary Meldrum, the first female Australian auctioneer, a sports broadcaster, administrator, and a fantastic resident of Braitling and Larapinta who is right into her lawn bowls; and Graham Ross, youth worker extraordinaire and former boxing coach. Graham does much work with the Gap Youth Centre in Alice Springs and is still pushing us for further improvements to support youth in Alice Springs.
A competition was held to identify a logo for the foundation. A 10-year-old girl, Rani Marshall, although she did not win the corporate logo competition, was selected. Congratulations, Rani, that will go down in history.
The 50 people the judges identified as potential inductees for the League of Champions, are: Steve Arnold, John Bell, Terry Bell, Joel Bowden, John Boyle, Sharon Burns, Gary Boodnikoff. Sam Calder, Nev Connor, John Cooper, Jeff Curtis, Steve Darling, Cal Dean, Gwen Ferry, Pat Gallagher, Marty Gardiner, Randal Gregory, Ivy Hampton, Kym Hansen, Reg and Marg Harris, Joan Higgins, Malcolm Hill, Max Horton, Rae Jones, Chris Jongewald, Lyall Kempster, Bobby Liddle, Gilbert McAdam, Andrew McArthur, Louis Miller, Tim Nielsen, Max O’Callaghan, Shane O’Leary, Donna-Lee Patrick, John Pyper, Alexis Rhodes, Graham Ross, Steve Satour, Graeme Shaughnessy, Graeme Smith, James Swan, Cheryl Talbot, Christine Trefry, Maureen Trindle, Bill van Dyk, Bruce Walker, Darryl White, Lance White and David Yeaman.
I congratulate the 10 people who are the first inductees into the hall of fame and once again, thank Murray Stewart. Many of these names will be known in this Chamber and by many people throughout the Territory. These are the 10 inductees: Sam Calder, for cricket; Nev Connor, for speedway, golf and racing; Pat Gallagher for netball - the netball courts in Alice Springs are named after Pat; Ivy Hampton for darts; Reg and Marg Harris for various administrative roles in sport; Joan Higgins, for the administration of the youth centre and various sports; Malcolm Hill for cycling; Donna-Lee Patrick for hockey; James Swan for boxing; and Maureen Trindle for softball and hockey. Congratulations as you all go down in history as the first inductees to the hall of fame of the League of Champions.
I wish the foundation all the best for the future. You have my support. Murray Stewart, in Alice Springs you are often described as an eccentric, blind man, but you are a wonderful leader in our community. You should keep up your passionate intent of driving things in our community. Not everything is right, but this is something which is certainly on the mark. You have my support and I will work hard to ensure you have support from other people.
Mr WOOD (Nelson): Madam Deputy Speaker, I would like to talk about a visit I made to Mataranka Station last Thursday. For those who do not know, Mataranka Station is about 10 km north of the Mataranka township.
I was invited by the Vice Chancellor of Charles Darwin University, Professor Barney Glover, to accompany the university’s Mataranka Station Advisory Committee and the CDU Chancellor, Hon Sally Thomas, on a tour of Mataranka Station with the new station manager, Mr Gary Riggs.
They asked me to accompany them to Mataranka as there have been some concerns about the welfare of animals at Mataranka Station. I believe this was highlighted some months ago on one of the commercial TV channels. There were some comments in the NT News which alarmed me because there was talk about selling Mataranka Station. I have a soft spot for Mataranka Station. My daughter trained there as a ringer - or you can call her a ringer-ess, I do not know - about 13 years ago. She did a 13-week course there and, from that, she obtained jobs at Wave Hill Station, Cattle Creek, Oban Station and, eventually, she ended up on Kidman Springs Research Station.
I always felt there was a need for this place as an active teaching facility. It is a large parcel of land where you can teach young people the skills they need to work on a real cattle station. It is unfortunate there has been some bad publicity. Professor Barney Glover came to see me and explained that the university does not want to sell the station at present, but rather wants to put more money into the station and improve the infrastructure. They invited me to accompany the advisory committee so I would have a better idea of the state of the station.
The advisory committee is made up of Ms Elaine Gardiner who is the independent chair, Mr Jak Andrews from Manbulloo Station; Mr Neil MacDonald, Department of Resources; Dr Barry McKnight, who is in charge of VET courses at the university; Mr Ken Suter who is a financial officer; Ms Maryanne McKaige who is Manager Strategic Projects at the university and Ms Sue Hutton who is the university’s Animal Ethics Committee representative. This committee was formed in June 2001.
At about the same time, they also engaged a new manager on the station whose name is Gary Riggs. He has much experience. He was the person who managed Mataranka Station between 1998 and approximately 2005. Then, he worked full-time on his own cattle station, which is a neighbouring cattle station called Lakefield. He is also a member of the Mataranka Water Advisory Committee, a member of the Roper River Landcare Group, and an accredited workplace assessor and trainer.
The university has taken steps to ensure the animals are being looked after properly on Mataranka Station. There is a program beginning to put the station back in order so it can run as a proper teaching facility we would be proud of.
The unfortunate incidents which occurred in the past have raised concerns, not only in the Northern Territory but interstate. I understand there will be an Ombudsman’s report coming out soon which will detail some of those unfortunate incidents and bring them to the attention of various members of the community.
Since Gary Riggs has taken over, he has saved the property from at least three wildfires; cleared the fence lines; widened the firebreaks; replaced old, inadequate gates; repaired bore pumps; identified new works - there is a need for more upgrades to fencing and corridors, and there needs to be more bores and dams. He has recruited properly qualified and experienced staff. He started a weed management program, so in the short space of time he has been looking after the station the cattle have looked to be in good nick. He explained to the advisory committee the processes he had implemented to improve the condition of the cattle. He explained the importance of licks and how cattle cannot survive on native grass all year unless they have licks which give them the right nutrient balance. showed the committee how the cattle had improved and the work which needs to be done to make sure the breed of cattle there is not infiltrated by other breeds of cattle. There are certain breeds of cattle which you would want to remove from the station.
The plans for the future of the station are that the advisory committee will meet there regularly, reinstate student programs at Katherine, and investigate the use of solar energy for bore pumps. Presently, they are using diesel, and we were shown that the wrong size diesel engines were being used to provide the power to operate the pumps. Those motors were burning out because they were too big for the job.
There is potential there for irrigated pastures. I suggested to the chair of the advisory committee that it looks at talking to people like Ms Diana Leeder, who I believe is the water controller, about getting a water licence for the farm. It seems strange that there has been much discussion about the allocation of water in the Mataranka water area but the station had not applied for an allocation of water. They would not be allowed to put in irrigated pastures because they would not have the water to do it. Hopefully something is being put in place now to make sure that happens.
I am a strong supporter of places like Mataranka Station. There is a fair section of the Northern Territory which is covered by pastoral properties. We are trying to develop Indigenous cattle properties, there is a need, and will be a continual need, to have facilities which can provide a practical education to young people and, hopefully, attract more Indigenous young people to take up life working on pastoral properties. There is plenty of opportunity for that sort of work.
What we see now, or have seen for the last 20 or 30 years, is that not many Aboriginal people work on cattle stations anymore. We have relied on young people coming from interstate to work on these stations, whereas, when I first came to the Territory, Aboriginal people were the mainstay of cattle stations. We have to turn that around. Why do we get people from interstate when on our doorsteps we have plenty of young people who could do the same job? I know they have natural ability to ride horses, I have seen them get on a horse and it is second nature to them. There are other skills they must learn. It is not just about riding a horse, it is about learning about cattle, and animal husbandry.
There are great opportunities for this station to expand its role and to give young Aboriginal people a chance to get into the pastoral industry. When I visited Mistake Creek Station on the Northern Territory/Western Australia border last year, one of the issues was that many of the students from Katherine had learnt to get up at 8 am. On cattle stations you get up at 4.30 am.
I see this station as a place where we can run a cattle station as a cattle station, and we can turn young students into the pastoral industry with the experience they need. I am very much in support of Mataranka Station, and I hope the university will continue to support it and put in the infrastructure which will make it even better.
Motion agreed to; the Assembly adjourned.
STATEMENT BY SPEAKER
Sound and Vision System Upgrade
Sound and Vision System Upgrade
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, we have new microphones in the Chamber. This is the completion of Stage 2 of a three-stage upgrade to the sound and vision system. You would have received an e-mail from the Clerk, and I will remind you of a few things.
The new microphones are fixed in place and do not have a flexible neck. Please do not attempt to adjust the position of the microphone. Testing will take place to ensure the microphone suits the individual member’s speaking voice so it can be recorded and amplified correctly. The positioning of the microphone necessitates members speaking from the standing position at the centre of the desk. This speaking position will ensure you are audible for Hansard purposes. Members who shift in their place significantly while speaking will be inaudible and perhaps not recorded - so, perhaps not the normal theatrics for the first few days anyway.
MESSAGE FROM ADMINISTRATOR
Message No 20
Message No 20
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, I received from His Honour the Administrator Message No 20 notifying assent to bills passed in the June sitting of the Assembly.
TABLED PAPER
Committee Membership and
Opposition Portfolio Responsibilities
Committee Membership and
Opposition Portfolio Responsibilities
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, I table a letter from the Opposition Whip notifying opposition committee membership changes to parliamentary committees. The letter also advises changes to shadow portfolio responsibilities as follows:
the member for Port Darwin to take responsibility for Treasury; Public Employment; Manager of Opposition Business; and Essential Services.
MOTION
Committee Membership
Committee Membership
Mr MILLS (Opposition Leader)(by leave): Madam Speaker, I move that the Assembly ratify the committee membership changes to parliamentary committees as follows:
Privileges Committee: appoint the member for Port Darwin (Mr Elferink) and discharge the member for Drysdale (Mr Bohlin);
Public Accounts Committee: appoint the member for Port Darwin (Mr Elferink) and discharge the member for Goyder (Ms Purick); and
Council of Territory Cooperation: appoint the member for Port Darwin (Mr Elferink) and discharge the member for Fong Lim (Mr Tollner).
Motion agreed to.
LEAVE OF ABSENCE
Member for Drysdale
Member for Drysdale
Mr ELFERINK (Port Darwin): Madam Speaker, with the agreement of the Leader of Government Business, I seek leave of absence for the member for Drysdale for this sitting week, 10 to 12 August 2010 inclusive.
Motion agreed to.
PETITION
NT Mining Act
NT Mining Act
Mr TOLLNER (Fong Lim)(by leave): Madam Speaker, I present a petition not conforming with standing orders from 633 petitioners relating to the revising of the NT Mining Act to reflect the miners’ rights system of the WA Mining Act. I move that the petition be read.
Motion agreed to; petition read.
- To the honourable the Speaker and members of the Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory,
We the undersigned respectfully showeth that whereas the Western Australian Mining Act has a miners’ rights system which provides access to prospect on Crown land not being leased by exploration licences thus greatly boosting tourist and general public fossicking and mineral exploration with benefits to inland towns and Western Australia.
And whereas the Northern Territory does not have a similar access system thus being unable to compete for the interests of the local public and tourist fossickers as are catered for in Western Australia.
Your petitioners therefore humbly pray that the Northern Territory Mining Act be revised and amended to reflect the miners’ rights system of the Western Australian Mining Act. The proposed amendment would benefit financially NT towns such as Alice Springs, Tennant Creek, Katherine, Pine Creek, Hayes Creek, Douglas River, Grove Hill, Adelaide River, Darwin, and Timber Creek, and your petitioners, as in duty bound, will ever pray.
Revision of NT Mining Act
Mr TOLLNER (Fong Lim)(by leave): Madam Speaker, I present a petition from 2941 petitioners praying that the Northern Territory Mining Act be revised to reflect the section 20A permit system of the Western Australia Mining Act. The petition is in similar terms to a petition presented on 10 August 2010. I move that the petition be read.
Motion agreed to; petition read:
- To the honourable Speaker and members of the Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory,
We the undersigned respectfully showeth that whereas the Western Australian Mining Act has a section 20A permit system which provides access to prospect on land within exploration licenses thus greatly boosting tourist and general public fossicking and mineral exploration with benefits to inland mining towns in Western Australia.
And whereas the Northern Territory does not have a similar access system thus being unable to compete for the interests of the local public and tourist fossickers as they are catered for in Western Australia.
Your petitioners therefore humbly pray that the Northern Territory Mining Act be revised and amended to reflect the section 20A permit system of the Western Australian Mining Act. The proposed amendment would benefit financially NT towns such as Alice Springs, Tennant Creek, Katherine, Pine Creek, Hayes Creek, Douglas River, Grove Hill, Adelaide River, Darwin and Timber Creek, and your petitioners, as in duty bound, will ever pray.
RESPONSES TO PETITIONS
Petition Nos 31, 32, 34, and 37
Petition Nos 31, 32, 34, and 37
The CLERK: Madam Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 100A, I inform honourable members that responses to petition Nos 31, 32, 34 and 37 have been received and circulated to honourable members. The text of the responses will be placed on the Legislative Assembly website. A copy of the response will be provided to the member who tabled the petition for distribution to petitioners.
- Petition No 31
Rescission of Secure Care Facility at Lowther Road, Bees Creek
Date presented: 6 May 2010
Presented by: Ms Purick
Referred to: Minister for Health
Date response due: 20 October 2010
Date response received: 4 August 2010
- The minister has listened to the concerns of local residents in the Bees Creek and Cotterill Road areas, and taken the decision not to locate the secure care facilities in these areas.
- Petition No 32
Secure Care Facility Bees Creek
Date presented: 6 May 2010
Presented by: Ms Purick
Referred to: Minister for Health
Date response due: 20 October 2010
Date response received: 4 August 2010
- The minister has listened to the concerns of local residents in the Bees Creek and Cotterill Road areas, and taken the decision not to locate the secure care facilities in these areas.
- Petition No 34
Secure Care Facility At Lot 9374 No 10 Cotterill Rd, Alice Springs
Date presented: 8 June 2010
Presented by: Ms Anderson
Referred to: Minister for Health
Date response due: 21 October 2010
Date response received: 4 August 2010
Response:
- The minister has listened to the concerns of local residents in the Bees Creek and Cotterill Road areas, and taken the decision not to locate the secure care facilities in these areas.
- Petition No 37
Rescission of Secure Care Facility at Lowther Road, Bees Creek
Date presented: 9 June 2010
Presented by: Ms Purick
Referred to: Minister for Health
Date response due: 20 October 2010
Date response received: 4 August 2010
Response:
- The minister has listened to the concerns of local residents in the Bees Creek and Cotterill Road areas, and taken the decision not to locate the secure care facilities in these areas.
YOUTH JUSTICE AMENDMENT BILL
(Serial 120)
(Serial 120)
Mr VATSKALIS (Children and Families): Madam Speaker, I seek leave to present a bill without notice relating to youth justice.
Leave granted.
Bill presented and read a first time.Mr VATSKALIS: Madam Speaker, I move that the bill be now read a second time.
These amendments are to create certainty and validate decisions made by the Youth Justice Court since its inception in 2006. Recently, the jurisdiction of that court has been cast into doubt following the decision of the Full Court of the Supreme Court in Howie v Youth Justice Court and others.
Many honourable members would be aware of the principles of youth justice this House having held numerous debates with respect to youth crime, antisocial behaviour, families taking responsibility for their children and the transition from the Juvenile Justice Act to the Youth Justice Act 2005-06. The Youth Justice Act is the primary legislation which gives direction for dealing with persons under the age of 18 years who make contact with the criminal justice system.
The Northern Territory Youth Justice Act complies with a number of general and international principles which set out procedures for dealing with youths who make contact with the criminal justice system. It is set out in the beginning of the act in sections 3 and 4, which enunciate the objects and principles for the administration of youth justice in the Northern Territory.
Two critical principles relate directly to the amendments I have introduced today. The first relevant principle is that youths who have been charged with criminal offences should not be treated like other offenders. As far as possible, they should be kept separate from the adult criminal justice system.
The second relevant principle is they should be dealt with by police, the courts and correctional service providers in a manner which is appropriate for their age and level of maturity. Under the Juvenile Justice Act and the Youth Justice Act, this principle was addressed with the establishment of a dedicated Youth Justice Court.
Young people charged with an offence are kept separate from adult offenders through the provision of a dedicated court familiar with the issues affecting young offenders, equipped to deal with their offending behaviour as well as offering rehabilitation programs specifically designed for young people.
In addition to the establishment of a dedicated Youth Justice Court, both acts establish a specific jurisdiction and set of procedures for the disposition of matters involving young people in the criminal justice system.
In accordance with the principle that youths should be kept separate from the adult criminal justice system and be dealt with in a way which is appropriate for their age and maturity, it was intended that young offenders would, in most cases, only appear before a Youth Justice Court. They would not appear before the Supreme Court unless they or their guardian gave consent to the matter being referred to the Supreme Court, or in circumstances where the young person was charged with a serious offence which, if committed by an adult, would carry the maximum penalty of life imprisonment.
In 2006, the Youth Justice Court commenced operation under the Youth Justice Act. Since that time, the Youth Justice Court has exercised its jurisdiction to hear and determine all matters in a summary fashion, except those where the maximum penalty for an adult offender is life imprisonment. In June of this year, the Supreme Court was required to examine the Youth Justice Act in more detail. Following the Supreme Court decision in May 2010 in the matter of Curtis v Eaton, the full court was convened to determine the extent of the jurisdiction of the Youth Justice Court.
When adult offenders are charged with criminal offences, the seriousness of the charge, which is determined by reference to the penalty, determines how the matter can be disposed of and in which court. The Court of Summary Jurisdiction has exclusive jurisdiction for minor criminal matters, those which do not carry a penalty of imprisonment, or for which the maximum penalty is not greater than three years imprisonment.
The Court of Summary Jurisdiction may also, by authorisation under the Justices Act, hear and determine a number of indictable, that is, more serious, matters. Generally these are for offences for which the maximum penalty is no more than 10 years imprisonment, or 14 years for some property offences. For indictable matters where the maximum penalty is greater than 10 years imprisonment, or 14 years for some property offences, the Court of Summary Jurisdiction does not have jurisdiction to hear and determine the matters. Instead, such matters must be dealt with by a justice under the Justices Act by way of preliminary examination of the evidence, also known as a committal hearing. The jurisdiction to hear and determine these more serious indictable matters lies with the Supreme Court, before a judge and jury.
Given the accepted principles that youth are to be kept separate from adult courts and other procedures, it was generally understood that the Youth Justice Court had a much broader power to hear and determine matters than the Court of Summary Jurisdiction. Unlike adult offenders, it was generally understood that the prerequisites for a summary disposal of a criminal matter would always be met for a youth, except in circumstances where the maximum penalty available for an adult offender was life imprisonment.
However, following examination of the wording of the Youth Justice Act, the Full Court of the Supreme Court found the Youth Justice Court did not have the same jurisdiction as its predecessor, the Juvenile Justice Court. The effect of this June 2010 Full Court of the Supreme Court decision is there would be no difference between the way young people and adults would be treated in the criminal justice system, contrary to the principles I outlined earlier. Further, the decision established that, since 2006 when the Youth Justice Act commenced, the Youth Justice Court has proceeded to hear and determine matters in a summary fashion when it had no power to do so under the Youth Justice Act.
The purpose of this bill is twofold. The first purpose is to correct and clarify the extent of the jurisdiction of the Youth Justice Court in the Northern Territory. It has always been the intention of this House to comply with Australia’s international commitments to all areas of child welfare, including criminal justice systems for children. All other jurisdictions in Australia have a dedicated youth justice jurisdiction which comprises a court system, separate police procedures, and detention facilities. Except for the most serious offences, children are entitled to have their matters determined in an exclusive youth jurisdiction. That was the intention of this parliament when the Youth Justice Act was passed and it is something I wish to make perfectly plain through these amendments.
The second purpose of the bill serves to clarify and validate all decisions made by the Youth Justice Court since its inception in 2006. This will establish that the convictions, sentences imposed, or other dispositions determined by the Youth Justice Court, are valid. Youth who have appeared before that court will not be required to appear in court again for the same offence, which may have an unintended effect of disrupting treatment or rehabilitation programs, or the young person’s family and community-based supervision. The validation of those decisions has the added benefit of limiting the resource and cost implications to the court, and prosecuting legal aid agencies, which are spared from having to reopen any matter held by the court since December 2006. The bill seeks to restore certainty in the operation and jurisdiction of the Youth Justice Court and past decisions made by that court.
I extend thanks to the lawyers of the Department of Justice and officers of Parliamentary Counsel for the formulation and drafting of this bill in an extraordinarily short time frame.
Madam Speaker, I commend the bill to honourable members, and table a copy of the explanatory statement.
Debate adjourned.
PERSONAL PROPERTY SECURITIES (NATIONAL UNIFORM LEGISLATION) IMPLEMENTATION BILL
(Serial 103)
(Serial 103)
Continued from 6 May 2010.
Mr ELFERINK (Port Darwin): Madam Speaker, I respond to this bill and say the Country Liberals support this legislative instrument and, therefore, honourable members can go back to sleep. However, having made that observation, it does behove me to make some comments in relation to this, particularly in relation to the nature of COAG and the arrangements that surround it.
I am on the record as being an ardent federalist. At the time our founding fathers put this fine federation together it was a disparate set of colonies. It comes as a surprise to many people that at one stage Western Australia was out of the federation and New Zealand was in the federation. Subsequent referenda put paid to that particular arrangement. It is interesting to note that near the back of the Australian Constitution you still find a reference to ‘Western Australia, should it choose to join,’, and that is because of the disparate nature of the colonies which ultimately formed the Federation which became the Commonwealth of Australia.
In that document, if memory serves me, section 52 - it could be section 51 - outlines some 39-odd areas where the Commonwealth had particular powers. Among those 39 areas were exciting, powerful institutions such as the control of lighthouses. One of those Commonwealth reserve powers was the printing of money, which is largely where this bill starts to come into its own. Whilst this is not about the Constitution, it is about a choice by the states to give away some of their authority in the management of securities to the Commonwealth.
Being an ardent federalist, I am always cautious about giving away states’ rights to the Commonwealth, but for commercial reasons I can well see why this bill is necessary and why the agreement was ratified by COAG.
I am heartened from time-to-time to see, particularly Western Australia but other states as well, Labor or Liberal, it does not much matter, fight for their own rights in COAG and, from time-to-time they have victories for the states. So it is a quid pro quo. There is a little give, a little take and, on this occasion, the give is by the Northern Territory and the take is by the Commonwealth.
This bill seeks to institutionalise the personal properties securities in a national register. When our founding fathers put together our constitutional instrument the idea of Internet and high-speed communication was limited to Morse Code down a telegraph line, and personal property was not something you could take across state borders easily. Nowadays, personal property is very portable. If you drive around Darwin at the moment, every fourth or fifth number plate will be from a jurisdiction other than our own. Consequently, the securitisation of property by way of financial instruments is an issue for the banking institutions and other institutions in our community and throughout our great nation. This instrument seeks to create a federal system by which securities are lodged at a Commonwealth level and no longer lodged at a Territory level.
I am grateful to note land has been excluded from the list, which is sensible considering land is not, at law, transportable.
Madam Speaker, the bill makes sense. It is common sense to do this. It is good that COAG meets and resolves these issues. No major states’ rights flow from it and the Country Liberals support this bill.
Dr BURNS (Public and Affordable Housing): Madam Speaker, this is important legislation in the context of national harmonisation, particularly in reducing red tape. It is a process which has been embarked upon through COAG over the last three to four years and driven, at a federal level, by the government. This bill, once enacted, will harmonise the register of personal securities across Australia. As I understand it, there are up to 40 registers across Australia, each a repository of different information, and amalgamating and consolidating these registers will make the processes regarding personal securities against personal properties much easier to negotiate. For example, people looking for credit or to borrow money, etcetera, might use a motor vehicle as security and it is very important for lending institutions to determine whether there are other interests in that motor vehicle.
This is a very important step in harmonising business regulation and enhancing competition across Australia, which is being implemented under the banner of the drive for a seamless national economy. This is one of the reforms which has been driven by the federal government, and there are many different aspects to it. We have all heard about the national registration system for health practitioners - very important to have a seamless system across Australia. Whilst it might seem a very simple undertaking it is complicated as there are different regulations within each jurisdiction for registering health practitioners. Queensland, given some of the events with the Jayant Patel case, was intent on not reversing the regulations they brought in for screening health professionals after that incident.
Other aspects of delivering a seamless national economy include an Australia-wide trade measurement system; which is very important to have. You would think it would have been done years ago when there was a standard railway line across Australia.
Rail safety legislation is another aspect as are standard business reporting and an electronic conveyancing system. Having participated in SCAG some years ago I know it is very important to have consistency in conveyancing at a national level and to have an electronic system to make it easier. Whilst all jurisdictions have their own priorities sometimes it is very difficult to come to agreement. It sometimes transcends the party or the flag people belong to. Each jurisdiction does have its own history in things like conveyancing, and its own objectives, and sometimes it is difficult to reach agreement around the table. We are moving on this as a nation and it is very important we continue to do so.
Reforms in the not-for-profit sector: an implementation plan; governance structure for a nationally consistent approach to fundraising regulation. We know non-government organisations often fundraise across borders and sometimes there are question marks around the transparency of the use of that money and the governance of those organisations. We need to maintain confidence in areas such as the not-for-profit sector.
Turning to this legislation and quoting from the second reading speech, this act:
… will govern the registration of personal property securities. These securities are agreements and arrangements under which items of personal property such as a motor vehicle are used to secure payments of money - for example, a loan - or the performance of an obligation.
The famous Standing Committee of Attorneys-General is very methodical in the way it works through issues. Some would say it is a forum which takes too long, but if you are dealing with national laws and regulations it is very important to get them right.
This was first considered by SCAG as a discussion paper in 2006. It comes to fruition today with the bill being debated, and hopefully, passed. I welcome the opposition’s stance in moving in step with the rest of Australia on this issue. It will mean there will be amendments to the registers which are held at a Territory level; principally, the Registration of Interests in Motor Vehicles and Other Goods Act, the Instruments Act, and the Co-operatives Act. There are some consequential effects on other legislation.
I was also interested to learn this legislation, on a national level, is based on laws which currently operate in North America. I was not previously aware of that.
The bill will provide for closure of Northern Territory registers and those registers will move to a consolidated register at a national level. It also provides for the insertion of provisions in various acts which provide for the issue of statutory licences, and that those statutory licences are not transferable. There is a clarification around those statutory licences as personal property.
This is an important act. It is not going to set the world on fire; it will probably not even be reported in the newspapers. However, it will have an effect on those using property as personal security for loans, so it will have a fairly profound effect. This legislation has been thoroughly worked through. It has been agreed upon by every jurisdiction and now the Northern Territory is amending its legislation to allow this to happen.
Madam Speaker, I commend this bill to the House. I also commend the process of delivering a seamless national economy. There has been much work done in this area and I hope this work continues on a national level, irrespective of who wins the federal election in just over a week-and-a-half’s time.
Ms LAWRIE (Justice and Attorney-General): Madam Speaker, I thank the minister and the opposition for their support of very practical legislation which will increase certainty and consistency, reduce complexity and, all importantly for business, reduce cost.
Providing for uniform laws and rules across the nation is something which often takes a long time to reach fruition. This has quite a history, which I will be stepping through in my wrapping-up contribution today. It is about ensuring we enact a law to ensure the Commonwealth Personal Property Securities Act of 2009, known widely as the PPS Act. We are transferring a whole raft of registries to the Commonwealth. It will ensure there will be a single, nationally accessible, electronic register which will replace a myriad of registers, both electronic and paper-based operating across the states and territories.
To date, only two other jurisdictions - New South Wales and the ACT - have enacted laws, so we are a little ahead of the rest of the pack. I am advised that South Australia and Tasmania are well into preparation of legislation, which has been somewhat delayed by elections in those jurisdictions.
It is envisaged this PPS will come into play in May 2011, so there is plenty of time for the jurisdictions to put their laws in place to allow for this national register. Equally, there is much work being done between the Commonwealth officials, agencies and stakeholders, and state and territory officials, agencies and stakeholders.
Coincidentally, today there is a conference in Darwin between Commonwealth officers from the Attorney-General’s Department in Canberra and a raft of stakeholders in the Top End, which will be attended by representatives from the Department of Justice, banks, legal firms and others with an interest, such as the Motor Trades Association. So, already, we have the first of some comprehensive work being done to ensure everyone is across the change to a national register.
We are looking at the Territory closing its registers which deal with the registration of interests in personal property. They are the registers held under the Registration of Interests in Motor Vehicles and Other Goods Act, the Instruments Act, and the Co-operatives Act.
The bill provides for the migration of this information from the NT registers to the Register of Personal Property Securities, PPS, to establish a national register. It provides for the repeal of the Instruments Act, the Registration of Interests in Motor Vehicles and Other Goods Act, and the Motor Vehicles Hire Car Loan Security Regulations. The bill declares those statutory licences which are to operate outside the national scheme, established under the Commonwealth PPS Act. We are not alone in this. New South Wales, the ACT and others have looked at which particular statutory licences they will exclude.
The bill amends a number of Northern Territory acts to clarify that licences issued under them are not transferable, thus, they are not personal property for the purposes of the PPS Act, and are not capable of being used as security. It also provides for the insertion of provisions into other acts which provide for the issue of transferable statutory licences, that those licences are not to be taken to be personal property for the purposes of the PPS Act, thus maintaining the current situation with regard to dealings in those licences.
The bill also amends the Electricity Reform Act, Energy Pipelines Act, Fisheries Act, Gaming Control Act, Geothermal Energy Act, Liquor Act, Mining Act, Petroleum Act, Petroleum (Submerged Lands) Act, Tobacco Control Act, Totaliser Licensing and Regulation Act, Traffic Act and Water Act so that licences granted under those acts are declared not to be personal property for the purposes of the PPS Act.
The bill provides for transitional matters relating to applications and court proceedings which have commenced but are not finalised at the time when personal property securities cease to be registered under NT law, and are subject to the registration requirements of the PPS Act. It also provides the power to make regulations excluding NT matters from the PPS Act. So we have been very careful in drafting this legislation to ensure we can capture all transitional arrangements and capture anything which might arise through the course of the transition.
This bill started in 2000, when the then Banking Law Association convened a committee to draft a PPS bill. That committee comprised representatives from the major banks and other financial service providers, consumer interests, relevant government departments, infrastructure agencies, and individual lawyers from legal practices and universities in Australia and New Zealand. From that, a draft PPS bill was considered at a workshop at Bond University in April 2002, which ensured it was published in a special edition of the Bond Law Review.
In March 2005, it continued with a meeting of the Standing Committee of Attorneys-General, commonly known as SCAG, where the ministers formed an officers working group to examine the possible options for PPS reform and to develop proposals for the ministers to consider. In May 2006, the Commonwealth government reviewed the law on PPS with a series of seminars held around the nation in major capitals. Following the seminar series, SCAG released an options paper for public consultation in April 2006.
In July 2006, the Commonwealth Attorney-General released a report by Access Economics on the costs and benefits of PPS reform. In July 2006, the Commonwealth government Attorney-General’s Department hosted a policy development workshop on the review of the PPS law. In developing proposals for the national system, four discussion papers have been released on personal property securities reform.
In May 2008, the federal Attorney-General released a consultation draft of the PPS bill as well as commentary and a further Transitional Consequential Amendments Bill. In October 2008, COAG signed an inter-governmental agreement formalising its commitment to the reform of Australia’s personal property securities law and arrangements. Then, on 14 December 2009, the Personal Property Securities Act and the Personal Property Securities Consequential Amendments Act 2009 of the Commonwealth received Royal Assent. Both acts will apply after the registration commencement time, expected to be in May 2011.
Madam Speaker, we introduced our legislation in the April sittings and we are passing it today. It has a history, it has been pored over and raked over, but everyone understands this Personal Property Securities Act will create a single national scheme governing the creation, registration, regulation and enforcement of security interests in personal property. It makes sense and I commend the legislation to the House. I thank the officers of the Department of Justice who have toiled on this for many years. I look forward to them returning to the conference which is occurring today.
Motion agreed to; bill read a second time.
Ms LAWRIE (Justice and Attorney-General)(by leave): Madam Speaker, I move that the bill be now read a third time.
Motion agreed to; bill read a third time.
TABLED PAPER
Remuneration Tribunal Determination –
Report on Overseas Travel –
Member for Nightcliff
Remuneration Tribunal Determination –
Report on Overseas Travel –
Member for Nightcliff
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, in accordance with the Remuneration Tribunal Determination I table a travel report from me as Speaker and member for Nightcliff, representing the Chief Minister at the City of Peace Marathon in Dili on Sunday, 20 June.
MINISTERIAL STATEMENT
Construction Industry and Effect on Economy
Construction Industry and Effect on Economy
Mr McCARTHY (Construction): Madam Speaker, I wish to highlight the Northern Territory government’s investment and strategic infrastructure projects and the far-reaching impact of the construction industry on the economy of the Northern Territory. The health of the construction industry is key to the health of the Territory’s economy. The industry accounts for more than 5% of gross state product in the Territory.
More than 10 000 Territorians have jobs in the construction industry. Many hundreds of businesses supply goods and services to construction projects, and projects large and small are under way in every major centre and throughout our remote areas. The benefits of construction projects flow through our economy. We have come so far since 2000 and 2001 when you could not get a job in the construction industry. Territorians will remember that in 2000 and 2001, Darwin businesses like the Cool Spot were full of contractors and concreters passing the time because there was no work to be had. The CLP government of the day was not investing in construction and the Territory economy was paying the price. The construction industry was on its knees.
When the Territory’s first Labor government came to office in 2001, we listened to the industry and we acted. We boosted investment in the construction program from $364m in 2000-01, to a record $1.8bn in Budget 2010-11. That is a 399% increase. Since 2001, our construction program has injected $7.7bn into the Territory economy. We are delivering programs across the regions, not just in Darwin, and the projects are staged throughout the year so jobs in the construction industry are no longer merely seasonal.
In Alice Springs, we have upgraded schools such as Ross Park; we have sealed sections of the Mereenie Loop Road, and have invested in recreation infrastructure, including Traeger Park and the Aquatic Centre.
In Tennant Creek, we have upgraded Tennant Creek High School, upgraded roads, and reinvigorated the main street. We have released an action plan for Katherine’s future, invested in its high school, and delivered a Police Beat.
Across Darwin, we have built new fire and police stations, new sporting facilities, developed Leanyer Recreation Park, the Convention Centre and the cruise ship terminal.
Today, Access Economics analysis places the Territory’s economic growth third to the big mining states, Western Australia and Queensland, over the next three years. Access Economics has forecast average annual GSP growth of 3.7% for the five years to 2013-14, above national growth of 3.2%. Access Economics also stated the Territory has some glittering project possibilities ahead which could turbo-charge its growth, and have forecast private investment expenditure to rebound strongly over the next five years.
This government is investing in the future of the Northern Territory. The Territory 2030 Strategic Plan has a clear target for government to:
- … maintain high levels of investment in public infrastructure to underpin long-term development and growth.
That is why we are committed to meeting the Territory 2030 target and delivering a record $1.8bn capital works project in 2010-11. That is a 12% increase on the revised 2009-10 program, and more than doubles that of 2008-09.
We are able to deliver this record budget to infrastructure projects as a result of a strong partnership with the federal government. Led by the Chief Minister, the Territory government has built and maintained a strong working partnership with the federal Labor government for the benefit of all Territorians.
The comparison between infrastructure investment into the Territory by the Coalition and the Australian Labor government is staggering. In 2007-08 capital funding to the Northern Territory by the Commonwealth was about $111m. With Damian Hale and Warren Snowdon in Canberra, funding from the Commonwealth has grown to $798m in 2010-11. That is a 619% increase. We make no apology for securing Australian government funding for the Northern Territory. It is a partnership we want to see continue because it means jobs for Territorians and boosts our economy.
The Australian Labor government has committed to five trade training centres in the Territory, with two already operating, Kormilda College and Marrara Christian College. Barkly College at Tennant Creek is under construction. The two centres about to be built at Ngukurr and Darwin High School are at risk if a Coalition government is elected on 21 August. The trade training centres are welcomed by industry; they want more and they want them bigger. Industry is aligned with a model and has guaranteed pathways to employment and options for post-school training.
The trade training centres are central to growing the Territory’s construction industry and capability, particularly to position for the big projects ahead. In partnership with the Commonwealth, we have started the runs on the board with two centres already up and running.
What do these projects and the partnership with the Australian government mean to our economy for Territorians? They are a real investment in our construction industry, delivering projects to benefit all Territorians - projects like the Alan Walker Cancer Centre, and the Tiger Brennan Drive extension. Since 2001, the Territory’s construction industry has injected more than $7.7bn into the Territory economy. Targeted government investment has played a major role in driving the industry forward and delivering projects which will have a lasting benefit for people of the Northern Territory - investments in our school facilities, roads, new police stations and Police Beats, and hospital upgrades. These projects bring opportunities for Territory businesses and jobs for Territorians. Last financial year, the Construction Division awarded more than 950 construction contracts to companies across the Northern Territory. Those contracts represent jobs for Territorians, businesses at work during the global financial crisis, and a flow of money around our economy.
The worst of the global financial crisis may be behind us, but the Henderson government will continue to support the Territory’s construction industry. Budget 2010-11, with its record $1.8bn infrastructure program, will deliver projects across a range of areas vital to our economy including: $725m for housing including the biggest investment in public housing and fast-track land release; $437m for essential services infrastructure; and $331m to seal and upgrade Territory roads.
As the Minister for Lands and Planning, I am proud this government is managing the Territory’s growth by releasing land five times faster than before. At the heart of this land release program is Palmerston, one of Australia’s fastest growing regions. Houses are being constructed at the new suburb of Bellamack, and headworks are progressing at Johnston. These Palmerston East suburbs will house 15 000 Territory families over the next five years.
Government has committed $20m in 2010-11 to fast-track headworks for Zuccoli. Leading international design company, Urbis, has been appointed to research and draft the master plan for Zuccoli. The master plan will cover issues such as open spaces, community facilities, and building for our tropical lifestyle. Expressions of interest close at the end of this week for developers to partner with the Land Development Corporation to develop Zuccoli Stage 1, which will provide approximately 550 new homes. The first Zuccoli lots are expected to be released for sale off the plan before the end of 2010.
The development of Palmerston East will be complemented by Weddell, a tropical, sustainable, liveable city. This year’s budget also provides $1m for the Weddell development master plan, and $950 000 ongoing to implement that master plan. When finished, Weddell will be home for up to 50 000 Territorians.
Land release in Darwin is complemented by targeted action plans for the future development of Tennant Creek, Katherine, and Alice Springs, which include more land release.
The development of Palmerston East is not just about residential land; government is investing in infrastructure to meet the needs of the growing Palmerston community. This government has committed $13.57m this financial year to the construction of the Palmerston water park. It will include a wet play area, toilets, boardwalk, kiosk, and, most importantly, slides.
Tenders are also being prepared for the design and construction of $33m worth of international-standard sporting facilities for the Palmerston region. Palmerston residents will have access to top-notch facilities for AFL, Rugby League, soccer, tennis and netball. The various sporting clubs, visiting teams and spectators, will all benefit from a variety of works including new clubrooms, canteens and lighting for pitches, courts, and fields. These kinds of projects ensure Palmerston families will have ready access to the type of recreational infrastructure which makes a city liveable.
The largest road project in the Territory’s history is also taking shape in Palmerston: the $110m Tiger Brennan Drive extension. Anyone faced with a hard slog to work in peak-hour traffic every morning and a long slow drive in the afternoon will tell you decisions on where to live, work, and send your children to school can be greatly influenced by the amount of time and money you need to spend getting to and from these venues. The $110m Tiger Brennan Drive extension is a great example of what can be achieved for Territorians from a strong partnership between the federal and Northern Territory Labor governments.
The Australian Labor government, with strong support from the member for Solomon, Damian Hale, has contributed $74m to the extension project and is meeting the cost of the overpass. The project is moving ahead, and both the north- and south-bound bridges are now open to traffic. More than 34 000 motorists use the route each day. The Tiger Brennan Drive extension will mean less time on the road and more time enjoying the great Territory lifestyle.
We have a record $331m in the roads budget this year, which includes projects to upgrade and seal additional sections of the Fog Bay, Litchfield and Tanami Roads, and the Sandover Highway. We are investing in the bush roads to improve access to communities, to improve tourism and grow rural business opportunities.
The member for Lingiari, Warren Snowdon, has delivered additional roads funding to the Territory, including a $52m package targeting works on community, beef and mining roads, including $14m to upgrade stream-crossings on the Central Arnhem road, and $10m for Stage 1 of the project to upgrade the Tom Turner Crossing on the Port Keats road. Ongoing programs, such as Roads to Recovery, are funded to the tune of $4.6m to upgrade local roads, improve pavement ride-ability, and flood immunity.
With our community spread over vast distances, this strategic roads program delivers jobs in the regions, access into main centres and services, and benefits to our transport and tourism industries. We are able to deliver such a significant road program as a result of our partnership with federal Labor.
With Dave Tollner and the Coalition in government in Canberra the Territory received $200m under the AusLink roads agreement …
Mr WOOD: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Is it possible to get an updated version of the statement? This is not the same statement I read last night. It would be nice to have the complete statement in front of me.
Madam SPEAKER: Minister, can you confirm this is a slightly different statement? I have not read the statement; I am not aware.
A member: He would not know.
Mr McCARTHY: I will pick up on that interjection …
Madam SPEAKER: No, no, minister, if you could answer the question: is this a different version of the statement which was circulated?
Mr McCARTHY: Madam Speaker, this is the statement; however, I have been using a little poetic licence.
Madam SPEAKER: All right.
Mr Wood: Madam Speaker, there was nearly a page just read which does not match what I have in front of me.
Madam SPEAKER: Minister, do you have a different version which could be circulated?
Mr McCARTHY: Madam Speaker, I am prepared to provide an updated statement.
Madam SPEAKER: Do you have a copy which can be photocopied and circulated to members, or only the copy you have?
Mr McCARTHY: Yes, but it has some scribble on it.
Madam SPEAKER: One of the ministers can organise that with your office. Thank you, minister.
Mc McCARTHY: Yes.
Mr GILES: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Do we need to suspend standing orders so we can review the statement before we go on? We have not seen …
Madam SPEAKER: No. There is no standing order in relation to what the minister says in a statement; however, as a courtesy, we will ask the minister’s office to provide us with the latest update.
Mr GILES: Should we then pause so we can review the statement before we continue?
Madam SPEAKER: No, I do not think so. The idea is that you hear the member speaking, and then you can respond. Minister, you have the call.
Mr McCARTHY: Thank you, Madam Speaker. Today, funding for Territory roads has more than doubled to $425m over five years. As Territorians, we know our road network is vital, and our partnership with federal Labor is delivering results.
East Arm Port is a vital link in the Territory’s international trade route, connecting our road and rail network with Asia. More than $3bn-worth of cargo is moved through East Arm Wharf annually, supporting 500 industries and thousands of jobs. It is used by a range of industries, including oil and gas, livestock exporters, and mining. These industries need certainty about the facilities on offer at the port and plans for future development.
In June, I launched the East Arm Wharf Facilities Masterplan 2030 Land Use Strategy. The strategy, developed by the Darwin Port Corporation, provides a blueprint for the future development of land and sea-based activities at the wharf. The master plan takes in government’s $150m infrastructure program to upgrade the wharf’s infrastructure to increase trade opportunities and economic development over the next 20 years.
Members would be aware that the $150m project includes a $50m investment from the federal Labor government. After years of neglect of the Territory’s nation building infrastructure by the former Howard government, strong ties between the Henderson government and the federal Labor government secured this investment for the future of the Territory’s trade links.
The infrastructure program at the wharf is under way. We need a larger hardstand area to allow for the growth of the port. The $15m reclamation of Pond F is on track, including work to form access roads to the site in preparation for bulk earthworks. Since work started in April, fill has been sourced from the Tiger Brennan Drive project. Sage Contracting has commenced the $9.5m eastern reclaim area project to create additional hardstand.
Studies are also being undertaken on the most appropriate route and conveyor type for an overland conveyor at the wharf. This $35m project will improve bulk loading operations and environmental standards. I want to stress that this conveyor has nothing to do with loading copper sulphate. Copper is currently loaded by rail in sealed containers into a sealed storage shed and that is the way it will stay. The new bulk loader is about attracting new investment into commodities in the Territory.
Much is said in this House about the necessary investment in infrastructure in our main centres. This is another chapter to our infrastructure story, and as a bush member, I am extremely proud to talk about that new chapter where government, with a clear plan for the future, is addressing years of neglect of infrastructure by the Country Liberal Party. The A Working Future initiative aims to improve outcomes for Indigenous Territorians across key areas of early childhood, schooling, health, economic participation, healthy homes, safe communities, and governance and leadership.
Central to A Working Future is the government’s plans for 20 growth towns which are properly planned and designed with targeted investment in infrastructure and services like those of any other country town. Three of these growth towns, Borroloola, Elliott and Ali Curung are in my electorate of Barkly. It is an ambitious target, but one which this government is committed to meeting with strategic investments and by working in partnership with the communities. Improving services in the bush will make a big difference to the people living in the community, in the surrounding areas and in our main centres.
As part of Budget 2010-11, a record $980m has been allocated to projects in the bush. There is already a vast body of work under way. This is the single largest investment in the bush to meet infrastructure needs across roads, housing, essential services and better schools. More than $11m is being spent on constructing and upgrading health facilities in communities including Wadeye, Minyerri, Alpurrurulam and Milingimbi. Works include mobile dental clinics, hearing booths, and renal facilities. Access to health services in the community will reduce the need for people to leave their families to travel to town for treatment.
Providing a safe community is essential for other outcomes such as improved health and education. $45m has been allocated for police stations in the communities of Numbulwar, Yarralin, Gapuwiyak, Ramingining, Imanpa and Arlparra; and $30m has been allocated to provide infrastructure to improve educational outcomes in communities such as Yuendumu, Gunbalanya, Elliott and Hermannsburg.
A key outcome of the investment in growth towns will be the creation of real jobs in the community. If we can have locals working on local projects it will be a huge boost to the community, creating jobs, income and, most importantly, community leaders. A great example is the $7m project to construct the McArthur River Bridge at Borroloola. The bridge is on track to be completed in October this year and will greatly improve accessibility for the township, particularly in the Wet.
Territory company, Steelcon Constructions, is constructing the bridge and, as the local member, I am very pleased to report that six Indigenous Borroloola residents are working on the project. That was counted on my last visit. These employees are gaining hands-on experience in the construction industry. More than that, they are directly involved in improving their local community. Long after construction is finished, they will be able to take pride in the fact they helped construct an important piece of infrastructure and move on to the next construction project.
In the last few weeks I have travelled extensively throughout the Territory, and it was clear from the people I spoke with there is a positive outlook about the future of the Territory and our remote communities. For decades, the CLP and Coalition governments ignored infrastructure needs in the bush. We are working hard to turn it around. A return to a Liberal government would tear away that positive future. One of the most exciting projects to get under way this year is the construction of the Territory’s first prison camp; $5.1m has been allocated to construct the 50-bed Barkly work camp just outside Tennant Creek. The work camp is part of our new era in Corrections. Its construction will provide job opportunities for Tennant Creek businesses and residents. Once fully operational, the Barkly camp will provide new employment opportunities for 14 people. In the long term, the work camp will also provide a source of workers and training opportunities for the town.
Low security prisoners will undertake vocational training, education, and rehabilitation programs which will help break the cycle of reoffending. These prisoners will work on local community-based projects, giving them real skills which can be translated into job opportunities upon their release. The work camp will link with local businesses to access these projects. Businesses, in turn, will see prisoners giving something back to the community and potentially being able to take up real employment upon their release. This is a great example of strategic investment in infrastructure projects which will benefit the Territory into the future.
Another building project close to my heart is the new Tennant Creek High School multipurpose facility. A contract was recently let to a local contractor, GK Painting Contractors Pty Ltd, with the project due for completion in early 2011. In addition to providing a great space for the students sporting endeavours and performing arts activities, the facility will be available to the community for activities such as public forums, meetings, community celebrations and fundraisers.
This government has a commitment to strengthening and building on what we have already achieved to date - more jobs for Territorians through a growing economy and a robust construction sector. Strategic government investment in infrastructure creates jobs and drives the economy. It also gives the private sector certainty and confidence to invest in the Northern Territory. Projects like INPEX, mining investments, new hotels and tourism infrastructure, and housing developments all benefit Territorians by creating jobs and new facilities for our community. I take immense pride in the construction projects I see in my travels throughout the Territory, be they publicly or privately funded, as they all lead to a stronger future for Territorians.
My last statement, which will not appear in the photocopy, is that as the Minister for Lands and Planning, and Construction and Infrastructure, I am honoured and have enormous pride in working side by side with Territorians to deliver for our future.
Madam Speaker, I move that the Assembly take note of the statement.
Mr GILES (Braitling): Madam Speaker, I am amazed at the timing of this statement. This is another kangaroo court episode. It is the first day of the August sittings, in the middle of a federal election campaign, and only one piece of legislation is debated, which is over by around 10 am, and then we are straight into a statement which seeks to puff up the federal Labor campaign and put down the Coalition plan.
If we are going to be serious in parliament we should be debating real matters, not putting up puff pieces in a statement which is different to what we received the night before. I am amazed.
Minister, at a recent function, you made a speech full of positive spin about the state of Northern Territory construction and development. Representatives of these businesses have told me of their utter disbelief of the spin on your speech. Seeing as we are electioneering, I see no difference with any other Labor minister. These businesses are well aware of the river of federal money for projects such as the Building the Education Revolution, and your government’s priority for growth towns. However, they are equally aware the targets for housing for our Top End families are falling woefully short.
You state projects large and small are under way in every major centre, but delays in infrastructure investment are affecting every corner of the Territory. You state the benefits of construction projects flow through our economy, but our construction companies have been putting staff on long leave over the past months.
You state that a decade ago the Cool Spot was full of concreters and contractors passing time because there was no work to be had. No, they were not. Rather, it was their favourite smoko venue, having started work at 7 am on the projects which were flourishing across Darwin under the Country Liberal government. Today, there are no cranes on the skyline; everyone can see the lack of action. Construction has stalled. Housing targets are falling short of what needs to be achieved. In the 2009-10 budget papers, Treasury stated 1700 dwellings a year were needed. In 2009, only 1200 were actually constructed.
As we speak, the Henderson government is busy playing catch-up, but long-term projects are conspicuous by their absence. There is no investment in public transport to provide options for the bottle necks on the Stuart Highway. You applaud the new fire and police stations. The new Marrara Fire Station opened in June 2007 and the Humpty Doo fire station was opened by Clare Martin in February 2005, but the rural area is still waiting for urgently required ambulances. You applaud the Leanyer Recreation Park which opened on 30 March 2008, but the Darwin Port urgently requires more than $300m to be spent on it now.
Damian Hale’s contribution, courtesy of the federal government, was a paltry $50m on loan –do not even have it yet according to estimates responses. All you can make mention of is the convention centre and the cruise ship terminal, both of which opened in 2008.
We should be looking at major infrastructure for the growth of our Territory. Where are the major projects for the next five to 10 years? If you look at your own Territory 2030 plan it says:
- … maintain high levels of investment in public infrastructure to underpin long-term development and growth.
Where is it? Where are your future sources of construction materials, water supplies, and reliable power and water? Reliable power would be good. You budget for two remote police stations but we also need real solutions for our energy crisis. An extra $10m is being spent on the Territory’s beef roads, but the pastoralists urgently need $2bn worth of road upgrades. I wonder where the federal members for Lingiari and Solomon are on those two issues.
The rural area continues to suffer from a lack of basic sewerage infrastructure. Millions of dollars have been poured into SIHIP and nothing has happened.
The 2010-11 budget says strategic issues facing the agency in 2010-11 include establishing the newly-formed department to incorporate additional responsibilities. I note this has meant a 200% increase in staffing - 200% in EO1, 50% in ECO1, 140% in ECO2 and 100% in ECO4.
The minister is very keen to talk things up in light of the federal election and try to promote his hapless colleague, the member for Solomon, in this statement. But, it is interesting that in the March quarter 2010 Economic Brief by this government it says:
In the year to March 2010, total private new capital expenditure in the Territory decreased by 42.9% …
Decreased by 42.9%, but the minister is telling us how rosy everything is. The Economic Brief for Construction Work Done for the March quarter 2010 says:
- Compared to the December quarter 2009, seasonally adjusted construction work done in the Territory decreased by 18.7% ... in the March quarter 2010.
Under Residential Building Work Done it says:
- Compared to the December quarter 2009, residential building work done in the Territory decreased by 7.9% … in the March quarter 2010.
The Engineering Construction Activity Economic Brief for March quarter 2010 - and these are all on your website; you are promoting how things are going backwards - says:
- In the March quarter 2010, the value of engineering work done, in seasonally adjusted real terms, decreased by 34.6% … compared to a 0.3% increase nationally.
In original terms, private engineering construction work done in the Territory decreased by 45.6% … while public engineering construction decreased by 32.0% ...
This is your own brief, published by Treasury. In the year to March 2010, engineering and construction work done, in original real terms, in the Territory decreased by 34.2%. I wonder what is happening.
Finance for owner-occupied housing investment is down because of a lack of confidence and higher prices - just 348 commitments in June, the lowest June since 2002. You have to go back to CLP days to find things being better. These are the lowest seasonally adjusted values for finance since February 2003. There were only 252 dwelling unit commencements during the March quarter, well down on the apparent 1500 to 1700 needed to meet population growth.
Under the Country Liberals, if we analyse from the March quarter 1990 to the December quarter 2000, the average was over 370 dwelling commencements per quarter. Labor, from March 2001 to March 2010 quarters, averaged only 290 dwelling commitments per quarter, leaving a gap of about 3000 dwelling units per government over a 10-year period, and we have a bigger population and, apparently, a growing economy, and we have had the rivers of gold of the GST money.
If you want to talk about the CLP I will stand here and defend the CLP, and our history and exactly what we did, because it was the Country Liberals who built the Territory, it is Labor which is sending the Territory back. These figures speak for themselves. I will quote from an advertisement which was placed in the Northern Territory News on Saturday, 9 August 2008, which talks about the difference between the Country Liberal Party, the CLP in this advertisement, and Labor. I will go through some achievements, and I will read from this, in part.
What was achieved under the CLP – the Alice Springs to Darwin railway line, water reticulation in the rural area, the Peter McAulay Centre, East Arm Deep Port Facility, Palmerston satellite city, Bagot Road Overpass, Farrar Medical Centre, Elizabeth River bridge, and forensic laboratories.
Despite the fact it is still being built now, the former member for Solomon, Dave Tollner, did a fantastic job of securing the money for Tiger Brennan Drive. It was the Northern Territory Labor government which was hiding and would not do it and would not put the money towards it, but in 2007 they had nowhere to hide, they had to start turning sods.
We built the export cattle yards, the Ayers Rock Resort at Yulara, Litchfield Park, Berrimah Gaol, Lake Leanyer; the new hospital, the Supreme Court, Lake Alexander, and Marrara Stadium. We built Parliament House, where we are standing now; Cullen Bay Marina; the new power stations which the Minister for Essential Services – Power and Water – the member for Daly, seems unable to manage; the cardiac unit; the emergency unit at RDH; the new laboratories; we invested in schools; initiated the private hospital; the Marrara Oval and stands; the Wickham Point Gas Plant; underground residential power; dual carriageway to Noonamah; 1500 km Palm Valley gas pipeline.
Let us have a look at what Labor has done, apart from not build the houses and apart from trying to claim our achievements with Tiger Brennan Drive and the cancer unit. It brought in speed limits and the road toll has gone up. It brought in demerit points; built the soccer stadium; developed the waterfront; built the ambulance, police and fire station at Humpty Doo, and closed the Palmerston after-hours clinic. This government has broken too many promises - all talk, all spin, no action. That is why on this side of the Chamber, in the Country Liberals, we always say look at what they do, not what they say, because what they say is spin.
What else has Labor done? We have seen an increase in violence in the latest crime statistics. It is not safe. Ministers who refuse to meet with Territorians with concerns. Minimal land release which results in high home prices which people cannot afford. The minister for Affordable Housing – well, that is an oxymoron; it is not affordable housing because people cannot afford it. That is why we have the Prime Minister here giving an election pledge for 1200 homes to try to save the bacon of this government again because of its failures. Higher stamp duty, through skyrocketing rentals, the discontent of teachers, nurses, police, and Indigenous health organisations which are all questioning funding allocations. Children are afraid to go to their local shop for fear of being attacked. Labor always attacks the person not the problem. It is all about spin. As we say, look at what they do, not what they say; they are all talk and no action. They are full of one-liners.
We know about the port. We sat in estimates a month or two ago and I had one question about the port. I did not want to discuss the port. It was a simple question, and I am not quoting here: ’Where is the money for the conveyor belt?’ The government does not even have it. I said to the minister: ‘How are you going to get it?’ ‘Oh, we will go back to Cabinet and get it’. ‘How much is it going to cost?’ The talk was it could cost up to $80m. It has been in the budget for three years for $35m and now it could cost $80m. There is not any money in the budget. ‘Oh, we will just go back to Cabinet’. Do you know what that sounds like? That sounds like federal Labor. We will borrow money and get into debt. That is how it works.
Look at the Construction Division in the Northern Territory government and look at Budget Paper No 3 for 2010-11 and you see how some of the money works in this government. The Construction Division is the little siphon which manages all the projects, and makes money out of managing all the projects, run by the Northern Territory government. The total income for 2009-10 for the Construction Division, a business area of the Northern Territory government is $79m. That is how it works.
Do you want to talk about how much you actually spend? Last financial year’s budget was allegedly the greatest infrastructure budget on record, but look at how much they spent according to Budget Paper No 4 for 2010-11. I know these figures will need to be updated for 30 June, but I am going on what it says in this paper. It says estimated cash expenditure is $748.7m in infrastructure, take out the money they said they were going to spend but did not spend, $842m.
So they have carried over what they spent, plus $100m dollars more. They have spent less than half of what they were supposed to spend. This year the minister’s statement talks about $1.8bn infrastructure budget; they are already estimating to carry over $781m. The remaining money includes some repair and maintenance type items which are standard expenditure.
We can talk about stimulating the economy and building infrastructure, the minister likes to talk about investing in the bush, and he made false claims about the Country Liberals not investing in the regions. The roads in the regions are now the worst they have ever been - drive the Arnhem Highway. There is legislation about dangerous goods before this place. If we are going to talk about dangerous goods, talk about the condition of the Arnhem Highway and the shoulders which are all cut up. If you want to invest money in infrastructure in the Territory, fix the Arnhem Highway; it is a disgrace. No wonder there are accidents. No wonder there are chemical spills on the Arnhem Highway.
Then we look at SIHIP, and the minister says: ‘The Coalition is a threat’, but it was the Coalition which offered $750m for SIHIP in the first place. Federal Labor cut it back to $550m. That is how it works. So now it is cut back, and what we saw for the first two and a bit years of this Territory Labor government, the buddies, was $45m in consultancies.
So far it has spent up to $300m for not many homes, very poor quality homes, homes which are small. People from communities are coming to me talking about the quality of the renovations which are being done in their homes. I am saying: ‘The contractors are working as hard as they can’. Assess why these renovations are of poor quality; the reason is, the contractors have to cut corners because too much money has been spent on consultancies. Too much money has been spent on flak. It was only yesterday, I think, we saw a report in the Northern Territory News about Laramba and the average of $75 000 per house. We do not hear the minister talking about Laramba. He sends poor old Mr Kirkland to front the media about the bad stories, but he goes off about the good stories, where he is trying to attack me. $24 000 a house for refurbishment and they still have to cut corners. This is what is bad about this government, the management. SIHIP in the Northern Territory has to be one of the biggest failures. Labor had a river of gold to build houses and solve problems in the bush and has completely ruined it.
We hear the federal Labor government talking about boarding schools in the bush and the minister talking about infrastructure in schools. Those schools were announced last election; they have done nothing. Do not talk up your infrastructure budget, which is all federal government money and has been propped up to save you, like the 1200 houses the Prime Minister recently announced. Nothing has even been put in the ground for those boarding schools. Listen to what they do not say and forget their spin.
I remember reading an article in the NT News by Nick Calacouras around 18 months ago about kids having to swim through sewage and crocodile infested waters at Palumpa because the crossing is not good enough. It is not raised high enough for the water, the lagoons are high, there are buffalos, and all those other things. The point is, kids have to go through sewage and crocodile infested water to get to school. That is not good enough in anyone’s language.
I was out there a couple of weeks ago. What is there? Nothing has been fixed in 18 months. ‘We are going to fix it; we are going to fix it. We will refer it to SIHIP’. That is what happened, they gave it to the SIHIP project managers and it has gone nowhere. The kids still cannot get to school in the Wet Season for the sake of a bridge eight or 10 m long. It is not tough. The community at Ampilatwatja walked off because the sewerage was not being fixed in their houses. It still has not been fixed. People are still walking off. Banjo and his family are still sitting in the desert in their bush camp. I wonder how this works.
The minister talks about how good his government is, how good the member the Solomon is and how good the member for Lingiari is. They have not done a thing. The member for Lingiari has been there for 20-something years and things have become worse. We often hear the member for Arafura saying that in the old days education was not that good in the bush. She was educated in the bush, but the kids now coming out of school are worse off. There is only one thing common in all that, and that is the member for Lingiari for 20-something years. During his term in office, kids have been born, gone to primary school, gone to secondary school and come out less smart than the kids did before his term in office. It is simple. We have had Labor in power in the Territory for 10 years and people are less educated again. I know the government is trying hard in certain areas of education, and I commend them for trying, but they are not getting it right. Kids are coming out now with an NTCE who cannot even fill out a Centrelink form. That is terrible.
I would encourage people to look at where all the money for the infrastructure the government has spoken about is coming from. Most of it is borrowed dollars from the federal government. You like to talk about having extra money; it is all borrowed. It is our kids who are going to have to pay all this money back.
That is why Tony Abbott and the Coalition have put forward such a tremendous plan to repay the debt. That is what it is about. On this side of the House, we often talk about how recessions or downturns come in cycles. They do. Every time Labor is in power it goes wrong. The Liberals always have to fix it up. In 1996 we had to pay $96bn worth of government debt, and that is what we did. Paid it, started putting it in the bank. What happened in 2007 when Kevin got in - Kevin O’Debt, Kevin O’Lemon? He spent it and he borrowed. That is where this money is coming from which is going into some of these locations in a poorly constructed manner. People should not forget that. People should not forget Damian Hale voted to put this country into debt. People should not forget Labor has not solved any housing problems in the Northern Territory.
‘Labor’ and ‘housing’ are two words which do not go together. It does not matter whether it is Indigenous housing, government employee housing, private housing, or public housing – they cannot get it right. We all know the good member for Johnston will be going out one day; that is why they have him carry the basket case. That is what it is about: he is carrying the dead cat. I feel sorry for him. It is not affordable housing, it is just not housing. He is carrying it.
If you want to talk about what is real, go to the website www.liberal.org.au, and you will see Tony Abbott with a plan of action to bring this country back to normality, to get us out of debt and have a future for our kids. There are policies on that website supporting agriculture: increased funding for research and development in primary production; support for cutting-edge research by Australia’s agricultural scientists; and improved water infrastructure through Waterworks Program. There are policies to support seniors: introducing a seniors’ employment incentive payment to help seniors who want to work and who are out of the workforce to find a job; indexing the Commonwealth Seniors Health Card income thresholds. These are real plans: abolish the superannuation guarantee age limit.
We are talking about regional development - one of my portfolios which I am quite passionate about - one of Tony Abbott’s and the Coalition’s action plan election policies on regional health workforce: double the number of medical rural-bonded scholarships; create scholarships for regional nurse practitioners; and pay $10 000 annual bonus to nurse practitioners who practice in regional towns with no resident medical practitioners.
We need to talk about marine protected areas because the infrastructure in the Northern Territory is very important. We cannot forget that not only is a vote for the Greens a vote for Labor, a vote for the Greens and a vote for Labor is a vote for no fishing in the Northern Territory. You have to go far to find a street in the Top End which does not have a boat in it. Drive from Darwin to Palmerston and find any street which does not have a boat! What is in this preference deal with the Greens and Labor: to get rid of a third of fishing in Australia. You have that, plus you have this government’s failures with the Blue Mud Bay matters. Where are you going to be able to fish? How many Top Enders like to fish in the Northern Territory?
The Coalition is talking about marine protected areas. We have a plan to establish sensible and balanced marine park boundaries and develop management plans in consultation with the industry. We have a plan for sustainability which is not about stopping people from going fishing. Federal Labor wonder why they have trouble in Queensland – they are stopping people from going fishing; it is the simple rights which people enjoy.
Have a look at the ageing policy. The ageing plan of action by Tony Abbott is to establish an aged-care bed incentive program to convert $3000 of allocated bed licences to operational residential aged-care beds. What a sound initiative! No wonder Natasha Griggs is on the Country Liberal side; she has a plan of action. She and the Coalition have a plan of action: provide convalescent care to assist up to 20 000 older people waiting in hospital to return home. Natasha Griggs, Tony Abbott and the Coalition, and Nigel Scullion, have a plan of action.
The Coalition election policy for fighting crime: take strong action against violent gangs; establish a national violent gangs database so law enforcement agencies can better track bikie and other violent gang activities across jurisdictions …
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Madam Speaker! The member for Braitling has spun a long way off relevance to this statement on infrastructure.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Braitling, I remind you that the statement is about infrastructure investment. While it is a fairly wide-ranging statement, please keep to it as closely as possible.
Mr GILES: Thank you, Madam Speaker. I must have mixed up some of my notes there. I will come back to the statement.
Madam SPEAKER: Thank you.
Madam Speaker, ports are very important to our infrastructure in the Northern Territory and I get really worried about the security on ports. It is good to hear Territorians can feel safe and secure because Tony Abbott and the Coalition, along with Natasha Griggs, Leo Abbott and Nigel Scullion, will restore Labor’s cuts to cargo screening at ports and airports. The Coalition will restore $58.1m in funding for security at our ports which was cut by the Labor government in the 2009-10 budget for Customs cargo inspection. The Coalition will also increase Customs resources for screening by $35m. Natasha Griggs knows this stuff. She is part of a team of action.
We could look at some other serious issues and talk about the Coalition’s real plan for mental health. That is a real plan - $1.5bn for better mental health, an important step. Twenty early psychosis intervention centres, because if you are wondering about infrastructure in the Northern Territory, you may have to use one of these centres - 800 mental health beds and 60 additional youth headspace sites; that is part of a real action plan by Tony Abbott and Natasha Griggs, Nigel Scullion and the Coalition.
There are plenty of construction workers in infrastructure in the Northern Territory who find it hard to make ends meet making house repayments, paying rent, and being in the housing sector. It affects the future of our population in the Northern Territory which is why we want families to be able to have children. Under Tony Abbott’s Coalition election plan of paid parental leave, families will feel more secure so the husband can continue working or the mother can continue working. That plan will provide the Coalition’s paid parental leave scheme, the Coalition, with Natasha Griggs …
Ms Lawrie: Infrastructure.
Mr GILES: … provides mothers with 26 weeks paid parental leave, at full replacement wage up to a maximum salary of $150 000 per annum, or the federal minimum wage, whichever is greater - what a fantastic initiative.
Dr BURNS: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Relevance.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Braitling, I remind you of the standing order in relation to relevance. We seem to be digressing from the topic. I remind you the statement is on infrastructure and investment. While there is a fair amount of latitude, some of these items do not relate to investment and infrastructure. Member for Braitling, continue, bearing that in mind.
Mr GILES: Thank you, Madam Speaker. I am sorry; I get a little carried away when I am talking about issues as important as Tony Abbott’s direct action plan.
The minister spoke about Indigenous employment at Borroloola on the McArthur River bridge, I think you spoke of six employees. That is fantastic and it would be good to have more. I know it is a difficult situation, I understand that, that is really good.
One area of Indigenous affairs I find very important is the constitutional recognition of Indigenous people in Australia - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Australia. I note that this might seem off-topic, but it is not, because it means so much to many, not all, but many Aboriginal Australians and I think …
Mr ELFERINK: A point of order, Madam Speaker! I move an extension of time pursuant to Standing Order 77.
Motion agreed to.
Mr GILES: Thank you, Madam Speaker. In an effort to encourage Aboriginal Territorians into the workforce, into the construction industry through infrastructure projects, I believe it is important that one of the underlying pillars of supporting Aboriginal Territorians is the constitutional recognition of Aboriginal people as first Australians.
I know Labor promised it in 2008, but now they have reaffirmed they want to set up another committee to do it and think about it by 2013 or 2014. Nigel Scullion, Tony Abbott, Natasha Griggs and Leo Abbott’s plan of action for Australia to have a referendum on this by 2013, after they consult to get the words right, is very important. It will go a long way in giving Indigenous Australians, Aboriginal Territorians, confidence in life, emotional security, and looking for jobs. It will help bring people into part of our economy. It is very important and I commend Tony Abbott for doing that.
However, moving back to where I started, this statement, and the timing of this statement, is a negative for this parliament. Have a debate about infrastructure, delays, times, money, or what you are doing, but do not come in here talking about federal election issues, as it denigrates me to have to respond. I cannot let it go. I have to respond, which is why you do it. That is the bait. That is what you want to do; you have done this early. You have no legislation today apart from one piece which took five minutes. That is what you have done; you have tried to line it up so you would be ready for the television news and the cameras in Question Time. It is false to people of the Northern Territory; it is not right.
We are a jurisdiction on our own, and government should be sanctioned for doing this. Not only sanctioned for giving us a statement last night and a different one today - fair cop, that is not fair. It does not matter how small it is, you should not be able to do that. I would like the Leader of Government Business to look at that for me.
I encourage government and the minister not to electioneer here, otherwise, for the next two weeks, every member of this 25-member Chamber will be electioneering on behalf of people who are not here, when there are only a few listeners on the radio. The people in Braitling have far better things to listen to than electioneering. They hear it enough on their televisions at night, on radio, and see it enough in the pamphlets.
I finish on one very important point. There have been complaints in Alice Springs, Tennant Creek, Katherine, and across the regions, that the seat of Lingiari has not received much attention from federal members of parliament on either side …
A member: And the rural area.
Mr GILES: Sorry, and the rural area …
Ms Lawrie: Electioneering again.
Mr GILES: No, I am bipartisan ...
Ms Lawrie: Oh really?
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Dr Burns: Of course you are.
Mr GILES: Of course I am, member for Johnston.
There has been much concern that the seat of Lingiari has not been focused on by visits from high profile people from either side of the political divide. There have not been many promises or anything like that. There is one reason for that; it is a very safe Labor seat. Until it becomes a marginal seat like the seat of Solomon, we are not going to see those people visiting and making promises. I encourage everyone who votes Labor to vote Country Liberal if you live in Lingiari, because it moves us to a position of a marginal electorate which ensures next election we will have those visits and promises people are calling out for.
Imagine if it was a very marginal electorate, like McEwen in Victoria - 36 votes - we might have been able to seal the Outback Highway in this campaign. There are many things which could have happened. We could have sealed the road to Wadeye. For the sake of the Territory’s future it is very important all people who live in the seat of Lingiari vote Country Liberal, because we will have much better infrastructure in the future, and much better programs. A marginal electorate will really help the people of Alice Springs and Central Australia. Those swinging voters who are unsure do not need to look far into it to become a marginal electorate. Vote for Country Liberals, vote for Abbott, and that will be right.
Ms LAWRIE (Treasurer): Madam Speaker, I have heard some hypocrisy in this Chamber over the years, but that took the cake. The member for Braitling said: ‘I will not be electioneering. Labor over there and government, they are purely electioneering and we do not electioneer’. Then he used his entire contribution to electioneer.
I pick up the last point he made of how sometimes in positions in federal parliament you have the opportunity to deliver infrastructure into a jurisdiction. Brian Harradine is a classic example; when he held the balance of power Tasmania benefited significantly in infrastructure funding from Canberra into Tasmania. One of the greatest shames of the CLP is they had an opportunity once. They had the opportunity when Senator Scullion held the balance of power in the Senate under the former Howard government. If you like, we had our Harradine moment. We had our moment in the sun where one senator could cast their vote holding the balance of power. What did Senator Scullion do for the people of Lingiari during that time? Nothing! Not one cent came from Canberra into infrastructure in the Territory.
The CLP failed Territorians miserably when it failed to use the balance of power in the Senate to deliver infrastructure into the Territory. I say shame. Anyone from the Territory who is ever in the position of holding the balance of power in the Senate ought to stand up for Territorians and deliver critical infrastructure into the Territory. Why? Because we have a massive need in infrastructure which goes through decades and through governments of any political colour. Scullion failed Territorians miserably. Why? Because of his own personal ambition. He wanted to be a minister. He wanted to be fawned upon as minister Scullion. He failed to exercise the balance of power and negotiate and deliver for Territorians. His own ego, his own personal ambition got in the way of delivering for Territorians and history will record that. Our Harradine moment, which could have been the Scullion moment, did not happen.
Under a decade of Howard government, infrastructure was not their issue. It shirked its responsibility. No, no, that is the responsibility of the state and territory governments. No, no, the Commonwealth does not have to deliver infrastructure; it is not their responsibility - duck, weave and hide in the space of infrastructure. What we saw over a decade of the Howard government was infrastructure becoming increasingly run down with state and territory governments around our great nation increasingly carrying the burden of major capital funding which is required to bring infrastructure up to par.
In stark contrast, a federal Labor government stepped up where the previous decade of neglect had failed Australians, and particularly Territorians in infrastructure delivery. They created Infrastructure Australia, creating the opportunity for state and territory governments to fight for significant infrastructure. We fought for and secured a commitment for port funding, which I will talk more on later.
We also have record infrastructure investment from the Commonwealth in Territory roads which the Commonwealth had previously never put a single cent into. Yes, under the national highways which is an existing funding arrangement, the Commonwealth will contribute to the national highways, but for Territory roads …
Mr Elferink: A bit of a change of position there.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Member for Port Darwin, cease interjecting!
Mr Elferink: Madam Speaker, she needs to be honest with this House
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Port Darwin, cease interjecting!
Ms LAWRIE: For Territory roads, roads which are the responsibility of the Territory government, there has not been one cent of funding under the Howard government. Yes, it did fund national highways; it had to. That is its responsibility and it always has been. The Howard government tried to get out of funding them, and Tiger Brennan drive is a classic example of how it would dodge, weave and duck to avoid funding what is its responsibility. Under the national highways agreement there was a 50/50 funding arrangement for Tiger Brennan Drive: 50% from the Territory and 50% from the Commonwealth. The Commonwealth stumped up a measly $13.5m for a project worth around $110m.
By any stretch of the imagination, $13.5m is not 50% of $110m. What would happen then? It would run out little Jimmy Lloyd and he would say: ‘No, no, it is cost escalations’. Every road project in the nation has cost escalations; they run at between 7% and 12%. There are always arguments about the percentage of escalations between the Commonwealth and the state and territories. Then Mark Vaile would say: ‘But there is no scope and design’. It was scoped and designed, and I took the design, down to the detailed culverts, to Vaile, put it on his desk at a meeting, and said: ‘There we are. Stop the nonsense and stump up the funding. We will meet our half and we are ready to go with this project. We will hit the green light’. Nothing, they would not budge from their $13.5m until - guess what happened? - Damian Hale delivered an election commitment to meet all of the requirements of Tiger Brennan Drive, $70m, including the Commonwealth funding the grade separations, which are the overpasses which make it the most amazing road project in the history of the Territory.
The hypocrisy which dripped from the member for Braitling was appalling. He spins so tightly into little concentric circles that he almost believes his own spin and rhetoric.
We will stand on a strong record of delivering infrastructure dollars, projects, and results across the Territory because there is a partnership with federal Labor which has the resource capacity we do not have. Whoever is in government in the Territory needs to have a constructive working relationship with the government of the day in Canberra. We have had quite a few years in the sunshine here. So much so, we now have a record $1.8bn infrastructure budget in the Territory. That is double the budget of just two years ago. What that does, and what it has been doing, is support the construction sector in the Territory, the pulse of our economy. It delivers jobs in the construction sector.
If the opposition in Canberra had their way and had blocked the BER stimulus expenditure, we would have seen hundreds of thousands of Australians out of work. We would have seen decimation of the construction sector in the Territory. Ask the subcontractors what they think of the stimulus funding in infrastructure, and they will all say: ‘Thank God, because it saved our jobs’. The stimulus dollars from the Commonwealth, backed up by the record levels of funding for infrastructure from the Territory government, has kept subcontractors in work. As a result our construction sector is strong. We had to keep it strong and buoyant ahead of the major projects on the horizon, which even Access Economics recognises are looking extremely positive for the Territory.
When you put record levels of dollars into infrastructure as we have been, you also have to pay attention to the all-important area of training. That is why it is beyond belief the opposition in Canberra would strip away and tear down the trade training centres we need in the Territory to supply the construction workforce of the future for those major projects. It is beyond belief that they would go to a federal election with that policy.
There was a rewriting of history by the member for Braitling, who was not even in the Territory at the time of the 2000-01 construction downturn. He said the subcontractors were heading to the Cool Spot for smoko. Well, there are many subcontractors who live and work in my electorate of Karama, and I doorknocked very heavily in the lead-up to 2001. I started doorknocking in 2000. There were young Territorians, born and raised, who were leaving the Territory because they were unemployed. They were in the construction sector and could not find a job. The construction sector was on its knees.
In our first budget, the 2001 mini-budget, our government recognised that we needed to lift the sector off its knees, so we put significant funding into the minor new works. We listened to the sector and reviewed the way we rolled-out our construction program so that we had a rolling program which gave them certainty in work coming through, which was critical for the sector. We recognised we had to do that to lift and stimulate the economy, and we followed through with strong record increases in infrastructure investment in consecutive Territory budgets. Since 2001, our construction program has injected some $7.7bn into the Territory economy. We have grown the infrastructure program substantially.
Investing in infrastructure is investing in jobs. It also provides the legacy infrastructure we need to be a prosperous Territory, growing socially through health system infrastructure such as health clinics and the oncology unit, and through school infrastructure. You also need the infrastructure for economic drivers such as ports and roads. In 2001-02, the construction program was $364m, which is about what we are spending on roads today. We are spending $322m alone on roads. The entire program this year is $1.8bn; that is a 399% increase. Put the rhetoric of the member for Braitling aside; the fact is there is a 399% increase in infrastructure spending under Labor in the Territory, delivering school facilities, health facilities, roads, port improvements, all of which are critical to the social and economic prosperity of the Territory.
Roads are integral to our economic growth, and we are progressively addressing a legacy of an unsealed road network. Only about 23% of the Territory’s road network is sealed. That has a significant impact on regional and remote Territorians who rely on a substandard network to travel throughout the Territory. It also has an impact on economic prosperity in regional economic development. We have been doing a significant amount of work in this area. This is largely due to a Labor government in Canberra which had the foresight to say they would partner with the Territory government and spend on key roads which are not their responsibility - they are not national highways. It sees the economic and social benefits of that.
This is included in the program of progressively sealing the Mereenie Loop Road, the Sandover Highway, Tanami Road, the Fog Bay Road, and other key highways. We have done much in this area and there is much more to do. If the tired old duck, weave and hide Coalition returns to government in Canberra it would wipe its hands of Territory roads once again and stick to funding the national highways. Not one cent has ever been delivered by a Coalition government into a Territory road network; it only funds national highways in the Territory. It ducks, weaves and hides on the critical issue of funding for Territory roads on the Territory road network.
It will fund the national highways, but it is required to under the old AusLink agreement, and now under the Nation Building Program, but what about the key arterial Territory roads? The Coalition does not want to know about them. It says that is the Territory’s responsibility, ignoring the deficit from the decades of Commonwealth sovereignty in the Territory when roads should have been built up and sealed.
I say shame to the member for Braitling for his electioneering. If he truly wants to understand the critical importance of infrastructure, particularly in roads across the bush, he will understand the importance of Territory roads as well as national highways in improving social and economic outcomes for Territorians. It took a Labor government in Canberra to deliver hundreds of millions of dollars into Territory’s roads, as well as significantly boosting funding for our national highways.
Social infrastructure is critical to support the improvement of lives of Territorians. We have seen dramatic improvements in infrastructure spending from the Commonwealth, supporting the Territory’s commitment to a new emergency department at Royal Darwin Hospital and opening many new wards, new police and fire stations across the northern suburbs, upgrading every primary school across the Territory, and building key infrastructure at our high schools.
Lifestyle is very important to Territorians and our construction program has reflected the importance of lifestyle. Improving lifestyle opportunities helps to attract skilled workers to the Territory and improves the liveability and enjoyment of the Territory for Territorians. That is why we have provided a fantastic recreation facility at Leanyer Recreation Park and are currently designing and will commence construction of a similar facility in Palmerston. That is why we have put significant dollars into the aquatic centre in Alice Springs. That is why we have built a wave pool and the magnificent waterfront development. We have also upgraded Traeger Park and Marrara, and built new facilities for netball and soccer. We have built new schools at Rosebery, a new Palmerston library, and a recreation centre. We are building new suburbs at Bellamack and Johnston, with works to commence in Zuccoli. More is set to be invested in sporting infrastructure in the important growth area of Palmerston, supporting families and the growing sporting clubs of Palmerston.
The convention centre at the waterfront has been a fantastic investment in infrastructure. It is delivering a boom in tourism, a boom in the economic spend in the Top End.
We are expanding our port to cater for future growth in bulk minerals. We have hardstand construction under way; the Pond F reclamation is on track; and there are design works for the conveyor belt. Guess what you do not do? You do not be a fool like the member for Braitling would have you be and construct something before it is ready to be used. When those mines start to receive final investment decisions and are ready to go, we can flick the switch on construction of the conveyor belt because its construction will take approximately the same amount of time as the construction of the mines. The fool for Braitling would not get that, simply does not understand that …
Mr GILES: A point of order, Madam Speaker!
Madam SPEAKER: Minister, please withdraw that.
Ms LAWRIE: I withdraw ‘fool’. The clown who parades as the member for Braitling …
Mr GILES: A point of order, Madam Speaker! She has to withdraw that comment too.
Ms LAWRIE: He is sensitive today.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Braitling, are you offended by that comment?
Ms LAWRIE: I withdraw if he is offended.
Madam SPEAKER: Thank you. Please just withdraw.
Ms LAWRIE: I withdraw.
The single largest investment in the bush is contained within the Territory government’s infrastructure budget. We are spending some $980m, a record spend in the bush - otherwise known as the seat of Lingiari to the member for Braitling. We refer to it as the bush, but he is focused on the seat of Lingiari because …
Dr BURNS: A point of order, Madam Speaker! I move the Treasurer be given an extension of time pursuant to Standing Order 77.
Madam SPEAKER: Bearing in mind it is midday and we will be going for luncheon break, the question is the motion agreed to.
Motion agreed to.
Madam SPEAKER: Treasurer, are you willing to complete this after Question Time?
Ms LAWRIE: I am happy to continue my remarks after Question Time.
Debate suspended.
TABLED PAPER
Remuneration Tribunal Determination –
Report on Interstate Travel –
Member for Macdonnell
Remuneration Tribunal Determination –
Report on Interstate Travel –
Member for Macdonnell
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, before suspending for lunch, I received an interstate travel report for 25 to 27 June 2010 from the member for Macdonnell. I table that document.
TABLED PAPER
Remuneration Tribunal Determination –
Report on Interstate Travel –
Member for Araluen
Remuneration Tribunal Determination –
Report on Interstate Travel –
Member for Araluen
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, I table a travel report from the member for Araluen for travel interstate to the Commonwealth Women’s Parliamentary Conference in June/July.
REQUEST FOR INFORMATION
Speaker’s Vehicle
Speaker’s Vehicle
Mr TOLLNER (Fong Lim): Madam Speaker, I have a question for you if you would take it.
Madam SPEAKER: Is it a point of order?
Mr TOLLNER: No, just a quick question. I noticed your new car in the garage this morning, a very nice car and I congratulate you on that. I am curious as to what entitlement that car would have been …
Dr BURNS: Madam Speaker, this is completely out of order.
Madam SPEAKER: Please pause, Leader of Government Business. I am very curious, although it is completely out of order.
Mr TOLLNER: Madam Speaker, the reason I ask is I have been given a list of cars, a bunch of little buzz boxes, and I would like to renew the Kluger I have but I am informed by members of the Legislative Assembly that is not possible. I am curious as to …
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Fong Lim, Question Time has finished. Given you have asked me such an impudent question, I would like to say I have taken a loan and purchased the car. It is my car, my family car, thank you very much.
Ms Lawrie: You idiot.
Mr TOLLNER: A point of order, Madam Speaker!
Ms Scrymgour: You are a fool, an absolute fool.
Madam SPEAKER: I would like you to withdraw that comment over there whoever it was, thank you very much.
Mr TOLLNER: Madam Speaker, there was a range of unparliamentary comments.
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Fong Lim, you need to resume your seat, thank you.
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: The comment has been withdrawn, thank you very much. The Treasurer has the continuation.
MOTION
Note statement - Construction Industry and Effect on Economy
Note statement - Construction Industry and Effect on Economy
Continued from earlier this day.
Ms LAWRIE (Treasurer): Madam Speaker, that was another example of the member for Fong Lim leading with his chin - no information, lack of knowledge and fumbling around in the dark. We know what a bottom dweller the member for Fong Lim is, and we know he lurks in the dirty, murky, bottom dwelling depths of his grubby little mind. We saw an example of that just then. He has brought this Chamber to a low I have never seen in the history of the Legislative Assembly. His leader cannot take him outside and have a talk with him; they hardly talk because the member for Fong Lim is busy trying to knife the member for Blain for leadership. He cannot quite get the numbers because all his colleagues understand he is way too grubby.
I digress; I was talking about the largest investment in the bush to address decades of neglect in infrastructure. Commitment in the 2010-11 budget is $980m which will be directed to roads, housing, essential services - that is power, water and sewerage – and, critically important, better schools. $354m will be spent on housing under SIHIP; $236m for land servicing and related essential services, building the important new suburbs for the houses; $46m to upgrade roads; $7.5m for airstrip upgrades; $6.2m over three years to upgrade barge landings; $17.6m for children and family centres at Yuendumu, Gunbalanya, Maningrida and Ngukurr; and $5m to upgrade schools.
If you look across the Territory now it is so clear we are far better off under Damian Hale and federal Labor than we have ever been. The significant investment is delivering dividends for Territorians across our schools, housing, and road infrastructure. In stark comparison, the Coalition has an appalling record of failure. They failed to fund the critical infrastructure of our nation, the critical infrastructure the Territory required. If you look at the 2007-08 capital funding to the NT by the Commonwealth government during the federal Howard years, the last Commonwealth injection in capital funding was $111m. Compare that to funding under Labor. In 2010-11, it has grown to $798m, a 619% increase in funding from the federal government, compared to Johnny Howard and the Coalition, with his mate Tony Abbot in the pack.
Australians are far better off under a Labor government. We make no apology for securing this funding from federal Labor for the Territory. As much as the opposition say: ‘No, we vote against it; we would not want that stimulus funding, we would not want the infrastructure funding. No, no, no’, they want to build a wall around the Territory and say: ‘We do not want that. Do not go into debt to keep people in jobs, and do not put any investment into infrastructure of roads, schools and housing’. That is the stupidity of the opposition.
Darwin and Palmerston residents are seeing the fruits of the partnership between a federal Labor and the Territory government. Look at the results! The $110m Tiger Brennan Drive project will transform the traffic flow from the rural area through Palmerston to Darwin, with around 200 jobs delivered through the project. It took Damian Hale and a federal Labor government to deliver this project with the Territory Labor government. Damian delivered $74m for the project. Well done, Damian Hale! In stark comparison, the member for Fong Lim, the man who only knows how to deliver flag poles, could not secure any more than $13.5m for that project.
There are significant funding boosts for roads under federal Labor. The total Territory roads program has been boosted under federal Labor. The Commonwealth funding for roads is now $425m over five years. Compare that to $200m delivered by the Coalition under the former AusLink program - $200m with the Liberals and Johnny Howard compared to $425m under a federal Labor government. Under the Coalition, during their decade of neglect, we received just 2% of the AusLink funding although we had 15% of our nation’s road network. So we got 2% of the funding for 15% of the nation’s road network. That was under Johnny Howard. Labor came in and doubled the funding in roads to the Territory. That $52m spent over four years on the community, beef and mining roads is critical to economic growth in regional Territory.
We also have a raft of strategic road projects which I do not have time to talk about, but just look at the stimulus package, the Building the Education Revolution program and the tax breaks for small business. These are all significant initiatives by the Commonwealth which the Coalition would have voted against; in fact, they tried to block them through their sycophant in the Senate, Senator Scullion. Listen to the Master Builders Association when it talks about the benefits of the stimulus pack in the Territory! In a recent television interview, Graham Kemp of the Master Builders Association said: ‘We have been able to hold the construction industry intact in the Northern Territory to be ready for the bigger projects when they come on’. That is not what the government is saying; that is what industry is saying.
Industry understands the importance of the stimulus package, the spending from the Commonwealth backed up by the stimulus from the Territory government. We are seeing a legacy of improved education facilities, supporting our students with library, science and language facilities, and critical school community infrastructure, across the Territory. Important minor new works upgrades like shade facilities, painting, all of those jobs which support our small subbies and improve our schools. The program has worked hand-in-hand with our commitment to upgrade every Territory primary and group school across the Territory, which is under way.
$14.87m has already been paid to Territory schools for minor upgrades under the National School Pride program. One hundred and twenty three schools have completed their works. We have 40 schools across the Territory enjoying new classrooms, multipurpose halls, libraries and resource centres; 95 major school works are at various stages of construction around the Territory. None of this, if the Coalition had their way, would have occurred. If the Coalition is elected on 21 August, 101 projects will be at risk. The federal Opposition Leader has said he will pull the plug on the Building the Education Revolution programs, so we risk losing 101 school projects across the Territory.
We understand that if it had not been for the swift and decisive intervention of the federal Labor government, we would be in recession and our economy would have taken a much bigger hit than what it did. Not only do we understand that, last week the world’s top economist, the Nobel Prize Laureate and professor at New York’s Columbia University, Joseph Stiglitz said Australia had:
- …the best designed stimulus package of any of the countries, advanced industrial countries, both in size and in design, timing and how it was spent, and I think it served Australia well.
If you listen to the former Reserve Bank Governor, Bernie Fraser he said:
- Labor’s stimulus package was a stunningly successful response to the GFC. It kept businesses afloat and preserved jobs for hundreds of thousands of Australians who may well otherwise have become unemployed.
He also said the Coalition’s vote against the stimulus package:
- … is an indelible blot on the Coalition’s economic management credentials.
The Coalition has no economic credibility when it comes to the mining tax either. This tax would significantly benefit infrastructure in the Territory. We would look receiving about 10% of the important infrastructure fund which Tony Abbott says he would scrap. What he is saying is he would scrap in the vicinity of $600m to $700m flowing through to the Territory for critical infrastructure such as roads and the port. Federal Labor has invested in the Territory; the Coalition would rip the guts out of infrastructure.
Ms PURICK (Goyder): Madam Deputy Speaker, if this statement is the best that can be done, heaven help you and heaven help the Territory. Throughout the statement there are many quotes of programs, but no indication of cash and how these programs have been funded or will be funded. There is mention of allocation, but what exactly does this mean? Presumably, you will cost projects whenever you get around to them, but given the time frame of projects and subdivision developments and housing developments being pushed out years, then that will probably be never.
In the Territory 2030 Strategic Plan, you state clear targets but nothing could be more obtuse than 2030. It is full of generic spin and makeup. Today I saw a copy of the latest 2030 newsletter, which reads:
- Imagine strolling through the vibrant, new, urban city of Weddell where people can jump on the express ferry or fast bus service to be in the centre of Darwin City in just 20 minutes.
We would all love to see the master plans from the Department of Construction and Infrastructure for those ferry and transport terminals. Someone is thinking or dreaming about them, but they are not in any plans we are aware of. Your government has been talking about Weddell for years, which was previously brought forward by a Country Liberal government, and plans for the expansion of the Darwin peninsula, but where are the plans for this city of Weddell? There is mention of the 50 000 Territorians who will live there but there is no master plan, so how can you quantify this figure of 50 000 people?
I know there is a forum in September, which government is great at putting on to gather ideas as it is bereft of any ideas of its own. I have registered for this forum to have input, as a Territorian, into the future development of the rural area as I agree with my colleague, the member for Nelson, that the rural area is grossly under-resourced in a range of services and infrastructure.
In the statement there is mention of projects funded by the federal government, which I can sum up as the perfect partnership - their money and your mismanagement - as we have seen so clearly with SIHIP. Federal money, Territory government to manage it, and they have managed it abysmally, to the detriment of people in the remote and outback communities.
The statement says the government has awarded more than 950 construction contracts, but where is the information regarding the value of these contracts? What are the contracts? Across which agencies? Where in the Territory have these 950 construction contracts been let?
Minister, you say you are drafting a master plan for Zuccoli, but where are the defined time lines? How can you quote figures for Zuccoli before the master plan has been drafted? You mentioned the $110m Tiger Brennan Drive partnership; again, it is Commonwealth money and your spin. The member for Fong Lim was responsible for securing that commitment from the Commonwealth government.
You paid $0.5m in December 2008 for a greater Darwin infrastructure report. Where is it? On the ANZ website I found a wonderful definition: the word ‘budget’ originally meant a bag containing papers. That is what we have here: a bag full of papers titled ‘Maybe’.
The Country Liberals asked under FOI for details of infrastructure issues. This was the response:
- Access was refused, in part and in full, to a total of 113 pages on the basis the information belongs to the Construction Division of the Department of Construction and Infrastructure. The Construction Division is a recognised government business division (GBD) and is subject to the Act for personal information only.
We have seen how this Labor government runs government business divisions, just as it runs government owned corporations. The Power and Water Corporation leaps to mind. It saddles them with debt, operates them at a loss to protect votes, and expects taxpayers to bail them out when things go wrong; and over the last two years things have gone dramatically wrong.
In the statement there is mention of the East Arm Port master plan. This plan only covers one wharf and an adjoining area. Why is construction of the urgently required marine support base and Defence hardstand at East Arm nowhere near starting, despite the need for these facilities to be developed as soon as possible? Why do we read a press statement on the Channel News Asia, Singapore Business News website which reads:
- … marine logistics firm Ezion. Holdings says its unit has entered into an agreement to lease another plot of land in the Northern Territory of Australia.
The land is to develop a second marine supply base to support the offshore oil and gas industry.
The details are, minister, 36 ha of seafront land, an initial lease period of 10 years with an option for up to 50 years at monthly rental rates with construction to be completed in 12 months, and I quote:
- All relevant conditional approvals from the relevant authorities for the second marine base …
… have been granted as of the date of this announcement [19 July 2010].
Why do we not have details of this second marine base?
I ask the minister, where in this statement is the vision for Darwin Harbour becoming a clean harbour given the problems we have had recently regarding our beaches and harbour surrounds? Where will the phosphate export sail from? Where is the port for the future? Territory growth towns - what is needed is real planning for real jobs on land which has real value, not suffering from lease issues outlined by our NT Coordinator-General.
You repeatedly throw stones over your shoulders to accuse the Country Liberals of inaction, but the Country Liberals are well aware of the importance of infrastructure projects during economic downturns. The building we are standing in is a prime example of our initiative. The foundation stone of this Parliament House was laid by the then Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, Hon Nick Dondas, on 2 August 1990, and it was this Parliament House construction project which saved the construction industry at that time.
We are also well aware of an aspect of infrastructure the minister conveniently leaves out of his report – building certification. On 9 March 2009, the then Minister for Planning and Infrastructure, Hon Delia Lawrie, announced a range of measures including identifying and resolving the number of outstanding certificates of occupancy relating to government owned and leased buildings by June 2010. There were 2172 of these, of which, by 20 May 2010, only 25.2% had been resolved, leaving 1624. The government has failed to deliver yet again.
We know we currently have issues with the building industry. We have seen spectacular failures of home building companies. I know government is not responsible for these financial collapses; however, they have not adequately prepared and provided protection or support for the dozens and dozens of families who have suffered as a consequence of these companies going broke.
Let me share some of the details of the staffing of this department as of 29 April 2010, and I quote from the response to estimates questions:
- The Construction Division appointed two new executive positions as a result of increased infrastructure program management. There was a requirement to create two Executive Officer 1 positions in the regions to align with increased infrastructure programs and associated responsibilities. The transitional split from Department of Planning resulted in DCI forming its own Corporate Services which required five EO1 executives to manage functional areas.
- Due to increased infrastructure program management and level of responsibility there was a requirement to create five ECO1 positions, and one high level ECO4 executive position was established to provide high level leadership to the Construction Division. There was the creation of two AO3 positions to assist directors, and the creation of six AO4 positions to assist the new executive structure.
Best of all, in charge of this whole caboodle is the new Chief Executive, Mr Alan Wagner, whose last post was as Queensland’s Education Deputy Director-General in charge of Infrastructure Services and Building the Education Revolution.
When The Australian reported that consultant and contingency fees are chewing up one-fifth of the $2.1bn in taxpayer funds intended for new buildings in Queensland’s state schools, the response quoted in The Australian read:
- Education Queensland’s deputy director-general in charge of infrastructure, Alan Wagner, said the 6% fee was higher than the federal government’s 4% limit because the companies were doing more than project management. ‘Six percent may sound a lot but we’re complying with the Australian government guidelines’, he said.
Heaven help us all, again.
In his report the minister proudly mentioned the McArthur River bridge and that six Indigenous Borroloola residents are working on the project. Next door to where this bridge is being constructed a private enterprise, McArthur River Mine, has won an award for Innovation in the Workforce Development Category for their enhanced Indigenous Training Strategy. Real jobs and real training, despite the fact you and your government stood in the way of the McArthur River development which secured jobs for the local people for the next 25 years. You built the Barkly work camp at a cost of $100 000 per prisoner. Where is the certificate-level education provider to ensure you can deliver a wide variety of courses in a sustainable manner instead of noting afterwards, as with Alice Springs correctional programs: ‘But we could not find qualified staff’?
I can see this statement is your effort to try to help and prop up Damian Hale but, frankly, it is abysmal and is as transparent as ice ...
Mr Elferink: Ice is not transparent.
Ms Carney: Glass?
Ms PURICK: Glass – clean glass, clean ice. I digress.
If there was robust construction in the Northern Territory now, our contractors would be knee deep in government-funded work, but you are so far behind the eight ball, it is not funny.
You finished with the claim that new hotels benefit Territorians. What hotels? Where are they? I have not heard of, or seen, any plans, announcements, or anything in any business papers from any companies. There may be new hotels on the drawing board and new apartments with smaller units which are desperately needed, but are badly affected by the car parking fiasco in city centres.
Where is the resolution which is desperately needed for car parking in the CBD? Submissions have not been acknowledged, let alone answered. The Chinatown project and the waterfront project are among those wondering where on earth the leadership is. It is the same situation for the introduction of volumetric control on new buildings, which has left this city conspicuously without any new projects. Infrastructure is not something you can lay out like a carpet when a new apartment is complete; it comes first, second and third.
I want to point out some blatant untruths in the minister’s statement. On page 2, he says the construction program has injected $7.7bn into the Territory’s economy. That is not Northern Territory money; it is SIHIP and Building the Education Revolution money. A large part of it is from the waterfront, the Rio Tinto Alcan upgrade, the McArthur River Mine expansion and the ConocoPhillips project - which is all private money; it is not Northern Territory government investment. Also on page 2, it says:
- We have released an Action Plan for Katherine’s future, invested in its high school and delivered a Police Beat.
That is untrue. You did not deliver the Police Beat; it was a joint project between the Chamber of Commerce and the community. The NT government did not deliver it.
He talks about sporting facilities and fire stations, which are all very good, but I see no reference to expanding the Police, Fire and Emergency Services and ambulance infrastructure into the rural area. I see no reference to the infrastructure for the recreational swimming pool for the rural area. Good on Palmerston getting their water park, good on the northern suburbs with their water park. Where is the commitment? Minister, you and I know a pool and a recreational water facility in the rural area will cost upwards of $6m to $7m. Where is your commitment to the people in the rural area?
I quote page 3:
- … investing in infrastructure to deal with congestion and ageing infrastructure …
Fine:
- … more recently to develop a funding stream to support infrastructure needs in the key mining jurisdictions.
That is code for ‘we support a super profit mining tax’, and that is outrageous. It is all very well for the mines minister to say we only have three or four companies which pay mineral royalties in the Territory so it is not going to affect them; that is untrue and wrong. I have had exploration companies and mining companies make representations to me, and it is going to affect them, and it will affect their investment decisions.
On page 4 he talks about the training centres. It was your government, the Labor government, which shut down the Australian Technical Colleges. You talk about expanding colleges in the rural areas, like Barkly or the remote areas, good. I have written to the ministers, I have written to the government in regard to Taminmin College and its library which is grossly undersized for the size and expansion of the college, yet there is no commitment to expand the infrastructure to service the growing rural area.
On page 6 he talks long and hard about the growth of Palmerston and building Bellamack, Johnston and Zuccoli, yet we know the registration scheme for builders is not robust enough. Minister, we spoke about this in estimates and we will be making representations about this. We know you are not dealing with the certification debacle. I could go on and on.
On pages 3 and 6 you say you delivered a record $1.8bn state capital budget, which is a healthy dose of federal money and is not the cash amount which will be expended. In addition, $842m is left over from the previous year and some $800m may be left over at the end of this budget.
On page 10 he talked about the East Arm Wharf facilities master plan, but there is no planning. There is no indication of infrastructure funding is going support phosphate exports.
On page 11 there is a small point which concerns me greatly and it shows the minister does not understand his portfolio and is not paying attention to his electorate. I am a little surprised, given his background in the education system: we are not exporting copper sulphate, we are exporting copper sulphide. Copper sulphate is used in chemical processing and is an oxidising agent. If you knew your electorate you would know it was recently spilt on the Barkly Highway. Copper sulphate concentrate is an ore mineral. That is what is in the containers and that is what is being exported. It is used to produce copper metal …
Mr McCarthy: That is what I said.
Ms PURICK: You did not. Your statement says copper sulphate. That is embarrassing for you as an educator.
The statement is deficient in many ways. A work camp in the Barkly region is discussed on page 14. That may be fine and it is a new era in corrections, however in 2008 we were told we were going to get a new $300m gaol. It is now mid-2011 and we still have not had an announcement as to where we need a gaol.
Members: Ten, 2010.
Ms PURICK: Eleven.
A member: Ten.
Ms PURICK: Ten. Again, it is like all their projects; they get pushed out and pushed out. It says a bigger gaol in Darwin is the best solution. Our gaol should be getting smaller. We need to keep people out of gaol by stopping them from offending or re-offending. At the heart of the deficiency of this statement and the deficiencies of the government is that they cannot plan and their infrastructure program and plans are abysmal.
Mr WOOD (Nelson): Madam Deputy Speaker, I thank the minister for his statement, however, at the end I was waiting for ‘written and authorised by Mr G McCarthy for the Australian Labor Party’. The member for Greatorex could make a similar addition to the end of his speech.
A member: Braitling.
Mr WOOD: Sorry yes, Braitling. Sorry, member for Greatorex.
I say that because this statement is not so much about the importance of infrastructure to the Northern Territory but more a chance for the minister to join the federal election campaign. Reading the statement, I noticed there are many references in the 16 pages to the wonders of a particular federal candidate, the wonders of the federal government, and how useless the other mob are, or were. I know things do not change that much each time there is a federal election, as this House joins the fray, but it does get a little predictable and I am sure it will come from both sides.
I was hoping for a spinless approach to the matter of infrastructure in this statement, but it is more like my dog, a bitser. There is some good stuff, some bad stuff, and no mention of the rural area. The bad stuff is the part which seems to be caused by the federal election. I am not here to say the CLP was perfect in its time. I had arguments with them then and I have a few now. However, to give the impression that the CLP did nothing in regard to infrastructure belies reasonable objectivity.
There is no doubt that without infrastructure spending by the CLP since self-government we would not be in a strong position with infrastructure today. I have been around for a while - when the first public buildings went up in Palmerston, for example Highway House and the water tower; when the Stuart Highway was duplicated to the Arnhem Highway and then on to Noonamah; when the port was built and the railway started; when Marrara stadium was constructed; when there were new bridges built over the Elizabeth River and the Edith River; when the Supreme Court and Parliament House were built; when the wildlife park and the desert park were developed, and when the infrastructure was developed at Nitmiluk. We should not forget it was the federal government which set aside the funds for the Victoria Highway bridge. These are just a few things the CLP did in its day. To not recognise that is to deliberately rewrite history for political purposes. That is why I despair.
I worry when I hear the truth bent or dismissed deliberately by all sides just to win a political point. I have seen that in some comments about SIHIP lately. Are we selling cars or are we trusted members of parliament? Minister, by all means, make a statement about infrastructure, but tell it how it is or was, not what you want those with short memories to believe.
There is no doubt infrastructure is what will drive the economy of the Northern Territory. I have always said good roads, electricity and water will open the Territory. I can say from a rural perspective that both sides of politics have really forgotten the rural area when it comes to infrastructure. The CLP did build the bicycle path from Darwin to Palmerston along the old North Australian Railway line. That was something the Litchfield Shire Council asked for; however it stopped at Palmerston and for the last 15 years has never grown a centimetre, which is unlikely to change until the government reaches an agreement with the local member. Now it looks like the rural area may get its bike path. We may get a swimming pool, but in 2001 both parties promised a miserly total of $1m to build a pool, which reflected their commitment to the rural area. There has been a contribution to infrastructure at Freds Pass Reserve, for which I am very grateful, but if you compare it to what the minister brags Palmerston has received, the rural area has received little in comparison. Palmerston has received $43.5m for sporting and aquatic facilities. Freds Pass has received $3.6m over three years.
How much infrastructure has been built at the Humpty Doo District Centre since the government came to power? There has been a bus interchange, that is, a bitumen hardstand area, not a Palmerston Interchange with lots of shelter. The sewage ponds have been expanded. Taminmin College has expanded, which is the only big input into infrastructure, and you would wonder if that would have happened without Tony Considine as the principal. There have been no new roads or extension of the water or sewerage in the Humpty Doo District Centre for nearly 20 years. A public housing duplex has just been completed; the last one was built about 20 years ago. We are supposed to have a shortage of land for affordable housing, but land which should have been made available in Humpty Doo has sat idle with all the facilities nearby. There are three schools, a childcare centre, chemist, doctor, shopping centre, and quite a number of other facilities, but the government has not expanded the residential infrastructure to build up the Humpty Doo District Centre. It has quite happily spent money on burying power lines in the northern suburbs which already have power.
There is no more industrial land available on Spencely Road at Humpy Doo. All the land next door is zoned for industry; however, the government still has not released more land. I am not talking about light industry; I am talking about heavy industry such as block making, tyre recycling, water tank production, those sorts of facilities.
There is no development, when we have a desperate need for affordable, industrial land in the rural area. We have land along both sides of the Arnhem Highway which could potentially be developed into 1 ha lots which would increase the number of blocks of land available for rural living.
There is no water, and Power and Water are not in the business of installing infrastructure unless someone else pays for it. This means some land cannot be developed because of the requirements of Power and Water which make the cost of infrastructure needed for developing and opening these areas astronomical, and growth is stymied.
One of the biggest and continuing complaints I receive from people is the high cost Power and Water charge for infrastructure. Recently, residents of MacLeod Road were told if they wanted town water they would have to pay $38 000 per block. An average block in the rural area has 100 m frontage. Power and Water is saying a person with a block with 100 m frontage will have to pay $38 000 to get water to their block. That is equivalent to the price of two bores. It is not surprising no one took up the offer. Where did that price come from and what was the basis of the price? Possibly a pipeline design for a theoretical subdivision sometime in the next 50 years where lot sizes might have been smaller, but it is not based on what the land is zoned for now, which is rural.
There is a small district centre which could be developed at Girraween. It has been on planning documents for over 10 years. It would be a suitable place for a shop, some medium-density housing, a community hall and an early learning centre, but where is the infrastructure?
There is a school which has sewerage, and that is all there is. Power and Water do not seem to want to know about it, and the landowner has been told he has to build the treatment plant. Did the government ask everyone in Humpty Doo to build the sewage ponds? I do not think so, so why the different rules? Girraween District Centre sits idle except for the school because there is no infrastructure: a lost chance for development.
Freds Pass district centre is not much better. It has been on the plans for even longer. Except for the infrastructure at Bees Creek Primary School, the Litchfield Christian School and the ABC Childcare Centre, there is no other infrastructure in place in that area. You can see the difference when you look at Coolalinga – why has it boomed? Because the infrastructure for development, power, water and roads goes right past the door. Does that not say something?
The government may be putting up infrastructure elsewhere and good luck to those people who are getting it, but when it comes to the rural area we are missing out. I remind the government, there are at least 20000 people between the outskirts of Palmerston through to Dundee, Douglas Daly and out to Marrakai. That community of rural people is sometimes forgotten.
It is time for the government to shake a leg and do something. Infrastructure is the foundation of our economy, and the rural economy is still waiting. There has been a report on a possible extension of sewer infrastructure from Coolalinga, Howard Springs District Centre and the proposed INPEX workers village, to Palmerston. If that is to happen it will require input from private and government funds. Will the government contribute to that important infrastructure? We will have to wait and see.
It is obvious we cannot rely on Power and Water to deliver the infrastructure needed, so the government needs to be more involved in assisting with the headworks in the delivery of major infrastructure if we want small business to grow and land to be released at affordable prices.
It is also time to look how infrastructure costs are paid. Presently, all costs have to be paid up-front. Why not spread the cost over 30 or 40 years so the burden is not on the first person who buys. We need to keep infrastructure costs down, and I would like to hear the minister’s views on that.
The government can talk about the new suburbs being developed in Palmerston. Whilst that is good, it has to be balanced with the knowledge the government let the ball drop some years ago. We fell behind with land release and we have still not caught up.
It is great to see Weddell getting some traction at last. It was only a few years ago at a Property Council meeting your department said it was 10 to 15 years away from development. Thankfully, we will not be waiting that length of time - at least we better not be.
The concept of growth towns is that they are areas where Indigenous people have the opportunity to get ‘real jobs’, which is the terminology used, to develop industries and to move forward - where have I heard that before - but what do we do? We do not deliver broadband to them; we give them the second system; we give them satellite. If satellite is good for the growth towns then it should be good for the whole Territory. If broadband is good for the Territory because it will bring the Northern Territory up to an equivalent IT level with the rest of Australia, then let us take broadband into the growth towns.
If you say you support growth towns, and this is the new way forward, and you are - all these clichs – ‘closing the gap’, then you give them a satellite Internet network, then I say you are not fair dinkum. I urge this government to go to the federal government and say the growth towns should have broadband.
There is already optical fibre from Katherine to Nhulunbuy, but I am not sure it connects anywhere on the way. I think it goes straight to Nhulunbuy. Ask some of the people in the Laynhapuy homelands. They are not connected to it. If we are really going to try to change things we have to put our money where our mouth is.
It is natural for the government to talk about what it has done and that is fine, however it also needs to say what it has not done yet and what it is going to do about it. Please do not rewrite history. People like me do have memories. I do know what happened in the Northern Territory before I was in this Assembly. By all means criticise the government, but do it truthfully. I lived out bush for a long time, I saw Palmerston grow, and the CLP put much effort and much money into developing the Northern Territory.
When I read your statement last night minister I noted that Mr Hale has plenty of mentions. He does not represent the rural area. The rural area is in Lingiari and is suffering from the reverse Berrimah Line and the Alice line. I thought, there is a need for a new library at the biggest high school in the Territory, Taminmin College, which has 1240 pupils, and maybe someone could have come up with funding for a performing arts centre at Humpty Doo. That would be nice.
Then I thought, why did you not mention the other federal member. Today I received a new statement which mentions the other federal member, which is good to see. I have not heard much from many of the candidates in Lingiari, in an area which is equivalent to 20% of the total voting population of Lingiari. The area outside Darwin is not well looked after from a Commonwealth point of view because we are at the wrong end of the electorate.
This statement has missed an opportunity to look at new ideas for the delivery of infrastructure: expansion of the electricity grid; expansion of gas delivery to replace diesel; expansion of solar and wind generation; possible tidal power at Clarence Strait; better roads for the pastoral industry; expansion of new industrial land for future gas and heavy industry, perhaps at Glyde Point; expansion of rail to Mt Isa; the outback highway is not mentioned; electricity into the Douglas Daly area; a new barge landing at Yirrkala to break the monopoly of the barge landing at Gove; a light rail corridor into Darwin from Palmerston and beyond; more emphasis on public transport; new ways to recycle sewage; and perhaps an abattoir.
Minister, if we are to grow we need vision and this statement should have been more about that. Unfortunately, as I predicted when I heard the election is going to be on 21 August, the statement was sidetracked with some one-eyed history lessons and a federal political campaign. Minister, if this was your Year 12 assignment I would give you a C.
Dr BURNS (Public and Affordable Housing): Madam Deputy Speaker, I have a prepared speech, but I will touch on some of the issues raised by the member for Nelson and, the member for Braitling, and others. In politics, a fair amount of reinventing of history does occur. I would like to place on the Parliamentary Record that I acknowledge the CLP contributed in a mighty way to infrastructure in the Territory and building the Territory. That is irrefutable in many respects.
We can criticise what they did and did not do out bush, however there is no doubt that Barry Coulter made, and continues to make, a magnificent contribution to the Northern Territory. Barry Coulter was a visionary and a prime mover who really stuck to the concepts of a north/south rail link, a bridge into Asia, and the port. When I had my time as Port minister I always commended Barry for his vision and his prime role in building the port. I acknowledge those things.
There were issues with the construction and the tie rods at the port, which arose while I was minister, however I never blamed anyone. All I wanted to do was fix it and build the port infrastructure. Under this government we have continued the work of building infrastructure at the port. We have tried to link in with the railway, particularly with bulk commodities, etcetera. I acknowledge there have been some magnificent contributions from past governments, individuals and ministers. I have singled out Barry Coulter for special mention. To a large extent the CLP lost their way when they gained Denis Burke and lost Barry Coulter. That is a political debate and it is probably better had within the CLP ranks, but that is my view.
When we came to government in 2001 the economy was flatlining and people, particularly contractors, were desperate for work. There is no doubt we had good fortune, however we also worked hard and brought in strategies for economic development and skills development, etcetera.
If I could comment on this business of reinventing history, I was quite alarmed and angry when I was speaking to a member of the CLP a couple of weeks ago. This person said to me: ‘I really get sick and tired when I see Hendo and hear Hendo claiming credit for what the CLP and John Howard did’. I said: ‘What do you mean?’ and this person said: ‘Claiming credit for the radiation oncology unit and Tiger Brennan Drive’. I was amazed and dumbfounded because I was the minister at the time. I have placed it on the record in this House time and time again.
In relation to Tiger Brennan Drive, the then federal government led by John Howard had a succession of Transport ministers, but towards the end, Warren Truss, someone I respect and have a lot of time for, was the senior minister, and Jim Lloyd, an incredibly likeable bloke, very affable and good to deal with, was the junior minister to some degree. I remember that other jurisdictions were in the same position as the Territory. The federal government refused to fund any cost escalations for building highways and essential infrastructure. The agreement was, as the Treasurer has pointed out, that it was going to be 50/50. For example, Tiger Brennan Drive was originally a total of approximately $27m. Warren Truss, John Anderson before him, and others said: ‘We have put up $13.5m; if there is cost escalation or design changes you are going to have to meet the extra’.
And at that stage, when I was minister, it had gone up to about $42m or $45m. That was for a basic Tiger Brennan Drive without grade separation, and as someone who has crusaded against traffic lights, I wanted to see a few traffic lights removed from the intersection at Roystonea Avenue. I campaigned for that and that campaign was taken up by my successor in that portfolio, the member for Karama and, more lately, the member for Barkly. The then Commonwealth government stood firm. We had one of the most marginal seats in Australia, which was Solomon, and the member for Fong Lim was the incumbent. I know he tried hard to gain funding for Tiger Brennan Drive and he pushed Jim Lloyd into a space where Jim said at a news conference that they would fund half the escalated value. Then the message: ‘No we are not doing that’, quickly came from Canberra. There was a very clear policy directive from the then Treasurer that the Commonwealth government was not going to fund any cost escalations or any changes to the design.
During the election campaign in 2007, Damian Hale, with Martin Ferguson, promised $70m, or thereabouts, for the Tiger Brennan project, which included graded separation at the Roystonea Avenue end. Very late in the piece, John Howard, I think he was in Darwin at the time, said at a public meeting that the Commonwealth government would escalate their contribution to Tiger Brennan Drive from $13.7m to approximately, from memory, $34m, which was not going to cut it considering the project will cost $110m.
That is an important fact to put on the record. I become a little hot under the collar when someone says to me Dave Tollner secured the money, John Howard provided the money and Hendo is claiming all the credit. That is not true. I have told the facts of the matter as I recall them. People need to be honest about these things.
Tony Abbott put up $13m for the radiation oncology unit. It went out to tender twice. It was a combined tender where the builder would also be the operator. In other words, medical specialists in oncology were supposed to somehow become builders and build this quite complex building, oversee the project and then become the service providers. They would also have to provide the linear accelerators for the unit, which were at least $6m in value.
When Nicola Roxon became federal Health minister, one of the first things I did was approach her and explain the situation. She came up with an extra $6m for the project. We also put the project to tender in a different way. The tender was given to the Northern Territory government and I thank Paul Tyrrell for supporting this project. His advice was that we should go to a combined tender - separate tenders to build and to operate. That is what happened and the radiation oncology unit is now operational. Those are the facts of those matters and people should leave political spin and reinventing history behind for those two projects.
I know the member for Fong Lim knew, during the election campaign in 2007, that the second tender process had failed. He had to have known. Tony Abbott would have known. Yet they withheld that information from Territorians and pretended the project was on track. That was not the case; it was completely off track. That is all I have to say about those issues.
I will turn to my prepared speech. I commend the minister. He has been a strong advocate for investment in infrastructure, and we know why -investment in infrastructure delivers jobs and provides training and career opportunities. As the Treasurer pointed out, Budget 2010-11 delivers a record $1.8bn for infrastructure. As a government, we have also supported the $574m allocated to the Territory under the stimulus package, which was opposed by the Coalition in Canberra.
The Territory’s allocation included $205m to build or upgrade infrastructure in government schools, and a further $65m for non-government schools. It is interesting that members opposite are always critical of the BER project unless it is in their electorate. It was great to see the member for Fong Lim at the opening of the BER project at Ludmilla Primary School on Friday. It is evil everywhere else in the universe apart from their electorate. I said at a function on Friday night, I am not aware of any significant complaint against the BER project in the Northern Territory. It is an example of a well managed project, managed by government through traditional procurement mechanisms. I believe we can hold our heads high with the BER and its delivery in the Northern Territory.
The Chief Minister alluded to $60m, or thereabouts, allocated to the Territory to build new homes for public and social housing. This is delivering over 200 new places to house people in need. The Coalition nationally did not support this measure by the federal Labor government, and one can only assume the local CLP does not support it either. As a government we have invested over $540m in school infrastructure since 2001. The list is too long for me to itemise here, but I will outline some of the highlights. We delivered secondary education to remote communities. That was a passion of Syd Stirling and I commend him for that. We supported secondary education facilities at Minyerri, Kalkarindji, Maningrida, Shepherdson College, Yirrkala and Wadeye.
In almost 30 years under the CLP there were no secondary schools in remote communities. As I said previously, there is much for the CLP to be proud of in their contribution to the Territory infrastructure over many years, however their record in secondary schools is something they should be thinking long and hard about. The government will also build new schools at Emu Point, Manyallaluk and Wugularr.
A new special education annex has been built at the Humpty Doo school, and we rebuilt Mamaruni School on Croker Island. I visited Croker Island after Cyclone Ingrid and the school and some of the housing for the teachers was wrecked, so that was a great thing to do.
Our current program of works in education involves $246m in school infrastructure upgrades, which began in 2008 and will be completed in 2012. It is the Territory’s largest school infrastructure program ever and it will deliver better facilities to our students and teachers across the Territory. Work is continuing on the $54.5m Rosebery primary and middle schools in Palmerston. These schools will cater for 1450 students when they open at the beginning of next year. I have inspected that infrastructure and they are wonderful schools and will be great assets for Palmerston. Seventy-four government primary schools and large group schools will receive $300 000 to upgrade their school facilities. The program will see primary, middle and senior schools; community education centres; and homeland centres, receive significant upgrades.
There will be major investments in upgrades in our remote and urban middle and secondary schools, including $6.8m this financial year to upgrade Acacia, Henbury and Nemarluk special schools as part of our four year $30m investment in special schools. This investment will include a new school to be built in Bellamack; $6.4m to upgrade Centralian Middle School in Gillen, and establish a youth hub at ANZAC Hill; $5m to upgrade Casuarina Senior College; $3m to upgrade Dripstone Middle School; $3 to upgrade Tennant Creek High School; $1m to upgrade Sanderson Middle School; $6m to convert homeland centres to schools; $2m for the expansion of the Yirrkala CEC; $1.5m for upgrades at Maningrida CEC; $1.5m for Kalkaringi CEC; $1.25m for upgrades at Shepherdson College; $1.25m for upgrades at Gunbalanya CEC; and $1.25m each for Gapuwiyak, Angurugu, Numbulwar, Milingimbi and Lajamanu.
Housing for teachers is a key component of A Smart Territory Remote Schools Attraction and Retention Strategy. $18.2m from the Territory and Australian governments has been pooled to provide 48 dwellings in 14 priority remote locations in keeping with the 20 growth towns strategy.
The Australian government’s Building the Education Revolution has proved to be a boon for education and industry alike. Primary Schools for the 21st Century, National School Pride, and Science Language Centres for the 21st Century Secondary Schools have delivered $205m worth of infrastructure to Northern Territory government school communities, and $65m to non-government schools. I am pleased to say the Northern Territory has done an excellent job of implementing the program. I have read the report which was published nationally last week. It is not just about bricks and mortar; it is about better educational outcomes for our Territory students.
It is also about businesses, and I commend those Territory businesses which have delivered the BER projects across the length and breadth of the Northern Territory. I noted in the report the per square metre cost was at the upper end of the scale …
Mr Elferink: Huh!
Dr BURNS: Well, you can scoff, member for Port Darwin. That is all about the delivery of projects in very remote areas – possibly more remote than other areas of Australia. I believe our businesses have delivered value for money. I am only aware of one complaint which was from the member for Braitling about the Larrakeyah Primary School; however I will leave that for another day. I did copy you into that letter, member for Port Darwin, where he compared the job at Larrakeyah Primary School to a McDonald’s. I am sure you have had feedback from the school council about that. We will talk about that another day.
Honourable members will recall this year’s budget delivered a record $695m for affordable housing and new upgraded public and remote housing across the Territory. The building and construction sector is vital to creating and maintaining a strong economy.
The ABS has estimated that every dollar committed to building and construction programs generates $2.73 in economic activity. On this basis, government’s $695m will result in nearly $1.9bn of economic activity in the Territory. It is about jobs for those involved in direct building construction and supply sectors, as well as ancillary support and administration services for those buildings.
Despite the challenges of the GFC, the Territory will continue to experience strong economic and population growth. ABS figures released this week show an 11% increase in the number of residential building approvals in the Territory for June. Our strong economic growth has generated increasing demand for public and private services across a range of sectors but, equally, in the vital area of housing.
In 2010, $49m has been committed to build 150 new homes over three years, including 76 homes across three seniors’ villages in Malak, Bellamack and Central Australia. This is in addition to work currently under way to build a new $10m, 40-unit Bellamack seniors’ village …
Mr GUNNER: A point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker! I move an extension of time, pursuant to Standing Order 77.
Motion agreed to.
Dr BURNS: Thank you, members. Twelve one-bedroom and 28 two-bedroom units are being constructed in the Bellamack seniors’ village. $10m has been jointly funded by the Northern Territory and Australian governments for the project. Local contractor, Norbuilt, has been awarded the contract and construction has commenced. Work will begin on an 18-unit seniors’ village in Alice Springs later this year to accommodate more senior Territorians. That project is well under way.
Approximately $30m has been allocated for the repair and maintenance of public housing in 2010-11, with $15.1m being allocated to repair and refurbish existing public housing dwellings vacated in 2010-11. I can say with some authority, as a local member and as a candidate in 2001, not a great deal of money had been spent on public housing repairs and maintenance in quite some time; some of those houses were in quite bad shape. I commend the former member for Arnhem, Jack Ah Kit, who was the Housing minister. He spent a great deal of money on repairs, maintenance and security for public housing, which was greatly appreciated by the tenants.
The Chief Minister alluded to the Social Housing Initiative under this stimulus package. I will not repeat what he said today, but it is $60m of good investment to try to support those who are less fortunate. Two hundred and eight are being built across the Territory and existing public housing properties are being refurbished. A number of those are complete, a number are under way, and there should be substantial completion of those by the end of this calendar year. A total of 298 dwellings have been refurbished or repaired under the stimulus funding. The initial target of 136 dwellings was exceeded by more than 200%. This is about efficiency. This is about the Northern Territory government working with the federal government to deliver for people living in the dwellings which were refurbished or repaired under the stimulus package.
The budget delivered $2.7m to operate five new, short-term accommodation facilities in Alice Springs and Darwin to house visitors from remote communities and outlying areas as part of the Alice Springs Transformation Plan and the Australian government’s stimulus package. I am sure the member for Stuart will detail that when he speaks on this statement later on.
Everyone in this House would be aware of the challenges posed for service delivery by the Territory’s unique geography and demography. Government housing for staff such as teachers, nurses and health workers, for example, is vital to essential service delivery throughout the Territory. The Government Employee Housing scheme is one element of the government’s strategy to address those issues. A total of 10 new dwellings, five replacement dwellings, and 94 upgraded dwellings were completed for government employees in the 2009-10 year. Budget 2010-11 has committed $15.3m to construct 15 new, and upgrade 60 existing government employee houses in remote areas. A further $7.8m has been committed for teacher housing as part of the Australian government’s 200 extra teachers initiative.
The Territory government has allocated $3.8m to construct six two-bedroom units onsite at Gove District Hospital in Nhulunbuy. Design and documentation is well under way - Madam Deputy Speaker, I know you are interested in this - with completion anticipated by June 2011.
Closing the Gap is another Territory-funded program aimed at providing accommodation to employees including hospital staff, health workers and teachers in remote areas. From July 2007 to June 2010, 39 dwellings have been completed under Closing the Gap. More vital infrastructure and jobs will be created in the Territory under a Commonwealth government program which provides accommodation for Territory health workers in remote areas. Through Budget 2010-11, a value of $9.88m has been committed for refurbishment and new construction across the regions. So far, 18 new units of accommodation and two refurbished existing dwellings are scheduled for completion in this financial year.
The historic $1.7bn National Partnership Agreement on Remote Indigenous Housing, of which the Strategic Indigenous Housing Infrastructure Program is part, will deliver vital housing infrastructure and economic growth and jobs to the Northern Territory. The program is a vital building block, and I have said publicly on a number of occasions, SIHIP is not going to magically solve the Indigenous housing shortage in Indigenous communities. It is going to take a sustained effort. This is a significant first step, $1.7bn over 10 years.
I challenge the member for Braitling and Tony Abbott to spell out what their intentions are for Indigenous housing and whether they will sustain that spending of $1.7bn over 10 years. I notice in an article in the Centralian Advocate that the member for Braitling did partly address my challenge; however I have not heard what Tony Abbott or Nigel Scullion have to say. I will be listening very carefully to their commitment because it is not only about $1.7bn over 10 years as part of the national partnership agreement; it is going to take decades of activity and building to address this issue.
I acknowledge that SIHIP has had its difficulties; however, I believe, along with the Auditor-General for the Northern Territory, that the program is now on track. The target for this calendar year is 150 new houses and 1000 rebuilds and refurbishments. As I have travelled around the Territory between the last sitting and this sitting, I have seen quite a number of new houses, rebuilds and refurbishments taking shape across the length and breadth of the Territory. We are very focused on hitting our SIHIP targets.
Sixty-seven new houses have been completed, there are over 50 houses under way, 381 refurbishments and rebuilds have been completed, and another 75 are under way. The Alliances are committed to reaching the rebuild and refurbishment targets and they are geared up to deliver them.
In Nguiu, 90 new houses will be constructed by the Territory Alliances, 19 new houses are completed and tenanted, work continues on the construction of another three houses, 69 rebuilds and refurbishments are complete, and work is continuing on another 19.
In Wadeye, 105 new houses will be constructed by New Future Alliance; 17 new houses are being completed and tenanted; work is under way on the construction of another 23; and 13 refurbishments have been completed at Palumpa and Wadeye with work continuing on another six.
That is just a snapshot of SIHIP. This is a government which can hold its head high in terms of infrastructure and the development of infrastructure. Since 2001, we have increased funding for infrastructure programs across the Territory, whether it be for roads, schools, health clinics or police stations. A range of necessary infrastructure has been delivered, particularly in the bush, but also in the major centres. Neighbouring my electorate, I can see a new fire station, police station and so on. There has been much activity in building infrastructure under this government and we will can look back on what we have provided and look forward to what we will provide for the Northern Territory.
Madam Deputy Speaker, let us stop the political spin and take a reality check. Let us make criticisms which are valid, valuable and constructive. Let us not get into the negativity of one side against the other, and let us call a spade a spade. I commend the minister’s statement to the House.
Mr WESTRA van HOLTHE (Katherine): Madam Deputy Speaker, I do not expect I will take too long to contribute to the debate on the minister’s infrastructure statement. I acknowledge and thank both the member for Nelson and the member for Johnston for detailing some of the real history of the Northern Territory and the contribution which was made, over the 27 years of the CLP government prior to 2001, to growing the Territory into what it is today. We should not let that pass without ensuring it is recorded well and understood well, not only by everyone in this House, but everyone in the Northern Territory.
There are a few parts of this statement I would like to speak to. Much of this has been covered already by others in this House, my colleagues, as well as the member for Nelson. I read through this statement last night and I felt a little embarrassed for the minister, realising he would have to stand here and regurgitate bile, which often comes from that side of the House. The first paragraph I was drawn to is on page 2. The second paragraph talks about this so-called record $1.8bn spend on infrastructure in the Northern Territory in Budget 2010-11. I have canvassed this issue already, and I want to do it again so history is recorded correctly. This $1.8bn budget, supposedly a record, is a lie.
A large portion of it - from my recollection, $825m of it was revoted work from the previous financial year. This is an example of the spin which comes from the Labor government. It needs to be spoken about often, and it needs to be spoken about long and loud so the people of the Northern Territory are not duped and fooled into believing this government is applying record budgets to everything, when they are simply plucking figures from the previous year, rubberising them and pushing them into 2010-11.
The next thing I was drawn to is on the same page. There is a two-line paragraph about an action plan for Katherine’s future which says this government has invested in the high school and delivered a Police Beat.
This Northern Territory government did not deliver a Police Beat for Katherine. Nothing could be further from the truth. The Chamber of Commerce and local community residents delivered the Police Beat for Katherine. A Police Beat in Katherine was not even on the Northern Territory Labor government’s radar, let alone it being anywhere on the path towards delivering it. For them to come into this House and continually assert they have delivered a Police Beat in Katherine is hogwash; it is total rubbish. The only thing they have provided for a Police Beat - and the member for Arafura interjected with it before - is police staffing. Police have been provided for the Police Beat in Katherine, however, there are no additional staff. It has been staffed with the normal, operational staff and personnel of the Katherine Police Station. The Northern Territory government, apart from maybe putting a computer and phone line in, has contributed little to the Police Beat. I was quite surprised when the Chief Minister had the audacity to turn up to the opening of the Police Beat for which he had no responsibility.
That paragraph talked about an action plan for Katherine’s future, which was something I had not seen until this morning. I finally managed to track it down on the Internet. It relates to the outcome of the Katherine Planning for the Future Forum, which was held in November 2008. I stood in this House in an adjournment debate on 28 April 2010, around 18 months after that forum was held in Katherine, and said the Northern Territory government could not be bothered updating a web page, providing a report, or providing any feedback to the people of Katherine after they attended that forum. I read into the Hansard of this parliament a letter to the editor of The Katherine Times which talked about the report which was supposed to have arisen from that Planning for the Future Forum.
It is nice to see that I, as the local member, can have some influence over the actions of the Northern Territory government. It is very pleasing and gratifying for me to now see an action plan for Katherine. It is detailed in a document called Urban Planning Forum: Long Term Planning in the NT. If I flick through there are a couple of pages which talk about Katherine.
This will impress you, Madam Deputy Speaker; this is the strategic plan. There are two dot points. The first dot point:
- Planning Forum and action plan completed
Sensational! Dot point 2:
- Crown land was auctioned for potentially 35 residential lots in Katherine East and applications are progressing
I am grateful some land has been released in Katherine. Lord knows no other land has been released in the previous nine years of the Northern Territory Labor government. It is quite pleasing to see something coming out of it. Sadly, it takes an opposition member to stand up in this House and berate the government before they will do something.
A paragraph on page 7 talks about targeted action plans, including land release, for Tennant Creek, Katherine, and Alice Springs. If you look through some older documents you will find that when the CLP government was in, prior to 2001, a great deal of planning for land release in and around Katherine was done. There is a swathe of land in Katherine East which has been theoretically subdivided and planned out, and has been sitting in those documents for many years. The government’s plan is to develop a residential land release strategy. Much of that has been done, and I do not know why they have to reinvent the wheel.
It will be nice if we can have some more land released in and around the town. I do not know if anyone from the government has bothered to talk to real estate agents in Katherine about the requirements for land release based on the housing pressure we have there. Most of them will tell you we need 20 or 25 blocks a year so Katherine can start growing. We have not had any of that. We are in the middle of subdivision now which will help, but we need more than that if we are to grow our town.
The situation became quite apparent and was put in perspective recently when the proponents of the revitalised Katherine abattoir started talking to me about what the requirements would be to have that facility up and running. One of the first things I said to them was: ‘Where are you going to house all these workers? There is nowhere in Katherine for you to do it.’ When an industry wants to come to a small town, whether it be a new mine which would operate nearby, an abattoir or some other industry, we would be constrained as there has been no land released. You would find this to be common across the Northern Territory.
I cannot believe it has taken this government nearly 10 years to start to take action to release land. They have effectively stymied the growth of small regional areas particularly, and it is really noticeable in small areas. Katherine has maintained the same population for the last 10 years, despite a few seasonable fluctuations and a few things which occurred after the 1998 floods. All we can do is keep asking the Northern Territory government to progress things like land release and hope we will be able to get some reasonable outcomes from it.
There is a paragraph in the minister’s statement about the Tiger Brennan Drive extension. I know it has been touched on already. What did come out of the debate today, I think it was during Question Time, was a shot across the bow of the member for Drysdale, who was critical of some aspects of the Tiger Brennan Drive extension. He was quite right to be critical. There are some issues with the roadworks which have occurred there. There is the little bridge, the bicycle bridge or foot bridge, which is going to impede the flow of heavy machinery and large loads through that area. I am going to encourage the minister to go to the bridge, or send someone there, with a measuring tape and measure whether that bridge is 6.5 m above the roadway. I do not want to steal the member for Drysdale’s thunder because I know he wants to talk about this, he is passionate about it, but measure and see if it is 6.5 m.
You should also look at the camber on the new part which goes off Stuart Highway where you go to Katherine, the one lane that connects Darwin to the rest of the Territory. Maybe you should talk to some truck drivers who travel on that road and ask them about the difficulties they are experiencing there. I am sure the member for Drysdale will talk about that further.
Most of this has been covered by the other members. There is very little which talks about anything south of Palmerston. The member for Nelson summed it up nicely when he said there is virtually nothing in here for the whole electorate of Lingiari, which covers 95% of the Territory’s land mass and holds 20% of the population.
Enough said as there are other members who want to speak about this. There is so little on the parliamentary list today; the members opposite obviously want to have an early knock off and I will not hold them up.
Mr VATSKALIS (Health): Madam Speaker, I have to say the CLP did a lot of work in the Territory after self-government. A government which was 27 years in power should have done something. I have to acknowledge, looking back at the CLP in the old days, and I do not have to share their ideology, that in some ways that CLP was more socialist than the Labor Party today. Some of the ideas they had controlled by the state reminded me of the old Soviet state where everything was centrally planned and controlled. It was a sign of the times. It had to be done by government and the idea at the time was that the government developed the infrastructure - plan and construct roads, bridges, hospitals, swimming pools. The only difference was where it was done.
A government which governs for all Territorians does things throughout the Territory instead of concentrating in certain areas, for example, the northern suburbs. We should not only have Royal Darwin Hospital and Alice Springs Hospital we should have hospitals in other areas like Tennant Creek.
With regard to some of the land release, land was released and abandoned. A very good example was Tennant Creek where we discovered a very full subdivision which was done in the 1980s and was abandoned. We revitalised it with 58 blocks to go to auction very soon.
Land was released in Katherine but it was released in the rural area. The first land release in an urban area happened under our own government only a few years ago, and you now have some more new blocks in Katherine.
The CLP is talking about the housing crisis. I recall very well headlines in the newspaper in 1999 and 2000: ‘20% vacancy rate in units in Darwin during the Wet and the build-up’.
Madam SPEAKER: Minister for Health, would you mind addressing your comments to the Chair rather than to the audience.
Mr VATSKALIS: Thank you, Madam Speaker. The reason for the vacancy rate was there were no jobs and people left the Territory to go to other states. One of the reasons there were no waiting lists for public housing was the rents were low because there was such a huge vacancy rate and people could afford to rent in the private market.
A combination of an economy which grew and grew after the Liberal government came to power and 2100 houses from the public store being sold by the CLP in the last few years of their regime, created the problem with the rental market. When you have a growing economy you have an influx of workers and they rent units. If you have a growing market the salaries and wages increase, people can afford to pay higher rates - supply and demand.
If you have a unit and there are 20 people trying to rent it, you are going to get the highest price. Natasha Griggs could give us a few lessons in that. She has 14 houses, she is a very good landlord as she tells us, so she must have done really well out of it. Well done to her. I do not blame her.
The role of the government is to provide infrastructure for all Territorians, not only for people who live in the northern suburbs or Alice Springs. We have put health infrastructure in place for all Territorians. The health infrastructure is not only to assist our strong economic growth through increased productivity of a healthy population but also to provide health services to all Territorians. We have worked very hard with the Commonwealth government since the new federal government was elected. Tony Abbott’s claim to fame was that he took $1bn out of the health budget throughout Australia. That put Australia’s health system miles back.
We did not have new doctors. We did not train new doctors. In the Territory we have half the number of GPs per 100 000 people that they have in Sydney. As a result, it is very difficult to see a GP. People who want to see a doctor will finish up at the emergency department with the associated pressures and delays.
One very good example of the infrastructure we put in place, and I spoke about it at Question Time, is the Alan Walker Cancer Care Centre - $26.5m in infrastructure, building and equipment, and $6m a year to operate it. We promised it in 2001 but we had to battle with the federal Howard government to secure money to build the oncology unit. They offered us $30m, which was not enough, and the two tenders they put out failed, one just before the election in 2007. Damian Hale was elected, and he advocated with the new Rudd federal government, and was allocated an increased amount of money to build the Alan Walker centre. I am very pleased to say it is the most modern cancer centre in Australia. It has no waiting list and has already treated 111 Territorians.
The centre was constructed by a local Territory company, Halikos Group, which delivered the facility in accordance with our time lines. Halikos Group is a multi-award winning Territory company, deserving of its solid reputation for delivering innovative projects. I am pleased to advise the House that last week, at the Master Builders Northern Territory awards the Alan Walker Cancer Care Centre won the Commercial Construction category for properties in the range of $11m to $20m, as well as the President’s Award, an award for the best overall building in the Territory, both commercial and residential. One thing not many people know is the design of the bunker for the centre has been copied throughout Australia, and throughout the world. It is an innovative design for this kind of facility, because it is constructed in such a way it will not allow radiation to escape; at the same time it is probably solid enough to withstand a nuclear explosion. This construction provided jobs for 70 Territorians during the peak of the construction phase.
It is not only construction jobs which have been created which contribute to economic growth. The Alan Walker centre now has 22 staff, some from overseas, some local, and some from other states. It is treating people, so it is saving people’s lives. Territorians do not have to travel anymore; they can come to Darwin and be treated.
I was at the post office in Nightcliff recently and someone tapped the window of my car. I opened my window and he said to me: ‘Are you the Minister for Health?’ I very reluctantly admitted I was, because when you hear that in public it is not usually good news. The person said to me; ‘Well, you have many troubles in your job, but I give you congratulations, because the Barbara James hospice is fantastic’. The man’s wife had incurable cancer, they went to Townsville for treatment, she was operated on but the tumour is growing again. She has been given two years to live. He told me they went to Townsville, but he could not afford to stay there with the family; only his wife could stay. Now they are in Darwin and the family is at the Barbara James centre where people can stay during the treatment. He was very impressed with the quality of the facility and that he did not have to pay anything because it was covered by PATS.
It is not only the infrastructure in bricks and mortar; it is infrastructure in human capital. From June 2001 to 2010 we had 729 more nurses and 237 more doctors working in the Northern Territory. That is based on the Department of Health and Families payroll reports. This represents 87% more doctors and 57% more nurses than ever before, under our Labor government.
The new $42m emergency department and critical care wing was opened in 2002, we constructed an award winning $4.5m hospice in 2005 and a $3m birthing centre and a $7.8m rapid admission unit opened in 2007. The 24-bed rapid admission unit is one of the initiatives developed following extensive input from clinicians to help fast-track patient care and ease pressure on hospitals and emergency departments. Further improvements are planned for the emergency department with the Australian Labor government funding $2.3m to expand the triage and fast-track unit, with work commencing this year.
The Royal Darwin Hospital elective surgery capacity was significantly increased in 2009 with the opening of two additional operating theatres and a procedure room dedicated to scope works such as endoscopy and colonoscopy. This work was enabled by a grant from the Australian government.
The Royal Darwin Hospital infrastructure has been expanded in facilities and staffing resources with its establishment as the National Critical Care and Trauma Response Centre. In 2004, the Australian government committed $63m over a four-year period to develop RDH with renovation and infrastructure; specialist medical equipment, including trauma trolleys, wound vacuum system equipment, ultrasound equipment, pathology and laboratory equipment including microscopes, biochemical and haematology analysers, plasma fridges and towers; staffing including a $3.2m four-year training agreement between the trauma centre and Brisbane’s Princess Alexandra Hospital, which ensures a wider range of clinical staff are trained to deal with the major response scenarios.
An additional $57m is anticipated for the period of the next arrangements and the next agreement for 2009-10 to 2012-13. The trauma centre’s priorities include focusing on preparedness activities and returning experience and learning into the Australian health disaster management framework. There are currently 11 doctors, 10 nurses and 19 allied health positions attached to the trauma centre which augment the readiness capacity in daily operations of the Royal Darwin Hospital.
The trauma centre has responded to several disaster emergencies since 2005, including the SIEV36 boat blast off Ashmore Reef and the TIO bombing.
We are about to embark on the establishment of a pensioner accommodation precinct at the Royal Darwin Hospital campus. A 50-unit patient accommodation hostel has been planned by the Australian government, which is committing $18.6m to construct the facility. That hostel will provide affordable, safe and culturally appropriate accommodation for up to 12 weeks at a time for remote and regional patients accessing medical services in Darwin. The hostel is expected to be completed by the end of 2011.
Better accommodation for staff on campus has been on the capital works program over recent years to assist with recruitment and retention initiatives for a stable workforce. My government has allocated $6m over three years to refurbish all staff accommodation at RDH. The upgrading program includes 156 single-bedroom flats and bedsits, 12 two-bedroom flats, 12 three-bedroom houses, and two four-bedroom houses. We are going to repaint them, upgrade the air-conditioning, renovate the kitchens, put in new furniture, upgrade the IT infrastructure and remove louvers for modern style windows.
We have also looked at the other facilities at Royal Darwin Hospital. We have committed $14.3m to deliver more efficient air-conditioning systems; create more robust back-up power in emergencies; replace ageing, essential equipment; and reduce the hospital’s greenhouse emissions by an estimated 8.2%.
We are going to install three 3 MW diesel generators in a system reconfiguration to provide emergency power to all circuits on campus; a major high voltage system to greatly improve reliability, safety and capacity; and three new 4000 kW air-conditioner chillers and associated equipment. Royal Darwin Hospital is a major hospital in Darwin and in the case of a disaster would be the only hospital we would be able to access for a period of time. It has to be fully operational and accommodate, in comfort, people who may be injured following a cyclone or other natural disaster.
It does not stop at Royal Darwin Hospital. Major upgrades are planned for Alice Springs Hospital. Following the disaster contract awarded by the CLP government, many things were not done to standard and now we have to rectify them. The original $9.5m program has been completed with a clinical management wing, day procedure unit, paediatrics ward, and kitchen upgrade.
The current rectification program of $32.9m has been approved during 2009-10. The next area of rectification is the operating theatres, and this commenced in February 2010. The administration ward will be converted to an addition of the Cowdy Ward to reduce the time and cost to complete the overall program of rectification. In addition, the emergency power, water reticulation, and electrical system are being upgraded, and the current program is for $11.7m, which will run straight into the Alice Springs economy. We are constructing a new, $19.6m state-of-the-art emergency department at the front of the Alice Springs Hospital.
The CLP always believed that Alice Springs was their base. That is where the CLP first emerged. Did they ever put this kind of money into Alice Springs Hospital, or into Alice Springs? No, they did not, because they took for granted that the Alice Springs people would always vote for them because the CLP meant Alice Springs. They did not spend money in Alice Springs, they spent it everywhere else. They spent it in the northern suburbs, and quite well, but Alice Springs was forgotten. It is our government which has spent significant money to upgrade facilities in Alice Springs.
Alice Springs is not only serving people in the Territory. Because we have done such good work we have people from other states coming to access some of the services in Alice Springs. People with renal disease are coming from South Australia and Western Australia to receive treatment in Alice Springs. The renal service expanded to meet the demand, with $2.27m of works at Flynn Drive, in addition to the new 12-station facility on Gap Road operated by NephroCare.
The Tennant Creek Hospital has also had major reconstruction upgrades with $3.45m for fire safety works. Stage 1 was completed in 2006-07 and Stage 3 is nearing completion. In addition, the Tennant Creek Hospital renal unit will be expanded with a $2.3m program due to commence this year. We have done such a good job with the renal programs that the life span of people with renal disease in Central Australia matches that of people with the same condition in Sydney, Melbourne or Perth. Their life span has increased by seven years; before, 66% of people died before they reached the life span of people treated in other capital cities.
The $10m Palmerston super clinic is nearly complete. This super clinic was promised by a Labor government, but Tony Abbott has promised he will close it down. Four of his members are advocating having a super clinic in their electorates. Tony Abbott’s Liberal members want super clinics; Tony Abbott does not want super clinics. He does not like them and he has promised he will not progress any more, and if possible he will close them. The super clinic will provide services to people in Palmerston. It will not only provide after hours service, but will provide a comprehensive health service with a number of specialists treating the people in Palmerston.
For the first time, the Territory will have its own full medical school. This is an investment by the federal Labor government. This school will be operated by Flinders University in partnership with Charles Darwin University. Flinders University will provide the services in the super clinic, providing training for the doctors who will graduate from our medical school. The medical school will cost only $27.8m at the CDU campus and will be funded by the Australian Labor government in recognition of the importance of growing your own workforce. We know very well, if we train people here, they will stay here. It happened with engineers, pharmacists and nurses. Now we are repeating that with medical students.
New health services have been constructed in Milikapiti, Yuendumu, Daly River, Minjilang and Kalkarindji: a $2m to $3m investment in each community. In Wadeye, the healthcare project has been allocated $7.6m to include the addition of a new, large wing and a refurbishment of the old building is now under way.
It is not spending money. You can line up our figures and make money. We will gain benefits from this expenditure: benefits not only for local economies, or for Territorians who will construct these facilities, but also the benefits we will derive by having these facilities operating throughout the Territory, providing health benefits to all Territorians.
Infrastructure is vital, and the role of the government is to provide the necessary infrastructure, where possible, throughout the Territory, not in selective areas where we can gain maximum votes because we put facilities and infrastructure there.
Every Territorian deserves to receive the same service whether they live in Palmerston, Darwin, Alice Springs, Milikapiti, Yuendumu or Gove. The role of our government is to ensure all Territorians receive the same kind of service wherever they live, be it in education, health or roads. We understand the difficulties in the Territory; the tyranny of distance is significant. I felt very proud of my Health portfolio when I travelled to Perth and met with the Western Australian Minister for Health who told me he would like people from the Kimberleys to be treated in Darwin, and people from east of Warburton to be treated with renal dialysis machines in Alice Springs. That shows that even the Liberal Minister for Health in Western Australia recognises the inroads we have made in health, in improving services to the Territory, and is prepared to send his citizens to our jurisdiction to receive appropriate, and very good, medical treatment.
Mr STYLES (Sanderson): Madam Speaker, before I respond to this ministerial statement on infrastructure investment, I will acknowledge a number of things the member for Johnston said. I commend the member for Johnston when he made the statement about stopping the spin. That was a good idea; I only ask that some of his colleagues heed his advice. I also acknowledge that he said the CLP did something, as opposed to the member for Karama who said the CLP did nothing and has neglected the Territory.
This is the sort of spin where the current government tries to rewrite history. I agree with the minister in relation to statements where people try to rewrite history. I ask that members opposite listen to the member for Johnston, who said some fine things in his presentation on this ministerial statement.
I read the statement and have about three days worth of material here to speak on. Given the shortness of time available I will try to address some of the major issues.
A member: Three days worth.
Mr STYLES: Three days worth, it is very easy to find that sort of material in this statement. On page 1 it says:
- How far we have come since 2000-01 when you could not get a construction job.
I recall being in the Territory at that time and you could get a construction job. Perhaps what the minister and the Treasurer were talking about was that growth had slowed and there was a global downturn at that time. Jobs were available. It may not have been a huge growth period, but they were available. With statements like this, from the first page you have to put up with constant statements which say this did not happen and that did not happen.
I will address some of those issues. Currently we have good growth in the Territory. There are all sorts of private industry infrastructure projects happening. In about September/October last year, I spoke to a number of refrigeration mechanics who were leaving town because they could not find suitable accommodation. They could not find affordable accommodation and the way they were living, with about six of them sharing a home, was unacceptable. They informed me they were leaving the Territory because of the housing issues.
Infrastructure investment involves the timely release of land, and I will come to that shortly. I was at the markets on Sunday and I spoke to a person who is an employer. This person enlightened me as to some rather interesting facts. They run businesses in the central business district of Darwin. They are in the entertainment industry and cannot get employees. They said there are some employees out there, some of whom are not suitable. This person is flying people in from Queensland to work in the entertainment industry and then they have to fly them back. It is cheaper for them to fly people across for short periods of time than it is to find them accommodation. This person has been forced to buy accommodation so their employees have somewhere to live. Due to award wages and the fact that AWAs have gone out, they cannot negotiate. The employers cannot pay what they would like to pay them; therefore, these people leave because it is too expensive to live. One of the greatest contributions to that expense is the cost of housing.
I found that very interesting and it is a common thing I hear as I move around my electorate and the community and talk with people, when I go to functions and talk to key people in the community. They have this problem where they cannot get good staff because good staff will not stay here as they cannot afford to live. All the advertising promotions in the world about lifestyle and what a great place the Territory is – I agree it is a great place, it is what brought me here and what has kept me here, yet people, especially young people, are struggling to pay the rent, let alone live and enjoy the fabulous lifestyle we used to have. Unfortunately, it is now declining because of the untimely release of land and a number of other things.
It says here:
- Territorians will remember how, back in 2000 and 2001, Darwin businesses like the Cool Spot were full of concreters and contractors passing the time because there was no work to be had.
I am sure if you go to the Cool Spot now, perhaps it is a little late in the evening now, you will find the Cool Spot is full of contractors. You cannot find a park in Keith Lane due to contractor’s vehicles. They are almost two deep at this point in time, with contractors and concreters passing the time.
Those people have expressed concerns to me; builders have expressed concerns to me. There are builders who, when you say ‘I want a house please’, the first thing they ask is ‘Do you have a block of land?’ If the answer is no, it is ’Sorry, too bad, too sad’. They cannot get enough land. It has been said to me that the demise of a couple of builders around Darwin - and I speak about Darwin as opposed to Alice Springs, occurred because they could not get land to build houses on. Approvals for residential developments are down. This is a common problem, it is a common theme you find when you walk around the community and talk to people.
On page 2 of the statement it says:
We boosted investment in the construction program - up from $364m in 2000-01 to a record $1.8bn .
Either the Chief Minister or the member for Johnston put up a graph earlier which showed the level of funding under the former Howard Coalition government and what happened when Labor got in. The Treasurer might have a careful look at it because the former Howard government was paying off $96bn in debt inherited from Labor in 1996. We should not rewrite history but remember history very clearly and ask why it is the federal government does not have the money? Because the federal Labor government spent, overspent, and continued to spend other people’s money, put it on the Bankcard and hoped when it was out of government someone else would pay it off, as is the case.
If I am correct, in July 2007 the then Treasurer, Peter Costello, in the former Howard government announced it had paid off Labor’s $96bn debt and the Australian government did not owe any money – a good place to be! When it lost government in November 2007, my understanding is it had $26bn in the bank; it had a Future Fund, and much money stashed away for a rainy day. I do not know whether it has been raining - we have had record drought in the country. It seems to have been raining in Canberra because they have taken all the money and spent it, plus they have borrowed much more putting us in debt.
We can all debate stimulus packages; they are good, however it is how you spend the stimulus, where you spend it, and if you waste it or not. Most people would agree there will be some stimulus needed, but it should be spent wisely. The problem the federal government has is that it has not spent it wisely. We have the minister praising the federal Labor member for Solomon, Damian Hale, saying what a fantastic job - I have more to say on that as time progresses.
The other thing that occurs to me when people try to rewrite history is, in 2001 we started the GST. Up until then we did not have the rivers of gold flowing in from the GST. The Treasurer likes to point out that the CLP did nothing, did not achieve anything and did not spend any money. It is interesting because the current government has had more money than it ever thought it would yet it still has problems balancing the books. It continues to spend money and run us into debt. The latest debt figure is about $1.61bn, projected to be doubled to $3.2bn in about four years.
As we move on, we look at the criticism by the member for Karama of the previous Country Liberal government. I ask the members opposite to look at the building we are standing in. I recall the years from 1983 to 1996 when there was a federal Labor government. There was a statement made in this House today - I think by the Chief Minister - if the Coalition government gets in, they will do over the Territory. Let me tell you, if you have not been around and have not looked at the history books of the Territory, we got done over, right royally, in 1991 when we had the recession we had to have, thanks to Mr Keating.
The figure was about $256m out of a $1.2bn budget for the Northern Territory, which equates to somewhere between 20% and 25% of our budget, slashed at the stroke of a pen. We had struggles in those days. I recall the newspaper articles, the discussion of the day. We struggled to get through those years because a federal Labor government, with the stroke of a pen, took away 20% or 25% of our budget.
If you took 25% of the weekly or fortnightly budget of families, and people who are struggling to provide all sorts of things these days, you would find them struggling to maintain anything. That is exactly what the federal Labor government did to the Territory. When the Chief Minister says the Coalition will do over the Territory that is only an assumption. History shows that the federal Labor government has severely and right royally done over the Territory in the past.
The statement lists a range of achievements they claim. I agree with what the member for Katherine said about feeling a little embarrassed for the minister because the minister has to read this and justify the statements contained therein. We are a compassionate lot on this side of the House, albeit members opposite may not agree.
I was talking to some tourists at the markets who came through Tennant Creek. I will not repeat in this Chamber the words they used to describe Tennant Creek. Tennant Creek is full of wonderful people. Unfortunately, there are a few issues in Tennant Creek, and these people expressed their concerns to me in some very colourful language. I did not agree with them. These are tourists who are driving through the Territory and raising these issues with someone on a political stand. I do not know whether they spoke to the member for Johnston whose office is at the Rapid Creek shopping centre. I hope they did. I hope the member for Johnston takes note of what those fine tourists who come here and spend their money in the Territory are saying and what message they may be taking back with them.
On a side issue, they also spoke about roadside stops, toilet areas, sewage dumping areas, and a raft of things they said the Territory needs to get its act together on. Those upstairs listening to this may like to make a note of that.
I move on to where it says:
- Across Darwin, we have built new fire and police stations, new sporting facilities, the Leanyer Recreation Park …
Look at who built the original sporting facilities at Marrara. If you listen to the way some members of the current government speak, you would think that in 27 years the CLP did nothing because that is what they say. Yet, from scratch and on a restricted budget without the rivers of GST, Marrara was built and sporting grounds were built. These are the things which keep people with families here. When you are transiting from a town which people used to come to for two years, do their stint and then go back down south, when you are trying to build the fabric of a community, you need sporting facilities, so of course there are sporting facilities to be built. They were built and they are testament to the futuristic thoughts of a number of previous members of this House.
It is good to see that any government continues to build facilities for its nation, but that was all done on a reduced budget compared with what we have today.
The member for Johnston spoke about retirement homes and things like that. I will look at some housing issues. It says on page 3:
- We are investing in infrastructure to deal with congestion and ageing infrastructure …
Let us talk about ageing public housing infrastructure and the replacement of public housing. I have stood in this House before and quoted figures. Recently, I had some figures fired back at me which do not agree with the public figures. This is from the Regional Statistics, Northern Territory, Australian Bureau of Statistics. I have quoted from these sheets before and it seems that people still are not getting the message:
- In 2001, 30 June, the number of public housing dwellings was 7469. In 2006-07 the figure was 5352.
This is from the ABS Regional Statistics, Northern Territory page 83.
I will move to the answer to Written Question No 76 from the member for Goyder. This answer was given on 1 April 2010. In Table 1 it says there were 5062 public housing dwellings in the Northern Territory. So we are still going down. Unless someone has built many houses recently, the figure is probably very similar. I note they say we are building 14 houses here and the member for Johnston mentioned some figures in relation to Malak, Bellamack and other areas. But we still dropped over 300; we are still going backwards.
Infrastructure goes across the board. We have young families, people who are too scared to live in particular unit blocks because of the violence and the fear which goes with wandering around the place in the evening, and the kids not wanting to go outside and play because they are scared. It is an appalling situation.
Mr CHANDLER: A point of order, Madam Speaker! I move an extension of time pursuant to Standing Order 77.
Motion agreed to.
Mr STYLES: Thank you very much, Madam Speaker, and I thank the member for Brennan for his indulgence.
We are going down and I pulled this out, it is only to 2009, but my understanding is it has not gone down substantially, but as you can see from this chart in 2004 there were about 1800 people on the waiting list. In 2009; there were about 3550. As of a couple of days ago, the seniors’ waiting list was 59 months. That is almost five years. People come into my office and say: ‘Well, it is really good because you have to be a senior before you can put your name on the seniors’ list. You cannot go in there five years before, while you are still working, and make plans.’ These people are in dire straights because, when they lose their income and start to receive their pension or superannuation, they cannot afford the high rents.
This means we will start losing seniors, and anyone who stops work, from our community. We will lose them because they cannot pay the rents. Why can they not pay the rents? Because house prices have skyrocketed, and people have to get a return on their investment so the whole system goes into overdrive and prices go through the roof, both rents and sale prices.
Where do we go from here? We do not see an enormous infrastructure build for seniors. We do not see an enormous infrastructure build locally. Most commentators and the average people I talk to, think SIHIP is a joke. Eleven homes have been built under SIHIP.
A member: Rubbish!
Mr STYLES: I am happy to be corrected. If the minister sitting on the other side would like to, I would welcome a figure of completed homes under SIHIP.
Moving on, it says here:
- We were able to deliver this record budget to infrastructure projects as a result of a strong partnership with the federal government.
I also see much borrowed money. Further on and it says:
- Now, with Damian Hale in Canberra, funding from the Commonwealth has grown from $798m in 2010-11.
You may put much of that money into SIHIP; Building the Education Revolution; the intervention. Much money has flowed into the Territory as a result of activity. If you look at the intervention alone, who started that? It was the former Coalition government. The Labor government, the Rudd government, picked it up and has continued it, and there are some benefits in that program.
I talk to people about what is happening with the Building the Education Revolution and there is one story which immediately comes to mind. There is a community where the school is falling to bits. The kitchen facilities are poor. They are trying to encourage the locals to come to school. They are trying to prepare food. They are trying to do a range of things. The building is falling to bits, it is below standard, it needs a lot of money spent on it. I am sure governments on both sides will need to spend that money. However, along comes the Building the Education Revolution and tells them you have to spend on something outside.
When this person told me this I was shocked. They have a nice basketball court with no shade. They have another basketball court with some shade over it. They have another basketball court with good shade over it. Guess what they have now? Another basketball court! They have four basketball courts and a school building which is falling to bits.
There have been some benefits from the Building the Education Revolution, but it needed to be a little more flexible. While you stand up and say this is fabulous, this is what we have, you still have people in communities begging for basic infrastructure to be fixed but, no, they have to have four basketball courts.
We talk about various things that have happened and the facilities in the northern suburbs which were built by the previous CLP government. I heard the member for Casuarina talk about spending $27m to establish a medical school at Charles Darwin University. I ask the member for Casuarina if he remembers who started that university. It was not the federal government. It was the Northern Territory government. There was a federal Labor government in 1987-88, when the Northern Territory University first kicked off, and it was not the federal government which put the money in. It was the Northern Territory government which built and started the Northern Territory University. Today we have a university in the Territory, started by a government which took the initiative and cared enough about keeping young people in the Territory, keeping our children here so they can complete their university education in the Territory.
Time does not permit me to discuss some of the infrastructure which should be there, which would mean a number of people I am in touch with not having to go south to do courses. That is something we all have to work on as a community.
It says here:
- Budget 2010, with its record $1.8bn infrastructure program, will deliver projects across a range of areas vital to our economy.
$725m for housing - first you have to have land to build these houses on. What we do not see is the timely release of sufficient blocks of land. We have not seen that for quite some time, which has led to the housing crisis we have. It is all very well to say $725m for housing, including the biggest investment in public housing and fast-tracked land release. I cannot believe that statement, and it is misleading. We have figures which show we are going backwards in public housing, and they say they are going to spend this much money and fast-track land release.
You have builders who say they cannot get land, and land is so expensive that young people cannot afford to buy a house. They cannot afford the packages, so where are they? Living with mum and dad and overcrowding them. They are with their kids, living with mum and dad and there are a number of issues in relation to people not being able to do other jobs in the community because they have to look after their kids and grandkids.
The next dot point in that paragraph says:
- $437m for essential services infrastructure
I wonder if someone from the other side could tell me if that is the borrowings of the bail-out of the Power and Water Authority. What about the generator where they sent off-specification gas down the line, and who authorised that? That is an interesting question. I have heard rumours, but I am not working on rumours. I suspect the person who authorised that would be very embarrassed to say: ‘Yes, it was me’. We have a generator which had to go back to its manufacturer in the United States to be repaired, probably at the cost of the taxpayer of the Northern Territory.
Then you look at the power system infrastructure. Recently I was talking to a person who used to work for companies which did maintenance. I can only go on what he says: maintenance is down and he believes there is a run-to-fail maintenance program where you wait until it breaks, which is what happened at Casuarina when we had the little explosion. This person showed me some photos and said: ’This is what has happened; I know because I was one of the people who used to maintain these switches. That is what happened because they are not maintaining them’.
My understanding is the government needs $300m for the port facility. It received $50m from the federal government through Infrastructure Australia. It is an appalling situation. Mr Hale says: ‘Yes, I have all this money’. The total bucket of money was enormous for Infrastructure Australia, but what do we receive? We receive $50m.
There are so many issues which affect the lives and future of Territorians, and affect the future of young people and having them stay here. The government should have a close look at this statement. As I said before, I really feel for the poor minister who had to give this statement ,..
Madam SPEAKER: Member for Sanderson, your time has expired.
Mr KNIGHT (Business and Employment): Madam Speaker, it is scary to think this gentleman used to carry a gun. He is so thick. I do not know how many times public housing has been explained to him in this House. It has been explained to him that the CLP sold off, in its last six years in power, 2100 houses. That is shameful. The Leader of the Opposition …
Mr Giles: ABS figures.
Dr Burns: Read the footnote, mate.
Mr KNIGHT: Read the footnote. He just does not get it over there, and it is scary. He used to work with children; he used to carry a gun around. Oh, my God. It is lucky no one was shot because he is a very scary individual. He does not get it - 2100 homes were sold off. There were about 700 sold in Alice Springs. The member for Braitling, quite rightly, is concerned about public housing in Alice Springs. What he fails to realise is his own administration, the conservatives on the other side of the House, sold some 700 homes in Alice Springs ...
Ms Lawrie: Shame.
Mr KNIGHT: It is shameful. Can you imagine what Alice Springs would be like if there were another 700 homes there? There would be a negligible waiting list there but for the CLP trying to raise money, flogging off 2100 homes across the Territory in its last six years in government. It is an absolute disgrace.
The member for Sanderson continually gets it wrong. I suggest, and I am sure the minister for Housing would oblige, we sit you down with a departmental official, or even Treasury officials, to show you the footnote and explain to you the figures you are quoting. You are either being a little mischievous or you are just unintelligent. It could be both. That is the answer with respect to that. It is confusing when you say: ‘Debt is bad. Oh now, wait a sec, we need to spend more money on this’. How do you do that? Do you say: ‘Oh, we cannot spend the money but we need to spend the money’?
With respect to Power and Water, you talked about run to failure. You got that terminology from the Mervyn Davies report which highlighted decades of neglect of Power and Water by the CLP. They were his words, not some half-beat failed copper on the other side. Mervyn Davies, an expert with 40 years experience in the power industry, said a policy of the CLP administration of Power and Water was run to failure. They were not putting any money into Power and Water. Our administration, the Labor government, is putting in $1.5bn. You were going to sell it off; we are going to rebuild Power and Water.
We have some of the lowest power, water, and sewerage prices in the country - the lowest residential water supply prices in the country, the third lowest power prices in the country, and the third lowest sewerage prices in the country. Yet, you are saying: ‘Do not spend any more money on Power and Water. Do not go into any more debt. The government should not …
Mr Giles interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order! Member for Braitling! Minister, please direct your comments through the Chair.
Mr KNIGHT: I was trying to, Madam Speaker. They are very confused on the other side about what their message is: spend more money but do not spend more money.
We are going to invest in vital infrastructure in the Northern Territory. I will …
Mr Giles: Will the real Rob Knight please stand up.
Mr KNIGHT: I did not hear the comment. The member for Katherine talked about the record $1.8bn infrastructure spend in this year’s budget. The difference is we have cash for it. When the CLP was last in office, they had no cash for the infrastructure. You could not pay for the revote. That is what the difference was. There was a huge black hole in the budget. There is $1.8bn going into infrastructure, going to businesses across the Northern Territory, not only supporting jobs but developing vital infrastructure for the future of the Northern Territory, investing in the future productivity of the Northern Territory, an investment in schools so we have skilled workers for the future in the Northern Territory. That is what is happening.
The member for Katherine also talked about the Police Beat. I am glad he is proud of the Police Beat because his leader wants to close them down. These Police Beats were an initiative of the Labor government, and it is great to see the Katherine community picked up on a Labor government idea and wanted it in Katherine. I acknowledge the work which went on there. The member for Katherine does not highlight it is CLP policy to close the Police Beats down. It is an interesting conversation he is going to have with his community because the Leader of the Opposition is committed to closing them down.
I will comment on the minister for infrastructure’s statement. I commend him for the statement. The Northern Territory economy is in a position of strength. There is a very positive outlook for growth. The Territory’s strong economic performance, in spite of the global financial crisis, is no accident. It is a direct result of the Northern Territory government’s infrastructure spending program, in conjunction with the Australian government’s stimulus package.
We have had a number of big projects happening around the Territory, the Darwin LNG and Rio Tinto Alcan, but we are between major projects. We have been working on the next project coming along and we have our fingers crossed with INPEX. This government is a responsible government. It recognises there needs to be added stimulus and investment to keep the economy ticking over. This is in stark contrast to Tony Abbott and the Liberals. They will slash infrastructure expenditure, and that will hurt businesses. They will have to lay off staff and it is an absolute disgrace. That is where a conservative government is going - to harm businesses, lose jobs.
The Northern Territory’s unemployment rate is at a record low, 2.8% last month, according to the ABS. We also had the country’s highest participation rate. While we welcome the continuing fall in the unemployment rate, we should not just rely on month to month comparisons. When we look at the broader year to year figures, the Territory’s unemployment decreased from 3.7% to 3.4% between the 2008-09 years to 2009-10. Over the same period, the Territory’s population increased by 4374 persons. Employment increased by 3340 persons and the number of unemployed persons decreased by 303.
A record infrastructure investment in 2009 stimulated the economy, helping to create 6000 new jobs across the Northern Territory. Our businesses are very confident about the future and the Northern Territory government is delivering a suite of programs to assist businesses. These programs will assist local businesses to keep up with, and ahead of, emerging technology and practices and will support the professional growth of businesses. This will be placed at risk if major infrastructure programs are scuttled by Tony Abbott and the Liberal Party.
The Northern Territory has the highest per capita gross state product at $73 516 in the 2008-09 year. The nearest jurisdictions are the ACT and Western Australia, at just over $71 000. The national average is $55000, so you can see that the Northern Territory’s GSP is significantly higher than most other jurisdictions across Australia.
Construction, mining, and public sector investment were vital in driving the Northern Territory economy in the last financial year. Budget 2010 delivers a record $1.8bn for capital works, minor new works, and repairs and maintenance. This is an investment in the Territory’s future and will support vital jobs across every area of the Northern Territory.
I am pleased to say Northern Territory companies have received the lion’s share of the Northern Territory government’s tender since July 2009. Our procurement policies have recognised local businesses and the benefits which flow directly into the Northern Territory economy while ensuring we receive value for money for these contracts. This does not happen by chance or good luck; we support local businesses to compete for government contracts.
In the last financial year, 83% of government contracts were awarded to local companies. That is a great result. Sixty-three percent of these were top level, tier 4 and tier 5 contracts, valued at just under $745m. The construction sector is particularly important to the Territory economy. It accounts for 5.1% of our economy and made a nett value added contribution of $838m in 2008-09.
Construction sector activities have increased considerably over the last 10 years and have provided considerable stimulus to the economy. The construction sector is also a significant employer in the Northern Territory. Almost 10% of the resident workforce is employed within this industry; that is more than 10 000 people across the Territory. The Northern Territory Treasury estimates that since 2001, the construction activity in real terms, or value of work done, has increased at an average of approximately $2.5bn a year. Large construction projects such as Defence Force infrastructure, the Darwin LNG plant, Alcan G3 expansion and the Darwin Waterfront development can have a significant impact on the total value of work done in any year. This sector has been supercharged by these major projects which, on completion, have seen the construction market returning to a trend which shows strong, positive growth in this sector.
The Northern Territory government is supporting this sector with a number of employment and training initiatives. The sector has deep and strong links with other sectors in the economy because of the input required for construction activity and the supply of construction products such as houses, factories and roads. The wages of construction workers support other sectors in the economy such as retail and business services. For every dollar spent on construction another dollar is generated and fed back into the economy. That is why it is so important.
Budget 2010 delivers a record $1.8bn for infrastructure. This includes $995m for the capital works program; $437m for the Power and Water Corporation’s infrastructure program; $198m for the repairs and maintenance program; and $179m for capital repairs and maintenance grants. The key components of the construction sector include residential, non-residential and engineering construction activities. Non-residential and engineering works tend to vary over time and depend on the major projects I have mentioned. The recent global financial crisis did cause construction work to slow down, particularly in the private sector, in the Territory and across the nation. Action was needed and taken by government to protect Territory jobs and Territory businesses.
The Australian government’s economic stimulus package and the Northern Territory government’s capital works program have boosted and stimulated the sector, helping to keep the Territory economy strong and protect jobs. I remember attending a forum in this building with the Chief Minister and business leaders from Darwin to look at ways the Northern Territory government could help with its spend, reach all these businesses and protect jobs. The Northern Territory government has a robust procurement system which was streamlined in 2009 to ensure effective and efficient delivery of the stimulus program, including the Australian government’s Building the Education Revolution program.
Primary Schools for the 21st Century is about building new facilities, such as libraries, multipurpose halls and classrooms, in primary schools across Australia. A program of $173.1m has been allocated to 144 projects in 134 government primary schools across the Territory. Science and Language Centres for the 21st Century Secondary Schools provides new laboratories and language centres for secondary schools across Australia. $15.8m has been provided to eight government secondary schools in the Territory. The National School Pride Program provides funding for primary and secondary schools to undertake small scale construction and refurbishment projects. A total of $15.8m has been allocated to 150 government schools in the Territory. Non-government primary and secondary schools have been allocated $63.9m for 91 projects through the NT Block Grant Authority.
Jobs have been created as a result of the BER. Thirty-nine Indigenous apprentices, 119 non-Indigenous apprentices, 74 Indigenous workers and 474 non-Indigenous workers were employed. That is a great result. Those hundreds of jobs would not have been created and maintained without the BER. It is quite simple: Labor was for the BER and the CLP would have had these jobs go. Six hundred people would not have had a job through this very difficult economic time.
The success rate of the BER in the Territory was 91%, second only to Western Australia where 93% of total BER funds were allocated to building, works and services and unique project costs. There were only two non-procurement complaints about BER activities in the Northern Territory, which have been resolved. This great result shows that the Northern Territory government handled the BER very well. It stimulated jobs, completed projects, and was value for money.
Tony Abbott and the Liberal Party opposed this stimulus package. They opposed spending on these vital activities and they continue to oppose the stimulus measures. Members opposite do not support it, and they do not support the school upgrades in their own electorates. They have said the stimulus package should not have happened. We should not have gone into debt; we should not have borrowed money to pay companies to build schools and employ people. That is the difference between the parties. We are for stimulating the economy, creating jobs and investing in vital infrastructure during one of the biggest downturns in the world economy for many decades.
With the gradual recovery of the global economy, Territory construction activities are forecast to increase by 10% in 2010-11.
Mr McCARTHY: A point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker! I move an extension of time pursuant to Standing Order 77.
Motion agreed to.
Mr KNIGHT: Unemployment across the Northern Territory is expected to remain low in the foreseeable future, with forecast annual rates of 2.7% in 2010-11, 2.9% in 2011-12 and 3.1% in 2012-13, according to Access Economics. The number of employed people in Northern Territory in June 2010 was 119 500, unchanged from May 2010: full-time employment was 95 500, and part-time employment was 24 000. Nationally, employment increased by 45 900 people during the same period, with full-time employment increasing by 18 400, and part-time employment increasing by 27 500.
The Northern Territory government Jobs NT 2010 to 2012 employment strategy identifies the projected employment needs for the Territory’s economic future and strategies for meeting these needs. It is about growing the Territory to ensure we have the required labour force in the future, to overcome the constraints on our growing economy. It is about ensuring we plan for the future to avoid skills shortages which will hold back economic growth. Jobs NT identified three priority groups: business and employers; young people; and Indigenous Territorians. The strategies will work towards having these priority groups participating in learning, developing skills, and maximising their opportunities to share in the economic and social benefits of a growing economy. It is about providing opportunities for all Territorians. By creating real jobs, you create real opportunities.
The Northern Territory small to medium enterprises gave strong support to the Northern Territory government, which recorded the largest increase in confidence of any state or territory during the past quarter. That means we are one of the most popular governments in Australia with the business community. In the June 2010 Sensis Business Index, the Northern Territory recorded a nett balance of 57% compared to the national average of 31%. This balance was the equal highest of all jurisdictions, along with the ACT. NT businesses are expecting softening conditions during the next quarter. However, the NT recorded the nation’s strongest expectation for sales, profitability, employment, wages, and capital expenditure. Overall, business confidence across the NT remains high; businesses remain supportive of the Northern Territory government and its effort to improve business conditions across the Territory. This positive outlook is linked to our robust economy.
When it comes to trade training for Territorians, there is a very clear choice. Under the federal Labor government, you will see five trade training centres in the Territory. In contrast, Tony Abbot and the Liberals will pull the plug on trade training centres in the Territory, at a time when we need skilled workers and tradespeople. We have some big projects coming to the Northern Territory and we need that skilled workforce. The Liberal opposition wants to cut these vital centres. These centres will produce young tradespeople for many projects which will come to the Northern Territory in the future, so it is vital these trade training centres stay open.
The minister’s statement is very good; it highlights how we will support businesses and jobs. This Labor Territory government has seen downturn between projects, has faced the global financial crisis, and has come through it. It is no time to start pulling money out of the Northern Territory, which a federal Liberal government would do on Day 1. Tony Abbot talked about Day 1, Week 1. Within the first week many of the BER projects would be shut down. Many schools and communities across the Northern Territory would see projects pulled: projects which are due to them, to invest in their communities and provide vital infrastructure for our booming economy. There is a stark contrast between the parties: Labor is investing in the future and the Liberals will destroy the future economic opportunities for the Northern Territory.
Madam Deputy Speaker, I thank the minister for his statement and I commend it to the House.
Mr CONLAN (Greatorex): Madam Deputy Speaker, what I resent more than anything else is having to come into this House, be away from my home town of Alice Springs, my family, my constituents, and sit here enduring a propaganda, self-pontificating, holier than thou, puff piece by the government, which came on at 10.30 am.
We had no legislation; well, we passed one piece this morning. We have a Notice Paper with nine things on it, yet we go to another puff piece to pump up the government to make them feel good. Another he said, she said, they said, we do better than them, they are not as good as us sort of statement at 10.30 am and it is now 6 pm
I ask the Chief Minister, through you Madam Deputy Speaker, do you consider this to be a productive day? Surely you would prefer to be in your office, getting on with the job of being Chief Minister. Surely the Minister for Transport, rather than being stuck here having to trawl through e-mails and endure what is supposed to be the parliament, would rather be in his office getting on with the job of being Transport minister for the Northern Territory. Or, better still, would not you rather be in the beautiful Barkly region at this wonderful time of year? Twenty two or 23 degrees, sunny, blue skies. The place is green. I drove there a couple of weeks ago. It is like Wales. It is a magnificent time of year to be there.
Yet, here you are, stuck here in this Chamber doing nothing. We are doing absolutely nothing, and this came on at 10.30 am today. Goodness knows what is coming on tomorrow. I know I would rather be in Alice Springs spending time with my young family, or on the street shaking hands and talking to constituents.
I am sure the member for Arnhem would rather be in the beautiful Arnhem area. What a wonderful time of year to be in her four-wheel drive, exploring the Northern Territory, driving along the roads of the NT in her electorate, talking to her constituents, helping to solve some of their issues. God forbid she could bring some of those issues to the parliament, because we never address them.
In a roundabout way we move to adjourn the House, which is all we are doing, at 10.30 am this morning and move to another puff piece pontificating about how great the government is and how bad the CLP is.
I am sure the member for Stuart would much rather be out in his electorate. It covers nearly two-thirds of the Northern Territory. I would much rather be doing that. In a four-wheel drive on the beautiful bush roads, exploring some of the wonderful scenery and communities we have in the Northern Territory. I am sure the member for Stuart would much rather be doing that at this wonderful time of year: not too hot, no flies around, beautiful sunny skies, top of 23 or 24 degrees. It does not get much better than that, yet we are stuck in here.
I would say the same for the member for Katherine. It would be nice being at Katherine Gorge now. Would that not be a better place to be: at Katherine Gorge, talking to some of the tourists who visit at this time of year? It is peak tourist season; they are spending a great deal of money through the Katherine region. As the local member, it would be fantastic to be meeting these people, talking about some of their issues and selling the wonderful virtues of the Katherine region.
I am sure the member for Daly would much rather be fishing on the Daly River. It would be fantastic, yet we are stuck in here, and have been since 10.30 am, reading a statement which has just been recycled from a previous statement and a previous statement and a previous statement. It is always: ‘The CLP should burn in hell now. How dare they stay in government for 27 years. It is a black mark on society and on all Westminster parliaments that the CLP managed to stay in power for that long because they did absolutely nothing’. Thank goodness, as has been put to this parliament before by members of this side of the House, in August 2001 the dark clouds dispersed and the Labor Party came to power and solved all the problems. They should all go to heaven now and we should burn in hell. It is the same sort of stuff, just tweaked a little with some fancy words. In fact, some not so fancy words.
The Chief Minister says we have never been better off in the Northern Territory than under an ALP federal government. What a load of rubbish! We have heard some examples highlighted today through some of the responses to this puff piece.
When the Territory was handed self-government in 1978, and you do not have to be a genius or a long-term Territorian to know this, it is a simple fact, we were handed no infrastructure whatsoever in the bush. The CLP had to build all the houses in the bush. The new government of the Northern Territory had to build the entire infrastructure and the Commonwealth government sold things such as all the public housing and the power stations. They sold them back to the Northern Territory. They did not give them to the Northern Territory, we had to buy them.
The Commonwealth government applied a special formula to the Northern Territory which allowed it more money than the rest of the states were given, so it could close the gap on the infrastructure required to bring us in line with the rest of the states, and help us deal with our circumstances and the task ahead. However, in 1984 under the Hawke/Keating government, Finance minister, Peter Walsh said: ‘That is enough. No more extra money to the Northern Territory. That is it’. So now the same formula is applied to all the states and territories.
The Northern Territory receives no extra money, as it once did under the Fraser government, which was a smart move by the Fraser government. They recognised that building and creating the Northern Territory would be an enormous task. The Finance minister, Peter Walsh, from the Hawke/Keating government, cancelled that arrangement in 1984. It lasted six years.
A member: Shameful.
Mr CONLAN: And we have really never been able to catch up.
A member: Funny, they did not raise that.
Mr CONLAN: Oh no, because the Chief Minister likes to rewrite history and would rather sit here listening to these propaganda puff pieces than be in his office running the Northern Territory. He is clearly quite proud of them. He likes to rewrite history and say the Northern Territory is always better off under an ALP federal government. That is rubbish and I have just highlighted an example as to why. We have heard a stack of examples today.
He accuses the opposition of being lazy and incompetent. Today he said something about a lazy and incompetent policy, whatever that was. None of our policies are lazy and incompetent. The only thing lazy and incompetent is this Northern Territory Labor government. Look at them! We are hardly capturing the imagination of your own members, let alone the people in the gallery. We had half a dozen people sitting there before and they do not know what is going on. It is time wasting and it is an extraordinary waste of money to fly in members from all over the Northern Territory to be here. Five members from central Australia have to be here for two weeks. You have members from the Barkly region, Nhulunbuy and Katherine, travelling from all corners of the Northern Territory to spend two weeks in this parliament and all we do is read a regurgitated propaganda puff piece which pontificates the government’s position. Once again, he said, she said, you are better than us and you are not as good as us.
It is pathetic and I have just about had a gutful. We should suspend standing orders to seek leave to pass a motion to suspend parliament until we can start addressing the Notice Paper. What is the point in being here? Chief Minister, can you ask yourself, what is the point of this? Member for Fannie Bay, can you ask yourself, what is the point of this? I resent it. I despise having to be here when we are not doing anything. We are responding to this rubbish, which we have heard hundreds and hundreds of times before, about how great you are at spending money. Say it to your heart’s content. Convince the community you are wonderful infrastructure investors. If you can convince the community, more power to you. You do not convince us, you will not convince us; we do not believe you. We have to sit here and endure two weeks of this self-aggrandising rubbish.
I have to ask you, Madam Deputy Speaker, travelling all the way from Nhulunbuy, your home and your family, how do you feel about being here? Would you not rather be doing something else? I would much rather be on the beautiful pristine beaches of the northeast coast of the Northern Territory than here debating how great the Northern Territory government is at infrastructure. Maybe you could bring to parliament a visionary project which would inspire us - maybe even Territory 2030.
We have all these items on the Notice Paper - I do not understand. I have been in this Chamber for three years and I am slowly grasping how it works. I do not understand why we are not getting through the items on the Notice Paper; the Mineral Titles bill; the Environmental Offences and Penalties Amendment Bill; the Statute Law Revision Bill; the SIHIP report; personal property, justice legislation, and lo and behold there is another statement to come. All 25 members spending 20 minutes speaking on this will take up the rest of today and probably some of tomorrow. Then we will just move to Growing International Trade, which was adjourned on 10 June by the member for Johnston.
Thank goodness we have a General Business Day, and thank goodness it has been moved to every Wednesday because it will give us a chance to put some meat on the bone in this parliament tomorrow. It has been stripped bare. It is appalling. I am thankful there are no visitors in this Chamber now and I hope we do not have thousands of Territorians listening to us on the radio. What would they think of what we are doing in this Chamber?
Question Time gets a little robust, and we have now installed new audio and video to keep things under control, however it is the highlight of the day. If it was not for that we would just be reading self aggrandising statements by the government which are churned out ad nauseam on the fifth floor. Some whiz kid up there is pumping these things out, handing them to the relevant ministers who read them verbatim, and everyone is expected to contribute. If we did not we would be finished by 3 pm, but then we would probably move to the other one because God forbid we start debating legislation.
Tomorrow there are 10 items of business for the opposition to debate. That comes on at 5.30 pm. Thank goodness the opposition has some legislation and some meat on the bone, so to speak, because this parliament is becoming a vacuum. It is devoid of anything substantial. A large amount of money is spent to keep this place operational, for what? Who wants to be here? Under these circumstances, under the status quo, I do not. I would much rather be home in beautiful Alice Springs where it is 23 degrees, fine and sunny, where my wife and family, constituents and friends are. Where I have a much better ability to address their needs face-to-face and take their phone calls than I do stuck here, because there is a requirement to be here, debating nothing at all.
I have just been given notice a statement will be circulated on education shortly. So now, we have three. We have this one; I am not sure where this is going, it may be adjourned or closed tonight, we have the statement on growing international trade, and we now have one on education.
It is appalling. It is an extraordinary waste of everyone’s time. We have some important people in this place. We have the Chief Minister of the Northern Territory, for crying out loud, who is stuck here and has to listen to this rubbish. I would much rather the Chief Minister of the Northern Territory was upstairs working or out in the public shaking hands, talking to people, doing what he is supposed to be doing. In the last 12 to 18 months it has become an ever-increasing trend to drop the legislation - we either do not bring it in or we do not debate it – and bring in statements. As a result of that, the Chief Minister of the Northern Territory is sitting here having to endure this pontificating rubbish.
We have another minister of the Crown sitting over there, the Minister for Transport, who would much rather be in the beautiful Barkly region. I would much rather he was there, solving and addressing the issues and concerns of the people, doing what he is supposed to be doing, or in his office discussing issues and concerns with his department. He is stuck here having to listen to rubbish about how great the ALP is and how terrible the CLP is. All the ministers over there are stuck in this Parliament House because it is a requirement. There are plenty of better things for them to do. No one begrudges the requirement of parliament; it is part of the job. Sometimes, it is fun and is a very important part of the job. What we are doing right now is not an important part of the job; it is irrelevant.
We know you think you are fantastic and we are not. You do not have to convince us how great and how wonderful you are, and tell us how terrible we have been in the hope we may roll over and say: ‘Gee you know what? You are right. You finally convinced us we are not that good. Thanks very much. Okay, guys, let us all join hands’. You know that will not happen. That will never happen because we do not believe it. What are we doing besides wasting taxpayers’ money, our own time, and the time of our constituents, who would much rather be knocking on our doors, ringing our telephones and having meetings with us in the hope we can address some of their issues? But, no, we are here. I, for one, resent that and I am sure there are many others. If you look deep into yourselves, you will probably find you feel the same way. You have to ask yourself: what the hell is all this about? It is about nothing, except self-aggrandising, back-slapping, more power to us stuff.
I do not commend this statement to the House. I condemn this stuff. I will continue to condemn it until we see something that is serious, visionary, and we get through some legislation and start doing what is right for the Northern Territory.
Members: Hear, hear!
Mr HENDERSON (Chief Minister): Madam Deputy Speaker, I agree with what the member for Greatorex said about having to sit here and listen to rubbish. I have never heard such rubbish from anyone in this parliament as has just been spoken by the member for Greatorex. It is obvious he is losing his appetite for the job. He has not been here for three years yet and already he does not want to be here at all. I wonder whether he will put his hand up and go around next time if that is how he feels about the business of parliament and the work that we do here. I have a word of advice for the member for Greatorex: I have been in this parliament much longer than he has and I spent two years in this Chamber in opposition as shadow Health spokesperson, a position he now holds. This parliament we are sitting in is no different from the parliament which was convened under a CLP government where, quite appropriately, ministers brought statements to the House on issues of importance to the Northern Territory, and they debated them. The same procedures and processes used today were used for 27 years under the CLP government and are used by all parliaments which use the Westminster system.
To say ministerial statements have no importance shows that (a) he has no understanding of the Westminster parliamentary system and how it works; and (b) he has contempt for the people of the Northern Territory. There are constituent groups and interest groups who look at debates in this House over issues of importance, and if the member for Greatorex thinks debating education is not an important issue to …
Mr Conlan: It is not a debate. It is a statement.
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order!
Mr HENDERSON: … to debate. I will pick up on the member for Greatorex’s comment. It is a ministerial statement which is then open for debate in this House. The member for Greatorex, the shock jock from Alice Springs, speaks with contempt about Darwin and having to come here where he does not have any friends, family, or constituents. Member for Greatorex, Darwin is part of the Northern Territory. It is where the parliament is located. I am sorry if you are inconvenienced by having to attend parliament where you do not have any family or friends …
Mr Conlan: Well get on with the job of governing the Northern Territory.
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order!
Mr HENDERSON: You do not have any friends and you have contempt for the people of Darwin. That is your position.
I would also like to pick up on the comments about the funding for the Northern Territory. It is the Commonwealth Grants Commission which allocates funding, based on relativities and horizontal and vertical fiscal equalisation. He needs to understand those principles of Commonwealth funding to understand how the Territory is funded and has been funded for many years. In the 20 minutes he spoke he did not address infrastructure - just bile, tripe and rubbish for the full 20 minutes. If he believes addressing the issue of the infrastructure needs of the Territory is not important, he is a politician after all, then he needs to realise we are in the midst of federal election campaigns and Territorians have to make a very important decision on how they vote on 21 August. He should recognise the parliament is now broadcast live over the Internet, so there will be people, not thousands of people, but there will be people who will watch or listen to parliaments on the Internet and infrastructure is an issue where Territorians have to make a choice in this election.
There was an opportunity for the member for Greatorex to explain what the Coalition parties’ infrastructure commitments are to the Territory. Obviously he does not think it is important to talk about the importance of the Commonwealth’s contribution to infrastructure in the Territory. It is important, whoever is in government, to have a good understanding of, and a good working relationship with, the Commonwealth government of the day because it funds 80% of our budget. For the member for Greatorex to think the debate in the public arena is not an important debate for this parliament to have on behalf of all Territorians in the lead-up to a federal election shows how nave he is.
When Territorians make their choice on 21 August they should look at the infrastructure record of the last two-and-a-half years and compare it to the 10 years which preceded it. Under the Howard government, under the then member for Solomon, there was very little funding committed for infrastructure in the Northern Territory. It is the philosophy of coalition governments that infrastructure belongs to the states. It has nothing to do with the Commonwealth government. We would go back to that position under a Tony Abbott prime ministership.
There have not been any infrastructure commitments from the Liberal coalition during this campaign. All it has talked about are the things it would cut and the things they will not do in the Northern Territory; the BER; our trade training centre investments; funding for social housing programs; the broadband network; funding for computers in schools; and funding for electronic health records would all be scrapped. The electronic health records have been such a great success in the Northern Territory. Over 20 000 Territorians have taken the opportunity to have an electronic health record. The member for Greatorex is the shadow health spokesperson. I wonder if he has spoken to the doctors leading that project team, as I have, about the important and significant benefits to Indigenous health outcomes this electronic medical record is providing to clinicians, doctors and allied health service providers across the Northern Territory.
Mr CONLAN: A point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker! Seeing that the government is so interested and this is so important to all Territorians, according to the Chief Minister, who likes to use this parliament to electioneer, rather than address legislation …
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: What is your point of order, member for Greatorex?
Mr CONLAN: I call your attention to the state of the House.
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: Thank you. Ring the bells.
A member: It is so important, isn’t it?
Mr HENDERSON: All you guys want to do is scrap things. Why would you want to be in government to do nothing?
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: We have a quorum. Thank you.
Mr HENDERSON: Why would you want to be in government federally not to do things? The whole campaign from the Coalition in the Northern Territory is to stop doing things, not to start doing things. I do not know what the point of being in government is if you are going to do nothing. The electronic medical health record is another initiative which would be scrapped. All of these issues are of great importance to the people of the Northern Territory. For the member for Greatorex to think that, during a federal election campaign, this parliament should debate issues which are of great importance to the Northern Territory in regard to who takes the Treasury benches in Canberra after 21 August, shows what a nave individual he is.
Nothing provides more proof of the opposition’s intention to cut funding to the states than the Opposition Leader’s commitment to cut $1.8bn from the state infrastructure fund and his comments about cutting programs to reduce the deficit at a faster rate than the Labor government. Regardless of how the member for Greatorex wants to paint it, these are the facts: in their last full year in office, the Howard government, of which the Leader of the Opposition, Mr Abbott, was a Cabinet minister, allocated around $57m to infrastructure in the Territory. It paid for a few flagpoles, but not much else.
In 2009-10, the federal Labor government allocated $467m to infrastructure, in 2010-11 the allocation is budgeted to be $798m; 14 times more than the last full year of the Liberal National Party government in Canberra. The member for Greatorex does not think that is information people in the Northern Territory might find interesting when deciding how to cast their vote on 21 August. Do they understand an Abbott-led Coalition government in Canberra would go back to its DNA, its roots, its philosophical commitment that infrastructure is not the realm of the Australian Commonwealth government; it is the realm of the states. That is the philosophical position of the Liberal Coalition CLP team going to this election, and it has demonstrated 10 years of commitment to it.
The member for Greatorex pointed out the Territory was a young jurisdiction with an underdeveloped infrastructure, both economic and social and we need Commonwealth assistance. That is what the debate is about this evening, the fact that on the table is an ongoing commitment to infrastructure versus an opposition which would walk away from the field and any requirement to fund infrastructure.
$798m is a large amount of money. Where does it go? It is directed at roads, which are important for our regions and urban centres; health infrastructure, which is vitally needed across the Northern Territory; and education infrastructure: our vital works which are helping to manage the growth of the Territory. Members opposite will be attending opening functions for new facilities in schools in their electorates which have been funded through the BER program. The member for Fong Lim was at Ludmilla Primary School recently celebrating the great infrastructure there. He said that infrastructure is okay; it is the infrastructure in the other schools he is not happy with. The hypocrisy is breathtaking.
Under the federal Labor government, funding has been significantly lifted funding for programs in education, an additional 200 teachers for the Northern Territory and primary health programs designed to close the gap on Indigenous disadvantage. These programs are funded through National Partnership Agreements, partnerships between the states and the Commonwealth with clear goals and objectives. They would disappear under a Liberal government, along with the massive injection of funding, both capital and recurrent.
Anyone who understands the Northern Territory knows our economy works in cycles. The member for Greatorex should know the private sector invests based on confidence, and if it does not have confidence in the Northern Territory, the direction of the Northern Territory and the future of the Northern Territory, it does not invest. The global financial crisis wobbled the world’s financial markets significantly. We were not immune to that in Australia and it was the responsibility of governments to step in early and keep businesses and jobs going. Now we are having an election debate based on economic management and economic competence. Tony Abbott admits they would not have spent as much on stimulus measures as the Labor government did.
In its election campaign, the Labor government is promising bigger tax cuts to businesses than the Coalition. The Coalition is going to tax businesses in Australia more if they are elected on 21 August. Under a Coalition government, with Tony Abbott as Prime Minister, businesses will pay a percentage point more in company tax than under Labor. Big businesses will pay 2% more in company tax because those big companies will be funding the Coalition’s maternity scheme. It is incredible that we are in an election climate where the opposition is going to tax business more, in the event they win the election, than the current Labor government. That is bad news for business because every dollar paid in tax to the Commonwealth government is a dollar less which can be reinvested in the business. That is an important issue.
The member for Greatorex did not explain why businesses in the Territory will be better off under a Coalition government by paying more tax. I would have liked to have heard him explain why he thinks his constituents in Alice Springs who are running small businesses should pay more tax. The debate is too hard for him to handle; the issues are too complex for him to grapple with. His capacity to engage in a debate of the issues is so slim all he can do is say how much he hates his job, hates being in Darwin, hates being in parliament, and what a waste of time it all is, instead of rising to the challenge of debating the issues. All we got was: ‘Poor bugger me, I do not want to be here. This is all horrible. I am missing my family and friends and I want to be home in Alice Springs’. What an appalling contribution.
Infrastructure, tax, investing in the Northern Territory, growing the Territory economy and the social fabric of the Northern Territory, the federal election in two weeks time where Territorians will play their part in choosing the next federal government, none of those things are important. We should not be debating those issues in the parliament in the next two weeks.
I ask the member for Greatorex, if the federal election is not important and this parliament should not be debating issues related to the federal election over the next two weeks, why did the Leader of the Opposition spend the entire Question Time campaigning on behalf of the candidate for Solomon on the issue of RAAF Base houses? I do not know whether he is part of the parliamentary tactics team; if he is then his voice was obviously not heard in the tactics room in the Opposition Leader’s office in regard to their performance in Question Time today. He cannot have it both ways.
What I see in the member for Greatorex is someone who has decided this is not the job for him; he is not keen on this job. He has had a taste of it; he does not really like it. That is fair enough; it is not for everyone. He would rather be home in Alice Springs, and that is fair enough as well. He cannot debate the issues because his heart is not in it.
The question which is really important here is: should the Commonwealth be investing in infrastructure? This side of the parliament says yes, we do have massive and significant needs in the Northern Territory …
Mr CONLAN: A point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker! Seeing the Chief Minister has dedicated the last 20 minutes of his speech to me, I would like to offer him another 10 minutes because I am flattered my speech has affected him so much. I move an extension of time pursuant to Standing Order 77.
Motion agreed to.
Mr HENDERSON: I thank the member for Greatorex for his generosity because it is important we understand the role the Commonwealth has played over the last two-and-a-half years in investing in infrastructure in the Northern Territory. It has been significant; it has benefited the Northern Territory, and as the Chief Minister, I want to see this commitment to infrastructure continue to benefit people of the Northern Territory after the next election.
The opposition has an opportunity in debate on this statement to state their view and policies. They are campaigning in this election. They have candidates running under the CLP banner in Lingiari and Solomon and in the Senate. Territorians want to hear what their position is on infrastructure funding from the Commonwealth government. Territorians interested in the debate will either be watching it, listening to it over the Internet, or will access it on Hansard. There may only be a handful of people, there may only be a few hundred people, but the ones who look at it are interested. They want to know what the Labor position is, what the Country Liberal Party position is and the positions of the Independents.
That is the debate we are having tonight, and I am disappointed the member for Greatorex felt he could not contribute. It is an important debate for the Northern Territory and I commend the minister on his statement.
Mr CHANDLER (Brennan): Madam Deputy Speaker, I was not going to speak on this, however some of the things I have heard tonight compelled me to. I agree with the member for Greatorex that there are very important things we should be doing in this House. Whilst it is important that we debate matters, perhaps there are more important things at the coalface, on the street, that we should be dealing with now.
During an election campaign both sides of government, all parties, become hypocritical at some stage. After listening today I can understand more why the average person on the street is cynical about politicians: cynical about what we do, how much it costs and what we are trying to achieve. We have a Labor Party which is willing to say and do anything to stay in power, and the goal of any opposition is to win enough votes to take government. What happens is a sad reality where we have this 24-hour cycle of media attention-grabbing lines, and I wonder when we are ever going to start fixing some of the problems.
Prior to being a local member I was an everyday Joe, like most of us in this House. We too were, perhaps, cynical of both sides of politics in the Northern Territory for many years, yet we come into this House and throw mud at each other in an effort to score political ground. That is the game we play.
I first arrived in Darwin in 1985 as a member of the Air Force. My wife and I were married in late 1987 and we moved into one of the houses on the RAAF Base. Those houses had just been renovated. They were stripped back to skeletons, then new floors, walls, roofs, hot water systems, and so on, were installed. When we moved into this house at 1 Coolaroo Street on the RAAF Base it was like moving into a brand new home. It was the first home where my wife and I set up and started our life together in the Northern Territory.
Those homes are good homes; houses we turned into homes. In later years, being a member of DHA, it became my charge to look after those homes and the people who moved in and out of Darwin each year - very important members of our community, members of the Defence Force. Those houses are perhaps far better than many other people have in the Northern Territory today, particularly people living in our communities.
I do become cynical, like members of our community, when we come into this House. The government’s job is to manage the Northern Territory. In opposition, our job is to hold you to account. That is the law of what we do. The average person is cynical of what we do because we do seem to spend a great deal of time dealing with the issues which really affect people on the street.
As a local member I am saddened by the number of people who come into my office time and time again and talk about the issues they have with law and order, social infrastructure, health, and issues they have when they cannot find a home to rent, build or buy.
These are the things government should be focusing on today. While I have been in this House I have continually been reminded of the bad things of the old CLP days, which this government continues to attack even though they have been in government for nearly 10 years. We have all grown up in 10 years. Much has happened in all of our lives in 10 years. However, this government still blames the previous CLP government for everything which appears to be bad today. I do not subscribe to that argument and I do not think the members on the other side subscribe to that argument. The game we play is for political point-scoring. It is time we started to take our focus off political point-scoring, do what is right for Territorians, and deal with some of the issues of the day. Many of the issues of today are the fault of bad planning.
It is great to see the graders in places like Bellamack and Johnston; however, it is as though the government has gone into panic mode in the last couple of years. I remember crossing the border on the Barkly Highway when I first arrived in the Northern Territory in 1985. The stretch of road from Camooweal to the border was atrocious. It was like a goat track and I recall the advice my father gave to me as a young person: ‘On the way up there, mate, when you see those big road-trains, you stop. You pull off the road. Let them stay on the road’. This piece of bitumen was perhaps no wider than seven or eight feet, so when the road-trains came along, you did stop, get off the road and let the trucks go by.
When I reached the Northern Territory border, I stopped and took photos like most people do when they see the sign, ‘Welcome to the Northern Territory’. What stood out was the contrast between the road on the Queensland side and the road on the Northern Territory side. The road on the Northern Territory side was absolutely beautiful. It was wide, the edges were maintained and, after some of the roads I had driven on in Queensland, it was an absolute pleasure to make it to the Northern Territory.
My first night in the Northern Territory was in Elliott and I distinctly recall the room I stayed in. I opened the front door and it hit the back wall, it was so small. It said it had an en-suite, but sitting on the toilet my knees were in the lounge room, so it was a pretty small room. That was my welcome to the Northern Territory. I distinctly remember it because there was a rather famous singer playing at the pub that night. Slim Dusty was in town and it was a big night for Elliott.
Moving on, I arrived in Darwin, started to become involved in the community and played football. Driving out of the RAAF Base, you turned right onto Stuart Highway, down the road and turned right under what is known as the overpass onto Bagot Road. Driving down Bagot Road, I thought: ‘Wow, this place is amazing!’ There were three lanes going towards Casuarina, three lanes coming into the city, and not many cars on the road. When I reached Casuarina and looked at the infrastructure at the time, and this was a very small jurisdiction, I was blown away that there was a bus service in a town the size of Darwin. I had the feeling the place had been planned for the future. Looking at McMillans Road and the available land on either side of the road; someone had vision, someone had planned for the future.
One of the reasons I entered politics was I felt, a few years ago, the ball had been dropped, particularly in regard to planning. At the time, I was chairperson of a local primary school in Palmerston and I was finding it very difficult to deal with this government.
There was a time when there was a primary school in each suburb; one suburb, one primary school. In Palmerston we had Bakewell School and we had the suburb of Bakewell. Along came the suburbs of Farrar, Rosebery and Gunn and still we had only one school. We fought very hard and in the end we had approval from this government, I will give it credit, to build the Rosebery primary and middle schools. It was only after a sustained attack from the community that the government finally made a decision. There was no planning for the future. It was more or less forced on them. They felt they were forced into a corner and had no choice, so they decided to build the schools. That is not good planning. It is not good only to do something because you are forced into a corner.
The Minister for Transport talks about visions, a new era. I implore this government and the minister to look at the future of Darwin; the future of our regions and rather than talk about doing these things, plan. I looked at Territory 2030, the vision you have, and I have no problem with a vision, however there does not appear to be a plan of how to achieve that vision. Someone came into my office recently and said they were a Labor supporter. They were able to discuss the Territory 2030 plan and how they felt it was the best thing the Territory had ever had. I said the only problem I had with it was the lack of structure and framework to achieve the goals.
They did not understand what I meant, so I put it in terms of that person and I driving to Melbourne. I said: ‘Tomorrow we have to drive to Melbourne what do we do?’ We know the destination, but how are we going to get there?’ He said: ‘I am not sure I know what you mean’. I said: ‘What are some of the basic things we would do? We know the destination is Melbourne, so what are we going to do, we choose to drive there. What are we going to need; we are going to need fuel, we are going to need a vehicle, and we are going to need a road map, or are we going to look at signs along the way’. You put together a plan to reach the destination. That is the only problem I have with the Territory 2030 vision. There are many remarkable goals within that vision. There are probably things which would be supported on this side of the House as well. However, there is no plan within that vision; there is no framework, no structure.
A member: No road map.
Mr CHANDLER: No road map, exactly. That is where the government, in recent years, has taken the wrong fork in the road. We had years where we had governments, and we could be critical of governments on both sides when it came to planning, however years ago there appeared to be a vision and it was open, it was visible; you could see it. The government of the time had a vision for a railway, which was openly canned by the Labor government for years and years. They built universities. As has been mentioned by the member for Sanderson, they built the building we are in today, the Supreme Court, roads and bridges.
There was a plan for Palmerston. Palmerston today is the most vibrant place in the Northern Territory, and one day will takes its place as the centre of existence for the Northern Territory. I say that with a smile on my face.
There were people with vision, but there was a distinct difference - there was a plan to deliver the vision. When you look at some of the infrastructure which was put in place, it was put in place at a time when there was nowhere near the amount of funding which has come into the Northern Territory in recent years. I am certainly no academic. I only have one certificate on the wall, and it is a certificate of common sense. If it is wrong, it is wrong. In recent years, this government has failed to plan, which is the reason we have the mortgage stress and high rents we have today. Our planning and our provision of infrastructure has not kept up with the growth …
A member: Was there planning around elections?
Mr CHANDLER: I pick up on the interjection. It is true, politics is a strange game. I am still getting used to it. However, we have to move away from this 24-hour media cycle. We have to move away from looking at just three-year plans. We have to look at the longer term; not only look at the longer term with a vision, but provide structure to achieve those goals. Businesses, most CEOs of government departments, will create five-year plans. You need to have a five-year plan. Those five-year plans have a level of structure within them which helps to achieve the goals. Only a couple of years ago, this government started to realise: ‘Holy hell, we have taken our eye off the ball, the place is crumbling around us. We had better get out there and do some things’. That is why today you see graders working day and night in Bellamack and Johnston, and we will see that in Zuccoli.
However, I worry about what has been happening in the harbour recently; the high levels of E. coli. This government continues to deny that effluent pumped into the harbour has any contributing effect. As with an alcoholic, you have to admit you have a problem before you can solve it. The government cannot have it both ways. The government cannot say, on one hand, effluent pumped into the harbour is not contributing to the problem but, on the other hand, spend tens of millions of dollars to turn off the poo shooter and upgrade the Ludmilla Treatment Plant. Why would you spend all that money if there was no problem in the first place?
I worry about Palmerston and the information published recently which showed eight days out of 10 Power and Water was exceeding its limits under its licence conditions. I worry about many things such as what the consequences are for Power and Water. What is the government planning in regard to infrastructure to ensure a plant which is not coping today will cope with Johnston, Bellamack, and Zuccoli? We need to start to plan for the future and provide the infrastructure to get us there. If we do not do it today, if we cannot handle a city with a population of 120 000, what is it going to be like in 10, 20, 30, 50 years from now? We will have a population of one million people. It will not be in my lifetime, but it will happen. It will not affect any of us in this room. But if we plan for the future now, put the corridors aside, plan a second airport, ensure adequate infrastructure is in place, then there will be people sitting in this Chamber in 10, 20, 30, 40 years from now, taking their hats off to the planners of the day who had the vision and the foresight to put a structure in place and plan for the future.
What I have seen today I understand - this is where the cynical side of me comes out - this is an exercise to support a federal election. I understand that. But, as the member for Greatorex said, we need to use the time in this place to work at dealing with some of the issues the mums, dads and young people are experiencing and which our next generations will experience. We should be taking time to fix those problems.
Ms McCARTHY (Regional Development): Madam Deputy Speaker, I support the minister’s statement on infrastructure and the economy. Infrastructure investment is the key to economic growth in the Northern Territory, especially for the 20 identified growth towns as a key part of our A Working Future policy. Through A Working Future, the Henderson government is working hard to reduce Indigenous disadvantage. A critical component of this work is targeted and properly sequenced investments in infrastructure development in our growth towns.
Our vision for Territory growth towns includes the objective that our growth towns have all the services and opportunities of comparable towns in rural Australia. In partnership with the Commonwealth and local governments we need to plan and deliver: improved communications networks; regional transport services, whether road, rail or sea; improved internal roads, including kerbing and guttering; adequate water, sewerage and power; and we need to work with local people to develop town plans which meet current needs and provide for future growth.
We are also engendering an investment environment, working with land councils, the business community and local people to streamline leasing arrangements and encourage and develop local economies, creating training opportunities and jobs for our young people. We understand the importance of working with business and industry to build their businesses in regional communities, adding value to our infrastructure investments. Private and commercial business and industry can contribute significantly to regional communities by employing local people, encouraging economic development, increasing the quality of service and, potentially, reducing costs.
Our investment in infrastructure is targeted and properly sequenced to ensure change for Territorians living across our regions. We have the targets and sequence right by working with local people in the development of each growth town’s local implementation plan. It is on this point the Henderson government and the opposition differ markedly.
The Country Liberals say they intend to establish a body called the Northern Territory Planning Commission, which will be responsible for guiding development in urban, industrial and agricultural sectors in towns, cities and the bush. I take it the bush refers to our growth towns. The 12-member planning commission of the CLP will supposedly be independent of government and take over responsibility for planning objectives and the provision of plans for land use across the Northern Territory. For those of us who represent rural and remote electorates, the alarm bells are already ringing. To think an all-powerful commission, based in Darwin and answerable to no one, will decide where housing will be and where businesses will operate at Ngukurr, Milingimbi or Borroloola is beyond comprehension. This is central planning gone mad and the Country Liberals are marketing it as a policy initiative.
In contrast, the Henderson Labor government is working with local people, NGOs, business, industry, land councils and local government to develop local implementation plans. In this way we are ensuring our investment in infrastructure is targeted and properly sequenced to bring change for Territorians living across our regions. We have also identified gaps in services and service standards for each of our growth towns, something no previous government in the history of the Northern Territory has dealt with properly. I am pleased to say this work is well advanced. As I travel around the Territory, people in every community I visit want to talk about and know more about A Working Future, the optimism for the future, and what it provides for all families.
In 2008, the Henderson government launched our A Working Future policy, and Budget 2010-11 provides a record $980m plan of action across all program areas. $354m is provided for remote Indigenous housing; $236m towards land servicing and essential services; $125m for housing upgrades and $3.6m to survey all new and existing houses in growth towns.
For the first time in the history of the Territory, remote towns were fully incorporated into the budget process. To consolidate this initiative, the Chief Minister and the Treasurer recently visited many of our growth towns, 14 so far, to give residents the same opportunity that residents and the business community of Darwin, Alice Springs, Tennant Creek and Katherine are given each year. This initiative of bringing the budget to rural and remote Territorians is now locked in and is part of our blueprint for future budgets. To complement the visits by the Chief Minister and Treasurer, specific budget information was provided to each town, which was relevant to its needs and concerns. It is a work in progress. It is a first and we will improve each year.
One of the biggest issues in our remote towns is their lack of capacity, whether it is water, electricity or sewerage, there is no extra capacity. With this in mind, Budget 2010-11 provides $32m to upgrade essential services and give these remote towns the opportunity to grow in a targeted and properly sequenced manner, free from the constraints of under-capacity.
Barge landings are another essential service on our remote northern coastline. $6.2m has been identified in this year’s budget to improve freight handling and storage so freight can be unloaded day or night and be protected from the elements. Work to improve these essential services will commence soon at Nguiu, Gapuwiyak, Ramingining, Maningrida and Galiwinku.
The Commonwealth government made a $50m commitment towards upgrading the river crossings at Victoria River. This was a massive undertaking which took more than 18 months to complete. The task involved raising a number of crossings by as much as 7.5 m. Major infrastructure work was undertaken at the Victoria River crossing as well as Joe, Lost and Sandy Creeks. While this huge investment has not made the road to Western Australia flood-proof, it has reduced downtime considerably and made the Victoria Highway almost flood free.
I will highlight some important infrastructure projects in my own electorate of Arnhem. The central Arnhem Highway links Katherine to Nhulunbuy and, since 2005, the Labor government has invested in upgrades at the Wilton and Weemol crossings which were completed in 2005 and 2007 respectively. In 2009-10, work commenced on the Goyder, Mainoru and Donydji crossings and is expected to be completed in 2011-12. By the time these projects are completed, over $21m will have been spent on bridges and crossings in the last seven years.
The road between Alyangula and Umbakumba has been a topic of conversation for many years and I am happy to inform this House that $20m will now be put towards sealing that road. This work is being done in partnership with the Australian government and the local Anindilyakwa Land Council. It is an example of government responding to local priorities and working in partnership with local people, as well as an example of what happens when you have an understanding government in Canberra.
Perhaps the biggest investment undertaken by government since coming to power in 2001 is the development of the Waterfront Precinct. It has been an outstanding success and we should be very proud of what it has achieved. The Convention Centre is the crowning achievement and is proving to be an important drawcard. This project has driven other investment in the tourism sector as businesses have upgraded their facilities to keep in step as new products enter the market. The Darwin Waterfront Precinct is a wonderful addition to our already impressive range of options available throughout the Territory and it is bringing in businesses which we may have missed otherwise.
We are fortunate to already have an impressive list of quality accommodation, houses, hotels, bars and restaurants to choose from and enjoy, as well as numerous entertainment options. As this precinct grows, so too will competition and the options available for locals and visitors, which must be a good thing for consumers and business. The impact of this type of investment cannot be measured in financial terms alone. Investment in infrastructure creates opportunity. It engenders an investment environment which creates business confidence, training opportunities and jobs. The Northern Territory enjoys an enviable economic record. This has not happened by accident, rather by careful planning and the federal and Northern Territory governments taking a strong strategic approach.
While the rest of the world recovers from debt levels never seen before, high unemployment and negative growth, the Territory is well positioned. I was interested in the potential of the state infrastructure fund to develop a new opportunity to help address years of neglect, as a key opportunity for us working with the Gillard Labor government. Working together, we could have made progress in meeting our shared objective of addressing infrastructure gaps in the Territory and engendering an investment environment and employment opportunities for all Territorians, especially Indigenous Territorians.
However, all of that is at risk as part of Tony Abbott’s slash and burn approach to federal Labor government initiatives. Tony Abbott’s support, or otherwise, for new investments and infrastructure development in our regions is something I ask all Territorians to consider in the lead-up to the election on 21 August.
I will finish by noting an article in The Australian on 31 May 2010. This piece by Emma-Kate Symons, based in Paris, describes in some detail the French fascination with Australia and its economic success. Symons quotes a headline from French newspaper, Le Monde:
- Australia, the best student of all the industrialised countries.
- Australia has without doubt the prize for excellence in all categories, as much in terms of its debt or deficit.
Australia is in a situation that any country in Europe would envy - the economic stimulus plan of 2008, costing $42bn, led to a deficit of 3.9% in 2009 but the country did not experience a recession.
Australia astonishes, and not only because of its (low) unemployment rate …
but because of:
…the flexibility that is the result of Australia’s labour market, heavily deregulated since the 1990s.
These comments provide further evidence that the Australian Labor Party understands the Australian economy, and will provide a safe path through these fragile economic times.
Mr McCARTHY (Construction): Madam Deputy Speaker, I am fulfilled. I brought this statement to the House this morning and I have created a wonderful debate. I would like to touch on the responses from different members in this debate. Some may be pleased; some not so pleased.
Mr TOLLNER: Madam Deputy Speaker, the member for Barkly is so interesting we should have more people listening to him, and I call your attention to the state of the House.
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER: Ring the bells. We have a quorum.
Mr McCARTHY: As I said, I am fulfilled because this was a very good debate for many reasons. Like South Sydney and St George, like Carlton and Collingwood, like the Blues and the Maroons, we have separate teams. It is so important to have this debate today, in such a critical time in Australian political history. The debate over recent years has been about there being no difference between Labor and Liberal. Well, in this election there is incredible diversity, and it is critical to tell this story. It is about telling stories, and this side of the House has told some diverse and incredible stories today. It was wonderful to hear the member for Arnhem finish the debate with a holistic picture of the Northern Territory and infrastructure development, and a vision for the future of all Territorians.
There are incredible things happening, which our infrastructure statement supports. Unfortunately some things never change in this House. The Labor government is investing in the future of the Territory and building a strong future. The Country Liberals are still stuck in the past and talking down the Territory. We had a great example of that with the contribution from the member for Braitling - such a young fellow with so much potential. We have to learn not to look back. To have no plans is not a good look. Move forward young man, and you will see the fruits of your labour.
No one denies the early CLP governments delivered some significant infrastructure. Give credit where credit is due. Infrastructure projects mentioned were Parliament House and the Yulara resort. When the government of the day was developing infrastructure at Yulara, my students were coming to school from behind pieces of corrugated iron in the town of Tennant Creek. That is why I first became involved in politics. I challenged the issue then, and I still challenge it now. That is why I am with a Labor team, aligned with the Australian federal Labor government which delivers.
The debate goes on. The member for Braitling calls it a ‘bate’. I will correct him. It is not a ‘bate’, it is a ‘debate’. It is a debate where the essence revolves around a fiscal strategy, a stimulus strategy. The member for Braitling talked about the Cool Spot and a smoko stop. What I saw, looking at the fiscal strategy of the day, was that the Country Liberals dropped the ball, the construction industry deserted them, and they lost government. More importantly, the economy was failing.
Feed the construction and infrastructure sector and you feed the families of the Northern Territory. That represents the stimulus fiscal strategy which we have rubbed shoulders with the federal Labor government for, and that is what we are delivering. We are saving NT jobs, and we are positioning the Territory for the onset of major project development. One piece of advice for the member for Braitling: if you lose the construction industry, you not only lose their support, you lose them physically from the Territory. If they leave our borders and travel elsewhere we are left severely lacking when the big projects come online.
It is clear the member for Braitling does not understand the importance of a strong relationship with the federal government. The federal Labor government has been an advantage for the Territory which we hope continues. We hope it is re-elected on 21 August.
When we talk about the member for Fong Lim and the previous Prime Minister, John Howard, not committing anywhere near the project resources needed for the Tiger Brennan Drive, we are talking about risking project development and being in uncertain times. I was able to speak about Damian Hale today and his delivery of $74m from federal Labor. That is what we are talking about with partnerships and going forward.
It was great to hear the member for Goyder in the debate but it is very disappointing for me when a long-term Territorian talks down the Territory, and continually knocks our hard-working businesses. I was very disappointed when I heard the member for Goyder mount a personal attack on the new Chief Executive Officer for the Department of Construction and Infrastructure. This person is new to the Territory, brings a wealth of experience, is a respected senior public servant, and an international engineer with a strong record in delivering major projects. I can only think that this is threatening to our public sector, and I am disappointed that a member of this House would choose this line of attack in such an important debate. It is unacceptable, it is vexatious, and the member for Goyder should apologise.
The member for Goyder made claims there has been no investment in police and fire services in the rural area. In my travels around the rural area, researching and learning about this new jurisdiction for me as a minister, the Humpty Doo Police and Fire Complex stood out. It was built by this government and opened in February 2005, ending a 20-year wait for residents in the rural area.
I am quite shocked the member for Goyder did not seem to know about our major hotel development in the heart of Palmerston. It is almost complete. I was there last week, it looks fantastic. Government chose the land, and local developer, the Tomazos Group, is putting the finishing touches on a 46 unit Quest Apartments with a new restaurant on the ground floor - fantastic for our city, Palmerston and the Territory.
The member for Brennan talked about vision and a bipartisan stand. Well, Weddell is a subject we need to be united on, our new tropical, sustainable and liveable city. There is an incredible amount of work happening, and will continue to happen over the next couple of months, in planning and design of Weddell. We want positives in this debate, we want new ideas, and I encourage the member for Goyder to take part in the opportunities to contribute to the ideas, design and development of the Territory’s new city. What an exciting project to be involved with.
I was very pleased with the contribution from the member for Katherine and his welcoming the action plan for Katherine’s future. He is a good, hard-working, local member. The Northern Territory government worked with the Katherine Town Council and Mayor Anne Shepherd on developing the plan, and I am looking forward to continuing to work with the Katherine community on exciting projects like the Katherine Regional Cultural Precinct.
The Police Beat would not have happened without support from government, in particular the Chief Minister. That needs to be acknowledged. The Chief Minister brought forward the roll-out of the Police Beat program and listened to the people of Katherine. That is leadership: listening to the community and delivering for the community. When we talk about planning and vision, we talk about delivery. Without leadership and vision there is nothing to plan for. I pay tribute to the Katherine community, the town council, the Chamber of Commerce, Superintendent Jeanette Kerr, the NT Police and, the Minister for Police, Fire and Emergency Services, who combined to deliver this wonderful initiative for the town of Katherine. The member gives me the impression it is very much recognised and supported.
The member for Sanderson made an interesting contribution and made many good points, because he was reading from my statement. It was a very good contribution, however, the member for Sanderson failed to grasp many of the concepts, and he was negative. We need to focus on the positives. The CLP has had quite a number of achievements, and we recognise that. However, since 2001, the acceleration has been considerable and the Territory has been undergoing incredible economic growth. There have been challenges in the Territory which have never been seen before. This government has its shoulder to the wheel, which the member for Sanderson needs to acknowledge.
The member made a good point about the lack of seniors’ accommodation. Government is working to address this shortage through projects like the Bellamack Gardens seniors’ village. I can assure the member for Sanderson that the minister for Housing, the member for Johnston, has a hard-worn track to my door. He stands up for seniors in the Northern Territory. He and his colleague, the minister for Senior Territorians, are demanding that all our rapid land release programs accommodate senior Territorians.
The issue of Tiger Brennan Drive dimensions is simple. Work on a four-lane highway is proceeding well and is on track for completion before the end of this year. Thirty-four thousand Territorians will spend less time behind the wheel every day and it will be a major piece of road transport infrastructure to support traffic efficiency and safety. The bridges and the pedestrian overpass are 6.5 m high. That is well above the Australian standard which requires 5.5 m for bridges which provide access to our ports.
What a contribution from the member for Greatorex! I picked up on the interjection he started the negative cycle with when he asked if the statement I was reading was the same as that distributed to members. I was using some poetic licence as I was inspired by the opportunity to present a statement. That caused the member for Nelson some confusion, but the member for Greatorex said: ‘Well, do not ask him, he does not know,’ insinuating I had no part in preparing the speech. Not only did I play a part in preparing the speech, I have spent the last six or more months working shoulder to shoulder with some incredible Territorians to deliver a statement which tells the Territory what is happening, and building the Territory from the ground up. I am very proud of that and I encourage the member for Greatorex to come on board.
He did say something which was interesting to me: ’puff piece’, which the member for Braitling uses regularly. I like that and I will use it somewhere. That was a great contribution to the debate. What I liked better was when he said: ‘The member for Barkly should be out in the Territory driving on beautiful roads’. He described our bush roads as beautiful, and talked about the wonderful time of the year. He is dead right, they are beautiful bush roads. We have $331m going into developing more beautiful Territory roads. Thank you very much to the member for Greatorex. I know he would rather be on the beach, but there is too much work to be done.
Member for Greatorex, remember all Territorians are listening to this debate. You should think clearly about the contribution from the Country Liberals as, not only are people listening, but Hansard will reflect your time in this House. Our time is limited and one would want to focus on doing the best they can. The member for Greatorex is not really interested so I will not go any further, but without knowing it, he participated in the debate. Once again, that debate was down to fiscal strategy and why we need to have this political debate today to continue growing the Territory.
I will comment on what the members for Nelson and Johnston said about infrastructure and rewriting history. We are not trying to rewrite history. We are living the history, and the combined knowledge in this House would mount to hundreds of years if we looked at our families. In some cases in this House, 40 000 to 60 000 years’ worth of Territory knowledge is brought to the debate. There is much history to talk about if we want to talk about history.
When we talk about history let us talk about hardcore politics and infrastructure development in our education sector. In 1981 I was working with contractors to establish silver bullet caravans on the banks of the Frew River for the first Epenarra school. That community worked tirelessly, and their first reward was an increase of one to their school staff: it went from one teacher to two. The government of the day provided a second silver bullet, which was very welcome. We went from one silver bullet to two silver bullets, and we put a verandah between them. That was the infrastructure of the day; that is the history of the day.
We hear the member for Johnston, the minister for Education, outline the BER project. You see incredible infrastructure growing in front of your eyes at those schools - a new library and classroom, a specialist area at Robinson River School, growing out of the ground. I went to Minyerri School a couple of weeks ago and saw a new early childhood learning centre, open learning area, stage, storage area and driveway. That is infrastructure which is growing Territorians; you cannot put a price on that infrastructure.
When you see a school which had in excess of 90% attendance for the last seven years, put on an assembly to open their new BER project, stand together and sing the National Anthem in recognition of the federal government, side by side with the Northern Territory government, which delivered the infrastructure, it is scary to think Tony Abbott will stop the process. Minyerri will go on, but there are many other school communities which are living in fear. That is another reason we needed to have this debate today and needed to tell that story. This is critical infrastructure which we have not seen in for bush for a long time. From the silver bullet to thriving community schools, to secondary education in the bush, to a government which is determined to grow our own.
The member for Arnhem summed up my response to the member for Brennan. When we talk about vision, we talk about policy development. This government has bitten off some of the biggest policy development the Territory has ever seen. Now it is time to put a framework around that policy, develop it, and then deliver. When the member for Arnhem talked about A Working Future and our growth towns’ policy, the member for Brennan should have been satisfied that this is serious work ahead, this is historic work, and this has never been done before. This is a massive piece of work, and this is a government which is determined to deliver in partnership with the Territory, which means the private sector.
Last week, I heard the Mayor of Ipswich, Paul Pisasale, talk. He has left us a clear message. His main message: promote your city and your state, grow confidence in your local area, because confidence will grow investment. Investment will improve the lives of Territorians.
Madam Speaker, infrastructure and construction are the heartbeat of our economy; we are delivering 10 000 Territory jobs with boosted infrastructure; investment. We will continue to invest in strategic infrastructure.
Motion agreed to; statement noted.
TABLED PAPER
Remuneration Tribunal Determination -
Report on Interstate Travel –
Member for Port Darwin and
Member for Fong Lim
Remuneration Tribunal Determination -
Report on Interstate Travel –
Member for Port Darwin and
Member for Fong Lim
Madam SPEAKER: Honourable members, as required under the RTD, I table two travel reports relating to interstate travel, one from the member for Port Darwin and the other from the member for Fong Lim.
ADJOURNMENT
Dr BURNS (Leader of Government Business): Madam Speaker, I move that the Assembly do now adjourn.
Mr WESTRA van HOLTHE (Katherine): Madam Speaker, I acknowledge some quotes and some information taken from the Internet, in particular, some details and words taken from the Condolence Motion moved by Senator John Faulkner in the Australian Senate on 23 June this year.
I would like to record in the Hansard of this parliament my deepest sorrow on the tragic loss of Private Scott Palmer, who, with his colleagues, Private Timothy Aplin and Private Benjamin Chuck, died on 21 June, 2010.
I am sure I would be joined by all members in this House in extending condolences to the families of our brave young soldiers who were killed in a helicopter crash whilst on combat operations in Afghanistan. I extend my deepest sympathy to the families of those men.
The helicopter crash took the lives of these commandos and wounded seven of their fellow soldiers. These men were part of a special operations task force drawn from the Sydney-based 2nd Commando Regiment.
I am very lucky for I have not lost a close loved one, therefore, I can only imagine the feelings of grief and devastation felt by those mourning the loss of a beloved son, brother, father or friend. However, I am touched more and more by people around me, friends, acquaintances and constituents who have lost loved ones and have to bear the burden of that loss.
Most recently, I have been touched by the loss of Scott Palmer through his family who live in Katherine: Ray Palmer, Scott’s father, Pam, Scott’s mother, and Adam, Scott’s brother, are now without their son and brother as a result of this tragic accident which occurred while Scott was doing his sworn duty in a foreign land. The Palmer family members are what I guess you would call ordinary folk - mum and dad raising the kids in a small town. In their own way, they have made, and continue to make, a significant contribution to the social fabric of the town. Ray works in a local store and Pam runs one of our local travel agencies.
I did not know Scott personally, but what I have learned is that he was a bit of a larrikin. He was loved by his family and friends, and was highly respected for his prowess on the football field. There are some words which have come from Ray and Pam which very nicely describe Scott. I take these quotes from the NT News online:
- His parents said he was a devoted son and brother to his family, a “best friend” to dad, Ray, and brother, Adam, and “always loyal to his mates”.
His connection to the University Pirates Rugby Club characterised how dearly he valued his mates, maintaining great friends from that club long after he had moved on.
“To all of us, Scott was a larrikin who made us laugh. He had mischief in his smile, love in his heart and was completely generous regardless of circumstance.”
Private Scott Palmer enlisted in the Australian Army in 2001. He successfully undertook commando selection and training in 2006, and joined the commandos of the 4th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment in November 2006. Scott was awarded the Australian Active Service Medal with the Iraq, East Timor, and ICAT clasps, the Iraq Campaign Medal, the Australian Defence Medal, the Australian Service Medal with Timor-Leste clasp, the Afghanistan Campaign Medal, and the NATO ISAF Medal. Private Palmer was also awarded the Infantry Combat Badge and the Return from Active Service Badge from a previous deployment. He was deployed to East Timor in 2003 and in 2007; to the Middle East as a part of Operation Catalyst in 2005; and to Afghanistan as part of Operation Slipper in 2007, 2009 and 2010.
I was deeply and truly honoured to receive a personal invitation from Scott’s family to attend his funeral service at the Anglican church and then at Robertson Barracks in Darwin on 10 July. Both services were solemn, very touching and well attended, with the Prime Minister, the federal Leader of the Opposition, and many other dignitaries present. There was not a dry eye in the house when the Australian flag and Scott’s accoutrements were handed to the family.
The work of our dedicated military personnel is very much part of the protection of Australia and the Australian community. The work is difficult and dangerous. I support the soldiers, the men and women who do this dangerous work. They are protecting our way of life, the Australian way of life. When I hear jets flying over my house I hear the roar of jet engines, but there is something else I hear: the sound of freedom, and the sound of safety from terror and a much darker way of life.
I thank the former and currently serving men and women for their dedication, for the sacrifices they make, and the risks they face for all of us. I thank the families of the men and women in uniform serving overseas, for the sacrifices they make and the support they give to their loved ones.
Our fallen soldiers and their families have paid an unthinkably high price for their dedication. Sadly, sometimes we have to bury our sons as part of that price.
Bless the Palmer family. Lest We Forget.
Mr KNIGHT (Daly): Madam Deputy Speaker, I am honoured to place on the record my congratulations to a constituent of mine, Anna Reynolds from Batchelor. Anna was named the 2010 Northern Territory winner of the Qantas Foundation Encouragement of Australian Contemporary Art Award, and received her award with other state and territory finalists at the Art Gallery of New South Wales last month. Anna has also received a Bronze Award in the EPSON International Pano Awards for 2010 - a fantastic achievement. I was very pleased to attend a function held in Anna’s honour, hosted by the wonderful Batchelor Butterfly Farm and Tropical Retreat.
The exhibition, Mangroves in the Butterfly Farm was launched to start the Lingalonga Festival and officially opened the inaugural arts exhibition. Anna has an incredible eye for photography and was part of the design team with, Judy McGinn, for the Bods of Batchelor Calendar 2010, which raised money through sales for the annual Lingalonga Festival. The calendar was launched late last year, also at the Butterfly Farm. I congratulate Anna on those awards and for kicking off this annual art exhibition as an opener for the Lingalonga Festival. I thank the people who run the Butterfly Farm. It was a great evening.
This brings me to the Lingalonga Festival. Around 1200 people attended what was a fantastic, family-friendly festival. There were many local stalls, Indigenous art, music, the Great Green Ideas exhibition of pottery by Gillian Hunter, lots of free activities, live entertainment from Mel Devine, Mo Blues, June Mills, and Donny McGuiness. Tanya Ham came with her great girls from the Taminmin College Choir and the Shimmy All Over Belly Dancers were there. The belly dancers have taken over the rural area and they came to give another performance.
It was a hive of activity and a day of buzzing excitement. The theme for this year was A Bug Day Out. They had face painting and a range of activities. The grand parade was a very colourful and was led by a giant caterpillar made from 44 gallon drums. The big bug dance was performed beautifully by all the Coomalie kids. They were all dressed up from doing activities, building bug outfits, and doing face painting during the day.
Another highlight of the day was the 100 m Rum Jungle Dash, with a $1000 first prize in each category, kindly donated by D & M Enterprises. Dave, from D & M Enterprises also contributed $2000 towards the second and third prizes in each category. Dave is the partner of Marilyn, who organised the event. It was great for Dave to put on those runs. It was very well contested. Many young blokes, who never would get up in public usually, saw the $1000 as an opportunity to get some cash. A great effort was made by all the runners. The first place cash prize went to Carolyn Nyhouse in the women’s 17- to 29-year-old category; Kamarra Hiko in the women’s 30-plus category; Brian Fisher in the men’s 17- to 29-year-old category; and Dean Peachey in the men’s 30-plus category. It was a great event. Everyone turned their attention to it when it came on. The kids were also winners with prizes sponsored by Jimmy’s Gifts given to all race participants.
Many hours were dedicated to meetings, preparing and finalising the events to make this such a successful day. Although the weather tried to rain on their parade and, unfortunately, washed out the evening events, I congratulate the committee on their hard work.
Prior to the main event the festival committee, in conjunction with the Coomalie Community Government Council School Holiday program, held a week-long series of workshops at Batchelor Area School. Approximately 60 school-age kids from Batchelor and Adelaide River attended to create the 80 to 90 canvasses which were on show at the festival. This was a job well done by the festival director, Marilyn Reeves. I also acknowledge some of the committee members: Jan Thompson, a stalwart of the Batchelor community; Rachel Chambers; Sue Donnelly; Anna Reynolds; Lauren Mills; Hilary Brett; John Hughes, the CEO of the Coomalie Shire Council, had his slow cooking meals going most of the day; Danielle Hamilton; Dave Grey; Therese Balanzategui; Kristy Williams; Bob Lloyd from the mine, it was great to see those guys there; Narelle Verzeleti; Victoria Edmonds; and the many others behind the scenes who contributed. It is a community which comes together and gives much joy and entertainment to everyone through the time they volunteer.
I also acknowledge some of the generous sponsors of the event, without which festivals and community events like Lingalonga cannot go ahead: Future Visions, HAR, D & M Enterprises, Rum Jungle Tavern, the Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education and the Coomalie Community Government Council. I thank the minister for the $20 000 in funding from the Northern Territory government; it went to great use. I look forward to the Lingalonga Festival next year. This year had the biggest crowd I have ever seen since its inception. I am sure that off the back of this year they will go on to greater things. Unfortunately, Marilyn will not be there next year, she is travelling, but I am sure there will be many people who were there this year who will take up that effort. Congratulations to everyone! It was a great day and a great day for the community.
Ms PURICK (Goyder): Madam Deputy Speaker, I will speak on a serious issue and will not use names. I will be writing to the Chief Minister, as the minister for Police, about this matter. When the mandatory domestic reporting legislation was coming through I expressed concerns as to how it would work. I will relay a story told to me, not by a constituent but by a person I have known for many years, and her family.
In March this year, this woman’s second daughter was in a domestic situation which she was trying to leave. She had been sharing the house for five years with the father of her youngest child, who is four. Although they were living together, they had separated. He was knocking her around, mostly verbally, but also physically. He also regularly stole her ATM card from her wallet, used it for online gambling and cleaned her out every time she saved enough money to get away and set up in a unit or house with her children.
On a Saturday morning in March this year she left her three girls with him while she went flat hunting with another girlfriend so she could get away from him. The girls are aged 10, seven and four, with the four-year-old being his daughter. When they returned the girls came running from the back yard in hysterics. This man had locked them out when she left and when the seven-year-old tried to get back in the house he grabbed her by the throat and held her over the balcony. The other two siblings tried to stop him and he pushed them down the stairs. The older one said her sister was trying to hook her legs into the balcony to save herself. She was held there until she was vomiting. It is amazing she did not have her neck snapped as she is so tiny – the same size as a four-year-old.
This perpetrator tore her dress and severely bruised her throat. The woman rang her mother, my long-time friend, and the police were called. By the time they arrived he had left the house. The police came, spoke to the daughter and the seven-year-old, and said they had to find the perpetrator.
The woman and her children were removed from the house instantly. They did not hear anything from the police, and when they contacted the Casuarina Police Station they were advised he said he had tried to put the child on the naughty spot, had slipped and that is why she had red marks on her neck. The family then sought medical attention and got a doctor’s report saying she had soft tissue damage to her neck and shoulders. The police advised they believed the man’s story. They did not question the other children, one of whom is 10 and was a witness to the situation.
As a result, a domestic violence order was not upheld as the police did not press charges. The woman had a temporary order for one week which did not cover the children. I am not certain of this, however this woman has said fathers and stepfathers have rights even though it is the children he allegedly assaulted. She has told me that this person is flaunting the law; he thinks it is funny he got away with it. He has been going to the school where the woman works because he can. No one can do anything about it because the police believed his side of the story and not hers.
This is a very serious matter, and I am very concerned. The woman has advised me her grandchildren are traumatised, as you would expect. They have lost faith in the police, believing the police were there to protect them and their mother, and now believe the stepfather can do whatever he likes. The child held over the balcony is now having major behavioural issues, and her nightmares have been filmed for weeks after the alleged assault. She is a traumatised and upset young child.
The law says you must report domestic violence, but they were not believed and it was not followed up. I will be asking the minister for Police and the Chief Minister why it can be ignored and more power given to the offender, in the eyes of this family, than the people who are being hurt and damaged.
I asked this woman’s mother to put this information to me in writing in mid-June this year. She followed up with further contact, and I have spoken to this family on the phone. The family have been woken up on a number of occasions at 5.30 am or thereabouts. One time was by the police wrestling the man to the ground outside a bedroom window of this family’s home. The neighbours called the police and they attended. They believed this gentleman may have been doing this for some time because there were many cigarette butts and much rubbish in the area. The family is very concerned that whilst they have laid complaints, they do not appear to be taken seriously. This family has lost faith in this government’s legislation on reporting domestic violence because they did report domestic violence on children.
I checked these children; they are a happy, well-established family. It is a long-standing Territory family. They are not known to FACS, there is nothing wrong with the way the mother is raising them. The woman is trying to get away from this fellow and set up a life where she and her children are safe, happy and healthy and have no threats hanging over them. If this fellow keeps turning up and standing outside their bedroom window that is not good. I will be writing to the Chief Minister this week and will be able to supply him with full details and the exact dates of these alleged assaults. He can check the details, and I am sure he will. How the police handled it and what happens when domestic violence is reported is a serious matter. What is happening with the unit in the NT Police which handles these situations?
This family received no support from the NT Police in regard to the situation. They believed the fellow without talking to the 10-year-old, which is disappointing. I understand there are issues with young children giving evidence. I urge the Chief Minister to investigate the matter quickly and seriously, and try to give this family some confidence in his legislation on reporting domestic violence.
Mr ELFERINK (Port Darwin): Madam Deputy Speaker, tonight I speak of a matter which concerns me as a legislator in this place. I make reference to a list of papers tabled today. Amongst those papers were the Darwin Waterfront Corporation By-laws. The reason I am concerned about these by-laws is based on my role as a legislator. I am aware there are other by-laws in the Northern Territory which have similar provisions and I have to raise issues about those provisions as they exist in other by-laws as well.
The schedule at the back of the act makes a breach of clause 68 of the by-laws an offence of one penalty unit. If the corporation chooses not to issue an on-the-spot fine but pursues the matter through a court then the maximum penalty for the abandonment of a shopping trolley in the Darwin Waterfront Precinct is $13 000. I recall, in this place and in the media, there was some criticism levelled at the Northern Territory government for making the offence of panhandling, or begging I suspect was the title of the offence, a $6000 fine.
One hundred penalty units is the value of breaching clause 68 of the by-laws:
Shopping trolleys left in public place
- If a person uses a shopping trolley, the person must not leave it in a public place.
Maximum penalty: 100 penalty units
or $13 000.
An offence against clause 68 of these by-laws is a regulatory offence. A regulatory offence removes from the capacity of the person accused of committing such an offence, the usual provisions of justification and excuse under the Criminal Code, and only allows the provisions under section 26 of the Criminal Code to be relied upon. In other words, most of the normal defences available to a person accused of a crime or a criminal offence are removed. That means you do not really have a capacity to argue against an allegation made against you because it has been declared by the minister to be a regulatory offence and, supposedly, goes through a review of this House.
I feel uncomfortable about making the abandonment of a shopping trolley a penalty of $13 000 and then depriving a person accused of a $13 000 offence any excuse provisions. So, if you abandon a shopping trolley, no matter what the circumstances are, we are not going to let you make an excuse; you will be fined up to a maximum of $13 000.
I invite members to read clause 25 of these by-laws:
- Power to require statement of name and address
If an authorised person …
which is a person authorised under this legislation:
- … reasonably suspects a person of having committed an offence against these By-laws …
namely, the abandonment of a shopping trolley:
- … the authorised person may direct the person
- (a) to state the person’s name and address; and
(b) if the authorised person considers further evidence of identity necessary - to provide further evidence of identity.
Subsection (2):
- The person must not contravene the direction.
Penalty: $13 000.
If I go to the Darwin waterfront, according to the minister and this government, and I abandon my trolley, I commit a crime for which this government feels the maximum penalty should be $13 000. If I then refuse to give my name to the authorised person, then I am committing another crime for which a further fine of $13 000 could be imposed. So, by the time I say to the inspector ‘Get nicked, I am not telling you my name because I left my shopping trolley in the front of this shop’, this government believes I should be culpable to the tune of $26 000.
It goes on. If you read the act, the Waterfront Corporation Regulations point out what the precinct looks like, and these by-laws refer to the precinct. I draw members’ attention to the schedule at the back of the regulations, and I seek leave to table the regulations.
Leave granted.
Mr ELFERINK: There is a nice little map on page 2 of the Waterfront Corporation Regulations, which shows you the precinct. Included in the precinct are the houses, flats and units which the Toga Group of Companies sells to the public - these are private premises. I read these by-laws in the following way, clause 26:
Power to enter premises.
The definition of premises being:
- … includes lands and buildings.
Private premises, I presume, are included:
- An authorised person may enter premises and remain on the premises for as long as is necessary for one or more of the following purposes ...
It goes through some purposes and then it says:
- … exercising any other power conferred on an authorised by these By-laws.
So, I, as a legislator of the Northern Territory, now understand what is going on. I have authorised an authorised person, who is authorised under the act. The definition of authorised person is:
- an authorised person appointed under by-law 22.
By-law 22 says:
- The Corporation may appoint a person (other than a member of the Corporation) to be an authorised person.
Anyone - there are no training requirements or anything - this person can stop me, demand to know why I have abandoned a trolley, deprive me of the capacity to render an excuse before a court of law, stand me in front of that court of law for a potential fine of $13 000, demand my name from me and, if they do not believe me, demand identification - failure to comply with that, a further $13 000. Should I, as a resident of the waterfront, seek the succour of my own private dwelling, the authorised person has the power to - without warrant, one would presume - enter the premises and pursue the prosecution under these by-laws.
Joseph Goebbels would be proud! He would be saying to himself: ‘My goodness, gracious me, pity we did not have this in the Warsaw ghetto’. I know, in the real world, this would not happen, but the point is somewhere a minister - Chief Minister, perhaps, having carriage of this - has been told we need some by-laws. ‘That is fine’, he says, ‘Let us do the by-laws, draft something up, we will just rubber stamp and drop them into the parliament’. I struggle, as a legislator, to feel comfortable with being a person responsible for rubber stamping an instrumentality of this nature.
My conscience cannot allow me to do anything other than to have this matter referred to the Subordinate Legislation committee to have the issues of regulatory offences revisited, considering the onerous nature of the maximum penalties, as well as what appears to be an astonishing power of entry to pursue trolley offences. The Subordinate Legislation committee may turn their mind to this issue so we can at least start producing regulatory instruments in by-laws which pretend to occupy that cherished space called common sense.
Mr GILES (Braitling): Madam Deputy Speaker, finally today, we get to debate something which is important. I was going to talk about these by-laws but the member for Port Darwin beat me to it. The member for Port Darwin did leave a couple of things out and one thing which I thought was quite interesting. It is not only that you can be fined $13 000 for leaving a shopping trolley at the waterfront or, if you do not have your ID on you or do not give your name and address you could be fined $13 000. We knew the Rudd/Gillard government was in a large amount of debt but this is a long way to go to try to repay the debt through shopping trolley fines for $13 000. But under section 28(1)(c), that authorised person is allowed to destroy your dog. I think you missed that part. There are many more funny things in there that we may pull apart tomorrow and it would be great if we had a debate rather than an election campaign in parliament.
A member interjecting.
Mr GILES: I was just responding to the statement. I did not want to. I have to. You have to go to such depths. I am happy to go again.
I also wish to talk about and pay gratitude to a resident of Alice Springs and the electorate of Braitling, someone who is fairly well known in Alice Springs, Murray Stewart. Murray Stewart is an alderman on the Alice Springs Town Council. He had a vision some time ago in the interests of families of young sports people who were finding it financially difficult to send their kids away for sport. Quite often kids have to go to Darwin. I am sure, Madam Deputy Speaker, you are always putting your hand in your pocket for your kids in Nhulunbuy. Local members always try to support kids’ travel to Darwin and places further afield for sporting ventures.
Murray came up with an idea to set up a sports foundation, which local clubs could contribute money towards, so kids who had an opportunity to travel for sports would be able to access financial assistance through that foundation. He gathered together a group of like-minded community members who headed up local sporting groups and recreational clubs around Alice Springs and put together what is now known as the League of Champions. It is a fantastic idea and invention which he has driven for a long time. He has been on it since November 2009, annoying as many people as possible to get this up and running.
There will be a number of fundraising ventures to try to ensure the League of Champions foundation has enough money to support as many people as possible. The foundation was officially launched on 7 August at the Alice Springs Memorial Club. Ten sports individuals will be identified each year and inducted into the League of Champions Hall of Fame until 2019, and in 2020 up to 20 ‘teams of all time’ for Alice Springs and Central Australia will be inducted. It is a fantastic initiative, for which Murray and his assistants should be commended.
Thank you very much to the co-founding members and the organising committee of the wonderful League of Champions foundation: Murray Stewart, the president - he was president of the Alice Springs Athletics Club but now is the president of the foundation; Dave Douglas, the owner/manager of Dave Douglas Tyre City and participant in the Variety Club; Warren Collits, former Central Australian Rugby League development officer; John Boyle, radio broadcaster; Andrea Sullivan, manager of the Alice Springs Memorial Club; Nick Prus, manager of the Alice Springs Golf Club - thanks for a wonderful golf day on Friday, Nick; Alan Rowe, manager of the Gillen Club and a fine cricketer for Westies Masters Cricket; Kevin Rockemer, vice-president of Alice Springs RSL Club who did a fine job on Anzac Day this year; and Lucie Davison, Centrelink emergency response person.
The League of Champions has a selection panel which will identify the 10 inductees into the hall of fame each year. The chair of the panel is Steve Menzies, a sports journalist at The Centralian Advocate in Alice Springs, a multi-sports administrator, a fantastic man and a well renowned person in the sporting field in Alice Springs. The deputy chair is Paul Fitzsimmons , or Fizzer to many of us. He was an ABC sports commentator, does much work in his paid position at the university, and is a great local bloke. The record keeper is Pat Miller, who is a former hockey great and the current Deputy of the Administrator.
The other members of the panel are: Dick Kimber, a former AFL great and town historian; Mary Meldrum, the first female Australian auctioneer, a sports broadcaster, administrator, and a fantastic resident of Braitling and Larapinta who is right into her lawn bowls; and Graham Ross, youth worker extraordinaire and former boxing coach. Graham does much work with the Gap Youth Centre in Alice Springs and is still pushing us for further improvements to support youth in Alice Springs.
A competition was held to identify a logo for the foundation. A 10-year-old girl, Rani Marshall, although she did not win the corporate logo competition, was selected. Congratulations, Rani, that will go down in history.
The 50 people the judges identified as potential inductees for the League of Champions, are: Steve Arnold, John Bell, Terry Bell, Joel Bowden, John Boyle, Sharon Burns, Gary Boodnikoff. Sam Calder, Nev Connor, John Cooper, Jeff Curtis, Steve Darling, Cal Dean, Gwen Ferry, Pat Gallagher, Marty Gardiner, Randal Gregory, Ivy Hampton, Kym Hansen, Reg and Marg Harris, Joan Higgins, Malcolm Hill, Max Horton, Rae Jones, Chris Jongewald, Lyall Kempster, Bobby Liddle, Gilbert McAdam, Andrew McArthur, Louis Miller, Tim Nielsen, Max O’Callaghan, Shane O’Leary, Donna-Lee Patrick, John Pyper, Alexis Rhodes, Graham Ross, Steve Satour, Graeme Shaughnessy, Graeme Smith, James Swan, Cheryl Talbot, Christine Trefry, Maureen Trindle, Bill van Dyk, Bruce Walker, Darryl White, Lance White and David Yeaman.
I congratulate the 10 people who are the first inductees into the hall of fame and once again, thank Murray Stewart. Many of these names will be known in this Chamber and by many people throughout the Territory. These are the 10 inductees: Sam Calder, for cricket; Nev Connor, for speedway, golf and racing; Pat Gallagher for netball - the netball courts in Alice Springs are named after Pat; Ivy Hampton for darts; Reg and Marg Harris for various administrative roles in sport; Joan Higgins, for the administration of the youth centre and various sports; Malcolm Hill for cycling; Donna-Lee Patrick for hockey; James Swan for boxing; and Maureen Trindle for softball and hockey. Congratulations as you all go down in history as the first inductees to the hall of fame of the League of Champions.
I wish the foundation all the best for the future. You have my support. Murray Stewart, in Alice Springs you are often described as an eccentric, blind man, but you are a wonderful leader in our community. You should keep up your passionate intent of driving things in our community. Not everything is right, but this is something which is certainly on the mark. You have my support and I will work hard to ensure you have support from other people.
Mr WOOD (Nelson): Madam Deputy Speaker, I would like to talk about a visit I made to Mataranka Station last Thursday. For those who do not know, Mataranka Station is about 10 km north of the Mataranka township.
I was invited by the Vice Chancellor of Charles Darwin University, Professor Barney Glover, to accompany the university’s Mataranka Station Advisory Committee and the CDU Chancellor, Hon Sally Thomas, on a tour of Mataranka Station with the new station manager, Mr Gary Riggs.
They asked me to accompany them to Mataranka as there have been some concerns about the welfare of animals at Mataranka Station. I believe this was highlighted some months ago on one of the commercial TV channels. There were some comments in the NT News which alarmed me because there was talk about selling Mataranka Station. I have a soft spot for Mataranka Station. My daughter trained there as a ringer - or you can call her a ringer-ess, I do not know - about 13 years ago. She did a 13-week course there and, from that, she obtained jobs at Wave Hill Station, Cattle Creek, Oban Station and, eventually, she ended up on Kidman Springs Research Station.
I always felt there was a need for this place as an active teaching facility. It is a large parcel of land where you can teach young people the skills they need to work on a real cattle station. It is unfortunate there has been some bad publicity. Professor Barney Glover came to see me and explained that the university does not want to sell the station at present, but rather wants to put more money into the station and improve the infrastructure. They invited me to accompany the advisory committee so I would have a better idea of the state of the station.
The advisory committee is made up of Ms Elaine Gardiner who is the independent chair, Mr Jak Andrews from Manbulloo Station; Mr Neil MacDonald, Department of Resources; Dr Barry McKnight, who is in charge of VET courses at the university; Mr Ken Suter who is a financial officer; Ms Maryanne McKaige who is Manager Strategic Projects at the university and Ms Sue Hutton who is the university’s Animal Ethics Committee representative. This committee was formed in June 2001.
At about the same time, they also engaged a new manager on the station whose name is Gary Riggs. He has much experience. He was the person who managed Mataranka Station between 1998 and approximately 2005. Then, he worked full-time on his own cattle station, which is a neighbouring cattle station called Lakefield. He is also a member of the Mataranka Water Advisory Committee, a member of the Roper River Landcare Group, and an accredited workplace assessor and trainer.
The university has taken steps to ensure the animals are being looked after properly on Mataranka Station. There is a program beginning to put the station back in order so it can run as a proper teaching facility we would be proud of.
The unfortunate incidents which occurred in the past have raised concerns, not only in the Northern Territory but interstate. I understand there will be an Ombudsman’s report coming out soon which will detail some of those unfortunate incidents and bring them to the attention of various members of the community.
Since Gary Riggs has taken over, he has saved the property from at least three wildfires; cleared the fence lines; widened the firebreaks; replaced old, inadequate gates; repaired bore pumps; identified new works - there is a need for more upgrades to fencing and corridors, and there needs to be more bores and dams. He has recruited properly qualified and experienced staff. He started a weed management program, so in the short space of time he has been looking after the station the cattle have looked to be in good nick. He explained to the advisory committee the processes he had implemented to improve the condition of the cattle. He explained the importance of licks and how cattle cannot survive on native grass all year unless they have licks which give them the right nutrient balance. showed the committee how the cattle had improved and the work which needs to be done to make sure the breed of cattle there is not infiltrated by other breeds of cattle. There are certain breeds of cattle which you would want to remove from the station.
The plans for the future of the station are that the advisory committee will meet there regularly, reinstate student programs at Katherine, and investigate the use of solar energy for bore pumps. Presently, they are using diesel, and we were shown that the wrong size diesel engines were being used to provide the power to operate the pumps. Those motors were burning out because they were too big for the job.
There is potential there for irrigated pastures. I suggested to the chair of the advisory committee that it looks at talking to people like Ms Diana Leeder, who I believe is the water controller, about getting a water licence for the farm. It seems strange that there has been much discussion about the allocation of water in the Mataranka water area but the station had not applied for an allocation of water. They would not be allowed to put in irrigated pastures because they would not have the water to do it. Hopefully something is being put in place now to make sure that happens.
I am a strong supporter of places like Mataranka Station. There is a fair section of the Northern Territory which is covered by pastoral properties. We are trying to develop Indigenous cattle properties, there is a need, and will be a continual need, to have facilities which can provide a practical education to young people and, hopefully, attract more Indigenous young people to take up life working on pastoral properties. There is plenty of opportunity for that sort of work.
What we see now, or have seen for the last 20 or 30 years, is that not many Aboriginal people work on cattle stations anymore. We have relied on young people coming from interstate to work on these stations, whereas, when I first came to the Territory, Aboriginal people were the mainstay of cattle stations. We have to turn that around. Why do we get people from interstate when on our doorsteps we have plenty of young people who could do the same job? I know they have natural ability to ride horses, I have seen them get on a horse and it is second nature to them. There are other skills they must learn. It is not just about riding a horse, it is about learning about cattle, and animal husbandry.
There are great opportunities for this station to expand its role and to give young Aboriginal people a chance to get into the pastoral industry. When I visited Mistake Creek Station on the Northern Territory/Western Australia border last year, one of the issues was that many of the students from Katherine had learnt to get up at 8 am. On cattle stations you get up at 4.30 am.
I see this station as a place where we can run a cattle station as a cattle station, and we can turn young students into the pastoral industry with the experience they need. I am very much in support of Mataranka Station, and I hope the university will continue to support it and put in the infrastructure which will make it even better.
Motion agreed to; the Assembly adjourned.
Last updated: 04 Aug 2016